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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1948)
Truman Asks Congress to Cut Income Tax; GOP Cries 'PoIMcs' (Story in Column 4) i Weather Max. Min, precip. Portland ' Ran Francisco , SI Chicaco 3 New York 33 14 ; joo . rorecait (from U.S. weather t bureau. McNary field. Salami: Mostly1 cloudy today and tonight with occasional lijcht showers. Hifh temperature today M, losr tonight 33. !i POUNDDD 1651 KINZTY-SEVElTrH YEAH 12 PACES The Oregon Statesman. Salem. Oregon, January t, 1948 Price 5c No. 245 DirDn FD DD (ate mi sLHl CRT SSJjDS rotDcro President Truman launched his campaign for election in his mes sage to the second sesion of the Oth congress. It was an open appeal for votes and an obvious effort to put the republican ma jority in the congress on the spot. His major items were those relating to domestic politics, the be fore-Christmas message on the Marshall plan serving to cover that phase of foreign policy. The position which Truman takes on domestic issues is well left of cen ter in the attempt to recapture the Roosevelt following and cut off recruits to the banner of Henry A. Wallace. Thus the president comes out for tax reduction, hitherto a pro posal on which republicans claim ed a patent, but he made his tax recommendation double-barreled: Tax credits which would relieve some 10 million citizens of pay ment of federal income taxes, but rolling the treasury loss over on corporations. At once the presi dent and his advisers hope to curry favor of the multitude of Individuals both by lightening their tax burden and by Jabbing the wicked corporations who have been revelling in lush pro fits. Bob Taft and Chairman Knutson will grind some molars over that Siamese twin of a tax plan. On other issues Truman re news his former stand: opposing the Taft-Hartley law. asking for powers to impose rationing and price controls to stop inflation, a rise in minimum wages, national housing and health programs. Were Truman another Frank lin Roosevelt he could muster a large following with these popu lar appeals. Lacking the Roose velt dynamism he will probably fail to get what he asks and still be unable to capitalize fully on the political advantages of his position. The message began or at least stepped up into high tempo the 1948 presidential campaign. From here on out it will be every man for himself and devil take the hindmot. Highway Table The Albany -Corvallis hichwtay wet underwater and as closed to traffic Wednesday niant. late reports from St a Is polu-e headquarters In Salem In dicated. Sone 20 highway closings had been reported earlier by the state highway department, including Highway W-K at four places, a mile south of Canby. at HarrWburg. south ol Eugene and toulft Of Grants Pass. The Oregon coast highway also was eloeed. and only one through north aoutn highway. The Dalles-California route, remained open. Highway reports follow : South Ompqua bi Ide. 4 miles south f Roaeburg on the Pacific highway, reported" washed out Wednesday mot n an lolumbla River highway. traffic Slowed by slides JS and 71 miles eaat ef Portland but one-way traffic was restored after closure late Tuesday. L'aarade mountains Ice and snow ex pected. Oregon Coast highway, closed be tween Coqutlle and Bandon. Alsea highway, closed 17 miles west of Philomath by a slide Other roads closed include the South Santlam. Cascade. Woodburn-Estaca-da. Sluslaw. Junction City-Eugene secondary. Territorial. Rich a r d s o n. Sprlngfield-Creswell. 1 Medf ord-Provolt. Kings Valley. Halsey -Brownsville. Cor vallis East Side, and the old Pacific highway near Jefferson. No detours were available around the closed areas. V. 8. FLEET TO VISIT SOME ROME. Thursday. Jan. 8 -0V The news agency Ansa reported today from Taranto that the air craft carrier Midway, three cru isers and 10 destroyers of the United States navy's Mediterran ean fleet were expected to anchor there from January 13 to 17. Animal Crackers By WARREN GOODRICH Tl hit mint m tie 69949 car." 3 States Affected By Floods By Use Associates! Press) Six drownings were counted in Oregon early today as floods raced through western Oregon, cutting main roads In a score of places, inundating scattered stretches of lowlands and leaving an estimated 2,000 homeless. The flood was receding in the Eugene area by tb ever-rising Willamette river, fed by swollen branch rivers and streams all along the valley, was rushing to ward flood crests at Albany and Salem. Drowning victims included a 20-months-old boy, in a drainage ditch eight miles east of Stayton (details on page 2); a three-year-old boy. Arthur Boyd, in a Eugene drainage ditch; Norland D. Wilson, 24. drowned while fording Olalla creek west of Roseburg on horse back; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lackey and Mrs. Ross Cooper, all caught by swirting waters of the Rogue river as they were crossing the 1 river on a cable car at Ilia he. Using 8 lawbea per haw Rising at a rate of six Inches an hour, the Willamette was near the level of the Salem-West Salem state highway bridge early today. . The Pacific highway was inun dated and closed in at least four places. The 2,000 homeless are mostly ' in the Eugene-Springfield area ' L- . b 1 AUl - I wnerw omc uaan i rvw vi ui u were sheltered In public build ings last night. In many other sectors families were leaving their home for safety. Including 27 West Salem families (story on page 2). Damage is expected to run into millions of dollars, but army en gineers doubted It would equal the devastation of the 1943 and 194 J floods. Ca mini tics Affected Almost every community of the upper Willamette valley was affected, either by flood waters, broken communications, power failures or severed highways. Power failed in many places, particularly along the Oregon coast. Sawmills at Coos Bay shut down when power failed. There were disruptions In telephone service. The crest of the churning Wil lamette river, which usually brings most of the devastation J in uregon. stiu naa to now downstream. The river was fore cast to crest at 9.7 feet above flood stage at Corvallis early Thursday, 7.2 feet beyond flood stage at Albany early Thursday, and 10 feet above flood stage at Salem early Friday. No Flood for Tertians! But in those towns fewer per sons live in the lowlands than in hard-presed Eugene. In the metropolis of Portland flood stage is not expected to be ex ceeded. At a half dozen Oregon points more than three inches of rain fell during 24 hours. The worst spot was Butte Falls on the Rogue river of southern Oregon, 4.8 inches. A score of communities were virtually isolated by rising waters. At Reedsport, on the southern Oregon coast, a flash flood dumped two feet of water on downtown streets. The citizenry chugged down the street in motor boats and hip boots to sandbag their doors. Water High la Idahe Water ran two feet deep through the main street of Princeton. Ida ho. It invaded the University of Idaho veterans' village until ditch ing drained it out. and flooded some business establishments in .Moscow, Idaho. The North Pa louse river rose over the bridge at Elberton, Wash., and isolated the town. Nobody could go to work in nearby Colfax. A stemwheeler struck a sub merged log in the turbulent Co lumbia and sank, after the 14 men aboard were removed to another craft. An escort carrier broke loose in the Willamette river at Portland, and threatened briefly to ram one of the city's main bridges. Along the lowlands, from the California border to Potlatch, Idaho, farmers mover livestock to higher country. Dwellers near Johnson creek, which overflowed in the city of Portland, waded into grocery stores. Street sec tions in Portland's fashionable west hills washed away. Railroad service was harrassed. The Union Pacific no sooner fixed a slide on its main line along the Columbia river than it lost a sec tion to washouts on the Plummer, Idaho, branch. The Southern Pa cific's line near Grants Pass was slowed by high water. A branch line of the SP was cut by a slide between Detroit, Ore-, and Mill City, Ore., and the Spokane, Port land & Seattle line between Sweet Home and Lebanon, Ore., was washed out. 'Private' Floods - - - - 1 1 I .SrXt.mr x gift f ! " f? "7U& m-mm r"'' ii-r , . : , rr " J- :x- - - n" Swii 'i 1 '---M-- --ail' "SiWSiitiilWi mil nrf-S.' - v, . n With moft sf Salem and the snrr eandlng area prepared te meet the flood crest expected Thursday night er Friday morning, residents In different parts of the city were battling their own private floods Taesday. I'pper left phete shews George Emigh. business manager of the Salem Senators baseball team, standing; in "deep" third base position (2 feet deep) which covered Waters field and flooded dressing rooms and effices ef the stadium. At lower left is the water-bound entrance to the ball park, located at South 25th and Helm streets. Two photos directly above (center) show, top. raging Shelton creek frsm the Tomer road and with Seuth 24th street bridge at upper left: while below are Inun dated back yards ef residents along Mill creek between South 23rd and 22nd street bridges. Residents f the veterans' housing project at South 17th and Cress streets were flooded worse than usual by the overflow ef Shelton creek, as shown In upper right where, left to right, Dan McLaughlin and Owentta Seheak place a plank from the swirling waters; and Pat O'Brien, project maintenance man. clear a catch basin. The foet deep water at the intersection ef Cross street and Saalfeld avenue proves too much for four year eld Anne McGee. daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. McGee, in right center picture. Lower right shows the muddy waters ef the Willamette as they inch up on the Center street bridge, at the West Salem approach. (Photos by Don Dill. Statesman staff photographer.) President Urges Yearly Tax Cut of $40 per Taxpayer and Dependent 780 Persons On Sinking Russian Ship TOKYO, Thursday, Jan. t.-(Py-Decks of the sinking Russian ship Dvina are awash and efforts of two rescue ships to remove her 780 passengers have thus far been futile, an American airman radio ed from the scene off northeast Japan at 11 a. m. today (8 p. m.. Wednesday, P. S. T.) A Russian patrol boat standing by had been unable to get a line aboard the stricken ship and that waves were surging across her decks. The plane was unable to make contact with the Russians, either by radio or blinker signal, he added. One of the earliest distress mes sages from the Dvina - - silent now for many hours - - had asserted "it is necessary to remove passen gers immediately." It noted that the ship was filling and that she had only one lifeboat. An Amercan B-29 superfortress which first located the Dvina by radar and remained aloft nearly 11 hours to direct rescue craft, landed at Yokota airbase at 9:50 a. m. (4:50 p. m, Wednesday, P. S. T.) in Salem Cause footbridge across unfinished gutter Increase in Corporation Tax Would Make Up Loss in Federal Revenues WASHINGTON, Jan. 7-OP)-President Truman called in a "State of the Union" message today for a flat $40 a year tax cut for every income taxpayer and dependent and for higher corporation taxes to make up the resulting $3,200,000000 loss in revenue. The president delivered his sharply controversial proposal In person to both houses of congress and a large assemblage of govern ment leaders in outlining a 10- 1 year program aimed, he said, at I speciai wssi0n of congress to stamDing out poverty in our time" and fostering "enduring peace in the world." Repub'ican leaders immediately assailed Mr. Truman's message as a surrender to the policies of in dependent presidential candidate! Henry A. Wallace and served no- tice that they would shelve the president's tax-slashing measure 1 in favor of their own. Many congressional democrats applauded the president's message, including the tax proposal, which Mr. Truman described as a "cost of living" measure intended to help low-income families in particular to "buy the necessities of life." Proposal Favored Another of Mr. Truman's pro posals, that rent control be ex tended beyond the present expira tion date of February 29, appeared to meet with general agreement. Mr. Truman also urged that con gress "act promptly" on the four year Marshall plan for European reconstruction. And he called again for the power denied him at last year's Inconvenience, so as to salvage their woodpile bring back ration and wage-price controls if necessary. Mr. Truman recommended, too, that congress set up without de lay a system of universal military training, declaring it "vital to the security of this nation and to the maintenance of its leadership." Leads to reaee Three times as though in an swer to Wallace's recent attack on democratic and republican poli cies alike Mr. Truman said with emphasis that his program "leads to peace not war." Turning to the social legislation, he asked that the national mini mum wage be increased from 40 to 75 cents an hour; that a na tional health insurance system be established, along with broadened old age pension and other social security measures and a long range, government - supported housing program. ' And he said, "The time has come for Alaska and Hawaii to be admitted to the union as states." (Additional details on page 3) Precede Willamette Overflow I II II I I I M . 'li . -V S vL ' rf ill 2 ,1,4 i ' t i 1 Z" -us r"- t" 1 ' . '? - II a 1 i.i-. A Behind the Iron Curtain s That's where readers cf The Oregon Statesman will be taken in a gripping series ol 15 stories, starting in this newspaper Wednesday, January 14, which make up John Steinbeck's outstanding - work entitled The Russian Journal Documented with photographs by Robert Capo, the series obtained by The Nw York Herald-Tribune's team .of correspondents is regarded as the finest non-political reporting yet to come out of the Soviet union. Steinbeck and Capa side-step all political implications to portray the everyday Russian and every day in Russia. They avoid conclusions to. present facts in The Russian Journal, starting Wednesday, January 14, in 0resou Q) statesman ft fCr Tj t it 1 1 i 'I M Closure !f - - . .1 . Of Bridge Closlnj: the Salem -Yea4 Salem highway bridge was im minent at t 'clock -this morn ing, as the Willamette river . reached Edgewater street 1 West Salem and seared the west end of the brlflge. ; 1 I ' 8Utc highway erm wlUi blockade equipment stood by t halt traffic as soon m the danger mark a river height ef 28.5 feet with water covering the west bridge approach ; - was reached, , - j j 1 A Statesman readhsg ol the . official river height guage near the foot of ChemekeU i street showed river level Just over z reet it z m . (t The Willamette river was with in three feet of the Salem-West Salem highway bridge early today. a iwuncn inuuunn iin in, .- ley rolled a flood crest t toward ' Albany and Salem. General river flooding in this area li expected by Friday morning. ; j ) Four families were evacuated Wednesday from Rrmim'i -nl Minto's islands in the Willamette river opposite Salem' and other families near the river banks here set about preparing their base ments and homes for j possible noocung. Aiany streets, basement and low. fields were under water Tuesday night and Wednesday. At last Salem river reading, 9 p. m. Wednesday, the Willamette was three feet above flood stage, at a 23-foot. height. A 2.5 foot level would .close the state high way bridge" here. U. Sj weather bureau prediction is for a crest of 28 feet early Friday. f -Army engineers here from Part land and operating at the local Red Cross office aloiur iwith the Marion . county chapter's ; disaster relief committee said last night they expected ' up to 1W feet of water to cover the west approach to the West-Salem bridge this morning. ; ! i Rescue Crews Organise j I . - The Red Cross and" engineer .of fices were organizing rescue crews and offering information on flood conditions at the downtown State street office, with telephones'' at 7!ttxa an in : ? In the event the bridge is closed to highway traffic, as appeared tfl i s . u-eiy irom mis precucuon, ine Southern Pacific Railroad Co. was ready to provide immediate-shuttle passenger service between Sa lem and West Salem over the rail road bridge. State Public UOlitier Commissioner- George Flagg was River Rising Fast The river rose five feet at Sdlera between 8 an. (when an 18-foot level was recorded) and 9 rim. when official river reader Lester R. Thomas made the day's final re- . as. a at a. ! . a . A porx. 11 was i ieei mgn ai iu p.m. and 23 feet by 9 pjn. . . : After a surprisingly clear morn ing Wednesday, the rain which had been falling steadily- for two days resumed, and weather forecasts in dicated rainfall will continue to day. ' 1 ! h But this new rainfall, : the wea ther bureau announced last night, will not affect crest predictions be cause the river st ages at such up river points as Eugene and Har risburg were already receding last night I Showers Due Today l ; A total of .75 of an Inch of rain fell Wednesday, but the weather bureau predicted only scattered light showers will fall today. City Engineer J. Hi Davis re ported that nearly all city sew ers were cleared Jnd functioning normally by Wednesday after noon. Capitola and Hollywood districts were hit hardest Many basements in that area .were still flooded Wednesday afternoon but were improving a the sewers carried water off the streets in that area. Several Streets in the Rosedale section also flooded Tuesday night but all Were clear by Wednesday afternoon. ." Water Ixu-IIospital ! Knee-deep water which - flow ed into the basement : of Salem Memorial hospital Tuesday night forced hospital authorities to move the institution's laboratory up to the second floor Wednes day. Little damage wai done be cause nearly all property on the lower floor was moved up before the water seeped in, it was re ported. The Ford street bridge over Shelton ditch was damaged as, the water in that stream con tinued to . rise later! Wednesday night, Davis reported. A section of piling gave way .under the rushing water and Davis feared the entire bridge might be lost before morning. t (Additional details on page 2) - eld Nea