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Show THE PROGRESSIVE OPINION Opinions Vary on Success Of Mexican Labor Plans West, Southwest Farmers Reported Object-ing to Minimum Wage Clause; Many Prefer Familiar 'Padrone' System. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. r. si their money in planting the long-stapl- e cotton the government wants. Neither Senator Downey's office nor Senator McFarland's had any comments on the padrone system. Then I talked with a department of agriculture official. He was of the opinion that the contracts had worked out fairly well, and he point-ed out that there was an "ide-ological" as well as a practical ob-jection on the part of the farmers to the contract the objection to es-tablishing a minimum wage for farm labor. Here are three quite different view-points. They represent a tiny frac-tion of the tangle which Washington has to untangle, has to reconcile. If Washington is a madhouse, who made it mad? MacArthur Lauded For Leadership When the chapter of war history dealing with the Battle of New Guinea is written, it will be one of the most important in the whole book. That is what military men here tell me. WNU Service, 1343 H Street, N-- Washington, D. C. What has happened to the scheme for bringing Mexican labor into the United States to help fill the gap left by the drain which industry and the draft have made on the farm? In trying to get an answer to that question I turned up some rather interesting data which I wish to sub-mit as an answer to that slur on our fair city that you hear frequently these days: "Washington is a mad house." It may at least explain what makes the wild cat wijd. I first went to an official in one of the war agencies with my query about Mexican labor. He is a very energetic, sincere worker, an anti-Ne- Dealer, who is here trying to do his share to win the war. I am not permitted to use his name. He said: "Somebody in our government with a lot of high ideals went to the Mexican government and made an agreement to send Mexican laborers to the United States. They arranged to have a contract which would deal with each laborer as a free agent and put in all sorts of condition which the farmer who had to hire him had to agree to, including hous-ing, transportation, and a minimum per diem rate. "But instead of sending over ex-perienced farm laborers the Mexican government gathered together a lot of ne'er-do-wel- and hoboes. It didn't work. In fact, the farmers got less help than usual. The trouble was that before the officials took a hand the American farmers had been making contracts with padrones (bosses) who got the money and the workers, established the working conditions and paid the workers as they saw fit. They brought in trained workers and they made them work. But the starry-eye- d members of the Mexican and American governments wouldn't hear of making use of the padrone system." That sounded very bad to me, so I called up the offices of Senator Downey of California and Senator McFarland of Arizona, who are members of a special committee holding hearings in California and New Mexico on this question of im-ported farm labor. Success Reported Senator Downey was still in Cali-fornia but his office was enthusiastic. I was told about how successful the use of this imported Mexican labor had been under the government's plan, in the beet industry, how it worked in the great guayle rubber fields of which 500,000 acres have been planted as part of our home-grown rubber program. How the senator was arranging with the state department for the admission of more foreign labor. Then I talked with Senator Mc- Farland. He said he would go along with Senator Downey in some of the things but not all. He said the farmers' complaint in Arizona was that they got neither the quantity nor the quality of workers they want-ed. Cotton and dairy workers are their chief needs. He said that Some pf the farmers wouldn't sign a con-tract which the American govern-ment required. All protested against it. The objection was to the clause which established a minimum daily wage. The farmers said that the wprker came put to the field in the morning, picked until he wanted to quit and then weighed in. But in order to be sure he had worked his minimum hours it was necessary to have a timekeeper and a book-keeper to check on his time and the whole process was too expensive. Long-Stapl- e Cotton He said, on the whole, that the Arizona farmer didn't get as many workers as needed and didn't get as good ones as he had expected. On the department of agriculture's program for the next year there is a quota of 160,000 acres of long-stap-cotton. One hundred thousand acres are allotted to Arizona. Nor-mally, we import most of our long-stapl- e cotton frcm abroad. Senator McFarland said that unless some solution of the farm labor problem was reached, unless the present contract was modified and the Arizona farmers were assured more and better hands at a lower cost, they wouldn't be able to invest They began telling me that bit by bit just before the second front in Africa opened. Then the African .story wiped everything else off the first pages. Recently they have been talking about New Guinea again. They keep saying to me a little re-proachfully, "the American people don't realize what MacArthur has achieved down in that jungle coun-try." These aren't the "MacArthur men" there are such in the army, a little group of hero worshipers who perhaps worship a bit more fervently than logically. But the men who have watched the New Guinea cam-paign from Moresby straight up over the Owen Stanley range and down the other side and up to the eastern coast of the island tell me that Mac-Arth-and the leaders he has about him have done a great and a sig-nificant job. It is great because he has accom-plished what It was freely predicted the Japs could not do (and didn't). It is significant because it has proved that Australians and Americans, giv-en the training, can beat the Jap at his own game. They can (and have) beaten him with less training, with-out the fatalistic quality of the Jap, whose religion is to die rather than surrender even when dying isn't a military necessity. There are two reasons, which mili-tary men put forward why the battle of New Guinea has not been painted in its true colors represented in its true importance. One is the fact that MacArthur leans backward in his communiques. Another is a peculiar copy-des- k prejudice ol American newspapers, which causes them to play down reports from the distance and play up the reports from the war department in Wash-ington. There are two reasons why 's reports are given out from his headquarters in Australia instead of by the war department in Wash-ington. One is that the Australians (and perhaps MacArthur) want it that way, and another is because American newspapers, who pay a lot of money to keep correspondents in that area, don't like to have their men scooped by Washington. Why He Is Winning ( MacArthur may have another rea-son for not ballyhooing his achieve-ments. He was beaten in Bataan. He may feel that until he has a complete victory to his credit, he doesn't want to sing too loudly. But MacArthur has won so far in New Guinea because the men under his command were able to do what they never had a chance to do on Bataan because of lack of numbers, supplies and food. On New Guinea they were able to do better than the Japs could, the very things which the Japs could do best. And they did it in the kind of jungle country in which that "best" was even better. They were able to adapt themselves to the environ-ment which required a kind of fight-ing and a kind of endurance for which the Japanese had spent years in preparing. The kind of fighting that resulted in the fall of Singapore and the kind which the conventional British soldiers even the Far East-ern experts said was impossible. B R I E F S by Baufchage "An Idle Ship Is a Crime Against the Public Interests."- - so reads a sign over the door cf John H. Lof-- land, of Ship Repair and Conversion.. Officers of ships sailing the inland waters of the United States are li-censed to sail their ships on a river where no ships sail the Red River of the North. ... Inflated life belts which are stand-ard equipment on many United Na-tions ships are inflated with carbon dioxide gas the same gas which carbonates beverages and charges water and is known in its solid form as "dry ice." "If we want to keep toe kind of a world we are fighting to win, we will have to accept the duty of main-taining at all times an adequate Merchant Marine and a healthy shipbuilding industry." Admiral Vickery. The ships being built in American shipyards today have more speed, greater fuel economy than toe ships built in toe First World war. The speed increase means that three of these will "outrun" four old ones. The Red Cross has designated the week of January 4 as the Second Red Cross Benefit week of the Bow-ler's Victory Legion. From a Commentator's Mail: I have been listening at your radio talk and come to the conclusion that all talk on radio should be cen-sored. You are speaking in a way that is against the government. District of Columbia. You must be acquainted with the fact that many educated Negroes in toe larger towns already vote, and that the extension of suffrage keeps pace with the growing education of the colored people. Louisiana. WEEKLY MEWS ANALYSIS Ickes Cites Small Business Peril; Congressional Pay - as -You - Go Tax Program Gets Treasury's Approval; Fifth Russ Offensive Batters Nazis (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not necessarily of this newspaper. ) I, Released by Western Newspaper Union. 'JLitl----.- - i I SULLIVAN BROTHERS: A Tate of Heroism brothers of World The five Sullivan to become as cele-brated War II promised in American annals as the five Bixby brothers of the Civil war, immortalized by Abraham Lincoln s letter to their mother. Not yet was it known whether the Sullivan boys were dead or alive, but a navy communication to their parents in Waterloo, Iowa, ominous-ly reported them "missing in ac-tion " The brothers joined the navy to avenge a friend slain at Pearl Harbor. They were shipmates at their own request and were believed casualties of the cruiser Juneau sunk in the November battle for the Solo-mons. The Sullivan brothers are George T., 29, gunner's mate second class; Francis H., 26, coxswain; Joseph E., 23, seaman, second class; Madison A 22, seaman second class; and Albert L., 30, seaman, second class. ROAD TO TOKYO: Mired by Rains The road to Tokyo was bogged down by tropical rains that turned fighting Allied sectors in New Guinea into swampy mires, but in the air American and Australian command-ers broadened their air offensive against the Japanese with raids on four main bases. On the Allied air calling list were Madang and Finschaven on the northern New Guinea coast. Flying Fortresses supported by medium bombers and fighter planes struck likewise at Lae and Salamau. In the Lae area 160 miles up the east-ern New Guinea coast from Allied-hel- d Buna, large fires were started among barges, stores and harbor installations. In the Solomons, the plight of the Jap garrisons had grown, more se-rious as efforts to land extensive supplies had been balked by Ameri-can air power. The navy depart-ment reported that a three-da- y of-fensive on Guadalcanal island had progressed satisfactorily, with sev-eral Jap positions isolated and awaiting destruction. Air raids were continued against Munda is-land. NAZI HOME MORALE: Signs of Strain Volumes had been written by Al-lied commentators about the state of the German home front since the Russ offensives, but two brief state-ments by high Nazi officials revealed the enormously heartening fact that Reich morale had at least begun to creak. The Nazi officials were Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, propaganda min-ister, and Gen. Kurt Dietmar, a leading German military critic. Writing in the magazine Das Reich, Goebbels denounced civilian "sluggards" for impeding Nazi war Somewhere in China this soldier of Generalissimo Chiang 's armies stands guard before a line of American P40 planes at an inland air base. His shift is 24 hours at a stretch in guarding these precious craft that hold off Jap advances in China. : ' 1 r ! ; '" '. t ) i .v' I 1 Tax Gets Go-Ahe- i It had been clear that official Washington from Capitol Hill to the White House had agreed that a income tax was the most effective means of raising the multi-billio- n revenue needed to help de-fray war costs. How to apply the levy to the na-tion's 35,000,000 taxpayers and what yardstick to use had been the sub-ject of numerous recommendations. The treasury department gave its support to a bill by Sen. Bennett Clark for a new 19 per cent with-holding tax. Added to the prevail-ing 5 per cent Victory tax this would mean a total of 24 per cent with-held from payrolls. Under the Clark program the plan would be inaugurated March 15. The taxpayer would file his income tax return on that date and pay his first quarterly 1943 taxes on the basis of his 1942 income. The withholding tax would then be effec-tive on weekly or monthly pay-checks, as well as on income from interest and dividends. Persons not on payrolls such as farmers, independent business men, professional people and others could pay their taxes on a monthly or quarterly basis. FOOD PRICES: Index Up 43 Per Cent Skyrocketing retail prices of fresh fruits and vegetables, whose cost is not controlled by the OPA, were largely responsible for an increase of 43 per cent in the food cost index since August, 1939, the month be-fore World War II began, according to a summary released by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Even since the price control law began to operate last spring, Mrs. Perkins said, retail food prices have gone up because of the increases in the cost of items still uncontrolled. The index in December was 9 per cent above last May and 17 per cent above December, 1941, the month the United States entered the war. NORTH AFRICA: War vs. Politics As French forces broke the lull in North Africa's stalemated war by capturing a number of passes on the road to the Tunisian seaport of Sousse, so, too, it appeared that the French had moved effectively to end the political strife that had ham-pered all-o- action against the Axis. . The importance of the French drive toward Sousse was that it threatened the Axis land supply routes for operations in central and southern Tunisia. On the political front, Harold Mac-Milla- British minister for North Africa, predicted an agreement be-tween Gen. Henri Giraud and Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Fighting French, would remove most of the objectionable features in the present administration of North Africa. A three-wa- y conflict of interests had raged since the American in-vasion. On one side stood the Lib-erals and Republicans, who had wel. corned the Americans. On the other stood the Vichyites and Fascists. In between were the Royalists, at-tempting to capitalize on the battle. SMALL BUSINESS: Total War Casualty? Economists had long been aware of the war's menacing impact on American small business, but their statistical discourses attracted lit-tle public notice. It remained for vocal Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes to dramatize the little busi-ness man's plight when he declared that the country now faces "the bru-tal fact that the war can be the final, crushing blow to small business." Pointing out that "the major por-tion of war production contracts are going to a few large corporations," Mr. Ickes told the senate small busir ness committee that "should the small business man go, we all will go." Mr. Ickes warned that "we must guard against the loss of our tradi-tional freedom of enterprise, a loss that would result in creating a dic-tatorship by a few corporations and cartels over our jobs." FIFTH OFFENSIVE: Launched by Reds To the four Russian offensives that had jarred the Nazis loose from thousands of square miles of dearly won territory was added a fifth that appeared to be the supreme Red winter effort. Voronezh. strong point on the 1,000-mil- e Soviet line from Moscow to the Black Sea was the springboard of this drive and it was the German high com-mand itself which made the first announcement to the world. Significance of the Voronezh of-fensive was that it faced the al-ready hardpressed Nazis with a dou-ble threat. Red forces from Voro-nezh could turn due south to join the other offensives aimed at Ros-tov, or could drive westward to-ward Kursk and Karkhov in the Up-per Ukraine and menace the Nazi hold on this world-famou- s granary. Significant, too, was the fact that the Russians held the initiative. It was the Germans who were on the defensive, who must conjecture where the Reds would strike next and had costly alternatives thrust on them. In all other theaters the Russians were pressing their newly gained advantages, reoccupying areas in the Caucasus, whittling down Ger-man resistance near Stalingrad and engaging vast Nazi forces in the lower Don river reaches. AIR TEMPO: Allied Poiver Rises Prophetic of what was yet to come Allied airplanes continued to ride the skies and shower destruction on Axis-hel- d European and Mediterra-nean areas. Hitler's armory in the Ruhr val-ley was the target of repeated bomb-ing- Lille, locomotive manufactur-ing center of northern France, ex-perienced gutting raids. On the route, also were Abbeville and St. Omar near the British channel coast of France. In the Mediterranean, Allied bombers were active both on the is-land bases serving Axis troops and on the African mainland itself. Med-iterranean attacks were made on Crete, Sicily and Lampedus. Afri-can raids were made on Horns, near Tripoli and between Sousse and Sfax. PAUL JOSEPH GOEBBELS ... Propaganda in reverse. activities, called for more and announced that "burdens on the home front can and will be increased." General Dietmar said that wheth-er they like it or not, Germans would have to put up with new re-strictions to provide more troops. He admitted that the Russians had broken through German lines on the southern front, and that the situa-tion was becoming serious. "The need has come for still greater hard-ships at home," he said, "to in-crease the flow of recruits to the front." NAVY MAIL: To Be Speeded Because the problem of mail de-liveries to men in the navy, marine corps and coast guard has been complicated by the vast increase in personnel, the navy department an-nounced that two rules would be placed in effect immediately to in- sure prompt service: Parcel post packages must weigh not more than five pounds and meas- ure not more than 15 inches in length and 36 inches in length and girth combined. Inappropriate sec- ond and third class matter such as advertising circu'ars would not be forwarded to men overseas. WAR PRODUCTION: No 'Self Congratulation' War production and manpower management have alternately be subjects for national praise 2 blame. The latter was toe theme of a report laid before he Tolan committee, whciocnhghreass bv general maladministration," ged hazard P" smaU industry fthentf ' ffort t"! committee had been number of months studyinTwut! Declaring that "we cannot afford the equipment of our own force very uneven. 13 The committee , Point program of "correeUves- T HIGHLIGHTS in the week's news LONDON: King George signed a proclamation lowering from 20 to 19 the age at which women are liable to be drafted for national service. Single women born between July 1 and December 31, 1922, will have the privilege of choosing between work in war industry and the uni-form services, or they may volun-teer for nursing before being called up for national war work. CHUNGKING: Generalissimo Chi-ang Kai-she- speaking of the trea-ties with the United States and Great Britain abolishing special con-cessions and privileges of those na-tions in China, told his people, "henceforth if we are weak, if we lack the fault will be ours." Chiang said "until today the Chinese could rightly feel their efforts to build a nation were blocked by the unequal treaties, but that the United States and Britain have "proved their high ideals and lofty ourpose." He added that "this is our Iden opportunity." ' ! NEW HAVEN: Yale's historic campus became a place of marching commands and shouted commands when the army air force technical command school established its big- gest cadet training school here for men who will keep Uncle Sam's planes in condition to fly and do' pho-tographic and communications work necessary to plot their way. 3,000 of- ficer candidates will be quartered. STOCKHOLM: Faced by increas-ing demands on their manpower by developments on the Russian and Mediterranean fronts, the Nazis have appealed to Generalissimo Franco of Spain to aid the Axis official German sources here report- ed. Franco has been reminded of his promise a year ago to "mobilize 3,000,000 men against the European archenemy if it should prove neces-sary." The same sources reported mat the Germans were calling uo for military service Most of them belong to the Hitler Youth organization. CLASSIFIF; D E P A R TtoV BARBERSWS BARBERS WANTEdJp t near Marysville, cut. Make 6o3f,S?.' 707 comm. Dormitorv ? work lor single men. $5 to""1 l: Rout, 1. Maryvlli;,W(?('i?Vil: i I ECZEMA, RINGte Athlete's Foot and other (,,' causing irritation of hands and feet. QUICKI v ' COOLING, HEALING PC !t' thousands. 60c and CmC" K. or mailed direct from ". e THE RING-G- C0Md. i When the soldier talks "the skipper" he means"' tain, the head of his Cj And that's just what the tr tain" means. It comes word "caput" r "head." Another leader Army men's favor sinee Camel Cigarettes. (Basid tual sales records from P changes and Sales Corr.rr.;; It's the gift they prefer fr home folks. If you have a tive or friend in the sen., him a carton of Camr-ls-dealer is featuring Carr.ti to send to service men.-- .;; StJosepIi ASPIRIN t ' WORLD'S LARGEST SELLER H All this and even serio may be due to B Coir: deficiency. Play safe! .. B Complex Vitamins a: .. medically recognized B l e; mins. Quality pouno guaranteed! Unit for uri:. get finer quality at an'. GROVE'S B Complex only 29 cents for tin size ... only a dollar for: t large size overamonti supply. Get GROVE'S B Complex Vitamins tod;-- GROVES Relisvs I".'" Put Vicks ol up each nostril. It (1) shrinks swollen membranes, (2) soothes irritation, i (3) helps clear cold- - clogged nose. Follow directions ' in folder. V J WNU W M"' Tfc romo ,w' aviation Mf Hawk to the Cc 'fc THE INSIDE s: f AMMCAH ; I By HARRY t" "A fascinating ,c' : f chapter in the nation '. 5 written by an W-ff Here lithe stirring fP. if achievement! in th "" --' Ing forecast of '" " OVER AMERICA is ", Qccount of the WriaMs, Charle. Lindbergh, r""1 the pioneers as well " " ,. planes in the thick B"" , Over 100 rare photos, ! printed. 416 pages. Already in 3rd ff At your favorite b"t" postpaid on f; ROBERT M.McE"' Book P""''",;,-11- IAST 16TH SIM"' X1 'Genuine Fahe' " J For a decade after an Italian sc': cleverly imitated the wo"- masters that, unknpwn tii scrupulous dealers sold r; them as genuine, says c After the expose, Dosser famous and his imitatiti eagerly sought. At an auction of his ' New York in 1933, every r' er requested and receiv,.i tificate from the Italian'-- ' ment guaranteeing each t be a "genuine fake." national AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD Big Issues in Peace With Japan... Will Germany Collapse This Spring? . Bell Syndicate WNU Features. WASHINGTON. If this winter fol-lows anything like the pattern m Russia that last winter did, we may expect Russian successes to con-tinue as long as bitter cold weather lasts. By the same token, with the advent of spring, the tide may turn Nazi ad-vances. and we may see further No one anywhere has anything but praise for the Soviet forces. Their fighting has been magnificent, their strategy admirable. The fact re-mains that they lost a great deal more last summer than they had gained last winter, measure in ter-ritory. For example take a look at the map, seeing approximately where the battle lines are now. Then note the position, with references to the battle lines, of Sevastopol. It will be seen that the Germans could be driven a long way back without sur-rendering the gains they made last summer. This is the best answer to the question so frequently asked: wheth-er the Russians will content them-selves with driving the Germans back across their frontier, or will they pursue the Germans to Berlin. From the present outlook the Nazis will be on Russian soil until the Ger-man collapse comes. Just Like in 1918 It also seems probable, just as in 1918, that the collapse will come without the German army being driven back into Germany on any front. It will not be necessary for the Soviet forces to retake Sevasto-pol to win the war. Sevastopol is mentioned only because it is an ob-vious landmark illustrating that the Germans are still holding, and will continue to hold unless the Soviet successes are much more spectacu-lar than any so far this winter, much of their gain made last sum-mer. And it must be remembered that this last summer's Nazi gain was made after what had been as-sumed to be a perfectly disastrous campaign for the Germans in the winter of 1911-4- Actually, every bit of information, with due allowance for the lack of outside checking possible on this highly screened and censored front, is that Russia is cutting out the heart of the German war power in men, food and supplies. If, on top of this, the Germans can be driven completely out of Africa before they get a chance to start their spring drive against the Russians, it may well be that the effect on the Ger-man morale will approach closely the point necessary to bring out a collapse. Korean Seizure by Japan Not So Good Not content with talking about the Four Freedoms as the basis of peace terms, the sweetness and light advocates are already talking about geographical boundaries. One of these recently said what should be done about Japan the Nipponese to keep all territory they had on De-cember 7, 1941. Now that is not only cockeyed, it flies directly in the face of one policy which this government has pursued through two administrations those of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Back in the Hoover days when Japan moved in on Manchuria, thus starting the inevitable progres-sion of conquest which led up to Pearl Harbor, a protest was made by the secretary of state, Henry L Stimson. This is the same Stimsori who is now secretary of war. In fact it sems very likely that if Stimson had succeeded in getting Britain to join the U. S. in that pro- test, the present trouble in the Pa-cific might have been avoided. At least Japan might not now be such a formidable opponent. Of course 8 mere protest would not have been enough. Japan would have had to be convinced that Britain and the U. S. would fight rather than see her pursue her aggressions on conti- nental Asia. j , And how about Korea? The seizure ol Korea by Japan is not an episode of our history of which any Ameri- can could be proud. Perhaps it is just as well that so few Americans know anything about it. But toe truth ,s that the United States had hnH6aty KOTea UDder W to protect her from outside aggressions. We X about that treaty when Japan "moved One can well imagine how most tlTnrifcathPwouW have felt ab m WIth th Four Freedoms, ' should T7Vh1 folks dia, but not eem toed "P abUt In" Manchuria and orea and ther obvious fa?Ct t? of years every tnp b0?'" empire has been 1 rule, while home nese empire every has beef 7he JaPa" into deep" W islands CSt matted Miss Liberty's B The book held by Mi i her statue in New Yo:.-- : represents the law. On i: letters is the date, July 4. meaning "liberty based er. No Railroad in I Although Iceland of 120,010, railway trjere. Fear of Evil Often the fear of om us into a worse. Bo |