The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, July 23, 1942, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LIX., NO. 9093. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1942 NAZIS CLOSE IN ON SOVIET KEY CITIES British Opening Attack On Axis In Egypt Alaska Bombing Souvemr [AlASI(A WAR |Arrested as Immediate Contacis’ of Nazl Agenls [ HIT THREE POINTS AT ONE THRUST Reported fo Be Drivi ng Back German Center Line at El Alamein VIOLENT FIGHTING ‘ RAGING IN DESERT Allied Forces Take Initia- five to Strike Savage- ly at Positions CAIRO, July 23.—Gen. Sir Claude Auchinleck'’s Army of the Nile is attacking simultaneously at all sec- tors on the EI Alamein front for the first time and is reported to have driven back the Axis center line. Violent fighting, mounting stead ily in intensity, is reported in the communique, which indicated that the British assault pushed stoutly the resisting enemy forces. | At some of their positions near El Ruweisat Ridge, gains are being consolidated. To the north gnd south the baltle apparently is still raging inconclus- i 1Contl;ued on Page Six) ! The Washington, Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON | (Major Robert S. Allen on active duty.) WASHINGTON—Wendell Willkie's brother Fred staged a knock-down drag-out verbal fight over rubber last week in a closed door session | which may help to relieve the rub- ber situation. Fred Willkie not only raised the roof over Admin- istration dawdling on rubber, but gave some practical tigures on how his company has made rubber rap- idly. The session also was a healthy | sign that the rubber program may really get started. Donald Nelson who has now yanked rubber out from under the nose of Jesse Jones, called tbe closed door session, and asked a dozen men skilled in ob- taining all forms of rubber—from alcohol, petroleum, hevea trees, guayule, sryptostegia—to recommend ways of producing rubber by any and every conceivable process. The meeting opened with a re- port from obert J. Levy, of Lhew Bureau of Economic Warfare, who‘ said that the progress of natives in tapping the rubber trees of Bra- | zil was cisappointing so far. There; will be rlmost no yield this year,; he reported, but about 50,000 tons | next year. J Dr. David Spence then told of the | progress of growing guayule in Cali- | fornia. Dr. P. B. Cardon, of the| Agriculture Department, praised Russian cooperation in sending us | koksagyz seeds which now have been planted in most northern| states. Dr, Edgar Britton, of Dow Chemical, reported on a new meth- | od of vulcanizing treads which added about 2,000 to 3,000 miles To retreaded tires. And Dr. Harlan L. Trumbull of the Goodrich Com- pany, exjpressed disappointment at the poor grade of scrap collected. Standard Oil Says No Then Fred Willkie, vice-president | of Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, gave | minute detalis of the various pro-| cesses his company had evolved for | making rubber out of corn, the| costs ranging from 48 cents a pound | down to 17.7 cents, depending on| the method. Shortly after this, Dr. Per K. Fro- ' lich, director of laboratories for| Standard Oil of New Jersey, arrived | and was asked to speak on his com- | pany’s progress. | “Gentlemen,” he said, “there is| nothing to discuss. I have Jusz' come from hearing Mr. Farish (Continued on Page Four) WASHINGTON, July 23—Among ‘he heroes thought Accent on Stockings James G. Ryan (above), who brought back fragments of a Jap aerial bomb as a souvenir of the Dutch Harbor attack said: “It helps remind me I don’t like the Japs. I'm going back,” he added, explaining he had been working for a construction firm at Dutch Harbor for 16 months. He is shown after arriving at a West Coast port. Farm Magic for War; Dept. of Agriculture Scientists Are Heroes BY JACK STINNETT Department of Agriculture. In peacetime, of this war, give a paratively simple life. They try to to the scientists in the make 'something out of what we - ~——— have too much of; and improve production of what we don’t have enough of. Multiply these problems by 1,000 |and you'll have what they are up | against today. Under censorship, I can’t mention give the saboteurs an inkling of where to start. But some of the | story can be told now. | Some of these days very soon, flrr example, we may have a cot- | ton-filled * ‘sandbag”; cotton plastics for blackout shades; turpentine smoke screens; resin gas masks for animals. Staple cotton (instead of lmters) goon may be used for smokeless | powder in big guns, for antiaircraft shells and even rifles, Fores'ry products soon may |used in place of aluminum | planes; wood ceilulose in explosiv \charcoal in gas masks; fire resist- |ant woods in hundreds of war ma- terials and as substitutes for raw cork | Any be for tume now there may be a | brand-new canning material, some- | thing & iously undreamed of. ‘ New insecticides (to replace those | | | | import may be on the way. New turfs (grasses) are being de- veloped to withstand multiple air- piane landings and to keep down |dust which often is a giveaway to| [enemy scouting planes. Agriculture is one of the key ag- ¢ |encies in the allocation of forts, training centers, flying fields, ar- ‘!Lllflry and bombing zones. It has |a big hanrd in locating new war in- |custries, and has been one of the| chief forces for decentralization of military preduction. Leather is becomng more resist- ant to wear and water. A special chemical formula w! hich strengthens material, increases its wear and improves its appearance is now being applied to millions | of pairs of women's rayon stock- ings. Evelyn Carmel of New | York, who posseses the “world’s most photographed legs,” displays a pair of the conservation stock- ings above 4Cuntmutd on Page Five) they lead a com- | " INTERPRETED BY ANALYST DeWm Ma(Kenue Gives | Reasons Why Japanese | Still in Aleutians 'NEED MORE SHIPS FOR SUCH ACTION Imperative Tasks All Over | Seven Seas Keep | Warships Busy } NEW YORK, July 23. — DeWitt | MacKenzie, Associated Press and Wide World Features war analyst, had this to say today in interpr (‘Llng the situation in Alaska. “Public concern over umnnued Jap occupation of the Aleutians ap: pears to have mounted rapidly in | the last few days. Increasingly one hears the question of just why is it} that these invaders of American | soil haven't been evicted. | “The growing anxiety undoubtedly | is stimulated by the knowledge that Nipponese cccupation of the Aleu- tian bases not only threatens Alaska but is intimately connected with the possibility of air attack against Russia and Siberia as well. Answer to Presence “There's certainly an answer to the continued presence of the en- emy on Attu, Kiska and Agattu, but I doubt if it is what the reader would expect “One well known reason is that | the weather in the Aleutians is about as filthy as can be found. Tt has been bad lately. However, I believe that a more vital reason why we haven't taken stronger ac- tion is that we simply haven't had the naval forces to spare now. “The Navy can’t be expected to undertake such a mission with a handful of ships. The job calls for a very considerable force. So far we haven't been able, or so I be- lieve, to mass enough ships for such an operation. H Ships Spread Out “That shouldn’t cause public sur- prise. We possess ships all right but they are spread out over the seven seas performing mighty tasks to keep the wheels of the Allies war machine turning. “Why don't ave call in some of these ships to clean out the Aleu- | tians? Presumably because while | the authorities fully recognize the | danger of Jap occupation, that dan- ger is less pressing then other perils that have to be met. | “Should an emergency develop in | the Aleutians, we undoubtedly wi | see Navv actmn fast enough fSENATORS 10 MAKE ALASKA 'TRIP “SOON" ‘Ask $50,000 fo Finance Investigation-Trim- med to $3,000 WASHINGTON, July 23. — Fol , Senators who plan to make a s |vey of military establishments in <West Alaskn “all the way to Dutch Harbor,” had a request for $50.000 |to finance the investigation trim- med to $3.000 by the Senate Com- | mittee on Contingent Expenses. Senator Albert B. Chandler }Lhat the trip will be made |soon” if sufficient funds are ap | proved, or if the War Departme | could make transportation arrar ments. He said Senators Harley Kilzor¢ Mon C. Wallgren, and R. C. Holman are tentatively scheduled to accou said “yery There are|pany nim . BUY SE BONDS » ¥ i S8 Arrest of these (above), six men and women and eight others on charges of aiding the Nazi saboteurs who landed on Long Island, N. Y., and Florida coasts from U-boats was anncunced in Washington by Attorney General Biddle, arrested included, tom row, left to right) : (tep row, left to right): AFTER THE SHOW_constance #Moore, star in a Broad- way show, joins husband, Johnny Maschlo, in a N. Y. night club. Seaplane Tender, Cals In Yalorous Chapler Of Aleufian Hislory By KEITH WHEELER (Chicago Times, Copyright, 1942) ABOARD A U. S. SEAPLANE TENDER IN THE ALEUTIANS, June 25— (Released for publication by the Navy, Delayed)—Wind, in a wild 70-knot_gale, is hurling the whitecaps across the bay tonight and no planes will be in the air, either ours or Japanese. The battle of the Aleutians is not vet over., The Japs are still in Kiska, but tonight it's all right. We can relax little and consider how things have gbeen with this unglamorous little tub and her brood of lumber- ing PBY Catalina Flying Boats. She's a little ship, old and cramp- ed. Once she was a four-piper de- stroyer, but they ripped out half her ppwer plant to use her former firerooms to store extra food, avia- tion gas, bombs and men. Then they sent her out to nurse the Cats. Is Not Warship Not even her most charitable friend would call her a warship, but the war has produced no more val- crous w chapter than the stubborn fight the Cats and the tender are |phomlinson, making against the first invasion AContmued on Page Three) AUSTRA[IA MAY BE JUMPING-OFF PLACE FOR WAR Dale, Pitt, former Alaska mining man who has been in Austr recently, was the main speaker this noon at the Chamber of Commerce meeeting in the Baranof Hotel und told members about Australia. Pitt expressed the opinion Lh.n\ there are more American troops in Australia than any other outpost,; ind said that he believes the jump-| ing off place for an attack on Japan will be from Australia Lt. T. B. McKinstry, Port Cap- tain, was welcomed as a new mem- ber of the Chamber. Guests imcluded R. F. Lew ywner of the Juneau Water Com- pany; A. C. Graff. representative of the Portland office of the Fed- eral Home Loan Bank Administra- tion; O. F. Benecke of Alaska Coastal Airways, and Robert U. 8. Navy Henry Green acted as Executive Secreta Wester Lt. Described as the “immediate contacts” of the eight German agents now on trial, those Maria Kerling, Helmut Leiner and Hedwig Engemann; (bot- Hermann Faje, Anthony Cramer and Ernest Kerkhof. * AUSTRALIAN THEATREHAS NEW ACTION Japs Gain New Foothold | on New Guinea Coast Near P. Moresby MacARTHUR'S HEADQUART- ERS IN AUSTRALIA, July 23.—In the Japs first aggressive thrust at Australia since the Coral Sea defeat, they have gained a new foothold on the southeast New Guinea coast, 100 miles across from the vital Amer- ican-Australian garrisoned~ Allied Under a terrific bombing and outpost of Port Moresby. strafing assault by Allied planes, the enemy put ashore a force of between 1500 and 2500 troops yester- day at Gona Mission, near Buna, on the Papuan Peninsula coast, 150 miles southeast of Jap-held Sala- maua Gen. quarters Douglas MacArthur's head- announced the landing in the, a where there were no Allied forces cost the Japs heavily. A large transport and a landing barge were sunk and a seaplane downed The Allies lost only two fighters. -~ — 'WAGEPOLICY CONSIDERED IN CAPITAL WASHINGTON, July 3 man CIO, AFL Labor War today urged the President to con- t:nue the wage policy agreed upon |when the War Labor Board was set up—that no interference would be allowed by any other Federal agency, partieularly the Office of Price Aqministration At the same time, Senator Alben W. Bakley told the Senate that he believed Congress would have to pass additional legislation to give the President the authority needed | The six- Board flation, the OPA's job. | | | | | [ STALINGRAD, ROSTOV ARE - FIGHT AREAS [One City Is Threafened on ' Three Sides by Ger- mans, lfalians ADVANCE COLUMNS EXTENDING NORTH Attempt Isiefig Made to Split Forces-Grave Crisis Faced BULLETIN, Moscow, July 23— _Throwing many planes and tanks in the fight to hold the huge German army in the surge in the lower Don Basin, the Red Army is tonight braced in strong resistance from Tsimly- ansk to Novcherkassk according to an official communique. MOSCOW, July 23.—Russia today faced the gravest crisis in the Ger- man-Russian war as the Nazi ar- mored columns closed in for the second battle at Rostov, speared anew toward Stalingrad and press- ed upon the lower Don River be- tween those two cities in an effort to isolate the Caucasus. Not since the Mongols were driven from southern Russia 562 years ago has there been such a threat on the military szcurny of the Soviet Na- tion. The Red Army is fighting bitterly to stem the inva tides, aware that the GermansWre more than half way along the drives that might split the Russian southern and trans-Caucasus commands. ! Rostov is again threatened on three sides. One menace is at Novacherkasska, 20 miles northeast of Rostov, on the east A large force of Italians is strik- ing at Voroshilovgrad to the west and Axis divisions, that wintered at Taganrog, 40 miles away, are press- ing from that direction. The thrust on Stalingrad bhas also developed, 250 miles by air, northeast of Rostov, where the most advanced columns are astride the Stalingrad-Likhaya railway line, slightly more than 100 miles west of the Volgn clly STILL HOPE FOR HIGHWAY ALONG COAST Rep. Magn&;\ Says Rail- road, Inland Road Main- ly for Emergency Use WA"HIN(‘TON Jlll\ 23. — Rep- resentative Warren G. Magnuson today expressed a renewed hope that a highway eventually will be built to Alaska along the Seattle-Prince George route as the International Highway Commission favors He said the White House had notified him that the President wished to confer over his commis- sion’s latest reports as soon as the engineers survey now being made for the emergency railroad is com- pleted The survey will probably require two or three months more, he said. The commission’s latest report will not be made public until the Presi- dent so authorizes. Magnuson said that he believed the highway now being built to the north by engineers on the eastern route is “purely emergency” and that there is still interest in the commission-favored proposal. > —— first torpedo, the “spar tor- of the American Civil War, The pedo ; in the absence of Wilbur to expand the effort to prevent in- “n\ a long ram with a bomb on the end of it