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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Relentless Pressure by Allies Forces Steady Nazi Retreat; Weather Slows Russian Drive , I t?i-.oH by Western Newspaper Union. ' (EDITOR'S NOTE: Vfben opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysis and not necessary of this newspaper.) EUROPE: Rhine the Prize Stiffening Nazi resistance, plus ; the mud, mists and snows of a fast-i fast-i approaching European winter had ! made the road to Berlin a bruising, bloody highway of battle. Yet with ' relentless pressure, Allied armies I were pushing the Nazis steadily I back to the Rhine on the front stretching northward from the Vos-ges Vos-ges mountains of Alsace to the river-studded stretches of Holland. At the northern end of the front, soldiers of Lieut. Gen. William II. Simpson's U. S. Ninth army had broken into the German Roer river defense line, the best natural bar- rier before the Rhine. Cologne was j the ultimate target of this drive. Lieut. Gen. George II. Patton's Third army infantry meanwhile had made a new crossing into the Saar basin second only to the Ruhr as I a source of Germany's war might capturing villages close to Saar-brucken. Saar-brucken. J On the southern flank, Nazi forces south of the Rhone Rhine canal in Alsace were virtually wiped out with the capture of Dannemarie and several nearby villages. The Sev-j Sev-j enth U. S. army continued to press , forward in the Vosges through snow and mud, thrusting aside scattered j resistance. French forces opcrat-1 opcrat-1 ing with this army had reported an actual crossing of the Rhine north of Strasbourg by their patrols. The bulk of the German forces and precious mobile reserves had been deployed on the Cologne plain where many observers believed the final showdown of the war would take place. With General Eisen- s " '" - - y' ' ' 4 A, ' - I -v ; - ' 1,', ' V'rV i , ' t ;y 'y yV' 's ;,,'- - ,:'i A piy r ".fif '' ' y - 5 J ? i . GEN. GEORGE PATTON Into the vital Saar basin. hower's objective being the destruction destruc-tion of the German army, Allied forces had girded themselves for the battles that would once and for all break Nazi military power. Eastern Front Russian forces pushing on Budapest Buda-pest had been slowed down by the season's heaviest snowfall, following follow-ing a severe sleet storm. German and Hungarian troops had been occupying oc-cupying defense positions along a ! 26-mile curve from the southern ' limits of Budapest to the rail junction junc-tion of Azzod. Meanwhile Red forces had opened a new drive into Slo- vakia, advancing across the Beskld mountains and cutting down behind . the southern entrance to the Dukla Pass to sever a highway escape route for the Germans. LABOR: Shorter Postivar Hours?. In a move to "assure jobs for all" ' in the postwar period, the American Ameri-can Federation of Labor urged congress con-gress to pass national legislation providing for a 30-hour week. A resolution passed by delegates attending the federation's 64th annual an-nual convention in New Orleans declared de-clared technical advances in industry indus-try which served to speed production produc-tion "have developed tensions which cause workers to burn out at an early age." It urged that this wear-, wear-, ing out be avoided by shorter hours, ' which also, would serve to spread employment. j Other resolutions called for amendment amend-ment of the national communications communica-tions act, "so that freedom of speech over the air waves will be safeguarded safe-guarded from actual or implied government gov-ernment censorship," the establishment establish-ment of a uniform federal unemploy-l unemploy-l ment compensation law, repeal of I the Smith-Connolly anti-strike law I and wage and hour improvements I for postoffice and other government govern-ment employees. STETTINIUS: Keeps Hull's Policies Favorable reactions at home and abroad to President Roosevelt's appointment ap-pointment of Edward R. Stettinius as successor to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, made it clear that there would be no break in the continuity con-tinuity of the administration's postwar post-war peace and international cooperation co-operation program While Secretary Hull's resignation came suddenly, it was not unexpected. un-expected. Continued ill-health had prevented his active direction of the state department's operations. In accepting the 73-yeor-old statesman's states-man's resignation, the president projected for him the future role of elder statesman, advising on foreign for-eign policy and taking as active a part in shaping a world peace organization or-ganization as his health would permit. per-mit. Specifically, Hull was slated to 5- ,s ' '-' '' ' ' "'-'-' f.' ' V- N H .,' i f . i'V'-7 - ',V, ; if 4v.,AV ' CORDELL HULL 'StetC would follow his lead. be presiding officer of the United Nation's first peace conference. Observers viewed the Stettinius Stettini-us appointment as a highly satisfactory satisfac-tory solution. As under secretary of state, 44-year-old Stettinius was closely familiar with department procedure. He had two other prime assets. His former experience as lend-lease administrator had won him the respect and friendship of congress. His dealings with Britian and Russia had demonstrated that he could work in successful cooperation coopera-tion with other leaders of the United Nations. Above all, Stettinius has seen eye-to-eye with Secretary Hull on world problems and worked closely with him. PACIFIC: Air W'arfare Increases Attacks by two big fleets of B-29 Superfortresses on Tokyo's waterfront water-front and on rail yards and repair facilities in Bangkok on the southwestern south-western fringe of the Japanese war empire, underscored the fact that air warfare against Nippon would be increased in intensity. The American planes returned to their bases in the Marianas islands and India without combat losses. Revised estimates of damage in the latest U. S. carrier raid on Luzon in the Philippines showed 20 Japanese Japa-nese ships sunk, 28 damaged and 119 planes either destroyed or damaged. dam-aged. While heavy rains had brought ground operations on Leyte to a virtual vir-tual standstill, American bombers based on the island struck at Jap targets over a wide area of the southwest Pacific, attacking airdromes air-dromes at Ceby and Negros. The continued bombings of Tokyo and favorable progress elsewhere helped balance the grim news that continued to flow from China. Here the Jap armies continued their victorious vic-torious operations, forcing abandonment abandon-ment of effective U. S. air bases on the Chinese mainland. Hope for a strengthening of Chiang Kai-shek's forces was seen in the appointment of Maj. Gen. Patrick J. Hurley to be U. S. ambassador am-bassador to Chjina. Hurley was already al-ready in China, having gone there last summer with Donald M. Nelson, former war production chief, to help revamp the Chinese war effort. DRAFT TROUBLE: In Canada As the Canadian parliament moved toward its decision on a previous pre-vious government order to conscript home defense forces for overseas duty trouble broke out among troops in the Pacific Coast area. Heavily armed, a group of troops prevented another regiment from boarding a train scheduled to take them to a new post. This trouble was quickly-dealt quickly-dealt with but other demonstrations by troops against the new ruling were reported. LAND: War Demands Big Chester C. Davis, president of the ' Federal Reserve bank of St. Louis and former head of the Agricultural Adjustment administration, bluntly warned that present world needs for foodstulTs from American farms may cause permanent damage to j our soil unless conservation prac- tices are started on more farm acreage. acre-age. Speaking before the Friends of the Land in Chicago, Davis said that high pressure wartime production ol W 'v ; : ' .. VV 1 ; ih- . . : ; ; ! Inifti ,v n'iii.,,i .; vi, ? -- :,..".2r.'-lf-,l J CHESTER C. DAVIS A blunt warning on land. corn, wheat, oats, timber and other farm crops must be tempered by intelligent farm planning to prevent pre-vent erosion. Among farm practices which he said must be encouraged are contour plowing, terracing, fertilization, fer-tilization, subsurface tillage, growing grow-ing rye and other crops after the summer grain harvests. ahd reforestation re-forestation of farm woodlots. 'There are two ways that we can lose our land," he pointed out. "We can lose it if conquered by a foreign for-eign military power or by erosion, which steals the all-important farm topsoil and washes it down the flooded rivers." SHIPS: Build More, Sink Less Steadily dwindling shipping losses of the" Allies due to enemy action and the phenomenal merchant ship construction record of the United States were highlighted in a British government report released through the office of war information. Total losses from the war's beginning through 1943 were 5,758 vessels aggregating ag-gregating 22,121,000 gross tons. During Dur-ing this time the United States constructed con-structed about 30,000.000 deadweight dead-weight tons. While no 1944 figures on losses were disclosed, the ratio of construction construc-tion to sinkings is known to be overwhelmingly over-whelmingly favorable.' Losses were ' severest during 1912, and 1,859 ships totaling 8 333.000 tons were sunk. These losses far outstripped American Ameri-can construction. The picture changed in 1943, with losses aggregating aggre-gating 3.C46.000 tons and new construction con-struction totaling 19,238,000 tons. CIGARETTES: Worse Shortage? Even as Pres. Eric Calamia of the National Retail Tobacco Merchants association predicted that the cigarette ciga-rette shortage would be worse in the next six months than in the past two. house and senate committees began investigations of the scarcity. Chairman Flanagan of the House agriculture committee branded as "untrue propaganda" the charge that the shortage stems back to a shortage in leaf tobacco. Senator Ferguson of the senate committee said there probably are a number of explanations for the shortage, including in-cluding increased consumption here and abroad, "but until we find the causes, it will be difficult to find a remedy." Meanwhile match manufacturers were also predicting a severe shortage short-age of their product in the coming months. Industry sources revealed that raw material supplies had been materially reduced in the past two years and thus the usual amounts of book matches would be limited. WAR WORKERS: Face Job Problem America's chief job problem will be concerned with war workers rather than war veterans immediately immedi-ately after Germany's collapse, according ac-cording to William Muirhead, president presi-dent of the Associated General Contractors Con-tractors of-America. Speaking before the association's governing and advisory boards in Chicago, Muirhead said that if the war ends in two stages, with a year' or more between the collapse of Germany and the defeat of Japan, "it has been estimated 2.500.COO men will be released from the armed forces during the year. "War production is expected to be cut from 30 to 50 per cent. An estimate esti-mate of the number of war workers to be thrown onto the labor market during the interval is between 4.000,-000 4.000,-000 and 5.000,000." HOMES: Britons Lose Third One out of every three houses in Britain has been destroyed or dam- ' aged in five years of World War II, ' a statistical White Paper revealed. War casualties have totaled 733.030 j The White Paper disclosed that I 35 per cent of all British males be- j tween the ages of 14 and 64 are in the armed forces and that nearly half of the country's women between the ages of 14 and 59 arc in uniform ' or industry. |