The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-26
. NATIONAL
 SPOTLIGHT
Gleanings From The
 Capital Newsbeats

Capital Newsbeats (Peter EdsOn is on vacation, during which time his column is being written by Robert Ruarl.l
 By ROBERT RUARK
 Waterbury Democrat Washington
 Correspondent
 The American merchant seaman, who has been causing considerable anxiety in foreign ports, is going to be looked after in the future by the United Seaman's Service, Inc, a War Shipping Administration off- shoot.
 The service will send representa- tives to all the major allied ports to provide clubrooms, hotel accom- modations and canteen and recrea- tional facilities for the allied mer- chant sailor who's out on the town while his ship is being unloaded. When the war IS over, Americans are going to give up the time hal lowed habit of licking stamps, press | ing them on envelopes and then making that special pilgrimage to the poStoffice. Coin- n-operated mail boxes which automatically stamp, post-mark and mail letters, have been placed in use in Chicago and Cleveland. Tbe first few machines, called 'Mailomats," were built be- fore Pearl Harbor, and the con- structing company since has con- verted to war work.
 Mailomat is quite a neat gadget You drop coin in the correct slot, twirl knob to achieve your de- sired postage value, and turn the rest of the effort over to the ma chine.
 The machinery stamps, postmarks and deposits the letter for collec- ton, and the selection is limitless As much as dollar in any kind ot change can be deposited at once and airmail, foreign and special de- livery facilities are available.
 The machine can't run out o1 postage, because it aff1xes 8 printed colored meter to the letter, insteae of a regular stamp. You can't gyI the gadget, because it bounces back slugS or badly worn coins. It elim- mates all the old need of facing canceling, and post-marking. Now Tiff they can just add some device to automatically write the thing fol you.
 SUPPLY SHAKEUP
 Army recently has taken long stick and stirred up the procure ment division of the Office of tht Quartermaster General, which buy; clothes and general supplies for the Army and its allied branches. Vari- ous functions of the division have tccn cut into four parts-manage- ment control which will handle or ganization planning and training; operations, in charge of purchases productions and priorities; service which takes over contract procedure office management and price adjust ment, and subsistence, which will go to the market for all Army food.
 With submarines pretty vel scourged out of coastal waters. a11c conveys supplying police-work fol transatlantic shipping, Americas shipbuilding program finally IS ap- preaching more comfortable fig. ures. Liberty ships are being turned out faster now than ever before in the history of boat building. Building time, from keel. laying to delivery, has been sliced from an estimated 105 days pel ship to a fraction under 83 days.
 Fifty-six vessels were whipped up during August, having beer built during an average 82.89 days apiece. This is considerably bet ter than the July record of 5: ships requiring an average 108.4 days for each. One shipyard, tht Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation turned out nine freighters with ar average of only 50.2 days devoted to each.
 SIGHTLESS WORKERS
 The British can take it. Ont factory in England turning out deli cate war weapons is specializing IT endowment of -servicemen who'vt lost their sight. The men asSem. ble ind-fying panels, and handle such delicate machinery as air in takes and generators. One employe who lost one eye when he was blowr overheard from an aircraft carrier and the other six hours later wher a German plane machined-gunnet him as he floated in the water. i: apt to put little extra-Special zea into his work.
 Miguel Martorell, president oi the Farmers Association of Puerto Rico, has come to town for tht express purpose of putting tho blast on the. islands governor Rex Tugwell. Senor Martorell ac. cusec Tugwell of playing polite: with human suffering.
 Puerto Rico's Farmers Associa' tion is demanding Tugwell's re- call. Among other things, Mar torell accuses Tugwell of making room for empty rum bottles 1T southbound ships, and for cases oi rum in northbound boats, this at g time when the island is hard pressed for imported food and 1; shipping only a small portion oi it's sugar to the United States.
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