Newspapers / The Alamance gleaner. / April 29, 1943, edition 1 / Page 1
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The Alamance Gleaner . __ ; * * * ,?? ; VoL LXIX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1943 No. 12 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS OWI Predicts 6% Cut in Food Supply; Bombers Strafe Italian Supply Ports As Allies Close Axis Tunisia Trap; U. S. Promises MacArthur More Planes (EDITOR'S NOTE: When ^pinions art expressed la th?M cdamni, thejr art those of Wttttra Newspaper Union's newt analytla and net necessarily tf this ntwtpaptr.) Released by Western Newspaper Union. ?J Typical of the harvest of Axis prisoners in the Tunisian campaign is this batch of German soldiers guarded by a lone British Tommy. They ware taken in the early stages of the drive northward, after General Montgomery's Eighth army had shattered the Mareth line. SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: Battle for Air Control While Gen. Menryo Sato, chief of the Nipponese military affairs bu reau in Tokyo threatened Jap air raids on the United States, enemy planes continuing a battle for con trol of the air over a wide area at the approaches to Australia mount ed a 100-ship raid at Milne Bay, New Guinea. Allied fighter planes, alert to the danger, shot 30 of the enemy raiders out of the sky. Meanwhile, Allied air forces rang ing aver the vast battle area de scribed by .Gen. Douglas MacAr thnr as "our bomber line?the first Jifea at Australian defense" attacked a Japanese convoy of six merchant ahips and three warships approach ing the enemy base at Wewak, 450 miles north of Port Moresby, New Guinea. Three of the merchantmen were hit, including two 8,000-ton and one 5,000-ton ships. In answer to warnings from Gen eral MacArthur's headquarters of the increasing strength of Jap air, sea and land force concentrations threatening Australia, Secretary of War Stim'son promised that enough planes would be sent to the South Pacific to. counter the rising Jap power. TUNISIA: 84 to 3 As the Allied armies closed in on the Axis' last mountain bastions in Tunisia, the gravity of Marshal Rommel's supply problem was shown by the heavy German reliance on ae>ial transport from Sicily. That this supply problem would become even more critical was evi dent from tyro facts: 1?The Axis had lost all but three airports in Tu nisia; 2?Rommel's thin supply line was being menacingly depleted by American Flyiilg Fortress attacks. Typical of the potency of the American aerial offensive was a raid on Axis rear bases at Castel vetrano and Milo in Sicily in which 84 enemy planes were destroyed with the loss of but three American aircraft. ? ' With the Mediterranean, at their back, the forces of Rommel and Col. Gen. Von Arnim were hemmed into an area less then the size of Con necticut in Northeast Tunisia. The Axis did, however, have the advan tage of holding mountainous posi tions difficult for the Allies to storm. The strongly fortified ports of Tu nis and Bizerte were the Allies' final goal. Operating under the supervi sion of Commander-in-Chief Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the British First army in the North, American and French forces in the center and General Montgomery's British Eighth army on the South steadily closed the trap on the Axis. MEAT: Ceilings Deferred . < Following through on President * Roosevelt's directive to "roll back" 1 the cost a# living items found too 1 high, OPA Chief Prentiss M. Brown suspended until May 17 the price ' ceiling schedule on beef, veal, lamb 1 and mutton. Meat trade sources disclosed that 1 the OPA had received complaints that its previously proposed stand- I ard prices on these meats would i have resulted in higher prices. I FOOD: You'll Get Less in '43 Controversies might rage over whether the Office of War Informa tion had or had not sugar-coated its estimates of forthcoming food short ages, but the sober fact remained that civilians will have at least 8 per cent less to eat this year than they consumed last year. Warning that the food situation is serious, OWI experts said, "There will be more or less continuous shortages of some kinds of food? such as canned vegetables . . . (and) . . . meat products." Civil ians, however, will get enough to eat. In fact, compared to the pre war years they will have about 3 per cent more food. Among food supplies on the debit side for 1943, OWI roughly estimat ed: 11 per cent less meat, 21 per cent less butter, 11 per cent less cheese, 3 to 25 per cent less canned vegetables, 27 per cent less canned and shell fish. Among items on the credit side, OWI calculated: 30 per cent more chickens, 57 per cent mere margarine, 13 per cent more frozen fruits, 7 per cent more wheat and 13 per cent more rye. Listed among food supplies that will be about the same as last year were: Fresh and frozen fish, eggs, fluid milk and cream, lard and other cooking fats, fresh citrus fruits, potatoes and sweet potatoes. RUSSIA: Sparring Tactics Still sparring tike prize-fighters seeking advantageous openings, the Red and Nazi armies on the far fiung Russian front held each other off in preparation for the cudgelling blows that will fall when dry ground makes movement possible. Military activity was confined to minor skirmishes. In the Kuban valley of the Caucasus, the Russians mounted attacks which resulted in the capture of a series of pillboxes and trenches from the German de fenders. In the Donets river area the Ger mans attempted another offensive in the Izyum sector, but were repulsed, a Soviet communique said. North of Chuguev in the Kharkov area, Russian artillery was credited with dispersing a German infantry batal lion. AIRRAIDS: Sardinia to Stuttgart From Sardinia to East Prussia, Allied bombers struck at Axis-held Europe with increasing fierceness as the tempo of "softening up" raids continued to rise. British, Ameri can and Russian planes had simul taneously taken the offensive. Among spectacular raids was the vast British foray against the big German industrial city of Stuttgart. Observers reported that planes on this raid could be heard roaring across the British Channel toward the continent for an hour and a half. Nazi radio broadcasts were the authority for reports that Red air forces had raided Koenigsburg in East Prussia three times within a five-day span. American Flying Fortresses con tinued to destroy Axis shipping fa cilities with punishing attacks on the port of Cagliari in Sardinia. BALKANS: Hitler Builds Fences Even as Hungary was reported pulling 200,000 men out of Axis ranks on the Russian front, a Rome broad cast announced that Adolf Hitler in a move to strengthen his Mediter ranean defenses had called in lead ers of his Balkan satellites for con ference. The seemingly frank tone of the Rome broadcast, plus reports from neutral Spain and Sweden that Ger man engineers were dissatisfied with defense works in the Balkans led observers to believe that the Axis was on a fishing expedition for clues to possible Allied invasion plans. Commenting on a conference be-, tween Hitler and Rumania Premier Ion Antonescu, the Rome radio said: "The Fuehrer and the Mar shal restated their decision to con tinue the fight against the enemies of Europe until unconditional vic tory has been achieved." ARMY: Cuts Food Waste Better planning by mess officers and co-operation by cooks and KPs has reduced the amount of food wasted at army camps by more than half since the beginning of the year, it was disclosed when testi mony of a private hearing of the senate war investigating Truman committee was made public. Before the army's conservation program was inaugurated as much as 20 to 25 per cent of the food served at camps was wasted. This wastage has now been reduced to about 11 'per cent?a saving suffi cient to feed a million civilians for a year. r igures on tne extent ol army food conservation were presented by Maj. Gen. E. B. Gregory, quarter master general. He told the com mittee that army food purchases had to be sufficient for an average of 2,100,000 men overseas and 4,500, 000 men in this country during 1943. He indicated that the average size of the army will be 6,600,000 this year. PLAIN TALK: Business Gets Lecture Silver-thatched Commerce Secre tary Jesse H. Jones gave business in general some of his native Texas "plain talk" when he appeared as a speaker before the Committee for Economic Development in New York. Pointing out that the nation can not "indulge in another depression," but must pay the costs of this war which he said had been estimated at around 250 billion dollars, Jones said "the problem will be to pro vide jobs at a living wage for every person willing to work." Business must form its own post war plans and meet the problems ahead with its own practical solu tions if it does not want the govern ment to step in and do the planning for it. RENTS: No Boost Now Landlords and tenants were in formed by the OPA that present rent regulations will be continued. In rejecting rent control change proposals by the National Associa PRENTISS M. BROWN OP A frowns on rem changes. non 01 neai estate Boards, tne UFA ruled that any such changes would be in conflict with the President's orders "to hold the line" against inflation. Commenting on the realtors' sug gestions, Price Administrator Pren tiss M. Brown said that "while the proposals do not explicitly request any general increase in the rent level, their adoption would clearly achieve such a request." While the OPA is considering a few minor changes in its rent rules. Brown asserted that so far as the basic program is concerned, "I do not intend to alter either its method or administration." Farmer Plots Crop Acreage Under New AAA Program; Agency to Assist Drive To Meet Record Wartime Production Committeemen Will Carry Grievances to War Boards; Goal Is to Raise Yields Per Acre; All Problems Will Be Dealt With on Local Basis. The 1943 farmer is on his honor! Like the boy taking an exam ination at school, it's up to him and him alone. He's strictly "on his own." Under the 1943 agricultural adjustment agency plan, the farmer for the first time has the full responsibility for measur ing his acreages on specific crops and reporting the results he gets. Formerly this was done by AAA employees, but the new scheme will conserve travel, cut down wear and tear on tires and cars, and decrease the use of gas and oil. Now it is up to the farmer to check on his own fields. He appears to be happy about this change in program admin istration, department of agricul ture reports show. While AAA committeemen ? themselves farmers?will continue to give him every assistance, the re sponsibility for carrying out pro duction plans and doing his share in the national program rests with the individual opera tpr. " Spot checks will be made periodi cally to determine the status of com munity and county production, and farmers are being asked to keep records and lay out their crops so that reports can be made easily and quickly. Goals this year call for about 5 per cent more production than in 1942. Basis for the 1943 AAA pro gram to reach these goals is "local action." It recognizes that the job of production adjustment?of shift ing crops to meet war needs and planning acreage to the best ad vantage?must be worked out and carried out on the individual farms. It can't be done in Washington, say the committeemen. It must ba done locally, to conform to the local situ ation. Instead of a national over-all goal "formula," each state and county has been left free to adopt the means which seem best suited to the par ticular section concerned. Wide lat itude .is given the committeemen in making goal assignments. They are not only allowed to determine such assignments on a "capacity of the farmer to produce" basis. They are expected to use such a yardstick. Capacity to produce varies accord ing to the character of the farm land, machinery and labor availa ble, and many other factors. Each region has its individual problems which must be taken into considera tion in determining what the specific area may reasonably do in a given period. AAA Committeeman Will Keep Government Informed The role of the AAA committee man will be that of an important go-between who keeps the govern ment informed on the farmer's prog ress and problems, and the farmer informed on what the government -j i expects of him and what it Is doing to help him circumvent obstacles that present themselves. Adjustment, the process of help ing toe farm operator to scale his crop production upward or down ward to lit into the national agricul tural picture, has always been one of the major activities of AAA. It helps * fanners meet production problems by providing guidance and assistance in producing toe kinds of crops that are needed In toe re quired amounts, working in co-oper ation with other units of the depart ment of agriculture. .? Community farmer committeemen in 1942 totaled 89,000 regular elected committeemen end about 58,000 el ternatcs. County committees totaled 3,029 with 9,087 members. The coun ty committeemen are responsible to the state offices, which in turn re port to the regional offices. Uncle Sam's millions of farms depend upon the AAA committeemen to keep them informed of changing phases of the over-all national program, of the state's particular part in the 1943 farm plan, and of the numerous de tails having to do with production goals and how they can be met. AAA county chairmen are also chairmen of the County Farm Transportation committees, which issue certificates of war necessity for mileage rationing, and the Coun ty Farm Machinery Rationing com mittees, which ration many types of farm equipment. In the matter of labor shortage, the community committees report localized needs to the county committee and war board chairman, the latter then car rying the problems on to the proper authorities. Chairmen of AAA state and coun ty committees head up the war boards which correlate the efforts of department of agriculture agencies to assist farmers in their war pro duction. Getting the right fields into the right kind of production and getting higher yields out of every acre through better farming practices is the basic theme of the committee man's work in 1943. Committeeman Will Help Arrange Cooperative Action Among his activities is helping to arrange co-operative use of scarce machinery and co-operative trans portation programs. Many locali ties already have worked out suc cessful schemes for sharing trucks Mr. Farmar't on kit owi. and trailers, as well as_ binders, combines, picking machines and other mechanical aids to planting and harvesting essential war crops. Facilities for storage of crops are sometimes another item for him to handle. * Assistance in the various loan and purchase programs instituted by the Food Distribution administration and Commodity Credit corporation is made available through the AAA committeeman. Increased produc tion of peanuts, soybeans, hemp (un der a special program), castor bean seed, Irish potatoes, and many oth er crops has been greatly aided by such programs. New applications for insurance on the 1943 cotton crop will be handled by the committee man, and he will in addition keep farmers informed of the availability of loans, insurance and payments under the program. Program objectives of AAA also vary in certain instances from past planning. Emphasis is falling still more heavily on the need for better yields per acre. To achieve this, more attention is being given to pro duction practices which immediate ly increase yields. AQ-out activity in the use of lime and phosphate, contour cultivation and terracing, for example, is being urged. Over three-fourths of 1943 production practice payment funds for the country as a whole will be used to promote such "quick" helps to better crops. In the East Central region, about 80 per cent of such payments are going for promotion of this immediate-yield program. Production practices, reports show, are feeling the "localizing" in fluence just as are other branches of the AAA program. Formerly the rates of payment for different prac tices were worked out on what might be termed a national basis. This year the various regions determine the soil building allowances for the farms in their particular areas, with relation to the particular problems involved. In the Southern region each state has Its own basis for de termining soil building allowances. Reason for this localization is ob vious. Production practices may be mora easily adapted to the individu al areas and tha individual farms within them. In turn, available funds may be used to tha best advantage and with the greatest efficiency. Acreage limitations have been re moved on a number of.crope which previously had such limits. Except for short staple cotton, tobacco and perhaps one or two other crops, farmers are urged to exceed their ' goals in 1943. This is particularly Will aid cooperative plaaa. true of dairy products and meat. Goals for most crops are mial mums, calculated as the least pos sible amount which will keep the na tional efficiency at a reasonable lev el, and at the same time provide for the armed services and war plant workers and give assistance to America's Allies. AAA committeemen and the farm ers, working hand in hand, are do ing their best to develop and carry through the most efficient and pro ductive Individual farm programs they can. Problems of every sort stand in their way?labor, machin ery, transportation and material shortages being paramount. By their close personal co-opera tion, however, they make possible an equally close relationship be tween the farmer and his govern ment. America's farmers have a tre mendous production job ahead of them. Demands for food such as they are now attempting to fill have never before been made upon any nation. Last year they upped pro duction 12 per cent over'41. Another 5 per cent increase is hoped for in '43. Grandma Learns Blueprinting in Aircraft School In San Diego there'* one school In a great building left over from the San Diego e xpos Uion? an other in a church?another even in a once vacant storeroom. They're crammed with students the like of which has never been seen before. Two grandmothers, one white haired, the other pink-cheeked and marcelled, bend together with com pass and rulers over adjoining desks. They are both learning to be me chanical draftsmen, to turn out their share of the ten acres of blueprints 1 required to build a single flying bat tleship. "How on earth," you ask the Con solidated Vultee teacher, "do you , manage to guess that a grandmoth er can learn some engineering, when she decides she wants to help in the war?" "It's not so difficult at that," you are told. "First we look for evi dence of artistic talent. Perhaps a j woman has done painting, or draw in*. or flne arts design. Perhaps she laid a career aside to bring up a family. If she can draw, and U she is intelligent, we can easily teach her mechanical draftsman ship. She is straight on her way into the engineering department." In California, where the airframe industry of the nation centers, lit erally hundreds of thousands of pen. pie have gone to school, and are to day at work doing precision jobs. Most of them were never before in a factory. In an age that has been called revolutionary, here we have the real revolution. . The lure of wartime money is not enough to have done this. In San Diego, for Instance, Consolidated early realized that the sort of work ers needed must be appealed to on the basis of their patriotic willing ness to serve. _ " Who's News This Week Ar Delos Wheeler Lovelace Couuandatod rutuiu VXD HsWsou. ^JEW YORK. ? In army circles they rate Maj. Gen. Harold L George at one of the best impromptu speakers in the service. He likes Hit Air Transport ^jj^ues Command It Gen. will tell you, George's Pet Topic well. He's the chief of the air trans port command of the army air corps, and has been ever since its formation last July. Oat hi Australia the other day he likened the feats of his tiers to the tales of Jales Verne, and it wasn't so long age that bo was picturing with delight bow his men had down the equipment for a 24-bed hospital to Nome, Alaska, after a tre had de stroyed its lone hospital. Just a year ago when he was made head at the ferry command at the army air corps. Us major task was getting new planes > from the factories to wherever they were needed. Now be has that problem and a whole lot of others, such as lying troops and overseas. uc Ulll KUUCU BUVUl UJUI? H World War I. A native of Scner ville, Mass., he was a student in the law school at National university on April 6, 1917. A month later he was a second lieutenant of cavalry Fall found him training to be a flier, however. He won his wings in March, 1918, and the following Sep tember he was in France as a bomb ing instructor at Clermont. Before the Armistice, he had been assigned to the 183rd aero squadron. After the war, he resumed his studies and won his LL B in 1920. His heart was in the army, however, and in 1921, he went back, this time to stay. Since Ms retara he has been stationed at a lot af places, Kelly. Field, Texas, the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, eat la Hawaii, and down at Maxwell Field, Ala bama. They made Mm a eap taia ia '32 and a major Ja *29. Meanwhile he had daae pinaty of flying. Fit and bronzed and with keen blue eyes, he looks every inch a flier. He'll be SO this summer, but he seems a lot younger despite gray ing hair. ? "THE man who has been swinging Bolivia into war against Hitler A Co. is a fighter and a believer in orderly government. Enrique Pena Bolivia't President JJewa^to Can Swing Mailed the top as a Fit Whan Needed military leader In the Chaco war against Paraguay. Today lie is equally famous as an able president. Whea General Penaraada was eleetod chief executive la Marsh, 19M, he depended an flmhaHsts at Ms countrymen, not the aaas keta of Ms treats. Tar some years before 0mt the stylish way to land la the presidential palace was by eeep d'etat. IBs filial opposests, aa bearing the re tarns tram tbe pells, dsridsd eM methods were best. Ths gen eral promptly shewed hen he was still a warrior, and Manga ration day found Mm taking el flee as schedaled and ssprsss lag Ms faith is democracy. oorn m uie i-a raz uima aw year* ago, be entered his country's West Point in 1907 and graduated a second lieutenant three years later. He became a captain in '17, a major in '21, and a colonel in '22. The start of the war with Paraguay shot him swiftly to the top and three months after hostilities began be was made commander-in-chief. F REE FRENCH circles offer a 1 double barreled explanation for the failure of the United States to clear up the muddle of Martinique Martinique's 'Foot AdsaTral Families' Control George All but Mt. Polo K?bert* They say the vice admiral is pro-Robert, but anti-everything else save the Four Families. These, they explain, boast of being the only truly white families on the island. The four families are in complete control, it is claimed, of 247,000 na tives and Martinique's economic ex istence. The vice admiral could, if he weald, make say deal wttosat * eonsalting Vichy to whiah he still vows loyalty. Vichy gave him fall power to the Freaeh Antilles aad authority to een elade any arrangement wMh the United States. Be catered toe . French navy M years age. .J
April 29, 1943, edition 1
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