Show JJ ile N AIR CRASHES with the tremendous war expansion of the army and navy air branches has come an accompanying frequency of press reports of crashes by fled fledgling ling pilots these stories have brought a flood of worried ailed riled inquiries to washington authora authorities RIa relatives tives of aviators have expressed concern over the nt dunber aber of these accidents and the adequacy of the training programs the washington MERRY GO ROUND has investigated both matters for military reasons detailed figures figures cannot be disclosed but the following generalizations can be published 1 that the U V S percentage of accidents is less than that of the british and appreciably under the he best available german figures the casualty rate among nazi trainees is reported to be quite high due to limited training facilities personnel and equipment 2 while V S accidents have increased numerically because of the greatly increased number of men in training the he percentage of accidents has not in increased today it is about the same as the ratio in 1940 this f fact act is of key importance S since ince i it means there ha has s been no deterioration teri oration in the basic quality of the army and navy davy air training systems despite speed speedups ups and other war factors 3 the present training systems are far superior to those of the world war trainees are selected more carefully an and d given much more and better instruction st before they get their coveted wings the question of allowing military air crashes to be reported has been a subject of inner circle debate for some time i some authorities contend this is valuable information to the e nemy enemy and cite the fact that tha t britain has banned such press stories the president however has not Cn entirely agreed with this view H he e is against publication of totals or percentages but sees no objection to press reports of individual mishaps this is the policy being followed but the question is still under discussion buy defense bonds 0 SPRING AT THE WHITE HOUSE outside the white house fence march soldiers with fixed bayonets but inside the tall iron fence defying the changes wrought by war is the perennial transfiguration oi of spring the grass is a soft green and the beds of pansies and jonquils have burst into bloom in colorful brilliance the flowering shrubs and trees were never lovelier the magnolias japonica and forsythia on the pennsylvania avenue sidle side the magnolias are making a go gorgeous r showing supported by the forsythia tor sythia and japonica bushes all at their best the same three are on display near the fountain in the south garden these are the two best show places in the white house grounds the only scar in the scene is the construction work on the east grounds where sewers and conduits are being laid for what is officially described as a remodeling operation the colors seen best by the president from his desk are those of the jonquils and pansies in the rose garden just outside his office window there is a touch of irony in th the e fact that some of the best color is i S nipponese in origin the japanese magnolias and the japonicas japo nicas which are otherwise known as japanese quince buy defense bonds HULL AND WINCHELL cordell hull dignified austere secretary of state sat gazing out over the atlantic ocean recently I 1 from a miami beach cabana adjacent to the cabana of turbulent broadway news sleuth walter winchell for two months mr hull has been absent from washington there has been speculation whether he would return so news sleuth winchell put the question bluntly to his cabana neighbor mr secretary are you going ack to work the secretary of state replied in he affirmative he said that after he had had sufficient rest in the south he was going back to work note one of Winch ells friends reproached him for putting such a blunt question to mr hull replied winchell ive gotta ask questions m my Y racket I 1 HOME FRONT FLASHES donald nelsons belsons Nel sons appointment of a coordinator co to boss the rubber industry is the first of a number 0 of f similar industry rulers others slated to be named will be coordinators ordina tors for textiles food aircraft ff metals ores attention draft registrants registrant si you can write it down as certain that congress will enact allotment legislation providing government aid for dependents dependent that means those exempted on dependent grounds will will be reclassified |