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Weather forecast Rain with occasional thundershowers. Tomorrow clearing, cool. Temperatures today—Highest, 54, at 12:01 a.m.; lowest, 45, at 9 a.m.; 48 at 1:30 p.m. Yesterday—Highest, 65, at 6:10 p.m.; lowest, 52, at 4:50 ajn. Lat> New York Markets, Pag* A-11. Guide for Readers Page.] Amusements —B-8 Comics.B-14-15 Editorials.A-6 Edit! Articles—A-7 Finance.A-ll Lost and Found, A-3 Page. Obituary _A-10 Radio .B-15 Society ..B-3 Sports.A-8-9 Where to Go ...B-8 Woman’s Page, B-10 An Associated Press Newspaper 92d YEAE. No. 36,489. WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, MARCH 27, 1944—TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES. Washington r'¥'\TTQ FIVE CENTS and Suburb* 1 -tliVlliXj X O. Zlscwhcr* U. S.Bombers Hit French Airfields After RAF Night Raid on Essen; Reds Begin Shelling Old Rumania _ ▲ *_ — _ ._*_ 2,000 Tons of Bombs Batter Industrial City “ By the Associated Press. LONDON, Mar. 27. —Strong forces of American Liberators and Flying Fortresses blasted at Nazi air dromes in Southwest and Central France today, fol lowing up a night assault by, RAF bombers on Essen, home of j the Krupp works. The RAF dropped 2,000 tons of explosives on Essen. “A very strong escort” of fighters, Including Lightnings, Thunderbolts and Mustangs, accompanied the American bombers into France. The terms indicated more than 500 big bombers and perhaps 700 or more fighters engaged in the strike at the Nazi air bases. It was the 21st American attack of the month, three over the record set in February. Hannover Also Raided. Along with the crushing assault on rebuilt factories at Essen, smaller forces of British bombers hammered the rubber center of Hannover 125 miles to the northeast, and railway targets at Courtrai in Belgium last night. Probably more than 750 RAF night bombers were out. By daylight yesterday about 1,700 American planes, including heavy bombers, struck hard at targets in the coastal areas of France and Hol land. Other unspecified targets in West ern Germany also were attacked and mines were laid in enemy waters during the sweeping overnight op erations, which the Air Minstry said C06t a total of 9 planes. Last Big Raid in July. Clouds made full observation of the results of the attack on Essen impossible, the Air Ministry said, but it was apparent that the RAF had dealt another concentrated blow at the city in an effort to wipe out the results of desperate reconstruction work which the Ger mans have been carrying on in this vital industrial center. Essen was last raided in force by the RAF the night of July 25, 1943, when more than 2,000 tons of ex plosives were unloaded on the city as the culmination of a series of terrific massed assaults. The great summer assaults were estimated, to have damaged nearly two-thirds of the Krupps works, knocking out at least six months of production. But the Germans were believed to have repaired about one fifth of the area of some 10,000,000 square feet of floor space that had been damaged. Important Rail Center. Hannover is the site of rubber goods and synthetic rubber plants and important rail yards, workshops, locomotive, tank and aircraft parts factories. The most important rail center between Germany and the low countries, American bombers have hit it repeatedly. The four-engined craft returned to Germany after an interval of only one night since their last great blow on the Reich—the 2,800-ton blasting of Berlin Friday night, car ried out at a loss of 73 bombers. The venture into occupied terri tory was a follow-up to the Satur day night heavy bomber assault on Aulnoye. a French railway junction on the Belgian border, and Lyon in Southeastern France. Mosquitos gave Berlin a light going over the same night, Enemy Targets Blasted. American heavy and medium bombers and fighters beat a rapid tatto throughout yesterday on tar gets near the coasts of France and the Netherlands, and in one foray Thunderbolts shot up airdromes within sight of Paris without oppo sition. ’ Flying Fortresses and Liberators loosed thunderous barrages of bombs against the Pas-de-Calais area and bombed military installations in the Cherbourg area 200 miles to the south. American Marauders hit the Ijmuiden docks of Holland. The American operations cost five bombers and one fighter. British Cabinet Shift Reported Planned Eden Reported Dissatisfied Over Churchill Powers Bi the Associated Press. LONDON, Mar. 27.—Rising crit icism of the Churchill government was coupled with reports today that the Prime Minister is planning to reshuffle his cabinet. The latest reports said Anthony Eden might leave the Foreign Office and that Lord Beaverbrook might be shifted to some po6t other than his present one of lord privy seal. Mr. Eden, these reports said, is dissatisfied because fqreign policy making has been taken over largely by Mr. Churchill. Should he re tire, his most likely successor, it was believed, would be Lord Cran borne, Dominions secretary and leader in the House of Lords. An answer to criticisms of his government at home occupied a large section of yesterday's speech of the Prime Minister, who usually scorns to notice his critics. Defending the coalition govern ment, Mr. Churchill said it had “brought the British Isles and the British Commonwealth and empire out of the jaws of death, back from the mouth of hell.” February Arms Output Below Requirements of Armed Forces Nelson Blames Manpower Shortage; Aircraft Production Shows Increase By JAMES Y. NEWTON. Total production of munitions in February was below require ments of the armed forces, War Production Board Chairman Donald M. Nelson disclosed to day, declaring that manpower shortages limited the output of many important war items. While the output of all war goods last month totaled about the same in January, the aircraft industry supplied a bright spot in the picture with a production gain of 4 per cent. Heavy and medium bombers fea tured this increase, with four-engine bombers setting a record. Mr. Nel son said aircraft accounted for 30 per cent of the month's munitions production, emphasizing the grow ing importance of air power in the war efTort. By major categories, February production showed the following changes from January: Aircraft, including air frames, en gines, propellers, spare parts and equipment—up 4 per cent; all types of ships, including maintenance and repair—down 4 per cent; guns and fire control—down I per cent; am munition—up 9 per cent; combat and motor vehicles—down 10 per cent; communication and electronic equipment—down 5 per cent, and miscellaneous equipment and sup plies—down 3 per cent. Some Cuts Were Scheduled Production schedules called for a reduction of manufacture in several of the munitions categories, notably small arms and certain types of ships. “Throughout February manpower still remained a limiting factor in the output of many munitions items, Mr. Nelson said, “especially .such critical components as bearings, castings and fractional horsepower motors. “It cannot be emphasized too strongly that manpower will become a more and more critical problem in munitions production during the months ahead, because the Nation faces the problem of maintaining an overall munitions output slightly higher than at present, in the face of intensified manpower drains in the lower-age brackets to meet the needs of the armed forces.” Better Use of Manpower Seen. Mr. Nelson said programs most likely to be affected by manpower shortages are those like radar, air craft, 100-octane gasoline and syn thetic rubber, which are forced to rely on many young engineers, tech nicians and skilled workers with very special training. He declared that in some pro (See PRODUCTION, PageTA-2.) Draft Official Expects Strain on Manpower In Many Industries Men 26 to 28 Expected To Bear Brunt of Later Inductions By MIRIAM OTTENBERG. Locally needed activities, such as laundries and food and fuel distribution, and the 35 war-sup porting activities recognized na tionally will be hit hard by the draft in the coming months, a high selective service official predicted today. He pointed out that with war pro duction facing cuts because #f the tough deferments policy the civil ian economy is bound to suffer even more. Draft boards, anxious to defer fathers, have dropped many of them into 2-A as necessary in civil ian activity, the draft spokesman declared Of the 2,200,000 fathers now holding occupational defer ments, nearly 800.000 are classed in 2-A. Men Over 26 Face Review. In his group are plumbers, bus drivers, school teachers, laundry supervisors, Government officials, repairmen, police and firemen and scores of others who make their contribution to the civilian economy rather than to direct war produc tion. An overall review of occupational deferments of men over 26 is to be made as soon as the younger men have either been drafted or deferred as a result of national action. Draft boards, however, are expected to tighten up as the deferments of fathers expire and come up for renewal. Since draft boards started classi fying fathers out of the now aban doned 3-A last October, many of the deferments are coming up for renewal now. The draft spokesman also pre dicted that, with the pattern of supplying military manpower by age groups now clearly defined, oc cupationally deferred men in the 26 to 28 age group will be the next to bear the brunt of filling calls. Squeeze Due in Two Months. The squeeze probably will come in about two months when draft boards will reach the bottom of their rapidly dwindling supply of fathers without claims to occupational de ferments and will have to start combing their lists of 2-A and 2-B men again just as was ordered for men under 26. The next age jump, from 28 to 30 years, is expected by summer Draft boards, it was predicted, will continue to be liberal in granting occupational deferments to fathers over 30, but those under 30 will have to pass much the same tests for oc cupational deferments as men in the younger age brackets. The weight of the coming ar rangement will fall heaviest on fathers, it was said, since draft boards have been working under in structions to be more generous with them than with nonfathers. It was pointed out, however, that men over 30 will still be accepted for the armed forces as they are now, but that the pressure will be off occupationally-deferred fathers over 30 in the degree it is heavier on men under 30. Boards Ordered to Tighten Up. District Selective Service head quarters already has indicated the way the draft is going by instructing draft boards to tighten up on occu pational deferments. “The continuing increase in occu pational deferments since October 1943,” District Selective Service Di (See MANPOWER, Page A-4.) Allied Artillery Fire Stepped Up as Third Cassino Drive Fails Infantry Activity Shifts To Beachhead; Two Small Nazi Attacks Repulsed By the Associated Press. ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Naples, Mar. 27.—The Allied as sault on Cassino has changed into an artillery duel in which a superior mass of Allied guns is seeking to knock out the trouble some German positions remain ing in the town’s southwest cor ner. An announcement today said Al lied artillery had begun a systematic campaign to destroy both the Con tinental Hotel and the Hotel des Roses which the Germans have con verted into fortresses. A large explosion occurred when artillery engaged a cluster of Ger man six-barrelled mortars, possibly indicating an ammunition dump was hit. The only other ground ac tivity at Cassino was by patrols. Nazi Raiding Parties Repulsed. The center of infantry shifted to the Anzio beachhead where Allied forces drove back two small raiding parties which probed the center of the line. Losses were Inflicted on the enemy. German guns shelled the left flank of the beachhead line. In the air, American and British heavy, medium and fighter-bomb ers atacked scattered targets in Northern Italy yesterday, including Fiume, Maniago airdrome 50 miles northeast of Venice, and the rail yards of Rimini and Vicenga. Seven enemy planes were shot down and five Allied planes are missing. At Cassino, at the same time Al lied guns turned on the Continen tal Hotel, which the Germans have made a gun-bristling thorn-in-the side for Allied troops, and the Hotel des Roses in the same general area at the apex of Highway 6, the Ger mans trained their artillery on Castle Hill. Allied held strong point west of the town which has been extremely troublesome to the enemy. The inactivity of ground troops made it plain that the third Allied attack to drive the Germans from Cassino, the key to the road to Rome, had been unsuccessful. In the mountains north of Cas sino snow blocked many roads in (See ITALY, Page A-47) Russians Ready For First Drive Onto Enemy Soil (Map on Page A-4.) By the Associated r'ress. LONDON, Mar. 27.—The Red Army was poised today for its first thrust onto enemy soil after smashing triumphantly to the Prut River border of Rumania from which Adolf Hitler launched the southern wing of his ill-starred invasion of Rus sia nearly three years ago. Russian big guns already are lay ing down a barrage on Rumanian territory, Moscow dispatches said today, and Soviet infantrymen were expected to surge soon across the narrow Prut, which they reached on a 53-mile front yesterday, only a week after they spanned the broader Dniester, now 60 miles behind them. As 24 volleys from 324 guns thun dered in Moscow last night and green, white, yellow, red and purple rockets burst above the city in cele bration of the drive to the enemy’s border, the army newspaper Red Star, confidently anticipating a con tinuation of the offensive, asserted: "For the Red Army there are no boundaries; her boundaries are vic tory, Berlin, and a straitjacket for the mad German vaikyrle.” Byeltsi Captured. Premier Stalin, who announced the conquest of part of “our state frontier," also reported the capture of the Bessarabian rail city of Byeltsi, a victory which closed an other German avenue of retreat from Lower Russia. Other Soviet forces were declared within 20 miles of Jassi (Jassy i, through which runs the major Nazi escape railway from the big Black Sea port of Odessa. The surge to the Prut was re garded in London as already boom ing a German stand at Odessa and besieged Nikolaev. Turkish reports that Hitler was rushing masses of armored reinforcements through Hungary and Rumania suggested that he probably would make a stand in Rumania in an attempt at least to save the Ploestl oil fields. The Russians were reported within 200 miles of the vital oil regions and 250 miles from Bucharest, Rumanian capital. The Russians also hammered out new gains near the Middle Dniester River yesterday, a Soviet commu nique announcing that Kamenetz Podolsk, in the southwestern cor ner of the Ukraine, had been en circled and that ths Red Army al ready was storming through its streets. The communications cen ter is vital as an escape gap for defeated German troops streaming southward from fallen Proskurov. Tarnopol Surrounded. In old Poland, where some Rus sian units are within 35 miles of the 1941 Bug River frontier between Germany and Russia, the Red Army was declared to have surrounded Tarnopol, bitterly defended for weeks, and to be wiping out the gar rison, capturing street after street. Other Russian forces already had by-passed the city in their drive toward Lwow, big Nazi communica tions center. The Russians, in their epic mili tary comeback since the Nazis ham mered at Stalingrad and swept so close to Moscow that its people could hear the boom of big guns and see the flashes of exploding shells, have recovered all except about 60.000 square miles of pre-1939 Russian territory. Since Stalingrad they have marched back 800 miles. By Russian count, the abortive German attack has cost the in vaders more than 13,000,000 casual ties. Stalin announced on February 23, 1943, that the Germans had lost 9.000. 000 troops, including at least 4.000. 000 dead. Last November he said that during "the last year’’ the Nazis had lost more than 4,000,000, of which 1,800,000 were slain. Almost five months of almost in cessant Russian victories have en sued, to swell these totals. The Rus sian casualties, while heavy, have not been announced for some time. Yanks Tears Recall Blushes of Heroic 'Miss Mac1 By NEWBOLD NOYES, Jr, Star War Correspondent. NAPLES, Mar. 16 (by Air Cou-_ rier).—We stood with our hats off" and thought about Miss Mac. We hadn’t seen her for a couple of months, but the days when she took care of us in ward 4, D-East, In a British general hospital in Naples seemed very close this afternoon. A pale, slender English girl with dark hair and eyes, she was very conscious of the two pips on her shoulder which meant that she was a nurse and a lieutenant in the Brit ish Army Medical Corps. The Brit ish call their nurses ‘‘sister,’’ but it is not a term of familiarity. Miss Mac liked discipline and order. That was why she had such a hard time with ward 4, where the American Field Service volunteer ambulance drivers stayed when they were sick. We were unruly, untidy and sometimes a little impolite, which she couldn’t under stand at all. Some of us were in D-East long enough to get to know her pretty well. Bemie, who had been in bed six weeks was “dean” of the ward. I was there nearly as long. The atmosphere of the place was that of a club and our chief business was teasing Miss Mac. We never called her by her real name, but we had plenty of other names for her—‘‘Spitfire,” and "the Young Witch” and “Pistol Packin’ Mamma,” sometimes we called her “Beautiful”— which made her blush quickest of all. That was a remarkable thing about Miss Mac—she blushed faster and more violently than any woman we ever saw. It became a game with us. Somebody would compli ment her on her hair-do, or ask her if she had a date that night, or refer to her as "the Dean's girl”— and immediately her skin would glow, like a cloud with the sun rising behind it. Her worst days were those on which the colonel inspected the wards. She could not believe that Wally could really want to smoke a cigar just at the crucial moment. She would rush about opening win dows, getting the smoke out of the room And no matter how often it happened, it always shocked her deeply to find the drawer of our central table filled with stale bread and other bits of food that we had saved from our meals. On Christmas eve, somebody got hold of a bottle of brandy. We made milk punch in a hospital bucket, and lured her in for a party. Liquor and hospitals are a bad com j bination; she didn’t approve of what we had done. We reminded her it was Christmas eve, and she finally consented to have just one small taste. I shall never forget the stricken look on her face when her captain, the medical officer, walked into the room while the cup was at her lips. Being a man of the world, he understood Ameri cans. and it turned into a good party. They both stayed to the end. One of the boys had received a Christmas stocking from home, and on Christmas Day we turned it into a present for Miss Mac. We put in some cigarettes and candy, a cake of toilet soap, and a little jar of cleansing cream which somebody had been carrying around. Wally put in one of his cigars, and we. filled up the rest with oranges and nuts. That day, when she opened the drawer where we usually kept the bread, there it was, bulging and red, with a card saying, "Merry Christ mas, Miss Mac!” She picked it up and turned slowly to face us, the blood rushing for the roots of her hair. She opened her mouth just once, but nothing came out. Then she ran from the room. But when she came back, her hand was especially gentle as she took our pulses and tucked in the sheets. That was about three months ago. Day before yesterday, the Germans raided Naples, and bombs fell on the hospital. I So this afternoon, those of us who could get there stood with our hats off and thought about Miss Mac. Her coffin looked incredibly small as they lowered it into the ground. At the end, all the officers of the hospital stood one by one before her grave and saluted. You couldn't help thinking how that would have made her blush. “The Dean” cried more than the rest of us, which was only natural, because she had taken care of him the longest. fsss^sisl |£nP CAKPIPA1Isil High Court Affirms OPA Power Over Price And Rent Ceilings Two Meat Dealers Lose Appeal From Conviction For Overcharges Py the Associated Press. The Supreme Court today held constitutional the price-fixing provisions of the Emergency Price Control Act and the OPA’s rent-control program. In the price-fixing case, Chief Jus tice Stone wrote the 6-3 opinion on appeals by two Boston meat dealers —Benjamin Rottenberg and Albert Yakus—from their conviction on charges of selling wholesale cuts of beef at prices in excess of the OPA maximum. They were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and fined $1,000 each by the Federal District Court at Boston. Justice Roberts read the majority opinion in the absence of Chief Jus tice Stone. Justices Roberts, Rut ledge and Murphy dissented. • Justice Douglas delivered an 8-1 decision in the rent control case revolving about Mrs. Kate C. Wil lingham of Macon, Ga. Justice Roberts wrote a dissenting opinion. Bowles Sought Injunction. Chester Bowles, OPA admin istrator. sought in the Federal Dis trict Court at Macon to restrain Mrs. Willingham from prosecuting State court proceedings seeking to enjoin the issuance of an order fixing a rent ceiling for her property, The District Court held the legis lation was an unconstitutional dele gation of legislative power. The OPA appealed that decision directly to the Supreme Court. The majority opinion stated that there was “no grant of unbridled administrative discretion" as Mrs. Willingham argued. "Congress has not told the admin istrator to fix rents w'henever and wherever he might like at whatever levels he pleased," Justice Douglas stated. Standard Supplied by Congress. “Congress has directed that maxi mum rents be fixed in those areas where defense activities have re sulted or threaten to result in in creased rentals inconsistent with the purpose of the act. "And it has supplied the standard and the base period to guide the administrator in determining what the maximum rentals should be in a given area. The criteria to guide the adrrjjnistrator are certainly not more vague than the standards gov erning the determination by the Secretary of Agriculture * * * of marketing areas and minimum prices for milk." Furthermore, the court said, “to require hearings for thousands of landlords before any rent-control order could be made effective might have defeated the program of price control, or Congress might well have thought so. National security might (See"PRICE FIXING, Page A-4.) Red Cross Campaigners Appeal For Increase in Donations BULLETIN. Gifts of $47,139 were re ported today by residential, city and nearby Maryland and Virginia area divisions. This brought the total to date to $1,703,949, or 63.94 per cent of the campaign goal of $2,665,000. The total number of gifts reported today was 2,754, bringing the total gifts to 228,231. With the District lagging more than $1,000,000 behind its $2,665, 000 goal and with just five days remaining in the Red Cross cam paign, Lloyd B. Wilson and H. L. Rust, jr., chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the campaign, today Issued the fol lowing statement: To The Residents of The Nation’s Capital and Nearby Communities: Those in charge wish to report to you on the progress of the War Nebraska Republicans Push Gov. Griswold For Vice Presidency Executive Will Have Convention Delegation Backing His Choice By GOULD LINCOLN, Star Staff Correspondent LINCOLN, Nebr., Mar. 27.—Ne braska Republicans, who on April 11 will elect 15 delegates to the Republican National Con vention, have a double-barreled interest in the party national ticket. Their Governor, Dwight Griswold, is an outstanding fig ure among the new young Re publican Governors. Pew, if any, of the Nebraska Re publicans believe that Gov. Gris wold has a real chance at the presi dential nomination. On the other hand, they are hopeful that he will land second place on the ticket. Much stranger things than that have happened in politics. The Governor of Nebraska, serv ing his second term, is forthright and able. He twice has been elected by the people of Nebraska. He hails from a section of the coun try—the Midwest—which has led the way in the revival of Republi can strength. He is no ultracon servative. He is no isolationist. He has said frankly that some of the New Deal innovations should be re tained and that the Republicans should admit it. And he has said: “The party must make a pledge to co-operate fully with the nations (See LINCOLNTPage_A-4.) Fund Campaign of the American Red Cross. In reality this undertaking be longs to and is carried on by and in behalf of the people of this area to provide funds to the Red Cross for essential services to their own relatives and friends in the armed forces. The Red Cross is the channel through which we send aid and comfort to them. The workers who have volunteered to represent you in soliciting funds are your friends and neighbors. In every sense of the word this is a community en terprise and is entitled to the gen erous support and co-operation of each and every individual who has the good fortune to live here. The President in his proclama tion states that the American Red Cross is an auxiliary to the United States Armed Forces and as such is providing indispensable services! to our troops throughout the world, as well as to their families at home. Our military leaders tell us that Red Cross services are vital to the (See RED CROSS, Page A-4.) Hull Declares Dewey Is '100 Pet. Wrong' in Censorship Charges Denies Department Has Requested London to Cut Political News Stories By the Associated Press. 'Secretary of State Hull said today Gov. Thomas E. Dewey was “100 per cent wrong in the accuracy of his statement" made in a New York speech last Friday that the State Department had requested British censors to suppress political news in dis patches for American newspa pers. Mr. Hull was asked to comment on Gov. Dewey's statement before the Press Photographers' Associa tion that "when we find the State Department requesting the British censor to suppress political news sent to American papers by Ameri can correspondents abroad it begins to amount to a deliberate and dan gerous suppression of news at home.” Secretary Hull replied: "Gov. Dewey is 100 per cent wrong in the accuracy of his statement. All my life I have not only talked about a free press. I have fought for it. "When these rumors of political censorship in England started in November, 1942. I wrote Byron Price and cabled Ambassador Winant to tell Mr. Eden my conviction that 'Fundamentally the long-range in terest of international friendship are best served by permitting the people of any couhtry to know what people in friendly countries are thinking and saying about them, however unpleasant some of those opinions may be.’ "Both Mr. Price and Mr. Eden ex pressed full agreement. "These rumors cropped up again while I was in Florida last month and Mr. Stettinius made unequivo cably clear that this is still our policy. His statement was published widely at the time. “I was glad to see a press dis patch from London yesterday stat ing that the British government fully understands and shares our opposi tion to political censorship and our conviction that plain speaking is more healthful than suppression.” Late Bulletin Gas Rate Boost Upheld The Supreme Court today upheld a $201,000 rate increase granted to the Washington Gas Light Co. by the Public Utilities Commission in 1942, which the Government con tended was in conflict with the wartime stabilization pro gram. The court split, six to three, on the issue, with Jus tice Roberts writing the opin ion and Justice Douglas, Black and Murphy dissecting. Supreme Court Upholds Portal Pay for Miners 7-to-2 Decision Backs Claims of Alabama Iron Ore Workers By J. A. FOX. The Supreme Court, by a 7-to 2 vote, today held that Alabama iron ore miners are entitled to portal-to-portal pay under the Fair Labor Standards (Wage Hour) Act. The Wage-Hour Act “must not be interpreted or applied in a narrow, grudging manner,” the court said in upholding the right of the miners to travel pay which the operators said would add millions yearly to their costs. The decision is expected to weigh heavily in current litigation pressed by the United Mine Workers to define rights of coal miners with respect to pay for the time con sumed in underground travel when starting and finishing work. Roberts and Stone Dissent. Justice Roberts wrote a dissent, in which he was joined by Chief Jus tice Stone. Justice Murphy deliv ered the majority opinion and Jus tices Frankfurter and Jackson wrote separate concurring opinions. The decision affirms the ruling of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals which held that iron ore workers employed by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., the Schloss Sheffield Co. and Republic Steel Corp. were entitled to have their travel time included within the 40 hour work week prescribed by the \yage-Hour Act, and consequently, to be compensable at overtime rates after the statutory period. Addressing himself specifically to this point, Justice Murphy said: "In determining whether this underground travel constitutes com pensable work or employment with in the meaning of the Pair Labor Standards Act, we are not guided by any precise statutory definition of work or employment. Section 7A (of the act) merely provides that no one who is engaged in commerce or in the production for commerce shall be employed for a work week longer than the prescribed hours unless compensation is paid for the excess hours at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate. Section 3G defines the word employ' to include to suffer or permit to work; while section 3J states that the production’ includes 'any process or occupation neces sary to * • • production; Rights of Toilers at Stake. "But these provisions like the other portions of the Pair Labor Standards Act are remedial and hu manitarian in purpose. We are not here dealing with mere chattels or articles of trade, but with the rights of those who toil, of those who sac rifice a full measure of their free dom and talents to the use and profits of others. “Those are the rights that Con gress has specially legislated to pro tect. Such a statute must not be interpreted or applied in a narrow, grudging manner. Accordingly, we have used section 7A, 3G and 3J of the act as necessarily indicative of a congressional intention to guar antee either regular or overtime compensation for all actual work or employment. To hold that an em ployer may validly compensate his employes for only a fraction of the time consumed in actual labor would be inconsistent with the very purpose and structure of those sec | tions of the act. "It is vital, of course.” to deter mine first the extent of the actual work week. Only after this is done can the minimum wage and maxi mum hour requirements of the act be effectively applied, and in the ab sence of a contrary legislative ex pression, we cannot assume that Congress here was referring to work or employment othen than as those words are commonly used—as mean ing physical or mental exertion (whether burdensome or not) con trolled or required by the emplover and pursued necessarily and pri marily for the benefit of the em ployer and his business • • • Hazards Taken in Consideration. "The exacting and dangerous con ditions in the mine shafts stand as mute, unanswerable proof that the journey from and to the portal in volves continuous physical and men tal exertion, as well as hazards to life and limb. And this compulsory travel occurs entirely on petitioners' property and is at all times under their strict control and supervision.” The court said its opinion did not foreclose "reasonable provisions of contract or custom governing the computation of work hours where precisely accurate computation is difficult or impossible," and added, “nor are we concerned here with the effect that custom and contract may have in borderline cases where the other facts give risf to serious (See PORTAL PAY, Page A-4.) Germans Report U. S. Commando Landing in Italy By the Associated Press. LONDON, Mar. 27.—The German high command declared today that "an American Commando force” had landed northwest of the naval base of La Spezia on the Gulf of Genoa, 200 miles above Rome, but had been wiped out. The formation consisted of 2 officers and 13 men, Berlin said in its broadcast communique. There was no Allied confirmation of the report. Today’s communique was broad cast more than an hour later than usual. There was no explanation. Your Red Cross Is at His Side, but Your Support Is Needed to Keep It I here—Give Today