I EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1945
Page Two
Our Changing World
per mb'
PKHIN6 IT OUT
To THE GOOSE -
1ick about aTBR'k , iFyJ
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Rohde Valley Irrigation project.
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
Extend the city limits.
Protection, Not Possession
When President Truman said, at a
flag-raising: in Germany, that "there is
not a piece of territory that we want
out of the war," he apparently was
making an impromptu statement. It is
doubtful that he had calculated the ef
fect his obviously sincere but unpre
meditated pronouncement would have.
However, his words were inevitably
examined with great care as a forecast
of future policy. And among those who
took a special interest in them were
some members of our armed forces in
the Pacific.
Roy W. Howard reports from the
Pacific theater that many men have
taken issue with their commander-in-chief
in this matter. Mr. Howard finds
them disinclined to give up territory
won at such cost, almost before the con
crete of their new air strips lias hard
ened or the paint lias dried on the white
crosses above the graves of comrades
who gave their lives to wrest these is
lands from the Japs.
Their attitude is reasonable, and it
is not. impossible that Mr. Truman
might find it so. The president simply
seems to have been repealing Woodrow
Wilson's denial of imperialistic inten
tions. At the same time he is probably as
conscious as anyone that the Wilson
statement, though popular and well-intentioned,
set a course which contri
buted to the failure of enduring peace
and the future of this country to be
prepared when war returned.
We know now that, as the world's
greatest power, we must assume great
responsibility for preserving peace.
Ours and the world's welfare are insep
arable. Our responsibility is not fin
ished when we join a world league for
peace. We must be strong, vigilant and
well protected.
That involves practical considera
tions, including the disposition of the
strategic Pacific islands that Japan held
before the war. Someone must be given
charge of them. And there are several
reasons why we should do the job, rath
er than an international trusteeship.
We have won a claim to those islands
through blood and battle. They are vital
outposts of our defense, as the early
history of the Pacific war unhappily
proved. Further, wo have shown in re
cent years particularly in the Philip
pines hat we are not .Imperialists or
"colonists," in the usual sense. We do
not suppress or exploit our outlying
territories.
To protect ourselves and world peace
today requires active, widespread
watchfulness as well as good intentions.
We can stay close to home and be high
minded, but not world-minded.
Funny Business
11" '
o SO THEY SAY
Except whrn a case is pendinq
(l avoid influencing a court's
decision), nny citincn and any
newspaper should have as much
freedom to criticize a judge as it
has to criticize anyone else.
Jacksonville, Fla., Journal.
I lielieve that suRar rationing
in one form or another will con
tinue through l!l4ti and perhaps
through 1!M7.
Ody It. Lamborn, New York
sugar broker.
The growth in women's inde
iw ndencc, if it is coupled with a
like growth in acceptance of re
sponsibilities toward the nation's
welfare, should make this a better
countiy.
Gary, lnd., Post-Tribune.
"Will you fix these up? i )ur, had my gt tMoni taken my
from mot"
Reconversion is going slowly.
But it is going slowly not becaun
of improper pwuai atums, but be
cause war production (s haiugcut
ktk grsoUially. ,
J. A. Kruj. chairman, Wsf Pro
duction Hoard. $
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Side Glahee
By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON Some of the important
things really happening at Potsdam but
omitted from the communique have now
leaked out.
Two of them concerned the keeping of
allied troops in occupied Europe this win
ter, and the intricate problem of setting up
democracy in southern Europe. They caused
some near cat-and-dog fights .
Biggest fight at Potsdam was over the
proposal to withdraw allied troops from u
large part of occupied Europe before winter.
This was quietly put forward by President
Truman, but met with cool reception from
Churchill. Stalin was even chillier.
Truman was referring, not to Germany,
but to the various satellite axis countires
which never got into the war with any en
thusiasm, plus some of the allied countries
which never wanted to get into the war at
all. .
The president pointed out withdrawal of
allied troops from the Balkans would clear
the atmosphere and improve all-around re
lations. (Russian troops are in Rumania,
Hungary and Bulgaria, which actively fought
on Hitler's side, while British troops are in
Greece and to some extent in Jugoslavia,
both bitterly fighting Hitler.)
Churchill Says No
When Truman proposed British troops
withdraw completely from Jugoslavia and
Greece (the British have as many troops in
Greece as the Germans once did), Churchill
bluntly said no. ,
However, Churchill did consent-, after con
siderable argument by Truman, to withdraw
most American and British troops from Italy
during the coming winter.
Incidentally, most of the Potsdam agree
ment was settled while Winston Churchill
was still prime minister of England. For
better or worse, it stands as a monument
to him. By the time new Prime Minister
Attlee arrived, most of the job was finished,
and, inasmuch as ho had sat in on the pre
ceding talks, he ok'd all that Churchill had
done. With one exception Spain. Attlee
. caused the declaration against Franco to be
strengthened.
Bickering over the Balkans also ended
in a stalemate. The big three could get no
where regarding the axis satellites, except
on the non-Balkan country of Finland.
In describing the problems confronting the
big three, this column reported on July 20,
1945, that Stalin last May proposed allied
recognition of Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania
and Finland, but that Truman then was only
willing to recognize Finland.
The Column also reported that the Amer
ican minister in Bulgaria had been held
almost a prisoner in his own legation by.
soviet troops.
At oPtsdam, therefore, Truman proposed
they review the situation in Finland, Bul
garia, Roumania, et al, and took up Finland
first. It was agreed the Finnish situation is
satisfactory, a stable government hd been
formed;, and Truman promised (to renewi
diplomatic relations with Finland soon.
Then came the question of Bulgaria. Stal
in said a democratic government had been
set up, and that democratic elections were
to be held in Bulgaria.
At this point, Truman pulled a letter from
his pocket and said, in effect, "Oh yeah?"
The letter was from an Agrarian (peasant
party) member of the Bulgarian cabinet,
stating that there could be no free elections
under the present set-up and no democratic
system in Bulgaria. The letter was addressed
to the Bulgarian prime minister, the Amer
ican minister in Bulgaria, and the allied con
trol commissioner. It proved a bombshell.
Stalin, taken aback, said no more about
Bulgaria. Next day, the Agrarian cabinet
member was dropped from the Bulgarian
cabinet and the question of holding free
elections in Bulgaria went over to the meet
ing of foreign ministers to be held in Lon
don before Sept. 1.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
The wife of the Pfc. who eats so much
he has been dubbed "The Stomach" Isn't
worried about how she'll feed him it the
army decides it can't cope with a soldier
who has been known to eat a light break
fast consisting of 40 eggs, 20 pieces of toast,
several quarts of milk, eight pieces of ba
con, a quart of coffee, and a large box of
cereal.
How does she propose to cut his appetite
down to normal if army psychiatrists fail?
They're trying to taper him off gradually.
Well, her plan is very simple. She says
she will first have a talk with him and show
him the family's allotment of ration points.
Then she will feed him a good family meal,
with emphasis on no seconds. And third
she'll show him a price table she has com
piled on the increase in the cost of living.
She thinks those three steps will curb his
unrationed appetite, even if army doctors
fail to figure out the cause for it. And she's
probably right. Look at the way thousands
of other wives have changed the eating hab
its of their husbands by the very same three
steps.
Time was when the average wife catered
to all her husband's food whims. If he liked
roast beef rare, and could pay for it, that
was what he got. If his favorite meal in
cluded thick steaks and apple pie it wan
served to him at least twice a week. He
didn't like those fancy dishes women were
always getting out of magazines, where a
man couldn't be sure he was eating, so he
rarely got such a dish a second time.
But times have changed, and now the
average man is grateful to have a meal that
includes meat two or three times a week.
Meekly he accepts all kinds of crazy dishes,
that the food writers trot out as mea
stretchers. If he gets a tough old round
steak for Sunday dinner, he beams, and
tells the little woman or she tells him
how smart she was to manage it on her
points.
So judging from the drastic way they have
changed their own men's eating habits,
wives ought to have confidence in the three
point plan the wife of "The Stomach" has
advanced as her proposed appetite-killer.
But there's still another step, if the first
three fail. She can send him to the butcher,
ration books in band, and let him stand in
line for an hour and then face a near
empty meat case, and the aloof attitude of
the butcher. That will fix him, sure.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EPSON. La Grand Etp tog Obterver Washington Correspondent
at least free access to Dairen without naval
threat from a Jap held Port Arthur, Russia
cannot hope to develop for Siberia the Pa
cific commerce she needs badly. Or consid
er Manchuria proper with its hundreds of
thousands of square miles of the world's
richest farming land, its gold, silver, coal,
iron, copper, lead, tungsten. The Japs, coop
ed up on barren islands want the space,
the foodstuffs and the industrial raw ma
terials of Manchuria, and have taken them.
But Russia for development of Siberia, re
quires at the very least free access to those
resources, and Russia cannot feel very safe
about Siberia as long as Jap armies squat
across the Manchurian border, and Jap bat
tleships nchor at Port Arthur and the Japs
consider Korea as part of their homeland.
China, historic owner of alt these areas ex
cept Sakhalin, is treated as a mere bystand
er in this clash of rival Imperial ambitions.
In 1857, Japan had just been opened by
Commodore Perry, and the Russians, need
ing an isolated location for penal colonies,
probably didn't even think of Tokyo when
they began colonizing Sakhalin. Japan was
strong enough by 1875 so that when Russia
decided to take Sakhalin, the czar crossed
over domination of the Kurilos and certain
Okhotsk and Bering Sea fishing rights as a
sop as one gives the baby a toy to stop
his crying when he takes away the watch
he was playing with. The incident was neg
ligible to the czar, but illuminating and
annoying to the mikado; so when the Japs
whipped China in 1894, they adopted occi
dental practice and demanded the Liaotung
peninsula, upon which Port Arthur and
Dairen are located. The Chinese agreed, but
France. Germany and Russia forced Japan
to cancel the deal.
Four years later, Russia leased the ports
from which she had kept Japan in 1900;
using the Boxer rebellion as an excuse, she
occupied much of Manchuria. She had pre
viously obtained Chinese consent to butidjng
I li e Chinese Eastern railway, connecting
ith her own trans-Siberian line, and in
lSi'8 she obtained the privilege of extending
this t her tftHsed Pori Arthur by way of
Mukden, Manchuria. Japane viewed these
eastward excursions with distrust, just as
See BEHIND SCENES . . . Page 5
(This article, by S. Burton Heath, NEA
staff correspondent, is substituted today for
the usual column by Peter Edson.)
Russia and Japan have fought only one
avowed war. The Japs won that more or
less by default. They destroyed the Czar'.-,
fleet, and by overwhelming numerical su
periority combined with more intelligent
leadership, they whipped the Russians con
sistently on land. The war of 1004-05 was
unpopular in Russia. The average Slav had
no conception then of what has become evi
dent since that the belligerently ambitious
empire rising of fthe coast of China must
inevitably clash with Russia's program far
the building up of Siberia. The war ended
just as the tide might have turned. To win
her unbroken chain of victories Japan ex
hausted her resources. Attrition would have
ruined her if the war had continued. Russia
had been handicapped originally by the nec
essity of sending troops, weapons and sup
plies across the Siberian wastes on a one
track railroad. But back home, her man
power and materials were relatively inex
haustible, and even in the final battles she
had achieved almost a parity with the Japs.
This was the only time the two great as
pirants for domination over the Pacific in
dulged in something! resembling declared
war, but they have pecked away at each
other sporadically, in guerrilla fashion, much
of the time for a century, and it has been
long apparent that some day one or the
other would have to be eliminated from the
Pacific picture. A casual glance at any good
map of the north Pacific makes it clear
why the nationalistic Japs and the ambi
tious owners of Siberia should be at almost
constant loggerheads.
Consider first, the island of Sakhalin. It
is the northernmost land in the Japanese
archipelago apparently an integral part of
the Nipponese main land. But the Japs own
only the relatively worthless southern por
tion. While Rusisa holds the rich coal and
oil lands to the north. Consider next Port
Arthur and Dniton on the Kwnotung penin
sula in southern Manchuria. They are ice
freeorts the year (ftvund. Russia's only im
portant Pacific port, Vladivostok is closed
by ice part of the year. Unless she can have
1 8-
COW. IMS BY NEA SCTVIC1, IWC. T. M. REQ. U. 8. "
"Let me lip you off, Charley develop some allergy and you can
get out of all kinds of ornery jobs around the house like I did I"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY : America's Card Authority
WHEN IN DOUBT. BID
OR DOUBLE OPPONENT
Many players feel they have
made a big mistake when they
double a contract and the oppo
nents make it. If the opponents
make a doubled contract without
A Q 105
VK987
43
10S
2
80
V J
Q6542
498653
W E
S
Dealer
432
VQ652
4 K.I87
Q4
KJ97
V A10
A3
AKJ107
Duplicate Both vul.
South West North Ea.it
1 IV 2 2 V
2 3 4 4
Double '.Pass Pass - Pass
Opening 8. 11
one-half top honor tricks combin
ed with a couple of jacks and
tens, and a sure trump trick.
Nevertheless he could not defeat
the contract. The opening spade
lead was won by West with the
ace when South' played the king.
A small heart was led to the
.queen, South won, and attempted
to eash the king and ace of clubs.
But the second club was ruffed,
the ten of hearts picked up, and
the diamond ten led. The finesse
was taken, South had to win with
the ace, and that was his last rf
trick. But I still say he had a
sound double.
O BARBS
One place where a man may
acquire a vocabulary is at the altar.
an overtrick, they gain only from
150 to 170 points. If you defeat
them two tricks, the edge is
greatly in your favor. Therefore,
let me say that if you defeate
every contract you double, you
are not doubling enough; if you
always make your doubled con
tracts, you ofre not bidding
enough.
In today's hand, South certain
ly had a very sound double of
four hearts, with his four and
Judging from the wide open
spaces in the meat cases, fewer
goats are growing up to be lamb
chops. . .".! .W . .
The Jap home folks must be
amazc-d over what the Americans
are doing with a fleet that's been
sunk several times.
We've solved IVv? juvenile de
linquency prdblem. Children
n-on't mind parents who. won't
i mind children.
"SOME MEN'S SINS AND THEIR JUDGMENT"
Sunday Evening at 8:00
9:45 a. m., The Church School
11:00 a.m. "CONSCIENCE EFFECTS OF ABUSE"
Broadcast on KLBM
, The Lord's Supper Observed
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
Sixth and Spring
R. E. Stanley Hunt
Minister
Bring Your Car Here for
K"
" STOP" WEAR
LUBRICATION
It Carries a 1000-Mile Guarantee
We perform the following services with mod
ern equipment and do an efficient, guaranteed
job.
Drain. Hush & Refill
Crankcase
Refill Transmission
wi(h Proper Lubricant
Clean Air Cleaner
Imbricate Chassis
Lubricate
Transmission
Repack Front
Wheels
Clean Oil Filler
Lubricate Motor
IN ADDITION . . . wc give these FREE SER
VICES! Clean all glass, check lights, filter mile
age, fan belt, windshield wiper, battery cable,
change door lube record and check and fill battery.
This is why it pays to have a Stop-Wear Lubrica
tion Job here.
Expert Car Washing, Waxing & polishing
Battery Charging Hat tires Fixed
Firestone Accessories
Union Oil Station
LYNN ANDERSON
"Your Independent Union Oil Dealer"
1601 Adams I'hone S6