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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1945)
THURSDAY, DEC. 27. 1943 PAGE TWO THE JOURNAL, PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA nri Til ii l9 T.. I ine i lausmpuia jumnai ESTABLISHED 1681 Publ:sr-ed semi-wec!dy. Mondays ard Thursdays at 409-413 Wain Street. Plaltsmouth. Cass County, Nebraska, by The Journal Pub lishing Company. , LESTER A. WALKER B. J. ALCOTT EOBERT B. STAUFFER... ......Publisher General Manager Managing Editor Entered at the Fostofiice at Plattsmouth Nebraska, as second class mail matter in accordance with the Act of Congress of March 3. 1879. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: S3 per year, cash in advance, by mail outsidt the Plattsmouth trade area. DAILY JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Delivered by car rier i the City of Plattsmouth, 15 cents par week, or S7.00 per year cash in advance; by mail in the Plattsmouth trade rea: S3 per year, ,$1.75 for six months, $1.00 for three months, cash in advance. Ey ma:l outside the Plattsmouth trade area, $5.00 per-year, $3.00 for six months, 63 cents per month,' cash in advance.'- "'- " ' Modest Merchant Fleet - Ehterinjr World War II with only 10,500,000 ton of merchant shipping, the United States emerged with approx imately GO million tons. Great Britain, whose 24 million tons made her the world's greatest maritime power seven vears ago, lost more than 17 million tons tiuring the war and yet came out of it with 20 million tons. - These figures may cause some sur prise, particularly" to those -who had heard of a lloosevclt-Churchill agree ment by which England-' was to con centrate on building warships, while this country turned its mass-production ikill to construction of cargo crafts-- T. The contrast. bcnVcen our current GO million tons and Britain's 20 million may also result in misunderstanding, unless it is kept clearly in mind that a vast proportion of the American fleet consists of emergency vessels, that,- in tyorld trade competition, would be al most as inefficient as those concrete ships that were left over from World War I. There is a tendency to think of rich America and poor England in terms of shipping. It is all right to think of poor Norway, which lost 50 per cent of her fleet, net; poor Greece, whose net loss was 75 per cent; poor France, which lost two tons out of very three, poor, Denmark and the Netherlands, which also sustained net shipping losses of 50 per cent. But in this respect Eng land requires no pity. Today England is building ships faster than we are. Her postwar mer chant fleet soon will be at prewar level. Our plan is to retain only 20 million tons', even on war insurance reserve basis, and to dismantle or sell the re mainder. American ship lines are not asking to dominate world trade routes. It ap peal's now that we propose to put into" mternatinal competition only 95 ships of about 3,900,000 tons which is six Less craft (though almost G 00,000 'more tons) than we had in 1939. The remain der of what vessels we continue to op erate will be in coastal and intercoastal trade, which is barred to foreign com petition anyway. Z despite the fact that today we have three times as great a tonnage as Great Britain, our goal is to oppose some 21 or 25 million British tons with only about four million American tons. We ask only that half our foreign trade be carried in American ships, which is a minimum that all other maritime na tions have fixed in the past. - Q Has celebration of Christmas ever l?een banned by law? Z A The Pilgrims forbade its "'cele bration in 1G44 because it had become a wild orgy in England. 1 Q Who is Alcide de Gasperi? - A Premier of Italy. - Q What is t lie status of IMaurice Chevalier, French actor accused dur ing the occupation of collaboration?- . A The French National Committee of Theatrical Purge acquitted, him of the charges. - Q What is the coloring effect of Get el nut "chewing gum"? - A It blackens the teeth and dyes the mouth, lips and gums red. A tenth of the world's population chews betel nut. - Q What is the dividing line between Russian-occupied and American-occupi- mm. ed Korea? A The 38th parallel. iTOi! MERDY- GO- K0Ut5i By DREW FEAttSON (CaDl. Robert Allen On Active Duty Witk U. S. Army) WASHINGTON' Congressman Albert Engel of Muskegon, Midi., once was described b General Marshall as the -Gadfly" of the Wat Department, Never did he justify that name, however, us much as on a recent trip to Indui when he caught the army in the act of burn ins flying gloves, parachutes and flying jack ets, chopping up flying instruments with an axe, and flying empty coca cola bottles over the hump, the most dangerous air route in the, world. -. Cougiessiin&u fcugel had a rough time gett ing this and other information over the head of Gen.vGcorge Kichards, the War Department budget officer who accompanied the, congres sional committee on its tour. Kichards did everything in his power to pre vent Engel from talking with officers who knew ttbout irregularities and were itching to spill wbxit they knew. The general even went to the length of .threatening to leave Engei behind at Karachi, India. Riehaids had laid out a carefully planned schedule of stops that amounted to a Cook's tour of oiiiceis' cluus, so the investigating cou partmeiit v anted. But he diaii't reckon with the puiuneut wanted. Bui he didn't recoil with the two-fisted congressman from Michigan. -.The sub-committee stopped at Karachi for lunch and were told to get back on J:he plane at 1:13 to start for Abadan. On his way to the officers nick's, Engel stopped to talk to some young air corps oificers who had been ikying transport planes over the hump. Im nieiiia u-ly, cnapcron liichartts rusned over and tried to break up the conversation. You'll have to cat right away in order to iiu.kc tiie piane, congressman," he said. Gadfly Eugel But. the -congressman courteously brushed him off, got out a pencil and began taking notes. Afu-r the others had' eaten, General Kichards again rushed out excitedly and tried to hurry Engel to thet, plane. "U e 'came here to get the facts, general," declared the congressman, "and I intend to stay here until 1 get them." Richards went off, but returned almost im mediately to say that the plane was leaving. He warned Engel bluntly that he would be left behind jf he didn't cease his questioning and get ui the plane. "Take your plane and go," snap ped Engel angrily, if you want to leave with out me. go right ahead." General Richards turned to a second lieu tenant in the group and ordered jn crisp tones: "1 want you to report to ,your commanding of ficer everything you have lold the congress man." ' . . . By this time, other members of the congres sional party h.-d returned to watch the fire works and formed a ring around Richards and Engel. who were glaring at each other fiercely. Untaxed by the .general's" browbeating tactics, Engel insisted t!iafcv all officers except those to whom he had been talking leave. ' That includes you, General Richards," he said. With Uiis icstraint removed, the visiting congressman adduced some astounting facts. About 75 lieutenants and captains, all flying of fiacrs who had borne the brunt of the hump fb'iug, fold tiini in" part: . . , Helping British Trade (M They had flown 75t tons (1,300,000 .' poiiarbO of Indian cotton across the -hump" for tiie British,' who sold it to the Chinese. The. cotton was worth 13 cents a pound or iltPt 223. WOO, It. cost us from $1 to $2 a pound to fly the cotton, some of which the committee saw while it was still in a ware house waiting to be shipped. -) While V. S. forces were sorely in need of essential war goods, some amazing cargoes wont, over the hump. For instance, cargo after cargo of springs, mattresses, commodes, bed steads, dressers, etc., were flown in for the use of top-ranking officers. This material had been shipped by air from Khartoum. Eir.vnt. to Karachi. India (2,000 miles) and from" Cairo, , Egypt, to Karachi (3.C00 miles). One officer told the congressman that he had an Austin cur shipped to hini from Karachi to Xew Delhi. He later had it re-shipped to Kar achi because he "did not like the paint job on the car." Also, a quantity of tile was flown from Bombay to Karachi to build a patio for . the officer's club. The patio was built after V-J Day. l! A great deal of equipment was hauled from Africa to India, thousands of miles, only to be burned after it got there. One officer told the congressman that he personally wit nessed the burning of a gross of flying gloves worth $2 a pair, 73 parachutes and a great many A-2 flying Jackets. The same officer saw a. '.'Lieutenant Renshow," acting on orders, smash aircraft parts and instruments with an axe. An air corps major named Griffith, a shipping .supply officer, was sent to Karachi from headquarters to' get rid of the supplies within a week. ; ( t) A load of empty coca cola bottles was .-flown out from China to India. A printing press weighing 8,MH) pounds was shipped from -Karachi to Agra and thence to Gaya, . where it was left unused. An officer at Gaya said it was "the on'.y way'he knew to get rid of it," the committee was told. (3) Among other things destroyed, the sub coin niit tee learned, were 10. beacon lights woith SU.SOO each; 20 Pratt and Whitney engine, cylinders worth $700 each and 10 inagnetoes for airplane engines Truman's Christmas Present There isn't any .doubt as to .which present Harry Truman prizes the, most among the va-:t collection of .gifts received this Christ ,' inas. r ..... . . . -v'- ' . . it is a beautiful -oil -.-pa iuting of his 92-year-ol'ip moUivr.'-KV the portrait artist Jerry Farns worth. v s . "."'. V. . .' "The-'fiairyfiftf?.' was- , presentctl ' by Trnman's life-long friend, Frank S. Land of Kansas City, ' i'Mr'fl,(4nt-'-of --the Order of DeMolay. ' (Copyright, 1943, by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) The Eye of the Needle . IS' VftW r r-ntL J5- (VT5 Biennial Report of the Chief of Stoff of the U. 5. Army 1943 to 1945. to th hsaiaitsUllU robUiU4 b VZA 8errtc, fao. la ooenOoa w1( jta Vu VfPkTtmtak This is the 32nd of 42 in stallments of material selected from General Marshall's re port on the winning of World War II. XXXII END OF JAPANESE SEAPOWER nPHE message from MacArtHur -- arrived at Quebec at night, and Admiral Leahy, Admiral King, General Arnold, and I were being entertained at a formal din ner by Canadian officers. It was read by the appropriate staff officers who suggested an imme diate affirmative answer. The message, with their recommenda tions, was rushed to us and we left the table for a conference. Having the utmost confidence in General MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz, and Admiral Halsey, it was not a difficult decision to make. Within 90 minutes after the signal had been received in Quebec, General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz had received their instructions to execute the Leyte operation on the target date 20 October, abandoning the three previously approved intermediary landings. General MacArthur's acknowledgment of his new in structions reached me while en route from the dinner to my quar ters in Quebec. That day the 1st Marine Divi sion of General Geiger's III Ma rine Amplnbious Corps, with a combat team of the 81st Infantry Division in reserve, landed in Peleliu in the Palau group. Two days later the 81st Division landed on Angaur, an island south of Peleliu. The War Department on 16 September relayed tj) General MacArthur a renort from General Stilwell to the effect ths -She Jap anese offensive in central China would soon result in capture of the eastern China airfields from which Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chen nault's Fourteenth Air Force had planned to support operations in the northern Philippines. Mac Arthur replied that Admiral Hal sey's carrier task force had so severely reduced hostile air capa bilities in the Philippines, For mosa, and the Ryukyus. that it! would be possible to move directly from Leyte to Lingayen Gulf without the support of Chennault's air force. Admiral Halsey's car rier planes had destroyed almost 2000 Japanese aircraft in the prob ing attacks during September. On 22 September another com bat team of the 81st Division moved to Peleliu, where heavy resistance was being met. Cap ture of this island was completed by 30 September except for a few isolated enemy groups which, held out in caves for another two months. On 21 September, patrols of the 81st Division landed on Ulithi, meeting no opposition. The main body landed two days later. Islands Are Stepping Stones The landing on Peleliu coincided with General MacArthur's move to seize Morotai north of Halma hera with the 31st and 32d Divi sions. Despite uniformly stub born resistance the Japanese had lost a series of islands which were important stepping stones for the return to the Philippines and the ultimate conquest of Japan. The advance of our forces west ward across the Pacific had been accompanied by the steadily ex panding strategic operations of the Eleventh Army Air Force in Alaska, the Seventh Air Force in the Central Pacific, and the Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific. In the opera tions fleet carriers had played a vital part. During the campaigns through the Southwest Pacific and the western mandated islands, General Kenney's aircraft and those of the Pacific Ocean Areas swung their powerful attacks back and forth in mutual support of the various operations. At the same time the westward advance had resulted in an ability to strike from the air at the foundations of the Japanese wanpotential their shipping, petroleum, and aircraft industries. On 19 October two assault forces, the 3d commanded by Ad miral Wilkinson and the 7th com manded by Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbcy. approached the east coast of Leyte with the Sixth Army under General Krueger aboard. It was an armada of combat and assault vessels that stretched across the vast Pacific horizon. In the covering naval forces were the battleships Cali fornia, Mississippi, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia with their screen of cruisers and ' destroyers. The troops and materiel with which we were . to seize Leyte were loaded in 53 assault transports, 54 assault cargo ships, 151 landing. ships (tank), 72 landing craft (infantry), 16 rocket ships, and over 400 other assorted am phibious craft. The air cover was provided by planes from 18 escort carriers. Japanese Fleet Crippled Out to sea Admiral Halsey's mighty carrier task force, which helped prepare the way for the landings by air bombardment, now stood watch for possible Japanese naval opposition to the landings. That day a Japanese search plane discovered this great amphibious force and reported its presence to Admiral Kurita's Singapore fleet, which then constituted 60 per cent of Japan's major naval units. This report precipitated one of the de cisive battles of history. The X and XXIV Corps of the Sixth Army went ashore on sched ule the following day after the Navy had paved, its way with drum-fire bombardment. Three days later General MacArthur di rected the ground forces to secure their beach areas and await the outcome of the naval battle which was now impending. The Jap anese made the decision to com mit their fleet in the battle to prevent America's return to the Philippines. Admiral King lias described the great naval action which followed in his recent re port. Every American who reads it must be filled with tremendous pride in the achievements of our fighting Navy. By the 26th it was apparent that the Third and Seventh Fleets had virtually eliminated Japan as a sea power. Her fleet had suffered a crippling blow. (NEXT: Leyte). QffU o EPSON'S WASHINGTON COLUMN BY FSTER EDSON NEA Washlasrton Correspondent WASHINGTON, D. C A first breakdown on that much-kicked around figure of two billion dollars as the cost of the atomic bomb project has just been put into th records of Sen. Brien Mc Mahon's committee on atomic energy. The figures come from Maj.- Gen. Leslie R. Groves, in" command of the project., Supplemented by additional figures now made pub lic by the. Manhattan District Engineer's office, rt' is possible to get accurate estimates of where the money, went ' and what it wili cost to keep this thing going. ' The total capital investment, spent and com mitted for plants and facilities as of June 30, 1945. was $1,595,000,000. Total operating costs up to the time the bombs were dropped in August were $405,000,000. That's where the two pillion figure comes from. Rut in AAmn CAO Ann AAA r.t UTt. i v- v.-.".. -, vvv,vvu,vuu v nil W1MU- ment appropriations were earmarked for operation of the project in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1946. End of the war naturally cuts back this cost. In breaking down the capital investment, these major items stand out: Manufacturing facilities alone cost $1,242,000,000. Research cost $186,000,000 Housing cost $162,500,000. Workmen's compensation and medical care cost $4,500,000 in round numbers, to make the $1,595,000,000 total. fOST of the several plants breaks down like this: Diffusion plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn., $500,000,000. Electro-magnetic plant at Oak Ridge, $317,000,000. In addition, $75,000,000 has been authorized for. enlargement of the diffusion plant. If to this is added the $25,000,000 cost of the Clinton Laboratories pilot plant and research program, together with the $110,000,000 cost of the housing and community development for workers, the total of the Oak Ridge investment is brought to $1,110,000,000, making it one of the most valuable bits of improved property in the U. S. . ; The Hanford, Wash., plutonium plant cost-is put at $350,003,000.' Cost of the housing project for Hartford workers, at near-by Rich-' j land, was only $48,000,000. . j GENERAL GROVES puts current .operation costs at these figures: To operate the diffusion plant at Oak Ridge, $6,000,000 per-month,' a figure which will increase When enlargement of ; the plant - is com pleted. To operate the electro-magnetic plant, $12,000,000 per. month, a figure which will decrease. To .operate the Hanford plutonium plant. $3,500,000 per month. This totals $21,500,000 per month or $258,000,000 a year to keep all facilities going. General Groves. has estimated-that at the end of two years, costs may be 40 to 60 per cent of present figures.' To- days employment of 45,000 in operations might be. cut to-35,000. 4 It vis still biff business if confined as a military expenditure. ... Victory in 1945 Sets Sports on Road to Biggest Boom in Ail Time The end of World War II ush ered in what js expected to be the most properous sports era of all time. Hardly had the firing died down on the far-flunpr battle fields before the sports boom was records were broken and by year's end the athletic world was well on the road back to the sports-as-usual program. Not that all sports suffered during the war years. As a mat ter of fact, it was business pretty much as usual with baseball, rac ing,' football and boxing and s few other sports Club owners and promoters made more money than ever during the war, but it is expected to be a mere trickle compared to what is in store for the future. Money sports, mostly minor ones, were blacked-out complete ly during the war and others Vere curtailed. But those that survived suffered only in the cal iber of competion. There were travel and other restrictions, but it didn't affect the gate receipts or attendance. There was, however, a notice able dropping off in the caliber of competition from 1944,. with the majority of star athletes in the armed services. They started coming back soon after V-E-Day and the quality of play picked up somewhat, although it still was far behind the prewar standards. Still Best in World The way the fans flocked to patronize the various sports, how ever, left no doubt that America: as always, wanted its sports. It may not have been quality stuff, but it still was quantity and still was the best in the world. And it was good enough to draw out the war dollars in an unprece dented stream. " Owners and participants alike looked back on 1945 as very sue-. cessful. all factors considered. Sports never did get out of "the big-business category during the war in fact, it grew in stature and as for 1946, the consensus is that it will begin a new golden era which will . make the boom days of the '20s fade into insig nificance. There appears to be no limit to j what the boom will bring. Even j now there are not enough stadia, race tracks, boxing arenas and ! other playing fields big enough to accommodate the demand. They are talking of a $10,0U0, 000 gate, including radio, motion pictures and television rights for the world's heavyweight cham pionship match between N Cham pion Joe Louis and Challenger Billy Conn next June. Most of the minor baseball: leagues whiclv were forced to suspend because of the manpower shortages and plan to resume .in' the spring. There will - be at least one new professional . football circuit in the fall. One hockey, league the U. S. which, suspended during the war, resumed this season. Universities and .colleges which , abandoned, football and. other sports will resume . those athle tics next fall" and 'all mtercolle-l giate athletics are expected to j be back to normal before' 1946 is very old. Some of the top sports , events which were suspended during the war will be renewed on the 1946 calendar such as the Davis Cup. the big golf matches, the Indiana polis automobile race, interna tional competition in yatching, as well as golf and tennis, and thousands of smaller events which fell by the wayside. Despite the success it enjoyed in 1945, sports was not without its heartaches. Many of its lead ing coaches, athletes and leaders gave their all on the war fronts and on the home front many not ables passed away. Sports was proud of its con tributions to the war effort. It raised millions for charity ano. gave its best sons on the fight ing fronts. It carried on as best it could without interfering with the- prosecution of the war and when this most terrible of all wars was ended sports did not have to apologize. It held up its end, and held it up well. Looked Bad at Start The year 1945 started out v ery dismally for sports, however. .The Federal government, in a move to .conserve manpower and war material,, closed the race tracks. Major league baseball did not know until shortly before the sea son was scheduled to open wheth er it would be able to operate be cause of the player shortage. More minors were forced to sus pend. But before spring, when vic tory in Europe became only a question of time, things began returning to normal. The majors after arranging their schedules to face transportation facilities as much as possible, opened. And in May the race tracks were al lowed to reopen. Long before the war in the Pa cific ended in August, sports was well along the road leading to the expected boom. Although such things a the annual All-Star game had to be cancelled, the major leagues en Surprises in Lights Due in Future v . Philadelphia' u.R) The ex perts say there's a surprise in store for the American housewife when she turns on the lights in her post war "dream house." Here's what happens when yon click the light switches in the new est "home of vision," built in -Philadelphia to illustrate what lighting will be 20 years from now: The dining room is suffut-ed by a 'ribbon of light" from special fluorescent vubes. Dark corners are "lighted by built-in lighting fixtures. The leisure room has "black lights" lamps concealed in the cor nices along with the fluorescent lamps. Silver-colored' wallpaper. treated with fluorescent paint ap pears subdued under'the fluoresc ent lighting, but "leaps to" .life'' when irradiated by the invisible ultaviolet black rays. Pillows and playing cards also are activated by the blacklight radiations. The kitchen-is fluorescent-lighted, with local fixtures concealed t strategic points such as above ine sinks. The laundary -. bonts a special fluorescent lighting - unit which pops out of the laundry wad with the ironing board to make work light. And the lights come in assorted sizes and shapes to com plement the furnishings. . joined one of their best seasons. For the first time in history, three- National League elubs Brooklyn, Chicago and New York went over the million mark in attendance. Two American lea gue clubs evceeded the mark Detroit and New York. For ma jor league club owners it was one of the best financial seasons in history. One, pf ' the ' world's greatest fossil fish beds .is 'located ' near Kemmerer, Wyo., kwher.e they, are entombed, and., preserved in .vol canic ash.. ' - . ' . THIS CURIOUS WORLD . By William Frouii . ) PICKED UP BY., ) vvfcv RADAR )' - tj7f& I CAU5ED NUMEpO)$ S e- W C DUPIN6 THE WAR. iHL jV ) . MD AT LEAST ONE " (w T y V : amasoa (A COP. 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