Newspaper Page Text
Washington, D. C.
F. D. R. VIEWS AID TO YOUTH
During the week before his Carib
bean cruise, the President held a
series of private conferences which
were of prime importance in con
nection with his plans for the new
congress. In them he disclosed that
he is doing a lot of thinking about
domestic problems along two lines—
1. Youth.
2. Old-age pensions.
Democracy can resist subversive
Ideologies, the President held, only
by convincing youth that it does {
have a stake and a future in the j
existing system.
The President indicated that he
had no particular program in mind.
In fact, he asked for suggestions
and ideas.
On old-age pensions, Roosevelt
disclosed that he has made up his
mind as to what he wants. His
idea is to change the existing sys
tem of widely divergent state con
tributions to one of uniform federal
pensions, beginning at a lower age
than the present 65.
Roosevelt also voiced sharp criti
cism of the moguls of the social
security board who have so vigor
ously opposed liberalization of the
law. He declared that they have
been a big obstruction to reform
and that the time had come to over
rule them. It was significant that
the President had not discussed his
plans with them and was proceed
ing independently.
Note—Since January 1, when the
amended law became operative,
190,000 applications for old-age pen
sions have been approved by the
social security board for a total out
lay of $4,109,000 a month. With the
$7,048,000 paid out in lump sum
claims to survivors, the total old
age pension outlay so far is around
$28,000,000. The average pension is
$22 a month. In his conferences,
Roosevelt talked of placing 5,000,000
oldsters on federal pensions within
a year.
• * *
NO MASS PRODUCTION
One of the big complaints of de
fense chiefs is lack of machine-tool
facilities. Yet there are many small
plants of this type around the coun
try that have been literally begging
for orders and not getting them. One
company with 150 lathes has been
advertising for business in trade
journals for months.
Also there is strong evidence of
a lack of vision or initiative or both
in making the best use of mass
production facilities. The blame for
this goes right back to high defense
quarters.
The gigantic resources of the auto
industry, for example, have been
practically untouched for defense
output. New plants have been or
dered that will take months to build,
when by a co-ordination of the great
auto factories, parts of planes,
tanks, guns, etc., could be turned
out in carload lots daily and assem
bled at central points.
William Reuther, young official of
the United Auto Workers, long ago
proposed such a plan for a daily out
put of 500 all-metal pursuit planes
of the most powerful type in the
world, and at one-third their pres
ent cost. But the matter is still
“being discussed.”
Other industries could be used in
the same way for similar short
cuts on other armament needs, but
they are not. Meanwhile, defense
output drags along, and precious
weeks and months flit by.
♦ ♦ •
BRITISH DAMAGE
Confidential military estimates of
Nazi bombing damage to Great
Britain are that British industrial
production has fallen off about 30
per cent.
While this is a very serious crimp
in the output of British planes, anti
aircraft guns and shells, it is not as
bad as the pictures of shattered
Bristol, Coventry, and Southampton
would indicate.
Reason damage to British indus
trial production has not been great
er is (1) that the British more than
a year ago began scattering their
plants in small units throughout
Scotland and northern England,
which are hard to locate and hard
to hit after they are located; (2)
that those big plants which do re
main are protected with a virtual
forest of anti-aircraft guns.
Far more serious is the damage
to British navy yards. These can
not be broken up into small units,
and they have been so heavily dam
aged that the repair of British ship
ping is very materially retarded.
In many cases, British warships
have been repaired at sea.
This, plus the tremendous in
crease in the sinking of merchant
vessels, is what makes the British
shipping plight so desperate at pres
ent.
* * *
CAPITAL CHAFF
Irony of diplomatic fate is that
when Mussolini marched into Al
bania, the U. S. state department
actually condoned it. Instead of reg
istering a protest as in the case of
other occupied countries, the state
department dropped the Albanian
minister from its diplomatic list.
Meanwhile, the diplomatic repre
sentatives of Czechoslovakia, Po
land, Holland, Belgium, Norway,
Denmark, still are listed. But if the
Greeks keep on going they will win
back Albania for the Albanians.
tT
MONKEYING WITH THE
BIG SHOW
From Sarasota comes the word
that the circus of 1941 will have
more ruffles than ever. It has been
going. Hollywood for the past few
seasons, but next year the biggest
show on earth will look like some
thing out of the “Arabian Nights”
via Metro-Goldwyn,
• * *
Norman Bel Geddes has been re
tained by the Ringlings to stream
line, decorate and dress the big
show from the peanut bag to the ele
phants; and circus addicts who like
j their circus plain and a bit odorifer
ous are worried. It may be hard
to tell the 1941 show from a night
club interior.
* • *
The circus of tradition had faded
costumes, a hard-boiled Queen of
Sheba and a Maharajah of Indore
who had two cauliflower ears and
a broken nose.
* * *
Cinderella and her ladies general
ly had the appearance of being ref
ugees from a midway.
• * *
The Fairy Prince had fallen
arches, a three-days’ growth of beard
and a middle tooth missing. And
the Caliph of Bagdad seemed fresh
ly bounced from a corner saloon.
• * *
But the old-time circus fan was
satisfied. He didn’t expect too much.
* * *
There was something rough,
catch-as-catch-can and impromptu
An about the big
V . AM show that was ap
pealins- If y° u
wanted art and
VAteMl r' beauty you went
I to a musical
show or a muse
um - And a c * rcus
had to smell like
a circus, too.
♦ * ♦
But the big top woke bp one spring
morning and found that it had been
to the beauty parlor, caliphs,
princes, maharajahs, princesses, el
ephants, ponies and all.
• • ♦
When the bands blared for the
opening pageant that season there
wasn’t a plug-ugly in the parade.
♦ * *
That would have been all right
with the old-time circus addict if
they had stopped there. But the
circus management went in head
over heels for glamour.
* * *
They rouged the elephant’s toe
nails, powdered the gorilla’s nose
and made even
the hostlers wash
tiful showgirls, in
troduced the De PpCxSJ
De Sylva influ- If
ence in one movement, and even
went in for air conditioning the cir
cus tent.
• • *
If you want your circus straight,
with all the smells that had become
traditional, you had to stay down
near the camels and sea lions.
* * *
And it looks like a non-top trend.
Norman Bel Geddes is now report
ed working on the tents. That looks
like carrying the glamour stuff too
far. A circus tent has always looked
like a circus tent. What it will
look like in 1941 is anybody’s guess.
* * *
THE BREAK
I haven’t any sables to slip ele
gantly on,
Nor silver fox or monkey-fringe to
lure a Don Juan;
I haven't any star sapphires or robe
with diamond bustls,
And I haven’t any bomb-proof cell
to which I have to hustle!
G. K. B.
• • •
“Eskimos Can’t Understand Peo
ple Getting Into Wars.”—headline.
Have patience; it’ll come to you.
• * *
HOW LIFE GOES
Part to working, part to sleeping,
part to playing, but most of life goes
to waiting for some woman!
• • •
Several New York policemen have
been drafted into the army, and
this ought to discourage Hitler about
as much as anything else.
* * *
NEW VERSION
Early to bed, early to rise,
. Leaving more to your heirs
Than you would otherwise.
• • •
t “Italy Breathes Easier After
| Pact.”—headline.
That isn’t breathing; it’s heavy
panting.
• • *
Simile by T.G.D.—-As overdressed
t as a cut-rate drugstore window.
* ♦ •
\ EPITAPHS FOR TRAFFIC CHAOS
(“Neon lights on store fronts are
[ lights.’’—News item.)
, Here lies Lester
’ Luther Watt:
He thought a traf-
Fic light was not.
Here reposes
j Bixby (Leon):
He thought the stop
Light was a Neon.
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL. PERRY. CBORGIA
If :
Kathleen Norris Says:
The Child h Bom Again
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.!
, \ \ \ /cTn
We know that in stupid blindness, we have been building Maginot lines and Sieg
fried lines of hatred and revenge in our hearts, and that the war fever is crossing
the ocean to touch us and infect us with the madness that is reigning there. But still
the miracle of the Christmas Child lives on. He is still near, with His eternal promise
of peace and forgiveness and love.
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
THE best thing that we can
say for the old world is
that once in its histcfry a
Man was born who spoke
strange, unbelievable, startling
and inacceptable truths.
The reason we know that what
He said was true is that although
for twenty centuries all sorts of
brilliant and scientific men
have been trying to prove that
He was mistaken, still, in that
tribunal that is the heart of the
people, these words of His live
on, and grow more and more
brilliant with time, and for
every voice that denies Him, a
hundred other voices speak up
loudly in His defense.
That fact is the one miracle that
the world has known. All other mir
acles stem from it through the acts
of His followers, or like wars and
scientific discoveries and astronomi
cal prophecies turn out to be no
miracles at all.
It sometimes rather amuses me
when young unbelievers challenge
the Bible stories of miracles. The
sick man at the pool was only a
hypochondriac, they say, he could
always have picked up his bed and
walked if he had wanted to. The
water made wine was always wa
j ter only the wedding guests were in
an amiable mood and thought it
wine. The blind man was a fakir;
he wasn’t blind.
His Name Marches On.
Why, what more do these skeptics
want than the living, blazing, un
equalled miracle that Christ’s name
is today in our modern, whirling,
mechanized world, in this country,
whose simplest everyday fact was
undreamed in His day? When as our
first human landmark, we speak of
the miracle that was—and is—the
Master’s eternally old and eternally
new story, what episode in all his
tory comes second? What other
event deserves to be mentioned even
in remotest connection with it?
For here was a baby born in pov
erty, reared as a carpenter’s son
in a small oriental town, growing
to manhood unknown, His friends
equally humble and obscure. His
early death marking Him as a crim
inal.
No press, no influence, no power
ful adherents to defend His name.
No written word of His to live and
justify him. And yet in America
today large numbers of papers,
printed daily, carry that name as
their inspiration and reason for be
ing, and it is safe to say that no
daily journal ever is printed with
out that name.
Substitutes Love for Hate.
The law this Man laid down to a
few idle villagers and fisher folk
was a terrible law. It was terrible
in its newness, its courage, its impli
cations. For it stripped man of re
venge and substituted forgiveness;
it stripped him of self and substi
tuted neighbor; it stripped him of
hate and substituted love.
And man was afraid. Afraid, even
in that simpler day, to follow the
Master’s law as he had followed the
Master’s feet. He is afraid today.
Our churches will be crowded, this
Christmas day, and such churches
as are left amid the smoking black
ness that once was beauty and ac
tivity and prosperity in Europe, will
be crowded, too. There will be be
wildered heartache here; there will
oe bitter sobbing there. But not any
where will there be voices strong
enough to preach His law. Forgive
CHRISTMAS
The approaching birthday of Jesus
recalls His teachings to a forgetting
world. Kathleen Norris believes that
they contain the only cure for the ter
rible misfortunes which man endures
today. She advises everyone to ob
serve a sober Christmas, and forget
about world affairs in a heartfelt
prayer for love and charily toward our
fellow men. She feels that the world
will not have peace until it proves it
self worthy of peace.
your enemies. Do good to them that
hate you. Render not evil for evil,
but return evil with good.
There is a jungle story of monkeys
who found a string of priceless
pearls. Pearls naturally meant noth
ing to the monkeys, but their leader
knew that something about the lus
trous rope of shining white globes
was rare. So through the tree-tops
he went, waving his find, chattering
and squawking, and after him came,
chattering and squawking, his noisy
people.
Just so man knew, even from the
beginning, that what the Master
preached was rare; that in those
simple words lay the secret of life,
the cure for all the world’s dis
orders. He seized upon his prize
and carried it down the years, call
ing to all who would listen that he
had found something quite unique
among the world’s treasures.
But apparently man knew no more
how to use it than the monkeys
knew what to do with their pearls.
If man HAD known there would nev
er have been a war; there would
never have been poverty and slums,
with all that they breed of suffering
and crime and sickness. There
would never have been kings nor rul
ers, for the greatest among us would
have been our servant, and it would
have been the noble object of the
leaders to see how humble, how
helpful, how like the Master they
might make themselves.
We know how different has been
the world’s story! We know that
hate and greed and fear are reach
ing their fateful zenith today, and
that in all Europe there are only a
few nations left where one may dare
voice even the name of Christ. We
know that in stupid blindness, we
have been building Maginot lines
and Siegfried lines of hatred and re
venge in our hearts, and that the
war fever is crossing the ocean to
touch us and infect us with the mad
ness that is reigning there.
Pray for Guidance.
But still the miracle of the Christ
mas Child lives on. He is still near,
with His eternal promise of peace
and forgiveness and love. However
full of mistakes the past, it can be
wiped away by the simple prayer
that brings to Him a child’s heart
and a child’s trust. We don’t know
the way out of the darkness. We
have lost faith in ourselves. But
the way is always there. And the
promise is always there; “ask and
ye shall receive. Knock, and it shall
be opened unto you.”
A sobered Christmas, a quiet
Christmas, —not like our usual joy
ous holidays. But perhaps to prove
someday the most fruitful of even
tual good that the world has known
since the first Christmas of all.
So I think our prayer this Christ
mas should be only a prayer for
guidance. Not that dictators will
die and guns will succeed and con
querors be humbled and ships be
sunk. Not anything about great
world affairs at all.
But that in each one of our hearts
a new spirit will be born at that
star-lighted hour when the Child
Himself is born anew.
HUGH s -
Johnson
kd Jour:
United M WNU Servia
Washington, D, C.
DRAFT PRINCIPLES
The attempt to have all New York
city policemen and firemen exempt
ed from the draft, if successful,
would weaken popular confidence in
the fairness of the selective sys
tem. The underlying principle of
the draft is that each man’s case
shall be considered on its own in
dividual merits and under exactly
the same rules governing the selec
tion of all other men. If he has
dependents, he is not exempted. He
is merely deferred after establishing
dependency in his particular case.
Occupation deferments are deter
mined in the same way. A man can
be deferred for his occupation only
if it is shown in each individual
case, that he is indispensable to
some necessary industrial enter
prise.
Some particular fireman or some
particular policeman might be
shown to be indispensable to a city
police or fire department, and so
deferred, though it is difficult to see
how. That is exactly the rule in
New York city now, but it is not
what New York’s mayor wants. He
wants to say to the national govern
ment: “You can’t take any fire
man or policeman.” A man’s badge
ousts the board from even consider
ing his case.
This is what is called a “blanket
exemption”—automatically lifting
out of the selective service systems
two entire and very numerous
classes of men. It couldn’t be done
without changing an established na
tional policy of the draft. If it is
permitted in New York, it must be
permitted everywhere throughout
the nation—in some cases with gro
tesquely absurd results.
This is old stuff. The first six
months of the 1917 draft were a
continuous battle to prevent the sys
tem from being discredited and im
paired with “blanket” exemptions
pressed for by some of the most
powerful influences. This case of
policemen and firemen came up
first. Equally strong pressure was
brought to exempt locomotive engi
neers and firemen, brakemen and
finally all railroad employees as a
class, for reasons here stated and,
for another reason, we successfully
resisted.
The other reason was that we
feared that the creation of blanket
exemptions would create loopholes
as broad as boulevards for whole
sale draft evasion. And so it proved,
for finally we gave in on one case—
a blanket exemption for the Emer
gency Fleet corporation.
* ♦ *
DEFENSE PROGRESS
Recent promising official utter
ances giving dates when we shall
have ready specific numbers of
army divisions, navy ships and
army and navy fighting planes are
something like the earlier way of
reporting armaments “on hand or
on order.”
Progress has been commendable.
Most officials in the armament ef
fort have done the best they could
under present handicaps of faulty
organization, planning and insuffi
cient authority. But it is a mistake
to make promises of performances
so far ahead and especially to do
so in terms of “airplanes,” “divi
sions,” or “men under arms.” They
are too general in their meaning.
They do not paint the true picture
to people wlj,o are not familiar with
just what the words mean. They are
apt to paint too rosy a picture.
A survey of all the utterances of
the war department, for example,
over the past few years, would gen
erally indicate a continuing satis
factory state of affairs—at least up
to the spring of this year. A glance
at our present predicament, in com
parison, would indicate how mistak
en and misleading they have been.
The phrase “5,000 army air
planes” in estimating future produc
tion is not very informing. It doesn’t
tell whether they are fighting planes
or transport planes or bombers and
that lack of specification is confus
ing enough. But there is an even
greater confusion.
One airplane isn’t a good unit of
measure.
One airplane means at least one
and sometimes three or four extra
engines. It means a crew aloft of
one or more highly trained pilots
and sometimes as many as eight
other more or less expert techni
cians. It means an adequate me
chanical ground equipment and a
ground crew of skilled mechanics as
numerous as the flying crew and
sometimes more numerous. Even
more significantly it means arma
ment-cannon, light and heavy ma
chine guns, torpedoes, bombs and,
for all these, sometimes tons of ex
plosives and incendiary material in
the racks or in reserve storage on
the ground.
• • •
Of many of these things our pres
ent supply is a trifling quantity.
Preparations are being pressed to
get them on principal units. Some
of the published reports and esti
mates are fairly clear. But of oth
ers, like cannon, trained personnel
and ammunition, the difficulties of
getting into production from a near
zero point of existing capacity have
been so great that it is almost cer
tain that they cannot be delivered in
step with the air force that requires
them without a time lag of from
one to two years.
New Date Frock
In Princess Style
VT’OU’LL need an extra pretty
1 afternoon frock, with many par
ties coming on, and teas. A frock
that will make your figure look
particularly slim and supple, your
face fresh and appealing! That’s
just the kind of frock you can make
for yourself with design No. 8826,
in velveteen, chiffon-thin wool’
spun rayon or flat crepe.
See how beautifully the princess
cut makes it melt into your waist
line, in a most belittling fashion!
That clever skirt detailing in front
is a perfect way to achieve the
smart “concealed fullqpss.” The
draped bodice is not only an im
portant fashion point, but also
very becoming to slim figures, be
cause it tends to round out the
bosom. Make it of lace, or con
trast or, as shown in the small
sketch, of the frock fabric.
Pattern No. 8826 is designed for sizes
12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. Size 14 requires,
with short sleeves, 4% yards of 39-lnch
material without nap; long sleeves, 4%
yards, Vi yard lace. Step-by-step sew
chart comes with your pattern. Send or
der to:
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
Room 1324
211 W. Wacker Dr. Chicago
Enclose 15 cents in coins for
Pattern No Size
Name
Address
A Vegetable
Laxative
( __ Ip For Headache,
fePmZTi Biliousness,
and Dizziness
when caused by
Tjiialp- il Constipation.
<^||||||*1 11 15 doses for
l^gyP^nlj^ocen£
Man’s Worth
Every man is worth just so
much as the things are worth
about which he busies himself.—
Marcus Aurelius,
MERCHANTS
•Your
Advertising
Dollar
buys something more than
space and circulation in
the columns of this news
paper. It buys space and
circulation plus the favor
able consideration of our
readers for this newspaper
and its advertising patrons.
"1
LET US TELL YOU j
MORE ABOUT IT j
