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University Daily Kansan
Editorials
Jet Jobs Are for the Juniors
The Air Force's move to drop court-martial against two of its officers who refuse to fly, has settled only these specific cases and has not gotten to the crux of the situation.
At present, the Air Force is short of pilots. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg attributes this shortage to (1) rising death rate in military flights, (2) insufficient airman "hazard" pay, and (3) reserve officers recalled to duty claiming they are doing more than their share.
But according to Air Force reports in the newspapers, the U.S. is losing on the average only one, two, or three planes a week in Korea, and no great upsurge in training deaths have been noticed recently. Apparently someone is not presenting the complete picture.
"The system is unfair to the Army infantry, and purchased morale is pretty sad," the senator contends.
Then too, General Vandenberg lists the present percentage "hazard" pay for airmen as insufficient, yet if it were left to Marine veteran Senator Douglas of Illinois, the "hazard" pay would be cut.
What the white-haired senator seems to forget is that the added pay could hardly be called a "moral booster" to take off in a hot flying jet to battle with MIG's that are your equal. Pilots of today are professionals, and like most professionals, should receive better pay. These men are trained at high costs to out-fly, out-think, and out-fight the enemy from 30,000 feet to the tree tops, at speeds exceeding 500 miles an hour. What you don't know about flying these days don't hurt you—it will kill you.
As for reserve officers doing their share, how many wars must a man fight in a life time? It was
once intriguing to listen to Dad tell of the trenches of France, but no more. These men have seen other airmen die in one big puff of 130 octane smoke far above the earth, and others fall to the earth in a bullet-ridden whining machine. These men fought their hearts out to break the backbone of one of the greatest war machines the world has ever seen, Germany. And they went on to bomb Japan into submission before a Marine ever set foot on the island.
These pilots were young and daring then. Everyone was in for the duration plus six. There was a job to be done, and everyone pitched in to do it. But now these men have aged six to 10 years, married and have families. Now they think longer and fight slower. They have fought one war and want no more. They want to turn the jet jockeying over to the younger men who can handle the fast flying missiles.
But yet congressmen shelved UMT (election year) and officials constantly dillydully with the draft—two measures which force the Air Force ranks to swell with young, educated, able-bodied men.
Although the Air Force has ceased calling its flying officers involuntarily, General Vandenberg told senators last week that it would be necessary to call back some of the experienced fighters involuntarily to help fight the Korean War.
But as long as congressmen pussyfoot with today's young manpower supply and seriously talk of abolishing the "hazard" pay, it will take more than "flag waving" to get aging airmen back into the flying coffins excluding all-out war. It's a young man's game and the reserve officers know it.
—Charles Price.
Book Review
Tito's Communism' Should Strike Terror in Americans
"Tito's Communism," by Josef Korbel, is a book that should strike terror into the hearts of all freedom-loving Americans because it shows only too clearly how our prized freedoms could be lost through lack of interest in the government.
Mr. Korbel is well qualified to write this book. He has long been a Czechoslovakian government official attached to the foreign office. In 1937 and 1938 he was a press attache to the Czechoslovak legation. After the war he returned to Belgrade as a minister plenipotentiary of the Czech government. It was what he saw happening to the people and information obtained from friends that prompted Mr. Korbel to write this book.
Clearly, the author tells how the
popular and powerful underground leader, Gen. Draza Mihajlovic, was replaced by an unknown called Josip Broz Tito. In the early chapters Mr. Korbel shows how Tito rose to power and finally overcame Mihajlovic. After this victory and under the agreement reached at the Yalta conference Tito assumed control of the country.
Marshall Tito had this to say prior to the first national election to see if the "national wish" was
to have the king returned to the throne: "I admit that we are committing mistakes, many mistakes, but that is only natural in a period of revolution. Our people are afraid that they might lose the great values which they acquired in the difficult struggle that lasted four years. We are doing out best to put the wrong things right and we must endeavor to remove those subordinate organs which are committing injustices." By removing "injustices" Tito apparently meant everything which stood in the way of the complete control of the country.
Tito received a 80 to 95 per cent turn-out at the election. His methods of so doing would strike terror into Americans. Those people failed to vote lost their ration cards, or even worse, incurred the wrath of local government officials who made life unbearable. Newspapers that were against Tito were suppressed. There was no censorship of these papers. When such a paper appeared, the local typesetters union no longer would allow the printers to work, and thus the papers were forced out of business.
POGO and his friends
Mr. Korbel said, "I read the Constitution (The People's Republic) with great care and found it was a perfect law providing for all the ideals for which mankind, and Yugoslav nation in particular, have been striving for centuries. The forefathers of the United States could not have objected to any constitution." But, it was just a piece of paper to Tito and his government. There is no real freedom in Titoland today; the Constitution might just as well not have been written.
Throughout the book Mr. Korbel shows how the people suffer under the heel of Tito. He explains how religion and the opposition are overwhelmed by a ruthless government. He tells what happened to Adolf Hitler, who also tells in detail the struggle between Tito and the Kremlin.
To those people who are interested in obtaining an insight into a country and government and long-suffering people this is an excellent book. Yugoslavia holds all the possibilities of becoming the starting place of a third world war. A careful reading of this book should help the reader understand why the country is of vital importance to the world. —Maurice Prather.
The Dominican Republic's $12,-000,000 hotel-building program will insure, by 1950, a total of eight new hotels to augment the 15 now dotting the island.
Interpretive Articles
Russia Reported Unwilling To Leave Manchurian Ports
Chinese reports from behind the Bamboo Curtain reveal Soviet Russian development schemes in Port Arthur and Dairen in Manchuria.
The reports give no indication of any Moscow willingness to turn over the two ports to Red China by the end of this year, as stipulated in the Stalin-Mao Tse-tung agreement of 1950.
It is believed here a propoganda pronouncement might be made by Moscow and Peiping at the end of the year to satisfy the population. The general expectancy here is that Soviet Russia actually would take advantage of some flexible provisions in the agreement to maintain her pre-eminent rights in Manchuria.
The agreement, signed in Moscow on Feb. 14, 1950, provided first, "the Soviet government transfers gratis to the government of the Peoples' Republic of China all its rights in the joint administration of the Chinese Changchun railway with all property belonging to the railway . . . immediately upon conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan not later, however, than toward the end of 1952."
Second, "Soviet troops will be withdrawn from the jointly utilized naval base of Port Arthur and installations in this area will be handed over to the government of the Peoples' Republic of China immediately upon conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan not later, however, than toward the end of 1952."
Third, "the question of the Port of Dairen must be further considered upon the conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan and all property now existing in Dairen in charge or under lease to Soviet Russia must be taken over by the government of the Peoples' Republic of China."
From the text of the agreement it is clear that Soviet Russia is not obliged to turn Dairen to Red China by the end of this year.
The provision for returning Port Arthur to Red China by the end of the year is also qualified in another provision, which said $ S_{v} $ Russia may continue to use Port Arthur as a naval base in case Red China "becomes subject to aggression on the part of Japan or any state which would unite with Japan."
Nationalist sources are subscribing to the belief that Soviet Russia might be allowed to maintain her pre-eminent rights.
It was reported the Soviet garrisons at the two ports have been increased recently and more barracks are being built. It was said Soviet Russia also was undertaking other development schemes in the two ports, such as expanding the naval dockyard facilities. United Press.
Short Ones
Jacob Malik refused to submit to the International Red Cross his alleged proof of the UN forces resorting to bacteriological warfare in Korea. Malik has one thing in common with the anti-Communist senator of America, Joe McCarthy.
Senator McCarthy sued Senator Benton for "slander and libel. First glance at the paper, the reader may have taken the news vice versa.
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