The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 27, 1940, Page 1

VOL. LV,, NO. 8347. HE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1940, MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS EW ACTIVITY IN EUROPEAN WARFARE AIR ROUTE CONTINUES Seatile to Juneau Service Questioning Enfers Second Day HAROLD BIXBY GIVES INFORMATION TO CAA Adequate Radio Facilities to Be Installed Prior to May 15 ASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—Harold Pan American Airways sident, testified today be- Civil Acronautics Authority American expected to have adequate radio facilities installed for { o Seattle and Juneau air mail 1ger service route by May Bixby stated that weather re- ports now broadcast are considered ample for the service but it is de- rable tc improve them Most of the morning session to- v was taken up by cross exam- i cn of Bixby by Samuel Cates, CAA counsel, in efforts to deter- if all provisions to safeguard g over the route have been hearing is one urging the te authorize Pan Anierican Air- to establish a service between scattle and Juneau. . HITLERTO TALK OUT TO WELLES Will Say Reich Demands Hegemony on Contin- ent, Other Things BERLIN, Feb. 27.—Informed Ger- man circles today expressed the be- lief that Fuehrer Adolf Hitler will tell Sumner Welles in no uncertain Ginger Plans to Divorce Ayres I(KES ASKS Separated for three years, Ginger Rogers, screen actress, and her husband, Lew Ayres, also a film star, soon may be parted in Reno. Miss Rogers has announced she will go to the Nevada city to establish a residence there. How- ard Hughes, the sportsman flyer and film producer, long has been linked with Miss Rogers, but friends have ridiculed the thought of romance between the two. Ayres, who was one of the more popular actors several years ago, is making a grand comeback on the screen. Miss Rogers planned to go to Reno when she has com: vleted work on a naw nictiw Ginger Rogers DENOUNCING OF "THIRD DEGREE" BY POLICE DUE IN HIGH COURT DECISION FLOODSHIT CALIFORNIA AFTERRAIN Trains Derailed - Homes Under Water-Dry Creek | Beds Raging Torrents | By PRESTON GROVER WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.—Many months will pass before the im- pact of the Supreme Court decision again denouncing the “third de- gree” is felt in the bull pen of the nation’s police stations, but in time it will get there like a re- freshing breeze. The Supreme Couri, speaking through Justice Black, told Flor- ida that four negroes could not be executed on the basis of forced confessions to a murder, A re- spected citizen of Pompano, Fla., was killed in 1933 and about two- score negroes were rounded up in double-quick time. Then the tem for Public Lands Near Water {INGTON, Feb. 27—Secre- tary of the Interior Harold L.Ickes has requested Congr to enact legisiation permitting e Or re- vokable permits for lands within 80 rods of avilable waters Ickes said the purpose of such a system would be to institute “a de- sirable land use policy based upon the present as well as the future needs of the Territory.” None of the shore lands other than those leased under the min- ing or mineral acts could be used until determination was made their use would not prejudice the needs of the Territory SEEK FUND FORSIGNAL CORPSNOW Appropriafio—n_ls Urged for First Line of Defense- Plans Announced WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. — The House Appropriations Committee has recommended to the House an appropriation of $197,992 for opera- tion of the Alaska Communications System for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The current appropriation s $200,000. United States Signal Corps offic- ials said the system “is the first line of defense if trouble comes up.” Signal Corps officials also advo- cated permitting private commercial stations be installed in Alaska say- ing the Army could not take care of all commercial business. The Signal Corps officials said they intend spending $5.000 for in- stalling new equipment at Anchor- age, $3,000 at Fairbanks and $8,000 at Nome. - — any RALLY TO BRITAIN’ S CALL—while one squad stands at attention men of the Roya) Indian army service corps and veterinary corps arrive at their camp in France. SILHOUETTE AGAINST FRENCH SKY—_These are 400-mm guns mounted on rails “somewhere in France” where they await war developments. Their range is about 24 miles. UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM COMES UP AT SESSI WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. — bers of the House of Representatives N held an informal conference last| night on the problem of unemploy- ment in the United States. All twenty-four members of the Liberal bloc who called the House members together have supported adequate Federal air to the unem- ployed. They denied, however, that they are trying to organize any kind of a House blec to influence any future money for relief. Banker, Who Turned Down (abinet Office and Studied Human Naiure, Passes Away PASADENA, Cal, Feb., 27. | George M Reynolds, 75, retired | Chicago banker and former Presi- i dent of the American Bankors As- | sociation, who once turned down |a Treasuryship in Taft's Adminis- | tration, died here in a sanatarium after a long illness. France, Rumania ARTILLERY THUNDERING WEST AREA g |Fresh Nazi Forces Are 11 Massing Along Froni Lines Now 'SCOUTERS FLY OVER BOTH PARIS, BERLIN German Bombers Are Shot Down Off Enalish Coast —Soviets Push On (By Associated Press) Massed scouting flighis and Berlin, German a the British and new German tr | tions near the Lu tier, stirred the long at a hint of spring w { Roar of Art | The sudden thunde shook the frontier vills Northern terminu. | front and duchy rep: fresh Nazi lin { Nazi Pianes O Paris had the first since last squadrons of G over the Fre out droppir Planes Britis} scouting planes penetrated Germany as far as Berlin and British air forces also flew h altic region. Two German hombers down off the English const, ver Paris Over Berlin ove Terman- nowun n Attacks L wve now laun ed attack. island, southwestern part of the bay and seaults are also directed against Vil : e s according to the Finnish communique. SOVIET REPORT MOSCOW, Feb. 27. — The Soviet military report claims constant Rus- sian advances on the Karelain Isth- mus. ‘The communirue claims the cap- ture of 26 Finnnsh forts and the shooting down of 19 Finn planes. The Red commanders also claim on othe he On the theory that business—in this instance it was banking—and politics do not mix, Reynolds de- that a Finn counter attack had been driven back with heavy losses in men and materials. terms that the Reich demands hege- dute. For the next thirty days the - third-degree heat was applied SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27. | steadily for five days. Three of mony on the European continent and also the return to the Reich of her World War lost colonies It is generally beieved Hitler will propose no peace plan. Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State of the United States, is due here today or tomorrow from Rome where he had a conference with Count Ciano. Welles is visiting all European capital cities, conferring with the Government leaders re- garding conditions and he will re- port direct to President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull. - — Roosevelt Returning From Trip President Completes First Hand Tour of Canal Fortifications BALBOA, Feb. 27.—The cruiser Tuscaloosa has carried President Roosevelt through the Panama canal and today has orders to proceed immediately to an undis- closed port in the United States proper. The President has completed a first hand tour of all canal forti- fications. The Chief Executive held numerous conferences abog” [ the ship. { e e——— TO POLARIS MINE Harold Vingren, who had been Rescue boats saved dozens of fam-| ilies as muddy flood waters crem; over the lowlands in widely scat-| tered sections of northern CAli-| fornia today after three days of drenching rains changed normally dry creek beds into torrents. | Highways are blocked, and rail-| road service to the crippled town| of Pescadero is cut, hitting hard| the 700 population, now fully half) under water, Flood waters are standing six feet deep in many quarters of the| town. Fifteen families have been 1e- |cued and many families are flood- led out in sections of Oakland after| two inches of rain in 12 hours. | In the Redding district, four and | a half inches of rain fell in the ' past 24 hours. | | Train traffic to the north was| | halted when five freight cars were| derailed by a slide at Pollock. | e ST IMPROVEMENT OF ALASKA WATERWAY 1S NOW PROPOSED Plans Being Made for Ex- | tentive New Work on . Wrangell Narrows | WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. — The | Wrangell Narrows work now being |drafted in one of three omnibus | bills by the Senate Commerce Com- | mittee includes a channel 24 feet deep and 300 feet wide; also im- | provement of an alignment chan- [nel where it is now inadequate and construction of an anchorage near Mile 14. recelying medical care for a foot| Army Enginee's say the anchor- injury was dismissed today from age is necessary for safety of ves- St. Ann’s Hospital and was to leave sels because of fogs. by plane for the Polaris-Taku mine. The project is estimated to cosl them “broke” on the sixth day. EASY “CONFESSIONS” Many policemen will defend third- degree methods to the last breath on the ground that it saves a heap of time to get convictions hat way. Probably every cub reporter ever assigned to a police beat has een the process or watched its results. There will be a series of petty thefts and house-breakings around the town. The papers and the public will begin to howl at police inefficiency. Then some luck- less devil will be captured around the railroad yard. The police will “question” him. Before another 24 hours have passed his “confession” will establish a new high in ef- ficient banditry. With a dozen unsolved thefts to account for, the police often enough saddle the ‘whole category upon the boob, and glowingly assure the citizens that one more menace to public safety has been cleared up by Chief of Police Wiley Beckstoop. STATION-HOUSE TACTICS Not all the third-degree prac- tices are confined to the souti, among the negro population. We had our book filled out west where a man's a man, and a bum’s bum with the police after him. We've been away a few years from police courts as a regular beat and some of our friends tell{ us that things have changed. Thati is nice to hear, and at this puimi it ought to be explained that your policeman out on the corner guid- ing traffic and old ladies across the street cuts mighty little pie in this third degree business. That| falls to the station-house boys| who have to make good for the| chief, BLACK PROVES FAIR It might be added that the Su- (Conunuca on Page Six) ]57 minutes. No bombs 11 DEAD, (RASH OF AIRLINER . | Accident Occurs During Fog in Colombia-Am- erican Victim S BUCARAMANGA, Colombia, Feb. 27.—Nine passengers and crew of two were killed today when an air- liner crashed on the highway near here while attempting a forced land- ing in a fog. Victims included Richard Lecu- ona, American accountant, his wife and small daughter. - FLYING SPARKS Last night’s fire alarm took fire- men up Star Hill to Kennedy Street where sparks had ignited foundation boards between two houses. Little damage was done and firemen returned home a few minutes after the call. Two Kiddies Lose Livesin (abinBlaze PORTLAND, Ore, Feb. 27—Two small children were burned to death and their father aad two other chil- dren were injured when a gasoline explosion set fire to a tourist camp cabin, The victims were Donald and Bobbie Belk, eight and four years old. | Their father, James Belk, was burned so badly rescuing the other two children that physicians said he might not survive. T . TREASURER OLSON ILL IN FAIRBANKS Oscar G. Olson, Territorial Treas- urer, had been confined to his hotel room in Fairbanks with a minor ilness for several days, according to last Friday's Fairbanks Ne Miner. He was improving and expected to be up and around last Friday night or Saturday. Air Raid Alarm, First Since November, Sounded at Paris PARIS, Feb. 7.—Parisians ‘had their first air raid alarm today, the first since last November and they huddled in bomb shelters for were! dropped. Earlier two German planes were driven off while the boulevard i crowds watched. There was no alarm at that time. PARISIANS INJURED PARIS, Feb. 27—Six Parisians were injured last night by an anti- aircraft shell fired at German planes detected ‘scouting the city envir- ons. ~ InPact |clined high political honors that | would have placed his name prom- !inently before the country alnost | daily for four years in order that |he might continue in the branch | of business in which he had been leminently successful. Mr, Rey- ?nold.«. had made a national repu- BUCHAREST, Feb, 21. — Secret tation as a banker and when Wil- .ments whereby France will liam Howard Taft, as President, supply Rumania with a large quan- | Was forming cabinet, he in- tity of war planes and machine Vited the Chi banker to fill guns and other armaments are re- the portfolio of Secretary of the ported unofficially. | Treasury. Mr. Reynolds, however, The Rumanian Finance Commis- declined. He was again promineni- sioner has returned here from Paris 1y mentioned for that place in and the report of the new agree- the cabinet of the late President ments became circulated. ‘Hnrdmg It is also learned that Great Bri-| tain has already flown sixty pursuit | planes and bombers to Rumania. |to say, consisted of betting on your B 7 TS | judgment of human nature. It Liitle Nation fo Be Sup- plied with Planes, War Armament agr s Science of Banking The science of banking, he used as f at least, fact that Mr. his case was ing financial istance than on |the facts and ures relating to | their in y |right, in BERLIN, Feb. 27.—The German National Bi and the Continen- official news agency DNB announc- ' tal and C 1 st and Sav- es that a British plane was shot ings Bank, ing financial down this afternoon when making institution: ago. shown by the | nolds advanced from an obscure a scouting flight over Helgoland, work, rather Bight. | the opportunity B o I i h | was on this principle that he con- clerkship in the Guth:ie County National Bank, Panora, Iowa, to i N e sented to him, s young man Maj. Gen. Graves passes Away TOda the Guthrie Cou National Bank, but after seven years he changed ducted his business, relying more on his own judgment of those seek- | become at 55 the retired head of |the Continental and Commercial C than a college course for which waspre- appealed to the he had acquired a public sck cation at Panora where he SHREIWSBURY. New Jersey, Feb.! gover to real estate and was en- 27.—Major General William Sidney gaged in that business for two 1 January 15, 1865. At 15 he me a clerk in of ) was Graves, 74, Commander of the AEF y, in Siberia after the World War, died at his home here today. That the theory was| Rey- | TWO BRITIS NAVY SHIPS - DRY DOCKED Churchill é}\gs Informa- tion of Damage fo Battle Craft LONDON, Feb. 27.—Two of the largest-British battleships. the 31.000 fon Barham and 34,000 ton Flazship Nelson are under repair in British |Naval Yards. | Winston Churchill made this dis- closure in the House of Commons today. Churchill said the Barham was hit by a torpedo last September and the Nelson was damaged by a mag- petic mine in December. Both bat- | tleships will soon be ready to re- foin the British fleet. Churchill also told the House of Commons that e new battleships will join the flecet soon and he pre- dicted intensification on German patrols will break the stranglehold on Brftish shipping. Churchill also announced that the Navy has not used Scapa Flow ince the battleship Royal Oak.was sunk by a submarine on October 13. e TO NOME ARFA Morton Sullivan, son of Joe Sul- livan, prominent mining man, flew north with PAA today after arriving on the Alaska. Sullivan will go to family mining operations on Seward ula,