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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Jap Armada Repulsed in New Guinea; Russians' Rostov -Caucasus Offensive Wins Back Vital Areas From Germans; FDR Cites 'Miracle' of War Production (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.) ' Released by Western Newspaper Union. , i 4 4 v CONGRESS: Farm Bloc Progrcm Increasing strength of the farm bloc's influence in the 78th congress was evident as leaders mobilized their forces in both houses to modify administration farm policies and to seek release from the armed forces of drafted farm youth as a means of relieving the agricultural manpower man-power shortage. That the farm bloc had support for its efforts in rural America was indicated by the action of five major farm organizations in uniting behind be-hind the program. These groups include in-clude the National Association of Commissioners, Secretaries and Directors Di-rectors of Agriculture; the American Farm Bureau Federation; the National Na-tional Grange; the Milk Producers Federation and the National Cooperative Co-operative Council. Speaking for the farm bloc, Senator Sena-tor John Bankhead of Alabama said that preservation of the farm labor supply should figure in a complete redistribution of manpower. Indicating Indicat-ing the farm bloc's support of the farm organizations' appeal for release re-lease of drafted farm youth, he asserted as-serted that the estimated 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 men scheduled to be drafted in 1943 might well be diverted' to production of both weapons and food. CONSUMER GOODS: Feivcr Purchases Ahead Purchases of consumer goods and services by American civilians will register declines of 10 to 15 per cent in 1943, while production of goods will show a 15 to 20 per cent dip, according to a prediction by the Office of Civilian Supply of the War Production board. The OCS estimated that the lag in production would be offset by the absorption ab-sorption of 25 per cent of the inventories inven-tories on hand at the beginning of I the year. Largest drop in buying is expected expect-ed in durable goods, continuing a trend started in 1942 when purchases by civilians declined 45 per cent below be-low 1941. This year's decline is es- I timated at 35 per cent below 1942. The OCS said that production of consumer con-sumer goods from steel would virtually virtual-ly stop. VICTORY PREDICTIONS Premature, Says Davis White-haired OWI Chief Elmer Davis, who prides himself on being realistic, exercised that trait when he took exception to Admiral William Wil-liam F. Halsey's prediction of a United Nations' victory this year. Commenting on the naval officer's forecast, Davis said: "I have no information to support such a prediction, pre-diction, although I have been trying to get some." Davis pointed out that the Germans Ger-mans are still building submarines faster than the Allies are sinking them and the U-boats' toll is creat- First picture of an American officer questioning German prisoners is shown above, as Maj. William Yarborough (bareheaded) of Seattle, Wash., interrogates two German prisoners taken in Tunisia. Fighting French troopers look on. Major Yarborough is liaison officer between the advanced ad-vanced U. S. forces and the French in Tunisia. ROOSEVELT: Better World Ahead Bad news for the Axis, good news for the United Nations and the assurance as-surance of victory followed by postwar post-war economic security were the three most significant elements in President Roosevelt's annual message mes-sage to the 78th congress. In delivering his bad news to the Axis on all fronts, the President bluntly announced: "Now our aim is to force the Japanese to fight. Last year we stopped them. This year we intend to advance." In the African area he promised that the last vestige of Axis power would be driven from the south shores of the Mediterranean. Concerning Europe, Eu-rope, he said, ' "We are going to strike and strike hard." The good news for the United Nations Na-tions was contained in Mr. Roosevelt's Roose-velt's enumeration of the "miracle of production" at home, as well as the evidence of close co-operations between all Allied leaders. In his summary of accomplishments dur-ine dur-ine the last vear. the President list- SOUTH PACIFIC: Japs Are Stubborn Although General MacArthur's forces had cleared the enemy out of the Papuan peninsula, the Japs still held an area in New Guinea as large as Texas and Oklahoma combined. That the Nipponese intended to stubbornly stub-bornly hold this area was evident from their naval operations to reinforce re-inforce it. First Jap efforts in this direction were frustrated when United Nations bombers attacked a convoy of 10 enemy ships off Lae, 160 miles up the eastern New Guinea coast from Buna. The Allied airmen sank two ships, one a 15,000-ton vessel loaded with troops, scored hits on a third and shot down 18 Jap planes, according accord-ing to a communique from General MacArthur's headquarters. Meanwhile other Allied airmen roved as far as Gasmata and Ra-baul Ra-baul in neighboring New Britain, where unusually heavy concentrations concentra-tions of Jap troop and supply ships and war craft had assembled. hit": -A ELMER DAVIS ing "heavy losses in ships and the cargoes that go with them and sometimes some-times trained men in them." The director of war information tempered his pessimistic views, however, how-ever, by stating that the Allied nations, na-tions, particularly the United States, for some months past have been building more ships than Axis submarines sub-marines have been sinking. POSTWAR CARS: To Cost $400 Radically new light-weight passenger passen-ger cars that may sell for as little as $400 were envisioned by F. C. Crawford, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, as a postwar development resulting from amazing strides in metallurgy. Mr. Crawford said that motorists in the coming peace era will have better gasoline than the 100-octane fuel now used for combat aircraft. The superior gasoline, plus greater use of light metals developed during the; war, will give the American people' peo-ple' far greater mileage on their cars and the cheapest all-around automobile automo-bile transportation in history. The NAM president said automobile automo-bile companies expect to start production pro-duction on some cars immediately after the war, but that the new postwar post-war models probably will not appear for 15 to 18 months afterward. ed the production of 48,000 airplanes, 59,000 tanks and se'lf-propelled artillery ar-tillery weapons, and 10,431,000,000 rounds of ammunition and the transporting trans-porting of 1,500,000 men of our 7,000,-000 7,000,-000 armed forces overseas. Significantly, Signif-icantly, he revealed that more supplies sup-plies are now being flown by American Ameri-can .planes to China than were ever transported over the Burma road. In his approaches to postwar planning plan-ning and domestic policy, the President Presi-dent succeeded in promoting good will for the administration in a congress con-gress now closely balanced in political po-litical faith. He suggested principles princi-ples rather than specific recommendations recommen-dations for legislation that might stir up factional disputes. NORTH AFRICA: Allies Coil Give and take operations continued contin-ued on the Tunisian front, with the Allied forces steadily recruiting their strength until superior air and land power aided by more favorable weather would enable them to smash ahead in the all-out assault for Bi-zerte Bi-zerte and Tunis. As American troop concentrations were speeded in the new U. S. fifth under Lieut. Gen. Mark Clark, British Brit-ish infantry units wrested important heights from the Germans west of Bizerte. The British, however, were dislodged dis-lodged from these positions by fierce German counter-attacks indicating the enemy's determination to contest every remaining foot of African soil. British and American bombers were active in the air, while Allied submarines harassed Axis shipping in the Mediterranean, sinking two enemy ships believed to be carrying troops to Africa. In the east, General Sir Bernard Montgomery's British eighth army had been sparring for an opening for a new push on Tripoli. On the diplomatic front it was reported re-ported that Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Fighting French, and Gen. Henri Giraud had agreed to a discussion of North African problems designed to speed French action against the Axis in collaboration with their Allies. LOCAL TRANSPORT: ODT Takes O ver In a far-reaching executive order designed to speed up the movement of war workers, President Roosevelt placed Defense Transportation Director Di-rector Joseph B. Eastman in charge of local bus lines and street cars. The effect was to give ODT complete com-plete supervision over all local transportation trans-portation equipment and to authorize Mr. Eastman to revise present service serv-ice and schedules wherever necessary neces-sary to step up the movement of passengers pas-sengers to and from-war plants. In the Solomons, American fliers continued to assert Allied air supremacy su-premacy by attacking Jap airfields at Munda and Kahili on Bougainville island. Meanwhile in Burma, British Brit-ish planes strafed the area northwest of Akyab and damaged enemy shipping ship-ping off Burma's west coast. RUSS STEAMROLLER: Gaiiis Momentum Best news for the United Nations' cause continued to come from the far-flung expanses of south and central cen-tral Russia. The Reds' ' two-pronged threat aimed at Rostov, vital city at the mouth of the Don, grew more menacing men-acing to the Nazi defenders, as both the northern and southern arms of the pincers continued to make new gains, capturing 61 villages in the Middle Don and rolling up impressive impres-sive advances in the Caucasus. The Caucasus offensive was especially espe-cially significant, for after expelling the Nazis from Mozdok, gateway to the Grozny oil fields, and from strategic stra-tegic Nalchik, the Russ pressed the retreating Germans hard, advancing advanc-ing toward Mineralne Vody, center of a network of Caucasus railroads. The capture of more than a dozen Caucasus towns indicated that the Nazi front in the area was breaking up faster than in any previous battles. bat-tles. The seriousness of the German plight in the Caucasus was emphasized empha-sized by the fact that for the first time the Berlin radio conceded that Axis troops were retreating in the east Caucasus, explaining that their troops had carried out "a shortening shorten-ing of the front, according to plan by giving up advanced strong points." PETROLEUM RATION: East Curbed Again The OPA cut deeper into the use of rationed petroleum products in 17 eastern states, when an order banned pleasure driving and slashed the amount of fuel oil that schools, stores, theaters and non-residential establishments may consume to 25 per cent below present rations, giving giv-ing them about 45 per cent of normal requirements. Future operation of many amusement amuse-ment places was left in doubt, since the OPA order specifically banned motoring to theaters as well as race tracks, and the fuel restrictions threatened to make theaters and night clubs cool beyond comfort. The OPA warned, too, that future cuts in non-residential fuel oil rations might be necessary. Stern measures faced motorists violating the new orders. Any car owner driving to amusement centers or to "purely social engagements" was liable to the cancellation of all or part of his gasoline ration. |
