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WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE
U. S. Reacts to European War
As Shipments Crowd Wharves;
Ickes Warns Against ‘Raiding’
(EDITOR’S NOTE—When opinions are expressed in these columns, they
are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Releazed by Western Newspaper Union. —
DOMESTIC:
U.S.&theWar
Major fear of congressmen who
opposed the neutrality act last Oc
tober was that its practical effect
was to favor Britain and France,
who control the seas, meanwhile
shutting off U. S. munitions sup
plies to Germany. Released by the
state department at year's end were
substantiating figures: In Novem
ber, first month of neutrality’s op
eration, France received export li
censes covering $95,579,000 in muni
tions exports; Britain, $14,970,000;
Germany, none.
Meanwhile New York port officials
felt for the first time the press of
war shipments. Bedded down in
the foreign trade zone on Staten
island were bombers, trucks, trench
* JHV*"'" *’” y -''' fIK •••<.•"• -• •• • •w- — f
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PLANE FOR BRITAIN
Trench diggers, too.
diggers, corned beef and miscellane
ous war exports valued at $18,500,-
000, all awaiting empty allied freight
ers to carry them across the sub
marine-infested Atlantic,
Items: 60 fast Lockheed recon
naissance bombers, their bodies
painted a dark brown and camou
flaged with weird stripings; 1,500
Studebaker trucks and 1,000 White
trucks, the vanguard of 6,000 to be
sent to the war zone within the
next two months (wired to many of
them were crates carrying machine
gun mountings, and spare parts);
13 trench diggers costing $3,000 each
and destined for the Western front,
to be followed soon by 270 more.
At Washington, the annual report
of Interior Secretary Harold Ickes
focused attention on America’s need
for conserving her natural resources
which he said were threatened by
efforts to break down conservation
programs in an attempt to reap
quick war profits. What specific at
tempts he had in mind Secretary
Ickes did not say, but it is well
known that army and navy depart
ments have ordered strict conserva
tion of domestic sources of certain
strategic materials.
ESPIONAGE:
Dies to Murphy
Much maligned during the two
years his committee has investigat
ed un-Americanism, Congressman
Martin Dies of Texas has never
theless managed to stir up trouble
for Communist Earl Browder, Nazi
Fritz Kuhn, Alien Harry Bridges,
and many a lesser figure. For
months the administration would not
co-operate, but finally the justice
department swooped down on Earl
Browder, indicting him on false
passport charges.
This month Attorney General
Frank Murphy begins co-operating
so completely that Martin Dies is
shoved to the background. Opened
in Washington was a special grand
jury probe to study “direct evi-
FORECAST:
New Job:
<L Once U. S. ambassador to Italy,
. and an official of the state depart
ment since Woodrow Wilson’s ad-
Eass-* y Mi
jag 1 "
n -^1
RSSSK JMHHH
LONG
To Brussels?
^ministration,
'' B r e c k e n
< ridge Long
4is consid
4ered the best
/bet to suc
«ceed Joseph
>jE. Davies as
^ambassador
KU Belgium.
zDavies has
Kalready tak
«en over most
%o f Long’s
^present du-
»ities as head
^!of the special department for repa
/triation of Americans living abroad.
Goering Trouble:
C. The London Daily Herald reports
on good authority that Adolf Hit
ler's No. 1 aid, Field Marshal Her
mann Goering, has fallen in dis
favor and is living at his shooting
chalet at Schorfheide, planning a
comeback campaign “on his own
terms.”
Neutrality
Observers expect wholesale at
tempts to transfer U. S.-owned pas
senger and freight ships to registry
of European neutrals, following the
maritime commission’s approval of
a deal whereby eight U. S. Lines
. ships are sold to a Norwegian com
pany for operation between New
dence” of planned sabotage by rep
resentatives of foreign governments
in U. S. auto, airplane and muni*
tions factories. At the same tint*
Frank Murphy began probing anti-
Semitic activities, using the income
tax, passport and foreign agent laws
as his weapons.
THE WARS:
In the West
Where Christmas left off, a violent
blizzard began to stop all operations
on the western front. Sidelights:
<L Britain, expecting “real war” in
the spring, ordered 2,000,000 more
men prepared for army service.
<L In Paris Le Petit Parisien pub
lished a report from Italy that Adolf
Hitler was ready to quit as chan
cellor and purge his more radical
Nazis to “convince the allies to
make peace.”
<1 Only sea activity was the decision
of Germany’s freighter Tacoma to
accept internment at Montevideo
harbor rather than face capture by
British ships waiting outside the har
bor.
In the North
Attack-and-repulse tactics contin
ued featuring the war between Fin
land and Russia, the Soviet suffer
ing bitter losses on all fronts from
Petsamo to the Karelian isthmus.
Main reason, as usual, was cold
weather, an ally of the skillful Finns.
Most gruesome story:
Near Suomussalmi it was learned
the outnumbered Finns had sur
rounded Russia’s entire 163rd divi
sion, waited three weeks in bitter
cold while the Soviet supply lines
broke down, then attacked to find
the Russians so .weak and frozen
they could hardly move. Trapped
were most of the 18,000 men, thou
sands of them already dead.
Far from an optimist, Finland’s
President Kyosti Kallio knew such
luck couldn’t hold out. As new
waves of Red troops were rushed to
the front he appealed for foreign
volunteers. Already on the way were
50,000 Scandinavians, with more to
come.
WHITE HOUSE:
Appointments
As congress opened, President
Roosevelt asked confirmation of his
two most recent appointees:
<L Charles Edison, assistant secre
tary of the navy since January, 1937,
and acting head of the department
since last summer, chosen for full
secretaryship.
C Daniel W. Bell, former acting
budget director, named undersecre
tary of the treasury to succeed John
Hanes, resigned.
TREND:
Suppression
Freedom of speech and press suf
fered three times in two days:
C. At Cambridge, Mass., the city
council voted to ban the words Lenin
and Leningrad from all printed mat
ter in the city, but the mayor re
fused to sign the measure.
<L At Chicago, President James C.
Petrillo of the local federation of
musicians demanded that two stage
productions (George White’s Scan
dais and The Man Who Came to
Dinner) delete references to John
L. Lewis, head of A. F. of L.’s arch
foe, the C. I. O.
<L At Mexico City, the chamber of
deputies voted to exclude all reli
gion and religious instruction from
schools.
Rumors Behind
World Headlines
York and Liverpool. Purpose of
transfer: To escape ban imposed
by U. S. neutrality law.
Quints:
C. Resignation of Dr. Alan Roy Da
foe as a guardian of the famous Di
onne quintuplets may pave the way
for their return to the home of the
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oliva Di
onne.
Strategy:
<L Both Republicans and Democrats
(the latter in self-defense) will prob
ably concentrate their major 1940
presidential campaign in the mid
western states, normally a G. O. P.
stronghold. For this reason lead
ers of both parties are urging Chi
cago as convention city.
Tragedy:
C. University of Nebraska’s Dr. J.
E. Weaver predicts that the most
ruinous drouth in history will strike
the middle-western “dust bowl” next
year. Already dry, the dust bowl re
ceived only temporary relief from
light snows.
Protest:
<l. Agricultural business interests
are planning a campaign to demand
that the Farm Credit administration
be removed from the hands of Sec
retary of Agriculture Henry Wal
lace, on charges that his recently ex
propriated control over FCA will re
sult in loosened credit restrictions,
thus endangering the investments of
FCA stockholders.
BAKER COUNTY NEWS
Know your news? Perfect score is
100; deduct 20 points for each ques
tion you miss. Score of 80 is excel
lent; 60, average; 40, poor; 20, don’t
tell anyone!
MeaUCTranMn Sea [J
1. Arrow points to section of
Turkey very much in the news re
cently. Why?
2. The former Ethel duPont
and her husband were injured in
a Virginia auto crash. What’s
her married name?
3. Ex-President Herbert Hoover
heads a relief agency which has
sent more than $300,000 to aid the
citizens of what country?
4. Choice: Pope Pius XII set a
modern precedent by visiting:
(a) the Western front; (b) his
birthplace; (c) the Italian king.
5. Name the former U. S. am
bassador to Belgium who has just
been named “special assistant”
in the state department at Wash
ington.
(Answers at bottom of column.)
CONGRESS:
News Quiz
Two months ago only a few Amer
icans realized that Cordell Hull’s re
ciprocal trade act comes up for
congressional renewal this year. To
day that issue ranks No. 1 on the
agenda, threatening to inject itself
into 1940’s presidential campaign.
The question: Should America sub
scribe to Hull low-tariff policies or
G. O. P. high tariffs?
At least three opponents of the
Hull idea (two of them Democrats)
spoke their minds as congress un
locked its oratorical floodgates. New
York’s G. O. P. Rep. Daniel Reed
charged Joseph Davies had been
brought back from his Brussels am
bassadorial post to serve as “super
lobbyist” for Cordell Hull. South
Dakota’s Sen. W. J. Bulow keynoted
opinion in his chamber by indicating
it wasn’t so much the act itself he
opposed; what counted was that the
HI- VW
•FW 11
NEBRASKA’S BURKE
A realistic view.
Senate should ratify each treaty.
Most realistic attitude was that of
Nebraska’s Sen. Edward R. Burke:
He favored the “long-range view”
that taking down tariff walls would
eventually benefit all countries, but
declared agriculture in some states
is so depressed it would “require
at least a few years to get it back
on its feet.”
What most senators want is a
chance for some old-fashioned log
rolling, hence observers thought the
trade act would be renewed only if
congressional ratification is includ
ed.
Other issues:
Pensions. Unexpectedly injected
was a campaign (sponsored by
“poorer” states) to make the U. S.
take a bigger share of pension costs.
Under law the U. S. matches states
dollar for dollar up to S2O per month.
Agriculture. Henry Wallace pol
ished off his “certificate plan” to
syphon $300,000,000 annually from
consumers to finance the farm pro
gram. Farmers would get income
certificates valued at the differential
between market price and “parity
price,” these to be purchased by
processors.
Taxes. Henry Morgenthau not
only opposed the certificate plan as
a consumer tax in disguise, but
pointed out the consumer already
pays 61 per cent of the taxes. A
bigger issue: Whether to raise taxes
or hike the national debt limit,
which reaches its ceiling next, year.
Defense. While the President
planned an enlarged defense pro
gram, two Republicans (Ohio’s Sen.
Robert A. Taft and Idaho’s William
Borah) warned against it.
PEOPLE:
No Communist
At Washington, Harvard law
school’s Dean James M. Landis re
ported he had found Harry Bridges,
west coast C. I. O. leader, is not a
Communist, thus closing the deporta
tion hearing at which Dean Landis
officiated.
•
News Quit Answers
1. An earthquake, followed by a bliz
zard, killed at least 20,000 there.
2. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.
3. Finland.
4. (C) is correct. It was the first visit
of a pope to a temporal prince in more
than 70 years.
5. Joseph E. Davies.
ADVENTURERS* CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI
“A Ride With the Reaper”
WET J.—one way to have an adventure is to go on an automo
bile ride with Jeannette E. Lowitt of Arverne, N. Y. Jean
nette’s driving would thrill you. It might even paralyze you.
Like the old patent medicine ads used to say, it invigorates the
healthy, cures the lame and the halt, and brings the dying back
to life.
Jeannette started out on her adventure without any automo
bile at all. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t even properly equipped
for walking. She didn’t have any shoes on. It was a stifling August
day in 1930. Even Rockaway Beach was without the slightest
sign of a breeze. Jeannette was lying down in her room when
suddenly the hot, muggy air was torn by the most piercing ago
nizing scream she had ever heard. And from then on, things hap
pened thick and fast.
Jeannette jumped out of bed and ran to the door. In front
of her house was a crowd of people. In the midst of them was
Mrs. Levin—a summer visitor—holding a tiny infant in her
arms. “My baby! He’s dead!” she was crying. And as Jean
nette sprang down the steps she heard the frantic, white
faced mother explaining that while she had left the child alone for a min
ute it had picked up a bottle of camphorated oil and drank it.
Jeannette Starts Trip to Hospital.
The baby lay in the woman’s arms motionless—stiff. His little
eyes bulge and his lips were blue. Without a word Jeannette grabbed
him and started running—running toward the doctor’s office, two blocks
away. She was still barefooted. The burning sun made her head throb.
Perspiration drenched her body. But she sprinted the whole way and
burst into the doctor’s office, her heart pounding madly. '
The doctor was in his back office, operating on a man’s foot.
Blood soaked cotton was strewn over the operating table and
more blood was dripping into a pail that hung beneath the patient.
“I can’t stop,” he said. “This man has a hemorrhage. What’s
the trouble?”
At that point the child’s mother, who had followed closely behind
Jeannette, came bursting into the office. “My baby!” She wailed. “He’s
dead! He’s dead!” The doctor dropped the needle he was holding,
snatched the child from Jeannette’s arms and ran into the bathroom.
Without a word Jeannette grabbed him and started running.
Opening the hot water faucet in the bathtub he held the baby under it.
A minute passed. There was no sign of life. “Jeannette,” he whis
pered. “He’s gone. Look—he’s foaming at the mouth. Rush him to
the hospital. Take my car—it’s outside. The key is in the ignition. My
patient will bleed to death if I leave him.”
Jeannette picked up the child again. She dashed out into the
hall and stumbled over the prostrate body of Mrs. Levin, who had
fainted. She couldn’t even hold the child while Jeannette drove to
the hospital. How could she manage alone? She rushed to the
street—lost a few precious seconds trying to get the baby’s
stiff, outstretched arms through the narrow door. With the child
on her lap she lost more valuable time trying to find the starter.
She found the starter at last. The motor roared. The car started.
She was off—turning the corner and putting on speed—racing down the
boulevard toward the hospital, at Beach Eighty-fourth street, just over
the tracks of the Long Island railroad.
There was traffic on the streets, but Jeannette made good time. She
did, that is, until she came to the railroad crossing near Hammel sta
tion. As she was about to cross, the gateman blew his whistle and
held up his hand. The crossing gate began to lower. Jeannette screamed,
“Wait! Let me through!” But the gates kept right on falling.
Jeannette gripped the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.
The car shot forward. It bumped onto the crossover just under
the gates—got into the middle of the tracks—and stalled!
The gateman cursed. Jeannette jammed her foot vicioiusly down
on the starter—but the car didn’t start. Then, for the first time, Jean
nette lost her head. They made cars then, with two kinds of gear shift,
and suddenly she had forgotten which type this was. She sat fumbling
with the gear lever while, down the tracks, a train was rapidly narrow*
ing the distance between it and the car.
Agony of the Moment Lives With Jane.
The gateman yelled. .“Get the h off these tracks.” .Jean
nette paid no attention. He ran over and screamed in her car.
A crowd was gathering. Frantically, Jeannette kept trying to
start the car. Her teeth were chattering—and she says she’ll
never forget the agony of that moment.
The gateman had raised the gates half-way. The crowd was
screaming to her to get out of the car and run. Then, suddenly,
the motor caught. Jeannette jerked the shift lever into what she
thought was first speed.
It wasn’t. It was reverse. The car shot backward with a force
that made the baby’s head strike the steering wheel. It hit with a
resounding thud and it looked like a catastrophe, but it was just what
the doctor ordered.
The car shot back off the track, and at the same time, something
happened to the child. I guess the doctor would have called it regurgi
tation or some other swell sounding word, but in plain English—well—
the baby just chucked up. An avalanche of half digested string beans
and potatoes landed in Jeannette’s lap. And along with it came the CAM
PHORATED OIL.
A few minutes later in the hospital, Jeannette lay on the floor and
cried hysterically while doctors worked over the baby with a stomach
pump. If the doctors even noticed Jeannette, they didn’t give any sign
of it. The baby was the important one. Jeannette was only the one
who saved his life.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Rigid Air Safety Code Beneficial to U. S. Aviation
One reason for the supremacy of
American aviation over foreign ri
vals is supplied by estimates that
this country’s commercial air trans
port companies spend 500 per cent
more each year on research, main
tenance and inspection than all the
rest of the world's airlines.
Rigid safety standards are applied
to even seemingly minor items of
ah’ equipment by aviation inspection
crews. An example of their un
usual requirements is found in a re
port on the development of a new
type of plane refuelling hose now in
use by major oil companies having
refuelling contracts at airports from
coast to coast.
Five years of research by scien
tists of the B. F. Goodrich labors-
tories went into the perfecting oi
the new hose which incorporates
safeguards against two peculiar avi
ation problems. A special com
pound of synthetic rubber was de
veloped for the hose to prevent the
natural rubber—which has a tend
ency to disintegrate in contact with
gasoline—from passing into the mo
tors. The new compound is said
by technicians to be completely gas
oline-proof.
Stranded stainless steel wire was
also woven into the hose in ordei
that static electricity which might
have been generated by the fric
tion of air on the plane’s surfaces in
flight might be conducted harmless
ly to the ground through the wire,
which is attached to couplings or
the field.
Easy Afghan Smart
Done in Two Shades
x s Ell
■< s r-v®
i f
a I
fl
Pattern 6505
An afghan for a beginner! In
two shades of a color, it’s worked
in single crochet, with rib stitch
forming a herringbone design.
Pattern 6505 contains directions
for making afghan; illustration of
it and stitches; materials re
quired; color schemes; photo
graph of section of afghan.
To obtain this pattern send 15
cents in coins to The Sewing Cir
cle Household Arts Dept., 259 W.
14th St., New York, N. Y.
Please write your name, ad
dress and pattern number plainly.
QuickC
uoTE-CTi
Sentinel Features
THE AMERICAN SPIRIT
**TF EVERY citizen will eease to look
to Washington in his moment of
stress and strain, and individually
same the responsibility of self-improve
ment, of self-advancement, of self-pres
ervation, I believe the turning point
then may be reached, and from that
instant we begin again to be a happy, a
contented, a prosperous people with eyes
raised high to greet a new day. This is
the American way, this is the American
creed, this is the American spirit.”—
V. S. Representative Albert E. Austin.
CLOTHESPIN
NOSE W|
Has a cold pinched your fjßLs |
nose shut—as if with a
clothespin? Lay a Luden's
on your tongue. As it melts, ’cMH
cool menthol vapor rises,
helps penetrate dogged-na
sal passages with every J
breath...helps relieve that
"clothespin nosel”
LUDEN’S
Menthol Cough Drops
V ———————
Perpetual Ignorance
The recipe for perpetual ignor
ance is: to be satisfied with yotir
opinions and content with your
knowledge.—Elbert Hubbard.
dependable
tflWhaEjAsirp
Up Again!
Our greatest glory consists not in
never failing, but in rising every
time we fall.—Goldsmith.
coon wfil
STORES
large
BOULE
" r av pl I flaHw
•catsscat F \* ■ R
St.ro
Soul of Wit
Brevity is the soul of wtt.—
Shakespeare.
Bureau of Standards
A BUSINESS organization
which wants to get the
most for the money sets up
standards by which to judge
what is offered to it, just as in
Washington the government
maintains a Bureau of Standards.
• You can have your own Bureau
of Standards, too. Just consult
the advertising columns of your
newspaper. They safeguard
your purchasing power every
day of every year.