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THE ALAMANCE GLEANER VoL LXVI GRAHAM, N..C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1940 NO. 46 ? WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Hitler Seeks Way to End Misadventure Of Mussolini Against Battling Greeks; Farm Group Asks New 'Parity' Loans; Lord Lothian, British Envoy to U. S., Dies (EDITOR'S NOTE?When ?bIbIibi arc ixprtiiei la Ihiu eolimm, they ara those of the aawa analyst and ast necessarily of this newspaper.) by Western Nawspapar i CANAL ZONE.?A picture by the Signal Corps, U. 8. A., showing Sec retary of Navy Frank Knox (left) as he inspected the army's coastal de fenses, "Somewhere in Panama." Shown left to right are: Secretary Knox; Maj. Gen. Jarman, commanding the Panama coast artillery bri gade; Lieut. Gen. Van Voorhis, commanding the army's Canal forces; Captain dickey, 15th naval district chief of staff; and Lieut. Col. Carl Rohsenberger. PEACE TALK: On Many Fronts ? < .While cannon roared and ships were torpedoed into the deep, talk ot peace broke out in Europe. But there was no peace. The fury on land, sea and in the air did not abate, nor did there seem much chance that the peace moves would be successful. Is England a motion was made in commons by Independent Labor ites from Glasgow that the govern ment seek a negotiated peace. The government's reply was made by Maj. Clement AUee, Labor leader, who said the choice was not war or peace but "war and what kind of peace." The motion was defeated 341 to 4. The following day in a Northampton election a candidate who campaigned on a "stop the war" platform was defeated 1,167 to 16,587. In Germany there were indica tions that Adolf Hitler was seeking a formula to bring an end to the Italian misadventure against Greece. The effort was handled by Franz von Papen In Turkey who sought to have that nation intervene with Greece. ' This was important since any German move to help Mussolini ? would require movement of Nazi troops through Bulgaria or Jugo slavia and risk involvement with Turkey. But Greece was in no mood for a cessation of hostilities. In Portagal there were rumors of underground movements seeking peace. Many looked upon this as the most logical step of all, since Hitler would rather trust dictator controlled Portugal than either the pope or President Roosevelt. Also Portugal has for 400 years been al lied to England. Wtir Goes On ' In Italy, Premier Mussolini was continuing reorganization of his j combat forces. Added to the retire- i ment list was Marshal Pietro Badoglio, hero of Ethiopia and com mander of all armed forces; Gen. Ettore Bastico. governor of the stra tegic Dodecanese islands; and Ad miral Cavagnari, chief of the naval staff who had served Italy in five wars. The "invasion of Greece" begun a month earlier was turriing into a debacle. Italian forces had lost all supply bases and airfields in southern Albania. Many at the bases had been built and equipped since Italy took over Albania and all were aimed at carrying on the march toward the Aegean. How far into central Albania the Italians would be forced to retreat before finding a new defense line was un certain. la Egypt the British opened an other blitz against the Italians. For weeks the army of Marshal Graziani aat at Sidi Barrani, 75 miles within the Egyptian border. Then the British struck. In the first three days they look 4,060 prisoners, killed , the commanding officer of the post and captured his assistant. All this was aimed at pressing a concerted drive to crack Italy and put a wedge into the Axis alliance. Within Italy there were reports of anti-Fascist riots and murmurs of Mn LOSS: One Ambassador It s like a plank had dropped out Jf things," was one official reac tion in London to the news that Lord Lothian, British ambassador to the United States, had died in Wash ington, D. C, Victim of a uremic infection. Lord Lothian was ill but ? few days and died at the age of >8 years. Night before his death he iad been forced by his illness to :ancel an appearance before the American Farm Bureau federation meeting in Baltimore. However, in a speech written by Sim and delivered by NevUle Butler, counselor of the British embassy, Lothian made a strong appeal for more aid by the United States for the British war cause. Announcement of his death fol lowed only by a few hours the news af the speech. Popular in Washington circles, Lothian was respected by his su periors and his countrymen at Some. Official British sources said quite frankly that his influence in Washington would be sorely missed in these critical days. Lord Lothian came to the United States as am bassador in 1039. FARM PROGRAM: Loan Advocated The American Farm Bureau fed eration, meeting in Baltimore, advo cated a program, which through the use of government loaps, would peg prices of major crops considerably above current market quotations. The federation, which has been pro-New Deal, admitted the plan would require congressional revision pf the present agricultural legisla tion. The present law permits loans up to 75 per cent of parity rates. The proposed legislation would make loans to farmers at rates equivalent to 85 per cent. Edward A. O'Neal, federation president, said parity prices based on current conditions were about 51.12 a bushel for wheat, 15.75 a pound for cotton and (1.5 cents a bushel for corn. Coupled with the high loan feature would be a system of marketing quotas and heavy penalties for farmers who sold in excess of their allotments. EPIDEMIC: But Not Serious Developing in California and sweeping eastward with reduced strength, an epidemic of influenza sent thousands of people to sick beds but at no time became serious in the eyes of medical authorities. Greatest cause of rejoicing among them however, was the fact that the type of influenza was not the deadly one that covered the nation in 1918 1919. The present type contained none of the forms of pneumonia present in the World war epidemic. However hundreds of men in army cantonments were placed in hos pitals and precautions were set up among the civilian population. Doc tors mostly ordered rest and sleep. Right at the moment, there is no sure way of controlling influenza, ac cording to the public health service. Medical science is better than in 1918, however, in at least one case? the vims which causes the malady has been isolated. School Days LONDON. ENGLAND. ? A Harrow schoolboy laughingly holding parts of a German in cendiary bomb which had fallen on- the famous English school during 4 recent air raid. Slight damage was done to the school's ? museum, which houses many British relics. LIFE JOBS: At the Top Resignations of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Asso ciate Justice James McReynolds from the Supreme court are expect ed shortly after the inauguration. It has been gossip in the capital for weeks that Hughes offered his resig nation, but was prevailed upon by the President to withhold it until after the campaign. The appointments, which are for life, are greatly sought after by law yers who regard it as the highest honor that can come to their pro fessions. Many have been mentioned for the two places, but there is some indication the chief justice place may be filled from members now sitting, either Mr. Justice Stone or Mr. Justice Douglas. If such would happen,*the President could make three appointments instead of two. For the other places there has been mention of Senator Minton of Indiana, who was defeated in the recent campaign; Leon Henderson of the SEC, and Attorney General Jackson. Appointment of Jackson might raise to cabinet status Fran cis Biddle, now solicitor general. NAMES ... in the news Prisoner?Mrs. Elizabeth Deegan, clerk in the U. S. embassy, was taken into custody by German secret police in Paris. The granddaughter ol the former senator from North Carolina was accused of assisting British officers escape occupied ter ritory. Citizen?In 1936 Jtuth Bryan Owen, daughter of the "Great Commoner" and minister to Denmark, married Capt. Boerge Rohde, gentleman-in waiting to Denmark's King Chris tian X. Now in Lewisburg, W. Va., the former commander of the king's life guards has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. He said he adopted citizenship because no other country in the world guar antees such freedom. Romance?Diego Rivera, Mexican muralist, was married. Cupid shot him in a duel with Freda Kohla, who, incidentally, was the artist's third wife, from whom he was di vorced in 1939. TRAVELERS: Sea and Air President Roosevelt studied the Caribbean defense situation first hand, on the ground. On the U. 8. 8. Tuscaloosa he visited French-owned Martinique. British-owned Antigua, in the Leeward isla'nds, as well as American territory. The dnke and dnehess of Windsor reversed that schedule, coming from the Caribbean Bahamas, where the former king is governor, to Miami, Fla. The voyage was entirely in formal and was to give the duchess an opportunity to visit a dentist. CoL William 1. Donovan, wartime commander of the "Fighting Sixty Ninth," was a passenger on the Eu rope-bound Clipper plane under the name "Donald Williams." Last July Colonel Donovan visited Englant, mysteriously just before the swap ol U. S. destroyers for British air bases in the Western hemisphere was an nounced. On this trip his destina tion is unknown and his mission un revealed. MISCELLANY: 4 Turkish newspapers reported that approximately 300 Jewish refugees bound from Bulgaria to Palestine were drowned when their ship broke to pieces in rough ssas near Istan bul, Turkey. ?? i eiBriiai Washington Digest Gvil Service Strives to Keep ^ Politics Out of Defense Work I Merit System Increases Efficiency of Rearmament; U. S. Foreign Policy Awaits Clarification in Roosevelt's Inaugural Address. By BAUKHAGE (National Farm and Home Com mentator.) (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) Washington is a nervous and jit tery place these days with winter running in and out so fast that the squirrels in the park hardly know whether to bury nuts, eat them or : just watch the ones that walk by. Part of the atmosphere of sus pense is due to wondering what is going to come out of those notes < which the President took with him when he sailed away from his flsh ing-and-inspection trip and which hd is still working on. When he left, men who usually know at least something of what the White House is thinking about, told,us: "The President has closed his mind to any additional aid to Brit ain now. There will be no change in the present program. We will try to send more supplies but there won't be any change in the nature of the help that we've been supply ing." Most of us who observed Mr. Roosevelt closely at his last con ferences before he left thought we saw confirmation of this statement in the way he answered questions on the subject, the tone of his voice, his look, his gestures. Some of the people clamoring for more active participation in Brit ish efforts went so far as to say: "He's walked out on us." But hardly had the Tuscaloosa weighed anchor than things began to happen which made us wonder. There was the widely printed sto ry that the United States was pre paring to send American merchant men with supplies right through the war zone to England. Another that American warships would act as convoys, at least part way. Dimeoss Financial Aid to Britain Then there was heated contro versy concerning financial aid to Britain. After a meeting of depart mental heads admittedly for the purpose of "exploring" the subject, Jesse Jones, federal loan adminis trator, said that he considered Brit ain "a good risk." Senator Johnson of California came right out and said he expected a drive to repeal the Johnson act, which forbids loans to defaulting na tions, at the next session of con gress. He said he would fight it. These were some of the signs which seemed to point toward the consideration of new and drastic methods of helping John Bull. But still the people who made their original predictions to the ef fect that the President wasn't plan ning action, certainly none that might involve us in the War, held their ground. At this writing no one professes to know what form the notes in the President's portfolio will take. We can only wait for the inaugural ad dress, the budget message and the report to congress on the state of the nation. When we know what these state papers contain it will be interesting to look back and see who was right, the people who, like Senator Johnson, said we are "edg ing into war" or those who believed that the President had set the Ship of State on a neutral course and then lashed the helm. Rearmament Story Has Two Sides There are a lot of stories cir culating about inefficiency in re armament work. Some tell of men who are employed in Industries where they are pitifully inexperi enced. That's one side of the defense sto ry that you bear a good deal about these days. But it isn't thd only side. I heard the government's side of the defense hiring story the other day from Arthur Flemming, one of the three-member civil serv ice commission. "The United States civil service commission," Mr. Flemming said to me, "is faced with the heaviest load in its history." Today the civil service commis sion is the "central civilian recruit ing agency for the entire defense program," as Mr. Flemming de scribed it and when I had finished my interview with him I took two of the most hopeful thoughts away with me that I have been able to nourish in the 29 years since I be gan watching the failures, faults and foibles, as well as the achievements of the Washington "side show." The first thought was this: we have a fair chance of keeping poli -:'k tics, scandal and disgrace out of the defense program, such as we had in the last war, if it is humanly possible to do it. And second, if this is done, we may take the great est step in our history toward clean ing up the rottenness of the patron age system that is the curse of de mocracies. Perhaps I am over optimistic. But here are the facts as I learned them. In the first place the civil service commission has recruited, exam ined and certified $40,000 workers I JOHN C. GAB AND I between July 1 and November 23 of ] this year. There were 176,000 place ments alone in the war and navy departments. Most of the workers, of course, were employed in navy yards and arsenals. Take Water vliet, for instance, up in Connecticut where they make the big guns. That arsenal has a hard time keeping 120 men busy normally; now it employs 3,000. The civil service commission stall has been enlarged for the emer gency recruiting from 1,800 mem bers In June to 4,000 today. Be sides the force in Washington there are 13 district offices and 5,000 lo cal secretaries; one in every first and second class post office. These secretaries, who are usually postal employees, have information on ex aminations and requirements of po sitions open. Here the persons who want jobs can go and And out just nuw uj appiy wr uieui. Red Tape Slashed To Increase Efficiency But there is a side of this recruit ing work that does not show up in figures. It is the spirit which is evi dent from the attitude of the com- | missioners themselves and the whole staff. There is no clock-watching here. Hours mean nothing. Red tape has been slashed. There is one objective?to get the best men and women available for Uncle Sam and to get them quickly. "The best example of the benefits of the system," Mr. Flemming ex plained, "is the skilled worker who has worked up through the service and who, though he could easily secure higher wages in private busi ness, is loyal to the government and prefers to stay in the federal service. "One of the outstanding examples of these men is John C. Garand. Long before the national defense program got under wag this man, one of the key figures In our de fense, was working inconspicuously in a drafting room in the armory In Springfield, Mass. Now his name Is known around the world as the in ventor of the Garand rifle." John C. Garand, Mr. Flemming told me, was born In Canada and came to this country when he was 10 years old. When the World war broke out he enlisted in the artillery and was assigned to the bureau of standards in Washington to do ord nance work. After the war Garand took a civil service examination for draftsman and was sent to the ar mory in Springfield. He perfected a number of inventions and finally produced the Garand rifle. Loyal to the civilian service of the United States as he had been to the armed forces, he patriotically turned his patent over to the government. His rewards are simply the promotions he has won. He is now senior ordnance engineer. You'll find him at his desk today. - LJ.S. Is Short of War Essentials uperti Say It Would Take Three Yean to Get Needed Supply. WASHINGTON.?Uncle Sam won't lave to requisition aluminum pots ind pans from the nation's kitchens n event of war?as Britain did? lut he's much less fortunate with egard to some other vital raw ma erials. ? , Defense authorities estimate it { nay take three years for this coun ry to acquire stock piles of some so all ed strategic and critical mate ials adequate to a wartime de nand, despite the progress already nade in that direction. If the United States should be :ome involved in war in the mean ime, strict conservation and distri lution control measures and the ( (rider use of substitutes almost cer ainly would be necessary in the rase of some of the minerals for vhich this country is dependent ipon foreign sources. Of the 29 commodities which the irmy-navy munitions board lists as itrategic and critical, officials indi cted they are chiefly concerned i bout things which the man in the itreet takes for granted, such as -ubber, quinine, mica, chromium, in, tungsten and manganese. Kaleidoscopic changes wrought by he war already have interfered arith the normal supply of those and >ther materials. Need Tin and Bobber. Army experts, keeping a constant watch on the shifting military and political tides abroad, report, for in stance, that the French island of Madagascar, source of some of the world's best mica for electrical in sulation, has quit exporting to this :ountry, the neutrality act and the tost of war-risk insurance has vir tually quadrupled the expense of wringing chromium ore from Tur tey, where the best grade is located. Thus far, Japan's penetration of French Indo-China has not affected the relatively small shipments of tin ind rubber from that country, but informed sources emphasized the situation would be vastly different if lapan should attempt to blockade those two essential products as well as the tungsten coming from near by Malaya. For military reasons, precise fig ures as to the size of the growing reserves of the various materials are being withheld, but Edward R. Stettinius Jr., in charge of the de fense commission's materials divi sion, reported six weeks after taking office that surveys offered reliable indications that adequate supplies would be available for defense in dustries as needed. Army Forecast. On the other hand, army sources forecast that if the existing situa tion with regard to chromium ore important to the manufacture of armor plate and armor-piercing pro jectiles ? continues, the United States would be in "bad shape" on that score in about a year and a half. Domestic production of the ore is insignificant. Not all the items on the strategic and critical lists are so well known. There is, for instance, charcoal made from coconut shells. It has long been considered the best ab sorbent filling for gas mask can isters. The munitions board report ed, however, that "great progress" has been made in the development of satisfactory substitutes from do mestic materials which are abun dantly available and that large-scale production of the latter would per mit removal of coconut char from the strategic list within the next year. Substitutes also are being devel oped for a number of materials, in cluding synthetic rubber and sub stitutes for quinine, such as ata brine and plasmochin. This Youngster's Name Comes From High Source GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONT.?If Altyn Grinnell Stevens isn't a mountain climber when he grows up, it won't be his fault He was christened for a mountain and ? glacier. Altyn's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen A. Stevens of Tampa, Fla., his grandmother, and his two broth ers were touring Glacier park when he was born. What to name the youngster was something of a problem. The par ents and grandmother consulted park rangers. Mrs. Stevens recalled she had hiked to Grinnell glacier the day before the boy was born. She suggested his middle name be Grin nell. Everyone agreed. Ranger Walter Nitzel gazed at Altyn peak which towers above the Many Glacier camp ground. He said the first name should be Altyn. That idea aleo was adopted. I . jggjjl Needs of Schools Shown by Survey Extensive Revision Is Urged As Prime Necessity. WASHINGTON. ? Today'# high school graduates, facing a world of profound social and economic change, find themselves poorly equipped to meet the complex prob lems of present-day lives, results of a study indicate. Competition among adults tor po sitions in industry virtually has eliminated opportunities for appren ticeship, and the high-school gradu ate, trained though he be in voca tional studies, can find no employ ment, according to a survey com pleted for the American youth com mission by the American council on education. "Even if vocational education were unqualifiedly successful in oth er respects, it cannot create jobs where they do not exist," the report said. Recommending that thorough practice in reading?the most im portant single branch of education ?accompany vocational studies, the report emphasizes the role of social studies in providing an effective ed ucation for citizenship in a democ racy. The committee making the study, headed by Ben G. Graham, super intendent of public schools in Pitta burgh, found that the stylized na ture of present-day courses in Eng lish composition, mathematics, for eign languages, history and natural science kills their appeal tor the modern student. It is recommended that these courses be revised to present funda mentals of enduring value rather than a mass of easily forgotten de tail. If the high school is to fill its place as a factor in the American order, the report concludes, it must expand its program of instruction. Astronomer's Tests Show Speed of Earth Cut Down PASADENA, CALIF.?A recent experiment on tbe speed with which the earth is traveling around the galaxy of solar bodies by Astrono mer Ralph E. Wilson, of the Mount Wilson observatory, has established that this speed is not as great as previously estimated. Dr. Wilson reached his new con clusion after looking at stars l,B0t parseci, or IV trillions, of miles away. The check showed that the earth is moving IBS miles a second around tbe center of the galaxy. Thia rate equals 11,280 miles a min ute. Previously it had been estimated the earth's speed around the center of the galaxy was 13 miles per sec ond faster than stars 1,000 paraecs farther out, but the new observa tions have cut this to 11.8 miles per second. The study of gas clouds in the in ter-stellar space resulted in the new figures. Finds Food Rationing Makes English Healthy NEW ORLEANS. ? David John Rodger*, British consul, sees the English people growing more healthy on wartime rations. "We have always eaten too much," Rodgers said. "Food rationing is not only conserving food, but is rec tifying the English diet. Now we are learning moderation in food. I think it is unlikely that when the war is over the English people will go back to their classic British breakfasts and heavy hinrhes. The afternoon tea custom may also dis appear. "The rationing plan was put into effect not so much because there is a scarcity of food in England," the i consul explained, "but because we . want to build up a reserve." Inexpensive Hobby Takes Well-Developed Mnsdes SPOKANE, WASH.?A Tacoma safety engineer has found an inex pensive but heavy bobby?lie col lects rocks with fluorescent qualities. Water Sutter awed visitors at the Northwest Federation at Mineralog ies)- Societies with more than a ton of rocks which threw off multi-col ored rays when subjected to differ ent lighting effects. Altogether, Sutter has collected more than 800 tons of rocks from all parts of the world. Kindergarten Boasts It Has Its Own Laboratory PERU, NEB. ? Kindergarten as taught by Ann Harris, student teach er, at Peru college, is different. Her kindergarten laboratory has a rock garden, bird gallery, "mys tery table" for nature's phenomena, aquarium, "viperium" for snakes and terrarium for plants. . . . jiiViTriti 'awSllj
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Dec. 19, 1940, edition 1
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