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Wilmington Wonting &tar Berth Carolina’s Oldest Dally Newspaper Published Dally Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-News At The Murchison Building K. B. Page, Owner and Publisher ’ Telephone AU Departments DIAL 8811 Entered as Second Class Matter at WiimlnF ton, M. G, Postoffice Under Act ot Congress _ ot March A U7R SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY CARRIER Payable Weekly Or In Advance Combine Tint* Star News tion I BY MAIL Payable Strictly to Advene* Combine Star Maws tion 1 Month -W $ .60 $ Jit 2 Months ••#**#•»#•*•*#•*•• 2.00 1.0C1 2.^ 0 Months *-00 0.00 la 1 yhj .S.00 6.00 10.0H News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue ot Star-News Card of Thanhs charged tor at too rata el 39 cents per line. Count Sva words to lino. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS is entitled to the exclusive us* of all news stories appearing in The Wilmington Star. FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1942 With confidence In oar armed forces—with the unbounding de termination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph —so help us God. —Boosevett's War Message Star-News Program To aid in every way the prosecution o' the war to complete victory. Public Port Terminals. Perfected Truck and Berry Preserving and Marketing Facilities. Seaside Highway from Wrlghtsville Beach to Bald Head Island. Extension of City Limits. 35-Foot Cape Fear River 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, tional Agency, supported by one county wide tax. Shipyards and Drydocks. Negro Health Center for Southeastern North Caroline, 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 , Conscience in the soul is the root of all true courage. If a man would be brave, let him learn to obey his conscience. —James F. Clarke -V Let’s Be At It It is encouraging to hear Sir Stafford Cripps, the British Prime Minster’s spokesman, tell the House of Commons that a continental inva sion of Euorpe is definitely in the war pro gram of the United Nations. This is the first official declaration to that effect. It should go far to staunch the flood of criticism, footh in England and in this country, of Mr. Churchill’s policy of waiting. And it assuredly is as well that Sir Stafford gave the Commons no hint of when an inva sion may be launched. To have done so, pro vided Sir Stafford knows, would have been to “tip off’’ the enemy and to a large extent dispel the jitters of high Nazi officials, in cluding Hitler himself. But the time may be set in the minds of observant persons as co inciding with the arrival of enough United States troops to assure success. In the meantime, as Sir Stafford correctly says, the continued bombing of German mili tary targets is Britain’s “best contribution to the common war effort.” The Royal Air Force, with it* added American strength, is striking an effective blow at Nazi war production, the consequencies of which will be more and more visible on the Russian front as that great battle develops. If the R.A.F. raises its bombing power to ■ thousand raiding planes in continuous flight over Nazi-held territory, Hitler’s war produc tion will be tremendously reduced and his armies’ striking power in Russia relatively restricted. Already Rostok and Mann heim are virtually in ruins, and there is reason to think that other industrial centers on the continent, from which Hitler has been drawing his principal supplies of weapons and munitions, are little better off. The more this demolition is increased the weaker will be Hit ler’s all-out effort against the Reds. If he can be prevented from capturing Cau casian oil fields, his war machine must soon be halted, for his present sources of supply are fast being exhausted, The Rumanian fields, his chief reliance, are not adequate to meet his need. Their total production is no more than Ohio’s, and Ohio stands fourteenth among American petroleum-producing states. But the blow that can drive Hitler into sub I mission must be struck not from the air alone but from the ground as well. And it is obvious that it must be delivered by American forces, at least as long as the British have the final say in drafting the European war program. It behooves the United States, then, to speed its armies in overwhelming numbers on the voyage northern to Ireland. If the job is to be ours, let’s be at it. -V Other Training Needed The National Youth Administration is per forming constructive service by training young men for skilled work in shipyards and war industries. Welding and machine shops are turning out workers in large numbers cap able of performing exacting tasks in a variety of plants engaged in war production. At NYA training centers, in addition to courses in manual trades, training is provided in hy giene, close attention is devoted to the health of trainees, and opportunity to become adept in sports is offered. Many advantages which trainees, largely drawn from underprivileged classes, had missed before entering the cen ters, are provided. But it is becoming apparent that one es sential course is being overlooked. This was pointed out by U. A. White, director of the Wilmington center, during an address before the Kiwanis club at its last meeting. Boys, he said, who had enjoyed little or no acquaint ance with folding money in the past, are now receiving big wages—for them and many an older man—and lack all foundation training in how to use it. He cited one case of a lad who showed him a check for more than $100 for a single week’s work. Other boys, he said, exhibited check's ranging from $85 down to about $65. And all of them had come from homes in which a $5 bill was seldom seen. The NYA can train mountain boys to be come good machinists and welders, but it has no means of helping them cultivate a proper appreciation of the money they earn. Along with a large section of the public, in which this situation has justly been viewed with alarm, Mr. White declared he trembles at the thought of what will become of these young workers if they fail to learn now to husband their unaccustomed wealth, against the day the war is concluded and their emer gency work curtailed. If they have not learned the lesson of thrift but know only the folly of spending money freely, and have contracted extravagant hab its, their lot will be pitiful indeed. Mr. White had no suggestion to offer for remeding this situation. But the warning he Sounded deserves more than a gasp of hor ror. It should have the studious attention of the agencies which have provided them a means of earning big wv> -£es but have neglect ed to train them in saving. -V Maritime Day The battle of shipping, which is as vital as the battle of industrial production, is to enter a new stage today with the launching of 30 Victory ships in the country’s shipyards. Wil mington’s participation in this phase of the Maritime Day program will come at 4:40 o’clock when the “William Moultrie” will slide down the ways, for the twelth launching at the North Carolina Shipbuilding company’s plant. Preceding the launching there will be brief addresses by Rep. J. Bayard Clark and S. Duvall Schell, executive director of the Mari time Commission, and in the evening the Pro peller club will be host at dinner in the Cape Fear Country Club. These ceremonies, impressive as they will be, are but a small factor in the Maritime Commission’s program, however. Behind them, and of infinitely greater importance, are the men working on the ships, the exe cutives who plan and direct their work, and the nation’s war program which includes ships as a weapon of victory. Henceforth this great program contemplates the completion of two ships a day. America’s shipyards have proved that this goal can now be reached. The battle of shipping, then, is in a fair way to succeed. But something more than construction of ships is needed. Their destruction by enemy U-boats must be prevented. This can best be done by cutting off all submarine supply bases in this hemisphere. It ft encouraging to know that strong senti ment is developing in Washington for the seiz ure of Martinique and other French posses sions on this side of the Atlantic where there is no reason to doubt Nazi U-boats have been serviced since submarine warfare extended to this seaboard. -V Gas Ration Violations Greensboro rationing officials report receiv. ing word that operators of some service sta tions in that city are selling gasoline in un limited quantities without regard for ration card classificat n They appeal to the citi zens to obey the rules governing sales and, to fortify their plea, cite the punishment set up for disobedience. They hope that consumers and dealers will not force them to invoke the law, that the spirit of patriotism will prevail, but apparent ly will not hesitate to apply the penalties against offenders if present practices continue. The rationing of gasoline has , been declared a necessary war measure and no one with a fair realization of the need for supporting the war program in every detail will hesitate to comply with it even if compliance involves some personal sacrifice to consumers and loss of business for dealers. Any person who wil fully violates the rule richly deserves the severest puisnhment provided. There has been no official announcement of rationing violations in Wilmington. If any should come to light the offenders will de serve no more consideration than the ration ing officials in Greensboro are to give viola tors there if the present warning-appeal fails of its purpose. -V Airport Expansion More land is needed for the airport in order to lengthen the north-south runways to 5,000 feet. Although the request is presented to the county commission by the WPA administrator for North Carolina, it stems from the Army Air Force. Because of this source, it is ap parent that the War department has Wilming ton in mind for an even larger bomber force than is now stationed here, or for larger planes for the patrol of these shores which are under constant threat of enemy attack. In these circumstances there is but one course open. That is to see that whatever land is needed for expansion of the field is made available without delay and every aid given the Air Force authorities in their program. With the stakes so high it is to be presumed that private owners whose land may be need ed will be as anxious to help as the county authorities who have done so much to convert the field into an Army air base. -V Washington Daybook By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, May 21 — Answering the mail orders: K. T. C., Minneapolis, Minn.—You are right. One of the biggest bottlenecks in wartime legislation now is: who shall administer what laws? But please consider the plight of the newman who is trying to report the picture accurately. No cabinet member or other gov ernment official would admit for a minute that he is angling for control of the newly created agencies. The behind-the-s c e n e s scraps over control of administration of alien property; gasoline rationing; manpower; and certain foreign policies in economic warfare are classics—and that is mentioning only a few. But these are fights that don’t come into the open. To try to unravel them is only to pass along a lot of hearsay and rumor. There is a story current now that all that is hold ing up legislation on compensation to depend ents of men drafted into the Army is whether the War Department or Federal Security Ad ministration will have charge of it. « • • Mrs. T. N., San Antonio, Texas—House wives and other purchasers at retail stores should report immediately to local OPA offi cials any violation of the price ceilings—but be sure you are armed with the facts. If the posted March high on any item is more than you paid for that item from that par ticular retailer and you have proof of it, such as a sales slip or paid bill, you still have to be certain that you paid the top price in March. In other words, the mere fact that you bought an article for 50 cents in March is no proof that the retailer didn’t charge 55 cents for it part of the month. A. N. S., Raleigh, N. C.—I am assured by the powers that be—but off the record—that there is no immediate prospect of confisca tion of private cars or tires. I would say that only in the case that everything else fails would the government resort to any such dras tic measures. The real car, gasoline, and tire saving measures are just beginning to get under way. It will be some time yet before national surveys can prove that these are success or failure. There is a growing demand here that car owners be urged NOT to store their cars. Even if properly prepared for storage (and servicing for storage and in storage are problems for expert mechanics and garage men), cars stored only add to the transportation problem. Better share your car with your neighbors. D. R. Canton, O.—There is no government order that schools keep open during the sum mer or that colleges reduce their four-year terms. These are merely suggestions of the Office of Education. The office does not want schools to maintain a summer session where it will be a financial drain on the community and recommends only that normally closed schools be kept open this summer as defense centers when other suitable meeting places are not readily available. -V Editorial Comment TWO SHIPS A DAY New York Times It is not likely that the bottleneck of ship ping which now hampers all our war effort will be cleared in the near future. Although we are building ships faster than ever before in history, we are not building them fast enough. Nevertheless, it is reassuring to be told by the Maritime Commission that when thirty new ships slide down the ways next Friday our output will be two ships a day and may reach three by Fall. The White House estimate that we are now within reaching distance of the President’s seemingly impos sible quota of 8,000,000 tons a year shows that the problem can be solved.. Events have proved that even an annual 8,000,000 tons will not lay down that bridge of ships we must have to carry the war vic toriously to our enemies. Both the quota and the speed of production must be raised. Along with our shipyard miracles the destruction of our maritime tonnage by enemy submarines has been heavy. The Navy Department has announced that 191 United Nations merchant vessels , have been sunk in th Atlantic area since the Pearl Harbor attack, whereas this year the United States alone has put 120 cargo ships into service. This figure, of course, does not include British ship production, which is also rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, muni tions for which there are no carriers are be ginning to pile up on our docks, and the situa tion with regard to coastal tankers is de plorable. . No one can say that Admiral Land has not done a good job in difficult circumstances. In most cases he has been loyally supported by ship builders and workers alike, for only a few of the yards are still laggard. But in spite of record totals, we must have more ships. Optimistic forecasts should not prevent full inquiry as to whether Admiral Land is not overburdened in his dual role of construction chief and maritime administrator. He himself has testified that in some of the yards labor problems are interfering with production Nothing must be allowed to interfere with pro duction. In this total war cargo ships are weapons as essential as guns, tanks and planes “GAY PAREE” \ CANT UNDERSTAND „ WBV SHE DOESN'T " JLOV>E ME! As Others Say It NATURE FIXES THINGS aNture has a way of fixing things. For example, in anticipa tion of the sugar shortage she in duced the bees to increase produc tion of honey by 2,000,000 pounds last year.—Greenville (S.C.) News. * * * DEVOTION NEEDED No senator or representative should be elected on either ticket this November who is not for put ting the winning of the war above everything else. On that there should not be, and there is not, any division of opinion. But it was never more important than jt is right now that we should have senators and representatives who are steadfast in their devotion to constitutional government and to the American way of life as we have known it from the beginning. —Hartford (Conn.) Courant. * * * A OK BY US It’s good enough for us if it is good enough for the Uncle Sam of the cartoons, who never had cuffs on his pants.—Durham Sun. 5 * * * i WET PAINT A German aircraft was shot down by German antiaircraft fire aimed at British bombers on their way to the Rhineland. In the early morning hours a, couple of Dutch painters from a neighboring town were ordered to cover up the German markings on the wrecked airplane with those of the RAF. The painters did their work with obvious reluctance, but thought of a clever way to spoil the German game. They left a prominently displayed notice: “Wet paint.” — Tit-Bits. * * * NOT SO SIGNIFICANT Tokio has read sentence of death and destruction on Washington and London. Nothing new, or even ominous, in that. London Bridge Is Falling Down is a nursery song of quite respectable antiquity and Macaulay's New Zealander, gazing upon its ruins, had many predeces sors. But there she stands.—Louis ville (Ky.) Courier-Journal. Raymond Clapper Says: Pros, Cons On Relaxing Limits On Bond Buying BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, May 21. — The Treasury could sell more war bonds if the limits were relaxed on the amounts any one person or institution may purchase. John L. Lewis offered on behalf of the United Mine Workers to buy $5,000,000 in war bonds but Treas ury restrictions prevented it. There is some argument for re laxing the rules but thus far Sec retary Morgenthau has felt the argument was stronger for main taining them. Actually Treasury officials are finding ways to get around the restrictions in many cases of labor unions that are anx ious to buy large amounts of war bonds. No one person may buy more than $5,000 in “E” bonds in a given year, nor more than $50,000 in “F” and “G” bonds. The intent was to spread the bonds out among as many purchasers as, possible. They bear high interest—2 1-2 per cent to 2.9 per cent as against about 1 1-2 cent for ordinary gov emment Donas which may De pur chased in unlimited quantities. Because of the higher yield of the war bonds, large institutions would buy enormous quantities in stead of putting their funds into the lower yield regular govern ment bonds. The war bonds were set up with a special interest in ducement to attract the small re stricted purchases. Some argue that the $50,000 limit might be doubled without jeopardizing the situation but no change of policy is indicated. That is what John Lewis ran into when the Treasury declined to sell $5,000,000 to the United Mine Workers. However other labor un ions also wanted to invest huge The Literary Guidepost By JOHN SELBY “ THE COMMANDOS,” by El iott Arnold (Duell, Sloan & Pearce: $2.50). There can be no doubt that Nor way and her plight have struck pretty deeply into the conscious ness of our novelists. First came John Steinbeck, by a neck Then came a younger writer named Wil liam Woods (his name really is Wang) with his superb novel of Norwegian resistance. And today there is Eliott Arnold and his “The Commandos,” by all odds the best book he has done so far. “The Commandos” is in theory about those thorns in the side of Hitler. There is plenty about them in the book, to be sure, but the part that sticks most tightly in the reader’s mind is once again the Norwegians, and their dogged struggle against inhuman, and in humane, odds. Nobody is likely to forget young Alan Lowell, who leads a force of commandos. Still less will he forget Nicole Larsen, and because their tense and bitter drama is played in Norway and not in England, the novel itself becomes a Norwegian novel. This is no loss. Nicole lives in Stavanger and is the center of Norwegian resist ance on one hand, and of a Brit ish spy nest on the other. She has kept her beautiful home, and it has become a kind of club for the Nazi officers in Stavanger, and particularly for Paul Dichter Dichter is the typical Nazi have not who has risen to power in the party and makes this a compensa tion for his poverty-ridden youth m Munich. The trouble with Dichter is that he is in love, hope lessly in love, with Nicole. So is Alan, and his love dates from a meeting years before in Budapest. It becomes necessary that Dichter be “liquidated” if Nicole is to continue her work She thinks it best that an out fit®1, do the job, and by novelistic license Alan Lowell is the com mandos chosen. Thereby hangs much of Mr. Arnold’s tale. It Is unimportant that this is not even a faintly original plot as such things go. Mr. Arnold keeps it'sim ple. He plays it out before a com plicated background in which the whole system of little people gnaw ing relentlessly at the vitals of their conquerors is seen at work. Most of the book is written with great restraint, so that the cli maxes strike hard when they come. And they come often enough to make the whole book strike hard, and deeply 4 sums and ways were found to fit into Treasury regulations. For, instance, the meat cutters union, A. F. of L., bought $150,000 in war bonds by splitting up the purchasing between three separate union funds. They bought $50,000 in the name of the union’s general fund, another $50,000 in the name of the union retirement fund and a third bloc for the death benefit fund. In addition other lasge blocs were bought in the name of local unions. All that the Treasury asks is that such separate funds are guar, anteed intact under the union con stitution or under legal action by the union officers so that at some later date the funds cannot be con solidated into a single fund, and thus violate the Treasury restric tion on holdings. The meat cutters union made out the checks but the bonds were assigned in the name of the speical legal tunds. The Teamsters Union of A. F. of L. has done the same thing. One of the Treasury’s most diffi cult problems has been to turn down proposed purchases for en dowments of colleges and other non * profit organizations. It was proposed that contributors buy the bonds that was ruled as violating the restriction since it would lodge more than the legal amount of war bonds in the hands of a single beneficiary. Undoubtedly millions of . bonds could be sold if those restrictions were relaxed. But if they were let down, then mutual life insurance companies would be eligible and they are among the heaviest pur chasers of bonds in the country The Treasury does not wish to throw billions of dollars of the high yield war bonds into the hands of these gigantic investment funds. It was proposed to Lewis that he break up his offer to nuy S5, 000,000 in war bonds by allowing district and local unions to hold them in small chunks. The United Mine Workers Union does not have legally separate retirement, hospi talization and .death benefit funds which could serve as purchasers under Treasury regulations. But the United Mine Workers offer is still hanging fire without action. Meantime the payroll purchasing plan for war bonds is spreading and Treasury officials say nearly all unions are sponsoring at least a ten per cent deduction program. The United Automobile Workers are campaigning for a twenty per cent deduction among their mem bers. War bond sales fell off during March and April because heavy income tax payments cut into (he ready cash of most persons. But May is picking up and the quota of $600,000,000 is expected to be pas sed. 3 --V Factographs The Mount of Olives was ven erated by the Jews. It was call ed the Mountain Light, because at one time there was lighted on it a beacon fire to signalize the ap pearance of each new moon. * * * The glider plane has no engine uses no wheels. Gosh, if someone would only invent a glidermobile! Interpreting The War Russians Still Hold Initiative In Bitter Battle For Kharkov By KIRKE L. SIMPSON Wide World War Analyst Whatever strategic concept Mar. shal Timoshenko may have had •" hurling his armies against th Kharkov pivot of the Nazi souther' front on May 8, the essential fac" as the spreading battle enters its third week is that he still hold! the initiative. Hitler has lost another precioUs two weeks’ time if nothing To emphasize that loss, the panding battle in the Ukraine rolls into its third week iust one month short of the summer solstice, jUne 22. That anniversary has mor! than astronomical meaning for Russia and the world this &year It will be also the beginning of the second year of the Russo-German war. Hitler announced his war on Russia at 5:30 a. m., Berlin Time June 22, 1941. Whether Der Fudhrer thought it fitting to celebrate the longest dav of the year by undertaking his greatest military adventure, or the timing of his attack was dictated by more practical considerations is of no consequence. What does matter is that he started too late Five months later, November 22' the Nazi invasion of Russia reach ed its highwater mark with the capture of Rostov. Just a week more and the great German re treat had begun at Rostov, a re treat that has been reversed no where in the last six months ex cept on Kerch isthmus. What might have happened hac Germany been able to strike six weeks earlier last year can only be imagined. What did happen del initely broke the spell of mythical invincibility Hitler had so artfully woven to bemuse much of the world. It also largely timed Ja pan’s “day of infamy'’ at Pearl Harbor nine days after the Nazi retreat from Rostov started, the first German rearward trek of this war. The Balkan campaign cost Hit ler that vital six-week time loss in Russia a year ago. The Timo shenko offensive i the Ukraine has already cost him a two-week time loss this year in exploiting and expanding his successor on Kerch isthmus. To what extent it has also sapped his reserves in tanks, planes and men or com pelled further prolonged delay in the launching of the vast new of fensive to “annihilate’’ Russia is yet to be disclosed. The time element is all impor tant, vastly more important than territory lost or won on Kerch isthmus or the Kharkov front by either side in the last two weeks. And of hardly less importance is the fact that ‘Timoshenko has re tained the initiative although his westward March toward Dneiper river crossings that, in his hands, would leave the whole German 1 southern tlank in the Ukraine ana Crimea up in the air has appar ently halted at Krasnograd. Whether tht most dangerous Russian thrust to within three score miles of the vital bridges across the Dnieper was stopped by admittedly stiffening German resistance or held up by the Rus sian commander for other reasons is not clear. There has been no intimation of heavy fighting in the Krasnograd area in several days. Instead, Russian attacks are re ported to be spreading now from north of Kharkov around Byelgo rod to the Taganrog sea flank, 400 miles southward. Timoshenko ap pears bent on widening his front of '■ction by holding attacks to portect his Krasnograd position, or on sucking his foes into major ac tion along his whole front prema turely and before they recover through south of Kharkov. London observers suggest the from the shock of his break Nazis may be preparing a vast air - borne attack across Kerch strait to gain a foothold in ,lie Caucasus in the rear of the R°5‘ tov-Don front. It is a conceivable operation; but the Crimean gate way to the Caucasus does not offer transportation facilities to sustain a major invasion and the terrain east of Kerch strait is an even more formidable barrier than the narrow waterway itself. It is on the mainland, from Tag anrog to Kharkov and around tnc Dnieper crossings, that the crux of the fight must come, and the‘e is still no indication of Nazi abiw to regain the long lost initiative. [is That So! ___. Zadok Dumbkopf has turned hor ticulturist and is now trying 1° ct'_ velop a strawberry which ready sugared and covered ■ ■ 1 cream. * * * And then there's the tori’ looking fellow who wants to t his almost tireless motor-car ■ a gliderplane in good cond:uon. * # * News that shirts may be shorter is of interest to everyone but - horse bettor who lost his * *01!' time ago. * * * Grandpappy Jenkins was sur* there was something else besidi» his sugar ration and coalless Bin to worry about. Now he remen1 bers — the second income instal ment falls due in June. * * * A Toronto newspaper says cucumber is 95 per cent wa.et That’s funny — they don't lasie a bit like a night club highball
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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May 22, 1942, edition 1
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