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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1944)
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS House Votes $300 Discharge Bonus; U. S. Bombers Rip Nazi Supply Lines; Red Army Continues Push on Baltic; Peace Rumors Spiked by British Press (EDITOR'S NOTE: When nplnlmi are npfmfA In their column*, they »re those of H'tutrn Newspaper Union's new* analysts and not necessarily of thlo newspaper.) _ Released by Western Newspaper Union. — DISCHARGE PAY: House Votes $300 Arguing that higher payments would represent a soldier’s bonus which should be left for later discus sion, the house passed a bill provid ing for mustering-out pay of $300 to discharged vets with 60 days’ serv ice and $100 to those released be fore 60 days. With 15.000,000 vets including those already discharged standing to benefit from the measure, total cost of payments was estimated at billion dollars. After passage by the house, the bill was sent for approval to the sen ate, which previously enacted legis lation providing for maximum pay ments ranging from $500 to vets overseas for 18 months or more, to $200 to those with less than 12 months' service in the U. S. Unless the senate okayed the house bill, parliamentary procedure required the two chambers to get together to work out new legislation. EUROPE: Pound Supply Lines U. S. bombers ripped rail lines supplying German troops in south ern Italy as American and British forces pressed against the Nazis' winter-line centered on Cassino, key to the road to Rome. With two of three main rail lines temporarily put out of use, the en emy was forced to route supplies over bomb-pocked highways, some of which were snarled by the wreck age of bridges. As U. S. artillery laid down a cur tain of thunderous fire over German defense emplacements before Cas sino preparatory to the infantry’s charge forward, British units to the west engaged Nazi troops along the Garigliano river. Along the Adriatic coast to the east, Canadian forces were held to short gains in hard, close-in fighting. U. S. HEMP: Cut Production Because of the improvement in imports from the Caribbean and Mediterranean areas, the govern ment’s hemp-growing program in the Middle West will be cut to one-third of 1943 production, and only 14 of 42 processing plants will be kept in operation. Raised on contract to the govern ment, farmers found hemp profitable last year, their net yield per acre being larger than from any other crop in the nation, in some cases reaching $200, it was suid. In seeking to relieve a threatened hemp shortage after the outbreak of war, the government undertook con struction of processing plants in 42 communities, and arranged for farmers to grow 4,000 acres of the fiber in each of the districts. The plants were erected at an estimated cost of $100,000 each. LABOR DRAFT: Pro and Con While Secretary of War Henry Stimson told a senate committee that a labor arait would equalize sol dier and civilian sacrifices, the exec utive council of the American Federa tion of Labor, head ed by William Green, said that the organization would never surrender the basic freedom of the country’s workers. Likening a laboi draft as a shot in the arm for the na tion's patriotism, Stimson said the first flush of enterprise excited by the Pearl Harbor attack has worn off, and now “the stern voice of law” is needed to keep up the patri- Stlmson otic emotion.” and Declaring that in Green freedom there is strength, the AFL council asserted that the “amazing speed with which free American workers have won the battle of war production against the enemy within two years upholds the truth of that principle." Chance for passage of the labor draft dwindled with the house's pigeon-holing of the measure. New Britain-Marine* wade through iwampland on New Britain fiint. (Seei Pacific Front.) PACIFIC FRONT: Mac Arthur to Stay U. S. medium and heavy bombers ranged widely over the Pacific, blasting Jap bases supplying hard pressed enemy troops, and hitting installations and airfields in the stra tegic Marshall islands. As U. S. armies were pinning the foe back in the South Pacific area. Secretary of War Henry Stimson announced in Washington, D. C., that General MacArthur would not be retired when he reached the age of 64 on January 29. Retired at his own request in 1937, MacArthur was recalled to active duty following the outbreak of World War II. In New Guinea, U. S. bombers smashed at the Jap base of We wak, above American positions at Saidor; and in New Britain, explo sives were dropped on the big feed er center of Rabaul, and on barges carrying supplies along the island coasts. RUSSIA: Baltic Push Preceded by a thunderous barrage of heavy artillery, Russ infantry pushed into German lines below Len ingrad, and cut the enemy’s rail communications farther to the south, 70 miles from the Latvian border. The Reds were reported to have thrown 250,000 men into the battle on a 250 mile front, and units of Russia’s Baltic fleet stationed near Leningrad were said to have par ticipated in the bombardment of German positions prior to the big push. Stiffening German resistance slowed the Reds’ progress on other fronts, with the Nazis reporting con tinuance of Russ efforts to break through in the prewar Polish area of White Russia. Peace Rumors With the Allied world still wonder ing over Russia's semi-ofllelal pub lication of a rumor that two former British statesmen had discussed a separate peace with German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop, Stalin per mitted reproduction of a London newspaper's story that Britain had received specific peace terms from Hitler under which the Nazis would withdraw to their 1939 prewar bound aries. Although Britain remained indig nant over the Reds’ implication that she was double-dealing, and the U. S. continued puzzled over why Stalin should have allowed publica tion of the rumor, Russia’s man in the street was led to suspect British intentions. AIRPLANE PROGRAM: Bigger Types No. 1 industry of the U. S. today, aircraft plants will set their sights on production of more than 100,000 planes of heavier weight in 1944. More than 50 per cent of produc tion will be of combat-type planes, with a decrease in output of trainer and obsolete craft. Facilities now being used to turn out the latter two types will be converted to man ufacturing parts for other models. The swing toward heavier planes marks a trend toward production of craft carrying bigger guns and bomb loads. Total weight of planes is expected to approximate 1 billion pounds, compared with *750 million pounds in 1943. HIGHLIGHTS • • • *n the week't newt SPRINGS: Now that the govern ment has released a quantity of steel wire for springs, it is expected that furniture with coils can be coming out of the factories within two or ihree months. DEBT: National debt of Great Britain amounted to 77 billion dol lars on December 31, the chancellor of the exchequer has reported to the house of commons. PLASMA: Use of blood plasma has reduced deaths among wounded men to three-tenths of 1 per cent in the Pacific area, a naval surgeon recently returned from the front said. HOUSING: War ravaged Europe will require construction of at least 100 million homes, it is said. In the United States from 15 to 20 mil lion new housing units will be need ed in the next 10 years. AGRICULTURE: Hog Permits With thousands of hogs remaining unsold after marketings, a permit system for shipments was imposed at the Chicago stockyards. Under the procedure, commission firms were allotted weekly quotas based on a percentage of the total volume they handled during the first 11 months of 1943, and farmers were to be advised when to sell. Through the permit system al ready in operation in other centers, it is hoped to limit shipments to packers’ capacities, cut feed bills, and reduce shrinkage, bruises and death losses. Drouth Producer of winter wheat, the great plains area of the Midwest has been suffering from an unheard of seasonal drouth. Centered in Nebraska, the drouth has extended to the Rocky Mountain and western states, where the stor age of snowfall for spring and sum mer irrigation is much less promis ing than at this time last year. Good rains in the late winter and early spring could largely offset the effects of the drouth. STRONG U. S. A.: After War **. . . Proposing ...» realistic point of view, that the tendency to war is inevitable, just as the human tendency to disease is inevitable,” War Production Board Vice Chair man Charles E. Wilson called on government and Industry to co operate in promoting a strong arma ment program after the present conflict. Said Wilson: “I am convinced that we must begin now to set the machinery in motion, while it is still possible for us to measure the cost of any other course.” Wilson suggested (1) the program should be the government’s respon sibility: (2) congress must sup port it; (3) industry's role should be to cooperate: (4) some government owned plants should be held in re serve, with equipment kept to date. Outwits Hoodlums When four 17-year-old hoodlums attempted to rob Seaman Fred Stark of Saginaw, Mieh., of his money, he talked them into hand ing over their gun and letting him Join the gang in holding up a tavern. But after they had en tered the tavern. Seaman Stark held the hoodlums at bay with the pistol and ordered the bartender to call police to arrest the gang. MILK SALES: Bottles or Containers Chicago's big battle to determine whether milk shall be sold in paper containers as well as glass bottles still has not gotten out of the courts, even though the state Supreme court ruled that paper containers could not be used under the wording of the city's disputed ordinance govern ing distribution of the product. At present. Chicago dairies will continue to package the milk in pa per containers pending filing of a motion for a state Supreme court rehearing of the case. Since the courts have declared no interest in the sanitary aspects of the question of bottling, but have merely con fined themselves to the wording of the city ordinance, a rewriting of the law would permit legal use of paper containers. BURMA: Allies Attack With U. S. bombers blasting a path, American trained Chinese troops under Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stil well gained ground in mountainous western Burma, while farther to the south units of the British Fourteenth army fought Jap counter-attacks to stall their own offensive. The Chinese were fighting to clear the way for engineers constructing a new supply route to China since Jap conquest had closed off the Bur ma road. To hamper enemy opera tions. U. S. bombers dropped 20 tons of explosives on a Jap troop en campment in the rear of the battle front. DRIED MILK Army quartermaster corps labo ratories have developed a method of drying and preserving whole milk so that it will keep for a year even under tropical conditions. Dried milk made by methods now in use will become rancid in the tropics In the army formula, the *ater content of the milk is reduced iu 2.25 per cent, and an inert gar is introduced into the airtight contain* er as a preservative. The new method could become a profitable industry, it is said. Washington Digest; A Season of Surprises — And Still More to Come Government Control of Railroads and National Service Act Complete Surprise In Many Quarters. By BAUKHAGE Netvi« Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, I). C. This is the season of surprises—I won’t mention at this moment the big one which will cause your eye brows to go up at an early date (if they haven't already). I'll mention two others—on the la bor front—since they represent two of the neatest problems with which congress still has to deal and which are particularly full of dynamite be cause of the coming elections. And elections are bound to color the acts of every public man from now until the ides of November. We are used to it now because it happened some time age, and the effects were not visible to the naked eye—but one big surprise that shook Washington as the year ended was the sudden announcement on a balmy Monday evening in Decem ber which ordered the army to take over the railroads. All over Washington the day be fore, that day too, as a matter of fact, you could have collected fine adds against such a thing happen ing. Not that people were betting on that subject itself; what they were betting on, those who ought to have been (and I still believe were) in the know, was that there would be no railroad strike. The second big surprise is still having its sharp repercussions al though it happened not so much more recently than the other event to which it was closely linked. National Service Act The first, I discussed in a recent column in connection with the seiz ure of the railroads. Then the sec ond, the President’s demand for a national service act as a part of his legislative program outlined in that annual message, came tumbling aft er, and we haven't gotten over ei ther yet. One astute and neutral observer of affairs in Washington—an old timer, who sees parties come and go without loss of sleep over his Job, said som«hing to me after the roads had been seized that I have had occasion to ponder upon often since. He is one of the men who was ready to give odds that there would be no strike and he knows all of the people who participated in the con ferences, employers, union heads, officials, by their first names—ex cept the President, of course, whom nobody but his mother as far as I know, perhaps his wife when she is here, first names. One just doesn’t first-name Presidents. Anyhow, this friend of mine, aghast at the suddenness of the seiz ure of the roads, remarked: "Do you realize this? Overnight, instead of being the object of all at tacks for babying labor, the Presi dent suddenly is in the position now of defending the people against la bor?” That was the quick reaction of a technical man to whom politics is only an interesting sideline. When the President's message was droned out by the reading clerk in congress and the President came to point five in his five-point legisla tive program, there was a sharp in take of breaths. You recall the first reaction. Hardly anything but a frigid reception for the suggestion for what was immediately called "the labor draft.” Cynics’ Reactions Then came the cynical observa tion of the anti-administration Doli ticians. It sounded a little like the comment of my first-quoted observ er except that it was flavored more heavily with party tabasco. "Pure politics,” they sneered "He had no labor program. He knew it. So now he tosses the hottest con troversial question on the boards— labor draft—into congress. He prob ably hopes we won't pass it. If we don’t, he’ll say: 'See, I give them a labor program and they turn me down!’ ” Well, there are the two surprises which are scheduled to breed others in their trail, and you and every body else w ill interpret them in terms of your or their prejudices, sharpened to a knife-edge of devo tion or hatred in this year of the ballot. What is really behind these two sharp and unexpected moves? It is pretty hard to be really objective. Anyone who has watched political campaigns in the making, has a hard time not to attribute a partisan motive to any act or word spoken in Washington in an election year. As far as taking the railroads over goes, that might have been prompt ed by a real and honest fear that transportation would have been in terfered with at a moment when it was as vital to the war effort as a division of fighting men. What pos sible excuse could there be for let ting such a thing happen? Again, whether or not there was to be a strike, there was a strike threat. At the same moment, there was a strike threat in another vital industry—steel. That was called off by putting pressure on Phillip Mur ray, head of the C. I. O. But could that pressure have been applied un less Mr. Murray could have been told: “Remember, the chances of acceptance of your demands by the steel men will be a lot better if they are afraid the government will take their industry over too. The railroads are a warning.” And then, if you want to take one highly unofficial explanation from a nobody as far as officialdom goes, but from a man who has fought in his own little sphere for things he believes in, I’ll throw it in for good measure. The comment was applied to the President’s call for a national serv ice act, not the seizure of the roads, but it applies to both. This observ er observed: “Politics? No. The guy just wants to win the war.” And come to think of it, that might have had something to do with it Inn. Notes From a Broadcaster’s Diary The following two viewpoints re ceived recently are interesting. Here is the first: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist with in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”—from the Constitution of the United States. The President swore to uphold the Constitution—the national service act or the labor draft is involuntary servitude or human slavery. That’s what he called it in Berlin and Tokyo and he wants it here. What are we fighting for? And now for the second viewpoint! General Eisenhower said we can win the war in 1944 but everyone must do his part. Something must be wrong some where for him to say that. He knows ! it is not the armed forces. So it must be on the home front. For the armed forces operate on a function al alignment—from commanding of ficer down, orders are given and obeyed. Servicemen cannot bargain with their commanders as to wages, hours, fighting conditions or make contracts on a cost-plus basis. Their objective is to win battles. But on the home front, the objec tive is to make money (see Truman Report). Ships, planes, tanks and guns are secondary. We can have a functional opera tion at home by installing total con scription of men, machines, materi al and money. These boys were conscripted to die. Then why not conscript the ones at home? If it's good enough for the armed forces, it’s good enough for the rest of us. Who can say he is entitled to more? Jottings From May through September. 1943. various government agencies placed 2,706,000 volunteer farm la borers to help harvest the nation’s crops. • • • During 1943 Massachusetts home makers canned fruits and vegeta bles which were w'orth an estimated 900,000.000 ration points. • • • Every ton of scrap iron and steel used in our blast furnaces saves two tons of our reserve of high-grade Iron ore. BRIEFS . . by Baukhage Through a series of phrase books supplemented by phonograph rec ords, American troops are learning to speak the essentials of as many as 30 different languages. • • • Peasants of Nazi-occupied France have been asked in a broadcast from Radio France at Algiers to save city children from famine by adopt ing them. | The armed forces of the United ■ States recently received approxi mately 53,000,000 pounds of coffee from Brazil. This gift, freshly roast ed. now is going to the American soldiers stationed in all parts of the world. • • • Mexico is expected to supply 75, 000 workers to the United States in ( 1044. Small Soybean Mills Increase in Midwest Local Plants Save Long Freight Haul Small soybean processing mills, big enough to handle the beans grown within a radius of five to ten miles, are being built in many parts of the Middle West. Many are | owned by farmer-cooperatives. In Iowa a recent survey showed that mills are being constructed in 16 communities with several more in the planning stage. Some will be operated in conjunction with coun try elevators, others as independent enterprises. Eight of these sixteen will be cooperatively owned. A new solvent process, simple, safe and cheap, has been developed by Dr. O. R. Sweeney, Iowa State college chemist, which he says is well suited to tfmall processing plants. The solvent method now in use is dangerously explosive, so only large factories that can employ the most skilled operators now use it. The hydraulic press method, used by most plants, requires heavy capi tal outlay. Small Mills Can Succeed. But the small local mills, extract ing oil by the new process and em ploying the neighboring farmers during the off-season in the fall and winter, can compete with the big mills by their lower costs, and sav ing in haulage. Another advantage during this war period when feed is scarce is that farmers can get soy bean meal easily from their local mill. As it is now, many stock raisers find it difficult to get back even the meal from their own beans because of freight congestion. It is reported that soybeans from the northern states are sent to cotton seed plants in the south, or other distant point, from which it is dif ficult to get any meal back. Postwar prospects for soybean products are giving rise to much anxious debate. Such questions as “What will happen to soybean acre age, now reaching nearly 12 million acres, after the war? How will trade with Manchuria, a surplus soybean growing area, affect the price in the U. S.? How will soyoil be able to compete with cheap palm oil and coconut oil from the East Indies and the Philippines? Will there be too many little and big mills built in the U. S. to handle the reduced volume?” These questions are both ering both soybean growers and mill operators. Different Opinions. Edward J. Dies, president of the National Soybean Processors asso ciation, Chicago, is quoted as saying that the big processors can operate more economically, and the little fellows will be squeezed out when the going gets tough. Eut down in the country, there are different opin ions. W. E. Simonson and his family have a country soybean processing mill at Quimby, Iowa, where they grind and make 30 to 40 tons of soy bean oilmeal and 10,000 pounds of oil a day. Ever since 1937 the mill has made a profit. Farmers come with their beans and take back the pressed-out bean meal. The oil is shipped to the big terminal re fineries. Simonson admits that too many small mills may be built—just as creameries were overbuilt a few years ago. "But,” he added, “the small mills that survive will be able to outlast tlie big outfits. Why? Because our advantage is in saving freight, in lower buying and selling costs, in lower taxes, in lower labor costs. As the price of oil goes down, these savings will become more impor tant, not less.” Meat and Sugar T ELE FACT U S MEAT CONSUMPTION Still ABOVE 1935 39 IEVEI lV-35 39 (PER CIVILIAN) 126 4 Ibt. 1941 1943 143.2 Ibt. 126.5 Ibt. WHY WE STIU NEED SUGAR. RATIONING hkh.i0 iffi* M imPCITS - 000001 tOCU(T»0* I rcitKKl ..43 Q00( Eoch tymbol f prefntt owe million short ronf Kaffir Grain Is Substitute For Corn or Barley Feed Kaffir grain or milo is another en- j ergy feed belonging to the sorghum family which can be used to replace either corn or barley in the dairy ration. Kaffir grain contains more fat than barley and more protein than corn. Buckwheat can be used to a limit ed extent. Although it is high in fiber and somewhat unpalatable to I dairy cattle it could be used up to | 20 per cent of the ration if necessary. | DISCOVERY ms COLDS’ RELIEF (home medicated mutton auet)—which grandma used for coughing—nasal con gestion, muscle aches of colds—teaches modern mothers to follow her example. 80 their families get relief from these colds’ miseries with Penetro, the salve with modern medication in a base con* taming old fashioned mutton suet. 25c, double supply 35c. Demand Penetro. You can’t see legume bacteria without a powerful microscope. If you could, you wouldn’t know whether they were good bacteria or bad. There is one sure way to get plenty of effective inocula tion . . . just ask for NITRAGIN when you buy. NITRAGIN is the oldest most widely used inoculant. For 45 years farmers have used it to get bigger yields of alfalfa, clover, soybeans, and to build soil fertility. It costs only a few cents an acre; but frequently boosts yields up to 50% and more. It pays to inoculate every planting of legumes. Get NITRAGIN where you buy your seed. Look for the yellow can. Its Ktrsils 8*., Im., JM N. hit St, MihnakM II, Wb. NlTRAGUi FREE Booklets How to grow fcottor loeumoi. Wfllo todoy. look (or tho trodenamo NIT RAGIN on tho yollow con who* you buy. Five-Footed Dog A dog with a double leg, giving it five feet, is owned by John Smith, of St. Louis, Mo. It runs and plays with ease. S YOU WOMEN WHO SUFFER FROM w HGT FtASHESl If you suffer from hot flashes, weak, nervous, cranky feelings, are a bit blue at times—due to the functional “middle-age” period peculiar to women—try Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound to relieve such symptoms. Taken regularly—Pinkham’s Compound helps build up resistance against such distress. It helps nature! Also a fine stomachic tonic. Fol low label directions. LYDIA E. PINKHAM’S SVS - ~ - | S SNAPPY FACTS ABOUT RUBBER A Wisconsin truck driver re cently received a tribute from the Office of the Rubber Direc tor because he risked his life to save the tires on the trailer of a tractor-trailer unit he was driving. The trailer caught fire, but the driver jacked it up and removed the tires while it was ablaze. The far-reaching Influence of the rubber situation will be appreci ated when It is known that close to 40% of the motor vehicles ever made in this country were still In service in December, 1941. More than half of them were owned by families with incomes of leu than $30 a week. *!RST IN RUBBER —Buy War Savings Bonds— 0* SCOTT’S/ tt- * * vc • - ' * "■>' &* ■ t •••BECAUSE IT’S RICH IN VITAL ELEMENTS* Good-tasting Scott’s Emulsion helps build strong bones, sound teeth, and stamina; helps build resistance to colds. It’s rich in natural A & D Yitamins» that may be lacking in the diet. And-it’s 4 times easier to digest than plain cod liver oil! So give it daily. Buy at all druggists! jtSp Recommended by Kany Doctors