The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 24, 1942, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. LVIIL, NO. 8966. “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1942 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS o —— ENEMY SUB SHELLS CALIFORNIA COAMI Two U. S. Navy Ships Lost In Roaring Gale CRAFT ARE Unde Sam Calls for POUNDEDON Boysfo HelpMenin ROCKY COAST with the Air Youth of America. INDIAHOPES | PRESIDENT TO GET SELF | GIVES OUT WAR TALK Alaska Game Laws Are To Be Changed; Permits Soldiers WASHINGTON, Feb. 24—Reen- REFINERY OF OIL IS UNDER , Sailors fo Hunt NIGHT ATTACK the same general hunting licenses By JACK STINNETT WASHINGTON, Feb. 24—This |story might be called “And a little | ehild shall lead them, etc.” Be- lcause if the United States is ever subjected to air raids, some of the | defense may well be attributed to lantic Storm |the nation’s 2,000,000 or so model 18’ OFH(E_R—STME“ airplane builders LOSE THEIR LIVES * ~ ' A plan is afoot now, sponsore ‘ Merciless Battering of, Destroyer, Also Stores Craft Wrecked in At- y the National Aeronautics As- sociation and the Navy, and ap- turn these youngsters with a hob- Wind and Wave Smashes [vy into builders of model enemy T C vesse|s iaircran. From these models, the Navy and Civilian Air Defense wo onvoy | Cor] (the Army has its own 24 — A 'project) may learn everything there WASHINGTON, _Feb. 1 is to know about spotting. stores ship were pounded to pieces off the rocky east coast of New- foundland in a roaring gale with the loss of at least 189 officers and the National Aeronautic Associa- tion, which recently consolidated 4 'Colin P. Kelly, Jr, the proved by the Army Air Corps, to This brought under direct control of the NAA more than 700 af- filiated model clubs, with a quar- British Sources Say Pos-iDeclares Allies Will Start session fo Get Inde- Offensive Soon, Then | ter of a million members, and more than 12,000 licensed model build- From among model builders have, LONDON, Feb. 24—At least par-, e come such men as the late Capt.ilm] realization of India's old dz-{SAYS pRODU(“ou I anht,mflnds for independence from the | INCREASING NOW W. Douglas, Igor Sikorski, and Wil-|by British sources after, a rapfld{ Sl liam B. Stout. |sequence of weekend events fore={rs " Civilian Air Defense, the Army cast radical changes in Britain'sf A“ Ou' Progfam |S An' |attitude toward her 400,000,000 sub- | the problem of teaching thousands|ects in India. 5 to recognize the silhouettes of our| Two developments particularly| ers Hl' bv Rooseve" tant as powerful field glasses can|was the farewell speech of Gen | pick them up. Just how the Army{Chiang Kai-shek, who visited In-|: WASHINGTON, Feb. 24—Presi- is handling this is its secret, but|dia and spcke presumably with {dent Roosevelt last night said pendence On to Victory ers. LI Brothers, Glenn L. Martin, Donald |British Empire was predicted here i and Navy are suddenly faced with | nounced-Rumor Mong- - own and enemy planes as far dis-|buoyed the Indians’ hopes. One! how the Navy and Civilian Defense the consent of Britain and the' America has been compelled to The project belongs primarily t0'pian to handle it is a bow and a|United States, apparently addres-|yisld eround to its enemies but e By SRR iflng himself to the British. The added that with constantly increas- (Continued on Page Five) | Chinese leader declared last Sat-ling production, the Allies will take | { United States destroyer and naval men, the Navy announced today. ‘Among the dead are Lieut. Comdr.‘ Ralph Hickox, 38, Washington, D, C., commander of the destroyer Truxton, an old four stacker o World War vintage. { The commander of the stores: ship Pollux was not identified but | the Navy reported him safe. The heavy loss of life was at- | tributed to the fact the two, ships were constituting. a portion of a FROM VICTIM i OF NAZI SUB very quickly after the ships rani aground in a merciless battering from wind and wave. ! The double disaster occurred in daylight but visibility was very poor Ship, Then Fire at Raider at the point where the ships {£RRtged. O E e Thrse) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Feb. 24 |—The entire crew of the 5100 ton most L“le |American freighter Delplata, which Minister Winston Churchill has g{v- was torpedoed in waters of | Eastern Caribbean last Friday, are coming Britain's |safe in port today. exciting story of how some crew days still left some of his critics un- 1 Drew Peersos ot |stricken vessel for good. obert S.Alles | RESCUE CREW Churchill i ! ! | | Men Returned fo Sinking Significance of Cabinet the en his lineup of ministers since be- They told an 1940, his second big shakeup in five' members, returned to the sinking convinced today that he has really!| ship and fired three shots at the cléared the nation’s political desk | |sea raider before abandoning the for action. | Fifty two crewmen were brought eral approval caused by the selec- | lurday that “a vast majority of the [the offensive soon and drive on world’s opinion was in full sym-to victory. | |pathy with India's aspirations for| “We and the other United Na- | freedom.” itions are committed to the destruc- Two informed British sources as-[tion ‘of the militarism of Japan !serted afterwards that Prime Mm«land Germany,” declared the Presi- [ister Winston Churchill plans to'dent. DropsFive Ministers enlarge India's powers of self gov-| “We are daily increasing our crnment and would send a cabinet strength and soon we, not our representative there fo try “to putjfenemies, will have the offensive; the Indian preblem on a more sat-'we, and not they, will win the fin- isfactory footing.” NAVY STARTS 'INQUIRY 0 ~ AMMUNITION make final peace.” Despite the long distances in- velved, the President disclosed that large numbers of planes, manned |by American pilots, are now in 'daily contact with the enemy in the Southwest Pacific and he said thou- sands of American troops are in the 'Southwest Pacific | | Key to Victory The President said recent sur- veys disclosed a prodigiously high production that indicates that the moals established two months ago will be attained and this, he re- peatedly emphasized, is the key to vietory. Discussing the war strategy on- ly in broad terms, the President attribyted the Japanese successes on Pacific Warship to the command of the air. He Is Bad said the Japanese had the initial , Changes Doubfed by Leader’s Critics LONDON, Feb. 24—Despite the drastic overhauling Prime war leader in Commentator Says Powder Except for the surprise and gen-| actment of the Alaska game laws, a5 u resident of the territory after Sea Raidefflidenly Ap- 41 battles _and we, not they, will i here by a navy ship that was direc- tion of Sir James Grigg as War| ited to the scene of the sinking by Minister to succeed Captain Mar- | !a navy plane which arrived over the gesson, the first reaction to the| WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — The advantage because their Navy Department announced today fighter planes could be flown to WASHINGTON—In 1937 Frank- lin Roosevelt raised one of the most controversial issues of his nine years in office—the contention that older men were not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. | That issue precipitated weeks of Congressional debate and literally tore the country apart. It split the Democratic Party, and some of | the wounds from that battle still| have not healed. During the Supreme Court fight, the authors of this column pub-! lished a book called “The Nine Old; i | Men" which made it quite clear that for better or for worse we concurred with the President that| older justices should give way to younger men, just as army and) navy officers are required to re-i tire after reaching the age of 64. | And having sided vigorously with! Roosevelt in tne Supreme Court| fight we cannot be accused of in- consistency when we state that. we think it is equally prejudicial to the public good for older men to re- tain important cabinet positions— especially in time of war. A Supreme Court justice has vit- ally important decisions to make. ripped-open freighter a half hour broad changes was that Church- after the Deplata’s radio had sent ill merely reshuffled the Cabinet out a warning. e e CHIANG BACK FROMINDIA AIR MIsSioN Chinese Chief Returns fo s Chungking After Sup- ply Conference CHUNGKING, Feb. 24—General- issimo Chiang Kai-shek today re- turned from a visit to India, a gov- ernment spokesman announced, af- ter a flying trip foreshadowing es- tablishment of regular air transport as a new addition to' China’s sup- ply lines of war material. But he has weeks in which to make | | {that Rear Admiral W. R. Biandy, the scene of combat while ours Ordnance Chief, is investigating a report that the ammunition sup- but did not cut the deadwood, al-| (Continued on Page Five) though five ministers were dropped. Plied to American warships in the J. J. Llewellin succeeds J. W. T_‘Pnai!ic is old and ineffective. This Moore-Brabazon as Aircraft Pro-|réPort came irom Martin Abron- NBC commentator bruadcast- duction Minister; | sky, Viscount Cran- |5 borne succeeds Lord Moyne as Co-|ing from Sidney, Australia. No official report of such de- lonial Secretary; Lord Portal suc- ceeds Lord Reith as Minister of|ficiency has been received, the |Navy said, but Blandy began his Works and Public Buildings, and|; Arthur Greenwood, Minister with-|inquiry on the basis of Abronsky's | broadcast. out portfolio, was dropped alto- gether. The commentator said he was told by a naval air lieutenant that |the anti-aircraft ammunition on a | warship escorting United States troops, issued in 1930 and 1921 — e failed to fire uniformly enough for gunners to work out a pattern of fire necessary to be effective in anti-aircraft work. ! - e ry rl'ls on ister Winston Churchill told the {House of Commons today that ey | | Japan rules the air and is exereis- Diver Dares Shark, Mine- H }inx a temporary “waning command rea In 1‘01 the sea” in her area of opera- vie- AIR, OCEAN IN CONTROL Churchill Admis Tempor- Enemy in Far East LONDON, Feb. 24—Prime Min- :merlcslly superior land forces of {about 26 divisions, probably 390,000 | | tions but predicted a final Infested Waters for | tory, which he sald might come B ' . | unexpectedly, over the Axis. riain | urma rea The Japs also are employing nu- AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. liberalized to permit soldiers and sailors to hunt in the territory on resident licenses after residence of one year, is asked by Alaska Dele- gate Anthony J. Dimond. Delegate Dimond has introduced a bill prepared by the Alaska Game Commission. The bill has been ap- proved by Secretary of Interior Har- old L. Ickes. The Alaska Game Commission met here early in Jan- uary. Under the measure introduced by Delegate Dimond, members of the armed forces are to be entitled to there one year. A resident license costs $1 and a non-resident license costs $50. A license to hunt birds costs a resident $1 and a non-resi- pears Near Sanfa Bar- bara-Makes Assault e messuse annories vre_ a1 WENTY-=FIVE ROUNDS, aska Game Commission to make 5-INCH SHELLS FIRED War, Navfi?afi Making Search for Undersea Craft, Believed Jap regulations for hunting game and fishing. Delegate Dimond said the regu- |lations. undoubtedly will restrict hunting and confine it to certain aréas because of the influx of pop- ulation, SMOLENSK IS TARGET FOR SOVIET ARMY Fierce Batilgk_ages as Ger- mans Retreat Before Russian-. Thrust MOSCOW, Feb. 24 — Intensive battles rage east of Smolensk today as Red dispatches reported the Red army surging on from Dorogobuzh, only 50 miles from the key city of the Central Front. Retreating Germans are reported burning everything in the territory they yleld. “The initiative nqw is in our hands,” a dispatch from the West- ern Front said. It also told of a solemn meeting of Red army troops in that sector yesterday to hear Stalin's order of the day. After hearing the phrase, “Red banners must fly over all the occupied territory,” the Red army commanders and soldiers took an small oath to liberate all Nazi-occupied territory. Dorogobuzh fell atter a violent attack which was launched at dawn yesterday, following hours of artillery preparation, Red au- thorities said. .- - man Report May Be Axis Propaganda LONDON, Feb. 24—The Vichy radio today was heard broadcast- ing a séatement attributed to the German radio that the Russians have launched the biggest offensive of the war and that the relief of Leningrad is expected at any mom- ent. |the situation in southern Sumatra HEARS OF JAPANESE ‘ GERMAN WOE, Objection Forces Adminis- UNCONFIRMED ary Superiority of ' — ol B ‘French Broadcast of Ger-| | SANTA BARBARA, Cal, Feh. 24 —A submarine appeared last night near Goleta, seven miles north of here, and fired between a dozen and two dozen shells at an oil re- finery near the shore. Authorita- tive sources said there were nocas- ualties, no damage and no fires caused by the shelling. The police were informed of the sea raider’s appearance at about 7 o'clock. The sub’s guns fired for several minutes. Eyewitnesses said that most of the shells exploded in a field and 1ERO HOUR NEARS NOW JAVA AREA Japanese InvadersGain Footholds West, East of | 4 M‘ d B : that one went over the U. 8. High- BM way 101, bursting in the foothills. avia, i€ ase Witnesses pointed out that the” undersea craft emerged from the waters and started the shelling at about the same time that Presi- dent Roosevelt began his fireside chat. They said the submarine was so large that they thought at first it was a destroyer or a cruiser, MAKE SEARCH FOR SUB WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — The War and Navy Departments an- nounced today that Army and Navy aircraft and surface vessels have started a search for the eremy sub which shelled the Bankline Oil Refinery near Ellwcod, Cal., last night. ‘The communique from the shelling was slight and no casualties are reported. The submarine, apparently Japa- |nese, fired 25 rounds of five-inch shells at the refinery, the com- ongressman . The fact that the sub carried | S Snags Repeal Of Pensions | BATAVIA, Feb. 24—Urged by the | Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies to face the foe ‘“with| faith and iron will,” the Allied de- fenders of Java today neared the| zero hour of the battle for this last bulwark blocking the Japanese| from the vital United Nations sup- ply lines to the Indian Ocean. No new- officlal word came of and Bali, where the invaders wrest- ed their latest footholds directly west and east of this island citadel by the outnumbered defense forces. in the face of stubborn opposition| A brief communique reported on-! ly fresh aerial blows at Java Island, the heaviest of which were aimed at military objectives ayound Ban- doeng, headquarters of the Dutch army. two five-inch guns, informed per- sons sald, indicated it is one of the fleet of huge, long range sub- mersibles built by the Japanese in 1939 and 1940, The Japs are reported to have 19 of these underwater giants, ap- proximately 350 feet long and rang- ing from 2,180 to 2,500 tons. They have a cruising range of 15,000 miles. - fration Leaders to New P_rgedure WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — Rep. IM. J. Kennedy (D.-N.Y.) today | blocked immediate consideration of | House legislation to repeal :nnsuansi for Congressmen. Kennedy explained he objected’ |for three reasons—(1) that he fa-| (vors the pensions, (2) that separ-| ate repeal measures pending the| question should be acted upon in- dependently, and (3) that the pro- | | | PRESIDENT SIGNS BILL FOR ALASKA Legislation Will Aid Em- said damage . “Our troops on the Leningrad/ them. He can discuss the issue pro and con with his colleagues if necessary owr a period of months. However, a Secretary of State,| War or Navy in wartime must make | decisions affecting the security of| 130,000,000 people and must make those decisions in hours or even minutes. Therefore, if President Roosevelt believes older men are not | qualified to make much more de- liberate legal decisions, then even more are old men unqualified to make immediate wartime decisions affecting the safety of the nation.| THE FOUR OLD MEN At present, the President has in his cabinet four men over seventy (Continued on Page Four) | 24. — A daring year-long hunt for sunken treasure, rivaling anything ever told in story books, was com- pleted today with the recovery of $10,000,000 worth of gold bullion from the hulk of the sunken British diner Niagara in the mine and shark-infested waters off of Auck- land. The Niagara, bound for Canada from New Zealand, struck a mine and went down 60 miles off of Auck- TANKER IS SENT DOWN,; CREW SAVE WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, Feb. 2¢ [—The Panamanian tanker Thalia land on June 19, 1940. Chief Diver has been torpedoed near Mondos John Johnstone established a world Island, about 100 miles from the record to get the gold with a 528- |Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba. foot dive in an observation bell.| The broadcast quoted an official|the past two months. Aneta news agency, in making Johnstone was famous in the last |the report, said the lifeboats carry- World War and aided the Allies land fighting for the past four China’s war leader, General Chi- ing the members of the tanker’s then in many daring dives. crew have been sighted about 50 AT RAB S 4 miles off Moncos Island. ' i BUY DEFENSE STAMPS ccmbat troops and 100,000 addi- tional men in supply and auxiliary forces in the American-British- ! Dulch-Australlan area, he added. {Troops W ithdraw from West Banks Sitfany Riv- front are in great danger,” Vichy quoted the Berlin broadcast. | No such German broadcast was heard by New York listening posts oy The Japanese command of the 5 o | er 'O New POS"IO"S |air, he declared “makes it costly ;:?pa;:le‘d:l%:’;m;:?m; ?:1‘:] :‘1” | |and difficult for our air reinforce- g, ; peoples. & ’ LONBON, Feb.' 24—British "wmiments to establish themselves and |have withdrawn from the west Sysire. dominance.” Efforts to reinforce the area are banks of the Sittany River after! 3 further complicated by Britain's ’intliccmg heavy casualties on Jap-|uyery heavy" shipping losses since |anese troops invading Burma, an jgsg- # |all-India radio broadcast announc- | The losses, he admitted, have {es and which was picked up here. |shown a most serious increase in i As relayed by Vichy, the German radio added that the “biggest and bloodiest battles” in the history of mankind were raging in the Smo- lensk, Dneiperopetrovsk and Se- bastopel areas and that the Ger- mans could not afford to yield an- other inch. |account of a report that covered . Churchill also announced mag! ? Approximately 70 percent of the !days and said “our losses areheavy'amg Kai-shek, has accepted an in- OUNtTY's output of rayon yam in but our troops are now in good Vitation to join the Pacific war 1941 s estimated to have been positions,” | Council. _made in the south, cedure suggested would not permit # a full explanation of the members’ ployees Of |nd|a" position. Sia The objection forced administra- Sefvl(e | tion leaders to go to the House AR der to make the legislation in Of-| \WASHINGTON, Feb, 24—Presi- der to make the legislation an or-|, ..o approval has been given |der for debate. | HOUSE VOTES REPEAL | : WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — The| 'House today went on record in a i one-sided vote for repeal of legi | lation providing pensions for Con- gressmen. On a roll call the vote was 389/ to 7. ! The members instructed the House of Representatives’ Joint! ! Congressional Conference Commit- | tee, appointed to consider a minor naval bill, to insist on retention of the pension repeal rider which was attached to the naval bill by the Senate last week, for legislation authorizing Sécre- tary of the Interior Harcld L. Ickes to use Indian Servige funds to pur- chase supplies and materials for resale fto native cooperative asso- |ciations of the' Indian Service eme ployees in Alaska, the White House announced. The announcement said the leg- islation would result in lower prices for purchases and would reduce claims of loss or damage to sup- plies transported to Alaska on ships operated b, the Indian Service. Pennsylvania cities are digging up abandoned street car rails for I defense, @ E 8 ¥ 1