Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 February 1943 — Page 1

Indianapolis

FORECAST: Colder tonight and tomorrow forenoon.

Imes

SCRIPPS — HOWARD §

VOLUME 53—NUMBER 299

WICKARD

Rommel Suff

so ” »

Bromfield’ s

‘Misleading’ —Wickard

EDITOR'S NOTE: Last week we published four articles by Louis Ohio farmer, severely criticizing what he failure to take effective measures

Bromfield, novelist alleges to be the government’s against a “catastrophi¢” wartime Secretary Wickard, a

herewith.

By CLAUDE R. WICKARD

Secretary of Agriculture and

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.—I have read the four articles by Mr. Louis Bromfield, written for the ScrippsHoward newspapers, in which he charges the government and various individuals with general mismanagement of

the national food production

The articles include many intemperate and inaccurate statements. The situation on which Mr. Bromfield bases his complaints are to a great extent associated with the inconveniences and dislocations Normal operations have been disrupted, through the ‘fault of no one, as an inevitable by-product of the switch from peacetime ‘production to total war production in our principal industries of millions of civilians inte the armed services.

due to the war.

and the rapid transfer ; # =

By make an adequate plan for food

Claude R. Wie i

A-C FAMILIES BET BOOK TWO

Register at Grade School Buildings Today From 1 to 8 P. M.

Families whose last names begin ~with A through C will initiate the registration for war ration book 2 when they go to their nearest grade school buildings between 1 and 8 p. m. today to receive their canned goods ration book. a Registration will continue through Saturday, and the remainder of the alphabetical schedule is as- follows: Wednesday—D through H. Thursday—I through M. Friday—N through S. Saturday—T through Z. Schools Open 1 to 8 p. m. The grade schools will be open for registration from 1 to 8 p. m. each day, with more than 5000 volunteer workers and school teachers acting as registrars. Schools will be dismissed at noon through Friday to give the teachers time to assist with the rationing registration. The adult member registering for his family must show his sugar ration book—book 1—and the consumer déclaration listing the amount of canned goods on hand as of Sunday to the registrar. The declaration form, clipped from the newspapers, must be filled out before going to the point of registration. Ration book 1 will be returned to the applicant with book 2. A person who will be absent from (Continued on Page Eight)

STUDY SHOE REPAIR COSTS

An investigation is being conducted by the office of price administration to determine to what extent prices for shoe repairing in Indianapolis shops have been increased, Dr. G. E. Warren, acting state OPA price officer, announced today. :

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

Homemaking. 15 Indpls. .... 3 ie Indpls. 11 e Jordan.. 15 Men in Service 10 Millett ....... 12 Obituaries ... 18 Pegler ........ 12 Pyle .......... 11 Radio ........ 21 Mrs. Roosevelt '11 Side Glances. 12 Society «14,15

16 11 21 18 712 Edson ........ 12 Evans 12 14

21

amden, Ind. farmer, to reply to Mr. Bromfield, and he has responded with two articles, the first of which appears

Figures

food crisis. We asked Agriculture

Wartime Food Administrator

program.

In these four articles Mr. Bromfield devotes himself completely to fault-finding, without drawing on his own grasp of the situation, whatever that may be, to offer a single constructive idea for doing the food-production job better. If he has a program, or even one suggestion that will help the country produce more food, I would be glad to have if. ”

» ” Denies Nothing Was Done

SOME OF Mr. Bromfield’s complaints ‘and the facts regarding them follow: 1. Mr. Bromfield states that the food situation has become desperate “largely because nothing whatever was done in the beginning, or at any time since, to

nearly “every “possible handicap has been placed upon the normal supply” and that the secretary of agriculture kept the situation concealed by issuing “misleading statistics.” : The need for production of more food as an essential weapon of war has been expressed in almost every public statement or address I have made. The situation reports and statistical summaries issued by the department of agriculture have regularly presented the facts concerning the production and supplies of crops and livestock.

N82 =»

Worked With Draft Officials FROM THE INCEPTION of the selective service system the department of agriculture has at all times maintained close contact with the administrative officials and exerted its full influ(Continued on Page Eight)

GOP PAVES WAY FOR MERIT BOARD PROBE

Introduces Bill Setting Up 2-Year Inquiry.

Republican members of the powerful house ways and means committee who are attempting to force a shakeup in the top personnel of the state personnel board today played another card. They introduced a bill providing for a commission “to thoroughly investigate” the personnel board and merit system operations during the next two years. The commission is to be comiposed of five members, three to be appointed by the speaker of the house and two by the lieutenant governor. Three of the members are to be ‘Republicans and two Democrats. It is to spend the next two years studying the merit system and

———

ENEMY TANKS DESTROYED IN TUNISIA FIGHT

Axis Prisoners Captured; Air Force Returns to Battle of Pass.

(News From Russia, Page Three; War Moves Today, Page Four.)

By VIRGIL PINKLEY United Press Staff Correspondent

ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 23.—American and British forces, stiffening against Marshal Erwin Rommel’s thrust north and northwest of Kas‘serine, have held the enemy in check at all points, inflicted heavy casualties and taken prisoners. The fighting has been heavy in that section, an allied headquarters communique said’ today, but it appeared that the drive of the German mechanized units, which yesterday carried to within four miles of Thala, has been checked, at least

momentarily. Heavy losses have been inflicted

lon the Germans, who are attempt-

ing to knock out allied positions before the British eighth army, moving up from the south, can throw its weight against Rommel’s flank. The communique said that in the last few days of fighting “a considerable number of enemy tanks have been totally destroyed and many others damaged. :

The eighth arly appeared to be probing for weak points in the German positions around the Mareth line. There was said to be patrol activity but the main fighting between Gen. Sir, Bernard L. Montgomery’s forces and the Germans consisted of artillery duels between Medenine and Mareth. The main feature of yesterday's fighting was the return to action of the allied air force. A total of 11 allied planes were missing from all operations, but they gave valuable assistance to the ground forces, particularly around the Kasserine Pass. Many American flying units participated in a total of more than 20 missions thrown at the Kasserine gap, where allied pilots accounted for scores of enemy vehicles and some tanks. The allies and the Germans still were’ locked in battle about four miles south of Thala with Rommeél’s forces trying hard for a breakthrough. The Germans originally threw 40 tanks into this assault, but many have been put out of action by British and American artillery and, so far as is known here, they have not been reinforced.

SAY GANDHI MUST EAT SOON OR DIE

POONA, India, Feb. 23 (U. P.).— Weakening Mohandas K. Gandhi demonstrated his will to live today on this the 14th day of his proected 21-day-fast—but his six atBe doctors said that he must eat soon or die. A government bulletin said Gandhi appeared comfortable and was able to talk briefly to his doctors.

CHURCHILL CALLED ‘WORST PATIENT’

LONDON, Feb. 23 (U. P.).—Prime Minister Winston Churchill, suffering from acute catarrah, spent a comfortable night and his condition remained about the same today, it was learned. Friends of the prime minister, described him as the “world’s most difficult patient” and doctors decided it was better to give away to

(Continued on Page Eight)

his determination to work.

(Victory Garden Series, Page 13)

The fruits of their victory garden last summer have solved the food problem for a pair of Indianapolis amateur gardeners. this year. While most of their fellow citizens rushed to the grocery store last week-end to buy before the advent of point rationing, Mr. and Mrs. Ray M. Jaggar, 5708 Haverford ave., were unconcerhed. _ Their basement has been their grocery store. Since canning time last August all fruits and vegetables used by their family were

1s, 1 n

raised canned by themselves.

Garden Family Still Dines on Food Canned Last August

project last year, had 250 quarts of vegetables and fruits, 75 glasses of jelly, a peck of dried lima beans and five bushels of potatoes to store at the end of the gardening season. By today’s figures, this amount of canned food represents 5139 ration points or the amount of canned

one year. This first gardening and canning venture should inspire all amateurs. 4Mr. and Mrs. Jaggar have no more time for gardening than thousands of other busy household heads. Mr. Jaggar has his evenings, Saturdays and Sundays free. Mrs. Jaggar is the m

food allowed for nine persons for|

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23,1943

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday.

AT QUOTAS

tact PRICE FOUR CENTS .

|

That’s restricted information,

JAPS EXPECTED T0 ATTACK SOON

India, China Likely Targets As Tokyo’s ‘Time of Grace’ Shortens.

By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS Scripps-Howard Foreign Editor : WASHINGTON, * Feb. 23. — All signs now point to a new and dangerous, if not decisive, turn in the Far East. Information reaching Washington indicates that the Japanese may be planning to take advantage of

India if Mohandas K. Gandhi dies, as he almost certainly will if he

the British at Poona. On the other hand, there are

Japs may now make a determined effort to drive the Chinese back from all actual and potential bases from which the allies might bomb Japan proper, or even to capture Chunkging and Kunming, most important of Chinas remaining .centers. Raise 5th Column Army

Which of these steps will be undertaken remains to be seen. Perhaps both will be. Or one may prove to be a feint. In any event, intelligence officers on the spot believe the Japanese will seek to consolidate their position in Asia. before the expiration of the few months they now have left. Both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill have warned that once Hitler’s measure is taken, all hands will concentrate against Nippon. The Japs are reported to have raised an army of 100,000 Indians for use in India if and when they

out exception, it is said, these have had British training. They were (Continued on Page Eight)

TROOPS TO HELP IN PICKING OF GOTTON

New ‘Policy to Begin Next Week in Arizona.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (U. P.). —Troop units have been assigned to assist in the harvest of long staple cotton near Phoenix, Ariz. the war department announced today. This was the first assignment of troops to farms in this war and was carried out under a new policy disclosed last Friday to have been approved by President Roosevelt. The announcement was made as Lieut. Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, army deputy chief of staff, was discussing before the sepate argriculture committee the general plan to release troop units to aid farmers with their 1943 crops. Chairman Ellison D. Smith (D. er himself, asserted the plan was inadequate to meet the problem of farm labor shortages. Gen. McNarney said the troops assigned to the Arizona fields would go to work next week. He said they would be bivouacked near their work and would receive regular rations, pay and medical care.

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

6am ...4 10a m. ... Iam... Hu 1am...

51 57

the chaotic conditions expected in| i

continues his hunger strike against|

invade that country. Almost with-|

S.C), a farm-|_

equally strong indications that the]:

This is a “flying Pullman”—the biggest plane in operation in the world. Stationed now at Stout field, headquarters for the First Troop Carrier command, it is called the C-54 and is bigger than the cargo version of the B-24 Consolidated Liberator. off the ground a truck can pass beneath them. The plane has a tricycle landing gear with double wheels. Its speed and other specifications?

This is the tail section of the C-54. Soldiers at Stout field crane

their heads upward to look upon the rear of the huge plane. The 2:Ship

is longer than a Pullman car.

tom of the Atlantic and that a mer-

Japanese submarine in the Pacific. His warning also followed by less than 24 hours the navy’s announcement that enemy submarines had sunk two U. 8S. passenger-cargo ships in the Atlantic early this

‘month with a loss of more than 850

service men and civilians. U-Boat Building Pushed Knox’ said that merchant ship sinkings in the last three months

had been at a reduced rate, but the submarine

that, nevertheless, “most emphatically” is still an exceeding grave menace. Knox declined to estimate the number of enemy submarines which have been destroyed because the figures were “still a matter of security.” Besides, he said, it was difficult to determine definitely when a U-boat had been destroyed. Discussing the merchant ship

situation in the Atlantic, Knox said |

that the rate of sinkings this month was better from our standpoint than last month. “But we mustn't build too much on that,” he warned. “The rate goes up and down. The present lull may be due to weather.

Ships Not Identified

The two torpedéed American pas-senger-cargo vessels were carrying 1400 passengers—army, navy, marine corps and coast guard personnel as well as civilians. The - navy did not disclose tif names of the ships but they apparently were being used as trans-

ports. If so, they were the is

chantman’s érmed crew had sunk a

'U-Boats Built Faster Than We Can Sink Them'—Knox

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (U. P.).—The navy today announced the destruction under dramatic circumstances of two axis submarines, but Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox warned that Germany is building U-boats “much faster than we are sinking them.” Knox's warning was made at a press conference shortly after disclosure that a U. S. destroyer had blasted one submarine to the bot-

PROSPECTIVE LEE JURORS QUESTIONED

Asked for View on Handicapped Persons.

Prospective jurors being selected in criminal court today for the trial of John W. Lee, charged with manslaughter in the city’s worst traffic accident in years, were asked how they felt about physically handicapped persons driving .cars. Questioning of jurors was started from a special panel of 125 after the regular criminal court jurors had been dismissed. Defense attorneys had challenged their legality on the grounds that Prosecutor Sherwood . Blue had helped select them personally. Le2’s car hurtled over a downtown sidewalk last July 20 killing three persons and injuring 12 others. His defense will be that he suffered a fainting spell and was unconscious at the wheel when his ear plunged into a large crowd. Those killed in the accident were Richard Hall, 4, of Mooresville; Mrs. Martella Weidig and Miss Imogene Chandler." :

SEEK FRENCH SHIPS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (U. P.). —Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said today that negotiations were in progress under which the 12 ships

‘Flying Pullman’ ‘World Largest Plone

RR

3 3

Its four propellers are so high

BUDGET BOOST

Hospital Largest Item

Among Increases.

The proposed biennial budget Was increased. by more _than_ $2, 500, ,000

today as the house adopted ways and means committee amendments

which would push the total recom-

mended spending for the next two

years to about $82,500,000. Biggest single change in the budget recommendations of the ways and means committee was an allotment of $2,500,000 to be used in rebuilding the Evansville state hospital for the insane, which was destroyed recently by fire. The committee also recommended a $75,000 increase in the appropriation for the indiana state guard and boosted the amount to be alloted State Fire Marshal Clem Smith by $100,000.

Some Reductions Made

Offsetting the several increases were a number of cuts, most important of which was a slash of $117,500 in the appropriations for the state personnel board. Under this cut the board would be left only $54,000 with which to operate the entire merit system during the next two years. It was understood, however, that the personnel board would be restored in part should the drive of the ways and means committee members to secure the resignations of Rowland Allen, personnel board member, and W. Leonard Johnson, personnel director, be successful. The appropriation for the state conservation department was trimmed from $600,000 to $550,000 for the two-year period and another amendment, cut the allowance for (Continued on Page Eight)

45,000-TON IOWA AT WORK FOR NAVY

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (U. P.). —The battleship Iowa, first of the 45,000-ton dreadnaughts built by the United States, is now in commission. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox revealed today that he had attended the commissioning in New

ahead of schedule. Another 45,000-tonner, the battleship New Jersey, is expected to be in commission within two months.

On the War Fronts

(Feb. 23, 1943)

NGCRTH AFRICA — Rommel’s attacks checked at all points after advance of about 20 miles,

RUSSIA—Russians say advances continue, but give no details. Stalin asks second front, says Red army has put nine million axis troops out of action.

SEA WAR—Navy Secretary Knox says submarine menace still is grave, following announcement of loss of 850 American lives in greatest Atlantic tragedy of war.

PACIFIC—MacArthur planes almost obliterate’ some Jap-held villages in Lae area, bomb Buin-Faisi anchorages. Navy announces bombing of Kika, Minds and Kolom-

SS ine ReGHEI Bod den iiariied Bi

OK'D IN HOUSE!

$2,500,000 for Evansville

York of the Iowa, seven months|

ers Heavy Losses, Advance Checked

Sle asim

CEILING 1S SET

ON WHOLESALE

PRICE OF EGGS

Expected to Be 40.2 Cents

Here; Halt Rise in Cost 0f 5 Vegetables.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (U. P.).—The government took new actions today to try to alleviate the increasingly serious food problem, by proclaiming a permanent ceiling on wholesale egg prices, lifting wheat marketing quotas and fixing ceiling for five

(fresh vegetables.

Secretary of Agriculture Claude

R. Wickard said abandonment of

wheat marketing quotas would help create additional feed reserves for livestock and would be “a safeguard for the future.” His action was taken under the authority of the emergency provis-

ions of the agricultural adjustment - 4

act. It lifts marketing quotas for the remainder of the 1942-1943 marketing year and for 1943-1944, and releases wheat for feed for mar=

market because of quota limitations. Eligible for Loans

Wheat farmers who meet 90 per cent of their war crop goals this.

eligible for AAA wheat payments and wheat loans even though they exceed their wheat allotments. This will enable farmers in regions ‘where wheat is the major

after they meet their goals on other crops, if was said. Wickard, however, urged wheat farmers to maintain careful farming practices 8o as not to endanger future wheat crops. Excessive acreage increases in the past, he re‘called, brought wind and water erosion and resultant low yields.

eggs will make maximum wholesale prices about 40 cents a dozen for grade B eggs, fluctuating 1 or 2 cents either way, according to localities, during March, April and May. - Prices will advance later in the year.

Vegetable Ceilings Set

The OPA’s action on egg prices ‘came shortly after establishment of emergency, price ceilings on five

fresh vegetables. The vegetable ceilings, however, will not keep re-

vantage of last week’s sharp price

rises in anticipation of drastic ra-

tioning of canned fooods. The permanent egg price ceilings

replace temporary ceilings which

have been in effect since Oct. 3. regulations fixing the markup be-

of eggs. prices.

of eggs for the winter, spring and

|summer months will be higher than

last year, but that fall prices will be about the same as in 1942. ; The wholesale prices will vary from an average «of about 40 cents

|a dozen during the spring months

to about 48 or 49 cents during the high priced period of November, it was said. Officials said wholesale ceilings will remain constant for the next three months. A steady rise will (Continued on Page Eight) :

Sliced Breads

Times Special

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. — Housewives who have been having

a hard time slicing bread so that it will not turn to cinders in a toaster were given some hope for. a return to bakery slicing today. For Rep. Forest A. Harness ( Ind.) repérted he had received letter from Roy F. Hend head of the food distribution di: vision under Food Director Wie ard; in which it was revealed th the whole matter of bread slicing is being reconsidered and rulings may be made March 18. The letter pointed out that war production board had ¢

S01] ht

| the slicing stopped to save

payer and fat this may mo}

ket, which has been held off the |

crop to go all out in production,

3

tail merchants from taking ad-

tween wholesale and retail prices This will control consumer

Ips 8

Officials said the wholesale prices

year, it.was also announced, mile

The ceiling order by the OPA for = |

The OPA said it soon will issue |