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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1948)
O EZJ O O O ED OC30 OOOO E3 0D EDO O DO O ODED OOO 23 OD ODE30 Weather Max. Mia. Sales Portland San Francisco Chicago 1 XS . Jf 17 si -oo .4 S -34 m is . l Mew York 28 IS tra, -4 ftrt.. - - - Willamette river FORECAST (from U3. weather bu reau, McNarr field. Salem) : -, Partly cloudy today wtUi increasing cloudiness this afternoon and evening. Light rain is expected late tonight or early tomorrow moraine. Highest tern perature today, near 4d decrees; low est tonight, near M degrees. i POUNDDD - 1651 iTOfTTY-SEvnrra yeah 18 PAGES The Oregon Stotasmas. Salem, Oregon, Friday. February 6. 1948 Price 5c No. 272 pdDirtxsdl TinriJteirfirog sis Pinna SwDOs agUlwawro dim 13 Rescued in Salem School six SaJesa high school girls V.e w " t . . , ; ej ,7 r , - i K v " . fiv other Salem Janior and senior high school sta dents ta recognition of their art entries in the Ore gen tchaUsUe art exhibit now on displiy at Mler mad Fraak Ce. la rartlxad. Wlaners of the raid key, f which there are IS stadeata fresn Oregea scboeis. will hava their work teat to Carnegie InsUtote. ruuhsM-gh. Pa for national romaeUtlon, the winners ta recelT art scholarships. Pictured are. left ta right. L'aa Mae Graylesa. Dareea Ilannon, Carol Gondlach. Mxris Aaa BJorke. Chariene Webber and Darleae CagdahL Net ptrtared are Marioa A. Carson aad Dick Secce. both two-Ume winners of the gold key aad both ef sealer high; Donald Ferllch. Leslie Janlec high; and Charles McClelland and Norm Jeaa Wllsea. both ef Parriah Junior high. (Pbete by Den Dill. SUtesman sUff pboUrrapher.) OtP RJCDGuDCi i Congratulatioru are due the city of Monmouth on retirement of all iU indebtedness. On Tues day night Mayor Bowersox touch ed a match to the last of its bonds, and the city has no general debt and no lien against its light plant. Now it will be possible for the city to reduce its electric power rates. Its previous city tux levy ef 17 mills can also be reduced or the city may fake on additional improvements. Under Mayor Bowersox the city has made a success of its ven ture into municipal ownership of its power distributing system. When cheap Bonneville power was offered the city built its own distributing system In 1940, rath er than buy out the existing pri vate utility. It offered reduced rates and still has been able to meet all its obligations. There were two factors con tributing to this result: First the low wholesale rate offered by Bonneville; Second, the fact that the system was tax-free. The sys tem has been run very econom ically, with Mayor Bowersox keeping a watchful eye on its op erations, and of course was spared contributing to private company overhead or dividends. Monmouth's success may be tempting to other municipalities: but not all of them have as vig ilant a mayor as Monmouth. Then again there is the principle of op position to state socialism - where will it stop once it gets started? Leaving that debate to one side for the present the fact remains that the achievement at Mon mouth is a conspicuous example of competent, efficient municipal government. SALXM FKCCIPITATION (Sines SepC 1) Last Year 23 SS Average as 7 Animal Crackers By WARREN GOO0RICH lf$ been one of thos days EVERYTHING gotj - 'Ul '111 Art Students Awarded Keys will be gwxrdedl r14 keys Saturday Navy Plans to Construct Largest W arship Ever WASHINGTON. Feb. 5 -jP- The navy plans to build the largest warship ever a mammoth aircraft carrier of 80,000 tons. Secretary John L. Sullivan disclosed this today as he revealed a radical change in the navy's construction program during the next five years. Instead of spending $308,000,000 on converting the battleship Kentucky and the large cruiser , Hawaii into guided - missile ships, , the navy proposes a $230,000,000 i outlay on the following: j 1. The super - carrier almost ; double the size of the present ; giants the 45,000 - ton Midway, ; Franklin D. Roosevelt and Coral Sea. Bigger and faster planes will be built for service on the super- i carrier. 2. Four extremely fast subma- 1 rines. These perhaps would be j patterned after the German subs ! r credited with three times the sub- ! merged speed of American under- ! sea craft. I 3. One "hunter - killer" ship, i somewhat similar to a destroyer, I but larger and equipped with j elaborate electronic gadgets to hunt down and destroy fast sub- i marines. j The program also provides for the conversion of a 27,000 - ton : carrier and two submarines. De i tails of these changes were not 1 revealed. Sullivan did say that one submarine would be an oil ! tanker to fuel other subs. But he ' ' did not indicate whether this i j would be a converted one or a , new vessel. c . . 1 1 : .. . tv.. I changed construction program was I a few weeks to prepare his opin that the development of guided j on- missiles had not progressed as fast j as the nayy expected. I Fv-TMnv (Innof il Butter Jumps To 96 Cents Salem housewives are paying 96 cents a pound for butter again following a two-cent jump in the price of the product here Thurs day. The current price of butter is now one cent under a recent re cord peak of 97 cents which oc curred last December, local mar- I kets reported. Grade A butter also hiked two cents in wholesale list ings, reaching 91 cents a pound. Butterfat prices advanced cor respondingly but egg quotations remained the same Thursday night with the large size retailing at 57 cents a dozen. McKinney to File For Judgeship A second candidate for the po sition of municipal judge entered the field Thursday when W. W. McKinney announced he will file for the judgeship he now holds. McKinney is serving under ap pointment since the city manager form of government began here a year ago January 1. As the Judge's duties constitute only a part time job, -McKinney also has continued his private law practice in Salem. William H. Crawford announc ed earlier this week he would file for city judge. Proper peti tions signed by 200 voters would place both names on the primary ballots here In May. Gorge Blizzard arternoon la Portland along with Supreme Court Ruling on Tax Surplus Sought State officials are planning to ask the state supreme court to decide whether income tax sur pluses can be used for state gen eral fund purposes, it was report ed at the capitol here Thursday. State Treasurer Leslie M. Scott said these surpluses now amount to $30,000,000. There is an argu ment over whether income tax re ceipts have to be used for pro- Perty tax reduction as has always been done in the past. A high state official said to day that if Attorney General Neuner holds that the surpluses can be put into the general fund, some interested taxpayer might be found to bring suit to prevent the state from using the surpluses. It is hoped that the supreme court could rule before the legis lature meets next January. Neuner said it would take him Commits Suicide As Trial to Start NUERNBERG. Germany, Feb. 5 -(yp) German Gen. Johannes Blas kowitz committed suicide today by leaping from the top catwalk of the Nuernberg prison a short time before he was to go on trial for war crimes. His death did not delay the tri al of 13 of his co-defendants all of them former German military leaders. They were escorted intc a United States tribunal to answer charges of crimes against peace and humanity. The 64-year-old Blaskowitz broke away from a file of pris oners, clambered up a seven-foot wire fence and threw himself over, hurtling 30 feet to a tile floor. American attorneys said they were surprised at Blasko witz 's suicide because their evi dence against him was meager. South Called to Political Meeting JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 5 JP) Governor Fielding L. Wright hint ed at a bolt today in a call to Mississippi democrats for a state wide meeting to fight the party's national leadership on the racial issue. It was Wright, in bis inaugural speech January 20, who sounded the keynote for revolt. He accused those in control of the party of "anti-southern' acts. Wright call ed the Mississippi meeting Febru ary 12 Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Colu Qihia River Site Of Storm By the Associated Press Thirteen persons were rescued from the Columbia river near Umatilla, Ore., yesterday after a blizzard smothered the Columbia gorge in snow, sent lumber flying through the air at McNary dam site and wrecked three river boats. The tug Defiance rescued six workmen from an island near the damsite, then later pulled seven persons from the tug Captain Al James, which had been driven on to Umatilla rapids rocks by 60-mile-an-hour winds. All the res cued were in good condition de spite hours of exposure. The storm, which also whipped stinging sand through the air, de posited snow througout the gorge. The heaviest fall was at The Dalles, where 14 inches came down in 9Vt hours. Western Oregon generally es caped the snowfall, although winds ranging up to 38 miles an hour reached Portland. Elsewhere the state was under a white man tle and highway travel was dan gerous. Colder Weather Doe Thermometers ranged from 10 degrees at Baker to 34 at Rose burg. The weather bureau forecast colder temperatures Friday. Two army engineers boats swamped and sank in the Colum bia near Umatilla Wednesday night in the face of a 60-mile-an-hour wind. The army engineers lifted one the plywood launch Arling ton from the water Thursday af ternoon, and began trying to sal vage the other, a landing craft used to transport personnel. The wind in that area subsided to about 30-miles-an-hour Thurs day afternoon, after breaking power poles and blowing lumber through the air at the McNary dam site. One gust blew a pick up truck, driving between Ord nance and Umatilla, off the road into a ditch. The driver escaped injury. Washing-tan Men Stranded In Washington, snow stranded eight men on a south-central state highway for several hours yester day and forced closure of a few schools in the state. The men, on their way to Sun nyside from the Hanford atomic works, spent the night and much of today on the highway 12 miles north of Sunnyside when six-foot snowdrifts stalled five cars. A res cue car reached them yesterday afternoon. Power Shortage Closes Mills A power shortage, some of it due to California's drought and some due to central Oregon's dampness, heavily curtailed lum ber production and left some 2.300 workers temporarily jobless. The failure of hydroelectric gen erators in California, caused by low water there, cut of power in southwestern Oregon for the fourth straight day. More than 100 lumber mills, from the California border to Eugene, were closed or operating on a limited basis. Some 2,000 men in the Springfield-Junction City-Cottage Grove area were idled, as 54 mills shut down. Another 300 were idle near Roseburg. Three other Oregon counties crooK, jerierson, and Deschutes were battling a separate power shortage, which stemmed from wet fuel and an icecap over the Des chutes river. The shortage there blacked out parts of Bend for several nights, closed down sawmill planes at Redmond and Prineville intermit tently. Airline to Pay If Planes Late ST. PAUL. Minn., Feb. 5.-OP)- Northwest Airlines said today it is prepared to place into effect March 15 a five per cent rebate on passenger ticket prices when ever a flight reaches its destina tion more than 30 minutes late. The rebate will apply to all do mestic flights and all seasons of the year, the airline stated. Croil Hunter, president and general manager of the airline, said it has filed a formal appli cation with the ciyil aeronautics board proposing to make the re bate policy effective March 15. HIGHWAY TO TOP DAM SPOKANE. Feb. 5-0P-Plans for the McNary dam near Uma tilla call for an interstate bridge atop the structure, James A. Ford, chamber of commerce executive secretary said today he had been advised by army engineers. Stalin Passed Up Truman's Bid to Speak in Missouri WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-(JP)-Premier Stalin was disclosed today to have turned down an invitation from .President Tru man in 1946 to speak before an American audience. The Russian leader had been angered by Winston Churchill's famous speech at Fulton, Mo., in which he criticized what he termed Russia's desire for "ex pansion." The invitation appar ently was intended as an offer to the Russian leader of an equal chance to present his ar guments. Presidential Secretary Charles G. Ross said Stalin turned down an offer to come to the United States on the USS Mis souri, to travel with President Truman to Columbia, Mo., and to speak at the state university. He was said to have felt the trip was too far. Hit-Run Driver Kills Cyclist In Lebanon LEBANON, Feb. 5 - (Special ) Sweet Home and Oregon State police tonight were trying to lo cate a 1939 or 1940 light-colored Plymouth or Dodge sedan which struck and killed Maurice Lloyd Lappe, 51, Lebanon, early his evening. Lappe, a plywood mill work er, was struck by the car, accord ing to investigating state police, as he rode his bicycle homeward at 6:10 p.m. at the crossing of the Southern Pacific tracks and West Oak streets. Death was instantaneous, said Coroner Glenn Huston of Linn county. Clues, other than the col or of the car which struck Lappe, police said, were a spotlight drop ped by the car at the scene of the accident and the fact that the car went through Lebanon and turned onto Highway 20, south toward Sweet home. Lappe has no known survivors. Funeral arrangements will be an nounced later by Howe-Huston funeral home, Lebanon. Bids Sought on Improvement of Reservists Huts Salem contractors Thursday were asked to bid on an improve ment project for the three quonset huts near 25th and Lee streets where local army reserve activity now centers. Capt. Richard A. Reynolds, unit instructor for the Salem area, said bids are due at the Ft. Lewis post engineer's office February 12, con tract to be awarded within 30 days and work to be completed within 90 days following awarding of contract. The work will include repairing interiors, rehanging doors, paint ing inside and out, installing win dows and porches and outside lighting. Tentative Plans to Place Memorial Auditorium In Bush Park, Campaign Ideas Aired at Meet By Conrad Prange Staff Writer. The Statesman Tentative plans to build the pro posed Salem war memorial audi torium in Bush Pasture park and a series of promotional and fund raising campaigns were outlined at a meeting of Salem Memorial Auditorium association Thursday night. Admiral Thomas Gatch of Port land, native of Salem, gave the main talk at the meeting and stressed that Salem "sadly need ed" such an auditorium. The association voted to accept a proposal made by Dall Sullivan, representing the Salem 20-30 club, that his club be permitted to spon sor a series of three stage plays. The proceeds of the plays will be given to the association. The plays would be held at Salem sen ior high school February 27, April 15 and May 15. To avoid conflict with several other local war memorial groups the association changed its for mer title of Salem War Memorrial association to Salem Memorial Auditorium association. Nineteen of 31 group representatives pres ent favored the change. Reporting for Col. Phillip Alli son, chairman of the location com mittee, who was absent. President Rex Kimmell declared that the committee has several prospect ive sites in mind. The committee, however, "favored the Bush pas ture location at the corner el Grains Stage Limit President Asks Slu Truman Warns Crash Near if Curbs Ignored WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -JPy-President Truman warned the na tion today that a crash is inevita ble unless some way is found to curb prices. At the same time Secretary of Agriculture Anderson asked all consumers to "ration their food dollars' voluntarily to bring down the cost of living. Also today, a senate subcom mittee recommended a sweeping revision of the rent control law, with no limit on the size of rent increase where landlord and ten ant agree on a long-term lease. The controls, in revised" form, would be extended until April 30, 1949. Mr. Truman told a news confer ence that consumers have had to pay more and more for daily ne cessities since he asked congress last November for standby powers to check inflation. As graphic evi dence, he brought out a chart showing how living costs have spiral ed. For that reason, the president declared he feels as strongly as ever that congress should give the administration authority to deal with the situation. But leaders on Capitol Hill have shown no in clination to grant his requests. Mercury Dips Near 20 Mark Salem area temperatures which skidded to almost 12 degrees un der the freezing point early this morning, are expected to rise today and produce rain tonight, the U. S. weather bureau at Mc Nary field reported early today. The mercury dipped close to 20 degrees last night the bureau reported. A minimum reading of about 30 degrees was forecast for tonight. Increasing cloudiness is predicted for today with probable rain today and Saturday. Although many roads through out the state were snow and ice packed, they are still passable with chains, the state highway commission reported. Especially dangerous areas are the mountain passes and the Columbia river highway between Portland and The Dalles, because of heavy snow drifts. Anti-Discrimination Bill Passed by Committee WASHINGTON, Feb. 5-UP-A hotly argued bill to prevent job discrimination against negroes and other minority groups won 7 to 5 approval today from the senate labor committee. It thus was started toward sen ate debate, but may not get there until after anti-poll tax and anti lynching bills are considered. South Winter and Mission streets," Kimmell said. This location, it was reported, would provide easy street travel and would permit sharing of the nearby parking lot of the Willa mette university athletic field. No legal obstacles blocked use of the Bush pasture site, it was reported by Allan Carson, legal committee chairman. Carson in dicated, however, that other op position to use of the location might arise. He also reported that Salem residents voted and later repealed a bond issue of over $500,000 to build a war memorial building in the 1920's. A building committee report, offered by Chairman William Baillie, revised its previous design for a building. Instead of a single purpose structure, suitable only for concerts, shows and cultural programs and stage events, the building should be a multiple purpose affair, Baillie reported. It should have a flat floor de signed to also accommodate ath letic events, exhibitions,-fairs and large civic group affairs. The building, Baillie reported, should have a small concert hall and smaller assembly rooms, a dining room and kitchen. In answer to a protest from Eric Allen, representing American post 136, that plans concerning the type of building were continually "fluctuating," Baillie said that to serve the community well, the building: would have to be capa ble of accommodating; a large va Price Drop to Take While to Work Way Into Pocketbooks i NEW YORK. Feb. $ - VP) -Bread and batter note: Don't be too hard an the gro cer If his price on products from wheat and cows don't "plunge the limit" along with commodi ties. Those gyrations la the com modity markets of the nation take a while to eddy Into the corner store. Wheat sold far cash at $2.7(44 a bushel In Chicago, dawn 11H cents from yesterday. Flour prices here were cut 25 cents a hundred pounds yester day, which wouldn't mean much In a loaf of bread. Besides, mill ers and brokers have to work off their higher-priced stocks before the grocer gets hxs bread cheaper. Aa an example, batter went up H cent here today to $L61 a pound. Burglars 'Dig' $9,000 from Athena Bank ATHENA,' Ore, Feb. 5-UPy-The Athena bank was robbed of about $9,000 in coins in the' night by burglars who dug through a brick wall of the bank vault. The burglary was discovered by the Janitor, J. E. Harwood, when h came tn work this inorninfc. The burglar alarm failed to sound because of faulty wiring, the bank manager said. The burglars pried open a side door to enter the Umatilla coun ty bank building, then tunneled a hole in the brick vault. Though they got the coins, they failed to obtain the bulk of the bank's cash, which was kept in a steel safe within the vault. The bank, a branch of the Unit ed States National of Portland, is managed by F. S. LeGrow. He estimated that the stolen money, most of it in bags, would weigh about 800 pounds. Present Laws Said Adequate to Gope With Communism WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 -JP-Tighten up some of the laws al ready on the books and the de partment of ustice- will be able to cope with any red fifth col umn. Attorney General Clark as sured congressmen today. "The government should not run the risk of turning radicals into martyrs," he explained. For that reason he agrees with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover that it would be best not to outlaw the communist party by statute. riety of organizations and pro grams. v Correspondence with other ci ties as far south : as Pasadena, Calif,, concerning their auditor ium buildings, is being carried on by the building committee. Bail lie said. He added that the Salem auditorium 'should still contain a seating capacity of between 3,500 and 4,000. Coburn Grabenhorst, chairman of the men's- promotional commit tee, outlined a program of radio, newspaper and service organiza tion promotional activities "to keep the memorial idea alive to the people." Silas Gaiser, member of the building committee, reported that the Salem Community Concert association is beginning a cam paign to. enroll its 1,800 members into the $l-a-year individual membership status of the Mem orial association. State Treasurer Leslie Scott In troduced Admiral Gatch. Gatch harked back to his childhood days and Salem's Reed opera house'and the Oddfellows temple which re placed the opera house. Guests at the meeting included Marion County Clerk Harlan Judd of the Reserve Officers associa tion and Public Utilities Commis sioner George Flagg. Mrs. Peery Buren was . acting secretary in place of her husband. President Kimmell reported that the asso ciation's next meeting was tenta tively set for March 18. Decline as ' . ii : ; ' - mp Stopped i. ! - Drop Noted In Wholesale Price Index CHICAGO. 'Feb. dm- modify and stock rjrir hrnir again today for the second suc cessive aay ana some grain and ousmess analysts expressed belief the turninsr noint In th inflation ary spiral may have been reached. as nearly au grains crashed: the Permissible limit on all Nnh American markets and the New York stock market retreated to the lowest average level since June uiese were toe major develop ments in the price picture: f 1. The bureau of labor rtati:tir reported a drop in wholesale prices for the second straight week and the Associated Press whole sale composite of 35 commodities recorded its sharpest daily de cline in nine montns.- s 2. A. W. Zelomek of th Inter national Statistical bureau in New : York said the price break may marx ine turning point oft infla tion. He predicted a pronounced price slums mizht wIpiw a tuunt of vitally needed sond hM tw jittery speculators . who had ex- a a a . a I peciea a rurtner rise. - f Increasing Donbts , - 3. Ray Templeman of Thorn ason and McKinnon. Chicaeo train ccnmission ifirm, said that f con fidence has been dealt a rude jolt, brinemsr a situation that i nnt likely to be cleared up overnight." 1 e added that . the grain i price slump "possibly reflects increas ing doubts and apprehension that this might be the signal that the ' oft-predicted recession has start ed with our economic , structure wobbling." ... ,. .. ;, . 4. A senate-house budget sub committee, asserting there' was "grave danger of runaway tlnfla tion," decided to set a $37,200, 000,000 ceiling on spending jn the fiecal year starting July 1. Wheat Drops Limit j Wheat, the king pin In the ca tion's commoditv ftrice Mrvim. plunged the permissable daily lim it oi iu cents a Dusnei in Chicago,. Minneapolis, Kansas City re Deatins Wednedavjc nrfnrmanc Prices took the full fall at the opening, attempted a feeble! rally, and then slipped back again. nearly all other- grains for fu ture deliver broke the full limit in all markets on the North Amer- -, lean continent. " Both New York stock and bonds -continued to slide. , While ritivTn losses were reduced here and there on the New York stock exchange, declines of fractions to 2 or more Doints were in the maioritv urith -- virtually all groups affected? at the ciose. I Price Index Drop ; The price Index for the week ended January 31 showed a .4 per cent decline to 187.3 per cent of the 1926 average. J Most business leaders and la bor leaders throughout the nation agreed that the break was a healthy adjustment of the erica structure. ' " i Some comments: J Donald W. Douglas. Los Ange les, president of the Douglas Air craft Co.: "It is: a natural and healthy development in what had become a dangerous situation." : William G r e d e ; Milwaukee, president of the Wisconsin! Manu facturers' association:: "Very frankly, I don't think this is it.V inis appears to oe merely -a peri od oi adjustment Portland Prices Draa I PORTLAND, Feb. 5-C-Caj-h wheat prices plummeted 22 cents here today, in the wake of a drop in eastern commodity markets. Soft varieties, quoted yesterday at $2.72, fell to $2.50. Bids were not recorded ori higher f protein wheats. The market break also was re flected in a drop Of 30 cents a hun dredweight on baker's flour, mak ing a total decline in Portland millers' prices of - approximately 90 cents since the December peak. QUICKIES I "Discoursing-, Isn't it - la business for oarselves aad all ef those opportunities In tkcV SUtesman Want Ada! - --