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Show ITTVTAII RASIN RECORD Fear of Farm Land Boom By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union. Adds to Inflation Worry Figures Show Agricultural Unit Values Have Increased 20 to 24 Per Cent in Year. Official By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WAR RAISES VALUE OF FARM REAL ESTATE (VALUE PER ACRE IN U S.AJ 00000 00000 00000 GG 00000 00000 00000 G 00000 00000 G 00000 00 00000 0000 1912MOOOOO 1921 1929 1933 1942 Each symbol represents 5 WNU Service, Union Trust Building Washington, D. C. For many months now, government offices and Conference rooms, no matter how they might echo with glowing reports from the home or the battle front, have never been quite free from a ghost. It hovers in the corner and sends chills down every spine It is the ghost of Old Man Inflation, trying to come back to the scene of his crimes In the roaring twenties. The Office of War Information has Just issued a warning that this specter may appear in his most frightful form if we are not careful. The fat pay envelope is the inflation danger you hear most about. But there is a worse one, namely, a farm land boom. So far, there has been no spectacular rise in farm land prices but a dangerous trend has been discovered in some states and the bureau of agricultural economics is decidedly worried. Here are some figures. of 1912-1- 4 value loses, the rest of the country does, too. We have struggled through minor industrial panics, as we used to call them, but when the farm goes, it means that things are in such a way that there is no stopping until everybody touches bottom. Campaign Worked in 41 The article which I wrote in 1941 reported a meeting here in Washington of mortgage bankers, insurance people, farm organization representatives and others who were urged by the Farm Credit administration to make normal appraisals of land. Apparently they did a pretty good job. Meanwhile, an educational campaign was started urging the farmer, instead of rushing out and buying land with the first money he got as income increased, to pay off his debts. It was gratifying to see the results. In the next year the net reduction of mortgages was 360 million dollars as against an average of 120 million reduction over the three preceding years. Of course, there is nothUp 20 Per Cent ing Old Man Inflation hates worse As of March 1 of this year, increases in farm land values over than seeing debts paid up. Another thing which has helped those of the previous year were 20 the present situation is the fact that to 24 per cent. In September, 1941, I wrote in the farmers who are buying land now usually put up a large initial these columns: cash payment. In other words, they Money to burnl And the burning question is how are avoiding future debts and that is to stop the conflagration before it another thing, of course, which is starts. The chief danger is another equally unpleasant to Old Man Inprairie fire of farm land speculation flation. such as started in Iowa in World There Is nothing to stop the farmWar I . . . Today, two years after er from speculating in land if he the present war started, farm land wants to, buying on a margin the prices are up 1 per cent way the gamblers used to do on Remember, tha was written in the stock exchange. Now such transSeptember, 1941. Well, steps were actions are considerably limited by taken to prevent speculation then law but there is no law to keep a and they met with success. How- farmer from gambling if he doesnt know any better. ever, as we have seen by comparing figures, land prices in some states have now Increased considerably, That is natural for much Psychology tor has happened since 1941. In 1942, The Fighting Man as the Office of War Information I have just been reading a little points out, "for the first time in 20 booklet called Psychology for the years, the annual average of farm Fighting Man." It is one of those reached with other prices parity books published primarily for the prices. Since the outbreak of the soldiers, and every soldier able to war, the average of farm prices to have it. It has 20 has risen more than 90 per cent, read, ought n and farm income by about 80 per chapters, each written by a cent while the average prices paid line. psychologist or expert in his Any chapter can be read sepby farmers, including interest and and they are all highly intaxes, has increased about 25 per arately teresting. Familiarity with them cent. will any man a better soldier Farm income was around 19 bil- and make a lion dollars in 1941 it will be about on mobsbetter leader. The chapter is only one. It tells how 22 billion for 1943. and why mobs form, what starts a That means, of course, that the panic and how to stop one. farmer has money to spend and it But here are a few of the other Is natural that land values would I found exceedingly interesttopics rise to some degree. As I said, they ing: have gone up as high as 24 per cent in some states and less than 6 Psychology and combat in the dark per cent in only six states. Those Seeing Color and camouflage the of bureau says figures, agricultural economics bear watching! Food and sex as military problems It is also reported that bankers in Differences among races and peoples some parts of the Middle West be- and many others. Simply-tol- d psychology. lieve that In some cases, the land In this war. a man needs all the values have risen beyond their real worth based on the earn- helps of that kind that he can get ing capacity of the land. That, if for the contrast between army life it is true, of course means that and civilian life is greater than ever. This book, "Psychology for the right now some farmers are buying land that won't pay for itself. Fighting Man, is put out by a nonIt is reasonable to suppose that profit corporation the Infantry they are not members of that un- Journal, here in Washington. It happy group of 8r),000 farm owners costs only a quarter. It is for the who met Old Man Inflation before soldier, sailor, private or general, and who lost their property under ensign or admiral And it would be foreclosures in the decade that enfi-e- d a good idea for a lot of next of in 1939. If they are, they desene kin to read this book, too. It might to suffer again. But the unfortu- help them to understand what the nate thing is that when the farmer soldier is up against. ... well-know- long-tim- e BRIEFS by Baukhage In addition to the two pairs of shoes issued every American soldier on entering the service, three extra pairs must be available in reserve, and two more pairs in process of manufacture. The Japanese Dome! agency disclosed that Emperor Hirohito had sent a message of "congratulations to Marshal Henri Fhil.ppe Petain, Vichy chief of state, "on the occa-sio- n of Bastille day." Almost 1 billion rounds of small arms ammunition is being turned out each month. That is seven times as much as the 1918 peak. Under wartime operation, railroad freight cars must tiavel about 16 per cent fuither on the average haul. other day veterans of THE 42nd Division of World I their reunion in held War Then they went Okla. Tulsa, to Camp Gruber near Muskogee, there to see the reactivation of their tradition-ric- h outfit, to pass on to the new 42nd Division of World War II their honored battle flags and to gaze proudly upon the shoulder patch adorning the uniform of each man in it the red, yellow and blue which striped quarter-circl- e was the sign and symbol of a First-clas- s fightin man, a member of the Rainbow Division. ... THE RAINBOW became the Insignia of the 42nd division uent the division Into action In the Champagne operation. From the time that he told of seeing the rainbow in the sky from his bivouac in the Baccarat sector, rainbows kept showing up at decisive hours in the divisions history, as if to justify Its selection as the 42nds talisman. Before long veterans of our regular army as well as veteran French and British troops were joining in proclaiming the Rainbow division as one of the hardest fighting outfits in France. Here is its record, as given in a series of articles on AEF Diviwritten several sional Insignia, years ago by Sergt. Herbert E. Smith for the United States Recruiting News: First Taste of War. It trained under veteran French soldiers in Lorraine, and elements of the Rainbow division entered the front line trenches for the first time February 21, 1918 This was along the Luneville sector, at a point north r, of through Ancerviller, the eastern edge the 42nd fell the chief burden of the It was ordered to main attack. storm the heights on both sides of Sergy and, in conjunction with the French on the left, to take Hill 184 northwest of A Deadly Hail of Fire. The 168th infantry crossed the stream under a deadly hail of fire, to climb by slow stages to the crest of Hill 212, between Sergy and Cierges. The 167th meanwhile, had made its way down the Rue de la Taveme, crossed the Ourcq, and swept on up the northern slope of the hilly country. New Yorks fighting Irish of the 165th Infantry emerged from Villers and secured a precarious lodgment on the slopes on either side of Mercury Farm. Subjected to the same raking fire that had made this push so costly, this fine regiment still carried on, plunging forward to the sunken road north and west of Sergy. By midafternoon the weary doughboys of the 42nd division were batcombat tling in mortal with the Germans in the streets of Sergy. The enemy troops were of the 4th Prussian Guard, grim and spirited fighters embittered by recent German setbacks, veterans all and determined men. Twice the Americans were rushed out of Sergy, but thrice the Yanks returned, and the third time the Americans captured the entire village. Again the men of the Rainbow division had proved to be of heroic mould. In the St. Mihiel drive, launched the 42nd, with in the 1st and 2nd, formed the spearhead of the attack which penetrated deepest Into the enemy positions. In the main attack, the 2nd division captured Thiaucourt, the 1st took Nonsard, and the 42nd division drove through to Pannes. Through the thick of the heaviest e action of the operation, the Rainbow carried on. It penetrated the Kriemhilde line, slopes swooped up the about Romange and Cote Dame Marie; it seized Cote de Chatillon by skillful infiltration behind its protective wire, and early in November, on the extreme left flank of the American attack, it began to fight through Bulson, Thelonne and on the Meuse, to gain the cherished final objective Sedan. The taking of Sedan, for sentimental and historic reasons, however, was left to the French 9th corps, on the left of the Rainbow. On the night of November 10 the 42nd division was relieved, and assembled in the area of Artaise-le-Viviand Les The Full Tide of Victory. The 42nd thus shared In the full tide of victory, on the morning of November 11, 1918. The American Second army was even then preparing for a general assault in the direction of Metz, in an offensive with the famous Mangin and 20 French divisions. The Meuse had been crossed, French troops in Sedan in retaliation for the terrible French defeat there in 1870; the Germans were on the run, almost in utter rout. Naturally, the Rainbow was one of the crack divisions of the AEF chosen to be a part of the American Army of Occupation. Concentrating near Stenay, it began the long hike into the Rhineland on November 20. On December 14 it took its station in Germany in the Kreis of Ahrweiler. Training continued there, on the steep hill of the Rhineland, through the winter and spring of until April 5, when the division began entraining for Brest. On April 9 the first element to sail for the United States, the 117th Trench Mortar Battery, boarded a transport for an American port. By May 12, demobilization had been completely effected at Camps Upton, Dix, Grant and Dodge. After the storm, the rainbow!" The reactivation took place at midnight the Champagne hour," so called because It was the hour when the last great German push of World War I, the Champagne That offensive, offensive, began. which started on July 14, 1918, broke to pieces against the stubborn resistance of those fighting Yanks of the Rainbow division and from that day the might of the kaisers armies ebbed until It reached low tide In a railroad car in Compeigne forest four months later. Two Messages. Before the veterans of the Rainbow division of a quarter century ago adjourned their 1943 meeting, they sent two messages to widely separated parts of the world. One was flashed to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, somewhere in the Southwest Pacific," because it was he who had given their ! division its nickname. The other t was the traditional reunion greetGen. Henri Joseph ings to Eugene Gouraud, who commanded the Fourth French army, which included the American division, at the historic battle in the Champagne sector July 14 and 15, 1918 The message was sent to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander-in-chie- f of the Allied forces in the European theater of war, to be transmitted to General Gouraud somewhere in Occupied France. In the early summer of 1917 a young colonel named Douglas MacArthur was serving as censor for news coming out of the war departVisited by ment in Washington. newspaper men one day, he told A them of the forthcoming organization of a new division to be com$ posed of units from 27 states and ' the District of Columbia. As the 3 & journalists were leaving, MacArthur remarked that the assembling of so v 'I 4tC many units from so many states into V V one division was somewhat like r making up a rainbow. Struck by ' v the aptness of the expression, the stoin men their used it newspaper irnnnWr ries and the nickname stuck to the HENRI GOURAUD GEN. division when it was organized on to him, each year, a greeting at 1, and concentrated 1917, August Camp Mills on Long Island in New of the Bois Banal, to the eastern York. and northern edges of the Foret de While the division was still at Parroy. Elements of the 42nds arCamp Mills, many different kinds of tillery brigade entered the Dom-basrainbow designs were used as divisector, also on the night of the sional insignia. They were irregular 21st, to receive their first taste of In size but nearly all were a half combat warfare affiliated with the circle with the three colors of red, French 41st division. From March 31 to June 21 the yellow and blue in them. It was not until the division was engaged in division occupied the Baccarat seca major action in the Meuse-Argontor in Lorraine, moving from there in the Vosges. that the final, official de- to sign was conceived and adopted. Then came July, with its heavy Col. William N. Hughes Jr., who fighting in the Champagne and had succeeded Col. Douglas MacAr- Champagne-Marn- e areas. The highthur as chief of staff of the division, light of the 42nd divisions activities determined the measurements, re- at this time would seem to be the duced the original design to a quar- battle of La Croix Rouge Farm. ter circle and telegraphed the deThis farm was a low, widespread scription, with the approval of Maj. group of stone buildings connected Gen. Charles T. Menoher, then diviby walls and ditches. The Germans had made an enormous machine gun sion commander, to corps headquarters. nest of this natural stronghold, and It Is one of the cherished had defied several earlier detertraditions of the 42nd that Genmined efforts of Allied troops to diseral Menoher, acting on an lodge them from this key position. omen of a rainbow in the sky. The 167th and the 168th infantry regiments, old Alabama and Iowa troops respectively, struggled all day, July 26, against this nest of horrors. It was practically impossible to rush this enemy stronghold across the open; endeavors to work I v. 1 ! around the edges were thrown back ' f t an accurate punishby flanking fire; , . ? ing shell fire from the German artillery ripped through the wet underbrush; gas, made doubly dangerous by the moisture, swirled about in terrible gusts. At last, two platoons of assembled casuals volunteers, all, from the 167th and 168th led by two lieutenants, squirmed their way forward, Indian fashion, and closed upon the farm buildings with grenades and bayonet. The raid, staged at dusk, was successful. The 42nd possessed La Croix Rouge farm at nightfall, but at a fearful cost in dead and wounded. 1 Less than a week later these same GEN, CII MILLS T. MENOHER regiments, with their sister outfits GEN. DOUGLAS Mac ARTHUR he saw a rainbow on the of the Rainbow, were . he named It the Rainbow" pressing foreve of battle ward toward the Ourcq river. Upon division Neu-ville- Celles-sur-Plain- d hand-to-han- d Meuse-Argonn- fire-swe- Petites-Armoise- t f w ill! ... le ne Chatel-sur-Mosel- s. 1918-191- A j ... Forty-Secon- d Division Added Many Names to Our Roll of Heroes Besides Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who has become one of the outstanding heroes of World War II, the Rainbow division included in its personnel others who were marked for future fame. Among these were Col. William J. ("Wild Bill) Donovan, Brig Gen. Charles P, Summer-all- . Father James P. Duffy, chaplain of New York's Fighting lush (the 163th infantry), and Sergt. Joyce Kilmer, destined to be remembered not so much for his exploits in war as peacetime accomplishment tillery (155s), 151st field artillery his writing the poem Trees. (75's), 117th trench mortar batThe 42nd division was made up of tery. the following outfits: Divisional troops: 149th machine gun battalion, 117th engineers, 117th 83rd infantry brigade; 165th Infield signal battalion, headquarters fantry, 166th infantry, 150th machine troop. gun battalion, Trains: 117th train headquarters 84th infantry brigade: 167th in and military police. 117th ammum-tio- n 168th fantry, infantry, 151st machine train, 117th supply train, 117th gun battalion. train, 117th sanitary train engineer 67th field aitillery brigade: 149th (ambulance companies and field field artillery (73's), 150th field ar hospitals s, Voice Over Telephone Howe there? Answer What do you a stock yard? , thu' Notes of an Innocent Bystander: The Magic Lanterns: Take For Whom the Bell Tolls" as a hearty action flicker, and youve got something to like. The acting of Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, Katina Paxi-no- u and the cast is big time. It all holds together fine. But if you want Hemingways story, which called Franco some of the things he is, this isnt your dish. All very proper and sparing of the Fascist feelings . . . Too bad it was released right after Allen Chases sizzling Falange, documented truth about what Francos Spain Is up to. The cinema has made Hemingway flabby, poor auv. The Wireless: The commentators, especially the Britons, were full of contradictions during the first days in Sicily. They kept cautioning us that It looked tough ahead. Then theyd have to report the fabulous progress that had been made . . . Bob Trout debunked the idea that the Sicilians were Fascist-hater- s who would jump right in on our side. He cited a dispatch from John Gunther to prove his point. Gunther reported that on the first night three Allied sentries had their throats cut . . . Joe Goebbels, the liar who looks like a midget, kidded the home folks, but betrayed his panic to the His radio stooges claimed world. that all landings in Sicily were save a few on the East coast That being the only coast that was visited . . . Willkie put this common sense into the mikes: It is time for us to decide whether we are going to commit ourselves to staying in this war until it has been really won In a lasting peace and not in just an armistice , . . The whimpering of the Axis makes delicious listening. short-wave- " Could It Be? What does Teacher mean? Pupil Cubic is the spoken by the people in 'H On a little service station out on the edge of a west ert there bangs a shingle the strange legend: D us for information. If V( v anything we wouldnt be y Poor Cat A house agent was she very modem flat to a proiy tenant, who, struck by thqv size of the rooms, excj t Why, theres not enough to swing a cat round! yj Perhaps, said the ague not bad a be idea ; might to change your hobby! When the soldier talks at h abo skipper he means his c,a the head of his company o thats just what the title c n means. It comes from the word caput meaning Another leader high in the mans favor is Camel ciga theyre first choice with rrj the Army. (Based on actu records from service me stores.) When youre send. from home, keep in mine carton of cigarettes is alwa I I welcome. And though tb Post Office restrictions ages to overseas Army ir can still send Camels to in the U. S., and to men Navy, Marines, and Coast; wherever they are. Adv. I CLASSIFY D E PA RTME t Max Werner The Magazines: dc makes a point worth thinking about WANT" FEATHERS in Liberty. It is the Nazis, he writes, re OLD or NEW WArgjj who are cheered by all this talk of Prices 41 FEATHERS a long war. That is their only hope Dealing Ship Lxpm ( now, Werner reminds, since the PILLOW MFC. C0 2219 Cole Street, Stl Blitz is gone on the Fritz. Werner guesses there will be a ninth inning RAZOR BLADE! in 1944 . . , Colliers is concerned or Dm r, (editorially) about Americans who KENT BLADES Singly Ihe Ontsti keep picking on John L. Lewis. Blade U The editorialist fears that criticism of labors prima donna may arouse PHOTO FINISH! new attempts to slow up the war efta 4x PICTURES ron BEAUTIFUL fort. Such leaves me 120 all ,et 3Vix4 s nail-bitin- g cold. Beverly Hills Novelette: He is well known among the Texas millionaires , . . After a long struggle to accumulate his great wealth he decided to settle down and marry . . . Where does an aging man with nearly all the money in the world, he once said, find a woman who will marry him because she cares about him and not his He finally met a lovedough?" ly gal considerably younger . . . If you marry me, he proposed, Ill build you the most beautiful home In California among all the movie stars and we will give wonderful parties there and meet them all . , . But thats not what I I want someone want," she said. who loves me. A beautiful mansion and all the money there is couldnt make me live In it. If you want to try your luck. Ill marry you" . . . And so they were married . . . The mansion is now his tomb A week after it was finished she ran away with the interior decorator. ... Vfe from negatives, sizes, 3 Vac EA. Bolls 8 exp 30c-45c 16 exp. 60c 36 e p $1 25. 0 on enlarge, on portrait paper, cor- - F from oki new pict OVERNITE S PACIFIC PHOTO SFRVIC1 SAN FRANCISCO TS P. O. Box 6b6-- V GUERNSEY HEIFIffi HIGH GRADE GUERNSEY HE under one year and yearlings pa springer heifers Special price FRED CHANDLER. CHARITON ai j t in Early Permanent Wanr The Egyptian women c'he patras time practiced pern waving. he NO ASPIRIN FAST? than genuine, pure SL Joseph Worlds largest seller at lOd. Noi.,nr none surer. Demand SL Joseph f. en Pigeons Flying Jlusclt j The flying muscles of at;3 represent half its weight. , ... Studio Small Talk: They hear Myma Loy will return to pictures with Wm. Powell in "The Thm Man Comes Home. And then one film a year for MGM . . . Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino and Ann Sheridan are dickering to finance films in Mexico . . . Robert Donat, the star, is in Algeria broadcasting news for BBC. He was first to air the Sicily invasion . . . The Victory Through film has reconciled Gen. Arnold and Major Seversky . , Barbara Brewster (Mrs. A. has retained former U. S. Attorney I. R. Kaufman in her melting action , . . Insiders hear that it may be a sizzler . . . Edith Gwynns sum-u- p of a certain celeb: Shes my best false friend! Help sore, itchy, e) Brown Derby Titkertape: Add local fads: Mrs. Darryl Zanuck wears her husbands campaign ribbons . . . OPA has abandoned price control over book-endartificial fruit and reading racks. The Intelligentsia: John Lardner and Vincent Sheean are among the correspondents back in town . . . Lt. Doug Fairbanks, on leave, appears younger than ever. Faces About Movletown: Greer Garson in tears over a surprise gift of jewelry from The Gang during the last take of Mme. Curie" . . Mervyn LeRoys headache shaving it from 20 reels to 14 . . . The Chaplins on a Beverly Hills corner chatting. And not a passerby stared. ("Whaddaya think this is New Yoik?) , . . Sophie Tucker, who attracls a weekly gross of near-l- y $10,000 m a local cafe. Previous stars there averaged 22 Gs Capt. 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Burning, scanty or too frequ mi tfon eom times warns that !rjn ia wrong. You may suiTor nirrr ache headaches, diz7ina r r. pains, getting up at niRhn sJc Why not try Doan $ 1 be using a medicine recomm O country over. loon a stimuUt ( tton of the kuinrjs and blp tp flush out poisonous waste blood. They contain nothin! 5 P Get PooTi'e today Lae with I At all drug stores. |