Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1943)
nZISTY THUtD YEAB Salem, Oregon, Thursday Morning, April 22 IS 43 Truman Com Reveals Big-: Losses Of A Hied Shipping Present Moves Expected to Mee SiiliiTinrW Mphjipp! TiWtv ci.. T.i.- WASHINGTON, April 21-3-The Truman committee dis closed Wednesday that approximately 12,000,000 tons of allied shipping were sunk last year more than the total tonnage built in 1942 by the United States and Great Britain combined. Calling the losses "heavy but not disastrous," the special senate unit investigating war production problems reported losses , Were reduced in the latter months of the year, and declared confi . dently: . "The submarine menace can and -Will be effectively met." The answer to the threat of the , undersea raiders, the committee declared in a report on shipbuild- -. ing and shipping, is a stepped-Up . production of new merchant and escort vessels, . and the combined use of destroyers and destroyer escorts, escort airplane carriers, land-based airplanes equipped for ' anti-submarine work, and sub- . chasers. The Vancouver shipyards! of Henry Kaiser have recent ly launched t we "escort' type carriers to be used In convoy dnty to combat the submarine . menace. One, HMS Ameer, la being turned over to Great Brl - tain. "All of these are being pro- vided," the committee declared. The only question is that of time." Although the number of ships lost in 1942 : was not given, the committee noted that 746 ships, totaling 8,090,800 tons, were built in this country's merchant ship 1 yards last year. In other sections of the 75-page, 45,000-word document, the com mittee, headed by Senator Tru man (D-Mo.), reported: " 1. The quantity-production Li i, berty ship is being redesigned in to the "victory ship, with more t po&erMVggiiieV higher speed and greater cargo carrying capacity, although the change, sponsored by the mari time commission, is , opposed by : the navy and the war production board on the grounds it would be wiser to stick to the present sim plicity and standardization of de sign. ' ,J ; 2. The navy has done "a mag nificent job" in building a first- . class fighting fleet "that can stand up and slug it out with any " ether navy." 4 3. Nevertheless the committee believes that "the navy should be less conventional and conserva7 , tive in its thinking,w spend less time propounding explanations of unfortunate situations, and en courage new ideas. 4. : Our merchant shipbuilding record compares favorably with the British, but S. It Is no military eseret r that wt do not , have enough. ;. shipping to supply our allies with the weapons f and feed which they require and to ' transport and ! maintain ever-.' -- seas as many soldiers as we - can train or as much material . as we can produce. 6. The concrete barge1 program has been "most disappointing., t. 7. Ships must, be utilized ef- ficiently; provision must be made for uf ficient docks, cranes, light ers and trained longshoremen. 8. .Through the Ingenious -use of steel supports welded to , the decks, tankers now- are- carrying large quantities of combat planes nd torpedo boats which former ly took up space below decks on dry cargo ships. , ; 9. There is wide disparity in the efficiency of private shipyards. The Oregon Shipbuilding corpor ation delivered 12 Liberty" ships at an average of 393,858 man hours each, while another west coast yard, Marinship corpora " tion, at Sausalito, v Calif, spent i 1,620,679 man-hours on one ves sel. . Poison Gas Warning Sent LONDON, Thursday, April 22 (ff)-The British government in an extraordinary announcement said today Jhat it had received reports that- "Hitler is making prepara tions for using poison gas against the Russian front," and warned that such a development would find the British retaliating with the same weapon "upon German munitions centers, seaports and ether military objectives through out the whole expanse of Ger many. .. . ' Expect Jury Report : Marion county grand jury, In session since Wednesday morning, is expected to report on a num ber of routine criminal investiga tions late today or Friday. , n.- Jury Still Out pronp Returns for 'New Instructions,,, After 4Vi Hours : A ALBANY, Ore, April 22 HP) The Lower 13 jury considering a first-degree murder charge against Robert E. Lee Folkes, ne gro' dining car cook, retired ear ly this morning without reaching a verdict, f ;., ,, ; : Circuit Judge L. G. Lewelling ordered the Jury . locked ' up at 12:45 a. m. after the eight wo men and four men had deliber ated 13 hours and 15 minutes. Temporary beds were fixed up in the jury room in the .Linn county courthouse. Deliberations are s scheduled to resume around 9 a. m. The jury retired to eat at 6 p. m. Deliberations were to re sume after I dinner. After four and one half hours' deliberation had passed, the jury asked for new instructions. - r Foreman Lee. A. Doerfler, of Albany, said the Jury needed ad vice on the-number of votes re- ouired to reach IS Jrerdk ri the ted in the instructions of Judge L. G. Lewelling. Judge Lewelling advised the eight women and four men that a 'Unanimous vote is required for (Turn to Page 2 Story C) Byrnes Okelis Lumbermen's Wage Boost WASHINGTON, April 21-P) James F. Byrnes, economic stabili zation director, announced Wed nesday he had approved the ac tion of the war labor board in granting a wage increase in the western pine lumber industry, and at the same time had asked Pren tiss Brown, price administrator, to leave present pine lumber ceil ings ; in effect until the institu tion of a premium price plan such as has been utilized for non-ferrous metals. V Byrnes said he was anxious that the WLB decision should not result in any increase in the cost of living. He said OPA had in formed him that the decision might possibly necessitate an in crease in the price of lumber con sumed by civilian industry aggre gating about $7,000,000, but that the major portion of this would not affect the cost of living in dex, s Rnml Talks Stalemated I : . ' : A- : '. ... r - . . " WASHINGTON, AprU 21 The friendly ; democratic-republican efforts to devise a compro mise pay-as-you-go tax system collapsed ' completely Wednesday night, with the two parties agree ing to take the issue on income tax abatement, including the Ruml skip-a-year plan, to the house floor for another finish fight. Their truce broken, the two parties again aligned themselves at opposite poles on the amount of taxes that should be abated to: achieve a current ' tax basis for the 44,000,000 income taxpay ers. : Oregon Rivers Threaten Flood PORTLAND, Ore, April 21(P) The weather bureau predicted Wednesday that the Columbia river, now slightly ; over flood stage of 15 feet, will reach 1 18 feet at Vancouver by Sunday and will go considerably higher later. The Willamette river will rise to flood level of 18 feet here by Saturday and will submerge low er levels of several piers, the bureau predicted. Fathers' Induction gljected V1. Wooton Tells of Draf Shuffle for I Oregon Registrants The military draft will be taking married men with chil dren in Oregon by next fall unless their children were ac quired before December 8, 1941, or they have claims for deferment based on reasons other than dependency, CoL Elmer V. Woo ton, state selective service di rector, said Wednesdays t . . .Married men maintaining bona fide ''family relationship ,in .their home-with pre-Pearl Harbor chil dren will be temporarily, deferred in class III-A, the director said in discussing ; recent classification changes. .. . '' ;i Wooton recently.' returned here from Washington, DC, ; where , he conferred with Lewis' ,B.: Hershey,r national selective service dn-ector and: other, officials, ; relative to classification changes and placing more stress on a. registrant's im- WASHINGTON, April 21-) Beginning May 15, local draft boards will file monthly reports on federal employes classified by them In or oat of 2-A or 2 B, the classification for Irre placeable men in essential work portance to an essential activity than to his dependents. All states are about on an equal basis so far as the necessity for inducting men with dependents is concerned, Wooton said. Oregon is now inducting only single men or men who acquired dependents after war was declared, but. this pool of men is near exhaustion and calls in the next few months will include men with dependents, the state director indicated. - He pointed out that Oregon had at one time been calling some men with "wives "'only and with collateral de pendents but was enabled to fill its calls this year with single men following registration and classi fication of the 18 year olds. Aside from some 18 and 19 year olds deferred to finish the semester in high schools, this group of single men Is now near exhaustion and the students completing the school year will be sufficient only to : fin Jane -calls in part, Wooton declared. - Wooton said it is not true that all single men will be inducted before any men with dependents are taken. He said some single men will continue to be deferred in class II-A and Class II-B so long as they are irreplaceable in occupations essential to the sup port of the war effort This group of single men, Wooton added, is being kept as small as possible but cannot be eliminated if induction will dangerously curtail activities essential to the war program. Wooton said there is some mis understanding regarding the new hardship classification, Class III- D. it .':.- 4- -'-V:-:M'--..t H'K'- "''-"' ;-K "Class m-D will afford defer ment only to these registrants whose lndaction ; would a canse extreme hardship and privation to their dependents, " 1 Wooton said, "and the word extreme Is (Turn to Page 2 Story F) " Mexican Laborers! Sent to Washington." PORTLAND, .April 21-P) Walter A. Duffy, regional farm security administration director, announced that 400 Mexican farm laborers left Mexico City today for Washington sugar beet and truck crop areas. ; FDR, Cdmacho Visit Corpus Christi CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex., Ap ril 21-(P-The presidents ' of the United States and Mexico said farewells Wednesday to their precedent-breaking : conferences ' af ter President Avila Camacho had been welcomed at the naval air braining center here and Presi dent Roosevelt had called the oc casion one of the great ' Ameri can historical meetings."' The president of Mexico and Mr. Roosevelt inspected the busy training station and saw a bril liant aerial display by a forma tion of Catalina patrol boats and a squadron of dive bombers. Fin ally they rode back to the rail road siding and said their fare wells in Mr. Roosevelt's private car. - President Avila Camacho was repaying a visit to : Monterrey, Mexico, Tuesday ' by the Ameri can chief executive, - which Mr. Roosevelt described as ? "one " of the highlights in my life." . The aerial . display ; was wit nessed on tour of the 'center af A OM1 US Heavy Bombers Attack Rommel 15 Raids Hit ICiska Record Number of Trips Aimed at Knocking Out-Base WASHINGTON, AprU 21 American airmen pounding Kiska on a now-or-never schedule have stepped up the fury of their at tacks to IS raids in a single day, the navy announced Wednesday. The urgent need for telling re sults - in the aerial offensive against the enemy outpost in the Aleutians was believed by in formed persons here to result from evidence that the Japanese are about,, ready to finish jrorw verting the rocky island linto , an air base of their own. The 15-raid day, a record break er in Aleutians operations, was Monday. The tonnage of bombs dropped was not reported in Wed nesday's communique but must have been enormous since on the previous day in only nine raids fighter planes alone dropped 34, 000 pounds of explosives. The Monday raid was car ried ent by Liberator heavy and Mitchell medium bombers and by Lightning and Warhawk fighters. The planes roared in to the attack at varying alti tudes and scored numerous hits on the main enemy camp, en the runway and en defensive positions. Some fires were started.''- j f ' (Turn to Page 2 Story B) Kaiser Employe Says CIO First PORTLAND, April 2l-JPy-A witness at the Henry J Kaiser shipyard labor hearing testified Wednesday that CIO union regis tration ' cards appeared among timecheckers at the Swan Island yard before the AFL campaigned to organize the checkers. '' The witness, Dana Smythe, time- checker Headman at i the yard, named several graveyard ' shift workers whom he said distributed the cards. , Temblor Recorded SAN FRANCISCO, April 2 !-() A slight earthquake was felt by residents of San Francisco s Sunset-district about 4:40 p.m. PWT, Wednesday. ter luncheon in a mess hall with cadet officers. : . ..:, In contrast with an . elabor ate : banqoet served the two X chief executives In Monterrey Tuesday night, their luncheon here was. the regular ration ef flying cadets at ; the world's largest aviation training estab lishment. The main coarse was frankfurters, mashed patatoes and string beans.;: V- -5- Lacking, too, was the pomp and pageantry which 3 Monterrey splurged on the - chiefs of -'state of : the neighboring nations." But, then they did not enter . Corpus Christi . itself and the only peo ple they saw. were the cadets, of ficers and civilian employees of the training center. They ate in a mess hall with 250 cadet officers, and Mr; Roose velt spoke briefly and informally after the meal. ";-:;-' Vl-'x "X am glad that the cadets are hearing what I nave ie say," he asserted, "because I want to ie3 yen I regard this as one -77T7Tm XL XL XL XI Action of American heavy bombers (of the type shown above) was ' restricted Wednesday by heavy snow storms at the' scene of the heaviest action. Their contrasted raids on Rommel's1 supply lines and bases are slowly bat surely. inching the noose tighter around the Desert Fox's" trapped forces. UN Soundphbto. ; Japs Execute Warning Sent to Tokyo By WILLIAM T. PEACOCK WASHINGTON, April 21-(P-Japan has put to death some of the eight American fliers captured after the bombing of Tokyo and, treating the others as criminals, is denying them the rights to which prisoners of war are entitled. - This new horror by the enemy in violation of covenants concern ing military prisoners was dis dosed Wednesday by President Roosevelt. He made known, too. that the American government has- warned Tokyo,, that for this and any future "acts of criminal bar barity" Just punishment will be visited on the responsible Japanese officials. I "This recourse by our enemies to frightfulness is barbarous," Mr, Roosevelt said in a statement to the American people. "The efforts of the Japanese war lords to in timidate us will utterly faiL 'It MADRAS, ORE, April tl-iPi Corp. Jacob D. Deshaser, one of the American airmen presumed to be a prisoner of Japan after, the Tokyo bomb in-. Is a Se y ear-old former turkey rancher who gave up his business to en list In the army In 1939. will . make the American people more determined than ever to blot out the shameless militarism of Japan." ; , 1 The president's statement, is sued at the ? White -House, - was supplemented by- the state de partment. Together, the state ments disclosed that: " The American government ini tiated inquiries through the Swiss government immediately after Tokyo's radio broadcast, last Oc tober : 19, that military trials were planned , for. the eight Americans. t It was not until Febraary ! ' however, that the Japanese gov ernment replied, acknowledg ing that the Americans had been tried, sentenced to death, and that, as the sUte depart-' ment phrased : It, following ; eonnnatatlon of the sentence for the large number of them, the sentence of death was ap plied to certain of the accused." The Japanese reply, under the February 17 date, was not re- (Turn to Page 2 Story A) of the greatest American his torical meetings. '- "I think you will remember it Just as long as you live, for we are 'receiving; on . American soil the president of one of our sis ter republics" Avila Camacho did not speak, but as be left the mess hall he shook ; hands with the Mexican cadets stationed there. Touring the training center in an open car, the two presidents saw dozensof v patrol bombers and other : planes, some in the air, some on the ground, cheer ing lines of civilian workers, ca dets drilling and running around a - commando toughening, course. k No : disclosure has. been ; made of the real reason for their dra matic meeting. i The two chief executives took Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles'with them as they set out on their tour of the main training station. Mrs. Roosevelt and Mrs. Avila Camacho were in a second car." . US Fliers;; County Hits TwaT44rd $2,500,000 Mark la ' Passed by Sales ' Outside Banks Marion county passed the two thirds mark Wednesday in its drive io fulfill its quota of April war bond purchases outside of banks in the sum of $2,500,000, Victory Chairman J. J. Gard an nounced in reporting a new sales total of $1,685,000 in this classifi cation. A $250,000 addition was made to the country's totals Wednesday when W. M. Hamilton, division manager, announced that that part of a $3,300,000 bond purchase made . by Portland General Elec tric company had been allocated to Marion county. The banks' quota of $2,500,000 has been reached, with reports not yet received from ' at least four money-handling institutions in the county. Card announced Wednes day mat the United States Na tional bank had bought $2,500,000 for Its Ladd & Bush-Salem branch and its Mt. Angel branch.' The St. Paul State bank had reported $50, 000 and the Gervais State bank $100,000. : . . PORTLAND, April 21 (A3) The state war bond staff pre-; dieted ; Wednesday ; night that . private purchases In the sec ond war loan . campaign will reach $30,000,000 Thursday, but warned that the next $20,000, 000 win be hard to get. Edward C. Sammons, co-chair man of the finance committee, said the goal for private purchases was $50,000,000. Banks will take (Turn to Page 2 Story E) House Bans Banking Fund - WASHINGTON, April 21 -JP) The house added a restriction of its own Wednesday in passing the senate-approved measure to extend for two years the : presi dent's authority over the $2,000,- 000,000 . currency : stabilization fund. The senate withdrew the president's power to devalue the dollar and the house adopted an amendment by Rep. Reed (R-HL) designed to prevent the use of the $2,000,000,000 in the $3,000,- 000,000 International banking bund proposed by Secretary Mor genthau for post-war use. '' Salem Executive Awarded Position PORTLAND, April ll-itf) Lloyd Riches, Salem, manager of Western Paper Converting com pany, was named second ; vice president of Columbia Empire In dustries, Inc, here Wednesday, Sam E. Fletcher, Portland, was elected president, v Tommies Storm Axis : Heights At Takrouna Foe's Rear Bases Pounded By Allied Airmen; Berlin Admits Unequal Fight9 ' By WES . ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH AFRICA; April 21 I - (Py-The British Eighth army has captured the' axis coastal pivot '. of Enfidaville has swung five miles northwest to storm; tb mountain citadel of r Takrouna, and also has gained two miles; in me, ujeoei Larci area ianner lruana anua "very severe light ing," it Was reported Wednesday night. : Z ; v .'.' Striking along a XO-mile front after a tremendous artillery, barrage, Eighth army infantrymen armed with knives for close quarter j fighting, scaled the enemy's mountain positions at some points only 45 miles south of Tunis, while the British British Blast Nazi Bases Russians Bomb East i Prussian Railway Center, .Tilsit ' LONIJON, April 21-fl5)-Sweep-ing out in force in perfect flying weather,! British bombers Tuesday night blasted manufacturing and other war installations in the Bal tic porjs of Stettin and Rostock, left Berlin alight with fires, and ranged' widely over other sections of occupied Europe today In one of the war's biggest air assaults on German communications. Simultaneously, a mass raid by Russian bombers on the east Prus sian railway center of Tilsit Tues day night started fires visible nearly 100 miles away, Moscow announced. The broadcast said the - fires merged into "one huge conflagra tion" at Tilsit, and that big explo sions "were particularly: numer ous" near munitions dumps, among railroad-; installations and around the harbor and airfield. - All Soviet planes were said 1 to have returned 1 safely from r the raid, the fifth big attack by the Russian forces on the northeast German " area ' since long-range (Turn to Page 22 Story D) Russ Defeat Nazi Attack In Caucasus - LONDON, AprU 22-(i!p)-Pow-erf ul Russian shellfire has de feated the . newest - German , at tempt to storm Red - army posi tions in the Kuban , delta . of the Caucasus, and inflicted . heavy losses on the attackers, the Sov iet midday communique, as re corded by the -Soviet radio mon itor here, said today. , , More than 400 . of the enemy were killed, some small groups being entirely wiped out in hand-to-hand fighting after they had managed to reach the first Rus sian defense lines, it was said. The attacks were part of a drive which the Germans have been mounting in the area for the last several days . In what may be an attempt to start a new - axis spring offensive. ' The noon war bulletin said that Russian troops had dug in on newly-won positions on the Smo lensk front, ; and : north of Chu guev there were clashes . reported between opposing scouting par ties. . . . Polish Radio Cries Out, Is Silenced STOCKHOLM, April 21-OP) The secret' Polish radio appealed for, help Wednesday , night in a broadcast from Poland and then suddenly the station went dead. The broadcast was heard here: The last 85,000 Jews in the Ghetto at Warsaw have been con demned to execution. : . - Warsaw again is echoing to musketry volleys. - ; ' "The people are murdered. Women and children defend them selves with their naked arms. :"Save us . GALLAGHER first army gained slightly in thf Medjex-El-Bab sector 35 miles west of the Tunisian capital. ' (The Morocco Radio some times premature in its announce ments said Wednesday night hi a broadcast recorded by the As sociated Press, that the DjebeJ Gard, 10 miles inland from the -coast, had been captured after e final 90-minute assault) Allied headquarters announc ed the capture of Enfidaville, 50 miles below Tunis, and said "all initial objectives'' were cap tured yesterday after fierce fighting which began with Gen, Sir.Beraart -t.' Montromerr'a - tremeadevs artillery barrage raonoay night. -rout l enemy counterattacks have been repulsed." said the com - munique. "righting continues." Field dispatches said Enfida villa , fell without opposition after n British rnhimn nil .v.. ---- hv. m&vuuu uiv - city to its coastal side. Official axis communiques bad not conceded the loss of Enfida ville, but Capt Ludwig Sertorius. " imug tumiiienurar, appear -ed to be preparing the public for such an . announcement In a broadcast recorded by the Asso ciated Press he said General Montgomery- had concentrated huge- numbers of j reserves for an; as sault on the axis anchor poinV and that the battle for the citfi Wednesday afternoon still wa ' fTAtMM mm. ' . 1 4 1. S AS lit- .. rM-TiisnA 99 i - (Sertorias again stressed the "gigantic masses"; of allied' war j " material and said that allied air supremacy also made it "a rath er ueqval .straggle.") tain strongholds in northeastern- iuni5ia xo restrict the great allied, aerial offensive which yesterday was directed at smashing the last fighter fields available to the en emy. '-. . : , . The communique said 27 axlg planes were destroyed yesterday A at a cost of eight allied aircraft, . Along with other planes shot down on previous idays but not report- ' ed before, this score boosted to 151 the total of enemy planes de- ..a .i i .i The capture . of EnfldavDle opened up the coastal road lead ing to Boa Ficha, 12 mile, far- . ther north, but before it can be used general Montgomery's men -must clean ent axis troops in mountains flanking the road on the west. Marshal Rommel was turning every acre of ground in his final pocket Into bloody bat- tlegrounds.; - A dispatch from Associated Press Correspondent JNoland Nor- , Gaard, who lsi with the Eighth army, said th violent fight for Takrouna begau Tuesday with the . axis 'counterattacking from above the City in an effort to smash Brit ish troops who already had encir cled the mountain town. Takrouna; has been a native stronghold since the days of Car-.. thage. . , ' .;-.; The enemy's rear bases in Sicily also were being pounded steadily ; with- visible results. Reconnais sance showed that flying fortress attacks on Palermo had blocked . the harbor with the hulks of 23 ships, sunk or damaged. An off i- . cial report said' these ships in cluded a destroyer, minelayer, tanker, two escort vessels and sev en merchant ships. f The freight yards and round v house at Palermo also were dam aged by 20 or more hits.