Show weekly news analysis coal rationing looms asks 65 induction limit lim it as strike curb EDITORS NOT NOTE th ivien en opinions are e express x p essed eil in these U columns they ore r t those a of western newspaper union news a cysts and not necessarily of this his newspaper ws paper COAL draft for strikers coal rationing for both industrial and domestic consumers loomed as fuel administrator harold L ickes expressed doubt that production losses incurred by three strikes in less than two months could be made up mr ickes had announced that he was preparing to undertake active participation in the supervision of management and operation of coal mines including possible changes in operating personnel previously president roosevelt had warned coal miners and other workers in government operated industries dus tries that those who walk out on strike in future would be inducted into the nations armed forces the president announced that he would ask congress for authority to draft men up to the age of 65 tor for noncombatant service in a statement bitterly denouncing the action of the united mine workers leadership as intolerable mr roosevelt had declared that for the time being mines would continue under operation of fuel administrator ickes the terms he said would be those laid down by the war labor board FOOD czar after all food had continued to hold the washington limelight as the house agricultural committee had reported on a bill designed to take all food rationing and pricing powers from the office of price administration and transfer of them to war food administrator chester C davis congressional sentiment for creating a food czar had increased in spite of the opposition of president roosevelt to such a measure dissatisfied over home front war operations erat ions proponents of the new bill wanted to vest complete authority over food production transportation distribution pricing and rationing of foods under mr davis who hitherto has had charge only ot of production and distributor distri buton As congressional temperatures rose in debate over the proposals reports of improved weather and crop conditions helped ease official tension over 1943 food pro ducton prospects particular improvements were reported in midwestern midwest em grain livestock and dairy regions GERMANY raids maids devastating while military strategists had debated whether aerial warfare could completely knock out the enemy evidence of some of the results of allied bombings were dramatically forthcoming in reports from the ruhr valley area where british and american airmen had dropped tons of bombs within a month one report disclosed that ger many had ordered the evacuation of nonessential civilians from the bomb gutted ruhr another revealed that the nazis had massed more than 1000 fighter planes in western europe to combat the never ending allied raids and had mounted antiaircraft anti aircraft guns along a belt miles long by 20 to 50 miles deep under a new policy of fully publicizing lic izing air raid damage german pro propaganda pagan da broadcasts said the royal air force had practically erased the city of krefeld on the western fringe of the ruhr and had subjected the populations of both the ruhr and the rhineland to lie vable raids w r 11 ro WR w an american soldier in a southwest pacific outpost has a look see at the interior of a shattered jap vehicular water tank after the enemy had been driven off the shell holes in the tank give the answer to its interior RUSSIA jabs and feints feints and slashes had continued to characterize the action on the tar far flung but relatively quiescent russian front with the long heralded german offensive still in the conversation stage and the soviet forces still gathering strength for decisive engagements the rival armies ha had d contented them themselves selve S with jabs at localized areas thus russian had reported a series of incidents on the orel sk belgorod russa and leningrad sectors russian artillery was credited with blowing up the headquarters of an enemy battalion near in the bursk salient but nowhere along the front was large scale fighting reported observers who recalled that a year before the nazis had already started their ill fated expedition against stalingrad Stal ingrad and their offensives for caucasus oil believed the current inactivity was due to waning german air power weakened on the russ front to bolster bomb shattered areas in western europe SMALL BUSINESS reserves for peace the national association of small business men through its president dewitt emery ur urged ged congress to permit plants engaged in war contracts to set aside tax free reserves for easing postwar transition back to peacetime production unless such provisions are forthcoming emery told the house naval committee studying war contracts thousands of businesses will be shut down after the war awai awaiting it ing the whim of some bureaucrat as to whether they can remain in busl business emery suggested an allowable tax free reserve of 3 per cent of all sales up to and recommended that reserves above that figure be scaled down to one half of 1 per cent POSTWAR problems ahead addressing business leaders and army and navy officers in chicago alfred P sloan jr chairman of the general motors corporation declared that he is not worried about the immediate postwar era in the united states but that he is considerably sider ably concerned about the distant future the nation mr sloan declared faces a postwar period in which it will take at least five years to catch up with the accumulated consumer demand tor for goods the letdown will come when this pent up buying power has been exhausted unless private industry is successful in drawing blueprints tor for winning the peace he predicted mr sloan particularly urged the government to mike make a frank statement of policy now regarding its peacetime intentions to enable industry to plan intelligently government ern ment he said should allow in industry to build up profitable reserves on a tax free basis MARATHON yanks anks I 1 hit Ia cassar forecasting what will be routine assignments in months to come liberator bombers made a 2000 mile round trip raid from aus australia aralia to the japanese air and sea bases at on celebes island where allied airmen dropped 28 tons of bombs on enemy objectives damaging shipping installations and hitting a jap cruiser and mer merchantman clant the raid marked the first retaliation on the japs in the celebes sector since the enemy seized early in 1942 when the nipponese seized the dutch east indies A spokesman at allied headquarters in australia estimated that the distance covered was second only to the 2400 mile roundtrip round trip flights made by U S bombers raiding wake island from their bases in hawaii GOVERNORS bureaus mushroom ont turning from postwar international planning to pressing domestic problems the annual governors conference adopted resolutions on adjournment urging the federal government to release corn and livestock feed and condemning strikes in in wartime the governors assailed lid steadily increasing encroachments encroach ments on states rights right s by the federal government except where necessary in the war effort although republican governors were happy when democrat governor herbert B maw of utah attacked federal bureaucracy as undermining der mining the sovereignty of amerlean american citizens their elation was tempered by his later statement that bureaucracy has always been advanced during republican administrations trat ions federal bureaus he P pointed 01 nt out grew in number from a very few in 1919 to by the end of president hoovers administration SPAIN throne for king reports had persisted that the spanish monarchy was to be restored with prince juan third son of the late king alfonso placed on ithe the throne the reports were given given credence credence by observers because of their heir t origin one point of origin was be bern rn switzerland where ramon padilla secretary to don juan reported that an accord had been achieved in principle with gen francisco fra franco for the return of the prince to spain and his accession to the throne even more significant was the action of 25 leading spanish monarch ests in addressing a letter to general franco in which they were reported to have demanded a straight yes or n no 0 from the spanish dictator to their recommendation that the monarchy be restored under prince juan RAIL PAY boost Is vetoed in a move to hold the dikes against onrushing inflation fred M vinson stabilization director disapproved wage increases oil of eight cents an hour tor for non operating railway employees the apropo proposed sed increases would have boosted wages paid by the railways by annually indications that some solution for the rail mens pay demands might be achieved were seen in official quarters however president roose 4 I 1 I 1 T ft f at I 1 1 I FRED M VINSON wo no to a million velt had indicated his approval of overtime pay for rall ra il workers on such a basis time and a half pay would be applied to workers putting in more than 40 hours weekly those putting in a 48 hour week would receive an average increase of about six cents an hour on such a plan the railway workers include members of 15 organizations employed by class I 1 railways mediterranean axis kept guessing two events in the eastern mediterranean had given some ob serpa e q support for their view that ty ta theater would be the scene ot of decisive allied military activity one event was the bombing for the first time by allied fliers of the strategic axis held city of kalonika Sal greece the other was the evacuation by italy of Castel ross easternmost island in the Dode canese group lying between greece and turkey strategists saw the possibilities bili ties inherent in an allied move via egypt and syria on mainland greece and the balkans meanwhile steady attention to the task of softening up italy proper and its neighboring island satellites was given by the RAF and U S air forces bombers from the middle middie east had continued to sweep across the mediterranean to attack naval and air objectives in in S I 1 C 1 1 l and sardinia so clear had t h r mediterranean been swept of axia axi 1 air and sea power that king george 0 of f En glands tour of the boasted enemy sea went completely unchallenged one of the most spectacular allied feats was the inauguration of shuttle bombing service this was accomplished complis hed by british Lan casters which had bombed friedrichshafen Friedrichs hafen in germany flown on to african bases and returned home to england blasting italian naval bases at la spezia along the way the tenseness of the axis over impending allied threats was reflected in the action of italian secret police in arresting more than persons in a search for possible fifth columnists PACIFIC burma bombed big scale land offensives against japan were apparently not on the schedule until after the monsoon season made burma operations possible but allied air forces showed no evidence of lessening their bombing forays against the foe in china american fliers supported by ground forces of gen chiang kai shek blasted two important jap centers in the tung tink lake area and wrought damage against enemy shipping g on the yangtze river flying in from bases in india liberator bombers of the U S air force strafed jap installations at on the Chin dwin river 60 miles from mandalay burma warehouses railway tracks and highways were damaged |