I-WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS-1
Allied Gains Mark Italy Battle;
Plan Four-Power Peace Meeting;
5,000,000 U. S. Men Overseas
— — ■ ' Released by Western Newspaper Union. ....
(EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions ore espreased In these eolnmns. they are tbose er
Western Newepaper Union's news analysts and net necessarily of this newspaper.)
EUROPE:
Allied Progress
Allied troops cracked the last Ger
man defense line on the western end
erf the front below Rome as enemy
forces completed their withdrawal to
the east, and the glittering dome of
St Peter’s came first Into view of
lighting U. S. doughboys, wading
through hails of Nazi fire.
As Allied forces closed on the
Eternal City and the enemy fell
back, U. S. and British bombers con
tinued their Invasion bombardment
Rome—With water supply
blasted, Italian women do their
washing in streets.
of western Europe, and Russian
troops in the erst withstood a strong
Nazi assault designed to upset their
alignment for their scheduled big
push.
By pulling back the bulk of his
10th army which opposed the Allied
onslaught in the Cassino area, Nazi
Marshal Kesselring managed to
save them from complete annihila
tion, but U. S. and British forces
exacted a heavy toll in the desper
ate, rearguard fighting, and their
battle-planes ranged along the whole
line of enemy retreat, shooting
up marching columns and vehicles.
As the battle-clouds rumbled over
Rome, Pope Pius XII appealed
against the principle of total victory,
declaring: total victory or complete
annihilation ". . . works as • stimu
lant for prolongation of the war, even
with those who .. . would be inclined
to a reasonable peace."
Over There
With 8,657,000 U. S. army men
overseas. Secretary of War Henry
Stimson declared that they are
". . . poised to strike victory win
ning blows against Germany and
Japan by land, sea and air."
At the same time, the navy re
vealed that it had 1,566,000 men
afloat or on foreign duty, with 900,
000 more in transit or in training
for combat service.
The army's 3,657,000 men overseas
represented 47 per cent of total
strength, and this would be boosted
to 6,000.000 men, or two-thirds of
total strength, by the end of 1944,
Secretary Stimson said.
Declaring that disposition of
troopa overseas was in conformance
with plans of the high command,
Secretary Stimson said early trans
port of forces was to plug holes in
the Allies' tottering lines, and later
shipments were to crack the Axis'
outer defenses for the grand assault,
for which- preparations long have
been under way.
GOVERNORS:
State Program
Meeting in Hershey, Pa., the na
tion's governors called upon (he fed
eral government to formulate a
postwar policy on public works
which might possibly fit into their
own extensive plans for such proj
ects.
In addition, the governors de
clared for:
1. The individual states continued
administration of unemployment in
surance in the estimation of their
probable postwar unemployment
and the solvency of their insurance
funds, the provision for adequate re
serves, and development of plans
for quick payments;
2. Future convocation of a federal
state tax parley to overhaul the na
tion's entire tax structure and pro
vide each governmental division
with sufficient funds for operation;
3. Postponement in the formula
tion of a postwar military policy and
army until the war’s end offers an
opportunity to judge the extent of
our responsibilities. Retention of the
tational guards as provided in the
act of 1916.
MISCELLANY
WHEEL TRACTORS: During the
week ending May 27, production of
farm-type wheel tractors reached
the highest point yet attained. In
that week 6,098 units were made,
the War Production board reports.
Average for the preceding five
weeks had been 5,906 tractors. Total
made In 11 months since the start of
the farm year on July 1, 1943, is
about 200,000 machines.
FOREIGN POLICY:
F. D. R*s Stand
Closely paralleling the Republican
party’s celebrated Mackinac Island
declaration on foreign policy, Presi
dent Roosevelt declared for main
tenance of U. S. sovereignty or self
determination in the activities of
any postwar organization to secure
peace.
Said Arch-Nationalist Gerald Nye
(N. D.): "It is only too apparent in
the light of his statement, that the
door has been opened for Roosevelt
to become the No. 1 nationalist or
isolationist in the campaign next
fall if the Republicans adopt a plat
form tying them to international
ism. . . "
President Roosevelt's declaration
came during the course of a press
conference, in which he envisaged
an international organization of na
tions cooperating freely and closely
in the preservation of peace to pre
vent future aggression.
New Procedure
President Roosevelt made his
statement shortly after Secretary of
State Cordell Hull had issued invita
tions to Great Britain, Russia and
China to participate in discussions
of forming a postwar peace organi
zation following consultations with
members of the senate’s foreign re
lations committee.
By conferring with the senators,
the administration sought to elimi
nate partisanship from the formu
lation of postwar foreign policy,
and, also, avoid Pres. Woodrow Wil
son's mistake of seeking senatorial
sanction for the World War I Peace
Treaty without previously consult
ing the chamber on its provisions
during its composition.
In Secretary Hull's talks with the
senators, it was revealed that some
of them objected to formal commit
ment to any organization of enforc
ing postwar peace until the U. S.
was apprized of the nature of the
Anal settlement.
PACIFIC:
Bloody Episode
Bloody as any of the fighting in
the South Pacific was the U. S.
thrust against the enemy airfield on
Biak island off Dutch New Guinea,
with reinforcements called in to aid
in the suppression of the stubborn
foe.
With access to the airfield along a
roadway below h commanding ridge
doughboys found themselves under
sight of entrenched enemy snipers
in the brush above, and when they
climbed to the level of the airdrome,
they encountered formations of Jap
anese tanks.
Under cover of the big guns of the
7th naval fleet, however, reinforce
ments were landed, and doughboys
again pressed on the airfield, cap
ture of which would assure the U. S.
of another link in the chain of air
bases being established in the north
western New Guinea area for cov
er for the grand assault on the
Philippines or Indies.
PRICE CONTROL:
Parity Problem
Extension of the OPA for 18
months appeared certain only after
a bitter fight over Sen. John Bank
head's amendment, calling for re
adjustment of textile prices to re
flect parity returns on cotton to
farmers.
Headed by Sen. Robert Wagner
(N. Y.), opponents of the Bankhead
amendment claimed that it would
lead to similar demands by other
segments of industry, thus increas
Senators Bankhead (left) and
Wagner.
Ing the general price level, giving
rise to pressure for higher wages,
and. In all, destroying the economic
stabilization of the last few years.
In advocating approval of the
amendment, its supporters pointed
out that the original stabilization
act directed that ceilings were to re
flect parity prices for farm com
modities. Supporters also contended
that readjustment of prices of cheap
textiles would lead to the greater
production of such goods, thus di
rectly benefltting low income groups
now compelled to purchase higher
quality material.
War-Planes
American aircraft factories are
now turning out far more war
planes than both Germany and
Japan combined. Latest reports
show. The United States is now pro
ducing at the rate of 100.000 planes
a year, as compared with 21,600
for Germany and 14,060 for Japan.
The British empire and the United
States together have made about
300,000 planes since Great Britain
entered the war, while the Axis re
portedly produced 151,000 in the
; same period.
O
LABOR:
Pressure Effective
As a result of strong union pres
sure exerted by 8,000 members of
the CIO's United Automobile Work
ers, government agencies an
nounced plans for the resumption of
operations at two plants of the
Brewster Aeronautical Corp. In
New York and Pennsylvania.
Brought to a head when 5,500 UAW
members of Brewster’s New York
plant refused to leave the premises
for two days after being discharged
due to the navy’s cancellation of
contracts with the company for Cor
sair airplanes, the War Production
board determined to reopen the
plant for the manufacture of spare
parts if other concerns making Cor
sairs can use them.
Earlier, the navy announced It
would take over Brewster’s Penn
sylvania plant and keep its 2,500
employees working.
PEARL HARBOR:
Trial Delay
Efforts ef Sen. Hemer Ferguson
(Mich.) to direct the secretaries of
war and navy to institute court mar
tial proceedings against Adm. Hus
band E. Kimmel and Maj. Gen.
Walter C. Short for the Pearl Har
bor debacle were frustrated by the
senate’s judiciary committee.
Instead the committee approved
a resolution calling upon the secre
taries to immediately begin an in
vestigation into the catastrophe,
with a view toward ordering court
martial proceedings If justified by
the facts uncovered.
During the course of the commit
tee’s deliberations, it was revealed
that Kimmel was anxious to be tried
in open court whenever a trial might
be held without impairing the war
effort. Declaring that any delays
might be personally disadvanta
geous to him because of difficulties
of later assembling evidence and
witnesses, Kimmel said that the
whole story of Pearl Harbor has
not been told.
Fifteen Husbands
When the government discovered that
it was sending four dependency allot
ment checks to one woman who claimed
to he the legal wife of four soldiers, tha
FBI undertook ap investigation.
Upon probing the case, the FBI
learned that not only had red-haired,
35-year-old Marion Horn been married
to the four servicemen without bother
ing to divorce any of them, but she also
had been wedded to 11 other men with
out a legal separation in anv case.
Charged with fraudulently receiving
benefits under the servicemen’s depend
ents' allowance act, Mrs. Horn remarked
about her marriuge activities by declar
ing: “I didn't mean to do anything
wrong. I just didn't bother with di
vorces.”
Said her 15th husband, serving in the
marine corps: “She is a fine woman,
but a little absent-minded . .
SUPREME COURT:
Forced Testimony
Although the federal government
itself cannot accept evidence
against an individual which it ob
tains against his will, it can use
such evidence if supplied by state
officials and turned over to it for a
trial, the Supreme court ruled in a
divided opinion.
In a seven to one decision, the
court upheld Wisconsin’s 3 per cent
tax on dividends paid out of earn
ings within the state on the grounds
that: *\ . . It (Wisconsin) has af
forded protection and benefits to . . .
corporate activities and trans
actions within the state . . . giving
rise to the income of stockhold
ers. . . .
In dissenting against the ma
jority’s opinion in the first case ad
mitting an individual's forced testi
mony in federal courts if obtained
by state officials, the minority de
clared: "... The use of testimony
obtained by compulsory discovery
to convict an accused must be con
sidered ‘shocking to the universal
sense of justice’ and offensive to the
common and fundamental ideas of
fairness and right."
CHINA:
New Drive
As the Chinese pressed their drive
in the southwest to join up with
Lieut. Gen. Joseph Stilwell's forces
in Burma and open a supply road
to the embattled country, no less
than 180,000 Japanese opened a big
offensive farther to the east in an
apparent effort to counteract any
projected Allied operations resulting
from new communication lines.
The Jap offensive got under way
shortly after the loss of momentum
of their previous drive farther to
the north.
Already firmly In control of the
northeastern section of China where
the rich resources and abundant
manpower have been put to work
in the Japanese industrial machine,
the enemy's new drive appears de
signed to thwart any Allied push to
open up the coastal country in the
region and use it as base for gen
eral operations on the mainland.
OLD AGE
The average monthly check to
persons receiving old age assistance
from state bureaus was $26.99 In
February. The southwestern states
disbursed the most, with California
paying $47.14 and Colorado $41.17.
Arizona doled out $38 29.
The southern states were at the
other end of the scale. Mississippi
paid the lowest sum, $9.72, and Ken
tucky came next with $10.64.
Louisiana topped this section with
$21.29. Middlewestern states ranged
from $22 to $30 In payments.
I
U. S. School System Faces
Greatest Crisis in History
Selective Service Auxiliary Branches Make
Heavy Draft on Teaching Personnel;
Higher Wages Necessary.
By BAUKHAGE
Nrws Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service, Union Trust Building
Washington, D. C.
Recently, the fate of the Churehill
government hung on school teach
ers’ salaries. The opposition threat
ened to defeat a government-spon
sored measure because it didn’t pro
vide for making women teachers'
salaries equal to men’s. The .opposi
tion finally yielded for the sake of
harmony but the issue is not dead.
Today a report outlining what are
described as "revolutionary changes
to raise the social status of teachers
in Great Britain and make their
profession attractive" is before Par
liament.
Any Informed Englishman admits
that the American public school sys
tem offers far more to the general
public than the British system. At
the same time, our own school
system faces one of the greatest
crises in its history and, likewise,
some of the greatest changes. One
simple reason for the crisis can be
stated in a sentence: American
schools have lost 200,000 competent,
well-prepared teachers since Pearl
Harbor.
Selective service and voluntary
enlistment have made a heavy draft
on the men, and you have no idea
how many WACs and WAVES, Ma
rines and SPARS stepped out of the
schoolroom into their natty uni
forms.
Of course, high wages in industry
lured many a teacher from the three
Rs, too. And why not? The aver
age teacher’s salary is only about
$1,550 a year.
This year 44,000 teachers were
paid less than $260 a year. That
wouldn't buy slacks and "old fash
ioneds” for a new-fashioned lady
war-worker.
Two hundred fifty-four thousand
teachers received under a hundred
dollars a month. My figures are
from the Journal of the National
Education association.
"Already many classrooms have
been closed," says this periodical,
"and thousands of others are so
overcrowded that effective teach
ing is impossible.” If these trends
continue much longer, the magazine
predicts, education will be cut off
at its source right at a time when
it has a tremendous job ahead re
educating a generation which has
been subjected to highly abnormal
surroundings and educating another
which will have to help recreate a
normal, if a somewhat altered,
world.
Higher Salaries Needed
In this country, as in England,
the first step in the solution of the
problem is higher salaries, the next
is better working conditions, the
third is an active campaign to at
tract young people to the profes
sion.
But before these steps are accom
plished, an interim effort is neces
sary, and it has already begun—
an organized effort urging capable
high school seniors to prepare for
the teaching profession.
Many state groups have be
gun campaigns of various kinds,
and the National Education associ
ation, itself, has appropriated $8,500
for this purpose. Hundreds of thou
sands of pamphlets and leaflets
have been prepared and distributed.
Realizing that those attractive post
ers of girls in uniforms had a lot
to do with recruiting women for the
armed services, one of the artists
who helped lure private, sergeant
or lieutenant Smith out of the school
house, has been hired to try to lure
her back when the war is over, or
attract her young civilian sister.
I haven’t seen one of these posters
yet, but I hope they do the Job, for
the task ahead for the teacher and
the opportunities that the profes
sion will offer are both bound to
expand tremendously due to the
situation which will follow the war.
This will spring from two causes.
The first is a part of a universal
demand which is already being
heard abroad as well as at home,
when any group, formal or informal,
gets together to talk over postwar
conditions. Plenty of ridicule is
hurled by the so-called hard-headed
citizens at the postwar planners
whose name is legion But congress
has already learned that there is
one brass-tacks phase of war-plan
ning that can't be labelled as
amiable day-dreaming and ignored.
That is exemplified in the so-called
“GI bill of rights” — which includes
the “billion dollar program" for
education for returning veterans.
Educational Demand a
The bill will pass congress and
will be* signed. The soldier, far
more vocal than he has ever been
before, and representing the great
est group of voters with a single
ness of purpose on the subject of
“GI rights” that congress has ever
faced, is going to get what he wants.
And the demand for greater edu
cational opportunities will not be
limited to the veteran.
Careful estimates indicate that,
to carry out the postwar education
program for veterans, non-veterans
and their children, the present per
sonnel will have to be increased 50
per cent. This, of course, includes
besides teachers, administrators, li
brarians, clerks, nurses, janitors
and bus drivers, nearly a million
and a half persons. These figures
give you an indication of the num
ber of persons who will be drawn
into the profession and its allied ac
tivities if the plans go through.
The second reason why we can
expect a stimulation in the whole
field of education is because there
la a very strong feeling that the op
portunities for learning must be
greatly broadened. As a result of
the social changes preceding and
during the war, the strong voice of
the common man has been raised,
demanding that cultural as well as
economic benefits be more widely
distributed. The thoughtful educa
tors realize that a wider background
of knowedge must be furnished to
everyone, that technical and profes
sional courses must be grounded on
a firmer base of general knowledge.
Already there is a feeling of re
action against the emphasis which
the war has placed on purely mate
rial subjects, on a purely techni
cal or scientific education. This
is bound to call for a greater share
of what might be called spiritual
culture. And at the other end of the
spectrum, also a demand for train
ing in health and physical develop
ment.
Educators themselves have their
troubles from within as well as from
without. Of late, there has been
pressure by certain groups, like the
National Association of Manufac
turers, anxious to see that nothing
is taught that might endanger what
they define as the "free enterprise”
system, although not all business
men agree on what free enterprise
is or that they like it too free.
There have also been many con
flicts within and among institutions
of higher learning, like the one in
my own alma mater, the University
of Chicago, where President
Hutchins and his followers want to
get back to "first principles” with
an emphasis on the philosophers;
and others lean toward a more utili
tarian training. The so-called "ex
perimental" colleges like Antioch,
stressing individual development
and social responsibility, do not
agree with Hutchins nor even
among themselves. But it would
seem that the trend of the times
agrees with the recent edict of a well
known educator who said that con
cern with the development of the
Individual and concern with society
must be the twin goals of education.
In any case, it is clear that never
before in our history have the
school teacher and the professor
been offered such a challenge.
Never before has the proverb
which says "wisdom is the principle
thing, therefore, get wisdom" been
more widely heeded; never has the
rest of the abjuration of King Solo
mon been more important: "and
with all thy getting, get under
standing.”
• • •
FORTY ACRES AND A JEEP
It never rains but it pours.
With the sheep in the meadow,
the cows in the corn, and even the
scarecrow alone and forlorn for
want of manpower to help out, the
department of agriculture now
sends out the warning that after the
war there won’t be enough farms
in the country to hold all the people
who will be crying for 40 acres and
a jeep.
Officials say that five million war
workers alone, a lot of whom don’t
know a spade from a club, may try
to get their living from the soil when
peace comes.
B R I E F S . . . by Baukhage
Germans suffering from pre-in
vasion jitters have been advised to
take cold foot baths or cold showers
to calm their raging nerves. (There
may be no hot water.)
• • •
More than 60.000 men are needed
for lumbering and pulpwood Jobs be
fore next fall if 1944 requirements
are to be met. according to the Wat
j Uanpower commission.
According to WFA. an estimated
4,000,000 extra farm workers will be
needed this year; about 1,200,000
will be boys and girls under 18 years
of age and about 800,000 will be
women.
• • •
In Ontario alone there are more
than 30 million tons of salt deposits,
enough to supply the entire world
for 100,000 years.
Twelve Elements
Control Fertility
Vital Soil Chemicals
Determine Growth
Fertility was described as the
“fourth dimension” of the soil by
Dr. William A. Albrecht, chairman
of the soils department of the Uni
versity of Missouri, in a recent state
ment.
"The soil has taken on a new
meaning in the light of present war
conditions,” he pointed out. "Ra
tion points on food and the scarcity
of items like meat, milk and butter
are giving soil a significance be
yond that of mere dirt.
"Soil has long had two dimensions
—length and breadth. As land, it
has commonly been measured in
terms of acres. The Soil Conserva
tion service first emphasized that
our lands have a third dimension—
depth. Erosion studies as early as
1914 by Dean Miller and Dr. Duley
at Columbia made us see the soil
profile with its rich surface being
scraped away and washed to the
sea.
“To these three dimensions, how
ever, should be added a fourth—fer
tility—for food production essential
ly depends on this factor.
"Crops are a form of creation.
Like the Biblical story of creation
itself, crops must also begin with
the soil. About a dozen different
chemical elements are required of
the soil by any crop. These make
up the ash, amounting to approxi
mately 5 per cent by weight of the
dry matter. Yet, it is this small
amount contributed by the soil that
determines whether the plant can
gather from the air and water, by
means of sunshine power, the other
95 per cent of its total content
The Controlling Elements.
"These 12 chemical elements mak
ing up by 5 per cent by weight are
thus able to control the other ele
ments which make up 95 per cent of
the total weight of the plant. Conse
quently it becomes evident that the
soil rather than the weather wields
the controlling hand in crop produc
tion.”
In discussing further this "fourth
dimension” of the soil. Dr. Albrecht
pointed out that in a series of tests
for producing soybeans as a seed
crop, plots without fertilizer treat
ment on one farm yielded 20 bushels
of seed, whereas adjoining plots sup
plied with extra soil fertility plowed
down as fertilizers, yielded 25 bush
els, or an increase of 25 per cent.
"When it ,is considered that both
plots had the same weather,” he
concluded, "there should be little
doubt that the crop depends on the
soil fertility more than on the sea
son. We thus need to see our re
sponsibility to the soil more, and to
blame the weather less.”
Making More Machinery
t TELEFACT
MORE FARM EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE IN 1944
..—
.940
| 1943
| 1944lL__l
—
Sulfaguanitline Saves
Chickens and Calves
A new addition to the sulfa drugs,
all of which are derived from coal,
will soon be used to increase the
nation’s supply of poultry and dairy
products by combatting cecal cocci
diosis, deadly disease of chickens
and dairy calves, which costs farm
ers millions of dollars every year,
according to the Bituminous Coal in
stitute.
The drug is sulfaguanidine which.
In tests supervised by the United
States department of agriculture,
not only prevented development of
the disease in healthy birds but cut
the mortality rate among infected
poultry to 12 per cent of the former
figure, the announcement said. In i
each case, the chickens were fed a
mash containing from one-half to
one per cent of the drug.
“One of the advantages indicated
by the experiments is that the treat
ment builds up immunity against re
infection,” the institute pointed out.
“Instead of killing all of the infect
ing organisms, the sulfa compound
merely arrests development of the
disease, thus enabling the body
mechanism to build up an im
munity.”
rT EE E FA C T
M00BIN
u.s» -g
BRITISI
BRAZI U S. LEADS WORtD
IconoN
PRODUCTION (1943)
fCYPT
AU OTHERS MMI
-—-|
| ASK MS 4) r
l another t \
? A General Quiz * ?
The Questions
J- Who was the second Presi
S.te H,fuserm COnSrMS to ,he
2. What instrument in an or
chestra is familiarly called “th*
clown”?
3 Does February ever have five
Sundays
4. What bird can fly backwards?
5. An apostate usually refers to
what?
6. The first one-cent piece is
sued under the authority of the
United States was the ”fugio” pen
ny fn what year?
7. Does sound travel faster
through air or water?
8. In what mountains were Ous
ter s forces annihilated in 1876?
The Answers
1. Warren G. Harding.
2. The bassoon.
into ^ have five Sundays in
1948 and again in 1976.
4. The humming bird.
5. A renegade.
6. In 1787.
7. Water.
8. The Big Horn mountains.
CLASSIFIED
DEPARTMENT
Live Stock Commission
BYERS BROS & CO.
A Real Uve Stock Com. Firm
At the Omaha Market
—
PERSONAL
^“ssfaaara-zssji^aast
—— —ir^—i
BEAUTY s 0 H o^tT”
DON’T BE A SLACKER
('hvr rka - •»
baauty J Nebraska’* oldeat
—Buy War Savings Bonds—
WHY BE A SLAVE TO
HARSH LAXATIVES?
Simple Fresh Fruit Drink
Has Restored Millions to
Normal Regularity 1
Here’s a way to overcome con
stipation without harsh laxatives.
Drink juice of 1 Sunkist Lemon in
a glass of water first thing on
arising.
Most people find this all they
need—stimulates normal bowel ac
tion day after day!
Lemon and water is good for
you. Lemons are among the rich
est sources of vitamin C, which
combats fatigue, helps resist colds
and infections. They supply valu
able amounts of vitamins Bi and
P. They pep up appetite. They
alkalinize, aid digestion. Lemon
and water has a fresh tang too—
clears the mouth, wakes you up,
starts you going.
Try this grand wake-up drink
10 mornings. See if it doesn’t help
you! Use California Sunkist
Lemons.
I Do You Hate HOT FLASHES?
If you suffer from hot flashes, feel
weak, nervous, a bit blue at times—
all due to the functional “middle
age" period peculiar to women—try
Lydia E. Plnkham's Vegetable Com
pound to relieve such symptoms.
Taken regularly—Plnkham's Com.
pound helps build up resistance
against such annoying symptoms.
Plnkham’s Compound Is made
especially for women—if helps na
ture and that’s the kind of medi
cine to buy! Follow label directions
LYDIA E. PINKHAM'S SiS,
a
iTNU—U 24—44
■ I
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