Evening star. [volume], March 25, 1937, Page A-2, Image 2

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

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WOMAN IS VICTIM
OF DEATH PLUNGE
Chevy Chase Resident Was
Recovering From Injuries
in Stove Blast.
•y a Stiff Correspondent of The Star.
BETKESDA, Md„ March 25.—While
recovering from a gas explosion in
her home Monday. Mrs. Rebecca Anna
Rea, 36, wife of Courts D. Rea. a
Social Security Board official, was
fatally injured early today when she
Jumped from her attic window, ac
cording to police reports.
Dr. Benjamin C. Perry, who had
been treating Mrs. Rea since she
was critically injured by the explosion
of the kitchen stove, told police that
She had leaped from a small window
above the bed room of her home, at
4515 Ridge avenue, Chevy Chase, and
evidently suffered a fractured skull.
She was dead upon arrival at the
Georgetown Hospital, where she was
taken by the Bethesda fire depart- |
ment resque squad.
Officer William Crawford of the.
Montgomery County Police said that
Mrs. John Turner, sister of Mrs. Rea,
who lives at 815 Eighteenth street in
Washington, spent the night at the
Rea home. She reported that neither
had slept during the night and that
about 4:45 a.m. Mrs. Rea got out of
bed and paced the floor She said she
offered her sister a sedative but it
was refused. Mrs. Turner then drop
ped off to sleep and when she awak
ened half an hour later, she told po
lice, her sister was no longer In the
room.
She called her brother-in-law, who
was sleeping in a room across the hall,
and when they noticed that the trap
door at the top of the ladder leading
to the attic was open Rea went to the
hall window and saw his wife lying in
the driveway. Her body fell about 35
feet. She apparently landed on the
back of her head.
Rea summoned Dr. Perry, who noti
fied police.
Mrs. Rea was rescued from the
kitchen of her home Monday, after
Mrs. Richard Cunningham, who lives
across the street, at 4512 Ridge street,
saw flames in the rear of the house
and notified police. The explosion had
blown the door between the kitchen
and dining room off its hinges, broken
several windows and blown one of
the kitchen window' frames into the
yard next door.
Mrs. Rea was found lying on three
Chairs in front of the oven door of
the kitchen stove, and a note, the
contents of which Montgomery County
police refused to reveal, was found
nearby. Several of the gas jets were
cpen. Police explained that the gas
probably was ignited by the stove's
pilot light.
OLD-AGE PENSION
FACTIONS CONFER
Attempt to Unite to Push Com
promise Develops at Meeting
of Steering Committee.
BT the Associated Press.
An attempt to unite supporters of
•11 old-age pension measures to seek
early action on compromise legislation
has developed from a meeting of the
Steering Committee for the revised
Townsend plan bill.
Representatives Crosby. Democrat,
of Pennsylvania and Brewster, Re
publican. of Maine said a meeting
probably would be called in the next
few days. The mam point of conten
tion preventing an agreement, Crosby
said, is a provision in his Townsend
bill for compulsory spending of pen
sion money.
Some members of the Townsend
Steering Committee indicated that
provision might be dropped.
"There is every indication of a
conciliatory attitude,” Brewster said.
Crosby said at least 100 members
vere behind the Townsend bill alone.
It would finance pensions of up to
S200 a month by a 2 per cent trans
action tax. The measure is sponsored
by Dr. F. E Townsend and his pension
organization.
JOHN W. BYNG, 56,
FOUND DEAD HERE
Body of Victim of Infantile
Paralysis Discovered Hang
ing From Door.
With a sheet looped around his neck
end tied to a hook over a door, the
body of John Weston Byng. 56. a na^
tive of this city, was found hanging
In his room today at the John Dickson
Home.
Byng, an infantile paralysis victim,
had lived at the home for about five
years. Prior to that he resided at the
Home for Incurables.
Horace Lane, an orderly, found the
body when he entered the room this
morning. Byng was pronounced dead
by a private physician.
He is survived by a brother, George
T. Byng, and four sisters, Mrs. O. G.
Hall, Mrs. Mary Shilling, Mrs. Marion
Duvall and Mrs. Helen D. Jones.
Funeral arrangements have not been
completed.
Transit
(Continued From First Page.)
for approval of its petition for an in
crease in street car fares, now before
the Public Utilities Commission.
Company officials have insisted for
many months they would have to have
more revenue because of increased
costs of operation, incident to the
street car rerouting program, purchase
of additional equipment and the wage
increase which went into effect two
years ago.
Last Summer the company asked
the commission to grant an increase
in the token fare from the present rate
of four for 30 cents to three for 25
cents.
The commission decided it would
determine the present value of the
transit company before it acted on the
requested fare increase.
Public hearings on the value of
company properties are scheduled to
*tart April 12. The hearings on the
proposed increase in token fares will
be held after a value has been fixed.
The commission recently approved
• request by the company to buy
$720,000 worth of new rolling stock.
This is to include 45 new street
ears of modern type. The commission
also has approved plans of the com
pany to buy 46 new busses as a part
of the company's 1937 program for
provision of 71 new busses at a eo6t of
$$0»,000.
ft
I Washington
Wayside
Tales
Random Observations
of Interesting Events
and Things.
MIXED MOTORS.
THE principal activity of our
correspondents around town
yesterday seems to have been
tangling up motor cars. Not
in accidents or telephone wires. Just
tangling them.
A certain reporter we know only
too well went out in the middle of the
afternoon to pick up a friend's car
on a parking lot. After touring the
city in his borrowed machine, he
returned to the friend's apartment
and left the keys. His walk home
ward was interrupted by wild shouts
and a great sound as of a madman
galumphing down the street. The
reporter turned. It was his friend.
"Hey. these are not my keys.,” he
yelled Together they went back to
the car. It was the wrong one. The
reporter was frantic and wanted to
hide in a hole immediately, but finally
was persuaded to return the car to
the parking lot and bring back the
right one.
Fortunately, the man whose auto
mobile had been whiling away an
afternoon with a total stranger had
not called for his machine. He prob
ably wonders, however, who left all
those cigarette butts on the floor.
T T ♦
DITTO.
To even up things, a Mr. L. P.
Chittenden walked from his Euclid
street apartment and found his
car newly washed and polished. A
bit uncertain of himself, he circled
around it a couple of times and
then got in. It ivas his all right,
That night, home from the office,
he asked his family uho had done
the noble deed. None of them had.
He still doesn't know whether he
has a benefactor or an unpaid bill
to expect.
* * * *
PROFIT.
II ERBERT THIELKE and J. M.
“ Bromwell were held up one night
recently and—believe it or not. Mr.
Ripley—made 75 cents profit on the
deal.
Thielke and Bromwell were sitting
around their home at- 1706 M street,
there being not much else they could
do. since Bromwell had only $2 in
his pockets and Thielke a single
penny. Enter two robbers, with de
mands ior cash. After searching
their victims’ pockets, the bandits
said to Thielke, "We won’t take your
last penny.” ana to Bromwell, “As
for you. here's 30 cents to buy your
self some breakfast."
This was all very gay and charming,
’ but Bromwell was bored. He picked
! up a poker and, to speed the parting
j guests, sloughed one of them on the
! head. During the ensuing upscuttle,
I Thielke ran from the room and re
leased his police dog from the cellar.
I The robbers fled.
Within a short distance, the dog
hap caught both men, but one of them
hit him with the poker snatched from
Bromwell. Thielke. who had grabbed
up another poker someplace, retali
ated by slinging it at the thug.
Thereupon both thieves shouted,
"Leave us alone, you guys, we’ll give
you your money back." threw a hand
ful of change on the sidewalk and
took off.
When the two ‘'victims” counted
up the proceeds, they were 75 cents
ahead.
* * * *
QUINTS.
A HAUSFRAU out in Georgetown
heard a cat mewing around the
back door the other morning and
thought she recognized it as a neigh
bor's pet. strayed several blocks from
home. She hauled out a bowl of
milk and presented it to the cat.
In reciprocation, the cat slipped
down the cellar steps a bit later, quite
unnoticed, went into the furnace room
and presented the lady of the house
with five lusty kittens.
* * * *
POLICY.
Representative Frank L. Kloeb of
Ohio treasures in his desk a letter
he regards as the most explicit ever
written to him by a constituent.
The fellow simply wrote:
•7 am against it."
It was before the Supreme Court
argument started, too.
* * * *
HELP!
w I '
1VOW is the time for some good
man to come to the aid of,the
drama department of this paper, which
(or who, if you want to be nice about
it) spent half an hour yesterday argu
ing over the spelling of the third word
in "Eenie meenie meinie mo,” and
we—they—still don’t know.
* * * *
PROGRESS.
'T'HE residential real estate boom in
the suburbs of Washington may be
a joy to salesmen and contractors and
even home lovers, but it is a pain in
the neck to certain public servants.
A tax assessor out in Arlington
County, for example, confided to a
friend of ours that he had Just com
pleted the assessment of a vacant field
about two months ago. Drove by there
the other day and discovered there
were now 20 houses on It!
QUEEN’S DOUBLE DIES
—
British Woman Often Mistaken
for Mary by Sentries.
LONDON, March 25 (/P>.—Mrs
Helen Mary Lex, who frequently wa;
mistaken for Queen Mother Mary, died
Wednesday at the age of 74.
Sentries often saluted Mrs. Lex ai
she walked from her home at Windsor
and scores of visitors photographed
her in the belief she was Queen Mary.
One day at Windsor Castle a young
officer even turned out the guard and
commanded a "present arms” for Mrs.
Lex.
A
2 TRAGIC DEATHS
REVEALED BY DIARY
Young Men, Trapped in
Wilds, Write Story of
Last Days.
By the Canadian Press.
HAVRE ST. PIERRE, Quebec,
March 25.—A sodden diary told today
the agonizing story of slow death from
cold and starvation by two youthful
brothers, lost in the wilderness of
Northern Quebec since last August.
Death, gripping them ever tighter
for days, prevented Willie Collin, 23,
and his brother Edgar, 20, from com
pleting the scrawled record of priva
tion, hunger, illness and pain.
Their bodies, almost skeletons, were
found by trappers in an old shack
where, apparently, they camped to
wait out a Summer storm. Willie, the
diary showed, cut his leg and w'as un
able to walk.
Meanwhile, as their meager pro
visions dwindled, new storms buried
the bushlands and they were trapped
by the heavy snow.
Word of their death, apparently late
in January, finally reached here, and
an official, sent to investigate, found
the diary near their bodies.
“My very dear parents," read a
scribbled farewell by one of the
brothers in the last days of their pain
ful starvation, “before I become too
weak to write any more, I want to
tell you that the date that is not en
tered in my book will show we could
move no longer, neither one nor the
other. Before losing consciousness, I
will write more, for what else can we
do? Our souls are in the hands of
God.”
A pathetic note from Edgar on
January 26 told how Willie died the
night before:
"January 26—My very dear parents
and friends, it is Edgar whose said
duty it is to tell you that the good
Blessed Virgin came from Heaven last
night to take away my dear brother,
Willie, about 11 o'clock.
"Dear God, I don't know what to
do with myself. I can't sleep now. I
have eaten only once in three days
I can hardly cut wood because I'm
just able to lift the ax. Oh, God,
maybe in a few days the Blessed
Virgin will come for me. too Do not
fear for us. dear parents. We have
gone through too much not to be
| saved.
I "I wish you good night now. I no
longer can see the date on the page.
Whatever date is missing from this
notebook will be the day good Saint
Anne came for me. I’m saying my
Rosary. I cry and sight, and am trem
bling with cold. Edgar."
That was the last he wrote.
On the floor beside his emaciated
| body they found the book. Its first
entry was dated December 24 and
Christmas, the next day, told of
I "heavy snowstorms, very cold.”
Less than a week later Willie said:
| "I ended this unlucky year by cutting
1 my foot."
Food then became scarce so, despite
I still raging storms, they decided on
a desperate effort to get home. But
two days later:
"We weren't able to leave * * * it
1 is hard to move about * • * Willie
: has sore legs and I am sick to my
stomach * * * the way it is now we
can’t eat any more * * * it is hard
to cut wood.”
Almost a week later: ”* • * still
snowing • • • we are getting weaker
every day • * * oh. God, how miser
able life is to us • * * we can't tell
on paper all our miseries and trouble
• * • for two days now we have
{ eaten only (flour and water) cakes
! * * * how long and lonely the days
1 are * * * we are very weak * * •”
Another week: ‘‘We couldn't even
| drag ourselves out to get wood today,
j * * * We are despairing day by day.
i * * * If only help would come. * * *”
January 18: "Another day and no
one came to our rescue. * * *
"My dear brother can't lift himself
• * * he is very weak. We grow weaker
every day and have hardly any flesh
on our bones. * * * We think only of
death. * * * At night we almost perish
from cold. * * • I can see with only
one eye. * * *”
January 25: "I don't think Willie
will live through the night. * * * ”
January 26: "* * * Willie is dead
• * * Oh, God, maybe in a few days
the Blessed Virgin will come for me,
too.”
COUPLE’S DEATH IS HELD
SUICIDE AND HOMICIDE
“Baby” in Wife'# Dying Note
Said to Refer to Husband,
Asphixiated While Sleeping.
The gas deaths of Norris Shelton
and his wife, Virginia, were recorded
in the coroner's office today as “sui
cide and homicide.”
Investigation led Coroner A. Ma
gruder MacDonald to decide that
Mrs. Shelton, 25, opened the jets of
a gas stove in their room at 1345 L
street Tuesday morning while her
husband, 30, a cab driver, slept.
Relatives claimed the bodies from
the morgue yesterday. The couple
were married last May and were
childless. A “baby” referred to in
Mrs. Shelton's last notes was her
husband, it was decided.
Belfast Bans “Green Pastures.”
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, March
25 (/P).—The film version of "Green
Pastures” was banned today by the
Belfast Municipal Council on the
grounds it was Irreligious.
Congress in Brief
TODAY.
Senate;
May debate $100,000,000 crop In
surance bill.
Judiciary Committee continues
hearings on President's court bill.
House:
Resumes debate on four-department
appropriation bill.
Interstate Commerce Committee
continues hearings on natural gas reg
ulation.
Agriculture Committee continues
hearings on farm tenancy aids.
TOMORROW.
Senate;
Will not be in session.
Interstate Commerce Subcommit
tee meets at 10:30 a.m. on bills re
lating to track and bridge inspec
tion..
Judiciary Committee probably will
continue hearings on President's court
bill.
House:
Will not be in session.
Subcommittees of the appropriations
Committee in charge of the War and
Agriculture Department and deficiency
supply bills resume hearings 10 an.
a
Sutherland, 75,
Fourth of Court
In Point of Age
Jurist, Native of Eng
latul, Appointed by
Harding.
Bt the Associated Press.
Justice George Sutherland today
became the fourth member of the Su
preme Court to reach the age of 75.
The bearded jurist, a native of Eng
Sutherland.
land, was the
first member of
the court since
1794 to be born
on foreign soil.
He was brought
to this country at
the age of 15
months
A former Re
publican Senator
from Utah, he
was appointed an
associate justice
by President
Harding in 1922.
He would be
one of six Jus
tices affected by President Roosevelt s
proposal to reorganize the Court by
appointing an additional member ■ for
each one who did not resign within
six months after becoming 70.
Sutherland is one of the justices
who have voted most consistently
against the New Deal. He has aided
with the administration in 4 cases
and against it in 13.
Justices older than Sutherland are
Brandeis, 80; Van Devanter, 77, and
McReynolds, 75.
-•
Wife of Alexandria Mayor
Collapses on Stand, Tes
tifying in Defense.
Bt r. Stall Correspondent of The Star.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 2S.—
Arguments In the case of Emmett C.
DavLson, Mayor of Alexandria, on
trial in Federal District Court here
on charges of concealing assets in
bankruptcy proceedings and making
false statements, were begun shortly
after court convened today, with Judge
Luther B. Way on the bench.
William E. Leahy, chief of defense
counsel, and District Attorney Sterling
Hutcheson were to open for their
respective sides.
DavLson has been on trial since
Monday morning and spent nearly
four hours on the stand yesterday,
denying all allegations made in an
indictment returned by a grand jury
here last June. Another indictment,
charging perjury in the same pro
ceedings, is also pending against him.
Wife Collapses on Stand.
The high light of the trial rame
j yesterday, when Mrs. Laura L. Davi
| son, wife of the defendant, collapsed
on the witness stand while defending
her husband Mrs. Davison recently
underwent a major operation and
came to testify, against the advice of
her physician. Dr. O. A. Snyder. She
entered the court room supported by
Dr. Snyder and a nurse. When she
j collapsed, she was revived by Dr.
Snyder in the witness room.
I Mrs. Davison corroborated the story
given the fury earlier by her husband.
She said during their 39 years of mar
j ried life Davison had always given her
; his money and that she had managed
\ the household and the finances.
I She denied that Davison knew any
thing about the transfer of a savings
account from the names of herself and
husband to that of herself and daugh
ter, Mrs. Laura M. Heflin, until after
the transfer was made. She denied
this money was held for her husband
to evade the bankruptcy law.
Davison Describes Finances.
Earlier Davison had described his
finances over a period of three years
prior to the filing of the bankruptcy
petition November 18, 1935. The
charges are based on a savings account
in the Citizens' National Bank of Alex
andria in the names of Mrs. Davison
and her daughter and a check drawn
by Davison from the International As
sociation of Machinists, of which he
is general secretary-treasurer.
Davison declared the check from the
association represented an overdraft
on his account and that he had told
the truth when he told the referee in
bankruptcy he had no money on hand
and that no wages were due him at
the time. It is around this chock and
the savings account that the charges
were found by the grand jury.
Just before the noon recess yester
day the dapper little mayor told of
wire tapping during an investigation
by the Federal Bureau of Investiga
tion. Asked if he intended to insin
uate that the wire tapping had been
: done by the F. B. I. agents, Davison
declared:
‘‘I don’t intend to insinuate any
thing—I am merely making a state
ment of fact.”
The case was expected to go to the
Jury shortly after ndon.
Five Children Fatally Burned
in Jersey City, N. J., Three
Alarm Blaze.
By the Associated Press.
JERSEY CITY, N. J., March 25.—
Mrs. Rose Burkhardt, 54-year-old
widow; her five youngest children and
a brother-in-law burned to death early
today In a three-alarm Are which
razed a three-story frame dwelling.
The other dead:
John Gorman, about 69.
Philip, 12; Charles, 15; Florence, 17;
Theresa, 10, and Veronica. 9.
Rose, 17, another daughter, was the
only occupant of the building to es
cape. Awakened by smoke, she was
carried to the street by a passerby.
Three Families Roused.
All available firemen and apparatus
In the city were called to battle the
fire. Police and firemen awakened
members of three families sleeping in
an adjacent three-story building and
aided them in reaching the street.
Firemen kept the flames from spread
ing to this building and to a garage
on the other side.
Firemen said the Burkhardt family
and Gorman were sleeping in their
quarters on the second and top floors
of the building. On the ground floor
Gorman operated a Junk shop, and
firemen said they had to fight their
way with axes through the piles of
mattresses, furniture and other ar
ticles stored there to reach the stair
way to the upper floors.
Two Children Suffocated.
Dr. Alan Rose, Medical Center In
terne, said two of the children suffo
cated before fire reached them.
Robert, 24, and John, 22, two other
sons of Mrs. Burkhardt, did not spend
the night at home.
An older daughter, Mrs. Mary
Lanese, 26. who lived elsewhere, col
lapsed when she reached the scene.
-•
WINDSOR MAY GO
TO FRANCE TO WED
Duke and Mrs. Simpson Will
Honeymoon in Carinthia. Says
Vienna Rumor.
By the A'< '-latcrt Press.
VIENNA, March 25— Belief that
the Duke of Windsor and Wallis War
field Simpson would wed in France
and honeymoon in Carinthia spread
today on the report, which was not
confirmed, that the former King had
obtained a permit to take his pet
terrier, "Slippers," to France.
Windsor was tendered a farewell
dinner last night at the British Le
gation. He plans to leave by auto
mobile Monday for St. Wolfgang, a
health resort in the Austrian Tyrol.
YOUNG DRIVER FINED
$47 ON SIX CHARGES
Faces Alternative of 107 Days in
Jail—Police Claim Attempts
to Escape.
Traffic Judge John P. McMahon
yesterday sentenced Robert May,
colored, 21, of the 1700 block of Wil
lard street, to pay fines of *47 or
serve a total of 107 days in jail on
six traffic charges brought last Fall.
The defendant was described by the
court as a menace to the com
munity,"
Two policemen, C. E Rabbitt and
W. B. Hopkins, testified against the
youth. Hopkins said the defendant
was caught for speeding and operat
ing on an expired permit, and then
violated the speed limit again when
he went the other way after being
ordered to the station house.
Rabbitt saki he arrested the youth
for parking abreast last August, and
when he failed to produce his permit
was taken to the station house.
While Rabbitt was searching the de
fendant's record, he said, May walked
out and was not apprehended until
Tuesday of this week.
May told Judge McMahon all the
policemen and detectives seemed to
be going out, and, since no one said
anything to him, he left also.
.— — — m
C. C. C. CAMPS REDUCED
BY TWO IN MARYLAND
Bt the Associated Press.
Robert Fechner. director of emer
gency conservation work, announced
today the number of Civilian Con
servation Corps camps in Maryland
would be reduced by two on April 1.
One camp will be established at
Doncaster in Charles County, Fech
ner said, and a new camp located at
North East in Cecil County.
Four camps will be closed on com
pletion of their work projects. They
are a camp at the Fort Frederick
State Monument in Washington
County and three State forest camps,
at Townsend, Prince Georges Coun
ty; Western Port, Garrett County,
and one in Allegany County near
the Weet Virginia State line.
Opp ose Court Plan
Louis J. Taber, master of the National Grange, left, and
President Harold W. Dodds of Princeton University shown in
characteristic poses as they appeared before the Senate Judi
ciary Committee yesterday in opposition to the Presidents
Supreme Court reorganization plan. —Harris 6 living Photo.
I
Flag on His Grave Protested
Rags, the hero dog of the 1st Division. The name of the ser
geant, his one-time custodian, could not be learned.
(Story on Page A.-I.)
Battle Strips
Girls Defying
Strike Pickets
Attempt to Penetrate
Line Leads to Street
Fight.
the Associated Preaa.
MEMPHIS. Tenn , March 25 —
Clothing waa ripped from at least a
half dozen workers today in strike
disorders at the Nona-Lee Dress Co.
plants.
A battalion of workers attempted
to march through a picket line main
tained by nearly 100 members of the
Ladies' International Garment Work
ers' Union, an affiliate of John L.
Lewis’ Committee for Industrial Or
ganization.
About 40 girls broke through the
picket line into the plant.
Eight members of the union were
arrested on charges of threatened
breach of the peace. One worker was
arrested.
Fifteen policemen, including motor
cycle patrolmen and special guards,
found the 150-girl battle difficult to
handle.
The pickets surrounded the plant
at 6:30 a m. At 8 am, a single work
er, intent on entering, was dissauded
at the front door. She tried the
back and was nearly stripped.
A half hour later two groups of
women moved on each other like
armies. Girls rolled on the pavement
among hats, blouses, skirts and un
dergarments while an occasional par
ticipant called for a coat.
Judiciary
(Continued From First Page )
It would establish no definite policy
regarding the justices in the future.
"3. Adoption of the proposal, in the
present circumstances, would threaten
the Independence of the Supreme
Court and might permanently impair
the confidence of the people in that
court.
"4. The proposal is designed to bring
about fundamental changes in the
Federal system without submitting the
question to the people.”
The witness disagreed with the
interpretation of the general welfare
clause of the Constitution made by
President Roosevelt in recent ad
dresses. He contended this clause re
lated to the power to levy' taxes and
that it did not relate to other powers
which were not delegated to the
United States.
“The interpretation of the general
welfare clause by the President is not
new,” Smith said. “It has been re
peatedly advanced and tenaciously
held by some. But it has never
gained approval by the court and in
the opinion of most statesmen, lawyers
and legal scholars who have written
upon the subject, it is untenable."
In his testimony, Brenckman had
suggested an amendment to the Con
stitution fixing definitely the number
of justices comprising the Supreme
Court.
“No other amendment to the Con
stitution is so urgently needed,"
Brenckman said. "Nine judges are
enough. Adoption of auch an amend
ment would forestall any future at
tempt to pack the Supreme Court to
influence its decisions."
After stating that whereas the
Supreme Court has declared 77 laws
unconstitutional. Presidents have
vetoed 1,167 acts of Congress, the
farm leader said:
"Why should the Supreme Court be
accused of nullifying the action of the
representatives of the people when it
declares a law unconstitutional, while
comparatively little is said about a
presidential veto, which is usually soon
forgotten.”
tirencKman sam mat irom me
foundation of the Government down
to the present time Congress has en
acted approximately 25,000 public laws.
He said only about a dozen of the acts
Invalidated by the Supreme Court are
considered of any great importance.
“It should be kept In mind that
when the Supreme Court voids a legis
lative act it is only done at the trial
in open court and after full con
sideration on the part of nine jus
tices," Brenckman said. "But when
the President disapproves an act of
Congress he may do it arbitrarily and
without consulting any one. In the
case of a pocket veto he does not even
give a reason."
The witness told the committee the
President’s plan to curb the Supreme
Court "has stirred the Nation from
center to circumference as it has never
been stirred' before in the time of
profound peace.” Defending the
court, he stated that under the Con
stitution, the Supreme Court is fully
empowered to declare acta of Con
gress unconstitutional since the Con
stitution declares that the judicial
power of the United States Is vested
in one Supreme Court.
The court, he said, is no usurper of
power. If it becomes necessary, the
power of impeachment can be used
against justices of the court, he
pointed out
“Days of Marshall” Cited.
“In the days of Marshall, the court
was censured on the ground that it
arrogated too much power to the Fed
eral Government," Brenckman said.
“Today it is being denounced with
even greater fury end intensity be
cause it does not go far enough in that
direction ”
The witness contended that if there
is to be any change in the Constitu
tion it must be made by the people,
through amendment, not by inter
pretation by new members of the
court.
“The Supreme Court has no right
to change the Constitution through
strain or unwarranted interpreta
tions.'' he said. "That is what some
people are demanding of it."
Before Brenckman took the stand
Senator Burke. Democrat, of Ne
braska. told the committee the Grange
representative was not a constitu
tional expert, but added authorities
on the subject would be called later
by the opponents of the bill.
“I am sorry," Burke said, “that we
who are opposed to the measure have
been unable to submit a complete list
of our witnesses. But we have not
had the services of the Department of
Justice and the Public Information
Service, which seems to be an adjunct
of the Democratic National Committee,
as did the supporters of this bill."
Asked if G. O. P. Aid Sought.
Senator Neely, Democrat, of West
Virginia, then asked Burke if he had
made any effort to enlist the aid of
the Republican National Committee.
Burke said it had not been necessary.
The Nebraska legislator then an
nounced tomorrow's witnesses will in
clude Dr. Erwin N. Griswold, professor
of constitutional law at Harvard Uni
versity; Walter F. Dodd. Chicago law
yer. and Dorothy Thompson, news
paper columnist and wife of Sinclair
Lewis, the novelist. Miss Thompson
will be the first woman to testify since
the hearing opened.
Brenckman is to be followed by Dr.
Norman J. G. Wickew of Washington,
executive secretary of the Lutheran
Board of Education, and Dr. Young B
Smith, dean of Columbia University
Law School.
Louis J. Taber, master of the
grange, told the committee yesterday
I that this enlargement of the court, if
I enacted into law, might set a prece
dent which eventually would endanger
fundamental rights guaranteed by the
Constitution.
McGill Questions Taber.
Senator McGill, Democrat, of Kan
sas. who has not committed himself
on the bill, asked:
"Suppose this present court should
resign. Is it your view that the Presi
dent would appoint and the Senate
confirm a court which would sustain
as constitutional legislation depriving
the people of religious liberties?”
“That's unthinkable." Taber replied
in a voice that rang through the
crowded chamber.
He added, however, that "the pre
cedent established could be used in the
future by a reactionary President or
a Congress moved by passion and
prejudice to do something evil.”
William Hirth. publisher of the Mis
souri Farmer and head of a large Mis
souri farm co-operative organization,
also voiced unqualified opposition to
the bill.
supported President.
‘ At the request of Jim Farley,” he
told the committee, “I took the stump
for Mr. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936.
but I would never have done so had
I known he intended to propose any
such legislation as this. Farley now
says opposition to the bill is treason
to the Democratic party. I say that
' I will cheerfully assume that ig
| nominy."
Dr. Theodore Graebner, professor of
theology at Concordia College, St.
Louis, testified late yesterday that
while the Roosevelt bill had no re
ligious implication, it could have ''con
sequences affecting religion.”
‘‘If it is permissible to ignore the
provisions made for adoption of con
stitutional amendments because there
is struggle between certain economic
forces,” he said, “it is permissible in
matters involving the relations of
church and state.”
M’NINCH HITS COURT
Power Commission Head Dissatis
fied With Its Decisions.
Frank R. McNinch, chairman of the
Federal Power Commission, said last
night the Supreme Court had laid
down formulas for utility rate-making
“so elaborate, inconsistent, imprac
ticable’’ as to thwart regulation of
rates.
McNinch said in a radio speech that
the court based its rulings on a
“formula of mixed fact and conjecture,
of expert and judicial opinion, of
theory, hypothesis, assumption and
guess.”
CUE NEED OF HELP
Suggestions for Aiding 3,000
Jobless in District Given
on Radio.
Concrete suggestions as to what
Washingtonians can do to help the
3.000 jobless employables in the Dis
trict were made by three prominent
welfare leaders last night in the
last of the "help wanted" broadcast'
arranged by the Community Chest and
the Public Welfare Board in co-opera
tion with Station WJSV.
The speakers were Herbert L Wil
lett, jr, director of the Chest; Dr
Frederick W. Perkins, chairman of th<
Public Assistance Division of the Wel
fare Board, and Coleman Jennings
outstanding welfare leader.
In answer to a question by Hugh
Conover, WJSV announcer. Jenninid
said he had personally investigated
the problems faced by many of th"
3.000 and had found "definite destitu
tion in this community."
Could Find No Food.
The first family he visited consisted
of an unemployed man, his wife ano
10 children. He said he looked in
“every nook and cranny' where food
might be stored and could find none
Dr. Perkins pointed out that many
persons have the idea "that the
appropriation we get from Congfet
is a Federal grant, but it isn't. It fs
a municipal grant from our City
Council—and it isn't enough to do
the job our cities are expected to do.”
Comparing Washington with other
cities in this connection, he said
Buffalo was granted $537,000 for gen
eral relief during December, and Cin
cinnati, during the same period. $323,
000. At the same time, this city,
slightly larger than either of the
other two. rereived only $85,000. and
this was limited to the relief of un
emplovables only, leaving nothing for
the employables.
Funds Required Elsewhere.
Willett said $325,000 is budgeted by
the Chest for the relief of employables,
but that no more than that amount
could be expended for direct relief,
since it would drain the funds neces
sary for hospitals, orphanages and
other similar institutions.
He explained the Chest, represent
ing private agencies, is supposed to
support the charitable institutions,
while the money of the Welfare Board
is for public relief.
In summing up the problem. Jen
nings said civic-minded individuals
who have come to realize how critical
the situation is” can help by supple
menting the funds that have come
into the Community Chest, and by
“letting the authorities know that
they are not satisfied to live in a
community where people are suffer
ing as they are today.”
Europe
(Continued From First Pagp 1
of the Italian units which participate
in the unsuccessful insurgent driv;
toward Madrid
It was not known where the Italian'
1 had withdrawn The government has
; contended at least 30.000 of them
| fought the losing battle for the m
1 surgents In the Guadalajara sector In
the last few weeks.
From Geneva came news an ex
traordinary session of the League of
Nations Assembly was convoked for
i May 26—with the possibility that the
Spanish problem might be discussed.
The Assembly will be primarily for
the purpose of electing Egypt to the
League, but the Spanish matter was
not debarred.
Want to Keep Committee.
London sources stressed that Britain
was anxious primarily to keep the
Spanish question within the Non
intervention Committee.
Action outside the committee, it was
feared, might endanger what successes
the neutrality body had gained In
j the long months of its wrangling.
Italian officials in Rome kept silence
! on the entire matter, pointing out
they were resting on their own pro
posal to ban volunteers, made long
ago. Some sources deplored any new
unilateral action designed to achieve
the same end.
British diplomats working to smooth
a threatened break with Mussolini
were encouraged by reports in some
quarters that the British cabinet had
received Rome's assurances Italy did
not intend to abandon the non-inter
vention program.
Diplomats Near Clash.
It was said the ministers would re
member only those assurances and
forget everything else, including a near
fist fight between Ambassador Dino
Grandi of Italy and the Soviet envoy.
Ivan Maisky, over the latter's charge
of "ever-increasing" Italian interven
tion.
Maisky charged 60.000 Italians went
l to the Spanish war about the middle
j of February', many of them from the
'regular army, and termed it, "one of
, the most flagrant cases of foreign
intervention ever known to history.”
Grandi has refused even to discuss
removal of Italian soldiers from Spain.
The Italian attitude also has been
represented as an insistence that
Italian soldiers remain in Spain for
the duration of the conflict.
Angered w-ords by Joachim von
Ribbenthrop. the German Ambas
| sador, who accused the Russians of
' "hypocrisy," and by the Portuguese
delegate followed the Grandl-Malskv
clash before quiet was restored and
the Soviet charges referred to a
subcommittee.
GRAVE CRISIS SEEN.
PARIS. March 25 (A3).—France ral
; lied her European allies today to erect
a naval blockade against the possibil
ity of Italy’s waging an undeclared
war against the Republican govern
ment in Spain.
Diplomatic circles considered
France’s stern attitude against any
break in the international neutrality
line-up had raised the gravest crisis
in troubled Europe since Germany
gave assurances of her peaceful in
tentions in the fac of a similar
French warning to keep out of Span
ish Morocco.
In the present situation. Germany
promised an early reply to France's
twofold proposal to bolster the London
agreement by—
! 1. Withdrawal of all foreign troops
' from Spain.
2. Prevention of further influx by
force.
On Tuesday Great Britain was told
by Italy after urgent representations
that the only Italian landings in
Spain since the international ban on
volunteers went Into effect was a
medical detachment March I.