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Show r- WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS , Big Allied Winter Push Aims At Heart of German Industry; WFA Sets Food Goals for 1945 Released by Western Newspaper Union. , (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) 71 czecho - FRANCE X .UNUHEMBilOt ' w TKMPH-CX "--x SLOVAKIA. "N, I J yt si. .-.HUNGARY CHURCH LOANS: Aid Homesteading As a result of a homesteading program pro-gram financed by the board o national na-tional missions of the Presbyterian church, farm families are settling on property purchased on extended terms of 30 years, with down payments pay-ments deferred from one to three years, if practicable. In addition to homesteading, funds may be used for the acquisition acqui-sition of forest lands for the benefit of the whole community, or for loans to improve home and farm equipment. Funds also have been utilized for awakening awaken-ing interest in farm ownership through the provisions of general education in proper farming methods and advice in selecting suitable crops. Under the homesteading program, pro-gram, an application is approved by the pastor and three elders of the church, with the prospective owner agreeing to cultivate the land and raise self-supporting crops. Starting modestly, the program has grown steadily. Farm Values Despite increases in the value of farm land since the outbreak of the war, the over-all situation remains spotty, with prices reaching inflationary infla-tionary proportions in some sections sec-tions while rising to fair figures in others unduly depreciated during depression de-pression years. Considered in all its aspects, farming has risen from a 49 to a I 70 billion dollar industry since the war began, with value of land and buildings totalling over 45 billion dollars, crop and livestock inventories inven-tories over 15 billion dollars, and liquid capital about 12 billion dollars. dol-lars. Making good use of wartime prosperity, pros-perity, farmers have whittled mortgage mort-gage debts down nearly a billion dollars dol-lars since 1939, with the figure now standing at about 5 billion dollars. With President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin scheduled to meet soon, there again has been a resumption of discussion as to the future disposition of Germany. On the basis of the latest information, infor-mation, the Reich might well be reduced to half of its 1938 size, with (1) France claiming the area west of the Rhine river; (2) a restored Austria obtaining Bavaria; (3) Holland being compensated for flooded land; (4) the Russians and Poles dividing East Prussia; (5) Poland receiving Pomerania and part of Silesia, and the Brcslau area going to Czechoslovakia. EUROPE: Big Push Using their superior forces to prevent pre-vent the Germans from building up strength for next year, the Allies launched an all-out drive against the enemy's west wall, moving forward toward the vital industrial Ruhr and Rhineland despite wintry weather. Although they had anticipated a general offensive, the Germans conceded con-ceded the Allies' superiority, stating stat-ing that until their vaunted new weapons could be delivered to the front, their troops would have to rely on their spirit to stay in the fight. v . As the Allied attack got underway, the British 2nd army' striking in southeastern Holland stood only 37 miles from Duisberg; the U. S. 9th hitting to the Tommies' south was 31 miles from Dusseldorf; the U. S. 1st swinging below Aachen was 28 miles from Cologne; the U. S. 3rd working past Metz was 13 miles from the Saar, and the U. S. 7th and French 1st were 40 miles from Bavaria. Focal points of the attack centered cen-tered in the U. S. 9th and 1st army fronts, where swarms of Allied heavy bombers supported by fighter-planes fighter-planes dropped thousands of tons of PACIFIC: Bloody Science Bloody business, Var is also a science, sci-ence, and as U. S. troops plodded forward on Leyte island in the Philippines, Gen. Douglas Mac-Arthur's Mac-Arthur's strategy unfolded. With the enemy's main forces compressed on the northwest corner cor-ner of Leyte, General MacArthur's tactics pointed to their annihilation by the prized military maneuver of engaging them from the front while sending other units to cut them off in the rear. Thus did the 24th division move to press the enemy frontally, while the 1st cavalry and 96th divisions pierced the mountain ranges to the southeast in a drive to entrap the Japanese from the rear. Meanwhile, U. S. airmen kept a close eye on the important port of Ormoc, through which the Japanese had previously sent reinforcements to help their troops holding out against the American advance. x Manila Bay also came under the bombsights of U. S. airmen, with carrier-based craft hitting at this important nerve center of enemy shipping for the entire Philippine area. In one strike alone, 11 Jap cargo vessels and oilers went to the bottom. WAR WOUNDS: , Greater Recovery Because of better organized and equipped medical service, sulfa drugs, penicillin, plasma and whole blood available for use in forward areas, less than 4 per cent of Americans Ameri-cans wounded in this war die as compared with 7 per cent in the first world conflict. The full picture of medical advance, ad-vance, however, is best told in the fact that from 50 to 60 per cent of the soldiers wounded in the present war are incapacitated incapaci-tated by heavy guns, artillery or mortars, which inflict more serious seri-ous injury, compared with only about 20 per cent in 1917-'18. Comparisons between the two world wars show 80 per cent of the wounded now returning to duty as against 70 per cent, and number of infections kept down to 10 per cent as against the old figure of 60 per cent. Wonder Show I With America's learned scientists behind the test tubes looking more and more into the substance of matter, mat-ter, wonders may never cease. Already the list of accomplishments accomplish-ments runs high, as evidenced at the National Chemical exposition in the turreted Coliseum in Chicago, III., where lightweight and weather resistant re-sistant plastic magnesium furniture, lawn sprays which kill weeds but spare grass, and women's synthetic clothes were on display. Spectators milling about the great hall also could see a new method for producing a high mileage gasoline; artificial aromatics for use in soap, cosmetics and perfumes, and a spray for the painless treatment of severe burns. Scientists explained the processes of electronics the magical little electric atoms of which 30 billion, billion, billion make an ounce in the drying of plywood to the weld- ing of thermoplastic materials. i ' I ! LAND REFORM: Split Polish Estates Carrying out its policy of agricultural agricul-tural reform, the Moscow sponsored Polish committee of national liberation libera-tion divided up 5,000 acres of land owned by Count Alfred Potocki among 1,050 families. At the same time, the liberation committee announced that it had taken over the Potocki family's Lan cut castle, which would be converted into a museum. All together, Count Alfred Potocki, a prominent industrialist indus-trialist said to have fled to Vienna -With the Germans, owns 75,000 acres. In dividing up the Count's estates, the liberation committee was following follow-ing its avowed policy of redistributing redistribut-ing lands operated by great fam-lies, fam-lies, with the owners dominating the entire social structure within their districts. POLITICAL ACTION: CIO Surrpss f ' -1 . f v Prom debris eaased br war, Dutch ?unfsters in s'Hertogenboscb. build their oj castles. fragmentation explosives on the enemy's en-emy's forward positions to smooth-en smooth-en the way for the Yanks' advancing advanc-ing forces. Heavy concentrations of artillery joined in the bor?fcardment of the German positions, then the Yanks moved forward, with members of the infantry slogging alongside of mud-caked tanks to score gains. Prior to the general offensive, the British in Holland, the Yanks around Metz and the mixed Allied force in the foothills of the Vosges mountains had improved their positions in hard fighting. The Yanks around Metz engaged in some of the toughest fighting as Lieut. Gen. George S. Patton edged closer to the vital Saar basin, famed for. its coal and chemical industry. In slashing forward, U. S. forces ringed the formidable fortress city of Metz. In writing off Metz, the Germans loudly broadcast that the bastion had largely served its purpose of holding up the U. S. drive' to give them time to build up their fortifications fortifica-tions farther to the rear. The Allied attack came off in the midst of a welter of rumors that Heinricb Himmler had taken over absolute charge of the Reich from an ailing Adolf Hitler. Appointed commander com-mander of the Reich's home army by Hitler himself, Himmler busied himself him-self trying to shove up German morale mor-ale for the mighty blows that fell about that nation's unhappy head. MISCELLANY The untimely death of Quarterback Quarter-back Allen Shafer of Wisconsin in a game against Iowa was the first collegiate col-legiate fatality due directly to football foot-ball since 1940. Reflecting high business activity, money in circulation jumped up nearly $600,000,000 dollars in October Octo-ber to a total of $24,386,247,083. Broken down into simple figures, that adds up to $176.10 per person. FOOD PRODUCTION: Bumper Harvests .Even as the U. S. department of agriculture forecast bumper grain crops for 1944, the War Food administration ad-ministration announced that its 1945 food production program would remain re-main substantially the same as this year's. Boosting its estimates of com production pro-duction 61,000,000 bushels, the USDA predicted a record 1944 crop of 3,-258,000,000 3,-258,000,000 bushels, while standing pat on its previous forecast of an all-time wheat harvest of 1,108.000,-000 1,108.000,-000 bushels. Coupled with a record sorghum crop of 160,000,000 bushels, bush-els, overall grain production, including in-cluding oats, barley and rye, was set at a top of 157,500,000 tons. In addition, bumper crops were forecast for cotton, tobacco, - potatoes, pota-toes, sweet potatoes, soybeans, apples, peaches, pears and pecans. Alterations in the WFA's 1945 food program call for an increase in pig, cattle and milk production, but a 16 per cent decrease in egg output closer to the 1935-'39 average. VETS According to an interpretation of the War Labor board, veterans returning to their old positions are entitled to any automatic promotions and pay increases on the job. In considering the selective service serv-ice act of 1940, requiring employers to take back former employees returning re-turning from the armed forces, WLB ruled that the vet must be rehired re-hired "at the level to which he would have been entitled if there had been no break in his service with the company. ..." With 110 congressional members elected with the support of the political poli-tical action committee, the CIO declared de-clared that the victory demonstrated the effectiveness of labor's first big organized effort in a campaign. Whether the PAC would be continued was considered at the CIO convention in Chicago, 111., where union leaders called for support of their fight for higher wages and demands for industrial, indus-trial, labor and government planning for provision of 60,000,-000 60,000,-000 postwar jobs. Declaring that the election of the 110 candidates backed by it assured the presence of an "improved congress" con-gress" for the next session, the CIO said that its PAC "proved to be the decisive factor because it did the organized, door-to-door work that brings success in a campaign." The 110 men and women backed by the PAC comprise 96 representatives repre-sentatives and 14 senators, coming from 28 states in every section of the country. Quotes . . . " full employment w not mchieved under our free enterprise system (after the war) then the people will demand something different, . . . It is clear, I believe, that if we fail we shall pass to some form of planned and regimented economy. We shall lose our economu freedom. We shall become dependen upon government and government penditures, with continuous dpfici financing to support the economy, ex pand employment and thus sytenutti cally increase national income. . . Chairman Alfred P. Sloan oj Centra Motors- |