Evening star. [volume], April 09, 1941, Image 1

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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89th YEAR. No. 35,407. WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1941—FORTYT-SIX PAGES. THREE CENTS.
NAZIS CAPTURE MAJOR ALLIED DEFENSES; :
SALONIKA TAKEN- 300.000 GREEKS YIELD
Murray Sees
President, Hints
At Ford Truce
Statement Due Today;
Coal Peace Reached
With Most Owners
BULLETIN.
DETROIT. April fl
Amid rumors of an impending
settlement. Gov. Murray D.
Van Wagoner and Harry Ben
nett. Ford Co. spokesman,
emerged late today from a
conference of parties in the
U. A. W.-C. I. O. strike against
Ford’s River Rouge plant and
drove off together in a car.
They declined to say whether
they were bound for a meet
ing with Henry Ford, com
pany founder. An aide to the
Governor said Van Wagoner
would return to the confer
ence and any announcement
would be made later in down
town Detroit.
(Earlier Strike Stories on Page A-l.)
Philip Murray, president of the
Congress of Industrial Organi
zations. conferred for almost an
hour with President Roosevelt
at the White House this after
noon and emerged to say there
may be an important announce
ment on the Ford Motor Co.
labor dispute out of Detroit late
today.
Mr. Murray said he hoped the
announcement would be favorable to
labor. The United Automobile
Workers, also a C. I. O. affiliate, has
been conducting a strike at the giant
River Rouge plant of the Ford com
pany for the last several days. He
would not say flatly whether a set
tlement had been reached.
Just before Chief Federal Con
ciliator John R. Steelman had an
nounced in New York that appar
ently soft coal mine operators with
••68per cent of the American ton
nage” would meet wage increase
and other demands of soft coal
miners. This, he said, assures the
country there will be no coal short
age. since it w-as indicated the com
plying operators would open their
mines even if the others do not ac
cept. the agreement.
Mr. Murray declined to discuss
the nature of his conference with
the President, saying that he
planned to be back in Pittsburgh
tomorrow morning for continuance
of C. I. O. negotiations with the
United States Steel Corp. A con
tract held by the Steel Workers'
Organizing Committee, a C. I. O.
affiliate, with United States Steel
has been continued until next Tues
day night to permit continuance
of negotiations.
For the first time in the history
of the Ford company, a high-ranking
officer of the concern met with
labor union representatives yester
day for a collective-bargaining dis
cussion. Mr. Murray was present at
that time at the express request of
Gov. Murray Van Wagoner of Michi
gan. who has been taking a leading
part in mediation efforts.
Although Mr. Murray declined to
say whether he had discussed either
the Ford or steel labor situations
with the President it was as
sumed that it was for this reason
the Chief Executive h£d invited him
here for a conference.
Dr. Steelman said that the eight
coal negotiators had voted six to
two to accept an agreement. Un
official reports w-ere that it provided
a basic $l-a-day wage increase for
330.000 Appalachian region miners,
elimination of the 40-cents-a-day
differential between northern and
southern fields, and annual paid
vacations.
The negotiator said that the mines,
closed since April 1. could not be
operated before Monday due to the
Easter week end holiday, and that
negotiations would continue in an
effort to reach an agreement to
©pen all mines Monday. Southern
operators are opposed to elimination
of wage the differential.
Eicher Heads S. E. C.,
Succeeding Frank
By the Associated Press.
Edward C. Eicher. one-time Dem
ocratic Representative from Iowa,
today was elected chairman of the
Securities and Exchange Commis
sion, succeeding Jerome N. Frank,
who has been appointed to the Fed
eral Court of Appeals for the second
circuit.
Mr. Prank resigned as chairman
but retained his office as commis
sioner. He announced that he
vt'ould resign from the commission
Within a few days.
Mr. Eicher was appointed to the
commission in December. 1938. for
a term which expired last June,
when he was reappointed for five
more years.
School for Negroes
ATLANTA. April 9.—A primary
Air Corps training school for
Negroes, the first, of its kind in Army
history, will be established at Tuske
flee. Ala., Army officials at 4th Corps
Area headquarters announced to
♦r
NEW YORK —FIRST U. S. BATTLESHIP IN 18 YEARS COMMISSIONED—This is
a general view of the quarterdeck of the new 170,000.000 battleship North Carolina
- ——-——- 4 -
today as it was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It was the first capital
ship commissioned by the Navy in 18 years. —A. P. Wirephoto.
- ♦---I
'All Right' for Army
To Take Over Struck
Plants, Knudsen Says
Backs Legislative Curb
On Defense Walkouts
If Mediation Fails
(Earlier Story on Page A-3.)
William S. Knudsen expressed op
position late today to legislation to
curb defense strikes and then de
clared it would be “all right” for
Congress to pass a law permitting
the Army and Navy to take over a
struck defense plant if mediation
had failed.
Mr. Knudsen expressed these views
during the House Military Affairs
Committee’s investigation of the
progress of the national defense
program.
Representative Brooks. Democrat,
of Louisiana inquired whether he
thought the conscription law might
be so broadened that the Army or
Navy could take over a struck plant
where efforts by the Labor Depart
ment and the National Defense
Mediation Board had failed to bring
about a settlement.
Representative Brooks suggested
that the law might be so written
that the Government would keep
control of the plant only until the
strike issues had been solved.
jusi riam giupiu.
“I think it is all right.” said Mr.
Knudsen, director general of the
Office of Production Management.
Mr. Knudsen expressed opposition
to legislation against strikes, say
ing he believed the new Defense
Mediation Board would do "a great
deal” toward eliminating hurtful
work stoppages.
A similar view was expressed ear
lier in the day by Secretary of La
bor Perkins. who testified also that
she thought it was "everybody's
duty"—not the Labor Department
conciliator—"to eradicate Com
munism from the labor movement.
Mr. Kjjudsen. in his discourse,
said that he considered strikes over
wages and working conditions to be
"legitimate,” but called jurisdic
| tional strikes "just plain stupid.”
Asked by Representative Thoma
son. Democrat, of Texas, whether
he thought legislation would “help
any" toward preventing strikes. Mr.
Knudsen replied:
“I don’t think so."
Believes in Mediation.
The witness added that he was told
yesterday by the Governor of Texas
of a law in that State imposing
criminal penalties on strikers against
defense but that he could not agree
that was the solution.
“If you exchange a strike for a
slow-up.” he said, “you wouldn’t be
much better off .”
"Do you think mediation will do
the trick?” Mr. Thomason inquired
“Yes, I do.” Mr. Knudsen replied
"I think the board that has been set
up will do a great deal.”
Miss Perkins said in her testimony
she believed in "an educational pro
(See HEARING,' Page 2-X.)
Nazi Pockelship Reported
Operating in Orient
Bj tht Associated Press.
SINGAPORE. April 9.—Several
German commerce raiders have j
been "eliminated'’ in the Indian and
Pacific Oceans. Vice Admiral Sir
Geoffrey Layton, command of the
British China station, disclosed to
day.
He Indicated, however, that the
German pocket battleship Admiral
Scheer was operating somewhere in
those seas. British sea and air pa
trols are forcing it to operate far at
sea, he said.
Mexicans Expect Axis
•
To Sever Relation;
For Ship Seizures
President Declared Aware
Expropriation Would
Bring About Breach
«
B> the Associated Press.
MEXICO CITY. April 9 —Official
sources said today Berlin and Rome
“’probably” would sever diplomatic
relations as a result of Mexico’s
expropriation of 12 axis ships har
bored in Tampico and Veracruz.
These sources said President
Manuel Avila Camacho was fully
aware his expropriation decree prob
ably would bring on a severance of
j relations of the axis nations with
the Mexican republic when he di
i verted the seized vessels for use by
j the Mexican merchant marine in
j coastal and international trade.
Such a development would be
accepted ‘'calmly” because it would
deal a ‘‘death blow" to Nazi and
Fascist propaganda activities and
political influence in Mexico and
possibly in other Latin American
countries, the official sources said.
Notices of expropriation were de
livered to the German and Italian
Legations, but they declined com
ment.
Mexican colors were run up on
the 12 ships at 12:30 p.m. today and
naval officials said they would start
carrying Mexican cargoes to other
American republics by the end of
the month.
Markets at a Glance
NEW YORK. April 9 (JP).—
Stocks—lower; war shares con
tinue retreat. Bonds—depressed;
rails lead decline. Foreign ex
change-quiet; Canadian dollar
dips. Cotton—easier: hedging,
liquidation and trade support.
Sugar—mixed: trade covering
and hedging. Metals—quiet: tin
prices lower. Wool tops—heavy;
Wall Street and commission
house liquidation.
Chicago: Wheat—firm: early
losses regained. Corn—higher;
good shipping, • industrial de
mand. Hogs—slow; 10-15 higher,
top. $8.90. Cattle—improved ac
tion, 10-15 higher. ^
North Carolina Joins
Fleet; 1,500 Witness
Brooklyn Exercises
35,000-Tonner Is First
Battleship Commissioned
By Navy in 18 Years
Bv the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. Aprli 9—The first
battleship commissioned by the
United States Navy in 18 years
took its place as a “ship of the
line” today in sober but colorful
ceremonies aboard the new 35.000
ton North Carolina at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard.
The commissioning ceremonies on
the quarter-deck, attended by 1,500
specially-invited guests headed by
Secretary of the Navy Knox, were
held under war-time restrictions
with special police, marines and
sailors on guard.
“We are foreshadowing with this
ship.” Secretary Knox said in a
brief address, “the greatest navy
the world has ever seen.”
He added, however, that this great
fleet was not dedicated to war “but
as the best possible guarantee of our
peace ana aecunty.
The American people, he said, are
devoted to the cause of peace, and
peace for the United States may
only be secured through adequate
defense.
Stark and Broughton Speak.
The U. S. S. Seattle, receiving
ship, fired a 19-gun salute as Sec
retary Kno> arrived. Admiral Har
old Stark, chief of naval operations,
and Gov. Melville Broughton of
North Carolina spoke briefly.
The North Carolina, a $70,000,000
vessel, is the first of 17 dreadnaughts
ordered in the Nation's program to
become the mightiest naval power
in the world.
Until her sistership. the Wash
ington. is commissioned in Phila
delphia next month, the North Car
olina will be the largest and most
formidable ship in the United States
Navy.
Her nine 16-inch guns, a score of
See NORTH CAROLINA7Page 2-X
Body of Sheppard
Will Lie in State
(Earlier Story on Page A-l.)
The body of Senator Sheppard
Democrat, of Texas, who died at
Walter Reed Hospital early today
will lie in state for several hour!
tomorrow afternoon in the Senate
chamber, but there will be no state
funeral at the Capitol, it was an
nounced late today.
Senate officials said the bod\
would be brought to the Capitol at
3 pjn. and placed in front of the
dais in the chamber where the vet
eran Texan served for many years
The doors of the Senate galleriei
will be kept open until 5 or 6 o'clock
when the Body will be taken to the
fuheral train, leaving at 8:20 o'clock
tomorrow night for Texas.
Funeral services will be held at
3 o clock Saturday afternoon at the
Senator’s home. Texarkana^Tex.
Late News Bulletins
R. A. F. Sweeps Channel Coast
LONDON <&).—-British warplanes made a day-long series
of offensive sweeps over the German-held Channel coast, the
Air Ministry announced tonight. One pilot reported machine
gunning an airdrome and hitting two anti-aircraft ships
in the Channel, Motor trucks, barges and a freighter also
were attacked.
Rain Halts Game With Nats Ahead, 5-3
GREENVILLE. S. C. 'Special).—A drizzle that turned into
a downpour caused the seventh and final exhibition fame
between the Nationals and Detroit Tigers today to be called
in the seventh with Washington holding a 5-3 lead. Sid
Hudson was on the mound for Washington and Harold New
house was pitching for Detroit.
Sub Torpedoes Two Ships, British Report
LONDON i/p>.—'The Admiralty reported tonight •that a
British submarine had torpedoed a 12,000-ton ship and an
other of 6,000 tons in an attack on a heavily laden southbound
convoy in the Central Mediterranean.
Nazis Abolish Dutch Boy Scouts
AMSTERDAM 'Via Berlin) (A1).—The Boy Scout movement
was officially abolished in the Netherlands today. A state
ment said the boys belonged to the International Boy Scouts,
which in the Nazi view constitutes an instrument of British
cultural and political propaganda. Dissolution of the Dutch
Salvation Army, which took place two weeks ago, has not
yet been officially announced.
12 German Planes Shot Down, British Claim
LONDON i^P).—Twelve Nazi planes were shot down in the
12 hours ending early this evening, the Air Ministry news
service reported, two by warships. Of the downed craft, two
were described as bombers which attacked shipping off the
English west coast.
Athens Radio Not on Air at Usual Time
ATHENS (*»>.—'The Athens radio w-hich usually broad
casts a news bulletin at 8:45 p.m., was not on the air tonight.
Admiralty Acknowledges Two Trawlers Sunk
LONDON '^P'.—The Admiralty announced tonight two
trawlers, Lord Selborne find Craymond Island, had been sunk.
Late Races
Other results, Rossvans Com
ment, entries and selections for
tomorrow, Page 2-X.
Bowie
SEVENTH RACE—Purse. $1,200: claim
ing: 4-year-olds and up: ltV miles.
Trysak (Berg) 9.fi0 4.<0 3.60
Scandalous (Kieper) 3.20 2.40
Dizzy Dame (Madden) 3.00
Time. 1:494*. . _ . _
Also ran—Charming Herod. 8weepstan.
Centerville. Sealoch.
Tropical Park
SIXTH RACE—Purse. *1.000: claiming:
4-year-olds and up: « furiongs (chut*).
Mary Schuli (Milligan! 9.00 3 TO 3.10
Highs cope i Ryan) 4-20 2.go
Weisenheimer iHaskell* 4 80
Time, l:10*s.
Also ran—Maeline. Sky Arao. Star
Chance and High Plaid.
SEVENTH RACE—Purae. *1,000: claim
ing: 4-year-olds and up It1, miles.
La Joya (Williams' 12.30 5.20 3.80
Sraoete Artist (McMullen) 10.00 5 00
elsun (MacAndrewi 2*0
| Time. 1:444k.
I Also ran—Merry Son. Little Tramn.
' r- : r>n, E-el *h Harry. P-jJt
Maj. J. P. Dean Plunges
To Death in Louisvilie
B> the Associated Press,
LOUISVILLE. Ky„ April 9—Maj.
John Paul Dean. 44, Army engineer,
was killed today in a plunge from
the 20th floor of a downtown office
building. Coroner John M. Keaney
listed the death as suicide.
Maj. Dean, whose wife and chil
dren are at West Point. N. Y.. was
transferred from there two weeks
ago to be chief of the flood-control
section of the Louisville engineers'
office.
The War Department said Maj.
Dean served here as a member of
the Board of Engineers for Rivers
and Harbors from June, 1928. to
October, 1931. Before going to Louis
ville he had served at West Point
for more than thr^ years.
•
German and Italian
Armies Are 15 Miles ;
Apart in Yugoslavia -
Churchill Warns of Axis
Threat to Egypt; Slavs
Fighting on Own
(Earlier Stories on Page A-l.)
By the Associated Press.
Britain and her Greek and Yugoslav allies appeared
late today to have lost in four days their major defenses in
the Balkans.
Adolf Hitler’s blitzkrieg armies swept through Yugo
slavia and Greece like a tornado today, and some military
observers said the end of the conflict in Southeastern Europe „
was almost in sight.
Striking with tempestuous fury, the Germans captured the
Aegean seaport of Salonika, forced the surrender of the trapped
east wing of the Greek army estimated at 300,000 men before
hostilities began, and drove westward across Yugoslavia to within 'sj
15 miles of a junction with Italian troops in Albania. The toll in
German slain and wounded was said to be enormous.
Churchill Warns of Axis Menace to Egypt.
To some observers these facts signified that the Balkan war
might be almost over, although it still was not known how well
Britain and Greece have prepared other positions to which they
I were retreating.
In London Prime Minister Churchill acknowledged the serious
' turn of events in the Balkan struggle and warned his countrymen
j that the Nazi threat to Egypt was extremely grave. (Text of Mr.
Churchill’s remarks on Page A-6.)
The Nazis, he said, despite the attacks of British subma
! rines and planes, shipped a large force of armored troops and
planes to Tripoli. Libya, commencing the operation even before the „
route of the Italians at Bengasi February 6 was completed. Then
■ they struck in greater strength than the British expected so soon,
he said.
f ortunately, he continued, the Italian collapse in fc-ast Airica
will aid the British by permitting the release of troops. >
Mr. Churchill also warned Soviet Russia that the Nazi drive
was heading her way. He said there were increasing signs that
the Germans would pounce on the rich wheatlands of Russia's
Ukraine.
Yugoslavs Now Fighting on Own.
It w^as almost certain that Yugoslavia from now on is fighting
on her own unless she can break through the German line strung
out across Southern Serbia, dividing her from the British and
Greeks.
Authoritiative Germans in Berlin said that, for purposes of any
practical military consideration, Yugoslavia might now be re
garded as cut in two in the latitude of Nis.
The main body of Yugoslavs is now' separated from the Greeks
and British, and the Nazi thrust seemed to be moving on with ir
resistible force toward the Albanian border, these sources said.
To reach their goals in Western Yugoslavia the German mo
torized columns sped over roads little better than goat trails. The
Italians meanwhile had pressed eastward into Yugoslavia to take
the town of Grad.
There seemed to be little chance that the Yugoslav forces,
reported to be somewhat disorganized, could successfully retreat. ^
Neutral observers at Bern, Switzerland, said that when the
Germans and Italians effect a junction the Nazi forces could wheel
south, heading for the Greek peninsula itself and the road to
Athens.
They held it likely that the next and perhaps decisive phase of ^
the battle of the Balkans would take place when the Germans tried
to storm the prepared positions of Greek and British forces.
British Confidence Unshaken by Events.
German occupation of Salonika and Berlin reports that other >
Nazi forces have moved more than half way across Yugoslavia
failed to shake the tone of British confidence set by Prime Minister
Churchill himself, military observers in London said.
These observers said that if any grave importance had attached
to the defense of Salonika the British Army would have defended
it as there was ample opportunity to install there Australian and
New Zealand veterans of the winter Libyan campaign.
Authoritative London sources said there were no British troops
in the Thrace and Macedonia areas east of Salonika, where, the
German high command said, the east wing of the Greek Army had
surrendered.
Military circles received with equanimity the news that the
Greeks in the east had capitulated, and remarked that, as pre
viously indicated, these were merely screening units and garrisons
for such fortresses as those in the RupeJ Pass. Any attempt to
compare their fate with that of the British expeditionary force at
Dunkerque was improper, these observers said.
The main units of the Allied forces are believed to be disposed >
in a great arch curving from occupied Albania to the Gulf of
Salonika, and nowhere are these forces cut off from supplies.
%
Coventry, Sleepless, Digs Out '
Of Debris of New Bombing
(Earlier Story on Page A-4.) 1
By RUSSELL LANDSTROM.
Associated Press War Correspondent.
COVENTRY, England. April 9 —
This historic Midlands city of Lady
Godiva and Peeping Tom coped to
day with new devastation wrought
overnight by German bombers in
the worst assault since the disaster
of last November 14.
The city still was unable to de
termine the toll of casualties or
damage, but sleepless volunteers set
about the task of salvage and rescue.
The assault lasted for several
hours. It was widespread, inflicting
damage through the town and cleav
ing extensively through the resi
dential sectors.
Telephone service was affected.
Only curtailed service was available
today.
Coventry counted among major
property losses a celebrated hall of
which only a hollow shell remains.
The almost priceless stained glass
windows and tapestries had been
removed earlier for safekeeping
Bombs also fell on the police sta
tion. a hospital and a hotel and
wiped out a community feeding cen
ter which was established after the
November blitz.
Officials said morale was ‘ won
derful.” The people themselves, s
i stunned for a second time, asserted:
! "We recovered and rebuilt after
j the November raid and we'll pull
through this all right, too. It can't
last forever. The enemy under
estimates the British spirit. He
can’t break it—not with bombs, any
i how ”
Many among the poor refused to >
: accept help, saying it was charity
I and thus forbidden by their pride.
Crowds filled the streets all day, >
most of them inspecting the wreck
i age. but many going about their
necessary marketing just as if tht
air were not filled with brick duet
and the streets not strewn with
broken glass anjj stone-.