U.S.A. AFFAIRS

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 March 1943, Page 5

U.S.A. AFFAIRS

AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION

WASHINGTON, March 4.

American industry on the home front was steadily achieving Allied air superiority, said Mr. Robert P. Patterson, Under-Secretary for War. In January production was 5000 aeroplanes, of which 65 per cent, were combat aircraft. February production was 5500 aeroplanes. In January 70,000 bombs of 10001 b or larger, enough to maintain daily raids nearly four times as great as Monday’s attack on Berlin, were made. GAS PRECAUTIONS.

WASHINGTON, March 4

American overseas troops are being issued with large cellophane envelopes to wrap round themselves if the enemy uses skin-burning gas. An envelope fits into a soldier’s pocket. It is sealed at the end and sides and is designed to fit over the head and be pulled down to knee level. Thus by squatting down a soldier is able to protect himself, his pack, and his clothing from contamination. The ordinary gas mask will be worn during a gas attack as well as the envelope, which will be discarded after use.

WOOL PRODUCTION

WASHINGTON, March 4

The United States Agriculture Department reports a record wool production in 1942 of 459,000,0001 b. The average local market price for shorn wool was 40.1 cents per lb. The number of sheep shorn in 1942 is estimated at 49.784,000, and the average weight of a fleece at 81b.

INDUSTRIAL PEACE. NEW YORK, March 4. Representatives of .300,000 war industry workers and the Governor ol Texas have signed a pact pledging uninterrupted war production and granting the Governor the right to do anything and everything to prevent unauthorised strikes and stoppages of work. The pact is the first of its kind in the United States. VALUE OF THE PRESS ' WASHINGTON, March 5.. Mr. C. A. Halleck (Indiana), in the House of Representatives today, hailed newspapers as one of the most essential and vital factors in winning the war. He assailed bureaucratic Press critics and said that, if compelled to choose between bureaucrats and newspapers as guardians of the rights of men, he would unhesitatingly choose the newspapers. Mr. Halleck asserted that Government officials sneered at newspapers, yet. surrounded themselves with writers and publicists with the sole object of gaining publicity in the newspapers. “If you destroy the newspapers you destroy one of the most effective internal implements of war or peace, you destroy the people’s confidence in their Government, and you make an Axis victory possible,” he said.