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Show Merchant Marine Academy Develops Fighting Officers World Monetary Plans Combat Training Is Part of Extensive Cadet Requirement Seen as Boon to Trade Funds Would Help Restore Production and Stimulate Exchange of Goods in Postwar Era, Treasury Says. nations 'T'HE newest service sends its undergraduates to sea as part of their normal course of training. During war, they go to sea just the same; consequently, theyre participants in sea warfare. Theyve withstood torpedoes, bombings, strafing, coast artillery and fire from enemy raiders. Theyve performed heroic acts under fire which would do credit to t academy By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. battle-experienc- ed veterans. Cadet-midshipm- en Upper; Graduating regimental commander, Willard B. Kitchen and other cadet officers salute as taps is blown in honor, of former lost or missing in action. Left; Training vessel, Emery Rice, under full sail. Right: taking observations for longitude during training cruise. from easy in order to live up to the our vicinity. One had our number Got to make sure on it and struck the ship creed, squarely that no boys ghost will ever say, in No. five hold, killing seven solIf your training program had diers of the stevedore crew and a only done its job merchant seaman. , Because of the sea duty requireSteedley was busy helping to man an antiaircraft gun on the ments, every at Kings Point actually is a vet- bridge, and Wood was assisting to eran of sea warfare and many wear extinguish a fire on deck. When the e ribbons indicating service fire was out, Wood went below to around the world. help remove the dead men from the in the United States merchant marine cadet corps have participated in every landing and invasion operation of the war and have reflected creditably upon the cadet corps while serving aboard merchant vessels. Seven have won distinguished service medals; more than 600 have been forced to abandon ship as a result of enemy action; more than 150 have been killed in action; many have been credited with saving lives of shipmates and others have spent as many as 40 days in lifeboats. The United States merchant marine cadet corps includes the U. S. merchant marine academy, Kings Point, L. I.; a basic school at San Mateo, Calif.; one at Pass Christian, Miss.; and a revolving group of 2,600 to 3,000 serving at sea at all times. Upon admission to the cadet corps, a is assigned to one of the basic schools for training of about four months, after which he goes to sea for a minimum of six months. This sometimes last as long as 12 months, because the ship may be in the Indian ocean when his six months is conpleted, and he, of course, must serve until his ship returns to the cadet-midshipm- United cadet-midshipm- Cadet-midshipm- an cadet-midshipma- ns en ... cadet-midshipm- an war-zon- Among several who participated in the invasion of France were Louie B. Wood Jr., of cadet-midshipm- en an merchant fleet. graduation a is licensed as third mate or third assistant engineer and is appointed an ensign in the U. S. maritime service and in the U. S. naval reserve. Many of the 5,000 graduates to date have gone into active duty with the navy. The U. S. merchant marine cadet corps, authorized by the merchant marine act of 1936, is to be a per- ever-expandi- cadet-midshipm- The order to abandon ship was given after as much gear as possible had been removed to nearby vessels. Next day, it was thought that there might be a chance to save the ship, and an emergency volunteer crew was sought to go aboard. Both Wood and Steedley volunteered, but after a few hours all Aim to Stop hope of saving the vessel was aban- Economic Warfare doned. The two The reason for that statement, were returned to England and were boiled down to its essence is this: back in New York on July 7, one cant stop international warfare month after participating in the you unless you stop economic wargreatest invasion in history. Their fare. ship had been lost, but the precious Economic warfare in this sense cargo of soldiers, jeeps and guns means international trade practices had been put ashore in France. not in the common good speThey're at Kings Point now. cifically some of the practices inDudley Example of Sea Heroes. dulged in by nations competing for Almost two years earlier, on the foreign trade before and after the other side of the world, another grand smash of 29. had played a draHow is this warfare to be rematic part in a landing operation. strained? He is Robert H. Dudley of Yonkers, Quid pro quo, of course. In the N. Y., who was assigned to a trans- vicious fight for trade after the port in the task force which took war a large number of nations will the first contingent of U. S. marines have three strikes on them to start. to Guadalcanal. Dudley was placed They are wrecked, some physically in charge of landing boats from and a great many more financially, his vessel, and the disembarking politically, economically. Those was proceeding successfully when which will emerge less affected by 23 Japanese torpedo planes at- the war scourge, like the United tacked the ships. States, will be equally affected if Antiaircraft gunners on merchant they have nobody with money or vessels and warships alike went credit enough to buy their goods. into action immediately, and skipTherefore in exchange for an pers of the various vessels ordered agreement to abide by certain fair maneuvers to dodge the torpedoes practices as we might call them, from the enemy planes. The ac- and contributions in cash or its curacy of the fire from American equivalent, under the Bretton Woods guns excelled that of the Jap avi- agreement a nation would receive ators, however, and every one of the membership in an international 23 planes was shot down. bank which would guarantee priOne ship in the landing force vate loans make some direct for was lost when a flaming Jap plane the purpose of reconstruction and struck on its deck and set it afire. development so they can build facThis was Dudleys vessel from tories and do other things necessary which all marines and cargo had to create goods to sell and earn been disembarked. money to buy. These loans would to was be loans in which the risk is too another assigned Dudley ship loaded with provisions bound great for a private institution to for Tulagi, and a few days after take, and which if they were made the Guadalcanal episode, Dudley and bonds offered to the public the again heard the order, Abandon public wouldnt touch. But guaranship!, as this vessel was torpedoed teed by the internatiopal bank over a long term, private bankers would and sunk on August 21. Dudley and 12 members of the lend the money and the public, with crew spent the ensuing 14 days the word of 44 nations behind the in a lifeboat with the most meager bonds, would hardly be skittish. The monetary fund would be supplies of food and water. On the 14th day, we sighted created for the purpose of stabilizland, and naturally exerted every ing exchange, and facilitating the g ounce of our energy growth of international trade. The to pull ashore, Dudley reported. members would agree to tie their We landed on a coral reef, and exchange to the gold standard and every man fell face forward, ex- not change it' unless the governors hausted. The sharp edges of the and directors of the fund apcoral inflicted severe cuts about the prove. This would stop, among other body of every one of us, but we things, what amounts to imposon foreign goods just didnt seem to have the strength ing hidden tariffs rates of exchange to move again, so we lay there on by changing the of a in terms of for almost currency countrys the reefs, unconscious, several hours. The natives found us other nations currency. In their mad efforts to export goods at any and brought us water. two next months the price and get credits abroad, the Dudley spent in army and navy hospital before Germans had all sorts of different returning to Kings Point, where he kinds of marks that had one value another there. graduated on February 3, 1943, re- here and As to the administration of the ceived his license as third mate, and went back to sea as an officer help- bank and fund, a very careful system has been worked out reguing deliver the goods. lating the amount of financial Saved Shipmates Life. An example of valor and dis- responsibility each country would would be based on have. The regard of his own safety was shown the trade offigure a nation over a certain William M. cadet midshipman by past period with some other modiThomas Jr. of Alameda, Calif., who fications. For instance, the United the Distinguished was awarded would assume roughly d States RoosePresident medal by Service of the financial responsivelt for his heroism in dramatically of the votes bility and have one-thisaving the life of a shipmate. cadet-midshipm- Has Sea Training First. After sea duty, a is assigned to Kings Point for advanced training during which he assimilates knowledge acquired in classrooms and laboratories with that which results from sea training to qualify himself to become a deck or engine officer in Americas Upon hold. , The concussion had ripped large holes in both sides and the bottom of the ship, and she settled fast, the stern resting on the bottom in seven fathoms of water, he re- Atlanta, Ga., and John F. Steed-le- y Jr. of Tallahassee, Fla., who witnessed all the fire and action of American warships and planes and counts. States. cadet-midshipm- en "... en cadet-midshipm- Trust Building Washington,' D. C. I have just come from a luncheon of creamed chicken and rice, green salad and trimmings. The food was not, however, the interesting part of the affair. The food for thought that went with it, was. And so was the setting. We were served from a large oval table in the conference room of the United States treasury. The hosts were Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau and a squad of his fiscal experts. The subject of the conversation was the same one which was discussed at many of the more than 200 conferences which took place around that same table and which led up to the Bretton Woods monetary conference last July. Today that same subject is before Congress in the form of pendingjegisla-tio- n which would authorize American participation in an international bank of reconstruction and development and an international monetary fund. Upon the passage of this legislation and the creation of the bank on and fund, the master-mind- s matters tell me, money depends the success of any world security organization which may come out of the United Nations meeting at San Francisco. WNU Service, Union an cadet-midshipm- Cadet-midshipm- manent institution, serving the nation just as do West Point, Annapolis and the coast guard academy. The academy at Kings Point is situated on Long Island Sound, two miles from Great Neck, on what was previously the site of several swanky estates. There are new and modern buildings on the campus which also includes parade grounds, an athletic field and an obstacle course which is quite tough. At the academys private dock, there are half a dozen vessels an laying aloft the main mast. and coast artillery German during the first three or four days of the historic landings. Our ships moved into the English channel on carrying trucks, jeeps, small arms and about 400 soldiers, and we, of course, were exposed to the German bomband coast artillery. We ers, didnt worry about the Nazis too much, though, when we looked up and saw our own fliers in action and watched American and British E-bo- y, 30-o- dd 65-ac- re E-bo- en an fast-wanin- Man overboard rescue practice at Pass Christian, Miss. care of the coast which afford the best possible means warships taking Wood relates. of learning that multitude of sub- emplacements, so after the initial A day or jects and details embraced in the to anterm, seamanship. Laboratories landings, we were ordered off Normandy mile are equipped with actual Liberty chor a quarter into LSTs. hip engines and boilers, Diesels, and discharge our cargo he 12 hours, took about radio and other and signal equipment, This job away refrigeration units, and machinery said, and the ship pulled of a nd anchored to await fonnation equipment of all types to England. aboard ship. Adminis-rativ- e convoy to return four, ME 109s plus On officers of the cadet corps bombs in 'uake the training thorough and far were dropping ed D-D- ay 500-pou- . one-thir- , rd on how the money or credit is to be handled. Relief for U. S. Bankers Risks One of the chief arguments as to the direct value of the program for the United States is this: it is estimated that in the postwar period, the United States bankers will have to do the bulk of the world lending. Estimated on the amount we. did after the last war, perhaps as much as 90 per cent. Rather than have the lenders risk the loss as they did last time, it would be better to have the government and the governments of the rest of the naof the risk. tions bear This they would do under the international bank. It is pointed out by treasury officials that not only will most of the money be borrowed from private bankers in this country for the next five or ten years (since we have most of the money to loan) but most of it will likewise be spent here since we have most of the things foreign countries need. There are two chief reasons why such an international financial program will be to the disadvantage of the private banker although by no means all bankers oppose it. One is that the governments of nations will control the world fiscal policy and not the leading private inter-national bankers who had the control before. The second is that in the long run, as sponsors of the plan admit, it will lower interest rates. Those two reasons are not stressed by the vocal opponents of the measure before members of congress. Many other objections, some highly techncal, are set forth. The main suggestion in the report of a committee of the American Bankers association is that because of unsettled political conditions throughout the world, any action ought to be postponed until these cqnditions stabilize. They say that the nations should agree to certain changes in the program before it is presented to the congress. Some of the changes suggested are prompted by honest conviction, some are due, according to treasury officials, to a misinterpretation of the program. There is a group in the United States which says that the United States will come out of the little end of the horn under the arrangement and that the British sold us a bill of goods. There is a group in England which says that Britain will come out of the little end of the horn and that the United States sold their representatives a bill of goods. That is one thing which, quite aside from the arguments pro and con on the various disputed parts of the program, demonstrates that it must be pretty good. two-thir- ds Some weeks ago in this column I tried to explain why Germany came back after its defeats in France. May I be permitted to explain the Nazis couldnt come jjack for the second time? Once again we have to consider, not the military organization of Germany alone, but the civilian organization as well. Nazi discipline, because it was built on an entirely n foundation, finally collapsed. It was a discipline of (1) deceit, (2) force. Both .were bound to fail in the end because it failed to take into consideration one thing which the Nazis refuse to admit exists the human soul. Naziism with threats, brute force, and an organization which could carry out the threats and exercise the force, was effective up to a certain point. Then it failed. Its strength was in bending the twig, as I tried to point out in my earlier analysis. Youth worshipped the false god of Naziism as long as its clay feet could be concealed. Youth knew no other god. But the moment the clay feet crumbled in the defeat of its armies (i.e. force failed) youth deserted. Even the older people, despite the numbing fear of the espionage of the gauleiter, the fear of the concentration camp, fear of the firing squad, began passive resistance. The Volkssturm (the military unfit drafted by Himmler) refused to fight, refused to assemble when ordered, hid. Regulations were evaded. Taxes went unpaid. why anti-huma- |