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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1951)
Nooauo 'aNaoria Capital AJiMqjT uoSojo jo rtjisjOAiun mi THE WEATHER. PARTLY CLOUDY with a few showers tonight and Wednesday. Slightly cooler tonight. Low to night, 36; high Thursday, 48. hi 0 M i EDITION! 63rd Year, No. 69 S&fJftSZttS Salem, Oregon, Wednesday, March 21, 1951 (22 Pages) Price 5c t TT JMoBraaJ Pearson Seeks HouseCleaning At State Prison Treasurer Wants Removal of Warden Alexander and Aides By JAMES D. OLSON Ouster of George Alexander, warden of the state penitentiary as well as a demand for the resig nation of other top administra 1 1 v e personnel, appeared as a possibility Wednesday, as both the state board of control and a senate committee continued a probe of affairs at the prison. Informed sources at the Capi tol consider the situation at the penitentiary explosive and offi cials are definitely worried. At a special meeting of the board of control Tuesday after noon W a 1 1 e r J. Pearson, state treasurer, told other board members that he believes the situation at the prison will never be settled until there is a house cleaning of administrative per sonnel including the removal of Warden Alexander." Control Board Warned Pearson declared that the problem of the board was to find the proper person to replace Al exander and said "we should start looking for that man right now." Wednesday Pearson said that he had no intention of making political capital of the prison situation, believing that the board as a whole has made sin cere efforts to remedy the situ ation. (Concluded on Page 5, Column S) Bill Calls for State Analyst A bill authorizing appoint ment by the governor of a busi ness analyst to make a study of all state departments with : view of cutting down unneces sary personnel as well as install better businessi .practices,.-, was presented to the. joint ways and means committee Wednesday by Sen. Carl Engdahl of Pendleton. Sen. Engdahl, chairman of a sub-committee that has studied the proposal, predicted that if a ( proper job was performed by this proposed official, savings mounting into several millions of dollars can be saved for the state of Oregon. Under the terms 'ol the bill the business analyst would work out of the budget director s of fice and report his findings on any department in which he made a study to the governor and also prepare a consolidated report of his activities for the 1953 legislature. The estimated cost of the pro posal was given as $67,000 for the biennium. Some question as to the con stitutionality of the proposed business analyst ordering any changes in departments headed by elected officials whose duties are prescribed in the state con' stitution was raised. Spring Really Comes to Valley Spring came in early Wednes day morning, officially, and in typicaj March fashion, with wind, some light showers and oc casionally a bit of sunshine. The weather bureau clocked spring's arrival at 2:26 a. m. More cloudiness and a few light showers are in store for to night and Thursday, and slight ly cooler temperatures, accord ing to the forecast. In the 24-hour period ending at 10:30 a. m., Wednesday, .03 of an inch of precipitation had been recorded here. The month's total is now 3.69 inches, against a normal of 2.51 inches. 1 The Willamette river con tinues to drop slowly, measur ing 5.9 feet at the local gauge Wednesday morning. 44 Pints ofBIood Taken at Woodburn "Blood day" a t Woodburn, Tuesday, brought 44 pints of blood. The number was below expectations, but considerable illness cut down the take, re ports the Red Cross office. There were 59 donors who came, 15 being rejected. Dr. James Deagan and Dr. Delbert Reed from Woodburn assisted at the unit. Next blood day will be the regular one In Salem on April 5 at the local armory. Senate Votes Hospital for Aged People $3 Million Structure For Portland Area on Next Ballot By PAUL W. HARVEY, JR. A house bill to build a $3, 000,000 state hospital for aged patients in the Portland area was approved by the senate to day. The only vote against it was cast by Sen. Angus Gibson, Junction City. The bill will be referred to the people because the state con titution says no institution can be built outside Marion county inless the people approve. If the people vote for it, then the 1953 legislature would have to finance the proposed hospital. Sponsors said the hospital would relieve the state hospitals at Salem and Pendleton, where about one-fourth of the patients are old people who are not in sane. Cuts Welfare Costs Sen. Rex Ellis, Pendleton, said the hospital would reduce state welfare costs by caring for many old persons who are now being cared for at state expense in privately-owned nursing homes. The senate decided it wanted the hospital within 20 miles of the Multnomah county court house, while the house had voted to limit it to 15 miles. Dr. F. H. Dammasch, Portland representa tive, said he would ask the house to agree to the senate ver sion. Some senators feared that the $3,000,000 limit would be too restrictive because of rising costs, but the state board of con trol said it thinks that amount would be enough. Mahoney Drops Bill Sen. Thomas R. Mahoney Portland democrat, dropped his attempt to try to get the senate to approve his bill to require senate' confirmation of the gov ernor's appointments to the state liquor and highway commissions. The bill was beaten by the sen ate yesterday 15 to 14. (Concluded on Page 5, Column 8i Eva Peron Sells Whiskey Cheap Buenos Aires, March 21 VP) Enterprising Eva Peron broke into the grocery business with a bang yesterday. Her biggest bargain was at the liquor coun ter. Argetina's blonde and beauti ful first lady, who is prominent ly mentioned as a vice presiden tial running mate for her hus band next February, presided at the opening of the first of 37 low-price grocery stores to be operated by her quasi-official social air foundation. Evita wore pink. A loud speaker blared martial music as she hustled rapidly through the store in the center of the city Sixteen others opened simul taneously elsewhere in Buenos Aires, and the other 20 will open later. With the slogan, "One more achievement in favor of social justice," Eva posted prices slightly lower than her private competitors. But she sold local ly made "Scotch-type whisky at 34.75 pesos (about $2.30) a bot tle. It sells for 70 pesos and up at other places. Stockholders of Eugene Bank Lose Damage Suit Nine minority stockholders of the First National bank of Eugene failed in state supreme court today in their efforts to collect damages resulting from the sale of bank stock to Transamerica corporation. The plaintiffs, Greta Bristow Tryon and others, sought the damages from Richard Shored Smith, former president and di rector of the bank. ' Smith, his family and other bank directors, who owned a to tal of 70 per cent of the stock, got $460 a share, while the mi nority stockholders got only $220 a share. The minority stockholders sued, and failed, to collect the difference between what the ma jority and what the minority got. In an opinion by Justice Earl C. Latourette, the high court said there is no evidence of fraud in the sale. "The fact that Smith and oth ers received more for their stock than the minority is no evidence of fraud, since it. is generally recognized that the Seek Killing RFC Revamping Washington, March 21 (ff) Chairman McClellan (D-Ark) of the senate expenditures com mittee proposed today that Pre sident Truman withdraw tem porarily his hotly disputed plan to revamp the reconstruction fi nance corporation. He said congress sh6uld be al lowed to work out its own solu tion to the fate of RFC, huge government lending agency. A senate banking subcommittee contends the RFC has fallen un der the control of an influence ring with White House contacts. McClellan made his sugges tion as his committee opened public hearings on the presi dent's proposal to abolish the five-man RFC board of directors and put the agency under a sin gle administrator. "This plan should be with drawn temporarily," McClellan said. Senator Maybank (D-SC), chairman of the full banking committee who spoke as the lead off witness, said he thought that might be a good idea. . . i; 3 Type Planes In Atom Test Washington, March 21 (IP) The air force said today three types of bombers one the B-47 all-jet medium bomber will be used in the atomic tests in the Pacific. Performance re c o r d s of the Boeing B-47 are secret' but it is reported to be the fastest A bomber in the world with a speed of over 600 miles an hour. An air force spokesman said that in addition to the B-47 the tests will employ the 'older B-29 superfortress and its moderniz ed version known as the B-50. This left out the air force's rec ognized intercontinental A- bomber, the B-36. The spokesman said the air force is interested in the effect of atomic explosions on all types of planes and possibly fighters would be included in the tests based on Eniwetok island in the Marshall group. He declined to say whether an A-bomb has yet been actually exploded in the tests, or to com ment on published reports that a B-47 has carried an A-bomb thousands of miles over water and hit its target at the Eniwe tok proving grounds. Asked why no B-36 plane was being used, the spokesman said the air force had supplied every thing asked of it for the tests and that no B-36 was requested, stock of majority stockholders is of more value than that of the minority," the supreme court decision said. The decision upheld Circuit Judge Dal M. King. In another case, the high court ruled that persons who vi olate paroles do not have con stitutional righls to demand hearings before the state parole board. This case involves James Quentin Anderson, a state prison convict who was returned to prison as a parole violator. The decision, by Chief Justice James T. Brand, upheld Circuit Judge George R. Duncan of Marion county. Sheriff's Reserves Meet Four companies of the Marion county sheriff's reserve a civilian defense organization met for their first full session Tuesday night in the Marlon county courthouse. Some 150 men attended the meeting. Sheriff Denver Young, who has organized the companies in Salem, the Santiam canyon, Silverton and Woodburn areas, conducted the meeting. Sgt. James Darby, state police, and Capt. Merle Tillman, Multnomah county sheriff's office, spoke of traffic control problems to the. group. Col. Mark Hillary, Marion county civilian defense director, outlined problems for the group. ' Cherryland Festivals Fate Yet Undecided By MARGARET MAGEE To hold a Cherryland Festival was the question confronting a to discuss the future of the celebration. The answer to the question, however, will not be forthcoming until after a meeting of representatives of civic organizations Probe Looms by Defense Set-up Washington, March 21 (ff) House investigators spurred by a proposed loan of $7,800,000 to a group which put up only $600 cash, were off today on a new hunt for "questionable practic es" in government lending -this time by the defense setup. The house probers aimed their queries at the National Produc tion Authority (NPA), blaming it for approving a loan turned down by the Reconstruction Fi nance Corporation (RFC) which itself is under heavy fire from senate investigators. Directly involved are a num ber of the 19 defense loans ap proved by the NPA since the start of the national emergency. The investigation stemmed from committee testimony that NPA overriding a strongly ad verse recommendation of the RFC okayed a $7,800,000 loan application by a Hazleton, Pa., group which put up only $bU0 of its own money. The loan was approved al though responsible NPA offici als conceded they made no in dependent check of the back ground or credit rating of the ap plicants. The loan was for the Hazleton Steel Tubing Co., on application of its three principal stockhold ers Benjamin S. Dowd, Martin C. Charles and James H. Hop kins. Although approved by the NPA, the loan has yet to be made because the principals have not yet put up another $1,000,- 000 of private capital to meet NPA requirements. " Lumber Price Code Prepared Washington, March 21 (ff) The lumber industry will De dealt with separately under a price regulation being drawn here by the office of price, stab ilization, an official in me tor est productions division said to day. The official said OPS has de cided not to include the lum ber industry under a general manufacturers' price regulation Instead, the OPS will issue an interim or temporary order cov ering prices of lumber and lum ber products. The order, expected to be come effective in April, will ap ply until a permanent regula tion can be prepared setting dollars-and-cents ceiling prices, the official reported. He said the exact pricing method in the temporary order is still being prepared. 315 More Casualties Washingto, March 21 MV-The defense department today identi fied 315 more casualties of the war in Korea. A new casualty list (No. 256) reported 40 killed, 251 wounded, 20 missing in ac tion and 4 injured in accidents in 1951 or to discontinue it that group that met Tuesday night in the city set for next Tuesday night at the Senator hotel. Financing of the festival, re vived almost five years ago, aft er not being held for a number oi years, was a major point lor discussion at the meeting Tues day night. Sidney L. Stevens, who has been president of the festival as sociation since the celebration was revived and presided at the meeting, told the group that the association .now is between $5000 and $6000 in the red. He point ed out that it was impossible for one organization like the asso ciation to make a financial suc cess of the festival without the backing of all other groups in the city. Stevens asked the aid of the Chamber of Commerce and Sa lem Retail Trade Bureau in pro moting the festival if it is to be continued and suggested the un derwriting of the celebration by local merchants. Twenty thousand dollars was his estimate of the amount that would be required to produce a successful festival and he sug gested that underwriting of from $25,000 to $35,000 by the mer chants would be about the am ount necessary. In event the fes tival cleared the amount used in producing it the merchants would not need to furnish any fi nancial support and if it cost more to produce than it netted merchants would be asked for the needed perventage to make up the deficit. (Concluded on Page 5, Column 5) Parks Quit Reds Some Years Ago Washington, March 21 VP) Movie Actor Larry Parks said today he was a communist 10 vears ago but later quit the party. Parks was the first witness in a renewed hunt by the house committee on un-American ac tivities for communist influence in Hollywood and movie mak ing. Parks is best known to movie goers for his lead role in "The Jolson Story." In voluntarily admitting to party membership a decade ago, Parks said he considered there was a great difference in being a party member In 1941 and being one in 1951. "I think that being a member of the communist party 10 years ago fulfilled certain needs of a man who was a liberal," he told the committee. . "There are variations In poli tical party affiliations of which the committee should be aware," Parks went on. For instance, he said, some southern democrats actually vote and act like repub licans. There are variations, too, he said, among communists. At the outset, Parks told the committee his only loyalty "Is to America and the freedoms for all Americans." Costello Again Defies Senate Crime Probers King Pin Gambler Pictures Himself Pro moter of Jet Broilers New York, March 21 (ff) Frank Costello today sketched for senate probers his splotchy career varying from rum-run ning to making kewpie dolls, but refused to tell what they de manded to know the exact to tal of his wealth. Admittedly a jack-of-many rackets in the past, Costello ar gued earnestly he is now a lcgi mate business man. "I have a few investments," he said simply. But defying direct orders of Committee Chairman Sen. Estes Kefauver (D., Tenn.), the al leged boss of a national 'crime syndicate refused for the fourth time to state his net worth. "This makes us suspicious," said Sen. Charles Tobey (R., N. H.) Concedes Debts Costello also was tight-lipped about his debts, conceding only that he owed convicted big bookics Frank Erickson $30,000, and some others, but he wouldn't say whom, or how much. He shook the bright-lighted, jammed hearing room with laughter when he denied he had any personal interest in an up state gambling casino, and then said he financed it on a 50-50 profits pact. The hum of newsreel cameras sounded only intermittently dur ing today's session, which was the last of the tense, drama- packed New York open hear ings. (Concluded on Page S, Column 5) 300Years Prison For Killer Cook Oklahoma City, March 21 (ff) Admitted Slayer William E. Cook, Jr., today was sentenced to terms totaling 300 years in 'Alcatraz or another safe prison where he has no chance to es cape" for the slaying of the five members of the Carl Mosser fam ily of Atwood, 111. U.S. District Judge Stephen Chandler gave Cook, who show ed no visible signs of emotion, 60 years for each of five counts in the kidnap-murder of Mr. and Mrs. Mosser and their three chil dren. , . "Society stands indicted for permitting this child to grow up in inhuman conditions that per mitted these crimes," Chandler said. 'These crimes might not have been committed if he (Cook) re ceived civilized care and train ing," Chandler added. The sentencing came as a sudden end to a sanity hearing to determine whether the 23- year-old ex-convict from Mis souri knew right from wrong. Closing arguments had been scheduled for today but at the beginning of the session Chand ler said he already had made up his mind and turned down an appeal by U.S. District Attorney Robert E. Shelton to continue the hearing until Monday for submission of further evidence. Cook, dressed in a zipper jacket and khaki pants, sat as he had in past hearings, staring at the floor. Violent Explosion Wrecks Portland Bank Portland, March 21 (ff) A violent explosion shattered a bank interior and sent seven employes to hospitals 30 minutes before the bank opened for business today. (Only one was seriously hurt and his condition was not critical At least two others were shaken but not hospitalized. The sidewalk covering part of the pavement was ripped apart, exposing records of the bank, the Citizens branch of the U. S. National on Southeast Grand avenue, . Only minutes before, gas com pany employes had received a report of the smell of gas in the area. Sixty-three employes were in the bank when the blast oc curred at 9:30 a.m. Several workmen were in front of the bank but none was hurt although one was thrown from a power shovel. Excavation was under way in the street at the time. Dirt and debris flew 100 feet into the air, witnesses said. Labor Seeking Scrapping of Price Setup Washington, March 21 (ff) George Meany, AFL secretary treasurer, called today for the scrapping of the entire price con trol system because it's "not controlling anything." Meany told a rally of AFL- CIO and railroad union leaders that the nation has to find "something that looks like the OPA" if there is to be price control. He said there were men in congress who never intended the defense production act to con trol anything. He called for a rollback of prices to those of a year ago. AFL President William Green told the rally that congress has failed the people." Goldsborough Frees Red Angel Washington, March 21 (ff) Frederick Vanderbilt Field, New York millionaire, was freed to day of contempt of congress charges. Federal Judge T. Alan Golds- borough at Field's trial without a jury granted a defense motion for acquittal. The judge held Field was within his constitutional rights in refusing to answer questions of a senate foreign relations subcommittee on grounds his answers might incriminate him. Field was charged with con temptuously refusing to answer 32 questions during an investi gation of charges by Senator Mc Carthy (R., Wis.) that commun ists had infiltrated the state department. Field, great grandson of Cor nelius Vanderbilt, was linked with communism in testimony from Louis Budenz, a former communist. Judge Goldsborough comment ed: "The court is of the opinion that if the defendant (Field) had answered all these 32 questions in the affirmative in a cer tain way it would have tak en very little more evidence to put him in the penitentiary." The judge said the privilege against possible self-incrimination, guaranteed by the consti tution "has to be treated in a practical manner, the way the supreme court has always treat ed it." Half Billion for Navy Ordnance Washington, March 21 (ff) The navy disclosed today that about $500,000,000 of its funds for this year is being spent for ordnance equipment guns, shells, missiles and other weap ons including new and deadly types of torpedoes for anti-sub marine warfare. Rear Admiral M. F. Schoeffcl, chief of the bureau of ordnance, outlined some of the program in a statement prepared for a news conference. Among other things he said this: "New types of high speed tor pedoes will soon be in produc tion. They can be fired from sur face ships, submarines or air craft and will present a positive threat to any submarine now H existence or being built. "Also for submarine warfare is a new rocket launcher which rapidly discharges rockets hav ing improved range and under water performance." The bank is in a two-story concrete building, One of those in the bank said: "It just exploded, that's all." The street excavation was part of the city's east side sew er construction program. The sidewalk was ripped up, exposing the bank's record files in the basement. Mrs. Robert J. Bailey, clerk In a hardware store adjoining the bank, said the store's windows waved back and forth with the force of the blast, but did not break. A barber shop, however, lost its windows. Yhi hardware store is between it and the bank. US Tank Forces Enter Red Base flf rhiinrhnn Only Flag Waving Koreans Seen As Chin ese Had Withdrawn Tokyo, March 21 (IP) An Am- erican tank force today rumbled into the former Chinese strong hold of Chunchon. It met only flag-waving Korean civilians. The Chinese, who had mado the central Korean road center their troop massing point in South Korea, apparently had withdrawn north of parallel 38. Chunchon is 8Vi miles south of the Red Korean border. It was from Chunchon that the Chinese mounted their two mas sive offensives in January and February against Wonju, deep in central Korea. On Western Front On the western front, South Korean and American task forc es ranging up the historic inva sion route of Korea bumped into bitter communist resistance north of Seoul. An American tank patrol oh the road to Uijongbu ran into a heavy mine field. "The small arms and mortar fire were so intense that It was impossible for the men to leave the tanks and rove the mines," an operations officer said. Or. the east coast South Ko rean units were officially placed within 814 miles of the old bor der between North and South Korea. Patrols may have reach ed or crossed the imaginary line. (Concluded on Page 5, Column 8) Acheson Talks On 38th Parallel Washington. March 21 (ff) . Secretary of State Acheson said today the United States wants a common point of view with its allies on the 38th parallel problem. But he said no new authority is required for united Nations military forces to cross the old boundary between North and South Korea. Acheson told a news confer ence the U. S. government is consulting with other nations having troops in Korea, is study ing the situation closely, and working on it with Gen. Doug las MacArthur s command. He was asked whether on the political level there was any ne cessity for new authority for crossing the parallel. He replied no that there was no such ne cessity but that this was a mat ter on which a common point of view is desired. He thus drew a sharp distinc tion between MacArthur's au thority and the practical ques tion of what MacArthur is do ing about that authority. Diplomatic authorities had told reporters earlier that the U. N. command in Korea had ample authority to cross the 38th parallel as military necessity re quired. T Agreement that tactical cross ings of the parallel as distin guished from massive troop movements aimed at the con quest of North Korea were necessary and would have to be made at the present stage of the fighting was reached some time ago among the governments of the nations having troops in Korea. Strike Epidemic Spreads, France Paris, March 21 (ff) A mount ing strike wave rolled through France today, threatening to af fect almost everyone in the na tion. A near-general railway walkout appeared the most alarming immediate possibility. Premier Henri Queuille warn ed that the strikes, all pressing waae Increase demands, "may develop into a veritable attempt on the life of the country." Most of the stoppages were aimed directly at the govern ment, by far Frances Diggesi employer. Unions of all political align ments were taking part, reflect ing widespread discontent with rapidly rising prices and the cabinet's hesitancy to raise wages. Weather Details Mailmum yeiterdty, ( minimum to. day, ail. Toiil 24-hour prtclplUtloni .! for month: H.OTi normal, t.81. Seaasn pre cipitation, 4ft.Wli normal, 20.98. Rlvav hrliM, A.0 left. (Report by P.B. Waathar fluraau.)
