The Iola Register from Iola, Kansas • 1

4 2832 6 Li 1 -wJ OtA TER. Tli WTkly Register, EUb1i'Jed 1 S67. The I ala Daily Kegiatar, Eatabbabod 1897. VOLUME XLVII No. 114 IOLA, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1944.

SoccHitr to Tho Iola Dill) Daily Rocord, and Iola Daily Index. 0 1 The Weather All Rationing Offices Closed on Friday Call American Raid On Berlin Catastrophe SIX PAGES Allies Score Double Gains In Pacific KANSAS Fair tonight and Wednesday; somewhat colder tonight; minimum temperatures 10-13 north; 13-20 sooth portion; slightly warmer central and west portion Wednesday afternoon; slowly diminishing winds. Temperature Highest for the 24 hours ending 5 p. m. yesterday, 54, lowest last night 22; normal for today" 42; deficiency yesterday -1; excess since January 1, 302 degrees; this date last year highest 25; lowest -1.

Precipitation for the 24 hours ending at 8 a. m. today, total for this year to date, 3.31; excess since January 1, .05 Inches. Sunrise 7:45 a. set 7:21 p.

m. Thermograph Readings Ending British-U. S. Oil Talks Are Planned Cordell Hull Will Head U. S.

Delegates; Conference to Be Held in Washington Washington, Mar. 7. (AP) The state department today made its long awaited announcement that oil conferences have been planned with the British government and announced the names of officials to represent American interests. Secretary of State Hull, by appointment of President Roosevelt, will be of the American delegation, which will Include Secretary of Interior Ickes as vice- Occupy Majuro Atoll In Marshall Islands Washington, March 7. (AP) Admiral Chester W.

Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific fleet, reported today on his return to Washington for a series of conferences that American forces have occupied the Majuro atoll in the Marshall islands. U. S. troops encountered no opposition when they invaded Majuro, once a German supply base, the 59-year-old, white-haired admiral told a news conference. They found no Japanese on the atoll, he said, adding that the little island will provide American forces with a good anchorage and advance position in the Mid-Pacific Marshalls.

Jap Shipping Toll Mounts Good Work of U. S. Subs May Determine Results of War in Pacific, Says Nimitz Berlin Raid Costs U. S. 68 Bombers.

American Fliers Bag 176 Nazi Fighters And Dump 2,000 Tons Of Bombs on Capital BY RICHARD McMURRAY Associated Preaa War Editor) American planes sent 176 German fighters hurtling to destruction and sprayed ravaged Berlin with more than 2,000 tons of bombs yesterday in one of the greatest air battles in history an offensive that cost the U. S. 68 heavy bombers and 11 fighters and heaped fresh destruction on the capital. Rome was bombed today by successive waves of four-engined aircraft, the Nazi radio In the Italian capital said. The Rome radio said casualties appeared heavy, that the planes flew in low and concentrated on the Ostiense and Trastevere districts.

British bombers made a heavy, concentrated attack on rail yards at Trappes, 15 miles southwest of Paris, last night straining the German air force into night and day defense of Hitlers shrinking fortress. Mosquitos hit northwest Germany. No British plane was lost, suggesting that German pilots had been exhausted in their massed and prolonged battle to and from Berlin. Russians Move Swiftly Russians lunged swiftly across the severed Odessa-Lwow-Warsaw railway toward shaky Rumania, 60 miles away, after killing 15,000 and capturing 3,000 in three days in the Ukraine, Moscow announced. The gloomy Germans said Marshal Zhukov was using 35 divisions and eight tank corps and "hopes to deal a death blow to the German armies in the east.

Sharp fighting was resumed inside Cassino In Italy while the Rome beaches were quiet. Two small German attacks near the Adriatic were tossed back. Fighter-bombers pounded roads and rails near Rome, flying 500 sorties In foul weather. Reliable but unconfirmed Stockholm reports said Finland had sent its answer on peace terms to Moscow and that Dr. Juho Paasiklvl was ready to fly to the Kremlin.

The Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter said "peace machinery is in movement among higher officials. Devastation in Berlin The northern and eastern sections of Berlin took the brunt of the American beating yesterday In the battle which served notice that the battered capital was vulnerable by day and night. Numerous high priority war plants still standing after the deluge of 26,000 tons of British night bombs were singled out by Flying Fortresses and Liberators. Numerous fires and great devastation was reported. "Divisions (420 to 730 planes) of heavy bombers, escorted by a very large formation of fighters, attacked factories, air fields and other military Installations In the metropoli-( Continued on Page 6, No.

1) House Slashes $91,000,000 Off Federal Agency Funds Washington, March 7. (AP) Congress newest economy drive was thrown Into high gear today as the house appropriations committee recommended a $91,235,064 slash In the funds requested for various federal agencies in the first deficiency supply bill of 1944. Committee action left the total of proposed new appropriations at $500,103,748. Biggest cuts by the committee were $22,500,000 from the requested by the Federal Works Agency for community facilities: $17,500,000 from the $25,000,000 sought by the National Housing Agency for war housing construction; and rejection of a request for for restoration of the capital impairment of the Commodity Credit Corporation. Washington, March 7.

(AP) Destruction of Japanese shipping by American submarines is increasing to such an extent that it may determine results of the war in the Pacific, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific fleet, declared here today. "Our submarines are taking such a heavy toll of their shipping that lack of shipping may soon be the controlling factor in what Japan Is able to do, the admiral told a news conference. More American Subs "Our submarines are increasing in number and not decreasing in efficiency, even though the number of targets is slowly decreasing, he added. The Pacific commander warned at the same time against discounting the importance of Japanese submarines, saying that although the enemys under-sea craft are not seen frequently now, they "will become more of a menace as our lines lengthen.

We are not finished with the Japanese subs by any means. Would Welcome Naval Battle Nimitz, in Washington for conferences, repeated naval assertions that the Pacific fleet would welcome a major engagement with the Japanese navy. "It would be to our advantage, he said, "to Have An early encounter with the Japanese fleet, because we are prepared to meet them. It would be disastrous for their overseas communications if we could fight an early engagement and they lost a good part of their fleet. My Idea Is that they are preserving their fleet as long as possible.

Ready for Fight Against OPA Washington, March 7. (AP) Chairman Spence of the house banking committee disclosed today that a resolution probably will be offered "In a few days to continue OPA as now constituted, an action almost certain to explode into a congressional tempest. The price control act expires June 30. Republicans have demanded action now toward a re-shuffle of the agency, and several members of the banking committee, including Democrats, are with them. Spence indicated that the administration strategy of standing pat on its price control setup had just about been settled.

Among the Republicans demanding changes is Rep. Wolcott of Michigan, who Is leading a move to: (1) Insert In the act a section outlawing food subsidies, a clause which already has led President Roosevelt to veto two other pieces of legislation as injurious to his anti-inflation program: (2) Grant the right of appeal to federal courts for those claiming they were damaged by wartime price control rules; (3) "Spelling out the OPAs authority to correct gross lneaultles so there will be less latitude for the administrators. 20 Short Of Goal Must Raise $1,278 More To Put Iola Over Top In Red Cross Drive With today marking the close of the first week of the Red Cross War Fund drive the Iola teams at noon were $1,278.90 short of their $5,600 goal. The total amount received, $4,321.10, is just about 80 of the citys quota. In the absence of the Rev.

Chester E. Sisney, city chairman, U. D. Nevitt, county campaign leader, is checking over the teams in the business district and urging them to complete their canvas as rapidly as possible. It Is likely that a number of call backs will be necessary If the needed 20 is to be raised.

40 of Quota in County Mrs. Guy Parks, chairman of the residential district, was calling all of her teams of women that have been working in the various wards, suggesting that they complete the job within the next day or two. The total amount of cash turned In by all county workers Is $4,643.35 or only about 40 of the quota. However, the drive in 'Humboldt started only yesterday and no report has been received from Moran and Marmaton township. One or two township chairmen have reported their totals by phone but these are not included in the above totals, Mr.

Nevitt said. Mrs. Kate Woodin Dies At Daughters Home Mrs. Kate E. Woodin, who would have been 88 on March 18, died this morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs.

W. F. Altermann. 818 North Sycamore. Mrs.

Woodin was bom at Waterproof, Louisiana, moving to Iola when she was 18 years old. She has lived here for nearly 70 A member of the Presbyterian church, she also was active in the Order of the Eastern Star. She leaves her daughter. Mrs. Altermann: two sons, Fred Woodin, Iola, and J.

C. Woodin, Wichita; six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her husband, John Woodin, died In 1917. Funeral services will be conducted at 4:00 p. m.

Thursday at the First Presbyterian church by the Rev. T. M. Shellenberger. Burial will be at the Highland cemetery.

Allied Convoy Losses Less Than One Ship in 1,000 London, March 7. (AP) Allied convoy losses were less than one ship in 1,000 In the second half of 1943, First Lord of the Admiralty A. V. Alexander told commons today. He warned, however, that Admiral Karl Doenitx U-boats "will try and try again to stage a comeback.

Alexander disclosed officially that the Mediterranean route to the east is In full use and said Its re-openlng Is worth about a million gross tons, and the liberuticn of North Africa and Italy together have brought in half as much again in actual ships. The TODAY a a By DEWITT MACKENZIE Yesterday was a blue Monday on Hitler's calendar, for with great Allied offensives tearing Into him from both sides In the climactic campaigns of the European war there wasn't a fox hole in which he could hide. Both Russia and the western allies continued to push the all highest far beyond his limits. America again demonstrated her growing aerial might in a terrific drive which shook the very foundations of an already shattered Berlin, and Britain's airforce last night strewed death and destruction over a wide area. The detonations of the Allied block-busters more or less tell their own story.

The Muscovites fresh master stroke In the southern Ukraine, however, is a bit compli-J rated and your attention (maps cslease) is invited to one of the most beautifully developed strategies of the war. The fresh development is that Red Marshal Zhukov's new south-westward offensive has ripped a great gap in the vital wow -Odessa railroad at the junction of Volochlsk, Just east of Tarnopol. This means that Zhukov has severed Hitler's life-line to Odessa and the famous Dnieper bend area. That road was the last Important communication left to the Nazi dictator in this area. With the Lwow-Odessa railroad cut, German Marshal Von Mann-stein Is in a tough spot.

He may be forced to pull his South Ukrainian armies back to the Bessarabian border. Ills communications with the fatherland then w-ould be via the roundabout route through Rumania. Ultimately he would have to retreat into that Balkan state. This is exactly the position for which the Red staff has been maneuvering for long weeks, ever since the Russians consolidated their hold on recaptured Kiev. Using Kiev as a pivotal base they started the westward drive which has thrust a spearhead into the heart of pre-war Poland.

As that steadily growing column extended into enemy territory, the Muscovites kept shooting sickle-like offensives out of It to the south. These fast moving hooks gathered -In Urge bodies of Nazis and an-i nihilated them. From the beginning the Red aim had been the same to slash the Lwow-Odessa railroad far to the west near the old Polish border and compel Von Mannstein to face about and fight with his back to the Balkans. Sure, Von Mannstein has known what was happening to him. Hes one of Hitlers key soldiers.

As Ive (Continued on Page 6, No. 4) Ration Roundup For This Week Meats. Cheese. Batter and Fats. Brown stamps and in book 3, good through March 20.

Brown stamps retain their value of 8, 5, 2 and 1 points. Red stamos A8, B8 and C8 good through May 20. These stamps are good for 10 points each In war ration book 4. Canned and Processed Foods. Green stamps K.

and in book 4 good through March 20 with a point value of 8. 5, 2 and 1 points. Blue stamps A8, B3, C3, D8 and F8 good through May 20 valid for 10 points each. In war ration book 4. Sugar Stamp No.

30 in book 4 good for NJive pounds indefinitely. I Stamp No. 31 In book 4 good April 1 far five pounds indefinitely. eunp No. 40 In book 4 now good for five pounds for home canning and preserving of fruit through February 23, 1945.

Shoes. Stamp No. 18 in book 1 becomes Invalid on April 30. Stamp No. 1 on airplane page of book 3 Is good for one pair indefinitely.

(No merchant can legally accept loose shoe stamp coupons.) Gasoline. Coupon No. 10 in "A sheets good for three gallons through March 21 if endorsed with license number and state of registration. Tires. Final inspection date for holders Mav 31; holders June 30 and A holders March 31, 1944.

Fuel OIL Period 3 coupon good through March 13 for ten gallons per unit. Period 4 coupon good February 8 through September 30 for ten gallons per unit. Period 5 coupon good February 8 through September 30 for ten gallons per unit. -S775 Raised So Far 'in Coy Scout Drive I 1 as raised a total of $755 so the SeKan area council pf Scouts of America, A. W.

city chairman Of the drive, morning. Two or three of os have not turned In their jort and Mr. Young expects fund will exceed $300 when 'ass fs completed. The money to finance Boy Scout activi-the several counties which the SeKan area. London, March 7.

(AP) Yesterdays great American daylight raid on Berlin must be considered a catastrophe, the German-controlled Oslo radio admitted today. This description was attributed by the radio to "competent German circles." The broadcast said Berliners are calling the day on which the Americans proved they could hit Germanys best defended target "Bloody Mcfriday More Than 900 Ships In American Fleet Washington, March 7. (AP) Secretary of the Navy Knox said today that the American fleet largest in world history now-consists of more than 900 warships. This doesnt include any small stuff, the navy chief added at a news conference. Knox also disclosed that the carrier group of the Essex type will Include more than the 11 ships originally scheduled for that class.

He gave no details. Offer Soldier Bonus Bills Five Veterans Organizations Back Compensation Legislation Washington, March 7. (AP) A backstage battle between veterans organizations over this wars "soldier bonus moved into the open today as adjusted compensation legislation, sponsored jointly by five service groups, was offered in both houses of congress. Acting on behalf of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Army and Navy Union, Disabled American Veterans, the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the Regular veterans association, Senator Johnson sponsor of the senate bill said he would ask for hearings by the military committee. Parallel bills were introduced yesterday by nine house members.

Reps. Lesinski (D. Sullivan (D. Hagen (FL. Isac (D.

Carlson (R. Case (R. S. Rogers (R. Bates (D.

and Dingell (D. Mich.) Legion Sponsors I. Bill The legislation sponsored by the service groups and proposing a maximum bonus of $3,500 each for men and women of the armed forces for home service and $4,500 for overseas service, is much more liberal in its benefits than the so-called I. bill, sponsored chiefly by the American Legion, now pending before a senate finance subcommittee headed by Chairman Clark (D. Mo.) Warren H.

Atherton, of the American Legion has announced that organization will conduct a 'nationwide drive March 15 to obtain 'signatures endorsing the bill. The five-service group measure would provide for adjusted service pay of $3 daily for home service in the armed forces and $4 daily for overseas service, with an extra credit qf $500 for those wounded. In Tax Fire Bonds All compensation above $300 would be In the form of non-negotlable, tar-free government bonds. The "G-I bill proposes mustering out pay totalling $500 for 18 months overseas service, educational training for veterans, farm and home purchase loans, reemployment aid and unemployment insurance for the post-discharged period. In contrast to the G-I bill, the group legislation would ignore the veterans administration, directing the army and navy to compute the comoensation allowances and handling payments through the treasury.

Says Tonight To Be Cold Topeka, March 7. (AP) Light snow dusted northern Kansas today while a blast of cold air from the northwest sent temperatures down to shivery Weatherman S. D. Flora said it would stay cold today and tonight, warming up slightly tomorrow. Only local srow flurries were reported.

Topeka had .10 of an inch, Concordia a light snow and Philllps-burg .01 moisture, or about .10 snow. Concordia still had five inches of snow on the ground from last weeks fall and Phillipsburg four Inches. Phillipsburg had a 7 a. m. temperature of 16, lowest reported to the weather bureau, but lt was wanner in the south where Coffeyville listed 27.

Dodge City's 43 was the warmest reported yesterday. flora said temperatures would range from 35 to 45 today and tonight would be fully as cold as last night. British Cruiser Penelope Lost Off Italian Coast London, March 7. (AP) The admiralty announced today the loss of the famed cruiser Penelope, which became known as HMS Pepperpot after she was scarred by 2,000 shell fragment holes in the battle of Malta. The Penelope was lost with the cruiser Spartan and the destroyers Janus and Inglefield in the establishment and maintenance of the Nettuno bridgehead in Italy, commons was informed by A.

V. Alexander, first lord of the admiralty. Loss of the other vessels was announced previously. Five major assault vessels also were bridgehead casualties, Alexander All rationing board offices in Allen county will be closed all day Friday because of a section- al meeting for rationing board personnel which will be held In Pittsburg, that day. Several board members and all clerks will attend that meeting.

Three Dead In Shooting Five Others Wounded By Lieutenant in Wild Affray at Camp Anza Riverside, Calif, March 7. (API-Two girls and a policeman were slain and five other persons were wounded yesterday at nearby Camp Anza by a 31-year-old army officer before police bullets injured the assailant, the camp commander reported. A military board of inquiry is seeking to establish the motive for the shootings. Killed when 2nd Lt. Beaufort C.

Swancutt, of La Crosse, Wis, suddenly cut loose with a army automatic Sunday night, said Col. Earle R. Sarles, camp commander, were: Miss Dorothy Douglas, 18, of Long Beach, Calif. Miss Lourdlne Livermore, 18, likewise of Long Beach. Arthur B.

Simpson, 34, a Riverside police radio patrolman. Witnesses Describe Affair The camp commander and witnesses thus described the affray: Swancutt, his close friend, 2nd Lt. Harry J. Light, and the two girls were sitting In the Camp Anza officers club about 10:30 p. m.

playing cards after dining in Riverside. Suddenly Swancutt rose from his chair, drew his side arm and quickly shot Miss Douglas and Miss Livermore in the chest and Lt. Light in the hand and leg. The girls died shortly in the post hospital. Another bullet struck the leg of Lt.

Aldace Minard, 38, Pomona, Calif, who was passing by. Rushing to the officers quarters, Swancutt awakened his superior officer, Capt. Aubrey O. Serfling, 27, of Preston, Minn, and demanded another gun clip, explaining he was on guard duty and had lost the clip he had. When Serfling refused, Swancutt shot him twice in the abdomen.

Others Wounded Running outside, he wounded Corp. Robert Sampson. He then forced Sgt. John E. Rob- erts to drive him in a staff car from the camp Into the suburban town of Arlington, where the camp is situated.

There he stopped a car driven by Ray SchlegeL Los Angeles, and ordered Schlegel. his wife, Terry, and Schlegels cousin, Euel Atchley, apprentice seaman, to get out of the car with the Schlegel's 8-month-old baby. At this point, said Police Chief Nestor Brule, Officers Simpson and E. F. Cole appeared Bullets from Swancutts gun killed Simpson and wounded Schlegel in the side.

Cole fired back, hitting Swancutt in the stomdeh. chest and side. A military court will try Swancutt on a murder charge. Col. Sarles added.

May Send Vicbyite To Devils Island Algiers, March 7. (AP) Devils Island, famed as the site of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus exile, has been reestablished by the French committee of national liberation as a place for confinement of political prisoners. The announcement was made as the treason trial of Pierre Pucheu, former Vichy minister of the Interior, continued before a special military tribunal yesterday, with three former members of the national council of resistance, a French underground organization, demanding that he be put to death. Devils Island was designated In a decree published by the committee as a place for detention of deportees, or persons convicted of political crimes such as treason.

lie and St. Jospehs Island, In the same group off the French Guinea coast, were assigned for ordinary prisoners. The policy of sending prisoners to the Guiana penal colonies had been abandoned by the French government In 1939. Register Bindery Closes for Duration W. W.

Batchelder, who leased The Registers bindery and has been operating it for the past eight months, has been forced to llouidate his business because of shortages of binding materials. He closed his affairs last week and moved with his family to Kansas City where he has taken employment with the bindery department of a publishing h-rnse. The Registers bindery will probably remain closed until the war Is over. Cost of Camp to House Prisoner-Labor Too High Kansas City, Kas, March 7. (AP) Wyandotte county fanners, who had asked for War prisoner labor, indicated they would have to do without and shift to production of corn and other grains when they learned yesterday they would have to pay more than $7,000 to build a camp for the prisoners.

Many of the farmers had planned to raise vegetables to meet war food goals. Extend Holdings on Los Negros, and Leap-Frog Up New Guinea Coast Toward Madang BY RICHARD C. BERGHOLZ (Associated Freas War Editor) Two new offensive successes against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific one on Los Negro Island in the Admiralty group and another on the coast of New Guinea were reported today by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Reinforced troops of the dismounted first cavalry division drove through enemy artillery fire to extend their Los Negros holdings across an isthmus to the northern peninsula of the small island and tighten their grip on the strategic Momote airdrome, seized shortly after the surprise Invasion Feb.

29. Leap-Frog Up New Guinea Coast Relatively small units of the 32nd army division leap-frogged up tho New Guinea coast from their positions near Baidor to land 30 miles nearer Madang to the north, bypassing difficult Jungle terrain and enemy forces delaying the coastal drive. Rabai.1, New Britain, where Japan lias lost F42 planes since the all-out AlVed air campaign against the key enemy base began last Dec. 17, suddered under the weight of a 181-ton blasting by South Pacific planes Saturday. Anti-aircraft fire was Intense at the beginning but faded and there was no aircraft interception.

Other Allied planes poured 105 tons of explosives Into hopelessly abandoned Japanese on Choiseul Island in the Solomons and struck heavily at enemy positions on Bougainville Island to the north. Jap Supply Lines Cot Tokvo radio admitted the plight of its Solomon islands forces. "Huge enemy task forces ply In between our supply bases and the front lines, the Dome! broadcast said. The enemy has made passage of larger transports infinitely difficult so the heavy responsibility of safe transportation of food and supplies has fallen upon the crew's of wooden which conceal themselves by day In the shadows of the islands and carry out their duties by night. Air war in the central Pacific found army and navy bombers staging a 35-ton bombing strike on three undesignated Japanese bases In the Marshall Islands Saturday.

All plarfes returned. On the Burma Front American and Chinese troops, exploiting the capture of two strongholds In northern Burma taken in Joseph W. Stilwells vengeance drive, are mopping up Japanese units, and a Japanese attempt to Cross the Nambyu river has been thrown back with heavy losses, a southeast Asia communique declared today. The Americans, the first U. S.

ground troops to fight on the Asiatic continent, took Walawsum, 10 miles southeast of Maingkwan. and Chinese forces seized Maingkwan, chief village of the Hukawng valley and Japanese artillery strongpolnt. Chinese troops crossed the Idi river In the Maingkwan area and killed 74 Japanese. South of Sumnradum, 27 Japanese were killed and 20 wounded In a patrol ambush. On the western sector in Burma, meanwhlle, British troops beat off Iwo Japanese raids on their main front west of the Mayu range, inflicting severe casualties, and themselves staged a successful raid south of Maungdaw.

Giraud Backs Pucheu Defense Algiers, March 7. (AP) General Henri Giraud, star defense witness in the treason trial of Pierre Pucheu, former Vichy interior minister, confirmed on the witness stand today two points In Pucheus testimony and declared the trial should be postponed because "proofs are lacking here in North Africa. The commandcr-in-chief of the French army confirmed Pucheus statement that he endeavored, prior to the Allied landings in North Africa, to persuade Marshal Petaln to drop his policy of collaboration with Hitler, and that he came to North Africa at Glrauds Invitation. Giraud said Pucheu contacted him In Lyon In September, 1942, and ehowed him his report to Petaln recommending aid to the Allies, a move which Giraud said he supported. Early in 1943 Pucheu w'rote him from Madrid asking permission to enter North Africa to serve with the army.

He said that when he agreed Pucheu could come to North Africa he told him he should use a false name and abstain from political action. He declared he was surprised to learn Pucheu had come under his own name and was causing agitation. Conseauently he placed Pucheu under house arrest to maintain order and calm. TOUGII BIRD Pasadena, Calif. (AP) A cormorant or hell-diver a voracious aquatic bird with a strongly hooked bill dived into town, bit Max Dorians hand and slashed the cheek of J.

L. McMerritt, humane society truck driver. chairman. Undersecretary of War Patterson, Undersecretary of Navy Forrestal, Charles Raynor, state department petroleum adviser, and Charles E. Wilson, vice-chairman of the Wftr Production Board.

The announcement of the forthcoming conferences, in which American plans to build a pipeline across Saudi Arabia, will be a prime subject, was made jointly in Washington and London. The Washington announcement came from Acting Secretary of State Edward B. Stet-tinlus Jr. To Be In Washington The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, the brief statement said, are undertaking preliminary and exploratory discussions on petroleum questions. These discussions will be, in the first instance, on an expert technical level and will take place In Washington.

At the same time Stettlnius threw the doors to the conference wide open to other nations. This government, he said, is always ready to take up petroleum questions of mutual interest with any other friendly country. Way Open to Others Presumably this left the way open to Russia any other interested nation to participate in discussions about American oil in the Arabian area or for the Netherlands to raise questions' about Oil development in the southwest Pacific or for oil producing nations In this hemisphere to discuss their interests. Stettinius said that he hoped that conferees might make an early beginning on their work. Their first action presumably will be to select advisers and technical experts who will lay out a program and initiate the discussions or! the technical level.

Plan Swimming Pool Brush-Up In the midst of this mornings snow flurry the thoughts of the city commission turned to the good old summer time and the municipal swimming pool at Riverside Park. It was decided to increase the sanitary precautions at the pool by moving the chlorlnator now in use at the city water plant to the pool and installing a new chlorinat-or for city use. During the past two or three summers it has been known that the chlorlnator at the pool was inadequate for efficient operation. At all times the water at the pool passed tests given by the state board of health but the margin of safety was not great. In fact the pool last summer did not meet the requirements of the U.

S. army and soldiers passing through here were not permitted to use the pool. The installation of the new ehlorinator will remove all objections to the water. The commission also voted to dean up and repaint all the buildings and equipment at the pool before It is opened this spring. The chlorlnator to be removed from the settling basin is rated at 20 pound capacity and will be replaced by a 40 pound unit, thus providing better equipment for purifying the citys water supply.

Total cost of all Improvements will be about $15,000. around to defending Ennylabegan, so we did not have to WTeck it to take it. It was not that the Japanese had no plans for the island. They did. They had a lookout tower a 60-foot coconut log structure with a glassed-in room on top from which some little lookout doubtless had one of the worst half-hours in human history a couple of weeks ago when his glasses picked up lines of American ships, score after score of them, just as the first of hundreds of American planes began coming over the horizon in to formation.

The occupants of the tower had good quarters in a cottage. They had plenty of time to cook good meals from ample supplies in the shed, to raise chickens, even to arrange coral stones neatly along borders of curving paths. In the center of the island the Japanese in the last two months had built a well-planned barracks, capable of housing 200 men. They, with the concrete-floored warehous-(Continued on Page 6, No. 3) New Ukraine Smash by Reds Ennylabegan a Paradise Compared To Rest of Blasted Kwajalein (LEAVES FROM A WAR CORRESPONDENTS NOTEBOOK) BY WILLIAM L.

WORDEN (Substituting for Hal Boyle.) Kwajalein Atoll. Marshall Islands, Feb. 13, (delayed) (AP) By contrast to the other islands of Kwajalein atoll, Ennylabegan is a tropical paradise. The others Roi. Namur, Kwajalein itself, Ebeye, Enubuj had been wrecked, their trees blown down, their buildings smashed, their beaches lined with the bloody and stinking dead who were their defenders.

Today, they are saved from being pestilential only by the bitter, retching work of thousands of American soldiers and Marines who have been burying the men they killed and cleaning up the indescribable mess made by their own bombs and shells. Ennylabegan still has deep shade In the center of the coconut plantation, roads that can be followed, and buildings that are more than splintered timbers. The reason is simple. The Japanese did not get The Red army opens a mighty new offensive in the Western Ukraine. Russians threaten to cut off 12 Nazi divisions in the Ukraine with drives already having severed the Odessa-Lwow-Warsaw railway.

(NEA Telephoto.).