Evening star., 1942-06-26
By GEORGE WELLER.
War Correspondent of The Star and
Chicago Daily Neys

CHICAGO Daily News.
SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA.
June 26.-As Americans join in the
defense of Egypt and in preparations
for second front. the problem of
getting shipments of American men,
munitions and supplies promptly
and without fail to the world wide
fronts for which they are intended
assumes ever increasing Importance.
The surface elements are simple:
Axis submarines and planes are try
ing to sink Allied conveys and are
getting too successful at it. But
there is another, less dramatic but
tremendously vital, element in the
struggle now reaching an acute
stage. and that is the neglected
question of where and how fast
Allied ships can be docked and di-
vested of their cargoes.
This is the bottleneck whose char
ecter has not been fully explained
To the American and British publics,
it is felt here. Shipping conditions
in imperial ports outside of the Brit
ish Isles have been far from salts
factory The LuftWaffe may be un-
able longer to count on nabbing
American cargoes in trans-shipment
ports around the British Isles.
Blitzes did service in that they
forced the British to cut red tape
and learn to unload cargoes more
rapidly. But elsewhere, from the
west coast of Africa eastward, Amer
ican resident authorities under Rear
Admiral Emory S. Land of the Mari
time Commission have been faced
with cutting through accumulated
inertias of years to get things done
and have not always succeeded in
doing so.
Ports Not Geared to Demands.
The key of the matter, from the
west coast of Africa to the Suez and
from the Suez to Singapore, has been
the fact that British imperial ports
are simply not geared to the tre-
mendous capacities now required of
them When Allied freighters arrive,
loaded with the products of Ameri-
can and British factories brought at
great risk through infested waters
hy Seamen who have successfully
avoided submarines. they often find
that all the piers are occupied.
Cranes and machinery are lacking.
A freighter must lie in the road
stead or sometimes off shore. wait
inc for its turn. Sometimes, there is
labor trouble, too. But most fire.
uuently. the difficulty is simply that
the whole great water front machin-
cry of the British Empire had badly
needed overhaul for years and Is
simply untitled to handle expedi-
tiously mercantile cargoes. to say
nothing of heavy war burdens.
Not all vessels are lost at sea; some
die" in ports where they are de-
tanned too long by machinery geared
to 4 short rather than a long war.
or not geared TO war at all. The Suez
is the most commonly cited example
where delays in shipping have ex-
posed valuable liners and vital car
goes to surprise raids by Focke-Wul
bcmbers, sometimes with deplorable
results. Now. with Nazi air bases
creeping to the canal, the price of
mefficiency has jumped.
New Officers Held Needed.
AS your correspondent pointed out
In dispatches from the African coast.
the situation along Indian Ocean
ports governing Egypt's defense has
so long demanded Improvement that
the point is now passed where i'm
provement alone is sufficient. What
is needed if Africa is to be saved. is
a complete change of administra-
tion.
In Difference 10 considerations OF
security, the complete picture OF
DELAYS must be withheld. But an
instance or two may indicate what
must remain unwritten.
An American consul and his wife