Show washington digest government asks reports 7 T on Us so S H Holdings ol dings abroad worm form valuable Inform information aw concerning american stake in for ein lands aids reconstruction by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator VM service union trust building washington D 0 when paratrooper jones landed plop in the midst ol of a field he had never heard beard of in a country chehad he had only re read d bout about in books he was able to I 1 lethis comrades direct to a certain building whose purpose iri i importance construction and contents almost down to the lost last nut and bolt bolt were all known in detail by the he Amerl american ban high command paratrooper jones knew just where yo to get to the tee point he wanted to leave ahls his dynamite and general smith at the headquarters knew exactly the damage that would result to the enemy when that dynamite went off neither would have had that information if a worried banker in U S A painstakingly filled out form which the treasury department had sent him the info information rm aaion asked for concerned american investments in foreign lands and the information the government got back made it possible tor for it to get the detailed blue prints of the factory that jones blew up from the american firm which had bad built it and in this case the construction engineer who had bossed the job the furte function tion of these annoying which have already located d american investments in countries the largest single one of which is seven million dollars and the smallest forty dollars serves other exceedingly useful if not as dramatic purposes other functions one government offic official tal pointed out to me another important function this information plays in nonmilitary wartime activities he said the more complete information the government has on the total amerl american c an stake abroad the more successful s ful will be the efforts of our forces on the fighting fronts the more quickly will the allied military government be able to restore civilian activities in re occupied areas the better equipped our depre senta live swill be to safeguard the interests of the american people during the peace table discussions and the sounder will be the working out of postwar policies in the field of international dional economic relationships this survey of american investments na ants thise broad abroad is an instrument of vital importance to the future of this country most other world powers have long since collected similar information they not only know the holdings of their own nationals all over kover the world but their relations faiva with those of other countries their plans are well formulated to protect and develop these investments our 9 government 0 nent believes we should not be less well informed this official had bad a particular reason in discussing this situation with me rn e first he wanted to stimulate the people who had received form in giving as complete cor a report as possible second hii be desired wide publicity in the hope that other american citizens individuals corporations executives of estates trustees of charitable organizations who might be beable able to furnish i the information desired would get in touch with the treasury department and turn it over to the government rehabilitation aside from Us its value to military men the facts are exceedingly inn am portent to the allied officials who k are administering rehabilitation in occupied countries if they know about a plant that has certain production facilities or trained people who can be used in producing what they desire it greatly helps their work it has proved in sicily and will prove in italy of great value to the allied administrators to get information concerning the citizens so that they can pick those who are of known non fascist leanings to cooperate with them the information also of course Is exceedingly valuable to many of the government departments claims for damage another thing that the state department part ment if called upon to do Is to assist citizens in getting back their prop property in countries that have been more than servicemen per pel year tUSO USO clubs cluba to in this hemisphere outside continental united according to the swiss newspaper paper journal m a I 1 do de geneve cigarette butts butt are re at a premium in berlin and an Increasing number of persons may be b aaen collecting them ost OB the ewt affected by the war also there li it the question of claims lor for damage to american property there are more than people in ID the state department alone who are now working on postwar plans one bf b the most important phases ot of this work is the reopening of trade witt with the war areas as well as the rest oj oi the world of 01 course the terms un der which the trade Is reopened may depend on the industrial possibilities of the various areas and how soot the controls of foreign exchange cat car be dropped will depend in a large part on the extent of the V U S and other foreign holdings of the obliga eions of the country in question all this will affect our exporters hero her as well as american interests li it foreign countries the treasury department as you know has drawn up the white plat for or international stabilization the th british government has the keynes plan none of these projects treasure treasur 3 officials said to me which vitally affect the postwar movements of trade trad and capital can be intelligible planned and certainly cannot be put into effect without adequate knowl edge of the value and type of united states interests and the number and character of the persons having those interests many other important business busl bu nesi negotiations such as private loani to foreign countries direct invest ments by american corporations furthering the good neighbor policy will be affected by the anfor informs a tion in the governments hands foi instance it if the government can sa sal definitely that in a certain area there then is very little capital invested in a certain type of enterprise and it to ll known such an enterprise might be b enlarged there the gove government sni might be able to encourage companies with foreign experience tt tc develop such an enterprise the moscow conference washington correspondents for the th press associations and some of the th count rys metropolitan dallies dailies as ai well as the network broadcasters broadcaster lived on needles and pins lof more than a day and a half before the th news of the agreements reached al a moscow were released there have been many bad leakages in advance of important international events recently the state department the office of war information and nd the office of censorship dane have done their best to protect american newspapers and radio against these violations of premature release of important stories involving foreign countries the leaks usually have come through foreign officials who whisper a few hints to some of their newsmen friends they also sometimes occur when news dispatches radioed in advance for later release art are picked up by the enemy or are divulged in neutral countries every effort was made to prevent such leaks in connection with the moscow conference the question of safety of the lives of british and american negotiators wis was involved it was feared that if the tact fact that thal the conference was over was publicly revealed the enemy might be on the watch to shoot down the planes carrying secretary of state hull and british foreign minister eden and their parties some of us who were affected learned on the saturday before the monday of their official release thai copies of the agreements had bad reached the state department earlier we had guessed as much since the president commented on the success of the agreement the day before in his press and radio conference we were told we would receive copies as far in advance as ai possible which meant that someone representing thi the various news agencies and networks had bad to be on duty day and night finally the word came monday morning that the messages were available and they were given out at ten tor for release at one we therefore had three hours in which to digest the five separate documents fortuna fortunately tely for me the one release made it possible foit foi me to report the story a minute and 19 seconds alter after it was given out on my one network broadcast f BRIEFS B R I 1 E F S by baukhage rive five hundred cuban youths are an fighting in the armies annle of the united Nat nation iota according to general benl beni tei yodes Valde special cuban de delegate legatt to mexico ton ten thousand mexicans cani arut are fighting in the U 3 army fourteen and 18 15 year old school boys boy are being used to man antiaircraft defence de fenie in germany itis it li uld t 0 |