The Daily Telegram from Adrian, Michigan • Page 4

FOUR ADRJANDAO TELEGRAM The ADRIAN EVENING TELEGRAM Established in 1SD2 ADRIAN DAILY TIMES Established In 1SB5 Consolidated April 14. 1914 ADRIAN DAILY TELEGRAM, ADRIAN, MICHIGAN, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1943 Published Every Attemoon Except Sunday' STUAHT H. PERRY. Publisher OlUce 210-214 West Maumee Street. Adrian.

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Monday. April 12, 1343 STRAW MAX A good deal of breath, ink and emotion is being wasted over a recent order of the army forbidding men in the service from seeking or accepting election to public office without prior approval of the War Department. The protests, all from anti- Roosevelt sources, are to the effect that the order is a wrongful invasion of the civic rights of soldiers, and that its motive is to prevent General MacArthur from becoming a candidate for the presidency in 1944. The idea of President Roosevelt being politically afraid of MacArthur, and trying to sidetrack him, is a straw man that the extreme Roosevelt-haters set up long ago. Eager to find somebody who could beat Roosevelt if he should run in 1944, they resorted to the ancient political device of grooming a popular and successful general as a candidate.

The war was just, starting and our military operations were still small, but General MacArthur was a brilliant and popular figure so the anybody to beat Roosevelt forces began the political build-up for him. The next step in the build-up process was to try to make out that Mr. Roosevelt was afraid of MacArthur and was trying to kill him off politically. So he was represented as exiling the general in Australia, not giving him proper support, and hamstringing his military' now barring him by an army order. But General MacArthur as a candidate is still only a figment of political imagination.

In the first place he has stated in the strongest terms that he has no political ambitions whatever, that his sole ambition is to fight and win the war. And furthermore there is no evidence of any popular demand that he should run for the presidency. The American armies are just getting into action, and they have a long way to go. There is no telling who will be the military hero of the war; it may be MacArthur or somebody else. And there is no telling whether such a military hero would be desirable for the presidency.

As regards the recent army order. Secretary Stimson says that it was the outgrowth of army.ex- perience. Tightened up after Pearl Harbor, he said, it was framed without consultation outside of the army service itself. There is no reason to question the truth of that statement. Setting up such a political straw- man to knock him down is typical of the bickering thai scatters sand in the machinery of the war effort.

It is premature, ill-founded, and serves no good purpose. At this particular time when the sale of thirteen billion dollars worth of bonds calls for singleness of thought and unified effort, such needless controversies might well be adjourned. There will be plenty of time for them after we have at least got past the middle of the stream. A WISE PROPOSAL A controversy is brewing in Congress over the extension of the administration's authority to make reciprocal trade arrangements with other countries regardless of existing tariff laws. Such a controversy would be most unfortunate at this only because of its effects within Congress, but because it would make other nations afraid that we might start a tariff war when the world conflict is over.

To avert such a controversy Senator Tafl makes the wise proposal that the present authority of the administration be extended for three years, with the proviso that all existing tariffs expire automatically six months after the conclusion of hostilities. Congress ought to agree upon that proposal without much debate. Every argument is in its favor. As long as the war lasts there will be comparatively little foreign commerce, so tariffs for some time to come have very little importance. When the war is over it may be advisable to continue present policies or to alter them.

Those who care to battle for the old protectionist ideas could have their innings then. By agreeing to the Taft proposal now Congress would be saved the scratches and bruises of a bitter tariff debate, and no anxiety would be caused the nations with which this country needs to be on the most cordial of terms while the war is being fought. Inevitably a contest in Congress now between protectionists and those favoring reciprocity would make other nations fear a similar controversy when peace negotiations begin. The tariff problem, like the peace agreements, can well wait for the cessation of hostilities. There will be a crystalization of public opinion then.

There is none now. With a world war going on foreign trade policy is practically meanigless for there is practically no such trade. The Taft proposal is an excellent idea. May. Congress adopt it.

THE END IN" SIGHT Max Stephan, the German-born traitor who almost a year ago entertained an escaped German pilot in Detroit and helped him on his way toward Mexico and freedom, is almost at the end of his rope. Unless some new legal technicality can be raised to delay action once again, Stephan is destined to hang for treason. Stephan was convicted of treason by a Detroit jury and originally was sentenced to be hanged at Milan November 13. The jury's verdict was upheld by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati. Recently the United States Supreme Court refused to review the case.

The only recourse for Stephan now is another appeal asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision and then an appeal to President Roosevelt for executive clemency. It has required almost a year for the various courts to hear the Stephan case and act upon it. For almost a year this traitor has been confined in the Milan prison although lawfully convicted of treason and sentenced to hang. The democratic process has been annoyingly slow but it is characteristic of a democracy that even a traitor receives his full measure of justice. We are at war, for one thing, to prove that our theories of equality and fairness arc right.

The sooner his case is now ended the better. Stephan has had every opportunity that the law allows for any defendant, and further delay tends to make the people impatient with the law's delays. There is no possible doubt as to his guilt, and no possible ground for sympathy. It is high time that his sentence should be carried out. The War Today By DEWITT MACKENZIE Wido World Service's War Analyst The Pacific war remains in a state of relative calm a condition likelv to persist to greater or less degree until the Allies are prepared for an all-out offensive.

The Japs are busy consolidating the gains of their banditry a task so vast that it's taxing the strength of the Mikado's little men. Any attacks which they make are for purposes of defense and not because they want more territory. The Allied forces are checkmating brilliantly here, and hitting aggressively there, to keep the enemy from digging in and to weaken his striking power. Broadly speaking, however, the United Nations are doing a holding job until equipment is available for the big smash. When will the day of reckoning come? Well, the signs are too dim to read.

It may well be that it will have to wait until Herr Hitler has been rendered impotent. That would seem to be a question which even the Allied high command can't answer yet. Saturday General Douglas MacArthur, in a statement on the first anniversary of Bataan's fall, grieved over the fate of the Philippines under the Jap heel and said "From the bottom of a seared and stricken heart I pray that a merciful God may not delay too long their redemption." So even the supreme commander of the Allied Nations in the western Pacific can't see the end. Still, it isn't the great, all-out offensive against the Japs which we have to worry about. When Hitler has been mastered, and the terrific allied strength is released from the European theatre, the United Nations fighting-machine will roll all right.

Our danger lies in the present delicate period of holding the enemy in check and preparing the way for the kill. Now is the time when allied misjudgment might be after we have our full strength massed in the Pacific. We shall be invincible on that day, but we are not now. During this time of watchful preparation it's imperative that the cause of the United Nations be in skilled most competent available. He must be a man of extreme (he waiting is trying.

He must be able to get the most out of his inadequate equipment. He must have foresight in strategy and tactics. He must have leadership in handling both troops and civilians. And above all he mustn't make any big mistake. In short the commander in chief in the western Pacific at this crucial juncture must have qualifications ranking him among the outstanding generals of history.

General MacArthur was selected as the man best fitted for this exacting leadership. Since his appointment he has been praised by our allies. Australia gratefully credits him with having stood off Japanese invasion. He. has held his bridge-head as few generals could have done.

So it seems more than passing strange that anyone should try to get the general involved in politics, even as a candidate for the Presidency. He is our sea anchor in the Mr. Byrnes in Command Bl WALTER UPPMANM So many big statements have been issued about wages and prices that the latest one will be taken at a considerable discount Nevertheless, Mr. Byrnes is at long last in control of i uation. are now the We very much nearer to a con structive solution.

Ten days ago opposing forces were threatening to overthrow the whole wartime wage and price structure. Mr. Lewis was demanding a wage-rate increase which destroyed the "Little Steel" formula, on the ground that retail prices had broken through the ceiling, mands, If Mr. Lewis got his de- all other union leaders would be bound by the law of self- preservation to follow him, or lose their leadership. Parallel with this deadly threat to the wage structure there was the.

movement of the farm bloc, through the Bankhead and Pace bills, to knock off the ceiling over farm prices. The combination of these two converging movements brought the situation to its most acute crisis. Ten days ago things took a decided turn for the better. The turn began with the recognition by Messrs. Green and Murray that wage earners could not gain by wage-rate increases because they could never keep up with runaway prices.

At the White House conference on April 1 they radically altered the labor union strategy by agreeing to demand effective price control rather than higher wage rates. This action made it possible for Congress to shelve the Pace bill and to wait and see before overriding the President's veto of the Bankhead bill. The net result of these two actions was to put the influence of labor behind the stabilization of prices and the influence of the farm bloc behind the stabilization of wages. Upon this new situation the President's latest order rests. This order puts into legal effect the Green-Murray agreement not to ask for general wage-rate increases provided the cost of living is effectively controlled.

The rules laid down by Mr. Byrnes for the War Labor Board and other agencies confine wage increases to the "Little Steel" formula, with no general exceptions permitted. His rulings are likely to be resolutely applied this time because (a) the farm bloc has its big stick available, (b) Messrs. Green and Murray and all their fellow labor leaders will be ruined if Mr. Lewis breaks the "Little Steel" formula, (c) the Administration will in that event have lost the support of the labor leaders who are politically its friends- Nevertheless, the new wage policy cannot be sustained unless the cost of living is successfully controlled.

This means that rationed goods must be made regularly available in the promised quantities at the official prices. The government's ration coupon, and the but the black market. OPA price for the food that the coupon entitles people to buy, must be made as sound as a government bond. To do this, the farmers must have all the necessary inducements to produce the desired crops, the produce must move fairly through the established channels of distribution and be available in the retail shops at the rationed price and in the promised amount. The order recognizes that the farmers may be given "support prices, subsidies or other inducements as may be authorized by law £ftd deemed necessary to maintain or increase production, provided that such action does not increase the cost of living," There is no reason in the world why a higher price, if it is necessary, should not be paid to the farmer and the difference covered out of government funds.

The farm bloc opposes subsidies on the ground that the New Dealers have a tendency to attach meddlesome conditions. That objection can be met quite simply, as it was by Mr. Hoover in the other war, as it has been in England and elsewhere. Instead of paying subsidies to farmers, let the government buy the whole crop at the economic price, and then let it resell to the private distributors at the OPA price that part of the crop which is for the civilians. The difference between the two prices should then be written off as part of the costs of the war.

The government is already buying for. the army, the navy and lend-lease a sizable proportion of the same products which are being rationed to the civilians. It cannot be much more difficult administratively, and it may be simpler, to buy the whole crop. This does not mean that the government would go into the food business. The civilian supply it should at once resell on an equitable the principle that each existing business firm should be allowed to buy at the OPA price its pre-war proportion of the whole supply.

This method does more than solve the problem of how to keep consumer prices down while paying farmers proper inducement. It is the most effective method of making rationing For instead of relying on "ceilings," announced by fiat and backed by jail sentences and fines, the government which allots food to the distributors can, by threatening to withhold it. compel them to maintain the ceilings. For when it is supplying them with food at fair prices it has the right and the power to compel them to sell at fair prices. This removes the main cause of the black market.

That cause is not profiteering but the very understandable men to stay desire of business in business by continuing to hold their old customers by supplying them. If the business men can be assured a regular supply at legal prices, the law-abiding and patriotic are no longer under pressure to operate in the black market. They would then have a direct interest in helping to stamp Pacific storm. Moreover, as might be expected from a great soldier, he has emphasized that he wants nothing to do with politics, but desires only to get ahead with his job. News Behind the News By Paul Mallon WASHINGTON, April 12 Everyone is talking about an international police force as the basis for the post-war world, but no one has described such a police force.

Mr. Welles, the Under-secretary of State, has never described what kind of an international police force he wants. Such a proposition was considered briefly during the peace conference, the discussions over the Versailles treaty, after the last war. The French advanced the idea of a large international land army to keep the peace. The idea was smothered without serious contemplation.

All participants in the current discussion seem to accept the theory that a super-army, to which Russia, Britain, China, and the United States would contribute troops could guarantee peace. It could not be done. The question of what share each should have in the force and where each particular force should be stationed ought to be enough to break up any diplomatic conference which considered the idea. International wars are not fought by land armies alone, but largely on the sea and in the air. Our participation so far has been principally in the air and on the sea.

In the future world, the main part of the war will be fought in the air. But, if the international police force idea is turned into the air 'channel, the question of who shall have how many planes, and where, seems almost impossible of negotiation with each, nation naturally striving' to maintain its own interests and to gain the upper if possible. Any such proposal along this line would require all participating nations to sacrifice their own natural self-protecting interests and no other world statesman except Mr. Welles (or possibly Madame Chiang) has indicated yet a willingness to go that far. But the word "police" in its true meaning, would signify something else.

The police force of this country does not rule it. It is subject to a greater power; in our case, the army and the navy. In any conflict between the two, the federal authority would be overwhelming, as has been constantly shown in cases of martial law. I do not profess to be an exceptional authority, but, while listening to all the discussions that are going on, I have come increasingly to the conviction that the way for the world to live is to model its post-war plans upon the methods which each of us, as individuals, adopt to live in peace among our to surrender our integrity, not throwing away all our money, not carrying brotherly love to an extent internationally which we would consider ridiculous individually. So also with the police idea.

If we, as a nation, are to maintain our national integrity, our democratic ideals, our treasury, we must also in this policing matter maintain a defensive army and navy sufficient to guarantee our safety, despite any world police force. Each nation would do this also. In the "good neighbor" policy which Mr. Roosevelt has established in this hemisphere, he has also set a different example for policing this hemisphere than Mr. Welles seems to be advocating for the post-war world.

The President has simply acquired air and strategic parts of the hemisphere. He has done this by negotiation. The bases offer mutual service. Brazil allows our army and navy to use her facilities on the promise that her forces can use ours. Thus, the establishment of bases has become in truth a diplomatic form of a police force on a mutually agreeable basis, without actually intermingling the armies and navies or the air forces of the various countries.

Nor has there been created any common hemisphere army. A status quo of existing armies, navies and air forces has merely been accepted by all concerned, on a friendly, working arrangement in which no one sacrificed anything. Whether this would work internationally, I do not know. The current discussion about "international police forces" has been running off into whirlwinds. Before a basis of sensible argument can be established on the subject those who talk about such a plan should define what they mean.

(Distributed by Kins Features Svndi- 0 to fu ln parl SUBURBAN HEIGHTS Do Your Part Invest in War Bonds April 12 th to 30 th Lenawee County Bond Drive Do More Than You Think You Can! Treat HOFFMAN'S MARKET PHONE 1389 THE SURPRISE BLACKOUT THE Irlht MRS. PERLEV WAS OUT At A MEEflWS WAS A TlZZLE TRE0 "PERLEV'S NEI6HBORHOOP, BECAUSE ON THE WARMlNS SISNAL TRED, A LlfllE "aUSlERED WITHOUT HIS WlFC 1b REMIND HIM Qf TH1M6S, DASHEP OliTTo HIS POST, 1EAW6 LIGHTS OM AMP LOCWK6 HIMSELF OUT OF THE HOUSE Some Encouragement from Turkey By ERNEST LINDLET Current talks between the German trade negotiator, Karl Clodius, and the Turkish Government offer encouraging hints that munitions production in Axis Europe has fallen behind schedule. Clodius arrived in Ankara two weeks ago. His advertised purpose was to negotiate a revision or extension of an economic agreement concluded him in October, 1941. Under it, Germany was to provide Turkey $45,000,000 manufactures in 1942 for equal value of Turkish to bacco, fruits and edible oils, plus a little copper.

The evidence indicates he is playing for a bigger chrome. The question is whether he has the only chips in which the Turks seem and munitions. Indications are that he does not have them. Chrome was the prize for which Clodius went to Turkey in 1941. For the time being it was kept out of his grasp.

The Turks had agreements dating from 1939 giving their chrome to the British. The British transferred the contract to the United States, giving us the entire output through 1942. The Turks stood by the contract. Clodius had to wait. But the Germans subsequently were able to obtain an agreement under which they were to get 90,000 tons of Turkish rhrome in 1943.

Half of this was to become available to them, if they desired it, during the first three months of 1943. In return for the 90,000 tons of chrome, the Germans agreed to provide $18,000,000 worth of arms and munitions, to be delivered in stated lots and accepted by the Turks before release of the equivalent value in chrome. One does not ordinarily arm a prospective victim; and when this agreement was concluded in 1942 the Germans almost certainly had not ruled out of their strategy an attack on Turkey. But the arms they promised to deliver were chicken feed in relation to their total output, and they urgently needed the chrome. Aside from the Turkish output, turbulent Yugoslavia offered the only substantial supply.

The Turkish chrome became available to the Germans beginning January 8, when the American contract ran out. The Germans had the months from last fall through the winter and early- spring to supply the relatively small quantities of arms necessary to exchange for the chrome. Allied observers in Turkey have no first-hand knowledge of the quantities of arms the Reich has sent. The Turks, still practicing technical neutrality, keep that information to themselves. But the amount of chrome shipped to Germany is a reasonably good index, and this figure is known.

For Allied experts are still at the mines, supervising shipments here of the chrome the Germans have failed to claim. Reliable reports indicate that Germany has taken out only a fraction of the 45,000 tons available to it from January through March. Various hypotheses have been considered to explain the failure of the Germans to take the chrome. Experts discount the suggestion that the Germans have discovered a steel-hardening process enabling them to do without chrome. But without such a discovery, it is believed, they must need Turkish chrome.

Their stockpiles presumably have been pretty well used up. Moreover, there is the evidence that Clodius is back- in Ankara with chrome as his prime objective. All these circumstances support the suspicion that the Germans did not take the chrome because they could not produce and deliver the arms, which they promised in return. This may have been because the winter fighting on the Russian front and in Africa required more munitions than the Germans expected. But German and German-controlled war industry should have been able to meet the demands of the Russian and African fronts.

It may well be, therefore, that. Allied bombings of German war production centers have begun to tell in materially lowered output. The quantities promised to Turkey were so small that it is hard to believe that Germany could not have found them. This suggests that transportation may have been a serious difficulty. The agreement required them to take away the chrome, by boat from Black Sea ports or by rail from the Maritza River bridge and the Turkish-Bulgarian frontier.

Boats are scarce on the Black Sea, and the Turks let no railroad cars out of the country unless the Germans leave an equal number in their place. No indication of the progress of Clodius has leaked from Ankara or Berlin. But he negotiates in an atmosphere different from 1941. Then the Turks looked for a long war ending, at best, with a negotiated peace leaving them under the shadow of a powerful Germany. Now the chief of their military mission inspecting Allied North African positions openly predicts an Allied victory.

It would be foolhardy to lean too hard on this bit of evidence that the Germans are encountering difficulties in war production or transportation, or both. But it is not easy to understand otherwise why the Germans have not taken the chrome whicl. they should be eager to keep out of our hands even if they did not need it for themselves. I Backward Glances I (Krom Telegram Files) I Years Ago Today Ruth' Hosteller and Rosalind Davis were chosen valedictorian and salutatorian of the senior class, both having remarkably high standings for their three years in seuior high. Mrs.

H. Barrett, regent of the local chapter of the D.A.R., will go to Washington to attend the 32nd annual Continental Congress. She will be joined there by Mrs. Frank P. Dodge, who is now visiting her son Ll.

F. Riley Dodge, U.S.N., in the east. The wedding of Miss Merle Elkington and Ralph Angell took place yesterday afternoon in the home of the bride's parents Mr. and Mrs. E.

A. Elkington. 10 Years AKO Toclay Edward N. Frensdorf of Hudson has been named head of the new prison commission of Michigan. The reorganization will save the state millions, Governor Comstock believes.

C. E. Gittens of Detroit has been named conservator of the National Bank of Commerce at the request of the bank officers. Edson Porter has been appointed postmaster of the Blissfieid office on the recommendation of Representative John C. Lehr.

5 Years Ago Today Mayor George W. Armstrong is asking a three-hour suspension of business on Good Friday, April 15. E. L. Baker, James J.

Gerity Budd Goodwin, James S. Hayhoe, Dr. C. J. Hood and Joseph P.

Libs were elected to the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce. Bernard Baldwin was elected head of the Annis-Fint post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars tonight. Daniel Lambert, who died in 1S09, weighed 739 pounds and is said to have been the heaviest man that ever lived. GET TO BE REGULAR "Such a relief!" that's what people are saying who use Hayden's Wheat Germ to relieve constipation. Wheat Germ is Nature's own mild, gentle laxative tasty and healthful.

Gets you away from pills and purges! For best results eat two tablespoonfuls daily. Hay-. den Flour Mills, Tecumseh, Mich. 606 TREAT ST. Buy Bonds and More Bonds! Let's Put This Lenawee County Bond Drive Over with a Bang! April 12th to 30th Help Sponsor 6 Heavy Bombers Which, will be Named for Lenawee County Lenawee County's Goal $1,990,000 KEEPEM FLYING! BONDS YOU BUY BECOME THE BOMBERS THEY'LL FLY And they'll fly them on to VICTORY, too.

Remember, they give their lives but you only lend your money. Help Lenawee County buy six heavy bombers between now and April 30th. Uncle Sam is asking us to loan him 13 billion dollars and we here in Lenawee County must do our part by buv- ing 51,990,000. KlNEAR AND HUEBNER "Varsity-Town" Clothes Ktiox or Mallory Hats 110 X. Main St Phone 1037 Adrian, Mich.

Keep 'Em Flying! Is the Battle Cry of Lenawee County's Bond Drive! APRIL 12th to 30th Buy All the Bonds You Can Then Buy More Adrian's Goal Let's Be Sure We Buy Enough Bonds to Sponsor Those 6 Bombers ADRIAN AGENCY "For Better Insurance Service" 105 W. Maumee PHONE 1467 Owned and Operated by Myrtle A. Miller "AH Kinds of Insurance".