Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 October 1944 — Page 1

FORECAST: Mostly cloudy tonight and tomorrow ;

probably light rain; no decided change in temperature,

Sreioutss] VOLUME 55—NUMBER 191 ~~ °%

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1944

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoftice Indianapolis 9, Ind, Issued daily except Sunday

SPEEDWAY SALE? Rick Thinks 40 & 8 Will

By JOE WILLIAMS NEW YORK, Oct. 20.— There are timed when it is impossible to keep spectacular news out of this space, This is always a blow to the whimsy school but fortunately it does not nappen often; not often ~ enough to bring a flush of envy to the noble kisser of the news editor, anyway.

For some reason two big gest sports shows in America, the 500 and ; always their a

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© BEFORE crowd was 000; the 500 Col Matt explained ter ur , meant was poli “ Priva the politicians know about especially if it is a profitable business, the better. Steve Hannigan, the ebullient press agent, did the explaining for the 500.

fessed Mr. Rickenbacker today, “was 368,000, plus, paid. We did that in 1938. It's a matter of record in the tax department.” You know what that means, don't you? It mieans it was the largest crowd ever fo see a sports event in this country and very likely in any other country, Keep /that in mind when the boys start gnawing the gristle over attendance records. You can win yourself a bet and Mr. Rickenbacker will back you ‘up. =.» I SUPPOSE you'd be reasonably safe in betting the second sports crowd was the 118,736, paid,

(Contitued on Page §—Column 4)

Speedway Option Extension Verified by 40 & 8 Here

Annourteement that Eddie Rickenbacker, president of the Indianapolis Speedway corporation, had agreed to an extension until Nov. -- 15 of the optional purchase agreement with a local Forty and Eight committee was verified here today. Norman H, Coulon, a director of Voiture 145 of the legion organization and head of the Speedway committee, disclosed that while he has not been officially notified of the extension, this was the “gentle-

men’s agreement” when the first op-|?

tion was secured. : Some opposition has developed

Take '500'|

|Pittsburgh Speech Expected To Attack Policies of ‘Roosevelt.

By CHARLES T. LUCEY Scripps-Howard Staff Writer PITTSBURGH, :0Oct. 20.—Governor Dewey took his presidential campaign -over the mountains into the land of steel and coal today, intent on exploiting in his Pittsburgh speech tonight the Roosevelt administration bungling in labor mat-

TODAY'S RADIO SPEECHES By UNITED PRESS Vice President Henry A. Wal-

lace, aha, Neb, Blue network (WISH), 7: p. m., Indianapolis

The 1

from American Legion sources that feel the veterans’ organization is pledged to keep Memorial day sacred. Some, it is said, feel that the

TIMES INDEX

Amusements . 26 Inside Indpls. 21 Eddie Ash .., 28 Barnaby ..... 21

Np ‘i A

| Have Returned . . By the Grice of Almighty God'

ndianapolis Times

FORBCASE: Suawers ond warmer 10a afirsoen 2nd totic?

“Through And I Shall Return’ :

ALIA, March 20.—Gen. Douglas Mac-

But Still Far Behind Gates Who Is Led Only by Dewey

PRICE THREE CENTS |.

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SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA Arthur today made his. first statement st *The President of the United States Japanese lines and proceed from 1 understand it, of organizing an “A primary purpose of ‘this is the relief of “through and I sha return.”

+ Returns from The Indianapolis Times’ straw poll today resglted in an increase of 1.5 percentage points for Senator Samuel D. Jackson, the Democratie gubernatorial nominee, bringing him up to 42 per cent. But the poll still shows him far behind his Republi-

_ can opponent, Ralph Gates, who has received 58 per cent of the total vote cast for governor in the poll so far.

Each -day’s‘returns are averaged with those returns

already in.

The poll up-to-date shows the following percentages:

Republican

President Dewey .... ‘Senator Capehart ., ‘ Governor ~~ Gates .....

Congressman Stark .....

: = TODAY'S RETURNS caused

shown above.

61% 53% 58% 45%

Democrat Roosevelt , 39% Schricker , 47% Jackson ... 42% Ludlow ... 55%

a drop of one-half of one per cent in thé standings of the other three Republican candidates, Governor Dewey, Homer E. Capehart and Superior Judge Judson L. Stark, giving them and their Democratic opponents the percentages

The Times’ poll was taken by sending several thousand postcards to persons whose names were selected at regular intervals from the

edition of the city directory. Experts in the type of poll taken by The Times say that four

and one-half per cent should be taken off the Republican standings » make up for the number of people in the low-income group, most

usually Democrats, who do not take the trouble to vote in

Democratic standings in the poll as

.of today would give the county to two Republicans, Governor Dewey

ts, Governor Schricker and Conof course, is leading anyway.

Vigo Miners, Loyal to Lewis, May Give Dewey an Edge

By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staft Writer TERRE HAUTE, Oct. 20.—PresJohn L. Lewis of the Umited Workers is tops with the

11 which has headquarters But President Roosevelt a h a s slipped some with them and many may vote for Gover nor Thomas E.

ident de 1 dues-paying ‘miners in Dis~ trict

That is “the ~~ way District 11 ~ president, Louis Austin, siges up “the situations Including the , So-called “exon7 erated” (those need pay dues but

membership is 9015, mean

. Mr, Austin declared. : ‘This home town of the late

them but now they feel that he gave their leader, Mr. Lewis, a raw deal and put him in a when Lewis sought ‘to ‘miners wages raised. sore and apt to reflect their resentment in the Nov.

7 balloting,

(Continued on Page ‘8—Column 5)

Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, a8

nee arriving here. He said: ordered me to break through the

American offensive against Japan. g the Philippines. 1 came ’ 8

: :

Reports Plan for Invasion Drawn Up After Visit to

Pearl Harbor.

By SANDOR S. KLEIN = WASHINGTON, Oct. 20.—Reiterating his happiness that Gen. Douglas MacArthur at long last is back in- the Philippines and disclosing that U. 8. losses thus far have been “extremely light,” President Roosevelt said today that final preparations for the Philippine ipvasion ‘were started after his visit to Pearl Harbor in July, The President at his news conference made public a message from MacArthur to Gen. George C.

(Hoosier Heroes, Page Two)

Marshall, army chief of staff, announcing that the invasion was making “splendid progress in every respect” at little early cost. In response to questions, Mr. Roosevelt said he conferred with MacArthur and other key men in the Pacific war effort while he was in Pearl Harbor and that after his return to Washington the final plans for the Leyte operations were agreed upon officially and actual preparations started. Mr. Roosevelt disclosed that MacArthur reported all landihgs were made on schedule, The President said MacArthur also had reported that the Japanese were caught strategically unaware.

(Continued on Page $—Column 2)

OVERCOAT WEATHER BACK FOR 3 DAYS

Winter coats, which many Indianapolis residents discarded during Yesterday's warm spell, will feel good the next two or three days, as the Weather bureau today predicted cool weather for that period. The tempertaure will be below normal for this time of year in Indiana but will rise the first of next week.™ Little or no rain is expected. :

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

6am. .... 42 10a m..... tv 9a.m..... 42 RNam.... 49 Sa m..... 43 12 (Noom).. 51 Sa m..... 4 1pm... 60

constitutes a major

executive

the Indian

League of Women Voters Chides Skepticism Over City Merit Plan

| Skepticism toward current efforts to establish a semi-merit system in

merit plan to oust the city’s “wellentrenched”

difficulties. A -defeatist ac-

‘because we've always the past is a serious

LOSSES ‘LIGHT, {FD R. REVEALS

MW ARTHUR SLASHES INLAND IN FACE 0 “FEEBLE 0

WAR FRONTS

(Oct. 20, 1944)“

PACIFIC—Gen. Douglas MacArthur drives inland in Central Philippines with perhaps 250,000 men,

WESTERN FRONT — Americans capture Aachen.

ITALY—Germans throw new divi-. sions into battle for Bologna,

AIR WAR~—More than 1000 British heavy bombers strike three-way blow at Germany. 2

RUSSIA—Red army captures Debrecen, Hungary's third largest city.

AACHEN FALLS TO AMERICANS

Last Resistance Crushed - In Big German City; Canadians Gain. SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, A. E. F., Paris, Oct. 20 (U., P.).—The American 1st army completed the mop-up of Aachen today, crushing the last Naz resistance in the western outskirts of the first great German city to fall to the allies. ' “The great pile of rubble that once was Charlemagne’s eapital now is entirely in American hands,” United Press Correspondent Jack Frankish reported from Aachen, Only a small pocket of resistance outside the city remained to mark the hopeless stand of the German garrison that 10 days ago rejected a surrender-or-die ultiMmatum. Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges’ assault forces were pounding that last nest as he announced that the clean-up of Aachen itself was finished.

Scores of prisoners marched out of the last Nazi toehold in Aachen during the morning as the German stand went through its death throes.

Canadians Attack

Coincident with the mopup of Aachen, the Canadian 1st army to the west launched an attack on a two-mile front 14 miles northeast of Antwerp in the area of Brecht and St. Leonard. : American 7th army troops captured by storm the strategic transport center of Bruyeres in Northeastern France and the French 1st army battled forward through the snow-capped Vosges into a pass down to Mulhouse.

IAPS SEE POLITICS IN LEYTE LANDING

By UNITED PRESS Japanese propaganda on the invasion of the Philippines took the line today that the operation was ordered by President Roosevelt so the “defeat” of the United States fleet off Formosa would not embarrass his re-election campaign. Admitting that American forces had succeeded in landing on Leyte, radio Tokyo said the invasion “obviously” was an attempt on the President's part to “hide the For-

(Continued on Page 8—Column 4)

~The invasion went well fron] the start, catching

POSITIO

600-Ship Fleet Lands 250,000 Yankees On Leyte in Central Philippines; Casualties Called Light.

By RICHARD,M. JOHNSTON United Press Staff Correspondent

GENERAL , MACARTHUR'S HEADQUARTERS, Leyte, Philippines, Oct. 20.—Gen. Douglas MacArthur to= day led an army of possibly 250,000 men back to the Philips pines in a 600-ship armada, the greatest of the Pacific war, and drove inland on Leyte island to within gunshot of the excellent Tacloban airfieM against light Japanese resistance, : MacArthur himself stepped onto Philippine soil in the bright sunlight only a few hours after thousands of Amer ican assault troops swarmed ashore under cover of the : greatest naval bombardment yet to blast the Japanese, .. Ashe returned to the islands, MacArthur broadcast td the Philippines people the fulfillment of his pledge made when he arrived in Australia from Corregidor: “I have returned. By the grace of God almighty, ; force stands on Philippine soil, soil consecrated in the blood of our two people.” . Two Principal Landings Made Veteran jungle troops, including every living survivor of MacArthur's epic journey from Bataan and Corregidor;

landed on the 75-mile east coast of Leyte island, im the Central Philippines, : : They made two principal landings, one about a mile and a half south of Tacloban, capital of the island, and a second at Dulab, 12 miles farther south, : : : In tanks, bulldozers and light armored cars the Ameris can assault waves smashed through the feeble Japanese resistance toward the Tacloban airfield and the caplal city itself, a metropolis of 30,000 persons. :

Japs off guard and reeling under the 10-day air and naval attack of the naval forces of Adm. William F. Halsey whic razed their defenses from Ryukyu islands just below the Japanese archipelago through Formosa to the Philippines itself. ‘ : (In Washington President Roosevelt released a message from MacArthur which said the invasion was making splene did progress,, had been accomplished on schedule and with extremely light losses.) The attack on Leyte was preceded by a three-day naval bombardment which was followed up today by the landing of assault troops, heavy artillery, tanks, flame-throwers and amphibious trucks. : § Within an hour after the first Americans touched shore and while the thunder of 14, 15 and 16-inch shells still was crashing down on Japanese positions, the assault spearheads were racing for the Tacloban airdrome, a field which will give the American air forces fighters and bomber strips 6000 féet long.

Four Landing Ships Hit Shells from the battleships California and Pennsylvania rained down on the Japanese. Some of the Japs were veterans of Bataan and Corregidor but they turned and fled under the American attack. American casualties were extremely light although Japanese mortar fire scored four hits on landing ships as they were edging in to the shore. : Americans wiped out with a bayonet charge the few Japanese who: survived the shore bombardment. Then destroyers and lighter naval vessels moved in closer to work over the region just beyond the beaches before our jungle fighters drove forward. Naval planes provided aircover for the operation, dive-

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