• GOOD E V E N ING, EVERYBODY:- The headline of the day -- the Big Three onference -- gets underwa7. The Stalin-Churchill- Tru m an Conference formall7 opened. President Truman presiding - by invitation of his colleagues. That'• the headline. There isn't much else -- except aome festive details. Before the Big Three went into seaaion, President Truman had a personal session with Stalia; and then he entertained the Soviet Generalissimo tor lunch. The news dispatches tell how President Truan as host sat at the head of the table, with Stalin at his right. W e are given the menu in long detail, all t .<cept the drinks. The . list of beverages was news dis pat ch suppressed. The1_••••t••••*•~sa7s: •Presumably on the ground of security.• C RSOR'" HIP ----------- The mee ing of the Big Three brings about the • usual row and u p roar because of th o se old f a miliar sources of dist rban c e - ••••••~••i, censorship, eeerec1. t e cutting off of news. In Berlin the American newamen are raia ing a re.tteell& hotl:C'r:, protesting to the skies, beating their typewriteP angrily, and sending ho ■ wrathful dispatches. Those foreign correspondents have a traditional nose for news, but if they stick that noae into the Potsdam conference area, they are likely to get the end of it snipped off. The outcry is all the more agonizing becauae of the f a ir prospect that bad been held out to the newsmen, a bright and glowing promise made by Pre ident Truan himself. On the voyage over. aboard the cruiser AUGUSTA, th~ Presi d ent told the White Bouse correspondents that everything possible would be done to bring ~he news of the meeting of the lig Three to the ~diting world. ounded very d·fferent fro~ the ~ pr vious mee · tin . s of the B , ig Three, those in whi1Jli P · t n lt t 0 i . t ~tetl.,,_, res • .. n noos , ev · e par . c1p a . ed. . . A newsmen were not allowed to go along t 11 - to T heran and Yalta. But ~ t a no i A,e;NA be different, and the Washington cOrTe po · ents sa visions of ho~ conference beadltnea pbppina all the time, big~tiae interviewe · with the sta.tesmen, b , ulletins crackling on tbze wire • th~ rep"Qrier• scurrying about in . mad haste trying to beat eaoh other with ~ables of stories tbeir . edttors •ere pant"lng f , or. Such was the journalistdc picture ev.oked by Pre.sideat Tru an•a promise. But what bas happened? The newsmen groan to tell of it. They are not allo . ed ev~n to approach the ~ eonfe euce area at Potsdam,A ~~ is guarded as cl , osel_y as the harem of an oriental sultan. Cordons of milita guards and lines of bristling b a y o n e ~ / \ t h e aecre<1)' and secur · ty ... a . i ossible azi ·· n . , we . re . oives, _and_ ne spa er re · porters . • ffgt only ar t he boys not a llo . ed in. but one re u a ion provide th t if ny newsman attem ts t:o~i; e , ro ch the confer nee area, he'll have ' his privileges suspends for eventy-t o hours - privileges meaning fa. c i 1 it i e f <> r s '8 nd in g o u t st or i es , if any • One plan b a d been for President ' ruman's press secretary to meet the newsmen at interv a ls and summaries of ho , w thing . a •ere goin "' g. Secretary him . self ne spapera~n. was to h ve give~ the reporters what the Ar•Y: an d Nav1 call - briefings about Stalin, Churchill and Truman were ge-tting on .. But that was · can-celled - nothing doing. And today's dispatch froa Berlin states: •Conference authorities decided that Ross could not leave the compound• and that the correspondents <W'1=1-~ could not ente r it-" l:t, evokes a picture of Charlie inside ~ ~ and the port r outside , r e rning to meet - somethin1 li .e the be uty ~ ho ,... lo cke ,A.. ~ up in• house by her ,\. parents, while her ighing sw in h ngs around mournfull~ J- CRAm = - - t ~ the corner. - ,,, addition u ted States, the , / y,tten re / ,,, orec1/"a(urrou~din_J , . ~ h a d Peace · vie . ro, e ~ ~ewsmen were permitted yesterday to ~~~ atlaa~Prime inister Churchill on a trip through ruined Berlin. hurchill, at the Berlin Chancellery , made some rem a r k s. Be is al ,ays quotable, and be newsmen thought they b ' ad something - a fe dram a ic Churchillian lines .......- £11§QR§Jllf - 5 declaimed a t the Ebancellery where Hitler used to hold forth in all his v i llainy an p o w er. They filed their / ~ ~~JnJJ . st ori es, and1 ~ : . . a ~ ~ anguish when they discovered,, th t the censor had deleted all the Churchill quotation,. Jt&u Woi'A wa:s tliit;a.lne ruling was pa11oll vut.: that the Prime llinister CX11ld not be quoted directly. The abysmal depth was r~ached today, with an official declaration tbat there will be no change. J a. 11111 formal announcement a, 1••••• 011~ 1• that the A , newam.en will not be allowed to cover the conference. In London, lttthf• newspapers today opene~ a ferocious attack on the news b l ackout, with British newsp pers giving some scathing comment. Ttn, •••• gi••• ~ . : , t - ~ J mil l q s ~ i ~ ~ ~t e LONDON STA~ "a blaze of ~ trivialities.• And ~ e to:nlozr:::a:11-, goes on to add that practically the only news from Potsdaa "43, KIi 1119 bcate4 eut is about lawn mowers, alara clocks, and refrigerators that were flown to the conference of the Big Three. "Ibo cares, in the face of hunger in lurope,• demands the newspaper, "about the appearance of French perfume and Belgian jewelry n Berlin for delegates to buy?" The LOBDOI NEWS CHRORICLE puts it thia way: "Long lists of wines and luxuries of all kinds, prepared for the delegates, are no substitute for that message of hope for bich a distraught and hun 6 ry world is waiting.• To these British objurgations we can add a passage from a Onitea Press dispatch, filed at Potsdall toclay: •Luxur is the keynote,• says the story. •Ten ton mobile refrigera ors are packed with choice cuts of meat. able• are covered with rich linens, Old orld silver, and fine glassware. Meals are eaten froa special China brought tro Bavaria. An ice plant in Berlin," the dispatch · continue,, 'is operating for the sole purpose of icing drink• at the conference." And here's the final touch: "Special dieticiaaa supervise the calories and starches fed to the conferees.•. lo wonder the newsmen are aquawkin1, when theJ have to cable history-aaking bulletins like that. ....... ' l!IAQl_!!1L In the a bsence of any real information about v~ VU~ ~L~ ~ what W.. Generalissimo A 1 tbr1'i-1R -jltfrtl"ter---ia-d ::ittu ~ ~ - " " " ' ~ ~~~~ are doing, London gives us an outbreak of rumors. These were circulated on the London Stock Exchange \oday, and tell ua that the Japs have made a peace offer to Stalin, a peace offer for the Generaliasiao to aubalt to the Big Three at Potsdaa. Simultaneously, from Washington we have a story that American peace terms to tapan have already been worked out. That is, the conditions of unconditional .... ... ~ - surrender. These are said to be pretty much the saae as the conditions imposed on defeated Germany - including an Allied occupation of Japan in force for an indefinite period. In the London talk about peace, British opinion is debating the question of whether the Japanese l eaders, if they should decide to give up, will be able to bring about 8 g ~ner a l surrender of the Ja ~ anes e armed forces. This applie, of cour e, to the hue Japanese army in Manchuria - and also to the many pockets of enemy force• scatte ed hrou hout the Asiatic-Pacific area. ill theae isoJ.atcd Japs ree to a ■ ass surrender? They have, it i• pointed out, repeatedly displayed their determination to fight on, and their ability to put up some kind of battle under incredit:y difficult conditions. Thia London line of reasoning, by the way, is borne out by newa from Bura~ - which · tells of British setback•. The Japs have lost northern Bur■ a coapletely and are isolated in parts of southern Burma. Yet today's bulletin ' .. from Admiral Lord~ntbatten indicates that the Japa are firmly h~lding ground which the1 recently captured. The7 seized one place after a furious attack that routed British-Indian troops, the Gurkhas. And they have established new strong points. - figlittlig aadeP tlli aJ•o ■ t iReredible cenaitiena ef \he arenclling Uen&eoe rsift'8• The tremendous airplane and warship assault ~ a ainst Japan continued today - with new r»1'\of American . and British aircraft sma bing at Tokyo. Fifteen hundred planes Wtii-8 in the attack - the fourth great strike by earriers~~ agains Jepan in seven days. And, together ~ with the planes~ the ships, five hundred B-29• blasted four Jap~nese war centers today. ~ - ~ the naval gun bombardment of the Japaneae coast continues, a dispatch froa Admiral liait& tellin& how onoe again American warship• have lined up along the shore of Japan and cut loose with a deluge of shellfire. ~ Thia lates~bombardment, the third against the Japanese homeland in four days, hit the industrial sector ot Hitachi - on the east coast of Honshu, the main island of Japan. !:ialattleshipa hurled their salvos, and Admiral Nimitz identifies the giant I I IOWA as one of them. One wonders - when the fleet, in addition to JAP61_ - - aa sed air pow e r, eteams u p find starts basting away on ~-t:tJ an enemy coast, !:t, be g ins to sound like pca•ildw invasion ~~? A ~ laval bombardments have a way of being a prelude to landings. We ttav.Some London comment on the story that Hitler a nd his sweetheart va Braun may be in krgentina. There have been rumors th a t the former Nazi Fuehrer was taken ~ , S 3 o to the Sou+,h American Republic by W... 0-boat.l'-lb■ •xlaair■u Ev:r:::IG&1d1•ed : a ~ ~ which recently surrendered to the .L Argentina authorities. !ha Argestiae sovernment ha! •~a~ei A. The reports reaching London t ta a L ■ i gll ~ is said to have been observed before the !X~IJIIXll!!ff!X U-Five Bun red and Thirty surrendered. - hundred miles don the coa ~ h e /\ At a point several lace of surrender, a ruuber boat is said o have been aeen leaving the sub ■ •rine an proceeding to shore. In it were several per ons, including Hitler and Eva Braun. So states the rumor, which adds that Bitler has taken refuge cd-an immense German-owned estate in Patagonia, th~ wil ~ . emote section of southern Argentina. 'P'iiete; ,~, 1\e11 1:DJhod7 knc1wi111 aftn ■t - it for • 1111111 I i ■ w, D lllLAll Here's for Prime Minister deValera about the status of Ireland. Some days ago, deValera, in a passing phrase, called bis country a wrepublic.• The q uestion was instan ly asked - was Irelaad out of the British Empire entirely? What did deValera mean by republic? Today he answered. He eta ed that Ireland is an independent republic, and has had that status since lioeteen Thirty-Seven when the new constitution went into ~peration. But, added deValera, Ireland ii associate with the British Commonwealth in what he called •aattera of external policy.• This association exists through the medium of the British King. · leValera explaining that the Irish recognize the King as acting for the ■ in certain aspects of international relations. The Senate has just eonfir ·_ ed the n · ollltn tion of rred L Vine on as Seer tary of the Trea ury, · succ , eeding Henry orgenthau. The Sen ti action as u1u1. , ni•ous, not a dissenting vote~ thereby continuing strong Senate support 0£ the Truman cabin~t appointments. The Ne York ne spaper strlke ended today, after tying up fourteen d ilies for seventeen days. This morning the striking deli 1 ery men voted to call off their walkout, and immedi a tely afterward they were in their, trucks delivering normal newspaper supplies to Rew Yorkr- to~ ~ J\ ~ __,. _.. ~ ~ , A terrifying dram a o f a fl ming &a enger ship was enc ed oday in the St.Clair iver, a section of the wa erw a y th a t l e ds from Lake Huron to Lake rie. Thous n s of peo p le lining tlie Canadian and American sidea of he river gazed ~i h bre a thless intensity es a steamer, crowded with three hundred and fifty passengers, was devoured by fire, and burned to the waterline. All the elements of a ghastly tra edy were there. The lake steamer, a boat thirty years old, had left Detroit ~ammed with people, and tied up to a pier at Port Edward, Ontario. Fire broke out in nearby freight yar d , and swept long the dock - flam ~ • racing with su ~ h speed they couldn't get the shi p away in time. The blaze swept upon the vessel, end the old boat burned li k e a mass of kin 1·n ood, as it rifte d out into the tr m - its c d ed a en g e in w i c. P o le o n o re e a h f t m h i h ve i J o h ou, . Th e h is t1e o f th s em d with a call for help - a continuing blast. _ Above the shrillin of the whistle, people on shore could hear the cries n sere m of the passenge s. fte 1 =tAIM milling ) around on t be deck in a frenzy: M:dr many were leaping into the water. It looked like a frightful h locaust, . ~ ) with a has~ly loss of life, people burn~ people drowning. . But here• s what happened~- From the Ontario and the Michigan sides of th St.Clair River, poats of ever7 sort put out, motor boats, rowboats, canoes. Everythina th t would float went.-, to the blazing pasienger vea1el. (rhe rescuers,., rm people of every sort., many ot ol -time r · v men, full of skill and knowle _ . them There wer o s~ the disciplined o fficers and ere s o hich too ch re of the r s u of the flotilla, a n i skill ul jor.) o f b o s s a r m r un th b azin ip. Som , in fbL. of o o ing f lo s , c m l o n · i a nd lli E~ - 3 . took off bo loa d o'"r ~ passengers, many of whom were women with b bie . Othe r s pulled people out of the water - some t o hundred r esc ued from the river. One veteran riverman, Barry Simpson, carried four boatloads ashore. WThat old river," he s a ys, wwas alive ait with swarming people a~d we just kept hauling the ■ out and aaking for shore. Then I'd turn around, go back, and haul some more. I just can't understand, w ba adds, •how ao many people could get into such a jam - without aomebo death 1f: was the airacle getting burned to or drowned.w That of the ship on fire 0 y - not a 1ife lost. · Of the three hundred nd fifty persons ab oar ' all were saved.