The Alamance Gleaner 1
VOL. LXXII GRAHAM, N. ,C., THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1946 Na 30
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Act Fast on Vets' Furlough Pay;
Axis Allies Seek Soft Peace;
Tighten Consumer Credit Rules
???????? Released by Western Newspaper Union. ??????????
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they aro those of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
? --
LITHQPOLIS,
CWWUSOi UWT 1
Will E. Sltterly (left) of village board and two young residents of
Lithopolis, Ohio, richest little town in world, rejoice over gift of
<2,500,600. (See Richest Village.)
FURLOUGH PAY:
Fast Action
Application forms for vets' un
used furlough pay will be available
at all post offices by mid-September
but disbursement of the five-year
bonds will not take place before the
end of the month because of time
required in printing.
In announcing the procedure to be
followed, the war department stat
ed:
1. Applications will be acknowl
edged when received to assure the
vet his claim is on record.
!. Disbursing officers will accept
sworn statements of applicants un
less there is suspicion of fraud.
3. Army vets unable to deter
mine how much unused furlough
pay they have coming, figured on
the basis of Wt days per month,
can apply for information to the
adjutant general's personnel records
branch at St. Louis, Mo.
PARIS:
Wanted: Softer Terms
Addressing the delegates of 21
Allied nations at the peace confer
ence in Luxembourg palace, rep
resentatives of Italy, Romania and
Bulgaria pleaded for moderation of
terms on the grounds that, as co
belligerents of the victors in the
closing stages of the war, they had
made substantial sacrifices for vic
tory.
Speaking for Italy, Premier
De Gasperi stated that his coun
try had contributed troops, na
val power and materials for
three years and that the Al
lies should think twice before
internationalizing Italian dom
inated Trieste and submitting
180,000 Italians in Venezia Guilia
to Yugoslav rule. He also as
serted that excessive repara
tions would weigh down the Ital
I.. a i *x
urn cvuuunij auu rcaucuuo 01
armaments would imperil the
safety of the state.
Foreign Minister Giorgu Tatar
escu of Romania followed De Gas
peri to the speaker's dais and as
serted that no less than 385,000
Romanians had fought on the al
lied side during the last six months
of the war. Furthermore, he said,
German and Hungarian forces had
inflicted large-scale damage of Ro
mania after she had deserted the
axis cause. Tatarescu asked for a
larger army and scaling down of
heavy reparations.
On behalf of Bulgaria, Foreign
Minister George Koulishev claimed
that his country had suffered 32,000
casualties during the eight months
it fought on the allied side. He
charged Greek demands Jot $750,
000,000 in reparations were exces
sive and asked that Bulgaria be
permitted to disarm within reason
able limits. Regulation of traffic on
the Danube should be the inter
est of all the countries bordering the
river, including Bulgaria, Koulishev
said.
Unable to come before the
peace conference like Italy,
Romania and Bulgaria as Ilth
boar co-betllgerents, Hungary
pleaded that, despite its partici
' pation on Germany's side,v it
never really was sympathetic
to the Nazi eanse. After this
lame assertion, the Hungarian
representative called for the
return of at least one-flfth of
the province of Transylvania
from Romania.
RICHEST VILLAGE:
Spending Problem
Biggest job of the little village of
Lithopolis, Ohio, population 288, is
not bow to raise money but how to
enjoy the millions left to it by the
Wagnall family.
In all, the Wagnalls have left $3,
000,000 to the little settlement in
which Adam Wagnalls of the Funk
and Wagnalls publishing house,
was born. Following an initial gift
of $500,000 for a 9,000-volume li
brary, auditorium and dining hall,
Mrs. Mabel Wagnall Jones then
willed an additional $2,500,000 to
Lithopolis to establish a community
memorial in honor of her famous
father.
Discussing use of the latest en
dowment, Will E. Sitterly, 66-year
old farmer member of the board
of trustees of Lithopolis, declared
the money must be used to the ad
vantage of both rich and poor. Al
though believing that it will take
years to complete a program of
sound expenditure, villagers looked
for an immediate expansion in
educational facilities.
Meanwhile economists figured
that the total endowments amount
ed to $10,000 for each of Lithopo
lis' 288 residents.
CONSUMERS:
Credit Curbs
Apprehensive over an inflationary
trend, the federal reserve board
clamped down on consumer credit
regulations to slacken the flow of
easy money in the face of a con
tinued shortage of goods.
The action came after consumer
installment loans had risen to the
unprecedented rate of 575 million
dollars a year during the first quar
ter of 1946. Normally, consumers
do not add to their debts during
this period, when they are paying
off obligations contracted during
Christmas time.
With the price of many automo
biles topping $1,500, the board hiked
coverage of its credit regulations up
to $2,000. Anyone purchasing a car
in the $1,500 to $2,000 range will
have to put at least one-third down
and pay off the balance in 15
months.
Time for paying off credits on
non-durable or semi-durable goods
was cut from 18 to 15 months while
the period for so-called hard goods
was continued at 12 months. With
many personal loans being used for
purchase of such hard goods as
furniture, refrigerators, autos, etc.,
such obligations will have to be
repaid in 15 months.
DARDANELLES:
Hot Spot
Another major international row
appeared in the making with So
viet Russia's demand upon Turkey
that she break the Montreux con
vention of 1938 and share control
of the vital Dardanelles straits lead
ing to the Black sea with Moscow.
Under the convention, the Turxs
have been entrusted ' with the
guardianship of the strategic wa
terway and, while they have ex
pressed a willingness to maintain
the present arrangement, they have
informed the U. S. and Britain that
they cannot hold out against the
Russian proposals alone. By grant
ing Russian demands, the Turks
would be forced to permit Red
troops to occupy parts of their soil
along the straits.
In vesting control of the Dardan
elles only in nations bordering upon
the Black sea, Russia proposed
to exclude the warships of other
countries from the region. While
the Reds recommended that all
merchant vessels be allowed to
ply the Black sea, dominant Soviet
control of the straits would permit
Moscow to lay down shipping
conditions and put an iron clamp
on Allied naval moves against south
ern Russia.
FARM CREDIT:
Co-Ordinate Activity
President Truman's approval of
the Farmers' Home corporation bill
sponsored by Representative Cooley
(Dem., N. C.) set the stage for the
streamlining of the government's
agricultural credit activities for low
incom ? borrowers.
As expressed by Cooley, purpose
of the bill is to empower one agency
under the secretary of agriculture
to make direct loans to farmers who
cannot get credit elsewhere for 5
per cent or less. Three-member
county committees, consisting of at
least two farmers, will be set up to
pass on loan applications, and no
short-term advance will be made
without their approval.
In the reorganization, the Farm
Security administration, some ac
tivit!es of the Farm Credit adminis
tration and all programs of the Na
tional Housing agency pertaining to
the FSA will be abolished. The sec
retary of agriculture also will be
required to liquidate all resettle
ment and rehabilitation projects de
scribed V>y Cooley as "communis
tic."
DRAFT:
Plan Calls
Unless there are more volunteers,
draft boards will be asked to call
up 185,000 more men in the seven
months beginning September 1 to
enable the army to maintain its
authorized strength through the
year, the war department re
vealed.
Although enlistments are expect
ed to total 279,000 by next June 30,
discharge of fathers and soldiers
with 18 months of service as^ re
quired by law will necessitate the
heavy peacetime induction, it wag
said.
With army strength authorized at
1,310,000 on January 1 and 1,070,
000 next July, 20,000 active duty re
serve officer volunteers will be re
called to duty. Another 25,000 of
ficers will be selected to bring regu
lar officer strength up to 50,000 as
authorized by law.
POLITICS:
La Follette Falls
While Circuit Judge Joseph R.
McCarthy attributed his victory
over Robert M. La Follette in the
Republican senatorial primary in
Wisconsin to the voters' reaction
against centralized government,
political wiseacres blamed late
campaign boners as potent rea
sons for Young Bob's demise.
Perhaps the most serious of La
Follette's blunders was his open
last-minute support of Gov. Walter
S. Goodland's opponent after the
83-year-old chief executive had
vetoed a bill earlier this year which
Young Bob La Follette
would have prevented Young Bob
from returning to the GOP fold.
With many of Goodland's support
ers resenting La Follette's 11th
hour move, it was figured that
enough may have deserted his
cause to result in his narrow loss.
Young Bob's defeat temporarily
ended the La Follettes' 41-year dom
inance in Wisconsin politics, with
the old Progressive leadership built
up' by Fighting Bob Sr., making
way for the rising star of indus
trialist Tom E. Coleman as the con
servative boss of Badger State poli
tics.
PALESTINE:
Turn on Heat
The illegal Jewish underground
organization, Irgun Zvai Leumi,
called upon all Jewish resistance
movements in Palestine to unite in
the fight for attainment of a Jewish
national home in the Holy Land
even as British officials lambasted
Zionists for seeking to high pres
sure the government into acceding
to their demands.
Pointing out that it was necessary
to press their drive now while the
British were being hard put to
maintain order in Palestine, Irgun
suggested that the two other re
sistance groups, H%ganah and the
Stern gang, combine to form the
nucleus of an underground govern
ment and army.
Meanwhile, the U. S. refused, to
formally participate in implementa
tion of a proposal to divide Pales
tine into Arab and Jewish zones
and advance Arabs fa the Near
East $300,000,000 for economic de
velopment to offset overcrowding
from large-scale Jewish immigra
tion.
Editor's Note: While Win
chell is on vacation. Jack Lait
is acting as guest columnist.
Unshackled in a Garden of Eden?
Best American Divorce, and
fastest, is the decree issued by
Federal Judge Moore in St. Thom
as, Virgin Islands, U. S. A. . . . It
takes eight hours to get to St.
Thomas from New York via plane,
flying the new nonstop route. . . .
By a new regulation, after six
weeks' residence, the decree is
signed, eliminating long periodl of
publication and other delays perti
nent to Reno or Miami divorces.
. . . The Virgin islands are a prac
tically unknown paradise ? few
tourists, best Scotch on earth at
$2.50 a fifth, cigarets 50 cents a
carton, shopping for native woven
products at prewar prices and your
buck worth 100 cents. . . . Two
American hotels ? Hotel 829 and
the government - run Bluebeard's
Castle ? total accommodations 60
people! . , . The Virgin islands
divorce decree is the only one in
the country signed by a federal
judge, who is appointed by the
President. ... No V. I. divorce has
yet been contested by any state.
Lawyers feel that the federal char
I wv?v> vra. u<v cc puis it auuvc
protest. ... In this tropical Capri,
the city-harassed American finds
new world comforts along with
authentic old world atmosphere
like the South Sea islands once
had. . . . Natives live in tiny huts,
the beaches are blue and coral, the
water crystal clear, with vast acres
wild, awaiting settlement. . . . The
government?local and national?is
eager to sell at ridiculously low fig
ures. ... At Caneel bay, on St.
John (one of the U. S. Virgin
group), the most breath-taking
beach on earth rests its spreading
white arms in cool tropical splen
dor ? with an average of three
bathers a day! Cabanas, furnished
by the U. S., are usually empty.
Atlantic City shut up tighter than
ever. . . . The cops just sent the
sad word around, and the wheels
stopped rolling. . . . Jack Lynch,
: who lost his historic club on
Philly's Walton hotel roof when
sudden fire regulations closed it, is
hunting a new street-floor spot
there; meanwhile, he wants to take
over the now dark Rainbow room,
in Radio City?but the Rockefel
lers don't seem to need the money.
When George White, whose
"Scandals" rivaled Ziegfeld's
"Follies," ran into hit-and-ran
trouble in San Diego, the sup
posedly hard-hearted Broad
way boys called a meeting and
chipped in for a defense fond.
. . . Bnddy de Sylva was the
leader. . . . The kitty went to
*5MW!
Faye (Mrs. Roosevelt) Emerson
returns to the stage at Cape Cod,
Mass., August 12, In "Here Today,"
a warmed-over Ruth Gordon star
I rer of 1934. . . . It's official?Joan
rrsurfnnt'^ 1. "D I ?>
with Van Heflin, based on a Cos
mopolitan magazine novelette,
. "One Man's Secret," by Rita
Weiman. . . .
Civil aeronautics bnrean may not
know this: When it approved an
around - the - world route tor TWA
linked with Northwest Air-Line,
Howard Hughes, who owns TWA,
had an option on control of North
west. . . . TWA is to fly N. Y.
to Shanghai, via Europe; North
west is to pick up there, flying to
Alaska and Seattle. . . . Hughes'
option was to become effective if,
as and when Northwest got govern
ment permission to fly the Pacific.
... So it appears Hughes, who
broke the a round-the-world air rec
ord, has in hand the around-the
world route he laid out on that
famous four-day zoom. . . , And,
with announcement of the globe
circling license, plus the approval
of the Constellations with changes,
TWA stock leaped so that Hughes'
holdings have been rising at a rate
of about $1,000,000 a day ? as he
lies and listens to his ribs knit
ting.
Jack Dcmpsey and Jake Amron,
former Hollywood restaurant boss,
have made a flossy offer for Henry
Lustig's Longchamps tax-tainted
restaurant chain. . . . "Tobacco
Road" earned a fortune largely be
cause Harry Oshrin doesn't go
wild on payday. John Barton will
draw |3S0 a week starring as Jeet
er Lester on tour next season,
which gives you a rough Idea of
what the lesser hillbilly performers
' will rate.
? t -i
Anniversary of Sound Movies
Recalls Early Panic of Stars ?
Public, Press
Unenthused at
'Talkie' Advent
Sound came to motion pictures
just 20 years ago yet most of the
excitement over the invention that
today makes movies one of Amer
ica's chief industries didn't come
from the press or public, but from
stars who were panicked by the
realization that their voices might
not be pitched for recording.
Despite an unenthusiastic public,
and skeptical producers of the first
talkies, "The Jazz Singer" starring
May McAvoy and A1 Jolson, was
released in 1927. From then on a
star's voice was recordable or he
was through.
John Barrymore and Conrad
Nagel made the transition from
silence to sound without a hitch.
Nagel, who was under contract to
MGM at the time and receiving
$2,500, was loaned to every other
company in Hollywood and in the
first two years of talkies, he made l
31 films. 1
Westerns Take Lead. I
Recording sound for Westerns 1
at first seemed Impossible but Fox ]
made "In Old Arizona" with War- n
ner Baxter as the star and such ti
Sim greats as William Boyd, now
Hopalong Cassidy, and the late Bill
Bart rose to their fame. Westerns
iow total more box office receipts
han any other type of picture.
Joan Crawford and Greta
Garbo both thought someone
was playing a Joke as them
ot suDsmoimi meai voices
when they first beard record- ?
in(s of their owb voices. Wal- I
lace Beery made a talkie !
for Paramount ? his first ?
promptly was fired and went
to MGM. He's been thero
ever since.
Zazu Pitts of silent days was con
sidered a great dramatic actress.
Her voice on the sound track
ruined it all and she wisely
switched to comedy and made her
fortune as a funny girl. Charlie
Chaplin, silent and sound comedian
of the early days, even now is
planning a comfeback after six
years' of absence.
Started In 1927.
Picture and sound recorded and
synchronized on the same piece of
film caused little excitement when
it first was shown to the public
in Schenectady, N. Y? in 1927. So
the late Charles A. Hoxie of Schen
ectady, who developed it in the
laboratories of General Electric,
carted his Kinemagraphone, as he
called it, back to the plant.
It wasn't until a year or so later
that the president of the company
took it with him to Europe to intro
duce an educational film. There it
was received with such enthusiasm
that company officials believed the
talking movie was perhaps best
suited to educational purposes. Be
fore more educational movies had
been produced, however, the movie
industry put into general use the
Hoxie machine. Today it is used
by practically every movie com
pany in the country.
EARLY IN CAREER . . . Douglas Fairbanks, acclaimed by millions
as Idol of the screen, is sbown with his first camera staff while mak
ing one of his early pictures. Actress Bessie Lore played oppoeite the
star in above picture, title unknown.
HISTORICAL STARS . . . Among the moot famous iter* in early dajri
of silent films were Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan, shown here in
a scene from "The Kid."
OLD WESTERN STYLE
Farmers Pack Guns to Curb Rustlers
MADISON. WIS. ? Defying mod- i
em methods of criminal detection, ]
Wood county farmers have band- 1
ed together in the old-time vigi- i
lante system to curb a recent out- 1
break of cattle rustling here. 1
An SOS over a rural party tele- i
phone line prompted the first con
certed manhunt, when SO farmers, I
packing guns in old vigilante style, I
set out on a quest for rustlers. They 1
beat a wooded sector from mid- I
night until dawn but the rustlers 1
had disappeared. j
Bernard Kroening, who lives in i
nearby Rock, saw a car slip up to i
> woods on his larm, two occu
pants emerging and entering the
woods. He fired three shots, chas
ing the men deeper into the woods.
Meanwhile, his wife got busy on
the party line to round up the gang
of 50 farmers.
Before their arrival, however,
the mysterious car raced off down
the road. Kroening gave chase in
his car but lost the quarry. Kroen
ing told the vigilantes he believed
the two strangers still were in the
woods and that the car had been
driven by a third party, who had
remained in it.
1
Town Opens Secession Move
WENDOVER. UTAH-NEVADA. I
?Reminiscent of the Civil war con
troversy is the move sponsored by
2.000 residents of the Utah part of
this little Bonneville salt flats town
of 2,500 to secede from Utah so
they can Join their other 500 towns
folk as residents of Nevada, where
a man can do anything he wants
well. almost anything.
"Utah doesn't even seem to know
we're in the state and apparently
doesn't even care if we're in the
Union," bewailed Lester Giffen,
spokesman for the secessionists.
| Main complaint against Utah is
the fact that the Beehive state's
laws are too strict.
"A tourist, coming from the
East, stops in my place and looks
for the slot machines," explained
a cafe owner on the Utah side. "I
have to tell him we can't have
them, so be says to heck with
you'?and drives across the bordei
to Nevada."
While this same innkeeper car
sell only 3.2 beer, his fellow bar.
keepers across the state line hav?
some of the best-stocked bars ir
the West.
"In Nevada, if a man wants i
drink, he orders one or two, ther
he's happy?and satisfied," Giflei
said. "In Utah, he has to get t
permit, go to the state-owned stor<
and buy a quart. Then he feels h?
has to drink the whole quart. S<
he doesn't show up for work th<
next day."
Petitions will be presented ti
the Utah legislature and, if ap
proved there, must be accepted bj
the Nevada legislature. Then con
gress will be asked to alter tlx
Utah-Nevada boundary to includi
an of Westover in Nevada.
Aitnougn namperea oy log, me
farmers beat through bushes and
thickets for hours without finding
the rustlers. Two Marshfleld traf
fic officers and several deputies
helped them.
An electric wire which charged
a fence on the Kroening farm had
been turned off by the thieves, and
the farmers theorized that the
men had made careful prepara
I tions for herding the animals
through the fence when a truck
i arrived later.
t In a previous rustling Incident,
mysterious strangers fired on a
. farmer who came upon them un- ,
expectedly on his farm near Wis
consin Rapids.
Texas High School
Boy Presents Own
Program on Radio
MESQUITE, TEXAS. ? Although
only 17 years old. Dale Berry, Mes
quite high school senior, has beat
booked on a sustaining program
over radio station WRR with his own
cowboy band. Berry, who secured
his own sponsor for the program,
formerly played with Bill Boyd'*
Cowboy Ramblers and was on the
Grand Ole Opry program over ?
Nashville station.
Berry plays the guitar and other
members of the band are Robert
Jenkins, Cleo Landolt, Benny Will
banks and Matt McGlothem.
Instruction in piano and a few
guitar lessons represent Berry's
only musical training. He is a son
of Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Berry ad
Mesquite. ^
? ?.. ...? .?, d