Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1944)
V !k' -.CD (LqoQ OSjOHCJ 2)0 mm ls.rlvW 4 i-' - iT-.tV"i teBfci' 1 I (Lam TOODDEg : I m whefe tome of the Mult tiomah sent ton are threatening to question the! right of Merje Chess nan of Clatsop county and John Carson and Frederick Lamport ' of Marion county to hold teats in the coming legislative assembly. Car son and Lamport hold certificates of appointment by the county court because of the absence of the duly elected senators, Douglas McKay and 1 Allen Carson, in the armed - service, x . r It is true the last senate recog nized - these appointees as sena tors only until November, 1944, but they can present their old certificates which remain valid as far as the county court is' con cerned. If the senate should de clare the seats vacant the for malities of making new appoint ments would be gone through with, so the only probable result would be delay. The purpose ;of the protest, if it should be filed, was clearly to. throw the election of a president 'of the senate away from Howard Bel ton whom' all three of these senators have en dorsed. . - -. . , . In the case of Senator Chess man, the protest would be based on the claim that a man cannot bold two offices at the same time. Chessman is member of the state highway commission by appoint ment of the governor as well as state, senator. Since 'the senate) is judge of the qualifications of its own members it can act as it sees fit But it may be set down here that the Senate ' will not eject Chessman, for two reasons: first, because of his personal standing, and second, because it would have to apply the same rule to Senator Strayer of Baker county, who also is a member j (Continued on editorial page) ' -" ..-If? - ,; Scobie Issues Stern Warning , ATHENS, Dec. 20.-A)-IA. Gen. JL M. Scobie, British commander In Greece announced tonight that as of 9 a. m. tomorrow any Elas batteries i still firing" in Athens and Piraeus will be attacked "with all the., arms .at , my .disposal," and warned civilians to. put 500 yards between . themselves .and- leftist gun positions. .. -i . S - : . Jean Rallis, the! pro-Nazi for mer -premier who! escaped from the Averoff prison two days ago after Elas guns, pounded the build ing rf or 12 hours,-was arrested io .bight. i . - . - - In , leaflets captioned "urgent warning" and dropped from RAF planes, the British commander an nounced that - he intends to use machine guns, rocket weapons, bombs, land artillery, mortars and ' naval bombardment on an all-out scale in Tan effort to silence in surgent guns wbkh have been ac live for Id days. ' f ' Earlier there had been signs lot an impending , political develop . ment when men using megaphones in some das-held areas announced that t regular leftist forces soon '. would withdraw from Athens and - Attica and that only reserve troops Would surrender their arms. SnelljMay Say Something on Niseif Return V Following the receipt Wednes 1 Say of the official army i order. Gov. Earl Snell indicated he might liave something to say shortly in connection with the return of Jap anese Americans to the Pacific -coast, J . - - ' - L The governor previously had. conferred with Governors Arthur s Langlie of t Washington and Earl Warren of California in the hope that the three coast states might decide upon some uniform action. Warren said the Japanese Amer icans were entitled to protection Under the constitutional rights the same as other citizens while Lang- v lie declared it would be a mistake to allow! the Japanese to return . to the Pacific coast at this time. 'German Of f icers Riot, 13 Make Escape from pritish ; Prison Camp i x.s ; '! F LONDON, Dec. 20 Hund teds of German, officers rioted snd 13 escaped Monday night from; a prison camp near ' Penkridge, Staffordshire,"lt was disclosed to siisht. . i v " ' The prisoners were believed to have been inspired by news of the German counteroffensive. All but one' of those who escap ed have been recaptured, although two got as far as Liverpool' and were about to board a ship leay i u ELAS Group lag England. . . .. . , .v KE2TY-TOUSTH TTAB 08 Nazi Counterblow Grows Steadily In Fierce Attack News Blackout Lifted to Reveal . . 1445 Enemy Divisions Swarming Through Breach in U, S. Lines By NEDVILLE NORDNESS . . SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITION ARY FORCE, Paris, Dec. 20 (AP) The gfeantic German counter-offensive is "the big thing" and is increasing steadi ly in fury, supreme headquarters said late tonight in lifting the blackout of news relating to the savage fighting on the US First army front. Fourteen to 15 German are panzer (armored) divisions are swarming into the breach of the first army's bourg, it was disclosed. Today fresh infantry waves were fighting behind the armored units which first smashed through the American positions last Sun day and headquarters said the German advances had made con siderable progress with more to be expected. Allies Lay Plans Plans are being made to stem the onslaught, it was stated, but the feeling at this headquarters was that the situation would not. be restored this week or even next week. j Appallingly bad weather today kept allied' air-force on the ground, thus eliminating support which 'the American troops sore- needed. No heavy bombers could ' leave their British bases and- not a single fighter-bomber got into . the air during the day to . help the hard-pressed dough boys. : " l. ; Nasi Use Vets Some of the panzer units spear heading the German drive are first : class fighters, veterans of units which faced the allies at Caen, it was disclosed. They have been reorganized and refitted for this great do -or -die German counter-offensive, and now are fresh and physically fit. The German infantry divisions are mostly ; made up of ? volks grenadiers, Hitler's home guard. (If at full strength, as seems likely for this carefully-prepared German thrust, armored divisions would number about 10,000 men each and infantry up . to 15,000, making ' a total force of up to 200,000 men in the first assault No dispatches disclosed the na ture or extent of the second wave ust put into action.) vt . Situation Confusing Crack American troops, ap peared to be stemming the on slaught at one point, but else where the nari power gathered steadily, and a late Associated Press dispatch from the front said the situation along the entire 60- mile-wide line was "both con fused and serious."'. . Another late dispatch from the Stavelot sector some 20 miles in side Belgium said both the Amer icans and the Germans were pay ing great prices in lives and ma teriaL Monschau, German town at the extreme northern end of the ene my's assault, was recaptured by counterattacking Yank troops, who surrounded and presumably seized nazl forces who had fought into the town. Monschau, 18 miles southeast of Aachen, was the Jump-off point for a short-lived American .attack last week. Congress May Scale Pilfering WASHINGTON, Dec. f 20 - Reports that thefts of gasoline and "food from 1 supply lines has been a serious problem for Amer ican armies in . Europe brought talk: today of a congressional in vestigation, Both senate and house commit tees evinced interest in press dis patches - saying that pilfering of supplies reached such proportions at one time as to menace mili tary operations, but had since been, curbed. - . : . Dispatches have told of in stances of American soldiers sell ing supplies and of gangsters "hi jacking" them for resale on the black market ; 11 PAGES divisions -of which five or six lines m Belgium and Luxem Stettinius Eyes More Changes Iii Department WASHINGTON, Dec.! 20 - (Jf) -Secretary of State Stettinius made public today his plan for tighten ing administration and speeding up his department's work., At the same time, he disclosed that he is going to 'make more changes and ask congress for in creased appropriations so he can enlarge the department. V--- 3 The " organization ; was tnadel public 3ust after Under-Secretary Joseph C. Grew and fouf new as sistant secretaries took the oath o ! office in an unusual and informal mass ceremony. - ' "',' ' The word Stettinius and - hi new aides kept repeating wheiji they spoke of the changes was teamwork reflected in the reor ganization chart which eliminated divided responsibility , and places all the work under what Stettinius called his eight generals in the field. ' Italy Based Planes Busy - LONDON, Dec. 20 -()- Flying Fortress and Liberator bombers of ; ihe 15th air force, based- in Italy, smashed at strategic tarj gets in ? Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany for the . sixth strsight 7 day, ' but bad weather strangled the allied , British-based fighters and bombers sorely need ed to combat German armor 'u Belgiunv'.: C,''-:-.- . ''" V ' Thunderbolts of the 15th al strafed gun positions and rail lines In" the Spezia-Genoa area, struck at the Padua-Mestre dist rict in northern Italy and swung north to the Brenner pass to cut the railroad at four places south of Trento. Tito's Fqrces Reported In German-Held Zagreb LONDON, Dec 20 -(P)-1 The Swiss . radio . reported tonight without Confirmation that Mar? shal Tito's partisans had broken into Zagreb, main German-held center in Yugoslavia. Tito's, com munique said yesterday his forces were near Zagreb. Probe Large in Europe Acting Chairman Thomason (D Tex.) of the house ; military com mittee said the question of an in qulry 3 probably would binge on the ' reports brought back by subcommittee' which has been in specting battle ; front conditions. V' Members of the group returned here tonight by air and - Acting Chairman Costello (D-Calif .) said they found : "things In excellent condition. He said there appeared to be no critical supply shortages. Members generally declined com ment pending a conference , to morrow with war department of fidals. , PCUNDDD, 165! Salem. Oregon, Thursday Mornings Dscetnhtt 21. 1S44 Chamber Head Loyal Warner Loyal Warner Salem C. of C. Loyal Warner, vice-president of the Salem chamber of commerce and recently re-elected a director, was chosen president of the group for 1945, at a meeting of the di rectors Wednesday noon. He suc ceeds Carl Hogg. W. L. Phillips was elected first vice-president; Linn Smith, sec ond vice-president; Lester 'Barr, secretary, and Guy Hick ok, treas urer, ' " The board appointed Director Ralph Campbell, to head fc'eom mittee named to draft a-rreaolu-t tion commending Hogg's three year leadership during which chamber membership was trebled and new industries drawn to this area. . v Hogg, who remains a director, was, named chairman of a newly- created committee to act with the post - war , planning commission. Other committee chairmen: - Industrial,: Robert Elfstrom; ag riculture, Frank Doerfler; legisla tive, Ralph Campbell; social Doro thea Steusloff ; membership, Ralph Johnson; publicity, F. W. Shepard; administrative, Grover Hillman; civic, Leo Childs; director-at- large, Lowell Kern. (Additional story page 7). ; Berlin Claims Allies Rush In Divisions ; LONDON, Dec. 20 7 (A) - The German radio claimed tpnight that "several" . allied, divisions, had been rushed from the Aachen Vnd Saar fronts to check Marshal Karl Gerd Von Rundstedt's counter orrensive ana ; ooasted tnat ac cording to incomplete data, three to four American divisions either have i been destroyed or badly mauled." ; - s ' -t- .The German daily war com munique claimed that. 10,000 pris oners had been taken in the nazi counter-offensive. . s i . American .tactical .reserves thrown in on the right wing of Lt Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' US First army have been1 engaged and beaten in very heavy bat ties" during the past two days, Berlin claimed. ASR Transport Pilot Mustered from Service LONG BEACH. Calit, Dec. 20 (P)- Twenty: WASPS of the Sixth ferrying group, mustered .Out of the service today, appealed to President Roosevelt and war de partment leaders for any flying duty within the United States for $1 a year, but were turned down. Miss Barbara Erickson, squad on leader, 'said the group was dvised by Gen. H. H. Arnold, army air force chief that suffl cient male transport pilots are available. ' Weather - Maximnm temperatvre Wednes day 42 degrees, minimum SS de grees, 4l.1neh rain, river -2 ft 't Mostly clendy Tharsday and Friday with few light shewers west ef Cascades Thursday, and Intermittent rata Thtrsday night and Friday, ii Few anew florries eastern pertion Friday. . Little temperatare change, bii! - -,-4 iV v' f ..... 1 . .. i Blackout' Of "News -Protested ... . .i SHAEF Promises .Bigger Viewl of. Battle Situation SUPREME HEADQUART ERS ALLIED. EXP EDITIONARY FORCES, Paris, Dec. 20.-P)-As protests poured in from almost all the allied world over the sup pression of news of German gains on the western front, supreme headquarters pulled the curtain aside partly and promised a bigger iew of the situation tomorrow. The positions 'of the German and allied armies will in the fut ure be made public once daily, it was announced after a sufficient time lag to make sure the enemy will reap no benefit from the In formation. '. . Time Lag Used ' TVi5 ' rim a lorf to AvnAf 4a Va between 24 and 48 hours. Tomor- row's promised disclosures, there- ':;n k- ' . v. stood yesterday or today. The supreme headquarters an swer to critics of the news black out has been that it was imposed on the basis of opinions of gen erals directing the fight and that the situation was so fluid that information of the whereabouts of German troops, "even if it were days late, might help the enemy. Smi Httpleas George Hf Lyon,' OWI represen- taUve at suoreme headmiarters said tonight that he had been trying for 48 hours to get the army to let the. people know what was happening on the battlefields, but ' without much success. In my opinion, -the army, is r making a jigger mistake than it ma .in ine fatton case (ine lnct denr of, "Lt. Gen.' George S. Pat- tons slapping a soldier in Sicily)," Lyon - said. : , Snell to Hear Request oh Folkes Case A request that the death . sent Le?Folkes. negro; for the .I.!.L I. - Yl . IS" ..-tlAvinff of MartHa Virginia o muted to life imprisonmen will be heard here Friday afternoon by Gov. Earl Snell.. , . ' ,A delegation of Oregon citizens,' whose request for a hearing, from the governor ' was received in a attorneys, is VWI"CJ,BT - . , . .r .Tr "!rr,tr rrr George Rossman. The I opinion ua. iKof iki ZZ. XrZl wt. u w v court trial to warrant a rehearing. In this opinion, . Justice Percy" - .x; , Kllv tvmmrroA. - Folkes is scheduled to die in the 'lethal gas chamber of i the state penitentiary here January I. Former Solon Dies at Home George Higgins, former US sena- tor from New Hampshire andOI1D ,Mtw wwn woyea oy once described as "the most excit- ing man in American public life, died tonight at his home. He was 75. The widely known republican leader, who served three times In the United States senate, lost his seat' In the democratic landslide of 1942. He' had .been 111 In a Concord hospital for over a year and had just returned to his home for the Christmas , holidays when . death came of coronary thrombosis. Bomb Crashed Into Queen's Apartment ' LONDON,; Thursday, Dec. 21.- iffi-A bomb crashed through the root i Budungham palace and .Sd .. . ' M - ' A mrougn me apartment oi met partment said enough - civilian queen to. the early days of the ixmdon blitz, but failed, to ex- plode, it was disclosed today. Eight men of the palace home guard unit disposed of the three- foot-long explosive. -- , -- Superforts Blast Mukden Targets V Wittf Great Force i. WASHINGTON. Dee. ll-UP) Svperfertresses in substantial foree today pummeled Indos- trial Urgets la Makden. Max chsuria. , f! Up to SO B-29's ef HaJ. Gen. Curtis E. Lemay's 20th bomber command participated ' in the daylight strike against the Jap-, anese-domlnated' puppet state. Thej warx department ; an- nonneement said a cemmnniqme , will be ttsned on . thel mission when results ef operational re ports . are received from . the theatre. ForPost-War Ed Lage, Hood River, , was elected president of the' Oregon Reclamation congress at the clos ing session Wednesday afternoon. .mewaa ade vice president and.Art King Of Corvallis secretary. J trict W. L, Powers, Corvallis; Frank Doerfler, Salem;? , Chester Cumming, Salem; Dean! Walker, Independence; U. S. Alderman, Dayton. - i Second district John H. Mohr," Hooq River; Howard W,; Turner, Madras; Olaf Anderson,4 Bed mond; Frank T. Morgan, Nyssa; F. A. Baker. Umatilla. Third district Kemieth MU 1 1r Lewis A. McArthur, IMarshall N Dana s: Scrismeief, 'Arthur 8rmer' u ioruandj; Fourth district Victor BoehL Grants Pass; Charles Edwards, Eugene; Niel Allen, Grants Pass; Wuiiam Tugman, - Eugene? Ried Carter; Grants Passv niit. Congressman James W. Mott surprise visitor at tthe congress, Said that the - Willamette : valley control project , held one of the highest priorities and will probr ably be completed shortly after the war is over. . t, ' r (Details on page 5.) . , Houses IJA . . .T,-,-. -, Winti.M' t Sl. d ' wSJ?7 "J" SSSS". nno"nc Plan dose their , doors' that day.. ; ouem negiaurani jerators, association w h I c h inclttdes the Blue Bird, Spa, Schneider's, Mar- ion hotel. Chi.rrin Tn h. r.A1n I Pheasant and Hull's, has voted to give employes the day at , home. Z. v, 1 1 Spot the food and beverage diapwaer.', oriition wiU not . tk mr. J 111 t; j j KITJ?"?1" i1 I ''" " ? i : Jr. M. KODingOIt IMCW XAu Secretary at Albany ALBANY, Dec 20 -UPi- P. M. Robinson, former' Portland Cham. ber of Commerce employe, will fill the vacancy left when Carl Curlee resigned as secretary of the Albany chamber. n eruii,re., uutomo, non- Valley Projiect Holds Priority Eating nday U. S. Comiimersr Spend Record Smashing 97 Billion in944 ' By Max Ball r .WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - CP) I American consumers are ringing I up a new spending record this lyear. The commerce department esti mated today that. 97 billion dol lars will have been spent for goods and services in 1944. That's six per cent bigger than, last year. It's more than half a ?a in a hi las 193 SDendinsr. 1 which totalled $81,700,000,000. iU' ;.-::! There's war on. But the de- 1 - .- . ii ? . goods were produced Jn 1944 to satisfy most of consumers wants. There were "some Inconveniences Ibut no hardships." ; Rising prices account for some lof the increased spending, but not 1 Ho. XSS j Churchill Say 8 'Big Three' Still Iri Full Accord By Alex Singleton LONDON, Dec. 20 P)-Assut ing the house of commons that Britain's bayonets would not ini pose aking on the Greeks, For eign Secretary Anthony" Eden to night eased political controversy over Britain's armed intervention after reports of differences among the three big Allied powers had received partial confirmation from Prime Minister Churchill himself.' Calls For Meeting Eden, apparently giving up hope for an immediate meeting of the big ; three but . bent on finding method of eliminating future mis understandings, pleaded for : re establishment of quarterly meet ings '"between the -foreign secre taries of the great powers as we used to have to deal with some of these matters." . ' il His plea was entered only a few hours after Churchill, in grim ref erence to "this dangerous and mof mentous phase of the war," main tained that Britain, Russian and the United States were in "entire agreement about the general aimi which bind our alliance but ad-f mittod that "whether there is complete agreement on every as-i- pect of these matters is question altogether." Sldeeteps brae -! Churchill quickly side-stepped argument over whether the acft cord among the Allies ; could be applied to fspheres' of influence.?? One 'member' pointedly 'asked him whether ; "he did not agre that , there is a danger in implex mentation of proposals of the Dumbarton ' Oaks conference ' ii certain powers assign themselves1 spheres of influence ' and "othet powers are not brought into co4 operation" during the war. -" :. ul think . that is a topic i- that obviously I should not attempt td deal with now,"' replied Churchill! FRSignsBill For Road Aid WASH INGTON, Dec 20 i(M President Roosevelt signed today a bill authorizing a $1,673,250,000 federal contribution toward a $3,17350,000 . three-year ' postwar highway' program.'' ,fj And, in an accompanying state ment, he praised congress for havinVt.made' t possible advance planning of "needed facilities on a r; sound 'basis." Mr. - Roosevelt "Now it becomes a challenge to the - states, ' counties and cities which must originate the specific projects ' and get - the program ready for construction after the war fendi--r:M',s'::J- v.T;::'V,-4 A-13 Gas Coupons - ' Will Expire Today Friday will be an unlucky day for holders of - gasoline coupon A-13. The coupon, good for four gallons of gasoline, expires today, the OPA " warned " Wednesday night' . :;--'-'p-r- : all. The actual j quantity of goods and - services bought this year has been somewhat , larger, than In 1943. . - - ! Civilians spent two billion -dol lars more for. food than they did last year, even though prices aver aged slightly less than in 1943, according to the, commerce de partment .rporjL .,?'?fi , The consumer laid down nine per cent morel money for clothes than In 1943, but since there was a seven per cent ' rise in prices, the quantity was little changed, i As for durable goods, like fur niture and autos, the quantity sold was ten per cent less thin last i year. Dut consumers spent about the same for goods, because of price rises, . ' TVl" i i i ii Meeting. Sought By -Eden PraViilg;. To;;End 4 ' W,.v. .ft -, . i.- . Nips Lose Last Ground Supply Route on Isle - -: By Jim Hatchesea GENERAL' MacARTHUR'S HEAD QUARTERS, Philippines, i Thursday, Dec 2l-(fl3)-The battle of Leyte island is "rapidly draw ing to an end," Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur said today, announcing the complete destruction of the once powerful Japanese Yamasbita line on the- northwest shoulder of the island. .. : i L ' ,,-. h ''. The scattered enemy defenders! ' last ground supply route was loet when Yanks surging north up the, single corridor '.road1 from Ormod overran Libongao where a road forks off to. the Nippon supply J port of Palompon. Enemy Brokea The enemy's "cohesion ,1s now completely broken,", Uie communi ' ique said, "and he is no longer ca4 , pable of an integrated defense." ,1 " . Small-remnants of the Japanese forces have been broken into iso lated groups and are able to resist ' only temporarily and at isolated points. . :. : j" Scattered , Japanese J forces are fleeing toward Palompon on Ley-' 'i te's northwest coast, the only port remaining in enemy hands. -Line Shattered Destruction . of the Yamashita line in the Ormoc corridor was ac complished when the 77th divi sion, New York's own, advancedj four miles north from Valencia,! Japanese headquarters whose; seizure was announced Wednes-! day, and . took a road Junction at the same time the first cavalry di- -vision drove south from Lonoy. j ! The cavalry seized Kanango and approached to within a mile of the 77th, completing . the deadly squeeze play on the Japanese. Gen. Douglas MacArthur re-' ported counting another 1S41 Jap anese dead Wednesday. . j The enemy also has lost six months supplies to the onrushing doughboys, making his supply problem more crucial. r J - Reds Advance Up to 5 Miles 4 21i LONDON, Thursday, Dec. (JP)-"The Red army in advances up to five miles in southern Czecho- sloyakia yesterday . captured 3 towns and cracked and outflank ed the Germans' strong Slana ri- ' er line in a drive aimed : toward ' the citadel of Losonc. . I . The Moscow communique last night and a supplemental elabor i tion this morning said nothing of the encircling thrust against Kas- sa, where latest unofficial reports. m i i r ; m irom moscow naa ooviei . iorves preparing for a climatic' attack n, the Torysa (Tarca) river fortifica tions two miles outside that com munications center. . ,! t - Moscow announced, however,' .: that about a battalion (500) Ger mans were' killed in the day's fighting on the front 45 to 60 milea southwest of Kassa and that the Russians , were closely" threatening the railway Junction town of Rim aszombat from the south and east. Chief of the day's captures was the town of Tornala, 13 miles east of Rimaszombat and a strongpoint of : enemy defenses on the east bank of the Slana river. While the Russians had not yet crossed the Slana, which flows from north ltd south," they outflanked it on the west: by ' crossing the ' eastward- flowing Rimava river. , Paul Porter to Become Member of FCC Group WASHINGTON, Dec. 20.-CPf Paul A. Porter will become si member of. the federal communU cations commission tomorrow un der a recess appointment, FCC of-, ficials said tonight ; . , They said the publicity. director for the Democratic national com mittee in the faU political caml paign will take the oath at ll a. m. His name would be expected to go 'before the next congress. convening in January. 1 SHOPPING DAYS Slovak Piish