Black-Marketeers

The scandalous G.I. cigaret shortage in France aroused the Army to swift action. Last week, after nearly two months of careful undercover work, investigators announced their first big haul. Arrested at various posts between Cherbourg and Paris, close to 200 soldiers, including two officers, confessed to receiving a total of $200,000 from black-market sales of-stolen cigarets.

Other individual cases, dealing with gasoline, food and arms, involved even more sizable sums. But for every G.I. arrested, ten French civilians have been taken into custody.

Provost Marshal Major General Milton A. Reckord, calling the crimes the worst kind of sabotage and disloyalty, revealed that a few of the American offenders were "smalltime Chicago racketeers," but most were just ordinary G.I.s, "who succumbed to the temptation for easy money." They will be court-martialed next month.

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