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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ,s entitled to the exclusive use of all news stories appearing in The Wilmington Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1940 Star-News Program Consolidated City-County Government under Council-Manager Administration. Public Port Terminals. Perfected Truck and Berry Preserving and Marketing Facilities. Arena for Sports and Industrial Shows. Seaside Highway from Wrightsville Beach to Bald Head Island. Extension of City Limits. 35-Foot Cape Fear River channel, wid er Turning Basin, with ship lanes into industrial sites along Eastern bank south of Wilmington. Paved River Road to Southport, via Orton Plantation. Development of Pulp Wood Production through sustained-yield methods through out Southeastern North Carolina. Unified Industrial and Resort Promo tional Agency, supported by one county wide tax. Shipyards and Drydocks. Negro Health Center for Southeastern North Carolina, developed around the Community Hospital. Adequate hospital -ilities for whites. Junior High School. Tobacco Warehouse for Export Buyers. Development of native grape growing throughout Southeastern North Carolina. Modern Tuberculosis Sanatorium. TOP O' THE MORNING Most Christians are fairly familiar with the beattitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. . . . hut there is a little beattitude in Matthew II (11;6) that we often miss. . . . “And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me!'' The truth of this beattitude needs to be called to our remembrance in a time like this. . .. When things we see even to contradict the things we believe, we must not be offended. . . . Christ has not failed. He is carrying on exactly on schedule. ... He has never missed an appoint ment, and is never late. We need not be offend ed that He is not converting the world. He did not promise to do that, but to return in great glory to reign until all enemies are put under His feet. That blessed hour draws ever near er, and the darker the days, the surer His soon return. —VANCE HAVNER IN “THE KING'S BUSINESS” I In Tight Place ! Britain’s sudden thrust through the African desert against the Italian legions spread out in the Sidi Barrani region, which has already resulted in the capture of that base with many S supplies, marks another major turning point in the war. : When Mussolini’s Libyan army began its campaign against Egypt months ago, Brit ain’s forces in that area were forced to fali back into defensive positions with no objective beyond the single one of holding up the Italiar advance. By unleashing an offensive now the British have revealed their own confidence that th< time has arrived to take the initiative anc strike back. Behind this decision lie severa important developments of the last twi : months. The lull in Marshal Graziani’s Afri can campaign has given the British time to re inforce their army in Egypt heavily; heav; blows struck at the Italian navy at Taranti and elsewhere have given Britain undisputei control of the Mediterranean. And, finally, the amazing successes scorei by the Greeks in Albania have put Italy ver; much on the defensive in that theater of wai Mussolini must rush everything available t ' Albania to the detriment of his African care paign. Major ehakeups in the Italian hig command have hinted at grave dissension i Rome. All of this has opened a golden opportunit to hit Italy hard on all fronts and the Britis are seizing it with vigor. It is interesting t note the change in the positions of Italy an Britain as a result of II Duce’s mad thrust i Greece. That campaign was undertaken wit Object of diverting Britain’s attention£01 In' its offensive in Africa, a move Mussolini an * ticipated would be started at about the time he laid his ultimatum on the doorstep of the Athens government. Now Britain, by striking with tremendous force at the armies under Graziani in Africa, has placed Mussolini in such a tight place that he must either abandon the African campaign, and let Graziani be wiped out, to make a last effort to stop the Greek advance in Albania, or withdraw from Albania, giving the Greeks a major triumph, with the hope of bolstering Graziani’s flagging caiee across the Mediterranean, with his abil ity to land reinforcements and supplies in doubt. The Italians are in such a precarious posi tion in both areas that it is improbable they can win in either. Planning For The Future It is a helpful and gratifying thought that Wilmington, New Hanover county and South eastern North Carolina have risen above the comfortable assumption that regional planning is a pleasant sideline rather than a task which has a vital bearing on our future welfare. During the first World war Wilmington ex perienced the tremendous impact that a re armament program can have. Population ex panded rapidly; houses were hurriedly built, highways were under a heavy strain. Today, with the rapid expansion of defense activities, we are facing a roughly similar situation. This city and county—this entire southeastern sec tion of the state—are in the center of an area where major projects under the defense pro gram will be carried out. We can sit by and allow ourselves to be overrun and overwhelmed, or we can lay plans now to meet and take advantage of it. There can be no doubt that we are at the crossroads of opportunity. If our choice is right, all will be well; if wrong, we must ex pect only confusion and frustration. It is for tunate, indeed, that these basic facts are ac knowledged and understood in our civic, social, official and religious circles. The need now is for constructive planning— a program that will be comprehensive enougk to deal intelligently with every phase of the new life we must live at no distant date. This first step in planning—to recognize the problem—has already been taken. The second is to decide how the problem is to be met. That is still to be reckoned with. Charles W. Eliot, a member of the National Resources Planning Board, suggests that cities and re gions situated as this area is cannot better meet their opportunity than by creating a planning commission, amply financed and competently directed, with adequate powers to do a thorough job. He says that such a commission thus equipped and cooperating with other regional planning bodies "can be a potent force for the orderly development of the commu/ty.” We have had one experience, with most other American cities similarly situated, of the evils and discomforts' of ’hasty, planless expansion, in the midst of an emergency. This time, if we are wise, we will do a better job by drawing the blueprints in advance. Different Definitions If words meant the same things to Ameri cans and Japanese it would be possible to be encouraged by the conciliatory remarks For eign Minister Matsuoka addressed to foreign correspondents in his recent press conference. Unfortunately every statement he made must be understood in the light of definitions placed on those terms in the past by Japanese deeds. Mr. Matsuoka declared that he hopes and prays for a better understanding between the two countries. Since the beginning of Japan’s career of conquest Japanese statesmen have bewailed our inability to see the situation with their eyes. What he actually wants, then, it is fair to assume, is American willingness to have Japan do as she pleases in the Orient. Again Mr. Matsuoka expressed the convic tion that all differences between the two coun tries can be adjusted if both keep their heads cool and mind their own business. That ought to be true, but the trouble is that Japan has announced it to be her business to create a “new order in East Asia” contemplating, to judge from the record, Japanese hegemony in that sphere at the expense of the indepen • dence of China and the legitimate interests of all other nations. i On one point the Japanese foreign minister ■ was perfectly frank. He admitted without cav l il that the Three-Power pact was intended to * keep the United States out of the European i war. That is the way we understood it, too. To call it a “peace pact,” on the other hand, i is disingenuous as far as Americans are con » cemed, since its real purpose is to win the 1 wars in which its members are engaged. 1 So there was nothing to indicated that Japan j has actually relinquished any of her ambitions - or modified her aims, unless we accept Mr. Matsuoka’s denials that the idea of political y domination of the Orient for the sake of eco 0 nomic exploitation is far from Tokyo’s mind 1 These denials we cannot credit in the face of the plain facts. d --- y Taxable U. S. Bonds 0 Behind the treasury’s plan to borrow $500, l" 000,000 through the issuance of notes that will h be the first fully taxable obligations in the n history of the federal government there is something more than the simple purpose of y raising cash for defense. The money could h have been obtained, probably with greater 0 ease, by the usual method, b This move is the first in a new campaign to end the system of issuing tax-exempt bonds b now followed by the federal government, the n states and the municipalities. It is virtually certain that the next congress will be asked to end the practice by the “simple statute” suggested by President Roosevelt once before. The question of tax-exempt bonds is an old one. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations congress has been urged to take action to stop the practice, which does have aspects that are admittedly open to criti cism, Recently it was generally agreed that a constitutional amendment would be neces sary, and the difficulty of obtaining ratification by states anxious to preserve their borrowing ability was recognized. But the Supreme Court has handed down a number of decisions tending to undermine the principle that the federal government can not tax state and municipal bonds and these lesser authorities cannot levy on federal bonds and notes. On this ground, President Roosevelt has asked congress in the past to handle the issue by statute. Now the question is injected, in a broad way, into the defense program. Just how con gress will view it remains to be seen. Ob viously it should be dealt with only on its merits, without appeal to emotionals stimu lated by the defense program. Editorial Comment THE PURGE IN ITALY N. Y. Herald-Tribune While the bells were pealing throughout Greece yesterday for the taking of Argyro kastron, the Italians (who had not been al lowed to know that Argyrokastron had been lost) were learning that the head of their navy was following Badoglio, the head of their army and their greatest soldier, into an abrupt re tirement “at his own request.” Admiral Cava gnari has been the responsible chief of the Italian Navy since 1933. If he was less famous than Badoglio, he was even more deeply iden tified with Fascist militarism. The disappear ance of one such leader could be set down to some personal divergence of views. The dis appearance of two of them—along with that of de Vecchi, Governor of the Dodecanese, who was one of the celebrated “quadruum virs” of the Fascist march on Rome—means that something serious has been happening. And it will mean just that to every Italian What is it? There are at least three possible explanations that will spring to every mind, in Italy as well as abroad. One is that the war, in Albania, in Egypt and at sea, has been so badly bungled that the men whom Mussolini picked to put at the very top of his military organization have had to be thrown out to save the situation. This would imply a shock ing incompetence. The second explanation is that the men at the top were only lukewarm Fascist, and that Mussolini has been cleaning house in order to get thoroughly dependable people in sympathy with his policies in com mand. This would imply a dangerous schism opening under the dictatorial feet. The third explanation is that the trouble is not between the Fascist and non-Fascist elements but..be tween the pro-Germans and anti-Germans; this would imply that the Germans are moving in to take over the country, which would re duce Mussolini to a cipher and so destroy him. No one knows which may be right. The point is that each explanation must spell serious difficulty if not disaster for the Duce. 3 WASHINGTON DAYBOOK BY JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Dec. 12—UPl— The reper cussions of the Democratic convention in Chicago continue to keep the Washington scene shifting and provide the capital kibitzers with endless topics for speculation. Of these, have been none more important perhaps than the steady rise of Jesse Jones and Paul V. McNutt. As Secretary of Com merce and Federal Loan Administrator, Jones is toting on his broad shoulders a double load. These two jobs carry more weight with the nation’s business, big and little, than any others in the government. And now McNutt comes up another notch. Already Federal Security Administrator, and thereby head of Social Security, the Public Office of Education, the National Youth Ad ministration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, he recently was given the important task of coordinating the entire health, medical welfare, nutrition and recreational aspects of the national defense program. It’s Too Early Hardly had this announcement been made than the item writers again were wondering if President Roosevelt could be grooming Mc Nutt for the presidential race of 1944. Such speculation at this time is about as far fetched as forecasting what the weather will be on elec tion day that year. It’s enough now to consider 4he present in the ligijt of that Chicago con vention and let the future take care of itself. McNutt, who was openly in the field for the presidential nomination longer than any one else, took himself out of the picture and an nounced for the third term even before it was known that F. D. R. would run again. But McNutt had gone to the convention with the most effective national organization in the field. He had on his record a long list of polit ical victories in his native indiana, including four years as governor. He had been national commander of the American Legion, high commissioner to the Philippines, and for a year Federal Security Administrator (dispens ing about $800,000,000). There was hardly a serious observer at the convention who didn’t feel that McNutt could have had the Vice-Presi dency is he had wanted it. Yet, when Roosevelt called for Henry A. Wallace, McNutt bowed out of the picture and threw the weight of his organization into the scales for the choice of his chief. * * * frequently Mentioned Now take the case of Jesse Jones. As chair man of the Reconstruction Finance Corp., for eight years, he had supervised loans of more than ten billion dollars. In pre-convention days he frequently had been mentioned as a pos sible presidential candidate, but always de clared he was not in the running. When the Chicago convention swung into action, there was no one more conspicuous on the platform than the tall, broad-backed Texan and there wasn’t an important party huddle in which his big white head was not prominently bent When the nominations were over and the third term race was on, not only McNutt, who is admittedly a politician, but Jones, who de nies any^jponnections with professional politics ■ Gen. Franco’s Hands Across The Sea 1 --- l&psuumAsksQJ&foir 1 ■ ♦1®®,®®®,®®® (fowflil I H] wasmwgtoj- Generalissimo || W$ Francisco Franco has assured r if the United States Government jg R he intends to keep Spain at j| m peace and neutral in the war 1 raj and in return has asked for | 11 a, credit of t\OO,OOO0OO.OO | ;m with which to buy foodstuffs g m for his people. 3 1 §jpg&inft Ajpjp^shumIIs .. H 1 Ibs&§<£ ff®

— Louis Alter, musical composer, was sued for divorce today by Mrs. Made leine Short Alter, known on the New York stage as Mady Laurence. The complaint charges cruelty, sulkiness and pouting. They were married June 20, 1936, in California and separated last month. from the Burgaw Presbyterian church with the Rev. P. L. Clark officiating. Burial followed In the Burgaw cemetery Mrs. Bannerman, before her mar riage, was Miss Laura Murphy, the daughter of the late Dr. Hanson Mur phy. She Is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Katie Herring; one grandson, David Herring, of Gaffney, S. C.; two sisters, Mrs. Mac Moore and Mrs. Magum Moore, all of Burgaw; and several nieces and nephews. She is also survived by a daugh ter-in-law, Mrs. J. R. Bannerman, Jr., Fair Enough The Star wishes its reari to know that views and 0 ions expressed in this art 7 are those of the author an! may not always harmon” with its position.-The Editor BY WESTBROOK PEGIfp NEW YORK, Dec. l2 Jr? recent upsetment of represent*. Ham Fish over some news.,* reporting which he held to be i curate and slanderous remind* to remind him that this Sr,rt things is much more flagrant]? ® by the members of the house * the senate than by newspaper? porters. I will not go into ihe ? tails of the report which ann0? Mr. Fish, because the original? legation or insinuation mi°ht ° last his denial in the mind'of? reader. However, he speculated? the advisability of suing for r ? and on that point I would lib, observe that the ordinary (?? has no such redress when b ' slandered by a member of eh? house from the floor thereof48 Mr. Fish’s anger over this Cllt> lication recalls a little controvert that I had with him a year or f ago on the same subject. Mr ?° was preparing a speech' to be ? livered in his district and was c? templating some unconfirmed ? if untrue, slanderous matter v? had come to him anonymouslv . the mail. I asked him if he'fa checked these allegations, and mv version of the conversation i* that although he had not, he had p? ned to use the material, anvwav' qualifying it with some such ? cape clauses as “it is aiw? and “it is believed." uispuie fcnded He later said bp had no intention of using the allegations unconfirm. ed, and there the dispute ended, It was his word and my recollec tion against mine. That speech was to have been delivered off the floor, where the congressional im munity does not run and the con. gressman, theoretically, would have been legally responsible fa his remarks. But, inasmuch as the person affected was President Roosevelt, he was still immune be cause he figured the President wouldn’t sue. In fact, many politi cal orators operate under an im plied immunity and are notorious ly indifferent to truth and provable fact in their comments affecting the reputations of defenseless citi zens. A communist member of con gress once said of a certain man that this man got drunk every night, although the congressman had never had the honor of meet ing the man and probably had never even seen him. A like charge against the communist congress man published in a paper having financial assets would doubtless have resulted in a libel suit being filed, communists being hell on their legal rights and ever alert to grab a dollar from a capitalist, I am aware of another case in which a famous public man. who constantly berates the press, de liberately libeled a citizen in a speech after two lawyers had ad vised him that certain matter in his address was clearly libelous. Moreover, he boasted of it. Legal Remedy I certainly will not assume me burden of defending the publica tion of the report to which re presentative Fish objected, but i do want to emphasize the fact the: he has a legal remedy, whereat he and all other members of boh houses may slander citizens n'fc impunity, and that some of them have been known to do so. Unfortunately, not all members of congress have a high regard! their responsibility and, because most of them are politicians t? occupation, they are, on the aver age, much less careful on the to than reporters are in print politician grows up in the hat of immunity. The reporter beg to hear about libel when he is • cub. The congressman has no cr editor over him to ask, ‘'vho -j your authority for this charge And to delete it from his remark" if it is an anonymous tip or rum Obviously, members of congres> cannot be held accountab'e, ^ cause it is necessary that W. have complete freedom in deba. But this immunity should imp0 on every member a conscientio* respect for the truth, rn avers. to scandal for its own sake -■ a scrupulous respect for the • putation of the citizen under c cussion. And the decent mem ■ should assume a duty ta exp® wanton slander at once lcst be repeated by scurrilous pub tions. If the United States governor were legally responsible for ai • libel/ uttered in congress and P - lished in the record, the judgm ■■ would just about consume the - tire pot of cash on hand, acco ■ receivable and the proceeds public works and building and • United States navy sold under - hammer. Fuller Named President Of V. S. Manufacture n fl” * NEW YORK, Dec. 1~- • ^ Walter D. Fuller, president or ^ tiss Publishing Co., PhiladelP“ia- ^ elected president o£ the sociation of Manufacturers to , As president, Fuller will e j; executive for the coming >ef^ , organization of 7,600 iiulus.na which cover the entire t nite ^ ,( He succeeds in office Prentis, Jr., president of J‘n . rjnz Cork Co., who has held office the last year. o[- the Fuller 'has been chairman ^ important resolutions C°m.0p&® which today presented a „( pledging the complete coopf'1 j|t ay industry with government tional defense.