The West News (West, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, May 14, 1943 Page: 2 of 16
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THE WEST NEWS
Washington Digests
U. S. Army Is On Alert'
For Chemical Warfare
Many Developments in Gas Warfare Date From
World War I; America Thought to Have
Greatest Potential Gas Offensive.
►7
Kathleen Norris Says:
Everyday Human Bondage
M SjmdliaM—WNU ruturu.
By BAUKHAGE
N« j A salt U and Commtnlatnr.
WNT Service, Colon Trust Building.
Washington. D. C.
Some days ago the British short
wave radio, beamed on Germany,
was telling the German people, who
dared to listen to the forbidden
words, that if their armies used gas
against the Russians, the British
would retaliate and paralyze the
German cities with gas bombs from
the air. Just about that same hour.
I was entering the Army and Navy
club in Washington with a short,
vigorous, bright-eyed general, whose
mental agility makes up for his lack
of length. It was no coincidence.
1 was there to learn something more
about chemical warfare and I knew
of no better way than to pump Brig.
Gen. Alden H. Waitt of the chem-
ical warfare service and whose book
“Gas Warfare" has sold out twice in
Washington book stores.
There was. however, a coincidence
connected with that visit, for as we
walked into the great, crowded din-
That was not the first use of gas
in warfare—the first recorded use
was some time earlier—in fact, just
2,445 years earlier—at the siege of
Plataea, when the Spartans burned
wood saturated with pitch and sul-
phur under the walls. It failed be-
cause a rain came up. Five years
later a similar “gas attack" was a
complete success at the siege of
Delium where the fumes drove the
defenders from the city's walls in a
panic.
Recent Development*
The -most recent developments in
gas warfare has just been revealed.
The Allies have known for some time
that the Germans had a new power-
ful gas which it is almost impossible
to detect b£ smell. It can now be
stated that this gas is nitrogen-
mustard, a relative of the deadly,
burning mustard gas of the last war
but far more volatile and that much
more effective, for it enters the
lungs in greater quantities. It can
also now be stated that the Ameri-
cans are able to manufacture this
gas rapidly and in quantity, if nec-
essary. Our experts are thoroughly
familiar with its characteristics.
The other development which will
When the editors and publishers
; were in town for their annual con-
vention several of them were talking
■hop . . , One recalled the time
when Heywood Broun was a cub and
| he was instructed to come in very
early one Christmas morn . . .
When Broun arrived—the empty city
room depressed him. The desks
were littered with remnants of the
' previous night's tale clippings, bare
spikes, curled up cheese sandwiches
and beer containers . . . Suddenly,
of! in a comer, a telegraph instru-
ment started to click . . . Tobacco
tins were jammed against the tele-
graph “bugs" to make them louder
. . . One after the other joined in
the monotonous chorus—all chirping
the same message ... He could
tell, he said later, that they were
trying to report something impor-
tant happening somewhere, but he
couldn’t understand a word they
were tapping . . . Finally, in came
a sleepy telegrapher . . . Broun
said: “Please tell me what is
happening. They are all clicking
madly. Maybe a liner has been sunk
or a king assassinated or an earth-
quake! I'm sure it’s a big story,
and our paper is being scooped!”
The veteran listened—to one after
the other—and then smiled . . .
“This is Christmas, son,” said the
old-timer, "they are all saying the
same thing. A Child is born—a
Child is born—a Child is bom!”
In the days when most of the pa-
pers were on Park Row, a certain
editor was nicknamed Simon Legree
because of the way he kicked around
some of the staff . . . One night,
and this is journalistic history, a
any
He threw the editor
down a flight of stairs . . . The next
night when he came in—the staff
presented the reporter with a gold
watch inscribed: “For the Best
Journalism in 1928.”
Soldiers stationed at Camp San
Luis Obispo. Calif., outfitted with
new type training gas masks.
ing room of the chib. Waitt paused
to speak to a gray-haired man in
civilian clothes with ^ ribbon in his
buttonhole. I recognized a once-
familiar figure—Amos Fries, first
general of the chemical warfare
service. He, of course, is retired
now.
I recalled that shortly after the
First World war, the activities of
General Fries got under some peo-
ple’s skins. He was a hyper-enthusi-
ast over his specialty, and in the
reaction against all things military
which comes after a war, the cynics
used to joke about the stenographer
who transcribed her symbols so that
a letter was sent addressed to the
“comical” warfare service.
New Emphasis
But Fries persisted and managed
to preserve his unit in a tight little
independent group Instead of having
its activities scattered all over the
other services. As far as the pub-
lic goes, very little attention has
been paid to this arm of our military
offense and defense. It may, how-
ever, become very prominent be-
fore the war is over and some people
say that day is “imminent.”
If gas comes, the United States
will be prepared for it. From an
organization with 94 officers in the
thirties, the chemical warfare serv-
ice has grown until its officer per-
sonnel numbers "many thousand’’ (I
can't reveal the figure) and many
of them fire with combat troops to-
day where they are responsible for
the use of smoke screens and for
incendiaries—the fire bombs and the
flame throwers.
I have witnessed demonstrations
at the Edgewood arsenal near Balti-
more. and although I cannot report
the details, I can say that some of
the effects were remarkable. You
ought to see a steel tank or a con-
’crete pillbox go up in flames when
it is “lighted” by a flame thrower.
It is unbelievable to watch.
There have been, of course, many
developments in this little-discussed
weapon of warfare since gas was
first used in World War I by the
Germans and used so successfully
and yet so stupidly. The attack took
the British and French colonial
troops utterly by surprise and
caused what amounted to a rout. If
the Germans had had the sense to
follow it up. they could have broken
through the lines and reached
Calais.
greatly increase the efficiency of the „jlu lula joumansuc nu»u>r;
use of gas, if it is used today, is the j staffer couldn't stand the abuse
new method of spraying it from low longer
flying planes. This makes it possi-
ble to contaminate an area contain-
ing troops almost without warning.
However, it is believed that the
United States is not only prepared
with the best protection but prob-
ably has the most effective poten-
tial gas offensive weapons of any of
the armies.
What are the arguments in favor
of the use of this weapon which, so
far, has not been used? Let me
quote Brigadier General Waitt:
“Every sensible man is agreed
that war should be resorted to only
when all peaceful methods have
failed. When, in order to sustain its
policies, a nation has no other choice
but to use force to gain its ends, it
should do this with as little loss as
possible. Not only should there be
little loss to the nation itself but
ay iv*
"M
One night some of us were privi-
leged to meet Sgt. A1 Schmid, the
Philadelphia boy who was decorated
at Guadalcanal for erasing over 200
Japs until one of their grenades
blinded him . . . Al, who is Dutch-
Irish, has a different slant on the
war ... He talked a lot about two
of his buddies, one Rivers, a Protes-
tant, who died there, and one lad
named Diamond from Brooklyn, a
Jewish chap . . . “They say," said
Al, “that I killed 200 Japs. I don't
know how true that is. I never said
that. I was told so by people who
read it in the papers" . . . And he
unnecessary loss to its enemy should ) kept talking about the others—or
be avoided. Victory depends on the
amount of loss. The smaller the
loss to both sides, the greater the
victory to the victor. This may be
strange doctrine but it is sound.”
Unusual Outlook
"War," Waitt believes, “is not car-
ried on to kill or destroy but rather
to enforce a policy, and if possible,
the enforcement should be accom-
plished without loss of life or prop-
erty.”
We can work toward this end by
the use of gas. He points to these
facts for his argument: There were
275,000 American casualties in the
American ranks in the last war.
More than one-fourth were caused
by gas. Of the gas casualties, only
about 2 per cent died. In other
words, the men wounded by gas had
about 12 times the chance to live
as those wounded by other weapons.
To urge the use of gas sounds
strange, indeed. I recall how sur-
prised I was when a young Chinese
captain, who had fought through
most of the campaigns against
Japan, said to me: “Gas is a kindly
weapon.” Of course, he had never
met it himself but he had seen plenty
of men blown apart by shrapnel and
high explosive and he was very posi-
tive in nis statement.
What about civilians if gas is
used? In the first place, America,
of course, is in less danger than
Britain because of distance but not
out of danger. There has been much
contradictory opinion expressed as
to the possibility of gassing cities.
One view is that it would be utterly
ineffective, the other is that whole
populations could be blotted out.
Waitt says both extreme views are
wrong. That there is a middle
ground, that gas can be used against
industrial and political centers of im-
portance for its disorganizing and
demoralizing effect but that the chief
targets will be strategic points such
as railway stations, power and light
plants and the like. Gas will not
wipe out populations, he believes, it
will not entirely supplant explosives.
But it will be an effective weapon.
The most important defense, aside
from material means of protection
which Waitt describes in detail, is
education and discipline.
B R I E F S • . . by Baukhage
Polish saboteurs killed or wounded
424 Nazis, damaged 17 German
trains and destroyed seven oil wells
within one month. _
« • • w
The famous German military
magazine, Mihtaerwochenblatt, has
suspended after 127 years of publica-
tion, the London radio said in a
broadcast recently reported by Unit-
ed States government monitors.
A firmer who sells butter, lard or
any other food rationed under the
meats and fats program to a retail-
er now must collect ration points
for the sale.
• • •
If you are having trouble with the
point rationing system, go to your
Red Cross chapter. A nutrition ex-
pel^ will gladly explain point ration,
ing to you.
i 1^481 *
\
wishing hard that he could do some-
thing about “waking up the people
back home!”
When the G-Men collared the last
big bunch of Nazi spies (just before
we entered the war) some of the
prisoners revealed the following . . .
That after the advance men had
been smuggled in and had made all
the most elaborate preparations
(laying the ground work with secret
radio stations and all the other
standbys) the Nazis sent over their
very best agent ... He was a man
who had worked all over the world,
and he had never failed on any as-
signment . . . There was just noth-
ing this bloke didn’t know about the
noble art of espionage . . . And he
was senf here to take charge of mat-
ters . . . On his first day in New
York the other Nazi spies gathered
to meet him—where he planned to
give them their instructions ... On
his way to the rendezvous, however,
something went wrong with the script
. . . Even the higher-ups in Berlin
never figured to coach him in a most
important detail . . . How to cross
the street at Times Square.
The. great spy was killed trying
to get out of the way of a cab.
The Big Show:
Sallies in Our Alley: Dick Himber
heard Colonel Romulo (he helped
rescue MacArthur) tell it at a party.
"It was the one joke," said Romulo,
"that kept us laughing on Bataan
until the end. A mamma rabbit
and a daddy rabbit were In the
woods when they saw a pack of
wolves. They hid in a cave. ’How
long will we hide here?’ asked the
mamma rabbit . . . ‘Until,’ was
the reply, ‘we outnumber ’em!’ ”
The Front Pages: The most im-
portant problem for some newspa-
pers was reported by United Press
from Providence, R. I. The State
Senate, it appears, passed a meas-
ure that would make it mandatory
for Rhode Island newspapers to
print names and addresses of all
writers of editorials—and ditto for
those whose letters are published un-
der the Letters to the Editor col-
yums.
Quotation Marksmanship: G. Mar-
tin: True generosity is the ability to
accept ingratitude . . . The Ala-
bama Times: Show courtesy to oth-
ers not because they are gentlemen,
but because you are . . Eugene
O’Neill: The censorship which be-
gin* by banning a strip tease show
always finishes by condemning as
treason a play which hints that
Washington might not have chopped
down that tree . . . Anon: He is a
Clark Gable-bodied young man . . .
Schopenhauer: Life is a business
that does not pay expenaes.
■
"Even if il’i going home to Hear tvmpathetk Daddy and Mother your path isn't all
rooft. They mey hate Hood by you gallantly through your trouble with Dick but
afterward they grow critical."
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
TARRIAGE is an insti-
tution,” some woman
said in a play long ago,
“and I hate to live in an insti-
tution.”
She might just as well have
said that life itself is an institu-
tion, and that we all, married or
single, hate the bondage and the
limitations that life imposes
on us.
To be sure, to the unhappily
married man or woman the
unmarried ones seem more
free. They can get away from
the hateful little apartment
with its whining and its untidiness,
its bills and its discomforts general-
ly. They can at least go to hotels,
where a maid is paid to keep the
bathroom in order and where cool
coffee can be sent back to the
kitchen.
That’s the theory. But it is a mis-
erably faulty theory, and a miser-
ably unsatisfactory solution of the
living problem. In marriage, and in
marriage alone, is there true happi-
ness for young persons, and it is
only because they don’t know how to
stay married that all the failures
arise. It is a tragic truth that al-
most all the men and women who
obtain divorces would cancel those
divorces and try over again with the
same mate, if they could, and that
a second and third and fourth mar-
riage only produce variations of the
first fiasco, and infinitely and fatally
complicate the lives they touch-
children’s lives, old persons’ lives.
Society's Unwritten Law.
When a man, like the compafative-
ly young man who recenUy made
an eighth marriage, tells the atten-
tive press that he is sure that he has
found the ideal wife at last, there
is no law to stop his matrimonial
career. But there is surely an un-
written law that covers such a case,
and to belittle the sacred relation-
ship of marriage with such flippancy
ought to put him outside the pale of
friendship with decent folk forever.
Most engagements are built on
sexual attraction, and in the early
years of most marriages it plays an
important part. This is a truism so
flat that it is superfluous to put it
into words. Yet very few women,,
and no men, grasp the truth of that
simple statement. The part of it
they understand entirely omits the
words “in the early years."
Every bride feels that the glory
of young wifehood is so exquisite,
the thrill that true marriage brings
to her husband and herself is so
overwhelming, the ecstasy of their
first months together so perfect, that
nothing can ever change.
“I haven’t changed,” wrote a four-
years wife to me pathetically. “I
love him just as much as I ever did,
or more. But he likes an occasional
evening away from home now, he
likes me to ask pretty girls to the
house and flatters them."
Nature has so arranged things that
by the time that the first wild glam-
our of possession has worn off, for
the man, the woman shall be ab-
sorbed in evgn more vital joys, the
supreme joys of motherhood. But
today's men and women very often
put off those joys altogether, or at
least delay them fatally, thereby
completely defeating their purpose.
Intense Love Soon Burnt Out.
The purpose, I mean, of being able
to revel uninterruptedly in the mari-
tal relationship. There is no quicker
way to destroy it. The rule is the
same as that of other appetites. Con-
trolled, made only a part of a happy
life together, indulged reasonably,
physical love between a man and
woman can last a lifetime. But it
can also be burnt out in a few
months’ time, and that is what bap.
NU SOLUTION
Kathleen Norris again repeats
her statement, made many times
before in this column, that di-
vorce is neither the right nor the
lasting solution of marital diffi-
culties. And she points to the
tragic example of the frequently-
married and never happy people
who are always seeking the per-
fect mate, the tailor-made mar-
riage. I on must work for a hap-
py marriage, just as you must
u<ork for a strong financial posi-
tion, or an enviable social posi-
tion, or good grades in school.
And, falling short of perfection
or unqualified success, you must
remember that divorce is still no
solution.
pens over and over again with those
men and women who are rich
enough and optimistic enough, and
let it be added, dumb enough, to
marry four and five and six times,
imagining that the will-o’-the-wisp
connubial bliss is somewhere, wait-
ing to be found ready-made.
When a man and woman are bal-
anced, normal folk, aware that life
has a thousand interests and delights
other than that of sex; when they
rejoice in the companionship that
marriage brings, the mutual digni-
ties and cares, the pleasures of hos-
pitality and home making, the privi-
leges of parenthood, then in the
place of that first awed ecstasy of
possession, that first ignorant, eager
seizure upon life, comes something
far rarer and finer; true married
love, true appreciation of what is
the great miracle of human hearts in
this world.
Otherwise the first chill wind of
realVy destroys their marriage and
leaves them forlorn indeed. When
flattery and passion, novelty and ex-
citement have had their day, a cer-
tain blankness descends upon the
lovers, they don't know what's hap-
pened to them.
Patience, Humility Help.
Whereas, if they had character, if
they had had good training, good
homes, good example behind them,
they would start fresh. They would
replace excitement and passion and
novelty and flattery with patience,
humility, sympathy, courage. The
man would analyze his own nature,
asking himself seriously what the
qualifications of a good husband
should be; the woman should repeat
to herself the wife's litany.
“That I may never do anything to
make him love me less. That his
home may always be the place he
most wants to come. That he may
trust me to spend our money wisely,
keeping everything in proportion.
That the years may find us growing
only closer and closer together, de-
pending more and more upon each
other. Amen!"
But how many young men and
women take that attitude today? How
many say: “I was wrong. I’m sor-
ry I was rude to your old friend.
I’m sorry I wasted that money. I’m
sorry I forgot to telephone your
mother.”
Even if it’s going home to dear
sympathetic Daddy and Mother your
path isn’t all roses. They may have
stood by you gallantly through your
, trouble with Dick, but afterward they
grow critical. Your mother audibly
admires your cousin Ellen, who
stuck to Joe Masters through thick
and thin. You hear your father say-
ing pityingly to some old friend at
the telephone: “No, Louise is back
with us. Yes, too bad! Broke her
mother’s heart. Yes, nard on the
small boy. Oh. I guess so. Faults
on both sides!"
You can live with anyone once you
master the secret of living .with your
Ty Cobb
YV H1CH brand of baseball would
» ’ you rather see? The Ty Cobb
scientific type or the Babe Ruth pow-
er stuff? Which makes the more
interesting ball
game—1 to 0, or 9
to 8?
For the first time
in over 20 years the
fan colony may have
its chance to look at
much lower scoring.
No other season
ever opened with a
clean spread of
shutouts, such as
the 1943 balata spe-
cial, presented to OrsnUaad Rice
chilly customers.
The once noisy blast of the Heme
run has given way to the widely-
scattered plunk of the single or
double, and the odds now are that
any man who can hammer out 20
home runs this season will lead his
league.
Unless more rabbit meat is fed
the present ball, we maY even get
back to the day when Home Run
Baker earned his title and led both
leagues with the magnificent total
of 11 home runs.
The Ty Cohb Brand
Ty Cobb has told me more than
once that his interest in baseball
lagged when Babe Ruth began tak-
ing his home-run swing.
“That," said Ty, “meant the finish
of base running, of scientific base-
ball where you bad to work for a run
at a time.
"We had to work our heads off to
get a run. A run was important.
After the arrival of Babe Ruth and
the rabbit ball, not even five runs
were important in many of the
games.”
I can take you back to Ty Cobh
and the campaign of 1911. to slip you
an idea of what Ty Cobb baseball
meant.
In 1911, Cobb made 248 base hits,
scored 147 runs and stole 83 bases.
In the records of
those days his home
run mark, extreme-
ly low, was not even
mentioned. It was a
matter of hits, runs
and-'stolen bases.
In 1915, Cobb
scored 144 runs and
stole 98 bases. His
combination of speed
and smartness along
the towpaths was
one of baseball’s
greatest features,
where home runs seldom figured in
any game.
The Babe Ruth Brand
Babe Ruth came along as a home
run hitter in 1919. As a left-handed
pitcher he had set a new winning
percentage, even above Johnson,
Mathewson and Alexander. Now be
was on the offensive side.
In Babe's tremendous wake the
scientific side of baseball gave way
to raw power. Base-running and
sacrificing became unimportant fac-
tors.
Raw power was combined with a
far livelier ball, a ball that piled
up trouble for pitchers and infield-
ers. The records show all thia.
Ruth was on his way to over 7M
home runs. “And the point Is,"
Cobb told me. “the Babe’s great
success swept both leagues. They
were now all trying to be home-run
hitters. They were all, or nearly
all, taking the big cut at every plteb
near the plate.”
It would be interesting to know
what might have happened to base-
ball if Ruth hadn't arrived just at
that time.
The Bambino undoubtedly changed
the game. Hands that once choked
the bat after the manner of Keeler
and Cobb, now moved back to the
end of the knob.
Stronger Defense
The games of Cobb and Ruth were
entirely different in many ways. The
same thing happened to polo and
golf, where power became more im-
portant than control.
Both Cobb and Ruth have their
supporters. The old-timers are al-
most solidly for the Cobb game. The
moderns are for Ruth.
The main point is that after over
20 years of power baseball, the
crowds now face a stronger defen-
sive game, where a single run might
be important.
This means a greater premium on
speed, pitching and defensive play.
If it doesn’t work out there is sure
to be a quick change to the livelier
ball—where once again the nome run
will supplant the single, the sacrifice
and the steal.
Season s Length
This is' about what a majority
think about the length of the current
baseball campaign—
“Most of the ballplayers now left
have either been deferred on phys-
ical grounds or have wives and chil-
dren. These children are ail young,
many of them between the ages of
two and six. It has been announced
more than once that the supporting
heads of such families will be the
last ones drawn into service. Msny
of these might be called by midsum-
mer, but hardly by Labor day.”
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Webb, Leonard. The West News (West, Tex.), Vol. 53, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, May 14, 1943, newspaper, May 14, 1943; West, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth590025/m1/2/?q=food+rule+for+unt+students: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting West Public Library.