The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 2, 1942, Page 1

N THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE . In Aleutians Delegate Sag_esis Kom- andorsky Islands Be Leased from Soviets WASHINGTON, Jan. 2—Imme- diate strengthening of the strate- gic Aleutian Islands, potential Pa- cific ramparts' of the rich Terri- tory -of Alaska as a concentration | areg for “planes, more planes ani lots of planes,” was urged by Dele- gate Anthony J. Dimond today. H The Delegate expressed the opin- jon in an interview following the ! Navy Department’s disclosure ear- lier in the week that “Japanese vessels are suspected of being in? | the vicinity of Kodiak.” Delegate Dimond declared the northwest corner of the continent needs “plenty of all types of planes and as many naval vessels as can be spared to give protection against air attacks until we catch up wiih and sink any Japanese operating in those waters.” Delegate Dimond contended that any Japanese offensive directed against Alaska necessarily must start in' the Aleutians and sug- gested also that an attempt be made by this government to lease Russia’s Komandorsky Island, both in‘ self-protection and for a closer base for acrial operations against Japan. Delegate Dimond said it was like- ly the Japanese have a detailed Knowledge of the coastlines, har-| bors and terrain of potential fly- ing. fields in the Aleutians because they have been accumulating. infor-.{ mation over a period of years while ‘operating fishing and seal- ing vesels in nearby - waters. CThe WASHINGTON — Secrotary Knox's report on the Pearl Harbor disaster followed by the President’s prompt steps to investigate and re- move those in command, did much; to allay public alarm and lndigna-i tion. The President and Knox won commendation by their acts. However, the record of the be- hind-the-scenes events leading up to these moves, discloses that some plain-talking congressional prod- ding had something to do with in- spiring them. Inside fact is that the threat o(I a bare-fisted congressionsl probe| spurred executive action Until | they heard threatening talk of af congressional investigation, the President and bis Secretary of the Navy had sat tightly on the Pearl Harbor lid. ‘The story of this very significant undercover tug-o-war begins onj Tuesday, December 9, the day after the formal declaration of war against Japan. With the White House and Navy Department main- taining an iron-handed censorship. | the Capital was rife with all sorts| of disturbing reports of U. S. losses | at Pear] Harbor. The Senate Naval Affairs Committee considered the situation so serious that it held a secret meeting to consider) whether to take the extraordinary step of urging the President to re- lieye public anxiety by making a frank report in his broadcast that night. An exchange of views among the committee members disclosed they were practically unanimous that! this should be done, and that either| Chairman_ David I. Walsh of Mass- achusetts or a delegation should call at tha White House. GILLETTE DISSENTS However, there was one vigouous dissenter — conscientious Senator Guy Gillette of Iowa. Gillette is no isolationist. He had| opposed involvement in the Europ-| ean war; but after Congress voted JUNEAU, ALASKA, These excellent pictures of President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain were taken as the two chatted in the White House in Washington where the two Allied leaders are conferring on plans to defeat the Axis powers. Churchill, making a surprise trip to the U. S, Mr. Roosevelt’s White House guest. and is Industries Be Taken to Interior Says Rooseveilt WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.— Presi- dent Roosevelt disclosed this after- noon that the question of moving airplane and other war industries from vulnerable sea “coast points, to the interior, is receiving new consideration. . The President told the newsmen that it will be impossible to move a whole plant from one locality to another, but certain divisions of a factory, however, he said, mignt be moved back from seacoasts at a moment’s notice. Chipperfields Return To Petersburg Home guests of Mr. and Mrs. Homer W. Jewells during the holiday season, left for their home today. the Forest Service, and Mrs. Chip- perfield are former Juneau resi- dents. Al s RETURNS TO CAMPUS Claud Helgesen, a sophomore at the University of Washington, sailed south yesterday to resume his studies. He is majoring in en- approval of the President's de- fense and foreign policies, Gillette! (Continued op Page Four) gineering. - BUY DEFENSE STAMPS Mr, ahd Mrs. W. A. Chipperfield | of Petersburg, who were the house| Chippertield, district ranger for| SomeWar BARDIAIS - RECAPTURED MayMove BY BRITISH Parts of Seacoast Plants fo Over I,OOfl—xis Soldiers Taken Prisoners-1,000 \Brifishers Are Freed CAIRO, Jan, 2—On the North African front, the British head- quarters announce the recapture of Bardia, the ivug besieged Axis stronghold near the Libyan-Egyp- tian Irontier, Bardia was recaptured along with more than 1,000 German and Italian soldiers -and in addition, 1,000 British soldiers held there, who have been liberated. The bulk of Gen, Rommels' re- treating armies are still fighting in the Agedabia zone, 90 miles south of Bengasi but because of bad weather conditions, there is little change in the situation. e — WAVELLMAY LEAD FORCES INPACIFIC CANBERRA, Jan. 2—The Aus- tralian Associated Press today said it had learned authoritatively that General Wavell, British command- er of India and Burma, will placed in command of the land, sea and air forces of the Pacific, be ! U.S. UNITS - AIDDUTCH ~ INDEFE American Forces Disciose “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME" . fo Be Cooperating with {" Netherlands Navy BATAVIA, Jan. 2.—Units of 1l United States fleet have joihied th! ! Dutch Navy in the defense. of th&! widespread East Indies archipels) \go, it was learned today. The official disclosure cams' i communique from the Duteh, w! | reported “one warship bepl ithe American forces, with the Netherlands | these regions” attacked " Jaj | planes on the northern . part | the island without suffer | ous damage. BRI S L HITLER ON DASHTRIP, RUSS FRONT Will Attempt to Stop Re freating Armies Follow- ing Big Soviet Victory LONDON, Jan. 2—Well mIOPlIIQfl" jsources- in Stockholm report thlfl AL R A mand of the retreating armies. Hitler is expected, according to the Stockholm sources, report of which has been received he to try to direct a successful digging in of his forces. | It is claimed Hitler rushed to the victory at Caluga over the large tank army and possibly 250,000 men in six army corps. i D Red Armies Confinuing front after a decisive Russian Members of the joint committee on the draft straighten out differen: The committee set military draft age between 20 and 44 inclusive, registered. Left to right: Rep. Andrew J. May, V. Keesling. Jr.. legislative officer of selective service requ Nazi Smash Unde Sam, the Naive, Gefs Hard Lesson in New Soviel_Tr_iumphs Are: Reported, Especially from Moscow Front MOSCOW, Jan. 2. — Russia’s armies are today reported smashing at the German-held fown of Moz- haisk, one of the last great threats on Moscow after Hitler has ruraed to the front in an attempt to halt the retreating and battered inva- sion forces. Mozhaisk is 57 miles west of Moscow. New Soviet triumphs are an- nounced by the Red Army Com- mand, especially the recapture of Starista, important rail center on the Volga River, 125 miles north- west of Moscow, and Kaluga, 110 miles southwest of Moscow. | The fall of Starista, marking a Red Army sweep of 45 miles souti- | west of Kalinin, has now placed | the Russians only 30 miles north of the Volga River port of Rzev, key rail town. CITY COUNCLL MEETS TONIGHT | The first session of the Juneau | City Council in 1942 is scheduled | to get underway at 8 p.m. today in |the City Hall. it was announced | today. | . Routine business will be taken up, |Mayor Harry I. Lucas said, and | declared that no special matter of ' | business has been scheduled to come before the city fathers. | i SR e B | Tahiti exports normally each year | 125.000 tons of phosphorous, useful | \m the making of smoke screens, l Diplomacy; By JACK STINNEIT WASHINGTON, Jan. 2. - United States is notoriously b diplomacy. We have had our dip'o- matic knuckles whanged at ne every international council since the first of the nineteent century. We have been hood- winked, badgered, backslapped, side - stepped and out-talked by more nations than you could wave switch at (and it was only when we substituted a “big stick” for that switch that we ever got list- ened to at all). tak al But never in the history of| American .diplomacy have we ever been taken like Japan took us in those hours before and dur- ing the opening of the war in the Pacific. To go back a hundred ) 50, the United States fir cognizance of the far Pacific castern treaty with Siam ty years later, Commodore Perry hammered on the doors of Nij pon and opened them to wes civilization. If he hadn't, Japal might still be the ingrown toenail of the Pacific, subject to the same decay that afflicts all civilizations whose doors are barred against the ideas and ideals of world progress. Japan unfortunately ai.orbed quickly. Ambition flowered in the Land of #ae Rising Sun, and so rapidly that within a little more than 60 years, at the council table with the * cember 7, [ United States and Great Bri- tain, this land laid the ground- work for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The opening guns were not fired on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, De- 1941. They were fired across the council table in Wash-, ington in 1921 and 1922 when; Great Britain and the United| States agreed to the 5-5-3 naval limitations and further conceded that the United States would not| tortify anything west of Hawaii, nor the British anything east of Singapore, In return Japan was to keep its fingers off the thou-| sands of mandated islands and) possessions it controlled (mostly as a “gift” following World War| I) from Honolulu to the Malay | Peninsula. | | s Or abiding by that treaty. took [few years, it was referring to| i | those islands as “its sec 1833 when it signed its first faf|thg only difference be Twen- | | Japan had no intention then of| Within a| ands were ANCHORED ships of n Asia in the last ten years is| too well known to need repeating but 1t all fits into the background of those tense days which finally brought suave, smiling, outward friendly Saburo Kurusu here to work with Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura “for peace in the Pacific.” No words can explain how- completely the United States was taken in by this subter- | (Continued on Page Three) L. I. N. "v:onephoto ces in the Hpuse and Sena'e measures. iring all men from 18 to 64 to be chairman of the House military affairs committee; Capt. F. ; Sen. Warren R. Austin, and Sen. Robert R. Reynolds, ~hairman of the Senate militarv affairs committee. NEW AIR RAID WHISTLE WILL GET. TRY-OUT | |s Taken ||‘| Trial Blasts of Alarm DeBlIZZARD vice Not to Be Signal for Blackout Juneau's new air raid alarm whistle will be given its first try-outs late this evening or tomorrow, it was announced to- day by Defense Chief Frank Metcalf. The whistle has just been in- stalled in the tower of the fire hall, Metcalf said, and the trial blasts will be merely to test carrying power of its sound and to acquaint the residents of the Gastineau Channel area with the tone of the alarm. The trials will not be a sig- nal for blackouts, Metcalf stressed. At the same time, hg urged all citizens to listen for the whistle blasts, so they will recognize the sound when the whistle is used to signal either practice blackouts or real emergencies in the future. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Jan. 2. Closing PHILIPPINE CAPITAL CITY HAS FALLEN ‘American, Filipino Forces Baftle Invaders in Grim Last Ditch Stand NIPPONS SLASH AT | FLEEING BAY FORCES { Navy Depafir;énl Also An- nounces that Base at | Cavite Is Evacuated (BY ASSOCIATED PRESS) | Japanese troops have occu- pied Manila, the War Depart- ment announces, as American and Filipino forces outside of the Philippine Capital City bat- tled the invaders in" a grim last ditch stand. The War Department said the advance elements of the Mikado's invasion hordes en- tered Manila at 3 p.m. Manila time or 10 p.m. Pacific Stan- dard time Thursday. LOSS NOT SERIOUS | The officipl statement of the War Department says the “loss | of Manila, while serious, has not lessened the resistance to the Japanese attackers.” Simultaneously with the War Department’s announcement, an official Tokyo broadcast as- serted, that part of Gén. Mac- Arthur's forces atf g to cross Manila Bay 1o the Corre- - gidor Island fortress, have been cut off and other American and Filipino troops on Batan Pen- insula, north of Corregidor ! Fortress, have also been cut | off. SLASHING ON BAY The Japanese broadcast as- serts i"at Nippon forces are slash’ag at the American forc- es moving across Manili Bay. The fall of Manila came fwo days after the deadline that the Japanese set, the Nippon boast being that Manila would be taken before New Year's Day. CAVITE EVACUATED The Navy Department also annbunces that the naval base | at Cavite, 10 miles from Ma- | mila, was evacuated before the | Japanese entered Manila. AH | equipment and stores were re- | moved prior to the withdrawal of forces from the submarine base and Navy yard. e eee— — SWEEPING MIDWESI Heavy Snowfall Clogs Highways-Temperature Skids Below Zero | CHICAGO, Ill, Jan. 2—A New | Year blizzard swept the Midwest, |piling a record one-day snowfall {as much as 16 inches and clogging | highways. - The blizzard also skidded tem- | peratures below zero. | The States hardest hit by the | blizzard are Iowa, Wisconsin, Iili- | nois, Minnesota and the Dakotas. AIDONWAYTO "~ BRITISH MALAYA | | | ‘ | ‘ | | { \ quotation of American Can today, SINGAPORE, Jg;, 2. — General 63, Anaconda 28%, Bethlehem | pownall, British Commander of the Steel 66%, Commonwealth an d:p" East, today declared that “con- s necott 37% Northern Pacific 5%, States Steel 55%, Pound $4.04. DOW, JONES AVERAGES Southern 7/30, Curtiss Wright 8%, | International Harvester 474, siderable help is on the way ‘o Ken- | British Malaya, where it is intend- New York Central 9,'ed to fight for every inch of United ground down the peninsula.” | - The age group 15 to 19 years now The following are today’s Dow, contains more persons than any |Jones averages: industrials 112.77,| other 5-year age period, according |utilities 1432, ralls 26,66, to 1940 census figures,