WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
U-Bcat Warfare Takes Turn for Worse;
New Wedge Driven Into Rommel Lines
As Allies Continue Furious Air Attack;
Outline International Currency Plan
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinion* ore expressed In thro* columns, they are Ihoo* of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily of this new*p»prr.)
__________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. -
Map shows Allied progress in the campaign to oust Axis forces from
Nortli Africa. Hard on the heels of Marshal Rommel, “The Fox,” was
the British Eighth army, under Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery. After a
week’s pause, during which Montgomery brought up troops and sup
plies, the Eighth army stormed Rommel's improvised defenses at the
Wada el Akarit. The chief passes to the coast, where the Americans
fought hot engagements, are in the areas of El Guettar. Maknassy and
Fondouk.
TUNISIA:
Fight to Moot
Action In Tunisia continued with ;
Lieut. Gen. George Patton's Second i
American Army corps ffghting for a
junction with British forces at Gabes.
Thousands of mines blocked the
American advance. Sappers kept
busy clearing the fields and later
American tanks rumbled into action.
In their bid to prevent an Ameri
can and British junction, the Axis
tanks thrust at the American ar
mored columns. Americans brought
up artillery to heavily shell Axis
troop and motor concentrations.
Slowly but surely Patton’s men ad
vanced along the Gafsa road.
Awaiting them at Gabes were the
British, who brought up their heavy
guns to shell Marshal Rommel's
entrenched Afrika Korps along a
narrow line in the El Akarit gulch,
15 miles north of Gabes.
At Akarit, “The Fox" was expect
ed to put up another short, stiff
fight before falling back toward
Sfax. His strategy calls for a se
ries of delaying actions while the
Axis completes coastal defenses in
Italy.
In northern Tunisia, Nazi troops
fell back toward the coastal bastion
of Bizerte under the pressure of
British troops Native Arabian
Ghouims, armed with knives, have
been helping the British with guer
rilla activity.
Fighting lie fore Talk
‘ Gen. Charles DeGaulle's scheduled
meeting with Gen. Henri Giraud in
North Africa for the purpose of con
solidating all anti-Axis French in
the war has been postponed by re
quest of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.
General Eisenhower felt that po
litical discussion in the midst of crit
ical fighting in Tunisia could only
have a disturbing effect. Prime Min
ister Churchill is supposed to have
persuaded DeGaulle to await An
thony Eden’s report of American
reaction to the complicated North
African problem.
U-BOAT WARFARE:
Turn for the W orse
Indications that the battle of the
Atlantic has taken a turn for the
worse were made evident when Sec
retary of the Navy Knox announced
that Allied ship losses were consid
erably worse during the past month.
Although the secretary gave no es
timate of the total number of U
boats the Nazis have used in their
spring offensive, he said that "just
as we expected and as I said it
Would be, there are more German
subs out there."
The subs are concentrating in the
middle Atlantic, along the shipping
routes from the United States to
England and the Mediterranean. It
is predicted that the submarine cam
paign will become worse before it
gets better. Naval exports estimate
the Axis will have 700 submarines
operating in packs along supply
routes this spring.
To counter the U-boat offensive
the United States is rushing con
struction of a fleet of destroyer
escort vessels, smaller than de
stroyers.
PROMISE:
More Farm Tools
Following a review of the legisla
tive situation with Democratic con
gressional leaders. President Roose
velt has indicated that, in view of
the improved war outlook, he will
give more attention to domestic
problems. Speaker Rayburn, follow
ing the conference, said the "Presi
dent is going to give his personal
attention to the question of having
more iron and steel allotted to the
manufacture of farm machinery."
RUSSIA:
Sparring for Knockout
In Russia, the two giants continue
to spar for positions.
Sloughing through marshy swamp
land. hardy Russ engaged German
infantry in hand to hand grappling
near Novorossisk, gaining ground.
Here the Nazis are backed against
the Black sea coast.
In the Smolensk region. Russian
troops consolidated positions encir
cling this vital Nazi supply base.
The Germans remain active in the
Kharkov district. Two hundred
miles to the north, Nazis claimed
advances at Orel. Seventy miles to
the southeast, German attacks
against Red lines on the western
bank of the Donets river met stiff
resistance, the Russ said.
BOLIVIA:
‘Essential Move*
Even before the Bolivian congress
had a chance to formally declare
war on the Axis, the nation was told
that such a move was essential to
American solidarity and that the
country's productive facilities must
be immediately expanded.
When President Enrique Penaran
da and his cabinet held a confer
ence with United States Vice Presi
dent Wallace to discuss a war de
cree, Brazil was the only South
American country at war with Ger
many and Italy. Bolivia had bro
ken off diplomatic relate >s v.i'n the
Axis a year ago.
MONEY:
Stabilized Cun ! y ?
Secretary Morgcnthau called it
"tentative” and John Q. Public
thought it looked complicated but
everybody realized that it was
mighty important — “it" being a
comprehensive plan to stabilize post
war world currencies and fix their
values in terms of gold.
Actually involved in the program
were these major points for working
out a system to maintain the mone
tary solidarity of all the nations of
the world at the end of the war:
1. Creation of an international sta
bilization fund (five billion dollars).
This would be set up by the United
Nations and associates.
2. Value of currency in each coun
try would be "fixed” in terms of
gold.
3. An agreement between all na
tions to the etrect that none would
devalue their currencies without
consulting the others.
BURMA:
Neiv Air Mans
Strengthened British and Ameri
can air forces continued to demon
strate their superiority in Burma,
raining bombs on Japanese supply
lines with emphasis on the impor
tant railway from Rangoon to Man
dalay
The RAF dropped 1.000 • pound
bombs on the Rangoon railway sia
tion. Photographs showed destruc
tion of an oil relinery, fires from
which were visible for 60 miles A
power house, oil tanks and a distilla
tion building were hit. American
fliers scored hits at Mandalay.
NETHERLANDS:
Invasion Spadework?
Reports that “scores of British
agents” have been landed on the
Netherlands coast and are preparing
the way for an Allied invasion have
made their way to Dutch circles in
London. The reports added that a
wave of optimism, accompanied by
new outbreaks of sabotage and anti
Nazi attacks was sweeping Holland.
The British were said to have been
landing parties of two and three
bound for the interior.
BANKHEAD BILL:
And Parity
After President Roosevelt had ve
toed the Bankhead farm bill (be
cause he believed it "inflationary”)
supporters of the measure attempt
ed to override this action by a two
thirds vote in congress. First scene
of action in this connection was the
senate floor where a day-long lively
debate resulted in farm bloc mem
bers realizing that they could not
muster sufficient support to bring
this to pass.
These senators then became con
tent to force the bill back to the agri
cultural committee from whence it
could be resurrected whenever the
farm bloc felt it had enough votes
handy to defeat the President's ac
tion.
White House opposition to the
measure on the grounds of inflation
presented itself because it would
prohibit deductions of benefit pay
ments from parity in setting farm
price ceilings.
FLYING FORTRESSES:
New Offensive
The American air offensive in Eu
rope has gotten under way.
Fleets of powerful Flying For
tresses have pounded the Renault
motor works near Paris, with heavy
hits causing great damage among
the main buildings and auxiliary
plants.
Coming right back. Flying For
tresses flew over Antwerp, bombing
the Erla airplane works. These
works have been repairing engines
for the Nazi luftwafi'e. Buildings .
were shattered and large fires
started.
Swinging at Europe's underbelly,
100 Flying Fortresses dumped their
bombs on Naples, splattering 24 ships
in the harbor. RAF bombers fol
lowed up the attack with another .
heavy raid. Wharves and the in- ;
dustrial area were left flaming.
Eight bombers and eight fighter |
planes W'ere lost in the operations.
RUBBER:
Self Sufficiency
Self sufficiency in rubber produc
tion for the United States was pre
dicted by William M Jeffers, rub
ber director, who expressed belief
that the nation will develop a syn
thetic rubber industry that will free
the country from dependency on out
side sources in the future.
“There is one very definite fore
cast I want to make—we'll never
again be caught the way we were at
the outbreak of war.” Jeffers said.
He added that he envisioned a
postwar rubber economy independ
ent of any sources outside the Unit
ed States. He said he viewed the
huge natural rubber development in
South America as “insurance"
against possible shortcomings of
synthetic rubber plants in this coun
try.
LOADED DICE:
In Axis' Favor?
In the opinion of Adm. William
James, British chief of naval infor
mation, the "dice are loaded heav
ily” in favor of the Axis in any
Allied attempt to land on the conti
nent of Europe. But, said Admiral
James, ways and means could be
found “when the time comes."
"We saw at Dieppe, which was a
most carefully planned enterprise,
how a few well-situated guns on
shore can wreck an amphibious op
eration.”
Predicting that there will be no
new startling invention to deal with
the U-boat problem, he said the sub
marine menace eventually would be
beaten "by the hard unremitting
work of all those engaged in pro
tecting our trade.”
NATIONAL APATIIY:
General Speaks
Army day this year was passed
over with little official celebration
for the nation's fighting men were
too hard at work to stop for festivi
ties. However, one commanding
general—Ben Lear of the Second
army—took the occasion to score na
tional apathy and lack of aggressive
ness in many phases of American
life. He called for the end of in
ternal bickering and urged that
Americans apply themselves to
crushing the enemy. Speaking of
the popular dislike of "absenteeism”
General Lear declared that this situ
ation is not confined to industry By
this he meant that unless every citi
zen did his or her part, whatever
the job, they were defeating the
war effort and were therefore—ab
sentees.
BRIEFS
CUBAN DRAFT: Eight thousand
Cubans between the ages of 20 and
25 will shortly be drafted for army
service.
TRADE COMPROMISE: Bi parti
san support was seen for a compio
mise reciprocal trade treaty act
which would allow American pro
ducers the right to seek modification
of any agreement with a foreign
country.
AIR LINER: Henry J Kaiser, the
shipbuilding wizard, proposes tc
build a metal plane that will fly
17.000 miles without stopping.
DAD’S DRAFT: Drafting of dads
might be delayed if public opinion
forces unmarried youths between 18
and 25 years out of deferred war
jobs. Selective Service Director H^r
shey says.
FIRE OIL: Allied bombers hit the
Japanese oil refinery below Rangoon
In continuing attacks upon enemy
Installations in Burma. The My tinge
bridge area of the Burma Road also
was raided.
Army Clarifies Policies
Regarding Farm Labor
Military Units May Be Employed on Crops
During 'Emergency Situations’; Individ
ual Furloughs Not Contemplated.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, Union Trust Bniiding,
Washington. D. C.
"Home on a furlough.”
I wonder how many of my read
ers remember that very popular
print of two (or maybe more) gen
erations ago. Well, never mind if
you don’t (though I would appreciate
a letter from any who do); “home
on a furlough” is going to mean
something quite different now.
I remember the original picture
only vaguely. I didn't know what
the word "furlough” meant. But I
know there was a tousle-headed
blond boy ih the middle of an ad
miring farm family, telling his ad
ventures.
Today, the farm boy with a con
science, and the farm family with a
farm, are looking forward to the
“furlough” that will bring the boy
home for work, not the telling of his
tales of adventure.
It isn’t going to be quite that way.
The President, when the farm bloc
was riding the administration its
hardest last month, went into con
siderable detail as to what was to
be done to solve the farm labor
question. Since then some concrete
steps have been taken but not the
ones the farmers, or some of them,
would have liked. They would have
liked their own sons, or their own
hands, who enlisted because they
simply couldn’t stay “out of the
show,” back doing the old chores
they used to do. But this is what
the army said:
"The army does not contemplate
furloughing individual soldiers to
work on farms," the war department
announced in a statement clarifying
policies and procedures by which
soldiers may be used to alleviate
the farm labor shortage.
“World War I experience dem
onstrated that such temporary re
leases of individual soldiers were of
little assistance to the agriculture
industry and disrupted the organiza
tion and training of the army. If
furloughs were granted for this pur
pose, neither agriculture nor the
army could be assured that the sol
diers thus furloughed actually would
be engaged in agricultural activities.
“Certain emergency situations
may develop in which vital crops
may be endangered because of crit
ical shortages in local agricultural
labor. In such cases, military units
may be employed under command
of their own officers to supplement
the local farm labor until the crisis
is over.
“Troops so employed will be
housed and fed by the army and will
be subject to military control at all
times.
"Requests for use of military units
for emergency farm duty must be
transmitted to the war department
by the chairman of the War Man
power commission.”
Another Loophole
However, there is another loop
hole which all of the farmers or the
farm men in service may not know
about. A soldier over 38 years of
age who is on active duty in the
continental United States can get his
discharge right now if he can get a
statement from his local farm agent
to the effect that he is needed.
But the application has to get in
by May 1. The same thing applies
to men overseas and they have until
June. (Better tell them by V-Mail.)
The President explained to us
twice, why a batch of young men
couldn’t be pulled out of a division
and sent home.
You can take 10 or 20 soldiers out
of an outfit that has just started
training and it doesn’t make much
difference. But you can’t take that
many men out of an outfit already
trained and booked for overseas. Not
without crippling the outfit so badly
that it really interferes with battle
plans.
That’s his explanation and he
made it to us the other day, leaning
back in his chair and obviously try
ing hard to get over an idea that
he believes is right.
There is going to be a "land
army ” He said he didn’t like the
term because it made the farmers
think they were going to have a lot
of green city folks descend on them
He knows what the farmers think
about folks who will scare the
horses, sprain their ankles, try to
milk a cow and when she doesn’t
give, say: “The valves are stuck."
One farmer wrote me he’d rather
have grasshoppers than city folks on
his place.
England's Method
The President said to us that In
England they have increased food
production 60 per cent. And they
did it with the help of a land army,
mostly women with no previous
training. They got the training. A
lot depends on the training.
I talked with a farmer near here
who took on a city boy, green as
grass. The boy probably thought
shorts were something you wore
and probably would have looked in
the toolbox for a boar.
Maybe you heard him talk on the
Farm and Home Hour. Well, I met
him and the farmer, too. The kid
is crazy to get back this summer
and the farmer told me he was
sick when he had to let him go back
to school. City folks are dumb in a
lot of ways. But so are farmers.
It’s true you can lead a horse to
water but you can’t make him drink.
Also, a lot of horses have got the
sense to drink if you’ve got sense to
lead them to the water.
In spite of dumb help or none at
all, in spite of lack of machines
and a lot of red tape, the farmers
of the country have signed up to
raise a bigger crop than they’ve ever
raised. I believe with a little horse
sense and patience, they are going
to pull through.
No team pulled together until they
were in harness.
If they don’t, God help us and the
army at meal time.
~ m W
The Weather—
A Dead Topic
As you know, mention of the
weather on the radio these days is
forbidden. The newspapers can de
scribe a snow storm or a hot spell
but the radio commentators cannot.
There is a good reason for this.
A lurking submarine could pick up
a newscast, and if enough facts con
cerning the weather were revealed
by stations in enough widely sep
arated localities, even an amateur
meteorologist—and the Germans are
no amateurs—could make a pretty
good weather forecast by putting two
and two together.
But being unable to describe the
manifestations of nature that I see
on my way to work in the morning
is a terrible handicap to me. Re
cently I’ve gotten around the diffi
culty by talking about last week’s
weather, and before going on the
air, reading what I was going to
say to the censorship officials and
getting their O. K. In no case did
they restrict me. The other day,
however, I forgot to call up the Cen
sorship office but the Blue Network
didn’t forget. I got this message:
“Censorship says you have to cut
out all references to weather from
now on. They say that there was
nothing actually censorable in what
you have said or what you have
written today but so many com
plaints have come in from other
stations that you were violating
the regulations and so many other
stations have been using your com
ments on the weather as an excuse
for violating the rule, that we will
have to ask you to stop discussing
the subject entirely.”
The following is what censorship
didn’t let me say but what it has no
objection to my printing:
“It was pretty hard the past week
not to mention the swiftly changing
scene which nature provided Wash
ingtonians—one day, not so long ago
a top coat was far too heavy for
comfort and in the park, the dark
patches were beginning to be studded
with jeweled buds and the sunlight
seemed to turn into solid gold on the
bursting forsythia. On that balmy
day I remarked—'Well, we must be
due for a blizzard.’
"Twenty-four hours later the fine
snow began to fall and late that aft
ernoon and the following morning,
the tree limbs and trunks were
wrapped in great soft blankets of
down—even the high branches were
wide bands of white—but when we
went home from work in the eve
ning, the streets were dry and clean
again and only here and there in
the shadow of a hedge or in the
sheltering cups of the brown ivy
leaves was a dust of snow-like
a meager sprinkling of precious
sugar on the rim of a doughnut."
B R I E F S . . . fry Baukhage
Governor Ellis Arnal) of Georgia
has joined the ranks of Victory Gar
| deners, planning an extensive
garden on the grounds of the execu
tive mansion An old bam. once
used to house cows, will be razed
to provide additional garden space.
The governor indicated that his wife
and son would be the “buss garden
ers’* and predicted a bumper crop
of vegetables.
Cotton fabrics for women’s work
clothing have been cut from 14 types
to five.
Government purchase orders,
specifying that canners pack fruits,
vegetables and juices in large No.
10 size cans, instead of smaller
ones, may save as much as 57,000
tons of steel, 1,000 tons of tin, 43 tons
of rubber and 5,500,000 man-hours of
cannery labor in 1943.
»
Released by Western Newspaper Union,
GOITER
_
Perhaps you or one of your family
has been found to have the severe
type of goiter or Grave's disease,
in which there is rapid heart beat,
_ trembling of limbs.
failure of eyelids to
move together with
the eyeball, lack of
appetite, and sleep
lessness. Your phy
sician may advise
operation whereas
in a case of the same
type of goiter in an
other patient you
know that he has ad
vised X-ray treat
Dr. Barton ment and m anoUler
rest and medical
treatment.
Why should there be three meth
ods of treatment for the same ail
ment?
One reason is that for the average
individual surgery is considered best
because the patient can withstand
the operation and can be back at
his work sometimes within three
weeks after operation. I have spo
ken of a physician friend who before
operation had a pulse rate of 110
to the minute, who walked into my
office three weeks after operation
and I found his pulse rate 72.
Why, then, should treatment by
X-ray be given which may take
months to get the results obtained
by surgery?
There are two reasons. First,
some patients naturally object to
surgical operations, and second,
some patients would not likely with
stand operation well.
Treatment by rest and medicine
is used in early or mild cases only.
It is not many years ago that pa
tients w'ith Grave's disease traveled
hundreds of miles to have a noted
surgeon operate for removal of thy
roid gland-goiter. Today practically
every hospital has one or several
surgeons who perform this opera
tion.
Thus the Lahey Clinic, Boston, in
Annals of Surgery, reports 19,700
thyroid operations with a death
rate less than one in every 100 op- j
erations. When we remember that
the great majority of these cases are
of the severe type of goiter and
many may enter hospital in late
stages of this disease, it can be j
seen how “safe” this operation has
become.
Dr. Lahey does not advise opera
tion on cases that can be treated by
rest and medicine even though op
eration would bring about a cure in
much less time. He points out that
as there is no fear of death in the
patient’s present condition, awaiting
the result of rest and medical treat
ment involves no danger.
• * *
Treatment of
Stomach Ulcers
Ulcer of the stomach (gastric ul
cer) is due to the same causes as
duodenal ulcer which is ulcer of the
first part of small intestine into
W’hich stomach empties the food aft
er the stomach has done its part of
digestion. In fact, a duodenanl ul
cer can be located just a fraction
of an inch from the stomach. Both
the stomach ulcer and the intestinal
ulcer are called peptic ulcer and are
treated in about the same manner
by diet, medicine and surgery.
It so happens, however, that while
stomach ulcer is not so common
as duodenal or intestinal ulcer, un
fortunately stomach ulcer turns into
cancer more often; about 10 to 20
per cent of stomach ulcers develop
into cancers.
In the Post Medical Journal Dr.
Rodney Maingot, London, England,
states that as far as symptoms are
concerned the stomach ulcer cannot
be distinguished from an early stom- |
ach cancer, therefore, the chances
taken with a patient with ulcer of
duodenum cannot be taken with a
patient with a stomach ulcer. For
this reason he suggests that patients
with chronic stomach ulcer should
enter hospital instead of undergoing
home treatment. If by special diet
and medical treatment in hospital
the ulcer does not heal they should
undergo surgical treatment, because
early operation saves lives.
The medical treatment of stomach
ulcer in hospital is bed rest, test
meal examinations, tests for “hid
den” blood in stools, complete ex
amination of the blood, examination
of stomach by gastroscope which by
means of a mi-ror enables the phy
sician to see the lining of the stom
ach, the barium X-ray examination.
In addition to removing any infec
tion (teeth, tonsils, gall bladder)
present, the size, shape and position
of the stomach are drawn on a spe
cial chart
• • •
QUESTION BOX
Q.—Is drilling of the teeth neces
sarily painful?
A.—Drilling is not painful in most
cases. In cases where it is neces
sary dentists can anaesthetize the
jaw and no pain is felt. Your den
tist will explain this to you.
Q.—Are pork and oysters health
ful food?
A.—Pork is a good food, rich In
fat. Too much can upset liver and
gall bladder. Oysters are a good
food, also rich in fat.
Pasturing Cows for
First Time in
Sudden Change in Diet
May Lower Milk Output
Although luscious, green grass is
one of the best dairy feeds, milk
production may drop when cows ar*
first turned out to pasture unless
special care is taken to prevent it,
says W. B. Nevens, professor of
dairy cattle feeding, University of
Illinois college of agriculture.
It is best not to turn cows to pas
ture for the first day until after they
have been well fed in the barn, and
then to limit the number of hours
at pasture for the first two or three
days. A sudden change from the1
feeding of hay, silage and grain mix
ture to pasture feeding only may
cause a sudden drop in milk flow
and digestive disturbances.
Fresh, green grass is so palatable
In early spring that cows will fill
up on it if given the opportunity,
but, because of the high water con
tent of the grass, they fail to re
ceive enough nutrients from gras*
alone to maintain high milk produc
tion.
A grain mixture should be fed to
higher-producing cows throughout
the pasture season, Nevens points
out. Holsteins, Swiss and Ayrshire*
need about one pound of grain mix
ture for each three pounds of milk
produced over and above 30 pounds
daily, while Jerseys and Guernseys
need about one pound of grain mix
ture for each 2.5 pounds of milk a
day over and above 20 pounds daily.
If cow's do not care for grain mix
ture when pastures are luxuriant, it
may prove advantageous to take
them from pasture one or two hours
before feeding time so that they will
consume the mixture more readily.
The use of 1% to 2 per cent of salt
in the grain mixture is also helpful.
As soon as pasture grasses begin
to ripen or become scanty in
amount, the rate of feeding may
need to be increased.
It may not be a zoot suit but
it’s the style for smart high school
students tills season.
Agriculture
in
Industry
P,y FLORENCE C. WEED
SHEEP
One industry where there is never
a surplus is wool growing. The
United States has 472.000 wool pro
ducers and 46,000,000 sheep, yet 4®
per cent of the nation’s require
ments must be imported. Two
thirds of our output comes from the
Rocky mountain and West coast
states. Chief producers are Texas,
California, Wyoming. Montana,
South Dakota and Ohio. We also
produce each year, about 330,000,00®
pounds of shorn wool and 60,000.00®
pounds of pulled wool from slaugh
tered sheep.
After the fleece is removed from,
slaughtered sheep, the slat goes into
glove leather, lining for shoes, sweat
bands for hats, and college diplo
mas. The wool grease or Lanolin is
used as a basis for medicinal oint
ments.
Sheep fat has wide uses m tallow,
soap, stearine or oleo oil. As glyc
erine, it goes into anti-freeze liquids
and finds uses’in paints, cellophane,
cosmetics and bases for polish.
Blood is used in serums, medicines,
weather-proof glue and animal feed
and as a retardant for plaster.
It requires the glands of 100.000
lambs to make one pound of adren
aline, the powerful heart stimulant
which has been known to cause a
heart once stopped to resume its
beating Sheep intestines become
strings for violins, cellos, harps and
ukuleles and many other musical in
struments. They are much used for
surgical ligatures to tie blood vessels
and sew wounds during operations.
They are much favored because na
ture absorbs them while the wound
is healing. The best quality of
casings can be used for strings for
tennis rackets.
Farm Notes
Agricultural insecticides and fun
gicides will be available in suffi
cient quantities this year for all
farm and urban victory gardens.
• • •
The churning of sour cream is
easier than the churning of sweet
cream. You can sour, or ripen
cream by keeping it at a tempera
ture of about 70 degrees the day be
fore churning.
