| OCR Text |
Show Washington, D. C. ENGLAND'S POSITION IMPROVES Little by little the British position has improved. Gallant Greek victories, vic-tories, the triumphant march of British forces across North Africa, the daring of the royal navy in the Mediterranean, all have helped to balance the scales of war. In addition, Admiral Leahy's sea-dog sea-dog diplomacy in Vichy is reported to have had some effect upon General Gen-eral Weygand, to whom he has promised American gasoline and oil; while the passage of the lease-lend lease-lend bill is found to have tremendous tremen-dous reverberations throughout all Europe. Furthermore, preliminary reports indicate that the trip of Wendell Willkie had a stirring effect, not only upon British morale, but upon Germany. The fact that the son of a German sent an anti-Hitler message mes-sage to the German people is bound to percolate beneath the surface. Germany cannot forget that it was American entrance into the World war which finally turned the tide and defeated the kaiser. And that is why the Willkie visit plus the lease-lend bill are so important. Both Indicate an American people united regardless of politics. Second Battle of Marne. Hitler's position today is not unlike un-like that of Germany after the Battle of the Marne in World War I. In the first Battle of the Marne German troops came within 14 miles of Paris, could have taken the city had they not stopped to consolidate consoli-date their forces. But not knowing what lay ahead, they waited for reinforcements, re-inforcements, giving General Joffre time to send his "taxicab army" from Paris. German defeat at the Marne turned back the tide of the war in 1914, and by the time the German army had come back for the second sec-ond Battle of the Marne in 1915, the Allies - had mobilized sufficient strength to stop them. Similarly, Hitler's forces last summer probably could have taken England had they pushed immediately immedi-ately across the channel to the disorganized dis-organized British Isles after the fall of France. But uncertain of what lay ahead, Hitler waited, and with typical German efficiency consolidated consoli-dated his position on the Continent. This gave the British just enough time to hold back a Nazi invasion last September in the first "Battle of the Marne," 1940 version. Soon will come the Second Battle of the 1941 Marne the second attempt at-tempt to invade England. Into that second attempt Hitler is going to put more than ever before. He may succeed. But on the other hand,' the British are in a far stronger position now to withstand invasion, and if they do withstand it, sooner or later the war will veer toward them. ' $30 PENSIONS Mrs. Roosevelt's recent statement in a pension magazine, favoring a $30-a-month federal pension, tips off what the President has up his sleeve on broadening the Social Security act. During the 1940 campaign and in his annual message to congress, he advocated a revision of the law by which a flat federal pension would be substituted for the existing state-contributory state-contributory system. Also he proposed pro-posed enlarging the scope of the law and adding medical features. He gave no details, but here is what he is planning: (1) A federal annuity for all "senior citizens" over 65, without a "means test"; in other words, regardless re-gardless of their financial condition. (2) In states where a larger pension pen-sion already is paid, as in California, Califor-nia, which pays $40 monthly (half from the state and half from the government), the difference between be-tween $30 and the larger sum would be made up by the state. This would apply only to California, the only state paying more than $30. The next closest is Colorado with $29.68. Twenty-one others pay $20 or slightly more. (3) Extend unemployment insurance insur-ance to groups not now covered, such as seamen and farm workers. (4) A nation-wide program of medical and hospital service for low-income groups. Roosevelt will submit his recommendations recom-mendations in a special message to congress sometime this month. He already has had several private discussions dis-cussions with Sen. Sheridan Downey of California, No. 1 Townsendite on Capitol Hill, and Sen. Jimmy Byrnes, astute South Carolina legislative legis-lative adviser. Personally, Downey favors a pension pen-sion of $60 after 60, but realizes that he has no chance at this time. . CAPITAL CHAFF Average taxes in the United States are $96.75 per person, of which $40.10 goes to the federal government gov-ernment and $56.65 to state and local lo-cal governments. The government now has the greatest force of sleuths in all its history: a total of 10,200 divided among the FBI, Secret Service, Postal Inspection, Internal Revenue bureau and Narcotics division, to say nothing of Harold Ickes' and Paul Appelby's sleuths in the interior in-terior and agr'oulture departments. |
