Evening star. [volume], May 18, 1943, Page A-8, Image 10

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| With Sunday Moraine Edition.
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TUESDAY_May 18. 1943
In the Spotlight
' The immediate effect of the ex
traordinary measures adopted at
the Hot Spring food conference to
bottle up the delegates and shut out
the press—with the unexpected
comic opera touch of surrounding
the hotel by a cordon of soldiers—
is to give more emphasis to the se
crecy than to the serious matters
which may be discussed. Every
newspaper reader and radio listener
In “the United States, and in the
world, for that matter, will think of
the food conference chiefly in rela
tion to the precautions taken against
letting the people get the facts.
- If the food conference had been
called and held in the usual way,
mrfst of the newspapers would have
relegated its scanty news to the in
side pages. The few newspapermen
assigned to cover the affair would
have gotten their facts in the nor
mal way, either by interviewing the
delegates between the sessions—and
there would have been no demand
for open sessions—or by attending
press conferences or reading the
prepared handouts.
As it is, the President has suc
ceeded in surrounding this meeting
with an air of mysterious secrecy
while evidently establishing a prece
dent which will be resented and
which, if it Is permitted to stand,
will endanger the whole principle of
future “open covenants, openly ar
rived at.” Instead of a medium to
enlist the sympathy and under
standing of the people in the com
plex problems of food allocations
and distribution, nowT and later, the
conference will become the breeding
place for vague rumors and specu
lations regarding the amount of
food the Americans are going to be
asked to “give away.”
Everybody, including the news
papers, understands the necessity for
secret discussions and arrangements
In wartime. The newspapers have
readily submitted to voluntary cen
sorship and have taken pride in
making it effective. Secret informa
tion at Hot Springs would be safer,
under a wise system of co-operation
with the newspapers, than it will be
now. As it is, everything about the
conference that can be gathered,
from the amount of succulent food
ronsumed by the delegates to the
amount of liquor —2.400 pints—
obligingly made available by the
State of Virginia in defiance of its
own regulations, will hit the head
lines. Treated as pariahs, the re
porters will make the best of their
opportunities.
WLB Stands Firm
In the face of what seems to be 1
nn attempt to settle the coal dispute j
tliroueh the Intervention of Secre
tary Ickes, the War Labor Board has
served blunt notice that it will not
acquiesce in any plan which would
have the effect of taking the contro
versy out of its hands.
If this were an attitude which
merely reflected a narrow and petty
determination on the part of indi
vidual members of the board to assert
their authority, the position taken
would be extremely difficult to
justify. But a great deal more is at
stake in this matter than the sensi
bilities of individuals.
From the beginning it has been
clear that John L. Lewis has looked
upon defiance of the board as a
major, if not foremost, objective. In
the fall of 1941 he succeeded in
destroying the old National Media
tion Board, predecessor of the WLB,
and he has missed no opportunity
to assert his determination to follow
the some pattern in this instance.
The President has said that “all”
wage disputes must be settled
through the board, and this pro
cedure has been followed by other
unions and employers. But Mr. Lewis
has served notice that he will not
permit, the board to pass upon the
claims of his union, and is demand
ing that some special arrangement
be made to adjust his alleged griev
ances. Should the Government yield
to this demand, as Mr. Lewis well
knows, the usefulness of the War
Labor Board will be at an end.
.The entry of Mr. Ickes into this
wage picture, in his capacity as fuels
co-ordinator for war and operator
of the coal mines, is predicated on
the suggestion that the wage dispute
ran be settled under his supervision
without violating the board's little
steel formula. But if this is true, it
necessarily follows that the same
settlement could be reached through
the facilities of the WLB. Hence, the
controversy comes down to the ques
tion of whether Mr. Lewis is to re
ceive special treatment or is to re
celve the same treatment that any
other citizen would be accorded.
If an exception is made in his case,
there is not the slightest reason to
suppose that any other labor union
could be persuaded to submit to the
board’s jurisdiction if an adverse
ruling seemed probable, and this, in
turn, would mean the collapse of
another governmental effort at wage
regulation.
It is this aspect of the matter,
rather than the question of any in
dividual’s feelings, which justifies the
board in adopting its present firm
stand.
The Dilemma of Burma
The Inglorious end of Britain’s
campaign in Western Burma em
phasizes a phase of this global war
whose importance has hitherto
been somewhat obscured, at least to
the general public here in America.
But its significance is well under
stood in China and in India, and
the repercussions of the Burmese
situation, both strategic and politi
cal, are so far-reaching that the
problem raised is no longer local.
It must be considered and handled
as an important part of Allied grand
strategy.
That fact is undoubtedly appre
ciated by the Allied leaders now con
ferring here in Washington. The
presence of the land, sea and air
chiefs of British forces in India,
and of Generals Stilwell and Chen
nault, heads of American forces in
India and China, are good proof of
that. They are presumably stress
ing the need for a real attempt to
reconquer Burma when the current
stalemate, due to the monsoon sea
son, ends next October. Those five
intervening months are none too
long to make the necessary prepara
tions, which must be on a vast scale
and would involve major concentra
tions of warships, merchant ton
nage and air power as well as ground
troops and equipment. This is be
cause Burma can be retaken only by
a mighty expeditionary force pro
ceeding by sea from India across
the Bay of Bengal to Rangoon, the
port city which is the gateway to
the valley of Central Burma that, in
turn, is the link with China via the
Burma road.
The British invasion of Western
Burma which began last winter was
never designed to reconquer the
heart of the country. Western
Burma is sundered from the central
valley by towering mountain ranges
clothed with dense jungle that are
impassable for a mechanized army.
The strategic aim was to retake this
geographically isolated frontier re
gion with its port of Akyab, which
lies some 70 miles from the Indian
border. There was also the political
aim of helping Chinese morale by
demonstrating British activity and
military ability. Both those aims have
now miscarried. As in Malaya and
Burma a year ago, Japan’s trained
jungle fighters have proved more than
a match for the British forces, com
posed largely of Indian troops, who
are now back across the Indian bor
der with the Japanese in hot pursuit.
Why the British made so poor a
showing is not clear. The terrain
of Western Burma is tough jungle
country, but it is no tougher than
New Guinea, where Americans and
Australians have proved themselves
as good or better than their Japa
nese opponents.
Whatever the reasons, thp psy
chological consequences of this set
back in Burma are serious, especially
in China. It is no exaggeration to
say that China’s situation is desper
ate. Cut off from all effective aid
from its Western Allies, subjected to
unremitting Japanese pressure, and
in the grip of a terrible economic
crisis evidenced by unbridled cur
rency inflation, China is war-weary
and frankly distrustful of its West
ern Allies. Unless effective assist
ance comes soon, there is a real dan
ger that China will be knocked out
of the war, which would be an in
calculable disaster for America and
Britain alike.
Now the only way to help China
effectively is to retake Burma and
reopen the Burma road. Militarily
this will be a big job, and strate
gically it may involve troops, ships
and planes badly needed in Europe.
Yet the consequences of inaction in
the Far East for another year are so
serious that some modification of
the Allies’ overall grand strategy
may be required. This is a truly
world-wide war, and the strategic
picture cannot be expressed in a
rigid formula. Rather is it a com
plex balance of factors which varies,
at least within limits, according to
the course of political as well as
strictly military events. At any
rate, we may be sure that the Bur
mese problem is prominently befofe
the conferences now going on in our
Nation's Capital.
Re-Educating Germany
Professor Gilbert Murray of Oxford
University, certainly one of the great
est of living scholars, discusses “the
task of re-educating Germany” in
the New York Times and raises the
question: “Can it be done?”
“A people,” he submits by way of
tentative answer, “can only educate
itself. It certainly cannot be made to
accept the views on morals, politics,
history, that are recommended by its
enemies who, by enormously superior
wealth and resources, have beaten
down !ts own heroic armies. We our
selves may think that what we call
our principles of freedom, of Chris
tian civilization, of liberality, have
shown themselves to be morally and
practically superior to the German
Fuehrer worship. But we shall simply
make fools of ourselves if we try to
compel the Germans to think so.”
Professor Murray thus far is a pes
simist. The progress of his thought,
however, soon brings forward three
reasons for being hopeful that the
German people, freed of their present
masters, may wish to teach them
selves—their children particularly—
a different doctrine than that of
Hitlerism. Members of the older
generation, remembering the Reich
as it was before the Austrian paper
hanger captured it, realize that the
Nazis have “lowered the standard of
education, put grossly incompetent
persons in key positions, compelled
the students to spend their time
marching and drilling instead of in
tellectual work, forced into the cur
riculum subjects like ‘Rassenbiologie,’
which are known to be nonsense by
all competent authorities.” They
also comprehend the significance of
the ^Gestapo spy system which the
National Socialists have inflicted
upon their contemporaries. Finally,
they still may hold dear the tradi
tional Germany which once was “a
place of pilgrimage to artists and
thinkers.”
A “grave disaster,” Professor Mur
ray declares, happened in the Reich
when “the cultured middle class * * *
was ruined by inflation, then largely
‘proletarianized’ and brutalized by
the Nazi movement” before the war
began. “Still, it does not seem pos
sible that the whole higher culture”
of the German nation “can be de
stroyed in the space of one genera
tion.” There is reason, then, to
believe that “if the seeds still live,
the flower of German culture may
bloom again.”
If Professor Murray's theory is
meritorious, “the task of re-educat
ing Germany” already has begun.
The pressure of the United Nations
on Hitler should give his domestic
opposition a chance to function. He
never dominated the whole popula
tion; he always had enemies at home
—and the latter must be more
numerous now than ever before.
The Kaiser Case
The National Labor Relations
Board has been rebuffed in another
attempt to speed a settlement of
the row stirred by union rivalry in
three West Coast shipyards of the
Henry J. Kaiser organization, and
the issue probably will be fought to
the bitter end, with whatever that
may entail. The board, as John M.
Houston, a member, told a House
merchant marine subcommittee, is
willing to drop its inquiry into the
Kaiser contracts with American
Federation of Labor unions if the
latter waive the closed shop pro
vision responsible for the proceed
ings. This would leave the AFL
units in possession of working agree
ments—minus the potent check-off,
of course—but the Federation, with
an eye to its own interests, wants
no part of such an arrangement. In
consequence, the board will continue
to investigate the contracts, which
it charges were negotiated illegally,
and determine whether they should
be voided. If they are, immediate
steps may be expected to hold an
election under board auspices for
the selection of a bargaining agent,
for the CIO also wants to represent
these workers, and the company it
self, no doubt, would welcome a move
to get the matter settled.
me ultimate effect of the contro
versy on employment relations in
the Kaiser yards cannot be predicted,
but for the moment, at least, the
production record indicates that no
harm has been worked. At the same
time, however, the case emphasizes
a defect in the Wagner Act that
should be corrected. The Kaiser
trouble grew out of the fact that the
closed shop was granted when a
relatively few employes were on the
job which now requires thousands.
That meant that the vast majority
had no voice in the selection of their
bargaining agent, and while the
Federation has defended the con
tracts as in strict conformity with
the law, it must be said that there is
little equity in an arrangement
through which a few individuals are
given the authority to dictate the
terms of employment for many.
How this worked out in practical
application may be judged by the
board’s allegation that despite the
shortage of skilled craftsmen the
contracts resulted in the discrimi
natory discharge of 700 employes
and the refusal to hire many others
unless they joined Federation unions
or obtained work permits from them.
Admittedly it would be difficult in
a mushrooming organization to de
termine at what point the working
force had attained such proportions
as to make reasonably certain that
the will of the majority would be
reflected in the choice of union rep
resentation. That such a guide post
is needed in the Wagner Act, how
ever, in order to keep union rivalry
from stirring trouble, is evidenced
not only in the Kaiser case but in
more than a dozen others of the
same sort with which the NLRB now
is wrestling.
The lovely Library of Louvain, re
built after the last war by contri
butions from American school chil
dren, has been destroyed again.
Most of us can think of a group of
highly skilled workmen to whom
well might be assigned the postwar
task of a second reconstruction.
Terms of the arrangement would be
long hours, good grub and no pay.
It is, of course, still a long and
steep, and hazardous ladder which
we contemplate as reaching upward
toward eventual victory. However,
we can comfort ourselves with the
thought that our feet are now firmly
planted on the first rung.
Abdul-Aziz, who was deposed as
Sultan of Morocco In 1909, had the
idea that motorcars, pianos and
even diamond necklaces had to be
bought In dozen lots. Probably
wives, also.
Europe May Yield
To Tunisian Strategy
Major Eliot Says Allies
Should Pin Down and Destroy
Nazi Forces Systematically
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.
There is a fundamental lesson to be
learned from the Tunisian campaign
which will go far to explain the prob
lems and difficulties which beset the
Gvman high command as they await
the coming Allied invasion of Europe.
The enemy held a semi-circular front
in Northeastern Tunisia, stretching from
sea to sea. This front could be attacked
in five different sectors, and a successful
attack in any one of these sectors would
have brought about the complete defeat
of the whole Axis force or, at least,
greatly contributed to that end. These
were the sectors of Bizerte, Mateur,
Medjez el Bab, Pont du Pahs and
Enfidaville.
The theory of defensive warfare is
to hold the line in just sufficient force
to stop or delay the enemy and keep
the bulk of the troops in hand as a
reserve to counterattack when the
enemy has developed his attack. The
best time for counterattack is, of course,
when the attacking force has lost its
momentum and outrun the support of
its artillery. Counterattacks may some
times be launched against an enemy ,
force which is preparing to attack in
order to offset the enemy’s dispositions
and keep him off balance, but counter
attacks of this nature are generally en
trusted to local reserves and do not
involve the general reserve, which is
kept in hand until the enemy's inten
tions have been made thoroughly clear.
The victory in Tunisia was brought
about by the maintenance of constant
pressure against the whole front, a
series of attacks which gradually ab
sorbed all of the reserves available to
the Axis commander. The erroneous
impression that the main Allied effort
would be made by the British 8th Army
was fostered carefully in Gen. von
Arnlm's mind, which caused him to
make an incorrect disposition of his
forces at the outset, and from this
initial error he was never able to recover.
When the British 1st Army struck its
heavy blow in the Medjez el Bab sector,
it took the last remaining German re
serves to stop it. When the American
2d Corps struck in the Mateur sector,
there was nothing left for the German
commander with which to counter
attack and the Americans broke
through. This was immediately fol
lowed up by a renewal of the British
attack in the center and, as a result,
two great gaps were torn in the German
line through which the Allied armor
poured to break up and destroy the
entire Axis army. The only way to
stop them was by counterattack and, as
all the reserves already had been ab
sorbed into the front line, the German
commander was helpless.
Exactly the same principles apply to
the attack of the so-called fortress of
Europe. Just as in Tunisia, the German
forces are limited in number. They are,
of course, much larger forces than Von
Arnim had in Africa, but, nevertheless,
there is a limit to their strength, A
great part of them now are tied up on
the Russian front—probably about two
thirds of the total German ground
forces. Of the remainder, slightly more
than half is scattered around the peri
meter of Western and Southern Europe,
and the rest—say 50 to 60 divisions—
form the strategic reserve. This stra
tegic reserve must be ready to meet
emergencies either on the Russian front
or at whatever point an Anglo-American
attack may develop.
Unfortunately for the German high
command, that attack may come any
where from Petsamo all the way around
the European coastline to the Aegean
Sea. They cannot know in advance
where it is coming. Von Arnlm was In
the same position in Tunisia because
Allied air superiority deprived him of
the information to be gained from aerial
reconnaissance. The shift of the
American 2d Corps from Southern to
Northern Tunisia took him by surprise,
and so did the shift of two divisions of
the British 8th Army to the sector of
the British 1st Army.
The German high command is like
wise unable to gain accurate information
as to the concentration of Anglo-Amer
ican forces, both because of our general
air superiority and because of our com
mand of the sea. They must be ready
to meet attack wherever it may come.
And if the policy of constant pressure,
which worked so well in Tunisia, is
applied to Europe, it inevitably will
absorb the German reserves or compel
the Germans, in the alternative, to give
up territory or suffer local defeats, the
cumulative effect of which, both in the
moral and material spheres, will mount
rapidly. The Germans undoubtedly are
going to try their old tactics of trying
to beat us to the punch by a desperate
offensive in Russia in the hope of knock
ing out part of the Russian forces and
thus gaining a few more troops for their
strategic reserve. But it is questionable
whether they now have the power to
do this successfully. 1
Certainly they will not be able to do
It without having to pay heavily for it
elsewhere. They cannot hold the long
lines, to the defense of which they are
committed, against the heavy forces
now gathering to attack them. Consid
ered from the point of view of sound
military principle, the German clamor
about their Atlantic wall is absurd. We
have only to attack and go on attacking,
first at one place, then at another, until
their reserves are absorbed. It is not
their fortifications which are our proper
objective, but the pinning down and
destruction of their armed forces, with
out which the fortifications are useless.
(Copyright, 1943, New York Tribune, Ine.)
Uncle Sam's Experience
From the Victoria Colonist.
Canada made no mistake in acquiring
the air route across this continent, but
she should go slow before deciding that
only one agency in Canada shall make
use of it. Great Britain, Holland, France,
Italy and the United States all had their
experience with subsidized aviation; and
they learned a great deal on the debit
side in the process. It is significant that
civilian air transport has been carried
to Its peak cm this continent In the
United States, where open competition
and private enterprise have built up three
first-line services without risk or cost to
the taxpayers of that land. In the face
of that, is Canada to put all of her eggs
into one basket?
THIS AND THAT
By Charles E. Tracewell.
“CLYDESDALE PLACE. ]
“Dear Sir:
"Today I had an unusual opportunity
to observe at considerable length some
birds that 1 do not often see in this
neighborhood—the gorgeous red-headed
woodpecker and the tanager—in the Zoo
woods near the administration offices.
“These, I think, are just about the
most beautiful birds to be found in this
part of the country. What could be
more colorful than the red-headed wood
pecker, with his brilliant red head, his
snow-white breast and lower back feath
ers and his blue-black upper wings and
the extreme ends of his tail feathers; or
the tanager, with his scarlet-red body,
Jet-black wings and tail feathers?
“What a treat to the amateur ornith
ologist, especially if he happens to have
his bird glasses handy when the birds
make their appearance! But I did not
need the glasses for the red-headed
woodpecker. He conveniently flew down
to the ground from a dead limb of a
tree within 20 feet of where I was stand
ing and began pecking at a piece of
bread with as little concern as though
I had not been there.
“Not 10 minutes later I saw the tan
agers. At times they seemed to be hob
nobbing with a pair of cardinals, but
they were exceedingly obliging, too, for
they posed for me time after time,
turning this way and that wav, so that 1
could see every curve of their gorgeous
plumage.
“There must have been two pairs of
them, because I saw two males, but
could not seem to catch sight of their
ladies, which do not, of course, show so
brilliantly against the green background
of the trees.
“This is the first time I have ever
seen the red-headed woodpecker or the
tanagers in these woods.
“Right, now these particular woods are
plentifully supplied with baby squirrels,
both gray and black; tiny little things,
romping about in the trees, sometimes
wooling each other like very young pup
pies at play.
“Very early Sunday morning one small
black squirrel about as big as a minute
allowed me to come within six feet of
him and seemed not the least afraid
that I might do him some harm.
“One large Canada goose frequently,
these days, makes his way up the hill
from the Zoo ponds to browse around
the old barn in the woods adjacent to
the offices. He covers considerable ter
ritory, too, because I have seen him
nestled down enjoying a sun bath right
in the barnyard; then, at other times,
stalking about far afield among the trees.
“He seems to have no fears about being
able to take care of himself. He never
gets lost; he knows precisely where he
is, and how to get back to the ponds.
When he takes ofT to start back, he's
not unlike a big four-engined bomber
leaving the ground at the airport.
“The trees do not seem to bother his
necessary wingspread a particle, either.
One day when I saw him he was accom
panied by a mallard hen, but they
seemed hardly on speaking terms.
“Respectfully yours, E. A. C.”
* * * *
Young squirrels are more fun than a
barrel of monkeys.
Even puppies do not seem to enjoy
their antics more.
Three young squirrels came down out
of their home in a big locust recently.
We were fortunate in being present
the first time they touched earth.
Baby squirrels live their first few
weeks entirely in the tree in which they
were born.
This trio came to earth gingerly
enough, but had not been there 10 sec
onds before they were absolutely at
bbme.
One explored the outside of the ga
rage, a second the bird feeding station
and the third a ladder on the ground.
The first baby found the garage over
whelming, evidently, because he went up
to it, just as any one might, then raised
himself on his hind legs and took a good,
long look.
Then he went over and reared up to
get a better look at the door.
The second squirrel found the feeding
station irresistible.
He came up to the wire basket which
had been placed over the station and
leaped agily to the very top.
Then he hopped down, ran between
the wires, and ascended on the inside
to the very top again.
After he had done this several times,
he came down and began to eat in as
businesslike a way as the older squirrels,
always prominent at bird feeding sta
tions.
The third squirrel found the ladder
much to his liking. First he ran along
the side pieces, then he took to leaping
from rung to rung.
Certainly, a young squirrel could have
no more fun, unless it was chasing his
brothers, which all of them now proceed
to do, first one way around the tree and
then the other.
At a sudden sound from the house
the squirrel trio went up the trunk at
lightning speed. The sound of their claws
rasping the bark, as they chased each
other around and around the trunk,
could be heard for several hundred feet.
This is probably going to be a good
season hereabouts for genuine red-head
ed woodpeckers.
We saw one for the first, time in our
yard, a truly beautiful bird, as our cor
respondent says.
Two tanagers come to Washington, the
scarlet tanager, described by our corre
spondent, and the summer tanager. The
scarlet tanager is the red bird with black
wings and tail. (The female is green
ish). The summer tanager, much rarer,
is all red, without a crest, so that it
should never be confused with the male
cardinal. The female summer tanager
is a green bird.
Letters to the Editor
Tribute to England
And Her Valiant People.
To the Editor of The Star:
It is fortunate that neither the people
of Canada nor of the United States took
too seriously the declaration of Dorothy
Thompson in one of her recent syndi
cated articles that: “Our relations with
the British Empire and Commonwealth
are complicated by the fact that millions
of Americans still see the British as
‘Red Coats.’ ” A natural inference from
this statement is that there are “millions
of Americans” unfriendly to or at least
critical of the British Empire. The fault
with the statement is that it takes in
too much territory as well as too many
people.
For example: Canada is a member of
the British Commonwealth of Nations,
but, as Canadian visitors to the republic
gratefully will testify, nowhere in the
United States, either in official circles
or among the masses, is there any un
friendliness toward Canada or her people.
Striking proof of this is in the harmoni
ous relations that for over 100 years
have existed between the two countries,
while it will be recalled that there was
not only no protest in the United States
but. indeed, warm approval when Presi
dent Rooeevelt several years ago at the
convocation proceedings in Queen's Uni
versity, Kingston, Ontario, said: “The
Dominion of Canada is part of the
sisterhood of the British Empire. I give
you my assurance that the people of the
United States will not stand idly by if
domination of Canadian soil is threat
ened by any other empire.”
were, men. in. me reception given to
that declaration by the people of the
United States is striking proof that so
far as Canada is concerned the American
people see no specter of "Red Coats.”
And the same may be said of the Amer
ican feeling toward two other members
of the British Commonwealth—Australia,
where American and Australian soldiers
are even now fighting side by side, and
Australia's next-door neighbor in the
Pacific, New Zealand.
There is no desire in this article to
enter into any discussion as to how firm
a foundation there is for Miss Thomp
son’s statement. The intention here is
solely to present a few facts and figures
concerning England, her sacrifices and
her heroisms, in the hope that such a
presentation will soften the hearts of
some of Miss Thompson's "millions” and
make them perhaps a trifle more kindly
and tolerant in their judgment. Here,
then' are the facts (without any refer
ence whatever to England’s fighting
forces and their exploits), presented in
the hope that they may be charitably
received:
Already 50,000 Britons have been killed
in air raids; nearly 100,000 more have
been injured, while the property damage
runs into hundreds of millions of pounds.
Out of 33,000,000 people in Britain
between the ages of 14 and 65, 23,500,000
now are in full-time work for the nation.
The war costs Britain $60,000,000 a day.
The British budget for the year 1043-4
amounts to the staggering total of $22,
686,400,000, and of this huge amount no
less than 56 per cent will be raised by
taxation. The basic Income tax Is SO
per cent, or 10 shillings to the pound.
Income tax and surtax together reduce
an Income of $60,000 to $14,800, while It
would take an Income of $400,000 to yield
a net income, after tax, of $25,000.
1 As Justice Frankfurter ef the United
Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address of
the writer, although the use of
a pseudonym for publication is
permissible. The Star reserves
the right to edit all letters with
a view to condensation.
States Supreme Court recently pointed
out, “economic inequalities are strikingly
less in Britain than they are in the
United States. In all of Britain last year
there were only 80 persons to whom the
tax gatherers have left an Income of
$20,000."
In the matter of foodstuffs, food
rationing in Great Britain has been in
force since January. 1940, starting with
butter, sugar, bacon and eggs, and today
the only unrestricted foods are bread,
potatoes, seasonable vegetables and cer
tain fruits. Prewar consumption of eggs
per capita per month was 15; now it is
limited to four a month for each person.
The use of motor cars for private pur
poses has been totally prohibited—and
when they say “totally prohibited” they
mean just that.
Every able-bodied man in Britain who
works less than 60 hours a week and
every able-bodied woman without a child
in her care and working less than 55
hours a week have to undertake fire
watching up to 48 hours a month.
One million more acres of Britain's
grass land are planted for cultivation
this year, and pastures which have never
known the plow for centuries are now
under cultivation.
And so one might go on and on—how
In the 18 months ended July, 1942, the
production of fighting vehicles was mul
tiplied by four and since has been enor
mously increased; how in the same time
production of guns increased 4>/2 times
and has gone far beyond that since
then, while heavy bombers have multi
plied enormously.
Shipbuilding goes on apace and the
Nazi submarine menace is surely being
overcome. By September, 1942, naval
losses had been more than overcome.
Dunkirk was a miracle but no less
miraculous was the rearming and re
habilitation of England in the months
following the evacuation, with the heroic
people sacrificing both foot! and sleep to
restore their defenses. This good work
has continued ever since, with the result
that today the per capita output of mu
nitions in England is authoritatively de
clared to be second to that of no country
in the world.
In short, this is England's golden hour.
Politics is out ter the duration and there
are no longer any isolationists or ap
peasers. As a consequence, there is com
plete unity among themselves and with
their Allies in an all-out effort to win
the war.
And so the tale is told—told, in the
hope that some of Miss Thompson's
“millions,” having the facts before them,
will perhaps from this time on see, not
“Red Coats” in England but only "red
blooded,” brave souls fighting the good
light in superb co-operation with their
Allies, not alone for their own lives and
the lives of their dear ones, but for the
salvation of all mankind. Let us at
least hope so, and that this changed
point of view may come so that, with
victory assured, we in the United States
and in Canada and our Allies every
where may be justified in our faith that
God is still in His heaven.
*> W. R. GIVENS.
Haskin's Answers
To Questions
By Frederic J. Haskin.
A reader can get the answer to any
question of fact by writing The Eve
ning Star Information Bureau, Fred
eric J. Haskin, director, Washington,
D. C. Please inclose stamp for return
postage.
Q. Hoy many employes has the War
Department?—W. Ft. S.
A. According to a report by the United
States Civil Service Commission, March,
1943, the number of employes in the
entire service of the War Department is
1,369,736, of which 62,159 are employed
in the District of Columbia.
Q. What happened to the two Japa
nesse Ambassadors Nomura and Kurusu?
—C. S.
A. They left the United States for
Japan on the S. S. Gripsholm in June,
1942.
Q. How many houses could be built
from the wood in California's big tree
the General Sherman?—Y. D.
A. Sawed into boards this tree would
build about 40 five-room houses.
Puzzles, Tricks and Magic—A varied
collection that will appeal to all tastes
—to the dyed-in-the-wool puzzle fan
as well as the novice. It includes
catchy problems in mathematics, word
puzzles, enigmas, paper and continu
ous line puzzles, and simple magic
that any one can do. The solutions
to all problems and puzzles are given
in the back of the book. See how
agile you are mentally. Try some of
the puzzles at your next party. They
will provide endless fun. To secure
your copy inclose 10 cents in coin,
wrapped in this clipping, and mail to
The Star Information Bureau.
Name
Address
Q. When did Winston Churchill first
take up painting?—I,. G.
A. Mr. Churchill did not begin to
paint until his 40th year.
Q. In what Government department
is the room that is said to be the most
lavishly decorated in the world?—S. E. F.
A. This is said of the cash room in the
Treasury Department. The chamber Is
two stories in height and executed in
varicolored marble panels and trim. It
1s the showroom of the building and is
reputed to be one of the costliest in the
world.
Q. How great is the distance around
that portion of Europe held by Hitler
that has been fortified by him?—P. C. E.
A. The distance is some 8.000 miles,
extending from the northernmost tip of
Norway, southward to the boundary of
Spain, eastward to the Sea of Azov, and
northward from the Caucasus to Kirk
enes in Norway.
Q. Was Christopher Robin of the A.
A. Milne verses a real person?—E. L. H.
A. Christopher Robin is the son of the
author, grown now and himself a writer.
In his childhood he inspired a whole
series of verses, stories and plays, includ
ing the books on Winnie-the-Pooh.
Q. What is the cost of blowing an
automobile horn?—C. H. S.
A. The Automobile Manufacturers'
Association says that based on the aver
age life and cost of a battery, and assum
ing that the horn is blown 20 times a day
during the year, idle cost would be in the
neighborhood of some millionths of a
cent.
Q. Are there any coal mines in Rhode
Island?—E. M.
A. Coal was discovered at Philipsdale,
East Providence, R. I„ some years ago. It
is claimed that the mine contain# good
hard coal and can be worked profitably.
A coal mine is also located in Cranston,
near Providence, which has been worked
at intervals for many years, but never far
from the surface.
Q. What is the largest island in the
world?—V. T.
A. Greenland, with an area of 736.518
square miles. The island is so large that
I it equals in size all the 26 States east of
| the Mississippi River.
Q. Please explain what Is meant by a
“ship lane."—R. B.
A. A ship lane is a route across an
ocean between specific degrees of latitude
or longitude, in which all steamers
traveling in the same direction are sup
posed to keep in order to avoid collisions.
Q, Please describe the flag of Tunisia.
—M. E. G.
A. It is a red flag bearing in the mid
dle a w'hite globe in the arms of a cres
cent. Upon the globe is a red star. Ac
cording to legend, on the night that Con
stantinople fell a star appeared in the
crescent moon, and this became a sign of
the conqueror.
Q. How long have soybeans been
known outside the Orient?—L. McD.
A. Soybeans were sent from China to
France in 1740 and some were grown in
the Paris Botanic Garden. Benjamin
Franklin, while there, sent seeds to the
United States and urged that they be
given a trial. However, soybeans re
mained a curiosity for nearly a century.
Q. Where was King Albert I of Bel
gium killed?—D. Mcl.
A. He was killed by a fall from the
Marches des Dames, Belgium, in 1934.
King Albert was an excellent moun
taineer and a particularly brilliant rock
climber.
Growth
In youthful days when I would pass
An infant softly slumbering,
New as a clover on the grass,
Small as a blossom of the spring;
I wondered.could he ever grow
Tall as perennial shrub or flower,
And then, look down on them, would
know
He had outstripped their summer
hour.
But now I know when flesh and bone
Grow taller than the shrubs of
May,
And when the body’s growth is won,
The mind and spirit lift each day
Sunward, to height of oak or ash;
High as a tower—however proud—
Till man can touch a star, or wash
His hands in water of a cloud.
JOHN RICHARD MORELAND