The midland journal., October 02, 1942, Image 2

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

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
- - ■ ■■■
U. S. Bombers Blast Jap Battle Force;
Approve Wage, Price Stabilization Bills;
Rubber Czar Promises Speedy Action
In Supplying Nation’s Essential Needs
by Western Newspaper Union. , I
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CORAL SEA
Map shows importance of Port Moresby, New Guinea, in the Japanese
South Pacific strategy. Port Moresby is only 375 miles from Cape Pork,
nearest point on the Australian mainland. The Japs crossed the Owen
Stanley mountain range, thus overcoming one of their major obstacles.
Australians fighting the Japs in the jungles near Port Moresby were re
ported to be using the enemy’s own tactics of covert flanking movements
and infiltration.
RED FRONT:
In More Than Name
The need for a second front in
western Europe to relieve the pres
sure on battered Red armies was
emphasized by Soviet military ex
perts in London, who needed only to
point to the battle fronts for evi
dence.
Russian troops, obeying Stalin’s
order to die rather than retreat,
made the Nazis pay with blood and
lives for every foot of conquest at
Stalingrad. The arrival of crack Si
berian troops at Stalingrad slowed
down Marshal Von Bock’s German
legions, but the picture, in general,
remained as gloomy as before.
Official communiques told of suc
cessful Red defensive operations in
the Mozdok area of the mid-Cauca
sus and southeast of Novorossisk.
Marines were credited with the suc
cess near the latter front where the
Nazis were attempting to drive
southward along the coast.
Stiff fighting continued in the Vor
onezh area of the upper Don river.
The Reds reported more than 3,000
enemy troops killed in three days of
fighting in this sector. It was here
where the Red army tried to relieve
pressure on Stalingrad by constant
ly attacking the Nazi flank.
Russian troops in the Volga city
had been re-enforced by workers re
cruited from factories. Most sav
age fighting took place in the north
west suburbs,--where Russian and
German troops fought from behind
barricades and buildings separated
only by a few yards.
INFLATION:
First Major Victory
A'Teliminary victory in the fight
against inflation resulted when the
senate and house banking and cur
rency committees approved legisla
tion directing President Roosevelt
to stabilize wages and prices and
granting lain power to carry out the
orders. v - '*■>
The senate bill authorizes and di
rects the President to stabilize
prices, salaries and wages on the
basis of levels Which existed on Sep
tember 15, while the house bill in
cludes the same provision except
that August 15 would be the base
n. date.
Both bills provide that in general
no ceilings may be set chi wages or
salaries below the highest levels
that, prevailed between January 1
and September 15. Both prohibit
ceilings on farm prices less than
100 per cent of parity or—in general
—below the highest price paid be
tween January 1 and September 15.
Both bills contain exceptions.
The house measure adopted the
“little steel” formula insofar as per
mitting wage increases up to 15 per
cent more than the January 1, 1941,
level, but gets the President power
to grant increases above that figure.
The two measures placed a floor
of 90 per cent of parity under basic
commodities (wheat, com, cotton,
tobacco and rice) and under cer
tain nonbasic commodities which
the of agriculture is at
tempting to increase for war pur
poses. Existing law requires 85 per
cent of parity loans.
HIGHLIGHTS • • • ' tfc week’s news
i. ________________^
CLIMATE: The wide differences
in climate throughout the 30 central
states and the East where fuel oil
will be rationed Will be considered
in determining rations householders
will receive, the OPA has an
nounced.
BAR: A fisherman in Lancashire,
England, was fined about $8 and
ordered te pay sl6 in costs for using
bread for bait.
PROMISE:
Of Essential Rubier
Sufficient rubber for military and
essential civilian needs has been
promised without reservation by
William M. Jeffers, the nation’s new
rubber administrator.
An ever-increasing amount of syn
thetic rubber will be made accord
ing to established processes, he
said, and research will continue.
Mr. Jeffers spoke bluntly in his
first interview with the press. “What
we need is action, and we need it
quickly. We are going to get just
that.”
It is his belief, Jeffers said, that
the people “are more confused
about what to do than not willing to
do what is right.”
“You can’t take America off
wheels,” he said. “You can lose the
war doing that, because of the dis
ruption it would cause in our econ
omy. You have to have civilian
trucks running to move goods and
farm products, for instance, and
you have to have buses and a .cer
tain number of passenger cars to
take people to and from work. But
you can reduce the use of rubber to
the irreducible minimum!
MAN POWER CONTROL:
Advocated by Hill
A bill granting President Roose
velt broad authority to co-ordinate
man power and industry during war
time was drawn up by Senator Lis
ter Hill of Alabama, the Democratic
whip.
The measure authorized the Presi
dent to issue an executive order
giving the government power to
designate specific occupations for
individuals not in the armed serv
ices. Hill suggested that man power
control be exercised through local
draft boards which could then call
in workers employed in nonessential
industries and order them to take
war plant jobs.
The resolution would lay down a
governmental policy “that there
shall be universal service of all citi
zens” and “total mobilization” of
industry.
JAP NAVAL THRUST:
Routed in Solomons
Even while land activity in the Sol
omons slowed to minor skirmishes,
army Flying Fortresses drove a Jap
force of battleships and cruisers
away, from the American-held sec
tion of the islands with a bombing
attack which was reported to have
damaged two of the battleships.
The bombers discovered the Jap
battle force northeast of Tulagi. The
navy communique indicated the pos
sibility that the fleet may be as
sembling for a renewed effort to
take the strategic Guadalcanal-Tu
lagi area from American forces.
From General MacArthur’s head
quarters came word of continuing
air attacks against the vital Japa
nese base at. Lae, on the northeast
coast of Lae. A report said that
Allied fighters and bombers blasted
Japanese supply lines extending in
land from Buna to Kokoda, on the
route of the Jap drive toward Port
Moresby. Buna is 175 miles south
east of Lae, on the coast.
HARVEST: Because British ag
riculture achieved its goal of 5 per
cent greater crop yield from each
cultivated acre, the nation saved one
million tons of shipping space.
BRAZIL: The chief of police of
Rio de Janeiro ordered all Axis na
tionals to register at the police alien
bureau. Japanese were included in
the order, although Brazil is not at
war with Japan.
MIDLAND JOURNAL. RISING STTN. MD.
KAISER:
Gets Contract
Henry J. Kaiser, West coast ship
builder who went to Washington
with a dream of huge flying boats,
will be given a chance to show the
world that his dream can be trans
lated into reality.
Kaiser, together with Howard
Hughes, noted plane designer, have
been authorized to build three ex
perimental supercargo planes for a
total of $18,000,000 by the War Pro
duction board.
The two men will make no profit
from the initial order, but Kaiser
was directed to draw plans for a
factory in which the planes could
be manufactured in quantity should
the army and navy find the trial or
der successful.
Though Kaiser was directed to
complete the planes within 25
months—the first in 15 months—a
representative predicted the job
would be completed in 18 months.
DRAFT CALLS:
Explained by Hershey
The draft status of several mil
lion American men was clarified to
a considerable extent when Maj.
Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, national
draft director, indicated that more
than 10,000,000 men will be under
arms by the end of 1943.
In an interview to explain various
orders and announcements issued in
recent weeks, Hershey and his aids
supplied the following guides:
The supply of single men, includ
ing those with dependents, will be
exhausted this fall and calls for
married men without children will
begin in December or January.
The supply of married men with
out children will be exhausted about
a year from now and, unless con
gress authorizes the drafting of 18
and 19 year olds, the calling of men
with children will begin around Octo
ber 1, 1943.
BRITISH SEA LOSSES:
Replaced
A. V. Alexander, first lord of the
British admiralty, in a speech at
Sheffield, has revealed that Britain
had replaced all four battleships,
four aircraft carriers and 22 cruisers
lost in the last 27 months of war.
London correspondents estimated
that 200 destroyers, including the 50
overage United States vessels, had
been added since the war began.
With Alexander’s speech as a basis,
Britain is now estimated to have at
least 15 battleships, five aircraft
carriers and 78 cruisers. Many
more are under construction.
In the past 27 months, Britain has
lost the battleships Barham, Prince
of Wales, Repulse and Hood, and
the carriers Glorious, Ark Royal,
Hermes and Eagle. The battleship
Royal Oak was sunk in October, 1939,
and the carrier Courageous was lost
in September, 1939.
U. S. PARACHUTISTS:
Training in Britain
Although American parachute
troops Have been in England for
some time, their presence was kept
secret until it was announced of
ficially from the headquarters* of
Lieut. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower,
commander in chief of the AEF in
the European theater.
The troops bolster American strik
ing power in Britain. The official
announcement did not state whether
the U. S. parachute units will be
kept to form a spearhead for an
eventual invasion of Europe or will
be employed, as have British para
chutists, on Commando raids.
Officers in the parachute corps get
a monthly bonus of SIOO. Enlisted
men get SSO a month extra. Accord
ing to a medical officer with the
unit, there is less than 1 per cent of
accidents on parachute jumps, in
cluding simple sprains.
BUNA S PLANT:
> ■
The U. S. Robber company’s first
synthetic rubber plant in New Eng
land—somewhere in Connecticut—is
now in operation. This picture
shows the butadiene storage tank
completely enveloped in water spray.
Cooling prevents undesired poly
merisation and protects against ex
ternal fire.
NATION WARNED:
A warning that America’s losses
in the war may run as high as
three million men was voiced by
Lieut. Gen. Ben Lear, commander
of the Second army, who spoke be
fore the 24th annual convention of
the American Legion in Kansas City.
General Lear’s grim appraisal
was blunt: “Can we, resolutely and
without wavering, face a war in
which our losses may be a million,
or two million, or conceivably three
million men? Can we -ake it—
without talk of a stalemate . .
by m imh vMMtr
Eleanor Roosevelt
ON AUTUMN AND THE WAR
We left Washington and, after see
ing one or two people in New York
city, reached Hyde Park in time
for dinner. The cottage seemed
very peaceful and the open fire was
both comfortable and attractive.
Yesterday, we were out of doors
all day, but it was not until morning
that I woke early enough to have
the full benefit of the early morning
birds’ serenade. One rather young
one prehed on the rail near me and
repeated over and over again what
seemed like a musical call. He
cocked his head from side to side
and his bright little eyes twinkled
with each call.
The air is still soft, but cool in
the evenings and early mornings.
When the sun shines, the pool is still
a pleasant place, but across the pond
from where I sit, my swamp maple
is completely red and I know that
in another two weeks the autumn
colors will be everywhere.
Again we opened our papers this
morning to read about Stalingrad.
This is certainly going down in his
tory as a valiant defense. I have
great sympathy for the three young
Russians now traveling in this coun
try, who must scan the papers ev
ery day and wonder why we, in this
country, can live so comfortably and
still be at war; when they know that
war means a change in the every
day life to every citizen in the
Soviet Union.
There is one advantage in fighting
on your own soil. No one can say,
as they say occasionally to me by
letter: “Why do my boys have to
go out of the country?” Everybody
in Russia knows what is happening
because it is within the borders of
the country.
They tell me that even the be
sieged cities in Russia get mail by
airplane, and that is one of the ways
by which morale is kept high. That,
of course, has been one of the great
advantages in Great Britain also.
The young British wing-commander,
Scott -Malden, in his radio interview
the other night, said he had been
fighting two weeks before, about 70
■ miles from his home in the raid on
Dieppe.
This is about the same distance
as from New York city to Pough
keepsie I It is easier to know what
is happening when the happenings
are so near and many of them occur
in civilian areas. Our distant op
erations have kept us, as civilians,
safe from harm, but they also make
it much more difficult for us to un
derstand arid co-operate in the war
effort.
• • •
ON TAXATION
It seems curious to me that we
accept with much less excitement
so drastic an action as the right of
the War Manpower commission to
shift workers without their consent
to new places of abode, or into other
fields of work; and yet seem to find
it so difficult to accept any sugges
tions for new types of taxation.
I was much interested in Senator
George’s remark that the treasury’s
“spending tax” was a leveling tax.
I supposed that was the type of tax
we were looking for at present. It
must be, however, that the pull of
material interest has always been
one of our strongest motivating
forces ahd is still stronger in the
minds of most of us than the right
to work where and whenever we
choose.
I think that in the present situa
tion we have to accept as workers
in civilian life, or even as private
individuals, the decrees of our gov
ernment in exactly the same way
that soldiers have to accept them.
I would not oppose any of these
decrees. The only thing which sur
prises me is, that where our pockets
are concerned, we fight so much
harder and apparently so much
more Successfully against certain
drastic changes.
I suppose it is in our tradition
and it will take us longer to make
the changes. In the end we will
accept them, as we do everything
else when we realize that to do so
will shorten the war and give our
boys a better chance to come
through alive.
The RAF and our own men seem
to be effectively continuing their
raids on Germany, but it does not
look as though raids alone were the
final answer to the battle of Europe.
All we can do is to pray that our
production will really reach the
point where decisive action can be
taken.
• * •
EARNED APPOINTMENT
Jacqueline Cochran has earned
her appointment to direct women’s
air work and women everywhere
will be proud of her achievement.
• • •
WOMEN IN THE AAA PROGRAM
The war is changing the position
of women in many ways. I notice
that the department of agriculture
has requested the farmers of the na
tion to consider the election of farm
women as well as men, to county
and community committees to ad
minister the AAA farm program.
The AAA’s Articles of Association
are being amended to permit farm
wives, as well as women farming
in their own name, to vote in the
committeemember’s elections and
to hold office.
Washington, D. C.
LITTLE BUSINESS CRUSADER
Donald Nelson’s “get tough” pol
icy gets increasingly unfortunate
reverberations. Part of this is be
cause Donald, nice as he is, and
well liked as he is, just doesn’t seem
to have a knack for feeling the pub
lic pulse.
For instance, he should have
known that the most popular man
in Washington, as far as little busi
ness is concerned, is Guy Holcomb,
head of the justice department’s
small business bureau. Yet Nelson
reached into the justice department
and demanded that the attorney
general fire Holcomb. The reaction
against Nelson has been bad.
Nelson had no jurisdiction over
the justice department, and it is
unusual for one executive to reach
into the affairs of an outside office.
However, Holcomb has been con
sistently critical of WPB’s failure
to award war contracts to little busi
ness; his cracks got on Nelson’s
nerves, and he demanded that the
attorney general fire him. So to
keep peace in the official family, Hol
comb was “permitted to resign.”
Actually, Holcomb was a hustling
young business man from Atlanta,
Ga., who knew nothing about red
tape, spurned bureaucracy and went
around saying exactly what he
thought of people who seemed to
be lying down on the job. Result:
He made a lot of enemies, but he
got an awful lot done for little busi
ness.
For instance, he discovered that
only three companies in the entire
United States got all the contracts
for putting boilers in merchant
ships.
• • *
ALASKAN ATTACKS
The senate military affairs com
mittee got some encouraging news
when it met behind closed doors to
hear the report of a subcommittee
which has returned from an inspec
tion tour of our Alaskan fortifica
tions.
For military reasons, the greatet
part of the report cannot be re
vealed. However, this much can be
told:
The subcommittee, composed of
Senators Happy Chandler of Ken
tucky, Mon Wallgren of Washington
and Rufus Holman of Oregon, was
unanimous in declaring that our
aerial defenses in Alaska were
strong enough to repel any attempt
ed Jap invasion.
Remarkable progress has been
made since Pearl Harbor in estab
lishing new land and sea bases in
the Alaskan area. The three sena
tors also paid high tribute to the
morale and skill of U. S. airmen,
who are forced to fly in the worst
kinds of weather conditions.
Though refusing to predict on how
soon we can start an all-out air of
fensive to drive the Japs from their
footholds in the Aleutians, the sub
committee reported that one ob
stacle which has been holding up
such an offensive has now been
licked.
Hitherto we have been unable to
send protective convoys of fighting
planes with bombers raiding Jap
positions in the Aleutians, because
our fighters do not have the flying
range for the 1,000-mile round trip
from the army base at Umnak is
land, nearest outpost to the Japs.
However, this problem has been
solved by the installation of "belly”
gas tanks on fighters. They carry
several hundred gallons of fuel and
can be dropped after they are
emptied.
The subcommittee also reported
that interference with army and
navy radio communications in the
Alaskan area, caused by bad weath
er and the Aurora Borealis, was be
ing largely circumvented by com
pass flying.
• • •
UNFOUNDED RUMOR
DEPARTMENT
The Rumor: One of the Freuhauf
brothers in Detroit, who manufac
ture trailers, gave his yacht to the
navy, but before doing so said he
wanted to take it on a farewell
cruise. He had no sooner got a few
hours offshore, however, when he
received a peremptory demand from
the navy to return, after which Har
ry Hopkins and his new bride took
over ffie yacht and sailed away on
their honeymoon.
The Truth: Harry Hopkins doesn’t
like yachting, gets seasick easily,
spent his vacation in Connecticut.
Harry Freuhauf, interviewed by this
columnist on the telephone, said:
“My brothr did turn his yacht over
to the navy, but the arrangements
were entirely amiable, and Harry
Hopkins never was on it at any
time or place. We have heard all
sorts of rumors about this, but there
is absolutely nothing to them.”
• • •
POLITICAL ECONOMY
Hard-working Representative John
H. Folger of North Carolina will go
the limit for a constituent, but a
recent request from a job-seeker in
his district almost got him down.
“I have filed an application with
the Civil Service commission for a
position as an economist.
“I &m a farmer of many years’
experience and believe I am emi
nently qualified for the job I’m
after.
“I have practiced economy all my
life.”
CLASSIFIED
DEPARTMENT
RAZOR BLADES
KENT BLADES ‘rcSSSF’
Business Opportunities
Make money silvering mirrors. $2,000-
SIO,OOO yearly possible. Profitable business,,
home spare time. Instructions 25c. P. M.
FOSTER, 126 Miltate Ave., Norfolk, Va.
OPPORTUNITY
(Handicapped) one-leg men A women, pre
pare for opportunities. Perhaps you know
some one crippled. Kindly send info. Para
gan Institnte, 6 East St., Jersey City, N. J.
Dressed for Christening
The bottles of champagne that
are used in christening American
ships require more than two hours
to be "dressed” for the occasion,
reports Collier’s. They have to
be fitted with a l-16th-inch flexible
copper mesh jacket, to keep the
glass from flying, and adorned
with two tricolored ribbons, each
62 feet long.
After launching, the bottle and
ribbons are usually stored aboard
the vessel to insure lasting good
luck.
AMERICA’S No.l WBW
QUIP
MASTER ffljfcjßßl
it back on tho air
SUNDAY NIGHTS
beginning
OCTOBER 4*
with Portland Hoffa
Al Goodman's Orcli*
" nd famous gustt stars
f[ Sfir | WABC—WCAO-WCAU—WJSV
\W/ 9:30 P.M.E.W.T.
other C.B.S. stations
Laugh Early
We must laugh before we are
happy for fear of dying without
laughing at all.—La Bruyere.
jflfc ATOffiC "DATES"!
fuk (or girls who hasten healing
YlOkOl externally caused pimples
by relieving irritation with
RES! KOI,
Vps and Downs
Unbroken happiness is a bore:
it should have ups and downs.—
J. B. Moliere.
CORNS SO FAST
Pain goes quick, corns ■MTT~
speedily removed when
you use thin, soothing.
cushioning Dr. Scholl's A/ Jfi
Zino-pads. Try them)
Roving One
He dwells nowhere that dwells
everywhere .—Martial.
I The Ammunition Needed for Killing I
RATS, Mlffand COCKROACHES isl
this SUM I DEATH oxtorminotor and havo
victory over thoso disoaso-carrying, food,
destroying posts. STEARNS' has boon tho
old AmorlcsM standby for 64 yoars.
35< and >I.OO AT AU DRUGGISTS
COLDS
LIQUID
Tablets
wa svwl salve
nose drops '
COUCH DROPS
WNU—4 39—42
For Yoa To Feel Well
14 hours svery day. 1 days army
week, never stopping, the kidneys filter
waste matter from the blood.
If more people were aware of how the
kidneys most constantly remove sur
plus fluid, excess adds and other wests
matter that cannot etay In tho blood
without Injury to health, there would
bo hotter understanding of why the
whole system is upset when kidneys fan
to function properly.
Burning, scanty or too frequent urina
tion sometimes warns that something
Is wrong. You may suffer nagging back
ache, headaches, dizziness, rbeusoaOa
bo using a medicine recommended the
country over. Doan’s stimulate the func
tion of tho kidneys and halp them to
flush out poisonous waste from the
blood. They contain nothing harmful.
Got Doan’s today. Uao with oonfidensa.
At all drug stores.