The Idaho Statesman from Boise, Idaho • 1

IBAHO BA STATE Published Every No 139 ESTABLISHED 1864 Boise Idaho Tuesday Morning January 5 1943 ASSOCIATED PRESS DAY AND NIGH" nd UNITED PRESS LEASED WIRES Price Five Cents Sam Relaxes After the Battle LiquorHead Turns Out New Chief Colorful Ceremonies Install New Chiefs At Idaho Statehouse en Jaws Of Trap Around Nazis Axis anks Slug French A Bottolfsen Leads Procession Of Elective Gem State Officials To Take Oaths In House Chamber Russians Say Nazis Lying' AboutBattles Reds Seize Airdrome Rail Station Arms of Pincers Brought Closer By Soviet Gains In a simple but impressive ceremony Idaho's new governor A Bottolfsen and other elective state officials were inaugurated Monday as leaders of the state for the Tnext biennium The rites were held in the House chamber in the capitol with Rep Meeker (D-Boundary) dean of the House membership presiding as temporary speaker There was a blare of trumpets and then into the packed chamber with members of both houses of the legislature their wives and spectators as witnesses filed the procession of elective state officials headed by Brig Gen McConnel adjutant general and his aide Capt John Walters Clark Escorts Bottolfsen Then came Governor Bottolfsen escorted by retiring Governor Chase A Clark and behind them two by two the elected officers of the state executive department and new members of the Idaho supreme court After the invocation by the Rt Rev Frank A Rhea Episcopal bishop of Idaho Chief Justice Edwin Holden mounted to the desk and Governors Bottolfsen and Clark stepped forward Clark introduced his successor briefly and then Bottolfsen raised his right hand as Justice Holden administered the oath of office requiring him to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Idaho Hearty "I Do voice was clear and hearty as he declared Then Supreme Court Justice Alfred Budge Sr sponsored by his son Dr Alfred Budge Jr rose and was sworn in Justice Raymond Givens who like Budge was re-elected to office last year then was sworn in with Justice James Ailshie as sponsor Justice Ailshie also sponsored Justice Ben Dunlap appointed to succeed Justice william Morgan who died Oct 16 Lieutenant Governor Edwin Nelson of Fenn was sponsored by retiring Lieutenant Governor Charles Gossett Secretary of State George Curtis was sponsored by Ross Haworth assistant secretary Auditor Calvin Wright was sponsored by Sen Barlow (R-Cassia) and Treasurer Mrs Myr- Governor Gives Message Today Two Houses Organize Before Adjourning First Session Monday The twenty-seventh legislature met Monday certified its members and organized Itself for action in its respective houses before adjourning until today when Governor A Bottolfsen will deliver his opening address to the body in joint session In both houses organization was completed without a hitch as Dr A Robins (R-Benewah) was seated as president pro-tem of the Senate and Rep Milton Horsley (R-Caribou) was sworn in as speaker of the House The Senate concluded its business in a brief session immediately after returning to its own chamber following inaugural ceremonies in the House chamber Lieutenant Governor Edwin Nelson called the session to order (Please Turn to Page 5 Column 2) Horsley Warns No Lobbying Milton Horsley second time speaker of the House made it clear in his opening address that he does not intend to tolerate pressure by lobbyists do not want a great deal of help from blocs and individuals" he said Immediately after he was sworn in by unanimous vote' "We invite them to present their ideas to committees and then we invite them to leave We do not intend to be pushed around LT SAMUEL A FORTER just "Sam" to all the folks of Boise came home Monday after one of the greatest sea battles of all time to tell citizens how his cruiser the Boise disposed of six Japanese ships in 27 minutes Lt Forter relaxed and comfortable and looking forward to his furlough at home poses above for The Statesman photographer Home-Toivh Youth Comes Back To Tell Story of USS Boise PanzersTry To Batter Allied Line Warplanes Help Defenders Withstand Blows LONDON UE) The Ger-mans were reported hurling masses of tanks against French manned positions in eastern Tunisia Monday night seizing on a temporary break in the rainy weather in a gamble to expand their hold on the approaches to Sicily before the Allies can launch a major offensive The Germans were trying to win toe road junction of Fondouk-El-Aourareb six miles southeast of Pichon and 55 miles southwest of the east coast port of Sousse dispatches from North African headquarters said Aided by American planes and anti-tank guns French motorized and cavalry forces threw back the first attacks Sunday but late reports from the front said that very heavy pressure on the French lines had been resumed Bear Out Predictions The Axis thrusts apparently toe heaviest by toe enemy since the Allies were pushed back from the gates of Tunis early in the campaign bore out military predictions here that Maj-Gen Wal-toer Nehring would try to beat the Allies to toe punch However it was not believed toe German commander would be able to launch more than a limited offensive and perhaps delay the expulsion of toe Axis from Africa which is still considered inevitable here Meanwhile the British first army on the northern sector of toe Tunisian line also took advantage of improved weather to reconnoiter in force with a considerable number of tanks front reports said They penetrated about five miles in each direction northeast and southeast of Medjez-El-Bab Allied anchor 38 miles from Tunis and encountered only light anti-tank gun opposition Rains Cease African dispatches said that although toe rains had temporarily ceased tank operations still were difficult in the mud and wet weather can be expected through February if it is a normal winter on the French North African coast To the east toe British army was reported pausing in its pursuit of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in Tripolitania while it brought up supplies over the long desert haul from Benghazi but it was believed the lull on that front would be brief Court to Hear Flag Dispute WASHINGTON UP) The supreme court agreed Monday to review a lower decision that school children cannot be required to salute the Flag in violation of religious scruples Thus toe possibility was raised that toe high tribunal might reverse its own decision in 1940 that such a requirement was constitutional The decision to be reviewed was handed down by a three-judge federal circuit court at Charleston in toe case of three West Virginia members of Witnesses and was written by Judge John Parker of Charlotte who has been prominently mentioned as a possible appointee to the supreme court to succeed James Byrnes NAZI HANG-OUT BOMBED LONDON UP) The German high command headquarters and another establishment frequented by Nazi soldiers were bombed Sunday night at Marseilles toe Vichy radio said LONDON tav-The Soviet information bureau Monday night accused toe Germans for toe second straight day of inventing lies" to conceal toe true status of toe Nazi armies which they said are making swift backward movement on many fronts" in Russia The -midnight Soviet communique broadcast by Moscow and heard here by the Soviet Monitor said the Germans had announced their troops the new year with large-scale attacks in toe Terek area" of the Caucasus and that Bolshevik counter-attacks collapsed against the iron resistance of our troops" To this the Russians said officially: is a blatant contradiction of toe facts The new year was begun by German troops with a swift backward movement on many fronts including toe Terek sector toe first days of the new year Soviet troops occupied toe towns of Mozdok and Malgobek and dozens of other inhabited points Under the blows of the Red army the Nazis are abandoning one inhabited locality after another and are rolling back to toe west" Suicide Tactics Fool Fortresses Nazi Fliers Attack Heavy Planes With Head-On Dives LONDON US) German fighters used new tactics Sunday when airmen attacking the Nazi U-boat base at St Nazaire in France lost seven big bombers in the heaviest casualty yet suffered by the Americans in one raid the Daily Express said today The Germans lost 38 fighters in trying out their new technique against toe bombers which were identified as Flying Fortresses the newspaper said At least two of the bombers were said to have fallen victim to German anti-aircraft fire the newspaper said without elaborating effectiveness of toe new Nazi fighter maneuver German fighters the Express said adopted a new maneuver suicide attacks" in which they flew in pairs and attacked toe big heavily-gunned bombers head-on Often they closed in within 100 yards the correspondent reported The newspaper name the general who supposedly led the attack but quoted a pilot as saying: was flying just behind the general's machine An anti-aircraft shell burst near it and scattered over toe Fortress planes in toe middle of our formation were hit One blew up in toe air and the other went down in flames We thought we saw toe crew of toe burning machine bail out kept in tight formation and plunged through a curtain of fire right on to the target The Germans followed us out to sea but we gave them heavy punishment broke up in toe air and others went down in flames" THE WEATHER FORECAST For Boise and vicinity snow flurries and slightly warmer today BOISE WEATHER Jan 4 1943 Max 40 min 25 WEATHER OVER THE COUNTRY Precip LONDON UP) The Mos-cow radio announced in a special communique Monday night the capture of the big German air base of Chemishkovskaya and the railway station of Chemishkov an action which apparently drove closer together the jaws of a second pincers closing about the remnants of 22 trapped German divisions at Stalingrad The broadcast was heard by the Soviet Monitor Chemishkov approximately half wfiy between Stalingrad and the Moscow-Rostov railway to the west is only about 50 miles north of Tsimlyansk on toe lower Don where toe Germans forced their crossing last summer to drive upon Stalingrad from the southwest Cross Don The southwestern counter-offensive of toe Russians already had crossed the Don east of Tsimlyansk and reached positions northeast of the latter place The two arms of the pincers previously reported as about 45 miles apart now were apparently separated by a gap of only about 30 miles This second pincers appeared to be 40 or 50 miles west of the Russian zone which has sealed the Germans in at Stalingrad Chemishkovskaya is about 40 miles north of Chemishkov Chemishkov is about 100 miles west of Stalingrad and is on the Stalin-grad-Likhaya railway where it crosses toe Tsiml river Capture Booty Soviet troops captured much booty including 17 planes 2000-000 shells 500000 airplane bombs and stores of civilian and war supplies in the Chemishkovskaya area the special communique said The regular midnight bulletin that followed said of this middle Don drive troops continued to tighten a ring around besieged enemy Germans threw strong forces into action in order to help one of their encircled garrisons" it continued infantry and tanks launched repeated counterattacks However the deadly fire of our artillery forced them to roll Other Red Army units driving ahead southwest and south of Stalingrad "continued their offensives and captured number of inhabited localities" Jap Warships Bring Supplies WASHINGTON UP) A Navv communique indicated Monday the Japanese had made their most successful attempt in six weeks to get supplies to their forces on Guadalcanal island in the Solomons Eight enemy destroyers reached the vicinity of the northwestern end of Guadalcanal Saturday They were attacked by torpedo boats which scored a hit on one and possibly three hits on two others Enemy airplanes in turn bombed the PT boats but inflicted only slight damage The communique did not say whether any of the destroyers got through to Guadalcanal but since I only one was definitely reported damaged it was entirely possible unless there was further American i action not yet reported some of: them at least did land supplies and even some reinforcements (Please Turn to Page Column 1) SeriatorExpects Change in Tax Davis Refuses To Surrender Dispensary Post By JOHN CORLETT United Press Staff Correspondent The initial smooth organization of Gov A administration slipped a cog Monday when Liquor Dispensary Superintendent Fred Davis refused to budge from his office and turn over his duties to newly-appointed Leland Rawson of Pocatello Rawson new to the game of politics was embarrassed no end and a corps of Republican attorneys went into a huddle to determine a course of action for today Davis stuck to his office and refused to turn over keys to the liquor administration to Rawson named as new superintendent only last Saturday by Bottolfsen on grounds he (Davis) had been for a term of three years" Courts May Decide It is possible a court fight may ensue with the Republicans forced to institute mandamus proceedings in their attempt to oust Davis from his job The liquor dispensary has been under fire from the Republican leaders for several weeks over alleged unrestricted and unwarranted sale of liquor and Bottolfsen Tuesday will suggest that the legislature investigate the state dispensary The 1941 amendments to the state liquor law provide the dis pensary superintendent shall be appointed by the governor for a term of three years and also he may be removed by the governor at Davis was appointed superintendent by former Gov Chase A Clark in February 1941 Intended to Take Over- I Rawson presented himself in office shortly after 5 Monday with the intent of taking over Davis said he see how he could turn over the office at that time so Rawson pulled out a letter written to Davis by Bottolfsen who said the services of the former were no longer desired Rawson explained that the law says the governor shall remove the superintendent at will but Davis remarked thatTie' he had a case" Davis kept the keys and said he would be down to open up the office in the morning again Rawson reported back to Gov Bottolfsen who asked several of his Republican attorneys to look into the matter Rawson said that after he received an opinion from the attorneys probably early this morning he would present himself at office and make another try at tfllrimr I get the job said Rawson guess it is up to the Davis had no other explanation for his action except to say that he considered he was appointed for three years and he was going to try and hang on to the extra year he believed due him Gov Bottolfsen who earlier was thought to be considering the Issuing of an order rationing liquor at the rate of one quart a week per customer to conform with similar rationing in Washington Oregon and Utah said would take no such action until completion of the audit of the dispensary" The audit is being made by Middleton and McCarthy a Boise firm of accountants on authorization from State Auditor Calvin Wright It was learned however that the audit will not be completed for some time Carole Landis Weds Army Airman Today LONDON (IP) Blonde Film Star Carole Landis who has been entertaining at Army camps in Britain today will wed Capt Thomas Wallace Pasadena Calif fighter command pilot The marriage had been planned for New day but was postponed to enable Miss Landis to recover from an appendectomy Dancer Mitzi Mayfair will be the bridesmaid WAAC LEAVES FOR CAMP SALT LAKE CITY UP) WAAC Auxiliary Helen Butler of Twin Falls left Monday night for Fort Des Moines Iowa for basic training duties as a member of a five-man gun crew' on a tanker It was on this tanker that he experienced his first torpedoing It was part of a convoy and was hit by an aerial torpedo Victor went over the side reached a raft with four other men and was picked up four days later and landed at Bristol see the plane" Tich said "But one of the other gunners got him before the ship sank I next shipped on a troopship The gun crews were filled so I was a We were returning empty when a sub got us with two torpedoes I jumped over the side again This timeNve spent only two (Please Turn to Page 2 Column S) by special accept the office of speaker In humility This is a trying period in our history It is easy to stand up and say we will do every-ttyng we can to further the war effort on the home front Execution is another matter I believe however that the twenty-seventh session will go down in history as one of the most important" National legislation he said has become a laughing stock because have been given to the administration of bureaus that kick them around for several months until nobody knows what they mean people" he said suggested in print that this legislature pay its respects to the Governor and go home I do not think that is a proper attitude People back home are looking to this body of men to do something We will do our best to deliver In the interest of economy of time I will ask a rule reducing the number of committees Our work is serious We will get on with it as rapidly as possible without sacrificing sound judgment" Henderson Blames Public for Mess WASHINGTON Leon Henderson speaking an outbound Jrice administrator" declared londay that public and indifference" were partly to blame for the present gas and oil situation Gasoline bootlegging and widespread failure to convert oil burners to coal show that the full seriousness of the situation is not realized he told a special Senate committee investigating the petroleum shortage on the eastern seaboard Petroleum Administrator Harold Ickes said the east would remain on a basis Neither he nor others who testified held out hope for a relaxation In the "very necessary" rationing of gasoline Doctors Will Write Prescriptions for Food LOS ANGELES Food by prescription will go into effect here soon as an outgrowth of the wartime shortages city and county health groups declared Monday To meet the need for specialized diets for persons suffering from nutritional diseases doctors will write prescriptions calling for certain foods and these will be honored by grocers butchers and poultry dealers WASHINGTON Chairman George (D-Ga) of the Senate finance committee said Monday he believed Congress would write into law adaptation of the so-called Ruml pay-as-you-go tax by writing off a individual income taxes or postponing one payments" A bill embracing the Ruml plan was prepared by Rep Carlson (F-Kas) member of the House ways and means committee for introduction Wednesday the opening day of the new Congress Under the proposal by Beardsley Ruml chairman of the Federal Reserve bank of New York taxes on a previous income would be wiped out and payments made on the current taxes through weekly or monthly deductions from an individual's income Special provisions would be made for business men and others whose Incomes are not in the form of regular salary checks Members of Movement Ask Draft Deferments NEW YORK Iff) Twenty-eight members of Moral Rearmament the movement founded by Dr Frank Buchman in Great Britain and originally known as the Oxford group are attempting to obtain occupational deferment under the selective service law on the ground that their work is of a morale-building nature and essential to the war effort records of a draft board here showed Monday Of the 28 all recently classified 1-A by board 17 25 are Englishmen one a Canadian one a Norwegian and one a Dane Lieutenant Forter Reports Blazing Action In Solomons Area Lasted Only 27 Minutes A home-town boy who was there when it happened came back Monday to tell the story of the heroic Cruiser Boise the ship that sank six Jap ships in 27 minutes The native was Naval Lt Sam- uel A Forter line officer and "spotter" aboard the American ship named after his -home- town Bronzed from "weeks under the SQuth Seas sun the 25-year-old officer cocked one long leg over the arm of an easy chair hitched up a pants leg and started talking: was a little before midnight on Oct 11 say how many ships were with us (the Boise) but we were out looking for a fight Jap group called the Guadalcancal Express by the men because it made a trip to the area every day or so to land new troops and shell the beaches came over the horizon Sees Five saw five through my glasses Since it was so dark I tell just what class of ship each was But as soon as I saw them I told the gunnery officer Lt Comdr John Laffan how many there were told Capt Moran the skipper And the skipper as has already been recorded replied out the biggest one and Lt Forter still bound by censorship could not release too much in the way of details But from the action which took place there could and probably will be a book written about the battle after the war American dead numbered 107 including 104 men and three officers Lt Forter was not wounded in the engagement affair lasted exactly 27 minutes The Boise fired 'a total of 1000 five' and six-inch shells And they firing all the time" explained the young naval officer who was graduated from Annapolis in 1940 He estimated that Japanese dead including troops the ships were carrying would total at least 5000 Down in Four Minutes The first Jap ship believed to be one of the heavy cruisers went down in four minutes The others followed in rapid rotation All in all the Cruiser a ship of 10000 tons with six-inch guns sank two heavy Jap cruisers one light Jap cruiser and three destroyers' be a heavy Lt Forter pointed out ship has to have guns of more than six inches usually eight-inch" Asked what he thought of the battle or how he would describe it the lieutenant replied with a classic: was just like a barroom brawl with all the lights off" As soon as all toe action was over and incidentally said Lt Forter was a lot of confidence tin every man aboard that ship" the Boise licked its wounds rejoined toe rest of toe groilp and filially wound up in toe Philadelphia Navy yards the Boise will fight again" said Lt Forter be better than His mother Mrs Lucille Forter went east to join her son Dec 8 They arrived -in Boise Monday evening by plane from Salt Lake City certainly looks good to me" said Mrs Forter in better shape than when he left so glad that he Lt Forter will spend a week in Boise and then returns to Philadelphia for further activity BERN Switzerland UP) A purge of De Gauilists and other oppositionist elements throughout France was reported Monday In a Paris dispatch and private sources said six new concentration camps already had been opened in the Nazi-held country A Paris dispatch to the Geneva Tribune said the campaign was directed against Gauilists Communism and A woman Gestapo unit was reported to be included In a new police force acting against saboteurs Subversive activity against the Vichy government and occupation forces has increased since German troops moved into Vichy France and whereas before the groups lacked co-ordinated direction there was now a general movement for united activity the report said Large numbers of arrests were reported in Paris hut it was said figures probably would not be announced except as a final grand total Private sources indicated the wave of arrests might continue for six weeks more PORTLAND Ore (A) Receding Willamette river floodwaters yielded toe bodies of two of toe seven known dead Monday but three other persons still were missing' Vast areas of fertile farmlands remained inundated The worst of most disastrous flood since 1927 was over but high water at Portland cui tailed shipyard production and kept crews busy clearing log jams from bridge piers Hundreds of upper and middle valley residents were homeless and health authorities moved swiftly throughout toe area to avert a typhoid epidemic Residents in score! of communities were warned boil their drinking water ea May Have Plotted To Capture President Able Seaman Higgith 15) Has Escaped Three orpedoings Future Furniture Must Bear Up Under Commando-T ype Attack WASHINGTON UP) If the White House and state department had accepted the urgent invitation of the Japanese President Roosevelt might have been aboard a Japanese warship surrounded by enemy generals and admirals when the long-planned attack on Pearl Harbor came about Details of Japanese planning was disclosed by a sequence of events reported in the Americah White Book issued by toe state department over toe week end although neither the book nor an accompanying statement by Secretary of State Hull made the flat charge of a plot The presentation of events conversations and documents however told the story UNABLE TO CONFIRM WASHINGTON (IP) Administration quarters said Monday night they were unable to confirm reports carried by DNB German news agerf that Chinese Gen-eralissiit-Mhiang Kai-Shek plans to visit Moscow and Washington NEW YORK Victor Higgith who is 15 years old and looks it has had three ships sunk beneath him but today he is anxiously awaiting another berth at sea as a merchantship gunner with the hope of adding to his bag of nine German planes Tich British for Shorty has known personal loss in the war His mother was killed in the early days of the blitz on Britain His father was killed in action with the RAF and three brothers were killed fighting with the Royal Navy He signed on as an able seaman in the British Merchant navy shortly after the war started but because of his age and his slight stature he was assigned to easier sandbag is suspended eight inches above the seat and allowed to drop 10000 times at toe rate of 30 times per minute for about six hours If the seams sprung the fabric tom or the uprights -bow-legged by this time a pendulum weight of 20 pounds is rigged up to strike the back of the seat 10-000 times from a distance of two and two-thirds inches A 12-inch disc also is placed on toe seat and a 50pound weight placed on top Then a 150-pound weight is added Later 100 pounds more are piled on top This will be toe standard test" for most upholstered furniture items toe OPA said NEW YORK -The government taking any chances on new-fangled love seats and such The Office of Brice administration announced Monday it was setting up testing stations throughout the country to make sure that war time furniture would stand up to severe punishment and let you down in toe wrong places at embarrassing moments So time" in toe parlor and it goes like this A love seat can graduate from toe manufacturer to the sales floor only after it undergoes a rigid attack simulating a junior ommando raid Actually in toe test a 40-pound MRS KNIGHT DROPS SUIT RENO Ne (ID Mrs Dorothy Ledyard Kiiht Monday night dismissed her uavori" her head-standing hust-vf chard but d-spite dismissal 0f the suit maintained there no reconciliation With the York attorney ia tl oiling A.