Dimout Tho Incido Yew complete morning newspaper. The Statesman, .offers yea pertinent com ments an war news ef the day by - Kirks 8lBni, Washington analyst. : Thursday sunset 1:39 P. -'an, Friday sunrise f:S2 ft.ni. Weather: Taos, max. temp. II, nla. 42. Toes.! rala J la. ITed. river M ft Wea ther data " restricted by reeves. . . ' iirimr-crcoiiD yeah Col em, Oregon, lTumdar Morning, December 24. 1842 No. 1C3 M il II II II II Yankee Troops in JB'&Msw. Find French Cooperate Joseph Gallagher Only .Candidate Certified For Postmaster Here Independent Voter on List Displeasing To Democrats By STEPHEN C. MERGLER - Joseph J. Gallagher, an in dependent in political registra tion, is the only candidate Among a field of eight who has been certified : to the US post office department for consid eration in the appointment of a postmaster for Salem, The Statesman learned Wednesday. ' A message to this effect was received .from the Washington office of Rep, ' James W. Mott in response , to a special inquiry. Mr., Gallagher said Wednesday that he had' received formal no tice' that he stood first on the civil service list. He was not ad vised of the status of other ap plicants. The apparent elimination of the ether seven applicants for this $4200 a year "plum" In spite of the fact that normal procedure is to certify three if they can qualify caused an immediate stir of discontent in state and county democratic cir cles, which had anticipated that a party man would certainly re ; eeive consideration. ? ... '.While the message from Con gressman Mott's office might, by splitting grammatical hairs, be constructed to mean that addition al "I certifications Twere?t'Pssibler word reaching ."Carl PopeMar ion . . county Is iiemocratic ' central committee -chairman,- was s? that Gallagher alone was to be certi fied. ',."-- - i j-'-': , ; ; Chairman 'Pope , heard the bad news from; State .Chairman Fred risk at Eugene Tuesday afternoon. The democratic executive com mittee of .the county will be call ed together immediately for con sideration of this problem, and the (Turn to Page 2 A) Jap-terned oliday Food SAN FRANCISCO, Dc. 23;- Fifteen hundred Americans in terned in Camp Woosung, near EhanshaL will have Christmas dinners complete with turkey pies, under Red Cross auspices, A. I Schafer. Pacific area Red Cross manager reported. Wednesday, Schafer was notified the din ners would be served to Ameri can off icers, - enlisted men and civilian imDrisoned there, m a message from Edouard Egle, . In ternational - Red Cross committee delegate in Shanghai. '':. r j Egle sent word that the camp is visited regularly by Red r Cross representatives, and that jprison ers have been supplied through ed Cross - funds with . warm sweat shirts, socks, winter caps .nd gloves. He also has sent in BO stoves ' and is arranging for heating the barracks, he said. . At regular intervals, Egle re ported,: he delivers -to the camp foodstuffs such ai bread, smoked sausages, noodles, fresh fruit and beef extract, as well as medicines, dental and optical equipment and tailet articles ' such ' as tooth brushes and powder, soap, tow els, etc prisoners : in t the . Philippines, too, -should get welcome supplies this wekt Schafer said, since a cable received "from Japan via Geneva 'stated 13,648 cases con taining 500 tons of Red Cross food, clothing . and medical supplies have left Hongkong : and Yoko hama for Philippine prison campo ;;tirhsft.:a ar: shiptaentr sent a- we . f.ri. :-iernatie exchanr' vessels. 0 f ' - ; J Passes Test - n : f7 Joseph J. Gallagher, lone certified by civil service com mission for consideration in Sa lem's postmastership appoint ment. Kennell-EIUs photo. French Drive - Big Tunisian Battle Seen Shaping Up; Malta Helped;, . W)NDON, tec. 23 - (JP) - The French under Gen. Henri Honor Giraud have :' driven' the enemy back in a sharp engagement ap parently In the Pont Au Fahs area and have , taken more prisoners and war material, African reports said Wednesday night, ' and the axis hinted a big battle was shap ing up in the Tunisia corner. A headquarters spokesman said the French attacked a position held mostly by Italians near Pont Au Fahs, 30 miles south of Tunis. Captured equipment included two armored cars. The spokesman and the official allied communique reporting' the French success over their former axis overlords in Tunisia directly contradicted a DNB, German news agency, report that a French squadron was annihilated in the fighting and 100 French dead were left on the field. Reports from the allied head quarters tol.d of "vigorous patrol activity on the British and Amer ican " sectors in Tunisia, with the enemy shelling some of the Brit (Turn to Page 2 G) Pearl Hfitrbor Said Lauded By Finnish WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (JP) Officials quarters in Washing ton expressed concern Wednes day night over reports reaching here of a Japanese legation party in Helsinki at which Finnish min isters were said to have congrat ulated the Japanese on the anni versary of Pearl Harbor. ! 1 According 'to these reports, dis closed by authoritative sources, the party was held December 7 and was attended by Prime Min ister Rangell and Foreign Minis ter Witting as well as other Fin nish officials. Whether neutral diplomats also attended was not disclosed, but some of the Finnish officials i were reported to have congratulated the ; Japanese on the anniversary occasion. Motion pictures of the Pearl Harbor atUck' were-, shown at the party,- some- ? reperti aaidV and Finnihf ' officials were- among those .who applauded the destruc? tioR wrought toy Japanese torpedo Pirfiii - -.i I i Whether the Japanese legations and. , embassies in other capitals besides -Helsinki -gve December 7 parties for officials and- diplo mats' and, if so, what transpired at such functions, was a subject on which little 4 information was available Wednesday night No s comment was available from The state department but it was recalled that - the American minister i to Finland, Arthur Schoenfeld, was ' recently ordered home , for consultation. It was considered . likely, he might shed some light on the incident after his-arrival here," - j Enemy Back : iL Little Time Found for Sight-Seeirig: Americans Billeted r With French in West Africa By JOSEPH MORTON DAKAR, French West Afri ca, Dec. 2 3-(P)-A meriean troops now are in Dakar, nerve center of all French West Afri ca and the port which repulsed a combined British and Fighting French attack in September, 1940. The khaki-clad Yanks arrived qUietly and went to work beside their new French allies without any waste 01 time. ' They came by plane and ship, and in one case by jeep. Notable demonstrations greeted their ar rival, but there was little cheer ihg, possibly because there was no marching or suitable oppor tunity. The attitude of the French pub lic officials and army and navy officers seems to be to receive the Americans well and courteous ly and in a spirit of cooperation, but still ' maintain their dignity and remember yesterday's dead. The Americans have come Just to work," government con trolled newspapers in Dakar commented, "and have net very much time to waste in the city sifht-seeuig. The population of Dakar has net had time to manifest its sympathies." Quartered as guests of the gov ernment mission ' are j Admiral Glassford, Brig. Gen. A. Franklin! Kibler, Brig. Gen. Cyrus Smith CoL J. C. Holmes. : Capt, Hush (Turn to Page 2 B) Bomb9 Fighter Planes Strike In Naziland LONDON, Dec. 23-i5s)-Boston bombers escorted by fighter planes bombed the docks at St. Malo, France, Wednesday afternoon, the air ministry announced in a com munique Wednesday night. St. Malo is on the northern coast of France almost directly south of Southampton. Other British fighters, unmo lested by defending aircraft, car ried out sweeps over Brittany and Normandy, the communique add ed. Earlier in the afternoon Brit ish planes with fighter escorts bombed targets at Denhelder on the Dutch coast . No enemy aircraft were en countered during the operations, and. no British planes were lost, it was reported. The raids came in the wake of heavy, and widespread overnight attacks by fighter-bombers on German' railway transport in France and the low countries. The raid on Denhelder, strategic Dutch port on the Zuider Zee, was carried out by Veterans, American general reconnaissance bombers. Planes of this design have been put into service on the RAF front (Turn to Page 2 H) : Castor Oil Lacking PORTLAND, Dec. 23-CF)-Good news for kids a castor oil short age! War production board of ficials said Wednesday J that "at the normal rate of consumption less than a month's supply exists nationally. W A A (To IT By HAROLD V. BOYLE ' ALLIED HEADQUARTERS m NORTH AIIICA; Per. 33i&y The arrival of 31-American army nurse 1 an five WAAC officers has- croatod a feminine oasis at allied headquarters, where unto now the art of war has been prac ticed on a strictly masculine basis. The appearance at the officers': mes of the yeeng women hade lmmedlaterepercnssions. -When they first entered the long private dining roonv looking as nest and fresh in their mili tary garb as a Monday- mornina wash, all conversation halted mo mentarily. Heads of generals and second lieutenants alike turned as if they were on the' same pivot to watch the women march a jitue self : consciously, to thejr .table. ' Gray haired eelenels, wke cisnally gnaw tlei ' rat-'isr Lt , .Red. Western- - CurFew Lifted . , .... . . 1 - . . Germans Allowed - tf Travel ;Exclusion: To Be Individual SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23 (Jpy-The army Wednesday night lifted curfew . and travel re- strictions on German aliens in the eight-state area of the west- ern defense command These restrictions, imposed last March 27, were removed October 19 with regard to Italian aliens and no longer are applicable to Japanese, all of whom have been removed from the affected zones. ine need lor the curfew no longer exists as other security measures have been provided,1 LL Gen. J. Lk DeWitt of the western defense command and Fourth army said. "Among these measures hi the individual exclusion proce dure under which persons who are found, after hearing, te- be dangerous or potentially dan gerous to the military security f the west coast are excluded. "I desire to make it plain how ever, that there will be no retard ation of the program to rid the west coast of such persons. ' The curfew order applied orig inally to all German and Italian aliens and to all persons of Jap anese ancestry living either in military area 1, comprising rough ly the western half of Washing ton,' Oregon and California and a southern strip of Arizona, or. in anv one of 1032 smaller - zon scattered through . the iemainder of these four states and - Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah." The order provided that .these persons should remain . in their homes from 8 p. m. to 6 ' a." m. nightly and should hot travel more than five miles from their homes at other hours, except to and from work, without specific authority. General DeWitt made clear, however, that his order revok ing the previous proclamations did not apply to that clause for bidding the possession of con traband specifically firearms r other weapons, ammunition, short-wave radios, signal devi ces and cameras by Japanese anywhere in the eight states. Furthermore, he pointed out, a presidential proclamation govern ing aliens makes unlawful the ownership of any. of these items by German nationals, wherever their place of residence in this country. News Deliverers Get 5 Increase WASHINGTON, . Dec. 23 -(&) Some 3000 New York newspaper delivery workers whose suddenly called strike last week left the metropolis news-starved for three days won a $5-a-week pay boost Wednesday from the war labor board, which at the same time strongly denounced the walkout "In approving the interim order and award of the arbitration board in this case, the WLB order de clared, "the national war labor board expressly condemns the ac tion of the newspaper and mail deliveries union of New York and vicinity in calling a strike in clear violation of the national policy to elminate the use of economic force in the settlement of labor disputes for the duration of the war". rrllQ A austerity dusted off their sanitary ' gallantry " aad , shamelessly . sabotaged . officers ef tetsev ranlr t get seats pear tiMMeW':;;:;: You know: said a major, '"1 never knew before how much it can mean to a man just to sit across .the .table from . a young woman who speaks ' bin own'- lan guage. "After six. weeks of army life In Africa, you forget there is another world with women in it as well as men.? " - ' ;The maora reaction was typi cal but one elderly general mere ly ; gazed dourly at the fenuhine contingent and remarkedt :.- ,ri dent know whara . hap-" penlng t war anyway." T7e pever had, aaythjr?. Lie tils before. rlllccat sellers! Tass t-l-Usa," vT'V :.-"-. Msi .-..::.i;.V....wJ.. Wounded In action, a US marine the south Pacific He was transferred te a waiting transport for . AF Photo from US navy. : .1 ;.. r-:'"'' US, British Bomb Japs, Burma US and Mexico Agree, Trade Tariffs Reduced on Many Items ; Quota On Oil Removed WASHINGTON Dec. 23 -(JF) The Uftjted States and lexico- allies in the war. against' the axis signed a reciprocal trade agree ment Wednesday sweeping aside long-standing, barriers to peace time commerce and opening the way to a greater wartime ex change of goods. . ' '' ' f Secretary of State Hull, signed J the bulky document , with: Dr. Francisco Castillo Najera, Mexi- can ambassador, bringing the 15th American republic and the 25th nation into the international trade program Hull has advocated. The United States obtained tariff reductions en 71 items while the duties on 127 others were f roaen at present levels. In return more than 60 Items exported te the United States by Mexico are affected by the agreement. Among the concessions made by Mexico are the binding of the present duty on automobiles, trucks- and tractors, of which Mexican purchases in 1940 amounted to " $6,998,000; a reduc tion of 50 per. cent on. the duty on machinery and appliances, of which the United States supplied 70 per cent, of Mexico's Imports in 1940 valued at $1,895,000; and 17 per 1 cent decrease : in the rate on radios and radio equip ment, a $1,482,000 item , in this country's 1940 foreign trade. Other, reductions - came on: Wheat '40 per. cent; IaTd-2T.7: per cent; refrigerators 20 per cent. Many : items vital . to the war figure In the concessions made by the United States to: Mexico . and significantly the pact removes all quotas oh the importation of crude petroleum and . fuel oQ at the frozen rate of one-fourth cent per gallon. ' Previously Mexico's ex ports of petroleum crude and fuel oil to . this country , at this rate were limited: by , quota while all in excess of the quota was sub ject to one-half cent a gallon duty. The WAACs have one privilege denied . moio officers. .They - can eat with their military caps, on, and they do - -Jl How to in trod u them has been something of a problem in social military etiquette.- rellow officers the first time usually ' burble -out something like . "Ukr Smith, this is General Joaeav er, er, I -mean General Jones, uh, uh, meet lieu tenant Smith.". ,r- - r ' Both the nurses and the WAACs have been besieged with -dinner Invitations ' and- offers jot asdst anc. . -'. , '. ' , The alert American press scor ed an initial scoop when two for eign correspondenta took all five WAACs for their first dinner at C- French restaurant. - Army- air corps . officers a 1 s o were taken along -after they berred to join tie party aod H tt tLi j would j -lL!LFgB Wounded Marine Evacuated Is carried aboard landing barge Carrier, Land Planes Meet Enemy NEW DELHI, Thursday, Dec. 24-7v57rcding bombs upon widely , separated targets, . Ameri can and British .- .raiders : have struck: powerful : sew , blows at lUn'goon andAkyab in softenlng up raids ahead of British troops cautiously moving. down the Bur ma - coast . while V carrier-borne British naval planes assaulted the westermost Japanese base in the Netherlands Indies far to the south, '.-"-v-"' - ; These allied attacks, carried oat . over an ever-broadening are of the Indian ocean against only scant enemy . opposition, caught the Japanese flatfooted or showed that they now were surrendering air superiority, or both. ' The British announced .Thurs day .that Japanese planes raided two localities in eastern Bengal province Wednesday. At least one enemy ; plane was destroyed and several were damage, a com munique said. A small number of bombs were dropped tin the Chittagong area Wednesday ' night and casualties and damage were relatively small Wednesday, afternoon two bombs were dropped on Basemi area and no casualties or damage resulted. US army air force headquarters announced that in two destructive assaults on Rangoon Sunday and ... (Turn to Page 2--D) ; Adair Sergeant ; : Hurt in Albany . ALBANY, Ore Dec. 23 ; (ff) Albany pollc e investigated Wednesday night the circumstan ces under which Sgt. Harold K Ideker of Camp Adair suffered severe concussion at a downtown street " intersection here Wednes day.'.- t .i - . " ' " Ideker was found unconscious. At hospital afterward he told at tendants he :- slipped ' and fell, striking his head on a curbing. Police -said,' however, -that they X would; investigate. pay for 'the food, buy", the wine and. t tho eorrospondento a zrco airplane ride home "after the wan : . -Listen, If yem'IT tJijM daU with that- ft tijr' UiOa -blonds tho Ueuienant wttk tW dimples 111 w r a p yon n- -oombor " right s saJ rerl m& what's more, IT1 sive I yeml-a prrraie hangar te keep , , It lB ' . " The WAACs wSJ be assigned io headquarters duty; thua relieving male officers for combat duty. V iThe nurses,Tike the WAACs, al ready have sent out advance pa trols to "scour tho city, for atock Inss, which are as scarce here as one-leced. penguins. ... , Til never bo happy again until we Inyaia Jsran,"- sighed one young nursfc. Then I'm going to buy a fciy toxcf t -Y worms and grow i f es ; polled VP on Guadalcanal Island In evacuation from the battle Allies Breach Jap Defenses Australian Corvette " Sunk ; Planes Win .. Against Enemy . , - By.VERN HAUGLAND ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Thursday,' Dec. 24 JF) Japanese enemy fortifica tions : have been . . breached in many -places in the Buna area of New Guinea by allied troops, Gen. V Douglas MacArthur " an nounced Thursday. "Many hundred of bis (the Japanese) dead are being bur ' led by onr : troops,' the noon eenunnniqne said. "His situation now must be re garded as desperate.';' v The location of the breached fortifications was not stated but recent communiques have told of heavy 'fighting between Buna vil lage and Cape Endaiadere to the east, both places now in allied hands. And other fighting has been reported to the west of Buna with Japs pocketed in the Cape Sanananda sector. It Is these points which General MacArthur has reported intricately fortified by the Japs who are understood to be under orders of their em peror to fight to the death. fOur air units were .active in the" (Buna) area and northward along the coast", the communique reported. The bombing and sinking by the Japs of the -Australian Cor vette, HMS Armidale, in recent action near - Portuguese Timor was disclosed. Allied bombers raided the air drome at Cape - Glouchester in New Britain island . and at Jac quinot bay in the same sector a reconnaissance unit shot down a Jap fighter " and ' damaged (Turn, to Page 2 C) - two Gestapo Raids Nonray Towns " STOCKHOLM, Sweden Dec. 23 ypy-Gtpo agents in an armed raid on several towns . al9ng a 100-mile coastline area extending around the southern tip of Norway from Arendal to Flekkefjord. ar rested moro than SO people. It was reported here -Wednesday night..:!.; ,'.. : - Most ' of the "arrests, wero la Kristiansand,- reports ' from. Nor- waiy1 said." Tne purpose .'ef : the raics was noi rjwwnjr -r . Z ThoHUpVVtruck tbvml within 24. hours of a raid by 200 Gestapo agents on the Norwegian town of Rjukah; in theTventfloraaien val ley; in which. .22 . men - were ar- rested-' and every ( house ja we town was searched. ' S- " f ,j o.n is in Pin n il v---.-. Japs Repuhed,- Danha CHUNGKINU, iec. za-trT-Ilie high command reported'. Wednes day the Japanese were' repulsed last Friday in an attempt to cross the Nanma' river, tributary, of the Nankwt in the Kengtucg sector of northeast Eurma, but said that the tnerry,. had f oreed a crossir.3 of e i;all and, were btinj erC5d IJ tL CLlncse, - - JTD Reach Ukrcdne 8Q00 Nazis Qaimed Slain in Day of Fighting Gains f By EDDY GILMORE ; MOSCOW, Thursday, Dec 24 The red army has beaten for ward ; across the middle Don plains for gains of 72 to 103 miles in eight days, the Rus sians announced early Thurs day, on a continuing and mas- ; sive offensive which has cost Adolf Hitler upwards of 80,000 killed or captured In that sector alone, 'v . A special communique said the Germans were sent reeling back for another 12 to 18 miles Wed nesday and that in the day's LONDON, Thursday, Dec. 24 (JFf-ThK London Daily Mail says' ,Thnrsday in a dispatch dated from "the German frontier! that the gravity of the military posi tion In Russia has brought ord ers to all German soldiers on leave from Russia to report im mediately, at Strasbourg mili tary headquarters. They norm ally would not have rejoined their units- until nexl month. fighting 8000 nazis were slain in Tuesday's fighting and that by Wednesday night the number of prisoners 'bad been increased by 16,400. J This brought the prisoner total in the eight-day period to 36,600, while, the number of dead nazis numbered .more than 44,0C0r ; The latest la a series of spe cial comnraniqnes reporting un precedented successes In the winter offensives said that towns and villages by the doz ens were liberated by the red army. "- 1 The offensive of our troops in the middle course of the Don is sontinuing," it said' triumphantly. Virtually engulfed by the sov iet tide was the key communica-; tions center of Millerovo. One ' soviet spearhead had driven to J Baranikivka, in the Ukraine 31 miles northwest of Millerovo. Another thrust : 'had reached. and liberated the town of Volo-1 shina, 25 miles, west of Millerovo. Among additional larger places wrested from the nazis were Olk hovoirog, 18 miles northeast . of Millerovo, and Bolshinsk, ,' 87 miles to the southeast. - . ' This powerful drive toward , Rostov was declared further in (Turn to Page 2 E) Higgins Gets Contract to Build Planes WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 3-() Formal approval of a contract with Andrew J. Higgins of New Orleans for production of an un disclosed number of cargo planes for .the army air forces was an nounced Wednesday by the war department Apparently l the planes will be built at the partially-completed shipyards at New Orleans. Con struction on the shipyards stopped when the maritime commission on July 18 cancelled its contract with Higgins ' for construction i of 200 Liberty "ships on tho ground that insufficient steel was available, r The war department said its agreement with the shipbuilder, negotiated by tho air forces ma terial center at Wright field, Ohio, and, approved by Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson, calls for construction- of tho' pianos- Of m cooo-piuo-xtxed fee basis. The only referenca to the size of the order Was a statement that3 : (Turn to Pksv 24T) ' ine Notice Heeded " GStANTS PAES Dee! Eales of Taleatlnes wero brisk here..'T7edaesiay bst- net' as Caristmas presents. ' ' ' Aeeosnnaaytng a &!??lay of Talentines which r?tfl la a local 'stare was tLe filial Irx: r ?Unelo Earn advd year YalenUne overseas scne tlzss" sTsrlg ' Christiass ', n t Tts very' latest . data is Jars- i