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Show MERSPWD Washington, D. C. WOMEN INFLUENCE HISTORY All through history, from Helen ol Troy to the Duchess of Windsor, women have influenced the tides ol fate. And if it had not been for s woman in the life of Gen. Douglas MacArthur he probably would noi have been in a position to perforrr. his heroic defense of tfie Philip pines and command Australia today. Just after the last war, the belle of Washington society was vivacious Louise Brooks, step-daughter of the millionaire Edward T. Stotesbury, s partner of J. P. Morgan. She was the toast of Washington. General Pershing, just returned from France, was one of her most devoted attendants. attend-ants. Admiral Beatty, hero of the battle of Jutland, was another. Once, after a dinner at Mrs. Marshall Mar-shall Field's both Pershing and Beatty escorted Louise to her car, nearly had an altercation over who was to take her home. But General MacArthur, then superintendent su-perintendent of West Point, stepped in and married the lady. Shortly thereafter, General Pershing, not at all happy over MacArthur's victory, vic-tory, transferred him to the Philippines. Philip-pines. MacArthur and his wife were stationed sta-tioned in the Philippines for several years. And although the marriage later ended in divorce, it was Mac-Arthur's Mac-Arthur's tour of duty in Manila which acquainted him with Filipino leaders and later brought about his return as field marshal of the Philippine Philip-pine army. BORED BY WASHINGTON As a reward for selling $25,000 worth of war savings bonds and stamps, Delbert Hudson, Reno, Nev., newsboy, recently was given a free trip to the nation's capital by the Kiwanis club. For several days young Delbert led the life of Riley. He was entertained by Vice President Presi-dent Wallace, U. S. senators and high treasury officials. He lived in an expensive hotel, toured all the showplaces and polished off numerous numer-ous ice cream sodas. "Well, Delbert," asked Sen. ' Pat McCarran of Nevada when it was all over, "what do you like best about Washington?" "My bed," yawned Delbert, "I'm tired." SOLOMON ATTACK A TEST Inside fact about the attack on the Solomon islands is that it was very carefully planned six weeks in advance, ad-vance, and was different from any other naval action in the Pacific. U. S. naval raids on the Gilbert and Marshall islands were hit and run affairs. There our navy had no idea of enemy strength, but depended de-pended on quick surprise hits and speedy withdrawal. In the battle of the Coral sea also, we were able to take the Japs by surprise. And in the battle of Midway, Mid-way, we knew the enemy was coming, com-ing, while the Japs did not know we knew. But in the Solomon islands battle, our reconnaissance planes had made advance surveys and we knew fairly fair-ly accurately the size of the enemy knew also that we were up against a tough job that would exact heavy cost. There is every reason to believe, too, that the Japs knew about our preparations, because troop transports trans-ports cannot be loaded and brought within striking distance without enemy ene-my scouting planes sighting them. Therefore, this was a real test in more ways than one. For instance, this was the first time land, air and sea forces all have co-operated in a single striking strik-ing force. Upon the final outcome of that cooperation co-operation will depend whether the United States follows the advice of many high army-navy strategists and concentrates more on the Pacific Pa-cific than on Europe. BRITAIN'S FUTURE A U. S. official, back from London, Lon-don, tells of standing in line for breakfast at the Hotel Waldorf. Just ahead of him he heard an English lady say: "After this war is over, we'll have to fight a war of independence to save ourselves from becoming the 49th state of the United States." This semi-good-natured, semi-grousing semi-grousing attitude, according to Americans returned from London is rather typical of the apprehension which exists as to what will happen to Britain after the war. There is no hostility in this, but a realistic awareness that the war is strengthening United States ties and weakening British ties, with Australia, Canada and Africa MERRY-GO-ROUND C Not satisfied with 100 per cent participation par-ticipation in the war savings campaign, cam-paign, the doughboys bought a $25 bond for their mascot, "Blackout " a tiny black dog . . . When "Black out's" bond comes due, the money will go to the SPCA. ft Even the lepers are suffering from the shipping shortage. lne high com missioner of Guadeloupe, French West Indies, has asked U. S assist ance to get 300 kilograms of chaul moogra oil from Brazil, needed for treating lepers. |