19 Dec 1939
Page 1
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Newspaper
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Location
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Dec 19, 1939
Page
1
A Marion reader argues the US leads in lewd magazines with over 100 barred in Canada and 15 million monthly circulations. She urges the press to warn the public, linking moral epidemics to social stability and noting the need for international police to secure lasting peace after the war.
Soviet planes attacked Helsinki after a two week weather pause but were repelled by heavy anti aircraft fire. Finnish forces reported strong defenses with no center city bombs, a crow casualty noted, while reports of broader land battles stretched along the Mannerheim line and across Suomusalmi.
Inside Dope reports a plan to give Wallace and Black full administrative control of the Federal Crop Administering system triggering New Deal politics concerns. FCA 4500 local farm loan committees could be politicized, with loans tied to AAA rules, signaling federal bureaucracy expansion and a potential agricultural dictatorship. Cedar Rapids observers note Ludecke’s Detroit denial highlights Nazi residues as dangerous doctrine.
In a 1842 entry, Thoreau and Emerson urge that self centeredness causes misery. We constantly view life through our own self image, blaming others and blocking progress. The piece notes how self awareness can lift us, urging an explosion from our tiny shell to find happiness. Dist by United Feature Syndicate Inc.
Los Angeles report cites a reputable source saying the late actor Douglas Fairbanks left a several million dollar estate. Principal beneficiaries are his widow Lady Sylvia Ashley and his son Douglas Fairbanks Jr., with Mary Pickford as a possible beneficiary. Will opening set for December 26 at Guaranty Trust, New York.
Cedar Rapids youths aged 15 and 16 faced probation after detectives arrested them for larceny and breaking and entering. Dale Bowen, 23, allegedly lured them to Sprynel's tavern and helped plan a second burglary. Detectives probe a larger ring as more details emerge from the investigation.
A careful examination of the application for citizenship found issues and the panel expresses satisfaction that it has been denied.
New York police say Ernie Haas an amateur boxer from Winnipeg arrested in Toronto confessed to killing Dr Walter Engelberg secretary of the German consulate in Brooklyn on December 5 His statement was taken by Captain Frank Bales A salesgirl at a Brooklyn store led to Haas arrest after mentioning his name during a conversation about the case Police sought motive not robbery and focused on Engelbergs private life Authorities noted Haas real name Ernest Kehler had been identified by Toronto police
Iowa's 1939 corn production was 503,776,000 bushels, up from 479,182,000 last year. The November 1939 estimate for this year's crop was 504,236,000 bushels.
The Agriculture Department's final 1939 crop report lists U.S. wheat at 754,971,000 bushels and corn at 2,619,137,000. Wheat last year was 931,702,000 with a ten year average of 752,952,000. Oats reach 937,215,000 while last year was 1,068,431,000 and the ten year average is 1,049,300,000. The potato crop stands at 360,992,000 bushels in 1939 against 374,163,000 last year and a ten year average of 372,258,000.
Cedar Rapids saw temperatures slip after a light snow, with 2:30 p.m. readings at 30 degrees and a 2:30 a.m. low of 32. Monday reached a high of 54 before dropping to 36 by midnight. US forecaster G. E. Dunn from Chicago noted December Midwest temps as the highest since 1899 and predicted continued mild weather with few interruptions into the new year.
A heavy snow blanketed six Midwestern states ending a drought in the region. Snowfall reached five inches in the Twin Cities and covered Minnesota North and South Dakota Iowa Nebraska and western Wisconsin. Telecommunications and power lines were disrupted in many areas around St. Paul.
Reporter Scotty McLeod warns readers not to mail Tres Americas Sweepstake tickets to Managua Nicaragua. Postal authorities monitor such mail with fines up to 1000 dollars and up to two years in prison, increasing on repeat offenses. He notes tickets were mailed from Brooklyn with Managua return addresses and urges vigilance.
James W. Beagle, 32, of 121 Eighth Street NE, filed notice to run in Cedar Rapids city primaries for the public safety commissioner post at the March 12 election. A lifelong resident with a background in insurance and part time advertising, he is a 1929 Washington high school graduate and Coe College alumnus.
Journalist Arthur Bugs Baer reports a quirky town showing of Scrammed with the Breeze drawn from a spoof play Nanook of the South and a fictional novel path, noting a mock adaptation titled A Fair Exchange Is Good Guesswork and unlikely Clark Gable cameo as a butler.
Navy sources say the Admiral Graf Spee encounter with three British ships was a deliberate trap. A German freighter reportedly tried to buy fuel from a British firm at an undisclosed Brazilian port days earlier, then anchored Langsdorff’s pursuit toward a fuel rendezvous as British warships converged.
A government decree may intern 1,039 officers and crew of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. Foreign Minister Cantilo planned the internment grounds under Hague conventions. The German embassy reportedly accepted internment as ship wrecked, not shipwrecked in action, with possible parole under embassy guarantee.
The German tanker Arauca put into an American harbor near Port Everglades Florida to escape a British cruiser. Coast guard and U S naval pilots observed the ships as authorities weighed legal actions if the cruiser breached the three mile limit. The Nazi flag was visible as a pilot boat met Arauca and officials noted possible seizure if the British warship enters U S waters.
Union Pacific, among the early big railroads to report, said November net operating income fell to 2,776,916 from 3,206,298 a year earlier while gross income reached 14,478,214 versus 14,532,613 a year ago.
The Evening Bulletin reports prominent Bryn Mawr alumnae urge Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt be named next college president as current president Dr. Marion Edwards Park plans to retire next year.
A two engine Army bomber with failed motors dove into a field near Hill City Kansas. Lieut. Harold E. Neely of Nashville chose a forced landing to save his crew and found one man dead from a failed parachute deployment. The fallen soldier was Private Kenneth C. Seamans of Scranton Pennsylvania. Neely and two other crewmembers survived and reached Chanute field after the Denver to Rantoul flight.
British and Norwegian ships suffer losses as U boats, mines, and aircraft unite in Germanys renewed sea campaign. City of Kobe and Gli ttefjell torpedoed or sunk. Etruria, Active, Inverness, Fort Rose damaged or attacked. Helgoland raid yields heavy losses on both sides. Britain vows air supremacy as battles over the North Sea intensify.
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