Friday, October 3, 1941
SOUTHERN OREGON MINER
Page 2
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
kiaaaa
Washington. D. C.
WINTER PLANS
As far as can be ascertained, the
most important point under dis­
cuswon between Hitler and Musso­
lini during their recent visit to the
Russian battle lines was a plan by
which Italian troops would hold
down a sizeable portion of the Ger­
man front during the Russian winter
stalemate.
Naturally, no one outside the
Fascist-Nazi high command really
knows the details of what happened.
However, Mussolini squawked so
loudly over Hitler's demands, that
their general nature leaked out in
Rome—where a lot of army leaders
are none too friendly to the Axis.
Hitler's theory, bluntly put, was
that the Italians were no good as
fighters; so during the winter months
when there was no fighting to be
done, they could move into the
trenches and protect the German
lines.
Then Hitler could ship his troops
down to Africa, and could clean up
the whole of North Africa before
spring and good fighting weather re­
turned to Russia.
Hitler figured
that during the winter he could take
over all of French North Africa,
Egypt and the Suez canal, then pene­
trate to Dakar—from which he
would have a base against South
America.
It has long been known that Hitler
realizes he has to move fast in Af­
rica and the South Atlantic, or the
United States will be strong enough
to block him.
Mussolini's reaction to this plan
was
anything
but enthusiastic.
Aside from the ignominy of with­
drawing from Italy's proposed field
of conquest—Africa—Il Duce argued
that Italian troops could not stand
Russian winters. They would die of
pneumonia in such a rigorous cli­
mate.
Whether Mussolini finally agreed
is not known.
Note: The Nazi plan apparently
is to put 250,000 Hungarian troops in
the Russian trenches during the
winteY; plus 200,000 Rumanians; plus
about 50.000 Slovaks and about 500,-
000 Italians.
The German army
during the winter would be reduced
to a mere skeleton of about 100,000
men.
NEW IMPRESSIONS
Washington newsmen, after see­
ing Roosevelt twice a week for eight
years, have only dull impressions
when they walk into a press confer­
ence.
A fresh impression comes
from Jack Moffitt, ace Hollywood
reporter, who saw the President the
other day for the first time.
"There was charm in the setting,"
Moffitt said. “The mementoes on
his desk indicate a man of imagina­
tion who can extract pleasant mem­
ories from past experiences . . ,
He costumes well. Hoover's choker
collar became a symbol of Tory
America. Coolidge dressed like a
small town banker.
Roosevelt
avoids the foppish, but hits a cer­
tain suburban ease in his dress
which sells quickly to the public.
“He was impressive in handling
himself. There was ease and frank­
ness, and a quickness in response
to questions. He was at all times
master of the interview.
"I was Struck by his paleness and
the lines in his face, contradicting
the smirk I've seen in a thousand
cartoons. If I were a casting di­
rector, looking for an actor for this
part. I'd cast him as a man who is
working bard under great strain."
• • •
UNDER WAR SECRETARY
Newsmen sat three deep around a
long polished table in the new war
department building,
They fired
questions at the man with a stin­
tanned face sitting at tile head of
the table. He was the under secre-
tary of war.
What's a T-0 tank like? . . . Are
M-3 tanks available for the maneu­
vers? . . . Did the French find the
75 mm. tank gun effective? . . .
What is the altitude range of the 90
mm. anti-aircraft gun? ... Is the
army in Iceland? . . . What do you
think about the Russian resistance?
He ducked the last two questions,
but answered all the technical ques­
tions with the assurance of a soldier
trained all his life in ordnance.
But he isn't a life-long soldier. He
is a lawyer, an ex-circuit court
judge, who scarcely a year ago was
concerned with such non-military
subjects as the reorganization of the
New York subway.
This was a press conference with
the under secretary of war, Robert
P. Patterson, A judge in 1940, he
is a soldier in 1941, with a complete
grasp of the technical information
of his job.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
The President is wearing a black
four-in-hand tie these days, as well
as the black armband.
Latest addition to Roosevelt's
trinket-laden desk is a white porce­
lain figure of Churchill with a cigar
in his mouth.
OPM has a defense job waiting
for movie star Marlene Dietrich as
soon as her broken ankle is mended.
They want to use her glamorous
gams (legs) to publicize cotton stock­
ings for women, made necessary by
the shutting off of Japanese silk.
^I.Phillipr
THE VEGETABLE SEDAN
Henry Ford has just turned out a
car with a plastic body made largely
from vegetables, It is part salad
and part automobile.
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
(Coniolid ited Feature»
WNV Servie».1
TEW YORK—Although the an-
* swers to the famous inquiry of
Pontius Pilate aren't all in yet. we
assign a man to discover and tell
us what is truth
Dr. James P. Baxter III. presi­
dent of Williams college, takes on
this o f f i ce.
’Tit Said, ‘Truth
for Col. Wil­
May Lie at the liam J. Don­
ovan, co-or-
Bottom of a Well’ dinator of
defense information. His job will be
to screen out from the mine-run of
world information the dubious,
tricky or deceptive items of propa­
ganda or distortion and deliver to
the President and the state depart­
ment the chemically pure raw ma­
terial for policy-making. This "fact­
filter” appears to be news in world
statecraft.
In the midst of a long address
which Dr. Baxter delivered in 1938
was the following pertinent utter­
ance. foreshadowing his new under­
taking:
N
"The first element of defense
is truth. Inculcation of the seal
to gel at the truth, no matter
what the cost of time and effort,
characterises real education."
Is it possible that this led Colonel
Donovan to his truth-seeker? In the
above address and on several later
occasions. Dr. Baxter denounced
"defeatism," and has been a spirit­
ed advocate of a “militant demo­
cratic faith." which would not wait
until it was enslaved before fighting
back.
After his graduation from Wil­
liams college in 1914, Dr. Bax­
ter tried Wall Street for two
years, with the Industrial Fi­
nance corporation, and then re­
turned to Williams and Harvard
for master's and doctor's de­
grees. He taught history at Col­
orado college and Harvard and
became president of Williams in
1937. With him on the new truth­
filtering board are six other pro­
fessors, all skilled researchers
in the entomology of the propa­
ganda bug. They have as an
unofficial precedent the exten­
sive researches of the Institute
for Propaganda Analysis.
heodore roosevelt would
T
have approved highly of his fel­
low townsman of Oyster Bay, Col.
Van Santfoord Merle-Smith, just
now arriving
Alwaya Somethin’ at Sydney,
Stirrin’ Wherever Australia, as
the newly ap­
Merle-Smith Goea pointed na­
val attache. He is tall, handsome
and physically impressive, always
looking for action.
At Princeton, young Merle-
Smith "hit the line hard,” as a
backfield football star; be was
a hell-for-leather cavalry officer
on the Mexican border, and in
the World war, be mixed in the
fighting wherever he could find
an opening, was wounded three
times and was awarded the Dis­
tinguished Service Cross; he had
a fling at statecraft, at The
Hague and in our state depart­
ment; he engaged in the rough-
and-tumble of Wall Street, win­
ning every bout, and as a
yachtsman could make more out
of a hat full of wind than any­
body on the Long Island shore.
It marks
triumph of the
vegetable over the steel industry.
• •
Henry has been experimenting
with the idea for years. He
man who always looks ahead,
wipes his own windshield.
• • •
A farm boy, Hank always nour-
ished the notion that the "Man With
the Hoe" could do anything that
could be done by the "Vice Presi­
dent With the Blueprint." And after
all there was nothing so fanciful in
the idea of making an auto out of
vegetables, Henry had been mak-
ing spinach out of automobiles all
his life.
Henry's first problem was to find
out which vegetables would go best
in automobiles, He could dismiss
the cucumber at the start, Too
many people won't have anything to
do with cucumbers.
• • •
As National Lrakuir Pennant Is ( J i udiri I
He then considered onions, but
dropped them quickly. After all. he
was making a car. not a hamburger
• • •
Lettuce and tomatoes were
suggested, but vetoed after the
opening debate, Mr. Kord did
not want the public to get his
car confused with a reducing
diet.
• •
The soybean had begun to poke
Its noggin up and attract attention
for some time. Of all vegetables,
none has gotten ahead in life like
the soybean.
The jelly bean, the string bean
and the i‘;na bean were better
known, but never got anywhere in­
dustrially. (Once in October. 1928, a
string bean did succeed in getting
into the reception room of Mr
Ford's offices, but it was kept wait­
ing so long that when the word final­
ly came, "Mr. Ford will see you
now," it had gone stale. —Ed note.)
• • •
Thin soundpholo »hows the Brooklyn Dodger» rn ma»»e, as they ar­
rived at their dressing room after defeating the Boston Braves 6 to 0
at Boston. By so doing they clinc hed the National league pennant. It was
a nip and tuck race with the SI. Louis Cardinals, but the boy» nosed
the St. Louis team out—and are they pleased!
American Lcifion Parad«
Peter (*. Lehman, *4, »an of Gov.
Herbert I.rhnun of New York, who
enlisted as pilot in the Canadian
RAE. Teter volunteered with the
full approval of hi» parents.
Spurs Farm ( hitput
But it was soon found that almost
anything from a harmonica to a
trailer could be made from the soy­
bean, and Henry always liked a bean
that was ambitious and full of get­
up and go.
In 1932 somebody suggested that
automobiles could be made from
hay, but word came from Detroit
that Mr. Ford was satisfied to keep
on making hay from automobiles
• • •
Anyhow, Henry has succeeded in
his experiments, and in the priori-
ties crisis has found a way to make
a flivver almost entirely from the
vegetable garden. The plastic ma­
terial has 10 times the strength of
steel in resisting a blow,
iron in the vegetables.
Of course, the government
throw a monkey wrench into
Ford’s car by putting the soybean
and other vegetables on a priorities
list Anyhow, good luck to the idea
But we hope we don't get another
one of those tire jacks made out of
mashed potatoes.
• • •
All in all, his career would make
T. R. flash a couple of octaves of
THE CALL
("0PM wants Marlene Dietrich's
teeth and yell "Bully!"
He is the son of the late Dr. Wil­ legs for use In drive to popularize
ton Merle-Smith, who was pastor of stockings made from silk substi­
the Brick Church of New York, and tutes.”—News item.)
has long been active as one of the
Hark, Marlene!
leading Presbyterian laymen. After
The OPM's
his graduation from Princeton in
Calling for
1911, he took his law degree at Har­
Those famous stems
vard in 1914. He was a member of
the American secretariat at the
Listen, kid—
Paris peace conference, and in 1920
Your country begs
was appointed third assistant secre­
For the right
To use those legs.
tary of state.
For several years after 1935, his
yacht. Seven Seas, was showing her
All must make
heels to competing craft, but more
Some sacrifice;
recently Colonel Merle-Smith has
Give those legs!
They will suffice.
been shore-bound by ill health.
He practiced law with a distin­
Ankles such
guished New York firm, in the im­
As yours, Marlene,
mediate post-war years, and entered
In a war
the investment banking field about
A lot may mean.
a decade ago. He is now a member
of the advisory committee of the
Forward, then,
New York Trust company.
With calf and knee—
Colonel Merle-Smith in all proba­
In the cause
bility will find action even in the
Of victory!
Australian navy.
• • •
EN JORGE UBICO is named
I»»
by a "constitutional congress'
for his tenth consecutive term as
president of Guatemala, his incum­
bency to continue until 1949.
He was first elected for a one-year
term, survived two revolutions, and
then set aside the constitutional lim­
itation against more than one term.
He is hard-boiled and diligent, bril­
liantly educated and strongly pro-
United States. He is startlingly like
Napoleon in appearance, with a hair­
cut like the little corporal’s, under-
studying Napoleon in attitudes, dress.
With the roar of a bombardment, terrific blasts rocked Whiling, Ind.,
as fire, raging through the Standard Oil company's gasoline refinery—
largest In the world—exploded lank after tank. I.o»» was estimated al
about >100.000. One man was killed and more than a score Injured. This
picture, made from a plane, shows the fire al it» height.
»lx week vacation to the
United Stales and Canada, the duke
and duche»» of Windsor, partners
in a romance that rocked the world,
are plclurrd at the British embas­
sy, in Washington, where they had
breakfast. They were received brief­
ly at the While House by the Presi­
dent. The duke is governor of the
Bahamas, where the I'. H. 1» build­
ing a defense base.
About 100.000 veterans of World War I marched before a cheering
throng estimated al a million, In Milwaukee, Wi»., in parade attending
their twenty-third annual convention. Tens of thousands of people had
poured Into the city to view the spc-tacular demonstration. Above scene
was taken as the parade passed the city hall.
agricultural stales assembled In
Chicago to hear Claude R. Wlckard
(top), secretary of agriculture,
launch the largest food production
drive in American history to assist
the democracies opposing Hitler.
Among his hearers are, (I. to r.) H.
II. Sabin, Commodity Credit, M. Pot-
temger, Ohio Land Use, and Otto
Croy, Ohio State university
Inaugurating ‘Retailers for Defense Week*
LAMENT
Baby fingerprints to poets
Are sweet and quite a thrill;
Methinks they’ve never washed 'em
off
A grimy windowsill.
—Beatrice Gittleman.
• • •
The Chrysler company is turning
out scores of tanks per week. Of
course it had the advantage of still
retaining the designs for that model
it turned out about 10 years ago with
both ends alike.
Inaugurating the drive of the nation's retail merchants to push the
sale of defense bonds, Mrs. Roosevelt purchased a bond from Donald
M. Nelson, executive director of supply priorities and allocations board.
Left to right, Donald M. Nelson; Mrs. Roosevelt; Maj. Benjamin Namm,
chairman, treasury retailers advisory committee.
«
»
Adm. Nicholas llorthy, regent of
Hungary, with Adolf Hitler at tho
Nazi warlord's headquarters on
eastern front, llorthy was awarded
the iron cross before returning.
4