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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1943)
Dhnout , Thur. sunset 6 ;52 v Fri. sunrise 7:55 (Weather on Page 7) Today Legislature's Daily Doings (See Pages 1, 5 PCUND3D iCZl NINETY-SECOND YEAR v SciWm. Oregon. Thursday' Morning, February ,25.' 1943 Price. Sc. No. 250 MIL eriime SI 'fi in .wm M K&ss Fa JOd'-Cui V T f.- ' ' .'. Reduction Of Taxes Up Today House to Act on How Much, When, How; Farrell, Snell Urge By RALPH C. CURTIS How much, and Jiow, and -when," state income taxes in Oregon shall be reduced, is the I weighty question scheduled for . determination in the legislature today in so far as the house of representatives may determine it.- , - i .Majority and .minority ' groups .r in the house taxation and revenue : committee were lined up Wednes f flay for the kickoff in this lively - tussle, further enlivened by the . intervention of Secretary of State -Robert S. Farrell and Govs Earl LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR Third readings Thursday: In Senate: SB 179, 246, 249, 256, 262, 263, 12, 230, 235, 236. HB 144, 346, 313, 335, 331, 142, 101, 217, 236, 166. In House: HB 201, 240, 336,345, 847, 348, 352, 355, 362, 363. SB 66, 73, SI, 88, 141, 176, 180, 207, 227. . Snell, in that order. Both issued ; statements favoring income tax reduction this year; The committee minority's pro : tram was accordingly revised, to provide for a 25 per cent re daction in income tax payments this year, to be followed by a redaction in subsequent years of , 1 per cent In each income1 brack et, estimated to reduce total re ceipts 29.S1 per cenC ' Secretary of State Farrell's en try into the fray had no visible effect upon the majority, but the change in the minority's program did; it caused Rep. Burt Snyder to hif t from the minority to the ma j Jority side. That leaves on the mi '.nority report only Reps. John ; Hall and Stanhope Pier, both of I Multnomah. The majority recommendation is unchanged; no income tax re duction this year, .elimination of the "split bracket" next year thus returning the rates to their 1938 status. The total reduction in re ceipts is estimated at 11.6 per cent ' , :-- In contrast to its division on this issue, the committee reported out without formal dissent, though with Rep. E. W. Kimberling not concurring, a bill increasing the personal property tax offset in the corporate excise tax from the ; present 50 per cent to 75 per cent. Reduction in receipts expected to result is 8 per cent. Denial of Secy, of 'State Far yell's charge that the state tax commission had actively opposed a change in income tax payments this year was made by Commis si oner Earl Fisher and be was corroborated by members of the committee majority. Fisher said I that ; in ! response to committee . (Turn to Page 2 Story B) Gandliito Stay Imi Said Better " NEW DELHI, Feb. 24 -JPl prime Minister Churchill made it ; clear Wednesday that the India government , would continue " to hold in confinement Mohandas K. Gandhi, who now is expected by his doctors at Poona .to live through his 21-day hunger strike against detention. It was a matter of one eminent ; invalid dealing with the case of another. Churchill's message ap parently came from his sickbed. Churchill, in a message sup porting the India government's determination to keep the nation alist leader under detention dur ing wartime, stressed security as a prime consideration and said that India ""still is menaced'! by . the threat of invasion. The previously held fears that Gandhi might die a prisoner in the Poona palace of the Aga Kahn 'were dissipated In the 15th day of his fast " by an authoritative medical opinion that "there is no reason why he should not man ege six days more." r The 73-year-old ascetic was more, cheerful and showing less distress, and bis followers felt that their prayers for him were being fnswered. " prisoned Cre w Bails; Plane Soars . WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -JP) Astounded officers told Wed nesday of an army transport plane which flew 2000 miles with no one aboard, finally crashing on a Mexican moun tain side. " ' The C-87, cargo version of ' the four-engined Consolidated Liberator bomber, took off from j Florida on a flight to South . America. . Eighty miles oat a tall flatter set up vibra tions which threatened to tear the craft apart. The cargo was . toned out, but that failed ' to remedy the trouble. The pilot, Lt R. C. Ulxaer of Atlanta, set the plane on a seaward course and fixed the auto ma tie pilot for level flight so the ship would . not endanger life by crashing ashore. The eight army men aboard all bailed out. Two . are missing; the others were picked np by coast guardsmen off Florida. , Next day, tanks - empty, the , C-87 crashed in Mexico, She had gone tOfO miles. The' army ! said loss of both cargo and per sonnel apparently Improved the plane's aerodynamic Qualities sufficiently to keep her aloft. There was no explanation how the plane could have reversed Its seaward course and headed back i to Mexico. GOP Support Given Ruml Passing of Year's Tax Predicted For House WASHINGTNUFeb. Advocates of the Ruml plan were cheered Wednesday as strong re publican support appeared to be gathering behind the proposal to abate all of one year's individual income taxes to put taxpayers on a pay-as-you-go basis. An j informed Capitol Hill source said that when the house ways and means committee pass ed on a modified form of the plan f originated by Beardsley Ruml,: chairman of the federal re serve bank of New York, all 10 republican committeemen voted for it. However, the plan was put aside ' for the time being when the 15 democrats on the commit tee voted against it. The vote was taken : last Friday in a secret ses sion but not disclosed until Wed nesday. " The committee rejected all pending pay-as-you-go propos als, 1 'including the modified Bum! plan, and turned over to a sub-committee the Job of drafting a compromise. Rep. Carlson (R-Kas) has mod ified the .Ruml proposal to pro vide that each , taxpayer would remit on the one of the two years, 1942 or 1943, in which he had the largest-taxable income. JThe' orig inal Ruml plan provided directly for by-passing the 1942 tax year. A prominent .republican, - who asked that his name not be used, predicted the house would adopt the plan, that "strong republican support will be thrown behind it, and for every republican vote we lose we will pick up o demo crats." There are how 222 demo crats J to 209 republican house members. Some talk was heard that a petition might be circulated to discharge ways Jand means com mittee from consideration of the bill embracing the Ruml plan, and thus bring it up for immediate consideration in the house. Spain to Call More Troops MADRID, Feb. 24-)-The of ficial I government bulletin an nounced it will publish Thursday morning a call to the colors for the class of 1943, for service be ginning March 7. Official sources said the , call had been scheduled to come, at about this time. . It was reported also that it would increase the size of the Spanish army to t approximately 150,000 men. , ! - . Logger Crushed DALLAS, Feb. 24 " Arthur Snyder, 50, of Portland, was kill ed instantly ' Wednesday ; morning at the ? camp of i the Willamette Valley Logging ; company near Black Rock when a log rolled, off a truck and v crushed him. He Is survived by his wife. " .wo Spinach, " Lettuce Ceiled Prices Held; Sugar Ration Less; Food In Restaurant Set WASHINGTON, Feb. ; 2A-(P) The office of price administra tion Wednesday night establish ed emergency price ceilings on lettuce and spinach. " Effective Thursday no retail ers, wholesalers, terminal mar ket receivers, or country ship pers may charge- more for fresh lettuce or spinach than he charged in the last five days. :- Farmer prices were not affected directly. The action - followed a i, similar "freeze" Tuesday of the prices of fresh cabbage, carrots, snap beans, peas and tomatoes. ' OPA Wednesday night also gave its local offices authority to in crease the ceiling prices of these vegetables and lettuce and spin ach as well, wherever necessary to remedy any local inequities. All of these actions on I fresh Needed seriously at Salem war price and rationing board headquarters are more volun teer helpers. Women who can offer even one-half day ; per week should report between 10 a. m. and 3 p. m. to Mrs. Ringle at the board office In city hall council chambers. Rationing Board Chairman John Beltzel said Wednesday night. Tele phone offers of aid ever the al ready crowded line will not be welcomed, he said. t vegetables are aimed at prevent ing sharply Increased retail prices, resulting both from frost damage to southern crops and from an anticipated switch in public demand from canned vege tables to fresh varieties because of rationing of processed foods. Wednesday's action brought the percentage of foods under price control to 96 per cent The prin cipal foods still unregulated are apples, sweet potatoes and fresh fish. Indications are that apples and sweet potatoes probably will be regulated when their prices rise to parity levels, the prices considered by some authorities as giving a fair return to producers. The authority given local OPA offices to increase some prices is necessary to adjust prices of frost damaged vegetables, which have depressed prices abnormally in some localities, OPA said. All of these vegetable ceilings are temporary, with more uniform (Turn to Page 2 Story C) Gas Renewal Forms Ready There is no need, to telephone the war price and rationing board office in Salem concerning renew al of B and C gasoline rations, Ra tioning Board Chairman John Heltzel deohtred Wednesday night as he explained that the applica tion forms may be secured from service stations, of garages and may be filled out and mailed to the rationing board with; the re quired tire inspection records. Telephone service at the board's office in the city hall here is crowding the line, Heltzel said. New ration books are to be mailed out to motorists and no call, ei ther in person or. by telephone, should be necessary to secure the renewal. . i ... ,f.-, ) v : , . Tire inspections must have been made prior to February 28. No re newal of A ration books is re quired now. ' RAF Bombers -Raid Germany : LONDON, Feb. 25Hf)-RAF bombers returned to the attack on Germany again Wednesday night after a two-night lull,' the British announced Thursday.; Neither the size of the raiding force nor the targets were imme diately disclosed.; T - . i LONDON, Feb. 24 -(V The German radio station . Deutsch landsender and the Kalundborg station in Denmark went off . the air Wednesday night, possibly in dicating another RAF' strike . at northwestern Germany, China Sends Troops Into India r .1' 4 . V . fcWi-fci.ii.v: r Vi i T mtu I These Chinese troops are part of a task force assigned to India where the allies have been massing land and air forces for an assault ' against the Japanese In Burma. They are marching' to a railway station in India. AP photo from US Army. Danish 'Chutists9 Aides Sentenced; Radio Links Moeller With 'Sabotage9 LONDON, Thursday, Feb. 25-P)-The Danish radio reported early Thursday that "a number of parachutists" had been dropped in Denmark, but gave no indication of their nationality or wKethrtbey,had been ptured,Jpr?;interned7 : 5 j i,rJ i "The statement, broadcast hagen and recorded here by the Presidential Reqi uests Cut By Committee WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 The house appropriations commit tee sharply rebuffed the admini stration Wednesday by denying a series of requested appropriations. In reporting a $6,298,530,435 de ficiency appropriation bill, chief ly for merchant ship construction, the committee refused: j $2,454,000 which Paul V. Mc Nutt had proclaimed as essential if the war manpower commission is to discharge its duties. " $337,000 asked by Secretary of Labor Perkins for work in curbing absenteeism in war factories and improving working conditions. $200,000 requested by the na tional resources .planning board, headed by Frederic A. Delano, the president's uncle. Jn what amounted to a rebuke to the executive' branch of the government for initiating propects not approved by congress, ; the committee also declined . requests for $2,973,000 ' for " payments to states for care of children, of em- ployed " mothers; $3,182,000 ' for payments on . costs of - the high school i Victory corps headed by Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker; and $1,200,000 for' emergency grants for maternity and infant care in enlisted men's families. - The committee said these pro posals lacked "the sanction of en abling legislation," meaning con gress should have been asked to approve the projects before ap propriations were requested. It expressed sympathy - for the Ideas although suggesting costs of child care and the Victory corps should be left to the states. Shafer- Depicts Hiige "We are not making sacrifices, but there are harder days ahead!" Thus A. L. .Shafer, Pacific coast manager for the American Red Cross, . summed up his : presenta tion of the wartime expansion and plans of the organization ; he serves, speaking Wednesday night at the annual meeting of Marion county chapter, ; Red Cross, in Salem . chamber of commerce rooms. " -.'"" . In a nation where 1000 paid Red Cross workers operated three years ago, there are-10,000 today, he said; volunteer workers have' multiplied by the thousand, their 4 A - tinnifc - i -nn i A n1 limn in from - German-occupied Copen British ministry of information, said that some Danish residents had sheltered the parachutists, provided facilities for erecting radio transmitters, and supplied money and information to the agents. The radio . linked Christmas Moeller, former Danish com merce minister who escaped, to Britain last year, with the par achutists. This indicated the parachutists were Danish agents working against the axis. (The federal communications commission reported that the Copenhagen radio statement told of the sentencing ' of 27 persons for helping the parachutists, co operating with Moeller and pub lishing a clandestine paper. This would indicate that the para chutists landed some time ago.) The radio statement as record ed by the ministry here said: "It has been ascertained that Christmas Moeller, a former mem ber of the Folketing who escaped to Britain,, has been in communi cation with the parachutists. Be- (Turri to Page 2 Story D) Britain Urges War Cabinet LONDON, Feb. 24-iP)- Prime Minister Churchill's illness, now reported for .the first time as pneu monia, has again brought out the suggestion that a small, office-free war cabinet should be established Edgar Louis Granville, one of Churchill's most persistent critics, indicated Wednesday, he , would raise the question in commons, ar guing that . if the prime minister had been ill for t a long period it would ; have been of the utmost importance that such a war cabi net be ready to take over the reins. " The prime minister, confined to his bed for the past several days with what had been described as acute catarrh, was reported im proving Wednesday. tasks by the million, he presented statistics to show. ; , ' v,-. Through Its representatives , at army, camps and posts and j Its ;: home: ' service workers : in chapters over ; the country, the Red Cross has aided : 1400,000 service men hi the past year, : Medical supplies, have gone to all corners of the world front - its storerooms, the speaker de clared, pointing to the use of sulfa drugs and bloody plasma : as two great improvements In ' medical , science : arislngduring' the current war and explaining that the task of securing blood Japanese Warships Bombed Vessel Run Aground; Rabaul Shipping, Lae Area Raided . V ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRAL LV Thursday, Feb. -- 25-(P)-A Japanese war ship, fleeing ; frantically - from attacks . of , American1 . Flying Fortresses, was driven aground off Cape Gazelle in New Britain Wednesday, and7 allied bombers soared over Rabaul to damage two small 'enemy bombers and a 10,-000-ton merchantman. - - , It was the second successive raid on Rabaul shipping. Wednesday's communique told of direct . bomb hits on a Jap. warship, possibly a cruiser, and of near misses on Jap merchant vessels. "" "Our heavy bombers execut ing a p re-dawn attack on enemy . shipping ' Jn the harbor "area scored a direct hit ' from ex tremely low altitude on a 10,-000-ton cargo vessel and several . damaging near . hits . within 25 , ; feet of two small enemy war-', , ships," the noon communique related concerning the latest Ra haul raid. - "A larger warship southeast of Cape Gazelle was attacked . and, in its violent, efforts to escape, ran aground on reefs. Heavy anti aircraft fire and dense searchlight screens were encountered ; but there was no interception. All our planes returned." . , Five hundred and, 1000 pound bombs were dropped in particular ly heavy raids on and around the Jap-held New Guinea base of Lae, starting fires visible for 20 miles. These raids represented continua tion of a strafing and bombing al lied assault on a region toward which ground troops have been moving from the vicinity of Wau to the southwest The bombers started fires visi ble for 20 miles. Over Open Bay, New Britain, a big allied bomber on a reconnais sance was swarmed upon by 13 Jap planes. The bomber sent four of the Zeros down in flames and got home safely. Cooperation Advised for Farm, Labor : DALLAS, Feb. 24 By coopera tion without interference in or ganizations of others, farmers of the United States may save their country from fascism, Herbert B. Rolph, national vice president of the Farmers union, told members of his organization gathered at the state convention banquet here Wednesday, night. Rolph, who became the featured speaker when Gov. Earl Snell an nounced he would ' be unable to attend, Is a native of Montana. James Patton, of Denver, national president, had previously announced- inability to attend . the meeting, and Rolph had been asked to take his place. Throughout the history- of .the world, Rolph said, farmers have been drifters, migrating to . this country from Europe; and from the east to the west coasts of the continent. Now there is no place to drift to; the farmer today must face his problems squarely and work . them ,. out. Nor-- are these problems limited to farmers, or to- any particular , geographies lo cation, but arc rather common to all people, and all countries. The Farmers union is trying . to meet one of the largest problems of the world the food situation. Pres. (Turn to Page 2 Story E) : Med :Cro . plasma is peculiarly ,. the re sponsibility of the Red Cross.. Relief work undertaken by the organization : was illustrated by stories of the jiundreds of Polish children who form troups march ing into India to become respon sibilities of, the British, empire but often are refugees in need of im mediate aid from the Red Cross. ; , Great, strength; of' the Red Cross comes from : its volunteer aspects in a world where many actions are compelled, the speaker declared, as he referred . to an nual reports from Marion county committees, showing that more Italians Keep White Handy WITH US FORCES IN TU NISIA, Feb. 24-iAVIlallan sol. diera In Tunisia are careful to keep a - white . handkerchief handy for emergency these days. - The reason was explained by an . Italian prisoner to Pvt. Nicholas W. Giordans, 24, of Brooklyn, NY, who gave him a cigarette. -. - . When the : prisoner said he was happy to be out of the war, Giordans, who studied art for IS years In. Italy, asked, "Well, how about the .ether. ' Italians v whol. are still out there f ight- ing7 . ; ; v". C z "They . all . have white hand, kerchiefs In their pockets ready . to show them at the right time," declared the prisoner, smiling. "When we saw yon Americans coming we were . glad to give np. . V. , ' . v We haven't had -. anything, to eat .for.' more, than . two . days. The Germans - pushed us - np ahead of the attack. If we don't . fight the Germans will kill us from behind and if we do fight yon will kill us. We don't have . any way to go." Russians Race Against Mud Several; Nazi Holds ; Broken" on Long ' Western Front - 1 By The Associated Press LONDON, Thursday, Feb. 25 The red army, surging westward over .a 300-mile front in a - race against spring mud was reported early Thursday to have toppled several jnore axis strongholds in the -drive: toward Poltava and Konotop, Vkra I n e positions guarding the approaches to the nazi Dnieper river line. . The regular midnight Moscow communique recorded by the So viet Monitor said another .large populated place west of Kharkov had fallen, reported fresh gains in the effort to encircle Orel, hinge of the southern and central fronts, and told of the trapping of two German battalions (ap proximately 1600 men) In the western Caucasus. The Russians said those two battalions now were, being an nihilated after refusing to sur render. Heavy German counterat tacks with tank and plane sup port were acknowledged In the Donets basin. While claiming the repulse of most of these, the Russians admitted German units had driven a wedge Into their lines southwest' of Kra matorsk. This town is about 50 miles above Stallno whence the nasi escape railway runs out of the Donets basin. , (Turn to Pago 2 Story F) 19,451 Signed For Rationing Third' dav of registration for war ration book No. 2 In Salem brought total of books Issued to 19.451. SudL . Frank Bennett, whose public -- schools' staff is handling the . work, announced Wednesday night v Persons whose last names be ffin with letters from N to S are to register at elementary schools between 3 and 9 p. m. today. Not all of the S group is expected to register : today since Friday also is to Include some of that alpha betical category- ' ' - By school buildings, the regis tration which totaled 6950 Wed nesday, was as follows:. Bush, . 1197; Englewood, 993; Highland, 967; Garfield, , 889; Grant, 732;' Washington, 665; Mc Kinley, 660; Richmond, 487. ; War Task t-than 1000 volunteers engaged In work here the past year. r Justice .George Ross man of - the state . supreme court ' was . reelected unanimously as chair man of the - chapter; William Hamilton . as vice chairman; Linn C Smith, - treasurer; Mrs. Ronald. Jones, secretary; Milton Meyers, r Mrs. C 8. Hamilton . and Miss Elizabeth Putnam, members at large. ' -A11 nominations presented by the nominating committee con sisting ' of Flyod Miller, - Mrs. L. V. ' Benson and Mayor . L ' M. . (Turn to Page 2 Story A) ' Artillery, Aircraft V Ha: ill IT er v. ; 11-day Offensive Ended; Enemy's r Casualties Heavy By WES GALLAGHER ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 24 VPhC ombined British and American ' forces threw Field Marshal"' Rommel's' tank col umns into full retreat from the outskirts of Thala Wednesday, handing them their first defeat in Tunisia, and Wednesday night allied, artillery lobbed tons of ex plosive 'steel into German posi tions in the narrow Kasserine pass and on the beaten rear-guard , column withdrawing through' it.' ' ; (Reuters ' reported; in London ' that latest information indicated the bulk of enemy forces were retreating through the pass, with only a rear-guard left to hold the mouth of the gap against furious continuing allied attacks. (The British -news agency, al so said increasing numbers of fighting units were now reach ing the. British Eighth army be- . for the Mareth defenses 1b southern Tunisia, and that sup ply was the main preoccupation at the moment.) , The big guns were ' giving the German tank columns twisting through the pass no chance to rest and reform, and hundreds of al lied planes racing overhead left a trail of smoking axis transport and dying German soldiers all the way from Thala's approaches to Feriana far south of. the opposite end of Kasserine pass. .- . , , t "Hunareds Of atiied ''planes . and allied ground forces began hitting Marshal Rommel Tuesday morn ing, inflicting the first major set back on the axis troops since they lashed out on their offensive 11 days aga ; , Then the allied artillery has tened the axis retreat into the mouth of the pass. The American-British ' aerial smash far-overwhelmed the ini tial German Stuka efforts in the recent fight at Faid, and was con tinuing.;., i , Rommel's retreat--and it wag by field accounts a full retreat began Tuesday and by Wednes day af least 300 axis prisoners and large quantities of German ma terial had fallen into allied hands. This, however, was believed to represent only a small jart of the nasi casualties and losses of equipment inflicted when al most every allied bomber and fighter on the front splashed tons of high explosives on Rom- ' mel's retreating columns twist ing through the hills and out ' of the Kasserine pass southwest- o ward toward Feriana. American, armored forces had hammered back his thrust west ward through, the Kasserine to ward Tebessa, which lies inside Algeria; ' British and American units together had Inflicted heavy casualties in the battle for Thala Rommel had burst through to within three miles of that tacti cally important point before his attack began to collapse, and with it the whole of his offensive to the west . - " " , J With the coming , of daylight Tuesday,1 Marauders, " Mitchells, Bostons, ; Hurribombers and even the great Flying Fortresses began to strew explosives upon the re treating - German - columns under cover of Spitfires, Airacobras and Lightnings. ; - Canada Probes 'Bomb' Blast CHARIX3TTETOWN, PEL Feb. 24-flJ)-A h e a v y explosion, ap parently caused by a bomb drop ped from an unidentified plane. tore a 10-foot crater in the earth on the outskirts of Charlottetown late Wednesday night and shat tered windows over a wide area. Royal . Canadian mounted police and officials of the Royal air force began an investigation. , No one was injured by the blast, , which occurred in a field on the Mount Edward road, near the Charlottetown airport and about a mile from the city. The explosion was heard for miles around. " An hour after the blast, . the , crater was located. It was be tween three and four feet deep. Residents of the area said bomb fragments also were found. x
