\ ? >*— 1 This is going to be a strange experience for me. I have listened to Lowell Thomas so regularly that I feel that it will do him some good if he listened to me ^ for a change. Greetings, Lowell, wherever you are in Utah. Good luck too when you listen to the speaking silence of the mountains. But for real mountains. Lowell, you should come to our Himalayas ^,V,- BURMA The latest news from Burma, my next door neighbor now but a part of my country until very recently, t.ells of a Japanese attack that failed to penetrate the defense lines on the flank of the Chinese array near Toungoo. The mention of enemy flanking operations against the Chinese gives a key I to the Burmese war news as reported by the British. ^ The Chinese at Toungoo are represented as being gravely threatened - the enemy having cut to.the north bf the Chinese positions. London states that the task now will be to break the Japanese encircling lines by heavy counter-attacks, and these presumably are going am on right now. The British believe that the Chinese will be able to crash through, and break the trap. The state of affairs in Burma is all the more menacing because of 3- Japanese drive in the area in the town of Prome. That piece is to the west of Toungoo. BURM - 2 ^ The Chinese-British defense line runs from east to west, through Toungoo and Prome. One is in the valley of the Sittang River, the other in the valley of the Irrawaddy. And now the Japanese, having flanked i I Toungoo, are threatening Prome - and this might compel 1 a British-Chinese withdrawal - a retirement northward ^ / toward Mandalay, All this brings the Japanese closer and closer to my country, India. They knock at India’s eastern gates, perhaps in anticipation of Hitler’s spring offensive which might bring him up to India’s western gates, the historic Khyber and Bolan Passes. And yet the main story from India is about hhx A another matter. A It is about .Mahatma Gandhi. That spindly leadar of India s millions is on his way to meet' Sir Stafford Cripps. There is a great deal of similis-rty between the two leaders. Both are ascetics, and both are kia vegetarians. But there is a great difference between them. Gandhi hates all wars while Sir Stafford Cripps is in India to rally the entire strength of India behind the war efforts of the United Nations. And the success of his mission will^argely depend on how Gandhi reacts-to his proposals. As Gandhi has made it clear, Sir Stafford has decided to see him in spite of his anti-war views. I had the privilege of meeting Sir Stafford some time before he was appointed the Ambassador to Russia. And I have had the great privilege of being Gandhi's companion, on the famous march to . the Sea in 1930 - And, my heart thrills at the prospect of these two men meeting in New Delhi. /l^ IK ■ INDIA - 2 England could not have selected a better Englishman for the job, nor could India have selected a more representative Indian for the occasion. The main difficulty that faces Sir Stafford Cripps is the Hindu-Moslem problem. But I h?v e a feeling that the conflict between the Hindus and the Moslems has been greatly exaggerated.in this country. The problem is there. But, it is not insoluble. First, let me dispell some of the popular mis- J conceptions. Indian N-ational Congress is not a Hindu organization as many people believe. There are as many Moslems in it as there are outside of it. Then too, Moslems do not contribute the bulk of India’s fighting forces. And again, the Near East Mohammedan world is not suspicious of the Indian National Congress. ^ 0 , perhaps we all might be exaggerating the threat of resolt issued by the Moslem -heague in India. Fortunately for India as well as for the United wations, the Hindu majority is willing and able to make greater sacrifices than the minorit;ies in order to achieve f*. Indians unity. And when such spirit prevails^- ijith forsight on the part of the Indian leaders and with sincerity on the part of the British^the Hindu-Moslem problem is bound to be solved. It is not a good idea to talk too much about the disunity of India because only the Axis powers will benefit from A m Indian disunity. So from this point on / / /I the unity of India is not HHiH only India’s funeral^ but also the funeral of the United Nations. MacABTHUR i Australia today gave renewed cheers to \ General Douglas MacArthur. They acclaimed a series of fighting statement s that he made to an xi audience in the Australian Parliament Building. MacArthur described himself in these words:- ”A soldier in a grea crusade of personal liberty." And then he pledged his I the / country to a fightjto finish./ "There can be no compromise," cried MacArthur. "We shall v/in or we shall die - andfto this end I pledge you the full resources and all the mighty power of my country and of the blood of my countrymen. The South Pacific Commander-in-Chief then attended a session of the Australian Parliament, where a bitter debate was on. The oratory was hot and excited, with shouts and reprimands. MacAfthur, upon departing, made the following comment: "If the men of 11 Qc thev argue, we are certain of Australia fight as v/ell as Y ix Victory." PHTLII-TINES News from the Batan Peninsula tells of a heavy air raid. A large force of Japanese bombers struck at the fortress of Corregidor. They bombed for six hours, but General Wainwright*s dispatch states that little damage was done and there were only a On the ground the action was on a smaller scale, sharp skirmishes. The Japanese appear to be making what are called ”ieeler attacks." These m. may be preliminary to the all-out assault which has been expected, but which has yet to materialize. ^The defenders of Batan were greeted with formal praise in Washington today. TW4 esMjiiiLndpr iul was granted the highest military tribute that the Uniteu S+ates can bestow - the Congressional Medal of Honor The citation described the defenders of Batan gallant army worthy of the world's acclaim a ) j' S if few casualties. The defending anti-aircraft batteries Jl shot down four big enemy bombers. .1 Russia reports a seesaw of Red Army attacks and German counter-blows - on land and in the air. A big battle is raging in the area south of Leningrad} the ' sector of Star ay a Russa. The Rod A r in o o has virtually captured that s^tri^nghold, where a Nazi ii army has been s\urround^ From the German side there is significant word - a thaw. The Germans report the brginning of the great thaw that dominates the time of Spring in Russia. in t i i ' i! The British report heavy air raids against Nazi-occupied France, and they’ve dropped leaflets to the workers of Paris - saying that factories turning out | t * wsr material for the Nazis will be bombed again. ^ i In the Mediterranean - British air forces report that they have smashed a big raid by Axis *erplanes. Another heavy blow against Malta, the island fortress - and this one was beaten off. CHURCHILL. In London today, British Prime Minister Churchill uttered another of his grim pronouncements - ^3 picturing the present tribulations and ultimate victory He called the recent Allied reverses - ”a m^ancholy tale.” Turning to the Far East, heyt^escribed events in 1 Malaya with the candor of a Ch^chill. "Singapore,” he said, "has been the sceneyOf the greatest disaster to British arms which \--------- -- history records.” But tjie most ominous thing stated by the British Prime Minister, concernfi^something that k is happening now . The Battle of the Atlantic, said he, has taken a turn for the worse. The shipping losses have increased dangerously. And this., of course, refers at least in par to the U-boat coapaign on the American side of the ocean Then Chnnchill. having painted the picture in the darkest colors, repeated his familiar call of confidence I— CHUrCHILL - 2 and of courage. He said the Allied nations cannot lose the war - save by some failure to combine their overwhelming strength. Meanwhile, all England is txkx talking about an election result announced today. There was a bi-electiinj (tfil^ar li ament, and the Conservative candidate supportilig the Churchill Government was backed not only by the Conservative Party but also by Labor and even Communists. He had been endorsed publicly by Prime Minister Churchill. He is a marshal of the Royal Air Force, and ran in a district Kxkk that has a large R.A.F. center. And yet he was defeated. He lost to Rn Independent, with no political organization, an engineer whose campaign consisted of attacks on inadequate war production, and whose slogan was "production for victory." I i CHURCHILL_- 3 London tonight is interpreting the defeat of the government candidate as a reflection of the liis disappointniGnt/ of* t/ho British pooplo b©cause of* the lack of effective blows against the Axis. wmm EXPLOSION A strange story comes from the scene of a 1 I disastrous explosion near Easton, Pennsylvania, today. <tj It was a cc Ld&Lr0phe of dynamite, and whenever anything i” 1 ! likG that occurs, there is an imniediate suspicion of sabotage. Today, the suspicion is accompanied by an I account of mysterious airplanes^ l But first - let*s see what occurred. Near Easton, Pennsylvania, there’s a big cement quarry - a huge excavation. There they blast the rock with high S explosive. Today, a truck drew up, and unleaded a large quantity of dynamite. This was to be stored in the powder magazine of the cement quarry. Altogether, there were some twenty tons of high explosive in the i^S-gazine - this is stated by Company officials A few minutes later, most of the workers were sitting around at the edge of the quarry, eating a light lunfc'h. They were near the powder magazine, and EXPLOSION - the twenty tons of dynamite. In the excavation below, were sixteen other v/orkers. Then suddenly there was. a frightful explosion! It was so violent that pieces of j debris were blown for a distance of seven mil^s. A farmer’s barn a mile away was leveled by the blast. And at Allentown, Pennsylvania, eighteen miles distant. homes were shaken and plate glass windows were shattered. Of the thirty men who were having lunch t the top of the quarry, not one has been found alive So apparently, at least that many lives were And fourteen children were injured. They were in the neighborhood of the quarry. However, the sixteen workers down in the pit were uninjured. They were a hundred and fifty feet below the surface. / cs.a the c.lastr.phee , s.prelntendeht „ the ce.eht co.p.ny =t.tes th.t the boxes ot dy.a.lte E}^L0SI0N_- 3 just delivered had been opened but the fuses were not connected. The only way that they could have been exploded would have been by concussion, he explains. And then he adds a strange suspicion A*" ) ilVK)t »€ assistant foreman as saying that three airplanes had been seen circling above the quarry !i i just before the blast. They were seen in the sky for . | !i some time until the blov/-up occurred. The quarry superintendent says he believes that these mysterious airplanes - "dropped something." He thinks they dropped something that touched off the dynamite. EAST^^UTFIT H0r© s a bit of news that*s exceedingly feminine. It^s also an Easter item, and is aonrooriate only in the light of the well known feminine Love for iS Easter finery,-atad Easter hats and Easter dresses. At Springfield, Massachusetts, June Oakley, who is seventeen, will march in the Easter Parade, wearing a dress of the finest silk. Silk is an oriental product. It is very much, for Example, a product of Japan. June Oakley will wear a silk aress made out of a parachute that belonged to the first Japanese pilot who was shot down during the attack on Pearl Harbor. You can depend upon it that the Japanese use the finest silk for their war aviation parachutes just as we do. So the silk dress that June will wear will probably be the finest on Faster at Springfield, sachusetts. J une has arrived recently from Hawaii -------- - EASTER OUTFIT - 2 She s a daughter of a chief gunner's mate who was on duty at Pearl Harbor during the attack. And the first Jap plane to be shot down crashed in the back yard of her home in Honolulu. She ran out to the wreckage and salvaged the parachute, the scarf and the helmet of the pilot. And out of the parachute she has / made a silk dress - for Easter.. In India we would take this as an instance of the truth, that women are the same the world over. But I cannot leave the subject of American women so suddenly. They are ray most favorite subject ^nd I am sure that their position in this country fills all Indians with pity for American men. Men over here, I suspect, belong to what we call r? in India as '’the depressed classes". /lU