Detroit evening times., October 15, 1945, REDLINE, Page 6-C, Image 6

About Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
"W ifhoiil ini|»;iiriii£ lli«* effieienl opera
tiori «>l oil I ii«* I minions of flu* govern
iiii*iii. I have uml wifhoiif i*i*ns»iii|f
nrossoil on in I lull «!iron ion (constructive econ-
.Jtu
Air Power
And National Security
\ T A DINNER of the Wings Club
** in New York City two eminent
commanders in the late war—Gen.
Carl Spaatz and Lt. Gen. James H.
Doolittle warned that AIR
POWER has become a decisive
weapon which must be given its
proper rank and rating in the na
tion’s defense program.
These speakers said that—
-I—Apart from any use that may be
1 made of atomic bombs, “conti •
nent-to-continent” bombing is here
and consequently the United States
must have air armaments and per
sonnel ready to “defend our home
territory from sudden destruction”;
and
O—The situation is such that the
AIR COMMAND must be given,
parity with the land and sea com
mands, not only in the strategic
sphere but also in the political or
ganization of our defense structure.
The two generals spoke as rep
resentatives of the Army Air Force,
and their considered words could
mean only that in their experienced
judgment the Army Air Force should
no longer be administered as merely
a branch or bureau in the war de
partment.
And there is ample reason for
assuming that the civilian authority
as well as the military authority in
the war department is fully prepared
to support this view before Congress
and the people.
* « #
f THE development can perhaps be
accomplished by establishing the
cabinet office of secretary of aviation,
with the secretary of war and the
secretary of the navy remaining at
the head of land and naval forces,
respectively.
This would divorce army aviation
from other army services, which
raises the question of what arrange
ment should be made for naval avia
tion, especially as there must be
effective liaison between the two air
forces.
Probably, therefore, a better solu
tion might be found in creating a
unified department of national de
fense in which the army, the navy
and a combined air force would be
equal components.
There are, of course, differences
in army and navy air operations,
such as land bases for the one and
carriers for the other, but these dif
ferences simply mean special train-
6-C
THI DITftOIT TIMES
Full Employment
' • Oc*, 1941
ing and co ordination of activities
which our commanders are well able
to provide.
In a combined air force, in fact,
essential training could be simplified,
duplication of facilities avoided and
millions of dollars in public expendi
ture saved with increased efficiency
all around.
One point which is of vital and
emergency importance is this:
Our existing air forces are being
demobilized.
During the war there were 2,300,*
000 men in the army air force alone.
They are being mustered out at
the rate of 5,000 a day.
Our future air defense must be
based upon existing organization:
and this positively cannot be done,
nor indeed could an adequate new
air defense be established, until the
government adopts a new stable and
comprehensive air defense policy.
Air commanders must know what
the national policy is—and what out
posts and areas must be defended—
before they can begin to determine
what personnel there must be, what
facilities must be had, and what
training must be provided.
It would be perilous, and it might
be suicidal, to leave this issue in
doubt.
* « «
A IR supremacy may not win wars
** —but neither can wars be won
without air supremacy.
Our security is immediately at
stake.
The Hearst newspapers have con
sistently contended that the United
States should be the dominant air
power of the world in order to pro
tect our national territory and as
sure our national existence.
Atomic bombing, rocket bombing,
planes traveling at the speed of
sound, and jet propulsion planes are
among the most potent “new weap
ons” of our day.
America can have these better
and more profusely than any other
country: but first of all America
must have A MODERN AIR DE
FENSE POLICY and a fixed de
termination that this policy shall
never lag.
The Hearst newspapers, there
fore, support completely the position
taken by the army air commanders
and call upon Congress to act
promptly for the sake and safety of
the nation.
nmy). Till* policy Han encouraged enterprise,
mode possible* Ihe highest rate of wages
which have ever existed, returned large
profits, brought to the homes of the people
Westbrook
Pegler
—Fair
Enough
I AM the man who writ®*
* those httl®, lightsome edito
rials about the gradual disap
pearance of the covered bridge
and the litlle red schoolhouse,
crows, blue jays and wood
chucks, hog-kilHng time and the
sugar hush and, in season, about
pussy willows, gerttian, golden
rod and snow.
My copy is shorter than the
whither-are-we-drifting essays
which have to be profound and
elaborately other-handed or in
conclusive in accordance with
the tradition of liberalism.
My function is to stir in you
a little feeling of dear nostalgia
most days, if you read down to
me. or, as often as I can, to
turn up the corners of your soul
in a quiet, homely smile.
After they scare you or make
you indignant, 1 am supposed to
quiet you down.
t • •
I/RANKLY, however, I get
1 pretty sick of it all because
if they would only give me a
chance I could write about
Molotov, Y a 1 t a, full employ
ment. reconversion and inflation
with the best of them. I read
all the other editorials all the
time and the butehers’-paper
weeklies that cost 15 cents and
most of the books arguing this
way and that way. which is
exactly the way the heavy-duty
editorial writers get their in
formation and opinions.
Many is the time I have
drawn some of them into argu
ments in the saloon near the
office after work, just to show
that I am smart enough to
stand them down.
I know all the intellectual
words, too. such as implementa
tion. dynamism, esoteric’ and
cartelize which are standard
equipment in the murder de
partment.
On the othpr hand, T don’t
know any more about covered
bridges, weeds, maple syrup and
snow than anybody else. *
0 0 0
I HAPPENED to get started
* in this specialty way hack
there when the publisher had
the idea of offering $5 a crack
for little whiplash or shirttail
editorials called "bnghte ners”
to close up the editorial con
tent each day.
That was about the summer
that I first saw a covered
bridge so I did him one on
that and rang the bell and
thereafter for several months
I made S 3 or $lO extra almost
every week, rekindling memories
for the world weary.
Then they put me on the
editorial pay roll as a regular
hand with the understanding,
on my part, anyway, that if
I had the stuff they would let
me , work my way forward
through the country elections,
Ihen the mayoralties, then up
inio such issues as w'ould peace
and what to do about the
atomic bomb.
I sit in on the editorial con
ference every day where we
hash things over and the edi
torial director hands out the
assignments.
Three chief editorial writers
have come and gone, one tnto
the advertising business, one
into the treasury department
as some kind of counsellor on
public relations and another
into the OWI. and. though
there have been some promo
tions— not me.
In 1930 they let me do one
on the World Series in relation
to international rivalry which
was reprinted in a textbook on
journalism and brought me
$20.80. including two royalty
checks for $3.60 and $2.20, re
spectively, spread over 12 years,
and when Louis knocked out
Schmeling that time I let my
self go with something really
big about the fallacy of the
master race and they shoved it
up forward just behind the
leading editorial.
Rut always they have dropped
me hack to my old spot, where
the animal act would he if this
were an old-time vaudeville
bill.
• • •
\ COUPLE of weeks ago I
held up my hand as the as
signments were being passed
and said. "It is a mailer nf
transcendent importance that
the Palestine question—.’*
That was as far as I got.
Turning to the chief editorial
writer he jabbed a finger at him
and said. "You—Palestine.” and
then, turning on me. with the
same gesture, "You—the double
breasted gas-bill.”
Here I was. walking up and
down 14 stories every day with
the elevator men on strike, and
Bevin calling Molotov a Nazi,
and the whole world is on fire
and I am supposed to write
about a duck.
Do you call that freedom of
of the press? Have I got free
dom of expression ? Is th a t
what we have been fighting
for*
I demand to he heard. I will
he heard. Hear ye. hear ye,
hear me. tomorrow—on weed
seeds falling under sear leaves
and renewing the endless rycle
of life,
l to tiai Insw »-n« t*«
Civilization and the Atom
Following is the text in port, of n
rodio address delivered by Rupert Hughes
on Sept. 1:
ANNOUNCER —The National Broadcast inf
Company presents Rupert Hughes . . .
soldier, novelist, historian and humorist—
Mr. Hughes—l remember one furious
debate I had in 192(J with an important
writer who w*ent about the country lecturing
that no country could withstand the dev
astation of another war with the inevitably
improved and enlarged bombardments from
the sky.
Well, as it turned out, the war to make
the world safe for democracy was followed
by the collapse of most of the democracies
and the establishments of dictatorships that
rivaled the worst in human history. Musso
lini’s was the mildest. He put only a few to
death and only a few thousands in prison.
His work was child’s play compared to
the deeds of the two far-greater dictators,
each of whom brought about the total sup
pression of freedom in his own country, and
ended the lives of millions of his own people.
» » #
THESE horrible returns to the dark ages
were followed by World War 11, which
seemed to make World War I look like a
pillow fight in a nursery alongside it.
By rights. World War II should have
destroyed civilization. Yet there are un
doubtedly millions more people in the world
today than there were in 1939. even after
the frightful loss of life. The sciences have
been enormously advanced. Millions of men
and women have acquired technical knowledge
and skill and supported themselves at the
highest wages ever known.
THE CLIMAX OF THE WAR WAS ONE
OF THE SCIENTIFIC TRIUMPHS OF ALL
TIME. THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
OF RELEASING THE INTERNAL ENERGY/
OF THE ATOM. S
I am not trying to minimize or ridicule
the horrible facts. I am aeally trying t* be
optimistic and reassure myself, if nobody »lse,
that the atomic bomb does not threaten the
end of civilization.
In the United States News, David Law
rence published two pages of resolutions be
ginning with The Hague Convention of 1899,
which scathingly denounced any ruthlessness
whatsoever toward the unarmed citizen’s
“person, property, or honor.”
The Hague Convention of 1907 forbade
the bombardment by any means of unde
fended towns, villages, dwellings or buildings,
and the United States signed this, as did most
of the other nations.
* * »
IN 1937 the American embassy denounced
the Japanese bombardment of Nanking
in China and demanded the discontinuance of
all such activities.
The next year the secretary of state ex
coriated such slaughter of civilian populations,
particularly women and children, as barbarous
and “in violation of the most elementary
standards of humane conduct developed as an
essential part of modern civilization.”
The next year, 1939, President Roosevelt
appealed to the European powers not to bomb
civilians, because, he said, it “sickened the
hearts of every civilized man and woman and
has profoundly shocked the conscience of
humanity.”
On Dec. 2. 1939, he appealed to American
manufacturers not to export airplanes or
materials to nations guilty of such unprovoked
assaults.
Six months later he said “the bombing of
helpless and unprotected civilians is a tragedy
which has aroused the horror of all mankind.
I recall with pride that the United States con
sistently has taken the lead in urging that
this inhuman practice he prohibited.”
Before long we were exporting bomba and
planes. Ry and by we were boasting that our
bombers were turning German and Japanese
Knowledge Test
1— South Africa remembers the
great leader of the Boers:
<a> Paul Kruger; (b) Rud
yard Kipling; (c) Clemens
Wenzel.
2 The Prince of Monaco is an
amateur ichthyologist. Would
you be apt to find him in
terested m (ai stamps; (h)
fish; (ci coins?
3 A shofar was ia»,lhe chariot
racer; (hi the marriage
feast; (c) the synagogue
horn ?
4 How long a trip would it he
from one end to the other of
the Suez Canal? «ai more
lhan 100 miles; (hi more
than 150 miles; tei more
than 200 miles.
5 If you decide to live in the
Basque country, would you
settle in the (a) Cumberland
Mountains; (h) Pyrenees
Mountains; (c) Caucasus
Mountains?
6 Make a choice: (a) Does
bowlder or bolder mean a
rock? (b) Does hew or hue
mean color? (c) Does can
non or canon mean law?
(d) Does serge or surge
mean cloth? (e) Does session
or cession mean meeting?
Brain Game
I—To what important use was
the Navajo Indian language
put during the war?
2 The Big Red, the Quakers,
the Panthers, the Wildcats
and the Golden Bears are
nickname* for five college
football team* Can you
identify four of. ihe five?
S—James HUton* latest book
What Do You Know?
is (a) “So W¥ll Remem
bered”; (b) “The Black
Rose”; (c) "A Lion Is in the
Streets.”
4 Despite his long absence on
military duty, can you guess
who a recent British poll of
film fans found to be the
No. 1 male movie siar?
5- True or false: (at The Roy
Seouls of America were or
ganized in the twentieth
century; (hi There are more
than 360,000 miles of sub
marine cable laid under the
oceans hut they are no
where laid at a greater depth
than one mile.
TO THE EDITOR:
YUfHO is so selfish that he
dares write to Congress ask
ing that his 18-year-old son not
be drafted? Has he forgotten
that our sweethearts, husbands
and sons were 18 just a couple
of years ago? Does he realize
that some of our husbands
haven’t even seen their three
year-old babies?
Your 18-year-old sons aren’t
asked to give their lives; just a
little time. If they were old
enough to fight, they are old
enough to belong to the army
of occupation.
Why not release those who
have had combat duty and give
u« a chance to live?
For 20 months I have lived
only for letters
MM. E. RANK ft.
the greatest economle benefits they ever
enjoyed, and given to the country as n
whole an unexampled era of prosperity/*
Calvin Coolldqp . / •
cities Into rubble that buried thousands of
citizens. W« omitted all mention of women
and children.
« • •
FINALLY, it was the United States, of all
nations, that perfected the atomic bomb
and annihilated two whole cities in two tre
mendous seconds.
In World War I the airplane and the Zep
pelin made their appearance and wreaked
such havoc that they provoked countless peo
ple to predict the end of war, because cities
would be rendered uninhabitable and the
strongest fortresses would crumble. Others
went so far as to predict the end of all navies,
and nearly everybody was convinced of this
but the navy men.
Well, the battle wagons have done their
bit once more. Even those almost helpless
flounderers, those floating airfields, the car
riers, have stood off the frenzied attacks even
of the suicide planes. They have been riddled
and battered, but most of them have made
their way to drydocks under their own power
and come back looking for more.
NOW THE ATOMIC BOMB HAS ENDED
ALL NAVIES AGAIN. BUT IT IS SAFE TO
SAY THAT SOME FORMS OF MAN-OF
WAR WILL BE RIGHT IN THERE FIGHT
ING AS LONG AS THEY CAN FIND AN
OCEAN TO FIGHT ON.
In fact, the navy has already announced
that it has a radar gun that will pick out an
atomic bomb 90 miles away and keep its
deadly eye on it until it has shattered that
atom-shattering bomb and bombers.
There is the eternal race between attack
and defense. As soon as an armor-piercing
shell was invented, men invented a thicker or
harder armor. And the race went on with
one now ahead, and then the other.
• « •
IN CIVIL WAR people laughed at iron war
ships till the Monitor and the Merrimac
fought each other to a standstill. Before the
Monitor got into the fight, people were saying
that the Merrimac, with its iron rails laid
along its sloping sides, had put an end to
navies.
Centuries before, when gunpowder came
into use with cannon, it was plain to many
people that war had finally come to an end.
For who could stand up against “villainous
saltpeter?”
Before that, the long spears In row'* of
five that constituted the phalanx had put an
end to warfare. There seemed to be no de
fense against it till somebody thought of
sending the cavalry round to the rear. The
phalanx was ridiculously vulnerable to an
attack from behind. There seems to be al
ways a simple defense to the most complex
attack.
Throughout this long and hideous war,
not one nation has used gas. Yet nearly eve*-y
nation has had a big supply in reserve and of
a far more deadly nature than any used in
World War I.
There is much talk about keeping the
atomic a secret. But both Germany and
Japan were on the brink of achieving the
same thing. And from now on any nation
can make it. It will be expensive. Ours cost
us $2,000,000,000 and the toil of thousands of
workers for years. But such inventions are
speedily understood by other scientists and
often greatly improved, simplified and cheap
ened.
IN THE NEXT WAR IT MIGHT WELL
BE THAT EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE
ATOMIC BOMBS WOULD
USE THEM. JUST AS IN THIS WAR NO
BODY USED GAS TO DESTROY ENEMIES.
And that brings me to the bitter end, the
very bitter end, of this hateful problem. Will
the atomic bomb destroy civilization if an
other war starts?
That question, “Will another war end civil
ization?” might be answered in Yankee fash
ion by another question, “Has civilization ever
been really begun ?”
Letters to Editor
6 During the war the Office of
Strategic Services carried
out our far-flung war espi
onage, often behind enemy
lines. Can you name the
man who directed this serv
ice?
7 Even if a perpetual motion
machine were to be devised,
why would you be unable to
get power from it ?
8— Among the prisoner* of war
taken by U. S. force* in Eu
rope were some anti-Nazis.
What use i* being made of
these particular prisoners to
day hy the government ?
(Answer* on Opposite Page)
TO THE EDITOR:
r T*HE representative* of the
A American people must put a
stop to the criminal squander
ing of the taxpayers' money, or
our country will be laid waste
by an “atomic” explosion.
Your editorial entitled “The
British Mission” discloses the
most brazen effrontery on rec
ord; it is almost unbelievable
that our British cousins can
have the gall to ask our gift
house for more, after our colos
sal generosity.
Our regard and respect for a
nation with a glorious past is
fast waning, and it is dawning
upon us that the English people
have become a gaqa of shame
less chiselers and/ftgars.
lEtrWHITE.
1411 w. Cotigres*.
BAIIKOWS I
—World
In Review
'T'HE military occupation of
Japan by American troope
of the Eighth and Sixth armies,
under the supreme Allied com
mander, Gen. Mar Arthur. has
proceeded peacefully and in an
orderly way, and with the co
operation of the Japanese peo
ple and their provisional gov
ernment under the emperor s
authority.
It has great promise of suc
cess.
There is no lack of informa
tion, either an to American pur
poses in Japan, nor how thes#
purposes are coming on, for th«
headquarters’ communiques ar*
clear and reliable, and there ar*
many well-qualified war corre
spondents in Japan whAse free
dom to communicate the new*
is well nigh complete.
War censorship practically
has been lifted.
Allied representatives ara
not merely permitted in Japan,
they are welcomed and offered
hospitality.
Furthermore, hv express ac
tion of Gen. MacArthur, tha
ban upon the freedom of tha
Japanese to express
and to organize themselves
litically, has been removed.
Japanese political prisoner*
of the former military regime
have been released.
ft * •
BY CONTRAST With Japan
the situation in parts of
China, Mongolia. Manchuria and
Korea is obscured by lack of
i news.
The dificulty seems to lie in
the uncertain actions of Soviet
; Russia, the continuance of Rus
sian warfare after the armistice
was concluded,.the possible pur
suit by Moscow of political ends
that are contrary to Allied
agreements, and in the blackout
on what is going on in territory
occupied by the Reri armie«
l After Tokyo had surrendered
to the Allied demands as ex
j pressed by Washington, and
after the Japanese armies, on
the mainland of Asia, were '-on
s e q u e n t I y demoralized. Red
forces rapidly spread over Man
churia. took possession of tha
line of railway leading south m
the Yellow Sea at Port Arthur
and Dairen, or Dalny, and aj>-
pear to he in complete pos
session of Manchuria.
Likewise, a Red Army moved
into Korea and occupied ih*
i greater part of that country
i almost to the suburbs of it*
former capital, the city of Seoul.
It was lately reported that
Moscow claims military juris
-1 diction over all of Korea down
to the 38th parallel of latitude.
Whether or not this was agreed
to at the Potsdam conference
or is covered hy any other Al
lied agreement, is not clear.
...
EH’RTHERMORE. certain for-B
* eign authorities upon
■ Russia, and they have not been
i unsympathetic to Russian jm
j perialist aims, informed us,
many months ago. that as f*r
eastern spoils of war. Moscow
would demand the cession of
| Korea. Manchuria. Mongolia
and certain provinces of North
China.
This doe* not seem as prob
able now as it did then, but ju«t
as Russian military occupation
of the Balkans, of Poland, and
of other parts of Eastern Europe
has created great difficulties in
the way of a just European
peace, so Russian occupations of
foreign territories In the Far
East seem likely to complicate
the situation and make difficult
a general peace treaty which
w’ould leave the people of this
part of the world in possession
of that which is rightfully
theirs.
The United States has now
moved two armed forces into
parts of this territory to which
Moscow may be disposed to lay
claim, or attempt to set up a*
* sphere* of influence” under
Soviet authority
...
IT NEED not he feared that
* these American occupation*
are going to incite renewed war
j fare
They are too strong in point
of discipline, arms, and effi
ciency to invite attack from
; anyone.
Our government has sent
them info China in response to
strong pleas of the Chinese
government itself.
Tbeir ostensible purpose is to
assist in the surrender of the,
i Japanese troops in this
j w ho do not want to surrender
to the Communist forces of
i North China, or to any other
armed forces whatever, if they
can surrender to Americans.
The capitulation of all Japa
nese forces in North Chine
should now be accomplished
readily, and the announced pur
pose of this American mlTltaxw
occupation can he achieve*
promptly.
Rut unfortunately there i*
still the possibility of unreron
rilahle differences between
Russian aim* and American
• aims in thia part of Asia.