The Alamance Gleaner 1
- 3
Vol. LXVIII , ' GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1942 ' No. 13
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS By Edward C. Wayne
Impending Menace of Allied Invasion
Postpones German Spring Offensive;
Army Adds New Draft Classification;
Hero of Philippines Stages Repeat Role
(EDITOR'S NOTE?Whan ?pinion* are expressed In these columns, they
?re these of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
JITTERS:
Hit Japs, Nazis
Both Japan and Nazi Germany
were reported to be suffering bad
attacks of the jitters, the former be
cause of air raid expectations in a
country badly equipped to withstand
them, the latter because of the im
pending menace of an American
British invasion of Europe.
Reports had reached Norwegian
circles in London that several di
visions of new troops had been
rushed to Norway. It was known
that vast labor battalions were en
gaged feverishly in building de
fenses along the channel coast.
As to the Japs, they were said to
be having air raid alarms constant
ly, even when no enemy planes were
in sight. Many of these reportedly
had been caused by their own planes
in practice or patrol flights.
Believing the American ships
which raided the Jap mainland had
come from Eastern China, Japanese
planes had lashed out ataJiprious
towns there which might rtWe har
bored American bombers.
Unquestionably the raids upon
Nipponese cities were a serious blow
to Japanese morale. Their "sacred
soil" was not immune to outside at
tack.
The worriment believed to be suf
fered by Hitler over possible in
vasion thrusts was such, London had
said, to have caused a practical
abandonment of any offensive in
Libya or the Mediterranean front.
It was possible, they had declared,
that the German spring offensive
might be forced to be a spring de
fensive, and that the offensive might
be postponed until summer if put on
at all.
Many believed that if Hitler was
to win the war at all, it must be in
1942, and that the practical aban
donment of a grand-scale offensive
on all fronts at once was really a
confession of defeat.
GOP:
Comity, Co-operation
Following their Chicago conven
tion, the Republicans had gone back
to their homes somewhat surprised
to And themselves with a platform
of internationalism, to find that they
had abandoned isolationism and that
this program was written and put
over by Willkie, an ex-Democrat.
However, they went back resolved
to try their utmost to win a few elec
tions this year, and some of the
leaders Were frank in saying they
hoped for new life for the party
from the change of heart.
The national committee chairman
Joseph W. Martin Jr. said:
"TTie Republican party may well
be proud of its accomplishment. It
was a great day for the party when
the Willkie resolution was adopted."
Some observers had felt during
the battle against it that Mr. Mar
tin wasn't so pleased as he ex
pressed himself afterward. But in
the main the GOP was confident
and lively about it all.
The big paragraph in the plat
form was number three, which read:
"We realize that after this war the
responsibility of the nation will not
? be circumscribed within the terri
MARTIN AND WILLRIE
"A great day for the party."
zonal limits ol the United States,
that our nation has an obligation to
assist in the bringing about of an
understanding, comity and co-opera
tion among the nations of the world
in order that our own liberty may
be preserved and that the blighting
and destructive processes of war
may not again be forced upon us and
upon the free and peace-loving peo
ples of the earth."
Outside of this, the party pledged
itself chiefly to an attempt to hold
down non-war expenditures. I
DRAFT:
Has New Class
Instead of classifying men as ei
ther physically fit or unfit for mili
tary service along certain rigid
standards, the army had worked out
a new class, men who, if certain de
fects were corrected, would be
marked fit for duty.
This was a new designation un
der the Class I-A grouping. It will
be called "Suspended I-A."
In it will go men who have been
declared unfit for dental reasons be
cause of nasal obstructions, hernias
which can be repaired, or stomach
troubles correctible by dieting.
The new draft rules also oalled
for men to be sent to hospitals for
three-day periods if there was real
doubt about their physical ability.
There more detailed study could be
made, and perhaps some minor re
pair work done.
Once these men have been cor
rected physically, they will be sub
ject to re-examination by the army
medical staffs, and if marked O.K.
would be taken out of the suspend
ed list and put in full Class I-A.
BULKEEEY:
Hero Repeats
Not often is it in the cards for a
hero to stage a return engagement
on the field of valor, but this has
happened for Lieut. John D. Bulke
ley and his squadron of motor tor
pedo boats operating in the waters
of the Philippines.
In January Bulkeley's men had
daringly entered Subic bay and had
LIEUT. JOHN D. BULKELEY
Return engagement of a hero.
sunk a 5,000-ton enemy warship.
They returned the following day and
did it again.
This time Bulkeley's squadron had
darted by night in between a flotilla
of destroyers and discharged their
lethal torpedoes at a Japanese light
cruiser, which had been reported
badly damaged and probably sunk.
In this later foray he had had the
misfortune to lose two of his boats,
the PT 34 and the PT 35. The for
mer was forced ashore on the island
of Cebu and the crew presumably
made prisoner. The other was de
stroyed when trapped in the har
bor of Cebu to prevent its falling
into enemy hands.
Bulkeley, already holder of the
Navy Cross, was in line for more
honors. At the very time the re
port came through, from his home
in New York came word that he was
the father of a baby son, a brother
for the Bulkeleys' 18-month-old
daughter Joan.
LUEBECK:
Blown to Atoms
Neutral sources had reported in
Sweden the effect of the Royal Air
force's non-stop blitz in the form of
day and night bombings on one im
portant German port, the city of
Luebeck on the Baltic.
Swedes returning to Sweden from
this port described it as blown to
atoms. They said the people of
Luebeck had told of "torpedo
bombs" landing in the city, and lit
erally flattening whole blocks of
buildings.
Scarcely one stone was left on
another, they had reported. One big
shipping firm had written to a Swed
ish correspondent on a plain piece of
paper, saying their company's build
ing and docks had been totally de
stroyed. Not even a letterhead re
mained intact.
Seamen returning to Stockholm
reported to newsmen that very little,
if any of the port installations were
left, and that the destruction in the
town itself was "beyond descrip
tion."
LABOR:
Peace Is Hailed
WILLIAM B. DAVIS
He points with pride.
The chairman of the War Labor
board, a division of the production
board, William H. Davis, had issued,
a report hailing with pleasure the
figures on labor troubles since the
first of the year.
He cited the fact that strike stop
pages in war production had been
only 0.06 of 1 per cent, practically
a negligible amount.
Strikes during the first quarter of
1942, he said, had been only one
fifteenth of those during the same
period of 1941.
He said that the "no-strike" policy
of the board, which had been sold
to the major union leaders, had
worked out beautifully and that
there was no doubt about the suc
cess of the war production as long
as this condition was maintained.
At the same time, however, the
only rift in the peaceful lute of la
bor was the issuing of joint state
ments by Presidents Green and Mur
ray of the AFL and CIO, now
themselves at peace, attacking the
National Association of Manufactur
ers.
Both Green and Murray accused
the NAM of making disparaging
statements concerning the War La
bor board in a series of newspaper
advertisements.
This, they felt, was distinctly a
blow aimed at the solidarity of la
bor in the production setup.
FLEET:
Of France
Interesting discussions, most of
them theoretical, over the possible
future activity of the French fleet,
assuming that Laval was turning it
over to German uses either directly
or through Vichy, had reached the
press, some figuring the fleet an
important addition to Nazi might,
others saying it would be of littl^
help if any.
British naval authorities, pointing
to the experiences of their own han
dling of war vessels during wartime
said that when a ship was put in
fighting trim it could move 200,000
miles or more with only minor re
fitting.
But, they said, when ships have
been demilitarized?that is, laid up
as have the French ships for ex
tended periods of time, refitting
them for war duty is a big task.
This, they said, was especially
true of huge battlewagons like the
Dunquerque, giving the opinion that
it would take months, perhaps a
year, before she could be put in
true fighting condition.
PATENTS:
Formal Seizure
President Roosevelt had ordered
formal seizure of all enemy-owned
patents in the United States whether
they had been directly or indirectly
owned.
This was a climatic step following
the revelations of a series of pool
ings of foreign patents by American
large business concerns.
It had been revealed that a Phila
delphia concern, merely identified
by the state department as a "Ger
man National," had been shipping
chemicals from the United States to
South American blacklisted firms as
late as February, 1941.
That this company had paid out a
large sum in royalties to Germany
last year, and that this year, al
though no more had been paid, the
company was holding its royalties,
later to be sent to Germans.
That about half of the 1940 royal
ties were on a product indispensable
for the use of this country in build
ing planes to fight the Nazis.
This sort of activity was what
actuated the President in having or
dered the seizure of such patents.
Oddly enough, however, at the
same time as the facts about this
company were coming out, it was
stated that much more information
on the product had come from Ger
many to this country than had gone
the other way. One official said:
"I don't know what we would have
done about producing it for Ameri
can planes without this Informa
tion."
U. S. Dairymen Aroused
By Unionization Threat
New Farm Organization Protests Against Mine
Workers' Attempt to 'Wed Pick-Axe
And Milk Pail.'
By BAUKHAGE
? News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, 1343 H Street, N-W,
Washington, D. C.
John Llewellyn Lewis, one-time
American labor czar, still head of
the powerful United Mine Workers
union but otherwise pretty much of
a lone wolf, is trying to unite the
farmers and miners in one big un
ion, controlling all that rests be
neath the earth and all that blooms
above it. A sort of marriage of the
pick-axe and the milk pail. Both
honorable emblems but never seen
in the same shield before.
A lot of dairymen in New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ver
mont, Michigan and Minnesota are
pretty much excited about it.
They say that the attempt to or
ganize the "United Dairy'Farmers"
division of the United Mine Workers
is threatening the safety of the na
tion, to say nothing of their own
safety and their own property. Some
of them are worried enough to in
corporate as the "Free Farmers,
Inc." and subscribe money to "fight
to the end" against Mr. Lewis' ef
forts.
A number of the leading farm or
ganizations thought enough of the
matter to hold a series of meetings
to discuss it in Washington and to
prepare to testify before a congres
sional committee on the matter.
At the headquarters of the United
Mine Workers they will tell you that
all these unpleasant' remarks are
inspired by the milk trust. That
Herbert W. Voorhees, president of
the New Jersey Farm bureau, who
was elected president of the Free
Farmers, Inc., an organization
formed by farm leaders in the New
York milkshed to combat the UMW
in its attempt to organize milk farm
ers.
there is a no-strike agreement for
the duration so there is no danger
of strikes. That they are simply
fighting "big business" in the form
of the milk trust.
Three things are being attempted
by this expansive "District 50" of
the United Mine Workers union.
They are organizing first, the dairy
workers; second, the country truck
ers (who carry the milk and other
supplies to market) and, third, such
farm owners as will join.
Remedial Legielation Sought
I have talked with "District 50"
headquarters of the UMW; I have
talked with members of the depart
ment of agriculture; I have talked
with a former dairy farmer no
longer on the farm; I have talked
with a member of one of the farm
groups which have held a series of
meetings here in Washington who
are seeking "remedial legislation to
cure the ills of the union move
ment."
At District 50 they merely say
the movement is a great success:
that 33 district leaders representing
10 states who met here in Wash
ington to plan their intensive cam
paign are enthusiastic. I was told
that already 30,000 dairy farmers or
farm workers had been signed up.
That headquarters was getting in
quiries at the rate of a thousand a
week.
Members of the department of ag
riculture are staying out of this
whole business officially.
But most of them have farm back
grounds themselves and I imagine
they don't feel very differently from
other farmers who are not directly
affected. The ones who look on the
thing as a theory rather than a fact
?and it still is a theory at this
writing.
And these farmers simply say:
well, farmers and workers just never
seem to be able to work together.
They look at things differently. And
this applies to farm help as well
as farm owners. Because farm help
U farm bred, mostly. They are
sons or cousins or friends of farm
owners. They fust don't look at
things the way city folks do, who
never worked a farm or never cared
much about owning one.
And then they point to the efforts
of, the farm-labor party and the non
partisan league. Both just fell apart.
Farmer Steamed Up
The one man whom I talked to
who was really steamed up about
Mr. Lewis' new venture and actually
felt that the movement he was start
ing was dangerous had been a farm
er, too. He may be right.
He said to me:
"Farmers don't like this thing but
there are some discontented farm
ers who will sign anything if they
are mad. They feel that'the state
or the federal government is against
them. Pushing down prices. And
if this man Lewis could get them
to sign a union card, promising them
higher prices, and then force them
to deal only with help that had
signed up and ship their milk only
with truckers who had signed up,
then all the rest of the milk would
be 'hot milk' and it would be de
stroyed. And if Lewis got control
of the CIO again and got a few rich
people that thought they would get
a break out of the combination, they
might push him for election in 1942.
Remember the CIO contributed
$500,000 to the Democratic cam
paign fund in 1936."
He was worried.
Somehow I am not. I am not a
farmer but I know that nobody who
works close to the ground feels he
has to Join up and borrow help from
an organization. He is a lone fight
er. He is independent. The only
union that he believes in is the un
ion of hard work and the co-opera
tion of nature if she's willing. If
she isn't?spit on your hands and
try again.
I think Mr. Lewis is hollering
down the wrong rain barrel.
? ? ?
Economic Warfare Board
Goes on Warpath
The Board of Economic Warfare
is on the warpath at last.
About a year ago I wrote in this
column about economic warfare. I
said it was a very hush-hush propo
sition but plans of importance were
under way. It was being handled
then by the department of com
merce.
Later a Board of Economic War
fare was formed. Vice President
Wallace was put at its head. That
is about all most people heard about
it until Rep. Martin Dies charged
that a number of communists and
one nudist worked for it. The "nud
ist" proved to be a solemn econo
mist who.once wrote a book on that
intriguing subject which a high court
said was scientific and unobjection
able even if the pictures were a lit
tle bit Police Gazettish.
Then suddenly came a sweeping
order which turned over to these
gentlemen, who had been working
without any publicity, complete pow
er over raw materials. Just pre
ceding this order Secretary Jesse
Jones of the department of com
merce who had a great deal to do
with raw materials was questioned
sharply in congress as to just what
his progress had been.
The gist of the order was that the
Board of Economic Warfare had the
complete say as to what raw ma
terials were acquired by this coun
try, how they were to be acquired
and what essential materials, raw or
otherwise (excluding guns, muni
tions and planes) went out of the
country.
The policy of the acquisition of
raw materials is not, however, based
entirely on what we need. It is
partly based on what the Axis pow
ers need. And so these materials
will be bought, begged or seized
whenever and wherever necessary,
to keep ^hem out of enemy hands.
"For want of a nail the shoe was
lost, for want of a shoe the horse
was lost, for want of a horse?"
well, you know what happened. For
want of oil, or magnesium or alumi
num, or rubber, the most powerful
armies can fail.
And so we have at last consolidat
ed under one head, in one compact
body, the effort which is just as im
portant as the effort of men and
guns and planes and ships. The
Board of Economic Warfare is on
the warpath.
95 Per Cent of
'Wake' Useful
72 Household Items Listed
As Valuable to U. S. in
Fighting Foe.
CHICAGO.?Uncle Sam. in his
war-time role ol junk collector, can
use just about 93 per cent of the
stuff people are throwing away.
Some field workers of the federal
bureau of industrial conservation re
gard this estimate as conservative
in the light of industry's enormous
appetite for old rags, waste paper,
old rubber and scrap metals.
In every state and almost every
community they have begun cam
paigns to convince householders that
they can contribute far more to the
"salvage for victory" program than
a stack of newspapers or the wad
of tinfoil Junior has been saving
since he was six.
They want last year's license
plates and your old tableware.
They'll be just as pleased to get a
pair of worn-out galoshes or a sec
ond-hand bird cage. Grease from
the kitchen is on the conservation
list, and next it may be old bones.
Scrap Drives Successful.
Tin cans are about the only trash
that the bureau hasn't been able to
work into the program. They may
find a use for them before the war's
much older.
Slowly but steadily the campaigns
are showing results. In Illinois,
where State Salvage Director Na
thaniel Leverone said the program
had been especially successful, hun
dreds of persons are delivering
grease to their butchers, razor
blades to their barbers and empty
toothpaste tubes to the corner drug
stores.
A two-day drive conducted by the
Daily Pantqgraph, a Bloomington
(111.) newspaper, brought in 2,427
sets of old automobile license plates.
They weighed 1,820 pounds, and
scrap dealers estimated that when
the metal was put on the market it
would release enough virgin steel to
make 300 Garand rifles.
In the metal division, the cam
paigners put clothes hangers, pipe,
wire fencing, garden tools, kiddie
cars, garbage cans, fireplace equip
ment, sash weights, picture frames,
drain pipes, buckets, casters and
steel wool.
Sport Goods Can Help.
Rubber goods included gloves, car
and bath mats, balls and other
sporting goods, hose, and soles and
heels.
General collection figures are hard
to arrive at, but the Chicago sal
vage committee found out that, in a
five-week period this year, collection
of waste paper was up roughly 25
per cent to a total of 428,897 tons.
Another thing the conservation bu
reau's field workers are trying to
put across is the uses to which all
this salvaged material is put after
it is reprocessed and returned to
nrodurtinn
Paper, for instance: Surveys have
shown that practically all of the
arms and supplies going to Britain,
Russia and China are packed in
waterproof paperboard boxes. Army
ordnance plants alone use 30 tons of
paper a month to pack shells.
There are hundreds of uses tor
scrap iron and steel in the manufac
ture of tanks, airplanes, naval ves
sels, guns and ammunition. Twenty
per cent of our lead supply is de
rived from scrap. Copper goes into
brass casings for artillery, anti-air
craft and anti-tank cartridges and
shells. One variety of bomber now in
production requires two miles of cop
per wire for each plane.
Army Will Forward Mail
To Soldiers on Microfilm
WASHINGTON.?The army is set
ting up machinery to facilitate deliv
ery of mail to soldiers at distant
places by the use of microfilm.
In this process, letters to soldiers
are opened and photographed on
rolls of the film. The film will be
sent by airplane, after which each
letter will be enlarged and deliv
ered to the recipient. This procedure
is expected to save weeks over the
old way of sending.
Secretary Stimson said that the
army was handling 1,000,000 pieces
of mail a day, requiring 1,000 sol
diers in its own postal service.
How to Become Officer
In One Easy (?) Lesson
CAMP WOLTERS, TEXAS.-Pvt.
Walter Somers found it fun while it
lasted.
A clerk at headquarters. Private
Somers grabbed up a field jacket
and went on an errand.
Several enlisted men saluted him
smartly. He jokingly returned the
salutes. When he entered an orderly
room he was addressed as "Sir."
All was explained when he got
back to his office and found he had
accidentally picked up a jacket with
the gold bars of a second lieutenant.
Yank Wants Return
Bout With Japanese
Helped China as Bomber in
Sino-Jap War.
SHEPPARD FIELD, TEXAS.?
Dana Dodge wants to get a crack
at the Japs, but it will be a return
bout for him.
A private for Uncle Sam now, the
serious-eyed Dodge flew as a major
with the Chinese air force and used
to bomb Japanese troops by drop
ping buckets of hand grenades on
them. He is at this technical air
corps center awaiting transfer to ?
bombardier school.
Reading of the exploits of Ameri
can fliers in Burma, he recalls his
old outfit?"as romantic a squadron
as ever you'd find."
They came from all lands to fight
at Chungking and nothing was asked
of their past except their ability to
fly and shoot.
Dodge left the University of Cali
fornia with 14 others at the behest
of a Chinese friend.
In China he was a machine gunner
and bombardier with fliers whose
equipment was 80 obsolete planes.
Their duty was to protect thousands
of square miles of Chinese territory.
"The planes had fewer instru
ments than a modem trainer," he
said. "It took pilots with nerve
and ability to fly them. China was
fighting alone then and had to use
anything available."
Dodge returned from China im
pressed with the courage and in
genuity of the Chinese. Almost with
out armament production?after los
ing their coastal cities?the Chinese
fought a well-equipped army to a
standstill.
"Sure, thousands of Chinese died,"
Dodge said, "but life is cheap in
China and people are thinking of
saving their country, not their lives.
I never met a Chinese who wouldn't
gladly die if he were sure of taking
a Jap with him."
Course* of Pills Are
Charted by Scientists
IOWA CITY, IOWA ?The secret
of how a pill knows where to go to
stop the pain is out. The pill doesn't
know where to go.
It is for this reason that scientists
in the University of Iowa pharma
ceutical laboratories are working on
experiments to perfect a new pill
coating which will resist stomach
digestion until it passes into the in
testinal tract where it is needed.
Dean Rudolph A. Kuever says that
mechanical stomachs and actual
ones are being used to determine
where pills go and when they dis
integrate students are using their
own stomachs for experimentation.
They take harmless pills with dif
ferent types of coating and observe
the progress of the pills through
their bodies with a fluroscope.
Some diseases and illnesses can
be treated effectively only if the
pills do their job in the right places.
In a few months experiments will
reach a final stage, and we'll know
all about the ways of pills.
Rector Reads Law and
Gives Out Legal Advice
ST. LOUIS.?Ac Episcopal rector
doubles in brass for his St. Louis
congregation, acting as advisor in
things both legal and spiritual.
He is the Rev. Leighton H. Nugent.
The Rev. Mr. Nugent began study
ing law during the depression, be
lieving his knowledge would be a
practical means to aid his congre
gation. He practices now without
compensation and doesn't handle
cases which would require lengthy
court appearances nor cases for
those persons able to employ an
attorney.
He frequently appears in justice
of the peace courts, however, to
represent members of his congre
gation in matters ranging from acci
dent cases to eviction and debt pro
cedures. In addition, he draws wills,
aids widows in probating estates
and protects them from unscrupu
lous promoters.
Eat Properly and Live
150 Yean, Says Expert
BERKELEY, CALIF.?You can
live to be 150 years old, if you eat
right, according to Dr. Flora Rose,
retired dean of the Cornell univer- A
sity home economics department.
The 150-year life span can all be
enjoyed with vigorous health, too,
she said, if the proper diet is fol
lowed.
"Nutrition is the key to a life in
which one may enjoy the maturity
of experience with youthful vigor," !
she declared. >.
Dr. Rose's dietary chart to lon
gevity and good health includes
consumption of a pint of milk dally,
two vegetables, one green and the
other yellow and raw; two fruits,
one a citrus; and plenty of whole
grain bread. Vitamin concentrates
were recommended for persons who
lead sedentary lives.