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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1947)
. ' - on odo o'o o o dct o O. O O PC3 ODDO P ODO .Weather Max. Min. Prertw 31 M 34 .01 39 .00 10 00 Salem Portland 47 fsn Francisco S3 rhk-aio 31 New York 32 29 1J Willamette- river 2.6 feet. FORECAST (from US. weather bu reau. McNary field. Salem): Cloudy today and tonight with In teimittent light rain and light ton throughout this moroinc. Lifting early this afternoon. Highest temperature today, near 45 degrees; lowest tontgM. neir 33 degrees. POUNDDD NINETY-SEVENTH YEAR 12 PAGES Th Oregon Statesman, Salem, Oregon, Saturday. December 27. 1947 Price 5c No. 235 JMI JJ IT IUnl ODD OOO Q w It)" J SE 1651 fjOcalSuhurbanB Quit i i . i -I CRT SCODDQS to coos , The federal reserve banks gave a left-handed Christmas present to holders of government bonds (except the Series E, F and G) when trtey pulled the price plug la the open market. As a result the pride on the last public issue of victory bonds dropped ker plunk Slkree-quarters of a point, which is a big move in the gov ernment bond market.. For geveral months the federal reserve banks have been buying 'government bonds, supporting the price at 101 for the 24 1967-72. Previously from April to Septem ber federal agencies sold $1,800 million worth of bonds to hold S rices down. Its purpose In buy ig has been not merely the pro tection of investors but to hold a firm line against higher inter est rates 5 on government bonds. The move last Wednesday was evidently designed to aid in the fight against inflation. Sincere great deal of the cur rent business activity is based on expansion of credit to private borrowers. It is argued that the way to chill inflation Is to put a crimp on credit. Already word has gone out to commercial tanks to post caution signs in their lend ing departments. The sharp bump of Wednesday on the government bond market Is one way to em phasize the advice. - The consequence is that holders of government, bonds all, suffered a "paper" loss. If bonds had been bought at par they still could be sold, to let the holder come out even. If they are held till ma turity par is all they will bring anyway. Those who bought when issues were up to 102 or 103 will lose if- they sell and of course they- will lose if they hold to maturity. The big question is how far the rise In interest rates will go; or In other words how far the drop In prices of government bonds will go. It is recalled that after the last war Liberty bonds with coupons of 4 per cent sagged down into the 80s. There Is no 1 (Continued on editorial page) Hall, Newbry Absent From City Until Jan. 15 Neither' Gov. John H. Hall nor Secretary of State Earl T. Newbry will return here until January 5 unless' an emergency should arise, It was announced at their offices Friday. ; . - Governor HalL riow in Port land, will spend a few days at his summer home at Lincoln beach while Newbry is at his . borne in Ashland completing plans to move to Salem as soon as he can obtain a house or apartment. Gvilian Employes on Guadalcanal Rioting HONOLULU. Dec. 25 - (P) - American civilian employes of the U. S. army on Guadalcanal have engaged in fights and sabotage in attempts to break their contracts and return home, the Pacific com mand .reported today. v The trouble became so serious that ast month 100 army engi neers were called out to put down a "general disturbance' and seven alleged civilian leaders will face a court-martial next week, the army said. Animal Crackers . By .WARREN GOODRICH -ml. "Do you, mini exchanging this bubble-bth for a hrger size?" V 'Freeze' Charged, Denied All operations of Salem Suburb an Bus lines will cease' Wednesday, Proprietor Dwight Wyalt an nounced Friday. Discontinuance of the three-bus suburban transportation system follows by three weeks the grant ing of a 10-year operating fran chise by the city council to Oregon Motor Stages, the established city bus lines operator which recently extended its service into suburb an areas around Salem. Wyatt's disclosure Friday was followed by an announcement from Oregon Motor Stages, through its Salem manager, R. J. Davidson, that OMS already is working out new routings which will cover the principal areas now served by Wyatt but not by QMS. These are the Swegle school area, Center street beyond Lancaster drive and the Browning avenue and Boone road areas between Liberty road and the Pacific high way south of Salem. . New Services Davidson also announced Sun day bus service to Chemawa and other schedule changes. (Details in column 4.) In the announcement of Salem Suburban's discontinuance, Wyatt charged "freeze -out tactics by Oregon Motor Stages' and declar ed that the OMS firm had at no time offered to buy the Salem Su burban system. Davidson, however, denied that his .company used "freeze-out tactics. -OMS expanded its lines according to public demand for additional evening and Sunday service, and according to its city permits, he declared. He also as serted that sale of Salem Suburb an to OMS was discussed at a re cent meeting of OMS officials from Portland and Salem Suburb an officials, but that the price asked was to high. Omitted Suburban Bootes Although city officials had en couraged Oregon Motor Stages to offer suburban service, the coun cil omitted references to routes beyond city limits in the franchise ordinance, when representatives of the Salem Suburban firm ob jected, i In subsequent hearings on su burban and intercity routes before the state public utilities commis sion, Oregon Motor Stages sought to retain Its established routes near Salem. A decision is expected after January 1. The PUC hear ing was necessitated by the new state law bringing bus operations within three miles of a city under state PUC Jurisdiction. Such routes were previously exempt from public- utilities regulations Salem Suburban did not appear at the hearing. Personal Plans Uncertain Wyatt. who has operated su burban buses since May, 1940, said Friday he had no arrangement for disposing of his three buses and other equipment, although he is negotiating witn baiem scnooi district. He added that his person al plans for the immediate future are uncertain. Several patrons of the Wyatt bus system maintained in me public hearing before Salem's city council and tne puonc uuuues commission that Oregon Motor Stages had begun operating in the most populous sub"-ban areas, and expressed appr a ?nsion that if Wyatt's firm was i?rced out of business, some areas near baiem would be left without trans porta tion of any sort OMS officials asserted, however, that it would extend its routes to service the additional area if Wy att discontinued his bus service. Roseburg Suburbs Veto Annexation ' ROSEBURG, Ore, Dec. 2S-OP) Suburban areas around Roseburg today voted against joining the city a proposal that would have increased the. city area four-fold and raised the population from about 7,500 to an estimated 13,000 ; The vote in Roseburg proper was overwhelmingly in favor of ex tending the city , limits to include the. surrounding area. But outly ing residents rejected it in four separate districts by a total vote of 487 against, 221 for the measure TO CLORINATE SEWAGE NORTH BEND. Dec. 26-OIVThe state -sanitary authority ordered this town today to screen and chlorinate sewage before dumping it into Coos Bay, in order to pro tect oyster beds from pollution. Motorist Strikes Pedestrian Not With Car, with Fist SEATTLE, Dec. 26-(;p)-A motorist who barely .missed hit ting William F. Russell, a pe destrian, at 1 a.m. today, stopped his car, got out and then knocked him down for getting in his way, Russell re ported. He said the driver old him he had no business in the ' street Witnesses verified the in cident Police Patrolman W. J. Krusie reported. Life Insurance FirmsE .scape Income Tax WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 -(TP) Nearly all life insurance com panies will pay no 1947 federal income taxes due to technicalities of a 1942 law. Secretary of the Treasury Snyder revealed today. Snyder suggested In a statement that congress direct "immediate'' attention to changing the law.He expressed belief the life: insur ance companies would cooperate in making "fair and equitable" changes. The companies paid $34,462,000 in federal income taxes in 1944, the latest year for which the treasury said it could supply figures, but officials said that payments had been running around that since 1942. The $34,462,000 taxes were paid on a net income of $1,157,272,000. Tne law sets up a formula which determines automatically for each year the percentage of investment income from life in surance corporations that the companies can deduct from taxes to maintain reserves for the bene fit of policyholders. ( .h. For 1947 income. Snyder said. the deduction works out as 100.66 per cent which not only means complete tax exemption on in come from life insurance reserve funds but also a tax credit against income from accident and health insurance reserve funds. . Deputies to Aid In Filling Out Tax Returns Taxpayers of Marion county will be assisted in preparing fed eral tax returns by visiting deputy internal revenue collectors In Sa lem, Silverton and Woodburn next month. The U-S. treasury department's Portland internal revenue office announced Friday that deputies will be available to help farm ers prepare form 1040-ES and others prepare their Income tax forms covering the calendar year of 1947. It is expected the depu ties will be at local postoffices. The schedule for Marion county includes tax deputies in Salem January 13, 14 and IS, In Silver ton January 7 and Woodburn January 8. Visiting dates at other nearby cities include: Lebanon, January 6 and 7; Scio, January 8; Albany, January 12, 13, 14 and 15; Mon mouth, January 1; Independence, January 9; Dallas, January 12; Newberg, January 12 and Mc Minnville January 8 and 9. Price Review of Past Year Shows Prosperity Continued To Gallop Through Salem in 1947 Dragging Along Inflation By Marguerite Wittwer Wright Staff Writer, Tha Statesman Prosperity continued its devil-take-the-hindmost gallop through Salem this year leaving in its wake higher all-around prices in the continuing sellers' market and some slow-up in buying by con sumers whose wages have not consistently increased in ratio with the cost of living. Local businessmen spot no signs of recession yet one spokesman said, but- the general', scene indi cates a gradual return' to "normal cy." There- was little or no in crease in dollar-volume this year; business is still good but not booming, he said . . . partially be cause consumers are. watching their budgets to live within cur rent incomes rather than spend ing iavings. ' ' Another observer said .he esti mated wages of approximately 10,000 working men and their families in the Salem area were 15 to 20 per cent under the level required by rising costs of living. This year began with a sharp tumble in local butter prices not OMS to Add New Service New bus service north of Salem, featuring Sunday buses to Che mawa, was announced Friday by R. J. Davidson, local manager of the Oregon Motor Stages which recently added a Chemawa week day bus schedule. The service beginning this Sun day will add a bus to service the area of the Pacific highway and Lancaster drive, leaving down town Salem hourly from 8:15 a. m. on Sundays and 6:15 a. m. on week-days through, 7:15 p. m. This bus will leave the intersection of the highway with Lancaster drive at 35 minutes past the hour through 6:35 p. m. Chemawa-bound passengers will be able to take the Fairgrounds road bus from downtown Salem, leaving every hour between 9:30 a. m. on Sundays or 7:30 a. m. on weekdays and 6:30 p. m., and transfer at Highland and Brooks avenues for Chemawa. Departure time from Chemawa on Sundays will be the same as on weekdays. The new service north goes from Highland avenue to the Pacifie highway and north to Lan caster drive, then up Lancaster drive to the first road and returns to the highway at the Green Ap ple market Fog to Dispel TodayySays Weatherman Rising temperatures and inter mittent rains today and Sunday are expected to drive away the fog which has hampered visi bility in the Salem area for the past several days, the U. S. weather bureau at McNary field reported Friday night The weatherman predicted that the thermometer would register a high of 45 degrees today and would skid to . a low of 35 to night. Light rains were forecast throughout ' the day, and fog, which will drift in this morning. Is expected to lift earljy this af ternoon. ; A temperature of 39 degrees was recorded at the field early this morning, which was five de grees higher than that for the previous night, the bureau said. The mercury dipped to one de gree below freezing Friday morn ing at about 5 o'clock and by rO a.m. had risen to only 32 de grees. The temperatures continu ed to rise and late Friday after noon rains dispelled the fog. Meanwhile favorable road con ditions for this area and for vir tually all sections of the state were expected to continue throughout today and Sunday, State Highway Engineer R. H. Baldock reported Friday. Motor ists were warned, however, against frosty spots and packed snow in sections of eastern and central Oregon. MARSHALL APPOINTED WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 -(JPh President Truman designated Sec retary of State Marshall today to supervise the $40,000,000 emer gency winter relief program for France, Austria, Italy and China. followed by other foodstuffs, and war-short soaps and shortening were abundant at steady prices. The nervous butter market with seasonal variations was reflected here by a roller-coaster price chart: butter per pound was 78 cents in January, 64 cents in May, climbing in June, 93 cents in Sep tember, 81 cents in October and going up this month with the cur rent 91 cents. A surplus of cold-storage eggs early this year (60 cents per doz en, large) kept prices fairly even through spring, but October brought 80 cent price tags which skidded to 72 cents and then went up to 94 cents. Mild seasonal advances in meat prices in June were followed by a scarcely noticeable decline during October. Lately meat has held the level hit two months ago, one Sa lem dealer said, but this month even hamburger jumped six cents in some places. Butchers-expect continued high prices; beef will be short until grass-fed animals come in next spring. Sugar rationing went off in Con pany Increases Gas Price SEATTLE, Dec. 26 -(JP- Motor ists will pay 1.8 cents a gallon more for Standard Oil Co. gaso line, starting tomorrow. The price increase was announc ed in San Francisco today and di visional headquarters here said the retail price for regular grade gas, 222. cents a gallon, will go to 25 cents. Premium grade, for merly 25.2 cents, will jump to 27 cents. Other major oil companies rep resented in this area said they had no word of any price increases, but in the past when one major company has increased its -price the others were soon to follow. .Standard of California also boosted fuel oil 40 cents a barrel and diesel and light fuel oils 1.2 cents a gallon. In its announcement Standard said it had maintained its crudeJ F"-V IUI 1MB fJOSl IIIUUUl ill uie face of nation wide price increases now affecting nearly 85 per cent of the nation's oil supplies." ; 52 Missing ippine Shipwreck MANILA, Saturday, Dec. 27-(P) Nine persons were rescued -"from the Danish passenger liner Kina, which sank in a Christmas day typhoon that wrought millions, of dollars in damage to Manila and the central Philippines, but 52 oth ers aboard the ill-fated ship were still missing today. Planes and salvage tugs search ed the "waters around Samar, near where the Kina broke up, without finding a trace of wreckage. Nei ther did they sight the liferafts on which all aboard took refuge be fore the 9,823-ton motor vessel sank. Three of the passengers were American women. At least 20 other shins were Ii.PI.il damaged or imperiled by the 'tWty planted his "chop" signature phoon. Five persons were dead and more than a score injured in hard-hit Manila, where buildings were unroofed and trees uproot ed. Seventy per cent of the Chinese establishments in Tacloban were destroyed in a fire which was spread through the heart of that capital of Leyte island by the ty phoon's winds. The storm, unseasonably late. hit Manila at 6:55 a. m. Christmas' day with 90-mile winds. Wind ve locity reached a peak of 120 miles an hour before the storm blew off toward Hong Kong across the China sea. , Lull in Car License Business Note4 The demand for 1948 motor ve hicle licenses slackened . at the state motor vehicle division here Friday but was expected to hit a new high for the year early next week. Automobile license renew als for 1948 must be made by Jan uary 1. State police have indicated that the annual check of automobile licenses, involving 1948 renewals, will start immediately after the first of the year. Decrease in de mand for licenses Friday was at tributed to many persons being on trips .extending from . Christmas day over the' weekend. June in time for summer canning and some rushed stores instituted their own rationing to prevent a complete sell-out before supplies were replenished. The nation-wide grain crop fail ure complicated by extensive spe culation in the wheat market and government buying for export was cited locally as reasons for in creased prices of bakery and dairy products, as well as meat Milk, down to 17 cents per quart in June, is now 19 cents and further increases may come if the price of feed goes up substantially. Bread prices have risen steadily from 19 cents per large loaf in August to 22 cents recently. One local ba ker said prices may rise again when the current 90-day contracts with flour dealers expire. A hangover from the war fat salvaging was a paradox by mid-year. Nationally housewives were urged to save fat but the lo cal market was overstuffed and the disposal problem caused deal ers to discourage salvaging. Since October the market has been good buflean meat means less fat to be saved. Prices were high on Smiling 'Crift , ""I. i . V Sj -' Z "it ? i hi ICflTO, Dec. 26 KMekl Too, war time premier of Japan who engineered the Pearl Harbor assault today c denied on the witness stand al his war crimes trial any , criminal responsibil ity in the recent war. Criminal Acts In Recent War TOKYO, Dec. 26-()- Hideki Tojo, wartime premier of Japan, went on the witness stand at his war crimes trial with confident smiles today, but the 11 -nation tribunal adjourned for the week end 40 minutes later. Tojo's American attorney. George Blewltt of Philadelphia, had read only 20 pages of a page, 65,000-word prepared state ment in which the man who en gineered the Pearl Harbor assault seeks to convince the world that he led Japan in a war of self defense. As he approached the stand for this climactic performance after 19 months of trial with 24 other defendants, the bald, brown little man flashed a grin at his com panions in the prisoners dock. He smiled slightly as he firm- seal on the oath as a witness, At the outset of his statement Tojo briefly outlined his military and political career, calmly ad mitted his "political and admin istrative responsibility," but de nied any criminal responsibility. Then the court adjourned until Monday, December 29.- Attorney Blewltt estimated -it would take Lhim slightly more thanlwo full days to read the Tojo affidavit which reiterates the self-defense plea at length. Second List of Traders Given WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 -WV A list of 1,240 traders in wheat was made public by the agricul ture department tonight but it threw no immediate light on the hot question of Whether govern ment officials used "inside infor mation" to read speculative prof its. Named on the list were persons who were active in the wheat fu tures market cm the Chicago Board of Trade on April 30, 1946. . The department did hot identi fy any of the names as to occupa tion and Administrator J. M. Mehl of the commodity exchange ad ministration told a news confer ence he did not know whether any government officials were on it. Most of the list were small traders. most war - short merchandise available for. the first time this year and there is no indication a decline is forthcoming in the immediate future. Electrical ap pliances, steel goods and many im ported luxury items were avail able for Christmas shopping all at high prices. Cotton goods are still scarce and expensive and no lejup is in sight although one merchant reported spring cotton(w6men's wear was wholesaling at less than last, sea son's. . The -year saw a great influx of new, odorless plastic merchandise and the wide price range attract ed many buyers. ' .The lack of building materials continued to hold up construction in October, especially steel pipe, cement, gypsum, products . and some fixtures. Now available: chrome and brass fixtures, porce lain tubs and sinks, hardwood flooring, construction lumber, cer tain tools, cement cement and -pumice building blocks, paint some heating equipment Still hard-to-get: toilets, steel pipe, plaster, brick, roofing. Sheet metal, Tojo Disclaims 17 Perish in 3 States; Virtual Chaos Reigns In Metropolitan Area NEW YORK Dec. 26-(i'P)-S(orin-lossed winter skies sent a 25.4 inch cascade of snow heaviest on record tumbling down upon the sprawling metropolitan region today and to night, periling and sometimes severing the city's lifelines and taking at least 17 lives in three states. The 15-hour, 45 minute snowfall here, which ended at 9:10 p. m. EST, topped the 20.9 inches which fell in the great and storied two-day "blizzard of '88." Today's storm swept over southeastern New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachu setts, Maine, Maryland, Dela- ware and even Washington, D.C, Snowfall ranged from one inch in Maine to New York's 25.4 inches. It wasn't officially rated as a blizzard, but it had all the effects of one. Greatest death toll was New York's six, nearly all attributed to over - exertion in fighting drifts and wintry blasts. Connec ticut had five deaths, for a sim ilar reason. There were three in New Jersey, two in Pennsylvania, and one in Massachusetts. The 25.4-inch reading was re corded at 7:50 p.m. by theJU-S. weather bureau. Virtual chaos was the result of the storm in New York Citff Rail and bus transportation was hard hit and sometimes halted. Airplanes were on the ground packed in snow. The giant New York port lay lifeless. City transit vehicles struggled mightily to keep going, and just barely did. The subways, operat- 245-Mng mostly underground, saved the day for city residents, Commuters stock Commuters living In suburban communities were stuck, how ever. Great throngs filled railway stations and bus terminals, wait ing vainly for trains and a few buses operating at a crawling pace and then fighting to get on them. One bus moved a block in three hours. Many a commuter gave up, and as a result hotels were besieged with requests for rooms. Business enterprises dismissed employes long before normal quitting time, to give them a chance to get home. Acting Mayor Vincent Impellitteri ordered city departments to do likewise. Lines of stalled and snowbound parked cars lined some streets, as well as regional highways. Some other thoroughfares resembled deserted snow - drifted country lanes. Mid-Town Vacant At 6 p.m., only one car could be seen moving on Manhattan's fam ous Fifth and Madison avenues in the mid town area. . State police were trying to reach on foot about 20 cars, be lieved to contain occupants, in nearby Westchester! county. The milk supply, with deliveries hampered, was said to be suffi cient to last through tomorrow. 'Greatest Emergency' Fire Commissioner Frank J. Quayle said tonight the city faced "the greatest emergency in the history of the New York fire department" and said every- avail able fireman had been assigned to continuous duty. . Our streets are practically im passible," he said. The commissioner requested that Christmas trees not be lighted, either by electricity or candle, and urged all property owners to keep snow cleared from around fire hy drants. (Additional details on page 2.) temporarily, is in better supply. Inflationary prices in almost ev ery field were complicated this year with the increase of pur chasing power through release of federal credit control in August. It was predicted that overloaded inventories would cause many lo cal merchants to push sales via the installment route- but Salem credit association urged members to hold the pripe line by regulat ing credit into, sensible channels. Fixed - income workers were benefitted by longer credit terms and reduction of down payments helped check the widespread drain on individual savings. By Decem ber there were no signs of credit buying getting out of Hand in Sa lem but some merchants favored return of federal control to lim it purchasing power and combat inflation. Authorizing rent increases up to 15 per cent after July further in creased the Salem cost of living. By August average increases were about 11 per cent and by this v. an a. . . i a L.ut. filed were for the 15 per cent in-1 crease. State Holiday ToU at 5 After Plane Crash By the Associated Press Discovery of a crashed plane 12 miles west of Condon brought Oregon's Christmas holiday acci dent toll to five today. The plane held the bodies of Fred Palmer, " 30-year-old Con don rancher, and Lee McKnight, 34, Condon laborer, who had gon for a plane ride just after their Christmas dinner. - - The light craft owned by Pal mer, had crashed about a half mile from the landing strip on th Palmer ranch apparently, inves tigator said, just, after the take off. Mrs. Palmer started a search Christmas night when her huf band failed to return, and a , nearby farmer, B. B. Smith, came upon the wreckage yesterday. In another Christmas tragedy, the 4-year-old son of the Milton Freewater basketball coach tum bled to death from his father's automobile as they drove to Walla Walla to see Santa Claus. Two pedestrians were fatally injured by automobiles in other holiday accidents. Mrs. Arlene Dingman.,26, was killed near her home town of Portland, and Wil liam E. Chitwood near his home at Beaverton. 'Wallie' Heads Best-Dressed Women List NEW YORK, Dec. 26, The Duchess of Windsor received post Chflstmas congratulations today as the New York Dres ' institute re stored her to the, top of the annual list of the "ten best-dressed wom en." Others voted among the top ten by fashion authorities, in the or der named, are: Mrs. William Paley, Mrs. Harrison Williams, Mrs. William Rhinelander Stew art Mrs. Byron Foy, Mrs. John C Wilson. Mrs. Millicent Rogers, Mrs. Howard Hawks of Los An geles, Mrs. Geoffrey Gates, and Mrs. William Wallace (Ina Claire) of San Francisco. Also scoring votes among tho top ten, but disqualified because of professional standing, were three dress designers and a de signer's wife: Mr.. Adam Gimbel Sophie), Mrs. George Schlee (Valentina), Mrs. Orson D. Munn (Carrie Munn) and Mrs. Gilbert Adrian (Janet Gaynor), wife of the Hollywood designer, Adrian. For the duchess, the new list represented a comeback in the fashion world. In 1943. she shaded first place with Mrs. Clare Boot he Luce and then dropped to 10th the next year. She climbed up to fifth in 1945 and to second last year. Mrs. Paley is the wife of the chairman of the board of the Co lumbia Broadcasting system. Tall, willowy Mrs. Williams, a peren nial on the list favors clothe from Paris, while Mrs. Byron Foy, the former Thelma Chrysler, was among the first of the New York style-setters to adopt the "new look." QUICKIES "Don't be so awkward you're always tripping ever the prayer rug I get with a Statesman Want Adr