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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1945)
PAGE FOUR t(Jjj " No Favor Sway$ Utl No Fear jShall Avot" j :;i From First Statesman March 28, 1851 . ..; i ; THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY CHARLES A. SPRAGU jEditor and Publisher ; . " ... i ' - Member of the Associated Press j 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. Berlin . . arid the War's The Gennan situation may be if we knew the Russian fannies stood at the summit of Santiam pass, just a hundred mUes away, and another Russian army was coming up from the southeast, about 135 miles away, and powerful allied armies were massed on a long front 300 miles away in another direction? Certainly panic would seize this city and our leaders would be frantically trying to organize defense and to handle the civilian population. Berlin without tloubt stands in deep gloom and fear as the enemy raps at so many of its gates, with compelling firmness. However, so long have the minds of Germans been directed and controlled by Goebbels and nazi propagan dists they may be numb and dumb rather than panicky. As for Hitler and Himmler and Goer- ing they profess not to yield, because they dare not yield and because their philosophy makes : kam fanattralj -I The military situation is not beyond hope of temporary stabilization. Germany is not yet willing; tQ pull in its troops from Norway and i Italy to shore up the caving walls of the reich J itself. Until we hear that these divisions are j pulled ; back and the foreign conquests aban doned we can hardly conclude that the German situation is immediately hopeless. . A study of the map of Germany suggests that the German plan mayeven contemplate the abandonment of Berlin' and ultimate with drawal) into southern Germany. The city itself has been so badly bombed that government of fices,! many of them, have been removed from the capital. German industries have been shift ed to the deep interior wherever possible. A seat of government may be set up in Munich and armies may continue the war in the more favorable country of mountainous Bavaria. This; plan contemplates no general capitula tion, j Certainly no "unconditional surrender, but continued resistance, by armies, by divi sions, -by regiments . . . by, platoons if neces sary, and then by guerillas. How long this fighting, could continue no one can tell. It might I go on8 for years, as did the resistance in lands the Germans occupied, j We must not think that the occupation of Ber lin will necessarily mark the end of. the Ger man war. ' Dilemma in Labor Draft A house committee put in and then pulled out a provision saving a worker inducted into war industry under national service legislation from being compelled to join a labor union. Instead a provision was adopted requiring the govern ment to offer him choice of several employers. Since virtually all war work with government acquiescence or favor is unionized it is hard to see what such a range of choice .would ' amount to. It seems absurd to force a man who is forced to enter war industry to join a union, first. How could such an act be enforced? If a worker says, "Yes, I will take a war job but will not join a union," what wduld the government' do?. Put him in jail as a "deserter"? Hardly. ' On . the other hand most shop's have union contracts-and the war labor board has made standard the maintenance,' of " membership clause. Will unions with contracts, perhaps of long standing, .consent to an influx of workers ' who will not be required to join the union and ply dues? How then could it continue to force other workers to remain in the union and pay dues?, ; 1 -This" dilemma is so serious that it threatens the passing of service legislation. And even if it does pass the dilemma would remain and might; easily result in damage to war production rather than improvement Labor organizations have reason to be sus picious of totalitarian government. On the other; hand government ought not to vest mo-1 nopoly power in labor unions. It does seem as though it is wiser policy to struggle along with the semi-voluntary method we now are using than to invoke service legis lation at this stage of the war. The Georgia senate has voted to repeal the state poll tax. While the house is reported un friendly to the measure, Governor Arnall is supporting it strongly. - Perhaps if the southern states are not high-pressured and nagged at by the north they will get around to repealing this law which is obnoxious to a good people. Since elections and local taxes are primarily matters for state determination under our constitutional system it is a better course to have reform come through the! states than through act of congress. Editorial Comment FAT SALYAGE v f''.''' The average housewife probably thinks the lit-, tie bit of fat salvage she has saved doesn't "amount to. much. ' A, report from. the salvage committee., however, shows that all these little cups-full added together made a total of 11,734,000 pounds last month alone. The total for the year was 169,614,-. , 00 9" pounds. That the housewives are becoming, more conscious however, of this part of the war effort, it should be noted that the total for 1944 was 6.400,000 more than for 1943. There is this rather alarming feature of the fis ures, however. Collections for the last six months were 25 per cent lower than for the first six months of this year. This might be caused by the thought that the war is nearly over, j It should, be remem bered that the invasion of Normandy was in June. There was a let-downUn many other activities- after A the invasion of Normandy. Even workers in "war ; industries quit their jobs, as though the war was about over. Now that we have had the "Belgian -bulge campaign on the western front, hope that the war is nearly ended should vanish .." There it another factor which should help in, se curing more waste fats; That is the fact- that the majority f ' meats r went back to point rationing, which will make the two points per pound bonus for household fats more attractive." It is unfortu nate max me sell-interest motti is that is human nature.-Corvallis i(T t Bsevs MUNM: MSI ' Ericl ? described thus: job for Aubrey j j The publicity attending the appointment of Henry Wallace to the position of secretary of . fcommerce smothered the . news that Aubrey jWilliams bicl been named - administrator of RE A, the rural electrification administration. 'Aubrey is a former social worker who came in Eith the new deal and participated in the great ending programs of FERA,. CWA and later as head of NY A. After congress finally cut off hibney for the NYA he got a job with the CIO. faow he comes back to the. government alphabet. If confirmed, Williams will make sparks fly in rural electrification.. Hell put TVA and Bonne ville on sidetracks while jhe:speeds up carrying jth'e abundant life via elecjtrjcity to the people on Hickory Ridge and in Possum Hollow. ",, . i . , '. ! ... rr- nterpreting The War News Russian armies vance elements fortress city on gateway to north tured on a front Dutch Rhine. of the Belgian found powerful f cross it costly so powerrui, cut , Gazette Times. Itateamau Suffering From Fuel, Lack ' Those who live in this mild climate," where fuel supplies normally are abundant and cold snaps of short duration, have little conception unless previously they lived in the east or mid west, of what a coal shortage there means In the dead of winter. -Even as we read the press re ports of the serious conditions now prevailing We have little appreciation of the real distress caused by lackr of fuel. ' . Thousands of families in eastern cities live from hand to mouth in the matter of coal sup plies. They dwell in flats,1 where there is-scant room for coal storage. -- Usually their incomes are so low they can't afford to buy more than af few sackfuls of coal at a time. 'They depend on frequent delivery, or if their money runs out on a few hods of coal given thenf as' charity or provided by the district political leader. When temperatures go to zero and below the distress becomes acute if there is any interruption in delivery of coaL 4 . ,' If--' If ; - This has been an unusually severe winter in tie country east of the Rockies. The weather has resulted in bad congestion in freight yards Which has delayed movement of coal. As a re sult many cities are on short rations of fuel in Quincy, Mass., deliveries are limited to 100 lbs. per customer; and less essential users: are ordered in some cities to! cut their fuel , con sumption. .;. v - j : , , ' . . ' j The freight embargo in; the northeast should permit loosening up of coal movement by rail, and local fuel committees will undertake to par cel distribution to prevent actual sufferings But the experience is a real strain on many families i-winter cold is harder to endure than hunger. j While the extreme weather gets the blame, the fact is that our plant is being strained to maintain war production' and civilian activity. There are still too many workers in lines that do not rate as essential. jCoal mines lack labor 10 mine coal; railroads lack employes to keep : 'reight rolling. The margin of safety is too thin, ; is the present situation proves. The weather will surely change soon and ring welcome relief to the shivering easterners. : 3ut the experience serves as a warning to con- ract the range of our civilian activity if the rountry is to carry the War full scale through another winter. h . By KIRKE ii SIMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WAB ANALYST of seemingly limitless power and mobility were knocking at; the very gates of Berlin las the third week of the made-in-Moscow; victory offensive opened. By Nazi admission, steel tipped Red army ad had curled around both sides ox doomed Poznan to points on the Brandenburg bor der less than 100 miles from the bomb blasted Nazi capital. Southward, above and below the Breslau the Oder, fthere was every Indica tion that last moated barrier guarding the Silesian central Germany had been punc more than 100 miles wide. Hundreds- of miles in rear of the broadly : blunt Breslau-Poznan main salient, whole Nazi armies were trapped in all but lost East Prussia to the north, or caught in the squeeze of a Red ; army thumb-screw bearing down on the Slovakian bulge ' in the south. : The harassed foe could not look westward with-. out apprehension that any moment a massive new Allied attack- would .break-; Upon his, thinned outf defense lines behind the Roer, the Maas and the , The last Strategically-useless strip bulge was being wiped out ) . To match that, British-and American armies had cleared the whole 40-mlle-long west bank of Roer from Duren to its confluence with the Maas to poise an ominous new threat at the Cologne plain. They : defensive works abandoned with- i out a fight as they made the last surge. ; . Allied. staff spokesmen were at a loss to explain' German failure to fight even f delaying action west of the river to impede development of a major at tack on the Roer-Maas front which Berlin com mentators have said is being marshalled by Eisen-, hower. .Coupled with disclosure of the relatively, feeble nature of the German thrust Into Alsace in: the Karlsruhe corner, promptly bounced back by; American Seventh army counter-attacks, that re-' treat behind the Roer could be significant. , ' It might mean that under: the urgent demand for reinforcements in the east to stem the Russian tide, orders for retirement behind the Rhine itself for a last stand in the west have gone out - ; i The Rhine offer the only -short-line powerful natural barrier available in the west Forted up In the ruins et the stone-built cities and towns that lie along its east bank, even secondary troops or people's army units stiffened with relatively few first line veterans could make Allied attempts to and stew. . That would release, too, mucn of what is left of German armor as well as shock divisions for use against the far more im mediately dangerous Russian thrusts. ; : It. may prove prematura to look for a German retreat behind the Rhine, but there seems no other way in which sufficient Cumbers of seasoned vet erans suitable for maneuver warfare could be con centrated in time for use in the east Troops uf Italy or in the Danube theater below Vienna are too far away to count upon. ; For at the pace the Russians were still moving as tiis third week of their great offensive opened, they tould be in Berlin in another seven days. : - : I - ) . 1 - I , J. flJlfk M I, If ii'v 111' '" ' , J ; - ,JEWg iff m Dfa tribute kr Kin Tmtntm Snritasto , , ' f H by mmngma at with Thm Wfrhft 8tag - ; ! -' , " . 4 i t :f ; . . -. i : i . N ' ! ' ' ! . - - X The American Way i (Continued from page 1) . that have been occupied, j j The Ward case ! should never have gotten into the jam it is, and would i not except for the l obduracy of the contenders. v Differences ; should have been composed and acquiescence ob tained for some form of "modus -Vivendi" during the war. Judge Sullivan voiced the correct irin ciple when i he urged that "for the duration employers, employes and unions on the home front should make a determined ef fort to adjust their abor dis agreements ' without resort to strikes and lockouts. I ' While the immediate effect of the decision may impair the usefulness i of . ye war labor board, the - long-term effect is to sustain the constitutional prin ciple of limitation of powers of the executive! and renews the view expressed In an old de cision of the supreme court that the provisions of the constitu tion, stand "alike in peace as in war.' While t is necessary to vest powers ' in the executive in wartime - aind one of them should be to keep war industries working .- there is always grave danger of establishing precedents which the executive may use to impose arbitrary power; in al leged emergencies. Judge Sul livan's - decision definitely sets : limits to , the (.exercise of presi dential authority; and even if he : is overruled his decision sounds a clear warning to the executive department v Practical ; Religion ' by He. John ti Knight. Jr. Counselor ma .SU.ligtaw Life. ' WiUamgttg imiventtv. ' ' , We have , to learn to walk' be fore we can run.!;; This is one of the obvious lessons of life, a part of the process of living We should remember' this when it comes to our religious living. Too many people expect a deep religous faith to come up- ' on them suddenly ;,cataclysmical ly. But we have to take the first steps of religious living before we get to its ileeper resources. That is, our early prayers of pe tition lead us gradually into the realm of deeper, more meaning ful prayer life. Our early adven- pu3 rnmnmra "THE YOUNG! IDEA" By Mossier' Jt Lka a can!! Desi't , . ,. ... ... . j .. ' i - , ? ; News Behind the News v,f ; .j: By PAUL MALLON : ; (Distribution by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole I 1 or in part strictly prohibited.) 1 ; . WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 The - ity into line for his proposition. accounts of the republican meeting at Indianapolis made it sound lik I a routine ,. affair, a good story for the national re publican week ly perhaps, but for no one else. They breath . ed pure har mony and light though the light was dulL As a matter 'of Paal ftUOon fact the harmony was also; far from pure, j '' j v There was an inside battle, which, as usual, the republicans managed to keep under cover. The conflict was raised specially In opposition to the -Dewey management. tIt was rather for midable. ;f : I Fourteen of the national com mitteemen ' attended a meeting ' the night before. While this, was a small minority, it was a nuc leus of revolt which might have been successful except that it lacked a leader. -j The .vice j presidential candi date, John Bricker, had, been sought by many for the job of national chairman to replace the . Dewey leader j Herbert , Brown ell. He is more popular ir the party organization, than anyone and would lhave been a good man around whom to build a fresh Washington leadership. ..r But Bricker thought he must return to' his law business' and make a little money for the fu , ture. He declined to enter the race. No one else was visible in the picture who could xffer any inspiration to an opposition. ; ; Mr. "Brownell, furthermore Is a smart operator, In the absence of Bricker, he was able to ne . gotiate a compromise which left , Republican matters pretty much in his hands.- T The only thing he had to give up. was a promise that he would not use his office ' to promote the Dewey candidacy for 1948. That in itself, however, betrayed ' the inner presence of an opposi tion to Dewey as the future leader of the party. ! But wiUi the assistance of his aide, Russell Sprague, he was able to get a controlling major "' i .' - '. ; '.:.''.'--' !'.. " r- tures in faith lead us into a ' fuller, more trusting confidence in God. , 1 evea nolle s cy new tatr iirr namely continuance of his lead ership in organizing for the ' congressional elections of 1948, letting t he question i (don't smile here) of who will oppose Mr. Roosevelt in ,1948, if any one, to the future, ; ) Most of the Bricker and other -opposition people were? well: enough satisfied to let matters go at that because they expect Bricker to be the leading oppo- sition candidate to Dewev for the next nomination A chairman can' hardly 'avoid getting tied up on issues and involved in factional cliques to such an extent that 'nominating one in the past has proved to be impossible. But most of the Dewey opposition is hot yet tied to any candidate and sees no other republican figure S on jthe horizon except Minnesota's Stas sen. v; - . '. ;;.'. ' i ... i . . In the end only Stassen and Clarence Buddington Kelland carried an y opposition to the program to the floor of the na tional mmittee meeting and they could not even flyspeck the public record of harmony. As well ; arranged harmony covered this clash, silence cov ered an -attempt' somewhat ear lier by the, Dewer Deoole to guide the development of party principles in congress, j You will recall brief accounts 1 of a meeting of Senators Taft, J Vandenberg - and - others with Governor Dewey in jNew York. I after which r no conclusions of I" any importance were announced. The party leaders from the con- f gress were impressed with the j manner in which Dewey han- J died himself at that gathering, ! bat they did not accept his prop-i j osition to let him be i their guide. The next stake will ' in- I volve their jobs not his. ' - Aside from these j two purely '. organizational ventures Dewey i has made no effort to assume i i . LITERARY GUIDEPOST J Z ' 1 By W. G. Rogers- ST BKEAD ALONE "5 Vr Betty ' Stierblnia (Mtrrtw; $ZJ). This novel best can .; be de scribed as capable. That isn't as high praise as the author would like, and it isn't intended to be, i but it's a lot higher than can be bestowed In general on " the in-5 creasing number of stories set j In South ' American concerned 1 h i tou i with international intrigue. Even i tMil and fTnvratf .' Mat in. 3 trigue can be anything but In- j triguing. ."-":' :; i : ' . :? ' Miss de Sherbinin knows the Argentine, knows what's afoot in the world, and knows how to work up a plot On a few occa sions she admirably evokes the little-gesture or the Illuminating word which makes a character come alive. i But this is primarily ',m novA of situation, not of character. Peter Watt hard-boiled Ameri- . can, had once fought for liberal causes, as for instance against Franco in Spain. Fate had beat en Idealism out of him, driven him to the view that bread alone Is enough, sharpened him to the point where be knew which side his was buttered on. A series, of not ; Implausible events '. reforms him and sends him back into battle against fascism. " . . . , There are two women . , . one never being enough for one man in a novel which aspires to pop ularity. One woman is an Argen tine, daughter of a man of many riches " and few scruples; the other ad American wed to a German and suffering for It - . The difficult married status of this American womta ii lejlti cxate subject tor fiction. It is a w J m .AT THE FROIJTi T., By Tom Yarbroexh 1 (Substituting for Kenneth I i - ' r"" ' Dixon) ;' ' " .. J WITH THE FIRST ARMY IN BELGIUM, Jan. ' 22.-(Delayed)-(flVTbe easieet thing -to do in this man's army is get lost: f It's even worse than in England- whera gracious and well meaning natives tell lost Ameri can soldiers "you cahn't miss 1C and the wandering ones, follow ing directions to the letter, pro ceed to miss it a mile. You might think military po lice would take care of such things, but MP's here-, are no ' different" from MFs anywhere else. They have a stock answer completely .honest for most questions from all comers, "it beats me lieutenant No good army stays in the same place very long and that's' the main root of this trouble about getting lost. By the time you've memorized the deviou route to.some command post with code name such as "Whirligig freer, Wnirligig Rear has moved and you can't find it again until you've tried out a whole new set of wrong directions. ? If you are looking for Whirli gig Forward instead of Whirli gig Rear this can be serious and get you involved with Germans. jThe Saffety LETTERS FKOH STATESMAN To the Editor? i S The purchase of 43 acres of j the . western portion of Bush's pasture will.be presented to the voters at especial city election to ,'be held on February 9. As a priv . ate citizen and tax payer, may rl state my reasons for favoring the purchase? t r ; A few years ago Mr. A. N. Bush and Miss Sally Bush gen lerously donated 57 acres of the ' lower " and eastern part of the (pasture to the city, to be -used as ta city park, reserving to them , selves a Kfe estate. They now offer to sell to the city the re- maining 43 acres for the sum of Si $175,000. retaining the use, of ; the property for their home dur fing heir life time and paying f back to the city $2500 annually, during such life estate. This sum is estimated to be greater than t the amount which will be levied I against the property for taxes. I The offer also proposes that the j Willamette university have the privilege ' of constructing -and I rnamtaining an ahtletic field on 10 acres of the park. If any minor change is made in the above offer it will be made in the interest of. developing the park and duly announced before election.' " .: ' , ' - : - 'l . Space will not permit of an extended argument fully setting forth the city's need for the full 100 acres, yet it is signifi cant that after due consideration, the board of 'directors of the j chamber of commerce, the city- school board, the Salem ' trades and labor council, the musicians association: and other local or ganizations are in favor of ac cepting ; the offer believing that national leadership. At any rate he has made no public utterance on any subject of national in terest ; f: Apparently he wants to keep control of the party but not at tempt to build up a public; fol lowing in the Wfllkie way by rousing speeches . and : issue movements. Both he and Brick er will, however, make a speech apiece on Lincoln day. : , V common problem overseas. In Europe a boy can court a j girl as easily across a .frontier' as, in this" country, across a street; in Europe marriage to a neigh bor can easily be marriage to a foreigner. The resulting divided allegianofes always come in the wake of war. The question, con-; sequently, whether the heart should follow the flag is by no means an abstract one. Miss de Sherbinin de ser ves credit for recognizing a good idea. :', But ; her solution isnt exactly brand new. - ! ! Credit If Desire You choose with con fidence; when you make your selection at Stevens it Son Biamonds Re-set. fTfcir Yarn Wait ''.: ' ' - 1 'q Esqnisif Easiest Thin? to Do on Western Front Is to Become Lost The other day an enthusiastic public relations ' officer marked an explicit route for correspond ents on the way to. the . front . and told them blandly Ton hat road youll be safe..They reach ed the road, six jeep loads of them, simultaneously with sev eral salvos of Gennan artillery. - Your best I friend is the guy who says he doesht know. Your worst is the one who. just thinks he knows. Two. corrfspondents on their way up from the Third army sector followed T think" and "I believe directions so faithfully they became an un willing spearhead practically in the outskirts of St Hubert while St. Hubert was atill in German bands. - ; - ' Maps and compasses are only basic requirements. You've got to know where you're going. It's no wonder that German para chutists roving behind our lines in American uniforms didn't do much harm. They, had to pick their way through the same wrong directions handed out to bonafide Americans and with every query they exposed them- i selves to detection. v Roadside signposts have a way of getting twisted into the biggest : liars in the world. A heavy truck : (Continued on Page 13) Valve , READERS among the most . valuable im- ; provements needed , by , Salem, is a spacious, centrally located, ar tistically landscaped and . service equipped city park. Considering Salem's present and future needs 100-acres for such civic develop ment does not seem excessive. The city, at some future date should have an auditorium; con- structed in a location where am ple automobile ' parking space would be available. Civic audi toriums 4n many cities are self . sustaining. Not only would such building materially assist in re paying for its apst . but it would become a eommunity'r center for exceptional - concerts, programs . and social events. We have lost state conventions of organizations because we could not provide . suitable accommodations to en tertain. ; . Salem I also " needs a modern .band shell or Greek theater: . While-Wilson avenue provides a beautiful setting, yet the lack of space for! an adequate band stand and for automobile parking and the noise from passing , traffic, render this location unsuitable for serious concerts. A band shell or Greek theater, to be used for varied out-door . programs, per haps could be constructed by private subscription. Where could there be a mors appropriate lo cation for such shell and audi torium than in a beautiful park six blocks from our court house. Then we need and will need .more play grounds' which should' not be located too near the band shell and auditorium. ; 1 V f Besides furnishing a place for neeaea recreation for returning : soldiers the park, might be de- veloped by postwar projects. This opportunity would be lost in the event that we are not ready to grasp it! . I Aboutl the year 1908, Salem had a population of about five thousand. In the intervening 38 years the population has become ; seven times as great At the ex piration jof another. 38 years Sa Uem's population should be 150 - 000 and tiie sum of $175,000 paid for 43 acres to fill out a beauti ful , 100 jacre park will then be considered a gift"'' I - ; We know that after acquiring this valuable site, we should not mar its natural beauty by hap hazard construction but should have a planning commission to landscape the area, saving the trees and wild foliage so that' the park will retain its original; attractiveness. It will take per-C haps years to, create our ideal' . park but we will realize tiw dream if we but have faith; then work and wait v : -T tunity to provide for ourselves and future generations a source of happiness, health, revenue and juvenile protection or will we permit this lovely location to be sold for private use. You as vot-: ; erg win decide on February 9. 1.: i'-:-': l -Ivan 0.' Martin. DIAMOKD3 -WATCHES ; 3 BiizDiid Dings! At Stevens & Son youH find creations in Diamond Rings for an occasions brilliantly set in attract ive mountings for lasting pleasure! Store noors: ' 9:39 A. M. te F. M. Not Open Ssturday " KihU