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Show I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS , Allied Drive Draws Near Paris; Nazis Put Torek to Homeland; Senate .Debates Postwar Relief Releases by Western Newspnper Union. , (EDITOR'S NOTE; When opinions are ftxprcsid tn these columns, they are (hose of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Pacific With motor transportation lacking, Yanks use native ox carts to haul heavy ammunition to Tinian front. EUROPE: Enemy Gives As Brittany's four big sea-bases ol Brest, St. Malo, Lorient and St. Na-zalre Na-zalre came under the muzzles of American siege guns, other Allied forces pressed their thundering offensive of-fensive aimed at Paris. Their defense lines in Brittany shattered .before the lightning advance ad-vance of the American armored columns, col-umns, stubborn German detachments detach-ments squeezed within the limits of the four big bases put up a furious last ditch fight against the crushing weight of the attackers. While the bases were being reduced, re-duced, other American forces, striking strik-ing out eastward to within 100 miles of Paris, came upon the big communications com-munications hub of Le Mans. To the north of them, the enemy was covering a retreat with strong armored ar-mored forces in constant counterattack. counter-attack. As the Allied drive rolled up the Nazi line to the west and north, German Ger-man forces also gave ground below bloodied Caen to the east, with Canadian Ca-nadian troops punching holes in the enemy defenses after terrific aerial bombardment by U. S. and British planes. As Russian forces pressed on East Prussia, men, women and children of that stronghold of German militarism were mobilized mobi-lized to assist Nazi armies, and houses, farms and other installations instal-lations were razed to prevent their use by the Reds. In the center of the flaming eastern east-ern front, the Nazis bitterly resisted Russian advances upon the prewar Polish capital of Warsaw, throwing strong armored forces into the surrounding sur-rounding plains to contain the surging surg-ing Red troops. Farther to the south, the Russians were within 100 miles of the Germans' Ger-mans' eastern industrial province of Silesia, and already had overrun the Polish oil-fields which formerly supplied sup-plied the Nazis with about 2 per cent of their crude. In Italy, U. S., British, New Zealand and South African troops making up the Fifth and Eighth armies poised for an assault as-sault upon the enemy's vaunted "Gothic Line" in the hills north of the Arno river. Although the historic art center of Florence was spared the war's destruction, de-struction, the opposing armies lined up on either side of the famed city for a death struggle, with big German Ger-man guns in the hills to the north lobbing shells on Allied troops massing mass-ing for an all-out attack. WORLD WHEAT: U. S. Leads With large increases in the U. S. and Canada offsetting decreases elsewhere, world wheat production this year may be moderately above last year, the U. S. department of agriculture reported. Of the big four wheat producing countries, only the U. S., with 1,128,-000,000 1,128,-000,000 bushels, and Canada, with 475,000,000. are expected to show an Increase in output, with Australian and Argentine harvests about the same as last year. Because of shortages of fertilizer and manpower, European production produc-tion is expected to drop below last year's, although certain sections like Great Britain and parts of the Balkans Bal-kans are looked upon to harvest above average crops. India's harvest harv-est was expected to drop to 368,-000.000 368,-000.000 bushels. Despite a 600,000.000 bushel reduction reduc-tion in stocks over the previous year, world wheat supplies approximated 1,140,000,000 bushels in July, far above the 1935-'39 average of 457,-000.000 457,-000.000 bushels. The big decrease reflected increased use of the grain as feed in the U. S. LIVING COSTS The cost of living moved up slightly slight-ly during June in 33 cities out of the 63 surveyed by the National Industrial Indus-trial Conference board. In seven cities costs remained unchanged. ; and in 23 there were small declines. For the nation as .a whole, living expenses ex-penses were practically unchanged. I The largest increase was found in I Indianapolis, where a rise of 1.8 per cent was calculated. Next came Cincinnati with 1.2 per cent, and I Dayton, 1.1 per cent. The greatest decline was in Newark. N. J. DEMOBILIZATION: Senate Fight With increasing interest focused on the country's changeover from a war to a peacetime f industrial basis aft-I aft-I ?f ffl er tne termination y' j of hostilities, U.1 S. I senators considered fjt' legislation to place t. J government work-I work-I )v4m ers in shipyards, ar-F ar-F ' I sena"s anc otner ac- V I tivities under state E tJiVjj unemployment compensation com-pensation systems, Sen. George with the states free to establish their own rates of payments up to $20 a week with federal aid, if needed. Introduced by Senator George (Ga.), the legislation was offered in place of another proposal, which would set up unemployment benefits of as much as $35 a week to demobilized demo-bilized war workers, deny payments if they refused to accept jobs offered by the U. S.; and provide up to six months vocational training with a maximum subsistence allowance of $75 a month. Claiming the latter proposal would maintain huge postwar deficits, invade in-vade states' rights over unemployment unemploy-ment compensation and subject U. S workmen to government dictation, a coalition of Republicans and southern south-ern Democrats backed the George measure. PACIFIC: Nearer Tokyo Ploughing defiantly through the rolling Pacific, U, S. warships sailed within 600 miles of Tokyo to raze the port center of Omura in the Bonin islands, while American carrier planes struck hard at enemy shipping ship-ping in the vicinity. The sea and air strikes around the Bonins coincided with other U. S. aerial assaults upon the whole range of Japanese defenses guarding the homeland, with planes ripping enemy ene-my installations on Paramashiro to the north and blasting Wake and the phosphate center of Nauru to the south. With 10,000 Japanese already counted dead, marines closed in on the enemy's last foothold on the northeast tip of Guam, where he had been steadily forced back under the relentless pressure of American forces. LEND-LEASE: Review Needs As the government reviewed the whole lend-lease and military food situation as a result of favorable developments de-velopments abroad, the National As sociation of Manufacturers revealed that British leaders were insisting upon continuance of lend-lease after the war in Europe, and possibly Asia, to bolster that country's internal in-ternal economy. Prompting the review of food needs which might result in increased in-creased allotments to U. S. civilians, were the army's huge supplies built up for a long war that may end sooner soon-er than expected; the vast stockpiles stock-piles laying In Great Britain, and the apparent plentiful reserves in occupied Europe. In asking for continuance of lend-lease lend-lease after the end of hostilities, British leaders were said to have pointed out -that the war's reduction reduc-tion of their world trade by 50 per cent and a 50 per cent decrease in their foreign investments to pay for military supplies, the country would be severely hampered in getting back on its feet unless assistance were forthcoming. The National Association As-sociation of Manufacturers, on the other hand, declared that while the U. S. debt neared 300 billion dol-lars, dol-lars, Britain's was only 75 billion. MISCELLANY FISH: More fish is in cold storage warehouses now than at any time in history for this season, the Office of the Coordinator of Fisheries reports. Stocks on hand totaled 90,000.000 pounds, an increase of 50 per cent over the same date in 1943. There is concern in the industry over lack of storage space to handle the large volume usually caught in the autumn. CASUALTIES: Costly Fighting In a month and a half of bitter fighting in France, Allied casualties totaled 115.655, of which American losses numbered 11,020 killed, 52,669 wounded and 5,831 missing. Second to the U. S. were British casualties, with 5,646 killed, 27,760 wounded and 6,182 missing, while Not long after Lieut.-Gcn. Lesley Les-ley McNair had been killed at the front in France by a bomb which an American airman released accidentally ac-cidentally behind U. S. lines, his only son, Douglas McNair, 37, met his death during the reconquest of Guam. Like bis father, young McNair was a field artillery man. Canadian losses totaled 919 killed, 4,354 wounded and 1,272 missing. On the basis of Prime Minister Churchill's statement that losses among the Allies were proportionately proportion-ately the same, casualty figures would indicate that Americans composed com-posed 60 per cent of the troops In France, the British 34.4 per cent, and the Canadians 5.6 per cent. When the invasion began, the number of troops was about equally divided. CIVIL SERVICE: Discharge Plans Looking forward to the day when cessation of war activity will result in the trimming of the federal payroll pay-roll now including 2,908,912 persons, the civil service commission has established es-tablished procedure for the discharge dis-charge of workers. First to be laid oft will be those recalled from retirement and beyond the retirement age, with the second including temporary employees serving under appointments limited to one year or less. In each of these instances, non-veterans will be discharged before veterans, the commission ruled. Next to be discharged will be so-called so-called transitory employees, embracing embrac-ing those with appointments for the duration and six months afterwards, and finally, "career" employees with unlimited appointments. Welcome Americans ! Entering city of Pcricrs in great drive that carried across Brittany, crew of U. S. reconnaissance cur arc greeted by two aged French women. POSTWAR GOODS: Higher Prices Because of wage increases, higher material costs and taxes, prices of many postwar civilian goods are expected ex-pected to rise, with OPA avoiding any undue restriction which might interfere with the reconversion from war industry. According to estimates, the first new cars, refrigerators and washing machines will cost 20 to 35 per cent more than pre-war models, and there will be increases in-creases in the prices of radios, with the trend being toward the production of better quality sets incorporating wartime developments. Spending Spree With the nation's pockets well heeled as a result of all-out production produc-tion for the war effort. U. S. retail spending for the first six months of 1944 reached record proportions, with prospects that the whole year's expenditures would surpass 1943's all-time high. Chief increase in retail sales for the first half or 1944 was in the so-called non-durable line of goods, including food, clothing, gasoline, drugs, liquor. Ice, fuel, cigars, flowers, etc., although business also was up in the so-called so-called durable goods, like jewelry, jewel-ry, furniture, building materials, automobiles and auto parts. Only sales of furniture showed a decrease. Much of the increase in spending, however, was attributed to payment of higher prices for goods, as reflected re-flected in the upgrading of inferior meats, greater sales of more expensive ex-pensive clothing in the absence of cheaper apparel, and the soaring costs of used cars. NAZI ar;js German weapons are of uniformly high quality in material and workmanship, work-manship, reports the U. S. army ordnance intelligence unit after examining ex-amining large numbers of captured arms. There is no evidence of a lack of critical materials, such as tungsten or manganese, It was stated. stat-ed. Unusual arms that have been taken tak-en include a paratrooper's automatic automat-ic rifle, a 3 4 inch rocket gun with a breech, and a 6.6 inch gun with a mechanical range computer. ' |