Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 46, Number 300, Decatur, Adams County, 21 December 1948 — Page 1

)(LVI. No. 300.

REPORT CHIANG KAI-SHEK WILL RESIGN —• ’’ " ' ’ — —

fc Running I for Seven Marlords Btrict Secrecy To n e il Executions Os ■Convicted Japanese L Dee. 21- (UP)- Time Euning out tonight f,,r former ■L, premier Hideki Tojo and Eer Japanese warlords sent■j tl) death by hanging for their E ( >e were strong indications ■ might be car- ■ in the strict secrecy' im- ■ by Gen. Douglas MacArthur ,h P period from midnight to tomorrow 19 a.m. CST Tues■^to early evening). ■ official announcement will be ■twining. MacArthur's head■ers made clear, until all the ■Lgs have been completed, ■supreme commander has bar■reporters from the executions ■te protests of the United E, the Tokyo Correspondents ■elation, and others. K m. I’. Echols. MacArthur's E spokesman, put the public ■nation office on a 24-hour K to be prepared to issue the ■ncement of the executions, E will take place in heavily■rd Sugamo prison. Eller reports had indicated ■there might be a delay of at E2l hours from the time that, Krthur received official notifi- ■ of the U. S. supreme court ■ion which cleared the last ■obstacles to proceedings with I hangings. ■Arthur received this afterll a verbatim copy of the high ■; findings that it could not ■retie In the cases because of ■ international character of the nation war crimes tribunal nth sentenced the men after the ■st trial in history—two and ■half years. ■a of the 25 Japanese defendnin the war crimes trial, inniig two of those who were ■need to death with Tojo, had naled to the supreme court, njo himself did not appeal, and ■ said repeatedly since he was nd guilty in what he called a nl by conquerors" that he was ■ for death ajtd hoped his exeKn would not be long delayed.' |1 Buddhist priest, Nobukatsu fcyama. who was expected to 1 b Tojo and the others the last j ■of their faith, entered Sugamo. ■n this morning, and had not! ■ seen leaving it. he prison, as usual, was heavily ■rded. but no unusual measures h apparent. pess dispatches giving the news I ■the supreme court had refused I I intervene in the cases arrived ! F about 3 a.m. today. It appear-■ Ihkely that the well-prepared plaery for the executions 'was I® motion even before arrival picial confirmation. R six men who will die with ■ are: pn Kenji Doihara, 65, chief pfacturer of “incidents" for the' pese army, often called “the 1 Ftnce of Manchuria." ™ Hirota, 70, premier of Ja-; 1 m 1936-37, and former am-1 kdor to Moscow. i Seishiro Itagaki. 63. former Minister who starved war prlps in the Dutch East Indies. * c Heitaro Kimura. 59. for- ’ 'ke war minister. . w >*ane Matsui, 70. who di-| the rape of Nanking and the' 7* of 200.000 Chinese in six * “ G «. Akira Muto. 56. chief)' * war office bureau of mili-. Affairs, and later chief of staff •Tv-' To Pa cr Kl.-rbei Hotel e fatal To Pair Dec. 21 — (UP) — *nd woman were burned to totoy and 50 quests fled to * were rescued .when a ,ire swept through three of the central-city Westminster Persons, including three ’ere burned. Several were i . 7” n triers by firemen Gating for help while cling "* front window ledge. . weather V tioudy and colder to*'lh snow flurries near '* Wednesday > and much colder with In extreme north.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

BULLETIN Shanghai. Dec. 21 — (UP) — (’apt. Quentin Roosevelt, 28, grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt was reported aboard a Chinese airlines transport which crashed and burned near Hong Kong today. A Hong Kong dispatch said 31 and possibly 33 aboard the plane were e killed, and there was no r sign of survivors. i ; Suspend China's : Building Program J Lonq-Range Program By U. S. Suspended s Washington, Dec. 21—(UP) — - Recovery administrator Paul G. ; Hoffman said today that the long- . range 370,000,000 construction pro- • gram for China has been suspend--3 ed because of the critical situation 1 there. 3 He made the statement after a 30-minute White House conference 3 at which he gave President Tru- ! man a “report for his ears alone" r on his recent 16-day flying trip to s Europe and the far east. • Hoffman said the decision to ■ suspend the China construction | program was made in Shanghai 1 during conferences with Roger D. I Lapham, chief of the American aid • mission in China. Hoffman said a small part of the I I construction funds—less thin sl,- ■ 000.000 — already has been ear1 marked for engineering surveys! and will be spent. Presumably the r'eport on China ' ..occupied the full half-hour confer- . ence because Hoffman said the ‘ president did not ask him about I two other policy questions which i > came up while the economic co-[ I operation administrator was away J The first was whether ECA will, continue to give U. S. vessels half! of the recovery shipment buspiess , from this country if they fail to! lower their rates to conform to those charged by foreign ships. The second is the ques ion of aluminum shipments to Britain. Belgium »and the Netherlands. Last week, deputy ECA adminis-, trator Howard Bruce said that i about 100.000 tons of aluminum [and lead had been sent to those nations for recovery, but that about one-fifth of this tonnage was [re-exported to the U. S. as high I price scrap. I "There was no mention of aluminum or shipping." Hoffman said. On the China problem. Hoffman said some of the engineering stir- ! veys have progressed so far that lit would he unwise to halt them ! now. He believed that several [ ' hundred thousand dollars of the $1,000,000 tagged for the surveys might still he saved. Among the projects which ECA| will continue are a power plant in Formosa, same railroad rehabilitation in South China, and work I now being done on piers at the ■ U. S. naval base in Tsingtao. j Mrs. Herman Conrad Dies This Morning Funeral Services Thursday Afternoon j tMrs Entelia Conrad. 62. wife oU (Henman Conrad, died at 6:1», 'o'clock this morning at her Home, 'seven miles northwest of Decatur ion the Winchester road She had been critical since suffering a cerebral hemorrhage last Friday. Born in Preble township Jan. 4. 1886. she -was a daughter of 1- red and Caroline Scheiman. and was a lifelong resident of the township. She was married io Herman (onrad Nov. 19. 1908. She was a member of the Zion Lutheran church at Frieuheim. Surviving in addition to her hits hand are a daughter. Mrs. Edna Hoffman of Preble township, and two sisters. Mrs. Martha Dittmer{of Columbia City and Mrs Hannah Ranley of Murphys. Cal. Three brothers preceded her in death Funeral services will be held at 1:15 pan. Thursday at the Zwick. funeral home and, at - o'clock at th e Friedheim church, the Rev. bT Schmidtke officiating. Burial w.H be in the church cemetery. Friends may •< ,he 1 ' 03,e 1 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Javanese Army Battles Dutch Invasion ■H < jk — 1 . • r\ Fj "MFi wJ FW?’’ W■JI i f o J!/ w "Mb < " it • Jw- A JMtliifllLin7 jfTrlL • SJ'/:- 77' .* •• ■ SOLDIERS, such as these of the fledgling Indonesian Republican Army, wearing odds and ends of Japanese equipment, are resisting a sweeping Dutch invasion which, on Sunday, captured their capital . city of Jogjakarta and arrested all government leaders.

Temperatures Drop In Midwest Slates 1 High Winds Whistle Across Great Lakes By United Press Temperatures plunged in the midwest today as high winds whistled across the Great Lakes on the heels of a heavy snowstorm | that took 45 lives and buried New i I York City under its third worst' fall in history. The mercury was expected to I fall to 15 degrees below zero in j some parts of the Dakotas and i i (Minnesota by Wednesday morn I ing. It was one above zero at j Pembina, N. D. at 3 am. today. ( However, forecaster Julius Dad-: ner said the falling temperatures I would not constitute a ‘ital cold wave" because the drop would be I gradual. He blamed the colder weather on [ a s‘orm. born in the north Pacific, which swept across Canada and into Minnesota last night. Today the storm’s galelike winds j were whipping snow across north-j ern Wisconsin and upper Michigan and bringing flurries as far south as Chicago and northern Indiana. He warned that the storm could “give the north Atlantic states considerable trouble" if it picked up strength in moving across the Great Lakes. . A mass of cold air moving behind the storm front, he said, will push temperatures lower throughout the Dakotas, lowa. Illinois, Wisconsin. Indiana. Michigan and most 1 of Missouri by tomorrow. Another body of cold air is moving southward along the Pacific coast, he said, threatening to shove the mercury downward in northern California. Meanwhile. New York City was digging itself out of the 15.000,000 tons of snow that fell Sunday. The storm struck from Virginia to Concord. N. H. Cape Cod. Mass., was hit especially hard, suffering $250,000 damage to power and communications lines. About 1.500 telephones were out of service i from Provincetown to Buzzard’s i Bay. « The dead from the bad weatherj that has plagued the nation since ■ Saturday included 20 persons along ! the Atlantic seaboard and 12 in the midwest in addition to 14 killed or fatally injured in a Utah bus crash. ■ The Pacific northwest was recovering from a variety of weather that included a blizzard at Blewett Pass. Wash., gales in the lower ■Columbia river area, and a slight earthquake at Klamath Palls. Ore. Donovan Notre Dame 11 Publicity Director 11 South Bend. Ind. Dee. 21 —(UP) Haymond J. Donovan, assistant I director of publicity at the L'niveraity of Notre Dame, will succeed John V. Hinkel as direc'or Jan. 1.. university president John J. Cava- ( naugh announced today. Hinkel an- , nounced his resignation Dec. 5 after serving nearly three years. He said he planned to enter the private public relations business in Wash ington. D. C. Donovan, formerly, I with the Logansport Pharos-Trib I une. began working in Noire Dame I j publicity in 1942. He Is a native of 1t Hammond. J

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, December 21, 1948

TO PRESS AT NOON The Decatur Daily Democrat • will go to press at noon Friday ' and no edition will be published Saturday because of the Christmas holiday. Regular Saturday news and advertising deadlines will be observed Friday. Rural, church announcements will be printed Thursday, with copy due ?t 12 noon Wednesday. Decatur church announcements .will be printed Friday, with copy due at 12 noon Thursday. Spring Hog Crop Is Increased Over 1948 Total Is Less Than Government Request Washington. Dec. 21 — (UP) — j The agriculture department today ] I forecast a spring hog crop of 56.I 500,000 head, about 3,500.000 less than the government asked farmers to raise. Nevertheless, the number will be 10 percent above this year’s j spring crop. The department had called for a goal of 80,000,000 spring pigs in an effort to bring meat consumption up to 150 pounds per person in late 1949 and 1950, when spring pigs will be ready for market. Average meat consumption this year has been about 145 pounds ! per person. Os the spring estimate. 43,500.000 head were forecast for the corn belt states. The department reported the number of sows farrowing at 9.086,000 head. 14 percent above last year. Os these. 6,899,000 were in the corn belt states. The department reported the total pig crop for 1948 as 85.281,000 head, an increase of about one percent over last year. Th.e increase resulted from a fall pig crop of 33,995.000 head, up eight percent from 1947. The 1948 spring crop was three percent smaller than last year. The number of sows farrowing this fall was set at 5.169.000 head, five percent more than last fall and also five percent above farmers’ intentions reported last June. Os this total. 3.335.000 were reported in the corn belt states, an increase of eight percent over last year. The number of pigs per litter this fall was 6 58-the largest on record for the fall season. The fall crop did not quite rea<h the total of 34.400.000 urged by agri culture secretary Charles F. Brannan. The government now is supporting the price of hogs at 515.25 per hundred pounds in Chicago. However. since hogs are selling at about s2l in Chicago, the price support program is not now oper ating. Today’s report was based on a survey of about 130.000 farms and ranches. Aged Woman Burned To Death In Chair Boonville, Ind., Dec. 21 —(UP)— Mrs. Louisa Douglas. 80. Boonville, was burned to death yesterday in her apartment. Firemen said they found her sitting in a chair with her clothes burned off. Neighbors said site might have built a tire to ease the pain of neuritis.

Indiana Food Train Headed East Today 25 Railroad Cars Crammed With Food Indianapolis, Dec. 21 — (UP) — Twenty-five railroad cart crammed with Indiana grain and canned goods headed east today as part of the Hoosier contribution to the Christian rural overseas program. And more ears will be on their way as soon as the drive to aid hungry Europe is completed in Indiana. The freight cars were dedicated at Indianapolis late yesterday as the first section of an estimated 180 cars to be shipped overseas. The program, begun some six months ago. enlisted the aid of local Hoosier churches and farmers and netted some 1272,000 worth of food The campaign was carried on in 72 of Indiana's 92 counties. Dr. Frederick L. Horde. Purdue uni versity president and campaign chairman for the CROP drive, estimated that well ever $300,000 In food and cash would he given by Hoosiers before the campaign is over. Campaign leaders said it probably would be completed about NewYear's day. Allen county topped the Ijst of counties reporting their contribu tions, with a total of more than $14,000. Clinton county gave three carloads of soybeans, Bartholomew two carloads of powdered milk and tiny Dubois county gave the fifth hugest gift, some SII,OOO worth of grain. High Court Upholds Killer's Conviction Indianapolis Negro Faces Death Feb. 1 Indianapolis, Dec. 21 — (I'P) — Robert Watts. 29-vear-old Indiana polls negro truckdriver, today had until Jan. 10 to appeal a state supreme court ruling that he received a fair trial and should die in the electric chair. The state’s high court upheld a circuit court conviction yesterday by ruling that Watts was not a victim of racial discrimination, that his rights were not infringed by prosecutor Judson -L. Stark’s remarks to a jury, and that his signed confession rightly was admitted in to evidence against him. Watts was convicted in Shelby circuit court last January for the sex slaying of Mrs. Mary l.ois Burney. a northside Indianapolis housewife who was killed in her home with her husband s shotgun in November, 1947. He is slated to die. as ter two stays of execution, in the state prison s electric ch«ir next Feb 1. Attorneys for Watts who also con-| fessed a second Indianapolis mur ' der. according to state police, charged that the fact that there had been no negroes on the Marion county grand jury, -which Indicted Watts, was grounds for squashing the indictment. The supreme court said evidence to the contrary had heen presented But it said the proper way to raise that question was by a plea In abatement. The high courts opin--(Twa Ta I’aue sis I

Resignation To Follow Nationalist Peace Bid To China Communists

Says Rail Unions Oppose Proposals Favor Rejection Os Board Settlement Chicago, Dec. 21 — (UP) — A spokesman for 16 strike-threaten-ing railroad unions said today that “90 percent" of them favor rejec'ion of the settlement proposal made by President Truman's emergency fact-finding board. G. E. Leighty, president of the Order of Railway Telegraphers, made the statement as 1,200 representatives of the 16 unions met to decide whether to accept the government's settlement formula in the dispute between the unions and the nation's railroads. Leighty, who also is chairman of the 16-union negotiating committee, said he has received “hundreds of telegrams" signed by about 1,000 union members expressing dissatisfaction with the I emergency fact-finding board's I recommendations. Leighty said the "dissatisfac- , lion" centers on four points in the hoard's proposals. He said the . members feel that: 1. The recommended sevencent hourly wage increase is too j low. The unions had demanded ! 25 cents. ♦ [ 2. They should not be made to wait until next Sept. 1 before the recommendations take effect. [ 3. The recommendations should j be retroacitve to last May. when negotiations began, instead of to last October. 4. ' Special recommendations covering yardmasters ami dining ear employes were "unfair.” No mention was made of the hoard's ‘recommendation for a 401 hour week in the railroad industry, with Saturdays and Sundays 1 regarded as regular work days. The unions had demanded the 4fthour week to replace the old 4X hour week, with premium pay for Saturdays and Sundays. Decatur May Have White Christmas Predicts Snow For North Part Os State Indianapolis. Dec. 21 — (UP) — The weatherman predicted today that northern Indiana might have a white Christinas, but Hoosiers in downstate areas may get rain Christmas Eve. Meteorologist Paul Miller said that a five-day forecast indicated mow would fall in northern Indiina and rain in southern sections Friday. Precipitation was expected to average around three-quar tersr of an inch in the south between today and Saturday and about one-third of an inch in northern Indiana. Miller said temperatures would average about normal during the periml—which means from 24 to 12 degrees in the south and 17 so .12 degrees in the north. Snow also was predicted for northern sections tomorrow. Colder temperatures were expected tomorrow. followed by rising teni-p-ratures Thursday and Friday and colder weather for the week, end. The immediate forecast called for partly cloudy skies and mild weather today, with partly cloudy and colder temperatures seen for tonight and tomorrow. Iztws of 2u in the north and 28 in the south I were forecast for tonight. I Good Fellows Club ! Previously reported 8624.05 George Buckley 5.00 | Mrs. Chas. s'oglewede .... 500 C. E. Juniors of Trinity K. V. B. chord .. 10.00 Mrs. Forrest Owens .... I.W TOTALS $645 05

Former State Dept. Worker Leaps To Death New Mystery Thrown On Duggan Death By Chambers' Evidence New York. Dec. 21 — (UP) Whittaker Chambers, confessed former spy courier, threw new mystery today on the death of Luarence Duggan, former state department employe who plunged from his office window last night. Chambers said he had not named Duggan as one of those persons who gave him secret state department papers. Chambers said that as far as he knew Duggan was not a Communist. In Washington last night, the house unAmerican activities committee said that Duggan was one of six tipsters Chambers was reported td have in the state department. The committee said that Duggan's name was brought up in secret testimony Ify Isaac Don Levine, magazine editor and close friend of Chambers. Levine said that, according to Chambers. Duggan had "pas sed confidential information along." Chambers made his statement to reporters aftbr testifying for 30 minutes before the federal grand jury inquiring into Communist spying. Chambers w;is asked whether he had named Duggan as one of those passing papers" over to him. "No," Chambers replied. Asked what his response meant in the light of Levine's testimony. Chambers replied: “It would have been more proper to say I mentioned six people." "Was Duggan among them'''' he was asked. "1 mentioned Duggan, but I di I not mention all those people as having turned patters over to me." Chambers replied. He added: "I did not name Duggan as pass ing over papers to me.' . Chambers said he never had met ■ Duggan. He described the 43-year old former stale department official's death plunge from his 16th story office window as "a shock ing thing." Chambers' said he had no idea why 'Duggan might wish to commit suicidg. "He was a gentle and sensitive man from what I heard ahout him — devoted to his family," Chambers <Turn To I'nse 1I«> Christen Trial Is Sei For March 14 Court Refuses To Quash Indictment Fort Wayne. Ind . Dee. 21 iUl’i — Robert V. 'Chris'en. Denvet. claimed today that he is innocent <d charges that ho committed a sex murder ior which another man has been sentenced to death. Charges were brought agains' ! Christen, a former Fort Wayne { druggist, while Ralph Lobaugh. Ko { komo. Ind . gravedigger, wailed for , a new hearing to set aside his con ' vlction for the slaying. 1 Christen pleaded Innocent yes terday to the muider of Mrs. DorI othea Howard after his motion to ' quash the murder indictment was {overruled. His trial was set for March 11. I The Howard death is one of three I sex slayings of whieh Lobaugh is I accused l.oliaugh claims he was I drugged when he pleaded guilty to the three murders. He has been | given five stays of execution, the ! latest one to May 26. | Charles D. Dodson. Memphis post :al elerk. also was charged with | first degree murd»r in the Howard murder after the ease was re-open-ed because of Iwliaugh's piolests. Itodson's petition to squash the indictment will lie heard tomorrow.

Price Four Cents

Chiang Gives Full Power To Chinese Cabinet To Decide On Peace Or War • By United,Press A fresh, authoritative report of an impending Chinese Nationalist bid tor a negotiated peace w ith the Communists and the -;i jltaneous resignation of Gtueralissimo Chiang Kai Sliek as president came from Nanking today. A source high in Chinese policymaking sources said that Chiang has given full power to the new cabinet of premier Suu Fo to choose between peace and war and will resign if the cabinet decides to make a peace bid The source said the cabinet's decision certainly would be to seek a negotiated peace. He said neither Russian nor joint AmericanRussian mediation was expected to be sought. The chief question now. he said, is whether the Communists would be willing to settle for anything less than complete control of China. Sun made iFt-lear yesterday he would accept only "an honorable peace." Reports from the fighting fronts said tile Communists are bringing some of their most powerful forces from Manchuria to a con.centration point 40 miles north of Peiping in preparation for a fullscale attack on the city, second largest in China. Other foreign news included: Batavia Dutch army headquarters reported that its troops occupied Kaliurang. headquarters of a United Nations mission in the Indonesian Republic. The statement did not mention the fate of the 111 members of the UN team trapped there by the outbreak of hostilities. The Indonesian Republican radio reported the recapture of Jogjakarta, the Republican capital, from the Dutch, but a Dutch spokesman said the report was absolute nonsense Berlin The three western commandants of Berlin announced resumption of the city's Konttuandaturn, but on a three-power basis without Russia The Kommandafura. formed hy tlie occupation powers to coordinate their rule and occupation directives to the German oily administration, has been suspended since the Russians walked out June 16. The American. British and French commandants said the door was open to the Russians to join them again if they desired. Moscow Premier Josef Stalin marked his 69th birthday anniversary quietly He was reported hale, hearty and alert Newspapers made no mention of the birthday, hut the bulk of their front pages carried letters to him pledging its creased industrial and agricultural output. San Jose. Costa Rica—-Govern-ment troops were reported to have engaged rebfl forces 40 miles north of San Jose. Pfc. Wayne Sprunger Body Enroute Heme Berne. Dei 21 Mr. and Mrs. Andn « Sprunger of Berne have received a telegram from the war department stating that the body of their son. Pfc. Wayne Sprunger. is now enroute to the states for burial. Several weeks will elapse before the liody arrives here Burial will lie in the MRE cemetery Pfc. Sprunger was killed in Germany •April 5. 1915. He was serving in the medical corps of tl.e United •States army. Funeral arrangements will Ik* announced later. J DAYS LEFT GiRISTMAJ' iTwiA! SEALS - 3M;