The Alamance Gleaner
Vol LXVIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1942 NO.
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Break-Up of Rommel's Desert Forces
Affects U. S.-British Drive in Tunisia;
French Fleet Will Join Allies: Darlan;
President Proclaims National Farm Day
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions aro oiprtntl In these columns, they arc those of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not noeessarily of this newspaper.)
_________________ Released by Western Newspaper Union.
TORT
Allied forces proceeded swiftly toward ousting the Japs completely
from the Papua territory of New Guinea following the capture of the
village of Buna. U. S. and Australian Jungle fighters took the Jap base.
Occupation of Buna followed closely the seizure of Gona. A communique
from Allied headquarters in Australia told of slowly increasing pressure
on the enemy. A captured Japanese artilleryman told intelligence officers
of Emperor Hirohito's mandate that Jap forces hold the New Guinea
beachhead to the last man. The communique did not mention the Mam
bare area, on the northeast coast, where Allied planes lashed out at Jap
warships attempting to land more men.
AFRICA:
Dorian Speaks
"I have announced that my sole
purpose is to free France and then
retire to private life."
With those words Adm. Jean Dar
lan, high commissioner of French
Africa, hoped to still the loud voice
of criticism which had been leveled
at him by the Fighting French, the
British and certain American
sources.
He did not wholly succeed. The
Fighting French wanted more than
words from Admiral Darlan to as
sure them. The British and a com
paratively few Americans remained
skeptical.
Darlan, in a statement of clarifi
cation, called for maximum mili
tary effort for the defeat of Ger
many and Italy and added that "this
will be accomplished by the unity of
all citizens, regardless of their po
litical or religious opinions, in an
orderly and cohesive fashion."
Darlan also declared flatly that
strong French fleet units at Dakar,
Alexandria and North African ports
would join the British and U. S.
fleets. Those units included: three
battleships, more than seven cruis
ers, approximately a score of sub
marines and several destroyers.
Hit lums, Bizerte
Concentrating on docks and air
fields in Bizerte and Tunis, Ameri
can and British bombers continued
to carry out their day and night
raids with thunderous accuracy.
Tropical rains had brought land
action to a minimum, with action
limited largely to patrol sorties. It
was evident that the Allies were
willing to sacrifice forward positions
to reduce losses pending an all-out
offensive.
Allied attacks on Axis airfields
are damaging the efforts of the Luft
waffe ground staffs to maintain op
erations. It is reported that less
than two-thirds of the total force are
able to take to the air at any time.
PRICE CONTROL:
No Surprise
Washington dopesters had an
nounced it weeks before so there
was little surprise throughout the
nation when Leon Henderson re
signed as director of the Office of
Price Administration. Announce
ment of the resignation came from
President Roosevelt who, in accept
ing it, praised Henderson and de
clared that "You have not spared
yourself . . . and I appreciate
your patriotic service."
Henderson said that he was quit
ting because of a recurreht physi
cal difficulty and a "rather bad"
impairment of eyesight. The Presi
dent asked him to keep the White
House advised on his physical con
dition so that when he had recov
ered he could be recalled to govern
ment service in some other capac
ity.
Because of his firmness in han
dling rationing affairs and because
of his treatment of congress (with
out concern of political favor) Hen
derson has been under fire for
months. Early in December many
Washington sources predicted he
was resigning and had suggested
that Sen. Prentiss M. Brown, Michi
gan Democrat, succeed him. Brown,
defeated for his senate post in the
last election, had previously piloted
the price stabilization bill throug^
congress.
FARM DAY:
Vital Goals
Tuesday, January 12, has been
proclaimed by President Roosevelt
as Farm Mobilization day. On this
day meetings are to be held
throughout the nation to determine
ways and means "of ensuring for
the year 1943 the maximum produc
tion of vital foods."
Farmers are being asked on that
day to gather with department of
agriculture officials, extension serv
ice agents, vocational teachers,
farm organizations and others con
cerned to discuss plans for meeting
the high food production goals for
the 1943 crop year.
President Roosevelt praised the
farmers for their production of rec
ord maximum harvests in the past
three years and declared that every
pound of food finds use in wartime.
"Food," he said, "is no less a
weapon than tanks, guns and planes.
As the power of our enemies de
creases, the importance of the food
resources of the United Nations in
creases. With this thought in mind,
we must further mobilize our re
sources for the production of food."
LIBYA:
Africa Corps Split
Long pounded by the British
eighth army, Field Marshal Rom
mel's Africa corps took new and
heavy body blows when his fleeing
Axis forces were neatly divided by
Sir Bernard Montgomery's pursuing
troops.
In a sudden flanking movement ad
vanced forces of the British army
reached Wadi Matratin, 55 miles
west of El Agheila on the Gulf of
Sirte. From there, units oFthe Mont
gomery army sliced off to the south,
cutting Rommel's army in two, one
force continuing its westward flight,
the other caught between the British
main army and the British advanced
units.
Included in the enemy troops cut
off were armored forces which, in
desperate maneuvers to escape, suf
fered heavy casualties and "contin
ued to be severely mauled," the
Middle Eastern command commu
nique stated. The main eighth army
was shoving ahead, forcing its way
through mine fields laid by the re
treating Germans, eager to get at
the trapped troops.
MEAT QUOTA:
Cut to 35 Ounces
Upon orders from government
food authoritias, the per capita sup
ply of meat for civilians has been
reduced from the present limit of 40
ounces to 35 ounces a week during
the first three months of 1943.
The orders were issued by Price
Administrator Leon Henderscti on
the recommendation of Secretary of
Agriculture Claude Wickard, the
new food chief.
Civilian supplies of pork, veal,
lamb and mutton were ordered cut
approximately 13 per cent. Beef
supplies will continue to be restrict
ed at the present level. Restric
tions are voluntary at present and
consumers are being asked to limit
themselves to 40 ounces a week un
til the first of the year, when the
voluntary ration will be reduced by
five ounces.
Slaughterers who kill more than
500,000 pounds a quarter have been
limited to 70 per cent of the 1941
level for beef, pork and veal,
75 per cent for lamb and mutton.
RUSSIA:
See-Saw Battle
In the see-saw battle ol Russia
the course of warfare appeared
to favor once more the Red army as
an official communique announced
the capture of five additional strong
points in the Rzhev sector on the
central front. It told, too, of the re
pulse of a heavy Nazi counterat
tack in the area southwest of Stalin
grad.
In their counterdrive at Kotel
nikovski, 90 miles southwest of Stal
ingrad, the Axis armies attempted
to throw back the flank of the Rus
sian forces south of the Don river
and break through the Russian trap.
The attacks were led by tanks, dive
bombers and motorized infantry.
Red Star, Soviet army newspaper,
said many Axis troops were slaugh
tered and the attacks were hurled
back decisively.
To the west of Stalingrad the Red
army was said to be widening the
broad barrier they had made be
tween the Nazis on the banks of
the Don and those trapped near
Stalingrad. During the Russian
drive on the central front, which
took seven more villages, two bat
talions of German infantry were re
ported wiped out. A communique
reported that near Vilikie Luki, Rus
sian troops beat off a German at
tempt to break through the lines to
help a surrounded Nazi garrison and
destroyed Nazi equipment.
SCHOOL BELLS:
In Wartime
America's system of higher edu
cation is headed for some profound ;
and sweeping changes under plans
now released by the army and navy
to train youths between 17 and 22
for specialized military duties.
Scheduled to begin in February
the new setup for high school and
college youths would be put into
operation in several hundred col
leges and universities throughout the
nation. Students now in high school
and college would fit into the pro
gram at the time they were called
up for military training and virtual
ly every j^iuth over 17 in school
would be affected.
As outlined in joint army-navy
statement made in Chicago the plan
calls for these major developments:
1. Mobilization of a selected num
ber of colleges and universities for
training soldiers in military-directed
courses.
2. Enlisted soldiers now having
completed their basic training (or
about to complete) will be selected, if
qualified, for specialized training
when the plan is first set in motion.
3. A cadet system will be organ
ized for the selected colleges and
military training will thus be giv
en but it will be subordinated to
academic instruction.
4. When soldiers complete any
phase of the specialized training at
these schools they will do one of
four things: (a) be given further
training in officer's candidate school
(b) returned to the troops; (c) rec
ommended for technical noncom
missioned officers or (d) detailed
for advanced technical training.
Meanwhile the navy will be select
ing high-school graduates or those
with equivalent qualifications for in
duction as apprentice seamen or ma
rine privates. Placed on active duty
with pay these youths will attend
designated schools.
China's President
The above photo of Lin Sen, 7$
year-old president of China, ia the
first photo ever sent from Chang
king, China, to Los Angeles, over a
new radiopboto service. The Chi
nese characters read: "To Presi
dent Roosevelt, from Lin Sen."
U. S. GOAL:
Double Axis Output
The War Production board's goal
for 1943 calls for a production rate
by the end of the year estimated to
be twice as great as that of the
Axis nations. More than $90,000,
000,000 worth of American weapons
will be manufactured in 1943. U. S.
war production in 1942 equals that
of all the Axis countries, the WPB
reported. The United Nations are
out-producing the Axis almost two
to one at present.
U. S. Farmers With Less Labor, Supplies, Machinery,
Must Double the Production Shown in World War I
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all meats and corn. (Bat there will be a redaction in cannint vefetables,
fresh frnits).
Herculean Task
Requires Advance
Painstaking Plans
Before they win 1943's global
battle for food, farmers of this
country must solve a double
barreled problem.
They must produce record highs
of foods and fibers with less machin
ery, equipment, supplies and labor.
Enough food and fiber not only for
civilians of this country, but tor
those of the United Nations, for our
fighting men and those of our Allies.
That's a task a Hercules might
shy from; a job which demands
painstaking advance planning.
To this end, the department of ag
riculture has again established food
and fiber goals for the nation, as it
did in 1942. (See accompanying dia
grams.) These goals have been
broken down into state goals, which
in turn are being broken down into
goals for each of the 3,090 counties
of the United States.
Throughout the nation, America's
8,000,000 farmers ara now talking
over the goals with neighbors who
are Agricultural Adjustment Agency
(AAA) farmer-committeemen. Even
tually, goals will be set for each
farm, with the producer signing a
voluntary "production contract." A
contract which, in effect, is a pledge
to the nation that he'll keep food
and fiber rolling to all fronts, at
home and abroad.
Broadly, food and fiber goals in
1943 call for the same over-all pro
duction total that farmers achieved
this year when their efforts resulted
in an all-tiipe production high?12
per cent greater than that of any
previous year in American history 1
Just what does that 12 per cent
gain represent?
It represents a gain in production
which is more than twice that
achieved during the five-year period
covering World War I.
It is by far the greatest production
gain that has ever been made in a
single year by American agricul
ture.
That gives one a rough idea of
what America's farmers are up
against in 1943. Besides wartime
obstacles which will grow to ever
greater proportions, farmers must
assume that they're going to have
normal weather next year, another
way of saying "bad Weather" com
pared with this year when growing
conditions were better than they've
been in years.
That means lower yields. The dif
ference will have to be made up by
more efficient farming, by more in
tensive farming, by planting crops
where they'll grow best, by vigorous,
unremitting effort on the part of
all civilians to help farmers get la
bor, equipment and materials.
Waste Must Go.
The farmer's objective in the
Battle for Food, 1943, will be to
reach each goal without wasting an
ounce of effort, a minute of time,
an acre of land, or a sliver of
material and machinery.
Only by doing this can he reach
one goal without jeopardizing his
chances of reaching another.
He must face the fact that there
aren't enough land resources in
America for much acreage expan
sion. He mast apply the principle
of selective service to his acres.
For example, he knows that only
about seven million acres of land
can be added to the 1942 figure of
340 million acres put to row crops,
small grains and hiy crops.
But he also knows that he can
make that added acreage count for
more by putting it to war crops
which bring higher yields than crops
j he would normally plant.
By wise expansion of this sort, by
shifting other acres to crops that
count most, it will be possible to pet
as preat a production in IMS as In
IMS of the thinf s for which we hare
the most critical need. In some
eases, production map be creater.
Thus, the farmer is out to get
more meat, dairy and poultry prod
ucts, hides and by-products.
About the same production of
fresh vegetables for consumption
and processing, of dry beans and dry
peas and potatoes, sugar and rice.
* Almost the same feed-grain pro
duction, pasture and forage crops.
More fiber flax, hemp, long staple
cotton and about the same produc
tion of other cotton and tobacco.
To get more of these all-important
crops, the farmer knows that he
must plant less of others. Wheat is.
an outstanding example. We have
enough on hand to take care of nor
mal needs for two years without
raising another grain. It would be
virtual sabotage to put more land
Mr. American Farmer
He will do the fob . . .
to wheat in 1943. Consequently, the
goal (or wheat has been lowered.
Demand (or dairy products In 1943
will exceed supply, but bread grains
will be abundant. Although meat
production reached a record high
this year, and will probably be high
er next, rationing is necessary be
cause of unprecedented demand.
However, the ration will allow the
average consumer about as much
meat as usual.
The man who has devoured a
large T-bone or two each day will
have to change his habits. It may
be good (or him, nutritionally speak
ing.
The 1943 goals are closely linked
to the nation's dietary needs. For
the number of planes and tanks and
ships and guns turned out by work
ers is determined largely by the
kind and quantity of food they eat
Take the figures on comparative
days lost by strikes and sickness
in 1941. About 20 times as many
man-days were lost by sickness as
by strikes in that year. And the
most prevalent illness was the com
mon cold which, doctors say, can
be best prevented by a good diet.
Good food is the equivalent of mil
lions of laborers. The British, for
example, have pointed out that pro
duction is 15 to 20 per cent greater
when their workers are eating as
they should.
Vitamin B curbs nervousness and
digestive troubles; vitamin C wards
oft scurvy, bad teeth and many sim
ilar ailments. Scurvy was an im
portant factor in the internal break
down in Germany in 1918. That Hit
ler knows this is only too evident
from the way he is bleeding the oc
cupied countries of Europe. Scurvy
has been responsible for more
deaths than all the weapons of war
combined.
Food for good diets is not the
only thing the farmer is after as he
sets out to meet 1943 goals.
He wants fibers and oils and other
crops which are vital to the main
tenance of our war industries.
In 1942 farmers raised enough soy
beans, flaxseed, peanuts and cotton
seed to produce 530 million gallons of
vegetable oil?54 per cent more than
in 1941. Our Allies are asking for
five times as much vegetable oil as
we normally export to all nations.
Next year's vegetable oil goal
calls for aboot as mnch as the rec
ord 1942 production. If farmers meet
the test, the resulting geysers will
literally drown the Axis. For vege
table oils are the source of glycerine
used in explosives; they are used
in protective paints for battleships,
planes and other war machines; and
they have a thousand industrial uses
?to say nothing of their use in foods
and cooking.
Suffice to say the farm job in 1943
is all-important, to farmers and
civilians alike. Perhaps the great
est obstacle will be lack of help on
the farm.
Fortunately, it is in overcoming
this obstacle that civilians can do
most to help the farmer.
This year, townspeople, school
children, professional men and wom
en, college youth and men from
army camps achieved miracles on
harvest fields throughout the nation.
Even British sailors pitched in to
help harvest our bountiful food and
fiber supplies.
Next year the job will be much
tougher. The department of agri
culture estimates that the nation
could use 1H million more full
time workers than there are in sight
to do the job.
The department has thrown every
one of its agencies into the farm
labor fight, and it Is receiving valu
able assistance from other agencies
of the government.
However, it is going to take the
continuing efforts of civilians and
others to fill the gap.
Through such co-operation?and
sheer hard work on his part?the
fanner will get his job done.
Vitamins and Victory
During the dark days of 1940 in
England, British doctors noticed
that superficial scratches which
should have healed in a day or
two were taking two weeks to
heal. They found that a lack of
vitamins in people's blood was
the cause. There's a direct con
nection between vitamins and
victory.
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beef cattle. Bet set at meek cotton, er barley, or eats.
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
A 1 opnotcher but
Lightly Touched
By the Spotlight
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
Consolidated Features?WNtJ Release.
MEW YORK.?A corporation may
' get an "E" pennant now and
then, but there's no Ebbets field
and no cheering mob for the incor
. _ . - unreal home
run. Similar
ly the man
behind the
corporation
may bat a steady stream of steel
ingots all the way to Tunis and still
the bands aren't playing. A steel
mill and its master don't fit easily
into any pattern of high romance,
but it may win a war.
Witness the balky and baldlsh
Robert W. Woieott, president of
the Loken's Steel company, who,
since the war started has re
leased more steel and less pub
licity than probably any man in
America. His ingots and armor
plate output increased more
than <M per cent in the last
fiscal year, while his cohimn
inehes in the newspapers hare
slumped off, if anything.
At its Coatesville, Pa., plant, his
company rolls individual armor
> plates weighing more than 100,000
pounds each. In addition to rolling,
instead of traditionally forging the
plates, it turns out plates 195 inches
wide as against the previous 155
inch limit. The 1942 output has
yielded enough armor plate for a
dozen big warships and hundreds of
army tanks, and large tonnages for
lighter-gauge armor plate. The com
pany reports, for the 1942 fiscal
year, which ended October 10, an
all-high, all-time record not only in
the production of the rolled armor
plate but in all other types of steel
for this plant.
If he could somehow work Joe
Di Maggio and Rita Hayworth
into his report Mr. Wolcott
might get a big cheer, east and
west. He is a man of manage
ment rather than finance, stead
ily moving up with the Lukea's
company since 1922, elected
president of the 131-year-old out
fit in 1925.
The First World war interrupted
his college term at Lehigh universi
ty and sent him to Boston where
he was a lieutenant in naval avia
tion. With the end of the war, he
apprenticed himself in the steel busi
ness with the Bethlehem Fabrication
company of Bethlehem, Pa. He
joined Luken's as manager of its
warehouse and fabricating depart
ment. When he became president,
at the age of 32, he was one of the
youngest top executives in the his
tory of the industry. He has kept
his mind on his work.
?
IN APRIL, 1932, the depression be
' gan gnawing at the vitals of the
United States congress. Congress
men suffered illness to an almost un
Dr. CalotrKeep, ???-?!
Health of Solotu quently di
On the Upgrade Dr^^org^
W. Calver, congressional physician,
as worry ailments. While these af
flictions were varied, frequently
marked by a cold developing into
something worse, they were in the
general field of fatigue and frustra
tion, and frequently led to coronary
occlusion, or heart trouble, the men
ace of men who fret too much and
exercise too little?a common dis
ease of the "intelligentsia," said Dr.
Calver, although that is a fighting
word to many congressmen.
Ten years later, after a year
of war, hardened with perhaps
greater responsibility than any
other, this congress is as it as
quarter horses. Only three
members died this year, against
an average of 12 daring the 28
years in which Dr. Calver has
been attending physician. Trou
blesome, but not fatal illness, is
similarly away down. Dr. Cal
ver attributes this, in part, to
the lowered imminence et high
blood pressure, as incidental to
heated debates and congression
al milling in general. There is i
much less of this now, as the 1
solons get together easier on
war issues.
Dr. Calver also says the good
showing is attributable to steadily
improving health education in con
gress, with more careful attention
to diet, exercise, rest and healthful
mental attitudes. All this, he has
pioneered diligently, coaching cob
gressmen on how to take cart at
themselves. . .
- ? i itiiirw ii ? - ?- ...