Safety &
Coal Mines
DEATH came slowly for at least
some of the 111 miners killed
in the Centralia, 111., disaster. A
notice on the rock face above a
huddle of bodies told rescuers to
“look in everybody’s pockets. We
all have notes. Give them to our
wives.” iGrimy coal-smudged sheets,
torn from a foreman's time book, bore
tragic messages
scrawled in dark
ness:
“To my wife. It
looks like the end. I
love you, honey,
more than life it
self_”
“Goodbye. God
bless you and the
two ' oys. Please do
as your father has
told you & lissen to
Mom—” .
My dear wife:
Goodbye. Name
LEWIS
oaby Joe, so you will have a Joe. Love
all, Dad.”
Long before he read the messages,
John L. Lewis, United Mine Workers
head, bitterly proclaimed a week's
shutdown for the soft coal industry as
a memorial to the victims and a protest
against conditions which make such
catastrophes an old story in the mines.
The 400,000 soft coal miners walked
out Monday at midnight in obedience
to the Lewis order while probes were
started by a special Senate committee,
state and federal bureaus.
Industry, in general, bridged the gap
without serious shutdowns. Explained
the Tri-State Industrial Association,
composed of 1"3 steel plants in Ohio,
West Virginia and Pennsylvania: “We
learned a lesson in the past and now
have adequate coal stockpiles.”
Called a ‘Strike’
Walter Thurmond, secretary of the
Southern Coal Producers Association,
called the mourning period a “strike”
and said forcing miners to lose $28,000,
000 in wages was a “peculiar method of
paying respect to the dead.”
But Lewis had an answer for that. In
his proclamation calling for the shut
down, he said:
“Coal is saturated with the blood of
too many brave men and drenched
with the tears of too many widows and
orphans.
“There is public sorrow at the mo
ment, but we know from harsh expe
rience that it is only a momentary feel
ing of pity on the part of the public,
and this sacrifice soon will be .forgot
ten.” .
Federal Safety Code
Lewis accused Interior Secretary
J. A. Krug, government mines opera
tor, of “criminal negligence” in not en
forcing the federal safety code. Bureau
of Mines statistics show, he said, that
of 3,345 federal inspections in 1946,
only two mines were found “complying
completely” with regulations.
One official in the Coal Mines Ad
ministration, which Krug heads, said
the safety record had shown “steady
improvement” since May 29, 1946,
when the government took over the
mines. Fatalities, he said, had declined
to an average of 72 a month compared
with an average of 93 a month before
then.
The coal stoppage might prove an
extended one. Union officials in a
number of local districts declared
miners would not go back to pits con
sidered dangerous.
U.N.: Does the Truman Doctrine' Bypass It?
PRESIDENT TRUMAN and
Warren Austin, American
delegate to the Security Council,
emphasized this week that Amer
ican financial aid to Greece and
Turkey was an emergency meas
ure and that the United Nations even
tually would be expected to take over
the responsibility.
In Congress, Sen. Arthur Vanden
berg (R-Mich) proposed that the U.N.
bi given the power to change or halt
American aid to Greece or Turkey any
time a majority of the General Assem
bly or seven of the eleven Security
Council members saw fit.
Vandenberg, chairman of the Senate
foreign relations committee, said his
amendment submitting American aid
to U.N. review would end any suspi
cion that this country ,vas flouting the
authority of the world peace organiza
tion.
Congressional reaction to the Van
denberg proposal was mixed. Objectors
claimed it would weaken the U. S.
stand both in the eyes of Russia whom
it was designed to stop and in the eyes
of small states whom it was designed
to buttress.
Legal Issues Raised
The Vandenberg plan, they said,
would also involve the infant U.N. in
legal squabbles over interpretation of
the charter. In agreeing to abide by
decision of the General Assembly, it
runs counter to the charter which lim
it' assembly authority to making rec
ommendations.
Another legal stumbling block, ex
perts said, is in the phrase “if re
quested by a procedural vote of the
Security Council.” The charter pro
vides that procedural questions be de
cided by seven affirmative votes out of
11, while on questions of substance
there must be seven affirmative votes,
including all of the five permament
members. This is the vital veto power
Maps
Aerial Cartographers
The Philippines Republic comprises
114,830 square miles on 7,083 islands,
of which only 2,441 are named. The
archipelago has a 14,407-mile coast
line, with 21 good harbors, including
Manila, with its 770-square-mile road
stead, finest in the far east.
U.$. Army engineers are well into
a project to map the entire Philip
pines, something never before at
tempted.
Planes of the 13th Air Force are
taking bombsight readings and mak
ing photographs of hitherto unknown
mountain and jungle areas, some of
them within 40 miles of Manila. The
Army also is training two companies
of Philippine Scouts for on-the-ground
surveys.
The late Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita,
Japanese commander in the Philip
pines, remark^ last year during the
trial which lecrto his death that any
one.who fought on Leyte in the future
deserved better maps. “Both MacAr
thur and I,” he said, “used the same
American maps and thus lost a good
deal of time.”
RADIO: Sabotage in Munich
Muting America's Voice
The first- American shortwave
broadcasts to Russia barely hopped
the “iron curtain,” could be heard in
Moscow only as faint splutterings in
the most expensive receivers. The
US. State Department revealed why:
someone had sabotaged the Munich
relay transmitter by beaming its an
tenna not at Russia but at South
America.
A special consultant to the State
Department cabled from Munich that
Hot Shots
• In Philadelphia, the Metropolitan
Society School for C.ippled Children
teaches pupils to talk by having them
blow bubble gum. Teachers say speech
is a matter of exhaling and blowing
gum blisters is one way of learning the
first step. , . . ..
• In Pittsburgh, a mysterious Spirit
of Easter” Samaritan who gave away
three-pound Easter eggs, $1 and $5
bills was revealed as a nine-year-old
boy who appropriated $43 of his par
ents’ money.
• In Newark, N. J., an imbiber looked
the judge straight in the eye, quoted
the Bible, Timothy 5, 16: “Drink no
longer water, but use a little win'* for
thy stomach’s sake and thine own in
firmities,” won a suspended sentence.
• In Aurora, 111., a 16-year-old boy
was quoted by the prosecutor as saying
he shot a telegraph repairman from
ambush because “I just wanted to
fhoot somebody to see him die.
• In Columbus, Ohio, a 29-year-old
blind woman and a sightless Cinoinna i
man—who struck up a romance
through correspondence in Braille
eloped to Indianapojis to be married.
• In North Chicago, 111., the city fire
men's dinner was a casualty of the cal
endar. On Tuesday, while smoke-eat
er; lolled outside the station, a report
er told them: “Your stew’s burning
back in the kitchen.” “Ha, ha, jibed
the firemen, “bet you thought we didn t
know what day it is.” The stew was a
total loss!
doors of the transmitter station naa
been broken and the antenna switch
“purposely reversed.” The “Voice of
America” broadcasts to the Soviet
Union during the week of March 17
to 25 failed apparently because of
sabotage by a technician.
William Benton, assistant secretary
of State, declared in Washington that
the sabotage was corrected on March
25. He quoted news reports that U.S.
broadcasts now “pound into Moscow
as loud as the Moscow radio, clear,
and with no interference.”
• Quotes
William L. Cimillo, Bronx driv
er seized in Hollywood, Fla., with
a missing 44-passenger New York
bus: “I didn’t know where I was
headed—Florida, Mexico, Cali
fornia. ... I just started out and
kept going. Fellows at the bus
company will understand, I’m
sure.”
Henry Wallace, former Vice
President and Cabinet member:
“Sooner or later Truman’s pro
gram of unconditional aid to anti
Soviet governments will unite the
world against America and divide
America against herself.”
Volcano
Mt. Hekla on Rampage
For the first time since 1845, Mt.
Hekla, a 4,764-foot volcano in Iceland,
blew its top. The peak was ablaze
clear across the top and thousands of
tons of glowing boulder's and lava
were tossed high in the air.
Dense clouds of fumes rose six and
seven miles, blacking out a wide area.
A fine volcanic ash fell in Copen
hagen, 1,250 miles away.
Geologists, who set up stations near
the volcano, said they expected the
eruption to continue for several
months. Previous eruptions of Mt.
Hekla usually have lasted at least
that long.
- -
"TAKES TIME TO GROW 'EM"
ioring, Providence Bulletin
possessed by the Big Five, and used
frequently in the past by Russia.
In view of council actions in the
past, it is regarded as highly unlikely
that it could accept, without challenge,
the position that any important phase
of the Greco-Turkish question was a
matter of procedure.
Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D-Va) said the
Vandenberg plan was unworkable but
suggested that the President's plan to
combat communism be turned over to
the Q.N. and that Russia be kicked out
if she* vetoed it.
“If Russia is an enemy and persists
in being an enemy to free peoples,”
Byrd said, “it is better to have her out
side the family than inside.”
Byrd also proposed the use of eco
nomic sanctions against Russia. At
present, he declared the U.S. is “try
ing to ride two horses going in opposite
directions,” by encouraging trade with
Russia and her satellites while plan
ning to pour out millions of dollars to
fight communism.
The death of King George of Greece
from a heart attack does not materially
affect the situation. If anything, it may
facilitate matters by making it easier
for his successor to retract some of the
G r e e k government’s undemocratic
policies without losing face.
NEWSWORTHY
GOOD WILL TOUR—U. S. Cruiser Providence arrives at Malta,
British bastion against the Nazis, after participating in Medi
terranean maneuvers recently with other American vessels.
DIPLOMATIC HANDSHAKE—Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav
Molotov (right) greets U. S. Secretary of State George C.
Marshall in Moscow. At left ,is Molotov's daughter, Svetlana.
STREET CLEANER—Solution to the nation's parking problems
may prove to be this new device for vertical parking. Mobile
lift places car on top deck in less than two minutes. In garages,
racks would be placed side by side without need of diagonal
braces. This demonstration was held in Spokane, Wash.
Medicine
Tb and VD
At the close of World War I, in
fluenza raged through Europe. Mod
ern medicine, using penicillin, vac
cines, sulfa drugs and DDT, has been
able to prevent serious postwar epi
demics and hold influenza in check.
Europe's health, however, is far
below prewar standards. The white
plague of tuberculosis, flourishing
among millions of ill-fed and ill
housed, has reversed the downward
trend of a century and now is the
continent's chief scourge. Venereal
disease is the No. 2 problem.
An AP survey of 18 countries
showed that only Sweden escaped a
wartime increase in tuberculosis. Ger
many, Poland, Romania. Yugoslavia,
Austria and Greece are the continent’s
blackest plague spots with Moldavia,
perhaps, the blackest of all. Germany,
which before the war had one of the
world’s lowest TB rates, now has one
of the highest.
Britain, Italy and Spain apparently
are recovering from wartime health
slumps. In Britain, TB spurted briefly
early in the war but again is on the
decline. Despite cold, hunger and
medical supply shortages, Italy’s birth
rate is up and its death rate down.
Spain, almost isolated from the rest
of Europe, is recovering steadily from
the effects of its civil war. The 1946
death rate probably was, the lowest
in Spanish history.
Science
Fuel of the Future
Conversion of coal to liquid fuel
to replace oil derivatives at a reason
able price is not too distant, an Ohio
research worker void the Mid-West
Power Conference.
“Our proved reserves of petroleum
and natural gas appear great enough
for only a relatively short period in
the face of increasing demand,” said
Ralph A. Sherman, supervisor of the
fuels division of the Battelle Memorial
Institute. "But our reserves of coal are
almost limitless and technological ad
vance has been so rapid our earlier
fears of excessive cost for converting
coal to liquid fuel now appear wholly
unjustified.”
He said there is a trend toward
using fluid fuels in industry and home
heating but said that coal remains
“our basic energy source.”
In Short . . .
Sworn: Prince Paul, 45, as new
Greek king, succeeding his brother,
George II, who died of a heart attack.
Proposed: By Mayor William
O’Dwyer of New York City, a munici
pal budget for the next fiscal year of
over a billion dollars, Digest ever sub
mitted in the U. S. except by the fed
eral government.
Nominated: By the President, seven
new ambassadors: Cavendish W. Can
non to Yugoslavia, Stanton Griffis
to Poland, John C. Wiley to Portugal,
Walter J. Donnelly to Costa Rica, Wil
liamson S Howell, Jr., to Uruguay,
Albert F. Nufer to El Salvador and
Fletcher Warren to Paraguay.
r Set: By the Wisconsin Employment
Relations Board, a new bargaining
election for employes of the Allis
Chalmers Manufacturing Co., back to
work after a 328-day strike.
Moscow Conference
At Showdown Stage
'T'HE Big Four conference in Moscow arrived this week at th«
-L showdown stage in the east-west deadlock over Germany’s future
After almost a month of preliminary discussion, the foreign min
isters took off their diplomatic gloves and stopped talking generalities
The exchanges were sharp, the language at times bitter. At grips ori
disputed points, the ministers huddled closer, limiting conferees tc
Dates
Monday, April 7
Strike deadline, National Fed
eration of Telephone Workers.
Be Kind to Animals Week
starts.
Anniversary (67th), Metropoli
tan Opera, N. Y. C.
Tuesday, April 8
Anniversary (434th), Ponce de
Leon landed at St. Augustine,
Fla., in search of the Fountain of
Youth.
Thursday, April 10
World trade meeting starts in
Geneva.
Saturday, April 12
Anniversary (second), death of
Franklin D. Roosevelt and inau
guration of Harry S. Truman as
32nd President of the U. S.
Cherry blossom festivals start
in Washington, D. C.
Sunday, April 13
Thomas Jefferson's birthday.
Straws
Donkey Serenade
Democrats from coast to coast took
heart at the smashing victory of Mar
tin H. Kennelly, 59-year-old political
newcomer, elected mayor of Chicago
last Tuesday in the nation’s first major
1947 test of political trends.
Kennelly, who ran as an “independ
ent” Democrat, piled up the greatest
margin in a Chicago mayoral contest
in 12 years and continues for another
four years the control Democrats have
held unbroken in the city since 1930.
Heavy Democratic majorities in Chi
cago helped put Illinois’ 28 electoral
votes in the Democratic column in the
last four presidential elections.
Kennelly defeated Russell W. Root,
who as Cook Coun+y GOP chairman,
directed his party to a lopsided victory
o\er retiring Mayor Edward J. Kelly’s
Democratic machine in last Novem
ber's election, winning 14 of the 17
county offices at stake.
The Democratic triumph dealt Re
publican aspirations a stunning blow.
Carroll Reece, Republican national
chairman, had termed the contest an
“important preliminary engagement”
in the 1948 presidential battle. Gov.
Dwight H. Green’s Republican state
organization gave Root its active sup
port.
The campaign was a stormy one.
Root injected international issues and
charged that a vote for his Democratic
opponent was a “vote for war.”
a iew aides in place of the big, un
wieldy delegations. It was a tactic that
at times had proved successful in Pari!
and New York in bringing about real
bargaining on points that must be com
promised.
The restricted sessions followed i
blunt speech by American Secretary oi
State George C. Marshall flatly reject
ing Russia’s ultimatum that repara
tions from current German production
must be a condition of Germany's eco
nomic unity. The United States op
posed, Said Marshall, policies w'hich
would make Germany “an economic
poorhouse in the center of Europe.”
Marshall used some of his sharpest
language informing the Russians it
would be impossible to reach agree
ments on the basis of an "ultimatum."
Long-Range View
“We are here to resolve not accen
tuate our differences,” he declared,
"but w'c should not seek agreement
merely for the sake of agreement. The
United States recognizes that its re
sponsibilities in Europe will continue
and it is more concerned in building
solidly than ih building fast.
“Unless we have a real meeting of
minds and a real desire to carry out
both the spirit and letter of our agree
ment, it would be better if none were
reached.”
In referring to the Potsdam agree
ment and the Russian claim for cur
rent reparations, Marshall said:
“It looks very much to us as though
the Soviet Union is trying to sell the
same horse twice.”
l‘We do not approach this problem as
merchants,” retorted Vyacheslav M.
Molotov, Russian foreign minister,
“but we do not want other merchants
selling our horse at a low price with
out our consent.”
Crux Is Reparations
The Soviet diplomat said he could
not understand U. S. concern about
reparations since it had neither been
occupied during the war nor suffered
any war damage. German economy
managed to sustain a tremendous war
effort, he said, and the 10 billion dol
lars in reparations which the Russians
demand could be paid if German in
dustry were revived and the German
people carried out their duties hon
estly.
Marshall said that Russia’s import
plan for Germany, if adopted, would
reduce German rations to a starvation
level. He also referred to former Ger
man provinces now taken over by Po
land, which Russia has insisted are
now permanently Polish.
‘ Former Secretary of State James F.
Byrnes in his speech in Stuttgart, Ger
many, last September, said this coun
try did not consider final the assign
ment of this territory to Poland. Mar
shall’s reiteration of the subject fore
shadows another American-Russian
dispute over German boundaries.
_
WRITER'S CRAMP
Cargill, Hartford Times
ABROAD: Three Trouble Spots
Holy Land's Easter
It was an uneasy Eastertide in
Palestine. While pilgrims gathered for
their annual devotions at the stations
of the Cross, the Jewish underground
continued its terrorist activities.
Ten days ago England's highest
court, the Privy Council in London,
refused to lift the death sentence
imposed on Dov Bela Gruner of Irgun
Zvai Leumi for participating in a raid
in which two policemen were killed.
Jewish terrorists struck back by firing
the Haifa oil docks which blazed 36
hours before they were brought under
control.
Damage was estimated at $4,000,000
and a British spokesman said the
“community would have to pay for
the damages.” Haifa's 80,000 Jews
were placed under house arrest but
the curfew was lifted shortly after.
India's Holy War
Meanwhile in India, Hindu-Moslem
disorders in Bombay, Calcutta and
Cawnpore killed 49 persons and in
jured 187. The Bombay riots were
(All Rights Reserved, AP Newsfeattires)
broken up only after police fired re
peatedly into the mobs.
In New Delhi, Mohandas K. Gandhi,
spiritual leader of the predominantly
Hindu Congress party, conferred with
Viceroy Viscount Mountbatten on
problems relating to Britain s plans
for relinquishing sovereignty over
India. Gandhi had just returned from
a several weeks’ tour on foot cf the
Bengal and Bihar provinces where
communal rioting had accounted for
hundreds of deaths.
Troubled Ruhr
Ten days ago a crowd of 50,000,
biggest gathering of Germans since
the palmy days of the swastika,
massbd in Dusseldorf to piotest -U
adequate food rations.
British administrators conceded that
full food rations had not been met ir
bio Ruhr towns “for some time” but
blamed the failure on tieup of water
transport on the frozen Rhine and
stupidity of German administrators in
not allowing industry less and rail
roads more coal to meet the emer
gency.
.>•:. .