The Alamance Gleaner
: .... i.lfjj
Vol. LXXI GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1946 No. 9
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Allies Close on Ruhr Valley;
Japs Gird for U.S. Invasion;
Forecast Cut in Grain Acreage
' Released by Western Newspaper Union. ??????
(EDITOR'S! NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eolnmns. they are those of
Western Newspaper Union's news analysis and net necessarily of this newspaper.)
?.
Indicative oi hi(h cost of taking Iwo Jim a Is this marine graveyard
on the Island, with row upon row of little white crosses. Approximately
4,000 Americans were killed tat the straggle.
EUROPE:
Ruhr Target
To 00-year-old Field Marshal Al
bert Kesselring went the hapless job
at assuming su
preme command 01
German armiei in
the west as U. S.
and British forces
closed on the vital
Ruhr valley after
having conquered
the coal and iron
rich Saar basin to
the southwest.
In picking Kessel
ring to try to hold
the sagging German
wPQt Hitler chose
an ardent Nazi, who gained notice
through his development of strong
defensive lines in Italy. Trusted by
the Nazis tb? stand fast in the face of'
the overwhelming Allied onslaught,
Kesselring succeeded Field Marshal
Von Bundstedt, who was relieved
of his command following reports
that he had failed to negotiate an
armistice with General Eisenhower.
As Kesselring took over the Ger
? man command, his hard-pressed
forces faced the Canadian 1st, Brit
ish 2nd and U. S. 9th armies on
the western border of the Ruhr,
while the U. S. 1st army built up
strength for a drive to the south of
the vital industrial valley from its
Remagen bridgehead.
Following a tremendous concerted
aerial bombardment aimed at soft
ening up the enemy's rear areas,
these four Allied armies stood ready
to strike to the east of the Rhine
and break into the open German
plains on the high road to Berlin.
Farther to the south, the U. S. 3rd
and 7th armies, having cleaned out
the Saar, drew up against the for
ested mountain country to the east
of the Rhine in this sector.
Double Trouble
Thus, while Kesselring had his
handa- full trying to hold the Allied
armies off from the open northern
plains, German commanders in the
east experienced equal difficulty
meeting the Russian onslaught over
the other end of the level northern
country in the east. From Stettin
southward, the Reds menaced the
serried defenses of Berlin while
the Nazis still talked about a last
ditch fight behind concrete pillboxes,
bunkers, tank traps and irrigated
Bat land.
Though massed in the greatest
strength tefore Berlin, the Reds also
exerted considerable pressure to the
south, seeking' to batter their "way
through the mountain masses in Up
per Silesia to enter Czechoslovakia,
and smashing at German defenses
in western Hungary in an effort to
reach Austria.
U. S. SAVINGS:
In Billions
With a wartime economy restrict
ing the supply of civilian goods, and
I income at peak levels, Americans
continued to pour billions of dollars
into savings, the Securities and Ex
change commission reported.
With Americans putting away
nearly 23 per cent of their incomes
in cash, bank deposits and govern
ment securities within the last two
and one-half years, total holdings of
thOae assets reached MB bOKoo
dollars at the end of 1944.
In saving 40 billion dollars last
year, 10 times as much ae in 1940,
Americans amassed an additional
IT billions in cash and bank de
posits; 13 billions in government
bonds; JV4 billions * insurance,
?hd fat savings and
_
PACIFIC:
Fear Invasion
Making no bones about their tear
of an invasion of their homeland, the
Japanese government moved fever
ishly to prepare the country for the
eventuality, while at the same time
pushing efforts to organize occupied
China against a thrust from U. S.
forces.
Her predicament underlined by
the U. S.'s gradual advance toward
the homeland, and the destructive
aerial raids on her great urban cen
ters, Japan's leaders called tor the
establishment of virtual martial law
in the country, permitting expropri
ation of land and demolition of
buildings for defense purposes.
Though high military authorities
believe that Japan, like Germany,
will not be bombed out of the war
because of the decentralization of
her industry, U. S. attacks have
cut into some of the enemy's pro
ductive capacity, besides causing
serious civilian dislocations. Al
ready, almost half of Tokyo's civil
ian population has been evacuated,
it was said.
Besides impairing the heme
effort, sneb raids as the recent
carrier plane attacks on the
Japs' great inner naval base in
the Inland sea bounded, by the
home islands of Honshu, Kyushu
and Shikoku serve not only to
cripple the enemy fleet but also
damage important repair and
anchorage facilities.
Although the Japs feel that any
direct - assault on the homeland
would give them the advantage of
short supply lines and land bases
from which to develop counter-meas
ures, they are looking worriedly to
the Chinese coast, where they be
lieve the U. S. might drive ashore
w set up uivasiuo oases.
Thus, high military authorities pre
sume, the enemy will continue to
play for time in'such outlying bat
tle zones as the Philippines aD<j
Burma to permit further develop
ment of Chinese resources and
troops reportedly fighting for them
so as to be better able to meet an
invasion of that country.
CROP ACREAGE:
To Drop
Because of a decrease in hog
numbers in their own lots, an ex
pected drop in demand for feed
grains and a switchover to crops
with lower labor requirements,
farmers will put~Wwer acres to im
portant grain in IMS, the U. S. de
partment of agriculture reported.
Basing its report on farmers' dec
larations of intentions, the USDA
said that corn acreage would be
down 1 per cent under 1M4, barley
14 per cent, and soybeans 2H per
cent. As exceptions, wheat acreage
was expected to increase 4% per
cent and oats 8 per cent.
In addition, the USDA's reports
on acreages for other crops showsd
general decreases from last year,
with increases forecast only for
sugar beets, flaxseed, tobacco and
rice.
With the weather generally favor
able, finances ample and seed and
feed plentiful, chief obstacles to IMS
production Ua in manpower and ma
chinery shortages, the USDA de
clared. Indicated acreages in dec
larations of intentions might be
notably changed through the year,
the USDA said, in accordance with
infliiaToa in weedier, price fluctua
tions, manpower, finances and the
effect of the report itself oa farm
ers' plans.
FOOD:
Overseas Demands
The food situation continued to
occupy the country's attention, with
the conviction growing that Ameri
cans will have to give their belts a
long pull inward to help feed dis
tressed civilians in liberated coun
tries.
But if the food situation took the
spotlight in the U. S., it also aroused
interest in Britain, where Prime
Minister Churchill told the house of
commons that the country only had
less than 6 million tons of food in re
serve instead of the 700 million sug
gested by some quarters in America.
Some of it was being used to feed
needy Europeans, he said.
Following President Roosevelt's
statement that it was only decent
for Americans to share some of
their food supplies with hungry
Europeans, and reports that the
army's share of meat would be in
creased 4 per cent during the next
three months to help feed people in
the war zones while U. S. civilians'
would be slashed 12 per cent, it was
announced that the United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation adminis
tration (UNRRA) would require
about. 800 million pounds of food
from this country during April, May
and June.
Food other than meat composes
UNRRA's largest claim on U. &
stocks, with calls for meat amount
ing to 1 out of every 390 pounds ol
the nation's civilian supply, it was
said. Deliveries of grain, flour and
other cereal products top the list,
with meat and fat and then beans
and peas, milk and sugar in order.
Of UNRRA's total requirements of
1,876,000,000 pounds of food for the
next three months, the U. S. is ex
pected to furnish 42 per cent, with
Canada supplying 38 per cent and
other United Nations the rest.
May Cut Draft Calls
With the service! expected to
be built up to full strength by
July, 1949, monthly draft calls
thereafter may be cut from the
present 139,000 to 93,000 to fur
nish replacements. President
Roosevelt revealed.
At the same time, a congres
sional committee was told that
although draft calls would be re
duced after Germany's defeat,
young men will continue to be
inducted during the Japanese
war to replace discharged vets,
rv Previously, selective service
announced that some 149,000
men from 18 to 29 years of age
- in the steel, transportation, min
ing and synthetic rubber indus- ,
try would be deferred as essen
tial workers, breaking the for
mer policy of exempting only
about 30 per cent in any field. As
a result, older men in the 30 to
37 ag? group will have to be
inducted to make up the differ
ence, it was said.
POLIO:
Kenny s Problem
Unable to enlist the support of the
nation's medical leaders for her
treatment of infantile paralysis,
Australia's Sister Elizabeth Kenny
announced her decision to leave this
country if congress failed to look
into the difficulties that have beset
her since her arrival here.
Although Sister Kenny's decision
to leave-ths country-came Upon*the'
heels of the National Foundation for
Infantile Paralysis' refusal of a re
quest for (804,000 for the Kenny in
stitute in Minneapolis, Minn., she
said that money was no object, since
the people of the latter city already
had raised (400,000 for her work
and undoubtedly could double the
figure.
Rather, the said, her decision to
leave was prompted by the medical
profession's failure to provide as
sistance for further research into her
theory of treatment. Without such
research, she declared, her presence
here was no longer necessary since
others have been trained in her pres
ent methods.
MIDNIGHT CURFEW:
New York in Line
Having enjoyed an extra hour of
night frolicking for a few days, New
York's milling merrymakers found
themselves out on the streets at mid- 1
night again, following the amuse- 1
ment owners' decision not to take
advantage of Mayor La Guardia's
one hour extension of the govern- j
ment's 12 a. m. curfew, imposed to
conserve fuel and manpower.
First accepting La Guardia's one
hour reprieve in the face of wide
spread criticism, the amusement
owners' own bands were forced
when both the army and navy or- .
dered their personnel to leave the 1
nighteries at midnight in obedience
to the government regulation.
Before the New Yorkers decided to
close their doors. War Mobilisation
Director Byrnes said it was impos
sible for the government to enforce
the midnight curfew, stnoe it lacked
the pottce necessary.
Kesselrtng
front in thn
!sa
New York Picture Postcardri
Crowds rushing sway from ths
Main Stem after curfew as if it were
a pal who could no longer do any
favors. ... An all-night beanery's
electric eye peering into the early'
ay em darkness showing that one
part of the town has Insomnia. . . .
A ballet of spring breezes dancing
through the streets. . . . The parks'
trees sprouting tiny buds clenched
like n baby's fist. . . . Tips of sky
scrapers providing exclamation
points for the city's exciting scenic
story. . . . Torch-carriers suffering
from high-blonde pressure, attempt
ing to kill a heartache with a hang
oarer. . . . The sign in a bar: "Time
Tells on a Man?Especially a Good
Time." . . . The warm poetry at
Broadway friendship which can turn
into the cold prose of enmity over
night An interesting and disheart
ening phenomenon. . . . Dawn com
ing out Into the sky to put the stars
to sleep.
Among the town's little heroes:
Civilian defense workers who are
still carrying on their duties. . . .
Gigantic fingers of silence gripping
the city at dawn. So quiet you can
hear the click of traffic lights as
they switch colors. . . . The touch
ing goodbyes between soldiers and
their loved ones at depots. "I'll
write you every day, honey I" . . .
Sabbath morning church-belloquence
which seems to fit the silence rather
than break it. ... A scoop of after
noon sun being served on a platter'
of whipped cream clouds. . . .
Broadwayites clogging all-night caf
eterias?sipping coffee while nib
bling on a side-dish of conversation.
. . . Rockefeller Center gal guides
who are more arresting than any
of the sights they point out.
Beta! Fifth At*, shopwindows
crowned with lnxnrlea?a lit tin (
tribute for tba Queen of Bi(
Town streeta. ... The haras who
are walking showcases for their
own personalities. ... Garments
arrayed on 1MB Are. clothes .
lines swaying to the tone of
breeses humming by. . . . The
sky coated with glowing twilight,
exhibiting a visual wink which
brings out the smile In anybody's
spirit. . . . The enameled self
assurance of Main Stem merle
ushers who have all the dig
nity of generate.... Huahed con
versations which cushion the vel
vety atmosphere of the sumptu
ous Music Hall lounge. ... A
gay wind holding on tight to the
dress of a chorine as It goes
around her curves.
Comely Travelers' Aid ladies who
greet strangers with a bouquet of
bright smiles. . . . The Hudson Riv
er cob-webbed with streaks of moon
light?a view that tattoos itself into
your memory. . . . Sunrise tinting
the sky with a Paradise of colors as
the world hands people its most
priceless gift: A new day. . . . The
theater's best-dressed man: The
ticket collector?garbed in a tux. ...
A rustle of silk heralding the ap
proach of first-nighters coming down
.the aisle and leaving, a trail of per
fume. ... The Emptre-Sthte Build
ing at noon?cellophaned with sun
shine. ... Mid town canyons at dawn
filled to the brim with hush. . . .
The smell-binding aroma of roast
ing coffee tickling nostrils as you
ride over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Menatalns oI ilMdi cruising ever
the city and making mammoth
buildings insignificant. . . . Head
Unas on newsstands gleaming with
bright war newt which lights up the
dim out. . . . The Flying Fortress
whizzing over the Statue of liberty
and dipping its wings in a salute
to the grand lady who carries a
torch for Uncle Sam.
Train anaennnn' raises yawning
out their remarks as if they wished
they were elsewhere. . . . Workers
gulping a quick breakfast of oraa
juice, coffee and doughnuts?like bit
ter medicine they didn't want to
, * * - si I e ileiSe slid ? if. a - I
Te>H. 0 e XJrOMwB/IWf tuHluJH I
talk through their cigars as they
stand on street corners tossing away
precious minutes they can never
hope to retrieve. . . . Movie stars
rushing around town convoyed by a
fleet of press agents.
The slantjr penmanship of rain
scribbling its unruly signature on
window panes. . . . Darkened sky
scrapers putting shadows on stilts
as they stand guard over the streets
all through the night.
Ceei, elsar nights when you can
even see baby stars staying out an
night. . . . Agonised cries of fog
horns along the waterfront sandpa
1 ? I
American Life Insurance Celebrates Its 100th i
Anniversary by Adopting a New Actuarial Table \
Which Reflects Longer Life of Modern Citizen i
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
Nineteen forty-five find*
American life insurance
observing its 100th anniversary
and by way of celebration it s
beginning to operate under a
set of actuarial tables. Until this
Sear insurance companies have
een "booking" life and death
chances on the same basis as
they were figured when the first
American '"life" policies were
written away back in 1849. But
this year they are discarding the
old "odds table" and putting into
effect a new one and that's a
matter of prime importance to
more than 70,000,000 Americans
who own.more than 125 billion
dollars worth of life insurance.
As a matter at fact, the adoption
of the new actuarial tables in
American life insurance's centennial
rear is accidental and coincidental,
rather than purposely planned. Nine
years afo state insurance commis
sioners and mathematical wizards of
the insurance companies recognized
the fact that the tremendous im
provements in medical science had
made the old "odds table" obsolete.
In the light of modern methods of
prolonging human existence, a new
set of Hfa expectancy standards was
needed.
But figuring out the** standards
and fitting them to rate a?o? fit
ting rataa to them?wasn't a tlmple
matter. For lnatance, they knew that
you?if you are 10 yeara old?hay* a
tar batter chance of living beyond
that age than you did two decades
ago. It waa only a few decadea ago
that eight out at every thousand
people died at that age. Today,
thinlrf to mora public enlightenment
on medical mattera and improve
ments in diet (including more
knowledge at vitamin requirements)
only-two or three persons per thou
sand are dead at the age of 30.
Bates Abewt the Same.
But even though the improve
ment In our life chances seemed to
indicate much reduced rates, this
was offset over the years by the de
terioration of our interest rates and
the increased cost of doing business.
The problem of adjustment was
threefold: (I) rates according to
improved life probability; (2) com
pany income according to lowered
return on investments; and (S) com
pany expenses as compared to "the
good old days" when breakfast cost
a nickel and the company president
drew a salary of $? per week.
The insurance commissioners had
a major mathematical problem be
fore them. For the latter two points
?lowered earnings on invested
funds and sharply rising costs of
doing business ? mors than cov
ered the slight break they showed
on their books because this doctors
were keeping us alive longer.
Nevertheless they went ahead. Al
fred N. Guertin of New Jersey, was
made.-chairman of a commission
ers group to recommend the new
"life" tables. Five other state com
miseiooers sat with him. John S.
Thompson, mathematician vice
president of the Mutual Benefit Life
Ineswaaee company of Newark, N.J.
was a committee member represent
ing the Actuarial Society of
America.
Sixteen ?Utcs enacted the ao
called "Ouertta law," which means
that the Insurance companies doing
business hi those states can in 1945
adopt the recommendation ot the
Guertin committee into thair future
policies. The law became effective
January 1 at this year on an optional
basis but it becomes mandatory
after three years, in December, 1948.
Hew it All Began.
" Centuries before Messrs. Guertin
and associates took on their her
culean lob, a Roman named Ulpi
anus devised an "odds table" for a
few of hie friends. Ulpianus was a
lawyer with a flair for figures. As a
matter at fact, his life expectancy
charts ware so good that they re
mained unchallenged from 220 A. D.
for almost 15 centuries. Evan as
late as 1914, the Tuscan government
used his figures.
Not content with Lawyer Ulpianus'
findings, however, Edmund HaDey,
known as tha English astronomer
who discovered the famous Halley'a
comet, undertook the lob of comput
ing "modern" mortality tables hi
1591. His method wea the basis for
present-day computations; namely
that at using accurate vital statis
tics. Halley selected the city of Bree
lau (you've"been reading about it In
births and deaths for a five-year pe
riod.
His tables were the precuraor
tor many others?euch as the Eng
lish tables of 1783. But all such im
proved tables over the last two cen
turies failed to keep pace with medi
cal science.
Our first actuarial brainchild was
called the American Experience ta
ble, which was brought into usage
right after the Civil war. With minor
changes it has continued to be the
accepted base for computing life and
death chances up the present time.
Meanwhile the M. D.s were busily
engaged in making our American
Experience figures look sick. Their
success in keeping the lower age
groups alive longer is directly re
sponsible for this major effort to re
frame the basin structure of all
life insurance in the United States.
Just by way of proving the point,
in 1900 the U. S. average age was
49.34. A couple of years ago it stood
at 84.83.
When it all began back in 1848,
this was a husky young nation. But
many of its huskiest young citizens
fell victims to one disease or an
other, diptheria and tuberculosis be
ing the most active.
May Hazards.
Even as late as 1900, more than 40
out of every 100,000 people suc
cumbed to diptheria. Today it's only
one per 100,000. Europe's black
plague of the early 17th century
wasn't much worse a scourge than
the horrors of pulmonary tubercu
losis over the last century. Statis
tics for 1900 show that this killer
took 173 out of every 100,000. Today
less than 40 per 100,000 die of the
disease each year.
For these reasons, coupled with all
the other hazards of living a cen
tury ago, the old boys scratched
their heads twice before insuring
their fellow men promiscuously.
When Ben Miller bought the first
life policy issued by Mutual Befieflt
Life Insurance in Newark in 1848,
there were many "don'ts" tied to the
policy. Ben bought $1,300 worth of
insurance on his life at a premium
of *31 a yaar with tha provision
that: (1.) He didn't die on the seas;
(J.) ha didn't leave tha country;
(I.) he didn't go south in the sum
mertime; (4.) he didn't (without
consent) Join the army; (5.) he
didn't cut his own throat to im
prove his wife's finances; (6.) he
didn't expose his Insured and valu
able carcass by duelling; (7.) he
religiously avoided the gallows or
guillotine. . . . and so on for quite
some distance in slightly more tech
nical verbiage.
Ben, it might be remarked, was
one of the hardier sort, for ho lived to
collect his own insurance at the
age of Ml
While the early directors of insur
ance companies had no worries
about clients being killed in an
automobile or airplane, the 1845 citi
zens of Pres. James Polk's nation of
XI states were liable to find them
selves without a scalp if they took
the "covered-wagon" trail west
Life insurance companies also
could discount the probability of the
"insured" dying from heart failure
because of tha then modest IS mil
lion dollar public debt. Perhaps it is
worth noting that over the years the
increase in heart disease (and it
has increased considerably) is in
ratio to the government's debt to
the people ? now at tha quite
immodest figure of almost >00 bU
Bon, a very large hunk of which is
held by the same haurance com
II ?* you read this, you've been
tors arc keeping ua alive longer,
you'd better read on.
At first glance it would seem that
under the new mortality table, Ufa
insurance rates will be cheaper, but
that is not true. John S. Thompson,
?ice president and mathema
tician (actuary) of the Mutual Bene
fit Life Insurance company, speak
ing for all lift insurance companies,
tells why. He says:
"Policies now in force will not be
affected, nor is it expected that poli
cies sold in the future wiU be. That
is because the amount oi interest
life insurance companies can earn
on their invested funds has dropped
sharply in the last few years, and
their operating expenses, wages and
taxes, have increased.
Fewer Investment Chans as.
"The cost of life insurance de
pends upon three points: (1) the
number of claims paid on policy
holders who die in a given year;
(2) the yield or earnings from in
vestments of reserve funds; and (2)
the cost of operating the company.
The war has sharply decreased
the field for profitable investments,
he points out War industries are
financed by the government; and (be
building industry, once a big field
for loena, is now dormant Thus in
surance companies which formerly
earned from 4 hi 0 per cent on their
funds, now earn only slightly mora
than S per cent. From 40 to SO per
cent of insurance company funds
are Invested in war boTds at an
average yield at about IVi per c^nt
And many companies have guaran
teed a S per cent return to their
policyholden. That is why insurance
rates cannot be reduced.
It was a dead cinch to earn the
good old 6 per cent back in 1040 and
a lot mora, too, even though Mutual
Benefit's records show that Robert
L. Patterson, founder and first
president, and his director*, scorned
the possibility of paying big divi
dends by "grubstaking" a few at
the gold-seeking '49ers. Sound, com
ae rvative investments wers made
to protect ahlosi and orphans. But,
conservative as the Investments
were then, they paid handsomely as
compared with today.
Money Earn Leu Than t%.
Shortly after the turn of the cen
tury, returns on invested money
tightened up considerably. AH this
is readily reflected in overall returns
to policyholders. Between 1914-lUt
Mutual Benefit policyholders were
getting about 2.1 per cent on their
dollars paid in. The 1929-1M3 pic
ture was still trending downward to
about 1.7 per cent per annum.
It was vastly different in 1MB. In
those days the company president
drew $1,500 per year?Just about the
price of a fair cook or housekeeper
on today's market. The top insur
ance salesman wasn't allowed In
earn more than $2,000, all otter
earnings going back to the company
till. The rent bill was $29 per
month. One of the ranking ' 'assist
ants" drew the good (in those days)
salary of $300 per year.
Today the taxes, alone, on a
building occupied by one large in
surance company exceeds 10 mlllinw
dollars per annum. And the char
women on the 31st floor would laugh
at an offer of $300 a year. Even the
elevator boy would sneer at the same
salary Robert Patterson was paid
in 1MB
Now you know why insurance is
going to continue to cost Just about
the same as it has in th^ past. As a
group, we're living a lot longer
and there is leas risk in insuii?
us. But, as a group we cost ?
whale of a lot to handle and.
the days of fancy interest returns
A Tlew ?i Broad street la front of the Stock Exahaafe ill ftoh
Treasary (then toe easterns Boom) la New Task City to IMS when Ufa
Insurance had its beftaalai*
i 1 - * * * - ? - . ? >s