IRITGQllfil...!!1!1L ~.~. - ~ k.JJ . !JW4",, ½ 1, l'f,µ/. g --~ ~ . - - - - The Yontgoaery lard employee election turns out to be a Yictory for the Union. The votes c a st today giYel a ■ ajority of twenty-three-hundred-and-torty to fifteen-hundred-and-sixty-five in favor of the United Retail, lholeaale and Department Store Eaployee1 Union of the C. I . 0. The President earlier today stated t a t the Coapany had agreed that, if the Union got a ■•l•■iii~ J • aajority, lontgo ■ ery lard would extend the preYioua ' contract - the question of contract extension having been the origin of the trouble, to begin witr.;f;.i■ presidential dec l aration was proaptly disavowed by both the Coapany and the Union, with Montgomery lard responding that it had n e ver proaised to renew the contract, election or no election. The agreement was proved that, if the Union/\awm~~that it repre s ented a majority of the employees, Mont g omery w ard would MOITGOMERY WARD - 2 enter into negotiations with the Onion leaders. The Union leaders, on their part, said they had no idea• of extending the ol~ contract - they, too, w!\ed /\ negotiations. So it would._ see ■ that, in spite of what tbe President said, the whole thing now goes into a 1t~1• of diacuaaiona between the Co pan7 aid the labor or1aaiaation. Meanwhile, the go•ernaent baa turned the fir■ bac k to its pri•ate 0Yner1. Thia happened se•eral hou~• befor ~ the result of the •ote was ■ ade public. Secretary of Co ■aerce Jesse Jones, who had been placed in charge, u f ~ , :#1 a, ■ent a letter to Sewell Ayery, the Chair ■ an of the Montgoaer7 lard Board of Directors, informing bia that the federal authorities were relinpiahing control. So wh a t do we have tonight, aQ a result of all the nois e and excite me nt ard is back MOITGOMEBX WA RD - in the hands of its owners, who wil ne g oti a te with the Unio - all of which eeems to reduce the uproarious L affair to the ordinary huadrua status of t:aa Company A dealin with Union leaders. An that would seea to be that. However, there are statements in Congress that the two congressional in q uiries into the case will not be called off• I~• Senate t&+el'tlgatlon and• ~ail • f the to et r. ard. Today's election victory for the Union was acc•panied with a l l the hail an d hurrah of a cam pa ign electioneering in an im J ortant politic a l battle. IIG THP E le are n t told of any of the resu ts of the aeeting of the Big lhree, that triad of top flight aa•al chieftains - Coaaander-in-Chief Ad ■ iral Iing, Pacific Fleet Co ~•nder Ad ■ iral li ■ it, and South Pacific Coa ander Ad ■ iral Balaey. They held a conferenc ia Saa Franciaco on Sunday, a fact which waa disclosed only thi1 eTening.1We know of course that the7 ■uet ha•• discussed large plans for action against the Jap•, aad naturally enough those plans are not aade public - that wold be too auch of a fa or to the thing was, that Ad ■ iral li ■ ±t1 receiYed a decoration, the Di•tinguished Ser•ice ledal, Toted b7 Congress. Be is the third officer to be thus honored, Congress having previously Toted ■ ed4ls to Ad ■ iral Halsey and General Holco b, foraer Co ander of the •arine Cor s. In San Francisco, the decor a tion wes resented to A iral Ad iral r · ng. gc1r1& 11:aqk, We ha,c l'ne losses on both aides in the Aaerican conquest of Bollandia, Dutch Bew Guine'!-,~ ~~~ Eight haadred and seventy-one Japa were killed, and a ~•adred and eighty-three taken prisoner. Thia was stated bJ General MacArthur, who adds that our own l••••• ia tbe Bollandia operation were only twenty-eight tilled aad ninety-fi•• wounded. JIDlA The British in I ndi a report new successes against the Japa at Iohima. Mountbatten headquarters 4eclarea that an offensive of aJ(aktt•**••xiaxxxxx aaaihilation ia being pre s sed against the ene ■y. Tb• Japa are fortif\ed in ■ ountain positions around Iobiaa, and these position• are being crushed by a wei1ht ot tanks and ■aased . artillery fire. la over in ar off India, an iaportant political announceaent is expected froa that sage and oracle in the loin cloth - Mahataa Gandhi. Bight now Gandhi i• aeeing a lot of people. -:p..,.,...) In a house •~~ he sit1 ia the cro11-legged fashion of the rient, and recei•e• a atreaa of callers, talking things o•er:Fae recei••• eYerybodJ, but the press. Or rather, he did receive the pr••• 7eaterda7. Bat londa7 ie Gandhi's day of 1il r- ace, a da1 on which be 1peaka ae•er a wori - aoae kind of religioaa obaer•ance. So that's whea the Journalist• were allowed in. It certainly argues for an iapiah kind of haaor in the Mahataa, when h• r e c e i • • ~ ~ : ! ~ a J of si~~nce! It ■ut ba•e been uite an inter•i~w. The word is that Gand~i will soon go to soae secluded retreat and there he will await whe~ he calls his - •inner voicP ~ . a The ys ical voice will iAPII - 2 tell hia soaethin g , and then he will aake a declaration - an ia ortant political pron o unce m ent, hie followers believe. A n d in India tens of million• of people are w iting, waiting for the •inner Yoice• \o speak to Gandhi, and then for Gandhi to speak to Iadia . • Today w ~ s the a n niversary of the invasion - that other invasion, when the Nazi panzers swept the Low ~ountries, the beginnin g of the shattering assault that lid to the fall of France and the domination of 0 Bitler in weatern Europe. That happened four years ag, and on this fourth anniversary, everywhere, the talk was - invasion, the assault to co••• the mighty Second Front. Speculation was at a climax today, with new tidings and••••• guesies about invasion. Berlin says that the blow will be launched fro ■ six ports along the English Channel, the la1ia . claiaing that their observation planes have spotted the massing of invasion forces at those six ports. These, say the Germ a ns, are along the coast froa the estuary of the Thames to Brighton. And the harbors named are - Ramsgate, Deal, Dover, Folkes tone, Newhaven and The shore there is along the Brighton. IIST~il FRQJ! - 2 narrowest p art of the English Channel, the Straits of DoYer, just across from Dieppe and La8avre. And the Iasis would eeea to indicate that the Second Front aasault aight be hurled atraight acroas the Channel where the water is the narro•••t. London today featured report• of tide• and weather along that Channel coast, ~ weather conditions 1de ancl of key i ■portance in the Brit.ct weathe~ the inYasion blow. indicate that during the the weather ia likely to be bright way fro ■ Bolland to Spain. Bight now weather conditions are especially favorable, Spring havinfo■e ear_y. The days have been war■ and dry, and re orts froa the co tinent indicate that the ground is hfrdening every•here. This is des c ribed as the aost favorab e S ring for invasion since thats . Pring of . , lineteen Forty - when the lermana ha all the br . aks of the weather in their inv sion of the Low Countries and their knockout blow against France. A;D W!§!llltt.J:RQNT The Germana, as on previous days, give no indication that they are under-estimating the power that ia going to be thrown against thea. The top flight la1i ailitary coamentator, Lieutenant General Iurt Dittaar, aays that the invasion will be, in his words, •uprecedented in the history of •~rs.• Be aays the Allie• - •have calculated every poaaibility•, and they will uae - •eYery poaaible technical invention.• Tboae are the Geraan expert's own words, and, eatiaatin1 the Allied strength, he calla it - •really i ■poaing.• The latest tonight from the eabattled skies over Europe gives us the figure of five thousand - that many sorties bJ Allied planes a ainat the Nazi• on the continent today. Fi•e thcaaaaa •e•tie• agei.aM.- - ... ..,, ... __ . --··. •• lfSi'f .. lllllli fl,reaoat in the stunning air ••••ult were two thousand Aaerica~l7ing Fortre■ae■ and Liberators attacking eleven targets related to and the invasion coast. And added swarms of aediua light bo■ber• continued an all-da7 assaul~ 9 !~b•e~u~e~sY~~ • er ii d iae •P H.'1 aeee•11t ef ••••1 • • pre 1 es • 1 e 01.}1/ft_:fi"?i.• 4iU■a• n■1 lnh U1h ■lh■■snn. Wae+; ■ e1 e •e■eez I were .£ly ••I •••e•• tho Sbcaa 1 t ■ \.eiaJ was -ii 11e tire air • 161111 fo1 eor,ie• will haTe gunw up to t1t,,=ti• ► . ~••rsi. A record-breakerl a new and 1hatterin1 ~llh point ia the da7 after da7 assault which the lritiah Air lini1tr7 now officially deacribe• •• • Today'• boabing w a s the ■ore all-out, becauae of the presence of Briti ■h Naval planes in \ae attacking force. A late bulletin fro ■ London 1tatea \~at tor the firat ti ■ e, Seafirea of the British fleet •••t iato action againat the German invasion defenaea. 'II ¥1111 1 SJ • R11r: lcluca• •r••• n t.hr peat.•••J.• 16 ft ••ts:tn~ 11th the Britiah naval · air ara adding lt• _ on weight to the i ■mense land based forces of the aky, •• have J••t another sign that D-Day ■ uat be near. BOSSI! - sa/4eadline froa Ruasia -- se , vastapol I A late dispatch juat off the wire gives Stalin's announceaent of the conquest of tb• 1reat ort ■ f on the Black Sea. Se•astapol was taken by s after a furious three-day assault This coapletes the Russian re-conquest of Crlaea, - - a whirlwind otfensi•e tJf.t wiped out oae hundred thousand Germans and Rumanians in thirt7-tw days. 11ALT There doesn't & ea to be any great significance in the Geraan withdrawal in It~ly. Te Razia pUlled back out of a salient in the central p~rt of the line, aero•• the peninsula from Cassino toward Ortona. T~e 1alient was a triangul~r wedge thrust forwards in t,e ■ountin country, and in pulling out of it the Germans 4rew back ten miles - with British Eighth Ar ■ y forces i■■ediately advancing to occup7 the ground. A politic a l crisis develo p ed in Ireland today, and tonight Pri ■ e Mini•ter De Valera c a lled a general 4lt election. This followed -..defeat he sustained in the wG., Dablia Parlia ■ent, ~ a ■ajority turned against hi•~ Iba n1■ lJn the subject of a · transport bill for the coaaolidation of Irish railroads. Which ■ ight not aeea to be such a Tital issue, and the Priae Minister loat 7e_ oat ~1 only one Tote - aixty-four to sixty-three. 11..t; Ireland follows the Britiah parlia ■ eaury syatea and the adTerse aajority was taken as a Tote of no confidence:tfso deValera pro■ptly decided to go to the country for a decision, and called for the election of a new parliament, in which he hopes to have a new majority. Thee ection will probably be held on May Thirtieth, and deVa l era's fate as Priae Minister will depend upon the voting. Jl§CVI A new type of hero appears today - a her~ blimp. Coapared with a swagger, flashing warplane, the aaYigating gas ba g ■ ay sea ■ like a prosy old slow-poke. Bat a bli■P can be heroic, as w a s ~ today in laahington, where the •avy paid honor to a ~ a n d it• crew - for a aeries of rescues of airmen forced down in the depths of*~• jungle and swamp in Brazil. The war, with the bomber ferry route across the South itlantic fro ■ Brazi~ to Africa, has brought about ,....,,, a Yast aaount of flying 1't- the South Aaerican jungle - ~ which is of such evil faae as the•green hell of the tropic•.• I ayaelf flew down that way some short while ago, and remember vividly the chills that went up and down ay spine as I looked down on the endless expanse• of the e q uatorial forest, and thought - "Wh a t if we were forced do w n?" The records of adventure-tragedy are studded with the s t ories of men lost in the g reen hel l t 11scu1 - 2 aen who never r turned. But there was one thing I saw~!':;..""" • ../ ~.wa,-,d---:; -~-- - l11Uu~ o> .,;. •1r,.•t first. In places the iaaen1ity of the dark jungle was broken by wide apace• ~:it ~ttib-t... . o f ~ - ~ , green - witl,,,Al,ii.., of yellow 0 f"ro■ on high~ 1he1e looked like aeadow1, like 1• st spreading field!, 4 ~ ~ ~ - ~ ' Q ,. asas:t ill~ gr••• and flowers, nd I was teapted to ~~A~ think - what a delightful place! Then~ 11; C a l i ~ ~ . _ j A O ~ t 4 , . f ~ tit )\beautiful green apaces were not meadows at all, ~ ao fields of graaa and flolfers - the7 were awa ■p• ~ with 1reen and 7ellow sliae, loathsoae, horrible swaap•~ and being forced down in~ep1■11 ot 1.• • green and yellow slime would be a horror • . That experience aade ■e all the more interested in the exploits of the hero bliap, as recited by the lavy today. One was the rescue of fifteen)- twelve United States Army t · iers, a Navy pilot, and two Bl§CUE - 3 Bo7al Canadian flight officers. Their plane was fo~ced down in the reaotest depth of the tropical wilderness, a aec · tion of both Jung le treea and the green al iae of the awaap. They could never have made their way out.,. -.,foot, and• rescue by plane was iapoasible - no plane coud have ever landed aaong tbe tree• and in the , •• ., . , . . . . ~ . - ..,.._. ~ -.r:... .,,.JU ... ~. So only one hope remained to eave the fifteen .,_ -~ ■en - rescue by bliap. The lighter-thanJ\gae-bag aight be able to set itself down among the tree• of the awa■p. '1nd1 that exploit was undertaken'by a couand of Lieutenant Jaaea I. Davis bliap under the of lew York"'f!It .. was a nightmare of weird peril. The surrounding tree• towered to a height of a hundred feet, and the wheel• of t h e ~ san '.< up to their hubs in the, • 11scu1 - 4 But the exploit w a s achieved, and fifteen lives were 1a'fed. two r ~ in in the The news this evening brings us an argument about an exploit attributed to Commando l elly. Be is the hero of an abun d ance of authenticated exploits, bat it seeaa that be was never captured by the Germana, aad ••••r aade a desperate escape. The Commando denie1 \hat be e•er told such a story, but tonight there ia . ,r: plenty of inaistence that he . did. The Catholic Chaplain at the Western Peaitentiary, Father Francia J. Buber, 4eclarea that Ielly relRted the account in the presence of tiiaself and five other people. •se said he had been· captured and held ~1~ prisoner for three day~ ~ar--~tNt-r-a•~ ■x,tat explained how he had cut down a prison guard with a knife and aade his way back to the American linjs.~ So says the prison chaplain. At Pittsburgh, Commando K elly explains that soae rem a rks he ~ade ~ere misunde~ s t-"'a~ Be ~ever told the Prison story, thin g s Just g ot ba1 1 eu- up- a bit. J e C-,....J.. ~ -"R. - ~ ~ ~ ~ -f> - ~k- They bad a headline election in Chic go today, though this had nothing to do with the politics of the nation. It was a union election, and it was 1taged with all the hail ana h~rrah of •• ■,u1ata1 ca ■paign electioneering that characterizes an important political battle. In other words, it was a Montgomery lard election, the employee ■ balloting to decide whether or not they ahall be represented by the union, t~e United Retail, Wholesale and Departaent Store !■ ployees• Union of the C.I.0. This was the most dramatic union elect~on in history~~after the series of spectacular events that ,\ led up to it. - t..e lontgoma11 Waid defianee ef iae. ana- ~1ve1nmeat,At11 Ce ■pan7'e Nftteal to ob@J \h:t> Hien, the 1 ei'.•eal be tug 1'e.8ea e e tae ceu teut lea that::, t..he Jlnjon ae loa@-er repl'esented the emj,ll+yees : Tfi!\i4aa IPITGOIEflY_!!)W - J The voting among the employees is ending al about now, after which the ballot boxes will be tallll to the offices of the lational Labor Relation• Board, for an official count. The result is e pected to be announced about eleven o'clock tonight. The latest ia a statement by President looaeYelt that today's election, no aatter bow it goea, will, in his words - •end the case.• If the ballotin1 shows that the Union does not have a ■ ajority. of tbe e■ployees, that will be that. If the Union has a major:ty - well, the management has declared that it will continue its contract with the Unionf so stated the President, and then he went on with a press- conference-survey of the Montgomery Ward case. He said it was ~ a ••a.e of law all along, and he reviewed the A suicessive phases of the dispute :-The action by the iak■ War Labor Board, and the refusal by the Company !OJTGOMJRY WARP - 4 to obey the Labor Board order. The President made what sounded like an astonishing stateaent, when he said - that Montgoaery lard and Company had a perfect right to refus~ to obey. But to this he added that any citizen has the right to z■faa ■x*■ x■~■J say he will not · live up to the law, in which case tbe polic• have the ~uthority to put hia in jail tor it. The President said that a lot of people just aiaply did not know the history of the Yontgoaery Ward affair. And he added that . . . press and.,_ radio had not given the full facts well and copiously enough, and in consequence, he intimated, people lacked sufficient knowledge, and juaped at surmises. This point was expanded by a parable, one of those presidential allegories which F.D.R. always tells 80 effectively. he said that as, from his vacationing pla c e in the South 1he watched the WliQMiRY WAR~ - 5 lentgo ■ery lard fraca1, he was reminded of bedtiae 1tories about children seeing things under the bed. ~ Ia all the uproar he i,,.••li ''9\ that people were Reeing thing• under the bed, because they had not got oYer their childhood habits. The Senate today took up the anti-poll tax bill, and there were no signs that a filibuster will be 1taged by the Southern Senators - though they had aade aany threats that they would talk the bill to death. There was a aotion to consider the bill, and thia drew ao Tiolent protest froa the Southerners. The vote was taken, an4 ao ■ e of the Senators fro• Dixieland voted - lo. But the7 ahowed no signs of going into long 1peeche1 in the nature of a filibuster. So the poll tax bill went on schedule for early action, which ■ates it possible for Deaocratic Leader Barkley of Kentucky to aake a aove to liait debate. If he succeeds in limiting the debate, there can be no filibuster - all of which, however, depends on future action. The remaining charges a ainst Charlie Chaplin in the Joan Barry case are going to be dropped. Thia was indicated in Hollywood today, when the United States Attorney stated that officials of tbe Department of Justice had indicated that the government will not go on pressin~ the accusation that Chaplin and several other defendants conspired to deprive Joan Barry of her ci•il rights - b7 railroading her out of Hollywood. It seeas that the case will be formally dropped, when the federal attorney receives written instructions fro• the Attorney General.