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Show Geography Is Factor in Determining War's End Road to Tokyo Both Long and Rough; Pacific Remains Studded With Well-Fortified Japanese Strongholds. By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. ft" WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. No victory over Japan before 1949? When that sentiment was broadcast broad-cast from Washington by Vice Admiral Ad-miral Home under the aegis of Secretary Sec-retary Knox, a good many eyebrows were raised here in the capital. Of course, it is fully realized here that once the American people think the war is in the bag, they will be ready to resume the plowshare and the pen as simple citizens again, not as dol-lar-a-year men or munitions workers work-ers or victory gardeners or ration-ers ration-ers or any of the other things we don't like. So Washington can't afford af-ford to be overoptimistic. But 1949 is a long, long way ofT. When Admiral Halsey finally admitted ad-mitted that the capture of the important im-portant air base of Munda was "within reach," it looked like another an-other easy victory scored and that Tokyo ought to tremble. About Distances But how much nearer are we to Tokyo? Get a map of Asia, including includ-ing the Solomon Islands and if you can identify the little specks which are Guadalcanal where our main base lies, and Rabaul, our objective, objec-tive, note the distance between, and then see how much farther it is to Tokyo. It's as far as from New York to Casablanca. And there is a lot of difference between the two roads. When we sent our troops over the Atlantic to Africa, it was pretty nearly our pond there wasn't an Axis base en route. The Pacific is studded with Japanese bases. There are two powerful Jap strongholds, much better protected than Munda right in the Solomon Islands, on Bougainville island and Rabaul, the hub of the Japs' empire in the Southwest. Beyond, over a long stretch of water, is the little island of Truk, said to be the main Jap naval base in the Pacific. From New Britain, where Rabaul is located, it is 690 miles to Tokyo further than from Tunisia to the northern tip of Norway. In order to realize why we are still so far away from our objective in the Pacific war, we have to. consider con-sider what it took to get as far as we have already gone. It took six months, some terribly gruelling fighting, and many lives, to capture the little island of Guadalcanal. It took another five months before the Allies were ready to start their second sec-ond offensive movement with the final capture of Rabaul as the objective. ob-jective. Progress at this rate and with this type of island-to-island advance ad-vance is taken for granted by those who put 1949 as the date when Japan will be vanquished. ' Defensive Action It took MacArthur approximately as long to turn back the Japs on New Guinea, fighting to reach Port Moresby, and to capture their key point of Buna, so they could move on Salamaua and Lae driving the enemy out foot by foot from these pretty much isolated point's. The fighting, up until the drive beginning be-ginning with the capture of Rendova on June 30, has been nothing more than offensive-defensive. Before that the effort, and a successful one, was to keep the Japs from attacking Australia from Port Moresby, from seizing the Solomons and making the Australian east coast vulnerable and to save the life line of men and supplies moving from America to Australia. Only now, summer 1943, are we really taking offensive action in the Southwest Pacific and, as I said, if you look at a map of Asia which shows all of the territory held by the Japanese, you will see that what we have won since our offensive really began is a very thin sliver, geographically speaking. In enemy effectives destroyed, it has been larger in proportion, but the navy men in Washington who talk about 1949 speak with a conservative geographical geo-graphical accent. Diary of a Broadcaster Isn't it awfully, dull in Washington with congress gone home and everything every-thing closed up? If you think so. you are dreaming a midsummer night's dream. When I arise and start down toward Pennsylvania avenue, I note the little spring cat which has joined its maltese mother and its tiger (perhaps) (per-haps) father. Is it going limp with boredom? It is not. It prepares its toilet with the same tongue-wearying energy that it did when congress con-gress was in session. That is just an example. The buses are just as crowded. Telephone Tele-phone numbers as hard to get. Laundry lingers as long among the launderers. Pants pant for pressing. press-ing. Recently I tried four leading hotels ho-tels before I could reserve places for lunch. One of them was not air cooled. "I am ordinarily a two-suit two-suit guy," said a newspaper man to me the other day when Donald Nelson was complaining about the heavy buying of clothes, "but if I didn't have four suits now. I'd go to work impressed and uncleaned or in a barrel." 'The Little Prince' You recall I reviewed "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Saint-Exupery in this column some time ago. I have had many letters concerning con-cerning the author whom I said was at the front. Recently Leonard Lyons, New York columnist, reported that the aviator-author, who is back on the fighting line again although he is 43 years old, wrote to his American translator: "After seeing the fighting men and the mighty armaments, I realize that I must come to Africa to appreciate ap-preciate America." He was spared, after the fall of France, "to fight again." Let us hope he will be spared, when she rises, to write again. Food Program ' It was a cooler and more peaceful day than many which had preceded it in Washington. The President was in a genial mood when he met the press and radio representatives. The administration, he said, is working on a new food program. A few days before, I talked with a member of the administration who said to me: "Frankly, if we have a food program, I can't find it." And he was very anxious to locate it because be-cause a lot of his friends had been asking . . . The President, at the conference I referred to, explained that he'd be tickled to death if anyone would explain ex-plain to him how he could reduce prices in accordance with the stabilization sta-bilization under the present limitations limita-tions set by congress. A little bit later, I heard it said flatly: "We've got to increase prices if we expect the farmers to raise enough food to meet the present goals." Now, Howard Tolley, chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, (whose business it is to figure out what is needed, not how we'll get it) says this: Increased Consumption "If the United States carries out its proposed international pledge to do all that is needed to provide better diets for its own people, the consumption of dairy products here would have to be increased 40 per cent." That is just one product representing, repre-senting, of course, milk, butter, cheese. In order to bring the national diet up to the standard set, truck crops would also have to be increased about 80 per cent, eggs more than 20 per cent, fruit about 20 per cent, according to Mr. Tolley, and to raise crops for such a market would take about 40 million additional acres of cropland or about one-eighth more than is now cultivated. With the present full employment, Tolley says that this extra output of the farmer's product could be absorbed. ab-sorbed. And this leaves out what would be sold abroad. Right now, industry is working on plans to maintain this "full employment" employ-ment" by converting war plants to peace plants. Industry is trying to compete with the government in post-war planning in this field. How many farmers are interested enough to get up and say "their say" in favor of a plan that will keep enough people at work so that they can buy this extra 40 million acres' worth of food they need to be healthy? |