SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 1942 THE MICHIGAN IAILY PAGE THREE The Week In Review Foreign For the first time since Dec. 7 it looked this week as if the United States had become a potent force in every world battle theatre, and the answer seemed to lie in the rising tide of American air power. On every front this week the big bombers and the swift pursuit- fighter-interceptor squadrons went into action as countries hitherto for- eign to the touch of American mili- tary might got their first taste of Uncle Sam. Air power has come to be almost a monomania with the American people. The Star-Spangled Banner gets hearty support when played for group singing; the flag is treated with reverence, respect and enthu- siasm; but the airplane over head is the symbol of the American war ef- fort. It is the B-24's, the Kittyhawks, the Airacobras that make American workmen pitch in, that induce Amer- ican young men to join the colors, be they air-minded or not. Thus it was with the eager expec- tancy of a hospital-waiting father that the United States heard this week of an American air power that ruled the roost in China and\ the Solomons, put a dent in the Italian navy, socked home a few blows against Rommel, patrolled Northern India's borders, zoomed across the English Channel to the occupation ports, battled with Nazi Heinkels over the Ruhr. And thus it was that they ex- pressed confidence that the new German long-distance Heinkel would never find its way to an American city. * * * On The Offensive At Last Best of a lot of good news was the first American attack on land al- ready captured by the Japanese. An American task force with hosts of marine-commando transports in tow swooped into the Solomon Islands, one of the most important chains in the Jap arc above Australia. Ma- rines swarmed ashore, established beach-heads, and steadily pushed Japanese resistance back from the coast. Especially in the Florida group around Tulagi, the Americans ob- tained strong grips. Led by Admiral Ghormley, who is under the direct supervision of Admiral Nimitz, the Navy and Marines seemed to be grad- ually establishing complete control- although the usual heavy censorship prevented exact knowledge of the strength of the American positions. It wasn't just a matter of on the sea and on the land though. Bombers and fighters from Gen. MacArthur's Australian-based air force rained bombs and death on the little yellow defenders, sank Jap transports and dealt out heavy blows against the Jap Navy. The whole performance had not yet added up to victory, nor was the campaign costless in men and ma- terials. It takes death to establish beach-heads, and it costs ships to stand within reach of air power and land batteries while you bombard enemy positions. No, the American people had to wait another week before they could be certain one way or another. But most of them were happy to know that the boys were just in there pitching, and practically all of them shared the great American confi- dence in ultimate victory. The Solomons weren't the only fighting sector in the once idyllic South Pacific. Port Moresby was the object of a gradually developing Nip- ponese drive last week, but this week the tables were turned and it was the Austro-American force from Port Moresby that began to drive toward the other side of New Guinea. Nothing decisive has yet taken place in the Kokoda skirmishing, but for, a week at least Yanks and Anzacs have had slightly the upper hand. Other Pacific Fronts On the north Pacific front all was not quiet either. A naval task force- the unit which seems to have re- placed the fleet in the average com- munique-made an attack on Kiska which although it was announced as successful failed to do anything about driving the Japs out of their en- trenched positions. In China, Stilwell's air force con- tinued to dump heavy bombs on Jap supply ports, and the Chinese con- tinued to talk about inevitable vic- tory now that the sky-dragons had arrived in force. Futile Jap attempts to drive toward the American air bqses failed to get anywhere at all. Chinese leaders also made what may become an historic decision. They gave their backing to Indian demands for indepedence and there- fore kept the score of United Nations even, England against and China for. That complicated matters for President Roosevelt which might still U.- -,- LI .--- n - e - - The RisingTide Of U. S. Air Power Domesti Long-brewing heat was turned on the powerful Chicago Tribune last week as a Federal grand jury began investigating charges that it had published information aiding the en- emy in a story written by correspon- dent Stanley Johnston at the time of the Battle of Midway on June 7. Cousin-papers New York Daily News and Washington Times-Herald, all controlled by the Colonel McCormick, Captain Patterson, Cissie Patterson interlocking directorship were named with the Tribune. Tight-lipped William D. Mitchell, special assistant Attorney-General directing the case, cryptically refused to divulge any of the details; "I will issue no statements at any time," said he to newsmen. The news triumvirate of isolation- ism-long under fire from the liberal press and magazines-has been bask- ing in the ultra-violet of criticism from many quarters for its loud- mouth blasts against the Administra- tion. Roosevelt-haters all, the owners of the closely-tied papers bitingly took every opportunity to slash at the New Deal. That very hatred of Roosevelt and the New Deal constitutes their de- fense. They howl that "that man" is persecuting them for fulfilling their obligation of a free press in criticis- ing the mistakes of the administra- tion. And a new tack of defense came out in House debates as rabidly iso- lationist, anti-administrationitt Clarv Hoffman of Michigan bluntly ac- cused Navy Secretary Frank Knox- owner of the Chicago Daily Newso-of using "his official position for the advantage of his own newspaper published in Chicago." Such people as Clare Hoffman have been able with others convicted of sedition for their publications to draw attention to the editorial policy of the Tribune in past months for they follow its line without deviation. The feud had come to be an open battle between Col. Knox and Col. Bertie McCormick through their Of Colonel McCormick only was it the biggest, it was the most puzzling., Complicating what is essentially a very complex picture was the ever increasing threat of Jap invasion. The Indians are remembering-as they have the right to remember- how Britain broke her promises after the last war, and demand immediate independence if only in form. The British are apparently afraid that such simulated independence would terribly weaken their military posi- tion. The Indians are divided among themselves as to just what they will be satisfied with. the Moslems. the Hindus, and the other groups appar- ently irreconcilable. The British are no longer divided, but the United Nations-as indicated above-were uncertain. Where the solution lay nobody knew - except youthful editorial writers. So the Indians decided that a civil disobedience campaign might gain their ends, and the grand old man of India, Mohandas K. Gan- dhi, turned out to lead them. The Britisn thought the solution was force, arrested the leaders including Gandhi and Nehru, and invoked the old whipping law for civil disobedi- ents. Nobody agreed with either of their tactics as hell broke loose in India, scarring its teeming cities with riots. Calcutta, Bombay, all the rest felt the slap of the British lion's clumsy paw and got sore about it. The police this week temporarily put them down, but the British knew as well as everyone else that matters were quietly getting worse instead of better, that maybe FDR would eventually have to step in with full arbitration powers. * * * Nazis In Slow Motion The once swiftly unfolding map of Russia slowed this week, but still advancing German armies lapped up the oil of the Caucasus as they went, and reached out for more like greedy dogs who, though they have already taken more than their share, have merely sharpened their hunger. Near Stalingrad, the Nazi hordes made few new conquests and hope continued to rise, hope that the Soviet reserves had at last put the two armies in equality, that at least a temporary stalemate had been achieved. * * * Convoys In istress England had a tough week, princi- pally because 'the Navy was having exceptionally tough going fighting off Nazi raiders in the North and South Atlantic and in the Mediter- ranean the British Navy had its hands full. The aircraft carrier Essex was sunk in the Mediterranean and huge na- val-sea battles waged all week, with the Axis making ridiculous estimates of the damage. Unfortunately, if one-tenth of their claims could be believed-and the British did not say they could not-the Nazis still had been pretty successful in their mass raids on convoys which supply Auchinleck. --Hale Champion newspapers. The Daily News scath- ingly satirized McCormick in the Col. McCosmic series of cartoons. The Tribune replied in kind with front, page color cartoons and bitter edi- torials. The hicago Sun, the Trib's competitor, fought from its first week and Marshall Field, its owner, had many times felt the lash ofMc- Cormick's ace editorialists. With the decision of the grand jury the long-standing hatred may be resolved into a court battle. If, and when, there is an indictment, the isolationist press will have a crucial battle on its hands. , Up They o Inflation has been a major war worry at home through the whole war. Congress has out-politicoed its usual self over the question of what to do about prices. Economically, the farm price situation was completely botched.. Now the results of the dilatory tac- ties are obvious. Last week Leon Hen- derson had to announce a price ad- justment which will drive food prices up about one-and-a-half per cent. The reasons were simple. Low-cost stores were going to drop many items on which there was not enough profit and the prices must go up. Meanwhile, about $30,000,000,000 of excess purchasing power-dollars that can be used for nothing but savings-are driving the prices up. The most widely circulated sugges- tions for remedies are sales taxes and forced savings. Sales taxes are defin- itely out of the question because of the administration and forced sav- ings are politically inexpedient. So up the prices go. The situation is hardly improved by the five cent per hour increase in General Motors Corporation plants suggested by a three-man panel of the War Labor Board. The panel split on its vote for this increase, but it is very likely that WLB itself will put it through. The union wanted 121/ cents per hour. More important to BLE OF TH 5QCI I the unions than the wage increase recommendation was the union maintenance clause proposal. That is their bulwark against the inroads of war. The Senate Finance Committee tenderly handled earners of large incomes and made a new tax bill re- gressive. The tax on upper and mid- dle incomes is not severe and that on lower incomes much more in pro- portion. Surprising from the conservative Chamber of Commerce of the United States was the proposal to double the amount of revenue from a tax bill now before the House. They want $12,000,000 instead of slightly more than $6,000,000. But the hidden catch is in what is called incentive savings. A neat sum can be put aside as a reward by the corporations who are producing efficiently and the high excess profits taxes will not cut in very sharply. But this does not keep the money away from the tightening markets. Sufferers from the rise in prices that is inevitable unless the excess is drained will be the laborer and the farmer whose income will not keep up with the rising prices. * * * Small Time Fifth Column Col. Bertie McCormick may be classed in a big-time fifth column when the grand jury investigating the Chicago Tribune submits its re- port. Last week one of the small tim- ers heard sentence passed on him. Bearded, dudish William Dudley Pelley, the fuehrer of the fascistic Silver Shirts and publisher of the Gallilean, was sentenced to 15 years in the Federal jails on charges of criminal sedition. The judge expressed a hope that Pelley would see the end of the war through the prison bars. With Pelley was sentenced Law- rence A. Brown, an assistant in tlfe publishing firm, to five years. Agnes Marian Henderson drew a suspended sentence of two years as she sobbed through her handkerchief a promise that she would stay away from the Pelley crew. Already convicted traitor Max Ste- phan followed up a sensational brag that he would never die in the chair with an appeal to the United States Circuit KCourt of Appeals. He claims that the indictment was unfounded on fact. The cleanup is not yet complete. Seven more persons will be brought before grand juries for investigation of treasonable activities the Depart- ment of Justice announced last week. All are said to have aided the con- victed Nazi saboteurs. And five more persons connected in one way or an- other with the saboteurs will be in- vestigated on as yet unspecified criminal charges. * * * Boom.Town Detroit The harsh glare of Life magazine's flash-lamps fell on Detroit last week in a huge spread of pictures about the booming town. The pictures told of factions in Detroit exerting an in- sidious, slowing influence on produc- tion. Too, it treated the hard-work- ing arsenals to compliments. It was tough stuff-too tough for Canada. The Canadian government took one look at it, groaned and told the border police that no more copies of Life were to come in; morale would suffer. It was already too late- 100,000 copies had already crossed the border. The attitude of the Detroit papers was summed up by W. K. Kelsey in the Detrit News: "No, the picture is out of focus. Detroit may be dyna- mite, but it is dynamite for export." A first rate scandal helped black- en Detroit's eye further. John Duval Dodge, son of one of the motor mag- nates, died in a police station after a drunken brawl. His skull was cracked open from a hard blow. The police are denying mightily that they beat him. There is a mys- tery woman, one Mignon Fontaine, who saw Dodge and resisted his ad- vances the night of hs death. He was away from his wife who was with a male friend. By now the name of Dodge is thor- oughly unpopular in Detroit. Another Dodge, Horace, landed an Army com- mission under curious circumstances. It hurts the feelings of booming De- troit. * * * Back From The Sticks From President Roosevelt's Duch- ess County, New York Congressional District came the news that one of his most open opponents on foreign policy was renominated on the Re- publican ticket. Representative Ham- ilton4Fish-a pre-war isolationist of the most extreme school-convinced the Republicans that he should run. His opposition was not only from the never-strong Democrats of the CERAM i :. ,WndiWA,", CRMI *.KAVFENG R F NEW - -AITAPE-- AMBOINAK;FAK,,+,,,." Hl____AU AB AUNTIMADANG R ABAUL F'DAre*sO QT FRRE Yom=ANDS 'MAUANTASI1 ISLANDS NA UF!I LFL-- -DA - l DARUe TUORFLR-D OOCCUPATION of Kai, Tanimbar 7 PORE YcAALAA MALAITA I. Aroe Islands completed bases for MORESBY GUADALCANAL 1. - AG I new lap invasion attempt SAN CRISTOBAL I. a G SOMERSET- AIR POWER at Port 1I. z Moresby is defensive um- PEbrella over Australia (IE CREEKCra 1,. IALLIED FORCES close Carpentaria jap seaways to the south. I CAIRiNS CORAL SEA DEFEAT WYDHAM .BIRDUM@ BROROLOOLA routed first Austra- - s viNNIS AIL lian invasion fleet. SUPPLY ROUTE eC1 a l FROMAU.RDS.E *R GEORGETOWN' TENNANT CREEKv~TOWNSVLLE B A U S T R !A L AM CKAY AGHEDEN 300 MAIN ALLIED JAPANESE RC"''- MPT" QL NIA 0 300 BASES HELD WNOf1IIIRI Mi -es MAIN JAPAN- ALLIED i TE R RO TON Miles SASSHELD ILOGREACH ONIEIl Wide World Features ESE BASES HL ONGEC fGLAD TE I I T HE UNITED NATIONS ASSAULT on the Solomon Islands and renewed Japanese advances in and around New Guinea seem to be linked directly with the desperate need of the Allies to retain control of Port Moresby and of the Japs, on the other hand, to win that New Guinea outpost. /The Japanese have only two logical objectives in the Australian theater: 1. To cut the American supply lifeline to South- west Australia. The Solomons would furnish protection for the northern flank, but even more important in the minds of some Washington military authorities is the possi- bility that the Allies would move right up the string of islands, outflank the Jap base at Rabaul and com- pel the foe to move out of New Guinea. With any luck, succeeding weeks might see the Allies moving against Truk, one of the keys of Japan's string of "unsinkable aircraft carriers." * * * * one of the four islands ringing Tulagi and Florida Islands with a natural breakwater. Great level areas on Guadalcanal, unusual for the mountainous and heavily) forested Solomons, make it suitable for air bases. * * * * OPPOSED to outside "civilization" are the 150,000 fuzzy-headed, black cannibal and head-hunter tribes of the 900-mile island chain. Britain and Ger- many owned the islands until World War I when I