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VOL. LIII No. 95 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, FEB. 20, 1943
PRICE FIVE CENTS
4
Soldiers
May Aid
Farmers
President Roosevelt's
Executive Order Could
Send Soldiers To Help
Farmers Save Crops
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19-(P)-
President Roosevelt was reported to-'
day to have agreed that soldiers
should help harvest crops in regions
where there is a shortage of farm
labor.
Chairman Fulmer (D.-S.C.) of the
House Agricultural Committee said
Mr. Roosevelt endorsed this idea in
principle in a discussion with him at
the White House, but suggested there
was no need for legislation-since the
matter could be handled by executive
order.
Backs ArmyI
Mr. Roosevelt himself had indicated
at his press conference earlier that
he was badking the Army firmly in its
controversy with some Congressional
elements over the question of limiting
the size of the armed forces, and sug-
gested that older school children must
shoulder a large share of the food
production job.
He told reporters that the size the
Army should be at the end of 1943
was decided last August by the dic-
tates of military necessity, and the
decision had not been changed. He
was concerned over the food produc-
tion outlook, he acknowledged, but he
said he believed young people of high
school age could do a lot to relieve the
farm labor shortage.
Food Production.
Food production was understood to
have figured in a conference which
the Chief Executive's top economic
advisers held during the day, but if
any decisions were reached they were
not disclosed. Some members of this
group, the Economic Stabilization
Board headed by James F. Byrnes,
hinted that protracted discussion of
the 48-hour week had prevented them
from going deeply into the farm prob-
lem.
In other developments bearing on
the farm program: J., K. Galbreath,
Deputy Price Administrator, told a
Senate Agricultural Subcommittee
there would be some modification of
an order freezing at January levels
the prices producers may receive for
milk.
GOP Nominates
5 Students,
Ousted for
PEM Cuts'
All Proposed Pay-As-You-Go Plans
Voted
The Administrative Board of
literary college yesterday asked
men students now enrolled for
spring term to withdraw from
University, Dean Eric A. Walter
the
five
the
the
dis-
Downby
U.S. Tani
Rommel Quiet as
Allies Shift Line to l
Stronger Position
In Algerian Fight
House
k Force
Ways-Means Committee;
s Stabilize Tunisian Line
closed yesterday.
This action was taken because of
their failure to meet the Board of Re-
gent's requirement concerning com-
pulsry PEM attendance.
Most of the students, Dean Walter
said, had more than 15 absences, while
some had not appeared at all for the
physical education program. These
students had been repeatedly warned
by the physical education department
and appeared this week before a sub-
committee of the Administrative
Board for review of their cases.
A total of 29 men in the Literary,
Science & Arts College failed to meet
the Regents' ruling. Twelve of them
had registered for the spring term,
while the other 17 had already with-
drawn after the fall term and have
since gone into the armed services.
Notation of the latters' absences will
be made upon their transcripts and
they will be barred from residence at
the University at least for the 'dura-
tion of the war.
Dean Walter also disclosed that
throughout the present semester the
University will keep careful records of
PEM attendance and similar action
will be taken regarding PEM ab-
sentees.
Reid Army
Pushes West
Soviets Gain 12 Miles
On Drive to Dnieper
LONDON, Feb. 19. --(P)-The Red
Army has cleared the last German
,soldier from the Kursk-Kharkov Rail-
road and highway with the seizure of
Oboyan, and has pushed on 12 miles
due west of Kharkov in its continuing.
sweep toward the Dnieper River, a
special Moscow communique recorded
by the Soviet Monitor said tonight.
Oboyan, 35 miles south of Kursk,
was surrounded and its Nazi garrison
either wiped out or taken prisoner.
Thus, "the Kursk-Kharkov railway
and highroad have been completely
cleared of the enemy," the communi-
que said.
Lubotin, 12 miles west of Kharkov,
and Merefa, 15 miles southwest of
Kharkov, also fell to the Russians as
they cleaned out an entire north-
south series of springboards to facili-
tate their push toward the Dnieper
River, considered the next best Ger-
mandefensive line in southern Russia.
Oboyan had been by-passed by
Russian units driving to the west.
One Soviet column already had cap-
tured Lgov, 40 miles west of Kursk
and 50 miles northwest of Oboyan.
Another Red Army group had taken
Graivoron, 60 miles southwest of
Oboyan.
The capture of Lubotin put the
Russian Army only 55 miles from
Poltava, another German base on
the Lozovaya-Kiev railway across the
Ukraine. Lubatin also is a junction
for the line running to Sumy and
Konotop to the northwest.
The numerous Soviet columns oper-
ating west of Kursk and Kharkov now
are in a position to spread out to the
northwest and southwest over a vast
network of Ukrainian railways lead-
ing to the Dnieper which flows south-
eastward across most of the Ukraine.
Chinese Slow,
Up Jap Drives
CHUNGKING, Feb. 19.-(P)-A
Chinese High Command communique
said today that all the Japanese in
central, southern and southwestern
China had been slowed down or
thrown into reverse, although costly
fighting continued in some areas.
Bloody battles were being fought in
northern Kiangsu Province north of
Shanghai, as the Japanese tried to
compress a 45-mile semi-circular line
running through the lake country
from Paoying to Fowning near the
sea. The Chinese said all the Japanese
thrusts had been halted.
Some speculation on the widespread
activity suggested today that the Jap-
anese were looking for a sugar coating
for the pill they were forced by the
Americans to swallow at Guadalcanal
in the Solomons.
° By The Associated Press
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
NORTH AFRICA, Feb. 19.-Ameri-
can armored forces stabilized their
new line on the Tunisian mountains
near the Algerian frontier today
while the violent drive by Marshal
Erwin Rommel that had carried him
more than 60 miles slacked off to
mere skirmishing.
The announced withdrawal of
French troops from Pichon, about 40
miles north of the Faid Pass area
where Rommel began his thrust on
Sunday, indicated that the central
section of the Allied front was being
moved back to stronger defensive po-
sitions on the west side of the Ous-
seltia Valley. This would deprive
Rommel of opportunity for a quick
thrust northwest behind the Allied
forward units.
Line Flanks Pass
The new line runs along mountains
as high as 4,000 feet which flank the
pass leading from Feriana to Teb-
essa, the latter in Algeria.
The Allied communique reported
no action of consequence during the
day. The French High Command,
speaking of an action well to the
north of the Feriana area, announced
that French Moroccan troops south-
west of Pont Du Fahs had taken 45
Axis prisoners in a local attack and
that in another and unspecified
northern Tunsian sector British and
French troops had "inflicted serious
losses on the enemy and captured
prisoners and arms."
A later supplemental French com-
munique said "our Moroccan mounted
troops, with the fierceness which is
characteristic of them, made a suc-
cessful attack in a valley west of
Kebir" and took 50 prisoners, in-
cluding officers.
French Troops Installed
In connection with their "volun-
tary withdrawal" from Gafsa last
Tuesday, the French High Command
disclosed "our troops at the same
time received an order to establish
liaison with the Allies on a general
line on dominating heights west of
Ousseltia, Sbeitla, Kasserine and Fer-
iana." The communique said French
troops are now installed in these new
positions.
'Blockbusters'
Hit U-Boat Base
LONDON, Feb. 19.- (P)- The
RAF delivered 'a heavy cargo of
blockbusters on the Wilhelmshaven
U-Boat base and shipyards last night
while other British squadrons shot
up shipping along the Dutch and
French coasts and inland communi-
cations across France and Belgium.
The Wilhelmshaven raid was a re-
peat performance of the heavy as-
sault a week earlier and the 72nd
attack of the war on the sprawling
port which has produced a great
number of Atlantic raiders.
Good weather favored the attack,
officially designated as a heavy one
in which four bombers were lost. The
Germans conceded casualties were
suffered "particularly in the sur-
rounding localities" and claimed nine
planes were downed.
Coastal command planes piloted
by a Dutch naval squadron attacked
a convoy off Holland through intense
anti-aircraft fire, scoring a hit on
the stern of one ship
New American Line in Tunisia
OUSSELTIA SOUSS.E
7 MAKT AR b
AIN-BEIDA *t Q
K A IROU AN
BESA MAHDIA
FAID
AS E UNE BEITL PASSOU T HADI .:?
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THELEPTE
FE NAB E O Z/ «:. ::.,
MAKNASSY" SFA.....
1 1 =~:ii:««M.
A FS EE
RE EYEFJI-.50:
T UNIS IA' q 0 5
A *.~ ~. 1 STATUTE MILES
Triangles indicate sector where American troops, pushed back 66 miles in southern Tunisia,
were re-forming following the fall of Sbeitla, Kass erine and Feriana to three-pronged German as-
sault (arrows). Heavy black line is comparatively s table front in Central Tunisia, a sector manned
chiefly by British and French.
-C
IT'S UP TO THE LORD:
Roosevelt Pledges To Speed Up
Operations Against Japanese
n .
Ziegler as Road
Commissioner
cj
DETROIT, Feb. 19.- (P)- The
Republican State Convention today
chose Charles M. Zeigler, Lansing
City Assessor, as its nominee for
State Highway Commissioner, while
at the same time prodding the Legis-
lature to enact a law abolishing that
office before the forthcoming April
5 election.
The only other contest for nomina-
tion to reach the Convention floor
resulted in victory for Ralph A. Hay-
ward, Kalamazoo paper manufac-
turer, who defeated the incumbent
David H. Crowley of Detroit for nom-
ination as a Regent of the University
of Michigan against at least implied
wishes of Governor Kelly. The Gov-
erpor did not contradict reports he
had passed the word he wanted all
incumbents renominated.
Board of Education
R. Spencer Bishop, of Flint, in-
cumbent, was nominated for the
other regency without opposition.
Others nominated to the Repub-
lican ticket, all of them by acclama-
tion, are:
For Superintendent of Public In-
struction, Dr. Eugene B. Elliott, in-
cumbent.
For State Board of Agriculture
(Michigan State College governing
body), W. G. Armstrong, Niles, Mas-
ter of the Michigan State Grange,
and Mrs, Sarah V. Jones, Rochester,
for seats now occupied by Demo-
crats.
For Supreme Court Justice, Justice
Emerson R. Boyles, Charlotte, and
Circuit Judge Neil E. Reid, Mt. Clem-
ens, the latter seeking a seat now
occupied by Justice Bert D. Chandler,
Democrat. Boyles and Reid will run
on a non-partisan election ballot.
Bishop Nominated
For State Board of Education, Ste-
phen S. Nisbet, Fremont, incum-
bent.
John R. Dethmers, Republican'
Of ,,p fo h n.i rma tin wax rmu. rn pARtonf-
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19.-(A)-
With Madame Chiang Kai-Shek byl
his side, President Roosevelt solemnly
declared today that everyone in
Washington is pledged to the utmost
speed in making China a great base
of operations against the Japanese.
As to when this might be accom-
plished, Mr. Roosevelt said as quickly
as the Lord will let us,-and the
smiling, quick-witted little First Lady
Ann Arbor Will
Hold War Rally
Armed Forces Salute
War Workers Monday
Monday will be a doubly patriotic
day for Ann Arbor to celebrate when,
the Army, Navy and Marine Corps
give a special salute to the city's war
workers at a huge rally to be staged
at 8 p.m. in Hill Auditorium.
Sergt. John F. Bartek of Freehold,
N.J., who was a corporal and chief-a
engineer of the ill-fated Ricken-
backer crew which drifted 22 days on
a life-raft in the Pacific, will be
the principal guest of honor on the
program. Also to be featured as
speakers at the rally are two other
war heroes, a Marine from Guadal-
canal and a sailor from Africa.
Mayor Leigh J. Young, Col. William
A. Ganoe, head of the University
ROTC, and Capt. Richard E. Cassidy,
head of the NROTC, will give short
addresses, and the University of
Michigan band will furnish music.
The NROTC and ROTC will provide
a special color guard for the occa-
sion.
Two movies--"Combat Report" and
"The Battle of Midway"-will also
be shown at the rally. An authentic
government production, "Combat Re-
port" pictures an actual sea battle
in the North Atlantic and shows the
torpedoing of a U.S. freightor and the
sinking of a U-boat.
Turn to Page 4, Col. 2
of China appended the observation
that the Lord helps those who help
themselves.
Those remarks were the high spot
of what was in some respects pos-
sibly the most remarkable press con
ference ever held at the White House:
a joint reception of newspaper re-
porters by the President, Mrs. Roose-
velt and their distinguished guest, the
wife of the Chinese Generalissimo.
It took the atmosphere of what the
Methodist Denomination, which had
a hand in Madame Chiang's Christian
education, calls a "love feast." Every-
bddy was complimenting everybody
else, and the mood was one of com-
radeship in faith and works.
There was great seriousness in Mr.
Roosevelt's voice when he stressed
that tremendous difficulties of trans-
portation lay in the way of fulfilling
the pledges of aid of all kinds to
China. In the present stage, every-
thing must move by air, he said, and
it is not possible to go by way of
Russia, only by the southwest.
There was just this passing refer-
ence to Russia, and nothing to idi-
cate whether it had any significance
beyond a factual statement of a geo-
graphical situation.
Jay McCormick's
Book Is Published
"November Storm" by Jay McCor-
mick, who was winner of the Avery
Hopwood Awards in creative writing
four times, was released yesterday by
Doubleday Doran & Co. for sale atI
local bookstores.
The novel, which contains a wealth
of detail on the characters and set-
ting, is a story of the men and women
who live on the Great Lakes freigh-
ters. Last spring "November Storm
won first prize of $750 in the major
awards for fiction.
McCormick, while at the University,
was editor of Perspectives, campus
literary magazine, and associate ed-
itor of The Daily.
Committee,
Reveals Lag
Labor and Design Slow
Willow Run Output
DETROIT, Feb.- 19.-(P)-A Senate
committee investigating war produc-
tion learned at first-hand today how
manpower shortage and design
changes have retarded volume pro-
duction of the giant B-24 bomber
planes at the Ford-operated Willow
Run factory.
"There is no question," said Sen-
ator Wallgren (Dem.-Wash.), after a
tour through the plant, "that produc-
tion has been handicapped by con-
stant changes in the model."
At the same time, Wallgren added,
"There has been a vast improvement
at Willow Run over what we saw
here a year ago. Willow Run com-
pares very favorably with any plant
in the country on actual work being
done."
The subcommittee of the Truman
Investigating Committee consisted of
Senators Truman, (Dem.-Mo.), Kil-
gore, (Dem.-W.Va.), Ferguson (Rep.-
Mich.), Burton (Rep.-O.), and Ball,
(Rep.-Minn.) in addition to Wall-
gren.
From Edsel Ford, president of the
Ford Motor Company, who accom-
panied them on a tour of the Ford
River Rouge plant and the Willow
Run factory the Senators obtained
specific figures on an unusually
heavy turn-over of workers at the
bomber plant. The company, the
committee was told, would like to
hire 400 workers a day but has ex-
perienced many days on which more
workers quit than were hired.
Senator Ferguson said this plainly
was due to inadequate' transportation
and housing accommodations. He
said efforts would be made to rem-
edy these problems through the War
Production Board and the Office of
Defense Transportation.
Fast Weakens
India's Leader
POONA, India, Feb. 19.- (M)-Mo-
handas K. Gandhi grew steadily
weaker today near the half-way
mark in his fast against detention
in the palace of the Aga Khan and
an attending physician declared it
would "be a miracle" if the Indian
leader survived the 21-day ordeal.
The large staff of doctors anxious-
ly consulting over the 73-year-old
Gandhi agreed that he was "weak-
weaker than yesterday."
As Gandhi completed his tenth
day on citrus juices and water, his
doctors issued a statement asking
his friends not to see him.
"Yes, it will be a miracle if Gandhi
survives the three-weeks fast at his
age," said Dr. B.-C. Roy, one of In-
dia's best known physicians, when
Subcoinittee To
Draft Alternative
Of Spaced Taxes,
Source Collection
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON Feb. 19.-All pro-
posed pay-as-you-go tax plans, in-
cluding one that would have cancelled
out one income tax year completely,
were rejected by the House Ways and
Means Committee today, and a sub-
committee appointed to draft an ac-
ceptable compromise.
The plans voted down included a
modified form of one submitted by
Beardsley Ruml, Chairman of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
which would by-pass one tax year.
Votes Secret
However, the Ruml plan supporters
were not downcast, and privately ex-
pressed confidence because of the
support it received in the committee.
The Ways and Means members were
pledged to secrecy as to the number
of votes each plan received
One committee source said "the
vote for the Ruml plan (modified)
was surprisingly large."
The 25 committeemen ran into a
stalemate after three weeks of study
of current collection proposals. The
subcommittee was instructed "to pro-
vide a new bill including the princi-
ple of pay-as-you-go and collection
at the source." t
This put the whole committee def-
initely on record as favoring a with-
holding levy, probably of around 20
per cent on net taxable income, as a
means of making 'weekly, semi-
monthly or monthly deductions from
earnings for accumulations against
actual taxes to be computed after
each year.
Salary Ceiling Rejected
Earlier the Ways and Means Com-
mittee made its rejection of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's salary ceiling pro-
;ram official-"definitely and very
loudly" according to Rep. Disney
(D.-Okla.)
It adopted Disney's plan to repeal
the President's order limiting salaries
to $25,000 after taxes and peg them
instead at their pre-war levels by the
same 15 to 10 vote with which it ap-
proved Disney's move originally last
Saturday before Mr. Roosevelt's
counter-proposal was received. Re-
consideration was necessitated today
by a parliamentary technicality.
Allied Bombers
Damage Pour
Japanese Ships
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
AUSTRALIA, Saturday, Feb. 20,-(P)
-Four Japanese merchant ships have
been damaged by Allied bombers in a
raid on Buin, on Bougainville Island
in the northern Solomons, the Allied
High Command announced today.
"Our heavy and medium bombers
struck in a coordinated night attack
on enemy shipping and airdromes,"
said the noon communique from Gen-
eral Douglas MacArthur's headquar-
ters.
"Attacking from extrembely low al-
titudes in the face of strong anti-
aircraft fire, our heavy units scored
direct hits with 500-pound bombs on
four enemy cargo ships aggregating
27,004 tons. One vessel of 9,000 tons
received two direct hits and was left
burning from bow to stern; another
of 7,p00 tons was struck twice, re-
sulting in a fire and heavy smoke
pouring from the side; a third of
8,000 tons wa attacked twice, a bomb
entering the side and another ex-
ploding 10 feet away, a fourth of
3,000 tons had a direct hit exploding
10 feet away; a fourth of 3,000 tons
had a direct hit and was damaged by
other bomb explosions within ten
feet of the hull. In addition ships and
searchlight possitions were heavily
strafed.
Sharfman Named
To Railway Panel
Sale of Canned Goods To End Today
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19.- (P)-
Housewives, confronted by a twin
freeze, have their last chance tomor-
row to stock up on canned fruits and
vegetables in advance of rationing.
Officials said today that stocking up
is approved so long as it stays within
reasonable family needs.
A government "'freeze" will take
these canned goods off the grocery
shelves for one week after Saturday
midnight in preparation for the start
of point rationing March 1.
At th-o. rcnmotime- a frPiii of nn,-
ticles will be announced Sunday and
published in the Monday morning
newspapers. The public will register
for the new ration books starting
Monday.
The Saturday midnight sales sus-
pension will affect all canned and
frozen fruits and vegetables, dried
fruits, canned baby foods and canned
soups.
In the following eight days, people
are expected to live on their accumu-
lated stocks of these foods plus the
iinr.f 4~ini4 nn ,xc hinh lt iy411 .cti,,
an increase in prices. In this connec-
tion, OPA announced that 'it will
place price ceilings over fresh vegeta-
bles sometime during the next two
or three months.
The "price lists" of point values
which will be assigned each type of
can under the forthcoming canned
goods rationing are being kept secret
until sales stop. Premature public
knowledge of these values would en-
able hoarders to stock up on the
foods which will cost the most points.
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