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The Alamance Gleaner , ? - ? ^>L LXVI ' GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1940 No. 42 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Greeks Take Second Inning of War; 2,000 Killed in Rumanian Earthquake; Rumors of Changes in Next Cabinet; British Bombers Raid Italian Fleet (EDITOR'S NOTE?WRen opinion art expreated la Uxia column, t??7 are Uwae at Um hwi aualyut and not necessarily o< thla newspaper.) (Released by Western Newspaper * WOOD BRIDGE, N. J.?This scene of desolation met the eye after a terrifying blast leveled the United Railway and Signal Co., here, killing nine persons and injuring S3. Though the plant made torpedo signals for railroads, it was said to be working on a device of "great importance" to the army and navy. (For news of other powder plant blasts see "DE FENSE: Supplies.") FOUR HORSEMEN: War Greece is connected to Fascist held Albania by three highways run ning through deep mountain passes. Down these three highways marched Mussolini's blackshirt legions in the first week of his war with Greece. Back up the highways hurried what was left of the divisions in the sec ond week. The Greeks, outnumbered two to one, reported they had pushed the invaders back on the northern and central front. On the southern front they also claimed victory, said a complete Italian division was sur rounded and wiped out. England, still pounded by German warplanes, saw the Tower of Lon don, ancient prison where famous prisoners were confined in the Eliza bethan era, smashed by a bomb. One night the raiding planes had an unaccustomed hum. The English guessed they were Italians, a guess confirmed when one was shot down. The Italian onslaught brought de mands in London for a raid on Rome, treasured architectural city until now protected by agreement. Said George Bernard Shaw, "There is no reason why Rome should not have it If only people were not killed and ap could select the places to be bombed, I would welcome an attack on London. They are knocking down a 'good many things we should have knocked down ourselves long ago." Germany was being torn by tons of explosives also. When Adolf Hit ler visited the Munich beerhall, Nazi shrine, R.A.F. fliers sought out the . place and dropped explosives. Hit ler cancelled the broadcast of his annual speech. The raiders found the spot just an hour after the ad dress and sent high German officials scurrying to shelters. Likewise when Soviet Premier MolotoS and 32 trade and commer cial advisers came to Berlin, the route over which their private train passed was bombed. The visiting diplomats escaped injury. The fol lowing day Molotoff and Hitler held a three-hour conference during which it is believed the course of the two nations in relation to the Balkan countries was decided. Death The Pale Horseman rode over Eu rope in more than war. An earth quake shook Rumania killing an es timated J ,000 and causing millions of dollars of property damage. De stroyed also were some of the pro tiflc Rumanian oil wells which have been supplying Adolf Hitler with the gasoline needed for his war ma chine. Famine Unable to ship food through the British blockade, the American Red Cross prepared to close all its sta tions in occupied and unoccupied Prance. AD Europe eras under strict rationing. Petitionee How long England holds out may ? depend indirectly more than directly on Nazi, bombs. IfBHons of people were crowded into air raid shelters night after night, in foul air and weakened by loss of sleep. It is feared this may bring epidemics as soon as spring arrives. WAR AT SEA: British Losses Britain was not hiding the fact that continued loss of freighter ves sels was seriously interfering with the conduct of the overseas supplies. Neutral estimates have put' the losses at 3,400,000 tons out of an available 30,000,000. The rate of sinkings has gone up sharply since June. Prime ttinister Churchill told commons the losses were more seri ous than air raids, and said the Brit ish must expect even heavier at tacks next spring. He sounded out Ireland on the use of bases there but Eire President De Valera re jected the bid. One day Berlin announced that a convoy of 20 British ships had been attacked and sunk, sit was believed a sea raider of the pocket battleship type was at large in the north At lantic. But three days later, London re ports of the attack on the same con voy varied greatly from this Berlin dispatch. Said the British: A German pocket battleship overtook a British con voy of 38 ships and a dramatic and heroic episode of the sea was then enacted. The British armed merchant cruiser, Jervis Bay, steamed directly at the more heavily gunned and ar mored German ship and engaged in combat. Though outclassed, the gal lant crew of the Jervis Bay contin ued shelling their enemy until at least 28 at the other ships of the convoy had made their escape un der smoke screens. In the end the Jervis Bay was lost and Captain Fogarty Fegen, wounded in the bat tle, went down with his ship. Italian Losses Reports from London also told of ? smashing bombing attack upon Italy's navy, anchored in the Medi terranean port of Taranto. British planes operating from an aircraft carrier were reported to have put out of action two battleships, two cruisers and two auxiliary craft and severely damaged a third battleship. Aircraft were used in the attack, according to London, because the harbor is too heavily fortified for surface craft to approach it While the Italians described these reports as "fantastic," if they are true, it means that English domination of the Mediterranean Is assured for some time to come. The vessels sunk or damaged represent about one-half of Italy's full fighting strength of larger vessels. POSTELECTION: The Aftermath Rumors of changes in the cabinet were given scant attention by Presi dent Roosevelt, although there are excellent indications some will be made when the new administration officially starts January SO. Secre tary of Interior Harold Ickes was the first to submit bis resignation. He acted the day after election. There was no indication the resig nation would be accepted, it merely was the same routine Mr. Ickes fol lowed four years ago "to give the President a free hand." War Secretary Henry L. Sthnaon is mentioned among those who may leave. New York's Mayor LaGuar dia was mentioned as a possible suc cessor. The "little flower" knows the army, was raised on an army Refugee NEW YORK.?Mme. Annette Clemenceau, daughter-in-law of Georges Clemenceau, "The Ti ger" of France in World war days, is photographed on her arrival in New York abo<srd the S. S. Exeter. The Exeter brought many American and European refugees from the war zone and the ship's officers told of two shots fired across her stern by a British patrol boat while the vessel was one hour out of Lis bon, Portugal. CONGRESS: No Business Congress continues the fiction of being in session, although virtually all but a few_members left the city. ' Every other" day officials of both houses appear, open the session, | hear the official prayer, permit speeches to be inserted in the Rec ord and then recess within a few minutes. There is no embarrassing roll call. Agitation for an official adjourn ment is opposed by Republican lead ers as well as many Democrats. They hold congress should be in the position of instant action, due to the troublous foreign situation. One bill being worked out in the meantime is the Ramspeck meas ure for extension of the merit sys tem to cover some 190,000 more gov ernment workers. The bill has been passed by both houses and is being delayed because the house won't ac cept changes made in conference. Final acceptance would make the Roosevelt administration the record breaker for civil service extension. Debt Meanwhile Treasury Secretary Morgenthau warned the ceiling on the federal debt must be raised soon, due to heavy defense spend- ; ing. A formal treasury request for new taxes and a higher debt limit ?probably $60J)00,000,000-is not ex pected until next January however. The present congress has voted al most $17,000,000,000 for defense. Morgenthau said the treasury has no idea of asking congress to pass a retroactive tax on government se curities. NEw STATE: Hawaii Votes "by a vote of two to one-Hawaiian citizens expressed a desire for state hood. The vote was merely a pleb iscite, an indication of how the people of the 40 islands feel toward the question. Agitation in,the islands to become the forty-ninth state goes back be yond the time when the area was annexed to the United States. An element in the island then sought to make the annexation dependent on statehood. But congress merely granted the new land territorial rights. The territorial legislature now is expected to petition congress again. If the petition is granted, the legis lature must draft a proposed con stitution which also must be ap proved by congress. A congression al resolution is the final step in the admission procedure. DEFENSE: Supplies To equip the men who will operate U. S. tanks, trucks and planes, the army quartermaster depot at Phila delphia is working overtime. In one week the depot accepted bids on 900,000 bath towels, 15,000 pairs of gauntlets, 500,000 field hats. 10,000 pounds of twine, 50,000,000 yards of khaki cloth, 500,000 roll-collar wool overcoats, 2.000,000 pairs at leggings, 9,000,000 pairs of socks, 2^47,000 pairs at shoes and 750 bugles. Engines by Ford The Ford Motor company has been awarded its first defense contract, a $125,000,000 order for airplane an ginas. Last June, Henry Ford de clared he would accept orders for foe United States but not lor Brit Washington Digest Farmers Face New Problems As Use of Machines Increases Technological Advances Change Life on U. S. Farms; Greek Nation Completely Unified in Crisis; Government Buys More Land. By BAUKHAGE (Released by Western Newspaper Union. > What's next? With the frost on the pumpkin, fodder in the shock, the world settling down to a hard winter and a long war, those of us who aren't in the first draft or just elected to office have a chance to look two ways'from Christmas. The industrial tail is about to wag the agricultural dog again the ex perts tell us, surplus labor is about to be syphoned off the farm which is fine for the man who has too many mouths to feed and too few acres to divide up, but not so good for the farmer who needs a few extra hands. However, if you do turn around and look back 39 years just to take your mind off present troubles you can see some interest ing sights which have just been set up in sharp perspective by the inter bureau committee of the depart ment of agriculture. In that short span for a man or a mule, 35 years, 10,000,000 mules and horses and thousands of men have been pushed off the farm by the machine. And, according to the prognosticators in Washington, a million and a half more mules and horses will be replaced by tractors in the next 10 years, and more than 8,000,000 acres of land now used to raise feed for work stock will be put to other uses. Farmer Has Long Utilized Machines we ve been hearing a lot about man versus the machine, especial ly since the smash of 1929 that made unemployment the big issue, and again since the smash of 1940 when the Nazis with their tanks and mo torized equipment went through France like a plow through loam. But the farmer bad been getting machine conscious long before that. Especially since the little jack-of all trades tractor appeared on the field, replacing the cumbersome earlier models. Along with the tractor came a lot more "technological developments" including not only farm machinery like the combine and the corn-pick er but other scientific advances such as testing and breeding and feeding of animals and plants, soil conser vation, disease prevention and oth er things. This technology has hurt as well as helped. Besides the thou sands of men who have lost their jobs on farms as well as in facto ries, prices have been affected and the whole social life on the farm has changed. , "It is not that these scientific ad vances are to be blamed" for the difficulties which have arisen, the Washington experts say, but "the troubles, if any, arise from the in equality of adjustments and re sponses in agriculture and industry to such advances." Just what the advantages and dis advantages are that lie ahead is told in detail in a 224-page book, printed by the government and called "Technology on the Farm." One thing that interested me par ticularly in this interesting book, aside from its excellent and detailed information, was an editorial opin ion it expressed on the way the use of machines has changed farming for a living to farming for cash. There's a difference. Of course when you have to buy a lot of machinery you need bard money but there are disadvantages in simply raising products with the one purpose of turning them Into money. Increased Investment Reduce? Security First, It reduce* security. If you raise your own food you need never starve in a panic. Then there is health: A family with a low income and plenty at food (rowing right on the plsct is more likely to get a con tinuously healthful diet than one which has to buy what it eats Raising one's own food helps di vide up responsibility for the family welfare because young children and old folks can tend a garden or feed the chickens If the eggs and vege tables and milk are purchased, the children's interests are re moved from the interests of their parents and older brothers and sis ters. Furthermore, a child who helps raise its own food also gets what a city child doesn't get?a chance to learn through doing. Another disadvantage of farming for money only, with the greater use at machines, is that it makes it harder to own a farm. The money got! into perishable things of Into the solid title to land. Tb* farmer tends to become ? ranter and if times are bad and a renter can't pay his rent he loses every thing. This is just one of the farm prob lems that the farmer can think over during the long winter evenings. Like many other'good things ma chinery can be too much of a good thing. Alexander Pope's advice still stands: "Be not the first by whom the new is tried Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." ? ? ? Creek People Wholly United The war came close to me again the other day when I stepped on the soil of Another belligerent. It was shortly after the Italians had crossed the border from Albania, and the Greeks had met this new invasion from the west as they met the Persian invasion from the east 490 years before. I say I stepped on foreign soil because the embassies and lega tions of a foreign power are con sidered a part of the territory of that power no matter where they are located. The house which is a peaceful piece of Greece looks over Sheridan circle on Massachusetts avenue in the capital. It is reaDy just a big private residence made into a legation where the minister, a cheerful little man with a long name, Cimon Diamantopoulos, lives and carries on the business of his country. As I sat in the attractive cubby hole that is his study, pouring over a map of the country he knows so well, I had a strange feeling. The walls with their artistic etchings of classic beauty seemed to fade sway and I could see those tortuous passes of the ancient Pindus mountains. Mule-drawn artillery were strug gling through the snow-drifts, the fierce Greek mountaineers with their kilts and tufted shoes on one side, the plumed Bersaglieri equally fierce Evzones mountain fighters on the other. I could see the attack in the blinding blizzard, the clash on the narrow roadway hardly wide enough for small motor lorries to pass, and then men and mules plunging down into the bottomless abyss. The minister looked up. "Greece has never been as united as it is today," he said. When the Persian hordes came to Marathon it was because their ruler hated the democratic spirit which he feared would spread to his own slave states. History repeats. ? a ? Winter Comet To Wash in ft on Washington in the autumn moves from a bright water-color to a soft pastel. and then the foliage fades to a dark oil painting of rich browns. At last comes the steel engraving of winter. We are now between the oil paint ing and the steel engraving. The bunting yellow of the Gingkoes (the maiden-hair tree, some call it) have laid their last golden carpet on the west side of Lafayette square, that historic quadrangle of green oppo site the White House. A few sturdy oaks cling to their rich, saddle-leather brown. The Gingkoes are now bare. There are many of these attractive trees in Washington. They love cities, shar ing the fumes of gas and smoke with the rent of us and flourishing on it. I have a leaf from one planted in the city of Weimar by the poet Goethe. His city of study and re flection?the city that gave birth to the ID-fated German Republic after the last war. ' That tree I hope still blooms. It does unless the Nazis have uprooted its beauty because it is non-Aryan. Nature knows no politics, and laughs at our fickle changes. The Ging koes will bloom long after our civili zation is forgotten. ? ? ? History repeats but it also re verses itself. Once the American settlers were given or could buy government land. Now Uncle 8am buys 800,000 acres from his citizens. As part of the defense program the war department through the soil conservation service has purchased greet tracts for the Seventh corps army training center in Iowa; a new aircraft flrkig center near Hinea ville, Ga.; and lands foe. expansion of Fort Ethan Allen. Vermont; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Devans, Mas sachusetts; and Fort Bliss, Texas. general HUGH S. Johnson i Vukhiitw, D. C. BUSYING THE HATCHET I have been deluged by telephone calli asking it I am ready, as I promised, to eat my column of sev eral weeks ago saying that Dr. Gal lup's poll predicting this Roosevelt landslide was grossly in error. It it will please anybody, I am willing to eat that column. It would hardly give me indigestion. It Is snly 600 words. But 1 doubt the obligation. Dr. Gallup ate it before I did. He got so jittery that he covered himself on every side and finally said that the election was so close that a breath could swing it either way. Some breath! I am disappointed but not down hearted. After all, it was an Amer ican election. It expresses what our people think. I believe it was wrong. But I am eager to give the result all that I have to" give. So must everybody. The President didn't have a more earnest supporter in 1032 and 1936. He didn't have a more earnest opponent than in 1M0. But now we are on the brink of war. He is my President and yours. He could ask me for nothing that -I would not give. For the result, we couldn't have gotten a bad man, no matter who was the final choice. I know both of these men?know them as well as you know a college chum or the man next to whom you work or the guy who drops in to sit on the cracker barrel in your store, which is a figure of speech because we no longer have cracker barrels. But the simile is still the same. I don't call Mr. Roosevelt "Frank lin" any more because, somehow, you can't do that Uf the President of the United States. But I think i he wishes people would, and I am very sure that Mr. WOlkie doesn't like to be called anything but Wen dell. The point is that both of these men are plain Americans. It has never seemed to me that either of them went very far astray?except as to his advisers. Maybe that was because I wasn't ooe of them. There is a classic army yarn about a young lieutenant or "shave tail" just out of West Point. He reported to his captain at a western station in those days when captains were old, gruff and apt to be very wise. This one treated him so kind ly that he became over-enthusiastic and said: "Oh, Captain. I can see that we are going to get along in complete co-operation." "Yes," said the wrinkled old vet eran. "and in this man's army you'll do all the co-operating." A situation something like that surrounds the late opponents of Pres ident Roosevelt. I don't know one who, because of the danger in the world, isn't perfectly willing to for get the lste and bitter political fight and join up with recent political ad versaries in anything that will ad vance the interests of the country and cement its strength. But it takes at least two for any true co-opera tion. The tremendous vote for Mr. WiD kie measures the mass of protest and skepticism on some of Mr. 1 Roosevelt's acts and policies. Any hostility or roughshod riding by this administration over contrary opin ions might destroy the President's great opportunity to usher in the healthiest "era of good-feeling" and national unity that has occurred? at least in my lifetime. I thought that kind of era would come in 1937, but some of Mr. Roosevelt's closest advisers and strongest henchmen were vindictive scalp hunters. They said they had a mandate and started out ts keel- ; haul and purge even their own par ty It didn't work so well and may be arith this much smaller majority, there won't be ao much reprisal. Old Andy Jackson eras like that. He thought he bad been cheated out of one election and the assaults oo him had been very fiateful and high ly personal. It eras said that he re tired to the Hermitage "after dtav ing rewarded all his friends and punished all his enemies." That may ba a great personal satisfaction, but it is Just what the country does not need at a time like this. ? ? ? Thomas Jefferson is as great a titulary deity at the Democratic par ty. He didn't do that. In his first inaugural, he even offended his own party by telling the people that with the ejection over, they were all Democrats Republicans?or the equivalent labels at that day?Re publicans and Federalists. Abraham Linada didn't do It ei ther He appointed to his cabtaet some at the alltngm personal op ponents las his asm newly farmed and hodgt podge oartv. I SPEAKING OF 1 I SPORTS 1 I By ROBERT McSHANE 1 A N AMAZING young fighter lost an equally amazing bout re cently in New York's tar-famed Madison Square Garden. The fighter was Steve Belloise, who dropped a 15-round match to Ken Overlin, New York-recognized king of the middleweight division. Belloise, a 21-year-eM mUrat at . the Bronx, bad aaly S fights behind him when be slapped into the ring with the champ. Ontweighod by fivn was the aadeidog. Be tmptoji a glebe far years Icbn'lanHM the top. Odds against long-shot Belloies were heavy. But before the evening was over the gamblers at Madison Square Garden saw visions at bank ruptcy court. The fight started on an even keel with TI?Hniae taking the first round by flailing away at Ken. In the second, Overlin got his bear ings and started shooting left jahn to Steve's (ace. Tltlliiiss teak the next two and Overlin came back to win the fifth. The Big Chance The sixth raaad ready pat nkr rifie right to Ovetfcte band.' Ike navy nasjm ftnmt^nmMk ansa as be was ap BeBatee bcMad That was midway in the nmd. Steve kept on top at Ovcfim and hammered him with rights and lefts to the head. At least 40 blows mat ovnUeiH have landed on Overim in the round. But Belloise couldn't come through with the inking touch. wt^li IhuaMrh' (STut i trick en opponent he had M Ms heM. There is an |?utia hat Mat Italian lad (he chaaqdswdMp una a. the old timers. Overim, alter ?? brutal punishment in the sisth round, n-ent oa to win the next six in a row. It was in this stretch that he saved the New York rnuta at his title. Belloise still eras throwing leather, right up to the teal beO, but he was facing a more elusive target, and his sixth ramd sppes trinity didn't return. Unpopular Decision Orerlia was |tna the si i ??>? m tku W tMMl'ta the huh at whs ululj haul However, that makes as differ ence is the record hock. Accord ing to commission rules the verdict was correct because Orerlin woe a majority at rounds. That's the way the commission instructs Its ref erees to judge fights. Even in questionable defeat Stove didn't draw all the sympathy. There was another angle. No champta ever made a more gallant comeback or a more courageous last-ditch stand than did Overiin. It was fe ting and proper that he be reward ed. Then, too, BeDoioo did himself proud in going the route. He's young, and there's going to bo n next time for him. A little mora experience end he cant miss. to"*?ckafepiMsh!pE|iM ^tsd by a* Stats Athletic i iwlsUan Tisd Alston sad jCeNxfeo^jOsrela?last
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1940, edition 1
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