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Show Washington, D. C. JAPAN GETS AVIATION FUEL The new iron and steel scrap embargo em-bargo finally shut off one of Japan's icy military supplies. But through a loophole as big as a barn door, Japan had been able, despite this supposedly stringent embargo, to obtain all the U. S. gas It needs for the bombers that are raining death and destruction on helpless Chinese cities and villages. This loophole is the little-noticed provision pro-vision that limits the embargo only to a certain super-grade of gas 87 octane and over. This type of fuel is essential for modern aerial warfare. Without it planes are not able to attain the great speeds necessary in dog fights and raids such as take place night and day over Britain. But Japan is not up against that kind of battling. Its bombers and fighter planes face no aerial opposition. opposi-tion. They have the skies to them-jelves. them-jelves. They don't need super-gas. They can do just as well on lower octane fuel. Their job is no different differ-ent than an ordinary transport plane's. They haul out a load of bombs, dump it and fly back. The story is told in the following imriublished government figures. In the month after the imposition of the so-called embargo, Japan imported from the United States 187,026 barrels bar-rels of lower grade gasoline, or more than 20 per cent of all such exports during that period. . . SPY CENTER The large Japanese fishing colony on Terminal island in Los Angeles harbor is soon due for a clean-up by Uncle Sam. This colony has long been under suspicion as a nerve center of foreign for-eign espionage on the West cqasL More than one of the "fishing" vessels ves-sels is radio-equipped, and intelligence intelli-gence officials have evidence that some of the colony's sea-going denizens deni-zens double in brass as spies. No action has been taken up to now chiefly because of state department depart-ment qualms about kicking up an international ruckus. The suspects were kept under scrutiny but nothing noth-ing was done to get rid of them. But with Japan taking the bit in its teeth in Indo-China and showing signs of further adventures, the state department has withdrawn its red light. Under a plan worked out with California and Los Angeles of- ficials, the fishing village will be dispersed. |