Generals Lay
Corner Log Of
LSO Building
Dedicating the structure to
“closer cooperation, deeper un
derstanding and stronger friend
ship” between the military and
•civi'ian communites of the sec
ton, Major Gen. Simon B. Buck
ner, Jr., commanding general of
the Alaska Defense Command,
laid the corner log of the new
United Service Organization
building recently at Fifth and G
Streets in Anchorage.
More than 400 persons witnes
sed the colorful ceremony for
which Brig. Gen. Jesse A. Ladd,
commanding general of Fort Rich
ardson was the principal speaker.
The Fourth Infantry band par
ticipated. The American Legion
post furnished a color guard and
J. S. Morris, department com
mander of the Legion in Alaska,
was master of ceremonies.
To Furnish Club Rooms
Interest in the building which
will furnish club rooms for ser
vice men in Anchorage, proved
so keen that spectators braved
cold weather to hear General
Ladd and see General Buckner
place the log in position.
Said General Ladd:
“This is to be a beautiful build
•ing. Its staff has been well chos
en. Already a comprehensive pro
gram is being drawn. In this
time of emergency, that which
will be done through the minis
try of this building will be time
ly. It will relieve the loneliness
of our soldiers. It will afford a
meetings p'ace for soldiers and
civilians. It will cement the ties
between these two.
Sees It A Monument
“Sharing in its activities will
bring to a rich gl nv the patriotic
fervor of us all. In the years to
ccme, when the threatened al
arms of war are stilled, this
building will continue to stand
'here, serving the interests of An
chorage but also a monument to
what was done by Anchorage
when the liberty of America was
endangered.”
Forrest P. Knapp, U. S. O. re
presentatives, said more than 200
men made use of the temporary
U. S. O. quarters in the basement
of the Episcopal church during
the afternoon and evening, many
discovering for the first time that
limited facilities are available
there.
*
Buy Defense Bonds and Stamps
THE WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROUND
By Drew Pearson and
Robert S. Alien
WASHINGTON — The crumb
ling Russian front has caused
some very cogent questions to be
asked in high places regarding
the efficiency of both the United
Slates and the British.
Uppermost question is trans
portation, without which supplies
cannot reach Russia.
Most desperate area in which
Russian needs supplies is in the
south. There the Hitler drive has
progressed disasterously near the
oil fields of the Caucasus. How
ever, the only route to the Cau
casus is via the Gulf of Persia to
the port of Basra, thence by ,a
shaky railroad through Iran to
South Russia. This railroad is in
such bad shape that almost no
supplies of any consequence can
be transported.
To bolster it, American rail
way experts are being sent to
Basra. However, the stark trag
edy—completely unexplained —
is why the British did not be
gin long ago to whip thus road
. into shape.
The Russian war has been in
progress for four months. The
Eritish knew even last June that
this route would be all-import
ant. Two or three thousand men
could have revamped the rail
road in quick time. But nothing
was done.
Meanwhile the French and Ger
mans have been working fever
ishly to build a railroad from
Casablanca, in Morocco, to Dakar
the French naval base opposite
Brazil. And in about the same
length of time, they have almost
finished it. But in Iran the Brit
ish did nothing.
3(10 U. S. LOCOMOTIVES
Meanwhile, .also, the Nazis fe
verishly have been relaying one
rail on all the Russian railroads.
This is because the Russians
biult their tracks the widest in
the world to prevent an invad
ing nation from using their rail
roads. However, Hitler has had
labor gangs relaying the rail
line so rapidly that today nar
rower guage Nazi trains go
right up to the battlefront.
This is the secret of Hitler’s
amazing transportation feat, by
which four million men have
been supplied with an average of
four tons of supplies per man—
shells, artillery, food, clothing
tanks and gasoline —all hauled
over 1,000 miles to a battlefront
3,000 miles wide.
Yet only in the past few days
is an American railroad mission
being sent to the Gulf of Persia.
I There are two other routes to
| get supplies to Russia. One, by
way of Vladivostok, means a two
: weeks rail haul over the Trans
i Siberian.
To strengthen this road, the
United States will send 300 loco
' motives. However, we haven’t
yet found the ships to carry
them, since locomotives are too
big to be lowered down the aver
age ship’s hatch. But even more
important, we have to revamp
the locomotives, perhaps even
manufacture them altogether, for
our locomotives don’t fit the wide
Russian guage.
Meanwhile, most U. S. supplies
are going via Archangel, which
has turned out to be better than
expected, but the Nazis are
pretty sure to begin bombing it.
FDR SPEEDS SUPPLIES
While the British have been in
excusably slow in regard to trans
port, both Britain and the Unit
ed States have been equally slow
in allocating supplies to be ship
ped. For weeks after Churchill
and Roosevelt decided to send a
mission to Moscow, the two gov
ernments backed and filled as to
who should be in the delegation
and whether China should be in
v i t e d. Meanwhile precarious
weeks, vital to Russia’s chances,
were lost.
And only this past week did
large scale supplies really get
loaded up in U. S. ports for Rus
sia. Prior to that the army had
hemmed and hawed, done little.
It was only after a week of Rus
sian retreating toward Moscow,
that Roosevelt shook the big stick
and the army came across. Why
he didn’t act in July remains a
! mystery, for the U. S. Army was
| telling him even then that the
I
Russian situation would b • d s
perate.
T; day airplanes are finally be-;
ing loaded for Ru-sia at the rate
of abou: 300 to- 4C0 per month.
Also, tanks are being shipped in
about the same quantity.
Howev; r. it will take about
forty day.5 for them to reach Rus
sia. And in forty days, anything
can happen.
PROTECTING CONSUMERS
Here is a t’hree-act drama en
titled “Defense Expansion."
Act I — Mid-Anril: the Office!
of Price Administration and Civ-!
ilian Supp y comes into being. Its
duty is to keep prices down, pro
tect the consumer. Its chief, Leon
Henderson. Its staff, twenty per
sons. Its home the old Bair man
sion at 2000 Massachusetts Ave.
Act n — Early summer; OP
ACS takes on industrial com
mittees, research assistants, law!
yers and economists—all to pro- j
tect the consumer. The staff of
300 outgrows the Blair mansion
and moves to a new apartment
building on Q St.
Act III—Autumn. OP ACS has'
800 workers. Reorganization
splits it into two groups — Office
of Price Control and Office of
Civilian Supply (under OPM).
The apartment building is too
small, and another move takes
them to a new office building
near the capitol.
And the drama is still going.
Soon a fourth act can bo written,
in which the staff, will number
2.000. And they will probably
move again, if anybody can find
a building large enough.
70 ANCHORAGE GIRLS
ENLIST IN I SO’s
•HOSTESS ARMY’
ANCHORAGE — It's “Happy
Days are Here Again” for sol
d:ers in this area with organiza
tion of Alaska’s first “hostess
army” under guidance of Miss
Margaret Conrardy, the North’s
first USO hostess.
Seventy girls of this city al
ready were reported enrolled.
Local women’s clubs assisting
in organization meetings, with
. their representatives, were; Mrs.
: P. L. Meitmayer, Anchorage Wo
man’s Club; Mrs. Fred Belgard.
American Legion Auxiliary: Mrs.
George Colwell, Altor Society;
i Mrs. Emil Pfeil, Mothers’ Club.
\ Mrs. Glen Jones, Friendly Aid.
, Phresbyterian Church; Mrs. A.
Reekie, Eastern Star; Mrs. John
1 M. Andreson, Moose Auxiliary;
i Mrs. John Campbell, Homemak
1 ers Club: Mrs. Jack Carr, wives
; of Junior Chamber of Commerce
members.
Miss Myrtle Wendler, Busi
ness and Professional Women’s
jClub: Mrs. R. B. Silvernail, Sev
j enth Day Adventist Church; Mrs.
H. H. McCutcheon, Pioneers’
Club; Mrs. D. W. Patterson.
Church of God; Mrs. A. Wine
. gartner, Nurses Association: and
Miss Marie Ridings, Tteacher’s
Association.
RKI) CROSS ROLL CALL
STARTS NOVEMBER 10
Your Red Cross is an import
ant partner in the National De
fense Program. With our soldiers
and sailors at their posts, with
the civilian population, it makes
the rounds night and day, carry
ing out its humanitarian duties.
The Red Cross is supporting you.
You can support the Red Cross
by joining through the local Red
Cross chapter.
Nome’s chapter purchased first
aid material this summer to have
on hand throughout the duration
of the emergency and is prepar
ed to administer local relief
when and if necessary.
America needs the Red Cross
more than ever before. Help
build America’s defenses by
joining the Red Cross in next
weeks Roll Call.
Last year the Red Cross sped
assistance to 217,000 victims of
149 disasters in this country. Dis
aster will strike again this year
— when, where and how hard no
one knows. But the Red Cross t
must be ready to perform its er
rands of mercy. Help the Red
Cross prepare. Our boys at camp
need the Red Cross. We on the
home front need the Red Cross
standing by with instantaneous
help. Let’s show that we recog
nize these needs by “going over
l the top” for the Red Cross dur
jing the local Roll Call.
SKI, SNOW SHOE
UNIT FOR ARMY
WASHINGTON — The Army
has ordered the formation of c
regiment of special rrv. untain
troops, such as us d ;n the Ger
man invasion of Norway, also by
the Italians.
The fir : battalion unit, the
fir-t of its fi nd in American his
tory. will be forrr-rd on Novem
ber 15 at Fart Lewis, Wash,, ac
cording to Secretary of War Hen
ry L. Stimson.
The new unit will serve as a
nucleus for expansion a< need d.
The men will bo trained in
mountain climbing by ski and
snow shoes and will travel liv
ing on the snow.
The first regiment has been des
ignated as the Eighty-Seventh
Infantry Mountain Regiment.
WORLD'S L£MST SELLING
SKWISH! BOSRBH WHSKir
86 f ROOF. STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY. SCHENIEY DISTIllERSCORP , NEW YORKOITY
WARSPITE UNDER ATTACK IN BATTLE OF CRETE
. -c>w ,>• A - • “l
Two views of the Briti-'h warship War-pite mule i ;»«'• k i" the Patfle .V Crete, a •"orcCn",
to British sources, are shown here. Top: A bomb falls nearby. Bottom, the Warsp:te is hit. The
pictures, made from another Briti h shin, were elea-ed b\ a British official at Bremerton, Wash.,
where the Warspjte is undergoing repairs.
PARTICIPATE IX WHITE HOUSE NEUTRALITY PARLEY
r
Among the eight leaders of the two parties in the House and Senate that attended a conference at
the White House, that was called by President Roosevelt were (left to right): Senator Tom (.’or.
nally (D-Tex), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee; Senator Charls L. IVIcNary
(R-Ore), minority leader; Rep. Sol Hloum (D-NY), Chairman of the house foreign affairs commit
tee; Rep. Luther A. Johnson (D-Tex), and Rep. Charles A. Eaton (R-NJ). They spent more tha:»
two and a half hours with the President. The President was reported to have advised them that he
favored changing the neutrality lawr to arm American merchant vessels and permit them to travel
to belligerent ports and now-forbidden combat zones.
SOURDOUGH STATIONERY
Write to your friends and rela
tives on the ‘Outside,’ using Sour
dough Stationery. They’ll get 8
big kick out of it.
I
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