OCR Text |
Show Washington, D. C. FRANCES PERKINS For a long time Secretary of Labor La-bor Frances Perkins seemed unaware un-aware of her unpopularity. But in recent months it apparently dawned on her. To give the President Presi-dent freedom of action to replace her (a degree of sincerity in marked contrast to certain of her former colleagues), she tendered her resignation, resig-nation, but for weeks he failed to act on it. His failure to name a successor cannot be attributed to lack of material. ma-terial. Three top-notch New Deal- I ers of proven ability have been available Solicitor General Francis Biddle, who was chairman of the I original national labor board; Wil- I liam H. Davis, vice chairman of the national defense mediation board, i who has had extensive experience in the labor field; and Mayor Fiorello i LaGuardia of New York. ! I ... FDR PAYS STIMSON HIGH PRAISE J Through half a century Franklin Roosevelt and Henry L. Stimson have differed on almost everything political. But at the Gridiron dinner, din-ner, Roosevelt paid his Republican secretary of war one of the finest tributes he has ever given anyone ' in public life. The suffering people of the world, he said, must keep faith in their democratic ideals and in their hope for peace. It was in this connection that the President paid his tribute to his Republican Re-publican secretary of war. Mr. Stimson, Stim-son, he said, had never lost faith. In 1931, when the world was first beginning to plant the seeds of the present war, (when Japan invaded Manchuria), it was Stimson who registered the first protest against an aggressor nation. History, the President said, would vote Stimson an everlasting debt for keeping faith and working for the principles of peace. ZAPP IN HAVANA Dies committee investigators have uncovered the interesting fact that Dr. Manfred Zapp, head of the Nazi Trans-Ocean News Service, was so-j so-j cially active during the Pan-Ameri-I can conference in Havana last year. REFUELING BARGES IN MID-ATLANTIC The navy has been making some careful studies of how to carry out I Roosevelt's promise of a bridge of ships across the North Atlantic to carry supplies to England. One result re-sult is a unique plan for anchoring fiat-bottomed scows or barges in mid-Atlantic to serve as refueling depots for airplanes. The plan is not yet perfected, and still awaits higherup approval. But here are details of the revolutionary idea. British experience in the North Atlantic has shown that scouting-bombing scouting-bombing planes are the most effective effec-tive protection for merchant vessels. Planes can sight an undersea boat at a far greater distance than a surface sur-face vessel, then drop depth bombs on it. Chief problem is the refueling of these planes. Expensive aircraft carriers, requiring three years to build, cannot be used as airplane bases in mid-Atlantic. They are too easy targets for submarines. However, the flat-bottomed scow does, not have sufficient depth in water to be a target for a submarine. Furthermore, in the relatively storm-free summer months, flat-bot- tomed barges would experience little j trouble from weather. They would be subject to attack from the air, but on the other hand each would be defended by its own scouting planes, and if it were sunk the cost of replacement would be insignificant. insignifi-cant. Whether the barges and their accompanying ac-companying planes would be con- structed for use under the British (lag. or whether the United States . would risk its own planes that far at j sea has not yet been determined. But ' it is known that the navy has the scheme under consideration. BRIDGE OF SHIPS Any big move to aid Britain on the sea in cargo ships will be a big boon to the American railroads. For it is quietly planned to give the British Brit-ish the large fleet of freighters operating op-erating between the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. These total 113 ships, averaging around 7,000 tons. Last year they transported 7,000,000 tons of freight between the two coasts. Rail haulage haul-age across the continent was over 1,000.000.000 tons and the carriers have advised the government that they can handle the additional amount without difficulty. However, the cost will be higher, but this is considered part o the price to be paid for national defense. The intercoastal vessels are privately pri-vately owned and authorities sti'l are undecided how to take them over. Two courses are open: to buy them outright or to requisition them and come to terms later. Most of the ships are old aDd slow, but they are the only ones immedi ately available. This factor of immediate im-mediate availability without seriously seri-ously impairing U. S. shipping, decided de-cided Roosevelt to take them over to Telp maintain the "bridge of ships." |