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Show kAi tt4& DPBWPEAPSChl jMl fhO ROBERT ALLEN Washington, D. C. IJIDDEV TREASURE With American industries crying f for war materials, the government I has finally got around to seizing a giant horde of semi-manufactured war materials originally intended for the conquered countries. Tons upon tons of steel bars, steel rods, steel sheets, ship plates, tin plate, copper wire were ordered by Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Holland and Belgium, some of it three years ago. It has been in warehouses and idle freight cars ever since, despite the scarcity of raw materials and despite the fact that some industries indus-tries are even closing for lack of them. Why this horde of priceless material ma-terial remained untouched for so long is a mystery. But the secret is first, government red tape and bureaucracy; second, the fact that owners of these materials, who were holding them for higher prices, did not want to sell. The old Export Control board under un-der Gen. Russell Maxwell, who is now devoting his abilities to the Near East, did nothing about this treasure horde. But now Henry Wallace's Economic Defense board is finally moving in. A small haul was made earlier this year in Hoboken, N. J., of aluminum alu-minum and other materials, but the coming seizures are on a far greater great-er scale. Of one commodity alone, tin plate, there will be 100,000 cases, or 15,000 tons, taken from three areas, New York, Philadelphia', and Baltimore. The total haul of all commodities will be between 20 and 25 thousand carloads, which, at an average of 50 tons to the car, meani over a million tons. The Economic Defense board will use only $200,000 to finance the requisitioning of all thii material, the value of which run Into many millions. Most of it will be seized and sold again on th kame day, so the $200,000 will tv merely a revolving re-volving fund. - INTERNED ITALIANS One of the Italian ship officers in detention at Fort Missoula, Mont., wrote his wife in Italy a letter which U. S. officials are sure will never reach her. The letter will get to Italy, all right. Mail is still being exchanged regularly between the two countries. coun-tries. But authorities are certain that the officer's letter will not get by II Duce's censors, for, in hungry, battered, war-weary Italy this poignant message would not be "good propaganda." This is the reason: "We left Philadelphia for the city of Missoula," wrote the husband. "The journey lasted three days and three nights on a train and was a real pleasure. We did not lack a thing because we traveled in a Pullman. Pull-man. At meal times we turned it into a dining room and at night into a dormitory. The meals were magnificent. "I can tell you that for me the journey was one I had dreamed of for years and then, in an extraordinary extraor-dinary way, it came true. As I said before, this place is beautiful, all green with woods and surrounded surround-ed by hills. The air is fine and healthy, my appetite very-good and the food abundant and exquisite. "We do not lack milk, butter, meat, bread, vegetables, fruit, sugar or coffee. When I am eating I always think of you, who are perhaps per-haps without food. No one can complain about the guards. They treat us with every respect and consideration." Note: To Americans the effusive description of the food as "abundant "abun-dant and exquisite" is interesting, because the alien prisoners at Fort Missoula are fed straight army fare. In quality and quantity their rations are exactly the same as those of U. S. soldiers. SCRAP IRON TO JAPAN For years, the heaviest foreign buyer of U. S. scrap iron was Japan. Despite much public protesting, the state department permitted Nipponese Nippon-ese militarists to import huge quantities quan-tities of this vital strategic material. materi-al. Now appeasement chickens are coming home to roost. With defense production swinging into full tide, the U. S. suddenly is confronted with a serious scrap shortage. For various reasons, defense de-fense chiefs are saying nothing about the situation. But it is very acute. A number of steel makers have privately reported curtailed production sohedules in the offing because of inability to obtain needed need-ed supplies of scrap. One important plant executive went so far as to describe his condition con-dition as "almost desperate." CAPITAL CHAFF Everyone is getting increased wages, except the poor postman. The cost of living has gone up but he can't strike against the government. govern-ment. The army air corps is wind-tunnel testing a new single-engine fighter plane that will do 512 miles ah hour, 100 miles faster than any other plane in existence. All the bogs have been eliminated from the plane except one finding a pilot who can safely fly a plane at that terrific speed. |