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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1939)
The Weather ' " ' Nighttime Newa t: ' : The morning newspapers '.' columns are open until 2 ani , assuring reader of - late night and carl morn ' tng news coverage, .til- ' 1 . . Partly , cloudy, today and ,- Saturday; little change In temperature. Maxim nm tem perature Thursday 74. mln lmum 65. River 1.9 ft. SW Wind. X'-.l f EIGHTY-NINTH YEAR Salem, Oregon, Friday Morning, July 7, 1939 ' PriceSc; Newsstands 5c T0 n I 1 rvoir 1 U Special Com 0 nrvn tK 3 WPA StrikeWkrecders?d Union Builders On WPA Jobs Are Affected Strike Recommendation to Be Made Todav, Says Mathis Thousands Leaving Jobs in Nation as Longer Hours Decreed PORTLAND, J 1 y GHyP) B. R. Mathis, secretary of the Oregon Building Trades coun cil, said today a strike rccom mendation, affecting anion building , tradesmen on WPA projects In Oregon, would be -made Friday morning. Blathls predicted the union ists, about 1000 of whom are at work in Portland, would Join the "protest strikes" elsewhere in the nation as result of longer hours and less pay on WPA. Oregon WPA headquarters said it had no formal notice of ; any protest as yet. (By the Associated Press) Additional thousands through out the country, though confront ed with a "take it or leave it" ultimatum from Washington, quit their WPA jobs yesterday (Thurs day) in protest against extension of their working hours under the new federal relief act. t Local construction union lead ers, miffed by abandonment of the "prevalllng wage", principle for paying skilled WPA laborers, began voting official strike sanc tions for; the spontaneous walk outs, and broader national action was contemplated by the AFL in Washington. ; ;.-.,;u.;.s-. & .Numerous , worker,., , on the. ether hand, heeded Washington's general warning that they had only five daya to return to work or be fired and they took up their tools again. Reduced Relief Rolls , . . r. Contemplated Administrators . . of the WPA, meanwhile, prepared to make con siderable reductions in relief work rolls on their own part to comply with federal orders resulting from new legislation. r . u A reduction of 200,000 In last month's WPA payroll of 2,600, 000 has been ordered for the na tion as a whole, and under the new act those employed, continu ously tor 18 months soon would be laid off temporarily, with some exceptions. While Washington officials ex- (Turn to page 2, col.; 1) McGuire Qaimed Sheriffs Slayer LAMAR, Colo., July -A-Of- fleers who rusbed Earl McGnlre across the Kansas-Colorado line tonight for gatekeeping asserted the Oklahoman confessed the' slay ing of Undersherlff Ray Knmpf at Syracuse, Kas., last Monday. ( McGuire, who told Garden City, Kas.. officers he played poker a week ago with two convicts who vanished from Alcatrai federal penitentiary, was brought here, to night by Bud Warner of Syracuse, Hamilton county (Kas.) sheriff. McGuire. ordered" held without bond for the October term of dis trict court at Syracuse, had relat ed he played poker at Pueblo, Colo., with Ralph Roe and Theo dore Cole, who disappeared from Alcatras December 16, 1S37. Offi cials never were certain whether the two made good an attempt to swim ashore from the island pri son In San Francisco bay. Hitler Tries out His new Airplane BERLIN. July -(flVAdolf Hlt lr tried out his specially bttilt personal airplane for the first time today. It has a private room for aim and a conierence room ana i iifA "The Grenzmark. "Grensmark" (Border Mark) is the name applied since ivi w district Jast west of Pomorse, the Polish corridor, which remained la Germany after the 1919 parti tioning. Th nian. a four-motored Con dor built by Focke-Wnlf, is the tame type which , has flown the North Atlantic Portland Youth Is Motorcycle Victim PORTLAND, July .-(P) David Dapp, 20, Portland, was iua io- alght when his motorcycle struca m , nnir SchaolL He died In a hospiUl at Hills- boro. Doris Yerhel, 17, Portland, riding with Dapp. was reeriouslj Injured. "' ' k - ' -' He Is Governor Ot Oregon now t- 1 Robert BI. Duncan of Burns, pres ident of the state : senate, be came Oregon's governor last night at the moment when Gov ernor Charles A. S p r a g n e crossed the state line into Cali fornia to attend "Oregon Day" at the world's fair Saturday. Under the Oregon laws the pres ident of the senate steps up when the regularly elected gov ernor leaves the state or is in capacitated. Duncan arrived in Salem yesterday to assume charge of the .state executive ' department. Soviets now Win In Border Battle Russian Papers Reporting Great Victories on . Mongol Front MOSCOW, July .-UPUSoviet Russian-Outer ', Mongolian jforees were reported to have won a gteat victory over a Japaneise-Mhnchoa-kuoan enemy during a four-day : battle on the remote Khalka river battlefront in dispatches displayed today in Moscow newspapers. The battle was said to have lasted from July 2 to 5, ending in the rout of Japanese regular army units and their allies which crossed the river into Outer Mon golian territory. Russians said it was the largest battle yet fought in the conflict which has raged intermittently since May IX. . ; (Russia and her protectorate, Outer Mongolia, hold that the bor der runs east of the Khalka, which flows, north into Lake Bor. Japan and her protectorate, Manchou- kuo, insist the river is the real border.) Amplifying a soviet communi que estimating Japanese - Man choukuoan" losses at 800 killed and Russian-Mongol "casualties at 100 killed and 200 wounded, the Moscow press described a vast en counter in which tanks, airplanes, artillery and Infantry forces were engaged. ... Today's reports were the first from the Outer Mongolian . front to appear here since June 29. Tokyo reports of a battle since then have been Ignored by the soviet press. Wreckers Razing Old Fire Station Razing of old East Salem fire station at 18th and State, first Salem substation other than a temporary affair, in. the. old city barn at 13 th and Ferry, began yes terday to. make-, way for the new 115,000 structure that will re place it. . The building . being torn. down, originally remodeled from an old, two-story dwelling! was establish ed as a sub station on June 1, 1928, according to Assistant Fire Chief William Iwan. Lyle P. Bartholomew, local architect, is now working on plans for the new,' two-story structure that .will in the future house the East Salem firemen Rosser Becomes a Number As Pen Doors Clang Shut ' ' Another momentous chapter in the history of Oregon's labor ter rorism war waa closed .Thursday when Albert Earl Rosser, former secretary of the AFL teamsters of Oregon, entered the state peni tentiary to begin Serving sv 12 year sentence for complicity In the burning of the West Salem Box company! plant. - - Rosser was dressed in at the penitentiary Thursday night at :45 o'clock and waa assigned to a "fish cell, other details of his admission being delayed until to day. He would make no statement. The former union official waa brought to the penitentiary, after the state supreme court Thurs lay afternoon had denied his petition for permission to appeal to the rrntA1 Ctstea innnimi ronrL It also denied a petition asking that 4 7 PlanV . Aiding Allies in Arms Credit Fund Established for Loans to France and Others British Air Force iWill Show off in France During July LONDON, July G.-UFi - Great Britain launched a series of moves today to strengthen the British- French front and at the same time to remove doubts as to the course she will follow in the event of new efforts to change the map of Eu rope. These moves Included: 1." Introduction of a measure in parliament to provide a 50, 000,000 ($234,000,000) credit fund to help her allies buy arms. 2. Announcement that the con tinent would see a sample of the British air power next week when 52 royal air force planes go to Paris for . the bastille day exer cises July 14. 3. Announcement that a num ber of air force reserves would be called up during the next three or four months ar a test mobilization exercise. Premier Refrains From Speaking Although it was first reported that Prime Minister Chamberlain would make a statement tomor row in the house of commons. In formed sources said later that he would not speak since the govern ment was anxious to refrain from making the international situation more difficult. The government also completed a draft of new Instructions which were .expected to be sent to Sir William Seeds, British ambassa dor to Moscow, tonight or tomor row in an effort to smooth out a tangle reported holding up com pletion of the proposed British-French-Russian mutual assistance pact. There was no Indication as to the nature of the new proposals which were worked out by the British and French in a series of conferences both here and in Paris. Soviet Envoy Hears Proposals Soviet Ambassador Ivan Mals- ky called at the foreign office this afternoon and it was understood the proposals were outlined to him. ; They were one of the chief oro- blems considered by the cabinet in two long meetings yesterday. , (In Berlin. Deutsche Dinloma- tlsehe Politische Korrespondens. semi-omciai mouthpiece of the foreign office, said the British (Turn to page 2, col. 7) M. EeKlinger Loses Jewelry to Thief Theft of watches and jewelry valued at close to f 100 was re ported to city police yesterday by Maurice E. Klinger, 2010 North 17th street. Klinger told police his home bad been entered, through a base ment window, sometime between July 4 and late Wednesday night when he returned from a holiday trip. Among articles he reported missing were a gold pocket watch, a white gold wrist watch, a dia mond ring and a double Elk's tooth that was a family heirloom. It was also revealed to police yesterday that burglars who last Sunday obtained three gold watch- es, two post-dated checks and 1T by. jimmying their way into Ma sonic and ' Oregon buildings of fices obtained also $14.70 in change from the Boy Scouts of flee. 401 Masonic building. The office had been unattended until yesterday as officials had been at scout camp.- the mandate affirming conviction be withheld for JO day pending appeal to federal courts.' The mandate. was delivered to the Polk county circuit court at Dallas Thursday afternoon, and Rosser was brought here from Portland where he haa been in Jail. George and John Mowry, attor neys for Rosser, Thursday after noon said they would attempt to contact United ; States Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed, as signed to the ninth circuit district. in an effort to have the high, court review Rosser s conviction, in case Justice Reed refuses the request the attorneys could ask any of the other eight justices. Prior to arguments on the peti tion for appeal to the United ; " .(Tarn to page 2, col, 71 , Britaf Flood Toll 53 As Red Cross Hastens Help Search Is Kept up for 47 Persons Reported as Missing Damp Weather Is Hamper to Searchers in Beds of Silted Creeks JACKSON, Ky., July - m - Bodies of 63 persons trapped in their eastern Kentucky mountain homes anud drowned when a night cloudburst poured tons of water into small streams had been Identified today. Search was continued for 4? re ported missing. Property and livestock loss was heavy. Railroads and highways were damaged badly. Red Cross headquarters in Washington estimated 1,000 fam ilies in the stricken area needed as sistance. Reports from field agents listed 500 families in Rowan county, 100 in Breathitt county. 200 in Lewis county and the re mainder in various counties hit by "flash" floods early yesterday. Breathitt county ' scene of feuds in the past superceded Ro wan county as being the scene of more deaths as bodies were dragged from Frozen creek and from the Kentucky river into which it flowed. Latest figures by counties of re covered bodies: Breathitt 27. Rowan 24. Lewis 2. Tillage of Keck Nearly Wiped out The little village of Keck, a few miles north of Jackson, al most was wiped out as a 20-foot wall of water thundered against homes and carried away all but three houses. It was here that the largest death list waa expected. The 1930 federal census gave Keek's population as 38. Humid weather and lntermlt (Turn to page 2, eoL I) Bridges Set Back On Charge Details SAN FRANCISCO, July 6-V Legal counsel for Harry Bridges disclosed today he had received a setback in trying to obtain partic ulars of the charges against the west coast CIO leader In the immi gration service deportation hear ing starting Monday on Angel is land in San Francisco bay. Richard Gladstein, CIO, attor ney, said .he had asked Dean James M. Landls of Harvard uni versity law school, who will pre side, to require the government to furnish a bill of particulars on the accusation that the longshore leader belongs to an organization advocating overthrow of the gov ernment. The government's only conces sion,1 in a refusal upheld by Dean Landls, was to divulge that the name of the organization was "the communist party of the United States of America," Gladstein said. Landls ruled that the govern ment need not disclose in advance of the hearing the date or place of tne alleged affiliation, any writ ten documents tending to prove Bridges' membership, the manner or affiliation, or any specific acts constituting affiliation. Martin Climbs on Garner Bandwag PORTLAND, Ore., July H3V Former Governor Charles H, Mar tin told the Willamette Democrat ic society today he had joined the "Host of Americans" who were "first, last and all the Ume for that great American, John Nance Garner." The retired army general and one-time congressman, who ; dis cussed the third term issue and control of the Oregon delegation at the next democratic national convention, lost the governorship at the primaries last year after Interior Secretary Ickes and Sen ator Norrls, Nebraska indepen dent, both new deal advisors, op posed his candidacy, i "Nobody on Capitol Hill was loved like Garner and nobody on Capitol Hill loved his party and his country like Garner," Martin said. "He is one of as." 1 1 Cryptic Note Que To Suicide's Body KLAMATH FALLS, July ff-P) -A cryptic note, "Where I waa be fore," led to recovery of the body of Mrs. Cassia Ross, 25, from a power plant intake grating In the main irrigation canal here today. The woman's husband, Vernon Ross, said she waa pulled from the canal a month ago. She disappear ed from her Tennant, Calif. home last; Sunday. ::.J v.. FLASH FLOOD BRINGS DEATH -TO HILLS . ; j 4t M-,: -x. : : I Floods that followed a Fourth of July cloudburst took the lives of mountain regions and left 47 yet unaccounted for. The flash flood , lands and through villages and bead, Ky. (IIN). President Signs New Money Act Continues Presidential Power to Cut Value , of Dollar i WASHINGTON, July .-)- Acting swiftly, President Roose velt signed today the controver sial bill continuing his power to change the gold content of the dollar and to operate a 12,000,- 000.000 fund to keep currency re lationships stable on the world money-markets. The measure was finally passed by congress yesterday and reached the White House only today. The two monetary powers had expired last Friday midnight because of a filibuster in the senate. Because the powers had died. some legislators insisted that they could not be revived by the legis lation enacted today, but adminis tration men disagreed. Moreover, Secretary of "the Treasury Mor genthau said he could see no way the law could be attacked in the courts. Republican critics indi cated they had no plans to attack it there, but that the issue would be threshed out in the next pres idential campaign. After the signing of the bill, the treasury prepared to buy newly mined domestic silver at 71.11 cents an ounce. This price, con trasting with the old price of 64.64 cents, was put into the bill after a drive by western silver! tes. As for foreign silver, the trea sury cut its price for such metal today to the record low of 36.75 cents an ounce, leading some offi cials to predict that the United States' would no longer attempt to hold the world price of the metal at artificially high levels. A 3-Year-01d Child Is Hurt by Auto Three-year-old Richard Krets was struck by an automobile and painfully injured when he darted across the pavement after his sis ter, Barbara, 9, near their home at 1315 North :17th street at 2:30 o'clock last night.' - He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Krets. Taken to Salem,, General hos pital, he was found to have suf fered a fracture of the large bone in the right leg. He was expected to recover rapidly, police were ad vised. - " Mrs. Krets told police she did not blame the car driver,' L. L. Weatherly, 411 North -Front street, who waa driving slowly and stopped within, a few feet.. Police asked Weatherly to report at head Quarters today but made no ar rest. Tke girl was taking some toys to a neighboring boy who had left them in the Krets yard. ; T-rr : Lad Escapes Jail yisi Fourth Story - PORTLAND,' July C - (ff) - A roartn story window at tne unit nomah county courthouse provid ed escape today for Donald Tost, 1 f , arrested for violation of par ole from the state training school at Woodburn. - - The lad apparenUy pulled him' self eignt feet along a narrow ledge above the street, entered an adjoining room and fled through the halls. He was screened from pedestrians, by an awning below the juvenile court on the south west Fifth avenue side. Circuit Judge Donald E.'Long of the court of domestic relations revoked the parole for a drugstore robbery, . . iii 1 - - '1 4MT ;: v v . hamlets. Photo from air shows the President's Mom Off for Europe Unscared by War NEW YORK, July Mrs. James Roosevelt, 84-year-old mother of the president, was so gay as she sailed for Paris today that she was asked If she really was not afraid of war. She turned thoughtful a mo ment. "I don't know," she said. "I suppose so, but If it comes, 111 live through it. And if not " she shrugged and smiled. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt acompazdedher mother-in-law1 to the sailing Of the French liner lie do France. The elder. Mrs. Roosevelt will visit her sister, Mrs. Dora Delano Forbes, for six weeks in Paris, Dr. Smith Gives Up Try for Bond BATON ROUGE, La., July 6- (P)-Dr. James Monroe 8 m 1 1 h abandoned today efforts to raise bond on charges that he swindled Louisiana State university, and as serted market speculation which lost close to 3500,000 was intend ed "to help the university." The tall former university pres ident's dropping of efforts to raise 350,000 bail apparently was prompted by the prospect that re lease gained that way would be followed promptly by another ar rest. District Attorney Charles- A. Byrne of New Orleans said he was prepared to file a bill of informa tion charging Smith with fogery and operating a confidence game if and when the 50-year-old edu cator leaves the jail here. The district attorney then an nounced the bald doctor of philos ophy would be rearrested it he made bond. Lindbergh Visits His Native Town LITTLE FALLS, Minn., July 6. -CfPr-Colonel Charles A. Lind bergh returned to his old home town late today to visit friends of his boyhood days. ' , Lindbergh,' flying an army plane, circled Lindbergh state park here before proceeding to nearby Camp Ripley where he was the overnight guest of Major Ray 8. Miller commander of the 109th air squadron, Minnesota national guard, in encampment here. , jiAiiiiwin iii nil mm in inn ini miii i Appointment of VanPatten Successor May Be Delayed Permanent appointment of a Salem .water-department manager to succeed the late Cuyler Van Patten may be delayed, for as much as SO days, one member of the Sal env water commission Inti mated here yesterday. C E. Guen ther, maintenance superintendent waa designated ,as acting manager after .VanPatten van taken to a hospital last February. . - : Tbe problem of filling Van Patten'a place Is expected to be discussed by the commission at Its regular meeting tonight, j , . Final action la scheduled tor to night's session on Commissioner O. A. Olson's resolution request ing the state division of audita to Investigate all phases of the water system from the time of its pur chase in 1SJ5 up to the time two years later - that full control of its finances waa turned over to the commission, . Guenther and Ira Darby, chief clerk of the water department. 63 persons In eastern Kentucky's swept over creek banks, over farm- flooded countryside near More- Stayton Man New Bend School Head Howard George Succeeds McCormack, Who Goes to Albany BEND, Ore., July 6. -(Howard W. George, 39, head of the Stayton school system for five years, was appointed superintend aem ui noa ecuuuia. luuajr, suc ceeding R. . McCormack, who went to Albany. George's appointment was made effslteSas of July 1, said J; D. Donovan, cfiairman. of the board. I The new: superintendent was graduated from Willamette uni versity and holds a master's de gree in school administration from Stanford. He is a native of Ohio, and formerly lived at Wen atchee, Wash. He began teaching at Myrtle Point. Later he was principal of the Dufur and Clo verdale high schools. He is mar ried and has two sons. Howard W. George was a var sity football player and prominent in other campus activities at Wil lamette where he graduated in 1932. He has been superintendent at Stayton since 1934 and a lead er in educational organizations of Marlon county. His advancement to the much larger school system at Bend is one of a series of changes started when Frank B. Bennett, superin tendent at Albany and also a Wil lamette graduate, accepted the Sa lem district superintendency. Mc Cormack was selected to fill the Albany vacancy. tGob Dies, 1 Hurt t In Blast on Ship SAN FRANCISCO, July 6.-(ff-One sailor was killed and another Injured Wednesday in an explo sion here aboard the cruiser Louisville; ft was disclosed today; Gunner's Mate Rollie Jackson Belcher. 28, was killed when a shell he was working on exploded. Franklin McDowell Ballard, sailor standing nearby, suffered a rup tured eardrum and burns, and was taken to the Mare Island hos pital at Vallejo. ! In a brif announcement from Washington, D. C, today, the navy department said Belcher was de- capping , a I live " saluting charge when the explosion occurred. Belcher- was from Gordondcle, Ala.. .v." -,- -r- are both considered applicants for the managership. Guenther receiv ed one tote out of the five cast by the commission - at ! the time VanPatten was appointed in July, 1935. He was subsequently em ployed 'as the: department's field Name! ot at least two . other 1935 aspirants for the Job are understood to be before the com mission. Lew A. McAllister, ' now employed in the state engineer's office, and Clifton M. Irwin, local insurance man and commander of the 349th coast artillery of the Oregon, national guard. The water commission has also received an application from a Marshfield wa ter works man whose name has not been disclosed. . I VanPatten received a regular salary of 1300 a month. He was given a 50 a month increase dur ing the period of construction of the new reservoir and Jhe gravity supply line. Duncan States Request Being Given Thought District Attorney Talks Over Matter With Executive Possibility Is Seen That Marsh May Be Asked to Take Job The state executive department confirmed rumors late yesterday . that a request had been made for appointment of a special prosecu tor to conduct the investigation of the Marion county court's audit ing practices, with which the new grand Jury was charged by Cir cuit Judge L. H. McMahan last Saturday. "The request is under consider ation," said State Senator Robert M. Duncan, who will become act ing governor when Governor Charles A. Sprague crosses the California boundary line en route south this morning. The executive department has conferred with District Attorney Lyle J. Page and "parties inter ested" will be consulted today, the. acting governor said. Page, who was known to be considering taking up the matter with the governor's office, spent most of the afternoon at the cap ital. He could not be reached for a statement. Marsh May Be Given 2nd Task Possibility was seen that Fran cis E. Marsh of MeMinnville, who already is serving as special as sistant attorney general in charge of the prosecution of County Treasurer D. G. Drager and W. T. Richardson, former deputy treas urer, on larceny charges, might be asked to direct the latest in vestigation at the courthouse. Judge McMahan in special writ ten Instructions urged the grand jury to investigation the' official conduct of the county court "in regard 'to the audit of the books of county officials who handle coun ty funds. ; The judge asked the Jurors to ascertain whether an audit of all county offices handling county funds has been made each year as required by law, whether the au ditors employed have been com petent accountants and whether or not, it Incompetent accountants have been retained, the failure to employ proper auditors has result ed in "misappropriation or loss of county money. ; If county business has been conducted according to law, tbe Instructions advised, "the county court should be exonerated from rumors now current that the eourt has failed to comply with tb mandatory provisions of the law and thereby thousands of dollars of the public funds have been mis appropriated." County Commissioner Roy Mel son had no statement to make about the new development last night. He said he had not known that a special prosecutor had been requested, and doubted If other members of the court were aware of it. Rescuers Digging To Buried Mners MINERS VILLE, Pa., July C-yT) -Rescuers dug their way cautious ly through the debris filled sixth level of tbe LyUe anthracite col liery tonight toward two "pillar robbers" trapped beneath a rock fall. Both of the miners were alive, partly burled in the debris. But rescue efforts were painstakingly alow because of the danger from another rock f alL ; "Pillar robbers" is the name given by miners to those who risk their lives in what 'they eon eider the most hazardous occupa tion of coal mining. Regular mis- . ing crews leaver large pillars of coal in the mines to support the roof. After a level is worked out, small crews of "pillar robbers" go in to mine this coal within lim its fixed by law.; New Parole Board In First Session Members of the new state pa role board spent virtually all ef Thursday considering , 36 prison cases Inherited , from - the old parole board which west -out ot existence June 1 5.- Virtually an of the prisoners interviewed by the parole board hare served their minimum terms. No action was taken by the board relative to the appointment -of tour field parole officers auth orised under the new 1939 parole law, Fred Flnsley, parole director, said he would not he able to com plete his recommendations before . the next meeting of the board. Members of the board are Paul R. Kelty, Lafayette, chairman; R. 8. Eeene, Salem, and Gerald Ma son, Portland " '