Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 53, Number 44, Decatur, Adams County, 22 February 1955 — Page 1

Vol. LIII. No. 44.

FIGHTS TAX CUT RIDER

t 1 S - BE ■ J - BBr . Bht "MH

TREASURY SECRETARY George Humphrey (right) chats with House Ways and Means Committee chairman Jere Cooper (D), Tenn., just before he went before the committee in closed session in »n effort to prevent the tacking on of a rider to the bill extending excise taxes after their April 1 expiration date. President Eisenhower asked that the excise taxes be retained and the Democrats, over Humphreys heated opposition, tacked on a |2O income tax cut for taxpayers and dependents.

Ike Submits Vast Highway Building Plan Sends Program To Congress, Warns On Present System WASHINGTON (INS) —'President Eisenhower sent his 101-bil-lion dollar program to congress today with a warning that the nation's present road system would be ‘the breeder of a deadly congestion" in the event of atomic attack. The only surprise in the President’s special highway message was his willingness to have congress consider any and all alternative proposals for dealing with —- the country’s highway ills.— But he described his plan, the outgrowth of a sfudy by a committee hedaed* by Gen. Lucius Clay, as "a solid foundation for a sound program.’’ The Clay recommendations placed before congress without any major changes, call for spending an extra 64 billion dollars In ad dltion to the normal outlay of 47 billions over the next 10 years. The federal government would pay the bulk of its 31-billion-dollar share of the total thruogh a 20 billion dollar bond issue — one of the most controversial features of therein, Mr. Eisenhower said he is “inclined to the view" that it is sounder to finance the program by Special bond issues, but did not rule out alternative methods of financing. He said he thought the bonds should be paid off by revenues from federal gasoline and diesel oil taxes, which would be “pledged" to this specific purpose. This appeared to differ slightly from the Clay committees recommendations, under which the bonds wquld be retired from the treasury’s general fund. The revenue from the gasoline tax would go directly into the treasury, although the amount of money involved would be about the same. Key feature of the Clay plan is the expenditure of an extra 27 billion dollars on the interstate highwaysysterft criss-crossing the nation with arterial highways. The federal government, under this plan, wuold put up two and* one-half billion dollars a year over the next 10 years to modernize and expand this system. State governments would add wto billions for the interstate system and would bear 70 percent — or 70 binion dollars —of the overall cost of 101 billion for the entire program. Mr. Eisenhower went over his proposals with Democrats Monday at a surprise bi-partisan conference. but' he apparently failed to win any converts. The Democrats, including chairmen of the house and senate public works committees and highway subcommittees, promised to give the President’s plan careful consideration, but showed little enthusiasm for it. The White House conference marked first time the President ..has csffed Democrats .. talk over a purely domestic issue since taking office. Most Democrats -favor a “pay-as-you-go” approach to the nation’s highway ills, with the federal government boosting present highway aid to states under a matching fund formula. The plan would require a special federal highway corporation to borrow 20 billion dollars at an interest cost of over 11 billion.. It Would take the two(Contlnued on Page Fivejg?

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Hi-Light Editorial Winner Os Award Catholic School's Paper Is Honored “Freedom— Basis of American Way of Life" was the title of an editorial in the Decatur Catholic Hi-Light which earned an editorial award today from the Freedoms Foundation. Twenty-four organizations and - schools and 11 individuals in Indi- - ana were among the 800 groups > and persons honored today at Val- ? ley Forge, Pa., in observance of - George Washington's birthday. i The honors were voted upon by t an awards jury on the basis of efforts to promote a better under- - standing of the American way of ! life during 1954. The editorial was written by - Miss Leola Ford, daughter of Mr. i and Mrs. Lester Wayne Ford and a senior at Decatur Catholic high » school It appeared in the Octo- - ber issue q£ the school paper. Sr. s M. Agnes Therese, C.S.A., is faculty advisor for the paper. The editorial which earned the - award follows: ' “My head is held high, my mind • free, and my heart singing thanks • to the all-loyinK God for thia free- ' dom of America. Freedom! Where else could I know the full capacity 1 of the word? Knowing that I can speak freely, take an active part ’ in my government, worship God r according to the dictates of my r conscience, fills me with a sense of pride in these privileges, limit- • ed in so many other nations of the world. It makes me almost ■ burst with the enthusiasm of do- • ing things important, things that • matter. "Molded to the very image and i likeness of God. I have a right to i hold my head high. I know that I my constitutional government will • serve me as an individual as it does the whole population, by iJiXF ’ tecting my God-bestowed human ■ dignity by the political and eco- > nomic rights of the American way i of life. “My meager mind cannot conl template fully the glory of living in a land of freedom: not the unharnessed liberalism of the ’.economic individualist, but the regulated freedom of a ‘common sense’ nation. “The realization that at any. moment these precious freedoms may be snuffed out by the Communists or individualists makes ' me conclude that it is my duty to pass these liberties, intact, to the following generations of American citizens. “I would rather die, as many brave hearts have died on the battlefields of numerous wars, than surrender my American way of life. “My eyes fill with tears at my incapability to replenish even in a small way Almighty God for His abundant blessings and graces bestowed on this wonderful! free country of mine,” Sellemeyer Funeral Wednesday Morning Funeral services for Albert M. Sellemeyer. retired Decatur high > school band leader, who died Sunday afternoon after a long ilkjess, held at Wednesday the Zwiok funeral home. The Rev. William C. Feller will officiate, and the Masonic lodge will also conduct rites. Cremation will follow. Friends may call at the funeral home until time of the services. ■ I INDIANA WEATHER Fair to partly cloudy tonight and Wednesday. A little colder tonight. Low tonight 18-26. High Wednesday 35-40.

President To Oppose Drive For Tax Cut Opposes Democrat Proposal To Vote Income Tax Slash WASHINGTON (INS) — President Eisenhower made it clear to GOP leaders today that he will throw his full weight behind the move to kill the Democrats’ plan to give every taxpayer and dependent a |2O income tax cut. The chief executive's attitude was disclosed to newsmen by Republican legislators who discussed the tax issue at their weekly meeting with Mr. Eisenhower. White House news secretary James C. Hagerty indicated that the President will explain his opposition to the Democratic-backed bill at his news conference Wednesday. Meanwhile, the house ways and means committee, which ignored bitter GOP protests and administration objections to the slash .which would be effective next Jan. I, completed plans for fast action; including final house approval this week. The measure would cost the government more than two billion dollars a year. To lessen the danger of a veto by President Eisenhower, the Dem-ocratic-backed proposal is being tacked onto an administration bill extending current excise (consumer) rates and corporation income taxes for another year. The excise and corporation rates would automatically drop to pre-Korean war levels on April 1, unless continued. The income tax cut would become effective Jan. 1, 1956, Treasury secretary George Humphrey, who termed the proposal “about 100 per cent political,” estimated it would result in a revenue loss of 2.3 billion dollars annually. Committee chairman Jere Cooper (D Tenn.), estimated the loss at two billion. 90 million dollars. Cooper also said that four million, 987 thousand individuals would be relieved entirely of paying any income taxes under the> new proposal. He said that 1.4 (Continued on Page Six) Dulles Arrives In Bangkok For Parley Collective Defense Conference To Open BANGKOK (INS) — U. S. secretary of state John Foster Dulles arrived in Bangkok today for the Southeast Asia collective defense conference, but differences over the explosive Formosan situation also will be discussed. Aides of Dulles said the secretary was “anticipating” talks with British foreign secretary Sir Anthony Eden which possibly will overshadow' the eight-nation Southeast Asian treaty organization parley itsejf. .The first Dulles-Eden meeting is Scheduled for Wednesday when* the conference opens. The British foreign secretary and Pakistani premier Mohammed Ali are scheduled to arrive in Bangkok tonight. The Formosan problem is being privately discussed by every delegation inthe Thailand capital. The conference itself is virtually a cut-and-dried establishment of military and economic councils which later will do the real planning. The British would like to see the Chinese Nnationalists withdraw from the offshore islands such as Quemoy and Matsu in the hope of getting a cease-fire in the Formosa strai area. Dulles repeated after his arrival in Bangkok that the conference meeting was “not capable of any dramatic and spectacular solution” of Asian problems. Thailand would like to see Bangkok made the site of a permanent military secretariat. The British favor Singapore and the Filipinos want It located In Manila, where thd SEATO pact was agreed upon last year. . Dulles wtts greeted- bymthe largest crowd yet Surned ouW for >ny visiting delegate, was received by the king, signed the palace gold book, called on field marshal-pre-mier Pibulsonggram, and scheduled an informal dinner -with U.S. ambassador John Peurlfoy. . In a prepared statement he said the purpose of the conference was peace and freedom and said: "Thailand is about as far removed from the United States as any country can be—in terms of miles. But we are close together in terms of ideals and hopes.”

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

+ Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, February 22, 1955.

Matusow Denies His Admission Os Perjury Was Inspired By Reds

Six Communist Vessels Slink By Nationalists Nationalist Pilots Report Blasting Os Communist Fleet TAIPEI (INS) — Chinese Nationalist fighter-bomber pilots reported sinking six Chinese Communist vessels including one gunboat today in blasting a huge Red fleet near Nanchi island. The Nationalist Air Force said thunderjets and propeller - driven Thunderbolts sank one gunboat, damaged “several” others and also sank five armed and motorized junks. This brought Nationalist claims of Red ships hit to a total of at least 54 sunk or crippled in five days of air-sea action off the China coast. Nationalist military sources reported that the Red high command was attempting to ship troop reinforcements to Communist outposts near Nationalist-held Nanchi and Matsu, 100 miles northwest of Formosa, to set up future invasion attempts. ? The Nationalists also said intelligence reports show the Reds have t>e£ii Mti'vftig troops sortthward on the mainland from Chekiang province toward Fukien province opposite Formosa. Nationalist military sources said the Red fleet was made up of hundreds of armed and motorized junks and wooden boats, escorted by gunboats. The flotilla was spotted by patrol planes near Nanchi, 120 miles north of Formosa. Nanchi is the northernmost island outpost of the Chiang KaiShek government. First reports said the Red fleet may have been planning to laiid on Nanchi but this was later discounted by a Nationalist military spokesman. The spokesman said he did not know the Red fleet’s destination but did not think it was aimed at invading Nanchi. t Nationalist bombers and fighters were hastily dispatched when word was flashed from the patrol planes and caught the Red fleet 12 miles north of Nanchi, moving in a northerly direction. This led to the belief the Reds were sending reinforcemepts to a (Continued on Page Eight) Third Cold Blast To Western Plains Blizzard Expected To Hit By Tonight CHICAGO (INS) —February’s third cold blast bore down today on Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and the Dakotas A blizzard was expected to hit Nebraska, Montana and Kansas by tonight. Western South Dakota also was in line for the bite of the blizzard. Cold wave and livestock warnings were issued for the other states in the nation's western plains. At the same time a warming trend is expected by southerly winds from Texas northward into Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. 'Rain will continue from the upper Ohio valley land and the ' Ofen'flEMßfntlcT States and temperatures w-fil in- 1 crease, according to the Chicago weather bureau. The mercury will hit 60 or higher in the Central Atlantic States and 4C or more in the central plains. Falling temperatures were reported in the Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Montana and the Dakotas except the mercury to range from zero to 10 helow tonight. Strong northerly winds are expected to spread the second blizzard of the month southward.

Predicts Senate To Vote Pay Increases Senate Scheduled To Vote Wednesday WASHINGTON (INS) — Senate president pro tempore Walter F. George predicted today that the senate will pass overwhelmingly a 50 percent pay raise for members of congress and the judiciary. The Georgia Democrat said he . thought the senate will accept the - bill in about its present version—- . a J 7.500 salary increase—when it t votes Wednesday under a debate : limitation agreed upon Monday night. I The senate meets briefly today i —a legal holiday—to hear, a read* , ing of George Washington's fare- , well address, read by Sen. Pres- [ cott Bush (R-Conn.) Sen. Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) i who opposes the pay raise bill . and has a number of modifying . amendments to it, forced the postL ponement of action until Wednesday. He threatened to talk into . Monday night if the leaders did not agree to a two-day delay. , Morse had a speaking engagement in New York Monday night. Acting majority leader Earle , Clements (D-Ky.) told Morse just | before the senate recessed that he hadn't been aware that “any parliamentary gun was held at any r body's head” in trying to get a vote Monday. He forecast that as a result of debate already disposed of, the bill should pass Wednesday “at an earlier time.’’ The house already has approved a bill increasing congressional pay 110,000 a year, and providing a similar hike for federal district judges, plus increases for the supreme court and other judicial officials. Members of congress and district judges now get $15,000 a year. Under'the senate agreement,-de-bate on each amendment will be limited Wednesday to 30 minutes, with one hour of debate permitted on the bill in its final form. When passed, the measure will go to conference for settlement of differences between the house and senate versions. Morse offered a series of amendments, providing for moderate 10 percent increases in allowances for senatorial staffs and other working expenses. Edgar Faure Seeks Political Support National Assembly To Meet Wednesday PARIS (INS) — Premier deslgnate Edgar Faure, rebuffed by the privotal Socialist party, said today he would coptinue to seek newpolitical support in an effort to win national assembly approval of his proposed cabinet Wednesday. The Socialists, however, dimmed Faure’s chance of ending the 17-day-old crisis brought about by the fall of the Pierre Mendes-France government. Faure, like Mendes - France a Radical Socialist (moderate) and the fourth man to try to form a government in the current deadlock, said President Rene Coty persuaded him to continue his cabinet making *mlssion” despite the Socialist setback. The Socialists said they could not take part in any cabinet with a program less radical than proposed last week by Christian Pineau. a Socialist premier-designate who was rejected by the «assem- • Some elements within the Radical party are- opposed to Faure’s heading a right-ot-center cabinet because it would place Radical candidates in an Unfavorable position in forthcoming municipal elections. Another obstacle Faure faces is a bloc of Mendes-France supporters who would dislike seeing a Radical premier become the target of their attacks. Faure, who served as finance and foreign minister in the Men-

Second Blast Os Atom Tests Set Off Today Troops Crouch In Trenches As Test Blast Is Exploded ’ LAS VEGAS, Nev. (INS) —The second bast of the 1955 atomic tests was set off from a 300-foot 1 steel tower before dawn todaywhile 200 troops crouched in trenches 4000. yards away. The atomic explosion was trig- • gered at 5f45 a. m. PST. (8:45 am. EST). The brilliant orange burst ■ lit up the desert daphnes of the atomic energy commission’s proving ground at Yucca Flat, 70 miles north of Las Vegas. 'Seventeen congressmen, the first of three groups to attend the tests, witnessed the blast from a position in ( advance of the. control point. The familiar awesome mlishroom cloud took form immediately after the burst and spiraled into the sky for 20,000 feet..,Observers said that the cloud soon was surmounted by an ice cap. As the atom device ripped the sky apart with a brilliant orange flash, the troops huddled in six-foot-deep trenches, beeping their heads two feet below ground level. The trenches were the same ones used in previous tests at the proving ground. Only a few volunteer officers ever have been closer to an atom blast. They were sta- . tioned nearer — at an unrevealed distanee-during a test in 1953. The blast, second of the current series of tests-dubbed “Operation , Teapot”-and the 33rd of the Nevada desert, was the first tower- . shot in. lhe .current, operation. . ■ The test included what the AEG , called “limited" weapons effects . experiments, which means that some military equipment — prob- . ably vehicles and small arms - . were placed near the atmoized tower to test their abilities to withstand the kick of nuclear blast. 'Minutes later the sound of the explosion Foiled into Las Vegas like a freight train. It was sufficiently strong to shake windows, but did not appear powerful enough to cause any damage. The flash of the explosion was seen in Los Angeles, 300 miles west of Las Vegas. . The actual shock wave of the shot was not felt in Las Vegas. Front vantage points in the des(Continued on Page Five) Clarence D. Lewton Dies In Michigan Funeral Services Here On Thursday Clarence Dee Lewton, 54. a native of Decatur, died at 12:15 o’clock Monday afternoon at his home at Wall Lake, Mich., following an illness of three years. He was born in Decatur April 23, 1900, a son of Amos and Anna Mumma-Lewton. He had lived in or near Detroit for the past 36 years, and was an inspector at tlje Fisher Body plant at Pontiac, Mich. Mr. Lewton, a veteran of World War 11, was a member of the Lutheran church .at Wall Lake. ’’ Surviving are his wife, Lydia; his father, Amos Lewton of north of Decatur; one son, Edmond C. Lewton, at home; a stepson, Arthur Hbnke,- serving with-tfie- ’ navy; two brothers, Lewis A. Lew ton of. Detroit and Richard D. Lewton of near Decatur, and one sister, Mrs. Florence Funk of Mishawaka. Two sisters preceded him in death. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the Zwick funeral home, the Rev. Virgil W. Sexton officiating. Burial will be in the Decatur cemetery, with Adams Rost 43, American Legion, conducting military rites. Friends may call at the;funeral home after 7 o’clock Wednesday evening until time of the services.

See Billion Dollar Fund For Schools Senate Committee Finishes Hearings SEE BILLION DOLLAR WASHINGTON (INS) —A Democrat on the senate labor committee predicted today that the group eventually will approve one billion dollars in federal aid to school construction. ; Sen. Patrick McNamara (D • Mich.,) said he thought a majority t on the committee will vote this . amount rather than the 200 mili lion dollars President Eisenhower proposed in direct help. McNamara said: “I think all the Democrats on the committee ; will be for it and I think two Re? . publicans may be with us.” He named Sens. Alexander Smith i (R N. J.,) and Irving M. Ives (R N. Y.,) as GOP committeemen who might vote for the one billion dollars called for in the school bill . proposed by labor and public welfare chairman Lister Hill (D Ala.) Ives and Smith have hinted in the past that they might favr taking off the ceiling dn direct federal aid. 'HUI, whose committee ended hearings on the controversial administration bill late Monday, said home 'legislation will come out of his committee. He said he expects it will be along the lines of his own measure. The Alabaman won farther substantial help when Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D Ill.,) announced he would support Hill's formula for (Continued on Page Six) Turnabouf Witness : Pledged To Truth Inquiry Ordered ’ After Statement WASHINGTON (INS) — Mrs. Marie Natvig promised today to ' tell nothing but the truth when she appears next Monday before a federal grand jury investigating her self-repudiated testimony. Attorney general Herbert Brownell, Jr., ordered the inquiry Monday, within hours after receiving a transcript of her sworn statements before the federal communications commission. Mrs. Natvig, in seclusion at a swank Washington hotel, told a newsman: • - “I am at the mercy of the justice department. I will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, no matter whom i helps or hurs.” The 51 - year -old Miami Beach grandmother was first drawn into the spotlight by declaring at an FCC hearing last October that she knew millionaire publisher-broad-caster Edward Lamb as a Communist during the 1930'5. This month she came back to the stand to say that "only an idiot” would have believed her earlier statements. She added that she was "coerced” into “manufacturing” testimony against Lamb by FCC lawyers. The FCC hearing was in recess today but resumes again on Wednesday with Lowell Watson, another turnabout witn.ess, back on the stand. The Olathe, Kans, dairy farmer, announced Friday that he was repudiating “false statements” he made against Lamb at FCC hearings in September. Watson, an admitted ex-Commu-nist served for the past 18 months as a Justice Department consultant on Red activities. Her admitted Monday , that giff* knew he .was making fallMllheations against Lamb even during the time he was on the.witness stand. He said that FCC lawyers had coaxed him into lieing. The original purpose of the FCC hearings, all but forgotten in the turmoil, was to determine whether Lamb’s license for television station WICU at Erie, Pa., should be renewed. The wealthy radio, TV and, newspaper owner has vigorously denied all allegations of Communist activities or beliefs. «. ■ * t

Admits Lying . - At Trials Os Communists Demands Bentley J. And Others Named * On Perjury Charge > WASHINGTON (INS) —Harvey r M. Matusow denied today that he i recanted his previous testimony ■ against Reds as the result of a ■ memorandum drawn up by attorneys for convicted Communists. I Matusow disputed a contention ' of senate internal security chairman James O. Eastland (D-Mise.) that the memorandum on his previous testimony contained points that the attorneys for Communists "wanted you to recant.” Other highlights of an oftenstormy hearing for the “turnabout” witness were: 1. Matusow declared he would fight any perjury indictment unless it also indicted Miss Elizabeth Bentley, Whittakes Chambers, Paul Crouch, Louis Budenz and Manning Johnson, all ex-commu-nists who have given testimony against Reds over the past eight years. ~t-*-2. Matusow testified that Miss Bentley tearfully told him in 1952 that she was destitute and “had to find Ihformaffbh” on nCw people to testify against. 3. Matusow angrily clashed with Sen. John L. McClellan (D-Ark.) when the senator charged that Matusow was trying to "commercialize” and "make profit" out of his. about-face. McClellan asked: "Why did you do it —to help that Communists?” Matusow shouted: “No, to help the United States.” 4. Matusow freely admitted he committed “many” crimes against society by his former lies and "owes many debts” for these crimes. But he dlttd he has had legal advice that mere conflict in testimony is not perjury. Subcommittee counsel Jay G. Sourwine told Matusow that “it will be hard far you to beat a rap” if the committee demonstrates he is not telling the truth in his present testimony “for that will be perjury.” Miss Bentley, whose veracity has been endorsed by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, became a key witness for the justice department and congressional committees in 1948 after breaking from the Communist party and exposing her wartime Red espionage ring. Matusow, a self-described former Communist who now claims he lied in accusing other persons of being Reds, testified in the second day of hearings aimed at finding out why he reptiated his previous testimony. Repeating “in substance” a conversation he claimed he had with Miss Bentley at a New York restaurant on Oct. 3, 1952 —a date he said he was sure about because it was his birthday, Matusow declared: “During the coorse of our dinner, Miss Bentley iried qoite a bit. . She said she had used up all her money from the sale of her book . . She said she wasn't going to give information any more . ... She was sTckof being used . . . “She said she was unemployed, and couldn’t find work, and had to find information on others to testify, so that she could live — but until she was paid, she wasn't going to do it.” Matusow said Miss Bentley sttressed that she wanted “a salicimtinueg Page Six)*' c ~ Band Booster fund Previously (Reported $961.47 Dick Heller ........ 10.00 TOTAL $971.47 Contributions can be made by sendings any amount to Band Booster fund, care of Hugh J. Andrews, principal of Decatur high school. All money received will go toward the purchase of new uniforms for the Decatur high school band.

Five Cents