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The Alamance gleaner VoL LXXI GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1945 Nm IS ? i i UlM ' f -WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Die-Hard Nazi Defense Pockets Shape As Allies Split Reich; U. S. Plans Huge Postwar Fleet ______ Released toy Western Newspaper Union. iEDITOR'S NOTE: Wkea opinions are expressed In tfcese eolsssns. ftkoy aro ttaoe ot West or ? Newspaper Data's sows analysts and est socsssarllj mi tkis no|SpsnrJ Deep in a salt mine near Merkers, Germany, G.Ij came upon this hid den cache of IN million dollars of (fold bullion packed in bars. Also dis covered was German and foreign currency, and crates of art treasures. EUROPE: Defense Pockets Their front shattered by Allied break-throughs, Nazi militarists en visioned the formation of numerous strong pockets of resistance for a last-ditch stand against the massed weight of U. S., British and Rus sian forces. Discussed even as U. S. and Brit ish armies drove toward a link-up in the Berlin region, the object of the pockets would be to make the war so costly to the Allies as to in duce a willingness to talk terms. Recognizing the possibilities of such warfare. Supreme Allied headquar ters indicated that V-E Day might not be proclaimed until major nests of resistance were cleaned up to prevent a lowering of civilian and military morale because of losses sustained in continuing opera tions. With U. S. and British forces spearheading across the Reich, and the Russians moving in from the east, most prominent German pockets shaped up along the North sea coasts and mountainous Bavaria. Nazi plans for a die-hard stand shaped up as the great Russian drive surged on battered Berlin and U. S. forces moved toward a junc ture with the Reds in Saxony. With the Russians throwing over 2,000,000 men into the battle, and the Germans concentrating the bulk of their forces against the on slaught, the fight for Berlin became one of the bloodiest encounters of the whole war. As Red forces edged through a network of strong fortifi cations under rolling fire, the enemy threw in masses of tanks in an ef Lieviruit General StmpMn mt fefc *rmy <lcft? ckats with British FhM Marshal Msat C ornery mm Genua frost. fort to break up the advancing for mations. and swarms of planes clashed in the leaden skies above. Further to the south, other Rus sian forces brtsched the Nazis' Neisse and Spree river lines to smash we-tward in Saxony for a junction with the U. S. 1st and 3rd armies. While the 1st and 3rd fought to ward a junction with the Russians, and the U. S. 9th built up strength along the Elbe for an eastward thrust to Berlin, the British and Canadian forces and the U. S. 7th army bore down on the potential German defensive pockets along the North sea and in Bavaria. The British and task was no snap, what with the enemy concentrating large bodies of troops in small areas behind stout de fenses. Included in the German holdout regions was the western por tion of Holland below the Zuider Zee, and the great port areas at Ensdflh. Wiihelmshaven. and Ham burg. Having cleared the Nazi shrine city of Nuernberg, 7th army spear heads pointed toward Munich and the Bavarian mountain reaches, where enemy die-hards are expected to put up their stillest last stand. With Allied armies an the move in tomes pushed forward h Italy ^Jfoj^ J to sp? h-o foe PAFICIC: U. S. Losses For the first time in the Pacific war, navy casualties in the Okina wa campaign ran ahead of the army's and marines', with bitter fighting threatening to make the operation as costly as at I wo Jiroa. Numbered among the victims was famed War Correspondent Ernie Pyle, whose simplicity of reporting the war from Europe to Asia brought the realism of the con flict so much closer to the nation's folk. With the Ryukyu island chain, containing Okinawa, lying but 325 miles from Tokyo, the Japs put up a stiff fight, throwing in waves of airplanes in an attempt to impede supporting U. S. naval operations. Led by the silken-shrouded Kami kaze (suicide) fliers, enemy airmen inflicted the greatest percentage of naval casualties. In ground fighting on Okinawa it self, chief opposition centered in the southern part of the island above the capital city of Naha, where 24th corps army troops bucked against the four-mile deep "Little Siegfried" line. While fighting raged about Okin awa, General MacArthur's forces tightened their hold on the Philip pines by edging into the enemy's mountain strongholds on northern Luzon, and establishing further foot holds on Mindanao, second biggest island in the archipelago. NAVY: Postwar Fleet Although final action depends upon the nation's future policy, tentative navy plans call for a huge postwar fleet of 5,830 ves sels and the scrapping of an other 6.094, according to testi mony released by the house ap propriations committee. Of the 5,830 vessels, 1,191 would be combat ships, with the remaining 4,639 auxiliary craft. r-ians cau lor use 01 vu 01 m combat vessels, ranging from submarines to battleships, with the rest laid up for recall on short notice. Of the auxiliaries, 1,794 would be kept active and the remainder anchored for fu ture demands. Among the 6,094 vessels to be scrapped or used as targets are 337 obsolescent combat ships. The remainder are auxiliaries, including landing craft In ad dition, it was disclosed, the navy will have some 66,000 other craft on its hands as demobilization proceeds, with some retained and others disposed of by the maritime commission. FARM LABOR: Draft Provisions Seeking to assure essential farm labor, congress moved to forbid lo cal draft boards from comparing the value of agriculture with that of any other occupation what consider ing deferments of farm workers. Final passage of the bill de pended upon bouse approval of sen ate amendments, providing that ap peals boards coirid not make such comparisons, and deferment of farm workers shall not prevent vol untary enlistments for the services. The congressional measure was framed to forestall a directive at selective service ordering local konida to give test consideration to the manpower nee* at 6a anay CONGRESS: Tariff Battle Even as the Republican's senate steering committee called upon Pres. Harry S. Truman to wish administration well, a red hot legis lative battle loomed in congress over the new chiefs reciprocal trade treaty program, with GOP leaders heading the fight to defeat the meas ure. First sponsored by Mr. Roose velt, then adopted as his own by President Truman, the program calls for a three-year extension at the reciprocal trade treaties, with permission to cut tariff rates SO per cent under January, 1945, levels. Since the original trade treaties al lowed a 50 per cent reduction on duties imposed in the Smoot Hawley bill of 1930, and such cuts were made on some goods, another 50 per cent slash would amount to 75 per cent, in all. As former secretary of state and so-called "father" of the reciprocal trade program, Cordell Hull, called for passage of the act from the Bethesda, Mi, naval hospital, As sistant Secretary of State William Clayton led the administration fight for adoption of the bilL With the U. S. possibly exporting as much as 10 bOlian dollars worth of goods a year after the war, he said, it will be necessary to cut our own tariff barriers so that our foreign pur chasers will be able to repay us in kind. Otherwise, he said, we will lose this trade or billions of dollars extended in credits. Disputing the administration's contention that passage of the meas ure was necessary to assist in the restoration of world prosperity and prevention of unsettled economic conditions leading to war, GOP con gressmen, led by Rep. Harold Knut son (Minn.), declared that the pro gram accomplished neither objec tive prior to the present conflict. Army Strength at Peak With a population of 13,479,142, New York led all other states in the Bomber of men and women In the army with 909.563 as D. S. military strength totalled 8,959,911 as of Decem ber 31, the war department re vealed. To the original army strength of 513,fit in 194#, 9,444,233 have been added by induction, en listment or appointment since then, with the normal release of 1,987,382 giving the net ftgnre of 8^69,311, it was pointed oot. With the draft equalising state inductions on the basis of popu lation, Pennsylvania with 9,999, 133 persons and Illinois with 7. 897,241 ranked second and third in the number of men and wom en in the army, with 333,338 and 587,233 respectively. PLANE OUTPUT: Big Cut In line with the army air force's cut in aircraft production for the rest of 1945, the huge $100,000,000 Ford-operated factory at Willow Run outside Detroit, Mich., aril] 1 wind up manufacture of B-24 bomb ers by next August. j_?eci5ion UJ lerminaie prooucuun of the B-24s was predicated upon the collapse of the German luftwaffe and the need for heavier, faster bombers like the B-29s for the Pacific war, it was said. The over all cut in output of other planes also will permit concentration on" manu facture of aircraft more vitally needed against the Japs, includ ing the new jet-propelled ships. Capable of turning out 482 planes a month at the peak of its opera tions, the Willow Run factory is owned by the government's Defense Plant corporation. Henry Ford has eyed purchase of the property for production of tractors and other kinds of farm tools after the war. WATER TREATY: Neighborly Act In what President Truman hailed as a constructive, business-like pro posal undertaken in a neighborly spirit, the U. S. senate ratified the controversial treaty dividing waters of the Colorado and Rio Grande riv ers between this country and Mexico. Under provisions of the treaty, the U. S. guarantees Mexico 1,500, 000 acre feet of water annually from the Colorado river, except in times of extraordinary drouth when the supply may be cut, and also agrees to divide waters in the Rio Grande below Fort Quitman, Texas, about equally. In addition, the two nations will make a study of prob lems arising from the flow at the Tijuana river from Mexico into southern California, including flood control and conservation. Though California and Nevada congressmen attacked the treaty as harmful to ihsiwatir users at the Colorado river waters, other west sary far orderly development at both the Coiorade sad Bio Grande H liMPiW Volet of a Netctpaptrman: Letter to Wulm Wilson from Fraaklia D. Roosevelt: "My dear Mr. President: I entirely forgot an Sunday evening to speak to you of a personal matter which might come up during my absence?the question at my nomination, for the Governor ship of New York. I have tried in every way to stop it, but some of your friends and mine have talked of the possibility of forcing this while I am away, and of asking you to encourage me to accept it "I sincerely hope the matter will not come up. I have made my posi tion entirely clear that my duty lies in my present work?not only my duty to you and the country, but to myself. If I were at any time to leave the Assistant Secretaryship it could only be for active service. "Furthermore, may I say that I am very certain that it would be a grave mistake for either you or any member of the Administration to ask that I give up war work for what is frankly very much of a po litical job in these times. I cannot accept such a nomination at this time with honesty or honor to my self. I think I have put off all dan ger of it, but in case you are ap pealed to, I want you to know what I feel?and I know too that you will understand and that you will not i listen to the appeal." Regardless of what yoe have heard and read, FDR never wanted 3rd Term. ... A few months before his 2nd Term was about to end, Mrs. Roosevelt invited kin of Ed Flynn to spend a night in the White House. She especially wanted their two tots to sleep there "so that they never will forget the thrill of it." . . . "Considering the people (are do not really know) who have been here," she said in effect, "I want the chil dren to be with us for a night?and this positively is their very, very last chance!" After a press conference In his White House office a reporter told the President of a story that had come in the mail. Did he mind its publication? . . . "It was at the Gridiron Dinner," said FDR. "You'd better clear it with some of the boys wbo were there." ... A famed Re publican Senator, it appears, was teasing FDR about his "lucky In augural suit." ... "If you run for a third term," heckled the Senator, "let me borrow that suit, and I'll run against you and win!" . . . j FDR told him he couldn't let him borrow his "lucky" suit . . . "Be cause I may need It myself!" "You mean," was the retort, "that you ARE going to run again?" "I mean," said Mr. Roosevelt wearily, "that I may need it my self. I do not consider it my In augural suit It is my?funeral suit" Another of the favorite FDR sto ries deals with the White House visi tor who remarked: "Mr. President how in the world did you acquire such patience?with all the bores you meet in a day?" FDR grimly replied: "You ac quire patience after you've spent two years learning how to wiggle your big toe again." Ma who were treated by Presi dent Roosevelt were never frisked when they were admitted to FDR's office. The Secret Servicemen knew his friends, of course. . . . One new ly appointed agent, however, took no chances. ... A newspaper man he had never seen before (and who hadn't held his White House pass high enough for the agent to see) was suddenly jerked out of the crowd swiftly marching in for the press confab. The newspaper man (when be got Us bearings again) was irked no end. . . . Later, alone with the President, he kidded about it. "I thought everybody down here," he said, "knew who eras on your team!" . . . "Well," replied the President, "it is comforting to know that the boys are careful." "Not ao careful." said the visitor, . displaying a loaded pistol. Am?g a? reporter's thrills was bearing him guffaw. When the gag was funny he would howL The vaudeville comics would call it "a belly laugh." . . . The reporter thinks, too, he is one at the few who ever saw him weep. ... It happened when ex-Cong Lambert son and others were criticizing the war records of his sons. . . . Mr. Roosevelt was miserable about a letter that came (that morning) I from one of them. It cone haled: "Pop, sometimes I really hope one of us gets killed so that maybe they'll stop picking ? the rest of the famfiyl" . . . When he rend H, TOR^ tower Up started to quiver, Harry Truman's Life Story Proves Again 'Cabin-to-White House' Road Is Still Openf _ . _ T?T . ? ? ? President Advanced From County Offices To Head of Nation By Elliott Pino tikuri by WaMam InwHt Cnloo. Forty years ago Harry Tru man was plowing behind a mule on a Missouri farm. Today he is in the White House, in many ways the most powerful man in the world.. The new president was born In Lamar, Mo., May 8, 1884. Four years later his parents, John Ander son and Martha Young Trumih, re turned to Jackson county, 12S miles north, which was the ancestral home of both. Harry grew up on the 600-a ere family farm in Jackson county near Grand view. His mother, still alive at 92, remarked reminis cently last fall when he was elected to the vice presidency: "That boy could plow the straight est row of corn in the county. He could sow wheat so there wouldn't be a bare spot in the whole field. He was a farmer who could do any thing there was to do?Just a little bit better than anyone else." During his grade and high school days Harry distinguished himself by his scholarship. He was an omnivorous reader, an earnest stu dent of everything. When he gradu ated in 1901, he hoped to go to col lege, but, although his father was known as the "bat horse and mule trader in the county," family finances would not permit any mora education for the eager youth. He won an appointment to West Point, but was rejected for weak eyesight. Harry decided to make his for tune in nearby Kansas City. After a few years at small jobs ? drug clerk, bundle wrapper on the Kan sas City Star, bank clerk, timekeep er on a railroad gang ? he went ; back to the family farm at his grandmother's invitation. ??vu? tv ??ai. For the next few years working the big farm took all Harry's time. Then in 1917, he volunteered for the army, and soon became a lieuten ant of Held artillery. While in train ing camp he organized a canteen for the men, and took care of them in many other ways. Later be rose to a captaincy, and led his com pany in hard flighting in Saint Mihiel and the Argonne campaigns. On the boat home Harry was commis sioned a major. Soon after returning to Missouri, ha married his childhood sweet heart Elizabeth (Bess) Wallace, granddaughter of the first mayor of Independence, Mo. The ceremony took place in the Episcopal church, Mrs. Truman's sect. In 1919 Truman decided to go into business, so he entered partnership with a man whom he met in army life, and established a haberdash ery store in Kansas City. Harry invested his entire fortune, amount ing to about $11,000. At first the business piospeied but the sharp recession of 1921 brought disaster. Truman did not go into bankruptcy, but chose to pay off his debts as well as he could. In 1934, when elected to die U. 8. senate, he was still meeting old bills. Somewhat accidentally, he got into politics. An army acquaintance who was a nephew of Thomas Pen dergast, then Democratic leader in ' Kansas City, suggested Harry Tru man for tome small position. The astute Pendergast, discovering that i Truman was well known and liked, had the harking of the American Legion, and was anxious for a new 1 career, appointed him a road.super visor. In return Barry made occa PRES. HARRY 8. TRUMAN cional speeches and assisted in party organization work. The young man's integrity and energy were effective and he was placed on the ticket for county judge in Jackson county. Truman won, and discharged his duties wen daring his two-year term, 192244. He was defeated in his try for reelection, hew er er, the only political setback in his career. (The offfee of county judge in Missouri corre sponds to county superintendent In other states.) Truman studied law at night during his term of office, and gained admittance to the bar. Then in 1916 he was elected presiding judge of Jackson county which includes Kan- j sas City, and environs. Handled M Million Dollars. "I had charge of the spending of $60,000,000 for highways and public buildings," Truman said later. "Nobody ever found anything wrong with that, and it wasn't because they didn't look, either. We built more miles of paved roads in Jack son county than in any other county in the country, with only two ex ceptions." Truman was repeatedly reelected to this office until 1934. He had sought the nomination for governor in 1930, and for county collector in 1932, but party heads advised him to wait a little longer. Then in 1934 came the big chance. Pendergast put Truman on the ticket for the U. S. senate. This was not such a favor as it might seem, for Pender gast did not expect victory in that year. By a peculiar stroke of luck, however, the opposition was divided between two strong candidates, and Truman's own popularity sufficed to win him a seat in the august upper house. During his first term Tru man remained somewhat obscure, making few speeches, and in gen eral following the lead of Mis souri's senior senator, Bennett Clark. With few exceptions. Senator Tru man supported the party program. He voted for the original agricul tural adjustment act, the Wagner labor act, social security, the Ten nessee valley authority, and the joining of the World court. In his second year he voted for the Florida Ship canal and Passamaquoddy dam project. The only measure he op posed was the President's veto of the bonus payments. b 1932 and 19 he supported preparedness appropriations and lend-lease. He was chairman of a subcommittee that investi gated railroad finance, leading to the Transportation Apt of 194*. His work In drafting be Civil Aeronautics authority was outstanding for thoroughness and practicality. In 1940, after squeaking through the Democratic nomination battle with only 7,0(9) rote* to spare, he wan the election by a wide margin. Soon after resuming his seat be be came interested in reports at ex travagance in construction of army camps. Truman requested funds tn set up an investigating committee, with himself as chairman. Within a few months the committee am covered widespread waste, trees sive purchasing, profiteering and fa efficiency in military contracts. Is the first report the committee at tacked "needless waste" amounting to $100,000,000 in the army's w tonment construction program. Plenty te Investigate. Complaints poured into the com mittee'I headquarters. One con cerned inferior steel plate in naval construction?an investigation dha closed a serious situation, which wan corrected. The committee brought about a reversal of policy when housewives complained about a shortage of sugar for ?? Thirty-one reports were issued?all unanimous on the part of the KB Democratic and four Republics* members. The committee wan in strumental in consolidating the vari ous and conflicting war agencies Into the War Production board. It helped to end bottlenecks in.syn thetic rubber and aluminum priahni tion. It advocated subcontracting fa small war plants. "The thing to ?e is gig thin stag np now and correct It," Truman declared. "If we IK this war program algihmHj there won't bo any oppertanity for some one to andertake a 1st of investigations after the war and cause a wave ef nralstcK t that will start this country aa tha 1 downhill road to unprepared- f ness, and pat aa In another war In M years." These famous investigations put the "Truman committee" in tha headlines time and again. Senator Truman grew into a national flgws. President Roosevelt took inrrraa The Prnllwfi mother, Mm. Martha E. Truman, bow ft, MM lives in Independence, Mo. ini interest in him. So did Robert Hannegan, national Demm lsHs chairman, who knew Truman in Kansas City. When the dust settled at the convention in Chicago Inrt summer, Harry S. Truman bum# himself nominated as vice president. Victory at the polls in November thrust him into the second highest office in the land. As vice president Truman had lean opportunity to act independently than while In the senate, since an presiding officer of the upper bonan he could not take sides, as ?to be wished to do. Unlike his prede cessor, Wallace, he did not travel abroad on any special missions far the President, but remained in Washington close to affairs off state. Shrewd, Practical Man. The new President is considered a shrewd and practical man, a mid dle-of-the-road liberal, with an iNi ty to get along with conflicting fac tions and to compromise alsa necessary. Capital observers think he will rise to the demands of dm enormous task ahead as have ufati vice presidents suddenly called tn vast responsibilities. Personally, the new Preaidsnf is a modest-appearing man of al most 61. He stands S feet, 10 inrhae tall, weighs about 170 pounds, and ir trim and well proportioned. 1MB they entered the White House, ha and Mrs. Truman lived in a l?a room apartment. They had aw house - servants, as Mrs. Truma^ who has been her husband's secre tary for years, also preferred In take care of the apartment heradfL The Truman's only child, Ma^ Margaret, is studying at Geovga Washington university. She is S. and a junior. Her hopes are for a career in music. All his life President Truman baa been a "joiner." Even aa a child he often attended the Presbyterian Sunday school, although he k a Baptist In youth he enlisted fa fan National Guard, and stayed fa asm ice for a dozen years ndfl MB. His fraternal cuzmarttena li fade
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
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May 3, 1945, edition 1
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