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Newspaper
Titonka Topic
Location
Titonka, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Apr 01, 1943
Page
2
Congress moves to defer farm labor issues as Allied forces near Rommel in Tunisia. Manpower shortages grow more acute amid campaign pressures.
Congress acted to ease a farm labor shortage by approving a bill to defer essential farm workers from military service. The Senate backed blanket deferments for those in production of essential funds and fibers, despite objections from Secretary Stimson. The House also advanced a separate measure to fund a land army with 261 million dollars to recruit and train 3.5 million people.
Evidence mounts that Allied forces ready a concerted drive to end the Tunisia campaign. Patton’s American offensive expands after Gafsa and El Guettar as the aim shifts toward Gabes, while Montgomery’s Eighth Army presses Rommel’s Mareth line, signaling a coordinated squeeze on the Axis commander.
The Office of Price Administration reduces the ration for "A" book holders in eastern states from 3 to 14 percent of weekly gallons and removes the pleasure driving ban. Motorists may use gasoline as they please. Industrial workers with bank holdings may receive supplemental gasoline as supplies allow. The basic ration is halved due to only 333,000 barrels daily available for civilian and industrial use in April.
The War Manpower Commission marks South Chicago and Northern Indiana as 43 hour week areas and flags 36 US regions as critical labor shortage zones. It estimates 2.8 million essential war jobs must be filled from less essential classes, including bartenders and florists, while urging employers to hire older workers, train women, use boys under 18, and employ the physically handicapped for light work. Robert Patterson calls for drafting men and women into war factory and farm work if needed.
Henry J. Kaiser, famed shipbuilding miracle man, unveils plans for large scale 500 foot aircraft carriers. Vancouver Washington hosts twelve shipways for medium carrier construction. Production aims for six units monthly by year end 1943, with Kaiser's carriers 487 feet waterline length and 614 foot flight decks, adaptable as carriers or transports. Standard carriers reach 761 feet.
ODT Director Joseph Eastman ordered a broad freeze to stop migration of vehicles by freezing nearly 200,000 buses and street cars in service. The rule targets any vehicle carrying nine or more passengers, covering school, intercity, city buses, rapid transit cars, suburban rail cars, and trackless trolleys. Officials also announced additional pre Pearl Harbor tires for lower mileage ration car owners.
Rubber director William M. Jefferson outlined a tire using steel instead of fabric for a roughly 15 percent material saving. Scientist Sidney M. Caldwell noted two steel plies suffice, allowing thinner tires with less friction. In Egypt, El Alamein battle began Oct 23 and ended Nov 5, yielding 75,000 Axis casualties and about 13,600 British losses.
Soviet offensives press toward Smolensk and Staraya Russa as German counter actions intensify from Kharkov to Kursk. Reports say Russian forces captured settlements south of Bely and fights continue west of the Dnieper. German communique claims encircled forces southeast of Kharkov annihilated except for remnants as reserves and tanks concentrate along narrow front lines toward Donets basin.
Three months of secret planning led to a meeting between Gen. Nemri Giraud and Gen. Charles De Gaulle to unify the French regimes. Giraud issued decrees nullifying Vichy laws including anti Jewish measures and Freemasonry bans, signaling growing Parisian unity. French Guiana shifted from Vichy toward General Giraud, breaking from Admiral Georges Robert’s Axis-aligned influence.
Office of War Information staff were told by Director Elmer Davis to refrain from partisan activity after critics accused the agency of propaganda for Roosevelt's fourth term. Davis acknowledged some propaganda in Victory but said OWI’s sole function is to aid victory and not jeopardize its utility through controversial actions.
A wide mix of wartime film, radio and press notes spans Hollywood topics from Walt Disney’s Victory Through Airpower to wartime morale projects. It notes Bill Stout’s postwar aviation aims, spy caper tales, peanuts promos, cigar rations, OWI film sets, NBC pioneers, WAVEs, and Mary Pickford’s adoption rumors, with coverage of Hays office policy, Crosby and Hope, Vogue, New Republic, Newsweek, Collier’s, and New York Sun picket scenes, plus Cagney’s Norwegian ties and Patrick’s green gifts amid clothing runs.
Premier Hideki Tojo warns the war situation is growing more serious as Secretary Knox notes Japan has lost about 1,857,000 tons of shipping. American planes strike ships and enemy bases from New Guinea to Rabaul, with further strikes on Kai islands as MacArthur’s air forces press the campaign.
A Capitol Hill luncheon of 19 second term Democratic freshmen in Speaker Rayburn's private dining room shifted from goodwill to grousing about White House relations with Congress. Edward Hebert of Louisiana blasted the White House for not consulting on new laws, urging more constituent focus rather than advisement. Hebert urged loyalty to Rayburn but hinted at political dissent, prompting a fatherly reply from Rayburn to temper personal bias in Congress.
An American submarine patrol near Japan recounts bold daylight surface engagements and torpedo strikes against a coastal patrol, a tanker, an interisland freighter, and an escort destroyer, followed by dramatic sinking and a stealthy night recharge as dawn reveals Asian forests and a thrilling close to a submariner’s dream.
The War Department announces a new army signal device by the chemical warfare service. Colored smoke grenades emit dense smoke for two to three minutes, visible over distances, and can be deployed on the ground or from planes. They aid in signaling for food, medicine, and ammunition, and can mark targets or guide bombers by color and timing fuses.
Production of fats and oils from domestic materials in the 1942 crop is estimated at 11.7 billion pounds versus 0.6 a year earlier. 1943 goals seek more flaxseed and peanuts acreage with soybeans nearly as large as 1942. Cotton acreage is reduced to free resources for peanuts and feed grains. With normal yields vegetable oils may reach 4.3 billion pounds in 1943, up from 4.2 this year. Weather in 1942 was unusually favorable and the rise in lard tallow and grease continues, though butter may decline slightly.
The southern slopes of Santa Isabel Island provide a grandstand for locals to watch recent action between American and Japanese ships. Santa Isabel, among the Solomons, runs about 110 miles with forests and mountains, Mount Mareseat rising 3,500 feet, and lies in a sparsely populated central northern chain of the Solomons.
U S Steel's 1942 annual report notes ingot production above 20 million tons and a war effort driven expansion. The review highlights record materials output for war production, extensive government contracts, and new facilities. It details costs, taxes, dividends, and foresight funding while noting the aviation landing mat invention and shipyard achievements by subsidiaries.
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