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Show Lack of 'Friends, Men and Guns' Hurt French Cause, Says Petain; U. S. 'Coalition' Cabinet Selected (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) , Released by Western Newspaper Union. . per, 3- r . - -r r . ; f fc. J i f - f TT , H'.J f ?V, W, jf , " ' -t ' ' t 4 " i -f i ' , 1 t n , H l? ' 1 If all Henry Ford's tentative orders to turn out warplanes on a mass production basis materialize, this gigantic tool and die plant in his River Kongo, Michigan, plant will become the hub of the plane-motor industry. It Is now the center of production for Ford motor cars and government defense engineers point out that once tools and dies are completed and set up to turn out a standardized plane, mass production could begin and continue at top speed indefinitely. (Muss Production.) THE WAR: 'Too Feiv While his armies were busy with "mopping up" military operations against a badly batterd France, Adolf Hitler busied himself preparing prepar-ing the terms under which his soldiers sol-diers would cease firing. France, meanwhile, after cautioning caution-ing her troops to fight on until the actual signing of an armistice was announced, dispatched her peace envoys en-voys in a snow white plane to meet the Germans and hear their terms of surrender. As the nation waited, its 84-year-old premier, Marshal Henri Petain, explained why he had sought peace and why France had been unable to defend itself against invasion. France, he said, had too few friends, too few young men, too few guns and it had wasted the victory years following fol-lowing the armistice of November 11, 1918. Military deficiencies accounted in large part for the distress of France, in the premier's opinion. He pointed point-ed out that only 2,780,000 troops faced the Germans at the beginning of the "battle of France" along the Somme and Aisne rivers. This was a half million fewer than France had on the battlefield after three years of hard fighting in the World war. England had not nearly as many men on French soil in 1040 as she had in 1914-18, and in addition, addi-tion, the old ally, Italy, was an enemy en-emy and ally United States a "neutral." "neu-tral." Biggest worry of ally England was the disposition of the French fleet following any armistice between France and Germany. If Germany gets control of the whole strength of this fleet, the Rome-Berlin axis will have sea power that could compete com-pete favorably against England's armada. London was happy enough though over the appointment of Frank Knox and , Henry Stimson to President Roosevelt's cabinet (See below). The British hailed this move as assuring a continued policy of U. S. material and moral aid to the allied cause. THE PRESIDENCY: Coalition No respecter of precedent, but respected re-spected even by his enemies as a master political strategist, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, detracted little from his reputation in these two categories cat-egories with his pre-G. O. P. convention con-vention appointment of Frank Knox and Henry L. Stimson to his cabinet. These two important Republican leaders were asked to serve in what was termed a "coalition" cabinet Knox as secretary of navy and Stimson Stim-son as secretary of war. Knox was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936 and Stimson served as secretary of state in the Hoover administration. Both have INDUSTRY: Neiv Competition Many are the economists who have forecast a trade war between Germany and the United States after Adolf Hitler has finished his political and military war in Europe. It now appears that the Nazis are not going to wait for a final cleanup of Europe before launching this type of attack upon the American markets. mar-kets. For from South America comes news that German steel companies are offering steel in that sector at prices below United States quotations quota-tions and are giving a cash guarantee guaran-tee of delivery by October. To some observers this early beginning of the long awaited trade war seems a bit premature. For Adolf Hitler still has a few big obstacles to overcome before he can expect to compete with American business in this hemisphere. Germany bases her ability to deliver de-liver these shipments of steel upon the fact that she has virtual control of 95 per cent of the French steel industry and this, plus the Reich's own output, combined with the Belgium Luxembourg production, amounts to about 40,000,000 tons per year. Biggest problem is keeping all these steel mills running at capacity ca-pacity and still being able to maintain main-tain order throughout the "protected" "protect-ed" nations. And after the steel is produced, Germany must reckon with Britain's still-effective sea blockade. Slump Petroleum, another industry which has a big stake in foreign markets, has a more immediate problem on its hands. In Texas, oil reserve tanks are almost full, prices are slipping every day, and foreign markets mar-kets are near collapse. That state's railroad commission, which controls the output of oil, is studying the problem and is considering a 30-day shutdown of producing wells to boost prices. LATIN AMERICA: Tangle Latin American nations are at present in default of some $1,000,-000,000 $1,000,-000,000 worth of bonds held by U. S. investors. To the development of additional foreign trade and in the meeting of foreign competition in this hemisphere (see Industry) this default creates a huge stumbling block. Economic relations between nations na-tions become difficult when debts pile up and as U. S. business has lost many of its foreign markets due to war in Europe, the federal government gov-ernment is making every effort to untangle the debt problem in the Latin American nations. One current proposal is to launch a huge government loan program to the Latin American nations and give them a chance to make payments pay-ments on their debts, eventually repaying re-paying the United States on a long-term long-term basis. President Roosevelt is expected to outline details of this plan within a short time. MISCELLANY: Democratic National Chairman James A. Farley officially released the information that William D. Bankhead of Alabama, speaker of the house of representatives, will be named temporary chairman and keynoter of the party's national convention, con-vention, which convenes in Chicago, July 15. Sen. Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky will be named permanent chairman. Shades of World war days fell over the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing company's plant in Butler, Pa., as it was announced that the British munitions purchasing purchas-ing commission had placed an order or-der for 200,000 six-inch shells to be delivered not later than December. This plant also turned out munitions muni-tions in 1917-18. Eleven army fliers and bomber crew members were killed when two Douglas bombing planes collided in mid-air and crashed in flames during dur-ing formation maneuvers near Mitchell field. Long Island. supported President Roosevelt's foreign for-eign policy. Republican spokesmen hailed the appointments as the definite stamping stamp-ing of the Democratic party as "the war party." Some of them declared that they believed the President's plan was to create the impression throughout the nation that his stand in the matter of war was entirely non-political and that thus any attack at-tack against his policies by the Republican Re-publican party would be branded as unpatriotic. But President Roosevelt said otherwise. oth-erwise. He stated that the appointments appoint-ments were made in "line with the overwhelming sentiment of the nation na-tion for national solidarity in a time of world crisis and in behalf of our national defense and nothing else." U. S. DEFENSE: New Fleet Because it has depended upon Great Britain's fleet to keep things on an even keel in the Atlantic, the U. S navy high command has usually usu-ally concentrated its major power in Pacific waters. Now that Great Britain has its hands full enforcing the sea blockade of Germany and Italy, and defending its own shores, the problem of providing the eastern seaboard of the U. S. with adequate protection becomes increasingly acute. Congressional sources forecast an early proposal by the administration to build a completely separate Atlantic At-lantic fleet. Talk of building up this division of the naval forces has been given added impetus because of the possibility of complete German-Italian victory in Europe. At present the navy bill in congress con-gress (and it seems certain to pass) authorizes the construction of the largest navy in the history of the world. So big would this new U. S. navy be, that it alone would surpass sur-pass the combined power of all potential po-tential enemies of this country. The new Atlantic fleet would probably be a section of this expanded navy. Conscription President Roosevelt has in mind a plan to conscript the youth of the nation in a great mobilization drive of human resources and to give American youth a toughening and disciplinary seasoning that could be compared to that of the totalitarian national youth programs. In a Washington press conference he revealed that details of this plan may be submitted to congress within with-in a few weeks. This program would include universal government service serv-ice training for young men and women wom-en alike, between the ages of 21 and 31. In addition to military training train-ing for the physically fit there would be training in all types of skills required re-quired for the forces behind the actual ac-tual combat lines. Naturally such a program of conscription con-scription isn't going to be put into effect without opposition both in and out of congress. But the President and his cabinet believe that America must be prepared pre-pared to cope with any type of conflict offered by the ideologies of the dictators. Such conflict may not be actual military operation. More surely there will be an economic struggle for control of world markets. mar-kets. Mass Production When Henry Ford stated a few weeks ago that he could turn out a thousand warplanes a day if he was given enough orders and six months in which to get ready, his offer was taken seriously by only a few people. peo-ple. Since that time, however, the government has been inspecting the possibilities of the motor industry in general and Mr. Ford's plant in particular, with the idea in mind that mass production of fighting aircraft air-craft might some day become a i necessity. |
