America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

2684

americavotes1944

Vote bill foes offer measure as compromise

Alternate allows federal ballot only if state fails to act

Washington (UP) –
Administration foes in the Senate today threw their strength behind a new soldier-vote plan permitting a federal ballot only where states fail to enact adequate absentee voting laws.

The proposal, in form of an amendment to the Senate’s administration-backed Lucas-Green federal ballot bill, was injected into the soldier-vote dispute as both the House and Senate continued debate under limitations which may bring a decision Friday.

Senator Scott W. Lucas (D-IL), leading the administration fight for the Green-Lucas federal ballot which provides a vote only for President, Vice President and members of Congress, said the coalition amendment was not acceptable.

The principal features of the coalition plan included:

  • The federal ballot would be authorized only to Dec. 31, 1945.

  • The federal ballot would not be allowed for the resident of any state which prior to June 1 provided an absentee voter law waiving registration and setting up machinery to have ready 45 days before Nov. 7 ballots, envelopes and voting instructions weighing not more than 1.2 ounces.

  • Voters would have to write in the name of their choice for President, Senator and Congressman, and would be forbidden to write in only the name of the party they favored.

  • No absentee voter would receive either the federal or state ballot, however, without applying or it through a postcard to be supplied by the soldiers and sailors war ballot commission.

  • Specification that only the individual states shall determine voter qualifications and ballot validity.

  • Give state ballots equal priority with federal ballots in transmission to and from the war fronts.

2685

americavotes1944

Francis Myers likely choice in Senate race

State Democratic Committee to name candidates tomorrow

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – (special)
Congressman Francis John Myers of Philadelphia is the probable choice of the Democratic State Committee for the party’s nomination for U.S. Senator, it developed here today.

The committee meets tomorrow to recommend a slate of candidate to Democratic voters in the April 25 primary.

Balance of slate

The balance of the slate which the State Committee is expected to choose will line up as follows:

JUDGE OF THE STATE SUPREME COURT: Charles Alvin Jones of Pittsburgh, now a federal circuit judge, 1938 Democratic nominee for Governor.

JUDGES OF THE STATE SUPERIOR COURT: Judge Chester H. Rhodes of Stroudsburg, who will be a candidate for reelection, and Auditor General F. Blair Ross of Butler.

AUDITOR GENERAL: State Treasurer G. Harold Wagner of Wilkes-Barre.

STATE TREASURER: Ramsey S. Black of Harrisburg, third assistant postmaster general.

Mr. Black was the original favorite of U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey for nomination to the senatorial seat now held by Senator James J. Davis (R-Pittsburgh). Other factions in the party, however, objected to Mr. Black’s candidacy and Philadelphia leaders won their argument for an eastern candidate.

Jones agrees to run

Judge Jones, whose present position is only one judicial step below the U.S. Supreme Court, is reported to have agreed to run for Pennsylvania’s highest court after party leaders assured him of their unanimity on his candidacy.

In his present job, Judge Jones has a lifetime appointment at a salary of $12,500 a year. The State Supreme Court pays each judge $19,500 a year and the terms run for 21 years.

Judge Rhodes was elected in 1933 and is the only Democrat on either appellate bench.

Ross bows to others

Mr. Ross was originally a candidate for the Supreme Court nomination, but bowed to the wishes of the slate-makers. He was the Democratic nominee for Governor last year, but lost by a wide margin to Governor Edward Martin, a Republican.

Mr. Ross was formerly State Treasurer and Treasurer Wagner now hopes to duplicate his predecessor’s trick of switching to the Auditor General’s office. Neither fiscal official is permitted to succeed himself, under the Constitution.

The ‘Boy Orator’

Congressman Myers, 42, is serving his third term in Washington. He is a lawyer, a former State Deputy Attorney General and a native of Philadelphia. After he was first elected, he attracted considerable attention among Democratic Party adherents as a “boy orator.”

In addition to selecting a slate of candidates for the April primary, the State Committee, at its session tomorrow, is expected to adopt a militant resolution advocating a fourth term for President Roosevelt and to line up a list of 12 candidates for delegates-at-large to the Democratic National Convention to be held in Chicago in June.

Guffey flays Latin America story author

Butler told to apologize to people for charge of boondoggling

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2686

Yank P-40s bag nine Jap Zeroes over Marshalls

By Paul Beam, representing combined U.S. press

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2687

Sisters freed of further quiz in hotel death

Police fail to link pair in fatal shooting of Mrs. Williams

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2688

Tule Lake inmates face liquor charges

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2689

americavotes1944

Farley sees New Deal as in its last days

Denver, Colorado (UP) –
James A. Farley, former chairman of the National Democratic Committee, said today that “the people are tired of being pushed around.”

He said the election of many Republicans was evidence of that fact, and indicated that he believed the New Deal was in its “last days.”

Mr. Farley said:

It is up to the American people to say when they have had enough pushing around by the bureaucrats. They and they alone will settle the issue.

O’Mahoney appointed

Washington –
Senate Democratic Leader Alben W. Barkley (D-KY) today named Joseph C. O’Mahoney (D-WY) as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, succeeding Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA).

2690

V-mail kisses banned after Valentine Day

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2691

U.S. casualties in Italy are 23,407

Washington (UP) –
U.S. casualties in Italy since the landing at Salerno last September and including the current drive on Rome total 23,407, Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson announced today.

The casualties include 3,384 killed, 14,879 wounded and 5,114 missing.

2692

americavotes1944

Willkie calls for high taxes to pay for war

Lower living standard must be accepted, candidate says

New York (UP) –
Wendell L. Willkie, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said last night that Americans must submit to “ruthless” taxation and lower their standard of living or else “we shall lose in debt the victory we have gained in blood.”

Predicting a post-war public debt of more than $300 billion at an interest cost of $6 billion a year, Mr. Willkie told a meeting in the New York Times hall that:

We should pay now for as much of the war as we possibly can.

He assailed the administration’s tax program as “unrealistic” and said President Roosevelt’s request for more than $10 billion in new taxes should be doubled.

He said:

Every dollar of war cost that we pass on to the future thins the financial bloodstream of the future.

There is only one principle to apply to war taxation, and that is a hard principle; we must tax to the limit every dollar, corporate and individual, that is capable of bearing a tax, particularly those corporate and individual earnings which are created by the war itself. That limit is reached only when the war effort itself is threatened. All else must be sacrificed and all must share the sacrifice to the bone.

During a question-and-answer period, Mr. Willkie reiterated his demand for close international cooperation in boundary disputes such as the present Polish-Soviet one.

Wants Soviet friendship

He said:

Let’s still try to find a method of cooperation because millions of lives are involved in our finding it.

The 1940 Republican candidate, who leaves Friday on a speaking tour of Western states in connection with the 1944 campaign, criticized “so-called political experts” who contend that the American people “will never stand for a tough tax program.”

He said:

Give the people an understanding of the issues involved and they will do their duty by their country, however incredibly painful it may be.

2693

americavotes1944

Editorial: Unpardonable cowardice

The freedoms of a democracy which we in America enjoy were not won through political cowardice.

Men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Hancock and Patrick Henry had the courage to speak their minds and to “stand up and be counted” even though profession of their convictions may have resulted in death.

Similarly, the freedom of a democracy cannot be preserved through political cowardice.

Yet 233 members of the House of Representatives have demonstrated political cowardice in refusing to make known their positions on the question of giving servicemen the right to vote.

In a democratic legislative body, the members may vote as they see fit on any issue. But the citizens to whim they are responsible have an equal right to know how each representative votes on every issue.

Democracy falters when those entrusted with carrying out the grave responsibilities of government don’t have the courage to stand up for their convictions.

It is disturbing to record the tactics of the Republicans on this issue.

One of the vital strengths of a democracy is a strong, aggressive, intelligent, constructive minority – a “loyal opposition.”

By secreting their obstructionism behind an artificial parliamentary rule, the Republicans are attesting to the common charge that they have a peculiar talent for doing the wrong thing.

2694

Editorial: They fight – and work

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2695

Editorial: British-Russian rivalry

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2696

Edson: Joe Brown’s gags entertain troops in far-off China

By Peter Edson

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2697

Ferguson: Glamourous zombies

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

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2698

Background of news –
Medical insurance

By Frank P. Huddle, editorial research reports

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2699

Favor within CIO for service bill called ‘Red line’

AFL spokesman demands delousing before labor unity is possible; Curran, Bridges cited
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

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2700

Aged actor, five feet tall, a hit on stage – joins films

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2701

Hero ends own life

Los Angeles, California –
Staff Sgt. Floyd L. Evans, 37, who held three citations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, was found dead today in a downtown hotel, his wrists slashed.

2702

Civil affairs Marine teams run Marshalls

Islands are first Jap territory placed under U.S. control
By Charles Arnot, representing combined U.S. press

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Yanks face a mighty task in invasion of Marshalls

Japs have had 22 years to fortify islands, and nature also plays a big hand
By Morris Markey, North American Newspaper Alliance

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2703

Dopking: Navy’s guns blow Japs sky-high on Kwajalein

Marines meet only sporadic resistance after shelling levels enemy blockhouses and pillboxes
By Alva Dopking, representing combined U.S. press

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Finch: 3-day shelling and bombing crushes atoll

Ships ring island with fire; planes rain down blockbusters
By Percy Finch, representing combined U.S. press

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