The Wilmington morning star., 1944-05-07
y. S. May Be Preparing
Surprises For Neutrals
Faces Problems With Swe-
den, Switzerland, Por-
tugal And Others
WASHINGTON.May 6.

lux al 3AAAO OI1xVx0
WASHINGTON,May 6, -tR--
Uncle Sam may be cooking U
some diplomatic surprises for the
neutrals and Finland, to be sprung
after the invasion gets rolling and
designed to leave Nazi Europe
more isolated than ever.
Relations with Spain are smooth.
er but there are problems out
standing with Sweden, Switzerland.
Portugal. Fire and Turkey which
are likely to receive much closer
attention when invasion paves the
way for stronger talk.
Finland is neutral to the U. S.,
but not to Britain and Russia. I'm.
portant fact here is that Russia
has not resumed bombing of Fin
nish cities even though peace talks
have broken down again. Allied
ideas about the Films apparently
await the time when they can be
geared in with military operations
which will change the who'd dip.
lomatic picture.
Is reconversion slow? - Some
production officials privately fear
war production might decline as
much as S. per cent by the END
of this year If Germany should
fold up soon. This is in contrast
to the forecast of Charles E. Viii.
son that a German collapse woulc
free IS per cent Of this country's
arms-making capacity for civilian
goods. These officials are worried
that WPB may be slow in getting
reconversion machinery set up.
Hoard and get stuck:-War con
tractors had better use up or ge'
rid of any excess supplies of ma
terials they may be hording, ane
keep on hand only the amount
needed to fill their contracts
Uncle Sam won't play Santa Clau:
when the time comes to reimburse
them for unused materials left BY
cancelled war contracts.
Reconversion planners here In
tend to make reimbursement OF
materials actually needed to cover
unfinished contracts, no more.
Wanted: Phones - The govern
ment wants to recapture abou
100000 telephone instruments nov
used as bedroom and bathroom
extensions in prosperous home!
and as nttle-used extensions II
business offices. By collecting
these luxury" telephones and dis
tributing them to essential users
officials think they can meet {
growing shortage this year.
The draft-State Draft Directors
who will be here tomorrow fol
important discussions taking place
in a critical period for Selectivt
Service, will probably be told tina
the general drafting Of men 26 and
older will be resumed nationally
at given signal from headquart
ers instead of state by state, a!
previously supposed.
Some states will run out Of mer
under 26 sooner than other state!
and according to present instruc
ton each state director woule
order drafting of older men when
ever the situation warrants it
These instructions will be changed
Wonder Drug: will
move steadily, if in small amounts
to authorized cilivian hospital!
now that WPB is firmly channel
ing the limited supply. .WPB doe!
not want to be too optimistic abou
increasing ALLEGATIONS to civilians
but production in March was 81
billion units-nearly twice that il
February. This month civilian hos
pitfalls are assigned about 10 bill
lion units. Quotas are revise.
monthly based on area demand il
relation to available supply.
In Observation-Disclosures official
will watch with interest the de
velopment of synthetic quinine
which has been produced In a lab
oratory but remains a question
mark as to its actual use or mas
commercial production.
Il Principal postwar effect woult
be on the Dutch, who supplied thu
world before the war from thu
East Indies-where their natura
rubber position also may be at
fected by American synthetic
after the war. Officials here arr
thinking, too, Of what would hap
pen to the natural Quinine pro
gram we've been pushing in Latin
America to overcome WARTIME
shortages.