davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
TANKS AND POTATOES

The army doesn't like to say too
much about it, but the United States
now has an embarrassment of
riches with respect to tanks. A year
ago, and for at least year before
that, there was great clamor about
speeding production of this weapon
with which Hitler overran the con-
tinent.
However, both the invasion of
Sicily and raids over Germany now
make it apparent that the weapon
with which we shall take back the
continent is not the tank but the
plane.
Tanks were needed for the cam
paign in North Africa, and year
ago they were the most important
weapon in the arsenal in prepara-
ton for the landing of November 8.
But fewer tanks were expended
in North Africa than had been
expected, and we still have most OF
those which were sent to that thea
ter. Further, there will be less
demand for tanks in Europe than in
Africa, because of shorter distances
and less mobility.
A tank factory closed down in
Ohio last week, a fact which nor
mally would have caused great
alarm. But it passed almost I'M
noticed because of the fact that we
now have miles of tanks standing in
line waiting to be used in whatever
theater may require them.
Note: Claude Wickard says that
tanks are like potatoes. A few
months ago everybody clamored for
them. Now they are glut on the
market.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
>N6nlmqb6a,
|E!ERWe{!s!e}:!2!e!g!!4!ge 81 {!!}!2 /! !!!!!e
oREW PEARs0N
: Washington, ID. C.

GERMAN-ITALIAN ANTAGONISM
With the invasion of Sicily, the
question of whether Germany and
Italy can pull together as team
now becomes something much more
than subject of amusing wise
cracks. The basic hostility always
existing between them-both the
armies and the people-may now
prove to be the fatal fault in the
Axis.
United States diplomats and news
men who lived interned in Italy un-
til May, 1912, recall many an ex-
preston of Italian resentment
against the Germans.
On the night before the interned
Americans left Rome to return to
the U. S., a group of newspapermen,
including Richard G. Massock of
the Associated Press, visited a res
taurant called Biblioteca, which had
been a favorite haunt for most of
them before the days of internment.
The place was packed, largely with
Germans, but when the head waiter
recognized them, he hustled some
diners off, to make room for his old
American friends.
An Italian at the next table num-
bled something about Germans in
truding, whereupon APPS Massock
spoke up: 1--WE are not German!"
Excuse me-" said the Italian, in
dicating clearly that to call man
a German is a fighting word.
This prompted another Italian to
come to Massock, the first Ameri-
can he had seen for months. With
an affectionate embrace, he said:
"Please give my kind regards to
President ROOSEVELT"
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

with one hand, it's balanced" He
then went on for few minutes, ex-
planning a few of the things I had
still failed to master.
''Now do you understand it?" he
asked, beaming at me with look
made of all sweet accord.
mo, SIR" I said.
The sergeant sighed YEARLY.
'Private Hargrove," he said, fright
down by the next barracks there's a
group of young people who are prac-
ticing with rifles for the first time.
They haven't had theirs for three
days like you have. Run along
down there and see if you can keep
up with them"
l tried. There was some confu-
sion about the orders, however. At
the end of movement where l
wound up with my rifle on my left
shoulder, the rest of the detail had
theirs on the right. I noticed also
that I usually finished a command
hong before the others.
The sergeant in charge of the de-
tail commented on this, "You know,
Shorty" he said, "you have all of
these routines worked out much bet
ter than the War Department was
able to do them. Where it took
them sixteen counts to complete the
sixteen-count manual, you always
manage somehow to complete it in
twelve"
I was still blushing modestly when
he called the corporal over. He
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
ktkkkk*k*k*kkkkkkk

said something to the corporal, who
took me by the elbow and guided
me gently around the building at a
spot where, he said, the battery Off
GERS wouldn't see me drilling and
thereby be discouraged.
"This," he said, pronouncing each
syllable slowly and distinctly, sis
what we have come to call rifle.
Rifle. 1t is used for the purpose
of shooting. Primitive man, we are
told, did not have a rifle. Primitive
man was forced to bring down his
supper with knife, a spear, a
stone, bow and arrows or his own
little primitive hands"
I nodded automatically and paid
scant attention to all this. I al
ready knew it.
Today" he continued, "civiliza-
ton has been improved upon to the
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
ASK ME- q
ANOTHER I
A General Quiz
The Questions
> q General QUIZ
O. G. O. @. q. @. G.. @. G.. G. @. O. O. g.

1. If you are contuma macious, you
are what?
2. How many locks has the Suez
canal?
8. In the United States navy
which flag may be flown above the
Stars and Stripes?
4. What great writer's middle
name was "Makepeace"?
S. In what part of his body did
Paris mortally wound Achilles?
6. What is Hedonism?
7. Who discovered Cuba?
8. A majority of our Presidents
have been of what occupation?
9. Who was Lawrence of Arabia?
10. In what year did the regular
air mail service commence?
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

The first three or four times are
the hardest. After that, you get the
swing of it. It's really tame stuff,
you decide.
"The next exercise" says the SER
geant, 'is what we call the quar-
ter, half. and full knee bend. It
goes like this" He shows you. When
you see it, the corners of your mouth
go up in a sneer of derision (unless
the corporal is looking). Ho Hum,
you say to yourself. Why do they
take up time with this play?
Exercise one, two, three,
four" Quarter, half, full recover.
Your knees get That Tired Feeling
after the third time. After the sixth
time, you feel your eyes getting
CLASSY. After the ninth, you're float
ing in space. BY the time the ex-
ercise Is over, nothing matters any
more.
A messenger from the battery or
derly room mounts the platform and
talks for a while to the exercise
sergeant. The sergeant's face falls.
He turns to the ranks with disap-
pointment written all over his face.
"Sorry to tell you this, boys" he
said, ''but we'll have to stop here.
No more exercise this morning. All
play and no work-you know what
that means. You have to take your
typhoid shots now."
Before you have marched off the
drill field you notice that you still
haven't collapsed In fact, you find
to your disappointment that you're
beginning to feel good. All linn
bered up.
Quarantine has been lifted for us
of the July II contingency. If the
sergeant wasn't looking over my
shoulder, I'd say it's about time.
Before our release from isolation,
Army style, was able to get around
and swap lies and gripes with ev-
cry one of the boys in our group.
A little under 100 per cent of
them came up with the same ac-
count, which reads as follows: "Our
battery has the worst food in the
Army. We've got the worst SER
geant in the battery. No kidding,
though, our platoon makes all the
others look crummy. Here two
weeks already and I haven't pulled
KIP or had the sergeant jump me
time yet. Don't tell a soul, but I
think they're going to make me
corporal" All of which is a lot of
hot air.
Actually, they're fighting to get
into the mess hall first at every
meal. They're gaining weight and
tanning where they used to blister.
They're sassing their sergeants, who
deplore them as the sorriest bunch
of rockies they ever sweated over.
Every one of them has been on KIP
at least once. AS for being made
corporals in the next few days
no hum.
By the time Congress says I may
60 home and be mere civilian
again, I suppose I'll be the best SOL
dier at Fort Bragg. At least seem
to get more individual attention than
anyone else. Private tutoring, al
ways tell the boys.
We were at work the other morn
ing learning how to handle a rifle.
The sergeant was putting us through
our PAGES.
'Hargrove," he said with infinite
sweetness, where is the balance of
your rifle?"
''This is all the supply sergeant
gave me, sir" I said. 81 thought
it was all here"
The sergeant slapped his forehead
and mumbled something furiously
under his breath. "Wonder-child,"
he said, "this (pointing) is the bal
ance of your rifle. I can't imagine
why they call it that, unless it's be-
cause when you hold the rifle there
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05


say sir to the noncommissioned Of
ficers and forget to salute the COM
missioned ones?" He mopped his
forehead YEARLY. 'Do you know
what the top sergeant told me to-
day."
"No, sir" I said, twisting my
cap and awaiting the worst.
"He said-and don't sir me-that
when the battery commander had
you on the carpet yesterday you
stood there leaning on the table, and
you shifted your feet eight times.
And you saluted four times during
his falkland when you saluted you
gave a European heel-click and
bowed. And when the captain dis
missed you, you told him, Thank
you, sergeant and forgot to salute
when you left"
"I remembered it on the way
back to the barracks, SIR" l ex-
planned. '"Then I went all the way
back to the orderly room and sa-
luted him properly"
"Holy jumping Jehoshaphat, :"
moaned the sergeant.
'Was there anything else, sir?" !
asked in whisper.
''That's all, Hargrove," he said,
wiping great drops of perspiration
from his forehead.
"Thank you, SIR" I said. I sa-
luted, clicking my heels, and turned
to go.
"Hargrove," the tired voice said.
"You're not supposed to salute a
noncommissioned - Never mind,
Hargrove. Just go to bed"
"Just look at me-" the exercise
sergeant roarS in a voice that would
go four miles against the wind. "Just
look! weigh two hundred and eight
pounds and I'm in the worst physi-
cal condition I've ever been in!
ought to be busted for the way I've
allowed myself to get fat and fab
byl I'm ashamed"
You look at the exercise sergeant
and wonder what he's leading up
to. To you he looks like the latter
taking" part of matted yeast ad-
vertisement. He could probably lick
his weight in police dogs.
His next statement explains ev-
erything. "Now I'm going to show
you an exercise that's so simple
it's almost ridiculous. Even I can
do it. Now, I don't want to hear
anybody down there admitting he's
in worse shape than / am. If
can do it, you can do it-or else!"
He outlines the exercise and you
begin wondering how a contortion-
ist happened to wind up at Fort
Bragg. This self-styled ''faf and
fabby" calisthenics master doesn't
have any knees or elbows. You
stand there waiting to hear his spine
fall apart under the strain, but he
comes up all in one piece.
That's the way / want you boys
to do it." he says, beaming cheer
fully. You begin to feel your face
getting gray and you wonder why a
bolt of lightning doesn't come to
deliver you from the prospective tor
ture.
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Six. Sevcss Eight. One. Two"
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
The AnsUers

1. Rebellious.
2. The Suez canal has no locks.
It is at sea level.
8. The church pennant.
4. William Makepeace Thack-
cray.
5. The heel.
6. The doctrine that pleasure is
the chief or sole good in life and
that moral duty is fulfilled in the
qualification of pleasure-seeking
instincts.
z. Columbus.
8. Lawyers.
9. T. E. Shaw, an Englishman
who did much to help the Arabs.
10. 1918-New York to Washing
ton.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

Annapolis have
set up a record
that has been
overlooked.
Since we moved
into the war pic
ture, West Point,
for example, has
had three such Of
fcers moved into
front rank-Lieu-
tenant General
] axe Devers,
Major : Generals
Phil Fleming 6
and Louis HibbS.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
PACIFIC WAR WILL TIGHTEN
CLASSICAL WARFARE

A new phrase has developed
among war department strategists
in, mapping out operations in Sicily
and the Mediterranean. 1t is "clas-
sical warfare"
The army air forces have coined
the phrase in their desire to throw
cold water on the classical" foot
soldier methods of the older serv-
ices of the army, and to push ahead
with all-out air attacks. Classical
warfare, they say, is like studying
Greek and Latin in day Then we
need Spanish, Russian and French.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

wise to "paint the town red" before
getting into the army and once In he
tells them that "the first three weeks are
the hardest" He has gone through the
experience Of the army physical exam,
has been fitted with a uniform, been
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

THE STORY so FAR: Private Marion
Hargrove, former feature editor of the
Charlotte IN. CO. News, has been IN
Quoted into the army and has completed
the first few days of his training at camp.
He has given prospective inductees ad-
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05

painting by applying several coats
of varnish, allowing plenty of time
for each coat to dry thoroughly.
Note: The remodeled washstand is from
Book 10 of the series of homemaking book
lets prepared for readers. Book 10 also
contains more than 80 other things to
make from things on hand and available
materials. Booklets are Is cents. Address
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
See Here,
Private Hurgrove!
~.S.O.
6 S a VIC q

classified as a cook and has had a good
taste of KIP duty. In fact, he has had
SO much of the latter that his sergeant
is beginning to despair. So is Private
Hargrove. He has completed a KIP ses-
sion and returns to his quarters.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
- .ESi
l6oil!!i3Ia

M ORE than a few words have
tvA been written about the per-
lormances of American athletes on
various battle fronts.
But the administrative branch of
athletics at both West Point and
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05


ing, when I first knew him in 1925
was then Major Fleming" Ray Nc
Carthy, co-ordinator of sports for
the war department, said recently,
in discussing the trio. "He as
sumed office as graduate manager
of athletics succeeding Colonel
Koehler. Fleming was the dream
er; the visualizer. He planned and
carried out the first expansive pro-
gram of athletics and athletic fa-
cilities ever arranged for any insti-
tuition of learning. He insisted that
every cadet participate in some kind
of athletics and he planned accord
ingly. General Fleming built the
new beautiful ice rink at West
Point; he planned and built the pic
turesque Niche stadium; he pro-
vided a magnificent polo field;
golf course, tennis courts, handball
courts, basketball courts, etc. And
he would have been building to this
day at the Point but General
Fleming went on to bigger things
to the building of levees on the Mis-
sissippi, to the Passamaquoddy, and
the highway to Alaska.
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
Patty and Babe

''Now that boxing has lost Louis
and Conn-now that we can't find
anyone to run with Gunder Hagg,
would you like to know the best con-
test left?"
The speaker was Bob Harlow,
once touring manager of the PGA.
"PH give you their names-a
meeting between Patty Berg and
Babe >Didriks0n, best two out Of
three on three different courses.
Here's the chance for some war
fund to pick up plenty. I'd go
long way to see that"
Chunky, dead-game, freckled-face
Patty, after a knee injury that took
her away from play for nearly two
years, has proved that she has beat
en- the rap and is now the same old
winning star.
She proved that recently by win
ming the women's Western Open,
using her putter part of the time for
a cane.
"Babe Didrikson is the longest of
all the women hitters by many,
many yards. She isn't far away from
the longer hitting pros: $50 and 26O
in the way of yardage are easily
within her reach"
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
NAZI AIR STRENGTH


Air force experts are commenting
on the fact that German air activity
is sitter in every theater of the
European. war. More German
planes have been rushed to Italy,
are also active on the Russian front,
and are more active over the Euro
pean continent in combating Allied
bomb raids than at any previous
time in the war.
Experts believe the Germans have
put up all their air strength. This
is highly significant, for it means
they have taken everything they
have, leaving no reserves.
Thus every loss inflicted on the
Luftwaffe in any of these theaters
represents decline from the mini
mum required for a defense of the
continent. And when you cut force
below it's necessary minimum, you
are bringing about it's downfall.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
q A professional cameraman's ap.
praisal of capital figures, as seen
under the flash bulb: Cordel Hull.
patient; Donald Nelson, harried and
hurried; handsome Ed Stettinius,
vain as a Hollywood actor; Henry
Wallace, philosophically rejecting
on chow the news camera distorts
life"
q Enemy broadcasts, intercepted by
FEC, declare Washington is push
ing an Argentine break with the Axis
with increasing eagerness" to sat-
isfy U. S. appetite for encamping"
on the Falkland Islands, unjustly"
snatched by Britain from Argentina.
Thus Berlin tries to drive wedges
both between Argentina and u. S..
and between U. S. and Britain.
PACIFIC WAR WILL TIGHTEN
Operations in the Pacific have
met with glorious initial successes,
and American forces will push on
from one island to another, in a
campaign which will have no per-
manent pause.
But don't look for a continuation
of one-sided warfare much longer.
We made our first landings in
places where the japanese were
weak and where resistance was not
substantial. But as we advance far
ther, resistance will become sitter,
and the progress slower.
CLASSICAL WARFARE
The Ely miner., 1943-08-05
about DeUers

tfWhen General Devers, colonel
then, took over at West Point he
had been away from athletics for
many years. During his cadet days
at West Point, 1910, he was a good
athlete, especially in baseball, and
played shortstop on the varsity nine.
''He developed the vast new ath-
letic field on the Hudson below the
cliffs at West Point. General Dew
ers constructed tremendously big
field house where the Dodgers trained
last year. He built new baseball
diamonds. He went beyond even
what General Fleming had done and
he too, insisted that every cadet
participate in athletics, but aggres-
sively so.
Then came the rumblings of war
and late in 1888, General Devers
bade good-by to athletics at West
Point and embarked on a meteoric
career. He went first to Panama to
build our defenses in Central Amer
lea. Next to Trinidad; thence to
Bermuda; back to Washington and
then he went into the field to train
soldiers, and to build camps. On
my way north from Florida in 1910,
I stopped by Fort Bragg to visit
General Devers. He had actually
performed wonders within three
months time in enlarging this camp
to accommodate some $4,000 SOL
diers where previously it had ac-
lo{o
next went to Fort Knox to develop
our armored tank forces and his
work in this field is now known
everywhere. Upon the death of Gen.
eral Andrews this spring, General
Devers was named to succeed him
in directing our armies in Europe.
Nest in Line
Succeeding General Devers at
West Point was the mild-mannered
Colonel Hibbs, one of the most
charming and gracious personalities
have ever met. Hibbs was the
ideal public relations man. He made
friends for the army and for West
Point especially, wherever he went.
Nothing was too good for the army
as far as General or Colonel Hibbs
was concerned, but also nothing was
too good for the opponents who WIS.,
tied the Point. Colonel Hibbs was
tremendously proud of being an
Army man, West Point graduate,
and he endeavored always and ear
nestly to register that thought, not
through any bearing on his part but
by his many generous and thought
full deeds.
'Many men who have gone out
from West Point are doing wonder
fully well on the battle-ground today
but it must be remembered that all
of those who have gone forth from
the Academy on the Hudson in the
past generation, were Influenced and
developed by their participation in
the athletic programs conceived and
developed by these three generals
Fleming, Devers and Hibbs-1925-
1943."
Patty and Babe
Evening star., 1943-01-12
Marines in GuodoIconoI Swap
Candy to Natives for Dead Jops
Officer Says Foe Hos Enormous
Respect for Americans Murkmonship

with two other marine oficers re-
Gently returned from tlE Solomons
Capts. Amedeo Rea, Is, of New York
City and Louis Aronson, rs, of Free
port, N. Y. OF the three, only Capt.
Rea Is wounded.
Capt. Cassen said the Japanese
have enormous respect for the ma
rines' craftsmanship.
Asks About Electric Eyes.
Zone day a Jap ofiicer, a captain
or lieutenant colonel, was brought
to me for questioning" he related.
"The Jap, speaking fine English,
declared:
"All right, I know you're going
to kill me, but before you do want
to see your automatic weapons with
those electric eyes
so deadly had been our machine
gun fire that the Jap oficer ac-
tually believed our guns were
equipped with electric eyes"
Describing personal thoughts
about his first days under fire Capt.
Casseu remarked:
ANY one who says he isn't afraid
Is damned liar.
"One night during a severe Jap
sheling an enlisted man was pray
ing out loud in his foxhole. An
offlcer in a nearby foxhole heard him
praying, crawled over to him and
said:
Listen, you. don't be selfish.
Don't pray for yourself, pray for all
of US"
Evening star., 1943-01-12
BY the Associated Press

0y tne Aa6octAted Press
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. a.
Handfuls Of candy in reward for
dead Japs have won the native
warriors Of Guadaicanal to the
american cause, reports Cant.
Irving G. Cassell, a, OF Marine
Corps Intelligence.
It's a game with the natives, who
hate the Japs for their treatment .
he said.
The Solomon Islanders, who had
their gardens robbed-the No. 1 sin
first thought the Americans and
Japs were fighting together. but
they soon learned differently.
one day several natives were
found after having killed some Japs
Tor personal reasons. The Ameri-
cans gave them candy.
The next day an outrigger canoe
came across from another island
bearing four or five dead Japs and
several grinning natives. They
wanted to trade the dead Japs for
more candy.
Scouting Service Formed.
~ was game. They liked It
and so did the Marines.
The natives have organized a
scouting service to aid the Marines
and 1t Is not rare for natives to
come to officers and tell them loca-
tons Of Jap patrols"
Capt. Cassell, whose home is in
Brooklyn, was reunited at a San
Francisco district naval hospital
Evening star., 1943-01-12
Selling Of Americans
In France Is Seen as
Nazi Bargain Plan
.'Autocrotic Action in
Placing Guard on lao
Is Protested by U. S.

Negotiations for early exchange of
American omcials and newspaper
men in France for Vichy represen-
tatives here were complicated today
by what the State Department pro-
tested as "autocratic action" by
Germany.
The Department announced last
night that 1t had been advised
through the American Legation at
Bern, Switzerland, that the German
government has thrown q detach-
ment Of SIS troops" around the
group Of 40 Americans at Lourdes,
France, preliminary to moving the
group into Germany.
This action came while the United
States was negotiating through the
Swiss government for exchange of
its personnel with the French.
1T is reported that the German
government thus intends to take
upon itself for its own purposes the
exchange negotiations, the depart
ment said. adding:
This autocratic action by the
German government has been pro-
tested tonight by the Department of
State"
S. Pinckney Tuck, Charge d'Affaires
of the American Embassy at Vichy
when diplomatic relations were
broken, heads the ofiicial group in
termed at Lourdes. With newspaper
correspondents, Red Cross represen-
tatives and relief workers, the group
Is far larger than the number of
Vichy representatives interned here
at Hershey, Pa. About half Of the
French Embassy and consular OH
cials here went over to the United
Nations cause and escaped intern
ment.
1t was presumed that the Ameri-
cans at Lourdes may be taken by
German officials to Bad Nauheim In
Germany. where the Americans who
were In Germany when war was de-
clared were held until their exchange
several months later.