FORECAST
Wilmington and vicinity; Monday fair
! and continued cold.
__ ESTABLISHED 1867
BRIDGES SAYS
1947 BUDGET
TO JUMP DEBT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27—(U.R)—
2' stvies Bridges, R., N.H., to
!£{ described President Tru
sts budget as "a masterpiece
f deception'' that will increase
;c, public more than $15,000,
.000 instead of lowering it
Bridges is ranking Republican
ember of the Senate Appropria
?ons committee. He issued a press
‘ tement in which he analyzed the
President’s budget requests and
ted them a "blueprint for con
tinued waste of the taxpayers’ and
bond-buyers’ funds.”
Sen Elmer Thomas, D., Okla.,
i- Democratic member of the com
* iHee" countered that charges
were based on "obvious political
Jines." He asserted that Bridges
had =one along on most of the
spending to which he now objects.
But Bridges asserted:
■Instead of declining, the net
public debt actually will increase
15 billion, 100 million dollars dur
ing the next 18 months. The basis
for th;s conclusion is the budget
itself. The President made every
effort to have the taxpayers be
lieve that the Federal government
will grow financially stronger dur
ing the next 18 months of his
administration. It will in fact be
come dangerously weaker.”
Taking his data from the clos
ing 1945 daily Treasury statement
and from the $35,800,000,000 budget
submitted to Congress, Bridges
said that the cut in the national
debt, ‘‘achieved at the cost of the
Treasury’s cash balance,” would
increase the net debt. These are
his figures:
Dec. 30, 1945—Gross debt, $278,
700,000,000; cash balance, $26,000,
006,000; net debt, $252,700,000,000.
June 30, 1946—Gross debt, $275,
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 3)
AFL TO WELCOME
RETURN OF LEWIS
Leaders Preparing Home
coming For President Of
Mine Workers Union
MIAMI, Fla., Jan. 27.— (TP) —
leaders of the American Federa
iion of Labor prepared today lor a
sort of homecoming.
John L. Lewis was coming back
to take his seat formally among
them. Probably Tuesday morning.
The effect was bracing to most of
these leaders.
Regardless of Lewis’ possible
ideas about taking over leadership
of the AFL himself, they agreed
the federation would be strengthen
ed by his presence—at a time when
the rival CIO was waging a crucial
struggle in steel, automotive and
electrical manufacturing indus
tries.
None was willing to credit Lewis’
move with the sudden clearing of
the Labor picture elsewhere, how
ever, referring to the CIO-auto
workers’ agreements with Ford
and Chrysler and the decision oi
the bulk of railroad brotherhoods
to arbitrate their wage differences.
The United Mine Workers’ presi
dent was voted into membership on
the 15-man executive council and
he was motoring to Miami to ac
cept the toga, nearly ten years
after he led the revolt which gave
birth to the CIO. He is expected
here late Monday.
some jurisdictional questions
may arise over Lewis’ District 50
unions, but he has agreed to give
the executive council the fina' say
on these matters. He insisted on a
seat on the council before he would
return to the federation.
The council has some other criti
cal jurisdictional issues to settle
th s week before it adjourns. These
involved the Hollywood movie in
dustry, caught in a seven-month
strike last year over chartering oi
special movie unions instead of the
old-line crafts, and the seven-yeai
nft between the brewery workers
2nd teamsters.
j; Return of the 50,000 brewery and
soft drinks workers to the federa
tion, from which they were sus
pended seven years ago after a
jurisdictional clash with Daniel J.
Tobin's teamsters, was anticipated
if the executive council can straigh
ten out present differences at a
specially arranged conference with
eaders of the brewery union.
The brewery workers’ officers
ire expected here tomorrow.
Movie “Czar” Eric Johnston alsc
vas expected today or tomorrow
l0r a conference with the council
or, the Hollywood situation. Clari
fication of the recent decision of ar
ARL committee, which traced spe
Jific jurisdictional lines betweer
“e seven unions involved in the
Hollywood dispute, has been askec
• Johnson and by several of the
unions.
RETIRED doctor dies
SEBRING, Fla., Jan. 27—(IPy
Charles F. Hager, 84, retiree
Johnstown, Pa., physician, diec
ost night. He had recently ar
to spend his 16th winter here
WEATHER
i (Eastern Standard Time)
w . E*. S. Weather Bureau
enrtif-0?1.ogical data for the 24 hour
J -8 7:30 p.m. yesterday.
, . Temperatures
7;30 Pm%55; 7:30 a'm* 56; 1:30 p,m 38
57: Minimum Mean 45
iHumidity
,:3» P.mm9088; ’:3° a'm‘ 801 1:30 P’m' 84
Tnt.i , Precipitation
O.oi inches1 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m.
2'^2°inchesCe l'rst of the month -
(Prrv a, TTides For Today
S Cnalt ,he Ticie Tables published by t
oast and Geodetic Survey)
Wilmiv,-. High Low
“mgton - 6:14 a m, 12:54 a.„
Masnnk 6:30 P.m. 1:27 p.n
boro Inlet __ 4:09 am. 10:20 a.n
Sun.k - 4:16 p.m. 10:24 p.n
am \c„e l:12; Sunset 5:38; Moonrise 3:i
•^- Moonset 1:44 p.m,
er Stage at Fayetteville, N. C. E
LOONEY SUSPENDED
FROM FORCE AGAIN;
FACES COURT TRIAL
G. C. Looriey, Wilmington po
lice officer was yesterday sus
pended from the force pending
trial at Recorder’s court this
rporning, and further investigation
of charges, Chief C. H. Casteen
said last night.
Looney was arrested yesterday
morning on a charge of assault up
on the person of Zachary Casteen.
He is expected to receive a prelim
inary hearing this morning. He
was not in uniform at the time
of the incident, it was said.
He had been returned to the
police department after a month
suspension, the action growing out
of the death of a negro with which
he was said to have been con
nected. A coroner’s jury exoner
ated Looney of blame.
AIR CHIEF GUEST
OF MR. CHURCHILL
MIAMI BEACH, Fia., Jan. 27.—
(JP)—Gen. Henry H. Arnold, chief
of the U. S. Army Air forces who
will retire from active duty early
next month, was luncheon guest of
Winston Churchill at the Surf Club
today.
Gen. Arnold is spendine a few
days in Miami recuperating from
Illness which forced him last week
to discontinue a good will tour of
South American republics.
Other luncheon guests of the
former British prime minister were
Col. Charles G. Mettler, USA
(Ret.), former chief of military ii>
lerugence at Miami, iviaj. vj.eu.
A. Walford, of the Canadian army;
Col. Frank W. Clarke, Churchill’s
Miami Beach host; and Mrs. Mett
ler and Mrs. Walford.
The British statesman, Gen.
Arnold, and other members of the
party enjoyed a brief dip in the
ocean during the afternoon.
After several postponements,
Churchill this evening set to work
with brush and oils on his long
planned painting of a Florida s1’.
set.
From a vantage point near Col.
Clarke’s Miami Beach home,
Churchill transferred the riotous
colors of the evening sky to can
vas as the sun sank over Biscayne
bay and the Miami skyline.
The Churchills planned a quiet
evening at home tonight and a
spokesman said no visitors were
expected.
WOMAN MOLESTED
Pat Gilliken, white woman,
Wrightsville sound, told police that
a man whose age would be about
50 years and whom she did not
recognize^ molested her - in front
of a. down town cafe. She said she
slapped him and that he cut her
with a knife. She was treated for
lacerations of her left wrist at
James Walker Memorial hospital.
DR. SIEHR DIES
BERLIN, Jan. 27.— (TP) —Dr.
Ernest Siehr, 76, former president
of East Prussia who acquired an
anti-Nazi reputation during his long
political career, died today on the
Isle of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea.
Green Gets News
] William Green, president of the
j American Federation of Labor, sits
at his desk in Miami, Fla., and
reads the formal announcement
that 500,000 members of John L.
Lewis' United Mine Workers Union
will return to the ranks of the
AFL. The announcement was made
at the AFL’s winter meeting in
Miami. (AP Wirephoto)
FILIPINO GUNPLAY
THREAT DWINDLES
Army Officers Say “Peo
ples Army” To Remain
Armed Until Elections
MANILA, Jan. 27—(TP)—Prospects
of gunplay when the Philippines
elect their first independent presi
dent April 23 were minimized to
day by Filipino army officers who
expressed belief, however, that the
Leftist “Peoples’ Army” would be
allowed to remain armed until af
ter the election.
Brig. Gen. Macario Peralta, Phil
ippines army deputy chief of staff,
said the strength of the “Hukbala
hap” or “Peoples’ Army”—recent
ly styled “semi-political, semi-ban
dit” by the U.S. army—was exag
gerated.
The Hukbalahap Popular Front
and the Democratic Alliance, two
parties with many of the same
leaders and ideas, were reported
negotiating with the campaign
manager of President Sergio Os
mena, possibly to support him
against his opponent, Senate Presi
dent Manuel A. Roxas.
Peralta said Filipino military po
lice recently were armed with 10,
000 tommyguns “to show the peo-j
pie in turbulent central Luzon we
still have a government and there
is still such a thing as law and
order.”
The officer asserted that the
Hukbalahap (Tagalog dialect for
“Peoples’ Army”) had not more
than 10,000 serviceable guns and
little ammunition.
Peralta, whose widespread guer
rilla intelligence network under the
noses of the Japanese helped Gen
eral MacArthur’s comeback of
fensive, said the Hukbalahap em
bodied a wide range of political
thought.
One regiment was recognized by
the U. S., army for valiant work
against the Japanese, whereas oth
ers fought other guerrillas, held
American, pilots prisoners and
robbed and pillaged. Hukabalahap
leaders assert this last was the
work of bandits who used the or
ganization's name.
“There is no doubt of the genu
ineness of the peasants’ request for
agrarian reform,” Peralta said,
“But they don’t know when they
go too far.”
He added that rich landlords who
oppressed the tenants in central
Luzon, the Philippines rice gran
ary, had been forced to flee to Ma
nila but fair landlords were living
on their farms in perfect safety.
The assistant chief of staff de
clared, however, that whoever was
elected president would find it nec
essary to disarm the Hukbalahap
to ensure a stable government.
Tattered Scarecrow Gives
Way To Blockbusters
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.-(U.R)—
; Anyone who regrets his failure to
. get a chance at dropping a block
’ buster on Tokyo or Berlin can sal
vage some of his pride by “bomb
’ ing’’ another of America’s first
rank enemies— the common crow.
The latest, or atomic agt, method
of destroying the destructive crow,
' has it all over the outmoded and
tattered scarecrow that used to
* grace any well-kept cornfield.
The crow is literally bombed, and
'• here is how the Interior depart
1; ment suggests you construct your
i. lethal weapon:
6 Take a Diece of stovepipe, insert
r a stick of dynamite and pack the
remainder with small shot, prefer
ably BB. Now scatter your bombs
through “roost trees” where thou
sands of crows collect. When the
charges are el^tr-ically detonated,
you should have collected a few
thousand lifeless crows.
One such bombing in Kansas,
done with 400 bombs spread over
a 15,|00-square yard area, destroy
ed 300,000 crows.
While the procedure may seem
heartless, harassed farmers feel
that it is not too severe. They admit
that the crow may have several
admirable qualities but his bad
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 3)
*
Fires In Five Major Cities Take
Tolls Of 20 Lives; Early Peace
Looms For Strike-Tom Industry
Settlements
Expected On
18-Cent Hike
BOARD WILL REPORT
Steel, Meat Worker Lead
ers Enroute To Capital
For Conferences
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27.— (U.R) —
Government officials said tonight
that they expect early settlements
in other major labor disputes as a
national wage pattern began to de
velop around pay increases close
to 18 cents an hour.
They said that no immediate
steps were planned toward ending
the week-old steel strike but other
sources expected strong govern
ment efforts to break the deadlock
after the Office of Price Adminis
tration makes a report on higher
steel prices to the White House
next Friday.
The February 10 deadline for a
report by a fact-finding board, in
the dispute still stands and Presi
dent Truman is reported to have
informed the panel that it can rec
ommend some other figure than
the 18 1-2 cents and hour boost sug
gested by Mr. Truman in an ef
fort to avert the walkout.
Officials feel that this walkout
must be ended quickly if the au
tomobile, electrical manufacturing
and other struck industries are to
get into full production.
Government quarters said they
(Continued on Page Two; Coi. 1)
VETERAN KILLS
WIFE, DAUGHTER
CHILLUM, Md., Jan. 27—(fP)—A
recently discharged army veteran
shot and killed his wife,
and one of their daughters and
then turned the gun on himself
late today, police said.
Dr. James I. Boyd, Prince
Georges county medical examiner
and Sergt. Charles N. Thomsen,
head of the county police identifi
cation bureau, gave this account
of the shooting:
John Fitzgerald, 33, who was re
leased from the army about three
weeks ago, arrived at his home
at 716 Chillum road, about 5
o’clock. He went upstairs to get a
suitcase.
He came back downstairs with
a repeating shotgun, stopped on
the stair landing and fired into
the living room. One charge struck
his wife, who had been holding
one of their two daughters, Mary
Anne, two years old. Mrs. Fitz
gerald was hit in the head.
Fitzgerald then fired a second
shot, striking the child.
A Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Fitz
gerald’s mother, who had been
holding the other child, Carol
Marie, 4, jumped up with her and
ran from the house.
Fitzgerald then turned the gun
on himself.
Three sisters of Mrs. Fitzgerald,
Margaret, Ruth and Louis Chap
man, ranging in age from 8 to 17,
who. were also in the house, ran
out when the shooting began.
j GI Brides and Babies Leave London For U. S.
g■■ m . :— --- ■ v
A crowd gathers at Waterloo station in London as brides and children of American soldiers start
their long trip to the United States. Left to right, holding babies, are Mrs. Lena Strand whose husband
is from Boston, Mass.; Mrs.3Jean Bleakley, wife of a soldier from Utica, Mich.; Mrs. Margaret
Eldridge, whose husband lives in Chicago; Mrs. Esrne Lilian Lawrence, wife of ex-Corporal Bruce
Lawrence of Fond du Lac, Wis., and Mrs. Doris Wagar (with hands on boy’s shoulder), whose husband
lives in Michigan. (AP Wirephoto).
—--——---;-1 -:
Roberts To Testify Today;
House Tackles Truman Bill
- *,-* -
Senate Republicans Hope'
To Break Up Growing
FEPC Filibuster
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27—(U.R)—
The House returns tomorrow to
consideration ol President Tru
man’s fact-finding legislation while
the Senate is still deadlocked by
a southern filibuster against the
Fair Employment Practices bill.
Charles E. Wilson, president of
General Electric company, appears
before the Senate Education and
Labor committee to give his views
on the fact-finding bill. His testi
mony is expected to follow the
general line laid down last week
by President C. E. Wilson, of
General Motors coporation.
GM’s Wilson and R. J. Thomas,
president of the CIO’s Auto Work
ers union told the committee that
neither fact-finding boards nor con
gressional action would solve the
present labor crisis.
A watered-down version of Mr.
Truman’s fact’finding bill is sche
duled to reach the House floor by \
mid-week. As reported out by the |
House Labor committee, it fails
to give the boards power to sub
poena company reads and !does
not provide for a “cooling off”
period before strikes may be call
ed.
The Ruies committee is expected
to decide tomorrow whether the
measure will be open to floor
amendments. Many Republicans
and conservative Democrats want
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 2)
<<Pay-As-You-Go,,
Line Evacuates Jews
SALZBURG, Austria, Jan.
20 — (Delayed) — (U.R) — An
underground, “pay-as-you-go”
railway for evacuation of east
ern Eurpean Jews is operat
ing in the United States zone
in Austria with the knowledge J
and approval of ranking Ameri- j
can occupation authorities, re- '
liable sources revealed today.
The U. S. zone is the west-4
ern terminus of the “railway” '
for Jews fleeing from southern
Poland and adjoining areas
of Romania and Czechoslo
vakia. The usual route is
through Czechoslovakia and
Vienna.
Although aware of “irregu- '
larities)” high-ranking United ■
States authorities said they of
ficially disregard the railway’s
existence for • humanitarian j
reasons.
SHIPPERSDEMAND
FOREIGN OUSTER
SHANGHAI, Jan. 27— UP) —The
Shanghai Chamber of Shipping dis
posed today that it, the 'Chinese
Chamber of Commerce and several
j'ther Ch nese shipping organiza
;ions had adopted a resolution de
nanding that the Central govern
nent “debar ships Hying foreign
lags from the privilege of plying
Chinese waters.”
Y. L. Lee, secretary general oi
he shipping chamber, urged the
Government to “wipe out the
uimiliation of having to tolerate
'oreign ships in Chinese waters.”
Lee said the United States had
tromised to send China ten L berty
ihips to bolster her merchant
Continued on Page Two; Col. 8)
Former Supreme Court
Justice Will Appear
Before Committee
WASHINGTON, Jan, 27.—(U.R)—
The Congressional Pearl Harbor In
quiry committee will hear two more
major witnesses tomorrow—former
Supreme Court Justice Owen J.
Roberts, and Navy Capt. Ellis M.
Zacharias who predicted the Japa
nese attack on Pearl Harbor
months before it occurred.
Roberts, on orders of the late
President Roosevelt, made the
first formal investigation of the dis
aster as head of the Roberts Com
mission.
The committee wants to know
whether it is true that some por
tions of the Roberts findings are
missing from the files. It also would
’like to discover what happened to
the original copy of the Roberts
report. Neither Roberts nor Miss
Grace Tully, Mr. Roosevelt’s confi
dential secretary, can find it.
Zacharias will testify ahead of
Roberts. He claims that he predict
ed the attack almost nine months
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 7)
WAR BRIDES DECLARE
FATHER NEPTUNE IS
NO REAL GENTLEMAN
ABOARD THE U.S.S. ARGEN
TINA, Jan. 27;HiP)—British brides
of American servicemen agreed
that Father Neptune is no gentle
man as seasickness kept all but
a hardy few in their bunks while
the Argentina ploughed through
heavy swells bound for New York.
Many of the mothers and chil
dren in the frst major contingent
headed for the United States from
Britain were incapacitated, creat
ing a serious problem for U. S.
army and ship personnel.
Doctors and nurses worked
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 1) ;
Children Die
When Flames
Sweep House
FIREMEN HAMPERED
Spectacular Blaze At
Charleston, W. Va., Does
$1,000,000 Damage
BY UNITED PRESS
At least 20 persons lost their
lives today in fires in five major
cities as a cold wave swept across
the nation, buried part of the east
in snow, and sent temperatures
diving to 21 degrees below zero
in upstate New York.
With icy temperature* numbing
firemen’s fingers and freezing hose
streams, an epidemic of early
Sunday fires hit Kansas City, Mo.,
St. Louis, Charleston, W. Va., New
York City and Chicago.
Largest loss of life was at
Kansas City, where 11 persons, in
cluding five children were burned
to death when a blaze began in
a clothes closet and raced through
a ramshackle, three-story building
being used as a rooming house.
Twenty persons were injured and
another 50 made homeless.
A fire which wrecked the three
story, 50-room Alpine hotel in an
old section of downtown St. Louis
caused four deaths. One of the
victims was a fireman who died
from a heart attack! while battling
the blaze in near-zero weather.
Damage was estimated at $45,000.
In the poor lower eastside dis
trict of New York City, two middle
aged women and a man died
when a fire broke out in the second,
floor rear hall of an “old law”
tenement house and quickly spread
to three other tenements. Some
325 other persons, who had been
having late breakfasts or reading
the Sunday comic sections a few
minutes earlier, scrambled to
roofs and windows where they
escaped by fireladders.
Most spectacular blaze was in
Charleston, W. Va., where 11 build
ings were destroyed and an esti
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 1)
SEARCHING TEAMS
HUNT MISSING MEN
BUFFALO, N. Y., Jan. 27.—(IP)—
Chairman James M. Mead (D.-N,
Y.) of the U. S. Senate War In
vestigating committee said tonight
that searching teams of the War
department and military forces of
all Allied governments were join
ing in a hunt for missing U. S. ser
vice personnel.
Mead said that the search teams
were “combing the war areas of
Europe and the Pacific for the 20,
000 ground force and air force men
listed as missing.”
Declaring in a statement that the
War and Navy departments “must
exhaust all possible means to elim.
inate the word ‘missing’ from ev
ery case history,” Mead said he
had demanded that the search be
continued “well beyond the depar
ture of our military forces from
both Europe and the Far East.”
“We will not have finished our
mission until an accounting ha*
been made of each individual
missing serviceman,” Mead a*
serted.
AND SO TO BED!
Even the sweet old soul*
sometime get mad at traffic.
In the noonday rush at Front
and Chestnut streets Saturday
an elderly lady tried to eras*
the busy intersection with ft
red light staring her in th«
face.
She was in the middle of the
street and the automobile*
were whizzing past. After snap
ping her head first toward the
north then to the south, she
threw down the small package
she was carrying and scream
ed, above the traffic sounds.
“Well, why in the name of
(a roar of the traffic blotted
out what the name of was)
don't some of you guys stop
and let a lady get across the
street!!!?”.
The light changed and the
lady calmly picked up her
package and toddled to the
curls.
‘Thanks,” she murmured,
and walked on up Front street.
Along The Cape F ear
LOST BUT NOT FOUND—Ordi
narily, ALONG THE CAPE FEAR
is not a lost and found depart
ment, but the following case seems
to be a bit out of the ordinary.
W. W. Spires, an ex-serviceman,
stopped off in Wilmington en route
to his home in Milledgeville, Ga.
He was headed, according to our
investigators, toward a wedding
after two and a half years with
the U. S. Army in Euro**. He’d
saved up $250 with which to defray
expenses usually associated with
weddings. He came to Wilmington
the day after being mustered out
of the Army at Fort Bragg.
FIVES, TENS, and TWENTIES—
Ex-soldier Spires had his $250 in
fives, 10’s and 20’s. If anybody
should happen to run across sucn
a sum of money in such denomina
tions ex-soldier Spires—who visited
with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L.
Mitch'ell, Mercer ave , while here—
will greatly appreciate it « “
money is turned over to the p
department so that it may
forwarded to him
Spires leaves today tor his home.
COMPARISON—Digging back
into some old files, our researcher
has come across the item that in
1840 the freight rate on the old
Wilmington and Weldon railroad, -
precursor of the ACL, was nine
cents per ton mile. The passenger
rate was six cents per mile.
The same researcher didn’t go
so far to compute the exact rate
as of today, but in case you wish
to look into it, you’ll find there
is a considerable difference.
This same researcher hasn’t i
been able to dig out the details ]
yet, but a good friend of ALONG t
THE ' CAPE FEAR has come up 1
with the statement that at one ]
time there was so much malaria i
in eastern North Carolina that the i
insurance companies wouldn’t in
sure anybody living east of the :
Wilmington and Weldon line. <
It just goes to show you how 1
much progress has been made.
Now, there is no distinction in 1
insurance rates between east of the i
Wilmington and Weldon and any- 1
where else.
Lockmakers Charge Union
With Breaking Into Plant;
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 27—(U.PJ—Of-1
icials of the strikebound Jones &
,aughlin Steel corp. charged today
hat three CIO pickets tunneled
hrough the wall of the company’s
ilant here and “kidnapped” 11
upervisory workers. The steel
workers union denied the charge.
According to the company ver
ion of the incident, the three pick
ets dug a hole through the plant
vail and surprised the supervisory
vorkers in the canteen shortly af
er midnight last night. Company
ifficials said each picket had a
land in his pocket, and one said:
“The first man that makes a
move gets plugged.” _ i
Then, company spokesmen said,
the supervisory workers were
forced through the hole in the wall
one by one, and lined up outside
the mill where "a couple of hun
dred” pickets stood.
The company said a foreman,
Sam Gatts, was beaten by the
crowd and the others were threat
ened.
"Absolutely false” was a union
>fficial’s description of the com
cany version of the incident.
He said that the supervisory
(Continued on Page Two; Col. 7)
i