Show A EA washington D C mediterranean KEY HEY key icey to the fateful battle of the mediterranean which is about to i hurst burst in full atry Y is not the ale suez S cahl but britaina Brit ains great naval base at alexandria miles west of the fee canal entrance i the loss of alexandria would dep t rive the british of their key 1 bridgehead in northern africa i a nd d ensure axis domination of the eastern stern mediterranean actually the suez canal itself has F been of little value to the british for months it went out of use as the so called lifeline life line of the em 1 pire when the axis air attack that I 1 f ge verely damaged the air carrier II 11 I 1 lust just rious proved it was suicidal to ii attempt to convoy shipping through the long and narrow waterway since then the mediterranean has teen been a no mans land for all the belligerents while 2000 miles in length its narrow width at certain places has made it extremely hazardous for both sides and the british have been routing their shipping around the cape of good hope for some time loss of the mediterranean would of course be a serious blow to the british but it would by no means end the war or mean victory for the axis with her fleet intact britain would still be able to carry the fight to hitler and mussolini MACHINE TOOLS chief reason behind the big curtailment tail ment in auto production was the release of urgently needed machine tools for defense the machine tool bottleneck could be broken overnight if all the machine tools owned by the motor industry were turned to the making of planes tanks and other armament defense experts estimate that there are around machine tools in the U S of which more than half are in plants making motor vehicles or parts for them and in the allied metal fabricating industry the list includes grinders milling machines lathes boring machines presses gear cutters drillers drillars dr illers and shapers all vital in the production of defense equipment new output of machine tools is now speeding at the rate of a month this is a spectacular achievement and a great tribute to the industry but it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the machine tools already possessed by the auto and metal fabricating ri industries which army men say would increase defense production to full flow immediately if pooled and devoted entirely to this purpose HIDDEN COLLEAGUE A stocky gray haired man flanked by a group of sightseers approached a capitol policeman and asked directions to the office of sen hiram johnson of california tucked away in an obscure correr corner of the north side of the capitol where here tourists never tread johnsons office is one of the hardest to find in the great structure ill do my best to explain how to get there said the policeman are you a tourist no grinned the inquirer im the other senator from california senator downey 0 0 0 FERRY SCHOOL everybody is wondering how the swarms of fighting planes which U S factories will produce for the british in the next 12 months will be delivered overseas the answer tor for the big ships is that they will be flown across and in such great numbers that the british are setting UP a special pilot training school for that P purpose in the united states the school will give an intensive refresher and training course to volunteer pilots to qualify them for ferrying the big bombers across the atlantic the volunteers may be brit british ish canadian or american however it is expected that the largest numbers will be americans the british can use of them 0 0 0 GOOD NEIGHBOR PILOTS another good neighbor gesture will soon be made to our immediate neighbor to the south mexico the state department will offer pilot training courses to a number of mexican youths in the united states initiator of the idea was vice president henry wallace when he visited mexico last year one of the problems discussed was the shortage of aviators in the mexican army ny wallace was told that mexico wanted to undertake a pilot trai training ing program similar to that in the roe united states but lacked planes and instructors MERRY GO ROUND leading economists rate the in ClU and financial surveys completed by the m monopoly ono 01 committee hee as the most valuable source material on the economy of the country ever compiled department t ment of agriculture is recommending om rn a new plant to hold soil in the gullies but they wish the japanese a would tell how to produce the e seed known as kudzu it is one if the plant secrets of japan it serves not t only as a soil binder but aso also as a feed surpassing alfalfa I 1 |