The Alamance Gleaner
Vol LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY^ MARCH 19, 1942 No, 7
??
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS 1 By Edward C. Wayne
Jap Invasion Bases in New Guinea
Strengthen Drive Against Australia;
Promised Dominion Status for India
Fails to Result in Expected Harmony
__________ i
(EDITOR'S NOTE?Wk? ?pinions nro expressed in theso eolsmns, they
?? ttow of the news analyst and not neoessarlly of this newspaper.)
by Wostorn Newspaper Union.)
I 11 I
!Rl>Groote. jBH D'EffireMrtw'!!^
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^ JARANESE
Reports from Australia emphasize the importance of Allied attacks on
the Japanese invasion bases of Salamaua and Lae in northeast New Guinea.
From Saiamaua to Thursday Island, off the northern tip of Australia, the
distance is 400 miles. From Port Moresby, the nearest major harbor to the
mainland, to Cape York, on the northern Australian tip,.the distance is little
more than 300 miles.
AUSSIES:
On the Spot
Hardly had the battle ol Java
reached the mopping up stages than
the battle for the approaches of Aus
tralia had started with rumblings
from within the continent that the
Aussies were far from pleased with
the amount of preparedness they
had.
The signal for the beginning of the
"curtain-raiser" for the attempted
invasion of Australia had closely fol
lowed the shut-down of communica
tions with Java, and came at the
same time news was received that
some 3,000 Australian troops, badly
needed at home, were still fighting
a hopeless fight on the island of
Java.
The spearhead of the projected
invasion was apparently to be based
on the island of New Guinea, just to
the north of the continent and im
mediately threatening it as the
shortest airline flight from the East
Indies.
The Japs had landed large forces
at Salamaua, Lae and at Finscha
ven, and had been busily engaged in
consolidating these positions as
bases of supplies.
This was enough to set at rest any
doubts Australians might have had
that India and not they were going
to be next on the Jap time table.
Not only that, but the Japanese, with
brutal frankness, had broadcast that
Australia was going to suffer the
same fate as had the Dutch East
Indies.
How much American aid and re
inforcement already was in Austra
lia was dubious, and a closely guard
ed military secret. If we were weak,
the military leaders naturally didn't
want the Japs to know how weak,
and if we were strong enough to de
feat them, when and if they should
land, these same leaders didn't want
to warn them off.
The only stories concerning the
amount of aid had come from Mc
Daniel, who had written that the
town of Perth was so full of Ameri
can troops that it looked like an
American city, and from British Cor
respondent Hair, whose dispatch
had caused an immediate tempest
which hadn't gone anywhere at all.
Harr it was who, apparently writ
ing from the midst of an American
convoy bound to Australia had said
that the "sea was covered with
ships" and that "hundreds of Amer
ica's best fighting pilots" were
aboard.
America also wax sending men
"from the-plains states" he added,
but gave no hint of their status.
It was from Australian leaders
themselves that the hint came that
the continent was ill-prepared. One
said:
"It is the plan of the Japanese to
attack us before we can get pre
pared, and before we can receive
reinforcements."
Secrecy had muddled the picture
for Americans, but certain it was
that in going after Australia the
Japs were really biting off a chunk
which would take a bit of chewing,
for they'd find no fifth-column there
waiting to be taken over
INDIA:
Britain's Problem
Churchill had informed Commons,
which had been demanding some
forthright action on the problem of
Hindustan, that nothing could be
done now, but repeating his promise
of dominion status for India "after
the war."
So far this problem was the most
trying one facing the British. In
Burma they had found what they
were up against, with the Burmese
revolutionaries joining the Japs, and
many of the others turning frankly
against all white men.
The British defenders of Burma,
cut off by these tactics, had' been
forced to retreat more and more,
and finally, in a daring maneuver,
had struck northward, and had
smashed their way close to their
Chinese allies.
What Britain feared more than
anything was a frank and open up
rising of all of India's 350,000,000
people, and to this the best Church
ill could do had been to re-offer what
had been offered back in August,
1940, and which, apparently, had ac
complished nothing.
But this time he went a little fur
ther. He told the Indians that the
government had adopted a definite
plan as to how the dominion status
would be carried out, and that he
was sending his own right-hand
man, Sir Stafford Cripps personally
to India to explain it all to them.
India's religious and caste prob
lems were, admittedly, severe, and
whether Cripps could dig his hand
into India and come out with Brit
ain's little white rabbit remained to
be seen.
He was a miracle man in Russia,
and a miracle man before Commons.
Could he perform a third in this
war? Britain hoped so.
TAXES:
Millions Pay
Millions of Americans, many of
them making their first trip to Uncle
Sam's tax windows, had made their
income tax returns for 1942, but only
a percentage of them were able to
pay the full amount.
At the same time they were aware
that 1943 taxes would be much high
er, and there were thousands who
had a different picture of their fam
ily budgets after making their re
turns than they did before.
In the meantime, in Washington,
though some government authorities
were against the sales tax as putting
the burden on the weak, began seri
ous consideration of some form of
sales tax as being probably less
painful and more sure of large
returns than increased income
levies.
The house ways and means com
mittee had taken the bit between
its teeth in demanding that treasury
officials furnish them with data on
the probable yield of some form of
sales tax.
Secretary Morgenthau had taken
the position that a sales tax would
be not only inequitable, putting the
heaviest burden on the poor, but that
it would be inflationary.
NAZIS:
Need Man Power
For Spring Drive
Whether Germany was planning
peace or not, London had been hear
ing reports that the Nazis were se
riously short of manpower which
was needed for the spring offensive
against Russia.
The first indication of this was
when the Nazis issued an estimate
of losses thus far in the war which
was by far the largest figure they
had ever admitted, though still far
short of the Reds' claims.
The Germans admitted loss of
1,500,000 men since the start of the
war, and said that half of these had
been lost in the winter on the Rus
sian front.
The report had come out of Lon
don that the Nazis now were ask
ing for 2,600,000 fresh troops from
Italy, Hungary and Slovakia for the
spring offensive.
Soviet authorities claimed that the
Germans had lost 6,000,000 men on
the Russian winter fronL alone, of
these 1,700,000 killed, 2,000,000 seri
ously wounded, and the rest missing
or prisoner.
Of the new troops Germany was
said to be asking for 1,500,000 from
Hungary, 1,000,000 from Italy and
100,000 from Slovakia. Rumania was
said to have given an army of 1,000,
000 last fall, but the Reds asserted
that practically all of these had been
wiped out.
HARA-KIRI:
On Bataan
Though there had been little ac
tion on Bataan peninsula, there had
been a change in Japanese com
manders with stoutish General Hom
ma reported to have plunged a cere
monial knife into his own rotund vi
tals, and General Yamashita, the
conqueror of Malaya, reportedly
taking over in his place.
In the best tradition of the Samu
rai, to be replaced by another gen
eral as having failed calls for a
quiet trip into a secluded room,
there to take a swift trip to visit
one's ancestors.
No soft berth at a desk awaits the
unsuccessful commander in the field.
For him comes swift dishonor, and
death just as swift, at his own hand.
Such is the code of the Samurai.
When General Homma met Gen
eral MacArthur he met more than a
superior general and superior fight
ing men?he met the end of the road.
At the time Yamashita was or
ganizing his forces for the purpose
of wiping out MacArthur and thus
wiping away his predecessor's dis
honor (or of encountering some of
his own) there was a huge demand
LIEUT. GEN. MASAHARU HOMMA
Death . . . the Samurai tradition.
sweeping tne country ior some aei
inite answer as to why substantial
aid could not be sent to the Philip
pines.
Accompanying this was some (air
ly sharp eriticism of the adminis
tration and its conduct of the war.
But in the main the response of the
public to the "Send Aid to MacAr
thur" campaign was rather a tribute
to a hero than any suggestion as to
how the job might possibly be done.
The President had told his press
conference:
"You tell me how to get the help
there, and I'll send it."
To this poser the answer had not
yet come.
MOVING DAY:
For Aliens
Pacific coast residents were told
that the huge machinery necessary
for moving about 100,000 enemy ali
ens and American citizens of Japa
nese extraction out of the coastal
area was finally complete.
The work of moving them, the
government had said, might start
any day.
Where they would be sent, there
had been little hint, but two sec
tions had been mentioned, one of
them in Idaho and another In Colo
rado.
It was to be a huge task, but
with the war going as it had been in
the Pacific, white residents of the
Pacific coast would breaths more
easily when they had gone.
Lady Test Pilot
Has Tough Job
?
Despite Daredevil Aspects of
Life, She's Feminine as
Rustling Taffeta.
NEW YORK?Alma Heflin holds
down one of the toughest jobs in
aviation?a job that has brought
fame and glamour to many of her
male colleagues.
Alma is an honest-to-goodness test
pilot, all 110 pounds of her. As far
as she knows, she is the only woman
test pilot in the United States.
Despite the daredevil aspects of
this life, petite Miss Heflin is as
feminine as rustling taffeta. She
likes open-toed shoes and exotic
perfumes. She dances a fine rumba,
too.
On a leave of absence from the
Piper Aircraft corporation for a hur
ry-up physical conditioning course
here, Miss Heflin was ready to talk
when encountered in the Hudnut suc
cess school.
Snap this picture of a female test
pilot and paste it in your album:
Light-brown hair, cut in pageboy
style, with a soft roll off the fore
head; steel gray eyes; 5 feet 3%
Inches tall; soft-spoken, and just
past'her mid-twenties.
Flying for Eight Years.
Miss Heflin has been flying for
eight years, has averaged 20,000
air miles a year and has more than
1,100 hours to her credit.
Alma had flying ambitions from
the time she saw her first plane.
She considered flying a challenge,
and she answered it.
It was tough sledding at first. She
was teaching school in Spokane,
Wash., when she began taking flying
lessons. But there never was enough
time. So she chucked the security
of school-marming and departed for
Dallas to take a thorough course in
aviation. She knew there was a
place in the business for her, but
she had many an application turned
down before she caught on with the
Piper people. It took a six-hour sell
ing job to get a trial and then she
had to take a six-month workout in
the factory.
It's Hard Work.
Attempts to get Miss Heflin to de
scribe the thrills of power diving
and wind screaming along the fuse
lage provoked only a smile and the
three words:
"It's hard work."
Explaining that the planes made
by her company were not dive
bombers or flashing fighters, Miss
Heflin insisted that they had a def
inite part in the defense effort since
"Cub" ships were being used in the
civilian pilot training program and
i by the army's new "grasshopper
i squadron."
"They need a plane that will take
off like a singed cat and climb like
a homesick angel," she said. "The
first test I put them through is the
short takeoff?within 200-300 feet of
runway. Once in the air with 4,000
to 5,000 feet of space beneath, I put
my ship through a precision spin
from left to right, then two vertical
turns and occasionally some com
bat maneuvers?for gaining or los
ing altitude in a hurry.
"Then comes what we call the
r 'hands off' flight for stability. I let
the ship fly itself without touching
the controls from 15 to 30 minutes,
Finally, the minimum glide?as flat
as possible?and I am ready to put
the approval tag pn the ignition
switch."
'Love Insurance' Is Sold
By Soldier to Colleagues
CAMP CALLAN, CALIF.?Twenty
flye cents a month, buys "love insur
ance" at this training camp.
For 25 cents every pay day. Pri
vate Clifford Elliott, former Altoona,
Kan., farmer, insures the affections
of the girls who were left at home.
Private Elliott has sold his "policy"
only to members of his battery, but
the idea may attract customers
from others among the 10,000 men
stationed here.
Private Elliott collects a monthly
total of $15 from worried rookies.
The first to prove he has lost his
girl gets the pool. Selectees having
more than one girl must decide
which to insure.
Wages Rose 25 Per Cent
To 41 Billions in 1941
WASHINGTON. ? Some 40,000,000
workers received about $41,000,000,
000 in wages taxable for social se
curity purposes in 1941, representing
a 5,000,000 increase in the number of
workers, and a 25 per cent increase
in wages over 1940, Paul V. McNutt,
federal security administrator, an
nounced.
At the same time, Secretary of
Labor Frances Perkins announced
that hourly earnings of workers in
manufacturing industries rose 1.5
per cent to a new high level of 78.1
, cents in November.
Build Air Models,
Navy Asks Youths
10,000 Each of Fifty Types
Of Planes Wanted.
WASHINGTON.?The navy calls
upon the youths in American high
schools to take a direct and vital
part in the training of its fast-grow
ing air service.
Through Secretary Knox it asked
urgently that these youths build 500,
000 aircraft models, 10,000 each of
50 types of fighting planes, for im
mediate and continuous use in the
training of naval combat forces for
aircraft recognition and range esti
fnation in gunnery work.
Because of the projected employ
ment of the models in war training,
Mr. Knox emphasized they must be
built with scientific precision and ac
curacy, one inch on each model rep
resenting six feet on an actual plane,
a scale of one to seventy-two.
Thus, it was explained, the pro
portions would hold true as to dis
tance. A model sighted by a train
ing aircraft gunner at 35 feet would
appear as would a plane at just un
der a half mile. Studying the model
through the standard ring sight used
on aerial gun mounts, Mr. Knox
said, would give "invaluable" train
ing for the cadet ier, teaching him
type, identification and range.
Such training can be given only
with three-dimensional models, he
said.
Plans and specifications are being
prepared by the navy's bureau of
aeronautics. Some are being sup
plied to the United States office of
education, which will administer the
program with the co-operation of all
state departments of education and
the local public and private schools.
Approved models will be sent to
aviation units, ashore and afloat.
Expert Claims *V for
Victory* 1917 Invention
TULSA.?The slogan "V tor Vic
tory" was used in the last war. Phil
W. McMahon of Tulsa can prove it.
McMahon has collected propagan
da posters from all over the world.
He has placards from every nation
that was engaged in the last World
war and now has started collecting
new ones from the present conflict.
The "V for Victory" slogan was
used by the Allies in 1917, but then
it was a flag, the collector said.
Some of his choicest propaganda
paintings are in an art museum in
Tulsa. They have been assembled
in a separate room and praised for
their artistic value. Some of them
are elaborate affairs. They vary
from post-card size to six feet
square.
Recently he wrote to a public
minister in Italy asking him for
some late propaganda posters. They
never arrived because when they
reached the Bahama islands the
British censored them. Some from
Germany also have not yet been
delivered. He received Russian
posters on the first boat to (each
America following the beginning of
war between Germany, and the So
viet. One of the prize paintings,
McMahon said, is from China, sent
him by Mme. Chiang Kai-shek.
Army Plea Fail* to End
Mississippi'* Blue Laws
JACKSON, MISS. ? Despite an
army plea, Mississippi's 120-year-old
Sunday blue laws remained on the
books today. The house of repre
sentatives voted 66 to 63 against a
bill to legalize Sunday motion pic
tures and ball games. The action
killed the move for this biennial ses
sion.
Proponents read the legislators a
letter from Maj. Gen. Dan I. Sultan,
division commander at Camp Shel
by, urging passage as an aid to sol
dier morale.
Opponents' arguments closed with
a plea by a minister member. Rep.
J. D. Holder of Lee county, to vote
negatively "for just one reason?it
violates the law of almighty God;
it's morally wrong."
3 Axis News Agencies
Closed Down by Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO.?The Brazil
National Press council announced
the closing of the Transocean and
Stefani news agencies, German and
Italian organizations, and refusal of
permission for DNB, the official
German news agency, to continue
operations.
The measures were the outgrowth
of Brazil's break in relations with
the Axis powers following the Pan
American conference here.
The press council also announced
the cancellation of registration of
many newspapers previously pub
lished in German and Italian which
had switched to Portuguese under a
general ban last August on the for
eign language press. >
Farm Bloc in Congress
Threatens Wickard's Policy
'Highly Insistent' Group Fights to Prevent
. Surplus Commodities Corporation From
Selling Farm Products Below Parity.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNC Service, 1S43 H Street, N-W,
Washington, D. C. I
It is the equal of five long blocks I
from where Secretary Wickard's '
windows look out on the wide sweep I
of lawn in front of the Department
of Agricuture building, along the
winding roads to the White House. 1
But Mr. Wickard, except for cabinet 1
meetings, doesn't take that trip very i
frequently. It is not because he isn't i
as welcome as any other member of '
the President's official family. It is :
because he feels pretty sure if he
tends to his agricultural knitting he 1
won't be fired. ?
That can be said (and is said) in 1
spite of the fact that he is probably 1
the only member of the cabinet
whom the President ever told a i
large group of listeners that he >
could fire. :
That was at a White House press I
and radio conference when the Pres- 1
ident was being questioned concern
ing what seemed to be a conflict 1
between the secretary of agriculture 1
and Price Control Administrator
Henderson as to who was going to 1
regulate farm prices. He said if
they didn't agree he could fire them
both. The controversy has been for
gotten and Secretary Wickard, who
can talk only half as fast as Price ,
Secretary of Agriculture, Wickard
He is being annoyed . . .
Administrator Henderson and isn't
even a quarter as glib, didn't lose
any of his price controlling power.
But the past weeks have seen
those prerogatives attacked from
, another source?the ever-constant
source of annoyance for the depart
ment of agriculture?the farm bloc
j in congress.
Today it is the farm bloc which is
again annoying Mr. Wickard.
This highly consistent and highly
insistent group in'congress decided
it just wasn't going to let Mr. Wick
ard's Surplus Commodity corpora
tion sell farm products below parity.
First, they induced the senate to
pass a law agin' it. Then when the
President said he'd veto the meas
ure they decided to tack it on to
the war appropriation bill as a rider.
Then the {Resident said it was rep
rehensible to make an amendment
to an important bill when it wasn't
germane to the bill. Then the boc
decided to tack it onto the appropri
ation bill without which the depart
ment of agriculture cannot pay its
bills. The department, however,
seemed willing to face that calami
ty. They were willing to let the
President veto the bill so long as
they were able to carry out their
policy of selling commodities below
parity if they wanted to. (They knew
they could get another appropria
tion.)
"The farmers of the country un
derstand better what we are trying
to do than some members of con
gress," said one official to me.
This is his explanation:
"All we want to do is to sell grain
Low enough so that it will make it
more advantageous for the farmer
to raise livestock. We don't need
the wheat and com. We have plen
ty. We do need the meat. So does
England. If we decrease the price
of feed the farmer will automatical
ly raise more livestock and let na
ture turn the starches we don't need
into protein. And also into fats. We
need fats and oil more than ever
since the vegetable oils .of the Neth
erlands Indies have been cut off."
That is the way the department
of agriculture talks. "And," they
add, "the wheat and com lanner
Isn't going to lose anything. If we
sell our grain at 19 per cent below
parity he knows that he can get
that 19 per cent back, through bene
St payments for soil conservation.**
That is the explanation at the case
which sounds simple even to the
layman. But that isn't the way the
President explained it. He said that
if the department of agriculture did
not have its way the cost of eating
would be raised a billion dollars a
rear.
But the fact remains that the
President is satisfied that Mr. Wick
ard knows what he is doing and that
le is doing what the President
thinks is right.
Of course this doesn't make it
right, or if it did, it wouldn't make
it necessary that the people accept
it, if they prefer some other pro
gram. If the farm bloc has enough
of a following among the voters
it can write its own ticket. We are
still a democracy. It is a lot short
er from the ballot box to the con
gress than it is from the department
of agriculture to the oval office in
the executive wing of the Whits
House.
? ? ?
The Banc Rale
Behind War Censorship t
In Washington we have a censor
ship for press and radio and also
several propaganda organizations
which are censorship in reverse.
A great many letters which I re
ceive from listeners to my radio
program say: "Of course we realize
you are not allowed to say (this or
that)," or "we realize you have to
say (that or this)." But the surpris
ing thing is how seldom the "this or
that" which the listeners mention
are the things the censorship for
bids us to say, or the "that or this"
is ever even suggested by the propa
ganda organizations.
As a matter of fact I have had
only one direct contact with either
the so-called propaganda bureaus or
the censorship. A man wham I
know personally who is connected
with the Office of Facts and Figures
once called me up and said that he
would be able to give me some in
teresting information from time to
time. He never has.
As to the censorship, the radio
chains drew up their own code be
fore the censorship organization was
founded. It is based largely on com
mon sense and except for certain
specific details this code differs very
little from the rules which the cen
sor expects us to follow. Before I
go on the air a member of tbe news
staff of the Blue network reads over
my script. So far nothing has been
changed so far as I can recall.
Until we have official confirma
tion from the army or navy we are
not allowed to reveal any troop
movements, or any ship move
ments. Ship movements include
vertical movements downwards
(sinkings). When we repeat infor
mation contained in enemy state
ments we have to say they are ene
my statements and if possible we
balance them with some statement
from a friendly source.
Behind all censorship, behind all
government regulation of speech
and action in wartime is one rule:,
do not give aid and comfort to the
enemy. Specific information of a
military nature gives aid and com
fort to the enemy. We may feel
positive that the enemy can get or
has already obtained that informa
tion from soma other source but
that does not excuse us for repeat
ing it publicly. Certain things are
printed in the newspapers which the
radio cannot broadcast because ra
dio waves travel everywhere- and.
the reception is instantaneous. A'
weather report can be picked up by
a submarine a few miles off the
coast. That submarine could not
get a copy of a newspaper until it
made physical contact with the shore
or with someone who was there.
Beyond the field of factual infor
mation which might give aid and
comfort to the enemy lies another
field: the field of speculation, ru
mor, comment of a nature which
might be interpreted as giving aid
and comfort to the enemy. Here we
simply have to use our own judg
ments. Criticism of our government
or of the government at one at the
United Nations may give comfort,
if not aid, to the enemy. But I have'
never been called an the carpet for
reporting such criticism when It oo
curs. A