Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-10-16
LETTERS Hits
Buses Hard
On IS MPH
Turns Aside All Pressure
by Pointing TO Baruch
By PAUL MALL0N

lie ClteQ III last at nGoDeI
Controller William LETTERS for
sticking 10 recon- mendations
that rayon be used in tires in
stead of cotton.
Mr.. LETTERS f1amingly rejected
the barb and defied the cotton
bloc in a straightforward man.
ner which shook the wisdom
teeth of Washington.
No official has ever talked TO
Congress that way and gotten
away with it-but l think Mr..
letters will.
REPRESENTATIVES OF the
~ bus and truck men of the
nation -eaRfe-iff-te -See-hiHf
shortly after his Set-to with the
cotton senators. They did not
like this 35-mile speed limit he
had fixed for them.
1t would require them 10 use
many more buses. they said, to
handle the traffic, and they
wanted TO be allowed special
dispensation of 40 miles tthey
usually go so around this part
of the country anyway
Now Mr.. letters is an old bus
man himself, in way. AS head
of the Union Pacific. he operated
fleets Of buses as well as trains.
The operators visit TO him
had been preceded by a long dis
lance telephone call from the
head of the Union Pacific Bus
Line, a friend and associate in
his old business.
This is the usual way Of get
ting regulations changed in
Washington. and this time the
request had firmer ground be-
meath it than usual, because
Transp ortation Coordination
Eastman already had favored an
increased speed for buses and
trucks as a neutrality-suspicious.
measure.
Mr.. JEFFERS shocked his old
AV1 friend and his bus and
truck callers by saying. no. He
told them his working formula
was the Baruch report, which
said nothing about special speed
consideration for any one, even
for a good cause.
If their request was reasona-
BILE, as it seemed, they should go
TO the Baruch committee and
get a recommendation for il.
They all filed off in that direc-
ton, and no doubt will get what
they seek.
The song Mr.. LETTERS will sing
apparently is going to be that Of
the Baruch committee. promis-
ing tires and fair administration
of the muddled gas and rubber
problem, and no others.
There is going to be more
bread in that kind of singing
from now on. than there has
been in the old smooth formula
of bowling to pressure of blocs
or old business friends. That
kind of politics may prove to be
the best kind of politics here
after.
ITALY has practically passed
L out of the war news, but do
not underestimate its strategic
Importance. Mr.. Biddle. the at
torney general, did not, in his
Columbus Day speech, freeing
100000 Italians in this country
from the stigma and restraints
imposed on enemy aliens. The
Biddle move was no doubt di-
rected by Mr.. Roosevelt and
reflected careful diplomacy.
Latest line on conditions in
Italy is furnished by 1t. Col.
Michael Buckley. field artillery,
u. S. A., in a report on his ex-
periences as captive in that
country before exchange on the
Drottningholm published in the
current Artillery JournaD.
Buckley found the private
italian soldier around prison
camps with frayed uniforms, un-
shaven. inefficient and almost
uninterested, waiting for the end
Of the war. Officers were gen.
orally well clothed in uniform
and morale. but food everywhere
was inadequate.
One officer intimated to Buck
ley that Italy would not be able
10 last another winter (meaning
this one coming on.
GUESSING as 10 when and
" where our offensive will
strike Europe been
whetted by the experience OF
Dieppe, where a heavy Com
mando raid cost 80 per cent cas-
ualties. Some authorities are
suggesting a frontal assault on
the continent would cost a quar-
ter of a million men.
II / knew anything about what
is planned. / would not write it
or hint it. AS / do not. / feel
free. as an uniformed civilian
commentator. TO point TO a softly
guarded front and side door OF
Europe again.
II we could marshal the naval
and air particularly the air)
strength to blast our way on
past Gibraltar by sea. and up
from Africa by air, and take the
slippery Rommel from the rear,
he could be annihilated.