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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne 'Scorched Earth' and Guerrilla Fighting Is Soviet Answer to German Thrust; Revenue Bill for Defense Spending Provides Many Additional New Taxes (EDITOR'S N'OTE When opinions are expfessed tn these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) .X, III I 7 Jj L . - V .. . dfji rit'fra . - - This is the scene in the Brooklyn (X. Y.) federal court as 25 mem-; mem-; bers of the huge spy ring were arraigned by the government. Called I "one of the most active, extensive and vicious" spy rings in the nation's history, 26 men and 3 women were arrested throughout the country, j Most of them were of German descent. They were charged with I transmitting vital defense information to a foreign government. Three men in foreground are lawyers, i ORDEAL: j By Communiques j Following the first couple of weeks of the Russo-German war some wag , of the airwaves referred to the conflict con-flict as an ordeal for the public ! by communiques. I In the absence of any possible direct war correspondence, that is , exactly what it developed into, ever-. ever-. lengthening communiques by both sides, so much at variance that the i public could do little but guess. ! As the German columns advanced Premier Josef Stalin urged upon his people a policy of "scorched earth" to be coupled with universal guer- 1 rilla warfare. He warned of the "grave danger" of the Nazi successes suc-cesses and acknowledged the forward for-ward movement of German troops. He asked his people to destroy everything ev-erything that might be of value to Germany if it could not be saved behind be-hind the retreating Soviet columns. Only at certain points did the reports of the two high commands coincide, and these were so excep- i tional that they were more to be honored hon-ored by their absence than their presence. j Speaking of an important town on j the southern front, the Germans said, "We captured Lwow," and the Russians said. "We left Lwow." And even in that point of coincidence coinci-dence there was a variance which left much to guesswork. Yet from the very names of places it was possible to take a map and see a picture of the German Ger-man plan emerging, though it was impossible by the same token to picture pic-ture the Russian defense. The picture was that of a giant clutching hand, with the wrist to the north and the fingers outstretched though which way the Joints of the fingers would flex themselves could not hA fnrpcofn Three fingers were stretching toward Moscow and Leningrad, and two were extending southward into the rich Ukraine. Two or three of these five shafts showed signs that they might form pincer movements, snipping off and surrounding bodies of Red troops here and there along the battlefront. Already the Germans had claimed one such success cast of Bialystok, stating that 100.000 Russian soldiers had participated in. a mass surrender, surren-der, and that everywhere the Russians Rus-sians were on the run. The Red communiques stated that their lines were holding intact, and that at some points the Russians were fighting far behind the most outstretched German points, and that some of these actions might work out badly for the invaders. Yet, military observers pointed out, such occurrences were of the very nature of the Nazi blitz technique, tech-nique, and that in France, in Greece and on other fronts, including the town of Tobruk in northern Africa, groups of defending troops often were left behind in the swift nd-vance, nd-vance, later to be encircled. The Greek army of the east was trapped in Just such a way, and though it held out and fought for considerable time, it was forced to surrender in the etui. It was impossible, however, to see Just what the Russians were accomplishing accom-plishing in their defense, for the "town name" reports showed continued con-tinued German advances, and the capture en route of Important points. Kign, Latvia, an Important Russian Rus-sian naval base, was reported taken; Minsk, the so-railed gateway to Moscow, was said lo be surrounded; surround-ed; and one of the Nazi "fingers" hail shot past Minsk on the north I to Smolensk, and on the south to the Bobruisk sector, thus tending j to bear out the German contention that Minsk, if not already taken, was doomed. Also that the Nazi j legions could be said, at h ast lech- j Ideally, to he two thirds of the way from their starting point to the capital of the Soviet, l TAXES: And Spending The tax structure by which the congress intends to raise additional revenue to the tune of S3. 500. 000.000 during the coming fiscal year was practically complete. In addition to the huge amount expected from the new income tax structure, the congress' tax-makers had agreed that business would have to yield about $1,360,000,000 more than the S3. 000. 000. 000 it is now raising. rais-ing. Excise taxes were to be increased by a 10 per cent tax on electric fans, conking appliances and similar simi-lar articles; a 10 per cent tax on rubber rub-ber products not including f-iotwear and auto tires or tubes, which are on other tax schedules; 10 per cent on electrical and metal signs; 10 per cent on washing machines fur commercial com-mercial laundries; one-sixth of a cent a buttle on soft drinks 4 cents a case': 10 per cent on retail furs; another 10 on toilet preparations; a "use" tax on vending machines that pay off in tokens: So for vending machines which dispense articles; 10 per cent on optical instruments other than eyeglasses; 10 per cent on office and store machines. Thus the boil-dnwn of the tax structure was this: Excise taxes (like the above) $867,000,000. Income levies including excess profits. S2. 463. 500. 000. Estate and gift taxes SI 13.700.000. Giving a total of close to the $3,500,000,000 sought This enabled the public to get a generalized sort of picture of what is coming to the American way of life, at least from a tax standpoint during the next tax year. SHOCK: To British Scarcely less shocking to the British Brit-ish than the arrival of Hess on Scottish soil was the news that Gen. Sir Archibald Wavcll had been relieved re-lieved of his command in Africa and the Middle East. General Wavcll had been Britain's Number One hero, the only man who had won for the British an important im-portant victory and one which challenged chal-lenged the imagination. Wavell's men had driven through Cyrcnaica and had taken it away from the Italians, capturing more than 100.000 prisoners on the way. True, the Nazis had come across the Mediterranean and had taken nil this territory away from him. Including In-cluding the trapping of a number of thousand of the Wavcll troops. It also was true that there had been a good deal of criticism of Wavell at this time. It also was being remembered that he had been given at least a part of the responsibility responsi-bility for Die disaster in Greece and Crete. Although the war ministry simply recounted that Wavell had been transferred to the high command in India and that his place had been taken by Gen. Sir Claude Auchin-leek, Auchin-leek, a Scotsman, the general feeling feel-ing In Britain was that it was a shocking demotion. This notwithstanding the war ministry min-istry let out the rumor that perhaps Wavell was being given a more Important Im-portant task, the preparation of the defense of India should the Russian resistance collapse and find Uie Nazis blitzing In that direction. MILLIONS: (let Dvjvnnviit Ju.'it ii s fill youths who rrnrhrd their majority since last registration registra-tion day walked to their local boards to Troisier, a .'if) -day deferment was Hi'antffl to all drafters over 27 years old, Tin s wa s f raiiM v a measure to krrp t her n out of the arm I'd forces until ron cress could pass an amendment amend-ment to the selective service act exempting ex-empting them. i i PLANES: j A Sloicdoun? I Observers on Uie economic and ! defense production fronts in this '; country seemed skeptical of the OPM outlook that "grand mass- j production" of medium and heavy bombers would be under way early ' in 1942. The OPM plan calls for the auto makers to build airplanes in a number num-ber of small sections, like wings, fuselages and tails, etc., and ship these sections to large assembly plants in Omaha. Kansas City and Fort Worth and Tulsa, where they will be put together in assembly-line assembly-line fashion. That was the motor industry's answer to large-scale production of bombers. Now these who feel that this objective ob-jective will not be reached until some time in 1943 point out how the aluminum shortage can possibly ! play hob with the best laid plans. J They say that when a plane weighs 10.000 pounds, it actually takes 13.600 pounds of ingot aluminum alumi-num to do the job because of the weight loss through scraps. j These scraps cannot be melted down into airplane metal again because of the number of different , alloys required. I The observers who feel that OPM ; is being too optimistic also point i out that the scrap losses under the automotive plan of plane building build-ing are likely to be more than in regular plane factories, where the workers have more experience and ; will make fewer mistakes. j They also feci it is going to be j a huge problem for the big plane i manufacturers to operate in cities as far distant from each other as Baltimore and Omaha, for instance, and still maintain a cohesive and clever organization. However, present plane produc- i lion, gloomy as this outlook might be, took a step upward when North I American Aviation got back to its j scheduled 10 planes a day. and the j 1.500 soldiers who had been stationed sta-tioned near Uie plant were sent j away to more distant points. I The wage structure finally decid- cd upon turned out to be 60 cents for beginners for the first Uirce , months and then 75 cents minimum after that point, and on up to $1.50 an hour for more skilled workers. KNOX: And His Speech Secretary of Navy Knox, in his Boston address, stirred up an outbreak out-break on congress which threatened to bring out an impeachment resolution reso-lution and found administration supporters sup-porters reportedly working under cover to prevent Uiis outcome. In the address the navy secretary hinted that "the time had come" for Uie navy actively to sweep Uie German menace from Uie seas, and spoke of the Russo-German war, occupying oc-cupying Nazi attention, as a "God-given "God-given opportunity" to insure Uie arrival ar-rival of lease-lend aid to Britain. Leading non-interventionists, headed head-ed by Senator Wheeler of Montana, leaped on this speech with all Uleir power, declaring that the navy secretary sec-retary was stepping beyond his powers pow-ers and seeking to get President Roosevelt to order a "shooting war" between the navy and the German submarines and surface raiders. The question, when immediately put to President Roosevelt brought from him a denial that he thought American participation was necessary neces-sary at this time, and holding out continued hope that this country could remain out of the war. Another Question Tied into It nil was a question of fact, for Senator Whecli-r had reported re-ported rumors that an actual Incident Inci-dent or two of the pinking of Gorman Gor-man ships of war by American naval na-val vessels had been circulating. To this, on the following day. Secretary Sec-retary Knox ll.iUy Issued ll sharp denial. II" said that no American vessels on Atlantic patrols had engaged en-gaged in convoying, had heconie involved in-volved in combat, had sulTered any loss of life in their crews, or any loss of equipment. |