Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 52, Number 93, Decatur, Adams County, 20 April 1954 — Page 1

Vol. Lil. No. 93.

Dig Into Housing Scandals H K*' x a U " ' * B B ) ■ BL B ■*» £h I V fl r jgffiProßre. — ' -y HI CLYDE L. POWELL (left) assistant FHA><ommlssioner awaits his turn to testify before the Senate Banking Committee in the investigation Into multi-million dollar housing administration scandals brought into sharp focus with the discharge last week of FHA chief Guy T. O. Holliday (right) shown testifying at the opening session. Powell's offer to resign last week was refused by Albert M. Cole, housing and home finance administrator. Holliday testified that he knew last year that home owners were being defrauded by “unscrupulous” repair -companies, and had taken measures to end the abuses. "". . - 1 «

Dulles Meets With Leaders Os Congress Sen. Bridges Says > Indochina Situation Now Looks "Gloomy* WASHINGTON UP — Sen. Styled Bridges (R-N.H.) said today after a congressional leadership conference with secretary of state John Foster Dulles ( that the situation in Indochina looks ’gloomy but not hopeless.” Bridges told newsmen as he left "the, «tgt» department that it was “not lu. the wind” now to send American forces to Indochina. But . he saM bo ohs could tail what the situation will be in the distant future. Bridges, chairman of the senate appropriations committee, was one of 15 Republican and Democratic congressional leaders who took part in a lengthy private meeting with Dulles on the Indochina situation and the forthcoming Geneva Far East conference. Informed sources said Dulles ar ranged the bipartisan meeting to assure the lawmakers I—that there will be no “appeasement" of Red China at Geneva and 2—that he considers It unlikely that American troops will be heeded in Indo- . China. ' The latter point has’jieen the subject of brisk congressional dis--cussion since Vice President Richard M. Nixon said in an off-the-record speech last week that American Gls might have to fight in Indochina if the French pull out. Nixon himself stressed that he regarded this as unlikely. A flurry of high level congressional, diplomatic and defense meetings cleared the way for Dulles' departure tonight for Paris where he will attend a meeting Friday of the 14-nation North Atlantic treaty council. The secretary and his top aides will move on to Geneva during the weekend for the difficult conference with Russia, Red China, and North Korea on Far Eastern problems. Congressional leaders attending the morning meeting at the state department were senate majority leader William F. Knowland (RCalif.J; senate Democratic leader Lyndon B. Johnson (Tex.): chairman Leverett Saltonstall (R-Mass.) of the senate armed services committee; chairman Alexander Wiley (R-Wis.) of the senate foreign relations committee; chairman Styles Bridges (R-N. H.) of the senate appropriations committee; Sens. Eugene D. Millikin (D-Colo.). Homer Ferguson (R-Mich.), Bourke R. Hickenlooper (R-lowa), Earle C. Clements (D-Ky), Theodore F. Green (D-R. I.), J. William Fulbright (DArk.), and Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.). Because of the Easter recess in the house, the only house members attending were chairman Robert B. Chiperfield (R-IR.) of the foreign Stairs committee; Rep. Leslie C. Arends (R-Ill.) and Rep. O. C. Fisher (D-Tex.). IND'ANA WEATHER Cloudy with showers, occasional thundershowers north, partly cloudy south tonight Wednesday considerable cloudiness and showers, occasional thunderstorms and warmer extreme north. Partly cloudy and warmer south and central. Low tonight 48-54 north, 54-58 south. High Wednesday 85-75 extreme north to 80-84 extreme south.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Protest Policies Os Toll Commission 100 Angry Farmers Appear At Hearing INDIANAPOLIS UP — Threats of court action to prevent “injustices” by land agents buying right of way for the east-west Indiana toll road were hurled late Monday as some 100 upstate farmers appeared for a hearing at the statehouse. 'Property owners from 'LaGrange and Steuben counties claimed some agents were using intimidation to secure land cheaply and others refused to consider damages caused by splitting farms in two. Atpong the spokesmen for the farmers at the stormy hearing of . A state legislaXive advisory comSBisaioh subcommittee were Anson 3. Thomas, Indiana Farm Bureau legislative director, and Edward A. Wolfe, Shipshewana, a banker and state police board member. Spokesmen for an association of th state's 597 motels claimed the road would create ghost towns and ruin roadside business through loss of business from motorists. Albert J. Wedeking. executive director of the toll road commission and chairman of the state highway commission, bore the brunt of the criticism. He defended the location of the 156-mile, 2'Bo-million-dollar superhighway. and declared “generous prices will be paid for the right-of-way.” He said land agents using improper methods will be replaced. In answer to a charge that the route chosen for the road has created bad feeling, Wedeking said: ."You can’t let ladies’ aid societies and Rotary and Kiwanis clubs tell you where to put a toll road.” State Sen. Robert L. Brokenburr (R-Indianapolis) suggested a delay in plans for the proposed northsouth toll road. •Brokenburr, the sub-committee chairman, asked, "don’t you think it would be well to determine the experience on the east-west road before undertaking the north-south road ?" Wedeking said the commission would have the experience of toll road operations in other states to draw on. The farmers' delegation was led by Hubert Miller of Howe. He said he would call a meeting in Brighton school next Friday -to warn landowners in the two counties not to sign sale agreements unless they were sure of what they were doing. Failure to agree would force condemnation action in the courts. Wedeking argued that payment of inflated prices for the right of way would be “unfair to taxpayers,” and he warned that juries sometimes decide on prices below appraisers’ values as well as above. ( . Announce New System For Gamma Globulin WASHINGTON UP — The U. S. public health service has announced a new system tor distributing gamma globulin for use against polio this year. A spokesman said the new rules gives state health officers more leeway than last year in deciding where to use the polio-resisting product,of human blood. Government officials said enough gamma globulin for about 1,900,000 doses will be availabile this yepr, about twice as much as last year.

Housing Chief Testifies To Senate Group Asked Hollyday Be Ousted For Failure To Probe Abuses WASHINGTON, UP — Senate investigators were told today that Guy T. O. Hollyday, fired as head of the federal housing administration, accpted with praise the resignation of a high FHA official charged with heavy gambling and demanding money from people seeking FHA loans. Federal housing chief Albert M. Cole gave the testimony in explaining why the White House last week fired Hollyday without warning. Cole told the senate banking committee that Hollyday’s "administrative laxity” was the main reason for his abrupt dismissal. Cole did not identify the official he charged with "serious irregularities.” But he said at one point that the official had been in charge of the rental apartment program. Clyde L. Powell, suspended assistant FHA commissiones who had been »in charge of that program, resigned earlier in the month and received a commendatory letter from Hollyday. The administration later refused to allow the resignation pending an investigation of Powell's division. Powell Monday refused to answer any questions for the committee on grounds of possible selfincrimination. Internal revenue commissioner 1. Coleman Andrews told another committee that stockholders reaped a 28-million-dollar tax “bonanza" on profits from government - guaranteed 1 o ans which represented more than the cost of rental housing projects. Andrews testified before the jbint congressionar committee on non-essential federal expenditures that the government hopes to recover most of the sum. Andrews also revealed that the Internal revenue servise is investigating inlome tax returns of government appraisers who set the value of these projects far above actual costs. He said at least one case of "indicated corruption” had been found. In his testimony before the banking committee Cole also indirectly criticized Hollfday for not pressing vigorously enough the investigation into excessive loans in the apartment building program. Cole admitted under qustioning by Sn. Paul H. Douglas (MU.) that the FHA as ah independent (Continued on Page Eight) Andrew Jacobs Will Speak Here April 29 Ex-Congressman To Speak At Meeting Andrew Jacß6s, Indianapolis attorney and former member of congress from the eleventh district, will be the principal speaker at the pre-primary election meeting of the Adams county Democratic women’s club at the American Legion home in Decatur, Thursday evening. April 29, at 6:30 o'clock, it was’announced today by Mrs. Gerald Vizard, president of the organization. All Democrat primary election candidates in the county have been invited to attend the banquet and Lewis L. Smith, prosecuting attorney and only candidate unopposed in the November general election, will be toastmaster for the event. Tickets tot the winner can be obtained from any club members in Geneva, Berne, Monroe or Decatur. Reservations must be made in advance. v The ticket committee named by Mrs. Vizard includes: Decatur: Rose Nesswald, Florence Holthouse, Mrs. Herman Moeliering, Mrs. Myles Parrish, Mrs. Harry Hebble and Mrs. Artie Jackson. Berne: Mrs. C. H. Muselman and Mrs. Don Speicher. * Geneva: Mrs. Walter Fenstermaker and Mrs. Walter Farrar. The decorations committee includes Mrs. Vincent Borman, Mrs. Luella Ellsworth and Mrs. Harmon Gillig. Mrs. Mabel Striker and Mrs, Theron Fenstermaker are included on the reception committee which also will include all county candidates. Jacobs is regarded as one of Indiana’s outstanding political speakam and during his tenure In the national congress he was labelled strictly Democratic. He is a prominent Indianapolis attorney and represents numerous labor groups at the state capitol.

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, April 20, 1954.

Adams County Lumber Company Is Destroyed By Fire Monday Night — —- - ■' ' ' - 4

Ex-Prisoner Testifies In Dickenson Case Asserts Dickenson Told Communist Os Plans For Escape WASHINGTON. UP — A former fellow prisoner testified today that he heard Cpl. Edwatd- S. Dickenson tell a Chinese Communist of plans for some POWs to escape from a North Korean camp. The witness was Cpl. Thomas A. Carrick, Blacksburg, Va„ who shared a foxhole with Dickenson prior to their capture by Chinese Communists in Korea in November, 1950. Carrick told an army court martial trying Dickenson on charges of collaboration with the enemy that he overheard the conversation between Dickenson and a Chinese political instructor called Tong, in an adjoining room of a mud hut. Carrick eaid he did not see Dickenson but recognized his voice and , that of the Chinese Communist. Carrick said he heard mentioned . the names of himself aqd three , buddies who had plans for escaping from prison camp No. 5 at Pyoktong, Njprth Korea. * Defense counsel Guy Emery, reI tired colonel, challenged Carrick’s testimony. He questioned whether ' the witness had told the same ’ story immediately upon his liberai tion in August, 1953, and failed to remember certain portions related in a pre-trial examination last ' March. “I’d like to try to forget some things, sir," the soft-spoken corporal replied. The army also offered the transcript of a Communist propaganda broadcast it claimed Dickenson made. Col. C. Robert Bard, chief prosecutor in court - martial of the young Crackers Neck, Va., soldier, promised he would prove a direct connection between the broadcast and the defendant. Retired Col. Guy Emery, civilian counsel for the defense, argued vigorousy against admitting such evidence on the grounds there was no proof Dicknson made the broadcast. He suggested the possibiity of voice impersonation. Col. Richard F. Scarborough, law officer for the court, ruled that the evidence would be received On Bard’s promise to prove the con(Turn To l*a*e Elabt)

Long Range Plan For Industrial Development

aim A long range plan for industrial development in Decatur*is being launched immediately under the supervision of the-Decatur Charm ber of Commerce, it was announced today by.Ronald Parrish, Chamber president, and members of the board of directors. The board has adopted a tentative program which Includes the offering of large factory sites to manufacturing concerns seeking Tor locations. Included in the new program also is a plan to" show greater appreciation and coopyation with present local industries, Parrish said. A "descriptive letter is being devised to be mailed to many leading industries of the middle west.. The brochdre will contain such pertinent information as utility rates, railroad and trucking facilities and .possible sites in the city and near the city. The Chamber already has a listing of two industrial sites. One of the sites contains six acres and one contains 40 acres. The larger site can be divided into several small areas. Both are situated on rallroadr. sidings. During recent months the local office has received a number of inquiries and each inquiry for a possible site will be answered with a letter containing the data on Decatur as a possible home for a new industry. Parrish said that the owners of

Governor Suggests Indiana Sales Tax Proposal Regarded As Trial Balloon INDIANAPOLIS UP — Governor Craig suggested today Indiana may have to replace its personal ‘ property tax with a sales tax to raise more money for new schools. Craig said lie was not advocating such a change in the tax structure. He said it was Just a sugges- . tion.- -------— —- • Observers believed It was a trial ' balloon. Craig made the statement a weejc after A American Legion spokesman suggested a 4 per cent ’ tax on wage earners to meet financial obligations growing out of the 1 School situation. Personal property tax is that levied and collected by counties onhousehold goods, livestock, jewelry i and other items. It. does not include real estate and buildings. Craig said the state _tax board figures about 80 million dollars is collected each year from personal property. He said a sales tax would be "more equitable.” The governor believed a 1 per . cent sales tax on all purchases except food, clothing and fuel would 1 produce more than the property tax does. • - Craig also suggested a consHttK ftonql amendment increasing the 2 per cent debt limitation' which 1 regulates the amount of money a taxing unit may borrow against property valuations. ). - Rotarians To Hear Foreign Students i Students from far-away lands at Tri-State College, Angola, will give the program at the weekly Rotary meeting Thursday evening at the K. of sP. home. North and South America, East Africa, Lebanon and Iraq will be represented on the international forum at the service club program. The young men are, William Marvez of Caracas, Venezuela; Prltpal Singh Barha of Nairobi, Kenya Colony, 'East Africa; Robert Levonian, Beirut, Lebanon; Mahrous Fauzi of Bagdag, Iraq; and Douglas Bennigon, Kingston, Ont., Canada. Clarance Ziner will be chairman of the program. He beard the young men talk at a meeting in Columbia City a few weeks ago and commended them highly for their interesting discourse of world affairs and customs.

the Kraft building in the south part Os Decatur also Informed him that this large building is available either for sale or lease. Local realtors will be asked tc cooperate with Chamber officials and a permanent rest! estate, committee has been set up. Committees have been named to assist in preparing the information which will be used in the brochure and these committees also will malTeirthbfoughnßtudy of the city and its facilities. Parrish said. The groups already named to assist in the study and also to assist in compiling the required information include: Real estate: (Industrial and residential sites) Ron Parrish, chairman; Robert H. Heller, C. W. Kent, J. F. Sanmann, Gerald Strickler, Arthur , p. Suttles, Robert Yost. Utilities: M. J. Pryor, chairman; Adolph Kolter and Charles Ehinger. Churches: The Rev. John Chambers, chairman; the Very Rev. Msgr. J. J| Seimetz and the Rev. Edgar P. Schmidt. — Educational and recreational: Dr. James Burk, chairman; W. Guy Brown, Dike Eddleman. and Gene Rydell. Transportation: Roy Stewart, chairman; W. M. Bumgerdner and Mark Braden. Employment: Robert Bradtmlller, chairman; James Cowens, Earl (Turn To Pace Five)

48 Candidates For Graduation At Public High Annual Graduation Exercises May 27; Smallest k Years The list of candidates for diplomas at the 1954 Decatur high 1 school ■commencement exercises has been released by Hugh J. ■ Andrews, principal. The graduation will take place May 27 at the high school. This year's class of 4S students will be the smallest class since 1943, when 41 seniors were graduatedl, The largest number of graduates, 98. came in 1941' when midyear graduations and promotions were discontinued. The 1954 class will also likely be the smallest forThe next decade. There are 75 Juniors this year and the 150 pupils in the first grade give indication of the larger classes to come. . Those who are candidates for diplomas are Tommy Lee Adatns, Norina Jean Agler, Donald Erne , Aurand, Nanna Lee Aurand, Robert Lee Baker, Barbara Ellen Black, Roger Blackburn, Carol Jean Bow- , man, Richard Frederick Callow, ’ James ‘Anthony Custer, William Edward Ditto, Theodore Eugene Douglas, Verlin Keith Egly, James Phillip Engle, Janet Kay Everhart. .Madeline Maxine Friend, Eugene Allen Fuelling, Richard Leroy Gaskill, Arnold William Gerke, Willa Mae Goelz, Marvin John Grote, James David Hakes, Janet Hetrick, Janet Sue Hott, Lawrence R. Hutker, Helen Joan Johnson, Franklin Neil Keller, IJoyd Gerald Kelsey, Marilyn Rose Kirchenbauer. Marvene Ann Krick, Philip Alan Krick, Chama Lee Lake, Don Lewis Leh- ‘ man. Carolyn Ann McDougal, Carolle Nelson, Roger (Lee Pollock, Richard Leland Rambo, Nora Lee Ray, 1 Marcella .Edith Roth, James Louia Rowley, Carol Sue Seitz, Donald Sylvester Shaffer, Gerry Max Simons, Janet Louise Smith, Marlene Sue Snyder, Larry Kay Vizard, Delite Elane Wagner and Bonnie Lou Welker. U. N. Commission Overrides Soviet Threat Os Russian Boycott Is Defied UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. UP— The United Nations disarmament commission defied the threat of a Russian boycott Monday and over-' ode Soviet proposals that Communist China. India, and Czechoslovakia be admitted to a subcommittee on disarmament. The commission voted instead for a Wesfern powers proposal that Russia join the United States, 3ritain, France and Canada In private talks on world disarmament. Soviet delegate Andre Vishinsky said the five-nation subcommittee named “could create difficulties for the Soviet Union" but did not elaborate. The commission voted 9 to 1 to set up the five-nation subcommittee. Russia voted againet it and Lebanon and Nationalist China abstained. It will be known by Friday, when the first meeting of the new subcommittee is held. Whether Russia will carry out its threatened boycott. The subcommittee’ is to discuse (Turn To Pnare Eight) BULLETIN GRANDA HILLS, Calif., UP —An air force Cll9 transport plane en route to Burbank from Chandler, Aria., crashed ahd'burned IK the mountains a few miles north of here today, the sheriff's aero squadron reported. Officers said seven bodies were found.

Tentative Rules On McCarthy Hearing Public Hearings To Begin On Thursday WASHINGTON UP — Senate investigators today tentatively &■ dopted special rules of procedure for public hearings on the Me.Car-thy-Army feud. Temporary chairman Karl E. Muudt (R-S. D.) said the senate permanent investigating subcommittee will meet later In the day for final approval of the rules. Then they will be subject to approval of the full government operations committee. Mundt would not disclose the new rules but said they were “within the framework of the general agreement" reached with Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.) Monday. Meanwhile the subcommittee expected counsel Roy M. Cohn, on behalf of himself and McCarthy, to file formal counter-charges against the army. An Informed source said they would be “noisy.” The army has charged McCarthy, the subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy M. Cohn; and its staff director, Francis P. Carr, of using “improper means” to obtain favors tor a drafted aide, Pvt. G. David Schine. McCarthy countered by accusing the army of trying to “blackmail” him into dropping an investigation of Red infiltration of the military. A “tentative agreement" i was reached'Monday on rules for the televised hearings. Acting chairman Karl E. Mundt (R-S. D.) declined to divulge any details. But It was learned authoritatively that the tentative accord would permit McCarthy and all other principals in the case to question any or all witnesses. It also was learned the questlon(Tnrn To APnge Eight) Labor Union Seeks Legislative Session Demnds Boost In Unemployment Pay INDIANAPOLIS UP — The Indiana legislative advisory commission meets today for a monthly conference with pressure on it from a labor union for a special session on “rising unemployment.” A schedule of the week's events, issued by the state department of public Information, said Lt. Gov. Harold W. Handley “will propose a resolution stressing need for defense work in Hoosier communities to combat rising unemployment." But the United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers union demanded more than “defense work.” District president John F. Gojack sent telegrams from Fort Wayne Monday to Governor Craig and Handley, urging a special session to increase unemployment compensation from 527 a week for 20 weeks. Gojack called on the governor to call the special session "without ielay and with your recommendation to substantially increase and extend the present woefully inadequate benefits.” He asked Handley to ask the advisory commission to recommend a special session. Gojack’s telegrams indicated both Craig and .Handley had expressed a belief at a conference with UE representatives a week ago that the legislature would be able only to Increase benefits to S3O for 25 weeks „ “due to legal technicalities." Gojack said his union made a “carefule legal study” and found that “only a few simple changes will make it possible to increase benefits immediately and even retroactively tp any amount and for i any extended period." ! Gojack also sent letters to all i members of the legislature ask- | ing them to go on record on the question of whether they favor I limiting a special session to the i (Turn Tn Page Eight)

Price Five Cents

-V Fire Destroys lumber Yard, Loss $15,000 Cause Os Blaze Is Undetermined; Fire Attracts Big Crowd Lumber, building and equipment of the Adame County Lumber company on Adams street went up . in smoke Monday night as Decatur’s last saw mill was destroyed by fire. The cause has not yet been determined. The alarm was turned in at about 19:15 p. m. by Harold Worthman who was driving by and noticed the fire coming through the roof. The fire had evldeptiy gotten a good start before it was noticed because by the time the firemen had arrived the entire building was ablaze. All of the Decatur nremen were there fighting the fire and several other men Assisted under the direction of fire chief Cedric Fisher. ' All three trucks were required for awhile but as soon as the blaze began to die one of the trucks was returned to the station. It took until almost 6:39 a. m. today ' to drown the last spark. However, ' most of the fire had been extinguished by 1 a. m. ' Lynford Bracey, owner of the lumber company, estimated the loss at about |15,000. 'lt was only i partially covered by Insurance. The company employed 19 men. Utility poles and a tree near ths building were also badly burned. Residents in the area were without electricity for about two hours after the current was turned off. The small office apart from the building was not touched by the fire. The Kolter building, a quonset alongside the lumber company, was scorched but since it is a, metal building it was not serious- ■ ly damaged. The wind, blowing from the northeast, sent sparks across Tenth street to ignite a utility pole. It was thought at first that a house had caught fire. The blaze which lit up the sky tor quite a distance drew a big crowd of on-lookers. Traffic was routed off Adams street for several hours. The company was purchased by Bracey from the late Earl Colter. A fire In the early 1990's destroyed the same lumber yard. Political Asylum Given Mrs. Petrov Australia Gives Freedom To Woman DARWIN, Australia UP —Australia granted political asylum today to Mrs. Vladimir Petrov, wife of a confessed Soviet spy, whose armed guards tried to return her to Moscow against her will. Prime minister Robert G. Menzies gave freedom to the bewildered woman after Australian territorial police overpowered and disarmed her escorts in a dramatic struggle at Darwin Airport. Mrs. Petrov, who had believed her husband had been killed after fleeing the Soviet embassy at Canberra and asking asylum, asked to join him after a telephone conversation with him assured her he was alive. Shoeless and dazed, Mrs. Petrov was forced aboard an airliner at Sydney Monday. Onlookers at the Sydney Airport heard her plea, "Save me, save me.” The Soviet embassy’s second secretary, who was accompanying Mrs. Petrov on the flight that failed, angrily charged that territorial police had “kidnaped” her. F. Jarkov, one of the two Soviet couriers escorting Mrs. Petrov. • tried to draw his revolver when the territorial police boarded the plane on orders from Menzies. Jarkov was -cut slightly on the head before he and the other escorts were disarmed. The escorts (Turn Tn Page Five)