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The Alamance Gleaner Vol LXVII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1941 No. 7 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Seven Billion Dollars to Aid Britain ; Is First Step Under Lease-Lend Act; England Admits: 'Spring Blitz Is Here' Following Terrific Raids on London (EDITOR'S NOTE?When apinlana art axpreaaad la tbiM calamaa, (her ara theae of tha newt analyat and aoi naeaaaarlly of this nawapapar.) ______________ (Ralaaaad by Waatarn Nawapapar Union.) VICHY, FRANCE.?Frenchmen of a few yeats ago would never have dreamed that this scene might take place In their homeland. But here it Is. Gen. Nenbronn von Eisenbnrg, who, as Nasi Inspector, keeps a sharp eye on what's left of the French army, salutes as he reviews a French honor guard on his arrival at Vichy. BRITISH: Aid Into Law Under the eyes of watchful pho tographers, President Roosevelt wielded six pens, made the British aid bill, called by its opponents the lend-spend-give bill, and then turned in his chair and told newsmen he would ask for $7,000,000,000 as the initial appropriation under the measure. While this announcement struck with bomb-shell force as the great est American peace-time appropria tion request in history, the congress apparently was willing to go ahead and match the President's desire for speed with some action at its own. This was evident when the bill re turned from senate to house with an even dozen amendments attached. Representative Martin of Massachu setts, minority leader, jumped to his feet, pleaded for unity and for ac tion, and received a most unusual tribute from his colleagues. He received what is known as a standing ovation from the entire house. The lower branch of the congress responded to this brief talk by voting 317 to 71 to accept the changes put in by the upper house. Then Vice President Wallace and Speaker Sam Rayburn put their penned signatures to the printed measure and off it went to the Pres ident. Hardly had it become law and within an hour after the President had asked for the seven billions, statisticians were busy trying to tell the public what this amount meant in purchased goods and services. One of these put it this way?it would equal a strip of $10 bills reaching 2V4 times around the world; it would buy 120 Empire State buildings at 50 million each; or it would build US Tri bo rough bridges at $60,000,000; or 120 dread naughts at $50,000,000; or 2,350 sub marines, 2,090,000 light tanks; 28, 00Q four-motor bombers; also would pay the entire cost of public educa tion in the U. S. for three years, or provide a $50 U. S. bond for every man, woman and child. Thus given a visual picture of what the sum meant, it was figured that the first Job would be for the President to provide for England as much as possible under the law of the existing military and naval equipment, up to the $1,300,000,000 limit set in the bill. It was pointed out that this amount would come out of the seven billion total, for as soon as $500,000, 000, say, of aid had been sent from existing equipment, the army or navy would be reimbursed that amount, and would then be able to purchase replacements. The rest of the $7,000,000,000 will go into purchase contracts for even tual aid to Britain, Greece or other nations which are opposing Nazi ag gression. These contractual-obliga tions must be on the dotted line by 1943, but can be carried out through 1946. LONDON: Hit Hard Terrific series of air attacks on England, especially on London, plus tremendous losses at sea brought forth the frank statement in com mons that the spring blitz promised by Hitler was now fully under way. Government leaders expressed confidence in the outcome, balanc ing against ship losses unannounced and untotaled damage inflicted on German naval and undersea I strength, not to mention loss of planes. ? More than 6,000 Italian and Nazi I aircraft have been downed, with a loss of about 2,200 British airplanes, the air ministry said, since the be ginning of the war. This, it was claimed, is a sig- I nificant and important inroad into the first-line strength of both air armadas, but a more severe blow to the Italians, with about 1,500 planes downed, than to Germany, I with about 4,500 put out of action. The naval chiefs in London empha sized the British need of ships, par ticularly naval vessels, paid a glow ing tribute to the work of the 50 former U. S. destroyers obtained in swaps tor bases, and one authority said: "We have enough trained men to man the entire U. S. navy, if it could be turned over to us." Not that he meant, he said, that the navy should be turned over, but he pointed the manpower that Brit ain has trained, as compared with the available ships. ^s to the effects of air raids on London and other British cities, the loss of life again was becoming heavy. Guardedly it was disclosed that Buckingham palace again had been struck. Portsmouth was a special attack object, and there was heavy loss of life there. STRIKES: Grow Apace As labor troubles multiplied in the United States, in defense and non defense projects, including the huge bus drivers' walkout in New York, it was reported that William S. Knudsen finally has been driven to considering the "draft industry" provision in the powers of his of- I flee as production manager to end I the Allis-Chalmers affair, among I others. - Increasing concern was shown by production chiefs in the national de fense when figures showed a 27 per I cent increase in strikes during the past 30 days. This gave a disquiet ing tone to the situation over and be- I yond any single disturbance or group of troubles. Some of the danger spots were I in the Midwest, some in the East. The Allis-Chalmers strike was past a month and a half and still dead- I locked when Miss Perkins sent John R. Steelman, head of the concilia tion service, personally to direct a last-minute effort to end the trouble before invoking the "draft" of indus try, which would take over the plant, thus instantly outlawing the strike. Several plants of the International Harvester company were down be cause of strikes, the vital coal and steel industries were in the midst of threatening conferences between worker and employer, the Brill plant in Philadelphia was down, holding up a big ammnition order for shell casings; there was an auto strike I in Oakland. Statistical review of the situation was headache enough for produc tion chiefs, the number of strikes in J a nary as compared with Decem ber being 220 as against 100, and the 220 became more ominous when it was shown that the five-year average for January was only 170 and for December only 120. Total man-days lost in January to taled 025,000 as against 400,000 lost in December, and here the figures on past years was more favorable, as the five-year average of man days lost in January was 1,012,005. To Parliament Mrs. B. C. Rath bone, 30, be come! the second American-born woman member of the British house of commons by virtue of an unopposed nomination in her district. She takes the seat of her late husband. Flight Lieut. John Rathbone, killed last December in a flying mission over Ger many. Born in Boston, Mass., V. S. A* she has two children I now in America. TURKEY: Scene of Bombing Dramatic waa the entrance of for mer Bulgarian ambassador from England, George W. Rendel, into Turkey after his flight from Sofia. Rendel and his staff walked into the lobby of the Pera Palace hotel. There was a flash, a roar, and the cries of wounded and dying. The smoke cleared away to find Rendel still unhurt, several members of his staff wounded, and two men killed, one of them a Turkish secret serv ice man assigned to guard the am bassador. Twenty-three, in all, were wounded by the blast, which badly wrecked the room in which the crowd was gathered. But, as in the Hunich bombing which Hitler escaped, the chief tar get of the Turkish bomb, Mr. Ren del, was unscratched. His aides said there was no doubt that it was a deliberate attempt at assassination, and its occurrence at the very time when Turkey was debating its posi tion in the expected forthcoming in vasion of Greece by the Nazis, served further to entrench Istanbul on the front pages of the press. Rendel's attractive daughter, 20, who was standing near the blast in the hotel lobby, told the story in a few words when she said: "As far as I could tell, the floor Just flew up." She is a califl soul, having driven her father through the streets of Sofia during the German occupa tion in an automobile flying the Brit ish flag. It was later revealed that an at tempt was made to blow up the train on which Rendel and his party were traveling to Istanbul. This was prov en when it was found that the hand bags which contained the explosive had traveled on the train with the Rendel party, but failed to go off. The Nazis denied that the bombs had been planted on the train, say ing the Rendel baggage had been loaded under the eyes of scores of Gestapo agents. However, British sources later replied that another unexploded bomb had been found in baggage unloaded from the train. JAPAN: Peace Move Whether it was tinder the frown ing menace at Axis guns, both in thfe West and in the Far East, or whether it was sincere, but note worthy, at any rate, waa the state ment issued by the Indo-Chinese (French) government following the ratification of the peace treaty with Thailand (Siam). In this peace treaty Japan was the peacemaker and mediator. Back of her mediation efforts, however, was a huge fleet which was moved into waters off French Indo-China during the height al the Thailand Indo Chinese war. Reports from Saigon, when the peace was Anally terminated, giving Thailand huge slices of Indo-Chinese territory along the borders, were that the peace was more satisfac tory than the French government had hoped for. It was stated that in Saigon it was expected that even larger ces sions of territory would have had to have been made if Japan had not intervened. Immediately Foreign Minister Matsuoka announced that he would shatter Japanese precedents by tak ing a trip to Europe to confer with his Axis partners. Von Wiegand, writing from Shang hai, saw in this project a chance that' Japan would seek Axis, par ticularly Nazi mediation in an effort to end the Japanese-Chinese war. U. S. Official Denies Plan For Censorship of Press Presidential Assistant Mellett Opposed to Any Type of Central News Bureau or Propaganda Drive. By BAUKHAGE National Farm and Homa Hour Commentator. WNU Service, 1395 National Press Ti Bldr., Washington, D. C. ] WASHINGTON.?If you went to ] start a heated argument among the members of that Washington in stitution which is often called "the , third house of congress," but whose official name is the National Press club, just mention "government j censorship." Those are fighting words to the ( men of press and radio and?well, ( did you ever try to put a muzzle on a real healthy airedaleT Just to keep the fun going, I dropped in the other day to have a chat with the man whose name has been more closely associated with censorship of late than any other in the capital?and how he hates it I He is soft-spoken, gray-haired { Lowell Mellett, a keen-minded, mid dle-aged newspaper acquaintance of mine over many years and one of the best-liked and most highly respected of all of those who have now desert ed the fourth estate to work for the New Deal. Mellett left the Washington Daily News to become head of the Na tional Emergency council in 1938. (The "emergency" in this sense re fers to the 1933 variety and not the "limited" one we are enjoying at present.) The NEC, as the council appeared in the New Deal "alpha bet" in those days, has since be come the office of Government Re ports, a less pretentious institution. Mr. Mellett is its head and is also one of the President's administra tive assistants. These latter are the men who, according to official pro nouncement, must have a "passion for anonymity, "e The functions of these assistants differ widely as does the degree of their intimacy with the President, but of all his ad visers, Lowell Mellett is one of those in whom the President places his deepest confidence. There is ? reason why this former newspaper man's name hss been as sociated with a possible censorship of news. When the President asked congress recently for funds to make the office on government reports per manent, the house of representa tives committee on appropriations called Mellett before it to ask him, among other things, what, if any, plans the administration has for cur tailing or regulating what should and should noKbe printed about de fense or other natters, according to the government's- way of thinking. Mellett told the congressmen that the administration has no such plan at all. The word "plan" is used in the concrete sense for it is well known that several specific programs for regulating what would or would not be permitted to be made public by press and radio have been drawn up by various officials, who would like to tie a muzzle oo the news hounds in case of war or even in case a full emergency is officially proclaimed, or perhaps even before. Mellett's answer satisfied the committee and the lower house agreed to the measure. Nevertheless, the rumor lingers on that a man with scissors is lurk i ing behind the White House hedge ready to clip the reporters' wings the moment they spread them too widely. I called upon Mr. Mellett in his businesslike office in a building In "downtown" Washington. Although he had no official statement for me (which I didn't want anyhow) we had a frank, friendly, informal chat. As a result, I can confirm what he has told me before concerning his sentiments on censorship, senti ments which I believe it is safe to say are those of the President, too, at this writing. This is the way Mr. Mellett expresses himself on the subject: "Even in case of war I don't be lieve in a propaganda drive," ha said to me, referring to any artificial effort to mold public opinion in favor of government policy. "I have constantly opposed a central press bureau when I have heard it discussed, because it is impractical. It is impossible to get the news of government through one bottleneck. "My idea," he went oo, "is simply to see to it that the press informa tion bureau of the army and the navy and possibly the defense agen cies, which now exist, are made as efficient as possibls." To the newsman, this means that 1 thsse bureaus would have at their ingertips information which tna press ordinarily obtains from indl ridual officials. In an emergency, war and nary chiafs ftal theaa in iivlduals might inadvertently re real information which should bo kept confidential. "If this mathod doesn't work," Mr. Mellatt declared, "my idea would be to have representatives of the press and radio come here to Washington and offer their own plan for hsa iling emergency news. They wouldn't lifer a plan which the government could refuse. They want the news and the government wants to get it jut." He explained that what he meant was that he believed the newsmen would agree on what was sheer good sense and patriotism to print. Such facts would be given out which did not injure national defense or give aid and comfort to the enemy, and the papers would be left perfectly free, as he put it, to raise the devil with the way things were being done and to criticize the government. Finally, I reminded Mr. Mellett that in the last war there was criti cism of the Creel committee on pub lic information because it not only withheld much news that the pub lic had a right to have, but also it gave out information that was pure propaganda. Therefore, I asked, wasn't it natural to expect that any restriction on government news might be looked upon with suspicion by the press, radio and public? Mr. Mellett came back to his original thesis. He reiterated that he did not believe in a propaganda drive?such a drive as the Creel committee indulged in. Secondly, he said, if the information bureaus of the various government agencies ware efficient, the facts would be available. It was because the Creel committee was a central news bu reau (which he opposes) that it be came a bottleneck, holding back | facts that could have been made available to the press and radio > even in war time. Statu* Troubles In Nation's Capitol It is easier to revise a statute in Washin(ton than to move a statue. That is why Sixteenth street, the avenue that runs almost up to the front door of the White House, is torn up these days. The excavating is taking place at Scott circle. Washington is full of circles, most of them with their historic statues. They make for beauty and also traf fic jams. Recently certain new comers to the city suggested re moving the statues instead of build ing million dollar underpasses such as the one now being constructed under the proud figure of General Winfield Scott. But these newcom ers just didn't know Washington tradition. One man who tried to break that tradition got into a terrific mess. It was John Russell Young, then a newspaper reporter, now District Commissioner Young, one of the three "mayors" ot the city. It was in Harding's administration when public buildings and grounds were in charge of the engineer aide to the President, Colonel Sherril. Mr. Young conceived the idea that the statue of George Washington, located in a somewhat shabby neighborhood several blocks from the White House, ought to be in front ot it where General Jackson sits astride his famous rearing charger in Lafayette park. He persuaded Colonel Sherril to switch the two fig ures and proceeded to write a story ot what was to happen. Then came the deluge. President Harding was almost drowned in an avalanche of angry telegrams from ardent Jacksonians all over the country. The state of Tennessee not only legislsted Its fury over this in sult to its famous son but announced it was sending a delegation to the President. It was reported that the Old Hickory Marching club, once a historically potent political organi zation, was to be brought to life to descend on the capital, possibly with their old long rifles loaded for more than bear. Only a speedy denial of his inten tion to force General Jackson to trade places with General Washing ton saved Mr. Harding's scalp. No, are don't disturb our sculp tured great in Washington If wa can't get around them we go under them. Test Television As Battle Help Army Figures Possibilities For Directing Soldiers In Warfare. * PHILADELPHIA.?The magic of television soon may be harnessed to flash running picture stories of troop movements and actual battles from observation planes to general staff headquarters, the American Insti tute at Electrical Engineers was told here. "We do not have to let the imagi nation run wild to picture the possi bility of an airplane equipped with television flying over the battlefields while the troop commander and his general staff gather about the view ing screen at general headquarters and have instantaneous and accu rate information of events in the front line," said Dean Joseph W. Barker of Columbia university school of engineering. "That is all I can say, because the war and navy departments for bid me to discuss the possibilities in any detail," he concluded. It was learned from authoritative sources among the 2,000 electrical en gineers, who convened here for their annual five-day meeting, that the nation's foremost authorities on tele vision were developing the system for America's armed forces. Aid ia Defense. Experimental television broad- , casts from airplanes to land stations , have been made successfully, they said, although the screen pictures , are not as clear as those produced ( in studio broadcasts. Dr. Barker discussed the new de- , velopment in television at a round- j table forum. He explained that he , was not free to say more about H because he had been enlisted in na- ' i tional defense research and training projects. Leading engineers attending the sesdion pointed out that with the t aid of television, the commanding general would know instantly not | only what his own troops were do ing, but also what the enemy was doing. He could flash orders to the front to strike at weaknesses devel oping in the enemy's lines or rush reinforcements to points in his own lines which were cracking. Else trie Fewer Cited. During the same forum, N. E. Funk, vice president of the Phila delphia Electric company, said that the nation's electric generating capacity was 41,000,000 kilowatts, while the nation was using only 28,000,000 kilowatts. By IMS. he said, the capacity will have been in creased to 47,000,000 kilowatts to provide a huge reserve for any de fense emergency which may devel op. At another meeting, delegates were told of a new invention which would protect America's power sup ply if high voltage lines were de stroyed by lightning or bombing. It is a new type of circuit breaker, and it not only automatically switches off power in the damaged lines, but also blows out fires that often break out. The breaker can store air for years until such an emergency arises and then blast out the flames with a 1,000-mile-an-hour puff of wind. The speakers were Robert C. Dickinson and P. H. Nau of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufac turing company, who have worked 10 years on the invention. Paris Gowns Now Made Of Wood and Vegetables PARIS.?Paris gowns, which once set the world's fashions, now are be ing made of ersatz cloth, much of it produced in Normandy and contain ing 40 per cent vegetable matter and 00 per cent wood. Commenting on the new material, the newspaper Le Matin said, "Our forests clothe us." It is claimed that the ersatz tissues "look exactly like pure wool?they are soft and steady." Clothes are not yet rationed but it is predicted that they will be soon, starting with' shoes. "National shoes," partly of wood, are being made in large quantities. Policemen on Beet Now Carry Portable Radios ATLANTIC CITY. N. J.-Atlantic < City, casting about (or additional means to cotnbat criminals, has equipped patrolmen with portable radio sets. Twelve scout cars and twelve mo torcycles have the usual police ra dio equipment, while the men on the beats have sets designed by Law rence Smith, police radio supervisor. Each set is packed in a small leather case and is carried on the policeman's belt. The aerial ? a three-foot piece of wire ? is worn over the cop's shoulder. An ear phone Is worn constantly. 8Flying Fortresses' Made Every 2 Days Aircraft Company Increases Number of Workers. i SEATTLE.?The Boeing Aircraft company, builders of the world's Irst four-motored bombing planes, lie army air corps' famous "flying fortresses," has entered its most ligniflcant year in the quarter-cen tury history at the company. With employment at a record lev tl of 9,000 men, the company is pre >aring space tor more than 19,000 workers who will be on the Job by rummer. Boeing employed less han 3,000 men two years ago. The plant operates 24 hours a day ind turns out one "flying fortress" rvery two days. The production ?ate was one every four days a year igo. By the latter part of the year Joeing hopes to be delivering flee >r six bombers a day. The plant soon will start deliver ng smaller twin-engine bombers for inder a license agreement with the Douglas Aircraft company at Los tngeles. To effect the production increase >lant expansion has been imder way ilmost continually the last seven nonths. A year ago plant 2 had a otal floor space of 196,009 square feet. Early last fall this was fe n-eased to 832,000. Still too small, t will be increased to more than 1,000,000 square feet this spring. The otal floor space of three plants will then comprise nearly 2,900,000 square feet. The enlarged plant 2 will be a tontinuous structure approximately me-fourth at a mile long and one ifth of a mile wide, making it ana if the most impressive production layouts of any manufacturing in dustry in the United States. Reveal Precise Method Of Forecasting a Fag NEW YORK.?The development of a near method at forecasting tog. greatest foe of air travel, many hours in advance was rtisrlnasf by I. J. George. Eastern Air Lines me teorologist. The method is baaed a discovery of exact mathematiral re lationships between factors meeting Into tog creation, such as the aasat of sunshine, moisture and wad ve locity. Mr. George said that ana at pre cis* quantitative calculations was making possible heecesU <d tog nt a specific time in a nes ilW place from IS to II hours m advance. Pre viously. be expiaaMd, forecasts ef fog made by meteorologists kud sag at weather maps and ptedhtbig probable conditions on the bneis of long experience were seldom possi ble for greater than eight hams in advance, and were apt to bo Vena no curate. Comdr. Francis W. Retcbelderfar, head of the United States weather bureau, who heard Mr. Gearga'a de scription of his new forecasting method, praised it as "an outstand ing contribution to greater air safe ty and regularity at schedules." U. S. Will Build Two Air Boms Near Martinique WASHINGTON.?Strengthening its outposts for defense of the Panama Canal, the United States will estab lish two air bases on the strategical ly located British island at St. lasts The state department disclneed that a land plane baae will be es tablished at Vieuxfort and a sea plane base at Gros Islet bay. St. Lucia is in the Windward is lands in the Caribbean dose to the French-owned island at Martinique, where French warships and planes are based. These islands have caused some concern to the United States because at the possibility that French colonies might be taken over by a victorious Germany. Leakproof Gu Tanks of U. S. Planes Held Bast WASHINGTON. - The leakproof gasoline tanks of America's war planes are superior to German and British types. Legislators said the soft rubber substance perfected by the United States army was so much more ef ficient than types used abroad that thinner layers can be used, taking up less room inside the metal tanks, thus displacing less fuel and giving the planes a greater range. Students Quiz Selves And 8 Per Cent Flunk PROVIDENCE, R. I.?The Rev. Paul C. Perrotta, O. P., professor of logic at Providence cortege, can hardly be criticized by those pupils who flunked their mid-yesr exams. Father Perrotta permitted the stu dents to make up their own ques tions as wen as the answers. Many at the students must have given themselves "the works," be cause 8 per cent failed to pass.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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March 20, 1941, edition 1
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