Page 2
SOUTHERN OREGON MINER
"Old
Friday, Juno 28, 1940
G eneral
HUGH S.
JOHNSON
Jour
Washington, D. C.
RECRUITING SHOWS PHYSICAL
DEFICIENCIES
The army campaign for new re
cruits is showing up all too vividly
how the years of depression have
left their mark on American youth.
Greatest difficulty in securing re
cruits is not the reluctance of young
men to enlist, but their inability to
pass physical examinations.
In peacetime, the armed services
get most of their recruits from low
er-bracket families. Because of eco
nomic conditions it is now the lower-
bracket families, with the most chil
dren. which lack sufficient nourish
ment. fresh air and exercise.
This has been a particularly se
rious drawback to recruiting in the
larger cities. During one recent
drive to bring the marine corps up
to full strength, recruiting officers
left the cities and combed the small
er towns in farming communities.
There they found a much huskier
type of recruit, but many were re
jected because of poor teeth.
In the cities, the biggest draw
backs are bad eyesight and under
weight
WAR DOOMS CROP CONTROL?
Henry Wallace's program of crop
curtailment and soil conservation is
about to face its toughest year. Rea
son is the certain food shortage in
Europe and the demand that Amer
ican farmers use their surpluses
to feed war-torn Europe.
There are two causes for the food
shortage. One is the fact that many Grove Through at Last?
I asked some of the Yanks if they
countries have been too busy fight
ing to plant sufficient crops, and thought Old Mose was through—that
their fields have been fought over. after 15 years of hurling, during
Second reason is lack of sufficient which he slipped under the 500
merchant shipping. Four countries mark only once, and that in his first
—Norway. Holland, Denmark, and year out of Baltimore—if the Lona
Belgium—have a total of 10.000.000 coning Limited really had lost his
gross tons of merchant vessels stuff. I asked th-m that, remem
which are immobilized, so far as bering that everybody thought he
supplying the home ports is con was through as far back as 1934
cerned. Either they are bottled up when he won only eight games in
at home, or they are in foreign his first year in Boston.
They remembered that, too—and
ports, unable to reach home.
remembered how he came back with
Vessels which a year ago were a rush—and what a pitcher he was
carrying U. S. fodder to Denmark,
right up to the end of last season.
to feed Danish cattle, today are di Only one of them answered.
verted to other trade or riding at
“I don't know,” he said. “but
anchor. Meantime, the cattle are
that's what we heard when we were
eating up the existing supplies of
in Boston, The dope we got was
fodder. When these are gone, the
that while he might come through
cattle will have to be killed.
with a good game once in a while—
And the killing will be done by the
might get out there any afternoon
Germans, who will consume the cat
tle.
This is just one simplified illustra-
tion.
No such constriction was
known in the early days of the
World war, because the United
States, still neutral, insisted on
maintaining its shipping to the neu
tral countries of Europe. But now
its shipping is barred by the neu
trality act from belligerent ports
and combat zones.
All of this is sure to bring heavy
demands on the U. S. farmer, also
on congress to appropriate relief
money to help Europe's starving
populations. And this, in turn, is
sure to upset crop control. For it
was high food prices during the
World war which increased acreage
and also sent many farmers heavily
into debt to buy new land.
• • •
DIPLOMATS MAKE WARS?
John Q. Public thinks the diplo
mats make the wars—and could stop
BOB FELLER
them.
Argentine Ambassador Espil has a
and blow that curve ball of his
letter saying, "Your country should
around the plate and then let go
submit itself to becoming a part of
with a fast one now and then just
the United States.” (No Latin Amer
to remind the hitters he still has it—
ican country is prouder of its inde
he isn't going to be much real help
pendence than Argentina, less likely
to the club any more.
to become part of the U. S. A J
“If that’s so, those other Boston
Uruguayan Minister Richling gets
pitchers had better be hot ail sea
so many letters he is working over
son. Check back and you’ll find that
time to answer them. The tenor is:
the 15 games Grove won last year
“You must get rid of the dangerous
meant the difference between sec
Germans.”
ond place and fourth—at least.’’
I
• • •
FRENCH FLEET
The White House is not advertis
ing it, but the disposition of the
French fleet was one vital point
which came up in secret discussion
with the French just before their
capitulation.
Roosevelt wanted to make sure
that the French navy would not fall
into Nazi hands.
For France’s
warships could just about tip the
balance of naval power and give
the Nazis a powerful striking arm
in the south Atlantic against Latin
America.
The French have two brand-new
26,000-ton battleships, the Stras
bourg and the Dunkerque, probably
the fastest in the world; also two
new 35,000-ton
battleships,
the
Richelieu and the Jean Bart, the
latter not quite completed. These,
added to the German fleet, would
give Hitler 10 battleships against 15
for the United States, all much older
and slower.
When you consider that 12 U. S.
battleships are kept in the Pacific,
with only three in the Atlantic, you
get a rough idea of how difficult it
would be for this country to defend
the Monroe Doctrine if Hitler got
the French fleet. Another thing he
might get which would add to our
Monroe Doctrine problem is the
French naval base at Dakar, on the
bulge of Africa jutting out toward
Brazil.
Note—The United States recently
has launched two new war monsters,
but it will take several months to
complete them.
Washington. D. C.
TRAINING CCC BOYS
It is timid nonsense to propose,
by law. "non-combatant” military
training for the CCC boys. What is
non-combatant military service? It
is a contradiction in terms—like
talking about a two-legged quadru
ped or a one-bladed pair of shears.
A man may. as has been suggest
ed, serve in the army as a cook, a
truck driver or an oxy-acetylene
welder and many such will be need
ed. But hb is a soldier just the
same and is not recognized, at in
ternational or military law, as a
non-combatant.
This is just monkey-business with
words.
This column has long opposed
drafting CCC boys as such by any
device, They are poor. Whatever
form nf military service we adopt
must demand absolutely equal sac-
rifice regardless of wealth or pov-
erty, race or religion, color or poll-
tics.
But gjving military training is not
The Statue of Liberty was a welcome sight io the refugees from war-torn Europe who jam one of the
requiring military service. In times decks of the United States liner, Manhattan, as the liner passrs the distinguished lady {background) on Its way
like these it is a great boon to any to its New York city pier. The Manhattan brought almost 2,000 passengers from Genua, Italy.
boy who may later be called upon,
under our democratic form of se
lective drafting, to do military serv
ice.
In the first place, it may save
his life or limbs. It is the "half-
baked recruit" who is slaughtered
like sheep and who, as Kipling sang,
"wonders because he is frequent de
ceased, ere ’e’s fit for to serve as
a soldier.”
In the second place, if our bun-
gling, blundering foreign and de-
fense policies do get us into this
bloody mess and require the raising
of mass armies, the boy who has
had sound military training before
conscription starts will have a very
great advantage over his fellows in
advancement, pay and comforts.
My only boy has had about all
the military instruction the army
gives to men his age and if I had
another son who had none now. I
would consider the best thing I could
do for him would be to see to h
that he got an intensive course in
military training as promptly as it
could be arranged.
It is true that modern war re
quires specialists in almost every
branch of human effort—but basic
military training is necessary in ad
dition to any special civilian skill a
boy may have.
General Marshall is reported to
have said that the army prefers to
give these boys only "non-combat
ant” training because It is "incon
Relatives and friends of those aboard stand silently on the pier as the Italian liner, jampa< ked with sol
venient" to give combatant training diers, leaves Genoa, Italy, for some undisclosed destination. The soldlrrs might have been shipped to Ital
in CCC camps. I hesitate to dis ian territory in Africa to be used in attacks on French and llritish territory on the same continent.
agree with the chief of staff be
cause we are fortunate to have in
him at this critical hour one of the
best of the world's professional sol
diers.
It is even hard for me to believe
that he said that because it is wrong
to the point of absurdity.
But General Marshall is an offi
cial of this administration—and ut
terly loyal. The whole of adminis
tration policy on defense has been
politically timid and never frank.
Up to the point of training by bat
talions, the CCC camps and organi
zation are almost ideal if the army
is prepared to furnish enough in
structors, and if it isn't so prepared
there isn't any use talking about
training anybody.
Training now is multiple insur
ance against harm and danger, to
the boy himself, to men later draft
ed raw from the streets that he may
have to lead and train and, above
all. to the nation which, if war
comes, will find its very existence
depending upon the degree of skill,
strength and toughness ot the men
in its armed forces.
CCC boys thus trained will be
subject to conscription to exactly
the same extent and to no greater
degree than any other young men
of their age and condition as to
health and dependency of others
Recent photo ot King Victor Em
upon them. Let's not hobble our- i
manuel of Italy, who, according to
Dimple Causey, selected as “Miss Houston” in a contest of more an official announcement in Rome,
selves with any such nonsensical
than 14,000 Texas school children, is here shown at the engine room tele has left for the front to lead his
legal restrictions.
graph of the liner Algonquin, arriving In New York, to take part in a troops. In his declaration of war II
• • •
series of events at the World’s fair. Miss Causey was scheduled for a Duce referred Io him as "the soul
RECRUITING ERRORS
mighty busy time.
of Italy.”
Part of the war department plans
for a major military effort is a
whoop-la recruiting drive for volun
teers to "bridge the gap of time
until the system for compulsory
selective service can be created and
started working.”
Before we got through with it, ev
ery boy who preferred to wait for
the scientific selective service sys
tem would be called a heel and
every impulsive youngster who was
fifed, kettle-drummed and orated
into signing up would be a hero.
The process would put a shadow on
the former class and not get the
best material in the latter.
Modern mechanized war requires
careful selection.
An excellent, if extreme example,
of the change is in the German para
chute troops. Each man is dropped
down strictly on his own behind
enemy lines to be a little army in
himself.
Soldiers in mechanized
troops have to be automotive and
radio mechanics, expert gunners
and drivers and sometimes adept
Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt aboard the
with explosives, gases and defenses
U. S. liner President Roosevelt, as
against both. They must know far
An Italian motorized division rolls along the streets of Rome In true
more of the principles of military art “blitzkrieg” tempo. Their destination was not disclosed. Motorized troops It docked In New York, with more
than any non-commissioned soldier and guns like these got into the grim business of destruction when II Duce than 700 refugees from England
aboard. Iler husband la a major
ever had to know before.
•niererf the war.
with the British army.
i
The New York Yankees are look
ing closely at the Red Sox and the
Indians. Although holding every
club in the league dangerous on any
I given occasion, they naturally ex
pect die strongest resistance from
those two teams
They are concerned with the pitch
ing in Boston and Cleveland,
they see it. they will
be aided by a contin
uance of the ineffec
tiveness of Old Mose
Grove and menaced
by the skill of Bob
Feller. They even
think—at least some
of them that I talked
to the other day—
that these two pitch
ers, one near the end
of the string as a big
4
leaguer and the oth
er just heading into Bob Grove
thedays of his great
ness, may bring about a change in
the positions of their two leading
rivals.
As Joe McCarthy puts it, Feller is
doing for the Indians what Grove
used to do (or the Red Sox but can
do no longer, apparently: step tn
and halt their skidding with a well-
pitched game when the other pitch
ers are faltering. So far. of course,
the Red Sox have managed to do
all right without Old Mose in the
form he held through last year. But
what of the months ahead—the hot
months when the strain will be heav
ier on the other pitchers.
The Yanks Admire Them
Incidentally, Grove and Feller,
who may in one way or the other
have such an effect not only on the
fate of their own clubs but on the
fate of the Yankees as well, are two
of the Yanks’ favorite athletes.
Naturally, they like to beat the two
Bobs every time they hook up with
them. But they admire Grove for
bis year-in and year-out perform-
ances, the courage he showed in
beating his way back when every-
body had him tagged for the clean
ers and the skill with which he has
made over his pitching style.
They Don’t Like ’Showboats’
They admire Feller not only for
the natural stuff he has but for the
way he has taken his fame in stride.
There are no swelled-heads or show-
offs among the Yankees and they
freely band it to the kid from Van
Meter for having already touched
greatness without making any fuss
about it
The Yanks, I might say, are criti
cal of ball players they call “show
boats.” Not understanding Dizzy
Dean, they took an almost violent
dislike to him and got a terrific
kick out of his crack-up In the all*
star game in Washington in 1937 and
the defeat they slapped on him In
the World Series of 1938.
But Diz got them on his side after
the final game of the 1938 series
when he walked into their clubhouse
at the Stadium and said he hated
to lose but getting beaten by a great
ball club took some of the sting out
of the defeat.
\\ hither Bound, Soldier Boys of
‘Miss Houston' of the Ix>ne Star State
The Italian ‘Blitzkrieg’ Machine Under Way
ly?
of Italy'
Arrives in U. S.