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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1945)
pags roua The. OBEGOrf STATESMAN, Scdm. Orroxu Friday Homing. April 13. 1345 i - - - - . ft ,. rejaouis0iateBmau s "No T avor Swayt Us;' So Fear Shall Atce" from First Statesman. March 28. 1831 THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Editor and Publisher Member of the Associated Press : - .i Tie Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the us for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this newspaper. i-v Rules of Warfare , . (j Our military forces sometimes make mistakes; and when those mistakes are in contravention of international law the authorities are usually prompt .to admit, responsibility and express regret. That was the case when some German prisoners suffered suffocation on a POW train in Europe. A new-type coach was in use, not properly ventilated for a warm dayj and as a result there was loss of life among the pris oners. General Eisenhower admitted the facts and announced prompt steps had been taken to prevent a recurrence of the incident. Another unfortunate accident occurred when the Japanese relief ship Awa Maru was sunk on its return voyage after it had taken relief supplies for allied internees at some of the Jap-held ports. The ship was travelling under safe-conduct. Our state department says that probably the ship was sunk by an allied sub marine. It was hot sailing with any lights visible and was sunk about midnight on April 1. The ship should have sailed with full illumi nation; but even so it is regretable that it was sunk. The supplies it had delivered were held up in Vladivostok for about a year; and now the Japs may refuse to deliver any more sup plies for allied prisoners or internees. In general there has been more criticism of the generosity of our treatment of war prison ers than the reverse. But our policy is defended as being in compliance with the Geneva conven tion. Prisoners are entitled to the same fare as soldiers of the capturing country, according to their rank. Since we feed our soldiers very well, this means that the prisoners fare well too. In fact the French complained because the German prisoners were getting better food and more of it than they were. The United States has a good reputation and wants to keep it. Accordingly it endeavors to live up to the rules of war. When errors occur -as they will in big operations, our officers move promptly to correct blunders or to prevent their recurrence. We will not have to apologize for many incidents when this war is over. Cushions for Kneeling Benches? Just before the war the rail and stage lines were installing in new equipment seats whose cushions and headrests were so soft the pas senger might think he was sitting on a feather bed with his head resting on a down pillow. The material was neither feathers nor down, butijsponge rubber which consists simply of rubber latex and air. It is not a new product .we jhave had rubber sponges for years and years; but a new application of an old product. The" result was something adding- greatly to the 1 comfort of travelers, and when used for mattresses of those1 reclining on beds or daven ports. The enterprising rubber concerns see visions of a greatly broadened market for this product in cushions and arm rests on furniture. Also, they think they can sell sponge rubber to cushion kneeling benches. Heretofore kneeling benches have been plain board, ' which grows no softer with time or with the lengthening of devotions. But selling the churches sponge rubber cushions for prayer benches may pose something of a problem. The churches will have - to decide whether cushioning the kneeling boards will encourage more people to pray or whether there is a spiritual value in the discom fort of kneeling on a hard bench, a sort of penance, as it were. The saleman's effort to sell comfort may run into opposition from those who think that worship needs some meas ure of discomfort as discipline for the soul. There will be a big market for the goods without the kneeling bench trade, for the mil lions of men, who have slept on hard ground, or in foxholes or in ship's hammocks or on , army cots will relish soft beds, the softer the more welcome; and certainly their relatives will be happy to indulge them. So sponge rub ber and all the materials and devices for human comfort will be in great demand when the end of the war makes them again available for civilian purchase. ' . Prince? Drives a Truck We have seen pictures of the king of Sweden (perhaps it was of Norway) buymg hia ticket at the box office of a Cinema like any other person. But the report that Princess Elizabeth, heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain, KUCUI VIS IUV w i vh round reeentiv nv ner ; uarenis. uie mux i and queen, wearing overalls while in training i for the ATS (auxiliary territorial service), goes kj farther in the direction of democracy than a 1 king buying a ticket to a movie. The princess, Ij1! so her commandant saysi has learned to driva f a truck and is doing very well at it, even In heavy traffic. He says she is not rash and" drives "with thought for others on the road," which certainly is commendable in a truck driver. ' Perhaps being in the ATS she doesn't have to have a union card. But over here,-unless she was in -a uniformed service she'd have to have a card, or Dave Beck wouldj run her truck into the ditch. " u 1 Let's see, Elizabeth is the great- great grand daughter of Queen Victoria, whose; name is identified with social correctness.. Her grand mother, Queen Mary was also a model of pro priety. What a shock it would b for these worthy matrons to see their descendant, who is already being trained to become queen of England, wearing overalls and driving a truck, No Doubt About First Choice The very fact that she can do this is a tribute to her good sense and -that of her .parents. Abo it gives one explanation of why the English royal house continues to hold its -job while most of the other monarchs of Europe are "unemployed." " , i . j.-:h mZH&l I -IV .1 Will W'rI MMK mmm if mm. wjm&ffim mMSdOSAS js&ijpu mm i ; ....-. J . - v ! if. , ; .-j .- . - , - g S - j J 4 . Liberated American i Correspondent Has . Woes In England PkUlililtolWFi By Godfrey H. P. Anderson (Substituting tor Kenntth lDixon) LONDON-P)-I must be the unluckiest war correspondent ever. -. . Just one week after getting out of the bag in Germany X got into it in England. But this time my "captivity" . only lasted, five - hours. ' j: . , ? It happened thiway. Within five minutes of landing from an; ; American military aircraft at an airdrome in Kent, after flying from Paris, I attracted the eager ; scrutiny of a British security officer. Although fully docuj mented, I apparently posed- him a new problem.''5 '! ' '' . .- ".We've had escaped prisoners, we've had prisoners repatriated on exchanges and we've had peo- pie who evaded the enemy in occupied territory 'but we've never had a liberated prisoner through here," he explained. A protracted series ; of tele phone calls followed. Once I heard myself referred to as "the prisoner and a further refer ence to an escort : : ;- For three hours X waited at the airdrome while telephones rang and much government time and money were consumed.: My request to be allowed to com municate with ' the Associated . Press or my home were refused. Then I was loaded into a truck with an RAF sergeant who had orders to deliver me' at a desti nation somewhere in Bucking hamshire. , " I thus got glimpses of London -streets as a prisoner again after being three and a half years' a1 prisoner. ' During the drive I asked the RAF-sergeant what he would do if I tried to escape. "Would yo shoot?" 1 asked. i i "I dont know. I've got no instructions," he said. : i I was almost , tempted to try I it and see what resulted, j At a reception camp in Buck mghamshire, a colonel, a captain. , and a WAAF officer set their " heads together to consider what to do with me. It seemed that I had been taken there for in terrogation because the ' rules : said something like that, but no one knew of any precedent 'for interrogating a liberated war correspondent - The WAAF officer solved her ; part of the problem by telephon ing higher authorities. They said, "We don't touch war correspond ents." That suited me. j The colonel suggested a drink or a meal in the mess but I man- aged to convince him that what : I really wanted was to get home ' and that quickly. Finally I se cured by release conditional upon reporting the next day. It certainly was harder to get Into England again than it ever was to get out of it Tho I Literary Guidcpost Br W. G. Rogers Snow in Cascades ; Santiam pass must be a beautiful sight now, with some nine and a half feet of snow piled there. It has been many years since there was any such snowpile there. It will provide water for forests and streams well along into the summer. On the east side the heavy snows will provide an abundance of water for irri gation. -:t ' ." . i Snowfall in the Cascades la' very irregular. In mild winters little snow accumulates. And as a general rule the accumulation of snow seems to come in the late winter. We shouldn't, be getting snow in April" for example, but we are. This, spring's "winter" which has delayed planting may help crops to mature by supplying moisture in late summer where irrigation is required. This gives some compensation for the cold spring. j The German V-bombs ran up a bad .score of casualties in England before they were stopped, as now it seems they have been. The dead num bered 8436 and the injured 25,101. l Hitler had been ready to launch these robombs immedi ately after Dunkirk he might well have reduced all of London to a shambles; He was planning on shooting 10,000 bombs a day when the allies seized the Calais robot roost last summer. It's something to think about in contemplating a third world war; and gives another reason for making the second world war the last. A captured German general, name undis closed, say i that the invasion of England in 1940 i was vetoed by Cornoral Hitler himself Mebbe so, mebbe so; but from here on out it i will be easy for .the generals to blame Hitler for ! the mistakes, especially when they are out of i Ms grasp. : ' - , Editorial Comment f CRITICAL TRANSPORTATION Passenger car. transportation has reached a state ef alarming depletion, according to the executive committee of the American Automobile association. Only a miracle can keep millions of vehicles from going off the roads by the middle of the year. ,The committee finds that the nation's stockpile of new cars has disappeared; that the average car is eight years pld; that the mileage remaining in the rubber now on cars is less than one-third of that at the time of Pearl Harbor; and that the tire production program has been pared down to fewer than 800,000 a month as contrasted with a mini mum requirement of 2,000,000 a month. In addi tion, it finds that there is an acute shortage of batteries, while their production schedule is inade quate, and that overwhelming . maintenance diffi culties are accelerating the rate of motor car depletion. Millions of the nation's cars are about ready to fall .apart, according to the studies which have been made. The association urges that the war production board speed upjlans for the re lease of steeL machine tools, and the clearance of manufacturing channels to make possible "re sumption of passenger-car production at the earliest rtA possible moment after victory in Europe. Obviously, continued unlimited supply of war needs is the first requirement Everything else must take second, place to that But if we dip below the 20,000,000 units which the office of defense transportation and other government agencies them selves agree is the minimum which must be kept ' rolling on the home front not for pleasure but ; for purposes of essential transportation production for war will be retarded. The picture drawn by the - AAA report calls for study and appropriate action. New York Times. - .1 Tankmen captured a train loaded with V-2 bombs somewhere in Germany. This gave al lied scientists the opportunity to study tho mechanism by which the rockets were driven. Man's ingenuity was surely used to evil pur pose In devising these lethal weapons. Interpreting The War"-News By KIRKE L. SIMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WAR ANALYST ' American tank columns; have not only swiftly punctured the Elbe river defense line, last water hazard on the road to Berlin, but flowed to or be yond the Saale in the south to menace Leipzig and even Dresden across the broad open central plain of the German heartland. At least three major units of General Eisen hower's multi-army command, are running virtual ly abreast in an assault pattern designed apparent ly to rip a 100-mile-wide corridor of conquest from west to east to a Junction with Russian allies still poised on the Oder-Neisse line. And only now are the Eisenhower, forces .reaching on the central German plain the best terrain for mechanized maneuver they have met since they crossed the Rhine. ;- - ; It cuts the time potential before north and south Germany can be split wide apart for mop-ping-up to a matter not of days but possibly hours. Nor is there yet any conclusive evidence that the hazi high command can rally the force anywhere to halt the allied advance without stripping its eastern front so thin that Russian hordes would come pouring in for the kill, The crossing of the Elbe at Magdburg came so suddenly that pending lifting of the news blackout, it seems probable a bridge was taken intact in . the area. ' Events seem clearly to Justify published sus picion in Russia that the nazls are virtually invit ing allied occupation of all central Germany while massing troops eastward to bar similar Russian advances except at highest casualty cost ; Behind that may still lie some faint nazi hope of an ultimate Russian-Allied quarrel over occupa Con spoils or policy and zones of control. It seems an impossible and fantastic conception even for Hitler's henchmen, but no other explanation has yet been offered fear German failure to regroup along any of numerous natural defense lines once the Rhine had been breached unless it is due to sheer lack of men and means. Best available estimates . figure at least three score and perhaps 80 German divisions concen- on the east front against the Russians. -COCKS AND BULLS IN CARA CAS," y oif Brtew (Hoaghttm MUTUa; S2.7S). Caracas, which has some pf the crackling sound of a swear word, is a place lush and fruitful in many jthings, but rich princi pally in book material. Some years ago we had Ybarra's "Young Man In C " and now we have "Cocks and Bulls in C ." If we get many more books like these, well all be flying off to Venezuela. Olga Briceno, though she has traveled widely, remains faithful to her country. She writes a hymn of praise. It is true that she hated Gomez the Tyrant as she calls him; that she deplores the poverty, favors "rational and gradual racial min gling.' and thinks "his majesty, man," possesses' some traditional advantages over women in the Venezuelan social scheme. But on the other hand, the poor and the servants often en joy the benefit as she regards it, of being; taken into the midst of such kindly families as her own and 'treated like relatives; to' a certain degree she defends the touching! dependence of the ig norance on 1 saints and saints alone for the cure of "every human ill" and every misfor tune; and she believes there's nothing quite the equal of an ardent Venezuelan suitor . .! . though I confess I can't believe North American girls would en joy such examples of their elo quent compliments as she quotes. Venezuelans keep no track of time or money; they don't tip; they go to movies, a native the ater, cock and bull fights; they send their girls to convent schools but let their boys run wild; their men fish- and hunt and their women still stay pretty much at home and run the household. j . While this is, I suppose, a vol ume of, no staggering impor tance, I find it very pleasant The author ; makes you relish, somewhat as she does, customs which . date back to Columbus. - She doesn't approve of them, and .she is herself a "modern' woman; but she has a reverence' for them which, in a book writ ten in New; York, is agreeably quaint I :l ' r I News Behind the News - ! By PAUL MALLON : . (Distribution by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction In whole - or in part strictly prohibited.) ' raoi i Malloa Frontal assault against the defense-in-depth system the foe has Lad ample time' to create must be a bloody business. 4 Kf - Yet allied spearheads already beyond the Elbe are even now beating at rear supply and-tom-munications hubs of German armies in the east They are - immediately threatened with being squeezed to death on a broad front between the allied hammer blows and ? the , Russian Oder-Neisse anvil block yet have made no clearly indicated move toward a two-front realignment to meet that periL - I have empires, intend to take i them back, firmly believe in 1 them.1 I Thus we are entering into a J new world in, which we alone 1 (unless we include China) among j the major powers really believe I in the Atlantic charter doctrine f and insist upon practising it The question is how this clea vage will work out? Can we suc- 3 cessfully conclude the Dumbar, ; ton-San Francisco treaties under I these circumstances, and get - them securely ratified? If we do, - can we then live in friendly J peace under them? i Or is It time for alteration or a change in our policy? How ; much? Should we get military I bases? Keep the Philippines? ! Close more tightly in upon Latin j America as is Russia upon Po I land, etc? i ' There . are some authorities f who think our position is sound i and can be permanently main-' I tained. Certainly our stand i should gather the small nations J toward our side, or at least those i left loose. We could make quite ! a formidable world bloc of small nations behind us perhaps. But if we must fight on the I council for our position, we will certainly be on the losing side, i There Russia, Britain and France .could control the course. China and the United States would no f doubt be a minority. In the larger assembly, even with Russia's three votes to our I one, we would appear to have a I better chance of a majority, but I the assembly is not to make the s importane decision, and the Rus : sian position puts entire respon I sibility in the council, as indeed does the text of the agreement Yet win or lose, we would, by j continuance of this policy,: con- tinue to stand for our ideals. I suspect this is the basis upon i which the administration now is I moving toward and beyond San Francisco. ' - To me personally, however, it seems a change of front is neces I sary in the interests of national security and maintenance of our 4 now existing primary- authority i as a world power. I think there is an essential and somewhat suicidal weakne-w in the extrem ity we are pursuing, renouncing all hopes of getting anything out, of the war, delivering bases to an international trusteeship, leaving the Philippines open to the next invader, etc. M :! It should not be necessary to "THE YOUNG IDEA" By Mossier ' STES - VU1SUTCI SUUU JHW we. Interests . to the fullest as the others are doing. We could have a temporary postwar policy based on national - urity with the promise to moderate it anH create maximum freedoms for' all small people as soon as world condi tions warrant i i For instance we might be able to maintain the Philippines a lot freer under our wing, than by letting her fall under some other wing. If we, need Iceland, for de fense or even for commercial purposes in a world of empires, we should have it i .. We are not Nazis. There is no thing onerous about our demo cratic Influence. Perhaps the ex tension of our power democrati cally might well save the world from worse things. , The tentacles of these facts, at least are laying hold of events, and guiding the course of rorld developments. ; "... ,'; " i , I - WASHINGTON, April 12- The sub-surface tentacles which are somewhat confusedly direct ing events leading up to the San Francisco conference, seem to me discernible as follows: The i Russians are determined to get a big na tions world or der. Stalin is ir revocably com mitted to em pire building. He does not want small na tions interference.--' - Everything he has done of im portance ha s been a blow in this direction I his claim for exemption of the j big powers from punitive action J as aggressors, his demand for 18 1 votes in the assembly of small nations, his hegemony in Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and other small nations. ! The United States is pledged ! with equal determination to the ; cause of the smaller, powers as i the basic guarantee of the Atlan- ; tie charter, the four freedoms and the whole Roosevelt theory I of the war. I ' I Our government initiated the pledge against territorial ag- grandizement It is carrying the policy to such extremes that it will not even take the; defense f bases our navy wants for post- war, bases we conquered, but ' proposes that these be held in an international trusteeship ' by the new league of nations., As a consequence of this policy, the 1 Philippines already are asking f their independence for next year, I instead of the year following. So we are gathering the small nations into the fold of the new j world order at San Francisco, ; largely on our own leading ini- ; tiative, while both the British and Russians display their lack of enthusiasm for the importance of our effort by seeding ambas-1 sadors of lower rank than the other delegates. S I Frankly, the British appear in t all ways to lean toward the Bus sian side of this basic world pro- position. They are an empire at ready. Early in this war Church- i ill made plain that he! did not! take leadership in .this war .to preside over the dismemberment J -of the British empire. The Brit- i ish believe in empire as a way of ? lif e. . The French and Dutch also . DTP I (Continued .from page 1) has come. The body which had won out over a dangerous illness a score of years ago and. had borne the strain and grind of 12 years of responsibility in (high public office in times of severe depression and global warfare, finally became exhausted. The sleep of rest became the sleep of death; f For millions of Americans the news of Mr. Roosevelt's death , brought deep and sincere grief. He had been their leader, the man whom they trusted, the one,, whom they elected four times ' to the presidency of the United States, twice in violation of long settled tradition. Nor will the' sorrow be confined to this coun try. -Roosevelt Wad a ' world f !g- ; ure; known and-respected" in 'all save enemy lands. Millions of people over the world, will feel that they have lost a friend, one who sympathized with the lor of the common man and sought to ' raise him to a higher level of living. Even among bitter politi cal foes in this country there is regret over Roosevelt's death, because of the resulting uncer tainty in the management of affairs. ! It is usual on the passing of a great public figure to make an appraisal of his life and work. I shall not attempt that now for Franklin D. Roosevelt save to say that without doubt he will rank among our greatest national heroes. The fierce antagonism that raged over his political pro gram as embodied in thefnew deal" will die out in timei His radical reforms directed toward saving, through modification, the old economic system will be ac cepted, as they already have been, as part of the scheme of things. His leadership of his country and of the United: Na tions through the fires of war and into the fair prospect of world order will give endurance to his name and fame. , I i raw i lift h ' - . -At!lC',' IMS' (MM Sy.feafe.lM. fYL&Ti Instantly, in every mind. When .the fact of Roosevelt's death, reg istered In one's consciousness came concern over the future. Immediately questions' tumbled Into the mind: What wQl happen now on the war fronts? What about the framing of the peace? What about the coming confer ence at San Francisco? Who will guide our nation in the councils of the nations? What policies will prevail ' on the domestic scene as we reconvert ouf " ac tivities from war to peace? How competent will Harry S. Truman be as president? j It Is indeed a serious time for 'a change of this characferj The people voted it down when It was proposed last fafl. A higher 1 hand has interposed and ordered the change; and the man on whom the burden of the presi dency falls is one who has not hitherto impressed the country as being of presidential stature. The situation Is indeed grave; but it is not 'without precedent When Lincoln was assassinated and crowds in New York became excited and agitated, a young ' army officer, .James A. Garfield, addressed the people from the ' balcony of j the New York cus toms house and said:; "God reigns and j the ; government at Washington; still lives." -The American people still have that optimism, which stays with them in hours like the present There will be no defeatism; there may' -be anxiety, but pot despair. The military plans are work ing out so well that there wQl be no change or serious inter ruption due . to i the president's death. In the field of foreign affairs Tryman is altogether in experienced, but It may be pre sumed that he will retain and rely on the present staff in the department! of state which' is fully acquainted with Roosevelt plans and 'purpose in th writ ing, of 4he peace. . . r The organization of the United Nations as outlined at Dumbar ton Oaks will in all probability be effected at San ; Francisco. What will i be missed will be Roosevelt's prestige as well as jhis comprehensive knowledge of .affairs and his singular deftness In the field of politics.. On the domestic scene changes may come, swiftly. The leader's death gives a signal for a fresh strug gle for political power which may result In very different political alignments. j Aristotle wrote: ""There Is a cropping-time in the generations of men,' as in the fruits of the field." 1 tr 1 1 M ' .. . r l anjtun nooseveu naa reached his "cropping-time" 'after a life full of high political adventure. The record of his- words, and deeds and of his" Influence on the stream! of history will fill many books. We shall not soon see his like again. OSC Student A, , i . ... CORVALLIS, April 12-(jrp)-ci. vitian student enrollment at Ore gon State college was up 12 per cent for the spring term 1S23 students with 2fifl nMir.,fiilf. in engineering courses boosting Women students continue to 5 dominate the campus although en rollment of civilian men jumped last year. Woman students total 48- per cent above the spring term 1408, men 414. ; ; ; j. The increase bears out the col lege's prediction a year 'ago that enrollment then had reached the low point for wartime and grad ually would increase. v Creosote, carbolic acid, naptha, napthalene, photographic develop ers, tear gas and a host of Chem icals can be made directly from coal tar. .1 ! "Let's not fa here the tUact ceiUng's always so crowded?1 GLENNS FERRY, Idaho-KP)-Seaman Second Class Glen Lar sen came home on leave and: . Found bis family quaran tined with 'scarlet fever; f Went magpie hunting and ac cidentally discharged , his shot gun, blowing off four toes, j STEVEIIS ; UenUficatlon Bracelets EXPANSION BRACELETS l ; Imc Tax ; i rfT!rK r . 1L5 4 . j j . Fer His Wrist Watch j .,,'r.i- Eogravlng la our own shop -5 letter Divided Payment- " 838 Court Street
