The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 13, 1944, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLII., NO. 9548. Jap Landing Att Rommel Inspedts Troops BARGESWITH | TROOPS SUNK BY MARINES Enemy's Eff?)g fo Halt Ad- vance at Borgen Bay Are Beaten Back ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD- QUARTIIRS IN NEW GUINEA, Jan. 13.—American Marine artillery smashed the night attempt of the Japanese to land reinforcements at Borgen Bay, near the Marines in- | vasion beachhead, on Cape Gloucest- | er, New Britain Island. | The enemy’s effort to halt the ad- vance of the Marines cost them 2,400 dead so far and the sinking of two large troop-filled barges. This is the report in today’s com- munique from Gen. Douglas Mac- | Arthur's headquarters which also said the Marines are maintaining a steady pressure in the Borgen Bay | area where fighting is heaviest in | the Hill 660 area Aussies in Advance | Australian jungle fighters have | made another advance of three miles | along the coast of Huon Peninsula, New Guinea, where the Japs are ap- parently attempting to evacuate troops threatened with entrapment between the Australian and Amer- - | (Continued on rage Two) The Washingionl Merry - Go- Round By DREW PEARSON (Major Robert 8. Allen on active duty) | 1 WASHTNGTON—POSL office of- ficials have been checking into the thousands of postage-free letters which Congressman James Morri- son has been scattering over Lou- isiana, to see whether he has vio- lated the franking privilege ! Morrison, nicknamed the “syn- thetic Huey Long,” is running for Governor of Louisiana and, despite the paper shortage and over-bur-| dened postal employees, has deluged the State with about a quarter of a million letters—all of them free. The letters contain an appeal by Morrison to vote for him for Gov- ernor. The appeal has no subter- fuge about it. “I am writing you this letter,” says the would-be Gov- ernor of Louisiana. “to ask for youx vote and your support in the com- ing Governor's electio { This appeal for votes, taken by, itself, would be in violation of pos-| tal laws when sent under a Con- gressman’s franking privilege. How- ever, the gentieman from Louisiana very cleverly inserted in the same| envelope an excerpt from the Con-l gressional Record containing one of | his speeches entitled “Our War| Heroes Deserve the Best.” By slipping this speech into the vote-seeking letter, Morrison seems' to have got under the legal wire.| The post office, after carciully| studying the matter, has ruled that this distribution of a Congressional speech, even when accompanied by an appedi for votes, falls within ihe rights of a Congressman as far as free mailing privileges are con- cerned. | So Morrison, who in his campaign for Congress once shot himself su- perficially in the arm and put cat- sup all over himself to give the impression of a Huey Long assass- ination plot, is blithely continuing his eampaign for Governor — with the help of free mail CAPITAL CHAFF Ma Perkins was hopping mad be-i cause she, as Secretary of Labor, wasn't kept informed of several im- portant moves made* in the rail wage dispute * * * The War De-| partment is keeping a watchful eye . on the labor policies of hard- work- | ing Lt. Gen. Robert C. Richardson,’ commanding officer in Hawaii. He is suspected of playing in too close with the big sugar barons * * * Hard-working “Muley Bob” Dough- | ton, chairman of the Ways and (Continued on Page Four) | mot counted. JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1944 e — MEMBE.R ASSOCIATF D PRESS PRICE TEN CENTY AMERICANS CLOSING IN ON CASSINO - Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (center) inspects German troops in Denmark, according to caption accom- panying this photo, supplied by Pressens Bild, Swedish picture agency.. as General Hermann ven Hannecken, Stockholm. i German Commander in Denma RED CROSS WORKERS VISIT PAI.ACE A QUARTET of American Red Cross workers pass through a doorway' guarded by a Sikh trooper at the G overnor’s Palace in Calcutta, India, during a sightseeing tour. The girls are (1. tor.): Esther Fenning, Lin- coln, Neb.; Geraldine Adams, Youngstown, O.; Beverly Brown, Chapel Hill, N. C.; Margie White, Nashville, Tenn. (lnlz»rnatmnal Soufldpha!a) {making the actual plans, Roosevelt Tounsl Business in Capitol Is L] Hard Hl' 1 would not have to be spent. | | The budget included a demand fo By War, But Survives By JACK STINNETT | WASHINGTON, Jan. 13.—Tour- ist business isn't what it used to br'[ lin the nation’s Capitol, but it's still | thriving. Capitol tour guides estimate that | business has dropped off about one- third since Pearl Harpor, but i hard to check exactly because the' 25-cent fee isn't charged service per- sonnel and those not charged are On week days, the number of servicemen and women who want to see the Capitol from the sub-basement up is small. The guides attribute this to the fact that service personnel has little leisure time during the week. But five months ago the Capitol was opened Sundays to service personnel and | their escorts only, and since then the Capitol has become a Sunday | shrine for boys and girls of the armed forces. According to the guides, the war hasn't made much change in the tourist’s slant on things, except ,that the guides are constantly {bombarded by the declaration that “this is the first place in Washing- (ton where we have had a mendly \word or courteous treatment.” Often, toeing that mark of cour- tesy isn't so easy. Perhaps the mest frequent indignation expressed by the sightseers comes when they have to check their camaras at the doors. The second cause for constant ex- | planation is why Congress isn't al- ways in session and close behind that comes the blistering attack on Sénators and Representatives be- cause they don't keep theif seats cor even attend when speeches are btmg made from the floor. That last is a tough one because few visitors can be made to under- stand that most speeches are made “for the recor and that nearly all members’ friends and know what they are going to say| before they say it. If they don’t| they can read it in the Congress- ional Record the following morning. | Besides, if all members stayed on, the floor all the time their respective chambers were in session, they would get precious little business |done for their constituents. The guides, however, have. an| answer: for everything and undoubt- edly are the best salesmen Wash- ington, Congress and the Capitol have. Although it isn't on the agenda, they answer- all questions about the statue of freedom on the Capitol's dome. They explain pa-| tiently often 4 score of times a/ day, why wartime visitors can't go up to the dome or down to Wash- ington’s tomb and why sthmglon isn't buried there. One of the real stumpers (-omes‘ from Louisianans who cry “Con- (Continued on Page Two) Man at extreme left is identified rk. (AP Wiréphoto by radio from — | the enemy.” Second Hundred Billion Now Before Congress WASHINGTON, Jan. 13.—Presi- dent Roosevelt laid before Congress today the second hundred billion dollar wartime budget embodying plans for at le 18 months more of global confl but at the same time reflecting preparations to ab- | sorb the impact of sudden victory in Europe For war activities alone the bud- | get projects expenditures of $90,000,- 000,000 for the fiscal year beginning { July 1, on the assumption that fight- ing will continue at full tilt to at | least the middle of 1945. | “We cannot rely with safety on hopes for an earlier victory,” in | said, but he noted the possibility of victory on “one of the major fronts” obviously the European, which | might be won earlier, and he said such a development would mean that much money which he now requests ia “truly stiff fiscal program” pror viding at least ten billion and a half of new taxes on top of the $40,- | 796,000,000 he estimated the present ‘The President also urged Congress | not to alter the contract renegotia- tion costs can be whittled down, or the automatic doubling of the one percent Social Security levies which would have gone into effect on fective date. He also advised thé lawmakers, | too, that his estimates are based on rnemlv:.;m(‘ assumption that the wage and | price line would be held, and bar- ring European victory or any other major development. The war program from the start of defense preparations in the mid- (dle of 1940 to June 30, 1945 will in- volve a total of $397,000,000,000, of which $292,000,000,000 will have been actually spcnt ROME IS BOMBED BULLETIN — LONDON, Jan. 13.—The Rome radio announced i late this afternoon that Rome was bombed at noon today. tion laws under which war produc- | | | crews revenue laws would produce in 1945. | 'HOMER GARVINIS | Januar'y 1 except for Congressional | action temporarily delaying the ef- | iand said the |shape from Whitehorse to Dawson |from Dr, George Dale of the Alaska ATNOON | Allen, J 'GERMANS ARE * ON HEELS, IS ARNOLD VIEW 'Plane Factories Hit in Raid| Tuesday Means Loss of Production ’i WICHITA, Knnsas. Jan, 13.—The | ‘Gm mans are now back on their | heels, Gen. H, H. Arnold, Army Alr | Force chief, told the reporters at a | conference here, releasing details of the Tuesday raid on Germany which hit Nazi plane production. Gen. Arnold said the raid, at al cost of five percent of the attacking force, meant that hundreds of Nazi fighter planes will never be manu- factured and “the Germans are back | on their heels but we dare not let | up.” | Commenting on the losses of the | ‘Umlu‘l States forces, Gen. Arnold asserted, “You cannot measure loss- | es by the yardstick. The loss of 10 of our planes, for instance, may not | | be as serious as the loss of 10 to FDRGIVES AjRMEN ARE BUDGETTO EAGER FOR LAWMAKERS ~ MoRE RAIDS Dollar Wartime Measure Commeniothers on Tues-| day’s Battle Is "We | Won, Didn't Wel” LONDON, Jan. 13.—New Ameri- can bombers are already on the runways to replace the 59 lost in Tuesday’s spectacular raid on cen- tral Germany, and fliers who took part in the great three-hour battle are eager to get on with the cam-, paign against the Nazis. | “We have plenty of replacements and can take a whole lot more war | losses than we suffered on Tues: day,” an Eighth Airforce spokes- man said, as American losses were balanced against the more than| 100. Nazi craft downed in the de-| struction dropped on three centers| of Nazi plane production. | Returned airmen summed up th‘ flaming three-hour battle against | swarms of Nazi rocket fighters and rocket ground crews with these; words: “We won, didn't we?” ] Forty-eight hours after lhr truggle five miles in the sky, are still streaming back L(' their home bases from emergency landings due to battle damage. Official interrogations are con {tinuing and expected to in: crease the claim of more than 100 Nazi planes knocked down. RE-ELECTED PRES. | OF CHAMBER HERE Homer Garvin has been re-elect- ed as President of the Chamber of | Commerce for 1944, it was an-| neunced today as the Chamber met in the Gold Room of the Baranof Hotel for its regular meeting. Sec- retary Willis R. Booth also reported | that the Executive Board had elect- ed A. W. Blackerby to the Board. Dr. J. O. Rude spoke on his trip| south from Whitehorse by bus over the Alaska Military Highway. Hnj made the 950-mile trip in 46 hours, road was in good Creek. An OWI film newsreel, for showing by Curtis Shattauck obtained | Office of Indian Affairs also was shown, Guests today were Capts. Glen V., Clew-Ziff and R. Branard, U. 8. Army. BUY WAR BONDS | Pinsk, empt Smashed; 240 RESCUED AFTER 20 DAYS IN JUNG WEARING A STRING OF BEADS given him by friendly natives, Lt. John J. Durkin of Westfield, N. J., is greeted by members of a Catalina flying boat who rescued him after he spent 20 days in the New Guinea jungles, He was forced down when he ran out of gas in a battle with two Zeros. This is second hme he has been listed as “m)sslnx MARDVI PRETTY! Out of the Mardi Gras country and into a New York night club revue has gone Edna Joyce, “Miss Orl s of 1942." She's an acrobatic dancer and her am- bition is to do as well show business as two of her “Miss New Orleans” predecessors, Dell and Porothy Lamour did all fi[hl in the movies, REDS SWEEP AHEADNOWIN POLAND AREA Using Sarny as Pivot, So- viet Columns Threaten Nazi Strongholds MOSCOW, Jan. 13. General Vatutin’s highly mobile First Ukrainian Army, expanding its front in the Sarny sector of old Poland to a width of 50 miles or more, struck out in several sweeping movements to threaten the German-held strong- holds of Rovno, Pinsk and Kovel, A strong armored. infantry force of Vatutin's right wing which cap- tured Dombrovitss, 20 miles north of Sarny on the Rovno-Sarny-Bar- anowicze railway, fought their way through frozen marshland country to within 50 miles southwest of important cpnter on the Gomel-Brest-Litovsk railway. It has already passed the worst of the Pripet Marshes, and advance units have approached the high rolling ground beyond the swamps while this force is smashing its way north- west. (C(;nunucd on P:;ze Six) (Imerrm!umal) _ LIBERTIES FAULTYIN BUILDING Sensational Testlmony Is Given in Ship Probe Hearing in Seattle SEATTLE, Jan. 13. — A United States Maritime Commission In- spector, testifying before the Tru- man Committee hearing into the cracking of a reported 14 Liberty ships, charged that both his super- fors and the Henry J. Kaiser's Ore- gon Shipbuilding Corporation ig- nored his warning that “tremendous stresses” were locked into ships, and that his senior inspector once said “Forget it.” Robert P. Day said he was an inspector at the Kaiser operated shipyards at Portland, Oregon, and was ordered by his superiors to cease criticism of the company's fitting and welding methods and was not to talk to the workers. Day said he tried to bring matters to the attention of the chief of the United States Maritime Commission on the Pacific Coast, USMC Com- missioner Rear Admral Vickery and senior inspectors, none of whom would discuss the matter with him and finally he sought an interview with Edgar Kaiser, President of the corpoartion, but was denied an audience, with him No Welding System Day charged the Kaiser company failed to use any planned procedure in welding despite repeated warn- ings the hull would be weakened and probably crack open, particular- ly where water temperatures are low. Senator Mon C. Wallgren said he is leaving immediately for Washing- ton to lay the testimony before a committee. He said the hearings would be resumed late in February Crack in Hull Another witness was Capt. Charles C. Graham, master of the Chief Washakie, since her christening in December, 1942, and which Liberty ship cracked in Alaskan waters, He testified of his personal inspection and declared he found a crack in the steel hull “which had been daubed full of read lead putty and covered with red paint” and then launched “This crack was in the second place below the sheer strake on the port side. It was almost through the plate, was % of an inch wide and about 24 inches long. “The fracture which broke this ship apart either came from, or came to, this old crack, which was filled with red lead putty and hidden by hull paint.” Seabees Make Find Discovered by Seabees in Dutck Harbor, after the Washakie had split open for the second time on the same voyage, the “hidden” cnck (Contmued on Pnze ’hln) 0 Killed " 'THREE SIDES | OF BASTION IS ATTACKED j Fifth Army Broadens Great Offensive~French Are Also Advancing ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN ALGIERS, Jan. 13.—Virtually the {eutire American Fifth Army is on the move as they broadened the offensive from near the coast to | central Italy, and sent French units hammering through the 3,000 to 4,- 000-foot high mountains to threaten Cassino from a third side. Ameriean infantry has swept to within three miles of Cassino in a frontal attack, capturing Cervaro at 1 p. m. yesterday after almost sur- rounding the village, headquarters said, and the Germans have already announced the loss. | In the first day of the French offensive in the mountains of cene | tral Italy, General Juin’s troops ad- . vanced two-thirds of a mile south- west of Roccheta, 12 miles northwest of Cervaro, and captured a 3,000~ foot peak overlooking the road wind- nig almost due west between Isernia and Colllatina. The French took several points on the 4,000-foot Monna Casale range and recaptured two peaks previously lost, Mt. Mol- lino overlooking Acquafondale, sev- en miles northwest of Cassino, and Mt. Raimo in the same area to the nw Viticuso, he surprise French advance caught a number of German pris- oners. On the Eighth Army front only patrol activity and heavy ar- tillery fire were reported. e ALASKA ITEMS CONTAINED IN NEW BUDGET Appropriations of Over Three Million Dollars Requested for North WASHINGTON, Jan. 13. — The ippropriation of $3,243,800 for gen- ‘ral government expenditures in Al- aska for the fiscal year starting July 1, has been recommended by President Roosevelt in his budget message. The amount compares with $2,192,600 appropriated for the resent year. The President asked $5,000,000 for the Alaska Railroad, $1,000,000 under the current year, in addition to var- lous departments who asked for unds to carry on activities in Alaska. The budget called for $38,600 for salaries and expenses:for the office »f Governor, an increase of $2,000. | $49,200 for legislative expense, $50,000 for public school: the same 1 this year. $273,000 for the care‘and custody of the insane, unchanged from this year. $1,180,000 for roads, bridges and . trails, the same as this year. ° » $1,500,000 for the reconstruction of the Richardson Highway for which only $500,000 was appropriat- >d this rear, and also asked for 1000 o ‘trust funds to be used ‘lor the dimprovement of roads, aridges and trails, the same as this ear. Other recommended expenditures ncluded $156,000 to enforce the Al- iska Game Law: $100,000 as pay- nent to persons engaged in killing ind skinning foxes and seals; $27,- 00 for the Mount McKinley Na- ional Park Agricultural Extension; 523,950 for the Experiment Station; 137,500 trustee fund for Alaska town- ites: $200,000 for medical relief of he Natives, $691,000 for the educa- ion of the Natives; $1,440,000 for he reindeer service; $96,000 for the srevention of fire in the public do- main.. $33,000 for the investigation f mineral resources; $177,000 for itar route airmail service; $500,000 for the relief of indigents, $277,840 ‘or Signal Corps, Alaska Communi- cations Service.