U.S.A. AFFAIRS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 December 1944, Page 6

U.S.A. AFFAIRS

POST-WAR' CRIM?, WAVE.

WASHINGTON, December 12. “The first signs of a post-war crime wave of considerable magnitude are already appearing,” said Mr. Edgar J. Hoover, head of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. He added that, groups of G-men were being brought back to headquarters for retraining in the three avenues of crime which he expected to prove most troublesome. These are kidnapping,. extortion, and bank robbery. Mr. Hoover said that bank robberies and kidnapping were on the increase. A number of crimes were being committed by discharged servicemen. Factors influencing the increase in crime named by Mr. Hoover were juvenile delinquency, which he said had grown to .sizeable proportions; and the economic readjustment of workers and of former servicemen who had criminal tendencies before going to the war and who had now learned to kill. “The most desperate, of the post-war criminals will be young men in their late Teens or early twenties,” he said.. “Already many men in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy are forming gangs the bulk of whose members are ’teen-age delinquents. Many of these bands of young ctespcradoes have figured in daring bank jobberies in which the lives of many innocent persons have been placed in jeopardy. We will use ail the latest developments of science, including television, in our efforts to smash this coming crime wave.” CRITICISM OF ALLIES.

WASHINGTON, December 13

Senator Brooks, a Republican, told the U.S. Senate: While the flesh and blood and treasure of Americans are being hurled against Germany, Europe is being carved up by two of the major Allies, and the division is being made with American tanks, planes, and supplies. Both Britain and Russia are now engaging in a race for a future balance of power in Europe. It is clear that Russia intends to expand her empire, and to plot her philosophy in the Baltic, while Britain moves daily jo expand her influence and to establish puppet Governments in Italy, in Greece, in Belgium, and in France. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, heard a spirited debate on Allied unity, which was opened by Representative Gayin, a Republican, who said: The State Department should tell the British Empire ' that we are not satisfied with their conscription policy. If we can draft ourJjoys by the thousands for over- ' seas, why cannot the British col- ‘ onies do likewise? He added: Mr. Churchill scorns to be content to let i us throw the thousands of our boys ' into action, and carry on the fight 'with hundreds being liquidated daily. : Representative Luther Johnson, a 'member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. said that Representative Gavin rendered a disservice to the I country and the Allies. Such statements ought Jo be suppressed, as they ' tended to promote disunity, and to prolong the war and encourage Hitler. _____ ambassadors nominated. WASHINGTON, December 13. Mr. Roosevelt has nominated Mj’Norman Armour, chief ct the Siai.e Department’s ' Latin-American ~Division, to be ambassador to in succession to Mr. Carrltcn a. rmyos. The President has also nominates the present Ambassador to Turkey (Mr. Lawrence Steinhardt) to be Ambassador to the Czechoslovak Government in London. ADMINISTRATION SALARIES 'WASHINGTON, December 13. Mr. Vinson, in the House of Representatives, introduced a Bill, to increase the salaries cf the President i from 75,000 to 100,000 dollars, of the j Vice-President, the. Speaker _and I members of the Cabinet from 15,000 I to 25,000 dollars, and of members of the House from 10,000 to 15.000 dollars. Mr. Vinson said that because oi taxes the President's 75.000 dollars is ■ net 27.900 dollars at the end cf the year. All high officials' salaries were similarly affected. ARMY RELEASES WASHINGTON, December 13.. The discharge from the United States Army, mainly on medical grounds, of prominent sports figures who are nhysically fit to return to strenuous "athletic competition has caused considerable criticism, resulting in an instruction that all cases ; involving athletes, also stage, screen ' and radio stars, are to be referred to the War Department for final determination. SNOW~VICTIMS. TORONTO, December 13. Snow blanketed the east coast of the United States as far south as Georgia, causing at least. GG deaths, mostly from traffic accidents. Trains, buses and airlines have halted operations in some section:;.

FILM ACTRESS’S DEATH

LONDON. December 14

A Los Angeles message says t’nal Ihe film actress, I,upe Velez, was found dead at her home at Beverley Hills. The Coroner said she had apparently taken an overdose of sleeping powder.