WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
WFA Sees Ample Civilian Food Supply
During Coming Year; Production Up;
Allied Forces Battle Japs in India;
Congress Votes Role in World Relief
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinion* arc #iprr«»ed In lbe»# ulnmnt they arc those of
Wtilfrn Nrmpaprr Union's news analyst* and not necessarily of thio newspaper.)
_____________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. -
TEIEFACT
OF EVERY 10 AIRPLANES
V
NOW PRODUCED IN THE U. S.
7% ARE COMBAT PIANES
*3*
TRAINER 1 TRANS*
IIAISON PORT
AGRICULTURE:
Food Supply
Civilian food supplies during 1944
should be the same as last year
with farmers continuing record
breaking performances, War Food
Administrator Marvin Jones said,
but stocks of milk, cheese and fats
may be slightly less.
At the end of 1943, the U. S. had
the largest livestock inventory in
history, Jones said, with 19 per cent
more hogs and 3 per cent more cat
tle, although sheep and lamb num
bers were down 4 per cent.
With farmers urged to cultivate
16,000,000 more acres than last year,
they still face manpower problems,
Jones related. The outlook for pro
duction of farm machinery and
fertilizer have improved, he added.
Revealing $350,000,000 was spent
for supporting farm prices in 1943,
Jones said they served the double
purpose of offering incentive for pro
duction and holding down consumer
costs.
Postwar Outlook
Addressing the National Associa
tion of Mutual Insurance companies
in Chicago, Secretary of Agriculture
Claude R. Wlckard declared post
war America’s exportable surplus of
larm commodities would be 15 per
cent of production.
Asserting the figure resulted after
estimating increased domestic de- i
mand for consumption and industry, I
Wickard said: "Again we are either
going to have to extend credit or
give agricultural products to other
nations, or we are going to have to
accept goods and services in ex
change.”
Advances in agricultural produc
tion will pose a major problem in
postwar America, Wickard said, re
marking that with only moderate de
mand and usual educational meth
ods, yields will jump up 40 per cent
In six years.
WAGES:
Peg Sticks
Testifying before the senate bank
ing committee considering extension
ol rice control after June 30, War
Labor Board Chairman William H.
Davis declared that the WLB in
tended to stand by its "Little Steel
formula" limiting wage increases to
15 per cent over January 1941, lev
els, but only if living costs remain
relatively stabilized.
To assure such stabilization, Davis
recommended continuance of con
sunfer subsidies. Prohibition of sub
sidies would result in appreciable
rises in basic commodities and
make present wages inadequate,
Davis said.
Divis opposed suggestions that
wages be limited, declaring such ac
tion iwould work against promotions
and upgradings, and discourage
shifts to industry.
WORLD RELIEF:
Authorize UNRRA
By overwhelming vote, congress
put itself on record for participat
ing in world relief by authorizing
expenditures of $1,350,000,000 for the
United Nations Relief and Rehabil
itation administration to help the
people of occupied countries get
back on their feet following their
liberation.
Although UNRRA will feed, clothe
and restore essential services in the
stricken countries, it will do so
only for the purpose of getting the
people started in rebuilding their ag
ricultural and industrial economy.
Matching the U. S. contribution, 43
other United Nations will put about
$650,000,000.
PACIFIC:
Japs Invade India
While Adm. Louis Mountbatten’s
Southeast Asia command coped with
a strong Jap drive into eastern Bur
ma, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff
concentrated on weakening the en
emy’s hold on New Guinea with
heavy aerial attacks against ship
ping and gun positions.
Springing unnoticed from the jun
gle, a Jap force pressing far inland
into India pointed at Imphal, key
to the communications line feeding
Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's Chi
nese-American troops opening a new
supply route to China in northeast
ern Burma. While the Allies maneu
vered to weather this charge, two
other Jap columns aimed at Imphal
farther to the north.
In New Guir'^. Allied planes
ripped the northeastern coastal ship
ping route while Aussie and U. S.
doughboys advanced northward
toward the big base of Madang over
craggy foothills.
EUROPE:
Take Over Balkans
Germany made her final prepara
tions for an anticipated double-bar
reled attack against the continent
by the Allies by Integrating Hun
gary, Rumania and Bulgaria into
the Nazi war machine to provide a
common pool of men and resources.
The Nazis’ incorporation of the
Balkans came as the Russ drew
closer to the Hungarian border by
stabbing deeper into prewar Poland
and surged onwnrd to the Rumani
an boundary by chewing off Ger
many's last grip in the Ukraine.
As Germany moved to utilize the
Hungarian, Rumanian and Bulgari
an armies of over a half million
men and draw upon the agricultural
and industrial resources of these
countries, Nazi troops streamed
eastward to take up the fight along
the newly organized battlefront.
Jerry Tough
While the Germans moved quick
ly to mend their fences in the Bal
kans they more than had their
hands full in Italy and the west.
Around Cassino Jerry clung stub
bornly to his ground to block the
broad highway to Rome, fighting
Nazi Prisoners in Italy.
desperately in the hilly country to
dominate the heights from which he
could pour his deadly artillery Are
upon Allied troops maneuvering be
low.
In the west, the Allies sent fleets
of bombers against France and Ger
many to rip defenses and railways
over which troops and supplies could
be shuttled and blast factories turn
ing out Axis armament.
HIGH LIGHTS
• . . in the week’i newt
GOLF BALLS: About 400 ton* of
balata, the tough gum used to cover
golf balls, has been released by the
War Production board. It is show
ing signs of deterioration and is un
suitable for war purposes. Manu
facturers of golf balls say that they
do not have materials for centers
on hand and not much for windings,
so the balata does not mean any naw
k*Ls in the immediate future.
BOWLING: Fewer perfect scores
were bowled this season than for a
good while back, the American
Bowling Congress reports. In 1940
there were 284 perfect games in
ABC sanctioned competition, the all
time high. In 1942 the score dropped
to 225, and in 1943 it slumped to
137. This season there were only
84 perfect games, although 1,675
mora teams were accredited.
BIG BUSINESS:
Report Incomes
With war orders accounting for
66 per cent of the business. Inter
national Harvester had gross income
of $448,035,041 and profit of $25,692,
944 for its fiscal year ending October
31, 1943. For the 12 months ending
July 1, 1945, the company has been
authorized to use 20 per cent more
material for farm machinery.
Overcoming merchandising dif
ficulties, America’s No, 1 mail or
der house. Sears, Roebuck Sc Co.,
took in $852,596,706 and cleared $33,
866,087 in 1943. Although shortages
prevail, the quality of goods has im
proved in recent months. President
Arthur S. Barrows said.
In reporting sales of $552,000,000
and profit of $7,403,000 in 1943, Wil
son St Co. disclosed extensive de
velopments in new meat, prepara
tions and packing, such as boneless
beef and dehydrated corned beef,
which should have wide markets
after the war.
JAPAN:,
Organize Workers
Again Premier Gen. Hideki Tojo
told the Japanese parliament that
the war situation was critical, but
this time he underlined its gravity
by calling for the establishment of
military discipline in industry, un
der which an entire factory group
could be punished for a single work
er’s offense.
Under Tojo's plan, workers would
be organized under a system of mil
itary rank, with superior officers
having the authority to punish em
ployees from the boss down.
Heretofore conscripted for labor
service for only four months of the
year, all Japanese high school and
college students will now be subject
to such duty for any necessary peri- |
ods.
TVA:
Under Fire
Tennessee’s lank Sen. Kenneth
McKellar took his battle against
present TVA financial policies to the ,
floor of the senate, demanding that
the big one billion dollar government
power project be compelled to op- :
erate altogether on direct appropri
ations from congress and turn over
its revolving fund to the U. S. treas
ury.
Long at odds with TVA’s Chair
man David Lilienthal because of the
latter’s alleged political activities
against him, Senator McKellar said j
David Lilienthal and Sen. McKcllar
congress should retain supervision
over TVA funds to determine their
proper expenditure.
Taking up the cudgels for TVA,
Alabama's Sen. Lister Hill argued
that acceptance of McKellar’s pro
posal would mean congress would
have to pass on all of TVA’s tech
nical operations, complicating pro
cedure with possible paralysis of
service.
SOUTH AMERICA:
Uruguayan Nationalists
With the ejection of pro-Allied
ministers in the Uruguayan cabinet
of President Gen. Higinio Morinigo
and ardent nationalists’ seizure of
control of that country, ultra-neutral
Argentina's isolation in South Amer
ican politics appeared at an ending.
Action of the Uruguayan nation
alists was aimed at promoting closer
relations with Argentina, which has
resisted pressure to go to war
against the Axis, insisting on its
sovereign right to regulate its own
foreign policies.
But like Chile and Bolivia which
also have recognized the Argentine
regime, Uruguay sought to remain
on friendly terms with the U. S. as
well, and leave no grounds for a
break by any illegal changes in gov
ernment.
RECONDITIONING:
Heal Quickly
To heal the wounded quickly ,md
well and restore them to suitable
military duty, the army has expand
ed its reconditioning program, uti
lizing education, occupation and rec
reation.
Point of the program is to prevent
the patients from deteriorating men
tally while recuperating physically,
as is often the case even in civilian
treatment, and to instill them with
the knowledge that they are keeping
pace with their buddies in con- |
valescing
Establishment of personnel reas
signment centers at Camp Butner,
N. C., Fort Sam Houston, Texas,
and Camp White, Ore., assures the
recovered soldier of placement In a
position more suitable to his con
dition.
SYNTHETIC RUBBER
America's productive capacity for
synthetic rubber is now so great
that the United States can now hold
its ground in dealing with British
and Dutch organizations that con
trolled the East Indian plantations
before the Japs’ invasion. William
Jeffers, former U. S. rubber control
ler, declared.
Jeffers predicted that American
tire manufacturers would eventually
be able to turn out a synthetic rub
ber tire that would have all the en
durance of the natural rubber.
Washington Dipestj
'Price Premium' Battle
Grows in Importance
War Food Administration Faces Increas
ingly Difficult Problem of Getting
‘Bashful’ Beef Cattle to Market.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
The fight over subsidies—pardon
me, I shouldn’t use that word sub
sidies, the New Deal doesn’t like It—
the fight over “price premiums” on
farm products Is once more the chief
concern of the administration and
the members of congress who do not
see eye to eye on this painful ques
tion.
The smoke of the battle over the
veto of the subsidy ban included in
the Commodity Credit corporation
bill has settled, and since then there
was another veto (the tax bill) that
didn’t fare so well. But the Farm
Bloc members are not so overopti
mistlc as to believe that the Presi
dent arid congress are still far enough
apart on the subsidy question that
another veto could not be sustained.
In the senate, the cooler heads of
the opposition know this and are not
willing to go through the same futile
process again.
In the house, it is a different mat
ter although this is not likely to
change the final picture. House
Leader Joe Martin, while conceding
no jot or tittle to the administration
that' he can withhold, has made it
plain that price control is neces
sary, and he isn’t going to allow too
much delay on the part of those
who want an anti-subsidy rider at
tached to the OPA bill. He has
other plans of his own.
War Food administration officials
are quoted as admitting that the
case of the bashful beeves is one of
their greatest problems. Concrete
ly, they have the job of enticing two
or three million head of beef cattle
off the ranges and into the butcher
shops during early spring and sum
mer. And the only thing that they
know of to make the cattle move is
the good "old reliable” that makes
the mare go—cash money. Since
the administration is sitting on the
ceilings and refusing to allow prices
to the consumer to go up, Uncle Sam
will probably have to make up the
difference again, if congress will let
him, in the form of a "price pre
mium” to the stockmen.
The Banker’s Stake
And the government is wondering
about something else besides a few
meatless Mondays or Tuesdays or
Wednesdays. It is worried about the
banker who has a stake in steaks,
as well as the cattleman and beef
eater.
Cattle on the ranges have in
creased beyond the feed on the
ranges.
The average livestock population
of America in the years 1922 to 1942
was 69 million head. Roughly let’s
say half of this was dairy cattle.
Now the estimate is 82 million head
and the ratio of eating cows to milk
ing cows has increased alarmingly
in the last few years.
And the beeves are now home on
the range because there isn’t a price
incentive to lure them to slaughter.
The government feared this; feared
first the famine and then the flood.
It now looks as if the famine was
coming and the flood is not far be
hind. And this is where the banker
comes knocking at the door. He re
members other gluts when the
drouth, for instance, sent all the cat
tle to market at once, ruining the
industry, making the banker’s notes
just so much wallpaper.
But how, the simple citizen asks,
can there be a price drop when the
government has placed a floor un
der prices as well as a ceiling over
them? Well, see what happened to
our friend, the hog. The farmer
brought his pigs to market. The gov
ernment fixed the price which the
packers were bound to pay. But so
many pigs arrived that the packer
couldn’t pack them and the law
didn’t say he had to buy what he
couldn’t use. So the farmer, rather
than pick up his pigs and carry
them home again, sold them off at
disgracefully low prices to the smart
boys. Finally the smart boys got
the floor price, the butcher got his
ceiling price which the consumers
with full pocketbooks and empty
stomachs were glad to pay. All the
farmer got was mad.
This happened why? The govern
ment says simply because some
farmers, seeing as how there was
going to be such a good market for
hogs, exceeded their quotas—got too
hoggish (one district in Iowa. I was
told, increased its pig crop by 53 per
cent, when the figure the govern
ment had set was 15 per cent). More
about that later.
And so the War Food administra
tion is afraid the same thing might
happen to the cattle market. And
the banker is afraid. It would be
bad enough if we ran into a glut 12l'.e
the hog-jam but, as one WFA live
stock expert put it, "we shudder to
think what might happen if an early
drouth developed. There would be
a great stampede to move cattle to
market. Transportation and process
ing facilities might not be able to
handle the movement. The result
might be the loss of thousands and
thousands of head of cattle."
R. M. Evans, member of the Fed
eral Reserve board for agriculture,
who is a former agricultural adjust
ment administrator, is urging the
bankers in the cattle industry to do
their share in coaxing Ferdinand off
the range.
About * Elastic* Prices
Of course, the cattlemen have
been among the most violent critics
of the price control administration
and their representatives have main
tained a steady battle here in Wash
ington in an effort to remove the ceil
ing prices from beef (or, as they
say, make the prices elastic) so that
prices would rise and fall in accord
ance with the seasonal demand.
The cattlemen’s viewpoint as pre
sented by Joe G. Montague of the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Rais
ers association, boils down his plaint
to a simple statement.
“Cattle just provide the frames to
hang beef on. The Lord knows
we’ve produced the frames but
somebody fell down on the job of
hanging the beef on ’em."
Mr. Montague told me the other
day that the weights have gone down
faster than even he expected al
though he predicted the glut and
the promised famine ever since the
fixed price was made last October.
They have gone off 27 to 28 pounds
a head and he expects this will con
tinue until July when grass feeding
begins again.
“I’m trying to get the cattle off
the ranches but I can’t do it. The j
feed lots are not taking them be- i
cause there isn’t any feed. I could
sell thousands of pounds of feed to
day if I could get my hands on it.
The government reports show that ,
there’s a lot of feed somewhere but
we can’t find it.”
Hoarded Corn
There is plenty of feed in the shape
of corn in the country but the farm
ers with their government-assured
prices on hogs are hoarding it—they
are transforming it into pork. The
government "asked for this" when
it put a premium on hog-raising, as
we have explained. But many farm
ers, poultry and dairy farmers and
others outside the corn belt need
feed.
Not only farmers but industrialists
who need corn for their chemicals,
are complaining. The army and
navy who need their products have
echoed their pleas.
So the government is smack up
against the problem of prying this
feed (corn) loose from the farmers
who are keeping it to feed to their
hogs. The only way they can shake
the kernels loose is to increase the
price of corn. The only way they
can do that without breaking through
price ceilings is to subsidize corn—in
other words, buy it at a price which
will make it more profitable to the
farmer to sell it than to feed it to
his hogs.
Montague’s argument is that be
cause the cattle business is seasonal
you have to have flexibility in price.
If the price is nailed down, the cat
tleman will sell his grass-fed cat
tle in September, instead of holding
out for higher pfices in the spring,
and save going through the anguish
of zero weather. Of course, under
price control, the theory is that the
flexibility is provided by the sub
sidy-excuse me again—by the gov
ernment offering a price premium
which gives the cattleman enough
for a fair profit but doesn’t increase
the price to the consumer and start
inflation. But the cattlemen don't
want sub-price premiums. They
want prices to rise and fall in the
good old-fashioned way.
And that is where the issues in the
fight over the proposed amendment
to the OPA bill are neatly Joined.
BRIEFS. . .by Baukhage
Six hundred former seamen and of- |
fleers of the American merchant ma
rine who had been inducted into the
U. S. army from shoreside employ*
merit in the last eight months have
been released to return to sea.
• • •
The American Red Cross pur
chased more than 2,760,000 pocket
sized books last year for free dis
tribution to servicemen.
United States mints last year
turned out nearly one-tenth as many
coins as have been produced in the
past 152 years.
• • •
Nazi Minister of the Interior Hein
rich Himmler, in ordering the regis
tration of a new class of 17-year-old
German girls for laboi service,
ruled that all applications for de
ferment will be useless.
Culling Flock Boosts
Production of Eggs
Hens That Don’t Lay
Merely Waste Feed
_
Because of the rise in feed prices
and the decline in egg prices, poul
try growers should thoroughly cull
their laying flocks and maintain as
high egg production as possible,
says C. E. Parrish, in charge of
Poultry Extension at North Carolina
State college.
He suggests that flocks be culled
at night, when the birds will be dis
turbed as little as possible. Using a
flashlight, the grower can take the
loafers from his flock and save on
feed costs. The non-laying hens j
show a pale, dry comb, which is
shrinking up and scaly. The face
has a yellow tint. In the beak and
eye-ring, the yellow color reappears
when laying stops.
“Most heavy breeds and all yel
low-skinned varieties of poultry
show these changes ip pigmentation,
or bleaching ou'., except such
white-skinned varieties as Orping- j
tons,” Parrish says.
He points out that the comb of the
laying hen is soft, warm, waxy and
full of blood. The face is bright 1
red, and the beak and eye-ring is
bleached out and white.
“In culling hens, late molters
should be retained as breeders if the
grower plans to reproduce his flock
from the present group of hens," ad
vises Parrish. “Cull out but do not
sell out."
“The non-laying hens or pullets
which are culled from the flock can
be used at home or canned for fu
ture use, or they can be placed on
the market.”
Parrish warns that poultry not
fit for food should be killed and
buried deeply, as a disease control
measure.
R&tfiAPjwduudtUjnofy
PORK
Jon 1935-39
Overo9«
545,999.000 lbs
Such symbol
represents
200 million
pounds
Jan 1942
175.656.000 lbs
Jan 1944
1.082.000 000 lb*
(From American Meat Initltute.)
Packers’ Cattle Buyer
Needs Rare Judgment
The chief cattle buyer of one of
the world’s largest packing houses
in Chicago says that steers are of
uncertain character. A pure-bred
steer may or may not be as choice
meat as some unregistered critter.
And there is always a difference in
carcass yield even from two cows
of the same weight.
This buyer has no system but
says he examines “a steer’s con
formation, fat and quality. A choice
steer is broad over the back (where
the top quality meat comes from),
‘blocky’ in appearance, with no
hip bones showing and with a full
development in the brisket and the
lower part of the hindquarters.”
Each buyer has his own personal
rule of judgment, he says, but he
thinks “the hip tells the story.” Once
he has found a steer whose meat
he rates as choice, there is the ques
tion of just how much cow is meat
and what to pay for same. When
about 62 to 65 per cent of the ani
mal can be turned into beef, he fig
ures he has a bonanza; 55 per cent
is average.
Buying is closely related to de
mand, which is related to the na
tional market and daily changes, he
explains. “How to buy a steer” is
not learned in 10 easy lessons, but
must be learned again each day
by consulting main office facts on
different market demands and
prices. “If we need the meat," he
says, “we meet the competition,”
and he must bid against other com
panies.
Farm Notes
A new combine that pulls, de
seeds, and binds fiber flax in one
operation promises to reduce the la
bor required in harvesting and proc
essing.
• • •
A new method of spraying is be
ing developed to remove excessive
blossoms on apple trees and save
the labor of thinning the apples by
hand.
You breath© freer al
most instantly as Just
2 drops Penetro Nose
Drops open your cold
clogged nose to give
your head cold air.
Caution: Use only as
directed. 25c, 2% tunes
as much for 60c. Get
Penetro Nose Drops
They’re Brassards
Arm bands worn by certain sol
diers to show the particular type
of work they are doing, such as
MP, are called brassards. They
are worn on the left sleeve above
the elbow.
Gas on Stomach
Relieved In 5 minutes or doable money beck
When excess stomach acid causes painful, suffocat
ing gas. sour stomach and heartburn, doctors usually
prescribe the fastest-acting medicines known for
symptomatic relief — medicines like those in Ball* ana
Tablets. No laxative, bell-ans brings comfort in a
Jiffy or double your money back on return of bottle
to us. 26c at all druggists.
Instinct of Camel
Thirsty camels have been known
to go directly to water a distance
of 100 miles on the desert.
SNAPPY FACTS
ABOUT
RUBBER
Seriousness of the truck tire
shortage will be appreciated
when it Is known that 34 off
the country's largest cities re
ceive ail their milk by motor
trucks.
Underinflation Is a voracious waster
of tire rubber. A check on Michigan
war workers' car* recently showed
that more than 15 per cent were
underinflated.
Rubber and processing repre
sent about 40 per cent of the
cost of manufacturing a pop
ular size automobile tire.
The first rubber-tired motor bus was
operated in Brooklyn, N.Y., In 1900.
It was used for sightseeing purposes.
BEGoodrich
FlEiSCHMANH'S
DRY
YEAST
Ah /ee-farAeedeJ/