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The Alamance gleaner Vol LXIX ? GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1943 . NO. 44 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS U. S. Forces Advance in South Pacific As New Air, Sea, Land Blows Hit Japs; 1944 Farm Machinery Output Doubled; Germany Stunned by Bombing of Berlin (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.) __________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. SOUTH PACIFIC: Outposts Crumbling Lmi than a week after U. S. forces ?nder Maj. Gen. Holland Smith ?warmed onto the shores of the Gil bert islands of Malrin, Tarawa and Apamama, the stars and stripes float ed bravely over them and most of their 0,000 Japanese defenders lay dead. Even as V- S. forces were mopping ep the Gilberts, from which the ene my once menaced Allied supply lines to the southwest ?Pacific, American airmen struck another heavy blow at Maj. Gen. Holland M. T. Smith Jap naval forces serving their embat tled troops on their last Solomons' holding of Bougainville island. Of a force of six Jap destroyers, two were sank by torpedoes and two more by gunfire by a smaller squadron of U. S. warships. In ground fighting on Bougainville, U. S. forces expanded their base of operations under support of heavy ar tillery barrage and bombing attacks ?f Mitchells and Venturas. FARM MACHINERY: Doubling Output Rationing of farm machinery will be reduced to 31 types next year as increased raw material allotments will allow the manufacture of almost twice as much equipment as was made in 1942 and about 80 per cent of the 1940 total. Production of re pair parts will be unrestricted. With sufficient carbon steel avail able, only uncertainty of supplies of anti-friction bearings, malleable castings and forgings is ruffling farm machinery manufacture. As in all mechanical production, bear ings are the chief bottleneck. Despite the improved outlook for farm machinery, difficulties may arise from the scarcity of hauling vehicles, including trucks, and in ac quiring replacement tires for trucks now in operation. LIVING COSTS: Up 23 Per Cent While the War Labor board's "Little Steel" formula restricted wage increases to 15 per cent over the January, 1941, level, living costs have risen 23.4 per cent since then, according to figures of the depart ment of labor. Originally, WLB awards were based on a 15 per cent increase in living costs from January, 1941, to September, 1942. Since September, 1942, however, there has been an other 5.8 per cent rise, with labor demanding a corresponding reduc tion in living costs or higher wages to equalize the present condition. Further, labor charged that the government figures on living costs were inaccurate, and the President appointed a special committee to look into the subject. WORKING WOMEN: More Needed With 16% million women already at work, another million are needed to round out war production de mands. As of October, only 700,000 people remained unemployed, and with this sharp reduction in the number idle, it has been found necessary to call en women to fill in many jobs, espe cially in burfy war production cen Iters. The extent to which women have been recruited for industry since the armament program got under way can be glimpsed by the fact that only 10,800,000 were working in Octo ber, 1940. CONGRESS: Ban Subsidies To the senate tor. approval went a house bill prohibiting payment of subsidies to reduce or maintain re tail food prices and. only allowing their use to stimulate agricultural production. Championed by the administration as a means of keeping living costs down, retail subsidies, were attacked Hn the house as inflationary, in that such savings to .consumers only add ed to their purchasing power, and money borrowed for the purpose in creased the national, debt. The administration is now spend ing approximately 800 million dol lars annually on retail subsidies for meat, butter, milk, and other prod ucts. Under the house bill, subsi dies would be continued only for domestic vegetable oils, fats and oil seeds. In approving subsidy payments to stimulate production, the house vot ed to extend the life of the Commod ity Credit corporation to June 30, 1945, and maintain its borrowing power at three billion dollars. CCC also was given permission to re sell at a loss perishable fruits and vegetables bought to support prices. Vote for Higher Taxes Also to the senate went a house bill providing for 2V4 billion dollars in additional taxes, far below the 10 Vt billion dollars requested by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgen thau. Largest source of new revenue in the bill would be obtained from taxes on goods, such as beer, liquor, jewelry, luggage, bulbs and cosmet ics, and from services such as tele phones and telegraphs, amusements, transportation and club dues. Adjustments in individual and cor porate income taxes would provide substantial revenues, with approxi mately 600 million dollars being ob tained from additional levies on business. Local postal rates would be in creased to three cents and charges , would be raised on money orders and special deliveries. EUROPE: Fortress Smoulders With its Iiobm front rocked by Ber lin's devastation by 1,000 RAF bomb ers, Germany sought to bolster the southeastern flank of her smouldering Fortress Europe by turning to military maneuvers to influence wavering, neu tral Turkey. While Berlin's populace dug out of its ruins, Germany was reported mov ing troops through Sofist, Bulgaria, to the Grecian frontier, fronting Tur mmm OMU German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop (at right) greets Bulgari an regent, Prince Kyrill (at left), while Hitler looks on in background. key. The moves closely followed ike Nazis' recapture of the strategic Aegean islands of Kos, Leros and Samos, from where they could threat en Turkey's western coast. The Germans' movements appeared to be their answer to Allied pressure on Turkey to cast her lot with the U. S., British and Russian cause. Un der terms of the Turkish-British alli ance of 1939, each country promises to come to the assistance of the other if attacked. In Italy, Britain's 8th army occu pied lowlands along the Adriatic coast, in preparation for an assault against the Nazis' mountain positions imme diately to the north. U. S. casualties in Italy since September 8 were placed at 1,613 killed; 2,665 missing, and 6.361 wounded. WORLD RELIEF: Big 4 to Cooperate In accordance with the principles of the Big Four pact of Moscow, the U. S., Britain, China and Russia will work together in the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation adminis tration for obtaining supplies for the postwar's needy countries. The U. S., Britain and Russia will co-operate in estimating the require ments of the different European peoples. To get the necessary sup plies as speedily as possible, it was suggested that raw materials be especially allocated to pre-war in dustrial nations with available ma chinery for manufacturing goods. United Nations not invaded are to contribute 1 per cent of their na tional income toward a fund for financing relief and rehabilitation operations. Rationing After War Because of prospective demands on U. S. food supplies for feeding other nations, ra Honing will not only continue but also may be more se vere after the war, Secretary of Agri culture Claude Wick ard told a senate committee. Declaring that the time needed to feed other people will de termine how long rationing will go on in this country, Wickard said the severity of the con trol will depend to Claude Wlckard a great degree on tne supplies we have on hand when the war ends. All tillable land out ot the 20,000, 000 acres owned by the government should be returned to farming by sale or lease after the war, Wickard said. WORLD BANK: For Reconstruction To join with private capital in re construction and rehabilitation in the _ [|M , ? postwar era, the U. I * * s- feasury has pro posed a world Dana and laid details be fore congressional committees for study. Announced by the treasury's financial wizard, Harry D. White, the bank not only would help in advancing long term credit for rebuilding the shattered econo mies of nations, but in some cases it would also guaran Harry White tee repayment of loans made by pri vate capitalists. U. S. contribution to the bank would amount to 700 million dollars at the start, and possibly 3V4 billion dollars in all. Great Britain would advance less than a billion dollars, Soviet Russia's share would be sub stantially less. RUSSIA: Counter-Punches Red armies launched a heavy at tack on the northern sector of the 1,200 mile Russian front as German Marshal Fritz von Mannstein's troops pecked out new gains in the vicinity of important railroad junc tions to the west of Kiev. In their drive in the north, the Reds took another step closer to the pre-war Polish border, and pressed against the upper section of the rail road system constituting the Nazis' last north-south rail link in Russia. After recapturing the rail hub ol Zhitomir in a whirlwind comeback, the Nazi attack lost some of its im petus against stiffening Red resist ance, and although the Germans beat forward for further gains and spread the scope of their drive north ward to take in still another section of the rail line previously cut, their pace was slowed by concentrator Russian artillery fire. U. S. SPENDING: Sees Need Special advisor to the board of governors of the Federal Reserve bank, Economist Alvin H. Hansen proposed annual government ex penditures at the rate of 15 to 18 billion dollars to prevent postwar de pression. Declaring that the last great de pression was the result of a drop of 15 billion dollars in private invest ment between 1929 and 1932, Hansen said it was necessary for the govern ment to develop a program for meet ing such crisis, so as to halt big dips in consumer buying and attract capital back into business. The present war will be followed by a period in which people will spend money for accumulated needs, Hansen said. But unless gov ernment stands by with some kind of program to take up the slack in employment that will follow the fill ing of all these orders, we might well run into another depression, Hansen asserted. The New York, Washington And Hollywood Express: Nancy de Marigny will inherit $4,000,000 from the Oakes estate when matters are probated in Can ada. She also gets $1,400,000 from the fortune Oakes left in Nassau . . . But not until she is 30, and she's 19 now . . . Wise father . . . She's virtually broke?had to hock her Nassau farm, etc., to raise $30,000 for the defense fee. The lawyers, however, cut their retainer in half when they learned she didn't have it . . . Intimates say the reason Dorothy Thompson has been so sen timental about postwar Germany is that she'd like to be the first Am bassador to Germany after the war ?to straighten them all out. She's said to be working on it already . . . Pearl Buck's comment on the Chi nese situation: "We send mission aries to China so they can go to Heaven?but we won't let them into this country." Damon Ronyon, in his confession al the other day, admitted bravely enough: "My prediction that the war in Europe will be over by Christ mas now seems somewhat improb able" . . . Somewhat, indeed . . . We wondered who would make such a statement . . . We certainly never thought Runyon would want to con tribute to the complacency set . . . J It is comforting to learn, however, that he is the first to debunk his own error . . . We wish his friend, Richard Tregaskis, author of "Guadalcanal Diary," would tell his publishers to catch the next edition of his book and omit our name where he carelessly put it and re place it with Damon's . . . Because we never said that any war would be over at any time . . . We are j the guy who always said it would never be over for some of us . .. . ' And that when anybody asked: "When is the war going to end?" the reply has always been: "When we win it!!!" The Sutler in the Capital turned away 321 contingent reservations one day last week . . . We recently mentioned a war'mother's complaint about conditions in an Army hospiUl. (at Tuscaloosa, Ala.) for returned wounded. She told us the bed linen hadn't been changed for two weeks, the men's pajamas ditto, the food awful, etc . . . We sent her charges to the War Dep't ... As a result, the commanding officer of that hos piUl has been replaced and $5,000 rushed to Improve conditions. We wish servicemen's newspapers ev erywhere would reprint that, please. Edmund Wilson replaces Clifton Fadiman as the book critic on The New Yorker ... Warner's has of fered Kyle Crichton of Collier's a contract to write out there ... In Miami Beach the soldiers (who sing as they march) invariably shout: "What the hell are we fighting for? The WACS and WAVES will win the war!" . . . FDR might be amused to read page 23 of the Feb. 15th, 1908, issue of the Saturday Eve ning Post. The article' on the page is titled: "Is Roosevelt a Menace to Business?" . .'.' A noted FDR boost er was being teased about his loyal ty .. . "Listen," said the heckler, "Willkie has his eye on the presi dential chair again!" . . "That," was the retort, "isn't quite as good as what Roosevelt's got on it." The bootlegger, who has already emerged in the firewater shortage, is one who shouldn't have the social standing he had in the Dry Era . . . Now the circumsUnces are differ ent. If a man encourages a Black Market in booze just to get himself an occasional quart, he's doing something that hurts . . . The Black Market needs only something like a popular product ? like booze ? to crack the whole structure of price control ... If booze geU flowing illegally, it's gbing to flood the works. You can drink yourself right into inflation, brother. This Is bow the Astors became New York's biggest real esUte op erators: During the War of 1812 the blockade hurt merchants most. Astor loaned them money, refusing all collateral but mortgages. He gained all of his property through foreclosures . . . Waterfront work ers have names for various piers, i They are usually named after wom en .. . Years ago thfe city's biggest sporting events were races between steamships in the Hudson ... A ship laden with gold was sunk in Hell Gate Channel, 50 years ago a part of Long Island Sound. Many attempts have been made to recover the treasure, but the gold is still there. People Keep on Getting Hurt, War or Not, In Ingenious, Sometimes Humorous Ways Reaper Strips Farmer; Soldier, Ogling Girl, Falls in Coal-Hole The comic note creeps in now and then, even in the grim cata logue of the year's accidents. A few ludicrous examples from the files of the National Safety Council indicate what vaude ville-like mishaps can happen. Residents of CocoaDut Grove, Fla., were mildly surprised one day when their morning mail was delivered by a mailman who, of all things, wasn't wearing any pants. It wasn't the heat, the pantsless postman ex plained. He'd merely fallen off his bicycle and landed in an anthill. And, he added with simple pride, even when the United States postal serv ice gets ants in its pants, the mail must go through! Dr. W. A. Franklin stood before his junior high school class in Ponca City, Okla., to demonstrate the safe way to handle matches. "First, re move the match," he was saying, "then close the container." As he flipped open the container to dem onstrate, all the matches caught fire. Dr. Franklin bandaged his burned hand. Then, with exemplary fidel ity, he closed his lecture with^this observation: "That, students", is what happens when one becomes mo mentarily careless." As Private Ernest M. Scofield of Denver, Colo., huddled m a foxhole in the Solomons, dodging enemy shot and shell, a stray bullet dislodged a cocoanut from a tree limb over head. The cocoanut landed kerplunk on Private Scofield, broke his left leg, and he became the army's first cocoanut casualty. Residents of Dayton, Ohio, were startled one fine day this summer to see a small electrically-driven in valid's chair scoot through -a red traffic light and crash into a huge six-ton trailer truck. When Ben Myers, the unperturbed and unin jured pilot of the chair, had been extricated from the wreckage, he ex plained he was on his way fishing and, bubbling over with high spirits, had failed to observe the light. Sym pathetic onlookers helped him pick up and reassemble a large and wrig gling supply of crawfish, crickets and grasshoppers, and he went hi lariously on his way. Blits Welding. During army maneuvers in Ten nessee, a bolt of lightning struck the ripper of a sleeping bag, neatly weld ed it all the way around and sealed up a soldier who happened to be inside. The soldier, understandably perplexed, howled for help, then pleaded for anonymity. In Chicago, Colton Ankebrandt was testifying in the case of a driver who inadvertently had piloted his auto into Mr. Ankebrandt's parlor, through the wall of the house. The incident had happened ten days be fore. "And where is the car now?" asked the court. Mr. Ankebrandt appeared surprised. "Why, your honor, it's still in our parlor," he replied. "It doesn't bother us ? I much." Foreseeing, however, that Mrs. Ankebrandt might wish to re arrange the parlor furniture some day, the court ordered the car re moved. Lieut. D. M. Schultz of the army air forces ran into trouble while fly ing over Portland, Ore., and bailed out. Obligingly, he landed on the roof of the U. S. Veterans' hospital, where it was no trouble at all for hospital attendants to pop out and treat him for minor injuries. Then there was the case of Sergt. D. P. Smith, an aerial gunner of the Australian Air forces, who was visit ing the Chicago Service Men's Cen ter. He decided to try his hand at bowling. He did all right, too, for a novice, except that he neglected to remove his Angers from the bowl ing ball. He accompanied the ball on a short flight and made a crash landing with more embarrassment than pain. In Detroit, ? city-bred horse named Davie, blase in the heaviest < auto traffic, ran away and wrecked i his buggy when he met a terrifying 1 sight?another horse. t At Hammonton, N. J., a speeding i train hit a truck driven by Jules Press. Mr. Press left the truck and flew high into the air. So did four < blankets. The blankets landed on ( the road bed. Mr. Press landed on i the blankets. No?no pillow. ] Highballer; 1 t In Mankato, Sask., a steer in a cattle car poked an inquisitive horn through the car's slats, caught up a switch lamp hanging outside the car and roguishly baffled the engineer by swinging red and green signals all the way to Moose Jaw. , Herbert L. Carpenter, a subway rider in Brooklyn, N. Y., appeared before the mayor with a plan to elim inate subway rushes, of which Mr. Carpenter had grown weary. Later the same day be was trampled in a subway rush and had to go to a hos pital tor treatment. In South Bend, Ind., Miss Ruth McGrady slipped, fell, broke her right wrist, stood up, slipped, fell, broke her left wrist Private Louis Henriquez fell 14 feet down a coal-hole as he was strolling along in Denver, Colo. Aft erwards, dug up and refreshed with a bath. Private H. explained: "She smiled as we passed ..." Mrs. Blanche Heck of Centerville, Iowa, had not ordered her winter coal. She was a little surprised when a loaded coal truck entered her home, pushed the bed on which she was lying, through the wall, into the next room, and left her against a hot stove, uninjured. James Hollingshead was taking a horseback ride in Summerberry, Sask., one day when a passing j freight train frightened his horse, i The horse dashed against the train, | thoughtfully tossed Mr. Hollingshead onto a passing flat car, backed away, and fell dead. Loyal comic strip fans were goggle eyed one day when Connie, of "Terry and the Pirates," drove a car up and over an opening bridge. "Of course, it could only happen in the funnies," they told themselves. But a 17-year-old Milwaukee, Wis., youth did it in real life. He drove up the rising leaf of the Sixth street bridge, made a graceful 18-foot arc over the'gap, then pancaked on the slant ing span on the other side. The car was damaged, but the driver was unhurt. It is described in the Bible that the lilies of the field toil not, neither do they spin. But Rancher Walter Wynhoff of Wilbur, Wash., is no lily. For as he toiled on his ranch, the spinning rod of his reaper caught , his overalls and spun him into the air. When he landed he was clad casually in shoes and eye glasses. Canned. And little Erlan Wittola, three, of Kulm, N. D., crawled into a large cream can in his back yard. He had no trouble getting in, but his parents were able to get him out only after an operation on the bot tom?of the cream can. In Omaha, Neb., the Berigans' dog. Bozo, got his foot and tail caught in a hay mower. Farmer Berigan jumped over a fence to help Bozo, cut himself on one knee and hit him self in the eye with the other knee. His daughter, Pat, ran out of the house, slipped and sprained her wrist. Mrs. B., startled as she was canning vegetables, jumped and cut her linger. Champ, another Berigan log, jumped over the barn door to see what was going on, and broko lis toot. The Berigans learned later that a cousin in Keokuk was unin jured that day. Far Old Shrash. When Phillips high school defeat id Amundsen high in a hard-fought lootball game in Chicago, not a play >r on either team was hurt. But as Phillips scored a touchdown, an en thusiastic substitute on the bench ranked Coach Lou Tortorelli's arm so violently that the coach's left shoulder was dislocated. Staff Sergt. Leroy Post of Evans on. 111., survived 37 bombing mis sions in the New Guinea area. Ha lelped sink three Jap transports and shoot down at least six Jap planes, for this he was awarded the Dis inguished Flying Cross and the oak eaf cluster. Then he was removed Irom the danger zone to become an nstructor in an armament shop m Salt Lake City. A few days later lis arm was caught in a machine and the bone was fractured. And in Pocatello, Idaho, the sole survivor of a plane crash was Pri vate John J. Lucky. Engineer Corps Has Only Half Accidents Of Private Industry The army's corps of engineers has achieved a reduction of 45 per cent in accident frequency and 31 per cent in accident severity below that of private construction. As compared with the accident rates for the five-year period, 193d to 1M0, it is estimated that the en gineers' safety program during (ha past two fiscal years has saved more than 1,000 lives, averted 34,908 lost time injuries, and prevented the loss of 6,306,374 man-days, with the sav ing in wages of workers amounting to $46,604,104. Regulations of the corps, rigidly adhered to, require that all lost-time accidents on construction projects over which the corps has jurisdic tion be reported. The statistics so gathered, comprising the greatest mass of construction accident statis tics and case histories ever assem bled, have shown what practices cause the accidents, thereby en abling the engineers to take pre ventive measures. Strict Code Enforced. When the army's construction pro gram was expanded in 1941 to the greatest the world has ever known, specific uniform safety requirements were established by the engineers and compliance enforced in all con struction contracts. Outstanding among the require ments were those providing for mo bile first aid stations; central in firmaries stalled with trained nurses under the supervision of one or more full-time physicians on all projects where a thousand or more workers were employed; the employment of a full-time safety engineer on all similar projects, and the mainte nance of a first aid log at all field stations and infirmaries. The current program is placing the most stress on the proper use of heavy construction equipment which, although responsible for but 25 per cent of the total injuries, causes up to 52 per cent of the time lost in all accidents on construction proj ects. TEiEFACT DECLINE OF AUTO TRAFFIC MAftCH 1941^ mahcm 1942. IS MAtCH ,943 Codi symbol rtprosooh 20% of Morcfc, 1941 Iraic ? ttt.i ,.V innftww -"ilA ;>? . ? . - ,1. ?? ? ...? *
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Dec. 9, 1943, edition 1
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