Evening star. [volume], March 31, 1938, Image 1

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

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WEATHER.
IU. B. Weather Bureau For act it.)
Showers this afternoon, ending early
tonight; lowest temperature tonight about
48; tomorrow fair and colder. Tempera
tures today—Highest, 66, at S p.m.; low
est. 52, at 6:15 a.m.
Full report on page A-2.
Closing Tiew York Markets, Page 18
The only evening paper
in Washington with the
Associated Press News
and Wirephoto Services.
^ Means Associated Press.
86th YEAR. No. 34,302.
WASHINGTON, D. C., THUKSDAY, MARCH 31, 1938—SIXTY PAGES. ■
Entered at second elass matter rp tt t> tti XT' ppvrrct
post offlce. Washlnrton. D. C. -L xlxvxliJCj VjXjJN 1 o.
HOUSE VOTES TO DEBATE
MERGER BILL AFTER
‘NO DICTATOR’ PLEDGE
_ a.
Ballot of 202-143
Called Assurance
of Victory.
ROOSEVELT SEEKS
ITS PASSAGE INTACT
Letter Charges Foes of
Reorganizing Plan
‘Plant Bogeys.’
BACKGROUND—
Revision of Government's de
partmental set-up is provided in
“must” legislation from White
House. Although considerable op
position was known from beginning,
fight did not become intense until
vote approached in Senate. Ad
ministration managed passage by
seven-vote margin with controversy
now shifted to House.
By G. GOULD LINCOLN.
While both sides of the Capitol
buzzed with varying comment on the
letter in which President Roosevelt
asserted "I have no inclination to be
a dictator,” the House agreed by a
vote of 202 to 143 this afternoon to
take up the controversial Government
reorganization bill at once.
While the bill has not yet been
debated, the vote was hailed by its
supporters as conclusive evidence it
would pass.
The vote, however, accounted for
only 345 members of the House out
of a total of 435. Furthermore, op
b ponents of the bill said they believe
they still have a good chance to
knock out of the bill those provisions
abolishing the Civil Service Commis
sion and the General Accounting Of
fice.
Republicans lined up solidly against
taking the bill up and were Joined
by a sizable bloc of Democrats. The
motion to take up the bill was made
by Representative Cochrane of Mis
souri, chairman of the Special Reor
ganization Committee. Demands for
a roll call vote were made, thereby
bringing the first test of strength.
Stack Reserves Decision.
Before the vote Representative Stack,
Democrat, of Pennsylvania rose to a
question of personal privilege. He aald
his "communistic friend,” David Stern,
Philadelphia publisher, had announced
the Pennsylvania delegation was for
the reorganization bill.
“I say for one member of the Penn
sylvania delegation that I will not be
for any bill until it has been thor
oughly debated in the House,” Repre
sentative Stock said.
Representative Pettingill, Democrat
of Indiana next made a point of order
that the Reorganization Committee
did not have the power to report the
Senate bill because it contained matter
covered in two bills which the House
■ had passed last year. Action by the
House on those parts of the bill, he
Insisted, precluded new action by the
House.
Chairman O'Connor of the Rules
Committee backed up Representative
Pettingill in his argument, but Speaker
Bankhead overruled the point of order,
insisting the resolution creating the
Special Committee gave it powers to
report the bill at any time. Further
more, he held, the fact the House had
dealt with subject matter in the meas
ure did not prevent the Special Com
mittee from including that matter in
an amendment to the Senate bill.
The President's surprise action in
releasing, at 1 o’clock this morning,
his letter to an unnamed correspondent
defending the reorganization measure,
wa* regarded by many at the Capitol
as another eleventh-hour move to
rally support for the bill.
Minority Leader Snell termed the
action "a perfect fake,” and told re
porters the letter was "purely an effort
to get on the front page” and “get
people’s minds off” the reorganization
bill.
”1 don’t see what there was to get
'(See REORGANIZATION, Page A-4.)
MEETING REFUSED
LEVINE KIDNAPERS
Rabbi Nowak, Intermediary for
Parents, Feared There Would
Be Interference.
Br the Associated Press.
NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y„ March 31.
—Rabbi Abraham Nowak, interme
f diary in the kidnaping of Peter Levine,
12, wrho disappeared February 24 on
his way home from school, disclosed
today that he had refused to keep an
appointment with the kidnapers “be
cause 1 felt that our meeting could
not be exclusive and without Inter
ference.”
‘‘I said on February 28, when I was
given Instructions as to how I could
contact the kidnapers, and I repeat
now that I shall not betray the confi
dence of the kidnapers,” Rabbi Nowak
declared.
Rabbi Nowak referred to "interfer
ence,” although at the time police and
agents of the Federal Bureau of In
vestigation professed to maintain
“hands off” the case.
"I still stand ready to act,” said
the rabbi. “If the abductors contact
me again I shall be glad to serve
with the assurance that it will be
exclusively between the parents, the
abductors and myself. The contact
will be made on that basis or not at
all.
Rabbi Nowak said a "voice with
a foreign accent” directed him over
the telephone to look in a lot near
his synagogue. There his secretary
found a typewritten ransom note de
manding $60,000 and a penciled note
in the boy’s handwriting appealing to
’ his father to pay.
Hie ransom demand has been re
duced to $30,000, and the boy’s father
repeatedly has offered to pay it
I
Roosevelt’s Letter
By the Associated Press.
WARM SPRINGS, Ga., March 31.—The text of President Roosevelt’s
letter replying to dictatorship charges by opponents of his Government re
organization bill and a prefatory statement by Secretary McIntyre follows:
During the past 10 days the
President received comparatively
few letters and telegrams relating
to the reorganization bill now pend
ing in the Congress. The pros and
cons were about equally divided.
The smallness of the number
compared with the flood of tele
grams sent to members of the
Senate is proof positive that the
campaign against the reorganiza
tion bill was the result of or
ganized effort on the part of politi
cal or special self-interest groups,
because during the past five years,
where there were real questions of
public policy at issue, the Presi
dent's mail was flooded with letters
and telegrams cm both sides of the
question, sent by citizens who com
municated with the President
voluntarily rather than as the re
sult of a propaganda campaign.
To a letter from a friend received
a few days ago, the President has
replied in the letter which follows.
The name of the correspondent is
purposely withheld because he did
not write for publicity purposes.
President’* Letter.
The letter of the President fol
lows:
Warm Springs, March 29, 1938.
My dear-:
Many thanks for your letter tell
ing me that you are concerned over
the charges in several newspapers
that the reorganization bill, now
before Congress, would make me a
dictator.
1. As you well know, I am as
much opposed to an American
dictatorship as you are, for three
simple reasons:
(a) . I have no inclination to be a
dictator.
(b) . I have none of the qualifica
tions which would make me a suc
cessful dictator.
(c) . I have too much historical
background and too much knowl
edge of existing dictatorships to
make me desire any form of
dictatorships for a democracy like
the United States of America.
2. The reorganization bill now
before the Congress is the culmina
tion of an effort starting over 40
years ago to make the business
end—i. e„ the executive branch of
the Federal Government, more
business-like and more efficient.
Seven or eight of my immediate
predecessors in the presidency have
recommended similar reorganiza
tion measures.
Two Reorganizing Methods.
There are two methods of effect
ing a business-like reorganization.
It can be done by complex and
detailed legislation by the Con
gress going into every one of the
hundreds of bureaus in the execu
tive department arid other agencies.
Or it can be done by giving to
the President as Chief Executive
authority to make certain ad
justments and reorganizations by
executive order, subject to over
riding of these executive orders by
the Congress Itself.
I would have been wholly willing
to go along writh the first method,
but attempts at detailed reorgani
zation by the Congress itself have
failed many times in the past, and
every responsible member of the
Senate or the House is in agree
ment that detailed reorganization
by the Congress is a practicable
impossibility.
We come, therefore, to the sec
ond alternative—reorganization by
executive order, subject to over
riding by the Congress.
3. In any reorganization you will
realize, I am sure, that if it
changes existing administrative
set-ups. consolidates jobs or makes
other kinds of savings, either from
the point of view of cost or from
the point of view of bureaucratic
authority, such changes are bitterly
fought by those who stand to lose
some authority and by those who
are so wedded to existing practices
that they go to any length to pre
vent the slightest change which
seeks greater efficiency.
Action in Several States.
Several States have put into ef
fect reorganization of their de
partments. These changes have
resulted in some economy. But
chiefly these reorganizations in
State governments have increased
the efficiency of these State gov
ernments to a very marked extent.
That result is what we seek in the
bill now before the Congress.
4. You know' that when over a
year ago I recommended a reor
ganization bill to the Congress all
parties and all factions agreed on
the need for such a measure. You
know, too, that a year later a care
fully manufactured partisan and
political opposition to any reor
ganization had created a political
issue—created it deliberately out
of whole cloth.
5. The opposition has planted
bogies under every bed. It was
said, for example, that the work of
the Army Engineers was to be
, abolished, in spite of the fact that
Congress, and the Congress alone,
can determine who will do river
and harbor dredging and build
flood-control levees. It is charged
that the splendid work of the
forestry services is to be ham
strung—hamstrung, I suppose, by
the best friend forestry ever had
in the United States.
It is charged that the extremely
efficient Veterans’ Bureau, or the
excellent Railroad Mediation Board
is to be damaged beyond repair.
I cite these merely as examples of
a store of equally silly nightmares
conjured up at the instigation
either of those who would restore
the Government to those who
owned it between 1921 and 1933,
or those who for one reason or
another seek deliberately to wreck
the present administration of the
Government of the United States.
Congressional Approval.
6. One point remains: There are
those who honestly believe that
every minor chapge, every minor
detail of conducting the business of
the administrative branch of the
Government, should receive in
effect a positive congressional ap
proval before such changes go into
effect.
The bill in its present form makes
the executive orders relating to
such changes—and most of them
are minor, subject to disapproval by
the Congress within 60 days by
joint resolution. Let me state to
you categorically that if such a
joint resolution were passed by the
Congress, disapproving an order, I
would, in the overwhelming major
ity of cases, go along with carefully
considered congressional action.
I can think of no cases where
the President would not gladly yield
to a clear expression of congres
sional opinion.
Two Cogent Reasons.
But there are two cogent reasons
why the bill should go through as
it is now drawn. The first is the
constitutional question involved in
the passage of a concurrent resolu
tion, which is only an expression
of congressional sentiment. Such
a resolution cannot repeal executive
action taken in pursuance of a law.
The second is the very remote
possibility that some legislative
situation might possibly arise in
the future where the President
would feel obligated to veto a Joint
resolution of the Congress and
properly require a two-thirds vote
to override his veto.
I repeat that I visualize no such
possibility between now and 1940,
when the authority given is to end.
Thus you will see that charges
of dictatorship are made out of
whole cloth—even if I wanted to be
a dictator, which, heavens knows,
I do not.
With every good wish,
Always sincerely,
(Signed)
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.
Summary of Today's Star
Page. Page.
Amusements C-6-7 Radio_ C-9
Comics.. C-10-11 aRort Story.. D-4
Editorials... A-10 Society. B-3
Finance_ A-17 Sports_ D-l-3
Lost & Found D-4 Women’s Pg.. C-8
Obituary_A-12
FOREIGN.
British make new proposal to end in
tervention in Spain. Page A-4
NATIONAL.
27 dead, 250 injured as tornado hits
five States. Page A-l
Hunt for missing plane Joined by 65
warships. Page A-l
President approves retirement of
marine paymaster. Page A-l
Senate approves changes in T. V. A.
probe resolution. Page A-l
Cancer serum claims seventh victim
in Florida. Page A-2
Three obstacles may prevent Congress'
May adjournment. Page B-6
WASHINGTON AND VICINITY. .
Trial of four to test embassy picketing
law. Page A-2
Death of colored man brings year’s
traffic toll to 20. Page B-l
Commissioners back move for Board of
Recreation. Page B-l
Arlington offer seen as assuring park
way program. Page B-l
Old court building condemned as &
receiving home. Page B-l
Hope for airport bill action soon is
expressed. Page B-l
War on tuberculosis here is urged at
meeting. Page B-l
EDITORIAL AND COMMENT.
Editorials. Page A-10
This and That. Page A-10
Stars, Men and Atoms. Page A-10
Answers to Questions. Page A-10
The Capital Parade. Page A-ll
David Lawrence. Page A-ll
Mark Sullivan. Page A-ll
Jay Franklin. Page A-ll
Delia Pynchon. Page A-ll
SPORTS.
Giuliani may get Nat catching job if
hitting Improves. Page D-l
Griffs due to revise line-up for game
tomorrow. Page D-l
Case of Deans depicts uncertainty of
baseball. Page D-2
Louis will pass million in earnings
in Schmeling bout. Page D-3
MISCELLANY.
Shipping News, Page B-8
After Dark. PageB-12
Bedtime Story. Page C-4
Vital Statistics. Page C-9
Letter-Out. Page C-10
Cross-Word Puzzle. Page C-10
Contract Bridge. Page C-ll
Nature’s Children. Page D-4
City News in Brief. Page D-8
Netherlands Accepts.
THE HAGUE, The Netherlands,
March 31 (JP).—The Netherlands gov
ernment announced today it had
"gratefully accepted” Secretary of
State Hull’s invitation to join an
International committee tor the aid
of European Political refugees.
REVISED TAX BILL
to add nmo
Harrison Says Plan Will
Reach Floor Monday.
House Yield Raised.
MOVE TO BROADEN BASE
IS VOTED DOWN, 9 TO 8
Revenue to 3e About $23,000,000
More Than Lower Body's
Draft Provided.
By JOHN C. HENRY.
The Senate finance Committee this
afternoon completed its rewriting of
the House-approved tax modification
bill
As finally approved, the measure
would yield an estimated $23,000,000
more than the House draft and about
$1,000,000 more than the present law.
Roughly, the Treasury has asked legis
lation to provide about $5,320,000,000
in revenue.
Chairman Harrison announced the
measure is expected back from the
legislative draftsmen by Monday, at
which time it would receive a final
stamp of approval of the committee
and be reported to the Senate.
Completing its consideration in a
four-hour session, the committee's last
action was to vote down by a 9-to-8
count a combination proposal of Sen
ator La Follette, Progressive, of Wis
consin to lower individual income tax
exemptions and increase the surtax
rates in the middle income classifi
cation.
Had Passed Surtax.
The combination plan would have
raised an estimated added income of
$283,000,000 and brought millions of
new taxpayers under the income levy.
Just before this narrow vote on the
double-barreled plan, the committee
had given tentative approval to the
proposed increase of surtax rates, but
had refused to support the lowered
exemption plan.
On the first. Chairman Harrison
said, the Wisconsin Senator had sug
gested starting surtaxes at *3,000 net
income, rather than *4.000, as at pres
ent. and making some increases in the
surtax rates between the first surtax
bracket and the *40.000 net bracket.
These changes would have netted an
extra $213,000,000, it was estimated.
In the 10-to-7 vote in favor. Chair
man Harrison said he cast his ballot
in approval contingent on subsequent
approval of the lowered exemption
plan.
On presentation of this proposal,
however, the vote was reversed to
defeat it by a lO-to-7 count. Esti
mated to be worth *60,000,000 more,
this would have decreased the exemp
tions of single persons from *1,000 to
*800 and of married couples from
*2,500 to *2.000.
Surtax Rejected.
With the lowered exemption scheme
defeated, a revote was called on the
higher surtax schedule, and this was
then rejected by 9 to 7. The combi
nation of the two plans next was
proposed, with the 9-to-8 defeat result
ing.
One of the most important changes
voted by the committee today was a
rewriting of part of section 102 which
imposes a penalty tax on corporations
accumulating surpluses for the pur
pose of tax avoidance by shareholders.
Inserted in the section was the fol
lowing provision:
“The fact that the earnings or
profits of a corporation are permitted
to accumulate beyond the reasonable
needs of the business shall be deter
minative of the purpose to avoid sur
tax unless the corporation by the clear
preponderance of the evidence shall
prove to the contrary.’’
In effect, the provision would shift
the burden of proof as to intent in
accumulating surpluses from the Gov
ernment to the corporation. Effective
operation of this section would ac
complish much of what was desired
through the undistributed corporate
profits tax. The Government thus
far has claimed inability to prove con
sistently that accumulations of sur
pluses have been for tax avoidance,
but the Senate provision would shift
the burden to require the corpora
tions to prove such accumulations are
not for tax avoidance.
, Excise Levies Cut.
Earlier in the session, the com
mittee reduced present excise taxes
on tires and tubes by about one-third
of the current rate. The changes,
which would cause an estimated loss
of revenue of $13,000,000, would re
duce the tax on tires from 2% cents
to 1 14 cents per pound and would cut
the levy from 4 cents to 214 cents per
pound on tubes.
The committee rejected the House
provision relating to security or prop
erty contributions to charitable and
educational institutions to restore the
present law. The present law allows
deduction by the contributor of the
market value of such contribution at
the time made. The House provision
would have allowed such deduction
only in the amount paid by the con
tributor in acquiring the properties or
securities thus contributed.
Supported by a combination of
farm and labor groups, a broad tariff
amendment to the tax modification
legislation earlier circulated among
members of the Senate with a view to
stirring up a fight on its behalf when
the bill reaches the floor.
In its simplest form, the proposal
would call for the imposition of an
equalization tax on all imports of
competitive and comparable prod
(See TAXES, Page A-3.)
NEW RULER TAKES OVER
Prince Franz I, 84, Quits Helm in
Liechtenstein.
VADUZ, Liechtenstein, March 31
(R).—Bachelor Prince Franz Joseph,
32, today ruled the tiny principality
of Liechtenstein. Authority was dele
gated to him by his granduncle, Prince
Franz I, 84, ruler of the 85-square
mile realm.
[WHERE |
DOES THAT
[leave me?J
\ r*
33 LIVES IN WEST
Hail and Torrential Rain
Storm Strikes Hardest
in Illinois.
Additional tornado news will be
found on Page A-3. Pictures on
Pages A-3 and AS.
Bi the Associated Press.
Five tornado-strafed Midwestern
States counted 32 persons killed and
nearly 250 injured today. Unofficial
estimates of the damage passed the
$1,000,000 mark. Hundreds were home
less.
Known dead are:
Illinois: South Pekin—Mrs. Homer
Sellers, Elmer Montgomery, Mrs. Roger
Morris, wife of the postmaster: Hilco
Johnson, Otis L. Freed, Ralph Temple,
Mrs. John Houston and an unidentified
man. Astoria—Clyve Brillhart. 35, a
farmer. Mount Sterling—Luther
■Riggs, 50. a farmer. Morton—Mildred
Schwarzentraub, 16. Venice—Val
Stevens.
Kansas: Columbus—Mrs. Joe Grizzle
and her two daughters. Joan, t, and
Barbara Sue, 8 months; Jerry Lee
Grayson, 4: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Can
field, Buddy Palmer and Mrs. Clara
Garrison.
Missouri: Neeleyville—Vindetta Cor
nelius. Ed Stewart, Mrs. John McCor
mick, 80, and a 7-month-old daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Ollie Maze. Stephens
—John W. Allen, 81. Lebanon—Mrs.
Lola Coleman and Lee Roberts.
Arkansas: Heber Springs—Mr. and
Mrs. J. E. Dugger, Mrs. Goldie Dugger
and Mrs. Lige Garrett. Conway—Mrs.
J. Earl Lyons. Mintum—Mr. and Mrs.
Mitchell Baird and Mrs. Ada Kennedy.
Illinois Hit Hardest.
The twisting storms, laden with
hail and torrential rain, struck hardest
in Central Illinois, where at least 12
were known dead. Next hardest hit
was Southeastern Kansas, where seven,
including three children, were killed.
The Kansas storm struck about noon
western Missouri. Eight were known
yesterday. It started in Northeastern
Oklahoma; later knifed into South
dead in Missouri storms.
About sundown what apparently was
a separate storm twisted across Illinois
from the southeast, dipping to earth
in the Pekin area. Rushville and
Astoria also were hard hit.
Another twister lashed at Heber
Springs, Ark., killing four persons.
Then it swung up through Southeast
ern Missouri, accounting for three of
Missouri's dead at Neeleysville. An
earlier Arkansas blow had killed a
woman at Conway.
85 Injured in Illinois.
The 3-mile wide Illinois storm left
an estimated 85 persons injured. Seven
of the dead were at South Pekin.
Mrs. Roger Morris was killed when
her home was destroyed. Mrs. Homer
Sullers was picked up and tossed to
her death as she stepped from a
church, and Hilco Johnson, father of
six children, was killed when the wind
demolished a railroad roundhouse.
Pour others were killed in and
around Pekin. At Venice, Val Stevens
was hurled from a railroad trestle 50
feet to his death.
Rushville was without light or tele
phone service.
Doctors and nurses were rushed to
Pekin, where more than 250 houses
were destroyed. The Pekin Are sta
tion and the Chicago & Northwestern
Railroad depot and roundhouse were
demolished. About 150 passenger and
freight cars were strewn in fragments
alongside tracks.
Sheriff Mobilizes Deputies.
Sheriff Ralph Goar mobilized 50
deputies for relief duty around Pekin
and the State highway patrol sent 62
men.
Total damage in Illinois was not
estimated, but Police Chief Paul
Smith of Alton, where the storm
struck later, said damage there would
exceed $200,000.
Columbus, Kans., bore the brunt of
the Kansas - Oklahoma - Arkansas
Missouri storm. All seven Kansans
known dead were killed there. A
strip 10 blocks wide was virtually
leveled. At least 50 buildings were
destroyed and 100 persons were in
jured.
Sheriff Fred Simkin of Cherokee
County said 200 families were home
less. He estimated damage at Colum
bus at $100,000, but other sources said
It would be at least $300,000.
Quick work by teachers saved 100
pupils at Highland Grade School in
Columbus. The building was virtually
wrecked. Near Chetopa, Kans., Miss
Virginia Sappington led 20 pupils out
of her rural school and ordered them
to lie In a ditch. The building was
heavily damaged.
Sultan Divorces
Scottish Wife by
6Get On€ Chant
Sultana to Get $25,000
Annually and Gems
W orth $225,000.
By the Associated Press.
SINGAPORE, March 31.—The
wealthy Sultan Ibraham of Johore
divorced his beautiful Scottish wife to
day and announced he plans to spend
his birthday, September 9, in the
United States with “my many Ameri
can friends.”
The Sultana, the former Mrs. Helen
Wilson, was said to have received an
allowance of £5.000 ($25,000) annually
and $225,000 in jewelry.
The divorce was by Mohammedan
law. The Sultan merely repeated the
word "talalc” (get out) four times.
The Sultan rules one of the unfed
erated Malay states. He visited the
United States in 1934.
POWERSINFORMED
OF U. S. NAVAL PLANS
Britain and France Advised of
Intention to Build Ships in
Excess of 35,000 Tons.
By the Associated Press.
The United States today formally
notified Great Britain and France
of this country’s intention to build
battleships bigger than 35,000 tons.
Secretary of State Hull sent notes to
this effect to the British and French
Embassies and the Canadian Legation.
The text of the notes will be made
public tomorrow.
The United States expects a British
note of the same character during the
day.
A French note also is awaited but
this, an informed source said, will
state France’s intention to abide by
the 35,000-ton limit.
The United States note sets forth
that a power outside the London
naval treaty—Japan—has raised the
presumption, by failure to answer the
February note of this Government,
that it is building or intends to build
battleships larger than 35,000 tons.
The note does not propose a new
tonnage limit for superdreadnaughts.
This will be left to further nego
tiation.
MANY STOCKS DROP
TO FIVE-YEAR LOWS
Earlier Gains Are Replaced by
Losses Running to $2 or
More for Leaders.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, March 31.—-A fresh
wave of selling In afternoon stock ex
change trading today sent many
shares to the lowest prices recorded in
five years or longer.
Earlier gains were largely replaced
by losses running to $2 or more in
leading shares as the market yielded
under an inrush of offerings, so heavy
for a while the stock exchange ticker
lagged behind the market.
Bombarded with selling orders, Gen
eral Motors dropped below $26 for a
loss of more than SI, and Du Pont,
with large General Motors holdings,
tumbled about $5 to around S90 before
it rallied. International Nickel, Beth
lehem Steel, United States Steel and
other war favorites skidded to new
lows for the 1937-38 downswing.
A wide decline in bonds, chiefly
railroad loans, continued. Wheat in
Chicago was off more than a cent a
bushel at one time.
FUR WORKERS STRIKE
Union Spokesmen Claim 20,000
Are Affected.
NEW YORK, March 31 {IP).-—A
strike of fur workers claimed by union
spokesmen to involve 20,000 men be
gan today.
Preliminary checks indicated, said
Ben Gold, international president of
the C. I. O. Fur Workers Union, that
the strike would be 100 per cent ef
fective by nightfall.
The strikers demand a 30-hour
week instead of the present 35 hours,
a 25 per cent wage increase, equal
division of work throughout the year,
and a guarantee by employers not to
uae goods mada Is Germany or Japan.
HOUSE T.VA PROBE
Senate 0. K.’s Amendments.
Resolution Now Awaits
Roosevelt Signature.
BACKGROUND—
Great Tennessee Valley develop
ment with, production and distribu
tion of cheap electric power was
one of first major social experi
ments launched by Roosevelt ad
ministration. Reports of dissension
in three-man administrative board
reached climax during past winter
when President dismissed Chair
man Morgan. Congress now has
decided to investigate whole situa
tion.
By JOHN H. CLINE.
Without a dissenting voice, the Sen
ate today approved House amendments
to the Joint resolution for a broad in
vestigation of dissension within the
Tennessee Valley Authority and the
activities of private utilities In the
T. V. A. area.
The resolution must now be signed
by the President before the investiga
tion can get under way.
When the Senate convened at noon
it was announced the House had
passed the amended resolution, and
Majority Leader Barkley, its author,
asked the amendments be approved by
the Senate. That was done without
objection or debate.
Committee of 10 Members.
The investigation is to be con
ducted by a joint committee of 10
members, 5 to be appointed by Vice
President Garner and 5 by Speaker
Bankhead.
They have not announced whether
the committee members will be ap
pointed before the resolution is signed
by Mr. Roosevelt. It is expected,
however, the resolution will be sent to
the President at Warm Springs, Ga.,
for signature so the investigation can
be started as soon as possible.
The House passed the resolution
with hardly a dissenting voice follow
ing defeat of an amendmerft to exempt
private power companies from the
scope of the investigation. The vote
on the amendment, proposed by
Minority Leader Snell, came late yes
terday after an acrimonious debate
with the proponents showing unexpect
ed strength.
Sees Issue "Complicated.”
Although asserting he would not
oppose an independent investigation
of the private utilities, Mr. Snell said
it should not be combined with the
T. V. A. probe because it would com
plicate the issue and prevent an ade
quate study of the Federal agency.
"I suspect the real reason for bring
ing in the power companies is to be
cloud the issue,” Mr. Snell declared,
"It seems to me the proponents of
the resolution are afraid to face the
real issue—whether T. V. A. has been
honestly and efficiently administered
—and hope to confuse that issue by
smearing the power companies.”
This was denied by Representative
Rankin of Mississippi, leader of the
public power bloc in the House, who
asserted that “only friends of the
power trust” are opposed to linking
the utilities to the investigation.
“If this resolution should be passed
with the private utilities excluded,”
Mr. Rankin declared, “I say that it
would be rejected by the Senate or
vetoed by the President.”
Representative Boileau, Progressive,
of Wisconsin, made an effort to in
sert an amendment requiring the
committee to submit a preliminary
report by June 1 as to whether the
directors of the T. V. A. are qualified
to hold their positions, but the amend
ment was beaten after Majority Leader
Rayburn and Chairman O’Connor of
the Rules Committee had spoken
against it. Mr. Boileau then moved
to recommit the resolution, the motion
being promptly voted down.
The only amendment from the
floor that received approval of the
House was submitted by Representa
tive McOehee, of Mississippi. It au
thorized the Joint committee to as
certain whether it would be prac
ticable for T. V. A. to manufacture
nitrates by the “air reduction method”
that could be sold to fanners at cost
for fertilizer.
Turkish President 111.
ISTANBUL, Turkey, March 31 UP).—
Kama! Ataturk, President of Turkey,
is suffering from influenza and has
been ordered to take six weeks com
plete rest, it was announced today.
Physicians said, however, his condi
tion was not dangerous.
65 U. S. SHIPS HUNT
SECOND AIRPLANE
LOST IN MIMIC WAR
Naval Officers Still Hope
Six Aboard Will Be
Found Alive.
RECOVER TWO BODIES
OF VICTIMS OF CRASH
Toll in Maneuvers Off Hawaii
May Rise to 11—Three
Major Tragedies.
Br the Associated Press.
HONOLULU, March 31.—Sixty-flve
American warships and 240 fighting
planes were ordered Into an intensified
search at dawn today for six naval air
men who vanished during mimic war
fare which already had cost five lives.
No trace of the plane was found
during a night-long search.
Naval officers still held hope the six
aboard would be found alive.
Five men were killed yesterday when
their plane crashed off Waianae, Oahu
Island, in the third major fleet air
tragedy of the year. Two others of
the crew escaped.
Bodies of Two Recovered.
Bodies of two of the victims were
recovered. One was identified as Lt.
L. O. Crane of Nashville, Term., In
command of the plane. The other
body was not identified.
In previous tragedies during 1938
maneuvers seven men were lost when
a PBY patrol bomber vanished at sea
and 11 were killed February 2, when
two patrol bombers collided in squally
weather in night operations off South
ern California.
The flying boat which vanished yes
terday was identified as 7VP18, in
command of Lt. Charles Signer.
Members of his crew were: Aviation
Cadet R. J. Larrobino; P. B. Pancoast,
aviation machinist mate, first class:
J. A. Bingham, aviation machinist
mate, first class; George T. Williamson,
radioman, first class, and C. R. Oulund
sen, radioman, third class.
Believe Plane Forced Down.
Naval spokesmen said the plane
undoubtedly was forced down at sea.
After a night of listening to radios, a
spokesman said "nothing was picked
up from the plane.”
Failure to hear from the craft, he
said, "does not mean we are abandon
ing hope.”
The plane was lost while maneuver
ing with five other aircraft through
bad weather which made flying con
ditions extremely hazardous.
The missing craft was one of the .
older type flying boats, the 6VP18.
carrying a crew of five men. It van
ished while flying with five other
planes.
The squadron took off at 4 a m.
(9:30 a.m. E. S. T.) yesterday, but
only five planes returned at 11 a m.
(4:30 p.m. E. S. T.). Returning avia
tors lost trace of the missing craft
while scouting through squally
weather.
One Plane Lost for Hour.
One of the planes which did return
was lost more than an hour.
The sixth plane disappeared within
an area 200 miles northwest of Oahu
Island. Naval officers hazarded no
opinion as to whether it had crashed,
been forced down or lost its bearings
and run out of gas.
“A very considerable portion of the
fleet,” the Navy announced, was
diverted to searching for the craft
in hope of finding its crew alive. Under
direction of Rear Admiral Walton R.
Sexton warcraft played their search
lights on the water gll night.
Aircraft based at Pearl Harbor were
ordered to Join the hunt.
The seaplane tender Avocet sought
to recover the bodies and salvage the
shattered bomber, which crashed off
Waianae at the height of a great mock
battle for control of Oahu Island,
largest of the Hawaiian group.
Clips Edge of Bluff.
The long-range bomber crashed
while flying low in a heavy rain. Wit
nesses said it apparently clipped the
edge of a bluff.
Both motors were torn loose and
parts of the plane were strewn over the
ocean bottom 100 yards offshore.
Radioman G. J. Nilles of Wilmette,
111., escaped from the plane and swam
150 yards to shore. H. F. Bartz, avia
tion machinists’ mate of Houston,
Tex., was washed ashore unconscious.
An authoritative source said Radio
man Nilles had pulled Bartz and G. H.
O’Neal, aviation chief machinists'
mate of Trumbull, Tex., from the
wreckage and placed both, unconscious,
on the bomber's floating wing.
The other four, presumably trapped
in the cabin, were Lt. Crane, Aviation
Cadet W. H. Lear, Navigation Pilot B.
I. Windham and Radioman V. A.
Luciana.
In less tragic mishaps of the ma
(See WAR GAMES, Page A-4.)
BLUM DELAYS PLAN
FOR MONEY REFORM
Cabinet Meetings Are Put Off,
Giving Political Passions
Time to Cool.
Bt the Associated Press.
PARIS, March 31.—Premier Leon
Blum, hampered by strikes and politi
cal tension, today delayed his financial
reform plan in an effort to iVert an
immediate cabinet crisis.
Cabinet meetings called for tomor
row were put off until Saturday, post
poning parliamentary debate on the
plan until Sunday.
The delay was attributed officially
to prolonged conferences over the
strike of 30,000 metal workers, but was
ascribed by legislators to a desire on
Blum’s part to let political passions
cool.
Conservative radical Socialist dep
uties urged their ministers to rebel if
M. Blum demanded decree powers to
deal with the $450,000,000 budget
deficit.