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r THURSDAY. MAY 28, 1942 THE BEAUFORT X'F.WS. EEAUFORT, N. C. WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Released Diplomats, Newspaper Men Tell Inside Stories of Axis Unrest; Armored AEF Arrives in Ireland; WPB Cancels War Plant Construction Released by Western "Sorry, So Gas" just a sign of since gas rationing went into effect. travel Is the direct result of Axis coastal shipping trade. 'INSIDE' STORIES: Of Axis Internees Inside stories of conditions in Axis nations were related by diplomats and newspaper men who arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, after five months cf internment in Germany and Italy. United States and Axis internees were exchanged in Lisbon. Correspondents were unanimous in their belief that Germany will gamble everything on an all-out drive this spring. To meet this showdown. Hitler is reported to have prepared 300 army divisions. Of these, 210 divisions have been as signed to the Russian front. Competent observers in Berlin predict that Germany must "shoot the works" this summer and that the fortunes of war will turn definite ly against the Nazis unless the all out drive is successful. Hitler's declaration of war upon the United States was termed the biggest blunder of his career. The German people did not expect it even after Japan attacked the Unit ed States. Germany's older genera tion remembered all too well that the U. S. helped decide World War I. Italy's war against this country is exceedingly unpopular with the peo ple, according to interned corre spondents. The Italians dislike the Germans and care nothing for the Japanese. Mussolini, too, is unpopular with his people. King Victor Emmanuel lost much of the respect that was his when war was declared in his name, But observers were agreed mat a revolution is doomed to failure un less it has the support of the army. The army still is loyal to the throne. CONSTRUCTION CUT: Production Stressed Behind the War Production board's decision to cancel contracts for war plants which cannot be completed and in production by mid-1943 lies two major considerations: A severe shortage of raw materi als. Belief that spring and summer developments may bring a turning point in the war. Construction will be stepped up on facilities such as synthetic rubber and aviation gasoline plants and will be cut down on such projects as new steel plants. Because of the raw material shortage, the WPB had decided to concentrate available supplies on arms and munitions production rath er than on the plants in which they are manufactured. Officials explained that the WPB has determined to produce 60,000 planes, 45,000 tanks, and eight mil lion tons of shipping in 1942. They will deal with the increased pro gram for 1943 when that time ar rives. AIRLINES: War Footing At President Roosevelt's direction the war department placed domes tic airlines on a wartime footing by ordering the transfer to the army air forces of a substantial propor tion of available flight equipment for operation by army personnel; by having the airlines convert approxi mately 70 ships into cargo carriers which they will operate for the Air Service command; and by giving emergency military missions priori ty on the remaining 70 ships to be owned and operated by the airlines. BRIGHT LIGHTS: And Shipping Losses Because dim-out regulations In New York were held "unsatisfac tory" by the army, drastic new reg ulations will affect the lives of the city's millions. Acting with the approval of the army and navy, Mayor- Fiorello LaGuardia ordered a program which for the first time will screen all floodlighting in railroad yards, manufacturing plants, docks, ship yards and terminals. E: ill "Kii ft Q-ij Newspaper union. the times in eastern seaboard states A sharp curtailment in automobile submarine activity against TJ. S. RE-ENFORCEMENTS: Land in Ireland ShiDload UDon shidoad of United States soldiers, fully equipped for mechanical warfare, have arrived in Northern Ireland to bolster the already large American garrison there. Enthusiasm was at high pitch in Britain. One military observer pointed out that the arrival of thou sands of American soldiers in Ulster allows planning for offensive opera tions on the continent "on a scale of at least 20 divisions or 300,000 men. The U. S. communique stated: .rj-;;t.K Toiuc Tho war ripnartment today announced the arrival of addi- i;,l TT;oH ct-itoe armv troorjs. blUUCtl . j The number is substantially larger than previous contingents auu in cludes tank units." The debarkation was carried out swiftly and secretly. Secluded bases already had been prepared for the men. RUSSIA: Kharkhov and Kerch For some time Hitler's objective on the southern flank of his eastern front had been clear. He wanted badly the oil that the Caucasian area could give him. His much-feared "spring offensive" shaped up that as the mud of Russia's Crimea be gan to dry. With overwhelming numbers he swept the Russians before him on his march across the Kerch penin sula. Then from Berlin came the report that the fighting in this area had ended and that the Russian troops had been "annihilated." But Moscow even later reported that in the town of Kerch itself there was still street fighting and that the de fenders were hanging tenaciously on to their foothold at the eastern tip of the Crimea. It was near Kharkov, further north, though, that the Russians claimed their greatest successes. The Kerch peninsula might be lost to the Germans but Nazi defenses around Kharkov had taken a ter rific pounding from the Soviet artil lery, tanks, planes and infantry. One report said that the Russians in a "new push" had taken 300 towns, slain 12,000 Nazis, captured 1,200 additional soldiers and had destroyed 400 tanks. In the Kharkov battle, Russian Marshal Timoshenko seemed to have taken the Nazis by surprise. The Soviet high command report ed that the Germans first fled in panic before the onslaught of Rus sian planes battering their lines at altitudes as low as 70 feet Then the Nazis rallied and the fight ing gained a new peak of ferocity. RAISE: For the Shipbuilders Payable in war bonds, a wage in crease averaging eight cents an hour went to the workers in the ma jor shipbuilding yards throughout the nation. This announcement was made after a 21-day conference in Chicago of private shipbuilders, union officials and government rep resentatives. Five hundred thousand workers throughout the country were effected by the wage increase. Pres ident Roosevelt had requested the War Bond raise as an aid to check ing inflation and at the same time allow shipbuilders to meet increased living costs. MISCELLANY: Smash: In Pittsburgh, Actress Katherine Hepburn smashed a news photographer's camera when he snapped her picture without asking her permission. Gestapo: A Stockholm dispatch said that Reinhard Heydrick, right hand man of Heinrich Hlmmler, Gestapo chief, had been appointed Gestapo commissar general In all German occupied territory. MARTINIQUE: Laval Laments 'Blow to France Though his opinion was not asked by the V. S. state department, Pierre Laval, pro-Nazi chief of the Vichy-French government, gave a rejection to most of the six U. S. demands concerning the Caribbean island of Martinique. The state department had earlier submitted to Admiral Georges Rob- ert, high commissioner of the :tween wPB Czar Donajd Nelson and French possession, a request that if j Transportation Czar Jo Eastman the status of Martinique, Guade-!over freez;ng 0f steel for the loupe, and French Guiana were ; construction of railroad cars, changed "the United States could no I With less and less dipping mov longer guarantee their belonging to mg along coasti and more and the French people." What the U. S. !more trafflc by raii, the question is really wanted was to immobilize French warships and airplanes now in the Martinique area, and some method for checking on persistent reports that this region was being used as a base for Nazi submarine activity in the raids on Atlantic coast shipping. Laval said that these demands were a "grave blow to French sov ereignty" and that France would not relinquish any of her rights over Martinique "no matter what hap pens." To this unsolicited state ment Washington gave the cold shoulder. It looked like the state department intended to deal directly with officials on the island rather than with Laval. THREE GALLONS: 'Essential As American motorists on the Eastern seaboard got their first taste of gasoline rationing many of them began to wonder if they would be classified as "essential" drivers. For if they had such a classification they would be permitted to buy more than the three gallons per week allotted under the rationing set-up. Motorists in Oregon and Washing ton were to get their gasoline ra tion cards the first of June when deliveries of fuel oil and gasoline to these two states were cut to 50 per cent of normal deliveries. Petrole um Co-ordinator Ickes said there is no immediate need of curtailing pe troleum products deliveries else where in the country. Reports from the East coast gave indication of grumbling on the part of some motorists to the effect that rationing should apply to all tions or to none at all. Then came the assurance from OPA that work ers who customarily drive to work were to be allowed enough gasoline to continue so doing. Congressmen and other federal and state employees using private cars to transact business with a government agency are entitled to unlimited supplies of gasoline. SELECTIVE SERVICE: New Induction Plan When Selective Service Director Hershey announced that after June a now nnlipv fnr thp mHnrtinn ' . ...... r , .... of men procured through the draft machinery would be introduced, he did much to solve the personal prob - lems of selectees. Under the new Pian men win ce inuui-ieu ; ately after they pass the physical examinations and will then be trans-:,abor ferred to the Enlisted Reserve , corp. and be granted 14 days for con-! eluding personal affairs before be- ing assigned to active duty. Trans portation and meals from the induc tion center to the local board locali ty ordering the registrant to report for examination and subsequently to a designated reception center will!"""""' "" B,,uu' i . . riot taken over completely bv Hitler be at government expense. rmm. " . " . .. , . ,. J1116 Communists, his chief oppo- Director nersney preaiciea mai rents, now havp Inner ,"'' ,"' "7"' : arms by late 1943 or early 1944. i Honored Guest jfw President Manuel Prado of Peru, left, a visitor to the United States, 1 and Maj. Gen. Francis Wilby, su-1 ?"!fte"d-entJ0,the ted ?Ute! West Point cadets who paraded in President Frado'a honor. CHURCHILL: Confident Confidence was the keynote of Winston Churchill's address to 25,000 Yorkshiremen when he told them that the beginning of victory is in sight and that England will "play rough" in repayment for any tor ture inflicted on Britain and its allies. Churchill's talk emphasized his warning that Britain would cover German military objectives with poison gas if that weapon were used by Germany in its war on Russia. : J? :i ITV" hi "f A?Flrli,. OS GD-PDUND l RlBERTAiCUH Washington, D. C. RRs VS. SHIPS It hasn't made headlines, but a battle roval has been raging be- one of the most important facing the country. What happened was that the War Production board froze a'l construc tion materials already on hand in railroad construction shops. The in tention was to transfer these materi als for use in building other types of cars. However, Joe Eastman claims that these materials, chiefly steel, already had been bought and cut out for certain cars, in certain shapes, so the order merely will make the materials go unused, with car shops closing down. Already, Eastman argues, certain plants of Pullman Standard are idle, at a time when all plants should be used to capacity. Meanwhile railroads are groaning with traffic. Sugar is now being hauled by rail as much as possible from Florida to avoid submarines. Oil is clogged up in the producing fields for lack of railroad transpor tation. And with the sinkings of several Chilean ore ships, more iron ore has to be hauled from in terior U. S. iron mines. In view of all this, Eastman com plains bitterly that Nelson won't re lease the steel and let the car foundries do the job. INFLUENCING EUROPEAN LABOR Here is one inside reason why Roosevelt leans toward labor. Basically, the President always has been pro-labor, and continues to be, even though he has become fed up with some labor activities in the past year. But in addition, U. S. war strate- sec-IB'sts are convinced that the chief ; hope of revolution in Europe comes from labor. And most of the psy chological warfare strategy being devised here is aimed at influencing labor in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria and the occupied countries. Although not generally known, the nucleus of the old Social Democrat ic party which tried to create a real republic in Germany is still Intact When Hitler came into power, they moved to Czechoslovakia. After the Sudetenland seizure, they moved to Paris. After the downfall of Paris, they moved to the U. S. A. Fifty Social Democrats from the , , . , .... ,0Ja eicnstag are now in this coun- Uy co.operating witn tj. S- officials. Kurthermorei it is abor te fte . European oce ied countries wnicb is able to assemble or make radios. German labor listens to the radio far more other c Some eyen published smaU "underground..Pnewspa. on hamJ P !riistrih, eH hhan, distributed by hand. German labor resents the long hours in munitions factories, the small pay and the lack of food, more than any other group. Also labor ground, but secretly active, 10 European labor Roosevelt always has been one of the world's greatest leaders. And one thought in the minds of war strategists is to show Europe that the rights of labor here will not be thrown completely over board during war. WALLACE'S FAVORITES The men who came to Washington with Henry Wallace in the early days of the New Deal realize now that they picked a winning horse. Almost to a man, they have moved up to important posts in the gov ernment Claude Wickard was head of the corn-hog section in Wallace's AAA. Now he is secretary of agriculture. Milo Perkins was a lowly assistant to Wallace, holding down a desk in me outer ottice. Today, he runs the Board of Economic Warfare, as im portant as a cabinet post Paul Appleby was an assistant in the inner office. Now he is under secretary of agriculture at $10,000 a year. Chester Davis was head of the AAA. Now he is director of the Federal Reserve bank in St Louis. R. M. ("Spike") Evans was an aide to Wallace; now head of AAA. Sam RlpHsnA Pn XXtrrTrArr.r and Whitney Tharin were newsmen covering agriculture. Bledsoe is now an assistant to the secretary. MERRY-GO-ROUND Secretary of War Stimson la held In the warmest personal esteem by army commanders. Hard-working and open-minded he never meddles In military operations and backs np his subordinates 100 per cent. Stim son Is always at bis desk by 8 a. m., and rarely leaves until evening, when he always takes home with him a big bundle of papers that he works over after dinner. Good explanation of "Your Army" and how the draft works, has been written by George H. liler of the Bridgeport Post. Boom Tmviis Struggle With Labor Influx War Industries Tax Normal Facilities in Smaller U. S. Cities. Released by Western Newspaper Union. In the turbulent economic wake of conversion and war production, a thousand patri otic towns and villages anx iously seek answers today to a multitude of new problems concerned with accommodat ing Uncle Sam's mobile armies of war workers. There isn't anything spec tacular about these problems that are keeping village presi dents up nights and putting furrows in the brows of town councils and boards. They're as commonplace as dishwater, hos pital beds, school desks or fire en gines. But their solution is very im portant indeed in the nation's fight to smash the Axis. Populations Doubled. Things aren't the way they were before Pearl Harbor in these thou sand towns. All-out war production has turned scores of them literally overnight into 1942 versions of boom areas. Crossroads hamlets have had their populations doubled between one sunup and the next. War boom towns in Illinois, Michi gan, Alabama, Washington, Ohio, California, have had to figure and plan as they never did before to provide the most meager housing, transportation, health and educa tional facilities for in-migrants need ed to man the new machines of war. Even large industrial cen ters have felt the pinch of provid ing decent accommodations on the home front for the new legions who are taking their places behind the men behind U. S. guns. From 5,000,000 workers directly employed on war production as of last December 7, the number has risen to more than 8.500,0f0 today and minimum requirements by the end of 1942 are expected by federal officials to exceed 15,000.000. American towns and villages are daily demonstrating that they are more than willing to do their part in the all-out effort to produce the tools for victory for the United Na tions. But the doing often is beyond the means of an individual locality, and the problems are complex and many. Serious Medical Problems. In a Michigan town, medical au thorities recently warned that an epidemic of tuberculosis was breed ing in the very heart of the subur ban factory district, 10 miles from a huge bomber plant. A report on overcrowding in the area stated that "more than 4,000 patients, 450 of them tubercular, are jammed into hospital space designed for 2,500." Officials pointed out that added to the danger from this source is a lack of suitable sanitary facilities for the mushroom community. The authorities of an Illinois vil lage suddenly awoke to the fact that many of their wells no longer reached the water table in that area, due to the emergency drilling of nu merous other wells by war produc tion plants surrounding the village site on three sides; a village in Minnesota found that the increased number of war workers and their families moving into the community necessitated the hiring of another teacher, a part-time janitor and the purchasing of new supplies of books and other equipment. I fi---x"J- T I ls5- , X . .J i,f, i i-Ti-iii. jjiMfa-te-..".'....... 8iimii1lfim.HiHIlllll ill IIUMIIIIHI hlWUHMtW' Mfiriiimj All-out war production has brought living conditions such as these In a mldwestern town to hundreds of communities from coasi io coasi. Many trailer communities lack proper sanitary facilities and a Urge number of them try to accommodate too many trailers for the space. 'Top-Kicks' Trained WASHINGTON. A school which prepares soldiers for the exacting job of top sergeant in the American army has won its chevrons at the Signal Corps Replacement Training center at Fort Monmouth, N. J. Within an eight-week period, this school transforms soldiers into "top kicks" able to cope with the end lessly varied problems of adminis tration, supply, and company lead ership which will face them in the 'Grand Hotel' 1942 fVl v V K ; If r I ,V f -U . Because of insufficient living accommodations, these weary workers in a small Virginia town are forced to sleep around the stove of a general store. This condition exists in many other crowded defense areas. In a Pennsylvania town, Jammed with war workers, a pumper and fire fighting equipment were required immediately to reduce the hazard of a possible general conflagration; a Kentucky hamlet had to arrange for an extension of its sewerage facili ties or suffer the consequences; a Colorado town, a Wisconsin city, and a Texas county were confronted with the need for new schools at once. The patriotism and morale of these workers are high, but so are their American standards of living. For their families, these war work- Baird Snyder, assistant adminis trator of the Federal Works agency. ers ask for livable quarters, good water and sanitary facilities; there must be classrooms for their chil dren, recreation, beds in hospitals for them when they fall sick. Congress has recognized both the needs of the mobile armies engaged in war production, and the problems of the localities affected through the enactment of the Amended Lanham act In the hands of the Federal Works agency the legislators have placed a great part of the job of keeping ahead of the vast commu nity requirements of these industrial legions of Joneses, Cohens, Murphys and Kozlowskis. Title 2 of the Amended Lanham act provides that in any area or locality where an acute shortage in Eight-Week School field. Its first graduates are now serving with Signal corps units. For approximately six weeks, the men are trained in Fort Monmouth classrooms and drill fields. Besides company administration, they study infantry drill and physical training, defense against chemical and air attacks, sanitation and hygiene, first aid, training methods, basic signal communications, map read ing and sketching, and morale and supervised athletics. i j Emergency Model of public works or equipment for public works necessary to the health, safety or welfare of per sons engaged in national defense ex ists or impends, FWA is authorized, with the approval of the President, to relieve such shortage. This au thorization Is conditioned on evi dence that the necessary works or services could not "otherwise be ob tained when needed, or could not be provided without the Imposition of an increased excessive tax burden, or an unusual or excessive increase in the debt limit of the taxing or borrowing authority." Need for Construction. Assistant FWA Administrator Baird Snyder, acting for Adminis trator Philip B. Fleming, has point ed out that: "Inseparable from the lives of modern industrial workers and their families from transporta tion, education, health and recrea tionare prosaic roads, sewers, schools, hospitals and many other types of public construction." War as an industrial process, says Mr. Snyder, means that community facilities have to be built not only to accommodate expanded armed forces, but to take care of the mo bile and increasingly numerous ar mies of war workers. Without such construction, those who have studied the problem de clare, the efficiency of industry would be seriously impaired and la bor would float from one town to another in fruitless search for de cent living conditions. In the last four months, FWA has quickened the pace of worK in response o im perative war needs. Today, through out the nation, this federal agency is building or ready to build all the war works that can be provided with $300,000,000 worth of federal funds plus whatever local contribu tions are available. A great deal of red tape has been cut in FWA since war was declared. The Man with the shears in the Great Lakes region and Middle West, for instance, is Markley Shaw, former assistant to the director or the old FWA defense housing divi sion, who casts as personal repre sentative of the administrator. Full-Scale Wartime Basis. "Public works are now being han dled on a full-scale wartime basis," explained Mr. Shaw, whose head quarters are in Chicago. "My in structions are to let nothing stand in the way of prompt, efficient de velopment of war projects. Under new regulations no federal funds will be allotted for the construction of a permanent building under the war public works program, if a temporary or semi-permanent one will suffice. This applies even though the applicant proposes to contribute the full amount of the difference. "Except where a structure is an addition to an existing facility, ne gotiations will be opened on the ba sis of simplified standard plans of the Federal Works agency. Elimi nation of all building material be yond absolute necessity in war pub lic works construction recently has been ordered throughout 'he nation, and this step is expectel materially to reduce the use of critical war ma terials as well as to free man-hours of labor for other war production." Assistant Administrator Snyder has listed the following types of proj ects directly attributable to war ac tivities as eligible for federal allot ment of funds: Schools, hospitals, health centers, detention hospitals, fire department, buildings and cer tain equipment except radio equip ment, recreation buildings, water and sewer facilities, and mainte nance and operation of schools and hospitals where necessary. In recent months, the Federal Works agency has built or contract ed to build scores of community facilities in every section of the nation where production wheels turn. The U. S. Public Health Serv ice, in co-operation with the state departments of health, is intensify ing the application of general health plans in strategic localities. Co-operating in the general plan to assist individual localities and provide living facilities for war workers is the National Housing agency, which is building thousands of bouses and dormitories.
The Beaufort News (Beaufort, N.C.)
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May 28, 1942, edition 1
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