Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, March 20, 1942, Image 1

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Medford mail tribune., March 20, 1942, Page 1, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextLt fOUR Answer to Bombs BONDS! Bo f Defeat Bonds ob4 Stamp TODAY Contrtbot to th tfrenttb of your uilos. ratrlotltm. your own rlf-pro-tcctloa. drnuiDC that VOU to font part NO W! Get Quick Action If ja aUh I get quick ae Uoa M bnylai m arlllnf JO shoaia mw to th Want Ada In tb.lt atnpaptr. Tbrae llttla da mm Ineiprmlva. Kill thT produce wondrrral ranlti ul quickly too. Medford Tribune full Associated Pr United htn Thirty-sixth Year MEDFORD OREGON, FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1942. NO. 310. 5) fan W m U inl WUM U ISA 0 News Behind The News by Paul Mallon Washington, March 20. Aus tralia, whose forces General MacArthur has been invited to command, has no (tan ding army. Therein lies the expla nation for such a unique invi tation. Thi United States would not think of asking a Brit' lsher to com Paul Mallos mand its de fense of the Pacific coast, but Australia had to choose either an. American or Britisher, because it never organized a professional peace time army and hence has not developed a large professional officer class. ' . In the World Almanac under armies, you will not find Aus tralia listed. Its peacetime force In January, 1S39, numbered only 42,895, including technic ians, etc. That is natural. While It Is about as large as the United States, it has about the same number of inhabitants as New York City, around 7,000,000. Australia has had some com pulsory military training in the past and early in the war or ganized its defense forces, so it now has formidable fighting personnel, without experienced top generals. All the Aussies fighting with the British In Libya and Malaya were volun teers. HE Jap propaganda threats of Australian Invasion sug gested the Aussies surrender in the name strangely enough of providence. (Where did they hear of him?) Only reaction here was fear the Japs would not attempt to carry out their threat. Australia is not Malaya or Java. Five of Its seven millions live In the southeast corner nearly two thousand miles away from the northern tip. In between Is nice desert and jungle where the Japs will receive a hearty wel- come far from their home bases. while the Aussies have railroads to the factories Tunning back from the front. The great barrier reef runs down the northeast coast to pre- (Continued on Pag Twain) ' Twin Sons Born 75 Hours Apart Haverhill, Mass., March 20 UP) Twin sons were born more than three days apart this week to Mrs. Ralph C. Simonds, Jr The first, weighing six pounds, was born Monday at 2:27 a. m.; the second, weighing seven pounds, was born at 4:52 a. m. yesterday a difference of almost 75 hours. Npmrs for the boys have not yet been chosen. The mother is 21 years old and the children are her first. (Pacific war time) The networks, pending appro- val by the war department, are seeking a broadcast by Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Aus tralia. Tonight: 7 Fight. Ray Robin son vs. Norman Rublo. Saturday: The War 8 CBS MBS; 10:45 NBC Blue; 11 CBS 1 30 p. m. CBS: 2.45 NBC; 3 CBS; 3:25 NBC Blu; 3:30 MBS; 3:45 CBS Blue. NBC 1:45 p. m.. Tropical Park race. CBS 10:20 a. m.. Fashion Academy awards. Blu 9:30 a. m.. National Grange. SIDE GLANCES BT TRIBUNE REPORTERS t'ltv firomon hnvinff m ffnod (:ime wetting down the street by the station yesterday. Manager George Frey having to get out of bed at 2:20 a. m. when the burglar alarm system In the United State. National banic building went bay-wlr. Radio Highlightsj PHILIPPINE RELIEF STRATEGYCHANGE Great Offensive Ordered By Roosevelt No Intimation On Time Of Kick-Off. Br Roger D. Green Associated Press War Editor With the dramatic pledge "I came through and I will return," Gen. Douglas MacArthur an nounced in Australia today that he had been instructed by Presi dent Roosevelt to prepare a great American counter-offensive against Japan for the pri mary purpose of relieving the Philippines. Gen. MacArthur, whose es cape in a speedboat through the Japanese blockade of Bataan peninsula provided one of the most thrilling exploits of the war, gave no Intimation when the allied offensive would be launched. Port Moresby War On Dispatches from Port Moresby said the opening shots were fired In the battle for lower New Gui nea island, where Japanese In vasion columns are seeking bases from which to make a direct as sault on Australia 300 miles across the Timor sea. Dispatches from the embattled Island said Australian forces had begun sniping at Japanese in vasion columns driving down to ward Port Moresby, only 300 miles from the Australian main land. Japanese warplanes twice raided Port Moresby again to day, but were driven off after strafing the airdrome. In his first interview since his spectacular dash from siege bound Bataan peninsula, Gen. MacArthur declared: "The president of the United Stttes ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corregidor to Aus tralia for the purpose, as I un derstand it, of organizing an American offensive against Japan. "The primary purpose of this Is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I will return." Notice On Japan Thus, In crisp terms, Gen. MacArthur served notice on Japan that the long weeks of allied defensive fighting the disheartening retreats in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies may soon be ended. High-ranking United States and Australian army officers conferred with Australia's army minister, Francis Forde, paving the way for an allied war coun cil which will assume basic con trol of all military operations. The council was expected to Include Gen. MacArthur, the new united nations supreme commander In the southwest Pa cific; Lieut.-Gen. George H. Brett, U. S. A., deputy supreme commander; Vice Admiral Her bert F. Leary, chief of allied naval forces In the Australia New Zealand theater; and lead ers of Australia's fighting forces. Other cheering news came In a promise of allied offensive ac tion against Japan herself by Lieut-Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, U. S. A., who declared in Chung king: "The united States means business, and we won't be satis fied until we see American and Chinese troops in Tokyo to gether." Stilwell, recently appointed chief of staff to Chinese Gener alissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, al lied supreme commander in the China theater, said he had been placed in command of ail U. S. force in China, India and Bur ma. Sliced Bread Ban Is OP A Proposal Washington, March 20 UPt The office of price administra tion suggested today that bakers stop slicing bread. The proposal was offered as a means of saving time, labor and paper by Fred Thomas. OPA official, it a meeting of the baking industry advisory committee called to consider means of reducing bakery costs to prevent pric advances. Where Japanese Stopped Bombs fa, EQUATOR NEW a -v? MERAUKE Arafura Sea mKarwinW IBIRDUM IE 1 ft ... . K U AUSTRALIA DEFENSE Highway BARROW CREEK "A" indicates th Balamua-La area on th ast coast of New Guinea whara. th nary announced, 23 Jap ships, including 12 warships, had bn sunk or damaged by American and Australian air forces. SOTO EXECUTED TOR SLAYING OF Salem, Ore., March 20. (JP) John Anthony Soto, 17, con fessed slayer of a Hermlston farm family of three last Sep tember 25, died in the state's lethal gas chamber today. The youth, fugitive from a California institution for the feeble minded, entered the octa gonal execution room at 8:29 a. m., and ' was ' pronounced dead at 8:32. Soto remained Indifferent to the very end although Chap lains Rev. Robert N. Hutchin son and Father Daniel O'Con- nell said he prayed as he was being strapped in the death chair. He smoked a cigar up to the moment he entered the death chamber, and showed no fear at any time. Rev. Hutchinson said "He kidded us all the time treated it all as a huge joke. He talked Incessantly, occasion ally breaking off and going into a song." Soto was convicted at Pen dleton of the murder last Sep tember 23 of Kenneth L. Gor such on the tatter's farm at Hermlston, but Soto also con fessed slaying Gorsuch's mother. Mrs. Cora Tobln, and her nephew, Marvin Adams. The eldest of seven children. Soto was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Soto, Porto Rlcans of Niles, Cal. His parents are on relief. He was In continuous trouble from the age of 14, stealing many times and finally being sent to a reformatory for send ing a letter threatening to kill a man unless h paid him $5. Soto was transferred from the reformatory to the Sonoma state home for feeble-minded. Doctors there found he was of borderline intelligence, one doc tor predicting at that time that Soto would commit murder if turned loose. CONTINUE STUDY Portland, March 20 Ah The state highway commission today continued study of bids submitted yesterday on Im provements of the Crater Lake highway to serve cantonment in the Medford area. They were higher than engi neers' estimates. Bids referred to th engineer with power to award included: Josephine county Grave creek-Jumpoff Joe creek section of Pacific highway over Sexton mountain, 0.01 miles of surfac ing and bituminous macadam, McNutt Bros, Eugea, $147,818. PACIFIC A --A-w K&VIFN1G miw MADANG RABAULV ::T::i::;::::::::::::fc ... i...rw La-JIT I ...v .-.r SALAMAUA L CAPC YOOK f.PlNINSULA ouir of v . ' " r cardwellA w Roosevelt Cites Map For Pacific Answers Washington, March 20. (AP) President Roosevelt reiterated today that we are doing everything we possibly can In the phase of the war in the southwest Pacific, but he called attention anew to what he termed a little, old lesson In geography. . - That lesson teaches, he ob served, that to get anything to the southwest Pacific area takes an awful long time. Further more, he said, there is a world shortage of shipping. He repeated previous declara tions that all possible was being done when reporters asked whether he could elaborate, without going beyond the limits -of military secrecy and strategy, on stories from Australia that General Douglas MacArthur, su preme commander of united na tions . forces, was considering plans for an eventual offensive and for relief of American and Filipino forces In the Philip pines. Incidentally, M r . Roosevelt declared with an amused twin kle in his eye that he had told a charming lady who had supper at the White House recently that MacArthur had left the Philip pines by rowboat, disguised as a Filipino fisherman, passed di rectly by a lot of Japanese sub marines and warships and row ed 2,500 miles to Australia. And some people at the table, he thought, actually believed him. The president chuckled when his press secretary, Stephen Early, remarked that he had shown the way in which a rumor factory operates. INCOMING STENOS An appeal for local residents, willing to aid in solving a seri ous housing problem, to register their accommodations with Mrs. Stella Henderson, manager of the Girls' Community club, 229 North Bartlett (phone 3980) was mad today by Mrs. Dolph Phlpps, president of the board of directors of the club. 'The situation", said Mrs. Phlpps" is becoming serious, particularly from the standpoint of the single girls usually seek ing clerical employment, which frequently can not oe secured until after several days solicita tion. There are no more accom modations at the Community club, none listed there that haven't been taken up, and yet we can't turn these g'rle out on the street. Practically all of them come with enough funds to pay for a room for a week or so, but the rooms Just can't be found, and a serious problem is Immediately created. Local resi dents with rooms for rent, will render a genuine public service, if they will call the Communlt club (phone 3980) and list theli accommodations ther at once." QCCAN 5ORELAND w VBOUGAINVIIU t 2? FLORIDA 0, IS Coral Sea 500 MILES AT EQUATOR EMC.E. PUPIL IN ARMY PLANES Bakersfleld, Calif., March 20 (,P) Two air corps cadets crashed to their deaths and three others still are missing on a routine flight which left M Inter field her Wednesday The field commander said bodies of Don Carne, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Carne. San Francisco, and Paul A Davis, 23. son of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Davis, Denver, wer re covered. The three missing men were: Paul S. Day, 21, Walnut Ridge. Ark. Paul R. Everett, 21, Camden Point, Mo. Eugena Crltes, 2fl, Roseburg, Ore. The cadets were to have grad uated tomorrow. The trip they were making was their last training flight. Roseburg, Ore.. March 20 UP) Born In Denver, Colo., Oct. 29 1915, Eugene Crites was grad uated from high school at Bend, Ore., in 1933 and came to Rose burg the following year. Young Crltes spent three terms In a CCC camp near Medford and attended Southern Oregon College of Education at Ashland where he was graduated with the class of 1941 He also ob- taned flight training in the civilian pilot training program while attending school thare. He enlisted in th army air corps Nov. 1, 1941, and was trained at Oxnard and Mlnter fields In California. His mother, Mrs. Alameda Gerkin, and three sisters, Paul ine, Ruth and Marilyn, reside at Woodburn, Ore. Industry Accidents Too Many, Says F.R. Washington. March 20. UP Urging greater precautions both on th part of workmen and their employers. President Roosevelt reported today that Industrial accidents In 1941 had cost 460,000,000 man days of work, had killed 101,500 people and permanently disabled 350,- 000 others. His figures cam from the na tional safety council, which h said was taking the lead in an Intensified camoaien asalnst ac cidents. E! ON EVE OF FLIGHT Military Stores, Oil Blasted At Kharkov 30,000 Civilians Slain Is Claim. By th Associated Press Adolf Hitler's Ukraine armies were reported In Stockholm dispatches today to be making hasty preparations for a retreat from Kharkov, the Soviet "Pittsburgh," with the city in flames as Nazi demolition squads blasted military stores and oil supplies. Against this picture of major new reverse for German arms. Hitler's field headquar ters asserted that Russian troops driving into the Donets basin east of Kharkov had been "thrown back after a new at tack and suffered heavy casual ties." Soviet dispatches yesterday said the Germans had slain 30.000 civilians in Kharkov, but there was no direct word from Moscow on the progress of mili tary operations against the big steel center of 833,000 popula tion, which the Germans cap tured last Oct. 24. Unofficial re ports on Wednesday said red army shock troops were fight ing in Kharkov's suburbs. Stockholm advices said great fires were burning in the city and that It was obvious the Germans' "whole upper Donets line Is sagging to the point ol collapse." London reports said oou.uuu German troops were believed based in the Kharkov area. LIGHT OIL POTS Smudge pots were lighted this morning and yesterday morning In the neach orchards of the valley. Frost Observer Roy J Hosers reported. There was no firing In pear orchards. The temperature yesterday morning droDDed to 28 degrees In this city and to 24 degrees In some of the orchards. No low temper ature was announced for this morning, due to the weatner bureau's war tima regulations that no temperatures can be revealed until 24 hours later Observer Rogers said lt was not cold enough to smudge In Dear orchards though lt came close to It. Assistant County Agent C. B Cordy said ther were approxi mately 800 acres of peaches In the valley. Not all orchards smudged. The peach acreage has shown an increase th past two or three years here. Orchardists ar bringing In their thermometers to the coun ty agent's office for testing. Rebekah Leader Is Claimed By Death Oregon City, March 20 UP) Lizzie C. Howell, 81, past presi dent of ' th Oregon Rebekah assembly, died her yesterday. She had made her horn here for 73 years. She Is survived her widower, William H. Howell and a son, William B. Howell, assistant postmaster here. U.S. Waging Is Bitter Jap Accusation By Associated Prats Reacting to th sting of allied counter blows some of which may not have been mentioned for reasons of military secrecy the Japanese navy bitterly ac cused th United States and Britain of waging "extreme warfare based on retaliation and hatred," and declared that Japan would reciprocate. A Tokyo broadcast said that the allies were employing tac tics in disregard of internation al law and that consequently the Japanese navy was "revis ing" Its warfare regulations. No - 1 dvtalls were given. J Whil Japan thus showed sh Need Volunteers To Man Posts In Aircraft Warning Pressing need of volunteer help in manning aircraft warning posts In Medford vicinity Is stressed by 1st Lt. J. T. Runyan of the 4th Inter ceptor command at Roseburg, in th following announce ment: This announcement is to Americans. The security of America depends upon you. If you have normal hear ing and sight you ar needed for service on your closest aircraft warning service post. Do your part In the service of your country as so many of America's young men are now doing theirs. Apply for assignment to duty at your county office of civilian defense at the Med ford Chamber of Commerce building. Uncle Sam needs you. There must be no mora surprise attacks. Volunteer to do your part todav. G.O.P. NOMINATION Frank J. Van Dyk becam candidate for th Republican nomination for state representa tive from Jackson county today when ha filed his intention with the secretary of state. Mr. Van Dyk Is well known In this district as a lawyer and city attorney of Ashland and more recently as executive sec retary of th cantonment co ordinating board. He comes from a pioneer family which settled In the Rogue River val ley in 1852. He was reared on th dairy farm still being operated by his parents near Medford, received his education In the Medford schools, and obtained his degre in law at Willamette university in 1931. He Is active in fraternal and civic organizations being member of th Masonic frater nity, the Elks lodge, Rotary, and director of th Ashland school board and th Ashland Chamber of Commerce. For the past three legislative sessions Van Dyk has been a member of the legislative com mittee of the League of Oregon Cities and has represented the city of Ashland In legislative matters. Mr. Van Dyk married Naomi Hohman, formerly an Instructor in the Valley School, Medford, in 1934 and they have on son, Johnnie Patrick, recently just four years old. Earl Newbry, Talent Republi can present state representative, will seek the state senate chair long occupied by George Dunn, of Ashland. A decision was expected to day from William McAllister. Medford attorney, on whether he would enterthe lists for Re publican nomination as con gressman from th new fourth district. McAllister, present state representative, has been mentioned as next speaker of the house if he returns to the Oregon legislative hall. War of Hatred was beginning to feel th bit of th united nations' slowly gathering offensive force, th war department announced In Washington that two U. S. army bombers scored a direct hit on a large Japanese cruiser at Rabaul, New Britain northeast of Australia. Island, Presumably, this was the same attack reported yesterday by th Royal Australian air fore. A British broadcast said allied bombers again blasted at Jap anese-occupied Dutch Timor Island, one of the main bases for Japan's threatened invasion of Australia. GREEN REQUESTS CONGRESS PROBE 40-H0JJRREPEAL AFL Chieftain And ClO's Murray Tell Senate Group Labor Behind War Effort, Washington, March 20. P) President William Green of the AFL today asked a congres sional investigation of what ha termed the campaign In Okla homa seeking repeal by con gress of the 40-hour week law and enactment of special war time legislative restrictions for labor. Both Green and President Philip Murray of th CIO told th senate appropriations sub committee Investigating war production that labor was whole-heartedly behind the war effort, and that restrictive leg islation now might Imped pro duction gains. Children Usad Green testified that Okla homa "school children wer asked to surrender lunch money to send telegrams to Senator Lee" (D., Okla.) asking action on anti-labor legislation. Murray, CIO head, testified that labor already had pro mised the president to "forego th Instrument of strike" dur ing th war period "and now to th congress and th nation we repeat that pledge." Both labor leaden denied that th 40-hour week provision was impeding production or In creasing war costs. Both In sisted that strikes had not In terfered with war production since Pearl harbor. "Th charge that strikes ar Impeding th war production la a gross slander upon th pat riotism of American workers,1 Murray said. . . . "W cannot in this country reach a maxi mum productive effort by th methods of Hitler, by enslaving; our working people." Policy Needed But, at almost th sam tlm. Ralph Bard, assistant secretary of th navy, told th hous naval commute that congress should establish national la bor policy unless lt was don) voluntarily at "th earliest pos sible moment" and said "con troversy" over th closed shop had Impeded production In some Instances. He was testify ing on th Smith bill to abro gate closed shop contracts In plants with navy and army con tracts, and suspend th maxi mum hours law In them. Bard described double pay for Sunday and holidays as "in defensible" and said he hoped that "within 30 days" th ques tion of paying doubl tlm would be settled. He said th 40-hour week had not handi capped navy production and that some employes wer work ing 48, 62 and 80 hours a week. He opposed the suspension of the 40-hour week, saying "there must be a ceiling on hours." Imporiasca of Job to Role Defenses! Sayt Draft Chlsf Washington, March 20 WV- Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey forecast today that th matter of deferment from military serv ice would shift from th ques tion of how many dependents you have to what Job you ar doing" as President Roosevelt suggested ther would be labor thortages for war work by fall. Hershey, director of selective) service, spok to th eonfrrewa on war demands for trained personnel as the president told his press conference that plans wer not yet ready for a sys tematic allocation of labor to war Industry under a manpower mobilization program. Portland, March 20 (JPy A. training school for women groc ery clerks will be opened hero March 31 under public school system auspices following ap proval last night by the Grocers and Merchants association. Approximately 70 Portland retail grocers approved th plan to replac men entering military servlc. "