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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1939)
, ' Balanced Newt The Weather Rain today aad Monday, little change in temperature. Max. Temp. Saturday 42, mln. 83. River 8.7 feet. SSW wlada, t ;, Only the local newspaper presents balanced; n city, county state, national and foreign- la their light proportion. " EIGHTY-EIGHTH TEAR Sales, Pregon, Sunday Morning February 5, 1939 Price 3c; Newsstands 5c No. 279 ' a .'aT al ' VS I 1 V " Finance Issues Get Spotlight; jss Seen Session Ahead of Usual . Schedule but Major " 1 Tasks Are Ahead .'"" Relief, Taxation, Power and School Reforms Among Problems By SHELDON P. SACKETT The 40th legislative sets I on. two-third of the way to the 40 day limit set for legislative pay by the constitution, ahead of sched ule on routine bills and in step with former sessions in leaving until the closing weeks the major legislation which must be passed. Before the session adjourns it must meet the following prob lems: 1. Straighten oat the tax struc ture of the state, including a light reduction of. levies on in come from intangibles compensa ted by small increases in taxes on Individual and corporate incomes. 2. Provide for at least a $22, ,000,000 state-county relief pro gram for the biennlum and deter mine whether a gross income tax shall be levied to carry part of this burden. 3. Enact a modified PUD bill to conform to Governor Sprague's pre-election committments. 4. Come to a decision on the school reorganization and equali zation program now before the house. 5. Make necessary amendments to the unemployment insurance compensation act passed at the special session of 1936. 6. Pass the necessary appropri ation bills to carry the state through its next two years of op eration. Large Volume of Miscellany Is Faced In addition, the session has in Its incompleted business file a ' host of miscellaneous measures it many of great Importance to par ticular groups but none as wide spread in effect as the bills here tofore enumerated. Included In this category are such proposals "" as repeal of the state bakery code, amendment or repeal of the milk control act, complete revamping of the .state parole system-with the setting up of an extensive ' personnel for supervising an men paroled from the state peniten tiary, revision of the optometry code and the usual legislative consideration of charges , in the commercial and game , fishing code. The house committee on. taxa tion and revenue is expected to re port this week with a modified program of charge In Income tax laws from the measures first in troduced in the session. The sharp boost In income taxes for smaller wage earners is definitely aband oned. The committee expects to add a flat two per cent surtax on all Income from Intangibles after placing such income in the regular two to seven per cent scale now in effect on other per sonal Income. Some moderate Increases in per sonal income tax rates will prob ably be recommended by the committee together with a reduc tion in the property tax offset now allowed corporations. These changes will be planned as a means of offsetting the losses from the Intangibles tax reduc tion but no additional increase in total amount of moneys raised on Incomes is anticipated. Relief Is Headache For Ways and .Means The ways and means commit tee finds the most vexing problem before it that bf caring tor the 122,090,000 relief program rec ommended In Governor Martin's budget. Under the federal-state-county plan of financing this, the ' counties will be called - upon to dig up $4,000,000 In the next two years. Representatives of the counties, appearing before the committee last week, said it was Impossible for them to obtain that sum in direct property tax levies. The Interim committee on taxes ' made its belated report at mid week and proposed a gross income tax to compensate the counties for their contribution to relief and to reduce the load on real estate. A bill to enact such a tax is now before the house. Senator Rex Ellis has a 10 per cent increase In liquor prices as his plan, for meeting the relief need. The ways and means commit tee is making progress on other Items In the -state budget but It will be a fortnight before most of Its bills are ready to come Into the house hopper for considera tion by the members, indicating that this session will extend 50 to 0 days from the time it eon ; vened. -: Kdncatioa Proposal Are now In House . Both major bills to reorganize the educational setup of school district In the state are mow, In the house, v The last was lntro- duced yesterday by $he house edu cation committee. ' It . sets ; up a county school fund comprised of income from the irreducible state school fund, the two-mill elemen tary school fund and the $1 per census child fund rauea in eacu eonntv. ' To obtain an annual apportion " ment from this fund, each district would be forced to levy a tax, suf ficient with the fund income, to ; vrovide 31200 for each classroom unit In -elementary - schools and 11440 for each high school class room unit This measure, to . gether with the compulsory reor- Proffrc 'Tora to are j, col.ii Have Lead Roles On Major Issues Miff- Above, Sea. Dean Walker who Is taking an Important part in ef forts to solve Oregon's finan cial problems as chairman of the senate ways and means committee. Below, Sen. George Chancy, chairman of the senate penal institutions committee which has been considering pro posed reforms In the parole sys tem. State May Take Treasury's Probe Governor Will Ask Special Prosecutor for Locals ShortageXharge Acting on a reouest from Dis trict Attorney Lyle J. Page, Gov-' ernor Cfcarles A. Sprague Satur-' day afternoon announced that he would ask Attorney General , L M. Van Winkle Monday morning to name a special prosecutor to carry on the current investigation of the office of the Marion coun ty treasurer. In a letter to Governor Sprague, Page explained he felt it best that the attorney general's office take charge of the investigation be cause of his relationship, pre scribed by law, as legal adviser to the treasurer. Similar procedure was follow (Turn to Page 2, Col. 3) 7 Negro Children Victims bf Fire WEST POINT, Va., Feb. 4-V Seven children of a negro couple whose 11th child was but two hours old were burned to death when fire destroyed a frame dwelling in - nearby King and Queen county tonight The family was sleeping when the blaze broke out, only a short while after a country doctor de livered the baby. W. S. Wormeley, the pulp mill employe father, awakened in time to carry his weakened wife to safety. Two of the older children also escaped. Another, a boy, was away from home. Bonneville Administrator IV Reported Doing Well , ROCHESTER. MInn Feb. 4 (AVThe Kayo clinic said today that J. D. Ross, Bonneville dam administrator, was-' doing . very well" after an operation Friday for removal of an intestinal lesion.-. V:.;"-;.- AumsvUle Wops - - - As ' ' 1 AL Lsavsawawaaeawii i l.iseaivT mi a In Year s Property lax Levy Anmsville will have the highest total property tax levy among Marion county's 18 incorporated cities and towns this year and Sublimity the lowest, excluding West Woodburn, which has no ac tive government, . - Summaries Issued yesterday by County Assessor R. "Tad" Shelton listed the Anmsville levy tor all purposes at 178.80 per $1000 of assessed valuation. The Sublimity levy will be $34.10 per $1000. fol lowed closely by Mt. Angel, at fSI.SO per $1000. ; u County and ttata taxes - will amount to $17.70 per $1000 at valuation In all cities except Sa lem, whose rate will be $15.80 be cause the $1.90 general road levy is not imposed on Salem property. A breakdown of the state aad eonntv taxes shows a tax of $1.55 per $1000 valuation for the coun ty general fund .with relief ex cluded, $2.2$ for poor relief, $l.St for old age pensions. $2.83 for ele mentary schools, $2.1$ for mar Freeze Lessens '2 Flood 6 eported Victims x Cold "Weather in South, East 5000 Families Declared Homeless in Ohio's High Water Area . (By the Associated Press) . Freezing temperatures In the Ohio valley lessened th Imme diate threat of aerioas flood last Bight as sab-free xing weather and windstorms in the south and east left at least 20 dead. ; Three were dead from flood waters at West Virginia and two died of exposure in Ken tucky. : West Virginia refugees, to taling 1,500, prepared to return ' to their homes as some streams receded. ' CINCINNATI, Feb. 4-VTh rich valley of the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Louisville, whose residents still carry , vivid mem ory of 193 7's record flood, saw relief from the threat of a new inundation tonight as freezing temperatures stemmed the flow of tributaries. Predictions of fair weather throughout West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky brought signs of flood abatement but the cold (Turn to Page 2, Col. 8) Federal Judge Is Wired to Return Connecticut Jurist Bound for South America Is Wanted for Quiz NEW YORK, Feb. 4--A ra diogram went out from the de partment of Justice today to Fed eral Judge Edwin S. Thomas of Connecticut, South America bound on the grade liner Santa Barbara, ordering his "immedi ate return" to the United States tor questioning before two fed eral grand juries. Ind Thnmii ant lata vm terdayand missed the serving of a subpoena issued by TJ. 8. Attor ney . Gregory Noonan. Noonan wirelessed the master of the. ves sel and requested the Jurist to disembark with the pilot. Nearly three hours later he received a reply that the Judge was continu ing his journey. Noonan said Judge - Thomas was wanted for questioning In connection with the investigation of the business affairs of U. S. Circuit Judge Martin T. Manton, whose resignation, is effective Monday, and the inquiry Into the situation precipitated by the un masking and subsequent suicide of F. Donald Coster-Muslca, head of. the McKesson and Robbins drug firm. By radiogram Brien McMahon. assistant attorney general, advis ed the judge, who had been on the Connecticut bench for 25 years, that the investigation is "very important to the adminis tration of Justice and to you per sonally.. I insist on your immedi ate return from the first port of call." South Polar Land Claimed for US HOBART, Tasmania, Feb. 4 (AVL'taeo1 Ellsworth laid claim to 430,000 square miles of South Polar territory for the United States today when he returned from ' an Antarctic expedition aboard his ship Wyatt Earp. - Ellsworth's new claim expand ed the territory he previously had claimed. In a radio message from the Antarctic last month he said he was claiming "80,000 square miles of country never before seen by the human eye" as the result of his aerial exploration. The explorer, whose expedition started last autumn, plans to sail for the United States March 4. County Towns ket r6ads, $4.1 S for county school fund and five cents for school li brary fund. . - City, local and union high school and non-high school district taxes more than double the total tax in all instances except in West Wood burn, where no city tax la levied. Total city levies per $100 and special levies aside from the $17.70 for county and state pur poses will be as follows: & Aumsvlllet total $73.80, Includ ing, local school district, $19, and city, IJ7.10. -Aurora, total $4$.S0, high school tuition, $0.20, local school. $11 and city, $11.00. s Donald, tot tal $5 $.70, high school tuition, $C.20, local school. $4.50, and city, $28.30. : Gervais, total $40.10, local school. $4. SO, and elty, $13.10. Hubbard, total $50.10, local school, $13.50, and city, $18.90. Jefferson, total $44.(0, 1 o e a 1 school. $15.10. and city, $11.80. (Turn to Page 2, CoL 1). Valley Spain Peace COLLAPSING WALLS KILL EIGHT 1 ( r r r B - Albany Resident Severely Injured John Sturtevant May Die; Man Missing in Auto Crash on Highway ALBANY, Feb. 4-UPy-The mys terious disappearance of one man. the probable fatal injury of. an other and less serious injury of two other persons resulted today from a double wreck on the Pa cific highway three miles north John Sturtevant, Albany was believed dying f r o m a crushedV chest, punctured lung and possi ble internal injuries. He told d DOBSl- State Officer Earl B. Houston that another man was riding with him when he lost control of his machine and struck a culvert but authorities had no trace of the second man. Sturtevant's machine overturn ed on the bank of a stream and officers were Investigating the possibility that the companion was thrown into the water, drowned and disappeared. An hour after the wreck, while an automobile wrecking car was being used to raise Sturte vant's car, a third machine crash ed through signs and warning lights into the wrecker. State Officer Howard Benninghoff said. Julian J. McCarthy, Portland, described as the driver of the third car, was arrested on a charge of reckless driving. He suffered minor injuries but a woman riding with him and giv ing the name of Mrs. Gertrude Good, Portland, received head and facial injuries, although her con dition was not serious. Willamina Talked As Plant's Site WILLAMINA, Ore..' Feb. i-yP -O. C, Yocom, Willamina contrac tor, said today the Olympia Ven eer company, Olympia, Wash., was planning to construct a plant here at a cost of $500,000. Yocom said he had been em ployed for several months by the Werner Lumber company in an engineering capacity to make pre liminary surveys for prospective sites. It was estimated that $9200 would have to be raised by local subscription, however, to provide a site, log pond and water facili ties. The site selected for the factory, Yocom said, was a 30 -acre tract about 800 feet, east of the city limits between the -Yamhill river and state highway 18. Business Interests here and at nearby Sheridan were reported to have made pledges totalling $4500 to bring the new Industry here. Central Point Lad Critically Injured MEDFORO, Feb. 4-0P-R!ch-ard Walter Holt, II, bf Central Point lies in a local hospital in a critical condition from In juries sustained when he was struck by an auto the state po lice aver was driven by William P. Grimes, 19, of Central Point No charges have- been preferred against Grimes and he Is not being held. Tha accident occur red at a Central Point street in tersection Friday night. - - . Albany Woman U Dead; j Poison Tablets Blamed -ALBANY. Feb. 4-P-Mrs. T. A. Edholmn, 40, died In a hospital to day after attendants said she had taken tour poison . tablets at her home here. .... - I 1 " " V i O After 86 hours of digging in smoke-blackened rains, searchers lateO Saturday found bodies of some of the eight firemen killed Friday when a five-etory building in Syracuse, NY, collapsed while they were fighting fire on the third floor. This picture was snapped just s the front wall collapsed into the street. AP Telemat. Parliament Is Closed Due to Bombing Terror Evidence of Plots to Blast Buckingham Windsor Castle, Commons and Bank of England . Claimed Found in Belfast Raid 4V,. ttk!; I uvovu m; tu fuwuw hvuj World war as a precaution while Britain sought to suppress the wave of terrorism attributed to the outlawed Irish re publican army. The Sunday Dispatch reported raids on IRA houses in Plan Called Cure For Unemployment Welfare Federation Argues for $30-$ 60 Pensions in House Hearing WASHINGTON, Feb. 4-3)-The house ways and means committee heard the General Welfare Feder ation's plan for $30 to $60 pen sions for the aged extolled today as a means of eliminating all un employment. Arthur L. Johnson, executive secretary of the federation and formerly an official of the rival Townsend old age pension organ ization, told the committee it would not cost the government a cent. The plan proposes that pensions be financed by a two per cent gross income tax. Johnson said the annnal cost would range from $2,880,000,000 to $7,200,000,000. Rep. Cooper (D-Tenn) com mented that the figuring was "haywire," but that by Johnson's own figures the federal tax bur den would be doubled. "On the contrary," said John son, "it won't cost the federal government a cent. This system carries its. own freight." Dr. Francis E. Townsend, foun der of the pension movement bear ing his name, was at the hearing. Johnson said he had quit the Townsend organization because Townsend had said he was holding out the hope of $300 monthly pen sions to the aged as "wisp of straw that the cow will follow but never reach."' - Wife of Veteran Jurist Dies Here Mrs. Mattie E. .Bean, wife et Justice Henry J. Bean ot the state supreme court, died at the resi dence, 755 North Capitol street, late Saturday night. Mrs; Bean had been a resident ot Salem since If a legislator, county judge and circuit Judge of Umatilla county. waa elevated . to . the- supreme bench. - They were married In 1SSI. Her maiden name waa Mattie E.Haha gey. Surviving children are Mrs. H. J. Larsen ot Portland aad Haw ley Bean of Echo. ; . Funeral arrangements, tn charge ot the Clough-Barrlck com pany, have not been completed. , Lumber Work Reopens MOLALLA, Feb. -4r-Close4 down two months, the Miller Lumber company of Liberal, north I now." " " of here, resumed operations this I Tha president swore the com week; " . jnitteemen to secrecy, hut, aa ln- Try. Reported. FIREMEN; FIRST --It S -1 1. " i ( fV.A .;n.a fV.a ivi uie wov muiv. suvv mus. Belfast resulted In discovery of plans to blow up Buckingham palace, Windsor castle, the house of commons and the Bank of Eng land. The newspaper's report, which lacked official confirmation from any source, said the raids also un covered details of a plot to assas sinate British politicians and high police officials. The seised documents were flown Immediately to London, The Sunday ' Dispatch said, and offi cials of the British home office and Scotland Yard conferred on protective measures. Authorities intensified their search for hidden supplies of ex plosives and Investigated illegal purchases of chemicals believed to have been used in bombing out rages. Officials in Belfast kept well known members of the Irish re publican army under close obser vation. The governments of Great Brit ain, Ireland and Northern Ireland were cooperating closely in a large scale campaign to stamp out the outrages which began January 16. Intensified action followed ex plosions yesterday in two of Lon don's subway centers in which seven persons were injured. An explosion wrecked the head quarters of the Torquay Conser vative club in Devonshire today, but the first conclusion that it had been causde by a bomb was succeeded by a belief that it was due to accidental ignition of gas. . Storm Flags Flying SEATTLE, Feb. 4.-iip)-South-West storm warning were ordered posted at Washington and Oregon coast stations tonight for strong south to west winds and gales. Demand Grows To Reveal FDR?s , Statements WASHINGTON, Feb. 4-(VSen-ator Clark (D-Mo) added his support-today to republican demand that senate military committee- said when he discussed foreign policies with them at the White House Tuesday. The Mlssourias said he was la sympathy with such a proposal, made by Senator Bridges (R-NH) after President Eoosevelt yester day told the press things he had said - and had not said and enunciated, foreign policy. Senator Gurney (R-SD) also said he was "absolutely In ac cord" . with Bridges, demand, but Senator - Johnson : (D-Colo) ob served that he thought the whole discussion was "beside the point BODIES FOUND ? 5 - 1 fir. TVA and Utilities Reach Agreements Anthority Will Purchase Tennessee Corporation Electric Properties NEW YORK, Feb. 4-WVAn eventful chapter in the long and bitter feud between the new deal and the nation's utilities was brought to a dramatic end today with announcement of an amic- able arrangement under which! TVA wtll?purehase electr ical 1 properties of Commonwealth -and Southern corporation in Tennes- 06Qe Agreement was announced in Knoxville, Tenn., by TVA officials and in New York by Wendel L. Willkie, president ot Common wealth and Southern. The TVA agreed to pay $78, f 00,000 for the electric properties of Tennessee Electric Power com pany, a subsiduary of Common wealth and Southern. The total price will be brought up to about $80,000,000, since the TVA will pay separately for south Tennessee properties, plus ac counts payable, cash, and certain other considerations, Including the return of a valuable new dynamo. Wall street sources said this figure was only slightly under Willkie's asking price. The TVA had first offered only $55,000,000 for the properties. Hint Incendiarism In Portland Fire PORTLAND, Feb. 4-(-Fire invest! gators, working on a theory of incendiarism, hunted a firebug tonight as the possible cause ot a blaze which caused an estimated loss ot $8,000 early today in the unused warehouse of the Portland Cordage com pany at 1336 N. W. Northrup street and sickened some 25 fire men. Rope burning In the plant caused such strong fumes that two firemen had to be carried a war and 23 others were forced to quit the flames. Another fire-1 man was injured slightly when he stepped on a nail. . The fire started on the first floor of the three-story brick and concrete warehouse, which has been shut down since 1931. Earlier this week, another fire occurred In a rope company plant, leading authorities to sus pect an lncendiarist, fori Committee erlUbly happens In Washington, varying accounts of what he said leaked but and were published. One ot these was that Mr. Roosevelt had asserted that Amer ica's frontier was tha river Rhine; another that its frontier lay In France; "1 The chief executive flatly brand- ed these reports "a deliberate lie' -and said that some legislators and newspaper owners were deliber ately misrepresenting his view point on foreign affairs. He asserted that' his foreign policy, had not changed and would not be changed. This poilcyi he aaia, wauueu wyvuuua w- Apparently trapped in ms auto tangling alliances, maintenance of mobile when it skidded off the world, trade, sympathy for every Columbia river - highway ; near effort to reduce armaments, and i Bonneville, Ray Duvall, 53, Spo the peaceful maintenance of po- kaue, downed sometime last lltlcal, economic and social inde- night. " C E. K a r n e s, a state peadence of nations. j highway ' maintenance "foreman, (Turn to Page S, CoL 1) . 1 1 found the wreck today. ; Loyalist Heads Said Desirous Of War's End Britain Is Reportedly Asked to Negotiate With Insurgents Qualifications in Pact Held too Stringent for Success (By the Associated Press) PERPIGNAN, France, Feb. 4-(ff)-The Spanish government was reported in reliable quarters to night to have requested Great Britain to open secret negotia tions with Insurgents to end the savage two and one-half year old civil war. The reported overtures contain- i ed such broad qualifications, how ever, as to raise the question of their success. . They were disclosed at a time when Premier Juan Negrln's government took first steps to ward abandoning all of Catalonia -Spain's northeastern corner to insurgent Generalissimo Fran cisco Franco's conquering forces in an attempt to make a last stand in the central "island" quarter of Spain, embracing Valencia and Madrid. It was understood that In the request to the British government the -Spanish government authori ties stipulated that the peace talks be opened with three points enun ciated by Negrin Wednesday as the background. Freedom From Outside Influence Is Wanted Then Negrin told the Cortes (parliament) at Figueras that the government's aims were: 1. A guarantee of independence for Spain and freedom from for eign influence. 3. A government desired by the people, as shown by plebiscite; 3. Liquidation of the war with out persecution to permit U Spaniards to join In the country's reconstruction. "Th era was no Indication t Bur-. gos of Franco s reaction' to- tae Spanish government's move. Some diplomats believed the insurgent leader would balk at negotiating on such a broad basis, particular ly in view of his military suc cesses. The Spanish government's plight in Catalonia was growing worse every hour. Franco's troops conquerors of the Important city ot Gerona this morning smashed steadily north ward toward the French frontier. They were quickly cutting away the little Catalonian territory left In government control. The government's temporary capital of Figueras was only 20 miles from the fighting lines to night Negrin and his ministers had . left for -somewhere in Catalonia while minor officials crossed into France with the government's rec ords. One report had the govern ment leaders planning to fly to Valencia to set up a new capital. Government army officers ar riving here frankly admitted the insurgent advance had turned into a rout for their troops. One Man Injured As Autos Collide John Versteeg. 1901 North Fifth street, suffered lacerations about the head when his automo bile was struck broadside by a machine driven by Marion Leroy Branch of Anmsville about S o'clock Saturday night at the in tersection of Market and Broad way. : Versteegs car was crushed against a telephone pole and the body was almost demolished. Ver steeg had been driving north oa Broadway, Branch proceeding east on Market. Versteeg said Branch did not stop at the through street Intersection but Branch said he had stopped, the investigating po lice officer , said. The front of Branch's car was smashed In but the occupants were not injured. State Oil & Gas Firm's Head Held PORTLAND. Feb. f-rVUnder. an Indictment charging the un lawful sale of securities. O. W. Clark, 46, described by Deputy District Attorney Tom Handley aa the president of the State Oil Gas company operating in eastern Oregon, -was arrested by sheriffs deputteeand held for $3000 balL The indictment asserted that Clark sold to Barley C Weeks tor I $37.50 a contract to sell and as sign an ou ana gas lease. v - Spokane Man, Trapped .: ; 'In Car Wreck, - Drotcns PORTLAND. Ore. Feb..' 4- A.