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Show Nation's Losses Within a day America lost an outstanding out-standing soldier and an equally notable statesman. No. 1 U. S. ace of World War II, Maj. Richard Ira (Dick) Bong from Poplar, Wis., died when his jet-pro- H" pelled "Shooting f ' Star" blew up short- i 1 ly after a takeoff f v " at Burbank. Calif. Entering the air fi Ai force in 1941, the h f then 20 - year - old iJfc ' J former farm boy Wa J topped all other j U. S. airmen by shooting down 40 Maj. Bong Jap planes in action extending from Australia to the Philippines. Just before the "Shooting "Shoot-ing Star" exploded. Bong was seen leaping out of the cockpit, only to be caught in the air by the terrific blast. One of the famed "irreconcili- ables" who fought to keep the U. S. out of the League of Nations and aso A,(" v'AAi opposed ratifica- W.$f tionof the United 1 Natins charter, UiyAA J Sen. Hiram W. John- ;vik "'U son (Iep" CaUf ) AA'y Ij died at the naval Vfkt h0SPital at Bethes- fcife' da, Md., at 79. Al- EX-Ta.jLS ways a ruSged independent, in-dependent, who Sen. Johnson tread according to his conscience rather rath-er than party interests, Johnson took most pride in his governorship of California from 1910 to M16, when he led in the adoption of woman suffrage, workmen's compensation and elimination of partisanship in municipal and county elections. CIVILIAN GOODS: Slow Coming Though War Production board officials of-ficials declared that the reconversion reconver-sion program gradually was gathering gather-ing momentum, there are small prospects that needed civilian goods will reach retailers' counters in sufficient volume before well into 194G. In reviewing the situation, WPB held out hopes for substantial production pro-duction of electric Irons, baby carriages car-riages and alarm clocks during the present quarter, with limited output of washing machines, vacuum cleaners and galvanized cans and pails. To date, only near sufficient quantities of razors, razor blades, hearing-aid batteries and dry cell batteries are being manufactured, it was said. Though comparatively large amounts of electric ranges, refrigerators, refriger-ators, film, lamps and fans are scheduled to be turned out in the present quarter, most will be reserved re-served for military purposes, WPB revealed. SOUTH AMERICA: Export Surplus During the years .1940 through 1944, the other American republics accumulated a surplus of exports over imports totalling $3,531,000,000, according to a recent compilation by the federal reserve board in Washington. Wash-ington. In 1944, the compilation shows, the export surplus of these countries was $1,115,000,000, compared with $450,-000.000 $450,-000.000 in 1939, before full effects of the war were felt In western hemisphere hemi-sphere trade. |