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JUUttmtgtmt #tar Morth Carolina’* Oldeat Dally Newspaper Published Daily Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-News E. B. Page, Owner and Publisher Entered as Second Class Matter at ton. N. C, Postoffice Under Act of Congress ^ of March 3, 1878. SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY CARRIER IN NEW HANOVER COUNTY Payable Weekly or In Advance Comm .« r* n8atiM I Month ”1."- 1-30 - JU J mZZ IS IS JS ? 13.80 19.00 88.00 (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-Newsi_ By Mall: Payable Strictly in Advance * Minth. .2.50 $2.00 $ 3.85 8 Months - 300 4.00 7.70 1 Year _-_— 10-0® 8.00 13. w (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-News) _ -WILMINGTON STAR (Daily Without Sunday) 9 Months-31.85 8 Months-$3-70 1 Yr.-$7.40 When remitting by mail please use check or U S. P. O. money order. The Star News can not be responsible for currency sent through the mails. ___ . MEMBER Of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND ALSO SERVED BY THE UNITED PRESS With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbonndlng determination of our people— we will gain Hie Inevitable triumph—ao help as God. Roosevelt’s War Meaaage. SATURDAY. APRIL 21, 1945. THOUGHT FOR TODAY Love was not given the human heart For caretess dealing; Its spark was lit that man might know Divine revealing. Heaped up with sacrificial brands The flame, in mounting; Kindles other hearts with love; Beyond the counting. Grace Goodhue Coolidge. \7__. Vote On Monday Trite though it be, it is still true that quali fied voters who stay away from the polls on election day have no right to cry if candidates they favor are defeated or to complain if the administration elected bungles its job. It is only by all enfranchised persons exercising their right to vote when the polls are open that the American system of government can represent its highest democratic goal, which is majority rule. There is to be held in Wilmington on Monday a primary election for selecting five candidates for the City Council whose names will appear on the ballots in the final election set for May 8. Fourteen men have filed. Their names will appear on Monday’s primary ballot. It is known that certain elements will do all they can to get out the vote for some candidates in no way fitted for the responsi bilities they would have to assume if elected. Wilmington would be ruled, in this case, by a minority. Wilmington would not go forward In step with progress if this transpired. In stead it would move backward beyond future recovery. This can be prevented only by every person on the poll lists casting a ballot in this pri mary election. See that you vote. _v_ Suicide Bombers Recognizing that defeat is inevitable, Japan has turned its attention to the only possible means left for prolonging the war in the Pa cific. As the Allies must fight far from home bases and sources of supply, and require al most unlimited shipping for transporting ma terial and men to battle sectors, Japan has started the manufacture of suicide bombers to prey on Allied ships. Thus far the operations of these bombers has not met with much success. Allied gun nery is too accurate for them to come near enough to drop their bombs at funnel level, with the result that the bombers are more often than not destroyed with their crews. But the fact that the'Japanese are resorting to this kind of warfare means that as long as suicide bombers are aloft Allied shipping will face the gravest danger. It becomes more and more apparent that the Allied effort in the Orient will be increased against Japanese pro duction. -V Time Is Necessary Quick to see a chance for additional profits, there is a proposal in hollywood to make a moving picture of the late President Roose velt’s life, before the nation’s tears for his death are dried. There would be a big gate, of course, but nothing else can be said for the project. The picture of Roosevelt’s life is too deeply Impressed upon the composite American mind to require reproduction upon the silver screen. Furthermore, in keeping with the current pre disposition to overlook his faults, it would be a picturized eulogy. Only his achievements would be shown, and vast as they were, no attempt to tell the story of his life in pictures could be true if only his line attributes are revealed. The fact is, no estimate of Roosevelt, the man and president, can be formed at this time. Not until adequate prespective is avail able will that be possible. This is not said in disrespect for a great man, whose attributes were extraordinary, but to point out that in prespective Roosevelt will b« the greator. 1 The Advance On Berlin While this war was still in its phony stage, with the Germans drilling behind their Sieg fried line and the French plowing behind their Maginot line, there was wide speculation on where Hitler would strike, whether to the north or south. When he invaded the low Countries and Norway and, moving in be hind the Maginot line, started his march on Paris, there was not only surprise on the public’s part but also, we must believe, in high military circles. Otherwise the Maginot line would have been extended eastward across northern France and Belgium, instead of pe tering out to a dead end which could be turn ed, and was turned with disastrous results to the nations then at war with Germany. To be sure, some wise men saw the need for de fenses in depth in northern France and Bel gium but were not listened to. The prevailing belief was that Hitler would strike through the Balkans, and anyway none of Hitler’s enemies was prepared for mechanized war, as he pro posed to conduct it, whether he moved in one direction or the other. Those days are long past. With the German armed forces largely cut to pieces on their own soil, current speculation centers on which force, the Russians or the Americans, will reach Berlin first. It is still guess work, but it could be that Russian soldiers will march first through Berlin’s rubble-strewn streets. They have the advantage of nearness, for one thing. It is even possible that in the time they have been, camped on the banks of the Oder they have solved their supply problems, while the Americans have been moving so fast they have outrun their supplies and lack sufficient food and ammunition reserves and transport to maintain a pace fast enough to get there first. As the situation stands, supply poses a great er problem for General Bradley’s armies than the enemy because of the German failure to defend the Thuringian and Westphalian plains in adequate strength to delay the Allied ad vance from the west, the Americans have penetrated deeper into the Reich than was first contemplated under existing supply ar rangements. This, in combination with the lesser dis tance Russian forces must traverse to get there, suggests they will reach the Berlin goal first, but only if the advance from two sides is merely a race. But there has been no indication that it is that, or will degenerate to it. Because there is complete cooperation be tween the Russian forces on the east and the Americans to the west, with final decisions reached by Russian and Allies staffs, it may still be a joint entry, with the Reds and the Americans approaching simultaneously and go ing into the city together. _v “We Like That Guy” It is possible to say of President Truman, without impinging upon the dignity insepara ble from his high office or an iota of dis respect, “we like that guy” It is merely translating the great esteem in which he is held by the masses of Ameri cans during these trying days and the humble but competent manner in which he has as sumed his new responsibilities into language more familiar than “better English.” We can imagine scores of reporters leaving his first press conference saying to one another, “I like that guy.” The impression President Truman made on the reporters, and on the public at iarge with his address before the Congress, apparently is shared in Wall street. We find this in the New York Times financial Section: 'Prescient Turman’s utterances and his gen eral approach to world and domestic problems have found so far a responsive reaction in Wall Street. A cross-section of comment by brokers in their daily letters to customers contains one general statement, and this is that the national administration is returning to a system of representative government. Brokers cite Mr. Truman’s statement in his address to Congress that this country can solve its post-war problems only with the con sent and active cooperation of Congress as background for this belief. One member of the Stock Exchange stated that we are still too close to the tremendous developments of the past week to have gained a prespective, but it is apparent that by its resurgence of strength the market was saying in no uncertain way initiative is to be perpetuated in the years that it believes the American system of private that lie ahead. Any changes made in the set up of the new Administration will provide ad ded factors for the consideration by market followers.” _ __ Deserve Promotion Hie nomination of Lieutenant Generals Pat ton and Hodges to be full generals represents well earned and richly deserved promotions. Both have displayed extraordinary talent as military leaders. Hodges’ First Army and Patton’s Third have performed wonders since D-day in Normandy, and before. Both have brought victory in Germany nearer. Believing as both Lee and Grant did in the War Beteen the States, that the purpose of war is to fight and win battles, they have tack led the enemy at every opportunity and out fought, outgeneraled, outmaneuvered him. If the German armed forces are now too weak to impose effective opposition, it is due in large measure to their leadership in combat. They Oi’ght to display the lour stars of generals. Job For Byrnes BY ARTHUR KROCK WASHINGTON, — One major plan on which President Roosevelt was working at the time of his death, according to well-informed per sons here today, was the chart of a top Com mittee on Policy—the approximation of that War Cabinet which had been urged upon him since 1940. Whether President Truman will put the system in practice is not known. The immediate concern of the group would be to agree on a postwar policy for Ger many. Only a few days ago the President was warned that necessity for immediate decision on this might come suddenly, and it was point ed out that this would find him without an integrated and agreed plan and without per sonal knowledge of the subject. On this problem the Government is seriously divided, with Sec retary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. in the'center of the division. The Committee on Policy which Mr. Roose velt was studying was to be composed of sev en members: the Secretaries of State, Treas ury, War and Navy; Leo T. Crowly, Director of the Foreign Economic Administration; Fred M. Vinson, Director of the Office of War Mo bilization and Reconversion, and Harry L. Hopkins, special assistant to the President. This committee was to be served by a counsel who, in the form of briefs, would pre sent at its meetings the facts on all disputed, unsettled or confused Government activities af fecting war and post war that required settle ment or integration. No issue referred to the counsel less than three days before each meet KviafoH and submitted. If President Truman should carry through the plan, it has been suggested that, until Mr. Hopkins regains his health, or in the event of his retirement from government, the seventh place on the committee, and perhaps its active management, be offered to James F. Byrnes. The President has been casting about for a portfolio suitable to the talents and former high offices of the ex-Justice, ex*Senator and ex-Director of the OWMR, but thus far none has been discovered; or, if it has, the fact has not been announced. Mr. Byrnes has declin ed any unofficial connection because he dis approves of the system of ‘goverment by per sonal deputy.” He is known to believe that public persons, especially those to whom great influence and authority are delegated by tbe President, should have specific commissions and open responsibility. But, whether or not the suggestion as to Mr. Eyrnes materializes, the creation of this Com mittee on Policy by the President would pro vide at last that War Cabinet which President Wilson used with such effectiveness in World War 1, and the advocates of which never ceased to press upon Mr. Roosevelt. Despite all the organizations and reorganizations of war and post-war departments and agencies, it has stilt been found necessary to apply at many different places for an over-all policy, and often in vain. Mr. Wilson’s War Cabinet members were the Secretaries of the Treasury, War and Na vy and five administrators: B. M. Baruch of the War Industries Board, Herbert Hoover of the Food Administration, E. N. Hurley of the Shipping Board, Vance McCormick of the war trade and international economic divi sion, and James M. Garfield of the Fuel Ad ministration. The Treasury chief, William G. McAdoo, was also in charge of domestic trans portation. President Wilson acted as chairman of this group, and whenever it gathered he would ask: “Is there any trouble today?” Thus disputes had to be stated and argued out, and the re sult wa* that all important differences were settled and integrated promptly. Jurisdictional blockades, which have been the bane of the current war government and would equally af fect post-war administration, were steadily and quickly broken up in 1918-19. The plan that was before President Roose velt at his death was worked out in greater detail, on the basis of previous experience, and it was geared to the greater magnitude of this war program and of the problems that must be met after VE-Day (especially that of Ger many, and the final route of the Axis. The installation of the counsel and his briefing is new, and the three-day barrier is also an inno vation. But in substance the idea and its pur pose are the same. There are many high boards, including the regular Cabinet, where the chief policy-mak ing officials meet and discuss general and specific problems. But the system has never been tightened to a point where an orderly over-all policy machine has functioned prompt ly, and decisions were quickly and finally ob tainable on issues in dispute or confusion among departments and agencies of almost equal authority which overlap many areas. Boards have been piled on boards, but this has more often diffused and complicated the problem than channeled and disposed of it. The authors of the Committee on Policy plan believe this is the best solution of all. They Were encouraged to hope that Presi dent Roosevelt was coming to their way of thinking at the time of his death, prompted by the continuing intra-government dispute over post-war Germany. The office of committee counsel would be of high importance, and in this connection the name of Hugh Fulton is heard. He served in a similar capacity'for the special Senate com mittee which Mr. Truman headed and which conducted a running investigation of the war program on the home front. — New York Times. • EDITORIAL COMMENT WAR CRIMINALS One phase of President Truman’s address to Congress provided a mild shock for some Americans. The President emphasized that no war crim inal can hope to escape punishment. None, he said, will be permitted to plot future wars in any mountain retreat, such as Berchtesgaden. The shock came with the implication that anyone, anywhere among the United Nations could be considering the possibility that Adolf Hitler or any other German or Germans might be left unmolested in any retreat—in Berch tesgaden, Switzerland or for that matter, Ar gentina. The principle of political asylum has been pretty well established, but most Americans will hope that their Government and our Al lies will require an exception in the case of this war and exert combined force, if necessary, to root out of any hideout or compel the sur render of from any country of refuge, the criminals of World War 11. — Durham Sun. -V EASY TO UNDERSTAND No living statesman in all the world has a greater mastery of words than Winston Church ill. Yet when Britain’s eloquent Prime Minis ter rose in the House of Commons yesterday to deliver his eulogy of Franklin Delano Roose velt, he acknowledged that words failed him in trying to express his admiration for the late President. Many an American will understand the inadequacy which he felt. —Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Brought To Book!”__ Your War— With Ernie Pyle By ERNIE PYLE OKINAWA—(By Navy radio)— That was one of the most miser able damn nights out of hundreds of miserable nights I have spent in this war. , Bird Dog and Gross and I turn ed into our sacks just after dark So did everybody else who wasn’t on guard. It was too early to go to sleep, so we just lay there in the dark and talked. You could hear voices faintly all over the hillside. We didn’t take off our clothes, of course; nobody does in the field. I did take off my boots but Bird Dog and Gross left theirs on for they had to stand watch on the field telephones from 1 till 2 a.m. The three of us lay jammed up against each other, with Bird Dog in the middle. We smoked once cigaret after another. We didn’t have to hide them under the blan ket for we were in a protected position where a cigaret couldn’t be seen very far. * * * Right after dark the mosquitoes started buzzing around our heads. These Okinawa mosquitoes sound like a flame thrower. They can’t be driven off or brushed away. I got a little bottle of mosquito lotion out of my pocket and dpus ed my face and neck, though I knew it would do no good. The other boys didn’t even bother. After a while the hillside grew silent. The hours went past. By an occasional slap at the mosqui toes each of us knew the others weren’t asleep. Suddenly Bird Dog sat up and pulled down his socks and started scratching. Fleas were after him. Even the grass has fleas in it over here. For some strange reason I am immune to fleas. Half the boys are red welted with hundreds of itchy little flea bites, but I have never had one. urn i m me wuria s cnoicesi morsel for mosquitoes. And mos quito bites poison me. Every morning I wake up with at least one eye swollen shut. That was the way it was all night, with all of us—me with a double dose of mosquitoes, all the rest with a mixture of mosquitoes and fleas. You could hear marines hushfully cussing all night long around the hillside. Suddenly there was a terrible outburst just downhill from us and a marine came jumping out into the moon light, cussing and jerking at his clothes. ‘‘I can’t stand these goddam things any longer,” he cried. "I’ve got to take my clothes off.’’ We all laughed under our pon chos while he stood there in the moonlight and stripped off every stitch, even though it was very chilly. He shook and brushed his clothes, doused them with insect powder and then put them back on. This unfortunate soul was Corp. Leland Taylor of (101 Francis Court) Jackson, -Mich. His nick name is Pop, since he is 33 years old. Pop is a ‘Character.” He has a black beard and even in the front lines he wears a khaki ov erseas dress cap which makes him stand out. After Pop went back to bed ev erything became quiet for several hours, but hardly anybody was asleep. The next morning the boys on guard said that Pop must have smoked three packs of cigarets that night. It was the same way with Bird Dog, Gross and me. One of the boys on guard came to wake my bedmates at a, quarter till one, but they weren’t asleep. I thought maybe I could get to sleep while they were away, but I didn’t. The mosquitoes were re ally crucifying me. The boys came back about 2 o’clock and took off their shoes and lay down. With my blanket over the three of us we were as warm as toast. At least we had that advantage. All night without even raising our heads we could see flashes of the big guns of our fleet across the island. They were shelling the southern part and also shooting flares to light up the front lines in the south. There were times when we could actually see redhot shells, traveling horizontally the whole length of their flight, 10 miles away from us, and then see them explode. Every now and then throughout the night our own company’s mor tars were called upon to shoot a flare over the beach behind us, just to make sure nothing was coming in. Once there was a distinct rus tling of the bushes in front us us. Of course the first thing I thought of was a Jap. But then I figured a Jap wouldn’t make that much noise and finally I decided it was one of the horses the mortar boys had commandeered, crashing through the bushes. And that’s what it turned out to be. Pop Taylor also had the Jap idea, at first. The next morning “Brady” Bradshaw, who was sleeping with Pop, said Pop shook him violently during the night to wake him up and borrow a .45, just in case. Brady laughed and laughed about it, for lying on the ground between them all the time was an arsenal of two carbines, two shotguns and Pop’s own .45. Along about 4:30 I guess we did sleep a little from sheer exhaus tion. That gave the mosquitoes a clear field. When we woke up at dawn and crawled stiffly out into the daylight my right eye was swollen shut, as Usual. All of which isn’t a very war like night to describe, but I tell it just so you’ll know there are lots of things beside bullets that make war hell. Federal Judge Endorsed, Senators Withhold Name Senator J. W. Bailey and Clyde R. Hoey recommended to Presi dent Truman yesterday a new fed eral judge for the Eastern North Carolina district, but declined tc say whom they indorsed for the po sition, according to an Associated Press dispatch from Washington. Senator Bailey said he and Sen ator Hoey made a definite recom mendation, but that he did not believe it would be “appropriate” to disclose the name of their choice. Hoey nodded agreement. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Isaac M. Meekins. of Elizabeth City, in February. Once before the two senators recommended Comptroller Gener al Lindsay Warren for the judge ship, but he declined to accept. Among those who have been mentioned as being considered for the judgeship are Don Gilliam of Tarboro; William 3. Campbell, at torney for the City of Wilming ton; Stanley Winborne, chairman of the North Carolina Utilities commission; Congressman J. Bay ard Clark; W. B. Rodman of Washington; Judge Henry L. Stev ens of Warsaw; Judge W. C. Har ris of Raleigh; W. F. Taylor of Goldsboro; Dickson McLean of Lumberton; and Judge Hunt Parker of Halifax. X-Ray Treatment Begun Of New Hanover Students The completion ol taking X-rays of a number of New Hanover High school students and some Negro graded school students, those whose skin tests in February re vealed positive reaction to tu berculosis tests, was expected to day. 5>r. A. H. Elliot, city-county health officer, said 205 X-rays were made yesterday by him and H. L. Satterwhite, of the State Tu berculosis sanitorium. The school children in which a positive reaction to tuberculosis is found by X-ray will be notified by the County Health board, follow ing advisement from the State Tuberculosis sanitorium, Dr. El liot said. -V City Will Purchase New Police, Fire Uniforms The City of Wilmington will re ceive bids for furnishing various articles of clothing for members of the police and fire departments until 10 a. m. Wednesday, May 9, it was announced yesterday by City Manager A. C. Nichols. Proposals are wanted for the following articles in the police department: 46 pairs of trousers, nine police officers caps, 37 police privates caps, and 200 police uni form shirts; in the fire department, 68 pairs of trousers, and 200 fire men shirts. Interpreting The War By J. M. ROBERTS jr Associated Press War Anahst Hitler’s war of fang and V now has keen formally procla'^ ed. Go-ebbels tells the German Peo. pie to throw away the rules of war. Hitler .says "we are now s;srt, ing a battle as fanatical as that which we had to fight for our cent to power.” In other words war of sneaking thuggery. American Doughboys cap an ammunition dump at Lein*' containing 27,000 poison shells. The Canadians, fired upon snipers, evacuate a village's p®, ulation and burn it as a less® The next village doesn’t learn, » i destroyed without evacuation.' ' Hitler once promised that, if.. went down, all Europe would n with him. He wasn't quite able -j do the job outside Germany, ,i. though the swathe he cut has been terrible enough, but within the Reich he is making progress. Although some rural areas neat the Rhine escaped the worst rav. ages of war, the Germans a > more and more forc-ng us to a policy of complete annihilation i” a guerrilla war, with whole irl mies involved. ; Hostages are Being taken % both sides The Germans, as «;>. ness the special care taken wi-n Lt. John C. Winant, Jr., and the prisoner of war relatives of b'. portant British personages, Vj try to hide behind the lives of their prisoners. Whethe- they will use poison gas in their final throes seems to depend on practicality rather than morality. And even practicality may be east aide. Allied experts feel sure that the Germans would have used gas already if they had one which would penetrate Allied masks; that they would do anything com. mensurate with the risk of retali ation. Now, with proclamation of sui cidal “defense zones,” with sui cide taking the place of surrender after last ditch stands, that risk doesn’t matter. Gas or anything .else can be expected. .The desperate Nazis care no more for the non-combatant Ger mans than they did for non-com batant Londoners in 1940. Even less, for then there was a real military objective. Now there is only a beaten Nazidom thrashing about senselessly like a beheaded monster, neither knowing nor car ing where the blood spatters. -V Daily Prayei FOR CONFERENCES As from all quarters of the earth national representatives gather to shape plans for a new world of peace, we pray that Thy wisdom may rest upon them, 0 All-Wise Ruler of the Universe. ; As they hold in their hands the fate of peoples yet unborn, so do Thou hold them in Thy shapin', guiding hand. Overwhelm any per sonal deficiency in them by Thine infinite power. Strengthen their loyalty to the men who have died, and to those who are yet to live. Give great patience and forbear ance anil understanding to their counsels. Make clear to their vi sion the anxious millions who await their decisions. Lift them up to the level of their great _ task. Touch ih?m with the spirit greatness and of responsibility Forbid that any pettiness or self ishness or fear, or other base mo tive. should impair their delibera tions. And we even pray that these counsellors may be endured wra a special outpouring of the Spir1' of Christ, for the fulfilment of* task for which He gave His li« Amen.—W.T.E. ir_ Stimson Seeks Report On Death of Gen. Ros{ WASHINGTON, April 20. War Secretary Stimson has for a full report on the death Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose who w • killed in action, reportedly he had surrendered. In a letter to Senators John.-® fD-Colo) and Millikin iR-C !5, made public today. Stimson sa that facts so far known by War Department indicate General Rose was killed while no ing his hands above his The Literary Guidepost By W. G. ROGER “QUIT FOR THE NEXT,;’ by An thony March (Scribner’s; $2.50). This Anthony March is a cool customer He stands off and looks at his subject, in this case the American and Filipino retreat at war’s sta»r, from Lingayen gulf to Bataan, as calmly and dispas sionately as a newspaperman . . . which is what he used to be. He writes with the utmost objectivity. He write's, as it were, with a ten foot pole. And he does a good job. By some hocus-pocus he drains, out all the emotion and still leaves you fascinated by his descriptions of men and his recital of tragic events. He even introduces a beau tiful woman, such a one as has spoiled many a war novel for the sake of love interest, and you ac cept her readily. This is not to say that he doesn’t get close to the facts, which con cern Capt. Steve Kilbride’s caval ry and its tough assignment in covering the retreat. March notes a cavalryman swinging his mess kit to dry it, another tightening a girth with the saddle skirt flop ped down on his head, a third giving his pack animal a ~ ^ the side of the jaw. He the heads of Japanese bobbing - a moving truck to brown apP1 in a carton. ^ But principally his novel ^ ters because it seems if ( heroic without heroics. Kuon■ men were green. They d • j guns go off on maneuvers, not enemy guns. We see them ■; stitute actual battle know-ho" book learning. , i They were short on sleep. J grain and sometimes arr,. ■ They ware the expendables . ; didn’t know it: they kept , ing when they would mai' s stand, and why American P1^ didn’t come to their suppor ■ didn’t dream Manila was in ger. , « The novel is. in total etuc" sort of over-all view of I'f tion presented through the diate experiences of a set sorely tried for the first time. ■ cavalry’s fate holds y°ur from first to last, from ‘ of Conception to the town of -• . . . and maybe there's sorne i-et holism hidden in those two r* names.
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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April 21, 1945, edition 1
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