19 Dec 1940
Page 1
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Newspaper
Athens Messenger
Location
Athens, Ohio, United States of America
Date
Dec 19, 1940
Page
1
Washington reports under price controls at mines distress coal nearly vanishes. In November only 225,591 tons sold at distressed prices while total soft coal output reached 40,300,000 tons.
The State Department announced that about 1,000 European political refugees have been admitted to the United States.
Churchill told the House of Commons Britain remains half armed but expects opportunities to use forces in other theaters in 1941. He warned of a feared German invasion and noted Italy’s losses in North Africa. Tokyo urged US stay out of war as Japan sent Nomura to Washington.
In Greensboro North Carolina a defendant, a blacksmith, received a suspended sentence after his customers packed the courtroom and testified he needed to finish shoeing their horses. The setting highlights community support influencing a judicial outcome.
The CIO United Automobile Workers asked President Roosevelt to intervene in the dispute with Ford Motor Co. Widman accused Ford of provoking a strike with law violations and requested labor and defense officials to use conciliations services to deter the company. The union said Ford dismissed over 100 workers at the Lincoln plant and 10 at River Rouge for wearing union buttons and urged denying further defense contracts until Ford complies with the law.
Cincinnati police and fire crews recovered the 14th victim from a tenement blast. A badly charred body was identified by a ruby ring as Elmer Jack Campbell, 42, partner of Joseph P. Koebbe, 33, operator of a general appliance store, whose body was recovered first.
In Portland Oregon a woman under Yule crowd stress struck a bystander with an umbrella and pushed her way through a crowded street, shouting she had enough of the season.
The 1940 harvest showed record corn yields due to favorable weather and more farm workers and power equipment. Corn output reached 4,449,200,000 bushels, with Ohio estimates at 37.5 bushels per acre and 120,750,000 total. wheat, oats, soybeans, potatoes and tobacco also posted notable totals amid later-year receipts.
Prediction rose that the Logan-Walter Bill would become law in the next Congress with Roosevelt’s approval after the veto was sustained by the House. Rep. Walter and Rep. McCormack pledged action on reinstituting the measure, while Hatch and Austin vowed renewed effort to win passage. The bill sought to speed appeals from orders of many federal quasi-judicial agencies, but the veto stood as the session wound down with possible adjournment.
Riverside reports secrecy as March Field investigates the deaths of six army fliers after a B 17 training flight crashed into Marion Mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest. Wreckage strewn over half a mile on snow slopes with two crew buried and four scattered.
The Agriculture Department forecast a fairly sharp rise in hog prices later this winter due to stronger meat demand and an estimate that the 1940 fall pig crop was 12 percent smaller than the previous fall. Combined 1940 spring and fall crops are expected around 75.8 million head, about 10 percent below last year's 84.3 million.
A 26,100 ton U S S Arkansas collided with a freighter about a fifth its size off Sea Girt New Jersey in the early hours. The freighter was beached after limping 40 miles to New York Harbor. no personnel aboard were hurt and the Arkansas was undamaged.
Washington Roosevelt nominates Robert P. Patterson of New York to be under secretary of war, a new post created this week. The President also nominates Walter M. W. Splawn of Texas to the Interstate Commerce Commission for a term expiring Dec 1947.
Ohio mine safety reform group led by Gov Bricker plans field visits to coal mines to gather facts before proposing statute revisions. At a heated hearing mine operators and union leaders clashed over advance notice for inspections. First site visit set for January in the St Clairsville region following the Willow Grove disaster in March.
Ohio records four more violent deaths, three from auto accidents. In Columbus Mrs. Martha Hardella, 75, died while walking to church. Ernest Tomm, 87, in Cleveland was killed by a car as the city’s traffic toll rose to 115 for the year. David E. Stapleton, 73, found posthumously after a 24 hour wait in a Columbus funeral home, and George Wise, 22, whose body was recovered from the Ty mochtee Creek near Upper Sandusky after he had left to check traps along the river.
Chesapeake & Ohio Railway reports November income of 2 761 096 bringing total for 11 months to 29 714 518. Officials say this is 5 882 298 more than the same period in 1939.
In Columbus the November relief bill totaled 1 771 574, the lowest of the 1939 40 biennium, down about 72 000 from October and 36 000 under the prior low in September 1940. The month’s 750 000 state allocation equals 43.3 percent of the total. State Welfare Director Charles L. Sherwood said the next General Assembly would likely appropriate about 2 250 000 to reach a 50 percent state match for the year.
Ohio Supreme Court refused to disturb a lower court ruling that a $25,000 bequest from the late Thomas Strickling of Gallia County to the Free Methodist General Conference of North America is untaxable.
The author argues Hitler keeps Italy supported indirectly while pursuing victory over Britain. Germany sustains Mussolini to deter Britain in the Mediterranean, focuses on bombing Britain and submarine warfare, and shelves direct intervention to avoid harming Axis prestige while preparing for an invasion of England and facing anti Nazi sentiment in France and British leaning colonies.
The Roosevelt administration approved Britain negotiating new war material contracts possibly totaling 3 billion dollars and considered a high command for the defense program. Morgenthau said no contracts would be signed until Congress acts, but 60 cash merchant ships may proceed. Aiming to speed up armament production, plans include a high command led by Stimson Knox and Knudsen and other rapid deployment measures.
The State Department speeds three diplomats to posts in Europe to report on Fascist Italy Albanian and Egyptian shifts in unoccupied France and French colonies. William Phillips goes to Rome Admiral Leahy to Vichy Robert Murphy tours North Africa to meet Weygand and gauge attitudes toward De Gaulle and Allied aims.
In Columbus Welfare Director Charles L. Sherwood said a Supreme Court ruling invalidated the state building authority’s power to issue bonds for public construction. He will ask the legislature to fund a modified expansion at Hawthornden Athens Dayton and Apple Creek institutions to relieve crowding.
Harold Adkins aged 20 was held for grand jury after pleading innocent to manslaughter in municipal court in the fatal shooting of 16 year old Pearl Collins. Collins died from a head wound last Saturday. Adkins said a gun in his pocket discharged accidentally. Collins' mother testified he had threatened to expose Adkins with Collins' sister in law.
Joseph Curl, 51, condemned to die for the Oct 13 gun slaying of Wilbur L. Baker, 37, in Wilmington. A jury convicted Curl without mercy, making the death sentence mandatory. sentencing was postponed by Common Pleas Judge Frank M. Clevenger for three days.
Miss Jeanne Madden, the star, startled as a mouse ran onto the stage during the Philharmonic Orchestra dress rehearsal in Kansas City. She dashed to a table to regain composure as the audience watched the momentary distraction.
Columbiana County auditors reported ten illegal levies draining revenue. Commissioners set 1941 budget at 387366 22 dollars under 1940. One levy, supposed to have expired two years earlier, still produced about 80000 dollars.
Officials at Jacobs Jewelry Co. in downtown Cincinnati report a night burglary with loot estimated in the thousands of dollars. Police cordon remains as investigators seek suspects and secure the scene.
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