The Charlotte News

Saturday, February 28, 1942

FOUR EDITORIALS

The RAF conducted an air raid on the German naval bases at Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, seeking to stop fueling and supply operations of submarines by surface ships in the North Sea.

On the Russian front, another success was reported, the destruction of several cargo planes seeking to supply 86,000 trapped Nazis at Staraya Russa, 140 miles south of Leningrad.

On the Pacific front, the third major successful operation occurred in the Dutch East Indies with the repelling and scattering of a large naval armada stocked with "tens of ships" as it sought to attack Java. The prior operations of its kind were, first, in January when the Japanese Fleet was attacked successfully as it sought to sail through the narrow Macassar Strait between Celibes and Borneo (apparently seeking hair oil on that occasion), and, second, the recent attack in the Strait of Lombok between Lombok and Bali, off Java.

The Australian air force conducted raids on Japanese outposts at Rabaul in New Britain, off Papua New Guinea.

The Japanese press reported efforts of the American Navy to take back Wake Island, renamed Bird (Otori) Island by the Japanese.

The Allies at last appeared on some moderate offensive. Even among the beleaguered forces of MacArthur on Bataan in the Philippines, there had been an offensive in recent days and, with fighting having slackened, the ground gained was being held by the American-Filipino forces.

As this optimistic war news dominated the front page, appeared the story that Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lt.-General Walter Short, commanders of the Navy and Army respectively at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, were being court-martialed for dereliction of duty. The proceedings--the column tells us twice in succession--would be delayed until it was safe. (Whether that meant the requisitioning first of dental records and the morphine from Turkish opium of which Raymond Clapper speaks as crucial for medical supplies, we don't know.) In any event, the court martial proceedings ultimately would never take place.

On the domestic front, appears a troubling story of a three-year old from Newark who bashed an infant to death because he didn't like babies who cry. Given the air raids and recommended nightly blackouts in coastal areas and strategic locales as far as 300 miles inland, the latter as also reported on the front page, life was likely hard on three-year olds of the day.

"Granary Steal" in the editorial column tells of the greedy farmers who, having benefited from the government consignment program in lean times where there was overproduction of wheat for the market, now were successfully lobbying to achieve parity in price before the government would start selling off the stored wheat, now that the harvest was too lean to match increased demand resulting from the war. The result was that the original buy-out, with intention to sell later to steady a lean market against inflated prices, served as no more than a subsidy.

Paul Mallon tells of the scheme of the Nazis in Denmark, repeated in all of their occupied countries, to obtain the treasury of the enslaved satrapy: give credits for German goods in exchange for agricultural products from the Danes, then fail to deliver the German goods in return; demand 350 million dollars from the Danish treasury to pay for German occupation; ask for workers for German industry, then, when they send money home, confiscate it and direct Danish authorities to issue credits for the money to the Danish families against German credit.

We hate to suggest that there was an inevitable parallel to be drawn between the greed suggested of the farmers and that of the Nazis, but there it is, albeit in varying degrees of gluttony, nevertheless reminiscent of the wearer of the coat sporting "What's in it for me?" displayed in the day's Herblock.

Finally, Amy Bassett writes back to the lady incensed about the reference in The News to damnyankees being liable to loot the State treasury of the surplus in the unemployment fund in order to pay for unemployment in the Michigan auto industry since its conversion whole-hog on February 1 to defense production. Usually, Ms. Bassett writes impersonally and this was the first time she had addressed directly a piece to the readers of The News. She finds the lady quite amusing, as did we. So, kudos to Ms. Bassett. But, as did the lady, Ms. Bassett insists on the politer form, "damyankee". Damnit all, when will they learn? There is nothing worse than a half-hearted damn. If you are going to damn, don't just dam, but really damn, in the true latin sense of its etymological origin, damnare. Moreover, we feel constrained to add that it's not "if and when you do", as Ms. Bassett properly insists, but rather "if'n you do".

And somewhere between OFF, the President's chat of Monday, and the Herblock of Thursday, we find ourselves writing in the round, and just because.

Which reminds us that we were highly annoyed to find in the Associated Press reportage of the current President's speech to the soldiers in Iraq re the projected deadline for withdrawal of August 31, 2010, the reference to "the president". It was not merely a slip, as it appeared several times in the piece and as we have noticed it repeatedly for the last month on occasion. Such is improper English, boys and girls, and even more so when, in the same piece, we see, as we did here, the report that he called to indicate his position to the "former President", that referring to the immediately past President.

We noticed this convention of a provincial underhanded slight first, it having been then, after all, fully twelve years since a Democrat had occupied the White House at the time, with regard to the President immediately preceding the immediate former President. It is, Mr. or Ms. A.P., a "P", not a "p", whenever you refer to any particular president, whether you happen of the moment to include the name of the president or not. But when, instead of "the President" or the office of the President, as used in the Constitution, one speaks generally of the whole population of presidents, those who might have been and were not as well as those who were, such as in "presidential candidates" or "seeking the presidency", as opposed to "trying to become President", whether already in or out of office, then use the lower case.

Always, however, when referencing, say, President Harding, or even President Nixon, one uses the upper case, even if the upper case reference denotes a lower case president, one, say, in the lower forty or at least in the last five in the rankings among the 44, only 43 of whom are former, four still among us, thirty-nine passed on.

Which brings us to another complaint: why in the world do the professional historians discredit to the point of leaving him in the bottom rung among U.S. Presidents, President William Henry Harrison, who, after all, only got to be President for one month? President Garfield, suffering also the fate of a short tenure in office, albeit from the wound of an assassin's bullet rather than inauguration chill, as Harrison, the latter suffering the first of the Tecumseh curse (or whoever's curse it was), received much better treatment from the historians who rank the Presidents. Why? President Harrison appointed a terrific Cabinet, the historians proclaim, as headed by none other than Daniel Webster as Secretary of State. And, so far as we know, he was not subordinated to the Devil. He hadn't enough time in office to do any real damage. Wouldn't it be nicer to group him alongside his successor, President Tyler, rather than consigning him to the dusty dens of perdition and purgatory merely for suffering the fortuity of Death upon the passage of a month in the Office?

Sometimes, it seems the world makes no sense, whether the Thespian on the Stage professes professionalism or admits to being a rank Amateur. But, regardless of status, at least mind your "p's", and then your "Q"'s and "Q.T's" will all obtain their proper cross, q.d. Q.E.I.