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Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS -, Allies Continue Gain in Italy; Farm Help Shows 4o Decrease; Japs Strengthen Hold in China Released by Western NewspnpeUnlon. J (EDITOR'S NOTE: When pinions re expressed In thus column, they are those of Weatern Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) CONSUMERS' GOODS: Clothing Pinch Unless a sudden change in the war occurs, supplies of men's and boy's fall and winter apparel will continue to be tight. So discovered merchants gathering gather-ing in Chicago's Merchandise Mart for the annual clothing show, with their allotments for pajamas, sport and dress suits, sweaters and suits ranging from 50 to 75 per cent of last year. Any increase In production, it was learned, wouid be entirely dependent de-pendent upon the availability of labor and goods and the extent of military and lend-lease demands. Reflecting the swiftly changing conditions con-ditions was the War Production board's recent order reserving the spinning of worsted yarn solely for the government. With a fairly early possible return to civilian production, merchants sought standard items which would immediately come into demand instead in-stead of substitutes. Electric Irons Despite delays principally occasioned occa-sioned by manufacturers' pleas for higher ceiling prices, the War Production Pro-duction board's electric iron program pro-gram came closer to its announced goal of 2.000,000 units for 1944 with authorization so far for an output of 7C9.338. Although surplus materials are being be-ing released to manufacturers whose operations will not complicate the tight labor situation, deliveries of irons in volume cannot be expected ex-pected until the fall, it was said, since many of the requests for materials ma-terials had not been cleared. In asking for higher prices, manufacturers manu-facturers reportedly pointed out that OPA ceilings were based on prewar conditions, which have since been considerably altered by increased wages and material costs amourting to 25 per cent. CHINA: Ominous Rumblings With Japanese troops strengthening strengthen-ing their hold on eastern China. Generalissimo Gen-eralissimo Chiang Kai - shek ordered ! an offensive in the fVilj southwestern part i:ssS$$S of the country in an W effort to open up a M0$f$i new supply road r'f from Burma. 'ifaf ?J As the Chinese po- l fX''ii$t sition deteriorated r'v"Xv with ominous rum- 0M(j$? bungs that the coun- f try might not be W 'iiX able to continue war a.v:.3,ii much longer with- Chiang out concrete assist- Kai-shek ance from the Allies, Al-lies, Vice President Henry Wallace prepared to fly to the Far East for conferences with Chinese leaders. In attacking to the southwest, the Chinese aimed to hook up the Burma Bur-ma road with the pTTTri Ledo road, which "'I Lieut. Gen. Joseph M''s$& Stilwell's mixed Jf1' forces were hacking LA'I"! extend communica-t'$'Ki$l communica-t'$'Ki$l ons from Allied In' "&0t tiaUy offsetting the ' Jsps' stranglehold - ,V4. J on the country Henry through their con-Wallace con-Wallace t"0 ' a Chinese seaports. FARM HELP: 4- Per Cent Drop t With hired hand help showing the biggest drop,- farm employment on May 1 stood at 10,068,000 persons, 4 per cent below a year ago and 9 per cent under the 1938-'42 average, aver-age, the department of agriculture reported. Some of the decline was attributed to the inclement weather which prevented pre-vented field work in recent weeks, but this condition soon promised to be reversed, with farmers needing all available hands to get the crops in during the shortened season, 'especially 'es-pecially since many operators were reportedly switching their acreage from small grains to row crops, which require more labor. Although all the geographic regions re-gions showed declines in farm employment, em-ployment, the largest decrease occurred oc-curred in the west south central area, where the number of family workers dropped 3 per cent and hired hands 18 per cent As of May 1, 80 per cent of the agricultural working work-ing force was made up of farm operators op-erators and familyhelp. , MISCELLANY: OLDEST: The oldest person in the United States, according to the census bureau, is James W. Wilson, negro resident of Vidana, Ga., who has just reached his 119th birthday. GRADUATE: Alrr 12 years of part time attendance, Mrs. Joseph Montone, G9, and the mother of seven children, has completed grammar gram-mar school in Nev;irk, N. J. Italy Air force aerrice groups load bomb for delivery to bombers on flaming; Italian front. EUROPE: Smash Ahead As the Nazis' Gustav line shook and crumbled in southern Italy before be-fore the charge of U. S., French and British troops, Allied bombers continued their round-the-clock bombardment bom-bardment of vital communications in western Europe to complicate the enemy's plans for countering the invasion. Beyond the enemy's tattered Gustav Gus-tav line in southern Italy lay his equally heralded Adolf Hitler line, a network of deep set steel machine-gun machine-gun nests anchored in concrete, and hinged on the towering Arunci mountains v on the west. Banging through the Gustav line to the west, U. S. and French forces already were bearing down on the Hitler fortifications. for-tifications. As the invasion approached, German Ger-man bombers were sent over England Eng-land in strength, with fleets of 300 attacking seaports and military installations in-stallations on the southeast coast. As the zero hour nearcd, Britain was agog with reports that the Germans Ger-mans were preparing to drop paratroopers para-troopers into the qountry to wreck vital communications and other strategic installations the moment the invasion fleet shoved off. PACIFIC: Widespread Action Fighting see-sawed in India, with the British regaining ground in the vital Assam-Bengal railroad line area to the north, and the Japs launching a new drive into the country coun-try to the southwest. As the fighting raged in India, U. S. bombers ranged over the length of the Pacific, hammering Jap installations in northwestern New Guinea guarding the approaches ap-proaches to the East Indies and Philippines; blasting isolated enemy strongholds on the Marshalls, and hitting the Kurile islands at the tip of the Japanese homeland. At the same time, U. S. bombers pounded Jap supply bases on eastern New Guinea and New Britain islands, where an estimated 150,000 enemy troops have 'been encircled by U. S. amphibious' operations. The Japs launched their new drive to the southwest in India after British and native troops fought off their steady advance toward the Assam-Bengal rail line, which would be an important link in any new supply road to China through northern Burma. STRIKES:. 60,000 Idle Sixty-thousand workers were on strike in Detroit, Mich., many as a result of the walkout of 3,300 foremen fore-men seeking recognition of their association as-sociation as a bargaining agent, contrary con-trary to industry's position that they are a part of the management Because the navy's bureau of aeronautics' refused to accept any more of its output because of a lack of foremen's supervision and inspection, inspec-tion, the Briggs Manufacturing company com-pany closed its Mack avenue plant, and later the Hudson Motor Car company announced it shut down some of its' assembly lines for the same reason. More than 4,000 workers were idle as a result of the CIO opposition to the delivery of soft drinks into the Highland Park plant by an AFL driver as the two unions fought each other in organizing chauffeurs for beverage concerns. Other squabbles concerned production rates at Buick's aluminum foundry at Flint, Mich., and a protest against a War Labor board ruling at Graham-Paige's Graham-Paige's Detroit plant YANKS ABROAD: Beer One of the worst complaints of U. S. seamen, according to vice-admiral vice-admiral H. .. Hewitt, is that they can't get ashore often enough for a drink of beer, and he added, beer would be available to men on all naval vessels if he could have his way. All alcoholic beverages are forbidden for-bidden on ships of the U. S. navy since World War I. The British navy, by contrast, issues the daily rum ration. FOOD: Large Holdings Despite the removal of meat from rationing, storage holdings totaled 1,215,501,000 pounds on May 1, the highest for that date since 1920. Of the meat holdings, 781,392,000 pounds were in pork; 282,291,000 pounds in beef, and 16,671,000 in lamb and mutton. Poultry stocks totaled 129,988,000 pounds. On hand were 123,364,000 pounds of cheese and 69,533 pounds of butter. At 12.802,000 cases, holdings of eggs on May 1 were the highest for that date. Other large stocks included in-cluded 130,855,000 pounds of fruit and 105,417,000 pounds of vegetables. Meat Rationing Despite the record meat holdings, OPA Administrator Chester Bowles told the house banking committee that rationing may be resumed in "30, 60 or 90 days, or maybe it will be January and February," Resumption of rationing depends upon the flow of hogs and cattle to market once warehouses have been partly cleared of bulging holdings, Bowles said. Much of the-shipment will depend upon the feed available, avail-able, he declared. Concerning feed, midwestern senators sen-ators meeting with War Food Administrator Ad-ministrator Marvin Jones pressed for an early relief of the government's govern-ment's prohibition of private sales of corn in 125 counties in the midwest, mid-west, claiming that industrial processors already have sufficient supplies to carry them into the fall, whereas farmers are short on animal ani-mal feed. MOSCOW MISSION: Jig-Saw Back in Springfield, Mass., after a whirlwind visit to Moscow where he conferred with Josef Stalin about plans for the reconstruction of a democratic postwar Poland and Communist cooperation with the Roman Catholic church, Rev. Stanislaus Stan-islaus Orlemanski had an unsettled homecoming. Boisterously greeted by several hundred of his parishioners including includ-ing exuberant youngsters, Father Orlemanski later was served with a notice of the suspension of all of his priestly privileges by his superior, m iL.u ii u j.um . v smimwwkj) i.wwsw wyym mnu Parishioners Greet Rev. Orlemanski. Bishop Thomas M. O'Leary, for leaving his pastorate without permission. per-mission. The suspension was lifted when Father Orlemanski, near a nervous breakdown, promised to conduct himself according to the rules and policy of the church. Observers who remembered the recent assertion of Russia's late Orthodox Church Metropolitan Sergei that the bible did not support sup-port the Pope's position as vicar of Christ, tried to reconcile the statement state-ment with Father Orlemanski's presentation of a paper purportedly signed by Stalin, professing a belief that it was possible for Red Russia to work with the Pontiff on questions ques-tions of religious freedom. BALLBEARINGS: Diplomatic Incident With their armies locked on bloody battle-fields, diplomats of the great powers crossed their own kinds of swords in an intense, dramatic fight over possession of the ball-bearing output of Sweden's great SKF manufacturing manu-facturing company. If money's the only object the Allies Al-lies have a good chance to win the fight, since the U. S. dispatched a special representative to Stockholm with a blank check to bid for Germany's Ger-many's share of SKF's ball-bearing production. The U. S. representative went overseas to dicker directly with SKF officials after the Swedish government govern-ment turned down demands that it renounce its ball bearing trade agreement with the Germans. The U. S. purchase of SKF's entire output would, in effect leave the Swedish government without any ball bearings to deliver. To help the Swedes make up their minds, U. S. agencies reportedly were considering taking over SKF's plant in Philadelphia, Pa., as representatives repre-sentatives of the Treasury and Foreign For-eign Economic administration investigated in-vestigated the company's books. President of SKF's U. S. business is William L. Batt, vice chairman of the War Production board. " Surgery Amputations may be reduced by half in this present war because of a new way of splicing arteries which has been devised by three New York scientists. The War department has approved the method for battle-front battle-front use, although special equipment equip-ment will be necessary to preserve segments of blood vessels. The method briefly, is to bridge gaps in arteries with sections of veins. |