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Wilmington Wonting #iar North Carolina's Oldest Daily Newspaper Published Dally Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-News At The Murchison Building B. B. Page. Owner and Publisher Telephone AU Departments DIAL 3311 Entered as Second Class Matter at Wliming on, M. C, Postoffice Under Act ot Congress at March 8, 1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY CARRIER Payable Weekly Or In Advance Comblna Time Star News tlon 1 Week .-.$ .95 $ .90 $ 35 1 MODth i eeaaeeeee • a e e em • • e • 1«10 -W 1.®V 5 Months . 3.25 2.60 4.56 6 Months . 6.50 5.20 0.10 1 y#ar .13.00 10.40 18.20 News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue at Jtar-News_ BY MAIL Payable Strictly in Advance Combine Star News ticn 1 Month 4 -75 $ .50 $ JO i t l«l 1 ar 178 Card of Thanhs charged tor at the rate of 28 cents per line. Count Ove words to line THE ASSOCIATED PRESS "" is entitled to the exclusive use ot all news stories appearing in The Wilmington Star TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1942. With confidence In our armed forces—with the unbounding de termination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God. —Roosevelt’s War Message Star-News Program To aid in every way the prosecution o' the war to complete victory. Public Port Terminal*. Perfected Truck and Berry Preserving and Marketing Facilities. Seaside Highway from Wrightsville Beach to Bald Head island. Extension of City Limits. 35-Foot Cape Fear Kiver channel, wider 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 tlonal Agency, supported by one county wide tax. Shipyards and Drydocks. Negro Health Center for Southeastern North Carolina, developed around the Community Hospital. Adequate hospital facilities for white. Junior High School. Tobacco Warehouses for Export Buy ers. Development of native grape growing throughout Southeastern North Carolina. Modern Tuberculosis Sanatorium. TOP O’ THE MORNING Lord, grant that we may never test in what what we know; Thy spirit hath much deeper things which He would show; We know more from day to day, and wiser grow. So as nearer to life’s end we daily come; Grant our desires may ever burn while here we roam, Fully to be, to have, to know, when we reach home. —OLtfEY. -V Not A Penny Ordinarily it is impossible to think of a drive without thinking at the same time of a donation. For the most part, the two words are synoymous. But there is one exception. The present war bond drive is not being conducted for dona tions. Not one penny is being asked for by any worker. Instead you are requested only to determine how much of your income you •an devote to the purchase of war stamps and bonds and sign a pledge committing you to that purchase. If you are already making regular payroll deductions, you are meeting the need unless, of course, you can do more. If you are not, you are expected to do so, whether you work for wages or salary or have an independent income. In the war crisis, it is the impera tive duty of every citizen to subscribe as liberally as possible to these bonds, the reve nue from which will be applied to the pay ment of the war’s costs. Remember, too, that if the revenue derived are not giving the government a thing. On the contrary you are receiving something of great value. War savings bonds represent the best investment in any government security now on the market. The interest they earn is larger than most available securities. And they have the additional advantage of being backed by the credit of the United States— the best In the world. Remember, too, that if th erevenue derived from this source falls short, it will have to be obtained by straight taxation, which, to tax payers, represents an outlay without financial return. Bar Examinations Among young men nearing the end of their schooling, there is a growing impatience for graduation day so that they may enroll in the armed service of their nation. They see before them a bigger Job than they have ever done, and want to be about it. This is the American spirit that has brought the United States successfully through every war crisis, and will do it again. From the men who left their Harvard class rooms to volunteer in Washington’s tatterdemalion army to their fellow studehts at our present day universities, the determination to survive as citizens of a free country or go down fighting has never changed. It will never change. Its very existence imposes an obligation of vital importance upon government. It calls for reciprocal action. A single example will show how government can make some small return to the graduates whose hearts are set on doing their bit for victory. It has been the custom to hold bar examina tions in North Carolina in August, approxi mately two months after fledgling lawyers have completed their studies. If the same rule prevails this year, law graduates will have either to pass up the examinations or forego military training fbr two months. Those who pass up the Supreme Court test will still have it to take upon their return from the war. They would not be entitled to practice their profession until they had taken it. In view of the exceptional circumstances it would seem reasonable to expect the exami nation to be moved up, to follow shortly after graduation day at law colleges, so that the men who pass may be members of the bar before they put on their uniforms and so that none may be held at home for two months of impatient waiting. Exceptional times require exceptional rul ings. Certainly no man who wants to join up for the duration should be blocked by a non essential precedennt. -V Russia Knows Among all nations fighting the Axis, Russia has no fear of ending the war with Hitler triumphantly this year. That ought to mean something, because it is Russia alone that has taken Hitler’s meas ure. Russia knows that Hitler’s forces are not in vincible. Russia knows that the element of surprise, which carried Hitler to his early suc cesses, is now eliminated. And Russia knows that with implementation from this country and Britain the scourge of Europe can be com pletely knocked out—not at some remote time, but during 1942. When the Russian soldiers took an oath to make this the year of Hitler’s final defeat, they were not merely making a gesture to their leader, Joseph Stalin. It was that, of course, but it was also a pledge to do the thing they were capable of doing. The more the European situation is studied, the more obvious it becomes that the war in Europe is at the turning point. Hitler is known to be throwing all that he has into his forth coming attempt to conquer Russia and break through to new oil supplies. He is reputed to have assembled five million men for this ac tion, at the sacrifice of industrial production. It’s all or nothing now. If Russia is given adequate aid in essential fighting tools and supplies, and because Hitler is desperate, the conflict can be ended with his defeat even before new blizzards freeze his forces in for another winter. Inasmuch as Russia knows through actual experience the limitations of Hitler’s power there is no good reason that the position taken by Russia’s leaders and armies should not be accepted by Russia’s allies. -V Sugar Rationing Registration for sugar rationing is now un der way. There has been such wide publicity given the undertaking that no excuse remains for any person not to know what is going for ward. But it is appropriate to say that any house holder who neglects to register within the specified time will be unable to buy sugar at any store, when the period of registration has passed. Registration is being conducted at all schools, with teachers in attendance from 1:30 until 10 p.m. This will continue through Thursday of this week. Householders should understand that while there is no compulsion to register, it will be “just too bad” if they fail to do so. Their pantries will be sugarless thence forth. -V Another Battle Zone Because Australia is becoming more and more important in the United Nations war effort in the Orient, it is important, from the enemy's viewpoint, that the increasing vol ume of supplies, equipment and men reach ing there be handicapped or stopped as speed ily as possible. With this object in mind the Japanese are understood to be massing great naval strength in the Marshall islands, lying athwart the sea lanes between Hawaii and Australia. The value of these routes is too well under stood to have any threat to them ignored. We may take it for granted, then, that whatever move is necessary to keep them open will be made. With the Japanese increasing their conquests in Asia, not the least of which is Burma, the ultimate ability of the allies to launch a counter-offensive of sufficient strength to put a stop to them will depend in largest measure on mobilizations in Australia. Any interference with this program cannot fail to delay the day of retribution. For this reason, it is essential that the present Japa nese concentrations in th Marshalls be broken up and any other attempt to block our shipping to Australia be prevented. In the one brush with the enemy in this area the Allied air and naval forces came out on top. Although the present movement is on a much larger scale, it must be dis posed of as effectually, if the threat to Aus tralia is not to develop into a definite bar rier to the counter-thrust. -V Join Y. Now The Young Men’s Christian Association faces a crucial period in its existence. Since the war program brought a great influx of new population to Wilmington the association has had to do as best it could to meet tremen dously increased demands without additional working funds. How well it has done this is to be the credit of its administration, but it is a regrettable fact that much that it could have done has had to be passed up because funds were lacking. If the Y. M. C. A. is to occupy its proper place in this growing community, if it is to give the service it should, and gladly would, it is necessary that the membership be vastly in creased. Membership fees will go far to place it in a position to function as a going organ ization. This places its future squarely up to the men of the community. Are you willing to do your part for its success? The annual membership campaign is now in progress. Before its close a solicitor will call upon you. In the meantime consider well if you are doing your duty by your city and one of its most vital institutions by remaining off its membership roster. -V Washington Daybook By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON — Just how serious the shortage of transportation for individuals is becoming is indicated by the fact that Presi dent Roosevelt himself paused in his many other duties to call for an immedate “share your-car” movement. He didn’t restrict his plea to Washington either, or even to war work communities. Through the American Municipal Association and the U. S. Conference of Mayors, he has put it squarely up to every city in the coun drives a broken-down jalopy or the last special drives a broken-down jalopy or the last specia built streamline job to roll through the deal er’s doors. This is one contribution to the war effort that is going to have to be voluntary. Laws can draft men into the Army and rationing can curtail the use of everything that’s turn ing up short. But it would be impossible to police the whole nation to see If every car owner is doing his duty in sharing his car with his neighbors and fellow workers. The appeal will have to be made on a basis of patriotism and the success of the movement will depend on that. Transportation officials have estimated that the share-your-car drive could easily reach proportions where 5,000,000 cars could be taken off the streets and highways without impair ing the war effort. Think what that alone would mean in savings in gasoline, rubber, and wear and tear on cars that cannot be replaced for the duration. There’s nothing complicated about this “share-your-car” business. To some extent, it already has been put into effect in Wash ington and many war industry centers. Auto mobile association officials here have worked out several suggestions that will get the job done. tl) Workers who are in the same factories or buildings and live in the same neighbor hoods can organize groups of from three to six, each driving his car one day or one week and picking up the others. (2) Business trips in cars may be syn chronized by a little inquiry or verbal ad vertising. Salesmen who travel the same route might double up. (3) Housewrves who do their marketing by auto can form “share-the-car” groups with neighboring housewives. Shopping expeditions can be organized the same way. (4) If children are taken to school by car, the same neighborhood groups can be worked out. * * * There is hardly a purpose for which the car is used, whether it’s recreational, or business or social in which the “share-your-car” for mula can not be applied. If the government officials have their way the "share-the-car” movement will rapidly de velop to that point where the man or woman who habitually and needlessly rides alone will be as unpopular in the community as the slacker of World War I. -V Quotations You know that I regard my task very serious ly, so in my opinion generals like MacArthur have not encouraging but most discouraging capabilities. — Adolf Hitler. * * • Greece has been known as the mother of civilization. Now she may be known as the savior of civilization by upsetting the Nazi time-table of agression, — Evangelos Sekeris, Greek minister of education and religion in exile. * * * When people are hungry, they are going to fight. It is my observation that the gastric juices of people in dictator states work the same as those in democracy, — Dr. Walter Van Kirk, secretary of the Federal Council of Churches. * * * The words of “La Marseillaise” must ring again in the hearts of all Frenchmen who have not reconciled themselves with slavery. — A H. Silver, Cleveland ralfci. * * * We cannot have all we want if our soldiers and sailors are to have all they need. - Presi dent Rooapvelt SAMSON’S HAIR? The Editor*a Letter Box The editor does not necessarily endorse any article appearing in this department. They represent the views of the individual readers. Correspondents and warned that all communications must contain the correct name and address for our records, though the latter may be signed as the writer sees fit. The Star-News reserves the right to alter any text that for any rea son is objectionable. Letters on controversial subjects will not be published. CITY FINANCES To the Editor: One of the biggest problems that confronted the new Council Mana ger government when it took of fice first of June, 1942, was the unpredictable future. We were reaching the saturation point in housing shipyard workers. We were living at a rising tempo due to the war. We were being urged to go all out to help Great Brit ain, yet we were counseled to go slow because maybe the war would end suddenly and leave us hold ing the bag. If we should be drawn into th ewar no one could foretell what that would involve locally. The budget for 1940-1941 had been $845,398.38. But this was designed for a peace time population of 32, 000, and even so, it showed an op erating appropriation deficit, in cluded paying interest on an out standing loan, and provided insuf ficiently for a sinking fund to pay off bonded indebtedness falling due in 1948. (See Budget Appro tion 65 on file in the City Hall.) Hall.) The population was increas ing and plainly, the various serv ices police, fire, etc., would be ut terly inadequate. There would have to be expansion in every de partment. To meet this situation the bud get was increased about $200,000, which advanced the tax rate slight ly. Six months later Japan touch ed off the fuse and we were at war. It is well for us that the government was prepared. Their foresight had made it possible for us to operate under war conditions a greatly enlarged program with less strain than in peace times. It is noted from the report filed in the City Hall that we are living within our budget both actual and estimated. Our receipts are great er than we anticipated. We have been able to invest in $50,000 worth of war bonds as against $48,000 last year. Beginning September 1941, the city installed a monthly budget system for all City Depart ments with the result that for the first nine months of the year the city has spent $833,258.00 as against their budget appropria tions for the first nine months of the year of $881,734, or approxi mately $JU,UUU, saved. The same has been applied to the question of revenues received by the city, with the result that $900,955 was received during th e first nine months of the year, as against $845,400, estimated, or ap. proximately $55,000, surplus, thereby making the city about $84, 000 to the good. Yet the various departments of the city have had to serve twice the former number of people. The war has piled up additional un foreseen expenditures. We have our share in paying for Civilian Defense, the Control Room, A i r Raid Warning Service, salaries of those on eight hour shift duty and incidental purchases made neces sary by war demands. There is much else htat we might describe to show our satis faction in the city government, but we have mentioned enough to give our reasons for our hearty en dorsement of this administrating Raymond Clapper Says: Roosevelt Goes Slow On Anti-Inflation Program WASHINGTON, May 4.—Again it is worth while asking whether we as American citizens are go ing to think our problems through realistically. That is not suggesting a mere academic pastime. President Roosevelt watered down his anti inflation program because he was not sure that the American public was ready to go as far as some of his advisers felt he ought to go. He refrained from advocating compulsory savings although im portant New Dealers around him urged it strongly and are convinced we shall have to come to it. He refrained from advocating a sales tax, although here again some of his most trusted advisers are con vinced there must be one. No doubt it will be called a “war con sumption tax” when it comes as it certainly will. It is a good bet that Mr. Roose velt knows these measures will have to be taken but prefers to allow time for public sentiment to develop. If the President thought public sentiment were ready now to support him h,e probably would go ahead with the more drastic recommendations. But in this deli cate business of steering a whole people through the rough meas sures required by total war, you can’t blame the President for not wanting to strain his leadership beyond the point where the coun try is ready to back him up. + * * If we are going to give intelli gent support to enable the gov ernment to do what must be done, we shall have to do some intelli gent thinking. That require^ facing conditions as they are today, not as they were ten years ago. When your economy is dead and you are trying to reduce civilian con sumption to make room for war production, then totally different and opposite measures are called for. This is why some important New Dealers who fought the sales tax for years because it would depress consumption are for it now be cause we need to depress con sumption. Right now some $28,000, 000,000 additional is going into wages and salaries—90 per cent of it going to low-income groups. At the same time the production of goods for family use is going down and down. The excess money if allowed to float around would only result in people bidding up prices against each other. Not even the barriers of price control could hold the appetite in check any more than federal prohibition agents were able to stop people from drinking. * * * The New Dealers who have been right most of the time over the last ten years are now rapidly re versing their positions because conditions are reversed. They are trying to adapt their policies to the needs of this day, which is er tainly more intelligent than coast ing along on some old speeches they made when half of the na tion’s factories and working, pop ulation were idle. The fact that the National Asso ciation of Manufacturers and other business groups favored a sales tax at a time when I would only have further depressed consump tion is no reason for New Dealers opposing it now when they want to depress consumption. The classic popular argument against the sales tax is that it bears more heavily on the poor than on the rich. That is its effect without the slightest doubt. The sales tax won’t soak the rich. As a substitute for income taxes, which it was during the depres sion, it is a fraud. But now we get the rich through the income tax. They pay far more heavily than the poor, proportion ately—a third to a half of their incomes while millions are exempt from income tax. That is . half of the job and the rates are going up some more, as they should. The other half of the job is to get at the expanding buying power now going into the lower income groups. Congress shows no signs of drastic lowering of income-tax exemptions. The only practical way left to get at this money is through sales taxes and compul sory savings. Five years ago that was a reactionary program. Now it is a New Deal necessity. The Literary Guidepost By JOHN SELBY “Today We Are Brothers,” by Leo Lania (Houghton Mifflin: $3.50). “If I set out to write an autobi ography,” Leo Lania says, “it is not because I attach world-shak ing importance to the state of my soul or to my experiences. My aim will be to illuminate an entire epoch through the story of one man’s life.” This is a pleasantly modest aim, and it is equally pleasant to re port that Mr. Lania has suc ceeded. He calls his book "Today We Are Brothers,” and it definite ly ranks among the better bio graphical splurges of t h e spring It sometimes reads a little like a Walt Whitman catalogue of fa and to extend our best good wishes to them for their continued suc cess. A GROUP OF TAXPAYERS Wilmington, N. C. May 4, 1942. 4 mous names, to be sure. But oftener there are patches of deep ly affecting writing; there are also adventures which ring true, in part because they seem under stated rather than the reverse. And always there is a sense of the march of events in which Lania, like the rest of us, is caught up. Roughly, the book covers the first 40 years of this century. It begins in Russia, where Lania was born into a Jewish family in a provincial town. One of the first of his memories is of the Cossacks chasing students through the streets with their weighted whips, because the students had been demonstrating in favor of his fa ther. Because of his religion, the father had not been admitted to a full professorship. From Russia, Lania was taken to Vienna—it has been a long time since a better picture of Viennese life under the dual monarchy has been published. And from Vienna, (Continued on Page Ten) Interpreting The War Japs May Concentrate On Annihilation Move To Mop Up Burma Forces By KIRKE L. SIMPSON’ Wide World War Analyst Until Japan discloses her pia» for capitalizing on the Allied dis* aster in Burma, the full signs* cance of that United Nations defer is beyond conjecture. There can be little question how. ever, that Burma will figure heav:. ily in the scheduled parliamentary debate in London this week jii loss rearms Prime Minister Churchill’s critics. It makes h1, silence in the recent war-account, ing symposium that included Hit" ler, Stalin and President Roosevel! all the more noteworthy. What salvage values can bt found in Burma for Allied leader ship necessarily depend on what happens in Russia. That road to India and postern gate i0 China was obviously left exposed to what has now happened in order thr Britain’s growing air power might be concentrated to aid Russia bv diversion attacks from the wes; There is another element in the situation, however. Monsoon weather on the Burma approaches to India and China is still to be reckoned with. The rains are too close at hand to warrant the cor elusion that Tokyo even hopes to exploit the Burma victory by marching in either direction. What seems developing is a Jap. anese effort to trap and destroy the British-Chinese forces west ol the Lashio breakthrough. The Kip! ponese have already driven north, ward along the Burma road peril, ously close to Wangting Junction on the Yunnan-Burmese border. Its fall would break the last road contact between Burma and China, A Japanese sweep westward to Bhamo in the Irrawaddy Valiev from Wangting could place the en emy in the rear of General Stfl. well’s Chinese troops and also or. the main British supply lines iron. India up the Irrawaddy. Apprehension as to the fate o! the war-worn and ill-equipped Bn - ish and Chinese troops west o! Lashio seems better founded to the assumption that a Japanese in vasion of India or China from Bur ma is about to evolve. The terrain of the Burma road, including the gorge of the Salween river, is a formidable barrier in any season. The Irrawaddy road to India is little better for wet-weather fight ing purposes. It may be that Allied comman ders are still relying upon those factors, expecting the foe to con centrate on an attempted entrap ment and annihilation campaign in Burma for the few days that re main before the monsoon deluges begin. That might explain Stilwell's otherwise unexplainable move in holding on so long, even counter attacking eastward, at Taunggyi nearly 100 miles southeast of Man dalay and midway between Japa nese columns that have by-passed him on both sides to take Manda lay and Lashio. His forces a: Taunggyi are in dire peril. London commentators figure their only hope of escape would be to scatter; and fade away before Japanes lines close about them. Chinese troops also are reports holding the front north of Manda-1 lay, while the British are said t have shifted westward to the ex treme right flank. Perhaps the li lies fear a Japanese sea-borne at tack on the Burma coast designed to sever coastal route connection with India behind the British. There have been intimations from Washington recently, howev er, that the considerable Japanese naval force in the Bay of Benge, has been withdrawn for a Pac®: concentration, possibly against American - Australian communica tion lines. There have also bee: Italian reports of both British »r.: American capital warships passing into the Indian ocean, otherwise unconfirmed. Y estery ears 10 YEARS AGO TODAY The Wilmington Pirates >< vanced to second place in ” Piedmont league today by delet ing the Greensboro Patriots W ‘ topsy-turvy game marked by ; multitude of errors for both team: * * * 25 YEARS AGO TODAY The railroads operating fr° the city and the Tide Water P0"6. company decided today to sper. $1,000 or more in advertising over the state to dispel rum that Wrightsville Beach would re open this season. It was also ®e cided to emphasize rumors tn the beach area would be black out were baseless. * * * 50 YEARS AGO TODAY The Wilmington Light Infant formally takes possession tonv l of its elegant new armory, a members of the veteran c o r p (those who actually participate® the war) are to assist in the ce,c bration. -V As Others Say I1 WHY MUSSO HAS FITS. If it pans out to be true that^ king of Italy has ousted lini and his prime minister s0" . law, Ciano, and formed a new inet with a view to peace neg° ■ tions with the United sta),esj,uCe can understand now why h b has been, throwing those -r° fits of hysteria for the past 1 j weeks.—Charlotte Observer.
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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May 5, 1942, edition 1
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