.
The Alamance Gleaner
? . . ? ^
Vol LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1942 No. 20
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
U. S.-Russ Pact Means 'Second Front'
And Co-Operation for Lasting Peace;
Yank Warships Join British Blockade;
New Pipeline to Supply Oil for East
(EDITOR'S NOTE?When opinions are expressed In these'eotfunns, (hey
are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
' ' Released by Western Newspaper Union.
How the United States can help Greece, now starving and prostrate
?nder Nazi role was among things discussed when King George II of
Greece conferred with President Roosevelt during the Greek monarch's
lying visit to Washington. Above, the President is shown with King
George on the White House lawn.
U. S.-RUSS PACT:
'Second Front'
In triphammer succession came
three moves by the United States,
Russia and Great Britain that prom
ised momentous consequences for
the prosecution of the war and the
safeguarding of the peace after
wards. ?
First, President Roosevelt an
nounced that the United States and
Russia had reached a "full under
standing with regard to the urgent
tasks of creating a second front in
Europe in 1942." Second, British
Foreign Minister Anthony Eden an
nounced that Britain and Russia had
signed a 20-year military and polit
ical alliance pledging peace and re
nouncing territorial greed. Third,
the United States and Russia signed
a mutual assistance agreement for
prosecution of the war against the
Axis, pledging increased lend-lease
aid and post-war economic co
operation.
Central figure in negotiating the
three-way understanding wps Soviet
Foreign Commissar V. M. Molotov.
The Russian statesman flew first to
London and then hopped the Atlan
tic to Washington, where under the
incognitb of "Mr. Brown" he was a
White House guest for a week. Not
until Molotov was safely back in
Moscow was the curtain of secrecy
about his visit lifted.
Significance of this latest diplo
matic coup for the United Nations
is that war activities will be greatly
speeded and the framework for a
durable peace based on economic
fair play provided.
OIL FOR EAST:
New Pipeline
Acting to avert a threatened fuel
oil famine in the East, the War Pro
duction board authorized immediate
construction of a 24-inch pipe line
from Longview, Texas, to the
Salem, 111., area.
The new pipeline will cut in half
the distance Texas oil has to travel
at present by rail and inland water
way to reach the Atlantic seaboard.
While it will have a capacity of
250,000 barrels a day, the pipeline
will not supply enough oil to lift
gasoline rationing restrictions in the
East, WPB officials declared. They
pointed out that shipments of oil and
oil products to the East have not
been meeting essential demands,
despite rigid rationing and that
stocks have fallen dangerously be
low safety levels.
RUSSIAN WAR:
Nazis Speed Drive
Stepping up the tempo of their
Russian offensive, Nazi armies and
air forces pressed attacks on three
major fronts. These included a
push from Kharkov in the Ukraine,
a drive against besieged Sevastopol
in the Crimea and an air attack on
Murmansk north of the Finnish sec- ,
tor. J
With completion expected by ,
December 1, the 550-mile pipeline i
will require 125,000 tons of finished I
steel. <
YANK WARSHIPS:
Join British Fleet
As land and air warfare in Europe
and Africa approached a critical
stage, the Atlantic ocean battle
theater crowded into the forefront
with the announcement that a pow
erful task force of U. S. warships
had joined the British home fleet.
Commanded by Rear Admiral Rob
ert C. Giffen, the American naval
force will help the British blockade
German-controlled Europe, guard
Allied convoys and hunt Axis sub
marines.
News that the Yank sea reinforce
ment had joined the British became
public in connection with a three
day visit to an English port by King
George VI, who boarded a U. S.
battleship and saw other warships
of the task force.
With British seapower scattered
in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean
and Pacific oceans, the arrival of
substantial help from the American
navy in the Atlantic area had sig
nificant implications. Important
among these was that the stronger
United Nations naval squadron now
would be able to keep closer watch
on the powerful Nazi warships lurk
ing in Norwegian waters.
NAZI TERROR:
In Czechoslovakia
In a reign of terror following the
death of Reinhard ("The Hang
man") Heydrich at the hands of
Czech patriots, Nazi Gestapo execu
tioners slaughtered the entire male
population of the Czech village of
Liditz, banished its women and chil
dren to concentration camps and
burned it to the ground.
The Axis-controlled Prague radio
charged that the village had har
bored Heydrich's killers. The town's
population was estimated at 483,
indicating that upward of 150 men
were shot. Liditz was located a few
miles west of Prague and not far
from where "The Hangman" was
fatally wounded by patriots while
driving along a winding road.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS:
Jap Footholds?
While the navy department denied
Axis claims that Japanese navy and
army units had established footholds
on the inhabited areas of the Aleu
tian island chain stretching 1,500
miles across the north Pacific from
Alaska, further reports of the extent
of the American air and naval vic
tory at Midway island came from
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, com
mander in chief of the Pacific fleet.
Admiral Nimitz intimated that of
a Jap invasion fleet of more than 30
vessels engaged in the battle, prob
ably half were casualties. Besides
heavy loss in warships and trans
ports, the enemy's toll of manpower
ran into thousands.
That the Tokyo government was
preparing the Nipponese public for
news of the sea reverse was indicat
ed by reports that an official spokes
man had warned a radio audience
not to expect that "all battle news
eould always be favorable."
FOOD VS. ARMS:
Anglo-U. S. Pool
The announcement by President
Roosevelt and Prime Minister Wins
ton Churchill of the establishment
of two combined boards to integrate
Anglo-American arms production
and plan the most effective use of
food resources of the United Nations
had a two-fold significance:
1. It meant that the United Na
tions' war effort would be speeded
up tremendously by quicker produc
tion of essential materials and a
more efficient use of shipping
facilities.
2. It meant that careful plans
for the post-war world were being
laid, for the organization of the vast
resources of the United States car
ried into peace-time operations 1
could help solve international prob
lems of distribution, eliminate cut
throat competition and raise living
standards.
That both the arms production
board and the food board would
have the benefit of the best Anglo
American planning brains was evi
dent from their personnel. Donald
M. Nelson, war production chief
tain, and Oliver Lyttleton, British
minister of production, comprised
the production board. Claude R. ,
Wickard, secretary of agriculture,
was named American representa
tive on the food board, working with j
the Hon. R. H. Brand, head of the |
British Food mission.
Reduction of American food sur
pluses might become necessary,
President Roosevelt warned, .as a
means of alleviating hardships
abroad. One of the" objectives of the
food board, he said, is to distribute j
foodstuffs on a fair basis among all
United Nations.
BUMPER CROPS:
For U. S. Farms
Progress in the battle for all-out
food production was reported by the
department of agriculture which
predicted that all previous records
of United States farm production :
may be "considerably exceeded"
if weather conditions remain favor
able.
The department said most crops
were in better condition than at the
corresponding time last year when
the nation had one of the most boun
tiful harvests in its history.
A winter wheat production of
646,931,000 bushels was forecast. The
department, likewise, predicted a
spring wheat crop of 221,128,000
bushels. If harvested, a crop of
this size once more would far exceed
domestic requirements of about
700,000,000 bushels of wheat a year
and add substantially to the nation's
food stockpile for war purposes and
peace-time planning.
WAR PRODUCTION:
Ahead of Schedule
Donald M. Nelson told the world
that America is "doing the impos
sible" with war production exceed
ing all estimates.
The chairman of the War Produc
tion board in an address before the
graduating class of the University of
Missouri confidently declared:
"This year we shall make 60,000
airplanes and by the end of the year
DONALD M. NELSON
. . Impossible is accomplished."
we shall be picking up speed for an
even greater production. We have
found our total production of war
goods is higher than we had any
reason to suppose it could be when
blue prints were first prepared, for
war plants."
But it was of the post-war period
of opportunity as well as the con
flict itself that the round-faced pro
duction boss spoke.
"If this war is costing us a fearful
price," he said, "it is also develop
ing for us new technique and new
abilities. It is placing at our dis
posal an industrial plant?a set of
developed resources?that will be
beyond price.
"Poverty is not inevitable any
more. The sum total of the world's
greatest possible output of goods,
divided by the sum total of the
world's inhabitants, no longer
means a little less than enough for
everybody."
Food Quality Handicaps
British War Production
It's a Battle of 'Periscopes vs. Proteins' as
England Feeds Soldiers and Workers
On Depleted Meat Supplies.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, 1343 H Street, N-W,
Washington, D. C.
While farmers with their thoughts
on the crops keep an eye on the
weather these days, members of the
department of agriculture are
watching the eastern Atlantic for
periscopes. The United States has
the food Britain needs, but not the
ships to deliver it. So it has become
a case of periscopes versus pro
teins.
"Give us more protein for muscle
tone," say British officials, "and we
can step up our war production IS
to 20 per cent."
Remember that meat is protein
and that Great Britain for the last
three years has turned two million
acres of meadow under the plow.
It was a painful thing for the nation
which for a hundred years has been
a master at animal husbandry and
raised the finest bloodlines of eat
ing animals in the world, to sacri
fice that industry. But an acre of
land in wheat or potatoes produces
more food in quantity than an acre
devoted to grazing. Quantity isn't
lacking in the British diet today, but
according to reports from British
sources, quality in certain tissue
building elements has had to be sac
rificed and now the British people
are beginning to use up their bodily
reserves.
The British have (our million sol
diers of their own that have to be
fed and also a huge army of war
workers. The American food-for
freedom campaign is well under
way and with the good weather that
seems ahead, this year's crops ought
to turn out all that is needed at
home and abroad with careful con
servation. But the ship crop hasn't
done so well. That is why the de
partment'of agriculture is scanning
the eastern waters as anxiously as
the navy department these days and
the British are looking even more
wistfully toward our shores.
At this writing there is another
burst of optimism in some official :
quarters regarding the scotching of
the submarine menace. And hope
is pinned on another crop besides
those the farmers are growing. It I
is the crop of small submarine
chasers and new destroyers which
it is expected will have reached <
sizable proportions within the next
30 days. And with this crop it is
hoped that a crop of subs will be
harvested?and then perhaps John
Bull will begin to get some more
of the proteins and vitamins he
needs that are hopping out of Amer
ican soil now.
? ? ?
World Highways
Of the Future
"It's time to tear up all your
Mercator projections!"
That remark, which may sound a
little technical to the layman, was
delivered by a tall, tense officer as
a little group of us sat at a luncheon
in a Washington hotel the other day.
He was almost fervent In hia tone
and his eyes flashed. He happens to
be in work considerably removed
from aviation, but he believes in
the future of the skies and the work
he is doing deals closely with to
morrow.
At this point I might explain, if
you are rusty on your topography,
that a Mercator projection is a
kind of map which makes you think
the nearest way to Japan from Chi
cago is by way of San Francisco
when it would actually be shorter to
cut through Milwaukee and Duluth.
These projectors show the cover of
the globe stretched out flat. And
when you stretch out the cover of
sphere you throw all the space, the
land and water distances, out of
proportion except along the equator,
and by the time you get up to the
far north the arctic countries are
shown many times as big, and the
distances many times as great as
they really are. You can see that.
For instance, two places on the
equator 2tt inches apart on the
Mercator may be 800 miles apart.
Thirty degrees north of the equator,
two places on the same map which
are really 800 miles apart, are
stretched out so they appear three
inches apart. The farther north you
get the more countries and the
spaces are stretched. Naturally,
that makes all directions cock-eyed.
Japan by airline is a lot nearer
to America than the Philippines.
By air, as well as sea, Australia,
where most of our forces and sup
plies in the Far East aVe now lo
cated, is farther from San Francis
co than Japan is.
The Global War
The President has spoken of this
war as a global war. The sooner
we begin to realize that the high
ways are skyways traced around a
globe and not along the false pro
portions of a Mercator projection,
the sooner we will realize what our
task is, today and tomorrow.
The mass raids on Germany have
shown the course that the Allied
Nations are going to follow to vic
tory. That course is the shortest
course. Germany gave us the hint
when she built her once unbeatable
Luftwaffe but didn't have what
America has to carry out the idea.
This war is what H. G. Wells pre
dicted 30 years ago in his prophetic
novel, "The War of the Worlds,"
namely, a war in the air. And after
the war the nation which controls
the skyways and the stations (the
bases) will control the world.
Today, the reason why the United
Nations are stymied in their effort
is because the seaways are closed.
Not because the Axis has blockaded
the seas, although the submarine
is still unconquered in the western
Atlantic and men in Germany are
decreeing that Americans can't run
their cars because they in Germa
ny won't let us have the gasoline.
The Allied Nations can't build ships
faster than they are sunk but only
recently has the old-fashioned meth
od of conveying men and goods by
sea and rail been questioned and air
transport taken seriously as a sub
stitute.
Before the Russians ever trained
a single parachutist, before the Ger
mans developed the technique of
landing men and equipment be
hind the enemy lines from the air,
an American sergeant had patented
a method of landing machine gun
units from parachutes. Before the
first Germans dropped their men
into helpless Holland, Americans
had been dropping men in asbestos
suits from planes to fight forest
fires.
We have been afraid to take the
shortest cuts. Perhaps the new
mass raids over Germany will
awaken us. If they do, a new world
in the skies opens, a world where,
after all these years, we will admit
finally that a straight line is the
shortest distance between two
points. And we will follow that line.
?Buy War Bonds?
Washington Today
In the month o( April 3,300 gov
ernment employees were trans
ferred from Washington to other
cities. Thousands of new govern
ment workers came here within that
period. Since then it is estimated
that the number of newcomers is
increasing.
That is a slight indication, re
duced to statistics, of the growing
importance of your capital which
today is more nearly the world's
capital than any other city. That is
one reason why a book whicficame
to me last night, written by one of
my colleagues, is a highly important
book for anybody who wants to
know the real Washington.
The book is called "Washington
Is Like That," a rather pert title
for a book that is anything but pert.
Rather, it is pertinent and the best
factual interpretation of the capital
and wrhat it stands for that I have
ever read.
Willard Kiplinger wrote it. He is
a reporter who was born in a small
towfa, understands the small town
viewpoint and makes his money
writing for big town folks.
Mr. Kiplinger, with the help of a
staff of news-getters, has learned
the art of getting facts and assay
ing them with mora objectivity than
most. That is why his book Is good.
It is complete and it is good.
"Washington," says Mr. Kipling
er, "is not a diamond sitting on a
piece of velvet, as some people like
to think it. Instead, it is a collec
tion of tools or implements to be
handled and inspected. People can
grab hold of them, see how they
are put together, and how they may
be used to make a better system.
I hope this book may serve as a '
training course?on tha use of the
tools in Washington."
You can "grab hold" of the facts
in Mr. Kiplinger's book. I hope they
wrill help you to use the "tools" he ?
tells about.
Sails Torn Ship
In Epic Voyage
Captain Tells of the Heroic
Battle of Marblehead,
Battered Cruiser.
AT AN EASTERN U. S. PORT.?
Capt. Arthur G. Robinson, captain
of the United States cruiser Marble
head, brought half around the world
despite gaping wounds from Jap
bombs, said that his ship underwent
three hours of incessant bombing by
at least 37 Japanese planes.
Interviewed in his office aboard
the ship amid the din of riveters and
workmen as her repairs proceeded.
Captain Robinson said the ship had
less than a 50-50 chance of getting
back during the first eight or ten
hours after the attack in the battle
of Macassar strait.
The Marblehead was on a mission
under orders of a Dutch admiral to
intercept a large, well protected
Japanese convoy which was en route
to Macassar, the captain said.
"En route our force was intercept
ed by a large fleet of land based
enemy planes," he related. "The
ships scattered and then it was a
question of individual action.
"More than 37 Japanese planes
began the attack on us and the at
tack continued with three hours of
incessant bombing. We evaded
them pretty well, with the excep
tion of one unfortunate hit.
In Serious Situation.
"After we were hit, the ship was
in a very serious situation because
we were badly flooded, had two
fires, and the main deck was cov
ered with fuel oil and water. We had
difficulty moving the wounded. The
sick bay was completely demolished
and we had to Improvise a new one.
"Many of the men not detailed
pitched in and helped pull the
wounded out of the fire. Our steer
ing gear was gone and other hits
came while our gear was damaged
and we were turning in circles.
"The attack continued while all
hands were trying to stop the rush
of water. Anti-aircraft batteries
were blazing away. I was trying to
maneuver the ship as best as I
could. My reaction was fatalistic.
There we were going in circles and
that's all there was to It.
"We steered her with the motors.
We'd tickle her with the left pro
pellor and tlun with the right, and
when we had her straight we'd go
full speed ahead."
Sailed 13,000 Miles.
The ship, which lost 15 men killed
in the bombing, made port in the
Netherlands Indies, where tem
porary repairs were made, then pro
ceeded to Ceylon for additional re
pairs. Later at South Africa, the
ship was made seaworthy for its
trip back to the United States. Its
trip from the battle scene totaled
13,000 miles.
The skipper repeatedly praised his
officers and crew for their "courage,
stamina, and resourcefulness" and
their "continued cheerfulness." He i
spent 60 hours continuously on the
bridge without sleep during the bat
tle and subsequent fight to reach
port.
"Lieut. Comm. Martin J. Drury of
Jamestown, R. I., in charge of dam
age control saved the ship. We had
to have a bucket brigade of all hands
to supplement the pumps and the
men bailed without stopping for 46
hours. We steered 550 miles with
out a rudder."
Shouts of 'Figone' Now
Mean 'Come and Get It'
FORT F. E. WARREN, WYO.?
The cry of "chow" and of "Figone"
have the same meaning (or Company
I, Fifth quartermaster training regi
ment, quartermaster replacement
training center, at Fort Warren. It
means it's time to eat.
Private Frank Figone's father
owns a restaurant in Berkeley,
Calif., and Mr. Figone likes the
army so much he ships his son and
Company I whole crates of grape
fruit, oranges, apples, eggs and re
cently a roasted turkey.
When the boys cry "Figone," it
means a fresh shipment has just ar
rived from California and everybody
eats.
Tiro Rationer Hears
Advice His Office Gave
GRUNDY CENTER, IOWA.?How
ard Nickerson's most embarrassing
moment has to do with tires.
He was going along the highway
at 70 miles an hour when a police
man stopped him. The officer told
him it wasn't against the law to go
70, it was hard on the tires.
"How would you like to have me
report you to the tire rationing
board in Grundy county?" he asked
Nickerson.
Nickerson said he wouldn't like
that at all. Nickerson is chairman
of the Grundy county tire rationing
board.
Wartime Capital
Jammed With Girls
Housing of Fair Sex Seriout
Problem.
WASHINGTON.?Girls are people,
all right, but landlords in congested
Washington prefer men.
Inasmuch as 190,000 government
girls are already employed in the
wartime capital, outnumbering the
"eligible" men by maybe two to
one, the situation would be serious
enough even if the total were not
constantly growing.
The civil service commission, the
defense housing registry and the
Travelers' Aid society, after devot
ing a lot of thought to the question,
have concluded that landlords do not
like girl tenants because:
1. They are generally more trou
ble than men, require more "looking
after."
2. They do their laundry in the
bathroom, clogging drains, and caus
ing queues to form at the bathroom
door. They also swipe the land
lord's current for their electrie
irons.
3. They often bicker with each
other and the landlord over use of
the living room for entertaining
their boy friends.
Girls in a boomtown present other
difficulties. They tend, for one thing,
to gang up and "stick together in
the strange city," thus creating con
gestion, and producing "a grave
problem to the organizations at
tempting to meet their housing
needs," according to the civil serv
ice commission.
As for "stories of girls sleeping on
benches in railroad and bus termi
nals and of girls riding streetcars all
night because they were unable to
And a place to sleep," the com
mission said, "if such incidents have
occurred, they may be attributed to
the failure of these girls to go to
the proper agency for advice and
assistance."
Soldier-Sailor Is Back
In Navy at Age of 69
PEKIN, ILL.?Thomas W. Gardi
ner, who has spent more than 30 at
his 69 years in Uncle Sam's fighting
forces, is going back into the navy
with a big grin on his face.
Last July a routine letter notified
Gardiner, and all other men who
have had extensive navy experi
ence. that he might be subject to
recall. From that day on he lived
in hope that he could wear a sailor's
uniform again.
Gardiner, who retired in 1929 with
the rank of chief boatswain's mate,
was ordered on May 1 to report to
Chicago for a physical examination.
He got there the same day. He was
accepted and was ordered to report
to the Great Lakes Naval Training
station.
In the World war, Gardiner helped
chase submarines along the Atlantic
coast. He'd relish that assignment
again, but expects he'll be on duty
in some training station in this war.
In the Spanish-American war Gar
diner enlisted in the army but didn't
see any fighting. Then he re-enlist
ed for a three-year hitch in Montana
and Wyoming. After that he be
came a navy man, enlisting in 1902
and serving 27 years. ,
Australia Wheat Surplus
Eyed as Fuel for Autos
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA. ? A
representative of the Melbourne
Herald, after making a test run in
an automobile with a gas producer
powered by wheat instead of char
coal, thinks economic use is pos
sible of Australia's wheat surplus of
6,000,000 bushels, equivalent to
18,000,000 gallons of gasoline.
The inventor, M. J. Martin, a
chemical engineer, has driven a car
several months on grain mixed with
charcoal gas in a gas producer. A
bushel of wheat is equal to three
gallons of gasoline in mileage and
costs Ave shillings.
Pardon Almost Breaks
Up Missourian's Home
KANSAS CITY. ?Fred O. Reeves
walked into a barrage of questions
from his wife. The postman brought
a letter from Governor Donnell
granting Fred Reeves a pardon.
The former auto salesman, who'd
never been in prison, took the letter
to police.
They found the pardon was intend
ed for another Fred Reeves.
Free Legal Advice Given 1
Soldiers at Camp Stewart
CAMP STEWART, GA.-When a
soldier needs a lawyer?he's got
one. A soldiers' legal aid clinic,
composed of 15 lawyer-privates, is
functioning at Camp Stewart to aid
fellow-soldiers. Private Murray L
Greenbaum is chairman of the
group, which considers legal ques
tions soldly during off-duty hours
and charges no fees for its advice. J
? ? m