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The Alamance Gleaner VoL LXVII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1941 No. 1 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne 'No Quarrel With America,' Says Hitler, But 'Aid to Britain' Ships Will Be Sunk; New Japanese Envoy En Route to U. S.; Congress Continues Lease-Lend Debate (EDITOSt'8 NOTE?When opinions ue ?iprmcd In th*M columns, thor ?*- are these ef the news analyst and net necessarily of ^hls newspaper.) (Released by Western Newspaper TTni?? r FORT DEX, N. J.?Taking advantage of a snowfall alpng the eastern seaboard, members of the 44th Division's ski patrol glide down a hill in their first maneuvers in this huge army encampment. Warfare knows no seasons, so Uncle Sam must prepare to fight under any condition. The patrol pictured here was organised by Lieut. Erie Wilkner, formerly of Lapland, Sweden, but now of New York's 113th infantry. EIGHT YEARS: Of Hitler On the eighth" anniversary of his assumption of power, Adolf Hitler told his people and the worlds that U. S. aid for Great Britain "will be torpedoed" and that "Europe will de fend itself" fit case "those people" (meaning Americans) enter the war. A cheering crowd of 20,000 gath ered at the Berlin Sports palace for the speech heard the German dic tator tell of Nazi plans to defeat England in the coming months. He said that Germany had "armed and armed and armed" and that anyone seeking to destroy that nation would get a rude awakening. He told also of Germany's preparation of mili tary surprises that will be used in the coming battles. He said that enemy hopes for revolts in Italy be cause of Italian setbacks were in vain. The British were challenged to invade the continent. Hitler declared that 1041 "will be the historical year of a great new order in Europe." He said also that Germany ^as never been against American interests. BRITAIN'S NEED: Congress Considers There was a growing feeling in congress that unless the President's measure to permit him to lend or lease material supplies to Britain was passed soon, the Germans would arrive before American arms. Administration leaders made con cessions to opponents of the bill in order to obtain greater speed. They agreed to set a time limit on the President's powers, they were will ing that a clause should be con tained in the bill to prohibit convoy by U. S. naval ships, and they were agreeable to an amendment which would require the President to re pert every three months to congress. further they would not go and efforts to make the proposal inef fectual by further amendment met Arm resistance. Meanwhile supply and military experts held confer ences with the new British ambas sador, Viscount Halifax, whose ar rival in America was unprecedent ed. He came on the H.M.S. King George V, a new battleship Just re cently launched and which was not yet known to be in commission. He was met at Annapolis by President Roosevelt. MISSION: Failure Expected Kichisaburo Nomura, admiral of Japan, is a graduate of the United States naval academy. During the World war he was Japanese naval attache in Washington and a close friend of the then assistant secre tary of the navy. Franklin D. Roose velt. Now Admiral Nomura, admittedly a pro-American among Japanese, is en route to Washington as the new ambassador from Tokyo. He sailed, he said, on what promised to be "a mission of failure." Young er men, offered the Job, turned it down. They said ft would be sure to end their political careers. But Admiral Nomura is a man of courage. He lost an eye when a bomb was thrown and killed sev eral other politicians. He received a glass eye from the empress her self. Befbre he left Tokyo he had a duplicate made, in case anything should happen to his artificial eye. It is not his eye, however, which is most likely to fail him. Back home Foreign Minister Yoskue Mat suoka, also educated in an Ameri can college through the kindness of American charity, did not wait for the admiral's arrival in Washington. Matsuoka declared to the diet that he considered U. S. policy "out rageous," in that it objected to Japanese control of the western Pa cific. He said that the fate of world civilization depends wholly upon America's attitude and refused to accept the theory of U. S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull that the inva sion of Manchuria by Japah was the first step in destruction of world peace. HISTORIC CITY: History Repeats The town of Derna, now in Italian .Libya, has an historic place in American history, for it was at this village *here ended one of the most courageous exploits of the American army. The year was 1805 and the United States was at war with Tripoli, after refusing to pay tribute to that nation in order that American ships would not be molested by pirates on the open sea. "Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute," had thun dered Charles C. Pinckney a few years before and the slogan was re peated now. - William Eaton, a captain in the American army who had been at tache to Near Eastern countries, found himself"in Alexandria, Egypt. There he recruited a motley crowd of about 40 Americans, several hun dred Greeks and as many Arabs. On March 8, he started across the burn ing desert toward Derna, a city of 10,800. The campaign experienced untold hardships, was almost without food or water, several times faced revolt in its own ranks. But by cool brav ery Eaton dragged his army 000 miles across the sands and attacked Derha. On April 37 the city fell to the American army. The war end ed soon afterward and Eaton re turned home to be forgotten. As March approached this year another army which started in Alex andria stood before Derna, now a city of 05,000. British troops with modern mechanized columns, lines of communications and trains of wa ter, had put to rout an Italian force several times larger, engaged them in battle at Sidi Barrani, at Bardia, at Tobruk, and appeared to be mas ters of the desert. More than 100,000 prisoners had fallen before them. Shock in Italy In Rome there was no confirma tion of the rumor that Marshal Ro dolfo Graziani had been relieved of his Libyan command. But the Gra ziani rumor was not the most star tling. There were stories of upris ings in Turin and Milan, of troops joining in the demonstration against Mussolini, of anti-Fascist speeches in the market place and of obscene words written on posters containing Mussolini's picture. All this was denied, but more per sisted. They said Germans had tak en over the Italian censorship of postal, telephone and telegraph services. That three Italian gen erals had been shot, that thousands had been arrested by secret police, that revolt was halted only when German troops took over. Stowaway LOS ANGELES, CALIF.?Em barrassed naval officers have threatened disciplinary action against any sailor who might have helped Shirley Dale, 23, pictured above, aboard the V. S. destroyer Long, two hours before it tailed for Honolulu. She was discovered and put ashore. DEBTS: V. S. Needs Money Congress is ready to consider plans to increase the national debt limit and raise additional funds to finance defense efforts already au thorized. The present debt limit, set by congress, is $45,000,000,000. Chairman Doughton, of the house ways and means committee, intro duced legislation to raise this limit to $65,000,000,000. At the same time a plan was sub mitted for selling 25-cent defense stamps to the general public. The plan parallels the War Savings stamps of 1917. Meanwhile the committee of fed eral finances of the United States Chamber of Commerce sounded a warning. It recommended a feder al agency to "co-ordinate the debt program with the general fiscal plan." They also suggested congress establish the debt limit at a sum [ only necessary to cover the neces sary borrowing immediately in sight. "Financially," the report said, "the government is in a wilder ness." DRAFT: Harsh Words In England the government has had the power since the early days of the war to draft manpower and capital for defense. Virtually the same powers were voted to Presi dent Roosevelt under the selective service act. In neither country has there been much of a crackdown on industry, the force of the law being sufficient to compel co-operation of recalcitrant plants. But now England is talking of drafting labor to man its factories and in Washington there has been threat to use the power on one or two industries. Most vocal of these instances was at a meeting of the lumber and timber products defense committee when Leon Henderson, defense commissioner in charge of price control, warned that prices must be cut sharply and production speeded. Henderson said there had been some improvement. He said prices in December dropped to $35.01 per 1,000 board feet but would have to come down to $15, or the govern ment would take over. "I've had all the arguments, excuses and explana tions I want and a whole lot more than I need," he laid and stalked from the meeting. In the Army Winthrop Rockefeller, grandson of the late John D. Rockefeller, got up one morning at 5 a. m. and re ported at the New York recruiting office at $ for transportation to Fort Dix, N. J. He'll never get rich, he's in the army now?as a private. On the other hand, Ernest Eiale, 22, of Pontine, Mich., who fought to evade the draft, is dead. When federal officers called with a war rant for evasion, a gun fight result ed. Two officers were stabbed and young Eisle fatally shot. With the approach of spring the draft will be speeded. The objec tive is 800,000 men in camp under the selective service law before June 1. Between now and then the monthly drafts will reach about 100, 000 men. ( MISCELLANY: C The sword which George Wash ington gave to the Marquis De La fayette will be returned to America. Marshal Petain of France handed it to Admiral Leahy, American am bassador, for delivery to President Roosevelt ? 2|IIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIII? ?fiecJzi+Uf J I ?s>?sair? f I By ROBERT McSHANE = 21 Rolootod by Wftbni Man map w Union SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR DIVAL baseball managers in the National league, indulging in a bit of wishful thinking, point out that the world champion Cincinnati Reds may fall in 1941 because big Paul Derringer can't be expected to go on forever. The fact remains, however, that Derringer has quite a few games left in hii firing arm, and that he is only one member of the highgrade pitching staff that Deacon Bill Mc Kechnie has ready for the new season. Those same rival managers, hoping against hope can't overlook Bucky Walters, Junior nn.u.n Derrmrer *w?u?Mauu, Moore and one or two others who have been good enough to win two pennants in a row. Walters, too, is no youngster. But he will win his share of ball games in 1941. The way things stack op right now the Reds get a slight nod in the pennantward direction. They have a good infield and a good oot field, and they still have speed. From their list of challengers yon can eliminate the Bees, the Phillies and the Giants. Strongest opposi tion will come from the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Pirates and the Cabs. The Competition Of the latter four, the Cardinals and the Dodgers look to be the stronger. The Card's position, late next September, will depend largely on what the mound staff can do. They were in and out most of last summer, a difficult team to figure. The big four of the pitching staff in cludes Bill McGee, Lon Warneke, Clyde Shoun and Morton Cooper. Between^them they won 59 and lost 43 last year. McGee won 16 and lost 10, Warneice had a 15 and 10 rec ord, Shoun won 13 and lost 11, and Cooper won 11 while losing 12. That record means that the vet erans will have to show considerable improvement and get much-needed help from the youngsters if the Cardinals are to make an important bid for the 1941 flag. But with John ny Mize and the right punch, they can't be ruled out. Hie main pennant war ahooM rest with the Reds and the Dodgers. Daring the-next season Daeky Med wtek will be en hand from the open ing pitch. Completely recovered from the effects of a bean ban, he won't have any odd noises boning In his head. Med wick has plenty of baseball left in his system. Leo Durocher ill far from the least valuable pf the Dodger assets. A ? mnwl V\ AeJ kitAolr. ' suioi i, uaiu wwa ing scrapper, Leo is one df the outstand ing leaders at the game. He hates so much to lose that at times his over-ag gression is a fault. The Pirates start ed 06 in poor fash ion last gpring, tyit ended up at a stronger than nor m*l pUp. Manager irarmhrt Franks Fruch to another busting manager, and bto 1M1 squad will be greatly improved over last years edition. Frist* has strengthened several weak spots, but above all, he has brought a new spirit to. the Piratea aw nettling the team has needed tor too ioag a tone. A Job for ^ilgon The Oaha are gulag te take a let Im^l^Vagabyytotort^ maeh needed 'matoriaT* Aad^whCT Neither the Phillies nor the Baas have a chance. Their problem isn't the same as the Cubs'. Even if the right players could be secured, they haven't the money to spend tor the rebuilding job. It dsesa't seeas qaite right te class the Giaats with the Bees aad the PhilHes, bat they are Jest as hard te rata among the Brat dtoistoa tea ass with tha present ttaeap. So far as tbe two leaders srs con cerned there isn't an overwhelming choice. Larry HacPhail is making every effort to bring Brooklyn a win ner and if the Reds show any signs of slipping, tha Dodgers will be at their throats. No one team dominates the Held, but there are enough good teams to dog the footsteps of BUI McKechnie and his Reds. AH of which should make the 1M1 pennant race an ex citing one. Revised' Farm Program Begins to lake Shape1 ?????????? Greater Curtailment of Surplus Crops Seen; Administration's Stand Against Convoys Has Significant Angle. By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Horn a Hour Commentator. WNU Service, 1395 National Presi Bid;., Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON.?A new and revo lutionary farm program for Amer ica ia in the works. If it is carried out according to the wishes of the administration, it will mean the first step in an effort to change the whole pattern of farming in this country as we have accepted it for the last century. When this column is in print the new bill may be made public. At this writing even its outline has not been announced. But a careful re view of discussions in highly influ ential government circles justifies three predictions: (1) That the new bill will revolu tionize New Deal farm policy and I will have for its goal a? (2) Vastly greater curtailment of production of surplus products, and? (3) Complete change in type of some of the crops now raised by farmers. What is behind the change in pol icy is this: the last die-hards who believed that any American farm program should take for granted a return to "normal" world trade, have thrown up the sponge. There is at long last a majority agree ment in the department of agricul ture that American farming must follow a new pattern?one that calls for no subsidy for lost export mar j kets of the past, no attempt to nurse along surpluses on the assumption that the same foreign markets on which we once counted would be again available. Original Purpose. Roughly, the original purpose of the agricultur^ adjustment legisla tion was to seAire reduction of cer tain crops and with the payments provide a livelihood for thousands of farmers who had lost their markets. Later conservation was emphasized; but the theory behind the subsidies was also to permit the farmer who formerly depended on the foreign market to keep his plant going, to keep him "tooled"?to keep, for ex ample, a wheat farmer a wheat farmer against the day when the foreign market was restored. By 1933 when the Triple A was itartM foreign markets had pretty well melted but the pattern of Amer ican farming itself was the same, generally speaking, as it had been for a hundred years. The Triple A policy was planned to preserve that pattern and All the empty corners in the mould by artificial means. When I say the pattern was preserved, I mean that all the Triple A wanted to do was to cut down production to the point where demand and supply approximately balanced. "The pol icy of the congress ss stated in the Agricultural Adjustment act was to restore to American farm products, as rapidly as practicable, the same purchasing power in terms of things farmers buy that those products had in the five-year period (1909-1914) immediately preceding the World ?- _ 99 ww? So if you were told to plow under your cotton this year, this did not mean go out of the business of rais ing cotton for good. You were sup posed to get payments so you could stay alive until it pdid to raise more cotton again. New a New Pattern. But now a new pattern has been drawn. It is based on the belief that the major foreign markets are gone for good?or at least for so long that they cannot be reckoned on any longer. Some farmers will just have to face the fact that they must make permanent shifts in their crops. Here is the key phrase of the dew policy in a sentence taken from the annual report of the department of agriculture recently published: "Growing unneeded crops is sheer waste of labor, at capital, of soil, even if temporarily the products can go into storage under government loans." This change in agricultural ad justment policy was not heralded in advance. But little by little hints have been dropped as to what is coming. Secretary Wickard sounded a muted warning that the definite trend in foreign trade was down ward in his recent speech at Pur due university. His Supplementary Cotton plan followed as ? step in the direction of reducing the cotton surpluses, shifting acreage to food crops. In the annual report of the department of agriculture are fur ther hints, as to the "adjustments" which are to be faced by the pro ducers of foodstuffs, tobacco and the other things which formerly made up our farm export trade. Still a Possibility. Of course, the administration does not say, "there will never again be any foreign market whatever for farm products." But the new policy refuses to take for granted that such outlets will ever return to what we have always .insisted on calling "normal." This viewpoint represents a strug gle between those who fought to the end with hope as their chief sup port. The last light went out when the Hull reciprocal trade program collapsed in the face of war. Now agreement has been reached that the old plan must be scrapped and that America must build a new mar ket for the farmer based on the theory that in war or peace the trend is strongly away from a pos sible profitable export trade. It might be said here, however, that 'the producers of meats and fruits and vegetables are going to benefit by the immediate situation ?at least temporarily when the con tents of the newly filled pay enve lopes of the defense industries will be exchanged for these products in I home consumption. But a wide disparity of prices is due between these products and cot ton, wheat, corn and tobacco. The latter staples are among those which the administration believes must be curtailed under the new plan. ? ? ? Are We 'In' mr 'Oaf Of the Current War? There is a popular response around Washington which you fre quently hear in answer to the ques tion, "do you think we'll get into the war?" It is another question: "Aren't we already in?" That remark was started some what facetiously but now you will hear it stated seriously, if unoffi cially, in the affirmative by some of ficials. And if you Judge by the old standards when a country was either a belligerent or a neutral we are "In." Because we are not neu tral and Secretary Hull himself has said so?he said that the law at self preservation and not neutrality now governs the nation. We have taken many steps which could be offered to prove that Mr. Hull is legally correct. But all the old rules are off. Undeclared war is the popular stunt these days. It Is the way the totalitarians do it and we are being forced to take over a lot of these measures in or der to fight fire with fire. The Job will be to scrap them all when the trouble is over. But in the real sense we are not at war. No Americans under the American flag are shooting anybody under any other flag. And that is something. And a high official of the United States government has made it clear that that was what the President had in mind when he said that he had never considered using American warships to convoy supplies through the war sons to Great Britain. It has been pre dicted frequently that convoys would be our next step. WeD, this official explained that the reason the ad ministration was against the use of convoys was because "when a con voy gets into the war tone there is likely to be shooting and shooting comes awfully close to war." " It seemed to me significant that this statement was made on the same day that former Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, testifying before the foreign affairs committee on the lease-lend bill, said almost the same thing in other words. It almost looked as if the two spokesmen had gotten together beforehand. That was the same day, as some at you may remember, that I had said earlier on the Farm and Home hour that I could find no indication tat Washington that any steps were being taken to get us Into foe war. My observation was ft coincidence. Perhaps the conjunction at the oth er remarks was, too. To the men who were fat France tat the last war, we will still be at peace as long as we are not shoot ing anybody. GENERAL NUOM S. JOHNSON Jaur: UMNiM ' W wwfcnw Washington, D. C. TRANSFER' OF U. S. NAVT The President says that any sug gestion that, under the "lease lend" bill he might transfer part of our navy to another nation is a "cow jumped-over-the-mooo" idea?mean ing, we may suppose, Mother Goose nonsense or a palpable impossibility. "Hi-diddle-diddle, the cat and the ftddle, the cow jumped over the moon." He also says that he never even considered using the navy to convoy American shipments to Brit sin. A great deal at confusion is creep tag into this debate. There is noth ing in the Tease-lend" trill about convoying ships. Providing they are . not violating the neutrality act and the President's own proclamations thereunder, by entering proclaimed war zones, or otherwise, American ihipe can still sail the sea. If there is danger at illegal interferenoa with them by another nation while they are in pursuit at their lawful business, the President doesn't need any additional authority to protect them with naval convoys. There fore the convoy argument is not properly in the debate on the "lease lend" hill. But this "cow-over-tha mnrsi" business is something else again. There is no authentic miari at any cow jumping over any mean, bat there is a very recent and rather startling record of a President trans ferring a very substantial part of our navy, to wit, SO destroyers, to a belligerent nation. It was dsns with out any specific authority. There is also a considerable record of did dling public opinion just beJore elec tion or during the debate en hotly contested legislation by promises that were quickly fui guiles Hut en ample, the MS promise not to vio late the gold covenants in our bonds and money. That was the highest cUddle-diddle m all our economic his tory. But there was no remedy. An that happened seas that "the little dog laughed to ate such *x*t and the dish ran away wife fee I spoon." If there is no intention to trans fer any pert at oar oorety needed armament, why is it neceoaofy to grant unlimited authority to do so? With a little peraphrsnhig and trssw position, which does no iitotoact to its intent, the 1776 bill anils suae the President "to seB, transfer, lease, lend or otherwise dispose at . . . any weapon. mieiWinn. air, craft, vessel or boat . . . any com ponent material . . . any other com modity or article for defense." I fe fe to WAS POWEBS There ia a lot of apatat to Sa vor of the "lease-lend" war dictator ship bQl based by the so-called con stitutional "war - powers" of the President. Abraham I jncoln. as President, without any previous congressional delegation at aU. and under the war powers of the President, simply set aside all the constitutional guaran tees and compromises that made this union possible and emancipated the slaves. This is dangerous doctrine. K any hidden power ia the Prsairtsaf In hie own discretion, without any actual war, simply to set the Con stitution aside, and do aa ho ptaaaoo with the peace, prosperity, pauper Ij and destiny of the United States, via are.in a ft*. What are the "war powers" of the President under w Cossetjtu tion? In actual war and in the arse ., I,,,., L,.a - a - Mis , *s of com oat on cntmy territory tbay are, and they must be?an the pow ers of a commanding general in such territory?completely dtrlatoci SaMdnToraStoSJ'doea not flow from hie office aa the PndieBl of the United Statas. B flows from his specific constitutional office as commander-in-chief of our army and navy. It eras under this military power and under no civil office that Presi dent Lincoln emancipated the ?laves. He did ao only as an act of war, only in enemy territory in ac tual rebellion and his act eras later confirmed by congress. He did ao. and said that he did ao, not in his capacity as President ?but in the execution of his office of commander-in-chief. This is par ticularly emphasized by the fact that when, under such fierce factional dogmatic urging aa iw now Mr. Roosevelt, to force this great powerful, peaceful country bito war, Lincoln attempted to Hitlerite the chril processes of the United States Constitution and send to concentra tion camps, or by a star chamber process, whoever oppoeed his war policies, authority to do so was de nied by the Supreme court. C . a#'-.. -- , AmH
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Feb. 6, 1941, edition 1
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