THE NOME NUGGET j
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MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
For Siberian Defense
t
Not many miles west of the
westernmost tip of the Seward
Peninsula lies Siberia, the out
flung possession of Red Russians
now battling to retain their Eu
ropean homelands.
And quartered on that Siberian
soil is the Soviet "Red Banner
army, believed to number some
half a million men, equipped
with 9.000 tanks, 3,000 armored
cars and 8,000 planes.
They are the pride of the So
viet armed forces, these Siberian
troops, and they have proved
themselves more than once by
giving crack Nipponese forces
mauling in border encounters.
Despite recent rumors, it is not
believed that there have been
any sizable movements oi these
Siberian soldiers to European
Russian as reinforcements in the
death struggle against tne -Nazis.
For the Stalin war advisers,
while keeping both fists pound
ing at the Germans, have kept
watchful eyes on the wily Japan
ese. Right now, with the new
Toja war cabinet ruling the Tokyo
roost, there seems less liklihood
than ever before that the Siber
ian defense forces will be moved
west.
Indeed, if pushed too hard by
the Nazis, it seems more prob
able that the Soviets will drop
back to a new defense front in
the Ural Mountains, behind
which canny Joe Stalin has cen
tered his most intensive indus
trial developments, than that
those Siberian troops will be call
ed away from their constant vig
il, on the western shores of Ber
ing Strait.
Meantime, speculation in Eng
land has been rife regarding the
posable use of the Siberians as
fresh reinforcements against the
supposedly war-wearv German
army. Those half-million fresh
troops, thrown into the fight
right now might decisively turn
the tide of battle, some of the
British war chiefs believe.
Although we have seen no com
irnent from the Stalin headquar
ters regarding the matter, the
supposition has been advanced
that if joint action on the part
of the English and and U. S.
forces could guarantee to sue-,
cessfully defend Siberia against
Japanese invasion, the road
would be cleared to take those
Siberian defenders to reinforce
the Moscow front.
As we visualize this plan, there
may be several serious objections
to such a course of action.
For instance, why should Stal
in accept the guarantee of Eng
land and the United States, two'
nations so often in the past hos
tile to Communist Russia, that
they will hold and protect for
Russia such an important seg
ment of the Soviet Union as Si
beria?
And if such a plan w'ere put
in action, wouldn't that be just
what the Axis is hoping to ac
complish, by drawing part of the
British fleet and a major portion
of the U. S. fleet into the Pacific,
thus leaving the Atlantic with
less defense against German sea
war?
If warfare in the Pacific draws
too many of our boats away from
convoy duty in the Atlantic, how’
how can we continue with our
aid to Britain?
Under our rapidly expanding
defense activity program, each
day sees thousands of rivets and
tons of steel plate being poured
into the production of new ships
for our navy, but we are under
the impression that the greatest
majority of our battlewagons
now oifloat are so outmoded as
to be quite ineffective in modern
sea warfare.
We hope to see British rein
forcements bolstering up the Rus
sian lines, but the Siberian army
left right where it is. If the Jap
anese go on the war path, w’e
believe our navy can handle the
situation so far as keeping the
Nippons from any attack against
American possession, but the add
ed responsibility of protecting
Siberia might be the breaking
point.
Hitler Won’t Wait
I
(Philadelphia Record)
Defense chiefs in Washington
are reported working on plan
for U. S. production of 125,000
airpanes, including 25,000 to
30.000 four-engined long-rang
bombers and tens of thousands
of tanks.
That’s a fine program. But it’s
for the end of 1943 or early 1944
—more than two years away.
It's not for 1941 or li942.
Our defense production is
speeding up. But we still haven’t
buckled down to the realization
that one tank ready to go into
action now against Hitler may be
worth thousands in 1944.
While we are talking of 1944.
here's what’s going on now, in
1941:
Japan, with a Government
headed by an openly pro-Nazi
cabinet goes on a “total war”
footing and prepares for a blitz
krieg campaign that may strike
at our Far Eastern interests any
moment.
German drives against Moscow
fail to show any weakening after
four months of war.
Almost any day we may read
that Japan has driven into Si
beria toward a section of Russia j
within sight of Alaska.
Almost any day we may read
that Hitler has taken Moscow
and is preparing to turn his full
force against England.
Yet while defense chiefs talk
of 125,000 planes in two years’
time, the War Department issued
a report recently showing that in
August we shipped abroad to the
countries fighting Hitler—
Exactly 533 land and sea
planes.
How many of these were train
ers, and how many long-range
bombers, the War Department
didn’t say.
And the weekly business index
of the New York Times printed
last week showed that business
activity in the country declined
j during the week ending October
j 11 to 126.5. This was the lowest
j level since last May 10.
Chief elements in the decline
were railroad car loadings, steel
i and lumber production.
We can’t beat Hitler with 533
planes a month. We can’t beat
Hitler by producing less steel.
We can’t beat Hitler with plans
for 1943 and 1944.
We can't beat Hitler until the
whole country — business men
and workers, manufacturers and
bankers — concentrates on pro
ducing now, while the Russian
armies are still in the field, be
fore Japan attacks.
We must repeal or modify the
neutrality act to permit arming
of our ships and to allow them to
sail into ports where our goods
are needed.
But it won’t do much good to
repeal the act if we haven’t any
thing to send in our ships once
they are armed.
We must produce now, Hitler
won’t be waiting—until 1944.
The Germans are now trying
to bother the British with an imi
tation of Ivan the Terrible’s radio \
ghost tactics. The only trouble is!
this German interloper can’t
make the situation much blacker
than the British broadcasters
paint it.
Save $2.00 by paying in ad
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THE WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROl’ND
By Drew Pearson and
Robert S. Allen
WASHINGTON Bggest back
stage decision the Administration
has had to make — next to ap
peasement of Japan —has been
the resolve to put all its supply
eggs in one basket and concen
trate thousands of tons of tanks,
airplanes, trucks and aviation
gasoline at the Arctic port of
Archangel.
This was a very hazardous de
cision, and was made only after
considerable debate inside the
Army and Navy, where some of
ficers argued that Archangel
could not be kept free of ice all
winter; that the Nazis would be
able to take the railroad lead- •
ing to Archangel; and that price- j
less U. S. supplies might be cap- [
tured in the same way the Brit
ish lost their mechanized equip-j
ment at Dunkerque.
Major reason for finally decid
ing on the Archangel route was
not fear of the Japanese at Via-!
divostok, but two other factors:
(1) The long, long haul, not
only 5,000 miles across the Pac
ific, but 5,000 more miles across!
the Trans-Siberian.
(2) The fact that the Russians
were determined to put up an
all-out, last-ditch stand at the
Volga River, and convinced Av
erell Harriman's military advis
ers they could do it.
World Watches Archangel
So, the eyes of the world will
be focused this w’intcr on Arch
angel and the battle of the Nazis
to cut this American life-line to
the Russian Army. Here are
some of the factors influencing
that battle.
First is ice. After January 2,
the port of Archangel and the
White Sea are frozen solid. In
1918. when American troops
spent a dreary winter at Arch
angel, British ice-breakers were
unable to keep the ice open. But
though the Russians say they
now have big modern ice-break
ers which can do the trick, U. S.
experts still have their fingers
crossed.
A modern ice-breaker has no!
trouble cutting through a frozen
mass a couple of feet thick. But
when it gets to be seven feet
thick. the ice-breaker usually
si'eds out on top of the ice and
sometimes gets stuck. Further
more, the wind and tides drift
the ice after it is broken, so it
piles up in great vertical cakes i
seven and eight feet high.
Finally the most difficult part
of the Archangel route is through
the neck of the White Sea, a nar
row strip only 50 miles wide
khere the land juts out under the
water, making the channel even
narrower. In this shallow water
the ice freezes almost solid, and
it is feared that U, S. vessels,
getting stuck on the White Sea,
will sit there all winter, easy tar
gets for Nazi bombers.
Vital Railroad Junction
The next big hazard is the rail
road south to Moscow. This is a
700-mi'e stretch, and half way
between Archangel and Moscow,
at Bologda, another rail line
shoots east to the Volga River
and the new line of Russian de
fense. This route east is the one
over which U. S. war material
will be hauled.
So a terrific battle is sure to
be waged to capture the Bologda
railroad junction. In fact even to
day, confidential reports from]
Russia declare that Finnish ski'
fores are being organized by the
Nazis for an expedition to cut the
rail line.
Another rail line runs down
from Leningrad to Bologda June
tion. And if the Nazis can clean
up Leningrad, they are sure to
launch a drive along this route.
However, the Russians have
been concentrating a tremendous
army in this area between Mos
cow and the vital port of Arch
angel. They say they can defend
the entire rail line, and so far
they have been able to convince
Harriman’s hard-boiled military
exprets.
Unjust Food Prices
m
Are you paying high prices for
pork chops? AAA Administrator
Rudolph Evans says food prices
should be falling, not rising.
As he made this statement,
Evans had in his hand a slip of
paper just handed him by AAA
market experts. It read, “Hogs,
slow, generally 10 to 20 cen*s
lower than Tuesday’s average.”
Evans pointed out that hog
prices had dropped nearly $1.50 1
per hundred, from the recent
high; also that other pricps arej!
fal’ing oIT. Butter, usually thei
bellwether of farm products, is!
cheap. (The British are buying (
cheese, not butter.) Also, wheat
and corn are off.
AAA is endeavoring to prevent
British food purchases from
boosting domestic food prices,
and Evans says there are abun
dant food stocks to supply the
British without causing the slight
est increase in U. S. prices.
His chief worry, however, is
the future, when British buying
and the U. S. defense boom are
over. To the question of what I
will happen to the American
farmer then, Evans gives this
two-fold answer: (1) Resumption
of the AAA crop and acreage re
duction program; (2) a large
scale drive for foreign markets,
even at the cost of heavy sub
sidies.
Merry-Go-Round
If you haven’t made your blood
contribution to the Red Cross
blood bank, don’t fail to do so.
There’s nothing to it. It takes
only a few minutes and at no
time is there any pain or dis
comfort. The usual donation is
a pint from men and a half pint
from women. This is one way
you can make a truly personal
contribution to the Army and
Navy . . . Square-shooting At
torney Geuneral Francis Biddle
has ordered prosecution on ev
ery anti-trust case that was
pending when he took office.
Biddle is a militant defender of
little business men and has is
sued orders to his Justice De
partment to protect their inter
est to the limit. . . The special
House committee, headed by Rep
resentative John Tolan of Cali
fornia, that is investigating de
fense problems, will shoi’tly is
sue a scorching report on the de
fense housing muddle. Co-ordin
ator Charles Palmer will be
sharply criticized and the com
mittee will recommend a com
plete reorganization of federal
housing agencies, with a new big!
appropriation for more construc
tion . . . You can write it down
that the isolationist-packed Sen
ate committee conducting the
movie probe will not tackle the
radio companies. The original in
tent was to do so, but public
reaction to the biased movie in
vestigation has been so unfavor
able that the isolationists have
quietly decided to di-op the radio
inquiry.
Capital Chaff
When the Senate Foreign Re-1
lations Committee breakfasted)
with Cordel Hull the other day'
to discuss neutrality revision, its
members devoted a little time toj
kidding a certain Senator about j
getting himself locked into the;
Senate Office Building with a
beauteous blonde . . . U. S. dip
lomats in Moscow alwayjs sell
their old clothes to the Russians,
usually get about the same price)
they paid for them new; some-1
times more. This is because high
grade materials are so hard to,
get in Russia . . . Admiral Jerry
Land (Lindberbh’s cousin) does
n’t look happy about John Car- i
mody becoming a member of the
Maritime Commission. Carmody,
who is used to running his own j
show as Federal Works Adminis
trator, may insist on knowing
what is going on inside the Mari
time Commission. At present all
of the Commissioners except j
Land are rubber-stamps.
NO KICK ON BOOTS
MAGNUM—War veteran Frank
R. Baker still does his gardening;
and heavy chores in the boots in j
which he sloshed through the j
mud of World War I.
WEATHER FORCAST
Partly cloudy tonight and
Thursday with not much change )
in temperature. A slight increase j
in the velocity of the wind will
change from east to northeast. '
Occasional snow flurries in the
hills in the vicinity of Nome.
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SENATOR REYNOLDS WEDS HEIRESS
Sen. Robert R. Reynolds of North Carolina, 57, and his 19-year
>ld bride, Evalyn McLean, arc shown at the bride’s home in Wash
ngton, D. C., just after their marriage. It was the Senator’s fifth
marriage and the bride’s first. Present was the bride’s mother,
VIrs. Evalyn W. McLean, owner of the famous Hope diamond.