FORECAST + ^ ^ ^ * Served By Leased Wire* umtnqtnn nnttttn s^tar - State and National New* \ _______WILMINGTON, N. C., SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1946 ESTABLISHED 186^ Navy Takes Over CAMP DAVIS WILL BE NEW TEST BASE Camp Davis, once the largest V. S. Army anti-aircraft train ing center in the nation, is in the hands of the U. S. Navy this morning. At 2400 hours (12 o’clock mid night in military terminology) last night, the Navy Blue and Gold officially took over the famous site to begin experi ments on Uncle Sam’s newest and deadliest electronically guided missiles. Shrouded thickly in govern mental secrecy, the experi ments at the camp and along Sears Landing are expected to cost astronomical amounts of money. New buildings and equipment alone will consume approximately $1,000,000, it is reported. __ With the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance in charge of the secret experiments, a relative ly small force of Naval per sonnel will conduct the actual trials of the radically new wea pons. About 250 civilians will be en gaged with laboratory work and other allied functions. Questions concerning the Navy’s possible testing and de velopment of the new “bug bomb”—said to be more de structive than the atom-bomb— have met with strong silence from top-ranking Navy offi cers. ILLEGAL NYLON MARKET BROKEN Multi-Million Dollar Beer Operations Are Also Dissolved _____________ CHICAGO, May 31 — (U.R) — The government cracked down Friday on what it described as a multi million dollar black market in beer and a major nylon stocking ring with indictments charging four firms and 12 persons with violations of OPA ceiling prices. Federal grand jury investigating beer black market operations ex tending throughout the South, in dicted three breweries, a beer dis tributor and nine individuals on charges of over-ceiling sales of $242,500 worth of beer in the past two years Hosiery Violations In a separate action, another Federal grand jury indicted three Chicago men, charging 49 viola tions of ceiling prices in the sales of nylon and rayon hosiery which they allegedly obtained from three New York City firms. The New York companies now are under in vestigation, according to Asst. U. S. Dist. Atty. Robert C. Eardley. Charged with conspiracy to vio late beer price ceilings were: The Roller Brewing Co., Chicago. U. S. Dist. Atty. J. Albert Woll said evidence indicated the company was involved in more than $100,000 over-ceiling sales since 1944, The Best Brewing Co., Chicago: The firm ’was charged with $40,000 in over-ceiling sales since 1944. The Frederick’s Brewing Co., Thornton, 111.: The company was charged on two counts with $2,500 in over-ceiling sales. The Den-Mar Distributors, Chi cago, charged with $200,000 in over ceiling sales. During the beer investigation, dealers, distributors and retailers from several Southeastern and Southwestern communities appear ed before the grand jury. Woll de scribed the beer black market as a multimillion dollar operation. Ad ditional indictments are expected. Three officials of the Rosmore baies, Inc.. Chicago, v/cre indicted In tfie nylor-rayon case. Nylon Blank Market Eardley 'aid the suit was one of the first brought against major b;ack market operations in nylons. He charged that the Rosmore firm htaae at least $25,000 profit in blade market sales of nylons dur '!;§ April and the early part of Ma/, mostly in Chicago. He said the firm sold nylon and rayon hosiery to 15 distributors '■ho in turn made door-to-door sales. Nylons sold from $26 to $30 a dozen against a ceiling of $11.75 a j0Zen’ he said Rayons brought a dozen, compared to an "25 ceiling, he said. He said the three men are liable o a maximum fine of $280,000 or .2 years imprisonmspt if con ^‘elej on all of the 49 counts. MBONE’S MEDITATIONS By Alley DE BOWS' 6DM CLUE HATTEP* MEK 'EM A MEW tAH6lt "TO CO 'ROOM' DE &UW-,S-£W,E_ 5*1$ S1UU COOP I (Released kjr Tub Bell Sytt* dleate. Inc.) Trade Mark Rex. U. 8- Pat Office) STALIN REJECTS PRESIDENT’S BID Generalissimo Refuses Visit To U. S. Because Of Health WASHINGTON, May 31 — (U.R) — Generalissimo Josef Stalin has re jected two invitations within a year to come to the United States as President Truman’s guest to dis cuss Soviet-American relations, it was revealed Friday by the Presi dent. On both occasions, Stalin said his doctor did not think it was advis able for him to take such a long trip. This announcement by the Presi dent at his news conference, the first official one that Stalin’s hea^m was not up to par, came in the midst of a most difficult period' of Soviet-American relations. It follow’s sharp exchanges between Secretry of State James F. Byrnes and Soviet Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov over the blame for failure of the last Paris prime ministers meeting. The foreign ministers meet again June 15 in Paris and the State Department announced Friday that Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg, (R. Mich.) has assured Byrnes he will attend. Sen Tom Connally (D. Tex.), hopes to. Both were advisers to Byrnes at the last meeting and came back with nothing but praise for his policies. Mr. Truman said the first invita tion to Stalin was made at Postdam last summer. The last ore, he said, was made within 30 days—during the recent unsuccessful foreign ministers meeting in Paris. But later Mr. Truman was proven in error on his dates. The White House corrected them and revealed that the invitation was written more than a month before the Paris meeting started. The White House disclosed that Truman’s invitation to Stalin was written on March 19, more than a month before the Paris meeting, and delivered by Lieut. Gen. Wal ter Bedell Smith, the new American ambassador to Russia, on April 4— 21 days before the Paris meeting opened. SHIPPING OFFICIAL STOPS BY SHIPYARD ON VISIT TO AREA 3. L. Luckenbach, president of the American Bureau of Ship ping and past president of the International Propellor club, Friday stopped in Wilmington for a tour of the city and an inspection of the yards of the North Carolina Shipbuilding company. Enroute to Charleston, S. C., to attend his daughter’s com mencement exercises, Lucken bach broke his trip here in or der to view the port city that has lately been so eminent in national harbor news. He spoke highly of the North Carolina yard’s facilities and expressed confidence in Wil mington’s future as a great shipping center. Continuing his journey to Charleston this morning, Luck enbach plans to stop here again on his return trip to his New York residence. ra THE LION’S DEN Repeat Trip To Chair Fought In Louisiana NEW ORLEANS, May 31.— (U.R)—Remember Daniel in the lion's den, the State Pardons board was told Friday as at torneys battled frantically to save 17-year-old Willie Fran cis from making his second trip to the latter-day lion’s den, Louisiana’s portable elec tric chair. A parade of witnesses and Negro preachers trouped be fore the board all day long, re counting graphically the bizar zarre story of Willie’s first es cape from the chair, and plead ing that he be spared the , agony of a “second electro cution” June 7. Electricity Experiment A. P. Tureaud, attorney for the National association for the Advancement of Colored peo ple, asked the board: “Suppose they take him back and it doesn’t work again. What is this—an experiment in elec tricity?” But it was Bertrand Deblanc, a firey little Cajun from Willie’s home town of St. Martinville, See CHAIR on Page One SENATE UPHOLDS PRESIDENTS AUTHORITY TO WRITE CONTRACTS WITH LABOR UNIONS; MARI' IE WORKERS HIT TRUMAN DECISION _'-v _ _ V Governme. /Its To Keep Ships Moving In Walkout Truman Says He Plans To Use Coast Guard And Navy In Case Of Strike Of Ship Workers June 15 By The Associated Press Pennsylvania’s anthracite mines shut down yesterday when 75,000 United Mine Workers went on strike, and Presi dent Truman reported that chances for avoiding a walkout of 200,000 CIO Longshoremen and Seamen June 15 were very dark. The chief executive told his news conference, however, that he would make every effort to keep the ships moving jn event of a strike, using the Navy, Coast Guard, War Shipping ad ministration and Army if neces sary. Leaders of the maritime unions said later that the President’s re marks constituted an invitation to the operators to be “tough” and refuse a settlement and contended Mr. Truman had “fired a torpedo into the negotiations.” Approve Agreement In Washington the Wage Stabili zation board said it had approved, with certain “understandings”, the soft coal wage agreement, and President Truman endorsed the WSB step. The “understandings” were board interpretations of sev eral clauses in the agreement. The WSB order was required be fore any of the wage changes agreed on could go into effect, be cause the soft coal mines now are in possession of the government and the war labor disputes act re quire a board order for wage chan ges. The new coal strike,_ ninth major anthracite shutdown sinoj! the turn of the century, came as the first of the nation’s 400,000 soft coal miners began returning to their jobs under an agreement reached Wednesday with the Fed eral government. See GOVERNMENT on Page Two LIFE INSURANCE MEN HEAR PLEA: Full Cooperation Of Local Underwriters Promis ed On GI Plan Full cooperation of local life underwriters was promised the veterans of World Wars I and II yesterday at a forum meeting held in the Veterans Administration contact offices with E. C. Bailey, regional VA insurance officer. Bailey told the group that veter ans should be encouraged to hold their term policies, established while they were in service, until such time as proposed liberaliza tion of the National Service Life insurance act becomes law. Desire Cooperation The officer said the local under writers voluntarily expressed their desire to cooperate fully with the administration, and the veteran by supplying him the necessary forms and information for their insur ance, and assisting with claims from time to time. He told the group of the import ance of keeping the beneficiary of the veteran up to date, because of cases of claimants, who the veteran would probably not have named, have been receiving claims. Bailey said that the trend of the insurance plans for World War II veterans is along the same lines as those which were fashioned for the veterans of the first world war. The Weather FORECAST North Carolina: Scattered showers in west portion Saturday afternoon, partly cloudy and warm elsewhere. South Crolina: Partly cloudy and warm Saturday with scattered showers in northwest portion. (Eastern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Temperatures 1:30a 66; 7:30a 65; 1:30p 78; 7:30p 74. Maximum_; Minimum 60; Mean 69; Normal 74. Humidity 1:30a 71; 7:30a 77; 1:30p 35; 7:30p 65. Precipitation Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m. 0.00 inch. Total since the first of the month 4.22 inches. Tides for Today (From the Tide Tables published by U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). High Low Wilmington - 11:03a 5:58a ll:33p 5:57p Masonboro Inlet_ 8:52a 2:50a 9:20p 2:51p Sunrise 5:01a; Sunset 7:18p; Moonrise 6:38a: Moonset 9:39p. River Stage at Fayetteville, N. C., at 8 a.m., Friday, 12.1 feet. STETTINIUS ASKS TO QUIT COUNCIL Truman, Byrnes Hope To Persuade Delegate To Stay In UN WASHINGTON, May 31—(U.R)— President Truman revealed Friday that Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., has submitted his resignation as Ameri can representative to the United Nations but that both the White House and' Secretary of State James F. Byrnes hoped he would reconsider and stay on the job. Stettinius’ resignation, which Mr. Truman has not yet accepted, was a great surprise to the President and came in the midst of a major UN crisis with the Security Coun cil’s prestige already extremely low. Hopes to Intercede The President said he would try and persuade Stettinius not to resign now. Mr. Truman announced' at his news conference that Stettinius had submitted his resignation two or three days ago and later the White House released the text of the Stettinius’ letter. It said in part: “The ship whose keel was laid at Dumbarton Oaks and launched at San Francisco has put to sea—ful ly equipped and manned. As I sub mit my resignation. . .You may be sure my faith in the United Nations and my devotion to the cause it represents will always remain up permost in my heart and' mind.” See STETTINIUS on Page Two Along The Cape Fear NOSTALGIC NIP—We got nip ped by the gnat of nostalgia the other day. We were strolling past a school when the doors of the institution suddenly burst open and several hundred children rushed out and all but stomped us under foot. Never since last year, when we dropped a pair of nylons in the middle of Manhattan’s Times Square, have we been so engulfed with humanity. It wasn’t until the kids had van ished down the street and we pick ed ourself up from the sidewalk that we realized what had brought the thundering herd of youngsters trampling upon us. It was the last day of school. POIGNANT PONIARD—It was then, at that moment of realiza tion,’ when the gnat nipped us with his poignant poniard. For a few minutes we regressed to the scenes of our own child hood—those happy days when we closed the narrow door of school behind us and ran through the vast opening portal of summer vaca tion. And yet, even as the pages of the memory-book flicked before our eyes, we knew that something was missirg from the scene which had just happened at the close of school in the year of 1946. The kids, as they trouped home for the summer, vere not singing: “No more pencils, no more books, No more teacher’s sassy looks.” PAST SASS—There must be, we figure, only one reason why the school child-en of today no longer sing this ancient ballad of school closing: ■ There must be no sassy teachers left in this world. And that’s good. When we were kids, we had all kinds of sassy teachers. We don’t mean that all of them were sassy; as a mat' of fact, many of them were the un-sassiest people we have ever known. But the remembrance of the ones See CAPE FEAR on Page Two * > Crazy Weather SNOW IN MICHIGAN 85 IN WASHINGTON By the Associated. Press Snow, midsummer heat and floods gave a crazy-quilt pat tern to the nation’s weather map Friday night. Sncw fell yesterday in Minne sota and Upper Michigan and near freezing temperatures were forecast for Northern Minnesota, Northern Michigan, Northern Wisconsin and North weastern North Dakota. Spreads Southward The cold air mass spread southward to the Great Lakes, Mississippi Valley and Ohio River regions routing summery temperatures. The mercury dropped from 68 to 47 degrees in an hour in Milwaukee. Chi cago, which had a hight of 84 degrees Thursday expected a low of 40 by Saturday night. Summer-like weather prevail ed Friday in the East, New York and Washington record ing 85 degrees. Even higher temperatures were recorded in New England, but cooler weath er was moving in from the north Meanwhile, floods caused mil lions of dollars of damage in Pennsylvania and Texas. Dallas Hard Hit North and South Texas suf fered from the combined ef fects of floods, rain, hail, and high winds. With the Fort Worth and Dallas areas hardest hit. The Trinity river broke through levees in several places at Dallas. A man was drowned at Palmer attempting to res cue cattle from floodwaters. Disaster and medical workers were sent to Lawrenceville, Pa., where the Red Cross re ported the entire community’s population of 450 took refuge from floodwaters in the town’s cemetery. The waters were re ceding rapidly, however, after the worst flood in a decade in the Susquehanna valley. SPAIN NO THREAT TO WORLD PEACE UN Commission Decides Franco Hasn’t Menac ed World NEW YORK, May 31—(JP)— The United Nations investigation of Franco Spain drew to a close Fri day night as Great Britain at the last minute submitted a document maintaining that the regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco was not a threat to world peace. The new document was made public as the Security Council’s subcommittee on Spain worked on in private to finish its report by midnight, the deadline set by the Council April 29 when the inquiry was launched. Captured Evidence A sub-committee spokesman late Friday said the group would' not ask for an extension of time de spite at late deluge of documents, including evidence captured from the Germans and submitted by the United States, along with piles of evidence from France and Britain. The sub-committee was sched uled to meet again at 10 p. m.. (EDT) Thursday night to wind up its work. Three working days must elapse after the report’s cir culation before the Council takes it up. The British document, coupled with a similar document submitted earlier by the United States, led to the belief in U. N. circles that the sub-committee’s report would leave the Council approximately where it was before the inquiry. Charges Fall Through At that time Russia. Poland, France, and Mexico favored a world-wide break of diplomatic relations with Franco, but the majority of the Council members contended there was not sufficient evidence to warrant such action. The British document said Brit ain had been unable to find any evidence that Spain was making undue military preparations, that Franco was engaged in atomic re search or that the deployment of Spanish forces was a threat. SENATORS REFUSE TO REVERSE VOTE Food Official Predicts Meat To Go Up 12 To 20 C^nts WASHINGTON, May 31—(U.R) — The Senate Banking committee Friday refused to reverse its vote to lift price controls on meat, poul try and dairy products June 30, a move which OPA officials said could lead to death cl the agency and cost housewives millions of dollars. Chairman Robert F. Wagner (D N. Y.,) said after the closed ses sion that he tried vainly to have the decision reversed. The com mittee nearing final action, had planned to meet again Friday night but deferred further consideration until 10 a. m., Saturday. Mean to Remain Scarce The Agriculture department re ported that meat will remain scarce through mid-1947 and UNRRA Director General Fiorello H. LaGuardia predicted that the committee action, if upheld by the House and Senate, would shoot meat prices up one-third. The department, indicating that it expects the black market to re main a hindering factor in the meat shortage, meanwhile tightened its controls of federally-inspected packers. To prevent a hold-back on deliveries it ordered packers to certify the amount of beef set aside each week to meet export needs and said similar regulations covering pork, veal and lard will be issued later. Crimps Plans LaGuardia warned that elimina tion of meat controls was “liable to crimp” plans to ship nearly 3, 000,000 tons of wheat to famine areas abroad during June and July. N. C. OFFICIAL PREDICTS “SUBSTANTIAL” INCREASE CHARLOTTE, May 31—(U.R)—An official of the North Carolina Food Dealers association Friday pre dicted a “substantial” increase in fresh meat prices as a result of pending congressional legislation on the OPA. James B. Vogler, secretary of the association, said the increases were practically assured by the action already taken by the Senate and House in amending the OPA act. “In the trade,” he said, “it is ex pected that meat prices will go up 12 to 20 cents a pound at first.” ‘HE FLOATS THROUGH THE MR’ “Stratosphere” Man Feature Of Carnival BY MEARES HARRISS It’s not what you’d call on or dinary act, not if you’ve seen it. . . . . this fellow Selden “The Strat osphere Man.” Sponsored by the Senior Frater nity the combined Ratery Shows and the R. and S. Amusements have been holding forth at Bellamy park with the profits going foi the Fraternity’s work with boys But what interests me is Sel den! 138 Feet Up The guy claims five feet fouz inches, weighs 185 pounds, won’i admit his age and does hand stands among other things, 133 feet above the ground on a slen der steel tower which he deliber ately sways back and forth in a 35-foot arc. From now on, I’m remember ing that as about the least way I would like to earn a living. His full name is A. E. Selden; the name he told me for front was not for ordinary vocabularies . . I can’t spell it anyway. Without Net Ourious about the whys and wherefores of an act which in See SELDEN on Page Two v Solons Beat Back Moves To Set Aside Strike Bill Senator Ball Contends Measure Puts Gov ernment In Business Of Dictating Terms To Employers WASHINGTON, May 31.—(AP)—The Senate, push ing toward passage of emergency labor legislation, upheld, 51 to 28, Friday night, the President’s authority to write contracts with labor unions in seized industries. Senator Ball (R.-Minn.), author of the rejected amend ment to President Truman’s bill, said it would have out lawed such contracts as that just signed between the gov GRAMMARS OOL STAFFS R [JCED Officials Expect 500 Few er Pupils In Grades Next Fall The New Hanover county gram mar school system will reopen for the fall term with its teaching staff one dozen instructors short of last year’s total, school officials dis closed Friday. The staff reduction is the result of an anticipated summer exodus of about 500 children of shipyard workers, they said. Still Above Average The state allocates one teacher for every 40 students, and although the expected decrease in county school membership will reduce the number of teachers accordingly, H. M. Roland, superintendent of schools, Friday said next fall’s en rollment would still be about 3, 200 above the pre-war average. A similar loss of about 500 pupils was experienced at the opening of schools last fall, Roland ex plained. The war workers’ exodus is ex pected to be the principal cause of the enrollment decrease, he con tinued, since the number of grad uates and “drop outs” will be bal. anced by the approximate 1,600 pupils who will enter school next year for the first time. See GRAMMAR on Page Two CHECK WRITING ARTIST NABBED “David Harriss” Being Held By Knoxville Authorities The rubber check craftsman, who bilked his way through Wil mington several days ago under the pen name “David Harriss’’ is in the custody of Knoxville, Tenn., authorities, local police learned Friday. Chief of Detectives Wells, of Knoxville, yesterday called city headquarters stating that his de partment had in custody David Eugene Harriss, 36, and wife Daisy Taylor Harriss. The couple had a bank book in their posses sion for deposits in the Wilmington Morris Plan bank. Awaiting Instructions The plainclothes chief said he would hold the couple until he re ceived instructions from Chief C. H. Casteen. Harriss, during his Wilmington operation deposited a bogus check with a local bank and fleeced city merchants of $300 through checks written against the account. See CHECK on Page Two ernment and John L. Lewis coal miners. Ball sought to freeze wages and most working conditions when the government took and operat ed any plant. Downs Capehart The Senate previously had re jected, 77 to3, a proposal by Sena tor Capehart (R.-Ind.) to permit the President to adjust wages and working conditions up to the point of the highest offer previously made by the employers. As the President’s emergency bill passed the House, it empower ed the President to adjust wages and working conditions. Ball con tended that this put the govern ment in the business of dictating the terms under which the em ployer would get his plant back. ‘T don’t think he (the President) settled the coal strike on a just basis,” Ball declared. ‘‘I think he appeased an arrogant labor leader at the point of a gun.” “Freezing” Wages Democratic Leader Barkley (Ky.) asserted that Ball’* proposal would mean “freezing” wages when the government took over a plant or facility. If it had been in effect, he declared, the settlements in the rail and coal strikes could never have been reached. “All the government could do would be just to keep on operating them,” Barkley .said. Working long past the dinner hour, the Senate rejected other pro posals to narrow, expand, or shunt aside the measure after the Presi dent spoke up for it in its original form. But as successive ballots on those points shoved the legislation toward a vote on passage, the Senate show, ed no inclination to restore a provi sion for drafitng workers woh strike in government-seized industriei. Stays In Session Democratic Leader Barkley (Ky) planned to hold the chamber in ses. sion to seek a final vote. By a skimpy 42 to 40 margin, the Senate turned down a motion by Senator Elbert Thomas