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Mtlmtttgtmt Uloming £iar North Carolina’s Oldest Daily Newspaper Published Daily Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-News At The Murchison Building R. B. Page, Owner and Publisher Telephone All Departments _DIAL 3311_ Entered as Second Class Matter at Wilming ton, N. C., Postoffice Under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.__ SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY CARRIER Payable Weekly Or In Advance Combina Time Star News tion t Week _$ -25 $ .20 $ .35 l Month _ 1.10 .90 1.50 I Months___ 3.25 2.60 4.55 t Months -_ 6.50 5.20 9.10 1 Year _ 13.00 10.40 18.20 News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of StarNeiws BY MAIL Payable Strictly in Advance Combina Star News tion 1 Month_? .75 $ .50 $ .90 3 Months _—- 2.00 1.50 2.75 6 Months _ 4.00 3.00 5.50 1 Year _ 8.00 6.00 10.00 News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-News Card of Thanks charged for at the rate of 25 cents per line. Count five words to line. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Is entitled to the exclusive use of all news stories appearing in The Wilmington Star. FRIDAY, MAY 29, 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-NewsProgram To aid in every way the prosecution of the war to complete victory. Public Port Terminals. 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 River channel, 1 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 W<-od Production 1 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 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 Life is a mission. Every other definition of life is false, and leads all who accept it astray. —MAZZINI. -V Glad To See You, Postmasters Carolina postmasters, assembled at Wrightsville Beach for their annual conven- 1 tion, are particularly welcome, not only be cause they are universally choice souls doing good work but for the opportunity their pres ence provides to spread the news that Wil mington’s beach resorts are not under a heavy handicap because of the war. Naturally, upon their return home, they will let it be known that life goes on very much as usual on the coast, save for the essential nightly dimout. Some vicious reports were scattered over the state last winter, when it was temporarily intended to exclude the coastal area from the state’s advertising. Fortunately this folly was quickly abandoned, but the impression had been given, and is still prevalent in some sections, that the resort season was to be very much of a dud this year. The postmas ters can be the finest of missionaries in coun teracting any lingering belief in their com munities that Wrightsville Beach is to be a deserted village for the duration. It is far from that. But the postmasters are welcome too in their own right. May their visit be long re membered as among the pleasantest in their convention record. -V That’s The Spirit Competition in war production has grown so keen that if it were not for the tremendous need of the nation for war equipment It would be amusing. As it is we can take comfort in the knowledge that even the great among manufacturing firms are exhibiting exhilera tion over their accomplishments and programs similar to that of small boys when they beat up their schoolmates. Thus, we may smile, if we like, but we must be deeply grateful too, when the Chrysler Corporation boasts that it will build an air plane engine plant near Chicago “big anough to put the Ford Willow Run bomber plant in »ide and have room for twenty baseball dia* nonds around the edges.” What power or combination of powers can sope to compete with this spirit or hope to laual the production it inspi Libyan Battle Flares Up Fighting in Libya breaks out with increased fury, much as a prairie fire, reaching fresh fuel and fanned by vagrant breezes, its dying embers revived, leaps again to the onslaught. Worthless in itself, Libya is among the most highly strategic zones in this war. Both the Allies and the Axis have good reasons for wanting to possess it wholly and exclusively. In its possession either would hold a distinct advantage, with heavy odds against the other. General Rommel, the German leader, for example, once in control of Libya, would be in position to advance eastward on Egypt, threat en the Suez canal, the oil fields of Iraq and Iran, even to invade India and form a junc tion with Hitle-’s forces advancing from Rus sia, if they should meet success in their Cau casian campaign. Or he could swing west ward with Dakar as his objective and in the taking of which with Laval’s aid the Axis could increase its Atlantic submarine attack on Allied shipping and menace South Ameri ca. It is conceivable that, backed by a major victory on the southern Mediterranean shores, the Axis, with the French war fleet, could bottle up the British fleet and either immobil ize it by cutting it off from supples or destroy it, ship by ship. On the other hand, should the British,, with their colonial reinforcements and American equipment, drive the Germans out of Libya, the situation in the Middle East, now extreme ly serious, would be substantially eased, not only because the enemy would no longer be in its deserts but because of the lessening strain of maintaining a foothold in a spot from which a European counter-offensive could be launched when the right time arrives. Heretofore the battle of Libya has been a thrust and parry affair with the British and the Germans holding the advantage alternate ly. This cannot be long continued. The war in Europe—and Libya is an outpost of the Eu ropean battle—has reached a stage when both sides in the world conflict must move quickly and efficiently on all fronts. Hitler dare no long delay an all-out effort to take Libya lest his enemies wrest it wholly from Rommel and send an expeditionary force from its shores. The Allies, likewise, would suffer gravely and be subjected to serious delays in their rapidly unfolding plans to create a second front in Europe should they permit a Rommel triumph. The next few days may bring news of this important battle which will have an effect upon the duration of the war, whether it shall be ended, as many contend it can be, this year, or stretch its bloody course far into the future. ---V Vote For Bailey Senator Josiah W. Bailey has remained in Washington instead of returning to North Car olina to wage a campaign for re-election be cause he has held his duty to the nation of more importance than any private undertak ing. We hold courage of this sort a strong rec ommendation and indisputable evidence of the man’s integrity, sincerity and fidelity. This alone is a good reason to retain him in the Senate. But it is not his only qualifi cation for the high office he now holds. nere are inree oiners: He is accepted in Washington as one of the foremost statesmen and legislators of this era. He has consistently supported defense and war legislation both before and after the at tack on Pearl Harbor. His influence as chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee, in carrying to comple tion the program for 2,300 merchant vessels to serve as a lifeline to American soldiers and our allies is recognized, and appreciated, by the administration and has been singled out for high praise by Admiral Emory S. Land, chairman of the Maritime Commission, and by Robert H. Hinckley, assistant secretary of commerce for aviation, as well as other Dem ocratic leaders. It is inconceivable that North Carolina vot ers will be willing to trade experience for in experience when they go to the polls tomor row to vote in the primary election which will name candidates for the general election next November. -V Ain’t It Awful, Mabel? Long ago—so long ago, it seems now—when bobbing was only a fad instead of a fixation, its advocates pled for its general adoption on the score that women and girls would save time and temper and tears. The flimsiness of the argument was soon apparent when our lady friends began to spend hours under a tin hat like soldiers and ship welders wear, but heavier and filled with heat and contrivances to manufacture curls of ques tionable preservation. Instead of reducing women’s hirsute annoy, ances the bob increased them and piled up costs they never knew before. Now, what with the war and priorities and a metal shortage, and in face of a general habit, the day may be not far distant when there will be no more bobby pins, and our girl friends will have something else to harass them. Gosh, what a war! • -V Community Chest No more important gathering of civic lead ers to deal with Wilmington’s major problems has been called in many moons than the meeting scheduled to be held this afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce to consider the creation of a Community Chest. Hopefully the consideration will bring a de cision favorable to the chest. Last fall and winter brought fourteen sepa rate campaigns for charities or organizations chiefly dependent for support upon contribu tions from the people. Fourteen times solici tors visited places' of business or rang door bells of homes to secure signatures on t h e dotted line with varying amounts written upon the pledge. Many of the crusades were launched with breakfasts or dinners, with the cost deducted from gross receipts. In some cases a meal for workers was served daily. It came about that the costs of these campaigns were so great that the total money requested had to be increased over actual budgetary require ments. That is not good economics, as any busi ness man will testify. But there are other reasons for consolidating all drives into one major effort. If it were done workers would make one solicitation instead, as last season, fourteen, thus having thirteen times more time for their own business engagements and imposing upon those solicited thirteen fewer interruptions. And right now “time is of the essence.” The Community Chest has been employed for years in many cities successfully. There is no reason to fear that it would be less suc cessful here, once it was firmly established. Certainly it would be a relief to the workers and the people generally. -V Washington Daybook WASHINGTON, May 28.—The President the other day'set his foot down on “loose talk” on war matters. It isn’t the first time, but never before has he been so emphatic in declaring that there is too much of it afloat and I don’t believe ever before has he denounced Wash ington as being a worse offender than all the rest of the country put together There’s a good reason for his warning. Washington has become the last free news center of the world on stories dealing with the war. Yet Washington, for all its unprecedent ed demonstration of unity of war effort (the records of the Civil and even World War I are far less admirable than the present war in the matter of national capital unity) still is a democracy operating on a political basis. * * * There still are political jealousies and am bitions, petty personal quarrels, and men in high places whose judgment o^ what they should or shouldn’t divulge is swayed by indi vidual feelings, or the necessity for self-justi fication. Of the major nations involved in the war, this is the last outpost of the democratic prin ciples of untrammeled speech, with Canada, Australia and England close behind. In the Axis nations, news is manufactured to suit the war and propaganda machines. Still, all the important information available to the United Nations flows through Washing ton. The State Department is in constant touch with every friendly naion in the world. The Army and Navy have the facts of war as rap idly as they can be transmitted. Most of these facts are placed at the disposal of the scores of bureaus, agencise and departments involv ed. Only by having such facts as soon as they are known could they shape their war policies. Even if only the key men in these war agencies were given these facts and they dis cussed them only with agency boards of strat egy, the number of persons involved would probably run into the thousands. Yet the leaks of actual fact in Washington probably could be counted on the fingers, and no thumbs. * • * It s the rumor that does the damage and although I don’t presume to interpret the Presi dent, I think that is what he was referring to. pie fantastic, warped misinformation that floats on the fringe of Washington officialdom is startling. For a dime a dozen, you could get “the actual numbers” of ships lost at Pearl Harbor The inside stories” on Bataan, the “real facts about the bombing of Tokyo; the “hon est-to-goodness reasons” for our troops land ing in Ireland have been as thick as briars in a blackberry patch. The sad part of it is that some of these were Panted by Axis agents and propagandists. That, in part at least, is why the President delivered his verbal spanking. 3 Editorial Comment WPA VS. DEFENSE New York Times The President’s reduction in the budget es timate for the Work Projects Administration !oonnL«SCal year 1943 from $465,000,000 to $200,000,000 is an encouraging sign of the be ginnings of economy in nondefense expendi tures. Even more encouraging is the Presi dent s intimation that other forms of relief tion” of WPA ^6aC* *° ,,poss*kle elimina has been from the beginning a pe culiar hybrid. It has provided neither normal employment nor a sound system of relief based on family need. When it has been criti cized as unselective, poorly disciplined, inef ficient and costly employment, it has been defended as “relief”; and when it has been criticized as lopsided, maladjusted and expen sive relief, it has been defended as “employ ment. In wartime, with its consequent labor shortage, WPA has become an anachronism even on its own premises. How can we justify deliberately inventing “projects” to “provide employment,” how can we justify “making therwnrWWthere ls n0t en0Ugh lab°r to do the work that needs to be done? w^a can defend itself only by alleging that it is doing work for “defense.” If it argues nwH; that „more than a third of its eS Fs only another mg "defense” Projects, this way of conceding that nearly ds Oj. its workers are engaged on non diSfonTTthe' iV* difficult to see h°w a citizens arT IT latte^ Can be 3ustified when * bemg asked to give up peace whole STmnciT When the Government’s duction be concentrated on war pro S2"p?oShidn“1,rr1 -< sdl over Fnp not ab°ve suspicion, more of use for def^gh s.S.Ch Projects are doubtless whe heTsoml "fet’hthe question may be ra*sed taken or ?Sf,OhVTmiW0uld have been under for the nelTight of at a11'if 11 had not been like thiFTs UkehFT? f dUal aim seldom leads to LTfT-ai Vldedtaim and energies. efficient concentration of thIefn?nTeaadreofeSyable * any real ^nse, they should either h«?T °n L?vfnted Projects or trained to take thF ^amed fo.r war work other workers who 6 pre®ent private jobs of work. If they are nnT” T tralned for war sense, then ttiFF siTnM^pl0^able “ this real ssa -d CHINATOWN, WHERE LIGHTS ARE LOW_ tr* vM^ * (L v As Others Say It j A PROLIFIC POTATO VINE A potato vine which was bear ing a half dozen small green toma toes was brought to Titusville Thursday by Oscar Smith, Sharpes resident. The vine was among others of a potato patch and ap peared to be exactly like all the other vines. It had no new pota toes at the roots, but the fruit it was bearing exactly resembled young tomatoes. One of them which had been crushed contained seeds and possessed the odor of a tomato. —Titusville (Fla.) Star - Advocate. * * * WAR AND MARRIAGE Dorothy Dix considers it a mis take for people to marry during the war. She evidently figures there’s enough fighting going on In the world already. — Roanoke tVa.) Tiimes. 8 * * * RELATIVE SACRIFICES When we read descriptions of what the men of Bataan suffered in hunger and tatters and sick ness and lack of medical supplies, all for the perpetuation of our liberties, a nd the protection of their country, it makes gas and sugar rationing, high taxes and buying of war bonds and stamps look trivial by comparison.—Char lotte Observer. » * * FUN ON A TRACTOR Tip to young men in love who can’t get hold of a car as the scar city grows: Why not borrow a big rubber-tired farm tractor to take your girl out for a spin? Just rig up an extra seat or maybe she can sit on your lap. Probably more fun than a roadster.— Har lan Miller in the Des Moines Sun day Register. The Literary Guidepost By JOHN SELBY “THE EAGLES ROAR!” by By ron Kennerly: (Harpers; $3). Byron Kennerly is not a writer, but with the help of Graham Ber ry he has produced the only story of the air war over Britain by an American which compares with that of Wisconsin-born Arthur Ger. aid Donahue’s “Tally-Ho!” Partly this is because Mr. Ken nerly and Mr. Berry have relaxed in the writing, and make no effort to keep the reader in hysterical fright throughout their books. That was Mr. Donahue’s tech nique as well. And partly it may be because it is still another ver sion of the characteristic Ameri can Cinderella story — the b oy who starts little, and ends up a man of parts and interesting. Anyway, Mr. Kennerly did start small. He was born in Robinson, Kas., and by the time he was six teen he had run away from home four times. Among other things this prevented his acquiring much formal education, a lack that did where they some clear physical disability not now covered by Fed eral regulations. Others can and should be placed on a straight relief basis, with an opportunity for training in lines where skilled labor is scarce. But both of these programs, like the present old age assistance program should be in the form of grants-in-aid to the States, with Federal super vision. It is highly encouraging that the President has now outi lined a program that could lead in this direction . not seem to bother the British much when, as a man over thirty, he was commissioned by them in the R.A.F. Kennerly did odd jobs all over the middle West and the West. When he first tried flying he was working in the Signal Hill oil field near Long Beach, Cal. He liked it so well that from th a t time on he had no thought of being anything but a pilot. He still is a pilot, having survived Hitler’s “demolition” of the Brit ish Isles with notaing worse on his health card than a temporary injury to his ears. Before the Eagle Squadron was formed Kennerly enlisted in Can ada and was sent to England for combat training. There he and his buddies learned of the Eagles, ]0lned them. fought with them’ After the ear injury mentioned above Kennerly was sent home for a rest, and while here things thickened up, and he transferred to our own forces. There he is today. Most of h i s book concerns his training, and his combat flying abroad. This last is remarkably vivid; you have again and again the sensation of flight and of dan ger, and you share often the au thor’s frankly admitted fear. But you acquire confidence in him, too, in an odd way. Like him you come to understand the emotional pull of air combat, and join fierce ly in his exploits. This means that ‘The Eagles Roar!” is a good Job. 4 Raymond Clapper Says: We Must Plan To Get Something Out Of War By RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, May 28—Here’s something that puzzles me. When you talk about the need of or ganizing this world so that nations can operate in their daily affairs without having everything upset every 20 years by a general war, people say it sounds good but it isn’t practical. I have a good many friends, and some of them tell me that on some days I seem very prac tical and realistic and on other days I seem visionary and a suck er for beautiful dreams. Perhaps so. No man is a good judge of himself. Yet I’m inclined to be stubborn about this. * * * I have been reporting politics and public affairs for some years. I’ve seen many realists in action and many so-called theorists. A couple of years ago Washing ton had up the question of whether steel capacity should be enlarged. New Deal economists were giving me arguments to show that even through steel plants were then not running to full capacity the war would require more than we had built at that time. But I found several practical steel men dis agreeing. They showed me fig ures, explained the intricacies of the industry, and put up a con vincing case as to why we had all of the steel capacity we would need. Yet today we have not enough steel for the ships and tanks we could build. But it is too late to build more capacity. The theorists were right in their judgment. You can say they were only > guessing, were only letting their i imaginations run riot, but time and ■ again I have seen the hunches of ; the outsiders come nearer the i mark than the detailed calcula ; tions of the insiders. Last winter President Roose - velt’s production goals were put down as fantastic by most people who knew the practical difficul - ties. They said it was good prop ' aganda but of course utterly im possible. Yet we are going to meet ■ those goals and pass them in some respects. Sometimes practical men are so preoccupied with the difficulties— and naturally they are more aware of the difficulties than the out sider—that their best judgment of what can be done is warped. I suspect that in any business—as it is in our newspaper business—the man at the top, who isn’t in touch with many of the details, is a better judge of what to do than some others who know the details of the business far more thorough ly. After some years as a reporter ' I am not inclined to be too much impressed with the argument that a thing is not practical. I have seen it work the other way too often. Isn’t the best team in a bus iness a pair of fellows, one yeasty full of all kinds of wild ideas, crazy as hell, keeping everybody dizzy with his overworking imagi nation, and the other a less imagi native, methodical mind who shakes it all down and knows how to get it done’ Haven’t we got some such prob lem in this job that the war is going to thrust at us? There will be endless difficulties when we try to figure out how this world can be run without jumping off the track and ripping up everybody’s life. The State Department analys es of those difficulties probably cover acres of white paper. It would be easy to convince any body that no scheme is practical, that no detail of a proposition is practical. Yet which' makes sense — to let it ride and go through this re peatedly, or to find a way to pre vent it or make it less likely? Is there anything more practical in this world than an attempt to find some way of fixing* things up so that five or six million Amer ican young rr.en can go on about their lives, marry, establish them selves in business and professions and in useful jobs? The war is going to be won some day. Will we be ready to make that victory mean some thing practical? Or will we throw it away in another political argu ment? This war is costing us a lot— in lives and every other way. The practical thing, it seems to me, is , to begin planning to get something for it. But when you start talking that way, then people say you’re get ting visionary and impractical. 5 -V RISING TAXES Income taxes that will be twice what you paid last year are on the way, judging from the first , stories coming from the house ways and means committee The countty will not mind paying these taxes, if it knows that every ( cent possible is going to the de- , feat of Hitler.—Gastonia Gazette, p Interpreting TheWar Beleaguered Tobruk Bastion Immediate Goal Of Axis Drivt By KIRKE L. SIMPSON Whatever else as to imu . strategy can be read in to theV newed Axjs attack in Libva British outposts for defend 0!! Egypt, it is clear that the TiL, bastion is Marshal Rommel^ m mediate objective. s im' Military opinion on both side. , the Atlantic seems agreed thatT war-wrecked Libyan port SCJ ‘ , an unforgettable stand by Ernk°i! Imperials for many months f, though completely cut off exc, rlhSeXiS the key point of 7h£ fifth Libyan campaign. However even if the Nazis captured Tobmt they probably would not try t0 vade Egypt immediately. m' Word that one of four armors Nazi spearheads launched ward had knifed to within fifw miles of Tobruk’s inner defense “ the first rush strengthening the w lief that Rommel has strictlyYm ited objectives. This belief is baseH partially on difficulties of hot 4 son offensive operations in the Lib" yan desert; but even more on 4 fact that with in a month or so the sand storm period which makes an inferno of the trackless battle ground will be at hand Nobody who has experienced Libyan sand storms has a good word for them. They not only make desert life all but unbearable but render war a blind-man’s buff affiar, sand-laden air obscures the vision both of troops on the ground and of air observers soaring above the gritty clouds. Even the desert landmarks by which tank pilots and airmen check their position* are subject to the whim of the winds. Great sand dunes disappear at one point to rise at another as if by magic. That Rommel can hope to break through British defenses and into Egypt deep enough within the next four weeks to get beyond range of the uand devils is wholly improb a) e. The truth appears to be that he. is now seeking only to seize the T' iruk outpost—which jammed like a poisoned thorn into the sea flank of his last abortive offensive —in order to prepare the ground tor later major operations. Nazi possession of Tobruk is es sential to an invasion attempt on Egypt. It would require something more than mere holding of the port, however, to implement a drive far beyond it into Egypt ef fectively. The previous Libyan campaigns have demonstrated that aggressive mechanized action in the desert has a strict limit. It is fixed bj communications with the rear. II has worked out each time at abou) 400 miles. The fact that made the heroic British stand at Tobruk possible was British sea control. The To bruk garrison was supplied by see at night when darkness rendered Nazi planes all but sightless. Tobruk is now vitally importan to the British outpost defense line for Egypt because it can be usee as a seaport supplement to the land communications supporting the front. Lacking sea control, t could not equally serve Romme as a forward base to attack Egypt at least until he had been able tc stock it with fuel, ammunition and food supplies by truck trains. And that, against British air power or naval guns, would take time, par ticularly since the British front in western Egypt or eastern Libya is primarily rail-fed from Alexandria. Matruh, the British railhead, lies 140 miles east of the Libyan Egyptain border, connecting up with a hard-surfaced highway be yond that. All the advantage cl better and shortening communica tions rests with the British in this fifth battle of Libya, which further implies that Rommel’s mission is not strictly limited in objective: but possibly designed as a diver sion play to draw British attention away from some other Nazi offen sive move. * Factographs Migratory birds were hen sphere conscious long belon man ever thought of the idea « hemisphere unity. Ranging *■ both North and Scath America the migratory birds do not c® fine themselves to either of * two continents in the weste - hemisphere, according to erick C. Lincoln, United Star fish and wildlife service biologi * * * Bloodstone has the hardness3 quartz, which is not particular*, hard, but hard enough to a*a r up as an ornamental stone. i|10 stone from India is the best. * * * Twenty - four autos c o n t enough steel and rubber for ;; 2-ton United States Army t£ That So! WHAT’S THIS about Adolf IJ Awful and Fat Goy Goe“ngHerr in good speaking terms? Has - Uoebbels “Good Humor . tampaign gone into re' 2ould be. * * * j. On a gas ration card, as m gebra, ‘X” seems to equal mknown quantity. * * * The Russians have been i®-® ng down Nazi planes a! '® , )f 100 a day. Marshal Tirno® tertainly believes in shootm. vorks
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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May 29, 1942, edition 1
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