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* vy u a* _. •HUitttttgtDtt North Carolina's Oldest Daily Newspaper Published Daily Except Sunday By The Wilmington Star-News R. B. Page. Owner and Publisher_ Entered as Second class MatTer at filming ton, N. C.. PostoUice Under Art of Confess of March 3, lo'»-_ SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN NEW HANOVER COUNTY Payable Weekly or In Advance £ Star News nation Tim# - 25 * 50 1 Week .$ -30. * l]0 2 15 1 Month . 1-3 3 25 6 5Q 3 Months - 3.90 3J5 ^ i S?™6° 1300 26 00 (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-ftett s)__ By Mail: P*yable Strictly- in Advance * Months .? 2.00 ? 7Q 1 Year 10.00 8.00 15.40 (Above rates entitle subscriber to Sunday issue of Star-Newsi _ -WILMINGTON STAR (Daily Without Sunday) 3 Months-$1.85 6 Months-$3.70 1 Yr.-$7.40 “WhenTemitting bT^j^u^check or u c p o money order. The Star wev.s can J?otSbeP responsible for currency sent through the mails. ___ £.”2 .TS32 we Tn gain the inevitable triumph-so help ** God> Roosevelt’s War Message. ' THURSDAY', J ANU ARY^ 25. 1945._ THOUGHT FOR TODAY Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that ,s not in keeping with a Holy^od. ^ .-V Talk Is Cheap Conditions described by one legislator after visiting Dix Hill hospital at Raleigh as “dis graceful” will arouse a lot of talk, but what about a ittle action? Why not take measures as assembymen, with appropriation of ;ome money, and supervise through boards the con duct of the hospitals. There simply hasn't been sufficient provision made to care for all the mentally sick of the state. They are crowded into the hospitals. Waiting lists are long. The General Assembly has the responsibility to remedy conditions, nobody else can do it. It's their turn to do something and quit talking about it. -V Personal Appearances It has been suggested that actors in New York plays work at a war job four hours a day in addition to their theatrical chores. This raises several questions. Is the theater essential or non-essential? How much do actors contribute to morale? Would such a move mean a curtailment of the U. S. O. camp shows? And would the government prefer an actor’s halfday output to his performance in the combat area? None of these questions can be answered now. But the suggestion itself offers a pleasant possibility. It might bring more workers into essential industry. We can imagine girls fight ing for the chance to work beside a glamorous actor on the production line. And how about all those disappointed seekers of tickets to “Oklahoma”? They might take a war job just to see a member of the cast. The Hard Way The history of "work or fight" legislation to date might serve as a shining example of how to do things the hard way. And for a proper background for the example we might go back to the Fall of 1940. It became evident at that time that this country would have to raise, train, and equip a citizen army against the threat of war, and that in order to be of adequate size it would have to be conscripted. Accordingly, the President requested and Congress passed the Selective Service Act. This Act carries civil penalties for failure to report for registration and examination for induction, among many other things. The penalties range up to $10,000 fine and five years in prison. The Act has worked effi ciently and its fairness has not been question ed, even though its application has been con fusing upon occasion. in me iasL lew mumus it iid a ucen maae known that the men of this citizens’ army and navy were lacking certain war materials which they needed to conduct the war victoriously, and with the greatest possible saving of time and lives. It might have seemed that the parallel be tween need for men and need for arms would have been apparent, and that the supplying of the second need Would have been patterned on the successful Selective Service model. Instead, however, the House Military Affairs Committee went to work on a bill aimed only at men between 18 and 45 who had been given draft deferment because of physical or mental disability. It proposed to force them into essential work by threatening them with a perversion of the military service for which they had been re jected—a libel upon the proud and solemn patriotic duty to serve one’s country. It did not seem to occur to the committee members that physically unfit men could be made to enter essential work on pain of the same punishment imposed for dereliction o: military duty,, until Army officers told therr that the Army had all the limited service mer it could use. Only then did the committee remove frorr its bill the mainfestly unfair military punish ment and substitute penalties. Menwhile then was a certain suspicion arising from the ac tivities of other congressional committees that nobody was quite sure of the why-when-and-how much of production shortage. A Senate committee was investigating ineffi cient use and hoarding of manpower. It was suggested that a fact - finding and advisory committee be appointed from industry, lab or, agriculture and government to find out w’hat the score really was. But the House Committee kept its sights levelled on the 4-F, though it was by no means certain that they, were the only scapegoats, or that they offered the whole solution to the manpower problem. It might have been more efficient to make sure of the source and extent of the trouble first, and then, if necessary, enact a National Service Law to draft workers for tasks as honorable and essential as military service. -V Clothing Program After many, many months of delay, hopes for better stocks of inexpensive garments with in the near future are offered by WPB and OPA through proposed issuance of controls on every level of the garment trade from textile mills to retail outlets. The intentions of the government are good but they are coming mighty late in the game. We’ve often wondered why so much official attention was given t» procurement and con trol of many other items, obviously less es sential, when the shortage of children’s and workmen’s clothes was so apparent. Principal purpose of the new action is to get more of these low - priced items made. As James Marlow, writing for the Associat ed Press explains, the new clothing program doesn’t mean a greater supply of garments. It’s designed to bring out more lower - priced goods, less higher - priced goods. Washington finally has worked out his pro gram because it had to; the supply of low priced garments is very low. There’s nothing in the program which couldn’t have been work ed out two years ago. If it had been, perhaps we wouldn’t have the present shortages. This is what happened up until now: Under OPA regulations a particular kind of clothing could not be sold for a price greater than that particular kind of clothing was sold for when the OPA regulations went into ef fect. Because manufacturers could make any kind of clothing, they made less of the lower-priced items—where the profit was smaller—and more of the higher • priced lines—where the profit was greater. As time passed more and more of the low priced items disappeared. If you wanted to buy clothing, you had to buy the higher-priced stuff. This boosted your living costs. And this kind of manufacturing was legiti mate under the government set - up. But there were a couple of other factors which boosted ' your living costs in buying clothes: 1. As the war continued, there was a certain amount of deterioration in the quality of the things you bought. 2. By adding a few extra trimmings, or putting on a special finish, manufacturers were able to charge more under OPA ceilings which made allowance for the fancy work. This, too, boosted your living costs. Now this is what the new program is sup posed to do: Mills will save a large part of their civilian fabrics for the manufacturers who are willing to turn cut low - priced goods. And such manu facturers will get priority on the fabrics. Which means: They’ll get first call on the woolen, rayon and cotton goods set aside for civilian use. This will choke back the higher - priced clothing and enable the lower-priced goods to be made and to reach the retail stores. And—this is important—the government will try to see that the quality of the clothing is improved for the prices charged for it. Wise Measure Favorable report of a measure to permit the State Board of Charities and Public Wel fare to inspect and license boarding houses, rest homes and convalescent homes for the aged and mentally or physically infirm is encouraging. The members of the House com mittee making this report waked up to the fact that, while the motives in establishing these are good in most cases and while they are capably conducted with the welfare of the persons in them a first consideration, there is nothing of this nature that should not be inspected from time to time. As with the orphanages, which have this safeguard, these homes could in rare cases harbor abuses. After all, they are operated by people. Even as with the best of people there may arise conditions that need correc tion. Certainly, some oversight would not be amiss, especially when it is consided that those who are placed in these homes are helpless to help themselves. -V Costly For Us Too Drive of the Germans into the Belgian bulge, when deep penetration was made through American positions, is now described by Al lied Supreme Expeditionary Headquarters as a "costly failure.” They have retreated with losses set at about 120,000 men. Eut we cannot derive great comfort for our ■ selves from that. America lost what it had taken months to gain and at the cost of 55,421 Americans in battle in 26 days. We can hardly call it a victory for us. We were surprised, overrun, many killed, captured, wounded and ■ missing. ! Every now and then military officials round \ ly denounce the American people for being too optimistic, too quick to paint a rosy picture ^ of the war. Perhaps the military authorities 1 themselves do the same at times. Certainly, b they can not call this a victory and list it as an accomplishment for themselves. Fair Enough (Editor’s note.—The Star accepts no re sponsibility for the personal views of Mr. Pegler, and often disagrees with them as much as many of his readers. His articles serve the good purpose of making people think.) By WESTBROOK PEGLER (Copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate.) Chester La Roche, an officer of the Blue network, believes these dispatches have in correctly represented the attitude of this large radio chain toward the use of its facilities by clients who may intend to promote political interests in the guise of legitimate commerical advertising. “To this end,” he says, “we are actively investigating the allegations relating to Mr. Gailmor and the Electronic Corporation of ‘ America program. Mr. Gailmor’s misconduct five years ago wag the result of a nervous breakdown. The extenuating circumstances convince us that he should not be punished further for this mistake. Thousands of soldiers, suffering from nervous disorders, are trying to rehabilitate themselves and we took into account the repercussion on them if the Blue network announces, in effect, that such break downs cannot be completely cured ” Before going further, I should like to say that X have had no intention to suggest that either La Roche or Ed Noble, the president of the Blue, is a Communist or sympathetic with the Communist conspiracy in the United States. That point disposed of, let me point out that the “news commentaries'’ broadcast by Wil liam Gailmor for ten minutes five nights a week over WJZ, the key station of the Blue, usually are not related to the five-minute broadcast of news bulletins which precedes them. They are political propaganda consistent with the Communist line and they have been critical of the policies of this country and Great Britain when they disagreed with Mos cow, but never similarly unfriendly to Mos cow. When Churchill opposed the Communist attempt to seize Greece after the British and Americans had provided the m^ans and the punch for deliverance, Gailmor denounced Churchill and said Eritain was suffering from a political neurosis. In the case of Poland, he attacked, with oratorical ferocity, the Polish government in exile and praised as a true people’s government of Poland the Commu nistic Lublin group of Quislings who embraced the Russian invader from the east when Hit ler struck from the west and the two great allies of that time met at an agreed line. The employer of Gailmor, whose original name was Margolis, is engaged in secret elec trical production for the American government and the money to pay for his propaganda thus would appear to come from the taxes of Americans who are in the war not to promote Communism but to protect the American form of government and American freedom. The president of the Electronic Corporation is Sam uel J. Novick, a native of Russia but a natur alized American citizen, who also has radio activity in Latin America. Novick is a director of a new radio corporation whose other di rectors include several men who have been conspicuous among pro-Communist groups for years. For his publicity director, Novick hired a man who, like Gailmor, uses an alias, and who formerly was business manager of a Communist party magazine. Some of this information was presented to La Roche and Noble before Gailmor started his program and more of it after his propagan da had been under way a short time. Following the denunciation of Gailmor as an imposter and a thief convicted of first degree grand larceny in New York in the theft of an automobile, his fifth offense, the official publication of the Office and Profes sional Workers’ union, of the CIO, which also adheres to the Communist line, praised him as an anti-Fascist and friend of labor. It also exhorted its members to listen to his propaganda. Like Gailmor and Novick’s Communist press-agent, Lewis Merrill, the president of the Office Workers’ union, also goes under an assumed name. Also, in common with many Communist and pro-Communist CIO bosses and politicians, he has been gratuitously hon ored and encouraged by the Roosevelts and Henry Wallace. Merrill, as he now calls him self, is of eligible age for military service but, like Gailmor, age 34, remains a civilian, although he joined Charlie Chaplin and Joseph Curran, the president of'the CIO Maritime union, in demanding the second front in France to be manned, hpwever, by somebody else, not them. The dismissal of Gailmor as a news com mentator will require courage even though if has been demonstrated that the client in this case is using its facilities to promote political interests, a practice which La Roche says the Blue will not permit. In that case, the entire Communist propaganda system will attack them. But if the Blue does not take a stand then there will be no excuse to exclude from the air such clever and dangerous exhorters of the other extreme as Gerald Smith and Father Coughlin. Even avowed Fascists and believers in the Nazi system have as much ridhf tn +Vio oir There are at least three other pro-Com munist news commentators preaching the “line” over New York stations, at least one of whom is known to use a false name. La Roche’s comments on Gailmor’s nerv ous troubles of soldiers and other service men is hardly a compliment to these men. Gailmor’s “neurosis” was attributed by him to the mental strain of quarrels with his first wife over their household bills. Thus, he not only blamed a woman and his wife, at that, whose father was giving them an allowance to augment his income, for his criminal acts, but now presumes to compare this distress Of mind with that of fighting men who have been bombed and shelled. By La Roche s rea soning in this respect, a case might be made for a contention that only rehabilitated neuio tics should be employed as news analysts lest “thousands of soldiers suffering from nervous disorders” he discouraged. -v Average ability level of veterans who have entered the university recently is close to that of other entering students. — Dr. Edward S. Jones, Dean of Men, U. of Buffalo. • • * The pressure on us for diapers doesn’t come from mothers. The heat comes from the diaper wash concerns who could triple or q p their business. With a bumper haby and all this money in the country, a dlaP« service is a gold mine.-WPB Chairman J. A. Krug. “F. 0. B. Hollywood**__J WITH THE AEF: From Bricks To Blockbusters By SID FEDER Substituting For Kenneth L. Dixon FIFTEENTH AIRFORCE HEAD QUARTERS, Italy, Jan. 21.—(De layed)—(#)—Master Sergeant Frank H. Walter of Greenville, S. C., has watched the bombing business grow up from bricks to blockbusters and he thinks it’s here to stay. It’s come quite a way down the road since 1918 when the sergeant then 16, added a year to his age. enlisted in the Army, and wound up as an observer in the awkward biplanes flown by the 317th Aerial Squadron. Today at 43, he's a technical in spector at a 16th Air Force Liber ator Wing. He has to see that the big four-engine jobs, which prob ably could carry a couple of those old crates on their backs, are fit for combat and, as he crawds into the inside of these new huge mod els, thoughts of those other days come back to him. They used to throw bricks at Ger man observation planes. . .they used to have to duck "ack-acK" Erom .45 pistol shots. When the "ack ack" missed, the plane crews would wave derisively. Today it would be quite a trick to u'ave at antiaircraft crew's from 25,000 feet —even if you wanted to. But ma chineguns were finally synchroniz ed with the propellers—and right there, said the sergeant, "the gen tlemen’s war of the skies began to lose its charm." "At first,” he recalled, ‘we tried to get on top of the Jerry planes and drop bricks on them. Or we might try to force them to land in our territory. If we did, we swooped down and w'aved so-long. They did the same to us. "But late in that last year of the war it all changed. Soon both our planes and the Krauts were carry ing demolition bombs and dropping them on dumps and railroad yards. 1 remember two days before the Armistice we had a formation of -— -,1 265 Handley Pages and flew over the fortress city of Metz. Aerial War wasn't one of bricks anymore. Walter stayed in the Army until 1927, seeing the Pacific, particu larly Hawaii and the Philippines, and reached the permanent grade of sergeant. Until 1939 he was a streetcar motorman and superin tendent in San Francisco. When this war got under way he re - enlisted in the Air Force but that was after his marriage to Clar ice Vemelle Winn who lives with their year - old daughter at 12 Whitner street, Greenville. After, the war he wants to set tle down to a garage business—for automobiles — on his 140 acres three miles out of San Jose, Calif., on the Fresno highway. “Oh yes,’’ he adds hurriedly “I also want to get an additional 280 acres and run a private airport for civilian aircraft. I expect I’ll have my own plane.” It is obvious Sergeant Walter ex pects aviation to stay. Washington Calling -By Marquis Childs - REYKJAVIK, Iceland—If proof were needed that the world is bound together beyond any possi bility of isolation, it is this once lonely island that seemed to lie so far off the beaten track. It is not lonely now. Big planes come and go, along what is the shortest route to Europe. The Americans have built big bases here. They have set up radio ranges and all the complex aids to speed safety in the air. For nearly 1100 years, Icelanders had lived their own separate and secluded lives. They were proud of their insularity. The ties they had were with Europe rather than with America. Then came the Nazi thrust for world power. Iceland was an im portant spot on the Nazi map of aggression. They had begun the process of propaganda and infil tration which was to have been followed by seizure of the island. The Americans and the Eritish moved first. Their “invasion” was hardly more welcome to the Ice landers than the Nazis would have ueen. musi ui uie rest, ui us, the Icelanders were still living in the pre-air age when distance seemed to guarantee security. Re lations were strained, to put it mildly, at the beginning of the American occupation. Unpleasant incidents marked the shattering of their ancient self-sufficiency. Re cently there has been a decided im provement in the relations between the two peoples, but it is not yet by any means perfect. On both sides there is strain. For American soldiers stationed here, the place seems bleak and lonely. Fog and wind and rain sweep over the rocky fields. The capital of Reykjavik offers little in the way of entertainment, and that is particularly true for enlisted men. What is more important, it’s hard to realize you’re part of the war, and a vital part, when you never see it or hear it. There was danger here for a time. But it has long since passed, and now this spot seems like a backwater. Because of transportation diffi culties, it is hard to live up to the rotation policy under which trans fers are made after a specific term oi service on the island. As a re suit, many men have been here for what seems like a never-ending time. This makes for a big morale problem. Talking with Jon Arnason, one of Iceland's civic and political lead ers, you’re made strongly aware of how abrupt have been the changes in our world. A man in his sixties, Arnason remembers when it was a four-day journey from his home in Skagafjordur to Reykja vik. The automobile cut that trip to ten hours. In the same length of time today, you can fly to New York or London. Arnason has never been in Amer ica, although nearly every year for thirty years he visited Europe in connection with development of the cooperatives, of which he is leader, or on government business. He is also chairman of the Icelandic na tional bank and his signature ap pears on all Icelandic currency, which is one reason American fly ers like to get his name on their shortsnorter bills. Just as tins island witn its lisu, 000 people will never again be iso lated physically from the outside world, so, too, ideas and ideologies from the outside today are current here. Some of the younger genera tion succumbed to Nazi propagan da. In scorn they greeted the in vading Americans with the Nazi salute. “But it is to little avail,” he told me. “They always come back with the answer: 'God is God,’ and the discussion is closed.” In his grave, slow-spoken way, Arnason shakes his head a little sadly over such unreasonableness. He takes the view that Iceland must now draw much closer to America and learn the virtues of the American system. Today there are 200 Icelandic students going to school in colleges in the United States. If it were not for the war, of course, they would be studying in Europe. So Iceland, with its pride in its ancient democratic tradition, is be ing drawn into the world stream, as are all other places that once were remote and distant. (Copyright 1945 by United Fea ture Syndicate, Inc.) -V Talc, the basis of face powder, has important war uses. Daily Prayer FOR CONTRITION Thou art high, and yet near, 0 Infinite God, our Father. The heav en of heavens cannot contain Thee, yet Thou makest Thy home in hu man hearts. Only sin can sever j us from Thee, and Thou are plenti- I ful in forgiveness. In sincere con-' trition. we confess before Thee our j transgressions and our unworthi-! ness May Thy searching Spirit con- i vict us of all that has come be-j tween us and Thy peace. Hear: Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place, j and when Thou hearest, forgive. Pardon our resistance to the promptings of our better natures; our carelessness and callousness amidst this world calamity, and our indifference to the sufferings | of our men and women in service. Make us as penitent sinners, plead ing before Thy throne for forgive ness. Lord, have mercy upon us; have mercy upon us. and save our imperilled souls. Amen.—W. T. E. -V Ray Stannard Baker biographer and essayist, writes under his own name and also under the name of David Grayson. Interpreting TheWar By KIRKE I„ SIMPSnv ^ Associated Press War .\nalv i A desperate Nazi military he from west to east across no-".' Germany, reported by Allied X ■ scouts, eclipsed in interest V an unconfirmed report that Russians had broken across ' Oder river defense line at point above close-invested Brer* in their juggernaut advam-el? Berlin. nce »» There could be n0 other emu tion of any such enernv strimTL , his West Front reserves i0P'h7 ° his shattered Eastern lines 77* that Berlin itself is in mor-ai a55 ger of Russian capture ,n X High Command estimation. * Only an ultimate emergency ' the east could justify a thSminir 1" Nazi defense ranks in the wesf . the face of every indication ttat a massive Allied offensive is 7, preparation between the Roer J the Dutch Rhine. "d ine size and circumstances nt the enemy eastward trek over > Dusseldorf-Hannover road and -a i network as reported by Allied ar men leaves little doubt” that a mas' ter crisis is at hand for the enemy nor does the scene of his deb ate effort to rush tired and tatter! ed West Front divisions into th* eastern breach leave much qUes. tion as to where the supreme dan! ger lies there. A tangle of main rail and read connections leads from Dusseldr-'i via Hamm and Herford to Hanno-' ver and thence to Berlin. Among them is the great Nazi four-track military super highway. That highway leaves Berlin well to the north to reach die Oder at Frankfurt, some 30 miles east and slightly south of the capital. The river at that point runs its nearest to Berlin and is the last natural barrier guarding the eastern ap. proaches to the city. Just south of Berlin a southeas terly prong of the great military road takes off to furnish direct ail fast communications with the up per Oder valley. It passes close to the west of Russian-beleaguered Breslau over the wide Silesian plains west of the river, then crosses the Oder between Oppeln and Cosel. both Russian besieged : if not in Russian hands, to reach ! the Gleiwitz-Hindenburg-Katowice eastern industrial hub of the Ge> man war effort already half Rus sian enveloped from north, east' and southeast. All implies that in German stall judgment the most crucial bathe of the war may be taking shape on the broad and rolling Silesian plains suitable for maneuver op erations on a grand scale at which' Russian armies which swept acre■; Poland have so well proven then selves. wcAilmsm ] ATTENDS WEEKLY \ church mum The Rev. Harvey W. Glazier, pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd, is one of 19 clergy of. the Episcopal church now attend ing a conference at the College of Preachers, located on the Close of Washington Cathedral. Canon Theodore 0. Wedel is Warden of the College and in charge of arranging the confer ences to which small groups o. clergy are invited for a week at a time from September through the second week of June. The subject of the present con ference is “Preaching the Doctrine of God in the Old Testament” and the leader is the Rev. Cuthben A. Simpson. Th.D., professor of Liter ature and Interpretation of the O.d Testament, General Theological Seminary, New York City. The Rev. Mr. Glazier, in addition to preaching in the College Chape shared in the work of a spec.« seminar group. --V Red Cross Information Group To Meet Monia? The first meeting of 'Hr p'".' Information committee of the ~ mington Red Cross campaign be conducted this spring. ” - ( held at 10:30 a. m. Monday at -; Chamber of Commerce. -- “ Cartier, chairman of the c. mittee, said yesterday. . The group will meet with ert Strange, campaign chain--'" to make preliminary pla>,s assignments, he announce."* ing that selection of CPn"“'ljl£i and methods of getting perso organized will be discussed ^ The Literary Guidepost By W. G. ROGERS “The Missouri,” by Stanley Vestal (Farrar & Rinehart; $2.50). The ornery, mighty Missouri, “road to half America,’’ pictur esque, unpredictable, both hostile and friendly, is the subject of this well organized, well written and easily read volume in the series 'Rivers of America. “The river runs crooked through the valley, the channel runs crook ed through the river,” and the cur rent flows upstream and down with almost equal ease. An engineer complained that, after spending a year building a bridge, he had “spent my time ever since keeping the river under the bridge.” People who live in this long val ley which cuts through a handful of states will relish these tales of their homeland; Americans living else where will welcome this lively rec ord, dependable as a textbook but entertaining as fiction, of some of the most thrilling and momentous events in their national life. The Missouri was the land, or the river, of Lewis and Ci itfc _ iel Boone, Kit Carson a c -c-' James, who staged his fi-s ! robbery at Adair, Iowa. ■ - | It was the land of the L.-s- r; the Little Bis Korn 'nr- ( Rain-in-lhe-face, ~ s I Pony Express. The Mi . , ! its ’’king” and its Rhim. its legends arid "its ’ ’ eric Remington and O l* Bingham were its art ' Like all unprejudiced . -• -f ; Indian history, Vestal sir;'’3 ,“.i, the Redskin. The white man ~ 'j ed, betrayed and lied to : .d was often licked by him. L son A. Miles outnumbered die - Perces five to one ir. *“"•.. couldn’t whip them, ar:<1 ,j Chief Joseph refused to re,r**; ; leave his wounded for, he cas-vo “We had never heard of a > Indian recovering while n hands of the white men. There are illustrations bv L’’.'.j Smith, notes and an inac ferious-minded. White n.r- ■ read this, but our cer.so - , to keep it off Indian rose1''’