The midland journal., 1942-01-02
[dI!||'||Il
lReieased by Western Newspaper Union.)


tfseieased by Western Newspaper Union)
DIAMOND HEAD AS GOOD
AS GIBRALTAR
SEVERAL YEARS ago ] sat with
Captain Wilson on the veranda OF
his home, looking over the placid
waters Of Pearl Harbor near Homo
lulu. The harbor is but a salt wa
ter lake opening into the island OF
Oahu from the Pacific. 1t was origi-
nally not much more than marsh
that had been dredged to depth Of
some so feet in places. 1t is a lake
of many arms and bays, with suf-
ficient anchorage room to accom-
modate all of the American navy.
On the far side, across from the
homes of the naval officers, is the
club house of the Honolulu Yacht
club, and the landing place OF the
Pacific clipper planes. Near the
center is an island on which is To-
Gated the naval air field.
There was no war, or thought OF
war when / sat there with Captain
Wilson. There was not even an ap-
pearance of any preparation for
war. On the far shore a clipper
plane, in from Manila, rode at an
chor and was being loaded with
mail for San Francisco. In that
same arm several small sail boats
were engaged in a race. In an
other arm battleship and cruiser
were anchored, and near them were
two or three destroyers. No one of
these fighting ships offered any evil
dence of being ready for sea. They
did not mar in any way the peace
full appearance Of the scene.
"This does not look like the i'm
pregnable fortress I had expected to
see," said to Captain Wilson.
SIT was not intended that all the
defense preparations should be in
sight, but an enemy would find them
here" was his simple reply. He
did not tell me more, and should not
have done so, but while in the
islands, / learned a little of what
these preparations were. No effort
was made to cover up that entire
division of American soldiers at
Schofeld field, the army headquar-
ters in Hawaii, and as fine a divi-
sion Of fighting men as one could
find in any mans army. Officers of
the army, quite properly, would not
permit me view inside Of Diamond
Head crater, a veritable noun
tain fortress. know it is lit
orally filled with great guns, each
capable Of throwing 1900 pounds Of
steel for a distance of more than 20
miles. In the subterranean pas
sages of that fortress are stored suf-
ficient munitions, food, water, medi-
cines and other materials to last for
more than year. Diamond Head is
not a second, but first Gibraltar.
Along the shores Of Oahu are
other great guns, one of them with
in block Of the Royal Hawaiian
hotel at Waikiki beach, and another
beside the Honolulu harbor.
At Pearl Harbor there were vast
quantities of storage facilities for
oil, gasoline and naval munitions.
There were dry docks and repair
shops, everything to complete the
most formidable naval base in the
world. Into it the government,
through the years since the annexa-
tion of the islands, has poured some
thing near like billion dollars. Now
it is worth all Of that, and more. It
insures the safety from serious at
tack of our western mainland
coast.
/ saw Pearl Harbor and the for
tifications in peace time. 1t is a
different picture now. The big guns,
the warships and the airplanes are
doing the job they were put there
to do. The place Of Hawaii in our
defense will advance its claim for
statehood as the forty-ninth state.
PARTNERSHIP SHOULD BE
LABOR-EMPLOYER RELATION
] WAS IN EUROPE in 1918, and
for short time in that section of
Belgium retaken from the Germans
just before the end of the war. On
my return, a Belgium acquaintance,
who operated a chain Of laundries
in Chicago, called on me to learn
of what ] had seen in his native
country. During his visit the sub
ject Of the new attitude of labor was
discussed and I explained what
English leaders had told me would
be needed to appease labor in that
country.
Labor is not entitled to consid-
eration," said my visitor. Labor
has no brains. If ] were to turn
my business over to my employees
tomorrow, in six months it would be
wrecked. There would be nothing
left. -
Possibly that is true" replied,
but there is another thing that is
true. Should you find yourself with
out the help Of labor tomorrow, and
unable to get other employees, you
would be out of business at once"
He did not like my statement, and
one of our troubles of today is that
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