Evening star. [volume], March 31, 1937, Image 1

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

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WEATHER. I I
jf '~\ The only evening paper
temperature tonight about 36 degrees; ▲iJ 111 Washington With the
tomorrow fair with gentle to moderate I A ecAniotorl T^noco W ouic
north winds. Temperatures—Highest, 58, | i | ■ ASSOCiaieO rreSS iMCWS
at 4 p.m. yesterday; lowest, 43, at 5 a.m. I ■ I and WlFephotO SeFVlCeS.
today. Full report on page A-6. JMy
Closing New York Markets, Page 16 Yesterday’s Circulation, 143 090
p_'_° _ (Some returns not yet received.)
85th YEAR. No. 33,937. ^^cV.7iSTo: WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1937—FORTY-FOUR PAGES. ***** w M..n. A„oci.t«i Pr,„. TWO CENTS.
ITALIAN COLONIALS
HELP HALT REVOLT
IN REBEL MOROCCO
1,000 Reported Brought In
as Franco Rushes to
Ceuta by Plane.
1,100 IN JAIL, 50 SLAIN
TO STAMP OUT UPRISING
Situation Believed Still Serious.
Arrival of German Cruiser
Blamed on Agitation.
BACKGROUND—
For four days bitter fighting has
been raging on southern front »n
Spanish civil war. The rout of the
Fascist rebels from Pozoblanco,
gateway to a rich mine area, gave
the government’s morale another
boost. The Loyalists won at
Guadalajara more than a week ago.
Heartened by these victories after
defeat in the civil war seemed in
evitable, the Loyalists have begun
offensive around Oviedo, in Avila
and upon the Southern Mediter
ranean coast.
The civil war began last July.
By the Associated Press.
CASABLANCA, French Morocco,
March 31.—Insurgent Gen. Francisco
Franco, seemingly beset by continuing
•trife in the Spanish Moroccan cradle
of his eight and a half months' rebel
lion. was reported by usually reliable
■ •ourees today to have brought 1.000
Italian colonials into the zone “from
overseas'' to stamp out stubborn revolt.
(The Tangier correspondent of the
London Evening News said Franco
himself, with four senior staff officers,
had flown to Ceuta. Spanish Morocco,
<rom Spain.)
The colonial troops, described in
•ome quarters as either actual Italians
or natives from Italian conquered
Ethiopia, landed at Ceuta, the Casa
blanca advices said.
They were spread through the zone,
where Franco’s subordinates have
•mashed at a civilian-military uprising
with the double-edged weapon of exe
cution and arrest.
Fifty persons were executed, 1,100
thrown into Jail, latest reports re
lated.
Situation Still Serious.
Advices describing the executions
and arrests of officers, civilians and
•oldiers said the revolt was crushed,
but today’s reports indicated the situa
tion still was serious and that the
imported colonials were needed as a
precautionary measure.
There was a strong Republican
movement at Ceuta against the
Fascist-insurgent regime in the Span
ish zone, and the populace, some per
sons stated, was kept from rioting only
by the most rigid measures.
Efforts to confirm the advices, which
fame from several sources, were
hindered by the fact that telephonic
communication with Tetuan, capital
of Spanish Morocco, was cut for the
•econd time in 24 hours.
Diplomatic sources at Tangier at
tributed recent insurgent assertions
that the French were stirring up trou
ble in Spanish Morocco to a desire to
cover the growing agitation in that
region.
In some quarters i1 was believed the
arrival of a new German cruiser at
Ceuta resulted from Republican agita
tion.
Extra Privileges Sought.
One unconfirmed report said Italians
had been offering bribes at Tetuan
tn an attempt to gain greater privi
leges, which they declared the insur
gent authorities were giving to Ger
mans.
The first move of the counter-revo
lution was to have been the arrest of
Col. Juan Beigbeder y Atenza, the
Insurgent high commissioner, and his
Staff.
Then, throughout next week end,
the revolters’ position would have
been consolidated through seizure of
railroad stations and public services
throughout the colony
(The Daily Mail reports said the
Conspirators planned to raise the flag
ef the Madrid-Valencia government
While a squad of 50 pilots seized the
planes of the insurgent airports and
(See SPAIN, Page A-5.)
PLEA OF INNOCENT
MADE IN STABBING
ffhoma* Smith Denies Slaying of
Babcock Girl—Sanity Test
Is Considered.
0y tht Associated Press.
BUFFALO, N. Y„ March 31— Eight
een-year-old Thomas Smith pleaded
Innocent today to a charge of murder
ing 18-year-old Mary Ellen Babcock,
and his attorneys said they might ask
the court to appoint a sanity commis
Bion.
Smith appeared briefly in court,
then was returned to jail to await a
hearing April 14.
His arraignment on a first-degree
murder charge took place 24 hours
after announcement by Police Com
missioner James W. Higgins that
Smith had confessed the knife-slaying
of Miss Babcock February 6.
William J. Flynn, one of Smith’s
lawyers, said no request had been
made yet for a sanity examination,
but such a request was being con
sidered.
“We have taken the position that
If he did the things it is claimed he
did, he is suffering from some mental
trouble,” Flynn said.
“But we are not yet satisfied that
he did them.”
Earlier today Smith was taken to
a hospital, where Frances Fitzgerald,
14, lies with a 'wound in her back.
Higgins said Smith had confessed
that he stabbed Frances with an ife.
tfiick Sunday. '
40 Americans
Killed, 100 Hurt
In Spanish War
Casualties Reported
in Fighting on Jara
ma Front.
B> (he Associated Press.
VALENCIA, March 31.—Forty Amer
ican volunteers in the Spanish govern
ment's Lincoln brigade were reported
today killed, with 100 wounded, in
fighting on the Jarama front south of
Madrid during the last two weeks of
February.
A check-up disclosed the American
casualties had not been as great as at
first feared and several men who were
reported killed in action later were
discovered in hospitals.
Brigade officers said no authoritative
list of dead and injured had as yet
been compiled.
SNEERED
Telephone Company Prom
ises Not to Aid Teleflash
Operators Again.
Dissemination of race track informa
tion to Washington gamblers will be
seriously impeded in the future by a
promise given today to United States
Attorney Leslie C. Garnett by the
Chesapeake <fc Potomac Telephone Co.
that it will not again provide service
for Telecast or Teleflash broadcasters
or other similar devices.
At the same time, it was learned
that the telephone company received
orders late yesterday from National
Telecast. Inc., to disconnnect all its
sets, at one time estimated at about
150 in number. The disconnections
started today.
The elaborate network of wires
covering the city by which race track
information was supplied to alleged
gambling establishments first was dis
closed by a raid several weeks ago on
the National Telecast headquarters in
the Albee Building. At that time,
William (Jewboy) Dietz and William
Cahill, said to be Dietz' partner in
operation of the information service,
were arrested and charged with con -
spiracy to violate the gambling laws.
39 Raids Followed.
Thirty-nine raids have followed,
with the arrest of more than 100 per
sons. It is understood many will be
prosecuted as participants in the al
leged conspiracy said to involve Dietz
and Cahill.
Telecast served many legitimate
gathering places, such as restaurants,
cocktail rooms and the like.
It is the contention, however, of po
lice and Internal Revenue Bureau
agents, who listened over tapped wires
of the system for months, that Tele
cast also provided the information
which enabled scores of gambling es
tablishments to operate.
Teleflash, which ceased operating
here several weeks ago, is said to be
a subsidiary of Nationwide News,
which handles racing news throughout
the country. Nationwide News, then
known as General News, moved out of
■Washington in 1934. promising Gar
nett it would not again furnish track
information to gamblers in the Dis
trict.
Then Teleflash Comes In.
Within the past year, however,
Teleflash set up operations in Wash
ington under the representation that
it would service only legitimate estab
lishments. But recently the local
Teleflash manager, Leonard J. Ma
tusky, was arrested and charged with
conspiracy. At the same time Na
tionwide News announced he had vio
lated orders and was being discharged.
Racing information dissemination
to gamblers reached the proportions
of an extensive and lucrative business
under Sam Beard, once king of
Washington’s gamblers. Beard now
is serving a prison term in the Federal
Penitentiary at Atlanta.
Police say Dietz set up his business
after Beard’s ring had been smashed.
LINDBERGHS IN ATHENS
Crown Prince Stunts Own Plane
in Welcome Gesture.
ATHENS, Greece, March 31 </P).—
Col. and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh
landed at Tatoi Airdrome at 9:25 a.m.
today from the Island of Rhodes.
Crown Prince Paul of Greece
stunted his plane slowly over the field
as the Lindberghs arrived. A crowd
which expected them earlier had
dwindled.
TRIPLE SLAVING
Joseph Gedeon and Three
Others in New Round
Up for Clues.
POINTS TO BE CLEARED
IN STORY OF PARENT
Fingerprints Found on Bedding
Tested by Experts—Former
Husband Is Witness.
BACKGROUND—
The bodies of Veronica Gedeon,
artists’ model, 20, her mother, Mrs.
Mary Gedeon, 5i, and Frank
Byrnes, 35, a roomer, were found
Easter afternoon in their New York
home, the two women strangled
and the man hacked to death.
Suspects have been questioned, but
none held, and police are depending
on fingerprints to identify the
slayer.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, March 31—Joseph
Gedeon, scrawny father of Veronica
"Ronnie” Gedeon and estranged hus
band of Mary Gedeon, both strangled
to death in the triple murders of Beek
man Hill Easter Sunday, was brought
In for further questioning by police
today along with three other principal
characters in New York's strange mur
der drama.
With District Attorney William C
Dodge taking active charge of ques
tioning for the first time in a fresh
burst of police activity, detectives
brought to the Fifty-first street sta
ion Robert Fowler, 25. who married
the gay art model when she was 16,
and Jean Carp, 20, a model and closest
friend of “Ronnie.”
Also questioned again was Georges
(French) Gueret, former roomer in
the apartment where Ronnie and her
mother were strangled and another
roomer, Frank Byrnes, stabbed to
death some time early Sunday morn
ing. Gueret, released yesterday after
: 30 hours of questioning as a "guest”
I of the police, walked unescorted into
I the station.
Paints to Be Cleared.
Although denying that the case
had become “hot,” Deputy Inspector
Francis J. Rear said “there are cer
tain points about Gedeon's story we
want him to clear up.”
Crimson fingerprints with their
damning telltale record provided de
tectives today with their first concrete
clue.
When they match bloody smudges
on an apartment bed sheet with the
arches, loops and whorls on a man's
finger tips they hope to ascertain the
identity of the murderer.
In the fingerprint section at police
headquarters and in the bigger col
lection of prints at the Department 1
of Justice in Washington, experts
classified and compared the stains
left on a sheet of Miss Gedeon's bed
with the digit records of known crim- 1
inals.
Habitue of Ball Rooms.
Shapely, good-looking and described
by her own father as a trifler with
men’s affections, she posed for artists
and photographers, illustrated with
her semi-nude figure blood-and-thun
der detective stories and was a habitue
of bars and ball rooms.
The fingerprints and other evidence
led detectives to conclude the killer
had taken his time in dispatching his
victims. He apparently spent several
hours in the Beekman Hill Apartment.
He carefully washed his hands, they
said, between the time he sank an in
(See FATHER, Page A-2J
FIRE WRECKS MESS HALL
—
$300,000 Loss to Veterans' Insti
tution at Marion, Ind.
MARION, Ind., March 31 OP).—Fire
of undertermined origin destroyed the
mess hall at the United States Vet
erans’ Hospital here early today, caus- j
ing damage estimated at $300,000 by
hospital officials.
The building, one of the oldest at
the Institution, was constructed in
1890.
Provision was made for feeding the
1,500 patients in other hospital build
ings.
Missing Boy Scout Executive
Returns9 Says He Was Kidnaped
by me Associated Press.
EL PASO, Tejt., March 31.—Robert
M. Miller, missing Safford, Ariz., Boy
Scout executive, walked into the El
Paso Natural Gas Co. control station
north of here early today.
He said he had been freed by kid
napers last night.
Fred Roech, in charge of the station
at Sunrise Acres, north of El Paso,
called the office of Sheriff Chris Pox,
and deputies brought Miller to the
sheriff’s office.
Miller said that he was kidnaped
last Wednesday while on his way to
Globe, Ariz., from Safford.
Millet said he had been stopped by
a car which was across the road and
a man lay in front of the car as if
Injured.
“I stopped my car to give aid,’’ he
said. “The man jumped up and hit
me. Two other men. hiding in the
car leaped out and knocked me out.
The next thing I knew I awoke in
their, car.”
Miller said that he had been kept in
custody of the kidnapers until last
night when he was pushed out of the
car or the desert.
Miller told the sheriff he was held
at an adobe house he believed was in
El Paso County, until last night. He
said the men then put him in an
auto, drove toward El Paso and m
leased him. *
He said he walked about four hours
before reaching the gas company eta- I
tion.
Sheriff Fox quoted Miller as saying
he believed the men had planned to
ask ransom from the Boy Scout or
ganization, since they questioned him
about its finances and his standing
with the organization.
Several hundred searchers were
tramping the hills between Safford
and Duncan, Ariz., determined but
losing hope in the week-long hunt,
when Miller appeared at El Paso.
It was the greatest manhunt in re
cent Arizona history.
Among the searchers were Boy
Scouts congregated from over the
State to search for their lost leader, a
field executive recently assigned to the
Safford area.
Also helping were National Guards
men, C. C. C. enrollees, Soil Conserva
tion workers, peace officers and civi
lians. When the search was at its
height over the week end more than
1,500 persons participated.
Last Wednesday morning Miller left
Safford to meet his brother and superior
Scout executive, George Miller, in
Globe, 85 miles west of Safford. He
was seen a half hour later in Thatcher,
three miles east of Safford.
Then he disappeared. In less than
two hours his car was seen parked at
Duncan, 42 miles in the opoosite di
rection from his destination.^!
COLLINS 10 OFFER
9 NEW TAX BILLS
FOR D.C. REVENUE
House Committee Aroused
Over Subgroup’s “Usurpa
tion” in Changes.
— ■■■ — •
NEW LEVIES ON CARS,
INCOMES PROVIDED
Measures Would Yield Over 12
Million From Various Sources
to Meet Deficit.
BY JAMES E. CHINN.
Nine new tax revenue bills, esti
mated to yield more than $12,000,000
from various sources in the District,
will be introduced in the House today
by Chairman Collins of the Sub
committee on Appropriations which
drafted the 1938 District supply bill.
One-half of the $12,000,000 will be
needed to absorb an anticipated defi
cit, since the appropriations carried
in the bill are $6,000,000 in excess
of the estimated revenue availability
in the coming fiscal year. The bal
ance, according to Collins, will be
set up as a reserve, which may be
used to reduce the tax on real estate
in the 1939 fiscal year.
The tax bills will vitally affect
every wage earner, automobile owner
and various types of business—utility
corporations, insurance companies,
theaters and other places of amuse
ment and parking lot operators.
Revolt Seen on Reorganization.
Meanwhile, the House District Com
mittee, aroused over efforts of the
Appropriations Committee to usurp its
authority in legislative matters by
arranging for drastic reorganization
of certain municipal agencies and
services in the 1938 supply bill, ap
peared on the verge of revolt.
Behind closed doors, the commit
tee informally discussed some of the
legislative riders with which the sup
ply bill is loaded and finally decided
to hold a special meeting at 10:30
a m. tomorrow to determine a course
of action.
Provisions in the supply bill for
transferring Gallinger Hospital and
the new Tuberculosis Sanatorium at
Glenn Dale, Md., from supervision of
the Board of Public Welfare to the
Health Department, and the proposed
shifting of numerous playgrounds now
under control of the Playground De
partment to the Community Center
Department of the public schools, were
understood to be the chief targets of
attack. Miss Sibyl Baker, pl*y»
grounds director, was closeted with
the committee during a portion of the
discussion.
Determining Legislative Action.
“If the Appropriations Committee
can determine legislative action for
the District, it would appear that the
Legislative Committee is not neces
sary," declared Chairman Norton,
"the question we are concerned about I
is whether our committee is to func
tion in its own right, or to be sub
jected to the will of the Appropria
tions Committee.”
Mrs. Norton pointed out she re
cently created a special subcommittee
to revive the study of the Jacobs fiscal
relations plan, which the Appropria
tions Committee discarded. The new
subcommittee, however, has been in
structed to broaden the scope of the
study to include proposals for reor
ganizing the District government in
the interest of efficiency and economy.
Since the Appropriations Committee
has undertaken to make some of these
changes in the supply bill. Mrs. Nor
ton said the special subcommittee may
as well be abolished.
Subject to Point of Order.
The legislative riders in the ap
propriation bill—there are 21 alto
gether—are usually subject to a point
(See COLLINs7Page A-6.)—
/^CHAlRrwA
/l HAVE CALLED THESE \
f GENTLEMEN To Testify
AGAINST THE PLAN7DJ
v PACK THE SUPREME ]
COURT! A
Sees Them Result of Em
ployers’ “Violations” of
Industrial Liberties.
BY JOHN C. HENRY.
Senator Wagner. Democrat, of New
York, co-author of the national labor
relations law, in his first formal com
mitment on the sit-down strike, told
the Senate today "the sit-down has
been used only in protest against re
peated violations of industrial lib
erties which Congress has recog
nized."
This statement followed Wagner's
assertion that he advocated "obedience
to law and court orders and decisions
by all people at all times."
Leading up to his discussion of the
sit-down strategy. Wagner charged
that the worker of today still "sees
his fair share of the products of in
dustry denied him. as it has been in
the past, by the greed of monopoly
capital. He finds his hours growing
longer while millions remain unem
ployed He visualizes the horrors
of another depression brought on by
these distortions in our economy. He
observes his right to organize and
bargain collectively-his only salva
tion in a modern economic world—
trampled upon. Under these circum
stances, strikes have occurred.
Sit-Down Technique.
“In some of these strikes the sit
down technique has evolved, as mass
picketing and other techniques evolved
in the past. Whether or not a par
ticular technique is wise or foolish as
a matter of pure industrial policy is
not for me to say. What techniques
will be approved by the law of the
future no man in the world can say.
I believe that today every one should
obey the law of today; and it is for
each jurisdiction to say what the
law is within its boundaries. I ad
vocate obedience to law and court
orders and decisions by all people,
everywhere, at all times.
"But in the current situation these
all-important facts stand out above
all others: The sit-down has been
used only in protest against repeated
violations and industrial liberties
which Congress has recognized. The
sit-down, even in the few cases where
labor has used it effectively, has suc
(See PROBE, Page A-2.)
Summary of Today’s Star
-1--- ;
Page.
Amusements C-10
Comics B-15
Editorials ..A-10
Financial A-15
Lost Si Found A-3
Obituarj A-12
I Page
Radio _C-4
Society . B-3
Short Story B-6
Sports C-l-3
Woman’s Pg. B-13
«
SUPREME COUR1 ISSUE.
Robinson defends court plan, assails
McReynolds and Glass. Page A-l
Columnist sees dictator threat in court
packing. Page A-l
Henry J. Allen and Senator Thomas
debate court issue. Page A-4
STRIKE SITUATION.
Wagner sees sit-downs result of em
ployers’ "violations”. Page A-l
Murphy forecasts long week end for
Lewis and Chrysler. Page A-l
Rayon stay-in strike “firm but friend
ly,” says leader. Page A-7
FOREIGN.
Forty Americans killed in Spanish
war. Page A-l
Counter revolution in Morocco is
crushed, many executed. Page A-l
Army forces dissolution of Japanese
parliament. Page A-6
NATIONAL.
Joseph Gedeon, father of artist model,
questioned in slayings. Page A-l
Crowley urges that U. S. step out of
money-lending business. Page A-2
House committee rejects plan for loans
to farm tenants. Page A-2
Inflation greatest danger, Senator
Bailey asserts. Page A-4
(100,000,000 crop insurance bill passed
by Senate. Page A-4
House member says U. 8. judge got
(35,000 fee. Page A-5
Mine conference rushed as old agree
ment nears end. Page A-6
WASHINGTON AND VICINITY
Collins to offer nine new D. C. tax bills
to raise (12,000,000. Page A-l
164,000 benefit in District from social
security. Page A-2
Three D. C. residents killed in traffic
accidents. Page B-l
Girl, 19, held for shooting employer
in pay row. Page B-l
D. C. churches asked to atf drive for
"abte Jobless." fPage B-l
i D. C. Commissioners invite Nation to
blossom festival. Page B-l
Canadian governor general visiting j
shrines here today. Page A-3
i Catholic students meet to hear talks
on peace. Page A-12
EDITORIALS AND COMMENT.
Editorials. Page A-10
This and That. Page A-10
Answers to Questions. Page A-10
Washington Observations. Page A-10
David Lawrence. Page A-ll
Paul Mallon. Page A-ll
Dorothy Thompson. Page A-ll
Constantine Brown. Page A-ll
Lemuel Porton. Page A-ll
SPORTS.
Phebus may replace Lanahan as Grill
pitcher. Page C-l
Long-term contracts benefiting grid
coaches. Page C-l
Table tennis aces' skill amazes local
fans. Page C-l
Bobby Jones rated high in Augusta
golf event. Page C-2
Steele offered $15,000 to box Overiln
here. Page C-2
Amateur fighters end tourney here to
night. Page C-2
Mack lauds Mexicans as base ball
conditioners. Page C-S
Texas Senate ready to ban racing as
meet opens. Page C-3
FINANCIAL.
U. S. bonds drop (table). PageA-15
Power output far above 1936. Page A-15
Copper price boosted. Page A-15
Stocks irregular (table). Page A-16
D. C. clearings soar. Page A-16
Curb list mixed (table). Page A-17
MISCELLANY.
Washington Wayside. Page A-2
Service Orders. Page B-10
City News in Brief. Page B-10
Vital Statistics. Page B-10
Traffic Convictions. Page B-10
Nature's Children. Page B-7
Winning Contract. Page B-7
Dorothy Dlx. Page B-13
Betsy Caswell. Page B-13
Bedtime Story. Page B-14
Men’s Fashions. Page B-14
Crossword Puzsle. ^ Page B-l5
Letter-Out. ^ Page C-5
Lincoln Widow
Expires at 90
At Home Here
Daughter-in-Laic of
Emancipator W(is
Married Here.
Mrs. Robert Todd Lincoln, daugh
ter-in-law of a President, daughter of
a Senator and wife of a soldier and
statesman, died today at the age of
90 in her Georgetown home, 3014 N
street.
Born in Iowa City. Iowa, in Sep
tember. 1846. the daughter of Senator
and Mrs. James Harlan of Iowa, Mrs.
Lincoln lived here for a great many
years and was well known for her
philanthropies to various institutions.
Following the death of her husband
in 1926, she made it a policy to turn
over to the Library of Congress all
letters and papers of his father. Pres
ident Lincoln, in the interests of
American history. During the last 10
(See LINCOLN, Page A-6.)
—
Glass and McReynolds Hit.
Roosevelt Asks Wage Law
Include Men, Children.
By me Associated Press.
Senator Robinson, the Democratic
leader, took the air last night in de
fense of the Roosevelt court plan,
assailing Supreme Court Justice Me- ;
Reynolds and Senator Glass of Vir
ginia for their recent attacks on the ,
proposal.
The majority leader’s speech was j
broadcast shortly after President j
Roosevelt had said minimum wage
legislation, in view of the decision in
the Washington case, should cover
men as well as women and children.
Should Attorney General Cummings
rule that the District minimum wage
statute, invalidated in the famous
Adkins case, is inoperative. Congress
will be asked to enact another law ap
plying to men as well as women, Mr.
Roosevelt added. The Adkins case,
decided 14 years ago, was overruled
by the Supreme Court Monday in its
Washington State decision.
Senator Robinson took issue with
Justice McReynolds on good sports
manship, contending the justice had
violated his own definition of that
term.
McReynolds, indirectly criticizing
(See JUDICIARYTPage 4-5.)
ILL SAILOR RESCUED
Taken Frpm Ship on Cutter to
Delaware Hospital.
CAPE MAY, N. J., March 31 (>P).—A
stricken member of the crew of the
S. S. Cherokee was transferred at sea
today to a Coast Guard cutter and
taken to Beebe Hospital, Lewes, Del.
Louis Forrest, 22, Jacksonville. Fla.,
suffering from a stomach ailment, was
removed from the passenger craft
when his condition became grave.
The Cherokee, en route from New
York to Miami, was 20 miles off Cape
May at the time of the transfer.
THREE-DAY PARLEY
Chrysler and Lewis Will
Meet Again Friday for
Negotiations.
BACKGROUND—
With seven days of negotiation
completed the Chrysler automobile
strike remains unsettled.
Chief cause of disagreement be
tueen the motor magnate and John
Lewis, labor leader, is reported to
be over recognition of the United
Automobile Workers' of America as
sole bargaining agency for em
ployes.
i>5 trie Associated Press.
LANSING. Mich.. March 31—Gov.
Frank Murphy indicated today a long
week end may be in store for Walter
P. Chrysler. John L Lewis and other
negotiators who will resume efforts
Friday to settle the Chrysler automo
bile strike.
Before leaving for Detroit. Murphy
announced he would return to the
State capital tomorrow and added:
"We probably will be here Friday,
Saturday and Sunday ”
When the conference trying to de
termine the extent of bargaining
recognition to be accorded the United
Automobile Workers in Chrysler
plants adjourned yesterday, the Gov
ernor said he would "press day and
night, if necessary ’ for speedy settle
ment when it resumed
Delay in Parley Likely.
Although the next session is sched
uled for Friday. Murphy said he ex
pected it would be Saturday before
Chrysler, chairman of the board of
the corporation, and Lewis, head of
the Committee for Industrial Organ
ization, get together again.
Donald E. Bates, president of the
Reo Motor Car Co. whose truck man
ufacturing plant here has been closed
since March 10 by a sit-down strike,
expressed “hope" today for an early
settlement of that dispute and pre
dicted that automotive labor trouble
generally will result in a lower margin
of profit to manufacturers and a gen
eral increase in costs of all commod
ities.
A sit-down strike halted operations
at the Bay City. Mich., plant of the
Plywood Corp. today. Approximately
175 workers awaited arrival of Kemp
Williams. C. I. O. organizer, to start
negotiations with the management on
wage demands.
Labor Bills Considered.
Meanwhile bills before the Michigan
Legislature moved into the spotlight
today. Only a few doors from Gov.
Murphy’s office the Senate was ready
to vote on three measures intended to
curb sit-down strikes.
At the opposite end of the capitol
another fight over a labor bill was
brewing in the House.
Two of the bills, introduced by
Senator William Palmer, Flint Demo
crat, would make it a felony to take
possession of industrial property or
interfere with its use by the owners
and would make mandatory the nego
tiation of disputes between employers
and employes before a strike or lock
out.
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38-Year-Old Coat Worn.
GREENVILLE, S. C., March 31 (fP).
—Dave Alexander, a farmer near here,
said today he was still wearing an
overcoat he purchased 38 years ago
for *13.59.
Boston Coal Truck Drivers
Strike9 Tying Up 40 Companies
B> tbe Associated Press.
BOSTON, March 31.—A strike of
1,200 truck drivers and helpers today
tied up the operations of more than
40 Greater Boston fuel companies and
threatened to impair operation of
private power plants generating elec
tricity in some of the city’s large
buildings.
John P. Donovan, secretary of the
Coaf and Fuel Chauffeurs and Help
ers’ Union, an affiliate of the Ameri
can Federation of Labor, which called
the strike at midnight, said the union
would allow emergency deliveries to
hospitals and would be lenient where
the “public safety or health” was in
volved.
Union employes, Donovan said, de
manded a 15 per cent wage increase,
11 holidays a year, instead of 7, with
pay, a straight 40-hour week through
out the year in comparison with the
present 40 hours in Summer and 48
in Winter, and other concessions.
J. L. Johnson^president of the
Metropolitan Coal Co., said several of
the larger companies, acting as a
group, had offered chauffeurs $35 and
helpers $31 a week, an increase of $2.
They also agreed to a 40-hour week
for five months and a 48-hour week
for seven months.
He said the plants of the entire group
were tied up, and other dealers ad
mitted they were forced to suspend
operations.
Approximately 2,000,000 persons live
in Metropolitan Bostdh, the district in
which the strike was called. The
strike came with cool weather pre
vailing, with temperatures dropping
below freezing point during the night
and early morning.
Normally at this time of year
householders begin restocking low sup
plies of fuel, while thousands of
families using coke stock only small
supplies of that. In event the strike
extends several days, they might be
seriously affecte^
COLUMNIST SEES
DICTATOR THREAT
IN COURT PACKING
Dorothy Thompson Is First
Woman to Appear at
Senate Hearings.
CAPACITY CROWD DRAWN
BY PRESENCE OF WRITER
Follows Dr. Edwin Borchard of
Yale. Who Terms Proposal
“Speculative Leap.”
BY JOHN H. CLINE.
Describing herself as a "researcher
into mortality of republics,” Miss Dor
othy Thompson, newspaper columnist,
told the Senate Judiciary Committee
this afternoon that the President's
plan to "pack" the Supreme Court
necessarily carries an implied threat
of dictatorship.
The appearance of the smartly
dressed columnist, first woman to
testify before the committee, drew a
capacity crowd to the large Sena»e
caucus room. Many of these were
| women who were reluctant to leave
' during the luncheon recess frr fear
| they might not be able to get their
seats during the arternoon session.
I Miss Thompson, wife of Sinclair
Lewis, the novelist took the stand
! after Dr. Edwin Borchard, professor
of constitutional law at Yale, had
testified that the court plan is a
"speculative leap in the dark unless
a revolution in the attitude of the
judges toward the Constitution is
anticipated.”
Minton Discusses Hughes.
In the Senate, meanwhile. Senator
Minton, Democrat, of Indiana, de
clared that Chief Justice Hughes, once
I a candidate for President, had "never
! forgotten the lessons he learned in
j the arena of politics."
Minton, ardent supporter of Presi
dent Roosevelt's court reorganization
bill, took the Senate floor to discuss
the letter written by Chief Justice
Hughes to Senator Wheeler. Demo
crat, of Montana. Hughes said an
increase in the size of the court would
impair rather than increase its ef
ficiency.
Borchard and Miss Thompson
agreed that the court legislation is
| "legally constitutional but politically
unconstitutional.”
Declaring that for some time she
had been "an observer at the collapse
I of constitutional democracies," Miss
Thompson continued
"I have never suggested that Presi
dent Roosevelt is trying to establish
a dictatorship, but I have said that
if any President wanted to establish
a dictatorship and to do so with all
the appearances of legality, this is
the way he would take. He would
keep the Supreme Court, but switch
it into line.
Coups Keep Legal Apparatus.
"The modern coup d'etat.” she
added, "does not destroy the legal ap
paratus of the state. It keeps it, for
the coup d'etat wishes to appear legal.
It only alters its spirit and its aim."
The greatest danger to democracies,
she continued, is that reforms, ofte.i
very good and much needed reforms,
should be rushed through at a rate in
which they cannot be digested by so.
ciety.
Pointing out that Hitler, in assum
ing leadership in Germanay. took an
oath to support the constitution of
Weimar, she declared:
"He has never offered another Con
stitution. He just obliterated it by a
series of decrees backed by a supine
Parliament. But the German gov
ernment. under the Weimar constitu
tion, did not perish because it failed to
meet human needs. It perished be
cause it guaranteed to meet them, and
there came a time when it could not
possibly meet them on the scale to
which the people haa become accus
tomed ”
Political Freedom Necessary.
Declaring the demand for "economic
freedom" through a redistribution of
wealth "justified." she warned that
"economic freedom will prove a com
plete mirage unless it is aeomplished
with the maintenance of political
freedom.”
Urging a constitutional amendment
instead of the court bill, she con
cluded :
“You are being asked to push the
process of centering power in the Na
— (See HEARING,-Page A-5J ~
-•
U. S. BONDS RENEW
DOWNWARD DRIFT
Some Issues Off More Than Half
Point—Stock Market Is
Irregular.
Br me Associated Press.
NEW YORK. March 31—A decline
in United States Government bonds
in the New York Stock Exchange to
day carried some issues lower in
moderate selling by as much as $6 or
more per $1,000 face value bond.
Reports that the Treasury had re
duced its available investment funds
in trust accounts to a small figure
and that main support of the bonds
would have to be through Reserve
bank buying were said to have con
tributed to the slump. In early trad
ing 10 issues were quoted at new lows
for the year, several of them below
parity.
The stock market, after yesterday's
sharp upturn, was irregular, with steel,
motor and rail shares inclined to be
lower and oils and metals a little
higher.
Cotton futures ranged from 15 cents
a bale lower to 45 cents higher.
Liquor Bill Opposed.
AUGUSTA, Me., March 31 OF).—
The Maine Legislature’s Temperance
Committee today reported unfavorably
on a bill to repeal a law prohibiting
sale of liquor to Indians. There art
| two Indian trikes on reservations in
[ Maine. ™