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Show Britain Will Fight Reds QNE ALL-IMPORTANT QUES TI ON-debated by war chiefs during dur-ing recent defense discussions was whether Great Britain would throw its weight with the U. S. in case oi a Red army sweep across Europe. It is no secret that there has been strong sentiment in war-weary Britain Brit-ain for sitting out the next war. Five years of buzz-bombs and living in air-raid shelters have made a lo1 of Britishers feel that neutrality may be the best policy. Incidentally this opinion is also widely held by many Frenchmen, Belgians, Dutch and other continentals. conti-nentals. The. answer to this question was all-important to U. S. defense planners. plan-ners. They had to figure out in advance ad-vance whether the United States would be able to have air bases neat the European continent. With the Red army probably sweeping to the English Channel in a few weeks in case of war, Britain and Spain would be the only potential bases usable by the United States. However, definite word has now been given the United States by the British government that, if Russia attacks, Britain will fight. British bases will be available to American bombers. Kavajos Own Valuable Land IT NOW LOOKS AS IF the poverty-stricken Navajo Indians, trying to scratch a precarious living from the wastelands of Arizona and New Mexico, may own one of the most priceless pieces of property in the U. S. For some time our chief worry in production of atomic energy was the fact that all uranium deposits lay outside the United States. However, it now appears that the Navajos have been tending their pitiful flocks above a hidden atomic treasure. For, upon the Navajo reservation in the upper corner of Arizona and New Mexico, the Vanadium Corporation of America has been quietly extracting extract-ing uranium. Further details regarding this operation must remain a military secret. One amazing fact can be revealed. So far, the Navajos haven't received one penny for the uranium taken from their land. Instead, the profits have been raked in by the Vanadium corporation. corpora-tion. The price which the atomic energy commission is paying the Vanadium corporation for uranium also is secret, se-cret, but a member of the joint congressional committee on atomic energy predicted that the metal may become almost as precious as diamonds. dia-monds. Since the richest deposits are all outside the United States and could be cut off in case of war, this domestic supply becomes all the more valuable. But the Navajos, sitting on one of nature's jackpots, so far haven't been able to collect a cent. Reason for this again is largely obscured by secrecy, and only part of the story can be told within the limits of national na-tional security. For one thing, uranium does not exist in its pure form on the reservation reserva-tion but must be extracted as a byproduct by-product from vanadium. The only leases to dig for vanadium on Navajo territory six in all are held by the Vanadium corporation. These leases specify that the Indians will be paid 10 per cent royalty on all mineral compounds except vanadium compounds. com-pounds. In the latter case, the royalty is stipulated as 10 per cent of the vanadium oxide, a metal used to toughen steel. Since uranium Is part of the raw vanadium ore until processed, the company conceivably conceiv-ably might get away with paying royalty only on the comparatively valueless vanadium oxide, not on the other raw vanadium out of which uranium comes. The Indian service takes the view that uranium is a separate metal apart from vanadium, therefore is subject to the full 10 per cent royalty fee. Stalin's Cigarette Case COMRADE ANDREI GROMYKO, Russia's dour-faced ambassador to the United Nations, always looks as if he had a grouch on when snapped by photographers. Actually, he has a sense of humor. Or so a fellow diplomat found when he told Gro-myko Gro-myko this story. At Yalta, Winston Churchill took out his handsome gold cigarette case and offered- Stalin and FDR a cigarette. The cigarette case evoked considerable admiration especially the inscription: "To Winston from his colleagues in the house of commons." com-mons." A little later Roosevelt took out his cigarette case and offered the conferring con-ferring statesmen a cigarette. His case also evoked admiration. Including Includ-ing the inscription which read: 'To FDR from the boys on Capitol Hill." Next it was Stalin's turn to flash a diamond-studded cigarette case. Its inscription read: "To Count Szecheny from his friends at the jockey club." Gromyko listened carefully, roared with laughter. I |