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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1945)
page roua The OZ2GOZ! CTATwIlAlZ. Ccdeau Oregon. Tuesday KorxLig. FeJbntorT 23, 1343 3 'Wo THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY CHARLES A. SPRAGUE. Editor and Publisher j Member of the Associated Press j The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use for publication of all newt dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited In this newspaper. Battle Bombers In the early- stages of American participation in aerial warfare in Europe a sharp controversy rose over therelative merits of nighttime bombing as conducted by the British and pre , cision daylight bombing as planned and con ducted by American heavy bombers. The ar gument continued, but each side continued to use its preferred method. The result was that Germany got a double dose: British planes, the Lancaster and Halifax, working the night shift and American planes, Liberator and Flying Fortress taking the daylight run. We haven't heard very much about the relative merits of the two methods, in late months, perhaps be cause the German luftwaffe has been so com pletely knocked from the skies. However, once the fighting stops, the contention will be picked up again and will be argued in aviation and military circles which seek in reviewing experi ence of this war to formulate plans for the next. ' ; The subject is discussed in an article in the March number of Flying by Maj. Oliver Stew art, a British authority on aviation. He defi- nitely is or the opinion that the British view point is correct: I think that the war communiques reaching London during the past two months, taken with earlier, experience, permit the statement that assault attacks by heavy bombers against a well-equipped enemy are militarily uneco nomic. I would say that the heavy bomber to be fully effective, must work under cover. By "under cover" he means planes operating at night or with ample fighter escort. He totals the score as follows: Bigger bomb load: won by under cover bomber, j Lower loss rate: won by under cover bomber. Higher accuracy: won by battle bomber. He also concludes that the under cover bomb er has it over the heavy, daylight "battle bomb er" in manpower, fuel consumed, ammunition , used and in organizational demands. Noting ' the success of the Superfortress in the war on Japan, he believes it is succeeding because it is technically ahead of Japanese equipment. It must be admitted, also, that the war depart ment admits that the initial bombings of Japa nese cities have not been overly effective as yet. Major Stewart believes that as jet and rocket fighters come into service in greater numbers the heavy bombers will need cover (night or fog) or stronger escorts. "It is time," he says, "that those who plan technical development gave up the illusion of the self - defending heavy , bomber." , For the future, observes Stewart, daylight precision work must be transferred to ultra high performance medium and light bombers, which would rely quite largely on instruments. , He says that "we are near the time when an air craft working entirely on instruments will be able to find a Jap battleship in mid-Pacific, bomb it by instruments, and return without ever getting a direct visual sight on the target" While we do not like, to be talking about a next war before this one is closed and when we are planning an organization tp preserve peace, nevertheless we cannot neglect our own secur ity One thing is true, no nation can fight the next war just in terms of the last. The lessons of the past are of value only as interpreted in the light of the future's probabilities. This makes problems of aerial warfare, whose tools are still undergoing swift change, at once dif ficult and fascinating. '"My Dear Gaston" The interchange between President Roosevelt and General de Gaulle by no means resembles the politeness of Alphohse and Gaston. Re member? "You first, my dear Alphonse;'.' "Af ter you, my dear Gaston." Because France was not invited to attend the three-power conference at Yalta, France de clines the invitation of President Roosevelt to General de Gaulle to meet him at a point out side of France while hf is in the Mediterranean area. ' France stood on its dignity. Four and five years ago France was not standing on its dignity. It was not standing at all. It was flat on its back. And Vichy France was grovelling, sorry minion of the nazis. De Gaulle was inXondon pleading for British help, and after; we got into the war pleading for American help, s It was American aid which lifted France to its feet. It is American strength which keeps the boche j from again overrunning France. It ; seems therefore! in ill grace for France to set such store on its place in the sun which it has - by no means earned. Let France make more contribution to Victory before claiming to share so largely in the fruits of victory. Editorial Comment AT LAST; i , The famed and powerful KNX has 'announced that beginning March 1 It will close its microphones to news commentators, and that only it own an nouncers will present news to the public. J- First reports on the action by "the Los Angeles station do not state what prompted its decision. But, this seems well, an action that many one would like to believe that most will welcome with gratitude At least here they will be able to listen in for their news and have the opportunity, if they want it, to evaluate it for themselves. v British Broadcasting Corporation listeners al ready enjoy this privilege, for Britons pride them themselves on the fact that they get their wireless news without comments, and that they can think .things out for "themselves. They have never had to wait in the middle of a report of the progress of the allies on some front around the globe to listen to the gurgle of a patent medicine or while some perhaps "cute" to look at but tuneless blonde jazzes up a favorite music number of thousands in the smart-crack alleged jingles aimed at luring dollars from the pocketbooks of listeners who are told that this or that will drive all woe away. Let us hope that KNX has opened the way to . radio progress which will let us have our radio new, M the Eritish get it, and as you get it all the time In a free and indeoendent American nress. simply and best, as informative Sentinel-Mist rtfloti mwh mm ;; , - j . i;, ; Foor Sways Us; Wo Fear Shall Awt From First Statesman, March 28, 18S1 nazis to shift Judge Curtis our forces there - J: Interpreting The War News own earner plane toward American sea to cut Japan pones armies facts. St, Helens , . Breathing Spell J 'fi Costly as the German -attack In Be lgium last December was to the attackers, it is paying them dividends in time. At the moment when the Russian hammer is pomkding and the Russian sickle cutting at Germany's eastern, front, the only army which can attack in the West is the British-Canadian army Under Marshal Mont gomery. The American armies to the south have succeeded in rectifying their lines and ex pelling the Germans from their regained terri tory, but are not yet able to mount a power drive to or across the Rhine. According to Wes Gallagher, AP correspond ent, this condition in the West has permitted the their reserves from one point to another to meet attacks. They pulled troops from the west to shore up the line of the Oder river. They shifted forces north to meet the Canadian attack. In this they have of course the advantage of working on inner lines of com munication. ' ,, -If our armies had not been thrown off bal ance in December at considerable cost in men and supplies they would be able to synchronize their assault with the Russians, giving blows which the nazis could hardly bear.; ? They will come, but without doubt the counter-attack in December has given the Germans a breathing spelL , :! I : Hff'' D. Wilbur of the ninth circuit j court of appeals has announced his! Intention to retire on May 10 next, at the age of . 78. Judge J Wilbur had served as chief justice of the Call- fornia supreme court and as secretary of the 1 navy under President Coolidge. He was ap-f pointed to the federal bench by President Hoov- er. His announcement! will undoubtedly pre- cipitate a scramble for appointment as succes-f sor. This is a highly important judicial office. Is it too much to hope the president will name an outstanding jurist of the west and hot merely j reward a political hack who happens to be a lawyer? .ft 'f' 1 ! Although the proposal comes late, the legis-f lature still has time to act to pass a resolution! submitting to the people an amendment to f strike from the state constitution section eight ! of article XV which says that "no Chinaman" may hold real estate or a mining claim, except! he was resident of the state when the constitu- f tion was adopted. The1 provision has been in- j operative for years, by virtue of a federal court f decision, and the section is so labeled in the printed copies of the constitution. Hit ought to! be repealed. It imputes needless taunt to the! Chinese. i j General Mark Clark has said that signs point; to German evacuation of northern Italy and aj Berne newspaper prints a report that the with-f drawal is in progres. This is good news, if true. It means first, that the situation in Ger-j many has deteriorated to the point where HitlerJ must call his soldiers home; and second, that the longfr hard battle for Italy will be over giving? a well-earned respite. By KIRKE L. SIMPSON I ASSOCIATED PRESS WAB ANALYST I With seizure of pin-point Iwo Jinuj ;off the south coast of Japan under way by American: naval for ces, a beginning has been made on rolling history back almost a century, f., , j - Just 92 years ago next July Commodore Matthew C. Perry began the negotiations f orj the treaty of "Peace and amity' that opened Japan; to the world. .By the time that anniversary rolls around it is a, fair conclusion that another American naval ofnV cer; Admiral Nimitz,' will have- sealed Japan in again, blockading her by sea and air against any effective contact through the east and south China seas with the Chinese mainland. , . That is the implication of the massive naval pow er blow that exposed Iwo Juna to landing opera tions destined to make it a plane base for American use a meager 750 miles from Tokyo. It means that land based medium bombers taking oft from Iwo Jima's air strips can range over all the ports of southern Japan and blast at sea communications of the enemy army in northern China as well as at Japanese war industries. fl V I It means, too, that Nimitz' mighty fleet can carry its bold sweep into Japanese home waters farther west and north at will under shelter of Luzon and Iwo Jima based heavy air power to supplement its strength. S&JF?$& off completely from huge Nip- deployed in China Strike a 1000-mile radius circle from Manila and another from Iwe Jima and they intersect over the Japanese Ryukyu islands just east oft Formosa. One arc, representing the easy range of medium and light-heavy bombers,' spans the whole south China sea sweep to east China covering all of Formosa. The arc from Iwo Jima covers all Japan south of latitude 40 degrees, the southern tip of the Dorean peninsula and the mouth of the sea ol Japan as well as all the central and northern islands of the Ryukyu chain. - j, - :-; :Iv f-, -; ! f ; While the amphibious attack on Iwo Jima has stirred Japanese fears of impending: direct invasion of the homeland itself it is the blockade feature that most deeply concerns some enemy observers. They promptly noted that American penetration of the inner circle of Japanese insular outposts in the Pa cific gravely menaced all sea contact with China se sources of vital war materials and with troops in all the southern sectors of Japan's shrivelling conquest sphere. . " - g It seems doubtful, however, that invasion of Japan can be in very close prospect in allied plan ning. Until the war in Europe ens so far as or ganized German resistance is concerned it is un likely that either the forces or the shipping for pushing on into Japan or into China. to come to grips with the Japanese army can be available. ; r That does not mean,, nevertheless!, that naval preparations for such sea borne invasions in both directions .cannot be! carried through in advance. Seizure of Iwo Jimat brings the war by air terribly close to Japan right now even though months might elapse before it could be followed by landings on the Japanese home islands themselves. ' " - - , ;J r. . it I- T. i ! JEWISH PABrV&D :Hfc " j I ! MCOME HOME ANp M: I ,.' j . j . ' -l '" ' I ' ' ' . ; S ' I DUtr&otei fcr tat ftatww tfat 1 L ' ! I i 1 ifmviMrt with fke WwUaftoa Star . J 'I, fc iit vita Tfca Wasbiactea Star When Papa's Away . . . Tho Literary Guidcpoot I By W. G. Rorers GENERALS "DC THE WHITE HOUSE," y Dorothy B. ana Jul ias Geekel, Jr. (Denbleaay, Doras; S2.1J). j On the Whole our generals have scared us just about as much as they! have scared our enemies. We regarded them as potential Caesars or Napoleons. In wartime we couldn't get along without them; in peace we trembled in fear we couldn't get along with them. In. spite of our traditional Re publican distrust of the military, nine; Americans were generals before they became presidents; on nine occasions we laid aside prejudice and elected a candidate who might have been the Man on Horseback ... as typflied by the French General Boulanger, a too dangerous combination of sol dier! and politician who, how ever finally rode his horse off to Brussels and shot himself. . Mr. and Mrs. Goebel have ex amined the careers of our nine, estimated their abilities and con sidered whether : they were po tential Caesars. Jackson, William Henry Harrison ; and , Hayes are rated equally capable in the field and in White House; Wash ngtain and Pierce are called bet ter presidents than generals; Tay lor, .Grant, Garfield and Benpa min' Harrison get more credit as generals than as presidents. Except in the case of Grant, they were approximately as ca pable in the White House as their military:' abilities would have led us to expect The Goebels find little or no evidence of Caesarisra among them, either In act or in aspiration. "It was not the gen erals who moved us into our wars, they assert; and they maintain that the general-presidents conducted our foreign af fairs with at least as much pru dence as any other White House occupants. The last of the nine were prod ucts of the Civil War. The Goe bels say "it would be marvelous, if we didn't elect another soldier some day. That's what they say, but what they mean is, they thhjk we are likely to, and think it would be perfectly safe to. - Pershing, in the last; war, said noJ MacArthur, in this; war, said n-n-n-nd. Eisenhower, Clark, Patton, Bradley . . . shall we be asking them? ADA, Okla. - (ff) - A purebred polled Hereford calf and a 18-year-old; Seguin, Tex, farm boy, Reno Lehmann, took their first airplane ride today. i . The 175-pound calf was a gift of f an Ada rancher. I Boy and calf were loaded, in the rancher's "THE YOUNG IDEA" By Mossier I V i ? - i V ; : - "You might eves meet News Behind the News ! -By PAUL MALLON (Distribution by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction In whole J or in part strictly prohibited.) s I JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Feb. 19 Words: and Lyrics In praise of Mr. Henry .Wallace are blow ing over ther country from the Washington and New York typewriters and mimeograph machines, fu rious words and thunder ous lyrics, i Here they sound like the faal JMaUoa old wind and rain machines of the 10, 20 and SO cent melodramas which made Eliza's crossing the stage ice so perilous and awful for those who can be easily con vinced. The Wallace grinders moan and howl: i "If you're ij for Roosevelt, you're for Wallace' (signed na tional business men's committee for Wallace.) J . . : "Wallace is a Yankee business man, howls Morgenthau" (ob livious of geography 'which has certified Yankees in New Eng land where Wallace has never been, except oh political trips). "The reactionary senators are trying to - defeat the common man," moans a Florida colum nist whose opinion is being re published" throughout the state as a paid advertisement. ) Why? Mr. Wallace is de feated. He was defeated within 48 hours after his nomination for secretary of commerce was sent to the senate, defeated for the only important aspect of his ; appointment, control of the : . lending agencies. I know certainly Mr. Roose- yelt called him in and talked to him then about giving up this $40,000,000,000 part of the com- j merce secretary's job although ; I Wallace then still, wanted to go i j through with both jobs: Without I that RFC, the : commerce secre- I taryship is the . least important ji cabinet office, i ' , 'f He was defeated not by a few k reactionary senators, but by i complete outraged majorities of the congress recently elected by a the people with Mr. Roosevelt for the fourth;, term. They just would not stand for putting a farmer in to handle the new deal's financial lending empire. Why all this hullabaloo, then? ; Why this fake campaign? It is a fake, because it simply is not i plane for the return trip to Se-i' guin. ' The calf,1 its legs tied with I rope, sat on the flood, beside Reno with; its head in his lap. I aoether girl time." true that if you are for Roose velt, you are for Wallace. Mr. Roosevelt himself, had to I discard Wallace for the 'presi dential campaign; is being com pelled by congrgess now again to discard him for a financial con trol job for which few think him suited. It is not true mat he is either a Yankee or a business man. It is not true that the opposition represents reactionaryism while he represents the common man. ; Looking at it only from the Roosevelt liberal or any demo- s era tie viewpoint, the common man would best be served by an ; efficient management of the 'banks and lending ; companies through RFC in the interests of the government I A man who knows "nothing of such hardboiled highly techni cal management could cause the whole RFC empire to fall into j a mess within a few months, disrupting the proposed job- i lending and ruin the country. Would that help the common I man? In my solemn, sincere opinion, Wallace could be useful in that job only for those who want to I ruin the country. You would not ! hire a physician to do your den l tistry or a dentist to take out I your appendix, not unless you I wanted the patient to die. Why this campaign? The only ; possible explanation, it seems to ; me; is this: Radical leadership in this I country has fallen far below par. ; The latest Hillman-CIO move I ment learly was so uninspiring from its own standpoint that it searched for a more respectable front, even during Ithe cam paign, trying to get the late Sen. George Norris to head it Immediately after the election it started an ill-founded fight on the Stettinius aides and got only about one-tenth of the vote of the senate. Now it is trying to stir up just as ill-grounded and foolish a campaign to build Wallace up as a front for its activities. From the way they are going about it I judge they expect to make the people believe Wallace a tin-god from his defeat a The1 .Safety jVaflve LETTESS FROM STATESMAN HALF A LOAF To the Editor: A casual survey of the Bush pasture park property leads this writer to believe that the pro ponents of the projected park purchase have given! too much thought to the superficial value of the tract, and not enough thought to the manner and de sign potentialities of this land. If a detailed study of the de velopment had been made, be fore bringing the proposition to the people, these things might have become apparent: (1) . That portion of the land which roughly lies Vest of the line of Church street if extended, and west of the Bush: house and also west of the very heavy oak timber is not essential to the de velopment of a beautiful park. (2) . This westerly part of the land, which is approximately 500 by 2200 feet in size, could well be the site of Salem most de sirable real estate subdivision, vastly enhanced in value by its proximity to the future park. (3) . The park, property under such a design scheme would be entirely east, of an extended Church street, which would be bunt to follow the graceful pres ent line of the heavy timber on Uie brow of the hill and would emerge at . the south end to a connection with High, Church anil Cottage streets. . I (4). Instead of the cityfspend ing $175,000, it would be! logical s : AT THE FHOI By Sid Feder : (Substituting for Kenneth L, I Dixon) WITH THE 5TH ARMY IN ITALY -JP)- It is probably a fortunate coincidence that M Sgt James M. Powder, who prac tically goes with a lease1 in the United States army chiefs of staff official family; is a big man for his size all six feet four and three quarter inches of him. . j Otherwise he'd probably have to have an extension sewn on his sleeve to accommodate a set of hash marks that look like the winding staircase in the Statute of Liberty. After all, 27 years in this man's army are slightly longer than the world's record for the hundred yard dash. He has hashmarks. i Powder was here with another soldierGeorge C Marshall gen eral of the army and chief of staff. Powder's job, by bis own description, is to "make the old man comfortable. ! The two of them, along with CoL Frank McCarthy, pre-war, police reporter on the Richmond (Va) Times Dispatch and cur rently the youngest secretary the general staff has ever had, drop ped In on their way home from the Crimean conference to see what was cooking on the "for gotten" Italian front Just for the record, they didn't like the mud any more than the Joes who didn't! get to the Crimean con ference, v ; In between taking care of the general's two uniforms, five shirts land six suits of under worm l (Continued from page 1) by the general fund then if liq uor revenues decline other state : needs would suffer as the gen eral fund is called on to old age assistance. ' j .The; fact is that in the past whenever liquor revenues did not Seem to suffice appropriations from the general fund have been made If or public welfare. In the blennium 1941-43 this amounted to $2,343,31. Whether liquor rev enues go direct to public welfare or not the legislature will have to provide funds for the welfare needs,; just as it has in the past. Certainly no one would dispute the plain statement that pro vision for the aged, the blind and the needy should not depend on the amount of whiskey being consumed. Because of the fears over change our state finance is get ting into an unbalanced situation martyr for the "common man," a respectable show window man for future use. Mr. Wallace is an honest, de cent person 'and thus suitable for that purpose. He is not acute to the workings of those who have been using him for some time. Human and friendly, he has never been accused of being . smart or gifted with the quali ties in sight for leadership. : The movement therefore. Is not likely to succeed. The lead ership is still inept True liber alism in the real interests of the people will not gain its day until young new men who are both clever and honest, now un known, arise to take hold of it and lead it away from its cur rent course of humbuggery and quackery which would hardly deceive a modern child. , READERS to believe that this land could be acquired for not to exceed $75,000, inasmuch as the land iemaining to the present own ers would have a value in ex cess of $100,000. ; , ) .This writer was in favor of the original idea to purchase the entire tract, but on the theory that half a loaf is still good to eat It would seem to be a good thought to suggest that we find eut what we are going to do with the land before we get It Maybe we don't need as much of it; as we thought we did. ! Very truly , r S R.H.DOBELL STEVniS ! Divided Payments - r, . . ..... mssm TT n .cecum MSgt Jos. Powder Part of Armr Chlei Of Staffs Family wear no one bothered to ask about socks, Orderly Powder1 gave inquiring correspondents a short rundown. He's a big, easy going guy from Rockford, HI, by way of Washington. He's 47 now, r a veteran of world war one, has a i wife and married daughter and this was his second trip overseas with Marshall.: The first was to Paris a few months ago, "I didnt know where we were ' going this time until , we ' got there," he admitted. "We'd heard a lot of rumors and I thought it was going to be Moscow. We didn't miss it by much did we?" He's been with every chief and deputy chief of staff since 182S, when he got a job as driver fcr the army's head man because as a wire platoon chief he was rated one of the outstanding automobile jockeys. That means he's piloted Gens. Charles Sum merall, Douglas MacArthur, Mal ta Craig and Marshall and about 10 deputies, which adds up to a lot of general driving. . A year and a half ago he sufw ! fered a heart attack, so he was switched ' over from . driving to orderly. ' Powder admits he calls Gen eral Marshall "the old man'' "but not to. his lace of course. " "The old man," he adds, "is a swell person. Tve driven for a lot of chiefs of staff, but he's the best all round. He doesn't pat you on the back every time, but he's always considerate of you." : . - as I can prove from official fig ures.' The ways and means Com mittee -are searching high and low for money to meet demands. But they are shutting their eyes to the place where It is. There was appropriated from liquor revenues to the public welfare fund for the biennium ending June 30 next $12,000,000: The liquor commission's estimate of profits from all divisions for the biennium is $15,354,228. It actually realized $3,354,225 in the first year of the biennium. Its estimate for the second year was only $7,000,000. But for the first six months of that year its net earnings INCREASED $243,245. It seems altogether reasonable to anticipate that its net earnings from all divisions for the bien nium will be twice those of the first year or $18,758,000. Of this there would go : to cities and counties $L213,714 on the basis of 1843-44 allocations, and to the public welfare fund $12,000, 000, which would leave in the hands; of the liquor commission as of . June 30 next a sum in excess of $3,500,000. This may not all be available in cash because -the commission's Inventories as of June 30 last were up $7,245,322. It is reason able to expect a steady reduction 4n inventories during the next two years. The commission may have to take a loss on some of its stocks bought during the liq uor drouth, but i certainly not enough to be a very serious fac- , tor. : , So then there will be In cash or in Inventories about $3,500, 000 in the hands of the liquor board as of June 30 next after meeting demands for the blen rium. , ! What about the next biennium. If the liquor revenues hold up there would be excess profits of the same amount in the period 1945-47. The budget calls for an appropriation of $12,000,000 from . the liquor revenues for public welfare for the next biennium. This wffl be sufficient with a carry-over of about $3,000,000 to lift public welfare expenditures (including old age assistance) from an estimated $23,683,000 In this biennium to $32,7fl7,000 in the next biennium, a truly fabu- , lous increase, one not equaled in any other large division of state government :.: i f It is not unreasonable to ex pect some decline in liquor rev enues as the war1 ends. But the history of revenues from tobacco and liquor show a steady in crease, distressing as the fact may be. The falling off in demand from war workers may be ab sorbed by that from returning service men. . It adds up to this: a safe as sumption of $3,500,000 of excess profits for this biennium and ' a fair prospect of similar profits in the next biennium; or $7,000, 000 "frozen" because the legis lature out of fear or pressure from the liquor lobby will not direct that liquor revenues be covered Into the general fund for legislative appropriation. S , DIAMONDS Dr&celcis KcsIificaU; We do our own en - graving Sc per leKer. Stare Hoars: 9:3$ A. M. te ip.u. ; '1