Evening star., 1943-01-17

MlLO TEhh INO.
country, by way of Brazil and Africa,
pair of adopts in the production and
! handling OF the substance in question.
! They not only speeded up output, but
were able to eliminate all but the part
which would yield virtually 100 per cent
OF value-the pure block without dross.
Soon they brought back 100000 pounds
of the mineral.
Then it was learned that Quantities
were available at half abandoned mine
deep In the South American interior.
! Three experts were dispatched to the
scene. Within few days they cabled
a recommendation that the entire op-
Grafton should be taken over so as to in
sure quickest possible development. In
| 20 minutes BEW officials arranged a loan
| of 81 900 with which to buy the prop
erty.
During last year BEW scouts discov-
cred that q European neutral was pur-
chasing American furs in a volume much
beyond It's normal requirements. The
| agency clamped down on the traffic bv
refusing export licenses. In consequence,
1t is believed that numbers of German
soldiers are a lot chillier in Russia this
winter than they would otherwise have
been.
Astounding Range of Jobs.
just before Pearl Harbor, another
European neutral brought into this
country several thousand tons of vege-
table oil, which came under suspicion as
a prospective component of Nazi NUM-
tions. BEW impounded the oil and
turned deaf ear on heart-rending diplo-
matte outcries that followed Under one
brilliant deal, American shell factories
got deficiency metal in trade for bullet
proof Packard cars In which a foreign
usurper and his minions could parade
with pomp and safety.
BEW projects have an astounding
range. Bugs have been flown from the
FIJI Islands to combat pests attacking
hemp crops in Central America and
the Caribbean. The national economies
OF Brazil and Peru were "bailed out"
through contracts to purchase the for
mer's exportable surplus cotton and the
latter's normal quota of coffee sent to
the United States. Quinine and rubber
seeds have been transported around the
world by air and planted in the Western
Hemisphere.
Except under individual license, 1t
was found necessary to prohibit the
expectation of Photographic films which
purportedly had been unexposed. Enemy
agents were in the habit of partially
exposing occasional squares of film, put
ting the sheets back in the package
and shipping them to neutral countries.
Under pre-arranged code, the exposed
pits could be made to tell a running
story or give connected strategic pic
ture.
BEW's career has been one of rapidly
expanding authority. 1t began as the
Economic Defense Board, which was set
up by executive order on July 30 1941,
for the purpose of developing and CO.
ordinating policies, plans and programs
designed to protect and strengthen the
international economic relations of the
United States in the interest of national
defense" On the following September
IS, President Roosevelt transferred to
| the board the duties vested heretofore
in the administrator of export control
Sought to Placate Japs.
This agency had been established, at
the request of the armed services, for
the purpose of conserving strategic and
critical materials of domestic origin. 1t
was stated by military officers But the
| licensing of such exports was a function
| of the State Department, with the result
| that the Office of Export Control became
the instrument through which it was
| sought to placate Japan by means of
shipments of petroleum, scrap iron, tin
plate and other commodities.
It's jurisdiction was confined to mate
rails, chiefly strategic and material,
which were so designated by the Presi-
dent. Two days after Pearl Harbor this
jurisdiction was extended to all CONNER
cial exports by an order of the execu-
| tive director of the Economic Defense
Board, which was based on a White
House proclamation of August 90 On
December II, Mr.. Roosevelt changed the
name to Board of Economic Warfare.
The chairman of the agency, under
both names, was Vice President Wallace,
and its board from the start has consisted
of seven cabinet MEMBERSHIP Secre-
taries of State, War, Navy, Commerce,
Treasury and Agriculture, and the At
torney General; and also the chairman
of the War Production Board, the lend
lease administrator and the co-ordinator
! of inter-American affairs.
Up to April 13, 1912, according to Mr.
Wallace's testimony before the Senate
! Banking and Currency Committee, the
boards powers proved to be 80 purely
advisory that in fact we had no effect"
| On that date an executive order con-
ferred sweeping new authority on the
| agency In addition to clearing and
! licensing all private exports, the board
was now charged with responsibility for
| the procurement and production Of all
| imported materials necessary both to
the war effort and the civilian economy,