1
Thursday, July 10,' 19 15
Yaiflis Operate Jungle Trains
To Deliver
Wily " 3
American railroaders of the army service forces operate a "MacArthur" locomotive at a jungle sid
ing ot lne Bengal and Assam railway, somewhere ii India.. This metre gauge line runs into Assam
near the Burma border, carrying vital war shipments.
By HARRY GRAYSON
NEA Staff Correspondent
CHABUA, UPPER ASSAM
VALLEY, India You've read of
courageous pilots battling the
Hump of the Himalayas, tower
ing; treacherous mountains jut
ting out frpm Tibet. You know
about American trucks roaring
over the Stilwcll road.
But totally unpublicized have
been the railroad men who made
it possible, for America to get the
goods to China. India has the
fourth largest railway system in
the world. Only the United
States, Canada and Russia have
greater trackage than India's
more than 41,000 miles. Unfor
tunately, however, India's rail
way system was not designed for
the requirements of military op
erations in China and Burma.
India's 'railroads have three
gauges broad, metre and nar
row. The broad gauge lines, best
suited for the handling of large
tonnages, run from the ports of
Calcutta, Bombay and Karachi to
form a chain stretching toward
India's northwest frontier. China
and Burma lie beyond India's
northeast frontier. In that direc
tion, up to the upper Assam val
ley, where the allies. had to con
centrate their efforts, ran only
the Bengal and Assam railway.
This single-track, metre-gauge
line had to bear the brunt of al
most all the military traffic mak
ing its way toward the front.
Designed',' for nothing more
than " carrying" 'the peacetime
needs of the planters of Assam,
one of the world's leading tea
growing and jute-producing cen
ters, the Bengal and Assam rail
way could not meet the wartime
loads of vital supplies which had
to pour over its right-of-way
when the allied armies began to
push into. Burma and the air
transport command began to lift
tonnage over the Hump.
The equipment could not han
dle the large quantity of supplies.
Native personnel simply couldn't
railroad at required capacity. ,
It took as long to get the stuff
fiom Calcutta to the upper As
sam 750 miles as it did to ship
it from the port of Los Angeles
at Wilmington, Calif., and around
Australia, a distance of 15,000
miles. Something had to be done.
Again the old world was to see a
miracle of American methods.
Recruit Railroaders
Railway operating battalions
were recruilcd in the United
Slates. Every member was an ex
perienced railroad man. Ameri
can lend-lease "MacArthur" loco
motives and rolling stock were
shipped to augment the limited
equipment!', American troops
commanded by Brig. Gen. Paul
Younl took over the operation of
the Bengal and Assam railway,
on March 1, 1944.
Again the British asked: "What
is it? What have the Americans
got?" For in the first month of
American operation, the tonnage
carried over, the B. and A. in
creased by more than 40 per cent.
The tonnage for March of this
year showed a 158 per cent in
crease over that for February,
1944, the last month of civilian
operation.
Taste for yourself the fresh JrP )
Vt crispness made possible by ) J
f&l sSl tP. I llH JLjf jjji J jLlIrl -jlV new method of making potato .!u 'vA
is?!, WTVWi ' chips-Test hem ,oday and ViNvv'
72eWk ' STUSi - draw your own conclusions. AJl j ' Vfl X
'fth ."'''-" " V l""! oJ "' If your grocer it temporarily out
h f HAUtJ v"IUy of Blue Bell chips, pleo.e moke iJ
"yt -Nb"W ol'owonce, for worlime condition.. (J
Supplies to China
I'tiK is "tT VII HTsre
American methods increased
the efficiency of trans-shipment,
cut down the turn-around time of
freight wagons, as freight cars
are known over here. They elim
inated the bottle-neck at Am
ingaon where the cars are put on
barges and ferried across the
Brahmaputra. Three months af
ter taking over they had in
creased the daily average car
capacity of the ferry by 88 per
cent and by the end of their first
year had swelled it by 204 per
cent.
Mixed Tongues
Assam has a population of 10,
000,000 in a 55,000 square mile
area. It is a tough, jungle coun
try where the malaria mosquito
forces you to sleep protected by
ti net. It is mountainous and
hotter than a furnace. It is flood
ed by monsoon rains which reach
from 200 to 280 inches a year and
this is the monsoon season.
About 4,500,000 Hindus, 3,500,
000 Moslems and 2,500,000 assort
ed tribesmen inhabit the prov
ince. Slightly less than half
speak Bengali, about 25 per cent
Assamese, the rest Hindi, Uriya,
Nepali and other tongues classi
fied as Tibeto-Burman. Thus in
the language department you are
mixed up to a greater extent
than you ar elsewhere in India,
where it is bad enough.
In this strange and little
known country American rail
road men wrote another brilliant
chapter in. .the., history,, of. this
war. From' out-of-the-way - Ledo
and Chabua American trucks
carry the sinews of war over the
Stilwcll road and American
planes lift them over the Hump
to China.
It's the-back way to China
the hard way but until the al
lies have a port, opening the door
to satisfactory means of trans
portation in that war-weary
country, it is the only way.
Presbyterians See
One-third Increase
In Church Giving
PORTLAND, July 10 (UP)
The Presbyterian synod of Ore
gon, now convening in an annual
session at Portlad's First Pres
byterian church, was told today
an increase of nearly one-third
in total church giving has taken
place in the past year.
Rev. W. L. Killian, slate clerk,
said a total of $48,7(15 had been
given in denominational btnevo
lences. Communicant members of the
church have gone up to 23,.')!I8,
a gain of 1,010 during the past
year. In a financial statrment
approved by the synod, total
value of Presbyterian property
in the state was given as $3,334,
809 with Portland's Lewis and
Clark college figured at $300,000.
THE
Petain,89,To
Stand Trial Soon
On Many Charges
Only Defense is
Said Secret Deal
With Britain
By HERBERT KING
PARIS, July 19 (UP) Two
of France's most colorful old men
will match wits against each
other July 23 when Marshal
Henri Philippe Petain goes on
trial to fight for his life, charged
with treason.
On the defensive which he
preferred in war, will be 89-year-old
Petain, Marshal of France,
hero of Verdun. For the prose
cution will be 72-year-old Gen.
Andre Mornet, whose bull voice
and biting intellect have carried
him through half a century of
legal victories including the con
viction and execution of Mata
Hari, famed woman spy of world
war I.
Many Charges
Petain must refute testimony
and attacks from at least 45 state
witnesses including three former
French prime ministers, Paul
Rcynaud Edouard Daladicr, and
Loon Blum.
i Probably no man in legal his
lory,"and' certainly no chief of
statj, ever faced such a diver-J
siiy ot ennrges. tie is accused ot
having broken France's pledged
word to Great Britain by signing
a separate peace with Germany.
He is accused of having collabor
ated politically and industrially
with the nazis.
And, quite apart from legally
framed acts such as capitulation,
he is accused of a whole range
of "psychological crimes" such
as tolerating anti-British and
an! i-American propaganda in the
so-called "free zone" of France.
Has Defcnso
Ho is accused of making
speeches favoring Frenchmen go
ing to work in Germany, and of
supporting Vichy's militia which
worked in close contact with Ger
many's gestapo.
Petain is accused of preventing
the Flench fleet from joining the
allied fleets after the fall of
France, and even of having of
fered French trops to Germany.
Pelain's defense appears to be
based principally on the pur
portc dsccret alliance with Great
Britain, and his lawyers will
make every effort to prove, the
existence of such an agreement.
LA GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER, LA GRANDE, OREGON
Oscar Poarch Can
Make Anything
Out of Wood
(Continued from Page 1
going at right angles to the body
of tho bowl. ,
Harder To Gel
Wood is just coming into its
own, Poarch says, and therefore
it is becoming harder to got beau
tiful wood. Three rooms in the
state capitol building atSalem
are finished in blue-stain pine,
and more will follow.
Poarch makes many of his pro
ducts, such as candlestick hold
ers and salt-and-pepper shakers,
from burls. He now has a burl,
four inches thick and four feet in
diameter, from the. largest myr
tlewood tree ever grown.
Hurries Process
He shapes the wpod on his
lathe,' .and then puts on three
coats of clear varnish, polishing
by hand after every varnishing.
The polishing, he says, is the
most delicate operation of the
entire process, for if the grinding
is too heavy, the shape is ruined,
and if it is too light, it isn't ef
fective. The wood must be well dried to
make good products,, but Poarch
sometimes hurries the process by
turning to within one-eighth of
an inch of where he will finish,
covering the outside with a coat
ing of paraffin, boring a hole
through the center and setting it
aside for two or three months.
It then dries from the inside,
while the paraffin prevents crack
ing. His inlaid articles are made by
glueing strips or bands of wood
together, forming any desired
pattern. .
Other Hobbies
Poarch became interested in
woodworking when, as a sawyer,
he noticed the natural beauty of
the wood as ho cut it into planks
and boards. He started his hobby
approximately four years ago,
building it up into a fair-sized
business. The Poarches do no
advertising, depending upon
.word of the mouth praise-shouting
to bring them customers, a
procedure which evidently has
results.
Poarch was born in North Caro
lina, but lived most of his life
around Spokane, Wash., until
coming to Oregon 30 years ago.
His other hobbies include arch
ery, and fishing and hunting
(with what he claims is the best
bird dog in the" country.) '
He and Mrs. Poarch, married
in 1912 in Potlatch, la., have one
son, Donald, also living in Lu
Grande.
HAY FEVER SEASONS
Hay fever is caused by three
general pollen seasons. The first,
in early spring, from trees; the
second, in late spring, from
grasses; and the last, in late
summer, from weeds.
A swarm of bees held up a
British flight mission when they
settled inside a bombing plane.
Enjoys
Schilling
VACUUM
C O F
I
f '
'JWS'
ir
'Sk. re;
BAPTISM BEFORE INVASION Within striking distance of
Japan, prior to Iheya Jima invasion, a coast guard manned LST
drops her ramp in East China sea waters for baptism service for
Coast Guardsman Semon Benglian of Philadelphia, Pa. Officiat
ing is Marine Cpl. Robert L. Swafford, Nashville, Tenn., ordained
minister of Church of Christ. Life-line may be seen tied to Beng
lian's waist.
Senate Refuses to
Postpone Vote
WASHINGTON, July 19 (UP)
The senate today defeated, 52
to 31, a proposal by Sen. Robert
A. Taft, R., O., that it put off de
cision on the Brctton Woods
monetary agreements until Nov.
15.
Senate democratic leader Al
lien W. Barkley, Ky., told the
senate before it voted that "noth
ing could do more to embarrass"
President Truman, in his current
big three talks, than a senate
decision to delay ratification of
the world money agreements.
Two democrats Sens. Pat
McCarran of Nevada and Burton
K. Wheeler of Montana and
progressive Robert M. LaFollette
of Wisconsin voted with 28 re
publicans, including Taft, for the
postponement.
Eight republicans voted with
44 democrats in opposing the Taft
motion. The republicans were
Sens. George D. Aikon, Vt., War
ren R. Austin, Vt., Homer Fergu
son, Mich., Wayne Morse, Ore.,
Levert Saltonstall, Mass., Alex
ander Smith, N.- J., Charles O.
Tobey, N. H., and Aitrhur H. Van
denberg, Mich.-
ORDER PLANT SEIZURE
WASHINGTON, July 19 (UP)
President Truman today or
dered Petroleum. Administrator
Harold L. IckcM to seize and oper
ate the butadiene plant at Hous
ton, Tex., operated by Sinclair
I Rubber, Inc.
wok
PACKED
FEE
'Keep Powder Dry'
Story About WAC
At Liberty Theater
Make a bee-line for the Liber
ty theater, movie fans, for one of
the really stirring entertainments
of the year. It's called "Keep
Your Powder Dry" and its stars
are Lana Turner, Laraine Day
and Susan Peters, three of Holly
wood's loveliest and most talent
ed young ladies.
"Keep Your Powder Dry" is
the story of three girls from dif
ferent walks of life who, through
different '-motivations, . enlist in
the women's "Ri my corps.
As many as 50 percent of the
children on Guam' were dying
when the Americans delivered
the island from the Japanese. One
of the first problems of officers
of the marine corps civil affairs
section was to provide food. It
was soon discovered that even on
a normal diet most of these chil
dren would have died so supple
mentary meals were served.
"Guam salvaged island" is a
document showing the natives on
the long trail buck. This latest
RKO "This IS' America" film pro:
duced by Frederic Uullman, jr.,
is now playing at tho Liberty the
ater. i
I . - - ' ' . '.
They Never Stop Working . . .
Cxcept when you re adleep!
SoMEONE has said that with the exception of the heart, tho muscles of tho
eyes are the hardest working muscles in the entire human body. Because
your eyes never slop working except when they arc closed !
Mankind grew up out of doors where nature's own light was abundant. That
explains why modern eyes are so overworked so often defective. And that is
why science is working so hard to bring sunlight indoors. In the meantime here
are four rules that will help reduce eyestrain conserve energy in your home
m
nth
When the war is over we are all going to have Bettor Light
for Better SigKl. Ia the meantime, let's conserve both eye.
light and light. Take care of your eyes, but don't waste lighti
Eastern Oregon Light & Power Co.
Fruit Growers Ask
Colleges Open Late
MEDFORD, July 19 (UP)
Postponement of the opening of
Oregon's colleges from Sept. 17
to Oct. 7 was urged today by the
Jackson County Fruit Growers
league in a move to keep fruit
moving in the Medford area pro
cessing plants.
Backed by the Rogue River
Traffic association, the league
told the state board of higher
education more than 300 skilled
workers and many less skilled
would be lost through the early
college opening.
League president Alfred Car
penter said chambers of com
merce in Portland, Eugene,
Salem, Hoodriver, The Dalles and
Pendleton had supported tho request.
Cash or Credit
Yon will find Joel's n satis
factory place to trade . . .
and remember ... we de
liver at no extra charge.
Nucoa, lb. ... 27c
Nescafe
35c
Schilling's
COFFEE, lb...
32'
Van Camp's
BEANS, can
I!!
Crescent
CREAM WHIP. ..
25
Marshmallow
Whip, pint ....
35'
PRUNE JUICE, Fine for Breakfast, Qt ... 29c
MRS. GRAHAM'S HONEY, Half fiallon $1.19
SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER, Jar : 37c
SHREDDED WHEAT, 2 pltgs. for 25c
RAYMAI, PUMPKIN, 2 cans for .'.: 27c
FRENCH AND CHUTNEY SALAD DRESSING
LIMBERGER CHEESE, 2-lh. Brick, pound 50c
1812 Cedar St.
Do all reading, study
ing, iCwifiK, or game
playing dote to a good
light source, preferably
a modern reading lampj
Avoid thadnwi. Make
sure you have good
light directly on your
book or work. Shadows
strain eyes.
rT?" A Have
I
Page Fi?
Oregonian Run Over
By His Own Auto
' KLAMATH FALLS, July 19
(UP) It's not every day you
get run over by your own car.
F. E. Leaphart was in a Kla
math Falls hospital today after
his own car ran over him, in
flicting a broken leg. ,
Lcaphun said he had remov
ed a rock from in front of his
car where it was parked on a
steep street. The car started
up and ran over him. -
Now Many Wear
FALSE TEETH
With More Comfort
' FASTEETH, a pleasant alkaHn (mm
ftcid) powder, holdi false teeth mor
firmly. To eat and talk In mora com
fort, Juit iipritik.e a little KASTEKTH
on your plntca. No gummy, gooey, patty
taste or feeling;. Checks ''plate odor
(denture breath). (Jet FA3TKETH at
any drug store
(
YOlfNGBERRIES
RASPBERRIES
and
STRAWBERRIES
for Canning
MEATS.
Loin of A Qc
Beef, lb ....firO,
Weiners QQc
Pound OO
Round A Qc
Steak, lb. .......... StO
Oysters d flje
Pint
25c.
Phone 759
Avoid glare from bars
hulhs. Don't sit facing
ihclighc Clare strains
cycn
i eyes examined
regularly. It eyes are
2) defective, vision can be
greatly neipea wan
proper glasseu
L8
$8$.'', ':'.'!