The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-09-04
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Washington, d. C.
TMPROVED NAVAL POSITION

Of victory. These facts had to be
very carefully considered even be-
fore U. S. naval chiefs started to
invade the Solomons.
One Of these naval facts is that
the Japs have suffered very severe
losses in cruisers. Although it has
escaped public notice, U. S. forces
have been humping off this fast, i'm
portant type of warship with deadly
regularity, SO that Jap cruiser
strength is now cut at least in half,
perhaps more.
Another known naval fact is that
the Japs have lost approximately
half of their airplane carriers. And
with air power what it is today, this
is the type of vessel they can least
afford to lose.
On the American side of the pic
ture is the fact that U. S. repairs
of ships sunk or damaged at Pearl
Harbor have been miraculously
swift.
All this obviously was taken into
consideration before the United
States started a major engagement
and the offensive in the South Pa
cific. For Admiral King had to cal
culate the risk of the Jap admirals
rushing large force to the Solomon
islands.
simultaneously he also had to fig
ure the risk of Jap attack on vari-
Gus other vital points Midway,
Alaska, Hawaii, even the continent
tai United States.
Top admirals these days do not
take chances. Not when the fate
Of nation depends on them. There
fore, it requires only a mathemati-
clan to figure that the scale of Amer
lean strength in the Pacific has
turned. 1t reached its low ebb just
after Pearl Harbor, when the navy
was unable to do anything about the
Philippines, Singapore, or Java.
But now the Battle of Midway has
shown that Hawaii and the West
coast can be defended by land-based
planes. No Jap ship dares come
near land-based planes without COM
hitting suicide.
This leaves a reinforced fleet to
operate in the Pacific. Top naval
men are not doing any Growing yet.
But at least the naval picture seems
to counterbalance some of the bad
news from Russia-which is going
to get lot worse.
BURIED SILVER
Ten years ago, President Roose-
welt and Corden Hull held series
Of discussions with the foreign min
listers of Europe in preparation for
the London Economic conference, at
which one of the chief proposals of
the United States was world use of
silver.
At these conferences, the late SEN
ator Key Pittman, of the great sill
yer state of Nevada, droned through
regular As minute lecture on sill
yer which American experts knew
almost by heart and which put HAL
mar Schacht, German finance min
lister, to sleep. After Pittman had
finished, the German minister woke
up with a start, hastily brushed
aside silver.
I'VE accept silver. Now this is
what we want in return"
The London Economic conference
was dismal failure. But the Unit
ed States had committed itself so
completely to silver in these pre-
liminary talks, that it undertook a
silver program, which actually
meant that the world sold its silver
to us at an artificial price and we
buried it in the ground at West Point,
N. Y. It was a fine thing for Mex
leo, China and Canada and a great
victory for Senator Pittman and the
Rocky Mountain states. Also it re-
suited in the U. S. treasury accu-
mulating two and half billion
ounces of silver-other than coin.
Today, however, there is short
age of industrial silver. And yet
the treasury win not open up the
giant hoard of silver gathering mold
at West Point.
Shortage Amid Plenty.
Wnat mas happened is this. About
100000 ounces of silver monthly is
being mined in the United States,
which is ample to care for war
needs, but not enough for ordinary
commercial needs, especially for the
silver industry of New England.
The silver industry, which makes
knives, forks, and household ware,
formerly used alloys and critical
materials-aH of which have now
been dispensed with. However, sill
yer is not critical material. There
is plenty mined for the war effort
but not enough to supply the 80,00O,-
600 ounces needed annually for the
silver industry.
So New England silversmiths now
ask that they be permitted to buy a
mere 80,000,000 ounces out Of the
two and a half billion ounces which
the treasury has buried.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
q, Though the U. S. navy gave the
royal run-around to the Sea Otter,
Germany is now reported building