davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29

LONDON, Dec. 20. - UPD-
French Somaliland joined the
United Nations cause against the
/ Axis. Gen. Charles De Gaulle's
headquarters announced today.
The Cross of Lorraine, the Fight
ing French flag, marking the adj
hesion of French Somaliland to
the Allied cause, was hoisted last
night over Diibouti, capital of the
territory and terminal of the rail-
road to Adds Ababa, capital OF
Ethiopia. tie communique said.
A foreign office news department
bulletin, announcing that French
Somaliland had adhered to the
United Nations as part OF the
Fighting French, said the adhesion
was effected at 8:15 am. yesterday
by an agreement signed at Che
hele. on the Djibou.i- Adds Ababa
railroad.
OFFICIALS SIGN
Signatorie swere Maj. Gen. c. c.
Fowl;es, British commander in
Ethiopia, and NJ Chancel, Fighting
French delegate in East Africa,
one enc hand. and Gen. Du Point.
acting governor of French Somali-
land. on the other
British military and diplomatic
authorities had been negotiating
with French oomahland authori-
ties during the weekend.
Then Axis Ia rio announced that
the Fighting French and British
forces had marched into the col
ony. on the Gulf of Alden just be-
low the Red Sea on the aest coast
OF Africa. and we're marching on
Djibouti.
Acquisition of the G492 square
mile territory, with a population
OF about $4,000 natives and 100
Europeans was a major Allied VIC
tory.
VITAL FOR SUPPLIES
French Somaliland commands the
narrow strait Of Bah ell Mandeb
ketWee nthe Red Sea and the Gulf
Of Alden but ABOVE all it is the
starting point for the only railroad
running into Ethiopia, and thus the
Allied supply problem into that part
of interior Africa is greatly SIM
plified.
It was indicated that there had
been little if any fighting between
the French SOmaliland and Allied
forces.
Vichy announced the invasion III
n broadcast which said reconnaiS-
sance planes had sighted Allied
columns of truck borne troops
across the French Somaliland Dor
der from British Somaliland.
Berlin broadcastS under Vlchy
dates said the Allied forces were
already marching up the main rail-
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
Lockheeds Attack
Transport CoIun,n
Leaving 7ripoIi
By c. X. CUNNINGHAM

ALLIED NORTH AFRIC A N
ItADQ QUARTERS, Dec. 30. up
American Lockheed P-38 Li8htnlngS
carried the African air war from
Tunisia into Tripolitania yesterday.
attacking big German truck COL
umn taking troops and supplies
from Tripoli, it was announced to-
day.
The long-range pursuit ships
struck from base behind the Allied
forward lines and battered the Axis
column about 80 miles west of Tri-
roli, chief Axis base toward which
Field Marshal Erwin RommelS Lib
yam armies are fleeing before the
British Eighth army.
The point of the attack was be-
tween Zaula ana Medenine. The fast
American planes destroyed at least
q trucks and left many others
burning.
Observers believed the Tripolita-
MAN raid was an indication of the
turn that may be expected in the
African campaigns. with the routed
Axis Libyan armies nearing a juno
ton with Col. Gen. Walther Nehr-
ing's Tunisian troops and Gen. Sir
Bernard L. Montgomery Eighth
Army rapidly clsing the eastern end
of the North African nut-cracker.
Allied bombers repeatedly ham
mered the AXis-held harbors of
Sousse and Sfax, on the Tunisian
east coast, where the Germans APP
peared to be attempting to land
troops and supplies after Tunis and
Eizerte had been damaged by con-
slant aerial bombing.
Boeing Flying Fortresses attacked
Sousse again Monday. They we're
escorted b. Lightnings.
Returning pilots reported that
hits we're scored in the central
bombed area of the port. They OBJ
served large fires from which black
and white smoke poured, indicating
that the bombs had scored on i'm
portant military objective.
All the attacking planes returned
safely.
Sunday night, light Bisley bomb
crs of the Royal air force attacked
junction on the road leading to
TuniS and raided Pont Du FANS, 81
miles southwest of Tunis. British
SpitfireS returned TO that area
again yesterday, making numerous
sweeps.
First Lieut.. Virgil Smith of Nc
Callen, Tex, was the leading Amer
lean ace. He shot down a German
Mcsserschmitt-10 yesterday, bring
ing his total to six enemy planes.
There was only sporadic activity
on the ground yesterday. Occasion
al clashes we're reported between
patrols. Winter rains and heavy mud
prevented any large scale ground
fighting.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29

C000O0 potential victims of Ger
man war criminals inside Germany
alone. for whom the Germans
would have to answer to the Allies
in addition to those in occupied
countries.
DETER AGGRESSION
The court should be establish
ed and start its preliminary work
as soon as possible" he said, 80
that when the war ends it can
start work smoothly and swiftly"
Dadaer said that the Allies
wanted to punish war criminals so
as to deter future aggression.
He said that it must be recog-
nized that many persons who might
be classed as war criminals had
acted under duress and that, there
fore, the possibility of reform
through correction and education
must not be overlooked. Further,
ne said, the masses of Axis peo-
pies must be separated from their
rulers and militarists.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
IRMANS DESPERATE
Allies Draft pIons for
Court Of War Criminals

LONDON, Dec. 30 - up
Allied plans are alreadv far adj
van"eI for an International crimi-
nal court to try 81 n war criminals
as Adolf HitlCi and Benito Mus
Grt as soon rs the war has end
ed. II was revealed today.
D. Marcel DedaeG, chief justice
r The Bclgiau courts in Great Brit
an. and chairman Of the war
crimes commission Of The Allied In
ternational Assembly, is in charge
Of the plans.
lie is working in close co-opcra-
zion with Sheldon GlCeck, professor
C1 criminoloey at Harvard law
ecHool. in drafting plans fCr the
r. '1cWOrk Of the proposed court.
PERSONNEL STUDIED
Reliable sources here reported
that President Roosevelt and Sec
rotary of State Cordell HUH might
select -Glueck--Qr another promi-
nent American legal expert to act
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
Nazi Commander
Killed In Russia

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 20.-UP)-
The newspaper Aftonbladet report
ed from Berlin today that Mai.
Gen Richard Won Reutz, command
er OF an infantry division, was
killed December % on the middle
Don sector of the Russian front.
German military sources were
quoted by the newspaper admitting
that the scale OF the Russian Of
fensive still was increasing with
the objective of reconquering the
territory taken by the Germans last
summer. -''' 80 -" -.--'~'- ~
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
WHERE GOVERNMENT
GETS TIPOFFS

Leads en- all these war fraC1
cases have had their sources in
many unusual places. In one case,
an honest secretary didn't like the
crooked work her boss Was pulling
off against the government and re-
ported him.
A lot Of the tips come from
aonymous letters. Some TIP
sters sign their names and tell
all, even though il means certain
loss of a Job for the infOrmants.
In the Marion, Ind, Anaconda
Wire and Gable case, it was an
honest Signal Corps inspector,
Cyrus Shipp, who detected the
dirty work and started his own
Investigation. Later, letter
came i'm which confirmed the en-
tire fraud.
The War Frauds Unit OF the De-
partment Of Justice was set up last
February. a staff Of some 10 law
yers from the criminal and anti
trust divisions Of justice was as
sembled 10 handle al complaints o.
fraud connected with the war ef-
fort. That staff is now headed BY
Tom C. Clark, with John Darsey as
his assistant chief
Under Clark's direction, the en-
phasis is now placed on cleaning up
these war fraud cases while they're
hot. WBT, ARMY and Navy Intel
LICENSE units and the legal and in
yestigatiYe stats Of other govern
ment AGENCIES ali get in On the
play. In the last war, investiga-
tons and indictments were delay
ed until it was all over. Witnesses
and evidence were scattered and
concealed by that time and few of
the war grafters got what was COM
ing TO them.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29

1000 to 5000 Germans in single
engagements, and taking patches
of 1,500 or more prisoners at
time, as we'll as knocking out mass
es of 20 to 80 tanks sent against
them.
The noon communique reported
that in addition to new gains on the
Middle Don and Southwest Stain
grad fronts, the Russians in the fac
tory area of Stalingrad, where they
were now on a new major offensive,
demolished II enemy gun emplace-
menls during the night and killed
200 Germans in TIM.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
Reds Press Nearer Kew
Civ of Rostov-on-D Don

On the Caucasus front, the Rus
slams made local gains, the COM
munique said. They repealed coun-
terattack by 1900 Germans sup
ported by tanks in one sector
southeast of Nalchik and inflicted
heavy losses on the Germans IN
storming their way to the vicinity
of g, large populated place.
Northwest of Stalingrad the Rus
slams destroyed seven German gun
emplacements with eight field guns
and l6 mortars and killed $50 Ger
mans in throwing back an enemy
counterattack
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
BEDS FOR SOLDIERS

Ell Centric has one problem which its
civic and public officials have done moth
ing whatever to meet.
1t is the problem of providing beds for
the scores u soldiers who troop into
town during the holidays and week-ends
Their need is acute The hotels have
done their best to meet it, but they are
limited by economic necessity and lack
OF room. Some individual citizens have
tried to help, but it is beyond the power
Of any one civilian, or group of civilians,
acting alone, to meet the emergency.
1t needs community action-and we
have had none.
Whose job it should be to see that the
soldiers are provided with a place to
sleep when they come to town, we are
not ready to say. Certainly, however, it
is not an impossible job, if approached
in the right way. Community organiza-
ton would handle it-and should
This is no matter in which any Off
cial, civic or public, should stand on
form and say, that is not within our
province. 1t is not the kind of thing we
handle
Somebody's got to handle it. Those
boys need beds to sleep in. How about
it, Ell Centre?
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
SHADY DEALS.
BIG AND SMALL

Small business firms with rela-
lively small war contracts have
been charged with various shady
practices.
An Iowa firm caught supplying
defective shells was found to be
getting by with it's crooked work
through the simple device of
switching government inspectors
OK tags to shop trucks carrying
shells that had not been inspected.
An eastern clothing contractor
was found to selling salvaged uni
forms as new equipment.
Fortunately, the number of war
fraud cases involving the supply
ing to the armed services of de-
fective materials has been small.
Ii is when you get into the big
war fraud cases that the really
sensational stuff appears. In
dictment of the Anaconda Wire
an dCable Company of Marion.
Ind, and five of it's officials for
conspiracy to defraud the United
States is the most recent of the
big cases. BY taking tests and
by-passing inspections, it is
charged that this company de-
livered to the Army Signal
Corps, the Navy and the Soviet
government through LendLease
Administration. defective wire
and cable intended for combat
communications use, ships De-
CAUSING cables for anti-mine
protective equipment, and sub
marine wire.
The lives of thousands might
have been endangered if this fraud
mad not been discovered. Total
amount of war contracts held by
this firm. a wholly owned subsidy
of the Anaconda Copper Company,
NAV amount to over Sc million, and
this is the second case in which
an indictment has been returned
against Anaconda Wire and Gable.
The first case, and by far the
biggest yet unearthed by the spe-
cial War Frauds unit of the De-
partment of Justice is the indict-
ment returned by Newark, N. j.,
grand jury against nine corpora
tons and siX of their officers,
charged with conspiring to make
identical bids at unreasonably high
prices and in selling s55 million
worth Of patented electrical cable
to the Navy at profits ranging
from 50 per cent to 10 per cent.
Other cases. perhaps lust as sen
catiooa1 arp nov, in the process
OF investigation.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
BY vi. 5. HANDLER

MOSCOW, Dec. 20. (UP)-Rus-
sian armies imminently threatened
the key railroad cities of Kamensk
and Kotelnikovski tKotelnikoVo) on
the Middle Don and southwest Stall
ingrad fronts today and pressed
nearer to Rostov-on-DOn, gateway
to the Caucasus.
Communicates and special dis
patches reported gains on five main
battle fronts along the 1,100-mile
line from the Latvian frontier area
west of Moscow to the Caucasus
mountains
1t was indicated that the Rus
slams were in the immediate vicin-
ity of Kamensk, 80 miles north of
RostoV. and that some of their
units were 10 miles nearer Rostov.
TOWNS CAPTURED
On the southwest Stalingrad front,
driving forward throughout the
night, they took several more small
towns and villages, killed more than
1000 Germans and knocked out 20
tanks.
They had almost surrounded Ko-
telnikovSki, and in that area were
not more than ITO miles eaSt-north-
east of Rostov.
Special dispatches reported that
the Russians had cut five of the
six main highways centering at
Kotelnikovski, chief German base
southwest of Stalingrad, and were
closing in on it from the north,
northeast, east-northeast, south
east and West-rorthWest. These col
umns were from five to II miles
from the city itself and only a mar
row path to the west remained open
for a German retreat.
From the Stalingrad-Kot
Caucasus railroad the Russians
had pushed a powerful tank and in
fantry force southwark toward The
CaucaSu, lornt in 9 new threat to
the Germans.
-FRMANS DESPERATE
On both the Middle Don and
southwest Stalingrad fronts the dee-
pcrate German high command
threw thousands of reserves into
the action. only to have them driv-
en- back By the Rcd army, thctr
ranks broken by Russian tanks, ar
tlller: and infantry.
The Russians were now killin4
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison,

over 900 claims of war frauds
committed against the government
are now in various stages of inves-
tigation. indictment and proSecu-
ton by the United States Depart
ment of Justice. There have al
ready been several convictions, sew
eral pleas Of guilty, and the end
result can he only the saving of
hundreds of millions of dollars of
the taxpayers money with the
conviction of many crooked in
dividuals and corporations who
can't resist The temptation to make
dishonest dollar by cheating and
chiseling on war contracts.
The nature of these war
frauds complaints runs all the
way from petty chiseling up to
multi million dollar stuff.
An explosives manufacturer in
Maryland put his mistress on the
payroll at $4,000 a year, trying to
charge il to the government which
had given him a war contract.
A little clique of petty officers
in charge of making food pur-
chaSes for g Navy mess in the Nor
folk. Va, area, entered into a con-
spiracy with the merchants from
whom they bought supplies to kick
back with a commission.
A Texas merchant, faced with an
indictment on a similar charge,
committed suicide.
One shipyard official had his
house painted and remodeled with
labor which was being paid for by
the Maritime Commission to build
ships.
A couple OF eX-War Production
Board officials we're indicted for
illegally diverting and selling used
machine tools.
Those are typical cases of petty
personal craft.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29

We perhaps coddled ourselves before
the war in the extent to which we tried to
adjust the work Curriculum to the in
Observation-Disclosures E. Mcbride, presi-
dent-elect, Bryn Mawr College.
Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1942-12-29

Somebody's got to handle it. Those
boys need beds to sleep in. How about
it, Ell Centre?
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
They Clear the Air

A Scotland Yard man was telling
of the trouble he had about carry
ing out the orders of the ministry
of transport to Maj. G. c. Tryon
the other day in the hearing Of a
representative of the Daily Tele-
graph of London. The major, who
is the postmaster general, was not
impressed.
"Poof," he said, w. merely reg
ulate street traffic we regulate it
in the ether"
Later the major directed the lis
tener to a shanty at Colony Heath,
near st. Adams. "There," he said,
"you will find the headquarters OF
our police of the ether-the G.P.O.
frequency-measuring station"
One man, seated at what looks
like large switchboard, and wear
ing headphones, does the duty Of
policeman" His job is to see that
the wireless "roads" are each kept
clear for their particular forms of
traffic, and that one station does not
interfere with the transmissions Of
another.
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
DAYS of Belly Laughs

Humor in pioneer times was like
everything else. It was hard. Men
lived hard and died hard. They
worked hard and fought hard. And
when they laughed they laughed
hard.
Frontier humor always was ex-
pressed in the superlative. Like Big
Joe Longston, who moved to Ken
tucky's Greene county from Virginia
in 1890, most narrators could tout
run, outhop, outjump, throw down,
drag out and whip any man in the
country"
Frontier humor was simple, blunt
and direct, writes Allan M. Trout in
The Louisville Courier-Journal. No
double meaning permeated the SAM
pies that have come down to US in
this day when the hidden point is
the one to laugh at. On the other
hand, frontier joking was calculated
to bring belly laughs rather than
the sly, sophisticated grins Of more
modern times.
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
Consider Exposures

One precaution often overlooked
in exterior painting is that weather.
ing Of old paint jobs, which varies
with exposure, is not always uni
form on all four sides of building
and corresponding allowances must
be made in thinning the paint. For
example, in the northwest farming
states paint wears best on the north
side, fails slightly faster on the east
side and considerably faster on the
south and west sides. Therefore,
the painter will use the most tur-
pentine and the least oil for thin
ming the first coat applied to the
north side, less turpentine and lit
tie more oil on the east side, and
more oil and less turpentine on the
south and west sides where the
paint has failed to greater degree.
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE sERvrcEs

God" will be the subject OF the
Lessons Sermon In all the Churches
of Christ, Scientist, on Sunday,
July 8.
The Golden Text will be from
Samuel 2:2 "There Is none holy as
the Lord; for there Is none beside
thee; neither is there any rock like
our Cod.
Among the citations comprising
the Lesson Sermon will be the fol-
lowing from the Bible Psalms
1854: zone generation shall praise
thy works to another; and shall de-
clare thy mighty acts.
The Lesson-Sermon also will in
clude passages from the Christian
Science textbook, Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures,
by Mary Baker Eddy, among which
is the following, page 25S, "The in
finite Principle is reflected by the
Infinite idea and spiritual indivi-
duality but the material so-called
sense shows no cognizance Of either
Principle or It's idea"
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
First mercially Successful Boat

FIRST commercially SUCCESSFUL 0OaG
Historians differ as to the real
Importance of the contributions
made by Robert Fulton to the de-
velopment Of steam navigation. The
authors Of American school histo-
ries, after paying scant tribute to
the earlier work Of John Fitch, usu-
ally credit the invention of the
steamboat to Fulton. Many writer's
who have dealt with the subject
more extensively are inclined to rep
resent Fulton as an opportunist who
originated nothing, but who discov-
cred ways of exploiting the inven-
tions of others in a successful bust
ness enterprise.
The truth probably lies between
these extremes, writes W. Mack An
gas In Technology Review" Be-
yond question, the Clermont was the
first commercially successful steam
er, and honor Is due to Fulton for
building her and proving that the
steamboat could be something more
than an interesting novelty.
On the other hand, 1t Is now gen.
orally appreciated that Fulton did
not invent but improved and devel-
oped the steamboat. Furthermore,
the work Of his predecessors and
contemporaries gave him a rather
broad foundation upon which to
build.
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
4 F
The Plain People Are "'"'"
Also Scientific Farmers

The somber-clad "Plain People,
OF Lancaster county, whose farming
methods have produced a garden
spot of the world" are to adopt
new scientific measures to preserve
their land from erosion.
In the past, the Mennonites and
other sects of the "Plain People, I"
had believed their land solid and
indestructible, but recent tests by
the department of agriculture have
revealed that their rich, fertile soil
was washing away from the fields
into creeks and rivers.
! Specialists from the department
tested woodland areas where trees
guard the soil completely. They
compared their findings with test
soil from sloping cornfields and the
results showed several inches less
soil on the cornfields than in the
woods.
Erosion control engineers checked
dams on the historic Pequea creek,
where the first colony of Mennonite
farmers cleared land early In the
Eighteenth century. They found
huge silt deposits which proved to
be remains of topsoil that for many
decades had produced the rich corn,
tobacco and other crops.
After watching neighboring farm
ers adapt their practices to soil and
water conservation needs by the use
of round" farming, the "Plain Peo-
pie" are gradually using these
methods in their own fields.
Leaders of the sects believe the
farmers are being convinced that
such a practice is an integral part
of their age-old philosophy of "good
farming on good lands"
The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-07-03
Curious Discovery of
Dickens Lore in London

Dickens lore has been increased
by a curious discovery connected
with his early London home at 48
Doughty street, w. c. /. The house
bought IL years ago by the Dickens
Fellowship, was reopened recently
by Dickens daughter-in-law, Lady
Dickens, SO years old. It had been
closed for repair and rearrange-
ment, writes a correspondent to the
London Times.
Sometime ago there came into the
possession Of the Dickens Fellow
ship the original tenancy agreement
by which Dickens held the house
from March, 1887, to March, 1910,
although he actually left 1t to go to
l Devonshire place, in December,
1889.
The tenancy agreement contained
a complete inventory of all the fix
lures, and description of the rooms
as they were when Dickens used
them. It's discovery has enabled
his possessions and the other relics
bearing on his life to be placed in
the rooms and corners where they
are most fitting.
But the inventory has left one or
two problems unsolved. A "Reigate
HEARTH" for instance, is mentioned
in every room. Nobody has yet dis
covered what Reigate hearth was.