Evening star. [volume], October 31, 1927, Image 1

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
WEATHER.
Id. 9. Weather Bureau Forecast.)
Fair tonight: not so cool tonight.
Tomorrow partly cloudy.
Temperature—Highest. 63. at noon
today; lowest, 48. at 7 a.m. today.
Full report on page 5.
Closing N. Y. Markets, Pages 14 and 15
XT- QA AOS Entered as second class matter
i>o.
TRACTION MERGER
WITH $52,1,000
CAPITAL PROPOSED
Wilson Outlines Consolidation
Plan Before Public
Utilities Board.
PRESENT FARE WOULD
CONTINUE FOR ONE^EAR
' " I
Bate Making to Be Based on
Earnings Bather Than Valu
ation of Property.
Salient features of the widely her
aided plan of Harley P. Wilson, owner
of the Washington Rapid Transit Co.,
for bringing about a unification of the
transportation systems of the District ;
were officially submitted to the Public
Utilities Commission today by its au
thor and were immediately made pub- (
lie for the first time.
The plan provides for a consolida
tion of the transit properties of the (
Capital Traction, Washington Rail- ,
way & Electric and the Washington
Rapid Transit Cos., and the creation
of a new company, chartered by act
of Congress.
The merger company would have a
capitalization of $52,700,000, of which
$2,700,000 would be new capital, sl,-
200,000 of which would be used for
making track adjustments and rear
rangement of facilities, etc.; $500,000
for working capital and $1,000,000 for
a fare adjustment fund.
Based on Earnings.
The capitalization would be based,
as previously hinted, not on the re
spective valuation of the transporta
tion companies, but on their earnings
for a typical ye&r.
Mr. Wilson pointed out that he had
succeeded in inducing the owners of
the street railway properties to accept (
the earnings of the company rather .
than the valuation as the basis for
rate-making purposes. .
The merged company, under Mr.
Wilson’* plan, would be privately
owned, but he proposes the appoint
ment bv the District Commissioners *
of a board of three trustees to man- <
age the utilities, regulate and fix the i
rates of fare and to direct the re- ,
arrangement of the tracks. The sal- ,
aries cf these trustees he proposes ,
to charge against the operating ex
penses of the consolidated company.
Present Fares to Stand. ,
The plan also contemplates the con i
tinuanee of the present rates of fare s I
for one year after the date of con- c
Validation.
Mr. Wilson emphasized that the i
plan he submitted to the commission .«
still lacked certain detail* as to the (
features outlined in the document i
submitted to the commission, ar.d he <
reserved the right to make any
changes necessary before a public i
hearing is held by the commission to ]
consider his proposal. i
The Potomac Electric Power Co. (
•would not be a party to the merger, ,
M*\ Wilson, pointing out that it is a
- corporation engaged in a dis- ,
ferent line of business. 1
The consolidated company, under .
Mr. Wilson's plan would assume a ,
funded debt of the existing companies ,
not in excess of $20,556,000. Inciden
tal t<f the consolidation there would be ,
provided in cash new capital amount
ing to $2,700,000, which would lie used
to furnish the superior and more eco
nomical service.
Earnings Rate-Making Basis.
Mr. Wilson said that he proposes to
use the earnings of the railway com
panies for a typical year instead of
the valuation as a basis for rate-mak
ing purposes, because he feels that the
valuation of these companies, which
ranges between $62,500,000 and $65,-
000,000. would impose a higher charge
upon the street car and bus riders
than present conditions justify.
Under this plan the earnings of the
companies before interest and depre
ciation, together with the saving in :
operating costs which he claims will
result under a unified and readjusted
operation and more efficient service,
estimated at about $1,000,000 a year,
and also immunity of the merged com
pany from the expense of paying the
salaries of the crossing policemen and
the cost of street paving between the
tracks, would give the consolidated
company an earning of more than $3,-
SOO,OOO a year.
Capitalized at the return of 7 per
cent which the courts have held to
be fair a rate base of $50,000,000
would be established to which would
be added $2,700,000 of new capital,
making an aggregated rate base of
$52,700,000 at the beginning of the
operation of the consolidated com
pany.
Annual Return Estimated.
On this basis Mr. Wilson has fig
ured the owners would be entitled
to an annual return of $3,689,000 a
year. This rate base is from $12.-
500.000 to $15,000,000 under that al
ready established by the District
Court of Appeals in the Capital Tree- j
tion Co. case and the probable results
of the Washington Railway and I
Electric Co. case.
Mr. Wilson’s plan also contemplates j
having the Potomac Electric Power
Co. enter into a long-term contract
with the consolidated railways com
pany to furnish it power on such
terms that the n«-t cost would be sub
stantially less than the present ag
gregate cost to the Capital Traction
and the Washington Railway & Elec
tric Cos.
Th<* board of trustees proposed by
Mr. Wilson to manage the consolidat
ed company would have conferred
upon it ample powers of supervision,
regulation and ditection to assure a
service and provide extensions, better
ments and improvements as may be
required in the public interest.
"The trustees acting for the Dis
trict, having as indicated supervision
over costs of operation, although leav- i
ing the actual operation in the hands |
of the corporation," lie said, "would
be empowered to periodically adjust
fares so as to pay actual operating
costs plus the return to the owners
the properties, the return to the
wners to Ije utilized by them in pay
ig interest on funded debt and divi
( ends.
Adjusfiiient of Kates.
•‘For use In such periodical adjust
ments of rates of fare as may occur,
a fare adjustment fund of $1,000...
on l’age 5, Column 3.j
BETTER AND CHEAPER SERVICE
SEEN IN WILSON MERGER PLAN
Improved Track Conditions and Better
Routing of Cars Among Features in
Proposed Consolidation.
The plan of Harley P. Wilson for
the voluntary merger of Washington’s
major transportation lines, as deliv
ered to the chairman of the Public
Utilities Commission today, follows:
“My dear Mr. Chairman:
"As you are aware, I have been
actively engaged for some months in
an effort to work out a plan for the
unification of the street railway
lines and bus lines in the District of
Columbia. It is a complex problem,
involving consideration of many fac
tors and conflicting interests. I am
gratified, however, to be able to say
that the major problems have found
solution, and that the plan is In suf
ficiently definite shape to enable me
to submit its principal features to the
commission.
"I would have preferred not to write
you about this matter until certain
minor questions have been definitely
solved, but, in view of the widespread
Public interest in the matter and the
misunderstanding that may arise out
of reports about the plan, which are
not always accurate, I have decided
to submit to you now' the general
outlines of what I propose.
SOVIET ASKS SEAT
AT ARMS PARLEY
Moscow’s Decision Declared
to Improve Chances of
Conference Success.
By the Associated Pres*.
GENEVA, Oetober 31.—Russia has
notified the League of Nations that
the S >viet government will participate
in the work of the preparatory com
mission on a disarmament conference,
it was announced at League head
quarters today.
The absence of Russia has been con
sidered one of the biggest obstacles
to the convocation of a conference
which would stand a chance of suc
cess in the reduction of land arma
ments. The commission meets here
November 39.
Swiss Incident Closed.
The Soviet government hitherto has
refused collaboration in the disarma
ment conferences of the League, its
last refusal being accompanied by the
declaration that the SpKtet government
was disinclined to Bend delegates to
Switzerland because the then un
settled controversy that grew out of
the assassination of Vaslav Vorovsky.
Soviet representative at the Lausanne
conference of 1923.
Sir Eric Drummond, League secre
tary, today received a telegram from
Foreign Commissar Tchitcherin say
ing that now that the Vorovsky inci
dent had been settled by the protocol
of April 14, signed in Berlin betwee.i
Switzerland and Soviet Russia, Mos
cow was willing to participate in the
labors of the disarmament commis
sion. A request for information as to
the place, date and agenda of the next
meeting was included.
League circles regard Russia’s de
cision to co-operate in the disarma
ment commission’s work as of th»
greatest importance to the future of
disarmament. In principle it is re
garded as removing the chief objec
tion of the nations borderihg Russia
to serious discussions of the disarma
ment problem. Several of these na
tions have made their acceptance of
any treaty conditional upon the ad
herence of Russia to the same.
Army Strength a Mystery.
The exact strength of the Soviet
army is said to remain a mystery to
the Western world and Soviet partici
pation in the conferences, it is be
lieved, will permit all the powers to
lay their cards on the table.
Furthermore, coming after Soviet
collaboration in the international eco
nomic conference. Moscow’s latest de
cision is regarded as additional proof
that Russia seeks to return to the
European concert of nations. Several
conferences hitherto have sought to
bring Russia back into this concert,
but failed.
The United States is represented on
the preparatory commission, which
next meets on November 30.
The agenda of the conference in
eludes an examination into the resolu
tion recently adopted by the League
Assembly and Council concerning dis
armament, especially the question of
apjjointing a special committee to
study the question of security raised
by the French delegates at the last
assembly.
germaTflyerTeaves
PERSIA ON WAY TO U. S.
By the AMseoiated Press.
BENDER ABBAS, Persia, October
; 31.—Lieut. Otto Koennecke hopped off
at 6:30 a.m. today for Karachi, India.
700 miles away, in the plane Ger
j mania, which he is flying to the
i United States byway of the Orient.
Lieut. Koennecke set out without
his original partner, Count George
Cedric Solms-Laubach. financial hack
er of the flight, who suffered slight in
juries recently when the Germania
made a forced landing, fount Solms-
Laubach lias since reached Bagdad,
Irak, by an air liner and left for Cairo
Egypt.
Man Killed on Train Tracks Has Only
Self to Blame, Supreme Court Rules
By he Associated Pres*. j
A rule of conduct for aiitomobiiists
j and o'.’ who cross railroad tracks
• was laid down today hv the Supremo
j Court in a case appealed by the Balt!
j more At Ohio Itailroad.
In «'*t(jns; aside a judgment in favor
of the estate of Nathan Uoodman,
killed at Whit held. Ohio, the court,
through Justice Holmes, declared that
“when a man goes upon a railroad
track, he knows that lie goes to a
; place where he w ill he killed if a
j train cornea upon him before lie is
cl ar of the track. He knows that*
\ s
%\\t ifef.
\ J y WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION \^/
WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 3927-FORTY-EIGHT PAGES. *
“The plan contemplates:
The consolidation of the transit
properties of the Capital Traction Co.,
the Washington Railway & Electric
Co. and its subsidiaries and the Wash
ington Rapid Transit Co. The Poto
mac Electric Power Co. is r.ot in
cluded, since it is a separate corpora
tion engaged in a different line of
business.
“2. Effective public direction of
service, rates of fare, rearrangements
of tracks and facilities, construction
of extensions, betterments and im
provements, etc., of the consolidated
properties.
"3. To effect these fundamental ob
jects it is proposed that a new com
pany be chartered by act of Congress
to take over all of the aforesaid
transit facilities and properties, the
consolidated company to assume fund
ed debt of the existing companies, not
to exceed in the aggregate $20,556,000.
Incidental to the consolidation there
will be provided in cash the lotal sum
of $2,700,000, of which $1,200,000 will
be used for the purpose of making
necessary track adjustments and re
arrangement of facilities, etc., to en
able the consolidated company to fur
nish a superior and more economical
(Continued on Page 5, Column 1.)
RUMANIAN REVOLT
REPORTED FLARING
Revolution Directed Against
Premier Bratiano, Hun
garian Papers Say.
By the Associated Press.
BUDAPEST, Hungary, October 31.
—Reports from the Rumanian frontier
to the effect that a revolution broke
out last night throughout Rumania
directed against Premier Bratiano are
published by the local newspapers to
day.
The reports, however, could not be
confirmed.
Dispatches from Bucharest yester
day stated that the situation in Ru
mania had returned to normal and
that it appeared as though Premier
Bratiano had extinguished the hopes
among Prince Carol’s followers that
Carol would be restored to the Ru
manian throne. -v
The only visible signs of the flare
up over Carol, the dispatches said,
were a few soldiers in evidence on
guard outside the royal palace.
GARRISONS ON WAR BASIS.
Soldiers In Romania Prepare for Any
Eventualities.
iJugoslavia. October
,, •—Bucharest dispatches to
PoliUka say that all Rumanian gar
risons have Jjeen placed on a war
basis with a view to any eventualities
that may result at the meeting of
the National Peasants’ party at Alba
Juba.
(The National Peasants’ party has
shown itself as somewhat favorable
toward a possible restoration of Prince
Carol to the Rumanian throne.)
TENSION REPORTED EASED
Allowance for Caro! Declared Likely
To be Increased.
LONDON, October 31 UP).—A Bu
charest dispatch received by the West
minister Gazette by indirect route
to avoid the censorship, says the ten
sion in Rumania has been decreased
by the intervention of the Patriarch
Miron Cristea, one of the regents.
The patriarch advised Premier Bra
tSano to modify his iron methods,
which he declared could only lead
to trouble, and to act more like
a eontsitmional premier and less like
a dictator.
It is believed that, due to this,
the situation has eased, and it is
thought that Former Crown Prince
Carol may have his financial allow
ance increased as a reward for his
failure to achieve a coup d’etat.
Reuter's Budapest correspondent
snvs rumors emanating from Tran
sylvania are that Bratiano is pre
paring to leave Rumania. Little cre
dence is attached to the rumors.
DISORDER REPORTS DENIED.
Rumanian Legation in Paris Terms
Rumors False.
PARIS. October 31 UP).—The Ru
manian legation here today issued a
formal statement denying "false re
ports arising in Berlin, Vienna and
Budapest” of disorders in Rumania,
especially with regard to alleged con
mots in Transylvania and Bessarabia.
The statement declares that no ex
! traorriinary measures have been taken
or are necessary to maintain order
and denies reports that disagreement
has arisen between the regency and
| the Bratiano government.
Airplane Meet Day Set.
SANTA MONICA, Calif., October 31
(4 I ),—An airplane meet, in which
Army. Navy and commercial craft
will participate, commemorating the
completion of the Army's around-the
world flight, will lie held at Clover
| Field, near here November 13. The
meet will he the third annual affair
staged under the auspices of the
I Southern California chapter of the
1 National Aeronautic Association.
he must stop for the train, not the
train stop for him.
“in such circumstances, it seems
to us. that if it driver cannot lie sure
otherwise whether a train is danger
ously near, ho must stop and get out
of his vehicle, although obviously he
will not often be required to do more
than to stop and look. It seems to
us that it he relies upon not hearing
the train or any signal, and takes
no further precaution, he does so at
his own risk."
The court announced that it had
laid down this title of conduct for the
conUwi of all courts “once for all.”
OIL DEAL LEADING
TO ALLEGED BRIBE
DESCRIBED TO JURY
Government Prosecutor Suc
ceeds in Introducing Evidence
Over Objections of Defense.
DOCUMENTS SHOW TRADE
WITH HUMPHREYS FIRM
Roberts Contends Proceeds Were
Invested in Bonds Which
Fall Later Received.
Blocked temporarily by the defense
but substained by the court after
hearing lengthy arguments, Owen J.
Roberts, special Government oil prose
cutor, succeeded today in placing be
fore the jury in the Fall-Sinclair con
spiracy case evidence intended to show
that Harry F. Sinclair had a major
interest in the Continental Trading
Co. of Canada, “which by an oil deal"
made millions of dollars in profit and
invested them in Liberty bonds, some
of which found their way into the
hands of Albert B. Fall a month after
the Teapot Dome lease was given to
Sinclair by the former Secretary of
the Interior.
Roberts read to the jury three legal
documents which in effect showed that
on November 17, 3921, A. E. Hum
phreys, now dead, a wealthv oil op
erator of Texas, sold 33,333,333 bar
rels of oil at §1.50 per barrel to the
Continental company, which Roberts
told the court was a "mere shell” and
was organized on that same day; that
the Continental company on the same
day resold the oil to tfie Sinclair Crude
Oil Purchasing Co. and the Prairie
Oil & Gas Co. at §1.75 a barrel amt
that. Sinclair and James E. O'Neil,
president of the Prairie company, who
cannot be found to testify in this trial,
guaranteed in writing the performance
of the Continentals contract with
Humphreys.
Seeks to Prove. Agreement.
Then as Roberts sought to show
that an agreement had been entered
into between the Sinclair Crude Oil
Purchasing Co. and the Continental
Co. on May 26. 1923, whereby the
Continental Co. assigned its contract
with the Humphreys companies to the
Sinclair interests for $400,000, Martin
W. Littleton, counsel for Sinclair,
vigorously objected on the ground
primarily that the date of the agree
ment was beyond the boundaries
established in the indictment during
which the alleged conspiracy began
and was consummated.
Roberts had called H. L. Phillips of
Tulsa, Okla., president of the Sinclair
Crude Oil Producing Co., to the stand
and requested him to produce the
agreement. It was upon this request
that Littleton sought to block the
Government's procedure.
With the jury excluded, Roberts
made a lengthy statement to the
court, in which he emphasized the
Importance of this agreement. By the
admission of the agreement, he told
Justice Frederick L. Siddons, in which
the Continental company “sold its
contract for the paltry sum of $400,-
000” at a time when it would have
made "millions of profit” under it, the
Government oil prosecutor declared
that evidence and more to follow
“would show what the Continental
company was, where it made its profit,
who was interested and would bring
home Sinclair’s ownership and distri
bution of the Liberty bonds.”
Littleton took the stand that the
Government to date had not produced
any evidence whatever which would
tend to show that Sinclair was inter
ested in the Continental company;
that he ever received a bond for any
profits made by the company or that
he was in any other way identified
with it.
Evidence Is Admitted.
In permitting the admission of the
agreement as evidence, the case pro
ceeded, only to be interrupted a moment \
later for the luncheon recess. Justice
Siddons, in overruling the objection
of the defense, stated that while no
evidence had been offered to show
that Sinclair owned stock or secur
ities in the Continental Co. at the
time of the development in the present
case, the evidence thus far tends to
show that the Continental Co. was
“a mere instrument, a shadow and an
illusion,” by which was secured an
exceedingly profitable contract. “I
am not prepared to characterize it
as a mere speculation or conjecture,"
the court added with some heat. "In
view of the evidence which Govern
ment counsel has already put in and
in view of the Government's conten
tion and what it purports to show
later on I .am not prepared to say
that this is irrelevant.”
Immediately after the luncheon
recess, Roberts read to the jury the
agreement of May 26, 3923, which set
forth that the Sinclair Crude Oil and
Prairie companies agreed to the con
tract made between the Continental
Co. and the Humphreys companies
for $400,000, half to he paid by the
Sinclair Co. and the other half by the
Prairie concern. Each company
therefore had one-half interest in the
contract, which was taken over as of
June J, 1923. The agreement also
set forth that the repurchase or re
sale agreement would be canceled.
Tells of Meeting Osier.
In answer to Roberts’ questions,
Phillips said he met H. S. Osier,
president of the Continental Co., in
the Sinclair Building in New York on
an appointment made by the witness.
Asked by Roberts from whom he re
ceived his instructions to make the
appointment, Phillips could not
answer, explaining, "i had heard me
assignment of the contract could be
purchased," He denied that Sinclair
gave him the information, and dis
missed the question finally by declar
ing, “1 don't know where 1 first heard
about it." j 4
Osier had a draft of the agreement
in which the $400,000 appeared, and,
after a discussion as to the terms,
Phillips signed on behalf of the Sin
clair Crude oil Co. He said, in
answer to further questions, .hat he
previously had heard the figures in
volved, but was unable to give the
i source of that information. Roberts
hammered away with many questions
in an endeavor to learn from the wit
ness his original information about
the assignment, but without avail.
The agreement already had been ex
, ecuted by the Continental Co., Phil
lips testified, when he first saw it, and
, later it was executed by the IV t
<'o.. from which concern he received a
copy showing that action.
I Phillips executed the contract with
, on* authority from the hoard of d>ree
(Continued on Page L Column 2.
HALLOWEEN, 1927.
RADIO ALLOCATIONS
SEEN AT DEADLOCK
Assignment of Wave Lengths
a Failure, Observers Say. j
New Plan Urged.
Coincident with the first break in
the Federal Radio Commission, which
comes today with the effective date of
the resignation of Commissioner
Henry H. Bellows of Minneapolis, it
is increasingly evident both to the
commissioners and to observers of na
tional radio affairs that an impasse
has been reached in the allocation of
wave lengths.
Two courses of action are open to
settle a problem that has become even
more vexing, in the face of the herald
ed improvements over the Summer
months, than it was before the reallo
cations in June.
The plain facts in the case, accord
ing to those who have watched the
trend of affairs in the broadcasting
world, are that the national realloca
tions. which have been progressing
ever since last May, have failed to
materially remedy the congested ether
situation, and that some new align
ment of broadcasters in an entirely
different direction from that set up
last June must be made. The first and
probably the foremost of the two pos
sibilities is elimination of nearly half
the present broadcasters by some pain
less or painful method that will solve
the physical problem of placing some
thing more than 640 stations on the
air without interference.
New Plan Outlined.
The other is retention of all the
present broadcasters under a new
scheme of national, regional and local
allocations, which will curb power,
divide time ancL keep the big broad
casters so far away from each other,
in so far as receivers’ sets are con
cerned. that the melancholy plaint of
interference no longer will be heard.
Commissioner Bellows’ resignation,
according to a statement issued under
the letterhead of the commission a
few r days ago, came because of
economic reasons. Although the radio
law of February last authoris 'd crea
tion of the commission and the five
members were appointed by President
Coolidge, effective March 15, there
was no provision made for their
salaries of SIO,OOO a year. In the
meantime, and in the hope that Con
gress will pass a deficiency appropria
tion to care for their salaries, mem
iters of the air control body have
functioned without salary since
March 13.
The American Engineering Council
last April presented a voluminous
report to the commission, declaring
that the only satisfactory way to re
duce congestion and interference on
the air was to cut down the number
of broadcasters. Substantially the
same message was given the commis
sion by experts of the Bureau of
Standards and by radio engineers as
sociated with private corporations.
public Is Considered.
At its early policy meetings, in
which the commission set. up the na
ture of its guiding policies, member:
decided that the air control body ha;
no authority, expressly given by Con
gress, or inferred, to arbitrarily takf
broadcasting licenses away from ex
isting broadcasters without some rea
sonable standard of measurement
which they must meet. The biggest
plank in the platform of measurement
was public convenience and necessity
if a broadcaster was wanted by thr
(Continued on Page 2, Column 6.)
PAIR MUST FACE TRIAL
IN MURDER CONSPIRACY
Aft-s. Anna Apolonio. 601 Eleventh
street northeast, and Dr. Dee Ham
mer, chiropractor, 209 Maryland ave
nue northeast, must stand trial on the
indictment returned against them last
June, charging a conspiracy to murder
Joseph Apolonio. husband of the wom
an. Chief Justice McCol of the Dis
trict Supreme Court today overruled
the demurrer of counsel for the de
fendants, attacking the validity of the
Indictment.
7'he Government's contention is that
t’no pair agreed to get rid of the hus
band so that they might he married
and that Hammer entered into nego
tiations with Robert F. Langdon,
otherwise known as Robert F. Law- !
rence, believing him to be a gunman. I
The indictment is in two counts, one J
alleging conspiracy to commit murder |
and the other charging the crime of I
soliciting another to commit murder i
Assistant United States Attorney
Fihelly represented the Government at
the arguments on the demurrer.
—— - - ■ •• ■
Radio Programs—Page 36
Gideons Now Put
Bibles on Stage
Dressing Tables
By the Associated Pres*.
CHICAGO, October 31.—The
Gideons, who have placed Bibles
in most every hotel room in the
. country, today extended their ef
forts to the theater.
Chorus girls and principals ap
pearing in Chicago productions
will be the first to find Bibles on
their dressing room tables. The
Bibles were to be placed on the
make-up tables by tonight.
Later the books are to be placed
in theaters throughout the country. ‘
LINDBERGH JOINS
GUGGENHEIM FUND
Arrangement Leaves Him
Free to Continue Activities
in Interest of Aviation.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, October 31.—C01.
Charles A. Lindbergh has been re
tained in a consulting capacity by the
Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Pro
motion of Aeronautics and will not
identify himself, at least for the pres
ent, with any commercial undertaking.
His arrangement with the Guggen
heim Fund will leave him free to en
gage in any activities to promote the
cause of flying.
Harry F. Guggenheim, president of
the Guggenheim Fund, issued the fol
lowing statement today:
"Col.. Charles A. Lindbergh has de
termined that for the present, at least,
he will not identify himself with any
commercial undertaking.
“The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for
the Promotion of Aeronautics has
therefore retained Col. Lindbergh in
a consulting capacity'. Under the ar
rangement with him. he will he free
to engage in any activities which will
in his judgment promote the cause of
aviation.
“At his request he will Vie at liberty
to make such flights or other experi
mental efforts in behalf of aviation as
he may choose upon his initiative and
responsibility.
"fie will become a member and
trustee of the .fund and his official
headquarters will be at the office of
the fund.”
It was under auspices of the Gug
genheim Fund that Col. Lindbergh
made his air tour of the country after
making the first flight across the At
lantic from the United States to
Fra nee.
■- •
SENATE ELECTION HELD
RACE FOR MILLIONAIRES
Washington State Representative
Refuses Candidacy in
. “Battle of Cash.”
By the Associated Press.
WALLA WALLA, Wash., October
31. —Charging that next year’s Sena
torial election in Washington will be
"a mere battle of hard cash versus
hard cash,” John W. Summers, Re
publican Representative from the
fourth congressional district, in a
statement today refused to become a
candidate.
“I shall make no attempt to pur
chase a seat in the United States
Senate, and it now looks like a million
aires' race in this State for the Senate
next year,” his statement said.
Summers, who was first elected as
Representative to Congress in 1918,
was nominated and reelected to the
j Seventieth Congress without opposi-
I tion. !
Zoo Giraffes Fed “Bottled Sunshine"
To Store Energy for Winter Indoors
Considerable doses of cod liver oil
are being administered to the pair of
young giraffes at the Zoo. in an effort
| to make tip for some of the sunshine
they have lost in their close quar
! ters during the Summer,
i ft has been* impossible to construct
! a yard this Summer in which the two
j animals could romp out-of-doors and
; store up sunshine in their bodies for
the Winter confinement.
The male giraffe, Hi-boy, has be
en n to droop quite badly, and while
there is little evidence of rickets, there
is some fear of an organic disorder,
A
The only evening paper
in Washington with the
Associated Press news
service.
UP) Means Associated Press.
414 TEACHERS SUE
10 GET BACK PAY
Separate Actions Filed for
Salary They Claim Is Due
Under New Bill.
Four hundred and fourteen public
school teachers today filed suits
, gainst the District of Columbia for
balances of salary claimed for serv
ices during the three years which
have passed since the new teachers’
salary bill went into effect. Each
of the teachers filed his or her sepa
rate suit in the Municipal Court,
claiming amounts carrying from S3OO
to S9OO plus interest.
Last month Attorney Paul E. Lesh
filed five test cases, in which it is
expected the law applicable to all
the suits filed today will be settled.
When the salary bill went into effect
three years ago, about 100 graded
school teachers, who believed the sal
aries alloted them by the school
authorities were not what Congress
had directed, organized themselves as
a committee and sought a review of
their salary placement by the Control
ler. When they got no action they
employed counsel in an effort first to
get a ruling by the Controller.
Effort Comes to Naught.
The Controllers’ office, however,
took the view that it was concerned
only with overpayments and not with
underpayments, and that it would not
pass on the matter unless requested
hv the District authorities. The
Board of Education declined last
Spring to request a ruling, and the
committee of the board to which the
matter was referred, expressed the
view that the teachers, remedy, if
they were dissatisfied, was by suits
against the District.
As the teachers’ efforts to get the
matter adjusted without suit met ob
structions, the number of teachers
who united in the effort grew, until
nearly 500 are now insisting upon a
ruling on the readjustments they con
sider due them.
The statute of limitations of three
years began this Fall to operate to
bar the claims for the first months of
service under the new salary act, and
the teachers sought to have the Com
missioners agree to adjust all claims
as might be decided in the test cases
filed last month, and thus avoid the
expense of so many separate suits.
Decline to Waive Statute.
The Commissioners, by letter sent
in September to the teachers’ attorney,
declined to agree to waive the statute
of limitations or any other defense
which might be interposed to the
claims. The teachers were then ad
vised that the only way to save their
rights was to file separate suits, with
out waiting for the decisions in the
test cases.
The cost of filing the suits entered
today by the teachers was $3,739.50
to the clerk of the Municipal Court
and $207 to th» United States marshal
of that cour<. The marshal’s fee is
at the usual rate of 50 cents in each
suit for the formal delivery of the
papers to the Commissioners. In the
matter of the number of separate suits
filed simultaneously a new local rec
ord was made.
STORE BURGLAR SLAIN.
Policeman Wounds Fellow Officer
in Fight With Thieves.
CHICAGO. October 31 UP).— Police
slew one negro burglar, captured
another and themselves suffered one
casualty when they close.l in on the
two men who were robbing a
grocery store.
The dead man was identified as
William McDermott; his companion
as Jess Hickman. Patrolman Patrick
O’Day was shot in the leg by a fellow
officer when the two opened fire on
McDermott from opposite Sides of the
I store.
evidenced by swelling about the knees,
an unsteady gait and certain psycho
logical reactions. He is being given
special treatment in the hope that
he can be pulled through the Winter
successfully.
The effect of illness, according to
Dr. William M. Mann, director of the
Zoo, is evidenced in the animal’s sus
picion of the keepers who come to
feed him. Once he would trot up to
them and allow his neck to be stroked.
Xow he retreats suspiciously.
The female giraffe, Dot, has shown
no bad effects as yet.
Saturday’s Circulation, 98,059
Sunday’s ClrnfciHon, 110,819
MELLON PROPOSES
©MOO LIMIT
FOR TAX REDUCTION
Recommendation Made at
Hearing of He ::e Ways and
Means Committee.
FIGURE IS LOWER THAN
PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED
Would Cut Corporation Levy and
Bevise Surtax on $16,000 to
$90,000 Incomes.
By the Associated Press.
Limitation of the prospective tax
reduction to approximately $225,000,-
000—a lower figure even than previ
ously estirnated-*-was recommended
today by Secretary Mellon at the
opening of tlie tax hearings by the
House ways and means committee.
The tax reduction program he sub
mitted follows:
1. Reduction of the corporation tax
from 13’ 3 per cent to 13 per cent.
2. Extending permission to corpora
tions with net income of $25,000 or
loss, and with not more than 10 stock
holders, to file returns and pay the
tax as partnership or corporations at
their option.
3. Revision of the surtax rates
applying on individual incomes be
tween $16,000 and $90,000.
4. Repeal of the estate tax.
5. Exemption from taxation of the
income derived from American bank
ers’ acceptances held by foreign cen
tral banks of issue.
Would Keep Auto Tax.
Contrary to expectations, the Secre
tary opposed any change whatever in
the remaining war-time excise and
miscellaneous taxes. He argued at
length for the retention of the present
3 per cent levy on automobiles and the
10 per cent tax on admissions apply
mg to tickets selling for more than
cents, on the ground that these
duties and the pxcise tax on tobacco
should be kept "in the interest of a
well balanced tax system.”
"Unless we are to rely almost ex
clusively,” he said, "on direct taxes
paid by a few and are prepared to see
our national Government supported,
not by the entire body of our citizens,
but by a limited class, these are the
kinds of taxes which should be re
tained.”
The administration program con
templated no further reductions in the
normal income rates applying to in
dividuals, nor any further increase in
the exemptions allowed individuals,
which propositions have been the bat
tle grounds of past revenue legisla
tive fights. Nor is any reduction along
these lines now planned by congres
sional leaders. .
Explains Previous Estimates.
Arguing for the limitation of the
total tax cut to $225,000,000 in the face
of a surplus of $635,000,000 for the
last fiscal year and a prospective mar
gin of $455,000,000 for this year, Mr.
Mellon insisted that the basis for the
reduction must be the surplus avail
able in the fiscal year 1929. This, he
said, is estimated at $274,000,000.
The Secretary frankly admitted
that "for a number of years past the
.Treasury estimates have under
estimated revenue that was later
realized” and recognized that the ar
gument may be made again that the
estimated surplus for 1929 is too low
in view of the big margins of last
year and this year.
“The answer is,” he said, "that the
surpluses in 1927 and this fiscal year
were in the main due to certain re
sources which cannot be available
in 1929, since by that time they will
have been exhausted.
No Evidence of Increase.
“In so far as current revenue is con
cerned, it should be noted that the
Treasury estimate that the same re
ceipts will be available in 1929 as
in 1925, and as were actually col
lected in 1927.
“There is no evidence available to
justify the assumption that they will
he larger. There are certain definite
indications that they may be smaller,
but the department hopes that these
unfavorable factors will be offset by
the normal growth of the country.”
Anticipating the demands which
will be made for larger reductions on
the grounds that the estimates of
the surplus for 1929 are too low In
view of the fact that past estimates
have always been low. the Secretary
denied that the underestimates in the
past were the result of "deliberate
intention or policy.”
“Every effort to avoid a repetition
of this result,” he said, "has been
made in preparation of the estimates
here presented. It would be unwar
ranted and unwise to assume that in
the present estimates there is any
concealed surplus. In these figures
the Treasury has not consciously, nor
as a matter of policy, played safe.
Figures Called Reliable.
"If tax reductions are made or ap
propriations voted on the assumption
tHe present figures understate prob
able future receipts, responsibility for
such reductions or appropriations
must be assumed by those who advo
cate them. The Treasury has placed
the probable receipts at the highest
figures compatible with the most de
pendable forecast and facts which
careful and disinterested investiga
tion could secure.
. "As far as expenditures are con
cerned, the estimates have been fur
nished by the Bureau of the Budget.
It should he remembered that esti
mates do not include an expenditures
that may be incurred by reason of
new legislation. The Treasury be
lieves that tax reduction should not
in any event be in excess of approxi
mately $225,000,000.”
While normal receipts and expendi
tures were calculated to be approxi
mately the same for this year and next,
the differences between the estimated
surplus of $445,000,000 for this year
and $274,000,000 for next year was ac
counted for largely by an estimated
reduction of $256,000,000 next year in
special receipts, including those back
tax collections, over those received
this year.
The loss in revenue which would he
occasioned by each of the proposals
recommended was estimated as
follows:
Reduction of corporation, tax—
5135,000,000.
New classification for corporations
with income of $23,000 and less, $30,-
000.000 to $35,000,000.
Revision of surtax rates, $50,000,000.
Itepeael of the estate tax, $7,000,000.
Mr. Mellon then outlined his argu
(Continued on Page 3, Column ii '
TWO CENTS.