Illinois Valley News, Thursday, February 21, 1945
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MERRFIilHIOUND
SERVICE
BUREAU
/•./>//OK'5 SO'I'H: I his neu*puper9
thrtniuh special arrangement uith the
Ihi'hi/iiilofi llureuu of If extern
< v
/Htper I num tit 1616 ti\e Street, Si. II
II 'ashington, II. C., i* uhle to bring read
er* this weekly column on problem» of
the veteran ami serviceman ami hi» fam
ily. Questions may he addressed to the
abot e Ilin can ami they u ill be answered
in a subsequent column. So replies can
be made direct by mail, hut only m the
column uhich will appear in this news-
paper regularly
Guard Against Rackets
Veterans’ administration officials
are urging discharged veterans io
“stop, look and listen" before they
engage in business
There are
scores of rackets being worked
against veterans who get out of the
army or navy with cash in their
pockets and with the privilege of
borrowing money under the G I
bill for purchase of a farm, a home
or a business.
“We won't tell
to do," says N.
rector of contact service for
“but we will advise him to the
of our ability.
“The best advice we can give him
is.'Use your head. Don't rush into
an investment. Seek good advice,
Investigate until you are satisfied
yourself
It is better to be sure
than sorry.' ”
In the meantime the veterans’ con
tact service refers veterans to
banks, or to the Better Business bu
reau in the city or town where ne
plans to invest his .toney
They
give him the address of the legal
aid bureau where legal assistance
Is free to veterans, if they cannot
afford to hire a lawyer Contact ad
vice always urges veterans to con |
vert their national service life in
1
surance. The VA does not tell the I
veteran where to invest or in what
There are
to invest his money.
!
too many variable factors, so their i
only counsel is extreme caution.
Questions and Answers
Q. My brother is 21 and has been
in the merchant marine since De-
«•ember 4, 1914. when can he o-'it
th«* merchant marines and not hi*
drafted in the army?—Reader. Elk
mont, Ala.
A
Your brother has been de
ferred from the draft by reason of
his service in the merchant marine
and he will lie eligible to be drafted
until he is 26 unless he 11) has been
in the merchant marines for not less
than 32 months on or after Mav I.
1940; 12) at least 75 pei cent of his
time has been in active service;
and i3) he has applied for and re
ceived from the War Stopping ad
ministration a certificate certifying
he has completed his wartime serv
ice and is eligible to tie relieved
from further consideration as a
draftee under the selective service
system.
Q. I am the widow nt a World
War I veteran and haven't been re
ceiving a dime of pension since his
d<*ath, seven years ago. I've tried
getting a pension at that tii.se, hot
was lolil that we, in Wlsa'onsin, did
not get any. Is this true? If I am
entitled to a pension what must
I do to get II?—8. W.. Ellsworth
WIs.
A If you are the If g al widow of
a veteran of World War I. you are
«•ntitied to a pension wherever you
live
Take your husband's record,
his discharge
<
papers and all avail*
able • information you have and tile
a claim with the nearest office of
the Veterans' administration. Your
local Red Crc is chapter could help
you file this claim
Q. I would like to know if a hoy
Is eligible for draft deferment w ho
Is the main tractor and truck man
on a hundred-acre farm?—J. N..
Fairhope, Pa.
A That would be a question to be
determine«! by the local selective
service board
If the board defer
mined that the boy was ex ential in
raising food for the community or
for the armed
rvlces, he could
be given an agricultural deferment,
as being of greater use on the farm
than in the armed services.
Q- My husband enlisted in the
Seabecs and our son was horn two
I
months after he went overseas, I
«lid not receive any allotment on
our son until he was six months
old. Mr husband is home and has
his discharge now.
Is there any
way I could get the allotment now?
—Wile, Glenwood Springs, Colo.
A. The navy says the tr Mt com-
mon reason for failure to receive
allotments is that the serviceman
failed to apply for an allotment
when he became eligible for one
Yes. allotments are retroactive and
may be obtained after discharge
Suggest you write to the Bureau of
Supplies and Accounts. Allotment
Division. Navy Department, Cleve
land, Ohio.
Q Is It true that a serviceman
can take a trip around the world
or across the ocean free and only
par half fare for his family?—M B„
Supei rior, WIs.
A The war department has no
know . ledge of any such plan
Mv brother was discharged
Q
from the army November 9. 1943.
Will he be eligible for pensions or
anything under the O.l. Rill of
Rights?—Worried sister. Gunters-
vllle, Ala.
A. Ye», if he received an honor
able discharge he Is eligible for al)
benefits under the G I btli.
BEHIND--,
AMERICA'S OIL TWINS
WASHINGTON — Many senators
believe that the confirmation row
1 over charming Ed Pauley as under
I secretary of the navy has taken on
| new significance now that Sec.
j Harold Ickes has offered Ralph Da-
vies the job at under secretary of
the interior.
It happens that Davies and Ed
Pauley are bosom friends. Both are
oil men. Both have followed the
policy of 'scratch - my - back - I'll •
scratch-yours." This is important.
Recently. Secretary Ickes, who
has a crusading record for guarding
the nation's resources, recommend
ed to President Truman that naval
oil reserves be transferred from the
navy to the interior department. It
was just such a transfer by Al
bert K. Fall in the Harding admin
istration that resulted in the teapot
dome oil scandal.
No motive is attributed to the
Ickes proposal except that of
safeguarding oil. In fact, some
people consider it significant
that his proposal happened to
coincide, by luck or otherwise,
with the nomination of Oil Man
Pauley to be under secretary of
the navy.
But what senators consider impor
tant is that, with Pauley’s friend I
Ralph Davies offered the job of
under secretary of the interior, the
navy's oil lands, no matter where
they are located — in interior or
navy—will be partially under Pauley
or a friend of his.
MEXICAN OIL DEAL
Relationship between Davies and
Pauley has been extremely close.
Davies was executive vice president
of Standard Oil of California. Pauley
sold him his own independent oil
company. Later Pauley brought
Davies to Washington, introduced
him to Ickes, following which
Davies became Ickes' deputy oil
administrator. He did a good job.
However, state department offi
cials say he continued to look out
for *Ed Pauley.
When Pauley was trying to lobby
his high-octane Mexican gasoline
plant through the government, it
had to pass the hurdle of Secretary
petroleum administration,
Ickes'
Davies okayed it — not only okayed
At
it, but pushed it vigorously.
first Ickes also gave it his blessing.
The state department, however, was
vigorously opposed.
Showdown came in a secret ses-
sion between Ickes. Davies, a Da-
vies aid, and the Assistant Secre
tary of State Dean Acheson. The
full story of this session was never
really told at the senate hearing.
Acheson opened by giving Ickes a
very careful diagnosis of why the
Mexican high-octane gasoline plant
should not be built by Pauley. He
took up point after point, his main
argument being that the Mexican
government would have to pay such
a high price to Pauley that it
would sour U. S.-Mexican relations.
After Acheson had finished, Ickes
turned to Pauley’s friend, Ralph
Davies, and asked:
“Why didn't you tell me these
things?”
“I didn't know them either,’'
replied the rcd-faccd Davies.
Then, turning to his aid. he
alibied: “Why didn't you tell me
these things?"
Ickes immediately reversed him
self, threw his weight against Paul
ey. That is the real inside of how
the Pauley octane plant for Mexico
was »topped. Davies, of course, is
an able, intelligent operator, too in-
telligent not to have known the
main points of the Pauley plan,
Pauley is equally able. He would be
a good executive almost anywhere.
But some senators want to think
twice before putting these oil twins
near the head of two departments
controlling the oil reserves of the
nation.
PRESIDENTIAL III MOR
President Truman has been tak
ing recent criticism in excellent hu
mor. Th«- other day he was talk
ing with a group of friends and said:
“Apparently, no matter what I do
I'm always in the middle. I say
something about Palestine, and the
Jews and the Arabs holler. Labor
and capital get in a fight, and I am
in the middle. The Russians and the
British have an argument, and I am
in the middle."
Suddenly die President paused,
walked over to the door of his office,
which connects with that of his sec
retary,
Matthew
Connelly,
and
called out:
“Iley, Matt, where «an I buy
a copy of Dale Carnegie's 'How
to Win Friends and Influence
People?"
CAPITAL CHAFF
Assistant Sec. of State Spruille
Braden is being muzzled by the cau
tious pink-tea diplomats regarding
some sensational documents seized
in Germany showing how certain
Latin-American diplomats aided the
Nazis during the war. . . . Forty-
five small steel companies have now
increased steel wages, thus sending
more than 50.000 steel workers back
to work. . . . Southern senators seem
to like the filibuster method Last
week Senator Bilbo serv«*d notice he
intends to use It against the British
loan
the 'N ews !
By P aul M allon
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
••IKE'S” BROTHER MAY HEAD
AGRICULTURAL
WINTER IN FLORIDA OR NEW HAMPSHIRE . , . Regardless of the weather, the younger generation finds
plenty of amusement and body-building activities. At North Conway, N. H., the Eastern Slope Ski school,
give more than 21,000 ski lessons annually to youngsters who contribute $2 annually and write a school compo
sition on skiing. At a cabana club pool in Miami, Mary Jane Coucci, New York, goes overboard, while Kent
Merkle, Washington, and Mary Jane's sister Shirley watch in their “doughnuts.”
. Look out
PARIS .
your window in a mod-
ern Paris hotel and
this is what you will
see. Houses of crazy
architecture and mul
titudinous chimney
pots. George Alexan
der. Los Angeles, was
so much in love with
Paris that he repro
duced it and brought
it home in miniature,
Entire streets and
blocks of the pic-
turesque quarters of
the French capital are
included in his collec
tion. lie fled Paris in
19.16 without his “baby”
which, by underground
routes, finally caught
up with him in Los An
geles.
DI PARTM1 NT
WASHINGTON—All signs from
within point to the food shortage
continuing another
year—or more.
The man who
came into the Tru-
m a n cabinet so
clear - mindedly to
cure shortages,
Agriculture Secre
tary Anderson, has
run intq the usual
Wa sh in g t on dead
end for the ambi
tious.
Sec. Anderson
And. then, when
he came out for a new program to
abandon the parity price concept and
to accept the world price theory in
some respects, the
farm folks and
their 1 lobbies here
started letting him
down.
This is what is
behind the rumors
occasionally print
ed of late in some
of the columns that
he has lost Mr. Tru
man's confidence
M. Eisenhower and may retire.
Indeed some who
have their noses to the White House
pane, suspect the old gang is groom
ing a successor, Milton Eisenhower,
brother of the chief of staff. Eisen
hower is more of a New Deal politico
than the general. Certainly it is dif
ficult to see how Anderson can sur-
vive. His novel price theory is con-
trary to what he does in his own
milk producing business in Albu-
querque.
MINOR OFFICIALS SAID
TO NOW RUN DEPARTMENT
Sii
There he sells what milk the mar
ket will take at the highest possible
price, and lets his surplus go for
whatever it will bring. The idea of
abandoning the parity notion made
the farm bureau federation right
mad. And the opposing crowd in the
farmers union turned against him
when he named Lassiter instead of
Hudgins to farm security.
Sic transit clear-minded new
nffieials. When he was in con-
gross, Mr. Anderson knew just
what to do. The objectivity of
his post then permitted hinxclar-
ity of vision. But when he took
tbe cabinet seat, to face the
clique which ran his department
las cliques of subordinates dom
inate the top men of all these
government departments), he
immediately became involved,
and each week plunged him into
deeper involvement.
Remember how Mr. Truman came
in announcing how closely he would
work with congress. Now before his
first year is out. he is involved in
such a desperate struggle with con
gress. he is asking people to propa
gandize against them. The loudest
I cheer for his recent message came
not from the chastised legislators,
but from Sidney Hillman of CIO. The
confidence of business which he en
joyed at the outset slipped percepti
bly also with the rejection of his
wage compromise by both steel and
motors.
I have rarely seen this proc
ess to fail. The human per
sonality rarely is able to sur
mount it. Outside of bureau
cracy, men may see clearly and
devise clear cut programs. As
soon as they get in the scats of
power, they fall under the spells
of bureaucracy, adulation, and
the politics of the self-perpetuat
ing old gangs — or resisting, be
come involved in self-thwarting
struggles.
HANDY WRENCH . . . Weighing '65
pounds, this wrench has been de
clared surplus by the U. S. army at
the Lordstown
I Ohio)
ordnance
plant. Ed Dolan of Warren, stand
ing by the wrench, is six feet tall.
Civilians may purchase such gadgets
as these—to fix their watches.
IXFLUX’ VTIOX IL COLRT • • •
('•reen IL Hackwarth. $3, Chevy
Chase, M<l . has been elected one of
It world judges by VNO. A native
of Prestonburg, Ky., Hackworth
served at the Hague.
MORE l’OWl R TO THE DR \GON . . . China is to pump new life into the
old dragon by building the biggest concrete dam. irrigation project and
power plant ever known. Yangtze gorge project, with co-operation of
the U. S. bureau of reclamation, builder of Boulder and Grand Coulee
dams, is drafting overall plans. The mechanical took facilities are shown
above. They are capable of hoisting a loaded vessel of several thousand
tons displacement capacity. John Lucian Savage is eonsulting engineer.
HORSEBACK PICKET LINE . . . During the strike at the Los Angeles
I nlon Stock yards, the pickets resorted to true Western style to picket
the entrance to the yards. Mounted picket line, left to right: Margie
Tavra. “Jug" Harrison. Tex Glover and Bessie Evans. This union was
seeking a 25-ccnt-an-hour pay increase. Horsemen took turns at the en
trance to stock yards.
ABUNDANCE THEORY MEETS
STRONG FARM OPPOSITION
The secret of Mr. Anderson’s
troubles, however. I suspect, are the
same as the reasons why the food
shortages will continue beyond an
other crop. Hs conflicts with the
clique and lobbies are superficial re
flections of a deeper canse. name
ly: farmers are afraid of abun
dance. The farm leaders think they
can easily produce too much for this
country, know they cannot sell much
abroad, and hence by nature resist
any abundance theory.
Winter wheat was hurt by
weather and much of the seed-
ing did not come up.
Poultry
supplies are being drained by
the meat shortage. Eggs may
be plentiful for a little while in
the spring, but not for long.
Vegetables fluctuate, but there
should be enough if the weather
is favorable.
Our loan negotiator, Will Clayton,
is a cotton minded man. The old
cotton theory was the basic inspira
tion of the Democratic tariff policy
tsell Britain our cotton and provide
free importations to enable her to
pay for it), although our cotton price
has long since gone too high to en
able the low-economied British to
use it as their base raw material.
But Clayton is reported to have gone
even beyond this basic theory in
his visions of tariff destruction in
the coming conference, and they
say. he has taken State Secretary
Byrnes along with him.