Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / April 22, 1943, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Alamance Gleaner Vol LXIX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1943 , No. It WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS FDR Tightens Living Cost Controls; Allies Push All-Tunisia Offensives As Rommel Speeds Retreat Northward; Draftees Status Altered in New Plan (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are these ef Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily ef this newspaper.) ____________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. < ANTI- INFLATION: *Hold the Line' President Roosevelt's "hold the line" anti-inflation order served blunt notice on all special economic groups that competition for higher prices and wages must end, because the resulting conflict would not only result in inflation but "breed dis unity when unity is essential." Banning further wage increases except to correct substandard liv ing conditions virtually freezing em ployees to their present jobs and ex tending price controls to all cost-of living commodities, the President's order centered a four-pronged at tack on inflation. The order proi vided: 1?No further wage increases bd yond the Little Steel formula of 16 per cent over rates on January 1, 1942 ; 2?Immediate ceilings on all commodities affecting the cost of living; 3?No hiring of new employ ees by employers, except in accord ance with War Manpower commis sion regulations, to prevent employ ment of workers at higher pay than they received in previous jobs; 4? Stabilization of rates of common carriers and public utilities. DRAFT: Classes Reshuffled As local draft boards speeded the reclassification of registrants, in ac cordance with new selective service regulations, the fathers of children born before September 14, 1942, found themselves the sole occupants of class 3-A. All other men of draft age were being placed in one of the following classes: 1-A?Subject to immediate induc tion; 2-A?Deferred because of oc cupation in activities directly sup porting the war effort, or vital to the maintenance of civilian health and welfare; 2-B?Deferred because of occupation in war plants; 2-C or 2-C?Deferred because of essential agricultural work; 3-D?Deferred because their induction would cause extreme hardship to dependants; 4-F?Mentally, morally, or physical ly unfit for service. PACIFIC FRONT: Air War Continues ? Aerial warfare on the north and east extremities of the Pacific battle front provided for weeks the only activity in this theater. In the nogth American army bombers escorted by fighters con tinued their daily assaults on Jap positions in the Aleutians, bombing Kiska and blasting Attu. Largest scale action of all oc curred near Guadalcanal, where American airmen destroyed 37 out of 98 Jap planes and bombers which attacked U. S. shipping. Americans lost seven of their own planes in the encounter. U. S. NAVY: Billions for Building Further evidence of the navy's de termination to build itself into un matched global power Was seen in President Roosevelt's request of congress for a $24,551,070,000 appro priation for the fiscal year 1944? the largest amount ever sought for the nation's sea-fighting forces. The President asked for $6,230, 000,000 for new warships; $1,830,000, 000 for maintenance and repair of ADM. ERNEST 4. KING ... more battU-umgom for him. ships and 13,476,000,000 (or guns, ammunition and armament. While only $1,640,000,000 was requested for airplanes, a backlog of about $4,000, 000,000 in orders will provide ade quate numbers of fighting craft. RUSSIA: Quiet on Donets As reports had persisted that the Germans were moving many fresh divisions to the Russian front for a new offensive, the Red forces took the initiative in the Kharkov area and seized several favorable posi tions south of Izyum, thus widen ing the Soviet bridgehead on the south bank of the Donets river. Following their failure at Izyum, the Germans were reported massing strength in the Balakleya sector. A Moscow communique reported that quiet had again descended on the Smolensk front after a lightning Russian thrust that resulted in the capture of several strongly held vil lages northeast of the Axis strong hold. Engagements were but a prelude to bigger movements, for both sides were massing their forces for new major actions once the spring thawed ground became firm again. TUNISIA: Fox in the Open Rommel's retreating Afrika Korps had been faced by Allied armies on three sides after "The Fox" was up rooted from his El Akarit positions and chased into the open plains of Tunisia well north of Gabes. The seriousness of the crisis for the Axis was reflected in Italian communiques which admitted that Italo - German forces were being GEN. BERNARD MONTGOMERY .. . outfoxes RommeL steadily overpowered along the en tire Tunisian front. The long-hoped for junction of American and British forces had in tensified Rommel's plight, for now General Montgomery's British Eighth army was not only pressing him from the south, but its advance units now joined directly with Gen eral Patton's Second American army corps were menacing his flanks from the east. To the north. General Anderson's British First army had moved to close off Rom mel's movements for a possible un ion with the Axis forces of Gen. Von Arnim. In routing Rommel at El Akarit, General Montgomery took the Nazis by surprise with a night attack that blazed its way forward under the screen of 500 cannon and scores of tanks and reinforced by hundreds of planes overhead. In the first break-through the Eighth army had gathered in 6,000 Axis prisoners. As the battle picture became clearer, the contributions of General Patton's American forces emerged importantly. Prior to the historic junction with the British Eighth army after piercing the Axis ar mies' flanks, the Americans had held up most of Rommel's armored forces in the El Guettar region, weakening his defenses and making easier the task of the British at El Akarit. BLOCK-BUSTERS: Work Well Done The penetrating eyes of British reconnaissance cameras confirmed reports of RAF bomber pilots that "block-busters" have done their work well in laying waste industrial areas of Berlin. Photographs taken after one re cent raid disclosed that 30 impor tant war factories had been de stroyed or damaged. The devasta tion was concentrated mostly in areas south and southwest of the center of Hitler's capital, a report by the air ministry disclosed. Railway repair shops, freight yards and the Templehof airfield were among objectives damaged. 135 BILLION: V. S. Must Recapture CHESTER C. DAVIS . . spending power a peril.' The government will have to re capture $35,000,000,000 in surplus spending power if present price and wage controls are to combat infla tion effectively, Chester C. Davis, food administrator declared. A banker as well as an agricul tural leader, Mr. Davis recommend ed higher federal taxes and sharply increased investments in war bonds to relieve the strain of "too much purchasing power" on a declining supply of consumer goods, includ ing food and other living items. "This is no 10 per cent war," he declared, referring apparently to the treasury's campaign to get 10 per cent of salaries invested in war bonds. KEYNES' PLAN: To Sidetrack Gold Following closely on the heels of the United States treasury's pro posal for a $5,000,000,000 postwar in ternational stabilization plan came Lord Keynes* proposal for a world credit institution "designed to ex pand world trade and serve as a genuine organ of truly international government." Unlike the American plan, the British fiscal expert's program would subordinate gold as the post war international medium of ex change. The announcement of Keynes' proposal made in a British white paper said "the purpose of the clearing union is to supplant gold as a governing factor, but not dispense with it." Financial observers viewed the Keynes' plan as a trial balloon. Their idea was that a compromise between the American and British viewpoints would be ultimately ar rived at. Under the Keynes' plan the clear ing union would have executive of ?fices in New York and London. It would operate as a bank of nations, with creditor nations allowing their balances to accumulate as deposits, while the union would lend these deposits for short periods to debtor nations, just as a commercial bank operates. FRANCE: 17. S.-Britain Agree When British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden announced he had in vited Secretary of State Cordell Hull to visit London and said lie was sat isfied there is "complete agreement" Between Britain and the' United States on the "future policy toward France." he took a long step toward settling the troublesome North Afri can political situation. Seemingly on the point of settle ment, the problem had been intensi fied once more when the Fighting French took umbrage at Allied Com mander Gen. Dwight O. Eisenhow er's request that Gen. Charles De Gaulle delay his projected visit to Algiers for conferences with Gen. Henri Giraud. Military men had viewed the Eisenhower request as a perfectly logical action. With the Battle for Tunisia at its height, the time was not right for political discussion, since the entire time of the French, British and American leaders in > North Africa was occupied in win ning the campaign. BLACK MARKETS: Meat Supply Scarcer Black markets were blamed by the department of agriculture for the reduced marketing of livestock for slaughter in recent weeks. In recent weeks, a department re port noted, government buying agen cies and civilian consumers depend ent on federally inspected plants have experienced difficulty in obtain ing meat. While the report did not disclose how great a reduction in in spected meat supplies stemmed from the black market operations, it described it as "fairly large." Meanwhile seven meat packing firms operating in the East and Mid dle West were indicted by a federal grand jury in Newark, N. J., on charges of conspiracy to violate meat price regulations and meat quota restrictions. Once Poor Wastelands Now Yield Profitable Products; Use Farm Crops in Plastics i Chemurgy Opens Industry to Agriculture; Urge Production of Many New Plants. "The proportion of usable wealth to be derived from an acre's production is becoming larger. Chemurgy has meant maximum utilization of maximum production. It has insisted that ways be found to use the high as well as the low values of the harvest? the stalk as well as the grain, the shell as well as the kernel, the weed as well as the crop." With those words. Wheeler McMillen, president of the National Farm Chemurgic Council, describes the revolutionary effect chemurgy promises to have on agriculture. With a national pur chasing power to support the new products of this industry, farm ers will not only be obtaining additional income from standard crops, but they will derive revenue from the use of the vast sub marginal lands now lying waste. L/anuenons, miixweeas ana cat tails?all of these, and many more, were once considered the useless and even pestiferous embroidery of the lonely plains. But today they have been proven to have real com mercial value. Although American experiments with the dandelion have not been as extensive as those in Russia, efforts are being made here to convert the latex of this colorful little plant into rubber. In this field, we were con cerned with the guayule shrub, and although the project later was aban doned because of the steady flow of natural rubber from the Indies, it has now been revived in the sandy Southwest. But if we have lagged in our de velopment of the dandelion, not so with the milkweed or the cattails. Milkueed Yields Fiber According to Dr. Boris Berkman, milkweed produces two fibers. A pioneer in milkweed development. Dr. Berkman says one fiber is tabu lar with an air chamber. It is 58 per cent alpha cellulose, 20 per cent kgnin and is covered with a vege table wax of a high melting point. This fiber is found in the pod. Known as milkwood floss, the fiber is buoyant, has a high insula tion value and promises to be valu able for soundproofing material. Dr. Berkman predicts its use in life pre servers; life jackets; aviator suits combining insulation value for high atmosphere with buoyancy in case of a landing in water; sleeping bags; mattresses; pillows; and surgical dressings. The other fiber of the milkweed is found in the outer layer of the stalk. In different species of the plant, it represents between 10 and 20 per cent in weight of the entire stalk. Known as Bast, this fiber has a great tensile strength, and the high alpha cellulose content of 93 per cent. Dr. Berkman says that studies show that Bast fiber ranks second to manila hemp in breaking and tensile strength. Running about three-fourths of an inch in length, the fiber is soft, pliable and much finer in texture. It has good possi bilities for use as textile. Seventy-two per cent of the milk weed found growing wild in Michi gan was on No. 4 submarginal land. Approximately 83 per cent of milk weed seed germinates. In experi ments last year, milkweed pickers earned from four to seven dollars a day, and they included women and children. The tall, somber cattail that stands silently in the marshes today may soon be the base for a flourish ing industry. In experiments con ducted under the direction of C. F. Burgess, noted chemist, this lowly plant was found to have high heat insulating, sound absorption and wa ter resistant properties. According to Mr. Burgess, the floss at the cattail can be produced at a cost competitive with cotton. About 140 man-hours of labor are needed to collect and process 50.000 spikes a day. These spikes yield 1,500 pounds of cattail Scss. Location at plants close to the marshes where the plants abound would trim operat ing costs. Belladonna Is MmUcinal The Belladonna, whose reddish bell-shaped Sowers and shining black berries ornament the Selds, contains medicinal properties which make cultivation at the plant both useful and profitable. Or. Alex Laurie of Ohio State uni versity points out that Belladonna is one of a number of plants whose tops and roots yield alkaloids that prevent gripping of irritant cathar tics, relax muscles and decrease secretions. One of the alkaloids? scopolamine?is among the most satisfactory materials used in child birth. According to Or. Laurie, bella donna thrives in acid soils. All shade must be eliminated if the quality of the plant is to be retained. A 30-inch spacing between rows and 12 inches in the row required 17.500 plants and produced as high as 1.000 pounds of dry material per acre in cultivations at die Ohio Agricultural Experiment station. It was found that high nitrogen and phosphorus are necessary to secure higher yields, but the alkaloid content was not increased proportionately. Harvesting and drying demand knowledge of plant growth and ade quate equipment. Dr. Laurie says. Since usually three crops may be secured per season, the plants must not be cut down to the ground. It is in the field of plastics that chemurgy has mads such great strides In utilizing the product of the farm in industry. From cotton linters chemurgy has produced cellulose acetate, a mold ing and extrusion material in the form of sheets, rods and tubes, and also ethyl cellulose, an excellent elastic plastic when used with other agents. From skim milk, casein is derived. Buttons, synthetic wool, felt hats and bonded plywood are all products of casein. Oat hulls, nut shells and corncobs have a ready use in plastics. Whan the war created an acute shortage of formaldehyde, chemurgists ob tained furfuraidehyde from oat hulls and corncobs. Furfural is usod is ?? I factura of butadiene for synlhatlc rubber. Petroleum refineries em ptor it as a solvent. Walnut shells act as fillers In many types of plastics. They are used for the making of large east molds In forming or stamping large alumi num airplane sections Appreciable quantities of walnut shell lour are fillers in various rubber products. This flour contains "cutm." a wax like substance of waterproof char acter. Jfestse Castor Planting Loan of territory and reductions of shipping have cut off importation of many products formerly received from other countries. The impor tance of these products to our econ omy, and the possibility that we may be deprived at them for sub stantial periods, has led to a move ment for the cultivation of these products here at home. Aa a result of these movements, it has been learned that many of these products were raised in this country many years ago, hut gradu ally were abandoned as domestic growers found it hard to compete TW castor plufi Um (iasat) contain miuabla oil?for nadcw and industry. Yield par aorn varies according to aozL phenolic resin and also in the manu with the cheap labor of other coun tries. The case at castor beans is an example. Oil from these beans serves a variety of important pur poses. as a medicine as we all know, but also as a hydraulic liquid, lubri cant, demulsifler. tanner and pre server and insecticide. In 1860, castor beans were grown commercially in the Midwest. There was a pressing plant for the beans in Kansas. But when we began im porting castor beans from India and Brazil, our own industry died out. The location of India in the war zone and the shortage of ship ping to Brazil has led to a bean shortage that has prompted the movement lor resuming castor bean cultivation here. Under the impetus of the depart ment of agriculture, a castor bean seed production program has been designed to build up a stockpile of approximately three million pounds of pure variety castor beans for plantings. Texas, Oklahoma, Kan sas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana are the eight states that will share in the pro gram. In recent experiments, Dr. W. L. Buriison of the agriculture depart ment of the University of Illinois discovered that certain types of cas tor beans would produce profitable crops when grown in the right soil and climate. A bean that yielded 475 pounds per acre in one section of the state, yielded 1,748 pounds in another section. It has been point ed out that in this country beans would have to be planted each year and harvested before frost In Bra zil, the plant is a perennial, with blossoms and mature beans growing on the stalk at the same time. Cascara and digitalis are found in the forests and mountains of the Northwest Pacific area. Over aix million pounds of cascara bark year ly are obtained in Washington and Oregon. With a value of $1,280,000, this crop is gathered from wild growth and cultivated groves. Digi talis leaves are also picked from native and planted patches in the same states. Sage, coriander and anise thrive he the Northwest, but the large amount of hand labor needed for the care of these crops has proven a discouraging factor. The work Of thiiwm| El ##<111 H tiMM CTOps conflicts with the same typo at tabor be the sugar boot flatfe. Fraa cwwti rtwlwh, Who's News This Week Bj Dclos Wheeler Lovelace NJEW YORK-Fot many a 1sag - ^ year H you'd asked any mem ber af (ha Boy Scouts at America, who was the Chief Scoot, he'd here Mini-.Scmmt.Hml J* *?? Him ea 'ChimF mmd E. West. Afeaa If* tmr Kampu tie haa beam made official, and Dr. West has beaa promoted to a rank held previously by only one man, Ernest Thompson Seton, another lover at the outdoors with a powerful interest in boys. Dr. West joined the Boy Scoot movement January 2, 1911. It wae in its infancy in the United States then. He took the job of Executive Chief on a six months' trial baaaa. He stayed 33 years, finally relin quishing the post February 1 leak On Or. West's 88th birthday in Wag, 1941, President Roosevelt told him: "To yon belongs much at the credit for the effectiveness at Ti iiuting as this country.'* when kswas There wwrwlea bT tad I jmt Ttam way throagh the law sehaal of National university. Re waa practicing is the capital wham Scooting called him. That wasn't his fhht task in be naif at youngsters, however. His efforts gave Washington its first ju venile court, and in 1909 he per suaded President Theodora Roose velt to call a White House confer ence on the care of dependent chil dren. He has had four children of his awn. two boys and two girls. Roth boys became Eagle Scouts. While in command, he saw bis beloved Scouts grow into an organization more than a million strong. IT ACT tinding ia the task assigned to Jonathan W. Darnels as ha joins the staff of White House- ad ministrative assistants, and that Will Tom About Fair ^ Play?FDR Raw He has bean Romaa a Damalm for^ years now. His first stiht in that line came as a cub lcpuiler an the Louisville Times. There he harvest ed his initial facts from a police sergeant who had been a Confed erate soldier. He had learned about newspapers long before that, how ever, from his father, Josephus Dan els, editor of the Haleigh (S. C) News and Observer and secretary of the navy under Wilson. Toang Jonathan started ant to be a lawyer. Be even spent a year at the Columbia law school after graduating tram the Uht versity of North Carolina. He been rubbing eibowa tan long with printer's ink. After trying turned heme to work far bis totd. Later he wrote a novel. "Clash at Angels" it was called, and it helped him win a Guggenheim Fellowship and a couple of years' study in Eu rope. When the alder Daniels shift ed his activities to the United States embassy in Mexico City, his sen moved into the editor's chair. In World War 1 a Daniels gave the orders to a young assistant secre tary of the navy named Franklin D. Roosevelt Now it will be the other way around. ??? Da. C. E. M. JO AD used to be chairman of the National Peace Council CBritish) and a member of the Braine Trust that London bw ThroagbWhwbar. ^a Me Advocates Fitre L Q.s all Wimam Par Mat* cmneoutof the tep drawer, but here he is urging over the Atlantic cable that every man be allowed fere wives. What peace is likely to come out of that Una. and who would aspect a Brains Trustor to tret it out!
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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April 22, 1943, edition 1
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