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The Alamance Gleaner Vol LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1942 No. 5 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne Java Defense Gains New Strength As Dutch Troops Get Reinforcements; Tanker Losses Indicate U-Boat Drive Against Eastern Petroleum Supplies (EDITOR'S NOTE?When ?pinions arc expressed In these columns, they are these o( the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) 1 JAVA: Defense Impressive Following the fall of Singapore, wailing women, many of them car rying babies, had arrived on rescue ships in Java, worried over the fate of their men who had been left be hind. But all of them were highly impressed with the spirit and the defenses of Batavia. There was every evidence that Java, whether it got sufficient re inforcements or not, would be ade quately defended by the forces now on the island. The Dutch not only were massing all their own man power, their ships and planes, but it was plain that they had some American reinforce ments, largely believed in this couh try to be constituted of the very vital anti-aircraft guns and men to man them. The fight that still had raged around Bali was a good curtain raiser for what the Japs could ex pect when they moved in on Java itself, with its 40,000,000 population, and the concentrated strength of everything the Dutch and the other United Nations had which had been salvaged from other fronts. unurcmu naa saia mar ine raiai Japanese land strength in the Far East was estimated at 26 divisions. There were many who believed that it would take half that number to conquer Java alone, provided it was properly defended, and many believed the Japs could not spare that many troops nor transport them to Java. Some military authorities believed the Japs would not even try, but would content themselves with bpQlbing military installations, and witn 'surrounding the island with naval forces, thus rendering it in capable of taking part in East In dian defense, while concentrating most of the Jap forces on an in vasion of Australia. The news of the day had not so far borne out this contention, how ever, for the Japanese landings on Sumatra to the west and Bali to the east had been in considerable force. WASHINGTON: Cleaning Up The national capital, which was un der fire ever since the Douglas-Cha ney boondoggling fight started with the OCD as a central point, had started the job of self-cleaning with President Roosevelt "taking a leaf out of his own notebook" and finding that 16 agencies were engaged in housing activities alone. The senate and house had not been idle in the self-cleaning matter, ei ,ther, for they had repealed the pen sion bill, which already had been signed by the President. The President had not signed it as such, but it had been a rider on another bill, and thus had become effective. But the national outcry had been terrific, and the congressional re peal had followed with but few con gressmen of either house willing to put themselves on the spot as vot ing pensions for themselves?after the outcry. Representative Reed of New York was perhaps most frank, for while mnst congress men had said they had voted for the previous measure without considering it much, if at all, said: "I was not called away by a telephone call, I was not out eat ing a sandwich? I was not talking with a constituent at the time ? I was in tavor ol me dlu. He was not, however, recorded as voting against repeal. The OCD still was the center of attack. Senator Byrd of Virginia having said that his investigation of jobs paying over $2,500 in the OCD included "actors, baseball players, football coaches, track mep, tennis players, newspaper and magazine writers, social workers, army and navy officers, doctors, engineers, nurses, ex-public officials, lawyers and others in every walk of life." Many had quit after Mrs. Roose velt's resignation, but it was evi dent that the rest of them were under fire, with the senate on the firing line. Sep. Reed STORM: And Torpedoes Not only the German torpedoes, but a terrific Atlantic storm had taken a toll of American shipping. The fact that in 30-odd vessels tor pedoed in our coastwise shipping, more than half had been tankers showed that the U-boats had their orders to prey on our coastal pe troleum supply. This attack, however, it was con ceded, could do no worse than ac centuate the oil shortage on the east ern seaboard, as the installations of oil refineries and tank farms had suffered no attacks, nor had the big petroleum producing fields. But the storm, which cast two American naval vessels up on the rocky coast of Newfoundland took 189 lives, and provided the worst naval disaster of the kind in history. The destroyer Truxton and the na val cargo auxiliary Pollux were lost, and by a quirk of fate they hap pened to go around where 450-foot cliffs jutted up straight from the ocean. The vessels, pounded on rocks, al most immediately disintegrated, and their crews had to scramble ashore LIEUT. COMM. RALPH HICKOX Skipper of the VSS Truxton. as best they might. They landed on a rocky coast where half their num ber were battered and drowned with out a chance. Approximately 175 men were rescued from the two wrecked ships. BURMA: All-India Command The closing of Rangoon, though much better defended and bitterly contested than had been Singapore, had given the Japanese a long stride toward the demobilization of the Bifirna road. Though the Chinese were believed already to have developed another line of communication, partially if not completely ruining this objec tive for the Japs, it was proof of the fact that something drastic would have to be done about the reinforce ment of the British defense of In dia, or more territory would fall into the Nipponese hands. The Chinese were holding the northern sector, but the British, hav ing been driven back from the Bilin river fortifications, had to fall back on Rangoon, and the work of de stroying all military goods in the city which could not be moved was the signal for the closing of the port. It was a tough 48 hours for the American military mission there, for it was their duty to see that the final shipments of thousands of tons of American lease-lend goods start ed on its rail journey up the Burma road to the Chinese before the Japs got in. Some of this, it had been reported, faced destruction, and among what could not be moved were hundreds of American-made trucks which had not been assembled after shipping. The British had made their last stand at the Sittang river, and there, in good positions, they covered the final removal of lease-lend goods and destruction of British materiel. MISCELLANY: Washington: WPB said that tex tile mills which do not produce goods for the armed services will not be able to obtain machinery by the middle of 1942. Cleveland.- A labor-management dispute, according to reports, was crippling the output of a concern wholly engaged in making airplane and bomb parts. Good Neighbors Increased dividends from the Unit ed States' good neighbor policy be came increasingly evident when a new Brazilian aircraft engine fac tory signed an agreement with a U. S. aeronautical corporation to turn out plane engines. Here Carlos Martins, (standing) Brazilian am bassador to the C. S., and Col. An tonio G. Muniz, director of the new factory, sign the production agree ment. RUSSIA: Guerrillas in News One by-product of the Russian vic tories over the Germans on the east front had been the contacting by the Red armies of the partisans or guer rillas, who had been buried but active back of the Nazi lines. More and more of these intrepid bands had been uncovered, and the news reporters were beginning to get to them and to send to the world their stories of heroism and of de struction. Also a by-product of the Russian advance had been mounting stories of brutality meted out by the Nazis to Russian civilians, most of them based, whether true or not, on the activities of these same guerrillas. Thousands of civilians, eyewitness reporters had cabled, had been slain by the Nazis, while other thousands had died of freezing or starvation, herded in forced marches often after their clothing had been pillaged. The guerrilla bands were able, by hiding in woods and mountains, to prey upon German communications, which by very necessity of tempera ture and topography had been chained to the few Russian roads. ?The guerrillas were ambushing Germans, destroying not only trucks but tanks as well, and slaughtering such of them as fell into their hands. One leader of such a band told a newsman that he and his fellows had blown up two large German trucks and that three members of the trucks' crews had been shot to death by their own superior officer for per mitting the trucks to be destroyed. The Russian guerrillas had ranged in age from 10 to 35. LABOR: Not So Quiet Labor troubles, which had been almost nonexistent after Pearl Har bor had hurled the nation into war, began cropping up somewhat over the nation, though the federal gov ernment was not delaying to have them settled as rapidly and force fully as possible. Congress, too, was having its la bor difficulties. A proposed wartime suspension of the 40-hour week caused heated debate with charges of "labor despotism" being hurled by Representative Cox of Georgia. Later, in answer, Sidney Hillman, labor chief of the war production board, said enactment of the pro posal would "result in confusion and demoralization . . Notable among the difficulties had been one in St. Louis, where power company employees had threatened a strike which would have crippled a whole defense in- ' dustrial area. An odd strike occurred at San Pedro, where the Bethlehem Steel company was building $81,000,000 worth of destroyers for the navy. The men did not walk out, but they worked eight hours and then quit, going back to work again at the usual time, refusing to work 10 hour shifts as they said the com pany demanded. There also had been dispatches from the West coast that numbers of employees had refused to work on Washington's birthday, though specifically requested to. The day came on Sunday, but many factories reported large numbers of their workers stayed home oq Monday. The unions had demanded double pay for the holiday and employers had refused this demand. Hence the big holiday lay off. Recent Defeats Prepare U. S. for New Sacrifices Armaments Production Continues to Increase As United Nations Equip World's Greatest . Military Expeditions. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, 1343 H Street, N-W, Washington, D. C. Now is the winter of our discon tent and a still mord discontented spring may not be far behind. Wash ington at Valley Forge, Lincoln hold ing with knotted hands a nation split asunder may well look down on us with deep concern. Not that this great nation is even near the danger which hovered so close to the battered armies of Washington's Colonials, or threat ened the century-young Republic. We have just passed a $26,000,000, 000 appropriation, the largest in his tory. We are preparing to arm 7,000,000 men, training an air force of 2,000,000. When the planes which our factories can turn out are ready to spread their wings they can darken the skies over Berlin and Tokyo. But as the mists of spring spread out over the oceans, they touch the brows of new masters, rulers who never dared lay claim to rule the seven seas. Gradually the American people realize that the world they looked upon from their comfortable win dows is a different world from the one which their peaceful mind's eyes saw before Pearl Harbor and Singa pore. It is a world that all but a very few would have scoffed at if it had been described to them before the crushing defeats which the Eng lish speaking peoples have suffered in the scant weeks since December 7, 1941. It was a soft February day when we strolled up to the White House gate, showed our photographic passes to the policemen, filed into the Executive Wing and finally found ourselves in the President's office as the newsmen do twice each week.' President Rebukes Rumor Mongers There were no quips as we waited until the last man was in. And the President's easy smile was absent. Some of the answers were sharp. There was rebuke for repeating a rumor, condemnation of Washing ton's Clivenden set, as the Presi dent called them?defeatists. Then when a reporter asked if the President would comment on the vis it of the British ambassador, there was an effort to .lighten the gloom and the President who had no inten tion of revealing the ambassador's mission answered that they had had a good lunch. Then one of the reporters who had buttonholed the ambassador on his way out and got ten no comment, remarked: "The ambassador didn't look like a man who had had a good lunch when he came out." And that remark expressed the mood of the city. Why? Not because officials did not recognize what might be ahead after the first reverses. But because they knew that all they could do, all that the United Nations could do, was to mark time while a tiny nation, Ja pan, with a population of 70,000,000, putting out $3,000,000,000 worth of arms annually, was holding at bay a coalition of 200,000,000 people with a monthly, not yearly, output of arms worth 3V4 billion dollars. But we are marking time from a military -standpoint only. Our pro duction is mounting. Already we have supplies enough for the demand in Russia if we had the ships to carry them. Soon we will be turn ing out two ships a day. And we are preparing an army. And that is the point. At first we thought that America had one task, to be the arsenal of the democra cies. Simply the job of production. Then we saw that we must help get those supplies to their destihation. And to protect the supply lines we needed to man bases. All this was before we actually were at war. Supply Line* Threatened Then war came and now, sudden ly, we realize that the supply lines are threatened. Threatened at Ran goon, gateway of the Burma road. Threatened in the Red sea and the Persian gulf if Hitler breaks through the Middle East. Threatened with Japan's far-flung, base-studded ar chipelagoes which have now spread eastward from the Marshall islands to Borneo and the Celebes and per haps, before this is written, within bombing distance of Australia it self. And so we learned that we might not be able to arm our allies.but that we would have to arm our selves and carry those arms In the hands and on the ships and planes of our own fighting men. And so, for the first time in its history America looks out upon hos tile nations in three continents which it must hunt out in their' own lairs. The greatest military expeditions in the history of the world are now in the making. Soon the snows of the winter of our discontent will melt unnoticed. America will go forth without thought of wind or rain or snow or sun. Meanwhile we have a long, hard lesson of restraint and sacrifice. ?Boy Defense Bonds? ' Uncle Sam Again in Life Insurance Business Uncle Sam is in the life insurance business again. In World War I the government issued insurance of more than 4,000, 000 policies to members of the armed services with a total face val- j ue of nearly $40,000,000,000. The idea when these policies were issued, the government paying the extra pre mium demanded of a person step ping up in the direction of machine guns, was that this was all that could be expected of a grateful re public. After struggling with the burden of Civil war pensions it was believed that the insurance would take their place. The men themselves, as ex-sol diers and as citizens, would proba bly have been entirely satisfied. But the politicians couldn't let a good thing like that get away. The firrt sweetener was the bonus. Then came the other bonuses one after the other and the various bene fits which needn't be related here. The insurance policies wCte not a heavy burden. They cost the gov- ; eriiiiieui uiuy ,1ii ,uvu wnicn was the difference between what the gov ernment paid out and the premiums paid in. For you see it was a busi ness proposition. The premiums were taken out of the soldier's pay while he was in the army. When he was discharged he either kept up the premiums or dropped the policy. Now Uncle Sam is ready to do the same thing for the present army. As of February 14,' 1942, 1,308,500 applications for insurance policies have been received by the veterans administration with a total face val ue of $4,955,000,000. The policies are in multiples of $500 and $10,000 is the limit. The premiums amount to only 67 cents a month per thousand dollars for a man 25 years of age. No man who has any sense at all will miss the 67 cents when he scoops his money into his hat, signs the pay-roll and salutes once a month. There is no red-tape, no physical examination. ' Any man who can stand up and get shot at is healthy enough to be insured. ?Bay Defense Bonds? Other Raw Material* In South America The thing the German and Jap anese respect most and fear most, is the American factory. The Board of Economic Warfare is the board of strategy which directs this powerful weapon of offense. Some countries on the borderline of Axis influence have things we want and want things we have. Let us say "Belgravia" has ordered cer tain foodstuffs she requires for her starving people. The deal is ar ranged. At the same time, we have been trying to get a certain chem ical that "Belgravia" is shipping to the Axis. So the order to release the foodstuff finds its way to a cer tain desk in the BEW. The food is not delivered. The minister of Bel gravia calls at the state department to ask the cause of the delay. He is referred to a little office m the shabby apartment building. The talk soon turns to the chemical that we want. An understanding is reached. As I sat in this building listening to the almost all-encircling enter prises the BEW is undertaking, the President's phrases came back to me?"an all-encircling war"?"an overwhelming superiority." I real ized that this encirclement, which the enemy is attempting to achieve with a line of flesh and blood and steel, America is gradually accom plishing with a wall that will keep out the vital supplies that make the sinews of war of the Axis. And I realized, too, that "overwhelming superiority," when it is established, will be established by the power of America's economic machinery. 1 Farm Goals for 1942 Increased Department of Agriculture Calls for Use of Every Acre to Win War. WASHINGTON. ? Declaring that events since Pearl Harbor had ma terially broadened demands (or American food, the agriculture de partment has increased its 1942 pro duction goals (or hogs, corn (or live stock (eed, oil-bearing crops, rice, eggs, dry beans and vegetable crops (or canning. The department said that since the original goals were announced last September, the United States had come to be looked upon Dot only as the arsenal but the (ood store ot the United Nations. To meet these new demands, the department said (armers would have to produce as never before and put "every acre o( land, every hour ot labor and every bit o( (arm machinery, (ertilizer and other sup plies to the use which will best serve the nation's wartime needs." Officials said crop loan programs, government purchases under lease lend and relie( programs, and sales ot government-held (eeds would be employed to provide, in so (ar as was possible, price incentives. Corn Limitations Eased. Rigid crop control restrictions will be retained on wheat and cotton. Slight increases will be allowed for tobacco. Asserting that large stocks ot these crops already exist, the department said production beyond crop control allotments would be a "waste ot labor and supplies." Crop-control limitations on corn were eased somewhat. The 1942 planting goal was increased from 90,000,000 acres to 95,000,000. No marketing quotas will be imposed on the corn crop. Because ot increases in produc tion ot hogs and chickens, the depart ment said larger (eed supplies would be needed. Particular emphasis will be placed on oil-bearing crops, the de partment said, because of loss of Far Eastern supplies owing to the war. The peanut goal was increased from 3,500,000 to 5,000,000 acres, the soy bean goal from 7,000,000 to 9, 000,000 acres and the flax seed goal from 3,367,000 to 4,500,000. The de partment said efforts would be made to get production of lard, tal low and grease stepped up in pack ing plants. Cotton Coder Quota. Other goal increases included: Rice from 1,200,000 to 1,320,000 acres, dry beans from 2,304,000 to 2,600,000 acres, eggs from 4,000,000, 000 to 4,200,000,000 dozen, hogs for slaughter from 79,300,000 to 83,000, 000 head, flue-cured tobacco from 762,000 to 843,000 acres, bur ley to bacco from 358,000 to 383,000 acres, other types of tobacco 1,200,000 to 1,320,000 acres, canned peas and tomatoes from 62,700,000 cases pro duced in 1941 to 78,000,000 cases. Although cotton allotments were not increased, the department said planting was expected to total about 25,000,000 acres, compared with 23, 250,000 in 1941. Marketing quotas will be imposed on this crop. To encourage greater production of long-staple cotton, the depart ment will offer special premiums on staples of one-eighth inch and longer. ? Tree-Climbing Cats Put Sack* on New Fire Trucks BEARDSTOWN, ILL.?A canvas sack has become standard equip ment on the new fire truck here. Fire Chief Roy Patterson says his department has been called to res cue so many high-climbing cats that he had to add a sack to his equip ment for his own protection. "We rescued three cats last week," said Patterson, "one from the top of a light pole and two from tree tope." Mince cats en. never in a playful mood at such altitudes, the firemen take a sack with them to throw over the cat, which thus becomes a harmless bundle to be toted to safety. Lamplighter Harry Has Fit of Blackout Blues KENMORE, N. Y.-Blackouts are Just a headache for Harry Torillo, who works for the department of public works. His job is to extin guish all of Kenmore's 317 gas street lights in case of a blackout Kenmore missed complete elec trification when depression forced the village to curtail expenses. Tor ino must start turning out the lights about five hours before the familiar electric arcs are extinguished in the village. This seems bad enough, but patting the lights on again is even worse. It takes about two days. Half of Population Live in 140 Cities Suburbs Show Big Gains in Census Figures. WASHINGTON. ? More than 47 per cent of all the people in the United States live in its 140 metro politan districts, in the outlying parts of which the population in crease is more marked than in the central cities,* according to final re turns of the census. On April 1 there were in the metropolitan districts 62,965,773 per sons. This was a growth in ten years of 5,462,908, or 9.3 per cent. There was an increase of 2,452,728, or 6.1 per cent in the central cities, and of 2,910,180, or 16.9 per cent, for the outside cities of these dis tricts. The population within the central cities was 42,796,170 and outside, 20,169,603. The latter number, which represents residents of adjacent smaller incorporated places and un incorporated areas, comprising 32 per cent of the total number of persons living in metropolitan dis tricts. The 133 metropolitan districts showed an increase of 4,740,887, or 8.2 per cent, during the last ten years, as compared with a total population increase of 7.2 per cent for the whole country. During the ten-year period there was a 7.2 per cent increase in the population of the metropolitan dis trict, which includes New York and northeastern New Jersey, where the number of residents rose from 10, 901,494 in 1930 to a 1940 total at 11,690,520, with a 6.2 per cent in crease for the central, as against 10 per cent for the outside central cities. Between 1930 and 1940 the popu lation of the central cities for the 133 districts increased 2,007,554, or 5 per cent, and that of the outer district areas 2,733,333, or 15.5 per cent. Typical Sailor Has Blue Eyes and Is 23 Years Old NORFOLK, VA.?Officials of the fifth naval district reveal that the typical American sailor has a high school education, is unmarried and is 23 years old. He prefers playing baseball to any other sport and is one of the first to be found enrolling in the various specialist schools. He has blue eyes, brown hair and is of medium build. He weighs 168 pounds, stands five feet ten in his stocking feet, is particular to wear his uniform according to regula tions, and drinks coffee by the pot. And, when he has done his hitch, usually goes back to his home town, applies the trade he has learned, settles down, marries and forgets about the sea?except on occasions. He also loves a fight. Since the war has broken out, the typical American sailor has shown mare impatience to "get at them guys" than his brothers from other sec tions, which doesn't mean that be is any more loyal but has a harder time controlling his hot blood. They are the pride of the navy, these typical American sailors, say officials. Canadian Foresters Find Dead Scottish Chieftain SOMEWHERE IN SCOTLAND ? A company of the Canadian forestry corps, building a road into a wood, uncovered a large boa. made at thick stone ingeniously dovetailed at the joints. A lieutenant opened the box and found a skeleton, knees drawn up to the chest and arms folded. ? Police were notified and the Scot tish equivalent to an inquest was held. Anthropologists and paleonto logists hurried from Edinburgh. A small vase and several other sou venirs were eagerly seized upon by the scientists. At the inquest the scientists tes tified the man had been dead sines about 1500 B. C. The skeleton, re ported to be that of a chief,in the war council of his day, was turned over to the University of Edinburgh. Nightmare Job in Puerto Rico Completed by Navy SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO ? Completion of the sir and naval base on Isla Grande, an engineers' dream which often was a night mare, was announced by the navy. The base was built on mangrove swamps, some portions of which were 28 feet under water. The tract now has been converted into solid land with an area of about 300 acres, making it "probably the most com plete and modern naval air bass under the American flag," the navy said. Designed originally to cost 38,000,. 000, the bass was evpandarl during construction until it finally coat Mt 000.000.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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March 5, 1942, edition 1
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