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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1943)
....... .-.--p.- .... . Sill S i n si:tiJJ03 U CD CTOUH rf W He iiiiMiiilRD Perhaps you "noticed in the . news that a Messerschmitt ' 109 fighter plane was knocked out at an altitude of 35,000 feet by our anti-aircraft fire. Wonderful shooting over 'six miles up in the air; hitting a target moving at 300 miles per hour or better! " ', This was not accidental. I talked the. other day with a man whose company is manufacturing equip ment used in spotting planes. He didn't know " how the thing worked; hut it must be something , like the range finder the bombers use, only worked in reverse: . v . situated on the ground and used ' to locate planes accurately and so control the aiming of the anti aircraft fire. The device must be pretty good, for the , allowable margin of error is seven feet; that Is, the burst of the shell must be within seven feet of the target Such accuracy almost baffles one's credulity, when you figure the " vatiablei of speed of plane, lieight,, deviation from : course, - wind velocity and " direction be--' -'tween gun and plane. No wonder gunnery students need , to know mathematics, physics and astron v ,my! . ' When we read of the , success '"- - of our anti-aircraft fire in knock ing out a German fighter at 35,000 feet, we are inclined to settle back in ' our comfortable . chairs with broad smiles of satisfaction. But wait a minute: what if the enemy should develop a mechanism with similar accuracy? . Then what would happen to our bombers now busy pulverizing German indus trial centers and ' communication junction points?.' For we are waging the aerial offensive now; and Germany is on the defensive. Naturally the Ger mans are under tighest pressure to improve their anti-aircraft gunnery so that they can " knock out of the sky the Flying Fort resses and Liberators that carry ' lethal cargo for their cities. Re member this rule of military in vention: every offensive weapon stimulates - the production of its countering defensive weapon. The high-powered projectile is an swered by thicker armor plate; the tank with an anti-tank -gun, and so on. We can depend on it, German science is devoting itself - desperately to perfect a (Continued on Editorial Page) or Stands Pat On Strike Vote CHICAGO, August 23 (ffy-The national labor relations-board, re fusing to reconsider its denial of a collective bargaining election, de clared today "An agency of the , government should not allow it self to be influenced by any pres sure brought to bear on it through . strikes or threats of strikes." ;l The board declared this state ment, issued in the case of district 50, United Mine Workers of Amer ica, at the Springfield, II., plant of Allis-Chalmers manufacturing . company, was the first enunciation ' of NLRB policy involving - strike - votes under the recently enacted Smith-Connally war labor dis putes act. '. District 50 had asked for recon sideration of an earlier decision in which the NLRB declined to or der a collective bargaining election at the plant. The board ruled that such an election was forbidden by ' existing contractual "relations be tween the company and the Unit ed Farm Eguipment and - Metal Workers of America. -The, plant was the scene of the .' first secret strike ballot under the Smith-Connally. act on August 4. In the voting, 1005 employes bal lated "yesT and 836 "no" on the question: '" " ' ;';'."'' V: ' "Do you wish to permit an in terruption of war production in Wartime as a result of this dis pute?" - ' After the voting district 50 asked for reconsideration of the earlier XiLRB ruling denying the collec tive bargaining election on the ground that the strike ballot estab lished, the majority status of dis trict 50. The union argued that the strike ballot' result made' it oblig atory upon the board to reverse its previous decision, the NLRB .related.-', .: The implications of district ; BO's position, the NLRB said, "are . of utmost importance and extend beyond the confines of this case. If upheld it would mean that the board's exercise of the discretion conferred upon ; it ; by I congress through the national labor . rela tions act would not longer be con trolled by the guiding principles of the act but would be made de pendent upon the outcome of strike ballots conducted under the pro visions' of the war : labor board disputes act, . . r--;"It would seem obvious that the national labor relations board as an agency of the federaLLgovern ment should not allow itself to be influenced In the conduct cf its proceedings . by -; any - pressure trcuht to bear on it by . strikes ..cr thrssts cf strikes." imrErr TinsD year Back . - : . . tv :..,.. ... , .. ; Victorious Mem Berlin Aclaibwledges Fall Of Ultraine Metropolis; Moscow Celebrates Victory By WILLIAM SMITH WHITE LONDON " Tuesday; August 24-i?5)-Victorious Russian forces yesterday captured vital Kharkov, streamed through a major break in the German Donets river front almost 200 miles to the southland hammered the retreating nazis at both ends of the southern salient today in a drive to retake the industrial river basin. : - . .'; ,'" i Moscow's midnight communique said the Red army, perhaps 150,000 strong, broke into the third largest of Russian cities from the north, east and west and inflicted enormous losses on the enemy. The Russians continued to throw heavy blows at the reeling Germans as they fled, the city. ,. Nazi forces west of Kharkov attempted to counterattack, the Russians said, but were repulsed with 2000 killed. - i r i Fifteen more villages were re captured by .Russian forces in an other sector of the Kharkov front, said the communique, recorded by the Soviet monitor. Berlin acknowledged jgjarkov'g fall prior to a special Russian an nouncement by Premier -- Mar shal Joseph Stalin, but the Ger mans said the city .had been .'evac uated" in an orderly retreat. iln the break on the Donets riv er south of Izyum, the Russians said their forces had smashed through from 19 to 22 miles in three days of savage fighting and bad overrun 30 villages, includ ing the railway station of Donets-ko-Amvrosievka on the only rail connection with German - held Taganrog 50 miles below , on the sea of Azov. I In announcing Kharkov's cap ture the soviet war bulletin said: t "Today our troops as the result V (Turn to Page 2 Story B) ) Eye Witness CAPT. ROGER MILLER : i Roger Miller Writes Attack, Story in Yank j Tank, the official army week ly,: reported an. eye-witness ; ac count of the American strafing of axis tank and train - columns In Sicily by Captain Roger 'Miller of Salem who was flying one of the new A -3 8 .Invader planes of this country. . ' f According .'to the Yank report. Captain Miller dove through flak to spray, German flat cars carry ing tanks and'strafed the German train. Later he returned to ma chine gun 'a column of trucks. 4 $ The i story continued; A little farther ub we ran' into another lo comtive pulling flat cars loaded with tanks. We shot up the tanks and blew 'up the locomotive. It was really a sight to see. The lo comotive just went up In steam. ; "About two miles farther we found ; another locomotive . with six tanks and guns all around it. I saw the engineer get out in a hur ry. We got that one too.1 . v . ...... . i '""1 j a n x s. 4 .- - -r.V i u. - I - x ; ! X-.-- ... , y.:.. 2. . - ; , PdUNDDD 1651 12 PAGES Allied Airmen Blast Salerno, By RELMAN MORIN ; ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN NORTH ATRICA; Aug R.-CSV Huge formations of day. and night bombers flattened . Salerno, south of Naples, Sunday night in the methodical allied campaign to smash vital communication ; cen ters one by one, but . met a Ger man resistance which raised the air battle for Italy to high inten sity. American Marauders with A-36 Tnvader escorts fought . their way through a swarm of about 100 German and Italian fighters and shot down 33 in a blazing combat which marked a new high in the gunnery prowess, of the twin-engined bombers. ? The fiery drenching from this day assault' left Salerno flaming under a canopy of smoke which had not yet settled when the night-bomber Wellingtons of the RAF with their lethal 4000-pound blockbusters scattered a new hol ocaust which blazed through the rest of the night. I f , Accompanying these blew, the RAFs feur-enrined liber- a tors in d Halifaxes cracked . . down - en Crctone enr the arch ; t the IUlian f et Satorday ; nicht, settinr other explosions and fires which' raged near a. chemical factory and caused : - other" damage which could not be aeenrately assessed beeaose af law clouds. , " But while bloody air battles of the last four days .'left no doubt that German air forces. were gar risoning Italian air bases to the north in strength, there were in dications that axis commanders were -' planning ' to ; abandon the Italian toe ' , -"'t. ' ' RAF Khtyhawks and American Warhawks crisscrossed7 the area ! all day 'yesterday without firing a shot or dropping a bomb for i lack of enemy opposition and ground targets.' - ' -' 1 'Salerno, SO miles south of Na ples, is a main rail gateway be tween northern and southern Italy. ' Complete . severance of the - im portant electrified railway run ning through there would force German - army commanders to route their troop and supply trains ' far inland and more than double the length of their communication lines. - . ! '-. . Obviously (the German air force (Turn tor Page 2 Story C) " " Navy Gisualties . Announced . WASHINGTON, Aug. 23.--The navy announced today 43 cas ualties, including .1 dead, - 7 wounded and 35 missing. , In addition the names of four naval personnel are included whose status has been officially changed from' missing to dead. This brings to 28,348 the total of navy, marine corps and coast guard casualties reported to next of kin since December 7, 1941. The grand total Includes 8,833 dead, S,043 wounded, 9,63 1. missing and 4,131 prisoners of war. ; . . . Near Naples Salem. Oregon. Tuesday Morning. Bombers; Berlin . ; Occupied France , 1 Takes Pasting, RAF, Yanks : LONDON, Tuesday, Aug. 24.-(if)-British bombers made their first big raid on Berlin in five months last night, it was disclosed today, suggesting the possibility that - the long-expected blitz - on the German capital might be un der way. . : Concentrated attacks on Berlin have been anticipated almost nightly since the RAF supple mented by : American daylight bombers carried out a series of repeated assaults " on r Hamburg late in July which devastated that great north German port. The last heavy raid on Berlin was carried out March 29, when 21 British bombers - were ' lost. Since then the German capital has been raided eight times by Mos quito bombers the first of these raids being May 19. The RAF "night assault on Ber lin followed a series , of daylight forays by American medium bombers, which, made their fifth visit to St. Omer In two months to blast railway yards and rolling stock. T!)? previous jiJshnhe'JJ?! had attacked 'the Leverkusen chemical works and other Rhine land centers. - v By RICE YAHNER LONDON, August 23 -V Paying their fifth visit to St. Omer in two months, American medium bombers again blasted railway yards at the town in oc cupied France today In a fol- low-up of an RAF bombing of the Leverkusen Chemical works and other Rhineland centers last night. " ' . US airmen first attacked the freight yards at St. Omer, 22 miles southeast of Calais, on June 24. Later they made three attacks on the German air field, there. Off the Dutch- coast. Spitfires attacked enemy shipping and coas tal command Beaufighters struck at a small force, of enemy escort vessels, : the air ' , ministry an nounced Beaufighters destroyed an enemy bomber over the North Sea ; and - Spitfires ,shot down ; an enemy fighter in a sweep over . the Bethune area in France. . t. , "Uneventful sweeps"vere made by Spitfires over northern France . . (Turn to Page 2 Story E) . Beati Pickers in Vrgent Demand PORTLAND, August 23 Salem will get some 800 Mexicans within a few days for the bean. prune and hop harvests,: the -war food administration's labor office announced today. Some may re main for the nut harvest. Five hundred will be housed In a Sa lem camp, the others In neighbor ing communities. . Retarded by. the weekend's un favorable weather - which , did not halt the maturing of the crop the bean harvest was clamoring for every picker available on Mon day and to complicate the harvest picture, hop and pear growers al so were calling for pickers.' -n - Bean growers are still in need of more pickers than they are able to find. Although some bead fields in the: Talbot area are past their peak, many West Stayton growers need additional help badly. Sev eral of them phoned in Monday morning, urgently requesting more help.' . .Peach .picking. has. been getting under way for a couple of weeks and it Is expected that the present crews will be entirely inadequate by the end of this week. , A , number: of hop yards were opened Monday 1 with more help being sought In some cases. First call of this season for pear picking reached : the emergency ft August 24. 1343 Quebec Loolts at J apan V V.; Evidence that the Quebec war conference has taken into consideration steps of the utmost importance toward a strategy to defeat Japan Is the presence of ..Chinese Foreign Minister T. T. Soong at the -. talks. He' Is shown as he arrived in Quebec greeted by Canadian Prime Minister MacKemde King (AP Telemat) Quebec Confab Decisions 'Of i Utmost tin visage Dejea t of Japan By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER QUEBEC, Augus 23-P)-Military decisions "of the utmost im portance" in which the strategy to defeat Japan constitutes "a very important part have been made at the Quebec war confer ence, it was arnounced Monday night by Brendan Bracken, Brit ish minister of information and an intimate of Prime Minister Winston ChurchilL " Bracken made his statement after a luncheon conference at Nazis Prepare For Rioting 'LONDON, Aug. 23.-,)-The Soviet Monitor recorded a Mos cow broadcast of a Tass dispatch from Stockholm Monday night saying ' Adolf Hitler in his capa city as chief of Germany's ' air raid protection corps has ordered all its personnel to study, the tac tics of street fighting and other forms' of fighting on the internal front. Commanders of. air raid pro tection units have been instruct ed to arrange joint drills with SS troops, the report said. - - ; s farm labor service office Monday morning.' '.. : The weather kept most bean pickers from the fields on Satur day and Sunday. As a result the beans are heavy and large. Ad ditional help Is needed at once and trucks ' are leaving the em ployment office; at" 6:30 in ' the morning for all pickers who can go to the fields. r ' ' Persons who wish To drive their own cars should call the employ ment service, 9287, after 6:30 in the morning. to locate growers in need of help. Because of the two days lay-off there is serious dan ger of an immediate loss and ev ery person who can possibly do so is urged to report Tuesday morn ing. :; -l: 'ir, r ' U z&' The housewife" special which was started last week has proved so s u c c e s s f u I that additional growers have started calling at the employment office' between 9 and 9:30 in the morning. This ar rangement makes it possible ' for women who have their household duties -to "perform to 'leave at a more convenient hour and return earlier In the evening. .; x v Transportation , to and from the fields, at these hours .Is .assured and all . persons interested should report to the employment office by 9:30 each morning. - toAid Price Zs uULJGJu Lva Importance- tended by President Roosevelt, the British prime' minister, . T. . V. Soong, China's ' foreign minister, and Harry Hopkins, presidential adviser. The Pacific decisions were made at this meeting. " Asked whether . the concln I sions taken : regarding Japan j were the most important made, .Bracken said:--'-f;. ';'"JV: - - "It's rather hard to give prt- ority to - any decision there have been ' so many important decisions made here ; I Bracken also disclosed that fol lowing the - week's conferenees, which close tomorrow Prime Min ister Churchill plans a broadcast and ' a fishing trip before he' re turns to London The time for the British leader's speech and where he will go from Quebec were' not disclosed. - " ' Mr. Roosevelt, It already had been annenneed, will ' address Canada's" pariUment ' in' Ottawa r Wed act day before beading -south. ' '.';rz --. . In describing, the luncheon gath ering, Bracken said it was a "mil itary luncheon and a meeting to decide important matters of stra tegy in the Pacific - !t The general assumption was that the president and prime minister already . had reached a ; tentative agreement on war strategy involv ing China, had informed Soong of it and asked him to ratify it. ( Bracken told the press confer ence-that he had not previously seen "a more hopeless assignment for journalists', because while' so many were fathered here yet no thing could be released about spe cific military decisions which have been -made.- ; - ; ? - - I can assure you," he said, (Turn to Page 2 Story A) Danish-Nazi 1 1 Clashes Reported NEW YORK, Aug. 23.-TV-The British Broadcasting 1 corporation, quoting advices from Sweden, de clared Monday that "A state "of emergency, had been declared in Odense, Aarhus and four -other towns in. Denmark-as a result of clashes, between .Danish and Ger man troops. :-J.;.C . ' ."" ' " ' V "Fifteen German I soldiers were killed in one clash at Flensburg, said the broadcast, which was re corded -by CES. It quoted the Stockhclm newspaper Svenska EaUadet as the source of its in formation. ' " : . --'--'', Dimout Tucs. sunset 0:05 7ecl. sunrise 6:23 (Weather on Page S) No. 123 Evidence '-Trial-Ends -t . .. .--Final Testimony ; Deals With Low j.-LQ.- of Suspect t3 ALLAS, August 23 (Spe cial) Final testimony, dealing chiefly with the defandant's mentality,' was offered Monday in circuit court here in the trial of Richard Harry Layton, charged with' first degree mur der in connection with the death of Ruth Hildebrand, 17, of. Dallas. ' Both state and defense rested, and arguments of oppos ing counsel will be offered Tues day. Indications were the case would reach the Jury late Tuesday or sometime Wednesday. In rebuttal to defense testimony to the effect that Layton was of low mentality, the state produced records of his grades in the Salem schools. In the fifth grade he had made average or better scholastic marks; reading 2, writing 3, arithmetic 3, conduct 1.-. ' Miss Fannie L. Douglas, teach er In the Salem school system for 25 years, said Layton was in the middle third of his class "when he worked. She also testified that he had been In the seventh grade, contrary to defense claims. : - Dr. John C Evans, superinten dent of the Oregon state hospital, remarked that he felt Layton had not cooperated with him inl his mental examination of the ' de fendant, and that he considered him quite sane. He added that (Turn to Page 2 Story D) Reds Irritated With Allies STOCKHOLM, Aug. 23.-V The German foreign office said Monday that the recall of Soviet Ambassador Litvinoff from Wash ington was based on "Russian ir ritation" over American and Brit ish "failure to open another front Immediately on the continent, rather than any "conflict over po litical policies,' dispatches from Berlin said. A Wilhelmstrasse ipok esman was quoted as ' saying there was no reason .to believe political dif ferences existed between - "Russia and her . allies." -.The Berlin cor respondent of Dagens Nyheter re ported this, adding that , the Ger mans Interpreted the' recall as a "dear step by Moscow expressing irritation caused by the western powers' war methods against Ger many." - iVrv , : . - - - Biddle Says War Frauds Bigger r ; : Now Than in '17 CHICAGO, Aug.23.-LffV-United States Attorney General Francis Biddle said Monday that war frauds In . the United States are "much bigger than they were In 1917, and 1918 and. announced the department of Justice was "seeking heavier penalties' and giving priority to the prosecution of such cases. - : - He told a ' meeting of United States attorneys from ' 10 middle western states that', 123 federal indictments charging .war. fraud have been returned and that 1279 investigations are. pending. In 71 cases already disposed' of, he added, convictions and penalties have beerr . obtained in SO per cent" '.'- - Firemen Extinguish ' Vv:-. Elotor Fire in Hotel : , " Salem -firemen -were -called to the Marion hefc-1 at 11:2;! Monday night to extinguish a , burning motor-of the refrigerator system In the-southwest: corner of the basement. - - - ' . Firemen located the motor from the smoke which: filled- the base ment and warned hotel employes cf the fire. - Say jny i) jf Clues Few, Say Police; Autopsy ; Is PerformefJ Death of Stephen Jay " Eil lings, 33, shipyard worker, ap parently from a blow on the back of the head, was being in vestigated Monday, night after his body was found, crumpled against the wall of an enclosed porch at the home of his mou ther, Mral , Ethel C. .BUlings, 1540 North Liberty street Death occurred sometime be-. tween S and 5 o'clock Monday afternoon. Coroner L. E. Barrick estimated. The body was found about o'clock by Miss Barbara Lutz, 1278 North Liberty, who visited the home expecting to find Miss Rosemary Billings, sister of the slain man, who was not at home. Billings' mother was re ported to be at Newport. - Miss Lutz' telephoned the city police. Since it was hot known then that BUlings was dead, the first aid car was called and at the same time an investigation was begun by Inspectors George Ed wards and Hobard KIggins. Later the body was taken in charge by Coroner Barrick. who notified District Attorney Miller Hayden and after consulting with him called Dr. Joseph Beeman of the state police criminal detection lab oratory. State police officers of the Salem I district also aided in the investigation. - Dr Beeman's autopsy, concludr ed early this morning, revealed that Billings had been in with pneumonia and that this was pos--sibly at least a contributing cause of death. This somewhat modified the officers theory of foul play, in spite of the severe skull frac ture and brain hemorhage. Inspectors Edwards and Kir gins Indicated that clues were . few. The enclosed perch where the body was found was disor- ; dered. a case of empty," bottles ; , having been upset and scattered about. Some money and a ring alse were- found on the floor snrrestlns, though . not estab lishing for certain, that robbery was net Involved. Billings'! estranged wife, Mrs. GladyS Billings, 1164 North Front street, said she had not seen him for some time. Billings had been working at the Swan Island ship yard and living, at latest report, in workers' barracks there. No one who was questioned by i the police had any knowledge that he had been in Salem j for several days. - ' Governmente Lewis Coal Showdown Due WASHINGTON.' Aug. 22.HJTi The government headed toward a showdown ! with John L. Lewis Monday ; by . returning the mines of 53 coal ! operators to them de spite Lewis stand that his United . Mine Workers would stay, on the job until October 31 only , as gov ernment employes. . The miners', chieftain kept his own counsel as to what he would' do. "No . comment, he . told re porters.' The companies, operating scores of mines and including some of the larcer producers in the in dustry, are scattered throughout 10 coal "producing states. Secre tary of Interior I ekes, as fuel ad ministrator, took over about 3800 mines on May 1. Five which have not had contracts with the UMW and several holding agreements with the Progressive Mine Work ers (AFL)) previously had been turned back to the private own ers. ;." j " - A sDokesman for Ickes took the attitude ot "wait, and see what happens" when asked about Lewis' demand for government operation f the pits until October 31. Lewis made the stipulation in sending the miners back to work in June to end the third general coal strike. J . ." " . ' The instructions to work, Lewis told the miners at that time, "will automatically terminate if gov ernment control is vacated prior" to October 31. : Since then, . also,, Lewis has signed an agreement with Illinois coal producers and made known that he considered it to be a model for: settling the - soft cosi waje dispute. The, proposed contract, now before the war labor .board (WLB) for consideration, grants the . miners "wage increases cf about S3 j a' day including $1.25 daily for lundersround travel pay, crux'of'the soft col wae dis pute. ' Originally, Lewis had de manded '2 a day wg bocu-.t for the bituminous workers.