Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 49, Number 165, Decatur, Adams County, 14 July 1951 — Page 1

Vol. XLIX. No. 165.

COMMUNISTS AGREE TO RIDGWAY DEMAND I ; ‘i. \ Wllr •- r. ! i, &

, j • : j - - - . ' ' *1 " '' ' Fire Adds To Flood Dangers \ ' J . .Tl . ,

i - * ■ ;£/ r * Gasoline Tire Adds To Woes In Kansas Cify Flood Situation On - Raging Kansas River Is Somewhat Eased I . : 'I ' 1 . Kansas City, Mo.. July 14. —/(UP) —An uncontrollable gasoline fire, spread by the worst flood in city history, set fire to a large alcohoj plant today. City officials prepar'd to dynamite''l' fire break, around a “wide-area to prevent the fire from sweeping4he city’s residential area. National guardsmen armed- with carbines cleared a 13-block resi•dential area on aslope to the east of the 300-foot high flames as the fire threatened to spread (o the highly explosive Thompson-Hay-ward Chemical Co. “If the chemical plant goes." said fire chief Harvey Baldwin,” "the fire most certainly will spread into the residential area." Baldwin sa,M he hoped that by spraying and cooling the chemical plant with water that the fire could be prevented from spreading. He said \ the fire appears to have been "contained.” , . / \ Already the flamed have destroy- - ed a lumber yard and six large business buildhigs and threatened to engulf five 250,04)()-gailon naptholene tanks of the Skidmore Oil company. Firemen working from boats poured streams of water ontq the naptholene tanks to prevent them from exploding, i The flood situation on the raging Kansas river, which has driven 100,000 persons from their homes in 100 towns and cities, eased somewhat this morning, ' City manager L. P. Cookinftham announced that the t multi-million dollar municipal airport had been saved by the resourcefulness of a 35-man . engineering team which threw junk heap Automobile scrap into a weakened I spot in a dike and held the water back. He also announced that crews Is working through the night had raised the level of dikes to save much pt the midtown industrial ' area from flood waters. However, across the river in Kansas City, /Kan., ba(l sand boils showed on th|e large Fairfax levee, threatening to-Jlood that city s industrial area which so far has beet untouched. 1 Cookingham, when advised of the danger of the spfeasding flames to the city’s residential area said dynamite was being prepared toAblast a fire-break aionjg the hill above the flames to prevent their spread, if necessary. ', \ . Firemen have 'been fighting the flames since they broke out yesterday when a 6,04)Q gallon oil tank up rooted by the flood touched a high tension wire and explodedFlaming oil from the tank spread on the turbulent water, setting fire to and destroying 12 large gaspline and oil storage tanks in 'a series of 20 explosions which shook the city during the night. Fourteen firemen received minor Police and firemen cleared a path for ambulances bringing out more than 50 sick and aged persons from residential area which is bn the state line between Kansas and Missouri. In one gas tank explosion the hose was blown oiit of the hands of firemen, on the roof of a threestory Battenfeld Grease-Oil Corp, warehouse. $ The fire and explosions destroyed power lines in the area knocking Out all electric power to the southwest section of the city. The buildings destroyed include the >125,000 New Holland Machine Co. plant, Socopy-Vacuum office building, Cubine Sheet Metal Co., Last Chance Tavern, Shirk Roofing Co., PhiUipW Petroleum office building, and the Shutte Lumber Red Cross has termed the Kansas-Missouri flood situation the worst such disaster since the OhkeMississippi floods of 1937.

City-Wide Clearance Feast Tuesday and Wednesday DECATUR DA ILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NtWBPA«H IN ADAMS COUNTY

Asks 15 Millions For Flood Relief 1 \ 1 ? >I ' Congress Asked To Appropriate funds || Washington, July 14 — (UP) rj,President Truman today askal congress to appropriate ,$1 and more if necessary — fdr flood relief in the j Kansas Cify ' area. . a/-- .> I'v The White House said Mr. Truman conferred during the nigjit with speaker Sam Rayburn apd chairman Clarence Cannon, [R., Mo., of the house pppropriatipns committee about thq flooded tifin cities of Kansas Cfty. Mo., apd Kansas City. Kan. l|e asked th|m to get action on the money Request as soon as possible. ,| Mr. Truman’s home town—lndependences Mo. —-is oqly a few* miles from Kansas City. Mo. J A few minutes before the White House announcement. Sen. ftn-, drew F. Schoeppel, R., Kan., siiid he will ask congress to appropriate slo,ono.odo emergency flood relief funds Tuesday. The White House paid Mr. Truman has asked secretary of agriculture Charles F. Byannan to ’purvey the situation id the Kansas City area and see tftat .necessary food is available anti to provide loans and other assistance for the to help them get started again when the flood waters Recede. , ._Y i .• * * Maj. Gen. Lewis A. Pick, cfiief of army engineers and fornjer .head of the Missouri river division, arrived at Kansas City last night to survey the situation. Jle Was dispatched to the flood area by Mr. Truman. h The > appropriation would be in addition to the'|s.ooo,000 already in the president’s disaster fund. (Schoeppel said he will introduce an emergency resolution as soon as the senate meets Tuesday. The senate is in recess over the weekend. Money is needed, he said, “|o alleviate human suffering aqd ' flood damages." . . -—- ■ ' Busches Arrive In ‘ Europe For Visit I ■ Describes Airplane Flight Over Ocean 1 A letter written last Tuesday by E. W. Busche of Monroe aboard a Scandinavian air liner enroute from I Glasgow, Scotland to Hamburg, • Germany, arrived at this newspaper office this morning. v • Busche and daughter, Mi s s ‘ Louise Busche of Elkhart, ekpect- ■ ed to arrive in Hamburg two and 1 one-half hours their plane took off from Glasgow. < The I Busches started their flying trip to ’ Europe at 12:30 p.m. last Tuesday. ’ Their plane ■« stopped in Gapder, 1 Nfld., end then took off for Kng- : land. The beauty of a spnset and a sunrise as seen from a plane flying over the top of the world is described by Busche'in his brief letter ' to the editor of this newspaper, Up said:r ' . . ~ ■A. 1 “The sky was overcast, but we 1 were above the clouds all the time. The sunset Was beautiful. It was ’ pnly about two hours from the 1 time the evening red disappeared until the morning began to dawn in ■ the east; and a more beautiful sunrise I have never seen. Just imagine . . . the sun shining on an expanse of clouds of all phapes • and all as whße as snow.” The plane Unded at Glasgow at |:3O ‘ a.m. ’ The Busches will ijtour Europe for • 30 days and visit with relatives in ’ Frankfort and Hamburg, Germany. ‘ Miss Louise will ajliso go. to Ftome ! to visit a girl frieind whlo was an exchange student ,ip the Elkhart schools, where she is an instructor 5 in English. I. I ; 5 Noon Edition f

United Nations Troops Keep Up Drive On Reds Maintain Pressure Against Buildup Os Communist Forces Bth Army Headquarters, Korea, July 14— (UP) —United Nations troops drove hard into communist defenses all along the Korean \frtmt today to keep up pressure on the more than 400,000 communist troops looming as an omlnbus threat behind the cease-fire talks. On the central front, troops who slugged forward four miles toward Kumsong, the big Red Icommunications and supply base, rested briefly after their two-day offensive whiles allied warplanes ripped up the communist lines. I The army said there, were now froin, 200.000 to 250,04)0 communist troops opposfed to UN forces oh the west-central front. Earlier front reports said that_ at least 404).04k) Reds were massed in a build-up area behind the communist front line troops and froqt commanders warped of a communist “doirblecross" iff cease-fire negotiations went wrong. : There were reports that the Reds were digging in around Kaesong, the cease-fire conference kite. UN patrols in that zone have, bumped into Red units on every probing mission t and the Reds were\ believed using the conference immunity provisions ■ to strengthen defense of their only remaining \holding in Squrh Korea. The Bth army also said that enemy material captured \ last week was “markedly less” than in previous \weeks, indicating that the Reds were becoming unusually in preserving their stores even while withdrawihg. Action late yesterday was described as “relatively quiet.” That includes 4 bitter seven-hour battle northeast of Hwachon, ' below i Kumsong to the east, and a sixhour scrap a few miles farther north. Red forces broke off the fight by withdrawing before the . stub»>ornly advancing allies. Patrols ranged up to seyen miles Into enemy territory on the west fcentrol front, but drew no enemy fire in their attempt to feel (Tnra To Pace Six) Japan Io Give U.S. I I ■ ■ ' V Naval Base Rights Agrees To Rights i At Gigantic Base > r ■l \ ■ ■ , July 14,—(UP) — > Japan has agreed on a treaty giving the United States special right at the gigantt£ Japanese naval . base at Yokosuka, diplomatic sources reported today. 1 t Yokosuka, at the mouth of Jpkyo : Bay, is the largest naval base on . that side of Pearl Harbor- )t can • match Pearl Harbor in task , .except reparing the heaviest wardships. ' , Yokosuka is one of the finest prizes ‘.he United States gets \in a i Japanese-American mutual \ secur- , ity treaty that is scheduled to be I published soon. The pst<jt will be ! signed at about the same time . that Japan signs a general peace > treaty with the United States and t and all its other World <War II ( enemies except Russia —early in j September. > The treaty also gives the United States authority to keep air \and ■ land forces in Japan even after j the general Japanese peace treaty is signed. Only a few minor points j in the treaty re--1 main to be ironed out. \ | i t Japan is not likely to have imr portant armed forces In the. near future, but there Is' every indication that the United States vyill encourage her s to bqild up strong ground units. » I

Decatur, Indiana, Saturefty, July 14,1951. V

""■V" 1 ———-'/-"T" 1 — Strike Tough On Jumbo ‘ ■ fl life -M1 fl| ■.Wfl ELEPHANTS at the Highland Park Zoo in Pittsburgh get a Iqngawaited drink from Superintendent CoL E. J. House, pinch-hitting for regular attendants now on strike. ‘ Strike took place when the city ordered attendants to split their vacations, taking one week during winter “slack season.” , J' \

Israel Citizens View Facilities Men From Israel » Visit Phone Co. ■ ■ ' ; ■■ / V - ■ 'take a piece of cellophane, wad it, then toss it away\ Watch it\ expand by leaps and bounds until it has extended itself to the limit. That’s the impression you get when you hear a couple of gentlemen front Israel talk' jot their country. .f ?’ ' 1 . ' Is Israel predominately agricultural, you ask the men, for you remember their main exports have always been along that line. And one of trfe men-answers that that is a diffkiult thing to judge today. “You say that our» country is agricultural anymore than you can say it’s -Industrial. The only way' to describe it is that it's everything at once.” The two men from Israel were h. the United States to 'and were in Decatur specifically for a guided tour through the Citizens Telephone company by that organization's president, Charles Ehinger. Eliezer Merdn and Nachum Leibel, from the department of posts, telegraph, telephones and radio, ministry 'of transport and communications, for the government of Israel, were in Adams county all day Friday visiting the exchanges in DeCatur Berne. They were accompanied by S. S. McAndrew, representative of the Automatic Electric company, who will go to Israel later this year, as an advisor to that government in the completion of Communications expansion. l Meron and Leibel spoke not too much of Israel today but potentialities of that newly independent nation. They talked of th!e expansion not only of communications but of the highways, of agriculture, of industry, of \jmports. They talked of the brotherhood of man, and told of their immigration system that allows a haver. for the 'homeless. Unchecked, the nation of Israel\is growing, quickly, almost unbelievably. As an example, engineer Meron told thh story that he once kept track of all new streets and seb tlements In Tel Aviv as they-were instituted. “Now that Is impossible; they grow so fast,” The men, when the obvious question was put to them, expressed the awe of this country, of its vastness, of its industry, but especially in the helpfulness of the people. , “Everywhere we have gone,” (Ton To Sis) INDIANA WEATHER ■ f Mostly fair tonight and -Sunday. Low tonight *0 to 65 north, 65 to 70 south. •.

Merchants Planning For July Clearance . Decatur merchants will hold a cffy wide July clearance sales next Tuesday and Wednesday, sponsored by, the retail division of the Decatiit Chamber of Commerce. Specyil values and bargains will be offered by retailers in'l this first major project of Waited Ford, new secretary of the Chamber. Study High Rents hi Atterbury Area Hoosiers Near Camp Ask For Assurance Indianapolis, July 14. —(UP)— Hoosiers living \ near Camp Atterbury suggested today that government assurance the camp was a permanent installation would solve rent problems. Representatives of seven cities and towns in the Atterbury area agreed high rents probably were partly due to a feeling of insecurity on the part of landlords ’ and r’sk capitalists who hold the key «o new housing. “If we knew Atterbury would stay,” said one representative, ‘rents would come down. Bu* landlords are inclined to charge whatever the traffic will bear betcause they think the active status of the jcamp may be only temporary.” Furthermore, the representatives said, if assurance was given the ramp would stay, it would make practical a new- housing program. Shelbyville, Columbus, Martinsville, Franklin, Greensburg, Morgantowrt and Indianapolis were represented at a meeting in Indian- ■ apolis. yesterday. The conferees blamed service personnel for part of the high rents. They said bidding for vacant homes, apartments and rooms was spirited and soldiers often set their own rents high to drown cut competition. They agreed there were many examples of overcharging. But they believed newspaper stories of “gouging” were often isolated examples. / ' I ——- '?■ ' 93 Persons Killed In Rains In Japan Tokyo," July 14—(UP)— Police said today that at least 93 persons were killed, 349 injured and 114 missing as a result of the heaviest rains to hit western Japan in ten years. i New squalls hit Kyushu and western Honshu today while swollen rivers on Shikoku island flooded wide areas. Disrupted communications prevented complete details of the damage. ■ ; .Bl ■' ' 4

Agree \ “In Ppiii<sple” To Make Kaesong A Neutral Zone, Admit Newsmen

——- Racial Troubles In Three U.S. Cities Guardsmen Preserve Peace At Cicero J 'Chicago, July 14 — (UP) — Guardsmen with loaded rifles and bayonets, stood j behind barbed wire today, preserving the peace at a suburban Cicero apartment building where disorderly crowds prevented a negro family from taking up residence. A total of 107 pesons faced charges today in connection with demonstrations by as many as 6,000 persons in which 23 guardsmen, police and citizens have 'been hurt. The guardsmen won complete control of the situation yesterday by springing a 300-yard perimeter of barbed wire around the building after riotous throngs threw missiles and firebrands which set two small fifes in the wrecked building, Thursday night. Racial disturbances also were reported at C&pitol Heights, M<T, a suburb of Washington, and at , ballas, Tex. ' Capitol Heights police used tetr ' igas and fire hoses to quell / 400 1 langry persons outside a nightclub that opened to both negroes and ' whites. Forty white youths invaded the Chickland club, swearing, overturning tables, throwing glasses and shooting off fireworks. A crov)d demonstrated outside for two hours until, at 2:34) a. m., 1 police tossed tear gas grenades and sprayed the crowd with water. At Dallas, 13 bombing attempts have been made in a» fringe area on the city’s south side) in an attempt to discourage heiroes frqm , (Tur* T® Page Six) —— . Two Women Fined, Terms Suspended Fort Wayne Women Enter Guilty Pleas Two Fort Wayne women were fined in circuit court and given jail sentences in circuit court Friday when they appeared before Judge Myles F. Parrish. The jail sentences, however, were suspended by the court. I" Goldie Trausch, who pleaded guilty to grand larceny, was fin- > ed $25 and costs arid sentenced to • from one to 10 years in women’s prison. Emma Powell, after pleadi ing guilty to public intoxication, i was fined $lO and costs and sent- > enced to six months in jail. -\ Both women were j orginally ■ charged with stealing S3O and a . watch from Cecil Macias over the > weekend. Investigation revealed . that Emtna Powell was not actually involveddn' the theft and the charge , was shifted to one of public intoxication. The Fort Wayne women were apprehended by Fort Wayne police and held there for the sheriff’s department, who returned them to the Adams pounty jail Thursday. Jobless Pay Claims Increased In State l - ' *' ■ f k' ’ Indianapolis, July 14 — (UP) — , Jobless insurance claims last week of 25,761 were 44 percent) above those of the corresponding week last year, the Indiana employment security division said today, i The claims also were nine percent i higher than the previous week.' New claims were 6,721 — 886 higher than the preceding oneweek period—because of production curtailments, material shortages, vacation layoffs, and prev--1 lously lald-off workers not eligi- ■ hie for compensation before the new quarter. ,

— Denies Intent To Kill All Control Bills < L ■ ' 1 ■■ i ' 'I Rep. Jesse Wolcott | Leading Republican 1 Fight On Program j Washington. July 14.—(UP)— Rep. Jesse P. Wolcott, leading tbe Republican fight on the administrifc tion’s controls program, denied tqday that he wants.to kill all controls legislation. ) j i i ’“We are interested in seeing thaj the administration gets all. bf the authority necessary to deal with, the problems of inflation,’? thfe Michigan Republican said* M bs| congress is not going to give tIU administration blanket authority io put the economy of the nation in a strait-jacket.” . J -The house adjourned yesterday until Monday after seven diys b( debate on the controversial cQutrolf bill. Members made little progress toward a decision. They didn’| even get around to such sial topics as price rollbacks* reril control and wage stabilization. Other congressional develop ments: g Defense spending — Chairma# Joseph C. O’Mahoney of a senat# military spending subcommittee said the administration may ask. for another $20,000,000,000 this yeas for defence spending. The Wydnife ing Democrat said the additional refr quest, which would supplement tig $60,000,000,000 for defense already asked by President Truman for cal 1952, would put an .“uhbrecjj dented drain” on the economy if ( continued inaig years. But he said - that “the liW or death of free institutions is iri* volved.’’ ! . B Diplomats — Chairman John S. Wood of the house un-American activities committee said that secret testimony by suspended state department official O. Edmund Clubb contradicted statements by Willtaker Chambers, admitted former Communist spy courier. > Funds — Senate-house conferees voted to whack six days off tlfl present 26-day annual leave-on Mr cation time of government worketi. The committee also agreed .to’liestore senate-approved cuts in House, operating funds and to »1low construction of 50,04)0 low-cost public housing units this year. - . ' " T A. a ■ k-‘ B ■■' ■' — . .ip ■ Wicoff Convicted I For Second Time Spencerville School | Teacher Convicted | Fort Wayne, Ind., July 14f-(U4?) —Dale Wicoff, 33-year-old Sp|hcerville school teacher, has b4en convicted for the second time ;bf taking part in a $350,000 SpenceVille bank fraud. Wicoff was found guilty yesterday bf misapplication of funds and writing checks without sufficient funds. A jury of six men 4»d six . women deliberated six hours be- 1 fore returning the verdict, i Wicoff faces a maximum; penalty of $7,000 fine and seven yeasts in prison. He was convicted last year of aiding Clyde Rectenwall, formqr cashier of the Farmers and Merchants State bank in He won a new trial from thb U. court of appeals on thit Instructions to the jury were er« roneous. I. . j f Federal Judge Casper Platt ol the southern Illinois district indfe cated he would set a date for sent* enclng later. .■■' T \ i

Price Five Cents

UN Truck Convoy Is Ordered On Alert In | Event Bid Accepted To Resume Parleys UN Advance Base Below Kaesong, Korea, Sunday, July 15.— (UP)—The Communists agreed “in principle” Saturday night to ac- r cept Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway’s demand that Kaesong, scene of Korean war cease-fire, talks, be made a neutral zone and agreed under protest to admit 20 correspondents of the world free press to the city. The Communist message said that any firm agreement to set up a neutral zone would be provisional “during the progress of th® conference, to avoid misunder- t standing and for the purpose of pros z ceeding smoothly with the agenda (program) of the conference.” J ' Inviting Ridgway, the supreme UN commander, to make suggestions on policing the neutral zone the Communist message asked: “How will the security of both delegations be assured after the withdrawal of our guards’” The Chinese chieftains said the UN command had tried to make “forceful passage” to Kaesong' without any prior agreement but said: ,x ln order that such a minor problem should not cause even temporary cessation or rupture of the conference, we acknowledge your 1 present proposal /to Include 20 press representatives as part of your delegation, and We have* in this respect, ordered our delegates to accord the necessary faciliRidgway said he would not t comment on the Red message until he had time to study it. But soon after he had been advised by the United Pfess of the Communist reply to his demands a UN truck convoy was ordered to be ready to leave tor Kaesong thia morning in event that Ridgway found the terms acceptable. The convoy, and 20 accompanying world free press correspondents, were told to be ready to leavoat 7 a.m. today 41 P-ni. Saturday' CST) and to remain on a one-hour alert thereafter. * ; The Chinese suggested that the question of a neutral zone be settled in detail at the first meeting of delegates when the cease-fire conference is resumed. It was taken for granted that the Cbmmunists would argue over the actual establishment of a neutral zone. But l their answer to Ridgway’s demand —amounting to a UN ultimatum —was at onep interpreted as a major UN victory. ( The setting up of a neutral zone arid the admission of the world free press to Kaesong were Ridgway’s chief demands, and the Reds Accepted them, even though they hedged with “in principle” and „ •’provisionally” on the neutral zone. < The Comqiunist reply was signed by Kim II Sung, North Korean premier and commander in chief, and Gen. Peng Teh-Huai, Chinese - r Communist commander in chief. It came approximately 32 hours after Ridgway demanded complete equality in the Kaesong talks, and nearly 60 hours after cease-fire talks were broken off because of Communist interference with UN personnel and refusal to admit the free press to Kaesong. ■ , i Accident Victims ,/ To Be Taken Home Harry Fritzinger, former Decatur postmaster, who was severely injured in an auto accident June 29\ will be moved from the hospital to his residence on NorthSecond street tomorrow. Miss Rose Conter, sister of Mrs. Fritzinger and—t Miss Margaret y Conter? wbo wert fatally injured in the auto collision, will also be moved to her apartment, 426% N. Second street. Mr. and Mrs. Dick Steele of the Homesteads, will reside with Mr. Fritzinger temporarily.