Show weekly Wee EBy news analysis attack on solomon islands by allies takes offensive from japanese EDITORS NOTE when opinions 0 i 0 Ds r expressed in these columns they t h er are r those of western newspaper union news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper OFFENSIVE in southwest pacific exactly eight months after the bombing of pearl harbor eight months of gloom laden defensive warfare allied air sea and land forces carried the battle to the enemy in the southwest pacific theater of war in a fierce battle for the solomon islands the united states fleet and warships of the pacific flotilla struck heavy continuing blows at japanese bases in americas first great offensive of the war adm chester W nimitz U S naval commander in the pacific stressed the force of enemy resistance the fight was at the northern boundary of the coral sea where a U S task force in may inflicted the first great naval defeat in history upon japan although not discussed in official navy spokesmen made it clear that the assault on the solomons was the first major attempt to regain japanese seized territory equally clear was the fact that all possible fire power was being brought to bear upon the enemy this would include army and navy bombing planes shelling from big guns of naval surface ships and possibly strong land action some thousands of miles north a pacific fleet task force had bombarded jap ships and installations at kiska one of three aleutian islands upon which an estimated japanese have entrenched themselves INDIA action As the crisis in the latest drive for indias andias independence approached pro ached britain acted with speed and surprise by official decree mohandas K gandhi and almost other all india congress party leaders were arrested as they prepared to launch their nationwide nation wide nonviolent civil disobedience movement as a protest against britaina Brit ains refusal to grant india immediate freedom some sources reported that the british acted because it was learned that an extensive sabotage campaign against the war effort was about to get under way rank and file of Gand his party did not take their rebuke quietly dispatches from new delhi reported rioting in bombay and in addition government grain stores were looted in protest against the british action it il was the sixth time that gandhi bad handed himself over to government officials in his lifelong life long fight for indian independence As he gave himself up he called upon his followers to remember the slogan either we get freedom or die technically gandhi was not being imprisoned but he was to be kept under strict surveillance britaina Brit ains attitude seemed to be summed up in the thought that while indias andias independence was important the most vital problem of the united nations at present was the winning of a war indias andias freedom so it appeared to britain would not help that cause LABOR another crossroads As peace committees of both and CIO begin preparations for their meeting to bring about labor peace both philip murray CIO president and william green head of issued public statements indicating that they favored the objective there were definite signs however that the method of reaching the objective might encounter some dif A t PHILIP MURRAY hoped and prayed faculty along the way for in one of his statements on the subject president green urged that CIO come back to the the house of labor later in a speech to the important CIO united automobile aircraft and agricultural implement workers of america meeting in their convention in chicago philip murray avoided all reference to this statement but he did say I 1 hope I 1 pray that their the attitude will have changed that experience peri ence has taught the need for giving recognition to the aspirations and objectives of those organizations which make up the congress of industrial du organizations biggest stumbling blocks in labor peace talks for the seven years that the two groups had gone their own way had been personalities and the refusal or inability of to recognize CIOs organization of unions by grouping all workers in an industry into one union continued with some modifications to organize their unions through the craft system just how these two systems could be dovetailed where there is overlap over lap ping jurisdiction is what a peace committee had facing it As far as personalities were concerned philip murray had bypassed john L lewis by appointing to the CIO peace committee members not necessarily committed to the head of potent united mine workers lewis and green had constantly differed on peace terms in the past and with the former out of the front trenches but still very much in the fight some observers were forecasting an outside chance for a united labor front united for U S victory GRAIN AND OIL to the nazis though the cost in men and machines has been terrific the nazis are already reaping the benefits of their 1942 drive for the oil and grain riches of the caucasus this was evidenced by an admission on the part of red star official russian army newspaper that already the germans were shipping trainloads train loads of foodstuffs from the kuban area kuban is one of dussias Rus sias finest farm sectors but now has been practically cut off from soviet control however the nazis were not harvesting all the grain nor pumping all the oil that the russians were forced to abandon for as they retreated the cossack defenders were employing the scorched earth policy to the best of their ability grain fields and granaries crammed with wheat were blazing as the germans advanced to them oil wells in the field were blown up by soviet troops yet experts were forced to admit that the nazi prize that remained was worth the battle losses for these are the things germany needs to continue fighting oil and grain all this fighting was but part of the main drive toward stalingrad Stal ingrad and what lay beyond while the rich oil field supplies russia with about 7 per cent of her oil and while the wheat fields of the northwest caucasus hold valuable stores there was much more beyond the city this is why the battle tor for stalingrad Stal ingrad RAU itself had turned into the most crucial front of the united nations against germany GRIM ENDING for saboteurs Sabot eurs the greatest execution in the history of the nations capital took place when six of eight nazi sabo deurs who came to this country by submarine to cripple the war effort were electrocuted in the district of columbia jails electric chair one by one the six men walked into the death chamber to die in in the presence of official witnesses six times spectators standing in a dismal rain outside saw the prison lights go dim as the current was sent into the bodies of the condemned men it was an hour and a half after the first of the plotters was pronounced dead that the white house made its official announcement the six were herbert hans haupt heirich heinrich harm heinck edward john kerling hermann otto richard quirin and werner thiel two other saboteurs sabot eurs escaped death by aiding the prosecution one of them ernest peter burger was sentenced to life in prison at hard har d labor the other george john dasch was sentenced to 30 years at hard labor meanwhile the nations first important sedition trial since the outbreak of the war came to a close when a federal court jury in indianapolis found william dudley pelley founder of the fascist silver shirts guilty of criminal sedition Pel leys co defendants agnes marion henderson his secretary and lawrence brown were found guilty only of conspiracy pelley was found guilty on all 11 counts in the indictment 10 of which charged him with making false statements with the intent to cause insubordination dina mutiny and disloyalty among the armed force the bilth charge accused him of conspiracy the three were associated in the fellowship press of noblesville Nob lesville ind where they published the galilean magazine stern justice even as the erstwhile dictator of the silver shirts braced himself for the penalties ahead the american public demonstrated again its stern temper when federal judge arthur J tuttle pronounced a death sentence for treason upon max stephan detroit restaurant owner for betraying his adopted country by befriending fri an escaped nazi prisoner stephan had previously been convicted by a federal court jury his was the first death sentence for treason under a year old federal law housewives race face job draft spokesmen for the manpower commission intimated that one out of every four american housewives between the ages of 18 and 44 may be needed in munitions jobs for r this country to attain full war production it was indicated that a nationwide occupational registration of women might be undertaken as a means of cataloguing catalo guing the count rys total feminine adult resources paul V mcnutt manpower chief has estimated that about more women must be placed in war jobs by the end of 1943 the object of the nationwide nation wide registration would be to determine the number of women available and willing to take wartime jobs of the persons now employed are women CARGO PLANES get green light A go ahead green light for the construction of vast cargo planes plane s in months to come was given by both the army and navy speaking for the army gen henry H arnold commander of the army air forces told a senate military affairs committee that 21 per cent of all multiple engine bomber planes to be produced for the remainder of 1942 will be cargo or transport carriers including all planes of comparable flying range he added 30 per cent of the total output will be essentially for cargo purposes general arnold revealed that cargo and transport carriers now being produced are used to move paratroops and airborne infantry to tow gliders and to carry supplies to combat zones planes are moving about tons of material a week he said speaking for the navy rear admiral john H towers chief of the bureau of aeronautics disclosed that the navy is speeding a huge program for building cargo planes submarines lull near U S that american coastal waters are no longer a soft spot for german submarines was the view expressed by british officials in a from london consequently it was believed that axis U boats had been forced to seek other waters in which to prey on united nations commerce adoption of the convoy system in the panama and caribbean areas plus increased air defenses were cited as coinciding with a decreased scale of submarine attacks american military authorities commenting on the recent drop in submarine sin kings warned however that the nazis might now be preparing to bring the full brunt of their attack against the heavily convoyed supply lines across the north atlantic increasing allied effectiveness against submarines was said to be due to the fact that the bottleneck regarding engines for submarine chasers defensive craft and dirig derigi bles has been broken and defensive craft are coming forward in greater numbers STEEL probe black market in answer to charges that a black market in steel existed where immediate delivery was made from bulging warehouses scattered over the nation two government investigations were immediately begun first probe was undertaken by price administrator leon henderson N 4 el 1 SENATOR HARRY S TRUMAN negligence or willful ivill ful misconduct after charges made by frank higgins associated with his father in a new orleans shipbuilding yard that his company had bought steel from such markets at higher premiums the second investigation was undertaken der taken by congressman carl peterson chairman of the house subcommittee investigating the th e mari mar time commissions cancellation V y 13 month of the higgins higgin S C compan 0 1 contract to build liberty ships because of an alleged steel shortage meanwhile chairman harry S truman of the senate committee investigating vesti gating national defense charged the navy departments bureau of ships with negligence or willful misconduct in connection with the construction of tank landing boats senator Tr charges contained in a letter to navy secretary frank knox referred to the navys insistence on substituting its own models of tank landing boats for ships of proved value built for this purpose by the higgins company in new orleans U S IMPORTS limited by in a move designed to conse precious cargo space on bound for the united states the war production board made public an emergency shipping priorities list limiting imports into this country to some designated items officials said that some exceptions to the emergency list would be made it if space is available after all listed items have been loaded these would be limited to cargoes from the caribbean area the british isles and newfoundland miscellany I 1 GENEVA guglielmo ferrero noted italian historian and foe of the fascists died here at the age of 71 seven years ago his books were seized by the mussolini government and he was forced to flee italy he had taught history at the university of geneva ever since A among mong his most noted books was the grandeur and decadence of rome LONDON president roosevelt 0 0 s e v e 1 t president cpr gave his name and hi his sponsorship on s 0 r s h i p as a godfather to the youngest son of the british royalty at a christening ceremony on the birthday of the infants aunt queen the prince born july 4 to the duke and duchess of kent was named michael george charles franklin and will be known as prince george of kent as was his father the duke youngest brother of king george VI served as proxy for president roosevelt who accepted by cable the invitation to be godfather to the prince 0 washington manufacture of typewriters except tor for a small quantity to be produced for the government by one factory will end october 31 it was announced by the war production board in in an ord a released here the order lik liked e lo 10 0 limited the production of most ty cyp y writer companies between july 1 and october I 1 to 12 per cent of the machines sold by them last year MOSCOW thirty three red army commanders were promoted to the rank of major general according to an announcement issued by the soviet council of peoples commis sars at the same time ivan volko tru benko and boris ov were made lieutenant generals LONDON the admiralty announced that 23 british shipyards which had been closed during the shipbuilding depression in prewar years had been reopened the statement me nt was issued in denial of reports published in britain that banys man y yards were unused fb w V released by western newspaper U amo |