Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 23, Decatur, Adams County, 27 January 1945 — Page 1

iMust Win the Wdi // Else Is Chores!

I. XLIII. No. 23.

MOSCOW REPORTS EAST FRONT COLLAPSES

udge Rules For Ward Firm

dge Rules No ithorify For . my Seizure declares Roosevelt Without Authority o Take Possession bago, Jan. 27—'(UP)—-Federal let Judge Philip L. Sullivan deI today that President Roof?eirae without authority to take bion of the plants and faeilif Montgomery Ward and coma ruling with a far-reaching [on the chief executives warbowere and the Smith-Connal-lor disputes act, Judge Sullienied the government’s petibr injunctions restraining the hiy from interfering with operation of the 16 Ward in seven cities. The plants [seized Dec. 28 because the iny refused to comply with a ibor board order. I judge also denied the governa declaratory judgment by it had sought to affirm its [right to take over the Ward kies. judge said he arrived at his is ion with “eonsideralble reIce" since loyalty to “our ry and our fighting forces I influence disputants in such [controversies" but he added: the disputants are not willing fey the recommendafions of fcr labor 'board, which are ad lly only advisory, then conlalone is the only branch of bvernment which can compel Ito do so. It is the duty of ess to enact the laws, and Ity of the courts to interpret I decision was read to a court Lacked with nearly 500 speclincluding leaders of business, by, and labor who regarded [ling as one of the most imh to be handed down during tar. be Sullivan agreed with the Ition of Ward attorneys who rgued that the President had fc.°r under the war labor dislact to seize the properties be they were not engaged dirpi war production. paid he was convinced of the tutionality of the labor dislact, bwt he held that it did authorize seizure of plants I sole business is that of retie and distribution. [judge denied that the presides the power as commander in pt the armed forces to take Ision of the Ward properties. [Montgomery Ward’s plants beilittas were located •within pual theater of military operaland its goods were necessary bsential for the use, of the [or military forces, then the bnder in chief might lawfully fcossesßion of them,” Judge I l '' l To Page 3, column 4) f ———— hg Couple Found In Automobile lanapolis, Jan. 27—(UP)— Beaaths of a young couple, Itn a parked automobile on fly road and first believed peers to have been murder I s ■ apparently were due to I monoxide poisoning, deputoner Gail Eldridge said toi victims were Opie Gladys ? 19, and Lovell M. Everts, pilroad worker. Discoloraf>n the bodies first led sherrPuties to believe they had slain. a hammer and a box found in the car, however, [being examined after re|that they were blood-stain-t o—[MPERATURE reading ?OCR at THERMOMETER ® 12 r a - •” - 14, P m 18 WEATHER fermlng cloudinM* today F ln ß cloudy tonight and with light snow south P*y. little change in tempfi* until colder Sunday. 3

DECATUR DATES' DEMOCRAT

Town Os Berne Will Join In 'Brownout' The town of Berne will join in the "brownout" of electric outdoor display signs and other banning of unnecessary lighting, as a means of saving fuel. The merchants there have also agreed to close their stores at 9 o'clock on Saturday nights. Necessary street lighting is not affected by the governmental request to reduce the consumption of electricity, but Lester Pettibone, superintendent of the Decatur light and power plant, stated that possibly it would be necessary to cut off about half of the lights after midnight. o Yankee Third Army Advances On West Front Spear To Border Os Germany In Mopup Os Ardennes Bulge Paris, Jan. 27.—(UP)—The American third array struck forward more than three miles on a 20-mile front today, spearing to the German border in the final mopup of the Ardenes salient as Marshal Karl Von Rundstedt’s forces fell hack along a broad stretch between Holland and the Saar. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’G I forces reached the Our river,- the; boundary between Luxembourg and [ i Germany, four miles northeast of; by-passed Clervaux in a general' i close-in through the border area; between points seven miles south [ of St. Vith and five miles north of; Diekirch. Supreme headquarters reports; and front dispatches said the Germans now were engaged in a large scale withdrawal before the combined blows of the American third, first, and ninth armies and the British second atmy, which werel wheeling into positions from which' ■they could resume the Allied offensive interrupted on Dec. 16 by the German counterdrive. The overall picture of the western front was brighter than it had been since the pre-Christmas onslaught by the Germans. The initiative was reported in Allied hands everywhere, including northern Alsace where a threatening Nazi offensive against the U. S. seventh army had been broken north of Strasbourg. Lt. den. William 11. Simpson’s U. S. ninth army and Lt. Gen. Sir Miles C. Dempsey’s British second (Turn To Page 6, Column 5) 0 — 12 Men Are Accepted For Armed Services Report Received On Latest Contingent (Eleven Adams county men were accepted for the armed forces and one for limited service of the contingent sent to Indianapolis Wednesday for pre-induction physical examinations, the local selective service board announced today. Thdse men have (been returned to their homes on furlough awaiting call to active duty. The list of accepted men follows: Roy Junior Taylor, Richard Schroeder, Donn Eugene Eichar, Donald Anselm Heimann, Raymond Junior .Roleton, Francis Harold Bentz, Chester William Baumgartner, Robert Amos Jones, Roger Wayne Amstutz, Lester Koeneman, Lawrence Leroy Jones, Earl Norman Williamson and Glenn Truthan Sheets, the latter for limited sei-vice. Eight Adams county men are scheduled to leave next Wednesday, January 31, tor active induction into the nation’s armed forces. They are: Robert Geelß. Herman John Landis, Robert LM Flueckiger, Lester Gene BrandsteW, Itolwt Leroy Stauffer, Donild James Affolder, James Leonard Ashworth, Gayle lene Eley.

U. S. Naval Power In Procession On The Sea I i 1 J * j ft \ JKL • m Hl * i 1 w . 1 JLJ Bwai W MIGHTY BATTLESHIPS of the Seventh Fleet move in formation into Lingayen gulf as they head for their battle stations in the obliterating fusillade which preceded the historic landing of United States forces on Luzon islands in the Philippines. Official U. S. Navy photo.

Ziner Named To Head Red Cross War Fund Director In County, Hann Township Head ( Clarence Ziner, of the Ziner Recapping company, will again , be the county director of the Red Cross war fund and Lyman L. Hann, county superintendent of schools, will be chairman of the township organization for the | 1945 drive, Clarence E. Bell, ■ county chairman, announced today. | Mr. Ziner and Mr. Hann served in the 1944 Red Cross war fund drive, which was oversubscribed by several thousand dollars. The county and township organizations are now being formed for the 1945 drive which opens on March 1. The county’s quota is $16,700, which includes $2,700 for the local chapter. The $14,000 item is for the national Red Cross. Mr. Ziner will name chairmen for Decatur, Berne and Geneva, and leaders will be named in the townships by Mr. Hann. For the past two drives, a captain has been named for each square mile of territory in the rural areas and the plan has worked out very successfully. Mrs. Grace Bliss of Delaware, Ohio, who recently was named director for the northeastern Indiana district, which includes Adams county, was here today conferring with Mr. Bell and other Red Cross officials. The area chairman expressed her pleasure at the interest taken and the service rendered here by the Red Cross. She complimented the local directors on the opening of the home service office in this city, which will be in charge of Mrs. Ruth ’ Hollingsworth. The new office in the Reppert building on Madison street will be opened qext week and Mrs. Ruth Hollnigsworth will assume supervision of home service activities, and later go to Alexandria. Va.. for a two week’s ctairse of training. o — Road To Berlin By United Press The distances to Berlin from advanced Allied lines today: Eastern front —136 miles (from Mosina by official Moscow report; German radio reported Rueeians approaaching Brandenburg frone tier 93 miles from Berlin.) v Western front —296 miles (from point southeast of Nijmegen). Italy—s3o miles (from point north of Ravenna).

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday, January 27, 1945.

Consider Sale Os Berne Auditorium The sale of the Berne commun- ■ ity auditorium will be considered ■at a meeting of stockholders on i February 5. it was announced in . Berne today. The auditorium was erected in 1921 at a cost of j $30,000. Wallace Is Rejected By Senate Committee Conservatives See Defeat Os Wallace Washington, Jan,. 27—(UP)— Jubilant senate conservatives estimated today that they could reject the nomination of Henry A. Wallace to be' secretary of commerce by a 3 to 1 vote if it is impossible promptly to separate government lending authority from that department. Some of them believe they can lick him under any circumstances and will try to do so. Half a dozen times in the history of the republic has the senate rejected a presidential nomination to a cabinet post. But the senate commerce committee yesterday voted 14 to 5 against President Roosevelt’s nomination of Wallace to be commerce secretary. The committee voted 15 to 4 for the George bill to separate from the department the multi-billion dollar lending agencies which have been attached to it during the secretaryship of Jesse H. Jones. These votes add up to a significant repudiation of Wallace and a challenge to the left wing of the new deal-Democratic party to seek an ehrly showdown on fourth term Roosevelt, policies. Conservative senate Democrats regard Wallace a.-> Sidney Hillman’s man. the prospective 1948 presidential choice of the CIO (Turn To Page 6, Column 6) O Arrest Seven Persons In White Slave Ring Peoria, 111., Jan. 27.—(UP)—Federal bureau of investigation agents and U. S. deputy marshals today held seven persons in the Peoria jail pending the presentation to'a federal grand jury Monday of evidence that they were involved in a nationwide “white slave” ring. Held are Eli Cupi, 25, who was in jail on a contempt of court conviction when the warrant was served; Henry C. Hibbs, 49; James Lewie, 28; WHnflald Scott Thomas, 24, Chicago; Harold Lewis Hannon; Dan Kaffis, South Bend, Ind, and James Nespolo, 35. St. Louis, Mo.

State Assembly To Step Up Activities Many More Measures To Be Introduced Indianapolis, Jan. 27 — (UP) —r Hoosier legislators returned home for the weekend today after com j pleting the third full week of the ; Indiana general assembly's 61day regular session, and the tempo of yesterday’s business in the house was considered indicative of what faced them upon their return Monday. Their busiest day, a three-hour session, involved more than 50 bills in the house, but leaders in the lower branch predicted even greater daily activity beginning Monday. Next Friday is the last day to introduce new bills under a joint house-senate rule requiring that no measures be presented after the first 30 days of the session. Both parties planned to introduce many more bills before the deadline, particularly the Republican majority. GOP lawmakers barely have touched on legislation dealing with party platform pledges and with recommendations of the Republican legislative policy committee. It would be possible to introduce new bills after the 30-day deadline by suspension of the rules through the maneuvers of the majority bloc, but house speaker Hobart Creightor.y R., Warsaw, said that he hoped the legislators would adhere to the rule “100 percent, as they did last session.” Meanwhile, in the senate, activity still was held to a slow pace, awaiting house action on numerous pending measures. Still to be embraced m majority proposals were such subjects as the fate of the alcoholic beverage commission, the state highway department, and other state agencies and boards; election law amendments, the biennial budget bill, and numerous other suggested changes in state government. If the recommendations of Governor Gates in his first speech to the legislature are accepted and if all the suggestions of the GOP policy group are drawn up, the coming week should see a flood of meaasures offered to the assembly. Until yesterday, the GOP house agenda was lean. House members passed thefirst highly controversial bill to reach third reading during the past week, the state welfare department “ripper" measure proposed by the legislative welfare investigating commission' after a two-year study of the public aid (Turn To Pag* 5, Column 7)

Moscow Radio Reports Entire Front Collapsed By Russian Army Drive

Japs Stiffen Resistance On Luzon Island I — American Drive On Manila Slowed Down i By Jap Resistance Gen. MacArthur’s Headquarters, i Luzon. Jan. 27. — (UP) —Stiffening I Japanese resistance slowed the American drive on Manila barely 40 airline miles north of the Philippines capital today as field dispatches said the enemy had started shelling the recaptured air base at Clark Field. (A Tokyo broadcast recorded by the FCC said Japanese submarines had torpedoed and heavily damaged two American transports and a seaplane tender in the Mindanao sea south of Leyte in the southern Philippines). Japanese artillery and mortar fire turned the Clark Field airstrips I temporarily into a no man’s land 1 and American vanguards were pull-; ed back slightly while guns and planes worked over the enemy emplacements in the hills to the west. American medium tanks in considerable numbers also were reinforcing the. southern spearhead pointed toward Manila. Reconnaissance patrols had penetrated as far south as Angeles, some 40 [ air miles northwest of Manila and ■ four miles south of tne main Clark Field air center. The Japanese were not expected ; to make more than a delaying stand in the Clark Field area. They were i believed attempting to gain time [ to establish defenses farther to the southeast, presumably at the San | I Fernando river or at Calumpit, the ■ latter only 25 miles from Manila. i Troops of the 40th division combing the hills west and northwest of Clark Field already have captured a number of Japanese guns and machine-gun nests by-passed in th? I rapid advance south of the Bam- ] ban river. Far to the north, the first corps outflanked Rosario, Japanese anchor stronghold in the northeast corner of the invasion front, with the occupation of high ground northeast of the town and the cap(Turn To Page a, Column 1) — o School Coal Supply Believed Adequate City Stockpile Is Also Reported Good The coal supply at the public I schools in this city is running short i but with promised shipment ex- ■ peeted next month and additional i purchases made for delivery next I week, Walter J. Krick, city superintendent of schools, (believes that (Supplies will he ample to keep the schools operating. Mr. Krick said that the “pinch” of the coal pile supply came in the fact that three carloads ordered last December IC; have not yet been delivered. The dealer, through ■whom the coal was purchased, has the promise that two of these cars will be shipped in March. At the Lincoln building, where the first grades are housed, from 160 to 180 tons of coal a year are consum d. The supply there is now limited to about 10 days, but a delivery of 40 tons will be made next i week. The junior-senior building has -a three weeks’ supply and when that is exhausted, the new shipments are expected. It is not believed that it will be necessary to close the gymnasiums in the two buildings, for they are heated with Ihe rest of the buildings and are used for school pur- ( poses. Physical education classes and chapel exercises are held in the Turn To Page 5, Column 8?

$2,000,000 In Loot Recovered By Police Chicago, Jan. 27 — (UP) — A total of $2,000,000 in loot taken from the vaults of the E. H. Rumboldt Real Estate Co. a week ago was recovered today by Chicago police who found the cache hidden in potato sacks between the I walls of a west side bungalow. Chief of detectives Walter Storms said it was the largest amount of loot ever recovered in I the history of the Chicago police I department. One million dollars j was in money orders and negoj liable stocks and the remainder was in war bonds, many of them of SI,OOO denomination. Storms said. B-29s Kindle Huge Fires In Raid On Tokyo Rage Uncontrolled At Least Four Hours In Business Center Washington, Jan. 27. — (UP) —B--29 Superfortresses kindled fires that raged uncontrolled for at least four hours in Tokyo business districts today and, 2.800 miles to the southwest, bombed the SaigonCholon area of French Into-China for the first time. Almost simultaneously with war department annountements that the B-29s had hit the main Japan- ■ ese island of Honshu and enemyoccupied Indo-China. Tokyo conceded that the targets were the capital i itself and the Saigon-Cholon area. A Japanese imperial headquart--1 ers communique said 70 Superfortresses dropped demolition and incendiary bombs on Tokyo between 2 and 3 p. m. (Tokyo time), causing fires that were not brought under control until dusk -dome four hours later. Damage was caused at several places, the communique said, but “no damage was sustained by important industrial plants.” Another Tokyo broadcast said most of the bombs fell in business districts. The war department announcement said the Marianas-based B-29s hit "industrial targets" on Honshu. It was the seventh raid of the war on Tokyo and the first since Jan. 9. In the India-based attack on French Indo-China. the Japanesecontrolled radio at Saigon said, “some material damage was caused” in the twin cities of Saigon (Turn To Pago 6, t’olir.iin t>) Albert Hudson Rites Sunday Afternoon Local Resident Dies At Portland Hospital Funeral services for Albert Hudson. 77, well known Decaitur resident who died at the Jay county (hospital, Portland, will be held at the Church of the Nazarene at 3:15 o’clock Sunday afternoon. Rev. Glen Marshall officiating, assisted by Rev. J. T. Trueax. Interment will be in the Decatur cemetery. Mr. Hudson’s death occurred Thursday night. For the past two years he had made his home with his daughter. Mrs. John Zeiler in (Portland. The deceased Was born in Adams county on December 24, 1867, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hudson. In 1897 he was married to Susie Richardson. who died in 1903. A son, Carl Hudson, and two -brothers are also deceased. The body will be 'brought to the tCbuToh of the Nazarene at 2 o'clock Sunday and lie in state until time for the services, Rev. Marshall announced.

Buy War Savings Bonds And Stamps

Price Four Cents.

Berlin Broadcasts Marshal Zhukov's Drive Is Checked At The Obra River London, Jan. 27 — (UP) —Nazi broadcasts reported today that Marshal Gregory K. Zhukov’s beeline drive toward Berlin had reached—and been "checked" at —the Obra river in the German ' border area 94 miles east of the I capital. Berlin said the first White Russian army had reached the German-Polish border both north west, and southwest of enveloped an,-l beleaguered Poznanj 15 miles east of the upper Obra, a tributary which flows into thb Warthe at Schwerin, 78 railed east of Berlin. "Zhukov’s -tank vanguards have been checked on the river Obra 45 miles west of Poznan, " a Berlin broadcast said. That is the river’s nearest point to Poznan, and it elbows sharply westward with no other natural barrier short of . ' -hwerin. A few miles to the northeast, other Russiaan forces were reported by Berlin to have crossed to the north bank of the Netze | river east of Schneidelmuhl. 50 miles north of Poznan and 90 [ miles southeast of Stettin. The Transocean news agency said the first Ukrainian army in Silesia apparently was trying to envelop Breslau, and was trying to cross the Oder on a broad front northwest of the city. A Moscow broadcast said the ' entire eastern front from the i Carpathians to the Baltic had i collapsed, laying open the Reich to the Red army, it called on ; the Germans to rise up against i Adolf Hitler. The Oder river. Germany's primary defense line in the east, i has been crossed at "several . points" and communications cut net ween the industrial area of i upper Silesia and the rest of the ' Reich, the Moscow broadcast : said. • The broadcast came as the i Soviets sealed off all East Prussia and its garrison of 200,000 Nazis with a breakthrough to the Baltic, stormed the last defenses of Konigsberg, Danzig, Breslau and Poznan, and pushed to within an official 136 and an unconfirmed 93 miles of Berlin. The Breslau. Danzig and Konigsberg radios went off the air, indicating that the fall Os those fortress cities may be imminent. The Moscow broadcast prol claiming the "complete collapse" of the eastern front was made by a spokesman for the Soviet-spon-sored free German nationala committee, BBC and American FCC monitors reported. “The communication line between the industrial area of upper Silesia and the Reich — one of the decisive factors in Hitler's conduct of the war — is already cut." Maj. Gen. Martin Lattman. the German spokesman, told his countrymen. "The military situation de(Turn To Page 6. Columfi 3) Six-Year Veteran Os Army Is Discharged Staff Sigt. Doyle L. Laisure. 32. a veteran of World War II with six yeara of service in the army, hau received a medical discharge from the army and is expected home within the next 10 days, Walter Walchle of Preble township, his brother in-law, stated today. Sgt. Laisure is at Camp Lee. Va.. where bis discharge papers are being processed. He was returned to this country last August. He enlisted in the regular army and was in one of the convoys that landed in North Africa in 1942. H-> participated in five of the major battles in the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Salerno. Anzio, and the drive through Italy to Rome. His mother, Mrs. Arminda Laisure, lives in Monroe. His baggage came through this morning and was picked up by his brother-in-law. Sgt. Laisure was never wounded in any of the (battles in which he fought.