EDITORIAL-COMMENT
lS COMIN®
w Lf ERIC HASS
weekly People
Released by Calvin’s News Service
The spell is broken. The whole U. S. economy
shudders under the impact of peace. Mass lay
offs are from shipyards, aircraft plants, and other
industries where Negro workers made their great
est wartime gains. Government officials predict
that they’ll reach 5,000,000 in sixty days, and from
8,000,000 to 10,000,000 by spring.
I find myself mulling over these figures. They’re
not just figures to me. They’re human beings
with mouths to feed and bodies to clothe. I ask
myself: Will the Negro boy who ran a drill press in
a Detroit tank factory go back tos toop-labor in the
field? Will the girl in the clean, starched blouse
who boards the Eighth Avenue Express at 125th
Street and works in a Brooklyn office go back to
washing dishes for a Bronx housewife? Regular
wages have brought her new dignity. I mean dig
nity, not false pride. She thinks she should have
something to say about how she is to employ her
own labor. Will she have a choice three months
from now? A year? Two years?
It’s’ time, I think, we added up the score. Ac
cording to the “free enterprisers”, mass unemploy
ment is only temporary. Once the switch is com
pleted from war to ueace time production we shall
have several years of unexampled prosperity. That
is what they say. What are the facts?
1. Under our resent social system production is
determined by what can be sold; when there is over
production, industries close down or operate part
time. There has been no overproduction for the
past four years for the reason that hungry war has
been capitalism’s Number One customer. Govern
ment expenditures have averaged around $100,000
000,000 a year. If full production is to be continu
ed, or resumed, therefore, a substitute for this col
ossal war market must be found.
Much is said of “pent-up demand”. Granted
that this is considerable, with our present war-ex
panded facilities and improved techniques this de
mand can be satisfied in a few months, and with a
working force well under the wartime peak. It is
at best, equivalent to a year’s war production. After
that? After that we’re back to “normalcy.” After
that, the market is determined by (2) the worker’s
current income, (b) what employers can consume in
lavish living, (c) government pump-riming, and (d)
foreign exports.
Foreign exports may rise above the prewar level
although they will certainly fall far below the war
time peak. Government outlays will also be well
above those of 1939. What the employing class
consumes, though, can scarcely be increased appree
ably; there are limits even to gluttony. As for the
workers’ current income, this will take a nose-dive.
Reconversion Director John W. Snyder says:
“We’re shooting at a standard of living for our
people as a whole that will be 50 percent higher
than we or any other people ever had1.” To put it
bluntly, Mr. Snyder is talking through his hat.
When the supply of workers exceeds the demand,
wages don’t rise; they fall. And you don’t buy
more groceries with less wages; you buy fewer gro
ceries.
Total up the score and what do you get ? Mass
unemployment—with Negro workers suffering a
disproportionate share. And the pity of it is that
the American workers, are not prepared for this
crises. During the war, when the demand for labor
was high, their hands were tied by wage ceilings
and “no strikes” pledges. Now that the “no strike”
pledge is off ,the odds are against them. As one of
the labor leaders who helped to tie the workers’
hands, R. J. Thomas, put: “I’ve never been able to
figure out how people can strike when they are un
-employed.”
However, we cannot ignore some ol the entries
on the credit side of the ledger. Competition for
jobs, which tends to divide the workers along the
lines of race, color, sex and veteran or non-veteran
status, is offset in large degree by a rising milit
ancy among the rank and file, and a realization
that insecurity knows no color line nor any other
kind of division among the workers. Nor can we
ignore the factor that everyone’s imagine is stirred
to its depths by the memory of wartime production.
Each of us knows now that there is no longer any
excuse for poverty. This knowledge will constitute
an important political factor in the angry days a
head.
BY SUSAN THAYER
VITAS
When the flash of the first a
tomic bomb seared the desert sky,
there must have been firce elation
in the hearts of those who watched.
And fear. Fear for a new force
which could utterly destroy man.
kind or could show us the way to a
finer world than we have ever
known before.
So, perhaps> primitive man must
have felt when fire first leaped be
fore his startled eyes. Here too
was a force that could destroy him
or put power usdreamed of in his
hands.
Yet the wrole history of civilized
man dates from our conquest of
fire.
As yet we have no conception of
what atomic power, constructively
applied, can do for us. But certain
ly no one can doubt that we look
down the vistas of a new age. Our
scientists^ working in industry's
laboratories, can harness this tre
mendous energy for good.
EVENING COMMERCIAL CLASSES
AT TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
“It is not too late t° enroll in one
or more of the Commercial Classes
offered at Technical High School.
Each class will run for 11 weeks.
ReS'stration will he held in Room
377 on any class evening from 6:30
to 9:00. Classes offered are: Be
ginning typewriting 6:30 to 8:00:
Beginning shorthand 8:00 t° 9:30;l
Advanced Shorthand 6:30 to 8;00;
Advanced typewriting 8:00 to 9:30;
Comptometer 6:30 to 9:30. All class.
es meet Tuesday and Thursday.
"For any additional information
! call the Vocational Office, AT-3140
during the day; or HA-3710 between
6;30 and 9:00 in the evening.”
1
Miracle Insecticide —
DDT Not a Panacea
New Deadly Bug Killer Has Effective
Use But It Also Has Its Limitations
and Danger When Improperly Used.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest column written by Winfield J.
Dyrden, WNU Staff Correspondent, and was not prepared by Bauk
hage, whose column generally appears in this space each week.)
DDT, much publicized Insecticide,
saved thousands of lives of our
fighting men and civilians in coun
tries where our operations were ex
tended, but it is not the panacea
that we would like to believe.
The Irony of the story is that it
was discovered nearly seventy years
ago by a German chemist named
Zeidler, but was almost forgotten
until rediscovered during the pres
ent war by Dr. Paul Muller and Dr.
Paul Lauger. These Swiss scien
tists asserted recently, upon their
arrival In America, that with proper
control, flies, mosquitoes and other
harmful Insects can be eliminated
entirely from the United Statp3.
But along with these insects would
go our pollen carrying insects, bees
and other beneficial friends of man
kind, also perhaps our birds and
fish. Gone also would be many
plants and trees that depend upon
insects for polinization. As they
point out it Is a job for entomolog
ists. not laymen.
DDT has been made available to
the public in limited amounts. There
will soon be a sufficient supply to
meet every demand. Manufacturers
of the products, whether in liquid
or powder form are careful to give
complete instructions as to its ap
plication, which must be followed.
Scientists Tell of
Effective DDT Use
Despite its inherent toxicity, DDT
In the desired insecticidal concentra
tions in air is of such low order that
it will not cause injurious effects in
humans, Dr. Paul A. Neal, chief of
the research section of the division
of industrial hygiene of the U. S.
Public Health service has reported.
It was this knowledge that made it
advisable to spray from the air the
Jones Beach area on Long Island,
N. Y„ and part of the city of Rock
ford, Illinois. In both cases the pur
pose was to control insects, Jones
beach to kill sand fityis and Rock
ford to kill polio-carrying flies, be
lieved to have been the direct cause
for the serious infanile paralysis
outbreak In many sections.
Lt. Col. A. L. Ahnfeldt, U. S. sur
geon general’s office, after a study
of results secured in the army, re
ports : “In peace time DDT may
well change the destiny of the
earth’s population . . . Our postwar
world will no longer be scourged by
typhus and malaria and other In
sect borne diseases. DDT is not a
cure-all, but In the perpetual war
between humans and disease, DDT
Is one of the most effective weapons
yet discovered by man.”
“DDT will be to preventive medi
cine what Lister’s discovery of anti
septic. was to surgery and should
close the door forever on those
diseases which are companions of
death dealing insects.”
In the field of agriculture the re
sults have been far from disappoint
ing. Remarkable results have been
obtained by some of its application,
while in others the results were
either negative, Incomplete, or its
use not recommended due to effect
on birds and other Insects.
Will Prove Boon To
Hard Worked Farmer
While agricultural use of DDT
must still be considered in its ex
perimental state, reliable and com
plete tests at various state experi
ment stations have proved that it Is
the best insecticide now on the mar
ket for the control of the apple’s
most destructive pest, the codling
moth.
It will kill Japanese beetle adults,
while current remedies are based
entirely upon their repelling value.
The grape leafhopper and other
leafhoppers are highly susceptable
to DDT and excellent results have
been obtained with it against Orien
tal fruit moth. It also has proved
effective against apple red bug, pear
thrips, grape berry moth, fruit tree
leafroller, apple maggot, cherry
maggot and many others.
In California it was proved that
DDT was effective against codling
moths in walnut and other orchards.
At Missouri it was found that a
three percent dust was effective In
controlling blister beetle, squash
bug, white fly, thrips, sowbugs, corn
earworm, Colorado potato beetle,
spotted and striped cucumber
beetles, northern corn rootworm,
pavement ant, lace-bugs, leafhop
pers on gVape, flea beetles on egg
plant, and a ten percent dust for
roaches, fleas, and squash bugs.
xne u. s. department of agricul
ture reported that “DDT Insecticides
were found experimentally to be
definitely more effective than those
currently used for control of some
30 pests that attack field crops, man,
livestock and trees. These included
codling moth, cabbage looper, catal
pa sphinx, cotton ball-worm, cotton
flea-hopper, eastern tent caterpillar,
elm bark beetle, green-striped maple
worm, gypsy moth, horn flies on cat
tle, Japanese beetle, Lygus and four
REORGANIZE FARM
MARKETING AGENCY
Consolidation of more than a doz
en offices and agencies of the De
partment of Agriculture into a new
Production and Marketing Adminis
tration has been announced by Sec
retary of Agriculture Clinton P.
Anderson. The new Production and
Marketing Administration (PMA) is
now headed by Under Secretary of
Agriculture John B. Hutson, and is
made up of 10 commodity branches.
9 other branches, the Commodity
Credit and Federal Crop Insurance
Corporations.
other kinds of sucking bugs, mimosa
webworm, pine sawflies, pink boll
worm, spruce budworm, velvetbean
caterpillar, vetch bruchid, white
fringed beetles, mosquitoes, bedbugs,
three kinds of lice on man, and
houseflies and fleas in buildings.
A Good Insecticide
For Postwar Home
Brig. Gen. Simmons, army medi
cal corps has said, “DDT will ex
ceed even penicillin in its ultimate
usefulness and will prove to be the
outstanding medical advance made
during the war.”
One of the newest products is a
paint containing DDT to be used on
walls of kitchens, dining rooms and
in institutions. Other industrial
uses have been found by dusting
with a 10 percent DDT powder
around the sink and other places
where cockroaches and other Insects
stay.
DDT will eliminate the bedbug
problems in hospitals, as well as in
private dwellings. It may be appli
ed as a five percent spray or as a
10 percent powder to both sides of
the mattress and springs. It also
provides freedom from flies and
mosquitoes in hospitals. The new
aerosol bomb, which releases the
DDT as an aerosol—a cross between
a fumigating gas and an ordinary fly
spray, is excellent for this purpose.
A power spray may be used In ap
plying a five percent DDT solution.
Just as it is proving effective on
the agricultural and industrial front,
and as it saved lives on the war
fronts, DDT has started to con
tribute to the health of the home
front. The story of spraying for ,
mosquitoes against malaria is well I
known.
Painting door and window screens
with a five percent solution of DDT
in water or kerosene leaves an In
secticidal residue that will kill ev
ery fly, mosquito, or other insect
lighting there within the next sev
eral months, the U. S. department
of agriculture reports.
A five percent solution of DDT in
kerosene sprayed on floors or over
rugs eliminates the flea nuisance. A
hand sprayer is adequate. By spray
ing deep into cracks, DDT will re
main toxic to these insects for sev
eral weeks.
a ten percent powder applied to
cracks with a small hand duster can
be depended to kill any brown dog
ticks that may be hiding there.
Baseboards, especially those that
have worked loose from the wall, af
ford excellent breeding places for
bedbugs, cockroaches, and brown
dog ticks. DDT is sure death to
these pests. A hand sprayer, held
close to the opening, will send the ,
insecticide, a five percent solution
in kerosene, down where the insects
are concealed, or "a large duster, of
10 percent powder may be used.
Average Citizen
Has Answer to
National Welfare
There is considerable difference
of opinion with regard to the atti
tude civilians will take during the
next few months. Their attitudes
will largely determine whether we /
have a recession of several months’
duration and the extent of the re
covery from such»a recession. One 1
group thinks that In spite of lower
incomes, based on a shorter work
week, civilians will have more
leisure and spend more.
This group would expect a brisk
trade based on free spending. Im
portant segments of the federal gov
ernment would seem to favor pol
icies that would lead to free spend
ing accompanied by what might be
termed controlled inflation. The
other group expects people to be
cautious and unwilling to spend their
accumulated savings. What will
happen probably will be determined
by the extent and promptness with
which civilian industry absorbs the
millions of men being discharged
from war industries, those tempora
rily idle, and the discharged men
from the armed services. ;
The committee for economic de
velopment has issued a report which
gives business men's estimates of
postwar markets for manufactured
goods. These estimates are opti
mistic. The committee points out
that the postwar years can roughly
be divided into three periods: first,
short period of reconversion, which
may last through 1946; second, from
1946 or early 1947, for a year of
deferred orders, and the last, period
of self-sustaining.
Although Secretary Anderson in
dicated that meat rationing was on
the way out, possibly matter of
months, storage stocks are relatively
low, and it is expected that the
strong demands for meats will be
maintained long enough to absorb
the rather heavy movement of cattle
and hogs that is anticipated during
the fall and early winter months.
Range conditions have been excel
lent, and cattle men report that the
ranchers are in a mood to carry
larger than normal supplies of range
cattle over winter rather than to sell
them at substantial discounts now.
Sees Quick War Recovery for Japan
Since history consistently has shown that predominantly agricultural
nations recover from war faster than highly industrialized nations, Japan
will recover from the war faster than the-United States, Dr. John W.
Stanton, former war department consultant on Japan and professor at
Northwestern university, declared.
“Two-thirds of the Japanese population before the war were en
gaged directly or indirectly in agriculture and fishing,” he said.
' Only a third were engaged in industry and commerce, compared to
two-thirds in Germany and similarly high proportions in the U. S.
and Britain, each of whom will find recovery more difficult.
<1kzo,lc4m
^lauui.
I fl&p&ite/i
| in WASHINGTON
®By Walter Shead
f| WNU Correspondent
Mi
WNU Washington Bureau
921 Union Trust Building
Protection of War Orphans
O OW many war babies have been
*"-*-born in your community? How
many children have become wards
as a result of war casualties? So
important are questions raised by
these two factors, the children’s bu
reau of the department of labor Is
undertaking a nation-wide survey.
According to records of the vet
erans’ administration alone, minor
wards under guardianship of the ad
ministration will reach approximate
ly 750,000. Already the veterans’
administration has 150,000 minor
wards under guardianship as result
of World War L In addition, Uncle
Sam has underwritten the cost of
babies to service men, which has
already cost more than $119,000,000
for about 600,000 babies and another
150,000 who are on the way. This
money is being used to pay for ma
ternity care, nursing and hospital
care for these infants of men in the
armed forces. This government aid
is available to wives and infants of
men in the four lowest pay grades
in the Army, Navy, Coast Guard and
Marine Corps. The average cost is
less than $100.
The records show that, propor
tionately, the small-town and rural
areas have the largest number of
babies and that, as is true in every
war-time period, the boys outnumber
the girls, the proportion being about
107 boys to 100 girls.
The children’s bureau has deter
mined that present guardianship
laws are “archaic” and that “many
children under guardianship are be
ing cheated out of their inheritance
and Income.”
Model Statutes Planned.
The children’s bureau is also con
cerned with thousands of children
under guardianship who are receiv
ing survivor’s benefits under old age
and survivor’s insurance as part of
the social security program.
It is apparent that if there is to
be any great change or liberalization
of the guardianship laws, it must
start in the state legislatures, since
the state, under our system of gov
ernment, has the responsibility for
the welfare of children. It will be
the purpose of the children’s bureau
to draw up model laws seeking more
protection for these minor wards and
present them to the various states
for adoption, or for recodifying of
existing statutes.
The National Commission for Chil
dren in Wartime, which is made up
of outstanding men and women
working in the child welfare and
youth field, Including representa
tives of labor unions and farm or
ganizations, has just completed a
year’s study which is in line with
this move of the children’s bureau.
It recommends a student aid pro
gram written under the experience
gained in the administration of edu
cational benefits of the GI bill of
rights to reach children at high
school levels.
The commission’s report In
cluded proposals for study of a
four-point program: (1) job
placement services to assist
young people in employment;
(2) work-school programs to pro
vide to young people opportu
nity to combine work and school;
(3) employment of youth on pub
lic service projects (similar
probably to work done under
the National Youth Administra
tion program) and (4) skilled
counseling services with empha
sis on the special need of those
young people during the recon
version period.
In commenting on the children’s
bureau plan to "move in” on the
guardianship situation, Miss Mary
Stanton, consultant on guardian
ships, said:
Laws Out of D-.te.
"The laws under which we are
trying to operate now were written
at a time when judges knew every
one in their communities and pre
sumably knew something of the fit
ness of the prospective guardians.
Neighbors, too, exercised concern.
Today it is obviously impossible for
courts to know what is happening
to all children for whom they have
responsibility. A probate court in a
large county may have several thou
sand child guardianship cases in a
year. The smaller and rural com
munities likewise cannot exercise
the individual concern that it once
did. Even if neighbors know of
Irregularities, which would not be
likely, they would hesitate to inter
fere unless the abuse of the child
was flagrant”
It Is pointed out that veterans’ or
ganizations, such as the American
Legion and the Veterans of Foreign
Wars, have succeeded In getting a
large measure of protection for the
property of those entitled to benefits
under veterans’ compensation, but
even for those children there is a
lack of protection under the limita
tions which safeguard their personal
welfare and others, children of non
veterans, have even less protection.
The only way, the bureau points out,
for better protection for more than
a million children, is review and re
and re-examination of the laws.
TIRE REPORT:
In renewing monthly reports, the
Rubber Manufacturers association
includes a breakdown of figures
showing production in civilian pas
senger car, truck ana bus casings
and in tubes for 1941 and 1945 to in
dicate the present ti$* akssMon.
Production of passenger car cas
ings for the first six months of 1941
totalled 29,040,711 units, with 5,365,
459 units held in inventory. Esti
mated production for the six months
ended last June 30 was 10,020,817
units, with only 950,412 in inventory.
The Omaha Guide
± A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER JL
Published Every Saturday at 2^20 Grant Street
OMAHA, NEBRASKA—PHONE HA. 0800
Entered as Second Class Matttr March 15. 1927
at the Post Office at Omaha, Nebraska, under
lAct of Congress of March 3, 1879.
C- C- Gallowry^.... Publisher and Acting Editor
All News Copy of Churches and all organiz
ations must be in our office not later than 1 :00
p. m. Monday for current issue. All Advertising
Copy on Paid Articles, not later than Wednesday
noon, proceeding date of issue, to insure public
ation. <*
SUBSCRIPTION RATE IN OMAHA {
ONE YEAR . $3.00 /
SIX MONTHS .$1.75 \
THREE MONTHS . $1-25 |
SUBSCRIPTION RATE OUT CP TOWN j
ONE YEAR . $3 50
SIX MONTHS . $2 00 \
National Advertising Representatives—
INTERSTATE UNITED NEWSPAPERS, Inc\
545 Fifth Avenue, New York City, Phone: —
MUrray Hill 2-5452, Ray Peck, Manager '
. - WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS_j
Congress Backs Fzcrl Harbor
Probe, Bui Stiff Fight Looms
Over Truman's Domestic Policies
-— Released by Western Newspaper Union. .
i (EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of
Western Newspaper Union’s news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Home as well as factory industrial facilities felt the lash of U. S.
air raids, with only the machinery standing in the ashes of this burned
out residential shop in Tokyo.
CONGRESS:
Fight Looms
Highlighted by an 18,000 word
message from President Truman,
congress went back to work after
a brief recess to tussle over legisla
tion extending the draft, tiding the
nation over reconversion, holding
the price line until volume produc
tion develops, readjusting the farm
economy to peacetime, and provid
ing credit for foreign countries.
The first congressional move, how
ever, concerned none of these
weighty problems but rather the
Pearl Harbor debacle of December
7, 1941. Stealing the ball from the
Republican opposition, Senator
Barkley (Dem., Ky.) called for a
joint senate-house inquiry into the
disaster, with an amendment by Sen
ators Vandenberg (Rep., Mich.) and
Ferguson (Rep., Mich.) broadening
the probe to include the Philippine,
Wake and Midway islands setbacks
as well. Matching speedy passage
in the senate, House Speaker Ray
burn (Dem., Texas) assured prompt
action in his chamber.
Barkley’s resolution for an investi
gation followed on the heels of con
gressional clamor for an inquiry as
a result of general feeling that the
army and navy board reports con
stituted a whitewash of political
Speaker Rayburn (left), Presi
dent Truman (center) and Majority
Leader Barkley.
higher-ups. Barkley himself took rec
ognition of this sentiment, declaring
that the probe should bring out all
facts relating to civil as well as
military responsibility, with no ef
fort to shield any individual.
Though support for a joint-con
gressional investigation of Pearl
Harbor was nigh unanimous, the
administration faced rougher sled
ding on other important legislation,
with the Republicans threatening a
bitter fight against so-called pater
nalistic aspects of Mr. Truman’s
domestic program.
Particularly acrimonious debate
was expected to develop over sucn
administration-supported measures
as increasing unemployment com
pensation to a maximum of $25 a
week for 26 weeks; entrusting the
government with providing for full
employment; banning racial or reli
gious discrimination in hiring, and
extensive federal public works
building. Opponents also girded to
fight the administration’s reconver
sion pricing policies, which seek to
hold charges to 1942 levels until
mass production permits volume.
In military matters, a lively fight
loomed over extension of the draft
for 18 to 25 year oldsters, with the
issue somewhat tempered by efforts
to boost vcluntary recruiting by pay
inducements.
JAPAN:
Details Defeat
Because of the disruption of com
munication lines and the blasting
of heavy industries in the wake of
the U. S.’s relentless forward ad
vance, Japan was finished last June,
Premier Higashi-Kuni told the 88th
session of the imperial diet.
The premier’s analysis of Japan’s
defeat followed Emperor Hirohito’s
appeal to the Japanese people to ful
fill the obligations of the uncon
ditional surrender and work to re
gain the confidence of the world.
In detailing the Nipponese down
fall, Higashi - Kuni revealed that
combined U. S. sea and air might
had sharply reduced Nipponese
shipping and rail communications
and cut down the flow of materials
to war industries. In turn, these
plants suffered heavily from air
bombardment.
Declaring that the ruins of Hiro
shima and Nagasaki were too ghast
ly to even look upon, Higashi-Kuni
admitted that the use of the atomic
bomb proved the real turning point
of the war, with Russia’s entrance
capping the disastrous turn of
events.
Even as Higashi-Kuni spoke, U. S.
forces continued to pour into Japan
for occupation duties, with an esti
mated 300,000 to 400,000 men eventu
ally needed to complete the opera
tion.
With U. S. troops fanning out
over the Japanese home islands,
efforts were made to speed up the
release of American war prisoners,
many of whom charged mistreat
ment during their captivity. Avi
ators especially were singled out for
abuse, first being pummeled by
any civilians upon parachuting to
safety, before being turned over to
military guards.
REDEPLOYMENT:
Kevise Flans
Considered its answer to wide
spread criticism on the part of serv
icemen as well as the public, the
army revised its redeployment plans
to free an estimated 665,000 vets
from Pacific duty.
Under the new plan, G.I.s exempt
from overseas service will include
those with 45 or more discharge
points; those between 34 and 37
years of age with a year of serv
ice, or those 37 or over. Previous
ly, the army had required 75 points
for such exemption.
Meanwhile, 200,000 army officers
looked forward to early release fol
lowing the announcement of dis
charge plans based upon the point
system. With points computed on
the basis of one for each month in
service, one for each month of over
seas service, five for each combat
award and 12 for each dependent
under 18, colonels, lieutenant-col
onels and majors need 100 points for
discharge; captains, first and second
lieutenants, 85. and warrant and
flight officers, 80.
EMPLOYMENT:
Set Goal
Speedy rehiring of many dis
charged war workers by reconvert
ing industries will be necessary if
the War Manpower commission’s
goal of an immediate postwar fac
tory employment of 14 million is to
be achieved.
The necessity of speeding up re
conversion to absorb the postwar
labor glut was pointed up by the
WMC’s own estimate that four mil
lion persons would lose wartime jobs
within the next six months. Aircraft
plants alone will discharge one mil
lion, with ordnance releasing 800,000,
shipbuilding 600,000 and government
over 100,000.
Manufacturing industries cannot
sop up all of the availably labor sup
ply, WMC said, declaring that in
creasing numbers of men and wom
en will have to enter mining, build
ing, trade and farming. Because the
war restricted much activity in
these enterprises, and anticipated
postwar markets will lead to busi
ness expansion, WMC predicted
wider employment in these fields.
QUISLING:
Drfends Self
With death staring him in the
race. pale anil grim Vidkun Quisling
was pictured as a constructive Eu
ropean statesman, and passionate
toe of Bolshevism by his counsel
Henrik Bergh during the closing
stages of the celebrated treason
trial in Oslo, Norway.
Though no political disciple of
the notorious collaborator, lawyer
Bergh depicted Quisling as an ideal
istic eccentric, who, while contact
ing Hitler in 1939, also commu
nicated with Chamberlain in an ef
fort to bring about peace between
Germany, Britain and France.
Bergh attributed the collaborator’s
sympathy with the Nazi occupation
of 1940 to a desire to prevent Nor
way becoming a battleground like
Poland through a British landing and
subsequent German counterattack.
First sympathetic to communism
while doing relief work in Russia
in 1923, Quisling changed his atti
tude in 1930 upon seeing mass im
prisonments, starvation and plagues
in the soviet, Bergh said.
RECONVERSION:
Strikes Interfere
In the first serious work stoppage
in the reconversion period, produc
tion was cut sharply at the Ford
and Hudson automobile plants fol
lowing a variety of labor disputes.
In Washington, D. C., the govern
ment remained in close touch with
the situation, in keeping with Presi
dent Truman’s avowed determina
tion to prevent a reconversion slow
down through labor differences.
At Ford’s, over 26,000 workers
were laid off as a result of strikes
at parts suppliers’ plants, with the
walkout of 4,500 employees of the
Kelsey - Hayes Wheel company over
the discharge of union stewards
chiefly interfering with production.
The stewards had been fired for in
stigating a brawl with a foreman.
Curtailment of production at Hud
son’s followed the walkout of 6,000
workers in sympathy with 500 fore
men striking in protest over a re
duction of wartime wage rates.
SECT RITES FATAL
“/ may be bitten and l may die,” 32
year-old Lewis Francis Ford, lay preach
er of the Dolly Pond Church of Cod
near Birchwood, Tenn., told a newspa
per reporter before conducting his
sect’s snake handling rites. “But if /
do,” Ford continued, “it will be because
the Lord wants to show unbelievers the
snakes are poisonous.”
Shortly afterward. Ford was bitten on
the right hand as he was removing a
three-foot rattlesnake from a wooden
box, and was taken to a near-by home
where several of the folloivers of his
faith prayed for him. When his condi
tion worsened, however, he was rushed
to a Chattanooga hospital, where he
died.
Ford’s death followed that of Mrs.
Harvey O. Kirk of Wise, Va„ who suc
cumbed from a rattlesnake bite on the
wrist during a religious rile. Before
dying Mrs. Kirk gave birth to a child,
which failed to survive.
JAP RESETTLEMENT:
Lift Coast Ban
Of 110,000 persons of Japanese
ancestry, who were removed from
the Pacific coast following Pearl
Harbor, only 45,000 will return with
the lifting of the ban against their^
resettlement there, U. S. relocation
authorities predicted.
Out of the liu.uuu removea, aDout
50,000 have found new homes in
other sections of the country, where
they have entered a variety of in-,
dustries ranging from watch-making
to mechanical dentistry and proven
their efficiency and trustworthiness.
Another 50,000 have remained in re
location camps.
With feeling running high against
Japanese-Americans in some Pacif
ic coast communities, Maj. Gen. H.
C. Pratt, commander of the western
defense zone, called upon residents
there to accord resettlers the same
privileges of other law-abiding citi
zens.
SURPLUS GOODS:
Sales Policy
Hoping to speed the turnover of
material and permit wider distribu
tion among dealers during the im
mediate period of scarcity, the de
partment of commerce reported that
most surplus war goods would now
be sold on a fixed price basis rather
than sealed bids.
The department revealed its poli
cy change at the same time that it
announced 300 million dollars worth
of material is being made avail
able to wholesalers and retail
ers, with items including chicken
wire, trucks and other vehicles,
hardware, shotguns and shells.
Under the new selling plan, mate
rial will be disposed of to whole
salers and retailers under OPA ceil
ings, with allowances for profit mar
gins. Thirty days credit will be ex
tended. An estimated 80 per cent of
dollar volume of all surplus sales
will fall under the new priciDg
policy.
