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Se Oklahoma: . All Patched Up For Come-back Rally - De Gaulle's Beer-Hall Bid * x * k % % Bank Nokes Asa Hobby * k k kk % GEN. DE GAULLE: "Today, the Rally of the French is born." French General's New Party Began in Secret In Strasbourg; Commies See Ghost of Hitler BY FRANK DONGHI STRASBOURG, France, 'May 3--A Strasbourg beer hall is the target of Communist wrath in its new all-out attack against Gen. Charles de Gaulle's bid for French political power. In that beer hall a few weeks ago, de Gaulle supporters met IN SECRET, De Gaulle's foHowers met in this Strasbourg beer hal and formed the first unit of his new "RFP" party. and formed the "Rassemblement du Peuple Francais"--Rally of e French People, a new poli- cal party which de Gaulle hopes will "restore and reform the state." That includes quick de- struction of the Communist party in France, according to de Gaulle. The meeting was held in great secret, but word of it leaked out and the Communists immediately pointed an accusing finger at the beer hall origin of the party and cried "Hitler." De Gaulle's supporters denied there was any significance what- soever in the location of the first meeting. It was, they claim, a spur-of-the-moment affair called in the emotional aftermath of a stirring speech in Strasbourg by de Gaulle. "We met and then planned, rather than planned and met," one says. By now the party, listed as RPF for short, has moved to a more business-like location here, a second floor office above a ling- gerie shop and candy store. It has elected as party leader for the Department of the Lower- Rhine a political unknown named Emil Cremer, a Strasbourg indus- trialist. Jacques Soustelle, once French Minister of Information, was present at the party's birth and is expected to become its Secre- tary-General. He may even be- come President if de Gaulle pulls back into his political cocoon again. IN THE OPEN, De Gaulle's followers sign up in one of the two ~"fices in Paris where it is possible to join his new party. De Gaulle waited for a full week after the Strasbourg secret meeting before announcing for- mation of the new party, then is- sued his statement from Paris. "Today, the Rally of the French People is born," he said. "I take its direction. It has for its goal promotion .,. . of unity of our people, in an effort to restore and reform the state." It is too early to predict whe- ther de Gaulle's come-back will prove successful, but already the Socialists and other opponents are condemning it on the grounds that it will really strengthen the Communists. And the Commun- ists are shouting that de Gaulle seeks a dictatorship. & * * * English Garden - Lovesome Thing * LONDON, May 3. -- Julia Clements, just before her recent visit to America, said that she was taking with her the tradi- tionally British love, of a gar- den. Miss Clements proposed to tell America all about English gardens--from 1066 to the pres- ent day. "And," she added, "by special request I'll explain how our London and country gar- dens fared during the war. I have visited many gardens in Europe and in the Middle" East," she went on to say, "but have found none to compare with ours. And nowhere have I found the same eagerness to hurry home and dig on a Satur- day afternoon." Miss Clements then explained that originally the only gardens were those kept by monks who grew medicinal herbs. Eng- land's very oldest garden, inci- dentally, is the Monks Garden at Westminster Abbey -- now known as College Garden. But Hampton Court Gardens are very old, too, and the Pond Gar- den is precisely as it was when Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn there. : He apparently cultivated herbs on a large scale, wrote books of recipes about them, bought rose trees at threepence a hundred and paid women two- pence a day for weeding and watering. * * Holiday Scheme Aids Friendship ud + "\@ver 100,000 people in Britain and Europe will spend holidays in each other's homes this year. They are members of the World Friendship Association--a United Kingdom organization founded appropriately enough on May 8, 1985, V-E Day. The countries concerned are Britain, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Hol- land, France, Luxembourg, Nor- way, Sweden and Switzerland. Twenty-five thousand Dutch families have offered hospitality to United Kingdom guests this io 'The scheme works simply. [embers choose the centre in which they wish to spend their holiday and the Association ar- ranges accommodation in homes of members there whose tastes and occupations are similar, In return continental members visit per person, which covers fares from port to destination, meals on the journey, insurance and four-day excur- sions, All other expenses are borne by the hosts. Thus it is pos- sible for, people of Europe to mix freely and to understand one an- other's . backgrounds on a scale never before possible for people of limited means. These ambass- adors of international under- standing will play an important part in building world peace. * * Achieve Success In Fighting T.B. All civilized countries consider the combatting of tuberculosis as one of 'their most important tasks and the health authorities in England and Wales have ach- feved remarkable success in this respect. Whereas there was an increase of about 13 per cent in the population between the two wars, the number of fatal cases . of tuberculosis decreased by t half in this same period. a new sanatorium was re cently opened in Kent, the min- . Ister of works was able to rec- ord with satisfaction that there . Were now fewer fatal cases of #his disease than ever before, Britain's Health-Giving Resorts The British people are fond of travelling, and before World War II, many Englishmen spent their holidays abroad. They furnished a considerable number of visitors to international spas. Neverthe- less, there are in Britain, a num- ber of spas capable, by the cura- tive nature of their waters, of competing with the many famous Continental health resorts and often surpassing them in scenery and historic associations. First on the list is Bath in the West of England. Her praises have been sung by Carlyle, Mac- aulay and Landor. The extensive Roman baths are still to be seen, for the Romans had already ex- perienced the healing qualities of the waters here. An amusing legend is associated with the origin of this spa. It is said that Prince Bladud, a descendant of Brutus, landed in England and gave the country the name of Bmttain. Shortly after he landed, he was attacked with leprosy, was forced to live a life of isolation and ended up by becoming a swineherd. It was while he was tending his drove on the banks of the River Avon that chance brought him to the warm springs of Bath and he was cured. These springs are highly radio- active and contain a high per- centage of calcium; there are three of them and they all ex- hibit the same properties. Here thousands of sufferers from gout, chronic rheumatism and arthritis have been cured or relieved of their sufferings. Bath waters have also been successfully used in combating digestive complaints. The exceedingly sheltered posi- tion of this town made it a cen- tre of social life in the 17th and 18th centuries. Famous episodes of Jane Austen's novels have Bath as their setting. The baths have always been a perfect exam- ple of lay-out and the same is true today now that they are fit- ted out with all modern improve- ments. A further merit of Bath is that, architecturally, it is one of the most beautiful towns in Britain although it was bombed during the air raids of World War IL Today the British spa which attracts the greatest number 'of visitors is Harrogate, in York- shire, where the sulphur and chalybeate springs draw many sufferers. The curative value of Harrogate waters first received recognition in 1571 and today the pump-room and baths are sur- rounded by luxury hotels which are among the most modern and best equipped in Europe, such as the Royal Baths, Victoria Baths, and the Mavano Therapeutic Hall. The springs--one of which is called "Kissington Spring"-- are especially efficacious in the cure of metabolic complaints as well as rheumatism and gout. Harrogate possesses all th amenities of an international spa, such as theatres, pump-room, municipal orchestra and facilities for sport. The Midlands possess a chain of spas of which the first is Droit- wich in Worcestershire. Droit- * > Train Experts On Gas Turbines Aviation experts from all over the world have been in Britain attending an instructional course at Lutterworth, in Lelcestershire, organized by the government- sponsored firm of Power Jets Ltd. During the war, Britain's pioneer research into the prob- lems of jet propulsion was a vital military secret; now, experts from the United States, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, and China will take back with them a knowl- edge of the latest developments * in jet propulsion, RE se a wich'is one of the smaller spas, but it is becoming increasingly popular in view of its extraordin- arily successful treatment of rheumatism, sciatica, neuritis and gout. Also in Worcestershire is Malvern Spa, situated on the slopes of the Malvern Hills, ris- ing majestically from the Severn Valley. Here, the waters are specially efficacious in the treat- ment of asthma and chronic bronchitis and good results have also been achieved in the treat- ment of tuberculosis. Malvern Spa is also an educational and cultural centre: it has famous schools and here annually is held the "Malvern Festival" in which a number of George Bernard Shaw's plays have been given their first productions. Situated in the ighboring Cheltenham Spa, the Mecca of retired naval and army officers and colonial civil servants, lies in on of the most beautiful spots of the English countryside--the Cotswold Hills. Its magnesium, sulphur and alkaline waters bring relief to the system weak- Yened by tropical conditions and it is for this reason that it is visit- ed by those who return from col- onial service and who adapt themselves thereby with greater ease to British climatic condi- tions. In comparing Cheltenham with a continental spa, one is instinc- tively reminded of Wiesbaden, for here too, those in search of health are offered the amenities of a large town such as the famous race-course, theatres, i , clubs, smart hotels and county of Warwickshire, birth- place of Shakespeare, are the famous baths of Leamington Spa. Leamington is the English equi- valent of Kissingen or Homburg, its waters affording remarkable results in the treatment of af- fections of the kidneys and the digestive system. The town has a specially delightful setting and there is no lack of amusement and good hotels. One of Leam- ington's many attractions is an extensive system of parks. excellent shops while, on the other hand they can enjoy the health-giving air of the wide, flower-strewn pasture-lands in the wonderful setting of the Cots- wolds, » These are only a few of the long series of British spas which are often unique in the way in which they combine the working of cures with architectural at- tractions, beautiful scenery and the ancient tradition of "taking the waters." By H. J. Uxlen Blessing of Plow AtNovel Service LONDON, May 3.--An. inter- esting service, one of many similar ceremonies held in English country churches, was witnessed recently from Noc- ton Parish Church, Lincoln- shire. To the ringing of the church ells in the background, a de- scription was given of the ser- vice. Representatives from various farming organizations, the National Farmers' Union, the Young Farmers' Club, the Agricultural - Workers' Union, and the Women's Land Army, all took part in the ceremony and the lessons were read by local farmers. A plow was tow- ed up to the church during the service and the Blessing of the Plow was given: "God speed the plow, the plow and the plow- man, the farm and the farmer; God speed the plow, in fair weather and foul, in rain and shine," In pre-Reformation days, Eng- lish plowmen used to keep lights burning before church shrines to obtain a blessing on their work. "Plow Monday" processions, when a gaily decor- ated plow was drawn through the village by plowmen, helped to pay for those plow-lights. CJ d English Villages -8 London An "It is an idle boast to say one knew London," was once re- marked by a person with a real- ly good knowledge of Britain's capital. Its vast size and di- versity ' of attractions make it doubtful whether the average person can have more than a mere "acquaintanceship" with London: The vastness of this world metropolis can only be appreciated to the full when people have a fair knowledge of the whole built-up area. The mere size of London's popula- tion impresses one. = In 1937 there were 8.6 million inhabit- ants of the Metropolitan Police District and 11% millions in the area covered by the London Transport. It cannot, however, be said of London--"This is Eng- land"--as it was said "Paris is France." London is too cosmo- politan for this and, paradoxical though it may sound, London is felt to be more the heart of the British Empire than that of England. Although more than one-fifth of Britain's population lives in Greater London, and the rural population of England and Wales is below this figure, the village still forms an im- portant and one of the most [leasam characteristics of the glish way of life. Heavy industry has, of course, "absorbed" many villages and small towns into industrial areas, but the villages that have 'remained untouched maintain - their quaintness and charm. In- deed, the village might, to some extent, appear to be encroach- ing upon the town. London's modern suburbs with their little houses and gardens frequently have something of the country- side about them. This tendency is further emphasized in the Greater London plan for the decentralization of the capital and the evacuation into the out. skirts of the people from Lon- don's over-crowded districts. These new settlements and sat- ellite towns are not all to be mere residential districts, but have communities with an exist- ence of their own, where the people can both live~and work, access to the centre of each be- ing easy, so that they will have the advantages of a big city without the disadvantages. If the plan for settling population in these satellite areas were to succeed, instead of allowing it $0 converge on the capital--and By B. Sten it must be remembered that the population of the metropolis increased by 2 million between 1919 and 1939, whereas the in- crease for the whole of England and Wales was only 41 --then an ideal solution will have been found to the problem of giving such a congested mass of peo- ple a link with the countryside and a feeling of belonging to a natural and independent com- munity. Such a solution would spring from love for the vil- lage, which the English still hold dear, although they are, generally speaking, more '"ur- ban" than any other nation nu- merically comparable. In spite of the fact that two-fifths of England's population live in large towns, certain customs have been absorbed in their urban life which can be traced back to this longing for the countryside. Even in the oldest parts of London, only a few minutes' walk from busy thoroughfares and continuous streams of traf- fic, there are squares with trees and grass, and small parks where the peaceful tranquility of the village merges with the grandeur of the town. The English countryside, apart from the hill regions and coastal areas, has a park-like charac- ter, so that the great parks in Britain's towns and the gréen belts around them tend to give _the towns a real country appear- ance, It: is typical that British games, such as football and cricket, which have acquir- ed world-wide fame, were in all originally village games. And even the busiest statesmen, industrialists and scientists never quite lose touch with rural things, for many of them turn to the countryside and devote their time to agri- culture in their leisure hours-- the late Mr. Lloyd George -and Mr. Churchill being outstanding examples. The inhabitants of many of the large towns go off every Sunday for picnics and excursions, and Londoners are no exception to this, but they, too, like all the English, do not wish to enjoy the country merely during picnics or out- ings, but want to live closer to nature. For this reason one of the quietest of sports, fishing, is very popular. English litera- ture gives innumerable exam- ples of a close and interested study of nature such as can only be obtained from life in the country. Villages in England have de- creased in numbers more than in any other country of equal size, but their importance has remained unimpaired. The whole nation has a soft spot for such quiet, charming places as the Cotswold villages with their high-chimneyed cottages, the small fishing hamlets or the an- cient country thatched cottages so closely linked with a bygone age. There can scarcely be an- other land with so many old inns, fitted with all modern amenities and yet preserving the charm of long 4go, or the times when the mail-coach rat- tled into the courtyard. probability Shepherd's Honorable Calling LONDON, May 3. -- Ralph Wightman, the Dorset farmer, spoke recently of the shepherd's "honorable .calling." "In all the history of our civilization," he said, "I believe there has never been any job which has been more honored than that of the shepherd. David left the sheepfold to be a king in Israel; the best tidings in the world were told to shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem; our Lord compared Himself to the good Shepherd. : "I have known shepherds all on, $"and that knowledge has not shaken my life," he went my faith in the old imagery. Without going 'into any high mysteries, it is still true, in any ordinary, every-day sense, that the 'good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." I am a firm- er, and a business man. I keep sheep because I hope to make a profit out of keeping sheep. Yet I cannot help feeling proud that the metaphors and similes which have moved men through all the ages have been connected with my, calling." LONDON, May 3. Irene Shrigley, the librarian of the Institute of Bankeys has, among other jobs, the t. of looking after one of the collections of old bank notes in the world. In a recent ad she observ- ed that bank notes were really rather a fascinating hobby once you got to know them. "Al- though it always seems to me," she added, "that the most curi- ous thing about them is why they weren't spent in the first place! "The earliest bank notes we know about," she continued, "are Chinese imperial notes of the 13th century. These are © rare and quite easy to recog- nize. They are made of a kind of paper that frays very easily, probably made from mulberry leaves, and are a purplish color with red or black lettering. The story' is that the red ink was really bloed! The famous ex- plorer, Marco Polo, ' mentions them as circulating all over the eastern world in his day. Then, as trade developed the idea spread yestwards, and in Eu- rope in 'the 17th and 18th cen- turies there were a large num- ber of local issues which passed freely from hand to hand to make up for the shortage of gold and silver. "Always, from the beginning the danger has been forgery. Notes are cheap and easy to print and much less complicated than coins to copy, and very little was done in the early days to detect forgery, although the most frightful penalties were imposed on anyone who was caught. People were hanged for it right up to 1829 in this country. . . . In the early days of banking the use of the cheque was almost unknown and postal orders were not in- vented, so notes were often sent by post. But they used to cut them in half, and the second half was not semt until the first had been acknowledged!" Apply Air Power To Agriculture Oblivion Voyage to PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, May 3--The U.S. Navy's ex-battleship, the Oklahoma, is all patched up and ready to go--and no way to get there. The 32-year-old battlewagon, which was sunk in the first 10 minutes of World War II, has a date with the scrap pile in Oak- land, Calif. She is going to be late because of a lack of tugs to tow her to the west coast. Pride of the fleet when she was commissioned in 1914, the 29,000,- ton "Okie" lies quietly at anchor in a finger of Pearl Harbor among a graveyard fleet of more than 30 decommissioned ships. The "Okie" never fired a shot in two world wars. In World War I, she was based at Bere- haven, Ireland, with the Nevada and the Utah while patrolling the North Sea, The Nevada and Utah were with her again on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese bombs sent the Okla- homa to the bottom within 10 minutes after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Utah also was lost, the Nevada seriously damaged. ar By Harry J. Lambeth The old battleship took about 300 of her crew of 1,300 to their deaths when she settled in the muddy bottom of the harbor. For two. years she lay submerg- Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, chief of naval operations, ordered the "Okie" placed on the auction block as a candidate for the scrap heap. A South Norwalk, Conn. manufactyrer insulted her glory when he offered only $10 for a vessel that cost $75,000,000 to build and later modernize. The Moore Drydock Co. of Oak- land, Calif., bought the Oklaho- ma for $46,127--the first Ameri- can battleship to be sold in mod- ern times. It will cost about $20,000 to tow her from Hawaii to the mainland. After she was sold, the Okla- homa was towed to the Pearl Harbor ship repair yard to be patched enough to make the 2,300-mile ocean voyage. Now, stripped of her guns and her glory, the ex-battlewagon awaits the arrival of stubby little tugs. RAISED FOR THE junk-yard: Stripped of her guns and her glory, the ex-battleship Oklahoma, victim of Pearl Harbor, lies at the dockside in Hawaii waiting for {ugs to tow her away. * * An interesting and novel ex- periment in agricultural techni- que is being carried out in Bri- tain today. Wheat is being sown from the air by spraying it from a low-flying airplane. This enter- prising way of harnessing air power for the assistance of ag- riculture has for its object over- coming the results of the serious hold-up in farming operations-- and spring sowing in particular-- caused by the calamitous weather of the last six months. The ex- periment is taking place over an area fifty acres in size 'and a Miles Aerovan aircraft is being used for the job. The plane will be flown at about 75 m.p.h. at an average height of 50 feet and will be carrying five tons of wheat seed. This will be scattered over the land through bomb aper- tures in the bottom of the plane and the force of the wind will do the work of spreading the seed evenly over the fields. This op- eration will be followed up by harrowing with mechanical tractors. Land on the majority of farms in Britain is still too sod- den to permit surface sowing and this experiment in air-spraying seed is being watched with the greatest interest by the agricul- tural community. * * Britain To Export More Whiskey * * Seventy-five per cent of the whiskey produced in Scotland is to be sold abroad compared with the present proportion of 50 per cent. This increase is the outcome of an agreement reached recent- ly between the minister of food and the Scotch Whiskey Associa- tion. Under this agreement dis- tillers will be able to buy 50,000 tons of barley out of the 1946 crop and, subject to a satisfactory harvest, a further 75,000 tons in autumn out of the 1947 crop. The whole of the additional amount of the exporfs, which involve a substantial reduction in home distribution, will so far as is prac- ticable be sold in dollar or other hard currency countries. * * Firm Produces New Type Glider A United Kingdom firm has produced what is said to be the first low-wing two-seat tandem glider ever to be built. The de- sign incorporates a dual control, a centre-wheel undercarriage (in addition to a skid) dive brakes and longitudinal trimming. The gull-shaped wing has a span of 62 feet. The glider is over 27 feet long and weighs 800 lbs. empty. Stalling speed is 35 m.p.h. and maximum permissable speed is 130 m.p.h. New Alarm Clock Proves Infallible * * To be shown for the first time 'at the British Industries Fair will be a new alarm clock that needs neither winding nor resett- ing. Unlike the standard alarm which fails to go off if its owner forgets to set it, the new clock is 24-hour fully automatic. Once set for "reveille" it will auto- matically go off at that time ev- ery day until readjusted. It is el- ectrical and therefore requires no winding. "Great Britain Lightens Lot Of German War Prisoners HOST ERIC BASS (left) and his two guests, Herman Wilharm (centre), and Ernest Schneider, former German soldiers and still prisoners-of-war, relax in Bass' suburban home outside London. LONDON, May 3 -- Herman Wilharm, 28, a former window- dresser, and Ernst Schneider, 19, once a metalworker, relaxed in the comfortable living room of Eric Bass' home in suburban East Dulwich, They shared a pot of coffee, lazily read the morning paper, talked quietly about things of mutual interest. It was a normal social visit-- except that Wilharm and Schneider were prisoners-of-war and Bass was a native-born Eng- lish travelling salesman. A few weeks ago it would have been impossible for Wilharm and Schneider to have visited Bass without permission of their camp commander and then only if Bass' home happened to be within five miles of their camp. Now the regulations have been relaxed. In addition to their new freedom of movement, German POWs no longer are required to wear clothing distinctly marked and colored to set them apart from Britons. Under new regula- tions the Germans are allowed to wear chocolate-dyed British- type battle dress. War Secretary F. J. Bellenger says the decision to lighten the burden of prisoners was reached after earlier relaxation of re- strictions, made last December, proved successful. For Bass and other Britons who invited German prisoners to their homes, it was an opportunity to brush up on their knowledge of * * Iceland Orders British Trawlers * * Deciding at the end of 1945 to modernize its trawler-fleet, the government of Iceland ordered 30 modern trawlers from Britain. The first of these vessels has re- cently been handed over at Rey- . kjavik, * German. For Wilharm and Schneider, .it was a chance to learn English. Even more, it was an opportunity to forget, for a little while, the atmosphere of a war that still plagues them and to enjoy home-life they have been without so long. * * Landing Blind At London Airport A recent addition to the vari- ous systems of control at Heath- row, London's great new air ter- minal, is the ground control ap- proach system. Developed and used during the war, this system is now available to all aircraft landing at Heathrow, Britain's Ministry of Civil Aviation an- nounces. The aircraft is picked u. by the radar beam when 30 miles from the airport: an oper- ator watches the approach of the aircraft as a glowing spot left on the fluorescent screen by the ro- tating beam of light: he is in constant communication with the pilot of the aircraft, and as the pilot approaches the airfield he receives directions from the op- erator. Following the instruc- tions from the ground, he at last sees the runway below him, and can make a perfect landing. Th> set in use at Heathrow has been acquired from the Royal Air Force, it is being operated at the moment by an R.A.F. crew, while civilian operators are under training--a long process, as, after their general training, it is nee~ essary to become thoroughly ac- quainted with the partici pir- port, tall 2 features are picked radar beam, and operal