Show weekly news analysis 11 1 manpower authority rules draft enlistments end food czar EDITORS NOTE NOT opinions oas ere re expressed in in these columns they are r those of western newspaper union sews news analysts nod and not necessarily of el this newspaper U S FOOD SUPPLY under control when president roosevelt appointed claude clauda R secretary of agriculture to be national food administrator he set in motion a v vast ast program that would eventually touch almost every pantry shelf in the united nations for was given specific control over food production processing and distribution not only to U S civilians and the U S military but was also ma made de responsible for such distribution to our fighting allies over the entire globe in the executive order creating the new food setup the president directed to consult with donald N nelson son of the and with leon henderson of the OPA an in working out policies I 1 effecting price control and indu industrial use of foodstuffs he I 1 was wag given direct charge of rationing scarce food items among U S civilians and tor for the allocation of food supplies between the civili civilian an population and the military forces after consultation with military and naval heads thus all government agencies charged with supplying food to civilians were placed in direct charge of a single head with the expectation that much of the confusion surrounding this problem would now disappear this was the first time since world war I 1 when herbert hoover was national food administrator that any single control had been placed on this exceedingly vital nationwide program also streamlined in the same executive order was the department of agriculture as was directed to consolidate into one division all agencies concerned with food production and into another division all those agencies concerned with food distribution was also made a me member M ber of the war production board and was given direction of food imports through the board of economic warfare his new job will give him a greater voice in the allocation of farm machines fertilizers and other farm aid which will be necessary to reach the high 1943 agricultural ri goals NO hibernation on russian steppes when dussias Rus sias armies first struck back at the germans in the opening round of the winter offensive on that front it looked as it if the nazis had decided to dig in and hibernate until spring would come and the going would be easier but after these first thrusts by the russians the hitler troops came to life and on every front counterattack was the key word in even the moscow reports of the fighting despite this the russians said that in a single week they had destroyed german planes and had succeeded in repulsing these strong nazi counterattacks counter attacks the issue was far from settled in fact on the first anniversary of last years counteroffensive counter offensive before moscow the russians extended this years winter campaign deep into the caucasus in this sector as around stalingrad Stal ingrad there was great loss of german life and the russians claimed thousands of prisoners were taken enlistments halted by in a moye move designed to tighten control over the manpower situation president roosevelt suspended enlistments list ments in the army and navy transferred selective service to the war manpower commission and authorized priorities over civilian employment for the first time in the nations a COME SARDINIA 5 T cap ap TI A c ALOE ia C above map shows the he possible invasion of europe by nay of newly won bases in french north africa while the allied drive had been bech stalled temporarily waiting for essential reinforcements military men were certain that thelast axis strongholds strong holds would soon be in allied hands tunis and bizette both figure largely in possible invasion plans history p physically qualified men are forbidden to enlist and tor for the first time in history the navy and marine corps will take others than volunteers meanwhile the war department ordered suspension of inducement induct ment for au all men 38 M years of age and older arrangements were made to give honorable discharges to certain men in the upper age brackets who are arc already in service the presidential order expanded the powers of chairman paul V mcnutt of the war manpower commission so that he will have the power to determine not only who goes into the armed services but what civilian jobs the stay at homes can take the office of director of selective service held by maj gen lewis B hershey will continue but hershey it is subject to McNut ts authority tho rity all local draft boards were directed to continue functioning as in the past except that future orders will come from the war manpower commission the use mcnutt makes of his new authority will determine the application of the civilian job priority problem in the order president roosevelt stated no employer shall retain in his hiis employ any worker whose services are more urgently needed in any establishment plant facility occupation or area designated as more essential by the chairman pursuant to this section TUNISIA voiding holding action I 1 resistance had stiffened in northern tunisia the stalled british first army with its american components was fighting a bitter holding action in the face of daring german dive bombing and tank attacks in the mountains while waiting for important reinforcements with which to resume the offensive A new threat to the axis in libya was shaping up in the direction of the sahara desert more than miles south of tunis the morocco radio broadcasting a report from the headquarters of french gen henri giraud said native companies had occupied heights on the algeria Tripoli tania frontier east of sjanet the latter place is in the southeastern corner of algeria about 30 miles from the libyan border it is on the flank of a possible route of invasion by fighting french forces who could advance from fort lamy in french equatorial africa through southern libya an allied said there was no change in the situation at the front but that heavy aerial assaults were continuing on the docks and airfields at bizette and tunis the admitted that allied fighters were encountering heavy going naples blasted the maples harbor a major supply depot for axis forces force defending bizette Bizer te tunis and tripoli felt t the h e great weight of war when american four consolidated bombers hurled pounds of explosives af at italian battleships cruisers destroyers and supply dumps reports from allied headquarters in north africa said that it will take the italians a long time to repair the damage done to naples harbor huge fires were raging when the bombers which had met no enemy planes returned to their base PARITY formula revised the inclusion of all farm labor costs in parity formulas a as s approved by the house in in a surprise action will increase parity prices approximately 12 per cent according to senate leaders the new formula would allow the additional margin for upward trends in farm commodity prices before price controls could be imposed legally passage of the bill seemed assured assured following the house action sen elmer thomas of oklahoma predicted the administration would not try too hard to fight the effort to increase farm prices most farm commodities would be affected by the proposal as most of them now are selling below parity however it was stated that hogs beef cattle and rice now selling at average prices in excess of current parity would not be affected by the new formula to such a an n extent that a price rise would be indicated LAST PROJECT for largest relief agency of the nations greatest depression is passing out of existence on order of president roosevelt activities will end in many states by february 1 1943 and will be completely out of the national picture by june 30 1943 wartime pickup in private employment was cited as the reason for putting an end to the spending of millions of dollars through the medium of work relief more than ten billion dollars was spent by during its lifetime and it ii furnished relief to 38 million people subject to criticism practically from the beginning the agency was defended by the president even as he penned its death message to maj gen philip B fleming federal works administrator the president said that had asked for and earned an honorable discharge and also he added that the agency had displayed courage and determination in the face of uniformed criticism at any rate it was the end of an era i SEA BATTLES F for or land goals around guadalcanal Guadal canal in the solomons ons and around the island of new guinea in the southwest pacific a continuation of the double bar meled strategy on both sides featured the U S jap struggle for these footholds it was the strategy of sea forces trying to ordinate coordinate co their activity with that of the theland land units fighting each other in fierce jungle struggles every time the japs would try and land a additional doit ional reinforcements re for their hard pressed armies at these theme two wo point s the U S fleet would rush in to smash up these landing attempts the U S strategy was having a little more success by landing ing a huge A EFon on new zealand where and when this army would eventually make its s tand stand was of course a military secret but adt the armchair arm chair strategists believed it was headed to relieve the marines and army fighters on guadalcanal Guadal canal general macarthurs Mac Arthurs problem of rounding up the japs jap 3 in new euln guinea ea was accomplished only by the slowest kind of fighting advances were figured in yards and feet but as they retreated the enemy had bad not far to go until he reached the sea biggest question marks was whether or not the U S fleet could spare the ships to smash jap evacuation attempts NIMITZ well crush japan our victories in the pacific foreshadow the eventual complete destruction st of japanese power adm chester W nimitz commander in chief of the U S pacific fleet said in a review of the accomplishment of the fleet for the past 12 months nimitz pointed out that most of the ships caught by the surprise attack on pearl harbor are on their way back to the fleet better fighting ships than ever and our citadel in hawaii has been greatly strengthened asked if the japs would be driven from the aleutians Aleut ians he said emphatically yes As to time I 1 dont want to say anything that would disclose our plans but we will drive the japs out before they can do any dar damage nage he said the outlook for good for advancing into japanese home waters in the western pacific however he said this requires a great massing of men planes ships and materiel we will need superiority perio rity in these things in order to force our way into enemy areas our factories are meeting our demands for the necessary materiel FACE LIFTING for government As 1942 drew toward toward its ender end citizens had a chance to look K over the past few weeks and see just how much the national administrative istra tive picture had changed in a short period ot of time every important phase of american life had taken on a new complexion all of this meant that the nation was settling down to a real eal all out effort aimed it at winning the war in the shortest possible time here is the new picture james F byrnes had been named director of economic stabilization donald nelson had reorganized and streamlined the war production board claude has been 7 3 ag 7 j 7 5 51 t PAUL mcnutt his headache is manpower made national food administrator and will work with leon henderson in in the rationing of U S food supplies paul mcnutt was given complete control of the manpower problem harold ickes has a brand new appointment as petroleum administrator for war william jeffers was in charge of the nations rubber supply those who had urged the president to delegate his vast wartime powers could now study the new executive war cabinet and could place responsibility for the various phases of the national effort elsewhere than the white house |