Show R E washington D C U S BASES IN AFRICA the public generally know it though nazi agents do but the united states is very quietly and ef efi i build building ing up a series of strategic bases along the coast of A africa to guard against a nazi air putsch from dakar to south america first of these bases will be air air bromes at freetown in the british colony of sierra leone now being developed by pan american airways on the airplane ferrying route to egypt second will be an important airdrome in liberia the afro american colony just south of freetown equally important will be a submarine base in liberia the liberian airdrome is now being built in operation cooperation co with the firestone Fi rubber company purpose of these bases is to take the place of the U S fleet in the south atlantic long ago U S naval strategists figured they could reduce materially the number of U S warships around hawaii and california if there were enough big bombing planes on the pacific island bases to patrol the pacific so now U S bombing planes operating from the african coast will the same thing for the south atlantic in order to guard against nazi moves from vichy dominated dakar the problem of shutting off a nazi blitz in the south atlantic is much harder than in the pacific due to one factor distances in the atlantic are about one third less than those in the pacific I 1 BAD EGGS A member of the british air mission sion in washington back after a flying trip to england has a report on food too d conditions that is a combination of humor and hard unpalatable fact regarding the food shortage in england he says that eggs in most places are unobtainable the ration is is one egg per person per week some millions of eggs shipped from the united states were all bad bacon and eggs today is unknown in england the nearest approach is bacon and egg and if the day you want it is not egg day you have to be content with bacon and tomato instead sugar is limited to halt half a lump per person per meal at Cla ridges one sardine per person per day is the most sardines anyone can obtain next in scarcity at this swank london hostel is butter at each meal you get a vast dish in which you may beable to discern two little dabs each smaller than a penny fresh fruit is nearly nonexistent non existent there are no oranges at all the returning also reports that the general shortage of clothing results in sloppy dressing the report urges that england immediately import thousands of small home canning machines to be used by housewives in preserving current crops of fruits vegetables rabbits and meats of all sorts he advocates that the women of england be obliged to preserve food instead of devoting themselves to the hopeless hip and tummy development that results from continual knitting OFFERS FARM FOR DEFENSE john H perry president of western newspaper union has offered his 2500 acre farm in owen county kentucky to the royal canadian air force as a pilot training center the rest of his large estate has been ered to the U S g government ov ern ment 1 I am for national defense defense said perry and uncle sam can have my place lock stock and barrel illiterate DRAFTEES one of the uncomfortable facts disclosed by the selective service system is that thousands of young men in this great country of educational opportunity are unable to pass a simple test of reading and whitin writing 9 in a recent two months period may 15 to july 15 a total of draftees were excused on account 0 of f illiteracy of these were white and were negro the southern states have the heaviest percentages of illiteracy in louisiana 48 peri per cent of the whites and of the neg negroes roes were rejected on this score in georgia and florida the percentage was only slightly less other states of high illiteracy are virginia mississippi SIPPI and north carolina partly to offer the benefits benefi ts of education partly to increase the number of men fit for military service WP A is setting up a project to teach reading and writing to the reject ees NO GAS TROUBLES the shortage of gasoline in the east raises no problems in the life of hattie caraway though as ranking member of the senate commerce committee she plays an important role in the investigation of the alleged shortage the motherly senator from arkansas is is one of the few members of the upper chamber who own an automobile mrs mr s caraway depends on street t cars and buses to get to and from her office |