The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, April 26, 1941, Page 1

VOL. LVIL, NO. 8709, 4 L4 (4 TRANSPORTS OF BRITISH DESTROYED ¢ German News Agency De- clares Serious Blow Is Struck, Greek Waters BERLIN, April 26—Two hundred and thirty-two thousand tons of British transports and shipping have been sunk during the last ten days and 52 transports and ships have been so seriously damaged they are no longer fit for service. This is the statement made today by the DNB, German news agency. The DNB says the tonnage de- stroyed or made unfit for use is about 700,000 tons. The loss, the news agency de- clares, is a serious blow to Great Britain’s efforts to remove forces from Greece. Mrs. Oscar Olson To Visit-Mother. Leaving tomorrow on the Princ- ess Louise, Mrs. Oscar G. Olson will spend the next tive weeks vis- iting in the States with her mother, Mrs. Clara Cohn. y Mrs. Cohn’s 5tk birthday will be celebrated at her home in Nampa, Idaho, on May 9, and Mrs, Olson will be present for the occasion. —.r—— HERE FROM WRANGELL Arriving on the Yukon from Wran- : gell, E. L, Ketthon is registered at the Baranof Hotel. CThe } f | - Go, | WASHINGTON.—It is no exag- geration to say that behind theI scenes in the Cabinet, also inside the National Defense Commluloni and among the big industrialists ) now advising the Government, the war picture appears gloomier than ! ever. This gloom not only clings to, the -British situation, but also to| the American. Ever since the-fall of Salonika, it has sunk home that British and the American defemses have an amazing similarity. This may not be appar- ent on the surface, but here is how it looks to military experts now ex- amining every detail of British moves and reverses. In the first place, Great Britain,! a peaceful nation, started very late to bolster her national défense. The United States started even later. For years Britain sincerely support- ed the efforts of Stimson, Hughes and Coolidge to limit both armies and navies. Second, st when the British arms program did get started, it tried toj keep within the limits of the exist- ing system—fair wages: for labor, fair dividends for capital, even the usual commissions for middlemen (as the United States is trying to do today). But Britain found itself pitted against a nation which had scrapped profits, property, hours and real wages, o» BRITISH PEDGES Third—and this is the real crux of the situation — the British found themselves with important interna- tional commitments but no weapons “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 1941. ® - - GERMAN FORCES M IDLE SHIPS | CLEANING UP AHER AIRRAIDON LONDON CAN'T WED FOR 2 YEARS | 1 . | ‘ \ | P «ed » | | Attractive Katherine Maurer, San Francisco Red Cross stenographer, | smiles after she was notified she had been appointed to a post for the Red Cross at Fort Richardson, Anchorage, Alaska, after making an “informal pledge” she wouldn’t get married for two years. Red Cross officials said there are comparatively few young women in Alaska and these do not long remain single. _s. Lo e ATTACK ON TOBRUK IS REPULSED - British Beat Off All-Day Assauli-Take Over 100 Prisoners LONDON, April 26.—The garrison at Tobruk beat off a day long at-| tack on Axis forces yesterday and | took 130 prisoners without a single | casualty, the British Ministry of In-| formation announced today. MOTOR SCOOTERS NOT ALLOWED IN STREETS Police Chief Dan Ralston O,oday announced that motor scooters will ‘| be prohibited in Juneau' streets east| of Main Street, with the exception| of Willoughby Avenue, Shattuck Way and Marine Way and on; South Franklin. The regulation is effective today. v O ’ William Dee Becker Judge of the St. Louis cuurt of appeals, William Dee Becker, Re- publican, above, is the new mayor d St. Louis. Becker replaces Ber- ward F. Dickman, who has served two terms. ——.eo— TWO HALIBUTERS SELL Sixteen thousand pounds of hali- but were sold in Juneau today at | Service gave an account of the; | schmitt!” The leader spoke back| ARRESTED NAZIS 30 MILES L4 ARETO BE - TAKEN OVER Twenly American Repub- lics to Put 160 Foreign Vessels Info Use WASHINGTON, April 26.—Repre- | | sentatives of 21 American Republics | | have ; more than 160 foreign ships idle in | recommended taking over their ports and use them to “pro- mote peace and security on the | western continents.’ | The recommendation is made by | the Inter-American Financial Econ- | omic Advisory Committee and Chair~ | man Sumner Welles announces that Foreign Minister Guina of Umguny American governments. Welles said just compensnuun should be made to the nations Irom which the ships are taken. ‘The House Merchant Marine Com- mittee yesterday approved legisia- | tion authorizing - the President to | Shof Down by Young Pilof originated the proposal which will | | now be transmitted to the various | take such action and put the idie[ 'shlps to any use necessary. German Ace THE DAILY ALASKA KMPIRK MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS ¥ (4 4 A Nazi Airmamedited with | 56 Planes, Downed by | Whooping Brifisher LONDON, April 26— Germany's air ace, Major Helmuth Wick, who was feported shot down over the| Isle of Wight November 28, was said today to have been downed by British Flight Lientenant John | Charles Dundas, 28, who himself was killed a few minutes afterward. The British Air Ministry News i aerial combat. . Wick, commander | of the Richtofen squadron and credlbed with 56 victories, was in| a cluh with young Dundas. British squadron leader henrd Dundas shout over the radio, “Whoopie, I've got a Messer- but Dundas did not reply. A npped‘ parachute was then seen dropping to the ground. FOR PART INHOLDUP Paroled Convidt Taken in| Custody in Seattle for Tacoma Crime TACOMA, April 26.—Roger Gogg, | parcled convict, was arrested in Se- ame last night for complicity in \ the $7,000-holdup of two County Wel- |50 larger personnel, |fare workers here on April 4, He| | was arrested on a tip given the po- lice. Gogg admitted he has been con- victed half a dozen timse for burg- by 223 commissioned officers, 4,500 Members of the Pioncer Corps clear debris from in front of St. Paul's Cathedral (background). Workers dynamited buildings which were so uverely damaged by an Axis raid that they were unsafe, The hmmu cathedral msped seriouu d.lmuz FROM ATHENS VING ONTO TURKEY e ———————————— m— COAST GUARD PREPARED TO JOIN NAVY IN CASE OF WAR; READY T0 FIGHT les with France in 1798, but in the next two years, serving with the| newly-organized Navy, the Coast Guard accounted for 18 of the 22 prizes captured by American naval forces. The cutter Pickering, all by herself, captured 10, one of them a ship of 44 guns and 200 men— about three times her own size. The Coast Guard was in the thick of it again in the War of 1812 and in succeeding years con- tributed as much as anything else to chasing the pirates out of the Caribbean and Spanish Maia. It fought with the Union in the Civil War and was with Admiral Sampson at Havana and Admiral Dewey at Manila in the war witn Spain. 8ix Coast Guard cutters oper- ated from Gibraltar during the World War, convoying both in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. warrant officers and enlished men| Others ' operated in the Atlantic| and 47 vessels. from the Azores to Newfound:| If we should get into war w-llmd doing both convoy and re- morrow, the Navy would get a|connaissance work. . not tol mention 10 times as many cut- ters, thousands of small craft and| Under the national defense pro- about 60 airplanes. | gram, funds (although minute com- What the Coast Guard would pared to naval outlays) have been (This is the second of two articles on the Coast Guard of the United States.) By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTIN, April 26 — In time of peace, the Coast Guard is a part of the Treasury Department. Secretary Morgenthau is, at pres- ent, its boss man. Its commanding officer (now Rear Admiral Russell R. Waesche) is appointed by the| President. In time of war, the Coast Guard goes over lock, stock and hawser to the Navy. It happened the las'. time on April 8, 1917. A code dispatch weat out that morning by wireless and telegraph to every one of the Coast | Guard boats and stations. In the length of time that it took to be| received the Navy was augmented FUNDS FOR EXPANSION WESTER RETURNS Wilbur Wester, manager of the | prices of 7.55 and 6.06 cents per pound, as the Addington, skipper, Gastinesu Hotel, returned to Ju-|Olaf Westby, sold 11,000 pounds o to carry them out. In the Balkan crisis they pledged themselves to aid Yugoslavia if at- tacked; also Turkey; also Greece. Simultaneously they had two froiits (Continued on Pl.tvM) neau from Anchorage by PAA plane yesterday after flying from Anchor- | #ge o Pairbanks, where he had breakfast, and then to Juneau. Wester has been in Anchorage for «iseveral weeks on a business trip. o Sebastian Stuart, and the 31B3 sold 5,000 pounds to Alaska Coast| Fisherles. el e | A kite 36 feet tall has been l flown, is, lormuly of Juneau and now of Douglas. lary and robbery., ——————————— MARRIAGE LICENSE A marriage license was issued to- day by U, 8, Commissioner Felix Gray to L. W. Kilburn, former May- or of Douglas, and' Nell Esther Lew- do as a part of the Navy in any future war would be pure specu-| approved to give the Coast Guard | additional personnel, heavier guns lation, but what it has done in the and armor-plate, and anti-gircraft past is the kind of history over whichunone of the boys have to hang their heads. . GOT BUSY EABLY The Coast Guard was only seven years old when we ran into troub- | guns. Also, fin the lnl. two years, |the Coast Guard has®idunched n| backlog program. It s the' volun- | ‘tary, non-mlmury Coast Guard Re-| (Continued on Plpe Eight) OBJECTTO TAXES AS PROPOSED “Excise levy.o_n Coffee and! Sugar Meets with Lit- fle Enthusiasm WASHINGTON, April 26.— Pro- posals to place an excise tax on cof- fey sugar and other foodstuffs, as proposed yesterday by tax experts in an effort to assist in r: three and one-half billion dollars in new revenue, met with little enthusiasm in Congress but legislators said the grave International situation might outweigh the political situation, Tax experts on the staff of the joint Congressional Committee on taxation suggested a levy of five cents a pound on coffee and cocos and one cent a pound on SUgAT as part of the long list of excises de- slxnod especially to raise $661,000,000 |of the proposed huge tax revenue. Hearings will start. Monday. " |erations on _shipping, 4 BATTLEOF GREECE IS NEANND Mechanized Troops Slorm Through Thebes on Quick Action South *SURPRISE” DETOUR IS SPRUNG ON WEST COAST Two |mporm Island Ex- pected fo Be Occupied Off Turkey Mainland (By Associated Press) The Battle of Greece appears en- tering the final stages as the Ger- man mechanized troops stormed through Thebes, legendary birth- place of Hercules and Bacchus, and pressed on toward Athens, only 30 miles away. Another column advancing down the west coast is reportéd to have reached Mesolongion, in a German “gurprise” detour, down to the Isiand, of Evvola, then crossing to the mainland where it is reported the remaining British and New .Zea- lander rear guard forces are trap- ped. The rear guard defended Thers, mopylae until the Nazi pl dislodged them with heavy mu':s The German luftwaffe is said to be continuing the hammering op- especially transports, and authorized German' sources said there is no indication that the bulk of the British Ex- peditionary Force has escaped from Greece. Forelgn Office circles in Ankara, Turkey, sald it is understood the German forces are momentarily ex- pected to occupy the islands of Mytilene and Chios, both close to the Turkish mainland. Occupation of the islands would give Germany a string of bases reaching almost to the Italian Didecanese islands 0‘! southwest 'l'uflq TROUBLEIN ARGENTINA REPORTED Ading President Is fo Rule Southern Nation by De- cree for Present Argentina’s Acting President, Ra. mon Castillo, announced today he will govern the country by decree for the time being. ‘This s according to private advic- es received in both Washington and New York. It is said the country is on the “verge of a pumicnl uphmval TROOPSHIP CARS MUST BE MOVED All automobiles must be moved from streets in the business dis- trict tonight, according to a state- ment by Police Chief Dan rcalswnl who said today that the streets will| be washed early tomorrow morning and all cars then in the streets will be impounded. el e Australia’s population last Sep- tember was 7,050,084, | FOR STREET WASHING REPORTED SENT DOWN German Radio Broadcast Is Picked Up in New York by NBC . NEW YORK, April 26—The, NBG' picked up a Cerman radio bro wttmumwmw the sinking of a ‘British. {roops] south of Crete, }