Newspaper Page Text
Washington, D. C.
DEFENSE JAM BUSTER
Donald Nelson, for many years
executive of the Sears, Roebuck
mail-order house, now has become
one of the chief log-jam busters of
national defense. Officially his job
is director of procurement for the
United States treasury in other
words, in charge of government pur
chases.
Recently the navy department
sent a very important order to Beth- |
lehem Steel corporation with a pref
erence number to expedite it for the
earliest possible delivery. The next
day word came back from Bethle
hem: “Sorry, but you will have to
wait."
For some unexplained reason the
navy said nothing to the defense
commission about Bethlehem’s de
lay, even though the commission has
the power to compel compliance. In
stead the navy tried to handle the
situation itself. But after two weeks
of unsuccessful effort, the navy final
ly went to Nelson, who in addition
to his procurement duties aids the
defense commission.
Nelson reached for a telephone,
called Walter Tower, secretary of
the American Iron and Steel insti
tute, and said, “I hope we don’t have
to get tough, but when an order
goes out marked ‘expedite,’ it
means just that. I want immediate
action on that order.”
Twenty minutes later, Eugene
Grace, potent boss of Bethlehem,
personally telephoned Nelson and
assured him it was all a mistake.
* * ♦
F. D. R. AND ARGENTINA
There has been a lot of publicity
regarding Roosevelt’s conference
with Argentine diplomat Leopoldo
Melo over buying Argentine beef.
Actually the conversation covered a
lot of things besides meat.
Roosevelt promised that this coun
try would substantially increase its
imports of Argentine products; first
because Argentina has suffered
heavy loss of her European export
market and faces an acute depres
sion; second, because Argentina con
tinues to buy from the United States,
but this buying must fall off if she
cannot sell here to obtain dollar ex
change for purchases.
Discussing these problems, the
President told Melo that the defense
program would require heavy pur
chases of wool for uniforms, hides
for shoes, and canned beef for the
commissary. Though the govern
ment would not buy direct from Ar
gentina, the buying from domes
tic sources would create a new de
mand for imports, substantially ben
efiting Argentina.
There was also discussion of using
a part of the now Export Import
bank fund of $500,000,000, about to
be voted by congress, for trade with
Argentina.
Note—Latest export figures show
that Argentina has now become the
leading foreign purchaser of Amer
ican passenger cars.
* • •
BRITAIN’S FOGS
The most important development
during the last few days of bombing
London is the realization by British
and American observers that bad
weather is not going to help the de
fense of London, but instead will
hinder it.
Second important development is
the realization that Britain’s only
real defense is retaliatory raids
against Berlin. This means, of
course, more long-distance bombers
—almost all of which are now ob
tained from the United States.
It has been generally expected
that with the arrival of foggy weath
er, London would bo safer because
Nazi raids would have to abate.
However, there was considerable
cloudy weather over England last
week, and during it, Nazi bombers
had a field day. What they did was
to use the clouds as a shield and
drop their bombs, without aiming,
all over London.
On clear days they had tried to
aim at military targets. But at
night, and during cloudy weather,
the Nazis gave up any pretense of
taking aim.
What happened was that when
British planes went aloft they could
not find the raiders. The Nazis were
hidden in cloud banks, dropping
their bombs indiscriminately. Un
der these circumstances, there was
only one way for the British to lo
cate the enemy bombers—by means
of sound detection and radio direc
tions from the ground.
However, these radio directions
must be three dimensional to be ef
fective, and there is such a wide
margin for error that looking for a
bomber in the clouds is like looking
for a needle in a haystack. That is
why British planes simply did not
go into the air when the weather was
too cloudy.
It is important to note that the
same handicap applies to Berlin. In
other words, the British raiders will
be equally aided by foggy weather
over the German capital. So the
war of nerves and indiscriminate
bombing is likely to get worse.
Note—One thing which caused the
downfall of France and the lowland
countries was the collapse of morale,
plus fifth column activities. How
ever, U. S. observers in London are
unanimous that British morale is at
the highest peak, and that the Brit
ish will fight as no army has fought
for generations in Europe.
r '
Kathleen Norris Says:
The Perfect Wife Really Exists!
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)
In a worried lime she was never at a loss for surprises, kindnesses, discoveries
of the first spring flower, or a good book, or a new little dish for my tray.
_ I
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
HOW near are you to being
a perfect woman?
This is a fascinating
question, and the answer to it
may suggest to you a fascinat
ing occupation. It may amuse
you and keep you busy and
happy for years trying to turn
yourself into a perfect woman.
A man’s letter suggested this
idea. He writes me that he has
the perfect wife. They have
been married seventeen years;
they aren’t rich or famous or
young any more; they’re both
close to forty. But his letter
makes thrilling reading, and I
pass it on.
A Tough Beginning.
“We had to wait seven years for
our happiness,” he writes. “They
were long years, and sometimes dis
couraging years. Dee was taking
care of her mother, a helpless in
valid, and teaching school as well.
There seemed to be no reason why
she might not be so held for many
years. I was in medical school, with
the hope that a hospital appointment
might some day pay me $75 a
month.
“When Dee was 28 and I 30,
however, I was offered a position
in a small country town, with $lOO
a month and free rent guaranteed.
At the same time an aunt of Dee’s
was widowed, and came to live with
her mother, and we persuaded the
old folks to let us turn the upstairs
floor of the home into a flat. The
rent was $35 and we sent them an
other $35 and they managed easily.
“We went at once to our own
home, and I took up my clinic duties
at once. My wife kept a wonderful
table and we could entertain sim
ply on her food allowance of $25 a
month. Presently I began to get an
outside case or two; every dollar
counted, of course, but we never
had any sense of anxiety or scrimp
ing. Two boys came along, and
their mother took care of us all;
always gentle, sympathetic, under
standing.
“I think gentleness is Dee’s out
standing characteristic. She is al
ways neat and fresh, always merry
and adequate and wise, but her out
standing characteristic is gentle
ness. If something comes up that
troubles her, she is silent, thought
ful, gentle about it. She made our
boys gentle.
Always Sees the Bright Side,
“Dee never will have a bill or a
standing debt. We may have to
go on short rations for a while, but
she must pay bills first. Her moth
er’s final illness was a long one; we
had doctors and nurses, but Dee
managed to make us all feel that
it was a privilege rather than a bur
den to do all we could.
“She makes picnics, parties, fes
tivals of ordinary living. In a wor
ried time—for 1 had a long, dull ill
ness—she was never at a loss for
surprises, kindnesses, discoveries of
the first spring flower, or a good
book, or a new little dish for my
tray. Our little girl, coming when
her brothers were 9 and 7, was born
almost blind. Normal now, for her
first two years her mother had to be
eyes for her. Dee never showed me
her bitter worry, never grew tired.
“Her home is a place of rest and
music and laughter and happy
meals and happy talks. In winter
we are the coziest family in town.
In summer Dee’s beloved garden
has our supper table in it, under
an oak. For vacations we have a
three-room lake cottage; for hob
bies—but we have them all!
“The vivid, eager, loving woman
who has done all this for a man and
three children is, I think, the finest
human being I ever knew. You hear
the other side; you write of divorces
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, PERRY. OEOROIA
PERFECT WIFE
Almost all wives are very nice wom
en in many ways, hut Kathleen Morris
is told about one wife that is "perfect.”
An appreciative husband writes Miss
Morris, telling her about his wife, and
how thoughtful, kind and generous she
is. His letter offers a “measuring stick”
for women everywhere to test them
selves and see how high—or low—they
rate. Why not make this little test
yourself?
and problems, mean mothers-in-law,
money troubles, faithless husbands,
extravagant and discontented wives.
But there are a lot of us on the
other side of the picture; men and
women who through the trials and
changes of many married years
have only come the more sincerely
and truly to love and need each
other.”
That’s the letter. It did my heart
good. The writer did not give me
his address, but I hope his Dee will
see this column and know that shf
is appreciated.
How Would You Rate?
How close to her measure would
you come, if your husband wrote
a letter describing you? What char
acteristics would you select if you
were choosing those of the perfect
wife? What 10 would come first?
Well, perhaps first of all a woman
should be gentle. She should have
a sense of humor. She should be
capable, a good manager of home,
nursery and budget. She should be
neat about herself and her belong
ings. She should be prompt. Af
fectionate. Economical. Patient.
Imaginative. Cheerful.
This is a big order. Most women
never stop even to consider these
qualities, much less to ask them
selves if they happen to possess
them. Many women resent the idea
that they could change; they are as
they are, with no need for change.
“You know me,” they say com
placently, “when anyone tries to put
anything over on me, I never for
get it!” Or, “Jim’s mother spoiled
him for 25 years. Well, he doesn’t
get any more of THAT! I’ve got a
good hot temper of my own, and
it’s about time Jim Baker found it
out.”
Other women tell you prettily that
they are always late for things, and
it does make poor Bob so mad! Or
they’re very poor cooks; Mama said
she never wanted her girls to slave
in any man’s kitchen. Or they never
can keep their books straightened
out; don’t know the least thing about
money. And in the last analysis, as
I’ve mentioned in this column be
fore, money trouble turns out to be
of them all the gravest cause of
marital unhappiness and unsuccess.
Wives in Name Only.
Some wives save all the day’s an
noyances and worries until dinner
time, and then regale the weary
man of the family upon them. Oth
ers quarrel and complain constantly
with and of the children. Many are
extravagant and vain, home and hus
band serving them only as a back
ground for constant trips to the
beauty parlor and the frock shops.
Then there is always the wife who
puts somebody else ahead of the
man she married; whose heart is
really with her family, or whose
whole devotion goes to her child.
And the wife who has numerous love
affairs. Nothing really wrong, of
course, but such fun. And so harm
less, if only Bob wouldn’t be so ridic
ulously jealous!
All these wives are considered
very nice women. Nobody expects
perfection, and we all have our
faults, we say leniently.
Which is perfectly true. And yet
it is as refreshing as a summer
breeze to hear sometimes of a wom
an who by chance and circumstance
and her own fine nature has reached
so high a point of human develop
ment that the man who has lived
with her for 17 years still finds her
perfect
P^General
HUGH S.
I^IJOHNSON
i u Jour:
mmm I'niMFimm w »NU Vi>«
Washington, D. C.
EXCESS PROFITS TAX
The federal excess profits tax as
ft is likely to pass, is a monstrosity.
It might well be entitled “A Bill to
Prevent New Enterprise and De
stroy Small Businesses.”
I know a company that was or
ganized in 1928 with a capital of
about s3,ooo,ooo—just in time to get
the full effect of the 1929 avalanche
and what came after. It was to
make a completely new product.
The long, lean, hard years ate much
of its capital away. Its stockholders
have never had a cent out of it.
But they stuck and it struggled
miraculously and lived.
Two years ago it began to click
as a result of a long hopeless strug
gle for sales and improvement of
product.
Under this tax bill it will be taxed
up to 40 per cent on its excess earn
ings for its fiscal year 1940 over the
average of the preceding four years,
during which its earnings were slight
or minus, plus a normal tax of ap
proximately 20 per cent. That will
take easily 33% per cent of its earn
ings.
This company’s business will gain
nothing by the armament program.
On the contrary, it will be hurt.
Such a large yearly cash outlay
from its meager quick assets will
seriously embarrass its operations
and prevent any normal expansion
of its business. Its only chance to
recoup its year’s losses, perfect the
original factory equipment on which
it was planned, and provide reason
able margins of safety was out of
earnings. Now that chance will be
impaired, if not destroyed.
It gains nothing by its permissible
alternative of choosing a basis of
graduated tax on the ratio of earn
ings to invested capital, because that
capital has been so whittled away
by its years of losses that this ratio
is necessarily high.
Stockholders whose investment
has been sterile and declining for
most of 12 years and who had just
begun to hope for some recovery,
will have to abandon their hope and
may begin to fear for the company’s
survival.
This is just another case among
thousands of similar ones that could
be cited. Another class is that of
recently organized service com
panies with small capital and no
record of earnings. This tax law
will be a practical barrier to any
progress or prospect of success for
them.
A large and heavily capitalized
company that has had reasonably
good returns for the last four years
will be affected to no such murder
ous degree. Indeed, in view of this
terrific load in new or small com
peting industry, such a company
could well afford to lower both price
and profit to keep its earnings below
any “excess” at all and thus destroy
and monopolize the business of all
its small competitors.
The tendency in this legislation is
so blatant and so marked that one
is tempted to question whether it is
not a deliberate attempt to Nazify
all business by driving it into great
units and there by regulation and
other encroachment convert it to
Hitler’s national socialism or Mus
solini’s corporative state. No won
der small business and the great
middle class are almost 100 per cent
against this administration.
What this New Deal doesn’t seem
to understand is that strength for
war depends upon a far stronger
and more efficient industry than we
have ever had. That can’t be ac
complished if the first step is a dras
tic taxation policy that practically
destroys the profit motive. That
motive is the gas that makes our
industrial engine go. The only
known economic substitute for the
hope or reward—the American sys
tem—is the fear of punishment—the
system of Mussolini, Stalin and
Hitler. There is no middle way.
We can’t go that way without indus
trial paralysis.
Very few, if any, business man
agers want to profiteer in this emer
gency. But very few are willing to
default on their trusteeships and
ruin the investment of their stock
holders by accepting inordinate
risks and unbearable burdens.
* * *
DRAFT SUPPORT
I have some sour letters saying
that the reason I am so repetitious
and emphatic is that I want to be
“director of selective service,” as
I was deputy director before. I
don’t, and even if I did, Mr. Roose
velt would rather lose an eye tooth
than call me to that duty. On this
bill, as on all other measures to
speed national defense, I have sup
ported him as constantly as any of
his friends.
Men in the war department
charged with planning this effort
have also had everything I could
give them from my experience in
the way of both support and advice,
and both they and the President
know that no matter who is finally
charged with the execution of this
law, they can rely on me for any
unofficial help and support I can
give, from running errands to the
best this column can offer.
This should be obvious because in
a manner of speaking, it is ray baby
and I am intensely jealous of its
success.
GENERAL
ltems of Interest!
the HOUSE Iggtrr^L* 0 1 s , ewife
Apples may be used in almost
any salad recipe to give added
crispness and crunchiness.
• • •
Use potato water (a) when mak
ing stock; (b) when making
gravy, and (c) if you are a bread
maker, use it for mixing the bread
dough.
• • •
Keep the comb clean by wash
ing it regularly in warm soap wa
ter to which has been added a
little ammonia. The ammonia will
aid in loosening the dirt. Rinse
thoroughly and dry.
* * •
Keep cheese fresh by wrapping
in muslin squeezed out of vinegar
and water, and store in a paper
bag in a cool place.
♦ * *
During the last stages of baking
a cake a piece of greased paper
on the top of it will allow the in
side to cook through and keep the
top from burning.
* • •
A good way to test whether a
fern requires water is to give the
pot a sharp tap. If it sounds hol
low it needs water, but if a dull
sound is given out the soil is wet
enough.
FWW^rjFWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Me Another
@ A General Quiz
The Questions
1. What are the four fundamen
tals of combustion?
2. Is “insignia” a singular or
plural noun?
3. Who stole Helen Ulysses,
Paris, or Achilles—and thereby
brought about the Trojan war?
4. Who said; “Cauliflower is
nothing but cabbage with a col
lege education”?
5. Can anyone who dies on duty
in U. S. military or naval service
or has been honorably discharged
be buried at Arlington?
The Answers
1. The four fundamentals of
combustion are mixture, air, time
and temperature.
2. Plural. The singular form is
insigne.
3. Paris.
4. Mark Twain (Pudd’nhead Wil
son’s calendar).
5. Yes.
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Success Secondary cess comes to him. And very often
Man cannot be satisfied with the terms seem more important
mere success. He is concerned than the success.—Charles A. Ben.
with the terms upon which sue- nett.
—— i i
NATIONAL OPEN GOLF CHAMPION
SAYS—
■TURNED TO CAMELS F 0R ,p
M EXTRA MILDNESS. AND FOUND W
W SEVERAL OTHER SWELL EXTRAS, TOO— l|
I INCLUDING EXTRA SMOKING. SLOWER
Pv BURNING SURE IS THE TICKET FOR
I *. SMOKING^™^
I NESS |
GET THE “EXTRAS” withl I
slower-burning / a
mgm
OF COSTLIER TOBACCOS ■
To improve the flavor of w oJ
: lamb, rub it with a mixture 0 f
salt, garlic, black pepper and mar
joram before cooking.
• * *
When a wire basket is used f or
frying croquettes, dip the basket
into the hot fat before placing j n
the croquettes. The croquettes
will not stick to it when done, and
will be easy to remove.
CN|k .
When YOU dust
use O-Cedar on your dustcloth.
Dust and NEVER raise a dust
Here’s the smart, easy, modern way to dust,
Add one tablespoonful of genuine O-Cedar
Polish to one pint of warm water, dip
your dustcloth in that; dry it and use it.
Now when you dust you pick UP the grit
and lint and sandy dust. You don’t raise
clouds; you don't scatter the dust from table
to chairs back to tables again . . . your
cloth picks UP the dust, and your furniture
is spotless. Ask for;
MOPS, WAX, DUSTERS, CLEANERS AND
FLY AND MOTH SPRAY
Man a Knot of Roots
A man is a bundle of relations,
a knot of roots, whose flower and
fruitage is the world.—Emerson.
I S"c L E O s ?'|feTST.JOSEPH
I «fio? JSaixflSPlßlM
One Road
Of all the paths of life but one—
the path of duty—leads to happi
ness.—Southey.
