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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1943)
Dimout Tho Incido T ' r Your complete morning newspaper. The Statesman, offers yoa pertinent com ments en war news of tho day by Birke 8 1 m a s e n , Washington analyst. Thursday sunset :21 pjn. Friday sunrise S9 a. m. ; Weather: Tnes. max temp. 46, mm. 39. Tnes. rain 2.1 in. Wed. river 8.C ft Weather data restricted by army re quest. , :1 inNETY-SECOND YEAR Scdexn Oregon, Thursday Morning. February 4. 1943 Price Sc. No. 232 Reserve 'Settled' Rabaid Raided- Message to the: Japs, --Steel-Wrapped OYiets uests Nasi S- mariiri s?;::: on Verge Red -M. Pondered ;; Committees Plan New Bills ; Tax Program I In Draft Stage By RALPH C. CURTIS Bequests by counties,. cities And school districts for authori ty to create reserve funds for post-war use received a sym pathetic hearing in the house assessment and taxation com mittee of the Oregon legislature ' -Wednesday, but a bill which would have granted such authori ty was tabled for the reason that It lacked safeguards which com- .jmittee members thought necas- . Tfcis was HB 189, -which would have'fiwthorized all three types of local government to build up re- . LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR Third readings Thursdays ' V . In House: HB 25, 78, 79, 15?, ,159, 171, 174, 175, 179, 184, 185, 191, 192, 222, 226, 227, 235, 236, 246, 250, 255, 256, 259, 267, 285, 810. -In Senate: SB 45, 87, 91, 49, .79. HB 24, 27, 33, 47, 52, 57, 64, 117, 230, 233, 104, 105. serves out " of normal revenue, without holding elections. It re quires that the purpose "lor which the reserves are to be expended be announced in advance but per mits a change of purpose at a later date. Indicating, this authority was too broad, , the committee , invited the : League . of - Oregon Cities, which had sponsored this measure, .to prepare . another wi th more safeguards and applying to cities alone. . .. 7 .- 1 Separate bills relating to the ' creation of such ; reserves by .counties and school districts will be , considered ; at van early ses aion , f ;.t h ooUtee;" The counties W a n t their j reserves . earmarked for construction - of . roads and bridges, and purchase ' of machinery school districts ' are chiefly interested in build ; ing.p funds to; purchase sap--- plies not now available. The legal difficulty involved is that under the budget law any surplus left at the end of the fis cal year in the local government's treasury goes into the general fund and is an offset against the next year's tax levy. Members of the committee, of which Rep. Robert C. Gile Douglas, is chair man, agreed that a departure from this process ' sometimes is - desir able, as the alternatives to crea tion of debt, and particularly de sirable just now when capital ex penditures cannot be made, - " Rep. Robert E. Duniway, Mult nomah, pointed out however that this plan to create reserves out of normal revenue might be used unwisely as a means of maintain ing the tax base in years when inability to make capital expendi tures : threatened to reduce the base. The committee voted to report out with a "do not pass" recom mendation Rep. Giles French's bill eliminating all tax exemptions. It plans to introduce a substitute bill tightening the definitions of ex empt property. The question whether this bill will be admis sible if French's bill is definitely postponed is expected to arise on the floor today when- the unfa vorable report comes out. : - ; Meanwhile the house taxation and revenue committee began its task of drafting a program deal ing with the income and corpor ate excise taxes . and amendment 'of -tho 4aw distributing surplus income tax revenues to school dis tricts. There is little indication that the program when' offered to the legislature will offer any drastic changes from the existing tax structure, w. i : - Between them, the two houses passed bills Wednesday and win have an even greater num ber before them for final dig position today. The house has ' . St bUls on its calendar, the sen ate 17. .The senate game committee will report out unfavorably the bill proposing to eliminate the bear from the list of game anim?i. Sen. Thomas Parkinson, Douglas, will bring in a minority report favoring the bill's passage. He was not satisfied with the joint game committee's offer to recommend to the game commission that open seasons on' bear be declared the next two years. Sen. Joe C Booth, Linn; will join him in the minor ity report. (Additional legislative news to day on page 7.) Astoria Builds Ships ; ASTORIA, Ore, Feb. 3-VF) Two wooden subchasers, the first ordered by the navy from an Ore gon yard, will be constructed by 'the Astoria Marine Construction company. Steel subchasers are be ing built by - two Portland yards. If? 'C ? Of V 7 WALTER NASH Leaders 'Where to Hit' Pacific War Council Told of Casablanca Conference Plans WASHINGTON, Feb. 3-flPji-An allied leader provided a terse new chapter Wednesday for the story of Casablanca that "it was pretty well settled where the united na tions will strike Germany. Walter Nash, New Zealand's minister, made this statement on emerging from" a White House meeting-of the Pacific war coun cil. : - The Casablanca conferees discussed . ''which was C?e N best place to strike . first," he skih. This was in line with President Roosevelt's January 7 declaration that we are going to strike and strike hard" at European ene mies. ' Another Pacific war councillor, Chinese Ambassador Wei Tao Ming,; said . the report on ': Casa blanca included-a plan f gr the Pacific and what he heard j6Jt thi was very encouraging. " i - Nash reported , the president "more optimistic than he has been. He said Mr. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill had discussed whether to strike at the nazis from the Mediter ranean, from the whole Atlantic coast between Norway and the Bay of Biscay, or from both. The Pacific war council also discussed Churchill's Turkish con ference "particularly promising in that the conversation took place in Turkey," Nash asserted. "You can strike another opti mistic note in that the Finnish premier seems to be worried," the New Zealander told reporters. "If Finland is worried it is not over what Germany is going to do to her, but what's going to happen to Finland if she is on the wrong side." General Flays Sloppy Yanks' ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. -JPy-lA. Gen. Dwight B. Eisenhower in a memorandum to - his staff say ing that "we are fighting a tough war and everything we do must be directed toward winning that war," Wednesday warned he would not tolerate irresponsible talk against ' the allies, excessive drinking, sloppy dress and disor derly barracks. He said the appearance and car riage of the troops was a prob lem more for the American army than the British "since it is a mat ter j that I consider : more a na tional than an allied thing. - "In the case of an American officer, he will be subject to the direst punishment Z can possibly inflict administratively,' the commander-in-chief warned. .jv ' ) ; Agreed CountyH For Red Cross War Fund ' 1 . Marion county has been assign ed a quota of $42,000 for the war fund drive of the American Red Cross beginning March 1. Charles Huggins, general chairman for the drive, announced - Wednesday Quota for the nation is $125,000, 000, the largest budget ever to be established by the Red Cross, made necessary by the responsi bilities imposed by wartime needs. "Although this is the largest single campaign to be undertaken by the local chapter, stated Hug gins, "we feel optimistic for two reasons: first,' in the drives for funds in 1941, the last time the chapter asked the public for sup port, total for roll call and war fund amounted to $32,758.94; and second, the response of those who have been asked to work and the voluntary contributions already Bad We oBarcd To Blast arship; : Patrols Kill 88 By MURLIN SPENCER ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUS T R A L IA, Thursday, Feb. ; 4-(i9J-Braving unfavora ble weather to support the allies in the growing battle of the Solomons, Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur's bombers raided New Britain Island, one "plane, at tacking a ' Japanese , warship, the high command announced Thurs day, 'Ti-itfV ;" , A big allied bomber, after driv ing off an enemy fighter, loosed bombs on the warship at Wide bay, to the south of Rabaul, but did not observe the results. Kabaal, a vital Jap base for the battle of the Solomons, was raided for the fifth consecutive night despite heavy clouds . which hampered a cheek ea the damage doae. Lsnkiisi and Ka popo airdromes were the tar : gets. At Buin, on Bougainville island in the Solomons, fires were start ed on another airdrome which could be used in aerial . thrusts on Guadalcanal to the southeast. New Britain also took a past ing at other points, Gasmata be ing twice the target of heavy bombers which started ' a dense fire on the airdrome. Other heavy bombers struck at Cape Glouces ter. Meanwhile, on the ground, it was announced that patrols have killed 88 Japs at Wau, below Salamaua, New Gufaiea... (. ... ti It was- thaJame battje sec tor, regarded as the nexT logical one in New Guinea since allied conquest of the Papuan peninsula, that the Japs lost 250 men in patrol clashes January 30. And (Turn to Page 2 D) Next Coffee Stamp Good For 6 Weeks WASHINGTON, Feb. 3-F)-A one-sixth reduction in the next coffee ration was announced Wed nesday by the office of price ad ministration. The action was made necessary, the agency said, by reduced coffee inventories in the hands of whole salers and retailers. Instead of one pound a person for five weeks, the next stamp, No. 25 in war ration book No. 1, will be good for one pound for six weeks, j Stamp No. 25 will become valid February 8 and will be good for the purchase of one pound of coffee through midnight, March 21. Stamp 28, valid since January 4, expires at midnight February 7. The announcement said the in crease in military requirements for shipping, and the necessity for maintaining imports . of stra tegic war. materials, were respon sible "in part" for the reduced in ventories for the next ration per iod. " r While predicting retail stocks would be adequate to take care of the demand when the. new stamp becomes valid, OPA urged consumers who buy for their families to spread their ration stamps throughout , the six-week period instead of buying all their coffee at once. ' . ; as$429000Goal received . indicate the people arc war minded and appreciate the essential part the Red Cross plays in war affairs. s The $42,000 quota will be di vided between the county and the city of Salem. The county quota will be $11,000, according to Floyd Miller, co-chairman of the drive and directly in charge of the ter ritory outside of Salemi rrhis amount will be only $403 more than the county raised in 1941, at which time, for roll call and war relief it contributed $10,597," Miller pointed out and concluded, T feel sure i the people of the county will come- through with flying colors in this drive. " ' . i Tho" war fund, drive this year replaces the regular roll call and contributors to the fund may be come members cf the Red Cross. til a& Leathernecks man 155-mm. bowttsers against Jap positions : on Guadalcanal island. In the Solomons, where the army has now replaced tho marines and Is continuing their advance, relying upon their brothers in tho anvy and air forces to fend off enemy reinforcement attempts. Tho marine strategy was for ground forces to pocket Jap nnlta in Jun-gle areas and for artillery and aircraft to plaster them with high- exploslvesvPhoto from Marino Corps NewsreeL US and Jap Fleets Spar Engagements Come In Series; Yanks -Advance on Isle WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -P) Powerful United States and Jap anese sea and air forces are spar ring for position in the southwest Pacific, naval officials said Wed nesday night, and there are in dications that the war's biggest naval struggle may be imminent. A brief naval communique told of continuing air and surface en gagements ' in ' t h e Guadalcanal area in the . Solomons but added th ' military situation does not permit publication of further de tails at this time.. . -'- r : Naval spokesmen emphasised that the fighting thus far has been a series of engagements between nnlts and not a Joined battle of the two powerful fleets nossibly the largest yet thixn into the war. One ookesman who asked that his name '.riot' be used, described the situatioL-his way: The wholthing is sparring for position. We,have some in formation we thinsN!s accurate on losses on both sides. "But the policy on X that until we can make a simultane ous announcement of losses ion both sides we will have , to held off." An unconfirmed Tokyo broad cast said fighting started January 29. Japanese claims that two bat tleships and three cruisers have been sunk are "grossly exaggerat ed," navy spokesman reiterated. On the basis of reports received (Turn to Page 2 Story A) RAF Slashes Nazis Again j LONDON, Feb. 4-(ff)-The royal air force sent its heavy bombers to Germany for the second suc cessive night Wednesday night Objectives were not immediately announced. .. . ' LONDON, Feb, 3P)AF bombers dealt a sharp, swift "and heavy blow to Cologne Tuesday night to nullify the feverish ire-, pair work the Germans had ac complished there among tho jU boat equipment plants hit in the first thousand-plane attack eight months ago.- . A hundred two-ton blockbusters and thousands of incendiaries were dropped in less than 20 minutes. The RAF acknowledged the loss of five planes out of probably more than a hundred attacking, but the Germans, admitting casu alties, and destruction, claimed only three British , planes were downed. . j . Ventura bombers, escorted j by Spitfire squadrons, some of which were from the American air force, swept over -'Abbeville and f St Omer, bombing railways' and an airfield. Two bombers and eight fighters were lost but the fight ers destroyed three enemy planes. Lorient Hit Heavily LONDON, Thursday, Feb. P) Lorient the. key German U-boat base on the Bay of Biscay, was blasted by more than 1000 tons of bombs in . four RAF night raids last month, the air ministry news service reported - in" a summary Thursday. .The RAF operated every day and night in the Euro pesn theatre during January,5 the review pointed out- - ' V .' ; Reds Enter Schluesselburg .t.;.r.-fmmmmmm.- OS' O , b.-!tf. v- . 'A1 ;.... . i .. - ... - ' . . .. f . ": ' ' . MIL . . V I 1 ' t :-f r . i.. ( Ti t-i ;' . v-'1 ' w. " & r? .,., - " ' -.r i f . . - . ... . . , ..... , ; , n , , - -rirn in i ill Rossian antomatle riflemen race the outskirts of Sehluesselhorg, Russian, reeaptare of Schluessel burg broke the siege of Lenhigrad. This picture was radioed to New Jerk from Moscow Associated Press Telemat Peace Rumors Reported, Denied for Spain Officials Aver No Offer Through Franco RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. S.-(ff) -The Spanish embassy issued an official noU Wednesday night de nying that AoNf Hitler was plan ning a peace offer through the Spanish government of General issimo Francisco Fra&so. "A report that Hitler is prepar ing a peace offer to be made pro bably through General F r a n c o having apepared in the press of various American countries, the Spanish embassy in Brazil con siders it opportune to deny the ex istence of any proposition made to the Spanish government to form ulate any peace offer,- adding that should such a proposal be made In the future, Spain will act accord ing to its, own initiative and ac cording to political -directives cor responding with the nation's sov ereignty." , The Spanish government's deni al that it had been approached "to formulate a peace offer in behalf of Hitler came as a surprise, since roundabout reports and rumors that such a move might be made had received no prominence what (Turn to Page ; 2 Story E) UMW Reveals New Demands WASHINGTON, Feb. 3-t-The United Mine Workers, heading for an almost certain clash with gov ernment wage controls, announced Wednesday a demand for a S2 a day pay increase in the bitumin ous coal industry effective April 1. The demand affects more than 400,000 mine workers. Wage goals for; the anthracite industry em ployes will be drafted later at a tri-district convention. ! Their con tract expires April SO." V President John L Lewis 'of the mine workers announced the de mands drafted' by the union's in ternational policy committee with a repetition of his denunciation of the war labor board's "little steel' formula, as "arbitrary and miserablymstupid. i 1 forward t dislodge Germans from Nazi L a nds I Finns Need Food Or Peace Berlin Informs Turkey ' i LONDON, Thursday, Feb. A Reuters dispatch from Ankara, Turkey, Thursday quoted a Ber lin report that the Finnish min ister had told the Germans that unless Finland gets urgently needed food supplies she will be obliged to consider the possibil ity of making a separate peace with Russia. . Reuters, oueting a report from Berlin' received in An kara, said that - the - Finnish minister .. was" reported to have said In a note handed to the Germau government that "Fin nish rations even- on paper are the lowest ia Earope, bat the actual rations received' by -the ' popmlation are still less. . Severe food and manpower problems have beset Fin'and for Some time. Germany, made . pro visional 1943 barter (trade agree ment with Finland in December, but final arrangements were to be made in negotiations this month at Helsinki ' There have been reports since the German reverses began in Russia that the Finns wanted to talk peace if they could get any allied guarantees of security. The presence of German troops in the country also is a factor in any Finnish hope of dropping out of the war. . - Sharp, Air Hero, Expected Today - Waiting at home Wednesday night, Frank D. Sharp, sr, Salem, momentarily anticipated .the ar rival of his air hero son, MaJ. Frank Douglas Sharp, Maj. Sharp's . wife and small daughter and his own wife, but actually ex pected them to come to Salem sonfetime thU mbnung. - Mrs. v Sharp, sr j joined her daughter-in-law and granddaugh ter to Portland in ; their reunion with Maj. Sharp when he arrived there Tuesday for a brief leave from his duties 'on the Pacific , Kupydnsk junction Taken; Troops Near Kursk; Nazis May Try Escape by Sea . By the Associated Press LONDON, Feb; 3 Soviet forces have captured an area only 22 miles north of Kursk, German and Wednesday night were, on the verge of trapping a huge axis army in the. Caucasus below Rostov after closing one end of a land escape corridor and they may be moving as well to block a nazi retreat by sea. .. . . i The capture of Kupyansk,' important rail junction only 83 17 1 i am Occupy Sened Eighth Army Presses Near Border ; Allies . Lack Punch Tunisia ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 3 - (JP) American tanks crews, who sing "From Maknassy to the Sea," were dug in ' astride the railway one mile east " of Sened 5 and - 47 miles fromthe coast in central Tunisia Wednesday where their wedge poised a new threat to the life line of Marshal Erwin Rommel. From the east the British Eighth army based on the Nile continued its eight-mile-a-day advance since taking ' Tripoli and was reported in contact with the Rommel rear guard 'at Pisidia, only 12 miles from the Tunisian frontier after passing through Zelten. . Although the; American col-, vstuvof modtom and light tanks and armored half tracks scored - an unexpected success by tak ing. Sened Tuesday and re mained to ' establish ' a strong spearhead In the position daring what had been scheduled as a mere raid, allied headquarters . frankly acknowledged a. lack of the necessary pane h farther north where the Germans still " held strong positions, in . FaM German units were said to be strongly entrenched t h e r e , 70 miles , northwest of Sfax and . 50 miles north of Sened, and the al lied communique said two days of attacks by American forces there had been unsuccessful. Al lied spokesmen described the po sition as a "place of tremendous importance. y "German artillery probably out ranged our own, a spokesman said, and the action , was reported broken oft . The Germans captured the pass over the weekend in a six-mile thrust through French positions toward Sidi Bouzid," but - were stopped when the Americans went to the aid of their allies. A French communique declared "our forces made progress" in the southwest of the Djebet Serdj re gion, a range of hills seven miles north of Ousseltia. .- r i -.: ' Lively activity in the mountains "(Turn to Pago 2 Story C) ' n 8 WASHINGTON, Feb. 3HT)-The presidenU of CIO and AFL Wed nesday urged President Roosevelt to apply "universal price ceil ings and rationing to all civilian goods to check what they describ ed as worker dissatisfaction with rising living costs -and "station ary" wages. ' .T, . William Green, president of the American Federation - of. Labor, and PbiUpMurray,'.president of the Congress of Industrial Organi sations, also implied after their White House conference that they would like to see a more flexible war labor board policy governing the 'granting of wage increases. 1 " Green described as "too rigid" and Murray as "inflexible" the board's" "-"little steel" formula which limits wage increases, de signed .to offset rising, living costs, to 15 per cent of January,' 1941, levels. : Latest labor department figues show living costs have risen 19.4 per cent between . January, 1941, and December 15, 1942. .; Storm 7arnings Up r SEATTLE, Feb. S-vfT-Tho US weather bureau announced at 7 o'clock Wednesday night the post ing of a storm .warnSg for the Washington coast and south to Newport, Ore-, with a small craft warning south of Newport to the California border and foy inland waters of Washington. Urg Geilina Army stronghold in southern Russia miles southeast of Kharkov, Ukraine capital, also was an- nounced in a special Russian com-; munique recorded by the soviet radio monitor here. f t Reuters reported recording a ; Moscow broadcast saying soviet t warships and naval airmen of the Black sea fleet were batter- -. lag Germaa transports between the Taman peninsula and the Crimea, suggesting that , the nasis were undertaking a "Dunkerque" evacuation of their own. The Berlin radio Wednesday night hinted for the first time that the nazis might be about to try. to escape by sea. A DNB dis patch recorded by the Associated Press said the nazis had taken up positions t "two large bridge heads," one .east of . the Taman peninsula opposite the. Kerch straits, and the other "covering the southern and eastern part of the Don estuary' around Rostov. Russia's announced occupation of Zolotukhino, 22 miles above Kursk, severed the railway be tween that big German base and Orel to' the . north, and put tho red army within artillery shelling range of Kursk. ' , - ' Other soviet forces seized the town of' Kagalnitskaya, only SO miles southeast of Rostov on tho Salska-Rostov railroad, increas ing the peril to the nazi Caucasian army, the midnight communique as recorded by the soviet monitor here reported. Tho fall of Kupyansk, 63 miles from Kharkov, also gave tho Russians control of a rail junc tion leading northeast to Talnl ki, already in Russian hands, and northwest of Belgorod, an other big German base about midway between Kursk and Kharkov. Thus the Russians since their drive west from the Voronezh Rostov railway had cut most of the German-held rail system con necting the Ukraine with their defenses in central Russia. '41 Tax Rate Proposed for '42 Income WASHINGTON, Feb. M-The idea of turning back the calendar and taxing 1942 individual in comes at the much softer rates of 1941 was injected Wednesday into the congressional study of how to put collections on a current basis. But all concerned warned the tax payer again that . regardless of what happens, he must shoulder this year the biggest burden in American history. The aim. of the tunf-back-the-Calendar plan, it was explained, is to lighten 1942 taxes, so tho levies' on 1943 income can bo placed 'on a pay-as-you-earn sys tem.. Whether these lightened 1942 taxes would all have to be paid up in 1043, or spread over several years, was not yet indi cated. - Chairman Doughton (D-NC) of the house ways and means com mittee laid the new plan before the i committee without saying whether he was for or against it Thereupon, Randolph Paul, treas ury : general counsel, said tho treasury was giving "very serious consideration" to it, but had reach ed no conclusions, ; ; . - Adamantly, he contended that 1942 taxes could not be skipped outright as proposed in the pay-as-you-go p lan advanced by Beardsley . Ruml, chairman of the New York federal reserve board. Reverting to 1941 rates and ex emptions would have its biggest effect on the millions of persons whoso income, in 1942 was less than $10,000. Many of these per sons would find their IS 12 tax liability wiped out altogether, while the liability of others wouli be halved. The obligations cf those in the higher brackets wou'i also be reduced, to a lesser extent.