North Carolina Newspapers

'_Dedicated t0 the ""**’'* Served by Leased Wire of the PROGRESS gMR jl,'fp M M tT lAf ASSOCIATED PRESS Of Wilmington and ' V'VA IBI With Complete Coverage of Southeastern N. C. __ . PUBI-Ts”c5 ■ ■ mM — W W State and National News ___1 .TM6 €ttW®FP®@®iaEfe8 AM® PILEAgEJ-iagafr ”" ___ WILMINGTON, N. C., SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1940 _★_PRICE FIVE CENTS Greece Claims Further Advances In Albania; More Prisoners Taken ROMANS FIGHT HARD Athens Says Resistance Is Stiffening In Sector Near Pogradetz DUCE PLANES ACTIVE ATHENS, Dec. 15.—(Sun day) — (IF) — Greek troops slogging through heavy snow falls have crushed fierce Italian mountaintop defenses all along the Albanian front, capturing more prisoners and armament, the Greeks de clared officially early today. Italian resistance was said bo be especially stiff in the northern Pogradetz area on the route leading to Elbasani, but a government spokesman said it was not holding up the Greek advance. Other Greek units were battling their way northward along the Adri atic coastline toward Chimara en route to Valona, and also cutting toward those ports from inland trails in the Tepeleni region, reports here said. The Greeks already have claimed a total of 7,250 troops captured, and the high command said additional prisoners wei'e taken in Saturday’s fighting, along with 60 automatic weapons. “The news from the front is high ly satisfoctory,” the spokesman said. “At some places we are making the usual advances whereas in others the Italians are putting up stiff re sistance but everywhere it has been crushed despite the fact that snow is very heavy in the fighting re gions.” Yugoslav border dispatches from the northern lake Ochrid region said Italian planes were active there, heavily bombing Greek positions in the Pogradez area.) BEATEN OFF SALONIKI, Greece, Dec. 14.—CAP) —Italian planes attempted to bomb this area again today after a lull of several weeks but were driven oft by Greek pursuit planes. BORDEAUX BASE BOMBED BY RAF. Docks At Kiel, Factories At Bremen Also Raided By Coast Command By the Associated Press LONDON, Dec. 14.—A swift and destructive raid on the submarine base of the great southwest French port of Bordeaux was credited of ficially today to the bombers of the RAF coastal command. It was the newest British countar stroke at the U-boat menace which is the outstanding peril in the siege of this island kingdom—one of a series of raids which authoritative sources declared are causing “grave concern” to German mili tary leaders. Pilots’ reports told of these re sults of the raid: “A succession of brilliant blue flashes along the dock wall. . . A (Continued on Page Five; Col. 4) .— --- 1 Rome Denies Italians Routed (By The Associated Press) ROME, Dec. 14.—The Italians announced to the world today through the Rome radio that “no peace offer will ever be forth coming from Italy,” and refused to acknowledge defeat In Africa. The high command’s daily com munique asserted Fascist coun ter-attacks had “slowed up ene my pressure” in Egypt, but laid no further claim to success in the field, and authoritative com mentators took the line that what was happening in the desert was a long way from any decision. Battle Still Raging They spoke of it as an action still raging over a vast area and described the British force as enormous. It was observed that the outcome of the struggle appeared to depend on the ability of the two armies to maneuver and to keep supplied with the essentials of war. “So long as the forces are intact or efficient, so long as water, gaso line, munitions and men last, the war continues,” said the newspaper II Popolo di Roma. “If the maneuver fails, however, and the enemy keeps his force then the tactical result and a little local triumph lose import ance.’’ Writing in II Giornale a’ltalia, and speaking the government’s views, Virginio Gayda asserted the results (Continued on Page Five; Col. 4) F. D. R. ON WAY TO WARM SPRINGS President Completes Tour Of Base Sites Traded For Destroyers BY DOUGLAS B. CORNELL ABOARD ROOSEVELT TRAIN TO WARM SPRINGS, Ga„ Dec. 14. —<a>)—President Roosevelt ended a cruise over nearly 4,000 miles of the Caribbean and Atlantic today, as sured by a personal inspection that sites for American defense base3 in Jamaica, St. Lucia and Antigua were satisfactory, but skeptical about facilities in the Bahamas. Pointing up evidence of Anglo American friendship, the cruise tock the President into the waters of a belligerent power for the first time since the current conflict began in Europe. He paused at more than half a dozen British islands, and also at the French island of Mar tinique. Mr. Roosevelt came ashore from the cruiser Tuscaloosa at the Charleston, S’. C., Navy yard this afternoon, tanned by a tropical sun and salt-laden breezes, after twelve days at sea. Immediately, he left by special train for Warm Springs, Ga., to spend Sunday at the foundation for infantile paralysis victims and then return to Washington Monday. The cruise took him to four of the eight spots where the United States obtained rights, by turning over 50 old destroyers to Britain, to estab (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) REPORT SALUM [TAKEN Italians Routed And Egypt ‘Cleared’ Of II Duce’s Invasion Forces HITLER’S AID IS SEEN By the Associated Press CAIRO, Egypt, Dec. 14.—• The Italian African army, broken into bits, harassed by unending air attack and de clared here to have been ef fectively driven from Egypt, fought “on and about” its own colonial frontier of Libya tonight in an action that had become a defense of Fascist soil. The term “on and about was used by the British com mand itself in an official communique which did not add the obvious implication that something very near to a counter-invasion was devel oping with the apparent pur pose of trying to destroy the entire Fascist force. Plans Not Revealed While no military authority would discuss future British plans, it was indicated that at some points fighting already was going on with in Libya. One informant pointed out that the question of supplies and par ticularly water was a dominant one and said that a continuation of the British offensive probably would involve an effort to try to restrict the fighting generally to the hill regions beyond the Libyan borders. An aspect of the future situation, he declared, was that the Italians would be seriously hampered by the loss of huge amounts of equip meht, which British control of the Mediterranean would make exceed ingly difficult of replacement. A military spokesman would not confirm rumors that Salum, just within Egypt, and Fort Capuzo, just within Libya, had fallen to the British. The action in Egypt itself, as summarized by general headquar ters, was simply one of "clear ance”—a process of rounding up the stray Fascist units still in the country. $ The Italian defeat was called a "rout” by the British command. As always, there was no definite figure as to the number of pris oners captured; an incomplete of (Continued on Page Five; Col. 1) ITALY IS HEAVY DRAIN ON NAZIS Economic Strain, Expert Says, Becoming Burden To Hitler-Land WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—(S’)—In dications that Italy Is proving a heavy economic drain on her Ger man Axis partner were reported to lay by the commerce department. Writing In the Foreign Commerce weekly, Louis Domeratzky, chief of the department’s regional Informa tion division, said that an analysis showed "not only the great economic disparity between the two countries, but also the high degree of depend ence of Italy on German resources.’’ The full measure of German as sistance to her partner cannot be ascertained because of lack of cur rent trade statistics, he said, but the "fundamental character and scope” Is disclosed in a review of their eco nomic relations appearing In a Ger man publication which is regarded as (Continued on Page Three; Col. 2) " * vc ic yc vc Vc Vr Vc VC Vc Vc Petain Ousts Laval, Picks Flandin - M He Disowns lice - Premier As Successor Vichy Chief Says ‘Purge’ Essential For Reasons Of National Unity WAS PRO-AXIS LEADER Weygand’s Distrust Also Believed Behind Oust ing Of Laval by ROBERT OKIN VICY. FRANCE, Dec. 14.—(41— Hie world was permitted to learn tonight that Pierre Laval, No. 2 man of the Vichy government, has been forcibly shown the door but that his policy of collaboration with Germany will be continued under Pierre-Etienne Flandin. Laval was ousted as Vice-Premi er and Foreign Minister last night. Flandin took over the Foreign Min istry. The Vice-Premiership was left empty. As the hectic events of the past 24 hours unfolded — their full story still may not be told — in formed persons said the action was directed mainly against La ral's activity at home and not against the principle of German collaboration, which Chief of State Marshal Philippe Petain has en dorsed. (In Bern, Switzerland, authori tative diplomatic sources said La val was accused by his colleagues of scheming to set himself up as head of an independent govern ment at Paris and even of plot ting to lead France into war against Britain. He was reported under guard at his estate.) Significant was the official an nouncement that the change had been communicated to Reichsfueh rer Hitler before the public was told, informing him that pro-Ger man, rightist Flandin was “more (Continued on Page Five; Col. 3) 38-DEGREE LOW PREDICTED HERE Day Will Be Colder, With Clouds And Rain, Says Weather Bureau A low of around 38 before dawn •bis morning and cloudy, probably ri>ny and colder weather today were Predicted last night by the weather bureau here. By The Associated Press Wintry weather chilled the north (tn states yesterday from coast to toast. Subzero readings were registered in ®any communities between the Rockies and Wisconsin while sub reezing temperatures were recorded many points between Illinois and (Continued on Page Two; Col. 4) WEATHER v FORECASTS tin, i Carolina: Cloudy and con [].?“ C°I<1 Sunday; Monday partly hi*’ not mucl1 change in tempera Carolina: Cloudy, occasional Mona .colller south portion Sunday; . “ay partly cloudy, not much change temperature. . (,,/tiy U. S. Weather Bureau) iMj ?2r"luSical data for the 24 hours * ' :3° P- nt. yesterday.) ].*, 'temperature 13-7 *• m. fil; 7 :30 a. m. 57; 1:30 p. m. “nim il- t1, 40; maximum 62; mini Jl mean 54; normal 49. H* Humidity B-',.*; m. 100; 7 :30 a. m. 94; 1:30 p. m. ' ‘ -“0 P. m. 97. Tot.i , „ Precipitation ta , *or 24 hours ending 7:30 p. m. Uonthnw TotaI since first o£ the u inches. IFrr.tv. ~ Tides For Today 8. Co,® Ti?e Tables published by C. st and Geodetic Survey.) Miltiin High Low mgtnn -10:10a 4:56a batons 10:24p 5:39p *so“boro Inlet _ 7:49a 1:39a ,Sunrise-.m 8:08p 2:10P I:i5„. ‘-JOa; sunset 5:04p; moonrtse P. moonset 7:35a. ’*rt,iter sta£e at FayettevUle, 9.7 Continued on Page Five; Col. 4) -- “Men Wanted”; Taxi Brings ’Em When winter and national defense meet head on, it means only one thing—more and speedier barracks and halls for army training camps all over the U. S. So great is the need for men at Fort Meade, Md., that the District of Columbia employment service is sending Washington work men there daily—in taxis. Above, carpenters load their tools into cabs in the capital. Drivers transport them free—and get'jobs themselves at the camp. Crip Smith Held Here As ‘Numbers*Ringleader OLEANDER RESIDENT Sheriff Jones Charges He ‘Heads Numbers Racket’ In North Carolina George (Crip) Smith, said by Sheriff C. David Jones to be the head of the numbers racket over the state, James Irving, negro, and James Davis, negro, were ar rested here Friday night on a war rant charging _ them with conspir ing to violate the state anti-lottery laws, a felony. Wanted In Guilford Smith was also held on a war rant from Guilford county in which he is charged with conspir ing to violate the anti-lottery law there. On the Guilford warrant he is held in default of $10,000 bail. On (Continued on Page Two; Col. 5) J. J. ANDERSON, JR. KILLED IN CRASH Wilmington Man Fatally Hurt As Truck Leaves Fayetteville Road J. J. Anderson, Jr., 23, of Wilming ton, was fatally injured yesterday afternoon when a soft drink truck he was driving went out of control near the Cape Pear river at Fayette ville and plunged down a deep ra vine. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Anderson, of Wrightsville Sound. He is survived by his parents, hi widow, the former Miss Edna Mae Tilley, three brothers, Billy, Eugene and Bobby Anderson, and three sis ters, Mrs. C. G. Bonner, and Misses Miriam and Inez Anderson. Funeral arrangements had not been completed last night. DEFENSE COUNCIL MEETING PLANNED Chairman Page And Mayor •Stress Importance Of Meeting Situation R. B. Page, chairman of the Wil mington Defense Council, after a conference with Mayor Thomas E. Cooper, said last night he will in vite Lieut. Col. Albertis Montgom ery, construction quartermaster for the $10,000,000 Holly Ridge an ti-aircraft base, and Col. L. L. Simpson, construction quartermas ter at Fort Bragg, to address a full meeting of the Wilmington De fense Council and its 48 subcom mittees. The meeting will be held, Page said, so that these “men who know what the establishment of the camp will mean to Wilmington and what conditions it will bring about, may inform the committees inter ested in them.” He and Mayor Cooper pointed out that a survey will have to be made of the city to determine its available housing facilities, its housing needs and the best means of filling them. Plans will have to be made to see that traffic in the city, increased by the inflow of thousands of people and by the need for materials, is kept orderly and safe. Difficulties which might arise relative to all types of trans portation must be foreseen and cared for. Plans must be made now, he said, to care for the recreation needs of the additional people who will come to Wilmington because of the camp, as well as for the men who will be stationed at the camp. Plans should also be made now, he said, to further the community’s efforts to have additional defense projects located in this section of (Continued on Page Two; Col. 8) Six Million More Jobs Predicted By Fall 1942 NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—W)—The Twentieth Century Fund, an insti tute devoted to economic research, predicted today that national em ployment would increase approxi mately 6,000,000 by the fall of 1942. In a report surveying labor pol icy under the defense program, the fund said that ‘labor shortages can exist in certain localities or trades in spite of considerable un employment in other areas.” Acute shortages of aircraft su pervisors, specialized shipyard craftsmen and tool and instrument makers were cited as current ex amples by the research staff, which is headed by Prof. Lloyd G. Reyn olds of John Hopkins university. Such specific conditions should not obscure the labor picture as a whole, the report said, adding: “It would certainly be wrong to conclude that all employable work ers will have jobs by the end of 1942. . , * Many of the unemployed will not be absorbed because they are in the wrong places or the wrong occup:|ons, and there may well be unemployment of 2,000,000 or more even at the peak of de fense production.” To help remedy the skilled labor shortage, the report proposed, the “drastic expedient of breaking down production processes into (Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) *1 Work Begun On Base At Holly Ridge 100 Laborers Make Start On Clearing Two-Acre Office Site MATERIALS AWAITED More Men To Get Jobs Monday If Shipments Are Delivered HOLLY RIDGE, Dec. 14.—Work began today on the Army’s new $10,000,000 anti-aircraft training center here, though the War de partment has not yet announced who the contractors will be. Unofficial reports say that F. M. Thompson, J. J. McDevitt and E. Grainis companies are to do the work, and the W. S. Lee Engineer ing company, also a Charlotte firm, has announced that the engineer ing contract was awarded to it. Approximately 100 persons be gan clearing a two-acre tract this HOLLY RIDGE, Dec. 14.— How things change,” a stranger in the store of C. C. Hines, Holly Ridge postmaster, exclaimed to day. He appeared dazed as he walked into the crowded store, one of the two now on the site of the new $10,000,000 anti-air craft training center of the Army. Outside were scores of auto mobiles and men. “How things change,” he re peated. “Yesterday I couldn’t find Holly Ridge. Today I can’t get by it.” morning, preparatory to intensive work to begin Monday morning. A. L. Hubbard, contractor’s rep resentative, said between 300 and 500 persons will start work Monday if three carloads of materials ar rive. First item of construction will be offices for army officers, con tractors and their personnel, as well as the laying out of street^ and shrubbing of pine seedlings. The Atlantic Coast Line railroad company provided a second depot for Holly Ridge when it moved the Edgecomb station, a 16X20 foot frame building, eight miles to the camp site. It was hauled on two roadway motor cars. While laborers shrubbed the grounHs, red-capped army engi (Continued on Page Two; Col. 2) NEW YORK OPENS 6TH AYE. SUBWAY 26 Million Dollar A Mile Link Added To City’s Growing System BY CHARLES FRANCIS NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—UP)—The $26,000,000-a-mile Sixth avenue sub way opens late tonight, adding an other link to an ever-growing trans portation system built by billions of nickels from the pockets of the city’s millions. Tonight’s event was to begin at a minute after midnight with Mayor F. H. LaGuardia piloting a train from its terminal in Greenwich Vil lage to its uptown terminus in the heart of the shopping district. That it was merely an episode in a never ending story was shown by tfie fact that even now projected is a plan for adding mox-e miles to the system at a cost of $867,347,000. A fragment of the new program already is under way in Brooklyn where $20,000,000. is being put into a 2-mile stretch. The rest will be added when the money becomes available. It’s a human narrative, this his tory of a system that, with the Sixth avenue, now runs 254 route miles under and over city streets, employs 35,000 men and women and carries 2,255,000.000 people a year. Success is in it—and so are death, failure, and last but not least, po (Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) To Rule French American Isles Powers of virtual dictatorship over all French possessions in the West ern Hemisphere were bestowed by the Vichy government on Admiral Georges Robert, above, high com missioner for the French West Indies. BIG BRITISH SHIP REPORTS ATTACK Liner Western Prince Is Torpedoed 550 Miles Off Coast Of Ireland NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—(«—The British liner Western Prince, load ed with a heavy cargo, including airplanes, and carrying British of ficials home for the Christmas holi days, was torpedoed today about 550 miles northwest of Londonder ry, Ireland. (At Ottawa, the prime minister’s office reported receipt of a mes sage saying that “most of the per sons aboard the Western Prince were saver.” No further details of the torpedoing were available.). McKay radio here picked up an SOS call that the 10,926-ton ship had been “torpedoed” at 2:02 a.m. (EST). Nothing further was heard after the first call, relayed by the Portpatrick, Scotland, station. Furness, Withy and company, managers of the Western Prince, identified one of the 60 passengers as C. D. Howe, Canadian minister of munitions and supply. Also aboard was Captain W. A. Charl ton, one-time master of the Queen of Bermuda. The ship had a crew of 80 when she left here Dec. 6. John Gammie, associate director of Cunard White Star lines, passen ger agents, said he had “no infor mation” on the liner. (Continued on Page Five; Col. 4) EMPTY STOCKING FUND IS GROWING Christmas Cheer Fund Now Nearing $600 Mark But Much More Needed The Star-News Empty Stocking had a larger bulge in the toe yes terday, but indications are that more generous contributions are necessary if many of the children in Wilmington’s underprivileged homes are to be happy Christmas morn. Largest donations yesterday came from the Loyal Order of Moose, $10, and the young men and boys who compose the Star-News Carriers’ association. They gave $25. Previously acknowledged-$520.42 A friend - l-°® Girl’s Hi-Y - 5.00 A friend - 2C® Ethyl-Dow-Male Chorus - 5.00 Loyal Order of Moose - 10.00 Alex Kosch - i-00 The Rector’s Reserve of St. James church - 5.00 Lindy and Betty- 2.00 Three children - 5.00 A friend - l0® Mother’s Class of St. Paul Lutheran church — - 100 Star-News Carriers Assn — 25.00 A friend _ l-®° Total ___—$582,421 WORLD BULLETINS VETO CHARLESTON, S. C., Dec. 14. President Roosevelt gave a clear indication today that he would veto the Walter Logan bill pro viding fof court rulings of va rious quasi-judicial government agencies. COMMUNIST SEATTLE, Dec, 14. — UP) — Members of the Aeronautical Mechanics union, local 751, voted 429 to 344 today to accept a re port declaring Vice President Donald R. Keppler "guilty of communistic activities.” RIGHT TO STRIKE NEW YORK, Dec. 14.—UP)— Lee Pressman, general counsel for the CIO, declared today that “all unions which seek to pro tect the interests of their mem bers will combat any government action or legislation aimed at curtailing or impairing the right to strike.” BREAK-IN HAVANA, Cuba, Dec. 15.—(/P) —The United States embassy an nounced today that the office of its naval attache had been forced “by unknown persons on the night of Nov. 30.” HAPPY HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Dec. 14. —(JP)—Jane Deegan, 16, daugh (Continucd on Page Two; Col. 4) jjsmmm