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\ oe "Economy Costing Uncle Sa -8 Trade By S. Burton Heath Of Post-War ' Passenger Ship NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (NEA)~-- In the name of economy, 7 United States is passing up what both the shipping industry and the Maritime Commission regard as the nation's golden opportune ity to get a fair share of trans oceanic passenger business. With Germany and Japan knocked out of that important trade, Italy vitally injured, France hard hit by war losses, and the entire economy of transe oceanic travel upset, both Ame erican operators and the Navy are anxious for this country to cut in for a respectable portion of the passenger business that will begin booming soon. Congress approved a nine-ship program, and appropriated to- ward it in the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30. But President Truman, on advice of Reconversion Director John R. Steelman, pigeon-holed the entire program. If you want to cross an ocean by surface ship, Great Britain car offer a fleet of 34 more- _ than-20,000-ton liners headed by the Queens Elizabeth and Mary, the Aquitania and the Mauret- k * Employment Hits Pre-War Figure ~ k * In the summer of 1939, just be- " fore World War II broke out, '17,920,000 persons were employed in the various brdnches of British industry. This figure was very adversely affected by the war, not only through the calling up of numberless men and women, but also through the switching- over of many factories to meet war-time requirements, Up to . the middle of 1943, the number of persons "hose work was die rectly connected with the Army, the Air Force and the Navy had increased to 3,851,000. When the process of switching-over once more to peace-time needs de- manded a thorough regrouping of the millions of employees, male and female, this adaptation to changed conditions proceeded with comparative rapidity, and statistics could show in October of last year that the old employ- ment total had been reached again, that is to say, 17,917,000; exactly 100% of the last peace- time figure. It is true that com- plete equality in this direction has not been reached among the individual branches of industry. Certain industries have not re- turned to their former peace- time capacity whilst others have exceeded the pre-war figure. Thus, for example, employment in the textile industries is still well below the 1939 figure while in engineering it is substantially higher, k * Shipping Losses Being Replaced k * During World War II, Britain lost half her tonnage in merch- ant shipping. As can be expected, great efforts are being made to lace these losses, and these orts were redoubled on the * eonclusion of hostilities, with the result that the tonnage of Brit- ish merchant vessels increased to 13,626,000 tons, at the end of the third quarter of 1946. But the losses since the outbreak of the war have not yet been balanced, for Britain's pre-war tonnage in merchant shipping was 17,377,000 tons. In order to make good this discrepancy as quickly as possible the country's shipyards are now working at a speed undreamed of before the war. At the end of the third quarter of last year, there were 1,875,000 tons of new i shipping under construction in British shipyards, about twice as much as the total for the end of 1 ; Britain's History Will Live Again The 600th anniversary of the foundation of the Order of the Garter will be celebrated in Windsor - with pageantry and music in the late spring of 1948. His Majesty the King has com- manded: Britain's Poet Laureate, Dr. John Masefield, to write a pageant play, and the Master of the King's Music, Sir Arnold Rex, is to compose its musical setting. The nave of St. George's Chapel, home of the Order, will . be the setting of the pageant. Knights of the Order under the chairmanship of Bishop Hamil ton, Dean of Windsor, are now at work on the plans. . 8.8. ARGENTINA, Moore-McCormack passenger-cargo vessel, gets dolled up for the South American trade at a New York shipyard. But plans for three new ships, approved by both the Maritime Commission and Congress for use on the same run, were pigeon- holed as an economy move. ania. Meanwhile British yards are speeding construction of six new liners ranging from 24,000 to 30,000 tons each. If you would like to travel 'American, there is the 26,454- ton America--period. After she makes one more trip, the U.S. plans to reconvert the 23,788-ton George Washington, though what to do to her hasn't been decided. In May and July, it is hoped, the Presidents Wilson and Cleveland will be delivered to the American Presidents Line for trans-Pacific runs. They were started as troop transports, but completed as 19-knot, 552- passenger liners. Of the nine modern luxury lin- ers that Congress thought it was getting started, Steelman's edict has put six on the shelf for a presently unpredictable period. President Truman provided $60,- 000,000 for, the other three in his recent budget proposals (they are supposed to cost $80,000,000 in all). These are to be 653 passenger, 22-knot craft for op- eration by American Export Lines to the Mediterranean. The other six were supposed to include three 28-knot, 560-pas- senger liners to be operated by Moore-McCormick in the South American trade; two 30-knot American President liners, each with accommodations for 1238 passengers, to provide fast serv- vice to the Orient; and a $30, 000,000 running mate for the U. S. Lines' America in European service. It and the America, al- ternating, would give weekly service between New York and British-French ports. But it is known that President John F. Franklin of the U, S. Lines has submitted alternative plans for a 33-knot, 1,400-passen- ger 'dream ship" that would cost around $50,000,000 and would be the best ship ever built for the American passenger service. Congress provided that the nine ships should be constructed for sale or lease to American op- erators. The Administration has decided not to authorize any con- struction unless it has commit- ments for their actual sale, Such a ban is included in the Presi- dent's present budget proposals. It is said in shipping circles that the three American Export liners were given precedence be- cause only that line was prepared to agree to buy. But while the U. S. Lines will not comment, it is known that Franklin offered to put up $25,000,000 of the com- pany's money for his "dream ship" if the Maritime Commission would go ahead with it. Legally it is possible for an op- erator to go to a shipyard and buy a liner. Economically it is not. . Construction in this = country before the war cost almost ex- actly twice as much as in Bri- tish yards. The present differen- tial is at least as great. Its ex- tent and its reasons are suggest- ed by the fact that the average British- shipyard worker gets $25.85 for 47 hours, while- the average American gets $55.20 for 40 hours. On a 40-hour basis the American gets slightly more than two and a half times as much as his British counterpart. The differential in operating costs is great. The Harvard School of Business said, in a re- ' port prepared for the Maritime Commission, that before the war it cost from $900 to $2,200 a day more to operate an American liner than one under foreign reg- istry. There is no acceptable current comparison available. But some idea of the wartime increase in American operating costs can be obtained from this wage contrast: * - A 27-day round trip of the Manhattan, before the war, re- quired a crew of 569 who were paid $40,221. The Manhattan ' not returning to civilian service. But the America, launched dur- ing the war, carries the same number of passengers.' For her two post-war round trips the crew has numbered 678 and the payroll cost has averaged $150, 000--more than three and a half times the pre-war payroll for the Manhattan. To permit our ships to operate in. competition with lower-cost, cheaper-operated British and other liners, the U, S. provides subsidies. If the Maritime Com- 'mission eventually builds a trans-Atlantic liner to cost $50,- 000,000 it will place the order, boss the job and pay the bills, and write off the difference be- tween construction costs here and abroad. This will run at least 50 per cent. So the U. S. Lines will pay no 'more than $25,- 000,000. Of this it must pay one-fourth at once, and the re- minder over 20 years with 3% per cent interest on unpaid bal- ances. Thereafter, the gov= ernment will provide an operat- ing subsidy 'equivalent to the-dif- ference between American costs and foreign. Obviously no operator can com= pete in the passenger trade with out benefit of these subsidies. But they place him entirely at the mercy of the government. So far as a post-war competi- tive passenger fleet is concerned, both Congress and tl.. Maritime Commission have come through, only to have Steelman persuade the President to pay the program on the shelf. But the Shipbuild- ers Council of America, in vig- orous protests signed by Presid- ent H. Gerrish Smith, points out that there is®involved besides a passenger fleet, the very ex- istence of shipyards which the Navy insists must be kept alive and healthy for reasons of na- tional security. - Fine Dramatic Traditions * k & & kk & * hk hk & * *& * ® * & * * Britain Has a Galaxy of Famous Actors and Actresses By H. L. Uxlen The British stage for many gen- erations has produced players whose reputation has spread far beyond the shores of their native land--from Alleyn and Burbage in Shakespeare's day, and in later centuries Garrick, Mrs, Siddons, Kean, Irving and Ellen Terry, A favorite subject of discussion among British theatre lovers co ns the parison of to- day's actors and actresses with the great names of the past, but no decision can ever be reached, since style and many other pos- sible points of similarity have greatly changed. One thing is, however, beyond dispute -- there are a number of players in Britain today who can favorably compare with those of any other land. This is emphasized by the fact that a number of British actors and ac- tresses are among those in the front rank in Hollywood and still more famous stars have joined troupes playing overseas, such as the Old Vic Company, and been invited to New York, Paris, Brus- sels and Amsterdam, where they have achieved great success. The Old Vie Company numbers among its members two of the finest actors on the present-day British stage -- Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. The former, though still under 40 years of age, has achieved a world reputation in which he has but few rivals. \One of the main rea- sons for his fame lies in his great universality of talent; he is as dis- tinctive as "Richard III" as he is peerless as "Henry V." The film of this Shakespearean play, which Olivier also directed, has proved to be one of the greatest artistic events of recent years. These ex- amples by no means mark the limits of his abilities in character parts, for he has proved himself a great comedian as Shallow in "Henry IV" and his portrayal of a Balkan officer in Shaw's "Arms and the Man" is a memorable per- formance. Olivier is furthermore a director of more than ordinary talent; his production of Thorn- ton Wilder's "Skin of Our Teeth" can be described as masterly. The main feminine role in this Pay was taken by Olivier's wife, ivien Leigh, whose reputation became world-wide as a result of her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in the great American film, "Gone With the Wind." She is as lovely as she is talented and versatile. Her repertoire stretches from the genteel Jennifer in Shaw's "The Doctor's Dilemma" to the child-like Cleopatra in "Caesar and Cleopatra." . Olivier's colleague as director and producer at the Old Vic is Ralph Richardson, a character actor of outstanding ability. His most brilliant feat might well be considered as Falstaff in "Henry IV," for his humorous and strik- ing portrayal of this well-known character introduced an entirely new slant. His characterization and restrained acting in crime plays are just as outstanding. urthermore he is a film actor known to millions outside Britain, The Old Vic Company for many years has also had Dame Sybil Thorndyke as a member. She is a grand actress playing heroic rts, and her most famous role recent years has been that of the school mistress in "The Corn Is Green" by Emlyn Williams, a well-known actor and playwright. Another great actor who began his career with the Old Vic is John Gielgud, who now runs his own company. Undoubtedly he is the finest speaker of Shake- speare's lines on the British stage today, and his name is invariably associated with his portrayal of . "Hamlet." It was he who, short- ly before the outbreak of World * * - Non-Frosting Glass In Improved Form * A British safety-glass company with patents in use all over the world, brought out a type of glass during World War II which was successfully used for aircraft oabins. The glass also does not e dim when exposed to "~ sudden changes of temperature . and it always ensures perfect visibility. The same glass, in a stil} more improved form, is be- ing produced for refrigerator doors, thus the housewife can easily keep a check on the con- tor without 4 ye RR St Wild Dogs Become Menace The dog has played a valiant part in the pioneering of Aus- tralia, bt when he "goes bush" he becomes a menace. Dog-dingo crossbreeds play ha- voc with flocks and herds and some 'authorities in an effort to discourage the Alsatian have bumped up his licence fee. In- telligence and cunning, strength and hardihood in conjunction are perilous attributes when they run wild. Not long ago heavy toll was taken of stock in the Yengarie district of Queensland and the . Yongas aon was called the BN - [tL Parties went out to hunt it, but eventually it was shot by a farmer when it was after his calves. Experts said it was a cross between a dingo, a collie dog and a fox. : It was 6 ft. 6 in. long, 3 ft. 11 in. high and weighed 170 lbs. It had a fox's tail two feet long, shaggy shoulders, a bushy neck, coloring of a collie and the claws and heavy foot pads--6 in. across--of a dingo. L In its stomach was half a pod- dy calf, 14 fowls' legs, portions of birds and chewed rope and ------ 7. War II, played the part of the Danish prince at the request of the Danish government in the town of Helsingor. In addition he has a great talent for comedy, whether by Congreve or Wilde, and he has proved himself a re- markably sensitive producer for plays of the kind. Peggy Ashcroft, a stMking play- er of classical women's roles, was for long a member of Gielgud's Company, and her Juliet and her Ophelia are accepted as standard performances, She is particularly famed for her voice and diction, and she, too, is fond of playing in comedies, such for instance as Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." Edith Evans is an emotional and witty character , actress of unique stamp. Her duchesses in Wilde's comedies are as matchless as her performance in Sheridan's "School for Scan- dal." Her abilities, however, go far wider than this and she re- cently achieved particular success as an outcast from society in the dramatic version of Dostoievski's "Crime and Punishment." Another character actress of different type is Sonia Dresdel, who has won a great name for herself in her portrayal of Ibsen's roles; she is distinctive at depict~ ing the dangerous woman, the femme fatale. She follows in the great tradition of the famous ac- tresses of last century. Another representative of deep- rooted theatrical tradition is to be found in Donald Wilfit, who takes his company all over Britain playing Shakespeare. He can simply be classed as outstanding; th ds have ddered at his "King Lear," yet his vitality is almost elemental and he can be a real comedian. Robert. Donat has come to the fore as an actor manager, apart from being world- famous as a film actor. He is the "gentleman" among stars, refine ed, polished, charming and inter- esting; he has achieved success rticularly in Shakespeare and haw, and in classical comedies as in modern ones. This does not by any means complete thé list. ¢It is, however, only by making such a list that the number of truly great play- ers on the British stage can to some extent be assessed. * Britain To Build Half-Million Cars In 1947 Britain anticipates the production of at least 500,000 motor cars. Overseas customers mainly will benefit from this in- .- hensive production drive, ~ } © 47 ¥- x m Fi ull Share Show Skill For Royalty CANBERRA, Australia, Feb. 8. --Virtuosi of the axe nut on a turn in the depths of the West' Australian forests for the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, when they were staying at a bush camp. It was desired to build a bush- fire look-out at the top of a 230- ft. Karri tree and it was neces- sary for axe-men to lop the top branches at the main crown sub- division, where the main stem di- vides into several large branches. This is a rare forestry opera- tion and in this case it had to be performed 190 feet from the ground. George Reynolds and Len Ni- choly two forectry workers, had already "p._ged" the mighty tree when the royal party arriv- ed, and a number of branches at heights of from 200 ft. to 140 ft. had already been severed. The two men clambered up their spiral staircase until they were pigmy figures high up against the forest ceiling. The royal party lay on the ground watching the climbers. The Duke trained his movie camera on the men, while the Duchess donned a visor of plaited straw to shield he. eyes from the sky glare, When Reynolds got 150 ft. from the ground he sat astride a peg and took up his axe which had been left in the tree on a previous ascent. Swinging altern- ately left and right handed he hewed large chips from a mass- ive branch, working swiftly de- spite his restricted range of movement. Considerable skill is needed in this work for the sev- ered branch must break cleanly and fall well clear so as not to foul the pegs as it drops. The branch to be lopped was a full 16 in. in diameter, but was deeply scarfed on each side within a few minutes. Then, reaching round the limb and us- ing the axe with one hand, Rey- nolds cut deeply into the un- derside of the narrow strip of uncut timber which remained. This done, he shortened his grip and hewed away the wood at the back of the limb until, with a loud report, the huge branch parted and hurtled down- wards to be shattered into in- numberable fragments at the foot of the tree, The Duke thanked the men for providing one of the most in- teresting spectacles of the tour, He described his trip as "quite the most interesting morning I have spent for years." * British Hygiene iumph Scores Triump x' London can be proud of having had the lowest rate of infant mor- tality ever recorded during 1945, the last year of World War IL According to present statistics, the death-rate was "only 44 per 1,000 live births. The last best rate was reached in 1939, with per 1,000. Wartime feeding with its restrictions has not ade versely affected the mother's health, Improved conditions of hygiene, on the other hand, cer- tainly have had a favorable ef- fect on the reduced infant mor- tality and this is all the more evi- dent on comparison with previous rates, when, over a five-year-per- iod, extending from 1896-1900, there were 162 deaths per 1,000 live births--almost four times as much as in 1945. * * * London Planning Freight Airport * * London is now to have an air- port serving nainly freight traf- fic. During th» war, Stansted Airport was used by the United States Army Air Force. The air- port's many hangars, offices and stores make its lay-out especially suitable for air freight traffic. Stansted has three concrete run- ways, one of which is 2,000 yards long, thus enabling the biggest and heaviest types of freight air- craft to take off and land. The airport is now being fitted out with the latest aids to naviga- tion, so that "flying goods trains" can also make blind landings there, * Spitfires Bought By South Africa * The South African govern- ment has decided to supply its air force with what are, in its opinion, the most efficient fight- er aircraft and has accordingly placed an order in Britain for 136 Spitfires. These aircraft will shortly be flown by Royal Air Force pilots to airports in the Near East, where they will be taken over by South African Air Force pilots who will fly the ma- chines down the east coast route, to their future bases in the Union. * Offer Citizenship To Child Refugees * Britain's active sympathy with the plight of homeless children from Europe shown by the Home Secretary's offer 'to child * . refugees of the opportunity to acquire British citizenship. It is anticipated that about 1,500 such children will take British citizen- ship papers as a sesult of the offer. a Pressing problem: Bachelor James Evans, 78, irons his shirt with a deftness he learned in the Royal Marines, * kx k k k * Men Only Wash Nights Solve One Problem For London Bachelors LONDON, Feb. 8--On Monday and Thursday, it's men's night at the public baths--so they can bathe their shirts. \ *Anging hit hout: This bachelor finds the quickest way to a clean shirt is to do it himself. LIFE OF A LONDON bachelor: Ex-sailor James Daniels chews | his pipe as he scrubs a shirt on men's (laundry) night at the public baths. The aproned gentleman at the adjoining tub seems to pre- fer the dunking method. British laundries take anything from a month to six weeks to bring back the clean: socks these days, which is bad enough for housewives who are forced into doing all the household wash at home. 'But for bachelors and widow- ers in clothing-short England, the case of the dirty shirt was almost insoluble until the Holborn bor- ough council, one of London's local authorities, came to the res- cue. They have a well-equipped laundry at the public baths but (being shrewd psychologists) they realized that men would not rel- ish using it when there were women about the place. So now two nights a week are "men only" nights. On these nights, unexposed' to feminine banter and with mascu- line dignity intact, the men can do their "smalls" with the aid of labor-saving equipment. Each man has the use of a screened-off sink and plenty of hot water. When his clothes are washed, he has access to a "hydro- electric" machine for getting rid of the surplus water, mechanical wrir>r and quick-drying cabi- nets waich dry clothes in 10 min- utes. Then he can add a profes sional finish to his night's work with an electric iron. For the use of all this, he pays sixpence. Bucket brigade: A couple of the boys team up to get the laundry stuffed into washing machine, "Atomic Research Will Shortly Humans Provide Benefits to The first of the two atomic piles now heing built at Britain's prin- cipal atomic research station at Harwell will be ready shortly, In Britain, research on the re- lease of atomic energy is being stepped up. Although world in- terest appears mainly centred on the atom bomb development it is an investigation of incidental by- products of atomic power which is likely to bring untold benefits to the whole human race both "from the medical and industrial point of view, * * Chemical Society Hundred Years Old When Britain's Chemical Society was founded 100 years ago, it was little realized what a decisive part chemistry and the chemical in- dustry would play in the course of the century. In 1947, a whole range of the most sensational forms of progress in this field of science will be on view to the general public in an exhibition ranged to mark the occasion of the Society's centenary and which will be opened next July at the Science Museum, South Kensington, London. The exhibi- tion will last about two months. Special emphasis will be laid on demonstrating to visitors the im- portant part played by chemis- try in the daily life of our times. Experts assert that the jubilee exhibition of the Chemical Soci- ety will be one of the most ex- tensive ever shown in the United Kingdom. . Le 4 * * New Jet Fighter Flying Boat Type The R.A.F. Coastal Command _ is to have a jet:propelled single seat "flying boat fighter," built by Saunders Roe Limited, Eng- land. The pilot is housed in a pressurized cabin forward of the wings, The armament consists of four 20 mm, cannons mounted in the nose. Details of speed performance and range have not yet been revealed. * Plane Is Cheaper Than Average Car * * Auster Aircraft of Leicester, England, intend to put-on the market this year a two-seater plane that will be cheaper to run than the average ten horse-power car. The price is expected to be less than $3000. On its test flight, the aircraft which. has a 65 horsepower engine, is expected to do more than thirty miles to a gallon. Cruising speed will "be about seventy miles. per hour, » \ One of the first results of re- search in nuclear physics will be that in future doctors may find their most potent weapons in the treatment of disease to be doses of radio active substances. Al- ready certain types of skin infec- tion have been successfully treat- ed with atomic substances as has also cancer of the thyroid. Before the atom splitting was accomplished, practically the only other source of radio activity was radium. This supply is limited in quantity and so costly that there has never been sufficient for all those who need it. Now, we may look forward to the time when elements, artificially made radio active, will increase the chances of cures of some of the most dreaded diseases by 100 per cent. Today, atoms of almost every common element .can be rendered radio active by "cooking" in an atomic pile. That is to say that they can emit rays in the same way as radium and other natural- ly radio active substances. These radio active atoms can then be mixed with ordinary atoms of any element and used as "tracers" in the detection of disease. This is done by the use of a special apparatus which spots radiations given out by radio ac- tive atoms. Radio active atoms fed to plants are already making it possible to study more closely the process known as photo synthesis and may eventually show us how cellulose may be broken down inte sugar. The radio cobalt is another im- portant artificially radio active substance which is expected to be as efficient in medical work as radium and infinitely cheaper. Radium is priced at $576,000 an ounce; radio cobalt at 50c an ounce, Britain's Department of Scien- tific and Industrial Research has allocated thousands of dollars in order that Britain should have the best equipment in the world for "the study of atomic fission. Plants specifically designed have By Prof. A. M. Low been planned here and in the dominions, Hopes for the treat- ment and cure of cancer and other diseases may be summed up by the fact that atomic power on a hitherto unprecedented scale may shortly be available, Giant new machines for nuclear research are to be built at Bir. mingham and Glasgow Universi ties; at Cambridge Laboratory, research is already intensified. Thirty miles from Britain's number one atom research sta- tion at Harwell is a new national- centre set up for the processing and distribution of the radium radon and the artificially radio active substances for the scien tific medical and industrial pur- poses. The atomic energy for the ex- periments will be in the form of minute particles of radio active carbon known as carbon 14. These particles, each weighing one ten- thousandth of an ounce are pro- duced in chain-reacting ovens such as those which "cook" plu- tonium for the atom bombs and are capable of emitting 37,000,000 atomic ray particles every second for the next 10,000 to 12,000 years. Canada's research station, at Chalk River, Ontario, might well be called an "atomic town." The 1,500 people have set up a community around the experi- mental station where the pilot tests have been carried out on the control of the generation of heat and power from the nuclear fis- sion. Chalk River aims to de- velop the production of atomic energy so that the world may benefit from the application of its findings. We are'told that there is enough uranium in the world to run all the power plants required for at least 100 years. Ideas for development of the atomic power in Britain are more advanced than is realized by the other countries; when all these hopes of the future reach fulfil- ment, we may remember that it will have been based on the re- search conducted in 1911 at Man- chester, England. @-- New Process tor Cast Iron GG Metallurgical experts all over the world had in time come to accept cast iron as a product with a fixed process of manufac- ture and with characteristic pro- penties that did not admit of any change. But. the British Cast Iron Research Association held different views, for it had a whole series of scientific experi- mentg carried out in its research laboratories in order to unravel the secrets of cast iron. Now the result has come to hand, and the president of the Research As- sociation has described it as the "biggest single advance in the metallurgy of cast iron in the 20th century." The fundamental idéa of the experiments; which were carried over a period of year was that the special properties of cast iron must be definitely influenced by the crystallization process of __ molten iron. In order to affect -@ as fundamental a change =5 pos- sible in this process, the influence of small quantities of other ine gredients when mixed with molt- en iron ore on the structure of cast iron was studied. It was thus observed that the addition of titanium gave the graphite in cast iron a fine structure. Brit- ish metallurgists have now in the course of their experiments pro- duced cast iron with twice the tensile strength of the ordinary product, whilst its resistance to shock is even three times as great. The new British cast iron also offers better resistance to the effeets of corrosion and it is specially interesting to note that the new process '< used with the greatest ease in the case of the types of cast iron which are the most easily cast and machined, . Experts are convinced that a number of special types of cast iron can be manufactured for special purposes.