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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 4, 1941)
run o a. WMih. Weather SJr,port Fofwaatt fair tonlfbi l4 atardmj. Lit 1 1 etuuife la tampatatara. Temprrttai Highest t .1 i Lowest this mnrnlny , , R1 NOON EDITION Tribune Medford Precipitation put M hoant run AuocUta PftN Halted Thirty-sixth Year MEDFORD, OREGON FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1941. No. 90. s ! KEM MM Eft ISAKUPMil I --" 1 lalliiNslpJ) I - News Behind VAST MHM The News By Paul Mallon Waihlneton. July 4 The dif ficulty of organizing popular movement behind Navy Secre tary Knox'i ringing call to "drive the Nazis from the Atlan tic" is that the British never needed such help less than at the moment Knox spoke. Both Nazi air and submarine activity has declined In the At lantic to a point where the Brit ish losses are "negligible" by comparison with the 10,000 tons of shipping losses per day, aver aged during the war. That gen eral conclusion is accepted everywhere here although, of course, no one except the British admiralty knows the full details. British losses were at a peak, running well above the 10,000 tons a day average until about six weeks ago. Then German planes were withdrawn in pre paration for the Russian cam paign and a breathing speii nas ensued since. It is true, as Mr. Knox pointed out, the whole war average of 10,000 tons a day far exceeds our production, now around 6,000 tons a day. But our ship building program calls for pro duction far in excess of even 10,000 tons a day when the pro gram hits full stride. TIE semi-official explanation of the Knox speech Is that he and his associates have be come deeply worried about the state of American public opin ion since the Russian campaign. They fear interest In the war will decline, with the shift of activities further from our shores. They think the breath ing spell will disastrously lessen enthusiasm for British aid. Therefore, despite the critical congressional reaction to the Knox outburst, official agitation along that line is likely to con tinue for the purpose of keeping popular opinion awake. PRICE OF MARCH 10 'STALIN LINE' Thousands of Nazi Dead, Blazing Tanks and Enemy Planes Left on Battlefield (continued on Page Two) OF SLAYING WIFE Bath. Me., July 4. (IP) Dr. Merrill E. Joss, 34, accused of slaying his physician wife, four years his senior, so he could marry a tea-room hostess, was convicted of manslaughter to day by a Jury that deliberated six hours and 10 minutes. Because the verdict was re turned on the Fourth of July holiday, at 12:21 a. m. (EST) while firecrackers of passing celebrators resounded outside the Sagadahoc county court house sentence will be pro nounced tomorrow. War Bulletins Nairobi, Kenya, July 4 W) General Gassera, supreme commander of the remaining Italian forces in Ethiopia. It tending envoys to the British to arrange the surrender of all Italian troops in the prov ince of Galla Sidamo, the British announced olficiallr today. Shanghai. July -P On confirmed reports circulated In Shanghai tonight that the Japanese army and navy is preparing to move ' within a fortnight against southern French Indo-China and occu py Saigon, its chief port and metropolis. Cairo, Egypt, July A heavy British air raid en Tripoli, the capital and chief base of axis-held Libya, for the second successive night was reported by the RAF to day. This raid, last night, was one of a series of sweeping sir bombardments ever north Africa and Syria, a commu nique said. Cairo, Egypt. July 4. '.-Pi Occupation of Deir-es-Zor by a British Indian force driv ing into eastern Syria from Iraq along the Euphrates river was reported today by the middle east command. By the Associated Press Adolf Hitler's Invasion armies are approaching the main soviet defense ramparts the mystery veiled "Stalin line" the Ger mans declared today, while the Russians reported a vast slaugh ter of nazi troops In two-day-old fighting along the bloody Bere zina river, 400 miles west of Moscow. A red army bulletin said "thousands of German dead, blazing tanks and enemy air craft" littered the battlefield. Line Little Known Little has come out of Russia on the Stalin defense works, sup posedly a soviet counterpart of Frances Maginot line and ex tending from the Ukraine to the Gulf of Finland. The Berlin radio asserted vaguely that at least one nazi spearhead had knifed beyond the Germans furthest worm war rjenetration of Russia The red army aeciarea mai the three main German otten- sives into the U.S.S.R. had now been checked by a defensive blitzkrieg, and that in one sector 160 nazi tanks had been de stroyed. In the Minsk area, on ine cen tral front, the Berlin radio re ported that soviet troops failed in an attemDt to smasa mrougn a nazi encirclement and that 20,000 Russians had been cap tured Countering official German claims that the backbone of the red army was "broken," a soviet communique declared also that nazi invasion forces suffered a heavy defeat during the night in the Bobruisk sector, 100 miles southeast of Minsk Fuehrer Adolf Hitler's head- auartera asserted that pursuit of the red army was proceed Inelv relentlessly along the whole eastern front. The nazi high command de clared that German forces driv ing toward Moscow had now crossed the Berezina river the Graveyard of Napoleon s ill- starred venture into imperial Russia in 1812 and it was evi dent that another great battle nrn rnffinff. Heaw losses were being In flicted on the Russians, the nazi bulletin said, with the pursuit continuing despite difficult road nnriitinnfl. Recapitulating the 12-day bat tle of BialystoK. wnicn enaeu earlier this week, the official German news agency. DNB, as serted that "hundreds of thou sands of Russian corpse" were strewn over the forest battle- Between 400.000 and 500,000 i red army troops were said to have encased in the battle, in which the Germans claimed that 1 no 000 prisoners were taken. Previously, the German high command had said that due to the violence of the fighting, Rus sian rasualties exceeded the mimhor nf nrisoners taken. The main German threat against Moscow apparently cen .rl in alternative blows a Borisov, 40 miles northeast of Minsk on the road to the soviet raniial. and at Bobruisk. "The enemy is everywhere mtine with stubborn resist ance from our troops, devastat ing artillery fire, and crushing blows by the soviet air force," the Moscow communique said. Further north. In the Dvinsk sector of Latvia, the Russians reported they had taken up new nositions after engaging German columns which crossed the Dvina river at two points. Nowhere did the Russians ad mit approaching collapse in the 13-day-old struggle. In southern Poland, soviet troops were pictured as putting up a terrific battle against nazi armies lunging toward the rich Ukraine. Responding to Premier Joseph V. Stalin's call for a campaign of "scorched earth" and guerilla 100,000 Reds Taken, Claim FINLAND I'ggySPr M,Us 1 J VIIPUR U. S. S. R. 4lATVIa MOSCOW KAUNAS ) A r )tr 'Minsk j? !e BIALYSTOK (1 S&NO V KHARKOV VV3POBNO I LWOW ZIOCZOW Germany claimed capture of 100,000 Russians and destruc tion of "a large part" of the Red forces trapped in the Bialystok- Minsk area (oval). Meanwhile attacks were reported launched from Finland and Germans claimed Windau, Latvia, besides Riga, already taken. Germans also reported successes against Russian tanks in Zlocsow and Dubno areas. Russians reported their planes were checking Germans In Minsk and Ovinak sectors. Black arrows indicate Germans) white arrows, Russians. WILLI SURE NAVY SOON WIL HELP IN ' SUPPLY DELIVERIES New York. July 4. UP) Short-wave radio beams carried to the world today an assertion by Wendell L. Willkle that he is "quite sure that before long now the great force of the American navy will be brought into play to insure the delivery of supplies to Great Britain. The 1940 Republican presi dential candidate said "We un derstand that if we permit the last stronghold of liberty In Eu rope to fall before the onslaught of totalitarianism, the opportun ity to save liberty in America will be lessened and, therefore, the overwhelming percentage of the American people are re solved that at whatever hazard or cost, we will sustain the fighting men of Britain." Willkle recorded the speech in the NBC studios last night for use in a broadcast commem orating Independence day. Willkle said "despite the oc casional hesitation and doubts, the American people will reach out, will give their utmost to see that this precious thing we call liberty shall not disappear from the world, either in Eu rope or In Asia or In America." In a domestic broadcast last night. Willkle asserted that un less the United States used Its navy immediately "to Insure that England receives the pro ducts of her toil and sweat, Eng land will not and cannot survive." SUFFERS DELAY T Threat to New York Milk Supply Also Looms Large In Nation's Strike Picture VlOUh. DEATH IN EARLY START 24 Victims Recorded in First Hours; 475 Traffio Deaths Three-Day Estimate Mi INCREASE PLAN SEEN IN REQUEST TO ERASE RESTRICTINS Washington, July 4. (IP) Plans for a substantial increase in the size of the United States army, perhaps to double its present strength, were believed indicated today by the general staff's controversial request for power told national guardsmen and selectees In service, and to use them beyond the confines of the western hemisphere If necessary. The question of the army's future size was momentarily obscured by the rush of highly critical congressional reaction to the high command's request, but well-informed officials pointed out that the two subjects were very closely linked. The army's present strength. they noted, was about 1.400,000 men. If the bulk of those men are to be kept on duty, new regulars recruited and the scheduled 900,000 trainees in ducted in the next year, they said, the land forces would be close to 2,800,000 the goal the high command has In mind for the first expansion, If one Is deemed necessary because of world conditions. Critical equip ment Is being manufactured for an army of that size. By the Associated Press Two strikes, one delaying work on an important army air corps project and another threatening New York City's milk supply, engaged labor' in terest today In the midst of the nation's holiday celebrations. The war department offic ials expressed mounting concern over the strike of 1,500 AFL- Building Traders Workers at Jefferson Barracks, St Louis, Mo., where the air corps plans to begin training 11,825 recruits on September 1. The AFL men walked out in protest to em ployment of about 80 WPA workers in painting 28 out of 264 new buildings. One-Fourth Complete Work on the expansion pro ject is less than one-fourth com pleted, it was said. New York's milk strike, pre cipitated by 23,000 dairy farm ers union members in an ef fort to force higher prices, took a graver turn when an organ ized group of 30,000 other milk producers announced they would aid the union provided Owen D. Young, retired indus trialist, would lead the strike. Young earlier had Invited leaders of the union and other farmers' groups to confer with him tomorrow on a "unified plan of action." In another strike, dating from March 14, union members ask ed President Roosevelt to take over the American Potash and Chemical corporation plant, at Trona, Cel., "in the Interests of the American public": Easing defense-labor prob lems, on the other hand, the de fense mediation board com pleted formula for averting a strike at the Western Cart ridge company, Alton, HI., and the federal conciliation service announced an agreement fore stalling a walkout on July 9 by 10.000 CIO workers In three Connecticut plants of the Amer ican Brass company. Admits Slaying in TO PRESS FOR ROAD ACT E N Washington, July 4. JP Speedy action on the public roads authorization bill report ed to the house will be asked by Rep. Mott (R., Ore.) The bill calls for authoriza tion of 287,000,000 In appro priations for immediate con struction of roads needed In na tional defense. Mott said he would ask that the house measure be substi tuted for the measure already passed by thr senate. The house EAGLE PT. INJURED BY AUTO Mrs. M. A. Kennon, 79, of Eagle Point suffered a fractured hip and pelvis, an Injured shoul der and bruises and cuts late yesterday afternoon when she was struck by a car driven by Steven R. Schuerman, Ashland insurance man, on the Crater Lake highway about 20 miles from Medford. An attendant at Sacred Heart hospital, where she was taken Immediately after the accident by Mr. Schuerman, said this morning tnat the aged woman was .conscious, but because of her age was not resting well and was rather seriously injured. The driver of the car, in his report to city police, said he was traveling east on the highway at about 40 miles an hour and that Mrs. Kennon was standing at mail box on the north side of the highway, .with her back to the car. Schuerman reported that he honked his horn several times but that Mrs. Kennon, ap parently not hearing it, turned and walked directly into the path of his auto. He reported that an embankment alongside the road prevented him from Uking to the ditch. By the Associated Press Violent death claimed at least 24 victims today before Inde pendence day was more than aj few hours old. By noon (EST) 9 a. m. on the Pacific coast 15 persons had been killed in traffic acci dents and seven by other causes, including drownings, falls, and one airplane accident in Florida. With a three-day holiday week-end forthcoming, the Na tional Safety Council estimated there would be 475 traffic deaths, 105 more than what the council calls a normal toll for July week-end. There were 128 violent deaths recorded last July 4 a mid week holiday. Of those 83 were from auto accidents, numerous drownings and only two from fireworks. Deaths by states at reported at noon: Florida S, Illinois 8, Iowa 1, Maryland 2, Michigan 4, North Carolina 2, Ohio 1, Pennsyl vania 2, Texas 1, West Vir ginia 1, Washington 2. Oregon's first violent death of the Independence day holi day occurred Thursday after noon .with the drowning of 15-year-old' Portland boy In the surf at Bar View,, near Tilla mook. Arthur Phillips, Lincoln high school student, is believed to have stepped into a crab hole while wading. A head-on collision . or two automobiles, apparently - caused when one driver fell asleep, sent eight . persons to hospitals at 1:30 a. m. today. Those Injured all apparently seriously, were Merle J. Johnson, 29, Portland Arlaine Johnson, his wife; Dr. A. F. Katzky, Portland dentist, occupants of a car driven by Johnson Five of six Heppner, Ore., persons in the other car suf fered similar Injuries Mrs. Harry Parfegian, Gilbert Thompson, Clayton Lennlnger, Windsor Channey. Harry Parfe gian, 23, driver, escaped Injury. Deputy Sheriff Earl Son aald an investigation Indicated Parfe gian fell asleep at the wheel. Waitress Suspects Fidgety Man's Tip Los Angeles, July 4. (IP) Waitress Tazudo Uraganl found $513 on one of her tablet but she just couldn't convince her self it was a tip. So she turned It over to po- nil aiw iii ii I ii I aw-wrl U.S. CANT SURVIVE AS LIBERTY OASIS T London, July 4. IP Big British bombers, diving SO feet over the rooftops of Bremen in broad daylight, scored direct hits on a large factory in the waterfront area of the German port and shipbuilding city, the air ministry reported today. The RAF gave Bremen only a short breathing spell after the night shift of British raiders had left it. The morning attack there preceded a sweep across the channel this afternoon In a new offensive against nazl-bccupled France as the RAF kept intact ",rl" "r Hollywood. July 4. (IP) v u ..,.. v. Rosalind Russell, Hollywood's Five bombers and four fight- j b,cnelor lr, u y.cht,ni ers were said to be missing , , .,, , ' th. Bernard Sawackl (above), 17, parolee of St. Charles school for boys, admitted three fatal shoot ings. Police Captain Hugh Mc Carthy of lbe Chicago police department, said. The captain said the youth admitted slaying farmer near Momence, Ill.i John Miller, 19, shot in a South Side Chicago park, and Police man Charles J. Speaker, 58. Freedom Cannot Be Saved Here if Lost to Neighbor Nations Is Declaration SENATE DEFENSE . MEDFORD REGION Washington, July 4. (IP) Representatives of the senate defense Investigating committee leave here tomorrow for an ex tensive inspection of west coast defense areas. Those making the trip will be Senator Wallgren (D., Wn.), a member of the committee; Charles P. Clark, associate chief . counsel for the commit tee, and Col. Arthur Wilson of the army general staff. The tour will serve, the com mittee said, as a preliminary study of the west coast defense program and might be followed by a more extensive investiga tion later. The tentative Itinerary: July 14 through 21 Seattle- Tacoma area. July 21 Portland, Ore- and Bonneville dam. July - 22 and 23 Medford, Ore., Sacramento air base. July 24 Headquarters of ninth corps area, San Francisco, July 25 and 28 Fort Ord. When Informed of the forth coming inspection tour, local of ficials said they would make preparations to facilitate the study of the Medford defense area in which an army canton ment Is proposed for construc tion If congress appropriates the lice. She said a fidgety Filipino necessary funds and authorizes had just left the table after eat-Ian increase in the size of the ing a 13 cent sandwich. army. U. S. Celebrates With Enthusiasm Despite World Strife Background By the Associated Press Against a sobering background of strife abroad and stern preparations for defense at home, the United States today celebrated the Fourth of July with traditional enthusiasm. The manner of celebration varied as widely as the terrain Rosalind Russell Will Marry Agent from the foray over France, but the air ministry said nine Ger man fighters were destroyed. Joseph Benjamin Salem, July 4. 4A Joseph would retain, he said, the sen- warfare the Russians reported ate amendment including new th.t a h.mn munitions train ly opened mining districts ! had been blown up en route to ' amnrg the places in whicn we : Benjamin, former assistant at 'the front through nazi-occupied federal government would bearitorney general, died of a heart I territory, "exterminating" the'tSe full cost of road construe- j attack at his home here last l crew tior 1 night bride of Carl Brisson, Danish actor's agent. They left yesterday, tell frig friends they would be married. Brisson, 24. gave the brunette actress, who is 34, an engage ment ring last November. Brisson expects to be eon- scripted after the honeymoon. of the 48 states. For some, inde pendence day brought excur sions to beaches or mountains, or picnics in public parks. Many towns and rural communities planned reunions, barbecues atid rodeos. But whatever they might be. millions of Americans were ex pected to pause at 1 p. m, PST to hear an Independence day address by President Roosevelt, broadcast from his home at Hyde Park. N. Y. At the conclusion of the presi dent's speech, the listeners were invited to Join Chief Justice Stone in repeating In unison the oath of allegiance to the flag Then In all quarters of the coun try, at the same moment, mil Hons of voices were to join in a gigantic chorus, singing the national anthem Emphasizing the current co ODeratlon between Britain and this nation, the stars and stripes flew beside the Union Jack to day In many sections of the United Kingdom. The London Dally Herald declared editor ially that "the faith proclaimed in Philadelphia in 1770 la the faith for which we of the Britlsl) commonwealth are fighting today." The department of commerce at Washington estimated that small boys and some adults would light the fuses to some $3,500,000 worth of fireworks today, but warned that next year defense priorities might restrict the domestic production of holi day nolsemakers. Unless the nation's motorists drive with extreme care, the national safety council cautioned some 47S lives may be lost In traffic accidents over the holi day weekend. The counsel aaid the average toll for normal July weekend Is 90 deaths Fri day, and 140 fatalities each on Saturday and Sunday. By Douglas B. Cornell Hyde Park, N. Y., July 4. UP) President Roosevelt warned the American people today that they must be willing once more to pledge their lives, "it it be necessary," for the preservation of their cherished liberty. Americans everywhere, from , president to humblest citizen, joined a moment later in a pulse tingling, independence day pledge of allegiance to Tag and country. Tyranny Stalks Abroad Speaking by radio from the Franklin D. Roosevelt library In a nation-wide celebration of the Fourth of 'July, the chief execu tive said the fundamental prin ciples for which Americana fought in 1778 were being struck down by tyranny abroad and threatened on this side of the Atlantic. I tell the American people solemnly," the president de clared "that the United States will never survive as a happy and prosperous oasis of liberty in the midst of desert of dic tatorships. "And so It is that when we repeat the great pledge to our country and to our flag, it must be our deep conviction that we pledge as well . our work, our will and. If. It be necessary, our lives." Mr. Roosevelt said it was sim plealmost simple-minded for people to let their patriotism stop with flag-waving and a re affirmation of a belief in the cause of freedom. Unified Action Needed Yet, all of us who lie awake at night all of us who study and study again," he said, "know full well that In these days wa cannot save freedom with pitch forks and muskets." Nor can freedom be saved in our land, he asserted, if neighbor nations have lost theirs. That is why," the president explained, "we are engaged In a serious, in mighty, in a uni fied action in the cause of the defense of the hemisphere, and the freedom of the seas. We need not the unity alone, we need speed and efficiency and toil and an end to back-biting and to sabotage which runs far deeper than the blowing up of munitions plants." Exactly what he meant, strikes, propaganda or some thing else, Mr. Roosevelt did not say. In 1778, the president aald. Americana fought for a great principle that "government should derive Its just powers from the consent of the gov erned," and for a century and half this "cause of human freedom" swept through the world. "But now, in our generation in the last few years," Mr. Roosevelt declared "a new re sistance. In the form of several new practices of tyranny has been making such headway that the fundamentals of 1778 are being struck down abroad and threatened here. Fellacy Seen "It is, indeed, a fallacy, based on no logic, for any Americana to suggest that the rule of force can defeat human freedom in all the other parts of the world and allow it to survive In the United States alone." A childlike fantasy. misdi rected faith, he added, has led one nation after another to pur sue peaceful tasks and rely on the thought, and even the prom- ! Ise that they, their lives and their government" would be al lowed to live when the jugger naut of force came that way." BASEBALL American Washington at New York, both games postponed; rain. Boston at Philadelphia, both games postponed, rain. National New York at Brooklyn, both games postponed, rain.