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?1 The Alamance Gleaner VoL LXVI ' GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1940 * Na 23 * WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Farnham F. Dudgeon French Break Diplomatic Ties With England Following Loss Of Fleet in Naval Encounter (EDfTOR'S NOTE!?When opinions ore expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) __________ Released by Western Newspaper TTntmv "Take a tip from me," or "Bow to be a vice president" might well be captions of this picture showing Vice President John N. Garner con gratulating his colleague, Sen. Charles L. McNary of Oregon, upon his return to senate dutj following his selection as the G. O. P. nominee for Mr. Garner's post Garner, never without a cigar, reportedly told Mc Nary at the time of his congratulations that "Charlie, the first thing you must learn for this Job, is the proper way to hold a cigar." THE WAR: Strange Battle Since that fateful day on which the French government came to armi stice termi with Adolf Hitler, major problem facing Great Britain has been the disposition of the French fleet. For control of the seas and the continuation of the naval block ade against the axis powers is vital to the British cause. Well did Winston Churchill and his advisers know that if Germany in terned the French navy or turned it against England, the combined naval weight of Germany, Italy and France would be superior to their own. Naval experts throughout the world had predicted that England would never allow the French fleet to fall into German hands. And aft er a brief but fierce naval engage ment on the North African coast these predictions were fulfilled. As Prime Minister Churchill re ported to the house of commons this battle wrecked the French fleet and cheated the dictator's attempts to control the seas. In addition to heavy French loss of life, Churchill said, seven of France's crack war ships were sunk or badly damaged. At least 217 other French naval units have been seized in British ports since the armistice. This naval battle occurred when the French naval commander at Or an, Algiers, Admiral Marcel Cen souls, acting under Nazi orders, chose to fight it out after a British ultimatum demanded that he either deliver his ships in British ports or scuttle them. In the resulting battle the back bone of the French fleet was-either sunk, seized or dispersed. Two days following the naval en counter the French government notified Germany that because of the "unjustifiable aggression" by Britain's fleet, France had severed diplomatic relations with England. Thus allies of what had been termed a "never-ending" alliance came to a distinct parting of the ways. DOMESTIC: First Installment It cost* money?and a lot of it? to carry on a program of military preparedness and defense such as that nodr being undertaken by the United States; but some U. S. citi zens have believed that such money would just automatically appear upon call. Such is not the case and now for the first time U.S. consumers NAMES ... in the news ( Gen. Charles De Gaulle, head of the "French national committee" in London, appealed to Frenchmen in America to help in carrying on war against Germany. C George Bernard Shaw, famous British dramatist, cracked that if he were in charge of "this war, I should ask Hitler what food he need ad, so that the war might be fought out to a flniah." are paying their share of this de fense bill every time they go to a movie, buy a package of cigarettes, drink a glass of beer or order a pint of liquor. For the first of the new defense taxes has been placed in effect on the following commodities And at the increased rates listed: Half cent on a package of ciga rettes; 79 cents a gallon on liquor; $1 a barrel on beer; and movie tick et taxes will start at one cent of every 10 cent admission fee at 21 cents instead of 41 cents. Taxes on toilet preparations in creased from 10 to 11 per cent; au tomobiles 3 to 3V4 per cent; me chanical refrigerators 3 to 5V4 per cent; matches S cents to 5V4 cents per thousand; electrical energy, 3 to 3Vi per cent; gasoline 1 to 1% cents per gallon; lubricating oil 4 to 4 Vi cents per gallon; playing cards 10 to 11 cents a pack; club dues and ini tiation fees 10 to H per cent. All these "nuisance taxes" are expected to produce about $475,000, 000 of the billion dollars to be ob tained annually from the defense financing program. Major portion of the remaining sum will come from increased income taxes. Value Received One big reason why these new taxes are so necessary is the ex pansion of the U. S. fleet, now esti mated to be the largest in the world ?and this estimate includes the hitherto first-ranking British fleet. Naval experts put the present strength of the United States fleet at 305 completed combat ships of 1,327,320 tons. This does not in clude $900,000,000 worth of new war ships just ordered by the navy or nearly 100 other vessels now under construction. Latest available fig ures on Britain's navy put it at 313 ships of 1.277,180 tons. While these figures are admittedly inexact they are best obtainable in Europe. Army Expansion Ndt to be outdone by the navy, the war department is moving along with its program of expansion and streamlining at an increasing tempo. Taxes that consumers were paying were being used by this branch of the service for new equipment, for intensive specialized training and for long-deferred promotions in the ranks of army officers. A recruiting drive of an additional 38,000 men is under way and is expected to bring the ranks of the regulars up to 280, 000 by September. TRUST BUSTING: Birthday Many law* at 90 year* of age are outmoded and more often are for gotten and discarded. This is not true of the Sherman anti-trust act which passed its fiftieth birthday with the federal government having 83 anti-trust cases involving 1,980 defendants pending in U. S. courts. Instituted by Senator John Sherman of Ohio as the nation's answer to the rising fear of monopoly in those days, the same law is being vigor ously used today in battling re straint of trade by big corporations. 'Praying Colonel' Col. Frank Knox, testifying before the Senate Naval Affairs committee at it was considering his nomination as Secretary of Navy, strikes this "praying pose" while presenting a por tion of his testimony. The com mittee approved his nomination by a 9 to 5 vote and the military affairs committee approved the nomination of Henry L. Stint son as Secretary of War by a 13-4 vote. POLITICS: 'People's Movement' While old guard Republicans were pondering the strange political phe nomenon that boosted Wendell Will kie to be their standard bearer in the 1940 campaign, that gentleman was busy outlining plans which he hopes will aid in carrying him to vic tory in November. First step was his resignation as president of Commonwealth St South ern corporation. Then he announced the appoint ment of a permanent political ad visory committee of 12 members to help in the campaign. This group, headed by Gov. Harold Stassen of Minnesota, will replace no other par ty organization txit appears to be an attempt to solidify all elements of the G. O. P. and at the same time make a bid for the nation's all-im portant independent vote. At the same time Willkie declared that he wanted no campaign contri butions of more than (5,000, no in dividual cash gifts of more than (10, and attempting to limit the "big business curse" as much as possi ble, he stated that he wanted "no corporate contributions in any guise whether they be advertising in cam paign books, programs, or anything else." The more (1 contributions he re ceives, the happier he'll be, he says, tor "In my judgment this is a peo ple's movement and I want to keep it so." Apparently the G. O. P. "oomph" man realizes that' his biggest job is to keep the good graces of the grassroots public opinion that was such a vital factor in his nomina tion. FAR EAST: To Be Continued Biggest problem facing Generalis simo Chiang Kai-shek as his Chinese forces have been steadily retreat ing before the advance of the invad ing Japanese army has been the ob taining of adequate supplies?war goods and foodstuffs. Thus when the Japanese an nounced that they had sealed the Chi nese border with French Indo-China and that this source of supply for Kai-ahek's government was definite ly cut off it looked like a grave blow indeed had been struck at Chi na's cause. But from Chungking, provisional capital of the Chinese government, authoritative sources have an nounced that despite this loss, the war will be continued, for accumu lated reserves will allow military operations to continue at their pres ent pace for at least a year. MISCELLANY: Three Years C When Moses L. Annenberg plead ed guilty to indictment charging him with evasion of 11,217,296 in income taxes due the federal government, the "boys in the back room" were betting plenty that the wealthy Phil adelphia publisher and former op erator of racing news informatior services on a huge profitable na tion-wide scale, wmtld get off with a few sharp words and a much sharp er fine. But the "railbirds" failet to reckon with U. S. District Judgi James H. Wilkerson of Chicago, who after hearing the testimony of tlx government and after listening fa Moe's plea for "Justice" sentencec him to serve three years in fed eral prison. Brack art'* Washington Digest U. S. Industry Cannot Compete With Dictators' 'Slave Labor' Hull's Reciprocal Trade Treaties .Will Be Rendered Useless as World Market Becomes Flooded by Materials Produced at Pittance Wages. Br WILLIAM BRUCKABT WNL' Service, National Preaa Bll(., Washlncton, D. C. WASHINGTON. ? The Hitler ar mistice terms that were imposed upon France brings to this country, and other nations of the Western hemisphere, the stark reality that our whole business structure must undergo drastic reorganization and readjustment. It is a fact that can no longer be ignored. We are face to face with a situation that re quires our government and our eco nomic leadership to look first, last and all of the time to the preserva tion of an American principle. Whether we like it or not, the terms forced down the throats of the French by Hitler and the gagging added by the fatty Mussolini have put the United States, its consuming public, its workers and its general commercial effort in a tough spot. It is a situation in which we must produce all of the things we need, and we need not plan on producing more than we need I To present one phase, one result, of the economic destruction of j France by the Hitler victory, it is necessary only to point to what has happened to the trade agreement program arranged and defended al ways by Secretary Cordell Hull of , the department of state. Secretary Hull, to my mind, is the most sin cere and honest individual of the Roosevelt administration. He con : ceived and supported the trade agreement plan because he believed it was the solution to many prob lems arising between nations. It was, he believed, a step toward international peace because most of the international troubles start from international trade jealousies. HalPe Trade Treaties Are 'Washed Up' But Mr. Hull's trade treaties are gone, washed up. They mean noth ing at all now. None of the Euro pean nations that have come under Hitler influence will be able to ob serve them, because Hitler will dl CORDELL HULL 'Hit trttin colUpted.' rect their trade. Few, it any, of the nations elsewhere in the world j can continue to observe the agree ments because they must look first to self-preservation. While I never have felt that Mr. Hull's conception of dealing with international trade was such hot stuff, I have felt always neverthe less that his ideals and his objec tives were to be respected. He has fought for the principle through all at my quarter of a century in Wash ington. Now, one swoop of s mili tary machine, not even within our borders, and the whole program be i comes impotent and unimportant I It is a tragedy of the kind that some ; times hits ideals. And with the Hull program out of the window, what next? At best, any statement can be only a guess. Yet, some of the facts, must be ac cepted as basic. One of these facta is that throughout all of the Europe, where people live under the steel boot of a dictator, workers are go ing to ba little more than slaves for the next decade or longer. They will be peons. They will do the work assigned to them and they will 1 do it at rates of pay fixed by the dic tator. ' Since the dictator form of rule will j direct at least 80 per cent of all Europe and an equal portion ci 1 Asia, It is easy to conceive that the ' dictators will use the products oi | the labor to gain money tor re | building and rehabilitation and for maintenance of the greatest armies ' the world has ever known. Those - products will be sold wherever they can be sold and they will be sold at prices below anything ever dreamed of under our system and the Amer ican standard of living. U. S. Foreign Market a Will Be Closed To put the question bluntly: how will the owners of our steel mills or our automobile factories or thou sands of other businesses be able to compete with, that kind of labor! Rates of pay in this country long have been double and triple and more above the European or Asiatic rates. Our workers continue to seek more and more of the share of pro duction. But will the things they produce ever reach a market, except in the United States, when Germans and French and Italians and Rus- . sians and Japanese and others are working for a few cents a day? 1 think not. Or take agriculture. Will Ameri can wheat or corn or fat hogs or dairy products be sold in the mar kets of the world at the cost of pro duction when the workers of the dic tator nations are producing the same things and being given perhaps only enough food for living? There could be countless other il lustrations offered, but these serve to illustrate the steadily closing gap through which our excess of agri cultural products and manufactured commodities heretofore have been passing. I think the picture that is plainly visible now ought to compel every govemmeht official and every political party to turn thoughts to . the American problem. Hitler1 $ Peace Terms Are Terribly Harsh The Hitler terms have been re leased only sufficiently for a concep tion of their terrible harshness. No one yet can tell bow much of France will remain under complete control of Germany, or how much of it will become absolute German territory. We know only that, in general, all of France's sources of supplies will pass into German control, or will be managed under Hitler's Nazi pro gram. We do not yet know whether there will be surrender of all colon! al possessions, islands and the like. Yet, there is none so foolish as to believe that Hitler will overlook the opportunity of directing the produc tion and trade of every area which may serve as a cog in the great Nazi economic machine. Propaganda It Utad To Mako People Slaoet Some may aek why this dark out look is emphasized and what basis there is lor it, beyond the explana tions already given. I think the answer is simple The drain of war preparation that has been made upon all of those nations involved, not to mention the tremendous ex penditure of men and money during actual fighting, has left each race at peoples denuded. The dictators dare not let revolutionary movements get started. The steel boot will walk across the bodies of every person who offers opposition to any order to produce food and fiber. Propagan da will be used to convince those peoples that it is their duty to their homeland. Propaganda was success ful in working those people like slaves, as Hitler did, in building up the war machine. We have seen some indication of this in Russia. The Soviet dictator has decreed an extension of work ing hours for all workers in Russia. The people were told merely that they will work many hours more. They have to do it, or be shot. It may be that the new Soviet or der represents a renewed war prep aration on the part of the Commu nists. None here knows the answer. The fact remains, however, that the great horde of Russians are to be driven like plow mules into long days of harsh labor?while the cheap Communistic agitators in this coun try foment new strikes for short hours and higher and higher pay. It is a sour situation. But it is very real, and it shows what dic tators can do. All of which seems to me to prove that there is a right important bat tle in the United States that we had better win. While administration folks and partisan politicians shout and create new hysteria about a military machine to defend us, I hold to the idea that we had better divide attention to defense of the na , tion into two phases. We had bet , ter prepare to defend within as well as without. Speaking of Sports Medwick Case Recalls Bygone 'Bean Bailers' By ROBERT McSHANE (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) ? ARRY MacPHAIL'S recent de mand that the National league c bar St. Louis Cardinal Pitcher Bob 11 Bowman tor his "beaning" of Joe * Medwick calls to mind other trag- ? edies and semi-tragedies which * stirred the baseball world for a 1 while. u Perhaps the outstanding ease la ^ baseball's history was that tt Carl d Mays, New York Yankee pitcher, la * 1920. Three American league clubs d tried to have him banished from t baseball when he killed Bay Char I man, Cleveland In Welder, with a ' "bean ball." Accusations of using a "bean ball" f were nothing new to Mays. For t three seasons it had been said that d he deliberately fired his air-eplitting r "submarine ball" at batters' heads I to make them quit crowding the plate. But this time the charges 1 were of a more serious nature. e The Cleveland players were ap in r arms. Only slightly lass perturbed I were their colleagues on the Tiger c and Red 80s elnbs who met aad I announced that they would refuse to ? bat against Mays again. President Ban Johnson absolved Mays of intent to hit Chapman and I the boycott faded away. But Mays ? was the object of widespread dislike < during the remainder of his big 1 league career. i 'Dusting' in the Open Two outbreaks of open "dusting" < came la 1937, once when Disxy I Dean, angered by the New York 1 Giants, let ly at them repeatedly, i aad once when Jimmy Wilson, Phil- i lies manager, ordered his pitchers to 1 flatten Cub batters when the PhD- I lies were en the short end of a 14 to I score. Players an neither I team, however, harbored a grudge, t The career of Johnny Watwood, 1 young White Sox player, ended on I a tragic note just 10 years ago. Wat- | wood was hit on the head by Cub 1 fireball hurler Pat Malone during | the Chicago city series in 1930. He I recovered from the skull fracture, but his baseball days were ended. His batting skill had vanished. Who's Next? Louis Really Doesn't Care A MORATORIUM on fights tor ??* Heavyweight Champion Joe Lou la has been suggested by more than one boxing enthusiast. I eats, whs woo a split decision over Arturo Oodoy in their trst en counter, took a little short of eight rounds to chill the Latin In their mere recant heat. la se doing he eliminated the last gate attrac tion from the list of contenders. , Not that Oodoy was a marvel of the turnstiles. Far from it The match drew only 28,786 persons and $149,309, the smallest gate for a ARTURO GODOT Louis outdoor fight in New York. But Godoy was the outstanding pos sibility (or a title fight. He had stayed the limit with the Bomber < the first time and aeemed to be in excellent shape when the Anal bell rang. He wasn't an idol of the fans, but neither did they think be was an out-and-out bum. Godey eras game but be was tar eet ef his class. Bagged, teera geeos and Strang, be is hard te dis courage. He likes te rash and maul his opponent. This time Leais was set. He fenght Us ewa Ight and made the Sooth American leek like he really la?a second rate ighter. Plenty of Courage It takes more than courage and strength to win championships. It takes even more than those two in gredients to make good contenders. Otherwise the boxing game would be cluttered with musclebound heroes. Godoy'? case is typical of today's heavyweight prospects. At least in the aspect of strength. But he, unlike many others, had courage to match the champion's. Not a few other contenders were frightened stiff before they entered the ring. GENERAL HUGH S. JOHNSON JcufJ^L Washiagton. D. C. DEFENSE DANGERS . There is a grave danger of this ountry going completely haywire inder the pressure of war. It ig rue that the groaaeat neglect at efenae in our hiatory and the moat eckless impairment of our credit nd industrial efficiency have left a In a moat defenaeleaa posture. l1 though very weak, due to theaa eflciencies, we have roved the rarld like a lamb rampant slapping own the ears at every ferocious ani aal in the menagerie bona and ti ers as well as jackals?until we aven't a friend on earth. Perhaps the most cock-eyed im lertinence on record ia that the ee hors of aO this incompetenca and anger insist that they must he per ?etuated in a third term for Mr. loosevelt. I am accused of constant soold ng. I don't want to be a scold. I X a mine myself about that "in the Light session." I can't think that my Lind of preachment is wrong in this risis. If I can't think it is wrong ought not to stop it?scold or no cold. Last MeMltrstten. Why do I feel so confident? Well, sat at the center of both Imlisli ial ind manpower mobilization ia the Irst World war. It ie a stiance re mit but the fact is that, although Scharahorst and Stein in vested the Serman idea of the "nation In inns," to overthrow Napoleon and :hange the face at war, and, al ihough the Kaiser's was almost as xanplete a dictatorship aa HMkar's. t was not German autocracy bad American democracy that tangfat the world the terrible modern leaaon d total war. This is no time for perfumed nice ties. The cold fact is that a I llaad the full navel, military and eco nomic strength at this uaailiy, mo bilized and organized for war tha Brat time in the modem sense. the Germane had total victory m tha bag in early ltlS. Tbna aomathkig happened. The M. P.'s didnt arte that war. American naourcae and organization ? both economic and military?did it. But they were masterfully organ ized and used by efficient and expe rienced men who believed, afemoat as a religion, in both our si own if and political system. This admirue tration is allergic to both that kind of man and belief. Hopkins, Per kins. Wallace. Morgenthau?I hate to acoid them?but do I have to rep resent that such incompetents are fit to manage this great country against an enemy who has shown himself so fiendishly clever n ap plying the very lesson that compe tent Americans taught him and Ger many in 1S18? Concentration Camps7 The President recently suggested that it would be a good thing for members of his press conference to go to a COC camp. Are they go ing to be concentration camps? For Mark Sullivan, be is reported to have told other newshawks that he had a pardon "written out in blank." Mark is frequently critical but al ways gentle, I wonder about my "pardon in blank." If, as and when It can be done, 1 shall be boiled in on. So should I shut up? If I do, I shall write myself down aa gutless as a kippered herring and as simple as a snipe. There has been no move of this administration that to me seemed right that I have not rushed out to defend until my fan mail groaned with accusations of being a water-carrier on two shoulders. Just now I think many of the di rections in which we are going are srrong and dangerous. I would Ilka to forget to say so and to break the too strident pace of this column tay writing a piece about the "bees and the rabbits and their sweet engag ing habits," but solar systems and universes are being too rapidly re oriented. If not doing so is "scold ing." I intend to apologize?and do it some more. THE SIZE OF THE JOB It is natural for military thinH^g to channel itself into grooves set by precedents end examples. Sol diers don't fight all the time. In periods of peace, industrial prpgreaa and invention go on but military science comes to a full stop. The results of any tost of it to war are so deadly that soldiers, to peace, try to "keep up with their profession" and, in times like these, almost frantically. No two wars are ever quite alike. We learned some things in late 1118 that should help us now, particularly in industrial mobilization. But we also teamed some things it would behoove ua now to forget, particularly that our principal problem is raising men whose equipment we can somehow pick out of the air.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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July 11, 1940, edition 1
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