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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1945)
Side Glances Washington Merry-Go-Round EDITORIAL PAGE. Br DREW PEARSON La Grande Evening Observer Frank Schlro, Publisher MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 25, 1945 Page Two The Father and Son Firm of Chaos, Inc. .JT EVENING OBSERVER'S PROGRESS PROGRAM IRRIGATION Complete the Grande Ilonde Valley irrigation project. LA GRANDE A city of 10,000 Extend the city limits. THOUGHT FOR TODAY The empires of the future arc the empires of the mind. Winston Churchill. Germany's Future Government Curt Rifss, writing from Germany, reports that mont Germans regard the Russian occupation as more lenient than that of the Americans or the liriti.sh. Ife bases this statement on his observa tion of the American occupation pro gram and on talks with people who have lived in the Russian-occupied zone. The NIOA service correspondent writes that the Russians are trivinn their German charges more food than they received in the last months under Hitler; that plays, movies and concerts have been resumed; that radio broad casts stress present co-operation and future hope, while ours are more in clined to emphasize past misdeeds. Most of this Riess says he believes. And even at this distance there would seem to be logical reasons whv lie should. The Russians naturally hate the Ger mans who overran their land, laid waste their cities, and inflicted barbarous cruelties on their countrymen. They have greater reason even than the French and British, and (infinitely greater reason than the Americans, for loathing the whole German race. Vet the Russian government realizes, as do other governments, that Cermanv must exist and be lived with in the future. Moscow is pledged to concerted action with London anil Washington in ruling Germany until such time as the Germans are thought fit for self-government. When the time come Ger many will probably be permitted to choose an acceptable form of govern ment in a free election. Naturally each of the three allies would like to see a German government , patterned after its 'own model. 'And the Russians would seem to have begun' already a campaign to present commun ism in the best possible light. Thus far they seem to be succeeding. After Goebbels' tales of Russian terror and vengeance, any gentleness . must . have been an agreeable surprise to the Germans. And if any of the numerous community party of pre - Hitler Ger many survive, they will undoubtedly try to help in making this first impres sion a lasting one. The prospect of a Russian-dominated Kurope sets many Anglo - American minds reeling. But the prospect is not a foregoing conclusion. The Americans and British in Germany also have an opportunity to sell their way of life to the Germans through propaganda, edu cation and general behavior. There is no reason why communism, republican democracy and constitution al monarchy should not compete on their merits for German acceptance. But it is imperative that the occupying governments abide by the eventual Ger man decision. The only alternative would be to let a defeated Germany again endanger the peace of the world. 0 Postage Due Hitler, we learn, built up a personal fortune by the simple expedient of tack ing a 101) per cent overcharge on 6 pfennig postage stamps. What a wonderful extra excuse that must have given reluctant German let ter writers provided the na.ified Ger mans managed to retain that common civilized weakness of "simply hating to write letters." HOSPITAL Funny Business s: -p.-- - j fc;" - - I o SO THEY SAY I hilve been In business 25 years nnrl these me the smallest oranges 1 have seen in those 25 years. Dr. Palsy IVAgostino, presi dent of Greater New York re tail grocers' association, anent recent orange shipments. The allies owe the success of the invasion (of Kurope) to the air forew. Hermann Gooring, former Heichsmarshal of Germany, now an allied prisoner. If we defend our nation and continue resistance for five. 10 or even 20 years on our soil, the enemy :4s certain to suffer an eventual breakdown. Kumataro Honda, former Jp uncsc ambassador to Germany. "Could wt got a couple of burps from the fellow who broke the .world's record for eating fried oggi at ono silting?" Tft young men and women (of India) who come to this country, cannot but be influenced by American Ideals. Dr. M. S. Sundaiam. education al liaison officer for India in the U. S,. . . . WASHINGTON When the final history of the war is told, one of its greatest chap ters will describe that branch of the service totally new to., war 4he air transport com mand. Transporting prime ministers and presidents, wounded men, jeeps and Pat Hurley's car over oceans and deserts has now become commonplace news to the Am erican public. But behind that commonplace news is a thrilling story of painstaking, back-breaking pioneering. Here are some things few people know about the airtransport command: most used air route in thlt world is not between Wash ington and, New York, not between New York and Chicago, but over "the hump" be tween China and India ... Traffic over this world's highest mountain range, the Hima layas, is so heavy that planes travel at dif ferent altituije so there will be no collisions. One plane will have orders to fly at 22,000 feet, another at 23,000, and so on. Three or four different fiir routes are used across the hump, also to avoid collisions. Next mostiesvily used air route is across the north Atlantic. The ATC sends a plane across the Atlantic every 58 seconds. That's about as fast as traffic moves on the Penn sylvania railroad between New York and Philadelphia, busiest rail line in the world. The ATC is now flying returning troops across the Atlantic at a rate of 50,000 per month ... for years, ATC pilots have been briefed on how to land on the difficult air ports of Greenland, Iceland or China. Now the ATC has the tremendous thrill of brief ing pilots on arriving at home ports Boston, Portland, Long Island . . . Pilots say that no briefing was ever more welcome. More than 220,000 wounded men have been carried in ATC planes away from the battle front. During the early stages of Ok inawa fighting, planes swooped down on makeshift runways, taxied up to ambulanc es, took off right under the noses of Jap guns. Stretchers were loaded aboard while the planes refueled . . . One big ATC job has been getting crashed fliers out of the Him alayas. Amazing fact is that 75 per cent are saved . . . Lieut. Gen. Harold George, boss of the ATC, realized in advance that crashes would be heavy over the hump, so men were given special training on how to live in the jungles. They were even taken to jungle outposts to get familiar with the jungle be fore they hopped . . . Every plane flying the hump has a small tin chest (with its own parachute) containing medicine, snake-bite, antidote, water purifier, concentrated food, signal flares,' mirrors, mosquito nets, etc. This chest is kept near the plane's door. If the crew has to jump, the chest is kicked out before the last man leaves the plane ... In the jungle anews are taught to stay where they are until sighted by rescue planes which signal instructions as to where they can be picked up . .' . Natives are usually friendly and the chances of getting rescued from the jungle are far better han if a flier drops over the desert or in the sea. The Japs shot down many ATC planes early in the war by painting their DC-4's with U. S. insignia . . . Flying up close, the Japs waited until they had perfect targets. hen fired . . . U. S. planes had to be repaint ed .. . Now, however, the Japs have been pushed back a considerable distance from the hump . . .' Early in the war, Roosevelt . ordered the army to fly 10,000 tons per month over the hump to Chiang Kai-Shek. Some brass hats threw up their hands, said . this was impossible . . . ATC, howevermet the schedule; today is flying 50,000 tons per month over the hump. Before Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt ordered special fighter planes rushed to the British in Egypt where Rommel had General Mont gomery's back to the wall . . . However, fighter planes couldn't make the long trek across Africa without refueling and there was no airport in the heart of the continent. One day an American engineer was dropped off a plane almost in the center of Africa, in French territory not far from the Sudan. He had his pockets stuffed with money, and his head stuffed with ideas. That was about all. He also had instructions to build an airport . . . Six weeks later the ATC came back and he had a 4,500 foot sodded runway in fairly good shape. He had drafted most of the camels and most of the natives in that part of Africa and paid them plenty to do the job. Fighter planes immediately began crossing to the Egyptian front and the British army staged its come-back . . . Today the French are makin diplomatic inquiries as to this air port, apparently with a view to taking it over. Another great engineering feat was at As cension, the island rock in the middle of the south Atlantic . . '. The ATC needed Ascen sion to make the hop from Brazil to Africa. Only trouble was that Ascension is solid rock with a peak in the center and no room for a runway. However, one ATC engineer took a look at it, told General George: "If you give me 90 days and plenty of steam shovels and dynamite, I'll build an air base" . . . George gave him the equipment, and 90 days later the ATC had a base. Fifty million letters were flown by the ATC to Europe in April. This peak load has now dropped off due to troop transfers out of Europe, but the ATC has been the largest mail carrier in history . . . Also it runs the world's largest hotel chain. It must be pre pared to handle 1,000 men a night at Natal, Brazil, also feed them. ATC hotels are scat- , tcred all over the world to handle ferrying and combat pilots . . . When the weather is bad, hotel facilities overflow . . . ATC flew about half the combat planes across the At-' lantic, the rest being flown by combat pilots. They made the hop in big batches of 50 to 100 at a time. WE, THE WOMEN Br RUTH MTLLETT Well, it looks as though men are at last admitting they are afraid women. Florida has just passed a bill outlawing suits for alienation of affections, breach of contract to marry, and seduction. At the time the bill was introduced there was some talk about the pathetic plight of old men sitting in the sun and being neatly hooked by women not reluctant to have their broken hearts mended with handsome cash settlements. With the shortage of men in the marrying market it was inevitable that the men would get scared and start to run. For men women would have by-passed are. now being fought for. And while an old man in pre-war times might have been able to sit comfortably in the sun without running into any more trouble than sun burn, today he has to be wary of the husband hunters. There was only one thing wrong with that popular song "They're cither too young or too old" as far as women are concerned. : And that judging from the statistics on girls marrying men younger than themselves and the common sight of the old boys being sur rounded by beautiful babes at parlies is that the- song should have been "They're neither too young or too old." And especially not too old. For the young men usually don't have any money. But the old men have made theirs, and as far as women are concerned a tidy bank account makes a man look ten years younger and at least five times handsomer. So you can't blame the men for trying to protect themselves against the more schem ing sex, now that age is no longer a protection. Behind Scenes in Washington Br PETER EDSON, La Grand Evanlng Observer Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON Greatest paradox in to day's Ameriphn lack of understanding of Russia is that the Soviet government should be said to need a new press agent. While the Germans may have invented propaganda, the Russians certainly perfected it. They got so good at it that they scared everyone half to death. That in itself even tually caused the Russians to announce abandonment of their program to promote world communism, through the commintern. But now the circle seems to have been com . pleted and the USSR frequently finds itself in the American dog house because its poli cies are misunderstood in this country or are not satisfactorily explained by Moscow. Re tiring Attornr-y General Biddle, in making a report to congress on foreign government propaganda activities in the United States, declared that while the British information services spent $2,000,000 in the U. S. in 1944, Russia did not report any such expenditures because she conducted this work through the 1 Washington embassy and other agencies not subject to registration. Whatever the media, the effect seems to have been negative. But the Russians are still no slouches on their puhh" relations in Kurope. They do a tremendous job throgh Moscow radio, oper ating much as the British broadcasting cor poration does in beaming Wgrams in all known languages to all parts of the world. The day after the Red arrruVs moved into Berlin they seized the German radio net work. Radio Berlin, with the most power ful transmitter in Europe, blankets western Europe Moscow has given the manufacture com im emu tuncc. mc T. a iif.r,...:.'rr. "Before I cul these, will you inspect 'em? I don't remember plant ing anything here, but they look pretty good to me if they are weeds!" i o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE By WM. E. McKENNEY, America's Card Authority REFUSING FINESSES MAKES 6 DIAMONDS One of the hands that enabled Mrs. R. C. (Sally) Young of Phila delphia, Sam Katz of Milburn, N. J., Mrs. Lou Jaeger and Peter Leventritt of New York to tie for the eastern mixed team-of-four AKQ1098 10 J 10 8 3 KJ4 4 3 2 I N lAJ765 Q92 w c VK43 Q2 fi 4765 !8 76 I Deller Q2 Mrs. Young A None VAJ 8 7 6 5 AK94 A93 Duplicate N.-S. vul. South West North East 1 V 2 V 3 6 Pass Pass Pass Pass Opening V 2. 1 A Pass 2 A Pass 4 Pass Pass Pass 2d championships, as played by Mrs. Young, is shown here. This is Sally Young's first ma jor victory in some time. She practically gave up major com- QuestionsSc Answers Q How has the price of helium gas been Jreduced since World war I? Q At the close of that war it cost $2500 a cubic foot; in 1944' it cost two cents a cubic foot. petition during the war, but she demonstrated with this hand that she is still a master. She and two others were the only ones to reach the slam in diamonds on this hand. However, the others went down, as they took both the club and the diamond finesse. Mrs. Young refused both finesses. She won the opening heart lead with the ace, ruffed a heart, re turned to her hand with the king of diamonds and ruffed another heart. The hearts were now all good, so she picked up the dia monds, cashed her ace and king of clubs, and when the 'queen fell, the jack of clubs gave her all 13 tricks. O IN FORMER YEARS , 30 Years Ago '! David B. Stoddard left on a trip through Idaho and Utah. A. K. Twidwell, well-known pioneer, went, to Fall Rinaf, Kan., to- visitfriends. ---? Mrs. O. E. Silverthorn.-return-ed from Portland where she spent several weeks with her daughter, Marjorie, a student at Reed college. Q What is a "French land ing" in aviation? A Landing made on two main wheels, with tail remaining in flying position as long as possi ble before comng to a stop. Q What are the deepest soundings made in Lake Super ior, deepest of the Great Lakes? A 1290 feet. QWhat are your chances of making a flush with a one-card draw? A Thirty-eight to one. Q Which of the United States has the largest national forest area? A Idaho, with 20,026.274 acres. 15 Years Ago C. L. Graham was employed as a full-time county schol clerk, after serving as deputy county clerk. Miss Dorothy Wall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Wall, was visiting in Haines with her cou sin, Miss Mary Dodd. Bishop and Mrs. W. P. Rem ington sailed on -the Mauretania for London to attend the Lam both conference of bishops of the Episcopal church, held at Lam beth palace, home of. the Arch bishop of Canterbury. :Aflcr the conference they went;to jtpberam mcrgau to attend the.'fPassion play and to Italy. v 10 Years Ago Harold Zurbrick of La Grande purchased two purebrfcd regis tered gilts at the Oregon State college at Corvallis, planing to use them in 4-H club work and to show them in local fairs and at the Pacific International. A playground program was launched at Riveria and Willow schools. H. E. Dixon and family were in Portland on business. of radio receivers a high priority and the formation of radio listening groups has been promoted in all the Russian-occupied areas of eastern Europe. Moscow itself has announc ed there are over 5,000,000 of these radio lis tening posts loud speakers in centers where thrc is no other means of spreading informa tion and where the people meet to hear the news that Moscow wants them to hear. An analysis of monitored Russian radio programs since V-E day gives a pretty good line on wat the Soviet has been trying to put over. Briefly, the dominant note is anti fascism. That's what they fought the war for. Russian radio socks fascist tendencies wherever they raise their head in Poland, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Germany or the United States. Positively, it plugs the need for future international co operation and a post-war world based on more democracy in political, economic and social fields n end to armed conflicts, ec onomic rivalry and colonial expansion. This line is carried so far as to declare that if present cfforls to create a world peace or ganization fail, another world security or ganization will eventually be created. But in general there has been an expression of confidence that the San Francisco confer ence of the united nations would succeed. As a line, there is little in this to criticize. What has apparently caused a drop in Soviet popularity in the United States is the inci dent of the 16 Polish leaders nirw- on trial, which still doesn't make sense to American readers or listeners, anyway they look at it or hear it. Hence the need for a new Rus sian public relations policy. This Curious World CJt- WINTER IS AS IMPORTANT TO &R0WIN6 r-LNi Ai IS THE WARMTH OF SUMMER T Di sure OF OUR. TEMPERATE ZONE WILL NOT AWAKEN IN SPRIN6 unless 1 HcY HAVE SEEN iY LOW TEMPERATURES. WW A-ER A DEER PASSES THE PRIME CF LIPE, ITS ANTLERS EACH YEAR AVAY HAVE A NUWSER CP POINTS. t i v 1 WHR'S UABRf NEXT: The brighter side of a black sheep. "How about thii bull siean it - 1 - I illlY -1'i'i'J?" au"r.,''f r- - - tt
