The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-12-18
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HIDDEN TREASURE


HIDDEN TREASURE
With American industries crying
for war materials, the government
has finally got around to Selling
giant horde of semi-manufactured
war materials originally intended
for the conquered countries.
Tons upon tons of steel bars, steel
rods, steel sheets, ship plates, tin
plate, copper wire were ordered by
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Holland
and Belgium, some of it three years
ago. It has been in warehouses and
idle freight cars ever since, despite
the scarcity of raw materials and
despite the fact that some indus
tries are even closing for lack of
them.
Why this horde of priceless ma
terial remained untouched for so
long is mystery. But the secret
is first, government red tape and
bureaucracy; second, the fact that
owners of these materials, who
were holding them for higher
prices, did not want to sell.
The old Export Control board un-
der Gen. Russell Maxwell, who is
now devoting his abilities to the
Near East, did nothing about this
treasure horde. But now Henry
Wallace's Economic Defense board
is finally moving In.
A small haul was made earlier
this year in Hoboken, N. j., of alu-
minum and other materials, but the
coming seizures are on far great
er scale. Of one commodity alone,
tin plate, there will be 100000 cases,
or $4,000 tons, taken from three
areas, New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore.
The total haul of all commodities
will be between 20 and Is thousand
carloads, which, at an average of
so tons to the car, means over a
million tons.
The Economic Defense board will
use only 100000 to finance the
requisitioning of all this material,
the value of which runs into many
millions Most of it will be seized
and sold again on the same day, so
the $200,00 will be merely a re-
volving fund.
INTERNED ITALIANS
One of the Italian ship officers in
detention at Fort Missoula, Mont,
wrote his wife in Italy a letter
which U. S. officials are sure will
never reach her.
The letter will get to Italy, all
right. Mail is still being exchanged
regularly between the two coun-
tries. But authorities are certain
that the officers letter will not get
by u Duce's censors, for, in hungry,
battered, war-weary Italy this
poignant message would not be
good propaganda"
This is the reason:
"We left Philadelphia for the city
of Missoula," wrote the husband.
''The journey lasted three days and
three nights on train and was a
real pleasure. We did not lack a
thing because we travelled In a Pull
man. At meal times we turned it
into dining room and at night
into dormitory. The meals were
magnificent.
81 can tell you that for me the
journey was one I had dreamed of
for years and then, in an extraor-
binary way, it came true. As I
said before, this place is beautiful,
all green with woods and surround
ed by hills. The air is fine and
healthy, my appetite very good and
the food abundant and exquisite.
1--WE do not lack milk, butter,
meat, bread, vegetables, fruit,
sugar or coffee. When ! am eating
I always think of you, who are per-
haps without food. No one can
complain about the guards. They
treat us with every respect and
consideration.
Note: To Americans the ELUSIVE
description of the food as "abun-
dant and exquisite" is interesting,
! because the alien prisoners at Fort
Missoula are fed straight army
fare. In quality and quantity
their rations are exactly the same
as those of U. S. soldiers.
SCRAP IRON TO JAPAN
For years, the heaviest foreign
buyer of U. S. scrap iron was Japan.
Despite much public protesting, the
state department permitted Nippon,
csc militarists to import huge guam
titles of this vital strategic materi-