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^-IHEALAMANCE Gl.FANFP N- C., THURSDAY. APRIL 27 10^ .. 1 12 ^^EKLTNEWS ANALYSIS n Russian Blitz Clears Crimea Path as Allied Bombers Pound Western Europe; 'Stop Aiding Nazis' Neutrals Warned; Japs Press 3-Pronged Drive in India mstfiz: 2igarzi*& ssisssrs ft? W"**" RolouOd by Weitern Nowipapor Union. Italy?New Ze?Und*troop? dote oa German tniper in Cattino mint. 'EUROPE:/* i J ,j Invasion Path While Russia's land armies car ried the war into the Balkans, Al lied bombers continued pounding Axis military and industrial installa tions throughout Fortress Europe, concentrating on the invasion path in the west. As the Russians stormed into Cumania, other Red forces drove ahead in the Crimea, huge chunk of land thrust into the Black sea and guarding the water route to the east ern Balkans. As the Russians ap proached the Rumanian rail Junc tion of Jassi, they encountered stiffening resistance from native troops, fighting by the side of Ger man soldiers, strengthened by shorter defense lines. In continuing their whirlwind as saults to smoothen an invasion path, Allied bombers struck at airfields, railroad junctions and military de fenses throughout the French and Belgium area. Far to the southeast, U. S. bombers based in Italy ham mered Nazi airplane factories in the Vienna and Budapest regions. In ground fighting below Rome, both sides were reported making exten sive troop movements in prepara tion for a resumption of bitter fight ing. Warn Neutrals Having suspended oil shipments to Spain and announced restriction of steamship service to Ireland, Great Britain and the U. S. next de manded termination of Sweden's ball-bearing trade with Germany in a determined campaign to halt the neutral countries' commerce with Axis Europe. At the same time, it was an nounced that the Allies would look into Turkey's increased chrome shipments to Germany during the last three months, with a view to ward limiting the traffic through a curtailment of our own trade with the Turks, whose lend-lease aid already has been cut down. in hearing the Allies' demands, the Swedes said they were in no position to comply without breaking their formal agreement with Ger many, which, they said, the Al lies approved last September. Al though there was objection to the ball-bearing shipments,- Sweden's iron ore deliveries to the Nazis were lot emphasized. WOOL: Big Stocks With an all-high stock of foreign *nd H. s. wool, the Commodity Credit corporation was directed to go into the market to support the ?"4 domestic clip estimated at *50,000,000 pounds. Whereas U. S. stocks stand at rec ord levels today, there were pros pects of serious shortages when the ?[ops launched their South Pacific ?rive, threatening the Australian ?d New Zealand producing areas. Approximately 400,000,000 pounds of "reign wool is now owned by this country, with the Defense Supplies corporation holding 330,000,000 Pounds and dealers and manufac the rest. At the same time, ?SO,000,000 pounds, is being held in f"s country for British account. Because t" e U. S. clip sells about ' cents a p, und above foreign wool, V)e CCC has encountered difficulty ^Posing of the domestic stock, al ""ugh the army now specifies its P?* in purchases and about 10 per . ? ,of navy oroers are expected to c?H for it. PACIFIC: India Threatened With their backs against the rug ged slopes of the Naga hills in cen tral India, British and Indian troops fought desperately against per sistent Japanese attempts to cut off their supply lines and entrap them in a huge pocket. While the British and Indians were locked in their death struggle, U. S. bombers operated over a wide range in the Pacific, blasting Japa nese installations in the Kurile islands, strung out to the north of Nippon, and plastering enemy bases on New Guinea, as part of the grand strategy to wipe out their strongholds on this Hank of the Phil ippines. In India, the Japs' continuing three-pronged drive pressed against British and Indian supply routes running both north and south and also to the west to the Assam-Ben gal railroad, used to feed Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's American and Chinese troops clearing a com munications highway in northern Burma to China. INDUSTRY: Postwar Reserves Looking forward toward the prob lems of postwar readjustment, U. S. industry has set aside hun dreds of millions of dollars out of profits for switching back to civilian production, rebuilding plants or pro viding lay-off payments to workers during the period of change. To meet the emergency, United States Steel company has estab lished a nest egg of $104,153,557; General Motors, $76,051,805; Gen eral Electric, $73,562,337; E. I. Du Pont, $31,613,430; Sears, Roebuck, $28,500,000; United Aircraft, $28,004, 464; International Harvester, $20, 000,000; Goodyear Tire and Rubber company, $15,462,912; Borden com pany, $11,305,185; National Dairy Products, $10,000,000, and General Foods, $4,492,712. Since such reserves cannot be taken out of income before taxes like deductions for ? depreciation, debt retirement and depletion, they must be put aside out of industry's profits. Economic Protection To prevent a repetition of the widespread bankruptcies and fore Liusuica wuiv.ii *v? lowed World War I, the Commodity Credit corporation is empowered to make loans at 90 per cent of parity on basic crops for two years after the end of hostilities, War Mobilization Director James F. Byrnes declared. While outlin ing the protection James Byrnes for farmers. Byrnes also proposed to help labor laid off from slackening war indus tries, through a system of federal unemployment benefits to be paid in addition to regular state payments. To relieve the problem of future un employment, Byrnes suggested that [ workers be shifted from lagging war ! plants to busier ones now while jobs | were available. Byrnes advocated legislation for i quick settlement of cancelled war contracts to aid industry in the re conversion to civilian production, and he also called for congressional action to facilitate the orderly dis posal of surplus war goods without disruption of regular markets. WHEAT: Good Prospects > Because of improved prospects as a result of a recent rainfall, the U. S. Department of Agriculture predicted a winter wheat crop of 601,759,000 bushels for 1944, 72,153, 000 more than 1943 production. Based on official returns, the domestic supplies of wheat for 1944-'45 were estimated at 1,130,000, 000 bushels, compared with last year's 1,440,000,000 bushels. Although moisture deficiency in western Kansas and the adjoining wheat sections in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Colorado was off set by rainfall, Nebraska was re ported in need of precipitation. U. S. ACES: 'Rick' Topped To army air force Captains Rich ard I. Bong of Poplar, Wis., and Don S. Gentile of Piqua, Ohio, went the honor of breaking Capt. Eddie Rick enbacker's famed record of shooting down 26 enemy aircraft, established in World War I. Operating in the South Pacific in a Lightning fighter with the portrait of his fiance, Marjorie Vattendahl of Superior, Wis., painted on the nose, Captain Bong was credited with destroying his 27th enemy craft in the air on April 12. Previously, Captain Gentile had been credited with bagging 30 enemy planes in Europe, but seven of them were shot up on the ground. During World War I, Captain Rick enb^cker's total of 26 included five observation balloons, so that Cap tain Bong paced the field in the number actually knocked out in sky fights. Of all of war's experiences, few were as harrowing as Sgt. James A. m, wno was trapped in the tall section of a Flying Fortreis when It broke off from the rett of the plane dur ing a bombing mis sion and fell 19,000 feet down to earth. When the tall sec tion finally landed miraculously on a tree top, the 27-year Sgt Riley. viu ?vrycani irvru Henderson, Ky., emerged with only a slight cut on the chin. POLITICS: FDR, Dewey Lead With the Democratic and Repub lican conventions still two months off, the candidacies of President Roosevelt and Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, N. Y., have picked up steam as a result of the popular favor shown them in the selection of nominating delegates. As of April 12, 46 delegates were openly pledged for the President and 157 others claimed for him, for a total of 203 out of 236 already picked, At the same date, 25 delegates stood pledged to Dewey and 123 others were claimed for him, for a total of 148 out of 356 selected. While the President polled a large vote in the Nebraska preferential primary, big highlight was the heavy write-in vote Dewey obtained. U. S. NAVY: Plan Bigger Growth To provide for the heavy fighting ahead, congress was asked to pass a naval appropriations bill of $32,647,000,000 for the fiscal year be ginning July 1. By July of 1945, the navy will have 10,244 self-propelled ships, 74,925 other craft, including landing ves sels, and 37,735 airplanes. Also by July of 1945, naval per sonnel is expected to reach 3,657,000 officers and men, including women. Biggest planned expansion is for the marine corps to a total of 478,000. LABOR: Hit Power Politics Asserting that territorial and frontier problems of Europe should be settled by popular vote of the affected people, the American Fed eration of Labor's Vice President, Matthew Woll, assailed Soviet Rus sia's alleged alteration of the con tinent in defiance of principles of the United Nations. Taking his place beside Woll, David Dubinsky, president of the AFL's International Garment Work ers Union, deplored the development of policies designed to divide the world up into spheres of influences, in which the big nations would dominate militarily and politically. Decrying the proposal to compen sate Poland for the loss of terri tory to Russia by giving her part of eastern Germany, Dubinsky de clared: "... This means that Po land, or what remains of her, will remain a center of bitter and con stant straggle ? a football for the powers." Candid Shot of a Man Doing a CoFm: Harold Lloyd la no mIm/j, but ho plays with a doll. The toy has an interesting and tragic history. Har old was a long-time friend of Lillian Leitzel, the lovely circus aerialist. She fell to her death in Copenhagen several years ago while performing her famed act . . . Her mother took the costume in which Lillian was killed,and cut it up into me mentos for the star's closest friends . . . Some received pin-cushions, others got similar tiny tokens . . . Lloyd was sent a little doll from the material. It is one of his treas ured possessions. Groueho Marx was singing the praises of one of the movie firms re cently. "They're absolutely tops!" he said. "When they make a lousy picture?none of the other film com panies can come near it!" Have a Debunker: Novelist Rose Wilder Lane told a reporter she isn't earning money because she doesn't want to pay income tax to support government agencies, including the Writer's War board . . . Lady, the writers who work for that board take no fees for their work. The taxes may pay salaries of people you dislike, but taxes also support the army, navy and marine corps, which protect Americans such as Rose Wilder Lane. Have some Irony: "Strange Fruit," the exciting novel which has been banned in Boston (the cradle o! Yan kee ism), was written by a Southern er and preaches equality . . . The current Magazine Digest credits Sid Sheldon with the anecdote about "Tootsie Rolls" being on a Russian menu. "Tootsie Rolls?" asked the guest. "What's Tootsie Rolls?" . . . The reply: "Lend-Leasel" . . . When it appeared here months ago the locale was Italy . . . Will Mr. Sheldon kindly forward the check he took for that one to the Red Cross? . . . That's peachy. "The Adventures of-Mark Twain" -movie makers had consiAxable ma terial to go on because MarOBwain is one of the few modern authfflns who had more books written aboiuhim than those he wrote. Mr. TWain? wrote 24 volumes. He had 305 writ ten about him . . . Bert Six, the movie photographer, was taking a likeness of a character. "Okay," said Bert, "I've finished. You can look unpleasant again" . . . Jimmy Starr's book, "The Corpse Came C. O. D?" is a click . . . Paul Hen reid and Hedy Lamarr were re hearsing love technique for scenes in "The Conspirators" . . . Mrs. Henreid was watching with others . . . She got a howl when she called out: "Paul, you ought to try that kissing technique at home some timet" ... Of all things: Radio station KPAS in Hollywood inter rupts their midday preacher with race results! Love Letter Dep't: The colyum thanks the Poly Spotlight's Instruc tor of Journalism (of Riverside, Cal ifornia) for the press pass. It reads: "Press Club, Poly Spotlight. Re porter's Pass. This certifies that Walter Winchell is a member of the Journalism classes of The Riverside Polytechnic High School, and a stall reporter for "The Spotlight.' All cour tesies extended for obtaining or for warding news will be appreciated. Signed: F. Wayne Coons (Journal ism instructor) and Bill Cornwell, editor." The pass expires In 1B90. Thank you very much. But by 1950 you boys and girls will be mak ing and writing the news . . . How ever, I will always treasure it, and tack it on the back of my wheel chair. Bob Dana, one of the better car toonists, sends this Bed-time Story to Keep the Baby Awake: A Big Front Door who was a Daddy Door had a Little Son who was a Little Door. So the Daddy Door wanted to meas ure the Little Door to see if he was growing. So he stood the Baby Door up against a Boy and marked oo the Boy's nock, how high the Baby Door was. And that's why all children should wash their necks. Now go to sleep, d'ya hear? At a stafiy motion pietnre party, Rosalind Russell was approached by a grande dame who aaid malicious ly, "What lovely pearls! Are they genuine?" Rosalind nodded. "Of course, you can always tell by biting them," said the cat. "Here, let me see." "Gladly," said Rosalind, proffer ing the Jewels. "But remember, you can't tell real pearls with false teeth." Handicapped Made Self-Supporting, Happy, Through Employment in Industries for Blind) ? Sightless Can Make '-J j Many Things, Such as Sheets, Belts, Mops By AL JEDLICKA by Wwtora Xi'nxixr Union. On September 8,1942, the Illi nois Industries for the Blind, in corporated four months earlier as a non-profit organization, opened operations in an old four story structure at 1310 South Newberry St., on Chicago's his toric east side. Established by Edward S. Molineaux, the institution was designed to provide regular em ployment for the blind, partially blind and crippled, rather than the usual devices for passing away time or meriting a dole. By May 1, 1943?nine months after having been opened?the success of the Illinois Industries for the Blind was confirmed when the United States mari time commission awarded the plant an "M" pennant for out standing production of sheets and pillow cases for Liberty ships, the first ever given to an institution of this nature. Six months later, the maritime com mission added to the honors with the presentation of a gold star, for bettering the previous nroduction and absentee record. The enviable performance of the Illinois Industries for the Blind merely established Mr. Molineaux's long-time convic tion on the capabilities of the blind, partially blind and crip pled if properly encouraged. Partially blind himself, Mr. Molineaux's conclusions prob ably were inspired by his own experience of over 25 years, dat ing back to his education at Illi nois' Jacksonville State School for the Blind, and his subsequent life work among the sightless. ^Leaving Jacksonville, Mr. Molin -eaux took up the task of placing blind switchboard operators in Illi nois, and then he went to the east, where he joined the Brooklyn As sociation for Improving Conditions for the Poor. Over 100 years old, this institution specializes in the assist ance of the blind and crippled. Eight Institutions la C. 8. Among those in the forefront of the work to restore the blind, par tially blind and crippled to useful positions in society, Mr. Molineaux has seen the Idea take a slow but sure hold throughout the U. S., where eight such institutions now op erate, some under state supervision, others, like the one in Illinois, un der private management aided by popular contributions. The restoration of the sightless and'disabled to useful citizenry re ceived its greatest impetus in 1836, when congress passed legislation set ting up a list of products for the government to purchase from blind workshops. To facilitate the pro gram, the American Foundation for the Blind inspired the organization of the National Industries for the Blind, to act as a clearing house for contracts to the various blind workshops. In passing the legislation, congress set up certain production standards to be met by the blind plants, and in Blind Jeha Dent has learned to poach, assemble aad rivet small leather feeds, saeh as belts aad cases where such institutions are partly financed by private contribu tions, like the Illinois Industries, they are not expected to sell their goods below the market price, al though they can sell above it. Employment lor 125. A visit to the Illinois Industries for the Blind plant in Chicago at once impresses one with the capability of the 125 blind, partially blind and crippled employees. At one time, the factory had a peak employment of 230 people, many of whom have since gone to accept positions in various war industries. On all three of the floors, one will And the handicapped busily en gaged in different forms of work suited to their capacities, with the blind chiefly employed on jobs where some form of mechanical guides are provided, the partially blind on ob jects large enough for their limited sight, and the crippled on tasks not requiring complete freedom of move ment. On the second floor, one sees the blind engaged in folding paper cape for permanent wave outfits, and in assembling wooden doll sets. I . ? ? Oa tht third floor about U women ^ar* out sheets and pillow eases at good speed, despite their handicap. After two months of training, a wom an can pot seams In about H dozen pillow eases a day. The hemmers, who most base It per cent or better vision, can finish about N dosen eases daily. An "electric eye," shown below, protects the operators from injury by stopping the sewing machine when fingers get too elose to the nee dle and interrupt the beam of Ught that must shine constantly while the machine is running. Those proficient in folding paper caps can turn out as many as 986 a day and average around $3.50 for eight hours' work. There is not so much skill required in cap making, as there is a familiarity, or feel, of the paper. Turning from the paper cap fold ers, one comes to a long assembly line of blind filling little cardboard boxes with parts of wooden dolls, and then packing these along with containers holding different water colors into single sets. Holes in the body of the wooden dolls into which the head, arms and legs are in serted are drilled by blind on me chanical equipment up on the fourth floor of the plant. Ten workers can assemble about 1,000 sets a day. Sheets and Pillow Cases. One of the most interesting and Important of the plant's operations is on the third floor, where blind and partially blind women produce sheets and pillow cases. Under a full-sighted supervisor, 40 Impaired women keep the latest type sewing machines with necessary ad justments buzzing at top speed. First, there are the women who put seams into the pillow cases, be ing able to turn out about 66 dozen daily, after two months of training. Machines are equipped with a "see ing eye," which stops their opera tion when the workers' fingers stray too close to the needle. Then there are the hemmers, with partially blind with at least 10 per cent vision being preferred for this more exacting work of turning the material over, smoothing and then securing it. After six months' train ing, a good hemmer averages 90 doz en a day, but a blind person could produce only half of this. At the time the plant was visited, a young woman was being broken into the overlooking process of over stitching on the outside to give bet ter strength and appearance. Time and again, she practiced priding the material to the needle, natisntly . : :' training her partial sight on the work. Because the blind could not inspect the finished goods and the bright glare of the white material could not be withstood by the partially, blind, full-sighted people are eroi ployed for this work. I Since undertaking government work, the Illinois Industries for the Blind has delivered over 1,000,00b sheets and pillow cases to this serv? Make Wooden Mats. '( Up on the fourth floor of the plant) one sees a cripple and the blind combine to produce colored wooden mats under the supervision of a pari tially blind foreman, Gerard Harold; Canadian born and English edu> cated, who once ran a coffee imJ porting business in Africa. Cut to size by a cripple, the wood) ! en rods forming the skeleton of the mat through which the different col ored pieces are strung, are drilled by a blind person, who possesses a remarkable mechanical touch, ac cording to Mr. Harold. Because of this touch, Harold said, the blind man can sense any imperfection hi the operation of die machine, and then go about correcting it f ? The mats themselves are strung by the blind, who figure how many pieces go into each one, and thereby are able to judge just where the colored beads are to be placed. Trained in three or four weeks, e blind person can average about 40 mats daily. Also on the fourth floor is the leather department, worked by crip pled and blind. Using discarded leather scraps from shoe factories, the crippled punch out fancy strips, while the blind make holes, as for the insertion of elastic bands for suspenders. Also on the fourth floor, the plant had received old looms, which it was contemplating setting up for the future production at yarn for mops, using handles produced by the Illi nois Industries, Mattoon, HL, broom factory. In the office of the plant, one met Ethel Heeren, blind executive sec retary, and Earl Barrett, partially blind general manager. One also met partially blind Wells Mori, ac tive little public relations officer at the plant. ? Earn $25 a Week. From Mori, one learned that am bitious employees of the plant av erage about $29 weekly, which with their useful work, gives them posi tion in society. "Younger handicapped people coming to us who are broken in early into useful social occupations, de velop a healthier point of view than the older people who have always more or less been felt to be a bur den," Mori said. "Sometimes, the most difficult problem is inculcating the work habit into some of the older people," Mori continued. "Laxity in coining down on time, or sometimes not at all, and of not producing at their capacity are shortcomings at many handicapped people which can only be ironed out by careful handling, since you cannot push them. "We do not take all of the handi capped, of course," Mori continued, "but most of those that we do take develop the work habit and become proficient workers. "Because of differences in apti tudes and the need few stimulating their efforts, workers are paid on a piece-work basis," Mpri said. "But even though their production rates are high, they still usually fall below the sighted standards. In those cases, our products must sell at higher levels on the market." As an indication of the skill and earning power at many at the Illi nois Industries for the Blind em ployees, some have been hired by the natien's busy war plants to artist in the battle of production, while a goodly number were only too proud to take their place in line and pay Uncle Sam an income tax for the
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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April 27, 1944, edition 1
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