U.S.A. MILITARY AGE

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 October 1942, Page 5

U.S.A. MILITARY AGE

SENATE DISSENSIONS EIGHTEEN TOO YOUNG ? WASHINGTON, October 19. If America is to survive, if it is to continue to be the home of democracy and liberty, the induction of men aged 18 and 19 cannot longer be delayed, says the Senate Mintaiy Committee report, 1 -}{S i , ng 'JP e f edy proval to a Bill to. that effect The committee said it is particularly 3l pressed by the strong tpstim y military leaders, that the Aimy, ii it is to be victorious, must utilise the special military qualifications of the 18/19 group, which is particularly fitted for military training and g combat. Their response to leadei ship, cmick recovery from fatigue, their aggressiveness, their enthusiasm, and their flair for soldiering far exceed such qualities in other age groupS e The Senate agreed to debate the measure on Thursday. _ . A Congressional High Command to consider matters relating to the wax . L nronosed in a resolution introduced bv Representative Dirksen. A comnuttee would be composed ol twentyone each Senators and Representatives drawn from the Appropriations, Naval and Military Affairs CommitteSenator Vandenberg proposedla constitutional amendment, in the Senate, entitling men to vote at the age of eighteen yeais. He saia. rr voung men of eighteen are to be drafted to fight for their country, they should be able to vote ioi tne kind of Government the country is to have.”

NEW YORK, October 20. A Columbus (Ohio) message :states H fr'iSMbeYratt Bill. Senator Taft said that he favoured the nmeteen-year-olds being included, but did not know about the eighteen-year-olds. He complained that the Bill was being rushed too much, and said it should not be passed until the whole manpower problem was solved. A DMIRAL’S~ESTIMATES NEW YORK. October 19. “Four pet hates for the duration are organisers, profiteers, strategists, and needle boys, Admiral Land Chairman of the Maritime Commission, told the Investment Bankers’ Association. By organisers, he explained he meant union organisers. " He added: So far as they are concerned for the duration, my opinion is that they ought to be shot at sunrise. Of profiteers, he declared. “We will get them if they don t ge. themselves.” He advised typewriter strategists to let the President and military experts handle the war. lie did not elaborate on “needle boys. He said the United States was building three ships daily, and would be producing four daily in January, if steel were available. The United States will need 20,000 licensed seamen and 100,000 unlicensed seamen by next year. The United States has 241 shipways and 3600 ships contracted to be built, whereof 1098 were delivered. He warned that because ol longer nights, the submarine menace might be progressively worse during the Winter, and said: “We can get on top of the submarine, and maybe ameliorate it, but we cant lick it. PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW MONTREAL, October 19. In praising Canada for the candour and common-sense with which the severe losses at Dieppe were announced, the chairman ol the United States Office of War Information (Mr. Elmer Davis) said: “We all recognise that information which would aid the enemy and which is not already known to him must be withheld, but in neither nation do we admit the pernicious doctrine that bad news should be withheld because it might discourage the people, or should be saved up till it can be balanced with good news. A free people wants to know, and has the right to know, how the battles are going, and will fight all the harder if it realises how hard it must fight for victory.” Mr. Davis said inter-Allied economic co-operation during the war was proving so valuable in the merest common self-interest that it would probably be continued in some form after the war.

COMMODITIES CONTROL.

WASHINGTON, October 20

A special Congressional Committee on defence and migration issued a report demanding the complete reshuffling of the top war agencies, including the War Production Board. Selective Service Administration, and the Office of Price Administration. Under the new super-control, the Board will be named the Office of War Mobilisation. The report asserted that the American materials distribution system was breaking down and hoarding of raw materials was becoming a nationwide phenomenon. It added: “We can lose the war in Washington, where the business-as-usual consideration still permeates wartime agencies.

HIGHWAY TO ALASKA

EDMONTON (Alberta), Oct. 19. The Minister of Trade and Commerce (Mr. MacKinnon) in a statement, said a string of airports from Edmonton to the Yukon, and the new Alaska highway, in the mam had been successfully concluded. “These projects are intended not only lor defence, but attack, and will have profound influence on the future course of the war.” WAR 'GUILTY NEW YORK. October 19.° The Mayor of New York, Mr La Guardia, said to-day: “We can never sit down at a peace conference with Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito. Therefore, we will have to execute these three, or else put them into captivity. PETROL FIRE NEW YORK, October 19. Fire in four storage tanks at Fredericksburg, Virginia, spread to several hundred thousand gallons "of petrol, endangering large sections of the historic city, whose water supply was cut off by recent floods. AIRCRAFT - CAR RIER LAUNCHED NEW YORK, October 19. The aircraft-carrier Princeton has been launched. It is the second United States aircraft-carrier’ to be launched within three months. GERMANS CONVICTED (Recd. Noon.) NEW YORK, October 20. Twenty-four leaders of the Ger-man-American Bund, including the National Fuehrer, Gerhard Kunze, were convicted at the Federal Court, after a month’s trial, on a charge of counselling members to evade military service. One leader was acquitted. The conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a 10,000 dollar fine. CHILE AND AXIS.

SANTIAGO (Chile), October 19. The newspaper “Lax Hors” reported that the police arrested five Axis subjects early to-day, and police activity is continuing.