America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

2910

americavotes1944

Soldier vote bill sent to conference

House rejects federal plan adopted by Senate; deadlock seen

Washington (UP) –
The House today rejected the Senate’s federal ballot amendments to the soldier vote bill and sent the disputed legislation to conference for attempt at some final settlement.

The action, by voice vote, had been predicted inasmuch as the House last Thursday rejected by a vote of 215–164 an attempt to write federal ballot provision onto the states’-rights bill which it subsequently passed.

In view of that House margin against federal ballots, the House conferees were expected to stand steadfast against the Senate efforts to incorporate such a system into the bill.

House conferees named

Chairman Eugene Worley (D-TX) of the House Elections Committee, although a proponent of federal ballot legislation, moved to bring the bill before the House and then asked that the House turn down the Senate amendments.

The House agreed, and Speaker Sam Rayburn named the following House conferees: Mr. Worley, John E. Rankin (D-MS), Herbert C. Bonner (D-NC), Karl M. LeCompte (R-IA) and Harris Ellsworth (R-OR).

The House conferees stand 3–1 in favor of a purely states’-rights bill. Mr. Worley and Mr. Bonner are the only two administration supporters.

Second bill to committee

The Senate in addition to amending the state’s-rights bill had passed a separate federal ballot measure. Chairman Rayburn said he would send this second bill to the House Elections Committee. This would be merely a formality, inasmuch as it was expected no effort would be made to bring it out of committee unless the administration, if defeated in conference, decides to make a final attempt to provide a federal ballot.

There were indications that the amended bill was headed into a tangle that might block final passage of any new system of voting by members of the Armed Forces.

Something must give

If any legislation is to be enacted either the House or Senate will have to give in. it appeared that if there is any yielding it more likely would be in the Senate. The margin against the federal ballot in the House was considered large enough to defeat any compromise attempt there.

In adding the federal ballot to the House-approved Eastland-Rankin states’-rights bill yesterday, the Senate vote was 46–40.

Some quarters believed that eventually Congress would merely pass legislation amending the 1942 soldier-vote act to provide that the Army and Navy shall expedite transmission and return of state ballots. But both administration and coalition groups said such proposals would be premature at this time.

How they stood up to be counted

Washington (UP) –
The roll call vote on a motion by Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), by which the Senate wrote the federal ballot provision into the House-approved “states’-rights” soldier vote bill was:

YEAs – 46

Aiken (R-VT)
Andrews (D-FL)
Austin (R-VT)
Barkley (D-KY)
Bone (D-WA)
Burton (R-OH)
Chandler (D-KY)
Chávez (D-NM)
Clark (D-ID)
Clark (D-MO)
Danaher (R-CT)
Davis (R-PA)
Downey (D-CA)
Ellender (D-LA)
Ferguson (R-MI)
Green (D-RI)
Guffey (D-PA)
Hatch (D-NM)
Hayden (D-AZ)
Jackson (D-IN)
Johnson (D-CO)
Kilgore (D-WV)
La Follette (PR-WI)
Langer (R-ND)
Lucas (D-IL)
Maloney (D-CT)
Maybank (D-SC)
McFarland (D-AZ)
Mead (D-NY)
Murdock (D-UT)
Murray (D-MT)
Pepper (D-FL)
Radcliffe (D-MD)
Stewart (D-TN)
Thomas (D-OK)
Thomas (D-UT)
Tobey (R-NH)
Truman (D-MO)
Tunnell (D-DE)
Tydings (D-MD)
Vandenberg (R-MI)
Wagner (D-NY)
Wallgren (D-WA)
Walsh (D-MA)
Walsh (D-NJ)
Wiley (R-WI)

NAYs – 40

Bailey (D-NC)
Ball (R-MN)
Bankhead (D-AL)
Bilbo (D-MS)
Brewster (R-ME)
Bridges (R-NH)
Brooks (R-IL)
Buck (R-DE)
Bushfield (R-SD)
Butler (R-NE)
Byrd (D-VA)
Capper (R-KS)
Caraway (D-AR)
Connally (D-TX)
Eastland (D-MS)
George (D-GA)
Gerry (D-RI)
Gurney (R-SD)
Hawkes (R-NJ)
Hill (D-AL)
Holman (R-OR)
McClellan (D-AR)
Millikin (R-CO)
Moore (R-OK)
Nye (R-ND)
O’Daniel (D-TX)
Overton (D-LA)
Reed (R-KS)
Revercomb (R-WV)
Reynolds (D-NC)
Russell (D-GA)
Shipstead (R-MN)
Smith (D-SC)
Taft (R-OH)
Thomas (R-ID)
Wherry (R-NE)
White (R-ME)
Willis (R-IN)
Wilson (R-IA)

2911

Angered 4-F routs soldier hecklers

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2912

Casualties now 150,478; 30,261 listed in prison

Washington (UP) –
The Office of War Information reported today that announced casualties of the U.S. Armed Forces since Pearl Harbor total 150,478 – 34,179 dead, 51,292 wounded, 34,746 missing, and 30,261 prisoners.

Of the prisoners of war, 1,936 have died in prison camps – mostly in Japanese-occupied territory. These deaths are those that have been officially reported by the enemy. Thousands more have died in Japanese camps.

2913

I DARE SAY —
Foiled!

By Florence Fisher Parry

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2914

americavotes1944

GOP gives Davis an open field in Senate race

State leaders fear fight in primary would impair strength of party

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania –
Governor Edward Martin, in a statement here last night, disclosed that his campaign to prevent a Republican fight in the April primary had been successful.

He said the Republican organization, led by himself, Joseph R. Grundy and Joseph N. Pew, will not oppose U.S. Senator James J. Davis for renomination.

This will be the first time in the five campaigns Senator Davis has made that he has not been opposed by one or more potent factors in the Republican Party.

Primary fight feared

The Governor for weeks has been arguing against trying to defeat Mr. Davis in the primary. The Senator and the Governor were primary opponents in the 1942 primary for the governorship nomination, Mr. Davis losing for the first time in his career.

Mr. Martin’s main objective is to carry Pennsylvania over the New Deal ticket in November – something the Republicans haven’t done since 1932 – and he fears a primary fight would imperil that objective.

The Governor also announced that the Republican leadership (meaning Messrs. Martin, Pew and Grundy) had agreed to support former Governor Arthur H. James for one of two nominations for the State Superior Court. At the same time, Mr. Martin disclosed his appointment of Mr. James to this bench to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Joseph Stadtfeld. The appointment will run until January.

Justice Hughes endorsed

Also included in Mr. Martin’s announcement was Old Guard endorsement of Justice Howard W. Hughes of Washington for the State Supreme Court nomination and Common Pleas Judge J. Frank Graff of Armstrong County for the second Superior Court nomination. Justice Hughes is now serving by appointment.

He and Republican State Chairman M. Harvey Taylor, who held a joint press conference, declined to name the candidates on the rest of the Martin-Pew Grundy slate.

But it is apparently well settled that City Treasurer Edgar W. Baird of Philadelphia will be on the ticket for the State Treasurer nomination, and State Senator G. Harold Watkins of Frackville, Schuylkill County, will be picked for Auditor General.

Decision ‘almost unanimous’

The Governor said the decision to drop all opposition to Senator Davis was “almost unanimous.” He did not identify any who did not approve the plan, although obviously Mr. Grundy accepted it reluctantly.

Mr. Martin said:

I am for Senator Davis for reelection because we need in Congress men who are imbued with sound American ideals and who believe in the American way of life.

The Democrats have already rounded out a slate consisting of Congressman Francis J. Myers of Philadelphia for the U.S. Senate, Federal Judge Charles Alvin Jones for the State Supreme Court, Superior Court Judge Chester H. Rhodes and Auditor General F. Clair Ross for the Superior Court, State Treasurer G. Harold Wagner for Auditor General, and Ramsay S. Black, third assistant postmaster general, for State Treasurer.

Judge Graff slated for GOP race

By Kermit McFarland

Common Pleas Court Judge J. Frank Graff of Kittanning will be a candidate for the State Superior Court on the Grundy-Pew ticket now being formulated for the Republican primary in April.

This will be his second try for the Superior Court. He served a few months on this bench by appointment of the late Governor John S. Fisher in 1930, but was defeated in the ensuing primary and reappointed by Mr. Fisher to the Armstrong County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Graff is almost as well known in Allegheny County as in his own district, since he has been one of the most frequent visiting judges on the local Criminal Court bench.

To run with James

As an organization candidate for the Superior Court, Judge Graff will run with former Governor Arthur H. James of Plymouth, who yesterday was appointed to the vacancy on this court caused by the death of Judge Joseph Stadtfeld in December. Mr. James sat on this bench six years before he became Governor in 1939.

Two judges will be elected to the Superior Court this year because of the vacancy and the fact that the term of Judge Chester H. Rhodes of Stroudsburg, the only Democrat on either appellate bench, expires.

The Democratic organization has already slated Judge Rhodes for renomination and Auditor General F. Clair Ross for the vacancy.

May fill vacancy

Judge Graff is 56, graduated from Princeton University and the University of Pittsburgh Law School, was a major in the 28th Division in the last war and became a judge in Armstrong County in 1924.

In 1930, after the death of President Judge William D. Porter, Judge Graff was appointed to the vacancy. He served from Feb. 18 to May 22, in the meantime losing the Republican nomination at the May 20 primary, and when Judge Graff was defeated, reappointed him to that bench. He was elected to a new 10-year term in 1931 and reelected in 1941.

The Pew-Grundy organization will back Supreme Court Justice Howard W. Hughes of Washington for nomination to a full 21-year term. He was appointed by Governor Martin last month. The Democrats have slated Federal Circuit Judge Charles Alvin Jones of Pittsburgh for this post.

2915

americavotes1944

Guffey denies he sought job for physician

Says he wanted doctor to be given work after he had been appointed

Washington –
U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) today explained that those letters he sent to District of Columbia officials in 1942 were not for the purpose of getting his personal physician a job, but to get some work for him to do after he got the job.

Mr. Guffey came under fire of some of his Senate colleagues when it became known that he had threatened an investigation of the District’s hospitals and used “pressure” on behalf of Dr. Eugene de Savitsch, in two letters to DC officials, authorship of which Mr. Guffey admitted. The Senator issued a statement today to clear up “misstatements and a large amount of misinformation concerning these letters.”

He said:

In the first place, the letters were not written in any effort to get anybody a job. At the time they were written, Dr. de Savitsch was and had been for two years a consulting surgeon at Glenn Dale Sanitarium, a position to which Dr. [George C.] Ruhland [district health officer] appointed him.

In the second place, there was no question of getting anyone on the payroll. In the three years of his association with Glenn Dale Sanitarium, Dr. de Savitsch drew three checks for $15 each and in each case, he turned the checks over to indigent patients. Dr. de Savitsch has a large private practice and doesn’t need to get on a public payroll.

Mr. Guffey added that the physician was never given anything to do, because of Dr. Ruhland’s policies, and the letters were written in an attempt to correct the situation. He cited Dr. de Savitsch’s medical qualifications.

2916

Mr. Smith speaks his piece but WLB has the answer

Labor Board sends mechanics’ case to President, hinting plant seizure and damage suits
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

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2917

Morse’s WLB post goes to garrison

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2918

Grew urges enactment of national service law

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2919

House-to-house struggle rages on edge of Cassino

Theoretically, town should have fallen, but Nazis hold on despite blasting by 100,000 shells
By William H. Stoneman

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2920

Clark helps to save driver wounded in truck bombing

5th Army commander goes to within 40 yards of blazing ammunition carrier
By Homer Bigart, representing combined U.S. press

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2921

Tax bill veto is still studied by Roosevelt

Murray adds CIO’s voice to demand for a higher levy

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2922

In Washington –
Agency to speed reconversion of industry is urged

Senate post-war committee recommends ruthless slashing of red tape to avoid ‘disastrous unemployment’

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2923

Allies batter Rabaul, wreck 23 Jap planes

124 tons of bombs rain on big enemy base in Southwest Pacific
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer

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2924

Police at odds in hotel death

‘Absurd!’ says daughter at quarrel theory

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2925

Parents of Bataan victims ask more help in Pacific

Kin of men now prisoners and some who died in Jap camps plead cause in capital
By Ann Hicks, United Press staff writer

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2926

Foster: Six months in studio – half year farming is Rains’ formula for a happy existence!

By Ernest Foster

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2927

Japan’s doom is sealed –
Crushing U.S. blows pulverize defenses in Marshalls; bodies piled high in forts

By Hal O’Flaherty

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2928

americavotes1944

Sinclair Weeks takes Lodge’s Senate seat

Boston, Massachusetts (UP) –
Sinclair Weeks, treasurer of the Republican National Committee, prepared today to fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate caused by the resignation of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. until a successor is elected next November for the unexpired four-year term.

Governor Leverett Saltonstall, in announcing Mr. Weeks’ appointment last night, also disclosed his own intention of running for Mr. Lodge’s unfilled term at the November elections.

Mr. Lodge retired from the Senate last week to become an Army officer after serving only two years of his six-year term. Mr. Weeks was defeated by Mr. Lodge for the Republican nomination in 1942. He is a supporter of Wendell Willkie.

Mr. Weeks is the son of the late John W. Weeks, a Boston banker, former Representative and Senator from Massachusetts and Secretary of War in the cabinets of Presidents Harding and Coolidge.

2929

Editorial: Reverses in Italy

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