Evening star. [volume], March 29, 1935, Page A-5, Image 5

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
ELGEN IS FAVORED
FOR UTILITY POST
D. C. Committee Smooths
Reappointment at Hands
of Senate.
Early action by the Senate on the
nomination of Riley Eigen for another
term on the Public Utilities Commis
sion appeared likely today, following
the favorable report of the Senate Dis
trict Committee on the appointment
late yesterday.
After several weeks of delay, the
committee approved the nomination
after Eigen had assured Senator Mc
Carran, Democrat, of Nevada that he
has an open mind on the question of
municipal ownership of utilities in the
District.
While Senators Capper of Kansas
and King of Utah were questioning
Eigen about the amount of taxes paid
by utilities here, Commissioner Hazen
announced a committee of three Dis
trict officials has been directed to
study existing rates of taxation on
utility companies. Those making the
atudy, he said, are People's Counsel
Roberts. Auditor Donovan and As
aessor Richards.
Tax Levies Questioned.
Senator Capper, who a few weeks
ago introduced a bill to increase utility
taxes by coupling a net-earftings tax
with the present gross-receipts tax,
told the committee he nderstood the
existing utility tax levies here were
low in comparison to other cities.
Senator McCarran, who recalled
that he has been considering munici
pal ownership of the electric light,
gas, telephone and other utilities here,
asked Eigen if he had any precon
ceived opinion on the subject. Eigen
replied he had not and felt he could
approach the subject with an open
mind.
Senator Capper inquired how the
tax on the electric power company
here compared with other places.
People's Counsel Roberts said the rate
here is 4 per cent on gross receipts
and that he understood that else
where the combined State and local
taxes on power companies amounted
to 13 per cent.
Rates Declared Low.
Asked by Senator King how the
rates charged consumers of power
here compare with other places, Eigen
said the rates here, if not the lowest,
were the lowest of any city of the
same size.
William McK. Clayton told of the
* return the power company has made
on its stock even with the low rate
•chedules in effect here.
Senator King also asked Eigen if
the commission's street car rerouting
plans have included a study of im
proved methods of transportation in
. the future, implying the possible use
of subways at some future time. Eigen
said a forthcoming report of the com
mission on local transportation would
cover the question of future trends.
King called attention to suggestions
he has received that car tracks should
be removed from Wisconsin avenue
because of its importance as a main
artery into the city. Eigen said the
sentiment was not strong at this time
for abandonment of tracks on that
line.
■■ —■■■ ■— •
RECOUNT DENIED
2 IN MONTGOMERY
Jordan and Imirie Told Assembly
Contests Are at an
End.
By a Staff Correspondent of The Star.
ANNAPOLIS. March 29.—The con
tests entered by Dr. Llewellyn Jordan
and John Imirie against the election
. of Joseph A. Cantrel and Walter M.
Magruder tc the Maryland House of
Delegates came to a definite end here
today.
The House Elections Committee
announced it had decided against
granting a hearing or a recount to
Jordan and Imirie, Democratic party
candidates for the House who were
defeated by Cantrel and Magruder,
Fusion nominees in Montgomery
County last November.
Delegate Claude A. Hanley of Balti
more County, committee chairman,
said the Elections Committee had
ruled in a like manner in three simi
lar contests for seats in the House.
“The committee feels, after a study
of the five contests, that there is no
basis for a recount in any of these
cases,’’ Hanley said.
Hanley added that, in view of the
fact the State Assembly’s session is
fast drawing to a close, the committee
has definitely decided against the
granting of any hearing in the vari
ous contests.
A letter to that effect was sent to
Dr. Jordan and Imirie by Hanley
last night and the two Montgomery
County candidates immediately tele
graphed an appeal to State Senator
Stedman Prescott to endeavor to ob
tain a hearing.
Prescott conferred with Hanley
shortly after noon today, but was
told that the committee would be
unable to grant Jordan and Imirie
a hearing without extending the same
courtesy to the other contestants, and
that this was impossible.
Hanley told The Star the commit
tee also has decided against holding
the recount case open until the State
Assembly’s 1937 session.
Oldest Twins Honored.
Arran’s oldest twins, William and
Andrew McNichol, recently celebrated
their eighty-seventh birthday anni
versary, and the 6-foot-plus brothers
received many good wishes from many
parts of the isle.
In Exile
GREEK REVOLT LEADER
ABOARD SHIP.
ELEUTHERIOS VENIZELOS,
Former Greek premier and long a
prominent figure in Greek politics,
on the ship which carried him to
exile on the Italian island of
Rhodes after the collapse of the
recent Greek revolution, which he
headed. —Wide World Photo.
FREEJiCREDIT
Plan to Follow Bonus Would
Take Over Exempt
Bonds.
By the Associated Press.
A drive for "free Government
credit” is being planned by Repre
sentative Patman, Democrat, of Tex
as as a follow up on his $2,000,000,
000 currency expansion-bonus pro
posal.
Denouncing present public financ
ing methods as ‘‘an imbecilic system
to benefit the bankers,” Patman said
he proposes to:
1. Save the Government more than
$750,000,000 annually in interest
charges by retiring the $28,500,000,000
public debt.
I 2. Cut local taxes in half by hav
i ing the Government take over the
$17,000,000,000 outstanding tax
exempt State, county and municipal
bonds.
Handling Charge Included.
"The bondholders would be paid
with currency or some other form of
Government credit.” the Texan ex
plained. "The Federal Government
would charge the States, counties and
cities one-half of l per cent interest
to cover handling charges and pos
sible losses.”
Patman said it would be necessary
to do this "gradually” to avoid un
settling conditions. To prevent in
flationary evils, he said, the Govern
ment would have to take over the
Federal Reserve System, and could
require greater reserves for the issu
ance of bank credit.
"This would force the money now
tied up in tax-free Governmental obli
gations into the channels of trade and
industry.” Patman said. "The banks
say they have plenty of money—but
instead of putting it to work they buy
Government bonds.
Executives’ Policy Hit.
"The same thing is true of insur
ance companies. Their executives
don't earn the big salaries they draw
these days. They've dropped their
home and farm mortgages and in
vested in Government bonds. That
doesn't take any thought or study.
Everybody knows Government bonds
are safe. They ought to be made to
seek out investments.”
The flow of money to private in
vestment channels which Patman said
would follow adoption of his sugges
tion would end the depression, the
Texan believes.
Chairman Tells Friends He
. Will Resign When Roose
velt Consents.
(Copyrilht. 1835. by the Associated Pres*.)
Informed circles said today that Dr.
Leo Wolman, chairman of the Auto
mobile Labor Board, intends to resign
as soon as he can obtain President
Roosevelt’s consent.
Wolman, whose board’s policies are
criticized by the American Federation
of Labor, which threatens a strike
in the huge industry, told friends of
his intention on a recent flying visit
to the Capital.
Whether he would take another ad
ministration post has not been made
known. First as chairman of the La
bor Advisory Board at N. R. A. and
then as head of the Auto Board, Wol
man has been with the Government
for nearly two years. He Is generally
known as an adviser to both the
President and Secretary Perkins on
labor relations problems.
Sent to Detroit.
The White House agreement be
tween the automobile manufacturers
and the federation just a year ago
took Wolman to Detroit to put Into
effect the "proportional representa
tion" plan of employe representation.
Any organization of employes was
to be represented in proportion to its
strength on works councils to deal
with management.
Last Fall the federation withdrew
from the agreement and now is de
manding "majority rule." The labor
organization chosen by the majority
of employes in a plant should speak,
exclusively, for all the employes, the
federation says.
At a House Labor Committee hear
ing yesterday on the Wagner labor
disputes bill, Francis J. Dillon, Amer
ican Federation of Labor organizer in
Detroit, said the federation would
call an automobile strike unless Con
gress enacted a bill to make "major
ity rule" an amendment to N. I. R. A.’s
collective bargaining guarantee.
Dillon said the auto makers had
fostered company unions and that
they had intimidated their employes
until the workers were afraid to vote
for the federation in the elections the
Labor Board has conducted.
A. F. of L. Support Small.
The most recent tally of these elec
tions showed only 7 per cent of the
workers in 46 plants choosing the
M F. of L. for their representative.
About 85 per cent of those eligible
voted In these elections. The federa
tion had advised its members to keep
away from the polls.
Discussing conditions In the Detroit
j plants, Dillon called Henry Ford “the
biggest fake in America and the most
over-rated mad."
Describing the Detroit manufac
turer as the Nation’s largest employer,
he termed him also "the most un
scrupulous." To this Representative
Lesinski, Democrat, of'Michigan, in
terjected "and the most cruel.” The
interchange was not expanded. But
Dillon continued:
"The day has come in the United
States when Congress must enact leg
islation to compel employers to recog
nize the rights of the working men
and women."
ISLANDS TO BE VISITED
House Committee Accept* Invita
tion of Quezon.
The 21 members of the House In
sular Affairs Committee yesterday re
ceived an invitation to visit the Philip
pine Islands—free—next Fall and they
accepted quickly and without debate.
The Invitation was extended by
Manuel Quezon, who is expected to
I be the first president of the Philippine
commonwealth government. The com
mittee would witness the Inaugura
tion ceremony November 15.
Quezon said a similar Invitation
would be extended the members of
the Senate Territories Committee
"with all expenses paid by the Philip
pine government.”
GRAHAM ATTACKS
i
Calls Labor Dispute Bill
“Class Legislation of
Worst Kind.”
By the Associated Press.
Robert C. Graham, vice president of
the Graham-Paige Motors Corp., at
tacked the Wagner labor disputes bill
before the Senate Labor Committee
today as “class legislation of the
worst kind.”
"This bill,” he said, "does not give
employes any rights so far a* collective
bargaining is concerned that are not
already granted by Section 7-A of the
national recovery act.
Sees Labor Domination.
"The act does endow the American
Federation of Labor and other pro
fessional labor organizations with
more effective means than they have
ever had before to impose upon em
ployes their domination as the col
lective bargaining agency.”
The bill would outlaw the company
dominated union, create a permanent
Labor Relations Board and give the
labor organization chosen by a ma
jority of the employes In a plant the
right to speak for all the employes.
Graham, speaking for the National
Automobile Manufacturers’ Associa
tion, said he spoke for all the major
auto companies except the Ford Motor
Co., not a member of the association.
The Senate Labor Committee yes
terday heard members of employe
representation plans in the rubber in
dustry (also called “company unions”
by the federation) ask for retention of
those plans.
Rubber Companies Act.
The Goodrich and Firestone Rubber
companies have asked the Circuit
Court of Appeals to stop elections or
dered by the Labor Relations Board to
determine whether the employe repre
sentation plans or the federation had
a majority of the employes in their
Akron plants.
Representatives of the Illinois Manu
facturers’ Association likewise opposed
enactment of the bill, as did a spokes
man for the Communist party.
The Midwest manufacturers, as a
group, maintained the bill would pro
mote industrial unrest and was de
signed to herd workmen Into the
American Federation of Labor.
———•
Scientist* to Trace Birds.
To study bird migration across the
desert, and other matters, a scientific
expedition has left Cairo, Egypt, for
the Gllf Kebir Plateau in the Libyan
Desert.
RUSSIAN NEW DEAL
TOWN HALL TOPIC
Maurice Hindus, Author of Many
Books, to Speak at Shore
ham Sunday.
Maurice Hindus, a native of Russia
and author of many books on that
country, will speak on “A New Deal
for the Russian People” in the Town
Hall of Washington at the Shoreham
Hotel Sunday at 8 p.m.
Hindus, who wrote “Humanity Up
rooted" and "Red Bread,” was the
principal speaker against whom the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States objected when the Town Hall
was refused permission to use its audi
torium here.
He had originally announced his
subject as “What Can We Learn From
Russia Today," but this week advised
Mrs. Richard V. Oullhan, director, of
the change In subject. Hindus has
recently returned to America from his
eleventh visit to Russia.
In the panel to question him after
his formal address will be Dr. Ed
mund A. Walsh, S. J., authority on
Russia and head of School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University; Dr.
Stephen P. Duggan of the Institute of
International Education of New York,
who was In Russia last Summer In
charge of the exchange professorships
at Moscow University; former Senator
Smith W. Brookhart of Iowa, special
adviser on finance In the Agriculture
Department, and Dr. Walter Tolakov,
former consulting engineer for the
Supreme Council for National Recov
ery in Russia and now associated with
the Federal Emergency Relief Admin
istration.
Stops Buying Coffee.
When the government suddenly
stopped buying coffee recently the
market for the bean in Brazil was
practically paralyzed.
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