I
WEATHER
Cloudy and warmer with showen
and thunderstorms today, followed
by cloudy and continued warm to
night and Friday, with afternoon
thundershowers.
" Tfhe Hhelhy Baily Hielt-'
- State Theatre Today -
“Christmas Holiday”
GENE KELLY
DEANNE DURBIN
CLEVELAND COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1894
TELEPHONES 1100
VOL. XLIII— 214
ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWS
SHELBY, N C.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 6, 1945
TELEMAT PICTURES
SINGLE COPIES- ~6e
Barkley Proposes Joint
Congressional Inquiry
* Of Pearl Harbor Case
WASHINGTON, Sept 6.—(A*)—With President Tru
man’s approval, democratic leader Barkley (Ky) proposed in
the senate today a joint congressional inquiry into the Pearl
Harbor disaster.
Barkley introduced a resolution
calling for a report to Congress
by a senate-house committee not
later than next January 3.
In offering the bill, the Demo
cratic leader said:
"I may say that I offer this
resolution with the full knowledge
and approval of the President of
the United States, and I express
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6—UP)
—The senate voted unanimous
ly today for a joint congres
sional inquiry into the Pearl
Harbor disaster.
the earnest hope, which t}e shares,
that the two houses may prompt-1
ly agree to it. that the investiga
tion may proceed forthwith, and
that the Congress and the country
may expect a full report within
the time designated.”
Barkley’s action apparently as
ilired a congressional investiga
tion of the circumstances sur
rounding the Japanese sneak at
tack. Republicans have demand
ed such a probe and house Speak
er Rayburn indicated he thought
it inevitable.
Asserting that what is needed
is “a thorough, impartial and
fearless inquiry,” Barkley said:
"This inquiry should be of such
dignity and authenticity as to
convince the Congress, the coun
try, and the world that no effort
has been made to shield any per
son who may have been directly
or Indirectly responsible for the
disaster, or to condemn unfairly j
or unjustly any person who was in |
authority, military or naval or ci
vilian.”
British To Propose
Trieste As Free Port
Disposition Of City Will E ne Of Main Problems In
Drafting Italian .'eace Treaty
LONDON, Sept. 6.—(/P)—Competent sources said today
the British, confident of American backing, hoped to pre
sent to the forthcoming meeting of foreign ministers here
a plan for internationalization of Trieste which would enable
land-locked central Europe to use the city as a free port.
Kurusu Pleads
Ignorance Of
Attack Plans
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6.—OP)—
Saburo Kurusu, Japanese special
envoy who was discussing peace in
Washington at the moment of the
sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, was
quoted today as contending that
he knew nothing of the raid plans i
and was “deeply hurt" by the Am-)
rrlcan accusation that he was bait
for the trap.
Frederick C. Opper, American •
Broadcasting company correspond
ent., quoted Kurusu as reiterating:
“I did not know anything about
the attack on Pearl Harbor before I
left Tokyo. As a matter of fact, I
found prime minister Tojo more
optimistic about chances for peace
than was. I told him I thought
I» things were very precarious in the
' Pacific and when I met President
Roosevelt a little later I told him
the same thing—that a single spark
could start war in the Pacific.
Opper said the now gray and
weary-looking envoy told him that
on Dec. 7, 1941, his appointment
with Secretary Hull was delayed by
the slow decoding of a long mes
sage from Tokyo.
TONGUE-LASHING
When he met Hull, he received
the secretary’s now-famous tongue
lashing and then returned to the
Japanese embassy and learned
about Pearl Harbor from the radio,
he asserted.
Kurusu said he was confident
that tty Japanese ambassador to
Washington, Adm. Kichisaburb No
mura, also was ignorant of Pearl
Harbor plans.
Asked by Opper if he didn’t think
See KURUSU Page 2
Documents On
Way To Washington
WASHINGTON Sept. 6— MP) —
The official Japanese surrender
documents were en. route today to '
Washington.
A plane bearing the documents, :
signed aboard the battleship Mis- i
souri in Tokyo Bay last Saturday, :
Is due in the capital late in the
day from the west coast, It was
learned.
The papers presumably will be i
• turned over to President Truman
In a formal ceremony within a day
or two.
Trieste apparently will be one of
the main problems In the drafting
of an Italian peace treaty which is
high on the agenda of the first
meeting of the Big Five's foreign
ministers next week.
In diplomatic circles it was said
the British seem determined to fol
low priority listing for the foreign
ministers as laid down at Potsdam,
and to take up the drafting of the
Italian peace treaty first.
These sources believed Britain
would be firm in a refusal to give
to Yugoslavia any Italian territory
west of the “Morgan line”—a name
given to the temporary frontier
drawn by the agreement between
the Yugoslavs, British and Ameri
cans this spring after Marshal Ti
to was asked to withdraw his troops
from Trieste. The "Morgan line”
would leave Trieste on the Italian
side of the border.
FORMER COLONIES
The Italian peace treaty also may
encounter difficulties over the fu
ture of former Italian colonies In
Africa. Qualified observers here
say Britain has no desire to add
any of this territory to the empire,
and there was a likelihood that a
trusteeship would be proposed, pos
sibly with the exception of a por
tion of eastern Cyrenaico, which
might be turned over to Egypt.
If the Big Five foreign ministers
—James F. Byrnes of the United
States; Ernest Bevin, Britain;
Georges Bidault, France; V. M.
Molotov, Soviet Union, and Wang
Shih-Chieh, China — succeed in
drafting an agreement on the terms
of a peace treaty with Italy, it
would be submitted to the United
Nations for scrutiny and possibly
might be signed within 60 days by
the Allies, Foreign office sources
predicted.
The conference, scheduled to open
Sept. 10, also faces the possibility
See BRITISH Page 2
30.000 YANKS
ALREADY IN
AREA OFCFTY
300.000 To 400,000 Sol
diers Will Occupy Home
Islands, Korea
KOREAN~~UPRISING
YOKOHAMA, Sept. 6.—(^P)
—The first American recon
naissance patrols entered
Tokyo today to arrange for
the formal entry of First
Cavalry troops and General
MacArthur Saturday (Friday,
U. S. time).
A small detachment of the 11th
corps’ First cavalry surveyed the
heavily damaged capital, where
MacArthur will raise the Ameri
can flag in front of the U. S.
embassy Saturday.
With approximately 30,000 Am.
erican troops of the 11th airborne
and First r ry divisions al
ready in th yo-Yokohama a
rea, other u .vere either on
their way or .ere being prepared
to come into the Japanese home
islands.
The first of 27th division troops
were expected today or tomorrow,
and the 14th corps’ 81st division
and the Ninth corps were expect
ed around Sept. 17. The 77th di
vision of the 158th combat team
are coming in later, along with
the 38th division.
MacArthur announced earlier
that 18 combat divisions plus oth
er units totaling 300,000 to 400,000
men would occupy the home is
lands and Korea.
COOPERATION GOOD
His spokesman declared that the
Japanese were cooperating fully
and thus far not a single Ameri
can casualty was reported.
MacArthur estimated that by
mid-October 7,000,000 Japanese
troops would be disarmed, the
greatest force ever to capitulate
in the history of warfare.
Approximately 3,000,000 of these
forces are in the home islands and i
will be sent to their homes, he
said. The other 4,000,000 are in
outlying Pacific areas.
From 300,000 to 400,000 Ameri
can soldiers will occupy the home
islands and Korea, he added. (Ra
dio reports said this would leave
an estimated 120.000 other Ameri
cans now in the Pacific free to
go home.) I
As MacArthur reaches Tokyo
Saturday, he will raise over the
American embassy the flag that
flew in Washington, Dec. 7, 1941,
See 30,000 Pace Z
Vidors On Wake
Bayoneted Wounded,
Feasted Survivors
YOKOHAMA, Sept. 6—(A5)—'The
Japanese victors on Wake Island
bayonetted all wounded prisoners
to death and then heartily ban
queted the survivors for two weeks
in an effort to pry American mili
tary secrets from them, liberated
marine and civilian prisoners from
Wake said here today.
Japanese Intelligence officers and
secret police questioned them
steadily for 14 days of feasting
during which they were given
such wartime rarities as breaded
veal cutlets, butter and milk, they
said.
After the period of feasting,
during which the enticement fail
ed to bring the Nipponese the de
sired information, the prisoners
were shipped off to prison camps.
There guards beat them without
the slightest provocation, they said.
CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS CONFER WITH THE PRESIDENT—President Truman (second from left)
confers with Congressional leaders in his White House office just before the re-convening of Congress Sept.
5. Meeting with the President, left to right, are House Speaker Sam Rayburn, Democrat of Texas- Senator
Alben W. Barkley, Democrat of Kentucky, the Senate Majority leader, and Senate President Pro-tem
Kenneth McKellar, Democrat of Tennessee.—(AP Winphoto).
HOSPITAL PLANS;
TAKINGSHAPE
Trustees Confer With Ar
chitect Hook; "H" Shap
ed Structure
Discussions between Walter W.
Hook, architect, and trustees of
the county hospital -board Wed- i
nesday aftemooA resulted in;
shaping the addition to Shelby
hospital into a T joining the pres- [
ent main unit to make the over
all plan into an H-shaped build
ing.
The architect took his sketches
back to Charlotte with him and
will render his revised plans in j
line with the suggested plan at a'
later meeting of the board. No
plans have been shaped for the
Kings Mountain unit pending de
termination of a site expected to
be acquired shortly so that the
drawings may proceed.
LARGER NURSES HOME
The enlarged Shelby hospi
tal will require more nursing
facilities and the architect was
directed to prepare tentative
sketches for enlargement of
the nurses home by 15 rooms,
although no definite plan to
proceed soon with that con
struction has been formally
approved.
The trustees at their session
Wednesday approved the by-laws
and regulations drawn up for op
eration of the hospital and also a
set of by-laws presented by the
medical group in conformance
with the hospital’s plan of opera
tion.
Surrender Signed
For 139,000 Troops
In New Ireland
SYDNEY, Sept. 6. —(£>)— Gen.
Hitoshi Inamura signed the sur
render of 139,000 Japanese troops in
New Ireland, the Solomons and New
Guinea and other nearby islands
in a ceremony today on the flight
deck of the British aircraft car
rier Glory in Rabaul Harbor.
More than 1,000 officers and
crewmen witnessed the 40-minute
proceedings, in which Inamura
handed over his sword to Lt. Gen. i
V. A. H. Sturdee, commander of
the Australian first army corps.
Most Rationing, With Exception Of
Sugar, Oils, Fats, To End This Year
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 —(/P)—
OPA has told congressmen that
“most rationing will end this year”
while rent control will be scrap
ped In 75 to 100 cities within four
or five months.
The forecasts were made in a
report sent to senators and repre
sentatives recently by Price Ad
ministrator Chester Bowles.
It outlined for the guidance of
legislators this “present outlook”
for the removal of price ceilings
and ration rules:
Both meats and shoes will
be unrationed by the end of
1945; fata and oils may be ra
tloned into 1946; at least, the
shortage Is likely to last that
long; and sugar Is “impossible
to predict."
On tires, Bowles missed his
guess. His report said truck tire
rationing might end by Aug. 31.
That date has passed, and OPA
men now think both truck and
passenger tires may be rationed
until the first of the year.
RENT CONTROLS
Rent controls "obviously will
have to continue for some time.”
Some may linger until Congress
ends the federal program and i
turns the problem over to states]
or local communities to handle,
Bowles said.
OPA meantime will remove rent
ceilings “whenever and wherever i
it can be done without rent in-1
flation,” he went on, adding:
“Already eight areas have been
decontrolled (rent ceilings lifted) I
The number decontrolled probably
will increase by 75 or 100 during
the next fpur or five months.”
In a positive action for tighter
protection of tenants, however,
OPA last night increased from
three to six months the waiting
See RATIONING Page 2
Congress Receives
President’s Message
Two Officials Back Up Truman's Request For Re
organization Of U. S. Agencies
By Max Hall
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6.—(/P)—Congress met today to
hear an S.O.S. from the White House in a time of emergency.
President Truman’s message was heard, asking for laws
he thinks would help the country in its transition to peace.
Double Pay Asked
For Congressmen
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6— UP) —
President Truman told congress
today it ought to give itself “a
straight, out-and-out salary in
crease.”
He suggested a salary of $20,000
a year. That's exactly twice the
present pay.
At the same time Mr. Truman
recommended repeal of the legis
lation by which the house earlier
this year gave each of its mem
bers an additional expense' allow
ance of $2,500 a year. (The senate
rejected the proposal).
“There is no doubt in the mind
of any thinking American,” Mr.
Truman said in a message to con
gress, “that members of congress
are grossly underpaid and have
been for many years.”
He recommended also “an ade
quate retirement system” for
members of congress and said that
more pay for them “should be the
first step in creating a decent
salary scale for all federal gov
ernment employes—executive, leg
islative and judicial.”
JAMES R. WELLS
DEATH VICTIM
Funeral services for James R.
Wells, 24, who died Tuesday at
the base hospital of the Myrtle
Beach air base field, Myrtle Beach,
S. C., were held this afternoon at
3:30 from the Palmer Funeral
home with Rev. J. Leo Pittard,
pastor of Hoyle Memorial Meth
odist church, officiating. Inter
ment was in Sunset cemetery.
Wells was the son of the late Dr.
J. Marvin Wells and Mrs. Wells,
formerly of Shelby. His mother
was the former Miss Lucy Hoyle,
daughter of Rev. R. M. Hoyle.
Surviving besides the mother
are three sisters and one brother,
Mrs. J. A. Jones and Miss Eliza
beth Wells, both of Winston-Sa
lem; Mrs. Ruth Collins, of Mid
dleburg, N. C., and John Kendall
Wells, of Charlotte.
Wells had been stationed at the
Myrtle Beach air base field since
arriving from service in Europe
six months ago. He was ill for
only a few days before death
came, having been stricken with
Infantile paralysis. His mother
makes her home in Winston-Sa
lem with a daughter, Mrs. J. A.
Jones.
The great length of the message!
was symbolic of the mass of prob- :
lems boiling up in the last few,
weeks.
Congressmen came back from
vacation yesterday to meet in a
new world of peace, and to look
ahead to a possible era of atomic
energy. Today—as they waited to
the President’s message, the con-;
gressional situation was this:
1. Pearl Harbor remained an un
finished chapter. Senate and house
Republicans got together, pooled
their forces, and demanded a full
congressional look-see into the 1941
disaster. It seemed as though they’d
get it.
2. A senate committee began l
considering Mr. Truman’s request
for power to streamline the exe
cutive branch of the government, i
A house committee has just ended
hearings on the same subject and
will come up with its own proposal
in a few days—probably to give
Mr. Truman part of what he asks,1
but not all.
3. The unemployment compensa
tion bill hit another bump in the
senate. This is a bill—backed by the
President—to use federal funds to
boost payments made by state gov
ernments to the jobless. The sen
ate financing committee, consider
ing the measure, has discovered
that several states have laws slicing
their own help to the jobless if
See CONGRESS Page 2
WHATS DOING
TODAY
7:00 p.m.—Regular meeting
of Kiwanis club.
7:30 p.m.—CAP cadets meet
at armory.
FRIDAY
12:30 p.m.—Rotary club has
annual meeting at Gardner
Webb, luncheon to be served in
college dining room.
7:00 p.m.—American Legion
and auxiliary will give dinner
and dance to members Le
gion Junior baseball team at
Legion building.
President Lays Down
Legislative Program For
Reconversion Emergency
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6.—(TP)—President Truman call
ed upon congress today to keep his war powers in force for
the reconversion “emergency” as he laid down a 21-point
legislative program. It included “limited” tax cuts next
year and proposals to achieve full employment.
Mr. Truman told the legislators, assembled for their
first peace time session in four years, that the war will not
be over on the home front until its economic impacts have
ASKS SUPPORT
FARM PRICES
President Urges Strong
Measures To Prevent
Collapse
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 —(/P)—
President Truman called upon
Congress today for stronger meas
ures to prevent the same kind of
farm-price collapse that followed
World War I.
Shortly after that war ended
and foreign markets dwindled a
way, agricultural prices dropped
50 percent. This brought eco
nomic disaster to thousands of
farmers.
Today Mr. Truman recom
mended specifically that $500,
000,000 in ' lend-lease funds be
transferred to the agriculture
department and spent for sup
porting farm prices. He also
asked that additional funds be
voted for financing foreign re
lief shipments of food.
The President urged Congress
to appropriate $1,900,000,000 for
use of the United Nations relief
and rehabilitation administration.
The bulk of this money would be
used for buying American food
for aid of the hungry abroad.
REDUCED DEMANDS
Cutbacks in military require
ments and termination of the lend
lease program have reduced non-1
civilian demands for food roughly
$4,000,000,000 for the fall, winter
and spring ahead.
This reduction In non-civilian
requirements coupled with pros
pects that Americans themselves
may demand less during the re
conversion period, due to unem
ployment, has raised the possibili
ty that the government may have
to step in to prevent a possible
decline in farm prices below gov
ernment-guaranteed levels.
“Strengthening the machinery
for carrying out price-support
commitments is one measure nec
essary to safeguard farm prices,”
Mr. Truman said in a message to
Congress.
EXPORT MARKETS
“Stimulation of the export of
farm commodities is another.
More food is needed in the war
ravaged areas of the world. In
the process of meeting relief re
quirements abroad, we have the
opportunity of developing export
markets for the future.”
The chief executive offered no
specific proposals for strengthen
ing price-supporting machinery,
except those pertaining to the
lend-lease and UNRRA funds.
Congress has directed that farm
prices be supported at not less
than 90 percent of parity for two
years after war’s end is declared
officially.
Mr. Truman said that because
of great demands for food abroad,
See ASKS Page 2
U. S. Share Of Reparations
From Germany To Be Small
By DANIEL DE LUCE i
BERLIN, Sept. 6.—(A>)—The Am- i
erican share of German repara- 1
tions, it was predicted by financial i
experts today, is likely to be the ;
smallest of any of the four occu- :
pying powers.
The Americans’ eventual
recompense frrfm the defeated
enemy is expected to be about
five per cent of that of the Sov
iet Union, about one-half of
Britain’s and somewhat less
than that of France.
The first major United States
proposal before the allied controls
council is a decree which would vest
ownership of all of Germany’s ex
ternal property in the council. This'
is deemed necessary before direct j
action can be taken to seize Ger- j
man assets in neutral countries. The
decree is still under discussion.
Neutral have been asked to freeze
and inventory such assets.
According to preliminary Ameri
an estimates, the Germans have
ached assets of $989,667,000 among
ve neutrals. Switzerland is believ
d to have $600,000,000. The re
See U. S. Page 2
been eased.
Hence, he said, proposals to abo
lish war-time controls by declar
ing the war officially at an end
would lead to “great confusion
and chaos in government.”
The 16,000-word message,
which Mr. Truman sent to
Capitol Hill, promised a lift
ing of controls, one by one,
as fast as possible. But it cau
tioned that their overall aban
donment would leave the chief
executive powerless to prevent
“bottlenecks, shortages of ma
aterial and inflation.”
“The time has not yet arrived,”
the president asserted, “for the
proclamation of the cessation of
hostilities, much less the termina
tion of the war. Needless to say,
such proclamations will be made
as soon as circumstances permit.”
Tempering his warnings with
expressions of confidence, Mr. Tru
man declared that prompt and
vigorous congressional and admin
istration teamwork can usher in
an era of unprecedented prosper
ity.
PEACETIME INDUSTRY
“A vast backlog of orders may
soon make possible the greatest
peacetime industrial activity that
we have ever seen,” the president
said, adding at another point:
“In this hour of victory over our
enemies abroad, let us resolve
now to use all our efforts and
energies to build a better life nere
at home and better world for gen
erations to come.”
Recommending Immediate en
actment of a transition reve
nue bill to provide “limited tax
reductions” for the calendar
year 1946, Mr. Truman stressed
that the reductions should aim
principally “at removing bar
riers to speedy reconversion and
to the expansion of our peace
time economy.”
He emphasized that the $66,000,
000,000 the government expects to
spend during this fiscal year will
exceed anticipated revenue by
$30,000,000,000, and added:
“We must reconcile ourselves
to the fact that room for tax
reduction at this time is lim
ited. A total war effort can
not be liquidated overnight.”
Mr. Truman expressed hope con
gress would follow the transitional
bill with one to modernize the
whole federal tax structure. This,
he said, would encourage business
incentives and expansion and sti
mulate consumer buying power.
PUBLIC WORKS
Other provisions of the 21 point
program included a request for
enactment of a vast public works
program, indorsement of the so
called "full employment bill” and
a suggestion that senator# and
representatives raise their own sal
aries from the present $10,000 to
See PRESIDENT’S Pag* 2
ME SOLDIERS
COMING HOME
PARIS, Sept. 6. —UP)— The U. S.
Army announced today that 1,300,
000 American soldiers would be
shipped home between Sept. 1 and
the end of the year—500,000 more
than expected before the collapse
of Japan.
“Any soldier who had 70 points
(under the Army’s point discharge
system or over on V-J day will be
out of this theater before Christ
mas,” Brig. Gen. George E. Evster
told the press.
By Jan. 1, 1946, Eyster said, there
will be only about 700,000 Americans
left in Europe, including the oc
cupation army of 400,000. The
“close-out” force of 300,000—half of
them in Germany and the rest in
Britain and the liberated countries
of the continent—will be shipp
home gradually as the Army clo
installations and disposes of
plus materials. By next July,
occupation troops will re
I