Evening Star Newspaper, February 6, 1942, Page 4

A-2 x Housewarming Opens Headquarters for . Air-Raid Warden Staff Old No. 10 Fire House Renovated and Equipped For 24-Hour Duty Chief Air-Raid Warden Clement Murphy and his stafl assistants as- sumed their duties today in perma- nent headquarters at the old No. 10 fire engine company house, 1341 Maryland avenue N.E, following an old-fashioned housewarming last night. Fire Chief Stephen T. Porter, one of the guests, recalled that the engine house once saw horse-drawn apparatus operating from it in the late '90s. Visitors, including Engineer Com- mission Charles W. Kutz, inspected a completely renovated firehouse last night equipped with assembly hall, kitchen and blacked-out windows. Switchboard Needed. Only a few additions are needed to round out the operations base for civilian defense wardens, Mr. Mur- phy pointed out. They include a monitor switchboard which will link the building with the air-raid con- trol center and a number of Army cots to be used by staff people forced to stay on extended duty in the event of raids. Pointing out to guests that his men had to “start from scratch” some of the records on file are NEW HOME FOR AIR RAID WARDENS—New headquarters for Chief Air Rald Warden Clement Murphy and his staff was formally opened last night in the old No. 10 engine house. Looking over N. Stull, president of Federation of Citizens Assoclations; Fire Chief Stephen T. Porter and Miss Anita Phipps, president of the American Women's Voluntary Services for the THE EVhiING STAR, WASHINGTON, e (left to right) Col. Lemuel Bolles, civilian defense executive; Harry | District. —=Star Staff Photo. in equipping the headquarters, Mr. Mu:gm? pexgluined that office fur-| niture had been selected from con-| demned District government prop- erty and then refinished by volun- teers from the Fire Department. The more than 100 chairs in the second-floor assembly room were | presented by George Wuhlngtoni University from its discarded stock. | Here again firemen scrapped and sanded, applied varnish and made new seats out of plywood. With the exception of the painting of walls, | Senator Byrd and R Intend to Press for By J. A. The large apparatus room on the first floor is to be used as offices for AL file clerks and stenographers. War- | law is still a burning issue in the ; Even as the wires were bringing dens also will be sworn in there. On e frst fiaer sear 06 olliess of | T8 Biwkece. Wain. the xows Sisistants andlthe Eibchen iwhich ia || n< soesAistio ARound Sable H1y equipped to feed wardens remaining on protracted duty. and Representative Rees, Republi- Room for Defense Groups. can, of Kansas were announcing On the second floor are additional | their intention of pressing to change offices and the large assembly hall | that part of the new Civil Service which Mr. Murphy said would be |Retirement Act which gave elective calling off its bundle caravan, Sen- ator Byrd, Democrat, of Virginia Pension Issue Stirs Congress, Although ‘Bundles’ Threat Dies The “Bundles for Congress” drive, started on the West Coast to all other work was done by firemen. | poye g Jittle fun at members of Congress who voted to make them- selves eligible for pensions, may be over, but the move to repeal the | Retirement Act passed in August, 1920, he said, 6,000 employes retired | immediately after contributing to the fund for part of a month. When Senator Byrd made his | fight in the Senate on January 19 | to require electfve officers to deposit | back payments he took the position \ it is not good public policy for mem- bers of Congress to make them- | | selves eligible to a retirement sys- | tem toward which civil service em- ployes have been contributing for years. Some Senators have indicated in discussing the issue informally the llast few days that they were under | the impression the Byrd amendment would have required them to deposit | anywhere from $7.000 to $9.000 for past service. That would be true if a member whose service ran back | from 15 to 30 years wanted to buy | the maximum annuity, but the | Byrd amendment only made the | repayments mandatory for five years next preceding retirement. In epresentative Rees Repeal of Annuity Plan O’LEARY. cloakrooms on Capitol Hill. LS | claring, “I have nothing to do with that.” “I think it will be repealed,” was the terse comment of Senator Van Nuys, Democrat, of Indiana, re- | ferring to the inclusion of elective officials. Meanwhile, Representative Rams- peck, Democrat, of Georgia, staunch | open to any civilian defense group | officers the option of joining the requiring a class or meeting room. annuity system. A powder room is on the third floor. Col. Lemuel Bolles, civilian de- fense executive, said he hoped the new headquarters would be the | “rallying point for all civilian de- fense workers.” Chief Porter praised the work of Mr. Murphy and his staff. Guests included Maj. Gen. Wil- liam N. Porter, chief of the Chem- fcal Warfare Division of the War Department; Lt. Comdr. J. Weatheril, 3d, of the Navy Yard: Senator Byrd, whose effort to require elected officials to make back payments if they take advan- tage of the law lost by only 34 to 28, revealed that at least six Sen- ators who voted against him only three weeks ago have Indicated they would vote differently today. In the House, Mr. Rees made known he has written to the Civil Service Committee asking for a | hearing on the half dozen repeal - | bills that were dropped into the hopper while the ink on the new Harry N. Stull, president of the | jou was drying. Federation of Citizens’ Associations and an assistant to Mr. Murphy; Dr. John A. Lee, chief medical of- ficer of District of Columbia civil- {an defense; Mrs. Harry 8. Bernton, head of volunteer service of the local defense office, and Mrs. Eliza- beth Houghton and Mrs. Theodore Wedel, her assistants, and Miss Anita Phipps, president of the Amer- ican Women's Voluntary Services for the District. Mr. Murphy commented after- ward: “We are set to stay on the Job 24 hours a day and are working Comment was scarce in both houses on the satirical bundle cam- paign, but the lawmakers were ready today to discuss the issue seriously, pro and con, and the results indi- cate that some are ready to defend the extension of retirement benefits to Congress just as strongly as others will fight for its repeal. Senator Bulow, Democrat, of South Dakota. chairman of the Senate Civil Service Committee, who sees no reason why the annuity pian enacted for all other Goverriment officials should exclude lawmakers, | under the assumption that Wash- | said he assumed the “bundles for ington will be bombed.” | McKeough Geits Backing | b Congress” drive was intended to “get a laugh,” but he added: “If they want to bring me any undles, I'll'look 'em over.” friend of the civil service system, | who sponsored the new retirement law, stood by the extension of the act to elected officers. The newspapers of the country, he said, have “totally misrepre- sented” the issue. They have taken as “their cue” the general statement | that members of Congress voted themselves a pension of $4,000 a year, which is not true, he declared. $4,000 an “Extreme Case.” The $4,000 figure represents the | extreme annuity in the rare case of 2 member who stays in Congress | for 35 years. Pointing out that a Senator or Representative must serve at least five years and be 62 to become eligible, Mr. Ramspeck said a recent survey showed that in the entire history of the United States—160 years—only 8,000 mem- bers of the House have served as long as five years, so that if the plan had been enacted by the First Congress it would only have applied to that many Representatives. A member who served 25 years— still an exceptional case—would re- ceive an annuity of $2,854 without making back payments. If he de- posited $9.918 in the fund for past service, his retirement pay would be $3,678 a year. A member who served 15 years | would be entitled to a $1,663 an- | recent years the employe contribu- and after July 1, under the new law, | 1t will be 5 per cent t3 help finance the more liberal optional age limits | now available to all Government workers. Open Even to President. The flurry of publie discussion over the inclusion of elective officials has centered around members of Congress, but the new act also | brings cabinet members into the retirement system, and gives. the D. ¢C, Germans 'ldentify’ Ships Reported Sunk Off East Coast Rochester Only One Officially Announced By U, S. as Lost ited onig* or Al rees.) B the Asaociated Press. BERLIN (From German Broad- casts, Feb. 6.—A communique from “authoritative military quarters” to- day named six “enemy” ships which the German high command said yesterday had been sunk by U- boats off the east coast of North America, The names and tonnages, as given by the communique, follow: The freighter Amerikaland, 15.- 355; the steamer Empire Wilde- beeste, 5,631; the steamer Rochester, | 6,836; the steamer Traveler, 3968; the steamer Tacoma' Star, 7, and the tanker Trontolite, 7.178. (These ships all are listed in Lloyd’s Register, which, however, gives slightly different tonnages in some cases. (The only one of the six whose loss has been officially announced in the United States is the Rochester, the only American ship in the list. The Navy De- partment announced January 31 that she had gone down the day before. There has been no confirmation in Washington that any of the other five has been sunk. The Amerikaland, one of the world’s largest ore freighters, is Swedish. The other four are of British registry.) The newspaper Voelkischer Beo- kaland, built in 1925 in Germany for a Swedish firm, was sailing un- der “an enemy flag” when sunk. This newspaper (owned by Adolf Hitler) writes that when it is borne in mind how greatiy the armament ' industries depend on importation of certain mineral ores the signifi- cance of the loss of a vessel of such carrying capacity (nearly 23,000 tons) can be properly appreciated. The Rochester, a Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. tanker, was sunk January 30, 180 miles off Cape Charles, Va., struck aft by two torpedoes and then made the target for 13 shells. Thirty crewmen were saved. Three of the engine room crew were killed when the first torpedo hit. Board of Trade Dinner 'To Draw Many Officials tion has been 313 per cent of salary, Cabinet members, Senators. Rep- resentatives, Federal and District Government officials and high-rank- ing Army and Navy officers will be | guests of the Board of Trade at its | President and Vice President the, same option extended to Senators and Representatives. One Senator,” who did not want | to discuss the question for publica- | tion, said today the criticism seemed to center around the point that | members of Congress had voted the retirement annuity to themselves. | Since they constitute the law-mak- ing body, he said, they also have to vote their own salaries, their office clerk-hire, and authorize their own mileage allowance. He said he could see no difference between the | uirement provision and the other ems of congressional expense. Although a determined effort will be made to repeal the congressional retirement plan, the path may not be easy for the advocates of repeal. Some of the members with long | experience on Capitol Hill indicate . The new law, he sald, is “an an- Of Pfll'ty n Senute Race nuity plan to which we contribute By the Associated Press. the same as any other employe, and CHICAGO, Feb. 6.—The Cook‘ if T go in I'll make the back pay- County Democratic Central Com- | ments.” mittee last night indorsed Repre-| A different view was taken, how- sentative McKeough of Chicago for ‘ ever, by Senator Johnson, Democrat, the party’s senatorial nomination in | of Colorado, one of the advocates of the April primary in Tllinois. | repeal, who saia: The, action was taken several| It is very unfortunate that at a hours after Mayor Edward J. Kelly, | time such as this, when the need is to-leader of the huge Chicago Demo- | for faith in Government, that the cratic organization, announced that | Congress should make itself ridicu- he would not seek a seat in the Sen- lous. I don’t think elected officials | should provide pensions for them- selves. See Congress As Employer. The Coloradoan said he favors the retirement system as a general prin- | ciple for all workers, but feels that | in this case Congress is in the role of the employer, comparable to the board of directors in & private con- | cern. According to the Assoclated Press, | the Athletic Round Table, in Spo- | kane, called off at the last minute | the plan to send a bundle truck to Washington, and announced the | $3,000 1t would have cost will be in- | vested in Defense bonds. Joe Albi, | the president was quoted as saying the trip would not be made because | “we know when to stop” & joke. | Reports for several days indicated the joke was spreading fast to | groups in Texas, Iowa and other States, and some Senators and Rep- resentatives have been busy, answer- ing letters from constituents ex- plainifig their position on the retire- ment issue. What makes the question a touchy one at this time is the fact that | within a few months the entire membership of the House and one- third of the Senate will be in the | thick of State primaries for renom- ination. And even those members | who hold a firm conviction that a hard-working lawmaker is as much entitled to a retirement annuity as | any other Goverpment servant when ate because he felt it was his war: time duty to remain at the head o the city government and the metro- | politan defense system. House Grou|; Will Tour Aberdeen ProvingGround By the Associated Press. ABERDEEN, Md., Feb. 6.—Speak- er Rayburn will tour the Army prov- ing ground Sunday with a group of House members. The visitors will include Repre- gentatives Cochrane, Democrat, of Missouri; Cox, Democrat, of Georgia; Delaney, Democrat, of New York, and Sasscer, Meyer, D'Alesandro and Cole, Democrats, of Maryland. Glenn L. Martin, airplane manufac- turer, and Mayor Howard W. Jack- son of Baltimore, also will be in the party. Brig. Gen. Rolland W. Case, prov- {ng ground commander, and his staff will greet the delegation. 0.C.D. Appointments May Be Investigated By Byrd Committee Senator Byrd, Democrat, of Virginia, chairman of the joint congressional committee inves- tigating non-essential Govern- ment expenditures, said today he was considering asking his committee to look into the ex- penditures of the Office of Civ- ilian Defense, in the light of recent disclosures regarding the employment of Mayris Chaney, dancer, at the salary of $4,600 a year. Senator Byrd said he was at loss to understand how Miss Chaney’s job as director of children’s activities had any- thing to do with the protection of the people against bomb raids of the enemy. Nor did he regard as essential the em- ployment by the O. C. D. of Melvin Douglas, movie actor, in an advisory capacity and at the rate of $8,000 & year, when on the job. “It looks to me,” said Senator Byrd, “as though this organiza- tion was being turned into an- other =ocial experiment.” | a political campaign a clever op- | ponent might make more capital | out of the pension proposal than | more weighty or important issues. “Rider” Approach Hinted. | One prominent member of the | House hinted today he would not be | surprised to see the congressional appropriation bills. the fact that within a few days the Senate will be considering the in- dependent offices supply bill, which carries the Government's annual contribution to the retirement fund —$105,000,000 for the next fiscal year. Senator Byrd has not mentioned out a suggestion that if the separate repeal bill is not brought up, a re- peal amendment could be offered to some other bill. Senator avoided any comment on the \ “bundles for Congress” incident, de- R | age overtakes them, realize that in o retirement authorization reopened | as a rider to one of the pending This served to direct attention to| the appropriation bill, but he threw z tod: Bfldm nuity without back payments, or $2250 if back payments were re- | quired. | ~A man who entered Congress in | The proposal to include members 1933, retiring with 10 years of serv- |of Congress in the retirement sys- | | ice, would get $1085 a year with- tem actually originated nearly three | |out back payments, or $1392 if years ago, in a previous oill for gen- | back payments were required. | eral revision of the act, but at that | | Mr. Ramspeck pointed out that time it was defeated in the House. Federal judges are eligible to retire Although 1939 was not an election after 70 on full pay and no contri- | year, the House, in July of that bution. Officers in the military ser- year, struck the congressional re- vices also have had liberal retire- |tirement feature from the bill, 119 ment provisions for many years, | Mr. Ramspeck pointed out. of Representative Rees. Holds Treatment the Same. { Farm workers are not included in The Georgian, who is chairman | the general Social Security program. | of the House Civil Service Com- (8nd that was one of the arguments | mittee, also insisted that the inclu- |Faised against the congressional pro- | sion of elective officers now without | Posal in 1939, requiring them to deposit salary| In the Senate a second repes contributions for past service, is bill was introduced yesterday by | treating elective officials the same }&mwr Capper of Kansas. Several as other groups brought into the |days ago the first repeal measure | system in the past. |was offered jointly by Senators Two years ago, he said, Congress | Byrd, Burton of Ohio, Johnson of made 40000 postmasters eligible | Colorado and Bailey of North Caro- | for the retirement system, including | lina. The Senate Civil Service Com- | the fourth-class appointees who |mittee has followed the routine | have served many years, and nicouru of sending the repeal bills | month later 2000 of them were|to the Civil Service Commission for | retired. “ & report before meeting to consider When the original Civil Service | them. | ‘Weather Report (Furnished by the United States Weather Bureau.) | District of Columbia—Moderate rain and warmer tonight; moderate | to fresh winds, | Maryland—Warmer, moderate rain beginning in west portion this rnoon and in east portion early tonight. Virginia—Rain tonight, beginning in west portion this afternoon, warmer in east and north portions tonight, becoming colder in extreme | southwest portion by morning. West Virginia—Moderate showers and local thunderstorms this aft- | | ernoon and early tonight, becoming colder in west portion tonight; fresh | shifting winds. Revert for Last 24 Hours. e mperature. | Degrees. they have not been unduly alarmed | by the first wave of unfavorable re- | action. | to 73. It was killed then on motion | | | afte; River Report. Potomac and_8h ah Rivers clear at Harpers Perry: Potomac slightly muddy | at Great Palls today. Preeipitation. Monthly precipitation in inches in the Capital (current month to date): 1942, Averase. Record, 190" "385 7.83 Yesterday— 4 pm. | | (From Noon Yesterday to Noon Today.) | mi‘"" 47. at 4 p.m. yesterday. Year | aso, 52. Lowest, 31. at 8:30 a.m. today. Year 50, 27. Recerd Temperatures This Year. Highest. 85. on January 18. Lowest, 6, on January 11 Humidity fer Last 24 Wours. (Prom Noon Yesterday to Noon Today.) | | gaHishest. 100 per cent. at 7:30, a.m. to- Lowest, 63 per cent, at 7:30 p.m. yes- terda: Temperatures in Various Cities. ‘Tempera- Precipi- ture. tion, Highest. 3 34 hrs. 1 ex. 57 Tide Tables. (Purniahed by United Sates Coust snd Toda) TIIT wasem. The Sun and Moon. annual midwinter dinner tomorrow night at the Mayflower Hotel. The dinner will get under way at 6:45 pm. following a reception in the Chinese room at 6:15 o'clock at which officers and directors of the trade organization will welcome the distinguished guests. As usual, all speech-making will be banned, and the evening will be devoted to entertainment. Garrett Pendleton has arranged & vaude- ville program which wili start imme- diately after dinner. Theme of the dinner is “In the Good Old Summer Time.” All members of the House and Senate District Appropriations and Legislative Committees have been invited. Fred A. Smith. president of the Board of Trade, will preside. Harvey L. Jones is chairman of this year's dinner, and Leon Chat- elain, jr. heads the dinner and decorations committee. Communiques Jap Reinforcements Arrive in Luzon The text of War Department com- munique No. 93, outlining the mili- tary situation as of 9:30 a.m. today, Jollows: * Philippine theater: Japanese gun emplacements on the southeastern shore of Manila Bay was destroyed by fire from our fortifications. These artillery positions were presumably de- signed by the enemy for an at- tack against Corregidor. Nine Japanese transports are at ports in Lingayen Gulf, de- barking troops to reinforce the already very large enemy con- centrations in Batan and other points on the island of Luzon. Relative quiet continued all along the front in Batan during the past 24 hours. Enemy aerial bombing attacks on our troop positions, which began early in the day, decreased later on. They resulted in no damage. Inter- mittent artillery fire flared up in the center. There was some in- crease in patrol operations in this same general area. There is nothing to report from other areas. - DO YOU the third “The Fin; . use with the DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN BUY FINE DI 'ON WEEKLY OR SEMI-MONTHLY TERMS? ¥ou needn’t wait till you hive all the cash to buy her rings. Buy at MARX, choose from a fine assortment of diamonds and pay weekly . ComerTth & H Sts. NW. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1942, Ford Warplane Producing Craft on finger on the left hand, rer of Life,” is so-called t is connected directly heart. today. | Ci’xlr]es.E. Sorensen, vice president in charge of production of | the Ford Motor Co., thus describes the company’s contract to make | airplanes for the Army. | It is an entirely new busines: | and equipped to make automobiles and tractors. In this business | company has brought about a revo- | lution in American ways of living. | It was the first producer of cars for | | the masses. | When it started operations the auto was an expensive luxury for the | few. The company succeeded in | bringing the automobile within | reach of the average pocketbook by | \developing and leading the way in | | the technique of mass production. | ! This means designing and building | ‘mumnn to make in single opera- | tions every one of the thousands of | parts. | | The primary investment, the greater part of the skilled workman- ship, went into the machine. The cost of a few cars put out in this | way would be close to a million dol- | lars each. But with the same initial |expense a million cars could be made for a few hundred dollars | each. Planes a Luxury Until Now. All this evolution has still to take | place in the case of the airplane. It | bachter declared that the Ameri- has been up to the present a custom- made product, Ford officials explain. | | There has been no justification for mass production because there has been no possibility of a mass market in this generation. ‘The different parts have been made in separate shops, brought to- | gether in one place and then as- | | sembled. It has been essentially a stationary process. But given the demand, Ford offi- cials believed, there was no reason why planes of a standard design could not be produced in a mass- production plant—but not in any of |the Ford plants. This does not | mean, of course, that planes by any | technique can be built as rapidly as | automobiles. Much finer and slower [ work is required. | | But long before actual plane con- | tracts were received plans were | | drawn up for the sort of plant neces- | |sary. Any of the existing Ford plants was practically worthless ror! the job. The result is the mammoth factory which now covers the major | part of what six months ago was a fair-sized farm. Here the assembly line alone is nearly a mile long. Behind it and on the side are the shops where the parts are made. The barest skeleton of a plane starts down the conveyor system of this line. One part after another is put quickly in place as it passes | station after station, each beside the shop where the appropriate part s made. Factory Nearly Ready. ‘The factorv is nearly completed The part of it devoted to tool and design making, heart of the mass- production technique, already is in operation. The first finished planes. it is expected, soon will come off the line and—this is the essential point— once started they will not stop until the war ends. The machine, once | {n operation, asks and needs no rest ‘The plant is being built with Gov- ernment funds to be operated by the Ford Co. However, Ford officials say, the company “stuck out its neck” for several million dollars in getting ready before it had any | assurance of a contract. Men have been sent to California to study plane production. Appro- priate machines and tools were being made in Ford shops and a stock-pile of material was being built. Much | of this supply was of no use what- soever in automobile construction. Actual work of constructing plane parts will remain much the same as auto work in the past—except that | each part will be made by a specially | designed machine. Already, how- ever, Ford engineers, familiar with | mass-production methods, have in- troduced major time-saving devices. | The time of assembling the center wing, for example, can be reduced, their experiments indicate, from | five hours to about 30 minutes. Last Private Cars Built. The last Fords for civilian use now are under construction. Only a | small part of the machinery can be | used to produce cars of the general Ford design which will be necessary for Army transportation. But the company has its own tool and die plant and Mr. Sorensen believes a | good deal of the machinery can be | brought back into use again if ma- :terinls can be obtained. Each sug- | gestion of the Army is carefully studied to see whether any part of the desired product can be made with existing facilities. KNOW? [ AMONDS or semi-monthly with NO American Industry Goes to War— ‘World's Biggest Single Job’ Giant New Plant Soon Will Start (Sizth of a Series.)) By THOMAS R. HENRY, Stay Btaff Correspondent. DETROIT, Mich., Feb.'6.—"The biggest single job in the world | during the last three decades the- Japanese Capture "Feeder Point’ for Borneo Oil Port Indies Command Admits Fall of Samarinda, Silent On Fate of Amboina | By the Associated Press. | BATAVIA, Netherlands Indies, Feb. 6.—Japanese forces have oc- cupied the town of Samarinda, 60 miles north of the oil port of Balik Papan on the east coast of Borneo, the Netherlands Indies high command announced today without giving further details of the occupation. For the second straight day no mention was made of the situation Anothier major war job on Which | at Amboina, the Indies’ second most the company now 1s in full swing 8 | ymportant naval and air base on the production of engines for planes. | flank of the United Nations® supply The engine contract involved the |jine from Australia. On Wednesday erection of an entirely new plant | the Dytch said their troops still with radically different mlchl’ne'ry. were resisting a Japanese invasion This was done at the company’s €x- | force in bitter fighting. Since then pense in anticipation of receiving | there has been no further word. contracts, but with no certainty of |~ gamarinda was a “feeding point” them. If the engine-making job | for the Balik Papan oil installations, had not come through this plant | {5 which it was te ipe- could have been fitted into an ex- | jye 1 ¢ Was connected by & pipe pansion of the regular company 8¢~ | "}, 4 Mouth of Kutai River. | The city also is in an important At present it houses, besides the city coal district at the mouth of the manufacturing equipment, the third | g o River, with a population largest school in Michigan, where - F = e normally of about 12,000, including 'ord experts a raining soldiers 300 Europeans. and sailors assigned to it. At its own expense—well over $1.000,000— | Many civilians already had been evacuated from the town the company has provided barracks, a hospital and other essentials for _The high command report, issued through the news agency Aneta, these men: e ‘The changeover from auto produc- $3id 8 Japanese raiding force es. tion will result in a lot of temporary ¢ unemployment, but Mr. Sorensen ?‘fl:" ::‘::h :t:sg::g‘l‘he ?r?:t" wo believes when full war production fighter planes “and presumably two program is under way the job will borr » be to ind men and women to tend Duwb)fr:irc'rs?:mt thie loss’ o three the machines. He anticipates a total pay roll of several hundred thousand | HS::; .S;tf:o l;:}&m:“w;figo;;; —at least several thousand more persons in the city, second largest in than ever has been engaged in = the Indies, were said to have been peace-time activities. The airplane oo g0 "5ons plant alone will employ many Strong Fighter Escort. thousands. The fact that the Japanese raid- 36,385‘ Fur Robbery ;?:?\:: c:me from an alrcr;i!t carrier, Staged on F Street; Gang Flees in Car since the Japanese do not have any Window Is Broken With Task Called Mass Scale s. The Ford factories are built land base within striking distance of Soerabaja, the United Nations' key base in the Southwest Pacific since the siege of Singapore. Japanese fighter planes attacked a number of towns in- East Java today, including Semarang. Madioen, Magetan, Solo and Tegal, but no damage was reported. Enemy planes also were sighted over Southeast Borneo and near Medan, on the east coast of Sumatra. Brick; Thieves Loot Church Where President Worships Robbers broke into a down- HT A ati e i ay down Citizens’ Association escaped in a high-powered car [nducts New Officers with furs valued at $6,385. New officers of the Forest Glen Herman Becker, vice president of ( g the Erlebacher shop, 1210 F street | ::{.‘: m:fig(;d Ex‘u:e;&tmilwfi N.W., reported to police that three tional Park College. They are: mink coats were included in the 100t. president, Kenneth Stabler: vice Police sald there was one Witness president, A. Smith; secretary, Mrs. of the rald, Hubert Lupton, 1781 | James Darby; treasurer, James Columbia road N.-W., who declared Darby, and corresponding secretary, he saw. four or five men speed aWay aprs. Thomas A. McDonald. after breaking the showroom window Committees appointed by Mr. with a brick. He summoned police. stgbler are: Membership, Mr. Smith, Thieves invaded St. Thomas' chairman, Richard di Zerega, Her- Eplscopal Church, Eighteenth and bert Stephens, Ralph Deemer and Church streets N.W., where Presi- Clarence Young, and publicity. John dent Roosevelt worships. They took P. Jones and Mrs. Chris Ebeling. a marble statue of Christ, value not Beginning Tuesday the association yet determined, the Rev. Howard 8. will sponsor first aid classes at the Wilkinson, the pastor, reported. college from 8 pm. to 10 p.m. Tues- Brandishing pistols, two white days and Thursdays. youths held up Reuben Halper in his grocery at 29 Seventh street S.E., last night and escaped in an auto with $75, police said. A book of defense stamps worth $16.75 was stolen from the home of Charles C. Hartman, 1334 Irving street NW. Althea Smith, 410 F street S.W., reported that a white man snatched her purse containing $15 early today at Fifth and G streets NW. The Bureau of Standards has developed a specification for school chairs which is designed to en- courage correct posture and pro- mote comfort. / Two Worine; Fil;éuifs For Divorce in Rockville #pecis] Dispatch to The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md., Feb. 6.—Mrs. Wanda Gene Lunch of Takoma Park has filed suit here for an absolute divorce from Robert C. Lunch of. Toronto, Canada, and asked to be awarded custody of the couple’s only. child, Robert Allen Lunch Prank E. Meeks of St. Marys, W. | Va., is named defendant in another suit for an absolute divorce filed here by Mrs. Isabelle E. Meeks of Chevy Chase. In each case desertion is alleged. Reduced to 82250 Men have been buying two and three garments at this low sale price. Hundreds of garments to choose from: fine wool fabrics, smart patterns . . . styles for now and Spring. Come in and make a selection tomorrow. Charge It! At Fields . . . Pay weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly on convenient terms.