The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-10-29

Tokyo Gsnesiers
Guessed Wrong
Tunney Prescription
Hard On OIdsfers
More Authority for
Army and Navy
Not Frozen. Mister:
Only Stiff
By RAY TUCKER

hAShIN1lON- ncuuch WIN
kie had several hairbreadth es-
capes from death on his round the
world trip as President Roosevelt's
not so diplomatic emissary. The
most perilous incident did not oe-
cur while he was flying over
China, as reported, but when he
was crossing Egypt. Here Is the
story:
His airplane crew oversight by
an hour one morning and Mr..
Wendell was behind his set time
on the leg of the flight that took
him to Alexandria or whereabouts.
Only so minutes before he was
scheduled to make that section OF
his voyage two German Messer-
schmitts were shot down by Brit
ish aviators.
The superstition is that they
were lying In ambush for the
willkie plane and might have
destroyed II had his fliers not
been q bit lazy that particular
day.
The press carried dispatches
that the Japs tried to get him In
China and forced his machine to
fly several hundred miles out Of
its way. The fact is that on this
particular stretch he Travelled in a
blue Belgian parlor car-one Of a
half-dozen in the possession Of
Chungking.
Tokyo's gangsters figured-and
correctly-that the American rep
resentative would be afforded the
comforts and luxury of this sort
Of Pullman. And only half-hour
before Mr.. Willkie rode down the
track they bombed that type Of
train, killing six occupants. They
thought that they had disposed of
the COP 1910 nominee and so flew
back home. When he came along
the line was clear.
Certain topnotch navyites nurse
a secret grudge against Lieut..
Com. Gene Tunney's ultrastrenu-
Gus system of training. They in
sist that the ex heavyweight
champion is running his pupils
ragged and uniting them for
active duty.
Their department requires the
services of more specialists, tech
nicians and engineering experts
than any other branch of the
armed forces. But most men of
these types are 40 or As years of
age the kind whom President
Roosevelt discovered on his secret
trip to be too old for heavy field
work. They don't need a daily
hour of calisthenics to fit them
for laboratories, drafting boards
and factories. But Gene insists on
giving them the sort of workouts
he would prescribe for young col
lege graduates.
Scores of these oldsters have
been bunged up as a result of the
commands of the amateur Shakes
pearean scholar. Although Gene
has secured some excellent head
line publicity for the Knox boys,
more practical officers believe the
physical conditioning school should
be turned over to an expert ham
dler of men instead of being run
by the athletic and literary purist.
A presidential directive shaking
up the policies and personalities Of
the war production board now lies
on FDR's desk and may be forth
coming within the week. Funda-
mentally, it gives complete con-
troll Of production and ALLEGATION
Of materials to the army and navy,
particularly the services of supply.
rather than to Donald NJ. Nelson's
civilian agency.
Mr.. Nelson had already antici-
pated this revolutionary shift. He
recently announced that Washing
ton would assume central control
of all industrial activities for war
purposes. But he did not reveal
what many Washington insiders
believe - namely. that Mr.. Nelson
and some of his chief aides proba-
bly, are on the way out
John L. Lewis recently enter
tanned a Washington dinner party
with an anecdote about one of his
union members employed in a rock
mine dead, zinc, etc.1 in a desert
Of Arizona. Although it struck
the guests as merely an amusing
yarn, it illustrates one reason why
the United Mine Workers, the
American Federation Of Labor and
the Congress of Industrial Organi-
cations bitterly oppose legislation
freezing men to their jobs.
The shaft laborer, according to
John l.. had grown slightly sick Of
his hard task Of digging down.
ward. So. slightly inebriated one
Monday morning, he accosted the
foreman md demanded his back
pay.
That hole Is deep enough" be
hiccoughed, "snd I'm through. I
want to move on Give me my
money"
you can't quit" replied the
boss. The government says that
you have got to work here or no
where else. Don't you know that
you are frozen ,"