Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by farnham F dudgeon lack of friends men and guns hurt french cause says petain U S coalition 9 cabinet selected EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily ot of this newspaper released by western newspaper union if all henry fords tentative orders to turn out warplanes war planes on a mass production basis materialize this gigantic tool and die plant in his river rouge 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 be begin ginand and continue at top speed indefinitely 1 wass mass production THE WAR too few while his armies were busy with mopping up military operations against a badly battered france adolf hitler busied himself preparing the terms under which his soldiers would cease firing france meanwhile after cautioning her troops to fight on until the actual signing of an armistice was announced dispatched her peace envoys in iii 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 Pet petain atin explained why he had sought peace pea ce 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 the armistice of november 11 1918 military deficiencies accounted in large part for the distress of france in the premiers opinion he pointed out that only troops faced the germans at the beginning of the battle of france along the somme and aisne aasne rivers this was a half million fewer than france had on the battlefield after three years of hard fighting in n the world war england had not nearly as many men on french soil in 1940 as she had in 1914 18 and in addition the old ally italy was an enemy and ally united states a neutral 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 favorably against En glands armada london was happy enough though over the appointment of frank knox and henry stimson to president Roosevel ts 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 even by his enemies as a master political strategist franklin delano roosevelt detracted little from his reputation in these two categories with his preg pre G 0 P convention 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 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 hava NAMES N A M E S in the news netus al C 41 president of yale university charles seymour warned his graduating class against a complacent attitude toward the serious challenge that totalitarian states have thrust at democracy supported president Roosevel ts foreign policy republican spokesmen hailed the appointments as the definite stamping of the democratic party as the war pirty party some of them declared that they believed the presidents plan was to create the impression throughout the nation that his stand iri in the matter of war was entirely nonpolitical non political and that thus any attack against his policies by the republican party would be branded as unpatriotic but president roosevelt said otherwise he stated that the appointments were made in line with the overwhelming sentiment of the nation 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 Brit ains 9 fleet to keep things on an even keel in the atlantic the U S navy high command has usually 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 sources forecast an early proposal by the administration to build a completely separate atlantic fleet talk of building up this division of the naval forces has been given added impetus because of the possibility of complete german ital ian victory in europe at present the navy bill in congress 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 the combined power of all potential 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 a few weeks this program would include universal government service training for young men and women alike between the ages of 21 and 31 in addition to military training for the physically fit there would be training in all types of skills required for the forces behind the actual combat lines naturally such a program of conscription going to be put into into effect without opposition both i in n and out of congress but the president and his cabinet believe that america must be prepared 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 catching catchin pose Y f ifa V ae here is 81 year old governor luren D dickinson of michigan as he appeared last year in in an old timers baseball game staged in detroit the governor now announces he has switched from catching baseballs to votes and will be a candidate for reelection INDUSTRY new 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 for from south america comes news that german steel companies are offering steel in that sector at prices below united states quotations and are giving a cash guarantee 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 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 own output combined with the belgium luxembourg production amounts to about tons per year biggest problem is keeping all these steel mills running at capacity and still being able to maintain order throughout the protected nations and after the steel is produced germany must reckon with britaina Brit ains 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 are near collapse that states 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 worth of bonds held by U S investors to the development of additional foreign trade and in th the e meeting of foreign competition in this hemisphere see industry this default creates a huge stumbling block economic relations between nations 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 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 on their debts eventually repaying the united states on a basis president roosevelt is expected to outline details of this plan within a short time miscellany democratic national chairman james A parley officially released the information that william D bankhead of alabama speaker of the house of representatives will be named temporary chairman chai aman and keynoter of the bartys national c convention on ven tion which convenes in chicago july 15 sen alben W barkley of kentucky will be named permanent chairman |