Shriners To Hold National Pa’rley in August
Buffalo. N. Y_The 45th An
nual convention of the Imperial
Council of the Ancient Egyptian
Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
will convene in a five day session
In Philadelphia, Pa., August 18—
23 to formulate a broad program
for post war developments thru
which they can meet the challen
ge of world conditions. Pyramid
Temple, No. 1, headed by William
E. Johnson, Illustrious Poentate,
is the host.
Announcement of the convent
ion states that Ihe peace and the
type of freedom as encouched in
the Atlantic Charter is not won,
and that Shriner’s must accept
' the challenge and prevail Upon
government representatives to set*
that the will of the people is car
lied out, if we are to have suc
cess in channeling economic and
industrial trends along with the
commerce of the world to pace
time order.
Mr. Raymond E. Jackson, Im
perial Potentate, will make the
opening address of the convention
before a joint meeting of the Shr_
iners anj the Daughters of Iris
on Monday morning.
“IT Pays TO LOOK WcLl
— MAYO’S BARBER SHOP —
Ladies and Children’s Work
A Specialty
2422 LAKE STREET
Climaxing the sessions of the re
presentatives of more than nine
thousand Shriners the delegates
will witnessed the annual compe
titive and exhibitive driUe of Pa
trols representing more than 30
odd Temples in the Imperial Do
main.
NAACP MOBILIZES DEFENSE
OF 31 IN TENN. RIOT CASE
Nashville, Term_Mr Thurgood
Marshall, NAACP cpecial counsel,
conferred with Maurice Weaver
and Alexander Looby, attorneys
for the 31 Negroes indicted in the
Columbia, lenn., riot case, as
plans were being rushed for Fed
eral Grand Jury investigation.
Preparation for trials of tne 31
defendants was also discussed,
and the attorneys expect the case
to be tried in the latter part of
April.
The NAACP is prepared to de
fend the 31 victims of Tennessee
vandalism who are charged with
attempting to murder, and has
urgently begun a campaign to
faise necessary funds for the leg
al expense of the case. Plans have
also been made for a publicity
campaign, the purpoe of which
will be to rally public opinion be
hind the association in its plan to
win justice for the 31 defendants.
Officials of the Association have
stated that while contributions
have been gratifying, more money
is desparately needed.
H3nry iaice, publisher of Time,
Life, and Fortune, has recently
Thrifty Service •
• 6 LBS. OF LAUNDRY BEAUTIFULLY
LAUNDERED FOR ONLY CO* AND ONLY
7c For Each Additional lb...
• This Includes t+ie Ironing of all FLAT-WORK with Wearing
An^arel Returned Just Damp Enough for Ironing.
Emerson - Saratoga
2324 North 24th St. WE. 1029
b *
“So that’s why they call it a party line,’’'
cracked Dad
o
Janie and I had been cooking up a perfectly grand
party . . . and it did really take a lot of phoning ...
and I was practically breathless.
But Dad was right—the other family ofl our line
didn t have a chance to use their phone for simply
hours . . . and maybe I’d be positively furious if it
happened to me. Even if it stifles me I’m going to
make shorter calls and take time out between them.
NORTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY
joined the NAACP Commitee on
Columbia, Tenn. Clark Foreman
head of the Southern Conference
for Human Welfare; Judge Hub
ert Delany of New York City; i
Artie Shaw, orchestra leader; Ro
ger Baldwin, head of the Civil
Liberties Union, Jane White, act
ress, recently starred in Strange
Fruit; and Congressman Andrew
Biemiller have aiso been added to
Che new committee
BULLETIN!
Looby and Weaver filed pleas in
abatement last night in Columbia
(April 3 ) in behalf of 28 defend
ants, raising the issue of the un
constitutional exclusion of Negro
es from the State Grand Jury.
They had filed pleas for three
other defendants previously. No
date has yet been set for the case
to be heard and the trial by the
State Grihd Jury.
The Federal Grand Jury is con
vening on April 8th at Nashville.
The NAACP attorneys have taken
despositions from the defendants
and other witnesses have lined up
witnesses to appear before the
Federal Grand Jury.
Thurgood Marshall, chief coun
sel for NAACP, in discussing the
case, has pointed out that Doth
Stevensons, father and son. are
veterans of World War II. During
his investigation, he discovered
that the elder Stevenson was a
veteran of 29 months overseas
where he saf action in the Nor
mandy landings and Battle of
the Bulge.
BULLETIN!
At a meeting in New York on
April, 4th, the NAACP Committee
voted to organize an executive
committee to be appointed by Mrs
Eleanor Roosevelt an^ Dr. Chan
ning H. Tobias, chairman of the
committee. All organizations in
terested in the Columbia affair
have agreed to work through the
NAACP and to support the asso
ciation in its fund raising drive as
well as the legal defense of the
Negroes victims of Tenn. uniform i
mob justice.
Explains Peacetime .Selling of
E, F. G. War Saving Bonds
Omaha, Nebr., April 4—The six
fold aim of the Treasury in contin
uing to sell Series E, F and G
Savings Bonds in peacetime was
explained today by Vernon L.
Clark, national director of the US
Savings Bonds Division, Treasury
Department, in an official com
munication to Leon J. Markham,
State Director for Nebraska.
The Treasury’s six aims in con
tinuing to save for bonds after
the successful conclusion of the
Victory Loan, as stated by Nat
ional Director Cl ark are:
1. To combat inflation by ur
ging Amer.cans to save for bond
investment instead of bidding up
prices for scarce goods with their
surplus cash.
2. To keep the savings bond
l investment total around its pre
money is plentiful and goods are
scarce in order to hold a reserve
of spending power for new homes
equipmet for better living and at
the same time to provide a back
log of financial security for all
thrifty Americans. It is not object
of this program to increase the j
public debt.
3. To foster the national thrift
habit millions have acquired thru
patriotic buying of war bonds.
(From May 1, 1841 to March 1,
1946, Americans invested more
than $56,000,000,000 in E Bonds
alone).
4. To carrry on the payroll
savings plan at the request of 90
percent of thd 27,000,G'J0 wage
and salary earnerrs who invested
regularly in bonds during the war
(Firms are continuing this ser
vice to their employees without
cost to the Government).
5. To establish a thrift and na
tional finance educational pro
gram in the schools for the 25,000,
U00 pupils who by 1945 were re
* Every day more than 66,000 passenger cars and trucks
enter Omaha’s downtown business district. Every day
approximately 28,000 of these seek parking space. In the
downtown district there are slightly over 3,600 parking
spaces, including public garages and parking lots. That’s '
why more than 6,000 autoists daily fail to find convenient
parking.
If you are a “to and from work driver” or “a shopper”—there
i is an easy way to solve your parking problem—take advan
ftage of Omaha’s fine public transportation system.
RIDE THE STREET CARS AND DUSES
♦The figures used in this advertisement are based upon the report of the Parking
Committee of the Mayor’s City-Wide Planning Committee.
TfuTTl: ■Wf7Ta lu jvii A f f t j
B II I B !■ ■ Bil l I ■! | ■ I lil'B
mmmmmam
gularly buying savings stamps
and bonds.
6 To keep ownership of the
public dept spread among as many
Americans as possible so the in
terest may go to them as hol
ders of savings bonds rather than
to a comparatively few banks,
corporate or individual investors.
(Widespread holding of Govern
ment bonds is a powerful factor
for national unity and a strpng
stimulant of interest in affairs of
government).
In the first quarter of 1946, Mr.
Clark added, the American people
without wartime pressure, invest
ed more than $2,100,000,000 in
these savings bonds, or thre quar
ters as much as they put into
bonds in the first quarter of 1945
($2,811,300,000) with the war still
on against Germany and Japan.
Savings bonds of Series A, B,
and D, similar to the currently
popular E bond, which sells at
three quarters of its face value
and matures in ten years, were
sold by the Treasury before the
war, beginning March 1, 1935 and
continuing until the Series E was
issued. May, 1941, first as a de
fense savings bond, and after our
Pearl Harbor, as a war savings
bond, Mr. Markham explained
Thus the practice of selling sav
ings bonds to the American peo
ple in peacetime is already eleven
years old. All of the outstanding
Series A Bonds matured during
1945 and their holders received
four dollars for each three invest
NEGRO BUSINESS
INSTITUTE
WASHINGTON, D. C—The Ne
gro Business is now formed in
Washington, with Albert Louis
Hypps as director. The chief fun
ction of the Institute is to: (1)
help create bigger, better, richer
Negro business enterprises; (2 )
help increase the efficiency of
business management; (3) help
maintain service standards at the
highest level; (4 prepare and re
lease tested business ideas to in
crease sales and profits; (5) help
faster community support for Ne
gro owned and operated business.
A regular weekly packet con
taining business ideas for more
profits will be mailed to the Negro
in business who is determined to
have a bigger, better, richer bus
iness. The Negro Business Insti
tute is formed as a non profit or
ganization and does not aim to
conflict with existing Negro bus
iness organizations but to help
them further their plans and pur
pose.
The first packet of weekly bus
iness ideas for more profits is now
on the press and will be ready for
release within a few days. The
Negro Business Institute head
quarters are at 641 Florida Ave.,
NW, Washington 1, D. C. Busin
ess men and women everywhere
are invited to write in and request
and business information they
may need or use the NBI library
or research files
“Prisoners of War'” Exposi
tion on Display at Orchard
& Wilhelm Company Store
Editor
Omaha Guide
2418 Grant St.
Omaha, Nebraska
Dear Sir:
During the week of April 29 -to
May 4, the Army Air Forces Pri
soner of War Exposition will be
on display at Orchard & Wilhelm
Company. Accompanying this ex
position will be 8 officers and 4
enlisted men This exposition will
be under the direction of Colonel
Charles Greening, who flew with
General Doolittle on the first raid
on Tokyo and then later took a
part in activities over north Afr
ica and was shot down in Italy
and became a prisoner of war.
On a national scale, this expo
sition is being sponsored by the
YMCA an,j the Army Air Forces.
Here in Omaha, our local Barb
Wire Club, a club comprised of
ex-prisoners of war, will combine
with the LMCA and Orchard &
Wilhelm Company to present this
exposition to the citizens of Oma
ha.
On April 16, the Public Rela
tions staff of this exposition will
arrive in Omaha, and with this in
mind, I have arranged a meeting
here at the YMCA at 12:15 noon
on April 17 at which time we may
all have an opportunity to receive
a little advance information as to
the nature of this exposition. I
sincerely hope that you can be
present at that time.
Sincerely yours,
J. Herbert Wolsey
Asst. General Secretary
PUBLIC WARNED AGAINST
APPLIANCE REPAIR GYP
During the war years, and now
during the period of reconversion
electrical household appliances
are among every American’s most
precious possessions. Working on
the premie that such appliances
as radios, washing machines, re
frigerators, sewing machines, etc.
cannot be readily replaced, un
scrupulous "pseudo repairmen"
have evolved a racket by which
many unsuspecting victims are
being hooked. This is the warning
being issue^ currently by the Bet
ter Business Bureau.
The appliance repair racket
works in several different ways,
the Bureau explained. The phoney
repair man will solicit business bX
calling on the housewife. Stating
that he will fix the appliance at
his place of business, he may dis
appear with the article and not
re-appear. Having used a fictiti
ous name and a phoney receipt,
the housewife has little hope of
reclaiming her article.
Or, the racketeer repairman can
take the appliance to his office,
return with an exorbitant esti
mate on the cost of repair and
then make the victim his ‘service
charges’ to buy it back.
On the other hand, he may go
ahead and do the work, and then
compel the victim to pay his ex
cessive charges in order to regain
possession of the appliance. I
For example, one radio owner
had to pay $12 for repairs on an
irreplaceable radio that only cost
$9 when new. The owner had no
w un'tv to determine whether
or not that much work was need- j
ed. Another repairman retains
possession of the appliances until
minimum service fee of $7 is
paid, whether the repair are done
uin oi not.
The gyp has been known to even
charge for work he doesn’t do or
for parts not ordered- He has
<7li*cttome
^loum
H&p&iiesi
I in WASHINGTON
By Walter Shead
WNU Correspondent
WNU Wasbiagton Bureau,
1616 Eye St.. N. W.
Poor Radio Programs
Irk Rural Listeners
O'ARM organizations here are up
" in arms against radio stations
and the radio networks because they
believe rural listeners are being dis
criminated against in allocation of
time and the type of programs
beamed to farm audiences.
through four days of hearings be
fore the Federal Communications
commission representatives of the
National Grange, the National
Farmers Union and the National i
Council of Farmer Co-Operatives
laid their grievances on the table in
an effort to induce the FCC to de
mand more adequate farm pro
grams broadcast at a time when
farm and rural folks can listen.
The contention was (1) that the
stations and networks are not allo
cating sufficient time to farm pro
grams; (2) that programs now be
ing broadcast are not of high cali
ber or interest to agriculture; (3)
that time of broadcast makes it in
convenient or impossible for rural
folks to listen; (4) that 21 million j
rural listeners are shut off at night
from primary radio service and
must be content with relatively in
ferior secondary service, and 10 mil
lion rural folks live outside the day
time service area of any standard
broadcast station; and (5) due to
new allocations many radio stations
of land grant universities have been
cut off the air by clear channel sta
tions at times when farmers can
listen.
The department of agriculture was
represented at the hearing by John
Baker, chief of the radio service of
USDA, and M. L. Wilson, agriculture
extension director. The farm lead
ers were outspoken in their disap
pointment at Baker’s testimony in
the belief he did not back them up,
although they maintain Agriculture
Secretary Anderson was interested
in presenting a "strong case” in
behalf of his department.
‘Farm, Home Hour’ Dropped
Farm leaders point to the loss of
the National Farm and Home Hour.
For many months this ran as a 60
minute. six-days-a-week show dur
ing the noon hour in which the de
partment of agriculture and farm
organizations participated. They say
that the show has now deteriorated
into a five-minute Saturday presen
tation sponsored by a farm machin
ery manufacturer. Farm leaders
contend that if the radio broadcast
ers were sympathetic to the more
than 50 million rural listeners they
would allocate more and better time
and would program shows of spe
cial interest to farm audiences.
Many clear channel stations and
the networks were represented at
the hearing by their lawyers. While
they presented no evidence, they did
cross-examine the witnesses for
the farm organizations, which in
cluded Russell Smith of the Farm
ers Union, C. Maurice Wieting of
the Co-operatives, and Louis Wil
son of the Grange.
Paul Porter, chairman of the Fed
eral Communications commission,
in an address before the National
Association of Broadcasters last
March, shortly after he assumed
chairmanship of the commission,
pointed out the "intolerable situa
tion” in which rural listeners found
themselves due to lack of good radio
service. This statement indicated
that he might do something about
the allocation of new wave lengths.
1 Special Programs Needed
However, the farmers maintain
that nothing has been done to cor
' rect the situation and they have lost
much of the time that was formerly
allocated to farm programs. They
maintain that farm and rural lis
teners have a special need for pro
grams tailored to the interests of
agriculture.
Mr. Porter, in his address before
the broadcasters, pointed out the
very facts testified to by the farm
leaders, that 38.5 per cent of the area
of continental United States inhabit
ed by 10 million rural folk lies out
side the daytime service area of any
standard broadcast station, and that
at night almost 57 per cent of the
area populated by 21 million folks j
must rely on inferior service.
“This is an intolerable situation
for a country with our great re
sources and technical capacity. The
condition is particularly aggravated
when you consider that the millions
who have no service or only inferior
service are precisely those isolated
rural families which must rely on
radio for their contact with the out
side world.” Mr. Porter said.
/f'j Up to Stations, Networks
The FCC has regulatory power
over the radio stations and networks,
not only over power and wave length,
but over the type of broadcasts pre
sented, hence the petition of the
farm organizations before this com
mission. It would appear to your
Home Town Reporter that with an
audience of millions of rural listen
ers the radio industry would police
itself with regard to the proper
timing and presentation of interest
ing agricultural programs. No doubt
they have a side in the matter. j
X
been known to insert used parts
in an appliance, but charge for
new ones. He has taken parts
from on old appliance on the sly,
replacing them with inferior ones
and then used the good parts in
another repair job.
When caught in any of these
tricks, he blames it on the scar
city of repair parts or the diffi
culty of obtaining competent me
chanics to do the work
practice such tactics in the field
of watch repairing, cars, major
house repairs, in fact in anything
that is in need of fixing.
Although the majority of all ap
pliance repairmen are completely
reliable and honest businessmen,
the public must constantly be on
guard against the unscrupulous
few.
The easiest and safest way to
combat this appliance repair gyp
.'Similar unscrupulous repairmenis to follow the slogan of the Bet
ter Business Bureau. “Before yon
Invest—Investigate1”. Regardless
of the amount of your investment
the Better Business Bureau will
supply accurate, impartial infor
mation about the firm with which
you are planning to do business.
There is no charge for the Bur
eau’s services.
• For Greater Coverage
ADVERTISE in the Guide
j--WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
UNO Weathers First Big Test;
Rail Unions Balk at Pay Award;
Civilian Output at Peak Rate
— Released by Western Newspaper Union .
(EDITOR’S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are tho*e of
Western Newspaper Union’s news analysis and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Seated on stone block of ruined public building, Polish girl views
desolation of once modern building section of Warsaw. Once proud
Polish capital is now ghost city of Europe, with half of its population
half-starved and ill-clad.
UNO:
Weather Storm
Fraught with danger to the
United Nations Organisation and
world peace, the tense Russo-Iran
ian dispute melted under the prom
ise of diplomatic compromise, with
Moscow saving face and Tehran its
sovereignty.
Secretary of State James Byrnes,
chief U. S. delegate to the UNO se
curity council, started the happy
train of events, suggesting that both
countries state their position in the
dispute over Russian failure to with
draw from Iran before UNO consid
ered action in the case.
Russia had walked out of the se
curity council after its decision to
consider the question and Byrnes’
proposal offered an excellent oppor
tunity for the Reds to walk back
in without losing prestige. Making
the most of the chance, the Rus
sians wrote UNO that they were
pulling out of Iran without imposing
any conditions for their retirement
and their troops should be gone by
May 6.
Taking his cue, Iran’s representa
tive then told the security council
that if definite assurances could be
obtained that the Russians would ap
ply no pressure for oil concessions
or Red-backed provincial govern
ments as a condition for withdraw
al, Iran would consider the matter
closed.
And upon that happy note, UNO
appeared to have overcome its first
great hurdle.
RAIL PAY:
Balk at Findings
In protesting the 16-cent-an-hour
raise awarded by a labor-manage
ment arbitration board, railroad un
ion officials declared that the boost
granted failed to meet higher living
costs and adjust differences in pay
between railroad workers and em
ployees in other industries.
Declaring railroad workers were
entitled to a 46-cent-an-nour in
crease, B. M. Jewell, representing
15 non-operating unions, and E. E.
Milliman, president of the Brother
hood of Maintenance of Way Em
ployees, asserted that the minimum
award should have included 1U6
cents an hour for higher living costs
plus the general industry-wide 18Vfe
cent-an-hour postwar advance.
Meanwhile, railroad officials also
complained against the arbitration
board’s wage decisions, estimated
to add up to $400 per year for
1,220,000 members of three operat
ing and 15 non-operating unions and
cost the carriers $584,000,000 an
nually.
Echoing the carriers’ warnings
that increased wages would require
rate boosts, President Fred G. Gur
ley of the Santa Fe announced that
the 16-cent-an-hour award was too
large and his road would immedi
ately appeal for higher freight tar
iffs. Stating that the wage increases
would add $25,000,000 yearly to
Santa Fe operating costs, Gurley
said the boost coupled with higher
material, supply and fuel costs
against reduced income made the
step necessary.
Because both the railroads and
unions had agreed to accept the
arbitration boards’ findings as final
in submitting their dispute for set
tlement, no work stoppage loomed
because of disagreement over
terms.
The recommendations were hand
ed down even as a fact-finding pan
el conducted hearings on demands
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
FARM LOANS:
Farm operating loans will be
made to approximately 10,000 farm
ers—principally World War II vet
erans—this spring with the addi
tional 15 million dollars made avail
able to the Farm Security adminis
tration by deficiency appropriation.
Legislation increased the amount
for rehabilitation loans this fiscal
year from 67% to 82% million dol
lars with the additional amount per
mitting continued lending through
last spring.
Engineers and Brotherhood of Rail
way Trainmen for a 25 per cent
wage increase and changes in work
ing rules. In demanding that wages
and working rules be considered
simultaneously, the two unions re
fused to join the other 18 in sub
mitting the pay issue to arbitration.
CONGRESS:
Pay Adjustment
GovernmSnt employees were in
line for a pay increase as a result
of congressional action but an ad
ministration measure to raise the
minimum wage to 60 cents an hour
appeared doomed because of the
farm bloc’s insistence that the same
bill hike the parity formula over
President Truman’s protest.
The senate and house strove to
get together on a uniform pay in
crease for U. S. employees follow
ing their approval of conflicting
raises. While the senate had o.k.’d
an 11 per cent boost, the house
voted a $400 a year advance. Since
the house also decided to limit de
partment appropriations in the 1947
fiscal year to those of 1946, how
ever, the higher pay would cover
fewer employees and thus cut the
federal payroll by 2000,000.
In pushing for an upward revision
el the parity formula as an amend
ment to the 60-cent-an-hour mini
mum wage bill over President Tru
man’s veto threat, the farm bloc
sought to protect farmers' returns
in a period of rising costs. Trum
peting administration disapproval,
Secretary of Agriculture Anderson
declared revision of the parity for
mula to include farm wages would
result in a 33 per cent boost in
farm prices and spark an inflation
ary cycle.
PRODUCTION:
Rosy Prospects
In meeting the pent-up and ordi
nary demands of consumers, re
quirements for a
large military estab
lishment and heavy
exports, the U. S.
faces an unparal
leled period of pros
perity, Reconver
sion Director John
W. Snyder indi
cated in a report to
President Truman.
Despite work stop
John Snyder pages and material
shortages, civilian
production had reached a rate of
150 billion dollars during the first
three months of 1946, Snyder said,
with private wages and salary pay
ments returning almost to the pre
V-J Day date of 82 billion dollars.
Non-agricultural employment total
ed 44,700,000 in February, with
2,700,000 jobless seeking work.
Indicative of the huge demand for
goods, Snyder said that consumer
and business purchases during the
first quarter of 1946 equalled those
of the Christmas period in contrast
to an ordinary drop of 10 to 12 bil
lion dollars.' Though overall civilian
production rose, the textile shortage
remained acute, being aggravated
by mills’ refusal to sell unfinished
goods because of higher profits on
bleached or printed cloth.
Notwithstanding increasing pro
duction and high taxes, the threat
of an Inflationary spiral remains,
Snyder said. Noting the trend, he
pointed out that on March 15 whole
sale food prices were 3.1 per cent
above those on the same date last
year and the prices of other prod
ucts were up 2.5 per cent
Laundries Boom
Showing a continuing trend in in
creased patronage df commercial
laundries, the nation’s laundries did
a record-breaking 634 million dol
lar business in 1945. This all-time
high represents increases of 4.6 per
cent over 1944 and 127 per cent over
1933.
Increases In laundry services
sales volnme were reported
from every section of the conn
try.
OVERSEAS RELIEF: ^
London Confab
The problem of tiding war-strick
en countries over the 194f>-'47 con
sumption "par concerned delegates
from 18 Allied, neutral and former
enemy nations at the Emergency
Economic conference for Europe
being held in London.
With the U S. aiming to ship
1,000.000 tons of wheat monthly
toward a goal of 11.000,000 tons,
efforts were bent on stimulating con
tributions from other countries to fill
out the huge deficit. In this con
nection, a report of the conference’s
combined food board recommended
that Russia be requested to fur
nish cereals and that steps be taken
to increase the extent of Argentine
exports.
Little Ireland followed the U. S.
in setting an example to the partici
pating nations, announcing it would
send 35,000 cattle, 9,000,000 pounds
of canned meat, 20,000 tons of sugar
as well as milk, bacon and cheese
to the continent this year. Normal
ly Eire sends most of its cattle and
eggs to Britain.
MIHAILOVITCH:
U,S. to Aid
Lauding Gen. Draja Mihailo
vitch’s contributions to the Allied
cause in the early stages of the Eu
ropean war, the U. S. state depart
ment asked the Yugoslav govern
ment that American officers at
tached to the Chetnik leader’s head
quarters be permitted to testify on
his behalf in his forthcoming trea
son trial.
Famed for his daring guerrilla
warfare against the Germans dur
ing the height of Nazi dominatiop,
Mihailovitch lost his grip on the Yu
goslav resistance movement with
Allied recognition of the Commu
nist-trained Tito following the Rus
sian resurge in 1943. At odds with
Tito, Mihailovitch became a fugi
tive, charged with collaborating to
ward the end with the Germans in
vaders.
In coming to Mihailovitch’s de
fense in the face of bitter Commu
nist allegations against the Chetnik
leader, the state department said
many American army fliers had
been rescued and returned to Allied
lines through the daring efforts of
his forces. It was also pointed out
that U. S. officers were attached
to Mihailovitch’s headquarters as
liaison men in co-ordinating resist
ance operations.
F.D.R.:
Sell Stamps
Individual hobbyists and deal
ers shared in the purchase of
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famed
stamp collection, which brought
heirs to his estate over $210,000.
Representing a lifetime collec
tion of the late President, the
stamps were appraised in ad
vance of the auction at $80,000.
Berry Hill, a New York deal
er, was one of the biggest buy
ers at the sales, paying $1,885
for most of 29 lots of French
stamps and die-proofs and $1,615
for four groups of German
stamps included in statistical
albums showing the extent of
inflation in the reich after World
War I.
Dr. L. L. Ruland, a hobbyist,
topped bids to pay $4,700 for 62
lots of Chinese stamps present
ed to Mr. Roosevelt by Chiang
Kai-shek. K. Biloski, a Cana
dian dealer, paid $2,100 for 848
stamps of a Russian collection
tendered to the late President
by Soviet Ambassador Maxim
Litvinoff.
Almost $8,000 was realized on
the sale of 107 lots of Venezuelan
stamps and albums.
NEAR EAST:
Plot Thickens
Long the pawns of European pow
er politics, natives of the Near East
again figured in the diplomatic dou
ble play of the oil-rich region, with
reports that the Russians were aid
ing chieftains of 5,000,000 Kurds in
Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria in the
establishment of an independent re
public.
Though the Kurds in these coun
tries enjoy relative freedom in the
mountainous regions under local
chieftains, the independence move
ment reportedly has thrived under
Russian backing. An independ
ent Kurdish republic already has
been proclaimed with headquarters
at Mehabad in northern Iran and
Russian technicians were said to
have arrived there to help strength
en native forces.
Headed by Ghazi Mohammed, the
Kurdish movement was thrown into
gear at a conference of tribal lead
ers held in Baku, Russia, last No
vember. Revenue and troops re
portedly are being furnished by the
chieftains who attended the powwow,
with the heart of the movement cen
tered in British controlled Iraq.
Like Iran, Iraq’s oil fields form
part of the huge near eastern de
posits prized by the major powers.
ASIA:
With production off 40 billion
pounds below the 1936-40 average,
Asiatic countries are threatened
with a serious rice shortage, espe
cially in areas where the cereal is
the staple diet, the department of
agriculture said. The scarcity is the
result of a small 1045-46 crop, which
was reduced by the war, and inabil
ity to transport comparatively
small surpluses to shortage areas.
It will become most acute in th®
next few months as stocks from th®
1945-46 harvest become exhausted.
