Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 57, Number 164, Decatur, Adams County, 14 July 1959 — Page 1

Vol. L.VII. No. 164.

U. S. Jobholders At All-Time High

WASHINGTON (UP!) — T h e| number of American jobholders rose to an all-time high of 67,342,000 in June, the government reported today. This was 121,000 more than the previous all-time high of 67,221,000 set in July, 1957. ■file government also reported that job - seeking students and June graduates boosted the total number of unemployed to 3,982,000 in June, up 593,000 from May. But unemployment declined among adults 25 years of age and over. The rise both in employment and joblessness was mostly seasonal, the Labor Department said. Farm employment spurted by 823,000. But there were also some solid non-farm gains. The number on manufacturing payrolls jumped by 234,000. mainly because of unexpected pickups in hard goods. Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell hailed the report. He said the figures "indicate once again the basic strength of our economy and the kind of opportunity that lies ahead for all Americans.” “In June there were more people holding jobs in the United States than at any time in our entire history,” Mitchell said. “The weekly earnings of factory workers reached a new record high of 190.54. “The employment figure for June—67 1-3 million—is 1 1-3 million higher than May, nearly 2Vi million higher than June of a year

Soviet Russia I * Is Denounced

GENEVA (UPD — The United t States today accused Russia of trying to freeze the Big Four conference in deadlock with its sudden new attempt at blackmailing the West into recognizing East Germany. An Am eric sa delegation spokesman condemned as “ob-. structive and having the effect of slowing down the conference ” Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromykc's maneuver to bring Communist Germany into secret Big Four sessions Assistant Secretary of State Andrew H. Berding made the denunciation following a one - hour 40-minute emergency meeting between Secretary of State Christian A. Herter and the other Western ministers to consider the surprise Soviet mov». The Western reaction to the Soviet demand that the East Germans sit in on secret sessions was summed up earlier by Herter. “I wont have the East Germans in my house,’ he told his staff. Gromyzo rejected the Western psoposais to get dowm to immediate secret negotiations on the Berlin crisis when the East-W’est • talks res micd Monday. He insisted that East and West Germany, who are advisers at the open plenary meetings, he admitted to the private talks Neither was rejSvsentel at the prevrvs secret sessions during the first six weeks of th* conference. The West rejected Gromyko’s demand. Herter met with Selwyn Lloyd ot Britain and Maurice Couve de Murville of France txlay in an emergency session and confirmed their decision to bar the Cornniu-

UICU UW*?£**>* *** •*«** VHC V’HJH.IM- W4M.WM v **"*e'*' «—— . t IHK s - > < hkkhi 4, *& ? v* / K*3 tL *’ BEGIN BANKING STEEL FURNACES—U. S. steelworkers at the Edgar Thomson Works at Pittsburgh begin the gradual cooling off of their furnaces Monday, as the midnight Tuesday deadline drew near for a strike.of 500,000 steelworkers. Union-Management agreement to heed President Eisenhower’s plea for resumption of contract talks failed to bead off banking of steel furnaces across the nation.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT • . >4

I ago, and is the highest employment figure ever on record. "Unemployment among workers who are heads of families declined by 200,000 in June. “During June, however, 600,000 young men and women, mostly students, were seeking jobs for the first time and as a result unemployment rose, as usually happens when school closes, to slightly less than four million.” Despite the increase in the number of unemployed, the jobless rate continued at 4.9 per cent of the labor force. This, the Labor Department said, showed that the jobless bulge in June was no more than seasonal. The Labor Department’s job expert, Seymour Wolfbein, pointed out that recent months have seen an “enormous” growth in the number of jobs. He noted that the employment total has risen by 4,600,000 since February — “a real thrust in the economy.” Late Bulletins GENEVA (UPD — West Germany has suggested that the Big Four recess the foreign ministers conference again and go straight to the summit on the broader issues of security and disarmament if Russia deadlocks the talks on Berlin. WASHINGTON (UPD — A former Cuban air force commander charged today that Cuban Fidel Castro is a Communist. . t

' nist Germans from the private talks. They regarded the Soviet demand as another back-door attempt to win Western recognition of the* pupnit German regime 1 The Vestein ministers also decided—for the time being—against sending one of them to Giamykc to appeal to him to call off the filibuster and clear the way for a summit meeting. As the result of the new So-viet-provoked procedural tangle, no formal East-West session was scheduled until Wednesday. Gromyko met with the Western foreign ministers for four hours Monday afternoon in the first plenary session since the conference declared a three-week cooling off recess in June. Hie West had hoped to begin the tedious process of nailing Gromyko down on the terms cf a twoyear Berlin truce — the minimum Western price for an early summit meeting. Instead the unsmiling Russian executed a series of nimble sidesteps and unexpectedly: ‘ —Refused to go into secret bargaining talks unless Russia’s East German satellites are invited to sit down with the Big Four, a maneuver that would grant them even greater recognition. —Left the West even more confused and guessing whether Russia really has scrapped its Berlin threat. It was apparent he caught the West uncomfortably flatfooted, i Today’s secret session was abandoned abruptly and all public speech making was postponed until Wednesday afternoon while the West thinks things out.

To Auction County s ' Property Aug. 15 ■ ' The county board of commissioners entered into contract with three • local auctioneers, who will handle ■ the sale of the county highway ga- • rage in Decatur and two parcels of land on the county farm, total- ■ ling 90 acres. The auction will be > conducted August 15 on the premt ises of the three \sites. The Kent Realty and Auction Co. • will be joined by Ned C. Johnson, > Phillip Neuenschwander, and William F. Schnepf in the actual sale. ■ The auctioneers will advertise the I sale in the Decatur, Fort Wayne, i Willshire, 0., Berne, and Bluffton ■ newspapers, with the county pay- ; ing the estimated bill of $175. t The 40-acre parcel will be first , on the auction block on the 15th at 1:30 p.m. with the 50-acre site next. The sale of the old highway garage will start at 4 p.m. The Aw highway garage is now under construction at Monroe. Besides advertising the sale in these area papers, a sign will be placed on all three sites with' the information concerning the sale. The commissioners also decided to convert one of the county-owned trucks, rather than accept'bids for a used tractor to transport the new Loboy trailer. The commissioners had given thought to buying a used trailer, but upon investigation found that it would be more economical to add a “fifth wheel” to the truck. The sealed bids on the Little Blue Creek bridge on the ’Die Mile road, three miles north of Berne, were opened with Baker and Schultz of Decatur entering the lowest bid. Only two bids were received, the other being from Ruckman and Hansen of Fort Wayne. Baker and Schultz bid $19,640.04, while the Fort Wayne firm entered a bid of $20,675.00. Omer Merriman, spokesman for the county trustees, consulted with the commissioners in county auditor Ed Jaberg’s office on the proposed appropriations for a study committee of the county school sit- , nation. Since the budget will not be made up for two weeks, the commissioners did not act immediately on the budget request. The county trustees approved the appropriation for the study committee at its regular monthly meeting Saturday. Mrs. Miles Kincaid Is Taken By Death Mrs. Elizabeth E. Kincaid, 64, of near Warren, died Monday al the Clinic hospital in Bluffton. She had been in failing health four years. Mrs. Kincaid, former resident of Wells county, was a member of the Pentecostal church in Bluffton. Surviving are the husband. Miles Kincaid; four daughters, Mrs. Lee Stotts of near Columbia City, Mrs. Brooks Heckley of Ossian, Mrs. Johnnie Genth of Decatur route 6. and Mrs. David Eckelbarger of Monroe route 1; two sons, Russell Kincaid of near Churubusco, and Edward Kincaid of Sherwood. Mich.; three brothers, a sister. 30 grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Elzey & Son funeral home in Ossian, with burial in Oak Lawn cemetery at Ossian.

ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER IN ADAMS COUNTY

Decatur, Indiana, Tuesday, July 14,1959.

Steelworkers’ Leader Makes New Offer To Break Pact Deadlock

Steel Plants Are Closing As Strike Nears PITTSBURGH (UPD — At least one premature walkout hit the steel industry today as the companies were closing their plants in anticipation of a nationwide walkout at , midnight. Workers of the Trenton, Mich., plant of McClouth Steel Co. jumped the gun as negotiators still ; were working for a settlement of I the United Steelworkers wage dei mands in New York. About 20 members of USW Loi cal 2659 walked off their jobs at 4 a.m., 20 hours before the strike i deadline, at the Trenton mill. By 7 a.m., the majority of the local’s , 3,700 members were marching on ' picket lines at the gates of the plant. Steel production across the country was slowing to a standstill as the walkout deadline approached. The costly and tedious task of banking the mills and furnaces was in full swing. From Gary, Ind., East Chicago, Morrisville, Pa., Birmingham, Ala., as well as this steel capital, came reports of banking of blast furnaces, sealing of coke ovens and cooling of open hearths. The skip cars which normally dump ore,, limestone and coke into the top of blast furnaces were' dumping only coke today. The coke will smoulder under reduced heat until a contract settlement is reached. Shutdown Damage Possible A too-rapid shutdown could cost millions of dollars in damage. Too fast banking of blast furnaces — some of which cost as much as 45 million dollars each — could cause the brick linings to crack and crumble. Thousands of miners who work, in the captive pits for steel com-]

Hoffa Clashes With Senate Racket Group

WASHINGTON (UPD — Team- ’ ster President James R. Hojfa today pictured New York lawyer Bartley C. Crum as mastermind of a plot to ease Godfrey F. Schmidt off the court-appointed union board of monitors. But he developed faulty memory trouble when the Senate Rackets Committee demanded to know if he approved a deal in which Schmidt would resign in exchange for $105,00 in back legal fees so Crum could replace him. In a series of clashes with committee members, Hoffa told Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.): “You are not going to get me to remember what I don’t.’’ “I can’t see how you can forget,” Kennedy snapped. The charge that Hoffa approved a deal was made by Crum, who told the committee Monday that he was approached by President Harry Bridges and SecretaryTraesurer Louis Goldblatt of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union. But Hoffa swore that Crum himself masterminded the effort to have Schmidt paid the $105,000, resign and get himself named to the monitors. He said that he personally stayed aloof from the maneuvering. . , The Teamster boss, appearing for the fourth and perhaps final time in the committee’s prolonged investigation of union, acknowledged that his testimony was based on “assumption.” When tire committee began firing questions, he said he could not recall: —Discussing the alleged deal by telephone with Goldblatt and Crurt. —Approving the proposed arrangement at a meeting in his office. —Raising the question that the deal would be no good unless the Teamsters could get the monitors to delay and then drop a hot court fight.

panies or in independent mines to supply the coal for coke were told to take “an extra week’s vacation”—without pay—or were furloughed. Trainmen who man the small connecting railroads also came under the shutdown orders, as did seamen on Great Lakes ore boats. And with steel — the nation’s economic lifeline — not flowing, practically all other business and industry sooner or later would be affected. The effects of the impending strike became evident on the faces of merchants and city officials in the steel-making districts and, probably more than any others, the steel workers themselves. Store owners and bartenders throughout Gary, East Chicago and South Chicago reported that their business volume had begun to feel the impact. Mrs. Ross Andrews Dies This Morning Mrs. Frances Ellen Andrews, 69, of near Geneva, died about 6:30 o’clock this morning at the Jay county hospital in Portland. She had been hospitalized in serious condition with a heart ailment since July 1. Mrs. Andrews’ husband, Jeremiah Roscoe Andrews, died suddenly of a he ; _rt attack July 1, shortly after an ambulance left his home to take his wife to the hospital after she had Suffered a heart attack. - She was born in Adams county Jan. 11, 1890, a daughter of David and Arabella Hartman-Oliver, and was married to Ross Andrews Dec. 26, 1908. Survivors include a son, Joseph R. Andrews, and a daughter, Miss Marie Andrews, both of Chicago. The body was removed to the Hardy & Hardy funeral home at Geneva. Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Burial will be in i the Decatur cemetery.

Hoffa, who said he once met with Crum about the New York lawyer’s desire to become a monitor, could not remember ever having talked with Crum about payment of back fees to Schmidt. Crum tesitfied Monday that Hoffa’s aim in seeking to oust Schmidt was to load the threemember monitors’ board in his favor. It was 2 to 1 against him with Schmidt on the board. Committee Chairman John L. McClellan said someone “varied from the truth." He ordered transcripts of the testimony sent to the Justice Department, to Federal Judge F. Dickinson Letts, and to the board of monitors named by Letts to supervise Hoffa. The basic conflict arose when Crum said Williams told him last Thursday that if he (Crum) didn’t testify before the Rackets Committee the Teamsters would pay monitors’ fees owing to Godfrey P. Schmidt, Crum’s client and a Hoffa foe. Crum sajd he thought these amounted to $45,000. Williams, testifying at his own request, angrily denounced Crum’s statement as a “false,’ vicious and contrived smear.” He said the union already had paid Schmidt $37,700 in fees and expenses but considered a $28,000 balance “excessive” and refused to pay it. Harold Unger, a former Justice Department attorney now working with Williams on Teamster matters, verified what Williams said. He told the committee he was present at a Washingotn restaurant and didn’t hear the lunchtable remark attributed to Williams by Crum. Schmidt, on the other hand, testified in Crum’s support. He said "everything that Crum said under oath he had either told me orally or by letter.”

NEW YORK (UPI) — David J. McDonald, president of the United Steelworkers Union, today made a new bid to break the contract deadlock only 12 hours before 500,000 steel workers were scheduled to go cm strike. McDonald said the union would agree to writing into the contract a statement that it was not opposed o technological progress in he plants. His offer was an effort to appease a major industry demand. The industry had demanded contract language revision in connection with automation and other technological advances in line with an overall request for changes in the contract designed to eliminate “waste and inefficiency.” 1 McDonald’s dramatic bid to end the deadlock came during a onei hour morning, negotiating session. The union chief said the negotiators have recessed until afternoon to give company officials a chance to study the union's proposal. ; Denies Union Featherbedding In a letter to the industry, McDonald said even “at this late hour we can make a handshake economic deal and reverse shutdown preparations” now under--1 way in the steel industry. McDonald denied that there was union featherbedding in the steel plants or that the union was fighting automation. He said these issues “should not roadblock am economic settlement by reasorwP ble men at this juncture.” He said the union was ready to write into each contract a statement reading: “The provisions of this section (dealing with working rules) are not intended to prevent the company from continuing to make progress.” The union chief again called for the formation of a top level labor - management committee to study the working conditions in the steel plants and to make recommendations if needed. The industry previously rejected this idea. - - McDonald also revealed the union had signed a contract extension with Granite City Steel Co., East St. Louis, m., one of the nation’s smaller steel producers. No Word from Washington “Have you any word from Washington?” McDonald was . “We have received no word at all,” he replied. Earlier, the negotiations had reached a stalemate. McDonald had met with the 171-man wage policy committee to fill them in on the situation. B. Conrad Cooper, industry’s chief negotiator, told newsmen that the situation had not changed since Monday night. Would you be willing to negotiate Wednesday if they pass the deadline tonight?” Cooper was asked. “Yes,” he replied. He was asked if he had heard anything from the government. “No—nothing since yesterday,” Cooper said. A strike would shutdown 90 per cent of the steel industry’s production. ’ Thousands already have been laid off. Supply lines to the mills have been cut and fires were being banked in preparation for the scheduled walkout by 500,00 basic steel workers who awaited only a formal strike call from a union committee assembled here. Contract talks Monday were fruitless. . Industry and union negotiators planned further talks this morning in deference to a presidential request, but statements made when they recessed Monday night indicated no change in their deadlocked positions and no hope of agreement. . Direct intervention by President Eisenhower seemed the only pos- ■ sibility of averting a strike, and there was no indication the President, who has twice forced resumption of the stalemated talks, planned such a move. Stocks Reflect Pessimism The general pessimism was reflected in the New York stock market. U.S. Steel shares fell Wi points Monday; Republic Steel was off 2 points and most other steel sotcks fell a point or more. The 500,000 steel workers affected would lose an estimated 62 million dollars a week in wages during a strike. Industry losses are estimated at 248 million dollars for each week. United Steelworkers of America (USW) President David J. Me-

Donald said after Monday night's meeting that the industry "has refused even to consider” the union’s proposal for contract settlement "and has made no counter offers.” He disclosed officially for the first time that the union is asking for a 15-cent-an-hour package increase for each year of a one, two or three year contract, with a continuation of its present cost-of-living “escalator” clause. McDonald said such an increase “can be paid by the industry without any price increase. It would leave the wage cost of producing a ton of steel in 1959 below the level of 1957 or 1958.” “Regret Hardships, But.. .” Chief industry negotiator R. Conrad Cooper said: “Much as we regret the hardships that will result from a strike, we cannot in good conscience be party to another around of the inflationary spiral... “Strikes are bad — but we believe the long-range consequence of acceding to the union’s demands would be worse.” Cooper said the four-man industry bargaining team, representing the nation’s 12 largest steel producers, would “stand ready to meet at any time” but “we have no hope that the unicm will change its course.” The position of the parties was virtually unchanged from the day they entered contract negotiations, May 11. The industry at that time asked for a one-year freeze of wages and prices as a move to combat inflation. It has since offered an unspecified, moderate wage increase contingent on union acceptance of changes in local working rules whih McDonald has said are unacceptable to the union. Three-year contracts expired at midnight June 30. They were extended for two weeks at the request of President Eisenhower, but McDonald has said there will be no further extension.

Convicts Hole Up In Mine

PETROS, Tenn. (UPD—Ninetyfive rebellious convicts, armed with 200 sticks of dynamite, remained holed up today in a prison mine with two hostages despite an ultimatum from Gov. Buford Ellington that there will be “no more food, no more water and no more bargaining.” The prisoners, who have threatened to blow up the mine if their demands for better food and pay are not met, released one of three hostages today. Highway Patrol Capt. George Burdette said mine foreman Sherdy Bunch, about 50, was freed because “he was sick. That’s the reason they let him go.” Warden Frank Llewellyn refused to let newsmen talk to Bunch until after he ate. Delivers the Ultimatum The convicts are holed up 1,300 feet underground in the mine shaft, said A. W. (Pat) Patterson, assistant state commissioner of corrections. Patterson climbed to the mouth of the mine this morning and talked with eight spokesmen for the prisoners. He delivered the governor’s ultimatum that the state will make no more concessions to the convicts. Patterson, who talked with the prisoners Monday night from a distance of 15 feet, would not reveal “general grievances’ made by the striking convict miners. But he said they want better food and more pay for mining coal. The rebellion, which began at 7 a.m. Monday, came close to ending Monday night when she convict spokesmen, three white and three Negro prisoners, agreed to give themselves up and promised to talk others into surrendering. But they later backed down. Lives, Property at Stake Patterson said the convicts had promised not to harm the hostages, three men hired by the Brushy Mountain State Prison to supervise mining operations. But Patterson said "a lot of mens’

Northeastern C. C. Groups Meet Today Twenty members of the Decatur Chamber of Commerce will attend a dinner-meeting of northeastern Indiana C. of C. groups at Fort Wayne tonight to discuss industrial development of that section of the state. Paul R. Trey, manager-of the Fort Wayne industrial and trade development committee has arranged the meeting because of the close relationship of problems encountered by local groups in this area. Ted Schulenberg, of the Indiana department of commerce, and Herman Steegman, of Indiana and Michigan’s industrial development department, will present the program at the Fort Wayne C. of C. building. Trey expressed a hope that this meeting will be the forerunner o other cooperative discussions. Those attending from Decatur are: George Auer, W. Lowell Harper, George Thomas, Earl Caston, Glenn HUI, Gene Rydell, Bob Ashbaucher, Glen Mauller, Leo Kirsch, Robert D. Cole. Lawrence Kohne, Norbert Aumann, Cal Yost, Clyde Drake, Earl Sheets, Glen Ellis, Charles Gable, Fred Kolter, and two employes from Central Soya to be announced later. The group will leave from Decatur about 5:50 p.m. at the local C. of C. offices. INDIANA WEATHER Generally fair, Htfle change in temperatures tonight and Wednesday. Low tonight in the 60s. Highs Wednesday 84 to 88. Sunset today 8:13 p.m. Sunrise Wednesday 5:29 a.m. Outlook for Thursday: Partly cloudy and warm with chance of widely scattered late afternoon or evening thundershowers. Lows 65 to 70. Highs 85 to 90.

I lives and are at stake.” I Patterson said the convicts had i threatened to “set fire to the mine or blow it up” with dynamite in die mile and a quarter . deep mine which slopes underground from the top of a mountain here. He said the convicts told him they would do tills if their demands were not met. An explosion could kill anyone ' iin the mine, officials said. The hostages, all married, were identified as Ben Davis, about 36, Earl Hensley, about 50, and Sherdy Bunch, about 50. Genera! Mine, foreman Tom Jones, about 60, was released early Monday with Word that the convicts were holding the others hostage. ' Talked to Hostage Bunch talked with Patterson over the mine telephone Monday night. Patterson said Bunch told him “the convicts say as long as you do what they tell you, we won’t be harmed.” Two other demands reported made by the convicts included a protest against working with Negroes in the integrated mine and having to work on a Tennessee state holiday. Food consisting ot ham, eggs, cheese, fried pies and coffee was sent to the convicts and hostages on a coal car at the guarded entrance of the mine, where prison officials and state troopers, some armed with sub-machine guns, were standing. Sending down the supper to the convicts “was one of the concessions I made, if you want to call it a concession,” Patterson said. The rest of the prison, which has a population ot 704 convicts, was under tight guard. Two similar and adjacent mines, which alsp operate on a 24-hour shift, were closed because of the uprising. It was the second major prison ■ uprising in two months in Tennessee and the second here in 16 months.

Six Cents