The Alamance gleaner
VoL LXVT GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1940 Na 81
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Roger Shaw
Nazi Long Range Guns and Bombers
Blast Southeast Coast of Great Britain;
Mussolini Seeks Greek Naval Bases;
Japan Pushes English Out of Shanghai
(BDITOB'8 NOTE?When opinions art expressed In these columns, they
are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
? Released by Western Newspaper Union ______
Pictured above is the United States representation on the joint Cana
dian-American Defense Board now meeting in Ottawa and working out
preliminary steps in planning hemisphere defense measures. This photo
was taken as the board met with President Roosevelt before proceeding
to Canada. Members of the group (reading left to right) are: (Back
row) Capt. Barry W. Bill, Lieut. Col. Joseph T. McNarney; Capt. Forrest
P. Sherman,'Lient. Gen. Stanley D. Embick, John D. Bickerson. (Front):
Mayor Florello B. La Guardia of New Fork City, chairman of the board,
and President Roosevelt, seated.
THE WAR:
Long Range
Long-range German guns, posted
In France along the channel shore,
banged away at England, not so
many miles away. These were the
famous Big Berthas of song and
story, but they failed at first to prove
much. They shot at ship convoys,
but their bore wore out quickly, and
they were clumsy and expensive.
In the last war, the famous German
"Paris gun" was a waste of time,
and these promised to be the same.
Their objective, of course, was to
cut across the channel, and close it
tight as a drum. This maneuver
failed to worry the increasingly
cheerful British.
In their first air attack on Berlin,
British bombers swooped out of a
night sky directly over the heart of
the city, were driven off by anti
air craft fire and dropped their ex
plosives on the city's outskirts.
The German aerial losses had
been terrific, well over 1,000 planes,
and maybe many more of them.
The land invasion threat appeared
to be "out"?for dictators cannot
risk the chance of a bloody setback
or repulse, especially one of so spec
tacular a nature. It seemed that
the so quick-acting Germans were
just a bit puzzled about what to do
next. They continued to tighten
their blockade of the British Isles
by land and sea and air.
The British banged back, by
bombing the Heinkel, Messer
schmitt, Junkers and Domier air
plane works, and the Zeppelin works
an Lake Constance, where the fa
mous Mercedes-Benz air motors are
manufactured. Other big industrial
plants, in the Germanies, "got" it
too, and German nerves (like those
of the Americans) are nowhere near
as good as stolid Britannic neurol
ogy. It began to look like a much
longer war, which did not help Will
kie's chances for the presidency
any.
Italics
The Italians continued to bully the
Greeks, in quest of Greek naval
bases to use against England in
the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece
was tied to Turkey, Russia, and
England in one way or another, and
all three of them expressed inter
est and sympathy. Would the war
spread still further, the critics won
dered? Would Greece turn into an
Italic Finland? Meanwhile, the Ital
ians took British Somaliland on the
Red sea, in an effort to cut the ocean
route between England and her
treasure-house of India. The Brit
ish garrison got away, by flight and
skill, as it had done already at Nar
vik, Dunkirk, and elsewhere. They
said it was another "moral victory"
for the Bullmen. All England had
had in Somaliland was some South
Africans, the local camel corps
(partly mechanized, partly cam
elled, partly horsed), and a section
of the ubiquitous royal air force.
The R. A. F., as usual, gave a good
account of itself. Not so, the cam
ellaries. The Italians-in-Africa
didn't look so good either, although
they were in there fighting and mak
ing the usual big noise (so the crit
ics declared, en masse).
. . ..! % .. - S ? .
CAMPAIGN:
Squabbles?
Willkie found that his ardent sup
porters consisted of two groups: the
independent Willkie clubs, and the
dissident Willkie Democrats. His
less ardent supporters were a good
deal more basic. They consisted of
the Republican party regulars, in
and out of congress. The regulars
were grumbling like Napoleon's Old
Guard before Moscow.
Willkie himself is an ex-Democrat
and very independent of the regu
lars in his ways and habits. He is
disinclined to lean on the Old Guard,
although the Old Guard begs to be
leaned against. Old Guardisti com
plained that the candidate was too
casual about consulting?and obey
ing?them. Then again, many of
the O. G. are isolation-minded, while
the independents and Democratic
refugees are inclined, like Willkie
himself, to be interventionists. De
spite all the Hoosier getup, Willkie
definitely, they said, has an eastern
outlook (and.maybe he has).
Some of the regulars, too, thought
that "their man" Willkie was too
New Dealish. He did not denounce
many of the Roosevelt reforms, but
adopted them in principle. He
merely promised to "improve" the
administration of what the regulars
thought was a racket. In fact, the
New Dealers said that Willkie was,
substantially, "their man," too.
This made the regulars?the O. G.?
huffier than ever.
F. D. Bonaparte
F. O. Roosevelt-Bonaparte found
himself in the same position as Na
poleon, in the decisive year 1813.
Bonaparte proper had then served
two terms, and he wanted a third
one. His first term had lasted for
14 years. Then came Elba. His
second term lasted 100 days. Then
came Waterloo. But the point was
this:
Bonaparte (like Roosevelt) de
pended on the proletariat, as against
the economic royalists and Bour
bons. The French proletariat hated
the Napoleonic conscription like poi
son, and many American proletari
ans dislike the prospect of conscrip
tion, too. But regardless of their
anti-conscript attitude, the French
plebs rallied round Mppoleon, be
cause they feared the Bourbons
would repeal all the Napoleonic so
cial reforms. The American plebs,
against conscription though they
may be, have the same attitude.
They fear that if the "Bourbons"
recapture the White House, even
though they would scrap conscrip
tion, they might also scrap the
Roosevelt reformation. Hence, the
man in the street is for Roosevelt
Bonaparte.
DEAD:
R. I. P.
They died like files, the bigshots
did. Sir Oliver Lodge of England
was one of them. He was the great
scientist, mental telepathist, and
spiritualist He was 89, and much
beloved by everybody in all coun
tries. Then there was LeonTrotsky,
or Comrade Braunstein. He was the
organizer at the Red army, the bril
liant author, the mortal foe of Stalin,
Hitler, Churchill and others.
Doleful Duo
These seven-year-old twin refu
gees from Brussels, Belgium, Jo
hannes and Franciscus De Boat
Doleman, sit and survey the future
after landing at Jersey City, N. J,
from the child refugee ship the S.
S. Exeter. Their trip from Europe
was only the first leg of their jour
ney as they expect to continue on
to Java in the Dutch East Indies.
Many refugee children from Eu
rope are finding homes in the Unit
ed States.
WHAT THEN?
If and How
People began to wonder whether
Russia might eventually enter the
war on the British imperial side.
Critics thought it may be likely, if
the war dragged on long enough?
and it might. Stalin fears Hitler
and Mussolini in the Balkans, and
wants to keep his rich Ukrainian
province, the No. 2 Russian federal
state. But if the Soviets helped Eng
land, whither America? It became
a moot question.
For strong American business
groups hated the communism of
Russia, while even stronger reli
gious groups hated the Soviet athe
ism. Would these people co-operate
with an England that boasted a
red, red ally. That was the point.
Or, if Russia became an English
ally, would we start to pamper the
American Communists, who would
also be the allies of Mr. Churchill?
Spain, Too -
Then again?it appeared extreme
ly probable that General Franco's
Spain might go in on the German
side. What then? Franco is the
idol of the ruling class in Spanish
America because he saved the Span
ish church and crushed the Spanish
reds. If our state department start
ed to razz Franco, the ally of Hit
ler, the South Americans would be
infuriated. Then, what would hap
pen to Secretary Hull's "good neigh
bor" policy? Franco is also a spe
cial favorite of the Vatican. If
Franco joined the Germans, what
effect would that have on the Amer
ican faithful? Would they not be
come increasingly isolationist?
They would still dislike Hitler, of
course, but they could hardly help
but admire the gTeat Spanish cru
sader of 1936-39?the conqueror of
Moscow-in-Barcelona. The whole
subject was worth detailed Amer
ican pondering: From Washington
to Wala Wala and Yonkers.
POLAND:
Tyranny
There was more German tyranny
in conquered Poland. The iron mil
itary heel was crushing down old
Polish customs and ways of life.
There came a new decree, of an un
heard of nature. It rocked the
steppes, the towns, the metropoli.
It was this:
Every taxicab driver in Warsaw
and Cracow, Poland's No. 1 and No. j
2 cities, must shave at least every
other day. The edict declared that
it was just as important for cab
drivers to curry themselves as for
these cabbies.to curry and groom
the good old dobbins. Here was an
example of the usual combination:
German oppression and German
cleanliness.
BIG:
Bomber
The biggest airplane ever built is
nearly finished. It will be the prop
erty of the army air corps. The
Douglas air factory, near Santa
Monica, Calif., has been at work
on it for four years. The whole
project is astonishing.
This giant plane can fly from New
York to Europe, back to New York
again, and then out to California
all non-stop. It will have four 2,000
horsepower engines, a wing spread
of 212 feet, and 112 feet long.
Washington Digest
Britain Likely to Get Destroyers;
Both Parties Disown Isolationists
Roosevelt-Willkie Debate on Any Issue Improbable;
Icke's Speech Ignores Conditions at Time
Of Munich Conference.
By CARTER FIELD
WASHINGTON.?Best opinion in
Washington now is that Britain will
get those 50 old World war destroy
ers. lor which Gen. John J. Pershing
made a radio appeal recently. The
big question is whether Britain will
get them in time to do any good.
The point is that the Battle of Brit
ain may be decided before delivery.
Wendell Willkie properly ignored
the destroyer episode in his accept
ance speech. But while he did not
mention them, he left no doubt in
any administration quarter that
there would be no attack by him if
the government decided to give this
sorely needed aid to Britain. There
would have been no point in his
mentioning the destroyers, because
there is.nothing Willkie can do about
them. Even if he is elected, the
Rattle of Britain will have been won
or lost before he assumes office.
As a matter of fact, it will probably
have been won or lost six weeks be
fore election day.
September 15, for some reason,
has been the German "deadline." It
.will be recalled that German repre
sentatives, negotiating with U. S.
business men, proposed deliveries
after that date, though they were
unwilling to discuss why this date
was picked. They merely said that
the military establishment in Berlin
informed them that the war would
be over by September 15, with Brit
ain conquered.
By the time this magical date ar
rives, fall weather will have set in
on the English channel, with fogs
and storms, which might result in
Dame Nature saving England again
as she did at the time of the Spanish
Armada. Of course no one knows
what the new "surprise weapon" is
that the Nazis have been talking so
much about, and about which cor
respondents with the German army
on the Belgian and French coasts
have been hinting.
It is possible, of course, that the
Germans have figured out a way to
land an army in Britain, after pul
verizing "by bombing attacks the
country right behind the coast on
which they propose to land, which
would make It possible regardless
of weather conditions. This seems
highly unlikely, but it is unwise to
dismiss any possibility.
The general picture remains that,
at the moment, the odds are slightly
against Britain. The picture re
mains, however, that IF she is able
to hold out until the fogs and storms
come, those 50 old destroyers would
be a tremendous help. It also ap
pears to be a fact, if the recent
published polls are correct, that a
large majority of the American peo
ple are in favor of letting the Brit
ish have them, on the theory that
the longer Britain is able to fight, the
longer America has to get ready.
The isolationists, headed by Sen.
Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, are
fighting this, screaming at William
C Bullitt for his speech urging
more aid to Britain promptly, and
doing everything they dare to pre
vent further aid. But politically they
have no place to go. Neither Roose
velt nor Willkie gives them any
chance, sinoe the Willkie accept
ance speech, to play the one
the other. Every indication is that
even the Middle Western states are
gradually moving, though slowly, to
ward the position taken by both ma
jor candidates.
So it seems more of a certainty
that Britain will get the destroyers^
It's Just a question of whether it
will be soon enough.
? ? ?
It is rather strange that none of
the comments on the recent apeech
of Harold Ickea, supposedly replying
to Wendell Willkie for President
Roosevelt, have taken issue with
Ickea' criticisms of former Prime
Minister Neville Chamberlain. Ap
parently it is not fashionable to de
fend Chamberlain for anything he
did, though there was plenty of ap
proval at the time.
Mr. Ickes said: "Mr. Willkie criti
cizes the Blum government in
Prance and holds it responsible for
the defeat of France. Has he no criti
cism of England's pro-Munich gov
ernment, with its policy of appease
ment?"
Let's take a quick look back at
the Munich conference, what the ait
uation was then, and what Mr. Ickes'
chief. President Roosevelt, for whom
he was answering Willkie, had to do
with it.
The facts are that, up to Munich,
and for a short period thereafter,
no charge could be made that Adolf
Hitler had ever broken a treaty. He
had said he was going to do things,
and he had done them. So far as
the Rhine land is concerned, or so
far aa Austria is concerned, he had
made no pretense that he had any
intention of paying heed to the terms
of the Versailles treaty.
So when Chamberlain went to Mu
nich, there was no reason to doubt
that whatever terms to preserve
peace might be obtained would be
lived up to.
Far more important, Britain was
in no position to fight at the moment.
Britain was woefully unprepared.
This might have been partly the
responsibility of Chamberlain, but
obviously it was much more the
fault of the preceding administra
tions, headed among others by Stan
ley Baldwin and Ramsay McDonald.
So Chamberlain knew he HAD to
appease.
But more important, from the
standpoint of Mr. Ickes' slurring at
the former premier, is the fact that
President Roosevelt appealed to both
Hitler and Chamberlain, urging that
the differences be adjusted without
war. He also appealed to Mussolini
to use his good offices to bring about
the same result.
At least, during the years which
preceded Munich, Britain kept up
its navy. It was under the delusion,
just as were military experts in vir
tually every other government in
cluding our own, that the French
had "the best army in the world."
Meanwhile the United States had
not completed a new battleship since
1920, and was actually without an
adequate supply of ammunition.
Nearly two years ago Bernard M.
Baruch, on the appeal of Louis John
son, then Roosevelt's assistant sec
retary of war, personally guaran
teed a 23,000,000 contract for pow
der-making machinery for which not
only congress had not appropriated,
but the need for which had not been
revealed to congress by the admin
istration.
Franklin Roosevelt and Wendell
Willkie on the same platform?at
the same time?answering each oth
er! Can you imagine it? Yes. but
you don't expect it, and neither
does anyone else. But it was a good
idea, and would be even better if
there were any chance of FDR's tak
ing Willkie up on his challenge.
But the facts are that President
Roosevelt does not want any part
of a debate with Willkie on ANY
issue. Least of all, curiously enough,
on the electric power issue which
Roosevelt has made so important,
and which he hopes will prove a
great handicap to Willkie.
The truth is that the New Dealers
are just a little bit shell-shocked
whenever they think of ANY debate
with Willkie since that time the then
Commonwealth A Southern president
polished off Robert U. Jackson in
a debate on the New Deal, before
the Town Hall in New York city.
To appreciate this, one must know
what the New Dealers in general,
and Roosevelt in particular, think of
Jackson. Even FDR thinks Jackson
is the second best statesman In the
world today, and 'there are a good
many New Dealers treasonable
enough to think that Jackson is real
ly No. 1.
So when Willkie virtually knocked
the No. 1 champion (certainly after
FDR himself) of the New Dealers
into a cocked hat in a public de
bate, and on issues not so dissimilar
from those to be argued in this cam
paign, the impression was pretty
nearly indelible. Certainly it is still
clearly legible. And it says: "Don't
let Willkie get you into a debate
even if you name the judges. He'll
steal 'em from you."
Remember how timid Dave Lilien
thal was when Willkie offered to let
the SEC itself referee his company's
dispute with TVA? And there are
New Dealers who think Dave was
gypped when Willkie virtually let
Lilienthal himself referee the nego
tiations!
But even if FDR were willing to
debate with Willkie on other sub
jects, he would not debate with him
on the public ownership thesis. Not
this fall! There are several signs
that the New Dealers do not want
any more referenda on that subject,
particularly in politically strategic
locations.
For Instance, there Is San Fran
cisco. The city has given a good
many indications of getting fed up
on the New Deal's public power
ideas. Back in 1913, congress sp
proved the Hetch Hetchy project,
with a proviso that never should this
poorer be distributed by privstely
owned agencies. San Francisco paid
no attention to this. It sold the
power to the old private company,
took a nice profit on the sale, and
let the company sell to its citizens.
i
General
HUGH S.
johnson
Jour:
Washington, D. C.
WALTER CHRYSLER
"Wherever the McGregor sits is
the head of the table."
During his prime that could well
have been said of Walter Chrysler
by the whole automobile industry
excepting Henry Ford. Now Wal
ter Chrysler is gone. He was one
of the industrial giants of tt)e magic
period of expansion beginning with
the World war. Industry isn't pro
ducing men of that type today.
Maybe the new crop is a better
type. It certainly is a more pol
ished type but it lacks the sturdi
ness, initiative and drive of the gen
eration that started working with
its hands and knew?in addition to
business strategy and tactics ac
quired later?every operation in the
shop.
Eager to Da His Bit.
I have worked with or across the
table with him on many occasions in
the past 22 years. His going
wrenches me, as I think it does
everyone who knew him weB?like
the loss of an old army messmate.
The first time I met him was in
the old industrial relations days of
the World war. Those were not un
like those of NRA, in which we were
very close.
With a reputation for being about
the toughest trooper in the industry,
he was really a complete softy on
the sentimental side. One evening
when the going was toughest in NRA
?literally working II to 20 hours a
day?he asked me to go to dinner
with the heads at his industry. When
I complained that I didn't have
time, he carried me off almost bod
ily on a compromise that it would
only be an hour.
With the coffee, he pushed his
chair K-"k and said: "I want to take
a minute to tell you about an ex
perience of my early youth. It
started off innocently enough about
a prospecting trip in the Rocky
mountains with an old sourdough
named Deadeye Dick. In about five
minutes he had that bunch of hard
shells either rocking vrith laughter
or dizzy with astonishment. It eras
a masterpiece of old-time frontier
lying that woud have made Mark
Twain green with envy. It went on
and oo srith never a flagging of inter
est, a pause for breath or a failure
of each succeeding whopper to top
the earlier ones with fantastic imag
ery. When he stopped I suddenly
awoke to the fact that H waa after
midnight and I swore fluently in
the language we both understood so
well.
"Aw shut up," he said gently.
"You needed that lettmg-down to
keep from blowing up. That was
the only way I could think of to
get you to take it."
Shouldered Toe Mack.
But he never learned to take his
own medicine. Like Franklin Roose- ,
velt and like Wendell Wfflkie?I fear
?he insisted, until recent years, on
doing everything important himself,
delisting little or no responsibility
and driving himself without mercy.
1 sadly believe that if Walter Chrys
ler had himself done more letting
down to keep from blowing up, I
wouldn't be writing this piece for
many years and his country would
have had the services in this crisis
of ooe of the greatest masters of in
dustrial production the world has
seen. He was only 18.
? ? ?
MOST BE KOBE DEFINITE II
Mr. Willkie has ? right and duty
to mate on* last utterance in gen
eral term*. He has used that priv
ilege up in his acceptance. Nov '
he must be definite.
Considering all the difficulties at J
the times and the circumstances, his
opener eras a good Job. It reads
better than tt sounded. But these '
sympathetic qualifications won't do !
the candidate any good except with ;
people who are (or him anyway. It
was his Job to win over the inde- 1
pendents, the lute-warm and some ]
opponents. None at these will mate
excuses (or anything less than per
fection as each individual voter
measures perfection.
With all its textual excellence 1
there were two deadly but correct
able slips, possibly resulting from
an effort to condense. Mr. Willkie
neglected specifically to guarantee
tabor against "employer" interfer
ence with collective bargaining. On
agriculture be slipped back as far 1
as Harding, Coolldge and Hoover
into a generality offensive to farm
era because it was used to fool them I
for IS years. In these two fields :
certain words and short phrases <
have become symbols at whole eco- I
nomic essays and Mr. Willkie, new 1
to this kind of language, adopted 1
poisonous phrasing. That error can
be retrieved in his speeches on these I
issues. I feel sure that his thinking 1
there is straight 1
I SPEAKING. OF
SPORTS
| By ROBOT McSHANE
I III m I to WnS in Mil a a li. IKb
TpED WILLIAMS, the long. skinny
* 22-year-old youngster with the
Boston Red Sox, probably is the ub
happiest player in big league base
ball.
AH too often these days he reads
in the sports pages that he is a
swell-head, a popoff and k spoiled
kid.
Ted seems to have gsae eat at Am
hsahZTte^^L UmaTwkw
sgs that be taM aae writes ha waaM
mach rather be a dreams than a big
league ball player. Aad Jast a sheet
time ags be (Mowed ap with a dee
jaraUae fat ha was led ap with
traded.
Boston fans were more or leas
aghast over the latter interview.
After all. how many 22-year-old fade
were earning $12^00 a year?Wil
liams' salary? The Back Bay jour
nal carried the story jast as Wil
liams gave it to the reporter, and
irate citizens still are writing letters
for the public opinion a#
newspapers.
A Liking for Brooklyn
If Ted had his way it is likely he
would be with the Brooklyn Dodgem.
His preference for Brooklyn was ex
pressed last spring after Judge
chopped 83 players from Detroit's
farm system. Asked where ho
would go if he was a tree agial.
Ted replied. "Brooklyn. They'd Be
me op there."
^^^^ManfaMfa
one reason for Ted's pi saint manse
and others are the result at a mesa
misguided effort was the daemon at
club officials to move dm ngfa ltd
to facilitate Williams' home na pea
ductian. He had been '?ft the
balls out there regularly.
A Plan Goes Wrong
was anty a mad year player.
Even Ted's temperament dotal da- '
ter him.
With that lhortened distance in
right field the fans expected far ten
much from him. Ted felt that he
eras depended on to drive a homer
every time he went to bat. Things
just didn't work out that way. Baa
too saw its boped-lor pension! and
its promised return of a second
Babe Ruth fail to matenahan.
Williams became a target tar the
dtafinmllnl and being only X years
old. hasn't yet the balance with
which to take it.
Worth Appeasing
With Red Sox Owner Tom Tawbn
mil much of the rmgranstatfty tar
Williams' future. Young *~?g^ In
be a trifle imdahle emotional,
there is little wrong with Ted that
sympathetic. tolerant hustling wont
cure. Yawkey is a young man him
self. and io smart enough to know
it would be an extremely diflh si
fob to replace a player at Williams*
caliber.
A rookie ast year, Ted led tha
American league in nms batted is,
clubbing out a BT mark, including
11 home runs. 44 doubles and 11
triples. In right field tar 14fi gameat
he knocked 14$ runs across the
plate. It more than Joe DiMaggto.
The Yankee ace. however, played
in IX games. On a proportionate -
basis. DiMaggio batted in I K rum
per game and Williams U? par
game.
It la virtually certain that Tad
win have to lean to Hko Boston.
He's too good to let go.
And you can be sure that all at
Tom Yawkey's appeasement powers
will be called upon for double
duty.
Dome Bush ot Minneapolis knew
|ust how to handle Williams. Dur
ing the midseason of 1938, Ted was
reported to have walked into Bush's
office with the announcement that
he was going back to San Diego.
He wasn't playing up to par and he
nras homesick.
"All right. Ted, TU see that you
get your tickets by tonight," replied
Bush casually, seemingly wholly im
concerned.
Williams stayad in Minneapolis.
iVii