The Alamance Gleaner
? m
Vol. LXXI GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1945 . No. 6
??? 1 ? ????.? .?? . ??? - -
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Japs Fight to the Last on Iwo;
Lend-Lease Aids Russ Assault;
9,000 Planes Pace Push on Nazis
? Released by Western Newspaper Onion. ?1
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these eolnmns. they are those of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily of this newspaper.)
Floated to wherever it U needed, this huge drydock submerges to permit entry
of vessel, which is then secured to keel blocks. Upon rising, the drydock lifts the
ship from water and allows workers to service the vessel.
PACIFIC:
To the Last Man
Entrenched in caves, well
equipped with light and heavy guns
onH nrHnmH tr? ficrht
to the last man, Ja
pan's 20,000 defend
ers of tiny Iwo Jima
island put up a fa
natical, though hope
less, fight for this
tiny stepping-stone
to Tokyo in the face
!of an overpowering
marine assault sup
porceo uy we uiun
Sgt. Rot E. dering bombard
Heinecke ment of U. S. naval
1st Marine vessels and air
on Iwo craft.
Far to the south, U. S. army troops,
mopping up remnants of Japanese
opposition in Manila, encountered
' equally fanatical resistance in bitter
cloSe-quarter fighting, typified by
the wild action inside the Manila ho
"tel, where Yanks shot it out up stair
ways, through corridors and in
rooms to clean the enemy from the
top floors.
Iwo Jima's airfields, from which
"the Japs threatened the advance U.
S. base in the Marianas 800 miles
away, were the prize objectives of
"the marine assault, which carried
clear across the southern end of the
island in. the early fighting. Holed
up in the rolling.country, and wiped
out only after intensive fire, the Japs
exacted a heavy toll of the invad
ers, with losses far above those suf
fered at Tarawa.
Inside Japan
From inside Japan came reports
of a lowering wartime living stand
ard of a country noted for frugal
accommodations in peace, and of a
Tigid civilian discipline.
With 20 per cent less food than
before the war, each Jap has been
restricted to monthly allotments of
a half pound of sugar, four pounds
of vegetables and 20 pounds of rice.
Matches, medicine, gasoline, fuel
and clothing are rationed, and the
nation's women are asked to cut
?off their kimona sleeves and wear
?overalls to ease the apparel pinch.
All men between 12 and 60, and
-unmarried women between 12 and
40, must register for compulsory la
bor, and employees must report
lot work in war plants despite air
raids.
"WAGE BOOSTS:
Held Up
Inter - governmental wrangling
complicated recent War Labor
board decisions boosting worker in
comes within the framework of the
stabilization program pegging gen
eral wage increases to 15 per cent
of January, 1941, levels.
In the cases involving 145,000
. packing-house and 50,000 textile
workers,' WLB grants were held up
until settlement of WLB's dispute
with office of Economic Stabilizer
, Director Vinson over necessity of
IOPA to determine whether any pay
boosts would require a markup in
distributors' costs, thus affecting the
price control program.
In passing on the packing-house
workers case, WLB called upon the
companies to bear the cost at em
ployees' clothing, tools and upkeep
of implements, and also directed
that the guaranteed work week
must be extended from 32 to 36
hours. In the case of the textile
workers, the WLB increased the
minimum wage from 50 to 55 cents
an hour and granted a fiat 5 cents
an hour boost to preserve present
geographical and Job differentials.
LEND-LEASE:
Over 35 Billion
With lend-lease- reaching an all
time high in the first hall of 1944 due
to preparations lor D-Day and the
great Soviet winter offensive, such
aid lor the whole year reached al
most 15 V4 billion dollars and a grand
total ol over 35' billion dollars since
going into effect.
In recounting lend-lease aid, For
eign Economic Administrator Leo
Crowley pointed out that the U. S.
has shipped 362,000 motor vehicles
alone to Russia, and that on some
parts ol the eastern tront American
trucks are carrying more than one
hall the supplies lor Red troops. In
addition, Crowley said, Russia has
received 12,000 planes.
Compared with Russia, Britain
has received 80,000 vehicles and
8,500 planes, Crowley revealed, but
other shipments have made the Unit
ed Kingdom the largest recipient ol
lend-lease, with 43 per cent ol the
total. With the opening ol the new
supply road trom India to China,
the U. S. expects to materially boost
deliveries to the latter, with plans
calling lor shipment ol 15,000 trucks.
Mentioning that it took only 1V?
per cent ol cigarette production, and
less than 1 per cent ol the beel sup
ply, Crowley said that lend-lease was
not a determining lactor in civilian
shortages.
EUROPE:
Air Help
Maceintf almnet ?Vinir anfira
strength, Allied air chieftains threw
upwards of 9,000 fighters and bomb
ers at Nazi targets on both the west
ern and eastern fronts in support
of ground troops hacking forward
against subborn opposition.
Disruption of enemy communi
cations feeding their embattled
forces in the west and Italy was the
objective of the 7,000 planes the U.
S. and British sent out, with the
heavies cascading tons of explosives
on rail yards and the fighters swoop
ing down out of the skies to shoot up
locomotives, freight cars and motor
vehicles.
Fortifications as well as communi
cations were the targets of some
2,000 Russian planes in the east,
concentrated against the enemy in
East Prussia, where the Nazis put
up a stiff fight to hold open the
Baltic port of Pillau above besieged
Koenigsberg.
In the groand fighting in the west,
the whole front was aflame as the
V. 8. Mh and part of the M armies
drove for the Rhine land with Its all
Important industry, while the other
part of the Srd and the 7th armies
clamped a tightening vise on the
8aar basin with its rich coal and
Iha deposits.
As the Tanks slagged forward,
is stiff fighting, British and Cana
dian Tommies continued to make
slow, but steady, progress at the
far northern end of the Siegfried
line, enveloping the vital road hub
of Calcar, upon which German de
fenses turned for preventing a sweep
to the rear of their whole Rhine
land front.
In the east, German women, in
furs and plain clothes, were put to
work building barricades in Berlin
as Marshal Ivan Konev's First
Ukranian army drew up from the
south on a line with Marshal Greg
ory Zhukov's First White Russian
force for the grand assault on the
Nazi capital. Meanwhile, the Reds
continued to press their attacks
against German forces threatening
the flanks of Konev's and Zhukov's
armies.
LABOR DRAFT:
Weaken Bill
With compulsory work legislation
bitterly opposed by labor and in
dustry alike, a weakened labor draft
bin received careful senate consid
eration after hasty house passage of
a sterner measure.
With the senate discarding the
house measure under which local J
draft boards could order registrants
from 18 to 45 into essential war jobs (
at the risk of induction or fine and ,
imprisonment in case of refusal, it j
took up a substitute empowering the ,
War Manpower commission to limit j
employment in establishments and (
channel excess workers into war in- j
dustry.
Though milder in form than the j
house measure, even the substitute J
bill ran into strong opposition be- ,
cause of the stiff fines and im
prisonment provided for violation of
the WMC rulings. In helping draw (
up the bill for whole senate con- ,
sideration, Kentucky's Senator ,
"Happy" Chandler said he favored ,
the incorporation of stiff punishment
"... so any senator would be justi- ,
fled in voting against any manpower ,
bill before the committee. .
Nurses Face Call <
With recent recruitments falling
below needs, the house moved to
draft unmarried nurses from 20 to I
44 years of age, with some mem- I
bers seeking to provide sufficient
safeguards to maintain essential
hospital services at home.
Under the bill's provisions, drafted
nurses would be commissioned sec
ond lieutenants in the army and giv
en comparable rank in other serv
ices, but they would be subject to
duty in whatever kind of nursing
most needed.
Of the nation's 240,000 registered
nurses, approximately 60,000 are
now in the services. There was re
cent need for an additional 20,000
to help meet needs occasioned by
mounting casualty lists.
Late Delivery
Three hundred and seventy-five days
after conception, 25-year-old Mrs. Beulah
Hunter of Los Angeles, Calif* gave birth
to 6 pounds, 15 ounce baby daughter in one
of the most unusual cases in medical an
nals. The average period of gestation is
280 days.
Countering scoffers, Dr. Daniel Belts, the
attending physician, declared that careful
examination had first indicated birth by
last November. "... I am convinced there
definitely was a stoppage of growth be
tween the third and sixth month of preg
nancy," he said.
Closest appreach to the case in his rec
ords, Dr. Belts said, teas a pregnancy of
359 days.
CURB NIGHTERIES:
Seek Revision
As War Mobilization Director
James F. Byrnes' order closing
night clubs, saloons, road houses,
theaters, dance halls and other
places of entertainment to conserve
fuel went into effect, operators
planned a counter-proposal under
which they would shut down on Sun
days and keep open to 2 a. m. week
days.
In pushing the proposal, operators
claimed that it would not only ac
complish the purpose of saving 25
hours a week of fuel use, but also
permit them to keep their doors
open by appealing to the late thea
ter crowds and the merry-makers
who sart spending money oround
midnight.
In anticipation of the shorter hours
and smaller crowds, New York night
clubs released 5,000 of their 50,000
employees as the order went into ef
fect, and the famed Diamond Horse
shoe proprietor, Billy Rose, wailed:
"The way it stands now, this will
put us all in bankruptcy."
OIL:
U. S. Reserves
While taking over 1V4 billion bar
rels of oil out of the ground in 1944,
the U. S. discovered reserves of 2
billion barrels during the year, the
American Petroleum institute re
ported, to bring the country's known
surplus pools of this vital mineral
to over 20 billion barrels.
in discussing the reserve situation,
the institute cautioned against try
ing to estimate the period of time
known surplus pools woald last, ex
plaining: . . Known oil can be
recovered only over a period of
many years and at gradually de
clining rates. . . ."
Leader in 1944 production with an
estimated 747,790,000 barrels, Tex
as also leads in reserves with 11,-1
379,490,000, or half the total. Next in
line is California, with output of
>11,771,000 barrels and reserves of
1,344,562,000. 1
Vote* of a Newspaper Man:
This, they tell yon, happened at
Lhe Big 3 conference. . . . One eve
ling after dinner Roosevelt, Church
ill and Stalin started speculating on
what nationality they'd prefer to be
if they couldn't be their own. .
Churchill said: "If I couldn't be
British I'd want to be American."
. . Roosevelt said: "If I wasn't
American, I'd be British." .,. Stalin
said: "If I wasn't Russian I'd be
ashamed of myself!"
Daring the recent ran of the Thea
ter Guild's "Embezzled Heaven,"
the star, Ethel Barrymore, was
rushed to the hospital with pneu
monia. She was placed in an oxy
gen tent. . . . President Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill were among
the many who sent posies and tele
grams, and for a few weeks every
one despaired of her pulling through.
. . . Finally, the worst was over and
the star was permitted to sit up in
bed and answer the phone. . . . The
first caller was the Guild's Theresa
Helburn.
"Hello," she cheerily said, "how's
your cold?"
The other night a Hungarian play
wright was told an actor had arrived
from Hungary. . . . "Do you know
himT" he was asked.
"Know him?" was the retort.
"He's my best friend. I hate him!"
On recant paragraph! about
mil placed commas brought the
one a boat the London Daily Mail,
which has a reputation tor mak
ing fewest errors. ... All sorts
of editorial supervision was em
ployed?bonuses were offered the
staff to maintain the highest
standards, etc. But the Mall was
still less than perfect.
Finally, the editor summoned
the staff and announced: "Here
after, the first copy will be print
ed on special stock and sent to
the King of England."
Editorial blunders dropped M
per cent.
A Texan In London was trying to
impress some Britishers with the
size of his home state. "Do you
know," he said, "that in Texas you
can hop on a railroad car at 8 in
the morning and still be in Texas
after riding 24 hours?"
"We," repUed a Britisher, "have
trains like that in England, too."
It happened at the premiere of
"One Man Show." . . . The curtain
was up and a woman was making
a big to-do as she got into her seat,
huffing and puffing. . . . Seated near
her was George Luddy, the Indian
born author. ... He polished her off
neatly by audibly remarking: "Don't
worry about her. She's so used to
the second balcony?that sitting in
the orchestra tonight has given her
the shakes."
The exciting stories from Ma
nila Included the one about an
American radio reporter who
was freed after three years as
a Jap prisoner. He was forced
off the air one day as the Japs
entered the city. The other
morning, said the papers, he re
sumed broadcasting this way:
"As I was saying when I was so
rudely interrupted?"
De Valera of Eire whs arrest
ed while speaking at a street
meeting several years age.
When he was freed years later,
his fast statement was: "As I
was saying when I was se rude
ly interrupted?"
Msrgslc GiUmore, the actress,
was anxious to becoma a nursa's
aide but - found aha didn't - have
enough stamina for the work?being
frightened by the sight of blood, etc.
So aha compromised by becoming a
Gray Lady (one who reads to the
convalescent servicemen, etc.) . . .
Margalo was telling Carolyn Burke
about her duties. . . . "Just what is
a Grey LedyT" asked Carolyn. . . .
"A Grey Lady In my case," said
Margalo, "is a yellow nurse's aide."
There eras the time the late Alex
Woollcott was the victim of a type
setter's error. . . . The critic once
referred to a famous recitalist as
"a popular dieuse."
It came out: "Popular disease."
When critic Raseoe covered the
new play, "Hope for the Best," he
was no little flattered that the prin
cipal comedy line (used intermittent
ly throughout the three acts) was
something he wrote many years ago.
It was: "Something no wife can ever
understand, no matter if she lives
with the man for 29 years, is that
a writer is working when be Is star
ing out of the window."
War Surplus Property of 103 Billion
Dollars Will Be Made Available to Public*
Some Goods Earmarked
For Farmers, Balance to
Enter Trade Channels
Mr WALTER A. SHEAD
WNU WuklnitM CorrsiptBliDt.
Released by Weatsrn Newspaper Union.
WASHINGTON, D. C.?Approxi
mately a half billion dollar* worth of
consumer goods from surplus war
stocks will be offered for sale dur
ing the coming year through tha
medium of the procurement divi
sion of the United States treas
ury, according to reliable sources
hero
Treasury procurement, however, is
only one of six governmental agen
cies involved in the sale of surplus
war properties, so the total may run
to double that sum. The other agen
cies are Reconstruction Finance cor
poration and its subsidiaries, han
dling capital goods, lands and war
plants; War Food administration,
selling food and foodstuffs; the
Maritime commission, handling all ,
marine equipment; the army and
navy, disposing of materials abroad
and certain small stuff here at home;
and the Federal Housing adminis
tration, which will handle sale of
government-owned housing proj
ects.
Estimates are that the total
potential value of surplus war
properties will run approxi
mately 103 billions of dollars, or
more than the total sales of
Sears, Roe back Jk company far
a hundred years at their present
annual rate of sales. 1
During the first six months war
properties have been on sale, only
$135,164,000 was realized out of a
total declared surplus valued at
$966,000,000. From this fact it can
readily be seen that sales must be
stepped up considerably If the gov
ernment is to realize a high per
centage of the appraised value of the
property. Of the amount already
sold, receipts were approximately 75
per cent of appraised value.
For this reason .treasury procure
ment, which will handle about 60
per cent of the total declared sur
plus, is planning increased activity
during the coming fiscal year and
is now asking an appropriation of
$20,750,000 to virtually double its
present personnel of about 5,000 em
ployees in its 11 regional offices
throughout the country.
This surplus material will cover
every conceivable item of goods and
commodities from small hardware
items to defense plants and ship
yards. It must be borne in mind,
however, that the government is not
in the retail business and the gen
eral public is not eligible to pur
chase this stock direct.
Farmer* to Get Break.
Intent of the law governing galea of
surplus properties la that farmers
are to get at least an even break in
opportunities to buy these com
modities which are in demand and
applicable to farm usage. In some
cases farmers are given preference.
For instance the Defense Plant cor
poration, a subsidiary of RFC, baa
held several auctions for the par
ticular benefit of farmers, of com
modities left over after war plant
construction. This property included
hoes, shovels, spades, paint, con
struction hardware and other items.
Treasury procurement, too,
holds some direct auctions of
livestock, such as horses aad
mules for benefit of farmers, but
otherwise all commodities aro
sold through bona fldo dealers.
, Any dealer, including farm coop
eratives, hardware stores, gen
eral stores, grain elevators, is eligi
ble to bid on any of the commodi
ties offered for sale in his region.
Twice each weak treasury procure
ment sends out a publication called
the "Surplus Reporter" from each of
the 11 regional offices listing items
to be up for sale, method of sale,
etc. Dealers chn readily be placed
on the mailing list by writing to
the nearest procurement office in
their territory. Procurement offices
are in the following cities:
Region 1?Boston; covering Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont.
Region 2 ? New York, Empire
State building; covering Pennsyl
vania, New York and New Jersey.
Region 3 ? Washington, D. C.?
Covering Delaware, Maryland and
North Carolina and Virginia.
Region 4?Cincinnati; covering In
diana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Vir
ginia.
Region 8?Chicago, 209 N. LaSalle
street, covering Illinois, Michigan,
Minnesota, North Dakota, South
J Dakota and Wisconsin.
Region <?Atlanta; covering Ala
bama, Florida, Georgia, Mlssiasip
, pi. South Carolina and Tennessee.
Region 7?Fort Worth; covering
I Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and
Texas.
Region 8?Kansas City, Mo.; cov
ering Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and
Nebraska.
Region 9?Denver; covering Colo
rado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyo
mi rig
Region 10?San Francisco, 30 Van
Ness avenue, covering Arizona, Cali
fornia and Nevada.
Region 11?Seattle, 2005 Fifth ave
nue, covering Idaho, Oregon, Mon
tana and Washington.
Large Assortment Given.
In advertising the producta for sale
treasury groups them under eight
general heads as follows: furniture,
general products, machinery, auto
motive, paper and office supplies,
medical and surgical, textiles and
wearing apparel, and hardware.
Furniture may include mattresses,
bedsprings, household furniture, to
office, shop, beauty parlor, barber
shop, tables, stools and numerous
other furniture supplies.
General products may include
anything from live animals,
lamps, water coolers, lighting
fixtures, photographic goods,
storage batteries and thousands
of other items.
Machinery may include powered
trucks, tractors, agricultural ma
chinery and implements, farm trail
ers, farm service tires, wagons,
dairymen's, poulterers' and apiar
ists' supplies.
Automotive includes all sorts of
motor vehicles and trucks, automo
Surplus army mattresses.
bile parts and accessories, tires,
motorcycles and other automotive
equipment.
One of the largest stocks is surgi
cal and medical equipment includ
ing drugs.
Textiles and wearing apparel may
include shoes, rubber goods, shirts,
raincoats, sleeping bags, gloves,
cots, pins, needles and dozens of
other articles.
Other items include thousands of
hardware articles such as kitchen
supplies, wire, screens, nails,
wheelbarrows, pushcarts, saddles,
tableware, jewelry, musical instru
ments, small arms ammunition and
others.
These lists merely give an idea
of the thousands of different com
modities which will be offered for
sale on bids ? and important to
know?bids under celling prices
which have been fixed by the OPA.
On some occasions OPA has not
fixed a ceiling until after the arti
cles have been sold, so what hap
pens then the treasury doesn't know.
Even dogs, trained In war
fare, carrier pigeons and moo
keys have been sold as snrptns
war property. A large nam her of
monkeys have been sold to soos
after they have been used by the
air corps to test altitude la
compression tanks. Through
these testa the Uvea of tlnnssads
of ear aviators have been saved.
Some of the objectives of the regu
lations governing the sale of this
tremendous volume of surplus war
property as set out by the war prop
erties board seek to foster wide
distribution of surplus commodities
to consumers at fair prices; to
achieve prompt and full utilization at
the property with due regard for the *
protection of free markets; to pre
vent dislocation of prices from on
controlled dumping; to avoid dis
locations of the domestic economy;
to encourage and foster postwar em
ployment opportunities; to assure
the sale of surplus property in such
quantitites and on such terms as
will discourage disposal to specula
tors or for speculative purposes; to
prevent insofar aa possible unusual
and excessive profits and to afford
returning veterans an opportunity ts
establish themselves as proprietors
of agricultural businesses.
This last objective brings up ths
regulations regarding the sale at
lands by the RFC. All government
owned land which is declared as
plus will be offered for sale to the
original owner, from whom it was
purchased by the government at ths
price paid. If sale is not then made,
it is offered to heirs or assigns.
Then the property is divided into
family sized plots and war veterans
are given preference as buyers.
Thus farmers will have an oppor
tunity to buy back their land and if
they do not, war veterans art gives
preference. Although much of this
land is farm land, hundreds of sexes
are included in suburban plots near
or adjacent to cities and towns.
DM. W- ?. - C.n A
Procedure lor farmers to obtaia n
military vehicle, either truck m
automobile is as follows: Make ap
plication to your local triple A of
fice. The farm transportation cms
mittee, WPB, PAW, or ODT regional
offices are authorized to issue let
ters of certification to essential
users. After the certificate of need
has been obtained sales must be
negotiated through a dealer who baa
purchased the vehicles from pra
curement. No trucks, autos or
other vehicles will be sold direct ta
consumers. There has been sumib
complaint from farmers about the
indirect method of purchase, but the
procedure outline is about as direct
as possible under the- regulations.
A trip through the sample roeaa
of the treasury procurement divi
sion in Washington is a revelation.
It's the most amazing collection aC
commodities imaginable: overalls,
khaki shirts, fleece-lined sleeping
tents and blankets, rubber lifeboats
for five people; rubber and loathes
overshoes; nurses' shoes; terpen
lins, all-steel tool boxes, table ware,
kitchen ware at all descriptions;
medical supplies; surgical and den
tal instruments; snow shoes, jungle
knives, imitation rifles; hardware at
all descriptions, such as nuts, bolts;
chains, hooks, and metal gadgets;
saddles, signal lights, flashlights;
spotlights, all-steel boxes which
would be suitable for mailboxes aw
for locking away valuable pap?;
all-rubber suits; woolen mittea<
leather gloves, photographers' ap
plies, even cameras.
Patently, it to ap to the deal
ers in the 1MM small towns
throughout the country. If tens
ers are to be able to bay thin >
surplus war property. The deal- .
er who h alert and watches |
for the sales dates may ha t
able ta lay in a stock at esse ?
modifies. Farm Cooperatives I
particularly, who deal h most L
everything the farmer aeeda,
might well be able te stock ap an
surplus com modifies at prism
which arouM be favorable ta
their customers or members.
In an effort to further inform
these dealers about prospect!?
sales and commodities for lalaa.
the procurement offices In each m
gion notify newspapers tf an im
pending sale through Intermittent
releases.
???
A large number off horses are being sold as surplus.