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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1940)
i The Roman Phalanx of 1940 A. D. Julius Caesar’s “phalanx” of close-packed Roman legions who formed an armored roof with shields cov ering their advance, is Improved upon by the modern “Caesar.” Here are today’s Roman “phalanx” armored legions that comprise part of Italy’s war machine. These tanks are ultra-modern, many being equipped with flame projectors. Egypt Prepares for Any Eventuality Past the pyramids, ages old symbols of Egypt and the Pharaohs, roar these British Blenheim bombers, as the British and Egyptian forces prepare for any “eventuality." The feared “eventuality,” of course, was the long-expected Italian entry into the great war, with a drive at Egypt from Libya as the first move. Uncle Sam Gets Bigger Battle Wagon Bedecked with flags and bunting, the U. S. S. Washington, 35,000-ton , battleship just completed at the Philadelphia navy yard, is shown sliding down the ways to the Delaware river. The 750-foot ship cost $80,000,000 and is the biggest warship ever built on this continent. It is the first completed unit of 68 warships under construction. s King George Quite a ‘Shot’ During a recent inspection tour of a gun factory that is operating night and day under war pressure, King George tried out a Bren machine gun. He put 60 bullets in or close to the bulls-eye at 20 yards, and remarked: “I had no idea the gun was so steady.” The king has made a number of personal inspections in factories lately. Banks Half Billion Mrs. Essie Ept, in charge of Ohio’s gasoline revenues, has de posited $540,316,659 to the state’s credit since 1926. This great sum was collected in dimes, nickels and pennies. It took a lot of ’em—but Mrs. Ept didn’t mind. Steel Chairman Irving S. Olds, elected chairman of the board of the V. S. Steel corpo ration, to succeed Edward R. Stet tinius Jr., who resigned to serve with national defense commission. Britain's ‘Rock' Under a Double Threat An aerial view of Gibraltar, Britain’s mighty fortress at the entrance to the Mediterranean, one of the key points of the European chessboard. Great Britain may be forced to defend Gibraltar against both Musso lini and Gen. Francisco Franco, who has been urged to repay Spain’s debt to the Rome-Berlin axis by co operating In any axis operation against the “Rock.” The Allied Troops Retreat From Dunkirk The picture shows the allied troops wading out from the beach to the rescue boat in the right fore ground, during the evacuation of Dunkirk. This was one of the most remarkable retreats in history, 887 British craft.taking part In the operation. A correspondent reports that every building in this city of 33,000 persons was destroyed by the Nazis. $230,769,230 Per Ounce! Between 1935 and 1940 federal expenditures have increased by $3,000, 000,000, and the budget has gained 13 ounces in weight. This means that every time the budget becomes an ounce heavier the spending increases, on an average, by $230,769,230, The picture was prepared by the National Small Business Men’s association with headquarters in Chicago. Middies March in June-Week Fete Middies parade daring: the presentation of colors ceremony, one of the features of June week at the United States Naval academy, Annapolis, Md. Helen Barbara Enrh, 19, Sweet Briar college sophomore, was selected color rid for the ceremony. Interned by Nazis r. u. nuuniouM1, diiumi uuiiiur ist, and his wife (shown) were giv ing a cocktail party in Le Touquet, French channel coast town, when the Germans came along. He was interned, but his wife was allowed to leave. Visitors Barred Every armory in New York state has been pat under military guard. The buildings have been closed to tbe public to prevent possible sabo tage. NATIONAL AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD I\otv that the country is awake, tax legislation will be given a thorough over hauling ... Military author ities always have been slow to admit revolutionary changes in equipment. (Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.) WASHINGTON - The new tax measure is not just going to be the sort of lick and a promise which had been indicated earlier. It is going to be the result of considerable study and investigation on the part of the congressional tax experts. Just a 10 per cent flat addition is out the window. Senators and rep resentatives interested directly in the tax situation pride themselves on their understanding of the prob lem and they are going to have something, they are saying, to which they can point with pride when the next revision comes up. Then, too. the bill is not going to raise the mere seven hundred mil lions additional that President Roosevelt talked about. It is going to be nearer twice that, not improb ably a billion and a half on top of the present tax load. There are two reasons for this. One Is that the amount of expendi tures necessary for national defense has been constantly understated— underestimated If you like, but understated is more accurate. The point here is that plenty of people, including the President, the admi rals, the generals, and the senior members of the senate and house ' military and naval committees, knew that the United States army and navy needed the spending of several billion dollars to bring them up to date. AFRAID TO SPEAK But—none of them thought the public would stand for it From the President down, all were afraid po litically of telling the country that we had to spend billions more on national defense. So there was virtually a conspiracy to let the fis cal situation, and the national de fense situation, ride until after elec tion. It must be realized in this connec tion that the fiscal situation was al ready very bad. Even with terribly inadequate national defense spend ing, the government was headed di rectly for financial rocks. Every one who studied the situation knew that congress would have to impose additional taxes next session, and would have to raise the $45,000,000, 000 debt limit also in the session to begin next January. But the Presi dent and the legislators figured on coasting until after the election was over. Then came Norway and Denmark, with Holland and Belgium following, and the drive to the English channel on top of that. For the first time since Gettysburg there was real fear in this country as to whether this nation could go on being what it has been. SLOW TO MAKE CHANGES It is not so surprising to students of naval and military history that the navy suddenly discovers our battleships need better deck armor as a protection from airplanes, and that the army is woefully deficient in mechanized units. It is the history of army and navy staffs of most countries that they are very slow to admit that changes have revolutionized their own art. There is nothing new about this. It is n failure of human nature. It is entirely probable that the tremendous supremacy which Ger many has shown in the use of fight ing machines in the present war is due to the fact that its army and navy have been under the absolute domination for some years now of an outsider—a fanatic who was only a corporal in the World war, but who achieved supreme power. In other words, it is the well-consid ered opinion of many students of military and naval history that this ruthless direction by a man who had never served in the various grades leading up to the high command was of inestimable advantage to the Nazis' military force. The classic illustration, of course, of resistance to new ideas in the navy is found by studying the reper cussions of the battle of the Merri mac and the Monitor, in our own Civil war. TOOK A LONG TIME There were three lessons to be learned from that battle, plus the easy victory the day before of the Merrimac over the wooden Union ships lying in Hampton Roads. One was that an iron ship, or an ar mored ship, was immeasurably su perior to a wooden ship. The second was that for war purposes the screw propeller was greatly superior to the old-fashioned paddle wheels. The third was that a few large guns, in turrets directly over the keel, were far more deadly in their fire than a larger number of guns mounted along the sides of the ship. The Merrimac had a lot more guns than the Monitor, but they were mounted as though she was an old British frigate, to shoot through openings in her sides, broadside fashion. Neither ship sank the other, but the Merrimac never put to sea again after her retreat that day.