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Th OSSGOH STATESMAIL Scdem. Oregon Thursday Morning, March
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"Wo Fcror Sicajt t7s; No Fear Shall Atcr"
From First Statesman, March 28, 1851
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I THE STATESMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
i - ; .... . . . :
j CHARLES A. SPRAGUE, Editor and Publisher !
j. " Member of the Associated Press j ' ... I v I.
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for publication of tU
news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited, in this newspaper.
"Death to the King"
The escape of Gen. Mario Roatta, high-placed
fascist who was on trial for war crimes, seems
quite in 'character with pre-war practice in
many of the lesser countries. Bribery or influ
ence at the right moment or the right place has
often brought release to political offenders. So
the Italian people are not boiling over without
cause when they riot in Rome to denounce the
escape of a hated fascist. Even at this distance
his escape seems to have been very neatlyt ar
ranged. The demands of the populace for a change of
government: "Out with Bonomi, death to the
king,' . reveal j the unstable situation in Italy,
due in considerable measure to bad handling by
American and British generals and politicians.
The complications of the armistice whose terms
are not yet revealed, the recognition of Marshal
Badoglio, the retention of- the royal house of
' Savoy apparently on allied insistence, and Brit
ain's veto of Count Sforza for a seat in the cab
inet have created popular distrust. The defi
ciency of food and necessities of life has accen
tuated the unrest.
The people want to do a job of getting rid of
the useless king and the insipid Crown Prince
Umberto who functions as lieutenant general.
They want also to get rid of the fascist overlords
and underlings who hover around the seats of
power stilL There is far more of anti-fascist
strength among the Italians than there is of
anti-nazi strength in Germany; and the. Italian
opposition includes many men of capacity. Bo
nomi himself is a man, of recognized integrity,
but he may be compromised by the impositions
of the allies, j ' '
It is most unfortunate that our diplomatic
offensive is so much inferior to our military of
fensive. We have done a poor job in statecraft
in North Africa, in Italy and in France. We
seem to be holding back the people of Italy from
establishing a real democracy. Thus our pres
tige declines and the fruits of victory slip
through our hands.
McKellar on Evans
Senator McKellar of Tennessee is one of the
survivors of the (BRIM) stone age in politics.
He is a relici of the south which produced Ben
Tillman of South Carolina and Jeff Davis of
Arkansas, men who could shoot words from
the hip designed to slay a man at 20 yards.
Some time ago McKellar paid his respects to
Drew Pearson, .classifying him as a liar of many
varieties.; Some days ago in the senate he took
on another newspaper man Sillman Evans, pub-
i lisher of the Nashville Tennessean, whose paper
lambasts McKellar and his crony Boss Crump
or Memphis on occasion. In presenting for pub
lication in the Record a letter from Crump to
the Tennessean in. which Crump hung on the
line his native bile against the paper's publish
er, editor and reporter, McKellar offered his
description of Publisher Evans, in part as fol
lows: If I were describing Evans, however, I should
say that he is a cross between a jumping bob
tailed jerboa and a drunken alley cat with a
large admixture of mangy and flea-bitten dog
thrown in. If he should die and appear at the
gates of Hades, I am quite sure the devil would
not admit him if he knew about his foul, filthy,
lousy, lying, and corrupt record in the Nashville
Tennessean.
All of which must have added to the enter
tainment if not the enlightenment of the august
senate. It is of national interest however to
know that the art of personal vituperation has
not wholly died out in the country of its rfch
est. flowering.
One Strong Heave
- General Eisenhower and his great generals
and armies were unable to destroy the German
forces west of the Rhine which was their great
objective. They did maul and cut up some Ger
man divisions, but evidently Von Rundstedt has
succeeded in evacuating most of his troops and
their equipment to the east bank, This was
skillful withdrawal along strict military lines:
1 posting of strong rearguard forces to hold back
the attacker, and then effecting an orderly re
treat. From reports weather sided with the
Editorial Comment
VETO ' ,j " .
The Yalto compromise on voting power In the in
ternational security organization turns out to be a
.bargain in which it appears Marshal Stalin gave up
nothing. He still has the veto on which his dele
gates at Dumbarton Oaks insisted. Under the terms
of the compromise the little countries can talk but
that is all it amounts to; action remains as the
Russians wanted.
This question remained unsettled at Dumbarton
Oaks because the British and Americans insisted
that no one of the Big Five should have a veto on
action while the Russians were equally set on a
veto. After Yalta it was announced that the point
had been ironed out by acceptance of a compro
mise offered by President Roosevelt
As given out yesterday by the state department
the compromise provides that any country will be
barsed from participating, in the council, in delib
erations as to what to do about a charge of aggres
sion brought against it by another nation. (But
-when' the decision ismade any one of the Big Five
has an absolute veto.
This leaves the question how anyone of the Big
Five is to be stopped from aggression. Let us sup-
pose a case. We do not want to seize Cuba and are
not going to, but suppose we did? Cuba would then
ask the international council to restrain the United
States and abate the seizure. The council would
hear the complaint, with the United States sitting
outside, and would vote, let us say, that the ag
gressor must get out of Cuba. Then with a merry
laugh the United States would say, "Veto."
What then could the world peace organization
do? Nothing, lawfully; the United States would be
within its rights in refusing to obey.
This is serious. The little countries, which have
no veto, might be proceeded against and be ham
mered into line But not one of the Big Five if it
turned aggressor. In their case the sole protection -is.
a mere assumption that no one of them wants
to or will committ an act of aggression. San Fran
cisco chronicle. . ' ..
Germans, the thick skies preventing the tactical
airiorca from laceratmg the returning columns,
inis impaes no lack ox skill or courage on the
part of the allies. The troops drove with power?
and determination. They simply could not move
ahead fast enough to entrap the Germans.
Now the Rhine river has to be crossed, but
experts do not regard this as so delaying a task'
as piercing tne bieginea jine. .The defenses or
the east bank are not nearly so strong and the
allies have a long line of riverbank under their;
control. From this they can surely pick a f eas-i
ible, if not an easy crossing. -Once across thai?
Rhine the final battle for Germany will follow
Once again the exhaustion of reserves, of
men, of equipment,! of provisions, of munitions;
of morale, will determine the result; and Ger
many must be running low on all these. One
the Russians .are across the Oder line In force,
and the allies across the Rhine, the final crunch-;
er blows can be driven against the constricting
nazi lines. As Churchill says, "one strong
heave" from east and west should conclude the
major phase of the fighting, ji I f
Correction as to HB 345
In Wednesday's editorial on HB 345 the state
ment was made that special carriers (log, lum
ber, gravel and dump trucks) were exempt from)
the act. This was an error, though it was based
on a news report of the Rebates on -the bill lnt
the house. The special carriers will be required
to pay the same fees as other commercial high-'
way users, though they Will not be required to
obtain operating licenses as common or contract
or private carriers. I ?
The only exemptions from the fee schedule
are farm trucks and city pus lines whose opera
tions are covered by city government.
HB 345 is thus a better bill than we thought
it was. It should pass the senate, although we'
understand there are strong pressures against
it from certain classes of operators. The object
of the bill is to assess against commercial users:
of highways their fair and just share for use of
the roads. The schedules are based on "studies
made over a period of four years and are as
nearly scientific as the engineers and statisti
cians of the highway department and public
utilities department can make them. I
One of the best proofs ' of the accuracy of ali
lied airmen is the fact that the cathedral of Co
logne still stands in the desert of destruction
that was the heart of that Rhenish metropolis.
If the bombardiers could successfully "miss" at
target, they surely could register a goodly pro-
portion of hits. The remainder of Cologne
proves that too, for it is a city destroyed as part
of the strategic bombing; conducted by the al
lied air force to crush the enemy's power to
carry on war. " f'
A tank is coming into production, the T26,
which Undersecretary of -War Patterson says if
the answer to the German Tiger; tank. Fine, but.
an "answer" implies tardiness? in invention. W
like to keep ahead. In many things we do: ra
dar, bombsight, heavy bombers; but Germans
are inventive too: robot bombs, stukas, and
heavy tanks. We need to keep in mind that deL
signing of equipment is a constant race, event;
while the war is in progress. :
Interpreting I
The War News 1
By KIR.KE iJ SIMPSON I
ASSOCIATED PRESS WAR ANALYST f
"
Despite a news blackout on First army operation!
in the Bonn-Cologne sector on the Rhine which may
cover an immediate American attempt to force a
river crossing, the center of gravity in the Euro
pean war seemed definitely shifting from west to
east again. - m .-
That was the implication of a German official
announcement that Marshal Zhukov's White Rus
sian army, the cutting edge of the Russian sweep .
from the Vistula to the Oder, was on the move. It "
said the Russians, paced by a massive gun barrage,
were striking full force at the Kustrin and Zehden
east bank redoubts that guard the critical span of
the middle Oder 40 and 30 miles respectively from
Berlin. - . a
That represents at least a 50-mile-wide assault
from a point due east of Berlin to an even closer
range attack due northeasfat Zedhen. It also In
dicates Russian selection j of the most vulnerable
sector of the Berlin seige; perimeter for the initial
, effort to breach the Oder! line because of the flat
lands lying west of the river. .
There is no natural obstacle of any consequence
, beyond the Oder confronting the Russians except
a few minor streams and the Steinbeck hills, a
low cluster lying between Bad FreenwaldTand
oirausoerg. j
As usual Moscow ignored the. Berlin report, ft '
is not apt to say anything of operations there until
objectives have been attained and consolidated: but
cenVf actioa as outlined by the Nazis suffi
ciently indicates what that objective must be. There '
Is ample elbow room west of&e middle Oder for
esUbhshment of a wide and deep bridgehead from
which to launch the final march on Berlin from
the east and northeast under more favorable ter
rain conditions than in an approach from the south
east across the Neisse-Oder line.? T
WithU,Cfntr!lnd iwesten Pomerania cleared
JJ2 foe- Zhukov has nothing to f ear on hit
right flank. On his left, Ukrainian armies have
pulled up abreast of the Oder front along the Neisse
and are in position to widen the final attack perim
e three-fold it they have not already struck!
And width of assault front is a vital element in Rus
sian tactical deployment The wider it is the thin
ner drawn must be the ranks of the dwindling Ger
man army to oppose it and the easier the achieve
ment of a breakthrough to Berlin itself.
The very iilence of iMoscow as to developments
on the middle Oder line is significant. With the
Jt flank situation cleared up by close investment
of Stettm at the Oder! mouth;: Moscow turned far
to the south for an official report on a Red army
victory. It told of a surge northward in Slovakia
l a point 80 miles east of Bratislavia and the cap
ture of Banska-Stiavnica; The town lies due north 4
U Budapest on a through rail and road connection
leading direct through Jablanka Pass to the. south
side of the Moravian gap through which Russian
forces have been slowly edging toward Vienna from
' the northeast. . - - - - - ,-
Keep That link Strong j S - j ' J ' j j
It
if
..t
.... AT THE FRONT!
Doiighboys Give Ox
Kotfocjf, Tabs Hails
With Sack of Gum
By Robert Wilson
- (Substituting for Kenneth I
Dixon.) '
ON THE WESTERN FONT
CP)-Despite flying steel, mud,
cold, and rain the frontline can
be a wacky place where dough
boys give an ox a hotfoot and
take German prisoners with a
stick of gum, or where a four
footed "Don Quixote' attacks a
B-25 propeller.
It was somewhere in Belgium
that a farmer's ox slipped on a
'bridge and snarled up military
traffic for miles. All the cuss
words In the doughboys vo
cabulary failed to get the beast
up.- Pfc Frederick , S. Amato,
former Boston ' nightclub enter
tainer from Lawrence, Mass, did
it by sticking four matches into
the animal's hoof and lighting
them.
When Medical Sgt Robert Ar
nett unarmedi jumped into a
uir
1
unco
T3
JD
News Behind the News
I By PAUL MALLON L i
(Distrfbtxtio by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction In whole
" or in part strictly prohibited.) i
record purchased by the public,
and thus was the first union
leader to collect private excise
taxes on a national scale, but the
scheme of collecting such tribute
for no services whatsoever, orig
inated in some small union con
tracts years ago. i
Lewis, of course, did not in
vent the sit-down strike either,
but he imported it from France
and .perfected its use in this
country, as a sabotaging means of
extracting from employers. If he
and Petrillo get away with this
collection of tribute, it will iri my
opinion, bring j an early doom to
existing labor j leadership.
There is no basis in common
public I justice fori a union col
lecting tribute from the people
for any purpose, i Formerly la
bor always based its plea for
wage increases on an appeal
against injustice. ;
Now; PetrillO is collecting his
two cents per j record, not to-lift
the worker's wage, but to fur
nish free musical concerts (he
says), j j !
The mine workers would not
get a l wage increase from the
Lewis tribute I as he intends, he
says, to use the fund for their
medical assistance and insurance.
Actually Lewis, if not Petrillo,
has in the past used such union
money to buy! elections (his half
million dollar advance to Roose
velt in 1938) and he will again.
Their funds; are secretly man
ipulated by them beyond the
powerj of public or worker in
spection, although they have no
money except that which is paid
by the public: in prices because
the employers (who must, file
public balance sheets and pay in
come taxes) have no money ex
cept that which the public pays
for products, j ' ,
These men are becoming Lit
tle Caesars exacting tribute from
the people, including the poor
who are great consumers of coal,
if not phonograph records. They
are growing out of their bounds
of union leadership and are try
ing to make their organizations
super-governments to fleece the
people with ever-expanding rack
eteering methods.:
Incidentally, another union '
Caesar, Sidney Hilman, simul
taneously is running into diffi
culties with similar excesses in
his latest venture toward a labor
alliance, with the Russians.
It develops that his proposed
world labor league would -leave
him and his CIO with fewer
WASHINGTON', March T-C
What the crafty John Lewis is
up to is plainly discernable from
the inside. I
He has a bad situation on his
hands in a sick industry.; Any
miner who is enough of a me
chanic to change a spar tire
has been able to go into the ship
yards and earn i :
more money
than at the very
hard task of
mining coaL
Miners,; in
my opinion, de
serve higher
wages. But! as I
say the industry
is economically
anemic, and the
government can paQl MUom
not do anything about the .gener
al wage level anyway because of
the Little Steel Formula.
So, with the Industry : prac
tically shoved to the sidelines,
Mr. Lewis: has begun a new ra
pier match! with his onetime po
litical playmate, now personal
enemy, Mr. Roosevelt, who will
tell the war labor board what
to do. .
Incidentally I understand the
government is already fully pre
pared to take over the mines
April 1 jafter the threatened
strike goes on no more than 24
hours. Hkving done this once
'-before theloperation will be rou
tine with ao interference in coal
supply an probably no change
in conditions or wages of labor.
A SO day supply for industry is
probably available if any hitch
develops s this performance.
: At any fate in the face of this
economic predicament, Lewis has
come forvfard with a series of
subterfuges and drcumlocutions
to justify his job of always get
ting the miners a little more each
year or sol "
He proposes to get his wage in
creases byf doubling vacation al
lowances tip to as high as $100,
premium Allowances, full portal
to portal fpay and some other
similar nob-wage extractions.
But his piggest trick is his plan
to make fie American people
mostly the poor who use coal and
cannot get it under specialrat
contracts as railroads and indus
tries do pay his union 10 cents
a ton tribute. This idea, he
stole from; Petrillo, the musical
union Czar.
But Petrillo is not the invent
or. He Is now exacting about
two cents ! on every phonograph
votes even than Britain, and the
league would be controlled by the
27,000,000 Russian workers
(claimed) with the Toledona
communist leader crofomfmfw
communist labor crowd in Mex
ico (who will vote in the inter
. national organization as if he had
the 4,000,000 workers claimed al
though he has actually about
one-tenth that much), j . !
; The British are already scared
and showing signs of tunning out
on Hillman, with whom they or
iginally cooperated.; j
The recent DetroitT and other
strikes exhibit excesses in var
ious lines which would tike five '
columns to tell. Some say here
the biggest strikes were solely
designed to get the government
to take over the plants, although
no well-run union wants the gov
ernment messing into its! affairs.
In short, ehind all the labor
news recently has run he un
dercurrent of further justifica
tion for the prediction that the
growth of power of unions is
passing its climax and may de
cline abruptly in the coming
years, solely because too: few of
its leaders knew how to! use its
great new- power wisely land in
telligently in the real interest of
both the worker and; the public.
The Literary !
Guidepost j
By W. G. Rogers
"WAl I HAVK skkn;
"THE YOUNG IDEA" By Mossier
"If yH tell Derby I cooked nipper. Ill tell everyone we wear
.,v... each ether's dailies, atosC ': '
ky Gertrad
If Gertrude Stein writes it,' I
like it Don't ask why. Or yes,
ask if. you want to, but under- ;
stand that it is impossible to !
crowd into this column all the lit
erary and personal j reasons
which have piled up over the
years. 1
Some of the reasons are in this
book. In the first place there is
the author's extraordinary knack
for accurate reporting, j No one
tells such revealing stories about
the French, no one quotes them
so significantly.
YouH enjoy particularly the
farmer who says it isn't Hitler
alone, but all Germans: fit is not
their leaders who are to blame,
they are a people who always
choose some one who will lead
them in a direction id which they
do not want to co. it Is their in
stinct for suicide, the twilight of
the gods." . i ;
The endless circle of war and
peace and war and oeace is
shown In what might be called
the parable of the girl j and the
cnewing gum. jaiss stein warns
the child not to swallow the
stick, given her by an American
soldier. But the child; already
knew: her mother had told her:
some one had told the mother
when she, in turn a Little girl,
had been given her first gum by
an American soldier in World
warL - ; ;J
v You will respect, too, Miss
Stein's utter honesty, as in her
debatable opinion about Petain.
You wm delight in the occasional
graphic description, for instance
of Miss Stein walking with her
whit ; dog in the moonlight
against the rugged' backdrop of
the Alpine foothills which for
: years have been the summertime
home of Miss Stein and her
friend, Alice B. Tokj V
Of course the h controversy
- about Miss Stein is the style. The
publisher, who by the way print
-: ed this book handsomely, claims
it will an be intelligible to chil
dren. j
. ' The book seems to me to re
flect admirably the bruited spirit
of a country which, while mo
mentous global decisions are be
ing made, must sit Ja la corner
and wait
BACKSTOP BILL FA YOKED I
.The senate Wednesday passed
a bill (HB 281) by Sen.jCoe Mc
Kenna, Multnomah county, which
fould permit the state to borrow
funds: from. the federal govern
ment in event of too great a drain
on the state unemployment com
pensation commission trust fund
in the war-peace transition period.
(Continued from page 1)
without' the active participation
of the mighty USSR? The oth
er great allies, Britain and the
United States, though they have
assented to the fifth partition ot
Poland aif a price for Russia's
cooperation; could not fa good
conscience invite the stooge com
mittee that Stalin has propped up
: in Lublin as a government of
Poland.
So no. Poles will come to San
Francisco, though no people has
suffered in such large degree,
and no nation has been more
united and courageous in its fieh
j against nazi Germany. Geography
j spells its fate: flat expanse
i of territory between two jealous
i and mighty nations, plus an al-
i most fatal deficiency in the field
; of diplomacy.
I I wonder though if the ghost
, of Poland will not be in San
' Francisco. The soviet delegates,
contemptuous of spiritism and
flushed with Russia's renascent
nationalism, will see no ghosts,
nor want to see them. But will
not the ghost of Poland haunt
the smaller nations, the ones ly
ing cheek-by-jowl with the grea
powers, the 'ones most deeply
concerned" about a peace that
offers them security? Win not
the ghost , of the Poland for
whose independence Britain and
France joined arms with Ger
many in 1939, haunt their dele
gates at San Francisco, m snite
of Churchill's labored defense of
the Yalta partition?
If so, it would not be the first
time that the ghost of Poland
has hovered over gatherings of
statesmen. Dead and buried
though Poland was for a century
and a quarter, its spirit still
lived, lived in the hearts of 20.
000,000 people, and! finally came
to are In 1918. The announce
ment that Poland was not invited
to attend the meeting at San
ancLSco highlights the tragedy
that has been Poland for nearly
ZOO years. Crushed by its ene
mies, forsaken by its friends, ner
haps in the unrolling of time
Poland may experience another
resurrection.
' foxhole t German; thrust a rifle
Into the &awfordsville, Ind.,
man's fajee. With; Hoosier cool
fness, Ariiett pulled out a pack,
age of gum and handed the Ger
man a stick. , The German took
it and gave Arnet his gun.
Lt Harry L. Simmons jr., of
Moundsville, W, Viu, did even
" better with a chocolate s bar.
When two Germans straggled
out of the woods to give them
selves up at a battalion com
mand post, Simmons talked
briefly with them land one head
ed back, into the woods. He re-
j turned with 10 more Germans.
"I just gave hat Kraut a
: chocolate bar, slipped him on
the back, and told him to go
bring back his friends," Sim
mons said. ' i .
The front is a pretty casual
place, too. Pvt. Thomas Oliver j
of Springfield, rk, was re-1
turning to his command post with -a
can of drinking water. Notic
ing a nearby figure, he yelled,
"Hey, bud, give me a lift with
this can." The answer was a
gutteral sound and the click of
a pistol, i Oliver I ducked and
burled the can as! the Nazi took
to his heels. f '
Li. Dick Macoonell of Utica,
N. ordered his men to dig in
when they moved? to a new po
sition. Noticing two idlers lean- :
ing against a tree, Maconnell
said, "I told you guys to dig in."
Stepping forward fin their Ger
man uniforms, the Nazis said in i
English, "We've been raiting for .
you all morning.! Tre your
prisoners." Y I
Statutory Measure
Back in Committee
, The senate sent back to com
mittee Wednesday house bill 348
providing for two statues of Ore
gon, citizens in statuary hall, after
Sen. Frederick S. Lamport, Sa
lem, objected that the measure
would prevent a statue of the late
Sen. Charles L. McNary from be
ing chosen.
The bills provides that the sub
ject of a statue must have been
dead 25 years.
Separate Klamath
Dispute Proposed
Sen. Marshall E. Cornett. Klam
ath Falls, said he would introduce
a proposed constitutional amend
ment to create a 31st senatorial
district comprising Crook. Des
chutes, Jefferson and Lake coun
ties.
Those " counties, plus Klamath.
now make up me 17th district
Klamath, under the new proposal,
would be the 17th district br It
self, i :.!.- -v';. -:-
House Favors
Wage Study
r or Employes
A senate joint resolution signed
by Sen. Thomas Rj Mahoney and
Rep. PhU Brady, poth Portland
democrats, calling or an interim
committee study of. wages paid
state employes in the lower brack
ets and recommendations for in
creasing them, was adopted by the
house Wednesday. No money is
appropriated for the survey.
Rep. . Henry Semori. Klamath
Falls democrat, chairman of th '
house ways and means committee,
said the state cannot be expected
to match wages paid in war indue.
tries, and said the average pay in
crease in the lower brackets has 1
been about 30 per cent - - -
"It would cost the-state 13.600.-
000 to raise the wages of all em
ployes receiving less than $200 by
$20 a month, and Wages over $200
by 1 10 a month," Semon said.
Optometry! Bill,
Liquor Regulation
In House Today
Three special orders of busfnmu
are scheduled for the house today.
At i:15, action, will be taken on
the majority "do not pass" report
and the minority "do nass" renort
of the committeel on medicine,
pharmacy and dentistrr m T?n
John Steelhammer! bill (HB 272)
auionzing any corporation to car-
ry on the practici at mtnnutp
so long as licensed optometrists
are employed. j
At 3:00 p. m divergent reports
"dO pass" but With different
amendments) Willi be considered
on SB 144 and 145; regarding the
regulation of liquor.
Move Planned to Brinsr
Vote on Elector's Age
Rep. Vernon Bull, La Grande
democrat served notice that hm
would move today 'to force out of
committees a resolution to allow
18-year olds to vote, and memor
ials to congress asking deportation
of Japanese alien' and exclusion.
from the Pacific dast of all per
sons of Japanese descent
Bill to Be Offered
A bill SDonsored bv th Pnrt.
land postwar development com
mission, designed to dear the way
for construction of the 32-block
Portland civic center
of revenue bonds! to finance it
wiu oe mtroduced in the house
probably Monday by several mem.
bers of the Multnomah delegation.
STEVES
? Jc?
till.
. DIAMONDS
Zdsnlificaiicn Brccelsh
1 - :
..
We do our own cm
graving , 5c pr
letter. !
Divided .
Fsyntezits
5 -
SUre D
A. M. to
i