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Show ""W " - ' tTi i Washington, D, C. RAILROAD TEST For National Defense chiefs, June holds a special significance. It will indicate whether government operation opera-tion of railroads may be necessary. In June the nation's railroads will meet their first crucial test of whether they are adequately equipped to handle the enormous increase in freight resulting from the defense program. When the wheat harvest starts in the Texas Panhandle and continues north, the carriers will be on the spot to prove their determined contention con-tention that there is no shortage of freight cars, and that they can cope with the great demands of the defense de-fense program without the government govern-ment taking them over as in the World war. Railroad moguls are fully aware that they face a decisive showdown, and they are making tremendous efforts to meet it Twenty-five thousand cars have been mobilized to handle the Texas crop and a strict rule has been laid down that they must be kept rolling. Cars will not be allowed to be used for storage purposes. If a shipment ship-ment can't be unloaded without delay, de-lay, cars will not be released. Cars will be peremptorally recalled re-called if shippers don't load. Circuitous Cir-cuitous routing is being eliminated. And the railroads themselves are now distributing the materials and equipment they will need months hence, so that the maximum number num-ber of cars will be available in the peak season next autumn. This alone is expected to release 20,000 freight cars. Mechanied Cavalry. It took a war in Europe to do it but the U. S. army is now doing a whirlwind job of replacing cavalry with tanks and armored cars. Even Secretary of War Stimson's aide, CoL Eugene Regnier, has gone In for mechanization. Commenting whimsically on this the other day. Secretary Stimson said: "After riding horses all his life, Gene is now commanding the first reconnaissance battalion of the First Cavalry division. He rides in a bantam scout car and has armored ar-mored cars and tanks under his command. I tell him this is strange for a man who has sworn that horses are the only thing in life. But he says it takes the brains of a good cavalryman to handle a mechanized unit." Note Colonel Regnier deserted his swivel-chair job in Washington for El Paso. Texas, where Gen. Innes P. Swift commands one of the most active army posts in the country. Conscientious Objectors. Announcements that 1,100 conscientious consci-entious objectors will report to non-military non-military training camps in the next few weeks are a lot of hooey. Real fact is that only 201 draft registrants have even been classed as genuine religious objectors. Out of the 6.000,000 questionnaires received from draft eligibles, less than 2.500 sought exemption on the ground of religious scruples. Of this number, 201 have been OK'd so far. They will train in eight camps as follows: Fifty at Camp Patapsco, Elkrldge, Md.; 14 at Grottoes, Va.; 12 at Lagro, Ind.; 32 at San Dimes, Calif.; 10 at Richmond, Ind.; 40 at Marietta, Ohio; 32 at Colorado Springs, Colo.; 10 at Coopcrstown, N. Y. ' Vhile operated by the government, govern-ment, the camps are financed by private funds, supplied chiefly by the Quakers. Mennonitcs, and United Unit-ed Brethren. In some Instances the men pay their own costs, at the rate of $35 a month. Australian Opinion on War Prime Minister Menzies of Australia Aus-tralia held some very Important conversations with high Washington officials during his recent visit. In these talks he expressed every confidence con-fidence that Britain would win the war, but he was hard-boiled and realistic regarding the time necessary neces-sary for a victory. Coming from Australia, which has a detached and unbiased view of the situation, his opinion Is Important. Impor-tant. "During 1941," he said, "all of Britain's effort must be concentrated concentrat-ed on defense. "During 1942 we can really begin to concentrate our efforts on building build-ing up a real war machine. "And In 1943 with America's help we can take the offensive, and we will win the war." MKRFtV-fiO -ROUND The appointment of cx-Sonn lor Sh'-rrrinn Minton of Inr!t;inn to the U, S. court of npppfils rnnkrg the thiM jij'lif.'ifil rrwnrcl for a nu'irib'T of thn fnrrioun Rcnttte lohhy Invrstl-g;it.ing Invrstl-g;it.ing cornrnlltfp, whoso H'Tinn tion-fil tion-fil rxpos'-s of utility lohhying rt to thn hol'Iing corn p:my l;i w. Hiiro I'.hif k of Al;ih;itnn, ch:iirrn;in, n a .Sitpr-rne court Jin: tier, nruj f ,owifl Mf:hv.'IIrr,n;,rh In n frrU-riil district Jiifly in W:inhiiiKtin |