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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1943)
KEJETY-SECOND YEAR Salem, Oregon. Wdnadar Morning. March 24. 1843 Pric 5c 17o. 273 assies-in ay rw 010 A F FB)Ftt s... .' .j 1-', : . - r ' '.. ne Bombers Hit Jap Find Signs of Enemy Growth 250 Jap Craft Plastered at Rabaul Center Substantial Part of : Planes Destroyed ; Guinea Strafed By VERN HAUGLAND ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRALIA, Wednesday, March 24-P)-Allied bombers plastered the Japanese air base at Rabaul, New Britain, in a two-hour raid Tuesday aiming 54 tons of bombs upon three airdromes and 2 5 0 enemy plan clustered on them to strike a heavy blow to Nipponese air power, the allied command an nounced Wednesday. It was one of the heaviest raids of the war upon Rabaul, launched after reconnaissance disclosed the largest concentration of Japanese aircraft ever observed in this sec tor. The allied force destroyed or damaged "a substantial propor tion" of the grounded planes. Rabaul, a Japanese naval base as well as air center, is some 500 miles northeast of Port Moresby, New Guinea. The presence of so many planes was noted at Lakunai, Vunakanu and Rapopo ' airdromes - by allied reconnaissance planes. Tuesday v- night ins the face of heavy anti-aircraft opposition and searchlight barrages, heavy bomb ers attacked in coordinated action. "Fifty, four tens of bombs . ranging from 200 pounders ta ' fragmentation incendiaries were dropped on the runways, dis . penal areas. Installations, ' searchlights and gun positions lor one and a half hours," re ported the noon communique from Gen. Douglas MaeArthur's headquarters. "Fires immediately1 broke out in all the target areas, rising and multiplying as our aircraft in creased, their pressure columns of smoke reaching thousands of feet Into the air. "Congested aircraft on the ground were repeatedly hit and it is apparent that, the attack de troyed or damaged a substantial proportion of this pack. Several of our planes were damaged but all returned." The presence of so many air craft backed up reports recently released from allied headquarters that the Japanese are building up their strength in the southwest Pacific. The bombers oh their return to base passed nearby Cape Gazelle, spotted a 10,000-ton Japanese transport and set it on fire. Gasmata airdrome, on the south coast of New Britain, 325 miles from Port Moresby, was the tar get of two harassing night attacks. " Also referring to the New Britain sector, the cammuniqae disclosed that an enemy cargo ship previously reported as hem .Uy damaged In Borgen bay definitely was sank, as confirm ed by aerial reconnaissance. Salamaua, the Huon gulf base of the Japanese in New Guinea on which allied grourtd troops have moved closer by .mopping up the Marobare area 100 miles to the south, was strafed and bombed by planes .which flew through heavy rain and low , clouds. Later medi um bombers strafed the area, machine-gunning enemy barges and bivouac localities. In, the islands on the northwest approaches to Australia, medium bombers strafed a Japanese coast al vessel off Masela on Babar is land and raided the town of Sum laki on Tanimbar i island. An enemy schooner was bombed by an allied plane in the harbor Of Lorengau, admiralty islands. v The attacks on Salamaua, , New Guinea, were coordinated .' with six bombing runs and 27 strafing sweeps aver positions 1 held by Japanese troops at Mube, which Is only 12 miles below Salamaua, The communique stressed the fact that although ground fire was encountered not a Japanese plane rose in opposition. Allied planes weathered the ground fire and all returned to baso .. . Pacific Disguises Aid Enemy Escape LOURENCO MARQUES, Por tuguese East Africa, March 23 Six Italian prisoners of war, two of them disguised as Brit ish officers escorting the other four to another prison camp, have reached Portuguese terri tory after escaping from a Brit ish prison camp In Kenya eon ony, it was reported Tuesday. (The fugitives included Prince Giovanni Corsini, the Rome radio reported in a broadcast beard in London. He was not otherwise identified, bat In 1937 a Prince Corsini sold a Renais sance painting ''Presentation of the Virgin" to the Boston Ma seam of Fine Arts.) Board Favors Distribution Schools Urge Snell; Changes Made in Teaching Staff Salem school directors went on record Tuesday night as favoring the recent legislature's amendment to the elementary j school tax law which would provide that the two mill levy now distributed to school districts over the Estate- on the ba sis of assessed valuation should be turned oyer to those districts on the basis- of teacher-pupil enroll ment , : -. j ' Directing Roy I jHarland, board chairman, to write Gov. Earl Snell of the board's . attitude to ward the measure, which would increase by approximately $15, 000 Marion county's share of the school tax, board members indi cated their belief that the read justment would result in a more equitable allocation of tax funds which do not now come from property but fromj, incomes. The name of Miss Jennie M. Reinhart, . physical education in structor at Parrish1, was added to the list moved up to two-year rating in the tenure scheme, hav ing been erroneously left out at a previous meeting. . Resignation of Mrs. Bertha Englehont Lenhart, now on leave, and Miss Meryl Corbett, both of the Bosh staff were ae ' eepted. Miss Velma Yeoman, Independ ence, now replacing Mrs. R. A. Forkner at Washington; Mrs. (Turn to Page I 2 Story F) Schaupp Goes On Road Board Appointment , of Arthur W. Schaupp, Klamath' Falls attorney, as eastern Oregon member of the state highway commission was an nounced by Govt Earl Snell here Tuesday j j I . ; Schaupp succeeds Herman Oli ver, John Day, whose term ex pires on March 31. This is the first time that Klamath county has been recognized with the ap pointment of a highway commis sioner, j f The new highway commission er is a graduate of Willamette university law school and was ad mitted to the bar jia 1911. He serv ed as city attorhjey of Klamath Falls from 1926 to 1930 and rep resented Klamath) county in the lower house of the state legisla ture at the 1931; session. Prior to locating in Klamath Falls in 1922 he lived in Wallowa county, where he served as district attorney. . He also was mayor of the city of Joseph. If Oliver, who retires from the highway commission, previously was a member of the state board of higher education, r ; J 1 Latin-Russian Relations1 "PANAMA, ; Panama, March 23 (P)-Vice President Henry A. Wal lace said ' at ; a ipfess conference Tuesday that he ; thought resump tion of relations with Russia would be a I good thing; for all Latin American countries. "I - A better understanding between the Slav: and Latin peoples, the vice president said " in answer to a question, would be a definite contribution toward a lasting peace throughout the world. ' Bases Kiska Raiding Directed at Field Buildin g 'Impossible' Task Of Flight Strip Tried on Island By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER WASHINGTON, March 23 CffVAmerica's stepped - up jair offensive against the Japanese force on Kiska island, it 3e- veloped Tuesday, lis designed primarily to prevent the enemy from accomplishing; the almost impossible task of building Ian airfield on the mountainous Aleu tians base. New Blows in this offensive were reported by the navy iii a communique which said that Kis ka was attacked Monday by two groups of Liberator heavy -and Mitchell medium bombers but that "except for one large fire results were not observed." i j These raids boosted the num ber of raids on Kiska this month to 21, as compared with a total of only nine attacks dar ing the entire month of Feb ruary. Improving weather con ditions have been credited hero (Turn to Page 2 Story E) Fake Tests Admitted On Steel WASHINGTON, March 22H;p) Before a senate investigating committee, officers and employes of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel cor poration readily acknowledged Tuesday that tests had been faked on steel turned out by its Irvin (Pa.) plant to fill war orders, but steadfastly denied there was any motive except patriotism a (de sire to get on with the war effort. J. Lester Perry, vhite haired president of the corporation, tes tified that the "regrettable fail ure" to carry out testing proce dures on steel plates jfor the navy, maritime commission and lend lease was not known! to the "high er management," and declared: he intended to "clear it iip" as quick ly bs possible. I j Perry said he thought it. was simply a case of lax work by "a few individuals responsible jfor making the tests, having an inti mate knowledge of tljie high char acter of the steel and honestly believing that the plates in ques tion would fully meet all require ments." j' , j No one profited, he said, de claring that if the steel had been rejected as not up tp government specifications it could have been sold to others for just as high a price. - . ; Later B. T. Fairless, president of the United States Steel Cor poration (Carnegie-Illinois ' i$ a subsidiary) asserted; he had been as "shocked" as the commit teej by the revelations, and added "We are going to get the facts. "Whoever is responsible. whether they are underlings, in termediate officials or tops. Will have to walk the plank,' Fairless declared. Labish Celery to Equal 1942 Production ! By RALPH C. CURTIS 1 i - Celery plants from f illedfto- capacity greenhouses, started moving Tuesday to thie rich black river bottom soil of !the Lavish district amid circumstances which held promise that this major Mar Ion - county crop willj this year, despite ; absence of the Japanese and Japanese-American farmers who formerly " cultivated it, equal in quality and -volume the 1942 production. ; I . Due to the demoralizing uncer tainty of those experienced celery growers status ' following Pearl Harbor land their evacuation aft er I the production ? season jhad started, the Labish district's cel ery output was reduced aboui 40 per" cent, from, approximately 197,000 crates in 1941 to . about 1 17,000 ; In J 1942. The 1939 crop had : exceeded 200,000 crates; It Capital Eating Waste 'Huge WASHINGTON, March 23 ti-(JPy-A farmer - congressman who appointed himself a one man committee to investigate the eating situation In the na4 Uon's capital Tuesday reported that he had found "shocking waste" In Washington restau-t rants. ' . i j "Chicken dinners only half; eaten halves of good, Juicy steaks left on the plates whole bowls of peas from which only one spoonful had been taken- good desserts nibbled at and left I was amased at the terrific waste," said Rep. Gross (D-i Fa). Gross, who proudly lists him-i self In the congressional diree4 tory as a member of "a typical farm family" said that over the weekend he had . made It his "business to circulate around Washington and look into some of the restaurants." CIO Leaders Shown Blitz Unionists Work, Live With Soldiers!, See How Attack Runs CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind, March 23.-jip)-The United Statejs army showed CIO union leaders from war plants in four midwest- ern states Tuesday how tough it really is. . The Ranger "blitz course" and a tank-led attack problem did it. As visiting shop committeemen and local union officers of the United Automobile Workers stood on a nearby knoll, the 83rd com bat division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Frank W. Milburn and sup ported by medium tanks from Fort Knoxr Ky, loosed, a terrific assault on' a simulated enemy position oh a hilL , . r j First artillery units eat loose; with 105 - millimeter e a a a o a, sending explosive shells Into a! target area about 3M by 10 yards. H a a V y machine-runs Joined in the firing. After this preparatory fire the tanks opened ap with their 75-miUI-meter cannon and machine guns, rumbling ap the hill, fol lowed by waves of Infantry. . After the firing ceased, Geh Milburn and Walter P. Reuther, international vice-president of thie UAW-CIO, stood on a knoll half a mile away and expressed satis faction with results of the union ists' three-day visit here. Reuther said that "Our boys are returning to their war plants determined to exert every effort to increase war production anI back up the fighting men we have worked with and lived with at Camp Atterbury." "Without being sarcastic oir critical," Reuther added, "I think management ought to organize some of its top-flight boys and send them down here on a similar trip." Union Control Law Signed in Kansas TOPEKA, Kas., March 23.-(P)4- An experimental labor union con trol law designed to bait the closed shop, sitdown strikes and second! ary boycotts was signed into laW by Gov. Andrew Schoeppel Tuesj day. Almost before the ink from his pen was dry, representatives of the CIO, AFL and some of the railway brotherhoods branded the act unconstitutional and promised it would be tested in the courts as soon as possible. 1 will not be possible to return to the former peak this year. But the industry carries on, i producing food for victory. I Thirty one farmers now eom-i pose the Labish Celery Grow ers cooperative, participating In an : arrangement i whereby they have both an Initial finan cial stake in the Joint under-; taking and oportunity; ta share equally In the returns. Mean while they and the additionally employed workers draw wages ' which compare favorably, liv ing costs considered. ; with , in come - obtainable in other war f Industries. And please take note.! : af the adjective ''atherV? : - if i , i A civilian purchaser for the art my recently Informed Ronald jK, Jones, manager of the cooperat tJve, that the army's celery re quirements tor Alaska, f Washing Americans From West i Ma Senate S craps FR's Ceiling On Salaries Repealer Attached To Raising of Debt Limit WASHINGTON, March 23 (;P)-With the approyal of the democratic leadership, the sen ate voted 74 to 3 Tuesday to scrap President Roosevelt's or der putting a ceiling of $25,000 (after taxes) on all salaries. The house has approved the same objective but in a different manner, so the two versions will now be threshed out in a joint committee representing the two branches. Only Senators Bone (D-Wash), Downey (D-Calif), and Langer (R-ND) opposed repealing the salary limit. The repealer is attached ta an administration measure raising the statutory limit on the pub lic debt from $125,eaa,eoe,eae to $21M0M09,00p. The whole bill, with the rider, was passed oa a voice vote and returned to the boase. . Chairman George (D-G.) of the finance committee, leading the fight to nullify the salary limita (Turn to Pago 2, Story C) . Tokyo Warns Of Air Raids NEW YORK, March 23 UP) Tokyo broadcasts are warning Japanese people to expect air raids over Japan and increasing sub marine attacks upon shipping. A war review broadcast, report ed by the office of war informa tion, said "the enemy is still con tinuing air raids on our forces. The American planes in China will be further strengthened and there fore the enemy hopes to carry out raids over Japan. Chungking has many plane factories and field re pair shops. We must realize the situation." As to shipping, the broadcast said "the enemy is using her sub marines in the hope of destroying our supply lines. Of course, we cannot underestimate submarine activities. We must expect further activities by enemy submarines and therefore must build more ships to replace our lost ships." Salem and County Schools Praised Schools of Salem and i Marion county "did the outstanding job" of processing fuel oil rationing registrations in Oregon and Wash ington, C. B. Maxfield, fuel oil authority with the district OPA office in Portland, has written school authorities here, Supt. Frank B. Bennett revealed Tues day as he read the Salem school board letters sent him and Miss Beryl Holt, head of the schools' mathematics department. Senior high school mathematics pupils figured ration ratios,, while teachers of the system had served as registrars. ton and a portion of Oregon in cluding Camp Adair but not Camp White, amounted to 75,000 pounds daily. ,And the co-op's members and employes not only are contribut ing to. the nation's food supply; they are signed up 100 -per cent for war bond purchases via pay roll deduction. : f . . . The garden land farmed by the cooperative, not all of it in celery, amounts to 215 acres. A larger acreage owned and farmed by F. A. Hayes likewise is expected to produce a celery crop this year equal to that of 1942. All this is not to say that the ce ler y industry's employment problem is entirely solved. ' Addi tional workers : are being- added steadily. . But it can see daylight ahead for much of the addition al work from now on is of such j Tunisian Ofiens&lCrows k klAUaiaffv ; - Mr ' iwi mm as a ' ...-................. STATUTE MlttS (Pr Allied forces broke into the Maretb line of ' soatbeastera TanlsU Tuesday and at the same time flanked it t the footh. Meanwhile General Patton's American armored foree jcaptared Maknassy and raced on toward the coast in an attempt ik split! the axis farces la north Africa Associated Press Reds Repulsfe! jNzi Onslaught; Big . By The Associated Preas !j: - j " li ! LONDON, Wednesday, March 24 Strpng German forces which had smashed against the Moscow-Bryansk rail trunk north of Zhizdra have been beaten back in four jdays of violent fight ing which cost them 7000 officers and men: in killed alone, Mos cow announced Wednesday. rj l . j . Iji ! In addition, prisoners were. taken andamich nazi equipment fell to the defending ; red army, it was stated in the midnight com munique as recorded here by. the 'KimiJaK!iiir The Russians in their own of fensive west of Moscow . toward the big nazi base of Smolensk cap tured an additional number of populated . places, said the mid night bulletin, which also indi cated that the Red army was threatening to flank the German position at Yartsevo, next big sov iet objective on this front: The communique reported that despite strong infantry reinforce ments rushed up by the' Germans and despite powerful artillery and LONDON. Wednesday, March 24-P)-German claims that the nasi armies have encircled and annihilated large Russian forces daring a counter-offensive be tween the Dnieper and Donets rivers were officially 'denied ' Wednesday by the soviet infor mation bureau in a statement broadcast over the Moscow ra dio. The broadcast was record ed by the soviet monitor here. mortar fire, the Russians beat off fierce counter-attacks "before Dukhovschino,' a town 12 miles northwest of Yartsevo and only 32 miles northeast of Smolensk it self. The Russians also reported saeeesses an the bloody Belgo rod front above Kharkov and fat the Caucasus, but in all eases they made It clear that f ishUns was heavy and that the Ger mans both in attack and defense were packing a heavy punch. . The German high Command Wednesday reported that its at tack west of Kursk, the area in which 'it maintains the heaviest fighting la now taking place, "gained still more ground against (Turn to Page 2, Story D) v nature it can be done by women and children. The picture with rspect ta the onion crop is not so bright, bat that Is a matter of celling price rather than labor.' Onions can not be raised here except an the best landas cheaply as la eastern Oregon and Idaho. Bat Che Labish growers have here tofore been able to compete by . supplying an export m a r k e t which Is now I closed, and In nearby markets by holding un til March and April when they have the field ta themselves. OPA has" not seen fit to"1 ra 1st the ceiling price in those months in recognition of the cost of stor age and loss from shrinkage. As a result, marginal onion lands are to be devoted to other crops; then productivity .Will not be lost but the onion . production ; may drop by 3 or 10 per cent Put 0m 6 - i h f ' 1 , -J -77 ' ' wmirm ': i I i i --. I ! i; . i 1. H. .,. Mediterranean ifllll Sea "?i:n:: HOUMTi-i-iHiiiin!:-::: Telemat. 300 Bombers OnljIjOhe 'LONDON, March 23.VP-The RAF threw j nearly 300 our-mo-battered tored bombers against the; U-boat base at; St. Nazalre Mon day night f and lost only one, the air ministry announced Tuesday. Returning pilots described how large fires! took; hold on the docks of the French port. Observers; regarded the single bomber loss in such a large-scale operation tal particularly notable, and recalled that the January 16 night raid' on Berlin wasi the last big attack:, which cost but one. In a; quick followup, speedy Mosquitos' of ithe bomber ; com mand attacked the St Joseph loco motive works, ibear Nantes, with out loss Tuesday afternoon. The Mosquitos struck in two waves the first slummina the ropftopa an4 the second 'bombing from a thousand feet . f The fliers reported seeing bombs explode j pn Idead center of their target, obe of iFrance's principal locomotive worgs now producing quantities: of steam and! electric engines for German rail lines and equipped to build tank turrets and gunpArti L ; . ') At dusk Tuesday several ene my aircraft dropped bombs on the southwesl coastal area of England, but causfd lttl damagel.The air m I n i s tr y said one ; plkne was brought fdown by anti U aircraft Whirlwind; lighter-bombers at tacked, riiUway; targets in . ' Brit tany Morjday njghtwhila the lar ger planes were over St Nazaire. The duat night attack j followed Monday's ' devastating daj light as sault on the j nazi U-boat base at Wilheimshaveni by American hea vy bombers. AH the Whirlwinds returned from Brittany. ' i i L . . . ... Jef fersoit 3Iay Get New Flax Plant JEFFERSON March! 23 The new flax processing plant whose construction Was approved Mon day by t4if. war production board in Washington, 'PC. will be erect ed In iJeflersori ijr details can be worked out. Chairman A. L.-Page of the .Santiam Flax Growers as sociation said; TiHesday. j -J . , Juxact status bTi the project will be explained at a membership meeting Fridai; ihight, Mr. Page added. ',1 r Sen. Charles: L. McNary an- nounced Monday! that WPB had approved construction of one new plant and expansion of ten exist ing pi ants; in connection with prospects f of si doubling oi the 1942 flax acreage in Oregon this year to attain a total of 4CC0 acres.';' ' " :; - ? I S ' " - i Saueeze JL el Fights as 2-Mile Gap Broken; Yank Armors -Take Maknassy, Move On ALLIED HEADQUARTERS Hf NORTH AFRICA, March 23 (Jfy-The - crack British Eighth army in a thunderous, savage Mareth line, Tuesday, tearing a hole in those Jbristling fortifica tions fromythe coast to a point two miles! Inland, while a flying column of other veteran troors outflanked the line on its south-' ern end in another sweeping at tack. ' 1 . :v :::::: : jFighting sJall raged Tuesday night on a scale surpassing even the ferocious offensive at El Ala-, mlein and Marshal Rommel's, am -o V Mil Ull v pciti muif the coastal anchor of their forti fications breached, and the other, extremity by-passed by. "British troops who now can attack from the back. .: J . . ; 1 This was she-: long-awaited . general offensive in Tunisia, sad ' Rommel's Africa corps was put In greater danger by American troops that : recaptured . and -drove beyond -Maknassy in a ' drive to the sea ta close a steel - : iraat en the axis in son them Tanlsla.' .:-X i'' - RomnOaahed- at American troops advancing southwest of EI Guetar with a heavy tank " force in a . desperate effort to stave off their surge, and a -fierce battle impended or was raging in that sector too. : ' 1 1 Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgom ery's forces broke the Mareth line at 3 a.m. Tuesday after less than 30 hours of furious fighting. As sociated Press Correspondent Don' Whitehead, w h o is with those veteran troops, 'reported, '"i , ; The British! attacked after a Withering artillery barrage, White head said, and, in an infantry as sault over the powerfully-defendV-ed Wadi Zigzaou, breached the line, tearing a gap from the coast to a point two; miles inland, and deepened their bridgehead across the Wadi to about 1000 yards. Uane aaniBiuni troops irarmcg ross the Wadi despite mine fields, cross fire, and all Ger- man defenses.! The breach was opened and m e n a n d tanks ' peared in. Whitehead -said. . f (The . London radio said that Viur Irasualtics so far have been Very light" in the control as-' sault) f, The Eighth army had scored a tremendous success by the Mar eth line break-through, but to ex ploit the success it must move ar mor and guns across the precipi tous Wadi Zigzaou under fire of ?erman artillery. The desert column that flanked - the southern end of the line, al though it has fought through de fenses built on ancient Roman El Hamma, stil the remains of an wall southwest of has rugged coun try line with German guns to con quer, with panjzer units available for counter-thrusts.; - j Allied bombers were making al most continual : attacks against some SO tanks massed for that. Rommel had blows against US troops near El Guetar. Here there or no rain for sev- has been little eral days and the grassy battle fields are almost dry. .The battle for southern Tunis ia thus was an In fnll f urv. with the next 48 hours likely to see decisive fighting, a test of men and stamina and vehicles and leadership, with Rsmmel the "desert fex-j-harrled by Irish "blood and thunder" Montgom ery on his southern flank, and by American "blood and guts" General Pation on his west. Gen. Sir narold Alexander had studied the operations with Pat-' ton, while Gen. Dwight D. Eis enhower coordinated the work af all three, and kept the endless supply Uses going to their for ces, j 1 . j;;; .. The Mareth j forces were report- jed to be chiefly Italian infantry lacking motor transport to escape, but there gvas a steel' corps of German panzers "and grenadiers on hand to strengthen them. Flanked Fiercely - - ! , i 1 " - ' " t '