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THE NEWBERRY SUN. NEWBERRY, S. C. Washington, D. C. STRATEGY AGAINST JAPAN Back in 1937-38, Adm. William Leahy, now chief of staff to the White House, devised a strategy against Japan, which, if put into ef fect, might have prevented Pearl Harbor and even World War II. Today, the old Leahy strategy is being dusted off, especially on Capi tol Hill, as the best means of finish ing the war with Japan. It would save thousands of American lives, its proponents claim, and would serve as an example of how wars can be won—or prevented—by naval blockade. The proposals made by Ad miral Leahy constitnte one of the most important and unwrit ten chapters in the history of what happened shortly before the war began. Leahy, then chief of naval operations and one of the best strategists the navy has seen in years, saw all too clearly what was coming both in Europe and Asia. At that time, 1937, Japan had just begun her full-scale invasion of China, and it was Leahy’s idea to make an example of Nippon which would show Hitler and Mussolini — then feeling their oats — that the United States meant business and would stand four-square behind the peace machinery of the world. Therefore, he proposed to Roose velt a naval blockade of Japan in cooperation with the British fleet, using the peace machinery of the League of Nations and the nine- power pact which guarantees the sovereignty of China. Leahy argued that by keeping the U. S. Navy in the Philippines and the British fleet at Singapore, we could cut off all oil, scrap iron, copper, cotton and other war ma terials from Japan. Without these, he argued, the Japanese war ma chine would be powerless and would fold up in six months. Leahy fig ured that the United States would lose its gunboats on the Yangtze river, but that aside from this the main U. S. fleet would not have to fire a single shot. British Start Blockade. President Roosevelt agreed. So did the British. And in the late sum mer of 1937, the British actually de tailed 6 battleships, 12 cruisers and 20 destroyers to leave British home waters for Singapore. Just at that moment, however, the axis capi tals apparently got wind of what was happening, and Mussolini started his unofficial submarine campaign off the coast of Spain which detained the British fleet at Gibraltar. The Panay Incident. At any rate, the plan to blockade Japan, following the failure of the Brussels conference in October, 1937, was dropped. But Admiral Leahy revived it again a year later, when, in December, 1938, the Japs sank the U. S. Gunboat Panay and the British Gunboat Ladybird. Leahy recognized this for what it was, a deliberate attempt by the Jap war lords to test out how much insult the United States would take, and to make Britain and the USA lose face with the Chinese. Ac cordingly he rushed to the state department and all one Sunday afternoon, December 13, 1938, one day after the sinking of the Panay, he urged Cordell Hull to seize this psychological moment to put the blockade of Japan into effect. The British were also willing to cooperate. And, Leahy pointed out, in another year, war, inevitably breaking out in Europe, would tie up the British fleet and they could not possibly help us in the Pacific. Russia, he also pointed out, had 60 submarines at Vladivostok, ready to help us cut off all scrap iron, all oil, all cotton and copper from Japan. Without these, he argued, the Japanese war machine would be paralyzed. Pacing the floor of Hull’* office with Leahy was Hugh Wilson, ex ambassador to Germany and one of the state department’s foremost ap peasers. He opposed Leahy at ev ery turn, finally convinced cautious Cordell Hull that Leahy was too vig orous, that it was best to appease Japan. Less than one year later, Hitler had invaded Poland, the British fleet was desperately needed to defend British home waters, and the fat was in the fire. From that point on there was no possible way the United States could blockade Japan —though many people have never understood why we went to the op posite extreme and increased our shipments of oil and scrap iron to Japan so that she laid in tremendous reserves before Pearl Harbor. Japan Can Be Starved. But beginning with V-E Day, the possibility of blockading Japan for the first time since 1939 was com pletely reversed. Since V-E Day, the British fleet is entirely free to oper ate in the Pacific. So are Russian submarines. So is the whole might of the U. S. Navy, now no longer needed to watch for submarines in the Caribbean or the Atlantic. Today it is possible to throw up such a naval blockade around the main Jap islands, augmented by air patrols, that hardly a ton of raw materials could reach Jap factories. Notes of a New Yorker: An Argentine official was address ing a gathering of Col. Peron’s offi cers clique. He shouted: “The pluto crats who are responsible for this war must not go unpunished! The Yankee and British imperialists who are trying to squeeze our beloved Argentina to the wall attempted to do the same to Germany. That is is why the German nation under Hitler struck back at their enemies. Nor can we allow the Jewish-Bol- shevik alliance (which emanates from Moscow) to hem us in. We, too, must try to 'save the world from the Red menace!’ ” At that moment a messenger placed a slip of paper into the speak er’s hand. He glanced at it and read, “Argentina invited to World Security Conference.” Startled, the official cleared his throat and resumed: “And so, in conclusion, gentlemen, I say, ‘Long live Democracy!” Eat-Your-Own-Words Dep’t: Ed ward R. Stettinius, in a letter to Rep. Jack Anderson of California (dated January 28, 1945) wrote that the U. S. “should net enter into normal diplomatic relations with the Fascist military clique which is in control of Argentina.” A couple of dainty debs tripped into a swank bar. “I never drink in the afternoon,” said the first, expert ly settling herself on the stool, "but I’m simply beat. Gotta have some thing to pep me up.” “Me, too,” moaned her friend. “What were you doing?” “Oh, gahd,” was the reply, “I just came from the most awful cock tail party.” At the Metropole Cafe folks dis cussing the pro-and-conference news mentioned that "Frisco” isn’t the term San Franciscans prefer when referring to that great city. “Hmmmm,” remarked a wag, “whaddaya hear from Joe San Francisco lately?” A San Francisco gazette of the crime - ridden Gold Rush period carried this item: “Some contend that there are really no laws in force here but the divine law and the law of nature; while others are of the opinion that there are laws in force here, if they could only be found” . . . Newspaper men of that day hurled insults both verbally and in print. Some wrote satiri cal verse. They took sides in political quarrels to the point of fist fights and duels. One editor hung a placard over his desk, reading: “Subscriptions re ceived from 9 to 4; challenges from 11 to 12 only.” In the course of one of his lec ture tours, Mark Twain made a stopover at a small California town. Before dinner he visited the barber shop for a shave. . . . “You’re a stranger in town, aren’t you?” quer ied the barber. “Yes,” Twain replied. “This is my first time here.” “You chose a good time to come,” the barber continued. “Mark Twain is going to lecture tonight. Think you’ll be going?” “Oh, I guess so.” “Have you bought your ticket? If you haven’t, you’ll have to stand, ’cause everything is sold out,” warned the barber. “Doggone!” cussed Twain. “I never saw such confounded luck! Every time that fellow lectures, I have to stand!” A west coast war plant has discovered a unique way of checking absenteeism. A labor- management committee investi gates all employes who do not report for work. If it is found that an individual has been needlessly absent, the follow ing payday he receives some Jap currency in his envelope and a note which reads: “The extra money is a bonus sent by the Mikado. It is Hirohito’s personal regard for your fail ure to report for work. He was glad to pay you for not mak ing the war materials our sol diers need.” The mother of a bobbysoxer had a rude awakening the other day. She learned her daughter was no longer a child. The daughter’s friend had planned a gathering for a group of youthful sailors, just re cently pressed into the service. When the teen-ager was leaving the house, the mother said, “Have a good time at the party, dear, and be a good girl.” To which daughter quipped: “Oh, mother, make up your mind!” Gelett Burgess edited a magazine called “The Lark” in the 90s. One of its famous contributors of non sense verse was Carolyn Wells. It was in “The Lark” that Burgess’ classic, “The Purple Cow,” ap peared. and also this one: “I love to go to lectures, and make the audi ence stare, by walking ’round upon their heads an dspoiling people’s hair!” Burgess was wise. He ditched the magazine while it was still thriving, explaining “I wanted it to die young and in its freshness.” Gen. Omar Bradley of the 12th U. S. army group, left, and Russian Marshal Ivan S. Konev clink glasses as they toast victory over the Nazis at a banquet given shortly before V-E Day, at a country house near Berlin. Not long after the German military machine was utterly crushed, and Europe was free again. Dons Civvies for First Time in 8 Years Pvt. Wesley WUson of Johnson City, Tenn., purple heart wearer, and who rates 115 points under the new point system, dons a civilian coat for the first time in almost eight years, as buddies at Fort Dix, N. J., look on. Wilson is leaving the army for good. All Is Not Fighting on Okinawa There is work for young and old alike on Okinawa island and this young native (below) is proud to do his share. And an important task it is, lugging water to other natives near Kim. Upper left: Marine Clar ence J. McFarland, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, amuses native boys as a basket porter. Horseplay of this type has won friends for the marines among the island folks. Upper right: No red points needed for this Okinawa pig, killed by shellfire (it says here). Leathernecks are, Corp. P. E. Allen (left). Lake View, Ore., and Corp. Victor Howard, Philadelphia, Pa. President Truman’s Mother Arrives by Plane The 92-year-old mother of President Truman is shown, center, as she arrived in Washington from Kansas City to visit her famous son. At the left is Miss Mary Truman, the President’s sister, who accompanied her •nother on the trip. President Truman, right, greeted them at the Wash ington airport. Rattler Surrenders In command of escort carrier USS Guadalcanal, which attacked and captured U-boat 505, was Capt. Dan iel Gallery of Chicago, shown here on conning tower of the sub. The carrier is known as the “Can Do” ship. Doolittle Knighted Y/UTHAT game is played more ’ ' throughout the world than any other? This is one of the queries you get from servicemen billeted in Europe and the South Pacific. And then they lead you on to a compari son of tennis and golf. This includes courses, courts and all other in gredients that make up an argu ment. I put this debate up to one of our leading tennis statisticians and here are the facts: “Why compare tennis with golf? Why not compare tennis with any other national or International sport? You won’t find any other game even Close, in an interna tional way. “Here’s something that may shock na tional and interna tional sport follow ers. In 1939, just before the recent world war broke out, the Internation al Lawn Tennis as sociation had a membership of 59 nations, beaded for the Davis cup. No other sport has even come close to this mark. “This entry list embraced every continent and every civilized coun try from the U. S. to Kenya and China. And each of these 59 nations GrantlandRlce King George of England presents the “Knight Commander of the Bath” award to Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, commander of the U. S. 8th air force, which played a major role in hammering Germany to her knees. Hero ‘Objector’ Pfc. Desmond T. Doss, 26, of Nor folk, Va., and his wife. Doss, a con scientious objector, who spends his Saturdays reading the Bible, is the new hero of Okinawa, after saving 75 lives. When heavy losses devel oped on a Jap position Doss climbed an escarpment and stayed until he had lowered all the wounded men to safety. Cocky Cockerel Here is Chanticleer II, perched grimly on the undercarriage of a railroad coach. The chicken enjoyed the doubtful distinction of being the only “hobo” ever to carry a comb. has a tennis governing body. “Without any argument, the most famous international sporting trophy is the Davis cup, donated in 1900 by Dwight Davis from St. Louis. No other international cup is in the same class. “Fifty-nine nations — what other sport can equal that? Or even come close, including soccer, golf, basket ball, or track and field? “Strangely enough the two most famous cups — the Davis cup for tennis and the Walker cup for golf came from two famous St. Louis sportsmen — Dwight Davis and George Herbert Walker. Dwight Davis and Bert Walker, both from inland St. Louis, were main factors in putting tennis and golf on the international sporting map. “There may have been two finer sportsmen, but I can’t recall their names. Their international appeal reached to more than millions — it moved close to the billion mark.” 15,000 Tennis Courts Our tennis expert then began to get eloquent. “As you may know,” he said, “there are about 5,000 golf courses in the country. But don’t forget there are 14,800 municipal ten nis courts in 983 towns and cities of the U. S. There are 2,300 municipal courts located in as few as 10 cities, and New York isn’t one of them. There are 706 tennis clubs, mem bers of U.S.L.T.A., and 777 others ! not members. And this doesn’t in- : elude the enormous number of ten nis courts at private homes. “Golf claims around 3,000,000 ! players in the U. S. We happen I to know that tennis can claim around 5,000,000 players — possibly more. After all, golf requires from 100 to 130 acres for a course. Tennis requires far less.” The main point is that tennis and golf belong largely to competi tors, not to spectators. And that’s the way it should be. We have had entirely to many spectators in this country and far too few actual play ers or competitors. This goes espe cially for football, baseball and box ing. These are largely spectator games. But these conditions may also change later on. Millions of spectators only mean box office re ceipts. They mean nothing in the way of physical cr 'dition. Now back to tei^.is. Our expert continues—“Tennis is the only sport played in countries all over the world under the same rules and regulations. Tennis is an internation al matter, not a local affair. Ve figure there are something like 40,- 000,000 tennis players in the world, men and women. No other sport can even approach this mark. Be fore the war we had something like 800,000 tennis rackets turned out each year. This will be doubled after the war. Tennis will be one of our greatest games. It takes up far less space and gives far more action than golf.” To forestall any wild squawks from bowlers, softball players and basketball players, we’d like to step aside on this part of the argu ment. The bowlers and the basket ball players claim around 20,000,000. The softball players over 30,000,- 000. We’ll let them fight this out. But people don’t read so much about their stars or their teams. The four major reading sports in the United States are baseball, football, boxing and racing—with golf next. The Best Golf Swing Craig Wood reopened a hot argu ment a few days back: “The biggest improvement in golf, one of the reasons the leaders give you those record scores is this—they use the squared-face on the back- swing and keep the squared-face working through the downswing. “This means less pivot, less body turn. It means more hand control. 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