Evening Star Newspaper, January 23, 1942, Page 4

Report on War Effort Cites Big Gains as "Only a Foundafion’ Facts-Figures Office Foresees Offensive Army And Command of Air (First instaliment of text on Page A-3) By GOULD LINCOLN. The gigantic American prep- aration for war during the last 18 months—and the even more gigantic preparations that will be made this year—are described in a “report to the Nation” made public today by Archibald Mac- Leish, director of the Office of Facts and Figures. The figures contained in the report of the country’s war effort are staggering. The facts should be heartening to the American people. The report was requested by President Roosevelt, in a letter ad- dressed to Mr. MacLeish (who is also librarian of Congress) under date of December 2. In some quarters the re- port was regarded as an’ answer to the report of the Truman committee investigating national defense ex- penditures recently made public, which criticized vigorously industry, labor and the Government. From no source, however, has there come heretofore so complete & picture of the all-out effort which is being made by the United States to win the war. The story of build- ing up a tremendous defense pro- duction capacity covers a wide fleld, including plants for the production of planes and tanks, guns and ships, and munitions of every character. It deals with the construction of ar-flung new naval bases in the ‘Atlantic Ocean; with an “economic warfare” against the Axis powers of great proportions. It pictures the labor effort of the country, declaring that 10,000,000 more workers will be employed in the defense program before it is completed. It sets a new goal for Army strength—7,000,000 men. It tells of the steps which have been taken to deal with aliens in the country and to prevent sabotage in defense plants. Mr. MacLeish makes no effort to deny that delays and mistakes and waste and heavy costs have occurred in the defense effort. He admits them. The report, he said in a letter of transmittal to the President, is in no sense an investigation. “What the country wishes to know now is where is stands in relation to the work it has to do— what its present production capacity of materials of war is—what it is After describing the various steps taken to build up the national de- fense production organization, end- ing with the appointment of the ‘War Production Board, with Donald mdNeh_m as its head, the report “The -dollar, translated inta the tools of war, is-one yardstick by which we can measure what we have done.” It pointed out that the country was spending at an annual rate of two billjon dollars for de- fense after the fall of France in July, 1940. On January 1, 1941, this spending had risen to the rate of $6,200,000,000 a year. In July, 1941, shortly after the Nazis invaded Rus- sia, the country was spending at the rate of $10,600,000,000 for defense, and on December 1 the rate of spending had reached almost $20,- 000,000,000 a year. Declaring that this “is only & fraction of what we must do to sur- vive ag a free Nation,” the report said the spending would be stepped up to more than $4,000,000,000 a month this year and to more than $5,000,000,000 a month in 1943. “That means the mobilization of every available man, woman, dollar and - thing—every plant, tool, ma- chine and bit of material to con- tribute to our total war effort,” the report continued. “Literally, our military strength will depend upon what we, the people, can do without.” Only Foundations Laid. The Teport tells the story of the “foundations” that have been laid for such a total effort. “They are good foundations,” it said. “But they are foundations only.” How hard the war will be, how bloody, how long and how costly will depend “on how quickly we can erect the neces- sary structure upon these vast foundations.” The American Navy in 1932, as a result of arms limitation agreements and “becalmed against its will,” had found itself approaching a level be- low Britain, below Japan and below even France and Italy in the num- ber of its effective fighting ships, the report declared. But at the begin- ning of 1942 the Navy “had com- pleted a year of full speed ahead on its two-ocean program and had be- come within the space of a few months the strongest single sea- borne fighting force on this planet. ‘The two-ocean Navy—most crucial of all our necessities—is underway.” When Japan struck the United Btates had 17 battleships, and 15 more being built; 7 aircraft carriers, and 11 more being built; 37 cruisers, |+ and 54 more being built; 171 destroy~ ers, and 193 more being built; 113 submarines, and 73 more being bullt. By November, 1941, the Navy had commissioned 25 new combatant ships, added 2,000 planes to’its han- gars and aircraft carriers. Its new chaln of overseas bases now extends far into both oceans. It had en- rolled 5,000 new officers and more than 12 times as many men. In the 10 months prior to the opening of the war, 345 new com- batant ships were under construc- tion, as well as 06 auxiliary craft, 243 mine craft, 225 patrol boats and other floating equipment. At the beginning of 1941, 72 private yards were building ships for the Navy. By November there were 133 yards— not including the Navy's own 86 yards engaged in this work. The Navy's plane complement of 15,000 has been increased. Before the war began, the Navy and Marine Corps had 5,000 pilots. Thousands more were in training. The Navy alone has 24 air stations. Speaking of the great increase in naval shore establishments, the ri:- port said that American sailors and marines are now serving in New- foundland, at Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas, at Antigua, Ja- maica, St. Lucia and Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in British Guiana in South America, and in “far flung” bases in the Pacific Ocean. “Nearly half a billion dol- lars was spent in developing our bases last year,” it added. And it pointed out that American ports have been shared by nations resist- ing Axis aggression. It pointed out that the Navy's task today is two-fold, that it has the greatest battle of its life on its hands, and also a tremendous job of patroling. It is at war with Japan in the Pacific. with Germany in the Atlantic and with Italy in the Medi- terranean. At the same time it must police with Britain the sea lanes from Iceland to the bulge of South ‘America. It must police the Pacific Ocean as far as Singapore. “PFighting ships which might otherwise be used to attack the Jap- anese Navy must serve as two great mobile arcs of steel guarding all our continental coastline,” the report said. Army Expanded Sixfold. The American Army has undergone a sixfold expansion since the spring of 1940. On January 15 the Secre- tary of War announced another ex- pansion, the largest of all, to 3,600,- 000 men by the end of, this year. To shelter this great new Army, pro- vide air bases and new fortifications, the Army has already completed 450 construction projects—more than 50,000 buildings in 250 areas. The report pointed out that in September, 1939, “we did not possess & munitions industry of any great signifieance.” Nearly a billion dollars worth of new munitions plants are now in full operation. Several bil- lion dollars’ worth of additional mu- nitions plants are now on their way to completion. “The sun never sets on the men and materials of the Lease-Lend Act, passed by Congress a scant 10 months ago,”-said the report, de- claring this act a “unique war weapon.” The men who fight or labor under its provisions range from British pilots trained in the United States to steameshovel men at work on bases in the cold and fog of Northern Ireland.” Mentioning some of the myriad uses of lease-lend funds, the re- port said they are being spent to build British bases at Rangoon, that Pan American Airways has received a subsidy for a new route across the South Atlantic, and another lease- lend air-line reaches to Iceland. Last March only $18,000,000 was given in lease-lend aid. By Novem- ber, 1941, this swelled to $283,000,000 a month, Already $1,200,000,000 has been ex- pended for lease-lend aid, of which half was for exports of all kinds of material. “Puture exports will be gigantic when we achieve all-out war production.” A total of $2,800,000,- 000 of the lease-lend appropriations are for aviation, another $2,000,000,- 000 for shipping, and for war on the land, $5,000,000,000. Frozen Funds a Factor. Economic warfare, described as “the silent war,” has progressed far, . EVENING .STAR, WASHINGTON, D. STARTING €4 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES iN ~DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON ‘mw active service.” W THOUSANDS empLOVEES ToTAL AM. STARTING according to the report. More than $7,000,000,000 of assets of 33 coun- tries have been “frozen” in the United States. This has removed this vast sum from possible use by our enemies. The freezing of these assets has “paralyzed German and Italian efforts to acquire vital and strategic materials in the Western Hemisphere,” has blocked spying, sabotage and propaganda by the enemy nations. * Against-Japan, the blow has been even more telling. _ ‘The “blacklist” of concerns in neu- tral nations which did business with the Axis powers is another powerful weapon in this economic warfare, the report said. There are now approxi- mately 5,600 names on the list. An- other step has been the “elimina- tion of Axis-controlled airlines in South America. Taking up the merchant ship building program, the report said the Maritime Commission is now launching ships at the rate of one every 24 hours, and in the next six months the launchings will be two every day. “Up to the beginning of December, 1941, contracts had been let for 999 ships; keels for 272 had been laid; 154 had been launched—and 123 of these had been delivered and sent ‘The Maritime Commission has or- dered 131 new shipways. More than — re— ] I I LEoEND TiME suvATE oumevizs sanvamy 1942 95 of them are already in use and the rest will be in production in the next two months. The search for seamen and offi- cers to man these ships is on. About 40,000 searmen and 10,000 officers are now serving on 1,200 boats engaged in deep-sea trade. With the pro- gram calling for double this number of ships by the end of the year, the number of officers and men will have to be doubled, too. Calling in More Labor. The report asserted that 5,000, 000 workers have already been drawn into the war production program, and that 5,000,000 more will be re- quired in the next six months. By the end of the year the army of la- borers will be trippled, and it will be quadrupled in 1943. With thousands of young farmers going into the armed forces, other farm labor must be recruited. woman’s “land army” may be formed to help work the farms. Also, women will in large numbers go into the factories, relieving men for other service. In the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia, nearly 40 per cent of employes now are women. It is estimated that 500,000 women are now employed in war work. But only 4 women in every 1,000 are working in war industries. In 1918 there were 21 such workers in every 1,000. « By DANIEL DELUCE, Associated Press War Correspondent. RANGOON, Burma, Jan. 21 (De- layed) —Georgia-born Pilot Officer R. G. Moss, American volunteer with the Chinese forces, came back safe- ly today by river raft, bull cart and airplane, slipping through Japanese lines after he parachuted from his damaged plane. The fiyer, known to his assoclates as “Big Moose” Moss, had destroyed one Japanese plane and damaged another in an air fight yesterday over the Japanese airdrome at Meshod, northwestern Thailand, be- fore his own plane was hit. His parachute brought him down 10 miles west of Meshod, just be- hind the Japanese lines. He got through, reached Moulmein and came back to Rangoon in a British plane. There were great red welts on his neck from where his parachute rig- ging had burned him, and his front, teeth were chipped from the force of his landing in a rice paddy after bailing out at only 800 feet, but he seemed unperturbed as he climi from the homber here and recount- ed his experience. “Positively, I got one Japanese Army 97,” the drawling Georgian told his mates. “He never had a chance to open his chute. A second rascal tried to ram me while I was climbing, and then & third got on my tail. * * *” That was when his ship was dam- aged. “T figured it was curtains if T tried to straighten out of my turn so I went overboard,” he said. “My ship landed 100 yards away and made a smouldering crater filled with wreckage. “I didn’t knew the native lingo, but some little brown men in skirts {came out of & village armed with bows and arrows and a few shot- .{guns and we got along fine with Plane Damaged in Fight, U. S. Pilot Bails Out, Then Slips Through Jap Lines to Safety signs. I finally started hitching on bnllocklwtl. the headmen sending me from village to village until I bed | bunked for the night in one of their bamboo huts. “T got up at daylight and reached a fast-running river. I don’t know the name of it, but it carried me, on some sort of a native craft, to a settlement 14 miles from Moulmein, where a British official drove me in to town.” Moss said that during the trip he went through the Japanese lines | oo without seeing a single Japanese and commented: “The Burmese must have chosen some fancy roundabouts to save me from detection.” A | Business Men's Associations, Elec- Li PM. QUITTING TIME TOTAL BumLOYRSS VT 6 PRIVATE Traffic (Continued From First Page.) it would work any great hardship on many establishments to change their closing hours from 5 pm. to 4:30, 4:45, 5:15 or 5:30 pm. He pointed out that engineers of the ‘Traffic Department and the Capital Transit Co. had determined that a shift of either 15 minutes or a half hour before or after 5 pm, “will | terday. be most helpful.” Associations to which Mr. Smith sent letters included the Real Estate Board, Graphic Arts Association, District Medical Society, Dental As- sociation, District Bar Association, ‘Washington Trade Association Ex- ecutives, Automotive Trade Asso- ciations, Merchants and Manufac- turers’ Association, Federation of trical Institute, District Bankers’ Association, District Building and Loan League, Home Builders’ Asso- FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, -1942. - 1 8 17 0| NEW STAGGERED-HOUR PLAN—This chart, prepared by the Department of Vehicles and Traffic, shows the number of Federal and private employes who will report for work and leave work at various hours under the revised staggered-hour system which will go into effect Monday. (Story on Page A-1.) Colgate Group Ends Study 0f Government Operations ‘The seventh annual session of the Colgate Washington Study Group concluded today with the nine stu- dents returning to college after hav- ing been here four months studying Government .operations. The nine juniors were guests of Mrs. Roose- velt at tes in the White House yes- The students studied public ad- ministration and political control in class and field work. They worked in Government agencies and in the offices of members of Congress to obtain first-hand observations. Work here was directed by Dr. Paul S. Jacobsen, associate professor of political science at Colgate Uni- versity. The students are William J. Barber, Robert W. Beitz, Joseph De Bragga, Edward 8. Jones, Robert McCallum, Noel Rubinton, Paul B. Thompson, Robert Wacker and ciation and the National Press Club. Theodore Wahl. Weather Report (Purnished by the United States Weather Bureau.) District of Columbia—Warmer tonight, moderate winds. Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia—Not quite so0 cold tonight. Report for Last 24 Hours. Temperature s 43 40 5 46 Recerd for Last 24 Hours. (Prom noon Highest. 47, Year aso, B5. Lowest, 32, at 7:30 a.m. today, Year 80, 42. !'.I.llrl ‘Temperatares This Year. hest. 65, . Dot oo antiy 1. 1% Humidity for Last 24 Houwrs. (Prom noon yesterdsy to noon todsy.) Highest, 83 per cent, at 7:30 a.m. today. Lowest, 56 per cent, at 7 p.m. yesterday. Bets. :19 a. s Aytomobile lights must be turned on one-half hour sunset. Tide Tables. (Furnished b ited States Coast Jeodetis Bufvers - Moss’ return reduced the Amer- |rg lcan Volunteer Group’s casualty e record for two months of fighting to three killed and one missing, as against 74 confirmed victories over J;pmele planes and many “prob- ables.” River Report. Heroen Fery, Fotomes mudds st Orest : H Falli toany. i Precipitation. onthly precipitation in inches in the Capital (Furrent month to date): mum‘ to noon today.) st 3:30 pm. yesterday. 1| Churchill Engaging Parliament in First Real Contest of Wits Prime Minister Facing Rough Sailing in Row Over Criticism By WILLIAM H. STONEMAN, Correspondent of The Star and Chicago Dafly News. LONDON, Jan. 23.— Winston Churchill and Parliament are now locked in the first real contest of wits and temperament which the Prime Minister has had to face since he assumed power in 1940. With all the stubbornness of & brilliant and self-assured national favorite, Mr, Churchill has made the mistake of balking at the criticism which he encountered in such plen- tiful doses on his return from the United States. Now he has come dangerously near to exposing him- self to the charge of trying to gag legitimate parliamentary criticism and the air around Westminster is thick with resentment. The trouble started the minute the Prime Minister arrived in Lon- don and has been intensified every day since. The first sign that he was not going to have easy sailing came when his proposal for the re- cording of his wartime speeches in the House of Commons was given the cold shoulder by so many indi- vidual members of Parliament that he was forced to abandon it. Then on Wednesday the powerful 1922 Committee, which forms the unofficial policy committee of the Conservative party, held a meeting at which insistent demands were voiced for changes in the cabinet. It thus became evident that the three-day debate in the House next week would be a torrid affair and that the Prime Minister’s oratory would have to be supplemented by some very solid and reassuring facts. Prepared for Showdown. The Prime Minister’s reaction to this was to announce that he was prepared to have a showdown with his critics and that if they were too violent he would call for a vote of confidence. Many M. Ps on both sides of the House regard this as little short of an order to hold their tongues, since, on a vote of confi- dence, it stands to reason that vir- tually everybody would have to vote with the government. It is inti- mated at the same time that if the Prime Minister does implement his threat a number of M. Ps will table an amendment pledging support of the Prime Minister personally but nuwmmzw eggycegl at his unwilling- ess remd ‘weakny Pt o ess of his The biggest arrow in the Prime Minister’s quiver is the fact that he is stronger in the affections and confidence of his own countrymen and Americans than all the mem- bers of Parliament put together. Nobody thinks seriously of his po- litical defeat; as long as he is alive and well, it is practically inconceiv- able that he could lose his position. Another definite factor in his favor is that much of the present turmoil arises from the Australian criticism the way Far Eastern affairs have cism on the natural, if somewhat insular ground, that the “Austral- lans have got their wind up because the Japs are only 1,000 miles away.” More Basic Charges. Aside from the general parlia- mentary criticism that the Prime Minister is being autocratic about the present affair, there are more basic and at the same time less well- defined charges to be faced. These are summed up by Hannen Swaffer in the London Daily Herald todey as follows, under the headline, “Winston Faces Crisis”: Communiques Heavy Attacks on Batan Repulsed The text of War Department com- munique No. 71, outlining the mili- tary situation as of 9:30 a.m. today, Jollows : 1. Philippine theater: The Japanese are continuing to launch heavy attacks on Gen. past 24 hours, the fighting has been extremely heavy. The enemy’s assault troops have been strongly reinforced. Nevertheless, all Japanese attacks have been repulsed with heavy losses. Ap- parently the enemy has adopted a policy of continuous assaults, without regard to casualties, hop- ing by great superiority in num- bers to crush the defending forces. Gen. MacArthur is in receipt of & message from Cen. Sir Archibald Wavell, warmly con-~ gratulating him and his com- mand for their magnificent de- fense of the Philippines. Reports from Mindinao dis- close that the Japanese troops occupying Davao have organized a local military force composed of some 10,000 Japanese residents of that community. 2. There is nothing to report from other areas. servatives, Mr. Churchill, by failing to satisfy the Australians, has en- dangered empire unity. 2. Laborites complain that while women and girls have been con- scripted, property is still sacrosanct. 3. Many employers and employes complain that, while Britain is in the third year of her war and the sixth year of her rearmament pro- gram, she is only producing about 60 per cent of her maximum capacity. 4. General dissatisfaction with the inequalities in the amount of sacri- fice demanded from various sections - of the population (this is very : largely Mr. Swaffer’s personal idea). 5. Widespread dissatisfaction with the personnel of the government. (Copyright, 1942, Chicago Dally News Inc.) Yan Mook (Continued From First Page.) about the necessity of basing Far Eastern action on the Indies. He said the purpose of his mis- sion was three-fold: 1. To get personal contact with officials in Washington and gain an idea of their views. 2. To lay the groundwork for the organizational details which must | be established for pursuing a war. 3. To work out some kinks in problems relating to supply. Dr. Van Mook said that his mis- sion is not yet complete. He has talked with President Roosevelt and | other high American, British, Aus- | tralian and Chinese officials. Two high Dutch military officials also are in Washington, having ar- rived from London to conduct staff talks with English and Ameérican’ military men here. They are Rear Admiral J.'W. Ter Mybelen, com= mander in chief of the Netherlands Navy, and Gen. A. Q. H. Dyxhoorn, former Minister of War in the | Netherlands refugee government. pe - e S o Congress in Brief Senate: Considers bill to extend Govern- ment’s War powers. Naval Affairs Committee considers authorization for expanded public works and shipbuilding program. House: Takes up $12,000,000,000 plane eon= - struction bill. Naval Affairs Committee studies 1. In the estimation of many con- bill for registration of labor orl;nl-_ zations. LEWIS & THOS. SALTZ INC. 1409 G STREET Semi-Annual Men’s Fine SUITS and OVERCOATS $34.50 $38.50 $42.50 $52.50 $57.50 COMPLETE RANGE OF SIZES & MODELS o~ LEWIS & THOS. SALTZ 1409 G STREET N.W. DISTRICT 3822 NOT CONNECTED WITH SALTZ BROS. INC ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY—Above is & map showing the iixport—expor& facilities of an America at war as compiled by the of Facts and Figures under the directorship of Archibald MacLeish. Dotted lines show imports of raw materials and their Solid lines are the outgoing planes, tanks, guns and-supplies. ’ Office origin.