| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne navy reveals damage to jap isles senate again acts on price control laguardia quits OCD landis landi s new head normandie creates problem for navy EDITORS NOTE when opinions are ar expressed in these columns they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of at this newspaper released by western newspaper union RAID on japs after two weeks of censorship the pacific fleet command allowed news men to disclose the amount of damage inflicted by the U S navy in their spectacular attack on the japanese marshall and gilbert islands these reports indicated that with the loss of only 11 U S aircraft t plus a minor bomb hit anone on one cruis cruiser and with a small loss of life units of the american fleet accomplished the following destroyed four military air bases destroyed two military villages destroyed four radio stations sank at least 16 jap ships including a modern cruiser two s submarines and a ton liner damaged at least eight other jap ships in addition to an undetermined number destroyed on the ground the japs lost 38 aircraft including fighters and bombers described as almost perfect timing and executed with speed and daring the raid was the first big answer to the often asked question where is the fleet CONSUMERS face living costs it was apparent that the price control bill which had prevented inflation of certain farm prices was going to be subject to changes that might bring a big rise in the cost of some items i the senate agriculture comm committee atee had unanimously approved a bill 1 I e L 61 CLAUDE R making use of surpluses which sought to prevent secretary of agriculture from tl using ang surpluses to keep certain prices down passage of this bill had been predicted and it would prevent from taking action with surpluses unless the price of wheat cotton and corn had reached 10 per cent above parity it had been the presidents denis plan to hold these prices down to encourage livestock production the bill boug sought lit to prevent this action f OCD LANDIS result of protest the resignation of laguardia as head of OCD and the succession to the high command of civilian defense of james M landis onetime dean of harvard law school and former head of the securities and E exchange commission had closely followed nationwide nation wide criticism of boondoggling in the organization focal point of the objections to the OCD management had been rather centered on the division headed by mrs eleanor roosevelt than on La Guardias civilian defense activities tivi ties but the resignation of the little flower had long been expected laguardia was supposed to have plenty to do organizing the defense of new york city let alone saddling himself with the problems of an entire nation he announced that he would devote his full time to these problems in the future criticism as landis took charge of OCD continued chiefly leveled at the health entertainment and social uplift activities of the organization it had crystallized into the adoption by the house of an amendment specifically forbidding the spending of government funds for ifan fan d dancing street shows theatrical performances or other public entertainment in the program of civilian defense the amendment had been tacked onto a bill passed which provided for the purchase of gas masks auxiliary firefighting fire fighting equipment and other protective goods good sto to be used in the protection of the population against air raids the senate had been expected to go along with the house in its effort I 1 3 0 01 2 I 1 1 4 0 4 y JAMES IVI LANDIS succeeding little flower to weed feea the frills and furbelows fur belows out of the program senator byrd virginia keynoted keynotes key noted this move by demanding that the OCD send his committee a list of all OCD employees getting over a year and outlining their specific duties LUZON planes continued efforts by the japanese to land on bataan had been turned back by general macarthurs Mac Arthurs highly mobile artillery forces in the generals last ditch figh tto keep the american flag flying over the philippines ip ff r 1 the antiaircraft anti aircraft fire of macar thurs mend had continued good the bag of se seeri eri planes in one day compall comparing ng favorably with other fronts where the united nations had many more serviceable aircraft 1 than did the defenders of luzon captured prisoners and other methods of gaining information revealed that five japanese divisions had been identified as taking part in the battle which would bring the estimated strength of the japs a actually c on the front battle line at close to to men other divisions were on the island keeping communications open and it had been reported that reinforcements for the japs were constantly arriving thus steadily dily increasing the pressure on the american fili pino army NORMANDIE job whether carelessness sabotage or fate was responsible the ton normandie former luxury liner and now the naval auxiliary lafayette P lay on her enormous beam ends in in 40 feet of water and 12 feet of mud at her dock in new york an salvage job for the U S navy twenty two hundred men were at work inside of her chan changing ging her over from peacetime ipe aceti me to wartime uses when a welders torch started a fire within minutes it was out of control SINGAPORE water pincers A new tactic in warfare the 1 I water pincers movement utilized by the japanese in malaya had brought singapore to her knees spreading gloom in britain and making the defense of the east indies a nearly superhuman job general commander of the jap forces in malaya had won the order of the golden kite and the order of the rising sun for I 1 his success in arii driving g the defenders out of malaya for smashing into the island of singapore first time in history that the hi historic port had been tested in battle the long narrow peninsula of malaya difficult terrain had apparently presented enormous invasion sion problems the J japs aps had solved these by using small boats many of them commandeered or captured and sending small well armed and highly mobile detachments first down the east coast then down the west making landings by night and infiltrating behind the defenders SPY RAIDS on west coast TWO BUDDHIST PRIESTS TAKEN I 1 always praying more bore and more japanese continued cont in to be caught in the nets spread along the west coast by the FBI the spy raids were being carried out almost daily by the G men who in one raid got 20 alleged spies and saboteurs sabot eurs and a truckload of ammunition and weapons chief concentration of the raids was in pacific coast counties where there were large military establishments at salinas calif following the questioning of several japs taken into custody at a large lettuce farm one of them turned out to be a former chief of police in tokyo another was formerly a high official in the same police force A raid on a buddhist temple in monterey county yielded three priests all of them had been in this country only a few months in a sporting goods store about to purchase firearms a former ja japanese p bootlegger with a police record was taken into custody it was here that a whole truckload of ammunition rifles shotguns etc was seized together with the proprietor a japanese in 45 places searched the yield was among other things rounds of ammunition TEA panic buying A new U S agency had been formed to handle the tea situ situation aaion which developed after grocers were appalled to find customers ordering tea in five pound lots the panic in buying followed similar simi lines to that in sugar and which had resulted in the setting up of a sugar rationing plan As more or less a natural outcome of the news from the tea grow ing areas began to get reports of five pound tea buying from all sections of the country and it was regarded as essential that rationing be adopted if the buying panic had not been stopped voluntarily unta rily in the sugar situation cases of prosecution began to pop up one chain store manager trying to nake make a sales record for himself having disposed of pounds of sugar allegedly to illicit still operators he was fined DUTCH under pressure complaints from the netherlands east indies command that too much of the naval force of the united nations was engaged in 14 non combat ant work came as the dutch faced a pincers movement against soura baya and the fear of a frontal attack on java generally it was evident said the dutch leaders that a giant pincers move was being directed at J java ava when the japs landed in force on celebes island which formed the tip of the right flank of the java javanese defense line at the same time axis sources had reported that the japanese were demanding the surrender by the ditc dutch h of all the east indies together with their oil supplies in return for which the islands would be technically left as dutch possessions dutch sources said however that no japanese proposal would be e entertained and they continued their scorched earth policy of destroying all oil installations before abandoning any property to the japs despite the costly losses inflicted on the enemy in strait last month the japs evidently had been able to make successful landings there chief hope it at present of the dutch in captured territory was the report of successful guerrilla action which had really been the answer to the loss by japan of any real victory in the war with china one dutch authority had said nowhere do the japs feel safe our men behind their lines are picking pi ek them off two today ten tomorrow and the tou toll is mounting and steady this guerrilla waris war is being rain fought in an incessant downpour of |
