The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 1940 Page: 2 of 10
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GENERAL
HUGHS.
JOHNSON
! MH \[.)() i HX AS
H (A /i.v F. /)„,/,,
Washington, P. C.
RUBBER, TIN HOKUM'
It would be worth a good many
biliions, not to mention a great re-
employment, strengthening of our )
defense and reduction of our danger, i
to debunk the hokum about our be-
ing so dependent on the British and
Dutch East Indies for rubber and
tin.
That bunk plus gross exaggeration
of our tiny commercia! stake in
China, projects the sphere of our
naval strength far west of any iine
of defensive necessity in the Pa-
cific. On every occasion we buiid
Japanese enmity. That, in turn, re-
quires even greater navai strength
in the Pacific. We maintain the
whole fleet equipped for this great
distance, which is a far greater ra-
dius of action than Western hemi-
sphere defense requires.
We arc truly told that we have not
nearly the naval strength we need
for that defense. Yet. here we are
frittering away mucli of that
strength chiefly on this rubber and
tin argument.
Every time somebody mentions
the fact that Bolivia is a prolific
potential source of tin, we get a
dose of clever propaganda—that the
ore has to be sent to England to be
smelted—that Boiivian reserves of
ore aren't great enough and that
they require a mixture of other tin
ores.
French Break ])i])!oinatic Ties
With England Fo) towing Loss
Of Meet in \avai Encountei
(H!HTOR'S NOTK—When opinions are expressed in these columns th J
are those of the news analyst ant) nut neeessariiy of this newspitpp^!
Rckascd by Western Newspaper Union..
Bruc&ar^'s WasMngfon Digest
U. S. industry Cannot Compete
Wit)t Dictators' 'Slave Labor'
Wehavenotinsmelters. Butwhy
haven t we? Because a British car-
tel controls tin. It doesn't want us
to smelt tin or buy in Bolivia. That
isn't good enough now. There is no
mystery about the tin smeiter. To
build the necessary smelters and
use Bolivian tin at once fits with ev-
ery sound American policy, and not
to do so collides with all. It em-
ploys American rather than British
labor. It builds up Western hemi-
sphere trade and ties us closer to
South America. It strengthens our
defense and reduces our danger and
dependence on distant sources. Why
isn't such a move number one in our
new national defense effort?
I can't say on the basis of known
facts and recent surveys that Bolt- )
vian tin would be enough. But nei- !
thcr has it been demonstrated by
any such means that it wouldn't be
enough. Certainly, nobody has tak-
en any steps to make it enough. I
am told by metallurgists thaf they
can easily lick the few bugs in the
use of Bolivian tin.
There is a very wide field for the
conservation of tin. It is largely
used for attractiveness where black
sheets would serve as well. There
is a vast field for substitutes—par-
ticularly glass. Finaliy, tin can be
reclaimed after original use. We
throw it on the garbage dump. Any
truly alert defense policy would act
immediately here.
"Take a tip from tne, " or "How to be a vice president" might well
be captions of this picture showing Vice President John N. Garner con-
gratulating his colieague, Sen. Charles L. McKary of Oregon, upon his
return to senate duty following his selection as the G. O. P. nominee for
Mr. Garner's post. Garner, never without a cigar, reportedly told M<
Nary at the time of his congratulations that "Charlie, the first thing you
must learn for this job, is the proper way to hold a cigar."
The case of rubber is similar. It
may be true—although it seems in-
credible—that we can't now rely on
getting rubber from its native home
in South America, but it is no longer
true that we have to go half way
round the world to get it. We have
no less than six all-Amcrican rub-
ber substitutes. Two of them are far
better than rubber.
Yes, they cost more, but if we
relied on them entirely and so went
into mass production, they would
cost very little more—maybe not as
much—as the process is perfected in
use. As matters stand at this mo-
ment, due to their longer life and
better quality, the true cost would be
no more. If you consider this great
new field for employment of Ameri-
can labor to replace Asiatic coolie
labor, our economic advantage
would be much greater. If to tnat
advantage we add, as in the case of
tin, the avoided cost and danger of
maintaining an American naval
threat in Asia then all considerations
of both economics and defense sim-
ply shriek for immediate action
here. What is a council of national
defense for anyway?
* < *
Temptations.
Now that the course and leader-
ship of the Republican party is set-
tled, there are only two major un-
certainties to fertilize with worry
more gray hairs—the war in its re-
lation to us and the November elec-
tions.
Superficially there is a temptation
to write a third—the convention
course and leadership of the Demo-
cratic party. But, we know that
there is no uncertainty. Mr. Roose-
velt will be nominated by acclama-
tion. He will write his own plat-
form.
There is no more reason for a
Democratic convention than there
would be of a meeting of the Reichs-
tag to decide whether Mr. Hitler
shall continue.
In the proposal for a western
hemisphere cartel, we see a colos-
sal attempt to imitate Hitler. It is
assumed that if he is victorious, all
European industries will be operat-
ed as one, their products pooled and
bartered to Latin America at a
sweated price so low we can't com-
pete. Therefore, we shall buy all
the products of Latin America. Our
high cost industrial products are
also to be subsidized and pooled for
sale south to under-price low-cost
European industrial production—at
a loss to our whole peopie of per-
haps a billion a year.
THE WAR:
Sf/w/gp &!ff/(-
I Since that fateful day on which the
j French government came to armi-
stice terms with Adolf Hitler, major
problem facing Great Britain has
been the disposition of the French
fleet. For control of the seas and
} the continuation of the naval block-
ade against the axis powers is vital
to the British cause.
Well did Winston Churchill and his
advisers know that if Germany in-
terned the French navy or turned
it against England, the combined
navai weight ot Germany, Itaiy and
France would be superior to their
own.
Naval experts throughout the
worid had predicted that England
would never aiiow the French fleet
to fall into German hands. And aft-
er a brief but fierce naval engage-
ment on the North African coast
these predictions were fulfilled.
As Prime Minister Churchill re-
ported to the house of commons
this battle wrecked the French fleet
and cheated the dictator's attempts
to control the seas. In addition to
heavy French loss of life, Churchill
said, seven of France's crack war-
ships were sunk or badly damaged.
At least 217 other French naval
units have been seized in British
ports since the armistice.
This naval battle occurred when
the French naval commander at
Oran, Algiers, Admiral Marcel Cen-
souls, acting under Nazi orders,
chose to fight it out after a British
ultimatum demanded that he either
deliver his ships in British ports or
scuttle them.
In the resulting battle the back-
bone of the French fleet was either
sunk, seized or dispersed,
Two days following the naval en-
counter the French government
notified Germany that because of
the "unjustifiable aggression" by
Britain's fleet, France had severed
diplomatic relations with England.
Thus allies of what had been termed
a "never-ending" alliance came to a
distinct parting of the ways.
DOMESTIC:
Ftrst /nsta^rnpHf
It costs money—and a lot of it—
to carry on a program of military
preparedness and defense such as
that now being undertaken by the
United States, but some U. S. citi-
zens have believed that such money
would just automatically appear
upon call. Such is not the case and
now for the first time U.S. consumers
NAMES
...MttheneMS
are paying their share of this de-
fense bill every time they go to a
movie, buy a package of cigarettes,
drink a glass of beer or order a pint
of liquor.
For the first of the new defense
taxes has been placed in effect on
the following commodities and at
the increased rates listed:
Half cent on a package of ciga-
rettes; 75 cents a gallon on liquor;
$1 a barrel on beer; and movie tick,
et taxes will start at one cent of
every 10 cent admission fee ^
cents instead of 41 cents. 1 ,
Taxes on toilet preparations J'
creased from 10 to 11 per cent'
tomobllcB 3 to 3',<3 per cent; T''
chanical refrigerators & to
cent; matchcs 5 cents to 5S4 enM
per thousand; electrical energ? 3 to
3',<} per cent; gasoline 1 to 1% cents
per gallon; lubricating Oil 4<n 4%
cents per galion; playing rardilO to
11 cents a pack; club dues apt ini-
tiation fees 10 to 11 per cent.
All these "nuisance taxes' are
expected to produce about $473000,-
000 of the biilion dollars to b ob-
tamed annually from the nse
financing program. Major potion
of the remaining sum will ome
from increased income taxes
One big reason why these new
taxes are so necessary is ^ ex-
pansion of the U. S. fleet, nms esti-
mated to be the largest in the sorld
—and this estimate includes the
hitherto first-ranking British i et.
Naval experts put the pr sent
strength of the United States !!eet
at 395 completed combat shits of
1,327,320 tons. This docs no in-
clude $500,000,000 worth of new.var-
ships just ordered by the nav or
nearly 100 other vessels now under
construction. Latest avaiiab! fig-
ures on Britain's navy put it ^ 313
ships of 1,277,189 tons. Whilet ese
figures are admittedly inexact they
are best obtainable in Europe
<4? my ExpaasfOH
Not to be outdone by the navy,
the war department is moving along
with its program of expansion and
streamlining at an increasing tempo.
Taxes that consumers were paring
were being used by this branch of
the service for new equipment for
intensive specialized training and
for long-deferred promotions tn the
ranks of army ofHcers. A recruiting
drive of an additional 38,000 men is
under way and is expected to bring
the ranks of the reguiars up tn ngo -
000 by September.
(L Gen. Charles De Gaulle, head of
the "French national committee" in
London, appealed to Frenchmen in
America to help in carrying on war
against Germany.
^ George Bernard Shaw, famous
British dramatist, cracked that if
he were in charge of "this war, I
should ask Hitler what food he need-
ed, so that the war might be fought
out to a finish."
On the anniversary of the day he
joined the White House staff in 1903,
doorkeeper to Presidents for 37
years, genial Pat McKenna died in
Washington, D.C.
C. Finding her brakes failed to hold
as her auto plunged down a steep
grade ending in a precipice, Mrs.
Virginia Rios Watkins, 32, of Ok-
lahoma City, told her mother, "Take
care of my boy," warned three oth-
er passengers of an impending
crash, swerved her car into moun-
tainside near Tamazunchale, Mex-
ico. She was killed, the others only
injured.
TRUST HUSTINC:
BtrtMny
Many laws at 50 years of age are
outmoded and more often an for-
gotten and discarded. Ttii;,snot
true of the Sherman anti trust act
which passed its fiftieth birthday
with the federal government hying
83 anti-trust cases invoivin^ t 580
defendants pending in U. S (,,u't-ts
Instituted by Senator John ;; , --n
of Ohio as the nation's i , rto
the rising fear of monopoly .^nse
days, the same law is In ,
ously used today in b.tiim re-
straint of trade by big corp. , -iis
EDUCATION:
Sactng DefHorrrn-y
When more than l'i.OM . ...
from throughout the nat n ,
for the seventy-eighth ; ^
ventton of the Natiunu! i ,^:nn
association in Miiwaui,., jJL
"saving democracy" t,„,j . 7^"
the "schools the first [in; <jf d
were the keynotes of th.
Through the major sp,-^
committee reports of t/, „
ran this same thetne [j
shall continue aid in mer
challenge of dictators." "E
nse
ting.
st" d" ; and
ntion
Washington, D. C.
KAX'S IN SOUTH AMERICA
WASHINGTON.—How vigorously
Nazi Germany is trying to under-
mine the United States in Latin
Amcrica is iilustratcd by a secret
arms offer Hitler has just made to
sell $60,000,000 worth of the latest
intiitary weapons to Brazil.
This wouid include tanks, artil-
)ery, flame - throwers, bombing
planes and other modern devices
with which Germany prostrated
France—a!! transported to a hemi-
sphere where Pan-American nations
have been relatively at peace for
haif a century.
Furthermore, Germany guaran-
tees to deliver the goods almost
immediately—via Italian ships.
It now looks very much as if Bra-
zil would accept the offer.
State department officials, togeth-
er with Gen. George Marshall, dy-
namic U. S. chief of staff, are pull-
ing every possible wire to prevent
the purchase, but they are having
a hard time. They are offering to
sell American military equipment
instead. However, the Brazilians
point out that because of cheap Nazi
wages it would take $200,000,000 to
buy the same material here where
costs are much higher. Further-
more, Hitler is wiiling to accept cof-
fee and other Brazilian surplus prod-
ucts in a barter deal. No real cash
is involved.
Finally, the Brazilians say they
bought some artillery from the
United States recently, but it was
World war stuff, and they had to
spend $8,000 for repairs on each gun.
The German munitions, on the other
hand, are virtually new.
General Marshall made a special
Might to Brazil last year to get ac-
quainted with the Brazilian army,
and later piloted Genera! Goes Mon-
teiro, Brazilian chief of staff, all
over the United States. However, all
this goodwilling doesn't seem to
count today. At least 40 per cent of
the Brazilian army is reported to
be pro-Nazi.
Note—Meanwhile the state depart-
ment moves with tragic slowness to
counteract Nazi activity in South
America. Three years ago it set up
a Cultural Relations bureau to cul-
tivate Latin America, but its ac-
tivity to date is minus zero.
MHn)ng t*ananta Waters.
The navy may not admit it, but
the secrct reason for suddenly min-
ing the waters around the Panama
! canal was the sighting of two sub-
marines off the Pacific side of the
} canal.
They were sighted by an army
aviator, who was not able to dis-
tinguish their nationality. Since no
U. S. submarines were in that vicin-
ity, the army and navy both were
convinced they must be Japanese.
Obviously it would be difficult for
German submarines to get into Pa-
cific waters.
Another factor which has our navy
command worried was that last
week, while part of the Japanese
fleet left for French Indo-China, an-
other part left for an unnamed des-
tination off into the Pacific.
It is suspected that the Japanese
may be paying a visit to Chile, per-
haps stopping en route at the Gala-
pagos islands, which the United
States is now trying to lease for a
naval base to protect the Panama
canal.
Another reason is the fear that
Hitler, having secured part of the
French fleet, might pool forces with
the Italians (after the end of the
British campaign) and make a foray
into American Atlantic waters.
With part of the Japanese fleet
simultaneausly in Chilean waters,
the problem of defense would be
difficult.
Mechanical Sleuths.
Uniformed guards make nightly
inspection rounds in the big govern-
ment buildings, but the real senti-
nels of the multi-million dollar struc-
tures are electrical machines. Elab-
orate automatic signal systems,
equipped with buzzers, bells and
lights instantly detect trouble and
flash the alarm.
Most modern of the automatic
watchdogs is the system in the
stately Greco-Roman Federal Re-
serve building on Constitution ave-
nue. Its electrical controls make a
written record of everything that
goes on, with a special feature
known as the "operator's delinquent
system."
If the operator falls asleep or
meets with an accident, red lights
Sash all over the building. The de-
vice also tattles on guards who fail
to punch patrol boxes on time.
Note—All the guards and elevator
operators in the Federal Reserve
building arc college students. They
are the handsomest crew in Wash-
ington. , , .
Political Chaff.
Latest aspirant to enter the con-
gressional arena is squat Louis B.
Ward, editor of Father Coughlin's
Social Justice. This is Ward's sec-
ond try. In 1936 he ran for a
Democratic senatorial nomination
without success.
When pretty Janelle Johnson, five-
year-old daughter of Rep. Jed John-
son of Oklahoma, was told that little
brother Jed Jr. had sat on the Pres-
ident's knee, she shrugged her
shoulders and replied airily. "Hmm,
that's nothing. I kissed him."
Unit's Reciprocal Trade Treaties Witt Re Rendered
Useless as World Market Becomes Elooded by
Materials Produced at Pittance Wages.
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service. National Press Bldg.,
Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON. — The Hitler ar-
mistice terms that were imposed
upon France brings to this country,
and other nations of the Western
hemisphere, the stark reality that
our whole business structure must
undergo drastic reorganization and
readjustment. It is a fact that can
no longer be ignored. We arc face
to face with a situation that re-
quires our government and our eco-
nomic leadership to look first, last
and ail of the time to the preserva-
tion of an American principle.
Whether we like it or not, the
terms forced down the throats of the
French by Hitler and the gagging
added by the fatty Mussolini have
put the United States, its consuming
public, its workers and its general
commercial effort in a tough spot.
It is a situation in which we must
produce all of the things we need,
and we need not plan on producing
more than we need!
To present one phase, one resu!t,
of the economic destruction of
France by the Hitler victory, it is
necessary oniy to point to what has
happened to the trade agreement
program arranged and defended al-
ways by Secretary Corde!! Hul! of
the department of state. Secretary
Hu!!, to my mind, is the most sin-
cere and honest individual of the
Roosevelt administration. He con-
ceived and supported the trade
agreement plan because he believed
it was the solution to many prob-
lems arising between nations. It
was, he believed, a step toward
international peace because most of
' the international troubles start from
international trade jea!ousies.
MuH * TraJe Treaties
Are 'WasAetf Up'
But Mr. Hull's trade treaties are
gone, washed up. They mean noth-
ing at all now. None of the Euro-
pean nations that have come under
Hitler influence will be able to ob-
serve them, because Hitler will di-
CORDELL HULL
'M.! Meofiei foffapscj.'
rect their trade. Few, if any, of
the nations elsewhere in the world
can continue to observe the agree-
ments because they must look first to
self-preservation.
Whi!e I never have felt that Mr.
Hull's conception of dealing with
international trade was such hot
stuff, I have felt always neverthe-
!ess that his ideals and his objec-
tives were to be respected. He has
fought for the principle through all
of my quarter of a century in Wash-
ington. Now, one swoop of a mili-
tary machine, not even within our
borders, and the who!e program be-
comes impotent and unimportant.
It is a tragedy of the kind that some-
times hits ideals.
And with the Hull program out of
the window, what next? At best,
any statement can be only a guess.
Yet, some of the facts, must be ac-
cepted as basic. One of these facts
is that throughout all of the Europe,
where people live under the steel
boot of a dictator, workers are go-
ing to be little more than slaves
for the next decade or longer. They
will be peons. They will do the
work assigned to them and they will
do it at rates of pay fixed by the dic-
tator.
Since the dictator form of rule wi!!
direct at least 80 per cent of a!!
Europe and an equal portion of
Asia, it is easy to conceive that the
dictators will use the products of
the labor to gain money for re-
building and rehabilitation and for
maintenance of the greatest armies
the world has ever known. Those
products will be sold wherever they
U S. INDUSTRY
William Bruckart, Washington
correspondent, forseos a closing
wor!d market for American prod-
ucts as a result of the European
war. He predicts that U. S. farm-
ers and manufacturers will be
unable to compete with materials
produced in the dictator coun-
tries with forced labor. Bruckart
advises us to foHow the old adage,
"charity begins at home."
can be sold and they will be so!d at
prices be!ow anything ever dreamed
of under our system and the Amer-
ican standard of living.
t/. S. Foreign Mar&efs
W.H Be C/oseJ
To put the question bluntly; how
will the owners of our steei mills
or our automobile factories or thou-
sands of other businesses be ablo
to compete with that kind of labor?,
Rates of pay in this country long
have been double and trip!e and
more above the European or Asiatic
rates. Our workers continue to seek
more and more of the share of pro-
duction. But will the things they
produce ever reach a market, except
in the United States, when Germans
and French and Italians and Rus-
sians and Japanese and others are
working for a few cents a day? I
think not.
Or take agriculture. Will Ameri-
can wheat or corn or fat hogs or
dairy products be so!d in the mar-
kets of the world at the cost of pro-
duction when the workers of the dic-
tator nations are producing the same
things and being given perhaps only
enough food for living?
There could be countless other il-
lustrations offered, but these serve
to illustrate the steadily closing gap
through which our excess of agri-
cultural products and manufactured
commodities heretofore have been
passing. I think the picture that is
plainly visibte now ought to compel
every government official and every
political party to turn thoughts to
the American problem.
Mif/er's Peace 7*erm*
Are TerrtHy //ar*A
The Hitler terms have been re-
leased on!y sufficiently for a concep-
tion of their terrible harshness. No
one yet can tell how much of France
wiil remain under complete control
of Germany, or how much of it will
become absolute German territory.
We know only that, in general, all
of France's sources of supplies will
pass into German control, or will
be managed under Hitler's Nazi pro-
gram. We do not yet know whether
there wil] be surrender of all coloni-
ai possessions, islands and the like.
Yet, there is none so foolish as to
believe that Hitler will overlook the
opportunity of directing the produc-
tion and trade of every area which
may serve as a cog in the great
Nazi economic machine.
Propaganda /a
7*o MaAe Pcop/e S/aues
Some may ask why this dark out-
look is emphasized and what basis
there is for it, beyond the explana-
tions already given. I think the
answer is simple. The drain of war
preparation that has been made
upon all of those nations involved,
not to mention the tremendous ex-
penditure of men and money during
actual fighting, has left each race of
peoples denuded. The dictators dare
not let revolutionary movements get
started. The steel boot will walk
across the bodies of every person
who ofTers opposition to any order to
produce food and fiber. Propagan-
da will be used to convince those
peoples that it is their duty to their
homeland. Propaganda was success-
ful in working those peopie like
slaves, as Hitter did, in buiiding up
the war machine.
We have seen some indication of
this in Russia. The Soviet dictator
has decreed an extension of work-
ing hours for all workers in Russia.
The people were told merely that
they will work many hours more.
They have to do it, or be shot.
It may be that the new Soviet or-
der represents a renewed war prep-
aration on the part of the Commu-
nists. None here knows the answer.
The fact remains, however, that
the great horde of Russians are to
be driven like plow mu!es into long
days of harsh labor—while the cheap
Communistic agitators in this coun-
try foment new strikes for short
hours and higher and higher pay.
His a sour situation. But it is
very rea!, and it shows what dic-
tators can do.
Ail of which seems to me to prove
that there is a right important bat-
tle in the United States that we had
better win. While administration
folks and partisan politicians shout
and create new hysteria about a
military machine to defend us, I
hold to the idea that we had better
dtv)de attention to defense of the na-
tion into two phases. We had bet-
ter prepare to defend within as well
as without.
It is tragic, of course, that mil-
iions of o!d people and women and
chttdren are suffering in Europe. But
I rtse to inquire whether they have
a claim on our government ahead
of the folks who have bccome a part
of America? There have been a dozen
or more appea!s from within this
country by which it has been sought
to make homes here for the desti-
tute and the unfortunate victims of
the European conflagration. The sen-
timent is fine but I, for one, still
believe in the old adage that "Char-
ity begins at home." We should
eliminate suffering here first.
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Weimar, F. L. The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 18, 1940, newspaper, July 18, 1940; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth214999/m1/2/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Stella Hill Memorial Library.