The Wilmington morning star. [volume], April 24, 1943, FINAL EDITION, Image 1

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WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, APRIL 24, 1943
_FINAL edition
ESTABLISHED 1867.
Coal Strikes
Have Tied Up
Fourth Mine
Republic Steel Says U. S.
War Effort Is Losing
9,000 Tons Daily
UMW BLAMES UNREST
Union Resents Placing Of
Their Pay Demands In
Labor Board Hands
CLEVELAND, April 23.—
(IP) — Republic Steel Corp.
said strikes affecting its
western Pennsylvania coal
properties had spread to a
fourth mine today and soon
would handicap the produc
tion of war steel at the com
pany’s Cleveland, Youngs
town, Warren, Canton and
Massillon plants.
About one-fourth of first
shift employes at the Browns
ville Junction mine refused to
work today the company re
ported. Soft coal miners, rep
resented by John L. Lewis’
United Mine Workers union,
previously walked out at the
No. 1 and No. 2 Crescent
mines near Charleroi and the
Clyde mine near Fredericks
town.
9,000 Tons a Day
“The strikes are costing the na
tion’s war effort more than 9.000
tons of coal daily and have re
sulted in the idleness of nearly
1.900 miners,” the company assert
ed. “They will shortly handicap
XEW YORK, April 23.—«P)—
Possibility of a general work
stoppage in the nation’s soft
coal fields loomed anew today
as negotiators for northern
Appalachian bituminous oper
ators left for Washington to *°
before tlie war labor board,
and John L. Lewis declared the
joint wage conference had been
disrupted.
the production of coke and, as a
consequence, of pig iron and steel
in the company’s steel plants.”
Republic officials said the men
walked out without presenting any
complaints or demands except at
the No. 1 Crescent strip mine. A
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 3)
DOUGHTONHAS
NEW TAX PLAN
Claims Votes Necessary To
Put Over Bill On Pay
As-You-Go Basis
WASHINGTON, April 23.—(A>1—
Despite Republican intimations to
the contrary, Chairman Doughton
(D.-N. C.) tonight claimed suffi
cient votes in the Ways and Means
committee to deliver to the House
floor a pay-as-you-go bill taxing
1942 income at 1941 rates, and
estimated to produce about $3,
000.000,000 additional revenue this
year.
The committee today failed to
report the bill, and Republicans
and Democrats gave conflicting ex
planations on the reasons why, the
former hinting that there were not
sufficient votes.
Meanwhile, a congressional tax
authority, who asked that hi? name
not be used directly, said this
measure, supported by Democrats,
would mean 1943 federal revenue
from personal income taxes would
jump from $10,000,000 to about
S13.000.000.00. He expressed the
view that the increased collections
would be accompanied by a “freez
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 5)
State V Supervisor
Puts Food InaBmjlm
Up To Dist*/j^'J?rs
G. H. Moody, Of Federal ^}t, Says
Wilmington Entitled Much
FoodPer Capita As Any City
C. Hillman Moody, state supe
visor of the government’s Food
Distribution Administration, told
representative wholesale and re
tail dealers and meat distributors
of Wilmington Friday night in a
meeting in the Chamber of Com
merce offices that “you are en
titled to expect as much food per
capita in your community as any
where in the United States.
“If there is not a sufficient sup
ply of food, if your population is
not receiving its propper per cap
ita amount, then you need to sur
vey the whole situation, report it
to %ur administration, let us refer
the matter to the manufacturers
and distributors, and an attempt
will be made to move the excess
in other sections to your area,”
he said.
Mr. Moody’s organization, which :
acts as a fact-finding group, is
able to request of the manufac-1
turers that adjustments in food
allotments be made, but the gov
ernment is unable to order meth
ods of distribution changed, he
emphasized.
“I believe that in many cases
manufacturers and distributors do
need to revise their methods of
distributing supplies,” he com
mented. “Distributors, not the
government, decide how much will
be shipped into Wilmington. We
make the recommendations; if the
distributors do not follow through,
we cannot force them to act.”
Explaining something of the
shortage in food being experienced
in this country, Mr. Moody de
clared that fully 30 percent of our
food supply is going to the armed
forces and to lend-lease.
‘‘•Some items lend themselves
better to shipment and packing
than others. Fighting men must
have beef and potatoes. That
means that we will have to do
with considerably less of these
commodities and like it.
‘‘Food shipments must likewise
be made to ou potential allies.
You know the value of our food
in the hands of native North Afri
cans. Right now America is send
ing food to the hungry in Turkey
and in Spain. These shipments
eventually should enable us to ex
ert stronger influence in these
countries. In the long run the pro
gram may mean the saving of
American lives.
‘‘The food distribution urogram
and the Office of Price Adminis
tration are making an effort to
deliver to areas where population
has increased as much per capita
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 4)
EIGHTEEN WAACS
AID BLOOD BANK
Commandant Announces
Gift In Repeating Appeal
For More Donations
Eighteen members of the Wom
en’s Army Auxiliary Corps, at
tached to the headquarters of the
Wilmington Air Defense region,
have donated one pint of blood
to the civilian defense Mood bank
at James Walker Memorial hos
pital here, Lieut.-Col. Oscar C.'
Tigner, commanding officer of the
region, said Friday.
In addition, officials in charge
of the blood bank said, a number
of citizens have contributed blood
to the bank since the drive to
build it up began two weeks ago.
The blood bank is maintained
at the hospital here by civilian
defense as a precaution against
enemy bombing raids or other war
catastrophes which might result
in civilian casualties.
Since no Red Cross station or
other agency for transmitting
blood to war areas exists here,
citizens of the community and
Army personnel are asked to vol
unteer blood for the bank.
Blood donors may make appoint
ments after 6 p.m. on Monday,
(Continued on Page Two: Col 2)
Hereford Bull Adds
$535,000 To War Bond
Sales In W. Virginia
SPENCER, W. Va., April 23.
—Fred McIntosh’s prize bull
added more than a half million
dollars to West Virginia’s sec
ond war loan drive today.
McIntosh had donated the nine
month-old purebred Hereford
bull, McLetson VI, from his
herd to be put up at a bond auc
tion at the annual Spencer live
stock sales.
It was bid in for $535,000 by
A. W. Cox of the Diamond De
partment store of Charleston,
W. Va., Cox, W. B. Geary, al
so of the Diamond, and Harry
R. Pugh of the Pugh Furniture
company of Charleston present
ed a certified check for the ani
mal.
After the bond purchase the
bull was put up for cash sale
and McIntosh’s son, Fred, Jr.,
bought it back for $500.
New Pennies Okeh
For Parking Meters
The government’s new white
metal alloy pennies, designed to
save copper for the war effort,
will operate just as well as their
copper counterparts in the city’s
parking meters, a test performed
at city hall Friday afternoon re
vealed.
A number of the new pennies
are now in circulation here and
City Clerk J. R. Benson said that
some few had already made their
appearance in the parking meter
collections.
Because of their silvery appear
ance, a number of persons here
have reported mistaking the new
pennies for dimes.
The design of the penny, how
ever, is unchanged save for the
new metal.
German Attacks In Caucasus
Hurled Back With Heavy Loss
—
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON, Saturday, April 24.—
German troops attacking repeat
edly in the northwestern Caucasus
again were hurled back to their
original position, suffering 500 cas
ualties and losing 36 planes, Russia I
announced ealy today.
Moscow dispatches suggested the
strength and frequency of the ene
n,y attacks indicated a German
offensive in that sector where the
ground once again is solid.
Air forces of both sides were
active over the entire area, and
the midnight communique record
ed by the Soviet monitor also re
ported the destruction yesterday
of 20 German planes southwest of
Voroshilograd in the Donets
basin.
Four enemy pillboxes, seven
plies also were destroyed by Rus
sian artillery fire in the Voroshil
ovgrad sector, the communique
said, and Soviet airmen attacked
an enemy airdrome behind the
German lines, damaged a railway
station, and destroyed an ammu
nition train.
On the front west of Moscow the
Russians were said to have “con
solidated positions,” and wiped out
100 Germans attempting a re
connaissance in force.
In the Caucasus the communi
que said that one Russian tank
detachment in several days had
burned or damaged 17 German
tanks.
The Russian lines were declared
still holding firm.
The invader’s army in the Kuban
area of the Caucasus around the
Novorossisk bridgehead was being
reinforcgd witkout pause and the
enemy was. shifting hundreds of
planes to the dry airdromes of the
Crimea for use in the Caucasian
theater.
The destruction by Red airmen
of 98 enemy planes in one sector
in a single day illustrated the
scope and ferocity of air action.
New England Governors
Demand Equalization Of
U. S. Gasoline Rationing
MONTPELIER, Vt., April 23.—
—(A*) —Demanding equalization
of gasoline rationing through
out the country, the six New
England governors today con
cluded a two-day conference at
which they protested allowance
of four gallons of gasoline week
ly in the west while the East
coast is limited to one and a
half gallons.
The protest was made in a
lengthy telegram to Petroleum
Administrator Harold L. Ickes,
in which the governors also de
manded an increase in the fa
cilities for transportation of pe
troleum products to the East
coast — by transfer of equip
ment from the West if neces
sary — to cushion the shock of
huge military withdrawals from
the available supply.
FIVE SUNRISE'
SERVICES SET
Easter Will Also Be Mark
ed Here By Special
Church Programs
Easter morning will be celebrat
ed by five sunrise services in New
Hanover county and by special
Eailer services in all churches of
the city and county.
Wrightsville beach residents will
attend a sunrise service on the
shore at the beach, directly in front
of the “Little Chapel on the Board
walk”. at 6:15 a. m. Sunday.
The service, intended for both
civilian and Army personnel in
the beach area, will be conducted
by Chaplain J. J. Cosby of Camp
Davis and Mrs. Cosby will sing a
solo during the program.
An open air sunrise service will
be held at 6 a. m. Sunday on the
boardwalk at Carolina Beach, end
of Harper avenue extension. Dr.
Fred W. Paschall, pastor of Trin
ty Methodist church of Wilmington
will deliver the Easter message at
the service w'hich will be sponsor
ed by the Carolina Beach Com
munity Sunday school.
The program will be: bugle call
to worship, F. G. Fowler; dox
ology, band and congregation; in
vocation, the Rev. Lewis E. Luck
lurnT pastor of Carolina Beach
Baptist church; hymn, “Christ the
Lord Is Risen Today;” scripture
lesson, Dr. Fred W. Paschall;
choral call to prayer; prayer, the
Rev. James B. McQuere, YMCA,
Wilmington; music, school glee
club, Easter message, Dr. Pas
chall; music, “Low in the Grave
He Lay,” choir; hymn, “Crown
Him With Many Crowns,” choir
and congregation; benediction, the
Rev. Herman Duke.
The Wilmington Ministerial as
sociation will sponsor an Easter
sunrise service at 6 a.m. Sunday
at Oakdale cemetery. The Rev.
Alexander Miller will deliver the
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 3)
SOLDIERISHELD
IN GIRL’S DEATH
Pender County Grand Jury
To Investigate Accident
At Scotts Hill
Pvt. Edwin Dukas, Camp Davis
soldier, was bound over to the
Pender county grand jury after a
coroner’s jury, sitting at Burgaw
Friday night, had implicated him in
the death of nine-year-old Clara
Edens of Scotts Hill, Acting Coron
er A. C. Blake said after the in
quest.
The child died en route to a
Wilmington hospital after the bi
cycle on which she was riding with
her sister was struck by an Army
truck driven by Dukas in front of
her home at Scotts Hill Thurs
day afternoon.
Her sister, Betty, 8, who suffered
(Continued on Page Three; Col. 3)
WEATHER
FORECAST i
North Carolina; Showers in East por
tions Saturday, little change in tem
perature. __
(Eastern Standard Time)
(By U. S. Weather Bureau)
Meteorological data lor the 24 hours
ending 7:30 p. m., yesterday.
Temperature
1:30 a. m., 53.1; 7:30 a. m., 56; 1:30 p.
m., 59.
Mean 58; Normal 64.
Humidity
1-30 a. m., 87; 7:30 a. m., 72; 1:30 p.
m„ 52; 7:30 p. m., 79.
Precipitation
Total for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.
m., 0.00 inches. . .. ..
Total since the first of the month,
1.94 inches.
Tides For Today
■ High Low
Wilmington - ’gfoop
Masonhoro Inlet - *!g»
Moore’s Inlet -
New Topsail Inlet- ’10:50a 4:56a
(Elmore’s) -- ,11j2.4p 5'00n
(All times Eastern Standard)
Sunrise, 5:30 a. m.,: Sunset, 6:50 p.
m ’ Moonrise. ll:24p.: Moonset. 8:58a.
Cape Fear River stage at Fayetteville
at 8 a. m., 25.25 feet.
{Continued on Page Two: Col. S)
U. S. CUTS DIPLOMA TIC STAFF
IN FINLAND AS ALLIES OPEN
3 SALIENTS IN AFRICAN LINE
BRITISH DRIVE ON'
20 Mammoth Nazi Air
Transports Loaded With
Troops Downed
| ATTACK LONG TOP HILL
Artillery Barrage Laid On
Rommel’s Chief Defense
By Montgomery Guns
ALLIED HEADQUAR
TERS IN, NORTH AFRICA
April 23.—(/P)—Allied artil
lery barrages and determined
infantry attacks cracked open
three salients in Marshal Er
win Rommel’s Tunisian bridge
head today, and fighter pilots
celebrated another smashing
aerial triumph in their de
struction of an entire fleet of
20 mammoth six - engined
Messerschmitt 323’s loaded
with troops and precious gas
oline.
Fighting is Heavy
With furious fighting covering
two-thirds of the Tunisian front,
this was the Allied position at
dusk tonight:
X, Preceed by the heaviest
single artillery barrage of the
campaign, British infantry at
tacked the German “Verdun”
of the Tunisian front—Long
Stop hill, 28 mills southwest of
Tunis.
2. First Army infantry at
tacked on a nine-mile front be
tween Coubellat and Bou Arada
and advanced three miles
against stubborn opposition to
within about 34 miles of Tunis.
3. Gen. Sir Bernard L. Mont
gomery’s Eighth Army stabbed
' six miles north of Enfidavllle
along the marshy coastline,
while mountain assaults to the
west which resulted in the cap
ture of Takrouna were slowed
by continuous counterattacks,
approximately 40 airline miles
from Tunis.
In the blazing minutes, British,
South African and Australian fight
VContinued on Page Two: Col. 4)
INQUESTORDERED
IN SOLDIER DEATH
__
Police Hear End Comes
After Air Base Man
Got Transfusion
An inquest into the death of Bar
new James Lewis, 24-year-old Wil
mington Army Air base soldier
who died in James Walker Memo,
rial hospital early Thursday night
under mysterious circumstances,
will be held in the grand jury room
of the courthouse here at 1:30 p.
m. Saturday, Cororner Asa W. Al
len said Friday night.
The coroner said that the exact
cause of Lewis’ death had not yet
been determined. Wilmington po
lice said they learned that the
soldier died after receiving a blood
transfusion.
The public relations office at the
air base declined to comment Fri
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 7)
Home Dwellers Asked
To Welcome Visitors
In order to find rooms for
the week-end for the hundreds
of soldiers and soldier couples
expected to be in Wilmington
for Easter, Louie E. Wood
bury, director of the Wilming
ton War Housing center, Fri
day night appealed to all per
sons here who have a spare
room or a spare bed in their
homes to call the War Housing
center Saturday.
Some 40 citizens here listed
rooms for soldiers with the
center last week-end, he said.
The center’s telephone number
is 2-1836.
NOTICE
The Star-News Circula
tion Department is open
Sundays from 7 to 10 a. m.
If you fail to receive your
paper, phone 2-3311 before
10 and one will be sent to
you by special messenger.
After 10 o’clock, the de
partment is closed.
Liberators In Aleutians
m
Past majestic mountains in the Aleutians fly a trio of Liberator
bombers, bound for Jap bases at Kiska and Attu.
Air Attacks Cost Hitler
150 Engines Monthly
LONDON, Saturday, April 24.—(41
Combined blows of the American
heavyweight bombers and the
RAF “train . buster” air fleet
against Hitler’s rail transport are
smashing his dwindling supply of
locomotives at the rate of 150 a
month, the air ministry reported
today.
The figure was based on pilots’
reports, reconnaissance and reli
able information from inside the
continent.
At this rate, the Allies are de
stroying 50 more locomotives in
a month than the Fives-Lille plant
in northern France, the largest in
EJurope, can produce in a year;
and the Fives-Lille normal produc
tion of 100 a year is believed to
have been cut appreciably by per
sistent RAF bombings.
March was a particularly disas
trous month for German rail trans
port; fighter planes alone knocked
out nearly 100 locomotives, and
railway targets were hit on 21 of
the 31 days.
Three times in March the For
tresses and Liberators of the 8th
U. S. Air force bombed the teem
ing Rouen trainyards. The Hamm
yards in Germany were hit twice
and other rail centers under at
tack included Rennes, Amiens, Ab
beville and Poix.
“The shortage of locomotives
and railway material is making
itself felt in the heart of Germany
as well as in the east and in the
Balkans,” the air ministry said.
After the American attack on
Rennes all traffic through that
central depot for German naval
stores was stopped, halting the
flow of supplies to the submarine
bases of Lorient, Brest and St.
Nazaire.
SHIPBUILDING
EXCEEDS LOSSES
Knox So Declares In Scor
! ing Findings Of Tru
WASHINGTON, April 23.— UR —
Allied ship construction actually
exceeded Allied ship losses during
1942, Secretary of the Navy Knox
declared today, in describing' as
erroneous a conclusion by the Tru
man committee that losses had
been greater.
At a press conference, Knox de
scribed as “very seriously off” a
statement in the Truman commit
tee’s report on merchant shipping
and construction which said that
losses caused by German U-boats
last year “averaged approximate
ly 1,000,000 tons of shipping per
month and in aggregate exceeded
the new construction built by the
United States and Great Britain.” j
The actual figure of 1942’s losses
to submarines, Knox said, has nev
er been officially given out and
he expressed the belief that the
Senate committee, headed by Sen
ator Truman (D.-Mo.), got its mil
lion-ton total from “unauthorized
and uninformed sources.” The mil
lion-ton figure, he added, has been
widely circulated in “unconfirmed
gossip.”
Since the figure is inaccurate,
he continued, it can not profitably
be compared with such reports on
ship construction as have been is
sued. Furthermore, Knox said, the
committee arrived at an erroneous
conclusion because of the method
used.
Apparently, he explained, the
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 8)
SHOWDOWN NEARS
Step Taken At Helsinki To
Counter Pressure From
Berlin
HITLER FORCING ISSUE
Washington Hopes Finns
Will Make Separate
Peace With Russia
WASHINGTON, April 23.
— (A5) — The United States
withdrew all but a skeleton
diplomatic staff from Finland
today, and the long-troubled
relations between the two na
tions appeared close to a
showdown.
The capital eagerly watch
ed to see what bearing the
American move mav have on
the question whether Finland
is to go along with Germany,
or get out of the war and
make a separate peace with
Russia.
Served Notice
Both here and in London, there
was a belief in unofficial quarters
that the United States, by with
drawing the main body of its dip
lomatic staff, was serving indirect
notice on Finland to make a break
with the Axis while there was yet
time. However, the State depart
ment simply described the move
as an “administrative” one, and
declined to throw further light on
it.
Six aides from the United States
legation at Helsinki left by special
plane with their families and ar
ried in Stockholm, Sweden. They
left behind in Helsinki only Charge
d’Affaires Robert Mills McClintock
and one clerk, inasmuch as the
minister, H. F. Arthur Schoenfeld,
departed for Washington last De
cember.
For some days, reports from
Stockholm had told of increasing
German pressure upon the Finns.
Informed persons in that capital
had expressed the belief the Ger
mans were trying to get the Finns
to open an offensive on the Lenin
grad sector in an effort to reduce
that city, second largest in Rus
sia. The Germans were said to
have threatened full occupation of
(Continued on Page Two: Col 2)
JEFFERSWANTS
REAL SHOWDOWN
His Resignation Of Patter
son’s Considered Only
Way Out
WASHINGTON. April 2.3.—1
Rubber Director William M. Jef
fers is “boiling mad”, close asso
ciates said ior'ght. and resolved
that the new flareup between him
and Undersecretary of War Robert
P. Patterson must end in a real
showdown—his resignation or Pat
terson’s.
Jeffers, described by one of his
aides “the maddest Irishman in
all the United States,” was en
route to Baton Rouge, La., this
evening to inspect a new synthetic
rubber plant. He left behind a
! flurry of official activity stirred up
by charges attributed to Patterson
that the emphasis on synthetic
rubber was hurting the Allied air
offensive by curtailing aviation
gasoline.
The Union Pacific president felt
he had been accused by Patterson
(Continued on Page Two: Col. 8)
Marines Occupy Ellice Islands
In Surprise Move Without Fight
Editor's Note: The Navy disclosed
in Washington Friday that American
forces have established a base in the
Etlice islands flanking the shipping
routes between the United States and
Australia. Navy censors then releas
ed the following eye-witness story
of the landing there.)
BY TOM'YARBROUGH
Off Ellice islands in the South
Pacific— (Delayed)— UP)— United
States Marines completed the job
of moving into the Ellice islands
a few minutes ago without firing
a shot.
It was simply .a case of “get
ting there first.” They arrived
yesterday morning and met no op
position whatever in planting them
selves in the midst of this group
of tiny coral isles astride the in
ternational dateline, just south of
the Equator and on the south
flank of the Japanese-held Gilbert
islands.
(A Navy communique in Wash
ington Friday disclosed that the
United States had occupied Funa
futi.in the Ellice island group and
that enemy bombers had raided
it April 22. Secretary Knox told!
a press conference “we’ve been
there for some time and we’ve got
an establishment there” but de
clined the time of occupation or
the nature of the establishment.
Knox said the Funafuti base had
the same value as other island
bases guarding the line of com
munications to Australia, but not
ed that it was much nearer the
scene of active operations than
some.)
The Ellice group is 750 miles
northwest of Pago Paco in Samoa
and 575 miles north of Suva in the
Fiji islands.
When the landing was over and
our warships left the atolls—sink
ing beyond the horizon, as they
say in the movies—the whole
thing had more the aspects of a
travelogue in color than an act of
war. The only things missing were
soft strains of South Sea music,
waving palms and an announcer’*
(Continued on Page Two: Col, S)
HOUSING CHECK
SENT TO FPHA
First Rental Payment On
Projects Here For
$127,767.67
The Housing Authority of the
City of Wilmington this week sent
a check for $127,767.67 to the Fed
eral Public Housing Agency, rep
resenting _ toe first payment of
"rent” for* toe Federal war hous
ing projects here operated by the
local authority.
Under a new agreement between
toe FPHA and the local authority,
H. R. Emory, executive director
of the authority said the war proj
ects here are leased to the au
thority by the FPHA and each
quarter the difference between the
actual receipts of the war projects
and the actual expenditures is for
warded to the FPHA.
The payment, Mr. Emory said,
represented the profit for last
quarter from more than 3,000 war i
housing units operated for the
FPHA by the local authority.
The government war housing
projects, he explained, are oper
ated on a budget drawn up by
the local authority and approved
by toe FPHA.
Formerly government war hous
ing projects here were operated by
the local authority on an agency
agreement under the terms of
which the local authority acted as
toe FPHA’s agent in the operation1
of the projects.