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The Alamance Gleaner Vol LXIX GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1943 NO. 47 WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Jap Defensive Positions in Pacific Crumble Under New Allied Invasion; Senate Studies Revised Tax Measure; Government Acts to Halt Rail Tie-Up (EDITOR'S NOTE: When eplnlons are expressed In these colsmns, they are these ef Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily ef this newspaper.) _______ Released by Western Newspaper Union. Goin' Back?Brought to the Ukraine following iU capture in 1941, these German farmers left with their possessions when Nazi armies fell back before the Reds' 1943 offensiTe. SOUTHWEST PACIFIC: New Landing One day after U. S. bombers had dumped 350 tons of explosives on Arawe on New Britain island, U. S. warships moved shoreward to the I enemy base and pumped big shells into the defenses, even as planes returned to assist in the bombard ment. After this terrific crescendo, U. S. doughboys swarmed ashore to es tablish a beachhead on this strate gic island, center of Japanese ship ping for supplying its embattled forces on New Guinea and Bougain ville, By landing on Arawe, U. S. forces drove a wedge into Jap positions on Cape Gloucester to the west and Gasmata to the east, where the ene . my has established airfields to help cover the barge operations with which he feeds supplies to his troops in this area by traveling along the Jungle shorelines by night. While the U. S. stormed Arawe, heavy bombers continued to smack the Marshalls, small Jap island hold ings in the central Pacific. RAILROADS: Strike Called With 97.7 per cent of the operat ing railroad union members voting to strike to enforce their demands for higher wages and with the walk out date set for December 30, the government acted qpickly to pre vent transportation interruption. Said spokesmen for the 350,000 trainmen, firemen, enginemen, en gineers, conductors and switchmen who have demanded a 30 per cent wage increase with a minimum boost of $3 daily: "It is a strike against inflation for the privileged few and deflation for the many." To meet the crisis which was pro voked by the unions' rejection of an emergency board's award of a 32 cents a day increase, the govern ment's national mediation board summoned both union and rail offi cials to meet to settle differences. Meanwhile, over 1,000,000 non-op erating rail union members awaited final congressional action on a reso lution granting them an eight-cents an-hour pay boost over the U. S. stabilization director's objection. BRITAIN: Winers Ask Raise Seeking to boost average weekly earnings from $16.60 for under ground employees to $24, and from $13.40 for surface employees to $22, Britain's Mine Workers federation planned to take their case to a gov ernment panel if employers rejected their demands. Because of possible coal shortages, the government recently cut home rations for the fuel by 20 per cent, and it was anticipated that any strike by the 690,000 miners might result in further reductions. Child Delinquency Like the U. S., Britain has its ju venile delinquency, and most of it is attributed to lack of adequate su pervision because of parental occu pation in the war effort. Juvenile delinquency has in creased from the prewar rate of 4 per 1,000 to 9 per 1,000, principally because thousands of fathers are in the armed forces, one out of four mothers are holding full time jobs, and inadequate rations compel fam ilies to eat at least one meal away from borne. ITALY: Action in Air Connecting link between Germany and Italy, Europe's historic Bren ner pass was pounded by waves of U. S. bombers, seeking to disrupt the rail lines feeding Nazi armies to the south. By striking at the pass, the bomb ers countered a successful Nazi air raid on the southeastern Italian port of Bari, in which 30 German planes whizzed in at low level and sank 17 Allied cargo vessels lying at an chor in the harbor. On the ground, U. S. and British troops clambered forward over mountainous country toward Rome in sleety weather. Fighting bitterly from strong defenses in the hills, and throwing armored formations into action on the level plains, the Nazis succeeded in slowing Allied advances. CONGRESS: Tax Bill Tacking on an additional 144 mil lion dollars, the senate finance com J _ Uiiivcc a^iuvcu a new 2 billion, 284 million dollar tax bill which, if passed by congress, will boost U. S. reve nues to 43 billion dollars yearly. Written under Sen. Walter George's chairmanship, the senate bill requires payment of the 3 per cent Victory tax by everybody with Sen. George income over soz* a year, and raises levies on amusements, travel, al coholic beverages, cosmetics, furs, luggage, toilet articles and other luxuries. Also included in the bill was a provision requiring labor organiza tions and farm co-operatives to file financial statements annually. More Whisky As the senate's liquor investigat ing committee charged that big dis tilleries "... are using the war emergency to get control of the wine and beer industry," a federal grand jury called on Hiram Walker & Sons, Seagram & Sons, National Distillers Products Corp. and Schenley to present records of the companies' stock organizations, including their wineries and breweries, and their distribution and merchandising prac tices. Subsidies Action in the senate on the tan gled subsidy question became fur ther tanolarf with the banking com mittee's recommen dation that consid eration of subsidies be postponed for 60 days. Previously, the banking committee had turned down the proposal of Sen. John Bankhead (Ala.) to abolish subsidies under which the govern Sen. Taft ment reduces consumers' retail prices by paying processors the dif ference for their charges, and had also tabooed the suggestion of Sen. Robert Taft (Ohio) to limit subsidies to a half billion annually instead of one billion. RUSSIA: Drive in North While Russian and German troops slugged at each other in the central and southern sectors, the Nazis re ported 100,000 Reds attacked to the north, in what they said was a pre liminary move to a major winter drive for the Baltic sea. By driving to the Baltic, the Reds would split the Germans' northern armies from those of the south, and also give them a base from which to attack enemy shipping making use of the sea to supply its armies in the area. ? In the Ukraine, both sides gave ground grudgingly under heavy blows. The Nazis pressed forward toward picturesque and domed Kiev, while the Reds pounded out gains, farther to the south in the Dnieper bend. ? ? ? As of December 1, 176,045,000 pounds of butter were in cold stor age, and other stocks Included 177, 110,000 pounds of American cheese; 197,382,000 pounds of poultry; 376, 072,000 pounds of pork; 183,096,000 pounds of beef; 31,074,000 pounds of lamb and mutton, and 1,762,000 cases of eggs. TRANSPORTATION: Parts Needed Trucks, railroad equipment, buses and tires are wearing out and re placements must be made if the na tion's transportation system is to carry record loads in 1944, the Tru man investigating committee as serted. Particularly acute is the reduced stock of truck parts, especially in view of the longer use of vehicles and greater demand for repairs, the committee said. Low inventories further were aggravated by the gov ernment's scrap drive, in which many cars were junked from which parts might have been salvaged. Railroads have been hampered by lack of enough new rails and slow downs in locomotive production be cause of priority regulations, the committee declared. Because of the critical situation in lumber brought about by military purchases, price controls affecting operations and la bor shortages, ties available for rail rbads will fall below needs in 1944, the committee said. ? ? * On September 36, 2,968,026 civil ians were on the government pay roll, a drop of 32,121 from the pre vious month. It also was revealed that 263,637 persons were serving without compensation or as fl-a-year men. CIVILIAN GOODS: Study Output Following the War Production board's initial announcement that 15 per cent more civilian goods would be manufactured during the first three months of 1944 than in the last quarter of this year, it was later re vealed that WPB was changing cer-" tain aspects of its program after a survey of needs of 7,000 homes. Studies have been made to de termine what quantity of electric irons, washing machines, refrigera tors, trucks and automobiles can be made, and what plants will be able ! to produce the goods. It was also revealed that the civil ian requirements agency of the WPB will play an important role in deter mining policy when industry is faced with reconversion. Although recon version is expected to create unem- I ployment, much hardship should be relieved because the shift will be i gradual, and consumers' demands should result in quick rehiring by reconverted plants. ? ? ? Taking advantage of the lowest level of prices for the year, corn belt bnyers pnrchased an almost record volume of stockers and feed- . era during November. In eight states, in-shipments totaled 383,000 compared with the all-high of 391,000 in 1942. ARMS OUTPUT: Keeps Soaring Despite a reduction in output of ammunition, U. S. war production in November soared above the pre vious record month of October, with the present rate 550 per cent over 1941. Declaring problems of manpower, design changes and material short ages have been largely overcome, the War Production board said gains in terms of dollar value were record ed for aircraft, communication and electronic equipment, shipbuilding, guns and combat motor vehicles. Ammunition output was down 2 per cent, chiefly reflecting a 13 per cent i drop for small arms. Indicative of the emphasis on pro duction of heavy bombers, average air frame weight per plane in No vember was 8,130 pounds, compared with 7,560 pounds during preceding month*. Output of aerial bombs in creased 11 per cent, reflecting the intensification of the Allies' bomb ing operations on the world fronts. Washington,?. C. LABOR PREPARES FOR 1944 More government officials are gradually leaving to become asso ciated with farm and labor unions. The CIO Committee for Political Action has now recruited: C. B. Baldwin, former Farm Se curity administrator and short-time state department official, and Raymond 8. McKeough, former congressman from Illinois, and for mer OPA regional director for In diana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Aubrey Williams, for mer director of the National Youth administration, has joined the Farm ers' union. ? ? ? MAIL BAG G.L.T., Great Neck, L. I.?The Caucasus mountains are 17,000 feet high. But the passes through which Stalin flew en route to Teheran are 12,000 feet . . . H. L., Chicago All Argentine meat exports are bought by the British government, which then resells part to the U. S. army. Thus, U. S. soldiers are eat ing Argentine beef bought from Brit ain. Value of Argentine meat ex ports last year was 139 million dol lars. ? ? ? DWINDLING AAA Budget estimates for the next fis cal year are not yet public, but here is one estimate which will come as a blow to farmers. The famous "Triple-A," which saved farmers in 1933 and has al ways been synonymous with the New Deal, is about to be cut drastically. It is the Roosevelt administration which is making the cut, not con gress. fact, Budget bureau first pro- 1 posed, in closed-door hearings, to eliminate AAA altogether. This pro posal was ruled out, but Budget then made a 50 per cent slash from 400 to 200 million dollars. Taken together with the near elim ination of Farm Security adminis tration, the AAA cut indicates how far farmers have come back eco nomically. NO SECRET 2ND FRONT The invasion of western Europe is just around the comer, but it cannot come so fast as to surprise anybody ?least of all the Germans. In fact', the first news of the com ing invasion will probably come from Germany. They will spot the gath ering of the world's greatest armada of fighting ships, presumably along the channel coast of England, and they will announce by radio that the invasion is coming and that they are ready for it. ' Even before that, they will be fore warned by a switch in tactics of the British and American air forces based on England. Those forces will turn from long-range bombing to an all-out trip-hammer assault on Nazi coastal installations. The channel is so narrow that British based planes will be able to make as many as three daily round trips each to the German-held shore, dumping bombs on coast artillery, rail lines, ammunition dumps, troop concentrations and, in general, tear ing up everything in sight. This strategy ? the pattern of which was made clear in assaults on Tunisia, Pantelleria, Sicily and Na ples?takes most of the surprise out of surprise landings. The air forces will trumpet the invasion of Eu rope to the waiting world. ? ? ? LIGHTS OUT WPB officials are worried about the American public's profligate use of electricity and water. Proposals have been studied to ration electric ity, but these have been set aside in favor of voluntary economy. Few people realize that extra lights or a dripping spigot mean waste of coal or fuel oil. Some cit ies have no meter control of water, with a resultant high consumption. Chicago is one. It's an American's privilege to take a bath, but he takes so many more baths than Europeans that the U. S. per capita consumption of wa ter is more than twice that of Eu rope. WPB doesn't say so officially, but it implies that six inches of wa ter in the tub will make you just as clean as a full tub. The worry comes from the prob lem of keeping war plants provided with light and water. Electric com panies which have always promoted heavier use of electricity ("buy a new toaster or iron") are now spend ing money to advertise conserva tion. Note to WPB: One of the most wasteful users of light and power is the government itself. Practically all government offices are over heated. You'd Only Need to Buy a Calendar Once In Your Life?If We Used 'World' Model ? < Any Date Always Falls on Same Day Of Week, Every Year By ELLIOTT PINE Released by Western Newspaper Union. New Year's day falls on Sat urday this year. If it hadn't been for Hitler and the ambi tions of Japan, New Year's day might be Sunday this year, and next year; in fact it would be Sunday every year. Back in 1931 the League of Na tions began to talk about calendar reform. During the next four years there was much talk, but at last two plans emerged from the welter. One was the 13-month year, and the other the World Calendar. In the World Calendar, New Year's day is always on a Sunday. If it were not for the war, the League would still be functioning, and the World Cal endar might be in use by now. So Hitler is responsible for wrecking, or at least sidetracking, calendar reform. But the calendar can wait. Time goes on, and a better way of meas uring it can be adopted at some future time. Of the two schemes, the World Calendar seems to be the more favored as it does not break violently with custom and tradition, as the 13-month calendar does. Principal advantages of the World Calendar are: first, it is.perpetual; that is, any date in any year is al ways the same day of the week. Second, every quarter is the same in length and arrangement. Third, the months are almost the same length; eight have 30 days and four 31 days. Every month has 26 week days. How It Works. The World Calendar is based on the idea of equal quarters. Each three - month period contains the same number of days: 91. The first month of each quarter has 31 days; the other two, 30. So January, April, July and October are 31-day months; the other eight each have 30 days. To accomplish this rearrangement it is necessary only to change seven days in the familiar pattern. The first is in February. That peculiar month gets two additional days. These two days are the 31st of May and of August, which are tak en off these two months, leaving mem eacn an even 30 days. Then the 31st of March is sliced off and put onto April. Lastly, December 31 becomes "Year-End day," which has no number on the new calendar. This "Year-End day" is the really brilliant feature of the World Cal endar. The 365th day is the one that throws every attempt to formu late an evenly divisible year into chaos. By calling the last day of the year "Year-End day" and mak ing it an extra Saturday, the prob lem is pretty well solved. One other difficulty, the additional day of leap years, as 1944 is, must be taken care of some way. This is done by adding a day to June. In leap years the last week of June would have two Saturdays. This "Year - End day" seems somewhat fantastic, the first time It is thought about, but it is no more difficult in principle than turning back or advancing your watch an hour when you cross one of the time belts, or picking up or los ing a whole day at the Interna tional Date line, out in the Pacific. It would not be hard to get accustomed to the change. It is only about 60 years since the Standard time system was adopted. The difficulties as well as the advantages of Standard time are now taken for granted. Right now we are living un der a temporary disturbance of this system, called War Saving Time, which incon veniences many, despite its benefits. The "Year - End day" would fit in much easi er than it seems at first glance. Advantages of the World Calendar are several. First, the calendar is "perpetual"; that is, any particular date in any year would always fall on the same day. Thus, for instance, May 21 would al ways fall on Tuesday, no matter what the year. It would be Tuesday in 1990, 1976, 1949 or any other year. Fourth of July would always be Wednesday; Christmas day always Monday. April Fools' day always would fall on Sunday. This is what is meant by a "perpetual" cal endar. Even leap Tear does not throw the World Calendar out of joint, as the extra day is fitted in as a numberless or "intercalary" day like Year-End day. Leap-Year day is an extra Saturday too. Next in importance, probably, is the fact that every quarter of ev ery year would contain the same number of days, 91, making calcu lations of interest, rent, compara tive production, and so forth, much easier. Each month would have 26 week days, so direct comparisons of months as equal working periods would be possible. Thirty - day months would have four Sundays, 31-day months five Sundays, so the extra day would not be a working day anyhow. Holidays, insofar as possible, would be celebrated on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Holidays, at least in the United States, would fit into the week-ends rather conveniently. Christmas, the 25th of December, would always be on Monday, giving most working people a 2Vi or three-day holi day. The new holiday, "Year-End day," being an extra Saturday on the end of December, would length en the New Year's week-end, for New Year's day would be Sunday always. Labor day would fall on Monday, September 4, every year, providing a nice long week-end. The disruption of holidays in the middle bf the week would be done away with. Thanksgiving day could be moved to Monday, November 20, if it were thought necessary, or Monday the 27th. Washington's birthday could be celebrated on Saturday, the 11th of February, the original date be fore the adjustment of 1752, which brought it to the 22nd. So various other holidays, observed in different sections and states, could be moved to the nearest Monday, Saturday, or Sunday. Cbnrehes in Favor. Church councils and synods have gone on record as favorable to the World Calendar, as well as a fixed date for Easter. Between 1931 and 1938 the Episcopal church, the Pres byterian, the United Lutheran, and the Methodist Episcopal of the South, to name a few, have all passed resolutions endorsing calen dar reform, and a fixed Easter. The Roman Catholic church, while mak ing no formal declaration of approv al, has stated that no dogmatic dif ficulties exist. Eighteen Catholic bishops and archbishops, throughout the world, are members of the World Calendar association. The Eastern Orthodox church, through the Pa triarch of Constantinople, has en dorsed the plan. Little religious op position has been shown or is an ticipated to the World Calendar, in fact Business men want some kind at calendar reform. The difficulties of computing interest, making compar isons of periods, keeping invento ries, and other accounting problems, are much complicated by the irregu larities of the months. A few busi nesses use 52 weeks, divided into 13 periods of 28 days, or four even weeks. But this 13-month calendar, it is thought, would never be adapt able to general use, for many rea sons, some traditional and senti mental, but real, nevertheless. In any case, the International Cham ber of Commerce went on record in 1933 as favoring the World Calen dar, or a similar plan. Lawyers Like It. The legal profession also has en dorsed the World Calendar through action at a conference of the Ameri can Bar association in 1931. Law yers are particularly anxious for the complications of the present calen dar to be ironed out, according to spokesmen. Social activities would be easier with the World Calendar in use, as invitations would then be dated ac curately more often than now. Peo ple would not be arriving on the wrong day so frequently. Practi cally everybody, in fact, would bene fit by a simplified calendar: farm ers, merchants, housewives, scien tists, schoolteachers and everyone else. Publishers of calendars would be the only losers. Leaders of every important nation have endorsed the calendar reform, most of them advocating the World Calendar, or some similar 12-month, equal-quarter plan. In June, 1931, a special League of Nations com mittee, after due consideration, had trimmed 200 proposed reformed cal endars down to two. One was the 13-month calendar. The other was the 12-month, perpetual, equal-quar ter scheme, known in the United States as the World Calendar. Dele gates of six nations leaned toward the 13-month plan. Most speakers stated that the people they repre sented would wish to retain a 12 month calendar from custom and religious reasons, and that, in their opinion, a change to a 13-month cal endar would be too drastic to gain wide acceptance. In the end, the question of reform was laid aside for further study. Must Wait on New Xeague.' * In the '30s the League of Nations steadily lost power and prestige, and with the outbreak of the European war the only international body capable of putting the World Calen dar into effect, disappeared. It must be remembered that a new or re formed calendar would have to have world-wide acceptance. The world has grown too small, as has often been said lately, for nations to go their ways independently. Air trav el will demand uniformity. It may be that the Peace Confer ence everybody is looking forward to will give this calendar reform matter consideration and perhaps, in the postwar period of eagerness for improvements, some new League may be able to have the reformed calendar adopted. Swift action will be necessary, however, as the next chance to slip the World Calendar into use without a ripple will be January 1, 1950. If much time is spent in arguing and ratifying, the opportunity for a smooth transition will pass again. An Inca calendar, made ot ham mered cold, found In Pern. The sym bols around the rim are supposed to represent the months. Many ancient peoples devised fairly satisfactory calendars, often having the year di vided into 12 30-day periods. The five days left at the end of the year I1 were special days, sometimes feasts, sometimes unlucky or evil days. The World Calendar v - "An** All Year* Alike?All Qu*rter? Equal TTTTjT"? ? ?will ?,? w u wjr ii ? 2011 into T > ? 12 14 ? 20 21 22 23 24 J5 K 841 * ? .. .. ? M T * T t t HBHHB 1 M 1 W T I I 1 1)4(11 fit 17 II 1? IB 21 23 24 25 K 27 21 IMI *- . MAY v ' t m r w T f s 1 1 ? ? 5 < 7 I ? 10 II 12 IJ 14 IS II 17 II t? 20 21 22 21 24 25 * 27 21 ? ? . tUHt > M T W T f j ? ' 1 2 ? 11 12 12 M 15 II 17 II ? 20 21 22 22 J M T W T I t 15 M 17 II 1? ? 21 22 23 ? a K,n a 29 30 31 .. AUCUST i U T W ,T , T 1 v7TTJ7 12 111* IS 1? 17 II ? a 21 22 a 2* a a 27 a a ? .. sgroim . . . 4 5*71* 10 11 12 II M K M 17 it t? a 2i 22 a a a ? n a a a t M T _W T >.1 :~i 2 i \ 5 fi It ? 10 11 12 13 14 IS W 17 l? 19 20 21 22 23 24 -25 26 27 M 29 30 . *CI"m ?TEAK-END DAT, December T, fallows December M every year. ??LEAP-TEAK DAT, Jane L, follows Jane J* h leap years. ?Prom the World Calendar, edited br Elisabeth AeheBs.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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Dec. 30, 1943, edition 1
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