The Wilmington morning star. [volume], January 30, 1946, Page 4, Image 4

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

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[Wilmington
Wonting #tar
North Carolina’s Oldest Daily Newspaper
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By The Wilmington Star-New*
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of March 3, 1879 __
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MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AND ALSO SERVED BY THE UNITED PRESS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1946
TOP O THE
We sit uneasily today in the presence
of an infant peace which holds an atomic
bomb in its lap, Most of our decisions con
cerning the future tremble and shake . . .
The uncertainty and urgency of our day
is leading people to consider seriously the
kind of world we must have . . . Only a
godly and righteous world is fit to survive,
and only a Christian world can be godly
and righteous.
H. E. Russell
For A Strong Navy
Admiral Nimitz’ recent comments on
the state of the Navy are too impor
tant to shrug off. The man who direct
ed naval action in the Pacific, from the
days when the United States had only
a maimed fleet to the time our ships
were pounding Japan at point-blank
range, declares that demobilization has
, reduced our fleets nearly to impotency.
“Only the fact that nobody today
threatens our security,” he adds, “al
lows me to contemplate the state of
our Navy with some degree of equini
mity.”
He was addressing the National
Geographic Society at the time, and to
make his argument most effective,
he added: “Inspired by the record of
that Navy in keeping war from Ameri
ca and making it possible to defeat our
enemies on their own soil, I hope our
weakness is but transitory. I hope it
never will again become a habit.”
The Admiral’s reference obviously
is to the disarmament program follow
ing the First World War, in which the
United States had a leading part, and
which assuredly encouraged the Ger
man High Command to plot the Second
World War.
With few exceptions history shows
that nations with the strongest navies
have made most national progress and
enjoyed the highest degree of security.
When we became a party to the ill
fated 5-5-3 program, we took the step
that led to the conflict so recently con
cluded.
With this experience before us, we
certainly can have no excuse again to
engage in the scuttling of our navy or
permit its manpower to be unequal to
its fire-power.
Despite the atomic bomb and the
advances in air-power, a strong navy
remains a prime factor in the nation’s
ability to hold its own in any future
emergency.
Admiral Nimitz is so right in his
views, it seems impossible to dispute
them.
A strong Navy is among the greatest
bulwarks of our future safety.
$12,000,000 A Day
The other day the Star noted tha1
strikes are causing losses that idl<
workers can ill afford, that alreadj
signs of suffering in strikers’ families
are seen particularly in the Detroii
area. Since then the New York Times
has published an article under a Wash
ington date showing that strikers
wage losses are $12,000,000 a day.
Because this article shows ho\
strikes have multiplied and the methoi
of arriving at the wage loss, as well a
the loss in man-day production, it i
f/ f
considered appropriate to quote it al
some length.
Says the Times:
“The estimates, made from Gov
ernment statistics, showed that from
VE-Day until the end of last year strik
ing workers lost roughly $257,480,000
in wages. From VJ-Day until the year
end the loss was around $200,600,000.
“The figures on working time lost,
. which came from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, showed that time lost due
to strikes mounted rapidly after the
victory over Japan toward the end of
August.
“Of the total of 35,000,000 man
days lost during 1945 due to strikes,
32.185.000 were lost after VE-Day, and
25.075.000 after VJ-Day.
“The approximation of wages lost
was obtained by using $1 an hour or
$8 a day as the average wage in the
industries affected by strikes. A BLS
expert said that $1 an hour would be
very close to correct as an approxima
tion of the average hourly wage.
_ i?.*_ £_ _-L __ i
aiic nguic xui tuiicm wage iuoscs
due to strikes was obtained by apply
ing the $8-a-day average to the 1,500,
000 workers now reported as on strike
in the country.
“The acceleration of time lost from
strikes starting with September is
shown by monthly BLS statistics on
man-days lost, as follows:
May, 2,210,000.
June, 1,850,000.
July, 1,700,000.
August, 1,350,000.
September, 3,675,000.
October, 7,800,000.
November, 6,100,000.
December, 7,500,000.
“No time-loss figures are yet avail
able for any part of the current month,
but if the major strikes continue
through to its end it will probably be
one of the greatest periods of strike
lost wages and productivity in the
country’s history.’’
Harry Hopkins
The least known, most uncommuni
cative and generally low-rated man in
President Roosevelt’s inner cabinet _
Harry Hopkins — died at 55 yesterday
in Memorial hospital, New York City.
He had been long ill. In fact from
the time he joined Mr. Roosevelt and
throughout his years of service, he was
an invalid, living apparently by sheer
will power.
Because of his voluntary isolation
it is doubtful if the part he actually
played in shaping this nation’s policies
will be known until some biographer in
later years delves into the records and
weaves his official life story around
them.
All that we his contemporaries really
know is that he undertook many private
missions abroad for the President, was
present at the Atlantic Charter meet
ing at sea, attended the Casablanca,
the Cairo and Teheran conferences,
called on Pope Pius XII before the
Crimean meeting. And after Mr.
Rooseveltfs death, whan President
Truman needed an efficient emissary
to go to Moscow when the Big Three
situation was most delicate, he chose
Mr. Hopkins with the result that mat
ters soon took a more satisfactory
turn.
He started life as a social worker.
During the depression he was federal
relief administrator. He lived at the
White House for more than three years.
He was nominated to be Secretary of
Commerce, and although he was per
haps the most disliked new dealer in
the President’s confidence, so far as
the Congress was concerned, his
nomination was confirmed, 58 to 27.
It was during the attack upon him at
that time that he said:
“I have been an administrative ap
pointee of the President. I work for
him all the time. I believe in him. If
the Senate confirms me, it knows in
advance that it is confirming someone
who is devoted to the President and the
tilings he stands for. It has been easy
for me to be loyal to the President, for
■ I believe in those things.”
His tenure in the Commerce Depart
ment was short. Ill health forced him
1 to resign in 1940.
; Not since his return from Moscow
as President Truman’s special envoy
was he able to take part in public af
r fairs. While we know so little about
1 him and his accomplishments the
3 thought will not down that he wrought
3 better than we believe.
Fair Enough
By WESTBROOK PEGLER
(Copyright, 1946, by King Features Syndicate)
A congressional investigation is being made
into the activities of Abraham N. Spanel and
the International Latex Corporation, of which
he is president. During most of the war this
company published a series of new deal and
left-wing political advertisements in a large
list of newspapers in the guise of a public
service. A republican senator and a repre
sentative have been gathering data and, in
the War Department, precautions have been
taken lest documents in the record of Inter
national’s dealings with the Army and the
smaller war plants corporation should disap
pear by accident, carelessness or otherwise.
To this end, the War Department has pre
pared a duplicate file and a third copy has
been obtained for his own records by Brig.
Gen. Albert J. Browning, recently separated
from the Army. General Browning previously
had served as director of purchases for the
Army Air Forces. He recently accepted a new
position in the Department of Commerce.
When General Browning was asked recent
ly whether unusual care had been exercised
to keep a scrupulous record of the corre
spondence and conferences relating to Spanel
and International Latex, he said this was the
fact. When he was asked why, he replied:
“We smelled a rat.” With reference to a rela
tively small voluntary refund to the govern
ment by Spaniel, General Browning said: “He
knew he was coming up for renegotiation.”
Colonel Phillips W. Smith, still on duty at
the War Department, said that Matthew J.
Fox, formerly of Universal Pictures, for some
time an employee of Smaller War Plants Cor
poration, later a major in the Army, told
him, when they were in Europe, that "there
was White House pressure” behind the in
sistence of Smaller War Plants that Spanel’s
company be awarded a contract for buoyant
lifesaving devices for the Army Air Force
at an excessive nrice
The congressional inquiry will extend to the
records of the Rubber Reserve Corporation to
determine the terms on which International
Latex surrendered to the government a con
siderable supply of liquid latex or pure rub
ber which Spanel had laid in before Pearl
Harbor. An article in high praise of Spanel,
published in Collier’s last Feb. 4, under the
by-line of Lester Velie, said “Spanel had mil
lions of pounds of latex stored in his under
ground labyrinth, liquid treasure which
money could not buy.”
“Spanel surveyed it fondly,” Mr. Velie’s
story said, “but not for long. The govern
ment needed it and Spanel gave it up.”
That suggested to me, at the time, an act
of extraordinary and voluntary patriotic altru
ism. Others take-the view, however, that while
Spanel did surrender his supply he did only
as all holders of such reserves were required
to do and got a fair price for his latex.
One authority asserts that he made a good
profit after rejecting the price offered by the
government and carrying the case to arbi
tration.
“The government may have tried to drive
a hard bargain,” said a man who was in
touch with the controversy, “but anyway,
Spanel won and he got a good price.”
An authority in the War Production Board
declares that Spanel’s stock was not “millions
of pounds” of latex but 1,835,065 pounds and
that Henry Ford gave up 27,000,000 pounds
of rubber and U. S. Rubber and Ball Brothers
of Muncie, Ind., gave up huge stocks, at cost.
Mr. Velie’s article said that Spanel “de
signed an assault boat whose impact has been
felt all over the world, floating stretchers
which have saved the lives of thousands, and
secret equipment whose story cannot yet be
told.” He related that an earnest young Army
captain appealed to Spanel for a collapsible,
lightweight boat and that Spanel took his prob
lem to his laboratory and “in a feverish
month” produced the boat on a daring princi
ple, using plastic bladders covered with
fabric.
rne principle, n aanng, would seem no;
to have been necessarily original.
Long before the war, when a commercial
pilot named Dick Merrill and Harry Rich
man, the night club entertainer, flew to Eng
land and back, newspaper stories reported
that they were carrying thousands of ping
pong balls in the wings to provide buoyancy
if they had been forced to come down at sea.
Mr. Velie did not give sufficient details of
Spanel’s original designs to permit exami
nation of the claims of invention.
Another passage in Mr. Velie’s article con
firms the fact that Spanel’s present general
manager at Dover, Del., Wallace O. Heinze,
was employed in the government service.
Heinze recently refused to affirm or deny this.
Velie wrote that once, when Henry Kaiser
was “agonizing” over his inability to get 50
tons of high-alloy steel that he needed “des
perately,” Spanel was able to produce the
steel for him by noon, next day.
“ ‘The government isn’t a machine,’ he told
the amazed Kaiser,” Velie wrote. “ ‘It’s run
by human beings and you’ve got to know the
right ones.’
“One of the ‘right ones’ in this case,’
Velie’s story said, “was WPB planning com
mittee member, Wally Heinze, later co-ordi
nator of the Smaller War Plants Corporation
and now Spanel’s general manager.”
General Browning, in a memorandum to the
under-secretary of war, officially reported
that when international bid $101 each for an
order of 5,000 life rafts, as against a next
highest bid of $79, Heinze telephoned Wright
field insisting that a contract for 5,000 units
be given to International Latex.” He reported
that less than five months later, Heinze went
to wrok for Spanel. Without verification, his
maximum government pay is believed to have
been $8,000 a year and his pay with Spanel
is believed to be $36,000.
QUOTATIONS
A new lamp dries the bather as he steps
out of ttie tub. Hereafter towels probably will
be used for crying purposes only.
* * •
Hoop skirts on the way back—fashion note.
Boy, will that give motor car designers a
new neadache!
• • *
When caught peeking in the back of his
arithmetic book for the answers, Junior ex
cused himself by stating that he was simply
indulging in a little fact finding. 3
* * *
Premeir Stalin has ben named to represent •
his Moscow constituency in the Russian Su
preme Soviet. Wonder if J0e sat up late in '
re«nerV°USly liSt6ning t0 the Action ;
* • u
Zadok Dumkopf says the u , 1
threaTened by a^trike. ^ being' ,
We* 5SS’ wLeat!enJstdo°SlC?ated buffal°
-—- --^————————1
“SIXTY-FOUR DOLLAR QUESTION”
It Must Be Annoying For Your Hat
To Fly When You Sing At A Wedding
By JOHN SIKES
The next time you have Mrs.
Hannah Block sing for your wed
ding, watch her hat.
It isn’t that Mrs. Block’s hats
have anything in particular to do
with her singing. In fact, she can
sing just as well bare-headed as
she can with her hat on.
Mrs. Block’s singing is well
known and liked hereabouts. She
has sung for the civic clubs and
weddings and any number of places
and occasions where good singing
is appreciated.
But, to me, what happened to
Mrs. Block and her hat while
singing one time at a wedding is
a significant commentary on wo
men’s hats in general and on
numbers the singers sing at wed
dings, civic clubs, and the like.
It seems Mrs. Block was guest
soloist at a very swanky wedding.
The church was full of people
dressed in the very finest things
people wear at swanky weddings.
Mrs. Block, herself, wore one
of these millinery jobs that cause
other women to turn in church,
and even on the streets, and won
der why they, themselves, hadn’t
thought up some such creation.
The hat practically floated in
clouds of thin veiling. I’ll have to
turn you over to the Society Editor
for you to learn the kind of
material. When I get by percale
and gingham and olue jean I’ve
practically exhausted my fund of
I
information about materials.
But, atop the hat reposed three
yellow birds, probably canaries.
Naturally you know that these
three birds were not live birds,
but were an essential part of the
hat’s decor.
Well, everybody in the church
wore that here-comes-the-bride
and isn’t-she-simply-dahling ex
pression.
Mrs. Block took her place some
where near the altar. Behind her
was an arch banked with smilax
and the other greenery you use
in carrying out the traditional
decorations for a wedding.
The organist had begun to stroke
gently those keys that, all to
gether, purr out the soft and sweet
strains of “O Promise Me.” Those
strains, incidentally, always have
had a soporific effect on me and
I’ve often wondered if de Koven
didn’t compose the music with the
idea it might have a soothing
effect on the groom's nerves.
There came the cue for Mrs.
Block. She clasped her hands
soulfully in front of her in the
approved manner of singers sing
ing something touching.
About the time she’d reached
that part about “.that you’ll
be mine. . she felt her hat jerk
ever so lightly on her head. And
she sensed a titter rippling through
the congregation.
But, perfectly composed, Mrs.
Block continued until she had
finished the song.
When she sat down she suddenly
realized that she was bare-headed.
And now there was muffled
laughter in the congregation.
Behold! There, flitting amongst
the smilax, was Mrs. Block’s hat,
the canaries looking for all the
world like they were giving wing
to flight.
Her hat had caught in a sprig
of the greenery and was wafting,
so to speak, in the breeze.
The wedd ng, of course, went on
to a successful conclusion, even
though the minister, in his solici
tude for Mrs. Block’s hat, plumb
slipped his cue and had to be
gently nudged by his assistant
that there, in front of the altar,
stood a radiapt bride and a nerv
ous groom waitmg to be married.
This, of course, ends the story,
and, but for my perverse curiosity,
that would be all there is to it.
Once again I’d l’ke to know whai
happens in the minds of singers
and preachers and other speakers
when something goes wrong and
there’s the audience out there.
They can’t, as I did once in the
seventh grade when I flubbed the
middle verse about the boy land
ing on the burning deck, just take
off and run. i
They’ve got to stick it out, even
if their hats do go flitting awav 1
when they reach high C, a tough
enough proposition even when :
your hat is sitting firmly and ‘
snugly on your head. 1
Still, I’d like to know what goes [
on in their minds. 1
____ ]
STAR Dust \
_I_ !
Originality Achieved
A man was making his first !
speech and wanted it to be a suc
cess. His oration was long and )
passionate and he wished to end it '
with a warning. He could have r
couched his worning in - the old
proverb about locking the stable :
door after the horse was taken but 1
that was too commonplace. He ^
wanted something original.
“Don’t,” he shouted, “I beg you,
don’t wait until the house takes
fire before you summon* the fire- .
pen.” 1
—Capper’* Weekly.
One Up On Them
One youngster was watching an.
jther swimming about in a pool,
rhe swimmer was wonderful and
illed the onlooker with admiration.
“You swim like a fish,” he said.
“Better,” said the swimmer. "I
an swim on my back.”
-Santa Fe Magazine.
Religion
Day By Day
By WILLIAM X. ELLIS
FACES IN A RESTAURANT
Milady and I recently dined in a
big department store restaurant.
We stood in line for a long time
before we could get seats (the place
seats 1800 persons), and we waited
nearly half an hour to be served.
Our table was next to the aisle,
so we could study the stream of
persons passing to and fro.
It was a depressing experience.
Even making allowance for the
well-fed look of those who had just
lined, there was little of the serene
and the spiritual in the faces that
passed. Most of them seemed
care-worn and dissatisfied. Their
personalities were not proclama
;ions of peace.
“Something is missing from
;heir lives,” was the involuntary
:omment. “They are well dressed
and apparently prosperous; many
af the women have carefully
made-up’ faces; but the general
impression is not one of content
ment or peace, or the outward
ihining of an inner light. On the
whole, they are a drab and unap
Jealing lot.”
That was a depressing judgment
;o form of one’s fellows. It sug
gested other groups known to me
vho wear serene and dadiant
aces.
Something Is missing from the
ife of our day: something of glow'
ind sparkle and inner content
ment.
That something it is the business
if religion to supply.
Grant us Thy peace, O our
Father-God, that we may dif
fuse happiness in the world.
Amen.
McKenney
ON
BRIDGE
BY WILLIAM E. McKENNEY
America’s Card Authority
Here is a combination of
cards I met in a rather pe
culiar fashion in Memphis,
Tenn. South was playing the
duplicate contract at two
spades, the bidding having
gone one spade by South, two
spades by North, pass, pass,
pass.
You can see that declarer’s
only hope with this combina
tion is to lead over to the king,
play a small spade back and
finesse the jack. If East holds
the queen, declarer can pick
up the suit. However, in Mem
phis a very elderly gentleman
played these cards against me,
and he led the jack of spades.
I made the mistake of covering
with the queen. Why was this a
mistake? Because ordinarily
no player will lead the jack un
less he holds the jack-ten, and
if the jack is not covered, he
will go up with dummy’s king
and finesse the ten on the way
back. Of course, if South holds
the ace-jack-ten and West cov
ers with the queen, he has no
problem whatever. Never be
fore had I seen anyone lead
the jack when it was not back
ed by the ten, and through my
mistake in covering with the
queen, my partner and I made
a spade trick.
A week later ax the Florida
State tournament at Delray I
picked up the same combina
tion of cards. This time I was
declarer, playing against Peter
Leventritt, who hac'. been on
my team in Memphis. I led tile
jack of spades and Leventritt
did not make the mistake of
covering with the queen; so I
played low from dummy and
picked up the whole spade suit.
i
— <
? •
The Doctor Says—
VITAMINS CANNOT
PREVENT COLDS
By WILLIAM A. O'BRIEN, M D
Some people insist that jf
:ake the proper vitamins our
will be a thing cf the past T'
imply that physicians recommend
"taming as cold preventives
rhese statements a r e misUadin.
as vitamins are not of proved
jfit as cold preventives. The only
known way of preventing colds i,
to avoid contact with infected per
sons. ‘ p
Vitamin A deficiency in animal,
increases susceptibility to lnfec
tior.s. But in man, vitamin a ij
less apt to be deficient than any
other vitamin, as it is not destroy,
ed by heat, is readily stored m
the body, only small amounts au>
necessary to avoid deficiency
states, and usually it is present
in excess In the tissues.
Vitamin D has been suggested
as a cold preventive, because
children who have rickets, a form
of vitamin D deficiency, are un.
usually susceptible to respiratory
infections. A group of children was
given various vitamin D prepa
rations under controlled condition*
throughout one winter, and they
had just as many colds as children
who did not receive it.
Vitamins B, C, D, and E have
hpp'i tripH pc pnlrT
cause animals on diets deficient in
these vitamins are unduly sus.
ceptible to infections. But such ex.
perimental animals are in a great,
ly weakened condition, and their
tion cannot be accepted as evi.
increased susceptibility to infec.
dence that the addition of these
vitamins to an adequate diet will
prevent infection in man.
H. S. Diehi, M. D., and his group
of eold researchers, carried out
controlled experiments on Uni.
versity of Minnesota students to
test the value of vitamins in the
prevention of colds. One group of
students was given vitamin C
alone, another group was given
large doses of multiple vitamins,
and the control group was given
sugar of milk capsules which were
identical in appearance to vitamin
capsules. Neither the students nor
their physicians knew which prep,
aration they had been given.
If a cold developed, the students
reported the attack on a special
card and the study was carried on
throughout the year. It was found
that neither vitamin C nor multi. |
pie vitamins had any effect on the
number or severity of infections,
found that sugar of milk, which
The Minnesota researchers
does not have any merit as a pre*
ventive, was just as effective as
vitamins in preventing” colds.
The Literary
Guidepost
By W. G. ROGERS
THE STONE IN THE RAIN,
by Laurette MacDuffic
(Doubleday; $2.50).
The characters in this first novel S
are- of the kind we are inclined |
to call “nice people.” There’s a I
boy, Cole Rives, who doesn’t drink, I
doesn’t run after women, has an I
eye staunchly on the main chance, 1
like any up-and-coming American, r
There’s old Luther Perrin, Episco- I
pal vestryman, who came into his I
money the hard way by slaving for I
every penny. There’s his sheltered, I
innocent daughter Louise, who I
marries genial Hal Robey but I
stays on nobly with her widowed f
and bereft father.
At the end of the story they con- I
tinue being nice people; nothing I;
can make them change, neither H
suicide nor death nor the growing I
chance of war reaching into the:r f
secluded North Carolina communi- I!
l-v
But by this time you are more I
intimately acquainted. Though M
Cole doesn’t drink, he has a I
drunkenness of his own: he hates 1
lews, he writes anonymous letters, I
He worms his way into places I
where he is not welcome. Louise I
is still sheltered, but a crafty, ecu
oupiscent music teacher could
oreak down the barriers ^
what’s been done once can be aor.e l|
again. And old Luther is so utterly
Christian that he wants to develop
a beach resort that will be reserv*
:d exclusively for Christians.
While the characters go nowhere L
it all, the reader covers a lot °
ground. Eight or 10 people no! 9
:ompletely strangers to you are |
:et up under a dazzling spotlight ■
ind you see every move they
nake, read their every thought.
Miss MacDuffie writes with a
‘xtraordinary detachment. L»<
he surgeon with mask and rubber
doves, she doesn’t care whether
he patient lives or dies as long
he operation is successful. Sa*
loesn’t use one incident or or
vord too many. She calls up *
vil, inspects it on ail sides, “,s
lisses it. r,„
But she has caught you. '
.ouise, Luther and Hal
ook characters at all. but pe°"^
ou’ve happened to run into, ^
aey keep on following •
round. Here’s Somerset, she sa '
ke it or not, here are the li.. I
Her people appall me, her
iscinates me.
—
Figures , ,
According to General Mp
coporation figures the strun »
workers have lost $72,000.00 " .
wages. The union puts the = f
ure at $62,000,000. No ’ ■
CIO President Philip 's \
will try to convince the w°r’ ]
that they have made $1°'
ooo. :
—Charleston Evening Fes •