Freeport Journal-Standard from Freeport, Illinois • Page 4

PAGE FOUR TUB FREEPORT JOURNAL-STANDARD PHONE 3100 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24,1048 EDITORIAL PAGE THE JOURNAL-STANDARD A consolidation of The Preeport Bulletin established 1847, The Freeport Journal established 1843 and The Pfeeport Standard established 1887. Published dally except Sunday by THE FREEPOBT JOURNAL-STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Carrier, per week (In Freeport) JO My Carrier, per year in advance (In By Mall, in stephenaon and adjoining counties, per year Six months Three months One month Elsewhere in Illinois and In WlsconMn, Iowa, Indiana and Missouri, per year Six months Three months One month All other states and Mexico and Canada. year 5,00 3.75 1.60 .60 8.00 3.50 2.00 .75 7.00 Six months 4.00 Three months 2.50 One month I MEMBER OP THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MEMBER OF THE UNITED PRESS The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use for republicatlon of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news published therein. All right of republicatlon of herein are also reserved. means Associated Press.

OP) means United Press. special dispatches Entered as second class matter Oct. 20, 1923, at the postoffice at Preeport. Illinois, under act of March 8. 1879.

The Freeport Journal-Standard it ou-nerf by corporation, which has no affiliation any political party or other group. The opinions expressed on this page are not necessarily those of the individual stockholders. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1945 Why Iwo Jima? It is new practice for any branch of on armed services to begin releasing casualty -figures in the opening days of any opera tipn, as is being done by the marines at Iwo Jima. The statistics of Iwo Jima are no entirely up to date, being finally available to the American home front about two days after they are compiled, but ever such promptness has never before been attempted. Because of the speed with which casualties'are thus being reported, and the imposing totals reached, public reaction to the battle of Iwo Jima has been mixed Pride and wonder at the achievements ol the marines are mingled with consternation and even doubt concerning the -vyisdom of so costly a battle for so small an island.

Adding to the doubt is the certain knowledge that, even after Iwo Jima is taken, it will still be subject to attack from a large number of near-by Japanese bases. Exactly how Iwo Jima fits into the whole pattern of the Pacific war, as planned by the staff, the home front cannot know. All we can know is that the action was not undertaken in a spirit of adventure, but as part of a systematic plan, which will unfold as time passes. As the Japanese themselves have pointed out, Iwo Jima is counted as one of the home islands. There are no islands nearer to Tokyo except the Bonins, which lie directly north of the Volcano island group.

To penetrate at this time into what may be called the inner ring of Japan's defenses appears like an act of great daring. But daring has thus far paid dividends in the Pacific war. It has been repeatedly pointed out by army and navy officers and civilian officials that "the hardest battles lie ahead." The battle of Iwo Jima was one of the hard struggles comprehended in that general description. Bitter and costly as it is, it must have been the judgment of the chiefs of staff that to undertake it now was, in the long run, to conserve lives and shorten the course of the war Stettinius At Mexico City Fresh from participation in the history- making Crimea conference, Secretary of State Stettinius went to Mexico City to deliver the first major speech of his career as head of the state department. At Yalta Secretary Stettinius was primarily engaged in listening and learning.

At Mexico City he figures a.s the spokesman of the United States government, a very considerable responsibility for the young official. Most of his Mexico City speech was an echo of the decisions of the Yalta conference, which are now being spoken of as the Crimean charter. Throughout the address, Stettinius confined himself to generalities. The enemy is to be defeated as soon as possible. The axis aggressors are never again to be allowed to break ihe world peace.

People everywhere are to be self-determining. There will be a world security organization with teeth. In conclusion, he urged closer collaboration among nations to raise standards of living and to open wider opportunities for all human beings, regardless of race, color or creed. The speech was harmless, but it contained nothing to stir the blood of the dele- had not yet ended, and the further contributions of Secretary Stettinius may be more valuable than his opening address. Everything contained in that address could have been taken for granted.

From now on he will have to get down to brass tacks. More Luzon Internees Rescued The last of the Japanese interment camps of civilian prisoners on Luzon has been reached by rescuers, and a further total of 2,146 internees freed. This fifth operation of rescue was the first in which airborne troops were used. As in previous rescue expeditions, Filipino guerrillas furnished the invaluable aid they have -provided in all phases of our Philippine campaign. This last internment.camp, at Los Banos, was only 34 miles from Manila, and therefore just behind the Japanese lines.

It might have been shortly reached, in the course of military advance against the enemy, but it was apparently not considered safe to take the risks of what might befall the internees, sure to be involved in our coming engagement with the Japanese retreating from Manila. Withdrawal of the rescued civilians by amphibious forces, and the fact that almost no lives were lost make this rescue operation a notable one. A sombre background for the national rejoicing at the liberation of a total of 14,789 civilian internees is our knowledge of the fact that most military prisoners had been removed from Luzon, and about 1,800 lost in the sinking of one prison ship, More War Declarations Anticipating the San Francisco conference of April 25, seven more nations have declared war upon Germany. One is Turkey, and the rest are Latin American republics which had previously broken diplomatic relations with the axis powers, but had not declared a state of war. Since there will be no direct participation in the war bj any of the Latin American republics, and probably little if any by Turkey, the action is simply taken to qualify themselves for attendance at a United Nations conference.

Although it seems an excessively easy way of gaining seats at the peace conferences, to declare war when no risks are any longer involved, two. things must be remembered. One is that, as Winston Churchill once warned the Turks, the influence of a nation at a peace conference is likely to be proportionate to its war participation. The other is that the seven nations which have now declared war have been consistently friendly to the Allies, especially the American republics. Of the remaining neutrals, few will declare war.

Sweden does not wish to, and a declaration of war by Spain could hardly be expected to cancel the long record of Spain's friendship for and services to the axis. What attitude will be taken at San Francisco and at subsequent peace confer- mces toward Spain remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that her axis alignment will be accepted as an incontestable fact. TODAY and TOMORROW WALTER LIPPMANN Senator Taft as a Conservative What Other Editors Say eacePlanOfl9-Year-Old (Chicago Daily News) Robert Osterberg, 19-year-old Chicago soldier who fought and died for his conn- try thought in terms of high ideals for the world. Today those ideals, in his own peace plan, became a part of the nation's records. Believing that Robert Osterberg's ideals were shared by many other American young men, Representative Emily Taft Douglas of Chicago placed his peace plan in the Congressional Record today at Washington.

His plan was written shortly before he received a fatal wound in action in Germany Nov. 27, according to the Associated The other day I wrote that It was contrary to the American constitutional tradition and incompatible with our form of government to refuse to confirm a member of the president's cabinet on the grounds that the senate does not like him or approve of his Ideas. On Monday In the senate Mr. Taft of Ohio declared that this was "the most blandly nonsensical argument against the senate's power to refuse to confirm cabinet officers that I have ever happened to read. Any college boy has more knowledge about the constitution than Mr.

Ltpmann exhibits in this article, I know of no one who has ever before questioned the senate's right to refuse to confirm," What Senator Taft does not know on this subject, as on a good many others, Is most of what there Is to be known about It. "History shows," says Mr, Taft, "that appointments have been rejected." In support of this statement Mr. Taft cites Just one of President Coolldge's appointment in 1925 of Charles B. Warren as attorney general. Now, as a matter of fact, the Warren case is a perfect example of the exception that proves the rule.

The objections raised against confirming Warren as attorney general was that as a lawyer he had been closely connected with the sugar companies which had just been charged by the Federal Trade commission with conspiracy in restraint of trade. As attorney general he would have had to decide whether to prosecute his own clients for a violation of the Sherman act, and on this ground Warren was rejected by a vote of 41 to 39. The issue was not Warren's general views, or wild and woolly words he had used, but whethe'i he could be relied upon to execute the law without fear or favoi against his own clients. Although Mr. Taft told the senate that he knows of "no one who history where a cabinet appointment was rejected on the ground that the nominee's views were not acceptable to the senate.

The Warren case shows that the outer limit of the senate's right under the usage of the constitution Is to reject on the ground that the nominee is disqualified to execute the laws. Thus President Grant withdrew the nomination of A. T. Stewart for secretary of the treasury when the senate pointed out to him that as head of Wanamaker's deparrnent store, he was a large importer, and was, therefore, by statute ineligible to administer the tariff. So much for Senator Taft's right to dismiss as "blandly nonsensical" an argument in which I did no more than remind him of an American constitutional usage that, except for the Warren case which proves the rule, is unbroken.

A senator who sets himself up to be the leader of American conserva- well and to Mr. Taft is an in- who would always has ever before senate's right" to appointments, the questioned the reject cabinet fact Is thr.t Robert was the only child of 'Mr. and Mrs. E. N.

Osterberg, 2436 Wilson avenue. His father is the purchasing agent for the Stewart Warner-Alemite corporation. Robert was "a graduate of Amundsen high school and had one semester at Northwestern university. He was in the army a year, overseas six months, and in action for four months against the Germans. He was a private, 1st class.

He is buried in Belgium. "lie was always interested in history and government," said his mother today. The young soldier's peace plan follows: (1) There can be no portion of the world isolated from any other portion. (2) There should be friendly commercial intercourse of nations. There should be equal opportunity for all in the field of education, which must be compulsory and in which a common universal ideal is taught.

(4) Each nation will have the right to choose its own form of government but regulated so that this government remains within the limits of its own boundaries. (5) There should be a great reduction gates to the Mexico City conference. With i in armaments and an international police all respect to Mr. Stettinius, they did not force composed of all nations. need to come to Mexico City to hear him reaffirm these generalities.

They are all readers of newspapers. In addition to being literate, they are anxious to be getting on with the Good Neighbor policy, which has been neglected since Sumner Welles left the state department. Welles and a very few others, who have also left the department, seemed really to understand the Good Neighbor policy, how to apply it, and how much it means. Even President Roosevelt, who has received much credit as an exponent of Good Neighborliness, has had very little time for it lately, Of Bourse, the conference at Mexico City inposed (6) A world court will settle disputes justly and peaceably. (7) There must be tolerance of nations, creeds, races, colors, faiths and ideals.

(8) A group of the most brilliant doctors and scientists will work together in a body for the betterment of world health. (9) Our world must be one of construction and not and not intolerance. The future world will eulogize less the feats of war and more the arts of peace. (10) The future of the world rests largely in the hands of young America. We cannot afford to fail.

the senate's right was questioned in this very case. It was questioned by President Coolidge, who issued a statement expressing the hope "That the unbroken practice of three generations of permitting the president to choose his own cabinet will not now be changed and that the opposition to Mr. Warren, upon further consideration, will be withdrawn, in order that the country may have the benefit of his excellent qualities and the president may be unhampered in choosing his own method of executing the laws." So strongly did President Coolidge question a right which Mr. Taft says has never been questioned that he sent Warren's name sack to the senate and announced that he would give Mr. Warren a recess appointment if on a second vote the senate rejected Warren again.

The senate did reject him again, and the controversy ended with Mr. Warren's refusal to accept a recess appointment. When President Coolidge spoke of the unbroken practice of thrte jenerations, he was evidently re- 'erring to the rejection in 1868 of Andrew Johnson's nominee for attorney general. No one would ever cite anything that happened between congress and the president during that dark period a.s a food precedent in constitutional isage. Whether there is any I of the rejection in our early history I do not know.

But it may safely be stated that there is no single case in our whole lives ought to be sufficiently grounded in American history American political wisdom understand what he Is doing. But though telllgent man, get a high mark in school, he has never acquired sufficient wisdom and understanding to be a good and sound conservative leader in times like these. He Is probably more responsible than any other single man for leading the Republican party into blind alleys of dumb obstruction on the vital Issues of our time, and of making it Incapable of offering a trustworthy alternative to a third and a fourth term for Roosevelt. The difference between a sound conservative and Mr. Taft's kind of conservative has been Illustrated in the Wallace affair.

sound conservative position was, that since Mr. Wallace Is the exponent of a radically new national policy, he should b'e deprived of the personal power to carry out that policy on his own Initiative and that congress and the country must be guaranteed full opportunity to pass upon the concrete measures under that policy. That was the reason for not confirming Mr. Wallace until the George bill had been passed. But after that a wise would recognize that ths policy which Mr.

Wallace proclaims, often in wild and woolly words, is going indubitably to be attempted and that it is the first duty of conservatives to identify themselves with its purposes, and to participate in making a program for it. Thus Governor Dewey is as explicitly committed to these purposes as is President Roosevelt or Mr. Wallace. Yet is an inordinately difficult undertaking in which the chances of complete success are far from certain. In the circumstances a wise conservative will welcome, indeed insist upon, the exponent of the new and radical policy sharing the responsibilities and facing personally the enormous practical difficulties.

Mr. Taft's desire, which Is to ep Mr. Wallace on the outside looking in, would simply mean Mr. Wallace's fervent following would attribute to him all the successes of the undertaking, and feel forever sure that Its failures would not have occurred if prejudiced partisan politicians had al- owed him to become secretary of commerce. That is what the wiser men among Mr.

Taft's colleagues Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight GEB! DID VOL) HEAR THE BREAK, FOR THE BACK HOW THEV6OTIA 6oTo THEIR NICE, WARM BEDS COMES MIPNISHT' The Washington MERRY-GO-ROUND By Drew Pearson (lit. Col. R. S. Allen now on active service.) nave understood, and that is he senate will not follow him.

why Copyright, 1945, N. Y. Tribune Inc. Public Thinks Of Air Forces In Terms Of Plane-to-Plane Combat BY MARQUIS GUILDS Headquarters, 29th Tactical Air Command, in Holland, Feb. Wind blows acrosr.

the field, and the gray sky seems pulled down tight to the horizon, yet P-47 fighter bombeis take off from the airstrip that a sea of mud. The squadron, part of this tactical air command, has waited all morning for minimum visibility in order to go out and get another crack at a railway bridge near Neuss, which for two days they have been trying to knock out. The.se fliers are constantly slugging bridges, railway trains, hign- ways and other targets in advance of the American Ninth army, It a never-ending cycle of danger. "Impersonal" Danger The worst thing about the danger is its impersonal quality. The P-47 pilots these days rarely see any enemy fighters, but the antl-alrrraft fire in the Roer and Rhine valleys is persistently heavy and the pattern of the ftek is shifting.

Losses among pilots, who do over 80 missions in the course of a tour of duty, are heavy. Their scores do not show up in the number of German fighters shot down but in the number of locomotives and bridges destroyed. Colonel Harold N. Holt, 28-year- old commanding officer of one of the fighter-bomber groups I visited, feels that the public back home doesn't appreciate or understand the job our tactical air forces are doing. A veteran of 137 missions, he was a rug salesman in Philadelphia before the war.

He calls his plane "Magic Carpet," and It certainly hus been that for him, pulling him out of more than one light spot slni'e the first clays of the Normandy Invasion. Holt's complaint Is that the public thinks of the air forces almost entirely in of piane-to-plane combat with the enemy, and rates pilots on the (hot number of down. They enemy fail to understand what It means to dive- bomb a target with heavy flak all around. What is even harder to understand, it seems to me, is the utter boredom of waiting out weather through a day of foggy snowy winter. Pilots sit around in draughty, dimly lighted tents, talking or playing cards against a background of incessant radio.

When rare good days come, they work round the clock. One such day ha.s occurred while I've been visiting this command. Holt's group flew three missions that day, in beautiful clear weather. The entire command flew 553 sorties for what may have been a record for the Ninth air force and was certainly a record for this command. The score rolled up on that good day was Impressive.

It included the destruction of 50 locomotives, 187 railroad cars, two railway bridges, and 53 cuts made in rail Washington, Feb. rootin'-tootin John Rankin has introduced an interesting little resolution to drain away a small segment of the taxpayers' money. It Is to pay a salary to draft-deferred Robert Stripling, clerk of the old Dies committee, during a period when he was supposed to have been in the army, and at a time when the Dies committee hac ceased to exist. This climaxes a long series of draft deferments for the young men who did so much nag-waving on Capitol hill about un-American activities. For some time, Stripling was deferred by his Alexandria, draft board as an essential worker.

Then last August the draft board decided he was not so essential after all, and put, him in 1-A. In October, however, he was deferred again. Others around him, such as 36-year-old nephew of General MacArthur, also living in Alexandria, together with the 32-year-old city manager of Alexandria, were drafted. But 31- year-old Stripling was deferred. Finally on Dec.

11, he was slated to report to the army at 7 a. but once again he was given more time. This time the Virginia draft board refused to defer him, but General Hershey's Selective Service in Washington went over Its head, at the request of. wire-pulling congressmen, Jan. 4.

and gave Stripling until What the 29th part of the war's has achieved is greatest aerial offensive, with American and R. A. F. bombers dropping thousands of tons of bombs on the battered reich. The work of the heavy bombers in the strategic air forces inevitably seems more remote from the than that of the tactical pilots so close to the battle lines.

Here, ground and air forces work together on an immediate common objective, which is to knock out the enemy in a fixed area. Every morning, Brigadier General Richard Nugent, commander of the 29th, meets with ground- force officers to discuss operations for the coming 24 hours. They go over the targets to be hit from the air and set up priority ratings based on the order of the targets' importance. Works Dul Ingenious plan Nugent, 42-year-old West Pointer, has worked an ingenious plan for improving the understanding See PUBLIC on page 8 Came Jan. 4, and the young Dies committee flag- waver got his fourth deferment.

This time Congressman May of Kentucky went over the head of the local draft board and got him deferred until Jan. 20. But by this time, the Dies committee had ceased to exist, having expired Jan. 3. So Congressman Rankin has introduced a resolution to pay Stripling for the time in January that he was hanging around Washington with the Dies committee non-existent and when his draft board wanted him in the army.

GOTJLD'S FRENCH TRANSACTIONS French and U. S. officials are greatly interested In the statement of Mrs. Frank Jay Gould that she paid 5,000,000 francs to the Nazis to save her husband from being taken off to Germany What puzzles them are some transactions which make it appear that the Gould family was being well- treated by the Nazis. In fact, during part of the war, the Nazis, instead of exacting payments from Gould, actually paid him rent on his villa.

This was in September, 1943. The amount received was 1,500,000 francs. (It was ten months later, in July, 1944, just as the Allies were sweeping toward Paris, that Mrs. Gould deposited 5,000,000 francs In a German- controlled bank In Monte Carlo, allegedly to save her husband.) The 1943 German payment to Gould was deposited by the German commissioner in the Chateau Neuf- sur-Cher branch of the Chase National bank for requisitioning Gould's villa in Vichy. Later, the German commissioner even paid Gould an additional 195.300 francs to compensate for expense connected with requisitioning the villa.

Mrs. Gould's deposit of 5,000,000 francs fen months later was in the Banque J. E. Charles et cie, of elght-square-mile, neutral principality famous for its Monte Carlo gambling casino. The date of her deposit, July 21, 1944, in itself is Interesting.

For the Charles bank was actually established on this same date It had not been in existence before. Furthermore, Mrs. Gould became a stockholder. U. S.

and French officials also consider other dates significant. June 6 was the date when the Allies landed in Normandy. July 19 was the St. Lo break through, when General Pulton started his dash for Paris. Three days after the break through, the bank was founded.

COLLABORATIONIST BANK The group which put up capital for the bank included some interesting Germans and collaborationists, suspected of wanting to get their money out of reach oif the de Gau'ile government. The founders were: 1. J. B. Charles, a German resident of Monte Carlo.

2. August T. Gausebeck, another German banker formerly living at 50 Broadway, New York city, suspected of handling Nazi funds in the U. S. and deported from New York in May.

1943. Before the U. S. break with Germany, he apparently knew it was coming and transferred much of his property to Argentina. The rest has been seized by the alien property custodian.

3. Guillaume Charles Le Cesne, French banker, who the war was associated with company making electric storage batteries. During the war he con- tinued with this company, the batteries being Important to the war and being sold to Germany, 4. Florence La Caze Gould, born in San Francisco of French parents, former actress and third wife of Frank Gould. She Is vice president of "Sea Baths" at Juan- les-Pins, a director in "Lunchs et Glaciers," a catering company, and in various winter and summer resort companies.

Another interesting date In the history of tho Charles bank falls on Aug. 23, 1944, when it increased its capital from 80 million to 150 million francs. August 23 was just eight days after General Patch landed with an American army along the French Riviera, near Monte Carlo. Since Monte Carlo Is neutral, officials suspect that the Charles bank was a scheme whereby Germans and collaborationists transferred funds out of de Gaulle's jurisdiction. Charles, when Interviewed by investigators, said he and the German Gausebeck, would retain an interest of 50 million francs and the "American group (the Goulds), which has a participation of only 5 million, will have the right to a total participation of 50 million." Investigation of the whole affair is continuing by both French and U.

S. olflcials. and Mrs. Gould were warned repeatedly by American authorities before hostilities to return to the United States. Their funds were frozen during the war.

CAPITAL CHAFF It was a night club just outside Detroit which first aroused War Mobilizer Jimmy Byrnes against night spots. He passed it, lights blazing learned It employed 104 people. after midnight, Actually Byrnes wanted to crack clown on night clubs some time ago. But the army was lukewarm, fearing soldiers on leave would lack recreation spots. Baltic and Czech members of the diplomatic corps lose no sympathy over Poland when they recall what the Poles did to Czechoslovakia as.

Hitler invaded the Sudetenland In 1939. After Munich, when the Czechs were powerless, the Poles marched Into Teschen, then held by Czechoslovakia but long coveted by the Poles. They also remember that the Curzon line gave the converted city of Vilno to Lithuania. But the strong Polish army marched into Vilno and took It, regardless. Scores of Norwegians have been shot In Norway recently, The Nazis fear the Allies will Invade Norway and aro purging Allied sympathizers.

FILIPINO GUERRILLAS The continuing fine job done by Filipino guerrillas, aided by a handful of Americans, may mean that formal invasion of Mindanao and other Jap-held Philippine islands will be unnecessary. Unless Jap air activity from the or more fields on Mindanao becomes too troublesome, we may leave the job to the guerrillas. The outstanding work of Filipino guerrillas is a tribute both to wise S. policy regarding independence, and to Jap inability to inspire affection or respect among conquered peoples. Continued encouragement of the Filipinos is being urged by Congressman Marcantonlo of New York through his resolution granting American citizenship to Filipinos in ihe U.

S. (Copyright, 1945, by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.) We, The Women BY HUTU MILLETT The beauty operator answered the telephone, came over to the woman under tne dryer and Bald: "Your husband wants you." Just like that. The woman got up and walked to the telephone to answer. Neither of them knew what the war wife under the next dryer was thinking: "Your husband wants you." What a wonderful, stimulating message. What a lucky woman to be able to walk over to a telephone and hear her husband's matter how trivial the message.

What any woman with a husband overseas wouldn't give to hear her husband's voice on the telephone." Just thinking of It made the war wife's knees feel weak as water. Why, try as hard as she might, she couldn't even recapture the sound of her husband's voice. Wives who have their husbands still with them say and believe that they know how lucky they are. But only a wife whose husband isn't with her really knows. War Wile Knows Not long ago the careless message, "Your husband wants you on the telephone" would have had no more significance to the war wife than It had to the lucky voman.

It is as sud us It is title that only deprivation makes luman beings fully appreciative of life's everyday bless- ngs. So only a war wife actually knows how lucky are the lucky women, with their husbands still at their ides..