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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1943)
DImout Tho Incido Your complete morning . ' aewspaper. The Statesnuuv offers you pertinent com menU mi war new of the day by Kirk 8 1 HfiUi Washingtes analyst. Thursday svaset 8:39 pan. Friday sunrise 8:19 a. ra. Weather: Toes. max. ten:?.' 43. mla. Si. JYed. river VLB ft. Weather data restricted y army request. 3CUND3E? 1CZ1 nrTY-CrCOIID YEAB SdUnu Oracoaj Thursday Morning. Tmbruaxj 11. 1343 Prlca So. I To. 2C3 ;eeJi Welfj are Change In House Boards May Be Cut; ' Wine Bill Defeated ; Milk Move Passes By RALPH C. CURTIS -' -The . Oregon house of . repre- sentatives faces today a vote on the explosive issue of reducing county j welfare ' commissions' personnel from the present seven, to three eliminating the four appointed by the governor. The bill, one of a group intro duced by Rep. J. D. Perry, Colum bia, would make the welfare com mission identical in composition with the county court. Two others of the seven public welfare bills which Perry intro duced in one group also are up for third reading today. One would eliminate - the requirement that grants of assistance shall be sub- - LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR Third readings Thursday: - la House: HB 89, 100, 10?, 110, 112, 194, 196, 223, 224, 261, , 276, 301, 320, 331. SB 8, 40, 56, 78, 87, 91, 101, 121. Ia Senate: SB 90, 136. HB 59, 145, 174, 191. 232, 235, 236, 260, 255, 256, 259. - " Ject to approval by the state wel fare , commission ; the other deals with reconsideration o f such ' grants. :'- . . All three came-oat of the . house public welfare and uaem- pleyment reommiUe; with "do -" pass" recommendations, but the - committee vote oa the ene elim- mating appointed members was I Is anticipated, the belief being widely held that county Judges . and . commissioners, subject . to -political pressure, should not be the sole Judges of assistance re-' ' quests. . j Thus today " might fittingly be ; denominated "public welfare" day ' Jn the house, just as Wednesday was "liquid refreshments" day in the senates Defeat of Rep. H. R. Jones' wine-over-the-bar bill was Wed nesday's highlight, the paucity of Its support in the senate the day's major surprise. The bill was bur ied under a" 24-to-4 adverse vote, those supporting it being Sens Fred Lamport, Thomas Parkin son, Rex Ellis and Thomas R. Ma- honey the last-mentioned chang ing hja vote to "aye", after the roll-call. : ; " Sen. Lamport, disclaiming any desire to let the bars down on liquor control and mentioning that he personally favored a ban on fortified wines, bespoke sup- port of this measure as one de signed to assist Oregon berry and . fruit growers. He said it had the backing of . all berry growers' co operatives in Marion county. He also contended that on a price basis, wine was less intoxicating than beer, and that In Washing ton and California where natural wines'are sold by the drink, there ' . Is . less Insanity from" use of for tified, wines than in Oregon. Sen: P. J. Stadelman, Wasco, described the bill' as a step to- ward the "open saloon." He said he had received 71 letters oppos- : Jng it, only 11 in its. support; 'mat Columbia river fruit growers op posed it, that it would discrimi- nate against Oregon grape pro ducers, and that wine was blamed for 90 per cent tf the drunken ness encountered by Washington state police. ' The senate unanimously ap proved transfer of milk control to the state agriculture depart- , i meat, but m the house an tden Ueal bill was re-referred to committee ; after RepJs Joha - Steelhammer, Marion, bitterly - assailed the haste jrith which . the measure had been brought out for third reading. He- said that though it was labeled a food aad dairy products , eom - mlttee bill, some members of M v m A A a.su. t - ine committee never ou Druv of It. t, Later Steelhammer, who has a ' milk ; control repeal bill in the same committee, said" he would substitute one providing that milk control be suspended "for 'the duration"' and until six months 'after peace is restored. In the course of senate debate en the transfer bill approved there, Scn.lMahoney likewise ob jected to its consideration ahead Cf hit outright repeal bilL - Five Days Corn Diet Gets Boot. .- .WASHINGTON, Feb.. Unlabeled cans of food such as those that resulted ia marines oa Guadalcanal I s 1 a ad eating canoed corn for five successive days bo longer will harass mess sergeants, the navy reported .Wednesday;: . , Labels oa the cans at Guadal canal were washed off In ' the surf during landing operations, every time the cooks pulled out a can corn. Now, the navy says, the type of food is embossed or, printed directly oa the can. Grange Urges Pay-As-Go Tax Witness Opposes "... Paying Over One ? Year at a Time ; WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 -P) Fred Brenckman, representing the national grange, Wednesday urged quick adoption of a pay-as-you-go income tax system, but emphatic ally i opposed "paying more than one year's income taxes at a time." "I shall not speak specifically for the Rum! plan," he told the house ways and means committee. "Any sound and - workable . plan which permits the-taxpayer to pay his tax in the year his income is earned will be satisfactory to us. "We oppose paying more than one year's income taxes at a time." 1 Beardsley Ruml, chairman of the Federal Reserve bank of New York, has proposed that the 1942 tax year be by-passed in attain ing a current tax collection sys- temv' "S- --. - V . .. Several of the 25 committee members, Including Chairman Bffeghfon f (D?NC);v renewed : . their opposition to wiping out all of last year's tax obligations. . When i Kenneth C. Richmond, chairman of the taxation commit tee ; of the National Retail Dry Goods association, endorsed the principle of "setting the tax clock forward one year" as advocated by Ruml, Doughton interposed: "I don't think the taxpayers of this country want to hop, skip or (Turn to Page 2 Story C) Nazi Troops Rush Coast Defenses STOCKHOLM, Feb. 10 -(P) German troops have taken up de fensive positions in fortified areas of western Europe because their military leadership expects a large-scale i Anglo-American ac tion in (he coming months, the Berlin correspondent of the Da gens Nyheter said; Wednesday, quoting "well-informed German sources." . "It is evident the allies will try an ; invasion as soon as possible before the Russian offensive loses momentum," the correspondent quoted them as saying. ' He added that "It shouldn't be surprising if the invasion occurs at points where the biggest Ger man U-boat bases are situated on the Atlantic coast" - It was claimed that fortifica tion work is bing rushed day and night : '. " " Field Marshal General Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt has just finished a tour, of inspection of French defenses on the Atlan tic and Mediterranean, the report added. r--i'-- J NEW YORK, Feb. 10-VFear-f ul of a "landing of the Russians on the Bulgarian coast," the Ger mans ; are building fortifications on the coast "especially at Burgas and Varna," a broadcast by radio Fance (Algiers) -recorded by the CBS listening post said Wednes day. ' . . Puerto Rico Asks r Vote on Status SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Feb. lO-HAVWith enthusiastic oratory, the senate and house Wednesday night : unanimously ; approved a concurrent r resolution petitioning congress to end Puerto Rico's co lonial regime and define a i per manent political status ' through popular vote. ;' : . The action, unprecedented since the island came under American rule, saw bitter political oppon ents . embrace - one another, and trade laudatory phrases. Leaders prepared to "send the request to Washington, possibly followed by a legislative commission, . Cbxi tracts Order Under 48-Hour Wek : .;. Revoked in Areas . J Despite Agreement 5 i ' By CHARLES MOLONY ' WASHINGTON, Feb, l6-(P) The war manpower commission announced Wednesday night that the 4 8 - h our minimum work week order revokes In the areas affected any; labor contract provisions which call for a shorter working period.' In a statement clarifying the effect of President Roosevelt's or der, which It is charged with en forcing, the WMC also said: Payment , of time and one half overtime compensation for work over 40 hours a week will not be required for some work- J era. These include farm work ers,' domestic servants and ethers for whom such compen sation is not provided by wage hour laws or individual or col lective bargaining agreements. A "few industries" may be put under terms of the order on an industry-wide rather than an area basis where plants in areas not affected by the order would gain a. competitive advantage in labor costs over plants inaffected areas. - "Some" hazardous occupations or industry may be exempted.' : While the office of price ad ministration will determine if price ceilings should be lifted to cover increases in labor costs" re sulting' from the order, fit is un likely that increased v labor east will add more than a small frac tion to the cost of production. State and local governments should adopt the 48-hour week unless their hours of work are fixed by state or local laws. The order will not apply to establish ments, such as bars in "many states, whose hours are limited by state law. When employers or workers contend the 48-hour week Is "impossible" for them, the WMC "win Investigate and make exceptions or exemptions so as to make possible the full est possible contribution to the war." In deciding such cases, the WMC will bear in mind that "the pur pose of the order Is to release workers for war and essential jobs. Mere increase of hours that will not result in this was not intended." . j The official statement confirm ed assertions made earlier and anonymously by a WMC official (Turn to Page 2 Story E) Dies' Probe Wins 2-Year Extension WASHINGTON, I Feb. 10 P) The house committee on un-American activities won a two-year extension of its life Wednesday by a vote of 302 to 94. ; Immediately after ' the house vote, Chairman Dies (D-Tex) said the group would "continue to ex ercise the vigilance it has exer cised in the past to ; protect the American form ; of , government against subversive elements.! i The 94 "No" votes represented the largest opposition ever record ed against the committee. Opponents, including Reps. Rog ers (D-Calif ), son of the late Will Rogers, and Voorhis (D-Calif)r a member of the committee, based their opposition on the contention the Dies group had promoted dis unity and lacked tolerance. Voor his requested that he not be re tained on the committee : because ho could not agree with commit tee policies. - o l I Proponents argued the war made it more necessary than ever that the nation, be kept on guard against un-Americanism. I , Representatives voting to con tinue the Dies committee included Angell, - Mott and Stockman, re publicans, Oregon. . v , ; Madame to See Capital WASHINGTON, ? Feb. 10 HJP Mme Chiang Kai-Shek, will come to Washington ;. next, week, con gressional leaders said ; Wednes day.; Senator Connally I (D-Tex) expressed hope she would address congress. The wife of China's gen eralissimo has been undergoing treatment ia a New York hospital..' Them Supplies Got There in Time , V:iU::::: ; ;;.:: Supplies for United States forces fighting ou Guadalcanal ia the Solomon Islands are landed oa one of the beaches without much opposition by the Japanese.. The enemy has now, Toeea - eliminated from the island, following repeated attempts to reinforce Its- defenders. Part of the convey can be seen la the background UN Phonepboto. . " PGE Turns Power Counter-Offer; Scott Hints 'Hold-Back9 Six months of negotiation' between the state board of con trol and Portland General Electric company over, a new contract for supplying state buildings, and institutions with electric power appeared at an unsuccessful end Wednesday when the PGE board of directors : announced in Portland its rejection of the state's last counter-offer. ! . . " " -Meanwhile paying the old ate of 11.5 mills per kilowatt hour for Its power, a majority of the board has been persistently demanding a 7.5-mill contract or an 8-mill running account rate. State Treas. Leslie M. Scott Wednesday night, said hie. could n't speak for the other two con trol board members but suggest ed that the state's . next move might be to pay at only the eight-mill rate and let the power company see .what it could do to collect any more, j Purchase of Bonneville power was discussed by the board of control early in the negotiations. The private power company then conducted a survey in j what it said was an effort to determine what would be the cost 'to the state of buying Bonneville elec tricity and supplying state insti tutions over state-constructed dis tribution lines. On this basis, the company offered to supply the power for 9.65 mills. i ; Ensuing negotiations resulted in an offer from the company, its final offer on the basis ! of Wed nesday's decision, to supply power at 8.5 mills under a five-year con tract' carrying a one-year cancel lation clause effective latter the war. - r-L - -; ' ' The 8.5-nill offer waf rejected by the state board late last month. The PGE board declared : by resolution Wednesday ijthat the representatives of ' the !j company "have offered the - lowest - rate which under any theory, of ap proach could possibly be calcu lated" and one that "embodies the lowest rate structure which is com pany is able to offer." j ' House Passes Wire Merger WASHINGTON, FebjUo An - eight-year-old mmmenda- tion of the federal t communica tions commission moved ; nearer fulfillment Wednesday ijwhen the house passed a bill authorizing a merger of the Western Union and Postal Telegraph companies, The measure, approved by a standing vote tf 201 to j5,was a substitute for one passed by the senate last month and was re turned to that branch, - i - p; ' ' The FCC proposed amendment of the communications act in January,- 1935, to provide' for per missive consolidation' of . tele graph companies. The senate pass ed a merger bill last year, .but it died when the house' did not act. Wednesday's action appeared to make final passage of j some bill certain. - - . - - British Sub Lost j. - LONDON, Feb. KHVThe ad miralty announced Wednesday night that the submarine P48 was overdue and presumed ; lost j The vessel was one cf a class cf sub marines started since the war be gan. Its details axe secret. ; Down State's Gandhi Starts ' 21-Day Fast In Protect ; BOMBAY, Feb. lO-flPh-With In dia apprehensively alert, Mohan das K. Gandhi started a 21-day hunger strike Wednesday to sub sist on citrus fruit juice mixed with water but not to "fast unto death as he threatened on pre vious absententions--in protest against his confinement behind barbed wire in the palace of the Aga Khan at Poona. The 73-year-old, wispy patri arch imposed the limited diet upon himself after long correspondence with Lord Linlithgow in which the viceroy advised against It for rea sons of health and then added bluntly that it constitutes fpoliti cal black mail for which there can be no moral justification." , . Gandhi went ahead with the joint objective of compelling the government to alter its policy of looking up members of the All India Congress party "for the du ration" and in protest against ..the 'leonine violence" which Gandhi accused the government of using to suppress the civil disobedience campaign. . - .... . ,:,- . ' News of the latest of - Gandhi's dramatic hunger strikes, which set the authorities on the watch for disturbances which might result, was announced in India and was sent . to London for ' publication elsewhere in . the empire under carefully calculated plans indicat ing i the serious consideration of the government. Newspapers of India were ad vised to observe restraint in order to avoid stirring up undue excite ment. . For India it was a tremendous event for. although Gandhi Is a prisoner, he continues to be the most important of all the myriad millions of Indians. Yankee Bombers Set Fires, Crete CAIRO, Feb. 10-(JP-Buly Mit chell medium bombers of the Am erican air, forces raided airdromes at Candia and Kastelli Pediada on Crete Tuesday evening, a United States communique announced Wednesday, night. A big fire was set in the vicinity of one of the -targets, the an nouncement said, but further re sults were obscured by clouds. All the planes returned safely. , , . , Lot of Ggaretteis v WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 W Americans smoked 235,340,453,145 cigarettes last year, the internal revenue -Hireau said Wednesday. ML Allied Attack Assured Soon ' Alexander Says Line Of Rommel Can Be Turned ;' Planes Hit LONDON, Feb. 10 -0P- The promise of an imminent attack on Marshal Erwin ' Rommel was seen in the announcement of Gen. Sir Harold : Alexander In Cairo Wed' nesday that ; the .. British ; Eighth army?; Is rolling "forward Into Tu nisia, while . American bombers and new fighter plane teams from their north African bases kept up their heavy assault "The enemy's forces have been completely eliminated from Egypt, from Cyrenaica, Libya and Tripo li tania and - the Eighth army Is advancing." the British middle east commander told a press con ference in Cairo. ' Gen. Alexander expressed the opinion that the Mareth line 85 miles inside Tunisia and only 4t miles long, could be easily turned by motorlsed forces sweeping around Its ends, but he did not say the line was now under attack. However, he expressed the be lief that Marshal Erwin Rommel would husband his depleted Italian and German forces behind that system of French fortifications as long as he was not threatened with being cut off. The German radio has- been heralding an i impending attack from the east for several days, and the Italian high command's com munique Wednesday betrayed axis (Turn to Page 2 -Story B) Draft Supply Near Signup - WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 -(P) The office of war information re ported Wednesday that ; the 48 states are supplying menv to me armed forces i in ratios "surpris incly close" to their total num ber of draft registrants. , New York, with 10.48 per cent of the nation's registrants, was credited with furnishing 10.93 per cent of the fighting men. The OWI announcement showed these percentages of registrants by states to the nation's totai registrants and the percentages by states of men in the armed forces to the total of all men In the arm ed forces as of January 1, 1943: Idaho, 0.40 per cent of the total registrants in the country and 0.39 per cent of all men In the armed forces; Montana,, 0.42 and 0.48; Oregon, 0.84 and p.99;. Washing ton, 1.34 and 1.43. , Channel Cannon Exchange Fire ON THE SOUTHEAST. COAST OF ENGLAND, Feb. 10-iJPY-mg guns on both sides of the Dover strait engaged in a fierce bom bardment Wednesday . night with the British opening fire about 9 p. m. and the Germans answer ing almost immediately. ' SheUfire warnings ' sounded in the Dover area shortly before some shells fell in the vicinity. v . The shelling . ceased after 45 minutes during which nearly ICO rounds were fired. No casualties were reverted. ... . ' , Nazis Said -Leaving. Kharkov; Caucasus Rail 'Points Taken IWPArtliiir Calls Miltado Idan ... .. -- - .... ' . , Japs Pushed : Force Destroyed ; , Artillery . Batters - Enemy. Retreat . - ALLIED -HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Thursday, Feb. 11 (jpy- Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communique Thursday virtually called Japan's mikado a liar, say ing Gen. Tomatari Horii and his army did not evacuate the Buna area of New Guinea at the end of January as the Japanese claim ed but "perished." - This pointed . commentary was Included along with the announce ment of a fresh allied ground vic tory on the approaches to . Sala maua and Lae, the next Jap bases of importance since the victory at Buna sealed triumph for the allies in the Papuan peninsula. The communique announced 'that the main Jap force has been en countered in the Wau area, some 35 miles southwest of Salamaua, and forced back for six miles, af ter which our artillery continued to pour it on the retreating enemy. " The communique's blunt giving (Turn to Page 2 Story A) Nazi Fighters , Strafe Towns r In Britain : ' LONDON, Feb. 10.-ff)-In the widest-spread raids since the Bat tle of Britain, German planes, be lieved to include a new type fighter-bomber, bombed and machine gunned 20 towns Wednesday, hit ting a : school, . churches, houses, stores and a restaurant , and. kill ing a number of persons and in juring many others. - It was a raid carried out in the latest " German fashion the big gest buildings in sight were made the targets as they came within view of the speeding planes.' De spite the wide area covered, the enemy force was believed not to have exceeded ten planes, three of which were destroyed. Meanwhile, the RAF was pound ing railroad yards at Caen, France. - - ;;'"V- The attacking planes were be lieved to have - included a new type .described only Wednesday by the ministry of aircraft pro duction,' a heavily-armed Messer schmitt,. the ME 20IA-1, which carried 2,200 pounds of bombs and can be employed as a long-range fighter, dive-bomber or ground strafer. It is a fast ship carrying a crew of two. 10 on River Boat Missing PORTLAND, - Feb. J II (P) Tea persons were missing early - Thursday morning after the 8t foot tagboat May, operated by the Russell Towboat and Moor age company eapslxed near the Oregon shore 'of the Columbia river shortly after midnlsht. The boat was carry bag a crew f three and If workers to the Kaiser Vancouver shipyard. Capt. Earl , Stanley of the Multnomah county sberifTs of fice said ail of the. rescued per soas were from Portland except one from Greaham. No list was available of the missing. . . . : Clarence narvey, the tagboat pilot, who was rescued, said the craft suddenly-began lifting aad turned - over. .' It - rode upside down, until it was grounded oa a bar in mldriver. Poole to Command CAPETOWN, Union of South Africa, Feb. ltHHJ -Gen- "W". H. Evered Poole, 41, Wednesday was appointed commander f the First South African armored di vision, rucceedir.2 the late Gen. Daniel Pienar, who was killed in an 8JrpT2.ee crash. '' . r ... Heavy Booty Fall To Soviets as i s; Haste "vr1;: By EDDY GILMORE MOSCOW, Feb. 10-(P)-The red army's arc of ' assault on Kharkov, most important nazi communications hub in the en tire region east of the Dnieper, dosed in Wednesday with the capture of Chuguyev, only 22 miles southeast of the threaten ed city," and the occupation of Volchansk, only 38 miles to the northeast. 1 - The fall of these two railroad towns was announced in a spe cial communique, as the Russian' LONDON, Thursday. Feb. 11 VP) The Stockholm correspond- ent of the Daily Express re ported Thursday that the Ger mans were - evacuating Khar kov, and said that Berlin had declared that the "Russians are; Increasing their pressure con siderably with the obvious in- . tention of encircling Kharkov." The city Is being shelled' heavily, and there are Indica tions the Russians are much nearer than officially reported, perhapa only six to ten miles away, the correspondent said, without giving the source of his information. forces bounded toward the great prize with . the s a m e apparent momentum that had toppled two other .huge German" winter de fense' centers In the last 72 hours. Fall of Chuguyev on the direct Kharkov railway to Kupyansk, which the Russians already had captured, put into Russian hands the last city which had locked the southeastern approaches to Kharkov on the western bank of the northern Donets and provid ed the red army With an excellent base for a final drive on Kharkov itself. . . .:; : - The steel city of the Ukraine was now within reach of deadly long-range Russian cannon which everywhere was accompanying the , fast-moving soviet infantry, tanks and ski troops. I fThe Dossibility that the Rus sians had moved even closer to Kharkov directly to the east was indicated in the regular red army communique recorded in London by the soviet monitor. This com munique announced also the cap ture of the district center of "Pe chenegi. TJiis may be the town of Peschenaya which is only 18 miles east of Kharkov. The occuoation of Byeli-Kolo- Aoi in miles south of Volchansk on the Kursk-Kupyansk railway, also was reported. r South of Rostov, the commun ique announced the capture of AkhtarL Sea of Azov terminal of the railroad from Krasnodar. (This closed one of tho two coastal railway terminals avail able for evacuation of German . troops from Krasnodar In the Caucasus, and the communique declared: The coast of the Sea of Asov, from the mouth of the river Don to AkhtarL has been completely cleared of the en- emy.V fAkhtari is only about 60 miles from Temryuck on the Taman peninsula, the broken land bridge toward the Crimea. The town is about 110 miles southwest of Ros tov : and 80 miles northwest of Krasnodar. fin all sectors, the regular com munique said, the Russians cap tured large quantities of booty, indicating that the nazas were abandoning their positions in haste. (On Rostov itself the Russians increased the pressure enormous ly by slicing the railway less than 18 miles northeast of the city de spite most stubborn resistance, the communique reported. (With the city already shell ed by soviet artillery and men aced by large forces which had -driven to the river's south bank directly - across from the city's streets, the Russians said t:.ey had cut the railway between Rostov and Novecherkas IT miles to the northeast) In the Kharkov sector the cap ture of Volchansk greatly strength ened the Russian Csr.X in t!-t drive from the northeast Ucn I t Ukraine center.