The midland journal., September 04, 1942, Image 2

About The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947

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WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Brazil’s Declaration of War on Axis
Aids Western Hemisphere Solidarity;
‘Largest’ U. S. Convoy Reaches Britain;
Marines Score Again in Pacific Drive
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed In these eolnmns, they are those of
Western Newspaper Union’s news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Released by Western Newspaper Union. .
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V. S. fliers in London celebrate after the first raid on Hitler’s Euro
pean arsenals. Target of the first raid was Rouen, France, which was
left in flames. Center: Holding the wire from the first bomb dropped
by a Flying Fortress is Capt. William Musselwhite of Jackson, Miss.
LARGEST CONVOY:
Arrives in England
Shape of things to come in Europe
was clearly etched by the announce
ment that the largest U. S. troop con
voy ever attempted in this war had
landed safely in Great Britain. Mil
itary experts quickly viewed this
move as a speed-up gesture in Unit
ed Nations’ second front plans.
Included in the convoy were
“many thousands” of soldiers and
airmen plus vast quantities of war
materials. Troops were swiftly dis
embarked and scattered to the in
terior of England, there to join oth
er units already in training for the
attack on German held Europe.
“Special units” and “task forces”
in the convoy added weight to the
theory that U. S. troops will play an
increasing role in future Commando
raids or other action on the conti
nent.
MORE ACTION:
In the Pacific
As U. S. forces were continuing
their mopping up activities in the'
Solomon islands word from another
sector of the Pacific indicated that
the marines had done it again. This
time it was the Gilbert islands that
/elt the power of a marine detach
ment as it smashed a Jap seaplane
base, radio installations and stores
on the island of Makin, island in the
Gilbert group. This action came
in the form of a hit and run attack.
Caught entirely by surprise, the
Japs were so confused that bomb
ers from other bases actually de
stroyed their Jap planes on the
ground.
Meanwhile all was not quiet in the
Solomons, scene of the earlier and
more extensive action by the U. S.
forces. Here the marines were busy
cleaning out the Japs that retreated
to the hills after initial successes
were scored by the American at
tackers.
Trouble for the marines came
from another source but an official
communique from Pearl Harbor re
vealed that it had been treated with
typical marine thoroughness. This
was a night attack by fast boats of
700 Japs who stormed the marine
held positions from the sea. After
a night and day of fighting, 670 Japs
were dead and the other 30 were
captured. Marine losses were 28
killed and 72 injured.
WAR PRODUCTION:
An Important Date
Straight from the source that
should know—the War Production
board—the nation learned how it
was doing in the battle of the as
sembly lines. Donald Nelson, WPB
chief, told the U. S. frankly where
it stood. It amounted to this: War
production is ahead in some catego
ries, behind schedule in others. Big
gest problems are shortages of ma
terials and balancing of output
among various agencies and service
branches. These, he said, are get
ting vigorous attention.
Such production also now has a
date objective. Nelson said that
U. S. war production is being
planned to provide the maximum
impact on the enemy by July 1,
1943. This does not mean that our
offensive will necessarily reach its
peak by that date but this is the
definite strategic goal of production
and all production will be gauged
by the one question: “How much
will it contribute to the war effort by
July 1, 1943?”
ELECTRIC POWER:
Less for Civilians
In a move to readjust its war
time power expansion program the
War Production board has halted or
suspended work on 85 public and
private power projects. In addition,
the WPB assigned such low priority
ratings to 28 federal projects that
completion probably will be post
poned until after the war, unless
new demands arise. The WPB said
that “civilian inconvenience and
sacrifice must be expected.”
BRAZIL AT WAR:
First in South America
Angered by months of Axis aggres
sion, Brazil became the first South
American nation to declare war
upon Germany and Italy, thus swell
ing the ranks of the United Nations
to 29. Brazil’s declaration of a state
of war climaxed a week filled with
mass demonstrations against the
Axis sinking of five Brazilian ships
with the loss of approximately 600
lives.
The state of war did not include
Japan, although Brazil broke diplo
matic relations with all three Axis
nations last January.
The declaration of war cleared the
way for immediate measures to
secure the protection of what has
been termed the most vulnerable
land area on the Atlantic side of
the Western hemisphere—the Natal
bulge only 1,600 miles from Dakar
in Africa. Military men long have
pointed to this sector as the place
where Axis forces would strike first
if they were able to consolidate their
African and European positions.
Brig. Gen. Amaro Soares Bitten
court, Brazilian military attache to
the United States, said that Brazil
“is defending the continent,” and
that “we must congregate and re
unite all our military elements for
the defense of the northeast, the
strategical point on the bulge of
Brazil for invasion by the Axis.”
RUSSIA:
Bloody Battle
Good news resulting from Allied
offensives in the Pacific was offset
by continued reversals on the Rus
sian front. As the Nazi pincer move
ment drove relentlessly toward
Stalingrad, the official Soviet com
munique admitted new crossings of
the Don river.
“In the area northeast of Kotel
nikovo,” the communique said, “our
troops fought intensive battles with
large tank and infantry forces. On
various sectors the Germans, at the
cost of tremendous losses, managed
to advance.”
Fresh Nazi reinforcements,
brought out of the reserve pool or
shifted from other sectors, were
thrown into the bloody battle for
Stalingrad. The reckless disregard
of losses gave evidence of Nazi des
peration for a knockout blow to the
Red army.
Stalingrad is a rich prize. Its
prime importance is in its location
on the Volga river, along which the
oil of Baku and Allied supplies
shipped through the Persian gulf
reach central Russia. In addition,
the city’s huge plants produce tanks
and war supplies, and its oil re
fineries add to its strategic value.
COMMANDO RAID:
‘Official Success *
As Allied service chiefs studied
the results of the Commando raid
on Dieppe, official sources declared
that the operation fulfilled its objec
tive. Valuable information on Nazi
defenses was secured.
The raid, employing British and
Canadian Commandos supported by
American Rangers, was a nine-hour
battle on the Nazi-fortified coastal
defenses at Dieppe, midway between
Calais and Le Havre. Initial Ger
man estimates placed the invader
force at 15,000, but the exact num
ber remained an Allied secret. The
force carried tanks and artillery
with them.
“As the result of heavy fighting
. . . our casualties were high but
not unduly so in view of the opera
tion,” the British communique said.
“The navy lost a fairly large num
ber of landing craft because naval
craft did not leave the French coast
until it was known that every possi
ble man had been taken off.”
The raiders were reported to have
destroyed ammunition dumps, a six
gun shore artillery battery, a large
anti-aircraft battery and a radio lo
cation station.
Reports from Vichy placed British
dead at 500.
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MIDLAND JOURNAL, RISING SUN, MP.
ALLOTMENT:
Speed-Up
Dependents of enlisted men In the
U. S. artned forces will be getting
their allotments earlier than Novem
ber 1 under the terms of a bill
passed by congress and now signed
by the President.
After the President had affixed his
signature the navy said it would is
sue such allotment checks “very
soon” and the army announced that
their payments would start early in
September.
Originally these payments would
have started November 1, although
applications filed early would be re
troactive to June 1. Basic payment
to dependents is SSO per month, serv
icemen contributing $22 and the
army or navy S2B.
It could not be determined how
many applications for such pay
ments had been made to the army
or navy. It was estimated how
ever that about half the men in the
service would have dependents re
ceiving the allotments.
YOUR DRAFT STATUS:
May Change Soon
Married men and men now de
ferred because they work in essen
tial industry will be called in the
draft in the not distant future. That
was the statement of Brig. Gen.
Lewis B. Hershey, national direc
tor of selective service, before a
well-packed forum at a Chicago uni
versity.
In respect to men deferred be
cause of war work, Gen. Hershey
said: “You just can’t go on defer
ring a man for work reasons alone
if you can find an older man, a wom
an, or a physically handicapped per
.ft.-.
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BRIG. GEN. LEWIS B. HERSHEY
Work reasons alone aren’t enough.
son to take that man’s place. It’s
going to be necessary to reclassify
those 2A’s and 2B’s (war-work de
ferments) and necessary means
just that, necessary. Just because
they are in war industry is no rea
son for permanent deferment. The
industrialists will simply have to
train substitutes.”
He was also asked about the pros
pects for 3A’s—deferred because of
dependencies.
“The first in order are the so
called “grandmother cases,” the
men with second-class dependents
—grandparents, mothers, brothers,
step-brothers and so on. I think
they’re under the light right now. As
sure as September 1 comes around
—well, obviously, those, fellows are
next.
“And the men with wives only are
just as obviously next after that.
Then would come the men with
wives and children, and the question
there seems to be what is the de
gree of dependency?”
COFFEE, OVERALLS:
One Down; the Other Up
The possibilities of coffee ration
ing appeared more imminent with
the government’s order to restrict
deliveries to dealers to 65 per cent
of last year’s deliveries as com
pared with the present monthly quo
ta of 75 per cent.
The decrease in coffee deliveries
was but one of several actions which
will bring the war ever closer to
Mr. and Mrs. John Public.
Increased employment has result
ed in steps by the War Production
board to make cotton looms turn
out more rugged fabrics needed for
serviceable work clothes.
The theater-going public may have
reduced fare in the not so distant
future. Operators of movie and
stage theaters were warned by WPB
that shortages of materials would
make it increasingly difficult to keep
all show houses open.
MISCELLANY:
COMMANDER: An ace of World
War I, Brig. Gen. Clayton L. Bis
sell, was appointed commander of
U. S. army air forces in China, Bur
ma and India.
IMPROVED: Returning from an
official tour of Alaska, Sen. Mon C.
Wallgren of Washington announced
himself “much improved by the im
proved military situation” in the
Aleutians.
SUNK: American submarines,
hammering at Japan’s extended Pa
cific communication lines, sank four
and damaged two more enemy ships.
Two cargo ships and a large trans
port were sunk in the western Pa
cific. A large merchant ship was
sunk off the Aleutians.
TEAM: Henpr Kaiser, western
shipbuilding wizard, and Howard
Hughes, noted round-the-world flier,
have announced they are joining in a
program to build a fleet of 500 “fly
ing freighters” to carry important
war supplies to the fighting fronts
in all parts of the world.
“YOU brought out an important
* point in connection with Carl
Hubbell,” writes Old Timer, "that
I don’t think you stressed enough.
This was about Hubbell after 20
years of pitching, 15 years as a big
leaguer, still trying to learn some
thing new or something better.
“I always knew that Carl Hubbell
was one of the smartest pitchers
in baseball. This
1 1 even smarter than
I thought he was.
.'-■PI For the great ma
■MLvjg those who are above
j the average in skill,
think they know
r are no longer inter
ested in learning
® something new and
Carl Hubbell something better.
“This is a great
human weakness. Too many think
they know enough when no one
knows much. Especially in these
days no one knows nearly enough.
“What a fine thing It would be to
have many more people adopting
Carl Hubbell’s method of still trying
to learn after so many years at
the top.”
The Meager Minority
This happens to be 100 per cent
true. We’ll take the argument back
to sport.
Those who happen to lack cer
tain qualifications in the way of skill
or knack, get discouraged too eas
ily and give up.
They either lack the determina
tion to keep trying or they fail to
understand how much they might
learn from others that would carry
them out of the rut.
Many of those who happen to be
rigged out with speed or skill or
the winning knack take it for grant
ed they are approaching the super
man class and so need no further
instruction or improvement.
There never was a human being
who knew it all, or anything even
approaching the ultimate.
You’ll find that Cobb and Tilden
were still experimenting, studying,
working on new angles after more
than twenty years of championship
competition.
We could also name a number of
others who stopped learning quickly
and showed no particular improve
ment in later years.
They had nothing to learn from
coaches or trainers.
Old timers were jokes. They al
ready had the answers.
Sarazen Speaks
“One of the big thrills I’ve gotten
out of golf,” Gene Sarazen says, “is
this—l’ve learned something every
year I’ve played.
“I’ve found out that things 1
thought were important 20 years ago
are not so important after all. I’ve
found other tilings I payed little at
tention to meant a lot.
“Hagen was always a great guy in
this respect. He was always trying
to learn something
that might improve
his game. After he
had been Open |||||||S Mm
him one day taking
a lesson, or at least
from Harry Vardon y||
certain type of shot. | JPJH
Walter never |Fj W.
thought he knew it
all, or any big part Walter Hagen
of it.
“I’ve tried to learn something that
would help my play for the last ten
or fifteen years. I thought as a kid
I knew most of it.
“It was only when I began to find
out how little I really knew that I
started winning again after a lapse.
You get a lot of foolish and useless
advice. But here and there you
can pick up something that will help
a lot.”
Walter Camp and Pudge
Years ago Walter Camp told me
an interesting experience he had
had with Pudge Heffelfinger, a foot
ball star who lasted over 30 years.
“Pudge was so good,” Camp said,
“that I was afraid he would be an
other know-it-all. In place of that
he kept coming to me for more ad
vice on guard play. I showed him
three new variations. Later on he
came back and told me he had
learned four new angles. One of
these was the possibility of the run
ning guard. How many people know
that Pudge Heffelfinger had worked
out and developed the correct meth
od of the running guard around 1889
or 1890?”
All I know is that as late as 1921
or 1922 Heffelfinger, then 53 years
old, kept telling Bo McMillin, then
22, to speed up his start and give
him a chance to lead that interfer
ence. Ask 80.
“The more you know, the easier
any game is,” an old-time trainer
said recently. “You can save your
self so much and last so much long
er. You can often handle superior
physical power and even greater
natural skill by knowing more than
your rival does. But this can only
come from trying to learn every
thing you can as you go along.
!|IwHLJ*
LLMIMn —l mirTir.il
Washington, D. C.
IMPROVED NAVAL POSITION
Behind the Solomon islands battle
are some optimistic naval facts, en
tirely aside from the announcement
of victory. These facts had to be
very carefully considered even be
fore U. S. naval chiefs started to
invade the Solomons.
One of these naval facts is that
the Japs have suffered very severe
losses in cruisers. Although it has
escaped public notice, U. S. forces
have been bumping off this fast, im
portant type of warship with deadly
regularity, so that Jap cruiser
strength is now cut at least in half,
perhaps more.
Another known naval fact is that
the Japs have lost approximately
half of their airplane carriers. And
with air power what it is today, this
is the type of vessel they can least
afford to lose.
On the American side of the pic
ture is the fact that U. S. repairs
of ships sunk or damaged at Pearl
Harbor have been miraculously
swift.
All this obviously was taken into
consideration before the United
States started a major engagement
and the offensive in the South Pa
cific. For Admiral King had to cal
culate the risk of the Jap admirals
rushing a large force to the Solomon
islands.
Simultaneously he also had to fig
ure the risk of a Jap attack on vari
ous other vital points—Midway,
Alaska, Hawaii, even the continen
tal United States.
Topl admirals these days do not
take chances. Not when the fate
of a nation depends on them. There
fore, it requires only a mathemati
cian to figure that the scale of Amer
ican strength in the Pacific has
turned. It reached its low ebb just
after Pearl Harbor, when the navy
was unable to do anything about the
Philippines, Singapore, or Java.
But now the Battle of Midway has
shown that Hawaii and the West
coast can be defended by land-based
planes. No Jap ship dares come
near land-based planes without com
mitting suicide.
This leaves a reinforced fleet to
operate in the Pacific. Top naval
men are not doing any crowing yet.
But at least the naval picture seems
to counterbalance some of the bad
news from Russia—which is going
to get a lot worse.
* • •
BURIED SILVER
Ten years ago, President Roose
velt and Cordell Hull held a series
of discussions with the foreign min
isters of Europe in preparation for
the London Economic conference, at
which one of the chief proposals of
the United States was world use of
silver.
At these conferences, the late Sen
ator Key Pittman, of the great sil
ver state of Nevada, droned through
a regular 45 minute lecture on sil
ver which American experts knew
almost by heart and which put Hjal
mar Schacht, German finance min
ister, to sleep. After Pittman had
finished, the German minister woke
up with a start, hastily brushed
aside silver.
“We accept silver. Now this is
what we want in return.”
The London Economic conference
was a dismal failure. But the Unit
ed States had committed itself so
completely to silver in these pre
liminary talks, that it undertook a
silver program, which actually
meant that the world sold its silver
to us at an artificial price and we
buried it in the ground at West Point,
N. Y. It was a fine thing for Mex
ico, China and Canada and a great
victory for Senator Pittman and the
Rocky Mountain states. Also it re
sulted in the U. S. treasury accu
mulating two and a half billion
ounces of silver—other than coin.
Today, however, there is a short
age of industrial silver. And yet
the treasury will not open up the
giant hoard of silver gathering mold
at West Point.
Shortage Amid Plenty.
What has happened is this. About
5,000,000 ounces of silver monthly is
being mined in the United States,
which is ample to care for war
needs, but not enough for ordinary
commercial needs, especially for the
silver industry of New England.
The silver industry, which makes
knives, forks, and household ware,
formerly used alloys and critical
materials—all of which have npw
been dispensed with. However, sil
ver is not a critical material. There
is plenty mined for the war effort
but not enough to supply the 80,000,-
000 ounces needed annually for the
silver industry.
So New England silversmiths now
ask that they be permitted to buy a
mere 80,000,000 ounces out of the
two and a half billion ounces which
the treasury has buried.
• • •
MERRY-GO-ROUND
C. Though the U. S. navy gave the
royal run-around to the Sea Otter,
Germany is now reported building
exactly this type of shallow-draft,
automobile-engined boat for use on
the Danube, the Black and Caspian
seas—against Russia.
C. When the WPB made a survey of
junk dealers it found 6,000,000
pounds of “scrap” silk stockings on
hand. This is a “gold mine” for
making silk bags to hold gunpowder
tor the navy.
—Buy War Bonds—
vmj lotlm MMMMM
Eleanor Roosevelt
MEXICAN WOMEN IN WAR
HYDE PARK.—Miss Mary Wins
low, in the Office of the Co-ordina
tor of Inter-American Affairs, came
to see me in Washington the other
day to tell me about her trip to
Mexico, which she had undertaken
at the invitation of a group of Mexi
can women’s organizations. They
called a mass meeting of women
and Miss Winslow showed me some
of the handbills used at it. They
seemed striking in their make-up
and extremely concise in the way
in which they expressed the rea
sons for women to take an active
part in the war situation.
The first handbill simply stated:
“Your country calls you,” and then
listed creeds and political parties.
However, it had underneath them
the simple phrase: “If you are Mex
icans, to defend the liberty which
you have created, your country calls
you." In this way was emphasized
the unity of interest of all creeds
and political parties. A second flier
listed the various things Nazi-Fas
cism would wipe out, dramatizing
thus in the simplest and most di
rect manner, not only unity, but the
reasons why unity could and should
exist.
• * *
LOCAL ELECTIONS
I have a letter from a woman,
which tells me of a local political
situation. In the primaries of her
party, she quite evidently suspects
one candidate of being pro-Nazi, and
urges me to investigate the circum
stances of her particular locality. I
do not think it is possible for any
one, not even the leaders of a politi
cal organization, really to know in
detail the exact situation in every
locality. That is why we hold pri
maries, so that the people who five
in the locality may have the oppor
tunity to choose the best man as
they see him and know him.
People who are detached from
party organizations can study pub
lished principles and can stand for
certain general ideas and actions
within groups. But where the indi
vidual localities are concerned, it is
the people who live in those locali
ties who have to weigh the real vir
tues of their candidates. Some
times neither candidate seems good
enough, and they may even have to
vote against their own party in the
final election. The value of democ
racy lies in the fact that good or
bad government has its roots in the
localities where people know each
other and where they account for
their actions to their neighbors.
• * •
DELIGHTFUL POEM
AND LETTER
I have a delightful letter in my
mail, which reads:
“Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
“I am sending you a copy of a
poem two of us soldier boys wrote
while in the Sixth Evacuation hos
pital. This poem expressed the
thoughts of every soldier whose
loved ones neglect to mail that nec
essary letter. This poem is our
humble effort to tell the people of
the U. S. how we soldiers actually
feel about our mail. If you can use
this poem in any way to help the
soldiers, we heartily give our con
sent. Sincerely yours,
Corporal and
Private First Class
Here’s the poem:
A Soldier’s Lament
“What’s the matter? Out of ink,
Or is your pen on the blink?
All I want is one nice line,
To let me know that you are fine.
It sure is nice to get a line
From some one that’s so divine.
A letter a day in such away,
Will put the spirits into play.
From an old friend, a letter is
dear,
I hope I am making myself clear.
A letter from you I pine,
Send one when you have the time.
The darkness of eve draws near,
So I must close now with tears.
Remember me while we’re apart,
Yours truly with all my heart.”
I am sure no one will resist this
appeal, so I need say no more.
• • •
BRITISH VIEWPOINT
Miss Barbara Ward, foreign edi
tor of the Economist in England,
who has come over here for a few
months, spent an hour one day with
some of us on the South Porch. I
think it was a most profitable hour,
because it showed us that in many
ways it is hard in this country to
get a complete picture of what is
happening in other countries.
* * *
NO WEATHER ‘REPORTS’
The censor has written me a very
stern letter about my remarks on
the weather, and so from now on I
shall not tell you whether it rains or
whether the sun shines where I am.
• • •
A CHARMING BOOK
I have finished Elizabeth Goudge’s
book: “A* Castle on the Hill.”
I like Miss Goudge’s writing, and
this book puts before one, more viv
idly perhaps than I have read lately,
the changes that are coming about
in the mind and hearts of the people
#f Great Britain. The boy in the
book has lived in the traditions of
his family. He loves the beauty of
his environment and is sensitive to
his surroundings, as well as to the
qualities of the people with whom he
comes in contact.