I-WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS-=
Truman Faced With Momentous
Tasks Abroad and at Home as
Allied Drives Lead to Victory
___________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. ■■
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Whrn ©pinion* are expressed In these relnmn*. they are those of
Western Newspaper Union's new* analysts and net necessarily of Ibis newspaper.!
Bearing meager household possessions on heads and In arms, Jap civili
ans on Okinawa return to lowlands after flight Inland before invasion forces.
NEW LEADER:
Historic Task
Dying even as American military
leaders saw an early end to the Eu
ropean war, with the intricate prob
lems of peace lying ahead. Presi
dent Franklin Delano Roosevelt left
to successor Harry S. Truman one
of the most momentous jobs ever
confronting a statesman.
Oddly enough, Mr. Roosevelt him
self entered the office 13 years be
Mr. Roosevelt
fore under highly
critical clrcum
■tances, with the
nation’s business
and agriculture in
stagnation and its
finances on the
verge of collapse.
Still comparatively
new to the Ameri
can people. Mr.
Roosevelt won their
immediate confi
dence during the
first 100 days of his administration
with measures designed to reestab
lish the tottering economy of the
country.
Then, Mr. Roosevelt made per
haps his most famous statement of
all: "The only thing we have to
fear is fear."
World Problems
Greatest immediate task facing
President Truman is the San Fran
cisco peace conference, scheduled to
go on despite the death of Mr.
Roosevelt, who worked for its suc
cessful culmination to achieve his
dream of an international coopera
tive organization to prevent future
disastrous wars.
Though the groundwork for the
San Francisco parley had been laid
at the Dumbarton Oaks conferences,
at Washington, D. C., new problems
had arisen since to command the
full resources of American states
manship. Over and above the pro
posal of granting Russia three votes
en the permanent security council to
match Britain’s six, there remained
the touchy proposition of allowing
representation to a Polish govern
ment not dominated by any large
power and acceptable to all.
Along with the San Francisco par
ley for creating an International
peace organization, the new Presi
dent also was confronted with han
dling the Bretton Woods financial
agreements, designed to establish
postwar economic stability by sup
porting the monies of different coun
tries and advancing loans for the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of
foreign nations to help them become
profitably productive.
Rated Conservative
With President Truman consid
ered a conservative Democrat de
pile nil support or
New Deal policies,
speculation centered
on the course he
would adopt on do
mestic policy, long
marked by Roose
velt liberalism.
Bearing the friend
ship of both the CIO
and AFL, President
Truman was expect
ed to maintain a
sympathetic atti
tude toward labor.
President
Truman
With Roosevelt administration*
having established such social se
curity policies as unemployment in
surance and old age pensions, and
with the government pledged to sup
port farm prices for two years after
the war, President Truman's great
WHOLE BLOOD
Whole blood, one of the greatest
single factors in saving the lives of
wounded soldiers, is being flown to
Europe under a new system of re
frigeration which prolongs the life of
this fluid by about one-third.
Under the present system whole
blood is suitable for transfusions for
a period of about 16 days, but under
the new plan it will last for 21 days.
Expendable iced containers have
been developed to keep the whole
. blood at the right temperature.
est concern would seem to be not the
establishment of emergency meas
ures to tide the nation over the re
conversion period but rather the de
velopment of a program to achieve
Mr. Roosevelt's own goal of 60.000,
000 Jobs.
In recently explaining his political
philosophy, President Truman said
that, like his native state of Mis
souri, he was a little bit left of cen
ter, but that the cooperative effort
of all elements of American life was
necessary for the shaping of a pros
perous economy.
Though comparatively unknown
before assuming direction of the
senate war Investigating committee.
President Truman soon earned the
respect of both his colleagues and
the country for his forthright and
courageous leadership of the group
in constructively criticizing the re
armament program with a view of
increasing its over-all efficiency.
In this respect, the so-called Tru
man committee was quick to point
out such material shortages as alu
minum. rubber, zinc, lead and steel,
and also revealed the nature of
pressing manpower problems.
Staff Chiefs at Helm
An artillery captain himself at 33
during the last war, President Tru
man, like Mr. Roosevelt, is expect
ed to leave the conduct of the war
largely to the American chiefs of
staff, who have already marshalled
the country’s great striking power
for the knockout of both Germany
and Japan.
Reeling under the force of U. S.
and British power thrusts from the
west, and Russian pressure from the
east, Germany's days appeared
numbered, with Allied military lead
ers mainly expecting guerrilla war
fare after the collapse of integrated
Nazi resistance.
In conformity with long-rumored
Nazi plans for a last suicidal stand in
the Alpine fastnesses of southern
Germany, the enemy continued to
put up his strongest resistance south
of the river Main, where the U. S.
7th army's advance was slowed.
Farther to the east, however, the
Russians drove beyond Vienna to
threaten the Austrian gateway to
Adolf Hitler's last mountain strong
hold.
PACIFIC:
Tough Nuts
Tough throughout the whole Pa
cific campaign, the Japs are prov
ing even tougher as the battle ap
proaches their homeland, with their
stubborn defense of Iwo Jima more
than matched by their resistance on
Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands
against U. S. marine and army
forces.
Experts at making use of the rug
ged Pacific island terrain, the Japs
have set strong gun emplacements in
the rolling countryside, with subter
ranean tunnels allowing their troops
free passage from one position to
another. In addition, the enemy has
surprised U. S. forces with the use
of deadly new weapons, with heavy
concentrations of artillery on Oki
nawa helping slow the Yanks’ ad
vance.
If they have made good use of the
terrain on Iwo Jima and Okinawa,
the Japs are making equally good
use of it on Luzon in the Philip
pines, where they are holding out in
the rugged fastnesses to the north
in the hope of tying up large bodies
of U. S. troops through the approach
ing rainy season when operations
will be necessarily slowed.
Hold Your Own
Keep a tight grip on your pock
etbook and a sharp eye on your
wallet, for purse-snatching and
pocket-picking are showing a
pronounced popularity among
crimes, according to the Ency
clopaedia Britannica.
The increase in thefts of this
character is laid to the tendency
of prosperous war-workers to
carry large sums of money about
with them.
AGRICULTURE;
Hop Support
Having called for greater fall pig
production to help relieve the tight
meat aituation, the government
aought to reassure farmers of future
returns by announcing a 50 cents
Increase in the present $12 50 floor
or minimum price for all good and
choice hogs up to 270 pounds. At
the same time, the War Food ad
ministration said that neither sup
port nor ceiling prices would be
trimmed before September, 1946.
Though the government’s action
on floor prices was not expected
to affect current operations be
cause of the relatively small supply
of hogs in face of the record de
mand, it was considered reassuring
in the prospect of greatly in
creasing marketing in the winter,
when the pressure on prices might
be strong.
With private sources estimating
that spring pig farrowing was up
12 per cent, the WFA called on
farmers to increase the fall crop by
18 per cent. Chiefly because of lower
hog production throughout the
first part of 1945, total meat output is
expected to drop some 10 per cent
below last year.
Bumper Crop
Benefiting from excellent weather
conditions, the nation’s 1945 winter
wheat crop is expected to approxi
mate an all-time 862,515,000 bushels,
about 37,000,000 bushels over the
previous 1931 top, the U. S. depart
ment of agriculture reported.
After fall moisture was generally
sufficient to get the crop off to a
good start, good snowfall provided
protection during the winter to hold
acreage losses to the lowest level
in 25 years. In most sections, the
ground was in condition to absorb
a large percentage of the moisture
from the melted snow and rains, the
USDA reported.
With the expected abandonment
lowest since 1919, indicated yield
of 17.4 bushels would be one bushel
above last year. As of April 1,
estimated stocks of wheat on farms
totalled 239,083,000 bushels, third
largest since 1927. Stocks approxi
mated 22 per cent of the 1944 har
vest, USDA said.
MINERS:
Another Raise
Maintaining his reputation as one
of organized labor’s shrewdest and
hardest bargainers, bushy-browed
John L. Lewis won new wage con
cessions for his United Mine Work
ers averaging $1.07 a day, but the
agreement remained subject to gov
ernment review in the interests of
the anti-inflation program.
Expected to run into close
scrutiny of the War Labor board,
which has hewed to the "Little
Steel" formula limiting wage in
Samuel O’Neil ol coal operator* (left),
Chairman Eira Horn of negotiating com
mittee (center), and John L Lewi* at
contract parley*.
creases to 19 per cent above the
January, 1941, level, the agreement
calls tor time and a half for inside
day workers over seven hours and
a rate of $1.90 for underground
travel time; boosts of from $1.07
to $1.20 a day for outside employees,
loaders and electricians; 4 cents an
hour more for workers on the sec
ond shift, and 6 cents for those on
the third, and $79 pay instead of
vacations.
Having run the gamut of WLB
approval, the agreement still was
subject to OPA consideration, in
view of estimates that the wage con
cessions would add about 29 cents a
ton to the nation's fuel bill, or $150,
000,000 annually.
RECONVERSION:
Make Preparations
With victory in Europe immi
nent, and with it a partial recon
version from wartime to peacetime
output, War Production board took
steps to permit industry to obtain
new machine tools for manufacture
of civilian goods.
Biggest major item on WPB’s
program was the grant of priorities
to the automobile Industry for 50
million dollars of machine tools and
related equipment for civilian manu
facture. To take from three to seven
months for making, the orders were
placed last fall without priority rat
ing. then dumped when early hopes
of victory faded and the war went
into 1945.
In permitting the placement of or
ders for machine tools and related
equipment for civilian manufacture,
the WPB is developing a plan
whereby such business would not in
terfere with the output of vital ma
terial needed for prosecution of the
war.
DISABLED WORKERS
Physically impaired workers pro
duce as much as, or possibly a little
more than, able-bodied workers, and
they are dependable, regular in at
tendance and careful in observance
of safety regulations, medical of
ficers report in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Only serious physical defects were
considered in selecting impaired
workers for the study and the ma
jority have been placed in jobs by
matching their defects with the
physical demands of the job.
Conference Irons Out
World Air Problems
Future of Commercial Flying Depends on
‘Freedom of Air’ Pacts, Allowing Planes
To Fly and Land Anywhere.
By BAUKIIAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
Baukhage has made a study of that highly important question: Freedom
of the Air.
The air transport command, with the help of the American aviation indus
try, has built up the greatest international aerial communication system in
history.
Military and civilian experts alike admit that this tremendous system that
links the globe from Arctic to Antarctic and around the world is the result of
the “know-how," imagination, energy and initiative which have made this
nation what it is today.
llow shall the arts of wartime communication be woven into the expansion
of American trade development in the peace to come?
Baukhage sets forth some of the leading military and civilian aviation
opinions in this series ol two articles, appearing as UNCIO (United Nations
Council on International Organization) opens in San Francisco.
Some time after V-Day, when the
forces of the occupation are with
drawn and the world once more set
tles back to peace, the greatest in
ternational air transport system
whiah was ever built will largely
cease to be. That system, the Air
Transport Command of the U. S.
army, criss-crosses the western
hemisphere from Nome in Alaska to
Rio de Janeiro; from Iceland to
Panama City. It stretches eastward
across the Atlantic, laces Europe
and Africa, reaches India and then
swings around the globe by way of
Australia, through Honolulu to the
Pacific coast.
Over the ATC’s more than a hun
dred and fifty landing fields, the
American flag now flies. Big planes
travel the routes at the rate of 51
million miles a month, which is
equal to 70 trips around the world
at the equator every 24 hours.
From the flagpoles on most of
those bases, the Stars and Stripes
will be lowered after the world has
returned to peace. And strange as
it may seem, the thing that worries
the friends of commercial aviation
most is not so much whether Old
Glory flies free over those bases,
as whether the air over them and
the rest of the world is free to the
extent that American planes will
have access to those and other bases
over the globe.
We have achieved freedom of the
seas. Why can’t we have freedom
of the air, too?
I carried that question right into
the Pentagon building to the office
of one of the AAF officers whose
job includes worrying over that im
portant question. He is William
Mitchell, lieutenant colonel, United
States army air force, assistant ex
ecutive to the assistant secretary of
war for air. This was his answer
(Colonel Mitchell made it clear that
he was expressing his personal
views and was not speaking for the
war department, but he stated that
his opinions were shared by many
other members of the air staff):
“Conflicts over artificial barriers
on intercourse by sea,” he said,
“used to be a fertile breeding ground
for wars. But for 200 years vessels
of any nation have been able to trav
el the oceans in peacetime without
international supervision, and as a
result, this source of international
conflict has disappeared.”
If he had stopped there I might
have left his office feeling quite re
assured. But that was only the be
ginning.
Each Country Rules
The Airways Above It
The analogy between freedom of
the sea and freedom of the air, it
seems, is an attractive one but it
won’t hold water.
“An airplane does not merely
touch the coast of a country,” the
colonel explained, “it may penetrate
into the remotest interior. Ac
cordingly it has become fairly well
established that a nation has juris
diction over the airspace above its
land to the same extent that it has
jurisdiction over the land itself. The
result is that, in the absence of
agreement between countries, no
j plane may cross a foreign border.
The air is not free, it is closed."
i American ambition doesn’t like to
je fenced in and already we have
napped a pattern of air routes we’d
ike to establish when peace comes
Those routes will encircle the globe
lur own civil aeronautics board is
in the process of holding hearings
>o determine which carriers will be
certified to fly these routes.
But the certificates issued, says
"olonel Mitchell, “will be mere
-craps of paper unless other coun
tries consent to operations by Unit
'd States carriers.”
Arrival at such common consent
is in the making today, and has been
greatly advanced since the state de
partment called the conference in
Chicago last November. Represent
atives of 52 countries met. At the
last minute the Soviet Union
dropped out, but certain basic agree
ments were reached. This confer
ence Colonel Mitchell calls "the civ
il air part of the peace dettlement”
because it provided "In the main
convention which was prepared, a
proposed international organization
which might, with respect to air
matters within its competence di
rectly affecting world security, en
ter into appropriate agreements
with any general organization set up
by the nations to preserve peace.”
Colonel Mitchell believes that “the
degree, or lack of it, to which the
world can be linked by aviation, will
be an important element in deter
mining whether, the nations of the
world can be brought together in
peaceful understanding.”
Preliminary Agreements
Made at Chicago Meeting
Now, what did the Chicago confer
ence achieve?
After considerable discussion in
which there were sharp differences
of opinion, the conference prepared
two multilateral agreements on
commercial operations which were
separate from the main convention
and which any country was free to
sign if it wished. They are con
cerned with the "five freedoms of
the air” which will be taken up in
detail in a later article. They are
(1) the right to fly over a country
(2) the right to land for non-traffic
purposes (3) the right to disembark
passengers, mail and freight from
the country of origin of the aircraft
(4) the right to embark traffic for
the country of origin and (5) the
right to do business along the way.
Because all of the countries were
not prepared to accept all the free
doms, a choice was provided. One
agreement offered, between the sig
natory countries, merely the first
two freedoms. That is right to fly
over the country and the right of
non-traffic stop, which means per
mission to stop at an airport for
refuelling and such purposes.
The other grants all five freedoms,
but the fifth could be denied by any
country on proper notice to other
contracting countries.
At the time this is written the
‘‘Two-Freedoms’’ agreement has
been signed (but not definitely ac
cepted) by 34 countries, accepted by
four (including the United States,
Canada, the Netherlands and Nor
way).
The “Five Freedoms” agreement
has been signed but not definitely
accepted by 22 countries; definitely
accepted by two, including the Neth
erlands (without the fifth freedom)
and the United States.
The main work of the conference
was the writing of a convention on
International Civil Aviation and In
terim Agreement which will set up
an international organization. The
conference also recommended a
model form of agreement on com
mercial services to be used in bi
lateral negotiations.
“The work of the Chicago confer
ence.” said Colonel Mitchell, “is
merely a blueprint for further ac
tivity. A start has been made, but,
like Dumbarton Oaks, much remains
to be done.”
Further details of some of the
problems involved and the attitudes
revealed in negotiations so far will
be set forth in a second article ap
pearing next week.
• • •
Australia’s famous Empire Air
Training Scheme, which provided
airmen for Britain, has ended. Ten
thousand trained Aussies were
promised, 35,000 provided. Of them,
more than 6,000 have been killed,
2,000 are missing, 1,000 are prison
ers.
BARBS . . . by Baukh age
The April quota of new automo
| liles is 25 per cent below the March
igure—1,500 as compared with 2,000
• • *
I Japan junked its old and only po
itical party and created a new one
ailed the Political Association of
ireat Japan. The old one was
ailed the “Imperial Rule Assist
1 tnce Political Party.” What’s in a
j same, Hirohito?
It looks as if one of the worst
pieces of misuse of labor unions is
going to be smashed when congress
gets through with one “Czar" Petril
lo, head of the AFL musicians'
union. It all started as a chil
dren’s crusade when Petrillo banned
all school orchestras and bands
from the networks but it has turned
into a move to stop a violation oi
\ the bill of rights.
jlMf- ..
looking at
' I 'HE moviegoing public thinks of
* Monty Woolley as a middle
aged brat with a beard who has
made good in a big way.
Although Monty (who was chris
tened Edgar) will probably deny it,
much of this is due primarily to
"the Beard” himself. Just now it
pleases him to be
sick and tired of
the tag and
threadbare jests
about his hirsute
adornment. But
there was a day
when Monty wel
Grade Fields
Monty Woolley
corned any flip re
mark about his
chin curtain as
furthering h i s
name and fame
If you’re for
tunate enough to
catch Edgar Mon
tillion Wooley on one of his talka
tive days he’ll give you a story of
the weird ups and downs that have
beset him from the cradle. He'll
tell you the way was not smooth
for Woolley even before he became
the bearded half of the Grade
Fields-Monty Woolley team which is
box office honey right now. That
combination, which has just culmi
nated in “Molly and Me,” has pro
vided the Beard with a new screen
personality. It has sandpapered
down the cutting edge of his acidu
lous screen personality to a likable
old devil whose bark is louder than
his bite. But regardless of this, his
beard—that hated wind-wooing alfal
fa, to hear him talk—still figures as
the most salable feature of the Wool
ley personality.
Get Out of My Beard!
When Woolley once told me: “I’m
sick and tired of this printed drool
about my whiskers. For heaven’s
sake, Hedda, keep my beard out of
your typewriter! So far as the pub
lic is concerned I’ve ceased to be an
actor or even a man with any per
sonality. I’m just a beard now, and
in the future I want no more talk
of it!"—I fell for it head over heels.
Imagine, then, my surprise to find
"Molly and Me” featuring a scene—
one of the funniest in the pic
ture, incidentally — pitched entirely
around Monty’s chin wool.
Then I learned he turned down a
starring role in “Colonel Effing
ham’s Raid” because it called for
a smooth face.
At the time Woolley became pro
fessor of English at Yale univer
sity that seemed a career worthy of
fighting for. In the suave superiority
of his classroom position Monty gave
deep thought to the finest nuances
of the language. Spoke his sentences
with elegance and precision.
But the theater was strong at the
back of his mind and he asleed for
the post of dramatic director.
George Pierce Baker’s appoint
ment to the post precipitated Mon
ty’s resignation. Brought on a penni
less and dispirited period in which
Monty appealed to his friends in the
theater. They didn’t fail him; he
ended this phase by directing “Fifty
Million Frenchmen," “Champagne
Sec,” and “Jubilee"—no mean rec
ord. But his friends in Hollywood
were directing pictures at plush sala
ries. So Monty landed in niovietown.
That Beard Again
Now the beard comes into the pic
ture once again. The beard got
Monty his first job in movies—a Rus
sian impresario. But Walter Connol
ly—a fat man without a beard—con
tinued to get the parts Monty had
his eye on.
Monty turned back to the theater
for solace. Was on the eve of re
turning to Broadway to direct an
other play when Moss Hart rang
him, asking him to play the lead
role in a play called ‘‘Strange Peo
ple.” if I remember correctly. The
play turned out to be “The Man
Who Came to Dinner.” It put the
Beard right in the bead of the spot
light. Hollywood didn't see him
again until Warners determined to
make the picture with Bette Davis.
But Bette demanded him and got
him. Then 20th Century got Monty
for “The Pied Piper,” signed him
to a long-termer out of which came
a unique romantic team—the Gracie
Fields - Monty Woolley combination.
These two invest an autumn love
story with a sprig of spring.
“Why not?" shouts the veteran of
many bitterly fought artistic battles.
“All things being considered, a
beard covers almost any facial de
fect and in the long run makes its
wearer look younger* Yes, and feel
younger, too. So there!”
• • *
To a Great Gal
Fibber McGee has written a song,
“My Molly," dedicating it to his
wife. Molly’s a star wherever she
goes. It doesn't matter what glam
our girl’s in the room—when Molly
i starts using her little girl voice,
I everybody stops to listen, laugh and
to applaud. . . . Thomas Mitchell
goes right back where he belongs—
in the big time, with Clark Gable
and Greer Garson in “Strange
Adventure.” . . . Ray Collins plays
; the district attorney in “Leave Her
I to Heaven.”
u & f
Dunce
Teacher—Give me a sentence
containing the word “sphere.”
Jasper—My father has a sphere
cold.
A modern maiden’s prayer:
“Oh, dear Lord, bring him back
safe, sound—and single.”
Personal Safety
Barber—Here comes a man for
a shave.
Apprentice—Let me practice on
him.
Barber—All right, but be careful
not to cut yourself.
Train Talk
Jasper—What time does the 4
o’clock train leave?
Trainman—At 3:60, sir.
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