CALL THE HERALD THE WEATHER UTAH: Increasing cloudiness to day, tonight and Wednesday; light rain and snow south portion to night aad Wednesday Temperatures: . High SS Low 11 If you dont receive your Herald - Dexor 60, call 485 before 8 o'clock and a copy will be sent to you. FIFTY-EIGHTH YEAR, NO. GrjQupAsfis S34f600CuMn County Budget Bequests Include 40 : Percent Reduction In Personnel Travel Utah county commission members were studying to-day to-day requests for reductions . in the tentative 1944 budget, totaling $34,600, submitted byy representatives of the local unit of the Utah Taxpayers Tax-payers association, including a request for a 40 per cent reduction re-duction in travel allowances. The requests were presented in the course of a public hearing on the 1944 budget, conducted Mon- : day afternoon in the commission chambers. The spokesmen for ' the association were M. H. Harris Har-ris and J. E. Clay of Salt Lake City; Alex Hedquist, John O. - Beesley and Clayton Jenkins of Provo. Covering: nine departments, the decreases requested wer: As: Bessor, $3000; ecode, S3 000; Surveyor, $1000; sheriff,, $5000; advertising and legal notices, $3000; county agent, $600; exhibition exhibi-tion and advertising, $1000; poor and indigent, $5000; county highways, high-ways, $10,000; total, $34,600. The tentative budget was com- ared with the Weber and Salt ake .county budgets, figures being be-ing presented in such cases where the Utah county budget was higher high-er than the Weber county budget. Mr. Harris, chief spokesman for the taxpayers' group, argued that Utah county was comparable' n population with Weber county and: the budget requirements for this county should not be higher than Weber. He also predicted that Utah county's populationa would drop probably 5000 during the year, when the peak of employment em-ployment at Geneva drops off. He urged that travel expenses be cut to the bone, in keeping with rationing necessities. The same line of argument was presented in a written statement presented by the budget committee commit-tee of the. chamber of commerce, in part as follows: "We are all agreed that the winning of the war is the paramount para-mount problem now confronting US. Our policies and activities jnust be geared to this end. "Due to the shortage of both manpower and materials, we believe be-lieve it to be sound public policy to hold in abeyance all capital improvements and extensions, except ex-cept thse of most pressing importance. im-portance. This will fulfill a double purpose. Not only will it aid the war effort in not competing compet-ing for men, money and materials in a depleted market, but it will also provide a backlog to take up the unemployment after the war. "Furthermore, we believe that the principal of rationing should be extended to include public services. "In compliance with both public pub-lic and private curtailment of (Continued on Page Three) I New Commissioner, Auditor to Take Office On Monday Two new city officials who were elected in November will be installed in-stalled into office Monday noon when they will be sworn in at brief ceremonies at the city hall. Blake D. Palfreyman will take his seat on the city commission, succeeding Commissioner J. P. McGuire, while Mrs. Iva J. Benson will step in as city auditor to take the place of Mrs. Mary F. Smith who retires after 1' years in that position. , It is generally assumed that Mr. Palfreyman will take over the same department, streets and public improvements, that Com-m-sioner McGuire has headed during his incumbency, although this is by no means certain. If such action prevails, the other members of the commission will retain the departments they have had charge of during the past two years. Mayor Maurice Harding, public affairs, finance, and public pub-lic safety; Commissioner Joseph A. Swapp, waterworks,, parks and playgrounds. While there may be no changes as far as commission asignments are concerned, rumors have been heard that there may be a number num-ber of changes in appointive city Officials, following the organization organiza-tion of the new commission. Mr. Palfreyman who was elected .-to the commission by a top-heavy 'majority, is not opposed to Changes, if the existing conditions warrant such steps. : At the same time, it is not believed that personnel changes, if any, will be numerous because of the difficulty to obtain trained train-ed personnel - at this particular time. One question which figured prominently in the recent campaign, cam-paign, which is sure to come In for considerable discussion when the new commission is organized is the airport littgatl.n, on which conasderaDit city funds have si- 145 SE&SSm wfSvSfS urn uuu Russian Troops Talie Zhitomir From Germans 50-Mile Break-Through By Army of Ukraine Disastrous to Nazis By HENRY SHAPIRO United Press Staff Correspondent MOSCOW. Dec. 28 Red armies stormed over the approaches to Zhitomir, key stone of the German defenses in the northwest Ukraine, and hurled an assault arc three-quarters of the way around Vitebsk today in separate offensives threatening to crumple two Nazi fronts. A 50-mile break-through by Gen. Nikolai F. Vatutin's army of the Ukraine had thrown the Germans completely off balance, and in the Zhitomir sector they were struggling strug-gling to disengage and. reform their main forces behind a rear guard action of feeble 'counter-thrusts. 'counter-thrusts. The onrushing vanguard of Va- tlltin'a mrmv nraa tui than 1 miles from Zhitomir, most vital! Mwf Ca BafffaH German base between the Rus- 1110X1 tJCCl llCIIUCi border. All signs pointed to an early reconquest of the strategic ran junction wnicn tne Russians captured on Nov. 12 and lost a week later. To. the north 400-odd miles, Gen. Ivan C. Bagramian's Siberian veterans were closing m on Vitebsk from three sides and driving driv-ing against the railroad to Orsha, the last German-controlled line out of the imperiled city keying the defenses of upper white Russia-Front Russia-Front dispatches said Basrram lan's troops were in firm control of the western, northern, northeastern, north-eastern, eastern, and southeastern southeast-ern approaches to Vitebsk. The position of the German garrison rapidly was assuming the fatal characteristics marking the Rus sian conquest of most of the big cities taken in the summer and autumn campaign semi-encircle ment making me position untenable. unten-able. In the Ukraine, Vatautin's onrush on-rush smashed the focal defense points along the Fastov-Vinnitza railroad, carried southward across it, and plunged a spearhead ever deeper into the heart of the Nazi positions defending the appoarches to the borderlands. Crossing the Fastov-Vinnitza line, the Russians also cut the Berdicehv-Belaya Tserkov high way, which other forces pushing southwestward broke the Ber-dicehv-Zhitomir highway. Boy Meets Death While Coasting SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 28(ttE) Frederick T. McCormick, 11, son of Mr- and Mrs. J. Albert McCormick, Mc-Cormick, was killed here late yesterday yes-terday while enjoying his favorite favor-ite past-time coasting. The first good snow of the season was. packed on a hill near the boy's home and he was taking advantage of it and a Christmas vacation. He went whizzing down the hill. The sled hit an unnoticed bump and careened against a tree. California Commission Proposes Inquiry Into WPB Geneva Stop Carder SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28 Attorney General Robert W. Kenny, chairman of the California commission on interstate cooperation, today requested a joint investigation investi-gation into the War Production Board order halting work am Vi flaicmt T Tt nh structural steel mill Kenny urged U. S. Senator Fat' McCarran. v.. wev., cnairman or a committee on aecenuwunuon of the steel industry, to call a Joint inquiry by U. S. senators and the California, Nevada and Utah commissions. He suggested that McCarran and Senator Abe Murdock, Utah, organize the investigation, in-vestigation, ' Kenny said abandonment of the Geneva structural steel mill, part of a huge $180,000,000 outlay, would be a low to the west's infant in-fant steel industry. In peace time it would produce girders for bridges and buildings which previously prev-iously were shipped from eastern; mills. Kenny saM purpose of the Investigation; In-vestigation; would tie to deter mine whether the WPB discriminated discrim-inated a$&inst toe western steel mm .A. - . . j .. ... . a t .. ....... . . - ' PROVO; British Sink he 26,000-ton German batUeshlo i mansk route. British warships blasted the enemy Teasel vtt the Norway North Cape. The glnKing was said to leave the "Nazis without a single capital ship in fighting trim. I AfnOftlfl Vlinff Kit VUI I ICI VUf tJUIIll UJ British Forces LONDON, Dec. 28 (EE) The 26,000-ton German battleship Schamhorst was blasted to the bottom of the Barents sea Sunday night by an avenging force of British warships, including . the 35.000-ton battleship Puke of York, that cornered the "Nasi sea raider only 60 miles from the shelter of the Norwegian . coast, the British admiralty revealed to day. Disclosing for the first time the log of the spectacular battle fought out in the Arctic fogs off Norway from dawn until long after nightfall, the admiralty said the German surface raider was badgered into a death trap by a force of outgunned cruisers, and destroyers that clung grimly to the enemy ship until the Duke of York reached the scene and brought her great 14-inch guns into action. Boldly chasing the Schamhorst to within easy range of Germany s vaunted land-based air force, the battle-hungry British warships brought the raider to bay only 60 miles northeast' of North Cape and left her flaming and almost dead in the waterfrom repeated shell and torpedo hits. Then the 8,000-ton cruiser Jamaica Ja-maica moved in on the stricken ship and delivered the death blow with her torpedoes duplicating the destruction of the giant 45,-000-ton Nazi battleship Bismarck that went down off the coast of France on May 27, 1941, after being caught In a similar trap by converging British naval units. The Schamhorst herself touched off the climatic battle by attempt ing to slip through under cover of fog for an attack on a Russia- bound Allied convoy steaming southwest of Bear island, about 300 miles north of Norway. Three British heavy cruisers, HMS Norfolk, Belfast, and Sheffield, Shef-field, commanded by Vice. Adm (Continued on Page Three) industry, and why the WPB had westerner on its steel commit- tee. The WPB reported in Washington Washing-ton that it was not preventing Geneva Steel company from oper a tine the com Dieted pig iron "Plant in Utah. The -WPB said it did not recognise a need to allocate Geneva Die iron to other steel mills, indicating that Geneva pig iron should be used for the Utah plant's own reaulrementa. Members of the Utah publicity and industrial development com' mission have been incommunica-tion incommunica-tion with the California commission, commis-sion, it was reported today in salt Lake City. The Pacific coast has an im portant interest la the establish ment of a western steel Industry at Geneva, inasmuch as California expects to obtain and enlarge in dustriei based oa(steej products. UTAH COUNTY,! UTAH, a Big Chunk of the Hi t Schamhorst has been.sunk in attesutinsf to attack a convoy on the Mur Knox Reveals Loss Of Destjroyer During New Brita day that an American destroyer was sunk in the landings on Cape Gloucester, fNew Britain island, and this was the only U. S. snip lost in the operation. Secretary of Nary Frank Knox had announced earlier at his press conference that a " small coastal transport also was jr afiaftiarlC VrAPA sunk, but the ' navy said it was , later learned the transport was only damaged. j The loss of . the destroyer brought to 134 the i total of American vessels lost In this way and occurred during the Japanese air attack which followed the initial landings. j I Casualties Not Revealed j Knox said that the navy had not received any information on Casualties In the destroyer sinking sink-ing and he did not disclose the name of the warship. The transport trans-port he described as a small craft only 100 feet long. . Knox at his press Conference called attention to the "usually extravagant" Japanese claims that they had sunk two American heavy cruisers and two large transports, and heavily f damaged three other large transports in the latest New Britain operations last week-end. Rear Admiral Harry' W. Hill, who commanded one of the naval task forces in the Gilberts operation, opera-tion, was present at Knox's news conference, and said that if the American people had hid an opportunity op-portunity to witness the battle for Tarawa, started the day before be-fore Thanksgiving, "thlsy would have had a very thankful Thanksgiving." Thanks-giving." 1 He said he meant that American Ameri-can forces had succeeded in seizing seiz-ing a powerfully defended and tremenously ' important defense point in three' days. 1 "The Japs had built that place to stay," Hill said. 'There is no question about that. It was a key point Of the whole southwest ern racmc aeiense corner ana they knew it was vulnerable.. And they had prepared lor a tremen dous defense of it." I The thins: that impressed him. Hill continued, was that his naval force , "sat" in the area; for four days without belne bothered by Japanese naval or air forces.. "The army and navy; and an the forces in that area coordinated in covering millions of square miles of ocean", Hill said. "There were- three Japanese fir .bases only about S00 miles away, and yet they couldn't hit us so thoroughly thor-oughly were , they smothered." . Siygar Rations To Be Unchanged WASHINGTON. D a j txn Sugar rations for home i use will remain unchanged - for ! another two and a half months lt wss disclosed today as the office of price administration . announced validity dates for sugar .stamp number SO in ration book four. ' Stamp-30, valid on Jan. 16, will be good -for V purchasing ?ive Sunds of sugar through March , Th current sugar stamp will TUESDAY, DECEMBER Nazi Navy -X- oflp Mwygiif Wmmm. in La New Gains On Italian Front By C. TL CUNNINGHAM United Press Staff Correspondent ALLIED HEADQUARTERS, Algiers, Dec. 28 (U.P) American troops have completed the consolidation con-solidation of their positions on the 4,000-foot Sammucro mountain range commanding .the ap-s proaches to the Rome plain, it was announced today, and on the Adriatic, the Canadians scored new gains in the bitter battle of Ortona. . (The Berlin radio reported that German troops evacuated Ortona, coastal anchor of their line across Italy, last night after "a skillful defense by a small unit, which has gone over to a prepared position posi-tion just northwest of the town.") Canadian units of the British Eighth army were reported slugging slug-ging their way house-by-house through the last German toehold In Ortona. The Germans wajing the "little Stalingrad" stand in defense of their Adriatic keystone, brought out flame throwers in the' town and to the west. They were in the- hands of small infantry in-fantry units, rather than operated from tanks. Entrenching themselves firmly on the Sammucro range by the Seizure of two more strategic heights, the Americans of the Fifth army front won the last of the dominating heights overlooking overlook-ing San Vittdre, key to the Vital Cassino junction six miles to the northwest. The United States vanguard pushed down the Sammucro slopes and Sfehf patrols stabbing at the immediate defenses of San Vittore, where the next big battle bat-tle for another 'section of the Rome road was shaping up. Farther north, other American units were battling for the lower slopes of the towering 6,800-foot (Continued oh Page Three) Epidemic Of Scarlet Fever In Salt Lake City SALT LAKE Cri?T. Dec. 28 A mild, but serious epidemic of scarlet fever is sweeping Salt Lake City, Dr. T. J. Howells, city health commissioner said today. Howells said that 29 Cases of the disease were reported last weejc, Dnnging the total Since Nov.. 1 to 120. The health, commissioned said spread of the . disease - could be curtailed if adequate precautions were taken. He advised gargling with an antiseptic and Immediate isolation of anyone showing any jsyraptoms ox tas disease. ' a f s ' -.. l..Mp....W,...I,u....... 4 ndinq 28, 1943 Steel or'(ers Return; Strike Is Called Off Philip Murray, Presi dent o! CIO Union, Issues Work Order PITTSBURGH, Dec 28 Striking steel workers who had curtailed vital war production pro-duction in nine states began returning to work today in compliance witty an order from "Philip Murray, their union president. Officials of the plants idled by the walkout of approximately 155,000 workers said that, except in the cases of those plants whose blast furnaces were banked during dur-ing the strike, production would return to near normal by nightfall. night-fall. A few workers began going back on the midnight shifts last night a few hours after Murray, acting in the wake of a War La bor Board order from Washington Washing-ton directing tne strikers to return, re-turn, called on union leaders to get . their men back into the plants. With the morning shifts today, officials !n the areas affected by the walkout reported almost full turnouts. Normal Crews In the Pittsburgh district, where 50,000 men were idle last night, normal crews were reported at nearly all the struck plants this morning. Abnormal absen teeism was reported in some instances.. in-stances.. The Crucible Steel Co- plants Pittsburgh resumed operations. me wneeung steel Co., Wheeling, Wheel-ing, W. Va., which had 15,000 men out in plants In West Virginia and Ohio, reported the men were returning to work, although full operations will not be restored until blast furnace which had been shut down, are restored. The Timken Roller Bearing Co. said that practically its full shift of 2,000 reported at its Columbus plant. A spokesman for the Toungstown sneet and xuoe Co.. at Chicaeo. said 'almost all of the men of the. full 8.000-man shift were back at its two plants thereW predicted full production by noon At Buffalo. N. Y.. Republic Steel Corp., officials reported normal operations" in . all de partments. Approximately 1,000 of the plant's workers had Joined the strike. Murray, in a telegram to locals. district directors, and staff representatives, rep-resentatives, called off the strike last night and ordered workers to comply with a War Tabor Board directive from ' Washington. The board, reversing a ruling which led to the walkout paralyzing paralyz-ing part of the nation's steel industry, in-dustry, directed that the unionist union-ist stay on the job with the understanding un-derstanding that any wage adjustments ad-justments in a new contract would be retroactive to the expiration of their old contract Christmas eve. Previously the WLB had re fused to promise the 350.000 workers covered by the old contracts, con-tracts, that wage adjustments reached in negotiations for the 17-cens-an-hour increase sought by the USWA would be retroactive. As a result, nearly half of the workers refused to continue work. Murray, also president of the USWA, stressed the need for "uninterrupted prod u c t i o n of steel and steel products essential to the war needs of bur nation," and told union men that the WLB Order came at the direction of President Roosevelt. j The president had urged continued con-tinued production and promised that pay adjustments would be Eisenhower Appointments Awaited As Preparations Made to Open 2nd Front By t. EDWARD MURRAY United Press Staff Corespondent LONDON, Dec. 28 UI.E) Further Fur-ther appointments to Gen. Dwlght D. Eisenhower's second front command com-mand were revealed today to be impending, but censorship prevented pre-vented speculation over specific nominees. The naming of air Chief Marshal Mar-shal Shir Arthur William Tedder. 53 -year-old Allied air commander in the Mediterranean, to the post of deputy supreme commander for the , invasion of western Europe left vacant only two. top com mands of Elsenhower's staff the over-aQ sea command and the command, of the American invasion in-vasion forces. While - censorship forbad cor respondents to cable the name of the most jiKeiy appointee to the sea command, they were permit' UTAH'S ONliT DAILY SAtTTH OP SALT LAKI Roosevelt Orders Stimson To Head Seizure Of Rails Army Prepared To Impose Penalties On Strikers Under the Smith-Conally Act; Gen. Somervell To Direct Operations WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 The army is prepared to operate the nation's railroads with soldiers in event of strike and impose penalties against strikers under the. Smith-Conally labor act and other laws, Secretary of War kenry L. Stimson and Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell declared de-clared today. ' These statements were made I at a news conference while three rail unions still were standing, technically at least, on a strike call for Dec. 30. It was generally believed, however, how-ever, that the three holdout unions ultimately will rescind the strike call as 17 other rail union already al-ready have done. . Meanwhile, the danger of a general steel strike appeared to have been averted as workers responded re-sponded to government and union orders that they end a weekend stoppage and go back to the mills. Somervell In Charge- Stimson and Somervell said their sole objective was to keep the railroads running so that the war would not be interrupted. Somervell, commander of the army service forces, was placed in charge of the railroads when the government took them over last night. Wages and working conditions that existed as of 7 p. m. last night win be frozen for the duration dur-ation .of the. army's, control. Jthey . ; ', " WASHINGTON, Dee. 28 U.R Secretary of War Henry I Stimson will explain the Army's operation of the na tion's railroads in a radio ad- dress tonight at 7 p. m. EWT. Stun son will speaK from his office Ik the Pentagon. The four major radio- networks will carry the address. Transcriptions will be re-bfbadcast re-bfbadcast in western states at 7 d. m 3IWT.. and 7 n. m. nPWT. m said. These included awards of wages to the Brotherhoods of rail way trainmen and locomotive engineers under the president s arbitration. Stimson quoted from a letter written by Gen. Henry H. Arnold, commander of the army air forces'1 M.t.ti ... . a tki .i . i, strike would have the effect of "virtually paralyzing the war ef fort of the army air forces." He said the seriousness could not be exaggerated. The strike .would immediately stop the flow of army air force technical supplies, the export of drufn gasoline, and exhaust tne supply of aviation fuel in the United States in five days, Somervell, said Arnolds ap praisal of the effect on the air force would apply equally to the ground and service forces and in terrupt the movement of troops overseas. Somervell said army officers and men with railroad experience were being . assembled at key (Continued on Page Three) State Income Tax Blanks in Mail SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 28 UE Utah income tax blanks were being readied today for mailing to 125,000 persons and a.ouo con-porations. con-porations. The state tax commission commis-sion reported the blanks will be mailed next week. Taxes wil be due between Dec. 31 and March 15. Rates! wil be the same as last year. ted to write that Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningh a m, first sea lord, prooaoly would have the most important voice in ar ranging and supervising the land ing or ine vast secona xroni armies. (This may indicate that Cunningham Cun-ningham himself will be named sea commander.) Cunningham, as fonder com mander in chief of the British Mediterranean fleet and sea commander com-mander under Eisenhower in North, Africa, directed the land ing of forces in Morocco,' Algiena, Sicitly and Italy, so far the largest larg-est amphibious operations ever attempted at-tempted tout due to be dwarfed by the invasion of western Europe. With -Elsenhower about to established-his headquarters in .Continued on Page Three). PRICE FIVE CENTS McCarran Unable To Start Probe On Geneva Orders SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28 UE Sen. Pat McCarran, D., Nev chairman of a committee, on de centralization of the steel Indus try, win be unable to start pro' posed investigations into war pro ductlon board orders haling com pletion of the Geneva, Utah struc tural steel mill until February, . 1944, lt was disclosed today. Robert Kenny, California at torney general and chairman of the state commission on inter state cooperation, learned from Washington that McCarran cur rently was unavailable. He saidK he planned, to contact -the Utah and Nevada commissions to pro mote a three-state action oh WPB's orders. It was reported two steel fur naces at Henry J. Kaiser's Foh tana, Calif., will cease operations because lend-lease ingot orders were withdrawn. A new office of price administration subsidy allowance al-lowance to Fontana of approxi mately $12 additional per ton in creased Kaiser's ingot prices over similar prices in the east and lend-lease administrators will buy on the cheaper market. Injuries Suffered In Crash Fatal To Correspondents ADVANCED ALLIED HEAD QUARTERS, New Guinea, Dec. 23 ttE Brydon Taves, United Press Souflhwest Pacific . manager and war correspondent, and Pendil Rayner, of the Brisbane telegraph died yesterday from injuries received re-ceived Sunday in the crash of a combat plane on New Guinea it . was announced today. Two air corps enlisted men also al-so were killed in the crash which occurred as the plane took off on a combat reconnaissance mission mis-sion to observe marine landings at Cape Gloucester. , Ian Morrison, of the London Times, and Haydon Lennard, of the Australian Broadcasting com mission, were injured in the crasn and taken to hospitals. Their In juries were not serious. The plane had taken off at S a. m. in order to make' Cape Gloucester In time for the Marina landings. Taves, 29, received a fractured skull and severe burns which covered more than half of his body. He was conscious for about an hour after the crash, but (Continued on Page Three) mr i . War in Brief By UNITED PRESS CTALY: Americans capture enemy strongholds on Mount Sammucro, gateway to the Rome plain; Berlin reports evacuation of Ortona after bloody street bat tie with Canadians. RUSSIA: Red army winter of fensive west of Kiev advances 14 miles on 20-mile front; Germans fleeing in disorder toward Zhito mir and Berdivhev Russions con verge bn Vitebsk xrom three sides close all but one enemy supply line. PACIFIC: Marines expand Caps ksioucester beachhead to two miles, close in on enemy airfields from two sides; Japanese coun terattacks against Arawe beach head rep ylsed; U. S. carrier taslc force beats off enemy plane at tacks after sinking Japanese) - shipping near New Ireland. AIRwar; Allied planes report , ed resuming attacks -on French invasion coast during night; RAF ' Spitfires raid enemy targets in southern France and on Italian, Riviera for first time, . f,.-. . t