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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1942)
oi Let TOOB Hasrwat T Bomb Be bOHOSI Bas Ww Bond aa uunas TOUAY Coatrtkuta U the n rfart f jour aatloa. ratrlat torn, rear selr-arauctloa. tfffmanrft that fOD do year part NOWI ' TJs Tka HAH. TBJBOHS Want Ad Way Quick Results ' At Small Coat TRIBUNE FORD United Praia full Leased Wit Dei tad Plata full Leased Win Thirty-seventh Year. MEDFORD, OREGON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1942 jiji(i(ijX(SiiT UUM Med 235 6 Awe ma J L - . . Kelly's Comment From Washington. D. C. Northwest Labor Problem Remains Transport Seen Army Bottleneck Tire Salvage Return Too Low nss Br John W. Kalrf- O Washington. D. C, Dee. 22. Where the help is coming from to relieve the labor situation in the northwest has not been answered. Throughout that area small restaurants, meat markets, garages are going out of business some because of rationing, others on account of workers leaving. Auto camps, other than those within driving range of a war industry, are be ing boarded up. If something goes wrong, trouble follows be cause there is no mechanic avail able to repair heating plant, water pipe, clean spark plugs, grind pistons (look for a drive to have motorists surrender old spark plugs), or service the re frigerator. It is roughly estimated that 160,000 workers, at least, are O needed on farms, but the num ber is probably nearer 200,000. From one to half a dozen milk ers are wanted on every dairy farm. More man power Is asked for transportation com panies railroads and common carrier trucks. Every hotel and restaurant, small and large. Is begging for help. One source of labor, Inexperienced but available for training, is being drained out of Washington and Oregon the teen-age boys who are being inducted into selective service. There are no available statistics on the teen-agers, as hundreds have already volun teered in navy, coast guard, marines and army. Many of these helped out In harvesting crops the past year but their ' services will no longer be avail able. In addition to these O youngsters, the northwest must furnish thousands of older reg istered men and, of course, these will weaken the labor reservoir. Where or how labor, skilled and unskilled, Is to be found to take the place of the selectees Is, presumably, a Job for Paul V. McNutt of war manpower commission. Mr. McNutt hcie that manpower can be tra,- ferred voluntarily to the north' (Continued on Pass Eight) E l Jackson, Mich," Dee. 22 (U.R) The number of strikers at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co, gun plant rose to 1,600 today as workmen In two other units Joined cannon division employes who walked out in a dispute over Sunday work. The stoppage halted produc tion of cannon and fuel tanks for warplanes. The strike started Saturday when 6S0 workers in the can non division laid down their tools because of the manage ment's alleged refusal to hire a full Sunday staff at double pay, The same shift refused to work yesterday, and last night work ers in gun plant and fuel tank unit Joined the walkout. . DIG FOR BODIES ' Montreal, Dec. 22 (U.R Rescue workers dug In the ruins of three tenement houses today for the bodies cf two women and a man believed to have been killed last night In an explosion and fire. SIDE GLANCES TRIBUNE REPORTER Ellsworth "Santa Claus" Schu ler telling the kiddies at the Episcopal Christmas party about his bicycle trip from the North Pole. Friends wondering whether Ed Kirtler's Injured arm is the result of the "commando" train ing he is giving Uedford high student i i . COMBINED FORCES W'W'Lj " i WILL STRIKE WHEN Pl ,vT Ad SUPPLIES READIED -Wipf'-Bi. K Eisenhower Works Out Pro gram For U. S. and British Nazis Continue Race. Allied Headquarters In North Africa, Dec. 22 U.PJ Lieut- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower has worked out a plan to unite Al lied forces in Tunisia with the British Eighth army for a grand assault on the Axis, and prepara tions are going forward under the motto of "take your time and make sure of success." The grand strategy of the Al lies in North Africa, it can be revealed today, is to chase the German Afrika Korps all the way into Tunisia, and then hit the Axis forces with all the com bined weight of Eisenhower's troops and Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's army which is chasing the Germans across Tri poli tania. By Edward W; Beattla (United Press Correspondent) London, Dec. 22. (U.R) Axis radios reported new allied at tacks In Tunisia today and indi cations mounted that a grand scale British and American as sault on the enemy's coastal footholds was imminent. African dispatches reported that the allies were sending masses of supplies and reinforce ments to the Tunisian front lines, preparing for united ac tion with Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's British eighth army which was pushing across Tripolitania at a rate of IS miles a day. s Hearing Slrte Montgomery's forces were be lieved to be on the outskirts of Slrte, more than 170 miles west of El Agheila In pursuit of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel s flee ing Afrika Korps. There were some Indications that the im perials might . have occupied Slrte. Both the German and Italian radios reported new Allied at tacks In Tunisia. Both, of course, said the new thrusts were turn ed back by Axis forces. Significantly, however, radio Rome said activity in Tunisia had become "somewhat more in tense," and radio Berlin asserted that a major Allied action was imminent. French Advance French troops made a new ad vance in the protectorate and were operating near Kirouan, only 32 miles from the strategic east coast port of Sousse, radio Morocco said, quoting a French communique. A successful drive to the east coast would deprive the Germans and Itali ans of a major reinforcement port. . There was no confirmation of Spanish reports that the Ger mans were massing a relief force In French ports.' British observers believed it unlikely because of the probability that Axis North African resistance at best could be only a holding operation. It was considered more prob able that if Axis transports were concentrated in French harbors, they would be used to take a German expeditionary force to Sicily as a defensive garrison, relieving some of the strain on inadequate Italian railroads al ready hamstrung by smashing Royal Air force raids. FOWLER SEES BIG County Agent Robert G. Fowl er reports his annual survey of agricultural conditions In Jack son county, now at the Oregon State College at Corvallls, for binding and other details, will show an increase of approximate ly two million dollars In farm income in the county over 1941. The Increase was due to a higher price for produce and farm crops, the county agent said. The report is scheduled to be i returned from Corvallls around me tint ox we year. After recovering from bis most recent brush with death this time In the South Pad! to Captain Eddie Rtck enbacker, left, is safe again In the United States. He's shown with MaJ. Oen. Barney Ollea in San Fran clfico as "Rick" was en route to Washington to reoort to War Secretar SUnuon on tha Pacific war altustlon. TERMED DISGRACE BY SEN. WHEELER Washington, Dec. 22 (U.R) Sen. Burton K. Wheeler, D., Mont., said today that the indict ment of 28 persons by a federal grand Jury on sedition charges was "a disgrace and ought to be Investigated.' - - - Wheeler released an exchange of correspondence with Attorney General Francis Biddle In which Wheeler protested that the Jus tice department has resorted to entrapment measures to ob tain the indictment In Washing ton "where the greater part of the population Is made up of government workers or people who are dependent upon the government, either directly or in directly." Wheeler said In his letter to Biddle he had read the indict ment, naming Gerald Winrod, Kansas isolationist editor; Mrs. Elizabeth Dilling, Chicago, and others, and found it to be "an attempt 'o smear the America First Committee which was head ed up by a group of the most loyal and patriotic citizens In America . . . In answer to Wheeler's first letter. Biddle replied that the In dictment was voted by a grand Jury which studied the case for 71 days and explored thoroughly the connection of each individual. Stalingrad Area Mammoth (Henry S h a p 1 r o , United Press Moscow manager, gives the first eye-witness account by an American of the dis aster overtaking the Axis armies oa the Stalingrad front. In the following dis patch. He alone of American correspondents in Russia has actually seen the battlefields.) Bf Henry Shapiro United Press Correspondent Copyright, 1942, by United Press With the Red Army on the Stalingrad Front, Dec. 19. (De layed) (U.R) For hundreds of square miles around this battle ground in the Don river bend, there stretches a mammoth Axis graveyard. . Red army salvage squads have been working day and night for weeks, removing war materials of all sorts to base points in the rear, whence they will be thrown into action against the enemy soon. Burial squads have been col lecting and burying the bodies of men which, along with those of horses and the wreckage of machines, lie in the snowdrifts, prey to carrion crows and wild cats. Thousands Prisoner Military police are rounding up tens of thousands oi uerman and Rumanian prisoners. The moment I crossed the north bank of the Don to enter the territory wrested from Ger mans and begin a tour toward the east bank where Gen. I. N. CirhsUankov'a 21st Red army is 9 of 12 Children In Single Family Serving Country St Louis, Dec. 22. (U.R) Mr. and Mrs. Leo M. Van Coutrerr-of St. Louis announc ed today that with the enlist ment of two of their three daughters in tha Women's Auxiliary Army camps, nine of their 12 children are serv ing in some branch of the United States armed forces. Of the nine boys in the family, six are in the navy and one In the army. One Is a policeman. The third daugh ter is a social service worker In New York. Washington, Dec. 22. (U.R) John B. Blandford, Jr., adminis trator of the National Housing agency, today approved immedi ate construction of 8,040 barrack-type dormitory accommo dations for war workers in the Portland, Ore.,-Vancouver, Wash., area. The project, designed for temporary housing of incoming workers, will be completed 30 days after selection of a site and will cost $1,900,000, Blandford said. When it is completed it will bring the total of public housing units In the area to more than 40,000. steadily pressing the Germans toward the Volga, it became evident that the Axis had suf fered an Immense rout. The Axis losses already sur pass those of last winter when the Red army made its first his toric and crushing winter offen sive. . My observation confirms re ports that the Germans bore the brunt of casualties in the battle which Is estimated to have cost the Axis so far 400,000 men killed, wounded or captured. But the Rumanians, in their small segment of the line, have suffered perhaps the greatest military disaster In their mod ern history, one which may prove catastrophic to Rumanian home morale. Rumania had lost enormously In previous operations, probably more than any other Axis vas sal. Rumanians were put in the front line from the very start. They lost heavily at Odessa and at Sevastopol. This time they were crushed. Scores of Ru manian prisoners, officers and men, talked to me as they were escorted as prisoners toward the rear. Hell To Pay At Home "When the people at home learn the real extent of our tragedy there wiU be hell to pay," an infantry colonel said "It may mark the beginning of the end of Antonescu. (Marshal Ion Antonescu Is the pro-Axis Rumanian dictator.) I met my first batch of Ru manians at a railroad Junction BAPTISTS BALK AT VICTORY TAX PAY Louisville, Ky.. Dee. 22 (U.R) Kentucky Baptists declared to day that many of their congre gation will have to "go to Jail" because pt their tenet if the Vic tory tax an ministers is collected at the source. In the case of ministers, the source would be the church and the Baptists, In a committee re port by the executive board of Kentucky Baptists, object to the church being considered a cor poration and their pastors as "employes." John D. Freeman, editor of the Western Recorder, publica tion of the General Association of Kentucky Baptists, who is sued the protest, said his church's objection "hinges on the traditionally rigid Baptist tenet of the separation of church and state." Freeman said ministers do not object to paying the five per cent Victory tax, but declared the provision to collect it at the soarce "will force our churhes to become agents of the federal government." THIRD BIO FIRE Quebec, Dec (U.R) The third big fire in two days blazed In Quebec today, sweeping through six stores in the St. Roch sec tion of the city. northwest of Stalingrad not far from the front. A whole train-' load of assorted Axis prisoners were being shipped to prison camps. The Russians had seen so many German and Rumanian prisoners, that they paid little attention to this batch. An elderly Rumanian general, In a gaudy comic opera uniform, escorted by a Red army lieuten ant, was pacing up and down the railroad platform, chewing sun flower seeds. The general was awaiting the Russian equivalent of a Pullman car, allotted by the Red army to high Axis officers though many Russian officers ride in boxcars because of rail conges tion. For day after day, thereafter, I saw thousands of Rumanians captured in this sector alone, weird apparitions in green uni forms with cone-shaped fur caps drawn over their ears, choking the snow-clad roads and village streets. They marched four abreast In groups of several hun dreds each. Russion motor ve hicles passed back and forth, Ig noring them. Dictators Kaput The prisoners replied eagerly to my questions when they learned I was an American news paperman. One clear Impression emerged: Rumanians, from generals to privates, feel not only that they have been defeated, but that they have been misled by the Ger mans and their own leaders, and SLAYER GRANTED PRISON PAROLE Albert W. Reed Given Condi tional Commutation Ten Years Served on Term. Salem, Ore., Dec. 22 4U.R) A conditional commutation of sen tence became effective today for Albert W. Reed, convicted In Jackson county of second degree murder and prisoner for over 10 years. Commutation of Reed's life sentence was granted by Gov. Charles Sprague on recommen dation of the state parole board. Reed was convicted in Med- ford, February, 1932, for the murder of Victor Knott, Ashland policeman, on the night of No vember 18, 1931. Indicted with him were two companions, Paul McQuade and Lee Jackson. All were from Denver, Colo., and were on an auto trip throughout- the Pacific Coast. McQuade and Jackson were never appre hended. Reed, arrested at his home In Longmont, Colo., on Christmas eve, 1931, was re turned her shortly afterwards. Knott was slain when, with Roy Layman, another police man in a police prowl car, he stopped two men for question ing near the Enders warehouse. Great excitement prevailed In Ashland, and there was talk of lynching. Tha car In which, the thugs escaped was- found near Foots Creek, the following day- Reed claimed he was drinking a cup of coffee in an Ashland ham burger stand when the killing occurred, and witnesses provid ed affidavits to this effect after his trial. Reed was defended by Attor neys Gus Newbury and Don R. Newbury, appointed by the court. Japanese Massacre 13,000 Chinese Poor Chungking, Dec. 22 (U.R) A Central News Agency dispatch today charged that Japanese troops, In their campaign in Kl- angsl and Chekiang provinces last summer, massacred 13,000 Chinese peasants. The Kiangshan district on the border of the two provinces suf fered particularly, the agency said. But the agency reported that Chinese in that area ob tained some revenge by killing about 800 Japanese soldiers dur ing the three-month occupation, that their country and the Axis is doomed. Whether these stories were told from conviction or to seek favor it was impossible to tell. But Russian Brigade Commis sar Alexander Voroblv told me that the Rumanians had given the Red army valuable military Information. "Hitler kaput Antonescu ka put," has become a universal greeting phrase of these prison ers, who always try to start con versations with the Russians they meet. They proceed to tell tales of woe and misery. To pro claim the existence of open en mity between themselves and the Germans. Their first com plaint usually Is of mistreat ment by the Nazis. (Kaput, in rough translation, means through Hitler and An tonescu are through.) I talked to five Rumanian peasants from the Jassy district, in the Bessarabian area, who, like many others, surrendered when the Russians encircled them after the Germans seized all cars and fled, abandoning them to their fate. These peasant bitterly de nounced the Germans for their superior airs, for underfeeding them they said they were given the leavings from th German mess and for using them as can non fodder while Hitler de spoiled Rumania. Germans Fare Won They stood in a snow-carpet- ad street, without gloves, blue BULLETIN Washington. Dec 12 (U.R) The Office oi Price Adminis tration announced today that It will adopt a "new and tougher" policy next week to cover issuance of "B" and "C gasoline ration books In tha east. E New names have appeared In the list of prospective appointees to fill the shoes, pro tern, of Rep resentative-elect Frank J. Van Dyke of Ashland, unable due to army duties to attend the legis lative session, starting January 11. An appointment by the coun ty court is scheduled, within the week. - Newly mentioned possibilities were Ben Harder, former bank er, and Attorney J. F. Fllesel, both of Medford, and Arnold Bohnert, Central Point district farmer. Reports said Herder's name was mentioned by Med- lord businessmen. ' Previously mentioned candi dates were Charles A. Wing. R. I. Kyle and Ike Staples, Med ford, and Fred Holmes, Ralph Billings and William Briggs, Jr., Ashland. Billings Is understood not to want the berth. PUIflELMUNICH London, Dec. 22. (U.R) A powerful force of Great Brit ain's biggest bombers raided Munich, birthplace of the Nazi party, during the night and started large fires, the air min istry announced today. A "great weight" of bombs were dropped. Battling through a heavy screen of enemy night fighters and thick clouds, and over a furious bombardment of anti aircraft fire, the great British bombers penetrated 500 miles Into enemy-held Europe to blast the Bavarian capital where a shabby, frustrated Hitler 20 years ago nursed his hatred for mankind. Twelve British planes were lost, the air ministry announced an indication that perhaps up to 2S0 planes had engaged in the raid. . Washington, Dec. 22. (U.R) The Agriculture department an nounced today that it will pay a subsidy of 28 cents a hundred pounds for milk delivered In Chicago during December. Graveyard with cold, shivering In thin un- llned coats, ersatz leather shoes and cotton leggings. Three wore sheepskin caps. Two wore caps drawn down over their temples, I was to learn later that these representative Rumanians were better clad and better equipped for the winter than the Germans, Rumanians professed them selves bewildered to find them selves fighting Russians, with whom for a century they had been allied against the Turks, and In the last World War against the Germans. A divisional commander, a gen eral who admitted that he ad mired Antonescue, told me: "It wss a great mistake for us to enter the war against the Russians. They have always been our allies. We have no hatred for them. This may be our ruin. We came on orders from above." The general told of his sur render. He said that while he was discussing terms with a Ruslan negotiator who had brought him a Red army ulti matum, he received an order from the German high command ordering further resistance. But Russian tanks had already pene trated his rear and his officers and men were In panic and be ginning a wholesale abandon ment of their arms. "Incidentally," th general said shamefacedly, "I must apolo gize for the behavior of my or derly. He picked tha pocket of th Soviet negotiator and stole hi watch." JAP SUB BASE ON ISLAND OF KISKA Violent Explosions Noted Attackers All Return Solomons Bases Suffer, Washington. Dec. 22 (U. U. S. bombers have heavilv blasted the Japsnese submarine base on Kiska Island In tha Aleutians, setting off violent ex. plosions, and at the other end of the Pacific front have smash ed again at enemy bases and shipping In tha Solomons. The attack on Kiska. second In three days, was carried out Sunday. Apparently It was un usually severe. The American bomber were escorted by fight- er pianes, a navy communique said, and executed "a heavy, co ordinated attack." "Hits were scored and heavy explosions were observed in tha vicinity of the submarine base," the navy said. "Camp areas and Buildings were bombed and strafed. All U. S. plane re turned." On December 17, army con solidated B-24 heavy bomber had left several fire burning after blasting shore Installation on the enemy's northernmost outpost. Busy la Solomon In tha Solomons, army flying fortresses on Monday (island time), attacked two Japanese) cargo ships-oft the southern-end ' ot Bougainville island, north, west of Guadalcanal, and scored one direct hit and several near '' hits. One enemy ship was set tling by the stern when last seen. This attack brought Japanese ship casualties in the Solomon to 143 S3 rank, five probably sunk, and 85 damaged. Ameri can ship losses In that campaign stand at 28 sunk and an undis closed number damaged. On Sunday and Monday fly ing fortresses carried out tha 11th and 12th attacks sine De cember 9 on th enemy's new -air base at Munda on New Geor gia isiand, ISO miles northwest of Guadalcanal. BRITISH SOFTEN UP New Delhi, India, Dee. 22 (U.R) A British communique re ported today that Royal Air Force fighter planes again had attacked tha vital Japanese base of Akyab In western Burma, ap parently softening up enemy de fenses in preparation for an as sault by ground forces believed to have advanced to within less than 49 miles of the city. The RAF formation, the com. munique said, swept over tha city and neighboring area yester day at low level, blasting objec tives with cannon and machine guns. The British reported dam age specifically to the Important Akyab airdrome, gun position and a medium-sized steamer In Satyogya creek. Moscow, Dec. 22 (U.R) Red army forces on the central Don front stormed a big town today and swept on toward their ob jective of trapping tha bulk of the armies Adolf Hitler used In his 1942 summer campaign. , (Although the Soviet noon communique did not disclose, the name of the town, it might be Mlllerovo, an Important Junc tion on tha Voronezh-Rostov railway, only 120 miles from Rostov.) The Germans, knowing that If Col. Gen. N. K. Vatutin and his Red armies, reached Rostov, all their forces from high above Stalingrad to the Caucasus mountains would be trapped, counterattacked with desperate) violence southwest of Stalin grad. . -
