Stricter tire curb in store
Henderson warns output for civilians may end
Washington –
Price Administrator Leon Henderson warned last night that “we are almost done with manufacturing tires on a civilian basis,” and that the impact of tire and tube rationing “has scarcely been felt yet.”
Opposing a bill before the House district committee which would permit Washington taxi drivers to buy new equipment, he said the “mailbags are full” of requests that the rationing restrictions be relaxed for “special groups.”
Must last long time
He said:
The answer is simply that there are not enough tires to go around. We must allocate our stocks over a long period – and that period extends until our military arms are successful.
Barring unforeseen developments, he said, a stockpile of 9 million tires should be available “for the duration” to civilian consumers who normally buy 35 million annually. If restrictions were lifted, he added, the number on hand would “disappear in a bare three months.”
Urges approval of bill
Rep. William T. Schulte (D-IN) pleaded for approval of the bill, arguing that local transportation is vital to defense and that:
The Burma Road is a pleasure in comparison to Washington’s most damnable, abominable transportation system.
Mr. Henderson announced later that the tire rationing order has been amended to permit “eligible” light truck operators to buy six and eight-ply tires as well as those of four-ply.
Fleet to get rubber
The Navy, meanwhile, announced that synthetic rubber and plastic substitutes developed by research men during the past three years would meet almost all of the fleet’s requirements and that present production facilities would be adequate if the Navy were given their entire output.
Senator Sheridan Downey (D-CA) introduced a resolution to create a special five-man committee to investigate rubber supplies and the development of substitutes. He said that despite “reassuring” reports of Federal Loan Administrator Jesse Jones and others, there is only an 18-month supply on hand and that synthetic production should be increased to 400,000 pounds annually.
Editorial: Bands, songs and cheers
One trouble with this war so far is – no bands. Anyway, not enough bands.
During the period between World War I and the present one, such things as martial music and flag-waving fell into disfavor. It was felt that they tended to excite interest in war, and no one wanted to do that.
Now that we are at war, however, we can make good use of the emotional “shot in the arm” that is provided by band music, parades, cheers, songs and, yes, flag-waving. Singing nations have always fought better than dour ones.
It would seem that bands, parades and patriotic rallies might well be used to help raise money for the Red Cross, to promote the sale of defense bonds and stamps, to stimulate registrations for civilian defense activities or volunteers for the Armed Forces.
Why not have an occasional band concert in or near defense plants at lunch periods? If we know anything about the effect of patriotic airs upon the average American, the workers would go back to their all-important tasks with greater enthusiasm and determination.
Above all, draftees and volunteers should be sent away, whenever possible, with music and cheers. There has been all too little of that. Most of our soldiers-to-be have gone to their trains with nothing to distinguish them from commuters, traveling salesmen or young men going to visit relatives in Hoboken.
As for the rest of us, it is possible that we are being a little too grim about this war. It is serious, of course; extremely serious. But our morale would be better, and we would make greater contributions to the cause, if we went on an emotional spree every once in a while.
All this is not to say, of course, that we should go hysterical. Quite the contrary. But there are still a lot of people who haven’t taken the war to heart. A little pep might stiffen them up.
Strike up the bands.
U.S. fleet in action –
Many Jap subs sunk
Reporter with American warships in Pacific gives picture of men at battle stations
By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer
The first dispatch from correspondents with U.S. warship forces operating in the Pacific follows. It is the first direct word from naval forces since the war started.
U.S. Fleet protects Pacific sea lanes
1. Hawaiian Islands, main base for America’s Pacific Fleet.
2. Jap naval forces reported massed near Marshall Islands.
3. “Stepping-stone” islands for U.S. defense of Hawaii.
Aboard a U.S. warship in Pacific war zone –
The U.S. Fleet is in action in the Pacific war zone and has sunk a number of Jap submarines.
It is impossible to disclose the number because such a disclosure would be of value to Japan.
But it was made known today that the operations of the Pacific Fleet had been sufficiently successful to provide ample proof of the Navy’s statement that it was not idle.
Protect ‘stepping stones’
It is also impossible, for naval reasons, to disclose the details of action taken by the force of which this vessel is a part, and by similar forces.
It can be said nevertheless that the U.S. Navy is constantly on the alert in the Pacific war zone to intercept any Jap attempt to seize such American “stepping stones” as Midway, Johnston and Palmyra Islands, which lie northwestward (1,320 miles), southwestward (675 miles) and southward (900 miles) of the Hawaiian Islands, America’s mid-Pacific outpost.
U.S. naval forces are operating far from their bases, patrolling wide areas of the Pacific.
Fear mid-ocean trap
The fleet is refusing to risk the possibility of a mid-ocean trap in which the Japanese might, learning of the presence of an individual force of ships, concentrate a fleet in strength.
As Navy Secretary Frank Knox recently said, the Navy is waiting and will carry the fight to the enemy when it is ready to do so.
It is necessarily a secret business. American policy is based on the idea that it is best to keep the enemy guessing and waiting, for instance, for overdue submarines to return. That is one reason why it cannot be said how many Jap submarines have been sent to the bottom.
Expect surprise move
The Japanese will not be aided, however, by the news that the destroyer force, working closely with patrol planes of the fleet, has accounted for its share of Jap submarines since the sneak attack on Hawaii Dec. 7.
Vigilance in the fleet could hardly be intensified, but it was made known today that Allied forces throughout the world, including the mid-Pacific area, were taking extra precautions against a possible surprise Axis move, timed to coincide with the current Pan-American Conference at Rio de Janeiro.
In connection with these precautions, foreign broadcasts heard here reported Jap concentrations in the Marshall Islands, 2,400 miles south of Hawaii.
Could strike at Tahiti
Belief was that if the Axis made any move at the moment, it would be intended to lower American prestige in the Rio de Janeiro meeting, and that simultaneous Jap and German thrusts might be made.
From the Marshall Islands, the Japanese could strike at Midway, Johnston or Palmyra Islands or at Samoa, south of Palmyra and nearly 3,000 miles south of Hawaii. They might strike at Free French Tahiti in the Society Islands 1,430 miles east of Samoa, which is in the Panama Canal route to the Far Pacific.
Johnston and Palmyra have naval and air stations. Midway is the key to the defense of Hawaii.
Maintain constant watch
Japan has strong bases in the Marshalls and in the Carolines to the west. It is believed that planes based in the Marshalls attacked Wake Island. The Japanese have established themselves in the British-mandated Gilbert Islands, 500 miles south of the Marshalls, and are believed to have seized bases in the Ellice Islands, 250 miles south of the Gilberts.
Silent always, and by night, ghostly, the U.S. Fleet with its thousands of American men, pursues its steady zigzagging course, maintaining a constant watch on the approaches far outside Hawaii and to the Pacific Coast of the homeland.
This ship in which I am writing is part of the force assigned to patrol a certain sector of the Pacific.
To port and starboard, ahead, astern, other vessels of the force steam quietly, all on their course in a formation set by the force commander, the rear admiral aboard the flagship.
No light shows anywhere on any of the ships we know are near as we watch from the sky control platform high on the mast.
Here’s action after alarm
Seconds after an alarm sounded, this ship and the accompanying force would be throwing steel and lead at an enemy on a rapid-fire order from both heavy and light batteries, while the “general quarters” call sounded and the entire ship’s company ran to battle stations in a matter of minutes.
As we steam along, the gunnery officer orders another drill to put the gun crews through the routine they would follow if an enemy force were sighted. It would go like this:
The control officer shouts:
Enemy vessel 3-5-0!
…relaying a shout from the lookout.
‘Enemy vessel 3-5-0’
Enemy vessel 3-5-0!
…the talker repeats into the mouthpiece of the telephone suspended from his neck, thus passing the word to the bridge and the gun crews that an enemy craft has been sighted 350 degrees from the ship, taking the ship as the center of the 360-degree circle.
Range 4600!
…the sky control officer announces, relaying from his observer. The enemy ship is not quite 3.25 miles away, or 4,600 yards.
While the sky control officer has been announcing and relaying information, and the news passed to the guns and the bridge, the big turrets of the main battery have already been swung to port and the secondary battery on that side of the ship has been trained forward off the port bow.
‘Commence firing!’
It is assumed to be night, and the big searchlights have been brought to bear on the point. Everything is ready.
The bridge telephones the searchlight crew:
Strike arcs!
They turn on their power but no light appears.
The bridge orders:
Open shutters! Commence firing!
As the searchlight beams hit the enemy, the guns open fire almost simultaneously and the main and secondary batteries start throwing their hail of shells.
Cease fire!
…comes the order and it is over.
Deadly earnest this time
Later, the other half of the crew relieve those who have been on duty.
A lookout shouts:
Lights 0-6-0!
This time, the guns swing out in deadly earnest. It is not drill. But a search of the horizon fails to reveal a light. It might have been a shooting star, but no chances are taken in these waters, prowled by enemy vessels, and all unusual lights and other objects are reported, and guns are trained until identification is made.
In daytime, it might be a whale on or near the surface, seen or picked up by the exceedingly delicate detector apparatus. Many whales have been victims of depth charges or airplane bombs.
