: . . " . 'itu * ' ? V I j|
The Alamance Gleaner
VoL LXIX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1943 No. IS
I ?
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Allied Generalship, Planes and Guns
Decisive Factor in Tunisia Windup;
Farm Situation Improves, Davis Says;
Red Drive Perils Nazi Caucasus Hold
(ISITOB'S NOTE: Wkia ?pinions are inriiMi la thess columns, they are these ef
Western Newspaper Union's aewe analysts an* net necessarily el this newspaper.)
_______________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. '
~j ' ?i? ?
Bffw Mood plasma contributed by donations of Americans to the Red
Cross is used to save lives on battlefields is illustrated by the above photo
of doctors treating a wounded D. S. soldier at a portable field hospital
fin NeV Guinea. Clayton Mitchell (left) of Wyandotte, Mich., and Maj.
WRBam GafHck of Baltimore, Md.:, are administering the plasma.
TUNISIA:
Master Generalship
Axis resistance in Tunisia had
steadily crumbled as the Allied ar
mies moved inexorably toward their
Coals. As American artillery pound
ad the Bizerte harbor area setting
Are to wharves and docking facili
ties, the . British First army had
swept over the Tunisian plains lead
ing to the capital city of Tunis.
The moves on Bizerte had been
expedited by the capture by Ameri
can and French forces of hilly
strongholds protecting Lake Achkel
sad Lake Bizerte. In mopping up
operations in the Mediterranean
cnwstal region the Allies had con
tinued to capture numerous prison
ers.
In analyzing the results of the suc
f eessful offensive, observers cred
ited master Allied generalship with
autmaneuvering the Axis. The Al
Sed high command had led the en
emy to believe that the principal
Hows would be struck by General
Montgomery's British Eighth army
tan the south. After the Axis had
Mrown heavy strength to repel
Montgomery, American forces in
die Bizerte area and British First
army forces before Tunis had struck
crushing blows simultaneously.
Europe Drive 'Sure'
As the North African climax had
approached, Elmer Davis, director
of the Office of War Information,
had declared there is "no question
but that there will be Allied opera
tions on continental Europe this sum
mer." Expressing his confidence
that the Allies would clean up Tu
nisia in time to permit invasion of
the continent this year, Davis added
tiat it might possibly be necessary
to leave a pocket of Axis resistance
sf Bizerte to be reduced by sustained
pounding even while continental op
erations were under way. Following
the death of Lt. Gen. Frank M. An
drews, Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers was
aamed U. S. European commander.
STRIKE BAN:
More Power for WLB
Congress moved swiftly to
strengthen the government's hand in
dealing with strikes.
First step was the senate's over
whelming enactment of legislation
empowering the government to take
over plants in which war produc
tim is stopped by labor disputes
awd making it a crime to instigate
a strike in war plants or mines
which have been taken over by the
government.
The senate measure was a much
amended version of a bill by Senator
Ctmnally of Texas to give congres
sional sanction for government sei
xure of struck plants and mines.
Originally introduced months before,
il had lain dormant until John L.
Lewis refused to submit the soft
coal wage dispute to the War Labor
hoard and the miners' work stop
page resulted. The final version
contained a clause giving the WLB
legal power to enter and settle labor
As the bill went to the house, it
provided maximum penalties of one
year's imprisonment or 13,000 fine
?pen anyone guilty of inducing a
strike or slow-down in s government
operated plant.
RUSSIA:
Nazi Setbacks
Hammering at the northeast ap
proaches to Nazi-held Novorossisk,
Russian forces had captured numer
ous towns, including Krymskaya
and killed 10,000 German troops in a
smash through the Kuban delta
bulge of the Caucasus toward the
Black sea.
Although the Axis forces were
weakened by the break-through, Hit
ler had been preparing for weeks for
action by bringing up fresh troops,
tanks and munitions.
The capture of Krymskaya had
two strategic benefits. It-placed the
Red army in a position to seriously
menace Novorossisk and it enabled
the Russians to cut the German-held
railroad between Novorossisk and
Protoka, 36 miles northeast of the
port.
Significant was a Soviet report an
nouncing the presence of powerful
Russ naval units in the Black sea,
led by the flagship "Paris Com
mune." This sea force was await
ing an opportunity to pounce on any
German attempt to evacuate troops
from the Caucasus.
FARM PROSPECTS:
Situation Improves
Heartening tidings that the farm
labor, equipment and supply situa
tions are showing "improved prom
ise" were heralded by Chester C.
Davis, food administrator.
"A current appraisal of the farm
labor situation," he declared in a
letter to James F. Byrnes, economic
stabilization director, "indicates
that there is an available labor sup
ply sufficient to produce and har
vest a 1943 crop up to the levels of
the announced goals."
While not entirely satisfactory,
Mr. Davis said, the farm machinery
and supply situation for 1943 recent
ly has been improved. He revealed
that the War Production board has
agreed to permit an increase in
farm machinery production from 23
to 40 per cent of the 1940 level and
an increase in repair parts to 160
per cent of the 1940-41 average. The
petroleum administration has prom
ised full gasoline supplies for food
production, even if further cuts in
civilian supplies should be neces
sary, he added.
COAL:
Take and Give
Reversing the procedure of "give
and take," Fuel Administrator Har
old L. Ickes announced a new "take
and give" policy as an insurance
against any new coal emergency.
The doughty interior secretary set
up machinery by which he may take
coal from persons or plants with
safe margins of supply and turn it
over to those caught short
The action was taken at a time
when coal miners of the nation were
at work on a 13-day truce before
final settlement of wage demands
had been made.
Mr. Ickes issued regulations set
ting up procedure under which he
could act to protect war plants and
essential civilian users from short
ages, regardless of whether they
arose from a work stoppage in
mines, faulty distribution or other
#
CONTROVERSY:
Russ Add New Fuel
More fuel was added to the flaming
Russ-Polish controversy when the
Soviet foreign office charged that
cabinet officers of the Polish govern
ment-in-exile had engaged in espio
nage activities against Russia. To
this charge the Reds added the fur
ther allegation that the Polish gov
ernment had refused to permit use
of Russian-trained Polish troops on
the Soviet front.
United Nations' chancellories had
previously been heartened over the
prospects of a resumption in Russ
Polish relations when Premier Josef
Stalin had advocated the establish
ment of a strong and independent
Polish state after the war and sug
gested a Polish-Russian pact direct
ed against Germany. Observers
viewed the Soviet foreign office's
supplementary charges as an indi
cation that while Russia desired
good relations with Poland, it was
bitterly at odds with members of
the present government-in-exile.
Stalin's statement appearing in a
letter to Ralph Parker, Moscow cor
respondent of the New York Times,
had unequivocally endorsed the idea
of a strong and independent post
war Poland and declared that fu
ture Russ-Polish relations should be
on the basis of "good neighborly
relations, or an alliance against
Germany should the Polish people
desire it."
DRAFT:
Fathers by August
Nation-wide induction of fathers
into the armed forces will be started
by August "if not sooner," Maj. Gen.
Lewis B. Hershey announced. In a
subsequent move Selective Service
headquarters issued instructions un
der which fathers in 35 listed essen
tial industries may be given essen
tial deferment. Observers believed
that the new order indicated that
the ban against the induction of fa
thers soon would be lifted.
Under the new instructions to lo
cal draft boards, care will be taken
to keep fathers in essential occupa
tions out of the armed forces until
fathers working in less essential jobs
have been inducted.
General Hershey ordered all es
sential war production employers to
file with draft boards evidence of
their employment of men who main
tain bona fide homes with children
under 18 years of age and born be
fore September 14, 1942.
PACIFIC:
U. S. Air Upsurge
Surging American air strength
took its toll of the Japs in widely
separated actions on the far-flung
Pacific front.
In the foggy Aleutians off the
North American mainland Ameri
can bombers kept up their incessant
aerial pounding that has prevented
the enemy from completing the air
field that has been under construction
for several months on Kiska island.
Reporting an action of tremendous
implications because it showed that
heavy reinforcements had reached
the U. S. air forces in China and
that enemy bases near to Japan were
now being laid open to our at
tacks, Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's
headquarters in China reported that
newly arrived four-engine Liberator
bombers had "pretty nearly wiped |
out" a Jap airport on the southern
end of Hainan island.
From American army headquar
ters in New Delhi, India, came the
announcement that U. S. heavy
bombers had dropped more than 30
tons of bombs on Japanese installa
tions in Toungoo, Burma, in the
Mandalay area, blasting the enemy
headquarters there and causing se
vere damage to other buildings.
In the Solomon Islands American
planes continued their attacks on
Jap positions, raiding Vangavanga
and Ringi Cove on the island of
Kolombancara, as wen as Ritaka
bay and Kila.
ALIEN BUSINESS:
Now in U. S. Hands
The United States has thrown back
the economic invasion launched
nearly a quarter of a century ago
by the aggressor nations with whom
we are now at war, the Office of
War Information announced in mak
ing public figures showing that $7,
000,000,000 in assets of enemy and
enemy-occupied countries are now
under control of the alien property
custodian.
"Every company in which Nazi
influence was known to exist has
been Americanized," the OWI said.
"These companies are now giving
valuable support to the war and are
playing an important part in help
ing the nation meet its production
goals."
More than 2,000 such business firms
are operating under licenses from
the treasury department A total of
SfiLfTLSi Way1?
SKi. - ~o. ?
Our Air Mail Observes Its 25th Birthday
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Rtltutd by Western Newspaper Unloa.
YOU lived on the Atlantic sea
board and you wanted to
send a letter to a friend out on
the Pacific coast. So you put a
two-cent stamp on it, dropped
it in the mail and about a week
later your friend was reading
what you had written.
That was back in 1918.
Today you put a six-cent (air
mail) stamp on your letter and
the next day the postman hands
it to your friend.
And that, in brief, is the mod
ern version of Aladdin and his
magic carpet which has become
such a commonplace that we
accept it as a matter of course
and never give it more than a
passing thought.
But Uncle Sam thinks we shouldn't
take it so casually. So this month,
even while he's busy fighting a global
war, he's putting on special ceremo
nies to honor the 25th anniversary of
regular air mail service and he's
signed up a number of pioneer air
mail pilots, army and navy aviation
leaders and others prominent in avi
ation development, to help him in
this nation-wide celebration.
It all began back in May, 1918,
when a group of World War I pilots,
sitting in the open cockpits of Lib
erty-powered DeHavilands, began
flying the first scheduled air mail
service between New York and
Washington. Today, as the nation
observes the 25th anniversary of that
event, air transportation is accom
plishing a job which, even two years
ago, would have seemed impossible
to its most enthusiastic advocates.
The 218-mile air route between New
York and Washington, which in two
decades and a half has developed
into respectable proportions as a
passenger - mail - express network
within the continental United States,
and to foreign lands, suddenly has
become a vast system of scheduled
and unscheduled lines sprawling all
over the face of the globe.
Of course, there were demonstra
tions of the possibilities of delivery
by air even before the 1918 New
York to Washington venture, such as
that of Pilot Earl E. Orvington in
carrying letters between Mineola and
Long Island, N. Y., away back in
1911. But 1918 is now recognized
as the real "birthday" of air mail.
For it was in that year that the post
office department inaugurated the
service in co-operation with the war
department which supplied planes
and pilots.
President Wood row Wilson was on
hand with a large crowd which saw
the start of the service from Wash
ington's Potomac park on May 13,
1918. So successful was the experi
ment that the post office department
began making plans for transconti
nental air mail service. It was log
ical that it should project this route
in the air over the mid-continent
pathway which had been used by the
early explorers on foot, the covered
wagon, the Pony Express, the stage
coach and the first transcontinental
railroad.
The Chicago-Cleveland leg of the
route was opened May 13, 1919; the
Cleveland-New York section a month
and a half later, on July 1; the
Chicago-Omaha on May 13, 1920; and
the Omaha-San Francisco on Sep
tember 8,1920. Thus, in a little over
two years air mail began winging
its way from coast to coast. True, it
had to depend part of the way on
the railroad, for the mail was car
ried by plane only in daytime and
then transferred to trains at night.
But, even so, it cut down the travel
time for letters to approximately
three days.
Looking at this plane-railroad ar
rangement, air mail pioneers said:
"We can't let air mail grow up with
one foot on the ground!" So a group
of volunteer post office pilots de
termined to prove the effectiveness
of all-air schedules from the Atlan
tic to the Pacific. On February 22
and 23, 1921, they celebrated George
Washington's birthday by making
the first through day and night flight
from San Francisco to New York.
That paved the way for the lighting
of the transcontinental airway which
made night flights of mail planes
possible and by July 1, 1924, regular
day and night service had been in
augurated.
A milestone in air mail history
was the transfer of operations from
the post office department to pri
vate companies in 1928 and 1927.
Having proved the practicability of
scheduled air mall service, the post
office department began tumtog
over routes to privAe ceo tractors on
open. W,'T
i Transport on the C5i lea go-New Tort
section and Boeing Air Transport
on the Chicago-Sen Francisco sec
tion?took over operation at the na
tion's first coast-to-coast airline, the
pioneer mid-continent route.
Build Special Planes.
Having won their new air mail
contracts, the newly formed air mail
lines tackled the job with determi
nation and energy. United*s prede
cessor, Boeing Air Transport, for ex
ample, built an entire fleet of 29
special mail planes in just 150 days
to handle the San Francisco-Chicago
operation. In these days of mass
airplane production, that doesn't
sound so startling, but it was a genu
ine achievement II years ago.
Developments on old "V. S. Air
Mail No. 1" between New York and
the Pacific coast were rapid. The
sturdy > ingle-en gin ed mail-two pas
senger Boeing 40s which began the
service were replaced by U-paasen
ger tri-motored Boeing Ms. On the
Chicago-New York route of National
Air Transport, tri-motored Fords
made their appearance. Through
connections <M the twfc companies,
multi-motored oasdtftdeert trans
port service Iftk eftdWiahrt. afto
T.A.T. soon inaugurated its coast-to
coast rail-air trips.
Among the air mail companies
were several no kmger in existence,
including such companies at the past
as Clifford Ball, Inc., Stout Air Serv
ices, Universal Air Lines, Interstate
Airlines, Gulf Air Lines, Maddux Air
Lines and Standard Airlines. Most
of these companies became parts of
larger group systems. The start was
made in the grouping of routes and
companies which resulted in Amer
ican Airlines, TWA, Eastern and
other present major companies. Pan
American got its start as the world's
greatest overseas operator by flying
from Miami to San Juan, Nassau
and Havana.
One of the greatest technical de
velopments was the adaptation of
radio to airplane use. "Father" of
this far-reaching project was the late
Throp Hiscock of United Air Lines,
who insisted that two-way radio
telephone communication between
planes and ground stations could be
effected. Through his efforts, in
stallations of two-way radio-tele
phone equipment proceeded on a
large scale in 1929 Pilots and
ground stations were linked by voice
communication to the everlasting
benefit of all scheduled air trans
portation.
Other aids were summoned to add
to the efficiency and reliability of
mail-passenger-express schedules.
Weather reporting services were im
proved, the radio range came along
with its provision of an "aerial high
way," planes themselves became
more efficient. The Boeing 80s, aft
er five years of meritorious service,
gave way to the Boeing 247s at Unit
ed Air Lines, first all-metal, low
wing, twin-engined transports in the
country. These 10-passenger, three
mile-a-minute planes revolutionized
air transportation, introducing new
factors of speed, comfort and all
around efficiency. Travel time from
coast-to-coast was cut to 19H hours.
Caast-to-Ceast Overnight.
Then came the Douglas DC-2?the
speedy Lockheeds and later Doug
las DC-3s and the Lockheed Lode
stars again to spell big gains in
speed, comfort and efficiency.
By the mid-1930s, air mail had be
come a habit with a large part of
the American public. Business and
industry had come to rely on its
speed. Air mail poundage had in
creased year by year, even as air
mail rates had gone down. As
against the >17,000 pounds carried in
1928. 7,400,000 pounds were carried
in 1934. Air mail pound miles per
formed by the nation's airlines rose
from 6,280.000,000 in 1931 to 22.293,
000,000 in 1941. Meanwhile, air maO
postage had dropped from 10 cents
for one-half ounce or fraction there
of in 1927 to a flat six cants per
ounce for the transportation of a
letter from any place to any place
in the United States.
Starting from the keystone of air
mail, there has been built under pri
vate enterprise in ttto cuuutiy the
world's greatest air transport sys
tem. And that's one of the reasons
why Uhde Sam loeto back se preud
ly over his air mars w Schlew
ment ia therebthtly ?h tfana t?
a 4MMP 4t 8 adhWyr
THEN?This DeHastiand ?u built far the First World war, became
a mall plane when the post ollee department started the first eoast-to-eeast
airway la 192*. Equipped with a IM horsepower Liberty metor, it carried
its pilot and up to 4M peands of mail at a eraWnc speed at areond 1M
miles an hoar. It was an open cockpit Job?aj was the ancient Model T
in the baekfroond!
NOW?This United Air Lines Malalincr, with its tws 1.2W hsrsepsasi
Pratt and Whitney Wasp engines carries tws pilots, a stewardess, sp te
21 passengers, baggage, and approximately 2,tee pies ill ef saaii and ex
press at a cruising speed ef 2M miles an hear. It Mas eeastte
coast overnight.
THEN?E. HamOtoa Lm wmi one
of the original post ofiee depart
ment pilots on the New Tetk-Wuk
In [ton air mail route.
NOW?Capt. E. Hamilton Ln la
dean of all air mail pUota witk a
record of 1,500,000 mlloa of flyta(.
Bo bow diea the San Franc iaoo-Loa
Anceloa section of Ciltaf'a PaeUc
Coast airway ? aometlmes accom
panied by hla aao, Robert E. Loo,
who la a United eo-pilot.
Who'. News
This Week
Br
Deloe Wheeler Lovelace
by Wtsltni Ntnpoptr Union.
KTEW YORK.?Big, white-haired
111 Byron Price hasn't the whlmat
cal authority of the first censers.
He can't take a senator's toga away
Oar Now, Censor ???
vote. Din M
Giro Warning to could be a
Radio Infractor,
flee of Censorship. He does, within
limits, decide what Left and Right
may read these wartimes. And when
he says, as he just did, that the
sound and fury on the air wares
isn't all static and commercials, the
wise will take the hint.
After the President picked
the Batten's news. Man said ha
was sare the haasr system ? said
da far hath press aad radio. Now
be reports tut mm wise
cracking" imaim are "toy
tag" with the code; aad hp
warns that Ms stag's can arc
eyas, too.
He has been a newspaper man
over 30 years. He got odt his first
paper with a pencil when bp was
ten; got his first lesson hi censor
ship, also. His dad's toot cane
down bard. He <Ma*t try again m
tal he reached Wabash roflegr.
Price was ban in India no, S
years ago. After college he 4Mt a
few newspaper jobt jurt far ha^ as
cub reporters did ia those dayv aad
then the AP took him an. .Deli tag
time out for the first World war
Captain Price?he stayed asd slay ad
with the AP, married ta M, aad
kept on rising. When he left to be
come chief >??? ha wdg second
only to General Mmagi i Beat
Cooper.
ONCE Julius A. Krug faisttrd
back to Milwaukee swearing
that nothing, nobody, coaid ever
coax him into another federal job.
Ha, , Firm Hood T_h,t *"
after a tune
On t ho Throttle of with the
OarWorMochin.
cations com missvn Now he riacs
to the No. 3 spot in the War Produc
tion board, with only Charles E_ Wil
son and Chairman Nelson above ham.
Krug*s change at mind was -hirf
ty due to the persuasions at David
Tjttrnthal I alien thai was with the
Wisconsin Telephone company where
Krug got a job. He went, shortly,
to the Tennessee Valley authority
and nothfag would do but Krug must
go along
The TV A aDewed Km Ml
u MM WTB^adw~h?"IIMS
me*. M federal WI JThfn
as math. Brag is Jast & It
was tanta Wtseswdh at a Oa
Krug married at IP, washed as a*
iceman, an wipv, % <J?j )?.
borer to (et through the Mate uni
versity, and here ha ? now. with a
dously important key paaddaa ia the
country's great war effort
He keeps at his to* Utah
hours a week, foe all that he aeons
too heavy for aa mark wok. Be
weighs an eighth of a toe.
THERE were the t trill aa Isgsins
1 of Caesar. There woe Me coot
bowmen at Qnecy. There woe Pick
ett's dauntless 4.008. There are the
Cast "Viwegwr M *
Putt Imfamtry im It* a ha ah'a
Proper Wig* PW.
the last say in this war, all plain i
and tanks be wbatchamacalBt.
The man who can read the bright
history of infantry and not take Are
is a cold fish. And it as the rOaor
runs. Lieut Gen. Joseph StflwaU
talks up its virtues so warmly sad
so long that be skimps the fighters
aloft and oo wheels, his enthusiasm
is understandable.
Of course, the rumor may have
grown out of all conscience with
repetition. The general Ad peas up
an airplane and foot it 400 miles
into India after the Japs swanned
into Burma. But ha wiB hardly
hare cone to Washington to ssk
just for more GX field shoes and
feet to wear them out chasing Japs
in China.
Shaas sr whatever, a rstscd
tag af the general's i usassti
wwaM ha ha. MM tlipi .
phers refer to Ms salphanai [
speech. They mesa Mat Ma
general saasstltoss sails s apada
a?spade. Be hat Vinegar Jss
far aeMteg. Be Mat Oasts He I
fee asMtag. stMar. Be may cms
have swsea Op Mh t