WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
Steady Progress Marks Allied Drive
In Italy; Repulse Nazi Counter Blows;
Steel Producers Open Wage Parleys
As CIO Asks 17c an Hour Pay Boost
(EDITOR’S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of
Western Newspaper Union’s news analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
____________ Released by Weatern Newap.-'.per Union.
CONGRESS:
Surplus Funds
Government agencies with un
spent appropriations would have to
turn their surpluses over to the U. S.
treasury under an amendment
adopted by the U. S. senate.
Sponsored by Senator Kenneth Me
Keller (Tenn.) the amendment was
part of a $308,000,000 deficiency ap
propriations bill later sent to a Joint
senate-house committee for settle
ment of differences between the two
congressional branches.
The amendment was directly
aimed against the budget bureau,
which recently took control over
$13,000,000,000 saved by the army out
of its $71,000,000,000 appropriation.
The amendment also prohibited the
army from transferring 10 per cent
of appropriations to other funds.
Said Senator McKeller: ", . .
We (congress) don’t want to sur
render our power to appropriate and
designate the purpose for which . . .
money shall be spent.”
Remove Feed Duties
To encourage additional feed Im
ports for shortage areas, the house
passed a resolution
removing duties on
wheat, corn, oats,
barley, rye, flax,
cottonseed and hay
for a 90-day period.
Although approved
by a 255 to 55 vote,
the resolution was
bitterly contested by
many middlewest
ern congressmen,
spearheaded by Rep
resentatlve Frank
Carlson (Kan.) who Frank Carlson
■aid: •*. . . It will
»et a dangerous precedent by re
moving tariffs. It places the Amer
ican farmer In competition with
farmers of every nation of the world
that produces these crops.” Further
more, they contended the action
would not increase present imports,
already hampered by shipping dif
ficulties.
In advocating passage of the reso
lution, proponents declared current
feed shortages are causing a loss
of millions of pounds of milk and
poultry production.
LABOR:
Open Steel Parley
With the United States Steel com
pany leading the way, more than 150
•tecl producers agreed to enter into
wage negotiations with the CIO, rep
resenting 500,000 workers in the in
dustry.
Employing 106,000 workers, the
United States Steel company is the
nation's greatest producer, operat
ing through five subsidiaries which
turned out 21,064,000 tons last year.
CIO demands a 17 cents an hour
pay boost to offset rises in living
costs which have allegedly Increased
23 pes cent since January. 1941,
while wage raises have been limited
to 13 per cent. Present hiring rates
are 78 cents an hour.
In the meantime, the independent
union of the National Steel company
asked a minimum wage of $1 an
hour for 20,000 employees, who
thrice previously had been granted
wage Increases while CIO and • ‘her
steel producers haggled over terms.
Senate Votes Boost
An eight cents an hour raise for
1,100,000 non-operating rail workers
was approved by the senate by a
vote of 74 to 4 and sent on to the
house for consideration.
Composed of clerks, machinists,
and cleaners, the unions originally
asked for a 20 cent Increase. A spe
cial board appointed by the Presi
dent recommended an over-all eight
cent raise, but Economic Stabilizer
Vinson opposed it, proposing a sub
stitute plan embracing a sliding
scale ranging from four to ten cents
more per hour. This latter schedule
would cost the railroads 18 million
dollars a year less than the flat eight
cent raise.
Opposition to the raise in congress
was based on the anti-inflation policy
of the administration, Vinson stating
that in his opinion, the eight cent
increase is a violation of the "Little
Steel” formula, limiting wage in
creases to 15 per cent over January,
1941, levels.
Sen. Clyde Reed (Kan.) said
that if the senate rejected the plan
the workers would set a strike date,
and then the government would have
to seize the railroads “within four
or five weeks.”
HIGHLIGHTS • • • in the week’s news
SUITOR: A 95-year-old war work
er in St. Louis says that after the
war he Is going to seek another wife.
He has been married five times so
far.
DRUGS: The Red Cross has ar
ranged for shipment of drugs worth
$97,000 to neutral Switzerland,
whence they will be trans-shipped
to Holland for distribution by Red
Cross units.
C HEW ING GIJM: A cud of chew
ing gum is credited with averting a
hpmber crash over Italy. Flak punc
tured the gas tank of an A-26 medi
um bomber, and the crew prepared
for a risky belly landing, as the
precious fuel drained away. But
tw'o gunners patched the hole with
chewing gum, adhesive tape, and
gauze bandages, and the plane land
ed safely at its home port.
Battleship Wisconsin
As more than 30,000 cheered, the
navy's 52,600 ton super-battleship,
Wisconsin, was launched at Phila
delphia, Pa.
In the making for 33 months, the
Wisconsin cost $00,000,000, With a
speed of 33 knots, the huge war
horse will pack nine 16-inch guns,
and carry as many antiaircraft
fighters in an area less than one
tenth the else of an average city
block as an entire antiaircraft
regiment.
With a bow towering higher than
a five-story building, the Wisconsin
is one of the navy’s three super
battleships, the others being the New
Jersey and the Iowa.
ITALY:
Overlook Rome Rond
Having fought their way to the
crest of mountain ridges overlooking
the road to Rome, doughboys from
Lieut. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth army
slowly pushed down the slopes
toward the flatlands around the en
emy’s key bastion of Cassino.
But in this sector, as well as the
British sector along the Adriatic
coast to the east, the Nazis bitterly
counter-attacked, throwing in strong
armored forces against Gen. Ber
nard Montgomery’s men in an ef
fort to slow his march toward the
important center of Pescara, with
its highway leading eastward to
Rome.
As General Clark’s doughboys
edged forward, they left scattered
points of resistance behind them,
necessitating further action to re
move these hot-beds and secure their
lines. Continuing action, the Allies*
air force pounded Nazi supply de
pots above Rome, which were be
ing used to stock the enemy in his
winter line.
Mihnilovitch vs. Broz
While it was reported that Jugo
slavia’s Chetnik leader Gen. Draca
Mihailovltch in
L tended to throw
r his forces against
| his fellow - coun
tryman Gen. Tito
Broz’s Partisan
^ guerrillas for set
' ting up a state In
opposition to King
Peter’s govern
ment-in-exile, it
was revealed that
I the British were
favoring Broz be
.... .. . cause he alleged
Mlhallovltch ly wng offering
greater resistance
to the Germans.
Thus did the
garbled Jugoslav ,
situation take a /
new twist. Brit- |
ain's support of r
the communist- L
backed Brozcame |
after its formal |
recognition of
King Peter’s gov
ernment, but in A
explaining its fl
about-face, Brit- I
ain said its policy Bro*
was to let the
people of occupied countries select
their own leadership, and late re
ports indicated Broz had 300,000 be
hind him compared with Mihailo
vitch’s 30,000.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC:
Pound Marshalls
With Old Glory fluttering over the
Gilbert islands, the U. S. navy went
to work on the Marshalls, lying to
the west along our communications
lines to Australasia.
Taking off from aircraft carriers,
planes roared over the Marshalls to
drop explosives, while warships hov
ered 15 miles offshore to pump heavy
shells into the islands' strongholds.
Primarily air bases, the Gilberts
and Marshalls not only were a thorn
in the U. S. supply lines, but they
also flanked any Allied movement
toward the South Pacific war thea
ter. Their presence posed a double
threat to our forces.
As U. S. airmen softened up the
Marshalls, the country was saddened
by the navy’s announcement that one
of its No. 1 aces, Lieut. Comdr.
Edward O’Hare, was missing in
action. During the battle of the
Coral sea, O’Hare singly covered an
aircraft carrier menaced by a Jap
aerial squadron, shooting down five
enemy planes.
MEAT SUPPLIES:
More to Civilians
Civilians as well as the services
will share the increased meat supply
under a plan outlined by the Bureau
of Agricultural Economics.
The BAE also predicted a smaller
spring pig crop In 1944, with great
est reductions outside of the corn
belt because of feed shortages. While
western cattle inventories have not
been cut sharply, BAE said, there
will be fewer long range stock in
the next eight months, and less ani
mals will be fed near beet factories
because of the cut in sugar beet feed
production.
As a step toward increasing civil
ian meat supplies, the OPA recent
ly slashed ration point values on
veal and lamb, mutton and pork
shoulder and loins, and War Food
administration lifted restrictions on
deliveries of farm slaughtered pork.
The services will get a big chunk of
Increased beef production, partly
through acceptance of utility grade*.
PRODUCTION:
Sees Long War
Declaring 1944 munitions output
should rise to a peak of 30 per cent
over tms year, war
Production board’s
executive vice chair
man Charles E. Wi!
son said the nation
would have to make
full use of its eco
nomic muscle to
beat Germany and
Japan.
A long, hard strug
gle lies ahead be
fore Germany will
fall, Wilson said.
Charles E. adding: "If anyone
Wilson still clings to the
silly delusion that
the Japanese will be a pushover for
us . . . let him talk to some of the
officers and men who have come
back from the Pacific theater ..."
In 1944, aircraft production should
reach a rate of 100 per cent above
1943, Wilson said. Naval construc
tion should hold around this year's
level of 75 per cent over 1942. Mer
chant ship construction should rise
slightly. Reductions are planned in
ordnance, signal equipment and tank
output.
DADS’ DRAFT:
Million to Go
Because the services will require
2.009.000 men to build up the armed
forces to 11,300,000 by July, 1944,
approximately 1,000,000 fathers face
induction. Selective Service Director
Lewis B. Hershey declared.
The other 1,000,000 men will be
obtained by recruiting 100,000 17
year-olds for the navy or marines,
and drafting 400,000 18-year-olds,
300.000 formerly deferred because of
occupations, and 200,000 reclassified
4F’s and farm-exempts.
Deferments will be more difficult
to obtain and older workers will be
favored, Hershey said. Once the
services have attained their goal,
only about 100,000 men will be draft
ed a month, he added.
For the home front, the War Man
power commission trimmed esti
mates for new workers by 900,000
to 1,100,000.
RUSSIA:
See-Saw
Fighting see sawed in Russia, with
the two giants clawing at each other
along 600 miles of snowy, wintry
front.
To the west of the Ukraine’s capi
tal of Kiev, the Russ fell back under
the heavy pressure of the Germans,
while farther to the south, the Reds
chewed deep into Nazi lines above
the iron center of Krivoi Rog.
Russian positions along the front
disrupted German use of north-south
railways. In the Kiev region, the
Reds blocked the line to Leningrad
and the north, while in the Krivoi
Rog area they snapped a railroad
running along the whole German de
fense system.
METAL SALVAGE
Stock piles of strategic metals are
now considered sufficient for any
foreseeable needs, apparently, as
the Steel Recovery corporation has
Just been dissolved, its task ful
filled. Only a week earlier, the Cop
per Recovery corporation began dis
solution. Similar action has been
taken by the aluminum organization.
There are huge supplies in the
hands of thousands of dealers, job
bers, retailers and customers, it is
stated. The metal stocks were un
covered by questionnaires.
'Victory Volunteers' Are
Satisfactory Farm-Hands
Most of 700,000 Young People Made Good,
Quickly Learning Agricultural Skills,
And Working Hard and Long.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, Union Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
World War II has taught the world
that it is one thing to raise an army
and another thing to feed it—feed its
mouths and feed its guns.
It didn’t take the United States
long after Pearl Harbor to realize
that it was easy enough to find
enough sailors and soldiers if you
didn’t have to worry about finding
the civilians to take care of them.
At present 10 men out of every
100 are deferred from military serv
ice because Industry needs them;
18 out of every 100 because the
farmers have to have them. Thirty
six out of every 100 men now in the
armed forces were working in shops
or factories in 1940. Twenty-three
out of every 100 were on farms
three years ago.
Industry has charged that con
gress has been kindlier to the farm
ers when it came to deferring their
help than it has been to them. How
ever that may be, you won’t hear
any farmers complaining about hav
ing too much help. One thing, how
ever, according to the reports that
have come into the department of
agriculture, the farmers are not
complaining on one score that a lot
of them thought they were going to
have to complain about—that is. the
help they get from the Victory Farm
Volunteers of the U. S. Crop corps.
Many farmers who came to scoff
remained to pray for more of the
same.
Not all of the young folks who 1
worked on farms this summer were
perfect. It is estimated that there
may have been some 700,000 of these
young people, half were provided
through the Federal Extension serv
ice of the War Food administration,
as many more probably found jobs
for themselves. Under the leader
ship of the State Extension service
and with the active support of the
schools, the youth-serving agencies,
civic organizations and farm lead
ers, these Victory Farm Volunteers
were assembffed. Most of them
made good.
Their story makes an interesting
chapter in the history of American
youth.
A Huge Task
It was no little job to launch the
project, Forty-three state farm la- i
bor supervisors and some 5,000
county farm labor assistants, under
the guidance of the county extension
agents, worked out the plans and
procedure based on the local needs.
They worked with state, county and
often local labor committees.
Of course, training was necessary.
The boys and girls were carefully
selected and many specially trained
and supervised, and the farmers
themselves learned that they could
train better if they had a little train
ing in the art of teaching themselves.
This was provided.
Most of the young workers lived
at home and were transported to
the farms. This was done in school
buses, trucks or cars. Teachers,
ministers, youth leaders, acting as
supervisors, often accompanied the
workers right into the fields.
In some places, boys lived in
camps, but 50,000 boys and girls
lived right with the families where
they worked and many soon became
a part of the family, joining its activ
ities, church, grange meetings,
dances, picnics. Some liked the life
so well, especially those from the
big cities, that they stayed right
through the winter, attending the lo
cal schools.
Of course it was natural that the
farmers were skeptical at first at
the idea of letting these strange kids
overrun their places. But the
majority changed their minds when
they found how well the experiment
worked. The young folks couldn’t
rival a trained farm worker, but
some were able to do much of the
work as well, and in some cases,
even better. Many farmers ar
ranged to keep the same workers
the next year.
I talked to one farmer who took
on an utterly green city boy. It was
late summer when I saw them both.
They were going to part and I can
tell you both were pretty blue. School
time had come and the boy’s parents
thought he better come home. He
told me that he was going to be a
farmer when he grew up and I be
lieve nothing will stop him.
I saw a letter from a Crop corps
city girl, very able at expressing her
self. I want to quote one paragraph:
‘‘I have felt,” she wrote, "unutter
able satisfaction pervade this new
‘me’ as I squeezed, pulled and ca
joled the last squirt of rich white
milk from a reluctant mountain of
a Guernsey cow ... I am learning
to love this new life and am surer
than ever that I have chosen well in
deciding to make it my own.”
The Mia fit a
One of the great troubles of the
world are the misfits, the folks who
are in the wrong job. There are
a lot of newspaper men who ought
to be barbers and a lot of barbers
who might have been better sailors,
a lot of farmers who ought to be in
business. There are many people
who have an inborn love of the coun
try that never gets a chance to
come out—they don't even recog
nize they have it. This summer,
many of these young folks discov
ered themselves—realized that the
country was where they belonged!
I can well understand the remark
of one of these vr unteers, who prob
ably in his no mal lifetime would
never have had a chance ta acquire
the self-confidence behind a desk
or at a bench, that he felt when
he learned to drive a team of horses.
"I felt that I was the most capable
person in the world,” he said, "when
I could finally drive a tedder through
the hay.”
It will be hard to keep him and a
lot of his ilk down at the shop after
he’s seen the farm.
• * *
Winter Traffic Hazards
The war department is concerned
over the annual December peak in
auto accidents, and Robert P. Pat
terson, undersecretary of war, and
Lieut. Robert E. Raleigh, director
of the International Association of
Chiefs of Police, have teamed up to
try to stop them.
Seven valuable tips, based on Na
tional Safety council research, on
how to escape traffic tieups, skid
wrecks, lost time and road block
ades have been offered:
(1) Reduce speeds on snow and
ice. It takes 3 to 11 times normal
distance to stop on snow or ice.
Repair old tire chains.
(2) Protect visibility. Check de
froster, windshield wipers, head
lights and keep windshield clean.
You must see a hazard to avoid it.
(3) Use anti-skid chains. Tire
chains reduce braking distances 40
to 50 per cent and provide traction
on snow or ice.
(4) Don’t crowd traffic. When
roads are slippery, allow three to
six car lengths for every 10 m.p.h.
because snow and ice increase brak
ing distances 3 to 11 times over those
required on dry pavement. Slipperi
ness varies, glare ice at thawing
temperatures being twice as slip
pery as dry ice near zero.
(5) Anticipate mistakes. Drive so
that you are prepared for any emer
gency under prevailing conditions.
Anticipate mistakes of pedestrians
and other drivers.
(6) Signal your intentions. In turn
ing or stopping on hard-packed snow
or ice, remember other drivers need
more time and distance to adjust
themselves to your moves. Give
them a chance. Some may have
neglected chains and have insuf
ficient traction.
(7) Mechanics are scarce and your
vehicle may have to last for the
duration. Essential transportation is
vital to victory. An ounce of pre
vention is now worth ten pounds of
cure.
• • •
Better Rural Roads
The National Highway Users con
ference calls my attention to a bill to
create within the Federal Works
agency a Rural Local Roads ad
ministration, independent of the Pub
lic Roads administration, to co-op
erate with the states and their local
subdivisions in the construction of
rural local roads. It is proposed
in S. 1498 by Senator Stewart of
Tennessee.
The bill would authorize appropri
ations of $1,125,000,000 by the federal
government to be made available at
the rate of $375,000,000 a year for
each of the three years immediately
following the end of the war for con
struction of all-weather rural local
roads.
B R I E F S . • . by Bciukhage
..■ -i ■ ...
Doctors have been able to set up
a health dispensary to serve workers
in the promising rubber-prbducing
Madre de Dios region of Peru as a |
result of flight service over the
Andes. Cargo planes of the United
States Rubber Development corpora
tion are flying me.Ucal supplies,
sanitation engineers, and doctors
into the remote country east of the
Andes.
The Cuna Indian tribe of Panama
has been persuaded to declare war i
on the Axis and has gone to work
gathering wild castilloa rubber to |
help the United Nations defeat the
enemy.
• • •
Fifty million gallons of gasoline,
fuel oils, lubricants and other petro
leum products are now going direct
ly to the fight'eg forces every day.
Poultry Records Aid
In Cost Control
Data on Expense,Income
Assist Manager
_
Poultrymen will find that keeping j
records on the flock as to production
and costs of feed and other supplies
will give much valuable information
to the grower, says C. J. Maupin,
Extension poultry specialist at N. C.
State college. He points out that
this is particularly necessary at this
time because of the high cost of
feed.
Contrary to the prevailing opinion,
demonstration flock records show
that the highest average returns
above feeding costs are secured on
these flocks in the spring of the year
when egg prices are often the lowest.
Many growers ask about the feed
cost of producing a dozen eggs. The
records show that this was lowest
in March, April and May, when egg
production was highest. The highest
cost of producing eggs came in Oc
tober, November and December
when the average production was
low and egg prices were high. The
average feed cost was 21 cents per
dozen during the winter as com- 1
pared with 12 cents in the spring.
According to Maupin, the records
clearly show that good breeding and
proper flock management pay excel
lent dividends. High production per
bird means low cost of production
per dozen eggs. Cull hens have no
place in the laying flock, especially
when feed costs are high.
Li managing the flock, many
growers And it good practice to keep
two-thirds pullets and one-third hens.
Other poultrymen prefer all of the
flock to consist of pullets.
Maupin suggests that every poul
tryman buy a note book and keep
a record of the number of eggs he
produces per month and the money
he takes in, and compare this with
the money he spends on his flock.
Graded Eggs Sell Higher.
Another smart practice to get the
highest possible return from your
flock is to grade your eggs. Under
OPA ceilings, a poultry farmer can
get about 15 cents a dozen more for
graded eggs. This can easily be
done on the farm.
Eggs which are well handled will
almost always measure up to the
Grade A standard for interior qual
ity. You can grade and sell your
own eggs as Grade A without a
permit, provided you will gather
them from your nests twice a day
and keep them in a cool place. The
eggs must be candled so that the
poor quality ones can be removed.
In candling, the large ends of the
eggs should be placed against the
hole in the box with the small end
tilted down. Twirl the egg before
the light and then quickly shift it
so as to bring the small end before
the light. Any blood spots will usu
ally show up plainly as the inside
moves about from the quick turn.
After the eggs have been candled,
they should then be divided into
sizes. A pair of small egg scales
will be helpful in doing this job.
England Uses Tractors
TE1EFACT
ftSJTAIN MECHANIZES HER WARTIME AGRICULTURE
tractors BEFORE THE WAR
C/O0O 40.000
AREA PLOUGHS) 12 MILLION ACRES NQW
.„c,„,fn<ncncncncn
AREA PLOUGHED 18 MILLION ACRES
Mark Pigeons That Can
Reproduce in Winter
Pigeons which produce squabs
during the winter months are valu
able and should be marked in some
way at this season so that young
stock from them can be saved in
the future for breeding purposes.
The season of normal squab pro
duction is in the spring and early
summer when all pairs in the loft
are producing regularly, usually at
the rate of a pair of squabs each
month. During the season of heavy
squab production when prices are
low, young stock is usually saved
for later breeding purposes to re
place older pairs that must be re
moved from the pen from time to
time.
Poor pairs of pigeons producing
only for four or five months may not
have more than eight or ten squabs
in a year for market purposes, these
being produced when squabs are low
er in price. The better pairs will
produce from 16 to 18 squabs a year,
and it is from these that breeding
stock should be saved.
' ■
Agricultural Notes
In spite of wartime difficulties the
poultry industry must produce ap
proximately 60 billion eggs, four bil
lion pounds of chicken meat, and 560
million pounds of turkey meat this
year.
• • •
Every fourth person working on
farms today is female. A few years
back less than one out of a hundred
farm workers was a woman.
HOUSEHOLD
HINTS^
Try this some time in ginger
ale. Put one tablespoon mara
schino cherry juice and several of
the cherries in each glass. The
result will delight.
• • •
Look over clothes and household
textiles regularly, reinforce weak
places and mend small holes be
fore they grow large, and fabrics
will last longer.
• • •
When the sweetness of cream ?s
doubtful, stir in a pinch of soda.
This will prevent curdling even in
hot coffee.
To protect yarn or small woolen
articles from moths, put them in a
tightly covered glass jar or tin
can. The jar is preferable as it
enables one to see immediately
what it contains.
CLASSIFIED
DEPARTMENT
OPPORTUNITY
ONE GOOD INVESTMENT
Is worth a life time of labor. Write for my
special land list.
M. A. LARSON
Central Citr - Nebraska.
"The Land Man" Since 1912.
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