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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1944)
$ - C. , XIX- -T ..7. ., -Nfc Ww ..... ...... . MMN 1MI Wo Favor Stoays ts; No Fear Shall Aw" From First Statesman, March 23, 1831 THE STATES3IAN PUBLISHING COMPANY - CHARLES A. SPRAGU1V Editor and Publisher , Member of the Associated Press; 3 The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this newspaper. Riga Redeyira The Russians, according to late dispatches, re launching a drive on Riga, the capital of Latvia; and this brings an old, old city back into the news again. Once one of the cities of the Hanseatic league, that group of independent trading towns which "flourished along the Bal tic sea, Riga was successively ruled by the Teu tonic knights, Sweden and Russia, until after the first world war it became the capital of in dependent Latvia, which . with its neighbors Estonia and Lithuania made up the so-called Baltic states. Riga was in the news prominently a quarter century ago. It then was one of the world's most famous listening-posts. It was the Co blentz of the Russian revolution. Gathered there were the emigres, the White Russians, interna tional spies and whole armies of correspondents who tried to use it for a peephole into the night that was Soviet Russia. The rumors tha$ were filed at Riga burdened the cables and proved about as dependable as the yarns .which now come out of Stockholm, Berne or Istanbul. Those were the days when the western world was filled with fear and horror about Russiafear that its new religion of communism would over run its borders, and horror at the .reports of slaughtering of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the clergy and the intelligents of old Russia. So each item with a Riga dateline was eagerly scanned in London, in Paris, in New York and . Washington. ! As the bolsheviks consolidated their power and assassinations grew less frequent, and as the western nations outgrew their fright of communist revolution, and as the dispatches from Riga proved so often to be only the pro ducts of rumor-mills, Riga declined in news importance, and one-by-one the correspondents were called home. What of the future of the Baltic states? Rus : sia has already announced its intention of in ' corporating them into the union of soviet so ! cialist republics; and that is what most likely will happen once the Germans are driven out. Nor is this unreasonable, because they long were part of Russia, and their differences in race are no greater than those of other com ponents of the USSR. Riga was a Russian city of no little prominence in the days before the first world war, a port of entry for trade with interior Russia. As a Russian city again it should be able to recapture its commercial importance, though it would lose-its glamor as a capital and even in America no city likes to lose the county seat. Now the names in the news are reviving mem ories for -the veterans of 1917-18 Brest, Ren nes, LeMans, Angers, Lorient. Soon perhaps other memories will be revived if these names bet into the news: Chateau Thierry, Soissons, the Argonne. Many will follow the allied ad vance with greater eagerness because their own sons are treading in their footsteps of 26 years ago. Welcome to Guam 1 ' f . Americans cannot help but be J touched by evidence of the loyalty of the hatives of Guam , to the United States. There was the affecting . picture of two little Guam children, each wav ing a flag of stars and stripes, which: their moth ers had made for them during the! occupation. The flags had only nine stripes; one had 12 stars and the other 44, but the meaning of the symbol was clear: the f amilyj stilti considered 1 itself American, i . I ' Then there was the report of the native who 1 returning to his home and finding it in ruins, and his village ruined too, was heard to say .as he surveyed the wreckage, 'I waa worth it. He preferred to live under the stars and stripes, though he had to rebuild his dwelling, than to join the Nipponese ; in their co-prosperity sphere for East Asia. - li It is believed that the Filipinos will welcome Americans back, though some have proven col laborationists and even gone to Tokyo to blat over the radio of the blessings of 'Jap occupa tion. The majority will be on hand to greet Mac Arthur on his return, because they feel they con trust him and trust American intentions of re-establishing a Philippine (government which quickly will become independent. The United States has not abused its power, and that is why it is both respected and revered. Fill the Blood Bank , There is one admonition that should not go unheeded, and that is to keep the blood bank well filled. While there may be 1 diminishing need for much of the gear of jwaging war, the need for more blood plasma increases with the widening of operations which is how taking place rapidly on the continent of Europe. There can be no letdown of supply of plasma so long as the fighting goes on;! and this fact should be dinned into people's minds so they will keep up the stream through the various Red Cross blood collecting channels, one of which is in Salem. r The pictures of treatment Jof the wounded often start with the administration, of plasma, right within sound . of the gunsf To Its use thou sands of young men will credit their lives when they return home. What a bond of brotherhood this transfusion means to America, While the plasma carries no physical, mental or moral (or . color) traits from the giver to the recipient, there is a transfusion of sacrifice in which the blood of thousands goes to restore to health and. strength of other thousands injured in battle. Keep the blood bank filledj and; the plasma flowing to the hospitals Whereter American ser vice men and women are being treated. That is one substantial contribution people! at home can make for their country and for humanity. IJ - ! "Congtess Back!?' The Literary GuidepoGt III ! 1 Br; joiin selby "ESCAPE j THE THUNDER,! by IX Lennlej Coleman 1 (Dettoa; .. I i n , Lonnie Coleman's "Escape the Thunder is ne of the youngest novels I eve read, and one of the most promising. It is diffi : cult to be detailed about! the first of those statements the book has the glow that sometime! sur rounds talented youth, 1 it rides blindly over obstacles that would throw an older writer into a fit of the shakes; it is a little wide- eyed, very charming,! ii and Lieutenant Coleman's 1 1 baddies would doubtless say," "damn News Behind the News By PAUL MALLON (Distribution by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part strictly prohibited.) i ' swell." It's about negroes. ..... :- A , 1 Paul MaUon . wrong with 1. Hitler's orders to his armies on the eastern front read: "Germany is immediately behind . your back." Correct; and the German generals know that Hitler's hangmen are there to wel come them. The law which sterilizes of political -germs all matter furnished to the army now operates to bar Fibber McGee and Molly's picture "Hea venly Days" from distribution td camps and ships. Is there some way of stretching the ban to protect radio consumers o the Fibber Mc- HiUer clings to the "don't change horses" the ory too. At least he doesn't wan to be left in the middle of the stream with his pants off. One of the county papers runs an ad for bolts" for a local concern: "Most all sizes and lengths to choose from. Come here f or your bolts." Southern democrats might lay in a sup- Art (Smudge-Pot) ! Perry has resumed, his column in the Medford Mail-Tribune and ex plains that its absence was caused by neuritis of his knee. His Is the first-knee-action type writer we ever heard of in a newspaper office. Interpreting Oregon legionnaires are holding their 26th annual ' convention in Portland. Legion con ventions, like the old grey mare, "ain't what they used to be." Editorial Comment From Other Papers " ' - PACIFIC WAR i We do not know the identity of the British of ficials the National. Association of Manufacturers says are Insisting that lend-lease aid must continue after Germany collapses, if Britain is to take its fidl part in the Pacific war. . . , The NAM does. not identify these officials and the omission Is not important one way or the other so far as the facts of British action in the Pacific Is concerned.' " ' That action will not be to help out the United States in a task it cannot handle alone. It is no re flection on British integrity to point out that th British have an imperiaT interest in the Pacific. With the burden of European war lifted we could deal with the Japanese sinelehanded and swiftly. We have not been able to understand the minds of those Americans who worry so plaintively about the British, or the Australians,' or the Dutch or somebody else giving us enough help to defeat -Japan. We do not believe that the man knocking over Japanese defenses from a bomber or on a battleship scouring the seas for Japanese -ships, or taking Japanese pill boxes in hand-to-hand combat, is worrying about help from any foreign nation. He wants help from the United States and he is going tojfet plenty of it to finish the Job. , San Francisco Chronicle. '"t- PAPER BOMBING During the first 4V& years of the war the RAF dropped more than 1,250,000,000 leaflets, news papers and magazines over Germany and occupied Europe. French people are regularly receiving sev eral different newspapers and magazines; over Hol land an 8-page weekly newspaper and a 48-page monthly magazine are dropped as well as leaflets containing messages from Queen Wilhelmina; and Belgium, Denmark, Norway, occupied Italy, Czech oslovakia, Poland- and Luxembourg all ' receive their periodicals from the air. There Is plenty of evidence that the leaflet and newspaper raids are having their effect Out of a batch of 41 German prisoners who surrendered in Italy, 9 had leaflets in their hands, 2 carried,, hem in their shoes, and others in their pockets. -British Information Ser ' Us " - - The War News By KIRKE h. SIMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WAS ANALYST ; It is fitting that Pearl Harborj forever associated , with a December Sunday staineq red with Nippon ese infamy, should be the scene of an ail-American conference of Pacific commanders with Presi dent Roosevelt to plan the final phases of the cam paign in that ocean designed to let the sun of Jap anese imperialism. --. I The men who lead American and .allied forces which control the Pacific from the Arctic to the An tipodes were mustered there around Mr. Roosevelt The decisions they have takenj Willi be revealed - only as their forces storm westward through the broken screen of Pacific islands J But there are cer- . tain conclusions to be drawn from the place and - '. the timing . of that Pacific wa council that can -leave.Tokyo in no doubt of its significance, i ' ' .' It meant first of all that the time has now come . and the means are now at hand to carry the war to Japan in the Philippines, across the China sea to Formosa and China, into the Kuriles and to Jap- an itself to enforce unconditional surrender. - -It was that last coming strike ht American armed power across the Pacific which concerned the pre sident General MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz and the others at Pearl Harbor. The fhaken war cabinet in Japan needed no spies or key-hole observers to tell it that ? Many months ago , to congress in Washington Prime Minister Churchill said hat .the "ultimate , challenge" of American sea power would soon con- front Japan in the far Pacific. That prediction now " - has been more than fulfilled and Japan has failed everywhere to meet the challenge or halt the ocean wide advance -westward. ; ":-:ff ":'' ! ' Last week Churchill told parliament in London' that the key principle of AnglcJkmerican joint war s strategy adopted In 1942, which made Germany the "prime enemy! and left only 'minimum' --for-ces available in or beyond the Pacific "safeguarding vital interests," was now oufnoded. Two want could now be waged "with' offensive vigor" he said, k and the prospects "of a much more speedy climax In the far east" were bright The .bulk of British naval power would be In far lastern waters be ; f ore the year end. Churchill announced. The timing of the Pearl Harbor war council to tighten the screws on Japan everywhere, this year. Is significant against the background of that Chur chill disclosure of British fleet deployment It must be linked, also, with the raisingjof General Stilwell y to full four-star rank In the northern urrna-China theater, the creation of the superfortress roving long-range air task force presently operating from "' China bases, the revelation thai monster B-23 sla ; blemates for the giant Boeing bombers are in pro duction; and with the operations of British tea-air task forces in the Bay of Bengal knocking warn Ingly at the western Malacca strait gateway to the . China sea..::-: . .a, f ; , ; The fruit of Pearl flarbor wfl jmay come 'quick .on the heels' of that conference to. reveal its pur-' port ominously for Japan., not however.-! about negroes 1 and whites, bui about the life negroes live with themselves. This brings up Ithe qijestion of ; Lieutenant Coleman's: right to do this sort of book, and) one can only judge tha matter by remembering that he was born 23 years ago inj Bar-: tow, Ga grew up in Georgia, at tended the University j of Ala bama and studied there with Hudson Strode, I believe. It is very likely that some of the super-sensitive people (both jwhite and! black) who are exercising themselves about ninOrity problems will find something to disapprove . in Lieutenant Cole man's book, jl can only say that I think it i sympathetic and more it seems very friendly and sln- cere, iz anypeay is siupia enougn to go Ideology-huntingl in! this el I can only! hope omethingjas fright- ry seaworm. i: set in Montgom- chief male charac ter is a boy named Luther, who turns up on Day street a few hours after, he Is released! from prison. He iad been i convicted of killing a man, while drunk. He was convicted, it might be add ed, on the testimony of hisi'bud dy,! tough bamed Josh, j who manages to become i the black boss of Montgomery I in the six years Luther j is away.! All of Day street is glad; to see Luther, bar ring only! Josh. Josh Is not the same, which a understandable to Luther, who U not a fool. 1 ; : Lieutenant' Coleman's I story is so simple ;that it would be unfair to summarize, It The crux of the matter 'is; that when, Josh tosses. charming fnoi they turn kip j ful as a Uteri The book ery, Ala. I It out his woman, Luther, takes her WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 I have not written lately about progressive , education 'and its share in the re sponsibility for juvenile delin quency, be cause, everyone else peons to be doing and saying the right things i about it Every man in the street today knows I what is education. That. question was asked of ten per sons along the street in Toledo by The Blade's inquiring repor ter. The answers were practic-j ally, all the same: , x ,! "I don't believe the ydung peo ple are getting a good start In arithmetic and spelling; too much stress on extracurricular activities;" : V 'Xz-V "1 believe my son is getting a better general education than I, but more emphasis should be placed on the three R'S and on discipline;";- j "Graduates ' do not seem . to know about simple necessary things like ' mathematics and spelling." I These words from ' a. railroad man, barber and housewife are practically the same as have been arising from my typewriter since last January. What we need for a well edu cated, intelligent democratic na tion (and a cure for juvenile de linquency) is discipline in home, school and church, discipline by, all methods, particularly in the development of . mental ' discip line and reasoning powers by education which stimulates the thought processes. , ; , i A professor friend of mine has a notion, novel to me, as to how we got into ' this modern mess. It shows the broader scope of the v trouble beyond education and 'juvenile delinquency. His theory Is that this century has ---..'-'-. - ,v - --...-.! .- , . - in. And from this far from spec tacular event depends, a web of emotional - reaction that might have confused both the author and the reader. .They don't but . they do fascinate the latter. , . "THE YOUNG IDEA95 By Mossier ategarCesa ! hew Cennt Basle would JXVE It we'll Interpret It i j , a Beethoven Intended! witnessed a decline In respect for reason. (; Our leading philosophers gra dually pushed down the theory of common sense 'reasoning as a way of living and promoted the theory of living by intuition "Living has value only as It sat isfies men's appetites" and such stuff. . j Thus, : have . developed such monstrous ogres of unreasoning civilization as fascism and com munism. Instead of each man reasoning things out for himself, Weighing the factors as he sees them on both aides, and imposing this mass will on our customs and : government, we have come Into what Hitler in his extremities, calls guidance by emotional fa naticism. Everywhere we wor- -ship instinct instead of thought " This has- been an easy-selling doctrine to the average man. Human nature has made him a creature desiring comfort, ease, .luxury. Reasoning , things out Is hard work. Study requires men tal discipline. The average man will not do it unless education requires it, and unless the whole way of life in the country de mands it j ; ; Where you get by Intuition is well shown by where Hitler has taken himself and his entire na- - tion. j . Our people still have the right to reason for themselves.! But In our country, we have been lead ing up to the intuitional way of life by S allowing some fools among our modern philosophers : to tell us that we should lndi . viduaQy live by the method ' following Instinct on sex,! for in stance, Instead of reason. . In politics also, we have en couraged - emotional leadership, the Incitement of hatreds, but, most dangerous of all, we have promoted the herding Instinct in government ; by worshiping to talitarian ways with government , , control of every phase of life of the individual. 1 : Intuition? That Is whai guides . a. dog or a horse. Man was made - with a brain, capable of reason-, ing, capable of developing intel ligence. He does not have It ."when he is born. He will never develop it except by. disciplined training which will force him to use bis mind.. j Education by the method of movie shows and sightseeing will not add to an Individual's ' ability, to think ' a fraction as much as working out one single difficult problem in arithmetic. Xreara by doing", was what the philosopher James taught It should be "Learn, by tiuhking '. and doing." V-J. ;; : ;;; This is the real bottom basis . of what has been wrong, I be- lieve, not only with education but all our moves, our common popular viewpoint 4 By following intuitional meth , ods and habits, we could become a nation of morons at . the mercy of leaders who alone are allowed to . thlnfc or- who are . morons themselves,: guided as Hitler by his instincts. t think that trend has been broken. In the past lew months, "nearly every newspaper has carried daily accounts of juven ile delinquency meetings guided a way from , the intuitional theo ries and toward common sense. School boards. Parent Teach ; era associations, commentators - (though" not yet the politician for some reason I have not yet discerned) are talking and work - Ing toward the same goal. Even the recent prima r 1 e s suggested -pec-Ie are thinking. In politics. a ;,.AT'.:ii:Fr.onTi US Air Force Boys In England Ready For China Theater By PRESTON GROVER . . (SubsUtuttfm lor Kenneth X- Dixon) AN AMERICAN BOMBER BASE, English Midlands It the air force boys in this neighborhood don't get a home leave before they are carried over to fight the Japanese, they are- going to be pretty disap pointed, i - . . Stopping off here on my way back to India and China, I vis ited this fortress base and told them I . was: recruiting for the India-China theater. , . A lot . of ; them, bored with being in one spot for so long, wanted to go to China,'' especially the ground crews and others not on combat duty. .X:. Kv'x . They all know , mat before the peace comes, they will have to take a lick at the Japanese. They had heard some lurid stor ies about the Pacific war, most of them fairly true, others wild exaggerations. Their first dread of living in bamboo bashas, or huts, was quieted - when . they were told these huts were fairly rain proof and cooL mum TTfT) ITT1I-S (Continued from Page 1) psychology ," by which he means that the Koumintang must not regard itself as a permanent ruling class but only as a po litical party: "It should by no means become the ruler of its people, neither a ruling class nor a noble caste In the state." ' Secondly, according to Dr. Sun Jo, must show our democratic spirit in action." This calls for free and open dis cussion, after which the deci sions should.be made. Thirdly, China must learn , democratic methods. Ruled by tyrants f or thousands of years, with her people deprived of the freedom of political discussion, democracy was a myth in China. Even under the republic the middle and ! upper, classes paid little attention to elections, and Jocal elections are mostly, false,', based on bogus recordings of votes. So Dri, Fo urges the Chi nese people to renew their study of Sun Yat-sen's pamphlet The First Step- to Democracy? and then to put it in practice... Concious of criticisms v from other democratic countries, Dr. Fo endorses Generalissimo Chi . ang Kai-shek's assurance of con stitutional government with full freedom for political parties, but he urges the: speeding of democ racy even during the war In the area of local government: This precious time must neither be neglected not missed." As p China's future economy Dr. Sun Fo, after contrasting the free economy of the United -States and Great Britain with the state socialism of Russia, predicts that China wjll have a little of each system: "In China the state must in me postwar era, concentrate its total efforts oh running all mo nopolistic and basic industries and national-defense industries and leave the light industries and consumption ? goods indus tries in the hands of the private concerns. The production of un necessary luxuries and con sumption goods must be restrict ed, so that the capital left there from will be used to build the more urgent . units of national reconstruction." , For a1 country like China, the prescription is not unreasonable. Its government will have to un dertake the major task of build ing " roads, ji highways, power plants, airports, and perhaps that of operating 'its mines and heavy : Industries. There would be left for individual enterprise the vast ' field of agriculture,- trade, light manufacturing. J Dr. Fo may be only the Henry Wallace OfJ China, an idealist lacking in political power; but the fact that he is honest In his admissions of China's deficien cies and forthright In this pre ; scrip tion of political cures and economic aims is encouraging. It gives basis for hope that the Koumintang j I e a d e r s hi p will complete th reforms projected by Sun Yat-sen and complete ! the modernization of : China without a period of anarchy and . civil strife. -I i j Many of the men said they would like a . little heat for a while. One hears the men here com plain that they no longer make news in their home papers. , ; "Nobody j cares about heavy bombing any more," said one of them, fThe guys over on the beach are getting all the glory." That means Normandy. ;; In the "old days", six months to a year ago, heavy losses re sulted from bombing missions, but now most nlanea com horn and casualties have been drop ping. But the going still Is tough in spots. The air over Berlin, Munich and the Ruhr is espe cially rugged. , At a recent briefing for a Mu nich raid there was a unified groan when the target was an nounced for the group headed by CoL Dale O. Smith of Reno, Nev. JIe's the admiration of his men as he squeezes into a pilot's seat even in a bomber. He's 6 , feet 7 Inches tall. , "That's a six-egg mission," one officer said. "I've been to Munich so many times," said Lt J. E. Maxey of Decatur Ga a pilot "that IH get my citizenship papers this time.";i;--;. ;; ... . Last year, combat crews had to finish a "score or so of mis sions to 'get home leave. But the fighting was tough and few lived through it Strangely enough, : those who already have complet ed their "tour" and are await ing transportation home, still get up at night and go through the briefings. The boys call them "sailors on leave " The boys cherish luck tokens. One co-pilot has a silver dol lar handle on his flying jacket, . zipper. Lt William Pitts of Tul sa, Olcla, : a navigator, won't wash his flying cap or jacket and always kissed the picture of his wife before aad after a mission. She lives In Los Angeles. "My luck has got to last three more missions," said Pitts, "then " I-go home." v : Ground crews feel badly about not getting home. Some have been at this same field for 15 months. And combat crews fin ish their "home award tours" in three to four months. They're ready to carry their way on to the Padfic, but many would like "to see mom first" :. The f';i:' Safety Valve Letter from Statesman Rudffi APPLY GOLDEN RULE . . To the Editor: I recently read an article, stating that our repre sentative, James Mott, was advo cating the deportation of all Jap anese nationals after the war. Now I hope our government will not. emulate Hitler and To jo in taking reprisal on unfortunate Innocent people, and sow the seed for another war. Many Japanese-Americans are fighting with our boys for freedom and secur- ' ity and giving a- good account of themselves. - My youngest " son and five of my grandsons are-in the armed forces. Why not de- " port all German, British and all other nationals whose govern ments at one time or another : made war on us. We would do better In seeing to it that all - habitual criminals and outlaws are brought to justice, instead of renrisals. for if we suffer such to carry on under, the camouflage of liberty, they will do to us what the black dragon organization did to Japan, or the Nazis did to ; Germany. Those Germans and Japs knew as much as we did ' when born into this world; their schooling, education and training made about 1 all the difference, and right here is where the re form must start Might and force will not do it -, t i "Except the Lord build the house, they labor In vain that build it; except the Lord keep ' the city, the watchman walketh but In vain," Pa. 127.L' "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,1 2 Cor. 3.17. The rea son that there is so little liberty t in the world la because there is so little of the Spirit of the Lord ' in the hearts of men. Just look at those countries like Japan and "t Germany; where they tabooed the Spirit of the Lord; there is nothing but tyranny and eppres- ' sion. Just to the extent that we t will cherish the Spirit of the Lord in our dealings with our : feUowman (applying the golden rule), just to that extent will lib erty return to us and the world. :r ,-' .'., ; A. P. Kirsch. Stevens . . ; . if u .... - .. .. A LifetimeGift ' The gift of Gatwear In sterling' stiver,, will - . , grow more beautiful -with, use through the T years. : Buy one. piece V or a complete set Several patterns to choose' from. Credit li desired. . . ' ."i '- ; - ' 1