Show EN washington D C n HOODOOED NORMANDIE there is not much consolation tc be had in connection with the virtual sinking of the S S normandie except for one thing the french had gone to a lot OJ 0 expense to build the giant vessel S sc c that she could be converted to an aim airplane carrier in wartime to this end special funnels were arranged on the side of the deck to give space for runways especially large elevators were installed at each end ol 01 the ship and the top deck consisted of the biggest sports deck in the world however U S naval engineers decided that despite all the french preparations the Norm andies upper decks were not strong enough to hold a flock of planes the french had sacrificed reinforcements below for the purpose of beauty in the passenger salons As a troop ship the normandie was considered useful but not nearly so useful proportionately as a medium sized vessel such as the manhattan reason big ships draw so much water that they could not efficiently carry troops to dakar or west african ports small boats would be necessary to take soldiers and cargo ashore also the normandie was too big to get through the suez canal SINKING U S TANKERS the navy is being more hush hush than usual regarding the sin kings ol of oil tankers off the atlantic coast however here are a few important facts about the situation which are not militar military y secrets first fact is encouraging the tankers sunk were old small a and nd slow all of them were 20 years old or over and the largest standard oils india arrow was tons on the surface this would indicate that oil and gasoline losses on the east coast would not be heavy however this is not the case for all of the big new american tankers er have been taken over by the this was under an ment whereby the maritime commission had lent the oil companies around per vessel to build fast modern tankers making 19 knots this is so fast that they can avoid submarines and also keep up with the fleet however these new tankers built in operation cooperation co with the navy are now with the fleet buy defense bonds HEAVY LOSSES two other factors indicate the importance of the sin kings on the atlantic coast one is an announcement made by the british last week that sin kings for the entire atlantic including the east coast of the united states has been heavier in january than ever before the other is the fact that comprehensive rationing ration 19 of oil and gasoline for the east coast is now a certainty in other words oil and tanker losses have been very heavy reason for these losses is easy to understand it requires no official explanation As everyone knows especially the enemy we had to rush various kinds of shipping to the pacific to replace the damage done at pearl harbor also we had a large number of warships busy convoying vessels across the north atlantic hence we have been caught shorthanded on the east coast note most people dont realize it b but ut the oil shortage along the atlantic could be relieved considerably by a curtailment of tank car rates on gasoline and fuel oil last fall the rail rates were reduced on crude oil but not on gasoline 01 ci fuel oil POLITICAL GO ROUND democratic insiders are predicting that gov herbert lehman ol 01 new york will be persuaded to run for a fourth term this year lehman has told party chiefs he want another term but they urge him to be a candidate again on the ground of wartime duty meanwhile former district attorney tom dewey is ii busy behind the scenes organizing his political fences for another try at the governorship this will wil be the springboard for a second shot at the GOP presidential nomination in 1944 ins gov julius heil will run for a third term this year tc get himself in position to take on isolationist sen alex wiley when he comes up for reelection election re in 1944 both are republicans but privately no love is lost between them florello La Guardias ambition a al ways has been to become a U S senator after he steps out as mayor of new york city buy defense bonds MERRY GO ROUND HOUND in trenton N J the giant gen eral electric company will be tried on charges of monopolistic control ol 01 0 electric light globe patents it will be one of the most important anti ant trust trials in history if the government ment wins wing the case the effect will wil have far reaching consequences on all patent controls the treasury department has ordered customs officials to wear black s silk ilk neckties with their new neu uniforms |