McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, March 18, 1943, Image 4
.
<&■ *1
McCORMICK BIESSENGER, McCORMICK, SOUTH CARQUNA Thursday, March 18, 1943
Expand Armed Forces
For Knockout Blow
SUPERIORITY OF NUMBERS
WILL ASSURE VICTORY
Plan U. S. Air Force To Give Al
lies 2 To 1 Break Over Axis.
"Hie Germans in World War
I gave up the fight because o
their ability to reason with over*
whelming figures. Now, as then
the-enemy must be made to real
ize that they cannot win.”
With these words. Undersecre
tary of War Robert P. Patterson
revealed that the United States is
planning to build up the armed
rervices to approximately 11 mil-
Jion men by the end of 1943.
Of this huge number, over
million are to be in ' the army
Over 2 million will serve in the
navy. Out of the total in the
*crmy, 2t 1-2 million will be in the
air force.
With this tremendous striking
force, both the army, and navy
will be in a position to deliver a
knockcyit blow on whatever front
the military chieftains might de
cree. without such big forces,
however, critical operations might
be severely limited. • -
“We have suffered a setback at
the hands of the German army in
Thnlsiir,” Patterson said, “but not
because of lack of supplies. The
iorthegming - offensives against
Germany, Italy and Japan will
depend upon superiority of num
bers.” ' ’
Axis Divisions Now Hold Edge
In Europe
At the present ^ time, the Axis
armies heavily outnumber the
United Nations in the European
and African theaters. They have'
<83 divisions ■ at their command,
' ^5 divisions more than the Allies.
If we bring up our strength to
100 divisions, the Axis still will
possess-an advantage of §5 divis
ions. However, it must be re
membered that the enemy’s forces
will be spread over the European
continent while we, as the offen
sive power, will be able to pick
cut our spot for action and con
centrate pur armies there.
These calculations do not take
in Japan. Besides the Axis’ 483
divisions in Europe, the Japs have
£8 in the Pacific battle zone. In
addition to - this - formidable
ground force of Ravage and well-
i rained personnel, Japan has an
air force of 200,000 men. Despite
the buffeting her naval fleet has
received at the hands of our sur
face units and bombers, it is still
strong.
Thus, it is easy to see the need
for a huge American \ army and
navy, when considered merely in
the light of imposing strength of
the enemy on all fronts. This
does not take in the tactical or
strategic importance of massing
superior numbers of men in the
locality of attacks—“Getting there
fustest with the mostest,” as the
Confederate General Forest once
i.o picturesquely put it.
But modem warfare is extreme
ly complicated. To wage it suc
cessfully, an army must have ma
chines made for war, such as
tanks and armored cars. Besides,
there are the trucks that haul
the supplies. The airplane is a
mechanism also and needs spare
parts, gasoline and oil, etc. In
addition, guns, munitions, food
and clothing are required. Ports
will be needed to receive these
supplies for our forces, and rail
roads, roads and bridges will have
o be useable to transport them
to the fronts.
Keeping this in mind, let us
now consider the words of the
army chiefs: “The conquering of
the Axis powers is a step by
step process to evict them from
strongly fortified areas. The
enemy will completely destroy all
port, transportation and commun
ication facilities they may be
forced to abandon. These must
be rebuilt with speed. Special
ised troops must be on hand
when needed. Their training must
start now . . . .”
Plan AEF Of Five Million
Men By 1944
According to Maj-Gen. I. H.
Edwards, army strength overseas
will total 2 1-2 million by the end
of this year. It is planned to in
crease this force to nearly five
million men by 1944. Edwards
says the plans have been made
cn the basis of favorable shipping
conditions.
The major-general also revraled
that the army is developing an
air force of 900 squadrons of 2 .1-2
million men. When fully organ
ized, Edwards says, the American
air force alone will equal the
Axis’, including Japan’s. To add
to our gigantic airplane power,
will be the 900 air squadrons of
the other United Nations.^ Recent
devastating raids over Germany
and western Europe may be the
first assertion of our air superi
ority.
Of the total of over eight mil
lion men planned for the army, a
substantial number will remain
in the United States. These will
be used to guard ports of embar
kation find will also serve in the
defense commands throughout the
country. More than a million
and a half members of the air
force will remain here, to train
or operate in the defense forces.
Secretary of the Navy Frank
Knox has announced that the
navy is building up to a personnel
of over two million men. During
the current year, 900 new surface
units are to be delivered, bring
ing the total up to 4,100 ships in
the fleet. Not only will there be
a demand for more sailors to
man the new vessels, but person
nel Will be needed for the addi-
tional installations to tend the
units. /
As of recerit date, the navy
had over a million men on deck,
rhe program of expansion thus
would call"for a doubling of the
present personnel. However, naval
officials said that developments
might allow a reduction in the
number qf pien that would be
needed.
The 4 total of approximately 11
milliofr 4hen in the armed forces
would represent about 8 per cen
of our population. This com
pares with the 12 per cent that
Germany is supposed to have un
der arms and the 10 per cent
serving in Britain.
Question Size Of Forces; Seek
* To Delay Dad's Draft
The army’s plans have not gone
unquestioned. Influential blocs m
ooth the senate and house are
seekiAg to definitely establish the
needs .of the services before a-
greein'g in‘ the program. At the
present time, they think a total
Jorce of 9 million men would
strike a likely balance between
the services’ requirements and in
dustry’s.
Following Man Power Commis
sioner Paul V. McNutt’s statement
that the importance of a man’s em
ployment rather than the number
of his dependents would qualify him
for deferment, several bills were
introduced in congress seeking to
delay the drafting of married
men.
A senate committee’s recent rec
ommendation to defer all essen
tial farm workers served to
strengthen the possibility of the
early drafting of married men
with dependents.
If is the contention of those
opposing the organization of a
military force of 11 million men
that there will not be sufficient
shipping available to transport
or supply an overseas force of
the dimensions planned. They
point out that it takes an aver
age 'of 20 tons of shipping to
carry one soldier to the front and
to keep him supplied for a year.
Although American shipbuilding
has reached record levels, they
say that submarine sinkings and
the necessity of using a substan
tial number of oup vessels for
hauling goods and materials to
and from other countries will
draw shipping facilities from the
military pool.
■
Madame Chiang
Kai-shek
(Each week hi this space will be presented a picture
and word portrait of someone whose name is mwe.)
• Direct, business-like and as modern as the
new China toward which she is constantly
striving, Madame Chiang Kai-shek has re
tained, in spite of the urgency of her hurried
existence, the serene and delicate charm we
have learned to expect of Chinese women.
•Wife of . China’s indomitable generalissimo
and sister-in-law of the late Sun Yat-sen,
founder of the Chinese republic, Madame
Chiang works tirelessly for the social and
economic good of her- people. She personally
supervises the care of war orphans, helps
dress the wounds of China’s fighting men, and
is the directing force behind plans, like the
“New Life” and “Thrift” movements, to bet
ter the lot of the Chinese by making the most
of their resources.
•A graduate of Wellesley college, in Massa
chusetts, Madame Chiang is familiar with
American customs and speaks fluent, but dig
nified English. To meet the many demands
on her time s))e has found ft wise to dispense
with much of the elaborate ritual of Chines*
etiquette, but visitors say Coat she is always
unaffectedly gracious and immacuL^ly
grooms*.
%
ABOVE ^HULLABALOO
By LYTLE HULL
\
Japanese Prisoners Captured by Marines
WANT ADV.
YOUR OWN BUSINESS on our
capital. Rawleigh Dealers earn
big profits. Products on credit
Several available routes nearby.
Exceptional opportunities for in
dustrious men and women. Write
l&wleigh’s, Dept.
Richmond, Va.
mm
THE CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM-
FOR FREE MEN ONLY
These Japanese prisoners, captured on one of the outer islands of
the Solomons group, are being lined up by their marine captors as
preparations are made to turn over the area to the regular army. The
marines took the Japs with them. (Official Marine Corps Photo.)
TODAY
and
TOMORROW
B; DON ROBINSON
FOR SALE—Two year old mule
olt. Would exchange for milch
cow or middle age mule. J. J.
Collier, Plum Branch, S. C.
WANTED—A share cropper on
50.50 basis on a farm 1 mile from
Troy. Can work 5 or 10 acres,
cotton allotment, made 1 bale
per acre last year; and all corn
you can work. J. A. Young, Troy,
C., R. F. D.
HATE Nazis
How hard should we hate the
Nazis and the Japanese? Should
we just hate their leaders? Should
our hatred be carried further to
include all of their armed forces?
Or should we go all the way and
Include their entire civilian popu-
ation as well?
I imagine the directors of the
propaganda offices in Washing
ton and London have discussed
this subject from all angles to
determine just what steps they
should take in distributing hate-
provoking material. But without
;he assistance of government-
directed lessons in hate, the feel
ings of the people in this country
have expanded rapidly to include
most all of the Axis populations
as objects of intense hatred.
Seldom do we hear people say
anymore, “You can’t blame the
German people”—which was r
common statement at the time
he war broke out. Now we dc
blanje the' Germaft people and the
Japanese people and the Italian
SCC-211-170, | people for continuing to stand
behind their blood-thirsty leaders.
And we feel little sympathy for
the people of Germany when we
hear of the terrible destruction
being wrought in their cities by
our bombers.
Our attitude has become one of
the-more-killed-the-better, for ve
no longer think of the Nazis as
being people like ourselves at
instead picture them as a rr.nl,
brutal race who deserve every
thing they are getting.
I am taking orders for Pot
Plants, Cut Flowers, Funeral
Sprays and Designs. See me for
our Easter Flowers. Mrs. Frank
Jcason, McCormick, S. C.
MME. CHIANG . . evil
There is no doubt that it n a
dangerous thing for the future of
civilizatidn for one group of .il-
lions of people to learn to h ate
another group of millions of peo
ple. It is a dangerous thin? be
cause no permanent peace can
ever be established while such
feelings are rampant.
Madame Chiang Kai-Shek gave
the real answer to just how far
our hate should extend when, in
a recent speech, she said:
“Christ taught us to hate the
evil in men, but not men them
selves. While it may be difficult
for us not to feel bitterness for
the injuries we have suffered at
the hands of the aggressors, let
us remember that recrimination
and hatred will lead us nowhere.
We should use our energy to
greater purpose so that every na
tion will be enabled to use its
native genius and energy for the
reconstruction of a permanently
progressive world with all nations
participating on an equitable and
just basis.”
It is remarkable that a woman
who represents a nation which
has been for years the object of
inhuman aggression by a neigh
boring nation should feel any
thing but hatred for that nation,
but her broad vision; Christ-like
in its recognition of justice, goes
beyond the shifting emotions of
most of us and never wavers from
a goal of a finer and. more per
fect world.
GOAL . . .* . . peace
Those who are concerned about
•ur not hating hard enough have
io cause for worry under Ma-
iame Chiang Kai-Shek’s philoso
phy. For she does not say we
shouldn’t hate but should con-
jentrate our hate on the evil in
man.
In our more lucid moments wr
?an all reaize that that is wher
our hate actually is . centered—o^
the selfishness, the greed, the
brutality and the dishonesty of
our enemies.
And, before we have the kind of
world of which this famous Chi
nese lady dreams, we must no’,
only fight to annihilate those
traits in our enemies, but also
must endeavor to wipe them out
wherever they show up among
ourselves.
When we read of the many
conflicts, the injustices, the greed
and the selfishness among people
in this country, it is hard to pic
ture a world in which all nations
will be friendly and fair to one
another, but our only hope of
having permanent peace is for
all people to work and pray to
achieve this goal.
It is only under the so-called
capitalistic system that the citizen
can have what we are in the habit
of calling Freedom. For under
any other system the citizen must
be ruled by force.
In the capitalistic state man is
free to use his brains and to “ex
pand” to any limit those brains
are capable of carrying him—ex
cept—that he is prohibited from
injuring or from hindering the
progress of another citizen. Hav
ing free rein to forge ahead along
whatever path his desires dictate,
he has no reason, nor incentive,
to try to destroy the system which
allows him this free use of his
powers.
If a man is a farmer and has
good horse sense and a fair a-
mount of ambition and energy —
he can improve his land, add to his
acreage, build bigger and better
buildings and equip them with all
the modern conveniences. The
weather and worms can slow him
up, but man can’t—when we are
functioning normally under the
capitalistic system.
Suppose you are a laborer and
you are determined to get ahead
in life and not spend it all digging
coal or coupling freight cars. Well
you can own the “blinkin’ ” mine
some day if you really make up
your mind to do N so; or you can
be president of the railroad and
fire the “super” who used to make
your life misreable when you were
just a “hand.” It has been done
often. s
The politician can become Pres
ident under our system—but he
can’t in a country which is slave
to any of those one man control
ari-angements. There he can be
come a stationary cog in an iron
wheel, or he may be thrown out
on his face because some cog a-
bove him doesn’t like the lo«ks of
it. He can never be more than;
just a frightened servant of some
higher up frightened servant, with
no right to call his soul his own
and very little to call his life his
own. It takes a brave man to be
a politician in a totalitarian gov
ernment: a man who is willing to
take his life in his hands. ^ ; '
In a capitalistic country, when
a farmer or a laborer or a clerk
becomes wealthy, he is called a
capitalist. In other words, he owns
something over and above his dai
ly bread. This surplus he puts to
various uses which usually help
him and humanity, and which ad
vance our scientific and mechani
cal civilization. If he abuses the
powers which he has acquired he
is stepped upon by our own police 1
—the government.
No other system has yet been in
vented to give man free play for
his brains and energy. Therefore
no other system is satisfactory to
ambitious people, who are usually
equipped with brains, try always
to overthrow the systems which
hold them back. And the systems
use force—in the shape of secret
police and the soldiery—to destroy
those citizens who would destroy
them. And so we have what is
known as a dictatorship. Some
times the dictator is a Fuehrer and*
calls his government national so
cialism; sometimes a duce and
calls his government fascism;
sometimes he is a king, or an em
peror, or a lord protector, or a sul
tan—with some other fancy name
for the compulsory rule which he
or his ancestors have arbitrarily
forced down the throats of a peo
ple who have as much right to lib
erty as we Americans have.
Dreamers and planners will for
ever be figuring out new schemes-
for spoiling the “good thing” we
have in our country and for get
ting us into some fancy harness
with themselves at the reins: Bufc
Americans have tasted liberty too-
long—they will always wake up in
time if real danger threatens.
First Aid for U. S. Troops in Tunisia
Sydney Hyman of Gary, Ini., who is with the U. S. medical corps,
gives first aid to Pvt. Manuel Freitas of Oakland, Calif., who suffered
wounds about the head and hands during the first day of the battle for
the tiny Central Tunisian railroad junction of Sened. U. S. forces fought
hard to gain control of the railroad station at Sened, which offers a
clear view of the tabletop tank country over which the army in posses
sion can send its forces against the enemy.
Thirteen Lucky Number for Sub Crev/
SMART MONEY
KNOWS
WHERE TO ,/i
GO AFTER l
READING
THE ADS ,
IN THIS IIK
NEWSPAPER.
Thirteen is the lucky num' • of the crew of this U. S. submarine,
but unlucky for the Nips. T. ub’s special tally flag, with its own,
device in the center, counts tc.: Jap merchantmen and three Jap war
ships sent to Davy Jones’ lockci .. The submarine, which was not named,
was eemmar.;- : by Lieut. Commander Lucius Henry Chappell, 38, of ;
Uciiunbus, tua. its “bag” was one of the most impressive of the war*. *