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Served By Leased Wire Of The Dedicaied To The Progress Of ASSOCIATED PHESS * WILMINGTON Wiih Complete Coverage of * And Southeastern North State and National News | f Carolina VOL. 74—NO. 172_______WILMINGTON, N. C., FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1941_FINAL EDITION_ESTABLISHED 1867 Navy Fund Is Passed By Senate $3,446,990,644 Appropri ation Largest in U. S. Peace-Time History PLAN new warships Scions Who Fought Pur chases of South Ameri can Beef Score Win WASHINGTON, March 20.—(«— , S3 446 990,644 naval appropria tion 'the largest in United States peace-time history, was passed by L senate today, while on the use Side of the capital informed legislators reported that the Navy planning to build five 60,000 tp '65.000-ton battleships, biggest warcraft ever to sail the seas. The naval bill, carrying funds to operate the Navy establishment in the next fiscal year and to pro ceed with the building of the two ocean navy, now goes back to the house for action on senate amend merits. Plan New (ships Included in the measure are: SI.515.000.000 for new ships, in cluding six battle cruisers of 20, 000 to 25.000 tons and $350,372,000 for airplanes. Before the bill passed legisla tors who have fought U. S. pur chases of Lalin-American canned beef won a victory. As the bill passed the house, it contained a provision prohibiting the use of any of the funds to buy foreign foodstuffs except those which can not be procured domestically "in sufficient quantities as and when needed." Such a provision has been in effect several years. The senate appropriation's com mittee recommended that the pro vision be deleted but. on- a 32 to 32 tie vote, P’e senate failed o uphold this recommendation, and the clause remained in the bilL Concerning the five super-dread naug! ts, Rep. Maas (R.-Minn.), senior minority member of the house naval committee, said he understood that when fully armed and armored they would displace 65.000 tons. Maas believed the con (fnntir.ued on rage Twelve; Col. fi) ROOSEVELT BOARDS YACHT FOR CRUISE Nation’s Chief Expects To Spend Week or 10 Days In Southern Waters PORT EVERGLADES, Fla., March 20.—\B— President Roose velt vacationed tonight to find tem porary escape from the weighty problems of his office, but he post poned until tomorrow a sea voyage aboard the White House yacht Po tomac. He boarded the Potomac at dusk, but officers kept her tied to Port Everglades docks because of threatening weather outside the harbor. With his fishing gear oiled and a half a dozen other devotees of the art of angling along, the Presi dent was ready to sail at night fall from this port on the lower Florida East coast. Mr. Roosevelt expected to spend a week or 10 days combining his two favorite forms of recreation— fishing and cruising. But where he intended to go, perhaps among the Bahamas, perhaps into the Gulf of Mexico, remained a secret. Crowded into quarters of the J'acht were attorney General Jack son, Secretary Ickes, Harry L. Hopkins, former secretary of com merce. two presidential secretar (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 5) WEATHER FORECAST Aniiii Carolina: Clouc.'y with rain, Jt!?.11 lv (*(,bler in interior Friday; Sat in *warily cloudy, preceded by rain ]n cast portion. . (by t s. Weather Bureau) .ir-teoroiQgicai data for the 24 hours au,D^ ":30 ]». rn. yesterday.) - Temperature 1:;;° a. m. 42; 7:30 a. m. 42; 1.20 p. y_' ’'''-i ;30 p. m. 58. Maximum 70; mini um 40; mean 55; normal 54. i „r Humidity a. m. 74; 7:30 a. m. 54; 1:30 p. a' 1J; 7:30 p. m. 42. r.. Precipitation Ijial for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p. c b bO inches. incho?1 since tile the m0D^ 1-82 n, Tides For Today r"!om Tide Tables published by U. S. and Geodetic Survey.) Wiv . High Low llmill8ton_ 4:30a 11:48a 4:54p s°nl)oro Inlet_ 2:36a S:47a 2:56p 9:06p ?lri?‘ ®:|4a. Sunset 6:24p. Moon - ”a. .Moonset 12:55p. «»'u" * <‘ai river stage at Fayetteville lar,h 20, at 8 a. m., II.to feet. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. «) ‘British Bombers Were Active Last Night.,.’ This unusual picture shows British bombers over Nazi-held Dutch coast amid glare of searchlights. They’re on way to blast military targets on continent. Port-Traffic Body Raps St. Lawrence Canal Pact VOICES OPPOSITION Claims Project Will Divert Traffic from Atlantic And Gulf Ports The Wilmington Port-Traffic as sociation has urged three members of the North Carolina delegation in Congress to oppose the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway treaty on the grounds that the pro ject will divert traffic from ports along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, H. E. Boyd, traffic manager, said yesterday. The association has written let ters to Congressman J. Bayard Clark, Senators Josiah W. Bailey, and Robert R, Reynolds, urging that they express opposition to the project for a vareity of reasons, Boyd said. Agreement Signed The United States ana Canada Wednesday signed an agreement to startt the gigantic St. Lawrence seaway and power project Aton ca as a joint defense measure. Subject to approval by the United States congress and Canadian par liament, the revived lf-year-old plan envisions a giant engineering project in the international rapids section of the St. Lawrence river. It would rival the Panama canal in magnitude. mis waterway wm divert irom 10,000,000 to 25,000,000 tons of freight from American to Canadian ports annually, which will reflect serious harm to the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Wilmington, N. C., and Gulf ports,” the association’s letter states. The association contends that these American ports will need terminal facilities for handling car goes the year round, while they only will receive benefit from four and a half months, being the period in which traffic will be diverted through the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes route. The project, Boyd said, will re sult in adding a burden on every taxpayer in the United States, seri ously decrease rail tonnage, and cargoes of U. S. merchant marine carriers, prove beneficial only to Canada, and destroy commerce through American ports. The association’s letter to Con gressman Clark, Senators Bailey, and Reynolds follows: “This Association by resolution adopted April 27, 1933, went on record opposing the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Waterway Treaty, which had been before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 28, 1933. “It is very apparent under Bill H.R. 1776, the so-called “Lease Lend Bill,” that there is a possibil ity from the authority granted in said bill that the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway proposed ca nal can be carried out and pro (Continued on Page Three; Col. 5) Hiers Named Official Of Shippers’ Board BILOXI, Miss., March 20—OP) —The Southeastern Shippers’ advisory boavd in a resolution opposing the proposed St. Lawrence waterways project said “transportation arteries and commerce of the south would suffer from such a change in trade routes.” The resolution, adopted at the annual session here, said completion of the proposed wa terway would not come in time for national defense services. Otis H. Weaver of Griffin, Ga. was elected chairman of the board and J. H. Schroeder of Birmingham was renamed vice chairman. J. T. Hiers, Wilmington, N. C., was elected general secretary,. BRITISH TORPEDO ITALIAN VESSELS Admiralty Says Subs Have Hit Five Transports, Supply Ships ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, March 20 —(A>>—'Torpedoes by air and by sea have ripped new holes in It aly’s battle, transport and supply fleets, the admiralty announced to night, with three vessels definite ly sunk, two others placed in the “almost certain” category, and undetailed additional damage wrought. The latest exploit disclosed was that of the torpedo-carrying Brit ish Swordfish planes, which launch ed their self-propelled engines of destruction in the Albanian Ports of Valona and Durazzo on three successive nights, March 15, 16 and 17. The traditional “guinea-a-word” admiralty laconically described the attacks as “extremely success ful,” adding almost as an after thought that “the ships sunk in cluded one cruiser or a large de stroyer.” The rest of the recent toll was credited to a trio of British sub marines which the admiralty said had tropedoed five heavy-laden Ital ian transports and suuply ships with which Italy was trying to re inforce her overseas armies: The submarines’ score: Two supply ships definitely sunk; a crowded troop transport exploded and considered certain to have been “completely destroyed; ” and another supply ship “almost certainly” de stroyed, status of the fifth ship, a transport, uncertain. The attacks were conducted by three submarines, the Triumph, Ut (Continued on Page Three; CoL 6) NOTICES ISSUED FOR CITY VOTE Provisions Made for Elec tion of Councilmen If Plan D Is Approved Dual notices of municipal pri mary and regular elections for Wilmington were issued yesterday by the city board of commission ers and the city board of elections at a joint meeting. The double notices—one ordering election of three city commission ers and the other calling for the election of five councilmen—were necessary because of the March 31 special vote at which time the city will decide on the council-manager form of government. Shoud the counci-manager sys tem—pan D—be adopted on March 31 by a majority vote, the primary on Monday, April 21, according to the notices issued yesterday, will be to nominate candidates for the five offices of city councilmen. On the other hand, should Plan D be defeated on March 31, the pri mary on Tuesday, April 22, will be for the purpose of nominating candidates for the offices of mayor (commissioner of public safety), commissioner of finance and com missioner of public works. Irrespective of the outcome of plan D, the regular election will be held on Tuesday, May 6. The notices prepared for required public advertisement by the board of commissioners and city election board yesterday, carry the pro vision that should the voters reject Plan D, the official call for the councilmanic primary and election will become null and void. Should the council - manager system be adopted, the call for the commis sioners’ primary and election also becomes null and void. Both notices call attention to the fact that the wards, precincts and polling places for the primary and election are the same as used by the county board of elections. The notices also state: “All persons previously lawfully registered upon the general elec tion books for Wilmington town ship and who have not changed their places of residence are eligi ble to vote in the primary and regular municipal elections with out further registration. Any per son having moved from one ward or precinct to another and having resided in another ward or pre cinct for a period of four (4) months will be required to register in the ward or precinct to which such person has moved, and is re quired to first secure removal cer tificate from the registrar of the old ward to the registrar of the new ward. “Residence in the state of North Carolina for one (1) year and in a ward or precinct for four (4) months is required to qualify a person for registration.” The official registration books will be opened at 9 a.m. on Satur day, March 29, and closed at sun (Continued on Page Three; Col. 7) American Naval Movements In Pacific Seen As Caution Signal To Japanese By 3. C. STARK WASHINGTON, March 20.-®— United States naval movements in Australian and New Zealand wa ters appeared tonight to be de signed as a caution signal to Japan in connection with forthcoming Axis talks in Berlin. Official emphasis was placed on the “good will” character of the fleet visits to Sydney and Auckland but the unusual presence of 13 American warships 5n the South Pacific coincided significantly with the journey of Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese foreign minister, to Ger many. His trip by way of Moscow has been accompanied by Axis press statements that it would produce a forceful answer to the passage of the lease-lend bill and President Roosevelt’s declaration of all-out aid for Great Britain and other nations resisting the Axis. Informed diplomatic observers here noted, however, that Japa nese fanfare over the results to be achieved by Matsuoka’s trip has been less extravagant than that emanating from Berlin and Rome. From this, the conclusion was drawn in some quarters that Japan saw less to gain from the meeting than did Germany and Italy. By this reasoning, it was be lieved that Germany hoped to get commitments from Matsuoka to create a “diversion” in the Pacific that would force the United States to curtail aid to Britain but that Japan was unable to see how Ger many could provide any assistance in the event of a clash in the Far East. Whatever Anglo-American plans might be for such an emergency, President Roosevelt has declared that involvement of the United States in a war in the Pacific would not affect aid to Britain. Diplomats here said there was no reason to expect anything favor able to the British side from the (Continued on Bage Ten; Col. 4) RAFRaids Nazi Sub, Air Bases Bombers Strike at Import ant Objectives in Co logne and Lorient LONDON IS ATTACKED Heavy Casualties Feared In German Raid on South west English Town LONDON, March 20.—(®—RAF bombers struck at the Germans with fiery overnight raids on Co logne, the Nazi U-boat base at Lorient, France, and airdromes in Belgium and the Netherlands, the air ministry announced today, even while London was undergoing its heaviest aerial assault of 1941. Factories and oil tanks strung out along the east bank of the Rhine were set ablaze, the minis try declared, munitions stores were blown sky high and communica tions were crippled in this latest attack on much-bombed Cologne. Great Destruction Participating pilots said their “short but very sharp” attack within a single hour, between 9 and 10 p.m., caused as much de struction as any of the previous longer raids. “Great factories were ablaze from end to end,” was the way one pilot put it. “Bombs planted beside a rail road junction and near the Hohen zollern bridge spanning the Rhine started “two long fires which ran across a wide area of industrial quarters and continued to blaze furiously,” said another. Columns of black smoke were reported to have billowed up from an oil plant. Coastal command planes smashed at docks at Lorient, where one huge fire was reported to have been set off. Attack Airdromes Still other RAF units raided air dromes in the low countries where German aircraft were taking off, and at a Dutch base shattering ex plosions were said to have been followed by countless smaller ones. The Luftwaffe, following up the Wednesday night attack on Lon don, came back today to make sporadic raids on the Southeast coast. The admiralty reported a Ger man dive-bomber was shot down in an attack on a naval drifter and a yacht, carrying away the mizzen mast of the drifter in its plunge jnto the sea. There was a brief, uneventful daylight alarm in the capital as the homeless trekked from bomb shattered areas. In one workers’ district whole blocks of dwellings were levelled and a large number of dead were removed from a shelter which re ceived a direct hit. RAID SOUTHWEST TOWN LONDON, March 21.—(Fridayl —M*!—Heavy casualties were feared early today in a Southwest coast town where Nazi bombers loosed showers of explosive and incendi ary bombs at 2-minute intervals in a saxage attack that began last night. It was believed to be the city’s severest raid of the war and fol lowed the previous night’s heavy assault on London. Arti-aircraft fire was the heavi est yet heard in the city. Great flare'- of the "chandelier” type lit the skies at intervals but reports from the city said ground defenders shot them down rapidly. Reports from the town said prac tically its whole population went down to the shelters and remained there throughout the attack. 5 N. Y. BUS STRIKE NEAR SETTLEMENT Walkout Passes Into Hands Of Arbitrators; Service To be Resumed Soon NEW YORK, Mmarch 20.—(JP)— With only one union demand still at issue, Manhattan's 11-day-old bus strike—which has discommod ed 900,000 passengers a da y— passed into the hands of an arbi trator tonight. Union and company spokesmen announced in separate statements that service would be resumed Sat urday morning. The agreement came 24 hours after Mayor LaGuardia appointed a three-man fact-finding board which swung into action shortly after noon today and met almost continuously until 8:30 p.m. with representatives of the Transport Workers union (CIO), the Fifth Avenue Coach company and the (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3). Yugoslav Body Approves Passive Pact With Axis; Internal Trouble Feared IL DUCE’S COUSIN TAKEN BY GREEKS ATHENS, March 31.—(Friday) —(/P)—The capture of a cousin of Premier Mussolini and the re pulse of two strong Italian at tacks supported by tanks were reported early today by the of ficial government spokesman. The spokesman also said there was no confirmation of foreign reports that the Greeks had cap tured Tepeleni, Albanian town which th§ Greeks have besieged since early January. “Among the many Italian of ficers captured during the re cent operations was a cousin of Premier Mussolini, Lieut.-Col. Tuveri Ciglio, commanding of ficer of the 53rd battalion of the 26th legion of blackshirts,” the spokesman declared. For the second time within a few hours the Greeks reported annihilation of an entire Italian company. The high command in its Wednesday night communique said a company was destroyed by a cross fire of automatic aims and artillery7. The official spokesman in his account of yesterday’s fighting reported that a company 150 strong was thrown against Greek fire and was quickly blasted. “About 100 dead were found in froni of our lines. The rest were wounded,” he declared. (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 1) Axis Says First British Aid Ship Sent To Bottom PAPERS SPREAD STORY Berlin Says 66,500 Tons Of British Ships Sunk In Unspecified Period BERLIN, March 20.—W)—A big newspaper banner-line told Ger mans today of an Axis report that the first shipload of United States armaments to start for England since passage of the British aid bill had been sunk. The newspaper Nacht Ausgabe, crediting the report to Rome, com mended: “That which was expected by all clear-minded men has already happened. Herewith the American people finally understand the real meaning of the lease-lend law.” Rumored In Gibraltar The report, as broadcast by the Rome radio, said it was rumored in Gibraltar that the first British aid cargo had gone down before Axis submarines. There were no details, and no explanation as to how the report was obtained from the British fortress of Gibraltar. For the German press, the re port provided trimmings for a high command communique crediting submarines and the luftwaffe with 66,500 tons of British shipping space sunk within an unspecified period. Submarines, said the communi que, got 59,500 tons, including what was termed a whaling mother-ship of more than 20,000 tons. This all was said to have been picked out of a strongly protected convoy, and other merchantmen of 21,000 tons were said to have been damaged severely. Another convoy, the communi que went on, was attacked by scouting planes, a ship of some 7,000 tons sunk and two other ships totaling 10,000 tons damaged. Still later reports from a long range bomber base said four Brit ish merchant ships totaling more than 18,000 tons probably were all destroyed when the raiders swooped on a convoy yesterday about 190 miles west of Ireland. 5 Air Raids on Britain Seen as Preparatory Phase of Nazi Action BERLIN, Jiarch 20.— CS>) —Ger man commentators tonight described the present heavy raids on Britain as a preparatory phase of Nazi mili tary action. What now is going on in the air over England, they asserted, may be evaluated by a study of what German military strategy did in Po land, Norway and France. Previously, it was stated, the air force always has prepared the way for ground and naval forces; to “soften” the opponent before using land and sea units for a decision. Russia Returns Battle Banners to Hungary MOSCOW, March 20.—(/P>— The Soviet Union in a solemn military ceremony today restored to Hungary the battle banners captured from her in 1848 by Russian troops Hinder Czar Nich olas I who aided Austria to sup press a Hungarian uprising. Gen. I. V. Tyuleneff, comman der of the Moscow military dis trict, handed the century-old flags to Hungarian Minister Jo seph De Kristoffy in the Red army’s central house in the pres ence of an honor guard and a military band that played the National Anthems of the two countries. "I hope this act will serve to strengthen good-neighborly re lations between Hungary and the U. S. S. R.,” the general said. Kristoffy thanked him for the “generous gift.’’ TREASURY PLANS NEW SECURITIES Four New Types Will Be Sold to Finance Big Part Of Defense Program WASHINGTON, March 20—UP)— Secretary Morgenthau announced today that fpur new types of treas ury securities, ranging in denomi nation from 10 cents to $10,000, would be sold to children, the man in-the-street and bankers to finance a large part of the defense pro gram. Some officials have indicated hope being between $3,000,000,000 and $4,500,000,000 worth of them in the first 14 months after the official opening of the sales campaign on May 1. Morgenthau, however, de clined to say what his goal was. Since the treasury probably will have to borrow more than $10,000, 000,000 in the next year, however, the treasury will supplement these sales with regular subscription sales of the usual treasury securi ties. Morgenthau hopes the securities announced today will be bought by the general public in a savings campaign. Some economists be lieve such a campaign may ward (Continued on Page Ten; Col. 3) SIGN AGREEMENT NEW YORK, March 20. — UPl — The Painting' and Decorating Con tractors of America and the Brother hood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers (AFL) signed a, na tional labor agreement today pro hibiting strikes and lockouts on de fense jobs. Board IsNamed To Study Transportation Systems WASHINGTON, March 20.-W A three-mar> board headed by Wayne Coy, 37, of Delphi, Ind., was nominated by President Roos evelt today to study and report on the adequacy of existing rail, wa ter, and truck systems to carry the nation’s ever-expanding com merce. Coy, a democrat and assistant to Paul V. McNutt, federal se curity administrator, was named along with Charles West, 46, of Granville, Ohio, and Nelson Lee Smith, 42, of Hopkinton, N. H. West is a former democratic house member and served a brief period as undersecretary of the f interior while doing liaison work at the capitol for the President. Smith, an economist and native of Baltimore, is now chairman of the public service commission of New Hampshire. A republican, he has been vice president of the Na tional Association of Rr '.lway and Utilities Commissioners since 1937. The nominations must be ap proved by the senate before the board can begin to function. The law under which it was appointed, the 1940 transportation act, re quires that it make a preliminary report by May 1. (Continued on Page Twelve; Col. 7) MINISTERS OBJECT Alliance Endorsed by Coun cil Is Expected to Be Signed Soon RESIGNATIONS LOOM Agreement Believed to In volve Offer of Semi Army Help to Axis BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, March 21.—(Friday), —(d)— Violent ob jections by cabinet members who predicted serious internal disorder were reliably reported early today to have arisen from the Yugoslav crown council’s approval of a pro gram described as a passive but effective alliance with the German axis. Such an alliance, which would clear the way for Germany to at tack Greece as soon as signatures are affixed in Vienna or Berlin possibly next week, was approved by the council late last night. No Discussion The cabinet and military chiefs were asked to initial the scheme without discussion, but three min isters were asserted to have raised vigorous objections. Their resignations were consid ered likely. Political quarters pointed out that the regent, Prince Paul, then would be free to find a cabinet which would approve a German alliance, but they agreed that such action might well bring to a blaze the smouldering passions in this pro-British country. Such a reaction was predicted particularly among the peasant population. The three objecting cabinet min isters were Dr. Srdjan Budhsavi jevic, minister of social welfare: Dr. Branko Cubrilovic, minister of agriculture and leader of the Serb peasant party; and Prof. Mihnjlo Konstantinovic, minister of jus tice. v^uii now Friends of Cubrilovic said he probably would resign immediately in protest against the council’s de cision, and associates of Milan Gavrilovic, first Yugoslav miniter to Soviet Russia, said a few day ago he had threatened to quit his post and not return to the country if an Axis agreement was signed. Seemingly confirming that Yugo slavia would sign with the Axis probably next week, one cabinet minister declared when the meet ing broke up after midnight: “Because of Yugoslavia’s deli cate foreign situation, it is neces sary that her position of strict neu trality should be modified in some way so that she should become more closely connected with the Axis. Because she is surrounded on all sides by Axis troops, it is necessary for Yugoslavia to form a new foreign policy in order to maintain her independence and prevent her from being involved in war. (Continued on Page Three; Col. 3) JAPAN MAY SEND TROOPS TO SIAM Concern Arises Over Pros pect of Continued Peace In Indo-China Area SAIGON, French Indo - China, March 20.—(TP)—Rumors spread to day that the Japanese are planning to send 100,000 troops from Hainan Island across middle Indo-China in to Thailand (Siam), and concern ac cordingly arose as to the prospect of continued peace in this region. This story found no official con firmation, but it was accepted by a good many -observers as plausible. It was suggested that the Thai gov ernment might well allow the move ment was to pay off Japan for th© recent Tokyo-dictated border settle ment with Indo-China which gave Thailand important territorial gains. The Japanese, it was reported, had alternative motives in mind: To dispatch their troops to Bang kok and the region bordering British Malaya, where Australian reinforce ments for that peninsula and the British naval base of Singapore it self arrived recently. To send these forces northeast to ward the Burma border as: part of a maneuver to cut off Chungking, the capital of the central Chinese gov ernment, from the military suppliea which have been moving over the Burma road. An attack on China necessarily would involve transit over the Brit ish territory of Burma, ■ >
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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March 21, 1941, edition 1
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