THURSDAY. FEB. V 1942
TIM ES. W ILLAM INA, OREGON
W E E K LY NEW S ANALYSIS
By Edw ard C. W ayne
A.ET. Takes Over Northern Ireland Base
As U. S. and British Form Supply Pool;
Jap Convoy Blasted in Macassar Strait;
Hawaii Report Blames U. S. Commanders
( E D IT O R 'S N O T E — W h in « p in ion s a re e xp re s s e d In th e s e c o lu m n s, th e y
o re those o l the new s a n a ly s t an d not n e c e s s a rily «1 th is n e w s p a p e r.)
________________________
R e le a s e d by W e s te rn N e w s p a p e r U n io n >
,
-------
History's Future Course
Hinges on U. S. War Aid
Deciding How Am erican Fighting M aterials Are
To Be Divided on W orld’s B attlefronts
Is FD R ’s G rave Responsibility.
By BAUK11AGE
N a tio n a l f a r m am i H iim r H our C om m en tator.
WNU Service, 1343 II Street. N-W,
Washington, D. C.
Washington has at lust waked up
to the solemnity of the task America
has before it. Donald Nelson has
begun his assignment of sweeping
clean the Augean stables of the in
efficiency and selfishness which
block our defense production. But
suddenly there is revealed a new
responsibility which rests upon the
President’s shoulders, as great spir
itually as Nelson’s is m aterially.
On every front men are dying and
arm ies and fleets are impotent for
want of the sinews which America
alone can forge. We can forge'them .
But how are we to decide how our
aid shall be divided while, as yet,
there is not enough for all?
That is the problem which the
President and his advisors face to
day.
When Winston Churchill came to
Justice Owen J. Roberts is shown (left) talking to newsmen after America at least one-half of his task
laying before President Roosevelt the report on the Pearl Harbor attack. was to convince President Roosevelt
Made public in its entirety by the President, the report fixed responsibility and the latte r's m ilitary advisors
on Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lieut. Gen. W alter C. Short for “ dere that the main objective is the defeat
liction of duty." Justice Roberts was chairm an of the commission of of Hitler. That we must not perm it
six that visited Hawaii.
the Nazi strategy of forcing Japan
into the w ar to accomplish its aim —
GUILTY:
OVER THERE:
namely, to divert American supplies
from Europe to the F ar E ast and
I erdict on Hatvaii
Veit* A.E.F. in Erin
neglect the battle of the Atlantic
When Uncle Sam landed an infan
The stunning news that an ad for the battle of the Pacific.
try force of several thousand men m iral and a lieutenant general, the
at an undisclosed port in Northern naval and m ilitary com m anders re L itv in o ff’s Purpose
Ireland, it marked the first arrival sponsible for the defense of Hawaii, H a d S am e O b je c tiv e
of American troops in a European had showed such a lack of compe
Soviet Am bassador Litvinoff came
port since World War No 1. Com tence that they had failed even to
manded by Maj. Gen. Russell P. talk over with each other deliberate to Washington for a sim ilar purpose.
Hartle, the Yank arm y of brawny, war warnings handed them by their He had two powerful weapons, his
clean-limbed farm lads from the superior officers on November 24 own persuasiveness and the knowl
Middle West proceeded to camps and 27, in ample tim e to have cir edge that he had something we want
prepared months before.
cumvented the Japanese surprise —possible Russian aid against
Few doubted that this detachment attack fell sickeningly on American Japan. This aid, if not in the form
of actual Soviet m ilitary assistance,
was but the advance guard of many- ears.
could mean at least permission to
more to come. It was believed, too,
The imm ediate removal of both
that the base they occupied might Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and use Russian soil—Kam chatka, the
be the springboard from which an Lieut. Gen. W alter C. Short from nearest Asian land to the Aleutian
invasion of Hitler's Europe would their commands after the Pearl H ar i islands, and perhaps even the Si
berian port of Vladivostok—as bases
be made.
bor debacle was fully justified by
This view was voiced in the ad the investigating commission head : of operation against Japan.
dress of welcome by Sir Archibald ed by Justice Roberts of the Su
Although neither Roosevelt nor
Sinclair, British air secretary, who preme court.
Churchill stated flatly for publication
that one of the “ public enemies No.
said:
The report had been utterly frank, 1” should be d e f e a te d first as
“ This is a coming portent for Mr.
Hitler, nor will its significance be comprehensive, and left little un against the others, certain lesser
said. President Roosevelt, to whom lights rushed into print with inter
lost on General Tojo.
Secretary Knox was
“ From here, assuredly you will it was handed, ordered that it be pretations.
sally forth with us to carry the war j given to the public without a lte ra much more specific. He said that
“ Hitler was the enemy who must
to the enemy’s territory and free tion or censorship.
oppressed peoples of Europe . . . I The words that condemned the be defeated first.”
You are the vanguard of American commanders were “ dereliction of
There was imm ediate and out
duty.” But the astounding revela spoken protest from the Chinese
arm s.”
tions were twofold—that the com over making the F a r E ast a second
m anders had shown a lack of inter ary theater of war. E arnest and
SUPPLY COMMAND:
est in performing their duty—that equally emphatic protest leaked
f . S.-British Pool
they had failed to talk over with through behind closed doors—objec
The creation of a supreme allied each other the m easures that each tions by the Australian and Dutch
supply command that will speed . was taking for the defense in the m inisters.
and co-ordinate the production and face of a war threat.
The feeling was so evident that
flow of vital munitions and supplies
The arm y man had "assum ed” there were questions at a White
to the fighting fronts was seen in that the navy m an was sending out House press and radio conference.
the announcement by President offshore patrols to find where the The President answered in general
Roosevelt and Prim e Minister Wins enemy might be. The navy m an as term s, said he couldn't reveal mili
ton Churchill that the United States sumed that the arm y airforce was tary secrets but that if we looked
and Great Britain w-ill pool all mu on the alert. Neither actually was. at a m ap of the world he thought
nitions, shipping and war m aterials
Demands for court m artials to we would find that American aid
to “ further co-ordination of the
or manpower)
were
mete
out punishment to those re < supplies
United Nation’s war effort."
“ there.” I can’t describe his tone
sponsible
for
the
Pearl
Harbor
dis
Three joint boards have been set
or the atm osphere but my own in
up to merge the combined war re- ! aster were heard from m em bers of ference was that America was deep
congress.
Demands
were
likewise
,
sources of the two nations and make
er in things, or on the way to
them partners in vital fields of sup made for the expulsion of any “ in more active participation in m ilitary
competents”
holding
responsible
po
ply in addition to joint m ilitary and
activity at many points than most
naval commands. These new agen sitions in the war effort.
laymen guessed.
Many
senators
and
representatives
cies will include a combined war
m aterials board, munitions assign asserted that the commission’s con- ' That sam e day, Lieutenant-Gover
ment board and combined shipping elusions pointed to a pressing need nor General Van Mook of the Neth
for a supercommand with control erlands Indies had left the White
adjustment board.
Board members, it was an over the operations of both armed House saying that the President had
encouraged him, that he felt more
nounced. will confer with represent services.
optimistic.
atives of the Soviet Union, China
The President agreed that this
and such others of the 26 United LUZON:
was
the impression he had tried to
Nations as necessary “ to attain Critical Stage
give and added that America was
common purposes.”
That the battle of Luzon had ’ making real progress in strengthen
SHIPS:
reached critical final stages was ap ing the d e fe n s e of the U n i t e d
parent. General MacArthur report- | Nations.
Japan Losing Thom
ed that not only were his troops I
The British, Dutch and American being subjected to an all-out Jap- ' G oebbels C an See
bombers and ships of war were not j anese land attack by forces of at I O n ly th e S u rface
formally coming to grips with large ! least ten to one superior strength,
The day that the Japanese propa
bodies of Japanese naval ships, but but that Japanese warships in Subic gandists boasted that Singapore's
they were whittling away at them, bay were able to fire their guns into days were numbered and that Maj.
and Japan's losses were assuming his positions.
Gen. Gordon Bennett, in charge of
important proportions.
Constant Japanese reinforcements the Australian forces in Malaya said
A count of Japanese ships report were
being landed in Subic bay on that the situation was serious, Sen
ed sent to the bottom in the first
M
acArthur’s
left flank, where the ator Connally, chairm an of the for
seven weeks of the war totaled 100, 1
heaviest
Japanese
attacks were be eign relations committee, called a
not counting those damaged and
ing
launched,
and
he reported that press conference. Senator Connally
probably sunk.
the
numerical
odds
were rising con had always favored war against
This, it was pointed out, has been stantly.
Germany. But at this conference he
an average of better than two a day,
said:
Commentators, while declaring
despite the fact that when the war
“ Great Britain is in the Atlantic
started Japan had the jum p on the the battle of the Philippines was a and with her navy ought to be able
other nations by virtue of the sur .losing fight from the start, placed I to command that area. We’re more
prise, and that opening successes the highest importance on the long vulnerable in the Pacific.”
had weakened the allied hitting and brave resistance of the Amer
In Berlin, Propaganda Minister
power.
ican-Filipino army,
Goebbels probably smiled his cyn
ical smile. Truly this looked like
the dissension which has been the
Nazis' favorite ally.
But H err Goebbels fortunately can
see only the surface. Underneath
there is a realistic policy being pur
sued which is based on certain facts.
No one can predict the fortunes of
war, but the picture as the persons
in responsible position here see it
looks something like this:
It is generally believed that the
stories ol violent dissension between
the Nazis and the Germun High
Command are largely party propa
ganda. In any case there is no evi
dence of a serious internal break
down in Germany.
The Nazi invasion of Russia has
failed of its two objectives: First,
destruction of the Red arm y as a
fighting unit. Second, the capture
of large quantities of supplies such
as oil and foodstuffs. The German
losses have been heavy. Neverthe
less, the German military machine
is intact, and it still has oil and sup
plies for at least a year.
On the other hand, although the
Russians have made a masterly de
fense and are conducting a success
ful counter-offensive, they have re
gained little more than one-tenth of
the ground the Germans captured. |
There is no evidence that any per
m anent German winter line has
been cracked.
This means that a German offen
sive is still possible in the spring
and since Russia is exhausting her
supplies it is doubtful if she will be
either willing or able to attack
Japan from Siberia.
In the Far East, Singapore has
been the hot spot from the time the
Japanese established their superior
air power in the western Pacific.
From then on, Singapore was no
longer valuable as a base because
its docks were no longer safe from
air attack. Military men said from
the first, however, that as long as
it stood, it had a powerful nuisance
value for it immobilized Japanese
air, sea and land power and pre
vented successful invasion of the
Netherlands Indies, or at least the
key island of Java. Even if it fell,
they said, that did not mean that
the defense line of the United Na
tions based on Java would crumble.
As a result of this overall pic
ture, those in charge of getting uid
to the United Nations have worked
out this division of supplies:
Continue to send to Europe (Brit
ain and Russia) the amount of sup
plies which she has been receiving. |
Send the increased production to
the South Pacific.
Reinforcements are now arriving j
in the Pacific in greater numbers.
As the tide of battle changes it
will rest with the President and his
advisors to make the choice of
where and in what volume Amcr- !
ica’s contributions to the defense of
democracy shall go. On the wisdom
of this choice will depend the future
course of history.
A« of Old
Ninu—Dorothy treat* her hus
band like a Greek god.
Gladys—How no?
Nina—Why. she places a burnt
offering before him at every meal.
Clothes have a profound effect
upon a woman’s poise—and upon
her husband's purse.
Come and Go!
" I t’s an ideul match.**
•’What makes you think so?”
“ Well,"he has money and she
knows how to spend it."
Hubby—A word to the wise is
sufficient, my dear.
Wifey—I know it, George. That's
why I have to be continually
and everlastingly talking to you.
Another View
I l il t or
U hul a b e a u tifu l l i e w th at
ta r m e r \la * h e. Ilu l if yuo fiarf
pfou' th at n e u , h arrow it, r u ltiia la
h o e it, m ou it, fen ce it, a w l pay la te r
it, it w o u ld n 't I ooh to p r e tty .
it!
to
it,
on
Worthwhile Life
Let us endeavor so to live that
when we come to die even the
undertaker will be sorry.—Mark
Twain.
RAZOR BLADES
OUTSTANDING BLADE VALUE
C£3KENT
BLADES
“ TAKING THE COUNTRY BY STORM”
KNOWN FROM COAST TO COAST
• coerces compasiv . av. uxaa. ao. •
L e s s R o a s tin g
The less people speak of their
greatness the more we think of it.
— Bacon.
Taste the
Difference!
• • 0
R a d io C ensorship
A n d N e w s C astin g
Sometimes the radio commenta- :
tor grows very wrath at those who
steer the censorship of state. Re
cently into every broadcasting sta- !
tion which has a news service came 1
a dispatch telling of the crippling
of an American ship by a subma
rine off the coast of North Carolina.
It was official. The censor had
passed it for publication but NOT
for radio.
Immediately, as president of the
Radio Correspondents' association, I
was storm ed by colleagues demand
ing that I protest at such discrim
ination. But the decree was logical.
If we had broadcast that the crip
pled ship was putting into port, the
submarine could have picked up the
message and pursued and perhaps
caught its limping prey.
Next morning, when the papers
came out with the story the buttered
ship was safe in harbor. It isn't
likely that the submarine command
er gets the morning papers.
What irked me as a commentator
far more than this incident was my
inability to tell you Washington’s
little secret of how spring came to
the capital in January. I couldn’t
say anything about it at the time,
because that might have helped the
enemy, too. Now that it can be
told, it doesn’t seem so interesting.
In fact it seems improbable.
)
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