I : EDITORIAL PAGE .
i i
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 1, 1945
Page Two
Out of the Ashes of Death
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EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronde Valley irrigation project.
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
Extend the city limits.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
Woman, I tell you, i.s a microcosm;
and rightly to rule her, requires as
f great talents as to govern a state.
Samuel Foole.
Labor's Day
American labor, the (treat production
army of our long war, deserves more
than usual praise and encouragement
on this, the day set aside for recogni
tion of the working man.
Praise for the manner in which, with
unprecedented efforts, it transformed
our cumbersome industrial machinery
into the greatest, speediest production
line ever known. Old men and young
boys, war wives, mothers, sweethearts
and daughters went into the mills and
shipyards and factories.
And with the exception of a few mis
guided, hotheaded strikers, American
labor staged a historic exhibition of
teamwork and unselfishness.
l'ecause there was a war to be won.
Their success amazed and confused,
and ultimately defeated, the enemy. The
war is over, the equipment that made
our victory possible is no longer needed,
so the industry which produced that
equipment has come to a standstill.
Now there i.s a peace to be won.
And labor has probably as big a job
in winning that peace as have the ad
mirals and generals and stutemen at the
conference tables. For there are prob
lems in , the reconversion to peacetime
economy that only labor can solve.
.Only labor can decide whether the
changeover to new production lines, and
the unavoidable interim of idleness,
shall be marked by oderliness or strife.
Only labor can work out rehiring provi
sions equitable both to the job-hunting
war veteran who deserves the best this
nation can supply, and to the worker
who stuck to his job for the duration
just as faithfully as the soldier stuck to
his gun. For no arrangement establish
ed by industry or legislators can be
workable if it is unacceptable to labor.
This is labor's day, and If the great
army of working men and women pitch
into their new problems with as much
practical sense and enthusiasm as they
pitched into the war problems, and if
they exhibit the same spirit of co-operation
and teamwork that they have ex
hibited during the war, labor can look
forward to a new day, brighter than
any vet seen.
Aftermath
We already are beginning to feel the
i fleets of postwar readjustment in Eu
rope. For instance, the Poles have seized
the former Gorman city of Stettin, and
now American radio announcers will
have to learn to pronounce the city's
i ew name Szczecina.
Funny Hit sin ess
. ' l
O SO THEY SAY
I inn never afraid of the future
of America. I h a v e boundless
faith in Americans taking care of
themselves if they are told what
to do and why.
Bernard Baruch.
It w o u 1 d appear curtain that
some Argentine leaders are get
ting too big for their breeches.
Like some other countries, they
are inclined to regard American
patience as equivalent to Amer
ican support, or even American
weakness.
Piqua. Ohio, Call.
We strongly urge everyone con
nected with the salvage program
to stay nn the job.
J. A. King, chairman, War Pro
duction board.
"Just doin' bit of small talk, tirl"
Among t h e world's nations,
Franco's Spain is a moral outcast.
That fact cannot bo lost upon
Franco. Yet . . . he remains ar
togant and confident.
N.ltcliei, Miss., Democrat.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Side Glances
By DREW PEAMOH
(NOTE Drew Pearson Is on vacation.
In his absence, Bart Crura, west coast
campaign .manager for Wendell Willkie
and an independent republican, contrib
utes a guest column.)
By BART CHUM
Chairman, Independent Republican!
For Roosevelt.
SAN FRANCISCO How I wish Wendell
Wlllkle could be alive today to watch his
realistic dream of one world -now emerging
on the stage of history!
No man cherished greater hopes and ideals
for the peace of the world; and no man, in
my opinion, would have had greater capac
ity to help carry them out.
I have been thinking back over some of
the days I spent with Wendell Willkie. And
in this hour of victory, which as much as
anyone's is also Willkie's hour. I take ad
vantage of Drew Pearson's invitation.
Those of us who traveled with Willkie
will always remember what a good listener
he was, how seldom and how briefly he
dominated the conversation. His idea of a
good dinner was thick steak, baked potatoes,
apple pie and cheese set in a framework
of challenging and interesting talk.
His honesty went beyond words into the
realm of deeds. In 1940, the then governor
of Kansas warned Willkie he had been pho
tographed smoking a cigaret and the prairie
grapevine shuddered with the rumor he oc
casionally enjoyed a highball. Such a wast
rel could never hope to win pious Kansan
votes, the governor said. Months later, W'"'
kie commented, "and the strange part of it
was that the good governor was voted out
of office on the same day Kansas gave me
a majority."
On the campaign train, no one managed
Wendell Willkie. He listened to advice,
weighed the evidence, and made his own de
cisions. When other men grew tense, when
tempers flared and personality defenses
wore thin, his trenchant humor, often earthy
and always in sharp focus, brought harmony
out of approaching chaos. Many people have
now forgotten Willkie's support of Great
Britain, standing alone in defense of civil
ization. At that time it was not a popular
move. How the isolationists hated him for
it! How the "wise" politicians tut-tutted his
outspoken support of decency and democ
racy, when evasion would have been so much
more "adroit."
And so we come to Willkie's last year, his
tentative re-entry into the political field and
his crusade to save the GOP from the blind
oligarchy of its entrenched leadership, to his
defeat in Wisconsin, his withdrawal as a
candidate, and his cavalier exclusion from
the 1944 GOP convention, a body whose .
leadership welcomed Herbert Hoover on
their platform.
Where others deprecated mildly, Wendell
Willkie moved boldly In his radio "open
letter" on the Detroit race riots. He looked
with puzzled contempt on the political type
which struggles furiously in a vain effort
to press both ears to the earth in futile hope
of riding not leading the waves of public
opinion. Who of our days has more tersely
and accurately diagnosed the morass of re
ligious prejudice than this forthright warrior
when he said:
"Anti-semitism is not a germ which ban
be isolated or confined to any one group
in our society. The total destruction which
it works can be prevented only when a suf
ficient immunity against it exists through
out the community. This Immunity can be
created through continuous education and
constant use of democratic practices.
The man, repudiated by the GOP high
command, was opposed to communism in
principle but could not see that doctrine as a
threat to an enlightened and self-disciplined
free enterprise system.
I heard his talk his eyes alight, his huge
frame tense with conviction on the future
cooperative world, with the United States
and soviet Russia, especially, working to
gether to make it. He admired Russia "in
its vigor, its vast dreams, its energy, its te
nacity of purpose."
What has happened to the heritage Wen
del Willkie left to the republican party? It
is small wonder thousands are finding it in
creasingly difficult to give unswerving yet
thoughtful allegiance to a republican party
whose senators provided 14 of the 16 votes
cast against the Bretlon Woods agreements,
and whose only living ex-president has re
cently attacked the victorious British labor
party.
The dinosaurs have left us only their skel
etons as mute reminders of total defeat. The
republican party is in dire danger of shar
ing their fate.
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
Papa was as over-joyed as. the rest of the
family when rationing went off gasoline.
The minute he heard the news he gave
the kids some money and said' lq the 17ryear
old: "For the first time since you've been old
enough to drive the car you can pull into a
filling station and get all the gas you want.
So go to it. And then drive all over town,
just for the fun of driving."
Oh yes Papa was tickled pink.
But now he's beginning to wonder if he
isn't the old boy who is going .to pay in
more ways than one for the family's being
able to get all the gas they want.
Mama takes him to work now and keeps
the car. And instead of being able to leave
for home the minute his day's work is done,
he has to wait for Mama or one of the kids
to pick him up.
The kids take the car at night, too. And
there is the worry about 1helr having an
accident, and the concern because they don't
get home as early as they did in gasoline
less days.
Then, too, Mama is already getting let
ters from relatives who say .they are com
ing for a visit. They haven't .traveled in
so long, they say, they simply aren't going
to put it off another month.'
So home isn't the cozy, private place it
used to be. Now it has the feel of a hotel,
with people coining and going and worst
of all, often staying.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON. La Grand ETenlng Obsarrar Wuhlngioa Corrwpoadant
WASHINGTON In any consideration of
President Truman's request that congress
continue selective service inductions of 18-to-25-year-old
men, there is one important
bit of background which should not be over
looked. This is a directive which George C. Mar
shall, general of the army, issued as basic
policy for his general staff committees work
ing on plans for the permanent postwar U.
S. army. It was made public as an army cir
cular almost exactly a year ago. It has been
generally forgotten. Brought into focus now,
however, it will explain perfectly what lies
behind President Truman's letter on draft
continuance, sent to chairman of house and
senate committees on military affairs.
General Marshal's directive set forth two
important plans.' First, it warned that the
"wartime a r m y" meaning a big army
may be needed long after the defeat of the
axis powers in order to establish the peace
time conditions imposed by the allies.
Second, General Marshall declared that
after this period, the U. S. army must con
sist of the smallest possible professional or
ganization because a large standing army has
no place among the institutions of modern
democratic state.
When these statements of policy were
made a year ago, with Germany and Japan
both very much in the running, it was the
idea of the small, peacetime standing army
that caught all the headlines and won all the
praise from congressional leaders. It was
then considered unusual that any regular
army officer, even a statesman of the cal
iber of General Marshall, should openly de
clare in time of war that the U. S. army
should be small. But in all the praise heap
ed on General Marshall for this utterance,
his qualification completely ignored was
that the wartime army might still be needed
for some time after the defeat of the axis.
What General Marshall apparently fore
saw clearly a year ago has now come to
pass. In the interim, of course. Germany and
Japan have been defeated and the U. S.
public is in a different frame of mind.'
So, while President Truman's request that
congress continue the draft may now appear
like something new and staggering a re
versal of General Marshall's year-old sug
gestion for a small peacetime army it is in
reality nothing of the sort.
There is a third point in General Mar
shall's directive which must not be over
looked. It is a statement that his policy of
keeping a large wartime army to establish
peace and then reducing to a small peace
time army was based on the assumption con
gress would approve a system of universal
military training under which every able
bodied American should be trained to de
fend his country.
A year ago, that statement caused no great
consternation. In the bright and shining
light of peacetime reality however, the thing
looks different. It will unquestionably be
unpopular and be met with stiff opposition.
Yet, continuation of the draft is practically
the same as compulsory military training.
Inducting young men through the selective
service system is merely the stop-gap until
congress works out permanent policies for
compulsory military training.
Proposals for compulsory military train
ing have of course, been before congress
since early in the war. Before Virginia Rep.
Clifton A. Woodrum'f select committee on
postwar military policy, Secretaries Stim
son and Patterson, Generals Marshal, Eisen
hower and others have testified consistently
in favor of the need for compulsory service.
Afraid of the political implications, however,
congress has shied away.
If such legislation had been passed dur
ing the war, it might have been easier to
accept. Today, such legislation will have
much harder going. This is merely a sign
of the time. Gone is the enthusiasm for war,
sentiment is now unquestionably in favor or
returning as rapidly as possible to what
General Marshall has so ably recognized as
the traditional American way a small
peacetime standing army backed by a citizen
army reserve.
All President Truman's request to con
gress does it indicate that in the opinion of
his military advisors, the time for return to
that system has not yet arrived, and credit
must be given to General Marshall for hav
ing spelled out the whole situation candidly
and consistently in his planning of a year ago.
tout. ut y a mwet, im. t. m. m u. . t. off.
9-3
"If your wife won't give you a coupon for a new pair of shoes; I'd
rather give you one of mine than try to repair these old wrecks!"
O McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Card Authority.',
FOUR-CLUB BID
SHOW YOUR ACES
The world championship Mas
ters pair event had the closest
finish this year in the history of
the game. At the end of the four
sessions of play, only four points
Separated the first three pairs.
Llfhtman
AKJ75
V AKJ67S
A 10
3
Q 10 1 3
VNone
Q864
QJ952
N
W E
S
Dealer
A None
VQ943
J9532
A864
Appleyard
A9862
V1062
K7
K107
Duplicate N.-S. vul.
South West North East
Pass Pass 1 V Pass
1 Pass 3 A Pass
4 Pass 4 4 Pass
Opening Q. 2
The championship went to M. A.
Lightman of Memphis, Tenn., and
Pfc. Robert Appleyard of Ran
dolph Field, Tex. Appleyard also
won this event in 1939 with Har
ry "Fishbein; ; As a result of his
victory this year, Appleyard be-
O BARBS
' As far as the kids are concern
ed, the famous old song should
read, "School daze, school daze,
dreary golden rule days,"
As the outlook for new cars
grows better the "look out' 'for
pedestrians grows more important.
came Life Master No. 46. .,
In today's hand, the four-club
bid is the Garber convention ask
ing partner to show aces. While
North did show two aces by his
response of four spades, Apple
yard decided his hand was too
empty to try for the slam. '
The opening lead was won by
East with the ace of clubs, and a
diamond was returned, dummy
winning with the ace. Appleyard
led a spade to his ace, then pick
ed up the whole spade suit. After
casliing the ace of hearts, he led
a small heart to his ten-spot, thus
assuring himself the maximum
number of tricks and top spore on
the board.
O IN FORMER
YEARS
Thirty Years Ago
C. A. Phillips, the station help
er at North Powder, was struck
over the head with a heavy piece
of wood about 9 o'clock last eve
ning and while he was still in an
unconscious state, robbers, be
lieved to be two in , number,
quickly cleaned the 0;W,.ationM
till of all moneys in it and
escaped. ,-, .
Union's volunteer fire depart
ment is now completely organiz
ed and the hose companies, were
appointed last night at a public
meeting held in the city hall.
Fifteen Years Ago .
The judges in the rock garden
and lawn contests, preliminary to
the annual Neighborhood club
flower show to be held Sept. 5,
started their task of selecting the
best displays in four districts of
La Grande this moraine.
The Chinese have asked for the
Jap navy. Where are they going
to get all the deep sea divers?
As long as there are such things
as neighbors, the age -old and
original lend-lease will go on and
on and on!
Now comes one more mighty
important reason for driving care
fully: the youngsters are going
back to school.
FOUND BURIED CITIES
Heinrich Schliemann discov
ered the buried cities in the great
mound of Troy. The mound it
self was about 125 feet high, but
all nine buried cities were found
after digging only 50 feet.
Ten Years Ago
A 50-acre fire in second growth
timber back of Hilgard was start
ed yesterday by sparks from a
U. P. locomotive, but before the
day was over it had been con
trolled. Application for a 45 percent
grant and a 55 percent loan for
an $80,000 women's dormitory at
the Eastern Oregon normal school
was filed by the state board of
higher education yesterday with
the public works administration
in Portland.
Charles Reynolds, with a 36
hole net of 146, won the Sacaja
wea trophy golf tournament at
the La Grande Country clui) dur
ing the weekend.
This Curious World
WHAT'S IN A
NAME P.
IS Aor A FIR...
and the trees
scient1ftc name
doesnt tell what
the tree is
but what it
sast
THE NAME,
.MEANS "IMITATION
HEMLOCK WITH
YEW LEAVES."
... IT IS ALSO
COMMONLY
CALLED .
DOU6LAS
Stuce; and
MANY
LUMBERMEN
SELL IT AS
OREBOH
COPR. 1941 BY NEA SERVICE. INC
T. m. B1 u. & PAT. Of P.
Peoevs HLHrLurii tvey
ViKJCSNT . TDRTCWA,
NANO oGb .
IS KVIOWH AS A
NEXT: Babe Ruth's high altitude hit.