The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, April 30, 1943, Image 2
THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C- APRIL 30. 194.3
Washington, D. C.
FOOD AND PAY-AS-YOU-GO
Although food was supposed to be
the chief topic of discussion at the
recent White House conference with
farm leaders, actually Foodczai
Chester Davis did his best to sell
the President on pay-as-you-go taxa
tion. He proposed it as an anti
inflation measure to drain off surplus
income and ease the work of income
tax payment on the average citizen.
“We have simply got to come tc
it, Mr. President,” argued the food
chief. “It was unfortunate that pay-
as-you-go taxes were given a black
eye by the Rumi plan. But pay-as-
you-go taxes should go hand in hand
with rationing to prevent overspend
ing."
The President didn’t commit him
self definitely, but indicated that he
would favor a pay-go plan if wind
falls to the wealthy, as provided for
in the Ruml plan, were completely
eliminated.
Ed O’Neal, president of the Farm
Bureau federation, and Ezra T. Ben
son, executive secretary of the Na
tional Council of Farmer Co-opera
tives, also took up the cudgels,
O’Neal contending that taxpayers
wouldn’t be able to meet next year’s
assessments unless the pay-as-you-
go plan or forced saving were
adopted.
G.O.P. Watching Chances.
"I’ve made a poll of taxicab driv
ers and they are all for it,” said
O’Neal. “The great majority of the
American people feel the same way.
They are against windfalls but they
feel they won’t have enough money
to pay their income tax payment
next year. If the administration
doesn’t take some action on this, the
Republicans will steal the ball from
you.”
“That’s right, Mr. President,”
chimed in Benson. “The farmers
in my organization are overwhelm
ingly for a pay-as-you-go tax pro
gram. I think labor is, too.”
“Maybe you’re right,” responded
the President. “Chester (to Davis),
I suggest that you talk this over
with congressional leaders.”
The conversation then turned to
farm distribution and the President
drew on his own experience as a
farmer to illustrate the difficulty
“little farmers” are having getting
their crops to market.
“I used to raise 100 barrels of ap
ples every year on my Dutchess
county farm in New York,” the
President said. "I also raise some
apples on my land in Georgia.”
Apple Competition.
Tne President grinned to Albert
Goss, master of the National Grange
who hails from Washington, the big
gest apple-producing state in the
country: “I’d stack my apples up
against those you produce in Wash
ington any day.”
“You’re getting out of your class,
Mr. President,” smiled Goss. “Have
you ever eaten a Delicious?”
“You win, Albert,” chuckled the
President, “but the point I am try
ing to make is this—little farmers
like myself, and the same goes for
all other farmers who don’t have
the advantage of co-operatives,
have encountered a lot of difficulty
marketing their crops and getting
their money since the war began ,
because of the transportation prob- i
lem and other factors.”
“Don’t you think the government
should step in and buy up apples and
other products that have been run
ning into distribution troubles and
store them in the warehouses?” the
President asked Goss. “It would
take a lot off the market and help
many little farmers who are hard
up for cash.”
Helping Little Farmer.
“I don’t agree with you, Mr. Pres
ident,” replied Goss. “I think the
way to protect the little farmers is
by continuing the agriculture de
partment ‘support price’ program.
Farmers can get along if they are
assured that they can get fair prices
and a decent break on priorities for
machinery to produce their crops. I
don’t think the government should
buy up and sell farm products when
there is no necessity for it.”
The President meditated for a mo
ment and replied: “I guess you’re
right at that.”
The meeting also thrashed out the
question of price ceilings, Ed O’Neal
of the Farm Bureau and Aloert Goss
of the Grange contending that if ra
tioning were tight enough it wouldn’t
be necessary to have price ceilings,
that rationing would automatically
take care of prices. Justice Byrnes,
Chester Davis and Jim Patton of
the Farmers Union argued to the
contrary. The President decided
with them.
His order shortly thereafter put
ting price ceilings on almost every
thing was the chief result of the
meeting.
* * * /
MERRY-GO-ROUND
C. Ambassador John G. Winant has
provided an apartment in London for
six American soldiers wounded in
action with the British Eighth army
in Egypt. Three are Harvard men,
three from Dartmouth. The six grad
uated as the top six in a British
officers training school before go
ing to Egypt with the British 60th
regiment. This is the famous regi
ment which in Revolutionary times
was withdrawn from action in Amer
ica because it was too friendly to
the colonial cause.
As Yanks Ripped Rommel’s lines in Tunisian Hills
In picture at upper left an American sapper (kneeling at right) holds an Axis mine which he has just dug
from the sand near Gafsa, Tunisia. Upper right: On the hunt for snipers, a U. S. security unit searches the
ruins of an old fortress in Gafsa. Below, left: Through rubble-filled streets and past the bomb-blasted build
ings of Gafsa march U. S. troops, meeting no resistance. When the call comes to go aloft, U. S. pilots are
rushed out to their airplanes in jeeps. In picture at lower right one of the airmen is running from the jeep
to his sky fighter.
U-Boat Meets British Destroyer—Goes Down to Stay
The Italian submarine Asteria had the misfortune of meeting a British destroyer in the Mediterranean.
In photo at upper left the sub is brought to the surface for the last time by a depth charge attack. Her crew
await being picked up. Lower left: The Asteria is on her way to a permanent rendezvous with Davy Jones,
as members of her crew, most of whom were saved, swim to the destroyer. Right: Italian U-boat prisoners
leave the destroyer at an undisclosed port.
One Phase of Tough Job for Army Engineers
‘Ike’ Meets ‘Monty’
In transporting pipe and other supplies for a pipeline connecting the
Norman oil fields of Canada with White Horse, on the Alaskan highway,
to make fqrl easily available for defense stations, U. S. army engineers
overcame great obstacles. Here a convoy of supply barges and towing
craft nears the end of a rough 16-mile cross-country voyage.
Gen. Dwight (“Ike”) Eisenhower
(overseas cap) shakes hands with
British General Bernard Montgom
ery, commander of the Eighth army
which chased Rommel from Egypt
halfway up Tunisia. General Eisen
hower flew to General Montgom
ery’s headquarters to congratulate
him and his men for cracking Nazi
resistance.
As partial solution of the farm manpower problem, farm families are
being transported from so-called “submarginal” low-production farms to
areas where production is high. Picture shows men, women and children
arriving in New York en ronte to the truck farming region around Staf-
'ord Springs, Conn. Camp Connors, former CCC camp, will house them.
Be-ruffled, but unruffled, smiling
Kathleen Turner poses royally with
an “Editor McFarland” rose, after
she had been selected Florida’s
rose queen at Cypress Gardens, Fla.
NE of the high spots in this
sporting existence is that an'
argument can run along for over
40 years and still remain unsettled.
We discovered this in quoting Doc
Kearns, Jack Dempsey’s former
manager, to the effect that Bob
Fitzsimmons weighed 157 pounds
the day he faced Jim Corbett, back
in 1897.
Doc has many supporters in this
argument, but just as many who dis
agree, claiming that
Fitz wobbled the
scales at 177 before
the Carson City
party. Both sides
will swear to their
side of the debate.
Jim Corbett, before
he died, told me
that he' had a pri
vate checker on
hand, who reported
Fitz at 177.
Fitz had the legs Grantland Rice
Df a welterweight
and the arms and body of a big
heavyweight. He was tough to guess.
A short while ago a good bunch
threw a small party for Barney
Ross. Benny Leonard, one of the
all-time tops, was referred to as a
“Philadelphia lightweight.”
“What,” asked one of the younger
element, “is a Philadelphia light
weight?”
A Philadelphia lightweight used to
be whatever you weighed, so long
as the scales only registered '136
pounds. That part of it could be
easily handled through the propel
use of chewing gum, or glue or otb
er skillful devices.
An Important Factor
We see where Beau Jack has been
advised to take a rest, after losing
Stamina from a combination of light
er eating and overwork in the de
sire to keep his weight down.
Weight-making is an important
factor in every game—boxing, horse
racing, baseball, football and other
sports. But it goes far beyond that.
It is something that affects the ma
jority of all people beyond the age
of 21. It is something that doesn’t
belong to the athlete alone.
The greatest weight defier in sport
was a fellow by the name of Babe
Ruth. The Babe defied most con
ventions and most rules of life. He
was the greatest of aT the excep
tions.
“Here’s a funny thing,” he told
me a little while back. “They were
always after me about keeping down
my weight, which at that time, in
the 1920s, was around 230. Yon re
member the year I hit those 60
home runs? You know what I
weighed that year? Just 253 pounds.
K had that much extra hulk and bulk
to put back of my swing.”
That might have worked for the
astonishing Babe, but it would have
been destruction for the average o'
normal citizen.
The Argument
We were not present when Cor
bett and Ruby Robert met at Car-
son City those 46 years ago. But
we’ve always doubted that Fitz won
that title at 157 pounds, three pounds
under the middleweight limit.
There was nothing that made Jim
Corbett madder than to be given
these weight figures. It was tough
enough to lose, but much tougher
'to lose to a light middleweight.
A year or two later Fitz was fight
ing around 177 pounds. But outside
of his skinny legs, he was built on
the order of a strong 190-pounder
from the waist up. I
For all that the freckled Cornish-
man, as both a boxer and a puncher,
was one of the top fighters of all-
time. He was on beyond 35 when
Jim Jeffries stopped him, well be
yond his prime.
Pound for pound. I’ll still nomi
nate Harry Greb.
Pace Raters
Pace-rating is a distinct science in
any game. Years ago, I recall the
tall and willowy Robert Moses
Grove facing the Yankees. The big
left-hander struck out six or seven
of the first nine Yankees that came
to bat. He had more smoke than a
burning oil well.
He put everything he had into
every ball he threw. Before the end
of the sixth inning. Lefty was on his
way to the cooling showers, taking a
tired arm along the melancholy
route.
Counting his baseball experience
in Baltimore and Philadelphia, it
took Grove eight years to learn the
correct way to conserve his left arm.
This was in 1928 when he won 24
games and lost only 8. In 1931 he
won 31 and lost only 4, one of the
greatest of all major-league pitch
ing years.
No pitcher knew better than
Christy Mathewson how to rate
himself when he was winning over
30 games a year and saving 8 or 10
others in relief work. Also, Cyrus
Denton Young, the Paoli Phenom.
“I had four different deliveries,”
Cy told me once, “and I used to
mix ’em up to save my arm.” Old
Cy only won 511 ball games in 22
seasons. Matty had no interest in
any earned run record. After get
ting the jump. Big Six would then
turn part of the game over to his
outfielders. It was a small differ
ence, of course, with the deader ball.
MR. TWITCHELL COMES OUT
AGAINST PLANNING
Elmer Twitchell today came out
with a post-war plan. Article one
in the plan is a plan to abolish too
much planning.
• • •
“Over-planning has put the world
where it is,” he declared. “What
this world needs most is less plan
ning.”
• • •
Superdoop planning has been
all the rage and it Is at the
peak just now but once this war
is over you are going to see a
terrific swing against anybody
or any government with a plan,
a chart or a blueprint, especially
if it’s hard to follow with the
naked eye.
• • •
The revolt against planners will
be so big that both major political
parties will adopt a plank that
reads, “We promise to leave a few
things to God, to nature, to the laws
of gravitation and to chance.” And
both candidates for the presidency
will start their campaigns with a
candid ’How can I solve everything?
I’m as mixed up as anybody tlsel’ ”
• • •
Suddenly Mr. Twitchell drew him
self to his full height of five feet
four inches and announced his can
didacy in the first post-war presi
dential campaign. Here is my plat
form, he announced:
1— If elected I promise not to wor
ry too much. .
2— I make the solemn pledge t»
voters that I shall draw up no in
volved plans whatever.
3—I shall do what I can about
forgetting most of the plans that
have been piling up all over the
premises.
4— I shall prohibit blueprints h)
government, and name in my Cabi
net only men who have no especially
bright ideas about anything, except
golf and gin rummy.
5— In the appointment or election
of all men to public posts I shall op
pose any candidate who has ever
been heard to say “Let’s try this.
It’s something novel.”
6— I promise an end to regulations
and controls.
7— I give the American public my
solemn pledge not to peer into the
future. I offer my candidacy on a
non-peering basis only.
8— I have no definite ideas about
the Shape of Things to Come. But I
shall do my best to avoid the cruller
shape in my personal opinions.
9— It shall be my steadfast
aim to respect the past, concen
trate on the present and let the
future take care of itself.
10— I promise nothing. I think
a lot of things have to be left to
Providence and all I agree to do
is the best I can, which is prob
ably not any too dazzling.
* • •
BLACK MARKET STUDIES
He’s Moochie the Butchie
Who laughs at the charts.
Ignores OPA and
Loves all the black marts;
A loophole he’ll find in
Each rule that is framed;
He’d scuttle the war and
Be quite unashamed.
H.
There’s Sadie the lady
Who’s with him in crime:
She grabs all the food she
Can grab at one time;
Whatever she hears that
Our troops badly need
She’ll go for with vim and
Incredible speed.
III.
And Chubby, her hubby.
He too cramps the war
By stuffing it down and
Then yelling for more;
A trio all out to
Get all that it can . . .
Will somebody rush the
Insecticide man?
• • •
1943 VERSION
Mary had a little lamb;
Its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere the lambkin went
The OPA would go!
Jay Russell.
* •
Why Non-Politicians Go Mad
“The Nickel Plate Road report
showed an operating revenue of $88,-
742,412, a gain of 47 per cent. Net
income was $27,762,787, the highest
in the road’s long history. Taxes
jumped from $3,500,000 to almost
$23,000,000.
The net income was $8,592,438, a
decline of 35 per cent in a year.”—
Newspaper report.
• • •
With a bigger year the road might
have gone much deeper into the
hole.
• • •
The first triumph you must gain
in a Victory Garden is a victory over
the impulse to let it go to the dogs.
• • •
The trout season has opened in
some states. And rationing has be
come so much a part of life that
when a game warden leaned over a
bridge and demanded “What luck?”
many a fisherman answered, “Oh,
about 16 points worth.”
* * •
Theme song proposed by Maurice
Turet: “Brother, can you spare a
point?”
• • •
“Remember away back,” asks
Merrill Chilcote, “when a ‘sacrifice’
meant a bunt with a man on base?”