The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 29, 1946, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE T TIME” VOL. LXVI., NO. 10,180 ]UNLA’U ALASKA, TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1946 MEMBFR—ASSOCIATED'PRfss me——— PRICE TEN CENTS it Skl — WAGE NEGOTIATIONS SOUGHT IN STRIKE i bl ;ANNAMITE | ‘(IW (ENTER (Gee Whiz! Just See What STATE OF SIEGE IN SANTIAGO Chilean Government An-| nounces Showdown Fight with-Labor By Vaughn Bryant SANTIAGO, Chile, Jan. 29.——Th0 Chilean cabinet was reshuffled to- day as the government prepared rm a showdown with labor by impos; ing strict censorship and a 60-da state of siege following a bloody riot yesterday afternoon between police and labor demonstrators in which five persons were killed and 77 injured. Mounted troops patrolled Santia- go streets early this morning and the government ordered all soldiers on leave to report to their barracks and hold themselves ready for duty. Two changes were made in the cabinet, giving military men new ! posts of authority, and some quar- | ters predicted other appointments would be forthcoming. Nationwide Strike During the rioting, which took place in the heart of this city, Bernard Ebanez, General Secretary | of the Chilean workers federation grasped a microphone and an- nounced that a general nationwide | strike would be called immediately | to protest the action of the police. | One of those killed was a wo- man. Six women and five police- men were known to be among those wounded. The condition of | 25 of the wounded was lepmted as serious. “Some estimates pluced the num- ber of dead at 12, but only 5 deaths could be confirmed. Banners Dipped in Blood After the fighting strators, Federation, streets with banners blood. The government blamed the out- break on ‘“extremist action,” but the Workers Federation quickly is- the in paraded through dipped sued an answering blast in which | it placed the responsibility on the government police. The fighting broke out after po- lice had asked speakers addressing | a mass meeting in downtown Plaze Bulnes to moderate their attacks against the government. B R. R. MILLER HERE R. R. Miller has arrived in Ju- neau from Seattle. He is stopping | at the Baranof. e — The Washington' Merry - Go-Round | By DRFW PEARSON WASHINGTON—It gives no joy to issue storm warnings. But the price-wage turmoil of today may | have equal or even greater reper- cussions next spring when farmers lose their food subsidics. What most people don't realize is that the public is squarely in between two powerful, well-organ- ized pressure groups, both with very conflicting interests, both some- times taking a public-be-darnned‘ attitude. One is organized labor. The other is.the farm organiza- tions, which, while they can't strike, can and will exert effective pres- sure when subsidies are removed. Both groups work against each other in the following manner: When labor raises wages in the cities, this sucks labor away from the farms. Whereupon the farmer has to raise farm wages in order to competé with the cities. This ir turn increases his cost of produc- tion, forcing him to incréase pric- es or go out of business. At present, the farmer can't in- crease prices because of OPA. So the Government, recognizing the injustice of his higher operating costs, gives him a subsidy. When this subsidy is removed, he will have to increase prices—unless op- | erating costs are reduced. And the current strike wave is constantly forcing up the cost of labor. All this operates in a vicious, circle. For, the minute food prices go up, labor will come in wage increase, based upon the cost | of living. Organized labor, of course, can better take care of itself. But unor- ganized and unprotected are a (Conlinued on Page Four) Strike Against Strikers | Votedby Nebr. Farmers EDGAR, Neb., Jan lor 217 Clay County said they need “farm 'mx\Chll\mv bathtubs and {ators” la night voted | against strikes. In a tesolution A group farmers who tools and refriger- a strike by proposed V. | o Hubert Johnson, the group decided to withhold their farm produce from market until the nation’s in- dustrial workers return to their | jobs. Johnson was named head of a committee which will fix the date of the ])mpnwrl strike. One Man Army” Namedin | Marriage Annulment Case RESISTANCE Attack - Other News, Asiatic Front (BY THE Airborne | | OCIATED PRESS) French lhmo smashed Annamite resistance in southern Indo-China, a French communnique reported today. The French Second Armored Di- by Spectacular Fire Last Night :‘ e i Juneau’s second two-alarm fire in| of the Imperial Cafe and on up m\—\ other 100 feet into the sky above| ISLUMEDBY That Atomic Bomb Test Is ISSMASHED, FIERYTORCH Going fo Do, When and How! Airborne French Troops in: Imperial Cafe Hofel Struck| Nolse waye; /From Sun Are Recorded SYDNEY, Jan. 29.—-A govern- troops leamed little more than a week shot SPeC- | ment scientist reported today .that with tanks amd colonial infantry, tnculx-)v up the grease choked flue! ustralian radio physics, using ra- in on has recorded waves genereted dar equipment, Sydney noise {Triangl> Place here last night &t he surface or interior of the sun. SERC o'olock The scientist, who declined use 4 the demon-, members of the Workers | BIG VESSEL - AGROUND, - ALEUTIANS Fierce Gales Floodmg Com- | partments, Hampering Rescue of Crew . BULLETIN—Seattle, Jan. A message from the Nav operating base at Adak says the crew of the Crown Reefer have been taken off, the ship's engine rooms are flooded and | the double bottem apparen:ly | tern completely open. Salvage | work will start when the storm abates. i ! SEATTLE, Jan. 29—The 13th iNaval District reported late last night the 5100-ton refrigerator ship Crown Reefer was hard aground on Amchitka Island in the Aleutians and fierce gales were flooding compartments and ham- pering efforts to rescue her crew of ' 45 and “several” passengers. | Several merchant ships and sal-! ! vage vessels were standing by off the jagged Kirilof Point rocks, at- tempting to remove passengers and | crew. The ship ran aground on the ' east-shore point of the island Sun- day night in a heavy storm | Names of the passengers crew were not available. | The Crown Reefer sailed [Seatue Jan. 1 with a cargo of per- 'ishables for the Army at Kodiak 'Island and other Aleutian bases. | COMPROMISE IS REACHED ON UNO SECRETARY-GEN. and | 1\ in Controversy, Rus- sia and Iran (BY JOHN M. HIGHTOWER) LONDON, Jan. 29.—Top officials predicted today that the Security Council shortly would nominate | Norwegian Foreign Minister Trygve iLie as a compromise candidate for the $20,000-a-year post as secretary- {general of the United Nations or- 1 ganization. i In the tense dispute between Russia and Iran, representatives of {the two countries were expected to, meet today to seek a solution of that controversy. ! 1 i { | from | |Solutin Also Bemg Soughtl Obstacles to the agreement on a’ leecretary-general mostly were work- | By John Grover MANILA, Jan. 29. — A Bataan civilian nurse today asked annul- men of a marriage she said she had contracted Dec. 7, 1941, with Maj. Arthur Wermuth, famed “one- ! man army,” in ignorance of the| fact he had previously married in! the United States, (In Traverse City, muth said the alleged m: Manila “is news to me. know a thing about it. flatly deny it, right now.") The annulment petition, filed in the Manila ecourts, was signed Mrs. | Olivia Josephine Qswald Wermuth (Wermuth, who recently announc- ed he probably would seek a U Senate seat when he leaves Army, said he didn't even her. Wermuth married. Jean kins of Chicago on June 1, 1935) Miss Oswald, who has been using her maiden name &ince she learned of Wermuth's marriage, said in her petition that she married him after a whirlwind courtship, on the roof | garden of the Great Eastern Hotel in a twilight ceremony the day be- fore the Japanese bombed Manila An Army Chaplain whom she | named as H. Stainbavk performed the ceremony, she said, and her honeymoon was spent in the tragic setting of Bataan where Wermuth earned world renown as the slayer' age in'! I the know of at least 116 Japanese before he ' | was captured. Wermuth had been ordered back | to his regiment within 24 hours after -her wedding, her brunette, Bataan, now 25, joined him acting as civilian nurse. After the surrender, she followed the death marchers to Camp , O’Donnell—hoping to aid him She told interviewers she was ‘stunned and unbelieving when she first saw the pictures of Wermuth's | American wife, but that after she ! had confirmed that marriage, she! | decided to file an annulment ac- | tion, to make a clean break and start a new life. > New Movemenls - Against [falian Govt. Is Report | ROME, Jan. 39.—The Italian news agency ANSA reported today that! |two new neo- -fascist movements had !been uncovered in Milan by the ar-‘ Wer- | don't | I want to| Wil- : petition | continued, and the tall, attractive on | yvision which helped liberate Paris ja - Damage today was found to be at| of his name, said Australians be- nd capture Strasbourg, p‘nuclpat— a minimum compared to the serious! !lieve they are the first to have re- jed. Their operations included seiz- threat made by the flames to en-| . .jed sun noises. ‘ ure of the important city of Dalat, 150 miles inland from the China Sea. |the Annamites thus far Heavy i fighting was reported in northern | sections of the southeastern Asiatie | | countty yesterday. Java Hostilities Hostilities between the British and | Indonesians contifiued in Java, but jon small scale Indonesians at- (tacking a British company south- |west of Soerabaja were dispersed by ‘:.mnm-y and mortar fire! | In China and Japan, politics held {the limelight. The Japanese cabinet | announced March 31 as the date for ithe vanquished nation's first eral election ‘under Allied scrutiny. |Men under 25 and women will be ;:lr:mlf‘ to vote for the first time. t Major Hurdle Cleared | A major hurdle was cleared at China’s political unity conference, with a subcommittee reporting uglvun"m on the powers of the pro- | jected, reorganized state - council. | Government sources said it was A;,wvd (1) To transfer the power lof appointment to the council from Ithe Central Executive committee of 'the Kuomintang (National party); 1(2) That the Council could override the President's veto by three-fifths majority; and (3) that the Presi- dent’s emergency powers must ke ap- proved by the council. Still unsettled in conference com- mittee was the question of represen- tation in the executive Yuan, or cab- inet. In Korec | In Korea, Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge jurged the citizenry to reappraise the !nation’s leaders. The American oc- icupation commander called no names ‘but charged certain leaders with attempting to gain power by larousing the people on false issues such. as the recent anti-trusteeship | demonstrations. { il 'U. 5. PRISONERS | ENTERTAIN JAPS . ATDEATH OF FDR Charges Are Made During Start of Trial of Capt. Yihichi Sakamoto rest of eight persons, including al 19-year-old youth who aspired toi set up a new government with him- self as premier. ‘The clandestine groups, called the “Fascist Democratic Mpvement” and the “Italian Nationalist Movement” had branches in Turin and at least one other northern Italian city, the dispateh said. PP <y, . TR . STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Jan. 20.—Closing for more ' ed out at a five-power meeting quotation of Alaska Juneau mine last night in the hotel room of Ed- stock today is 97, American Can iward R. Stettinius, Jr., chief U. S. 100%, American Power and Light delegate. l18%, Aanconda 49%," Common- Authoritative information Was wealth and Southern 4%, Curtiss- that the United States suddenly wright 10, International Harvester gave up its advocacy of Lester gg jones-Laughlin Steel 50%, Ken- | | Pearson, Canadian ambassador O pecott 55%, New York Central | Washington, and Stettinius formally 341, Northern Pacific 35%, United proposed Lie as a compromise Who Corporation 71, U. S. Steel 9214 \might be acceptable to the United pound $4.03%. y States, Britain and Russia. { The 50-year-old Norwegian law- pow Jones averages today are 1yer-diplomat was Moscow's candi- 55 follows: industrials 205.35, rails |date for president of the UNO but g7g9 ytilities 41.29. lost- to Paul-Henri Spaak, foreign, minister of Belgium, in later ballot- & HOMELESS A United States proposal to set up an 1l1-member committee to s2ek |further contributions to UNRRA' MARYSVILLE, Kas.,—The. hous- from United Nations members was ing shortage plays no favorites. ‘ | atiopted unanimously by the assem- Maryville’s No. 2 fire truck is be- | ‘blys social and humanitarian com- ing “evicted” because the owner of | e i I | Sales today were 2,910,000 shares. | TOKYO, Jan. 29.—American pris- oners of war were forced to enter- tain at a Japanese party celebrat- ing the death of President Roosevelt, it was charged today in specifica- tions referred to the U. S. Eighth Army for the trial of Capt. Yihichi Sakamoto. { Allied headquarters’ legal section jalso charged Sakamoto, former com- jmander of two prison camps, with committing and permitting atrocit- ies. The specifications stated that Sakamoto “did wilfully and unlaw- fully mistreat, embarrass, and hu- miliate American prisoners of war by foreing them to attend and furn- ish entertainment at a party given by the Japanese celebrating the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” e Greece Appoinis New UNO Leader ATHENS, Jan. 29.—Premier The- mistokles Sophoulis today appointed George Exindaris, now in London, "as leader of the Greek delegation to the United Nations organization and instructed him to oppose the admis- gion of Albania as a member of the UNO. Exindaris succeeds Foreign Min-| the largest offensive against gen- | ‘untains carried the gulf a large section of the down- | town business district — a threat checked by the prompt arm and fast-paced action by (he Juneau Volunteer Fire Department As the towering column of flame |rogred into the night sky, tenants stteamed hurriedly from the two upper floors of the Stocker Building, in which the Imperial Cafe and| Hotel are located; groping through| smoke-filled hallway: The ground flgor aurant and billiard parlor | |were quickly emptied before the threat of fire whipping across the thickly paint-coated ceiling Take Precaution As a precaution, adjoining estab- liskments, including the Triangle Inn, Arctic Bar and rooming house, were evacuated. Four hose lines were promptly brought to bear upon the flames—one observer putting the time at thres minutes from arrival: of the fire truck until water was _collaring the column of fire. Lines, were run up the stairs of the Im- | perial Hotel to battle flames inside while others were passed across the . roofs of adjacent buildings and up! the rear of the Imperial to bear on the blaze from the top. The fire originated in the hood over the restaurant range and im- mediately whipped up the twisting: metal flue, then flashed across the ceiling of the ground-floor establish- ment, startling the many patrons of | the place during that peak business hour, and leaving a wide swath of blackened and blistered paint; the, [ chief damage suffered in the lower i, quarters of the building. Flames Carried The scarlet-hot metal range flue, running up the exterior of the metal | sheathed structure carried the flames onto the roof where on¢ of the! major battles against the fire was| fought. The principal damage oc- curred on the sccond story, the lower of two residential . floors,| where the intense heat surged| through the window of a hotel room | alongside the flue stack. Ignited| flames to the iloor of the room where they ate their way through the flooring to at-: tack the structural timbers of floor and walls and put up their most determined resistance. Three Rocms Damaged Although several Imperial resi-! dents sought shelter elsewhere last night, because of smoke and seeping water, it was found today that only | three rooms of the Imperial Hotel were untenantable. One top-story | room suffered considerable water | damage. The small second-floor room where the fire gained head-! way inside the building will require | extensive repairs, as will the exit| corridor directly below. An ad- joining second-floor room is smoke and water damaged. Window frames were charred and panes broken in a storeroom in the adjeining building above the Tri- angle Inn, but damage there is ex- pected to total only around $100, as metal exterior surface protected the He told the Associated Press the | difference between the Australian’s | unique achievement and that of U. | U. Army Signal Corps men who es- | tablished radar contact with the moon was that the Americans sent out a signal and heard an echo, whereas the Australians had not sent out any signal. “The success of these efforts will ! provide a valuable contribution to scientific knowledge of the universe and the solar system,” he said “The life of every person on earth | may be affected materially as a re- | sult.” He did not elaborate. Shot Down Like Hog Two Go 1o Prison for Life— Another, a Youth, Given 12 Years JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Jan. 29. —An Ozark Hills woman and her neighbor-lover began life prison terms today while in another part jof the prison her 15-year-old son ng out their murder plot against his father. Sentencing of the three — Mrs, Henry Westerman, 31; Ben French, the 43-year-old neighbor, and Gene Westerman, the son—furnished the Ozark hamlet of Vienna one of its biggest events, Schools were dismissed—and from srrled a 12 year sentence for car- \ ! miles around the hills folk flocked to circuit Judge Sam' C. Blair's courtroom where the three pleaded guilty yesterday to murder charges. Prosecuting attorney Hamp Roth- well offered signed confessions which related that the youth, after being talked into it by his mother and French, called his father from bed at midnight last Dec. 2 and with a rifle"“shot Pa down like I would a hog." The father had returned only a short time before from war plant job in Kansas. - oo John Roosevelf Is On New Job LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29.—John Roosevelt, who managed Boston department store the war, has g e ladies’ ready-to- wear business. Lee Good, District Mnnagn of a home a ! chain of feminine clothing stores, announces that the youngest son of the late President has joined the | pletely into internal cavities, GRAIN SHORTAGE building itself from the heat from! . the blazing flue. Damage fo lhe'umanlzauon in an executive capa- Stocker building is estimated at Y- e | Roosevelt, 29, recently was releas- bout $2500. All damage is eov-| ?red by‘k’fsol?rance — ed from the Navy, which he joined ? in 1941, The Imperial Cafe is operated by: George Baroumes, the billiard parlor by Pasquan and Brignole. J. J.| ,Stocker is owmer of the building. The | Imperial Hotel, managed by Mrs Jack Kearney, contains five apart- ments and 21 rooms. BUNTSITESAAONR M. SGT. MORRISON IS BACK IN THIS CIiTy U i g | M-Sgt. Malcolm E. Morrison ar- METCALFS RETURN ried from Seattle on the Yukon and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Metcalf re- assumes the position of Chief Op- turned on the steamer Yukon from |erator in the Signal Corps here, Seattle, where Mrs. Metcalf hassucceeding Cec Everetts, transferred spent the past several months with {to Seattle. Mrs. Morrison and their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. |daughter Gail asegmpanied Morri- and Mrs, Ray Hagerup. Mr. Met- son to Juneau. D calf went south in time to spend | Morrison is well known in Juneau, the Christmas holidays with the having been stationed here previous- “amfly. (ly during his long residence, then ‘They are guests at the Gastineau transferred to the Aleutians, then mm,ee after a table-pounding speech the building wants to convert the.ister John Sophianopoulos as chief Hotel for the present, while look- to Seattle where he was in the main by Rep. Sol Bloom, (D-N.Y.). ‘pxoperty delegate. ing for an apartment or a house. office of the Sigral Corps. WASHING] FUN. that would make a 75-mile an hour hurricane seem like a leaf-flutter- ing zephyr—generating a velocity of 500 to 1,000 miles an will result from the Navy's atomic bomb experimént on warships lonely Bikini atoll. ‘This was one of the predictions made by Navy and military experts as they speculated upon the effe of the bomb in its first application over water The initial pressure blast of hun- dreds of thousand of pounds per equare inch at the core of the ex-| plosion would: 1. Create the 500 to 1,000 mlles an hour winds; 2. Pile up 100-foot waves racing) outward from the blast. 3. Develop heat up to 100,000,000 degrees fahrenheit which will fuse the metal of the ships into molten | ma n fact, it does not com- ! issipate the vessels, { Jan. 29, Still to be adequately answered is| the question of radioactivity—what | effect radioactive water and air will have. As a precaution, island- | ers from nearby areas will be evac- | uated, as it is r led that thej Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions | above land affected persons radio- ~A wind! |Both Sides B(B;cted to Get hour—likely | at land R. Thomas, | velopments (GMAND C10 MEET WITH MEDIATOR Together by Wednes- day for Discussions DETROIT, .]un 29—~James F. | Dewey, Special Federal Labor me- | diator, ‘| General Motors and the CIO Unit- said this afternoon that (ed Auto Workers Union had amvand to renew wage negotiations in their | 10-day old strike. Dewey said details of the meeting were yet to be completed, but he hoped to have the parties together by Wednesday. He made the an- nouncement following meetings with GM President C. E. Wilson President, and Walter P. Reuther, Vice President of the UAW-CIO. There is no other spot news de- in the many other strikes. Two Youlhs Held In Kidnap-Slaying actively. Blood seeped through ap- parently undamaged skin to drain; { | | -ee — — CHICAGO, Jan. 20.—Two youths are being held for further ques- tioning in connection with the kid- nap-slaying of Suzanne Degnan. ! Chief of Detectives Walter Storms has identified them as 22-year-old Theodore Campbell and 18-year-old Vincent cuullo IS SERIQUS; MAY REDUCE LIVESTOCK WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 Fresh evidence that the country faces a grain shortage which may cut live- | stock production and reduce wmnl exports came from the A;,rlculuum Department today. | The Agency's quarterly report on stocks of grain on and off farms | showed less corn January 1 than on the same date of 1944—a yeal' in. which an acute corn shortage | forced many farmers to liquidate | livestock. The corn supply at the start of | the year was placed at 1,976,389,000 | bushels, or about 200,000,000 bushels | less than a year ago and nbnut| 50,000,000 bushels less than on Jan. | 1, 1944, The figures ou qumthy do not tell the full story, however. This year's corn is of much poorer gual- ity than that of either 1944 or 1945. A considerable portion of the 1946 crop—which is being fed now-—did not mature fully before killing frosts. As a consequence, it provides | le ed, bushel for bushel, than the previous crops. e ee - Cpl. Eric Hestness Given Promotion FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Jan. 29.——«! The promotion of Cpl. Eric A.| Hestness of Skagway, Alaska, to the grade of Technical Fourth Grade (Sergeant) is announced by ! Col. Louis M. Merrick, command- | ing officer at Ladd Field, Alaskan | Air Command base here. A draftsman, T/4 Hestness enter- ed the service in July, 1943. He has | been stationed here 28 months. It was at Ladd Field, focal point of the Alsib (Alaska-Siberia) route, that the Air Transport Command | delivered to the Russians more than 7,000 planes. From this base they were flown to the Eastern front by Soviet airmen. e Paperweight from Alaska Given Truman WASHINGTON, Jan, 29—Presi-| dent Truman received today a paperweight fashioned from a piece of pink granite taken from a ledge just below the summit of Mt. Mc- Kinley, Alaska. " It was presented by Washburn, director of the New England Museum of Natural His- tory, who had collected it while testing army air force equipment as a member of the U. S. Army Alas- kun expediticn. 7, after ! been kldnlpped Bradford down thefr move u on Janmry 6 and 7. Storms sald the two have admitted they called at the Deg- nan home the morning of January the six-year-old girl had STATE HIGHWAY OFFICIALS MEET OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 29.— The problem of repairing and ex- panding America's war-worn sys- tem of public roads will engage the attention of an expected 1,000 high- way officlals here today for the convention of the American Asso- | &atton of State highway officlals. Delegates from all states as- well ias from Hawali; Alaska and Puerto Rico were expected. The convention ends Fnday. IDLE T0 MOUNT PI'T'I'SBURGH, Jan. 29.—A sur- vey of manufacturers and union leaders today indicated that the nation’s idle from the great steel istrike will exceed 1,750,000 if the walkout continues another month. The figures include the 750,000 )membem of the CIO-United Steel- Workers at midnight Jan. 20 to en- force payment of an 18'% cents hourly pay raise recommended by | President Truman. Already 41450 other workers, mainly railroaders, miners and steel fabricators, have been laid off in scattered closings, attributable to the steel su'lke. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Tongass, {from Seattle, scheduled to arrive Thursday a.m. and sails 'that evening for Haines, Skagway, "Pelican and Sitka. Alaska, sailed from Seattle today, | is scheduled to arrive Friday, From Juneau the Alaska goes to Sitka, Woman's Bay, Fort Willlams then returns to Juneau southbound. Northern Voyager scheduled - to sail from Seattle Thursday. i Margaret Shafer scheduled to sail from Seattle Thursday. North Sea scheduled to sail from Seattle Fepruary §. Princess Norah scheduled to sail | from Vancouver February 5. Yukon, from Seattle, in port this afternoon and sailed at 11:30 for westward. Due to return to Juneau in about seven days. | - TBANSF!RRFD Louis P. Syah, Yeoman l/c, US CG, has been transferred from duty with the office of the Captain of the Port to the District Coast Guard Office at Kebchikan. It is expected that Syah will soon be discharged. He flew to Ketchikan Monday. i