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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1945)
HOW AMERICA and her allies won the-war and thai which may be ex pected to follow after the war are set forth in this section of t h e Evening Observer's Victory Day Edition. EASTEKN OREGON -looks confi dently to the future as the contents of this, the Victory Day edition. of the Evening Observer, show. "After the war, what?" is partly answered here. Union and Wallowa Couof'ti ESTABLISHED 1896 LA GRANDE, OREGON WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1945 VICTORY SPECIAL SECTION TWO Bus V in honor of this victory that brings V Peace Payless Or or H. C. STEVENS CO. iness Expects Bid Volume Following War! SB a B H P W UIUI1I. Raise the Colors HI I l-C 9 Now is the time for jubilation, tempered with a sober contemplation of the cost of victory -and of the prob 1 ems of peace. These problems we can handle in our stride, if we attack them in the hard American way. Let us rejoice momentarily and then get down to the business of building a greater America. PEACE, TOO, REQUIRES EFFORT yg Store We Have Won! Some nations contributed food, some helped to supply am munition for the allied fighting men, others permitted' the use of their land and channels to speed transportation, and the majority mobilized their fighting men. Yes, the parts played by the United Nations varied each one did what it was best able, but all strove toward one end . . . Victory! Now, let's work for the return of lasting peace. - i Government Hesitates to Predict How Peace Will Affect West Coast Areas West coast government officials today hesitated to predict the effects of the end of the war with Japan on the west's new industries but business jubilantly prepared to pour out an unprecedented torrent of civilian goods and services. World War 2 Cost U.S. 260,000 Men Billions in Money Six Times as Great In Cost as First World War By CHILES C. COLEMAN WASHINGTON (UP) The United States paid with the lives of more than 260,000 of her men and $350,000,000,000 of her wealth to win history's greatest conflict. For every life lost and every dol lar spent by this country in world war I, more than five lives were lost and more than six dollars spent this time. Selective service inducted 16, 000,000 men into the armed serv ices out of nearly 23,000,000 who were processed. Additional hun dreds of thousands served under enlistments while still under age, direct commissions from civilian life, in the women's army corps and in the merchant marine. Peak 11 Million Peak strength of the armed services at any given time, how ever, was about 11,500,000 men and women. Roughly a third of our casualties were incurred and a third of our money spent to defeat Japan. The rest went to ward subduing Germany. Tile money cost of the war will mount for countless years. There will be interest on government borrowings, benefits to veteraW and spending to keep the peace. The killing will stop now but the cost in broken lives will last a generation. More than 650,000 men were wounded. Some will never know health again. Gave Support America began pouring her treasure into the global war long before she herself was attacked. Through lend-lease shipments and other aid we supported the democracies who were fighting aggression while we began to remedy our almost complete un preparedness for war. From July 1, 1940, the begin ning of the fiscal year in which war spending started, through Aug. 8, 1945, the flood of dolars reached $299,408,000,000. At least another $50,000,000,000 must be spent before the nation can con sider itself back on a peace-time budget. The money went, too, for aid to our allies, particularly Russia. Can't Figure Two billions of it was spent by the little group of American sci entists who worked for years to develop the most fearsome weap on of all time, the atomic bomb, first dropped on Japan Aug. 5. No exact computation can be made of the amount spent to de feat Germany and the amount spent against Japan. But most government experts in fiscal and other fields believe about two thirds of the $300,000,000,000 I spent so far may be charged against the war in Europe, j The cost of world war I is plac ! ed at $55,345,000,000 and this ! includes continuing expenses for many years after the war as well as the unpaid war debts. Divided The army devoted rougly 80 percent of its strength to the war in Europe, in line with the grand strategy of beating Germany first, while the navy sent ap proximately 80 percent of its men to Pacific assignments. Of the navy's nearly 2,500.000 : men, only 124,000 were engaged directly or indirectly in the inva sion of Normandy, last big water operation of the war in Kuropc. The army sent about 3.500,000 men to Europe. Other millions were retained in supply and sup port jobs. ' U. S. TECHNICIANS TOPS Technical experts who follow ed our armies into Germany found to their amazement that the vaunted technicians of Ger many aren't so hot. Only in one instance, in the case of rubber, were the German technicians able to keep up with or even abreast of us and that was on the production, of Koroscal. Hitler defeated himself in the battle of technicians when he caused the nation's best to be killed or imprisoned. The end of the war was ex pected to touch off a struggle be tween government and industry mostly large industry over relaxing manpower and materials controls. Fear Behind California is optimistic. Offi cials said the state contemplates nearly $500,000,000 in construc tion. The San Francisco cham ber of commerce said private in dustry is ready to begin (instruc tion of $163,000,000 in plant ex pansion programs the minute Japan surrenders. But behind all the thinking and planning for expansion was the fear of unemployment. Shipyard workers in the Portland - Van couver areas were reported stead ily quitting, leaving no doubt they will quit wholesale when peace comes. Workers in Calif ornia who came from the middle west to "easy money" war plants have been returning to their homes. Many of the west's new residents will stay. Can Ask Relief The California unemployment insurance fund passed the $700, 000,000 mark this month, estim ated to be 'more than enough to weather two years of poor em ployment conditions. State bene fits are distributed at the rate of $20 a week for 23 weeks. Those vho may remain unemployed af ter receiving maximum benefits may apply for relief through county agencies provided the money is appropriated. It is expected the war man power commitiion will remove controls which during the war have channeled manpower into viUl planH. WMC official! de cided it was "too early" to make any predictions. It was pointed out, however, sailors, soldiers and marines in the Pacific still have to be sup plied and equipped, war or no The Land of war. If the war ends today, to morro wor next week, freight still will be on its way to and through west coast ports. Materials for the Pacific will have to be hand led somehow. To Continue The war production board was instructed by President Truman to continue a program of mate rial and inventory controls. The program is designed to allow the small and low-priced manufac turer access to materials on the Let's PAUL Cove Avenue AWAITS THE RETURNING VETERAN! His military training has given him a fine background with which he hopes to build a new civilian life. He will not be the boy that he was before the war; he will be expecting a lot more from his country. lie's carried his share of the load; the least we can do is to keep America full of oppol'- tunity for him. The power lies with every citizen here iit , home. Let's Concentrate on Giving Our ' Soldiers an Even Break! Eastern Oregon Light & Power Co. same basis as the large manufac turer. It will prevent hoarding of as yet scarce materials, and give priority assistance to break bottlenecks. Don M'."her, acting WPB re gional di'ector in San Francisco, said civilian production "will show a very fine development by the first of the year if the war ends now." Promise of post-war job oppor tunities for war workers has been held out on a large scale by They Will Soon Be Home . . . Now comes the payoff. They have been in the far corners of the earth fighting your battle and ours. We must see that they come home to good jobs, the opportunity to make their way and to establish themselves, with all the things they have been fighting for. Prepare a Welcome! BUNYAN CO. Opportunity Henry Kaiser, who proposes to operate the Geneva, Utah, and, Fontuna, ' Calif, steel mills and' build motor cars and houses.! planes, and parts manufacturer.! AUTOMOTIVE HINT . I If the cables leading to spark' plugs loosen in the sockets of the, distributor head, a few drops of mercury to each socket will as-! sure a good contact, mercury be- ing a good conductor of electric-! ity. . Phone 345
