Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 April 1941 — Page 1

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VOLUME 53—NUMBER 18

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Axis Burns 7 Ships To Prevent Seizure In South

TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1941

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America

| JUGOSLAVS WAIT WAR ‘ANY MINUTE’

The Inside Story of ltaly—-

Benito Mussolini is personally responsible for the political, economic and moral collapse of Italy. Germany has taken over control of the government, the armed forces, the industries and the agriculture. These startling facts are revealed for the first time by John T. Whitaker, Chicago Daily News foreign correspondent who was recently expelled from Italy. Whitaker's dispatches have at last reached this country after many delays imposed by the Nazi control of communications. They show, with no punches pulled: I. How Germany has taken over Italy to prevent it from collapsing and making a separate peace. 2. How the Germans have made Mussolini their prisoner and taken over the operation of key ministries, industries and communications. 3. How Italy, a nation in a coma, is bitterly resentful at Mussolini and the Fascist leaders who have betrayed it. 4. How Fascist politicians have ruined the army and navy by ousting generals and admirals who refused to be subservient to the party. 5. How a once powerful air force has been ruined by Fascist politics and corruption. 6. How friction between Mussolini and Graziani brought about the Italian disasters in Africa. 7. How Mussolini jumped the gun on Greece; how the bribed to betray Greece double-crossed him; Mussolini's lieutenants — Ciano and Muti—fell out over a girl; ghastly unpreparedness of the Italian * forces. 8. How Mussolini, in constant fear of his life, suffered a stroke in 1939, how it has disastrously affected his judgment and career; how his megalomania heightened as his physical and mental powers declined, his loneliness broken only by the companionship of a woman friend, so that now he is the most reviled man in modern Italy. The articles

how

John T. Whitaker

Start Thursday in The Indianapolis Times

GOP TO CARRY RIPPER BATTLE T0 HIGH COURT

Maps Appeal as Cox Hints Denial of Motion to Set Aside Injunction.

By VERN BOXELL Indiana Republicans, blocked tem‘porarily in their attempt to take

over control of the State governyment, prepared today to carry their [first case to the State Supreme Court. | A motion to dissolve the tempo[rary injunction granted to the Democrats last night by Circuit Judge Earl R. Cox was to be filed |this afternoon by Arthur Gilliom. G. O. P. counsel. Judge Cox has indicated he will deny the motion, and the G. O. P. then will take | final steps in preparation for an! { appeal. | Meanwhile, action in the three declaratory judgments suits brought by Governor Henry F. Schricker | against the four elected Republican State officials evidently will be de- | layed pending the Supreme Court's action on the injunction appeal.

Question Jurisdiction

Attorneys for both sides said they | might confer later this week on possible trial dates. G. O. P. attorneys have said repeatedly that they (do not believe declaratory judgments suits are the proper nro- | cedure and that the Circuit Court | has no jurisdiction in these cases. In today's motion, the Republicans will charge that the issuance of the injunction is an unconstitutional “invasion by the judicial | department of the executive depart- | ment.” They also will charge that Judge | Cox’ order “enjoins only those de|fendants who are of one political rei from making the appointiments as required’ by duly enacted |statutes, but leaves the defendant | Governor who is of opposite political faith free to make said appoint{ments to legislatively-created po[sitions and offices without statutory | authority to him to do so.”

Charge Misuse of Court

The evidence shows that “the Governor intends to make these ap‘pointments, thereby misusing the ‘court to afford to the Governor a |political advantage over the other |defendants,” the motion will charge. During yesterday’s court hearings, (attorneys ior Governor Schricker denied, however, that the Governor will make any appointments pendling the final court decisions. Another section of the injunction ‘order, requiring the State Auditor jand Treasurer to pay the salaries jof ail incumbent employees and officers while the litigation is in prog(Continued on Page Two)

REPORT MUSSOLINI THWARTED REVOLT

Returning Americans Claim Italy Resents Germans.

NEW YORK, April 1 UU. PH) | Americans just returned from Italy said today that Benito Mussolini averted a revolution recently by sending his cabinet ministers to the front and having Gen. Pietro Ba- | doglio, former chief of the general

Gadget Really Eats Smoke —And No April Fooling!

»>

By RICHARD LEWIS

HOMER E. CAPEHART'S patent smoke-eater went into operation on the boiler at Manual Training High School today, reducing a black column of smoke from the big stack to a mere mist in seconds flat. No fooling! Fifty business and civic leaders and City officials who stood across Madison Ave. craning necks to watch the demonstration gasped and applauded. “It works,” several exclaimed. “Of course it vorks,” said Mr. Capehart. “Now watch what happens when we turn off the smoke eater.” Fifty neads tilted back. In a matter of seconds, black smoke was again billowing out of the 180foot stack. “Turn it on,” shouted Mr. Capehart. three, four—the smoke was gone.

One, two,

un 8 un

THE ENERGETIC promoter, who dared to demonstrate a new smoke elimination device in public on April Fool's Day, beamed. “Now I'll show vou how it works,” he said. The observers, including Mayor Sullivan, Safety Board members, School Board members, Chamber of Commerce representatives, civic leaders and . 1 newspapermen, trooped into the Manual basement. No Smoke! Mr. Capehart seized a broom for a pointer and tapped a small box on the furnace. “That's it,” he said. “That's what does it. Inside the box is a chemical compound. It's secret. The box is hooked up to steam pipes. “When live steam is pumped over the chemical and then into the fire box, it eats smoke. All the carbon is consumed. That's all there's to it.”

NAZIS PROTEST I.S. ‘VIOLATED HUMAN RIGHTS

French Vessels Put Under ‘Surveillance’; Italy Angry Also.

By UNITED PRESS The United States today placed 18 French ships in American waters under “surveillance,” a wave of Axis ship scuttling swept Latin American ports, and Germany protested American seizure of Axis shipping as an “absolute violation of human rights.” The scuttling of German and Italian ships in Latin America by their own crews apparently resulted from belief that those countries intended to follow the example of the U. S. in seizing the ships. Developments included: CARACAS, Venezuela Italian tankers and a German [freighter were burned by their lecrews. Three other Italian tankers were under control of Venezuelan authorities, who sought to avert a repetition of the incidents,

Three

GERMANS MASS ALONG BORDER; EDEN AT SCENE

Fighting Resumed in N. Africa as Germans Seek to Keep More British From Balkans: Italian Mediation Plan Rumored.

By HARRISON SALISBURY United Press Staff Correspondent

Jugoslavia girded herself today for war at any moment and Germany described relations between the two nations ‘as having deteriorated to the point of “grave crisis.” There were reports that Germany was moving to the frontier parachutists, possibly some of those used in the Low Countries invasion, and alpine troops, such as were employed in Norway. At the same time, the BA ish revealed that hostilitios [ov J eguslay Exemier, Gen. Richant had been resumed in North | cussions.

CALLAO, Peru— Two German

The observers trooped outside and Mr. Capehart turned the smoke on and off again. Passeisby, seeing everybody looking up, looked up, too, and quite a curious throng collected. ” » » ” » MR. CAPEHART'S latest enterprise, the smoke elimination device. will be manufactured by the newly-formed Capehart Engineering Co. Head of the Packard Manufacturing Co. also, Mr. Capehart is a former music box magnate. He became politically prominent in Indiana when he organized tiie 1938 Republican Cornfield conference at Washington, Ind. At the State-wide G. O. P. rally at the Fairgrounds in 1939. he was mentioned as a Presidential favorite son. Last summer. he played a prominent part in arranging the Elwood notification ceremonies for Wendell L. Wilikie.

Bill to 'Take Over’ Struck Plants Offered in House

WASHINGTON, April 1 (U. P).—Chairman Carl Vinson (D. Ga) of the House Naval Affairs Committee today introduced a bill which | would permit the Government to take over industrial plants if there |

stafi, chased into the palace of King Victor Emanuel,

Gen. Badoglio was to have led the |

Women's Council Demands Razing of 'Unfit' Houses

Clrarging that families on relief are living in houses condemned by the City Health Department as unfit for human habitation, the Indianapolis Council of Women today demanded immediate evacuation and razing of the properties as a public health measure.

The Council's action was taken in a resolution asking township trustees to remove eight relief families living in property at 400-424 E Merrill St. and 834-842 Buchanan |

St. which the Council described as “jnsanitaryv, a health menace and ~ WITHDRAWS FROM moral hazard.” | The E. Merrill St. property, ac- | ( cording to the resolution, is owned | AMERICA FIRST’ by the O. J. Smith Realty Co. It has been ordered condemned as unfit for human habitation by the | mw Health Department, but the order William Fortune Says His resolution. Re ‘ J The Buchanan St. property is | ason Is ‘Personal owned by ation. the resin. | William Fortune today confirmed DE ye : > |that he has withdrawn from the In“The owners of said property have |dianapolis chapter of the America refused to repair or remodel such First Committee, of which he was tary and habitable,” the resolution stated. In addition to the removal of the relief families to better dwellings, the Council asked the County and the O. J. Smith Co. to notify nonrelief families to move out immediThe resolution called upon the City Health Department to enforce its condemnation orders, asserting that moral and health hazards were the result of the crowding of large families into small and insanitary quarters by relief agencies.

Feb. 22

America First {March 12.”

has been ignored, according to the | properties to make them safe. saniCommittee ately. personal reasons not affecting the merits of the organization.”

Mr. Fortune is a director of the United States Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Indianapolis Saspler of the Red Cross.

named chairman of the hoard of directors when it was organized last

Mr. Fortune said today that he has had no connection with the “since

“I withdrew,” he said, “for wholly

revolt and the ministers were sup- |

porting the plot, the travelers said. Mussolini, they said, learned of it just in time to thwart it. Gen Badoglio was protected by his friend, the King, they said. The informants arrived yesterday evening on the American Export Lines ship Exeter from Lishon. One of them, Mrs. Cecil Brown, Columbus, O., wife of the Colum- | bia Broadcasting System’s commen- | tator in Rome who was ordered out | of Italy by the Italian Government vesterday, brought notes and diary entries written by her husband, saying that the revolutionary plot started two months ago. She recited such incidents as the reported shipment of light summer uniforms to Italian troops in the Albanian mountains and heavy woolens to (the troops in the Libyan desert and the discovery by Italian soldiers in Albania that their food boxes contained Fascist uniforms for boys up to the age of 12.

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

11 19 18 12 15 9 12 12 3 11

Mrs. Ferguson 12 Obituaries .... 20 Pyle Questions .... 11 Radio 7 Mrs. Roosevelt 11 Serial Story.. 19 Side Glances.. 12 14 Sports .... 16, 17 State Deaths, 17

Clapper ...... Comics Crossword .... Editorials .... Fashions .. Financial .... FIYOAN «evi Forum ...e.. In Indpls. . Inside Indpls.. Jane Jordan.. 15

seam eer

Travel ....... 15 Williams sere 12

Johnson ..... 12 Movies veeevee §

is “an existing or threatened” failure of production that interferes with national defense. Rep. Vinson said, for example, it would permit the Government to

take over and operate the AllisChalmers plant in Milwaukee, where | LABOR SUMMARY

a long strike has stopped work on | defense equipment. Today's ments:

Asked whether the bill had Administration backing, Rep. Vinson replied that he was acting on his own responsibility. The naval chairman explained that under existing law, enacted as part of the Conscription Act, Government taking over of industrial plants is permitted only if “such plant refuses to give the United States preference in the execution of orders, refuses to manufacture the materials ordered, or refuses to furnish them at a reasonable price.” None of these conditions exist in the Allis-Chalmers situation, he said. Earlier President Roosevelt had discussed the defense-labor situation in detail with Congressional leaders. Secretary of Labor Perkins meantime certified a fifth strike to the National Defense Mediation Board, a dispute involving 1060 men at the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Co. fa Washington State. Senate Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley said that no specific conclusions were reached at the White House conference. Senator Barkley said later he does not expect anti-strike legislation to reach the Senate this session because the “National Mediation Board is doing a fine job.” Mrs. Roosevelt, who returned here with the President this morning, told a press conference that Congressional proposals to classify as treason strikes on defense production were “perfect nonsense.” She

labor develop-

1. Miners and operators expect Roosevelt crackdown on one side or the other as 400,000 miners stop work following failure of New York parley to reach agreement. Shutdown affects 7000 Hoosier miners. A non-union miner is shot in Harlan County disorders.

2. Rep. Vinson offers bill in House giving U. S. power to take over any plant wherein an interruption of defense materiel has occurred or is likely to occur.

3. Roosevelt reviews defense labor troubles in conference with leaders.

(Other Labor News, Page 3)

IT WAS INEVITABLE!

WASHINGTON, April 1 (U, P.).— Rep. Robert F. Rich (R. Pa.) today got vnanimous consent to address the House for one minute.

|fit so long as this did not endanger

merchant ships, loaded with cotton, | were burned by their crews when {a Peruvian warship intervened as| [they sought to leave the harbor.| [The ships were believed to be total] losses. Today at Lima, the capital, authorities detained two German; “Lufthansa” planes on which it was (said the agents of the lines owning the ships had attempted to escape.| PAITA. Peru—A German steamer, {in port there since start of the war, | {was burned at its anchorage by its| [crew, MEXICO CITY-—An official source reported that Mexico has decided to place 12 Italian and German vessels in two Mexican ports under protective custody. HAVANA, Cuba — The Italian freighter Recca was seized by Cuban authorities. The home of Minister of State Jose Manuel Cortina was bombed, and he blamed the incident on the ship seizure. Yesterday, the crews of a German and an Italian ship off the Costa Rica coast also burned their vessels.

Claim World Law Violated

An authorized German spokesman said that the grounds on which the United States sought to justify the seizures were not valid, He said that German and Italian seamen were entitled to damage their ships in any way they saw]

American harbors. That concept, he said, had been

Hoi inden . Military experts believe that the Africa, where the Germans in|. are in a desperate position

Libya seemed to be attempt-| and are likely to be overrun even . on ; .|though the Germans are able to ing to prevent the transfer | move quickly into occupation of the to the Balkans of more troops broad Croatian plains in north= from the Imperial Army of]

eastern Jugoslavia, - Nurses Called to Service the Nile. German troops were rumored to Every possible precaution was be- | be massing along the Jugoslav frone ing taken by the Jugoslavs. It was lier ready to move as soon as Berlin reported that Foreign Secretary An-|8ives the word thony Eden and the British Imperial | Jugoslavia was busy with civilian Chief of Staff, Gen. Sir John G.|Precautions. Red Cross nurses were Dill, had arrived at Belgrade for |Peing called up, some Government |conferences with the Jugoslav High [archives were being removed from | Command. | Belgrade to safer interior points, It was presumed that the British and the pepulation was warned to and Jugoslavs would plan unified |St8Y in its homes and cities so as action with the Greeks in event of |10t to clog the roads with refugees. a German attack. There was nothing in the talk of Nazi commentators at Berlin te British Ready at Border indicate that a peaceful solution of British troops were said to be just | he German-Jugoslav embroilment across the Jugoslav frontier in|Would be found. In Berlin it was Greece, ready to move if the Ger- | Claimed that mistreatment of the mans launch a drive west from |German minority was increasing, Bulgaria in an attempt to sever | that German legders had been are communications between Greece and | rested and that demonstrations in Jugoslavia, | the Jugoslav provinces were growing The feeling in Belgrade and Lon- | Worse. don was that a German attack may | The return to Berlin of the Gere now be almost inevitable. man Minister, Viktor von Heeren, If and when it comes, it was | Was cited as indicative of the grave thought that an initial move by|ity of the situation. Most of the Jugoslavia will be an attack upon 16.000 to 20,000 German nationals vulnerable Italian positions in Al- | had been evacuated from the bania, presumably with Greek co- |country. operation. Most Ttalians, including the lega« It was apparently fear of this| tion staff, also have been withdrawn that caused rumors to circulate to-| from Jugoslavia. day that Italy was seeking to| Both the Jugoslay Legation and

accepted by the United States as prevailing international law in 1917 The United States seized 28 Itallan vessels, two German ships and 39 Danish freighters vesterday un(Continued on Page Two)

DISORDERS SPREAD IN HARLAN COUNTY

mediate the crisis by inviting the! (Continued on Page Two)

Showdown in 60 Days?

By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS Times Foreign Editor WASHINGTON, April 1.—An early showdown between the United States and the Axis is now regarded as a virtual certainly—probably within 60 days. The seizure of 70 Nazi, Italian and Danish vessels in American waters by Presidential order and surveillance of 19 French ships all probably for British use—is regarded as merely a straw in the wind, The decisive factors leading to the crisis are said to be these:

One Non-Union Miner Shot; Pickets, Guards Clash. |

HARLAN, Ky., April 1 (U. P).— Violence spread rapidly through the coal mining areas of “Bloody Har-

|lan” County today coincident with

the bituminous shutdow fought

Earl Jones, a non-union miner and company guard, was shot and critically wounded as he walked up| a mountain side toward the entrance of a mine owned by the] Mary Helen Corp. William Gibbs, | a member of the United Mine | Workers (C. I. O.), was taken into | custody and Sheriff Herbert Cawood said he had admitted the shooting. Two deputy sheriffs were reported to have been badly beaten by a group of pickets at the Brookside Co. mine. Rioting was reported among pickets and guards at the Insull mine In another section of the country. About 75 men were involved in the fighting.

April Arrives— With a Shower

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

46 10a.m..... 46 45 11a.m. ..48 .46 12 (noon) .. 49 9a.m..... 46 ip.m .... 5

True to form, April arrived with a shower, A little over a half-inch of rain

fell between last night and 4 a. m. today. The skies are to be clear tonight but the temperatures are scheduled to drop to the 30's. Tomorrow's local forecast “cloudy and warmer.” Meanwhile, a low pressure system stretching from Lake Michigan to Florida brought rains to the Atlantic coast and the Appalachian

referred to a resolution proposed vesterday by Rep. Leland Ford (R. Cal).

“April Fool,” he said, and sat down,

states. Showers also were reported on the Pacific Coast and in the Rocky Mountains,

Hitler has gone on record with Japanese Foreign Minister Mat-|far more of a menace to her see suoka and others to the effect that|curity than the democracies, and

he will destroy Britain and win the war this year. This leaves him just six months of fighting weather in| which to score his knockout. At the same time he is confronted

tion which, it is true, he may yet] succeed in retrieving. But even if he should, it is already costing him precious time, and if he doesn't regain the upper hand soon it may| prove fatal. Every report reaching here confirms the precarious plight of Italy. She is said to be definitely out of the war as a fighting factor, even if the Nazis manage to carry her along in order to create the superficial appearance of a partner. On the other hand, it is said, she may frankly fold up and quit. Both Jugoslavia and Turkey may yet come into the war against Hitler. If they do, Soviet Russia may decide that Germany hag become)

intervene at an opportune moment to bring about the defeat of her rowerful but much-feared neighe bor. Hitler, therefore, has laiq down May, August and September, His one chance of winning, the exe perts here agree, is to hold the line in Eastern Europe and the Balkans while he concentrates on the defeat of Britain This he would do by sinking the “ships, planes, tanks, guns and ame munition” promised by Roosevelt before they reach England. He would do it by intensifying his ate tacks on the sea, under the sea and from the air, as Lord Halifax, the British Ambasasdor here, has warned he is about to do. Lord Lothian, the former British Ambassador, said 48 hours before he died that this spring would bring the test. He said Hitler was (Continued on Page Two)

War Moves Today

By J. W. T. MASON United Press War Expert

Announcement today from London that British

shipping losses for the week ending

March 23, had

dropped to 59,141 tons shows that the Battle of the

Atlantic is not moving toward vic Although losses for British merch

tory for Hitler. antmen remain

somewhat serious, they have not produced a critical

situation nor one beyond remedy.

Throughout March there has been a progressive

decline in the success of Germany's marine campaign. 141314 tons, followed the next week week by 94 402 tons. In four weeks fallen by 60 per cent. That is one | of the largest drops during any | month of the war and comes at a time which the Fuehrer had indi-| cated would mark the start of the final operations of the war leading | to German victory this year. During the week ending March | 23, the Axis claimed to have sunk 397,000 tons of British shipping, against today's British admission of

For the week ending March

Mr. Mason intensified sub=2 ships sunk totaled by 98.832 tons, and the succeeding

the destruction of British ships has

59,141 tons. Great Britain is seeke ing more merchantmen, as quickly as possible from the United States and it is not credible that losses would be hidden, since otherwise the most effective stimulus to American aid would be lacking. British figures, therefore, are & more accurate measure than the (Continued on Page Two)