The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-08-13

recognized as perhaps the mos
important of all equipment fol
winning the war, but lately the
possibilities of what might be &C
coInplished by air have beer
greatly expanded.
One reason for this was the
presence in the city of Henry ]
Kaiser, builder of the Boulder anc
Grand Coulee dams, who in re-
cent months has brought abou'
mass production of ships at
speed which most shipbuilder:
considered impossible. Mr.. Kais'
er has brought up the possibility
of Transporting men and equip
ment avross the seas by cargo
planes and said that, if given the
go-ahead signal, he could pro-
duce 70-ton cargo planes in ten
months and in IA months could
build a 200-ton plane capable OF
carrying a Cotton load.
There are many problems fac
ing such a project, but the diff
rulties of transporting war mate
rails through submarine-infested
seas have set many war expert
to dreaming of fleets of giant
planes carrying men and equip
ment to all fronts.
In addition to transportation,
concentration on aviation has also
been stimulated by the plans re-
vealed by both the aviation lead
ers of Great Britain and of this
country to destroy all leading
German production centers by
continuous day and night mass
bombings. More and more the
feeling here is that the much
talked of second front will at
first be an air front and the sue
cessful raids England already has
made on several German cities
are setting the pattern for an in
vasion by air capable of paralyz-
ing German war production.
How many planes and how ma
nv men we have in England to
participate in such an invasion IS
of course not revealed, but there
is no question that our forces there
are gathering strength daily.
The total number of men now
in our armed forces, which has
been mostly a matter of guess
work even by those close to the
war and navy departments, was
revealed by President Roosevelt
as being 100000. The President
gave out this figure in issuing
statement on the meat shortage,
giving the figure to show the
great number of men in our fore
es which must be fed.
This means that we already
have more men in the forces than
Secretary of War Stimson set as
our goal for 1942-which was g.
100000. After Mr.. Stimson set
that goal however, General Mar
shall, last May, said the goal
should be set at 4,50O,OOO-a goal
which it looks as though we
would reach.
AS a result of an order by the
President, bill is now being
drafted to give the War Man. Pow
er commission authority to assign
any qualified man and woman IN
the country to a task in the war
program. Under this plan, the
government would have the right
to control the occupation Of Co.
100000 men and women.
It is anticipated that several
million more employees will soon
be needed in munitions industries
and probably cannot be adequate
ly supplied by voluntary meth
DDS. Through occupational meth
DDS.
Through occupational question:
naires, the government is getting
complete information on the jobs
which could be performed by all
men between the ages Of 18 and
"a, and it is probably, if the new
measure is passed, that all women
will also be required to give such
information. 100
With congress on an unofficial
recess, no legislation of any I'M
portance will be considered until
September. Speaker Rayburn,
after a talk with the President,
said that the President had no
important legislation for the
house to consider this month and
he set an example for the rest of
the representatives by going home
for four or five weeks stay. Sen
ator Barley, majority leader in
the senate, announced that there
would be no important legisla-
ton taken up in the senate until
the revenue bill comes up some
time in September. So the ques-
tons of food prices, wage control
and initiation will be left hanging
fire for at least another month.