Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne laval given french police powers As germany fears invasion threat Us S bombers subs smash at japs increased undersea program likely EDT EDITORS TOWS NOTE wb when n opinions ions are ar expressed la in these columns colum ni the they acci I 1 and not rily of 0 this new newspaper paper are C hoke base of 0 I 1 the news new analyst yet released by western newspaper union VICHY pressure from berlin regardless of underlying causes or of how much austif justification there rr might light have been the overturn of govern government n t in vichy which had broughten brought brough Te la laval val back to power as civil supervisor had been definitely accepted by britain and the united states as a decision to go with the axis it had come at a moment when there were some indications that vichy was wavering in its collaboration with germany and that petain and his associates were looking with longing and friendly eyes toward the united states as a possible source of food supplies some favorable steps had been made in this direction then all of a sudden laval seized the police POW power er and before the world knew it laval was back in the cabinet and many believed it marked the end of the petain regime london was very positive about th the e whole thing saying frankly that the reentry re entry of laval into the government ern ment the man who looks acts and talks like hitler reduces france to the level of a nickel balkan an state the spokesman continued it clearly indicates the complete subservience of the vichy policy to berlin two vital reasons were seen for the laval development and both of them were envisioned as germany cracking down on the petain regime the first was the german fear that an american british invasion of the continent through france is imminent the second was that germany feared the growing friendliness of vichy and washington through the ministrations of leahy hardly anybody thought the french fleet would immediately go into the war on germanys germanas Germ anys side neither could most observers see french soldiers fighting against the russians nor french fliers manning planes to bomb britain but they could see a strong effort to be made at once by germany I 1 I 1 4 PIERRE LAVAL who talks like hitler to man unoccupied france with troops which could be depended on to fight an invasion attempt and thus relieve germany of the lecessi necessity ty and already through field glasses they could see the germans preparing gun em placements on the channel coast MERCY SHIP for bataan the first revelation of identity of the men lost in the battle of bataan the jap claim had been americans of total prisoners came when relatives of 1400 new mexico soldiers pleaded for a mercy ship to be sent to bataan with food and clothing they comprised fathers mothers sisters and brothers of the men of the coast artillery corps antiaircraft all from the state of new mexico it was stated in their petition that they believed their unit to have had more men in it than that from any other single state while some of the relatives did not sign and hope was expressed that perhaps much of the corps had escaped from bataan to corregidor there was enough evidence that the regiment had been trapped to induce senator chavez to go to work at washington in their behalf the first thing that had been done however was for the senator to ask th the e president for definite word as to the fate of new medicos cos U S BOMBERS sensational reports fr from om general macarthurs Mac Arthurs headquarters had provided vi ded the information that american planes had made a devastating attack on japanese bases in the philippines maps showed however that unless the planes had been carrier based or at some point not hereto core ore revealed as in american hands the shortest roundtrip round trip flight f from rom australian territory would have have been r 2800 miles to the southern tip sf of mindanao or about miles U US S SUBS Wolf pack tactics the success of american submarines in the present pacific war with credit lor for a substantial percentage of the amount of japanese warships sent to the bottom had caused chairman vinson of the hou house se naval affairs committee to present a program calling for more in undersea craft A program adopted in 1940 called for 65 such ships this would can call for more or more than double the amount previously authorized the navy last october had submarines in service of which only a few were of 0 the 1500 ton cruiser cruiser type which are now under construction st and planned by the vinson program the naval plan would be for the united states to adopt the same N N CARL VINSON an f program wolf pack tactics used by the japs and germans against american shipping though it was pointed out that we are building ships faster than they are being sunk vinson felt that an increased sub program would kick the japs out of the war faster as their shipbuilding facilities were limited Ala macarthur cARTHUR in command although it had seemed clear enough through dispatches from australia that thai the return of macarthur from the philippines had been to place him in command of all armies of the united nations in the far east some doubt had followed this in the eyes of the public largely because of stories about general blarney and the small amount of material coming direct from macarthur finally the direct question was put to the american generalissimo and his headquarters gave credence to the rumors when it frankly said it know that the generals status was not clear this called for a statement by president roosevelt and prime minister curtin the former stating that it was his understanding that macarthur was in supreme command the following day this had been concurred in fully by prime minister curtin who went into enough detail so that little doubt could remain as to macarthurs Mac Arthurs command powers the only point remaining not clear was whether macarthurs Mac Arthurs powers extended to new zealand A netherlands spokesman had confirmed his command over such dutch forces as had escaped from the east indies and the fact that general stillwell was in command of chinese in burma seemed sufficient confirmation from that quarter PRICES and labor the chances were that president roosevelt might beat to the punch congressional efforts to legislate on the labor situation by pegging all prices including rents and wages and interest on capital thus following the canadian and australian already in effect australia guarding against the 1 I black market troubles england had had because of a dire shortage of commodities took the sa same me step canada had and brought all prices pr ices i and services under control of the government the price commissioner was given authority to peg all prices and services ices at levels he might select the announcement already air eady had gone out from washington that such a move was under consi consideration de ration by the government and most observe ers felt that under precedent as well as law the executive branch had the wartime power to do this technically this if carried out by b Y the president would tend to spike the guns of congressmen pro proposing 9 laws setting the work week and the return to capital on war contracts because because it would affect all a 1 1 workers pegging their wages at c certain e ertain levels and also presumably setting their hours of work JAP INTERNEES paid too much 14 0 4 SENATOR GILLETTE offers a lour four point program latest scandal to land on the front pages had been a report given to the public by senator gillette ot of iowa that japanese internees inter nees some of them were being paid 50 a month by the government as against 21 for tees the senator said he was impressed by the sources of his information and that he might ask for the congress to investigate the senator added that in any cased case he was offering a four point program as follows 1 put all japs native and aliens under united nations authority and remove them from the pacific coast 2 rescind all their civil rights for the duration 3 draft all the males between 20 and 44 for farm work under army control and for basic army pay 4 support this entire program with funds obtained from frozen japanese money now in this country the senator said that he had information there was the sum of now available and that several hundred millions more could be liquidated by selling frozen japanese assets in this country RUSSIANS place names coming out in russian dispatches spoke volumes more than any claims of killed or wounded because they definitely had showed that the german spring offensive although well under way with hundreds of thousands of men was getting nowhere for instance the reds had claimed to have pierced german lines in the vicinity of Bryan sk constant references were made to actions north and south of lake II 11 nen men kalinin was a common jiame in in the dispatches and the reports from towns like Mariu pol in the south and of nazi atrocities could only have been obtained as the result of russian advances there were german admissions showing russian advances a breakthrough admitted near lake almen and berlin broadcasts had said that the reds were pounding the central front with an army of including hundreds of tanks COUGHLIN social justice the weekly newspaper which was founded at royal oak mich by the rev charles E coughlin radio priest had been barred from the mails father coughlin issued a statement denying present ownership of the paper or any connection with its editorial content since last fall washington advices advises ad vices however had indicated that the principal ownership rested with the radio priests father and mother the accusation against the publication had been two things that it was conducted along the line of the axis propaganda war against this country and second that it had been making a substantial contribution to a systematic and unscrupulous attack upon the nations war effort AIR A EPIC A heroic epic of the air was the story of the rescue at sea of 17 survivors of a torpedoed vessel including U d one woman by a navy patrol plane piloted by ensign francis E pinter of bethlehem pa plane a twin motored bomber flying from san juan to guantanamo on submarine patrol got a radio message to investigate a raft at a certain point and to report chances of effecting a rescue he had taken off with gallons of gas and had burned gallons or lightened his ship by 1800 pounds and though the sea was rough he decided to chance it as rescue seemed necessary at once down he came got the people into his plane all of them so exhausted that they needed help for the transfer one was tied to the deck the woman got a bunk the th e rest sat or lay ay where they could three of them in in the bomb compartment miscellany detroit henry ford announced that his research engin engineers aers have dis covered a method of making a satisfactory is auto tire with one sixteenth the rubber used in present tires it will wear well he said london A large number of americans were in london taking a special sp e course on how to defend merchant boats ships against attacks by U |