Evening Star Newspaper, January 10, 1942, Page 6

A—4 » U. S. Must Do Without Silk and Substitutes As War Cuts Supply Army Using Available Fabric for Parachutes; Jap Market Doomed (Third of a Series.) By THOMAS R. HENRY. America must give up silk—and, in large measure, the mos*, adequate synthetic substitutes for it—for a long time. Raw silk has been the chief Japanese import to the United States. This has accounted for two-thirds of the total trade with that country in the past few years. In 1940, the last year for which full statistics are available, the silk imports are valued at $107,000,000, and they were running only a trifle behind this in the first five months of 1941. Up to three years ago the com- plete stoppage of silk imports would have been a very serious loss. Chemists Filling the Gap. Now the Sons of Heaven can let their silk rot on the mulberry trees, for all Uncle Sam cares. It means only that, probably for several years, the world's shapeliest feminine legs must sacrifice patriotically a lot of their shapeliness. By the end of the war it is highly probable that Japan's world mar- ket for her principal crop will be gone forever. Americen chemists already have fairly adequate sub- stitutes and are working constantly to improve them. In a few years chemists predict, the synthetic fab- rics will be so far superior to the real stuff that the latter will have | no market. For the past 10 years, about 90 per cent of all the silk imported from Japan has been used for full- length feminine hosiery. Silk under- wear, gowns and men's hose have accounted for relatively little of the supply. American women started wearing silk stockings on a grand scale about the time of the last World War and these since have become a big item of family expense. Substitutes Are Costly. All silk imports from Japan ceased last August. At that time American factories were stocked up with ap- proximately 87.000,000 pairs of silk stockings. This was enough to last American women two months. Another month’s supply probably was in the hands of retailers and about an equal number may have been in process of manufacture. Today, the United States, accord- ing to calculations of the United States Tariff Commission, is about down to its last silk stocking—so far as those available for purchase are concerned. There are several substitutes. None were entirely acceptable to American women until the syn- thetic fabric nylon made its first appearance in December, 1939. It looked and felt like silk. It would wear more than twice as long. It cost about twice as much. Altogether it represented one of the greatest advances ever made in synthetic fabrics. American women wore slightly more than 500,000,000 pairs of both silk and nylon hosiery in 1940. Has Military Uses. ‘The present capacity of nylon plants is about one-fourth of this. This will be approximately doubled when a new plant, now nearly com- pleted, gets under full production about a year from now. It is hardly likely, however, that the full supply of this superior snythetic silk, which has several military uses, will be | allocated to hosiery makers. Various rayon yarns are fair sub- stitutes for silk. The plants, how- ever, already are operating at full capacity making fabric for other purposes—some essential for de- fense. It is highly unlikely that much of this capacity can be di- verted to produce substitutes for Japanese hosiery silk. Productive capacity for cotton yarn sufficiently fine to make sheer hose is very limited. Neither fine cotton nor rayon production can be much increased without new plants, which are virtually impossible at present because of the need of materials for buildings and machinery in de- fense industries. Worst hit, the Tariff Commission fears, will be the hosiery mill work- ers in Pennsylvania and North Caro- lina, where 60 per cent of the in- dustry was centered. Needed for Parachutes. For the past three years the Agri- culture Department has been trying to popularize cotton stockings and has developed some very attractive designs. bearable hardship of wearing them can reflect that, so far as the coun- try is concerned, it might easily have been worse, Until very recently raw silk has been essential for parachutes. It still is desirable. Last September there was enough in commercial | warehouses, which could be used only under Government license, "to make 500000 average-sized para- chutes. Besides the Army had con- siderable stores of parachute cloth, the amount being a military secret. It requires. by the way, about 100 Yyards of silk to make a parachute. But several new synthetic silks, notably nylon, are about as good for parachute cloth. Great Britain has used successfully a high quality of rayon. Army Uses Silk Waste. The other important military de- mand has been for silk waste— cocoons unfit for reeling, partly un- wound cocoons, and broken fila- ments. This has been believed es- sential for cartridge bag cloth that must be used in big guns. It burns quickly and completely, without leaving a smouldering residue that would foul the gun. Early this fall, however, the Army publicly announced that silk was no longer necessary for this purpose. After a long series of experiments, it was making powder bags success- fully from cotton, wool and mohair. Silk remains a military necessity, however, for sewing thread for stitching the powder bags, straps for loading charges, and several other minor purposes. For the past two years, the Tarift Commission reports, Japan has re- duced its imports of silk waste to this country almost to the vanishing point—apparently in keeping with its own war plans. The Army'’s stores of silk, how- ever, are more than enough for this minor but essential use for years to come, A large shipment of ofl extraction machinery from the United States will be used in Fortaleza, Brazl. AMERICAN SHIP SUNK—The loss of the S. S. Ruth Alexander of the American President Lines, attacked by an enemy plane in the Netherlands East Indles, was announced by the Navy yesterday. One member of the crew was killed and four were injured. Civilian Defense Cost ToU.$. Government ‘May Pass 500 Million Congress Conferees Seek Adjustment; La Guardia Seen Retaining Power | By the Associated Press. | | Ultimate passage of the civilian | defense bill will set in motion an equipment procurement program | | which eventually may cost the Fed- | | eral Government $500,000,000 or | more, in addition to large outlays | by States and cities in potential air-raid areas. THE EVENING STAR, WABHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1942. . B L R T T ey y e Your Income Tax— No. 6—Simplified Returns for Optional Tax ‘The Revenue Act of 1941 provides a simplified method of computing income tax in the case of individuals whose gross income is derived wholly from salary, wages, or other com- pensation for personal services, divi- dends, interest, remt, annuities or royalties, and does not exceed $3,- 000. A new Form 1040A has been | provided for taxpayers who are en- titled to and elect to use such method. A table on the reverse side | of the form shows the amount of tax on increasing amounts of gross income after the proper allowance | of $400 for each dependent. if any. | The tax under the simplified | method is the same for each $25 | block of gross income and the tax- e e g —A. P. Wirephoto. ’Bodies of 8 Workmen, Killed by Smoke, Taken From Mine Fumes From Blaze Near Entrance Fell Coloradoans Retreating in Tunnels A husband and wife living to- gether on the last day of the tax- able year mgy file separate returns on Form 1040A if the gross income of each is from the prescribed sources and does not exceed $3,000, or they may file a single joint re- turn on that form if their combined income is from the prescribed sources and does not exceed $3,000. If they file a separate return the tax lability of each under the sim- | BY the Associated Press. plified method is the tax imposed | SILVERTON, Colo, Jan. 10— upon a single person. If husband | Smoke choked out the lives of eight an;i wife 11'1le separate returns and | miners as they retreated through only one elects to make a return on Form 1040A, the tax liability of me{“’““ tunnels in & ’“g‘e '.m"; & one so electing is the tax imposed | 85cape the fumes pouring in from upon a single person. If they file |8 fire at the entrance of the Pride . | payer need only ascertain in which | Informed officials made this esti-| hiock his gross income (less allow- | | mate today as a conference com-|gnce for dependents) falls to deter- | mittee of Senators and Representa- | mine his tax. A flat reduction of 10 | tives attempted to compose dif- | ferences between the civilian pro- tection measures passed by each | initial authorized cost to $100,000,000 |and transfers administrative con- | trol to the War Department. The Senate version places no restric- branch. The House bill limits the] ing at the amount of tax shown in | the table for deductions such as charitable contributions and taxes | paid, so that the taxpayer who uses | this method does not list these, but | gets an automatic deduction of 10 | per cent. ‘per cent has been made in arriv- | a single joint return, or if only one spouse makes a return because the other spouse has no gross income, the tax liability is the tax imposed upon & married person. of the West gold and silver mine. ‘The bodies were recovered by fel- low workers last nighteafter flames of a burning compressor house sub- uThe1uselo! the simplified method | sided. The fire had defied attempts optional with the taxpayer, but | once an election has been made for | °f FesCUers to ;m“ the niine: Ater any year, it is irrevocable for that| Ol exploded from an undeter- year. If a taxpayer flles a return | mined cause yesterday in the ma- under the simplified method for the | chine shop of the mine and soon the | tions on funds and leaves control |~ ynder the simplified method the with Mayor La Guardia of New York. Seen Retaining Top Post. i Administration leaders predicted | that Mr. La Guardia would retain his directorship under the final en- actment. They based this partly on | President Rooseveltt's action yes- ‘stn!us of a person on the last day | of the taxable year is the governing | factor in determining the exemption | level (8750 for single persons and married persons not living with hus- band or wife, and $1500 for mar- | ried persons living together) as well as the credit for dependents. terday in naming Dean James M. - Landis of Harvard Law School as | “executive” of the O. C. D. to take | some of the burden off Mayor La | Guardia, who also must run the| affairs of New York City. Dean | Landis will help in framing policies | and getting the personnel to carry | them out. | An initial $100,000,000 appropria- | tion for civilian defense would be | only & drop in the bucket compared to the ultimate cost, according to War Program Begun For Farm Youths Through 4-H Clubs racy and communism—and that they will have to make a choice. If the youth of America are shown that their greatest hope of achieving success is under democracy the ques- tion of choice will not arise, she sald. She also stressed the importance of farm youths' cultivating home gardens and suggestéd they attempt to produce enough food to supply taxable year, he may not thereafter | ing house, file & return under the general pro- | 2/a2¢ engulfed the boarding 4 visions of the law for that year. Conversely, if he files a return under the general provisions for any tax- able year, he may not thereafter file a return under the simplified method for that year. However, a new election is allowed for each suc- ceeding taxable year. an abandoned mill and the compres- sor house. All were destroyed. Seven of the miners fell in a group at the end of one tunnel. The eighth, Albert Van Arsdale, was found 3.000 | feet back in a tunnel on the No. 3 level. The others were O. E. Nelson, Frank Moser, Claude Pacotti, Frank Pacotti, John Aldrich, Harold Boi- sten and Howard Atkin. A hundred men worked vainly | | over the miners after they were| | brought into the open. The bodies were brought here and Coroner Maguire said he would hold an in- quest. The mine employed about 40 men, but only the eight were in it when | the fire broke out. The property is in Cunningham Gulch, 6 miles | morth of Silverton. Women forced to the un- | ©O. C. D. officials. The Budget Bu- reau already has before it a request for more than $230,000,000, and gas masks alone for 50,000,000 civilians in potential target areas for enemy raiders will cost $175,000,000 at $3.50 per mask. The target areas include cities of | 2,500 or more population within 300 miles of the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts, and key industrial centers in the interior, "Although the Federal Government will expect the States and cities to do their full share in providing some smaller equipment, Mayor La Guardia has said there are few cities in the Nation today able fi- nancially to furnish many of the essential devices. Director Plans Allocations. He has broken down the first $100,- 000,000—yet to be appropriated by Congress—into six categories, rough- 1y as follows: $57,338.842 for 17,257 auxiliary fire - fighting pumpers; $26548014 for an ‘“educational order” of gas masks; $4,724,000 for medical supplies and equipment; $3,054,000 for gas-proofing the cloth- ing for decontamination squads; $3,520,000 for protective clothing for fire-fighters, and $1,000,000 for arm- bands, helmets, etc. Smaller equipment, such as picks | and shovels, protective goggles, gar- | den hose, buckets, fron bars, ladders, | etc, would be furnished by the | cities themselves, | Philippines Vifal 1o U. §. Prestige, Clare Booth Says | A slim, blond playwright-reporter | last night told 3,600 persons attend- | ing the National Geographic Society | | lecture at Constitution Hall that | capture of the Philippines by the ‘Ja_panese would mear the capture, | alive or dead, of 24 American gen- | erals and would result in tremendous loss of prestige for the white race in he Orient. “It would be the brass hats in the history of any civilized nation,” declared Clare Booth, who was in the Philippines two months ago. Dgclaring that one-half the power | of the white man in Asia is prestige, | Miss Booth said those unfamiliar with the Orient could not possibly appreciate the “loss of face” result- | | ing from loss of the Philippines by this country. “It may well start revolts against White men in many disaffected sec- tions of Asia,” she added. l biggest bag of | | | | Professor to Discuss | ‘New Architecture’ | { Allen M. McDaniel, engineer- | | Ing professor at George Washing- University, will speak at 4 pm. to- morrow at the Lyon Park Commu- nity House in Arlington on “New Architecture: Symbol of a United | Mankind.” The community house | | is located at Pershing drive and | Fillmore street. | Mr. McDaniel, chairman of the | national spiritual assembly of the | Baha'is, was supervising engineer | of the Baha'i Temple at Wilmette, | Citizens Hear Defense Aide | Alfred C. Noyes, chairman of Ci- | | vilian Defense of Southern Mary- | land, was the guest speaker at a | recent meeting of the Bran View | Valley Civic Association at the | Parkside School in Silver Spring, | Md. Mr. Noyes discussed the air | raid warden service. | Glee Club to Give Concert The Glee Club of Washington- Lee High School, Arlington, Va., will give a concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Clarendon Methodist Church, Irving and Tenth streets, north, in Arlington. Miss Florence Booker, | director, has arranged the program. . Increase in Production And Participation in Civil Defense Planned A Nation-wide victory program was under way today by the 1,500,- 000 members of the 4-H Clubs, who are farm vouths between 10 and 21 years, following a conference of Ag- riculture Department Extension Of- ficials here yesterday. Patterned after the clubs’ 1941 defense program, the victory project seeks to grow more farm produce, | to salvage scrap metal and paper, and participate in civilian defense | work in rural communities. ‘The program is under the guid- ance of 150,000 volunteer adult lead- ers and is being directed by nearly 7,000 county extension agents. Mrs. Roosevelt attended the con- | ference, held in the Agriculture De- | partment, and stressed the impor- rned that when | Fascism and Naziism are eliminat- ed, youth will be faced with only two forms of government—democ- | February Registrants Won't Get Draft Call For Several Months Will Be Placed at End Of Present Lists, Says Hershey at Press Club The 9,000,000 men between the ages of 20 and 45 who register for se- lective service on February 16 will be placed at the bottom of present draft lists and therefore should not anticipate a call to active service for several months. Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, national selective service director, said yesterday. Gen. Hershey in a talk to the Na- tional Press Club said that Class 1-A men already registered will be called up before draft boards start dipping into the new reserves. Potential WOODWARD products for school lunch programs in rural areas. Hans W. Hochbaum, chief of the division of fleld co-ordination, ex- tension service and presiding officer at the conference, stressed that young people must be made to feel | they are playing an important part‘ in the war effort and that the 4-H program would provide this, —Linger Economy | S Means Saving We pride ourselves oa two things—the most complete stocks of QUALITY Inner- Spring Mattresses and Box Springs—and the reasonable- ness of our prices. Insurance of a good night's restful sleep. Invest what you save with our economy prices in Defense Bonds and Stamps. Augusta Supervisors Re-elect Bashaw Special Dispatch 1o The Star. STAUNTON Va, Jan. 10—The | Board of Supervisors of Augusta | County this week re-elected W. L. | Bashaw as chairman, took steps to | provide the county with blackout | regulations and another piece of | fire fighting equipment, and to! abandon the sewing room here. | Chairman Bashaw was re-elected | without opposition. Appointment of standing committees was deferred until the next meeting. | The board adopted a blackout We'll budget your purchases. | YINGERS 925 G St. N.W. resolution prepared by John D. i NAtional 4711 Estob. 1865 WOODWARD ity “LOTHROP -« . Ve Ready to Go—Fast ‘Flexible Flyer Sleds streamlined, safe, dependable No. 8 Yankee Clipper. $1 No. 9 Yankee Clipper, $1.25 No. 60 Airline Racer, No. 41 Airline Pilot, $4.50 No. 44 Patrol $5.50 No. 51 Airline Jr.__$6.50 Tae Tor Sross, Fourra FLoOR. No. 47 Airline Puvs;if, Sled Rope, foot_______5¢ Sled Backs________$1.50 Class 1-A men on present lists estimated as 1,000,000. Gen. Hershey cautioned local | boards against “hysterical” reclassi- fication of men for duty now that the United States is at war. The director said it was the duty of these boards to see that the armed forces were supplied with all the men needed to win the war, but that care | must be taken to avoid disruption of | armament production. | He said the time might be near| when men classified as 1-B because | of slight physical defects would be reclassified for active service. | Gen. Hershey said that deferments | must continue because “where a man | must serve ultimately cannot al- | ways be determined immediately.” | The director further said there is a real possibility of a labor shortage, | but it is not likely to occur in the next few momths. | He said he did not approve contin- uation of enlistments or “high-pres- | sure recruiting,” but as a compro- mise would favor having local draft boards pass first upon those desiring to volunteer for military duty VOGUE SPECIAL DESIGN NeS-4342 Marine Stickers Stickers proclaiming “This Is a Marine Corps Family” soon will be on thousands of automobiles, the Marine Corps headquarters an- nounced yesterday. The stickers, carrying blue Marine Corps em- blems, have been distributed to mar- ine barracks and recruiting sta- tions throughout the country to be distributed to families which have one or more members in the mar.nes. Pogue Confirmed The Senate confirmed yesterday the nomination of L. Welch Po~ue of Towa to be a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board. WANTED ‘41 FORD QUICK HIGH CASH PRICE FLOOD PONTIAC 4221 Conn. Ave. WOodley 8400 Oldest Pontiac Dealer in D. C. Lovely Lady Cotton Voiles arrive in a cloud of new year—new season glory You know how airily exquisite they are, from year to year. You ask for them even oftener after you have experienced their anti-crease, Sanforized - shrunk than shrinkage less Then, do come and s (residual 19%) practicglity. ee the fresh, fair se- lection—soft new colors and blithe new designs—including those made up in new Vogue and Butterick patterns— Modeled Informally from 10:30 to 1:00—2:00 to 6:00 all next week—January 12th through 17th Lovely Lady Voiles—39 inches wide—yard, 8¢ Drzss Faseics, Sscowp PLOOR.