Nebraska Newspapers

    EDITORIAL - COMMENT
THE MUSIC OF DEMOCRACY
By Ruth Taylor
One thing that is stressed in tales told by those
who have watched our armies at thier far flung
battle stations the world over is the desire of our
boys for music. Every entertainer has come back
with the feeling that the greatest audience in the
world is our GI’s.
Lily Pons in her first concert in Germany—where
she sang the songs that Germany had barred be
cause their writers were non-Aryan—said: “No
concert or opera audience has ever been more ap
preciative. «
But is that surprising? Our boys are used to
music—of some sort or other. It has been part of
their daily lives. It speaks of the homes from which
they came, of the homes to which they hope to re
turn. i 1$$
America since its inception has sung. But Am
erica itself has been an orchestra. What is democ
racy but the blending of many instruments'? Some
times one instrument plays a solo role for a few
minutes, sometimes another, but all are parts of the
whole symphony. The orchestration has a place
for each. If you listen closely you can distinguish
the various instruments, each according to the
score supplementing and complementing each other
Into this nation have come people of different
races, of different faiths, of different classes. Blend
ed together, like the instruments in the orchestra,
they have become an entity. They have made what
Walt Whitman called “the music of democracy”.
We are proud of our heterogeneous population,
proud of its homogeneity. We are proud of the tra
ritions of the past, prouder of the present ability to
work and fight and live together unhampered by
the prejudices, "hatreds and petty biases of more
narrowly circumscribed nations overseas. But we
are proudest of all of the hope—no, the determin
ation to shape a future where the brotherhood of
man fill be recognized all over the world and the ,
nations will live together in harmony as their sons
and daughters live in good will in our own country.
A far off ambition in these warring days? Yes—
but as man has progressed so will man progress
till further. As the great democracy, a nation with
a polyglot population, we have the task of playing
so beautifully our unfinished symphony, that the
rest of the world will join in to make it a perfect
whole. Then will the music ofdemocracy fill the
earth with celestial liarmonv.
_:_ i
VETERANS WILL GET JOBS
Men and women who left insurance jobs to serve
with the nation’s armed forces, will find that the busi
ness has a twofold educational program waiting for
them upon their return to civilian life. Immediately
available will be printed summaries of all important
changes that have taken place in property, casualty j
and inland marine insurance. Selected centers will
provide refresher courses. Also available will be ad
vanced and special adult educational courses designed
to fit them for better jobs.
Plans are being developed for providing adequate
educational facilities for those returning veterans
without previous insurance experience, who desire to
enter the business either as agents or company em
ployes. There will be jobs for many new' employes.
' The extensive progress in broadening fire and
property insurance coverages, in providing new" types
of protection and “all-risk” policies to fit the policy- ■,
holders’ changing needs, makes it desirable for vet
erans who plan to re-enter the field of general insur
ance to use this educational short-cut to get up to I
date as quickly as possible.
Postwar educational planning is being coordi
nated by the National Association of Insurance
Agents and its affiliated state associations. Experts
from fire and casualty insurance companies are giv
ing time to help mke the postwrar plan efficient and
comprehensive.
It is anticipated that short-course schools will be
set up on a state-wide basis at some central univer
sity or college. Other courses w'ill be given by local
boards of insurance agents and in the home offices of
many companies.
HOW DO THEY REASON
There is no way to express adequate contempt
for well-paid w'orkmen and labor leaders w'ho strike
and advocate strikes in war production plants today.
Such men deserve special punishment in the hereafter
—possibly the torment of their own souls for shirking
in their solemn duty while their brothers and sons die
on the battlefields, will be some retribution.
Radar Magical Beam That
Bounces Back on Contact
Lightning Calculator Estimates Distances
Upon Deflection of Electrons; Study
Of Apparatus Still in Infancy.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
*» *> U service, Union Trust Building,
Washington. D. C.
(In a previous article Mr. Baukhagi
told. some of the little known facts in
the history and development of radai
and recorded many of its possible peace
time uses. In this article he explains
what makes radar tick and how it per
formed some of its marvelous feats in
this war.)
“Impact,” a publication of the of
fice of the assistant chief of air staff,
intelligence branch, for the first
time lifting the veil which has cov
ered descriptions of radar, says suc
cinctly: "A radar set is nothing
more than a machine for sending
electrons out into space in a steady
stream in a desired direction. These
electrons travel with the speed of
light in a straight line until their
energy is dissipated, or unless they
bump into something.”
That bump is important. If a
stream of electrons is shot into the
air like a searchlight and a plane
flies across the stream, the elec
trons which hit the plane bounce
back. They bounce right back to a
screen in the radar scope and are
revealed in the form of a “blip”
of light, just as an echo bounding
back on your eardrum is reflected
in the form of a sound.
The principle of the real echo is
used in “sonic” location of obsta
cles—ships use it to locate shoals,
for instance. And, recently, it has
been demonstrated that bats use
the same principle in avoiding ob
stacles (which they can’t see since
they are blind) by uttering a tiny
“beep,” the pitch of which is prob
ably too high for the human ear to
catch. Their beep bounces back in
time to warn them to duck.
But radar’s electronic “blip’’ is
better than a sonic “beep.” One
reason is that an electron moves
with the speed of light which is fast
er than sound.
hcho Caught
On Radar Receiver
Perhaps at this point we ought to
recall to your minds what an
electron is. A short definition of an
electron is “the most elementary
charge of negative electricity.”
Electrons plus protons (the positive
charge) are w'hat atoms are made
of and atoms are what molecules
are made of and you and I and the
universe and all it contains are, as
we learned in high school, nothing
but various groups of molecules.
Ordinarily' electrons pursue the
even, if rapid, tenor of their ways
well within the bounds of their own
atoms. But radar has changed all
that. It has made it possible to
project those electrons out into
space and then, if they hit some
thing and bounce back, to catch the
“echo” on the “scope” of the radar
set in the form of a “blip” or blob
of light.
We can’t go into detail as to how
this operation takes place, but we
can tell you in a general way. The
scope of the radar set is round. It
is like a map. North at the top,
south at the bottom; east to the right
and west to the left. So that you
will know where you are a little
light appears on the screen just
where your set is located on the
“map” you are looking at. By mov
ing the instrument, you can keep
yourself in the middle. If you see
another spot of light on the screen
up where 12 o’clock would be on
your watch dial, you know there is
a plane (or other object) north of
you. If it should be a plane and it
were coming toward you (which the
instrument would reveal) and it
finally appeared right on top of the
light that showed your location,
you’d know that there was going to
be a collision.
Radar can “see” a ship 30 miles
away—and see it in the dark,
through a wall of cloud or mist,
which no human sight could pene
tate.
Different substances give stronger
or weaker “echoes” on your screen,
water little or none. Land more,
built-up areas more than fields.
Rocks more than softer surfaces.
In addition to locating an object
in relation to the observer (the loca
tion of the radar set), the distance
from the object can be calculated
by the length of time it takes for
the electrons to reach the object and
bounce back. The elevation (angle
of height from observer) and the
deflection (how far to the right or
left) are calculated just as a sur
I-—
veyor makes these calculations by
observation from two known points.
And you don’t have to be an en
gineer to do it either—it is done
automatically by a lightning calcu
lator.
I have stood in awe before these
calculating machines, which can
“think” more accurately and a
thousand times faster than I could
figure, and watched how they direct
the aim of the turret, waist and tail
guns on a B-29.
As I said in last week’s article,
the enemy has radar, too. The Ger
mans were working on it with.in
vestigation and experiment which
paralleled ours and those of the Brit
ish. In the early days of the war
the Germans had receiving sets on
high hills along the coast of France.
The electron beam, like that of tele
vision, moves in a straight line and
since the surface of the earth is
curved, this curve gets in the way
if the image and receiving set are
too far apart. Therefore, land sets
are placed as high in the air as
possible.
We knew that the Germans had
some kind of an electronic device
and they knew we had one. One of
the early commando raids, which
the papers said was successful in
destroying a German “radio sta
tion,” really destroyed the radar in
stallation.
Poke Out
Japs’ * Eyes’
One of the reasons why Iwo Jima
and Okinawa were so important, be
sides the fact that they make ex
cellent naval and air bases, is be
cause the Japs had their radar de
tection stations on these islands and
were able to detect the presence of
our bombers and intercept their
flight. You will also recall that a
number of little adjacent islands
that hardly seemed of any impor
tance were seized by our troops.
In all probability it was because i
they had radar installations which
could detect and give warning of
planes leaving the larger island for
Japan. As we put out her “eyes”
one after another, Japan becomes
more impotent. There have been
many cases, you may have noticed,
where the Japs, on land or on small
ships, have been taken by Surprise. !
I have no information on this sub- 1
ject, but in some cases it may have \
been due to the fact that they j
lacked radar equipment. It is be- 1
lieved that what radar knowledge
Japan has came from the Germans.
Of course, there is one phase of '
radar detection which in the past !
has sometimes prevented use of
data concerning the detection of a
plane or ship. That is the fact that
until the object is very close it can
not be identified. It is merely a
“blip” of light. Therefore, it is im
possible to tell friend and enemy
apart. Some sort of identification j
has been developed, details of which i
are still, I believe, “top secret.”
An example of how this worked to j
the disadvantage of the British was
in the engagement in which HMS \
Hood was lost. On May 21, 1941, :
the Hood was lying in the strait be- J
tween Iceland and Greenland when .
suddenly out of nowhere she was !
hit by a salvo from the 15-inch
guns of the powerful Bismarck. The
Bismarck had accurately located
the Hood with radar equipment;
the first reported successful use of
redar in such a naval operation in
the war. It is said that the Hood
had likewise detected the presence
of a ship at the spot where the Bis
marck was, but knowing that a
number of friendly warships were
in the vicinity, did not dare to take
the chance of attacking first.
Many improvements have been
made in radar which are not as yet
ready for the public eye and all
say the study is only in its infancy.
Scientific achievement seems limit
less and the one virtue of war is
that it spurs inventive genius to \
great strides of progress.
When peace comes radar will
likewise open new vistas of which
the layman hardly dreams.
• * •
Harry Truman didn't want to be
vice president. James Byrnes didn't
ask to be made secretary of state.
Neither wanted to mix into inter
national affairs—but they found
themselves on the same boat en
route to Germany.
BRIEFS... by Baukhage
-—---—_ i
Japs are making kitchen knives
from American incendiary bomb
cases. They ought to be ready to set
up housekeeping soon since we have
begun throwing everything at them
but the kitchen stove.
• • *
One of Hitler’s favorite tunes was
“Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”
That was before he got a bear by
the tail.
Life Insurance Payments
Show Increase for 1944
Seven persons in the United States
who died last year left over $1,000,
000 life insurance, according to a
special survey of the National Under
writer, Insurance newspaper. The
largest claim paid by life insurance
companies in 1944 was just under
$3,000,000. There were 2 claims paid
between $900,000 and $1,000,000 ; 21
between $500,000 and $900,000 ; 98 be
tween $200,000 and $500,000 ; 276
between $100,000 and $200,000 and
1,751 between $30,000 and $100,000.
An American flier back from a
Jap prison camp says the Japs, real
izing they are beaten, are treating
our prisoners better. Nothing like
a good licking to bring out one's '
virtues.
* • * i
The new DDT insecticide perfect
ed by the army kills everything but
human beings. Another secret
weapon against Japan.
Life insurance p-ym^its in 4944,
by companies in the United States
and Canada, amounted to $2,916,
720,689, an increase of $132,244,048
over 1943. Death claims continued to
rise during the year and totaled $1
360,972,674, the largest amount ever
paid in one year; accidental death
benefit payments, however de
clined $829,223 to $20,356,949, the low
est since 1929; the death benefits sum
ming to 47.35 per cent of total
payments, the highest percentage
paid to beneficiaries in 26 years.
Matured endowments increased
550,143 to -» high of $447,828,401,
<1Uectt&me
Hepxviiesi
(in WASHINGTON
by Walter Shead
If WNU Correspondent
4 _
What About ‘Americanism’?
WNU Washington Bureau
621 Union Trust Building.
oow wide and how deep is your
A * Americanism? Will it embrace
our new concept of national life, in
cluding the good neighbor policy and
tolerance here at home, as fixed by
our foreign policy?
Does your Americanism contem
plate protection of your religious be
liefs by recognizing the right of oth
ers to their religious beliefs? Does
it tolerate and respect the rights and
opinions of others? Does it follow
the basic chart we have set down
for world peace and international
life . . . that world peace and the
good neighbor policy cannot succeed
unless the peoples of the world
WILL that we have peace and live
together as good neighbors?
These questions have been raised
by the senate hearings and debate
on the ratification of the charter of
the United Nations. They were
raised also on the first pronounce
ment of James F. Byrnes, new sec
retary of state, after he took his
oath of office. He said:
“The making of an enduring
peace will depend on something
more than skilled diplomacy,
something more than paper
treaties, something more even
than the best charter the wisest
statesmen can draft. Important
as is diplomacy, important as
are the peace settlements and
the basic charter of world peace,
these cannot succeed unless
backed by the will of the peoples
of different lands, not only to
have peace, but to live together
as good neighbors.” And that
means that we must start here
at home at being good neigh
bors, one to another.
We were an intolerant, bigoted
nation 26 years ago. We kicked the
Versailles treaty and the Covenant
of the League of Nations overboard.
Our Americanism then was in the
narrow sense . . . we thought we
could live within ourselves, self-suf
ficient . . . apart from the rest of
the world. As a result of this atti
tude of intolerance, all sorts of
“isms” and movements grew up in
our national life . . . neighbor was
arrayed against neighbor . . . social
distrust and unrest festered.
“Today,” concluded the new sec
retary of state, “there can be no
doubt that the peoples of this war
ravaged earth want to live in a
free and peaceful world. But the
supreme task of statesmanship the
world over is to help them to under
stand that they can have peace and
freedom only if they tolerate and
respect the rights of others^ to opin
ions, feelings and ways of life which
they do not and cannot share.”
Postwar Changes
These postwar years will see
many changes in the national life of
our nation. Returning veterans,
seared by war and broadened in
their contact with other peoples, will
have a strong influence on the af
fairs of the country . . . decentraliza
tion of population . . . and the mass
movement of population as a result
of war dislocations are already
felt . . . the political pattern of the
nation in changing . . . old political
lines, such as once divided the North
and the South, are being wiped out
and recent events point to a new
lineup which will see the great cen
ters of population and the small
towns and rural areas divided by
widely divergent viewpoints.
A generation ago the most out
spoken voices of liberalism came
from the rural sections of the West
and Midwest . . . Beveridge, Norris.
LaFollette Sr., Bryan, Walsh of j
Montana, Kenyon of Iowa, Olson of
Minnesota and others . . . while
lie reactionaries and so-called con
servatives represented the East and
the populous centers of the North,
roday the pendulum swings the oth
:r way with representatives, gen
irally, from the West and Midwest
he pillars of conservative thought,
while such men as Aiken of Ver
mont, White and Brewster of Maine,
saltonstall of Massachusetts, To
iey of New Hampshire, and others
irom the larger cities become the '
supporters of liberal thought.
In the cities, the influence of labor
inions, no doubt, has caused a
swing from conservative to liberal
md given impetus for reform from
he industrial East and North. And
so the picture presented indicates
he future will see the mass thinking
if the large areas of population pit
ed against the individual thought
if the small towns and the rural
ireas.
ifte purest form of Americanism
■oday is found in the rural sections |
>f the nation, and if the present ten
iency toward decentralization of
lopulation and industry is carried
hrough, as it will be, the influence of
he small town and rural comma
lity will be felt more and more on
he national life of the nation. The
experiences following the last war
ihould be a warning that there is
10 place today in this pure Amer
canism for the forms of intolerance
ind bigotry which polluted the body
>f our social and political life during
hat period.
it double the amount six years
ago; annuity payments also reached
a new high of $198,308,377, increas
ing $7,436,535 over 1943; disability
payments continued to decline, were
$107,545,480, a drop of $23,973,553
from the peak figure in 1940 and $3,
415,373 lower than 1943; surrender
payments declined for the sixth con
secutive year to $287,240,014 or $64,
455,160 less than the year before.
Dividends to policyholders were
$434,468,784, showing an increase of
S35.965.030. These payments to poli
cyholders amount to 52.65 per cent
of ail payments.
S The Omaha Guide i
+ A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER JL ||
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Entered as Second Class Matter March 15. 1927
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>'ADDRESS THEM COPPECTL Yf*
PUERTO RICO FACES
REVOLUTION
By Harold Preece
This week, we Americans celebrate
Independence Day. It’s a time for
flag-waving, and for congratulating
ourselves on helping to build the
world security organization of the
United Nations which -met at San
Francisco.
But after you’ve listened to the ra
dio speeches on the glorious Fourth
and what was done at San Francisco,
think of what July 4 and the United
Nations charter would mean to you
if you lived in the captive colored
nation of Puerto Rico.
If you lived in Puerto Rico, you
might think that the American flag
was pretty and that George Wash
ington, the white Virginian whom you
had learned about in the American
controlled schools, was a great man.
But, maybe, you might be wondering
when your country’s flag—the cap
tive flag of a captive people—would
take its place among the banners of
the world’s free nations.
Black Washington
Maybe, too, you might be thinking
of Puerto Rico’s Washington who
was a black man—the great-souled
Emilio Betances, father of the short
lived Puerto Rican republic, cm sited
by the Wall Street sugar tmst when
the Americans replaced the Span
iards in 1898.
And you might have less than
cheers for the San Francisco charter,
remembering that Aryan Argentina is
inside the United Nations but that
colored Puerto Rico is out. You
might feel bitter in your stomach be
cause Argentina, which helped Hitler,
bad her delegates seated with honor
it San Francisco. But Puerto Rico,
which fought Hitler, had her dele
gates, elected by your country’s Na
tionalist Party, shunned and denied a
bearing before the fomm of nations.
And maybe, you might feel that
there was something hypocritical
ibout a big natio nwhich celebrated
its own independence, while denying
independence to a smaller nation.
I don’t want to be an alarmist, but
1 do want to sound a warning given
me b yresponsible Pnuerto Ricans
who want to strengthen the weaken
ing ties between our country which
is the owner and their country which
is the owned. If independence is not
granted to Puerto Rico, the time may
come very soon when Negro boys
from Harlem and Arkansas may be
conscripted to shoot down Negro boys
in Ponce and San Juan.
VERGE OF REVOLUTION’
Puerto Rico is on the verge of
revolution against American imper
ialism, so my friends in that country
tell me.
Congress should long since have
passed Congressman Vito Marcanton
io’s bill freezing the Puerto Rican
nation, but the bill still gathers dust
in the pigeonhole of a House Com
mittee. Moreover. Puerto Ricans know
that the Sugar Trust which owns the
island, as the Cotton Trust owns Mis
sissippi, will never consent to the
United States placing their country
in the faulty international trusteeship
system worked out at San Francisco.
Today, once-liberal American Gov
emor Rexford D. Tugwell has started
to act like the royal British govern
ors who oppressed the people of the
13 colonies. Imperialism had to make
vague promises and a few liberal con
cessions to win tiie support of the col
ored peoples for Worid War II. But
now imperialism, represented in
Puerto Rico by Governor Tugwell,
sheds its new silk gloves and takes
up the old, familiar whip as the col
ored peoples demand that promises
be kept and concessions be broad
ened.
Just a few weeksago, Governor
Tugwell vetoed a bill establishing the
j eight hour day—one of the main de
mands of Puerto Rico’s Negro sugar
workers during a recent five-week
strike supported by four million or
ganized Negro-Indian workers of
Latin American.
At the same time he farmed the
flames of revolution, by signing a
smelly “labor relations act,” which
according to the General Confedera
tion of Workers (OGT), “is an in
strument to serve the interests of the
capitalists and a negation of all the
rights and all the conquests achieved
by the workers of Puerto Rico during
the past 25 years.”
This infamous law completely out- .
laws the right of the island’s colored
workers to strike against the Sugar
Trust and the other powerful Ameri
can monopolies which own Puerto
Rico and its people. Maybe, it’s just
a coincidence that Tugwell was a
lawyer from the American Molasses
Company, a branch of the Sugar
Trust, before he was appointed Gov- I
emor of Puerto Rico.
‘SUN-UP TILL SUNDOWN’
The eight-hour day bill, vetoed by
Tugwell, also contained a provision
for overtime pay. Lack of overtime
pay has been one of the sore spots in |
Puerto Rico where the sugar workers, I
--
like the cotton workers of Mississippi,
toil from sun-up till sundown for
wages which, before the war, aver
aged less than 50 cents a day.
Two months ago, Tugwell vetoed a
bill which- would have required the
island s schools to be conducted in
Spanish, the language of the people,
rather than in English. But since im
perialism always tries to destroy a
nation s language as a preliminary to
destroying its nride, Tugwell declared
that the schools would have to be
taught in English so long as Puerto
Rico remained an American colony.
“Evidently Tugwell’s policy of con
cessions to Puerto Rico was only ap
peasement for the dark days of war
crisis,” writes the distinguished Puer
to Rican patriot, Juan Antonio Cor
retjer. “Now, he seems to be showing
his true self.
“U. S. Progressives and the labol
movement must take notice of what
is happening—and join us in a uni
fied demand: Hands off Puerto Rico.”
ASK FOR HIS SCORE
You have probably run across
him—the man who sorrowfully de
clares that he hates the idea of an
other war, but that his study of the
world situation forces him to con
clude that well have to fight Russia.
If you run across him again, ask him
for his score. What did his study of
the world situation “force him to
conclude” about Munich, lend-lease,
the destroyers-for-bases deal, the in
tentions of the Japanese selective
service? If you find, as you probably
will, that he batted around .00002 on
these and others like them, you will
be forced to conclude that as an
appraiser at world eevnts he is not
so hot—and if he is determined to
fight Russia let him try it on his own.
--LJ—'-"1
WHAT? YOU DON’T WANT IT?
We Pay Cash For It!
1
i
We pay cash for that old piece of furni
ture and cooking utensils that you don’t
want. We call for and deliver. We pay
cash right on the spot.
•
The three J. & J. Bargain Stores. Num
bers 1 and 2,1604-6 N. 24th St., Ja. 9452;
Number 3, 2405 Cuming St., Ja. 9354.
Mr. Andrew Johnson, Proprietor.