Strips OCD of “frills and furbelows”
Washington, Feb. 17 (AP) –
The Senate today passed a $163,794,819 deficiency appropriations bill carrying $100,000,000 for the Office of Civilian Defense after the chamber was told that the OCD appropriation had been stripped of “all frills and furbelows.”
Senator McKellar (D-TN), floor manager for the bill, advised the Senate that the bill did not provide:
…for any amusement of little children or for the amusement of anybody.
New York. Feb. 17 (AP) –
J. Lewis Luckenbach, president of the American Bureau of Shipping, tonight reported a January gain of 763 ships of 5,049,020 gross tons on order or under construction in American shipyards.
Race against time when foe brings in Singapore units
By Daniel De Luce, Associated Press staff writer
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Guerrillas battle Japs in area of burned Palembang
By Witt Hancock, Associated Press staff writer
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London, England (UP) –
Soviet dispatches said today that heavily-armed Russian warships were shelling German land positions around Sevastopol, the Crimean naval base, and Yevpatoria, 50 miles to the north.
Calcutta, India (UP) –
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Mohandas K. Gandhi are scheduled to confer here today and some quarters predicted that the meeting would lead eventually to a Sino-Indian “People’s Alliance” against Japan.
Balboa, Panama Canal Zone (AP) – (Feb. 17)
The possibility that German submarines may be operating from a well-concealed base in the Caribbean area – within the Canal Zone’s ring of defenses – was raised by the U-boat raid off Aruba early Monday which coast the Allies at least seven tankers sunk or damaged.
Honolulu, Hawaii (AP) – (Feb. 17)
Navy officers disclosed today that the destroyer Shaw which the Japanese claimed they destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor last Dec. 7, has arrived safely at a West Coast port under her own power.
Belfast, Northern Ireland (AP) – (Feb. 17)
John J. Winant, U.S. Ambassador to London, arrived by plane today to inspect American Expeditionary Forces in Northern Ireland.
Highest decoration awarded for bravery
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$32 billion provided for war in addition to previous amounts
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Hamilton. NY, Feb. 17 (UP) –
33 rare volumes, including a Kelmscott Chaucer and 18 first editions of Robert Louis Stevenson, have been presented to Colgate University by James C. Colgate of New York City. The Kelmscott Chaucer, regarded as the printing masterpiece of the last century, has been valued as high as $16,000.
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U.S. Navy Department (February 19, 1942)
Far East.
A U.S. submarine has sunk a 5,000-ton cargo ship in the East China Sea.
There is nothing to report from other areas.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (February 19, 1942)
Nipponese airpower strikes important Allied naval base; refuge for American wounded
Sydney, Feb. 19 (AP) –
Port Darwin on the northern Australian coast has been bombed, Prime Minister John Curtin announced today.
Japanese planes have been reported in the Darwin area before but this was the first bombing attack.
Darwin is about 675 miles south of the Japanese-captured Dutch island base of Amboina, and is one of the few naval bases in the Pacific war region left to the United Nations.
Haven for American wounded
Australians working in record time had laid a road through the middle desert wastes of this continent to link Darwin with southern Australia.
An American hospital ship evacuating wounded from the Philippines recently arrived there.
Australia has garrisoned the area and erected a network of defenses extending inland to repulse landing attempts.
Tiffin, Ohio, Feb. 18 (AP) –
An Army pursuit plane crashed on a farm near here during a heavy snowstorm today, killing its pilot who was identified tentatively as Lt. Tom F. Almon of Detroit, attached to the Army Air Corps.
Coroner William H. Benner said papers in the plane wreckage indicated he had left Port Niagara, Buffalo, at 10 a.m. (EWT) en route to Selfridge Field, Mich.
Speedy final passage of $100,000,000 appropriations certain; Miss Chaney out
Washington, Feb. 18 (UP) –
Congressional conferees today speedily approved legislation appropriating $100,000,000 for the Office of Civilian Defense after Mayris Chaney, dancing protégé of Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, had resigned her $4,600-a-year job in the agency.
The money grant – approved by both houses only after limitations had been imposed on future use of funds for what Congressional critics described as “fan dancers, movie lovers and boondoggling” – is part of a $163,789,819 deficiency bill.
Only for vital equipment
In its present form, the measure specifies that the OCD fund can be spent only for vital civilian defense equipment, and requires Senate confirmation of officials of the agency receiving $4,500 a year or more.
The action of the conferees assured quick final approval by both chambers, probably tomorrow or Friday.
Under the bill, $57,217,271 will be spent for firefighting equipment and training; $7,998,545 for protective clothing, steel helmets, etc.; $4,890,290 for emergency medical supplies and equipment, and $29,893,894 for gas masks and facilities for their manufacture.
The resignation was accepted “without comment” by OCD Director James Landis. It was different in Congress where her departure was hailed as a triumph over “boondoggling.” There was speculation also about the date of the probably retirement from the agency of Mrs. Roosevelt and movie actor-director Melvyn Douglas whose association with the OCD has been under legislative fire.
Set for Feb. 23, blanks awaited
Washington, Feb. 18 (AP) –
The Office of Price Administration issued last minute orders today delaying the start of retreaded tire rationing until Feb. 23.
Price Administrator Leon Henderson said the delay was necessary because required rationing forms had not yet been distributed to all local rationing boards. The retread rationing program was to have begun tomorrow.
All provisions of the rationing program, other than the actual distribution of retreaded tires, will take effect at midnight tonight, however. After that hour, no further sales or deliveries or retreaded or recapped tires can be made to consumers without rationing certificates.
Despite the four-day delay, Henderson said, eligible truck operators may continue to obtain new tires through local ration boards until midnight Feb. 22.
Committee votes approval; measure to be reported to Senate today
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World War I hero eager to get snipers
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