Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 43, Number 166, Decatur, Adams County, 16 July 1945 — Page 1

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Mull. No. 166.

HIRD FLEET WRECKS 10 JAPANESE CITIES

tzgr Three Meeting Delayed

in Delay |use Os Iponemenf Kian Premier's Soy Results In S's Postponement BULLETIN ■dam, July 16—(UP) — Truman and Prime Churchill toured BeriSday while awaiting to■w’s opening session of three conference, for the stage was set by arrival of Premthis afternoon. Big Truman and Churchill hours out from prebusiness to in- ■ the devastation of BeriHn separate whirlwind Sypf the capital's battered ■ where Nazism rose and ■tin. July 16—(UP) —Open ■ the big three conference ■nponed today until tomor ■urn Premier Josef Stalin ■ayed in arriving at the ■ place. ■spondent were prohibited ■•eporting Stalin’s exact ■outs but it was under ■at he is arriving late this ■ n - ■ onference had been ex ■to assemble this morning ■was no explanation as to ■ad delayed Stalin. Ke Minister Churchill called ■ident Truman in his resi ■ villa in the park-like Pots■burbs today. It was underKo have 'been an informal ■ pay respects. This was Ss> time Churchill had met ■uman since he assumed ■sidency. ■Trunman rose early after ■ at 10 p. m. last night, ■an early riser by habit and ■intained the habit here, ■nferred immediately with ■ry of state James F. ■, Admiral William Leahy ■ sta(J. ■ Truman, confident and in Bin spirits after his eightlea voyage from WashingHas ready to brush aside as ■ formality as possible and ■wn to business immediately. B his typical energy and ■n To Page 5. Column 5) pty Councilmen ipecial Session Hnembers of the Adams connfccil met this morning to conBpocial appropriations as reId by several officials. Out o! Be items filed, three were re- - The county clerk was Id $281.90 as per diem for region. John Bixler, custodian I court house, was given a S6O |se as was Mrs. Emma Miller, lurt house matron. The sum 1° to pay bounties on red fox allowed. Item 101, asking 6 for an attendance officer, >er month, was disallowed as !em 200 for supplies for that but $112.50 for mileage was council also refused the refer $225 per diem for an as’s clerk but allowed SSO for ’ice desk. The council conl that an attendance officer more needed now than prey when the county superinit looked after this duty. v er, the new' law eays that in officer shall be elected and ouncil may be mandated to appropriations to cover such The board concluded its ses--5y noon and adjourned. ■ o AOCRAT THERMOMETER -mperature READING »0 a. m 56 a. m 64 ,n .’ 70 30 P. m 76.... WEATHER aip and rather cool tonight. !»day generally fair and I’mer.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Jap City 01 Gifu Nearly Destroyed Three-Quarters Os Large City Leveled Guam, July 16 —(UP) —The city of t Gifu with a population of 172,340. only 18 miles northwest of Nagoya, has been three-quarters destroyed by B-29’s, its buildings burned down and its factories leveled as the result of a raid July 10, the 20th AAF announced today. The announcement said Gifu — one of four cities struck during an early morning attack — was about 74 percent destroyed. Another city, Ichinomiya. hit on July 3, was slightly damaged. Only small portions of the northeastern, eastern and southern parts of Gifu remain undamaged. This damage places Gifu second on the list of Japanese cities having the greatest percentage of burned out area. The city has a total area of 2.6 square miles of which 1.93 square miles have been destroyed. Leading the list is Takamatsu with 78 percent of its area dee stroyed. Gifu is tied with Tokur' shima at 74 percent, n Ichnomiya received “very little e damage’’ when superforts dropped bombs through the cloud covd er. Only .01 percent square miles -t of the city’s total up built area *’■ of 1.28 square miles was damaged. s This was the least successful fire mission the 20th AAF has yet l ' carried out. ’• To date, 38 Japanese cities have 0 been struck for a total of 135.99 square miles destroyed. d 0 Discontinue C Gas j Coupons October 1 3 Washington, July 16 — (UP) — I R. A. Youngblood, gasoline, rationd ing chief for the office of price administration, today confirmed r reports that the use of C gasoline t- coupons will be discontinued around Oct. 1. He told reporters that the date , “has not been finally decided,*’ but it was expected to be the laty ter part of September or first of October. A new gasoline ration II period begins Sept. 21. b Youngblood said OPA decided >■ to abolish C coupons because of 3 the recent boost of B coupon ff values to 650 miles a month. As r - a result, he said, “the line of defl marcation between the two is " now pretty thin.” He said the action would ease the work of local ration boards and reduce printing costs. Margaret A. Smith I Dies This Morning B n Funeral Services 0 Wednesday Morning II Miss Margaret Anna Smith, 82, x member of a pioneer Decatur famg ily, and a lifelong resident of this city, died at 12:15 o’clock this s morning at the Adams county met morial hospital. Death was catifis ed by complications. She had been in failing health for several years t- and seriously ill for the past 10 i- days. r She was born in Decatur October i- 6, 1862, the daughter of Michael r and Veronica Smith. She was never married. i- Miss Smith was a member of the '. St. Mary’s Catholic church, the St. t Agnes sodality and the Third OrI der of St. Francis. o Surviving are a sister, Miss Ce- ( II celia Smith, with whom she resid i- ed at the old Smith homestead, ( 503 North Third street; and a brother, Florian Smith, of Fort Wayne. Three brothers and three sisters , preceded her in death. Funeral services will be held at 9 o’clock Wednesday morning at , the church, with the Very Rev. { . Msgr. Joseph J. Seimetz officiating. ] Burial will be in the Catholic centetery. The body was removed to the Gillig & Doan funeral home, where friends may call after 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.

Fred Vinson Nominated As Treasury Head Nomination Is Sent Early To Senate At Morgenthau Reguest Washington, July 16. — (UP) — President Truman formally nominated Fred M. Vinson today to be secretary of treasury. No successor to Vinson as war mobilization and reconversion chief was named immediately. Federal loan administrator John W. Snyder was most prominently mentioned to succeed Vinson as home front czar. Snyder, a close personal friend of Mr. Truman for 25 years, was appointed to the loan post when Vinson succeeded James F. Byrnes as war mobilize!*. He formerly was vice president of the First National bank of St. Louis. The White House said it had received no information yet from Berlin on the President's selection of a new war mobilization and reconversion director. Vinson’s nomination was sent to the Senate today because Mr. Truman, at the request of outgoing secretary of treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., changed his mind about waiting until after the Big Three meeting to nominate Vinson. Morgenthau, who originally agreed to stay on until the President returns from Europe, will step out as soon as Vinson is confirmed, ending a tenure of more than 11 years as secretary of treasury. Other Nominations Washington. July 16. —(UP) — President Truman today nominated Theron Lamar Caudle of Wadesboro, N. C., to be assistant attorney general, the justice department post vacated when Tom C. Clark became attorney general. Caudle, 41, has served ae U. S' attorney for the western district of North Carolina since 1940. He was graduated from Wake Forest Conbge in 1926 and immediately began private law practice. Mr. Truman also nominated Harold William Judson of Los Angeles to be assistant solicitor general, succeeding Hugh B. Cox, whose resignation was announced today. New Autos Only To Essential Drivers Remove Rationing Os Remaining Supply Washington. July 16 —<(UP) — Eight groups of essential drivers who have been eligible to buy new 1942 cars will be the only pensons immediately eligible for the 1945 models soon to be produced. This was announced today by OPA rationing chief Max McCullough. He emphasized this is only "a temporary arrangement pending completion of a new eligibility list for new ear production.” OPA also removed all rationing restrictions from the remaining small supply of new 1942 ears, effective Wednesday. Dealers still have only about 6.000 of these cans. McCullough said it was no longer necessary to ration the remaining new 1942 models because new production will be available soon for the most essential drivers. OPA said announcement will be made as to when eligible applicants may apply for purchase certificates for 19'45 production. The certificates will not be issued until the 1945 cars are distributed to dealers and quotas are established for various’ districts and regions. The groups which will be temporarily eligible for 1945 cars include fire-fighting officials, law enforcement and public health authorities, mailmen, physicians, surgeons, licensed veterinarians ministers, members of the armed forces or state military officiate “for official business only,” taxicab owners for replacements with office of defense (Turn To Page 5, Column 3)

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Monday, July 16, 1945.

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IN ADDITION TO NEW CHINESE GAINS which are fast clearing the 1 China coastline, a ring of air bases, from which Allied planes can ■ attack, now' circle the fortresses at Canton and Hongkong. With I Kweilin about to be taken over and Changsha threatened, the airfield i gains constitute a mighty threat to the big enemy strongholds. Meani while, Chinese forces are pressing to the outer defenses of Shanghai . and move steadily northward along the coast from Wenchow.

Believe Truman To | Cancel Europe Tour To Return To U.S. 1 After Conference i Washington, July 16—(UP) — President Truman was believed today to have cancelled plans for ■ a western European tour to rc--1 turn to Washington immediately • after the big three conference. There have been published reports that he would visit Denmark, Norway and Great Britain before returning here. Less definite, but certainly under consideration, were plans for further extensive air travel. There was reason to believe the party might have gone at least into the eastern Mediterranean. It was to have been a strictly ' plush operation, too. Astonished ■ press association reporters chosen 1 to accompany tile presidential party across the Atlantic were directed to take with them not only dinner coats but white ties and tails. There was suspicion at first that it was a gag. Then there was despair because tail coats hard to find in Washington. Other correspondents who desired to fly to Europe after the (Turn To Paga 5. Column 4)

Lt. Fred Staub, Missing Since July 7,1944, Presumed Dead

Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester A. Staub, of 107 North Fifth street, have been notified by the war department that their son, Second Lt. Fred L. Staub, 27, who had been reported missing over Germany since July 7, 1944, is presumed dead. The department notice stated that the record shows Lt. Staub, a bombardier on a B-24 (Liberator) bomber, was a crew member bboard a plane which was lost on a mission to Lutzendorf, Germany. The plane was last contacted by radio over the Ruhr valley on the return flight. At that time, it was reported the plane was losing altitude, and the crew expected to abandon ship. The official notice stated that all available information bearing on Lt. Staub’s absence has been considered and that in view of the fact that 12 months have expired without the receipt of evidence to support a continued presumption of'survival, the war department must terminate such absence by a presumptive finding of death as of July 8, 1945. Lt. Staub entered service in October, 1941, enlisting in the air corps, and was given training at Keesler Field, Miss., Mac Dill Field, Fla., Cloves, N. Mex.,

Fort Wayne Officer Dies In Air Crash Panama City. Fla., July 16 —(UP) —Tyndall Field, Fla., officials announced today that 13 men were killed when a four-motored bomber crashed near here Friday. One flyer parachuted to safety. Included among the dead was: Second Lt. Paul Robert Snyder, 1 23, 416 Brackenridge, Fort Wayne, ' Ind. Seek Identity Os Accident Victim Man Killed Sunday Near Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Ind.. July 16. —(UP) —Sheriff Walter C. Adams of Allen county said today that the identity ; of a man killed in an automobile accident Sunday morning had not ' yet been established. The man. thought to be between 50 and 69 years old, was riding with four other persons, only slightly injured in the accident, who said they picked him up near Zulu, Ind., and that • they did not know his name. The four are being held in the Allen county jail as material wit- ! nesses. the men under $5,000 bond (Turn To Page 5, Column 6)

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Blythe, Calif., Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, Okla., and Topeka army air base, Topeka. Kan. He was sent overseas in March, 1944, and was first stationed in Italy, later being transferred to England, from where he had made several flights over France and Germany. Lt. Staub attended the Decatur Catholic high school and was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name society.

Four B-29 Task Forces Smash Four Jap Cities In Wake Os Fleet Raid r .... . — —1 ■ —

Chinese Troops Are Driving On Kweilin Japs Ready Shanghai For Allied Landings Chungking, July 16 — (UP) — Chinese troops driving toward Kweilin, former American airbase town, have captured Huangrien. 53 miles southwest of Kweilin, and Liukiang, 60 miles to the southwest, a headquarters communique said today. Meanwhile the communist daily "New China" reported that the Japanese have turned Shanghai into a battlefield ready for Allied landings. Walls of sandbags were report- , ed erected in the streets with t zig-zag ditches dug in the fields, i as the Japanese prepared for a I fight to the finish. The 150 best - cement buildings in the city have > been fortified and additional fortifications are being constructed along the shore of the Yangtze delta, the newsaper said. The Japanese garrison in the Shanghai. Nanking, Hangchow triangle has been increased to » 160,000, including the new Japan- - ese seventh army corps. ? It was also reported that in the r Nanking area the Japs have com- ■ pleted six huge underground tun nels. . The “New China” said that all railway personnel in this triangle area has been replaced by Japanese subjects, including firemen and signalmen, in an effort to offset sabotage. All Chinese mercenary troops have been ordered to keep 10 miles from the railways and, the paper reported, huge numbers of Japanese plain clothesmen patrol the area. o 65-Cenf Wage Rale ; Asked Os Congress r 1 Correct Substandard I Living Conditions I Washington, July 16 — (UP) — . Congrss was asked today to enr dorse a minimum wage rate of 65 cents an hour to correct sub- , standard living conditions of tnil- . lions of workers who now receive I less. After a lengthy series of hearings, a senate education and labor subcommittee recommended approval of a resolution which says: "It is the sense of congress that a straight time hourly rate of 65 cents is the minimum below which the national w’ar labor board and national (railway) mediation board shall consider any wage rate substandard." The WLB's present minimum is 55 cents. The subcommittee, headed by Sen. Claude Pepper, D., Fla., found that more than 16,000,000 W’orkers outside of agriculture now receive less than 65 cents an ! hour. If all are raised to 65 cents, the report said, the cost would be about $4,000,000,000 a year. “The cost can be absorbed by industry without substantially affecting current profit levels and in most instances within the limits of existing price ceilings,” the subcommittee said. The report also recommended early amendment of the fair labor standards (wage-hour) act to raise the present statutory minimum wage of 40 cents an hour. A member of the CIO executive board predicted that legislation would be introduced in congress this week to raise the wage-hour minimum to 65 cents, with provisions for another 10-cent boost in two years. "Substandard rates of pay have meant poverty, ill-health and degradation for millions of Ameri(Turn To Page 6, Column 37

Aussies Drive Japanese Back On Samarinda Jap Troops Battle Stubbornly Against Australian Forces Manila, July 16.—(UP) —Australian seventh division units drove desperately battling Japanese troops back along a 60-mile route north toward Samarinda today after capturing 200-foot Mount Batocampar, five miles north of Balikpapan. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's communique announced that the mountain stronghold fell following a heavy artillery barrage which drove the Japanese from their defenses. However, they have pulled back in good order to prepared defenses along the highway leading to Samarinda and today were fighting stubbornly. In the northeast Australian troops moved up the coast five miles in 48 hours to take Amborwang, five miles southwest of the. oil field refinerj’ center at Sambodja. There was no opposition. Planes and naval units continued their activities along the northeast Borneo coast hitting targets in Celebes and in the Halmahera islands to the east. Heavy units bombed the Stto boatyards on the northeast coast of Formosa, causing violent, explosions and fires with smoke rising to 6,000 feet. Fighter units sweeping the Shanghai coastal area forced an enemy freighter aground in Hangchow bay and set it afire while heavy bombers struck storage facilities on Honan island near Canton causing large fires. In the Philippines an additional 4,879 enemy dead have been counted and 60S prisoners taken during the past week. American casualties during the same period were 62 killed, one missing, and 195 wounded. ■ o Typographical Union Leader Defies WLB Demand Ouster Os Chairman Os Board Washington. July 16 — (UP) — The ouster of Dr. George W. Taylor as chairman of the war labor board was demanded today by the Washington local of the AlFL’s International 'typographical union. In a petition to President Truman, the local charged that Taylor's expressions in cases between the union and newspapers “are not impartial but biased in favor I of publishers.” The petition was adopted at a special meeting yesterday. It was called after the WLB had imposed a sei'ies of sanctions against the international union for its refusal to call off strikes at newspapers in Jersey City and Bayonne, N. J., Birmingham, Ala., and Fort Wayne, Ind. The hoard found after a public hearing that the ITU policy of insisting that publishers incorporate 1945 union laws in contracts was destructive to the national interest. It said it would henceforth decide ITU disputes in the same maner as other unresolved labor controversies. The WLB ordered its daily newspaper commission to stop processing ITU applications for wage increases and refuse to approve ITU contracts until it determines they were not obtained under exisitng union policies. (Turn To Page 2, Column 6)

U Buy War Savings nr’ Bonds And Stamps

Price Four Cents.

Pre-lnvasion Attack On Japan Into 42nd Day; Tokyo Reports Fleet Is Withdrawn Guam, Tuesday, July 17. — (UP) —Four task forces of 450 to 500 superfortrefeses, carrying the preinvasion attack on Japan into its 42nd day. hurled more than 2,500 tons of fire bombs into four cities across a 475-mile stretch of Kyushu and Honshu early today on the heels of a shattering air and sea bombardment by the U. S. 3rd fleet. The mighty sky giants raised to 43 the number of Japanese cities scourged in the knockout campaign that began last March. ' The 3rd fleet’s week-end bombardment meanwhile had wrecked 10 northern Japanese cities and .. virtually cut Hokkaida off from th>.j main island of Honshu. Tokyo said the fleet had withdrawn but: presumably was still prowling Japanese waters. 1 Targets for today’s attack, the 1 eighth this month by the superforts. were; Numazu, 32 miles northeast. oB Shizuoka; Kuwana, 12 miles southwest of gutted Nagoya: Hiratsuka. 34 miles southwest of Tokyo; and ; Oita, on the northeastern tip of t Kyushu. The giant raiders went in at low altitude to spill tons of bombs on all four cities for the first time, although Oita had been by light l ? warplanes from Okinawa. The crushing assault raised t« 1 21,050 tone the weight of hombx heaped on 29 Japanese targets this month by 3.150 to 3,425 superfort- ’ resses. Earlier it was announced that. ’ more than 135 square miles had 1 been burned out in other Japanese cities. The toll was rising almost ’ hourly as every type of warplane and warship in the American arsenal raked the enemy homeland in 1 attacks the Japanese were unable even to challenge. Kuwana. with a population of 42.000 is the site of bearing, aircraft and electrical equipment factories; Numazu. population 55,000, ' contains ordnance, armament and electrical factories; Hiratsuka. ' population 43,000. te an important aircraft center; Oita, population ' j 76.000, is the site of the new Jap- ’ anese 12th naval air depot as well as a big railroad hub. Tokyo reported without confirmation that Admiral William F. Halsey’s third fleet broke off the assault on northern Honshu and Hokkaido last night, “presumably dua to bad weather.” But the Japanese altered then’ defenses up and down the smoking coast and warned that Halsey's mighty battlewagons, cruisers and. carriers would be back to repeat; the destructive week-end strike. At the same time, they said it force of 100 Mustang fighters from Iwo Jima picked up the attack today with a low-level strafing raid on the Nagoya area of southern Honshu. There was no official word on either Japanese report. Halsey blacked out his fleet yesterday after ripping up 10 enemy cities over the weekend, two of them torn apart by 1,000-ton surface bombardments. Other week-end developments in the Pacific campaign included: 1. Nimitz disclosed that the U. S. second marine division seized two new invasion springboards in the Ryukyus early in June, at a cost of two killed and 12 wounded. Tito (Turn To Page 3, Column 7) o Butter Ration Value Slashed To 16 Points Washington. July 16 —(UP) — The ration value of creamery butter was back down to 16 points a pound today. The old 24-point value came to an end at 12:01 a. m. Sunday. The OPA said the move was made possible by reduced military requirements. But it warned that points would be raised again if supplies disappeared too quickly. Country butter remained at 12 points a pound.