Nevada State Journal from Reno, Nevada • 1

'V A 4 Jstntc journal vad nly Morning and Sunday Newspaper RENO NEVADA TUESDAY MORNING DECEMBER 24 1940 NO 275 SEVENTIETH YEAR established novembeh 23 1370 THE WEA TH ER The Weather Today Will Bo Unsettled Yesterday: High 45 Low 37 ull Details on Page 11 14 PAGES TODAY IVE CENTS New Storm Again Hits West Area Traffic Disrupted in Northwest Gales Lash Coast HIGHWAYCLOSED Streams Rise After Rain Lowlands ear loods SAN RANCISCO Dec 23 (UR) Riding in from the Pacific Ocean on winds of gale force a new storm hit the Pacific coast today flooding several areas dis rupting highway and rail traffic and endangering shipping Skies were clearing generally in California late today but ore caster Counts Jr said a new storm forming over the Pacific might bring more rains within 24 hours Northern California and the Pa cific Northwest were hardest hit by the gales and rains which swept the coast today Barometers Low At Portland barometers fell to 2917 lowest in 10 years indicat ing fresh gales would hit that area Heavy rains lashed Seattle and storm warnings were posted in the Puget Sound area The Santa Cruz Calif district was hit by rain flood lightning and wind Santa Cruz reported 420 inches of rain in 48 hours In the nearby Boulder Creek area the San Lo renzo River rose rapidly as 79 inches of rain drained off the sur rounding mountains Sweeping southward the San Lorenzo waters hit a log jam of debris at Santa Cruz and flooded one city block At Scotts Valley five miles from Santa Cruz high winds accom panying an electrical storm leveled a bam and blew down trees Bar ometer readings at Santa Cruz of 297 forecast continued gales Trains Delayed Coastal communities from Can ada to Mexico reported traffic and communications services ham pered by the storm Slides and flooded tracks de layed Southern Pacific trains be tween San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara and above Redding in Cal ifornia The purse seiner West Maco swamped in heavy seas off Point erman near San Pedro Capt Eugene Larson and his crew of 10 were saved by other fishermen Gales which lashed Washington and Oregbn early Sunday were tapering off at least temporarily tonight The California state highway de partment reported slides caused by the storm had closed the eather River highway 5 miles east of Pulga Slides slowed traffic or caused detours on several other California highways The lumber schooner Davenport her rudder disabled by gales off the central Oregon coast was taken in tow to Astoria by the Union Oil tanked Los Angeles Ability to Defend Canal Questioned NEW YORK Dec 23 Rep red Bradley Mich said today that defense of the Panama Canal did not include a single modern bombing plane and that he had been told the fastest plane in the cana area was capable of only 140 miles an hour Bradley returning from a visit to the Canal Zone with 11 other congressmen suggested that the government might profitably ex tend its interest in bases acquired from the British to the canal itself BONUSES ORDERED BURBANK Cal Dec 23 Approximately 21000 employees of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and its subsidiariy the Vega Air plane Company will receive Christmas bonuses totalling $248 500 company officials announced today rtShoppitifl Till a Xi jCl BBS 3 ITALIANS RETREAT ROM TEPEUNI 73 jr 1 A YUGOSLAVIA XvL I A V6' 1 5E A A TEPELInTT Kpremeti sX C' CHI MAR YROKASTRONy jj PALERMJs (Ikonitza VC a yf r'tzl KOMIS POLIS Janina iroAOS Hr? LJ Advancing steadily onward through a foot deep snowfall Greek troops in south central Albania have forced the Italians to start a retreat from the important towns of Kilsura and Tepelini the latter strategically located on the highway leading to Valona one of the two important Albanian ports remaining in Italian hands according to reports from Athens Aerial reconnaisance by Greek and British planes disclosed that the Italians were burning large quantities of supplies as they retreated WAGNER WARNS COURT DOWNS AGAINST LOSS RETAILER TAX Repeal of New Deal Plans Scored WASHINGTON Dec 23 Sen Robert Wagner tonight called on the incoming con gress to be on guard against at tempts to repeal New Deal social reforms on the pretext that they are impeding the rearmament drive gains we have made are neither luxuries nor he told the National Radio orum are the measure of a concern for human welfare' The attention of the next congress will be drawn tc a variety of proposals to abolish the right to strike and to impair collective bargaining such proposals should bring this fact to mind: only the totali tarian nations are wholly free of labor strife in peace and in war and they accomplish this at a price we think too high to pay servi tude for labor and industry re duced morale and increased acci dents and sabotage We can not hope to succeed by adopting Hit He called totalitarianism a tem of which chal lenges every democracy on earth "To those who say that the first task of the new congress will be to retreat from the liberal and humanitarian reforms of the past seven years the answer must be: democracy does not retreat it marches he said "This is not an answer of sentiment it is an answer dictated by the cold hard facts of the present defense situation Effective preparation for defense requires high civilian morale and a vigorous economic system backing up the armed Diet Convenes Representatives ear Loss of Rights TOKYO Tuesday Dec 24 (UR) The 76th session of the imperial diet (parliament) was convoked today admist popular misgivings because of abolition of political parties by Premier Prince umi maro government as part of the program for a "new national Just how the diet will function in expressing the popular will un der the new set up nobody pro fessed to know But many depu ties who have been accustomed to voice freely the complaints of their constituents during the usual winter sessions feared that dom of even under the practice of parliamentary im munity now will be ew Air Crashes During November WASHINGTON Dec 23 The Civil Aeronautics Board re ported todty that fewer fatal air plane accidents occurred in No vember than in any recent month although more pilots were jn the air than at any other time in his tory Only 13 fatal flying accidents oc curred during the month the board said including the airline crash near Centerville Utah Interstate Commerce Ruling Issued WASHINGTON Dec 23 The supreme court today invali dated North $250 license tax on out of state retailers and warned that commerce can hardly survive in so hostile an as that created by the levy The decision was seen as a blow to interstate trade barriers which are causing the federal govern ment increasing concerns Validity of the law which had been upheld by the state supreme court was challenged by Best and Co Inc of New York which paid $4975 in state county and muni cipal license fees for the privilege of allowing its agents to display company wares in hotel rooms or other quarters in North Carolina The company contended that the tax was an unlawful burden on interstate commerce and charged the state with exceeding its con stitutional powers Attorney Gen eral Harry McMullen of North Carolina said the levy was de signed to compel out of state re tailers to pay for a portion of gov ernment in a state in which they solicited trade He insisted that the tax lay on the privilege of using local prop erty and could not be construed as unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce The high court unanimously re jected this argument The deci sion written by Justice Stanley Reed said in part: freedom of commerce which allows the merchants of each state a regional or national market for their goods is not to be fettered by legislation the ac tual effect of which is to discrim inate in favor of intrastate busi ness whatever may be the osten sible reach of the This Was a Real WILSON Dec 23 Three Negro tennants on the farm of loyd Garner found a mas tree what am a Christmas Cutting down a dead pine for firewood they discovered: 1 A nest of squirrels in the top (Edible)' 2 Three raccoons in another nest one of which they captured (Edible) 3 beehives containing 100 pounds of pure honey (Also edible) 4 A plump in the base (Most edible) Reinforcements Rushed to Cairo CAIRO Egypt Dec 23 British reinforcements continued to pour into the area of Bardia Italian base in Libya where some 25000 Italian troops are believed trapped the communique of the British middle east general head quarters said tonight A Royal Air orce communique announced simultaneously that ex tensive bombing raids had been made on Benghazi Italian head quarters base in Libya in south em Albania on the Greek front land in East Africa MUSSOLINI'S OUSTING URGED BY CHURCHILL AS PORTS ATTACKED DR TO SPEAK TO NATION ON DEENSE WORK ireside Chat to Be Made on Progress Of Program WASHINGTON Dec 23 President Roosevelt will report on the to the nation on Sunday night It will be a fireside chat in which he is expected to outline progress of the total defense program and admin istration plans to expand short of war aid to Great Britain The report to be broadcast over the major radio networks will be the first Mr Roosevelt has made since May 27 when German sol diers were overrunning the Low countries CIO Offers Plan Plans were revealed by White House Secretary Stephen Early as Sen Arthur Vandenberg Mich demanded that the people be given a frank report on the! status of the preparedness drive and CIO President Philip Murray placed before the president a de tailed plan for utilizing idle facili ties in the automotive industry which he said would enable pro duction of 500 all metal pursuit planes daily These developments shared at tention with official reaction to the transfer of Viscount Halifax from the post of British foreign minister to succeed the late Lord Lothian as ambassador to the United States Laud Appointment Secretary of State Cordell Hull said the appointment was welcome to this government and he was confident it would be pleasing to the American people Chairman Sol Bloom of the house foreign affairs com mittee said Lord Halifax would the good be tween the two countries A presidential fireside chat has been contemplated for weeks so there was no indication that to announcement was associated in any way with de mand made in a letter to William Knulsen production chief of the advisory defense commission Mr Roosevelt is expected to out line what has transpired in the armament program since May 27 when he promised that shall build them (armed defenses) to whatever height the future may and shall build them swiftly as the methods of warfare swiftly Since then great Britain has in creased steadily her demands for war weapons of all kinds produced in this country and there has been frank admission from Knudsen and other defense officials that the production program is lagging To meet this slump the president last week named a super council head ed by Knudsen and Sidney Hill man representative on the lefense commission and announced the group would have all author ity available under the constitu tion to speed up the drive' Army Objectors to the WASHINGTON Dec (UR) Clarence A Dykstra of the selective service administration said tonight that the government plans to train objec tors in soil conservation and refor estation camps He said that this program had been adopted after conferences with the president the interior and agriculture departments the fed eral security agency and negotia tions with the national council for conscientious objectors Dykstra said that abandoned CCC camps at state and national forests will be used for these men who convince authorities that it is against their religious convictions to bear arms Dykstra said that the program is to be experimental BOMBER CRASHES HAVANA Dec 23 A United States navy bomber crash ed this afternoon in the province of Santiago Da Cuba killing the crew of two RA WAR ACES RAIN BLOWS ON Youthful Pilot Loses Rights by Attempting Trick Greeks Advance ONTARIO Cal Dec 23 (UP) Stunting in premature cele bration of his graduation from pilot training school today dis qualified Jack Edmund Walker 22 Houston Tex flying cadet from further army flying Capt Robert Scott Jr com mandant of the army air corps training aetaenment at Cai Aero Academy said that Walker violated army regula tions and will be from further army as the result of his stalling and crash ing a training plane The youth had been stunting at excessively low altitude the army officer said and crashed in an orange grove near San Antonio Heights outside the pre scribed training area NAZI REGIONS German Planes Raid Northern City and London Again LONDON Dec 23 British bombers delivering their heaviest blows in stepped up air offensive fanned out again last night across German occupied rance and Holland and set off new fires and heavy explosions at Mannheim 'in the Rhineland the air ministry reported The raid on Mannheim impor tant German industrial and trans portation center was the seventh On Coastal Base CROWDS CHEER NEW VICTORIES BY GREEK ARMY BRITISH CHIE MAKES APPEAL OR WAR END RA Assists in Siege Of Bardia With Bomb Raids Leaders of ascists Ignore Address To People NINE INJURED IN TRAIN WRECK Main Line Repaired After Crash JULESBURG Colo Dec 23 (UR) Traffic was resumed late today on the main line of the Union Pa cific railroad after wrecking crews built a temporary track around the spot where 14 cars of the crack streamliner of Los were derailed by a broken rail President Jeffers of the railroad announced after a per sonal investigation of the wreck which occurred four miles west of Julesberg last night that nine persons were and that the accident was caused by an eight inch section of rail which snapped as the crack train rolled over at 60 miles an hour The train was eastbound with 187 passengers The injured persons were re leased from hospitals today after treatment for cuts bruises and sprains President Jeffers said the piece of rail which broke had been in stalled only a year ago Jeffers said the fact that none of the derailed cars buckled and that no one was injured seriously the most remarkable demon stration of strength of equipment ever He said the streamliner was constructed of girder type aluminum old steel cars would have buckled and many might have been he said The nine injured persons were Philip Heiyzman of Hollwwood Calif sprained back Mrs Ridgway of Los Angeles bruises Alma Barnes of Montebello Calif cutsand bruises Sandra Ridgway of £os Angeles cuts and bruises Jack Aiderman of Los Angeles back injury Lester Albert of Los Angeles dining car waiter pos sible arm fractures Mrs Esther Croft of Los Angeles bruises Mrs Wright Prickett' of Long Beach Calif bruises and Violet Zimmerman of Hollywood bruises Granted Time 'V Princess Must Leave Within 20 Days SAN RANCISCO Dec 23 (UR) Princess Stefanie Hohenlohe de ported member of the Nazi inner council today remained in hiding under a grace period extending her permit 20 days beyond its official expiration at midnight to night Ending speculation whether the Hungarian born princess had left the United States over the week end justice department sources Said she was still in the country but had agreed to leave at a speci fied time within the next 20 days Immigration officials had re jected her petition for extension of her visa presumably because she was unable to show her presence would benefit the United States since Dec 1 and marked the third successive night of wide spread heavy bombing by the RA ires Sighted The air ministry said that Brit ish pilots concentrated on the main railway station at Mannheim and observed large fires and heavy explosions in the target area Three huge fires also were started in a raid on oil stocks at rankfurt on Main fires were started at docks and a freight yard at Cologne and a of factories in western Germany were set ablaze the air ministry said Mannheim again was the chief objective of the raids Airdromes Hit Other points attacked included Ludwigshaven across the river from Mannheim unnamed Rhine land inland waterways harbors lushing in Holland and Dunker que and Calais in rance Separ ate raids on German airdromes in occupied territories were reported One British plane was admitted lost in the actions (Swiss reports indicated that the raid on the Mannheim area was a heavy one Basle Berne and Zurich which are in this general area all had raid alarms and bombs were dropped in the Zurich region wounding 11 persons dam aging property and disrupting rail road service between Switzerland and Germany) NUMBER TRAPPED IN CELLAR LONDON Tuesday Dec 24 (UR) reported early today that air raiders during the night had battered considerable an inland town in north west England where the industrial city of Manchester was subjected to a concentrated attack Sunday night (ailure to identify the town left open the possibility that Man chester again might be under heavy attack) A number of persons were be lieved trapped in a cellar in the northwest inland town Houses and offices were damaged and a number of casualties caused London had another light raid which ended with the all clear early today A considerable num ber of bombs were dropped in vari ous districts but no extensive damage was reported There were a number of casual ties some fatal when a bomb hit a public house in one London dis trict It was feared that several persons were trapped in the debris A public shelter was hit by a bomb in a northwest inland town Some bombs fell on the grounds of a hospital on the outskirts of the Metropolitan area but of ficials said they caused no dam age or casualties PICKED CREW BLASTS ACTORY BERLIN Dec 23 A bom ber crew especially selected for the hazardous raid saw flames and heavy explosions shoot up from greatest aluminum foundry at ort William in north Scotland today according to the official DNB news agency which described also a night long attack on Manchester A bomb of the heaviest calibre was seen to hit the foundry power plant DNB said while another crashed onto the factory building said to produce 70 to 80 per cent of the Britissh aluminum output Part of the factory building was said to have collapsed ATHENS Dec 23 Greek forces tonight swept closer to the Albanian seaport of Valona after seizing coastal base of Khimara and capturing its entire garrison of crack Blackshirt troops (Benito Mussolini had exalted them as cement of the as cist An official communique an nounced that the little seaport of Khimara 30 miles south of Valona had fallen at dusk Sunday after a 48 hour bombardment of its de fenses and an assault by Greek Evzones who swept down into its streets with bayonets Hold Coast Area Tonight the Greeks whose latest victory in their counter invasion of Albania touched off wild demon strations in the streets of ancient Athens held more than 45 miles of Adriatic coast and were reported driving steadily upon Valona through a rugged mountain pass The battalion of Blackshirts which surrendered at Khimara consisted of 800 men and 30 offi cers every one a picked veteran of the wars in Ethiopia and Spain it was said The war ministry said that in addition to the Blackshirt battal ion captured the commander of a second battalion of the Second Regiment of Bersaglieri and his staff with many soldiers also were taken prisoners at Khimara Battle in Air They had been flown to Albania within the past two weeks per haps aboard German Junkers transport planes to bolster the demoralized ascist forces accord ing to an official statement Air battles raged along the Al banian front including perhaps the biggest aerial dog fight thus far British planes encountered a force of ascist bombers over Argyrocastron were attacked by 50 Italian fighter planes and shot down eight and perhaps 11 of the Italian aircraft although the Brit ish were outnumbered five to one the RA said BOMBERS DEAL TELLING BLOWS CAIRO Dec 23 (UR) Determ ined to thwart any landings of Italian or Nazi troops reinforce ments aboard German transport planes British bombers were re ported officially tonight to have delivered shattering attacks on two main in Libya Great fires and explosions rip ped the Libyan airdromes of (SEE GREEKS 2 COL 1) ip Montana Shaken Series of ive Dishes HELENA Mont Dec 23 ive earth tremors one sufficient ly strong to rattle dishes and knock down plaster were felt here within a three hour period late today The fifth tremor was recorded at 5:30 MST approximately three hours after the first four The final shock apparently caused no damage but was de scribed as Slight shocks also were felt at Butte and Great alls Crowds in the downtown district here felt the tremors but soon continued Christmas shopping LONDON Dec 23 Prime Minister Winston Churchill tonight called upon the Italian people the army and King Victor Emmanuel to overthrow Benito Mussolini and quit the war before they are crush ed by of might Speaking directly to the 50000 000 Italians as war machine reeled under staggering British and Greek blows in Libya and Al bania the fiery Churchill warned them that over the Adolf Hitler might swallow up their nation next Direct to People In his outspoken appeal to the Italian over tfeejicad of Mussolini whom he scathingly re ferred to as a Church ill revealed that Britain believes the ascist regime of II 18 year oid dictatorship may be near ing collapse By appealing to King Victor Em manuel he played upon indications here that serious dissension exists between the Italian royal family and Mussolini armies arc tearing and will tear your African empire to shreds and Churchill said the time lias come when the Italian monarch and the people shold have a word to say on these awe inspiring issues "Surely the Italian army which has fought so bravely on so many occasions in the past but now evi dently has not heart for the job should take some care of the life and future of He told the Italians that the time is growing short because we shall be forced to come to much closer mean ing that the bombings of Italian ports and industrial cities have been only a taste of what lies in store unless they cast out Musso lini and make peace Mussolini has led the Italian people into a frightful war against their wishes without even consult ing them and Italy by his act now stands tottering on horrid verge of he said "It is all one man who against the crown and the royal family of Italy against the Pope and against all the authority of the Vatican and of the Roman Catholic church and the wishes of the Italian peo ple who had no lust for this war has arrayed the trustees and In heritors of ancient Rome upon the side of ferocious pagan Churchill said Throughout his speech Churchill capitalized upon the known hostil ity between the German and Ital ian peoples and cited the tradition al friendship of the Italians and Britons Churchill employed a clever ruse to make sure that his appeal would reach the Italian people Reveals Message Before he spoke over the air no clue was forthcoming as to con tents of his speech and a half hour before the British people heard it from Churchill himself it went on the air in Italian In this way any jamming of the air waves by the Italian govern which certainly would have occurred if he had spoken first in was believed to have been circumvented Churchill read in full a hitherto undisclosed exchange of messages between himself and Mussolini on May 16 or 25 days before Italy en tered the war in which he (earned Il Duce to stay out because Britain would fight to the end and would (SEE DUCE 2 COL 1).