f/j ' 9 V * \T- '^ *> AA. . RUSSIA The desperation of the Soviet position at Stalingrad is reflected by both German and Russian accounts. The Nazis claim to have firiven to the River Volga, south of the city. — and they had previously announced their arrival at the Volga north of Stalingrad. The city lies with its back to that great stream, so the picture is one of a semi-circle drawn around the mighty industrial center — called the Pittsburgh of Russia. On the So\ iet side, 'the intimationthe desperation #een la a statement printed in the Soviet army paper newspaper, nRed Star." this assert* that at Stalingrad the Russians have blown up Volga every bridge across the and destroyed every boat — so they ^0 A A cannot retreat, making it a fight to the death. It is recalled A that Stalin himself did the same thing during the Civil War between the Reds and the whites, when he commanded the defense of the citynow named after him and destroyed the brid.and the boats. Of course, that sort of strategy has been known in the past. Cortez in the conquest of Mexico, burned his ships. So that his soldiers could not be tempted to sail away and could RUSSIA - 2 only go forward. Something of that sort a I think is attributed to Caesar. And, of course, thereis the old phrase -- about burning your bridges behind you, so that you can’t draw back. This sort of thing at Stalingrad rxh certainly sounds lATut^. in keeping^uhtl the desperate defense that the Russians have made their own in this war. Yet, without bridges or boats at Stalingrad — how can they get supplies and munitions into the beleaguered city? The latest Moscow report, describing the size of the Nazi forces attacking Stalingrad, uses the adjective "tremendous." Five hundred thousand Germans are said to be storming incessantly hammering away day and night — and the Med Army troops are compelled to draw back, slowly,* doggedly. The fight for the cit is likened to the defense of Sevastopol earlier in the year, when the Nazi enemy had to throw in such powerful forces and take so much time to capture the fortress. However, it is pointed out that Stal ngrad has not fife. such natural defenses as Sevastopol,ha«. The latter place is surrounded by mountainous country, rough and difficult terrain. RifcSIA - ? While around Stalingrad there are nothing but the flat steppes the level plain along the Volga, {in a-huwdrcd-»hou9ai!>d~> incendiary ~4o*bs RAF lodajMs word from London indicates that last night1 s R,A.F. bombing blow against Nazi Germany was one of tne greatest » 02 sr. Britisn commentators say the sky fleet was not far from the thousand plane size. It hit Duesseldorf, the great German industrial center, €^*4—~ine fiftieth time that Duesseldorf has been blasted. \ The air ministry reports tnirty-one bombers - missing. The size of the loss would indicate the magnitude of the attack. Last night we had tne word ’’air-mada" suggested And, while I was passing this along, the term would seem to have been amply justified - thousand hh plane attack bein§ A CK. ~jdL Wendell Willkie arrived at Jerusalem today, and there he will confer with British, Arab and Jewish leaders. Last night at Beirut, he talked things over with General De Gaulle, Chief of the fighting French, tie also conferred with the Premier of Syria andthe president of^Lebanon. ~tb -t^-e The Willkie tour fc* getting an impressive reception in the A Near East. Local Arab pgjnot papers carried the news about him at the top of their front pages today, the number one position usually accorded to the war, Russian battles and R.A.F. raids. One Arab editorial hails Willkie in these words: An apostle of Democracy in whom the Arab world can put its fait* fait&." MADAGASCAR In Madagascar, the British, It is clear, are moving on a large scale to seize tne entire great island. \A communique from the British com .andin^ General reports -/’widespread landings on the west coast”. Imperial forces there have captured Majunga, the second largest city of Madagascar And the British are pashirig down the east coast. advancing southward from the Diego^uarez Naval Base, which they seized some time ago./ The Vichy French forces are putting up some resistance, but not a great deal. And the full occupation of Madagascar would seem to be just a matter of time - and not such a long time. The capture of a small but strategic island off the Madagascar coast is announced. The island has the curious name of Nosy-be. It looks odd in type, and you can visualize the spelling by reversing tne name and say oe nosy. The place might serve as a submarine base, and we don’t want to see the Japs poking la around there. The ZiPi? British have taken Nosy-Be, so the Japs won’t be^nosey. In the Solomon Islands, the Japs have lost a total SOLOMONS of a hundred and twenty-three planes. That is the total for the ~tLJt fighting has been going on since our attack against the island A on August Seventh. A Of the hundred and twenty-tliree enemy A sky craft, some eighty-six were downed while ^trying to attack the air base that we seized at Guadalcanal Island. Thirty- six were destroyed in the first forty-eight hours - when we were beginning the recapture of the islands in tne Solomons. RUBBER President doosevelt today named Monday as a day for action concerning rubber, tie said that on Monday he will put into effect nearly all of the recommendations made by the Bernard Baruch rubber committee. Tnis, however, will not include nationwide gasoline rationing — the President explaining that it^rouid take time to set up a rationing system. He added, by the way, that he does not like the term -- "gasoline rationing." He said the recommendation of ft the Baruch Committee was for — mileage rationing. This is a broader term, which will include a number of various regulations the restriction of the sale of gasoline being only one. The President told of another method of milegge restriction- which will not be used. It has been suggested that the authorities could check mileage by speedometers — read the speedometer of a car every so often. The ^resident said that notion had been turned down, because too many people in the country know how to turn back their speedometers. would try any speedometer trictts, ana that all motorists - To which the echo responds, that no patriotic motorist that all motorists « RUBBER. ^2 patriotic f^ana tliey^ >r F^would never dretim of helping Hitler by driving an extra mile or two, even if they h«d to get out and walk. ^Ma e the girl friend walk, too. On Honday, the rubber administrator will be appointed — in accordance with the Baruch committee recomrendation of one- man control. *10 is the new rubber Czar to be? The President warned the news men not to indulge in any guess on that subject — warning them that they probably would be wrong. And who would want to - oee e-newspaper -wri tor or a -radio -jaews-cowwen ta tor-mair©-' a-'-nl ° tiftifa?—Th^y- —Hn I—woo try -to make- any—*' uesses about who~t>he rub<*er -admlnlatpator will bojr-l won^-t even whisper-^he-euraiee -that' tie—e Joe £>oakee-of -Poduj^«> Maybe on Monday.the thirty-five mile an hour speed limit A ' will be put Into effect — the limit proposed by the Baruch cormnitt I supposeenforcement* by local police regulation’ trafffc* oopa being what they^re, or might try an idea of which the President himself gave a nint today. He told the White House news conference how he himself £5li. C compelled twenty-two motorists tc^xliick to the thirty-five mile RUBbER - l an hour limit. This happened recently when he was driving from Washington to his home at Hyde Park. New York. It appears that when the President is driving along a highway, no car going in the same direction is allowed to pass the Presidential auto -p they can’t go speeding to feat get ahead, Secret service men and state troopers see to that. ) So on the trip to Hyde Pam, the President just kep: his car down to thirty-five miles an hour,,and nobody behind him could eo any faster, ha said that twenty-two other drivers wer* piled up behind him — a whole line of them. ^And -s^aer-X-’o—ifflagino^ w^'e spg^ aafiieos. —to alow? :t fbwt -^mrl^-they- do ?—4 a-oottyle-Q^ them grnmla^ nUp-^%HAi a ereat P: hoy# any wag, Presidential idea for keeping down to thirty-five miles an hour, and-*.yee the theoiy conW’ be applU^**^i«e. I^tt.erw^^if we had enough Presidents on enough roads ,of tfai. countm the wholj problem of wartime speed restriction would be solved draft President Roosevelt today was asked whether he thought it would be necessary to draft eighteen and nineteen year old youths into the Army before the first of the year. He responded — no, he did not think the eighteen and hb nineteen year olds would be called into Service during the remainder of Nineteen forty two. KAIsm War Production aviation advisors have recommended that A Henry J. Kaiser, the west coast shipbuilder, be premitted to lj£uild some planes -- several sample cargo planes. Kaiser, in partnership with millionaire J^lyer Howard Hughes, is planning to build a super giant of the air, a flying boat with seven engines and two hulls, the like of which has never been seen befoee. Production Chief Nelson is said to believe that anything so novel should be put through exhaustive experiment. He wants to see it proved that the monsters, when completed, will be as good as they look on blueprints. BONDS (Xhls-4 8-in - upt^en t- request -feert - the -Treesupjf-Depaptnrent. tt-does-oot-so muc:.-eoHeern-ew-atopy ef-tast night .as newspaper Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau states today that he was misquoted in wh t he had to say yesterday about compulsory savings. The impression was conveyed that he considered the program of voluntary buying to be a failure. This, he says, is untrue — and an injustice to the loyal workers in the bond selling campaign. Voluntary bond buying is not a failure, and it will continue to be a mainstay of our war finance. What Secretary Morgenthau indicates is — tx that our war spending program has increased so greatly, that voluntary bond buying must be supplemented by cumpulsory saving .JITTERBUGS . Mr aKinp of 6ny till ftg-4>oiuiGct‘-Hi the-way we shoml4"> ^sarve a pw>f>##-4ignity of langroges—Th«-^.ingo r* exaaple-wwtii^+rftrdly be «^ppoppiA4e^ Toniglit, however, there is one bit of news that can only be stated in these words: "Zoot suits, reat pleats and stuff cuffs are out.n In case that needs translation, let me explain -- as an enthusiastic jitterbug — that when us boys dance the lindy hop, we do it in clothes that might seemrpeculiar to you old-fashioned folks. We wear long baggy coats and big baggy pants — and that’s a zoot suit. The pants have large pleats at the top — and those are reat pleats. They have full cuffs -- and those are stuff cuffs. this--rug cuttlng-li ngo sounds -peeuii*** With zoot e at try reat pleat and- would to-have a-wnaktieas-'ror ass^nairt^alT iteration assonant , if-net-^. asslnlafrr Today the !$ar Production Board abolished the zoot suit. They take too much cloth, of which there 4e-a- wartime-shortage, 'Jittexhue-hs** o£~w*eV“had already beeuJwjaaedr and-now alh-Ather--, aatgri^Ls ^rp InnlUflftfl Zoot suits go zoot for the duration. SOLDIER At Long Beach, California, the oldest enlisted man in the Army reported bac c for duty today -- after a furlough. Be came marching into camp with his upright military bearing and a brisk step. Sergeant John Westervelt is seventy-three, and considers aui • seventy-three, came back afte^j his honeymoon, / A Ji T a /** Be hai just been married, and given a honeymoon furlough. ' A Some of the boys expected the sarge to come in on crutche; But he marched in like an old campaigner. Nothing like military training, they say. BAGS5ALL There is deep gloom in Flatbush tonight. The Dodgers were beaten today ta -- shut out. Actually they 7f~ were licked by a big guy named Mort Cooper, ^ith some assistant# iron his St. Louis team mates^ Cooper pitched an invincible game. The Dodgers never had a chance. Wyatt 'p&TXJgjp was pretty good, but not good' enough. The score -- two to* /\ nothing. So now Brooklyn leads St. Louis by only one game and the two teams play axxlnx again tomorrow. lifer "7^J2 Today in New York court of general sessions, an eloquent A — — appeal was made for a prisoner — a plea not by a lawyer but by a ©fctholie priest. He spoke in behalf of Ormond ftestgate, a long time fugitive from an Illinois penientiary who for eighteen years has lived an upright life. A respected citizen, with £± wife and child. Long ago Westgate was convicted of robbery in Illinois — his second offense. He was sentenced to a possible life term in prison. He served eight years, and then escaped — that was in Nineteen twenty-four. He had studied electrical work in jail, ana this he now applied, and became an electrician. Sometimes things were hard, and he was tempted to steal again - but held back, then he married, and today a* he said:"After I met Louise, all thoughts of committing crome left me absolutely He did not tell his wife of his prison past - not at first. It was not until their baby was born, eight years ago, that he revealed to her that he was a fugitive convict. She advised him to go back to Illinois and try to clear himself, but he couldn’t bring himself I.IFER - 2 to take tae chance, "If I had been alone, n he said, nIt would have made no difference. £>ut I could not leave my wife and kid.” Westgate’s long hidden secret came to light when he applied for a job at an armament plant^ There, according to routine. his fingerprints were taken. These were checked and his identity was revealed -- the excaped prisoner. He was arrested and the Tombs. Illinois began extradition proceedings, and the case t came up in court? Today. In behalf of the fifty year old fipna fugitive appeared the Reverend E. Harold Smitn — the Westgate^ pastor, who had married them. In a moving plea to the court, Fathey Smith testified to the A '' excellent character of Mr. and Mrs. lestgate — good citizens and devout church-goers. He implored the court to release the prisoner from the tombs, and declared that he himself would be responsible for Westgate — until further proceedings on Tuesday. The Court acceeded, said — yes, and the fugitive, who \ /^CreLo-y r/^for eighteen years has lived an upright life^went home to his family; . ADD LIFER Here is the latest* Governor Green of Illinois has just stated that he will probably not press for the extradition of Bestgate. nThe facts of the case have not been presented to me officially,” said the Governor, nBut, off-hand, I would not ask that the man be returned.”