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WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON ConsoUUate^Featurca.?WNU Rcleaaa. "MEW YORK.?It would appear that the blizzard of report forms with which war agencies snow under business isn't entirely pre . .. . , meditated Seeking to Check a n d s 0 m e Report Blizzard body ought By War Agencies J ^ it, if anybody can. At any rate, the War Production board co-operates with a committee of business men who will try to cut down the paper overhead, by evolving simplified systems of reporting and account ing. They are waist deep in gov ernment blanks and battling their way out. The government seems sympathetic. Hearing the newly organized de fense forces against the paper blitz is W. J. Donald, president of the American Trade Association Execu tives. He is chairman of a special advisory committee which will work with the WPB, a King Canute wield ing a valiant broom against the pa per inundation. Possibly this is the "mana gerial revolution," which young Prof. James Burnham described in his provocative book of a year or so ago. At any rate, Mr. Donald is a fair laboratory sample of the oncoming men of management of the professor's discourse, a John the Baptist in the managerial wilderness for many years, nrging the man agers to shake a leg and do something on their own account before being swamped by the bureaucrafts. He was director of the American Management association from 1921 to 1932, scolding the managers, during this period for being "too smug" and not considering what might happen to them nnless the metes and bounds between man agement and finance and finance and management and govern ment were more clearly defined and regarded. Mr. Donald, Canadian born, natu ralized in 1923, naturally will have tc use up a lot more paper in his education and explorative cam paign among the Individual mem bers of 1,200 trade associations, whom he will consult. He wants comments and suggestions. In Sar nia, Ont., where he was born in 1890, he attended the Samia Colle giate institute, and later was gradu ated from McMaster university at Hamilton, Ont. % came here in 1911 as manager of the installation staff of the American City bureau, making his U. S. A. career in busi ness economics. ? X' EWS values shrink like depre ciated currency in time of over issue. Col. Robert L. Scott Jr. caught eight or ten lines in the pa Routine The** ove7Mt Day* Outran* All Everest, Prtviotti Stunting mountain in the world by a full mile. For the young colonel, this was a detail of a work-a-day hop from India to China. War reputations build like a coral reel Ofli and on for the last few weeks there has been a.dribble of news about the long, lanky. Colonel Scott of Macon, Ga., working him self as a "one-man air force" in Burma and China. On June 26 he succeeded Col. Caleb V. Haynes as chief of the India-China air com mand. That means that he and the 21st pursuit squadron, which he commands, are the heirs of the "Flying Tigers," or the American Volunteer group which bombed its way to glory along the Burma road. Early In this encounter, Colo nel Scott demonstrated what we have fondly supposed to be our national aptitude for quick and resoorceful action. A troop of Japanese was moving steadily up the Chindwin river In West Burma. The colonel had only a small pursuit plane. He swung a 550-pound bomb In It, and with It scored a bulls-eye on the ad vancing troop. These and simi lar exploits won him a silver star. He is a former West Pointer, 34 years old, indentured in rough and tumble flying, when, with Colonel Haynes, he flew the mails, in 1934. He later commanded the 7tth pur suit squadron in Panama. Colonel Scott celebrated his 34th birthday by piloting a Flying Fort ress across the South Atlantic to India and making a quick Jump to North Assam in a Tomahawk Fight er. It seems to this onlooker that the new OWI would do well to piece to gether the stories of self-starters like the colonel and deal them as hot news. The necessity of plan ning and organization being what it Is, the fact remains that these lads are fhe real spark plugs of our fighting forces and the public would ^^^retoMcelve more news of them. 45,000 pounds of potatoes, 73,000 pounds of beef, veal, pork and lard. Think of it! EVERY MINUTE. If you saw the U. S. navy riding majestically in a sea of milk, chances are you'd call it a night mare. But could be! Our farmers this year are scheduled to produce 57 billion quarts of milk?more than enough to float not only our navy but every battleship, aircraft car rier, cruiser, destroyer and subma rine owned by the United States, Britain, Russia and all the other United Nations combined. If you are good at mental pic tures, maybe you can visualize 50 billion eggs. That's enough eggs to make a line reaching seven times from the earth to the moon. Or 22 V4 billion pounds of meat? enough to pave seven four-lane high ways an inch thick from New York to San Francisco?seven of them. Or 91 million acres of corn?an area one-fifth larger than Italy and Sicily combined. But why all this production of food and fiber? It isn't a part of our victory plan to drown the Nazis in milk or to bombard the Japs with eggs and potatoes. Farmers Build Planes and Ships. Well, food and fiber are not mere ly so many bags of wheat and so many bales of cotton. They are Fly ing Fortresses and big battleships, like the Washington and the North Carolina; and aircraft carriers, like the Wasp; and General Grant tanks; and workers in the factories and brave men at the front. Those are the crops our farmers are harvest ing this year in 3,022 counties of the United States. forms for soldiers and clothes for civilians. Aviators' jackets, pants, helmets, and boots are lined with shearling sheep skins. In tact, the average soldier uses 100 pounds of wool a year, against an average of Wi pounds for civilians. But vital as are these materials for our weapons of war, they are much less important than the food which nourishes our workers and sustains our fighters. Food is one essential without which no man can fight or work. Bataan Proved It. Look at Bataan to see how true that, is. Look at Bataan to see the importance of food. Ac cording to reports, male meat and rice were all onr forces had to eat from early February un til the time of ultimate surren der. We just couldn't get through to them with enough pork and beef to do them any good. And what happened? Our last coun ter-attack failed, not beeanse of bullets or bombs, but because of sheer exhaustion. A shortage of food and sleep had drained out almost the last dregs of vitality. Bataan fell only after its defend ers no longer had the physical strength to stand. That time, food worked for the enemy. Given the shipping, six mil lion American farmers are deter mined that from now on food shall work for us. They know that today a tractor used in production of food is just as important as a tank on the battlefield. They know that what they do on their farms is important. The number of planes, tanks and officials: "Give us the meat, eggs, and cheese, and we'll increase pro duction 15 to 20 per cent." Again, an appalling loss of pro duction is suffered annually through sickness of workers. In 1941 more than 20 times as many man-days were lost by sickness as by strikes. The most common sickness is the ordinary cold, and the best preven tive for it is a good diet. So, it s the job of our farmers to keep our men fit-as fit as our ma chines. It's their job to provide the vitamin A which helps fliers see at night; the vitamin B which helps curb sea-sickness, nervousness and digestive troubles; the vitamin C which wards off scurvy, bad teeth, irritability, listlessness and plagues which in the World war took a big ger toll of lives than bombs, bul lets, shells and gas combined. Yes, vitamins, and good food are" war weapons But to get them and especially to get the right amounts of the right things?is a colossal task. That is why goals are just as necessary for agriculture as they are for plane or tank manufactur ers. We want a specific number of fortresses, or medium bombers, or pursuit ships, or training planes. So, too, In agriculture, we want a specific amount of pork, of beef, of a?d1 aU farm products. Fortunately, our farmers are ready J?r Eight months before Pearl Harbor they began turning R,?iWur frodnct* requested by the British for lend-lease shipment. Three months before Pearl Harbor, aimers were fulJy organised on a war-time basis. Farm Production Is Planned Production. ^.ApraJ' 1M1- Secretary of Ag riculture Wickard called for a big RHtUh10!? 1116 products wl>ich the wo ^ l )u,st madc known they would need under lend-lease: evaD<> rated and dry skim milk, chwST eggs and pork. And our farmed set out to see that neither our own folks nor the British would ?Z During the summer of 1941?still ?!yeral months before Pearl Har bor?the department of agriculture went to work on a plan forget war production goals for all farm prod b^' Z jl Pfroduction *?al 'dea had been used for years by Triple-A on basic crops, but it was a new departure to apply it to all P^luct. It meant estimate? own needs, those of our Allies, the Mi^snC^HrT^ry ,or ,ood re serves, and finally the ability of formers to produce. It meant break g down the national goals into ^ . C.0un,y' and Anally into indi vidual farm goals. It meant the contacting of practically every pro teeman.y 8 Tripie~^ farmer cornrni?: Jwf" as many as all the other knsfoess establishments in the =???; jatl shops. To get six million farmers co-operating in war *rZ ductioa is by far the biggest dob w?*ob??!,fr*Ctlllf ef the entire war. But It has been done?ami ? tC^Jiute'b ?mL ? .^J iafo this war w?h plenty ef (bed ianadfin[ Six Million Farmers Throughout U. S. Producing World's Largest Food Crop *1 ?????? War Material Vital, but Soldiers and Workers Must Get Nourishing Food Uncle Sam's farm?the whole United States?-will produce this year the biggest food crop in the world's history! Harvesting of this planned production for the war effort has begun and the im mensity of it all is an all-time tribute to the American farmer. Off Untie Sam's (arm assembly line every minute of every day throughout 1942 are coming some thing like 108,000 quarts of milk, Take that swift-winging army Aer onca plane up there. In its wings, tail and fuselage are 690 square feet of cotton linen. Yes, Uncle Sam's farmers are turning out war crops this year. Com and wheat, for example. Most of it goes for feed and food, but some is used in making ethyl alco hol which in turn is employed in making explosives, synthetic rubber and other products. Peanuts and soybeans are used to make oil which replaces other oils employed in cooking, and releases them for use in nitro-glycerine ex plosives. Oil from soybeans and flaxseed is used in the paint and varnish covering our ships and planes. Flax is a source of linen for parachute harnesses and rigging. Wool from our sheep makes uni guns turned out this year will be de termined largely by the kind and amount of food our workers eat. Tne newest type planes need high Milk and Shipping In 1942 we are building S mil lion tons of shipping?a tremen dous amount. But the farmers of Minnesota and Iowa alone will produce more than 8 million tons of milk in 1942. octane gas no more than our war [ workers need highly nutritious foods. better Food Means More Guns. Good food, in fact, can be trans lated more or less directly into guns. For example, the British minister of labor has said to our agricultural 1 I *'products ^ ES3* FOOD feeo grain H?4? TmrnrmmT ? _ * \mu\ ? .00. ? " to..?, IP' M RICE ??.<? * Hil * cotton o jg.e, 'td'cAmm HHUBH'"* Op v O corn flaxseed calves hhl fruit ???.?* i0ybears ro? cannim mLK ?? 'fl* ^,0 r.ftP ??????????????? %0 ? 57 chickens POTATOES Hi- ^"^'????????????^^ TOBACCO ^^^11 >11% OSY beans h^^i.IS% out field EGGS HB'"% farm PEANUTS * Wheal it lh? only commodity for which o decrease is desirable garoens American (arm goals for 1942, showing increase over 1941 production. ?ACAA Photo Threshing wheat In Bartholomew eoonty, Indiana. This picture waa taken on the Perry Thompson farm at the height of activities. Triple-A Committeemen Enlist Farm Cooperation Even while Japanese Domos were exploding on Hickam Field and spreading ruin over Hawaii and the Philippines, Triple-A committeemen were covering the country enlisting farmer co-operation?voluntary co operation. There were shortages to contend with?shortages of labor, shortages of machinery and equipment, short ages of burlap, baling wire, and doz ens of other supplies. The state and county war boards have worked wttn every available agency to keep shortages from holding production. Most of the goals were set higher than production had ever been be fore. Only a few were lower. Wheat, for example, was down IS per cent from the 1M1 level because there was already a two-year supply of wheat on hand. We couldn't afford to use land, labor, and materials for a crop that isn't needed, any more than we can now afford to build pleasure cars and luxury gadgets. Released by Western Newspaper Union. The Wagon Box Fight A UGUST 2 of this year marks the ** 75th anniversary of one of the most remarkable engagements in American military history. That was the Wagon Box fight on Little Piney creek near the present town of Story, Wyo., and it is noteworthy for several reasons. With the possible exception of "Custer's Last Stand" on the Little Big Hom river in Montana in 1876, no other Indian fight has been more written-about nor inspired more fic tion masquerading as fact. Certain ly no other event in Plains warfare ever resulted in more extravagant statements as to the number of Indian opponents and losses inflict ed upon them, even though the white man invariably exaggerated both in telling or writing about his battles with the red man. The Wagon Box fight is so named because it was fought in and around 11 ei smau luruiiw tion composed of 14 wagon boxes set on the ground, end to end, to form an oval cor ral. Into this flim sy protection fled a detachment of 30 soldiers of the Twenty - seventh infantry, com manded by Capt. J. W. Powell and Lieut. J. C. Jen ness, when, on Capt. J. W. Powell me morning or August z, ibov, tney were attacked by a force of nearly 1,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. The soldiers had recently been supplied with new breech-loading rifles, a vast improvement over the old muzzle-loaders of Civil war days and they had nearly 7,000 rounds of ammunition for these weapons. But, despite this fact, it seemed like a forlorn hope for them, for they were outnumbered 300 to 1 and the mem ory of the disaster which had over taken Capt. W. J. Fetterman and his 80 men the previous December was fresh in their minds. Resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible, they immediate ly opened Are on the savages who began riding in an ever-narrowing circle around the corral and for the next three hours they fought off re peated attacks by the Indians, both mounted and on foot, until they were rescued by a relief party from Fort Phil Kearney, six miles away. One of the remarkable features of this fight was the number of charges made by the Indians and the de termination with which they pushed iiuutc uicu aua^no Ul ulC late V/i the incessant fire from the breech- j loaders of the defenders of the cor ral. Both were unparalleled in the history of Indian warfare. In view of these facts, the wonder is that the Indian casualty list was not larger than it actually was. i After the battle Powell reported i that his men had killed 60 Indians I and wounded more than 100 while I suffering a loss of three soldiers i killed, including Lieutenant Jenness, i and three wounded. Some of his < men later boosted the Indian losses i to 300 killed and wounded. i Then the myth-makers got busy. It started with Col. Richard I. Dodge in his book "Our Wild Indi ans," published in 1882. He set the number of Indians at 3,000 and their losses at 1,137 killed and wounded. Later "historians" repeated his fig- i ure of 3,000 warriors but reached a I new height of absurdity by placing i their losses at 1,500! Indian participants tell a vastly 1 different story. They say their losses I were sis killed and sis wounded. | This is a bit too conservative, espe- 1 cially for the aumber wounded, but 1 it is probably much nearer reality than the usual accounts by the white i man. 1 In his biography of Chief White Bull, who was in the Wagon Box ] fight (published under the title of "Warpath" by the Houghton Mifflin company), Stanley Vestal, who is probably the best authority today on J the Sioux wars from 1886 to 1891, points out that Indian losses rarely \ ran to more than 1 or 2 per cent and i that the highest known casualty list in I all Sioux history was only 15 per cent Therefore, says Mr. Vestal, i "even Captain Powell's estimate is 1 fantastic." Certainly the claim of i a 50 per cent loss is preposterous. I This inconspicuous "monument" 1 (a section of iron pipe capped with 1 m brass plate) marks the site of one 1 of the fiercest battles in Indian war- 1 faro?the Wagon Box fight. Reich Has 90,000 British Captives Of These 6,000 Are Said to Be Civilians Ranging From Children Up. LONDON.?The first authentic ac :ount of life among British captives n Germany, showing that letters loma paint a rosier picture of condi tions than they really are, is con tained in a pamphlet, "Prisoners of War," published on behalf of the war organization of the British Red Zfross society and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. These prisoners number about 90, )00, of whom some 6,000 are civilian internees, ranging from a little girl if five to elderly men. The chief worry is food, and here the Red Cross is doing a magnificent |ob. The ordinary diet is covered by the International Convention, giving prisoners the same scale of rations is the depot troops of the detaining pountry. It is a low standard for British and Dominion troops, though it will keep a man from starving. Some Bright Spots. The Red Cross, with its affiliated groups, tries to supply each prison er with a parcel worth 10s. of good things every week, plus tobacco, and these?after considerable trouble in the early days?now get through reg ularly, and are the bright spots in the men's lives. But once the men have ceased to le hungry, the mental stagnation has to be copied with. It is the waste if years of their lives that gets them down. They have to rely on their iwn ingenuity to keep their minds active, and the Red Cross tries to provide the means to keep them from becoming despondent. Reading, the universal resource, shows interesting trends. Substan tial books?biography and the clas sics?are in great favor, many men finding this their first opportunity tor serious reading. Detective nov els are not as popular as Wild West or adventure stories. Chess and oth er indoor games are sent, including table tennis. Among the British sport is always a necessity. The Red Cross sports committee sends equipment to ev ery camp. Men in working parties (many prefer laboring to camp life, as it passes the time) do not have the time or energy for hard exer cise. Football and Cricket. But conditions vary from camp to camp and if any sort of playing field can be arranged there are usu siiy men eager to kick a football or play cricket (leather cricket balls are banned as are baseball bats which might be used as clubs). In ternational matches have been played, also games against German teams. In some camps bathing is possible. Prisoners are entitled to, and re ceive, medical attention. Some Ger man doctors have had remarkable successes in plastic surgery. As in everything else, treatment varies, and British doctors, who are nearly always among the prisoners, send to the Red Cross lists of special diets, drugs, false teeth and specta cles required. A section for the blind gets special care, with co-op eration from St. Dunstan's. Braille watches, card games and textbooks go out, so that those blinded in war can fit themselves to take their place in the post-war world. Nearly every camp gets up its theatrical shows. Among the pris cners are danceband leaders, actors snd singers, many famous, and the concerts (instruments from the Red Cross) are a source of pride as well as of solace. Food Rationing Coming In Year, Canadians Told OSHAWA, ONT.?Canadians face rationing of essential foodstuffs with in the next year or so, probably on a basis similar to that now employed in Britain, according to Attorney General Gordon Conant. Speaking here, Conant blamed the federal government for the present acute shortage of farm labor and contend ed that the government's failure to apply selective service two years, Dr even one year ago, had resulted in the present serious situation. Bunker Hill Monument Is Closed for Duration BOSTON. ? Bunker Hill monu ment, completed just 100 years ago, has been closed to the public for the duration. Commanding a sweeping view of Boston Navy yard and important harbor installations, the 220-foot granite obelisk has drawn tens of thousands of tourists to its observa tion tower down through the years. It took 17 years to build this his toric shrine, Lafayette having laid the cornerstone in 1825. Formal Duds in Discard, Another Casualty of War EDMONTON, ALTA. ? Formal iress is a war casualty at the Uni versity of Alberta. The students' council has banned the wearing of formal attire for men at all university functions for the duration. The action was due partly to the ?hortage of cloth and partly to the feeling that informal attire would make for better feeling among the rtudents and with the public. Britons Fled Base In Nazi Transport Escape in Own Staff Car With Enemy Convoy. MATRUH, EGYPT.?Two young British lieutenants revealed that they had escaped alter the fall of Tobruk by joining a German motor convoy in an imperial command staff car and riding comfortably into Egypt. When the procession got too slow for them they blew the horn and the German trucks pulled over. There were so many captured British ve hicles in the convoy the Germans didn't notice that British lieutenants were driving one. The lieutenants ? R. P. Beuan Green of London and H. F. Briggs of Hull?said that before the fall of Tobruk all of their artillery except one gun was knocked out by the Germans. After Tobruk fell, a German ar mored car roared up the coast and took them prisoners. While the Germans were busy the lieutenants stole a British staff car. Several had been taken over by Ger man Field Marshal Erwin Rommel for his own use, but they didn't real ize it until they passed two sentries. They expected to be shot; instead they received the Nazi salute. "Then we joined a German convoy moving east," Lieutenant Briggs re lated. "There were so many Brit ish vehicles with it, Jerry took no notice." They weren't found out until they reached Bardia, near the Egyptian Libyan frontier. A sentry tried to stop them, they said, but "our staff car was going almost SO miles an hour and we nearly ran him down." The Germans gave chase, but failed to catch them. Within the British lines they wero severely shelled before they suc ceeded in "surrendering" and iden tifying themselves. Rebuilds Radio on Ferry Plane Despite Injury LONDON.?Despite the fact that the blood was flowing freely from his injured hand, Alexander Sutton, 19 years old, of Glasgow, a wireless operator on board an American bomber being ferried to Britain, dis mantled his radio when it broke down and reassembled it unaided. The bomber was about halfway across the North Atlantic when the radio went wrong. It was mid night, and there was little light by which to make repairs. Knowing that the captain of the plane depended on getting wireless bearings, Sutton decided to disman tle the whole set. He had memorized the blueprint and he started in almost pitch dark ness to carry out the difficult task. After two and a half hours, be got the set going again, but the cap tain was astonished to see the boy saturated in blood. He had gashed his hand while dismantling the set. and the fact that the bomber had been flying at over 20,000 feet had caused the blood to spurt freely from the wound. Use Dry Ice Instead of Powder in Militia Gum DENVER.?Col. Clyde E. HID. corflmander of the Colorado defense force, has announced that the unit will be armed with "dry ice" guns to replace the Springfield rifles tak en over by the army. Hill explained that the new weap on is powered by gas from dry ice which propels a bullet with the same velocity as a powder-burning car tridge. Ray J. Monner, Denver, designed the dry ice gun which he said had been demonstrated to the war de partment. The rifle shoots a .22 caliber bul let. Its operation is based on the fact that gas evaporating from solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) exerts about 1,170 pounds of constant pres sure per square inch in the gun's magazine. A trigger opens a valve, releas ing the gas pressure and discharg ing the bullet. One loading of dry ice, Monner said, would fire 1.80S rounds of ammunition. Must Put Up With Noisy War Plant, Judge Says DETROIT.?If you're bothered by a noisy war plant near your home, don't tell Traffic Judge George T. Murphy about it. Residents around a tool and die company complained that the plant, going day and night, had a noisy blower on the roof. "I'll not waste much time on com plaints like these," said Judge Mur phy as he dismissed the charges, then asked the complainants: "Would you rather hear faffing bombs or the noisy blower on a war plant?" WAAC to Use 'Mam* In Lieu of Army 'Sir' DES MOINES.?It'll probably be "Yes, mam," "No, mam," to the women's army. Obviously, the "sir" which ev ery buck private and Junior of ficer addresses a superior officer is hardly suitable. Officials at the WAAC training school said "mam" probably will be the substitute. e
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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