| Show I 3 a C r r J. J J r U. U S. S Army Mans Outposts l Of OfFar Flung Far Battle Fronts tJ t United Sta States Assumes Assume Military Command in fl J Area Man Many Y T TOwn Times Imes as Wide as Its i Own Borders I I By i News Analyst and Commentator r Service 1343 13 H Street N W Washington D. D C. C Spring has unloosed her fluttering green Breen scar scarf over the capital the stark pattern of black branches branchesi i f against sullen skies was gone Behind Behind Behind Be Be- hind the classic portico of the Treasury Treasury Treasury Treas Treas- ury building I could see from my 1 high window pointed tree tops like a jade comb in a gray dowagers dowager's hair I Th That t was May in Washington as asit asit it has looked for nearly a quarter of a century But there was a agrim agrim grim signature in the upper corner of this picture framed by my office window that made the whole scene modern strictly modern strictly brutally 1942 It was the silhouette of a parapet the top of a tall hotel and on the penthouse penthouse penthouse pent pent- house roof a black cylinder pointed upward upward upward-an an anti-aircraft anti gun But that did not hold my attention I have seen hundreds if not thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands of those guns in the past weeks It was a doughboy under his rounded hell helmet iet sitting on the edge of the parapet kicking his heels into space as his watchful young I eyes followed the skyline r To me he was wass the symbol of a I million men scattered from the Arctic to the Antipodes scanning strange skylines soon to see them all turn red Never in history has a nation sent its sons out to as wide-flung wide a front frontas as that which America is guarding today never in history has such a terrible machine been built by a single people In less than half a year a nation that yesterday spent less on its I army than on its movies its autos I or its cosmetics has begun to man manthe manthe manthe the outposts of the United Nations Gradually the United States has assumed military command in anarea an anarea anarea area ten perhaps 20 times as wide as its own borders Boys from Florida Florida Florida Flor Flor- ida and Texas live in iron huts in Iceland under an American commander com com- mander boys mander boys from the Dakotas are sweating in Asiatic jungles jungles boys boys from New England are fighting sandstorms in the African deserts deserts- American generals give commands in China in the South Seas in India and the Levant The car is still running though running though not so far in the East and the northwest northwest northwest north north- west Pacific Pacific we we still have at least one teaspoonful of sugar for our coffee cof cof- coffee fee school begins father goes to the office or the fields there are still dishes dishes- to wash shoes to shine umbrellas to mend babies to change If it weren't for these common engrossing things human beings could not carry carryon on while the whole world goes through the excruciating excruciating excruciating ex ex- agony of travail that will bring forth something whose nature 1 no one can guess To survive this ordeal requires the dull unthinking indifference of the brute or the faith of saints and I martyrs I Canada Struggles for Financial Independence Changing its business all around is one of the biggest jobs this country country country coun coun- try has today Changing the business business business busi busi- ness of a hundred million people is isa isa isa a long hard job Weve We've only really really really real real- ly got down to cases since Pearl Harbor But when the President told us about forgetting the creature creature creature crea ture comforts and the efforts that have been made since April 28 in Washington to carry out his seven point living cost program most people began to realize that we are on the way Recently I took a specially conducted conducted con con- ducted trip through a section of the territory of our northern neighbor Canada where they have been busy I changing ever since 1939 I From the moment you get off at the busy station in Montreal filled with un uniforms and the folks there to meet them you realize how imI important important im im- im- im I Canadians are to Americans how important Americans are to Canadians and how vital it is that each of these good American neighbors neighbors neigh neigh- bors see eye to eye work together and learn to forget border and breed and birth and to greet each other frankly and freely as brother Canada is big big big-a a little bigger in square miles than the United States It has a tenth of the people to support and develop this great Unlike the United States third one of the Canadians are speaking French and two-thirds two of the English speaking mixed with witha a heavy smattering of races drawn from as many different lands as our Daughter I am in my mothers mother's house but mistress of my own wrote Kipling of Our Lady of the Snows as he called Canada whose wide vistas of lakeland prairies mountain and forest were too wide for even his facile genius to bring to a single canvas Now she is a up grown-up daughter who can speak to the motherland on equal terms Interdependency Today bound together in the same cause the United States and Canada are more interdependent than ever They must share in the framing of a new world after the war Canada has never accepted a lend-lease lend arrangement with the United States Canadas Canada's parliament t has voted a afree afree afree free gift of a billion dollars to Britain Canada dependent on so much of Americas America's output to sustain her war effort is struggling to maintain financial independence so that she can sit down at the peace table with no debtors debtor's shackles on her wrists no burrs on her tongue as an equal counselor among the But because the United States is isa isa isa a giant financially and industrially and Canada is small in comparison she is deeply affected by what America does That is why she is keenly interested in how the United States works worl s out the program for checking inflation laid down in the Presidents President's message of April 27 Canadas Canada's war effort depends on the United States for certain materials materials materials ma ma- which Canada neither grows in her fertile soil nor fabricates in her factories Canada has things America needs You cannot go into one of the busy Canadian war factories factories factories fac fac- tories without seeing the name of I Ian an American city stamped on some machine machine American American machine tools I is an essential which we have furnished furnished furnished fur fur- furI I Canada so that she could i equip not only her own army and navy but help Britain to equip hers And Canada has had a problem She bought much more from us than we from her American dollars became became became be be- came as scarce north of the border as corn pone and its it's hard to think of an American product unknown in Canada Tourist Dollars One of the chief sources of American American American Amer Amer- ican dollars was th the American tour tour- The tourist trade fell off with the beginning of the war It has almost disappeared with the rationing rationing rationing ration ration- ing of gasoline and tires No Canadian Canadian Canadian Cana Cana- dian can come to the United States and spend his money here reducing Canadas Canada's dollar exchange without proving his visit is strictly business One of the clauses clauses of the famous Hyde Park agreement made by Prime Minister McKenzie-King McKenzie and I President Roosevelt was coordination coordination coordination co ordination of price policies Today Today Today To To- day that ordination co-ordination has begun I 14 months after it was laid down For there can be no effective price control in Canada if there is no control in the states whose products s she e has to buy If American prices should soar how could the Canadian government force its own merchants to keep prices down on the many things they get from the United States or how could the Canadian war budget bear the strain if the many war products they must have from us gas engines for instance for planes and tanks and trucks went up in price Canada began to study price controls controls con con- trots immediately after her declaration declaration declaration decla decla- ration of war with Germany in 1939 But it was not until December 1941 that maximum price regulation went into effect Since then Canada has been watching waiting hoping that we would follow sui suit because there could be no Canadian price ceiling unless there was a north american price ceiling It would be a house with less than half hah a roof On December 1 1941 Canada froze prices and wages allowed for unpreventable rise in the cost of living by granting a bonus in wages if the cost of living went up It has however varied little now if the Presidents President's program is successfully successfully successfully success success- fully carried into effect stabilization stabilization stabilization tion can be assured We have followed followed followed fol fol- lowed the Canadian pattern U. U S. S Influence But some American prices had already affected Canada Take the typical case of the Canadian merchant merchant merchant mer mer- chant who either had to sell grapefruit grapefruit grape grape- fruit at a loss or stop selling them because the United States was the only source If all aU the merchants had stopped selling grapefruit it would have ave had a bad effect because because because be be- cause it would meant have a greater strain on the market for other fruits or vegetables vegetables tomatoes tomatoes for instance which happen to be inI in i I great demand for similar vitamin I co content both at ho home and in Britain I |
