THE NOME NUGGET
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A Soldier’s Opinion
Reassuring were the opinions expressed the other!
day by Gen Douglas MacArthur, the hero of Bataan,
when he talked of the censoring of war news. To a.
news-hungry, ill-informed and bewildered American
public, his talk sounded like common sense.
“Even though I am an old censor myself,” he said,
“my main purpose is not to suppress news, but to get i
news to you. The reason for efforts by the United Stat-!
es and Australia to inform the public of what is going
on is that if it does not know the truth, its imagination
operates, thereby reducing confidence.”
Stressing the importance of public opinion, he said:1
“Men will not fight and die without knowing what!
they are fighting for. The care with which the enemy
keeps the truth from his people and tries to incline
their minds toward certain channels and to implant i
certain ideas shows the weight he lays upon it.
“In the democracies it is essential that the public
should know the truth.”
We are inclined to believe that the General hit the
censor on the head in his remarks. We are sure, on
the other hand, that the American public does not:
know the truth.
By the truth we mean the grim side of war. The Am
erican public is being fed on a diet of rosy communi- i
ques. But it isn’t fooled. Instead the American people
are conjuring up the grim side for themselves—even j
as General MacArthur says — their imaginations are,
now operating—at full speed. They know there is a
grim side to war, and they know it is bad. What they
don’t know is how bad it is- And imaginations are mis
leading.
Newspapers Read More Thoroughly Since War's Start
Los Angeles—The average American reads his news
paper at least half an hour longer since Pearl Harbor,
in the opinion of President Don Belding of the Pacific
Advertising Association.
Belding told the annual convention of the Ice Indus
tries Association, of California: '
“Our surveys show that advertising has greatly in
creased m its effectiveness since the war began. The
reasons are two-fold. First, there is more and better
reading of papers because of the interest in war news.
Second, people have more time to read the paper be
cause of the tire shortage and changed living habits.
“As the tire shortage forces people more and more
to ride street cars and buses to and from work, the
newspaper habit will become more and more fixed.
The new reading habits of the people are reflected in
the fact that the general circulation of newspapers
since Pearl Harbor is going up.”
Past News Only to be Revealed
Canberra, Australia — Prime Minister John Curtin
said that from now on. the peoples of the United Na
tions would get news of what has been done, and not
what is intended in the way of an offensive against
Japan. He made this declaration at a meeting of the
Australian war cabinet, in which General Douglas
MacArthur participated. Said Mr. Curtin:
“Under his leadership, the war council is convinced
that the war can be fought with dynamic energy and
inflexible purpose. Dressed as we are for battle on
■ ur own soil, the plans we are making are not matters
for indication. I have no doubt that just as we shall
surprise the enemy, so we shall gratify ourselves. News
of what we have done—not what is intended—is the
ony kind of news are war council can make available
from now on ”
WOODEN TIRES MAY
BE TRIED ON TRUCKS
Columbus, Ohio — The an
swer to the nation’s rubber
(tire) shortage may lie in
America’s forests rather
than in the jungles of
South America.
Glen Conrad, who oper
ates a basket lunch system
and manufactures dry ice
equipment here, asserts he
has that answer — wooden
tires.
Conrad has produced see
eral wooden tire models
and William Moore, presi
dent of a large milk distrib
uting concern, announced
that his ffrm was ready to
give the timber treads a
trial before resorting to
horse and wagon deliveries
should truck and tire ra
tioning force the issue.
The tires, built of six
inch blocks held together
bv a circular steel rod, may
not be a luxury but they’re
practical, Conrad asserted.
He explains it this way:
“It’s a step between the
horse and the wagon. A
horse can travel three or
four miles an hour walk
ing, eight miles an hour
trotting.
“My wooden tires will
stand 15 miles an hour,
won't cost much to produce
and will eliminate the out
lay for horses.”
Conrad has applied for a
patent and says he intends j
to manufacture the wood
en tires.
Japan's Position
With Japan now having made practically a clean
sweep of the Pacific from Tokyo to the Australian bar
rier in three months’ time, it is beginning to look more
and more as if the enemy is going to switch from the
offensive to the defensive. Now, it appears, Japan is
getting ready to settle down to the development of the
vast and rich areas she has captured. Whether or not
Japan will be able to maintain her gains is a question
the United States must answer. Rut at present, the
box score shows:
Japan has taken over one-fourth of the world’s oil:
supply in the Dutch East Indies-Burma region. The
United Nations have lost that amount.
Japan has acquired in her Pacific conquest 71 per
cent of the world’s tin supply, and the United Nations
have lost that much.
Japan also has acquired more than four-fifths of
the world’s rubber supply, again a United Nation’s loss, j
Japan has control now of manpower totaling approxi
matey 130,000.000 people of newly conquered areas in j
the Southwest Pacific region —a number almost equal
to the population in the United States. This is the rea-!
son that it has been pointed out repeatedly that we
have a big job ahead of us.
The United Nations must now proceed to gain back
these losses. The Japs now may attempt to call a halt
to their offensive and sit on what they have acquired.
But can Japan safely stop as long as the United States
has bases within bombing distance of Java, Timor and
other Japanese-held posts, as the United States does
have in Australia? Can Japan stop when she is faced
with just as formidable enemies on other fronts? We
don’t think so. But given enough time to establish fore
es of occupation firmly, the Japs may be able to do this.
This is the reason that the United Nations must act
quickly, the reason Americans must produce more
rapidly.
No nation can carry out such a campaign of conquest
as Japan has carried out in the last three months with
out considerably weakening its war power. If we can
strike, and strike hard before the Nipponese war ma
chine is prepared to hit again, we may be able to end
this new menace to civilization.—Daily Alaska Empire
United Stales Kuhher
Due to the present shortage of rubber brought about
by the cuttng off of import supplies, considerable inter
est has been shown of late in the development of the
guayule plant, a shrub from which the United States
hopes to help solve the rubber supply problem.
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Plant Indus
try are proceeding now with a program for govern
ment production of guayule rubber in the Western
Hemisphere, and are also investigating the possibil
ities of other rubber-bearing shrubs. Thus the war
seems to have a partial good side. It is doubtful that
without the war, any large program for the production
of rubber would have been launched at present.
The guayule plant is a slow-growing shrub, native
to limestone slopes of north central Mexico and in the
Big Bend area of Texas. Commercial shipments of:
guayule ribber have been made from Mexico for years,
but uncertainty of a market price and competition of i
cheap labor outside of the United States has kept the
development of guayule rubber confined to Mexico.
More than 1,000 strains of the plant have been stud
ied in preliminary experiments and selections have
been made which after four years in the field yield 20
percent of rubber, based on dry weight of the shrubs.
At present, de-resination of the rubber is not practiced
because the needs for which the rubber has been lim
ited have not required this. But American tire manu
facturers have tested the de-resinated guayule product
and have reported it to be equal in quality to high
grade plantation rubber and requiring no changes in
manufacturing plants or equipment.
The shrub is cultivated like corn—four times the first
year, three times the second and third, and twice the
fourth Harvesting is confined to the dormant period
when the rubber content of the plant is highest. Best
returns are obtained from shrubs four to seven years
old. but plants can be taken earlier.
The entire shrub is harvested, practically all of the
rubber being found in the cells in the cortex under
lying the bark of the roots, stem and large branches.
The process of separating the rubber from the wood is
carried on by a continuous disintegration and flotation
method, requiring a minmum of labor.
Freedom is not always the right to do and say what
you please—New York Times.
Courage alone justifies survival of of a people, a na
tion or an individual.—Seattle Times.
Cl IAS. CAVEY
Carrying an Assortment
of Fine Liquors, Win
es, and Beers.
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g—wiimiwimm wini—a—hwwh'»?
MEXICAN STRATEGIST S—Two of Mexico’s ranking
military'men are Gen. de Brigada Juan Felipe Rico Islas (left)
and Gen. de Brigadier Manuel Orrieo de Los Llanos, seen at
Tijuana. Mexico is cooperating with L’.S. in hemisphere defense.
BOMBS COMINC U P—A formidable B-17 bomber hov
ers in the background while a ground crew at a field in Hawaii
cautiously lifts one of the bombs brought up on the trailer The
bomber is one of the planes on patrol In the Hawaiian area.