Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

' THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C, MAY ?,9, 1942 Washington, D. C. WON’T BE LONG NOW Macon Reed, ex-Washington news man, now a private in the army, has this to say about the new mili tary machines which Uncle Sam is so swiftly whipping into shape: “How is U to be in the army? There is a breath-taking exhilaration in swinging across a parade ground and seeing and feeling the other col umns moving in the effortless, smooth, free march step of the American army—marching, march ing, marching to heaven knows where. At such a moment, and only at such a moment, one gets a flash perception of the true strength of America, a boundless sweep of irresistible power—and I chuckle to myself and think ‘What is everybody ia Washington in such a fret and worry about?’ Mandalay? Lashio? Trifles, boys, mere trifles. W’e heard the news of their fall with a yawn and got on with our work. Just wait till we get started. It won’t be long now!’’ • • • WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE WAR? At six one morning, Henry Wal lace woke up and began thinking about the speech he was going to make in New York. Ideas kept tum bling into his mind. Quietly, so as not to disturb Mrs. Wallace, he reached for the dictaphone and be gan speaking into it. He dictated to the length of one cylinder, Mrs. Wallace still slept. Next morning, he woke again at Six, and did the same thing. On the third morning, he woke at 3:30. This time, he dictated the remain der of the speech, which ran to 3,000 words. Mrs. Wallace slept on. The vice president still had two weeks to spare before the speaking engagement, but the thoughts had been simmering in his mind, and he wanted to get them down. He want ed to say—not in words hurriedly thrown together on the way to New York—what he felt about fighting the war to a finish, then making a peace that will stick. People’s Revolution. The general applause to that speech is still reverberating in Washington. Because it was one of the most important speeches of the war. Titled, “The Price of Free World Victory,” it was a forecast of world freedom after victory. Wallace has turned out more words than any other member of the Roosevelt family, including the President. But none of his words have been more significant than this speech before the Free World asso ciation in which he said: “Every where the common people are on the march.” It included words of dire warning to Hitler, and also words full of meaning to the future of imperial ists, such as: “No nation will have the God-given right to exploit other nations” . . . “The march of free dom of the past 150 years has been a long-drawn-out people’s revolu tion.” But especially significant were the words: “Those who write the peace must think of the whole world. There can be no privileged pe spies.” THOUGHTS ON THE MINUTE MAN The Minute Man was a minute- man regardless of hours. • • * He was ready to fight any minute and nothing less than five years was considered over time. • • • He, came into being at Bunker Hill (which was not a golf course) and at Lexington (which was not a sedan). * • • He would have thought he was being mollycoddled if all he had been asked to giTe up was com fortable transportation and the two lumps of sugar in his cof fee. • • • The Minute Man would have thought himself a Five-Minute Egg if he felt it necessary for his gov ernment to mention his war obliga tions every time there was any men tion of indigestion tablets, beer, whisky, cigars and toothpastes. • • • Rationing was such a self-culti vated habit with him, even in time of peace, that in time of war he re garded it as impeding the national effort if he admitted he had an ap petite for fresh meat. * * * The Minute Man wasn’t so called because he watched the minute hand on a clock; when his country was in peril he didn’t even watch the hour hand! • * • The one tool he kept at hand at all times was his rifle, and he was his own night and day shift. • * * His life was so hazardous that he thought saving his scalp was mcye important than saving money: and he would have been a little sickened by the thought that he would be recorded as doing his part if he merely bought war bonds. • • • The Minute Man thought the minutes important. And the only price he fixed on them was in terms of life and death. In time of war he thought his rights fully protected if, at the end of every minute, he still had his gun and could replenish his powder. * * • The Minute Man never dreamed of 30-minute radio programs to arouse his patriotism; to have lis tened to a 15-minute air appeal to his Americanism every few hours would have made him feel insulted. * • • “ The Minute Man wanted his news straight and his battle reports un diluted; and the one thing his gov ernment never had to ask was, “Shall we tell him now or do you think it would upset him?” * * • The Minute Man was a man every minute. • • • He won against incredible odds after years of heroism. * * * He made secure a great na tion for nearly two centuries. ENEMY ALIENS Some significant vhings are going on behind-the-scenes in the justice department. With the savageness of a commando attack. Attorney General Biddle has now launched an offensive against all enemy agents in the U. S. A., has given the green light to Big G-Man Hoover to move wherever he wants. This came after Biddle had been prodded by the White House for dawdling. Now, however, he has gathered large dossiers of sensation al and incontestable evidence, and it looks as if several U. S. Fascists would end up behind the bars. Biggest problem Biddle now faces is German and Italian nationals along the Atlantic seaboard. Army brasshats have been demanding that everyone born in Germany or Italy and still unnaturalized be moved west of the Allegheny mountains. However, this would mean a mass trek numbering perhaps a million. And along the Pacific coast, even the movement of 100,000 Japanese proved a terrific headache. Therefore Biddle is working in the policy of picking out the dangerous groups among Ger mans and Italians, but leaving those whose loyalty seems OK. Many of them are oldsters who left Europe before the days of dictators. Many even have sons in the U. S. army. However, the job of sorting the loyal from the disloyal is going to be one of the toughest jobs the justice de partment ever faced. • • • MERRY-GO-ROUND U. S. farmers are doing so well that government credit agencies re port taking in more money in mort gage payments than they are lend ing out. Also, many farmers are building up reserve funds against debts in the post-war period. The marine corps has quietly abandoned its high-powered drive to recruit star athletes. Reason: Many of them didn’t measure up to the high physical standards required of marines; had flat feet, bad knees, enlarged hearts. NO CARD! To market, to market Some sugar to buy; Home again, home again . . . Sugar me eye! • • • Elmer Twitchell is so timid these sugar rationing days that he doesn’t even address his wife as “My sweet” any more. • * * MIKE AND MEYER No leering, fetid jests did they em ploy— They used no jokes from smoking room or pit, And yet down through the years they brought us joy By cleverness and decency and wit. • • • Theirs was no search for situations vile— No gags dug from the sewers of Broadway— Clean, wholesome comedy, such was their style And they would have been out of place today. • • • Farewell to Mike, farewell to Mey er, too! To them we bow and gladly give great thanks, For they were comics to traditions true. Who never dug for laughs beneath wet planks! • • • “California to Try Dim-out.”— Headline. If it wants lessons it should take the matter up with Connecticut. • • • WAR TIME R. R. TRAVEL Fading out is Peter Mower Who always had to have a lower. * • • Cramped in style is Bosley Baer Who wouldn’t ride without a “chair.” • • • Quite depressed is Peter Cable He had to have a chair and table. • • • Bananas are hard to get, due to sinkings of banana boats by subs. They’re sinking ’em, as it were, in bunches Old Glory Flies Proudly in Australia U. S. troops are marching on the wharf (top) at an unidentified port in Australia after landing. They are part of the new contingent. Below: Over hill and dale, somewhere in Australia, Old Glory flies at the head of the U. S. troops. Cities of tents have sprung up everywhere. ROTC Students Learn Proficiency in Arms Nowadays at ROTC units throughout the country the accent is on guns as well as books, and college students are learning to be proficient in the use of arms. In picture at right, ROTC students are drawing rifles in the gun-room of the recently constructed drill hall built at City college, New York, by the federal government. Left: Two young army officers assigned to City college ROTC demonstrate use of bayonets. Nazi Soldiers Surrender to Reds Cuban Review This radiophoto from Moscow shows an episode in the great war on the Eastern front. A group of German soldiers are raising their hands in sur render while the bodies of regiment mates are strewn around the trench. Two Changes in Detroit Assembly Lines Production lines are moving again in Detroit factories, but planes are now being made instead of automobiles. Then, too, there are women in the plants. At this large plant, which formerly made auto bodies, we see an entire assembly line (left) made up of women. The line at the right is made up of men. They are fabricating engine nacelles for bombers. ^ ' ^ President Fulgencio Batista, sword raised, inspects his newly en listed volunteers in the Cuban army. General Bernitez marches in front with his musket. Goes ‘Upstairs’ A cadet at the bombardier school in Albuquerque, N. M., waves all clear to the ground crew as he makes his way through two racks of bombs to nose of bomber. He has passed all tests. 'X'HIS 1942 season has already -*• opened a new war between um pires, managers and ball players— especially in the National league. You can gamble that the umpires are right 95 per cent of the time. Here’s one set rea son: No man sit ting on the bench, and this includes Leo Durocher and Frank Frisch, is-in position to call a pitched ball within a foot of where it travels. Their an gle of vision is all out of gear and focus. In our wondering career we have watched the making of over 3,000,000 feet of sports pictures, to discover how much the right and wrong an gles meant. This goes for a ball game, a horse race, and a stance in golf. It goes for any game. If the camera is set at the wrong angle, only by a few feet, the pic ture will tell an untrue story. The same is true of the human eye. Or the inhuman eye. At a race track, if you are not dead set on the finish line you can easily disagree by a half length or even a length with the testimony of the camera which is aimed directly at the wire. Every horseman knows that. Same in Baseball Trained umpires are supposed to be in the correct spots for a correct decision. They can make mistakes, being only human. Managers and ball players on the bench are not in the right spot to call any decision correctly. U the bench were the right place, then umpires would be sitting on the bench and not standing around on the ball field. Using two examples, Messrs. Du rocher and Frisch know this. They may be many things, but they are not dumb. Most of the loud est squawkers would make poor umpires, even if parked in the proper places. These fiery fel lows too often think ahead of themselves. You’ll find that most of the um- pirical explosions are used largely in behalf of the old alibi. They are employed to cover up mistakes or de feats in connection with critical crowds. There is a belief also that crowds like scrappy baseball. Crawds do. But crowds would rather see the battle between two teams—the speed and brains of a Ty Cobb, the brains and power of a Babe Ruth or a Lou Gehrig or a Ted Williams thrown against the other team, not against the umpires. A ball player who bats .333 is above the average. Yet, that means he is a flop two-thirds of the time. Umpires make mistakes, but not as many mistakes as managers and ball players make—if you happen to look at the daily box scores. The greatest pitcher that ever lived—Walter Johnson, never had an argument with an umpire. He was concentrating on the main job— pitching—not on some umpire’s de cision. Among a few other pretty fair country pitchers in this respect I might include Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, Grover Cleveland Alex ander, Ed Walsh, Mordecai Brown. I’ve never seen a great pitcher who was an umpire fighter. No one is great enough to split his con centration—to look out first for the alibi. The Ball Players Pick Ball players know what can hap pen between June and October. They are not the best guessers in the world—but who is? In talking over the two big league campaigns with managers and veterans—we’ll leave the younger fellows out—this is the way they figure the two races: American League—The Yankees chased by the Red Sox and the In dians. National League—Another red-hot all-summer stretch run between Dodgers and the Cardinals. This was a majority vote, by a wide margin, from the dozen or more respected opinions sought. No one expects Lou Boudreau’s Indians to hold the dizzy pace they offered the league through the first few weeks. The material, minus Bobby Feller, isn’t that good. But Boudreau has turned in a great job so far. So has Joe Cronin. Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals began the season with the better teams—much better teams. They were the headline entries. I still think either Dodgers or Car dinals will meet the Yankees in the next World series—providing, of course, there is a next world series. But through the remainder of the race it seems to me managers and ball players will show more com mon sense in concentrating their at tack on rival teams, and not on um pires who are seldom responsible for the mistakes managers and ball •.lovers make. Leo Durocher Grsntlsnd Rice Eleanor Roosevelt YOUNG ARTISTS NEW YORK CITY—I heard four young American artists one night, Mr. Maurice Wilk, violinist; Miss Virginia Lewis, mezzo-soprano, Mr. Emanuel Vardi. viola, and Miss Viv ian Rivkin, pianist; in a concert at Town Hall, arranged and conducted by Mr. Dean Dixon with the New York Chamber orchestra. All the artists wer"- excellent and the program was delightful. Wo should be thankful that, in our coun try, we can still give young artists an opportunity to be heard. The arts are the one avenue not blocked by the hate which come:i with war. I think we should give every art expression our support whenever we possibly can. The weather lately bas been per fectly delightful. The /-oices of the children playing in Washington square float in our windows to add a pleasant background to our thoughts. One day was pleasant for many reasons besides the weather. Elliott and his wife, and Franklin Junior spent many hours of the day with me and we were able to catch up on months of separation. • • • PORT PROTECTION. To enter and leave our ports to day is a dangerous proceeding. We citizens along the seacoests should be deeply grateful for the safety which the air patrols bring us. The blimps and the small patrol planes sight many a submarine. One by one, as they pick them off, it is saf er for the ships to go in and out and there is less likelihood that our coast towns will wake up to find themselves being shelled. • • • One morning I looked at the photo graph of the new air raid warden’s coverall, as shown in the newspa pers, and it certainly seems practi cal and easy to identify. I still pray that we shall not be put to the test of a severe air raid, and yet I am sure that if the day comes, we shall take it calmly. * * * ‘WINGS OVER NORWAY’ I have just been reading of an ef fort which is being made by a small group of Swedish-Americans to help raise funds for “Wings Over Nor way, Inc.” For years the Scandina vian countries have been admired so much here because of their ac complishments in science, art and social reform. These countries — Finland, Nor way, Denmark—are now under the heel of the conqueror. The Scandi navians in this country want to join together to assist their compatriots here who are still fighting for the United Nations. Under Title Two of the Second War Powers act, the secretary of the treasury may receive gifts for certain purposes, and so jie has giv en permission to this group to raise funds to be turned over to him as a ?ift to the United States, ear marked to the lease lend adminis tration, through which planes may b‘.- obtained and delivered to “Camp Little Norway” and other camps in Canada where Norwegians are in training. • • • NEW YORK CITY—I went to a pleasant dinner one night with my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Myron Tay lor and mei some interesting people. Present were Madame Wellington Koo, Mr. Lattimore, the financial adviser of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek; Miss Bonney, who has been able to take such remarkable photographs in France since the war, and who told me of the chil dren in the concentration camps. I cannot bear to think of chil dren behind barbed wire looking ont at a free world—only, of course, the world they live in is not free. We can only hope that out of this period of chaos will come again a free world where children will not starve * or be confined against their will. A group of people gathered in New York recently to discuss the whole question of better racial un derstanding in the world, both now and at the end of the war. In this connection, a number of institutions, doing various kinds of work and needing financial support, came up for discussion. Bethune-Cookman college, for in stance, in Daytona, Fla., finds that it must increase its standards of training if it is to provide accepta ble teachers for the South and se.-d out colored workers to other parts of the country. They must have fine training so they can be of real help to their own people and to the cause of better understanding be tween this minority group and other groups in our own country. The running expenses will be higher and an endowment fund must be raised so ve hope to acquire new friends, because we feel that this institution is training people who will help us prevent some of the things with which organizations now have to cope. There is the Young Men’s Vocational foundation, for in stance, and the Wiltwycke school, where colored and white children who come into Children’s court may find intelligent training which will keep them out of a state reform school. \ iS ■ *