The Alamance Gleaner
? ? 41
Vol. LXXI GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1945. . No. 4
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Harmony Note of Big T hree M eet;
Mighty U.S. Aerial Blows Carry
War to Heart of Jap Homeland
________ Released by Western Newspaper Union.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When eplnlons are expressed In these eelamns, they are these of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net aeeessarily of this newspaper.)
l""111 i 111 i iM'MMMii1 I ' ?
Freed by daring U. S. Ranger attack on Cabanatnan prison camp, liberated
Yanks joyfully make their way back to American lines for transfer to evacuation
hospital in Philippines.
EUROPE:
Postwar Pattern
Their historic conference at Yalta
having ended in agreement, the Big
Three departed from the balmy Cri
mean watering resort determined to
maintain equal harmony on the im
plementation of the new course they
struck for trodden Europe, en
visaging the return of democratic
government and obliteration of
Nazism and Fascism.
Thorniest problem in Allied rela
tions before the conference, the
Polish question was met by U. S.
and British recognition to Russian
annexation of part of eastern
Poland, and the agreement to in
clude independent democratic lead
ers into the Red-sponsored pro
visional government until the people
themselves can name their own re
gime in a free and open election.
In respect to free elections, guar
anteeing the people of all the liber
ated countries the right to pick
their own governments, the Big
Three pledged their support to as
sist any nation in measures designed
to bring about such polls.
With agreement on the vexatious
Polish problem and restoration of
democratic government in the new
Declaring that the Big Three's terms
for.Germany released Us people from
qll moral scruples, af warfare. Nasi peop-r
agandists said: "Every enemy will be
met by fanatical men, women and chil
dren, who know what treatment is in
store for them, and, therefore, wish to
IciU, murder and poison all who attempt
to oppress them...."
Europe, the Big Three also moved I
toward maintenance of such an or
der by further discussion of steps
on a postwar international security
organization, with the talks at Yalta
designed to meet Russian objections
to the Dumbarton Oaks plans for
prohibiting any nation charged with
aggression from voting on meas
ures to bring it in line.
Overwhelming agreement was
reached on treatment for a defeated
Reich, with Messrs. Roosevelt,
Churchill and Stalin determined to
crush German militarism by dis
solution of the wehrmacht, break
up of its general staff, elimination of
all industry that could be used for
war production, and complete eradi
cation of all Nazi and Junker influ
ences in the nation's life.
Further, Germany would be made
to pay for war damage, with an
Allied commission set up in Moscow
determining on the extent of repara
tions, probably in terms of man
power and goods.
Allies Advance
With their hopes of an Allied divi
sion blasted at Yalta, and with the
combined weight of the U. S., Brit
ain and Russia drawn up against
them, the Germans maneuvered in
both the wrest and east for a last
ditch struggle.
In the east, so-called "alarm
units" and the "people's army"
were thrown into breaches to hold
open avenues of retreat for German
forces falling back from Silesia to
Saxony as the Russians drove on this
all-important Nazi industrial dis
trict. As the Reds pushed ahead,
one wing of this offensive nosed
northwestward toward Berlin, sore
ly pressed by a frontal assault of
Marshal Zhukov's forces.
In the west, the Germans fought
hard to thwart the Canadian and
British attempt to turn their far
northern flank, drive into the indus
trial Ruhr and trap Nazi forces
guarding the Rhine land from the
rear.
PACIFIC:
Mighty Strike
To Tokyo's 8,000,000 terrified resi
dents, it was as if the whole host of
demons themselves had swooped
from the skies; to American aviators
and sailors, it offered the supreme
satisfaction of slapping a vicious en
emy in his own backyard, and to mil
lions of people at home, it represent
ed the opening of the battle for Japan
itself.
Thus shaped Vice Adm. Marc A.
Mitscher's mighty strike against
Tokyo and the home island of Hon
Leading daring liberation of Sll Yanka
from Luzon priaon camp by Rangera
who overpowered Jap guar da were (left
to right) Captain Prince of Seattle,
Waah.; Lt Col. H. A. Mucci, Bridge
port, Conn.; and Sgt. T. R. Richardson,
Dallas, Texaa.
shu, with 1,900 Hellcats, Helldivers
and Avenger planes taking oil from
about 15 to 20 carriers of the 27,000
ton class, escorted by a formidable
screen--of fast battleships,, cruisers
and destroyers. Though meeting
strong opposition, the aircraft shot
up enemy planes, cratered airdromes
and pulverized other military instal
lations around the Jap capital.
While the major attack roared on,
with the once vaunted, since bat
tered Jap imperial fleet failing to
challenge Mitscher's force riding 300
miles off of Honshu shores, other
American warships and army planes
hammered the Volcano and Bonin
islands, 600 miles to the south.
WAR PRODUCTION:
Schedules Increase
With emphasis on more bombers
and engine parts, the government
increased its war contracts in re
cent weeks, indicating that the rapid
pace of the conflict is forcing re
adjustment of needs.
Besides the boost in the bomber
and engine parts program, it was
revealed, ground troops were sched
uled to get 21.9 per cent more am
munition, heavy artillery and tanks.
To meet a critical emergency of
engine parts in battle zones, the gov
ernment has undertaken a 50 mil
lion dollar expansion-of the industry,
and established special panels, or
committees, in the seven major
plants for speeding up of output.
Labor Relations
Supplementing its previous policy
of plant seizures to back up War
Labor board rulings designed to set
tle industrial disputes, the U. S.
drew a new weapon to force com
pliance through cancellation of a
firm's government contracts.
In following such a course of ac
tion against the E. A. Laboratories
of Brooklyn, N. Y., Economic Sta
bilization Director Vinson said that
the U. S.'s procedure was legal, in
sofar as the- courts have frequently
held that no business has an auto
matic right to getting a government
contract.
Despite the U. S.'s power to influ
ence compliance with WLB orders
through plant seizures and withhold
ing of priorities, in addition to con
tract cancellations, OES Chieftain
Vinson said that still more effective
action could be obtained through
legislation furnishing non-compli
ance.
I
CONGRESS:
Busy Session
Solons were putting in a busy ses
sion on capitol hill, engrossed In
semi-political, financial and insur
ance legislation.
Wallace Curb
Passed by the senate, the bill re
moving the Reconstruction Finance
corporation, with its vast loaning
powers, from the U. S. department of
commerce and Liberal Henry A.
Wallace's reach if appointed secre
tary of that office, went up before
the house.
In addition to stripping Wallace of
authority over RFC funds, which
conservatives feared he might use
for promotion of plans for govern
ment spending to provide "full em
ployment," house Republicans
sought to remove the secretary of
commerce from the board of the
700 million dollar export-import
bank, used to finance foreign busi
ness.
World Finance
Up prominently for congressional
consideration was the administra
tion-backed Bretton Woods postwar
world financial agreement, under
which the U. S. would contribute
about 6 billion dollars for two funds:
(1) to provide countries with for
eign exchange at par rather than
open-market value to stimulate their
purchasing powers, and (2) to guar
antee private loans made to coun
tries to help build up their econo
mtes_
In asking for congressional ap
proval of the Bretton Woods agree
ments, President Roosevelt said
they were the first step in a broad
program for international economic
cooperation, also including an Allied
food and agriculture organization,
expansion of the reciprocal trade
act of 1934, reduction of trade bar
riers and orderly marketing of cer
tain world surpluses.
Insurance
Continued state supervision of in
surance companies, but with strict
er control in harmony with federal
anti-trust laws, was promised in
congressional approval of legislation
postponing antimonopoly prosecu
tion against such businesses for
three years-and allowing states that
time to set up tighter reulations.
Brought to a head by a recent
Supreme court decision declar
ing insurance companies subject to
anti-trust laws, the question of fed
eral control over the business drew
little support from congress, with
legislators contending that the indi
vidual states were best qualified to
regulate the matter according to
their particular requirements.
I
Farm Credit Standing High
By WALTER A. 8HEAD
WND Staff Correspondent
WASHINGTON.?For every dol
lar farmers borrowed In 1944,
they repaid $3.59 on loans made
prior to that year, reducing the
farm mortgage debt to the lowest
point In 39 years, according to a
report of the Federal Land Bank
system.
For the year the volume of
farm loans outstanding was re
duced 17 per cent. The total vol
ume of land bank and commis
sioner loans made In 1944
amounted to 9195,292,900. During
the year a uniform 4 per cent
interest rate was established on
most outstanding land bank loans.
Farm mortgage loans in good
standing reaehed a new high at
the year's end with 93.6 per eent
of aU Federal land bank and 91.7
per eent of commissioner loans
current on an payments of prin
cipal and Interest.
NEW INSTRUMENT:
Aids B-29s
One of the war's most remarkable
scientific achievements ? an "air
position indicator" ? has been play
ing an important role in charting
the long skyroads to Tokyo for navi
gators of America's B-29 super-for
tresses, the army revealed.
Developed by engineers of Bendix
Aviation corporation in cooperation
with the army and navy, the indica
tor records continuously and auto
matically the exact "air position" of
a huge super-fort in flight on a
single dial giving the navigator an
instantaneous reading of his longi
tude and latitude and saving hours
of complex calculations.
No larger than a quart milk bot
tle, the computing device not only
shows "air position in degrees of
longitude and latitude," but also
gives the navigator a continuous
record of air miles flown from the
take-off point and indicates the cor
rect compass heading of the air
plane, engineers explained. From
these readings, plus a check of wind
drift, the B-29 navigator can con
tinuously plot his ship's "air posi
tion" on the map and keep his plane
more accurately an the bomber
route to Japan and return.
Snapshot! of Big Shots:
(This Is what comas front
reading books!)
Edfar Allan Poe was a dollar-*
year-man too. ... He spent 10 years
writing and rewriting "The Raven"
and got 10 bucks for it. . . . The
original manuscript sold the last
time for $10,000. . . . Poe paid $3
a month rent for his honeymoon cot
tage on Grand Concourse (in the
Bronx), which is now a New York
state historical shrine. If it hadn't
been a grand neighborhood for
dandelions he and his bride would
have starved.
Marconi, son of an Italian father
and Irish mother, was 27 when he
invented radio, and even then there
were people who wanted to kill him.
. . . These cranks said electrical
waves were passing through their
bodies, destroying their nerves and
making it impossible for them to
sleep.
Barn am, who sold "there'* one
born ever; minute," was one
himself. Be lost a fortune on a
bear's grease hair tonic, was
swindled out of %nother selling il
lustrated bibles, trimmed a tain
on a fire extinguisher that
wouldn't extinguish, went into '
bankruptcy for half a million 1
making alarm clocks. . . , With
out a dime to his name he wrote
a lecture on "How to Make
Money," grossing $1,900 a night.
. . . And that's how the famous
Barnumism was born.
Alexander Dumas, one-fourth
Negro, whose book, "The Three
Musketeers," was a best seller for
almost 100 years, used to boast that
he had more than 500 children and
swore he would never marry. . . .
He changed his mind when a smart
I sweetheart bought up all his debts
! and gave him a choice between
j marriage and jail. ... He wrote
novels on blue paper, poetry on yel
low, articles on red, and nothing
else would do. . . . He wrote more
than 1,200 volumes of plays, novels
and histories, made over 5 million
dollars and died broke, living off the
charity of his son.
Woolworth started his Bve
and-dime stares on a capital of
(300, and his first three failed.
Thirty years later he was able
to pay $14,0M,0M cash for the
building bearing his name, then
the world's highest ofllee build
L tag.
George Gershwin sold his first
song for $5; nine years later a
Hollywood studio paid $50,000 just td
use "Rhapsody in Blue," which he
wrote in his spare time, in a single
picture.
sir iiuc newton *u to ab
sent-minded he once rammed hit
nieee't fingers Into hit pipe. . . .
Trying to fix himself a three
mlnnte egg, he boiled hit watch
while watching the egg. . . .
When he went to fetch anything
he ntnally eame back without
it. ... He wat ntnally lait in
hit elaia at tebool. ... Be wat
a woman hater and never mar
ried. ... He ahrayt claimed he
eoived many of hit mathemati
cal problemt in hit aleep.
\
Dr. Samnel Johnson continually
distorted hit face by violent grim
aces. . . . When walking in the
street he touched every pott he
patted and if he missed one he al
ways returned. He always made a
point of entering or leaving a door
on a certain foot, but hit biograph
er, Botwell, wasn't sure which one.
Lard Byron wat to emotional that
once a theatrical performance put
him into convulsions. . . . In a fit
of. temper he threw his watch into j
the fire and hammered it to pieces
with the poker. ... He also fired a
pistol in the bedroom of his wife,
who left him after a year of mar
riage. ... So he went to Venice and
bought a harem.
Schiller liked to keep his feet
in ice while working. ... He once
wrote a full and perfect description
of the Swiss land and people ? al
though he knew neither. . . . Cole- !
ridge, who wrote "Kubla Khan" un
der the influence of an opiate, could
remember only 94 lines when he
sufficiently recovered to write. . . .
Richelieu at times imagined himself
to be a horse and neighed, trotted
and Jumped like one. . . . Beau
Brummel, the fashion plate * (who
taught the Prince of Wales how to
dress), died in rags in an Insane
asylum.
?War Bonds Are Your Safest Investment; ^
Buy All You Can, Hold What You Havej
?
Rumof s Whispering
Of Repudiation Are
Vicious Propaganda
a ????
By WALTER A. 8HEAD
WNU Staff Correspondent.
Approximately 89,000,000
American citizens have bought
war bonds. That number is al
most twice as many as the total
of voters in the last national
election. And that, it seems to
me, is the best answer to the sub
versive propaganda that the
government might repudiate
payment of war bonds.
It's the best answer from a prac
tical standpoint, because repudi
ation must be voted by the congress
and no congress in its right political
mind would vote to nullify the 41
billion-dollar holdings of 89 million
Americans who have purchased 750,
389,800 individual and separate war
bonds through January 1, 1945.
Add to this 41 billion dollars in
war bonds approximately 137 billion
dollars worth sold in other govern
mental bonds and securities over the
same period of time to banks, cor
porations, insurance companies and
other large investors, and you have
\ another added and compelling rea
* son why no congress will ever vote
' repudiation of these governmental
obligations sold to aid in financing
the war.
These war bonds and other govern
ment securities have behind them
the security, the faith and the integ
rity of the United States government
. . . exactly the same guarantee of
payment as a dollar bill. And if your
war bonds should become worthless,
then your dollar bill will become
equally as worthless. And we have
behind war bonds a tradition and
record of the United States govern
ment of never having repudiated an
obligation In the 165 years of its ex
istence.
And right, here let's spike the fal
lacy in the minds of some people
that war bonds are being cashed in
at an alarming rate. They are not
being redeemed in any such
amounts, When someone sees a line
of people at a postoffice window or
at a bank counter cashing in war
bonds, the story ia immediately
spread that people ara cashing in
their bonds at an unprecedented
figure
Only 12 Per Cent Cashed.
When the treasury department
publishes its statements, for in
stance, as last October when sales
totaled $?5;000,000 and redemptions
totaled $400,006^X10,-the story was
immediately - broadcast that people
were cashing in their war bonds at
a ratio almost equalling sales. As
a matter of fact, the redemptions
last October were only 1.16 per cent
of the total bonds outstanding.
In October redemptions were un
usually heavy for the reason that it
was the first month in which banks
were authorized to redeem bonds
over the counter direct, and many
persons had the mistaken idea that
the treasury was inviting these re
demptions because it was made so
convenient. When. this impression
was dispelled, redemptions steadily
declined. November redemptions
were 1.08 per cent; December, .98,
and January redemptions went down
to .89 per cent.
Total cumulative redemptions of
war bends, that is the series E, F
and G bonds, as of January 1, 1915,
amount to 12.04 per cent of the
total bonds sold.
It means that out of the 41 billion
dollars in war bonds sold, about 36
billion is still in the hands of the
people who bought them. Or in oth
er words about 12 cents out of each
dollar spent for war bonds has been
redeemed.
Honey for Taxes Needed.
Certain months of the year, such
as the toxpaying months, always
show a heavier redemption percent
age than other months. The treas
ury policy from die inception of war
bond sales has been that the whole
! 4
Remember this .,. anyone toho
tells you that your government is
likely to repudiate one dollar's
worth of these bonds, or that the
American people are cashing
them in faster than they are buy
ing them, it passing alonj propa
ganda inspired in Berlin or
Tokyo!
lnancing program should, be vol
mtary and that persons wishing
0 buy war bonds should be able to
>uy them conveniently. Hence war
>onds may be purchased at banks,
lost offices, theaters, retail stores,
ind at scores of other places.
Then, the treasury reasoned, It
ihould be equally convenient to re
leem war bonds for emergency pur
roses, so all banks who desired,
vere authorized to redeem the
ronds over the counter, instead of
he former longer, more complicat
;d method of sending the bond to
he nearest Federal Reserve bank.
Who are the war bond redeemers
. . the men and women who cash
in these 12 cents out of the dollarT
Almost invariably they are families
whose only saving has been the war
bonds they bought, and, thus, when
an emergency arose their war bonds
were their only recourse. The war
bond redeemer is in the low income
bracket, has an income probably less
than $3,000 per year, and a larger
than average family. The chances
are he buys his war bonds through a
1
payroll aavlnga plan at hii place of
employment. Chances are, too, that
he over-bought according to his in
come, since being patriotic, he want
ed to do just as much as his fellows.
Investigation shows that many
men and women in these families
forced to redeem their war hoods
were, ten years age, on WPA or the
recipient of seme community wel
fare program. They were not on
that program willingly, and neither
are they at the bank window cash
ing in their hoods willingly today.
These bonds are their only liquid
asset when an emergency comes ...
death, child birth, hospitalisation,
and temporary unemployment.
The treasury also has learned that
the redeemer of war bonds does not
necessarily cash in all his bonds, nor
does he close out his payroll sav
ings account... he keeps on buying.
And this is proved conclusively by
the fact that war bonds purchased
through payroll savings since the
first war loan in 1942 have steadily
increased each month from 307 mil
lion dollars in December, 1942, to
more than $500,000,000 per month to
day. Every war loan has been
marked by a rise in the regular
allotment of workers for war bonds,
as well as a steadily increasing rise
in the national level of payroll sav
ings as against total payroll.
Savings Dp 56% in Tear.
During 1944 the withdrawals of de
posits in savings accounts in the
banks of the nation by individuals
amounted to approximately 20 per
cent and at the same time these sav
ings accounts showed a net gain of
approximately 54 per cent. War
bonds, although showing an 8 per
cent gain in redemptions over 1948,
at the same time show an 85 per
cent Increase in sales. While the
cumulative rate of redemption to the
amount of bonds outstanding is 12.04
>
per cent, the average redemption
rate over the four-year period, 1M1
through 1944, amounts to slightly
less than 10 per cent per year.
Let's take one year of war bond
redemptions and compare them
insurance policy lapses. In 1943, lor
instance, total redemptions of wan}
bonds to amount of bonds outstandj
ing at the end of the year was U>
per cent. In 1940 for all legal re
serve life insurance companies <ha{
dollar amount of policy surrenders
and lapses was 6 per cent of the in-;
surance in force at the end of thai
year. In #942 the ratio was 4 past
cent.
This tremendous voluntary fas
gram of war ananeing, so vast ha
Its ramifications, Is not only the
greatest financing record In an his
tory, it has brought about the groat
est pool of savings In liquid asoctn
lb the history of any people.
The six war loan drives in them
selves produced more than 109 bO
liona of dollars from the sale od att
government securities offered, M
billions more than the combined
goals set for these drives. The sixth
war loan, in itself, exceeded the cm
tire finance program of World Waw
I. Four Liberty loan drives and can
Victory drive in World War I ginanrd
$21,432,924,700. There were an sati
ated 66 million subscribers but moat
of this sum teas raised by Inil'mishi
a Is, banks and business firms ahlo
to buy $10,000" and upwards in Lib
erty bonds. In this war more than
21 billion dollars, from M milHw
persons were obtained in the sfcrife
war loan drive alone 1
People Par 88 Per Ceat el War Cm*.
How has this voluntary piogtam
oi war financing been used towasd
paying the cost of the war? How
are a few figures.
From May 1, 1941, the start ad
the war finance program, throats
December 31, 1944, the govei
spent 281 billion dollars. Of Ma
amount 21 billions was used for
war expenditures, including the in
terest on the public debt, leaving
240 billion spent on the cost ol the
war.
Out of this 261 billions, 101 hilBnaa.
or 38.7 per cent of the total, has baew
raised through net receipts of taxes,
so the excess of spending over tax
receipts from May 1, 1941, to Janu
ary 1, 1945, has been 160 billions ad
dollars.
During this same period the gov
ernment has borrowed 178 hilhraa
of dollars through sale of govern
mental securities. This equals the
41 billion sold in war bonds and the
137 billion in other securities. Of
this 178 billion, 75 billions have he?
borrowed directly or indirectly has
banks. The rest, 103 billions, or 57.?
per cent, has come from non-bank
ing sources, 42 billions of it baas
individual citizens.
The act of all this Is that the Amer
ican people are bnyiag war beads
and that almost 88 per eeat at tka
amount borrowed for the war aaak
has been paid by individuals ad
non-bankingg sources . . . they asa
buying bonds and holding S? eat of
every $188 they bay, sad the reaaad
indicates that they will keep ea hp
lag them so long as they are edarad
for sale, or so long as the ??Mew
needsjheir money to help "
T4 U . ...44. ..i. 1 4 4U.4 8k.
*? ? ? F1*"/ NUC UCl Ulll IB*
treasury department, as a result at
its experience with baby bonds be
fore the war, and with war t"****1*
since May 1, 1M1, wffl continue bt
the bond business after the war ie
over. People have the habit at bey
ing government bonds and there ie
no indication now that there win be
any concerted rush to the banks te
cash in these bonds when the war
is over.
The very great majority of these'
win be held to maturity. And tods*
bond buying is on a 24-hour bada
not only on the home front, but ae
every battle front where Ameri
epni are fighting to makitah Hio
freedom and integrity at a govern
ment and a way of life of whfcfc
these bonds are a symbol. A
TOTAL SALES OF WAR BONDS *41,612
Bin iiuion of DOUAJtS ,
^194^ 1942 ^ 1943 ^ t944 {
?*?-wc ' i-i-,,
BUY BONDS I REDEEM BONDS I
?* J ? bKMH Value of Bond* enalied
^ in klmfhm 12 per cent
of Boodi (old per month.