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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1943)
inrnmr-crcoifD yeah Salem. Oregon. Friday Morning, February 25. 1S43 Pries 5c No. 231 1943 Tax (Cut Plan Rejected Committee Closer Together Af ter Senate Ballot By RALPH C. CURTIS Property taxpayers won a victory over income taxpayers often they're the same peo ple, but that's just one of taxa tion's Intricacies T h u r s da y when the Oregon house of rep resentatives decisively rejected, 39 to 21, the minority report of its taxation and revenue commit tee proposing a 25 per cent reduc tion in income tax payments this year and a rate ' reduction esti mated to 1 reduce receipts 20.81 per cent the following year, Momentarily ; the : outcome ; ap peared also to be a victory' for " the state tax commission, . which Hep. John Hall, chief spokesman lor that two-man minority, said was "on trial by this tribunal and before the bar of public opinion. Presently however any verdicWon ' that score became hopelessly con fused. 1 ;. :. For, instead of adopting the ma jority report which called for no income tax reduction this year, but a subsequent rate reduction calculated to reduce receipts by 11.62 per cent, the house sent the bill back to the committee, vir tually with instructions to provide for some reduction this year. The ctmnlttte returned - - . a a a 1 m - ansa, wun MKocr arriv ed report, again lined up 7 to 2 with the same teams as before, - bat now closer together. The majority including Chairman v i mm I m bun ircutu viicicu 11.(2 formula for subsequent rears, together with a flat 1 per cent redaction this year.' Xlie minority, Reps. Hall and Stanhope Pier, had dropped the 1S43 figure to 15 per cent but Virtually all day Thursday the house battled over the "size of the bite" in income, tax reduction, and will resume the subject 'at Rep. Hall's . opening argument was principally ' an attack upon the state tax commission which, he said, had "misinformed" Guy rnrrim ' isx advisor to Gov. Earl Snell, as to the difficulty of mak ing refunds this year. Hall charg ed that the commission had said 50,000 tax returns had been filed, whereas there were only 18,000; and in the hope of forestalling a reduction, had mailed out return blanks unusually earlh . Rep. Hall said it was he who had asked Secretary of State Robert S. Far- relL jr., to make an independent investigation and report his find ings to the committee. Chairman French criticized the raising of "personalities" but said that, since they had been raised, it was only fair to say that the tax commission had never' claim ed ; refunds w e r e impossible though it had mentioned the dif ficulties; that the commission had not said. 50,000 returns had been made , but that approximately that number would be in by the end ci April; : and that income tax blanks had been sent out last De - cember 1, the same date as" in - The majority had abandoned the i Idea of a 1943 reduction, . Rep. French said, upon being advised that : no emergency clause could be attached to the bill and that therefore no re funds might safely or. legally be . made until June. He said the :. difficulties ; of making- refunds vr t arraLr than Kn Mall would admit. , . Opposing a reduction of more than 11.62 per cent, French point ed to the allocation of surplus in come tax money to schools, elimi nation of the surtax ; intangibles provided in both bills, the exemp tions, for men in war service al ready approved, ; the ; impending reduction in the corporate excise tax, and the "automatic" shrink age mentioned by Gov. Earl Snell In his inaugural. message. French said f the committee also had learned federal contracts were be ing "renegotiated" to take out the profit, so war contractors would pay less taxes. - Rep. Burk K. Snyder, for the majority report, said "We dont need to be ashamed of Oregon's tax structure," mentioning favor able comparisons in total tax pay ments with - Washington and- Cali fornia. He opposed the 25 per cent reduction, saying the federal government would collect most of it and the property taxpayers later would pay it. ; Rep, Herman Chindgren went more Into detail 6n the property tax angle, declaring his . constitu ents were fearful an income tax reduction would mean increased (Turn to Pago 2 Story A Eight Jump; Pilot Lands AMARXLLO, Tex Feb. Capt. Arthur Hampson, as cool as the Ice that burdened his four - motored bomber, ordered nine crewmen to ball out and then continued on alone for more than SO miles to land the plane ; safely Thursday at an Amarlllo army airfield. Only these 'two things, he confided, bothered him: ' He was concerned about the men who parachuted for as far as he knew none had ever pre viously bailed out, and He was chilly, sinee'the bomb er's door stayed open the en tire trip from Wichita, Kas. He ordered his men to Jump when Ice steadily forced the ship downward from an alti tude of 7000 feet. He was pre paring to Jump himself, when better weather was encountered. After an hour, the ice started clearing the ship. From then on Into Amarillo the flight was uneventful, he said. (From Wichita came word that eixht of the crewmen land ed without mishap near Wichita, while the ninth man was In jured, extent not disclosed.) Ration Signup arrP; m 1 - : Five-Sixth of City Estimate Register; March 15 Next Approximately five-sixths of the anticipated number of war ration books No. 2 for Salem have been (issued as the last day. of registration for the small "stamp albums" dawns today. Thursday's total of 6573 brought the week's issuance to 26,024, ac cording to Supt. Frank B. Ben nett, whose school staff is hand ling the task of enrolling those who .would eat processed foods during coming months. Bennett said he had figured on 32,050 for the week, although 28,000 had registered for book No. ,1 , Z " -. Persons who have' not regis tered when the halls of Salem's elementary schools are closed at 9 o'clock tonight must wait un til March 15 to sign up for the books, must at that time de clare the amount of canned goods they possessed at the be (Turn to Page 2 Story B) Wallace Dies Here Today For Slaying His final pleas for delay de nied, j William E. Wallace, 54, is scheduled to die in the Oregon state penitentiary lethal gas chamber at 8:30 o'clock this morn ing for the murder of Benjamin FinkelL Gov. Earl Snell announced Thursday night that he had de clined to interfere. A 30-day re prieve , was urged, upon the gov ernor earlier in the day by Dist. Attyi James R. Bain of Multno mah county to permit Wallace's attorney to make a showing. Oth er callers asked for either a stay of execution or a commutation of sentence to I life imprisonment. Wallace's I conviction in Port land i of first degree murder was affirmed by the state supreme court, , which overruled his con tention that the circuit court trial judge should have permitted him to change his plea to insanity.' The slaying occurred in a Port land ' downtown street when Fin kell'j protested against Wallace using , profane language in the presence of his ' woman compan ion. ;v .' ." -1 ' - A statement issued by Gov. Snell read: ''' "My examination of the file in the .Wallace case disclosed that the accused was tried before a jury' which found him guilty of murder in the first degree. He appealed to the f supreme court where he advanced the contention that his conviction was not justi fied because he (Wallace) was not permitted ,to offer evidence of his insanity at the time of the trial. No argument was advanced in the supreme court that ques (Turn to Page 2 Story C) Gandhi Condition Cheers Doctors " POONA, India, Feb. 25-(P3rMo-handas K. Gandhi passed through the 16th day of his three weeks fast Thursday in good enough shape to encourage doctors that he will recover. - The Hindu spiritual leader is very, tired and very weak, author itative medical circles said, and he has lost 20 pounds. But the doctors added that he was com fortable and that his spirit is en couraging. , . . . .i;' noses loaay Boeing Be ee f: , .. Prompt Decision in "Wage Case Asked . Of Labor Board v SEATTLE, Feb. Thousands : of Boeing aircraft workers, whose work stoppage for a mass meeting and parade Thursday brought a half-shift shutdown of the Flying Fortress plants, voted to hold an around-the-clock meeting Monday un unless the war labor board re turns a favorable decision prompt ly in their long-pending wage in crease case. - ; . 1 ..; They expressed the intention also of 'calling upon other AFL union airplane builders for simi lar action, and asked that Presi dent Roosevelt's intervention be solicited. While the thousands of work ers were tying up city traffic, the aeronautical mechanics' un Ion was filing: a suit in federal court here against ! the labor board. It demanded that the ; board be compelled to act In the west coast aircraft stabiliza tion case or surrender jurisdic tion to enable the union to ne gotiate directly with the Boeing company, which has expressed itself in favor of wage increases. The Boeing plants in Seattle and Ren ton were shut down by the company for half a shift after it reported approximately 97 per cent of the workers absent after the lunch hour. A high west coast army officer branded the work stoppage by the aeronautical mechanics' union (AFL) members "little less than treasonable." . The resolution adopted by the mass meeting, estimated by union leaders at 20,000 persons, demand ed a satisfactory labor board de cision by Sunday midnight or the union "will hold a 24-hour- gen eral meeting." r:l:,'.' In offering the resolution," Ed Carig, a union district council delegate, explained that - the 24 hour meeting would mean that "all shifts will report to the civic auditorium or some other meeting place instead of going to work." He declared that locals of the union at Burbank, Calif and at the Consolidated Aircraft com pany plant would be asked to take similar action if a satis factory decision is not handed down by Monday or Tuesday midnights, respectively. After Wednesday midnight, he said, the International would be asked to call similar meetings of all AFX, aircraft unions in the na tion. . Thursday night, however, Har old Gibson, president of the dis trict lodge, expressed the belief that a call for work stoppages was not the intent of the resolution's framers, "because the local and the international are opposed to work stoppages." ':'-" After workers returned for the (Turn to Page 2-Story H) Japs; Retreat Near Canton CHUNGKING, Feb. 25.-(ff)-A general Japanese withdrawal along the southern section of the Canton - Hankow railway . is in progress, Chinese field dispatches reported Thursday night. : They said the Chinese had re taken Lupao, 25 miles northwest of Canton, on Tuesday and tRai the battered enemy forces re treated in the direction j of Sam shui, a river and railway town west of Canton, after a desperate rear guard action. Chinese : troops were i- reported to have passed Kuntien and pressed on toward Sunkai, a rail way town 15 miles north Of Can ton, and one of the key points in the Japanese defense system around this great 'south China city.-, :' ' Earlier I Thursday a Chinese army spokesman, reviewing the military:, situation, declared that "On the whole the Japanese have gained nothing recently from their widespread drives. . Soldiers Wounded In Africa Listed WASHINGTON, Feb. 25-0FV- Names of 336 United States sold iers wounded in action in North Africa since early November, 1942, were made public Thursday by the war department, r The list included: . Oregon Srt. Albert M. Frlesen; mother, Mrs.1 Emma Frlesen, 248 North 12th street, Salem, i r i f , x Sgt Raymond E. Fuller; mother, Mcs. Rita Fuller, Klamath Falls. Capt. Howard D Lowe; wife, Mrs. Alice R. Lowe, 2205 S. E Ivon, Jortland. : . - : A ies RAF kaid-Tth On Reich In Moiith French, Dane Radios Off ; Swiss Alert; Bombers Heavy" LONDON, Feb. 28-(P-RAF bombers were over' Germany again Thursday night for the second night irt succession and the 17th time this month, the British announced Friday. There was no immediate men tion here of any attack on Italy. LONDON, Friday, Feb. 26-(iP-Waves of Britain's heavi est bombers swept across the Straits of Dover for 45 minutes Thursday night, followed by the sudden shutting off of axis radio stations on the continent and an alert In Switzerland which usually means both Germany and Italy are' being attacked. : The silencing of radio stations from Denmark through Germany hinted that the reich was feeling the might of the RAF for the 17th time this month a new record. A dispatch from Zurich. Swit zerland, said a great number of heavy bombers ft$outb, of Lu gancr Thursday lifgl 'indicating allied ah forces were again blast ing Italy on ' a heavy scale. Lu gano is on the Italian border, only about 40 miles northwest ,of Mi lan. I - The last attack on Italy was February 14, when the RAF gave Milan its most devastating blow. One by one, the broadcasts were switched off between 9:55 and 10:30 p.m., and the Stockholm radio reported a foreign plane flew over Sweden from the west, (Turn to Page 2-Story E) Swan Island Dorm Burns PORTLAND, Ore, Feb. 2S.-iP) -One shipyard workers' dormi tory at the Henry J. Kaiser Swab Island yard here burned to the ground Thursday night and two smaller, connecting units were damaged.-' All the occupants es caped without injury. The spectacular fire broke out in Dormitory: No. 1, which pro vided sleeping facilities for 216 workers and destroyed the one story wooden structure in about half an hour. Jack Fletcher, a company guard, fought his way into the flaming structure, awak ened its sleeping occupants and carried two men to safety. -J- ; Arthur M. Bell, city fire in spector, said the fire apparently was started by "a careless- smoker. A janitor discovered ; a bed : in flames and turned in the alarm. Swift control by city firemen, shipyard and coast guard , equip ment and - a fireboat kept i the blaze from spreading to 17 other dormitories. Jap Ships ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Friday, Feb. Zt-OPi Allied bombers, winging for the third straight time across New Britain for attacks on shipping at RabauL possibly damaged a seaplane tender and three cargo ships, the allied high command announced Friday." In two previous r raids. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's bombers scored a hit on a large Jap war ship believed to be a cruiser, drove another big warship aground on a reef off nearby Cape Gazelle, damaged two other warships and a 10,000-ton cargo ship ana prob ably damaged .still other merchant ships, with near misses. . As on other occasions the latest attack was just before dawn. ; Three cargo vessels of Iim-. I ted size were bombed and either; directly hit or near hit from low" altitude and an SQOS-ton ship resembling a seaplane ten der was badly damaged by" four bombs. When last seen It. was heading for shore and settling Victorious Reds Fortify Kharkov9 s Streets Having, recaptured the industrial city of Kharkov In one of the most brilliant offensives of the war, the Russian army has consolidated Its gains and Is now prepared to bold that great city against any thing the nasis may attempt In the spring. Pictured is a Russian anti-aircraft gun crew on the alert In the big square of the Russian city. In the background, along f anted Sumskaya boulevard, are the modern, buildings of industry and business, no w a serrated series of shells, rendered semi-shambles by the battle of Kharkov. Today red army plneer Jaws are reported closing In on Orel, last remain ing bastion of the German winter defense line In R ussia UN Soundphoto. Farmers Union Elects Grice . State Meet Opposes ; Bringing-Foreign Farm Labor Here DALLAS, Ore., Feb. 25-P)-Im-portation of foreign farm labor by the Oregon Fanners union to Oregon was opposed Thursday which closed its 33rd annual state convention with the reelection of President Ammon Grice, .Salem. The convention adopted a reso lution against ; imported -foreign farm workers on recommendation of its agricultural committee. The action was aimed at Mexican farm hands who have been mentioned as possible relief for labor-short farm areas in Oregon this year in announcements of federal agen cies. Linn county was awarded next year's convention but if it does not accept the meeting .will go to Marion county. Designation of the convention city was eft to the organization's county unit. Harley Ubby, Jefferson, was reelected vice president .and Mrs. Frank Way, Salem, was named secretary-treasurer and editor of the Farmers Union . News,: succeeding Pauline L. Johnson, Silverton, who' de clined renomination. ' , Three new members were elect ed to the executive board -Henry Johnson, Beaverton; John Shep- ard, Albany, and Joe Owens, Yam hilL j They succeed members who retired under the new rule stipu lating service must end with two terms.' Retiring members are Pe ter Zimmerman. Yamhill, who has served on the board . 12 years; C. S. Emerson, The Dalles, and John Plass, Hillsboro. : ' Holdover board members are L. H. McBee, Dallas, and Ronald E. Jones, Brooks. Blasted by the stem. Other results were unobserved In the glare of searchlights. Only 'slight anti aircraft fire was encountered. There was no attempt at inter ception." , ; Off. Babo, Dutch New Guinea, a heavy bomber scored a direct hit on the bow of a 4000-ton car go vesseL Off Alexishafen, New Guinea, : a small ' Jap cargo ship was-attacked by a heavy bomber and two 50,0-pound bombs either hit the ship or came close enough to damage it. - . " In 'the region where ground forces are menacing the Jap bases of Li e : and Salamaua, - New Guinea, attack planes ' continued the preparatory work of strafing and bombing, .:; ,v" v; ;" - Between those bases and the al-, lied base of Buin In the Kumusl river sector where the Japs last December landed some troops in a futile effort to retain their hold on the Papuan peninsula the com munique ' disclosed that ' CO more Jap stragglers have been killed.'" aSu . IBkMioiEmeL w , ' - r ' v i .i v "-n"' - 5 v -' - i- - s ; ; ' ' - '-i ' ' ' - 'Jr 1 ' , , ' - - - , 1 - s' , , -' ' mW . ' M " -i s . ' - s'-. 'i. ' r -- - ; ' ' .-jF ' ' - ' " ' -v"' '"'-' :TS" :' ' " - " """" " ! . , ' ' - .fUn II' v 5 " S KZm , 1 Britons Yell For Cobbler WALBKOOK, England. Feb. 25-(PrWiUlam Mann, the only cobbler at Walbrook, is in the army and the people,- running down at the heels., want some? thing dona about It. .- ; Five hundred residents of Walbrook signed a petition In behalf of the community's 5o0t population some time- af ov ask ing that , the army send Mann back. They failed to get satisfaction, so their member of parliament, Ian Campbell Hannah,' Is going to ask the war secretary about it In the house of commons next week. House Group Against Wine Sales9 Limit Sen. W. E. Burke's bill limit ing' fortified wines' ' sale to the state liquor - stores was reported out "do not pass Thursday by tb" house alcoholic -control com mittee. The committee vote how ever was 4 to 2 and the minority members. Reps. H. ' R. Jones and Joseph E. Harvey, will bringr in a minority report. Because of the press of business in the . bouse, the reports will not be brought out ur til Monday. Voting against the bill were Reps. Standhope Pier, A. W. Mey ers, Leif S. Finseth and Harvey Wells. Rep. Burta K. Snyder, was absent. ,v ; -The vote followed a hearing on the bilL : : : y : B. N. Hicks, Portland, secre tary of the Oregon Anti-Saloon league, urged passage of the bill. He said it would abolish private wine stores and thus make forti fied wines less accessible to young people., , David Simpson, president of the Portland chamber of commerce, said the bill is "just putting the state government further into pri vate business. A. Ritter, Port land, said that if the people had to go to ' liquor stores to obtain wine,' they world purchase whis key instead. " Sen. Burke said "fortified wine is the most damnable thing sold In the state of Oregon." The bill previously was ap proved in the senate. Jews Sliipped - From Norway STOCKHOLM, Febi. is-iJ-Re- porut from Norway said Thursday that another boatload of J ews virtually the last In the country had, been shipped - fromv Oslo' to ah unknown fate in Germany, , There" were about 120 persons aboard the vessel, all of whom had spent the last two months in a concentration camp at Grini, near Oslo, the reports said,- . est E 1 Soviets Punch Holes tqest Mingrelskaya Taken Near Novorossisk;" :; ' 2 Battalions Slain By Th Associated Press LONDON, Friday, Feb. 26.- The Red army punched new holes in nazi defenses on the approach es to the Dnieper river west of Kharkov and stormed and cap tured Mingrelskaya in the west ern Caucasus only 33 miles from the big Black seaport of Novor ossisk, the - Russians announced early Friday. Despite continuing strong Ger man counter-attacks and imped ing muddy weather the Russians also gained ground in some sec tors of the Donets basin and west of Rostov along the Sea of Azov in the drive toward Taganrog, the - regular : midnight Moscow communique disclosed. ' The additional localities cap tured west of Kharkov in the drive to envelop Poltava and Ko notop were not identified in .the communique recorded by the So viet Monitor Bat In the- western Caucasus the Russians said two battalions of the 101st Germany light In fantry division were crushed after refusing to. surrender when Mingrelsakaya, It miles west of Krasnodar, was sur rounded. .' Of the two battalions of ap proximately 1600 men,' all were killed save 200 who finally sur rendered, and the communique said eight guns, 77 machine guns, one ammunition dump and sev eral equipment stores, were . cap tured as the Red army moved on toward y Novorossisk, the single (Turn to Page 2 Story F) Senate Approves Medal for Flight WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 -(jp) The senate passed Thursday with out dissent a resolution to author ize a gold medal for President Roosevelt in recognition - of - his flight to the conference with Prime Minister Churchill at Casa blanca. .:: The resolution, which now goes to the house, authorizes the treas ury to strike the medal in recog nition of .the president's "contri bution In inspiring confidence in aviation," the expense to be borne by the American section of the international league of aviators.. Pioneer Photos Dies NEW YORK. Feb. 25-UPV-Henrv A. Strohmeyer, 85, official pho tographer for the late President Theodore Roosevelt and a pioneer in stereoscopic photo era Dhv. died here Thursday in St. Luke's hos pital. He took photographs in all parts of the world and made ex clusive photographs of peace dele gates at 'the treaty of Portsmouth in 1803- ... Mroie vv. -I , 1 Double Squeeze ; -Started ' Heavy Air Offense Strikes Nazi Rear; X 8th Army Moves JBy ) DANIEL DeLUCE ; " ALLIED HEADQUARTERS 1 IN NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 25 ()-Allied armies on the of fen sive with strong air cover in both western and southern Tu nisia slashed through the axis rear guard in Kasserine pass- t uut sua; " uiiii aim rciidiami advance positions on the edge of the Mareth line. Under the field command of Gen. Sir Harold Alexander, Brit ish and American forces wer de clared to have launched the long awaited double-squeeze on the axis bridgehead in North Africa. Kasserine pass, from which Marshal Erwin Rommel last Sunday threatened to break In to Algeria, was being savasely cleared of the last axis defenses while to the east allied planes loosed a deadly air barrage on the -enemy's rear, striking his airfields, .a 1 y depots and -transport columns. 1. . ' ''Z (Reuters quoted the Algiers ia dio as saying the Germans: had withdrawn entirely from Kasser ine pass, leaving Italian rear guards to cover their retreat. (The axis Mill is getting large numbers of troops and supplies, Canadian Press Correspondent Ross Munro reported from field headquarters. He said an Amer ican pilot patrolling the Sicilian straits saw large enemy convoys steaming toward Tunisia and that U. A A man troop transport planes land ing troops at Bizerte.) Allied tank columns and infan try w e r e reported threaten ins; German positions at Sbeitla and Ousseltia above the Kasserine gap. Thus, Instead of Rommel as- ; suming a dominating position on the Algerian frontier, dis- ' patches showed he was being. . compelled to pull back his shat tered armor toward the coastal corridor in 'eastern Tunisia. In . the south, his Mareth line appeared due to suffer a large scale attack from the British Eighth army veterans of Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery. ' French headquarters announced that the Germans had been beat ren back west of Ousseltia witlj serious losses when they tried td launch an attack. Prisoners were taken.-- ..-'..; : Dir' 1f.1l. - mauiu.i v:x m - All mBlla said torpedo planes had sunk a large supply ship, heavily dam aged another and attacked an es . aAMff 4 aa4uvwa m4U a . T vvi.ui( uceuvcx nut ui . r A II pani, westernmost, point in Sicily. Trains were attacked in Italy, Sicily, and Tunisia and another convoy, was assaulted north of Italian Cape Alice with undis closed results.) f 7 J The Italian, communloue as heard here from the Rome radio tried to ignore the new situation in Tunisia, dismissing the allied counter-drive as "local activity .. awma- 1 CJUI fcCU lull BpK- fires eausht and destroyed three troop-laden trucks Wednesday In the Kasserine area. When a second Spitfire formation dived attach two other trucks, there were "no soldiers alive from the first trucks to fire at the report said. . RAP TTilti-iHnmKAM . . trucks and some eun costs in th ailUfc UU I WCT Kasserine area. In this squadron. was mgni sgt. T. E Johnson of Reykjavik, the only Icelandic pi lot in the RAF. He recently re ceived the DFM for destroying i uirw. enemy aircrait. - i y Gen. . Mnotgomenr's a r m a r m A forces were driving into the out post area of the Mareth line at Kommei's rear. u Wickard Recommends Hdps as Essential CORVALLIS, Feb. 25 JP) G. R . Jlyslop of Oregon , State col lege said "Thursday that he was informed by Senator McNary ' that Secretary of Agriculture -Wfokarif hna recommended that hops be aeciarea an cssenuu -i-i,ig