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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1945)
page roua. Th OHEGOII STATESMAN. Scdem. Salem JQnqon, Sunday Morning, May 13, 19 45 No Faror Sways U$; No Fear Shall Awe . From Firtt Statesman, March 23, 18S1 I , THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING C05IPANY j : ; CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Editor and Publisher : f ; Member of the Associated Press ! . .: '.' ,:,"' ......... :,; I ' E The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for publication ef aL news dispatches credited to it or pot otherwise credited in this newspaper. Mothers Day By congressional rfct the second Monday in May is designated as Mothers day. This year it falls on May 13. By "proclamation of President Truman observance of this day is to be com bined with services of prayer and thanksgiving tor the victory in Europe. It was in 1914 that congress adopted a reso lution introduced by Senator Heflin of Alabama to establish Mothers day. The basis for the res olution appeared in the clauses: "Whereas, the service rendered the United States by the American mother is the greatest source of the country's strength and inspiration; and1 ';.(;'.; " ! Whereas, we honor ourselves and the Mothers of America when we. do anything to give em phasis to the home as the fountain-head of the state! and r-;.,V- : ' Whereas, the American Mother is doing so much for the home, the moral uplift and reli gion, hence so much for good government and humanity..,' ; ' 1 Under the resolution the president was au thorized to call upon government . officials to display the flag on government buildings and on the people to display the flag at their homes or other suitable places on Mothers day. s. . The day is regarded as of. special significance by the American War Mothers, the organization of mothers of men who have entered military service in wartime. Gold Star Mothers is the name given to those who have lost sons in the fighting of their country's wars. In view of the sacrifices of the present war Mothers day this year is expected to attract particular attention. Army on Okinawa I r - l ! Some time back the San Francisco Examiner criticised the marine tactics as being expensive in life. That was during the invasion of Iwo Jima. The Examiner threw a bouquet at gen eral MacArthur and indicated (that the army knew how to attain its objectives an easier way. The attacks on Okinawa hive been under an army officer, Maj. Gen. Simon Buckner. The marines had the north, end foff the island and cleaned up that portion neatly and speedily. The army had the southern portion and! trie progress has ben slow, even more difficult than on Iwo Jima. Now the sixth marine division, has been brought in to help! the army capture Naha, the capital, f j :j v One should not jump at the conclusion how- ever that in this test the marines have demon strated better fighting J quality than the army. The latter had the tougher job to do. It has come up against the type of resistance the ma rines faced in other invasions of small islands, strong fortifications supported by intense artil lery and mortar fire. The army has had to' use the same tactics as the marines: attack point by point, with liberal use of flame-throwers. After Okinawa though we should hear no more talk , like that of the Examiner in comparison of bat tle tactics. "f :: A Last Word' Ernie Pyle didn't live to see the end of the war in Europe, but he saw it corning and the closing chapter of his recent book "Brave Men" anticipates the end of the European struggle. It was written last August "under an apple tree in a lovely green orchard in the interior of France.". He wrote that "the end of the war will be a gigantic relief, but it cannot be a matter of hilarity for most of us." Thoughts of the change to peace arrested him: "It will seem odd when, at some given hour, the shooting stops and everything suddenly changes again. It will be odd to drive down an unknown road without that little knot of fear in your stomach; odd not to listen with animal like alertness for the meaning of every distant sound; odd to have your spirit released from the,, perpetual .weight that is compounded of fear and death and dirt and noise and anguish. -V . . Victory, as Ernie Pyle saw it, was the result of many things of the preceding battles which had : drained ' enemy strength," of Russia, and the western desert, and the bombings and the blocking of the sea." He wrote: . "We have won because we have had magnifi- -cent top leadership . . . Surely America made ' its two perfect choices in General Eisenhower and Genersl Bradley." 'We won because we were audacious. One could not help but be moved by the . colossus of the invasion. It was a bold and mighty thing, one of the epics of all history." J - . . . "We have won this war because bur men are brave . . . We did not win it because destiny created us better than all other peoples. I hope that-in victory we are more grateful than we are proud" . Always writing from the heart Pyle had a prophet's insight when he wrote the last chap ter of his book. Fittingly it is entitled r A .Last Word." He wrote more when he got to the kut 4k;. 1 1 M 1 wvv, vu inn vuaf wri las jresimeSS 3 though it had been written from some village in the heart of Germany just as news came of the final surrender. PhUfcoioi Vr Vmg Tmtmtm yMfr ' . H V I - ay mmagtmm t wfch TW W htat Star ' ' H ' i ? . '- IKciUtC- Yanks la Genncmr v - ry,i,:"' : ' Sa Cctal Belieri ' ; - - - ; War -There Is.Ore . - . at Tim rncJTt. , , - Jif GERMANY -iV Tee. day now this war officially has been ended. That fact has been an nounced, rati- . i . lied, . confirmed and celebrated U term; tionally. But along this Elbe riverfront gripped in a strange, sor of skeptical apa thy I ; it still geexns impossi ble to believe. Men lie in the gun or drill as A, BUnnetn Oixotx How to Lose a War--In One Easy Lesson News Behind News Biir Wheat Crop ! f A rcord-hreakinff croDi of winter wheat is forecast by the department of agriculture- 835,186,000 bushels, which would be greater than the record crop of 1931: 825,398,000. Bad weather could damage the wheat crop between now and harvest' time ;jbut itl is evident thaNthe crop this year will be huge. Last year the farri ers and grain companies and railroads had : a most difficult time talcing care of the crop,! and they will not be in any better shape this year, as the burden of transportation shifts to! the west where wheat is grown. Perhaps rolling stock may be borrowed from the east to help out. Unless preparation is made there may be considerable loss. j . j This wheat crop, along with other cereals, will provide an ample supply of starches for our diet. The great deficiency, both at home and in Europe, is in meats and fats. If some of the wheat surplus can be turned into meat our diet will be in better balance. While there may be disproportion in our agricultural production jit is gratifying that the wheat prospect is so favor able. It comes, too, as the fifth in a row of good , crops nature has been kind to us in these; war "years.-'''" ; ;.M , " f ' 'I By PAUL MALLON . . (DLitribution by King features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole I or to part strictly prohibited.) M : ' tt-m Interpreting The War Nevo By KIRKE L. SIMPSON AsocUted PraM War Analyst present scale American areas. Slices of Weather Early May gave us a preview of summer, with clear days and temperatures to break previous records. So valley people were caught by sur prise with a week of generous spring rains. Spring flowers drooped. The dogwood blossoms looked wilted and they showed ill effect from the beating raindrops. One looked . on the , ground under the red hawthornes to see if the color had faded and run down on the green Kraas. ' , . But our surprise at a not unseasonal down pour of rain was nothing to compare with heavy snows in New England and killing frosts in the east central states. The snowstorm u New Eng land did damage, it is estimated, to equal or ex ceed that of the famous hurricane in 1938, while fruits and crops were badly hurt in the frosts' that struck north of the Ohio river. Ours indeed is a mild and in many ways not unwelcome punishment, these late rainy days; and with pharasaical unction we may once more express our pride that our climate is not like that of the benighted lands east of the Rockies. Music and Victory Last week was Music week. It occurred when the world was exploding with events of tremen dous moment, so may not have received the at tention either in the press or among the public it usually does. It ran into victory celebrations and victory news. , But the week was appropri ately recognized with many musical events scheduled, both full programs and special num bers before organizations. Music is something which lives in spite of conditions in human af . fairs, bringing its outlet for man's highest emo tions and stimulating feelings as does no other art. ' : ' -'. ' i ' ' Mrs. Walter Denton, indefatigable worker in the cause of Music week, has expressed herself as well pleased with the response this year; but when the war is really over we can foresee a Music week that will really overwhelm her, . with all of her enthusiasm. It is a good cause, and f ortunata here in having so ardent a cham pion. - ' ' , '" Speaking of inflation, there is China where the retail price index at Chungking for March wai 1044 times the pre-war level. The old mer chants must have had to make over their count ing boards to do their figuring on. A vastly augmented aerial attack apparently' faces Japan at a time when there are pronounced signs of the collapse of her ability to meet even the bombing forays in critical 1 ; This becomes evident bn the heels of a statement by high American air officers in Europe predicting th arlv arrival in Jaoanese Skies of Allied bomb ers by the thousand, instead of by the hundred. Nowhere, except in virtually futile suicide as saults on shipping off Okinawa is the Japanese air force giving effective opposition, not even oyer Japan itself. ; j J l The mass raid on Japanese! home oil storage in stallations, estimated to have; involved up to 400 Superfortresses, was made without loss or j indi cated damage to a single ship by enemy action.' In the Hunan theatre in China, most critical for j Japa nese hopes of retaining i the China-Indo China com munications corridor, American observers at the 14th air force base, Chiyiangj report no enemy air echelons supporting ground troops routed by f Chi nese counterattack closely coordinated with Gen eral Chennault's airmen. j - I Farther south, American press observers in Cal cutta note that in recaptured Burma, in French Inde China and even on the; Malay peninsula the! cam paign of Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten to ' open the western approaches; to thf China sea is taking shape wtih little Japanese air interference. It,3 is estimated by the AlHea jthat not more than 400, en emy combat planes are available for duty fn all that vast stretch of territory in process of redemp tion from enemy hands.! Japanese air power ceased months ago to be a factor in the fighting in the PhuV ippines. It has so far Offered no substantial; oppo sition to the steady auj blasting of Formosa Nip-' ponese cnina sea Uibraltar. j ; I II" So far as current field reports from any kector of the war in the Pacific go; it would seem that Japan is facing,' the terrible ordeal of mass air bom bardment virtually undefended from above ks Al lied power shifts from Europe for that purpose. On her home islands as well as her remaining islandj or mainland outposts, she Is all but roofless under the brewing storm. j The absence of Japanese air elements in any sub stantial force from the ; battle in Hunan is partial larly . significant Chinese accounts with apparent American confirmation! say that the enemy jthrew up to 80,000 men into ithe futile attempt to! reach and stamp out General Chennault's Chihyiang base. In the face of American planes that was plain mur der. It lends credibility to Chinese reports of wholesale slaughter of enemy troops in addition to those penned up for arinihilation west of Paochlng. Given sufficient air power o ".back up thati resur gent Chinese force, American high officials in' China say that with or without the help of amphibious operations on the China coastl itself the Japanese hold on central China - could be broken. Their re- ported elation' at the success ; of Joint American Chinese air-ground cooperation in defense of Chih- yiang which has turned into a . potential j major counterattack threatening the enemy's Ouna-Indo China corridor Is marked. It can hardly be doubted . that it rises in part from the knowledge that the air power to turn the trick, despite Chinese inferior ity in battle equipment on the ground, is due to reach them soon from Europe. That does no lessen the fact, however, that developments in western Hunan synchronizing with Victory week, complete and final in Europe, are the most encouraging to. come in ouna in months. There is real possibility there that Japanese armies jin China tran be P"t apart at the Hunan Waistline leaving those' in the north and south to be mopped up separately. 't ' SAN FRANCISCO, May Ht-j. The Pacific coast has about the same postwar worry as the rest of the country but in more ac centuated and positive form because of the vast expansion throughout the state in planes, shipyards and other war in dustries. : The Kaiser shipyards in- iw-attuoe dustry, for example, has been losing, about 5,000 employees a month. The last four pages of their newspaper in its last is sue contained want-ads of work ers seeking ride-sharing auto mobile seats to return j home. Their yards payroll at Richmond near here has been cut from peak employment of 93,000 down ) to 49,000 already (and it has had 500,000 different persons em ployed in the past four years.) I I met the emperor of this most fabulous accumulation of Amer ican industries during the war, Henry J. Kaiser, and talked with him for more than an hour. His is not only the largest but most varied of all the nations strictly new war enterprises and contains 100 industries. Thus he also has the biggest of all the problems of, reconversion and I was inter-: ested in' ascertaining how he would meet it j He is a crisp, heavy-set man with a knowledge of what is needed and with unlimited ideas of how to do the Job. He has both business hope and; faith a confidence that the imagination of the American People will de vise methods of carrying for ward our industrial postwar sys tem and faith that it cannot fail. What he aggressive lone Wolf industrial fighter that he is thinks the country needs "primar ily is competition.. The first postwar industry to which he is turning his attention is, natural ly, shipping. He wu growling about another business- leader who made a speech a few days back advocating scrapping of the -American merchant marine. We now have more ships than any ' nation ever had on the seas, (number is a military secret) and he. thinks they should ) be used. This- will require govern ment subsidy in- his opinion be cause competing . European lines have subsidies. I judge that i he has in mind American acquisition of the trade which Japan former ly had in the Orient He did not mention a current rumor that he may build postwar-ships for Russia,' although I saw him shortly after he left Molotov. The nation also needs 2,000,000 homes, low cost homes, and he sees in this field vast oppor tunities for postwar activity. Transportation should be en tirely revised. A lower cost fare should be worked out on the rail roads. Speed highways should be extended, as the nation in the future will continue to move out from the cities. : He sees oppor tunities for building lower cost cars in the automobile industry (which 'he does not - believe is competitive now) and great pos-; sibilities in development of health facilities for the people. He would promote: facilities in every possible way to a scope amount ing to a national industry. . Here is a man with ideas and the kind of energetic imagination which conceives new ventures when old ones fail. He is now in metals, conceiving a new mag nesium alloy for steel, a new kind of plaster, gypsum, planed, chem icals. - - - n- . , He is also in coal and steel, anrd in each . industry he at tempts to maintain a competi tive spirit He keeps three of fices in Washington instead of one and thus , promotes greater work energy among his own em ployeesand, of course, more production. j . - . I suspect his own recoversion plan is already well under way. There is much well advised talk about him expanding Into for eign production in Latin Amer ica and elsewhere. " His enthusiastic spirit is sym bolic of the feeling among other business men with whom I talk throughout this area. In this respect it is somewhat different from the east; where the trend runs to- pessimism or doubt The San Francisco area, for instance, is a war-choked settlement as short of everything (homes, meat cigarettes, hotel and train accommodations but not liquor) as is New York. Although the labor is going home in droves, no ; one seems particularly worried for these reasons: -', Ev:.yone out hero figures the Jap war, to take another year (my guess is somewhat less than that) and sees San Francisco and the Pacific coast as gateways to GRIN AND BEAR IT By Lichty cncs A' I V i v the newly opened island empires of the Pacific and the Orient This is really the gateway to a new era. As surely as we have be i drawn in this this war closer to China, the largest post war Oriental power, just as sure ly may we expect a doubling of our trade westward and per haps more. Shrewdly, Mr. Kai ser has picked the right indus try for his No. 1 postwar prior ity. All ah transportation and communications as well as ship ping will be routed here. There j is much remaining of the forty-niner gold strike am bition among these business peo ple. ' - h - - The Literary Guidepost Br W.O. ROGERS "LIT US CONSrOEK , ONI AM i OTHEB, fey jMCfthtaM Lawrcace f (Applctoa-Ccatwy; ss.i. The cagey publisher doesnt give away the theme of this in genious novel on the jacket, and probably the critic shouldn't, either, but it will be hard to .re view it without saying what it's i all about 4 ; " j - -' ' , - Young j Cecilia Warren makes what hep family and friends call the big "mistake, socially. You. see her leading up to it you see it accomplished, then you see the consequences j The situation, is entertaining, superficially; Miss Lawrence's appalli n g 1 y deft touch fascinates you. But it's e " snake's-eye fascination ; basical ly the idea is about as funny as - mayhem or murder, and in thinking it over afterward, you will wince twice for every once : you chuckled. The theme is fundamental and most germane to our unhappy times. The title, like all by this author, an excellent one, is from '. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews., It's precise , and accurate, it re veals toe subject exactly. The men and women, even the children consider one another in remarks that are sometimes just thoughtless and sometimes com pletely venomous. You may have uttered I one of them yourself; and though I blush to -say it, I may hate, and Miss Lawrence may have. Yet it is such remarks' as thesei which betray our de mocracy; today and the world of tomorrow? for which we are fighting; they reveal a habit of mind, or entire lack of a mind, which constitutes a devastating, all too true indictment of us ' Americans as irresponsible pro- : vincials. ) . j , ,. . . ' . ' , The karacters are such peo ple as you meet every day . . , which ; I just ji makes it all the worse. Some are likable, some despicMsle.!:";, , The Jook is more successful as propaganda than as novel; that it I might have been tempted to skip! a few pages here, and there unless I had appreciated what Miss Lawrence was up to, . But I hope you read it Read and learn how you can be grown up but feeble-minded, how the ton gue in ; your own head is poison, how a generalization is henbane. At a n rrison life back . home. Doughboys play, baseball around command posU' ArtU lerymen pitch horseshoea near their silent guns. . j " It is a strange atmosphere, like a lull between attacks,! rather ttian an end to hostilities. There Is no exhilaration anywhere, j Lights have come on again all along the front You don't have to risk night accidents by black out driving. That alonej should und erscore t h e existence of "peace in Europe. But K doesn't Perhaps it is because the sol diers' nervous systems have reacted too many times; to the "Wolf, wolf cries of peace only to reach the combat line again and find there was no' peace. That has happened many times , in the long trek from Tunisia to - this last river they crossed, j It was'that way in Rome. For some reason we all felt the war was over probably only be-, cause we had been looking for ward to taking the Eternal City for so long that it had come to represent. Journey's end. And that wasn't the first time. When the Tunisian campaign ended, thousands of doughboys thought they were going home; Instead, .they struck 4 Sicily's southern shores. W h e n that whirlwind campaign closed, they again had visions of ringing their . front doorbells. They jthought perhaps the fighting was finish ed for them. Italy ended, that il- lusion. " -- j " In the column racing up 'through southern France there was plenty of exhilaration ev erywhere a strong heady feel ing that victory was only a mat ter of days or weeks at the most When the northern and south ern armies joined in the heart of France, the doughboys began making postwar plans, j Still it wasn't over. j ' . Somewhere along that long; -.bloody, road; there must have ..come a saturation point for such hopes. Now that the real thing has arrived soldiers find .them selves unable to react even enough to believe it ' ) j j ; They knew it was -oyer even before ment For that matter, they had known it for weeks, but the final touch came when one of the ar my's intelligence officers put out this terse summary? i " . "For the first time in 11 months there is no contact with . the enemy. The victory which was won on Omaha j and Utah beaches has 'reached ' its climax. " Today belongs to the men of this army who fought and conquered the enemy from Normandy to the Elbe.' There is no enemy situa tion to report for there is no long er an enemy to defeat" Except that it might have said "from Tunisia to the Elbe." That seemed to cover it Soldiers read the news and went to chow with- : out comment y . , '' ' That remains their attitude to day. Across this -German coun try there are plows and harrows at work in the fields. Shattered cities are being cleaned for a gen eration's reconstruction. The sun sparkles on the brightly painted inner linings to helmets which are being worn without the pro tective steel covers for the first time, -.' ! Blaring out through command post radios is martial music stirring victory music Nobody seems to notice. j Perhaps it is only a momen tary morbidity through which the soldiers will pass swiftly, but at the moment they seem engulf ed in it j - Germany has become a "morn ing after" house of damage and destruction and amidst the bums and stains left by war's orgy sol diers still go through the motions with the slow uncomprehending gestures of men too dazed to know the party's over. Flashes of Life " IOWA CITY, Ia.--Postman Norman Nordin was making his rounds when he spotted a fox, which turned out to be not too sly. Nordin gave chase, threw his raincoat over, him and held on until police arrived and re moved him to the city park. Dtr I 0331038 "Certainly, that's Denlse Darling and Gloria Glatteor! Ye oghta knew saovie stars look different eft the screen - Practical Religion ty Bev. Joan L Knight ft. Counselor do RelifW Ufo. WiliWnttj mierity. In some religious circles self abasement is stressed to such an extent that even self-respect is considered a sin. - W:.At '--'' It must be granted that Chris tian Sting has little room for conceit (or egotism. But self-respect jiS necessary for effective living! it is basic to the Christian way of life. , Personality weak ens when a man can no longer respect himself. .. - Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself implies that our re gard tor others lies in regard for ourselves. We are . all endowed with a! spark of the Divine and with the capacity for losing that spark or developing it .;. (Continued from, page 1) heavier than any preceding on ' individuals.' The national goal is $14 billions which is to be evenly divided: $7 billions to be pur chased by individuals (of which $4 billions are to be in E bonds) and $7 billions by banks and cor porations, j -j The Oregon quota is $110 mil lions, of which $80 millions is allotted to individuals ($55 mil lions of this for E bonds), and the remaining $30 millions for corporations and bankst , The Marion county ;quota is $4,320,000. Of this individuals are expected to purchase $3,330, 000 including $2,270,000 in E bonds. ' v . . ' ' . Thus individuals are expected to purchase a, much larger pro portion'than ever before. r Tomorrow the chamber of commerce will devote j its pro gram, to launching the amp'g for the Seventh War Loan. It is fortunate in having Mr." E. C Sammons, president of the Unit ed SUtes National bank Sand state chairman of war finance, as the speaker. This should give an auspicious start to this, campaign, but the response must; be con tinuous and must' be universal. Individuals.should stand up and be counted in this effort j Today, May 13, is a day for solemn tiMnksgiving Tomorrow, May 14, is a day for putting feel ings into action by liberal pur chases of the bonds needed-to fi nance the cost of the Victorr - over. Germany and to insure the victory over Japan. i JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -(JP)-Released by Police j Judge Fos ter Wheatly with a promise nev er to slap ' bis estranged wife again, a soldier on furlough fer reted his pockets in vain for $230 to pay costs on a night's sojourn in jaiL With red face, he asked and got a loan from his wife. - PUEBLO, .Colo.-P) -Look out Ma, th truant officer is after you. County ' Judge Hubert Glover, after hearing the case of a boy, 14, who has been absent from school 60 days this semes ter, told vthe mother that in the future she must spend two hours mam. jan vi ymj f t, une ior ev ery day the lad is absent WRANGELL, Alaska -P)- A two-column ; blank space at the top of the page appeared in The Wrangell Sentinel with a nota tion This space reserved for Hirohito." On one side of the blank space was a story headed "Mussolini Shot In Back of Head," on the other one headed "Hitler, Goebbeis Suicide." Planes Lines Facing Even r Times The end of the war in Europe by no means will lessen the de mand for transportation of air passengers, mail and' express, it is declared by W. A. Patterson, president of United Air Lines, who pointed out that air speed will become increasingly impor tant in the war against Japan. He also declared that the airlines will figure prominently - in travel and shipments generated by the start of the industrial conversion period. "Our transcontinental air ear ners, particularly United, w i 1 1 have to face an increased demand for air traffic ; to Pacific coast Ports, as activities in the Pacific war theater are stepped up," the executive said. "Also, industry will utilize air transportation be cause of the advantages which speed will offer in converting from war production to civilian production. ; The movement of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the European to the Pacific war the ater, coupled with the hundreds of thousands of furloughs which will be granted, will tend to keep the airlines on a wartime basis after virtnrv irr Vtfrm - J M MW).. yS v, PERFECT (c y Vj-C v 'ainondj "Reset I iir While You Wait ' 7 X 5