The Alamance Gleaner
Vol. LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1942 No. 9
II
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne
U. S. Heartened by Naval Offensive
Against Jap Bases in South Pacific;
? Air Attacks on Port Darwin Continue
As Allies Strike Back in New Guinea
(EDITOR'8 NOTE?When opinions are expressed In these columns, they
are these ef the news analyst and not neeessarlly of this newspaper.)
???_ (Released by Western Newspaper Union. >
Dr. Herbert Vere Evatt, left, Australian minister for external affairs,
being greeted by Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles and Richard
G. Casey, British minister of state in the Middle East, at the Washington
airport. The selection of Casey, former Australian minister to Washing
ton, to serve in the British cabinet, raised a controversy between Aus
tralian Prime Minister John Curtin and Winston Churchill. The Aus
tralian government disavowed Casey as Australian representative.
ATTACK:
Navy Strikes Twice
A double-barreled attack by a
navy task force, the same which had
struck with devastating force on the
Marshall and Gilbert islands, had
been delivered on Wake island and
Marcus island, the latter only 950
miles from Tokyo.
The latter attack scared Tokyo so
badly that the city ordered blackouts
for several days afterward, it was
announced.
The delay in announcing these at
tacks apparently occurred because,
in the first instance, the navy force
was on the way from Wake to Mar
cus, and didn't want to "telegraph
its punch" on the latter island.
As to the second attack, the need
for delay was probably one of two
factors, either that the navy force
was moving on elsewhere, or else it
was on its way back to Pearl Harbor
for refueling and resupplying, prob
ably the latter, as the dispatches
came from there.
Considerable credit for the four
attacks, as the latter two must be
considered part of the general on
slaught which included the Marshall
and Gilbert islands, was given to
the commander of the force, Vice
Admiral W. P. Halsey.
In the first two the navy had lost
a number of planes, but in the lat
ter two battles, the only losses were
two planes, both shot down by anti
. aircraft fire.
Surprise had been an important
factor in both attacks, because at
Wake Island three four-motored sea
planes had been found and destroyed
before they got into the air, and at
Marcus island no air strength of any
kind was found.
It began to explain the need for
censorship?for the Japs had a near
ly completed airfield on the island,
and certainly would have had planes
there if they'd known our forces
were on the way.
Ringside Vieiv
One reporter, riding on an aircraft
carrier, reported that its ? planes
dumped 12 tons of high explosives
on Marcus island alone.
His ringside view of the signifi
cance of the battle was that it had
shattered an important link in Ja
pan's chain of island bases connect
ing the country with its southwest
Pacific theater of war.
Marcus also had been referred to
in dispatches as "Japanese Hawaii,"
being a base not only potentially
great for planes, but for ships as
well.
The Wake island attack was not
completely a surprise, as the navy
surface ships encountered a Jap
gunboat seven miles off the island,
and before she was sunk with one
broadside, she was able to flash
word to the shore that the "Yanks
were coming!"
The Marcus island attack was in
the darkness, but the Wake island
battle was in full daylight, the
shelling starting at 7:05 a. m.
Just how little good a blackout
does was shown at Marcus island,
where a flight of bombing planes
was sent over the island with flares,
lighting their objectives, and the
first few hits started such huge fires
that the other bombing flights need
ed no flares.
Shortly after the attack on Marcus
started the radio station went off the
air abruptly. It had been struck by
a demolition bomb and shot into the
sky.
AUSSIES:
See Turning Point
Whether the Japs were going to
turn aside from Australia and con
centrate on India had remained con
siderable of a mystery, but certainly
their attack on Australia's outposts
had been slowed to a point where
the Aussies began to see the "turn
ing point right around the corner."
Australian and American airmen
were carrying out almost non-stop
raids on New Guinea, the Solomons,
New Britain and other objectives
north of the continent, and their
daily reports of planes destroyed
showed that they were biting a con
siderable piece out of the Nipponese
strength in the air.
The Japs continued their bombing
attacks on Port Darwin, also on
Katerine, but the effectiveness was
showing a downward curve. Appar
ently the main Japanese objective
was Port Moresby, on the southern
end of New Guinea, a perfect hop
off point for air attacks on north
east Australia.
By land, through a big valley on
the island, they were approaching
the Australians' defense positions
around the Port, while through the
air, from Salamaua and Lae, they
had been raining bombs on the
town, attempting to soften it up for
attack by land.
It was at these two bases,
Salamaua and Lae that the Austra
lian and American bombers had
been concentrating their attack. And
the results had been favorable.
LABOR:
Co-operates in War ?
It was felt that organized labor
had made an important contribu
tion to winning the war, also to
peace in industry during the war ef
fort, by a decision reached simul
taneously by the A. F. of L. and the
C.I.O. to yield their demand for
extra pay for holidays.
The executive board of the C.I.O.
recommended to all its unions that
they forego all overtime pay for
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays
when such work was done within
the boundaries of the 40-hour week.
William Green of the A. F. of L.
at the same time issued a statement
that his organization had "assured
the government that it would waive
the double time payment for Sunday
and holiday work in all war indus
tries for the duration of the war."
Philip Murray, however, said he
wanted it clear that the unions
would not relinquish their detMnd
for overtime for work done on the
sixth or seventh days of the ordi
nary 40-hour work week, regard
less of what days they fell on.
The request, union men said, had
been made by President Roosevelt
and War Production Board Chief
Donald M. Nelson.
VOLUNTEERS:
Get 40 Planes
The initials AVG, American Vol
unteer group, or the "Tiger Fliers"
of the United States, still held the
spotlight of attention when it came
to knocking out Japanese planes.
Their latest exploit had been to
fly over the main Jap airdrome in
Thailand, Chiengmai, with such a
perfectly timed offensive that they
were able to shoot to pieces 40
enemy aircraft on the ground, be
fore the Japs could get the motors
warmed enough to get into the air.
INDIES:
New Losses Reported
In Battle of Java
The battle of the Indies was over,
but not dead, for in the daily news
came dispatches, some good, some
bad, telling more about it all.
One, for instance, had raised the
toll of the Battle of Java Sea for the
United States by admitting the loss
of two more "four-stacker" destroy
ers.
That they had partially escaped
had been learned when the an-'
nouncement said that they had last
been heard from in the waters south
of Java.
The Battle of Java Sea had been
fought almost entirely north of Java.
Favorable were the dispatches
which had begun to filter through
showing that Bataan was not the
only point in the southwest Pacific
where land resistance was continu
ing, for the Japs were reported be
ing forced to retreat from some of
their positions in Sumatra.
That the Aussies were cognizant
of this fact had been seen in Prime
Minister Curtin's message to the
Dutch to hang on, that aid was com
ing to them in the farm of an Aus
tralian and American offensive.
It was of the same tone as Mac
Arthur's words to his men at
Bataan, fighting under General
Wainwright, that "I came through
the Jap lines, and I'm coming back
again."
CONDUCT:
Strange Union Case
One of the strangest cases in the
annals of war work and organized
labor had occurred in Detroit, where
a girl had been accused by her
fellow-workers.
This young woman, Genevieve
Samp, 25, had a war job in a Detroit
plant, and the charge was that she
had been guilty of "conduct unbe
coming a union member."
Technically she had been guilty,
the union said, of causing trouble
by disparaging the efforts of her
fellow workers.
Members of the union had said if
she was absolved, those bringing
the charges would face trial.
The girl said this was what oc
curred: She had had the job of
packing in boxes certain gadgets
which came down a series of chutes
from automatic inspection ma
chines.
The other girls were handling
two chutes each, she and one other 1
girl were handling three each. Miss
Samp said "One girl squawked
about me being a job-killer." She
said she told the girl it was easy
to handle three chutes. Wise-cracks
went back and forth, she said, and
she was suspended.
PARTS:
And Profits
An aircraft parts concern, the
Jack and Heintz company, makers
of airplane starters, which held
$58,000,000 in government contracts
WILLIAM S. JACK
A tilver-lined aftermath.
after being organized in 1940 with
$500 capital had furnished the na
tion's readers a brief scandal, then
'a silver-lined aftermath.
Testimony before a congressional
investigating committee revealed
that the concern distributed $650,000
to workers last Christmas, and that
Jack's secretary was paid $39,356
last year and $18,295 for the first ten
weeks of this year.
Some of this Washington could
understand, but they questioned pay
ment to the company's comptrol
ler, a young man who came to work
for $3,600 and 46 days later was
handed a bonus of $11,000, and a
few weeks later given another $1,200
bonus and a $1,200 salary raise.
The partners came back from
Washington, announced a voluntary
cut of Jheir profits to 6 per cent, and
that their own salaries would be
cut to $15,000 a year each.
Their employees welcomed their
return from Washington with loud
cheers, and the banging of their
tools on their benches when the part
ners said the bonus system to em
ployees for heavy production would
be continued.
War Munitions
Made in Caves
Chinese Army Supplied by
Hidden Workers Who
Prove Efficient.
WASHINGTON. ? How Chinese
workers, inspired by patriotic de
termination to defend their country
against Japanese aggression, are
managing to meet the highest Amer
ican machine-shop standards in the
manufacture of war equipment in
factories housed in caves and dug
outs, was described today by A.
Manuel Fox, United States repre
sentative on the five-man Chinese
stabilization board.
Mr. Fox, who returned recently
from an eight-month stay in China,
is here mainly in connection with
the $500,000,000 loan that the United
States is granting to China in addi
tion to the $200,000,000 that Great
Britain has set aside for the same
purpose.
The United States loan, because of
both its size and the speed with
which it was granted, will have a
most reassuring effect in China, Mr.
Fox said. It will be hailed, he said,
as further evidence of American
confidence in the Chinese nation and
will have important effect in main
taining the value of the yuan.
Prices Increase.
Though there is nothing like un
controlled inflation in China, Mr.
Fox said, prices of manufactured
articles have increased because of
bombing and the cessation of im
ports. A pair of custom-made shoes,
which cost $16 six months ago, cost
$24 now. A trip by ricksha that
cost only a few cents a year ago
costs eight Chinese dollars today.
Food prices, however, have been
kept down by large government pur
chases of foodstuffs combined with
the levying of taxes in kind, which
assured the government of ample
stocks until next September, with a
bountiful harvest in sight, Mr. Fox
said.
Anoiner purpose ol the loan, he
pointed out, will be to foster in
creased industrial and agricultural
production. The government, which
has difficulty in finding the liquid
assets because of war demands, will
be able to grant credits to small
manufacturers who, in little arse
nals all over unoccupied China, are
turning out munitions. There is very
little probability that the loan will
be used to pay the Chinese armies,
Via H or*] i rn/^
Chinese Morale High.
When he left China by a circuitous
route, in the course of which he
traveled more than enough miles to
go half way around the world, Mr.
Fox saw munitions pouring up the
Burma road and Chinese soldiers
pouring down. Chinese morale was
high and there was complete confi
dence in the successful outcome of
the war, especially now that the
United States is in it, he reported.
Mr. Fox said he thought the phys
ical transport of gold or silver bul
lion to China to implement the loan
would be unnecessary. The official
rate for the "fapi," the local cur
rency in Chungking based on the
Chinese dollar, is about 20 to the
American dollar. On the "black
market" the rate is 40 to the dollar,
but government control is so effec
tive that the market is very thin.
Perfect Pearl, Formed
In Coconut, I* Found
MIAMI, FLA.?A perfect pearl
formed within a coconut, a rare
wonder of nature, is on display here
to guests of Dr. David Fairchild,
founder of the Fairchild tropical
gardens. Its structure is like an
oyster pearl's, except that "it is
formed up in the sunshine of a tree
top instead of the slime and mud of
an ocean bed."
Dr. Fairchild said a Chinese copra
buyer gave him the pearl in Febru
ary, 1940, when he was on an ex
pedition to Celebes, Dutch East In
dies. He said there are only 20 or
25 in the world.
Explaining the growth. Dr. Fair
child said:
"Everybody knows that a coconut
has three eyes. If that nut con
tains an embryo, the young plant
cannot emerge. In some strange
way it begins a chemical action
which builds up layer after layer of
carbonate of lime?the pearl."
U. S. Army Declares Eire
Out of Bounds for A.E.F.
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRE
LAND.?The Belfast telegraph said
that United States army headquar
ters in Northern Ireland had issued
orders making Eire "out of bounds"
for the American troops.
British troops are permitted to
cross the frontier from Northern.
Ireland in civilian clothes and many
unofficially spend their leave from
this blacked-out area among the
lights and well-stocked, restaurants
of nonwarring Eire.
Crush Nerve and
Paralytic Can Walk
Doctors Tell of Marvelous
Results of Surgery.
LOS ANGELES.?Mason Hohl, 18
years old, was given a perfect rat
ing in his medical examination at
the University of California at Los
Angeles. Doctors probably wondered
how he got that two-inch scar on
his right leg, just below the knee.
But they didn't ask.
Young IJohl didn't mention that
it was his only physical reminder
that he barely was able to stumble
along only 18 months ago, bady
crippled by infantile paralysis.
Now he's a member of the
R.O.T.C. unit and walks and runs
as easily as any of his fellow cadets.
Dr. Anthonie van Harreveld and
Dr. Harvey E. Billig Jr., a lieuten
ant in the navy medical corps, told
how they discovered a polio treat
ment which effected marvelous re
sults on five patients.
The treatment consists of crush
ing an entire nerve, degeneration of
which caused paralysis in the mus
cle. As the nerve fibers struggle
to re-establish connection with the
muscle, they grow and multiply
by division. Thus they eventually
motivate not only the muscle fibers
which the nerves supplied before
the crushing but ffiany times that
number.
Hohl and the next three patients
underwent operations in which in
cisions were made on their legs.
The fifth was a 42-year-old woman
who became an infantile paralysis
victim in 1904. Instead of surgery,
manual pressure was exerted
against the femoral nerve in the
thigh. Muscles supplied by the nerve
have improved so much that she
now can straighten her knee.
The next step is to determine to
what extent manual pressure will
crush nerves and thus obviate sur
gery.
Briton Who Painted 'SOS'
To Free Ship Get* Medal
LONDON. ? Thomas Huggett, a
steward aboard the German-cap
tured 8,046-ton tanker San Casimiro,
received the British empire medal
(or his (eat a year ago in surrep
titiously painting a three-(oot high
'SOS" deck sign, which enabled
British patrols to recapture the ship. |
The San Casimiro was taken by
the German battleship Gneisenau
last March in the Western Atlantic,
and a prize crew under Lieut. Otto
Grenz was put aboard her.
As the tanker neared England en
route to a German-held port, a Brit
ish plane (rom the aircraft carrier
Ark Royal flew over. Mixing a paste
ot flour and water Huggett evaded
the prize crew, (ound a bit ot un
inhabited deck and painted his big
sign. When the Nazi commander
discovered it, he told Huggett:
"My compliments. A nice job.
Now scrub it off."
But a British plane had spotted
the sign, and in a short time the
British battle cruiser Renown ap
peared on the horizon and recap
tured the ship.
Blackout for Hen House*;
Normal Light for Laying
BERKELEY, CALIF. - Poultry
men who for years have illuminated
their poultry^houses in winter to
fool the hens were advised to dis
continue the practice during the war.
W. E. Newlon, a specialist in poul
try for the agricultural extension
service of the University of Cali
fornia, explained that blackouts
made it necessary to turn out the
hen-house lights now and then. This
confused the hens even more than
the continuous wintertime illumina
tion, and its results were less fortu
nate.
Artificial light, he said, advanced
the period of peak egg production
but it did not boost the total annual
production and its irregular use was
detrimental. During the war emer
gency, he declared, "total egg pro
duction is more important than sea
sonal production."
Just Yell for Smith and
You'll Get Air Warden
PEORIA.?A new civilian defense
problem?the Smiths?has arisen in
a five-mile-square area embracing
East Peoria and its suburbs, in
Tazewell county.
Residents of a trio of adjacent
locations there are wondering how
to avoid Smith-confusion when they
start yelling for their chief air-raid
warden during any potential aerial
bombings. Claude Smith, Clarence
Smith and Clyde Smith are the chief
wardens for, respectively, Creve
Coeur, East Peoria and Washington
road, a highway connecting five
thickly populated subdivisions.
None of the Smiths have middle
initials, nor are they related. All
three are First World war veterans. (
Administration Worried
By Specter ot Inflation
Idle Dollars Source of Concern as Secretary
of Treasury Studies Methods to Prevent
Spiraling of Prices.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU service, 1343H Street, N-W,
Washington, D. C.
At the great pillared building next
to the White House, on whose classic
roof the soldiers walked night and
day, they have almost forgotten the
red letter day in their history,
March 15?when the greatest har
vest of taxes ever collected poured
in the vaults of the United States
treasury.
In his office overlooking the park
Secretary Morgenthau is already
deep in another problem. He knows
that his tax collecting venture of
1942 was a failure in one respect. It
left 97 billion dollars rattling around
in the nation's pocket and only 69
billion dollars worth of things to
spend it on.
In spite of tax increases, defense
bond sales and a tendency of some
people to put something in the bank
the experts say there will be left
about 20 billions of dollars with no
place to go. That is a prescription
for inflation, for idle dollars will
compete for scarce goods. Some in
flation we are going to get no mat
ter what is done to stop it. That
means higher prices where they will
hurt and the prospect of the bump
that follows the boom when the
things that go up have to come
down.
You could see how worried the ad
ministration was when the Presi
dent, who has had a lot to say about
spiraling of wages and prices but
has never actually done anything to
?top wage increases, admitted at a
press and radio conference recently
that a plan for putting a ceiling on
wages was under study.
Mrs. Roosevelt had let the cat out
of the bag in her column and the
President couldn't very well deny
the soft impeachment. Regulation
of wages is one partial check on in
flation. Another is an iron-bound
price control so tight that people just
couldn't use their money to bid up
costs. Another is taxation so heavy
there wouldn't be any more money
to spend than there are goods to
buy.
none ui uiese extreme tuuises is
likely to be taken. But there will be
higher taxes. Mr. Morgenthau is
worrying about that now. Trying to
work out an equitable levy.
There will be some price control.
There will be increased effort to sell
defense bonds. There will be more
rationing, some pressure to keep
down wage rises. But there will be
some inflation.
The result will be to bring the war
home. But what will really make
the American people aware that we
are in a period of sacrifice is not
paying more for what they get but
not being able to get the things we
are able to pay for. Some things
can't even be rationed because
there won't be anything to ration
when the army and navy get what
they need.
? ? ?
Line*!
Assembly and Otherwise
I remember learning in school that
a straight line was the shortest dis
tance between two points. Easy to
define, hard to draw without a ruler.
The next lines that interested me
were the ones on the gridiron. Then
there was World War I and there
were the "front lines." And as a
private then the other line which in
terested me most was the mess line.
Very important.
It was much later that I heard
about assembly lines. Mass produc
tion I heard about at the same time.
Assembly lines and mass produc
tion were the things that were put
ting America first as the world's
business man. They were the things
that gave our workmen and our
farmers and our clerks and news
paper men and firemen all a chance
to go to work in gas-buggies while
some of our counterparts in Europe
and Asia still walked, or drove oxen.
Assembly lines. The Second World
war came along and America was
way behind its enemies in prepared
ness, in production of war materi
als. We had led the world making
nice things, things that made life
easy. We were way behind when it
came to making death easy.
The other day I was invited to
take a trip to California with other
newswriters to see something else.
It was just before the last draft
drawing. But it had to do with con
scription for military service?con
scription of the assembly line. That
ingenious institution which has been
used to turn out the nice, friendly,
peacetime gadgets has been adapt
ed to turn out a huge, unfriendly,
wartime machine, the "B24," ace of
bombers, the biggest thing ever
made on an assembly line. Made
that way not because it was cheap
but because it was fast.
People had been saying that if
we could only make planes on the
assembly line we would soon catch
up with and pass the Axis which had
been making planes.while we were
still saying we didn't have to worry
about Europe's wars. But, they
said, planes were too big, or too
complicated to turn out this way.
As usual, however, American genius
which made typewriters and electric
ice boxes and flivvers and radios,
found a way to make the big bomb
ers by the same method.
Come with me and visit the Con
solidated Aircraft ?lant in Califor
nia.
It's hard to get in because the
government doesn't want the enemy
to know what is being done.
You have to get a pass and you
have to get by soldiers and armed
police and secret service men and
special guards. You have to walk
by a lot of very business-like looking
gunpits and anti-aircraft.
When you get inside there is a
cheerful bustle. The workers all
look like homefolks, all U. S. citizens.
I'll skip the part of what happens
first in the "sub-assembly" and take
you right to the head of the main
assembly line. There is a low plat
form on wheels. The wheels fit a
wide gauge track. Great cranes
swing three ungainly shapes into
place, until all rest on the platform.
One is the airplane's "nose." An
other is the center wing section.
Another, the fuselage (the tail).
The parts have been built separately
and they are just empty "skins" of
metal sheets over the bracing struts.
They are brought together and a
huge steel framework, the "mating
jig," closes over them, unites them.
The crane lifts the jig away. There
is left the empty body of the great
plane. Later, when it rolls off the
other end of the assembly line it will
have a 110 foot wing spread and will
weigh 28 tons.
Now it rests, with stuDOy wings,
hollow and impotent, on its rolling
platform. It is on the first "station"
in the line. The moment the mat
ing jig has departed with its blessing
the crew of workers assigned to
station No. 1 leap upon it.
From now on I cannot reveal the
details of what happens as this
growing structure moves on from
station to station and at each one
a new crew adds the things that are
needed until the empty shell has
become a throbbing creature, able
to mount into the air and sail away.
This strange warbird with all its
intricate fittings from the delicate
wiring in its switchboxes to its huge
engines feels the expert touch of a
woman's hand at many stages of its
growth. There are some things that
women can do better than men,
some things that some women can
do as well as some men. I am think
ing of a husky former farm girl I
saw balancing a riveter that it was
all I could do to lift.
"I was the one who always had
to fix the tractor on the farm," she
told me, "I've found the work 1
like."
Another grandmotherly old lady
worked at the delicate wiring of the
switchbox.
She looked as contented as if she
were crocheting.
One hundred thousand parts, ex
clusive of the nuts, bolts and rivets,
go into these great machines. Four
hundred thousand man-hours of
work go into each. I wish I could
tell you bow often one of those
bombers rolls off the end of that
assembly line. I can't because it
is a military secret.
All I can say is "many" a month.
I was going to say "plenty" but that
would not be correct. We are not
making "plenty" and we won't be
until we have so many and so many
fighter planes to protect them and
so many ships to carry them on that
they outnumber the enemy every
time we choose to attack.
But we have the means of making
"plenty." We have already har
nessed that means to the war
chariot, the army and the navy have
taken over the "lines," and we are
on our way.