Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 47, Number 2, Decatur, Adams County, 4 January 1949 — Page 1

Vol. XLVII. No. 2.

50 PERSONS KILLED IN TWO-STATE STORM

■ » " , - —’ '■ Truman To Call s — . For High Taxes, Heavy Spending

President's State Os Union Message In Person Tuesday To 81st Congress Washington, Jan. 4 — (UP) — Speaker Sam Rayburn predicted today that the 81st congress will look with “considerable favor” on the legislative recommendations which President Truman will submit tomorrow. Mr. Truman’s program will call for high taxes and big spending -in the Roosevelt tradition. He is I trusting to bald Speaker Rayburn to see It through. The program will be outlined in the president’s annual message on the state of the union which he will deliver personally before a joint session . of the house and senate. | Rayburn forecast general sueLcess for the president’s proposals 'at his first news conference after being returned to his old job as speaker. He lost the job to Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., R., Mass., in the 80th congress, which was controlled by Republicans. Rayburn said congress will repeal the Taft-Hartley act but predicted that simultaneously it will pass a substitute measure. He : made it clear, however, that he thas not discussed any specific 0 . proposals for labor legislation with other house leaders. “I want to feel my way along 1 on that,” he said. Rayburn said no priority list of legislation has yet been drawn up. The speed with which bills are (considered will depend on howlion they get out of committees, tie added. Asked whether he considered the stiles liberalization voted yesterday * big increase in the speaker’s power, Rayburn said there had been no "depletion” of it. But he emphasized that he hoped it would not be necessary to circumvent the rules committee in the consideration of legislation ipprovd by legislative committees. Mr. Truman's program will be drougiy new deal in flavor. Rayburn will take on the task )t pushing it through the house with the widest powers given any ipeaker since a rebellious house (lasted Uncle Joe Cannon's dieatorship in March, 1910. Cannon vas swamped by a Progressive lepub'.lcan rebellion which changid the rules of the house to give ommlttees much of the authority „lncle Joe personally had enjoyed ' The house yesterday reversed he proces of voting Rayburn uthority to force the rules comrittee at his discretion to permit sgialation to come to a vote on **he floor. The rules committee ereafter can bottle up admlnis-' ttlon legislation for 21 days, but Mfcer if Rayburn wants It to to a vote. That will break he power of the coalition of Re—'Ublioans and conservative Democrats which frequently has frus-- . rated administration plans, j’here is no such bottleneck in the A 1 eaate where the Republican parbeen consistently less con-i •rvatlve than in the house. 7 Htoase majority leader John W | (Turn To Pnire Et<htl Vberding Infant ~ Is Winner Os Gifts By Local Merchants i Uttle Mary Ann Alberding. sev-ti-pound baby daughter of Mr. and ''lra. Leo William Alberding. of De-' Itar route 1, is Miss 1949 for the Northern half of Adams county, t- By S p.m. Monday it became evi > that no other parents in the could boast the birth of a ®iild closer to the advent of the 3ew year. Mary Ann arrived at ►Vs|am New Years Day. Mary Ann and her mom and dad 7 llMpeome the happy recipients of' galaxy of presents and prizes annually by Decatur mer to the first baby of the new Hsar.|The Alberding windfall will yrtMe all the gifts listed on pages ’ awd i of today's edition of the ecaar Daily Democrat. WEATHER Mostly cloudy,’ somewhat colder tonight and Wednesday.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Leads Service i||iß Ml Xi \ The Rev. Lawrence Norris, pastor of she Union Chapel Evangelical United Brethren church, will have charge of the union service at his church at 7 p. m. Wednesday in observance of the universal week of prayer. The church is located two and one-half miles east and one-half mile north of Decatur. The service is sponsored by the Decatur ministerial association. The Rev. A. C. E. Gillander, Presbyterian church, will preach on “Prayer: A Last Resort, or a Way of Life;" the Rev. F. H. Willard, Bethany Evangelical United Brethren church, will read the ’ scripture, and the Rev. Dwight McCurdy, Church of God, will lead in the evening prayer. Annual Meeting Os Bank Next Tuesday First State Bank's Stockholders Meet The 67th annual meeting of stockholders of the First State Bank will be held next Tuesday at the bank building for the purpose of electing six directors. The election of officers will follow. Continued growth in the bank's financial structure is noted in its December 31, 1948 statement. Deposits increased to $9,272,422.17 and total assets are listed at $lO,014.867.93. Theodore F. Graliker, president, announced. During last year the bank's expansion of its service departments was practically completed. These include the installation of modern bookkeeping and proving machines and the photo record device that photographs all checks. The bookkeeping departments have been moved to the second floor. The former director's room is being utilized as quarters for the proving machine, which en--1 ables a speedier and more efficient handling and posting of deposits. The new posting machines provide customers with -a smaller statement of account and increases the efficiency in this department, Mr. Graliker explained. The Christmas Savings department has been expanded and up to date the number enrolled exceeds the total for last year. Checks totaling $77,000 were sent to 1,300 members last December. No change in the directorate is expected at the meeting. The directors are. E. W. Busche. Theo- | dore F. Graliker. John P. Braun.. . Theo. Hobrock, Herman H. Krueck j eberg and Gerald W. Vizard. State Gross Income Tax Collection Is Highest In History The Indiana gross income tax , division closed its books for 1948 j with the biggest collection for any i 12-month period in its history. To al receipts were $67,715,212.80. an increase of more than 10 i millions above the previous reeoid] established a year ago. The past year also established a new record for the number of tax reports handled by the division during any 12 month period. In 1948 the tax unit processed a total of, 1,496.778 reports —a 100.000 in-1 crease over 1947. 1

Russia Admits Prisoners Os War Still Held Russia Accused Os 'Breach Os Faith' By United States . London, Jan. 4 — (UP) — Russia admitted today she still was holding a number of German war prisoners in violation of a four-power agreement but said that all would be released this year. The Russian statement, carried by the official Tass agency and distributed hereby the Soviet Monitor, was made in answer to a joint American-British-French protest. The protest demanded to know how many prisoners Russia still held and asked why they had not been released on Dec. 31, 1948, as agreed by the council of foreign minis ers in Moscow in 1947. At that time Russia admitted holding 890,532 prisoners. The Tass statement denied that there ever had been an ironclad agreement to release all German prisoners by the end of 1948. The Russians said the agreement was to refer the matter to the allied control council for Germany. There the agreement was killed bj the British and French, the statement said. The western protest said all German prisoners held in the United States, Britain and France had been released. Tihe Tass statement contested this, charging that the British and French still held large numbers of prisoners under the pretext that they were hired help. Accuses Russia Washington, Jan. 4 — (UP) - The United States has accused Russia of a "breach of faith” for failing to repatriate all her remaining German prisoners of war, the state department announced today. The department said the American embassy in (Moscow delivered a formal note to the Kremlin yesterday accusing the Soviets of violating a repatriation agreement by the big four powers in 1947. The agreement specified that the United States, France, Britain and Russia would,complete the repatriation of all German prisoners of war by the end of 1948 "at the latest.” The-American note, which was duplicated by the BrPish and French governments, said Russia has failed to supply promised information on the steps she is taking to send home her remaining prison(Tu-- To Page ICisbt) Traffic Accidents Decreased In City No Fatalities In Decatur Last Year Estimated property damage in Decatur traffic accidents during 1948 amounted to $25,857, a 17 percent drop from the previous year's total, according to the annual report of the Decatur police department, made pulilie today. Fourteen persons were injured In accidents last year, compared to 19 in 1947. No traffic fatalities occurred in 1948, but two died the year before. The total Os all types of accidents for 1948 was 219, compared to 243 in 1947. A breakdown of 1948 s traffic accident record shows that eight persons were injured in 204 collisions of two or more automobiles. Five were injured in eight pedestriancar accidents. One was injured in two bicycle-car collisions, and five cars collided with fixed objects, with no injuries. Almost one half of all drivers involved in accidents in Decatur reI side out of the city, the report disI closed. Statistically Saturday is the big day lor accidents. Forty seven traffic mishaps occurred on Saturdays during the year, while only 24 happened on Sundays. Most accidents involved drivers in the 25-44 year age bracket. Mot- ! orists aged 17 to 20 accounted for 156 of the accidents, those from 21- ' 24 figured in 67 acciden s. those from 25-44 were involved in 153. The 45 64 year group numbered 72. and drivers 65 and over were involved in 20 accidents daring 1948. Few accidents occurred between (Tara Ta Psge Twa)

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, January 4, 1949

New Leaders Take Legislative Reins k? I v si vH Ku y jkc* .. 9 K, .. - Ja -1 1 99KJlMi <; "' I W M PP • K 'U 1 <1 H B H 1 0 E i 1 it? * k IIIf S iSB W ’ S ? Sil SI ; - . ■HK a M 9 KI IE fl ESm 1 NEW LEADERS assumed office in both senate and house on opening • day of the 81st congress. Pictured above (top) are Vlce-President- . elect Alben W. Barkley of Ky.. who will preside in the senate follow- , ing his inauguration, with Sen. Robert S. Kerr, newly elected from Oklahoma, and ex-president pro tempore Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan, who was succeeded by Sen. Kenneth McKellar (D) of Tennessee. In the lower picture, Rep. Sam Rayburn (D) of Texas is congratulated by Rep. Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Mass., whotn he succeeds as speaker of the house.

Annual Report Made By Highway Head 1 $176,450.20 Spent During Past Year The Adams countv highway department expended $176,450.30 for . labor, material and supplies during 1948, Phil Sauer, superintendent, reported today. The department also used 38.8481 tons of stone on s‘one roads and I constructed more than seven miles j of new blacktop highways last year, i More than three miles of mud roads were stoned, the report reveals. Bridge repairs and repainting totaled more than $5,100 and three 'miles of road were widened and 17 I miles ditched, Mr. Sauer reported I to the county commissioners. The complete report follows: Receipts Gasoline tax $ 136,521.00 Cigaret tax 39.644.30 Bus rent 285.00 I Total receipts $ 176,450.30 Disbursments Stone & gravel 3 55.412.75 Labor 47.596.65 Asphalt & bituminous 29.999.43 {Gasoline & oil 11.043.77 Tile & sewer pipe 2.031.13 I Bridge repair 3.961.14 Brick cement & lime 790.94 1 Lumber 600.00 ’ Repair trucks & mach. 6.094.29 {Garage supplies 1.283.10 Tires & tubes 4.391.72 | New trucks & snowplow 5,977.621 I Ditch assessments 1.091.87 | Insurance 2.000.0't: | Paint of bridges 219.47 Tel. Heat. & Water 1.081.79 Office supplies 99.31 Repair of building 111.97 Total Disbursments 173.801.60 Balance 2,648.70' Stone Used On Roads Twp. Tons Inion 3.492: , Root 4.063 | Preble 3.668 Kirkland 3.134 I Washington 3.634 St Mary s 2.941 | French 2.422 ■ Monroe 4.263 .1 Blue Creek 3.465 Hartford 2,497 Wabash 3.048 Jefferson 2.218 ’ Total Tons 38.848 This also includes stone used for (Tars Ta Page Twa J

BULLETIN Cairo, Jan. 4 — (UP) — Foreign minister Dessouki Abaza Pasha said tonight that the biggest battle of the Palestine war now is going on in the Negev. Official Egyptian quarters reported that the Jews were attacking with the biggest forces they ever have used in the Palestine hostilities. Bluffton Man On Stale Tax Board Frank G. Thompson Named By Schricker Indianapolis, Jan. 4 — (UP) — Gov.-elect Henry F. Schricker today announced the membership of the Indiana state board of tax comImissioners for his administration beginning next Monday. Schricker designed Noble W. Hollar, Indianapolis, as chairman, and | appointed Adolph L. Fossler, Richmond. and Frapk G. Thompson. Bluffton, to the other positions on the board. Hollar now is a field representative for the state board of accounts. He once served two years as secretary of the state tax board and eight years as deputy auditor of Elkhart county. Fossler. the only Republican on the three-man commission, is a special representative of the state tax board. He was auditor of Wayne (Turn To Pnar Eight) Contracts Awarded By Commissioners The Burk Elevator company of this city was awarded the contract for furnishing three car loads of prepared stoker coal to the court house, the jail, county home and county garage on its bid of sl3 a ton. each load to be weighed as de ' livered to the various county buildings. The commissioners also awardel the con ract for furnishing groceries and tobacco at the county home or the next three months to the I. G. A. store of Berne. It was the only bid filed. , A delegation of farmers from Jefferson township, headed by Chester Haines, appeared ‘before the board and inquired as to the steps taken in granting their peti ion for black topping three miles of county road running north from the Jefferson high school to state road 118. The mat er was referred to the highway department.

Tornado Cuts 100-Mile Path Os Destruction In Louisiana And Arkansas

No Answer By China Reds To Peace Feelers United States Navy To Maintain Forces In Western Pacific Shanghai, Jan. 4.—(UP)— Chinese Communist leaders have not responded to peace feelers from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, and there was increasing belief today in both official and unofficial quarters that the Nationalist leader's bid to end the civil war will be rejected. Advices from Nanking said that no further conferences between Chiang and his ministers were held yesterday or today, and it was assumed they still were awaiting reaction from the Communist to the Generalissimo's New Year’s message in which he indicated willingness to resign if a negotiated peace could be arranged. In Tsingtao, U. S. naval headquarters in China, vice-admiral Oscar E. Badger served notice that "the U. S. navy will continue to maintain adequate forces in the western Pacific including Tsingtao and other Chinese waters." Badger issued his statement in reply to an erroneous report from Tsingtao by an American press association which said U. S. marines were withdrawing from China because the Nationalist government is seeking to negotiate peace with the Communists. There are about 5,000 American marines in China, most of them at Tsingtao. Nearly 800 are stationed aboard ship in Shanghai harbor, to protect American lives and property in event of trouble here. Badger's statement explained that the “rumors" that the marines would be withdrawn resulted from the fact that negotiations with Shantung University for return of the university campus, where the marines at Tsingtao are quartered, (Tu.iu To P««» Elishtl Veteran Teachers In Church School Leadership School Opens This Evening Two members of the teaching i staff for the annual inter-denomi national school of leadership train . ing, which opens at the First Presbyterian church in Decatur at 7 o'clock tonight and extends for I three weeks on each Tuesday and Thursday night, have many years of experience in religious and gen eral teaching fields. Dean F. H. Willard stated today. Elvin Elbracht. Fort Wayne, who ' will teach a course entitled 'The ! Use Os Visual Aid In Religious Education," is a teacher in the Franklin school, and is superln tendent of the Zion Lutheran Sun day school in that city. He also is a representative of Indiana Visual Aids Co. -<f Indianapolis. Mrs. Helen Howard, board mem ber of the Associated churches of ' Fort Wayne, has done a great num | ber of book reviews for club and I child study groups in Allen couni; ty and also has contributed for four years to the book review page . j of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel j She has been active in general church work for a number of years Her course is "How To Teach I Youth.” The local school is sponsored by the Associated Churches of Deca tur. Unemployed Service Here On Wednesday i Representatives of the Fort Wayne office of the Indiana employment security division will be at I the Decatur city hall at 9 am. Wed i nesday to render services to the ‘ unemployed, it has been announced

To Inaugural BrSl W ■ ' : V K ■ c A The Rev. O. C. Busse, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran church at Preble, will give the invocation at inaugural ceremonies for Gov. Henry F. Schrlcker at Indianapolis next Monday. Rev. 0. C. Busse Al Schricker Inaugural Gives Invocation At Inaugural Ceremony The Rev. Otto Carl Busse, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran church in Preble, has been selected to give the invocation at the inaugural ceremonies for Governor Henry F. ’ Schricker next Monday in the ro-1 tunda of the state capital at Indianapolis. Chaplain of Adams Post 43 of the American Legion, Rev. Busse was recommended to the Schricker inaugural committee by Gerald W. Vizard Democratic county chairman. The ceremonies will be held at! 11:30 o'clock, followed by Governor Schricker’s address. Rev. Busse served in World WatIl and was a lieutenant-colonel when discharged from the service. He saw active service in the European theater and is widely known in Lutheran and Legion circles hi Indiana. Mr. Vizard will attend the ceremonies on Thursday in Indianapolis when Robert Heller takes his oath of office as representative from. Adams and Wells counties and is - sworn in as speaker of the house. | Speaker Heller’s parents, Mr. j and Mrs. Henry B. Heller, his wife and Mr. and Mrs. David Heller, will also attend the Decatur man's in-1 duction to the highest legislative post in the Indiana general assembly. Inaugural Program Indianapolis. Jan. 4—(UP)— <Turn ’I o I'ocr Pwr' Consider Proposal To Move Dwelling May Move Building To County Farm In a special meeting next Mon day the county commissioners will consl&er a proposal to move the four-room dwelling on the county's i lot adjacent to the highway department's garage on N. First street. ’ to the county farm, south of Decatur. The house is vacant and i« in ; need of repairs. The suggestion was made that if the dwelling could : be moved to the county, farm that i it could be used as a tenant's home ’ for a married counle. ; Sunerintendfnt Frank Kltson in- • formed the commissioners that it I was difficult to employ a married | couple at the county home, because ’’''using facilities were not pro--ii’od. If nracHcal. the house will bo movod off the lot and possibly an addition built to the earage at the west end This would be used for a repair room, it was explained. The commissioners will also visit tTara Tu Pa<* Twu>

Price Four Cents

Warren, Arkansas, Is Hardest Hit As 45 Dead; Scleral Hundreds Injured Warren. Aik., Jan. 4— (UP)— The two-state death toll climbed to 50 today in the wake of tornado which cut a 100-mile swath of destruction through Louisiana and Arkansas, centering its devastation on this once-booming lumber town. Weary rescue crews continued to search the wind flattened sections of Warren, but failed to uncover any additional dead or injured. The death tall in Warren alone stood at 45 as 16-year-old Kenneth Jones died in a Pine Bluff hospital during the morning and estimates of the injured here ranged from 270 to 400. Three persons were killed in Louisiana, where the twister was spawned, and two others lost their lives near El Dorado, Ark., 45 miles southwest of Warren. A separated tornado flattened a dozen buildings in Vilas. Kan., yesterday and seriously injured one man. Gov. Ben T. Laney and state adjutant Brig. Gen. Heber L. Mcalister arrived here from Little Rock today to survey the damage, estimated by Warren mayor Jimmy Hurley to be at least $1,000,000. The American Red Cross allocated $50,000 in emergency funds for Warren and regional officials sait they would ask for SIOO,OOO more. Three area disaster workers from St. Louis moved into Warren to join volunteer workers from throughout the state who stepped in promptly last night to set up ; mobile kitchens and assist in re- ■ lief work. The day dawned with a heavy rainfall, but the downpour was a short one. At the Frazer funeral : home, embalmers worked on into the morning, preparing the dead for burial. Sometime during the day. the bodies were to be placed in plain pine coffins and set in the Frazer | chapel. Then the doors were to be opened to the sorrowing survivors ] of yesterday's storm. “That's about the best way we 1 can think of to get all of them properly identified." said mayor Hurley. The tornado swooped down on this town (6.000 pop.) at 5:45 pin. yesterday with the roar of a hundred freight trains, it swept northeastward across the south end of i the town, skipped over the business j district, then dipped to the earth again. It tore out a strip of the residential section a mile long and a half mile wide. Buildings were levelled for entire blocks and power ' lines and telephone wires were j strewn through the streets, clogged with rubble. The power plant was knocked. I out. adding to the confusion. Searchers dug through tile rubble all night hunting for the dead ' and injured. The gruesome quest ' wash carried out by the feeble , light of flashlights, gas lamps and i lanterns. Three portable lighting 1 systems were rushed to the town from Little Rock, the state capital, , for use during the emergency. Red Cross disaster crews and I state militia sped to the town and calls were sent out for doctors. (Turn To Pnur F.lKktl Robert Hansel Is Reappointed Today As Page In Senate Robert Hansel, son of Mr. and Paul Hansel, of 211 West Jefferson street, has heen reappointed to his 'ourth consecutive term as a pare in the United States Senate. The appointment of the veteran 'ndiara page, whose record in the 80th congress has heen widely commended. was made known loday in Wa?hin?to!L President of the senior class at Deca’ur high schcol. the 17-year-old D'c-en’ lad has been active on the s’aff of Ravelling*, the school yeabook. Hi« rea’M'o’ntment was made by a senate committee, and not bv a single sponsoring senator. He is second in seniority among the en- , tire corps of pages.