Show weekly news analysis new food czar seeks solution of acute farm brodu production et ion problems EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in these columns they are those of western newspaper p er union news analysts and sot not nece necessarily harily of this newspaper FOOD 3 way attack no stranger to farm problems food production or the delicate job of dealing with recalcitrant congressmen was chester C davis recently appointed chief of the new administration of food production and distribution former head of the agricultural adjustment administration davis knew the ropes in washington and how to 0 o keep from getting tangled in them for weeks the capital had expected some action in the increasingly critical food production situation by relieving hard presed secretary of agriculture of his food administrator tasks and appointing mr davis as sole food czar president roosevelt had created a new three way agency combi combining the food production administration the food distribution administration and the farm labor administration closer working agreements between congress and the food administration and a minimum of official friction in dealing with war created farm problems were expected to result under davis administration observers agreed that davis had one of the toughest jobs in history but they were betting he would win AIR RAIDS woe to axis axis held europe will soon be subjected to round roun d tb the e clock air raids in which newer bigger and faster american bombers will carry three or four times the bomb weight of present flying fortresses this prediction was made in london by maj gen ira C eaker commander of the U S army air forces in britain american forces force so he said are now ready to build up a striking power on a par with that of the royal air force soon he added will begin the sustained offensive in which the americans will strike at europe by day and the british will bomb by night general eaker disclosed that in a series of 51 raids the U S army air force has lost fewer than 90 bombers while destroying at least enemy aircraft the germans are struggling for an answer to the flying fortresses he concluded and the type of aircraft they are sending against the forts is one indication of how badly they have been forced to stretch their defenses NORTH AFRICA rough road ahead the battle to clear the axis out of tunisia was going to take time brommels Rom mels army still had an offensive kick the struggle was likely to get tougher before it got better these facts emerged more clearly as the inexorable pressure of the allied forces ringing the enemy was met by counter attacks which had regained for brommels Rom mels army much of the ground lost when the british eighth army sliced into the mareth line the did not indicate any lessening of the allied effort they merely served to show that the battle was by no means won at the present time the conviction of an ultimate axis defeat continued while the british stoutly contested the nazi forces in the south the americans under gen george S patton not only held their previous gains at el guetter in the waist of tunisia but pushed on east of malnassy Mak in a drive on the coastal road designed to hem in the afrika korps toward gabes and saax on the mediterranean A 4 A 1 a for conspicuous heroism as leader of a marine fighting squadron in i aerial combat with jap forces in the solomon islands maj alai rob robert ert E 1 galer is presented with the congressional medal of honor by president preside roosevelt the air heros mother is shown helping to adjust the pendant on which the decoration hangs DOCTORS rural U so S praised praising the rural areas of the united states for having in many instances exceeded their quotas in contributing doctors to the nations armed forces the american medical association declared that enrollments of medical officers in the army and navy are lagging because of the failure of young available physicians in large cities to volunteer for duty this situation is particularly ticul arly prevalent along the he t eastern seaboard the associations official magazine charged the fact that the armed services are not getting all the doctors they need was disclosed at a recent meeting with military authorities in washington the journal of the american medical association said the conference revealed that doctors must be drawn from the civilian population this year FLOUR 16 millers indicted in chicago a federal grand jury indicted 16 flour milling compa companies Ales and the indu trade association on charges of conspiracy to fix prices of packaged family flour the kind ordinarily sold for use in homes throughout the united states the indictment charged that the defendants who mill 81 per cent of the barrels of family flour sold annually met from time to time and agreed upon a uniform schedule of price differentials to be applied to the various sizes of packages in which the flour is sold addition of packaging charges had the effect of increasing bulk prices charged by millers by more than per cent in some sizes the indictment alleged the millers federation in a statement declared there are no price agreements in the milling industry and there is no price fixing of family flour RUSSIA action slackens although the tempo of battle on the russian front had slowed down and action appeared to be drifting into a deadlock in several sectors the red army had continued its dogged drive through the spring slush and mud toward sk meanwhile german onslaughts designed to gain control of the upper donets river valley had slackened following the furious resistance of the russian defenders the russian move toward blensk took the form of a north south drive the heaviest assault A soviet war bulletin reported sharp thrusts by the red forces north of Dukhov schino 32 miles northeast of sk at the same time a rus stan sian column was reported moving toward below the mos cow railway and 50 miles east of sk fierce counter attacks with heavy concentrations trat ions of artillery backing up infantry were being undertaken by the germans a russ reported to the south the germans were paying a heavy price in men and material for their effort to gain control of the upper donets river basin nazi attempts to establish bases on the east bank of the river had been severely repulsed WAR BONDS they give their lives they give their lives you lend your money that is the slogan of the treasury departments second war loan drive opening april 12 which has as its objective raising 13 billion dollars through the sale of government securities A substantial part of this vast financing the most stupendous in world history will be loaned by people in ordinary walks of life financial experts point out that there are in liquid funds in the U S at present more than 40 billion dollars which should go into the purchase of government bonds it is from this huge reservoir that the treasury expects to meet its new goal SPENDING SPREE 81 billions in 42 americans dipped into their war swollen pocketbooks to the tune of in 1942 in a spending wave that exceeded all previous records according to a compilation by the U S department of commerce officials of the commerce department warned that this spending spree would continue unabated in 1943 unless more effective steps were taken in price control rationing and fiscal policies public spending last year was 10 per cent above all time high of while spending for food rose from in 1939 to last year and clothing and furniture purchases showed comparable gains some decreases in various categories of spending were noted among the most outstanding of these was the outlay for automobiles which declined from in 1941 to in 1942 HOME hoade FRONT the fore echoing minnesota senator balls assertion that the army anc and I 1 navy are running roughshod over the civilian economy congressional spokesmen urged approval of a bill to establish the office of civilian supply as an independent agen agency cy empowered to protect consumer interests and ration supplies the measure would put the on an equal footing with the war manpower co commission the office of defense transportation and similar agencies pointing out that there are well established agencies to look out for military and foreign requirements such as lend lease joseph L weiner director of the said civilians have no single powerful spokesman equipped with either organization influence purchasing power or statutory or executive authority to see that their essential requirements are presented to and met by such supply agencies as the and the instead piecemeal portions of the civilian economy are left to the individual supply Y agencies to be handled separately as each sees fit with the result that civilian economy gets the leftovers overs UNIONS I 1 war to cease many a priceless hour ot of war production time had been lost in jurisdictional fictional al disputes between rival unions although some wrangles still appeared inevitable the heads of the american federation of labor and the congress of industrial or V K WILLIAM GREEN raids to cease agreed to take definite steps to end the difficulties appearing before the senates truman investigating in committee william green president of the and philip murray president of CIO promised to reopen negotiations to end union raiding the maneuver by which one union seeks to oust another from representation of workers ABSENTEES women worst offenders 0 6 enders women war workers were chaff h with being guilty of almost thiu jwia I 1 much absenteeism as men in afe port compiled by the national industrial du conference board covering a sample group of 29 plants employing persons the report showed that in a single month worker days had been lost and that female employees averaged days out of the month while male workers lost day each women showed a greater tendency to be absent for personal reasons re a sons the survey disclosed the board found that per cent of their absences were in this compared with per cent for men SOUTH PACIFIC prelude to storm A lull in activity on both the al and jap sides of the pacific war been taken by some observers to rf merely the prelude to a storm ahead action for some days was confined to local air and sea attacks in various sectors of the south pacific in the solomon islands air raids were traded american bombers strafed bay while the japs inflicted some damage on guadal canal further to the east an american submarine torpedoed and sank a japanese submarine in burma american fliers attacked the long railway viaduct between mandalay and cashio a bridge north of rangoon and the ghazi railway junction the RAP RAF bombed donback Don baik north of akib in honan honah province china it was reported that persons were facing starvation before the next harvest unless they received immediate aid RAW MATERIALS allies now solvent william L batt vice chairman ol of the war production board announced that the united nations have now achieved solvency in raw materials and are assured of sufficient amounts of all kinds to meet any military needs regardless of the length of the war no material is being used faster by the united nations today than is being produced he said it can be stated with complete safety that whatever the length of the war ample raw materials are available to meet our military needs batt credited the accomplishment to the combined raw materials board of the united nations established by president roosevelt and prime minister churchill in their white house conferences in december 1941 H highlights I 1 G H L I 1 G H T S in the weeks news SAN JUAN expenditures on U S naval installations in puerto rico hub ot of a network to fight enemy submarines will total more than by the end of this year according to vice adm john H hoover caribbean area commander in a statement issued here more than three fourths of this sum has already been spent in the san juan areas he said washington establishment of a naval operating base at casablanca in french morocco was announced here by the navy department rear adm john L hall jr is the commandant disclosure of the existence of the new base came in the publication of a list of awards to five rear admirals and two captains for their part in landing operations erat ions which started off the north african conquest last november admiral hall was described as both the commandant at the base and the commander of the west africa sea frontier force I 1 MANAGUA primitive idols arco griogs 9 ing stones and ceramic objects tar are expected to ft shed light on the life and customs of early central american civilizations were unearthed by workmen excavating for the approaches to the ochomogo Ocho mogo bridge on the inter american highway near rivas the articles will be housed in the natural history museum of managua SAN FRANCISCO japanese civilians are being warned to expect increasing air raids and more U S submarine attacks upon shipping according to a war review broadcast reported by the office of war information the broadcast was reported as saying the enemy is still continuing air raids on our forces american planes in china will be further strengthened and therefore the enemy hopes to c J out raids over japan chunges has many plane factories and field repair shops we must realize the situation released by western newspaper union |