The Alamance Gleaner
?
VOL. LXXII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1946 No. 3$
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Nazi Bigwigs Await Sentence;
Dewey Faces Mead in Strategic
Race for Governor in New York
" Released by Western Newspaper Union.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When eplalens ere expressed la these eelorans. they are these ml
Western Newspaper (Jalea's news analysts and aet necessarily ml this newspaper.)
Searching (or mines of the type that blew up transport scheduled
to carry illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine to detention camp on
Cyprus, British combed seaside settlement of S'Dotl^Tam. Tommy is
shown tapping floor of nursery in quest for hidden cache.
WAR CRIMINALS:
Germany
Defiant to the last, Nazi bigwigs
awaited sentence on war crimes aft
er a 10-month trial at Nuernberg.
Winding up the lengthy case, in
which 3,000 documents were intro
duced and 5,000,000 words of testi
mony taken, former Reichsmarshal
Goering denounced the allies for ac
cusing the German leaders alone of
violations of international law; ex
Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop
ripped the prosecution for refusal
to admit as evidence an alleged
warning by Churchill that Germany
would be destroyed if she became
too strong, and Finance Minister
Schacht pleaded he had tried to
avert the war.
Japan
Counsel for 27 high Japanese lead
ers on trial for war crimes in Tokyo
was thrown into a dither by the rev
elation that officials of the war de
partment had misused confidential
information to tip off the prosecu
tion on its strategy. Knowledge
that counsel would claim Japan was
forced into the war by America's
diplomatic moves and economic
sanctions was radioed to the prose
cution and accidentally fell into the
hands of the defense.
Philippines
Concluding three days of fiery ora
tory before the people's court for
his release on bail, Jose Laurel, Fil
ipino puppet ruler under the Jap
anese charged with collaboration,
declared everyone had worked for
the enemy out of fear or other mo
tives. Mentioning Japanese money,
Laurel shouted that it was in gen
eral circulation throughout the na
tion and therefore everyone who ac
cepted it had assisted the Nip
ponese.
AUTO OUTPUT:
Hits Lag
In calling a press conference in
Detroit, Mich., C. E. Wilson, presi
dent of General Motors corpora
tion, presented the company's case
against both the government and
workers for the serious lag in auto
production.
Pointing out that G.M. had turned
out only 400,000 cars and trucks in
the year following V-J Day instead
of the 1,400,000 scheduled, Wilson
charged the Truman administration
with having attempted to appease
labor unions by taking the lid oS
wages while at the same time
stating that price increases were
unnecessary. As a result, manu
facturers were "put in the nutcrack
er," he averred.
Although G.M. has 88,000 more
employees on its payroll than in
1941, production is about half, Wil
son said. Tests on relative jobs
have shown that worker productiv
ity is about 80 per cent of the pre
war rate. Refusal of employees
to extend themselves, a high ab
senteeism rate, inexperience and a
large turnover partly due to the
ease in collecting unemployment
compensation all have contributed
to the inefficiency. Wilson declared.
HOUSING:
Fear New Obstacle
?' Having trimmed commercial
construction and tightened alloca
tion of materials to speed up the
veterans' emergency bousing pro
gram, Hotising Expediter Wilson W.
Wyatt feared a prospective labor
shortage as a new obstacle to the
rapid erection of dwellings.
Revealing his apprehensions in
his August report on the vet hous
ing situation, Wyatt indicated that
the government would strive to
head off the latest bogeyman with
an intensive recruiting and appren
tice training program.
Despite a pickup in new building
in July, Wyatt disclosed in his re
port, the emergency housing pro
gram is lagging behind the an
nounced goal of 1,200,000 homes and
apartments for this year. During
the first seven months of 1946,
607,100 new dwellings were start
ed and 287,100 completed.
NEW YORK:
Election Battle
Gov. Thomas E. Dewey's renoml
nation as the Republican candidate
ior re-eieciion in
November, and
Sen. James M.
Mead's selection as
the Democratic
choice for the of
fice, promised to
make New York
one of the strategic
political battle
grounds for the
1948 presidential
race.
In naming Mead,
Governor
Dewey
me uemocrais
pushed one of their strongest stand
ard-bearers into the flght to capture
the governmental apparatus of the
all-important empire state and at
Senator
Mead
i xi e same lime
squelch Dewey's
aspirations for the
White House. The
son of Irish immi
grants, who got his
start in life as a
water carrier for a
railroad section
gang, Mead has
made an impres
sive record in the
senate, particularly
as head of the war
investigating committee.
That Dewey hoped to make the
impending gubernatorial race a
springboard tor the 1948 presiden
tial run was seen in his strong casti
gation of the Truman administration
for "bungling and confusion" in his
renomination speech. As the par
ty lines were being drawn for battle,
Dewey stood as the favorite to win
because of his administrative rec
ord in office.
NAVY:
To Provide Comforts
One could almost have heard the
rattle down in Davey Jones' locker
when the navy announced that it
was air-conditioning the new cruis
ers, Salem and Newport News, to
determine the best kind of equip
ment for eventually cooling all of
its ships.
In announcing the navy's plans
for providing additional comfort for
crews on the bounding main, Vice
Adm. Edward L. Cochrane, chief of
the bureau of ships, emphasized
that air-conditioning had proved in
valuable in boosting morale and
fighting efficiency in combat.
Various types of new air-condi
tioning equipment will be used in
the tests in the new 17,000-ton
cruisers, with the cool air transmit
ted into all living and working com
partments save machinery areas
where the heat is too intense. Sim
plified coils will be shockproof and
easily cleaned, it eras said.
VFW:
Ask Vet Aid
Adoption of resolutions calling for
increased benefits to World War I
vets and satisfaction of domestic
needs first before providing for
those of other nations highlighted
the Veterans of Foreign Wars na
tional encampment in Boston, Mass.
Congress was urged to authorize
pensions for World War I vets for
old age and disability, with pay
ments made for the latter regard
less of whether the disabilities re
sulted from military duty. Such
payments are made to Spanish
American war vets.
The government was asked to halt
shipments of food to former enemy
countries as long as any American
was unable to obtain sufficient food
stuffs to maintain proper health. A
protest was raised against deliver
ies of grain abroad at the expense
of U. S. brewers while beer was
being imported from England, Bel
gium and Holland.
Other resolutions called for the
trial of Yugoslav airmen who shot
down American fliers; support of
the Anglo-American recommenda
tions for admission of 100,000 Jews
to Palestine, and condemnation of
the practice of awarding actors
combat awards for troop entertain
ment.
FOREIGN RELATIONS:
Russ Rap Envoy
From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the
Federated Press dispatched a story
which read in part:
'Information has reached
nere ... of a sensational war
mongering speech delivered . . .
in Buenos Aires by George S.
Messersmith, V. S. ambassa
dor to Argentina. Messersniith's '
speech, a so-called "off-the-ree
ord" affair at a meeting of the
American Legion post in Buenos
Aires, pictured war between the
U. S. and Soviet onion as in
evitable. ..."
Quick to respond to the alleged
address, Pravda, the Communist
party organ in Moscow, opined that
the state department had sanc
tioned Messersmith's talk, thus di
rectly charging this government
with a hostile attitude. Pravda
declared that Messersmith had said
that his views were shared by high
er-ups.
In Washington, Undersecretary of
State William L. Clayton asserted
that Messersmith had denied cate
gorically that he had said war with
Russia was sure to come.
MARITIME:
Big Walkout
Government authorities pressed
hard to settle the walkout of 43,000
AFL seamen and avert a crippling
strike of all 500,000 members of
AFL and CIO maritime unions in
sympathy with their protest over
a wage stabilization board ruling
nullifying substantial wage in
creases. /
The trouble developed when the
WSB ruled that ship owners were
entitled to apply for rate increases
only on the basis of monthly wage
boosts of $17.50 as established in the
settlement of the threatened CIO
walkout. The operators had grant
ed the Seamen of the Pacific a
monthly hike of $22.50 and the Sea
farers International Union $27.50.
In backing the AFL walkout. Big
Joe Curran, CIO maritime leader,
was quoted as saying wage boosts
for any union were good for other
workers in the industry. CIO big
wigs were said to feel that success
of the AFL organizations in crack
ing the industry's wage pattern
would lead to readjustments of their
own contracts to iron out inequali
ties.
INDIA:
Showdown
Ominously the Moslem newspa
per Dawn of New Delhi lament*, c.:
"India finds itself turned into
a prison boose for Moslems.
The prison keepers must be
overcome. The art of gentle
persuasion having failed, the
hard road of resistance alone
remains."
Even as the words were being
written, bloody rioting, engendered
by the initiation of a Hindu-dom
inated interim government, raged
in Bombay. Following the pattern
of costly outbreaks in Calcutta,
mobs of Moslems and Hindus in
vaded opposing neighborhoods,
knifed and beat their victims,
smashed shops and homes and loot
ed property.
With such violent rjpts long pre
dicted by the British in the event
of their surrender of political con
trol of the country, leaders of the
large Hindu majority welcomed the '
outbreaks at the very inception of ]
the Dew independent government as
a test of their ability to maintain
order. The Moslems, on the other
hand, appeared equally determined '
to press the issue for "Pakistan," a 1
Moslem state within India.
Editor's Note: While Winehell
is on vacation, Jack Lait is act
ing as guest columnist.
Newt Nuggett? v
A former screen star, who made
a fortune, lists her youthful hus
band, on her income tax question
naire, as a dependent. . . . The only
Rolls-Royce in Saratoga belongs to
Mrs. Leo Best, of our Hotel Plaza. ;
. . . My item, that the Warner-Joan
Crawford contract is unsigned, was
verified to me. The reason: Joan I
demands a clause that her every 1
picture be released within six i
months. "Humoresque" is being '
held back because the studio wants
it in competition for next year's Os
car awards. . . Walter Florell, the :
hat designer, won't break through
his OPA ceiling?only $100. . . . The
Windsors check in at the Waldorf,
Oct. 1. . . . Jimmy Savo is seri
ously ill in a Los Angeles hospital.
. . . The much-sought Nijinsky is
reported in Vienna. . . . Lew Ayres
will be best man for Jennifer Holt
and Bill Blackwell, Sept. 25.
New York's newest fabulous
party thrower Is Dick CoweD. I
don't remember seeing his
name in print before. He has a
Park Ave. home that?well, he
entertains JM guests at one
time. And that's almost night
ly. .. . He goes in for gold in a
big way ? dishes, trappings,
even bis personal toilet articles.
. . . One guest swiped his all
gold nailflle recently. . . . Please
return; no questions asked.
A Crisis b Imminent in the domes
tic affairs of the John Jacob Astors.
. . . Virgo, the model, calling it all
a mistake after one week of mar
riage. . . . Midtown hotels are still
clearing out permanent guests;
some refuse to rent rooms that
can accommodate two as singles?
at less than the double rate. . . .
Platinum, up from $60 to $90 an
ounce, will go to $120, jewelers an
ticipate. . . . Swedish fllmagnate
Gustav Walley is here to line up
acting talent. . . . Faith Dorn, How
ard Hughes' movie protege, whose
name he spent a fortune to bally
hoo, will be billed in Preston Stur
ges' "Vendetta" as Faith Domergue. ,.
. . . Col. Charles Lindbergh is oc
cupied with a new scientific experi
ment, nothing to do with aviation.
Beatrice Kay stops me to dab
her eyes with a hankie and say,
"I'm mourning for a dear
friend, who just went to Ids eter
nal rest?he got a political job
tn Washington!"
John Boles, ex-screen star, has
come back?as a floorshow singer.
His click at the Arrowhead Inn
brought him a string of cabaret of
fers. . . . Lew Lehr, the comical
clown, bought the 66-acre Colonial
mansion of the late Col. E. R. Brad
ley at New Canaan, Conn. . . . June
Havoc ia in again for a plastic?
her third, or is it fourth? This one
is a dilly, I hear?to remove rings
from under her eyes I . . . Three
months ago, James Barry, bariton
ing at the Havana-Madrid, ran an
elevator in the Paramount Bldg. . . .
Bee Palmer, A1 Siegel's first wife
and first star, after a 20-year chill,
came to him to say she would stand
by him in any threatened litigation.
. . . . The Tommy Farrells (he's
Glenda's actor son) have their final
decree.
Jerome WUdberg, prodaeer,
has never tasted liquor ia his
life. He had to make a phone
call and had nothing smaller
than a (5 bin. He went Into a
cheap groggery, ordered whisky
which he didn't touch, handed
over the bin. As be waited
for the change, a Insh pot his
arm on his shoulder and
boarsed: "Ton know, we're a
couple o' damned fools!" (And
with that he passed oat.)
Sen. James Mead is in for a de
cisive trouncing by Gov. Tom Dewey
in his forthcoming race for gover
nor of New York. ... I raise my
former prediction of a 300,000 ma
jority to 800,000. . . . Ex-Gov. Her
bert Lehman, foremost contender
for the Democratic nomination to
Mead's senate seat, ran scarcely
overcome such a sweep, although
he is expected to run 200,000 to 250,
000 ahead of Mead. . . . Gen. Hugh
A. Drum, apparently Dewey's
choice, is an unknown in politics, a
regular army man, commissioned
by President McKinley when his fa
ther, a captain, was killed in the
Spanish-American war. ... As a
campaigner he has no record, and
it is difficult to predict what sort
of individual showing he will make.
Romantic Pacific Isles Prove
Lure to Many Ex-Servicemen
NAMES REMEMBERED
Jungle Is Creeping Back
On Historic War Sites
Guadalcanal, Hollandia, Man-4
us, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Iwo
Jima, Okinawa?all were but
spots on a map of the Pacific (a
large-scale chart at that) until
American soldiers, sailors and
marines battled and bled there
on their long march to victory
in World War II.
By dint of sheer manpower, many
of them became bases hacked out
of the wilderness of the Jungle.
Now, only a year after the war
clouds have cleared, many of them
are creeping back to their jungle
vastness.
Guadalcanal, site of America's
first major land stand against the
Jap invaders, has slipped back into
obscurity. British civil officials once
more rule the Solomon Island bas
tion and far-famed Henderson Field
is quiet except tor an occasional
plane.
Airfield Disappears.
The remorseless jungle is recon
quering the big airfield hacked out
by the Americans at Buna, New
Guinea.
Few signs of conflict remain
on battle - scarred Kwajalein..
Developed as a major base In
closing days ot the war, It also
served as an advance base for
the atomic-bomb tests.
At Tarawa, one of the costliest
battlefields of the Pacific, a small
navy garrison maintains the air
base, but it may be decommissioned
soon.
The name, Leyte, where Gen.
Douglas MacArthur kept his pledge
to return to the Philippines, is kept
alive by the navy, which maintains
a major base there. The bay teems
with activity, an airfield, air depot,
hospital, radio station and naval re
pair yards being located there.
Manila Is Shambles.
Manila, most dramatic battle
ground of the war. still is In shabby
ruins. Army trucks and jeeps wind
through the streets, past heaps of
rubble cleared from the thorough
fares and gaunt frames of cnce
beautiful buildings. Tourists gaze
in awe at the maze of rubble in the
Walled City; historic battles!te.
Waves lap the wrecked and
rusting landing craft which lit
ter the shoreline at Iwo Jima,
a volcanic stepping stone In the
march to Tokyo. The American
flag still flutters from Mount
Snrabaehl, far a small garri
son maintains a relatively un
important air base on Iwo.
In less than two years, Guam has
become the most powerful navy
base in the distant Pacific. Of all
tha Mid-Pacific bases, it alone
POPULAR PASTIME . . . Most
popular diversion (or sailors la the
Pacific was the hala show.
has taken on an air of permanency.
Okinawa, at Japan's southern
threshold, still lives in much of the
misery that war left. Army air
forces and navy bases are main
tained on the island. Naha, capital
city, ia a wilderness of destruction,
and sunken ships stud Buckner bay.
Kahoolawe Ranks
Most Bombarded
Island In Pacific
Ask any veteran of the Pacific
warfare which bastion was the
"most shot at island" during World
War II and he'll probably answer
Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Tara
wa or one of the other Japanese
strongholds.
But that dubious distinction be
longs to the small, desolate, insig
nificant, waterless, uninhabited is
land of Kahoolawe in the Hawaiian
chain. Former smugglers' haven,
the island, only eight miles by five
and of rugged terrain, has been re
duced to a mass of rubble by
countless shells and bombs.
The explanation is that naval and
marine forces used Kahoolawe, un
inhabited and commercially worth
less, as a testing ground for theories
of naval gunfire support of landing
forces.
More than 800 ships, ranging from
small amphibious craft to battle
wagons, poured thousands upon
thousands of rounds into Kahoo
lawe's barren sides. The tiny island
took a greater shelling than either
Iwo^Jima or Okinawa, where naval
gunfire reached its peak in the Pa
cific.
10,000 Navy Men
Take Discharges \
At Island Bases
Long heralded in song and film
as the land of beauty and ro
mance, glamour and adventure,
the myriad islands of the Pacific
left a lasting imprint on thou
sands of American servicemen
whose war duties gave themi
their first glimpse of the palm
fringed and coral-studded atolls.
The romantic lure of these Pacific
isles already has drawn nearly 10,
000 discharged American navy
men, who have decided not to go
home after the war's end.
The navy department reports that
9,372 navy men who were sta
tioned on Pacific islands daring the
war have received special authority
to be demobilised at their stations
instead of returning to the United
States for discharge.
All were required to have Jobs or
some other source of income before
this permission was granted. Moot
of the voluntary ex-patriates have
obtained civil service emptoymeat
in the military government, the
navy announces. Others have Jobs
in private enterprises, mainly in Ha
waii and the Philippines.
Some sailors have "raws na
tive" ? marrying native girts
aad deciding to make their per
manent homes an awe at the is
lands.
A few were reported interested in
starting commercial enterprises
W1ULU UlliAJI I WUUMUUCt UU1 ?UK
goods from the United States. Pri
vate business has been impeded,
however, because of the relative
scarcity at radios, automobiles, re
frigerators and other durable goods.
Look for Retreat.
Occasionally the navy department
receives a wistful letter bom a for
mer sailor or marine, discouraged
by peacetime conditions at home,
asking if there is a little island in
the Pacific he can buy inexpensive
ly for a retreat "to get away bom
it all." ?
As during the war, Americans find
a warm reception an mast at the
islands of the Pacific. Almost with
out exception the natives regarded
the United States as their defender
and liberator, and now they srait
hopefully tor the return at the
men they saw during the war.
The Americans brought a taste at
modernity and at big enterprise to
the peoples at the island groups.
The natives saw a picture at the
United States as a place at vast
wealth and immense physical re
sources. The huge quantities at
materials which moved through
these places made an indelible im
pression on the people.
Revelation at United States stand
ards of comfort, of transportation, at
eating and of public health has giv
en the natives an incentive to move
forward. Americans were friendly,
and generally there was immediate
response to this offer at friendship.
FOND MEMORIES . .. The romantic allure of PaclBe tales Is drawing many ex-servicemen hack to the *??*
of palm trees, coral beaches and hula girls. The nary Itself has discharged nearly lt.Mt sailors at PaciRe
bases because the men decided not to go home after war's end.
ONE OUT OF FOUR
High School Graduates Flock to Army
NEW YORK.?On# of ever; four
boy# graduated from high achool
this year either has joined the army
or has indicated his intention of
doing so, it is disclosed in an army
enlistment survey. The survey was
taken in connection with thy cam
paign to secure a million enlist
ments.
Army life still holds an element
of adventure for youth, the survey
indicates, as about 22 per cent of
the approximate 900,000 volunteers
so far were in the 17 to 14-year-old
age bracket
Former army men constituted 13
per cent of the total, although that
category is diminishing.
Largest single group, about 65 per
cent, represent men already in the
army who signed up (or extended
service.
Many responding te the sar
vey reported that they consid
ered the army a "better deal"
than a civilian's )eb, especially
since the pay baa been in
creased materially.
Others expressed a desire to join
the army because it provides a
"chance to learn." In addition to
army training, soldiers Joining the
regular army at this time are eligi
ble to secure a collage education
jnder the extended G.I. Bill at
Flights.
With the goal of a million enlist
ments in sight, the army now is
planning a new approach?? search
for quality. Maj. Gen. Harold N.
Gilbert, assistant to the adjutant
general for military personnel pro
eurement, said the army soon would
5e putting quality above all; that the
service wanted men who could ab
sorb the technical training neces
sary for soldiers who must deal with
electronics, chemistry, communica
Lions, intelligence, languages, civil
administration, high speed aviation
snd the other factors of ? scientific
irmy in the atomic age.