EDITORIAL PAGE
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schlro, Publisher
SATURDAY EVENING. AUfJUST IS, 1945
I'age Two
Into Whose Hands?
i
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronde Valley irrigation project.
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
Extend the city limits.
TODAY'S TEXT - ?
'trouble me! iimny nre lliny Hint rise
up njfiiin.st me. Psalms 3:1.
Lord, how nre they increased that
THOUGHT IX)K TODAY
lie who talks much' cannot always
talk well. Coldoni.
This Shrinking World
President Tinman took coKtii.ance of
this small and interdependent world
when he announced, in his latest re
port to the nation, that wo shall main
tain and acquire such military bases as
are necessary for our future defense.
Following and clarifying as it did the
president's disavowal of territorial am
bition, this statement also served notice
that America has learned at least one
Croat lesson from this war, and that
the false security that dominated our
thinkimt in the lilliOs has been dispelled.
We can never ncain thin k of our
oceans as impregnable bastions against
invasion. And we can never again feel
safe if any potential warmaker, how
ever remote, finds inadequate foreign
defenses along his borders.
It seemed of no immediate concern
to the ordinary American of lt)"(i when
Hitler marched his troops into the
lihinelaiul. Kut if the invading Her
mans had been met there by French
(runs and determined French courage,
there might have been no European
war and possibly no Pearl Harbor at
tack. To many American of 19"9 it was a
source of positive pride that our armed
forces were inadequate and our air
,force. infinitesimal. We were determin-
ed not to be dragged into any Kuropean
war which was a blameless, though
hopeless, -determination. l!ut we some
how thought that we could discourage
attack by being ill-armed and ill-defended,
and that by strengthening ourselves
we should invite aggression.
The rocket, the jet plane, and now
the atomic bomb have changed all that.
Own and Owinawa have become first
lines of defense, not only for the Amer
ican mainland, but for the peace of the
world.
The decision to maintain these and
other islands as military bases is the
first step toward future military se
curity. The second is to maintain them
adequately. And that step is up to
congress.
That is where congress stumbled
badly in the years between the wars.
With their heas burrowed comfort
ably in the topsoil of Capitol Hill, suc
ceeding generations of congressment
cut and withheld military appropriations
until, in spite of pleas from the Army,
and Navy, our farthest Pacific outposts
became feeble and impotent.
This is not likely to happen again.
I o r advancing science can scarcely
have failed to convince even the most
isolation-minded legislator that distance
no longer means safely in this shrink
ing world.
Funny liusincss
- .... .,-y .
m. M,
f-ij!, v " Z-
: 'Tha wheelsman's got a Isitor Irom his girl atjmol"
SO THEY SAY
I don't think ;my university in
this country rah w ..vulval us
.:v as religion is conwrncd.
Dr. Sultu'V l.ovi'tt. i-hapijin,
Y;U university.
It is imh ii heal tt'ninn sin
for Ihr futuic of world-wide
aviation when thousands of trans
Atlantic flights can he made at
inos'. as uneventfully as going to
work i nthe morning and, on
the average, piobahly a good bit
more s.ifely.
- lJihee. Aiu., Kovirw.
Man is at last well on the way
to masteiy of ;i means of destroy
ing himself utterly twith the
atomie homh.
Mam-hot or, Kiiglanri, Guard
ian, The "fe-Kl shortage" is tike the
panic of ':' We have everything
to m. ike us pio.:peious except the
sense to use it.
-Ci.iHd Kapids, Mu'h., .vss.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Side Glances
By DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON Notes on two armistices
"The tumult and the shouting dies, the
captains and the kings depart . . ." Vivid
memories of people rejoicing; happy people,
delirious people, dizzy people . . . telephone
books and ticker tape . . .- horns and more
horns ... the White House, stately, aloof,
majestic, glowing with lights ... the state
department dark . . . the coded messages
have all been sent . . . sailors kissing pretty
girls, strange girls . . . Back on my desk s
letter from an old classmate, his boy lost in
action.
Philadelphia in 1018 dim memories of
people milling around . , . the armistice
came early in the morning giving us all day
to mill . . '. People got a little tired of mill
ing .. . The whistles blowing while we were
out drilling. People came up to tell us the
war was over . . . Seemed funny not to have
anything more to drill for. Like the bottom
had dropped out of things . . . The fellows
who had been selected for officer's training
school at Camp Lee, Va., were sore. It was
a dirty trick, the war ending when it did . . .
Everybody else was happy. No more wars
. . . The war to end ware. The war to save
democracy.
If we could make certain that this would
end all wars, that would be at least soma
consolation . . . Can't seem to forget Alfred
Noyes' words in the last war: "We who lie
here have nothing left to pray. To all your
praises we are deaf and blind. We may not
even know if you betray our hopes to make
earth better for mankind."
Pennsylvania avenue Military police al
most crushed by Ihe crowds ... A sailor
taking down "no parking" signs ... A sol
dier wearing a WAVE'S hat ... A war de
partment stenog singing: "I'm going back to
Topeka, to sleepy, good old Topeka. I
1-o-v-e Washington, big, bod wicked Wash
ington, but the war's over and I'm going
back home" . . . Jimmy Byrnes, immaculate,
spotless, sprightly, coming out of the state
department ... A million pairs of eyes
watching Jimmy Byrnes. Does he know
they're watching him? . . . When he goes to
London for the meeting of the foreign min
isters ,when he goes to Rio de Janeiro to sit
with Latin American leaders, they will be
watching him, praying for him, hoping for
his success . . . John McCrae's words still
ringing from the last war: "If ye break faith
with us who die we shall not sleep . . ."
Telephone books and ticker itape . . . Paper,
paper, ankle deep . . . Hectic crowds, hilar
ious crowds, happy crowds . . . Military po
lice forced to retreat behind White House
gates . . . the dark and gloomy state depart
ment . . . Majestic, stalely White House .. . .
A radio blaring forth: "Hirohito broadcasts
to people: 'We declared war on America and
Britain out of our sincere desire to ensure
Japan's self-preservation and the stabiliza
tion of East Asia, it being far from our
thought either to infringe upon the, sover
eignty of other nations or to embark upon
territorial aggrandizement" . . . Sounds dif
ferent frero Hirohito's speech right after
Pearl Harbor. BujX what a job for our mili
tpry governor?!',' What a job for our state
department! . . . How can we reach down
to the very to'i'3 of Japanese psychology?
. . . There are some good people in Japan.
Some of the more fearless spent the war in
jail. They opposed the war lords . . . Some
followed the war lords into battle because
that was their religion, their whole training.
They knew no better . . . How can we
change that? . . . How can we undo that
training? . . . Will we spend the money?
Will we pick the men? . . . Alfred Noyes'
words from the last war still ringing: "We
have heard men say when we were living
that some small dream of good would cost
too much; but when the foe struck we have
watched you giving and seen you move the
mountains with one touch."
Little children in the crowds along the
avenue . . . Some carried in the arms of sol
diers and sai!or3 . . . Sleepy children, not
interested, not knowing what the shouting
is all about . . . May you never know! May
you never have to go off to war! May your
fathers never have to sit waiting, hoping,
not complaining, just anxious, weary from
hoping, but still hoping . . . "Missing in
action."
The sermon on the mount! What would
happen if we tried it in our foreign rela
tions? Hitherto other nations have been
only too glad to watch another nation try
it out. But when we've tried it with Latin
American notions it's usually worked. We've
made ithem pretty good neighbors . . . And
if we don't get along with each other in this
day of atomic bombs, we're finished anyway,
so we can afford to be revolutionary. We
can afford to try what no one has ever really
dared try since the days of Christ ... If we
fail now ... If Jimmy Byrnes fails in Lon
don, in the state department, in Japan . . .
A million pairs of hands are stretched out
to help him . . . "And while you deck our
graves you shall not know how many scorn
ful legions pass you by" . . . "When the foe
struck we have watched you giving and seen
you move the mountains with one touch."
. . . "Short days ago, we lived, felt dawn and
sunset glow." . . . "What can be done we
know. But have no fear! If you fail now,
we shall not see nor hear."
"The tumult and the shouting dies, .the
captains and the kings depart. . ." A great
war is won. A greater opportunity lies
ahead.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Okay, American women, it looks as though
you've got a fight on your hands. You don't
approve of American service men choosing
brides from among the women of other coun
tries, huh? Well, judging from my mail the
foreign wives and some of them are so
burned up they write foreign in quotation
marks don't have too high an opinion of
American women and the reception wo have
given thorn.
They say American women ask such ques
tions as "Did you buy that coat or that hat
in Ireland?" And then squeal, "Oh, look,
Mrs. So-and-So, they wear clothes like ours
over there."
And American women, they say, take the
altitude that foreign girls are grabbing oif
American soldiers because they "are so poor
in their countries America seems a kind of
paradise to them." You can bet the foreign
wives with or without quotes see red
when they meet that attitude.
Says one from the British empire: "Our
own standard of living is akin fo the Amer
ican standard. True we did without many
things in the last five and a half years, but
that was war ..."
One foreign bride living in a southern city
says: "Wherever did that phrase 'southern
hospitality' originate?" And adds, "Thank
heavens, we won't be here long."
There is still another ithing that gets them,
and that is in the words of one: "I was
taught in school that Americans, by that I
mean those in the U. S. A., were a mixture,
mostly of different European nations. But
now it seems if a family has been here for
two generations .they forget where their
grandfather came from. This is particularly
true of women."
Says another, without prettying up her
sentiments a bit: "I believe that most for
eign brides will, like myself, be keenly dis
appointed in America's womenfolks."
So the fight is on . And though the for
eign brides are outnumbered, they are not
taking what they consider the superior atti
tude of American women without talking
back.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON, La Grand Erening Obtarnr Washington Corraspondani
WASHINGTON Several days ago the top
army medical men from every theater of
operation gathered here to swap experiences,
bring each other up to date on the latest
tricks they had discovered and lay plans for
the Pacific campaign.
Most of what thoy discussed and decided
is top secret but many interesting things
came to light.
Incomplete figures announced to the as
sembled medical men revealed ithat for the
first time in the history of war in Europe
the American army had more men admitted
to its theater hospitals for battle wounds
than for disease For this record the army
medicos are justly proud.
It's part of that record which is the basis
for llv standard gag umong combat soldiers:
"If you can take two breaths after you get
to the hospital they can save you."
Among the doctors at the conference wus
Brig. Gen. Earl Maxwell, with the current
title of chief surgeon of Okinawa island. He
has been chief army medical officer on prc
tically every Pacific nupaign sine Guadal
canal . Young, tall and broadshouldereJ. he
looks moie like u footlwill player than a doc
tor. At Guadalcanal, he tells, eitht out of ev
ery nine soldiers admitted to the hospital
needed treatment of some disease rather
than for wminds. This rate has liven going
down steadily. He gives much cidtt for this
decline to the use of the insect spray. DDT.
Two days after landing at Ok'nw he
asked the navy for the loan of two planes.
They were loaded with DDT and for two
days flew up and down the island spraying
it with insecticide. As a result, he says, Oki
nawa had less loss of men from disease than
almost any other Pacific campaign.
The army medical corps in its advance
planning for the invasion made one small
mistake. Their studies showed that there,
were many poisonous snakes on the island.
The invasion revealed there were only a
few snakes, and they weren't poisonous.
For the first time in fighting against the
Japs most of the wounds suffered by the
men were from artillery and mortar shells.
This meant the average man was wounded
more, seriously and a bigger percent of am
putations resulted. It is this sort of thing
that is taken into consideration in planning
the rest of the war in the Pacific. In spite
of the more serious nature of the wounds
suffered by the men, only a little more than
three percent of the men who were gotten
to hospitals died.
Field hospitals were kept close behind the
linv'S, usually three or four miles behind the
artillery and in several instances, in front
of the arullery."
General Maxwell was outspoken in his
praise of the way whole blood was kept
available. He said its use saved the lives
of untold numbers of men. Never, during
the entire campaign did they run short. A
total of 40,000 pints of it were used.
Also high on his list to receive praise were
the medical aid men no such brave
work in bringing the wounded back to hospitals.
'-
OOWCWM IT MA tnMKr. MC.T.M. Ma U. Wg.Bff.
8-JO
"This book tells parents how to raise children without using force,
Johnny put it where they can read it and you can even play
hookey without a licking!" '
o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority
TRUMP PLAY FORCES
KEY KING TO FALL
I don't suppose I will ever see
the king of diamonds without
thinking of the card drive put on
for us by B ob Hawk on his
"Thanks to the Yanks" program.
I told Bob how badly we needed
cards for our wounded boys in
hospitals, and his appeal brought
in more than a million decks!
The Red Cross sorted and distri
buted the cards.
One day when we had about
200,000 decks piled up, a letter
A KQJ 1086
U 5 3
J 5
52
A 74 3
V A K Q
K 10 9
QJ 64
N
W E
S
Dealer
A 2
V J 1097
870 4
AB873
A A 9 5
842
AQ32
A AK JO
Duplicate N-S vul.
South West North East
1 Double 2 A Pass
4 A Pass Pass Pass
Opening V J. .20
came enclosing the king of dia
monds and reading: "Dear Mr.
Hawk: I sent you a deck of cards
and forgot the king of diamonds.
Here it is. Will you please put
it in the deck for me?"
The king of diamonds might
just as well have been missing in
today's hand, too, for all the good
it was. West cashed three heart
tricks and returned a trump,
which was won in dummy with
the ace. Remembering West's
show of strength by his double,
North cashed the diamond ace,,
then continued' with five more
rounds of trumps, discarding all
the diamonds in the South hand. .
At the 10th trick, holding the
diamond king and queen-jack-six
of clubs, West discarded the king,
hoping that East might have the
diamond jack. Bui North then
cashed the jack of diamonds and
fulfilled his contradt wfth Ithe
ace and king of clubs in dummy.
o IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago :
Five business men of La Grande
will, during the next six days
draft a traffic ordinance govern
ing .11 details of street traffic
and will then submit it to the
auto owners who will then in
turn pass it up for the inspection
and action of the city commission.
This is the outcome of a meeting
of 35 or 40 automobile owners,
city manager and city commis
sioners last evening.
La Grande shippers will learn
with interest that dismissing the
complaint of the Columbia Gold
Mining company of Sumpter
against the interstate commerce
commission reiterated its ruling
that "originating lines generally
are entitled to the longest haul
they can perform where the
transportation can be performed
upon equal terms with reasonable
dispatch and without undue dis- i-f.
crimination."
o BARBS
The Japs found out that there
is a heap of difference between
"all over but the shouting" and
"all over but the shooting."
15 Years Ago
The building permit total for
the city of La Grande totaled
$414,135 with the issuance of
eight permits by City Recorder
J. E. Stearns during the week.
The corn grows high this year
so high it hits our wallet!
War time on our clocks is ex
pected to be an early casualty of
peace with the nation set back
an hour. Think how- far Japan
has been set back!
A movie centering around the
atomic bomb soon will be re
leased. We've already seen some
that were a terrific bust.
10 Years Ago
Contrary to some press reports
following the state board of high
er education's meeting in Port
land yesterday, there will be no
delay in completing the training
school and gymnasium on the
Eastern Oregon Normal school
campus. These two projects will
be completed as soon as possible,
it was announced today.
Greenwood's soft ball team, by
virtue of two straight wins over
the P. D. Q. club, today is city
champion. The A division cham
pions walked roughshod over the
B division title holder at the L.
H. S. stadium last night 8 to 1.
This Curious World
NAMED FCti THE FUSKCH
PtCftffV MAWOL.
tcwL y vicr nc.
FIRE, IT IS OVER FiRE.".W
J. P. CASPER,
NEXT: Why baseball dopesters get headaches.