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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS . Chinese Hit Jap Key Positions; Seek to Expand Social Security; Slash Plane Output 30 Per Cent I i Released by Western Newspaper Union I (EDITOR'S NOTE; When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) i 1 i. i FARM MODERNIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES FARMS WITH FARMS WITHOUT WATER PIPED INTO HOUSE ELECTRICITY i TELEPHONES 111111. AUTOMOBILES a 6 a q o RADIOS If W H H Eacfi lymbol represents 20. of all (armj PACIFIC: Chinese Strike With the Americans heightening pressure against the Japanese homeland, home-land, Chinese troops went over to the attack against enemy positions in China, assaulting coastal garrisons garri-sons and the long overland corridor leading to Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Indo-China. The Chinese attacks came in the wake of new Japanese maneuver-ings maneuver-ings on the Chinese mainland, betraying be-traying the enemy's continued apprehension ap-prehension over possible Allied thrusts up through Burma and an invasion of the eastern coastal region. re-gion. In assaulting the Japs' long overland over-land corridor stretching southward clear from Manchuria, the Chinese not only threatened the enemy's line of communication from Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Indo-China but also promised to choke off any flow of raw material from those naturally nat-urally rich countries feeding the Nipponese Nip-ponese war machine. In addition, the Chinese drove a string of former American air bases, which the Japs had rolled up last year in their effort ef-fort to smash U. S. attacks. Meanwhile, Flying Fortresses thundering out by the hundreds continued con-tinued to raze Japanese industrial centers in the campaign to demolish the enemy's war production, with Tokyo being subjected to the same bombardment that laid Nagoya in waste. As a result of the B-29 attacks, huge areas of Tokyo lay smouldering, smoulder-ing, with the imperial palace and government districts and the main business centers heavily hit. While U. S. intelligence officers were careful care-ful not to accept the Japs' account of the damage too readily because of the possibility it might have been put out to decrease the future tempo of American assaults, returning Super-Fort fliers said they left huge tires behind them. Het-up over the U. S. raids, the Tokyo radio declared that ". . . the enemy's inhuman atrocities had increased in-creased the Japanese spirit of hostility hos-tility and they are firmly determined to fight to the last Japanese. . . ." It added: ". . . The stricken city burns with contempt for America." SOCIAL SECURITY: Propose Expansion Proposing that Uncle Sam provide for greater social security for U. S. citizens, Sen. Robert Wagner (N. Y.) and Rep. John Dingell (Mich.) called for extending coverage of the present act to 13,000,000 farm workers, work-ers, professional people, small business busi-ness men and domestics, and broadening broad-ening benefits. Under a bill introduced in congress, con-gress, Wagner and Dingell proposed increasing minimum old age payments pay-ments from $10 to $20 a month for single persons and up to $30 for a worker with a dependent wife 60 cr older. Funds permitting, unemployment unem-ployment compensation would be payable for 52 weeks instead of the present 26, with the weekly scale $5 to $20 for single persons a maximum of $30 for recipients with dependents. Women would receive a 12-week maternity ma-ternity leave with the same scale of benefits. ' With all social security registrants forced to subscribe to the health insurance phase of the Wagner-Din-gell bill, workers' would receive compensation com-pensation for payless periods of sickness sick-ness or disability, and be allowed 60 days of hospital care under doctors doc-tors of their own choosing. In addition, addi-tion, the federal government would participate with states in a long-range long-range program for construction of health centers, hospitals and clinics in rural areas. To finance the new act, Wagner and Dingell recommended an increase in-crease in social security taxes from 1 to 4 per cent each on employees em-ployees and employers. SCHOOL LUNCHES The War Food administration-Community administration-Community school lunch not only appeases ap-peases the appetites of hungry youngsters, but does a job of far more lasting results, according to reports re-ports from schools on the program. In Wilmington, Del., a balanced lunch underwritten by WFA has been served daily at the schools since January, 1944. with children in one grade who ate the school lunch regularly regu-larly gaining an average of six pounds, and those who never ate the lunch gaining only two pounds. COLLABORATIONISTS : Stand Trial In preliminary appearances before be-fore their real trials get underway. Marshal Henri Petain of France and Vidkun Quisling of Norway sought to relieve their stigma as Europe's two arch collaborationists by pleading that their actions were prompted by a determination to protect pro-tect the welfare of their countries as much as they could. The opening hearings were dramatically dra-matically flavored with Petain revealing re-vealing that he would call upon Adm. William D. Leahy, former U. S. envoy to Vichy and now President Truman's chief of staff, to testify that he had actually opposed the Nazis, and Quisling defiantly defending de-fending his position. Writing to Admiral Leahy to testify tes-tify in his behalf, Peti said: "You who have lived beside me during dur-ing those months, you who have witnessed wit-nessed my efforts to restore France, you will help me to convince those who are accusing me . . . that I have never had any aim other than to live and protect them against the demands and cruelties of the German-occupying troops. . . ." In assuming the position that he had striven solely to lighten France's load, Petain vigorously denied 1 - f V "5 t Marshal Petain (left) greeting Admiral Leahy upon latter's arrival in Vichy In 1940. membership in the secret society, La Cagoule, working for German interests, and declared that its use of his name was unauthorized. With no high Allied personality to try to fall back upon, Quisling had to stand on his own. He did, however, how-ever, claim to have represented Britain in Russia for three years before the war and to have received the thanks of parliament for his efforts. Declaring that it was necessary for him to explain all of the heretofore hereto-fore hidden international political events leading up to World War H to justify the course he took, Quisling Quis-ling was assured that he would be given such an opportunity when he comes up for real trial August 25. With lower lip curled under his pug nose, the big, bulky collaborationist collaboration-ist insisted he had worked with Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hitler in an effort to avert the European Euro-pean conflict. PLANE PRODUCTION: Heavy Slash Emphasizing the streamlining of aviation needs of the Pacific war, airplane production will be cut 30 per cent during the last six months of 1945 and an additional 15 per cent during 1946, the army air forces revealed. According to unofficial estimates, the 30 per cent reduction reduc-tion this year may result in release of about 200,000 workers in a dozen cities. Because of the long distances involved in-volved in the Pacific warfare, longer long-er range bombers, fighters and transport planes will remain in large production, the AAF said. In this category are the B-29 Super-Fortresses, Super-Fortresses, the P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs and the C-54 transports. Since less and less American air craft were lost in Europe as the Luftwaffe was worn steadily down, many planes used in the European war will be available for combat in the Pacific theater, the AAF revealed. NEAR EAST: Trouble Brews Long noted for her friendly relations rela-tions with native populations. France found herself deeply embroiled with Syria and Lebanon at the eastern end of the Mediterranean over the subject of establishing military bases in those countries after granting them independence. Even as the U. S. and Britain stepped into the picture in an effort to smoothen the difficulties, Syria proceeded with a fevered recruitment recruit-ment program in preparation for a clash with the French, whose nationals na-tionals hardly dared to appear in public for fear of being mobbed. Though the question of bases shaped as the nub of the disagreement, the immediate cause of unrest lay in the arrival of French re-enforcements, presumably bound for the Pacific war. The natives, however, looked upon their presence as a move for exerting pressure for granting France greater concessions. Because Arab disaffection in Syria and Lebanon could lead to widespread wide-spread uprisings against western powers in Palestine, Egypt and elsewhere else-where in the east, the U. S. and Britain worked anxiously for nn agreement to avert hostilities. WAR RELIEF: Hoover Consulted Long absent from the White House, ex-Pres. Herbert Hoover re- turned to the executive execu-tive mansion he had left under a cloud in 1933 for consultation with Pres. Harry S. Truman on the pressing problem of European relief. Famed for his handling of a similar simi-lar situation during World War I, Hoover Herbert Hoover was called in by the President following fol-lowing a V-E Day address proposing propos-ing UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation administration) start an immediate stream of food flowing to the continent; establish canteens for undernourished children, chil-dren, and place shipping at the disposal dis-posal of charitable agencies interested inter-ested in relief. Hoover . also suggested sug-gested that cost of the program be borne by international contribution. Charged with the task of saving 700,000 Belgians from starvation in World War I, the relief commission Hoover headed purchased food in the open markets with funds from various governments and private relief re-lief agencies and operated 200 ships. To assure prompt and efficient distribution dis-tribution overseas, boats, railroads, flour mills, bakeries and slaughter houses were taken over on the continent. con-tinent. Get Priorities In ' conformance with President Truman's instructions, the War Production Pro-duction board has assigned high priority pri-ority ratings to critical material needed for the rehabilitation of liberated lib-erated European countries. Thus far, $170,000 of pumping equipment and pipe to relieve a serious se-rious water shortage in Athens, Greece, has topped the list of items, with $5,000,000 of drainage material for flooded Holland also receiving high ranking. Besides being allocated 625,000 tons of carbon steel for the first nine months of this year. France also has been authorized to procure 700 locomotives loco-motives and 10,000 freight cars.' Another An-other 180 locomotives have been scheduled for shipment to eastern Europe. In addition to military vehicles ve-hicles released on the spot, liberated liberat-ed countries also will get 11,000 commercial com-mercial trucks. RECIPROCAL TRADE: Passes House With President Truman declaring that he would not use his increased authority to endanger any segment of American industry, agriculture or labor, the house passed legislation legisla-tion extending the reciprocal trade act for three years and granting the chief executive power to cut tariffs 50 per cent under existing levels. Bitterly opposed by the Republican Republi-can delegation, the bill was approved ap-proved by a 239 to 153 vote after defeat de-feat of a motion to send the measure back to the ways and means committee com-mittee for deletion of any provisions broadening the President's power over tariffs. In bucking the amended amend-ed act, GOP members asserted that additional tariff reductions would invite in-vite a flow of cheap goods to this country, with the Democrats countering coun-tering with the argument that the administration ad-ministration program was necessary for postwar economic cooperation. Under the reciprocal trade act, 32 agreements have been negotiated with 30 countries for mutual tariff reductions, with the terms of the law providing that any such cuts be automatically au-tomatically extended to other friendly friend-ly countries. Because tariffs may be pared on specific items chiefly produced by individual countries, however, the effects of the automatic auto-matic extension to other nations have been limited, it was said. AMPUTATIONS Amputation cases in army hospitals hospi-tals in this country numbered approximately ap-proximately 11,000 on May 1, the war department announced, with no "basket cases," a term used to describe de-scribe a person who has completely complete-ly lost both arms and legs. There are 6 amputees who have lost 3 extremities and there is 1 case, a non-battle casualty, who lost part of four limbs. Approximately 5 per cent of these amputation cases have lost more than one limb |