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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS FDR Plans Nationwide Gas Rationing With 35-Mile Speed Limit for U. S.; Double-Time Pay Banned for Duration; British Renew Madagascar Occupation (FrjITOlt'H NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they art those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper lf"'"" I 'y. i '' ' When the U. S. marines accomplished their history-making offensive in the Solomon Islands, amphibian tractors churned South Seas water to carry them to their first attack to win back Jap-held territory since the tstart of the war. The tractor Is in the background as these marines dug in at the beach soon after the battle's opening. The area was soon cleared of the enemy. GAS RATIONING: President Acts For weeks silvery-haired Bernard M. Baruch and co-members ol the President's special rubber committee commit-tee had labored over the problem of what to do about the nation's steadily stead-ily diminishing rubber supply. When the committee handed Mr. Roosevelt its report, the President was ready for action. First, he announced that "as rap-Idly rap-Idly as arrangements can be made" he would put into effect a set of recommendations submitted by the committee, including nation-wide gasoline rationing and drastic restrictions re-strictions on civilian motoring. Made public in the President's announcement an-nouncement were additional steps recommended by the committee which included: A 35-mile speed limit for passenger passen-ger cars and trucks; an average annual mileage of 5,000 miles per car, permitted only for "necessary driving"; release of more rubber to the public for recapping old tires to maintain necessary civilian driving; imposition of gasoline rationing nationally na-tionally on the basis of 5,000 miles per year per car; compulsory periodic peri-odic tire inspections; voluntary tire conservation pending establishment of gas rationing. Submitted with the committee's recommendations was the blunt declaration dec-laration that rubber conservation was now a matter of "discomfort or defeat." MADAGASCAR: 'Full Occupation' Even as communiques revealed that the British had opened a general gen-eral offensive against the west coast .of Vichy-held Madagascar, the state department in Washington announced an-nounced that Great Britain with the full approval of the United States had decided to undertake "further military operations" in the Madagascar Mada-gascar area. British action was taken to eliminate elimi-nate reported refueling of Jap submarines sub-marines in secret harbors and Nazi espionage in connivance with Vichy agents. Significant of the close military collaboration between Britain and the United States and their indifference indiffer-ence to Vichy France opposition, the state department announcement declared: "The full military occupation of Madagascar by British forces will not only contribute to the successful conduct of the war against the Axis forces, but will be in the interest of the United Nations." DOUBLE-TIME PAY: Curbed by FDR "Penalty double time" pay for millions of industrial workers was ' abolished for the duration of the war when President Roosevelt signed an executive order banning the practice for Sundays, Saturdays and holidays. The President's action thus invalidated invali-dated contracts in which employers were required to pay workers double dou-ble time for work on Saturdays or holidays, even though these days fell within the regular five-day work week. Mr. Roosevelt said he had taken the step in line with an understanding understand-ing previously arrived at with William Wil-liam Green, president of the American Ameri-can Federation of Labor, and Phillip Phil-lip Murray, president of the CIO. The order was signed at almost the final hour of a deadline set by the United Automobile Workers union, un-ion, of the CIO. The UAW which had voluntarily surrendered such double time had protested that rival organizations had not made the same sacrifice. Enactment of the order thus eliminated a possible labor conflict. RUSSIAN FRONT: Nazis Rule Air The gloom of Russia's military predicament was darkened when correspondents in Moscow were permitted per-mitted to cable the news that the German air force had secured virtually vir-tually undisputed sway over the beleaguered be-leaguered city of Stalingrad, key industrial in-dustrial and communications center of the Volga area. Added to this pessimistic report was the news that additional "populated places" adjacent adja-cent to Stalingrad had been lost by the Russians. With Nazi Marshal Fedor von Bock hurling massive armored and infantry forces into a frontal drive against the city, it was only by the stubbornest resistance that the Reds were able to continue their formula of "fall back and keep fighting." The only comforting aspect was that the Nazis were paying costly prices in men and equipment for every foot gained. In the Caucasus area the news had likewise been adverse, for the Russian Rus-sian high command acknowledged that fighting had reached the "outskirts" "out-skirts" of Novorossisk, last remaining remain-ing naval stronghold on the Black sea. VOTES: For Armed Forces Wherever they are serving Uncle Sam on the far-flung war front, more than 4,000,000 men and women in the nation's land and naval forces were given the right to vote in the coming November elections and in subsequent elections until the end of the war, when the house of representatives repre-sentatives approved legislation extending ex-tending the ballot to absentee members mem-bers of the army and navy. The house's action set a new precedent, for -never before in time of war had the armed forces been able to vote away from their home districts. Affected by the new law was every citizen serving in the army or navy, including members of the Army Nurse corps, the Navy Nurse corps, the Women's Navy reserve, and the Women's Army Auxiliary corps. SOUTH PACIFIC: Japs Persistent Australia felt again the chilling threat of a Japanese approach, as Nipponese and Allied armies had fought for control of the Port Moresby area only 375 miles from the northeast tip of the Australian continent. In a drive which had started late in August from the Kadoka area, north of the Owen Stanley mountains, moun-tains, the Japs by infiltration and flanking methods against the Australian Aus-tralian defenders had pushed southward south-ward through the highest pass in the range toward their coveted goal. Meanwhile, in answer to General MacArthur's plea that each American Amer-ican kill one Japanese apiece, Yankee forces resumed the offensive offen-sive in the Solomon islands. A communique com-munique indicated that the positions posi-tions originally seized by the American Amer-ican marines had become so well established that they could now be used as a springboard for delivering further hard blows at the enemy. BRIEFS: LONDON: Sir James Grigg, secretary sec-retary of state for war reported to the house of commons that up to the present date, the government had been notified that 77,190 British war prisoners were in Axis hands. He said that figures did not include prisoners taken in Malaya or most of the other Far Eastern theaters. The number of these had not been determined. LUXEMBOURG: Defies the Nazis Plucky Luxembourgers gave the lie to Nazi propaganda that they were voluntarily acquiring German citizenship and entering the enemy armed forces, by staging a general gen-eral strike the first in a German-occupied German-occupied country. The pint-sized duchy, which has a population of but 269,913, is nevertheless never-theless one of the world's most important im-portant steel producing regions. The exiled Luxembourg ministry in London Lon-don reported that German authorities authori-ties had declared a state of emergency emer-gency and threatened striking workers work-ers with death. Repressive measures were imposed im-posed throughout Luxembourg wrhen the strike which started at Schif-flingen, Schif-flingen, spread to other towns. Sabotage against railroads in the tiny country wrs reported widespread, wide-spread, with workers putting equipment equip-ment out of order. TRUCKS AND TAXIS: Face U. S. Control The operation of 5.000.000 commercial com-mercial motor trucks, 150,000 busses and 50,000 taxi cabs will be placed under government control by November No-vember 15 as a measure to conserve con-serve transportation facilities for war purposes, it was announced by Joseph B. Eastman, director of the Office of Defense Transportation. Passenger cars and motorcycles were exempted from the new regulations. regu-lations. The ODT's order directed operators opera-tors of commercial vehicles to obtain ob-tain a "certificate of war necessity" necessi-ty" to obtain fuel, tires, tubes and accessories. Mr. Eastman said the certificates for commercial vehicles would require re-quire a tire check every 5,000 miles, or every 60 days, whichever occurs first, to assure proper inflation and refpairs. Certificates, he indicated, will be issued to all types of trucks, vehicles built primarily for transporting trans-porting property and passengers and others available for public rental, rent-al, such as ambulances and hearses. The objective, he said, is to limit their use to operations necessary to the war effort, or to the essential domestic economy. FRANCE: Petain Is Warned Edouard Herriot is one Frenchman French-man not afraid to raise his voice in blunt opposition to Vichy. Jules Jeanneney is another. Both command com-mand respect in Unoccupied France, for Herriot is mayor of Lyons and a former premier and Jeanneney a former cabinet member. . Both were leaders of the last parliament of the Third Republic. Thus Frenchmen everywhere listened lis-tened when these two delivered a solemn warning to Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval that France may suffer "convulsions" if the Vichy i lb-"' i i EDOUARD HERRIOT "... Convulsions will follow" government attempts to draw the nation "into war against our Allies." In an unprecedented letter indicting indict-ing the present regime, Herriot and Jeanneney implied that despite the French defeat in June, 1940, and the armistice with Germany and despite the rise of Petain and Laval, they still consider France bound by the treaties of alliance with which she entered the war. TANKS VS. PLANES: U. S. Passes Axis Robert P. Patterson, undersecretary undersecre-tary of war, had good news for the nation when he announced in Cleveland Cleve-land that American tank production had reached "an impressive figure" and that Uncle Sam was now turning turn-ing out more planes than Germany, Japan and Italy combined. Answering criticism of American war material, Patterson said that in speed, range, toughness of armor and hitting power, the U. S. medium tank, either the M-3 or the M-4, "is superior to the best German tank," as "proved in combat in Egypt." Combat records, he declared, also had proved the Curtiss P-40 better than the Jap Zero planes. SEA SAGA: Wakefield Rescue A grim drama of the sea. abounding abound-ing in tales of heroism was unfolded when survivors of the burned naval transport Wakefield were landed at an Atlantic coast port. Formerly known as the liner Manhattan, Man-hattan, cue-time queen of the U. S. merchant fleet, the Wakefield had been severe'y damaged by fire, but more than 1,600 passengers and crew members had been removed without loss of life. |
