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Show Washington, D. C. AID TO RUSSIA It Is now permissible to reveal that several months ago about 300,-000 300,-000 tons of shipping were tied up in the Persian Gull waiting to be unloaded. un-loaded. This represented a super attempt to aid Russia, and although some ships were tied up for weeks, it was not the fault of the War Shipping administration or the army. This was an attempt to show good faith to Russia when she was under terrific ter-rific siege, when the battle of Stalingrad Stalin-grad was in the balance. In some cases ships rode at anchor an-chor 50 and 60 days in the Gulf of Persia, waiting to unload, their crews idle. Basic reason for this delay is that port facilities along the Gull ol Persia Per-sia are backward if not medieval. There were no modern docks or cranes, and to unload locomotives without cranes is almost impossible. Also the railroad running north Irom Basra to the Caucasus is a meandering mean-dering affair, never completely finished, fin-ished, originally built to reach the Shah's hunting lodge rather than port facilities on the Caspian. Very little had been done by the British to improve this line, until American engineers got busy. Even before Pearl Harbor, when we first started sending aid to Russia, American Amer-ican railroad men were rushed to Basra. But it was a tough job, and was still unfinished last fall and summer. At that time the Nazis were knocking our Murmansk convoys con-voys off Norway into smithereens. So, to keep faith with Russia, ships were piled into the Gull ol Persia. Today the situation, though still difficult, is greatly improved. In fact, hard-hitting Lew Douglas, dynamo dy-namo ol the War Shipping administration, adminis-tration, has pepped up unloading facilities fa-cilities in India, South Africa and other bad bottlenecks where previously previ-ously U. S. ships had to wait three and four weeks to unload. WORRIED OVER RAILROADS Certain Washington officials acquainted ac-quainted with railroad operation are worried about temporary breakdowns break-downs of the transportation system, and consequent serious delays in moving waf materials. While it is admitted that the railroads rail-roads are doing a "grand job," there is no overlooking the fact that the burden is proving too heavy. ' Most serious is the situation in westward freight traffic. The country's coun-try's railroads were built with the idea of moving traffic eastward, with bigger facilties as traffic moves east. But today, with a Pacific war to supply, the westward movement is greater than ever. Breakdowns have occurred on single-track western lines, requiring rerouting re-routing in a circuitous manner, with delays of days and weeks in some cases. A transcontinental freight movement which once was accomplished accom-plished in five days is now requiring ten and fifteen. The remedy seems to be an increase in-crease in the centralized control of traffic. This smells like government operation, from the railroads' .point of view, and they shy away from it But officials in ODT who have no railroad connections regard such control as necessary for the wartime war-time job. Note: The burden for meeting these problems falls on the shoulders of V. V. Boatner, director of the division di-vision of railroad transport in the ODT. Boatner has now shifted to a "without compensation" basis so he can act as consultant for the railroads rail-roads and be paid by them, while still officially working for the government. FARMER CHENNAULT Freshman Rep. Charles E. Mc-Kenzie Mc-Kenzie of Louisiana expected to get a first-hand report on the war in the Far East when he shook hands with his most distinguished constituent, Gen. Claire Chennault, leader of American forces in China, who is visiting in the United States. But the "Fighting Tiger" almost floored McKcnzie by inquiring: "How's farming down home? I can't wait to get back to my plantation." McKcnzie replied that he had Just returned from Louisiana, that farmers farm-ers in his district were doing "very well" considering the shortage of labor and machinery. "Did you see my place in Concordia Concor-dia Parish?" asked Chennault anxiously. anx-iously. "You bet, Genera!," replied McKcnzie, Mc-Kcnzie, "and I can report that it is one of the most beautiful and best regulated plantations In Louisiana. I'd like to live there myself, on the banks of Lake St. John." Note: While Chennault is nt war, his Louisiana farm Is being managed man-aged by his wife mid children. AIEKKY-GO-KOUNI) C Tlie carpet In the stale dcpnrt-mcnt dcpnrt-mcnt reception room, where Secretary Secre-tary Hull holds press conferences, Is bordered with swastikas. . William II. Lewis, chief of OWI's radio bureau, rrsi'nlcd "Time's" culling him "smooth, dapper," and one of tho "soup salesmen" I" OWI. llu called "Time's" Wiislilni!lnn bureau bu-reau llirciitciiinij to write Idlers of protest to Important people. "WMto one to us," snkl Felix llelalr Jr., head of the bureau, "if It's Homl, we'll print It." |