Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 1943)
MEDFOleliifcsTRIBUWE Weather roracuti Krtly cloudy to night and Thursday. Llttla enanffl In temperature. Temp. Rtghett yesterday Lowest ttlll morninr . H mtlpltauoo pest S4 hra. - Use The KAIL TRIBUNE Want Ad Way Quick - Results . At Si 01 Coat , Untied Praai fail Loosed Win United Preae full Leased Wit Thirty-eighth Year MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 194? NO. 237 m 3E HOLDOUT GROUPS JOIN OMR. IN RESCINDING CALL Announcement By Stimson Comes Only 18 Hours Be fore Deadline Thursday. Washington, Dec 29 (U.B The threat of a crippling war time strike of railroad employes ended today when the three holdout unions assured the war department that they "will take no action that will imperil the successful prosecution of the war and that they will immedi ately cancel the strike order." r The unions' promise was an-Inounced-in that language by ' V Secretary of War Henry L. Stim- ' son after their presidents had spent 50 minutes in conference with Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somer vell, federal operator of the railroads. Refuse to Follow The unions firemen and en- - glnemen, switchmen, and con ductors had precipitated feder al seizure of the railroads on Monday by refusing to follow the suit of 17 other rail unions In accepting presidential arbi tration of their wage dispute. With only 18 hours remaining before the deadline at 6 a. m. tomorrow, the three unions re scinded their strike call as the army prepared to keep the rail roads going with soldiers If .necessary v , ,, . , V, T Control Continues " The question immediately arose as to how long the govern ment will retain control of the carriers. It was assumed that federal operation, technically peaking, would continue until the wage dispute is finally set tled. ' President Roosevelt said at his news conference yesterday that federal - operation would last only until the emergency- was aver. He added that he wanted to restore the roads to private management as soon as it be came certain there would be no trtko Inasmuch as he already has embarked upon arbitration oi the wage issue, however, it was believed he might wish to settle It finally before relinquishing federal control. SPECIATSESSION ' Salem, Ore, Dec. 29 (U.B VAMlKllltv f m crwtal session Of 4hs Orpcnn State Legislature faded today following a state- Man nt Rnv Karl Knell tn a ViiHrnimah Mimtr Hf1pCfntion nylng such a session would not answer Oregon s post-war proo- Although the governor com- menaea me aeiegauon tor us in terest in Oregon's post-war era h. wine than 1 0 HOf! servicemen are expected to be seeking work, he told them that the proposed ' special session would probably not result in a satisfactory adjustment of state tax problems. U. S. Marines Land Again on New Britain A m "7 C110WX UJNG M C NFWRtllhlEA-.. .Ket If British Sink Three Nazi Destroyers; Yanks Bomb Airdromes ' Near Rome CITY IS SPARED MBURBS Assault Coincides With At tacks On Northern Italy And German Raids. London, Dec. 29 (U.PJ Strong forces of American medium bombers blasted German airfields in the northern and southern suburbs of Rome yesterday, an Algiers communique announced today, and a German broadcast reported a heavy death toll and considerable damage. '. The basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St. Paul Outside the Walls), one of the five patriarch al churches, in the southern out skirts of Rome, was hit and dam aged seriously, the German DNB agency claimed. Rail Yards Hit The assault on the Roman air fields coincided with attacks by Mediterranean based heavy bombers on strategic railway yards in northern Italy and a re sumption of raids by British- based bombers on Germany after four-night Christmas lull. -Two waves of Mitchells with an escort of Invaders heavily bombed two landing grounds at Clampino, 12 miles south of Rome, setting tire to hangars and damaging six grounded aircraft, an Algiers dispatch said. Marauders dropped fragmenta tion bombs on Guidonia airfield, IS miles northwest of Rome, and Centocelli airfield, three miles south of Rome. LI IS MADRID CLAIM Madrid, Dec. 29 (U.B A non-Spanish diplomatic source raid today that Benito Mussolini died in a clinic in Germany 10 days ago as result of "old stom ach ulcers and mental derange ment." (The report was received with caution in London. Mussolini has been reported dead on several crevious occasions.) Following . Italy's surrender. Mussolini was rescued by the Germans and put at the helm of the Nazi-sponsored "Fascist Re publican government" of Ger man-occupied Italy. He had not been active, how ever, presumably because of a prolonged illness. Ace of Luftwaffe Killed in Action London, Dec. 29. (U.B Cspt. Wilhelm Lamke, 23-year-old luft- I waffe fighter ace. who has been credited with the destruction of 12S allied planes, has been killed in action against Great Britain, according to a Radio Oslo broad cast recorded in London today. Bismarck Sea ujeeap1 WvrrlP NEW W$F W. "TT BRITAIN ra'&iJ' mm pm .w J sr. TOUKMBY Hum Gulf Vatutih's Army Takes Korosten, Rail Center London, Dec. 2. (U.B Gen. Ukraine captured the five-way rail junction of Korosten on the Leningrad-Odessa trunk line and more than 250 other towns and villages today, while to the southeast the Russians launched a new offensive in the Dnieper bend. The Moscow communique announcing the capture of Korosten indicated the German defenses of the whole northwest Ukraine were falling apart and the .Russians were sweeping triumphantly westward toward the pre-war Polish frontier some SO miles away. The new Soviet drive in the the suburbs of Zaporozhe on the places, including the island of Khortitn, the communique reported. Far to the north, the Baltic front army of Gen. Ivan C. Bagra- mian smashed at the gates of semi Russia Nazi bastion, capturing Losvida, eight mUes to the north west, and a number of other strong SEA, AIR UNITS IN London, Dec' 29 (U.B Gen. D wight D. Eisenhower's Allied invasion command neared com pletion today with the an nouncement that two Britons r Admiral - Sir Bertram Ramsay and Air Chief Marshal Sir Traf ford Lelgh-Mallory had been appointed naval and air commanders-in-chief respectively. Another in the alternate series of announcements in London and Washington revealed that Eisenhower'! deputies for the naval and air phases of the European invasion would be British veterans renowned tn their fields and tempered by long experience. . Ramsay experience Ramsay, an amphibious ex pert since early in this century, supervised Allied landings in Sicily and the Salerno beaches of Italy, and took a prominent role in the plan of the enure Mediterranean operation. Lelgh-Mallory has shouldered a large share of the responsi bility for the organization of Britain's fighter offensive for the past two years, and is an expert in the synchronization of fighting services. He laid out the aerial operations Incident to the Dieppe attack. . Balanced against the delega tion of the two key posts to Britain were Eisenhower's ap pointment as supreme com mander and the assignment of high aerial posts to 'Lt Gen. Carl A. Spaatz and MaJ. Gen. James H. Doolittle. F.D.R. HAS HEAD COLD; ORDERED TO STAY IN Washington, Dec. 29 0J.B The White House announced to day that President Roosevelt is suffering from a head cold and will remain in his residential quarters today. His physician. Rear Admiral Ross T. Mclntire, said the presi dent has no fever, hut he thought it best for him to stay away from his offices today. Marinas km laaaea- agaai aa toth skies at Cava Oi acntr, Kfw Britain, ana aa Lang Island, enly as saiiaa frees aif .(aaaaaar ease at Maaaaf, New Oiiteaa. New kea-hbeada paaa aaM IkmU te BfiBial, sraaay menaces by 0n earlier, taatjon Nikolai Vatutln's army of the nose of the Dnieper bend overran west bank and a number of other - enveloped Vitebsk, upper White points. 1 JAP INTERNMENT ; IS Washington, Dec. 29 (U.B An investigation by Spanish diplomatic officials of - condi tions in camps where disloyal Japanese' have been 'Interned, such as Tula Lake,' Calif; has revealed "very satisfactory" situation and a report along this line will' be made to Tokyo, a responsible diplomatic source said today. The. investigation was under taken at the request, of the Japanese government ' - Kay - leeed Exchange The satisfactory report, it It hoped, ; will . expedite negotia tions for a future exchange of Japanese nationals in this coun try for Americans held In the far east i Japan halted negotiations for the third exchange, in which the Swedish liner Gripsholm is expected to be used again, until Spanish authorities had made an investigation. The action was inspired by disorders at Tula Lake and widespread criticism of the handling of the Japanese. The report will be made di rectly to Tokyo and will not be given United States officials, it was said. . ' ONE MAJOR STRIKE LEFT IN COUNTRY Br United Praia - With the railroad strike threat removed, only one major labor controversy remained today to plague the war effort That was a strike by 79 office and com missary workers at Birmingham which threatened the pas supply of 18 Alabama war industries, About 3.200 employees of the Sloss-Shef field Steel and Iron company were forced into id'e ness by the strike of members of district SO of the United Mine Workers in an attempt to force the War-Lsbor -Board to make new work refutations retroactive to Oct. 20, 1942. Because of the strike, the company banked four blast furnaces and shut down coke ovens supplying gas to Birmingham homes and factories. TARZAN'S THIRD MATE FILES DIVORCE PLEA Hollywood, Dec. 29 U.B Tarzan's third mate sought a divorce from Johnny Welimuller today on grounds of extreme cruelty. - Mrr. Weismuller, the former Beryl Stott, also sought a share of the 1200,000 she claims the former swimming champion earned during their marriage by swinging from tree tops on movie sets. They were married at Oar- field, N. J., Aug. 20, 1939, and sepnrated "for the final time" it Oct 20, Mr. Weismuller SHIPS AND PLANES COOPERATE TO NIP PERIL T0C0NV0YS Axis Blockade Runner Also Destroyed In Bay Of Bis cay Action, British Word. London. Dae. 29 (U.R) A British task force, guided by U. S. navy scout planes, sank three Carman destroyers and a blockade runner in the Bay of Biscay early this weak. In a two-day air-sea battle. London, Dec. 29 tt).B Brit ish warships and planes, in a smashing follow-up to the de struction of the scharnborst, have sunk three German destroy ers and a homeward-bound Axis jblockade runner in the Bay of Biscay, a communique announced today. "Some other" destroyers were damaged, the Joint announce ment of tne admiralty and the air ministry said, thus nipping what may have been a Herman attempt to resume surface raids on Allied convoys pouring men and arms across the Atlantic for the coming invasion, of, wester Europe. . Desperate Gamble The sudden reappearance of German destroyers in the Bay of Biscay, coupled with th emerg ence of the Scharnborst from its Norwegian hideout last week end, was Interpreted by so sources as evidence that the Nasi command had decided to risk its shrinking fleet In a des perate attempt to throw the in vasion off schedule. ' The task previously had been entrusted to submarines and planes, but their apparently to tal defeat left only German sur face warships to deal with Al lied convoys. From French Ports The destroyers nresumablv came rrom ports on the French west coast which rims the bay. ine two-sentence communique gave no date for the sinkings. out indicated they constituted two operations. British casual ties, if any, also were not given. INVASION NEEDS Washington, Dec. 29, U.B Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., said today that the anticipated "all-out attack against the enemy will be "the greatest attack in history" and re quire tremendous quantities of lighting equipment This equipment Is "the kind that war bond money buys," he said' in a radio address in con nection with the fourth war loan drive for $14,000,000,000 In Jan uary. His broadcast was addressed primarily to owners, managers and employes of the nation's re tail stores who, Morgenthau said, -are among the treasury's best salesmen in our war bond cam paigns." Ted R. Gamble, national di rector of the treasury's war fi nance division, speaking on the same program, said that drive plans call for sale of $5,300,000. 000 worth of bonds to lndivid- Wake Commander Write Hit Son Burllngame, Cel., Dee. 29 (U.B-Lt CoL James -Patrick Devereux, commander of the heroic marine garr jon on Wake Island, has written his 10-year-old son from a Japanese war prisoners' camp in Shanghai as suring him that "everything is going quite well here." The letter was dated June 22. Devereux still signed the rank major, indicating he was un-1 aware of his promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Steel Plant Idle During ir . ,;T" 4T i s ..... a al miii'i i..aJi,hMa,n7Hi,wi:n,iiJ vi,.)i,i f'fi.i)YUiaiiMrSnt ,i,iTii,fli,Y,ri'T,.r-iBa, ' (4cm Itltphoio) Republic Steel open hearth plant at Cleveland remains smokeless FDR plea to return to work, pending arbitration. . Japs Plan Mighty Of fensive In 1944, Spokesman Reveals San Francisco, Dec. 29 (U.R) Japan will open a "mighty of fensive" against Anglo-American military power In the Pacific and Asiatic theaters of war during 1944, Sadao Iguchl, spokes man for the Japanese Board of Information,' ibid' His' nation In a broadcast reported today by Tokyo radio, , TANKS, RIFLEMEN GLOUCESTER MPS By United Press Marine tanks and riflemen converged on the Cape Glouces ter airdromes in northwestern New Britain today as veteran Australian Jungle fighters, burst ing suddenly out of the Ramu river- valley in New Guinea, massed for an assault on the im portant Japanese coastal base of Medang. . An allied communique r vealed that marine forces fan ning out from their twin beach heads in the Cape Gloucester area had driven through the Jun gles to within IV miles of the strategically-important air dromes. . Arawe Drive Resumed Fifty miles across the tip of the mountainous island. U. S. 6th army troops beat off enemy counterattacks and resumed their drive inland from the Arawe peninsula, after having been forced back momentarily from some of their advanced po sitions. Fierce fighting flared in the New Guinea Jungles where an Australian column that had been slogging slowly northward through the Ramu valley for the past two months, stormed and captured the B, 800-foot "snaggy ridge" overlooking Madang and its supporting outpost of Bogad Jim. ' Anon Suspected . . In Frisco Blaze San Francisco, Dec. 29 (U.B Fire Marshal Frank Kelly said today an arsonist probably start ed a fire which killed three per sons and Injured five others, all guests at the El Rosa hotel on Turk street, last night Ha said the three-alarm blaze spread too quickly to have been accidental.' The dead were: Evelyn Bray, 18; James Jones, 32, employe of the State Belt Line railroad, and George Hackett operator of a parking lot MO PAPER JAN. I . . In order to conserve paper under the government's ra tioning program, the Mail Tribune will not publish on Bunds?, Jan. I. "The third year of the war," Iouchl said, "will see Japan com bining the victorious achieve ments of the past two years for the launching of an all-out of fensive to drive the last vestige of the ' American-Anglo Influ ence from East. Asia." . Tokyo . radio's summary of Iguchi's speech was recorded by United Press.' ' Allied aalas Blight Iguchi said the allies, despite "huge sacrifices" extending over a period of a year and a half, "have only been able to retake but one hundredth of the terri tories Japan took In halt a year." . . "In spite of the Anglo Amer ican nations' boasting that 1943 was the year they would un dertake the counter offensive against the Axis nations, they have shown no notable gains. "In the first year of the war, Japan swept like an avalanche over - enemy territory in east Asia, and In the second year she has achieved unparalleled political and economic victories. "Starting with the independ ence of Burma, she has con structed a greater east Asia in sphere of mutual prosperity and cooperation. She has con structed in the political, eco nomic . and cultural sense an Invincible sphere." T E London, Dec. 29 (U.B Prime Minister Winston Churchill Is "now able to transact business fully" and la leaving the place In the middle east where he war stricken with pneumonia for an undisclosed destination, It was announced today. "I have not at any time re linquished my part In the direc tion of affairs, and there has not been the slightest delay in giv ing decisions which were re quired of me," Churchill said In a message published at No. 10 Downing street, his official resi dence. He himself gave the assurance that he now was able to handle all of his duties. "I. feel a good deal better than at any time since leaving Eng land, though of course a few weeks of sunshine is needed to restore my physical strength," his message said. , . . . JAQOERS DIVORCED Hollywood, Dec. 29 (U.B Staae and Screen ctor Dean Jaieer was awarded a divorce today from Antoinette Jaggeri after he complained of her "ro-j mantle interest in another man." I Walkout as iteelwerkon fall to heee) T PROGRAM HALTED AS NEED DECLINES Vsnport City,' bre,, Dec, 29-i Aim i ,t . . . . u.nj um inamuon mat rurF land's war boom had passed Its peak was confirmed today In the federal housing authority an nouncement that the 19,000 unit construction program of. East Vanport City had been stopped' on orders rrom naanuigwn. Since the peak of war employ ment was estimated to have passed In the final quarter of 1943 and since, mora than 1,000 housing units are available tn the Portland area, It was question able whether th East Vanport homes would be completed. - Following a conference hero sometime in January between Rear Admiral Howard L. Vlck ery of the maritime commission and officials of the national hous ing authority will announce a decision on the East Vanport area. U a reduction In Portland war Industries results from the pro posed January conference and from the six-day work week in the Portland area shipyards, it was believed certain that work on the housing pro)ecttwould not be completed. Ground for the 848 unit cap able of housing more than 5,000 workers was broken last Oct. 18 and was scheduled to be com pleted next Jan. 15. At the pres ent time, halt ot tne nomes nave been roofed. Paul Smith Waite . Front Assignment Admiral Halsey'i Headquar ters, South Pacific, Wednesday, Dec. 29. (U.B Marine 2nd Lt Paul C. Smith, edltor-on-lcave of the San Francisco Chronicle, la at this base awaiting assignment. probably to a forward area, the navy revealed today. Smith resigned a commission as a navy lieutenant commander in the Washington Press rela tions office to enlist as a private lit the marines. He later won hit commission at officers' training acnooi. SIDE GLANCES By TRIBUNE REPORTERS . W-WI-ll..,l-H - M MMlS Frank Pur) feeling a bit weary and contemplating the Idea of writing up his own obituary in advance. Lucille Lenox deciding, after 10 loaded busses had left Rose burg without her,- to travel by train. Gene Thomdlke sighing over the business ot a bank with too much money. . . Lt Gordon MacCracken de- scribing the accuracy and rang of American artillery without giving sway aojr military tecrtti..
