davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Population Decline

Basng its estimate on registrations for Ra-
lion Book No. 4, the Census bureau reports a
81 per cent decline in the civilian popula-
ton of the United States during a 43-rnonth
period ending last November l. On that day
the population was 127,307, 1884, Eight months
before it was 128,231, 1863 On April 1, 1910, it
was 131, 1923, 104. Obviously, it is inaccurate to
speak of our 130,O00.O0O people now
Despite the decline for the nation, twelve
states and the District of Columbia showed
civilian gains, with California leading the list
with jump of 1,013,629. This increase was
almost offset by New York's loss of 1.OO1, 238.
As can be easily understood, the District of
Columbia had the largest percentage gain,
Its 816,982 population last November being "a 2
per cent greater than in 1910. Federal jobs
account for the lions share of this increase.
Other states showing population gains are
Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,
Washington and Oregon. Whether they will
hold their gains after the war will depend
chiefly on whether industries now employing
! large percentage of the new population con.
tinue in operation.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Wave Recruitment

Combined American forces in the Pacific
are setting fast pace in the war against
Japan. The Fifth Army is holding in Italy
at the Anzio bridgehead and creeping nearer
Rome with the fall Of Casino assured The
Russians, having killed fifty thousand Ger
mans and taken eleven thousand prisoners
in single encircling movement, leave no
one reason II doubt their final victory on
the Eastern front. England, Scotland and
northern Ireland are literally an armed camp,
IN preparation for the final drive on Ger
many. Everywhere there is tremendous mill
tary activity, which will continue with even
greater intensity until the global battle is
over and the United Nations are triumphant
To speed the victory, more and more Amer
lean forces will be sent into combat They
are now moving overseas at a rate civilians
have little idea of, and their numbers will be
increased in proportion not only to the speed
with which recruits can be adequately trained
but also to the number of men on post duty
who can be replaced by women.
To hasten their release the Navy is launch
ing an intensive recruiting campaign, seek
ing volunteers for the Waves The women of
America within the age span and physically
fit are urged to consider that each one who
could meet the need but holds back is keep
ing able-bodied trained man on shore who
should be at sea helping the Navy speed the
victory.
1t would be well for them to consider also
that one way to lessen the need for uni
versal service law would be to enlist in great
numbers, not only in the Waves but the
Wacs and the women's auxiliary of the Ma
rine Corps as well.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Mail

Some idea of the job the post office is
doing in this war period, and also of the
shipping space required for postal transport,
is given by the announcement IN postal
bulletin showing that naval mail along IN Oc-
toger last would fill shaft nine feet square
and SIS feet high-the height of the Washing
tom monument in the National Capital Pre-
sumably the Arnys mail was as bulky. Add
to this the civilian postal matter, and one
guess is as good as another provided 1t Is
large enough, we seem to have picture
of the Egyptian pyramids, with the Sphinx
included for good measure Some job.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Chances Must Be Taken

! The armchair general staff has been having
great time over the battle for the Anzio
beachhead. With some brilliant second guess
ing and a few mutters about the quality OF
Allied leadership, they have been pointing out
just how the invaders should have cut the
Via Appia and Via Caslina, isolated the Ger
man forces before Casino, and executed an
off tackle smash at Rome
Well, the Allied command knew all that.
to remind our0o'ves again that campaigns are
not won on paper. To borrow the title of
Capt Ralph Ingersoll's book, the battle is
the payoff It isn't frameup Detectives are
plotted tactics are mapped out, men and
material are consigned for their execution.
Then the commanders hope the enemy reacts
according to plan. But they can't be sure.
The Allied command geve the Salerno land
ing little bette -',on $3.50 chance of success
when it was launched last fall. Presumably
the odds were no shorter for the Anzio op-
GRAFTON. The have to take chances. That's
the way wars are won, and the way they
are lost But they must be taken.
Probably the Allied commanders expected
the Germans to pull men out of the Gustav
Line to fight the new landing. Instead, the
opposition came from north of the beach
head, and eventually from as far north, as
southern France and the Balkans. Doubtless
this ran contrary to Allied prognosis as did
the Nazis' stubborn defense of every foot of
Italian SOIL when they were expected to re-
treat to the Pc or beyond.
But an enemy's sudden adaptation to equally
sudden moves does not figure into the grand
strategy of the armchair general staff. They
leap ahead of new development stick pins
in the map at points of ultimate objective,
and expect nothing serious to interfere.
Before we win, the Allied command may
make some more mistakes to upset the
armchair generals. But we don't think that
they will look too serious if we compare them
with the intuitive Fuehrer's classic blunders.
The German army, for all its toughness, is
still headed by the military genius (and ex-
corporal) who thought that Britain could be
knocked out by bombing civilians; who thought
that his Egyptian campaign could wait while
he helped pal Mussolini out of Balkan jam;
who thought to find Russian army with
obsolete guns and planes, and the ghosts of
purged generals in command; who thought
pletely in the Pacific
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Man For The Job

Bernard Baruch's postwar planning report
is completed. 1t is sound in every detail. 1t
proposes to cut taxes back to peacetime lev
els as soon as the war ends, assure JOBS Tor
everybody capable of working, take the gov
eminent out of business, dispose of huge ex-
cess stocks of government goods. make loans
to soldiers and business during the readjust-
ment period, set up. great public works
program which would have for its chief OBJ
jective the future usefulness of the construc-
ton, not merely the making of jobs as was
the case with WPA.
There is no need tor postwar depres-
sion,'' says the report, if the readjustment
to peace is handled with competence. Here,
we think, is the crux of the matter. There
must be such competence as the country has
not known in this decade if depression
that will be infinitely worse than that of 1929
is to be avoided.
The one thing that could assure the sue
cessful carrying out of the Baruch proposals
would be the appointment of Bernard Baruch,
or another man of similar competence, to
direct them. On the other hand, the one thing
which might be relied on to assure failure
would be the appointment Of a dyed-in-the-
wool bureaucrat to do the job.
The underlying thought Of the Baruch re-
port obviously is to eliminate the dictatorial
attitude of government under the bureaucrats
and restore government by the people, for
the people, The report proposes that govern
ment serve the people in a friendly, kindly
manner, lending a helping hand where need
ed. It proposes that the tyranny OF bureau
cracy be brought to an end.
Mr. Baruch is the man for the job.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Understatement

It comes from London but might as well
have originated in any American newspaper
column. The Wall Street Journals correspond
ent in the British capital has this to say oil
women's hats and ceiling prices:
Women have won another victory. Hugh
Dalton, President Of the Board of Trade,
latter anxious consideration has refused
to put a ceiling price on womens hats
or even design standardized models. Util-
ity costumes-yes; but women must have
an outlet for their individual tastse some
where, and however odd some hats ap-
pear to menfolk, no male politician dares
risk the wrath of women voters by COM
pelling uniformity in hats.
However odd hats appear to menfolk
Have We ever had a more perfect exampl,
Of the British talent for understatement?
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
The Literary Guidepost

dor are combined with a heavy
dose of Haitian folkways and Gus
toms. 1t has sparkle. (Farrar
Rinehart; $3.50
Probably Monica Dickens gets
very tired of being told that al
though she is the great grand
daughter of Charles Dickens, she
still is not her distinguished an
cestor's equal as a novelist. But
as long as capital is made of the
relationship, the comparison will
follow. Edwards Fancy" is about
an Englishman with a disagree
able wife whose chief escape is
rabbit-breeding in his backyard.
1t has its bright moments, but it
seems to me a good deal is made
OF rather slight material. Harp-
ers; $3.50
James Aldridge's 1.-The Sea Ea-
gie' is a first rate successor to
ms extraordinarily fine first nov.
81, which was Signed With Their
Honor" The new book hangs on
the desire of one Angus Burke to
escape from Crete when the Nazis
look over, and its point is the
growth of Angus when he gradual
~ takes to fighting for the ideal
OF freedom instead of personal sur
vlVal. 1t is a fine job. little,
Brown; $3.50.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20

as much damage as possible to this base.
(2 To provide a distraction while Rear Ad-
miral Richmond Turner initiated the attempt
to capture Eniwetok
"Truk is the mother base for Jap supplies
and major repair work for the whole south
west Pacific. We were cunning not only for
warships but to destroy supplies and neutral.
ize the efficacy of this center.
Capture of Eniwetok will greatly hasten
the naturalization of Truk. Eniwetok is only
about $50 miles northeast of the big naval
base. and has facilities for airfields, SO that
Truk could be reached easily by bombers
Possession of Eniwetok also would help neu.
tralize other island bases by severing their
supply lines"
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Marching On

So long as the details of the great fight
now in progress against Japan's outposts are
not known it would be wise to keep in mind
that Japan itself is long way from the
Marshalls and the Carolines.
At the same time, there are certain condi-
tons which justify strong feeling OF graft
fication at the showing our forces have made
De Witt Mackenzie, Associated Press analyst
sees in our magnificent machine in the Pa
cific" assurance that the campaign won't slow
Tokyo
1t is his opinion that the attack on Truk
besides he damage it may do, is in way
intended to distract Japanese attention from
the assault on Eniwetok. His summary of the
whole situation deserves space here. He
writes:
We've sent a great fleet of warplanes to
bulldog Truk, one of the worlds most power
full naval bases, especially designed to with
stand any manner of attack which Uncle Sam
could bring against it.
We've landed amphibious forces on the
island of Eniwetok, in the Marshalls, and
have established beachheads.
We've almost wiped out great Jap con-
voy, en- route from Truk to the Bismarck
acknowledgement least twelve transports ano
supply vessels, plus three warships
Our attack on Truk apparently was de-
signed to serve double purpose: % To dc
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Vital Paper Saluage
Tagging Behind Quota

up in some communities, the
VASE Paper Campaign Commit
tee reports, by newspaper appeals
to governmental agencies and
business men to turn over OBJ
solete records and unneeded du-
plicates and tripicates, by cam
paigns emphasizing that it's fash.
ionable to carry home bundles I'm.
wrapped, by waste paper matinees
at local movie houses, for which
the price of admission is a speci-
fled amount of waste paper. by
offering ali kinds of prizes from
war bonds to rides in the fire
truck to school children who turn
in specified amounts of paper sal.
wage.
Best results are from those com.
munities which follow up appeals
with systematic collections by
groups specifically responsible for
seeing that all waste paper goes
to war.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
By JOHN SELRY

Some fiction for the late winter
George Sessions Perry, the easy
going Texan, has taken a large
number of his Texas stories and
made kind of amalgam which he
calls blackberry Cavalier" The
basis of the amalgam is the long
list of stories published since 1897
by the Saturday Evening Post.
These he has furnished with con-
meeting links and other new ma
terial so that the result is some
thing halfway between a book of
short sketches and a novel. M.
Perry's good humor, his ability
to suggest the Texas backwoods
drawl in prose, his honest SYM
pathy and his gift for characteri-
cation are all in the book. It is
good reading in the medium-height
tale department.. CViking: $3.50.
"Canape-Vert" has two authors,
brothers they are. One is Pierre
Marcelin, the other Philippe Thor
by-Marcelin. The book itself has
sort of double personality, too.
1t begins with a quite sober in
PRODUCTION which explains Haiti
from the dialect to the zombi. and
1t contlnues as novel in which
a very Galllc sensibility and can.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
SIM0VIC FAVORS
SUPPORT OF TITO

LONDON, Feb. 10. -(P- Gen.
Dusan Simovic, who guided King
Peters government in the Yugo-
slav revolt against the Avis and
alignment with the Allies, came
out of retirement tonight to urge
support for Marshal Josep (Tito)
and declare that Allied help would
come to the Balkans this year.
Making clear that he was speak
Ing as soldier and not as poll
tician, Gen. Simovic asserted
that ito work against the national
liberation movement is to work
against our Allies and give assis-
lance to the enemy"
Tito, leader of the national ar
my of liberation, has accused the
forces of Gen. Draja Mihailovic,
minister of war in King Peter S
government, of attacking his
troops.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
SOLDIER ARRESTED
ON TREASON COUNT

WASHINGTON, Feb. 49, Up -
The Federal Bureau Of 1nvesti'
CATION announced tonight the ar
rest of Dale H. Maple, 23-year-old
Army private, On charge OF trea-
son for allegedly aiding two Ger.
man prisoners of war to escape
from an internment camp at
Camp Hale, Colo, last Tuesday.
The FBI said Maple, who was
stationed at Camp Hale, and the
two Germans, Heinrich Kikillug
and Erhard Schwichtenberg, were
apprehended three miles south OF
the Mexican border by a Mexican
customs official.
The complaint against Maple
was filed before the U. S. com.
missioner at Las Cruces, New
Mexico
Director ]. Edgar Hoover of
the FB1 praised the alertness of
Medardo M. Mepia, who made the
arrest.
Maple was born in San Diego.
Callf:' and was educated in tie
east where he attended Harvard
university. -
Maple first came to the s++on
tlon OF the FBI in the fall of 1e4o
Hoover disclosed, as result ~
Information indicating he held
prO-NaZl views He x,,,s
from iron, Harvard's ROTC unit for
a Ep4 pro-Nazi sympathies, the
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Camp Butner Officer
Is Fatally Wounded

DURHAM, N. c., Feb. 19-P-
1t Orville K. Puryear 70, at
tached to the 219th Field ARTILLERY
of the 35th division stationed at
Camp Butner, was wounded IA
tally Friday, it was disclosed To-
day by the division public rela,
tons office. Details of the fatal
accident were not disclosed pend
ing completion of an inveshga'
ton.
Lieutenant Puryear, former STU
dent at Texas A. & NJ was a
geodetic computer in civilian Life
His wife, who was residing IN
Durham while her husband was
at Camp Butner, and teloW
officer accompanied the body 10
Lieutenant Puryear's home town
of Navasota, Texas, for burial. Inc
officer graduated from the ottl'
GERS motor school at Fort Sill,
Okla,
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
DELAYS MAY ROB
TROOPS OF VOTE

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10. -(P-
Concern that congressional dead
Jock over service voting legisla-
ton might rob the armed forces
of vote developed tonight as
senate and house conferees turn
ed the corner into their second
weeks search for a state-federal
ballot compromise.
Senate conferees saw little hope
that the house representatives on
The joint committee would yield
from their opposition to a federal
absentee ballot for the uniform
ed voters.
States, meanwhile, cannot pass
practical state absentee ballot
laws because of the uncertainty
over what form the final congress
slonal expression will take. The
result, said one senator, may be
that state legislatures will not have
time to fix absentee ballot 4egis-
lation in advance OF the election.
The committee will return to
session Monday to renew its search
for a compromise. Because of the
uncertainty in the states, a senate
Republican Estates rights leaders
suggested today that the confer
ees call it quits if they don't reach
decision soon.
This lawmaker, Senator Taft (R-
Ohio suggested that the house
take another vote-certain to be
new expression for estates
rights" bill to leave service vot-
ing up to state laws.
eff the house won't yield when
the senate ought to recede from
the federal ballot and accept the
state ballot" Taft said. "Or we
ought to agree to disagree and
stand on the old law so the states
delay may make it impossible for
will know what to do. Prolonged
most of the states to get ready
for the election"
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
BARUCH POSTWAR
PLANS CHALLENGED
Continued from Page One)

cutive order under Justice Byrn'
es." He alluded to war mobiliza'
ton Director James F. Byrnes.
1.-The senate postwar committee
would do the job through an ageI.
cy created by congress which would
be accountable to the executive
but would be required by congress
to carry out the broad general
policies laid down by it, George
said.
'The two reports sharply out
line the question, of whether the
economic destiny of the country is
to be settled by executive dlrec'
tives of by general policies esta0'
ished by the elected representa-
tlves of the people. That issue is
so basic that the two viewpoints
can never be reconciled
George announced that a Dill
will be introduced Monday to carry
out the committee's RECOMMENDED
ton that war Rehabilitation au-
thority ibe set up Immediately, 10
work with Byrnes on demoDlllza-
ton problems while hostilities last
but to become an independent agen'
cy with broad powers as soon as
peace comes.
Neither George nor Vandenberg
had fault to find with the general
detectives of the Baruch report, one
OF which is to get the government
out of business as quickly as pos
slble after the war ends.
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20
Rx NEA SERVICE

Today's number one war short
age - everywhere - is paper. In
Germany and Japan, people are
shot for wasting paper. In Eng
land, destroying paper is Grim
inal offense. In America, the War
Production Board has said that
waste paper tops the list of all
materials critically needed for
war.
There is no xaggeration in the
statement that the waste paper in
American manufacturing plants
and obsolete files may be as de-
Gliding an influence in the war S
outcome as the mobilizing OF the
fleet of pleasure craft that saved
the British army at Dunkirk, -
Rear Adm. Harry L. Brinser, In
Spector of Navy materials. recent
ly told the newspaper committee
of the U. S. Victory Waste Paper
Campaign.
Demands for paper products by
the armed forces are at their high
est point. The War Production
Board has set quota of eight
million tons of waste paper to be
delivered in 1914 to mills for the
manufacture of essential war ma
terials.
Saves Other Materials
Paper is substituting for $215,-
900, 1000 pounds of critical metals,
$4,000 pounds of pliofilm, 100000
pounds of glass, $4,000 pounds OF
rubber, 100000 pounds of cello
plane and 100000 board feet of
lumber. Our whole war; econo-
N.Y." WPB Chief Donald nj. Mel
son, declares, ''is built on paper. "
Some 100000 items used by the
armed forces are either made of
paper or wrapped in it. Paper
makes such things as blood plas-
ma containers, plane wing tpis,
gun covers for invasion landings.
parachute flares, hand grenade
boxes, wrappings for machine
guns, camouflage nets, bomb
rings, supply parachutes. helmet
Innings, shell containers, packing
for ammunition, training targets,
gas mask canisters, instrument
panels, military records, blue
prints. fuse parts, cartons for field
rations, Air F o r emergency
packs and bomb fins.
At the present rate of collection,
the nation will meet six million
of its eight million ton quota, &C
cording to 1t Gen. Brehon B.
Somervell, chief of the Army Serv-
ices and Supply. twenty-five war
plants in need of waste paper for
the manufacture of cartons and
shipping cases in which fighting
men get their food. clothing, am
nlunition and blood plasma, have
shut down. One hundred others are
operating on part-time schedules.
"You can't do rs per cent job
back here and expect us to do a
100 per cent job over there" Som
ervell points out.
Collections, have been stepped
The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-20

The War
BY KIEKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press War a.o,

olySL
Russian and Allied hammers -,
beating at both ends of tho s.
gering Nipponese-Nazi avis lag. "s
February week end in striden4 ~la
firmaticn of forecasts that I ~
will see the crisis reached in ~
rope and possibly in the Pc; Gu'
' Everywhere the evidence C,
massive Allied power by lana Of
and air dominates the war, n,S sea
And everywhere the clear ' si
of dwiadling German or JanonsnS
resources in men, ships and MUSE n1as
to meet that ponderous and N aa
ing threat are just as plain n'V"'
In Italy, Anglo-American vio+,
in the second round of the hairy hairy
of Rome was clinched On tbo o' s
zio beachhead. The third and an an,
round forecast by the Allied t tSi
commander, General Aleyarade!a
opened at Casino.
Dominate Skies
me bombs OF Allied air poro.
that overwhelmingly donip..ae,'
the Italian skies and the ro r'a!ed
guns of Allied ships and shus III, 3
teries were overcoming Maj ' at
vantages in position and sbor, az
terior communication lines ra N.Y.
indicated that collapse of the ar
my front across the narrow pe S%s
sula would not be greatly deIav.d ,'
bitter as the fighting is. |N
Across the Pacific the Toni,
nerve center of japanese insnlsn
outposts guarding the roads ia tbo
China sea, the Philippines and
Tokyo itself had been brought ,1
der American fire.
What Prime Minister Cburcbiu
long ago predicted, the SUPREME
challenge of American sea power
confronted Japan in waters sbo
has controlled nearly three d.
cades in treacherous defiance n,
hec peaceful pledges.
The Pearl Harbor tables have
been turned on her in a surprise
American attack.
1t was in Russia, however. that
the battle reached it's most critical
stage for the foe. The whole Ger.
man northern flank began topping
with surrender Of the Staraya Rus.
sa bastion. A forced Nazi retreat
from the Lovat to match the dis.
astrous fight under Red army
mass attacks from Leningrad and
the Volkhov was in process.
The Pskov gateway Just South
Of the Peipus lake chain along the
Observation-Disclosures border, the only
escape hatch westward for Ger.
man troops manning the falling
Lovat line. was in grave peril Of
being closed behind him.
There is no line of refuge fl
the foe anywhere east of the Pskov
transportation b t t | en C k. To
reach it with heavy forces funnel
back from the 100-mile long Lovat
front without terrible losses in
men and abandoned equipment
would take a military miracle.
Into the German announcement
of the abandonment of Staraya
| Russo can be read final accept
ance by the Nazi high command
that all Russia must be evacuated