Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 August 1942 — Page 1
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FORECAST: Some likelihood of thundershowers this afternoon or early tonight; somewhat cooler tonight through tomorrow forenoon.
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VOLUME 53—NUMBER 124
CHARGE ARMY, NAVY WASTING RAW MATERIAL
WBP Officials Claim Policy ‘May Force Closing of - Many’ War Plants,
By JOHN F. CRAMER Times Special Writer WASHINGTON, Aug. 3.—Scores of hungry war plants are being forced to close or curtail for want of raw materials, but the army and navy continue the prodigal squandering of desperately needed ma-
x
+ terials, high WPB officials said to-
day. They said the army and navy had blindly rejected proved substitute materials. —- Both services, it was emphasized, and especially the army, have in some instances made excellent use of substitutes. But— The navy still uses precious monel-metal (70 per cent nickel, 30 per cent copper) for shipboard urinals.
Rubber on Ashtrays
In some cases, the army still specifies rubber pads on its ash-| trays. Both services insist on making “mess plates of steel: Moreover, in “a number” of cases, the army and navy have ignored or defied specific WPB directives for the use of substitute materials. At the top, the men responsible fare two, . In the army, it is Lieut. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, chief of the services of supply. In the navy, it is Vice Admiral
Samuel M. Robinson, chief of thel
office of procurement and material. Both have authority to veto specifications Which. are out of line.
i Facts Are Checked. ed
Only last Friday, Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson emphasized that raw materials were now the key to production. Other army people are known to feel, as do many civilians, that the civilian WPB has been laggard in choking down the flow of critical materials * to civilian industry. Here, however, are facts, checked and double-checked, about army and navy squandering of critical materials: Although WPB officials recommended hardened lead, and say it has been thoroughly tested, the army still specifies bronze for battery cable terminals. Although WPB officials say plain, plentiful carbon steel is entirely adequate, both army and navy insist that their laundry equipment must be made of precious monelmetal and aluminum, or stainless steel. _ Demands Steel Cots
Although the army has agreed to use trimmings from wooden truck bodies in its millions of cots, the navy still requires steel. Although Germany used steel cases even in the last war, the army refused until very recently to consider anything but brass. It is now making steel cases—but (Continued on Page Two)
CLAIM DUESSELDORF + DOCK AREA. LEVELED
LONDON, Aug. 3 (U. P.).—The air ministry announced today that Friday’s heavy air attack on Duesseldorf devastated a 12-acre area around the docks. Aerial photographs disclosed the greatest damage in a predominantly, industrial area, with a high proportion of factories being hit by high explosives or destroyed by flames from incendiary bombs. The first still burned 12 hours after the attack, the air ministry F oi
PETRILLO FACES U. S. SUIT
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (U. P.)— The federal government today filed an injunction suit in ar effort to halt the ban imposed by James C. Petrillo and his Americar Federation of Musicians on the making of transcriptions and recordings by members of the union,
TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES
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Business ... Millett Movies Mowrer ..... Obituaries ... 4 Patterns .... 12 Pegler Pyle ‘Questions Radio Mrs. Roosevelt 9 Rubber | Side Glances . 10 9
wesvns 31 serene 8 Crossword ... 15 QOurious World 6
10
Fashions . Mrs. Ferguson 10 Financial ....
..10, 15
‘Plane Promoter
Henry J. Kaiser, Oregon’s “miracle” shipbuilder, as he appeared before the Senate committee investigating - war actvities. Mr. Kaiser, who had never seen a ship launched until a year before Pearl Harbor, now wants to build giant cargo planes, the idea being that since the world is in ‘an air age, it might be a good idea to put materials into air fleets instead of . ships.
CARGO AIRPLANE STUDY RENEWED
Retired Army Air Corps Officer Opposes ‘Flying ' Freight Boats.’ (Editorial, Page 10)
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (U. P.).— There are- “very decisive, sprategical” objections to conversion of idle shipbuilding facilities to construction of giant cargo-carrying airplanes, a retired army air corps officer told a senate military affairs subcommittee today. Col. Hugh J. Knerr, who from
1935 until 1938 was chief of the army’s general headquarters air force, declared that cargo planes designed to land on water were not practical because the “extreme vulnerability” of the landing spots. He said virtually all giant “flying freight boats” were equipped te land on water only, and that such planes could not be safely used “in this war.” The subcommittee headed by Senator Josh Lee (D. Okla.) is studying proposed legislation to establish a supply board to expedite construction of the cargo planes as a supplement to shipping facilities.
Lee Disappointed
Senator Lee, obviously disappointed in Knerr’s testimony that “we might use shipbuilding facilities to make cargo planes in the next war,” remarked: “After readingyour articles I had
‘it can’t be done attitude’.”
hopes that you wouldn't have that|
VERDICT IN SPY CASE WILL GO TO ROOSEVELT
8 Saboteurs, Who Are Not Told of Fate.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (U. P.).— Fate of the eight would-be Nazi saboteurs who were tried here before a special military commission will be announced at some future time by President Roosevelt, the commission announced today. The commission met for two minutes this morning to tell the eight defehdants that they would not be informed of their fate for the time being. 3 At the White House, Sécretary Stephen T. Early said he expected the records of the case to be delivered some time today. But he said the chief executive would study the matter carefully before reaching his decision, and said there would be no- public announcement before tomorrow at the earliest.
May Report Tomorrow
Mr. Roosevelt might announce his decision during his press conference tomorrow afternoon. It had been expected that the commission would announce, at least to the accused, whether it had found them guilty or innocent of
them—espionage and sabotage, and conspiracy to commit both.
One May Escape Death
At least the seven saboteurs who lost last-minute efforts to escape jurisdiction of the: military commission by habeas corpus writs are believed to face death, either by hanging or shooting. The eighth— George John Dasch — reportedly turned government witness and may win clemency. It is possible that no announce ment will be made sentences are imposed until the executions have been carried out. Should the saboteurs be ordered executed, it is likely they will be hanged—the usual fate of spies.
Warn Against Cosmetic Waste
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (U.P). —The OPA today promised women an “adequate” supply, of cosmetics, but warned that economies will have to be practiced to conserve materials that can be used in war goods. : “Some well-established practices will have to go—such as sending up clouds of powder during camouflage operations and scooping up huge handfuls of cold cream,” the OPA said. A questionnaire filled out by 201 feminine OPA employees listed lipstick as the most essential cosmetic,
TELLS OF SPY TRIP WITH BUND LEADER
“I am only speaking from experience, sir,” Col. Knerr replied. For this war, Col. Knerr said, production of land-based cargo planes “must be expanded and expanded and expanded again.”
{VILLAGES WRECKED,
JUGOSLAVIA' SAYS
Axis Trying to Wipe Out Bands of Patriots.
LONDON, Aug. 3 (U. P).—German and Italian troops have destroyed hundreds of villages throughout Jugoslavia in an attempt to break patriot resistance, a -Jugoslav government spokesman . said today, ; Quoting “unimpeachable” reports, the spokesman said that along the Montenegrin coast on the Adriatic, Italian warships had wrecked whole villages in the interior with incendiary bombs.
Indicted
The grand jury returned an in-
9 dictment today charging Mrs. Flor-
ida Leeke, a case worker in the Marion county welfare department, with embezzling public funds. The indictment charged that Mrs. Leeke collected $87 from welfare recipients and that welfare department records failed to shdw that the money had been turned back to the treasury. The money involved, according to the indictment, represented over-payments made to recipients sang for Indigent chil-
HARTFORD, Conn. Aug. 3 (U. P.)—Dr. Otto Willumit, Midwest Nazi bund leader, testified today in the spy trial of the Rev. Kurt E. B. Molzahn that he accompanied Gerhard Wilhelm . Kunze on a trip along the Pacific coast for vital military information two months before Pearl Harbor.
PLANE RAIDS ICELAND
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Aug. 3 (U. P.).—A German Focke-Wulf plane attacked military installations in the southwestern part of Iceland Sunday, but the damage was negligible, it was announced today at United States army headquarters.
CLAIM BIG RAID DAMAGE LONDON, Aug. 3 (U. P.).—A Daily Mail Stockholm dispatch quoted a neutral eye-witness today that British. planes did heavy damage to war industry areas in Hamburg in their big raid last week and that two-ton block buster bombs struck the great Blohm and Voss shipyards and airplane fac-
County Welfare Worker
tories.
—
ment, following return of the indictment : “I brought this matter to the attention of the county welfare board some time ago and last week the board suspended Mrs. Leeke pending further investigation.” : The grand jury also returned four indictments in connection with alleged operation of a tire “black market” in Indianapolis. James R. Beck and Scott Hunter Cain were indicted on charges of automobile
Commission on Finished With A
the three charges preferred against|:
if death|
-MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1942
RUSS RESERVES SE|
scrubs his white uniforms daily.
JURY ASSAILS
DRIVERS’ LAW
Special Report Demands + Tiohte ning... :
ae *
Methods a divers li--eenses in Indiana “have been made
{too easy under ‘administration of
present laws,” the grand jury declared. today in a special report in criminal court. The ‘ jury recommended that driver’s license laws be made more strict by the next legislature “to the end that more knowledge of the physical conditions of applicants be ascertained before granting them licenses to operate motor vehicles.” The jury also recommended new laws to require all peace officers, physicians and hospitals treating patients suffering from ailments that would affect their driving, to report such facts to the motor license ‘bureau.
Sequel to Lee Case
“We strongly recommend and urge that all persons knowing themselves to be so afflicted should immediately cease the operation of motor vehicles voluntarily,” the jury’s report stated. The jury recommended that all oolice officers arrest drivers who insist on operating cars with physical handicaps and charge them with reckless driving. The report followed an indictment last week of John W. Lee
reckless homicide in connection with the deaths of three persons July 20 when his car jumped a downtown
of pedestrians. Two Others Indicted
The jury returned two indictments charging motorists with’ manslaughter and reckless homicide, in connection with two other fatal accidents. They were Elmer H. McCown, whose car allegedly killed Carmon Lester England at W. Morris st. and White River blvd., last April 22 and Loren Fullum, whose car fatally injured Robert Adams in an accident at Harding and Raymond sts. last May 20.
FOR OPENED WAY FOR LABOR PEACE
|Murray’s Proposal Result
by Grand Jury
Of White House Meeting. (Earlier Details, Page Three) .
CHICAGO, Aug. 3 (U. P)— President Roosevelt was disclosed
peace ‘move which gave promise of
tween the A.F.of L. and the C.1.0 A. F. of L. leaders, assembled at headquarters here for an executive committee meeting tomorrow, said that yesterday's feeler by President Philip Murray of the C, I. O. looking toward organic reunion. of the
i rs ais
tire fasts and eae dap md
Governor s Son M
Even a governor's. son has to “mop up” in the navy. nor Schricker, enjoys scrubbing a deck for Uncle Sam at the Great Lakes naval training station, He also
on charges of manslaughter and].
sidewalk and plunged into a crowd
|a reported direct
today to be the instigator of a new patching ‘the seven-year rift be-
Entered as Second-Class Matter ab Postoffice, “ Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday.
A
ops With a Smile
And Smiling George, 18-year-old son of Gover-
He enlisted recently in the naval reserve as a seaman, first-class.
Axis Rumors Say Churchill
Is in Russia to See Stalin
LONDON, Aug! 3 (U. P).—Reports were broadcast throughout Europe today thi:t Prime Minister Winston Churchill: had flown to
| Russia to discuss: -a- second fro!
h'Premier Josel Stalin. © But it appesircd that ‘most these ‘reports - ori;inated with the axis or in some ¢ apitals. like Vichy and Lisbon whic). are hotbeds of axis-inspired rumors. Stockholm new: agency claims of the Churchill flight quoted Lisbon. Vichy quoted rutiors “current at the British lege tion at Bern,” Switzerland and Serlin quoted the Rome newspaper | Popolo D’Italia, which in turn guyted Stockholm. The Rome radio, passing on the rumor, said that Churchill had de-
LONDON, Aug. {3 (U. P.)—German planes ranged, over England by daylight today and their bombs caused some damage in a northeastern coastal toyn where casualties were slight, ii was reported. The afternoon uftwaffe sorties followed scattered night bombings in eastern England and the Midlands during which three of the small force of ‘en omy planes were shot down. Long range British ‘bombers were kept at home by inclement weather. London had a brief air raid alarm period, but no boinbs last night. The air minist:y announced that
Big RAF: Bombers Grounded: German Planes Raid England
cided on the Moscow flight because Stalin was accusing him of “betrayi 8 the Soviets,
ad language, said pecs Great
“and the United States had}
ome to an “agreement” regarding a second front this year and that Germany soon would be compelled to face the avalanche of 15,000,000 allied troops, 85,000 tanks and 50,000 planes. However, as far as could be learned, there has been no new formal second front agreement beyond that reached during Foreign Commissar Viacheslav M. Molotov’s recent visits to London and Washing(Continued on Page Two)
Flight Sergt. T. Gates, Miami, Fla., was one of two royal air force fighter pilots who shot down a hit-and-run German Dornier DP-17 bomber over the east coast yesterday. British Spitfires on offensive pa-
trols yesterday attacked railroad targets and barges in Holland and Belgium. In hit and run raids yesterday on coastal districts in southeastern, eastern and northeastern‘ England, the Germans swept low from the clouds to terrorize crowds seeking relaxation at the seaside during the August bank holiday week-end.
"HENGYANG, China, Aug. 3 (U. P.).—United Staiss bombers, escorted by fighter planes, ' today dropped three and one-half tons of bombs or | Japanese headquarters and transports at Linchuan while Chinese ground forces battled on the outskirts of the Kiangsi province city.
The American from the 23rd gro
ighter escort was 1p, which the Japanese had said tiisy wiped out, but they proved to b¢ so much in the fight that they naved the way for hit by bombers on rters, on bard heavy machineyransporis.
Japanese headqua racks and docks ar gunning of enemy
U.S. Fliers Rain Bombs on Jap Headquarters i in China
Two docks were damaged by the attack and fires were started along the Fu river. The Chinese ground forces, meanwhile, battled into the outskirts of the city as fighting spread over a number of fronts in Chekiang and nearby sectors. (A Chinese communique issued at Chungking said that the Chinese drove the Japanese back toward the sea in the Pingyang sector, 30 miles south of the important port of Wenchow, and also recaptured Tsingtien. The Japanese, however, seized Suichang, 40 miles northwest of Lishui.- The Central news agency said fighting was surging back and forth through Tsingtien.)
Today’
its strength may be so impaired in
wiinter, This danger will be even greater if the (iermans get the
Caucasus oil and sever or seriously interfere with :
s War Moves
By LOUIS F. KEEMLE United Press War Analyst Germany's steady advance into sputhern Russia, . which the Red army has been able to retard only at - occasional points. on the Don-Caucasus front, prei sents another danger to the allied cause other than | possible loss of the Caucasus. The Red army shows no sign of collapsing. It may not collapse even if the Germans take the northern Caucasus ancl reach the Caspian sea. But there is real danger that
this gigantic campaign that it may
not again be abl: to take the offensive as it did at the beginning of last
find its fighting power seriously reduced.
| Floyd Christian’s questions.
yesterday, causing two prostrations
:{Mich., suffered. heat prostration and
‘PRICE THREE CENTS,
TO TURN TIDI
SOVIET FIGHTS SAVAGELY T0 HOLD OIL ARE
Fresh Masses of Men, Including Cossacks, Marines, Hurled Into Fierce Counter-
Blows Against Advancing Nazis. By EVERETT R. HOLLES
United Press
Cable Editor
Strongly reinforced Russian armies made a despere ate attempt today to turn the tide of the battle of the Cau= casus but Moscow admitted that the Soviet still was fighting:
a defensive battle.
Marshall Semyon Timoshenko threw fresh masses of men, including Don Cossack cavalry and marines landed on the Caucasus coast, into counter-attacks along the curving Caucasus front in an effort to prevent the Germans from crossing the Kuban river and seizing the big Maikop oil
fields.
Above Stalingrad in the Kletskaya sector the Russians said the Germans were hurled back on the 11th day of their costly attempt to storm across the Don and sweep down upon southern Russia’s big industrial city. The Russian high command told of “successful counters attacks” by the Soviet army forces north of the Maikop
oil fields between Kushchevka
and Salsk.
But the Germans insisted that their armored spear«
PELLEY DENIES ATTACKING U. S.
of Sized Administration, Not Government, He . Says on Stand.
By EARL RICHERT William Dudley Pelley, the Silver Shirt founder whose writings in his magazine, “The Gaiilean,” resulted in his being indicted on charges of sedition, took the stand in federal court here today to term his statements as anti-administration and not anti-government. “Being a Republican all my life, I have never been in favor of the New Deal,” he declared. “Perhaps I have been a little over-critical,” he remarked in answering one of Defense Attorney
Pelley appeared nervous, but he spoke in a loud voice audible throughout the courtroom. He stroked his goatee frequently and several times interrupted his attorney with: “I don’t know what you mean.”
Held Acts Provocative
He seemed intent on taking full blame for the statements made in “The Galilean,” by declaring repeatedly that he wrote them and was the only person who had authority over what went into the publication.” His two aids, Miss Marion Henderson and Lawrence A. Brown, are on trial with him. Asked by Mr. Christian what he meant in his statement contained in one count of the indictment, that the attack on this country resulted from provocative diplomacy, the Silver Shirt founder replied: “I had a list of over 28 deliberate acts of the administration which I considered provocative enough to cause war.” He listed among these so-called provocative acts, the president’s (Continued on Page Two)
BUREAU PROMISES RELIEF FROM HEAT
Two Collapse Here When
Temperature Soars.
LOCAL TEMPERATURES 6am ...73 10a. m ...78 7a.m ...72 11am ...81 8am ... 73 12 (noon).. 82 9a. m ...7 1p. m ...85
Relief from near-record heat was -| forecast by the weather bureau today after temperatures reached 96
here.
Rain and high winds, which caused some property damage on the south side last night, brought cooling breezes that are expected to remain this afternoon and tonight. Police Sergt. James A. Senteny, 38, of 1450 College ave., was reported in a serious condition at City hospital today following his collapse from heat prostration at the Riverside golf course yesterday. Artaur Shirley of Grand Rapids;
heads were thrusting steads ily forward to the upper Kus ban river, which is only 40 miles from Maikop at one
The. battle of the Caucasus ape
somewhere north of, the Kuban river near, the sea of Avoz coast and around Salsk.
Battle Nearing Climax
the upper Kuban had been reached but the high command communique was less definite in its claim.
‘Northeastward at the approaches of threatened Stalingrad, the Gers mans claimed to be pressing e Russians back upon the city als though Soviet accounts told of ale most constant counter - attacks against the Nazis in the Kletskaya sector 70 miles northwest of Stalin= grad where the Germans have beers trying to cross the Don for 11 days, It appeared that, insofar as the Russians are concerned, the battle of the Caucasus is nearing its clis max with all available Soviet army reserves thrown into action and trys ing to break up the German cole umns by means of lashing counter attacks. Despite these counter - attacks, however, the Russians re generally on the defensive and all the vital areas except Stalip= grad appeared to be giving ground —although stubbornly and at the cost of huge German casualties, Sailors Aid Land Fighting
Sailors and marines of the Russ sian fleet were said to have be landed on the Caucasus coast—
| parently west of Kushchevka
southwestward on the Black short—and to have cut their ) through the German rear to joi forces with the Soviet army in ti battle lines. : Planes of the- Russian fleet tacked German columns ma down the western Caucasus to! the Kuban river and Maikop. The gravity of the Russian sit tion—the network of railroads vi to movement of oil and suppl coming from the United States &
¢| Britain by way of Iran
been badly cut up—added a fi note of urgency to Russia's p for the immediate opening of allied second front in wes Europe.
On the War Front:
—Aug. 3, 1942—
MOSCOW: Timoshenko thro - strong reserves including Di Cossacks into counter-attack along 100-mile front betwe Kuschevka and Salsk in effort # halt German drive upon Kub river and Maikop oil Germans claim drive to
LONDON: Russians intensify gp for immediate second fron mors from continent say Chur flew to Moscow for confe: with Stalin.
CHUNGKING: United Sta forces drop three and tons of bombs on Jap hea quarters at ' Linchuan; U. S. fliers bomb Hong
CAIRO: U. S. heavy bombers R. A. F. in blasting D sea communications,
Dne
peared to be at its flercest pitch