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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1945)
PAGE TWO THE JOURNAL PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21, 1945 Rock Of Ages PLATTSMOUTH DAILY JOURNAL ESTABLISHED: DAILY, 1905; SEMI-WEEKLY, 1881 Published week day evenings at 409-413 Main Street, Plattsmouth, Cass County, Nebraska, by The Journal Publishing Company. LESTER A. WALKER, PUBLISHER DON J. ARUNDEL, BUSINESS MANAGER Entered at the Postoffice at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, as second class mail matter in accordance with the Act Of Congress of March 3, 1879. United Press Leased Wire Service NEA Telephoto Newspictures and Features Daily Subscription Rates: Delivered by carrier in the City of Plattsmouth, 15 cents per week, or $6.00 per year cash in advance; $5 per year by mail in the state of Nebraska, elsewhere $7 per year cash in advance. Semi -Weekly: $2 per year cash in advance by mail In the state of Nebraska; elsewhere, $3 00 per year. Our Debt To Washington Perhaps there are too many marble busts and equestrian statues of George Washington. He has become too much of a name and an image to be revered impersonally and then forgotten except when he is occasionally quoted, without too much regard for literal accuracy, on the subject of entangling alliances. Lincoln seems, likely to replace him as the great national hero Lincoln, more human in his greatness and less remote in warmth as well as in time. And of Washington's contem poraries, the brilliant and versatile Jefferson has lately arisen to capture the public fancy. Washington was neither brilliant nor of engaging person ality. He was reserved and a trifle slow. But though he may not inspire today's poets and playwrights, he was, from the Revolution's end to his death ,the object of the greatest adula tion ever accorded an American leader. It is worth remembering, in an era when, dictatorship has been the world fashion, how wisely and modestly Washington bore that adulation: It is worth remembering, too, how well he deserved it. Washington faced the gravest problems that ever beset an American leader in war or peace. The nation which he led through its longest war was nominally united, but really di vided and impoverished and ungoverned. Its Congress was powerless to do more than advise the states. Its army was dispirited, badly equipped, and at times faced with actual starvation. Washington had to divide his time between rallying his forces to stay with him, planning and leading their campaigns, and constantly begging and bludgeoning the states to provide food and money to avert the total defeat Which at times was only days or hours away. He ""had to contend with treasonable disloyalty among his officers, and what are now known as fifth columnists among his countrymen. Victory emerged from these surroundings chiefly because of Washington's capacity for courage, resourcefulness, com passion, steadfastness and humility. There was nothing mer curial about his statesmanship he was a farmer by first choice, a soldier by second, and a statesman by necessity but it was molded by common sense, hard work and an un impeachable code of ethics- These qualities passed into the fabric of his country and are still visible. They might be more so if we bothered to make Washington's reacquaintance. His Farewell Address is worth reading again for its stately lucidity, sage wisdom and deep feeling. The advice on foreign relations is only a part of it. And that advice, placed in its context and read against the back ground of 1796,, becomes what it is sound expediency for its time and not Holy Writ. Washington was too great to become a figure on a pedes tal and a patron saint to be invoked by isolationism. This would be a good day to compute once more our full debt to him. jsc mmh mmm ILK. '..f-?7j The SPlCtT OF GEOR6E WASHiNCiToM KiSmK (.eDAILYMSHWTOH i ysJ a- n MERRY ROUND TPADE ' MARK REGISTERED BY DREW PEARSON (Lt. Col. Robert S. Allen now on active service with tha army.) Drew Pearson Say: European war may be over any day; Military leader fix July 1 as outside date; Senator Ball arranged Commander Stassen's appointment to United Na tions conference. WASHINGTON Supreme allied leaders are now in a position where they expect the war with Germany to end any day; but they don't want to make the same over-optimistic mistake they did last fall, when they were confident hostilities would finish before Christmas. At present, German prisoners are reported being taken on the -western front at. the Tate of about 1,600 a ' day, but, there seems to be no general breakdown of German army morale. During three weeks in late January and early February, the American 7th arrcy and French 1st army took over 15,000 nazi prison ers, which is a good haul. But it does not mean that large blocs of the German army are surrendering en masi'3, as the Italians did in North Africa. Judging by all the standards of the last war, Germany ihould have capitulated long ago. It was on Sept. 28, 1918, six weeks before the armistice, .that Ludendorff and Hindenburg made up their minds that defeat was incvtitable. At that time, as now, it -ai the civilian gov ernnrent in Berlin, which wanted to resist longer. One of the significant documents of the last war was Hindenburg's reply to Prince Max of Baden, who had formed a hew German govern ment and who . appealed to Hinden burg on;Oct.,"2,; 1918, to continue fightinj. r ; '. , . Hindenburg, replying next day, was brief and to the point. He wrote: ' ' '"" V ' . . ' ' "The 'supreme command insists en its demand of Sunday, 29th Septem ber,, that a peace offer to our en emies be issued at once." However, the civilian government in Berlin still held out, and it took until -Nov. 11 to arrange an armis tice. BERLIN PEACE RUMORS Knowing just what is going on inside Germany today regarding an armiftice is one of the allied handi caps. A certain amount of informa tion leaks, out via the neutral coun tries. It is reported, for instance, that German business leaders would like to use Hjalmar Schacht or Franz von Papen as peace negotiators. But there iv no definite indication that Hitler himself" oV Hjmmler is ready for peace. On the contrary, there are definite indications that thev are determined to fight fanati cally to the end. This time, the nazi leaders have or ganized a secret service infinitely more ruthless than anything known in the Kaiser's day. with the result that they have maintained the whip hand vj far over any German mili tary leader who may pine for peace. Finally the Volkssturm or Peo ple's Army, thrown in to fill the gaps in the regular army, has made up in ferocity what it lacks in ex perience. Weighing all these factors, top allied military strategists figure the war in Europe probably won't end before April 1, and should not lapfc longer than Julyl. But in this war anything can happen. STASSEN AND GOP Several GOP senators were furi ous when they heard that President Roosevelt had named Commander Harold Stassen, ex-governor of Minnesota, as one of the eight Ameri can delegates to the United Nations' conference at San Francisco. Sonne felt FDR. was trying to catapult Stassen into the leadership of the republican party, and deliber ately kicking Tom Dewey in the shins. Cracked Michigan's hard-hitting Senator Vander.berg: "I assume Stas'?n is going to th? conference representing the navy department.'' Note The man who scld the White House on appointing Stassen was his old friend, Senator Joe Ball of Minnesota. The senator ha. not heard from Stassen since Ball de serted Dewey and came out fcr Roosevelt. However, Ball still thinks Stassen is the logical GOP candi date for 1948 and Is quietly plug ging for him. INSURANCE LOBBY The insurance lobby is headed for trouble regarding its bill to -exempt insurance corrpaniSs from the Sher man Anti-Trust act. If the lobby ists aren't careful they will g3t a White House veto. The bill passed the senate in a form which met with all-around ap proval. But in the hous-3, the insur ance lobby sharpened its ax and quietly tacked on some amendments which will not be acceptable either to the White Touse, or, probably, to a majority of the senate. Chief effect of I the amendments was to make it impossible to revive the Anti-Trust act regarding insurance, BARBS 'THERE'S no economy in saving on one thing so you can buy another unless it's a War Bond! Statistics show heavy sales of second-hand cars those things you purchase in haste and re paint at leisure. Another thing to be blamed on the hard winter will be the high ways that will make it too easy for people to get into a rut. Ifs easier to stick to a diet if you just remgfiber that figures don't lie. No matter how many dates the modern girl has there always seems to be room for one bore. companies, without a special act of congress. Fair-minded Senator O'Mahoney of Wyoming, was was quite willing to give the insurance companies a reasonable compromise, will fight this extra grab to the end. So will a great many of his colleagues. CAPITAL CHAFF The war department's G-2 cr military intelligence is being re organized again, partly as a result of failures to spot nazi troop con centrations preparing for the bulge attack in mid - December. . . Tom Clark, astute assistant attorney gen eral in charge of the criminal divis ion, would like to retire to practice law in Texas, but topsides in the justice department are trying to persuade him to stay on. It was Clark who prosecuted the two latest nazi saboteurs and sent them to jail. . .Senator Glenn Taylor of Idaho has uml only five gallons of gas since arriving in Washington an example which could be emulated by a lotof other bigwigs. . .The Mexico City confab is the most sor rowful Pan-American conference in history for Dr. Leo S. Rowe, beni-rn, longtime director of the Pan Ameri can union. This is the first import ant Pan-Am parley held out.ide the confines of his union. Dr. Rowe says: "I cannot speak, but my heart is running over." . .. .Watch Cuban delegate Eddie Chibas at Mexico City. He is expected to launch an attack on Dictator Trujillo of the neighboring Dominican republic. . . General Franco's controlled Spanish press hasi been using the sarre propa ganda line as Hitler regarding the Big Three conference. . .Not con tent with blocking plans for a Jew ish hcnieland in Palestine, the state department is sending Colonel Har old Iloskins a leading opponent of the Jewish homeland, as U. S. econ omic minister to the near east. Hos kins, born in Beirut., Syria, attended an Arab college, and has been a champion of the Arab cause. ROOSEVELT GOES LEFT? The last session cf the House Rulei committee on. Kenry Wallace heard a veiled GOP threat that unless Wallace was prevented from becom ing a director of the export-import bank, republicans would try to block approval of the Bretton Woods agreement. Michigan, speaking directly to the, democrats on the rules committee, said: ''You will have before you shortly the Bretton Woods agreement, and the question of increasing the capi tal cf the export-import bank. You are building up opposition to the monetary fund if you inject the personality of Henry Wallace, who i? the symbol of leftist opposition. into this picture." Wolcott then called fcr assurance that Sidney Hillman, CIO-PAC lead er, will not be named head of the ex port-import bank and concluded by ccmplaining that President Roose velt has not gone to the right since the November elections. The nation, he said, had a right to expect the president to make seme gestures, at least, toward appeasing industry for the sake of rational unity. ' But now we have Wallace,"' Wol cott declared. To this, veteran rules committee chairman Adolnh S;ibath replied: "You may feci that the president has not gone to the n'irht. that he has not made cor.ce.-skr.s for the sake of national unit v. But d you remember the names of the men he appointed to the state department? Do you think that labor and lib erals wanted Stettinius. Clayton Grew, Rockefeller, Dunn. and Holmes?" (Copyright, 1945. by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) EPSON'S WASHINGTON COLUMN BY PETER EDSON NEA Washington Correspondent TT S. ARMY AIR FORCES TACTICAL TRAINING CENTER, OR tJ' LANDO, Fla. Most of the air failures of the present war have been logistic, say the experts at thi3 AAF brain center. They mention this fact in pointing with something of a red face to the tons of material piled up in Europe today stuff thit has become obsolete since the time it was ordered. 1 he reason for these surpluses is simply that the planes for which these supplies were ordered became obsolete before the supplies could be consumed. So swift has been the technical advance f military aircraft that at this very moment the logisticians are faced with the possibility that the Internal combustion engine may be obsolete for aircraft of the future if the gas turbine, or Jet- ii. j it,... .m fa npoDant nrftmif. 0 II propeueu engine, uvea uh .ij-n I I No one can today give an exact answer to this . I probability, but it emphasizes what procurement men are up against. ... 8 1 f St Mr XT 1 Edson "DECAUSE there were no experience data on airplane performance in desert, amphibious, arctic and high altitude warfare, there have been no guidebooks on which supply officers could base their require ments estimates. Only in the last few weeks have the experts been able to compile what they might call a "logistical bible," bringing together all the experience In air supply for this war. It is still a highly imperfect document, subject to numerous and frequent changes. But it is a start at making a handbook for one of the newest branches of military science. Ordering up for an air war begins with the planes. It is a surprising and sad fact that up to this point in the war perhaps not more than one out of every five planes produced is in action on the front. Training in the Un:od States requires many, planes undergoing repair or maintenarne accounts for others, planes in transit or reserve number many more. Planes actually lost in combat checks off half the total in some categories. JOMBS make up from 6 to 21 per cent of Air Force supplies by weight, but the one big item is gasoline, which is 60 per cent of the supply problem by weight. It was only last September that the supply of aviation gas became greater than the demand. Production in March of this year is estmated at only 50,000 barrels a day above requirements, but this margin has been obtained only by taking a big allotment of butylene from the synthetic rubber industry and by reducing the grade of the gasoline from 140 to 130. Throwing around all these supplies 2Vz tons per day per plane takes manpower and the supply of that is something of a problem, too. A rule of thumb is two and a half men on the ground for every man in the air at a base, but this only begins to tell the story. In certain Pacific operations last year, to keep 450 men in the air required 10,000 men on the ground, to keep 815 planes going took 38,000. OUT OUR WAY By J. R. Williams Hell Island Is Appropriate For Iwo Jima Situation Terrific From Firt One Side and the Other as Battle Rage BY UNITED PRESS Iwo J:n i could well be named "Hell Island" where a battle beyond comparison with anything else anywhere is rac ing, a correspondent said today in a pooled broadcast from Admiral Richmond K. Turner's flagship off the island. "The situation was terrific from first one 'Ade and then the other. But the marines are goinjr ahead and they're driving the Japs back," the correspondent said. WHAO" ? DOM!T yOU LIKE THAT LETTUCE AMD CABBAGE SALAO I WENT TO ALLTHE TROUBLE TD MAKE WHY, IT'S COOP for. vou--you MEEO IT VES, I-UH-KMOW, BUT 1 FEEL LIKE ) A GLUTTOKl EAT- JN3 ALL THIS BEAUTIFUL GREEN STUFF WHEN THE HORSE HASN'T HAD A BH" OF GREEN FCCOALL MV RABBITS, too you KNOW, LIKE WE LEAVE A LITTLE MEAT ON TH BONES FER. TH' Tii-v ' f UW- ill?..' . - V A w s .: ' BORN THIRTY VFiac to.- , - M. .. .ZPj!"-uvls 'T saw the bravest guys in the world hiding in foxholes, running forward in a crouch, leaping into Japanese emplacements and then finishing off the enemy at clot'e quarters. You knew it takes guts to fight that way. "Replacements are constantly mov ing forward. There are Japanese bodies everywhere, too, and that makes you foel just a little better." He said the Japanese artillery and rocket.-! and the American warship bombardment throughout the night "makes a hell if there ever was one "'There is nothing anywhere to compare with the battle of this is land the battle of Iwo Jima." Plattsmouth to Omaha and Martin Bomber Plant Effective on and after Mon., SEPTEMBER 18 For Information Phone 623 or 69 COTNER BUSES NOW LEAVE FROM SHEA'S CAFE, 119 No. 6th Lv. Plattsmouth Lv. Bomber Plant 6:15 A.M. 6:45 A.M. 7:15 A.M. 7:45 A.M. 8:30 A.M. 12:00 Noon 1:00 P.M. 4:45 P.M. 3:45 P.M. 5:30 P.M. 5:05 P.M. 5:45 P.M. k 6:30 P.M. 11:10 P.M. 1:30 A.M. 2:15 A.M. Highway Stop Lv. Plattsmouth Lv. Omaha 8:30 A.M. 11:30 A.M. 1:00 P.M. 5:00 P.M. 6:30 P.M. 10:45 P.M. Subject to change to conform to workers hourJ Changes will be made in this list regularly C. C. COTNER BUS LINE KNOW, DOIi T GUESS DO YOU KNOW that all your property is adequately insured against every hazard which can bring you a total or crippling loss. If you are not sure, let this agency help you with friendly counsel. i ' r I , XK.fef-t :: ' Kit: a-'! r TRAVEL In comfort back and lorth to your work. SHEEP LINED COAT with fur collar affords July weather in February 12J0 UP A Rood coat to carry over for next winter 6