The Alamance Gleaner
VOL. LXXII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1946 Na 19
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Weigh. President's Political Fate
After Labor Crisis; U. S. Agrees
To Aid French Reconstruction
Released by Western Newspaper Union. ,
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed fa these columns, they are these ef
(Western Newspaper Union1 s news analysts and net neeessarily ef this newspaper.)
_ s ? '
WASHINGTON SCENE? In top panel, General Eisenhower
(left), and Admiral Nimitx (center), ask for Pan-American defense in
testimony before house military committee presided over by Repre
sentative Bloom (Dem.>yN. Y.), at right, In lower picture, Treasury
Secretary Vinson (left), watches Secretary of State Byrnes sign French
loan agreement as Ambassador Bonnet and Leon Blnm of France
OIca IAAI. ?
?uu >uvn UU.
WHITE HOUSE:
President's Status
Amid the welter of reconversion
difficulties, climaxed by the great
railroad and coal strikes, the polit
ical status of Harry S. Truman,
32nd president of the U. S., re
mained clouded.
Inheriting a thankless task from
the late Franklin D. Roosevelt, the
one-time Missouri farm boy, whom
A. F. Whitney of the Railroad Train
men lashed as a "political acci
dent," seemed to have reached a
crisis in his public life in the rail
road strike. With reaction still
mixed only time would tell the ef
fects.
An avalanche of telegrams from
average Americans commending
him fo^his courageous action in the
railroad strike were partly offset by
the bitter denunciations of the Rail
road Trainmen's chief. Declaring
that the President had led him and ,
Alvanley Johnston of the Locomo
I
Members of White House secre- 1
tarial staff pore over flood of tele- ?
grams complimenting President I
iruman on strike action. <
live Engineers into believing that (
they could expect substantial con- <
cessions if they postponed their
walkout, Whitney said they had ]
been double-crossed and 2Vi million .
dollars would be spent in trying to
defeat Mr. Truman in 1948.
Linked with the breaking of the 1
railroad strike was the passage of ]
restrictive labor legislation which
tended to further complicate Mr. '
Truman's position. With strong
sentiment for such legislation in and
out of congress, the President stood ?
to lose much of the popularity he I
gained in getting the trains going by 1
bucking labor regulation, while he <
was faced with the potent disfavor I
of unionists if he approved it.
Meanwhile, settlement of the soft 1
coal strike on terms favorable to '
the United Mine Workers promised
to increase the prestige of John L. <
Lewis, whose clever handling of the 1
walkout enabled him to escape pres- 1
idential censure. With his hard-won 1
health and welfare fund, burly John 1
L., at 68, took a front position in <
the AFL on the eve of its great '
organization driye in the south in 1
competition with the CIO.
FRANCE: 5
Big Loan
Having helped France in wresting <
its freedom on the battlefield, the <
U. S. committed itself to assisting i
the liberated country in peacetime I
reconstruction with the advance of a
$1,400,000,000 loan and credit from
the Export-Import bank.
Climaxing 11 weeks of negoti
ations between the two countries,
the agreement provides for a cash
loan of $650,000,000 and a credit of
$720,000,000 for title to lend-lease
material shipped after the war and
U. S. surplus property. Further dis
cussions are being he^d over an
additional $25,000,000 credit for
acquisition of 750,000 tons of mer
chant shipping.
Under the easy terms of the agree
ment, no principal payments will
be expected for the first five years,
but interest of 3 per cent on the
loan and 2 per cent on the credit
will start next July. Beginning in
1951, the loan is to be paid in 20
annual installments and the credit
in 25.
PAN-AMERICA:
Joint Defense
In testifying in behalf of Presi
dent Truman's plan for helping arm
and organize South American
countries and Canada in a grand de
tense system, General of the Army
Eisenhower and Fleet Admiral
Nimitz told a congressional commit
tee that hemispheric solidarity
would discourage aggressive de
signs against this part of the world.
Stressing the need for standardi
zation of equipment among the Pan
American nations, the military and
naval chieftains declared that a
similarity of weapons and tactics
would simplify a common defense
in case of attack. Unless the U. S.
provided the aryns, they said, the
different countries would look else
where for material.
Visualizing a joint naval task
force of Pan - American nations op
erating under a unified command,
Nimitz revealed the U. S. would give
each country sufficient vessels to
protect their own coastal waters. To
come from the U. S.'s surplus of
laval ships, it was believed the
craft would be of the small escort
>r destroyer classes.
DAIRY PRODUCTS:
9n Rise
Even higher prices for dairy prod
ucts than recent increases granted
to spur output were predicted by
Stabilization Director Bowles if
congress approves of a sharp cut
in subsidy payments.
As a result of less stringent re
ductions, Bowles approved of a
boost of 1 cent a quart for milk, 11
cents a pound for butter and 6 cents
For cheddar cheese, but, he said, a
bigger slash in subsidies would
lead to an increase of 3 cents in
p quart of milk and bring butter up
to as much as 80 cents a pound.
The boosting of prices in the face
pi subsidy reductions would cost
consumers $250,000,000 a year,
Bowles said. Thus, consumers
would pay directly for increr> '
prices designed to assure produ
>f fair returns instead of having
pigher costs spread to all taxpap
ers through government outlays
Meanwhile, representatives of the
American Butter institute declared
that although an increase in butter
production could be expected from
pigher producer returaa and a ban
>n the sale of whipping cream, res
toration of a free market eras es
sential for output sufficient to meet
the large demand.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
U. S., Russ Clash
Stung by Foreign Commissar Mo
lotov's charges that the U. S. and
Britain had united at the Parts con
ference to thwart Russian demands
and seek to high pressure Moscow
into acceptance oAheir views, Sec
retary of State Byrnes disputed the
allegations and questioned the sin
cerity of the accusations.
Molotov's charges were contained
in a lengthy article in the Commu- 1
nist party paper, Pravda, as an of
ficial review of the recent Paris par
ley. Among other things, he bela
bored "certain circles" in the U. S.
and Britain for seeking to throttle
Russia; warned imperialists in the
west are "instigating new and ag
gressive wars; questioned U. S. in
tentions for building a base in Ice
land, and asserted that U. S. pro
posals for a 25-year demilitarization
pact for Germany did not bear
Stalin's approval as claimed be
cause they were incomplete.
Hitting back at Molotov with dip
lomatic nicety, Byrnes denied the
existence of any U. S. and British
bloc, and declared that U. S. plans
to appeal to the United Nations or
ganization for a peace conference
did not constitute pressure tactics
but merely a willingness to submit
issues to world opinion.
Passing over Molotov's castiga
tion of "western imperialists,"
Byrnes went on to assert that a
U. S. base in Iceland was designed
for security reasons alone and could
be eventually turned over to the
U. N. Regarding U. S. proposals
for a 25-year demilitarization pact
for Germany, Byrnes averred that
Stalin had assured him he would
support such plans if they were pre
sented formally.
Stock Market on Rise
With the wage-price spiral
strengthening inflation psycholo
gy, the New York stock ex
change continued its steady ad
vance to a new average peak ot
15 years. Settlement of the big
strikes also inspired lively bid
ding on prospects of increased
production.
Despite temporary setbacks
resulting from profit-taking, well
over 1,000,000 shares were be
ing traded daily, with utilities,
steels, motors, rubbers, rail
roads and mail orders among
the leaders. At one stage, a 60
stock average was up to 82.2,
the top since March 26, 1931.
Continued heavy trading
pushed Commonwealth and
Southern up to $5.50 per share;
a good earnings report boosted
Montgomery Ward to $103.25;
a proposal for a stock split con
tributed to Canada Dry's rise to
$58.50; an extra dividend helped
National Lead to $39.87 and
Santa Fe rose to $118.75.
FLOOD:
Takes Toll
Swollen by continuous rains, the
Susquehanna river swirled through
Pennsylvania and southern New
York overflowing its banks and
cracking reinforced dikes to cause
heavy losses of life and property.
In the section's moat serious flood
in 10 years, valuable farm land was
inundated and industrial centers
were under water, with Williams
port, Pa., and Elmira, N. Y., espe
cially hit hard. Williamsport with
its 43,000 population lay helpless as
the river rose over eight feet above
flood level, and one-third of Elmira
with its 43,000 people was under
five feet of water with all roads but
one closed.
At Athens, Pa., the Susquehanna
crashed a reinforced 23-foot dike to
cover the entire business section, j
and while the levee held at Wilkes
Barre, Pa., lowlands in the nearby
Wyoming valley were flooded.
LABOR:
Test Law
Dapper little James Casear Pet
rillo, who laid aside a trumpet to
become czar of the American Fed
eration of Musicians, struck out to
test the legality of the Lea act
passed in the midst of the AFM's
efforts to compel radio stations to '
hire standby performers when using
recordings or transcriptions.
Though the act provides for up to
one year's imprisonment and a
$1,000 fine for each attempt to force
employment of extra help, natty lit- |
tie "Jimmy" called the strike at
station WAAF in Chicago Only after
exhaustive consultations with at
torneys had convinced him of the
questionability of the law. In run
ning the risk of being found guilty
of violation in event of the law be
ing upheld, he bravely exclaimed:
"I am ready to face the music."
Declaring that the AFM was com
mitted to all-out opposition of the
law until the Supreme court
adjudged its constitutionality, Pet
rillo said the act penalized AFM
members for seeking to obtain fair
working conditions and assuring the
continued existence of the union.
Tales of the Toum:
In Sardi's a wise guy was com
menting upon the way in which a
news weekly picture of some nota
bles looked dwarfed compared to
Mrs. Roosevelt in their midst.
"That's nothing," said Merry Mac
McMichael, "to the way she dwarfs
some people who aren't even in the
picture."
When Queen WUhelmina was in
the United States during the war
she made a tour of inspection at
West Point. . . . The boys had....
been drilled for days, and every de
tail of protocol was carefully stud
ied except one. ... No one informed
the band which number to play for
Her Majesty's entrance, and the
leader chose one of his favorite
numbers without thinking of the oc
casion. ... So, as the signal was
given for the Queen's entrance
(with every soldier standing rigid
ly at attention), the band broke
into: "The Old Gray Mare, She
Ain't What She Used to Be."
A group of editors were discuss
ing the pros and cons of the OPA.
"The NAM is right," said one.
"After all, they've got business ex
perience that money can't buy."
"They've also got lobbies,"
snapped a cynic, "that money can."
The Intelligentsia: The career of
Booth Tarkington is a lesson to
page-struck neophytes. In the first
five years of his writing apprentice
ship, the two-time Pulitzer Award j
winner earned the vast sum of
$22.50. . . . Dorothy Thompson will i
also col'm for a weekly. . . . Louis *
Fisher, who auth'd "A Week with
Gandhi," is flying to India to visit
him There's a sizzling feud
on between novelist James T. Far
rell and book critic Sterling North.
. . . Dr. Harold Urey, atom bomb
scientist (one of the important
ones), will betcha we have an atom
bomb war in less than 5 years, if
the powers don't agree soon. . . .
Well, goom-bye-bye, all! S'been nize
columning about you.
The OPA situation summed up:
It's a question of whether the prices
will be held down?or the people
held up.
The Fannies: Alex Woollcott and
Heywood Broun walked out on a
new flop one night. ... As he left
his row. "A" pew, Alex bent over
to pick up ? flower that had fallen
from a bouquet on the stage. . . .
"Don't you know it is bad luck,"
chided Broun, "to take flowers
from a grave?" . . . Percy Ham
mond once critiqued of a big show
failure: "It is the first time in the
atre history that an audience ever
suffered from stage-fright."
Author Somerset Maugham
points out: "All is grist (or ?
writer's mill. I don't create from
the whole cloth either o( reality or
of fancy. I have in my literary
kit items in the newspapers, stray
encounters in the street, stories I
hear, no matter where. Eventually
out they grind, either as a story or
? Play."
The way a columnist grinds it ev
ery day?not every year.
The Story Tellers: Gene Fowler
told Irving Berlin: "You are one
jf the very (ew immortals who is
(till mortal 1"
Quotation Markamanshlp: O.
Henry: Her dress fitted her with I
fidelity and discretion. . . . Beth
Brown: Up In the skyscrapers old '
women were filling their buckets
with footprints. . , . Phil Baker: A
gal looking for a guy who could I
make her dough-dreams come true.
. . Anon: He sat at his typewriter
tenderly diapering his brain child
with neatly folded phrases. . .
Mark Twain: Man was made at the
end of the week's work, when God
was tired. . . . Anon: When a girl
winks it means one of two things:
She has something in her eye or
she has somebody Tn it. . . . Ben
Hecht: Hex ate like a man with a
stowaway under his vest. . . . Olive
Schreiner: We talk so much of in
tellect and knowledge but what are
they? After all, the heart can't live
on them. One would barter all one's
knowledge for one kiss and all one's
intellect for one tender touch?just
one!
The Times' Berlin newsboy, Ray
Daniel], reported that the Germans
live in hope that there will be a war
between America and Russia. They
believe that such a war will give
them an opportunity to revive Nazi
lsm. ... In short, when the Allies
knock eaclv other?it's only oppor- .
tunity knocking for Nazis.
By EDWARD EMERINE
WNU Features.
u A TREASURE," says Web
ster's dictionary, "i? a valu
able store, accumulation, or reserve
supply; a collection of precious
things." And South Dakota is a
storehouse of those treasures, a
vast accumulation of nature's bless
ings, with a reserve supply to last
man forever.
Among the precious things of
South Dakota is the glorious sun It
self, shining from its blue heaven
almost every day in the year. And
precious, too, is the clean, pure air
of its plains and mountains. In its
rich topsoil is the accumulation of
ingredients that produce vast fields
of wheat and com and fruits. The
lush grass of its ranges, where fat
cattle and sheep feed, is a valu
able store of wealth and content
ment. Beneath the surface is a re
serve supply ef minerals, gold and
silver, feldspar and lithium, lig
nite and bentqnite.
As though that were not enough.
South Dakota has mountains, trout
streams, cabins in the pines, lakes,
waterfalls, colorful canyons, thee
fragrance of pine and spruce. The
days are cheerfully warm in South
Dakota, with the nights cool and
refreshing. And the Black Hills
have no mosquitoes to take away the
pleasure of being out of doors.
The famed Black Hills 1 Harney
Peak rises 7,242 feet above sea lev
el, the highest point in the United
States east of the Rockies. Mount
1 Rushrnore has an altitude of 6,200
feet, and on it are sculptured the
heads of Washington, Jefferson, Lin
coln and Theodore Roosevelt. The
largest monument ever conceived
or executed by man, the Mount
Rushrnore National Memorial was
sculptured in heroic proportions by
Gutzon Borglum, the late world-re
nowned artist, and is called the
"Shrine of Democracy." A half-mil
lion visitors come to the monument
each year, and it is one of the most
photographed scenes of all times.
The figures on the solid granite face
are carved in proportion to men 450
feet tall!
North and south the Black Hills
M. Q. 8HABPE
Governor of Sooth Dakota
Bora is MarysviUe, Ban., Janu
ary II, IMS, Governor Sharpo
taafht eehool for two yean,
nerved four yearn In the O. 8.
navy, and has been a surveyor,
newspaper man, lawyer, soldier la
' World War I, and has had varied
other business interests.
stretch 125 miles and are approxi
mately 50 miles wide. There is Cus
ter state park, with 128,000 acres of
mountains, gorges, lakes and
streams, and 90,000 acres under
fence, with buffalo, elk, deer, bighorn
sheep, Rocky mountain goats, ante
lope and other animals roaming
unmolested. President Coolidge had
his summer White House there in
1927, and left reluctantly. "I'm
coming back," he promised.
Skeletons of Ancient Beasts.
The Big Badlands covering a mil
lion acres lie east of the Black Hills,
and is one of the most important
fossil deposits of prehistoric life.
Fossils of alligators, rhinoceroses,
hippopotamuses, saber-toothed ti
gers, three-toed horses and other
long-extinct animals are found here
and displayed in most of the impor
tant museums.
East and northeast of the Bad
lands, South Dakota is mostly roll
ing prairie, falling to lowest levels
in the northeastern part of the state.
Big Stone'Lake is the lowest point,
987 feet above sea level. The great
Missouri river drains most of the
state, cutting South Dakota into two
almost equal parts as it flows
throQgh it.
The agricultural treasure house of
America is filled with corn, cane,
wheat, oats, barley, flax and fruits
from South Dakota. The vast plains 1
area has a big dairy industry, and
beef cattle are grown in all parts of
the state. The production of live- i
stock is the main feature of the i
state's extensive agricultural in
dustry. Hot Springs is the head
quarters of horse-breeding, and is I
also known for its medicinal wa- i
ters. At the annual Black Hills
Round-Up at Belle Fourche, real !
cowboys from the surrounding cat- <
tie ranges compete in riding and I
roping.
The mineral resources of South i
Dakota include more than 60 basic I
minerals, including gold, silver, tin, 1
zinc and others. Many of these de- |
posits are not of economic impor- 1
tance at the moment, but will be
come important in the future. At
any rate, they remain in South Da
kota's Treasure House, a reserve
supply whenever the nation needs
them. At Lead is the largest pro
ducing gold mine in the United
States. The "Days of '78" celebra
tion at Deadwood re-enacts many
of the events of the historic gold
rush days, when Wild Bill, Dead
wood Dick, Calamity Jane and oth
er Wild West notable* were seen
on the streets of this mining cen
ter. A pageant descriptive of the
Red Man's history of creation is
held each year at Custer and called
"Gold Discovery Days."
Settlement of South Dakota came
slowly, although the Verendrye broth
ers, Frenchmen from Canada, vis
ited the region in 1743. In 1804 and
1808 the Lewis and Clarke expedition
followed the Missouri river through
out the area. Fort Teton was estab
lished in 1817 on the site of Fort
Pierre, and in 1831 the American Far
company pushed a steamer into
the territory. x'
Both plainsmen and mountain
men helped build South Dakota and
bring to light its treasures. That
there might always be intelligent ap
preciation of the state, seven institu
tions of higher learning, all stata
mpported, were founded. They-are
the University of South Dakota, Var
million; South Dakota State college.
Brookings; School of Mines, Rapid
City; and four normal schools. There
are Ave Junior colleges in the state.
Young, thriving and rich. South
Dakota does not board its wealth,
nor does it allow waste Its treas
ures ere open to ell?for the re
serves ere ample.
Sylvan Lake In the Blaek Hilla.
HOMESTAKE MINE ... At UM,
S. D., known an over the world aa
the (reateat producer of foM era
discovered.
- ,-Alip-i * _? *?