Daily Post - 01.10.1943, Blaðsíða 2

X
D AIL.Y POST
DAILY POST
Blaðahringurtnn.
ib pvblished by
Editor: S. Benediktsson.
Offiee: 12, Austurstræti. Tel.
8715. Reykjavtk. Printed by
Albýeuprentsmiðjan Ltd.
Friday, Oct. 1, 1943
The New Undersecretacy
Of State
Washington.—In a White
House statement, President
Roosevelt has announced the re
signation of Sumner Welles as
Undersecretary of State and
the appointment of Edward R.
Stettinius, Lend-Lease admini-
strator, as his successor.
Commenting on the Stettini-
us appointment, the President
said his wide experience with
our Allies both before and after
Pearl Harbor as Lend-Lease
administrator and his long ex-
perience as a business executive
have splendidly equipped him
for his new post.
Edward R. Stettinius brings
to his position with the State
Department a wealth of busin-
ess experience on an internati-
onal scale. He has had a most
interesting career. Although on
ly 43 years old, he has had a
succession of very important
positions, each more responsib-
le than the last.
When he was administrator of
the Lend-Lease program, he
had a job which would have
staggered most men of great
age and experience. Forty-three
countries were eligible to re-
ceive the benefits of lend-lease
as of January, 1943. They re-
presented two-thirds of the.
world’s surface, two-thirds of
its population. The job admitt-
edly a staggering one—did not
stagger Stettinius. He took it in
his stride.
The precocious Stettinius has
grown used to the age-incongru-
'ity that has marked his career.
At the age of 30 he was vice
president of the huge General
Motors Corporation, and at 37
chairman of the board of the
United States Steel Corpora-
tion, having replaced a man
cwice his age.
Since resigning his chair-
manship with U. S. Steel, Stet-
tinius has impressed Washing-
ton with his sound, keen judge
ment, and his ability to mast-
er difficult problems.
JL X. JLJLJL V J
Red Cross Surgical Dressings
In a little more than a year
American women, working in
the production rooms of almost
every one of the 3,755 Red
Cross chapters in the United
States, have produced 520 mil-
lion surgical dressings for the
armed services. It is estimated
that some ‘LVi million women,
including young girls, business
women, and housewives, have
performed this vast job as a
voluntary contribution to the
American victory program.
In city office buildings, in
churches, lodge halls, and chap
ter houses, willing volunteers
not only filled the quotas ask-
ed by the armed forces of the
U. S., but also produced a sub-
stantial excess for shipment to
Russia, Australia, and others of
the United Nations.
These dressings included
many kinds, both folded and
stitched. The surgical gauze and
other cotton manufacturers of
the U. S. reported at the first
of the year that they would be
able to furnish only one-tenth
of the amount needed in war-
In 1939, appointed chairman
of the War Resources Board, he
led the task of reorganizing the
productive capacity of the U. S.
for defense. Later he was suc-
cessively chief of the raw ma-
terials procurement division of
the Advisory Committee of the
Council of National Defence, —
and chairman of priorities in
the Office of Production Man-
agement.
Stettinius is a serious-mind-
ed young man and has always
been so. He began working pro-
digiously for a career when he
first became aware he was
“handicapped” in the American
conception by a family with so-
cial position and by a brilliant
and wealthy father, who di-
rected the purchase of muniti-
ons for the Allies and later for
the U. S. armed forces in the
last war.
When Stettinius was appoin-
ted Lend-Lease Administrator
by the President in September
1941, lend-lease shipments were
few. But with characteristic
energy he accelerated the work
ings of the program so that by
February 1943, the U. S. was
providing lend-lease goods and
services at a rate exceeding
$10,000,000,000 a year.
ica At
time, and it was at their sug-
gestion that the Red Cross was
asked to make these dressings
for the U. S. Army and Navy.
Medical Care for United Nati-
ons Searaen
Medical attention for United
Nations seamen putting into
American harbors is being pro-
vided by a number of organiza-
tions which maintain hospitals
and welfare centers for this pur
pose in the U. S.
The largest single American
agency engaged in this work is
the U. S. Public Health Ser-
vice which last year gave medi
cal treatment to 4,446 foreign
seamen from United Nations
vessels. Of this number, 2,207
men were treated in the 20 ma-
rine hospitals operated by the
Public Health Service in the
leading ports and cities of the
United States. These hospitali-
zed foreign seamen had 50,053
hospital days of care, and 6,107
out-patient treatments were gi-
ven.
A total of 148,084 American
merchant seamen were also tre-
ated at these hospitals, which
are large, well-equipped, and
well-staffed.
In Addition, the United Sea-
men’s Service, which coopera-
tes closely with the Public He-
alth Service, alone has treat-
ed 2,500 American, Chinese,
British, and other United Na-
tions seámen, survivors of tor-
pedoings. This organization also
operates 450 convalescent and
rest homes throughout the U.
S. These homes are for men not
re$uiring hospitalization. They
are designed for cases of “con-
voy fatigue,” and for convalas-
cents from medical or surgical
illness. The United Seamen’s
Service enlists the aid of civili-
an doctors, and some of the
help are used as much as poss-
ible at the centers, and women
from nearby communities do
volunteer work.
Some member countries of
the United Nations have also
set up their own facilities in the
U. S. to take care of their own
seamen. For instance, the Nor-
wegian Public Health Service
has set up its official organiza-
tion in New York City. At their
public health center, they see
between four and five thous-
and patients a month. There
are also two Norwegian centers
for convalescing seamen, one
located in Nova Scotia, and the
other near New York City.
These hospitals and rest cen-
ters not only save lives and
conserv>e the health of UnitecL
ations' seamen, but also contri-
bute substantially to keeping
United Nations cargo vessels
running at maximum efficency.
Girl’s Curls Aid American
War Effort
An 11-year-old American
girl, Anita Hochberg, has giverr
up her long golden curls to help
the United States win the war.
A framed certificate from au
important war plant now hangs
in the living room of the Hoch
berg home, attesting to the fact
that Anita’s 14-inch tresses are
being used in the precision in-
struments that go into war plan
es.
Anita had been letting her
hair grow since last sum-
mer, when she read that the-
government’s military program
called for quantities of fine, 14-
inch long blonde hair which had
never been crimped with curl-
ing irons or treated with chem-
icals. To keep her tresses tidy
and free from snarls, her moth-
er put her hair up in rag curls
: every night.
| Finally the required length
' was reached and a pound and a
half of shimmering hair fell to
| the cutter’s shears. At $2.50 an
ounce, Anita’s curls were worth
$60, which the war plant don-
ated to the American Red Cross
and the United Service Organ-
izations. Anita received’the fol-
lowing certificate:
“Thanks are extended to An-
ita M. Hochberg for a gift of hu-
man hair, from which selection
I will be made for use on instru-
ments serving the nation’s war
requirements and for the needs
of science and industry. By the
above kind act not only has the
national need been facilitated,
but the funds of the United Ser
vice Organizations and the Red
Cross have been benefited, as
the cash market value of all
hair is being paid into these hu
manitarian societies.”
Anita is now thinking of lett
ing her shorn hair grow intO’
another contribution to the war
program.
(Continued on page 4.)