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The Alamance Gleaner 1
VoL LXXI - GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1945 . No. 35
P WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
CIO Strives to Maintain High.
Pay Level in Postwar Industry;
Act to Spur Building Activity
?????? Released by Western Newspaper Union ?
r Ub1?b'? sews analysts and net nseessarlly ed this newspaper.)
(KPfTOR 8 NOTE: When eplnlons are expressed la these columns, they are these el
racing tough winter In war-torn Austria, Viennese scratch for future
jiwiiluii. At left, woman is shown picking up stray grain in harvested
?aM, while at right another woman is pictured carrying home wood found
in shelled forest
LABOR:
Seek Peace
Armed with emergency powers,
Secretary of Labor Lewis Schwellen
bach moved into the troubled indus
trial front, where CIO demands for
appreciable wage boosts threatened
to retard the reconversion program
aad jeopardize stabilization policy.
Sdrarellenbach faced no easy
task, what with the strategic oil, au
tomobile. farm equipment and steel
?striving for wage readjust
ments to bring 40-hour-a-week pay
ap to wartime overtime levels, and
aoajor producers bucking the de
mands in the face of rigid price con
troL
la all instances, CIO demands for
arialenli il wage boosts were predi
cated on the claim that the big com
panies had made sizable wartime
profits and could use the money to
defray part of the increases until
peacetime production could be re
established on a volume basis.
While oil workers already had
walked out of midwest refineries in
B. J. Thomas
a strike tnat threat
ened to spread and
imperil the national
fuel supply, princi
pal interest con
tinued to center in
thf troubled auto
mobile situation,
where the United
Automobile Work
ers headed by R. J.
Thomas laid plans
lor enforcing their
demands for a 30
per cent wage increase by walking
ant on individual companies and
leaving their competitors free to in
vade their markets.
In assuming command of a labor
department strengthened by the in
clusion of the War Labor board, war
manpower commission and United
Slates employment service, Secre
tary Schwellenbach planned to pro
ceed slowly before everting emer
gency powers, first exhausting ordi
nary procedure.
PACIFIC:
UacArthur Disputed
Taking sharp difference with Gen.
Douglas MacArthur's declaration in
Tokyo that only 200,000 American
traspo may be needed for the Japa
nese occupation, Pres. Harry S. Tru
man feared for its effect on army
demobilization plans and Acting
Secretary of State Dean Acheson
said that at this time it was difficult
to lamul the eventual size of the
Rasing his estimate upon the Japs'
wholehearted effort at co-operation
wdfc his command, MacArthur's
Moat igure of 200,000 was a sharp
mdaetien loom the 400,000 recently
pmiected and the 900,000 at ffrst
??aught necessary. In making his
statement, MacArthur said that the
Japs' execution of his dictates
?aoagli their governmental frame
wart relieved the U. S. of establish
mg an elaborate military authority
(a perform the same tasks.
_*a seeking to offset expectations
teal MacArthur's announcement
might lead to speedier demobiliza
tion. President Truman declared
the program was not dependent upon
Speaking for the state depart
ment. Acting Secretary Acheson as
serted that the ultimate size of the
*eliuu force will depend upon
*e or rye of the Job of eradicating
*e whale Jap war-making aeon
DEMOBILIZATION:
Point Cut
Asserting that no man would be
kept just to maintain a big army.
Gen. George C. Marshall revealed a
stepped-up demobilization program
providing for a further decrease
of discharge points to 60 on Novem
ber 1 following the October 1 slash
to 70. At the same time, the total
necessary for officers was to be
cut to 75.
Marshall reviewed demobilization
plans at a meeting with 300 con
gressmen at which he also affirmed
receipt of General MacArthur's es
timate of an occupation force of only
200,000 for Japan by next summer.
Though MacArthur had reduced his
.estimate, Marshall said, General
Eisenhower's figure of 400,000 for
Germany remains the same.
Declaring that the present rate of
releases has been determined solely
by the availability of discharge fa
cilities, Marshall said that all G.I.s
without useful army work would be
freed within three to four weeks.
With the exhaustion of high point
men by late winter, the army may
further alter its demobilization pro
gram by releasing all men with two
years of service.
POSTWAR BUILDING:
Lid Off
With removal of all building con
trols, government agencies bent
themselves to the task of speeding
up construction and at the same
time keeping costs within bounds to
head off an inflationary boom dur
ing the reconversion period.
As experts looked for the erection
of 500,000 private dwellings next
year and a peak of 800,000 in 1948,
officials sought to increase the sup
ply of scarce building.matarials^per
mitting wage and price boosts and
priorities to break bottlenecks, if
necessary. Inventory controls also
were to be strengthened to prevent
hoarding and creation of artificial
shortages.
At the same time, OPA announced
that it would tighten price control
over building materials to counter
act heavy demand, while federal
credit agencies prepared to discour
age loose financing in a market
booming with home needs and pros
pects for high postwar employ
ment.
RETAIL PRICING:
Absorb Increases
Declaring that up to now retailers
have not been squeezed by price
control, OPAdministrator Chester
Bowles reiterated government pol
icy that dealers would have to ab
sorb any increases in manufacturing
costs in the reconversion period.
Rejecting a plea of a retailer
group that such absorption would
be uneconomic and unfair, Bowles
said that dealers' markups were not
reduced during the war, and records
show that profits soared under in
creased volume and lower operat
ing costs. Whereas the profit mar
gin of department stores stood at m
during the 1934-'39 period. It reached
12 per cent in 1944, he said.
Under OPA's pricing policy for
manufacturers for the reconversion
period, some increases will be per
mitted to allow for higher labor and
material costs. Profit margins will
be held to half the industry-wide
average for larger businesses or
prewar levels for smaller firms,
however.
NAVY;
Ttvo-Ocean Dimension
A two-ocean fleet almost five timet
the size of the pre-Pearl Harbor force
was proposed by naval chiefs at a
hearing of the house naval commit
tee.
Under the proposal advanced by
Secretary of the Navy Forrestal and
Fleet Admiral King, 300 ships would
remain in active duty and another
100 would be kept in ready reserve.
The remaining 680 vessels would be
laid up but maintained in sea-going
condition. A total of 500,000 enlisted
men and 58,000 officers would be
needed for the 300 active ships and
planes and 815,000 to man the en
tire fleet.
For implementation of U. S. de
fenses, the navy recommended es
tablishment or retention of major
naval bases for the Pacific in the
Aleutians, Hawaii, Canal Zone,
Guam, Saipan, Tinian, the Bonin
Volcano island group, the Admiral
ties and Philippines. Atlantic posts
would include Argentina in New
foundland, Bermuda and Trinidad.
ATOMIC TEST:
On Battleship
Even while plans were being
mapped in Washington, D. C., for
the postwar fleet, naval officials pre
pared to carry out a test of the
atomic bomb's effect on surface ves
sels 500 miles off conquered Japa
nese shores.
Target for the experiment, which
might eventually lead to a redesign
of surface vessels as followed Billy
Mitchell's test bombardment of the
Virginia in 1923, will be the Jap
battleship Nagato, with its 14-inch
steel armor plate.
Although the restyling of warships
after Mitchell's successful experi
ments led to their strengthening
against air attack, they have re
mained vulnerable to underwater at
tack. So far, reports on atomic
bombings have indicated the main
force of the explosion is up and out,
but naval chieftains also would like
to determine any underwater effect.
16th Child Her Biggest
The mother of IS children* Mrs. Francis
Strohf i 16th child was an 18 lb. baby girL
The infant was one of the heaviest deliv
ered* with a 25 pounder born in 1916 top
ping the record. 58 years old, Mrs. Strohl
is a resident of Lawton, Pa.
LONG FLIGHT:
Across Great Circle
Approximately 25 houri and 43
minutes after taking off from north
ern Japan, the first of three giant
B-29 bombers glided onto the
sprawling Chicago airport, to be
shortly followed by the remaining
two after a 5,995 mile experimental
run.
With three top U. S. air force com
manders in the planes, the original
plans called for a non-stop run to
Washington, D. C., to test the great
circle route and attendant weather
in the far north. Because of strong
headwinds during the early stages of |
the flight necessitating increased use
of gas, however, the B-29s decided to
land in the Windy City for refueling. ;
Though traveling 5,995 miles in a
long journey which took them over i
Kamchatka, Alaska and Canada be
fore reaching the U. S., the Ameri
can airmen led by MaJ. Gen. Curtis
E. Le May fell 1,100 miles short of
the record non-stop flight set by
two Britons flying from Egypt to
Australia in 1938.
WAR CRIMES:
Try Nazis
Charged with systematic starva
tion and neglect of internees at the
notorious Belsen concentration
camp, 45 Nazi men and women tried
to fight back at their war crimes
trial conducted at a British military
court in Lueneburg, Germany.
In seeking to defend themselves,
the accused followed the line that
most of the 40,000 prisoners in the
camp were all habitual criminals,
felons and homo-aexuals. Britons
taking over the camp upon the Nazi
collapse claimed that their experi
ence showed it was not necessary
to use force to govern the internees.
In first seizing the camp, the Brit
ish counted 13,000 dead, and another
13,000 died later because their con
dition was beyond treatment, med
ical officers charged. Though sup
plies were obtainable in the imme
diate vicinity at the camp, no ef
fort was made to procure provisions.
Portrait of a Man:
The namby-pamby treatment ac
corded Japan has become a bone in
the throat o( peace. Hirohito has
become the (air-haired rat; Jap
propagandists drool he is solely re
sponsible (or making peace, while
the American conquerors sit around
twiddling their bayonets. That is
just another form of discredited ap
peasement which incited the warl
. . . The impression is being created
that the Mikado was just an inno
cent bystander. Hell, you would
think Killer Hirohito was Lord
Fauntleroy. Such horse-radish) . . .
On Dec. 7, 1943 (the anniversary
of Pearl Harbor), the Jap Emper
or sent this cable to Hitler: "I ex
press joy to see our goal realized
step by step."
Not only is Hirohito being cod
dled, but the whole Imperial Jap
family has been absolved of any war
crimes. However, the blood on their
filthy paws shows through the white
wash. . . . One of the most bestial
? crimes in history was the rape of
Nanking. Prince Asaka was in com
[ mand at Nanking when that un
speakable atrocity took place. . . .
Asaka is the Mikado's brother!
It is a crazy world. The Greeks
who were supposed to be liberated
got toughfr treatment than the Japs
who are supposed to be conquered.
Japs are being treated as ebnms.
Indicted seditionists continue their
i pro-Nazi sprees. Nazi war prisoners
are coddled. Nothing is being done
about the Argentinazis and Spanish
fascists who aided our enemies. Our
l diplomats are leery about punish
ing all war criminals. ... At the
same time, isolationists are sling
; ing slime at FDR. Our Russian ally
is being rapped. Some politicos op
pose plans to make certain Ameri
cans will have jobs.
WHOONELL WON the war?
Berlin newsboy Gladwin Hill re
layed this striking contrast between
the Soviet's stern realism in Nazi
land and America's hemming and
hawing. . . . While the Americans
were working out the fine points of
a long range program to provide
Germans with non-Nazi movies, the
Russians blandly authorized Ger
man movie houses to reopen with
the implicit warning to every Ger
man exhibitor that if he peddled any
Nazism he might turn up missing.
Using their own ugly hatred in
stead of facts, some jack-asstrich
rags are attempting to pin the
blame for Pearl Harbor on FDR.
. . . However, none of them raise
their voices about the fact that
Gen. MacArthur was caught nap
ping at Manila. Almost our entire
airforce in the Philippines was de
stroyed on the ground TEN HOURS
AFTER the PH attack.
Some of ns wondered why Cole
paugh and Gimpel, who were de
posited on the Eastern shore by a
Nazi submarine, had their death
sentences commuted to life in pris
on. .. . The col'mdearns that Cole
paugh (the American) "was of con
siderable help to the U. S." (with
information), which is why his sen
tence was commuted. . . . Put Gim
pel cava no help whatever and ha
was spared, too.
You've gotta hand it to those ter
rible Russians. When they capture
spies they fix it so they never
again have toothaches.
When Admiral Halsey visited the
U. S. it was said he came for a rest,
which isn't the fact. . . . Halsey was
beached for sassing a Big Boy from
the Navy Dep't. . . . This exec
had flown to Halsey's ship to probe
something that had to do with los
ing a ship. It turned out to be short
age of shells, which was not the Ad
miral's fault. The blame rested with
the supply men In SF and San
Diego. ... At any rate, this
biggie arrived on Halsey's birthday
and as the ship's officers gave
Halsey a surprise birthday cake
with candles, the Man from Wash
ington put a damper on the party by
saying: "A birthday cake? With
people starving? You all ought to be
ashamed!" ... To which Halsey,
whose men love him for his cour
age and war record, said: "I'm
vary sorry, sir, you are unhappy
about us all having a little cake.
Tell me, how's the food been lately
at the Stork Club?" . . . When Mr.
Big got back to Washington Halsey
was beached.
President Truman's warm humil
ity has been bis most striking char
acteristic. Perhaps It la best illus
trated by his favorite motto: "It's
what yon Main after you know It ,
an that cowls."
American Farmers to Continue High Production
Goals in Satisfying Demands of the Entire World
Peacetime Need for Products
Assures Farmers of Good
Market and Price.
What will the impact of war's end
mean to American agriculture?
That question has been raised with
increasing frequency ever since
Hirohito accepted President Tru
man's unconditional surrender
terms and the Jap hordes have laid
down their arms. It has brought in
its train other questions: Will a
farm slump occur? Will continued
vast production smash prices? Will
transition to peacetime schedules
upset farm economy?
Three fairly definite answers have
emerged and each is hearteningly
reassuring to everyone who lives on
or near a farm:
1. Demand for foods, fibers and
oils will continue to require a high
rate of farm production. The world
must eat and American farmers
must feed it.
2. Farm prices will not be deflated.
The government has already guar
anteed the farmer support prices for
many of his products for one or two
years after the war.
3. The farmer, unlike industry, is
not faced with reconversion prob
lems. His job is growing crops and
he needs no different set of tools to
accomplish his objectives. '
All of these factors eliminate the
possibility of a sudden crash in farm
income.
Farm economists are agreed there
will be no immediate cutback in
production despite the end of the
war. In the months to come, do
mestic and military needs of the
United States plus the relief de
mands from liberated areas in Eu
rope and the Pacific will take all the
food this nation can produce.
With vast areas of Europe and
Asia laid waste, American farmers
will be called on to produce and
keep on producing. It may be years
before the ravaged countries can
come back anywhere near to nor
mal. In the meantime 'American
farmers have a big job ahead to
help keep whole continents alive and
healthy. During this same time the
United States itself must be fed.
As demobilization of our armed
forces proceeds, there will be less
need for the various services to have
great stocks of food in reserve. That
will tend to increase civilian sup
plies as well as permit better dis
tribution.
No Major Farm Surplus.
With industrial reconversion get
ting the green light, the dislocation of
workers caused by war contract
cutbacks may bo of much shorter
duration than has been anticipated.
That means more peacetime civilian
jobs. One thing the war demonstrat
ed was that if the entire nation is
at work, there is no major farm sur
plus problem.
The greatest crops in history havs
been produced during the war. The
record year was IMS. Next was
1944 and indications are that this
year will exceed 1943, so that 1949
may be the third best.
Credit for this epic achievement
must go to the nation's farmers, but ,
the contribution of the fertilizer in
dustry should not be overlooked. Ag
ricultural authorities estimate that
more than 20 per cent of the crop
production in the war years ha* been
due to the use of fertilizers. The
use of plant foods has been of es- 1
sential importance to the food pro
duction program because it has en
abled farmers to produce bigger
crops on existing acres instead of
having to plow up millions of acres,
of additional farm land. The saving'
in labor, equipment and man hours
has been enormous.
Farm income during recent years
has passed the peaks reached dur- <
lng and immediately after World
War I. Prices are now near or
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- - -? ? III II nUiiiiiri tM
The war production ot garden crop* reached a new high. The demand
will continue (or wme time. New varieties, improved soil fertilization and
new equipment will aid the farmer in repeating his record production of
these crops.
above parity. Even if prices should
come down to government-support
levels?a drop of perhaps 15 per cent
below present peaks?farm purchas
ing power will be enormous. The
farmer has a higher amount to
spend out of his income than other
wage earners, for the reason that
less of his income is required for
rent, food and fuel than is the case
with city dwellers. Six million farm
families comprising approximately
30 million people having a gross in
come in excess of 20 billion dollars
a year will be a factor of tremen
dous Importance to America's
peacetime economy.
Fanner in Strong Position.
Just as significant as agriculture's
high income rate In recent years is
the fact that the farmer has been
laying aside a good portion of his
savings in war bonds to spend for
essentials in years to come. Clearly
the farmer has emerged from the
war in a stronger position than he
was at its start.
To maintain that position the
farmer should do some straight
thinking and planning. Two things
are especially important: 1?He
should avoid overexpansion through
the purchase of additional land in
the peace years ahead; 2?He
should make immediate plans to re
pair the damage to his soil's fertil
ity level which the vast war crop
production quotas have caused.
The experience of the last war
with its farm land boom and subse
quent collapse should be a reminder
that the American farmer should not
go in for more land than he can suc
cessfully handle. Farm land prices
have already risen dangerously to
ward inflation levels. Far sigh ted
agricultural authorities are urging
farmers to "keep their shirts on" and
steer clear of the pitfalls of land
speculation.
Better soil management methods
sn a well-equipped and economical
ly operated farm will prove safer in
the long run than vast fields without
efficient management.
The key to successful farming op
erations in postwar years will lie in
increasing the per acre yield on ex
isting crop land rather than in bring
ing additional acreage under cultiva
tion. a recent statement by the Mid
dle West Soil Improvement commit
tee pointed out.
"In months to come the emphasis
will be on reducing the cost of crop
production per unit," the statement
sets forth. "That means making ev
ery acre do a better crop producing
job.
"In every community there are
farmers who increased their war
time crop output as high as 50 per
cent, without increasing the cultivat
ed area by one single acre. In
every case the larger yield was the
result of adopting good aoil fertility
practices. The experience of these
farmers can be profitably followed
by their neighbors in their peace
time operations. Their soil-conserv
ing methods not only prevented
waste of fertility, but actually have
helped restore it.
"Such methods include growing
legumes to enrich the soil's nitro
gen and organic matter supply, the
use of adequate quantities of mixed ,
fertilizers containing nitrogen, phos
phorus and potash, liming, contour
plowing and a limiting, so far as pos
sible, of soil-depleting crops."
Sou Fertility Replenishaieet,
The matter of aoil fertility replen
ishment will have an important
bearing on the peacetime continua
tion of farm prosperity. If the
nation's farms are to be kept pro
ductive, a vast soil-rebuilding job
Ues immediately ahead.
How important this is may be un
derstood from s recent report Issued
by the Soil Conservation service of
the department of agriculture which
estimated that nearly one billion
acres?more than SO per cent of the
nation's farmlands need soil con
servation treatment to protect them
rrom erosion and to maintain their
fertility.
Wartime crop goals used up the
soil's resources of nitrogen, phos
phorus and potash faster than they
could be replaced in spite of the fact
that the fertiliser industry broke all
previous production records. Farm
ers have realized that this wartime
drain on their soil's fertility level
was a necessary contribution to vic
tory But the tact remains that
wealth borrowed from the soil to
help hasten peace must be repaid.
While every encouragement wiQ
be given to soil rebuilding projects
by the federal government and by
state agricultural agencies, the ma
jor responsibility for getting the job
done will rest an the shoulders off
individual farmers.
The effectiveness of the individual
farmer's soil rebuilding program
can be enhanced by the co-opera
tion of agronomists at state agricul
tural colleges and experiment sta
tions. Through research and experi
mentation over a long span of years,
these experts have developed infor
mation concerning fertilizer needs
tor various crops and soils that is
helpful to the farmer who is under
taking a replenishment program.
The co-operation of the fertilizer
industry will be an effective aid,
also. The present plant capacity off
manufacturers is sufficient to meet
all peacetime needs of agriculture.
Farmers are more fortunately sit
uated for accomplishing their soil
restoring job than at any time in the
past generation. Dollars invested
in war bonds, during the period when
farm cash income has bees at a high
level and farm debt at a low point,
can provide the ready cash to pay
for the nitrogen, phosphorus and pot