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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1939)
The Weather Forecast: Cloudy tonight and Thursday with light ralni, lit tle change In temperature. Temperature lllghret yebtrrday , 4t Lowest tills muriilng 32 To 5 p. ni. yesterday.-.... ...0 To 5 a. m. today , T. Economical Way Cautloua ahopptra ara flndlog tha eronoinlral way to buy 'matt anthlng Is through Want A1. Their make a dallj prartlre or rpaillng Ada. Vou ran be equally thrifty. It takea tery little tltna. EDFORD IBUNE Full Associated Press Full United Press Thirty-fourth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 19r No. 238. mm M MM II QUE HEAVIEST SHAKE IN YEARS VISITS IE Workers in Big Long Beach Buildings Seek Safety Un der Beams, Or in Streets. Los Angeles, Dec. 21. (IP) An earthquake was felt in Los Angeles at 11:29 a m., today. It rocked the Associated Press office, located on the fourth floor of the Herald-Express building. The California Institute of Technology's seismological . lab oratory reported the quake was "not very large" although it "might be strong enough to cause some damage." It estimated the center at about 50 miles from the labor atory but said it could not de termine the direction. Hardest Since 1933 The shaking was felt in Long Beach, center of the disastrous 1933 earthquake, for about 10 seconds. There were no reports of damage. Long Beach reports said today's shake was tie hard est since the big one of 1933. Glendale and Alhambra, lying northeast of Los Angeles pro per, also reported "sharp shocks." Anaheim, which is southwest of here and close to Long Beach, said it was the sharpest shock felt there in several years. No damage was reported. Light in Riverside Riverside, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, reported it barely felt the disturbance. In the 33-story Los Angeles city hall, chandeliers swayed for a few seconds and pictures on some walls went awry. Residents of Hollywood. San Pedro and West Los Angeles re ported feeling a mild tremor. Employes in large buildings In Long Beach went scurrying for safety. Some took positions under beams and others ran in to the streets. Ankara, Dec. 27. UP) Hun dreds were reported killed and whole villages destroyed in an earthquake which shook north ern Anatolia early today. Four shocks were felt in An kara between 2 a. m. and 5 a. m. today (between 4 p. m. and 7 p. m., P.S.T., Tuesday). Accurate information of till damage caused was not imme diately available because com munications were disrupted. Officials by late afternoon said, however, reports indicated a major catastrophe. The quake's center appar ently was along the Black sea coast of Turkey in Asia. San Salvador. El Salvador, Dec. 27. UP) A fnlrlv V,0!.v earthquake shook San Salvador at 5:55 a. m. today (5:55 a. m.. P.S.T.), frightening inhabitants but causing no damage here. Whether the shock caused damage in the provinces is not yet known. Seattle, Dec. 27. UP) Mrs. Mary C. Robertson, 78 widow of Capt. Hugh R. Robert son, inventor of the cigar-shaped sea-going log rafts, died last night. Captain Robertson died in 1904. SIDE GLANCES by TRIBUNE REPORTERS Barbara Drury collecting an abundance of loot on December 25 as she celebrated Christmas, her birthday and her engage ment. Gcraldine Latham exposing her left hand conspicuously to have friends catch a glimpse of a lovely sparkler Indicating a future orange blossoms and rice event. Janet Wray Smith Conner bobbing along with two fuzzy fur bobbles on a bright red tur ban. Ah Banwell believing that Medford needs bigger and bet ter lighting contests come Christ jias'again. aBiaMMMMnWiiiiiaaiaaaiaaaaaaaaiaaaaa , University Fears Visit By Browder May Bring Damage Madison, Wis., Dec. 27. (tf) The University of Wis consin Memorial union today asked a $2,000 indemnity bond as a condition of mak ing its auditorium available for tonight's session of the American Student union na tional convention, which is to be addressed by Earl Browder, general secretary of the Communist party in America. ' Reuben Hill, assistant house director, informed Don ald Thayer, president of the University League for Lib eral Action, host to the con vention, the union had not contemplated any such gath ering as Browder might at tract. Y STORES TO E During the months of Janu ary, February and March, 1940, a number of Medford firms will close their doors at 6 p. m. on Saturdays. The Saturday clos ing time in the past has been 8:30 p. m. It was emphasized today by Charles Adair, chairman of the retail trade division of the Jack son County Chamber of Com merce, that the new Saturday closing hour will be effective only during the first quarter of the new year. Among Med ford concerns observing the new Saturday hours will be: Mann's Department Store. M. M. Department Store, J. C. Pen ney Company, Montgomery Ward & Company, Burelson's, Adricnne's, Sassy Shop, Mpde O'Day Shop, Arista Fur Shop, Golden Rule, Band Box. Jacque Lenox, The Toggery, Reinhart & Barker, Glenn H. Utz, Lee's Men's Shop, Larsen's Clothes Shop, C. M. Kidd & Company, Evans' Shoe Store, J. J. New berry Company, F. W. Wool worth Company. A majority of the above con erns will also open for business a half-hour later in the morn ing, 9 o'clock, and close at 5:30 p. m., week-days. CAPTURED NAZI SHIP STARTS FOR JAMAICA Colon, Panama, Dec. 27. (IP) The case of the German pro test against the United States' clearance of the British-seized German freighter Duesseldorf apparently has been closed by departure of the vessel for a prize port in Jamaica. Still undecided, however, was the future of a German clerk, Hans Von Appen, whose insist ence on removal from the Dues seldorf for hospitalization re sulted in disagreement as to whether he had appendicitis. Snow Storm Quits Dust Bowl To Blanket Eastern Region By lha Associated Preu Snowstorms and zero weather whirled eastward today (Wed nesday), leaving a white blanket nine to 18 inches deep over the old "dust bowl." The snow was passing over Missouri, Iowa and northern Arkansas and swept over much of Ohio. New England's coldest weather of the season plunged the temperature to 23 degrees below zero on top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Northfield, Vermont, recorded 15 below and it was only five above in Boston. But as New England, the mid west and southwest shivered, two of winter's strongholds re ported "heat waves." For the first time in the 66-year history of the Detroit Weather Bureau the temperature in Michigan failed to get below 20 above by December 26 although it did drop to 18 in Detroit today. Utah temperatures were ris Renewed Assaults By Reds Smashed on Half Dozen Fronts Destroy 8 Tanks Copenhagen, Dec. 27. UP) Fresh Soviet Russian legions under the command of Joseph Stalin's personal friends were reported by the Finnish mili tary command today to be marching into the central and Arctic fronts for new smashes against the stubborn Finns. Coming on the heels of re ported Finnish drives as much as 50 miles In some sectors, the Finnish northern army head quarters said 300,000 picked red army soldiers were being mass ed to counteract recent retreats. Helsinki, Dec. 27. (IP) The smashing of renewed Russian assaults on half a dozen fronts by a stone-wall Finnish defense was reported by the high com mand tonight after a day of Russian air raids on numerous Finnish cities. A Russian retreat in the stra tegic Lieksa sector with the Finns following and capturing seven tanks was announced by the high command communique. Enemy Retreating. It was in this sector that the Finns Monday reported crossing the border into, R.ussiaji terri tory. ' Tonight's communique, however, said the enemy was "retreating toward the fron tier." (Reports reaching Copen hagen said a picked battalion of Finnish ski troops was ad vancing toward Russia's vital Murmansk railway in the Lieksa region.) Listing a series of actions on the Karelian isthmus and north of Lake Ladoga, the communi que said all but one was re pulsed. Of a new Russian attempt to cross Lake Suvanto on the isthmus, where yesterday the Finns reported 700 of the en emy killed on the ice, the com munique said merely "the bat tle continues." Destroy Eight Tanks. Eight Soviet tanks were said to have been destroyed when another attack was repulsed north of Lake Hatjalahti. The land fighting was still In progress while red warplanes bombed Tampere and other Fin nish cities. Holman's Guernsey Is State Champion Portland, Dec. 27. (P) Deer Creek Red Bird II, Senator Rufus Holman's Guernsey cow, is the state's milk producing chanTpion in her -class. The cow produced 13,734.2 pounds of milk and 643.9 pounds of butterfat in one year. ing, Salt Lake City hitting 24 degrees Tuesday night. To carry out the freak theme frost warnings were issued in the California citrus belt, and a gulf storm whipped near-freezing temperatures into New Orleans. Two hundred automobiles were abandoned in snow-blocked mountain passes near Clayton, N.M., but all passengers were brought out safely by highway department trucks and motorists with chains. The snow was 18 inches deep In Clayton, near the center of the "dust bowl" of 1934-37. At Guymon, Okla., there were 10 inches of snow and at Boise City 12 inches. Rain, sleet and as much as five inches of snow were general over the Texas panhandle. The temperature was eight above at Amarillo and was expected to dive below zero. Kansas farmers were cheered by snow falls of five inches to a foot British Workers Uncover Skeleton 4000 Years Old London, Dec. 27. (P) A coffin containing a man's skeleton which Archaeologist Ludovic Mann estimated to be at least 4,000 years old was unearthed today by workmen in a Dumbarton shire sand pit. Mann said the discovery would contribute greatly to knowledge of the stone age. "The most significant dis covery was a carved inscrip tion on one of the huge stone slabs," he said. "The inscrip tion represents standard units of lineal measure of the stone age which, , in those times, were connected closely with religious beliefs," THAN PREVIOUS YEAR Salem, Dec. 27. (JP) Oregon telephone companies had a net total operating income of $1, 409,428 during 1938, an Increase og $90,060 over the previous year, Public Utilities Commis sioner Ormond R. Bean reported today to Governor Sprague. There were 165,274 tele phones in operation at the end of the year, a gain of 4,784 over the total in 1937. The total operating revenues included" $6,891,775 from ex change service and $2,730,685 from toll service. ' '"'The com panies paid $1,427,560 in taxes, or 14 per cent of their total revenues. The average revenue per telephone was $59.84. The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph companies had a to tal revenue of S9, 034.535 and an operating income of $1, 254,254. Oregon operations of the Western Union Telegraph com pany resulted in a net loss dur ing the year of $77,712, the company's revenues being $783, 494. The Postal Telegraph com pany lost $47,678 on its Oregon operations, gross revenues being $255,233. STAGES SIT-DOWN Detroit, Dec. 27 (IP) A brief dispute today at the Plymouth Road plant of Nash-Kelvlnator corporation interrupted produc tion and caused the manage ment to ask police to eject 1,400 workers it claimed were en gaged in a sit-down. The Mechanics Educational society, an independent union, ordered the workers to leave and the plant was soon emptied without violence. Shortly afterward the man agement announced regular op erations would be resumed start ing with the afternoon shift. Five School Busses Destroyed By Fire Beaverton, Ore., Dec. 27. (IP) Loss of five busses In a fire early today presented a grave transportation problem to Beaverton grade and high schools upon resumption of classes after the Christmas holi day. Flames starting In the repair shop of district 48 s garage caused a $20,000 loss. The prin cipal estimated the value of each vehicle at $3200. Build ing damage was placed at more than $3000. ICKES CHARGES SEEN AS EFFORT TO SMEAR- Seattle, Dec. 27. UP) Frank T. Bell, former federal fisheries commissioner, in a Seattle Times interview today asserted Secretary Ickes' charges of ir regularities In the fisheries bu reau were merely "a political smear." He said one effect was to advance United States Senator Lewis B. Schwellcnbach's po litical interests- SIX MILLION SET FOR JOBLESS PAY State Unemployment Com mission Sets Compromise Figure For Benefits. Salem, Dec' 27. (IP) The state unemployment compensa tion commission today set $6, 000,000 as the reserve fund to be maintained to meet emerg ency demand for jobless bene fits from Oregon's 250.000 workers. Employers asked at a recent hearing that the reserve be kept above $3,500,000. while labor union representatives agreed on $12,000,000. The 1939 legisla ture gave the commission until next January .1 to establish the reserve fund. Despite payment of benefits to 82.514 last year and 43.112 so far in 1939. the fund has grown from $5,800,000 on Janu ary 2, 1938, to $7,840,834 to day. Although heavy withdrawals are expected with the new year and about $575,000 will be transferred soon to the railroad retirement board, quarterly con tributions due before January 20 are expected to boost the fund to $8,000,000. Fund Grows Fast, Employer contributions in 1936, based on .9 per cent tax, raised $1,543,850,' 'but" this amount rose to $4,216,373 in 1937 when the tax was doubled. With the tax in 1938 reaching the maximum of 3 per cent, of which 2.7 per cent went into the reserve fund, contributions totaled $6,014,466, an amount equalled this year. Benefit payments In 1938, first full year of operation, to taled $5,916,398, but for 1939 will be only about $4,000,000. The reserve fund reached a high mark of $8,104,428 two months ago, and may reach this mark again early in 1940. By paying the entire state tax of 2.7 per cent on 1939 pay rolls before January 20, 1940, employers are entitled to de duct from this the federal so cial security tax. OF Redding, Cal., Dec. 27. (IP)- A diver retrieved the body of Mrs. Nora McCartney, 23, of Redding, from a cave 25 feet beneath the surface of the Sac ramento river yesterday. Mrs. McCartney leaped from the free bridge early Saturday and Charles Linqulst, construc tion worker familiar with the river, recovered the body 300 feet downstream from the cave to which he had theorized the body would have floated. War Bulletins London. Dee. 27. UP) The air ministry announced to night that British coastal air craft had disabled a German patrol venal with a direct bomb hit, and had put three German Dornler planes out of action. The activity tooV place in the North Sea. London. Dec. 27. (IP) , British Indian troops have arrived In France to Join the British forces. It was dis closed tonight in dispatches from the western front. London, Dec. 27. (A'l An unidentified airplane flew over Essex and the Thames estuary today and two others were seen over the Suffolk coast at a great height. Ob servers said they may have been German reconneisance ships. Paris, Dec. 27. UP) The Allied communique today saldt "Nothing of Importance to re port during the night." Death Closes Success Saga Of Doherty, Utility Magnate Philadelphia, Dec. 27. (IP) Death has ended the success saga of Henry L. Doherty the poor boy who realized an American dream of business empire. The 69-year-old head of the far-flung Cities Service company i died last night of bronchial pneumonia. At his bedside In Temple University hospital were his widow, Mrs. Grace Doherty, and W. A. Jones, executive vice president of Cities Service. Plagued for years by arthri tis, Doherty had been undergo ing one of periodic treatments for the condition. His physician, Dr. Charles Leonard Brown, said he was stricken with pneu monia two weeks ago. With zeal characteristic of his climb to the pinnacle, the white haired financier Ignored the handicap of Illness to forge still more accomplishments. Doherty's fortunes had their inception in Columbus, O., where he was born May 15, 1870 a newsboy at 10, gas company manager at 20, and so up the scale to millions at 40. It was at 40 that life for Doherty began in the larger sense, for in 1919 he launched Cities Service. Under his guid ance, it flourished into an en terprise of international dimen sions. By 1929 its assets in utili ties a ifd oil holdings totaled more than a billion dollars. Aside from the arduous re sponsibilities of finance three years ago he was listed as a director in 95 corporations and president of 87 of them Do herty's engineering prowess won him fame in the realm of science. TAFT WILL GIVE Cleveland, Dec. 27 (IP) Sen ator Robert A. Taft has chosen the subject "Mr. President, Here's How to Balance the Budget" for a January 5 ad dress in Chicago, the Taft-For- President office announced to day. Taft adherents recalled Presi dent Roosevelt recently said he would give the senator a hand some prize for a bill of particu lars on how Taft would balance the budget in two years, as the Ohio Republican has contended could be done. The senator's address before Chicago's Bar association will be nationally broadcast at 6:30 p. m PST. (NBC-blue). CHINESE AIRMEN Hongkong, Dec. 27. (IP) Chinese sources asserted today Chinese fighting planes made in Russia had shot down three and damaged 10 of 99 Japanese warplanes raiding Lanchow, capital of Kansu province in northwest China. The air battle, one of the largest of the war, occurred yesterday when Japanese squad rons attempted to rain explo sives on Chinese military bases near Lanchow. The Chinese planes were re ported to have forced the at tacking formations to break up and drop their bombs before reaching their objectives. PRIZE SHIPS DUE Solomons, Md., Dec. 27. UP) Four American prizes of the World war, on whose decks trod 300,000 soldiers en route to French battlefields, will follow another one-time German lux ury liner, the Leviathan, to the scrap heap. The 23,788-ton George Wash ington, on which President Wil son traveled to the peace con ference, the 19,380-ton Montl ccllo, the 18,372-ton Mt. Ver non and the 21,239-ton Ameri can have been ordered sold for scrap by the maritime commission ' ; I ' : i . Honry L. Doherty. BRITAIN WILL LAY LONG MINE FIELD London, Dec. 27. (IP) Great Britain's answer to the plague of German mines off the British coasts is a 500-mile charted minefield extending from the Orkney islands to the Straits of Dover. The admiralty announced that mines would be laid In a strip 30 to 40 miles wide and about eight miles offshore to guard coastal shipping from -mines "laid by the Germans without notice in the North sea outside territorial waters off the British coast." The British mine belt thus would be an inner screen be hind which ships could move in relative safety. A neutral naval attache said it also would protect British warships in port from submarine attacks. NAZIS EAGER TO CAPTURE BRITISH Berlin, Dec. 27. (IP) Ger man soldiers on the western front have a new competition. Authorities say there Is such keen rivalry to capture the first British soldier that even engin eer and signal corps troops are volunteering for scout duty so as to get a chance to reach the British lines. The British expeditioiiary force recently took its place alongside the French. CONVICT LEARNS LAW DURING PRISON STAY Cleveland, Dec. 27. (U.R) Emmet Bozcl, 50, and not a lawyer, today filed his own 28 pagc, handwritten brief seeking a writ of habeas corpus in fed eral court after he was sen' fenced September 13 to 10 years for using the mails to defraud. "I learned all about law and lawyers while I served five terms in federal prisons, in cluding a stretch at Alcatraz," he explained. SHOTGUN SHELLS GIVE FIRE ALARM IN TIME Lafayette, Ind Dec. 27. (IP) Mrs. Edward Kelly was awak ened suddenly by sounds of shots. Investigating, she found a fire in a closet. Firemen put it out. Investigating further, she found shotgun shells in a coat, set off by the heat, had sounded the alarm and probably saved tho house. F. R. APPROVES FUNDS FOR SLUM CLEARANCE Washington, Dec. 27. (JP) President Roosevelt today ap proved 24 United States Housing Authority contracts, totaling $47,947,000, for 41 slum clear ance and low rent housing pro jects In 12 states and two ter ritories, . They Included Los Angeles, Calif. $3,534,000; Oakland, Calif. $832,000. T ENGINEERS COUP; K. C. MAYOR QUITS Bryce Smith Resignation Latest Development In Machine-Controlled City. Kansas City, Dec. 27. (IP) Mayor Bryce B. Smith resigned today, after a switch In city council voting returned the Tom Pcndcrgast Democratic machine faction to power. The resignation, effective Sat urday, followed quickly the council's abrupt shaking off of Smith's suggestion that an out- of-town man be named city man ager to clean up waste and pay roll pad conditions disclosed by federal-county grand Juries. Smith, a Democrat, had at tempted to seize control after Boss Pendergast went to prison for evading federal Income taxes and numerous Pendergast office holders quit under fire. Appoint Manager The council appointed 73-year-old William Drennon, a retired insurance executive, as city man ager last night over Smith's op position. Today the mayor's an nouncement that he had ap pointed Jerome Walsh, son of the late Frank B. Walsh, Kansas City and New York corporation at torney, as city counselor, was met by two councilmen's reply Drennon had taken office and Smith- no longed bad the author-. ity to appoint. Smith termed the action a "political double cross" and quit. The power coup was made pos sible by the strange alliance of Pendergast councilmen with the council representatives of Con gressman Joseph Shannon, once a bitter intra-party foe of Pen dergast. While the swift developments took place, anti-machine forces pushed ahead plans for a city re call election February 13 aimed at sweeping out the entire coun cil. DDZENBERG CITED ON RED CHARGES New York, Dec. 27. (IP) Nicholas Dozenberg, described by federal investigators as "the second most Important commun ist," was Indicted today by the federal grand jury which found true bills against Earl Browder and four others, on a charge of using passports obtained through making false statements. Dozenberg was arrested early this month in Oregon. Federal investigators said he was, until recently, an agent of the intelli gence unit of the Red army, not of the OGPU, or Russian secret police, as stated when he was taken Into custody. The Indictment contained two counts. Portland Burglars Make Jewel Haul Portland, Ore., Dec. 27. (U.R) Jewels valued at $1,555 were stolen from the home of John A. Wickman of Portland, police were Informed here today. The loot included an unset diamond valued at $1,000. Pallette To Hide-out Pendleton, Ore., Dec. 27. (IP) Eugene Pallette, motion picture actor, and Mrs. Pallette paused here for lunch today en route to their "hiding out place," their beautiful ranch In the rugged wilds of Eastern Oregon on the Imnaha river. Radio Highlights By Associated Press Pacific Standard Time) Tonight: Euro pe--W ABC-CBS S:5S, 8; MBS 6, 6:15; WEAF-NBC-EAST 8. Thursday: Europe NBC 8 a.m.; WABC-CBS S a.m., 3:30 p.m. WEAF-NBC 10:30 a.m., Teachers of Speech convention.
