The 1ederal Government has ordered a part of the national supply of soft coal to be set aside for the railroads. This, because of a shortage ot fuel. Which draws a prompt blast from John L. Lewis who states that coal is not scarce. Lewis claims that big business pretends there is a n shortage -- a• a ■oTe ag ~ inst the union policy of keeping coal miners on a three-day week. QLIJILAUP It looks as if C ~ ristmas in Cleveland might witness the end of the transit strike that has turned Cleveland traffic into a nightmare. Today the city ordered the strikers back tQ work, with Mayor Burke declaring that, if necess a ry, he will ask the National Guard to move streetcars and buses. In the face of this attitude by the indignant city, the president of the uaton announced that he may call a meeting of strikers tonight with a Tiew to ending the tie-up. Wbioh leads to be belief that a settlement aay be at hand. JQYIET The Moscow radio an n ounces that twelve Japanese, former Army officers, are being put on trial for what the Red radio describes as -- •preparing and a»t applying a bacterial weapo .• The story, g!.ven ••* briefly, is that during their occupation of Manchuria, the Japanese set up a laboratory to make military use of deadly germs. They laid plan• for bacterial warfare - and actually put these into effect, in some degree. The Moscow phraseology 1B -- •partly dld apply criminal means of mass extermination.• It ls to be noted that thl• indictment of prisoners ot war comes as the question is raiae4 more hotly -- what has happened to several hundred thousand Japanese prlsonere taken by the Sovleta1 This le asked 1ne1stently by General MacArthur - and the problem of the prisoners ls becoming a large international 1aaue. HUHGtJX The Red Government of Hungary made public today the accusation against Israel Jacobsen, American director of a Jewish welfare agency. Jacobsen bas conducted Jewish relief in Hungary for sometime, and returned to that country after a brief vacation home. That was eight days ago•- and he vanished, missing I ever since. Today the Red Government states that he was arrested as he entered Hungary, and is being held on a charge of espionage. •he belief ls that he may ~ be auapeoted of some connection., the escape of Jew• A from Communist Hungary -- immigrants to Israel. The Red regime forbids Jewish i ■mlgration -- but a number of Zionists have been able to flee from that sector of the Iron Curtain. So now the case of Israel Jacobsen, charged with espionage, 1s added to that of Robert Vogeler, American telephone official, who 1s being held in & prison - 1ncommun1cado. Three days ago the Un1ted States put in an angry protest against the arrest of Vogeler, and took iDIR♦BJ •••. 2 steps to keep Americans out of Hungary. Today the State Department explained that the protest applie• to the case of Jacobsen as well. SHIPS The U. s. Government 1s in still another tangle - tb1s time with the Isbrandtsen 8tea.mship Company. That maritime concern has been in the headlines because of trouble its vessels have had in sailing to the Red port of Shanghai -- running a blockade declared by the Chinese Bationalists. The Isbrandtsen people demand that the u. a. Bavy give them protection, and convoy their steamships into the Communist port. Bat ~twas disclosed in - Washington today that the government has threatened to revoke the licenses of the ship captains, it they continue trying to put into Shanghai. The company argues that the United siatea ha1 denounced the Bational1st blockade as illegal -- which ia true. But the State Departaent points out thai last week Secretary Acheson proclaimed Shangbal to be -- a zone of danger. And -- advised American ablpa not to go near the ~ed h&~bor. Moreover, United States ■ar1t1me laws require that ship captains use reasonable skill and prudence SHlfS •.. a in protecting their vesse1s.1he Jlying Cloud and the Sir John Francis, were shot up by Nationalist gun-boats , That sort of thing endangers the passengers -- and, under maritime regulations, the captains are liable to have their licenses revoked. ' So that ~s what the government has threatened -- but the Isbrandtsen Company 1s defiant, insisting on the right of its vessels to trade at the ports of Communist China~ lBAIQI In Paris the National Assembly has just given a vote of x ■ oonfidenoe to the Go v ernor of Premier Bidault. The se1s1on went on all night, debating the budget propos e d by the cabinet, the largest budg t i n the history ofFrance. !be budget fight has been bitter all along and the vote tonight was narrow -- three hundred and three to two hundred and ninety-seven. But it 1s a vote of confidence for the Premier. Ordinarily, Pope Plus Twelfth would have delivered his Christmas message on the eve of the feast -- tomorrow. But this is also the beginning of holy year, and Christmas eve 1s the traditional time for the ceremonies inaugurating the lub1lee. Tomorrow the pontiff will preside over the opening of the •mystic door• of St. Peter's -- which 1s closed sa ,110 L l&t except during holy year. So the Papal Christmas message was delivered today, a stately address to the Catholics of the world, 1n which Pope Pius summoned Christiana to a battle against militant atheiam. Popa Pius never once mentioned Soviet Buaa1a, but 1t waa only too clear tbat 1;, he was referr1ng~h• world-wide struggle between Christianity and the Stal1n-wor1hlppln1 cult behln4 the Iron Curtain. In one paseage the pontiff dwelled on the way words are perverted nowad&J ■ I and we have only to think of the way, Coamunisa abuse ■ the word - I· •Democracy•. The Papal Christmas meaaage usea an apt RQMl •• • 2 class1oal quotation, a passage from the Roman historian Sallust, who wrote: •we have lost the true meaning of words -- for the giving away of another man's goods is called liberality. and audacity in doing evil passes for courage.• Which may be a thing most anc1en.t -- but 1t's equally moder.Jl. TIIRRA PiL [UEGQ Today brings word of cataclyms of nature in an area so wild and remote that months might pass before w~~'.:2~ The news comes via Punta A r e n a s , A ~ in the straits of Magellan. Which gives the tip Tierra Del Fuego, at & weird, frightening ' that the land in convulsion is WU-~ ~f"f>e ... ~)~4, the tip of South America. ~ihere'a J-- cr1sia.A1l a camp of refugeea.74._ ~::·aged by wild cats. ~ Human beings in a battle e-~ against packs of savage -•1119411 raging with hunger and J- ,A. terrorized by a series of earthquakes and volcanic disturbances. Tierra Del luego w&s first seen by Ma1ell&n, when hls ships passed through the straits that bear his name -- on their way for the first ~1rcumnav11ation ~ 4 1 4 ~ of the world. And today there isiliM~ more down there than 1n th . days of Magellan - es••Pt tor - ca • ..J a . ~ ~ ,;;/. ~ ~ scattered colonies raising sheepk. ~ t h e section of Admiralty Bay, an a.rm of the sea ,...... that reaches far inland -- and there for day ■ e~rthqu&kee have been disrupting the land. The earth was opened with great fissures gaping w14e, and hot ~ water epurtl out with clouds of aulphury fume,. Sheep growers haTe had to take retu1• 1n & oup1 and there the wild-cat 1e1ge 11 on. Pack■ of 1aTage felines that prey on arctic blrde haTe been -IA driven out of thelr haunts bJ~earthquatee and the Yolo&alc erup,lona of hot water and •ulpb.f!,:./tbe7~ e::f:::1~attac(t'te retu1•••• Toda7'• dl■patcb tell■ ' of tor\J people 1n a oaap•, •s= l ►■ r :a.aua . . cleten.,, - the ■aelve ■ with every weapon theJ can l&J hand■ on,~1• a battle a1a1nat w 1 1 d o a t 1 ~ ~ +~~ Ti.er• I e • . . ,.,1 •• MMSrkUJ'l■e"~,,-ft keDJ1ark,....._ a champion escape ar\11\ baa broken out ,..._ of ,all for the oleventb time. Bia name la Lorentzen, but he 1a1a -- •ca11-me-Houd1n1•. Once he broke out of a po11cecar bJ making his way tbrouch an emergency exit at the bottom. All of which annoyed the Danish polloe no end, and they locked •ca11- ■e-Boud1n1• ln an eaoape-proof aecurl\J cell which was the pride of the Dani1h a,ate Prison. lmpoaalble to get out of that cell -- utll du& a tunnel a1xty feet long, ualng notbln1 ■ore lhaa a chunk ot wood he pried fro■ a oupbo&ad. After burrowing under1roun4 tor 11xty feel, he ■&de a clean IAIHIB !her• was a spectacular gun battle 1n Seattle today - when a holdup man shot lt out w11h two detectives. Bullets flying amid Chr1elmae crowds. The police had a tip lhat a loan coapany wa1 to be robbed - and, when the gunman held up a wo■an cashier, two detectives walked in.But the bandit ewung around, ■ hoo,1ng - and da1hed out. One detectiTe was wounded, but he 1ave oh&ee -- wllti bia partner. As police guna blased, the robber fled acro11 the alreet and into the 1wank Oly■plc Hotel.Be raced lbrough the lobby, the dining room, the kitchen and out a back door - where be 1011 h1 ■1elf in crowd• of Chr11t11&■ abopper1, and 101 away. The wonder 11 that none of the lnnoceal q b7-1landers were bit by bullets. @Ill The news lodaJ deTelops a plc\ure of narrow escapes by the wholesale . .. l:xplos1ona and ra.g1na tire aboard a Norwegian atea.mship jus\ as it was abou, to aa.11 from Boston -- and the sweep of the flaaea waa 10 fa.at and sudden \hat scores were trapped in \he c&b1na, forty-two aeaber ■ of the crew, including two a .. a\ewardessee. Kos\ were aaleep in cabins · -- all preparations for departure h&T1ng been aade. the •orweg1an oaptaln had Just about the narrowe ■ t e1cape of all. r1aae1 bur,, into hla cabla, a• \he fire went r a cing down a corridor wl\b ezplo1lTe violence. The skipper waa jue\ able to gel.throuah I! & por\hoIJ, and take a plunge for thlrtJ fee, tnto the water. The aa■e thins for \he chief steward, ~~ llknl1e trapped la a cabin.• 1 • • • Bu, ~hrou1h a porthole. the burnin1 frei1hter had to be towed out into the river before the firemen could control the blase -- after a flve•hour battle. lzcept for 1004 luck, the a\ory could be a mar1\1me horror al ••J• ... a . ~~~--k Chr1atm&a time. Bu~Mi~Juat a pa1eant of wholesale narrow escapes. Just to be different, lei'• oloae w11h the year's ■oat -- •un-merry Christmas•. Which 11 be1n1 celebrated bJ two Bew Tork doctors, two brothers, Dr• Herman Zurrow and Dr. Milton Zurrow. to the■, the name of Banta Clau•• 1a - a pala 1n the•r. !he aost •un-aerry Chr1•t••• goes baot to the fact that a y ar ago a lew Tork deparl ■en, store had the bright idea of 1n1lalllng a Santa C1au16 telephone au■ber for little klddlea to call. lbe7 1ot fro■ four ,o five ,houaand call• a 4ay laa, year, aa4 fl1ured 11 wa1 too ■ucb of a good thln1. So lheJ dropped the ldea for th1• 1.ear - a.ad, dur1a1 the lnterTen1n1 ■onlha, lhe ,elephone oo■pany aa111■ •4 tbe number lo 1omebo4J el••• !he ufor,una,e party ••• the medical offlce of Doctor• Beru.nt and Kilton Zurrow -- they lnherlted the Santa Clau• number. The telephone co■panJ ae•er euepecled the tiddlea would have auch a goo4 ■eaorJ, but ,houeuda of be■ recal ~ •d the ptione nuber that lanta C1au1 had last year. So you can l ■aglne wh a t happened lo DD ••• 2 lhe two doctors -- aa Chrislmaa time approached. Today Dr. Herman Zurrow said: 'Little voices at all houra of the day and night. Little voices asking for Santa Claus, Santa Claus. I thought we'd go crazy.• The two doctors put in a ooaplalnt -- and the telephone co■panJ assigned thea a temporary nuber until after the holid&JI. 8ut & lot ot people, patient• and would-be patient• have that unlucky n•■ber -- and ao■elhing had to be done to dletlnguf•h between the■ a.ad the little ones calling Santa Clau■• So the telephone oo■panf c &1a11ne4 an operator lo screen the calla aA4 lei oaly the calls tor the docto~• gel through. au, that ■eant a1klng • queatlon1, ,he operalor inqulrlng: 'Do JOU want Dr. Zurrow - or 40 you want Santa ~lauet• Which a1tonl1he1 a lot of patient• and would-be pallente. Tod&J Dr. Kilton Zurow 1a1d: •Patient• call and wonder at belng aaked whether they are ~ allln ae or Santa Clau■• They deaand explanationa, natur&ll Other people are curious about the Santa Claus tf business, and call \he doctors, aak1ng the• abou, 11. Both of the doctors exclalaed ln a due\: •woe the 4&7 we got that unluclc7 number.• ~ So now, I wteh 10• &11 ,he k1n4 of Chrl1tma• ,h&t Dr. Beraan Zurrow and Dr. Milton Zurrow a.re not