The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, November 20, 1943, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLIL, NO. 9504. JUNEAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1943 M[-MBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CEN'N HINELAND HIT AGAIN IN TERRIFIC RAID New Actions Begun Against Jap Positions Mid-Pacilic,Oflensive Believed Started;Nauru Island Base Is Bombed | PEARL HARBOR, Nov. 20.—Ad- miral Chester W. Nimitz announces that carrier based planes dropped 90 tons of bombs on Nauru, Jap- anese island base, 700 miles north- east of Guadalcanal extending the scope of the six day old Central Pacific air offensive which has been pounding the Gilbert Islands, 500 miles east, and Marshall Islands. This heightens the belief that preliminary blows for the promised| mid-Pacific offensive has been| struck. | None of the raiders have been lost. | It is revealed that early last Thursday, carrier aircraft struck other sections in the islands. | Torpedo planes started fires in the airdrome and shop areas at Nauru and destroyed several planes on the ground. A ship in the harbor hit and left burning. The raiders met only mild aelmlJ opposition at Nauru as did Maj. vas also Gen. Willis Hales' Seventh Army' Air Force over Maloelap in the Marshalls. By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on sctive duty.) WASHINGTON—There may be al lot more than meets the eye behind the $30,000 fee paid to Frank J. Comfort, ex-Democratic National Committeeman from Jowa and close political associate of ex-Senator Clyde Herring, in return for getting | tax legislation introduced which | benefitted the airplane manufac-| turing companies. The big un-! answered question is: Did Comfort | pass part of the money on to some- one else? | It has been ascertained that Com- | fort cashed a check for $10,000 shortly after he received his first payment from the airplane com- panies. He got this $10,000 in cash. What did he do with it? When asked about it, he said he didn't, remember. Then, after a second mstallment‘ was paid by the airplane compan- ies, Comfort and his brother drew out $11,400, also in cash. Again, they don’t remember what happen- ed to this money. Here is the story of this unusual | transaction: { The Brewster Aeronautical Cor- poration, now being investigated by the hard-hitting House Naval Af- fairs Committee, discovered that the tax bill of 1940 would not permit advance payments by foreign gov- ernments to be classified as borrow- ed invested capital. This made a| difference of thousands, perhaps| millions in taxes to certain nirplane! companies. Hence, Brewster lobby- | ists attempted to get Senator Wag- ner of New York to introduce an amendment favoring their tax sit- uation. He would have none of it. ‘Then they tried Senator Herring pf Iowa. He also refused. Then the airplahe lobbyists contacted | Herring's close friend and political | mentor, Frank Comfort, in Des Moines. He came.to Washington, | registered at the Mayflower Hotel‘g where Herring lived, and shortly | thereafter Herring introduced the proposed tax amendment. It be- came law and saved the airplanel companies a tremendous tax bill. WHERE DID MONEY GO? Meanwhile, Brewster, Lockheed, Cansolidated and ~Curtiss-Wright | had raised a pool of $65,000 to pay | for lobbying for this amendment.! Of | this, $30,000 went to Comfort.!| He received his first $15000 in| mid-October, 1940. On Oetober 27, 1940, approximately one week later, Comfort drew a check for $10,000 on. the Iowa-Des Moines National | Bank and Trust Company, payable| B s e {Continued on Page Four) {fo Wed Army Flier ¢ = | Brig. Gen. Blonde movie starlet Gale Rob- bins is flying to Walker Kansas, to meet her husband-to-be, Lieut. Bob Olson of the V. Army Air Force. Miss Robbins, former orchestra vocalist, will | set the time of the ceremony when she arrives at the army | air field. | NALIS ARE DRIVEN OUT OF OVRUCH \Vifal Link on Russian North-South Railway Captured by Reds LONDON, Nov .20. Army extended their sway 25 miles | tarther up on the Odessa-Leningrad iRailway in a single day by blasting { the Germans from Ovruch, north of Korosten, the Moscow radio said | tonight. The triumph was the re- sult of a 13-mile advance northwest | of Norodichi. This appeared to be a sudden northward swing of Vatutin's forces | to join hands with Gen. Rokossovsky whose men took Rechitsa and moved on west toward Kalinlovichi, a junc- tion of the railways to Gomel, War- saw, Odessa and Leningrad.. Kalinlovichi is 70 miles north of Ovruch on the fringe of the great Pinsk Marshes. Rt amtatom e g cxemeran {THREE FINED TODAY CITY POLICE COURT The following were fined in City Police Court this morning: Sam Hopkins, $25, drunk and disorderly; iorderly ; Felix Proto, $25, drunk and Idlsor\'urly. General | Vatutin's slashing First Ukrainian | Sam Jackson, $25, drunk and dis-| POSITIONS IN 50. PACIFIC (Secrefary of Navy Knox | Declares Jap Defenses Growing Weaker ican positions in the south and southwest Pacific have grown stronger in the past twelve months {and the positions of the” Japs have become weaker, Secretary of Navy Frank Knox told the newsmen at a conference this morning. “We are ahead of the schedule! | in the Pacific campaign,” Knox said | D e Alaska, U. S. Now Linked | ByTelephone Conimumcahon Establish- | ed af Three Key Pomts f] -Officials Talk WHITEHORSE, Y. T, Nov. 20.— The first overland- telephone -com- munication in history between the United States and .Alaska was:es- tablished by the completion of & 2,026 mile system pnrallelmg the Alaska Highway. James O'Connor an- {nounced the final link was finish- ed and declared the censtruction feat matched the biulding of the| highway. “Holes for the poles were blaste out of the frozen ground at 60 below zero, and the wires strung through corridors in the woods which were cleared in the fiercest sort of Arctic weather. The Army Signal Corps and associated con- tractors may well be proud of the | feat,”. declared O'Connor. Heralding the completion, Maj. Gen. W. D. Styer, Chief of Staff of the Army SVC forces at Wash- ington, held conversations with Anchorage, Whitehorse, and Fair- banks, the three key points. ‘He talked with Col. Lawrence Schick of the Alaska Department at An- chorage, with Col. K. B. Bush of the Northwest Service Command at ‘Whitehorse, and with Lt. Col. H. P. Little of the Army Air Corps at | Fairbanks. ARMY, NAVY TURN BACK LARGE SUMS But Treasury Insists, How- ever, that Additional Taxes Necessary ‘WASHINGTON, Nov. 20. — Con- gressman John Taber, Republican of New York, said the Navy may find it unnecessary to spend Five Billion dollars of its funds during this fiscal year bringing the total |“savings” by the Armed Forces to more than eighteen billion dol- {lars. It was announced earlier the Army .might turn back thirteen million dollars of its funds. Treasury officials, notwithstand- ing this “saving,” insist additional taxes are not lessened by the re- ports of the Army and Navy, ARESTRONG' . | WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.—Amer- | S8 Hallbul Quofa Increase Now Being 7Sough|3 \Ketchikan Or ganizations Have Recommenda- KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Nov. 20. | The Ketchikan Branch of the Fish- ing Vessel Owners Association and | Deep Sea Fishermens Union have | adopted recommendations to - the | | International Fisheries Commission, | which meets in Seattle on Novem- Hm 30, with representatives of the | two organizations The recommendations, which will | be taken to the conference by Thor} Hendricksen, local manager of the| | Association who will represent both | |groups, include an increase in the | [halibut quota by 3,500,000 “pounds | ‘\0 54,000,000 pounds with the in- |crease divided equally between Alm\ two and three: ' The - increase from 14 percent to 25 percent, of halibut allowed .to be sold in |area two following the close of the {regular season: That the closed nursery. grounds|. %y both ‘be‘ patrolled continually Canadians and Americans: That the Government take steps| LD exterminate sea lions along the (oa&I Fishermen are complaining | that during the past season the |'toll of ‘halibut by the sea lions was heavy and sea lions are increasing mpiflly | i fions fo Be Made | | k h | the present | amount |} ,CORDOVA HIT { ‘BY TERRIFIC | Warehouses:Blown Down, [ Roofs Unroofed, Com- | munications Cut CORDOVA, Alaska, Nov. fierce tempest, the worst since 1934, | systematically torn the town apart |started to abate about noon. The storm blew down a large warehouse, a city warehouse, the Mitumura Building on Second Street, and the 12-room O'Neill {house on Fourth Street. Windows |all over town are broken and much damage is done to small boats in the harbor. Electric light and telephone lines also are down all over the town, and only one electric circuit is in operation. Approximately 80 elec- tric ranges are out of commission. ‘The wind gusts reached more, than 70 miles an hour, and were of | the tornado type. Roofs were ripped ings, but no casualties occurred. DE MARIGNY IS FINED; PAY UP OR GO T0 JALL NASSAU, The Bahamas, Nov. 20. —Alfred de Marigny, acquitted last week on a charge of murdering his millionaire father-in-law, Sir Harry Oakes, drew a 100 pound fine or a three month's prison sen- tence if he fails to pay it, for il- legal possession of gasoline. He im- mediately filed notice of appeal. - Magistrate Field said the only reason he did not sentence de Mar- igny to prison was becuse it might thus delay deportation which the jury in the murder®case recom- mended. WIND STORM since six o'clock this morning, has| off a couple of unoccupied rbuild- | P ROCKET SHELL_An American airman in England holds & piece of metal which was found in the wing of a Flying Fortress afler n rzmrned from a bombing mission over Germany. It is be- lieved to be a specimen of the German rocket shell. Girls Rule Capifal’s NoMan's Land;Every | T N By JACK or making over last year’s duds. The girls have a sense of humor about their “town.” They generally' WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.— Girls, | girls, girls. | There is no more fascinating city within a city in the United States |than Washington's Girl Town. It straddles the Potomac River, with dermitories in Potomac Park on the “Hair Ribbdn Village,” “Femme Acr and “Hairpin Town." Most of the girls who live in Lhese dormitories work either for the Army or Navy, principally beeause housed there and there soon will a month for their ‘be close to 10,000. These are Uncle even under rent cellings existing ‘Suma nieces and although' nearly elsewhere in the District, is just {all the stories you have heard about ,about bottom rentals for anything bad living conditions in Washing. uql,.slde the slum areas. |ton are true, the lucky ones of Girlf ; * Town are well taken care of. i The girls have their problems, luo, On the Virginia side, the girls but most of them can he summed hflve their own hospital where se -»up in two words: . Men and #ans- vlces are free. They have c.Afflerwportamon The shortage of men is ua. night schools, dress shops, in- one of the chief topics of conversa- |door and outdoor recreational fa-|tion in Girls Town. Recreational| | cilities, beauty parlors, and uwy committees are struggling to over- Isoon will have their own movie and ' come Jthat. Dances to which ser- newspaper. videmen are invited and other forms For practically nothing ihey can Of entertainment designed to at- geb a |course that sets them off as well quently, but after all supglying as if they had been through one of dates for 10,000 girls in this man- the swank beauty parlors on Fifth 'shy town is almost an impossible Avenue. For a pittance, they can hurdle. get elementary or refresher courses, The Public Buildings Administra- {in shorthand, typing, some foreign ‘tion is working on the transporta- | |languages. The courses are oflmed‘“‘m problem, tvo; trying to get.the under the difection of National | |city’s already overtaxed bus system University, with full college credll.s‘“’ sel up new routes and improve for those who are planning to pick 5¢rvice and charges on those al- {up education .where they left off, lready existing. once the war is_over. One of the ironies of wartime Washington is that the girls in They have bowling alleys, melr!PBA' which has charge of Girls own girl orchestra, amateur dra-|TOWn. can't live there. Their pri- matics, sewing machines they may|Ority ratings aren’t high enough. | Facility Is Supplied 20.—A | use for making their own clothes | | District side of the river, and in these departments jhthf hl‘dd the | : ; sinia 8Yeatest expansion’ in employment | Arlington Farms on the Virginia Sl v tot Drloelty - on govern- side. {ment housing projects. Already nearly 8000 girls are ' The girls pay from $16.50 to $24.50 rooms which, | $45 personality grooming tract the males are planned fre-| ALLlED AIR FORCE TARGET — This map locates principal landmarks around Berlin, Germany, and nearby suburbs, including the lunoul ’l‘emnlelwl airdrome. 0IL PROJECT i | | | | ‘Congressnonal Committee o Investigate Canad- NEXT MONDAY: ian Petfroleum Plan | OTTAWA, Nov. 20. — 'The Cana- idian Department of External Af- Trah's disclosed details of a project |for including a refinery and sever- | lal hundred miles of pipeline to supply the U. 8. Army in Alaska |and Canada with gasoline and {other petroleum products from the 'new oil field in the Canadian ‘Nur(hwo:sl, | The project has already been the itarget of criticism by the United States Congress through the Tru- iman Senate Investigating Commit- tee, which has scheduled an in- quiry for next Monday. The project includes the drilling of 26 test wells at the expense of the United States and Canada, and acquiring the necessary land and rights of way. Completed In January The announcement said the pipe- line from the Norman wells to ,Whlwhnrae, where the refinery i | { | from Skagway to Whitehorse is al- |ready in operation according to the annotncement, and the Whitehorse (Continued on Page Two) el e tp—r— MORE ISLES ARE TAKEN BY GERMANS. ' LONDON, Nov. 20.— Occupation lof three more small islands in the Aegean Sea, Ikaria, Lipsos and Pat- mos, is claimed by the Germans in a broadcast from Berlin, as a |sequel to the loss of the British of the island of Leros. The islands are a stepping stone in the battle in the eastern Med- iterranean. Ikaria is a small Greek Island west of Samos, north of the Italian Dodecanese. The island was occu- | pled, the broadcast says, by a group of Ttalians who were taken pri- SONers. Lipsos and Patmos are small rocky isles north of Leros. The hroadeast said these were also gar- | risoned by Italians, Allied announcements never pre- viously claimed occupation of these islands. INQUIRY DUE |being built, will probably be com-' refer to it as “No Man’s Land,” {pleled by January. The pipeline| |LEVERKUSEN " 1S BLASTED, " NIGHT RAID Chemical Center Attacked —Follows Big Assaults of Two Days LONDON, Nov. 20. — Royal Air Force bombers returning on the third successive night, blasted Lev- erkusen and other Rhineland tar- tgets last night. Leverkusen i5 a chemical center six miles north of Cologne, and was last hit on Au- gust 22 . Five planes, wheh also laid mines in enemy waters, failed to return. |Weather prevented immediate ob- servation of the results of the raid at Leverkusen, where poison gas jcomponents are known to be man- ufactured. Last night's foray followed the |two recent ralds on the world’s |largest chemical center at Ludwig- shafen. The force presumably was smaller than the record fleet' of nearly 1,000 planes which smashed Berlin and Ludwigshafen on Thurs- Iday night when close to 2,500 long ftons were. dropped during the most | destructive raid on Berlin, All day yesterday the German radio talked of bombs falling " inh the suburbs of Berlin. There is ywhere many key factories are lo- {cawd. 3 i Maj. Gen. William Kepneg, Chief lof the United States Eighth Air- force Fighter Command said, “Now we have only to increase our bomb- ers and supporting fighters proper- Itionately to concentrate on their heavy industry, and Germany will | crumble.” ————- - (GOP Members Demand Less 0f Spending WASHINGTON, Nov. 20.—Repub- lican members of the House Ways and Means Committee demanded deep retrenchment of wartime, spending, but pledged their support .| to the new $2,140,000,000 revenue measure. “For too long the overburdered taxpayer has been the forgotten | man,” the minority said Jn a sup- plementary report as the full com- mittee formally reported on the new Ty bill, and they remarked that “for too long the watchword has been to spend and spend and tax and tax.” The measure was whittled in committee to about one-fifth of what the Treasury Department asks, The bill reaches the House floor Tuesday. e & — PETAIN HAS QUIT OFFICE, REPORT NOW . (By Associated Press) Morocco and Dakar radios in North Africa said Vichy has broad- cast' thé announcement that Mar- 'shal Petain has resigned. ‘This report is not confirmed from any other sources. The Morocco radio first reported, the broadcast being in a woman's voice, that the German controlled radio at Vichy broke in ahead of the news bulletins and announced “Petain has resigned.” The Dakar radio later said re- ports of Petain's resignation are ,confirmed by the Vichy radie.