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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1947)
A Settlement W Phone Strike Declared Near 43,000 Return to Jobs in New York and Pennsyl vania on $3 to $4 Raise Washington, April 30 (UP) The largest of four indepen dent unions involved in the New York telephone strike to day voted to reject a settlement agreement reached earlier be tween the New York Telephone company and union leaders. A spokesman for the Michigan council of the National Fed eration of Telephone Workers said today that a Michigan Bell Telephone Co. offer of $2 to $4 weekly wage increases to striking employes is "not acceptable. Washington, April 30 (Ay) i Five unions of 43,000 telephone workers in New York and Penn sylvania called off strikes today, ' accepting contracts for wage in creases of $3 to $4 a week. None is affiliated with the Na . tional Federation of Telephone Workers which called the nation-wide tie-up April 7 but their actions aroused optimism among government labor concili ators for an early end to the strike of 300,000 NFTW union ists. Break in Resistance Joseph A. Beirne, president of the NFTW, said that it showed the Bell Telephone system's sol Id wall of opposition to wage in- creases Is crumbling." He made that comment in a statement as negotiations were resumed here aimed at bringing about a national settlement. Beirne added that the NFTW's 39 unions "will maintain our picket lines until our entire dis pute is settled." A $6 weekly wage increase was the chief demand made by the New York and Pennsylvania unions, as it is with the NFTW. Stick by Demand They were hailed as a "maj or break" by government con ciliators striving to settle the 24 day walkout on a national scale. But officials of the National Federation of Telephone Work ers took a more cautious view. They said that while the $3 nd $4 wage boosts in New York and Pennsylvania could serve as starting point m negotiations to settle the strike on a national Male, they will "stick to the ir reducible minimum" demand of $6 a week. They said flatly that they "will not take" the New York Pennsylvania formulas as a pat tern for settling the strike on a national basis. The NFTW officials set forth their views as government con ciliators resumed meetings with union and company officials. Warns Against Price Slashing Washington April 30 (P) An official of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggested today that President Truman's plea for lower prices may produce job lessness and recession instead of preventing them. William S. Street, chairman of , the chamber's economic policy , committee, cautioned business to be watchful lest the White House call "result in wholesale cancel lations of commitments both by business and the consumer." The Seattle merchant suggest ed that unemployment might be caused "by the action now taken to attempt to prevent It. "Such can be the result of fail ing to give our economy time to work out its wartime dislocation iby the free enterprise method," ihe said in a speech prepared for "a luncheon gathering at the chamber's 35th annual conven tion. "The consumers, prior to the president's announcement, had already indicated their dissatis faction with some of the values represented in some markets. It seems to me that a sound price adjustment was on its way to be worked out." Movie Stars Wed Miami Beach, Fla., April 30 (U.R) Motion Picture Actress Ar line Judge and Tin Plate Heir Henry J. (Bob) Topping were honeymooning today. They were married last night, she for the fifth time, he for the third. The Weather (Released by United States Weather Bureaus Forecast for Salem and Vicin ity: Partly cloudy tonight and Thursday. Lowest temperature tonight 45 degrees. Winds will interfere somewhat with dust ing operations, Thursday, but spraying should be possible most of day. Maximum yesterday 60. Minimum today 45. Mean tem perature yesterday 52 which was 1 below normal. Total 24-hour precipitation to 11:30 ajn. today trace. Total precipitation for the month 2.18 which Is .23 of an inch below normal. Willamette river height Wednesday morning .7 of a foot. 58th Year, No. 103 New Plan for Renewal of Driver Licenses I By James D. Olson An outline of the method un der which 750,000 drivers' li censes are to be renewed over a two-year period will be made to the entire staff of the drivers' license division of the secretary of state's office in Salem Friday and Saturday. Due to lack of personnel no effort was made for mass re newal of drivers' licenses during the war period with the result that many automobile drivers now have licenses on which ex piration dates are several years in arrears. Serial Numbers Figure Under the new plan, accord ing to John C. Kerrick, man ager of the division, no atten tion will be paid to the expira tion date under the new plan which calls for renewal of 11 censes in accordance with the serial numbers carried on the licenses. Approximately 33,000 drivers' licenses will be renewed each month beginning in June when all licenses bearing numbers from 5R-1 to 5R-33.000 will ex pire. Mr. Kerrick has issued a re quest that drivers apply for re newals during the month of ex piration as carried under the plan. Unless the schedule is fol lowed, he points out, the entire plan will be upset. Birthday Figures After the two year period is passed automobile drivers' li censes will expire on the appli cant's birthday every two years. This plan was thought to be the most simple in leveling off ex pirations and preventing any un usual rushes of applicants in any of the offices in the state. Copies of the renewal sched ule during 1947, 1948 and 1949 have been printed and will be distributed to automobile own ers through police and sheriff's offices and gasoline filling sta tions. These schedules, Mr. Ker rick explained, should be car ried with the drivers' licenses particularly if the driver plans an out-of-state trip in order that licenses c a r r y in g expiration dates that have been passed can be explained to out of state of ficers. Discussions Planned The conferences Friday and Saturday will be in the nature of round-table discussions with out formal talks, it was an nounced. On Friday night at 7 p.m. a dinner will be given at the Marion hotel for the entire force with Capt. Walter Lansing of the Oregon State police as the principal speaker. Secretary of State Robert S. Farrell will preside at the dinner. "Under the staggered renewal plan" Mr. Kerrick said today 'the department will be able to handle renewals of all driv ers' licenses with dispatch and without confusion. It is expect ed that under the plan it will be possible to weed out a large number of incompetent drivers and thus prevent accidents on the roads attributed to this class of drivers." Moscow Plans May Day Celebration Moscow, April 30 UP) The Soviet capital was decked out in holiday regalia today in readi ness for tomorrow's May day celebration expected to be the biggest since the war. Prime Minister Stalin, who was away on vacation during last year's May day celebration, is expected to be on hand in Red Square to review the pa rade from the tribunal atop Lenin's tomb. Initiate Bill for State to Get Camp White Hospital Preliminary initiative petition to order the state board of con trol to acquire the Camp White hospital in Jackson county for use as a state mental hospital was filed with the state department tcday by nine state lelislators. If 18,967 signatures to the petition are obtained by July 1 1948, then the measure would go on the November, 1948, gen eral election ballot. The measure is the same as the legislative act vetoed by uovernor Earl Snell, and the sponsors are the legislators who led the fight for passage of the bill in the legislature. They are Sens. Lew Wallace, Walter J. Pearson, Frank H. Hilton, Thomas R. Mahoney, Irvine Rand and Lee Patterson, all of Portland; Earl T. Newbry, Ash land, and Reps. O. H. Bengtson. Medford. and Anna M. Ellis, Gariboldi, anpital AJouraal t;,Z" Salem, India Reopens United Nations Palestine Issue New York, April 30 P) In dia reopened the Palestine de bate here today with a plea to give the Jews a voice in the pro ceedings of the special assembly of the United Nations. Noting that the assembly's 14- nation steering committee - had heard the spokesmen of five Arab states present their views yesterday,, Indian Delegate Asaf Ali asked: "Where are the representa tives of the Jewish people who will be affected? Where is Palestine? He then told the committee as it resumed debate this morning: "We are playing Hamlet with out the Prince of Denmark." Ali referred briefly to state ments in the press that he had "taunted" British Delegate Sir Alexander Cadogan yesterday by pressing for an explanation of Britain's intentions toward carrying out UN recommenda tions on Palestine and said "nothing was further from my thoughts." Pleads for Arabs Ali declared the Palestine question was a serious question and that it should be approach ed seriously: Ali also demanded represen tation for the Arabs of Palestine. "I want to hear the Arabs of Palestine," he said. "Where are they? I do not know if my friends have put forward their viewpoint." Both the British and Ameri can delegations were reported opposed to Jewish participation with a voteless voice in the soe cial assembly debate as long as it is solely concerned with the procedural step of setting up an inquiry committee. Syria declared late today that the Arab nations would b'e willing to postpone action on independence for Palestine if all immigration to the Holy Land is stopped immediatelv. Syrian Delegate Faris El Khoury thus indicated that the Arabs might be retreating from their previous firm demands for consideration of Palestine inde pendence at the present extra ordinary session of the United Nations assembly. He spoke before the as sembly's 1-nation steering com mittee after hearing China join five other countries in opposi tion to the Arab proposal, which apparently was headed for de feat. No U. S. Funds For Pensions Portland, Ore., April 30 (U.R) About 30,000 Oregon recipients of assistance under the federal social security program will not receive their checks on time un less congress acts today to ap prove a deficiency bill before it. State Treasurer Leslie Scott said he will not honor any checks for old age assistance unless the federal matching money is vot ed by congress. The deficiency bill has been in conference between the house and senate because of differences in two bills passed. Sen. Guy Cordon, (R., Ore.), said the conference committee had reached an agreement and had sent the bill back to the house, but he was not certain whether the house would act on it today. The state and Multnomah county have the cash for their share of the program, but the public welfare commission said it could not issue the checks un til the federal funds are approv ed. More than $1,000,000 is in volved in the May pa.yment to Oregon. The legislature originally asked the board of control to investigate whether the hospital should be acquired from the government, and the board re ported it would not be economi cal to take It over. Then the legislature passed the bill to order the board to acquire the hospital, the. senate voting 18 to 12 and the house approving 46 to 10. However, Governor Snell ve toed the bill, and the senate sus tained the veto, with 15 votes to override and 12 votes to sustain it. A two-thirds vote was neces sary to override. Oregon, Wednesday, April vaafcr g&Pl Til' 'A A M Jr s ' Doing It the Hard Way An commercial department at Dayton O., vainly attempts to crash a telephone strike picket line. He tried this four times before police arrived and escorted him Sovereign Grand Master Of IOOF Visits Salem Judge C. A." Wheeler of Austin, of the world of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was to arrive in Salem Wednesday afternoon for his only official appear ance in Oregon. To greet him men and women high in the ranks of the Odd Fellows and related women's organizations had gath Rumors of 'Fix On May Deal Washington, April 30 (U.R) Jurors in the corruption trial of former Congressman Andrew J. May were under closer wraps today following rumors that the defense had attempted to 1'fix" the jury. The rumors were brought to the attention of Federal Judge Henry A. Schweinhaut by de fense lawyers themselves. Schweinhaut said he was not disturbed "a bit" at the re port and would have been sur prised if such rumors had not arisen during a trial with such widespread publicity. As a precautionary measure, however, Schweinhaut instruct ed the jurors to remain during recesses in a jury room set aside for their use. He also told them they no longer were free to roam the courthouse corri dors before and after daily ses sions. The jurors were instructed further to disregard any com ment they might hear about the case. Previously Schweinhaut had told them not to read news paper accounts or listen to radio descriptions of the trial. French Reds Leave Cabinet Meeting Paris, April 30 VP) Commun ists walked out of a cabinet meeting today after insisting they supported "without re serve the wage aemanas oi striking Renault auto workers. Government sources said it was considered that a crisis was at hand. Many deputies predicted the communists would formally withdraw from the government at a cabinet meeting Thursday night. The communists are numerically the strongest party in the chamber of deputies, and had been in complete disagree ment with the rest of the admin istration over Indo-China. Loyal Forces Crush Paraguay Revolt Asuncion, Paraguay, April 30 OP) The government claimed in a communique this afternoon that a revolt in the capital has been "completely quashed by loyal forces" and that numerous prisoners and abundant war ma teriel had been captured. The revolt within Asuncion was termed the work of "com munists, liberals and febreris tas," political parties opposing the dominant Colorado party. Hope Diamond in Trust Washington, April 30 (U.R) Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McClean left her fabulous collection of gems, including the supposedly jinxed Hope diamond, in trust for equal distribution among her seven grandchildren, a summary of her will revealed today. outside representative of the Bell through. (AP Wirephoto) Texas, sovereign grand master ered in Salem from all parts of the state. Judge Wheeler was to arrive between 1 and 3 p.m., and short ly after his arrival a meeting with grand officers was schedul ed. This will be followed by a banquet at the First Methodist church at 6 o clock'. Sentiment is attached to a meeting of Chemekcta lodge No 1 at the lodge hall just after the banquet. Never in its long history has the lodge failed to hold a regular meeting, and did n't want to miss tonight even for the visit . of the sovereign grand master. So the lodge will open according to ritual, and close a few minutes later, and the members will return to the First Methodist church where the main meeting of the day is to be held at 8 o'clock, with Ma rion Curry of Salem as master of ceremonies. (Concluded on Page 11, Colum 7) 'Ghost' Plane Mystifies Britons London, April 30 VP) Recur ring reports of a midnight ghost plane" swooping out of the east at tremendous speed gave the British press a sensa tional aviation mystery today but the Royal air force, while admitting the whole thing was slightly mysterious," refused to get excited. Eye-witness accounts said the mystery craft, first plotted by radar early in January, zooms over the east Anglia coast as though it- came from the con tinent and disappears inland at a speed of 400 miles an hour or more. What is even odder is that the plane has never been seen making the return journey from England to the continent. RAF night fighters have tried regu larly to intercept the "ghost plane" but so far have been un successful. Custody of Barracks Turned Over Thursday Custody of the Klamath Falls marine barracks will be turned over to the state of Oregon In a ceremony in the capitol at Sa lem at 1 p.m. tomorrow, the war assets administration office re ported today. C. T. Mudge, regional director; E. W. Barnes, deputy in charge of real estate, and J. W. Hayes, special assistant to Barnes, will represent WAA at the turn-over. Barnes said the state's posses sion would be effective tomor row night although some final papers are still to be drafted. The state is acquiring the war time installation as a vocational school." 4200 Box Cars Ordered Ottawa, April 30 W) R.'C. Vaughan, president of the Can adian National Railways, said the line has ordered 3,700 box cars for its Canadian service and 500 of Its three United States subsidiaries. 30, 1947 Price Five Cents Bethlehem c " . c LVo Republic Sign Wage Increases New York, April 30 U.R Contract settlements between the United Steel Workers of America, CIO, and Republic Steel corporation and Bethle hem Steel company with a wage increase "in excess of 15 cents an hour" were announced here today. New contracts, reached through separate agreements with the two companies, pro vided a general wage increase of 12 '.4 cents an hour for 85, 000 Bethlehem and 55,000 Re public workers and additional benefits which raise Ihe wage increase to slightly more than 15 cents an hour. Wages Retroactive Agreements with Ihe two companies came less than 12 hours before expiration of pres ent contracts. The Bethlehem agreement was announced by the union shortly before noon. Republic announced its settle ment here shortly after 2 p.m. All wage increases were re troactive to April 1, 1947. Remainder of the wage in creases was to be distributed through elimination of pay in equities, improvement of work schedules and vacations and establishment of severance pay plans. Drop Portal Pay Workers in Republic plants in the Alabama southern steel dis trict were granted additional three-cent an hour increases to reduce geographical wage dif ferentials. Republic said the union agreed not to press claims for portal-to-portal pay or to make claims for such pay. The com pany said the new agreement did not obligate it to pay for travel or walking time or time spent in preparation for work. Hard Sledding For Reclamation Washington, April 30 (P) The west was put on notice to day by four of its members that attempts to restore reclamation and power funds to the interior department appropriation bill face tough going in the senate. Since the house whacked the total to $161,538,513, or about 45 percent under President Truman's recommendation, western members of congress have looked hopefully to the senate. But Senators Cordon (R., Ore.) and Magnuson (D., Wash.) agreed today that the fight for more money in the senate ver sion of the bill won't be easy. "The senate," Cordon told a reporter, "will follow the eco nomy program started in the house. The senate will try to adjust any injustices that may have crept into the bill. But the senate is not going to make any general upward revision." Magnuson said, "we are going to fight for all the increases we can get but the west must ex pect that some of the reductions will remain." Senators Morse (R., Ore.), and Cain (R., Wash.), said that without convincing justifica tions for increases the western cause is in for tough sledding. They have been assembling de tailed data to back up their re quests for more funds. Black Marketeers Fined San Francisco, April 30 (U.R) Federal Judge Michael J. Roche today levied the maximum pos sible fine of $5000 each against Eugene E. Hanson, 28, and Har old Cadell, 33, operators of the American Trucking Service at Eugene, Ore., who pleaded guil ty to black market lumber op erations. Tornadoes Kill In Small Towns of 3 States Worth, Mo., April 30 'Pi Tornadic winds whipped through small towns in Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa leaving at least 20 dead today, injuring more than 50 and causing thousands of dol lars in property damage. Hardest hit was this north west Missouri town with a population of 233.. Thirteen per sons were killed and approxi mately 5 injured. Only half a dozen buildings in the town were left standing. At least seven persons were killed in Arkansas where vicious winds last night lashed the small community of Bright Water and swept close to Gar field, not far from the Missouri line. A tornado also struck Clio, a town of about 200 population, in southwestern Iowa, causing extensive property damage. No House Slashes Foreign Relief To $200 Million Million i'Clamns on Tiaht Conditions Washington. April 30 (!P The house passed a $200,000,000 foreign relief bill today after cutting $150,000,000 off the sum asked by the administration and clamping tight conditions on aid going to countries under Russian domination. Final passage came on a roll call of 333 to 66. For the bill were 181 re publicans, 151 democrats and Rep. Vito Marcantonio, (ALP N.Y.), opposed to the measure were 45 republicans and 21 dem ocrats. The measure now goes to the senate where the foreign rela tions committee already has ap proved the full $350,000,000 figure. Final passage came after the house shouted down a motion by Rep. O'Konski (R-Wis), to re- turn the bill to committee. The house already had voted to trim the funds and fix distribution standards where Moscow might be involved. Denies Aid to Puppets The restriction would deny re lief assistance to "those conn tries whose governments are nominated by the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics' unless they agree to American control of the supplies. The restrictions were first or dered tentatively yesterday in an outbreak of protests against the activities of Russia within the countries on her borders. The action confirming the 43 percent cut in the relief fund, also tentatively voted yester day, came on a roll call vote of 225 to 165. Countries to Benefit The house decided yesterday over the objections of the state department to name definitely the countries which will be elig ible for the aid if they meet a variety of other conditions in the measure. They are: Italy, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Po land and China. Bitter protests against Rus sian activities in countries on ner borders dominated the de bale. It ranged from an open declaration by Rep. Rankin (D Miss), that relations with the Soviet Union should be severed to more moderate pleas against financing communism." Against this outbreak, Reps Eaton and Bloom (D.NY), rank ing minority member on the house foreign affairs committee. counseled restraint against put ting relief on a political basis Both argued that denial of re lief would help rather than harm the cause of communism. London Dock Strikers Return London, April 30 P) About 1,000 of London's 10,000 striking dock workers voted today to re turn to work tomorrow, and leaders of the other strikers planned meetings later in the day to consider the labor gov ernment's back-to-work appeal. The labor ministry, meantime, intervened to try to end a strike of 1,000 City of London em ployes whose walkout halted garbage collections, delayed fu nerals, snarled city produce markets and closed the Tower of London drawbridge over the Thames, disrupting traffic. Some 10,000 London dockers were out in sympathy with 3,800 Glasgow dock workers, who quit March 24 because 500 fel low employes were declared "redundant" and released. Now Hoover Dam Washington, April 30 (!') President Truman today signed legislation renaming Boulder dam Hoover dam. Mr. Truman used four pens in signing the resolution and sent them to Lawrence Ritchie, secretary to former President Herbert Hoov er, with the view to Hoover's distributing the pens as he pleas- 20, Injure 50 loss of life was reported, how ever. The tornado that hit Worth swept through the center of the town wiping out the entire busi ness district. Two of the town's three churches and its brick schoolhouse were among the buidings demolished. Practically every tree in town was clipped off. Al Dopking, Associated Press reporter who also covered the recent Texas City, Tex., explo sion disaster, described the de vastation here as greater pro portionately than that at the Texas town. Taft Wins Out Over Morse In Labor Bill Split Effort to Substitute 4 Separate Bills for Omni bus Measure Fails Washington, April 30 UP) The senate's republican major ity batted down today a pro posal to split the big catch-all iabor disputes bill into four separate measures. The vote was 59 to 35. Defeat of the proposal, spon sored by Senator Morse (R., Ore.), gave the republican lead ership a victory in the first senate test on legislation to curb unions and strikes. Morse prepared to send the pending omnibus measure back to the labor committee for a four-way division. He and those who backed him contended that it would assure some labor le gislation during this session of congress. Veto Argument Used They argued that President Truman might veto an omnibus bill if it contained provisions he did not lik. They said he might accept some of the mea sures if four separate pieces of legislation were sent to him. Senator Taft (R., Ohio), chair man of the GOP policy commit tee, opposed Morse's move. He argued that since the house al ready has passed an omnibus labor bill it would be impracti cal for the senate to carve itsi measure into four bills. These to be sent back to the senate floor by Friday, would: Proposed Division 1. Revise the Wagner collec tive bargaining act. 2. Create a new federal me diation agency and authorize court injunctions to stop or pre vent strikes which imperil na tional health or safety. 3. Make unions subject to suit for breach of contract. 4. Set up a senate-house com mittee to make a study of labor management relations. Hunter Kills City's Pet Swan North Bend, Ore., April 30 (U.R) Snow White's violent death plunged the town's children into sorrow and left Mrs. Andrew Varga with the job of hatching six eggs. - Snow White was the town'i pet, a beautiful white swan. She was wounded" fatally by a bullet from a careless hunter's gun. Thurman G. Jackson, of North Bend, said he mistook Snow White for a crane, An irate judge fined him $250. Snow White's wing was al most torn off by the bullet. Mrs. Varga carried her wounded swan to ner Hangar district home from the slough. And car ried the eggs into the house to keep them warm. She put the eggs in a cheese box on top of the warming oven. Poultry raisers said that would never do. So, she put the box on the floor and wrapped the eggs in an electric heating pad. Then she took Snow White to a veterinarian. He gave the swan gas and amputated her shattered wing. But water had seeped into a lung and Snow White died. First Monument To Unknown Child Prague, April 30 (U.R) Czecho slovakia will dedicate the world's first monument to an unknown child" on May 2. The little statue, which will stand in front of the cathedral of the Victorious Virgin in Pra gue's "Mala Strana" quarter, will commemorate the thousands of children who died in concen tration camps and in the fight ing of World War II. For the Czechs, the monument also will honor the lost children of Lidice, whose parents were killed when the nazis destroyed the city as a reprisal measure. Archbishop Joseph Bcran sug gested building the monument last fall, and it was commission ed and installed by the Catholic "Charita." High Costs Slow Down Buildi Portland April 30 HP) High costs put the breaks on build ing m Portland this month, but urnpral husiness rolled along at record-breaking levels. As building permits slumpea in number and volume, bank clearings maintained their peak levels. Ninety residential build ing permits for $775,450 and 11 apartment permits for $320,000 were issued in April, compared with 193 residential and 10 apartment permits for $2,354, 850 in March. Bank clearings for the month totaled $413,296, 656. compared with $333,107,- 1276 a year ago.
