davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
WHY A Burma Sta1emate?

In the noon edition Of yesterdays News a
headline read "Stalemate Expected in India
BURMA The article itself forecast that the
Nav monsoon would bring all fighting, save
possibly for air operations, to close with
little change in the present positions OF Japa-
nese and Allied forces, with the Allies holding
a very slight advantage
In the same edition Dewitt Mackenzie, the
Associated Press war analyst, dealing with
Lord Mountbatten's assurance that the enemy
invasion Of Manipur does not constitute serl-
Gus threat to India, adds that the invasion has
never been a grave menace and continues:
1.-The British have at least million troops
ready for action in India. They have hundreds
of thousands of reserves. They have vast
quantities of materiel. There are powerful
American and British air forces in that the
alter. And there are transport facilities avail
able to move adequate aid to any invasion
area
Which leads one to wonder why, with all
commander in eastern ASIA has made no
major attempt to drive the japanese out of
Burma and open both the Ledo road and the
Burma road to China for the transport of ma
terrell and supplies so greatly needed in China
fer the final thrust against Japan from China S
mainland?
Surely Japan could not muster a million
men to meet an Allied expeditionary force IN
Burma. Nor could Japan equal the hundreds
If thousands of reserves under Lord Mount
hstten,s command, or the powerful American
and British air forces Mr.. Mackenzie says
are ready for action. Nor could the Japanese
match or repel the transport facilities he cred
its Lord Mountbatten with having. What is
even more favorable to the Allies, the Japa-
nese are incapable of gathering major naval
force in the Bay of Bengal Or maintain major
supply service to their forces in Burma
There may be very good reasons to account
for Lord Mountbatten's failure to press the
Burma campaign in the time he has been
stationed at New Delhi But if there are they
have been carefully concealed from the public.
stalemate in Burma and India now means
that the better part of another year must
mass before an earnest effort can be made
to open the road to Japan from the Burma
area. This is not in harmony with the avowed
nurpose of the Allies to end the war not only
in Europe but in the Orient as WELL as quickly
as possible nor does it show adequate effort
to keep pace with Allied offensives in the other
Pacific areas.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Norwegian Gold

The Nazs are as covetous OF gold as OF
power This has been repeatedly demonstrated
by seizures of wealth in occupied countries
and the confiscation Of resources at-home.
But they don't get all the gold.
The story of the removal of $50, 600, 600, 600
in gold from Norway to this country under
the very eyes of the Germans has just come
to light with the arrival in New Orleans OF
the man, Frederick Haslund, who did the job.
That the gold was contained in 1889 cases
weighing 12o, 900 pounds adds color to the tale.
When the King and the government had fled
from Oslo the gold was hidden, says Mr.. Has
lund II was assigned to get it to the west
coast in the hope that British warships could
take it north,'' he relates. His first move was
to put it on train headed west and then play
hide and seek with it among coastal islands
When the Germans separated the guarding
party two hundred miles from their destina
ton, the gold was loaded upon fishing boats
which skirted the German forces. Finally l,
was taken to Scapa Flow, then to London, and
ultimately to this country, where half OF il
remains (the other half is in Canada) for dis
position through the oOclal welfare NoIIlIll1ttee
of Norwegian seamen in America.
When Hitler and Himmler and Goering ano
Goebbels the men who have stolen vast
wealth in the hope Of enjoying it when they
escape, as they count on doing, read of this
episode, it is easy to picture Hitler chewing
UP more Oriental carpets and the others tear
ing their hair in anger that it slipped literally
through their fingers.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Better Retread Rubber

The announcement is made in Washington
that beginning on May l grades and c
synthetic rubber will be available for retread-
ing passenger car tires. These grades are
superior to grade F which has been the only
type available during the last three months.
Now that rubber with better wearing quail
ties is to be released for civilian use it is
earnestly to be hoped that its distribution Will
be equitable among all firms that retreao
tires and that adequate workers will also be
found
Heretofore auto owners whose cars are run
ming on almost threadbare castings have hao
great difficulty getting their tires retreaded
Either there was no rubber on hand or nc
workers to apply it. It has been as hard tc
get retreads as to have repairs to cars made
promptly
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Sacrifice Demanded

The country is in the grip Of crisis which
we all must face without finching With nc
mincing Of words, the stark situation is this:
We have a surplus Of potatoes and eggs
Federal, municipal and private agencies
have been marshaled to store and move these
commodities. But we cannot just sit critically
by and let the bureaucrats handle it. In the
final analysis, every able-bodied citizen must
share the responsibility.
We are going to have to eat the surplus.
There is no getting around it.
All sorts Of plans will be formulated for
meeting the emergency. There probably will
be some government directives. But in our
opinion, there is only one solution And it
demands sacrifices from millions of Ameri-
cans.
We are going to have to give up our wispy
breakfasts during this period Of superabund-
ance. We shall have to shun the crispy, crackly
crunchy, munchy breakfast food, packed
with minerals and vitamins.
Abandoning the coffee-and-toast path toward
the streamlined goal, we must court the dl'
saster of using fat for food instead OF gun
powder. We shall have to start the day with
the rude pioneer fare which once gave ouI
forebears the am. energy to clear the wilder
ness, subdue the wild bast and the painted
savage, and make the desert blossom as the
rose.
In short, we're just going to have to 60 back
to those wonderful farm breakfasts Of fried
eggs and fried potatoes. -.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
The Literary Guidepost

Bowen goes back to Justic,
Holmes family roots. and treat,
these handsomely. l liked old Great.
Grandfather Wendell, who was a
man of the world. The Justice
grandfather, Abel, was not 50 at.
tractive because in a battle be.
tween the world and his inflexible
dogmatism, he always allowed Tie
later to wine. Abel was, however a
man of letters and had a private
satisfaction. This was his Annals
a chronological history of this
country to which Mrs. Bowen is
much indebted.
Perhaps designedly, she makes
less likeable man of 0. W,
Holmes, Sir, the "Autocrat Of The
Breakfast Table" She may have
thought a contrast with his son
needful, but l wonder if the father
was really the capable bit rather
vulgar chap she SHOWS MN 10 be.
According to yankee From Olyn.
pus, Oliver, Sir, was eager TO sacri.
flee the privacy of any person,
even his family, to make copy.
and this is a most un-Bostonian,
n-Holmesish attitude indeed
The background of the Holmes
family is very fully painted in and
warmly colored. There are coca.
sional slips-Mrs. Bowen invents
the sewing machine early, for ex,
ample. But the general perspec.
tive is first rate.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Bone Of Contention

The possibility that Senator Bone Of Wash
ington will retain his seat until next January
despite his appointment as member Of the
Ninth Court of Appeals has got his senatorial
associates Of republican persuasion ali hot and
bothered.
Senator Bone is democrat. His successor
would be appointed by Governor Langlie who
is republican. Naturally he would select a
republican to keep the seat to be vacated by
Senator Bone warm. But if Senator Bone
dosen't get out the new man can't possibly
get in.
The situation has become so grave that the
republicans are threatening to reconsider con-
firnation of Senator Bones nomination for the
federal judgeship If this should be done, and
approval be Withdrawn, it could keep Mr.
Bone out Of the appointment, but it certainly
would not give the republicans any advantage
They would lose the chance to have re-
publican named as his successor.
Senator White of Maine, the acting minorit.
leader, who hints the republican protest ma.
take this form, gives voice to spite rathe
than common sense. a
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Plant That Garden

A change has come over the Victory garden
iream. Thousands of persons who planted
and tended home crops last year are not doing
SO this year.
Agricultural leaders believe they are under
the false impression that the food shortage
has been overcome and that there is no long
err any need for them to bend their backs and
raise blisters on their hands, producing vege.
tables for their own tables from garden plots
in their back yards.
If this is indeed the reason for the decrease
in Victory gardens it should be set aside at
once. The food situation is not materially i'm
proved over a year ago.
If American families want to hold down the
point value of canned vegetables they can dc
10 only by producing the largest possible guam.
ities Of homegrown vegetables and so help
% increase the reserve supply Of canned
goods
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
BY JOHN SELBY

YANKEE FROM OLYMPUS:
JUSTICE HOLMES AND HIS
FAMILY" by Catherine Drinker
Bowen little, Brown; So.
Although there are some similar
ties of method, Catherine Driner
Bowen's yankee From Olympus"
is much more of a job than her
first book of Importance, Beloved
Friend" That was about Tchai-
kowsky, and was out of drawing
fo.' me.
Mrs. Bowen uses some of the
same methods in her story of
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
She has not done a strict biog-
graphy, but a dramatized life story
hesitating at no time to enter her
characters minds and think for
them. But I think she spent a
longer time in those minds, and
so she thinks for them better than
she did for TchaikoWsky, or for
Nadejda van Meek. For each book
Mrs. Bowen has had effective col
Elaboration from family members.
yankee From Olympus" is for
this reader much more interesting
in the section before the War Be-
tween the States than after, but
that is perhaps because for years
he listened to lawyers shop talk
from his father, and can now dis
pense with it, quite easily. Mrs.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
He Doesn't Know The Facts

eocre+arv 1ckes who delights in calling
names now designates residents OF Paclne
Coast states who demand closer guard over
;n+arned Japanese race mongers." In an in
terview at San Francisco, where he had gone
to address the Commonwealth club, he had
. oood deal to say about the ''vindictive, blood
tb;r.tv onslaughts of professional race mong-
ers."
Unfortunately, Mr.. Ickes has never dwell
for any considerable period of time on the
poc;fic Coast and so has had no opportunity
n observe at close range the practices O.
Japanese, and he must have forgotten the
conduct of large groups of internees which
became 50 intolerable that the Army had tt
take over. He must also have discounted a!
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19

of little worth the authentic stories Of Japa.
nese treatment Of American war prisoners
in the Philippines and elsewhere, including
the Staying of American filters following the
flight over Tokyo.
Californians, Westinghouse and Oregonians
have reason enough to want Japanese interned
for the duration and sent back to Japan after
the war. And they are not race mongers for
so wishing. Mr.. Ickes would do better to ex-
anime the true state of affairs and withhold
his judgment until he had acquainted himself
with the situation during half century than
by calling names.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Daily Prayer
FOR HOME-FRONT
VOLUNTEERS

Our hearts are uplifted and
strengthened, o. Lord, as we con-
template the countless host of vol.
unteer workers for our Cause -
the gentle women who serve in
hospitals and hospitality centers;
the patient legions who ti7elessly
toll on ration boards and in draft
offices; the civilian defense work
ers and those who watch the skies
and all that uncounted company oil
patriots, who, in homes, school,
offices, shops and mines keep
step with OUR heroes overseas.
We remember, too, that vast COM
pany of editors and authors who
write for the maintenance of public
morale, and whose loyalty is {
safeguard of the Nation. All o:
these we commend to Thy tende,
care, o. Lord over all, as we pray
that Thy grace may sustain then
until the day of victory has brough
us the opportunity of even greater
service in the attainment of new
world. Amen.-W.T TIE.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Longest Way Round

Vice President Wallace is planning to visit
Chungking in the '1ate spring or early sum-
mer" as the Presidents representative. Wen
dell Willkie once visited there on similar
mission. That was before his shorter and
somewhat less successful trip to Wisconsin,
With the political conventions coming up IN
Chicago (also in "early summer Mr. wal
lace couldn't be blamed if he were to pause
and contemplate the Willkie journeys a1resh'
and to question the political deslraolllty OF
irving to reach the vicinity of Lake Mlcnlgan
by way of China.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
With Ernie Pyle

member or believe that the pur-
pose of everything around you is
death.
When there is no moon it is SO
black you have to grope your way
about, and even the ominous split
second flashes from our own big
guns do not help you to see.
Sometimes the Smelling and the
raiding are furious and frenzied.
At other times hour after quiet
hour goes by without a single
crack of an exploding shell. But
always the possibility and the an
ticipation are there.
All these things you can see
from the window of the house
where We live. There are times
when you can stand with your ell
bows on the windowsill and your
chin in your hand; and see right
before you a battlefield in action
in the three dimensions of land,
sea and air, all so spectacular that
even Hollywood might well bow
in Difference to drama beyond
its own powers of creation.
The streets and roads around
Anzio are under a steady thunder
ing flow of heavy war traffic. The
movement is endlessly fascinating
One day 1 stood by the road just
to watch for a while, and of the
first IL vehicles that passed, each
was something different.
There was a tank, and a grea
machine shop on heavy tractor
treads that shook the earth as i
passed, and a jeep of a one-stal
general, and duck" and high
wheeled British truck, and a ia
nous American six-by-six, and {
prime mover trundling the grea
Long Tom" gun with its slim
graceful barrel pointing rearward
Then came a command car, ane
a stubby new gun covered witt
canvas, on four rubbertiree
wheels, and an ambulance, and ;
crew of wire stringers, and a wea
pom carrier. Then a big self-pro
PEELED gun on tractor treads, ane
finally another "duck" to start tn,
heterogeneous cycle over again.
Everywhere there is activity
Soldier-workmen saw down tree!
and cut down concrete lamp-post!
SO that trucks may use the side
walks of the narrow streets. Huge
shovels mounted on truck chassi.
stand amid the wreckage or build
ings scooping up brick and ston,
to be hauled away in trucks fo1
repairing damaged roads.
Allied military police stand OF
every corner and crossroads t.
highball traffic on through, ahe
believe me, it's highballed.
| Everything moves with a grea
urgency, a great vitality. The les!
hesitation the better in this lane
where shells whistle and groan
There is little hesitation anywhere
around Anzio.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Nv ERNIE PYLE

WITH FIFTH ARMY BEACH
HEAD FORCES IN ITALY, (by
wireless)-The mechanics of sup
plying the Fifth Army forces on
the Anzio beachhead are undeni-
ably beautiful in execution.
We have taken a port full of
sunken ships and jumbled streets
and wrecked buildings and cleared
enough paths through it for the
movement of our ships and We
hicles.
Once our supplies reach the vi
cinity of beachhead waters they
are under shellfire and bombing
raids that may come any moment
of the day or night. In addition,
German E-boats and destroyers
Turk on the edge of our concen-
tration of ships, and naval forces
must be always on the lookout fol
them.
Our supplies are unloaded in
many ways. Some few ships car
60 right up to dock. Others &C
to nearby beaches. The bigger
freight ships have to lie off the
harbor and be unloaded into sinai
Ter boats which in turn unload onto
the docks or beaches.
All day long the waters in {
great semicircle around AnZio
reaching to the horizon, are churn
ed by big and little ships moving
constantly back and fourth. 1t re
sembles the hustle and hustle O
New York Harbor.
On the far edges lie cruisers ant
other battle craft. In the vicinit.
there is always a white hospita
ship to evacuate our wounded ant
sick from the beachhead.
Along toward dusk small, fas
craft shoot in and out of the grea
flocks of ships, laying smok'
screens, while smoke pots ashor'
put out their binding cloud of fog
At night when the raiders COM
over a mighty bedlam of ack-acl
brushes all thought on shore ant
far out to sea as the ships them
selves let 60 at the groan ant
grind of German motors in tn
sky.
Sometimes the raiders dro]
flares, and then the universe
lighted with a glare more crue
and penetrating than the brightes
day, and every human on thu
beachhead feels that the German
are looking down at him individu
ally with their evil eyes.
When the moon is full it throw
its swath of gold across the Lowell.
Mediterranean, and sometimes tn
nights are so calm and noon-tinget
and gentle that you can not re
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
rs Years Ago
Today
From the files
Of the Star-News)
APRIL 10. 1919

The first of the lettuce pro-.
New Hanover county this ssg, u
is on the way to northern marl CsV'
The market price is So. 50 IN e. -
per basket. S''0o
Owen D. Holmes left this nor.
ing for Beaufort, S. c.. where d, ,,''
ing the coming week he will ,ra,
~ Miss Rhett, popular nsn,ba.
of society Of the Palmetto eta,.
1t was learned authoritauveIv -
day that negotiations for the mr..
chase of the ferry here bv fl,
county commissioners of New Han
over and Brunswick at price "a
$24, 1000, had been practically cor,
pleted with New Hanover PAWN,
$4,000 and Brunswick $4,000 = =
was said the Brunswick Bridon
and Ferry company now opers.
ing the ferry, might accent tbis
figure for their property, which w.
Guided the city franchise and an
proximately 2 ID miles of cause.
way on the Brunswick side.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Interpreting
The War
BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press War ANALYST

The victory guns OF Moscow may
roar out before the week end to
signal the recapture of Sevastopol
and the end of the Nazi invasion of
southern Russia, but it is weht Of
the Dnest- that an even more criti-
cal situation is fast shaping up for
the defeat ridden German high
command.
The battle of the Galati gateway
to the Balkans in southeastern Ro-
mania is approaching a crisis. The
Russian air attacks on Galati
seems the certain preliminary to
two-army Russian drive down
the Siret and Prut valleys and
from the preached lower Dnestr
to break through into the Danube
valley without awaiting the final
cleanup in the Crimea.
The air hammering of the Danu-
bian port city indicates Russian
hopes of shattering enemy COM
munications sustaining the 300-mil~
defensive arc from the Dnepr es-
tuary to the Pascani area in the
upper Siret valley. 1t is fed via
the road and rail network converg-
ing on the Galati hub. There is no
other adequate supply line once the
Galati communications bottleneck
is knocked out.
Diversion of Russian bomber
groups from the business of break
ing up the Nazi escape by sea
from Sevastopol implies that the
Second and Third Ukrainian Ar
mics are now well deployed about
the German defense arc. With its
communications Slapped, that line
cannot long be held Its collapse
will bring on the decisive battle
in the southeastern European the
alter.
A Russian surge through the Ga
lati gap to Ploesti and Bucharest
and on westward in the Danube
valley would cut Bulgaria off from
her Nazi associates. Since she is
not at war with Russia, it is ques-
tionable to what extent the Nazi
command can even now count on
Bulgarian rail and road connec-
tons for a roundabout service be.
hind the front in Rominia.
Open Bulgarian aid to Germany
against Russia would invite Rus
sian retaliation. Moscow is obvious
ly avoiding that as long as pos
sible in hope of a Bulgarian break
away from the tottering Axis Bal
kan satellite regime. For that rea-
son Anglo-American bombing at
tacks from Italy on Bulgarian COM
munication and supply hubs may
have double purpose.
They certainly harrass any Ger
man war traffic moving over Bull
garian routes more or less clan
destinely. Even more than that,
they tend to bring home to the
disaffected and pro Russian Bull
garian people the plight into which
their association with Germany has
brought them.
Romania's desire to get out of
the war cannot be doubted but she
is firmly gripped by Nazi military
forces.
Bulgaria's case is growing des-
perate and it could cause little
surprise if Bulgaria becomes the
l1rst Balkan associate to desert
Germany and even join the war
against her. The beginning of
AXIS collapse in the Balkans might
well come that way, with Allied
bombers helping it along.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
TRANSFERRED

CALCUTTA, India, April 10. up
The U. S. Eastern Air Command,
under Maj. Gen. George E. Strate-
meyer, and U. S. Army Air Force
headquarters have been transfer
red from New Delhi to Calcutta,
approximately 300 miles closer to
the Burma fighting fronts, it was
announced today.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
BETTE ELECTED

HOLLYWOOD, April Is. -(P5-
Election of Actress Bette Davis as
president for the third successive
year was announced today by the
.+oard of governors of the Holly
wood Canteen. The board reported
the canteen has served over $780,.
900 service men during its two
wears
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Fair Enough

Ediotr's Note-Ths Star and the News accept nc
responsibility for the personal views OF MI Pegier
and often disagree with them much as many o.
his readers His articles serve the good purpose o.
waking people think.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
C., L, GRAVES

LONDON, April 18-P-Char,o,
Larcom Graves, ST. former assjs.
tant editor of the Spectator" and
Punch and author of numerous
books, has died at Carlvln
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-04-19
Our Chief Aim
To aid IN every way tka prosecution Of
the war 70 complete Victory.
TOP OF THE MORNING

Begin once more your work undone,
Take UP the load again,
Behold the rising of the sun,
The fragrance after rain.
Look upward to the distant hill
And see the suns first ray,
Let your whole heart with rapture thrill
At the joy Of the newborn day.
CLARA EDWARDS.