The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-01-29
Straight From
Washington
BY STEPHEN NJ. YOUNG
Congressman at Large, Ohio

Washington - President RooSevelt's
address to the joint session of Con-
greSS was a grim, fighting speech, to
be taken to heart. Every family. every
/ individual, in a united country must
work, sacrifice and suffer until Pearl
Harbor, Wake Island and Manila are
merged into an eventual Yorktown. 1t
was an inspiring call to Americans to
20 forward to final victory for op-
pressed and liberty-loving people over
the ruthless forces Of dictatorship az
greSSion.
speech Is Truth
The most profound impression made
by Churchill upon Congressman who
heard his address was his frankness.
He readily admitted IF the United
States has been found at IL diSadvan-
tage in the Pacific it is to no small
extent because Of the aid in munitions
for the Libyan campaign for the de-
fense of the British Isles and because
of help in the battle of the Atlantic
which has, in consequence, been sue
cesSfully and prosperously maintained
Pacific Ocean
During the coming months, the Pa
cific will be the critical theater of
war for Americans. In the end, this
will not be the main theater Of war.
The Importance of North Africa can
not be Overemphas asiZed. 1t is from bases
in North Africa that American bomb
erS must take the war to Germany.
We cannot win by defending the Phil
ipupnes nor Hawaii. We will win when
we destroy airdromeS. factories. docks,
and munition plants in Germany Nev-
ertheleSS, before we get to that, we
must dominate the Pacific in air power,
and on the sea.
NO Dice"
One Of Winston ChurchillS bril-
liantt" ideas is that the United States
shall become the center of production
of munitions, planes and manpower
(cannon-fodder) and England the cell
ter for planning the war strategy.
President Roosevelt turned thumbs
down on this suggestion.
Flying FOrtreSses
Might as we'll admit that the much
advertised flying fortresses'' in the
Philippines We're destroyed by Jap avi-
ators without seeing service. They We're
sitting on the ground like setting hens
on nest. Large numbers We're de-
Stroyed at Pearl Harbor and the Phil
ippineS. Army officers had said these
planes could fly from Manila to Toxic,
drop bombs and return for another
excursion. Army officers concluded af
terWardS that We should have had
bomp-proof plane shelters underground.
Pearl Harbor and the loss of Manila
are humiliating defeats-the worst in
our history.
Rubber
Ordinarily we Use six hundred thou
sands tons of rubber each year. Prac-
tically all comes from the Far East,
principally Malaga. Americans face Il
very serious problem now that the
JapS have blocked off Singapore. We
should Immediately develop the aban-
dOned rubber trade with Brazil. AlthO
the amount of rubber produced in the
Amazon region may be comparatively
small, that former trade must be re-
viyed Guyule, Il rubberbearing shrub
in our southwest, will produce seven
thousand tons of rubber this year. We
must increase the cultivation of this
plant by Government subsidy. Of
course, in addition. the industrial and
inventive genius of America is now
at work on the production of syn
thetic rubber. Forty thousand tons of
synthetic rubber will be produced in
1912. The facts are, synthetic rubber
is as good as genuine rubber. but It's
cost is two or three times aS great.
In addition. there are Il number of
rubber reclaiming factories in this
country. Five hundred thousand tons
of rubber will be reclaimed this year.
Therefore, keep Your chin up.