The Giddings Star (Giddings, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, June 28, 1940 Page: 6 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Giddings Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Giddings Public Library and Cultural Center.
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THE GIDDINGS STAR
GENERAL
y n-r 2,
The Roman Phalanx of 1940 A. D.
HUGH S.
OHNSON
.98%
Washington, D. C.
FIFTH COLUMN ‘GUNS’ IN U. S.
Attorney General Bob Jackson’s
plea for a federal law requiring reg-
Washington, D. C.
BASES IN SOUTH AMERICA
It seems to be, or to have been, p.u ... .......-----------.. _
a principal 'part of our defense pol- istration of all privately owned fire-,
icy to rely largely on the British arms had more behind it titan he
navy and the good will of our Good disclosed. Inside fact is that this
Neighbor league with the Latin constitutes one of the most serious
Americas in protecting the Monroe problems facing the government
Doctrine. The post-World war pe- in its war against fifth columns,
riod of international treaty-break- Following the World war, one
ing, debt-repudiation and double- armament company alone disposed
crossing should have been warning of 15,000 "Tommy" guns to private
enough that no nation can safely rely purchasers after trying unsuccess-
on any strength but its own, fully to sell them to the army. About
Some people now fear that the 10,000 of these deadly weapons are
British navy may not always be “unaccounted for." How many are
there. It may be a good time to in the hands of potential fifth col-
question also our reliance on the umnists the government, under ex-
South and Central American coun- listing laws, has no way of knowing,
tries. Jackson's proposed statute would
At the very start, it must be ad- provide the power to find out.
nutted that there has been a good Another unmentioned factor trou-
deal of hokum in calling them bling officials is the tremendous in-
democracies. In greater or less crease in the sale of guns and ant-
degree they are military oligarchies, munition in the last two years. Tax
Some, like Santo Domingo, are collections by the internal revenue
dictatorships as bloody and ruthless bureau give the following figures on
as anything Hitler ever dreamed, this astounding traffic in our
None is a democracy in the Anglo- "peaceful” country:
Saxon sense. Total sale of taxed firearms, rides,
Their legal systems stem from the shotguns, pistols, revolvers, to pri- | **M S
civil law of Rome and not from the vate persons in 1938-- $24,959,048; in | WI Name p
----------------------,---1939- $36,010,684.
Julius Caesar's "phalanx” of close-packed Roman legions who formed an armored roof with shields cov-
ering their advance, is improved upon by the modern “Caesar.” Here are today’s Roman "phalanx” armored
legions that comprise part of Italy's war machine. These tanks are ultra-modern, many being equipped
As Some S«e It
In the past three years these sales 1
reached the amazing total of $97,- |
403,730— which is almost one-fourth |
of the army’s 1937 appropriation. It
is also vastly in excess of average I
sales for sporting purposes and law
enforcement.
Note—The U. S. is far behind oth-
er powers in regulating firearms.
England, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan all have drastic laws on the
private possession of weapons. The
national firearms act of 1934 im-
posed a limited regulation on the |
sale of machine-guns and sawed-off |
shotguns by requiring manufactur- |
ers, dealers and pawnbrokers to reg- |
ister sales and transfers. But the
many thousands of these lethal |
Egypt Prepares for Any Eventuality
illip.
WNL
AN APPEAL TO RADIO STATION
CHIEFS
1—Must you link up ballyhoo for
breakfast foods with the most mo-
mentous news in world history?
2—Must you give us the graphic
tidings of a major battle in one
breath and a talk on corn plasters
or washing powders in the next?
3—Does it never strike you that
the height of anti-climax is to follow
a dispatch from the tragic fields
off Belgium with an immediate
boosting of somebody's catch-penny
merchandise?
4—Have you ever listened and felt
the revulsion that comes when the
fellow who gives the stirring de-
scription of the war for the world
shifts abruptly into a glorification
of peanut butter or a shaving soap?
5—Don’t you think, really, now,
old fellow, that it jars the great
unpitied audience to be flung abrupt-
ly from the European carnage and
all its significance into a blurb for
a baked bean?
6—Are radio listeners people?
7—And, if so, don’t they deserve
a break?
8—Do you think Otis T. Whiffle,
bending over his radio set, de-
i pressed and startled by a hair-
raising account of the fall of a cit-
adel of civilization, likes to hear the
announcer suddenly bark, “Did you
feel low, tired, out of sorts this
—By Thomas.
common law. They have never |
really understood or very much
cared about any such institutions as
self-government as ours.
In the next place, in spite of all
the declarations, treaties and diplo-
matic palaver,- most of them dis-
weapons sold before 1934 still are
unaccounted for.
OIL TO ITALY
Italy's entrance into the war has
at least one harmful effect upon |
her ally, Germany. It means the
end of U. S. oil shipments to Italian
ports for trans-shipment to Ger-
many.. ,
These shipments, especially of lu-
trust us and in some cases despise
us. Mr. Roosevelt has done much < -
to improve this state of affairs but bricating oils, have been heavy since
you don't change national sentiment .the first month of the war. With
and the thinking of generations by Italy at war, however, U. S. ships
a few visits and a lot of ballyhoo. ; are barred. , 2
To the contrary, several of these This will stimulate Axis efforts to
countries have much closer ties of open up oil resources in the Near
blood, education and tradition with East, and Italy is sure to make a
European countries than with us. 'drive for the British and French
Their language is either Spanish or oil fields in Iraq. Or getting through
Portuguese and their immigration the Suez canal, she will strike at the
has been much more heavily Ital- oil fields of Iran, under control of
ian, Spanish or German than French | the Anglo-Iranian company,
or English.
Finally, their military, naval and
air strength and aptitude is almost
negligible. All we could expect to
gam from our league with them
are defensive naval and air bases
Past the pyramids, ages old symbols of Egypt and the Pharaohs, roar these British Blenheim bombers,
as the British and Egyptian forces prepare for any “eventuality.” The feared “eventuality,” of course, was
the long-expected Italian entry into the great war, with a drive at Egypt from Libya as the first move.
for our own arms but with that un-
Meanwhile British oil shipments
from these sources will be diverted
from the Mediterranean route, and
the result probably will be a heavy
increase of U. S. oil shipments to
Britain and France.
• • •
APPEASING MUSSOLINI
Allied and Roosevelt diplomacy
der the present plan, come the ob-
ligation and tremendous task of po-
licing and defending a continent full
of suspicious or unfriendly, if not
outright hostile nations.
This column thoroughly agrees
that, for the sake of our own hides,
struggled behind the scenes until
almost the last minute to keep Mus-
solini out of war. - •
It was on a Monday that the Ital-
ian dictator shouted his hoarse-
we have to get naval and air bases to voiced proclamation of war. And
prevent enemy lodgments—at least as late as the preceding Saturday,
to the bulge of South America. It the French were still dickering with
notes with alarm that we are not him. At that time they offered him
getting them. | the island of Corsica, birthplace of
It doubts whether we are ever go- Napoleon, as well as the important
ing to get them or buy for ourselves African colony of Tunisia, plus
anything more than a mare's nest French Somaliland with its Red Sea
of dangers and trouble if we don't port of Djibuti.
put the pressure, on to get them and But Mussolini wanted more,
recognize that we are doing it as an | Real fact probably was that he
absolute necessity for our own de- 'could not afford to antagonize Hit-
fense and without much, if any, re- ler by failing to declare war. A
liance on the loyalty, strength or Nazi victory looked too certain, in
friendship of any country south of which case Mussolini would have
the Rio Grande.
been left facing the triumphant and
resentful hordes of Nazi Germany
just across the Brenner pass.
As an illustration of snap judg- | Note—A lot of people think Mus-
ments in the highest places is the solini will face an aggressive Nazi
President's approval after having army anyway.
read "only the first paragraph” of • • •
a New York Times editorial, saying:
"The time has come when, in the
interest of self-protection, the Amer- ize that nothing counted with Musso-
ican people should at once adopt a lini except (1) what he was going to
national system of universal com- get. in return for keeping the peace;
pulsory military training.”
Later on the editorial said:
"We believe that it should be so
UNIVERSAL TRAINING
drafted as to provide training not
only for young men but for older
men as well."
So do It, but in 1918, we had regis-
tered for, or actually in military
service, 25,348,000 men between the
ages of 18 and 45. Since then our
population has increased 30 per cent
Presumably we now have at least
33,000,000 in that class.
Setting out to train 33,000,000 men
would be absurd and preposterous.
Of course, many of these would be
exempted by reason of physical dis-
ability, or dependency of others, or
by reason of industrial necessity.
The number is impossible to com-
pute until we know the liberality or
strictness of the exemption rules.
If we decided to train all the classes
that were in 1918 classified as fit and
eventually liable to military service,
the total would be more than 10,000,-
000. 1.4
Obviously, the writer of that edi-
torial did not mean “universal com-
pulsory military training." It would
be destructive, impracticable.
ROOSEVELTS MOVES
President Roosevelt came to real-
and (2) whether he was going to
be on the winning side.
Accordingly, the last week’s an-
nouncements from the White House
that the United States was selling
army and navy planes direct to
the allies, plus surplus army equip-
ment, was calculated to have a dou-
ble effect. One was me actual help
it would give the allies. The other
was the hope that Mussolini would
be influenced by the fact that the
United States was talking in deeds,
not mere words, and that these
deeds might turn an allied victory.
POLITICAL CHAFF
One of Alf Landon's hardest jobs
is scotching booms for himself.
Practically every day, by long dis-
tance phone or telegraph, he has to
nip the plan of some admirer to start
a drive for him.
Following reports that Communist
and Nazi agents are working along
the Mexican-U. S. border, Senator
Josh Lee of Oklahoma proposed con-
struction of a series of forts, each
within sight of the next, to shoot
any foreign agent seen sneaking into
the U. S.
Uncle Sam Gets Bigger Battle Wagon
k
Bedecked with flags and hunting, the U. 8. S. Washington, 35,000-ton
eutileship just completed at the Philadelphia navy yard, is shown sliding
down the ways to the Delaware river. The 750-foot ship cost $80,000,000
and is the biggest warship ever built on this continent. It is the first
completed unit of 68 warships under construction.
King George Quite a ‘Shot’
During a recent inspection tour of a gun factory that is operating
night and day under war pressure. King George tried out a Bren machine
gun. He put 60 bullets in or close to the bulls-eye at 20 yards, and re-
marked: “1 had no idea the gun was so steady.” The king has made a
number of personal inspections in factories lately.
Banks Half Billion
Mrs. Essie Ept, in charge of
Ohio’s gasoline revenues, has de-
posited $540,316,659 to the state’s
credit since 1926. This great sum
was collected in dimes, nickels and
pennies. It took a lot of ’em—but
Mrs. Ept didn’t mind.
Steel Chairman
Irving 8. OMs, elected chairman
of the board of the U. 8. Steel corpo-
ration, to succeed Edward R. Stet-
tinius Jr., who resigned to serve
with national defense commission.
morning? Then go to your nearest
grocer and ask for Twihums, the
super cereal”?
9—Do you think that what is going
on in Europe can possibly have any-
thing in common with what is going
on in the American cosmetics,
hosiery, pickle or canned soup in-
dustries?
10—Don't you shiver at all when
you hear Namur, St. Quentin, Mons
and Louvain mentioned in the same
breath with nail polish, wheatcakes,
headache pills and somebody’s soda
pop?
11—What would you think if a
newspaper gave you the first three
paragraphs of an account of a des-
perate clash in the war of wars and
then inserted three paragraphs tell-
ing how Spiffiedorfer’s Sausages
were the peer of all sausages the
world over?
12—What would you think if the
caption under a newspaper picture
of a shell-torn village was followed
by a few lines of eulogy for a liver
pill, a $2 watch or a dog biscuit?
13—What do you think are the re-
actions of a radio fan who finds a
chewing gum or a cooking grease
being lauded by the same voice that
has just broadcast breath-taking
war communiques?
14—Look into this matter, will ya,
please? It's got us throwing things
at the old portable.
DEFINITIONS
Dictator.—A man whose ambition
is to bomb the baby show at Asbury
Park.
DO YOU REMEMBER—
Away back when America thought
European wars were none of her
business?
There is talk of sending Senator
Pepper to the allies in exchange for
two Chamberlains and a good utility
infielder.
Next year Americans will be look-
ing back and remarking, "Do you
remember away back in 1939 and
1940 when taxes were infinitesimal?”
PEEPUL’S CHOICE
I'm sick of hearing the brassy ring
Of each politician's voice,
And when the elections come next
fall,
Here’s how I shall make my choice:
I’ll vote for whoever will swear to
bring
A balmy spring!
SANDRA T. HERRICK.
• • •
Whatever became of Neville
Chamberlain?
REFRAIN
Reading an English novel,
I often wonder whether
I'll get through without a single
"Pull yourself together.”
Reading the sporting pages,
I don’t have to go great length
Before I learn that so and so
"Was a tower of strength.”
The one that really gets me
I'll murder and no maybe,
That boss of mine next time he says,
"Now that is your baby,”
CLAYPIPE McSULLIVAN.
ee e
Ninety-six New York school pu-
pils were found in one movie house
playing hookey in a single afternoon
recently. It is becoming pretty clear
that if education is to get anywhere
in this country the schools have got
to pay more attention to organ mu-
sic, soft seats and double features.
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Preusser, Theodore A. The Giddings Star (Giddings, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, June 28, 1940, newspaper, June 28, 1940; Giddings, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1633744/m1/6/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Giddings Public Library and Cultural Center.