North Carolina Newspapers

The Alamance Gleaner ?' . VoL L^XI GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1945 No. 6 ???????????????^??? ? ?? r "WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Gfrmans Fight to Hold Vital H Industrial Districts in West; F. D. R. Draws Pattern for Peace Released by Western Newspaper Union. (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions ?? ???? Mlwms. they are these af Western Newspaper Union's news annlysta and not necessarily of this newspaper.) n?w???w^?awBaMWWiaiiBiiii I I18BBIBMMH?H??BHWk." WW 'iniwi WIWWIII .ijwuuwji ?i^??p??waaaiM?i??aa?? imii I iMtt?g,Zt . Able to perform the work of 12 coolies, this elephant los^s gas drums on American transport command plane flying supplies to troops in Burma. EUROPE: Vital Areas With Allied armies poised against both the vital Ruhr and Saar val leys, the Germans fought with their backs against the wall in a desper ate effort to hold on to these indus trial districts so important to their ability to continue the war. Already heavily battered by aerial bombardment, the Ruhr and Saar laced the prospect of destructive ar tillery drum-Are, destined to lay their smoke-blackened cities and coal and iron-mining districts in gaunt ruins. Offering only sporadic resistance to the rolling columns of U. S. and British troops west of the Rhine, the Germans beat a steady retreat back to the river, evidently intending to put up a strong stand behind the 1,300 to 3,270 foot wide waterway rather than in the rolling plains be fore it, where superior Allied armor could chew up their diminishing strength. During the Nazis' withdrawal, fleets of Allied bombers roared over rear areas, not only smashing at road and rail lines in an effort to hamper troop movements, but also hitting at armored formations con centrated behind the Rhine for a last ditch defense of the Ruhr. Full extent of the magnitude of the Al lied aerial bombardment can be gathered from reports that British based U. S. planes alone dropped 81,000 tons on Germany in February. While falling back to the Rhine on the V. S. 9th and 1st and the British 2nd* army fronts in the north, the Germans utilised the rugged Eifel and Hunsbruck mountain country at the north ern rim of the Saar in an effort _ to slow up the D. 8. 3rd army's smash to the south. In every way, the Germans, familiar from A to Z with the country, were making every attempt to nse the terrain to meet the Al lied threat with a minimum of manpower. Slightly larger than the state of Delaware, the besieged Ruhr cra dled 75 per cent of the enemy's war industry in 1942, with its great coal deposits, estimated at 90 per cent of.Germany's reserves and half of continental Europe's, forming the basis for its manufactories. Besides armaments, the Ruhr's 5,000,000 peo ple produced steel, chemicals, pig iron, textiles, synthetic oil, high oc tane gas, rayon, drugs, plastics, dyes, bricks, glass and pottery. Smaller than Rhode Island, the Saar also relied upon massive coal beds and iron deposits for the basis of its thriving industry, which pro duced steel, machinery, cement, plate glass, shoes, paper and textiles besides war goods. Pocketed before by the Ger ? ssans daring the letter's great sweets through Russia earlier la the war, wily Red generals were taking no chances on being nipped off all ever again en the eastern front. Although their forces had reached the Oder and Neisse rivers due east cf Berlin on a broad front, the Red generals sought to minimize the pos sibilities of a German attack on their flanks far to the rear of the forward positions. Holding up their Are on the central front until securing their flanks, the Reds exerted strong pressure against the Germans strung out along the Baltic coast immediately above the right whig at Zhuhov*s 1st White Rus sian army. To the south on the left wing of Konev's 1st Ukrainian army, the Reds guarded against the danger of a Nazi thrust from Upper Stlesia, where the latter bad set up strong lines to defend the industrial district and approaches to Czechoslovakia's Axis-worked war plants. ' ? MA. -- PACIFIC: Share Spotlight Carrier pilots, marines and army men all shared the spotlight in tha developing attacks aimed at smash ing Jap outposts of the home is lands to smoothen the road to Tokyo. Unchallenged by the once-vaunted Nipponese imperial fleet, Vice Ad miral Marc Mitscher's famed Task Force 58 continued to roam in the enemy's home waters, with his car rier planes, following up daring attacks on Tokyo, smashing at the Ryukyu islands flanking the sea route to the east. Having overrun the southern half of Iwo Jima, battle-hardened ma rines pressed the remnants of 20,000 With fati deleted according to censorship rales, Jap prisoner receives smoke (rem U. S. marines en Iwo Jlma. defenders into the northern part of the island, using flame throwers along with light arms to root the enemy from well-designed natural entrenchments. In the Philippines, army men, having cleared Manila, fanned out to the north, east and south to clear resistance from the rest of Luzon, with heavy fighting still ahead. WORLD PEACE: Pattern for U. S. Once quoted as saying that schol arly Woodrow Wilson failed to se cure U. S. entrance into the League of Nations because he was not a politician. Master Politician Frank lin D. Roosevelt fired the first gun in the campaign to obtain approval for this country's participation in a postwar organization to preserve peace in an address to the nation and congress on the historic Yalta conference. To assure the effectiveness of a postwar peace program, the Presi dent said U. S. collaboration must be two-fold: First, this country must join in a world organization to suppress ag gression, if necessary, by force. Second, the U. S. must provide relief to alleviate suffering in the liberated states, and furnish credits for the reconstruction of their econ omy so that they might be able to resume full production and stand on their own. "There can be no middle ground," declared the President. "We shall have to take the responsibility for world collaboration or we shall have to bear the responsibility for another world conflict. . . ." Aid French In an agreement that might set the pattern for future arrangements, the U. S. granted the French a 1% billion dollar lend-lease credit to be paid within 30 years. Under the agreement providing for shipment of over 1H billion dollars of raw materials, food, petroleum products and light manufacturing equipment, repayment would be in 30 annual installments at 3% per cent interest, while deliveries of al most 1 billion dollars of locomotives, freight cars, machinery for mines, industrial equipment, ships and barges would be made with a 20 per cent down payment and 30-year amortization of the remainder. To maintain the present French army and double its strength of eight divisions, the U. S. agreed to con j tinue lend-leasing military supplies. : In return, the French promised in 1 creased reciprocal aid. MEAT: Scarcity Felt Recent tightening up ot meat ra tioning reflected frequent warning of government officials in recent weeks that short supplies could be expected until late summer or fall when live stock marketings should increase. With the present meat situation aggravated by the sharp drop in hog slaughtering in the face of heavy mil itary requirements, March alloca tions to civilians will fall about 6 per cent below February and 14 per cent below January. In an effort to spread the civilian supply of all meat, point values were raised on a wide range of cheaper beef and pork cuts, with reductions for choice beefsteaks and roasts fail ing to offset the increases because of the relative scarcity of such items. Affected by the latest point revi sion were a wide variety of sausages and canned meats previously uncon trolled. COAL MINERS: Start Bargaining Having previously filed a 30-day notice of the intent to strike in case of a snag in negotiations for a new contract, United Mine Workers Chief tain John L. Lewis sat down with coal operators to bargain for a new pact as government officials warned of an impending coal shortage even without a walkout. ^ Although he did not ask for a basie wage increase, Lewis demanded a royalty of 10 cents for every ton of coal to build up a $55,000,000 medical and rehabilitation fund; time and a half beyond a seven-hour day and 35 hours a week, and a 10 cent differ ential for the second shift and 15 cents for the third. With requirements continuing at peak levels and the mines' manpow er problems becoming more acute with the loss of an estimated 30,000 men from an already shrunken force, a 50,000,000-ton shortage of coal is in prospect unless the Euro pean war ends this year, it was said. Industrial reserves were below standard in many regions, with New England electric utilities, for exam ple, possessing only an 89 days' sup ply compared with 102 last year. I ' Find Shell in Seaman Convalescing at the naval hoapital in San Francisco, Calif., from a com pound fracture of the leg and chest injuries incurred on a battleship off Leyte, Seaman Dewey Dupree, 20, of Poelousas, La, told doctors that he felt there was something inside of him. Thinking they had missed a piece of shrapnel, doctors ordered an x-ray, found a highly sensitive unexploded 20-mm. shell embedded in Seaman Dupree'a body. In operating to remove the pro jectile, the doctors had to exercise the greatest care, since the shell could have exploded on contact even with a surgical instrument. JET PLANES: V. S. Development Using an engine based on the de sign of Commodore Frank Whittle of the RAF, two American aircraft companies have produced a jet pro pelled fighter capable of flying over 500 miles per hour. Called the "Shooting Star," the new plane is supposed to be much more maneuverable than German jets because of the development of special devices for controlling wind resistance. Sleek in appearance, with the cockpit set before the wings, the new jet can carry heavy loads of ammunition, photographic equip ment and bombs and fuel. Principle of the new jet engine is simple: Wing ducts permit passage of air into a combustion chamber, where kerosene flame causes it to expand. Because of this expansion, the gases beat against one sida of the chamber, forcing a forward motion. ALLIED ARSENAL: If. S. Earns Title Possessed of almost unlimited re sources, a vast pool of skilled and unskilled labor and efficient manage ment, America has well earned the title of the arsenal of democracy during World War II. In supplying U. S. and Allied forces since 1M0, U. S. industrial production includ ed: 146,845 airplanes; 56,697 naval ves sels; 4,631 merchant ships; 75,204 tanks; 14,767 armored cars; 110,946 trucks over 2V4 tons, and 658,523 trucks under 2% tons. 2,422,099 machine guns; 5,942,385 rifles; 5,163,826 carbines; 130,017 tank and self-propelled guns; 48,952 army and anti-aircraft guns; 55,252 pieces of all types of field artillery; 4,130,000 tons of aircraft bombs; 59, 646,000 grenades, and 37,198,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. Because U. S. airmen and ground troops in Europe will have to be completely reequipped for the fight against Japan, war production will have to continue at a high level after Germany's fall, it was said. lint From a Blue Serge Suit: Confidential gov't lUUsUes reveal that Hitler la losing the war, but winning his biological aims. He has been able to stunt the growth ot ten million non-German children ot the next generation. .. . Marilyn Cantor, one ot Eddie's five daughters, will soon make her debut as a night club singer. ... A new Byrnes edict, they hear, may be the discourage ment ot dog shows. That overworked simile, "As per sistent as an insurance man," is de bunked by the news that ninety-two per cent ot all private American dwellings have no insurance against burglary. . . . When you hear any one say that a man is a member ot the RCF it means "Rocking Chair Fleet." .. . The big laugh these days is walking through Yorkville and seeing all the Italian spaghetti places which replaced the beer balls where the Bund boys plotted their putsches. Some Americans are urging a world-wide free press. It's a good idea.. But there are still many ob stacles to be overcome before the American press can be as free as the Constitution says it should be. . . . Sudden Thawt: The American war optimists aren't among the Americans taking part in the bitter struggle at Iwo. The end of the clfflt shortage will be a relief. Not became it will give os smokes?hot be cause it will stop the epidemic of nnfnnny gags. Those quips are harder to bear than the shortage. ... Of all things. The other day a solon attacked those wbo censor newspapermen. He was one who attempted to mos aic ns! . . . Law and order can stop rabble-rousers. About a year ago Boston hate spreaders ? were running wild. A new po ller chief was appointed, he cracked down on the trouble makers?and they scarried back to their holes. . . . The Bed Cross reports that onr men (held prisoner in Germany) are being neglected terribly since German officialdom has broken down. That onr men are freexing be cause of laek of proper apparel. . . . Over here, instead of pat ting Nasi prisoners in the North (In Wintertime) we bench many in Florida to trim palm trees! That's dnmboeraey! Unity Dep't: Sumner Welles Is making literary history. Two of his tomes are among the first ten best sellers. . v. Memo to those who be lieve war 'workers can be recruited via voluntary methods: A reliable daily reported that the voluntary methods were tried in one Massa chusetts town two weeks ago?and they flopped. ... So did the drive for war workers in Phila. Too think onr radio soap operas tug at the heart? You should hear the show called "The Robinson Family," a tear-duct dilly which BBC shortwaves to our shores. . . . "Jodie Mann" is a name said to have been coined by Louis Arm strong. It is spreading among GIs. It refers to a guy who thefts your girl while you're in uniform. ... A cop on a coast moyie lot, now over 70, has been sitting at the gate for years complaining of the inactiv ity. He recently bad a heart attack. The doc recommended: "Complete rest." ... Of all things! A dep't store on Wilshlre Ave., Los Angeles, offers women's kerchiefs for $129 each! Next to rattening Sinatra has be coma the pat aubjact for radio whaazaa. Ona racant weak four suc caaalva NBC shows twitted him. . . . Thoaa Jabbing blue pencils at news caatera who express opiniona ahould remember Oacar Wild'a common renae: "Ona can give a really un biased opinion only about thinfa that do not interest one, which to no doubt the reason an unbiased opin ion to always ra hie less." . . . Are drama critics losing their power? A play that opened a few days ago rated raves from two aisle-sitters? and it shuttered after two perform ances. The Newspaper Story ef the Week: A Chicago newspaper considered a campaign to name the city's new airport after America's highest ranking General. . . . The publish er, one at the New Deal's bitterest foes, eras pleased with the idea and started to promote the plan. . . . Until someone pointed out that the new airdrome would then also be named after the New Deal's best Chicago booster?"Marshall Field"! Better Farm Travel'Promised in Huge Federal-State Postwar Road Program Cooperation of Local Agencies Is Needed to < Assure Share in Projects. \ By WALTER SHE AD WNtT Washington Correspondent. '** 1 WASHINGTON, D. C.?Township trustees and highway super- j visors, county highway superintendents, boards of county com- , missioners and other officials of local governmental units, inter- l ested in secondary and feeder road construction and improvement i have an unprecedented opportunity to take advantage of thelaxg- j est grant-in-aid of federal runds in the history of the Public Roads 1 administration. ' * This grant of federal aid for highway and road construction, to be matched by the states on a 50-50 basis, totals $1,500,000,000 and 1 provides for a $500,000,000 expenditure of federal funds annually j for the first three postwar fiscal years. That means, if the several states take advantage of all the funds, an expenditure of three bil lion dollars on highways will be made in the three-year period. irus expenditure .la TO De aivioea $229,000,000 annually for the regular federal aid highways; $125,000,000 annually for urban projects on the federal aid highway system and $150,000,000 for secondary and feed er roads. And it is this latter appropriation with which we are particularly con cerned, for if all subdivisions of the state governments take advantage of this congressional appropriation for the three-year period it will mean an expenditure of $800,000,000 on these all-important farm-to-mar ket roads which constitute 88.8 per cent of all our public highway mile age. The importance of participation by local governmental officials is pointed out tor the reason that in most of the states it will be neces sary to enact enabling legislation in order that local road officials and state highway departments may get together on a comprehensive plan which win take in these farm-to market roads. The federal bureau of public roads deals only with state highway de partments, so the cooperation of state and local highway departments is essential if this money is to go to local road construction. Legislatures Meet. In every state in the union with the exception of Kentucky, Louisi ana, Mississippi and Virginia the state legislatures are, or have been, in session this year. The chances are that where necessary this en abling legislation is already before the state legislatures. In some states, for instance in North Carolina, West Virginia, Vir ginia,* Delaware and Maryland, all county roads have been taken over by the state highway departments. In other states, such as the New England states, there is a working agreement that the state highway departments build the county roads. The point is, however, that this is not a paternalistic gift to the local communities; the federal air is ex tended on the basis of seed and the extent of the cooperation between local road officials and their state highway departments. in ? gooa many nates a system of secondary roads has never been designated by the state highway departments, and this designation is one of the requirements so that the money spent can be under the super vision of the highway departments of the states. Insofar as the farm-to-market roads are concerned the $480,000,000 of federal funds for the three-year period will be apportioned to the states, one-third on the basis of area, one-third on the basis of rural population and one-third on the basis of rural post road mileage. The importance of the develop ment of these secondary and feed er roads to the basic economy of the rurkl districts of the, nation is immediately seen when it is pointed out that there site 3.W 000 miles of these roads sad only Mont 8 per cent of that milaage is paved. About 38 per cent isaurteced with such material as topsoil, shale, en treated gravel and eruahed rock and the remaining 87 par cent has no surfacing of any kind. In othar words the ndjliops of formers liv ing on this 87 per cent of the mile age of farm-to-market roads are still in the mud. While there are no clearly de fined boundaries of the areas of population groups especially served by any one of the three classes of roads, that is federal-aid highways, urban roada and streets and the farm-to-market roads, all areas and all populations derive soma benefit from the three groups of highways. It la apparent, however, that people living outside of any munici pality and people living in munici palities of less than 10,000 popula tion are especially interested in these farm-to-market or secondary toads. AfterHHHHi mm Widened, drained and graded, these county feeder roads In Mary land are near providing farmers I with faster and smoother service to marketing centers. ' And here are some population fig ures on that basis. There are ap proximately 21,000,000 people living i in towns of less than 10,000 and abort 48,000,000 people, mostly farm I ers, living outside of municipalities or a total of 80,000,000 people. So that 52.4 per cent of the total popu lation of the country are in areas where the secondary and feeder roads are located and would receive a large measure of benefit from their improvement. But to be more specific, 44,000,000 people live on these secondary roads and they constitute the life line for 92 per cent of the 8,100,000 farms in the nation. Travel studies for the year 1941 showed that of the total of 310,800,000,000 vehicle miles : traveled in the United States, 1CT7, 180,000,000 was on the farm-to-mar ket ~ roads, or 34.5 per cent of the total vehicle miles traveled. ui course me tunas to De avail able lor the improvement ol these secondary roads is net expected to improve all ol them and it is the responsibility of local road officials and the state highway departments to determine what proportion can best be improved to provide the greatest good lor the greatest number ol people. Fmdi "tntt-f According to estimates which have been received from many states it is doubtful that funds pro vided in the three-year period will provide improvement for as much as one-third of the entire secondary road system. And it is likely that thousands of miles of these second ary roads will never be Improved. For instance, F. R. White, chief engineer of the Iowa State highway System, in testifying before the house of representatives road com mittee, said that studies in his State indicated that improvement of about n per cent ei the rural sec ondary road mileage would provide a surfaced road to each farmhouse in the state. "A goodly portion of the re maining 17 per cent of the mile age is so little used es to be nothing more than land-use trails, which could well be abandoned as public highways and the land turned back to corn production," Mr. White said. In some states the need is much greater than in others, as was evi denced in some of the testimony be fore this committee. In Indiana, for instance, a large pet cent of rural roads have some sort of sur facing like bituminous, crushed rock or gravel, while in Alabama the testimony showed that soma 60,000 miles of the country road system is largely without permanent surfacing and varies greatly with the differ ent counties. While cost of these farm-to-mar ket roads vary in different sections' if the country, indications are that the county and township officials want as much mileage surfaced as possible from the funds available at costs running from approximately &500 to 10,000 per mile. Interme ite types of surfacing would run upward to approximately $12,000 per mile with the higher type pave ments costing upwards of $20,000 per mile. State Funds Available. Due to the fact that there has been little road building during the war, ?tate highway construction funds (lave swelled into fantastic propor tions despite the fact that reve nues from automobile licenses and gasoline taxes have been reduced dua to curtailment in auto travel. The Public Roads administration estimates that unexpended balances in state road funds by the end at this year will total around $418,000, 000. To this will be added current receipts from levies upon the aula owner so that the PRA estimates the states will have approximately $479,000,000 to $900,000,000 available tor new highway construction. If they match the authorized appropri ation as set up in the new federal aid highway act their total must reach at least $800,000,000 annually. Of the federal funds, $100,000,000 is already available for surveys. Plans and construction, but the remainder of the program must wait until the first postwar fiscal year which ends June SO following proc lamation by the President of the end of the existing emergency, or n concurrent resolution by the Con gress that emergency has been suf ficiently eased to permit high way work. It is pointed out that there have been federal aid appropriations lor secondary and feeder roads in the past, but unfortunately there has never been full and complete ad vantage taken of the money appro priated, and, as a result, in a num ber of states the intent of the ap propriation has not been fully realized. For this reason, federal of ficials along with those interested b? road construction, both public and ?? private industry stress the impor tance of close cooperation between local and state officials in selecting a secondary road system which win qualify with the PRA, care being ex ercised not include roads of minor importance. "*> Some important features of the 1944 act include coats of rights-of way in construction costs provided the federal (hare shall not exceed one-third; 10 per cent of total authorization may be used un matched by the states for elimina tion of hazards in highway - rail grade crossings with the govexn ' ment paying 90 per cent and the rail roads 10 per cent of the cost; 11$ per cent of the total authorization may be used for long-range high way plans. Federal Share. According to officials of the American Association of State High way officials, the states leel feat the federal government has an obli gation in making these grants Um use by the states in highway con struction. They also feel that the federal government should pay a higher percentage of the costs thaw the "60-50" basis which is now and has been in effect. Samuel C. Hadden of Indiana, president of the American associ ation, pointed this out in his testi mony before the house committee. He said that in IMS, for instance, the federal government collected taxes on motor vehicles and parts and on motor fuels fe excess off (077,000,000, while in the same year it returned to the states in tha form at federal highway aid lean than one-fourth of that amount. "For some years," Mr. TTsddsn said, "it has been the declared policy of tly federal government that the state governments should not practice diversion of motor un hide tax revenues from highway ts other purposes. "This disparity between precept and example has not escaped the at tention at our citizens generally, ar of our state and local public officials Frankly, it is the belief of the great majority at our citizens that the fed eral government should take ita own prescription in this matter, especially since the precept is con sidered sound and the example un sound.'" As a matter of fact, 14 states have within recent years amended their constitutions to prohibit diver sion of taxes collected from gaso line and automobile licenses to other than highway construction and maintenance.