THE ALAMANCE GLEANER
Vol LXVII . GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1941 No. 28
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne
British See Far East 'Squeeze Play'
In Japan's Attitude Toward Thailand;
Nazis Claim Big Victories Over Reds;
Mussolini's Son Killed in Air Crash
(IDROB'I NOTE?When opinions ere eiyniMA, la Aim leiuua, ttiT
art thna of the mews anelyat end net necessarily of thla aiviMM'-)
? (Beleeeed by Western Newspaper Union.)
Here's a striking contrast In the modes oI fighting equipment. Accord
ing to the Berlin caption the picture shows a German horse-drawn artillery
piece racing past a burning Soviet tank somewhere along the Russ-Nasi
battle lines of the eastern front.
CONGRESS:
Big Work
Three bills of huge importance
were before congress, and although
passage for all was predicted, the
importance laid as much in what
their final form would be as it did
in whether or not they would become
law.
These were the tax bill, the draft-,
extension bill, and the price-fixing
bill, the latter linked inseparably
with the "draft-industry" bill.
The tax bill, it was apparent,
would be voted into existence minus
the requirement that all married
couples file Joint income tax re
turns Roughly, this will cut
?SS0,0*0,000 Off the yield of the law,
Which will then have a ceiling of
about $3,100,000,000. .
This is to be divided, roughly, into
a billion for income taxes; a billion
lor miscellaneous and special taxes;
and a billion and a third for cor
poration income taxes, a small bal
ance coming from gift taxes.
The draft extension bill showed
the opposition to the administration
losing one battle after another, but
reforming their lines with more sup
* port after each defeat.
When the administration's reaolu-.
tion calling for an extension of pres
ent draftee terms by 18 months was
brought to a vote, the senate passed
the measure by a vote of 45 to 30.
This meant that total term of
draftees. National Guardsmen and
reserve officers would all serve a
total of iVt years. The bill went
from tlfe senate to the house follow
ing the vote.
The price-fixing and draft-industry
hills were chartered along a more
difficult course. The latter passed
the house, but immediately there
started in the opposition press a
battle, claiming that there was a
threat to the freedom of the press
and freedom of speech through radio
?as these businesses, too, might be
seised by the government.
As to price-fixing, Leon Hender
son seemed the center of this fight,
and many in congress declared they
would feel more kindly toward the
bill if they felt more confidence in
Henderson's ability to carry It out.
Indeed, the house appointed a spe
cial committee to oversee the en
forcement of this legislation.
JAPAN:
Warned Again
London warned Japan that if she
moved against Thailand in any way,
?he would find thpt Britain would
consider such a move as a definite
threat to Singapore, and would act
accordingly.
This was seen as a sort of con
firmation that the British are send
ing expeditionary forces of occu
pation into Siamese territory, and
that any Japanese effort to cut the
Burma road will bring the world
war to the Far East.
The statement came from Foreign
Secretary Eden, making it in the
house of commons It had been ru
mored that 100,000 British troops
would be sent to Thailand from east
ern bases, and that a considerable
British fleet already was in those
waters.
And it also was believed that
Japan was committed to move
against Thailand by its agreement
with the other Axis powers. This
was visfaxied as part of a squeeze
play against India.
DEATH:
To a Youth
From Rome came the report that
Bruno, the second son of Benito
Mussolini, had been killed in an air
crash while on a plane testing flight
near Pisa. He was 22 years of age
and ranked as a "Captain of Avia
tion." He had seen action in three
wars. In Ethiopia, in the Spanish
war and in the present war he had
engaged In what Italian sources de
scribed as "daring" and "risky"
actions.
GERMANY:
Makes Claims
The Germans, Who had been pic
tured fairly hopelessly stalled on the
Eastern front, with the Reds grow
ing in strength and in some points
taking the offensive, came out final
ly with a statement in which they
made the largest claims thus far.
They claimed 895,000 prisoners
taken, and "many times more" in
killed and wounded; the entire Rus
sian resistance shattered; no sem
blance of order in the Red army;
and pictured Moscow as without any
clear picture at all of the situation,
blindly believing its army still fight
ing.
When it came to giving details of
places, the communique, while a
lengthy one, was not very commu
nicative.
But from it one could picture the
front through the German eyes, with
Smolensk, in the center, a sort of
island of doomed Russian bat
talions, still holding out, although
surrounded.
Leningrad, on the north, was a
hopeless city, menaced from the
aouth and the north, with another
small "island" of surrounded Red
troops still holding out in the vicin
ity of Tallinn, Estonia.
Kiev, on the south, was shown in
this document as partially sur
rounded, with two huge pincers hav
ing pierced the Stalin line north and
south of the city itself, which is an
integral part of that line.
The claims were contained in four
special communiques from the
headquarters of Adolf Hitler him
self, and were broadcast through
out the German nation.
RUSSIANS:
Their Version
Completely ignoring the claim* of
the Germans, the Reds, admitting
Nazi pressure on the south, say that
they are counter-attacking and were
using the same tactics "which
threw the Germans beck in the cen
tral front."
In fact, fhe Russian reports con
sidered the front from Smolensk to
Bel-Tserkov, a distance of 390
miles, as a single unit, rather than
a definite pincer movement, and
said that there was mobile fighting
going on all along this front.
In fact, the Reds assarted they
were holding the Germans in two
other sectors, that of Kholm, 1(0
miles south of Leningrad, and on
the Estonian front?where the Ger
mans had claimed important ad
vances.
The Russians also reported taking
many prisoners, and revealed that
many of them are either 17 years old
or the older type reservists, show
ing that the Nazis are drawing
heavily on their reserves.
Early Bird
PHILADELPHIA, PA.?First
veteran to appear on the scene
for the national encampment of
the Veterans of Foreign Wars
here was Jack Farley, known as
the "Irish Traveler." He hitch
hiked to Philadelphia from
Louisville, Ky* and is being re
warded at convention head
quarters by getting the first
badge.
HUSIEKI:
And the Women
The governmental placing of silk
in the vital raw material category
closed down the silk .hosiery indus
try and sent American women in a
wild blitzkrieg on the silk stocking
counters of the nation.
There were no tears shed over
the situation, the women apparently
regarding the whole thing as a sort
of a gay lark, and dashing into the
stores to stock up?just to be doing
something more than for any other
reason.
For surveys of women's opinion
showed that the ladies were perfect
ly willing to go bare-legged, if nec
essary; to spray "makeup" stock
ings on their legs, or to wear cotton,
if they could be made good-looking.
It was obvious that the new nylon
industry would not be able to supply
the demand, at least at prices wom
en were willing to pay.
But as to the cotton situation, the
government had finished researches
at Beltsville, Md., from which had"
come ISO types of cotton stockings,
many of them pretty stylish-looking.
Philadelphia, with a $2S,000,000-a
year hosiery industry, and other
nearby cities and states with smaller
organizations, began changing over
to cotton right away. One mill al
ready had out a line of samples of
cotton lisle stockings, several of
them of the "mesh" type.
These were displayed by pretty
models, and the salesmen started
out to see what the reception at the
American Woman would be.
On that, they said, depended what
the factory would do?close up or
continue to put out 'the cotton
stockings.
LLOYDS:
And War Bets
Lloyd'i was reputedly offering
odds on the end of the war, even the
likelihood of Washington, D. C., be
ing bombed?circumstances which
told their own story.
The war is more likely now to be
over December 1 than it was at
this time last year. Lloyd's was of
fering 7 to 1 last year, and now has
reduced the odds of the war ending
in 1?41 to 3 to 1.
As to the bombing of Washington,
the odds are re 1,000 to 1. However,
as it was pointed out, the odds
weren't really that much, for it eras
simply the offering of a premium
of f1,000 for fl that no piopeity
would be lost within a year in Wash
ington, thus really meaning that
Lloyd's was betting 1,000 to 1 that
no particular private ptupcUy in
Washington would be damaged.
SPIES:
Meet Doom ,
The reports issued constantly to
British citizens that "even the walls
have ears" were given point when
it was told that two Nazi spies, Karl
Theo Drneke, German citizen, and
Werner Heinrich Waelti, a Bales,
were executed as spias.
The story was romantic enough.
The two men, equipped with radio
sending and receiving sets, flew
near the English coast and were set
down from a seaplane. They then
rowed ashore in a collapsible rub
ber boat. Both had foreign pass
ports and spoke English
For a time they evaded discovery.
They had split up and were head
ing for. Edinburgh, Scotland, by dif
ferent routes.
Their bags were examined, and
when the radios were found, the Jig
was up. Later, the government
said, they were found to have food,
including sausage made in Ger
many. They were hanged.
Real Warfare of Dollars'
Is On in South America
U. S. Wages Trade and Economic Battle
In Effort to Oust Axis influence
From Western Hen sphere.
By BAUKHAGE
National Farm and Homo Hour Commantai
WNU Service, IMS B Street, N. W.,
Washington, D. C.
About a month ago I wrote that
there was a rumor to the effect
that the United States was in an un
declared war which had been
marked "private and confidential,"
and that therefore nobody would talk
about it. It was a war of dollars in
stead of bullets.
This new brand of warfare is eco
nomic and it has broken out on two
new fronts with the blacklisting of
the pro-Axis firms in South America,
and the freezing of Japanese trade.
The whole story can now be told.
Although some officials still shy
at the word "warfare" when dis
cussing these methods of attack,
there are others who feel that it
should have been used frankly and
the methods and purpose explained
long ago. They say this strategy
would have been received sympa
thetically by the people as a pre
ventive measure against actual war
fare.
Just what is the difference be
tween the battle of dollars and war
I fare of bullets? What is the purpose
of each?
The word "war" goes back to the
Anglo-Saxon "werre" which meant
a quarrel. And in those days a
quarrel meant a fight. Since quar
rels no longer necessarily mean
fights, some people cling to the hope
that war need not always mean
shooting. Senator O'Mahoney re
cently said in the senate that he did
not think the President was leading
the United States into war of the
sho9ting variety. And the people
< who'believe in the battle of the dol
lars say that this kind of a "werre"
may prevent shooting.
The objgct of war in the military
sense is the destruction of the mili
tary forces of the enemy. In these
days the theory seems to be that in
order to destroy the military forces
it is necessary to destroy every
thing else.
The object of economic war is to
destroy the economic forces of the
enemy. Unlike military war, dol
lar-warfare, according to its oppo
nents, checks the steps which lead
| to actual combat.
South America
At Battlefield
Using South America at the bat
tlefield, this it the way they explain
their theaia:
The Germans set about to control
the Latin-American trade. By mak
ing the economy of a country de
pendent on the wishes of Berlin,
the Nazis obtain political influence
Just as business and other pressure
groups sometimes control political
power in this country. Once thf
Germans have control of the eco
nomic forces in s country they sup
plement this control with bribery
and intrigue and finally attempt to
put a ISO par cent pro-Axis govern
ment in power.
Nazi control of a number of key
governments in South America, ac
cording to the proponents at the
theory at economic warfare, will re
sult in a menace to the safety at
this nation.
The recent attempt to overthrow
the government of Bolivia is an ex
ample of Nazi-Fascist methods. It
was broken 19 with the help of Unit
ed States agents who discovered
documents revealing the plot and
turned them over to the Bolivian
government A similar plot you
may recall, was discovered in Uru
guay in the early days of the war.
What are the methods which the
United States government employs
to stop the German economic and
political penetration and pursue its
own economic warfareT Well, they
are in part the methods employed
ia the early days when the great
trusts were built up in the United
States. Except that the United
Stales government itself is a trust
organised to benefit all and not to
exploit any of the peoples in the
Western hemisphere.
Ttoo Method*
Of Traef Operation
A trust has two principal methods
of operation. One is a perfectly
honest attempt to perfect the manu
facture and distribution of its prod
ucts or its services. The second
is the use of a means, now dis
countenanced and forbidden by law
in the United States, of ruthless, cut
throat competition to drive its com
petitors out of business.
The latter method has been used
by the Germans In South America.
The United States is now applying
similar tactics insofar as pro-Axis
business is concerned. There is a
difference, however ? the United
States is working with the help of
the South Americans in most cases
to an end which they recognize will
benefit all.
As in the case of military war
fare, sacrifices are necessary in eco
nomic warfare as well. American
manufacturers are not allowed to
trade with the Axis-controlled firms
in South America which have been
put on the blacklist by the President.
The South Americans suffer, tem
porarily, too, much as a nation suf
fers when it is the ally of another
nation fighting an enemy on its own
soil.
Incidentally, it is interesting to
note that the grandson of the man
whose "trust" is famous in history
for its ruthless methods of obtaining
a monopoly, John D. Rockefeller, is
now heading one of the organiza
tions which is attempting to bring
the southern and northern nations
of the Western hemisphere into one
great combine to compete with the
Axis "trust."
In America's economic warfare
there is no "rough stuff." That is,
the competitors' stores and ware
houses are not burned or destroyed,
nor is violence resorted to. But ev
ery possible use of the dollar, which
is the most powerful economic weap
on in the world today, is employed
to destroy the efforts of the Axis.
Foot Campaigns
Ara Under Way
There are (our separate cam
paign! now being conducted against
the Axis in South America by our
economic general staff.
One is based on agreements to
purchase, over a period of time.
South American surplus products,
especially war materials such as
zinc, lead, tin, copper, nitrates. This
not only prevents such materials
from falling into Axis hands but
provides a dollar exchange with
which South America can buy from
us things which she might other
wise buy elsewhere.
The second economic drive is to
force the transfer of commercial
agencies from Axis into native South
American hands. Black-listing pro
Axis Arms helps this. For instance,
for years the dominating commis
sion business in the city of La Paz
has been handled by Germans. Sud
denly, these Germans lose all Amer
ican accounts, are cut off from
American credits. Their business is
ruined. The United States encour
ages a prominent Bolivian family
to establish a commission business.
It gets the profitable United States
accounts. American personnel and
other help is furnished. The Axis
firm Is smashed.
Another means of ousting Axis in
fluence is to eliminate foreign con
trol of the airlines. For this pur
pose, Jesse Jones, secretary of com
merce, has organized an Airlines
Development company, a govern
ment corporation. This company
will lend money to any South Amer
ican country for the development of
airports; give It priority on the pur
chase of plane*?provided that coun
try gets rid of the German or other
foreign-owned tin** within Its bor
ders This step has been taken in
Bolivia which has nationalized its
internal airlines and removed Ger
man pilots. This action has also
removed a vital link in the German
international transportation system
which has served Peru, Bolivia, Bra
zil and Argentina.
In many at the countries the air
lines are already nationalized. But
in some places German pilots ara
still flying the planes. In Brazil.
German-coo trolled lines exist but
many concessions have been grant
ed to the United States. In Central
America the line* are all controlled
by a New Zealand*r who started
out with an old Ford plane, hauling
f.eight.
The fourth plan of economic battle
is the government loan. Loans are
advanced to South American gov
ernments for the purpose of keep
ing the local currency stabilized.
Loans are also made for internal
developments, irrigation projects
and port developments which it is
expected will pay out over a long
period at yean, which will tend to
increase the standard of living in
the locality and thus open new mar
kets for American foods.
Peril of Wood
Tick Nullified
Vaccine Now la Effective
Ageinat Mountain
Spotted Fever.
HAMILTON, MONT.?The Rocky
mountain wood tick, once a bone
chilling man-killer of the Pacific
Northwest, now is almost a tamed
bug?feared less by people than by
sheep and cattle, source of the tick's
existence.
Dr. R. R. Parker, director of the
United States public health service
laboratory here, indicated in an ar
ticle soon to be published in the
American Journal of Tropical Med
icine that 13 years' use of vaccine
against spotted fever had proved
vaccination 91.89 per cent pre
ventive.
In 1913, the Rocky mountain wood
tick killed more than 500 persons
in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and
Oregon. In 1939, fewer than 100
died of tick bites.
Most Virulent.
In the western Montana area
most virulent in the world, accord
ing to Dr. Parker?of those who
contracted the disease between 1923
and 1939, three of the 37 who had
been vaccinated died, while 42 of
the 51 persons who had not been
protected succumbed.
Dr. Parker's statistics showed
deaths from spotted fever in the
Pacific Northwest since 1933 have
decreased almost in direct propor
tion to liters of vaccine used.
Cost of the serum for one person
once was 920. Today it is $1.
Before May 10, 1924, when Dr. R.
R. Spencer, who pioneered tick vac
cine, injected a mixture of ground
up ticks and weak carbolic acid
into his arm, almost everyone who
contracted the disease died.
Fatalities were so high that na
tives of the Bitterroot valley dared
not'venture into the mountain can
yons where infected ticks lurked on
every tree and bush. People who
lived in the infected areas aban
doned their homes to the deadly
bugs.
Success at Last.
Then in 1921, Dr. Spencer, Dr.
Parker, an entomologist, and their
assistants, Henry Cowan, Bill Qei
tinger and Elmer Greenup, estab
lished a laboratory in an old school
house near Hamilton. They began
searching for an antidote for the
deadly bite.
The ticks killed Cowan and Gei
tinger. They died, shivering, with
temperatures abova 103, their skins
covered with black spots. But Spen
cer discovered the immunizing mag
ic of a soupy concoction of ground
up ticks and weak carbolic acid.
Today tha laboratory has a staff
of 123 and produces spotted fever
vaccine for most of the United
States, Canada and Brazil.
The mixture of squashed ticks and
carbolic acid has been supplanted
by a new vaccine reared in a chick
en egg.
Ancient Letter Requests
Bounty for Indian Scalp
HARRISBURG, PA?From a fad
ed old manuscript in the archives
division of the state library, comes
the lM-year-oid complaint bom an
American pioneer woman.
A letter sent by Mrs. Margery
Mitchell, Shippensburg, to the sec
retary of the governor's council in
1757, complains that although aha
had made a "fatiguing and expen
sive" Journey to Philadelphia, she
had not yet received a bounty for
the "Indian Scalp" she had deliv
ered.
"One might think Common hu
manity would induce the Gentlemen
to allow me some small matter on
that occasion, especially as I lost my
husband * Son," Mrs. Mitchell's let
ter continues, "and much time from
my housework."
History of the incident tpds with
the letter, so there is no indication
of whether Mrs. Mitchell received
the bounty or not. Officials are not
looking for the scalp.
Effects of Environment
On Life Being Studied
NEW YORK. - Ecology is ths
study of the interrelationships of or
ganisms and their environment. It
is not only concerned with the ef
fects of the environment on life, but
the effects of life on the environ
ment.
The ecology of bacteria is a rela
tively neglected field, these microbes
having been studied most intensive
ly from the medical standpoint, al
though only about a hundred, or one
thirteenth, of the recognized species
cause human disease, writes M. W.
Jennison in New England Natural
ist. It is no exaggeration to say
that bacteria and other microbes
play a role in nature so fundamental
ly important that without them life
on the earth literally could not exist
Ship Construction
Is Rising Rapidly
Expect 1,250,000 Tons by
End of Year.
WASHINGTON.?A prediction that
the nation's rapidly expanding ship
building facilities will turn out
1,250,000 dead-weight tons of mer
chant ships this year, with an in
crease to 3,300,000 tons in 1942 and
3,000,000 tons in 1943 came from the
maritime commission.
In its first comprehensive sum
mary of a vast three-way con
struction program, the commission
placed the cost of 705 merchantmen }
"built, building or under contract"
at >1,625,000,000, with an additional
investment of >86,000,000 in new
facilities, bringing the total cost to
>1,711,000,000.
Divided into three parts, the con
struction program now includes:
1?Long-range program calling
for 300 ships in a 10-year period.
This now includes 283 ships, of which
91 have been delivered. Except for
the luxury liner America, recently
taken over by the navy, all con
tracts have been let since January
1, 1938.
I?Emergency national - defense
program calling for 300 "ugly
duckling" cargo carriers. Of ap
proximately 10,000 deadweight tons
and designed for mass production,
the first "ugly ducklings" are ex
pected to be completed in Novem
ber, ? 1
3?Construction of 222 vessels for
transfer to Great Britain under the
Lease-Lend act. This program in
cludes 112 "ugly ducklings," 72
high-speed tankers of 16,000 dead
weight tons, 10 C-l, 22 C-2 and 8 C-3
cargo boats. The "C" boats, among
the world's finest of their class, are
the backbone of the long-range pro
gram. They range from 7,800 to
12,393 deadweight tons.
Aerial Fighting Put*
Weather on New War Role
BOSTON.-The phrase "military
?cience" ha* a new and deeper sig
nificance in this war, according to
Capt. William W. Jones at Masse
chuaett* Institute of Technology.
The general pace of modern war
fare is geared to economic produc
tion and advances in scientific
knowledge, says Captain Jones, who
reveals that military aviation can
not act independently of meteorology.
He quotes a high-ranking British
authority who says:
"The chief of a bomber command
has to be concerned first with
meteorology and secondly with
strategy."
In view of this new development
in modern warfare the army air
force turned its energies to the per
fection at a complete meteorological
department and is training a fun
complement at expert weather fore
casters for duty with the jnilitary
forces. Men for this work are hand
picked from college alumni, all
come highly recommended and
many are Phi Beta Kappas.
Special training is being carried
out at several of the nation's engt-'
nee ring schools and the best in field
equipment is provided as they move
into their army stations. Nor is the
new branch of the service designed
as an emergency measure. Their
work will go on in peacetime or war
^
Ticklish Job U Solved *
Bp letting Ice Melt
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH ?Ser
I eral tons of tcs and tha englnaars
I who thought of It?ara credited with
preventing mishap in tha ttrkHah
Job at installing tha army air corps'
hugs new underground foaling sys
tem here
Sixteen 23,000-gallon gasoline
tanks had to be lowered Strang*?
and gently?into excavations dng tat
them at die air base. The pmblaut
was solved by placing blocks ct tea
under the tanks as they were sus
pended over the 15-foot holes, than
timbers at the supporting platform
were torn down.
Gradual melting of the tee eased
the fuel containers safely to their
underground base.
Philadelphia Ice Cream
Traced Back to 1796
HARRISBURG, PA. - History
gives Dolly Madison, wife at Presi
dent James Madison, credit for cre
ating a sensation in Washington by
introducing ice cream to society Mk
in the capital.
A recently discovered manuscript
found in the archives division of the
Pennsylvania State library, how
ever, indicates the concoction wee
probably known to residents of Phila
delphia a dozen yeaoJwfore ita ap
pearance in Ti'sili ill torn
The parchment, jitfe* fM te n
petition to the stale legnlaldgi from
a Haitian requesting permission to
1