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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Speed Up of U. S. War Production And Reports of Russian Victories Cheer Allied Nations, Although Axis Gains in Malaya and Philippines (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.) -- . , , , I f' 1 'i:1--- ........ , a . , w LaMjtjymmi Two government officials "on edge"? JESSE JONES RFC administra- LEON HENDERSON Price ad-tor ad-tor and secretary of commerce, pic- ministrator, as he appeared before tured sitting on desk as he listens to the senate committee on small busi-Representative busi-Representative Dingell of Michigan ness. He and representatives of the charging that the army was build- retail automobile trade are in search ing new ' production plants while for means to cushion the economic many others were idle. shock which car dealers face. DEFENSE: Reorganization President Roosevelt recognized growing congressional dissatisfaction dissatisfac-tion over the Civilian Defense team, comprised of Mayor LaGuardia and Mrs. Roosevelt, and while he did not take LaGuardia' s title of director di-rector away from him, he brought Dean James M. Landis of the Harvard Har-vard law school down to Washington Washing-ton to take actual charge. The house had made discreet representations rep-resentations to the President that Mayor LaGuardia, as head of the nation's largest city, had plenty Jto do to see that New York's defense situation was cared for, and had no time to see to the country as a whole. They also hinted around that Mrs. Roosevelt could only be considered a part-time executive, and that the OCD needed hard work and full time. They recommended it be put into the hands of the war department President Roosevelt's answer was Dean Landis, but in the meantime the house voted an inquiry into the manner In which the problem had been handled. Mayor LaGuardia, Mrs. Roosevelt and Paul V. McNutt had been summoned sum-moned to testify. SHORTAGES: U. S. Feels Pinch One after another shortages of various commodities and manufactured manufac-tured products began to be felt, and the average American began to feel the pinch of war as he never had felt it even at the height of the last World war. Some of these shortages could be traced to lack of raw material from the south Pacific; others to the demands de-mands of the war upon industry,-still industry,-still others on both. First came the rubber shortage and the consequent rationing of tires, directly due to the Philippine situation; second was the abrupt ending of production of new passenger pas-senger cars and commercial trucks, and the rationing of them. In line with this came difficulties difficul-ties in delivering milk and other commodities in larger cities and towns. The cut-off in sugar caused a price rise, and the government moved to buy in the major portion of the Cuban crop. In many cities this precipitated a panicky purchasing purchas-ing of sugar, with the result that grocers started rationing it themselves. them-selves. It also was reported that there soon would be instituted the rationing ration-ing of spark plugs and batteries, probably of other manufactured goods associated with the auto industry. THE WAR: U p and Down The war had become an up and down affair, with the Russians winning win-ning all along their huge front, the British gaining victories in North Africa with the Germans on the run, and the Japanese generally in the ascendancy on the Philippine and Singapore fronts, but taking a continued con-tinued whipping at the hands of the Chinese. Such was the situation as there was no longer any question but that the large and well-equipped army of the United States was on the move to join battle actively in the war, though the detailed whereabouts where-abouts of that participation was still a closely guarded secret. Estimates of when the tide of the battle of the ABCD forces against the Japanese in the southwest Pacific Pa-cific would change varied considerably. consid-erably. Some observers felt it would be weeks, others months, some who were more pessimistic felt it would be a year before enough American pressure could be brought to bear to produce a definite change in the battle. But that victory would be won in the end, nobody seemed to doubt They watched the United States moving mov-ing troops and ships, producing faster fast-er and faster more powerful armaments, arma-ments, moving to put1 new soldiers and sailors into uniform, and could see but one result, eventual victory, perhaps ia 1943. RUSSIA: Brightest Spot The Russian front continued to furnish the brightest picture from the Allied standpoint. Moscow had begun to report mass surrenders of German troops without with-out fighting. The Reds also reported report-ed large masses of Nazi soldiers in rapid retreat to the southwest from the upper central front, abandoning much war material. The sieges of Sevastopol and Leningrad have definitely been broken, and their garrisons had swept out beyond the city borders to engage retreating Germans and to attempt to form junctions with other Russian troops. The radio broadcasts picked up from Germany tacitly admitted the situation was serious. One described it as a "crisis, but one with which Adolf Hitler will know how to deal." Hitler was believed to be planning some sort of major coup, but the nature of it could not be guessed at. He also was variously reported as facing tremendous internal pressure pres-sure as a result of his break with Von Brauchitsch. There also had been reports that crack German reinforcements were being flown by gliders to the Russian Rus-sian front to attempt to bolster the cracking Nazi defenses. MAC ARTHUR: Tough Only fragmentary reports at wide intervals, testimony to the increasing increas-ing difficulties of communications, were coming from the Philippines. Some military commentators saw hope for General MacArthur and his defending forces if they could hold out for three weeks more. MALAYA: j 'At All Costs9 While the British were seriously being forced backward and ever backward in Malaya, losing the capital cap-ital of the Federated Malay States, Kuala Lampur, Sir Henry Pownall, the commander in the Singapore defense, de-fense, made the statement that the British plan, was divided into two general parts, first the slowing or stopping of the Japanese attack; j second, the turning of the British to i the offensive and driving the invaders in-vaders out. He said: "We are now engaged in the first of these activities." Returning British wounded, however, how-ever, paid tribute to the fighting qualities of the Japs, and members of Commando groups said that when confronted with the cold steel the Japs would scramble up into tall trees, from which they would hurl grenades on the British "like mon- j keys with explosive coconuts." They were said to be adept at j hiding in small places, and that at '. times furious fire would come from directions in which it did not seem possible that soldiers could find : cover. R.A.F. activity over the peninsula j was constantly on the increase, however, how-ever, and American-made bombers, some of them flown by Eagle fliers with the volunteer Chinese air force, were bombing Japanese bases in Thailand and Indo-China from Burmese Bur-mese flying fields. The picture was not generally optimistic opti-mistic in Malaya, but it was regarded re-garded as far from hopeless, at least at present. PRODUCTION: On Home Front All over the United States groups of workers were getting together and adopting resolutions to speed up their effort and some factories producing pro-ducing war materials were reporting report-ing as much as 70 per cent added output since the declaration of war. Ships of war were being launched and put into commission as rapidly as possible. The Liberty ships were going into the water at scores of shipyard ways. Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, received re-ceived several large new gliders for test, gliders said to have a wing-spread wing-spread of 80 feet, probably capable of transporting soldiers in large numbers. Swiftly they had been put under test, their pilots from the new schools which are training men to manage these motorless ships, which possibly may be towed in "trains" to be released over territory in which it is desired to land troops. In the invasion of Crete, Germany used hundreds of them, reportedly landing 15,000 troops that way, also large numbers of light field guns and ammunition. The newest glider training school is at Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., turning out classes every four weeks, the students being already graduate pilots. The gliders were so large that in transporting them from factory to Wright field by trailer truck they had to be broken into two assemblies. MISCELLANY: Santa Barbara, Calif.: Mickey Rooney, No. 1 film star, married a little-known 19-year-old movie actress, ac-tress, Ava Gardner from North Carolina. New York: Joe Louis defeated Buddy Baer in a one-round knockout knock-out and then had announced he would enlist in the army, not waiting for the draft. Rangoon, Burma: A Japanese air raid threw three elephants into a panic and they stampeded, causing considerable confusion before they were recaptured. Rome: Italy had confiscated the entire filling station network of the Texas company within its borders, it had been announced. London: Britain was still further cutting its food ration as the demands de-mands began to flood in from the South Pacific campaign. Tokyo (by radio) : A 30 per cent tax increase has been necessary in Japan to finance the new war expenditures, ex-penditures, it was announced. Berlin: Dispatches from Tokyo told of Seueo Oye, famous Jap pole-vaulter, pole-vaulter, being killed in action as he led a landing party on Luzon. Cairo: A thrilling account of how it felt to be blown up by a torpedo while riding on a British cruiser, and to swim 45 minutes over an oil-covered sea was written by Larry Allen of the AP who lived to tell the tale. New York: Canada's Air Marshal Bishop, in an address, called for a little more "healthy hate" for the enemy, not that it should be confined simply to the leaders of the Axis. Washington: Daylight saving on a year-round basis had appeared assured following the passage of a time changing bill. But this was admittedly problematical. proble-matical. How much in the way of supplies and munitions the MacArthur MacAr-thur army had was one question. Another was how long these supplies sup-plies and munitions would continue to get to him. Admittedly the Filipino-American troops had all the advantage of terrain ter-rain and superior position. The Mar-ivales Mar-ivales mountain range, which they were defending, was lofty, provided much natural fortification, and tactically tacti-cally was the planned line of defense de-fense from the outset. This worked out as planned. For years, in figuring a Japanese invasion of Luzon, it had been figured fig-ured that the defenders would fall back on the lofty heights above Cor-regidor Cor-regidor and Manila bay and fight it out there. For years the Filipino army had been maneuvering in these hills, and their officers know the country like the backs of their hands. The heights make airplane straffing especially dangerous and difficult. At all events, MacArthur had still been holding on, and America was betting on him and his troops to do their best to the last ditch. PRICES: The price control bill finally was passed, but in such a form that it was said to have been a major defeat de-feat for the administration. Although the senate passed it 83 to 1, the farm-relief amendment passed only 55 to 31. As the bill went into conference it provided, according to opposition senators, such possible farm price raises that the cost of living could reasonably advance 25 per cent before be-fore the price control administrator could do anything about it. The bill provided for no direct governmental control over wages, a fact which caused Senator Nye, who had voted for the O'Mahoney-Russell amendment for farm relief, to be the sole senator voting against the completed bill. He claimed that the failure to handle wages would make the whole bill ineffective. It was cited that under this bill it would be reasonable to expect butter but-ter at a dollar a pound; eggs at over a dollar a dozen, wheat at $1.53 a bushel, cotton at 21 cents, and similar price increases. |
