WEATHER Fair and colder tonight. Thurs day, increasing cloudiness and warmer, with probable rain or jltOW. -• •« • • GOOD AFTERNOON ^ "i .' . •'-r. h'V.r Eztri'liMvy daw in CtU/oni^l total pracipiUUia dnriaf item was 9^1 Utkn. Largest Daily Circulation of Any Newspaper in North Carolina in Proportion to Population VOL. 57—No. 309 HENDERSONVILLE, N. cJWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1938 single copies, five cent* *** *** *** *** £ - *** *#* *** Loyalists Are Ready To Flee Barcelona A - A ; i. FRANCO ENDS FIRSTPHASEOF VICTORY DRIVE Huge Force Pointed at Barcelona; to Split Catalonia 300.000 MEN SWEEP ON IN CAMPAIGN H E N D A Y E, Franco-Spanish Frontier, Dec. 28. (UP) — The lirst phase of Generalissimo Fran cisco Franco's end-the-war offen sive was completed today and he prepared a second drive to change the map of Catalonia. Insurgent dispatches claimed continued success along a 60-mile front which gradually was shaping into a huge triangle, the apex aimed almost directly at the loyal ist capital. Barcelona, and it was designed to cut' Catalonia into halves. The northern wing of the insur-j trent army of 300,000 swept across Montsech mountain range, cap tured villages and prepared to at tack Aresa de Segre, the so-called gateway to Catalonia. Loyalist defenders of Catalonia last night were reported in retreat along a 60-mile front to escape the jaws of Generalissimo Franco's >riant pinc*rs snapping shut ujjoi^ the walled town of Cervera, 48 miles inland from Barcelona. Insurgent dispatches at the same time indicated that Franco's forces on the southern wing were only 30 miles from the important gov ernment seaport of Tarragona on the Mediterranean, but instead of striking on to the seacoast they swung north around Borjas Blan cas and drove toward Cervera. Simultaneously, Franco's crack Xavarrese and Galicians in the Tremp sector to the north swept southward across 5.000-feet moun tain peaks in swirling snow upon the town of Artesa de Segre, key communications center of the gov ernment's entire center Catalon ian front. The security of lovaiist uener alissimo Vincente Rojo's entire de fense system from Tremp down to Lerida east of the Segre valley was at stake. From Artesa do Segre on the south bank of the Se«re Franco's forces must cut an 18-mile arc to reach Cervera while his southern army, composed lareely of Italian Legionnaires and Moroccan cav alry, must drive north and east 17 miles across jagged hills to reach Cervera. I Once this liaison is formed, the insurgents will have bitten off a irreat bulging slice of loyalist ter ritory from Tremp to Mora de Ebro, trapping loyalist units be hind them, and would be massed for a death blow at Barcelona, di rectly east over a broad highway. Frontier reports said that the loyalist government was preparing to abandon Barcelona should the insurgents get within striking dis tance. Insurgent dispatches said Pre mier Juan Negrin and his cabinet *ere holding a fleet of ships in ^adiness ready to move the gov ernment to the southern section of dismembered loyalist Spain, prob ably Cartagena or A'bacete. Catalonian dispatches said Gen eralissimo Franco was laying down the heaviest artillery bombard ment of the entire civil war. using more than 500 guns alone his lines from TremD to Seroa. More than 3.000 aerial bombs and 8,000 shells were said to have fallen on loyalist positions in the sector dur the last 72 hours. H.S. Class Of 1938 Will Hold Reunion I he 1938 graduating class of jhe Hendersonvllle high school will hold its first reunion tomorrow,; Wednesday night at 8 o'clock at 'he Home Food Shop, when the ^v«nt will take the form of an in Jormal banquet. A large crowd is expected. Soonsors of the eather lnK today asked that all *ho have; done so leave their plater yUirjje for the banquet with Miss auc Turner at the Economy drug store. CITY AND LAKE LURE ALL STARS TO PLAY Announcement was made today Gat the Hendersonville All Star! i *cetball team will play the Lake a.Ur* All Stars tonight at 8 o'clock the Flat Rock high school gym.' JAPS PLANNING NEW CAMPAIGN IN SO. CHINA SHANGHAI, Dec. 28. (UP) — Chinese sources today reported that Japanese troops are massing west of Canton and appeared to be planning a drive into the in terior of China, possibly along the border of French Indo-China. Chinese military authorities said that Japanese casualties during the war have totaled 650,000. FMS.PLAN TO TRAIN PILOTS WINS SUPPORT Senator Sheppard Okehs Large Civilian Avia tion Reserve WASHINGTON. Dec. 28. (UP) Chairman Morris Sheppard of the senate military affairs commit tee today promised support for President Roosevelt's new pro gram Jto augment vastly the na tion's trained civilian airpower. Sheppard expressed his appro val of plans to train annually un der the direction of the Civil Aeronautics authority 20,000 youtfis Between fhe ageS 'of 18 and 25 as air pilots to provide a reserve .in case of war. "We've got to cultivate avia ; tion among civilians as well as among army and navy forces," i Sheppard said. "We must encour age civilian aviation as much as possible." WASHINGTON, Dec. 28. (UP) President Roosevelt disclosed yes terday that the government soon would begin training 20,000 col lege students annually as expert pilots, giving the United States one of the most formidable aerial reserves in the world. He said at his press conference that preliminary plans call for start of the program in several hundred colleges during the school year 1939-40, under super vision of the National Youth ad ministration. Details were worked out by the Civil Aeronautics au thority. he added. Mr. Roosevelt's disclosure came after it was learned authorita tively that he plans to send a special message to the 76th con gress asking for supplemental military and naval funds to de velop a gigantic, long-range air armada. Military and naval experts now estimate that there are 30,000 to 35,000 pilots and students in civ il aviation who could be con-1 scripted in event of war. Since the president placed no limit on the length of time the new pro gram would run, it is believed the United States may become undis puted in air supremacy within a few years. Mr. Roosevelt said that the plan would be placed on an ex perimental basis during the sec ond semester of the present school year in a number of colleges that had pioneered in the field, and ' that at least 300 students would | be trained in this period. Pending further arrangements the CAA announced that courses in the test semester would be pre sented at the following colleges and universities: Purdue, Ala bama, Minnesota, University of Washington, Massachusetts Insti tute of Technology, Texas Agri culture and Mechanical, and Geor gia School of Technology. He emphasized that the com plete program would entail an an nual cost of $9,800,000 which must be appropriated through (Continued on page three) Rome Speculates France May Yield Use Of African Seaport Facilities J ROME, Dec. 28. (UP)—Specu lation that France might agree to certain non-territorial concessions facilitating Italy's use of the Port of Djibouti developed last night following reports of Italian troop concentrations along: the border of French Somaliland. The Fascist press reproduced French newspaper reports of the Italian troop movements, suppos edly with the aim of occupying the Djibouti terminum of the rail road to Addis Ababa, but govern ment officials declined to either confirm or deny the reports. Diplomats admitted that if the reports of menacing Italian troop movements were true they wouin constitute «n embarrassing prel ude to the mid-January visit to Rome of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who seeks de-1 velopment of his European ap peasement program. Speculation that France might ■ agree to make concessions in re gard to Italians rights in Djibouti,! providing they do not involve any surrender of territory, grew outj of disclosure of the contents of a French note delivered Monday to Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano. The note was in answer to Italy's formal repudia (Continued on page six). ANOTHER COLD WAVE SWEEPS OUT OF ARCTIC Warning Comes as Almost Entire Nation Gripped by First One EXPECTED~TO STRIKE ALL EAST OF ROCKIES (UNITED PRESS) "Kid Cold" cocked his fist today for a second punch at the nation, already reeling from his first win try blow. United States weather forecas ter J. R. Lloyd at Chicago warned that a second cold wave is sweep ing down from the Arctic Circle while the first wave held almost the entire nation in its grip. The fringe of the new wave has reached Montana and Lloyd said by tomorrow night it would blanket the Plains states and the Missouri valley. The most severe cold wave of the winter stretched icy tentacles toward the eastern seaboard today and penetrated even sections of the deep south. Intense cold already had spread , over the Plains states, the lower Missouri. Mississippi and Ohio river valleys and the Great Lakes region. Blizzards raged across the upper Michigan peninsula and in parts of Ohio. Pennsylvania and upner New York. U. S. forecaster Lloyd expected that the cold would cover every portion of the country east of the Rocky mountains bv tonight. He said great masses of Polar air still are sweeping southeastward from the MacKenzie river basin and that the cold might not abate for a week. Zero readings were reported from the Rockies to Michigan and a line of near zero temperatures stretched northeastward from Pennsylvania across New York into northern New England. Tem peratures leached the freezing point in portions of southern Texas and were sub-normal in Florida. The Pacific coast was the only section of the country to es cape the cold. Toledo, O., a city of 300,000 population, faced a threat of a water shortage. High off-shore winds had blown so much water of the Maumee river into Lake Erie the water department was forced to draw upon emergency supplies stored in reservoire. The river is the city's only source for water. Its stage drooped six feet yesterday and the city's intake was cut to nearly one-fifth of nor mal. George Schoonmaker, citv engi neer, said the threat of a famine had subsided but warned citizens to economize rigidly. "We still may be forced to cut off the water completely at any hour to assure a fire protection (Continued on iwg-e three) HUNGARY WOLVES KILL CARPATHIAN PEOPLE BUCHAREST, Rumania, Dec. 28.—(UP)—A dispatch from the village of Brusturi, in the Car pathian mountains, said today that four villagers were killed in ; a fight with wolves which, des perate from hunger because of | snow, attacked the village sta bles. According to the dispatch, all j the men of the village, armed with sickles, hatchets and knives,1 fought 50 wolves for several; hours, and killed 14. The wolves 1 had killed sheep and cattle in their raid, it was said. The cold which brought the wolves down from the mountains affected the entire country. It was accompanied by heavy snow. __ I Prayer—As Usual Forced to live and pray in a s';able previously condemned as unfit for horses, this elderly Jewish roftfgoe offers up his devout morning prayers as usual, clad in prayer sUawl a; d phylacteries. He is one of 6000 Jews forced out of bailed from Poland, now living in a frontier "'no man s land." {fis sfeble-home is near Zzonszyn, Poland. LIMA PARLEY'S RESULTS ARE SUMMED UP AS EFFORT TO PRESERVE AMERICAN SYSTEM Nazi Writers Not Invited To Dinner For Foreign Press Protest A11 e g e d Snub When Peruvian Presi dent Is Host LIMA, Peru, Dec. 2S. (UP).— A group of German newspaper men representing the official Ger man News Agency Transocean last night protested to Berlin that they were not invited to a cock tail party President Oscar Bena vides of Peru, gave at noon in honor of foreign correspondents covering the eighth Pan American conference. The party was held at the presi dent's La Perla residence. The Nazi newspaper men also urged the German minister here to lodge a formal protest with the Peruvian government for what they regarded as a "direct, inten tional affront." They further an nounced they would refuse to con tinue reporting the conference, which ended at 6 p. m., in protest against the president's failure to invite them. The newspapermen concerned were Walter Von Simons of Ber lin, head of the German group; Dr. Pablo Breuer of Buenos Aires, chief of the South American serv ice for Transocean, and Alberto Pinetta, attached to the Buenos Aires Transocean bureau. WRITERS SAY INCIDENT IS "HOSTILE ACT" In his telegram to Berlin, Sim ons charged that the Peruvian ministry of foreign affairB had committed a "hostile act" against the German newspaper men by not including them in the invita tions to the party. He requested that the Nazi government defend "if possible" German journalism against the "continued difficul ties" it encountered abroad. The German legation said Sim ons spoke to Willy Nobel, the minister, about the affair and that Nobel was considering the situa tion but had not decided what to do about it. His secretary said the minister might speak to For eign Minister Carlos Concha about it at last night's state banquet tendered by President Benavides to the conference delegates. The press officer of the con ference explained the incident by saying that the persons invited were limited to those from the Pan American countries and did (Continued on page six) % Argentina Wins Duel to Avoid Definite Alliance of Republics LIMA, Peru. Dec. 28. (UP) — The Ujiited States delegation to' the Eighth Pan American confer-! en.ce 8f iled for home today with' plins for strengthening the dec ' laration of American solidarity1 : against foreign political or mili ; tary interference. The accord unanimously adopt- j j ed by the conference is regarded as highly satisfactory by Secre tary of State Cordeli Hull but it is admitted that the work must be continued in future to strengthen this agreement and add concrete achievements to the moral declara tion of unity adopted by the 21 American nations. LIMA. Peru, Dec. 28.—(UP)—I Foreign Minister Carlos Concha of Peru last night closed the Eighth j Pan American conference on a keynote of peace and security in the western hemisphere based on the 21 American republics' dec laration of solidarity against for eign aggression or interference with American institutions. The conference adjourned at 7:42 p. m.f the delegates and others present immediately stand ing to sing "The Hymn of the Americas." Uoncha, in summing up me i American Philosophy of Life" told the delegates that "All we seek is to strengthen our existence by means of ties that guarantee the perpetual existence of our insti tutions." He said the solidarity declaration "supports the exist-! ence of a purely American system which tends to conservation of peace and proscription of war." Foreign Minister Luis Lopez De Mesa of Colombia, as the repre sentative of the country which will be host to the Ninth Pan Ameri can conference in 1943, also spoke.! All the nations had signed the "final act" of the conference, con tainine 111 resolutions but not a single treaty or convention, before the closing ceremony was called to order by Concha in the Peruvian chamber of deputies. Sijcning of the final act, printed in the four official languages of the American republics—Spanish, English, Portuguese and French— began at 9:50 a. m., when Foreign Secretary Narcfso Garay of Pan ama affixed his signature and the seal of that republic to the docu ment. Other delegates followed suit throughout the day in the or der of their arrival at the Con gress building. To all intents and purposes the conference, which began Dec. 9, closed at 10:12 p. m. Saturday when the final plenary session ad journed after approving unani (Continued on page six). COUNTIES MAY RON RELIEF TO SHUN POLITICS Roosevelt Studies Scheme for Non-Partisan Lo cal Operation WOULD WARD OFF INQUIRY ON WPA WASHINGTON, Dec. 28. (UP) President Roosevelt is considering today the establishment of non partisan boards in every county to keep politics out of relief. The plan, it was tearqed, was outlined at recent ^Vhite House conferences. One usually well informed source said that it was designed to answer congressional criticism of the Works Progress administration and to soften de mands for an investigation of that agency. Mew attaqKS on wjta were ex pected to follow publication of the report of the senate campaign expenditures committee, which in vestigated charges of political ac tivity among federal employes during the last .elections. It was learned that the report, covering inquiries made in 15 states, would contain serious charges involving politics in re lief in several states, notably Kentucky,' Tennessee and Penn TylvaMte. A coalition of Republi cans and conservative Democrats planned to use these charges as ammunition in a fight to prevent senate confirmation of former WPA Administrator Harry L. Hopkins' appointment as secretary of commerce. A recent White House visitor, commenting on the relief situa tion in his stat?, drew from the president an outline of the pro posal to create non - partisan boards to investigate complaints of political coercion and other charges, and to advise the fed eral agency. Actual administra tion of relief would remain in control of WPA. Members of the boards would serve without sal ary. Congressional opponents of the present relief set-up contended that Mr. Roosevelt, in consider ing such a plan, was admitting weakness in the WPA which, they said, permitted federal employes in many states to play politics with persons on relief rolls. A strong group of senators, in cluding Carter Glass (D., Va.] Arthur H. Vandenberg (R Mich.), Josiah W. Bailey (D., N. C.), Harry F. Byord (D., Va.) and Ellison D. Smith (D., S. C.), planned to renew attempts to abol ish WPA and turn its adminis trative functions over to the in dividual states. These efforts may be strength ened by the findings of the cam paign expenditures investigators Chairman Morris Sheppard (D. Texas) said he hoped to make the committee's report public on (Continued on oage three) | U. S. FLEET DIVISION TO MAKE GOOD WILL TRIP TO S. AMERICA WASHINGTON, Dec. 28. (UP) The Navy department today said it plans to send a division of cruis ers on a good will trip to South America next spring. Naval officials said details of the proposed cruise are not avail able but it is understood that Divi sion 7. with the exception of the Vincennes, probably will make the trip. Other ships in the division are the San Francisco, Tuscaloosa and the Quincy. The Vincennes' over hauling schedule prevents her from making the trip. Nazis Say Any Break Fault Of U. S.; Hold U. S. 'Defeated' In Lima Parley BERLIN, Dec. 28. (UP)—Nazi leaders last nisrht indicated Chan cellor Adolf Hitler probably would let the matter of the United States' recent rebuke to Germany drop and leave it to Washington to take any initiative which might lead to a definte break in German American relations. Hitler has had ample opportun ity to study the rebuke, which an swered a Nazi protest against a speech by U. S. Secretary of In terior Harold L. Ickes, but no of ficial announcement or even a hint as to Germany's course of dealing with the matter has been forth- i coming. ' Informed Nazi quarters believed that the government Is convinced that aggravation of the situation would serve no political purpose. A formal break in German-Ameri can relations could only harm Ger man trade, not onlv with the Uni ted States but with other countries where anti-Nazi boycotts have been started. Dr.'Hjalmar Schacht, president of the Reichsbank and Germany's outstanding economic authority, and Field Marshal Hermann Wil helm Goering, administrator of the Reich's four-year economic program, were said to have taken (Continued on page fix) Would Adolf Approve This? Herr Hitktr mi^nt not like just now—his favorite Leni Riefen stahl wearing a 100 per cent American cowgirl outfit on a ranch near Santa Barbara, Cal. SEEK 5 MORE IN DRUG CASE Two Men and Woman Now Being Held in Black mail Charge NEW YORK, Dec. 28. (UP).— Police held a woman and two men today and sought five more per sons, all on suspicion of having blackmailed F. Donald Coster, the swindling president of McKesson and Robhins, Inc., who killed him self when he was exposed as Philip Musica, an ex-convict. The prisoners, belligerent and uncommunicative, were Mary Brandino, 37; her brother, Joseph, 61, and Walter H. Cragg, 56, a disbarred lawyer imprisoned in 1914 for embezzling a client's funds. The other suspects were not named. Together, they were be lieved to have extorted most or all of the $150,000 a year that Cos ter-Musica swindled from his coin* pany. The three were held on federal charges of using the mails to de fraud and "conspiring with other* to extort sums of money from Philip Musica." They were among the few persons who knew of Co« ter-Musica's 18-year masquerade, during which he invaded Wall (Continued on page three) | UNEXPECTED PROVINCES TO BE OCCUPIED Unprecedented Transfei Financed by United States, Britain 'RED' ANDR1GHTIST CLEAVAGE GROW1NC CHUNGKING, Dec. 28. (UP) The Chines* government, partlj with the aid of United States and British loans, is undertaking an almost unprecedented mass trans fer of industrial resources intc the unexploited provinces ol western China. . Millions of dollars worth oi machinery and equipment, hun dreds of thousands of laborer* and many hundreds of skilled technicians and engineers arc moving westward as Japanese bayonets cut off China's great coastal commercial areas. The movement may be one ol the most significant development* of the Far Eastern struggle which recently has resulted in mounting Japanese resentment against the United States and Britain, because of their financial aid to China, for the purchase of agricultural And. industrial ma chinery. , ' * \ * . SHANGHAI,-Dec. 28. (UP)— Followers of Geiieralissimo Chi ang Kai-shek sald^ far Chungking today that any thought, of peacs between Japan and China on the basis of Japaneae Premier' Prince Fumfanaro Konoye's statement oi December 22, is fopotirible. v Simultaneously It . was denied officially, that former Premier Wang Chbtg-wei has'been emoow: ered to soUrnf oat the Japanese on the poesibility of a truce and present to them certain "minimum conditions for peace" on behali of the generalissimo. Reports persisted, however, that Wang either is or soon will be talking with Japaneae representa tives in Hanoi, French Indo-Chi na, or Hong Kong, on the possi bility of finding some formula for an end of the war. The newspaper Ta Kung Pao insisted that Wane: arrived in Hong Kong secretly on Mondiy night and added that Chen Kun* Po, chief of the Nationalist (Kuo mintang) party in Siechuan, was flying from Chengto, the Sxe« chuan capital, "to -inquire about Wang's health." _ _ uenerauuimo v/Bisny, nuwevei, in addressing the weekly memor ial meeting to Dr. Sub Yat-»en, founder or the Nationalist party, at Chungking, denounced Prince Konoye's . declaration of Decem ber 22 and indicated there haa been no slackening in his deter mination to continue fighting to the bitter end. Veteran Far Eastern observers were convinced that some peace move was under way but they believed it might be several weeks or months before anything defi nite would develop. ' Wang is close to many right wing leaders of the Kuomintang who feel that Generalissimo Chi ang gradually is permitting the Chinese Communist party to gain control of the masses, thus open ing the way for a "red" govern ment in which the interests of the conservatives would be wiped out Baptist Finance Group Will Meet Roy C. Bennett, finance commit tee chairman of the First Baptist church announced this morning that the larger finance committee will hold an important meeting at the church tonight following the mid-week prayer service. Mr. Bennett stated'that the pur pose of the meeting was to make final preparations--for the every member canvass that will be con ducted for that church next Sun day. 1m Low temperature lest night—17 degrees. TUESDAY Maximum temperature—44 de grees. Minimum t 27 degrees. Mean—85.6 degreas. Day's range —17 degree*; Normal mean temperature for December—89.8 degrees. Rain fall to date—i.78 inches; Normal rainfall—5.46 inches. HOME FROM RALEIGH Mr. fcn* Mffc Dwigfct "W. Baft net* ha*e Returned from Raleigh, where they spent the holidays with relatival* - Li - -j*