Show ECONOMIC highlights industrial news new review big question in the minds of 0 millions of americans american has been where is the navy that question was partially answered during the past couple of weeks when the navy department announced that a ar group aup of destroyer from admiral bartts asiatic fleet waa pounced upon a convoyed conveyed fleet of japanese transports in the east indies and destroyed numerous vessels and damaged others ond other fleet units had struck at japanese mandated islands southwest of the ilig hawaiian islands the actual disposition of the main fleet is one of the most closely held naval secrets those amateur strategists who argue that it should sail boldly into japanese dominated waters and come to grips with the main fleet irl iri a gigantic action are given no support by men who under understand underhand tand naval warfare the advantages possessed by the japanese fleet in the yar far east are clear she has as major bases less than a thousand miles from the phill philippines p her ships can be given constant air support our nearest important base pearl harbor is chops ands of miles away far beyond the effective range of even the largest airplanes we would in short go into battle with all the odds against us and risk the loss of a great fleet which is still our first line of continental defenso defense it may be that admiral hart is using his forces for what might be termed guerilla naval warfare small units can strike swiftly tl v inflict damage on the enemy and get away they can constantly harry the japanese and make the enemy convoy problem one of ever grow ing difficulty japanese land victores ies in the far east have overshadowed 1 the fact that we and our al lies aies are destroying tremendous amounts of nipponese shipping that in the long pull will be exceedingly important according to all authorities ties japanese shipping replace ment capacity is exceedingly limited now that she has been cut off from this count rys scrap iron and other resources every ship that goes down represents a gerlous loss it is clear what japanese strategy is now every first she must have oil that is the reason for dinv inv invasion asio n of the east indies but the du dutch t C h say that they have destro destroyed al all I 1 wells in jap occupied areas so thoroughly th or that many month of labor will be required to return them to production second she must completely conquer the philippines As long as aa general douglas macarthurs Mac Arthurs mag ant troops are able to hold positions on the mainland along with corregidor fortress key to manila bay japan will gift have to maintain and supply a tremendous army in in those islands Mar Arthurs headquarters have reported that the jap anese have between and soldiers in the field against him third she must take singapore whoever possesses that great base dominates the far east to a tremendous extent it if it should be lost to the allies the job of defeating japan would become immensely harder and longer japan has gone all out following the german blitzkrieg technique according to reports report S from the front lines she apparently cares little for casualties macarthur has said that wave after wave of japanese troops many without even complete uniforms have been sent against his forces mowed down only to be followed by more waves japanese commanders apparently feel that they must win their objectives swiftly if they are to win at all the elext month or two may tell teh the story tf if japart japan taked singapore the dutch east indies and the philippines ip there can be little doubt but what years must pass before sufficient allied power can be turn ed cd loose to unseat her if singapore is held the allied air and naval units are able to inflict increase increasingly ing I 1 heavy blows on the enemy the japanese drive could lose momentum very suddenly today japan is the strongest force in the pacific the hope is that the 19 alance of power will be reversed before she is is able to consolidate her gains and stabilize ih the positions she has seiz ed and is attempting to seize this country did not get all that it hoped for from the meeting of the american republics sumner welles did a fine job but argentina proved adamant tit at the last as many anticipated however it is tain that a considerable step forward was taken toward the t goal of hemispheric solidarity the overwhelming major majority i ity of 0 the latin american nations ha have ve now broken off all diplomatic and commercial relations with the axis many have declared war on japan germany and italy all have beclar ed that their sympathies lie with the united states next job will be to use latin am almost limitless natural resources and raw materials for war p purposes u south america has rubber ores of all kinds and other essential materials in potential abundance bun dance but these resources are largely undeveloped and there here are difficult problems of transport and geography which must be solved the job will ie be a long one it will probably begin with attempts to put brazilian rubber to product productive products i ve purpose |