ruuK ___ 3® tlntittgtnn #>tar North Carolina's Oldest Daily Newspaper Published Daily Except Sunday Bv The Wilmington Star-New* R R Pace. Owner and Publisher Entered as "Second Class Matter at" Wilming ton, N. C.. Postcffice Under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879._ SUBcCRlPTION RATES BY CARRIER IN NEW HANOVER COUNTY Payable Weekly or In Advance Combi Tim. Star News nation lTWeek _$-30 $-25 $,50 1 Month ..... 1.30 1-10 2.15 I Month. ."Ill_ 3.90 3.25 fl.50 s Month! _7.so 6.50 13.00 1 Year III_ 15.60 13.00 26.00 (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-News)_ By Mail: Payable Strictly in Advance S Months .$ 2.50 » 2 00 * 3.85 C Months __- 5.00 4-00 7.70 1 Year *—IIIII—— 10.00 8.00 15.40 (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-News) _ ‘ WILMINGTON STAR~~ (Daily Without Sunday) 3 Months-$1.85 6 Months-$3.70 1 Yr.-$7.40 MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND ALSO SERVED BY THE UNITED PRESS With confidence in our armed forces—with the unboundlag determination of our people— we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help as God. Roosevelt’s War Message. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1945. THOUGHT FOR TODAY O son of mine, when you come home This Is my prayer, that you will be A soldier of the King of Kings, That you who serve your country well Will better serve the Lord of Hosts. Martha Snell Nicholson. -V A Heavy Decision It is good to know that the increase of the Italians’ bread ration from 200 to 300 grams a day, ordered many weeks ago by President Roosevelt, has at last become effective. It is less pleasant to realize that the basic prob lem of caring for underfed Europeans cannot be settled till the war is over. There is only so much shipping space avail able. So which shall it be—military supplies to shorten the war and save the lives of American and Allied soldiers, or food to avert death, disease or permanent disability among the innocent civilian sufferers in devastated regions? It is a heavy decision, and one which none of us would like to make. But when it has had to be made, there has been only one possible answer. The war must come first. The enemy must be beaten as quickly as possible. Lives and hard-won gains must not be sacrificed for want of munitions and equipment. -V Hugging the Shore Mixed in the strategy of naval attacks al ways going nearer and nearer the Jap home land, is the attempt to draw out the Japanese navy for a finish fight. So far the wily Jap, who in spite of his fanaticim and suicidal bat tle tendencies still seems to appreciate living to some extent, has avoided this. After the engagements off the Philippines when he took t sound drubbing, he seems content to wait, although he may not know what he is waiting for noi what will happen if ever his navy does venture forth to battle. He still has plenty of caution. He knows that when the Jap navy is destroyed that is the last of Japan. Japan has a big army but without a navy to provide safety for sup plying it, it can be only a handicap. The Japanese soldiers in China and in Japan can be sealed up without a navy. Not all the Japs want to go down shouting banzai. At the last they will cringe and plead, hissing “So sorry,’’ and blandly expect to be allowed to escape with little punishment. But they might as well bring the navy on out. It’s going to be destroyed no matter what course the Japanese leaders pursue. Whether crying banzai or mercy, it’s curtains for Japan and the curtain will fall sooner than is generally expected. America has the mightiest navy afloat. One of its task forces is as large and powerful as the entire navy was a few years ago. It is indeed mistress of the seas, especially the seas about Japan. And the Japs, whether fa natics or friends; dumb or delirious, know it and fear it. Production In Southeast A good picture of Southeastern North Caro lina’s part in war production was given dur ing the week-end by Henry I. Shepherd, War Manpower Commission director for the area, as he pointed out 30 establishments are pro ducing ‘'must” items for the war effort. These factories, he continued, are employ ing 30,192 workers and need an additional 1,644. When they can get a few more em playes from less critical activities and reduce absenteeism to half of its present rate, their manpower problem will be solved, he added. In an effort to show the extent of operations in the southeast counties, he listed some of the war items being produced as being high octane gas ingredients, rocket bodies, signal satin, camouflage netting, assault bridge parts, airplane components, ships, precision machines, cable parts and field assault wire yarn. Other details of the manufacturing pro pram cannot be made public because of se curity reasons but all Southeastern North Car olinians may be assured that their section is doing its part toward winning the war. Several factors are responsible for this ex cellent showing. Chief of these is good labor, men ana women who are anxious to do their share in keeping their sons, fighting over-, seas, supplied with the necessities of battle. While practically every other section of the country has been affected by labor discord, there has been none here. To the southeastern defense worker, the job of winning the war is much too big to have anything else placed before it. As long as this spirit continues, this section will hold its place as a real contributor to victory. -V Junior Rotarians Too often the contributions, either large or small, of an individual or group to making the community a better one are not properly recognized as we hurry though everyday life. Of a worthwhile civic undertaking we may say "that’s a good project” and let our in terest go at that, not pausing to go deeper into its merits and benefits. Then, someone somewhere else comes forth with a similar project and the value of ours comes into its true light. A good example of this point is the Junior Rotarian plan, now being carried out in its second year in the Wilmington club. In con sidering its importance to the High school students selected for the honor, it has receiv ed comparatively little publicity. Recently, General Mecklenburg, in the Charlotte Ob server, congratulated the members of t h e Charlotte club on establishment of a similar program there. So, not belittling the Char lotte club, we say "we’ve been doing that all along” and take time to consider what it means to the students, club and community. Under the plan here, two High school stu dents are selected, on the basis of their school activities, scholarship and leadership, each month to be Junior Rotarians. It is consid ered, as it should be, quite an honor. They attend the weekly meetings and, during the program of the last one each month, give their views and observations collected during their "membership.” Incidentally, the talks of the youths are often quite interesting, bring ing out points in club life that many a mem ber has overlooked. The program is much more than just an educational one. The young men have the benefit of weekly association at the luncheon meetings with many of the city's outstanding business and professional men. They are be ing taught the principles and practices of Rotary, which in essence mean good citizen ship and the full ideals of service—service to one’s fellows, community state and nation. A fine introduction to one of the better phases of civic life, into which the Junior Ro tarians will enter in a few years, the pro gram s ruture benefits to the community may be measured as considerable. Curfews and Cussedness Perhaps we’re cynical, but it strikes us that the streak of stubborn cussedness in the American character may defeat the purpose of War Mobilizer Eyrnes's midnight curfew order, just as it defeated prohibition. That isn’t a new thought. But the fact that it pop ped into many heads as soon as the curfew was announced only strengthens our conten tion. It also strikes us that Mr. Byrnes may have worded the order in a way to aggravate our native stubbornness. Certainly no one can quarrel with his intentions. We’re all for any thing that will save scarce material and man power and hasten victory. And most of us will agree that, except for soldiers and sail ors on leave, anyone who attaches prime im portance to having fun in times like these is a moral moron. Doubtless the Byrnes curfew won’t effect any great saving. Only a few big cities allow amusement places to stay open till 3 or 4 o’clock. Many cities and states already have midnight closing laws for bars, which are the most numerous of the establishments af fected. Most others have 1 or 2 o’clock cur fews. As for transportation economy, schedules will have to be maintained for night workers abroad after 12, curfew or not. And the cur few’s effect will scarcely be drastic enough to save manpower by forcing many waiters, entertainers, bartenders and hat-check girls into other employment. For most of them it will just mean shorter hours and less pay. Granted that the saving will be small, it is still worth achieving. And there may be other savings, in efficiency and perhaps in a curb on inflationary spending. Mr. Byrnes didn’t mention these things. In fact, it seems to us that he expressed himself rather unhap pily. Se didn t specify that the curfew was tem porary, though logically it might be. He did specify that restaurants that serve liquor may continue to serve food if they close their bars at midnight. He also specified that night clubs, which likewise are restaurants, may not stay open after midnight, even with their bars closed, because they are "places of amuse ment.” That sounds more like a stop-having-fun or der than a coal-saving directive. It is, we fear, just blue-nosed enough to invite speakeasies and black-market entertainment — as if we didn’t have enough trouble already. It will be a pity if that fear is justified. Mr. Byrnes’s idea deserves whole-hearted co operation. The curfew will affect only a mi nute segment of our population, and the "sac rifice” it requires is too trivial to discuss. But the idea was presented in such a way as to invite the reaction that prohibition arous ed. Perhaps another, franker statement by Mr. Byrnes might remedy the damage before it’s done. Fair Enough l (Editor’s note.—The Star and the News accept no responsibility for the personal views of Mr. Pegler, and often disagree with them as much as many of his read ers. His articles serve the good purpose of making people think.) By WESTBROOK PEGLER (Copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate.) The people of the state of New York appar ently are condemned to a period of bedevil ment by a new state board charged with '.he duty of preventing discrimination in employ ment on the ground of race, creed, color or national origin. The Republicans, including Governor Dewey, seem to have decided that votes are more precious than principle for they are engaged in an unseemly scuffle with the Democrats of all hues, including the Communists, to l ab credit for a pernicious heresy against die ancient privilege of human beings to hate col lectively or selectively and to choose their as sociates. Carried to its logical extremity, this law might be invoked some time to compel a Catholic parish to hire a rabbi for its pastor should he be first under the wire with his application for the job in case of a vacancy, or a Jewish family to engage for the duties of butler in their home an unreconstructed ex-member of the Nazi-American bund with papers to prove that he came from Hamburg or Munich. Or a producer of a movie or play could be forced to hire a colored girl for the title role of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” All such proposals and measures, including the national device improvised for the indus trial emergency of the war, are the works of the Communists and their kind whose intent is not open to opportunity to Negroes bw to cause friction and provoke disorders by creat ing intolerable personal situations. They fit ut solid facts of life because birds of a featner do and will continue to flock together, in business, at work and in their social life. The United States, itself, as a nation, discrimi nates against all orientals on the ground of race, color and national origin. So do cur good neighbors to the south and our gallant ally, Soviet Russia, has similar stout aver sions. In the city of New York, many Jewish employers reveal a marked and unders*and able preference for their co-religionists v'ith never e complaint from other groups, who also seek compatibility in the same way. Hoosier cries to Hoosier when a job is open ?nd brother to brother in the bonds of the college fraternities. We are divided into groups by our sympathies, religions, old associations and national origins and such preference in hir:ng has always been regarded as a right and, Dy many, as a moral obligation. It will be observed at a glance that this is a nypocritical plan in its basic pretense. It pre tends to abhor discrimination because o f creed. Creed means belief. I believe no Amer ican should be compelled to join a union as I i condition of employment. But in circum stances which are common and almost pre valent I could be rejected by an employer for , that belief and the anti-discrimination board j would rule that it served me right. ; I note that discrimination on the ground of 1 political affilition is not mentioned. This may t seem to be a concession to the sound preju- t dice of Americans against Communists but it < is more likely to work the other way. In prac tical effect, it is more likely to compel cm- ‘ ployers to favor registered Democrats lest r hey find themselves denied priorities or faol- * tes for the operation of their plants by this 1 >r that agency of the party in power, in * Washington. This would be discrimination * against Republicans. Politicians naturally would dodge the subject }f political qualification. Dewey cleaned out J; the Democrats within a reasonable time, as . politicians always do when one party unseats « another, and President Roosevelt’s principal stated reason for nominating Henry Wallace o be Secretary of Commerce was that Wal- c lace had been a loyal party worker in the r campaign. That -was rank discrimination t against Jesse Jones whose work in the 'ob Roosevelt was forced to praise in kicking him c iut. And discrimination on family grounds was c flagrantly apparent when he appointed his t son, Jimmy, to a $10,000 job in the White s House, some years back, and his cousin to a t 56,000 job selecting curtains and harmonious furniture in the embassies and ministries 1 abroad. Some of the Roosevelt appointees to 1 he Supreme Court have been more noted for v their tolerance of his policies than for their 1 aossession of the traditional qualities of mind and balance. Here was political discrimination 1 again. t We should not forget, even in the glamor and 1 :onfusion of war, the effect of a similar prohi bition against discrimination under the vicious Wagner act. By virtue of this evil writ, agents * bf the Labor Relations board made it possiole '< tor the most disruptive member of a normally t harmonious newspaper staff to keep his .iob, * provided he never let down in his hateful agitation against the peace and efficiency of j his colleagues. If he was fired, the reason ‘ then was “union activity’’ and the boss had to reinstate him, with accrued back pay In ! one notorious case, a group of men who ap- ' plied for work and didn’t get it because no jobs were open, were deemed to have ucen ) rejected bcause they were union men and j awarded back pay for a purely arbitrary and ‘ hypothetical period of employment, although c they had not been hired. Their union catds 1 thus became drafts on the company’s Dank account. A dark skin, a foreign accent or a certificate of membership in a religious sect j could be used to similar effect under the New ^ York scheme. T iect incompetence, loafing and other misbe havior on the job by any complainant who claimed he was fired for any of the forbidden reasons. And any applicant for work who was urned down on the honest, unprejudiced judge ment of an employer as unsuitable for die iob could drag the executives of the firm through long, expensive proceedings merely ay proving that he was a colored man, a Bap tist, Jew or native of Italy, Poland or Bul garia. Tt probably did not Occur to the archi tects of this monstrosity that in some cases applicants for work have been rejected be cause the country of their origin was the 'nit sd States of America or some particular sec tion of the country. The worst of it all is that judgment of character and personality is denied the em ployer as a guide in hiring. And, in the end, tie is not merely forbidden to reject an appli cant because of certain considerations but re quired to hire him because of them. Far fiom erasing such taboos this law should emphasize origin, creed, color, and race and result in the Hitlerian rule of quotas by which Jews in schools and the professions were restricted in proportion to their number in the entire population which was about one to 400. The more I see of government agencies in relief work, the better I think of private agen cies.—James G. McDonald, chairman Presi ient’s Advisory Committee on Political Refu gees. | losion from below. A solitary ap hiding down there had put a and grenade to his chest. Vhy he did that, instead of toss 11 g it up over the bluff and get ing himself a half dozen Ameri ans, is beyond an American’s com irehensicn. * * * On Saipan, they tell of a Jap plane that appeared overhead one bright noonday, all alone. He ob viously wasn’t a photographic plane, and they couldn’t figure out. what he was doing. Then something came out of the plane, and fluttered down. It *as a little paper wreath, with a long streamer to it. He had flown it all the way from Japan, and dropped it “In Honor of Japan’s Glorious Dead’’ on Saipan. We shot him down into the sea a few minutes later, as he un doubtedly knew we would before he left Japan. The gesture is touch ins—but so what? ° * * * As I’ve talked with Marines, I’ve begun to get over that creepy feel ing that fighting Japs is like fight ing snakes or ghosts. They are indeed queer, but they are people with certain tactics and now by much experience our men have learned how to fight them. As far as I can see, our men are no more afraid of the Japs than they are of the Germans. They are afraid them as any modern ] soldier is afraid of his foe, not be- i cause they are slippery or ratlike, but simply because they have i weapons and fire them like good 1 tough soldiers. And the Japs are ] human enough to be afraid of us i in exactly the same way. j Some of onr people over here < think that, m the long run, the 1 Japs won * talte the beating the i Germans have. Others think they will, and even more. I’ve not been here long enough really to learn anything of the Jap psychology. But the Pacific war is gradually getting condensed, and consequently tougher. The closer we go to Japan itself, the harder it will be. __ The Japs are dangerous people and they aren’t funny when they’ve got guns in their hands. It would be tragic for us to underestimate their power to do us damage, or their will to do it. To me it looks like soul-trying days for us in the years ahead. LETTER BOX NURSES AND THE WAR To the Editor: During the past few weeks there has been so much controversy rel ative to the drafting of nurses that I would like to present my side of the case, as it relates to the war and to the need for nurses in connection therewith. There are a great many regis tered nurses who graduated from small hospitals, now practicing in Wilmington, who would make al most any sacrifice to enter war work. However, nurses garduating from hospitals over the stale which average less than fifty daily patients are not eligible for Red Cross nursing, and until this criti cal shortage of fnurses for the armed forces developed, a small hospital graduate could not enter the service unless she took an ad ditional nine months of post-grad uate work, regardless of her years of experience. Until 1927, there were only acout seven hospitals in North Carolina which met Red Cross require ments. We have private-duty nurses in Wilmington who have had post-graduate courses, who also have done general duty in Duke Hospital and others which average 275 beds, but who stiil are unable to enter the military service due to having graduated from a small institution. We just can’t understand this, and that is the reason that so many of us are still doing private duty when we have all tried to get in the Army since the war began. A REGISTERED NURSE. Wilmington, N. C. Feb. 26, 1945. SEAFOOD PROPOSAL To the Editor: Our sounds are an ever present help in time of need or food trou bles. In fact, it would be difficult for the Southeastern counties to get along without fish, oysters, clams, shimp and crabs. At least it would not be pleasant to be compelled to further tighten our belt in wartime. There is need here for a greater production— “more sea food and safer sea food.” The yield can be stepped up by the establishment of a seafood processing plant on the inland wa terway at Wrightsville terminal. With a small pickup boat operat ing a few miles to the north and south, twice a day, seafood could De quickly transported, and the one fisherman saved the time and toil of poling his boat and then aboring uphill with his catch, which he is now forbidden by law o process in the bush or back ward. Sound produce would be cer ified by the Board of Health and nade available to Wrightsville •esidents in a few minutes after ireparation and almost as speed ly put on the Wilmington market. In every sound, north of Jack lonville, the seafood industry has leen organized and made more irofitable to the fisherman and nore palitable to the public. In act, some of our local delicacies ire shipped to Morehead and Bell laven and like bread upon the raters, returned to us after many ( Daily Prayer ■ — ■■■■ * FOR STRENGTH With hearts bowed down, in rev erence and confidence, we ap proach Thee, O Almighty Father, with a prayer for a share of Thine unfailing strength. Make stout our hearts within us, in the sure faith that our times are in Thy hand. May we not dishonor Thee, or our godly forebears, by any panic weakness or wavering of minds. Bestow upon us the grace of pa tient continuance, that in quietness and- in unshakable trust, we may carry on faithfully at our appoint ed posts. Let thoughts of Thine inscrutable almightiness rule ever in our minds, that we may have the fortitude of good soldiers oi Jesus Christ. Elevate all of rhe way of our life into nobility and courage; and make us kind to one another. In Thy good time give vic tory to our arms, and to the holy cause they represent. Amm — W.F.T. -V PERFECT LANDING HUNTINGTON, Ind., Feb. 26.— (U.R)—At least this pilot guessed right! When he was delivering the private plane which Ralph Brown had ordered for his per sonal use in CAP work, the pliot found he was low on gas and had to land immediately. He set the plane down on an empty plot and walked next door to a farmhouse, only to find that it was the home of Ralph Brown. days. Let us do something about organizing here and now. A SOUNDER. Wilmingt'On, N. C. Feb. 26. 1945. Interpreting The War By KIRKE L. SIMPSON ' Nazi Germany's hold on !he crescent of the Reich west oVS? 8 Rhine was fast slipping as ** | climactic Allied winter off.,,,;! accelerated its speed * From the Tier anchorage •„ ,b I Moselle valley to the Emmer b gateway on the Rhine itself , the Hanoverian plain there ‘ v! little to indicate any determined i Nazi stand against the steaAlv mounUng power General E,s™ hower is bringing into action Am’ 1 encan British and Canadian tr*™ were too rapidly shredding the last segments of Siegfried Line deV-V es west of the river for doubt the enemy is pulling back behind the Rhine itself as best he can p escape being trapped with the i Pr at his back. Relatively, the resistance en countered by the American First and Ninth Armies in the center or the American Third Army on the light flanks appears no more than rear guard action. The implication of official and field press reports on the third day of the main dr v, beyond the Roer is that only sec ondary troops are being enccun tered by American forces and that the Germans are fighting primari ly delaying actions. Whole coni- I plicated networks of trenches and ! anti-tank ditches have been found uimiamicu. The only potentially serious na tural obstacle on the First Army front guarding Cologne is the Erft river. It is a looping left bank tributary of the Rhine that rises in the highlands at the north er.d of the Cologne plain to empty into the Rhine just above Dusse'icrf. The Erft forms an inner moat tor Cologne itself, most of which also lies on the west bank of the Rhine. The Erft line is distinctly vul. nerable, however. A broad sweep of open plain lies north of its east, ward bend dotted oiily by the Glad bach industrial community group of which Odenkirchen is the south ern member. Ninth Army advance forces were nearing Odenkirchen as this was written, apparently aiming at slicing in between Glad bach and Dusseldorf, A gap six miles wide exists there and an Allied penetration at that point would outflank the Erft moat even before First Army troops reach in on their direct march on Cologne. The speed with which the First and Ninth Armies forced the Rner and stormed on beyond it verifies the reports of gravely thinned out Nazi troop concentrations in the west to meet the Russian advance in the East. The same thing ap peared true to even a greater ex tent in the surprise lunge of Pat ton’s Third Army on the right to invest Bitburg and Trier and threa ten an immediate breakthrough, to the middle Rhine down the Mcselle Valley. The Nazi commander is up against tne problem of shuffling his meagre first line reserves from point to point along a front now more than 200 miles wide and all flaming with action. Nor is it pro bable that Eisenhower has thrown his full strength into the wide and deep drive. —-V Charcoal Burning Trucks Carry Goods To Prisoners A fleet of charcoal operated trucks recently has been put into service in Germany to carry rec reational and educational mate rials to prisoners of war, accord ing to a report from E. L. White, president of the Community War Chest. These trucks were put into use by the War Prisoners Aid of the YMCA, White said, in order to ease the transportation difficulties in Germany. The vehicles, which have f. trailer attachment, nave been secured from a neutral coun try, White added, and will enable War Prisoners Aid to maintain i s service to war prisoners desoiie internal transportation limitati ns. The War Prisoners Aid is a par ticipating service of the National War Fund. -V--■ CITY BROOM-MAKERS BURBANK, Calif.. Feb. 26.—'U-» Broom-making has become a civu service position in Burbank, at a salary of $164 a month, and city of ficials say it’s cheap at the price. The brooms, they explain, go on Burbank’s street sweepers.__ The Literary Guidepost By W. G. ROGERS “IN THE MARGINS OF CHAOS,” by Francesca M. Wilson iMac millan; $3). Miss Wilson saw her first ref ugees at Tilbury, across the Thames from Gravesend where she was teaching. They were bewildered and confused Belgian men, women and children. Obvi ously their needs were great and she wanted to help. When the applied to the Society of Friends for a position, she was accused of being interested only for ' Sve of excitement.” She admits she did love excite ment, then throughout the rest oi the book, though perhaps without being aware of it, she proves she loves people: not generals, am bassadors and consuls who ; re important and clean and easy to love, but the hungry, homesick, heartbroken, wounded, dirty and ragged Miss Wilson helped to alleviate suffering from 1914 to 1944; from Ajaccio to Bizerte and Belgrade. Nish, Vienna; in Russia beyond the Volga, in Spain in government areas during the civil war, in France among Spanish refugees, in Hungary among Polish refu gees. As she now views her work, she finds it without glumcr or heroism; her readers will contra diet her on this score, but will agree with her that it was fasci nating. Out of her extraordinary range of experiences come specific sug gestions for relief work after tru* war: cjualified workers; indul gent provisions for supp'd? food, clothing, medicine; adequate camps for the millions of displadd peoples; and a coordinated volun teer effort, though without 100 luuLii tcimaiiiaiion . • • sibly mistrusts the perfected and polish” of American organ2* tion, efficient but sometimes i* humanized. This is a very warm and mcv.af record. People are the subject | matter. The same people and same problems will confront d'* victors in World War II. ■ ’ English writer has made a direct, significant contribution to the •»’ erature about the postwar '.vot'd She hesitated to write, she ?.P°( ogizes, because of the paper shcn age. Let the people who turn o'1 the trash hesitate; there’ll a'A5;,' , be paper for books of this qualitJ