Coral Gables Historical Archive
Coral Gables Riviera
Friday, January 23, 1942, page 6 (of 8)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
CORAL GABLES RIVIERA
AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER Published every Friday by the Miami Riviera Publishing Co., 806 Coral Way, Coral Gables, Fla. Established January, 1926 Combined with the Dade County and Coconut Grove Times, 1929. ALBERT E. HARUM President and Publisher JAMES B. MOORE Managing Editor Mailing Address, P. O. Box 704 Telephone 4-1634 Member, Florida Press Association National Editorial Association Represented in the National Advertising Field by the American Press Association, New York City SUBSCRIPTION RATES Six Months | $1.25 One Year | $2.00 Out of Town | $3.00 Entered as second class matter May 21, 1926, at the Postoffice at Miami, Florida, under Act of March 3, 1879.
Here's Your Chance
Elsewhere in this edition will be found a story concerning the activities of the Volunteer Service Bureau of the Dade County Defense Council that should prove of interest to all persons who have not yet found war work to do. The Service Bureau was organized for just such persons. Through a personal interview, the qualifications of the volunteer are determined and he or she is assigned to the work best suited to their particular abilities. We urge every Gableite who wants to do war work, and who has not yet been assigned to any duty, to contact the Bureau in the Ingraham Building in Miami.
Good Work
The arrest of a negro over the week-end brought to an end Coral Gables' recent wave of burglaries, when the prisoner confessed to the breaking and entering of most of the houses that have been robbed during the last two months. The arrest was not a lucky, haphazard one, but represents many hours of ground-work on the part of the police department. It should give every citizen a feeling of security to know that the police department is so capable and efficient.
"Anti-Baloney" Drive
"Why, do you know," said the visitor, "they told me I was crazy to come to Florida this winter. They said the beaches were covered with barbed wire and dotted with anti-aircraft guns and that everybody was so jittery that nobody could relax and have any fun." Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Nevertheless, that's only a mild sample of some of the stories that have been circulating through the North about our resort state, and particularly our end of it. And that's the very reason the "Two Toots Tuesday" campaign was launched. To those unfamiliar with the "Toots" idea, it is a compaign to offset this erroneous publicity as much as possible. Every person in Florida is asked to write to two friends in the North every Tuesday, telling how such stories are all the bunk. The first batch of such letters went North last Tuesday, and from all indications, there were quite a few of them. Let's keep the "Two Toots" idea alive, and next Tuesday every Gableite do his or part in this "Anti-Baloney" drive
Gables Responds Again
With members of the Coral Gables Junior Woman's Club contacting every business firm in the community, the Red Cross war chest seems to be going over with a bang as far as Coral Gables is concerned. Under the plan, every employee is asked to give either two hour's pay or one per cent of a month's salary. Heads of firms are giving a percentage of their investment or of their gross profit. It's a good cause, a necessary one-and as usual Coral Gables cheerfully responds.
WALTER LIPPMANN
Both at home and abroad it should be made emphatically clear that when the President signed the "Declaration by United Nations" here in Washington last week, he had already received from Congress authority for the pledges he made. He pledged the United States "to employ its full resources, military or economic, against those members of the tripartite pact and its adherents with which" this government is at war. In its joint war resolutions against Japan, Germany and Italy, Congress had already "authorized and directed" him "to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the government," and Congress had itself already pledged "all the resources of the country." The President, furthermore, gave a pledge that this government would not make "a separate armistice or peace with the enemies." Congress in the war resolutions had already directed him "to bring the conflict" with Japan, Germany and Italy "to a successful termination," which can mean only that he is to prosecute the war until our enemies are unable or unwilling to continue to wage war. Resting as it does upon the three joint resolutions of Congress, upon the war powers of the President, upon his authority as Commander-in-chief and upon his power to conduct foreign relations, the adherence of the United States to the declaration is more solidly based and more thoroughgoing than any other great commitment in our history. Never before has the United States gone to war with such unanimity in Congress or with such solidarity among the two branches of the government. Never before has a great American policy in foreign affairs had quite such full authority: certainly not the Monroe Doctrine, or the Open Door policy or the Pan-American policy, all of which have been founded on executive action, without any such pledge in advance by Congress, re-enforced "all the resources of the country" to a successful termination of the conflict with the opponents of the American policy. This declaration is now, therefore, the fundamental charter of American foreign policy, and with this charter all other policies have now to be reconciled. That there is need to reconcile them has been vividly demonstrated in the lamentable affair of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Though the whole history of this affair is not clear, and while it would be unprofitable to attempt to rehearse the details, enough is known to establish a general conclusion. It is that the good-will of the United States toward the French islands in the vicinity of Newfoundland had been under way before the United States was at war, and that the elaborate contrivance of the State Department in regard to these islands, as well as other French possessions in this hemisphere, were to a considerable degree based on the idea that the United States was a neutral, separate from our present allies and pursuing a course of its own. This conception persisted after we were at war, persisted even while the President and the Prime Minister were arranging for common action in the White House across the way from the State Department. The result was the arbitrary action of General de Gaulle and the equally arbitrary outburst from the State Department. The real lesson of the affair is that the State Department was not alert. When we were on the verge of war and even after we were at war, it had not adjusted its mind, its procedure, or its language to the new condition of things. The State Department was still, as late as Christmas Day, carrying on routine State Department business as usual. The result has been to embarrass everybody, ourselves, our allies and our friends throughout the world, and for the State Department thinking to make a mountain out of a mole hill. No doubt the President and the Prime Minister will find a way out of the embarrassment. But this blunder, this little diplomatic Pearl Harbor, should put us to ask whether the State Department is too bureaucratic in the spirit of some of its officers to adjust itself rapidly enough to the new and vast responsibilities of the war. It has long been evident, for example, that the State Department was far from being a coherent organization in the administration of the foreign policy of the President and the Secretary of State. It has long been evident that in the lower reaches of the State Department there was in spirit at least a lack of what we may des-cribe gently as team-work. And there has long been doubt whether in some of the most-critical areas of the outer world, the State Department has had sufficiently astute and experienced observers and informers. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether the State Department has as yet worked out the implications of the agreements which have been reached at the White House for a united conduct of the war. In particular this applies to the relation ship between the hemisphere policy on the one hand and the unity of the war on the other hand. For it is at least certain that no profitable thought has yet been given to this question when the fiasco of St. Pierre and Miquelon was in the making. (Copyrighted, 1942)
Footprints That a Lot of Others, Seeing, Will Take Heart Again By BROWN
TO GERMAN BORDER RUSSIA BROWN
OUR TOWN by Jim Moore
JIM MOORE The publicity director of the city of Coral Gables, whom, in private life, we call "the better half", has come forth with a defense stamp sales idea that we think is a honey. The missus thinks that stamp vending machines should be placed in all bars and other places of amusement, where demonstrations of patriotism always seem to be most fervent. Then, when a bunch of the boys are outdoing each other, telling how they'd like to get a lick at the Japs and Nazis, they can make their statements more realistic by punctuating them with trips to the stamp machine. In fact, the idea is pregnant with possibilities. It might even be used to clear up all this fias-co about the new streamlined slot machines that is giving the authorities a lot of headaches and the Miami papers a lot to write about. It would be pretty difficult to editorially lambast a machine that pays off in defense stamps. Futhermore, we don't think it would cut down the play. As long as people are paid off in something of value, they are going to continue to feed nickles into the boxes to see the lights flash and the wheels go around. Then too, the idea could be geared to the juke boxes. For example, a quarter inserted into the slot would get the purchaser two ten-cent Defense Stamps and Bing Crosby singing "Any Bonds Today" or Kate Smith soloing "God Bless America." This might be going a bit too far, but maybe even the phone company could be persuaded to return your coin in the form of a Defense Stamp. This might become a bit involved, however, as it would involve a new issue of nickle stamps. Already, a number of stores are urging customers to take their change in Defense Stamps, and we know a Gableite who spends half of the change in his pockets for stamps every time he passes the post office. The sales promotion angle of the Defense Stamp campaign has hardly started to scratch the surface. Only last week a group of bathing beauties boarded a crack Florida bound train and went from car to car, selling stamps that were stuck on their suits. The customer was allowed to pick the stamp off himself. Some of the strip-tease queens could take a hint there, and carry the idea a bit further. John Q. Public loves novelty-and if you dish up his war work with a little fun on the side, he'll go for it all the more. That's why the Defense Stamp campaign has so many angle. Tropical Park, during the fall meet, added a $50 bonus on many purses if the horse owner would take the whole thing in Defense Bonds. Many did. Defense Bonds and Stamps are becoming common as bridge prizes and door prizes at social functions. There ought to be a clearing house for all these ideas, because screwy as some of them are, they all help to promote the sale of these vitally necessary bonds and stamps.
BUY A SHARE IN AMERICA DEFENSE SAVINGS BONDS AND STAMPS
BANK WITH YOUR COUNTRY is the theme of this effective Defense Savings poster now seen in store windows and in the lobbies of buildings all over the country. Drawn by artist Henry Billings, of Rhinebeck, N. Y., the poster portrays the spirit of patriotism by investing in the United States Government through the purchase of Defense Bonds and Stamps. Stamps are priced from 10 cents to $5; Bonds from $18.75 to $10,000.
Mark Sullivan
As it is commonly put, we "underestimated Japan's strength". That is a convenient phrase, but it is not quite true. What is happening now is that we are overestimating Japan's strength and military skill. A fair judgement would be somewhere between our overestimate today and our underestimated before. Giving Japanese arms full credit for what they have achieved, and eliminating wishful thinking on our own part, it is a fair judgment that in a pitched battle-man for man-an American force would put a Japanese one to rout. It is doubtful if any military expert would question that judgment. But there is a thing we did underestimate, and are now beginning to realize. We failed to foresee how strong Japan's position would be if she were successful during the first six months or so of the war. It is still a sound judgment that in any decisive battle we can beat Japan, overwhelm her-but the difficulty is going to lie in bringing that decisive battle about. If Japan continues to go forward as she has during the first month of the war, if she is successful in the plan that is now apparent, our difficulty is going to lie in getting at her. Japan's plan includes, obviously, taking the Philippines from us, and taking Singapore from the British. If she does both she can then take the Dutch East Indies. By that time Japan would command an immense semicircle of the Pacific, from the mainland of northern Asia almost to India. Within this semicircle she would possess hundreds of islands upon which she could lay out a system of air and naval bases to her own taste -she could set up such a system of defensive outposts as would be a military statictan's dream. And beyond Japan's semi-circle of defensive outposts would lie thousands of miles of the open Pacific, practically without islands available to us, which our fleet would have to cross in order to get at Japan. Our handicap of distance is great. It is of course, by no means certain that Japan's plan will succeed. It is still possible she may not complete her defensive semicircle. From our point of view, our present hope is that she does not succeed in taking either the Philippines or Singapore. Even if she takes the Philippines, that will be a minor loss provided Singapore stands. But if both the Philippines and Singapore fall, Japan will be in an extremely powerful position. Conversely, if Singapore holds out permanently, the end of Japan's dream is only a matter of time. A frequent expressed hope is that Russia let us have air bases in Siberia, from which bombings of Japanese cities would be readily practicable. But as of today, there is no likelihood of Russia Granting us such air bases. Russia, at the present
WE OVERESTIMATE JAPAN'S STRENGTH
time, will neither make war on Japan, nor take any step that might involve her in war with Japan. This is fully understood by the British, and there is no complaint or reproach. Much of the richest part of Russia is occupied by the Nazis. Some forty or fifty millions of Russian people are either under the German Army, or are refugees from their homes. So long as this condition exists, the Russian government must concentrate on one task, to drive the Germans off her soil. In Russia as in all countries there is such a thing as public opinion or public emotion which governments must take account of. And the Russian people would feel either puzzled or outraged to see their government using part of its strength to take an external attack on Japan before it had expelled the German invader. The valor of the Russian attack on the Nazis, and its successes, is an enormous contribution to winning a war which must be fought on a world-wide basis. Another thing we underestimated is the extent of Japan's ambition. We heard her slogan, "Asia for the Asiatics," but did not fully take in its scope. Her ambition was to organize the whole of the yellow and brown peoples of the world into a modern equivalent of the old Roman Empire. We do not need to go back to Rome to find a comparison-for Hitler today keeps and consciously in mind was not Rome but Hitler. She aimed to organize the yellow and brown races much as Hitler has organized practically all Europe. To bring some seven or eight hundred million people into one compact empire was a grandiose dream. If it succeeded, it would have worked changes in the world beyond the reach of our already over-taxed imagination. To this dream of Japan's the obstacle is China-first her sheer bulk of the total population that Japan hoped to dominate. China's resistance to the Japanese dream is probably more effective than any that could come from the white race. The Chinese, with a deep, historic instinct for individualism, realized that while Japan said "Asia for the Asiatics", she meant-Asia for the Japanese. Japan was going to bring all the yellow and brown peoples into one organization-but with Japan as a superrace, just as Hitler wished to make the Germans a superrace in the rest of the world. So long as China holds out, Japan cannot make her dream come true. China's spirit and courage are to today quite utterly. For supplies, she must, in large part, depend on us. For keeping an open road to China, it is important, again, that Singapore remain in British hands. Use our forces to help hold Singapore is one of them in our own interest. (Copyrighted, 1942)
This ONE'S ON You
NEVER THE TWAIN-"East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet," said Kipling, but we'd like to arrange a little introduction between Ray J. Westcott and a naval cadet who was at the Country Club Saturday night. The lad's name is Ray J. Eastcott! WORD PLAY-F. G. (Pat) Railey, well-known Miami merchant, was toastmaster for the governors' banquet, climaxing the recent two-day southern state governor's conference. Mr. Railey, in his own inimitable way, gave a brief sketch of each governor as he introduced him. When he came to Gene Talmadge, governor of Georgia, Mr. Railey extolled the governor's boyhood days and then dwelt upon his trip to Miami and how impressed the governor was with the beauties of this area. "In fact," said the toastmaster, "Mr. Talmadge loves our ocean, our waterways, our Biscayne Bay, everything but our "Rivers". PERSISTENT JINX-Willa and "Pete" Robinson are beginning to wonder whether or not a jinx has been dogging their footsteps the last two weeks. They were aboard the New York-Miami train that wrecked last week and escaped with just a couple of bruises. Then last Saturday evening, while driving out the Trail, they were struck from the rear by a racing driver and their car was completely demolished. In one respect, the jinx was kind, for again they escaped with just scratches and bruises. BARBER SHOP HARMONY-Patrons of Dad's Barbershop were treated to an informal afternoon concert Tuesday, with the music being supplied by a quartet of kids. The instruments consisted of a battered guitar, an arrangement of washboards, beer cans and tin pans that served as traps and an ingenious bull fiddle, made of an oil can and a piece of clothes line. Somehow, the boys managed to make real music with this conglomeration of miscellany and the patrons rocked in the barber chairs while the scissors clicked in ragtime.
Poet's Corner
KELLY Aye, Kelly. Only yesterday You knew the blue of Biscayne Bay, The purple sea at full, high noon, The splendor of Miami's moon. One moment, Death. This is today. Let Fate's hot spotlight pour its ray On Kelly, diving in a plane To render battle fleets inane. We wonder, Kelly. What is life Or death or why this vale of strife? This, your supreme, last sacrifice Must own a value worth its price. Immortal memory. Time's pages Enshrine the heroes of the ages. Forever, Kelly, glamourous fame Will anthem forth your deathless name. CONTRIBUTED BY LORIN JONES THE HOOD Through, now, the majestic of empire speaks. Not far to westward, Greenland lifts its peaks, Gray twilight shrouds the North Atlantic mains, Where icebergs clog the Artic commerce lanes. Draped in the mist that rode the fretful breeze, The Hood hurled onward through the boiling seas, Stark, naked steel, whose lofty spar flung high Her flag, as Freedom asked the free to die. One fearful moment paused, as Death brought nigh The call to sleep where Neptune's caverns lie. Aye. Aye. The Hood rose from an icy wave To bow, then plunge to her eternal grave. Oh Hood, find rest on that vast ocean floor, Guard, there, these dead, till time shall be no more. They bartered years, bejewelled with scented breath, For all life's glory, trapped in one, brief hour.