mm
WEB
U7
In
yiuj
British Fleet
Sinks 6 Ships
In Sea Swoop
U. S. Bombers Blast Six
Others at Libya; Allied
Losses Month Ago 11
Our Job Is to Save
Dollars
Buy
WarBondi
ft Ivwy Pay Day
THsDODGUCOOMTY daily
VOL. XLVII NO. 204 OF ROSEBURG REVIF1"
In The 3
News
By FRANK JENKINS
GAS rationing holds the atten
tion of irritated westerners
this week more or less to the ex
clusion of other things much as
an IMMEDIATE aching tooth
can take precedence over a
THREATENED case of pneu
monia. THIS writer's advice is to meet
the situation good-naturedly
and patriotically.
The purpose of gas rationing Is
to restrict UNESSENTIAL driv
ing. It is a sound and necessary
purpose. If it Isn't accomplished,
national efficiency will suffer.
It isn't easy to give up the
pleasant habits of peace, most of
which are all tied up with un
' limited use of the automobile, but
THIS IS WAR.
- In all nations there are two
' kinds of people the right kind
and the wrong kind. The right
kind of people - will cooperate
loyally; grousing, of course, in
the traditional American man
ner, but putting up with what
iver personal . inconveniences
may be necessary.
The wrong kind WON'T.
Few of us want to be classed
with the wrong kind of people.
WHATEVER you do, don't cuss
out your local rationing
board.. . ... .
It's members, with few excep
tions, are WORKING FOR
NOTHING, doing their best to
straighten out the snarl. Their
best may not be as good as you
WANT, but when tempted to
criticise or complain ask your
self this searching question:
COULD I DO ANY BETTER?
T
HE local rationing board Is
our protection against RE
MOTE bureaucracy. Its memb
ers know local conditions and are
trying to protect their communi
ties against the evils of distant
bureaucratic control.
Given time, the local boards
will sift out the essential from
the unessential and will get
things to running more smoothly-
But it will take time.
N
EVER let this thought out of
your mind:
No matter how great the in-
(Continued on page 6.)
Expanding Sawmill Industry Displaces Agriculture
As Principal Source of Revenue in Douglas County
By HARRY PINNIGER
(Secretary Roseburg Chamber of
Commerce)
The sawmill industry has re
placed agriculture as the chief
source of revenue in Douglas
county. For the first time in the
county s history, agriculture has
dropped to second place as shown
Oby a report recently completed by j
the Roseburg chamber of com
merce with the assistance of the
West Coast Lumberman's associa
tion. This report shows an annual
payroll of more than four million
dollars from operating sawmills,
hut does not take Into account the
money being expended and re
ceived in the logging industry
not associated with mills.
The study made by the chamber
of commerce was to determine
the factors which have caused
Douglas county population to in
crease in spite of the movement
of a great number of people into
the armed forces and defense in
dustry centers. Douglas county,
unlike other counties in Oregon,
or, for that matter, on the entire
Pacific coast, has not suffered
population loss or a decrease In
retail business volume by reason
of having no war production in
dustries in the vicinity. However,
the lumber industry has gone to
war and the present production
figures for Douglas county reveal
the reasons why population has
held up and retail business is on
4 J?p Destroyers Routed From New Guinea
. ... o- , p.. i I j. I I .... . . ' . .
Alliei
Down.U
Nippon Planes
Despite Aid Failure, Jap
Land Forces Continue
Desperate Resistance
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS
IN AUSTRALIA, Dec. 3 (API
General Douglas MacArthur's air
forces supporting ground troops
closing in on the Buna-Gona area
on the New Guinea coast have
smashed new Japanese attempts
to land reinforcements in a 12
hour running battle with four
Japanese destroyers and their
screen of fighter planes.
The allied planes knocked 23
enemy fighters out of the air as
they carried the attack to sea,
forcing the destroyers to with
draw without materially aiding
their hard-pressed forces on the
shallow beachhead ringed by
allied ground troops.
The planes kept up low level
attacks on Japanese ground posi
tions between Buna and Gona.
Brief reports from allied air
men described the night fight in
the air and at sea as "A great
fireworks display with enemy
warships shooting rockets to
illuminate the allied aircraft."
The destroyers and their fight
er screen were sighted in mid af
ternoon Tuesday coming from
the coast of new Britain.
Flying Fortresses roared to the
attack and were engaged by vhe
Japanese fighters. North Ameri
can B-25's came in and made a
direct hit on one destroyer but
the flotilla continued its zigzag
(Continued on page 6.)
Wilber Henderson Named
Legal Adviser to Snell
SALEM, Ore., Dec. 3 (AP)
Governor-elect Earl Snell an
nounced today the appointment
of Wilber Henderson, Portland
attorney, as his legal advisor dur
ing the legislature, which opens
January 11. Snell will become
governor on that clay.
Henderson, a graduate of the
University of Oregon law school,
has practiced law in Portland
since 1911. He served In the state
house of representatives in 1927
and 1929, where Snell also was
a representative.
Henderson was one of the or
ganizers of the oregon depart
ment of the American Legion.
He served in the army on vhe
Mexican border and in the world
war, and was a delegate to the
republican national convention
in 1932.
the increase.
What Figures Reveal
There are at the present time
99 sawmills within the boundaries
of Douglas county. Eighty-seven
of these mills are in active pro
duction. These 87 mills are pro
ducing 2,300,000 board feet of
lumber per day. Eighty and one
half per cent of the total is pro
duced by mills cutting in excess of
25 thousand board feet per day.
The remaining 195 per cent is
produced by those mills having a
capacity of less than 25 thousand
per day. Using the generally ac
cepted figure of one man employ
ed per thousand board feet of pro
duction, approximately 2,400 men
are employed in the sawmill in
dustry. This represents a payroll
estimated at $15,600 per day and
based on a 250-day working year
would represent an annual pay
roll of $4,400,000. This indicates
that for the first time In the
history of the county the lumber
indusiry has surpassed agricul
ture as the leading income pro
ducer. This is especially signifi
cant, because agricultural income
for the year will equal or surpass
the $4,000,000 mark, which was
maintained for agriculture in the
period from 1926 to 1929, inclu
sive. A further point is that this, re
port does not cover those parts of
the Industry devoted exclusively
to logging operations without the
attendant sawmill production. In
ROSEBURG,
Ex-Leqislator
Passes On at 100
DUNHAM WRIGHT
LaGRANDE, Ore., Dec. 3
(AP) Dunham Wright, 100, east
ern Oregon pioneer and veteran
of early state legislatures in Ore
gon, died at his home at Medical
Springs, near here, today.
Wright, who claimed distant
relationship to Abraham Lincoln,
came to Union county, Ore., in
18G2, and was the county's first
representative in the state house.
He observed his 100th birthday
anniversary on March 13.
Oregon's Income Tax
Excess Poses Question
SALEM, Ore., Dec. 3 (API
Oregon's income tax collections
this year will total $13,750,000,
an all-time record, ; compared
with collections of $8,027,000 Inst
year, the previous record, the
state tax commission said today.
The commission said it does
n't know whether there will be
any surplus, because it has not
been determined whether the bill
passed by the voters a month ago
eivintr school districts all in
come tax revenues in excess of
$7,775,000 a year applies to ibis
year's taxes.
It also has not been determin
whether the bill actually pro
vides that the excess revenues
will be used to reduce local pro
perty taxes, or whether the sur
plus will be extra cash for the
districts to spend.
5 Sailors Dead, 10 Others
Missing in Boat Upset
NEWPORT, R. I. Dec. 3 (AP)
Five sailors were known dead,
10 others were missing and two
were safe today after their 28
foot liberty boat capsized in
rough water in Narragansett bay
early yesterday while returning
the men from shore leave.
other words, the log production
figures or the income derived
therefrom of peeler logs and saw
logs which are shipped out of the
county for milling elsewhere are
not included, nor is the piling in
dustry taken into consideration in
this report. The chamber, at the
present time, Is conducting a
study of these two phases of the
lumber industry and expects to
have them ready for release in
the near future.
Production Areas Listed
A breakdown of the production
by districts of the counties re
veals information that should be
of great value to the retail mer
chant in that it will be a guide in
dicating those districts in which
their advertising could well be
concentrated in order to secure
a greater portion of the income
for the retail trade channels of
Roseburg.
In the Drain area there Is a
production of some 300 thousand
feet per day (all of these figures
for various districts are given In
round numbers); the Reedsport
area having a production a little
in excess of 500 thousand feet per
day; the southern part of the
county, including the Tiller and
Glendale districts, a production in
the neighborhood of 250 thousand
feet per day; Camas Valley shows
a production of some 270 thou
sand feet per day. The majority
of the balance is concentrated in
the Roseburg area, the income of
BJWHWIBttnjl)ij!)Jflr"r -Prr r ' WBHWBBj
OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1943.
Soviet Lunge
Continues On
Two Fronts
Nazis Pressed Back in
Moscow Area; Trap at
Stalingrad Tightens
MOSCOW, Dec. 3 (AP)
White-clad Russian ski troops
pressed the nazis back on blizzard-swept
battlefields west of
Moscow today while between the
Don and Volga the red army
steadily closed the trap on Stal
ingrad's besiegers from recaptur
ed heights northwest and south
west of the city.
Battlefront dispatches gave
this account of the steadily
mounting Russian winter drive.
South of Leningrad and west
of Moscow the Germans were
dying 1,000 a day as ski troopers
armed with tommy guns clashed
with nazi Alpinist reinforcements
in some of the fiercest fighting
of the past two weeks amid snow
blanketed nazi tanks and trucks,
now often abandoned and frozen.
On the Stalingrad front the
Germans were resisting savagely
in a fight for lifo, and the Kus
sian onslaught went Into its
(bird week slowed but unstopp
ed. A communique said soviet
troops stormed and held another
strategic height northwest of the
city. This, with the height
southwest of Stalingrad which
was. reported yesterday as recap
tured, gave the Russians a field
of fire over at least part of the
German corridor of escape or
reinforcement to Stalingrad.
Germans Reinforced
The Germans rushed reinforce
ments into at least three key
salients in a desperate effort to
halt the Russian advance.
Strong forces of German Alpin
ists went into action east of
Velikie Lukie. Other special
units appeared south of Rzhev
where the Germans were trying
to regain control of vital sections
(Continued on page 6.)
Christmas Trees Free
Of Price Limitation
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3-(AP)
There will be no ceiling on
Christmas trees.
Government agencies today ex
empted the Yuletide institution
from price, production and distri
bution control.
The office of price administra
tion said there would be no price
celling but asked that "prices be
held at the level of last year."
which finds its way naturally in
to retail channels In the city, as
does the majority of the Income
from the Camas Valley area. The
other areas listed, however, are
those from which considerable
amount of retail business is lost to
neighboring trading centers such
as Eugene, Marshfleld, Grants
Pass and Medford.
While this report shows consid
erable recent development in the
lumber Industry locally, it Is as
sured by several important factors
that the development is only get
ting under way. This is borne out
by the fact that the Coos Bay
Lumber company has purchased
a site for a manufacturing plant
just south of Roseburg and that
plant will be built as soon as the
necessary machinery can be
bought, which may not be until
after the war. There is the slight
possibility that the war produc
tion board will grant the neces
sary priorities which would per
mit construction should the de
mand for lumber products for
war purposes greatly increase.
Further, the Eugene Plywood Co.
has purchased a plant location In
the same general vicinity and its
future plans have not been defi
nitely announced or determined
as yet. The sales of merchantable
timber have been '.extremely
active the past year, Most sales
have been made to operating
lumber companies. Other- plant
site purchases have been made In
the county also.
Parity Bill
With Labor
Costs Passed
Roosevelt's Opposition
Overridden in Action of
House to Aid Farmers
' WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (AP)
-j-The house by unanimous con
sent today passed legislation re
defining agricultural parity to
Include the costs of all farm
labor, a step against which pres
ident Roosevelt expressed "un
alterable opposition" when anti
Inflation proposals were placed
before congress two weeks ago.
. At the time parity redefinition
was debated in the anti-inflation
fight, one government office con
tended this might result In an in
crease in living costs of as much
as $3,500,000,000 a year.
Rep. Page (D-GA.), author of
the measure, told the house he
did not know what effects It
might have on living costs.
The legislation now goes to the
senate.
; Page told the house that under
agricultural labor policies being
established by the government
"virtually no crops will be pro
duced next year, unless farmers
are allowed to embrace the in
creased labor costs into the pari
ty formula."
(Parity is an arbitrary price
calculated to give farmers buy
ing power equal to that of some
past favorable period lor agrlcul
Hire, usually 1909-14). :-.,,, -;,
Ruling on Douglas
Issue is Adverse
The Douglas county court has
no authority to condemn proper
ty of the state world war veter
ans state aid commission, be
cause no governmental branch
has the right to condemn the pro
perty or another government
agency, Attorney General I. H.
VanWinkle ruled today for Dis
trict Attorney J. V. Long. The
case, the district attorney report
ed, Is one in which Clarence An
derson, a resident nf Looking
glass, had petitioned the court
for a gateway road from his
farm to a county road. The pro
posed gateway road would cross
property belonging to the veter
ans commission, Long said, and
the opinion of the attorney gen
eral was requested concerning
the county's power to obtain
right of way by condemnation.
The action, Long said, is not for
a county road but for a "road of
necessity." which would be open
to the public, but would be built
and maintained by the user.
Trespasser Wounded by
Kaiser Shipyard Guard
VANCOUVER, Wash., Dec. 3 -(AP)
The Kaiser company re
ported last night that N. G. Relt
er, about 48, was shot and wound
ed Tuesday when he attempted to
enter the company's shipyard
here against a guard's orders.
E. E. Blazier, Kaiser public re
lations council, said that Relter,
believed to be a transient, was
warned by Guard John Panticr to
keep out of the yard. Several
warning shots were fired. When
Relter failed to heed, the guard
shot him in the leg and foot.
Blazier said Relter's condition
was reported by the hospital as
satisfactory.
SrOPPlNG
UAYb LE I
BuyChristms Safe
1H
, , . 1
oJcv (50UL FDR. SUE)
VOL, XXXI NO.
Where Rommel Halted to Fight
.Milts
Direction of
axil retreat
. ::.::.,
-'!;::: Desert
n - .
0 25J , , . """J7
GulfofSirte
I .'5 vSGasrellreao
lenooTfA w""C I J
fsr Jsuu It B,ockS
' f V VJG&f TURKEY
Y VJS'CH.YIPohIHo PJTKrV j s'V
5" -51 o""octMon Zrf
- (fsv ; k
1 AT Cijudfrenanosi -Suel f
I Seal, of Miles j CSft' In.,,.,. Cnol S
lo 40ol LIBYA eAn. (C",'EGYPTS
Halting its retreat at El Aghella, German Marshal Rommel's
battered remnants in Libya are offering the same kind of a bottle
neck defense that saved Suez and the British army at El Alameln,
Egypt, There the Qattara depression formed a natural barrier
leaving only a 40-mlle wide strip (or the British to defend. El
Aghella, at the bottom of the roller-coaster bend between Bengasi
and Tripoli, is only 25 miles from the edge of the salt marshes
that enclose a narrow passage along the gulf of 8lrte. Even if
remaining axis forces are not strong enough to hold this short
line, they may fight a delaying action to hold off the British until
an evacuation can be made at Tripoli or other points along the
Libyan coast.
Election Dated
On Labor Issue of
Sutherlin Loggers
Word was received here today
that the national labor relations
board has set the date of Thurs
day, Dec. 10, between the hours
of 4 and 7 p. m. for the election
at the Smith Wood Products com
pany logging camp at Sutherlin.
A field examiner from the 19th
regional office, with headquarters
in Seattle, will conduct the elec
tion at which the woods workers
determine their bargaining agent.
Both the C. I. O. and A. F. of L.
claimed jurisdiction at the Suther
lin camp. A large number of the
men held membership in the
C. I. O. and favored that organiza
tion, but the company's operation
at Coqullle contracts with the A.
F. of L. A hearing was held re
cently upon petition for an elec
tion, with the A. F. of L. claiming
that the Sutherlin operation, be
ing a branch of the main plant at
Coqullle, should be under A. F. of
L. Jurisdiction. The hearing, how
ever,, resulted In a decision that
the Sutherlin camp should have
the right to select Its own bar
gaining agent and an election was
ordered.
Approximately 50 men employ
ed In the woods In the Calapoola
area are expected to participate in
the forthcoming election.
Farmers Assured of
Ample Gasoline, Tires
PORTLAND, Dec. 3 (AP)
Oregon farmers had the office of
defense transportation's word for
it today that they will get gaso
line, tires and spare partsso
long as they last for essential
truck operation.
Herman O. Rites, district man
ager of the ODT motor trans
port division, pledged that no
farmer would be put out of bus
iness by the certificate of war
necessity plan.
Farmers who are dissatisfied
with certificate allowances for
mileage and gasoline should see
the county agents, war boards or
transportation committeesin
their counties at once, he said.
184 OF THE EVENING NEWS
AGIDABIA
CIRCNAICA
Rommtl reported to have
many mine fields In narrow
pocket between great lalt
marsh and Gulf of SirteJ
Ceilings on Food
Prices Scored by
Retailers' Head
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3-(AP)
Fred A. Baughan, general
manager of the Retail Food
Dealers of California, predicted
today that unless grocery stores
are relieved from what he called
Impractical price restrictions
they would be forced out of busi
ness and the government would
have to feed the people through
food dispensing stations.
"We seem to be heading for a
combination of technocracy and
state socialism," Baughan told
the joint committee on reduction
of nonessential federal expendi
tures. The committee Is Investigat
ing the possibility of eliminating
useless government . question
naires and reports.
Baughan said the March 15
celling price lists which all gro
cers were required to file with
their local rationing boards, "are
still piled up In the garages of
California, just furnishing har
bors for rats."
In many cases, Including fresh
Oranges and canned corn, Baug
han testified, the retail prices
frozen as of March 15 were far
below replacement costs, and
dealers cannot afford to handle
the goods at a loss.
The celling price lists, he said,
simply were dumped In garages
"Our local boards are almost
all garage men originally chosen
to ration tires" and apparently
have never been examined by
anybody.
Ice Cream Still Safe
From Manufacture Ban
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 ( AP)
Senator McNary says agricul
ture and OPA officials have no
present intention to suspend
manufacture of Ice cream.
The senator conferred yester
day with officials of the two
agencies after Ice cream manu
facturers in Oregon asked him to
ascertain whether it was planned
to discontinue making of the
delicacy. They said such a move
would "break a large number of
small business concerns."
(By the Assocalted Press)
Britain's powerful Medlterran
ean fleet was reported "covering''
tne amea advance in Tunisia to
day while the London admiralty;
announced the destruction of
four more enemy merchant ships
and two destroyers en route to)
north Africa with reinforce
ments for the hard-pressed axis
garrisons at Tunis and Blznrte.
U. S. bombers were officially
credited with destroying or crip.'
pling six other axis merchant
ships at Tripoli, the enemy's only;
remaining harbor In Libya.
une British destroyer, tha
Quentln, was sunk later In a ioU
low-up attack by axis dive bomb
Liberia Grants Air
Base Rights to U. S.
WASHINGTON, Dee. 3.
(AP) Liberia, on the strate
gic west coast of Africa, has
granted air base rights to the
United States for the duration
of the war.
The agreement, signed last
March and anounced by the
state department today, gives
the United States the right to
build, control, operate and de
fend air ports In Liberia and
to assist also In the protection
and defense of any part of
that country which might be
liable to attack. .
ers and torpedo planes.
At the same time, It was offi
cially disclosed that the British,
aircraft carrier Avenger, three
destroyers and five lighter ships
were among allied naval losses
Incident to the landings In north
Africa nearly a month ago.
Meanwhile the navy In Wash
ington announced the loss of five,
U. S. naval transports during the :
occupation.
Three transports, a destroyer
and a tanker were damaged dur
ing the operation, the navy said;
In Its first communique on the) ,
north African coup.
A navy spokesman said cas
ualties were small.
"The next of kin of personnel
killed, wounded or missing ara
being notified by telegram as
soon as information is received,"
the navy said.
The transports sunk were list
ed In the communique as the '
Tusker H. Bliss, the Hugh L..
Scott, and the Edward Rutledge,
which were sunk off Casablanca;
the Joseph Hewes, sunk off Ra
bat, and the Leedstown, sunk oft
Algiers. .. .
Convoy Broken Up '
An Italian version of the sea
battle off the Tunisian coast Tues
day night acknowledged the sink
ing of a fascist destroyer and de
clared a British cruiser was
blown up and a light unit sunk
in "a brief but violent encounter."
The British listed the loss oC
the Quentln, sunk by the axis air
attack after a British force ot
three cruisers and two destroyers
had broken up the convoy with
its sorely needed fresh strength
(Continued on page 6.)
RoyW.Ritner,
Ex-President of
State Senate, Dies
PENDLETON. Ore., Dec. 3
(API Roy W. Rltncr, G6, one of
Pendleton's most prominent citi
zens and widely-known through"
out I he northwest died at a local
hospital today following a para
lytic stroke suffered a week ago.
A leader In republican politics,
Rltner served as state represent
tatlve from 1915 to 1917 and In
the state senate from 1919 to
1925, being elected senate presi
dent for the 1921-22 session and
serving as acting governor in
November and December of 1922.
He was business manager of
the Pendleton round-up from
1910 to 1917, resigning to go over
seas as a captain with the Amer
ican Red Cross. He again became
roundup business manager hi
1932 and held that position until
the time of his death. Ritncr was
also Chamber of Commerce sec
retary from 1932 to 1941. .
He had been secretary of the,
Oregon state farm bureau since
1941, being re-elected at the re
cent state convention in Hood
River, and was vice president of
the Rodeo Association of Ameri
ca. Surviving are two sisters, Mrs.
W. A. Storie of Pendleton anil
Mrs. Jack Buchanan of Portland;
and a brother, Harry Ritner of
Portland. .