Evening star. [volume], March 04, 1938, Page A-4, Image 4

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
TRIAL FRAME#
"Voluntary Confessions”
Mere Sham in Hope
of Clemency.
Charges in the current Moscow
trial against four physicians, one
Of whom died before the start of
the trial, are discussed here by the
man accused as the instigator of
the alleged conspiracy against the
Stalin regime. The former Soriet
war lord, co-leader with Lenin in
the Russian revolution, was exiled
by Stalin after a struggle for su
premacy that followed Lenin's
death.
By I.EON TROTZKY.
MEXICO CITY. March 4 (N.A.N.A.).
- Pour physicians arc accused of hav
ing assassinated two Soviet func
tionaries. Valerian V. Kuibeshev and
Vyacheslav Menzhinsky, and the
writer. Maxim Gorky. Until now. it
was believed that these three people
had died of natural causes; Menz
hinsky and Gorky had been ill for
many years. Their death certificates
were signed by half a dozen luminaries
of Soviet medicine. The corpses were
cremated. On what hook. then, can I
the accusations be hung? It is ap
parent they again depend on ‘'volun- !
tary confessions.'’
1 personally remember well two of
the "physician terrorists.-’ L. G. Levin 1
and D. D. Pletnyev. They W'ere the
official physicians of the government
since the first years of the revolution.
The two others. I. N. Kazakov and
Pr. Vinogradov, I recall only by their
names. All four, as physicians, could
not conceivably dream of attaining
posts higher than they held. None of
them ever attempted to take any part
In political activity.
The accusations become even more
inexplicable if we consider the three
supposed victims of terror.
Kuiheshrv orten Shitted.
Kulbeshev. though he dwelt upon
the Soviet Olympus, was never con
sidered by any one a personage in his
own right. He was transferred from
pillar to post as a bureaucratic jack
of all trades. He enjoyed no authority
In the party.
Menzhinsky. already then gravely ill.
became the head of the G. P. U. in 1927
following the death of Djerzhinski.
The individual in the G. P. U. who en
joyed Stalin's confidence for the
carrying out of the more secret of
missions was in reality Henry G.
Yagoda. But since Yagoda. also one
of the present accused, was held In
general merited contempt, the sick
Menzhinsky was appointed as a blind
for Yagoda's activities. Often at gov
ernment sessions Menzhinsky would lie
prostrated, with a countenance con
tracted in pain. His death occurred
not sooner but later than was ex
pected. Why. in the name of reason,
was it necessary to poison him?
The most astonishing fact of all.
however, is the inclusion of Maxim
Gorky's name in the list of those
"assassinated.'’ As a writer and a
man he enjoyed the widest possible
sympathy. At no time was he a po
litical figure. A victim of tuberculosis
from youth, he was forced to live in
the Crimea. Afterward, in Fascist
Italy, precisely because of the purely
literary character of his activity, he
met with no difficulties from Musso
lini's police. In his last years Gorky
again lived in the Crimea. Since he
was compassionate to the troubles of
others and easily influenced, the G.
P. IT. surrounded him with a veritable
ring of agents under the guise of sec
retaries, whose task It was not to per
mit undesirable visitors near him.
What sense was there in the assassina
tion of this sick writer at a time when
he was 67 years old?
Hints Ordjonikidze Poisoned.
Immediately following the arrest of i
Dr. Levin, chief of the Kremlin Hos- j
pital. information appeared in the i
foreign press to the effect that Dr. |
Levin himself had been tht first to j
state that the death of Ordjonikidze j
might have been due to poisoning. An |
extremely remarkable fact! Dr. Levin j
suspected the G P. U. of having i
poisoned Ordjonikidze some months;
before the G. P. U. accused him of I
hsving poisoned Kuibishev, Menzhin
sky and Gorky.
Previously, none of the names of '
the other three physicians was con- :
nertpd with this affair. But <t is very ,
plausible that conversations on the |
reuse of Ordjonikidze's ri-ath should :
fake plaep precisely among the phy- j
sicians of the Kremlin. This was .
more than suffirient reuse for ar
rests. The arrests, in turn, became
the point of departure for the "amal
gam” created.
The reply of the G. P. U. was sim
ple: "So you suspect that Ordjonikidze
was poisoned? We suspect you of \
having poisoned Kuibishev, Men
zhinsky and Gorky. Confess! ^ou
will not? Then we will execute you
immediately. But, if you should con
fess that the poisoning was accom
plished on orders from Bukharin,
Bykov or Trotzk.v—why, then, you
may hope for leniency."
All this may seem incredible, but
Incredibility is the very essence of
the Moseow trials. Such trials are
possible only in the completely pois- ■
oned atmosphere under the heavy,1
tightly-screw’ed-down lid of the totali
tarian regime.
ICopyrlsht, 1938. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, Inc.)
frenciTuboiTcode
BILL VOTED, 191-71j
Six-Day Parliamentary Deadlock
Broken as Question of
Confidence Is Raised.
By the Associated Press.
PARIS, March 4.—Premier Camille
Chautemps. putting the question of
confidence in his government,, obtained
final passage of his labor code'bill to
day with a Senate vote of 191 to 71.
The Senate accepted remaining j
alight differences between the measure
as passed by t he Chamber of Deputies,
last night and its own version and
brought an end to the six-day par
liamentary deadlock.
Chautemps had whipped the rebel
lious chamber into line with threats of
resignation.
Taking his last stand to end the
deadlock, Chautemps had ruled that
the chamber acoept the Senate’s ar
ticle exempting farmers from the
code and that the Senate accept the
chamber's provision that compulsory
arbitration extend to all industrial dis
putes.
’’There are limits to human endur
ance,” Chautemps warned the cham
ber early in the day’s session wheg
tha deputes tried again to extend the
code to agriculture. “I tell you dis
tinctly the government will not survive
an unfavorable vot^’
Queen Mary Visits Royal Home Project
Queen Mary chatting icith residents o/ the Princess Mary Village Homes, at Addieslone. Sur
rey, England. ' —Wide World Photo. !
I
| Chinese Force Is Reported
Fleeing Paoteh After
Night Attack.
By the Associated Press.
| SHANGHAI, March 4.—Japanese
| troops in Northwestern Shansi Prov
ince, their commanders announced
today, crushed an army of 8.000 Chi
l nese Communists in a surprise night
! attack at Paoteh.
The Chinese forces were said to be
fleeing across the ice-choked Yellow
River into Shensi Province, long g
| Chinese Red Army stronghold. The
Japanese report said scores of Chinese
Purge j
_<Continued From First Page.)
He Mid he and Admiral IkramofT.
1 former political boss of the Uzbek Re
public and also a defendant, wanted
to reduce the growing of cotton, its
chief product, and to emphasize in
dustry and grain production in the first
five-year plan.
Stalin, he testified, ordered the plan
checked up and then Moscow in
structed the republic to grow’ more
cotton. Thereupon, he said. Uzbekis- j
tan adopted a policy of excessive cot
ton production to the detriment not
only of its live stock and silk industry,
but also to cotton growing itself.
Agreement With Trotzkr.
Khodjaieff linked the middle Asian
Separatists to Trotr.ky.
"We had no written or oral, but a
silent agreement with Trotzky,” he
said.
The prisoner said he was unsuccess
ful in attempts to reach renters of !
influence in Britain, which was to ‘
have been given a protectorate and
economic privileges in return for sup
port.
The Separatists, he added, had con
sidered Japan as an ally, but favored
Britain because her help against local
bandits would come from India and
Afghanistan and would be nearer.
Khodjaieff indicated that Nikolai
Bucharin, No. 1 on the list of de
fendants, knew in advance of the anti
Comintern pact to which Germany,
Italy and Japan now aubscribe.
He said Bucharin told him Fascism
had helped stabilize capitalism, that
the Nazis would try to make Germany
supreme in a Fascist Europe and were
preparing a part with Japan against
the U. S. S. R.
Today's first witness. V. F. Sharan
govich, former secretary of the Polish
C*nmunist party, tola the court of
contacts between the Polish army gen
eral staff and a "Nationalist Fascist’’
group across the Polish border in
White Russia,
Sharangovich implicated as leaders
of the organization a group which in
were drowned and 600 were left dead
on the Paoteh battlefield.
Up ihe Yangtze River Valley, how
evar, Chinese told of beating back
Japanese.
The Chinese said Japanese tried to
land troops from two warships at
Tatung, 64 miles upstream from
Wuhu, only to be repulsed.
Japanese columns In Southern
Shansi Province advanced with the
aid of airplane bombardments, captur-,
ing Kuwo and driving toward Howma.
Chinese admitted Japanese had occu
pied many walled towns along the
Peiping-Hankow Railway north of the
Yellow River, but said their own troops
controlled me villages and surround
ing countryside.
Three Chinese were wounded when
terrorists bombed the plant of the
morning edition of the Ta Mei Wan
Pao, a Chinese language paper regis
tered as an American concern, since
it is connected with the American
Shanghai Evening Post.
The plant of the same papers' eve
ning edition, in another building, has
been bombed twice. The newspapers
eluded: A. V. Cherviakoff, White Rus
sia President, who committed suicide
when a number of his colleagues were
arrested: M. Goloded, White Russia
chairman of peoples’ commissars, and
Nicolai Antipoff, former vice president
of the Council of Peoples' Commissars.
Conferred With Bucharin.
The group conferred frequently with
Bucharin. former government news
paper editor, also on trial, and
Gregory I. Piatikoff, who was executed
after the January, 1937, trial*, Shar
angovich declared.
In 1932, he said, the group was or
dered by Bucharin to maintain closer
contact with the Polish military
chieftains.
"Our (treasonable) organization." he
went on, "was closely tied with the
Polish general staff."
He described himself as a traitor
since he returned to Russia from
Poland as a liberated war prisoner in
1921. saying the Poles had refused
to free him unless he became their
spy.
Sharangovich told of attempts of
two terrorist groups to assassinate ,
Klementi E. Voroshiloff. commissar of
war. during army maneuvers in White
Russia.
14 Others Named.
Key figures among the 21 broken
Bolshevist defendants have named at
least 14 others who have been de
nounced or removed from office. But
whether this trial, like similar ones
In the past, would breed another was
not disclosed.
New names linked to the plot in
cluded:
Yan E. Rud jutsk. former vice chair
man of the Council of People’s Com
missars.
Nicolai Antipoff, former vice presi
dent of the council.
I. M. Vareikis. former Communist
Ettablithed 1895
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have been under terrorist threats be
cause of allpged anti-Japanese poll-;
cies.
Three Chinese adults and a child
were injured by a bomb thrown into a
Chinese primary school in the French
concession.
Dole Increase
In Britain Due
To Prosperity
By tht Associated Press.
LONDON. March 4.—Industrial
prosperity brought a pay hike today
for Britons still on the dole.
Government officials announced ac
cumulated reserves in the unemploy
ment insurance fund would make pos
sible increased benefits, including;
An increase from nine to 10 shill
ings ($2.25 to $2.50i for wives and
other dependents of unemployed.
An increase of 10 shillings sixpence
<$2.621 to 12 shillings i S31 in weekly
benefits for the young from lg to 21.1
boss of the Far East.
Jacob YakovlefT. former president of
the Electoral Commission.
Barbara Yakovleva, former commis
sar of finance.
I
Rudjutak, Antipoff and Vareikis
were mentioned as participants in a
plot for a "palace revolution" at. the
Kremlin. YakovlefT was said to have
approved a plan to form a National
Socialist party in the Ukraine. Bar- !
bara Yakovleva was implicated in what :
was described as a scheme to kill Lenin
in 1918.
Thus far key figures among the de
fendants have corroborated each
others’ testimony. The single hitch 1
on the first day when Nicholas N.
Krestinsky, former Ambassador to
Berlin, repudiated his pre-trial con
fession was smoothed over.
Krestinsky not only disavowed his
claim of innocence for a plea of guilty
to ' all the charges preferred against
me. but elaborated on his position in
the asserted plot. His second day 1
testimony of guilt was substantiated 1
by that of other defendants.
T
NAVY 3600.000,000
Figure Does Not Include |
Vast Construction
Progr&m.
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, March 4.—Mighty Brit
aln. arming at top speed the while Rhe
dickers for peace with Europe's dic
tators. will spend over $600,000,000 on
her navy this year—not counting a
vast construction program which
likely will Include battleships of more
than-35,000 tons.
Details of the building program
hinge upon current Informal discus
sions with American and French
naval experts on what to do about
Japan's refusal to disclose her naval
building.
Japan refused to say whether she
was building battleships above 35,000
tons, and the indicated result of the
present discussions is that Britain
will decide to exceed the limit fixed
by the 1936 London naval treaty.
Today's naval estimates were an
nounced by Alfred Duff Cooper, first
lord of the admiralty, even as Prime
Minister Chamberlain laid the ground
work for peace talks with Germany’s
Fuehrer Hitler to parallel those with
Italy's Duce. Mussolini.
1938 Plan Not Mentioned.
The estimates did not include a
"new construction program for 1938.”
detail* of which will be contained in
another white paper,” Duff Cooper
said.
He set regular estimates at £123.707.
000. or $618.535.000—£18.642,000. or
$93,210,000, more than the previous
year.
"A supplementary estimate will be
presented in due course for so much
of the work on the program to be
carried out in the forthcoming finan
cial year,” Duff Cooper asserted.
Britain now has two battleships
building, and plans were for three
more to be begun ihls year
The fear of Japanese building led to '
revision. Japan Is not a signatory of
the London treaty, but the treaty pro
vides that its limitations may be tossed
aside in the event any power exceeds
those limitations.
Total* Are Forbidding.
The naval figures, following army
and royal airforce estimates, give a I
forbidding composite picture of
Britain's preparations for possible war.
Army estimates totaled $532,500,000
and those for the airforce $557,510,000,
plus $101,380,000 for ordnance fac
tories.
The total for the three services
exceeds by at leasi $50,000,000 the
giand total of $1,758,750,000 given by
Premier Chamberlain in his outline
of defenses in Wednesday's white
paper.
Britain's Navy now has 119.000 men.
an increase of 7.000. Today's report j
said there was planned a "consider
able Increase” of naval airplanes and
flyers and that appropriations to carry
on construction of vessels under 1937
or early programs had been increased
by 7.895.375 pounds, or $39,476,875.
Duff Cooper added that measures
adopted with France and Italy thus
far had been successful in the ^ffort
to stamp out ' piratical activity” in
the Mediterranean.
For Debate Monday.
The arms figures will be given to
Parliament for debate on Monday in
a session which may also touch again
on Britain's new bargaining for peace
policies.
While the naval estimates made no
mention of new construction, this was
dealt with Wednesday in a white I
paper which outlined a program in
cluding two battleships, an aircraft
carrier, four large cruisers, three
small cruisers, three submarines and '
three mine layers.
Because the beginning of such a
program involves relatively a small ,
proportion of the total cost, it was j
Season-End Bargains
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10 Fingers, 10 Toes, $250,000
This Italian organist, Fernando Germani, thinks enough of
his hands and feet to have them insured for S250,000 by Lloyds of
London against injury during a current American concert tour.
In fact, he wouldn’t even allow a comely Willard Hotel mani
curist to touch up his fingers yesterday afternoon, telling her to
use her nail-polishing prowess on His Royal Highness, Sayyid
Said Bin Taimur Faisal, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, who had
just arrived at the hotel. The musician used his S250.000 feet
and hands last night in a concert at the Rialto Theater.
—Star Staff Photo.
thought a supplementary estimate for
1938-9. issuable later, would not ex
ceed £3.000.000 (about *15.000,000t.
The Earl of Perth, Ambassador to
Italy, on the eve of returning to Rome
to conclude a new Italian-British ac
cord, conferred with King George at
Buckingham Palace.
Sir Nevile Henderson. British Am
bassador to Berlin, took the first step
toward bringing Germany into the
British-Italian appeasement efforts
yesterday.
He saw Fuehrer Hitler and the new
German foreign minister. Joachim
von Ribbentrop, in conversations
which dealt in all probability with
German demands for colonies and
German aims in Austria and Czecho
slovakia. whose Nazi populations are
clamoring for unification with the
German Reich.
Hitler has said strongly the colonial
issue must be settled before there can
be any real negotiations toward a new
European security pact.
INFANTILE PARALYSIS
THEORY IS PUBLISHED
Lack of Vitamin B Believed
Cause—Compare* Disease
to Beri Beri.
By the Associated Press.
TORONTO. March 4.—A he* theory
of tlie cause of infantile paralysis,
published today in the Journal of the
Canadian Medical Association, attrib
uted the child scourge to lack of vita
min B.
Vitamin B (usually called B-l) is
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the nerve vitamin. Only in the last
three years has it been available for
medical experiments. It* has already
i been found to prevent the nerve dis
orders and forms of partial paraly
sis caused by too much alcohol with
too little food.
Dr. W. J. McCormick of Toronto,
who offers the vitamin theory for in
fantile paralysis, finds his justifica
i tion in a comparison of this disease
and beri beri. The latter is the Orien
tal disease which led to discovery of
vitamin B. It is caused by lack of
this vitamin.
His theory harmoniws. he points
out, with recent discoveries about
virus diseases. Infantile paralysis is
one of the diseases caused by viruses.
The latter have been identified in
some rases as non-living protein sub
stances. which could come from de
ranged metabolism.
CZECHS TO RESIST '
Premier Says Nation Is
Ready for “Equality”
Understanding.
By the Associated Press.
PRAHA, Czechoslovakia. March 4.—
Premier Milan Hodza told a crowded,
cheering Chamber of Deputies todav
that Czechoslovakia was determined
to defend to the uttermost its sover
eignty, its boundaries and its inde
pendence.
It is also willing, however, to rearh
am understanding with Germany "on
the basis of absolute equality,” he de
clared.
The atmosphere was tense as Hodza ,
rose to deliver the long-awaited decla
ration of the Czechoslovakian govern
ment on issues recently raised by
Fuehrer Adolf Hitler of Germany.
Tumultuous applause greeted his de
fiant assertion that "we want peace,
but with things as they are today we
must let it be know-n that if destiny
confronts us with the necessity of de
fending ourselves we will resist with
all our strength."
Czechoslovakia's borders are "abso
lutely untouchable.'’ the prime mtn
| later declared, obviously referring to
; Hitler's and German Gen. Hermann
Wilhelm Goering's promises of protec
tion for "10 millions of Germans Just
across our borders.”
Czechoslovakia and its inhabitants,
he said, would never, under any cir
cumstances. permit any outsider to In
terfere in the Internal affairs of the
country.
Regulation of questions on national ,
minorities within the borders he con
tinued, is "solely and exclusively the
prerogative of the state.”
Citing a passage in Hitler's speech
j of February 20. in which Der Fuehrer
said that with good will on both sides
there was possibility of an agreement,
Hodza said;
"With these words of the Reich
chancellor I fully agree.”
He concluded with a suggestion that
psychological rather than political ob
stacles bar the path to German
Czechoslovakian understanding.
"It is high time to begin clearing
away psychological barriers,” he said.
When Hodza finished, the Deputies
and galleries rose—with the conspicu
ous exception of Communist members
and 42 pro-Nazis of German descent—
and sang the Czech national anthem, .
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