The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 19, 1941, Image 2
THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. DECEMBER 19, 1941
Washington, D. C.
HIDDEN TREASURE
With American industries crying
for war materials, the government
has finally got around to seizing a
giant horde of semi-manufactured
war materials originally intended
for the conquered countries.
Tons upon tons of steel bars, steel
rods, steel sheets, ship plates, tin
plate, copper wire were ordered by
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Holland
and Belgium, some of it three years
ago. It has been in warehouses and
idle freight cars ever since, despite
the scarcity of raw materials and
despite the fact that some indus
tries are even closing for lack of
them.
Why this horde of priceless ma
terial remained untouched for so
long is a mystery. But the secret
is first, government red tape and
bureaucracy; second, the fact that
owners of these materials, who
were holding them for higher
prices, did not want to sell.
The old Export Control board un
der Gen. Russell Maxwell, who is
now devoting his abilities to the
Near East, did nothing about this
treasure horde. But now Henry
Wallace’s Economic Defense board
is finally moving in.
A small haul was made earlier
this year in Hoboken, N. J., of alu
minum and other materials, but the
coming seizures are on a far great
er scalx. Of one commodity alone,
tin plain, there will be 100,000 cases,
or 15,900 tons, taken from three
areas. New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore.
The total haul of all commodities
will be between 20 and 25 thousand
carloads, which, at an average of
50 tons to the car, means over a
million tons.
The Economic Defense board will
use only $200,000 to finance the
requisitioning of all this material,
the value of which runs into many
millions. Most of it will be seized
and sold again on the same day, so
the $200,000 will be merely a re
volving fund.
* • •
INTERNED ITALIANS
One of the Italian ship officers in
detention at Fort Missoula, Mont.,
wrote his wife in Italy a letter
which U. S. officials are sure will
never reach her.
The letter will get to Italy, all
right. Mail is still being exchanged
regularly between the two coun
tries. But authorities are certain
that the officer’s letter will not get
by II Duce’s censors, for, in hungry,
battered, war-weary Italy this
poignant message would not be
"good propaganda.”
This is the reason:
"We left Philadelphia for the city
of Missoula,” wrote the husband.
"The journey lasted three days and
three nights on a train and was a
real pleasure. We did not lack a
thing because we traveled in a Pull
man. At meal times we turned it
into a dining room and at night
into a dormitory. The meals were
magnificent.
“I can tell you that for me the
journey was one I had dreamed of
for years and then, in an extraor
dinary way, it came true. As I
said before, this place is beautiful,
all green with woods and surround
ed by hills. The air is fine and
healthy, my appetite very good and
the food abundant and exquisite.
“We do not lack milk, butter,
meat, bread, vegetables, fruit,
sugar or coffee. When I am eating
I always think of you, who are per
haps without food. No one can
complain about the guards. They
treat us with every respect and
consideration.”
Note: To Americans the effusive
description of the food as “abun
dant and exquisite” is interesting,
because the alien prisoners at Fort
Missoula are fed straight army
fare. In quality and quantity
their rations are exactly the same
as those of U. S. soldiers.
» • •
SCRAP IRON TO JAPAN
For years, the heaviest foreign
buyer of U. S. scrap iron was Japan.
Despite much public protesting, the
state department permitted Nippon
ese militarists to import huge quan
tities of this vital strategic materi
al. Now appeasement' chickens are
coming home to roost.
With defense production swinging
into full tide, the U. S. suddenly is
confronted with a serious scrap
shortage. For various reasons, de
fense' chiefs are saying nothing
about the situation. But it is very
acute. A number of steel makers
have privately reported curtailed
production schedules in the offing
because of inability to obtain need
ed supplies of scrap.
One important plant executive
went so far as to describe his con
dition as "almost desperate.”
• • •
CAPITAL CHAFF
Everyone is getting increased
Wages, except the poor postman.
The cost of living has gone up but
he can’t strike against the govern
ment.
The army air corps is wind-tunnel
testing a new single-engine fighter
plane that will do 512 miles an hour,
100 miles faster than any other
plane in existence. All the bugs
have been eliminated from the plane
except one—finding a pilot who can
safely fly a plane at that terrific
speed.
IMAGINARY CHRISTMAS
COLUMN
(“Mrs. Roosevelt says she be
lieves in telling children there is a
Santa Claus. ‘Let them have the
joy of believing that Santa Claus
does come and that he is such a
jolly old saint,’ she writes.”—News
item.
Yes, there is a Santa Claus. I
sometimes hear people say there
is not but yesterday we had quite
a few friends over to luncheon and
they all quite willingly came out
for his existence. Last night I mo
tored to Westbrook. A motorcycle
policeman held me up. Hq wanted
to talk about the red light but I
got him to talk about Kris Kringle.
I told him there really was a Santa
Claus and in a very few moments
he caught the spirit of the whole
thing and told me to drive on.
• • •
Today I am attending two lunch
eons and I shall bring up the mat
ter of Santa and ask for a more
universal emphasis. There is so
much every one of us can do about
it if we only try. It is always hard
for me to understand people who
say there is no Santa Claus, but I
suppose there will always be people
of that kind. I get around quite a
bit and I find the belief in the jolly
saint rather general this time of
year. Chicago, Kansas City, Du
buque, Poughkeepsie, Nyack, Los
Angeles, Houston—everywhere one
finds this true. I have also noticed
it in New York, Haverstraw, Chico
pee Falls, Cleveland, Brooklyn and
Golden Beach.
* * * x
I also think Santa Claus exists
in a very real way in radio. In
deed, it is in a broadcasting station
that he seems especially tangible to
me. I never look at a microphone
without seeing a little red hat on
it and long white whiskers.
* * *
I think newspapers are full of
Santa Clauses, too. Whenever I
think of a managing editor I seem
to imagine him in a sleigh crying
“On Donder, On Prancer, On Cu
pid, On Vixen” to eight tiny rein
deer.
• » •
Theater of War Between U. S. and Japan
Here in graphic detail is shown the location of strategic points in the war between Japan and the
United States. Distances between important points now in the headlines are also shown. Of particular interest
are the following points: the Russian port of Vladivostok and its nearness to Japan, which would make it
an ideal air base in a bombing raid campaign on the enemy; the Hawaiian islands where at Pearl Harbor
the Japanese opened their war on the United States with a devastating aerial attack; the most vulnerable
sector of the continental United States to Japan attack—the Pacific coast area.
How Navies of Warring Nations Compare
AIRCRAFT
CARRIERS
CRUISERS
DESTROYERS
SUBMARINES
UNITED STATES
■■7
■3/
■1113
GREAT BRITAIN
■Hi 16
■4
■■62
■■■■■■■■219
■48
JAPAN
■■10
■16
■3D
■■HID
■66
GERMANY
■16
11
14
■■20 *>50
ITALY
■5
■20
■HM123
■105
This chart shows the naval strength of the Axis and Allied navies. Latest figures available are shown.
Heads Pacific Fleet
As President Asked War Declaration
Yes, Santa is very real. Very,
very real. I would be the last to
doubt it. I believed in him as a
little girl, but he has never seemed
so genuine to me as now. Some
of my associates do not believe in
him, I regret to say. Westbrook
Pegler, for example, thinks he is a
fake and I hear he may expose him.
I trust not.
• * •
After all we are all little chil
dren, some more so than others.
I sometimes wonder if the kiddies
are not smarter than the grown-ups.
So let us make this a land of chil
dren and childish illusions. Until
the last decade not much was done
about Santa, in an aggressive way
I mean. It all seemed so ineffectu
al. There was no government inter
est. But now Santa has the federal
government behind him and he is a
different person.
• * *
Tomorrow I drive to Carson City
where there will be a council meet
ing for Better Santas and the next
day I go to Oil City, Pa., to help
launch the Women’s Federation for
the Standardization of Artificial
Snow Flakes. If anybody asks me
if there is a Santa Claus I shall not
mince words.
* • •
WANNA BET?
The Society of Restaurateurs re
ports that a poll of patrons on the
question of what to do to solve
the problem of serving adequate
meals in the crisis shows that 15
per cent favored a charge for bread
and butter and 8 per cent favored
charging extra for coffee or tea
with dinners.
Well, we just don’t believe it. We
have never yet encountered anybody
who didn’t fume over a separate
charge for bread and butter. And
nothing makes the average patron
as sore as the 35-cent pot of tea or
coffee.
* • *
If the gas crisis gets as bad as
predicted we may yet see a fellow
with a half-pint of gasoline trying to
get a garage to open up to let him
have enough automobile for a little
fun.
* * *
‘HOW’S THE HOUSE COMING ON?’
Among the more irascible citizens
of the moment are those who were
fortunate enough to begin building
or remodeling a house this summer.
We know a man who has been a vic
tim of so many priority lists that
he is naming his new manse “Pri
orities Manor.”
“I can’t get any plumbing, shingle
nails, gutters, radiators or door
knobs,” he wailed yesterday. "Tell
me, did Japan get all our door knobs
and keyholes, too?”
The American fleet in the Pacific
is under the command of Admiral
Husband Edward Kimmel, 59, who
took over command of the Pacific
fleet and also of the entire U. S.
fleet last February 1.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the joint session of con
gress, when he asked congress to declare a state of war against Japan.
Congress passed the declaration 33 minutes after FDR’s speech.
U. S. Fleet Off Coast of Hawaii
In Asiatic Waters
Admiral Thomas C. Hart, 64, who
commands the U. S. Asiatic fleet.
A splendid view of units of the United States fleet at anchor in Lahaina
roads, Hawaii, near the scene of the unprovoked attack by Japanese
bombers at a Sunday’s dawn.
In bombing raid* on Japan, Russia’s port of Vladivostok would make an ideal air base for U. S.
I
I
‘Peace on Earth . . .’
There seems to be precious little
of either on this Cbristmas day. Yet
that’s not so unusual. Glance
through the pages of American his
tory and you’ll find plenty of ex
amples .of Christmas days given
over to war, instead of peace, and
to ill will, instead of good will.
It has been true since this repub
lic Was founded. The first Christ
mas after the signing of the Decla
ration of Independence saw George
Washington and his Continentals
struggling to keep alive the fight for
liberty. On the evening of Decem
ber 25 he crossed the Delaware, at
tacked Trenton and spoiled the
Christmas celebration of Colonel
Hall and his force of 1,000 Hessians,
killing 22, wounding 84 and captur
ing 868. The American casualty
list was only four wounded.
But if Christmas, 1776, was bright
with victory, Christmas, 1777 was
correspondingly dark with despair.
For it was spent at Valley Forge
and that fact speaks for itself.
Christmas, 1786, was scarcely a
time of good will among the men
of the new nation, especially in
western Massachusetts where armed
men were marching over the hills
and through the valleys, ready to
plunge their state into the horrors
of a civil war. For on that Christ
mas day the incident, which has
come down in history as “Shays’
Rebellion,” was mounting to a cli
max because a people, driven to
DANIEL SHAYS
despair by poverty, high taxes and a
loss of faith in their government,
had resorted to armed force to right
their wrongs.
Their leader was Daniel Shays,
who had served with distinction
for five years in the Continental
army and came out of the Revolu
tion a captain. But the “Patriot”
of 1776 became a “rebel” in 1786,
was driven out of his native state
when the governor of Massachusetts
called out the militia to suppress
the “rebellion” and died a poverty-
stricken exile in 1825.
In 1836 the Texans won their in
dependence from Mexico and for
a time there was peace between the
two countries. Then the Mexicans
began making raids on Texan terri
tory and the Texans, under Gen.
Thomas Jefferson Green, deter
mined to retaliate. Over the pro
test of Sam Houston, an army of
304 men invaded Mexico. On Christ
mas day, 1842, they met a force of
more than 2,000 Mexicans under
General Ampudia at Mier and after
killing nearly half of the enemy were
induced by false promises to sur
render. Thus the famous “Mier ex
pedition” ended in disaster, for later,
by order of Gen. Santa Anna, every
tenth Texan was executed.
Four years later the Americans
and Mexicans were at war again—
this time a formally declared war—
and on December 25, 1846, Col.
Alexander Doniphan of the First
Regiment of Missouri Mounted Vol
unteers was fighting a battle with
1,200 Mexicans at Bracito river.
The Mexican loss was 63 killed and
150 wounded; the American, seven
wounded.
December 25, 1860, was a fateful
Christmas in American history. On
that night a little force of soldiers,
commanded by Maj. Robert Ander
son, stole quietly out of Fort Moul
trie and occupied Fort Sumter in
the middle of the entrance to the
harbor of Charleston, S. C. Four
months later the commander of the
Confederate forces in Charleston
called upon him to surrender; he
refused and when a shell went
screaming across the waters to
strike Sumter’s brick walls it set
2,000,000 Americans against each
other in the greatest civil war in
history.
Happily, not all Christmas days
in American history have been dedi
cated to war. On Christmas Eve,
1814, John Quincy Adams, Albert
Gallatin, James Bayard, Jonathan
Russell, and Henry Clay, American
commissioners, met with represen
tatives from Great Britain in the
city of Ghent in Belgium, to try to
end the long-drawn-out negotiations
which had kept them there since
the preceding August. Perhaps the
spirit of Christmas filled them. At
any rate the wrangling ceased and
they signed the treaty which ended
the War of 1812.
\ ASK ME J t
l ANOTHER l I
l A General Quiz ?
The Question*
1. In British history, what is
meant by the star chamber?
2. What is a menage?
3. What name is given to a
poem in which the initial letters
of the lines, when taken in order,
form a word or words?
4. If London bridge should fall
down, into what river would it
land?
5. What is the plural of the word
mongoose?
6. At what is a calligrapher
adept?
7. One-fourth of a barrel is
called what?
8. Who coached the “point-a-
minute” team famous in football
history?
9. When was the first star
measured?
10. Whioh country first intro,
duced thi.! lifeboat?
The Answers
1. Ai; ancient high court which
sat without a jury.
2. A household.
3. Ah acrostic.
4. The Thames.
5. Mongooses.
6. Handwriting.
7. A firkin.
8. Fielding H. Yost.
9. Although the stars have been
scientifically studied for hundreds
of years, not one was ever meas
ured until December 13, 1920,
when the diameter of Betelgeuse
was determined with the aid of a
special type of interferometer at
the Mount Wilson observatory in
California.
10. The lifeboat was a British in
troduction. The first was launched
at South Shields in 1789. There
were many wrecks and great loss
of life in the stormy waters at
the entrance to the Tyne, and
South Shields residents offered a
prize for the design of a boat capa
ble of riding the rough seas. The
best points in the various designs
submitted were combined in the
first boat.
DON'T LET
CONSTIPATION
SLOW YOU UP
• When bowels are sluggish and you fed
Irritable, headachy and everything you
do Is an effort, do as tnilliont do — chew
FEEN-A-MINT, the modem chewing
gam laxative. Simply chew FEEN-A-
MXNT before you go to bed—sleep with
out being disturbed—next momi ig gentle,
thorough relief, helping you led aweM
again, full of your normal pep. Try
FEEN-A-MINT. Tastes good, is handy
end economical. A generous family supply
FEEN-A-MINTTo*
Selfish Gratitude
The gratitude of most men is
but a secret desire of receiving
greater benefits. — La Rochefou
cauld.
/MIDDLE-AGE^
WOMEN (££)
HEED THIS ADVICEI!
If you’re cross, restless, nervous
—suffer hot flashes, dizziness-
caused by this period in a
woman’s life — try Lydia Pink-
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Made especially for toomen.Helps
to relieve distress due to this
functional disturbance. Thou
sands upon thousands of women
report remarkable benefits. Fol
low label directions.
V ~ J
Simple Science
Science when well digested is
nothing but good sense and rea
son.—Stanislaus.
W HEN kidneys (unction badly and
you suffer a nagging backache,
with dizziness, burning, scanty or too
frequent urination and getting up at
Doan’s are especially for poorly
working kidneys. Millions of boxes
are used every ye-r. They are recom
mended the country over. Ask your,
neighbor!
Miserable-
with backache?
WNU—7 51—41
BEACONS of
—SAFETY—
• Like a beacon light on
the height—the advertise
ments in newspapers direct
you to newer, better and
easier ways of providing
the things needed or
desired. It shines, this
beacon of newspaper
advertising—and it will be
to your advantage to fol
low it whenever yon
make a purchase.