North Carolina Newspapers

FORECAST WILMINGTON AND VICNITY • Continued hot Friday. V°L-79.—N0.-233.__ ESTABLISHED 186$ Lejeune Set For Regular Marine Base full Division Of 20,000 Men Being Sent To Station PERMANENTSTATUS Majority Of Men Veterans Of Second Marine Division Duty Camp Lejeune, one of the largest U. S. Marine Corps in stallations in the nation, will become a permanent military base manned by a full Marine division of 20,000 men, it was announced officially yesterday by Mai H B. Anderson, public rela tions officer of the famous Onslow county camp. The majority of the leathernecks who will be stationed at the site are veterans of the well-known Second Marine Division, the outfit which wrested Saipan, Tinian, and other Pacific islands and atolls from the Japanese during World War II. Already Enrouie These seasoned fighters are al ready en route from the Pacific to their new home base. The re mainder of the 20.000-man division will be made up of new recruits. The veterans will be serving un de- their old commanding officer, Mai Gen. Thomas'E. Watson, who bossed them in the Pacific. General Watson was made commander;of Camp Lejeune several months ago upon the retirement of Maj. Gdn. John Marston. Building Program Yesterday’s announcement bears jut the implications of the news of several weeks ago that a $3, 300.000 building program was be ing undertaken at the camp. In cluded in the expansion project are many new barracks and rec reation halls. When the building program is complete and the new 20,000-man division established, Camp Lejeune will be the largest Marine base in Southeastern United States. DELIVERY OF SHIP SCHEDUED TODAY S. S. Santa Cecilia Goes To Grace Line Of ficials Here The S. S. Santa Cecilia, second of six luxury-liner passenger-cargo vessels built by the North Carolina Shipbuilding company, will be de livered to the Grace Line today. Completely modern from stem to stern, the Santa Cecilia, like her sister-ships, have a swimming pooi, wooden weather decks for games, spacious lounges and ve randas, air-conditioned state-rooms for 52 passengers, and refrigerated cargo spaces. South American Run The luxury ship will follow her predecessor, the S. S. Santa Bar bara, into service between the United States and South America. In announcing today’s delivery, shipyard officials also disclosed 'bat the third vessel, the S. S. Santa Margarita, will be delivered ’bout August 6, and the fourth, ■be S. S. Santa Maria, in the lat ■er Part of August. The fifth, the S. S. Santa Luisa. 1 follow in about three weeks, 3no the sixth and last, the S. S. Santa Isabel, early in October. Today’s delivery marks the 239th since the shipyard began opera tions early in 1941. MBONE’S meditations By Alley EfN i had a million Do^AHS HIT WOULDN' DO Mt NO ^oop ^6 £Z I 6*01 J>IS ^EAH Miz'r^ |N PE I ElAip \ \ (Rfleaaed by The Bell By* b .dieate. Ine.) Tr*de M*rk r7,X'¥C Ref. U. S. Rat. 0*1 ft) 35-FOOT CHANNEL ^ MovementStre fining For Deepen ing Cape Fear A ^trong and united city county - civic - commercial bid for a 35-foot-deep Cape Fear river channel from Wilmington to the sea will be made in the city hall council chamber at 10 o’clock this morning. Upwards of 30 prominent sup porters of the 35-foot channel movement will convene in the council room to compile and correlate all data for the pro posed project in preparation for the U. S. Army Engineers’ public hearing on the matter on July 30. Meeting Today Announced earlier this week, today’s meeting will mark the first concentrated effort to se cure the deep channel termed by local authorities as ‘‘a vital need in Wilmington’s struggle to become one of the outstand ing seaports of the South Atlan tic Seaboard.” Among the men who will for mulate the ‘‘plan of attack” at today’s meeting are: Act ing City Manager J. R. Ben son; Chief County Commis sioner Addison Hewlett; City Industrial Agent John H. Far rell; R. B. Page, chairman of the State Ports authority; J. T. Hiers, executive general agent of the Wilmington Port com See CHANNEL on Page Two RECORDED PHONE CALL LINKS MAY Transcription Reveals Ef forts On Behalf Of Profiteer Ring WASHINGTON. July 11. —(U.R)_ A recorded telephone conversation Thursday established a new link between Rep. Andrew J. May, D., Ky., and an alleged ring of mid western war profiteers and reveal ed that he tried personally to se cure a valuable war contract for them. The recording was the second in troduced by the Senate War Investi gating committee in its efforts to show that the Kentuckian used his Congressional influence on be half of the combine. Huge War Orders Top War department officials have previously testified that the 16 firms making up the Illinois syndicate raked in an enormous profit on $78,000,000 worth of war orders and that the government still is trying to get back some of its money. The transcription was produced by Committee Counsel George Meader during testimony by Brig. Gen. Roswell Hardy, an Army Ordnance officer. Details Phone Talk It detailed a telephone conversa tion between Hardy and May on May 7, 1945, when the Congressman called the officer to ask that Ba tavia Metal Products, Inc., a key firm in the Illinois combine, be given a contract to produce a new type chemical bomb. During their talk, May urged that Batavia get the bomb contract to compensate for the loss of business resulting from a cutback in its shell production. Acknowledged Efforts The Congressman acknowledged that he was asking for the award even though Dr. Henry M. Garsson, a top official of the combine, had not planned to seek it. Hardy also acknowledged that he signed the recommendation which resulted in Batavia obtaining the coveted Army “E” award for pro duction efficiency, over the angry protests of Ordnance officers in the Chicago district. See RECORDED On Page Two World Police Force Could Enforce Peace WASHINGTON, July 11.—(iT>)— President Truman expressed the view Thursday that world peace will be attained “if we can imple ment the United Nations organi zation with a police force behind it sufficient to make its mandates stand up.” He called for the strong inter national police force, without going into details, in an extemporaneous address to 150 educators who call ed at the White House. The President urged them to help “overcome those prejudices which cause war—religious preju dices, misunderstandings between races and people of different languages.” The President followed up his remarks by asking Congress to appropriate $100,000,000 for the Federal Housing agency to pro vide needed educational facilities at institutions furnishing courses to veterans. SIX MEN KILLED IN PLANE WRECKS Army P-80 Crashes; Five Die When Constella tion Burns Up WASHINGTON, July 11 — (UP)—The government ordered all Constellation aircraft used by American commercial lines throughout the world ground ed at midnight Thursday night after one of the mammoth planes operated by TWA crash ed during a domestic train ing flight, killing five persons. SPARTANBURG, S. C., July 11 —(U.R)—An Army P-80 “Shooting Star’’ plunged to the ground in a flaming dive near here Thursday, killing the pilot and showering farm lands with burning wreckage. A farmer who witnesses the crash said the plane seemed to blow up in the air. Manager Robert F. Turner of the Palmetto Air school nearby said the jet-propelled plane shear ed off a pine tree and buried it self five feet in the ground. The Greenville (S. C.) Army Air base said the plane was enroute from Maxwell Field, Ala., to Lang ley Field, Va. An investigation was started immediately. The pilot’s body was found 200 feet from the main wreckage. Iden tification was withheld pending no tification of next of kin. FIRST CRASH OF HUGE CONSTELLATION TRANSPORT READING, Pa.. July 11—(/P)— Five men were killed and a sixth injured critically Thursday in what Transcontinental and Western Air lines said was the first fatal crash of a commercially-owned Constella tion transport, the world’s largest passenger plane now in regular service. TWA said the plane was on a routine training flight from its base here. As firemen extinguished the flames 90 minutes after the crash Fire Prevention Inspector Charles Ohlinger, of Reading, said there were four charred bodies around the central pile of wreckage. Eyewitnesses said the plane was afire and obviously in trouble be fore it smashed into the field. L. P. Wenke, superintendent of opera tions at the TWA base, said he could make no statement on the cause of the crash until a Civil Aeronautics Authority investiga tion is completed. See SIX MEN on Page Two Riot Squelched TRIESTE, July 11—(U.R)—Ameri can troops in armored cars broke up a riot by 20,000 Slovene sym pathizers Thursday, but not before 10 persons had been wounded, the city’s business paralyzed, and a railroad blown up in one of the wildest days yet in this troubled port. Before the American armored cars charged onto the scene, their cr£ws in full battle dress, the local police had fired 100 shots in an attempt to break up the rioting. Ten persons were wounded in the shooting. Today and Tomorrow By WALTER LIPPMANN There is good reason for think ing that as a peacemaker Secre tary Byrnes may from now on be in a considerably stronger posi tion than he has been. When he agreed a year ago at Potsdam that peace should first be made with the German satel lites, he elected to begin his peace making at the point where his diplomatic position was the weak est. With the exception of Italy these countries had all been liber ated and tiien occupied by the Red Army; Their governments were under the sole control of the Soviet Union, and as a result Mr. Byrnes could exert influence but no power. It was precisely in this area, within the orbit of the Red Army, that Mr. Byrnes was bound to have the least bargaining pow er and M Molotov his greatest bargaining power. We need not wonder, then, that given the men tality of the rulers of Russia, M. Molotov took every advantage of the fact that the Russian military occupation gave him the first word and the last. It would have been impossible to select a more unfavorable place to begin the peacemaking than in that region of Europe where the Red Army is the only military power. * • * The Italian Treaty was not such See LIPPMAN on Page Two TRUMAN ASKS ‘WORKABLE PRICE LA W AS MEASURE HEADS FOR SHOWDOWN; ELLIOT SPIKES BEACH POLIO SCARE _ I -- County Free Of Disease, Officer Says No Cases, Nor Suspected Ones, In Entire Section ANSWERS RUMORS Upstate Residents Told No Need To Cancel Vacation By LARRY HIRSCH There are no cases fo polio myelitis (infantile paralysis) at Carolina Beach or any where in New Hanover coun ty, Dr. A. H. Elliot, chief health officer of the Consoli dated Board of Health, de clared yesterday in answer to rumors that the Lower Cape Fear resort area has “several cases” of the dread disease. “There are positively no cases or even suspected cases of polio i» New Hanover county,” Dr. El liot said. Outlook Bright "Furthermore, although it is virtually impossible to tell when or where the disease might strike, the outlook for this region, based upon the cases we had the past two years, is pretty bright. “In 1944 we had only eight or nine cases. Last year we had only See POLIO on Page Two DRAINAGE SOUGHT BY WINTER PARK Residents Wire Governor Cherry Asking Im mediate Relief Twenty-five residents of W.mter Park dispatched a telegram yes terday to Governor R. Gregg Cherry requesting immediate “ac tive assistance’’ for “quick relief” from the inadequate storm drain age of the area. A problem of many years stand ing, Winter Park’s storm drainage situation became “the worst in 30 years” lately because of the heavy rains, James S. Hall, lead er of the Winter Park protest group, declared yesterday. Schoolyard Swamp “The Winter Park schoolyard is a swamp. The entire area is knee deep in mud. And during the heavy rains the' water actually ran uphill through the drains be cause they are in such poor con dition,” Hall said. The telegram was sent to Cherry, he said, because neither the State Highway commission nor the New Hanover county Board of Com missioners “have provided the adequate storm drainage they See DRAINAGE on Page Two Along The Cape Fear LARGE LADY—As much as W3 have been harried lately by po tato-tomatoes, shell-less eggs, and multi-eared corn, we think we de serve at least a small-size breath ing-spell on the subject of biolo gical oddities. After all, we possess neither the biological insight of Charles Dar win nor the curiosity-collecting talent of R. J. Scott. We are not equipped, in other words, to handle adroitly all these freaks of nature which have been coming our way, and we need a rest from the un familiar labors. But Fate, that large lady with the broad shoulders and the nar row mind, has decreed it other wise. Witness, for instance, the post card she dropped into our mail basket last night. * * * YARD EGG—"Speaking of eggs (the post card says)—what is a ‘Yard Egg’? "On the way to work the other morning I noticed these words chalked on the window of one of those small stores on S. 17th street: "For Sale—Applies, Eggs, and Yard Eggs.’ ‘Tve heard of goose eggs, hen eggs, bird eggs. Along-the-Cape Fear eggs, etc., but this is a new one on me. “On my grandfather’s farm we used to find an occasional egg in the yard, when the hen didn't quite make it to the nest. Would that be a yard egg? "Just curious, that’s all.” * * * SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE—You, sir or madame, are curious, but we are completely baffled. You have made a great mistake in coming to us with that question, ‘‘What is a Yard Egg?” Of all the things we do know something about, we know the least about eggs. It wasn’t so many years ago when we suffered from the delusion that scrambied eggs, boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs, and eggs a la carte were each laid by a hen designed by nature especially for each parti cular job. Moreover, the closest we have been to a farm in the last 20 years was last week when we chanced upon the book in our library about Rebecca and her estate in Sunny brook. We hold out only one hope to you, sir or madame. Smewhere See CAPE FEAR on Page Two LINGER ON, SUMMERTIME ‘ - " Pos t-Labor Day Boom Drummed For Beaches A post-Labor Day vacation boom is in the offing this fall for Wrightsville, C a r o 1 i na, Kure, Wilmington, and other beaches of the Lower Cape Fear resort area, according to a five-week survey now being made here by an official of a prominent New York metro politan newspaper. Vacation Starved Thousands of New York peo ple, vacation-starvec. after four war years of staying-at-home, have the money and th< desire but “no place to go” for vaca tions this year, the official said “All the northern resort areas have been booked solid through September since the middle of June,” the official declared, "and the people of New York are getting desperate for want of a place to spend that first post-war vacation. Seeking Resorts ‘‘Our newspaper ge‘s hun dreds of phone-calls a day from people asking us to find a suitable spot for a fall vaca tion since a summer vaca tion is now practically an im possibility.” In response to this need the newspaper has taken it upon itself to find ‘‘fall vacation spofs” for its readers, the of ficial said. See VACATION On Page Two UNCLE SAM WANTS ONE GERMAN ZONE Byrnes Makes This Plain Before Four-Power Mini sters Council By JOSEPH DYNAN PARIS, July 11 —(A5)— Secretary of State James F. Byrnes told the four-power Foreign Ministers council Thursday night that the United States wanted a central ad ministration established for Ger many. If such a centralization plan was not now attainable, the American secretary said, then the United States, as a “last, resort,” would like to see the present four Al lied zones of occupation in the Reich merged economically. Molotov Plan Byrnes made his statement 24 hours after Soviet Foreign Minis ter V. M. Molotov had called for the setting up at once of a central German administration “as a transitional step toward the es tablishment of a future German government” with which the Allies could sign a peace treaty. The five-hour meeting of the ministers Thursday produced no agreements. But the ministers de cided that they would hold a spe cial meeting on German problems in the autumn after the adjourn ment of the United Nations gen eral assembly in New York. The date for the ministers’ autumn session was not fixed. French D:smayed While Byrnes and Molotov were placing themselves on record in favor of centralization, the French delegation heard with open dis may British Foreign Secretary Ern est Bevin’s statement that Brit ain was going ahead immediately with “autonomous” control of its zone. Bevin took his stand in the light of the council’s inability to agree on a" inter-zonal exchange of goods which he prposed Wednesday in order to reduce Britain’s huge occupation costs. Bevin’s proposal was similar in its aim to the economic merger plan advanced by Byrnes. Fear Industries A French spokesman said this was an “extremely grave” decision because it meant Britain was go See UNCLE SAM on Page Two TOBACCO FARMERS CAST VOTE TODAY Quota System Up For Test In Flue-Cured Belt RALEIGH, July 11—(U.R)—North Carolina farmers go to the polls Friday to vote in a referendum which will decide whether the to bacco quota system will be con tinued in the nation’s flue-cured tobacco states. Tar Heel growers will vote on the following issues in the elec tion, which will begin at 7 a.m.: Issues At Stake 1. Whether the quota system will be continued at all. 2. Whether the quota system should be continued for one year or three years. 3. Whether the 1947 marketing quotas recently announced by the U. S. Department of Agriculture are acceptable. An impressive array of State officials have already urged farm ers to vote in favor of the quota system, declaring that the agri cultural population benefitted from its operation and that marketing methods and growing techniques have been instituted since it was instituted. Governor Heads List Governor Gregg Cherry, Com missioner of Agriculture W. Kerr Scott, Tom Scott, head of the Pro duction and Marketing Adminis tration in the State, and other lead ing officials have advocated the continuation of tobacco quotas. During the most recent referen dum on the question in 1943, a total of 103,429 votes were cast in North Carolina, and of this num ber 91.7 per cent cast ballots in favor of a three year extension of tobacco quotas. FORECAST NEAR RECORD TOBACCO CROPS IN STATE RALEIGH. July 11 —(U.R)— The federal-state crop reporting serv ice said Thursday that the State's See TOBACCO on Page Two Loan Passage Seen WASHINGTON, July 11 — (U.R)— Backed by an appeal by former Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Speaker Sam Rayburn, D., Tex., predicted Thursday that the con troversial British l8an bill would be approved by “an overwhelming majority.” Hull, in a letter read to the House by Rayburn shortly after the begin, ning of the third day of debate on the measure, urged passage of the $3,750,000,000 loan, and said the world must choose between two paths — cooperation toward peace or discord that might lead to "an other world war.'’ HISTORY’S BIGGEST BLAST Board Reports Bikini Bomb Test ‘Successful’ WASHINGTON, July 11—WP) —The Bikini atomic bomb damaged more ships than any other blast in history, a board of experts advised President Truman Thursday, even though the explosion apparently v.as about a third of a mile off the traget point and away from close - spaced capital ships. Provides Information The test provided information necessary for the redesign of fighting ships to hold down damage to superstructures and men on deck, said the report Dresented by Scientists - Army Navy Evaluation board. Mr, Truman made the report public at his news conference. Because the first test was an aerial explosion, little infor mation was obtained on possible efects to the submerged parts of ships, the board said. The second, underwater, test plan ned for later this month is ex pected to provide that data. Layman’s Viewpoint A report of a second board representing President Tru man also was made public by See BOMB On Page Two Administration Wins Round By Beating Taft Proposal President See? Danger Of “Runaway Infla tion’’ Without “Workable Price Control” Act WASHINGTON, July 11.—VP)—1The administration won a major round in the OPA revival fight Thursday night when the senate smashed an attempt by Senator Taft (R.-Ohio) to deprive OPA of discretion and force it to raise manufacturers price ceilings to cover increased costs. The decision came on the closest possible margin—a 40 to 40 vote. A tie vote defeats an attempt to amend a bill. This action removed one of the last major hurdles to Senate , passage later of a measure to restore some price and rent con trols for one year. Rejection of the Taft proposal left intaci in the bill a com promise formula worked out by Democratic Leader Barkley (Ky.) for prices of manufacturers, processors and producers. By JACK BELL WASHINGTON, July 11.—(AP)—President Trumao called for a “workable price control law” Thursday night as the senate pressed toward a climatic vote on a battered OPA revival measure. In the latest of a series of moves curbing OPA’s pow ers, the senate approved 59 to 20 an amendment preventing the agency from applying rent ceilings in any state which SHOPPERS TAKING PRICES IN STRIDE Increases Noted In Scarce Items, But Not Too Steeply By PHIL WRIGHT While Star new-s services re port that at least 10 American cities have organized buyers strikes to protest soaring prices, a check made last night with Wil mington Retail association officials disclosed that the home folks are taking the food price hikes in stride. Meanwhile Wilmingtonians and other residents of Southeastern North Carolina were assured a bounty of food this week-end — at a price. Price Hike A survey showed price hikes on some commodities of from 30 to 50 per cent with further increases predicted by retailers and whole salers. Throughout the city, and south eastern part of the state reports were rampant of price climbing, with various and sundry excuses given as consumers made sporadic protests, but failed to take any con crete action to relieve the soaring cost of living. See SHOPPERS on Page Two The Weather forecast NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA: Partly cloudy and continued hot Friday with scattered thundershowers in north west and west portions. (Estern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m.. yesterday. Temperatures 1:30 a.m., 74; 7:30 a.m., 75; 1:30 p.m., 84; 7:30 p.m., 84. Maximum, 87. minimum, 71; mean. 79; normal, 79. Humidity 1:30 a.m. 98; 7:30 a.m., 94; 1:80 p.m., 62; 7:30 p.m.. 06. Precipitation Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m., 0.00 inches. Total since the first of the month, 12.15 inches. Tides for Today (From the Tide Tables published by U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). High Low Wilmington _ 8:21a 3:20a 8:58p 3:27p Masonboro Inlet _ 6:03a 12:19a 6:40p 12:12p Sunrise, 5:09a; sunset. 7:25p; moon rise, 6:22p; moonset, 3:28a. River stage at Fayetteville, N. C. at 18 a.m. Thursday 23.1 feet. has its own rent control system, or sets up such a system in the future. The amendment was spon sored by Senators Knowland (R Calif.) and Ferguson (R-Mic'n). The chamber beat back, 58 t« 14, an amendment to force an in crease in rent ceilings throughout the nation. “Each Day Brings Danger” Mr. Truman issued a statement saying that while “runaway infla tion” has been preven1 d up tc the present time “all of the ground we have so laboriously won against inflation will be irretriev ably lost without a workable price control law.” “Every day that passes without a law on the books increases that danger,” he said. During the Senate struggle over a bill reviving OPA for one year, the agency’s critics have studded it with amendments prohibiting See OPA On Page Two ROBESON TOBACCO CROPS PROMISING Belt Yield May Break Re cords Of Years; Rains Help j (Special to The Star.) LUMBERTON, July 11.-R. O Rankin, supervisor of sales on the Lumberton tobacco market, yes terday said that rains and showers continue to bring crop improve ment in the Border belt. Beginning the third week in June, rains have fallen intermit tently covering all section* of the Belt, and where they have been sufficient, they have caused a marked improvement in th* con dition of tobacco, however, there are some spots in Robeson, and many more in Scotland county, where tobacco is in need of even more rain, the supervisor said. Too Much In Sampson county the story i* different. Many reports indicate that there has been too much rain. Tobacco looks as good' in th* fields this year as last, grower* say, while others say the crop ha* better promise this year. But in the counties mentioned above, growers say their crop this year is spotted, and it is almost impossible to make a harvest fore. See ROBESON on Page Tw* And So To Bed Last week a tourist en route home from a northern vaca tion stopped his car in a small New York town. As the atten dant serviced his car the tour ist noticed a man in the next door yard cutting the lawn with a scythe. The grass was pretty high, and the tourist remarked: "That’s quite a job you’ve got there.” "Sure is,” replied the man in a Southern accent, "but I’m used to it. Where I come from cutting grass with a scythe Is all in a day’s work.” "Say,” said the tourist, "you sound like you come from the South.” “Sure do,” answered the man. “I used to live in Wilming ton, North Carolina.” "I’ll be dogged,”’ exclaimed the tourist. “Jump in the car and come with me. I’m from Wilmington too.”