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VOLj7~~NQ- 317----________-WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1945 FINAL EDITION
Senate Commerce Group Rejects Wallace;
Russians Or Capture 381,330 Nazis;
German Resistance West Of Roer Collapses
Push Reaches
Danzig, Seals
East Prussia
Germans Claim That Red
Army Now Is 91 Miles
From Berlin
' LONDON, Saturday, Jan. 27—(/P)
-The Soviet High Command an
nounced last night that the Red
Armv has killed or captured more
than’ 381-330 Germans in its two
weeks-old winter offensive, which
yesterday rolled on unchecked
through the big industrial city of
Hindenburg in Silesia, reached the
DanZig Free State frontier, and
cut off East Prussia with a thrust
ti the Baltic coast.
From 20 to 25 Nazi divisions —
perhaps 200.000 Germans—now are
trapped in East Prussia.
Outflanking Poznan, big Polish
stronghold, the Russians also cross
ed the Warta river 10 miles south
of the city and speared to within
136 miles of Berlin with the cap
ture of Mosina. This wras the clos
est approach to the Reich capital
yet announced by the Soviet com
mand.
r .North of Poznan the Kussians
took Rogozno. only 20 miles from
the German frontier and 140 miles
northeast of Berlin; other units
striking toward the coveted Reich
capital from the southeast in Sile
sia were only 143 miles away.
A special Russian communique
announced the staggering losses in
flicted on the Germans in the gi
gantic offensive between January
12, when it began at the Vistula
river bridgehead below Warsaw,
and January 24.
Moscow said that five Russian
armies had killed more than 295.
000 Germans in that period and
captured 86,330 and also had de
stroyed or captured 592 planes, 2,
995 tanks and self-propelled guns,
7.932 guns of all calibers. 7,386
mortars. 20.019 machineguns, 34,
019 trucks as well as vast quanti
ties of other war material.
The Germans said without So
viet confirmation that other Rus
sian units had raced around both
B sides of besieged Poznan on the
I direct route through western Po
B land. stabbing close to' the Brand
B “Tourg province frontier. The near
B est point to the German capital on
M this border is 91 miles due east.
9 On the loth day of their power
II ful winter offensive the Russians
gl were reported to have driven clos
B er to the rim of besieged Breslau,
■ Silesian capital, to have crossed
H the upper Oder river defense line
■ and broken into Brieg^ on the west
■ hank 22 miles to the southeast, and
■ to have fought their way into
B Beuthen_ five miles east of fallen
I mndenburg. whose normal popu
■ latl™ is 126.000.
fl Moscow radio said that Breslau,
B '-“'many’s eighth city and the
■ enter Reich’s ninth, had been
R. -elated with the Russians cut
B , a" direct communications in-'
IB ailh a'so said that the Oder
■ 1 -vor had been crossed at several
8 Lillis.
The banks of the Oder swiftly
?re becoming the scene of the lost
“attle of Germany as the Red Ar
approaches the inner heart of
,;he broadcast added,
merlin said Russian troops in
orthern Poland had crossed the
::,v '' west- of Bydgoszcz
,l ’otrbergi, indicating that Mar
Anv,. K;l0' s T'irst White Russian
.. •' u,lits now were sweeping
■;«-;nw;nd into the Polish Corridor
n , en ihe salient between the
y irr.an homeland and the cut-off
inkers province of East Prussia.
•4 ~U,n' Vistuia river stronghold
. s southeast of Bydgoszcz,
. aurrounded, Berlin said. The
ni datK Visiaula river commu
; C, ,0'. centers oi Chelmno, Grud
»ort. and Marienwerder to the
I were being attacked as the
Bj,airatns burled the enemy back
/be river and sought to
the east ° the *5°lds*1 eorridor from
Premier-Mai-shai Stalin announc
ed 4-bn!l'anl new gains of the
W,„ ,rr'v as Moscow’s 224 guns
I, 11 mg V'ctory salvos.
Serena mi da-'shal Rokossovsky’s
irokc ,JV'li:e. Russian Army which
<er to the Danzig bor
:ircie p the Baltic coast to en
Konioth ast Prussia and threaten
^higsberg, lts capital! frc>Tn the
Rus-'‘ah spearhead captur
es th. I'm"V " 1 ,own of Marienburg,
tl - 0!Ut !iver border of Dan
fc. V ltory. ^4 miles southeast oi
"V fest « Danzig.
King Reported Ready
For General Election
In Canada Parliament
OTTAWA. Jan. 26.— ♦A*) —Prime
Minister W. L. Mackenzie King
has made a “practically final’’ de
cision to dissolve Parliament and
call a general election in Canada
toward the end of March or dur
ing the first week of April, the
Ottawa Journal said today.
Such a step would be an indirect
result of Canada's conscription
problem. Although King has stat
ed frequently that he did not want
to hold a general election during
the war, recent developments
have altered the situation.
After surviving the conscription
crisis of last November, the King
government decided to seek a seal
in the House of Commons for its
new defense minister, General A.
G. L. McNaughton, in a by-elec
tion in the Ontario constituency of
Grey-North on February 5. The
two leading opposition parties, the
Progressive Conservatives and the
Cooperative Commonwealth Fed
eration, decided to contest the
election.
The deadline for withdrawing
from the contest is next Monday.
Both opposition parties have indi
cated they intend to stay in the
lace.
ANTI-HONLAW
BATTLE LOOMING
Southern Senators Want to
Prove Government
Master Of Labor
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.—CUP) —
The work-or-jail bill goes before the
House for action next week facing
what some Southern Democrats
promised would be a stiff fight to
append an anti-closed shop amend
ment to demonstrate whether the
Government or unionism is "mas
ter of this country.”
Insistence that the May-Bailey
bill be amended so that a man
drafted for war industry could be
forced into a labor union against
his will, came from two Southern
Democrats, Reps. Eugene E. Cox,
Ga., and Howard W. Smith, Va.
Both have been prominently identi
fied in the past with legislation de
signed to curb labor's powers.
They served their warning as the
House rules committee—Cox is act
ing chairman and Smith a mem
ber—gave the measure a green
light for floor consideration.
Cox and Smith said they would
support the bill but that they would
wage a stiff fight to have re-instat
ed the controversial Andrews anti
closed shop amendment deleted
during final consideration by the
House Military Affairs Committee.
The bill is designed to bring into
war plants those men between 18
and 45 who are not pow directly
aiding the war effort. Those who
refused the direction of their local
draft boards into specified plants
in their own or other areas would
face up to $10,000 fine, five years’
imprisonment, or both—the same
penalty exacted from violators of
the Selective Service law,
U. S. Reported
Victor In Big
Naval Battle
Chinese Agency Claims 50
Jap Ships Sunk In
Pacific
PEARL HARBOR, Jan, 26. —
(UP)—The Chinese press reported
today, without confirmation from
any official source, that units of
the American and Japanese fleets
fought a major naval engagement
Tuesday in the East China Sea
300 miles from Shanghai, and that
50 enemy vessels have been sunk
off the Central China coast during
the past fortnight.
Sao Tang Pao, Chinese army
newspaper published in Chungking,
said the naval engagement, de
scribed as the biggest since the
second battle of the Philippines
last October, lasted nine hours.
Japanese forces broke off the
battle at noon, the newspaper said,
and fled toward their homeland,
approximately 650 miles to the
northeast.
Although the Chinese reports
drew no response at Pacific Fleet
Headquarters, observers pointed
out that surface naval actions are
not announced here until battle re
ports arrive.
The news from China, plus recent
carrier raids on Formosa, Ryuky
us, the Indo - China and China
coasts lent emphasis to Fleet Ad
miral Chester W. Nimitz’ avowed
intention of carrying the war to
the enemy during 1945.
Central (Chinese) news agency
reported in a dispatch datelined
Nanping that Allied submarines
and planes, conducting a "very ac
tive” campaign have sent 50 Japa
nese ships to the bottom off the
coasts of Fukien and Chekiang
province in the last two weeks.
Central said recent repeated Al
lied bombings have forced the Jap
anese garrisons at Amoy, Foochow
and Quemoy to move to the sub
urbs of the cities, and to remove
their arms and supplies to places
of safety.
There were other indications of
Japanese fears that the Allies may
attempt a landing on the central
China coast. Japanese civilians
have been concentrated at Amoy,
a Fukien port south of Foochow,
presumably to await evacution,
Central reported.
Sao Tang Pao said the naval
engagement began at 3 a.m. (Chi
na time) off Yungkai (Wenchow)
and Pingyang on the China Coast
I some 250 miles south of Shanghai
and 200 miles north of Formosa.
The newspaper said gunfire was
audible at Pingyang.
In Chungking, a Chinese military
spokesman said the Japanese were
increasing the strength of their
garrisons at several Central China
coast cities, and were attempting
to overrun American and Chinese
air bases in southeast China, just
ibehind the coast line.
Reds Accused Of Failure
To Aid Warsaw Patriots
By ROBERT DOWSON
LONDON, Jan. 26.— (UP) —The
first survivor of last summer s
tragic rising of Polish patriots in
Warsaw to reach London today ac
cused the Russian army — then
drawn up across the almost dry
Vistula — of abandoning its offen
sive against the Germans when
the insurrection broke out inside
the Polish capital.
Lt. Jan Nowak, the man whc
carried the orders for the upris
ing from London to Warsaw, said
the Polish patriots, led by Gen.
Bor (Tadeusz Komorowski), begar
their fight through “unimaginable
hell” when the rumble of Russiar
artillery fighting the Germans easi
of the Vistula echoed through
Warsaw last August 1. Russian pa
trols, he said, had actually reach
ed Praga, Warsaw suburb on the
Vistula’s east bank.
“From 8 p.m. August 2 until on
Russians captured Praga on Sep
tember 10 after two days of fight
ine ” Nowak said, “there were n<
shots fired on the Russian fron
and no Russian planes seen b:
us.” Russian planes made no at
tempt to intercept German bomb
er* which frequently attacked thi
city during August and no attempt
was made by the Russians to sup
ply the patriots by air, he charged.
The only direct ground support, he
said, were four companies of the
Russian-sponsored Polish army of
the Lublin group sent across the
Vistula after the capture of Praga.
Nowak, appearing at a press
conference sponsored by the Po
lish Ministry of Information, said
a Russian intelligence captain
named Konstanty Kalugin appear
ed in Warsaw about the time of
the uprising. Kalugin, who had
been operating behind German
lines, told Bor that his own radio
tranmritter, was broken and he
asked that a message be sent to
Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky
over the Polish radio beam to Lon
don.
The plea for help was sent and
subsequently relayed to Moscow,
a fact confirmed at the time by
Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski, then
commander in chief of the Polish
armed forces, and Gen. Sir Alan
Brooke, chief of the British gentr
al atalf
Japanese Guns Shell
Yanks At Clark Field
First Real Enemy Resistance Encountered
About 50 Miles Above Manila; No New
Advances By U. S. Reported
GEN. MACARTHUR’S HEAD
QUARTERS, Luzon, Saturday, Jan.
27.— (UPl—The Japanese are offer
ing their first determined opposi
tion to the 18-day-old American
southward drive on Luzon toward
Manila less than 50 miles above
the capital, and are shelling Clark
Field, great air base now in Ameri
can handt, from the neighboring
hills, Gen. Douglas MacArthur dis
closed today.
After reporting only patrol brush
es with the Japanese in the march
toward Manila, MacArthur’s Satur
day communique said in the area
of Maj. Gen. Oscar W. Griswold's
14th Corps, “our units are encount
ering resistance south of the Barn
ban river.”
Tlie Bamban. which lies above
Clark Field, intersects Highway
three, one of the two main routes
from the north into Manila, at a
point about 50 miles above the cap
ital. American patrols yesterday
were reported to have entered An
geles, 43 miles above the capital
on this road, and to have pushed
within 40 miles of Manila, but to
day’s communique gave no reports
of additional advances. .
In the hills southwest of the
town of Bamban, five miles above;
Clark Field, American units were
ferreting out Japanese artillery and
machineguns shelling the field.
MacArthur’s communique gave
no hint as to the size of enemy
forces concentrated in this hilly
country or whether the Japanese
were stiffening for an all - out
battle in defense of Manila and
southern Luzon.
On the left flank, where fighting
has been harder than in the center
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 7)
Many Civilian Employes
Will Be Needed At Davis
Several hundred jobs for civilians at Camp Davis will be
opened for application after February 7, it was, announced
yesterday by Peter A. Reavis, supervising interviewer in
charge of the Grace Street office of the United States Em
-----—A
SHORTAGE OF COAL
CLOSES SCHOOLS IN
NORTHEAST STATES
WASHINGTON. Jan. 26.— OP)—A
coal shortage so severe it closed
some schools and threatened more
brought drastic fuel limitation
orders today for homes as well as
amusement places in the winter
struck Northeastern states.
The Solid Fuels Administration
specifically denied that it was or
dering closure of any schools, C.
J. Potter, deputy administrator,
saying its order “does not contem
plate the closing of any schools if
they have coal or can get coal. If
they have ample fuel, it would be
silly to shut down.”
But Mayor Frank S. Harris in
Albany, N. Y., ordered schools as
well as libraries, museums, night
clubs, theaters and bowling alleys
to close Sunday until further notice.
And Potter’s telegram to city
officials in Washington, D. C., St.
Louis, and 16 states and part of
another east and south of the Great
Lakes said:
During xne emergency period
these officials are also urged to do
everything within their power to
curtail or eliminate the use of
solid fuels in places of amusement
such as theatres, moving picture
houses, bowling alleys, night clubs,
and in educational institutions such
as libraries, museums, schools, and
in any other building, public or
private, where this can be done
without endangering the health of
the community.”
His apparent intent was to leave
the degree of fuel curtailment in
such places up to local decision,
based on the availability of sup
plies.
The order from Secretary Ickes,
solid fuels administrator asked
close controls over home deliveries
in the area affected by a storm
caused embargo on non-war rail
road freight. The rule was no de
liveries to anybody having more
than five days supply, and then
only one ton or seven days supply.
The closest controls over such
deliveries announced immediately
were in Quincy, Mass., where May
or Charles A. Ross ordered all coal
pooled and distributed, a hundred
pounds to a customer, from police
headquarters.
-V
Thomas J. Pendergast,
Kansas City Political
Boss, Is Dead At 72
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 26.—
(UP) — Thomas J. Pendergast,
whose great political dynasty which
ruled Missouri for years collapsed
around his head when he went to
jail for income tax evasion, died
tonight. He was 72
pioyment service, ne maae
the statement on behalf of
the United States Service of
fice and the Army Air Forces
civilian personnel branch as
well as his own organizations.
Among the categories of workers
needed will be included clerks,
stenographers, typists, truck driv
ers, carpenters, plumbers, electric
ians, hospital orderlies, mess at
tendants and laborers, both white
and colored.
Before February 7, on which date
Air Force officials expect to re
open the post’s civilian personnel
office, some few Civil Service em
ployes now on their terminal leaves
may be called.
All employment of civilians for
work at the newly activated Air
Forces Redistribution Center and
Convalescent Hospital will bei
handled by the U. S. Civil Service
office in the customhouse, after
clearance through the U.S.E.S.
The first contingent of station
complement military personnel,
numbering perhaps 500 of the total
of 5,000 who will man the post
eventually probably will arrive next
week, it was predicted yesterday
by Maj. Earl Otis, provisional com
mander of the advance detail sent
to prepare the camp for occupation.,
No date has been set yet for the
arrival of the thousands of officers
and enlisted men, recalled from
service overseas for redistribution
and re-assignment within the Unit
ed States, or of the additional
thousands of Air Forces personnel
wounded or taken sick abroad and
sent home for convalescence and
reconditioning.
_v_
Col. Roosevelt’s Record
In War To Determine His
Promotion, Senators Say
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.—(UP)—
Col. Elliott Roosevelt’s nomination
to be a temporary brigadier gen
eral will be considered on the bas
is of his military record without
reference to the high priority plane
ride of his dog, Blaze, it appeared
today.
Chairman Elbert D. Thomas (D
Utah) said the Senate Military Af
fairs Committee would take up the
Promotion of the President’s son
Tuesday. He observed that El
liott's military record “is very
fine so far as the Army is con
cerned,” and said the promotion
would be considered on its merits.
A Military Affairs subcommittee,
investigating air priorities, will
look into the matter of Blaze’s
“A” priority trip later in the week.
“I don’t think there will be any
connection between the two,” Tho
mas said.
Sen. Styles Bridges, (R-N. H.)
member of the Priorities subcom
mittee. agreed that the nomination
should be handled on its merits.
He said that “priority abuses is
an entirely different matter.”
»
Seventh Army)
Erases Foes
Alsace Gains
Allies Take Up Assault
Positions 25 Miles From
Dussseldorf
PARIS, Jan. 26.—(#)—AH German
resistance collapsed today west of
the Roer river system at the gate
way to the prize Ruhr industrial
valley and the U. S. Ninth and
British Second Armies — with 35
miles of the Westwall behind them
—seized assault positions only 25
miles from Dusseldorf.
The Ninth broke a six-week lull
and pushed to the Roer on a five
mile front a the U. S. Seventh
Army far to the south threw a new
German drive into reverse, erased
ali its northern Alsation gains and
lifted the threat to Strasbourg by
oriving the enemy back across the
Moder river.
By nightfall the fightng had
dwindled to sparodic machine
and rifle fire along the entire 20
mile front.
The U. S. First and Third Armies
crushed virtually the last of the
Ardennes wedge in Belgium and
Luxembourg.
The Third Army pushed eastward
to a number of points where the
enemy’s December offensive kick
ed off, movecTIt's lines up to within
a mile or two of the German fron- ’
tier along most of the Luxembourg
front, and put five divisions on a
ridge - top highway overlooking the
Westwall.
nm_tv_L A__
tured five more towns and edged
eastward within two and a half
to five miles of Germany against
such light resistance that it was
asserted officially that German
troop shifts to meet the Russians
definitely had relaxed pressure in
the west.
In southern Alsace, French and
American troops of the French
First Army fought into Houssen,
three miles north of Comar for
the closest approach yet made to
that stronghold in the Rhineland
pocket. Other ground lost to coun-'
terattacks in this area was rewon.
On the front ijorth of Aachen,
Lt. Gen. William H. Simpson’s
Ninth Army in a pre - dawn at
tack found the Germans had pull
ed out west of the Roer and reach
ed the river 11 miles inside the
Reich with such ease that a sche
iuled artillery barrage was can
celled.
At the same time, Scottish pa
:rols of the British Second Army
mopped up the remainder of the
sector to the north all the way to
;he stronghold of Roermond, where
;he Roer joins the Maas.
The combined action gave the
Ulies a firm hold on the west
oank of the Roer and its tribu
taries from Roermond more than
35 miles southward on a giant arc
to the area of Monschau.
Roermond is 27 miles northwest
af Aachen and Monschau is 19
miles southeast of the city.
Behind them was a 35 - mile
stretch of the Siegfried line, with
its pillboxes and rows of concrete
iragons teeth by which the Ger
mans had hoped to balk any drive
from the west along the historic
invasion routs to the Reich,
■
REJECTED
Henry A. Wallace
aPASCHEDULES
POINT VA ITY
Each Block Of Stamps To
Be Good Four Months
Under New Plan
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26. — (JP) —
Acting to allay fear of another sud
t’en invalidation, the OPA today
set forth for housewives a definite
policy on cancellation of food ra
tion stamps.
Hereafter, the agency announc
ed, red stamps for meats and fats
and blue for processed foods will
expire four months from the date
of issuance. This replaces the pro
gram of indefinite validity for
these coupons which had been in
effect since last spring.
Sugar stamps also were given
fixed expiration dates again. Num
ber 34, now in use, will be invalid
after January 28. The next sugar
stamp, number 35, will be valid
after January 28. The next sugar
stamf), number 35, will be valid
February 1 for five pounds and
remain good tnrougn June a. sugar
stamp number 36 is scheduled for
validation May 1.
OPA will continue to validate a
new series of red and blue stamps
at the start of each month, usually
five of each color at a time. Since
they will be good for four months,
this means that four blocks of each
kind always will be in use, expiring
on a staggered basis.
The first red and blue stamps
;o expire under the new system
will be those which came into
tse December 1 and 3, respective
y. They will not be valid after
Vlarch 31. They include:
Red—Q5, R5, and So; Blue—X5,
¥o, Z5, A2, and B2.
The new policy clears up uncer
:ainty which has prevailed since
iate last month, when OPA invali
dated without warning all food
stamps put in use prior to the
start of December.
Housewives have been promised
advance warning of any cancella
:ion, but the agency said the em
srgency measure was warranted
oecause food supplies were at a
dangerously low level.
The new program, OPA said, was I
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 3) |
-— j
Plan To Take
RFC From Job
AlsoApproved
Roosevelt Handed Double
Rebuff On His Politi
cal ‘Reward’
WASHINGTON. Jan. 26.—(UPj
—The Senate Commerce Commit-,
tee, handing President Roosevelt
one of the sharpest rebuffs in his
12-year administration, today vot
ed against his nomination of for
mer Vice President Henry A. Wal
lace to be Secretary of Commerca
and approved a bill to keep the
vast lending powers of the Recon
struction Finance Corporation and
associated agencies from falling
into Wallace's hands.
The double rebuke to Mr. Roose
velt’s political "reward” appoint
ment was administered at a two
hour closed session of the com
mittee which voted 14-to-5 against
the nomination and 15-to-4 in favor
of the bill to separate the Govern
ment’s multi-billion-dollar lending
agencies from the Commerce De
partment.
Completing its humiliation of the
President and Wallace, the com
mittee rejected by an ll-to-6 vote
a motion by Wallace-supporters to
place the nomination before the
Senate without any recommenda
tion. As a result, the nor-ur, uot:
will go before the Sens e \v 1;
notation that it had received m
"adverse” report from the 'urn
mictee.
Chairman Josiah W. Dailey, D.,
N. C., said that both the nomina
tion and the bill by Sen. Walter F.
George, D., Ga., would be placed
before the Senate Monday, but he
declined to predict when the Sen
ate would act.
The committee action was at
least a temporary triumph for
Wallace’s No. one enemy — Jesse
H. Jones—who was fired by Mr.
Roosevelt to make way for Wal«
lace. Jones appeared before the
committee Wednesday and testi
fied that he believed Wallace in
competent to handle the two job*
which Jones himself has admin
istered jointly since 1942.
Wallace told the committee
Thursday that he was qualified ta
handle both jobs, but said he
would take the Commerce post
with or without the lending port
folio.
The adverse action on the nom
ination came as somewhat of •
surprise since it was believed that
it would be approved if the com
mittee approved the George bill.
Seme construed the votes a*
double insurance by Wallace foe*
against any effort to hand him
control of the lending agencies^
one of the chief reasons behind the
opposition to making him Secre
tary of Commerce.
ii me lenuing agunuca oic
arated from the Commerce De
partment, it is believed that much
of the opposition to Wallace's cUn*
firmation to the caninet post will
evaporate — despite claims by
some opposition forces that they
have enough strength in the Senate
to beat Wallace either way.
Anti-Wallace strategy apparent
ly is to hold up Senate action un
til it is certain that nothing will
happen to the George bill. The
measure seems certain of passage
in the Senate. But if it is beaten
in the House or vetoed by Mr.
Roosevelt, the Wallace opposition
then apparently would call up the
committee’s “adverse” report on
the nomination and thus seek to
deprive Wallace not only of the
lending agency post but the Com
merce job as well.
So intense was interest in the
battle over the Wallace appoint
ment that all 19 members of the
Commerce committee participated
in the voting.
Republican members lined up
solidly against Wallace on all
three votes. They were Sens. Hir
am Jonson, Calif.; Arthur H. Van
ienberg, Mich.; Owen Brewster.
Me.; Harold H. Burton, Ohio;
Alexander Wilpy, Wis.; Edward V.
Robertson, Wyo.; Guy Cordon,
Dre., and C. Wa.vland Brooks, 111.
They were joined by Democrat
ic Sens. Bailey, N. C.) George L.
Radcliffe, Md.; W. Lee O’Daniel,
rex.; Pat McCarran, Nev.; Albert
3. Chandler, Ky., and John L Me
Continued on Page Two; Col. SI
a
Lennon Urges ‘Caution
In LeGrand Opposition
Extreme caution in any attempt
to "embarrass” Rep. J. Q. Le
Urand in his support of the City
extension bill before a State Legis
lature committee this week was
jrged last night by leading spirits
in an anti-extension meeting of the
Suburban Association.
Alton A. Lennon, member of the
Association’s action committee
formed in September to work for
“the best possible” bill, reported
for the committee ar.d went on to
point out to his hundred listeners
:hat their best chance to defeat ex
;ension would come in the special
election which must be held to
make or break it.
A premature attempt to sabotage
it before the Assembly committee
n Raleigh probably would result,
ie warned them, in a completely
successful fight by Mr. LeGrand to
rush it through the Legislature
without further ado. He reminded
them that LeGrand was backed by
a “thunderous majority”, awarded
him in an election in which exten
sion featured as a leading issue.
Even success in stopping passage
of the bill in its present form, Mr.
Lennon explained, might be tragic
for the opposition, since it might
result in re-submittal of two bills,
each dealing with a single suburb,
and in separate elections which the
suburbanites could not hope to win.
With both suburbs voting in a sing
le election, he said, and with most
of the population of the present
City abstaining, out of indifference,
the southern and eastern areas
well might emerge victorious and
un-annexed.
Tire Association’s action com
mittee, he said, could be credited
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 8)