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The Alamance Gleaner .. VoL LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1942 No. 24 WEEKLY IVEWS ANALYSIS Nazis' Drive Into Don River Sector Endangers Rich Caucasus Oil Fields; Jones Warns U. S. of Inflation Peril; FDR Says Tire Seizure Is Possible (EDITOR'S NOTE?When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) Released by Western Newspaper Union. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (left), receives report from General Navarini, commander of Italian forces supporting the Nazi armies in Egypt. The picture, made after the German victories in Libya, was re ceived from a neutral source. RUSSIA: Nazi Menace Breaking through the Russian front east of Kursk and Kharkov, a Nazi armored assault had driven 100 miles into the upper basin of the Don river and given Adolf Hitler his first significant success in his sum mer offensive against the Reds. With both sides throwing in all available manpower and equipment, the greatest armored battle in his tory raged. To hard-pressed Marshal Timo shenko it must have seemed that he faced more disastrous threats than he could meet. Although coun terattacking gallantly and fighting grimly, the Red forces had been forced steadily back. Violent com bat had centered around Voronezh, ? key link between Russia's central and southern armies. And the goal, as before, was the rich oil fields of the Caucasus to the southeast. Possession of this prize would mean unlimited fuel for Hit ler's mechanized legions. Two immediate targets of the Nazi offensive were the Don river, one of Russia's chief transportation arteries, and the Moscow-Rostov railway which parallels the Don and feeds much of the Soviet's indus trial and military machine. Meanwhile in Egypt, Marshal Rommel's headlong drive had been stopped by the British under Gen eral Auchinleck. Refusing to be bot tled up in stationery fortresses, the "Auk" had chosen his own battle ground when he turned on the Nazi army. The site was a narrow fun nel-shaped front between El Alemein on the seacoast and the Quattera marshes 40 miles inland. Here, aid ed by reinforcements, fresh equip ment and slashing blows by the RAF and their American flying Allies, he had brought to a halt the Nazi steamroller headed for Alexandria and the Suez canal, i INFLATION: Perils Revealed Like a stern pedagogue pounding the three R's into the skulls of his scholars, gray-haired Jesse Jones, secretary of commerce, read the American people a lecture on the ABC's of economics. His theme: The dangers of in flation. Mr. Jones said that the American people will have "over $30,000,000 more income in 1943 than the value of the things for which the money will be spent" and termed this "a potential 'inflationary gap' greater than any the world has ever known." The secretary's remarks followed hard on press conference warning by President Roosevelt that it would be necessary for Americans to adopt a national economic policy which would control inflation. Among maxims Mr. Jones laid down were: , "No business man or industrialist can expect higher prices for his products without paying higher prices for having them made." RUBBER: Tire Confiscation? The administration's nation-wide rubber hunt had produced disap pointing results. Only a portion ot the hoped-for scrap rubber stock pile had been turned in and mean while 30,000,000 American motorists continued to roll along on steadily thinning tires. Hence it was not a surprise when President Roosevelt declared at a press conference that if war condi tions grew worse, the government might be forced to confiscate every automobile tire in the country. The President tempered his warn ing with the cautious hope that nation-wide gasoline rationing could be avoided. But, he emphasized, he was trying to save the nation, not gasoline and rubber. Mr. Roosevelt's review oi the situ ation came after the army, the navy and Petroleum eo-ordinator Ickes' office had appealed to East coast motorists to discontinue immediate ly all unnecessary use of gasoline, regardless of what their ration cards entitled them to. A joint statement said joyriding in the gas rationed area was preventing war workers from getting enough motor fuel to get to work and back and was threatening to hamper seriously the war production program. Fortunate were congressmen, members of state legislatures, other government officials and candidates for public office. For under regu lations promulgated by the OPA for permanent East coast rationing, such persons were given "pre ferred" mileage ratings providing them with gasoline for transporta tion needs "'in pursuit of legislative business." SABOTEURS: History Recalled Once before a military commis sion had sat in Washington delib erating over evidence that was to send a band of conspirators to their death. That was 77 years ago when eight defendants were tried in the dingy old penitentiary building for the assassination of Abraham Lin coln. Now again, a military commis sion sat in Washington. This time it was to pass sentence on eight Nazi saboteurs who had landed on the East coast to launch a campaign of destruction against American arms plants. The trial this time was held in the new department of justice building. In proceedings marked with the same secrecy that characterized the former trial, the prisoners learned whether they were to meet a firing squad or go to the gallows ? for death was the penalty they faced. Observers who noted the coinci dence between the two famous trials ?eight defendants in each case? remembered that only five of the Lincoln conspirators, including a woman, Mary Surratt, were put to death. TIRPITZ: ' Reds Foil Plans On the loose again from her Nor wegian fjord refuge, the powerful Nazi battleship Tirpitz had harried Allied convoys on the U. S.-British supply route to northern Russia, un til two well-aimed torpedoes from a Soviet submarine damaged the raider and drove her to cover. A Red communique revealed that the action saved a big Allied convoy and let the merchantmen through to Russia intact. The communique reported that a German naval squadron in which three heavy cruisers and eight destroyers ac companied the Tirpitz had aimed to intercept the convoy carrying arms to Russia. The crippling at tack on the Tirpitz, however, was said to have disrupted their op eration and permitted all ships to reach the safety of a north Russian port. MANPOWER: 19,900,000 Needed One out of every six Americans faced the prospect of being inducted into war activities?military and in dustrial?during 1942 and 1943. At least that was the forecast of Brig. Gen. Frank J. McSherry of the War Manpower commission, who de clared that 19,900,000 persons would be required. Of this "staggering" total, he said, 10,500,000 men and women must be put to work in war indus tries this year and 2,500,000 more in 1943. Of the remaining 6,900,000, McSherry estimated, 3,400,000 will be inducted into the armed forces during 1942 and 3,500,000 next year. WAR PRODUCTION: Nelson 'Realigns' With the headache of an organi zation shakeup happily out of the way, War Production Chief Donald M. Nelson turned with obvious relief to a contemplation of the WPB's future activities. The chairman said that the WPB had now reached the end of the tool ing up period and was going ahead with the task of conversion, espe cially of the nation's smaller plants. He said there was little "fat" in the civilian economy, but stressed the fact that vital civilian needs must be taken care of because the econo my?although "thin"?must be kept healthy. Forecast for some time, the WPB's "realignment" program brought William L. Batt in as vice chairman, or "chief of staff," leav ing Nelson free to devote his time to essential policies. Batt had pre viously been chairman of the re quirements committee. James S. Knowlson, present director of indus try operation, became the other vice chairman. CHINA WAR: Sad Anniversary As China's war with Japan en tered its sixth year, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek bravely assured his 450,000,000 countrymen that "Japan's collapse was only a ques tion of time." Chiang declared that the United States "is bound to deal with her first and most threatening enemy, Japan" and "is beginning to CHIANG KAI-SHEK "Matter of Time." discharge her supremely important duty in the Pacific." Meanwhile Chiang's peasant army was heartened by the triphammer blows struck recently by United States air forces against the Jap invaders. Summing up the price Nippon has already paid for its attempt to swal low China, an army spokesman re ported that 1,000,000 Japs had been killed and 1,500,000 wounded in five years of war. In spite of brave words, the stark fact remained that China's position was desperately grave. Japan was steadily severing her communica tions. With all but air-borne sup plies from her allies cut off, China had to depend on her own slender material resources and her under armed peasant army to carry on the fight against the Mikado's strong forces. Commercial Air Services Will Benefit Rural Areas Mail Pick-Up System Proves Successful in 150 Towns; Airplane May Decentralize Population. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, 1343 B Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 1 Never in the world's history has a 1 war accomplished what this war? still far from over?has already I done toward shrinking the globe. Last year four and a half million passengers were carried through the air, reducing travel days to travel-hours between our cities, i Average speeds of passenger planes I were well over three miles a min- I Lite. Then came the war with planes rolling off the assembly lines at a rate that made mass-production of automobiles pale by comparison. : Not all are weapons of war. All ' the inter-continental airlines in the 1 world at their peak put together, be- 1 fore the war in Europe threw up the barriers, did not represent as ( many miles as the Airforce Ferry ing Command's regular flights 1 which today extend over every con- 1 tinent except Antarctica. Those are a few eomparisons to illustrate how the terrific impetus which commercial flying already had, has been increased by war needs. It is easy to visualize what ! this will mean when peace comes, a world with the most widely sep The pick-up service in action. arated capitals crowded together? a completely new geography. This is what aviation of tomorrow means to the great cities. What will it mean to the rural community? That, too, is not hard to visualize if we look at what has already been accomplished under our noses with out most of us realizing it. One hundred and fifty American towns and cities know what I mean. This group of communities is chiefly com posed of the little town, down to those with a population as low as 588. This is the group which is benefiting by just one of the appli cations of the use of the airplane to small town life?an undertaking that has just celebrated its third an niversary. I refer to the Air-Pick up Service which brings airmail to the four-corners post office and has already begun to pay for itself do ing it. Many of these points have no air ports. Hilltops, public parks and meadows serve. For the mail air plane does not have to stop. It drops a sack of mail and with an auto matic electric-driven arm picks up a mail-sack suspended on a rope between two poles. The various routes radiate from Pittsburgh through six states. Father of the System Representative Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, one of the most air-minded of congressmen, is the father of the pick-up system. He introduced the bill appropriating the money to the post office department which made this rural air-mail sys tem possible. He tells me the Civil Aeronautics board has application for lines covering 2,000 communi ties in 26 states. And Representative Randolph has a lot more bills up his sleeve which foreshadow activities to come and which will help bring aviation right down into everybody's backyard, figuratively speaking. One is for the creation of a national civilian air reserve corps. . Another is to provide training for glider pilots and a third is for avia tion training for high schools. As chairman of the district committee of the house (which is equivalent to head of the board at aldermen) be has Introduced this high school course?just the ground prelim In a ries, of course?in the Washington high schools. There were 300 stu dents in the courses last semester. Other plans are being prepared for commercial air service. The war is holding them back but, at the same time it is stimulating both the demand on the part of the pub lic and desire on the part of promot ers who recognize aviation's great future. The young folks growing up in the days of a war where aviation is the chief weapon will be ready to take over the controls when America flies for peace. The Civil Air patrol which is do ing yeoman service as an auxiliary to the army and navy air force in patrol duty is also the foundation for an air trucking service which will link the rural communities to the great airlines of the future. Trans-continental air "trains" con sisting of an airplane and a string of trailer freight-planes will inter lace the skies and great dirigible airships will float from Los Angeles to Tokyo in 79 hours, from Chicago to Friedrichshaven in Germany in less than 60 hours. And from the small communities to main airports the little "sky-trucks," the smaller planes such as the Civil Air patrol now uses will carry the produce of farm and small shop to the metrop olis. As a matter of fact the Civil Air patrol is already doing courier and small package transportation in con nection with the war effort. As one Air Patrol official said: "This probably is the only un tapped transportation in the coun try. It is organized and ready. The light plane uses a minimum of alu minum and rubber on its small landing wheels and bums no more gasoline than the family auto and can be put to many uses." Just as the pick-up airmail serv ice has begun to pay its way with steadily increased use, so this cou rier service by light planes is prov ing its value in the war effort. When peace comes it will be a part of the "farm-to-market" transportation. Shipments Analysed Here is the testimony on this subject from Garnet Hughes, execu tive officer of the New York wing of the Civil Air patrol. (A wing command is established in each state): "A careful study was made of the needs of one company engaged in wartime production," says Mr. Hughes, "and frequently sending for small emergency shipments of parts, tools, and materials by truck, motorcycle, or private car. In the month of April, 280 such trips were made. The total road mileage was 14,780 while the air mileage would have been 11,040. The road time was estimated at 422 hours and the air time at only 110 hours. The j road cost was estimated at $1,700 and the air cost at less than half this figure. Even if the air cost were substantially more, the saving in time is the main consideration in wartime shipments of this charac ter." The small plane service will bear the same relations to the main line freight service of the future that the trucks bear to the railroad. They will mean the nearest thing to door to-door air delivery. They can be used where the big planes cannot land and will be more economical for short-hauls and small deliveries as well as feeders to the main lines. These are a few of the plans, al ready in the making which will bring the benefits of aviation to the rural community. Others will be de veloped the nature of which nobody today can guess. And the effect will be to decentralize the population. The middle-sized town and the small town will come back into their own, for each community will be so near in point of time to its farthest neigh bor that none need crowd the other trying to seek the more favorable point in space for its well-being. ? ? ? The navy's plan for toughening up its flying cadets will be carried out by actual pick-and-shovel labor, 40 mile marches between dawn and dusk, hiking and instruction in hand to-hand combat Some 2,500 young fellows will get this sort of training each month, along with the routine academic, tactical and military phases of the courses. U. S. Easily Can Feed Its Allies With Plenty Left Over for Home Needs, Declares Statistician. NEW YORK.?The food situation in the United States is so good that this country can feed its Allies and have plenty left over, it was said by George S. Brady, chief of the mate rials statistics division, office of j imports, board of economic war fare. Mr. Brady spoke at the Waldorf- j Astoria before 2,300 delegates to the \ annual international convention of the National Association of Purchas- ' ing Agents. ' He declared also that the Ameri- , can chemicals industry had been outstanding during the past year with new and substitute materials. 1 He warned that too much must not j be expected from synthetic rubber, although for certain uses it will be valuable. ' Europe in Reverse. , On the wartime food situation, , Mr. Brady said: , "In the countries of Europe and , in certain other countries where shipping conditions have disturbed j the normal economic balance, cattle , and other animals needed for meats , and hides have been decreasing in ( numbers because of excessive ] slaughter or lack of feed. "But in the United States numbers ] of cattle have increased constantly j since the beginning of the war in 1939, so that cattle slaughter can be 1 increased in 1942 to provide more ( meats and hides for leather without < decreasing available supplies. I "Sheep numbers increased 3 per i cent in 1941. Vast quantities of pork < and lard had to be supplied to our < Allies, and American has been able to do this without decreasing the re- | serve of animals on farms. "For such agricultural crops as com and soybeans, and in the lines ol dairy and poultry products, the plans that were started to offset i the depression and the drouth bore 1 fruit in planning for this emer- i gency. Wheat Stocks Doable. "In spite of labor scarcities and the effects of the draft, American supplies of these food materials are such that we can feed our Allies with out starving ourselves. "This year, 1942, wheat stocks are more than double the 1925-29 aver age; corn, needed for industrial starches and higher alcohol as well as for food, is 50 per cent above the 1925-29 average; poultry is 40 per cent above; eggs have more than doubled, and production of dried egg powder as a concentrated food for our overseas Allies totaled as much in the first three months of 1942 as in the whole preceding seven years." Speaking of the triumphs of Amer ican chemists in conserving raw materials and creating substitutes, Mr. Brady said a whole series of synthetie resins had been evolved to replace "the various varnish gums and resins that the Japs took from us in the Far East." Practi cally every natural perfumery oil this country got formerly from the Far East has been replaced by a synthetic, Mr. Brady said. Ask Girls to Make Toilet Kits for Boys in Service COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA ?Put away your knitting needles girls and start making toilet kits for the boys in uniform. Capt. Lawrence A. Nelson advises women to follow (he example of a local organization which designed a kit costing $1.65, a cost far less than that of a sweater. The kits require considerable handwork, but are more useful to soldiers than are sweaters of every color and size. The kit, made of denim, should be six by nine inches in size. It should contain pockets for tooth brush and case, comb, nail clip, razor blades, shaving cream, soap, steptic pencil, shoe laces, sewing kit, New Testament, cigarettes, handkerchief, wash cloth, mirror, pencil and paper. Priceless Stained Glass Is Shattered by Bombs BATH, ENGLAND.?It can now be told that many priceless stained glass windows of Bath's perpendicu lar abbey, begun in the reign of Henry VIII, were smashed to bits during the recent "Baedeker raids" on this old spa. The famous east window, known as the "Lantern of England," was one of those shattered. Other shrines associated with such titans of art and letters as Gainsborough and Dickens also were destroyed in the old town. They included the Abbey Church house, Bath Forum school and a row of houses, regarded as classic examples of Georgian archi tecture, in Lansdowne place. . London Theaters Enjoying Big Boom Any Sort of Entertainment Draws Packed Houses. LONDON. ? Theater seats have joined steaks, butter, onions, Amer ican cigarettes and rye whisky as being almost unobtainable in war time London. There's a boom in entertainment this spring the like at which has never been experienced on Broad way. Shows that wouldn't last a week on the road are playing to packed houses night after night here. Long runs are being estab lished with entertainment material which in peace-time would never have found a promoter. Authoritative opinion is that 30 West End London theaters are tak ing between a quarter of a million and $350,000 a week. At least two are taking $2S,000 a week each. There are four London musicals that laven't had a vacant seat for at least three weeks ahead. Top prices are slightly lower than in New York, but the fare offered, except in one or two instances, ioesn't begin to compare with that showing on Broadway. Restrictions on railroad, automo Dile and other travel, necessity for i "breather" at periodic intervals after long hours in offices and fac tories, desire of service men on leave to do all the shows in town, absence of bombing ? these and probably a dozen other reasons lave caused the current boom. Movie houses are sharing in it. Long lines form outside most of the central London movie houses for even mediocre Aims. A good movie, given the right advance ballyhoo, can take almost permanent resi dence. Movie prices are way high er than New York. Rapid Output of Weapons Spells Doom of U-Boats WASHINGTON. ? Increases in United States production of anti submarine weapons are surpassing the enemy's capacity for turning out undersea craft, in the opinion at Chairman Vinson (Dem., Ga.) of die house naval committee. "The antisubmarine warfare or ganization has now passed through its period of growing pains, is well established and is functioning smoothly," Vinson asserted in a statement approved by the navy. He added that the committee "has full confidence that we shall defeat the submarine." Delivery of anti submarine craft is proceeding "br increasing numbers," Vinson said, although this is the only phase of the navy's ship construction pro gram that is not well ahead of sched ule. The navy, Vinson said, did not have an adequate supply of escort craft to protect both troop transports and cargo vessels. "Who shall say that the decision as to dividing these craft has not been sound, when it is realized that so far we have not lost a soldier of the many thousands sent over seas?" he asked. Nazi* Extend Rag Drive To Old Regimes' Flags BERNE, SWITZERLAND. ? The scope of the new German drive for old clothes and rags for the replen ishment of Germany's textile re sources has been extended by a spe cial ordinance of the minister of in terior to include the flags of former political regimes. Included in this amplification of the original appeal are the colors of the Hohenzollern empire, but more especially those of the ma ligned Weimar Republic and the flags of the former Federated States. As the flags no longer possess practical significance, says the ordi nance, persons who have them are requested to contribute them to the drive for fresh textile reserves. An exception is made if flags possess historic value. It is estimated that fewer than one-tenth of Slovakia's 90,000 Jews will be allowed to remain in Slovak ia. They comprise professional and technical workers. Large Harvest Assures China of Food Supply CHUNGKING, CHINA. ? China will have no food problem, regard less of the outcome of the Japanese drives into southwest and central China, Adm. Shen Chung-Zieh, min ister of agriculture, said today on his return to Chungking from a farm area tour. He predicted the over-all harvest this autumn would be 20 per cent better than last year, while the wheat crop alone would be 40 per cent higher. Two bumper crops in 1938 and 1939 and two fair harvests in 1940 and 1941 gave China enough to feed her army and people, be said. _
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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July 16, 1942, edition 1
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