North Carolina Newspapers

Wilmington Wonting #tar North Carolina’s Olaest Dally Newspaper Published Daily Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-New* At The Murchison Building H. b. Page, Owner and Publisher Telephone All Department* DIAL 3311 Entered as Second Class Matter at W liming ton, N. C., Postoffice Under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. subscription RATES BY CARRIER Payable Strictly In Advance Combine Time Star New* tioa l SSL :.h; * !•» ; “““ «5 IS 53 5 Year . 13 00 10AO 1820 News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday Issue of Star-Newe BY MAIL Payable Weekly Or In Advance Combina Star News tion 1 Month .8 75 8 50 8 90 3 Months . JJJ J-“ J2 ; ZT'.JS 2:22 i2:2S News rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue Star-Newe 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 exclusve use of all newa stories appearing in The Wilmington Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1943 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’' War Message Our Chief Aim To aid in every way the proseeu tion of the war to complete vic tory. ____ THOUGHT FOR TODAY Thinking of our own faults moves us to look to God for help, while thinking of a neighbor’s faults seldom inspires to think either of God or the things of God. —PELL. -V Pattern of Axis War Rommel’s counter-attack in North Africa probably may be accepted as the pattern of Axis warfare during the remaining phases of the conflict. He has orders, we are told, to fight it out until he has won or has no men left. Von Arnim, Nazi commander in north Tunisia, has the same instructions. Neither can hope to win. They are both outnumbered on land and in the air and the possibility of receiving reinforcements grow slimmer daily. But they must go on fighting a delaying action to give the Nazis all the time possible to strengthen their defenses in southern and western Europe against in vasion and consolidate their forces on the Eastern front to stave off defeat by the Russians. The war in Europe and in Africa has en tered a defensive stage for the Axis. It is improbably that Hitler can undertake another major offensive. While there is reason to be gratified that Hitler has at last been brought to this, it must be remembered that the offensive army, wherever engaged, must expect heavy losses. We must steel ourselves to this. The nearer we come to victory the greater will be our sacrifice. Only if we are prepared to win the peace too will these sacrifices be justified. -V Air Power Proved When the American aircraft industry was undergoing the change from peacetime to war production it recognized that we had no de signs which could equal Nazi planes in speed, climbing power and fighting strength. Ger many, having devoted some years to the de velopment of warcraft, had a long lead over this nation which had previously concentrated upon sericeability under peace conditions. It was necessary, therefore, for the industry not only to change its whole production schedule and undergo a tremendous expansion, but also to build planes on patterns which would equal and ultimately surpass the best aerial war craft of the enemy. How well this has been done is illustrated by the results of American bombing raids over Vegesack and Wilhelmshaven. The tally sheet shows 80 enemy planes destroyed, 29 probably destroyed and 32 damaged. Ameri can losses totaled five. Illuminating as these figures are, they do not fully show the com parative fighting power of the air forces en gaged, because the battles were not distinctly air combat on the American side, but pri marily raids in which it was necessary to dispose of enemy fighters before the bombers could get in their heavy blows on land targets. The destruction of enemy planes was due to the ability of American fighters to clear the way for the bombers, which formed the cen tral unit of attack. These two engagements are the more outstanding and heartening for titat reason. The inspiring thing about these battles Is Jhet the forces engaged were Germarj and America*, the United State* Air Force, which for training purposes hat largely operated with the Royal Air Force and been tremen dously advantaged by the experience thus gamed, is, obviously ready to go it alone, striking where and when the United Nations high command call* upon it for service. This doesn't look so good for Hitler, does it? -V— The Totalitarian Threat Eric A. Johnson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and a member of the citisens' committee working with Economic Stabiliser James F. Byrnes, sounds a warning of a condition to come which could completely disrupt our cherished way of life, so that even though wC win the war we will lose all that Is dearest to us. Says Mr. Johnson, in an address before the Institute of Arts and Sciences at Colum bia university: “There is some danger that our country may go totalitarian." He goes on to explain that the more deeply the govern ment becomes involved in the business of the people the looser will become the grip of the people on their own affairs, saying “where the stare has the dominating role in economic life, with the incalculable powers that this implies, democratic controls including elec tions tend to become a mere formality . . This is what is happening to us now, in a limited but portentious way, through the oper ations of bureaucratic agencies which have deprived the people, not only of many Con stitutional rights but even of selecting the agents who destroy these rights. The threat of totalitarianism which Mr. Johnson voices and which many others have observed, has crept into our national life as a dread disease fastens upon its victim, with little trace at first and not fully recognizable until its hold is too tight to be easily broken. When bureaucracy first arrived it was ac cepted as essential in the successful prosecu tion of our war program. And because con ditions favored its spread, it easily found new frontiers of control and restraint, until at last it has come to dominate so many phases of American life that the individual citizen has few, if any, of his Constitutional privileges, but must submit to the dictation of appointed —not elected—men. In our proper system of government, offi cials are the stewards of the people. In the bureaucratic system which has sprung up, they are dictators, served by corps of gestapo agents lacking only authority to order execu tions to be the baneful equivalent of the Nazi' group so named. The state, as Mr. Johnson says, has very nearly reached the dominating role in our economic life, "with the incalculable powers that this implies,” and we are perilously near having our demo cratic controls become mere formalities. We are, therefore, in such a perilous situ ation that in addition to finding the right solu tion of world problems in the post-war era, we must also be very sure that we have the right solution for our own bureaucratic problem too. Else we will have eradicated totalitarianism in the rest of the world only to have it at home. _ Inadequate Shipping One of the greatest problems begging solu tion is getting tools of war to the places they are most needed and commodities for home consumption delivered. If we could transport all the tanks and planes and other equipment and materials piled up at Ameri can wharfs to battlefronts without further de lay the Allied timetable would move with greater smoothness. By the same token if we could bring into this country all available imports we would have less reason to impose strict rationing on consumers. Cuban sugar is a fair example of what is happening in the commodity markets still open to the United States. Lawrence Berenson, president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce is authority for the statement that the island has enough sugar to meet all our demands, enough even to make rationing unnecessary, but can’t deliver it because of inadequate shipping space. Cuba, he points out, produces five million tons of sugar. Consumption in this country totals only six million tons. He says that this government purchased four million tons from Cuba in 1942, which added to supplies from Puerto Rico and Hawaii, plus our own production could be sufficient to meet all domestic demands. But only a part of these supplies could be delivered because ships were not available and because submarine sinkings in the Carib bean, Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast made heavy inroads upon such shipping as existed. Not more than half of the sugar we purchased from Cuba reached United States ports, Mr. Berenson adds. This is to be noted no less than our inability to transport war materiel because It shows that even though we are gradually gaining the advantage in the battle of ships, there remains much to be done to provide enough vessels for necessary transport and to clear the seas of the submarines that have levied such a heavy toll upon our shipping. tr_ Tragic Comedy If the people of thli country really wanted to control Inflation, they could do so. The country is faced with rising prices. Why? Read the headlines in the newspapers of a single day. A million and a quarter railway worker* demand further wage in cres^ic*. Hundred* of thousands of coal miners demand additional wage increase*. One faction of shipyard workers announce they will with draw their “no strike for the duration” agree ment if a National Labor Relations Board decision favors another labor faction. And then, labor leaders call on the President to reduce the cost of living. They all blame the farmer who is short of machinery, short of farm labor, unable to pay war wages, but charged for every thing he buys on a war-wage scale. Can the result be other than higher prices instead of lower? The situation would be comical if it were not tragic. Unless we, as individuals and collective groups within the nation, show less greed and more love for our country, it is a total waste of time to talk about controlling in flation—no power on earth can stop it, until the explosion comes. -V Inside Washington sjra be reiuroed upon its conclusion, on April 2~> By CHARLES^ STEWART Anthony Eden, the British foreign minister, undoubtedly will have by the time his stay in this country ends, more of an all-around acquaintance with official and journalistic Washington than the average American who spends most of his time in our capital. There are executive, legislative and miscel laneously bureaucratic circles among the so journers at our seat of government. These subdivide into smaller groups of specialists and they do not intermix much. A congress man, for instance, on an average has not much to bring him into close contact with the rank-and-file of clerical workers and these, in turn, have varying respective interests of their own. Consequently if they get upon intimate re lations with each other, outside their unrelated spheres of activity, it is largely by accident. Lawmakers likewise classify in assorted cate gories. They are all on speaking terms with one another, of course, but they tend, for close relationships, to divide up along party lines and geography, depending on whether they come from north, south, east or west. Then,there are the state department’s diplo mats. What have they and the labor depart mental folk to become mutually chummy over Anthony Eden, however, arrived in the Unit ed States assigned to the .task of establishing the closest sort of friendships with absolutely everybody. Eden’s mission was to knit the United Na tions unbreakably together, for both wartime and post-war purposes. He undoub’.edly did not anticipate serious difficulty in accomplish ing this aim so far as Britain and we Yanks are concerned, although, at that, we do have some few isolationists. We and Comrade Jo sef Stalin, though, have not been getting on wholly harmoniously lately. There has been no actual clash, but some rather disagreeable remarks have been exchanged between us. Now, Britain, of all things, is anxious to tie Russia into the contemplated United Na tions alignment. It is more essential to John Bull’s than to Uncle Sam’s welfare to main tain the best possible terms with Moscow. It goes without saying that the three of us are a stronger union than two only. China is urgently desired in it, too, but we and the Chinese are on first rate terms, anyway. Furthermore, Britons generally have not hitherto been quite as hostile to Communism as the overwhelming majority of Americans have been. In fact, London and Moscow fram ed up a pretty effective treaty between them, and Anthony Eden was the British foreign minister who framed it. Eden’s visit to our shores, then, was under taken not alone to consolidate Washington Londor, relations (both for war and for sub sequent peace), which should not be particu larly difficult, as I have said, but to smooth out current Washington-Moscow friction. In order to do that, it obviously was necessary for Anthony to be an exceedingly clever con ciliator. Besides convincing our big moguls, like President Roosevelt, State Secretary Cor dell Hull and Undersecretary Sumner Welles, it behooves him to convert Yankee public opinion from its strenuous anti-Communistic complex. Pressure was not the tning lor mm to exert; it was up to him to do it by making himself so Americanly popular that we could not resist him. Eden is just the bird to do this. Eden understands the Yankee temperament to perfection. His personality is 100 per cent attractive and it is exactly the sort we go for. Naturally, Eden’s first contacts were with state department functionaries, but after that he lost no time in getting Washington news papermen in to see him. He did not begin by talking international politics. He began by praising our American menu. Half starved to death by London rationing, he fell into raptures over our New World food and the way we cook it. If E’den is as slick at influencing American executives and legislators as he is at appealing to the average American kitchen mechanic, he ought to win the country easily in the course of the few weeks he is scheduled to be here. -V Quotations It is now largely a choice between married men and vital workers. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel on single men.—Man power Director Paul V. McNutt. * * • The relations of forces on the Soviet-German front have changed. The fact is that Germany is becoming more and more exhaused while the Soveit Union is more and more devel oping its reserves and becoming ever stronger. —Josef Stalin. * * * Today the great successes of the Russian front have led thousands of Americans to j throw their hats in the air and proclaim1 that victory is just around the corner. We j still face reverses and misfortunes.—Prcsl-1 dent Roosevelt. I * * • We must pool our supplies with those of the experienced and with trained troops of Britian and our other allies who will form a part of the invading armies and gladly share the burden of fighting and dying.— Economic Director James F. Byrnes. * * • Clothing rationing has not even been dis cussed or been under consideration In this shop—and that’s a face. There is no intention to ration unless it becomes absolutely nec essary.—WPB Chairman Donald M. Nelson. We must disarm Japan on the sea after the war To keep her disarmed for a long time afterwards we must ha^‘he bases from which to operate. We must have sumcient bases to prevent future aggrcssio'i ln tha^ quarter of the world.-Navy Secietaiy Knox. Pj “DIVIDE ANDCONQUER”_j i Raymond Clapper Says: Eden May Give Story Of Territorial Plans By RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON.—Both the Amer ican and British governments ap pear to lean against making any definite territorial commitments until the war is over. That may be one of the impor tant points clarified by the visit of Anthony Eden. In view of Mr. Eden’s conversations here, it may be taken as significant that Prime Minister Churchill, in his Sunday broadcast, said that nothing could be more foolish than to argue now about frontiers. That is exactly the position pres ident Roosevelt took a year ago when the question of recognizing Russia’s claims in Eastern Europe was up. Now Secretary Cordell Hull seems to reaffirm that posi tion when he endorses what Prime Minister Churchill says about avoiding details pertaining to the peace arrangements now. So far as known, the Soviet gov ernment has not pressed the ter ritorial question directly and offi cially since it agreed to defer the subject a year ago under the Molo tov Agreement, entered into on the insistence of the United States. Nevertheless, Moscow is deter mined. Nobody here or in London is deceiving himself that Moscow will not insist on retaining the three Baltic states, for instance. They have been formally annexed in the Soviet constitution. That was done under a pebiscite, taken while Soviet troops occupied them. At the time we condemned the annexation, and Sumner Welles, undersecretary of state, made it the subject of an official statement. We still recognize the three Baltic states and they have regular lega tions operating here. This question has become the crux of the issue as to whether to begin recognizing territorial set tlements now or to defer all such questions without exception until the end of the war. One line of argument is that we know Russia is not going to give up the Baltic states and that no body is going in there with an army to drive her out of them. So why not be realistic and for mally agree to the reality now? why not end the purely token recognition of the non-existent in dependent Baltic states, close up their legations here, and win as much good will as possible from Russia by gracefully accepting the inevitable? That point of view has been argued here. The other line, and the one to which we hope to adhere, is that although the time may come when we must accept an accomplised fact, let it be in the peace dis cussions when all territorial ques tions are being dealt with. To rec ognize Russia’s claims now would compel us in fairness to recognize other claims, or at least to take a position regarding them. Every one of the United Nations would then consider it necessary to ob tain a commitment from us re garding its primary territorial aims. To try to deal with such an array of conflicting claims at this time would be extremely dif ficulty, and almost impossible physically. Because we hope to defer ter ritorial discussions, it should not be inferred that we expect to pre vent Russia from retaining the territory that she has formally in corporated into the Soviet Union. Russia has driven the Nazis out, she will listen to any demand that she amend her own constitution to have territory taken away—no matter how it got inside the con stitutional boundaries of the Soviet Union. More profitable at this time than discussion of territorial ques tions will be the consideration of joint measures — Anglo-American Russian measures — to cut down shipping losses from submarine and air attacks. That is the great est menace to our sending of war equipment to Russia. Air and sub marine attacks along the Mur mansk route last summer were al most prohibitively costly. They are likely to be so again unless all three governments are able to take combined action and make it effective. -V Civilian Defense Timetable BASIC TRAINING COURSES New Hanover High school room 109, at 8 P. M. fire defense a Monday, April 5 and every two weeks thereafter. GENERAL COURSE Tuesday, April 6 and every two weeks thereafter. GAS DEFENSE B Wednesday, April 7 and every two weeks thereafter. FIRST AID 10 HOURS Discontinued until further notice. SPECIAL CLASSES Auxiliary police course on Tues day nights, at Trailer Camp Of fice. Sgt. Thomas B. Hughes, in structor. All persons having a Victory Garden are urged to register with the OCD, Room 416. Tide Water Building. If you hear or observe anything suspicious in character report it promptly to: Wilmington Police, 5244, Wrightsville Beach Police. 7504. Carolina Beach Police. 2231. Carolina Beach Clerk, 2001. Captain of the Port, 2-2278. County Defense Council. 3123 Sheriff. 4252. -V HOW TO GRIND AN AXE If an blade gets hot when being sharpened, it may lose its | temper. Stop grinding and let the : ax cool naturally; the rest will j also do you good. — Rural New! Yorker. As Others Say It MANPOWER SCARCE Probably the most fruitful man power source in the entire coun try is in the great army of civil ians employed by the federal gov ernment. A large part of such employment is unnecessary, af fording fat jobs for the “faithful” and escape from military service for many able-bodied men. An other source which could be tap ped with profit might be found among the thousands employed in building army camps. It would seem that there are about enough camps, and the stoppage of this work ought to release a number of men suited for army service.— Asheboro Courier-Tribune. NEW AMBITION AT HARVARD Now that Harvard is going in for instruction by mail, Harvard stu dents will be fired by a second ambition—to lick stamps, as well as Yale.—Boston Globe. NOTE ON MILITARY DISCIPLINE College professors teaching serv ice students under the new military training program must observe certain rules of punctuality and military discipline, the Army de crees. One wonders whether the system will be harder on the stu dents or the individualistic profs.— Winston-Salem Journal. BEHIND HITLERS LINES There are now more than 130 un derground papers with a circula tion of 500,000 in German-occupied Belgium.—Philadelphia Record. TROT IT OUT! An Oklahoman urges the eating of crow meat and says it tastes like roast duck. Trot some of it out, brother, and well give it a fling.—Greenvill. (S. C.), News. MOON SONGS Being but a mere reflection of the sunlight of the emperor, Tojo likens himself to the moon. We fancy our songwriters will pass this one up. — Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch. AWAITING THE SEQUEL That melancholy song, “I Had a Comrade,’ was featured on the German radio to emphasize the tragedy of Stalingrad. Listeners are waiting eagerly for the sequel, “I Had a Fuehrer.”—New York Sun. The Literary Guidepost By JOHN SELBY I “Btwcen the Thunder and the Sun,’’ by Vincent Sheean (Ran dom; $3) Vincent Sheean is publishing an- i other personal experience book to day, forsaking the field of the novel after a none too successful in vasion thereof. Mr. Sheean’s func tion is to write about himself and his experiences; he does this beau tifully, and the process seems to release the juices of his imagina tion. “Between the Thunder and the Sun” is a quite silly’which gives the wrong impression of the book. There is nothing flossy about the text—quite the coontrary. It is the story of Mr. Sheean’s world from the pre-Munich days when the Salzburg music festival was one of the world’s greatest gathering places for people who knew little or nothing about music, right down to “our war” as Mr. Sheean has seen it. The prose is extraordi narily good, the sources usually unimpeachable. The author is def initely on the right side. He reaches exactly the con clusions the rest of us have reached, too, which would seem to *» l V make it unnecessary to read his 428 large pages. This oomission would be sad, however, because what is good about the bok is not new material it does or does not contain, but the way it is de scribed. Such as the- way he met and became a friend of Winston Churchill’s, or his version of the Hess incident. Lucky Mr. Sheean married Max ine Elliott s niece. Maxine lived an incredible life on the Riviera near Cannes. Sheean went to see Aunty after the wedding, and who should be there but Mr. Churchill When Hess dropped down on the Duke of Hamilton’s estate and frightened that gentleman almost out of his mind, who should be in the know but a flock of Mr. Shee an s topflight London friends Be cause of these friends, Mr. Sheean can put together what he calls a Hess "mosaic” — that ill-informed collaborator of Herr Schicklegru ber s had come to offer 25 years of non-aggression to Britain under the impression that almost any Duke could throw out Churchill. This is the tenor of the book. Mr. Sheean sings a good tenor, square on pitch, good to hear. f 1.1. £L°“g **» German high commai"!" H that its resurgent armv ^ Ukraine was deploved "i 0l «* middle and. upper Donets HS ^ a front of 150 miles i* ‘Verd some of the most spi!«: tacks of the C * Germans threw fresh div'i^ ttl a formidable con centralat| tanks and planes, the n ‘on 5 river still holds llne of & mere seems ■ tification for the belief 3* ius German counteroffensive ?? Ukraine has just about , tfc< course. Yesterday Moscow ? * ed a slackening of the pressure along the Doneh ^ even the Berlin commune, ?!! scnbea the fighting ih"?Ue only local importance. as ° German success in 'the TT, . comeback, while considerahi/?'' not been complete, it Drp,e":as the winter campaign from 3 an unmitigated Nazi disaster ’ salvaged a portion of some '/ choicest territory gained »,e but it left unaswered £ 3 whether Germany or Bus?, ? hold the initiative when the 3 phase of the war in the east The turn which can? ^ ler s generals threw 2o fJf1' reformed divisions into the 13 was not sufficient to chan? ' winter's balance from’one L? in favor of the Red army W ed the Russians short of a cl?' tic victory which might have c1 ped one of the most remark? series of triumphs in military h? tory But Stalingrad, the „| single Disaster to befall the mod ern German army, in itself ®| sufficient 1o make the winter out Russian success i„ addltl0: the Red army has cleared the vii. leys of the Volga, and the St and ail the Caucasus but a d\v;rl dling bridgehead on the western" fringe. Apparently favored by firm er footing after the first thaws, the Red army now is engaged ill reducing that and Novorossisk. kev to the German position in that sec’, tor, is in danger again after s;s weeks of relative quiet. The enemy’s recapture of Khar kov is the biggest flaw in the win ter’s record. Its position as be railway hub of the south gives the holders a big initial advantages the preparations for the next big battle. But the German inability to cross the Donets is evidence of Russian reserve strength. Evident ly the Red army command has overcome the handicaps unde: which it labored when the enemy struck back, overextended supply lines, railways out of commission, the unseasonable mud. The stand on the Donets robs the enemy d the aodit-ona! success he needtc to gain the full initiative. The indications are that the fled army’s drive on Smolensk is slow ing as it encounters conditions similar to those which took Ihe punen out of its advance through the Ukraine a month ago. Mud and slush has enveloped the valley of the upper Dnieper. Moreover the Moscow communiques tell of increasingly bitter Nazi resistance in long prepared positions. It may be that the Germans in tend to stand and fight for Smol ensk and that they have just about reached the line they chose !' this purpose when they abandoned the Rzhev-Ghatsk-Vyazma salient. Today’s front may be approxi mately that from which the spring drives, westward or eastward, are to be launched. Daily Prayei FOR SPIRITUAL - MIN'DEDS® We are being disciplined into*' cipleship. O Lord, by the 11 events of these days. In sw confidence we look anew to as our Father and our God. ® fident that Thy vast plans Mtotf only good for us and for tne world. We would escape from o daily cures into a consciousness Thy power and Thy care aid love. Down in the dark v.-illeL; would behold the brightness oi - face. Teach us to meditate upon Thy character. c Pi“ heaventy-mindedness. -L) ■ thing that befalls us lead £ ‘ closer fellowship with '1C ‘ who endured the utteimosi , sake. Help us. we beseech “ to cast out of our b'e= f.c is alien to Thy pure and beneu will. Thus would we be s • of our God. as well as sold our Ceuntiy. Amen. You’re Telling Me Golf knickers will sta„e back after the wat~a«o a fashion writer. Seems a ; can’t have fun without loon funniest. i t ! * 'p Factographs says the.r t8 # different species ot \ ■. ishing in the Archc. ^ s all this time we thou-'-- • crop Up there was 1' •' ■ ' ltot t California now h-is » pital. Wonder if business ■ a jump? , • • a !ct March came in i-,e- nljpgf dotted lines, says tjj6 £5 Jenkins, thereby Pulll‘\® 0( * income tax blank 1 season. ! ! ! can* Fish, scientists sc. . j Wonder if they braj( )fV | size of the fisherman away from? I : Zadok Dumkopf i? Easter, the season of . . and good faith, is s.vrn a hard-boiled e