PAGE TWO
The OREGON STATESMAN. SALEM. Oregon, Saturday Morning. December 20, 1941
British Stand at
Diverted Nippon Forces From
Luzon, Asserts War Analyst
By KIRKE L. SIMPSON
MBIA VSTmlM 1X7. A n. arl.l
"" ,w"" "
British personnel and ship losses in an attempted sea evacu-
ation of Hongkong if the Japanese invaders force such an ef
fort might prove a greater blow than loss of the China sea out
post itself.
Hongkong Is an important but
not strategically vital segment of
the Anglo-American defensive
triangle in that sea. While American-Filipino
forces on Luzon hold
out, as they have done so far, the
Nipponese supply line for the
main Japanese attack against
Singapore is still potentially
flanked.
Nor has Hongkong's valiant
stand been without asset values.
It has diverted Japanese army,
navy and air elements from the
Luson operations. It has gained
time for British and American
sea and air reinforcements to be
mustered which could reverse
the battle balance before Singa
pore Is even gravely menaced.
That Singapore battle also has
Collections
Top Tax Roll
Sheriff Warns Heavy
Penalty Waits Those
With Delinquent Bills
(Continued from page 1) .-
mandatory that the tax collector
Issue warrants to enforce pay
ment of all delinquent personal
property taxes," Brabec pointed
out.
"This warrant may be served
in the usual manner or by publi
cation. Immediately after service
of said warrant, if delinquent
taxes, interest and costs are not
paid, the warrant will be filed
with the county clerk for entry
In the Judgment docket of the
county. Thereupon the amount of
the warrant so docketed shall be
come a lien upon the title to any
Interest in real property owned
by the person assessed.
"This office therefore earnestly
urges all persons having delin
quent and unpaid personal prop
erty taxes to inquire or call at
the tax department as promptly
as possible for a statement in
order to be in position to remit
the correct amount and avoid
having judgment recorded against
them," he concluded.
Censor Chief
Starts Work
Clarification of US
Requests First Task;
Messages Pledge Aid
(Continued from page 1)
by an executive order Friday
and gave its director "absolute
discretion" over censorship of
mall, cable, radio and other
means of transmitting Informa
tion outside the United States.
The director Is authorized to
take all measures which may be
necessary or expedient to adminis
ter his powers, to utilize personnel
oi existing government agencies
and to employ additional personnel
as needed.
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Hongkong Has
served to bolster British fighting
prestige throughout the Far East
Even heavy losses in men and
ships, should a sea evacuation turn
Hongkong into a Far Eastern
Dunkirk, would not obliterate in
oriental minds the evidence of
grim British determination to
fight it out to the bitter end.
Hongkong like Wake already synv
bolizes that determination.
r irsi mnts oi Japanese con
quest of Hongkong probably
would be the shifting of Japanese
naval and air units from that
zone to intensify pressure on the
Philippines. Manila reports of in
creased Nipponese air activity
within the last 24 hours may be
a prelude to that
It Is reasonably clear, how
ever, that the Japanese attack
in Luzon Is designed primarily
as a holding operation to engage
all American forces on that
front and prevent effective
American reinforcement of
Singapore with ships of war and
battle planes. Anglo-American
counter strategy, aside from the
gallant and adroit defense of
Luzon that General Douglas
MacArthor is conducting, is still
to be disclosed.
It is increasingly clear from
.JrSlffiP
official war advices that MacAr-
thur has not been lured into scat
tering his main forces to meet in
vasion threats distant from Ma
nila. He has been content to con
tain those thrusts and batter at
Japanese shipping and beach
bridgeheads as effectively as his
limited air force permits. His
main armies are indicated to be
mobilized for flexible use to take
advantage of the inner communi
cation lines at his command, ready
to shift In any direction to meet
a Japanese power invasion smash
toward Manila, if and when it
comes
The Hongkong defense has
contributed the vital element of
time to that of Luzon. Full mo
bilization of American-Filipino
troops before the test of a ma
jor battle eould be thrust upon
them has been possible, and a
disposition of forces to take ad
vantage of every natural bar
rier.
Somewhere both British and
American relief forces are as-
suredly mustering. Singapore is sui which netted the big airport
too vital to be lost for lack of such of Derna and threatened to en
an effort, and the Ja p a n e s e I velop all the coastal highlands on
know it the hump of Cirenaica.
Speech Slated
By Nazi Head
Entire Reich to Hear
Propaganda Minister
GoebbePs Address
(Continued from Page 1)
discuss in some manner the wide
scale nazi reverses in Russia and
North Africa. I
The German press itself of late
has soft-pedalled reports from
these two fronts, playing up in
stead accounts of Japan's initial
successes in the Far East.
Until the nazi drive bogged
down in Russia the controlled Ger
man press spoke glowingly of the
"Invincible" German army.
But now its utterances have
been chiefly about the weather
in Russia, the "strategic nasi
withdrawal to ' "stronger posi
tions" and the hardships under
which the army was fighting.
Emphasis also has been placed
on the Russian tenacity and the
high quality of their equipment
which the Germans admit now
they under-estimated at the start
There has been considerable
conjecture recently that Germany
might be getting ready to spring
some big surprise, possibly a
thrust through Turkey to get at
the oil fields of the middle east
Support of this has been seen in
increased German military activ
ity in Bulgaria.
It was considered unlikely,
however, that such a move
would be announced by Goeb
bels since Adolf Hitler usually
has reserved such disclosures for
himself.
Goebbels' last important public
pronouncement came early in No
Graduating Midshipmen Get
Memory of Pearl Harbor
By DAVE NOPPER
awnakjlis, Md, Dec
bor was added to the United States' "Rosary of Memory" Fri
day by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. '
Speaking before the 574
Naval academy, Knox said There
are names which are fragrant in
our memories whenever we think
of American courage and Amer
ican fighting spirit Valley Forge
and Belleau Wood, Bunker Hill
and . Mobile bay, . Gettysburg and
Chateau Thierry. "
.i-Today we have a new pearl
to add to the rosary of memory:
vember when he told the Germans
they had hard sledding ahead.
Writing in the weekly Das Reich,
he declared the axis powers were
"fighting for bare, existence, and
the worries and distress which we
all must bear in the war would
pale in the face of the" inferno
which would await us if we were
to lose."
Then he admonished Germans
"not to ask when victory will
come, but rather to see that it
comes
Russ Crushing
Finns, Nazis
Axis on Run in Libya
As British Campaign
Speeds in High Gear
(Continued from page 1)
high command has been using
them as a puppet power."
Finnish official reports Friday
night confirmed the continuation
of Russian attaeks on the Svir
river front between Lake Ladoga
and Lake Onega, as weU as on
the East Karelian front These
attacks, described as weak, were
declared to have been repulsed.
The Russians, however, contend
they have broken the whole
Finnish-German line between
the two lakes, crossing the froz
en Svir and advancing at three
points.
MOSCOW, Dec. 20-(iP)-(Satur
day) -Red armies pursuing retreat
ing Germans through the snows of
: the Moscow front have wiped out
Adolf Hitler's 134th division to the
last man and in ten days of fight'
I ing preceding this action killed and
wounded 22,000 other nazis, the
Russians announced today.
T,000 Germans killed, wounded
or captured in the latest successes
reported by the Russians, since a
German division normally has 15,-
000 men.
A special announcement
broadcast by the Moscow radio
told of the enormous casualties
inflicted upon the back-tracking
nazis between December 7 and
17. The regular midnight com
munique reported destruction of
the 134th division in a trap west
of Moscow and the recapture of
numerous villages and towns
there and on the northwest and
southwest.
German losses In equipment
equalled their casualties, the spe
cial announcement said, listing 319
tanks, more than 3700 trucks and
huge quantities of other motorized
equipment, and guns destroyed in
the 10-day period.
CAIRO, Dec. 19. Flying spear
heads of the British eighth army
raced 200 miles deep inthe Libyan
desert Friday night behind flee
ing axis forces in a relentless pur-
The advance was at such tre
mendous speed that British
general headquarters brushed
aside tabulation of captures be
hind the front lines on the for
mor battlefield of Gazala, and
announced: "All attention at
the moment is being concen
trated on maintaining relentless
pressure upon the retreating
enemy."
In Cairo, British headquarters
made public an order of the day
which the British middle-Eastern
comander, Gen. Sir Claude Au
cmniecK, issued Noember 25,
when the German General Erwin
von Rommel unleashed his great
est effort to escape destruction.
In part it said:
"There is only one order: At
tack and pursue! His (the ene
my's) position is desperate, and
he is toying by lashing out in
all directions to distract us
from our object, which is to de
stroy him utterly. We will not
be disgraced, and he will be de
stroyed! "You have got you teeth into
him. Hold on! Bite deeper and
deeper and hang on until he is
finished."
Ninth Corps
Base Moved
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 1-(;P
-Transfer of the Ninth corps area
headquarters from San Francisco
to salt Lake City was ordered
Friday.
Hundreds of miles Inland and
nestling at the foot of the tow
ering Wasatch mountains, Salt
Lake City provides a factor that
army officials said contributed
to its selection that it be no
more vulnerable to enemy at
tack than necessary.
Major General J. L. Benedict,
commandant of the area, will
command the new base.
19 - UPhA new name Pearl Har
graduating midshipmen at the US
The secretary told the second
class to graduate this year under
the academy's new . accelerated
course: , . ..
"You are going out Into active
service at a time when all that
you have learned here will be put
to the test the supreme test
war. Millions of young men would
Battle Raging
As Japs Land
Fall of Hongkong Is
Expected by British
. Despite Resistance
(Continued from page 1)
ending as yet unknown, but
most likely a sad ending for the
allies a drama of a terrible
splendor, of courage perhaps
never excelled in an the his
tory of British fighting men.
The exact immediate situation
was in doubt, but there could not
be much doubt as to how it must
ultimately turn out, for there was
no retreat and no prospect of
reinforcement for the vastly out
numbered defenders.
Late accounts circulated by the
British from Japanese sources
gave what was tantamount to- a
that the price to Japanese Voce
was very high
The Germans, however, sent
out reports attributed to Tokyo
which claimed that Victoria, the
Hongkong capital and site of
all government offices of the
British crown colony, had fall
en; that most of the island was
in Japanese hands, and that
British troops had taken a last
stand atop Victoria hill, 2000
feet above the city itself.
These German claims were of
course suspect and conflicted
somewhat with Japan's own
claims; nevertheless, Hongkong's
peril was clear and imminent,
It was a sorrowful story chief-
i a .
ly oecause so many men were
dying and must die in a despar
ate delaying action, for the ulti
mate loss of the colony and base
had been discounted but the
allied position in the Pacific gen
In the Pacific theatre, the sit-
uauon apart irom nongKong was
on balance
apparently about a
standoff.
Luson in the Philippines, the
American key point in the allied
arch of the Far East, was by all
accounts as firmly in American
hands as ever. A war depart
ment report during the day of
a marked increase in the past
24 hours in the enemy's air and
ground activity against the
island was no more than had
been expected after his long
inactivity.
Friday night, another war de
partment communique stated in
supplement that enemy patrols
had increased their ground ope
rations.
In the afternoon 24 Japanese
planes attacked the United States
naval base of Cavite on Manila
bay American planes not go
ing aloft, according to Manila
dispatches and later nine more
raiders flew across the bay. The
second wave apparently dropped
no bombs; smoke was seen rising
from the Cavite area after the
first attack.
At Wake island, more than 3000
miles from Manila, the American
garrison underwent Friday morn
ing a heavy attack; but said the
navy department, Wake fought
back as it always had.
Before Singapore, which per
haps in the long pull is the most
important allied Far Eastern posi
tion of all, the position Friday
appeared quite good
The British reported not only
that the Japanese offensive
down from northwestern Ma
laya had been substantially halt
ed but that the British Penang
garrison all its military per
sonnel and equipment had
been brought out safely before
that point off the west coast
was out-flanked and were now
taking their positions, probably
to help hold the new British line
along the Krian river some 300
miles above Singapore.
Japanese losses, the British stat
ed, had been very heavy. It was
certain that the invader, who ap
peared to have the tin center town
of Ipoh as his next major ob
jective, was going to find that 300
miles a very long stretch.
Too, Japanese efforts to seize
areas of British or British-nro-
tected North and West Borneo, an
area of great strategic importance
because of its situation in the al
lied Philippines - Singapore - East
Indies communications area were
running into strong Dutch coun
ter-action.
It was officially announced
Call Board
ELSINORE
Today Nelson Eddy In The Chocolate
soiaier wun juse Stevens. "The
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ana ncnar uamm.
GRAND
Today Betty Grable, Victor Mature,
Aun nuworar in 1 war irn
Screaming." Jane Wither. Bruce
Edwards, Jane Darwell in "Small
CAPITOL
Today Albert .Dekker, Susan Hay
wara in Among tne Living." Lloyd
Nolan in "Steel Aninil thZ v
LIBERTY '
Today Gene Autry in "Sunset In
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HOLLYWOOD
Today Billv Conn in -TTi xt.-
ourgn iuo." Roy Kogers in "Sheriff
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Special Xmas
MKIG!
Hazel Green
Regular Time
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oil
that Dutch army and naval
forces had raided a Japanese
settlement in North Borneo, a
similar center having previous
ly been taken in hand, and that
Dutch bombers had attacked
Japanese troop bodies. ,
One of the day's few Japanese
claims direct from Tokyo, via ra
dio, was that a single Japanese
army plane had sunk a British
warship, believed to be a cruiser,
at anchor south of Hongkong is
land. There was no confirmation
for this.
British Beat
Japs' Drive
Garrison at Penang
Safely Withdrawn;
Singapore Strong
(Continued from page 1)
er inland They apparentlyWere
trying to deal with their heavy
casualties.
Then, they began new thrusts
against strong and apparently un
yielding British opposition as the
probable preliminaries to an effort
to take the town of Opoh, the
Malayan tin center, which is
astride the main railway running
down to Singapore and is flanked
by mountains.
Strong Dutch action against
Japanese forces seeking to In
filtrate into British North Bor
neo, strategically situated to the
east of the Malay peninsula in
the Singapore-Phllipplnes-Dutch
East Indies communications and
defensive area, meanwhile were
reported.
The East Indies command an
nounced during the day that Dutch
bombers had assaulted the invad
er in Sarawak, to continue bomb
h errpS9fnv mnontrat off
against Japanese seapower.
This earlier action had set a Japa-
nese cruiser aflame.
The Netherlands Indies news
agency Aneta disclosed about the
same time that Dutch army and
naval forces had raided a Japanese
settlement in' North Borneo, in
terning a large number of Japa
nese. This, too, was a continued
operation, it having been earlier
reported that Dutch naval forces
had liquidated a potential Japa
nese colony of fifth communists at
Sandakan.
Dutch West Barneo was under
enemy air attack, however, a
communique announcing that
scores of persons, including
many school children, had been
killed and many more injured
in a Japanese raid on the town
of Pontlanak.
County Court
Visits Elkhorn
Importuned by residents along
the Elkhorn road above Lomker's
bridge and school bus operators
in addition to logging operators
in the region to take some action
to keepthe road in repair during
winter months, members of Ma
rion county court traveled into
that area Friday afternoon to
view uthe mud d thoroughfare
Light vehicles are having even
more difficulty in covering the
section of the county road af
fected by slides than logging
trucks, it was said.
What action they would take,
court members did not declare
Friday night following their re
turn from the inspection trip.
Starts Today - 2
A WAIN!, MOL MCtVII. WM
I 1 COMPANION FEATURE ,
aw m a a m w w m m
uUUJJl -
ALEXLS SIIITH-UOID KOlAn-CBHS STEVE!?
Plus Chap. 3 Serial, fJUNGLE GIRL," and War New
Committee to
Be Enlarged
Roadside and Zoning
Study Group Talks
Protection Plans
(Continued from page 1)
the Polk, Linn and Benton com
missioners on his committee that
they are to head sub-committees
In their own counties to studr
and recommend action, that any
M .1 . .
lunner appointments tney may
wish should be reauested and
that from these requests the
original committee will be ex
panded.
Background of the ' four
eounty cantonment eouncfL its
relationship to the Oregon Eco
nomic council and Cuthbert's
position with that body were
explained by Crawford as aa
Introduction to the consultant's
discussion of a proposed enab
ling act which would allow
county courts, with specified
restrictions, to zone sections of
the county.
That passage of such an
act
should be sought in event a spe-
cial session of the legislature is
called is the concensus of opinion
among persons interested in meet
ing problems arising around can
tonments, defense construction
projects and in protecting scenic
beauty of the state.
How best to secure such legis
lative action should be a feature
of the roadside committee's study,
he suggested, asking also that it
present suggestions for the bill's
content so that if it should be
accepted the law would be sat-
isfactory.
The toning enabling act. I
would in no way meet the
problem the four mid-valley
counties must face should a
cantonment be located, Cuth
bert said, but would be effective
only if put into use with a
background of careful prepara
tion. The council, he said, might
serve as forerunner for zoning
commission or separate county
commissions to recommend uni
fied action.
That the sample enabling act.
basis on which the League of
Oregon Cities has been working.
was too broad to secure popular
backing was suggested by Hay
den, who declared that organized.
payinf opposition would secure
support in sections where zoning
might be neither required nor
contemplated. If the act were
drawn to apply only to counties
with a certain minimum popula
tion, he said, it would stand
greater chance of passage.
George H. Otten, landscape
engineer with the highway de
partment, explained that the
organisations interested purely
in highway beautification in the
state have to-date fought an
unsuccessful battle to have such
a measure passed in the Ore
gon legislature, maintaining
that "it is usually favorably re
ported out of committee but
never actually reaches the
floor." As an emergency meas
ure, he declared, it should stand
a chance of coming to a vote
and then it would have "every
chance" of passbig, he said.
Police protection, as far as un
desirable types of
enterprise
aiong me nignway migni De con-
cerned, should not be a matter
for worry, Hayden said, outlining
provisions for law enforcement
Not Just police protection but
the salvaging of property va
lue s In the possible canton
ment's area concerned the
Polk county rural women's
clabs when they asked imme-
150
Plus
Tax
Till 5 P. M.
Brand New Hits!
.
1 1 A
1 UM
diate actios ia their convention
teutlea the past fall, represen
tatives declared.
Murphy assured the group that
with the cooperation of the en
tire committee a standard basis
of action should be reached to
that county courts working to
gether with state and federal au
thorities could handle any emer
gency in the immediate future.
Contacting of property owners
along highways, real estate deal
ers and grange groups was sug
gested as a means of securing
public cooperation.
MacArthur Is
Full General
Philippine Defender
Second Field Leader
To Get Coveted Rank
(Continued from page 1)
was Lieutenant General Arthur
MacArthur and he was born at a
Little Rock, Ark., army post),
MacArthur was graduated from
West Point in 1903 with the acad-
emy's best scholastic record in 25
years.
He commanded aa army di
vision ia France ia 1117-18, bat
his military career seemed to
have reached a climax with
service from 1130-15 as chief
of staff.
As a full general, MacArthur
would have equal rank with any
military olflcer Britain or other
aUies might assign to the far east
Although Pershing is the only
Held officer to hold this rank
heretofore in wartime, nine others
have received it in peacetime,
either in active service or after
meir retirement
In recent years the rank has
been enjoyed temporarily by the
war department chief of staff
while he held that post General
George C. Marshall, the present
chief of staff, is the only other
CeneraL
Fag Tax Row
Burns High
Snell to Keep Petition
Off Ballot; Grocers
May Co to Courts
(Continued from pagt 1)
tax placed before the voters
would be continued.
With the probability of an
attack on the law iu the rourts
looming, it would be folly for
the state to spend a large sum
of money providing machinery
for rollottmg the tax. Tax Cora
missipner Earl Fisher declared.
A formal statement from the
commission was expected with
in the next few days.
The Grocers' association's posi
tion that "nich k tax was a nui
sance tax and should be submit
ted direct to the voters' was re
peated by McPherson. He said the
association would take whatever
legal steps were proper to force
a -ourt decision on the referen
dum, and believed action would
be direct before the tate si
preme court.
Othr ?onrors of the referen-
dum said two actions were orn
a mandamus action orderin
the secretory of state to tile the
petitions, c an injunction against
tne state tax commission staying
it from collecuig the tax because
peitions had been filed.
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Wlrllll'lHISSH
TfHTC Continuous from 1:00 P. M.
MAttlb NEW LOW 4-7 , Any
j TODAY PRICES! i0 Time
Immmmmmm riua Tax
MiSnm: v; i (
I DONALD ' ";V 4i, Uf. OAl I
DUCK finV'" TJr ' 1 1
' liZj l7 :- VgckMAiWa great arkne
t . .. , J : Ma UOICI 1 1 B
FDR Gets New
Draft Bill
Congress Agrees on
Ages; Four Million
Man Army Possible
(Continued from page 1)
mTHng preparations to begin
registrations within the new age
limits. Registrations will be ta
ken in ago classifications at the
discretion of President Roose
velt, with those subject to active
service expected to be listed first.
Hershey said that men In the
latter groups would be added to
the list of those already classi
fied under the 21 through 33 age
limits and thus become subject
to the draft along with them.
As finally approved, the
legislation left wtthla the se
lective service act a prevtaioa
defining dependency grounds
upon which potential selectees
might bo deferred from actl re
service. The senate had sought
to strike this oet tn order to
girt local draft boards snore
discretion la such matters, bat
conferees killed the senate
amendment.
A clause in the new bill pro
vides that elective state officials
shall be granted deferment as
long as they remain in office.
The bill extends for 120 days
the time in which members of
the armed forces may apply for
national insurance. It provides
payments of $5000 to the surviv
ors of all men who died or were
totally disabled on active duty
since October 8, or who die or are
totally disabled within the next
120 days without obtaining such
insurance.
Shortly after approval of the
selective service measure.
Chairman Walsh (D-Maas) In
troduced in the senate a bill to
increase the emergency
strength of the navy from 300,
000 to 500,000 men and to raise
the marine corps limit from
60.000 to 104.000 men.
Additions to the navy and ma
rine personel are expected to be
made largely through enlistments.
River Rising,
Oregon Coast
Hit by Flood
(Continued from Page 1)
ed oa the coast highway and
had to be towed to safety by
state tracks. The Wllsoa river
aighway was cleared of slides
lato Friday for one-way traf
fic The Bayoeeaa road was
blocked by slides.
The Nehalem river, swollen by
five inches of rain in three days,
covered most streets tn the busi
ness district of the town of Ne
halem. Portland-Astoria trains were
bloc ted by three slides between
Astoria and Rainier. NUM
freight schedules were cancel
ed and a passenger train was
held ap east of John Day. near
Astoria, vhere the wont altp
page occurred.
The Willamette river rose neai
flood stage at Albany, Salem and
Fugene. Many roads in the Eu
gtne area were covered by water
and the Retdrport-Drain highway
was closed for four hours belore
workmen cleared it of debric
aawKIH ANKT Muarrre
,1 SANDERS I
.Jiketo be in. joue.jplace.. J,"