Newspapers / The Waynesville Mountaineer (Waynesville, … / Feb. 13, 1948, edition 1 / Page 8
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PAGE EIGHT Fitst Section? THE WAYNESVILLE MOUNTAINEER FB'lDAt, FfifiltUARY 13 $3,500,000 Is Lost In Insurance Premiums By VEKN HAL'GLAND WASHINGTON The Veterans Administration iVA) is holding $3, 500,000 or more of veterans' insur ance premiums, meant for it knows not whom, sent from it knows not where. It's battling doggedly to reduce the pile, but each month new nis teries pour in by the thousands checks, money orders, postal notes even curency, silver and postage stamps with not a clue to the identity of the sender. Hundreds upon hundreds of these, their face value repre senting a considerable fortune, can never be credited to any veteran and must remain idle until the government decides what to do with them. Others finally are assigned to the proper accounts. hut only after a tedious and expensive trac ing process involving letters to banks, to postal cleiks. to neigh bors even, as a last report, simply to the "occupant" ot such-and-such an address. For example. S7 came special delivery from 4t Indiana Ave nue, Chicago. No name, no pol icy number, nothing hut $7 in rash from that address. Hen's another the VA is still trying to post correct 1: Contain ing $4.45. the letter, baring the re turn address Apt . 22. !()7,"j Dcnncr, Yanpoit C'lly. Ore , said: "Just a few lines to let you know that I received the slip and I am going to send you my new address in Portland, Ore. So then you know where I am. I am working over here. From your friend, James A. Smith." An inquiry to Vanport t'it has been returned marked "no such address." Relatives frequently send in premiums identified only as meant for "my son Joe" or "im brother Bill." The signatures on many checks are illegible. Hundreds of veteran-- have sent along unsigned checks or have absent-mindedly written ' NSI.I National Service Life Insurance1 or "insurance" in the blank which should have contained their sig nature. Often a man will include his old Army serial number instead of the number of his insurance pol icy. Hut the most frequent source of trouble is the postal note. I'nlike postal money orders, postal notes require no applica tion form. The postal clerk makes no inquiry as to the pur chaser's name nor is a record kept of the sale. Unless the vet eran fills in the blank spaces on the back of the note, the Vet erans Administration has no way HOW VETS CAN AVOID I.AI'SE OF INSURANCE WASHINGTON The vet eran can help the government immensely and improve his own chances of good service, says Harold W. Breining. VA Insur ance chief, by following these rules: 1. In mailing premiums, use the return address envelope sent out by VA. Only about 60 per cent of the policyholders now do this. 2. Be sure to fill out the ehange-of-address section every time you move. 3. Make doubly certain that the name and address of the insured is included, along with the policy number if possible. This is particularly important with postal notes. 4. Mail premiums promptly when they are due, to the proper V.A office, so that if something is wrong it can be corrected be fore the grace period expires and the insurance policy goes out of force. of identifying or tracing the ' sender. World War II veterans move frequently, and their failure to no tify VA of I heir changes of ad dress is a frequent source of dif ficulty. Complicating the whole picture is the vast size of the organiza tion Among the 2H.000.000 names in its insurance files VA has 225, 0(11) Smiths. 14!, 000 Johnsons, 121,- 000 Browns It has 12,000 John Smiths, of whom 800 have no mid dle initial. 12.000 William Smiths, ."inn il them without middle initi als. .Hid 9000 William Browns, more than 1,000 minus a middle 1 nit lal. At one time more than 2,000, 000 unassigned premiums had piled up. At the end of 1947, the total was down to about 700,000. Now they are being identified and assigned at the rate of 250,000 a month. New puzzlers arrive by the thousands each month, so the total attrition on the accumulated payments is slow. Individual premiums range from a few cents to $100 or more. A YM6 PR CAPITA C0NSUMPJ70N JN POUNDS JMISSS2L. Tx v v s C 1935 -'39 , MEAT" 125. EGGS 37.3 CWICKEN" 17.9 MILK-CREAM -340 FSEwreurr 138.5 VEGETABLE 235 COFFEE 14 An AP Newsfeotures Pictogropn MEAT- 155 EGGS 47.2 'CHICKEN" 23-7 MILK-CREAM 403 FRESH FRUIT 146 VEGETABLES 260 vC0FFEE 18 ONE DEAD IN CRACK TRAIN WRECK Although The Weather May Be Bad Spring Dresses Have Arrived In Ray's Children's Department IN FAIRY TALE FROCKS Covering Size Ranges From 1 to 12 4gf Sy . i HainKMwuwmiimwi I - - ij.i mmm 1 YOUNGSTERS RULED OFF STREETS BY CURFEW FIREBAUGH, Cal. (UP) A cur few bell is now sounded at 10 o'clock every night here from the belfry of the city hall in accord ant with a new city ordinance re quiring minors to be off the streets at night. Pnliee Chief 1 nomas Sarubo warned that the city council has maHo it unlawful for any person under the age of 18 to loiter on the streets or be in public places after 10 p.m. unless accompanied by an adult. Parpnte have been made re sponsible for their children. Fines rnnffine from $25 for the first of fense to $500 for each subsequent offense and imprisonment trom iu to 90 days are provided. Malaria is common in 12 states of the United States. FULL OF IDEAS TOPEKA. Kans. (UP) Marvin Casebier, mechanic, clamped a tem porary monopoly on employe sug gestion awards of his company, a tire-making firm. He collected $125 for five prize winning ideas in two weeks. lltt SPECULATORS L, KNOXVILLE.O Knoxville Trans'. to halt speculation! People began buvj tokens, so the compL' all tokens will rent prices if lt im posed fare in,..- Contact Us For Your Implement NeedJ New and Used Power Orchard Sprayers .. ntr D I . ,, , , rower muc-vm .j mi nuiiDfr or S(J w ooa saws Corn Huskers and Shelters LANCASTER EQUIPMENT (J 55 7th J Phone 203 Hendersonvllle, N. C. ONE TRAINMAN WAS KILLED and 20 passengers were Injured when the Denver-bound Rock Island Kocket, a crack train, crashed Into the rear of a freight train at Iowa City. Iowa. The Rocket Is shown as it hangs precariously over an embankment. (International Soundphoto) Legal 'Booty' In Wartime Gets Varied Definitions - TL Wa Wn J f DJ I lie way yyc icu ai iva We-d like to tell the worn We now linvfc this famous -quality brand in our men's dejiariiaient By siGitin arm: WASHINGTON The rules on what a victor nation Mike irn can take from a comiuered ualion 'like Germany or llungarv are jnelly foggy. Hid the I lungs we can l;tko legally arc called "booly". We're tal kmu here about thing., that fall lo armies as t hey advance not reparations, which arc de cided by Irealy alter the war is The Cutest . . . Loveliest Dresses You Ever Saw . . . And Very Reasonable lust What You Will Need For Easter Also Just Received . . . Some New Frocks In Junior Sizes . . At RAY'S Dept. Store "Where It Will Pay You To Trade . . . Today and Every Day" Industrial Boom Shown For South Production Last Year Nearly Three Times More Than It Was In 1939 BALTIMORE The South pro duced nearly three times more mnuafactured products last yaer than it did In 1039, the last prewar year for which there were com plete statistics. The "Blue Book of Southern Progress," published by the Manu facturers Record Of Baltimore, says that "while all data for 1947 are not yet In final form, a conserva tive estimate of Southern manu facturing production for that year can be set at or near $30 billion." A value of $1100,000,000 was placed on 1939 s, manufacturing production. Here are other compilations of figures and comparisons of busi ness trends as set forth in the 1948 Blue Book: Production of rw materials also achieved gains. Agricultural output reached $7.6 billion In 1948, the last year for which statistics are complete, compared, to $2.7 billion in tyja. Mineral production amounted to $3.6 billion two years ago, with $1.7 billion in 1939. The end of the war found the South with some 6,000 more manu facturing establishments than it had at the beginning- While a great numer were designed for the pur pose of turning out fighting ma chines and materials, practically all were swiftly converted to peace time service. A building boom in 1946 includ ed the construction of some 10,000 new buildings to bouse manufac turing enterprises went up in the South. These1 establishments cov ered 20 industrial groups. However, food was and still is the number one item in the South ern states. From 1939 to 1946, the value of its food products jumped from $2 billion to nearly $6 billion. Textiles remained the second most valuable product, doubling a pre-war value of f 1.4 billion dur ing the war. The only outstanding change in the relative value before and after the conflict was the phenomenal rise in output of transportation equipment. Born of the 'war, this industry had been expected to revert to its pre-war status &a soon as hostili ties were ended. The growing de mand for civilian aircraft, however, gives promise that this industry will remain important in Southern industrial economy for some time. For comparison, in 1939 the ma nufacture of transportation equip ment ranked 17th in importance to the South. That year its value was set at $156 million. Jn 1940 it jump ed to ninth place, with an estim ated value of $830 million. Although all states experienced remarkable gains in industrial ex pansion, ' Mississippi appears to have taken the lead in percentage mark-ups. By the- end of the war this Gulf state showed a gain of 92.1 per cent- in- factories of all types over its pre-war standing. As to durable goods factories, Mississippi again was the percent The arguments 'booty'' are many Just recently a over and v Srnal what i aried. oinniit tee decided that we can keep 11(5 Hungarian horses the Army cap tured in Germany and shipped over here. The Stale department had argued they should mo hack to Hungary, but the Army wanted to keep them. Rules on I'sefulness In international rules of war. booty is anything taken on the field of battle that I he enemy could use in war-hut I hat we, having taken it, can also use for war. The Army said they found the horses in Germany atler a battle. Obviously horses -an be used in war. So the horses appeared to the Senate committee lo h booty under the best laws of war. The State Department al fust dis agreed, but now it has revised ils opinion and thinks the Army should keep the horses. Hut consider how difficult it is to decide about liooty wnon n comes to sucn inings as a snvei banquet service. The 1751 h regi ment (originally a Maryland na tional guard outfit) came upon some silver that actually look three trucks to clear out. The regiment had stopped a few days in its drive through Ger many. An old German translator begged the officers of the 175th to take out a cache of silver which lie feared would be destroyed. 1he silver set had belonged to the Hohcnzollcrns. It included, among other things, :)24 dinner plates, with all the goblets, bowls, platters, candle-sticks and such that go with such a layout. Silver an Issue On an O.K. from a higher of ficer in the U. S. army, file stuff was shippe (lover here. II has been decide dlhat Ihe set is legal booty. age leader with an increase of 175.9 per cent. West Virginia was second in gains in factories of all types with a 75.7 increase. Arkansas was third with 65.3 per cent. These latest figures by no means register a peak in Southern indus trial growth. Facts already assem bled give full proof that 1947 will top 1946 in practically all cate gories and by substantial amounts. but no one has decided whether it is the property of l.'ie U. S. gov ernment or of the 175th regiment. The 175th wants it. II would look right nice at its annual dinners. The subject of booty fades into Ihe vagueness which covers all l fie war souvenirs now in Ameri can homes guns, cameras or you name it. Army officers say troops pick tip things, hut as long as an officer doesn't know about it there is nothing the army or the gov ernment can do. Hut the (J. S has traditionally been very strict about "It ain't nice lo steal' and "Never kick a fellow when he's down." In World War I a top Ameri can officer in l'aris received a picture of a German Iron Cross displayed in a Midwest jewelry store window. The Army found the man who had sent it home, an ambulance driver. He said a German officer had sold it lo him. The Army didn't believe the story The Iron Cross was shipped hack, the German found and the cross returned. Russian Viewpoint The Russians appear to look at Ihe subject differently. Our re cent ambassador to Poland, Ar thur llliss Lane, says he saw long lines of horse carts leaving Poland for Russia. loaded with bath tubs. washing machines, mattresses and what have you. Much of it. he says, was taken from Polish homes. And Poland was an ally, not an enemy. Army officers have to make some quick, and often humorous, decisions to look the other way. In the final shove for Berlin in IS)4o the men marched east loaded down with battle gear. An officer spotted one Ameri can youngster bent nearly double under his gear. He carried his rifle in his right hand. From his left dangled a fancy bird cage. It was not legal booty, but the officer just grinned. He figured the youngster would soon learn that a bird cage is no help in battle. Booty vs. Trophy Booty is always public prop erty. It becomes the property of the victor government, but there is a point at which booty can legally become Ihe property of in dividual soldiers. Then it is called "war trophy." In northern Italy our army found a huge store of lilio squir rel coats which the Germans wore under winter battle dress. Thew were parcelled out lo GIs lo keep. They became trophies. Also in northern Italy, the American army found a cache of 800,000 liters a liter is about a quart i of very good cognac. That was parcelled out to GIs too, and after they'd drunk it, it definitely became "personal property." SCOn'S SCRAP BOOK By R. J. SCOn SAllflSH VitX CMflM IK KB. ULF STREAM MEA&URSD OMB INCHES 4, e , , if I ( 0. lu-rnkflRlLL a S rf Pnu wrc MILLS. PIR . w. e-ta .-k. CBiytH hi FRXMK MAdloTf 4 VOV How MAMY Milh Of INE f ILAMLNf III SILK ARfftltRE. IM , Aty l I APAIR. 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The Waynesville Mountaineer (Waynesville, N.C.)
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Feb. 13, 1948, edition 1
8
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