Evening star. [volume], April 22, 1938, Image 1

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

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WEATHER.
«T7. 8. Weather Bureau Porecait.)
Fair and cooler, with lowest temperature
about 46 tonight; tom—ow fair; gentle to
moderate northerly winds. Temperatures
today—Highest. 62. at 3 p.m.; lowest, 58,
at 6 a.m.
Full report on page A-2.
<
The only evening paper
in Washington with the
Associated Press News
and Wirephoto Services.
Closing New York Markets, Page 18
MP) Meant Associated Press.
86th YEAR. No. 34,324.
WASHINGTON, D. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1938-FORTY-SIX PAGES. ***
Entered as second class matter riittt~>t."'t,’ rit-->x* rr> ri
post office, Washlniton, D. C. lXlUJjrj If).
IS URGED TO HALT
DEFLATION SPIRAL
House Labor Committee
Makes Strong Plea in
Reporting Measure.
FEARS SHARP DECLINE
OF BUSINESS ACTIVITY
,Wag;e Cuts and Down Trend May
Threaten Foundation of
Government, Is View.
background—
Coalition of Southern Democrats
and Republicans on House Rules
Committee has blocked action on
administration-urged wage and
hour legislation for more than gear.
Rules Committee Chairman O'Con
nor last week advocated action to \
alloir a House vote on a revised j
version of the legislation reported
by Labor Committee this spring.
By the AssoriatPri Press
The House Labor Committee recom
mended today enactment of its re
vised wage-hour bill to prevent a
‘'vicious spiral of deflation” which, it
said, "may threaten the foundations of
government itself."
A majority of the committee report
ing out the bill said the need for the
legislation was "urgent" because of
the recent "alarmingly sharp decline
in business activity."
•'With that decline have come the
inevitable wage cuts which the great
mass of American business men so
deplore, but are powerless to prevent.”
the committee said. "These business
men know that wage-cutting sets in
motion a vicious spiral of deflation .
which, if allowed to gather sufficient
strength, may threaten the founda
tions of government ieslf.”
Sees Remedy in Bill.
The committee said the bill, which
would establish a graduated minimum
wage, starting at 25 cents an hour and
ranging up to 40 cents at the end of
three years, with hours decreasing
from 44 a week to 40 in two years,
would "go far in remedying the situa
tion.”
"It establishes a floor for wages and
a ceiling for hours and abolishes child
labor,” the committee said. "At the
end of three years the minimum wage
which employers, with respect to whom
Congress may exercise its legislative
power, mast maintain, will be $16 a
week. It is to be hoped that within
that time the several States will adopt
similar if not higher standards for
employers within their jurisdiction."
President Roosevelt has urged en
actment of some wage-hour legislation
this session. Prospects, however, con
tinue none too bright.
Chairman O'Connor plans to call a
meeting of his Rules Committee next
week in an effort to bring the re
vised bill before the House for a vote.
Cox Is Adamant.
Last, session the Rules Committee
stuck a somewhat different bill in a
pigeon hole and, through the com
bined efforts of Republicans and
Southern Democrats, kept it there.
Today a leading foe of wage and
hour regulation. Representative Cox.
Democrat, of Georgia, asserted his
belief that the Rules Committee, of
which ht is a member, would not
change its attitude.
"It is still my opinion." Representa
tive Cox said, "that there will be no
House consideration of any wage-hour
legislation at this session."
This week Representative Ramspeck,
Democrat, of Georgia, member of the
Labor Committee, filed a minority
report against the revised bill, saying
It does not constitute a "reasonable
exertion of governmental authority”
and is "arbitrary and discriminatory.”
Representative Ramspeck predicted
the bill would be invalidated by Su
preme Court if it became law.
INSULL RETURNS
Courteous to Reporters, but
Photographer Angers Him.
NORFOLK, Va., April 22 (/Pi.—
Samuel Insull, former multi-millionaire
utilities magnate, returned home to
America today after several months in
Italy—but had nothing to say.
Reporters who met the Baltimore
Mail Line steamer City of Newport
News, when she docked here today
from Southampton found Mr. Insull
courteous but firm in his refusal to
comment on anything.
Mr. Insults good humor vanished at
the approach of a photographer. First
he hid his face behind his hat and
waved the photographer away with
his cane
"You should always ask that you be
permitted to take a picture,” he snap
ped. “Now go ahead.”
The picture was snapped and Mr
Insull walked away.
Murderers Receive
Stay of Execution
As Current Fails
Pl th« Associated Press.
HUNTSVILLE. Texas., April 22.
—Two condemned murderers re
ceived a week’s reprieve early to
day because current supplying the
electric chair at State prison here
failed while one of them was de
claring his innocence in a death
chamber speech.
As John Vaughn, slayer of a
Policeman, stood before the chair,
Warden W. W. Waid called to
Chaplain C. E. Garrett:
“Wait Just a minute. The motor
is down.”
Inspection disclosed a motor
generator unit had broken down.
Waid telephoned Gov. James V.
Allred, who reprieved Vaughn and
Johnnie Banks. Negro convicted
of killing a 13-year-old girl, for
a week.
Still Seized9 Three Arrested
In Chevy Chase Residence
’- A ..
Man Awaiting Trial on
Previous Charge Is
Taken on Roof.
(Pictures on Page B-l.)
Raiding a private home at 5201
Chevy Chase parkway. Federal agents
and members of the police vice squad
today arrested two men and a woman
and seized a 200-gallon still, 1,080 gal
lons of mash and 155 gallons of illicit
whisky.
One of those taken, Nazzeraino Mag
naterra, 35, formerly of Baltimore, who
was found hiding on the roof behind a
chimney, dressed only in his under
wear, was indicted last February for
violating the liquor tax act' and was
at liberty on $3,000 bond awaiting trial.
Magnaterra's indictment grew out of |
his arrest on January 5 in a raid at
1671 Madison street N.W., where police
confiscated a distilling plant which
they said had been turn*-,*' out nearly
300 gallons of illegal liquor a day for
five months. Following the indict
ment, Magnaterra's attorneys filed a
motion to suppress the evidence. It
was slated to be argued next Monday.
The motion to suppress the evidence
was based on the fact that the raid
was made without a search warrant
and, therefore, seizure of the evidence
was illegal, the district attorney's
office explained.
Also arrested in today's raid were
Thomas Levine, 37. and Helen J.
Levine, 34. who were found inside
the house, which was well furnished
and had been maintained in a manner
that failed to arouse the suspicion of
neighbors.
The still, the raiders said, was set
up in the third-floor attic, the walls
of which were lined with barrels of
mash. In the garage, police said they i
:
I
Arts and Planning Bodies
Should Rule on Jefferson
Design, They Insist.
Ry the Associated Press.
NEW ORLEANS. April 22.—The
proposed location and design of a
$3,000,000 memorial to Thomas Jeffer
son in Washington. D. C., drew fire
from architects today.
The convention of the American
Institute of Architects took up for
floor discussion the recommendation
of its Committee on the National Cap
ital that the site be approved by the
National Park and Planning Commis
sion and the design by the National
Commision of Fine Arts. These two
agencies were created by Congress to
pass yj public building projects in
the Capital.
The law creating the Jefferson
Memorial Commission did not require
approval of the plans by these two
bodies, the meeting was told by Fran
cis P. Sullivan of Washington, chair
man of the Committee on the Na
tional Capital.
' I he House Library Committee
will act in executive session next
Tuesday on a bill by Chairman
Keller providing for selection of a
design for the Thomas Jefferson
Memorial through architectural
competition, instead of leaving it
up to the Memorial Commission.
The committee heard testimony of
experts supporting the measure at
a one-day hearing yesterday.)
Plans for the memorial, a Pan
theon-like building to be erected near
the Capitol, were published about a
year ago. Mr. Sullivan said, and oppo
sition first developed because "the
proposed design would destroy a large
number of the Japanese cherry trees
planted.around the Tidal Basin.”
"It now appears.” he said, “that
neither the original scene nor the
scheme now proposed have been whole
heartedly concurred in by the two
commissions.
"These commissions were estab
lished by law to deal with precisely
this type of problem and are com
posed of recognized experts in their
fields, whose opinion would be en
titled to the most respectful consid
eration regardless of their official po
sition."
There seemed to be a general feel
ing among the architects that the
congressional committee in charge of
the memorial plans was attempting to
handle, in a non-professional man
ner, a problem which required the
attention of trained men.
Mr. Sullivan said legislation was
now pending which would require sub
mission of the plans to the Federal
commissions.
China to Launch Loan.
HANKOW, China, April 22 UP).—1The
Chinese ministry of finance announced
today it would float a national defense
loan of 500.000.000 Chinese dollars
(about 1135.000,000) on May 1.
NAZZERAINO MAGNATERRA.
—Star Staff Photo.
found a small truck loadpd with
empty 5-gallon cans and sacks of
sugar.
The raiders, who carried a search
warrant issued by United Slates Com
missioner Needham C. Turnage, said
the house had been occupied about
a month and a half. They said they
became suspicious when they saw
quantities of sugar and other com
modities used In the manufacture of
whisky being taken into the house.
The raiding party, composed of six
men from the Alcohol Tax Unit, Treas
ury Department, and two from the
Metropolitan Police vice squad, went
to the house at 6 o'clock this morning.
When they knocked, they said the
woman came to the door in pajamas,
took a look at them through the glass
and then ran upstairs,
_ Breaking the glass and opening the
i See STILL, Page A-7.)
E
IS MADE SECRET
Magill and Group’s Aides
Ejected—Definite Bids
to Compromise Seen.
BACKGROUND—
Senate and House conferees have
been deadlocked on tar legislation.
House bill, which President Roose
velt favors, mould retain in modi
fied form present theories of taring
undistributed corporate profits and
capital gains. Senate measure
would drop both forms in fawir of
flat rates. Senator Byrnes. Demo
crat. of South Carolina submitted
preliminary report urging adoption
of Senate plan.\
BULLETIN.
Senator Vandenberg. Republican,
of Michigan, predicted agreement
would be reached by conferees on
the Revenue Act as he left the
closed session shortly before 2 p m.
today.
By JOHN C. HENRY.
Deadlocked House and Senate con
] ferees on the Revenue Act of 1938 took
the unusual action of ejecting all
| technical assistants and committee
aides as they resumed consideration
j of the controversial legislation in com
! plete secrecy.
Among nearly a score of technical
advisers and consultants who were
asked to leave the conference room
was Undersecretary of the Treasury
Roswell Magill.
Although none of the conferees
would Indicate on arriving for the
session what was contemplated, the
unusual action was interpreted to
mean that definite compromise offers
were being made and some plain talk
exchanged.
The deadlock has existed since a
week ago Wednesday, with the confer
ences in recess for the past three days.
No indication has come from com
mittee members that their minds
have changed on the deadlocked
issues of the capital gains and undis
tributed corporate profits tax, but the
cause of the Senate group is believed
strengthened somewhat by the recom
mendation of the Senate Unemploy
ment Committee that the Senate ver
sion of these two levies be accepted.
Since the recommendation was based
directly on a mass of nearly unanimous
testimony of economists and business
spokesmen. It is expected to carry some
weight with the tax conferees.
A further hopeful sign has, been the
repeated prediction of Chairman
Doughton of the House group that
there will be a bill, without absolute
surrender by either conference faction.
The Senate bill would substitute a
flat 18 per cent income tax for the
undistributed corporate profits levy
and a flat 15 per cent tax for the
present complicated capital gains
schedule. The House, supported by
the President, would modify the pres
ent rate schedules but would retain
present principles.
Tippetts’ Parents Disagreed
Over Discipline, Suit Reveals
Tne parents of Ellis and Ellsworth
Tippett, youthful bandits recently
sentenced to long prison terms, were
unable to agree on measures for disci
plining their children, it was dis
closed in District Court today.
The mother, Mrs. Alpha Virginia
Tippett, 500 Eleventh street N.E.,
some time ago filed suit for divorce
from Bradley J. Tippett, St. Elisa
beth's Hospital employe. In an
answer filed today the boys’ father
asserted his wife continually inter
fered with his efforts to discipline
the boys and advised them to dis
obey him.
He told the court Mrs. Tippett
“never permitted him to correct or
have any control over their children:
that if he tried to do so in that he
would advise them not to do certain
things, she would tell them to pay
no attention to him, using vile lan
guage in so doing.”
The Tippetts were married in 1911,
i
and have four sons—Wilmer, 24; Wade,
22; Ellis, 20, and EH is worth, 17. Asking
a divorce and $75 a month alimony,
Mrs. Tippett said she and her husband
separated in October, 1937. She
charged Mr. Tippett struck and cursed
her, and at one time held a shotgun
against her. She said she was saved by
her sons.
Mrs. Tippett is represented by Attor
neys Alvin Newmyer and David O.
Bress, while Attorney D. Edward
Clarke is acting for the husband.
The Tippett boys, arrested at a hotel
at Woodbridge, Va., a few days after
committing seven hold-ups in a half
hour on the night of January 1JJ, were
sentenced by Judge Jesse C. Adkins
April 8. Ellsworth, who pleaded guilty
to the robbery charges, received a sen
tence of from 10 to 25 years. Ellis, who
denied his guilt, was convicted of par
ticipation in the robbery of a filling
station on Benning road, and was sen
tenced to a term of from 11 to 26 years.
A
1936 G. 0. P. Nominee Says
Adequate Tax Program
Must Be Provided.
PRESIDENT IS DECLARED
‘GAMBLING’ BY POLICY
Places Recovery Hope in Congress.
Holds Nation Is Again on
Inflationary Course.
!
By ihp Associated Press.
TOPEKA, Kans., April 22—Alf M.
' Landon called upon "an articulate citi
, zenry” today to make it clear to
Congress that "thus huge appropria
tion” proposed in President Roose
velt's new recovery program must be
met by adequate tax provisions.
The 1936 Republican presidential
nominee, in an address prepared for
delivery to the Optimist Club, said
the President’s proposal has ended
the "period of uncertainty" as to the
Government's fiscal policy. The speech
was read by State Supreme Court i
Justice Hugo T. Wedell after Mr. Lan- i
don was railed to Kansas City by the
illness of his father. John M. Landon.
Mr. Landon canceled the engage- j
ment on learning that his father. !
John M. Landon. hao suffered a heart ;
attack in Kansas City. The speech
was read by Hugo T. Wedell, Kansas
Supreme Court justice.
"We are again upon an inflationary 1
course.” the prepared address said.
"If every time there is a recession !
in business, the only way out that a
government can find is a further
huge expenditure program to be ap
plied on top of expenditures already
too great, then we shall go bankrupt.
“If the Government spends money,
it must collect revenues to match the
expenditures. * * *
"It is not yet too late to pull up
and save ourselves and pay our honest j
debts. We can pay the public debt
I of these United States if we are honest
| and economical. But we will have to
; economize—we will have to stop our
I spendthrift course.” 1
Places Hope In Congress.
The Nation's hope, he said, "lies
in Congress, backed by an articulate
citizenry, to continue to take action
and assume leadership.
"Congress must decide if we ar»
to take the hard road, or if we shall
dash gaily and blindly into this in
toxicated hilarity of inflation by meet
ing our current expenditures for the
ninth successive year with I. O. U.'s.”
All responsibility. Mr. Landon said,
must not be placed upor Congress,
and the citizenry must not be • indif
ferent."
"It has already been proven conclu
sively that when the people want
something, and want it badly enough,
they can get the Congress to follow
their directions. • • •
"If those who are against these in
flationary measures haven't the cour
age to say so openly, they can't blame
their representatives in Congress for
listening to the clamor for more reck
less spending.”
President Declared Gambling.
President Roosevelt "is gambling,"
he said, “that he can raise the national
Income by a policy of Government
spending.
"But thus program is the opposite
pledged by his Secretary of Treasury
only five months ago. With several
ways to check the depression, the
President has chosen the one that the
record of his administration show's
will not work.”
Recovery irom an unsound fiscal
policy cannot be accomplished in "the
short ‘breathing spells' which the ad
ministration threateningly allowed
business," Mr. Landon said.
“The further we go in the direction
we are now heading the longer and
more severe will be the period of suf
fering when we attempt to go into re
verse—or, if we do not reverse, when
we come to the inevitable crash.”
Even without accompanying infla
tionary steps, he said, any spending
program by the Federal Government
is in itself inflationary
"The German inflation took eight
years to destroy 90 per cent of the
mark without the German people
realizing what was going on. Then
came the dramatic period * * * which
wiped out most of the rest of the
mark,” Mr. Landon cited an example. ^
Departs for Charleston Next
Friday for Ten Days’
Rest at Sea.
By J. RUSSELL YOUNG.
Barring unforeseen events, President
Roosevelt will leave Washington next
Friday for Charleston. S. C., where he
go aboard the U. S. S. Philadel
phia. one of the new Navy cruisers, to
enjoy a week or 10 days' rest at sea.
In making this known at his press
conference today the President said he
still hopes to take a cruise to the Pa
cific Ocean which will afford him an
opportunity to visit several of the
South American countries on the West
Coast.
He made this statement in response
to newspaper reports that Norman
Armour, the new United States Ambas
sador to Chile, had informed Presi
dent Alessandri that Mr. Roosevelt was
contemplating a visit to Chile
Mr. Roosevelt said today there was
nothing definite about such a Journey.
He added that it was merely a wish
that he teas had ever since he entered
the White House.
The President and a small party of
friends will spend this week end cruis
ing on the lower Potomac River and
Chesapeake Bay aboard the Presi
dential yacht Potomac. He will leave
the Washington Navy Yard shortly
after noon tomorrow and plans to re
turn to the White House early Sun- !
day night.
Speaking about his forthcoming:
cruise on the Atlantic Ocean, the
President said he hopes it will afford
nim time to catch up on his reading
of reports made during the past few
weeks by serious commissions, investi
gating boards and departmental
heads.
It is passible, too, that he will in
dulge in some deep sea fishing. He
will not take along the presidential
yacht Potomac for this purpose as has
been his custom in the past, but if
he does fish, it will be from one of
the small launches from the cruiser.
The President also said he is an
xious to inspect the cruiser Phila
delphia. which recently was added to
the active list of the Navy and is
one of the mast modern cruisers afloat.
The President will make the jour
ney to Charleston, S. C, aboard a
special train, and it is expected he
will view the azalea display in and
around Charleston before going aboard ,
the cruiser.
-»
Spencer to Retire, •
SAN FRANCISCO. April 22
Comdr. Earl Winfield Spencer, first
husband of the Duchess of Windsor,
will be retired from the United States j
Navy June 30, naval headquarters here
said today.
Page Page.
Amusements C-l# Radio _ ,.C-4
Comics ... C-8-9 Short Story..B-8
Editorials .. A-19 Society_ B-3
Finance _A-17 Sports c-1-3
Lost* Found C-4 Woman’s Pg. B-12
Obituary_A-12
NATIONAL.
U. S. agents seize suspect in Levine ex
tortion case. Page A-l
Roosevelt plans sea trip next week on
Navy cruisers. Page A-l
Roosevelt order opens tax returns to
probers. Page A-2
Administration gears credit inflation to
$50,000,000 per week. Page A-2
House committees plan national de
fense survey. Page A-I
Violence is directed at C. I. O. in crab
meat pickers’ strike. Page A-7
Rebel fleet captures loyalist militiamen
in boats. Page A-7
WASHINGTON AND VICINITY.
Jefferson Memorial location and design
hit by architects. Page A-l
Police probe Nation-wide plot to pass
counterfeit checks. Page A-2
Rumanian Legation financial counsel
lor called back home. Page l\-7
Two pilgrimages mark day for D. A. R.
convention. Page A-5
House group studies plan for Potomac
tunnels. Page B-l
Probe of O. H. A. to be demanded in
House resolution. Page B-l
Roosevelt supports plan for Army med
ical library. Page B-l
Harvard president addresses editors at
parley here. Page B-l
War veteran, father of §, hangs self on
Monastery grounds. Page B-l
(
V
Summary of Today s Star
EDITORIAL AND COMMENT.
Editorials. Page A-10
This and That. Page A-10
Political Mill. Page A-10
Washington Observations. Page A-10
Answers to Questions. Page A-10
The Capital Parade. PageA-11
David Lawrence. Page A-ll
Dorothy Thompson. Page A-ll
Constantine Brown. PageA-11
Lemuel Parton. PageA-11
SPORTS.
Several ace hurlers in new crop, early
games indicate. Page C-l
Yankee series to test Nationals’ switch
line-up. Page C-l
Cunningham mile race tomorrow has
all Kansas agog. Page C-l
Terps to stage baseball-lacrosse twin
bill tomorrow. Page c-2
Mrs. Moody's return to tennis proves
lure of sport. Page C-3
FINANCIAL.
United States bonds lead
rally (table). Page A-17
Retail trade declines. Page A-17
Freight loadings gain. Page A-17
Stocks advance (table). Page A-18
Curb utilities rise (table). Page A-19
Du Pont earnings drop. Page A-19
MISCELLANY.
Nature’s Children. Page B-7
City News in Brief. PageB-10
Shipping News. Page B-10
Vital Statistics. PageB-10
Bedtime Story. Page C-8
Letter-Out. Page C-8
Cross-word Puzzle. ' Page C-8
Contract Bridge. Page C-9
*
POLLING
BOOTH
HA.HA! IDON'tA
HAVE To STAY
with You Guys
I'LLTAKE our My
CITIZENSHIP /
^ PAPERS I y
OM THE SIDEILINE.S flk.NOV.3 1336
1 —^4V—r
AMERICANIZE THE WASHINGTONIAN.
52,2/4.007 Paid
By Japan for
Panay Sinking
Ambassador Grew
Asks Data on Status
of Oil.
By thr Associatrd Press.
TOKIO. April 22.—The Japanese
government today handed over to the
United States a check for S2.214.007.36.
payment of indemnity for sinking by
Japanese of the American gunboat
Panay in the Yangtze River above
Nanking last December 12. Four Oc
cidentals were killed.
The American Ambassador, Joseph
C. Grew, meanwhile handed to the
foreign office a note requesting in
formation on the status of the oil
industry in North China.
The Chugai Shogyo Shimpo. Tokio
commercial newspaper, reported on
Tuesday that a Japanese Army or
Navy officer would head an oil com
pany to monopolize the petroleum
products market in North China.
Texaco. Standard Oil and Asiatic Pe
troleum Co.. Ltd. (Shell), have con
trolled about 90 per cent of the North
China market.
The newspaper said they would be
invited to join the new company and
receive 15 per cent of the total shares.
Capitalization would be about *5,
800.000.
--~ •
HORACE E. DODGE
SUES FOR DIVORCE
Lawyers Reveal Filing of Suit
Charging Cruelty—Allowance
Put at $30,000 a Year.
Rv thp A.c'ociatert Press.
DETROIT. April 22.—Attorneys for
Horace E. Dodge, son of the late auto
mobile manufacturer, disclosed today
he has filed suit for divorce from
Muriel Sisman Dodge, to whom he was
married in London, England, in 1928.
The complaint charges cruelty, al
leging Mrs. Dodge made disparaging
remarks about him in the presence of
other persons. It sets forth he gave
her an allowance of $30,000 a year.
The Dodges, who have two children,
both born in London, became estranged
in 1934. Pour subsequent suits by Mrs.
Dodge were settled out of court and
terms never made public.
Mr. Dodge was divorced in 1927 from
his first wife, the former Lois Knowl
ton. by whom he had two children.
Delphine and Horace E. Dodge III. He
had made a $10,000,000 settlement on
her.
--•---__
MYSTERY ‘DESTROYERS’
JAPANESE WHALERS
Captain of Fleet Explains Reports
of Strange Craft Reported
in Davao Bay.
By the Associated Press.
TOKIO. April 22.—A Japanese
whaling ship captain tonight offered
an explanation of recent reports from
the Philippine Islands that some 20
mysteriqus “destroyers," presumably
Japanese, had been sighted off Davao
Bay.
Kantaro Okamoto. captain of a
W'haling depot ship belonging to the
Oceanic Whaling Co., said the vessels
actually were the 17 small whaling
ships of the flotilla his vessel served.
He said the depot ship refueled the
flotilla near Cape San Augustine,
SUSPECT SEIZED
U. S. Agent Says One-Time
Marine Not a Party
to Kidnaping.
B- he Associated Press.
CHICAGO, April 22—Federal
agents announced today the arrest of
Charles Edmund Lavendar, 30-vear
old musician, on charges of attempt
ing to extort $30,000 from Murray
Levine, father of 12-year-old Peter
Levine *ho has been missing from his
New Rochelle, N. Y., home since Feb
ruary 24.
D. M. Ladd, agent in charge of the
Chicago office of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, said Lavendar “un
doubtedly" had no connection with
the kidnaping of the boy.
He said Lavendar formerly lived in
Berkeley. Calif., and was once in the
Marine Corps.
Ladd said Lavendar sent a letter to
| the elder Levine on April 14. Instruct
ing him to register at a Chicago Hotel
under the name “J. P. Smith." The
letter, Ladd said, directed Levine to
bring $30,000 in small bills and in
two packages, one containing $29,000
and the other $1,000.
A Federal agent, masquerading as
Levine, registered at the hotel and
was instructed in a telephone mes
sage to make a “contact" at Harrison
and Halsted streets, on the near West
Side.
Gets Another Message.
All hough the agent walked for
about a mile on Halsted street, no
contact was established, but when he
returned to the hotel a new message
directed him to appear at Clark and
Lake streets, on the north edge of
the Loop.
There, Ladd said, the agent was
accosted by Lavendar. With other
G-men the agent made the arrest.
Ladd said Lavendar readily ad
mitted he conceived the extortion plot
after reading of Peter's disappearance.
He said the captive, a musician and
~ (See LEVINE,-Page A-6.)
-•
AMNESIA VICTIM
IDENTIFIES SELF
Man Who Gave Away $100 Bills
in Richmond Says His
Hobby Is Jewelry.
By the Associated Press.
RICHMOND. Va.. April 22 —A well
dressed man who talked of thousand
dollar bills and gave away notes of $100
denomination on Richmond streets,
recovered today from an attack of am
nesia and announced he was Dr.
Michael Erim Brooks. Los Angeles
psychiatrist and friend of Aimee Sem
ple MacPherson.
"I must have been wandering
around since March 20.” he said, "be
cause the last I remember until now
is of walking from my apartment to
my office in Los Angeles with about
$25,000 in cash and a handful of un
set jewelry in my pocket.” He ex
plained that he sometimes bought and
sold Jewelry as a hobby.
He was placed by police in the City
Jail Hospital after he was found wan
dering about the street here yesterday.
Detectives said they found in his fash
ionable clothes a diamond-studded
watch, two diamond rings and a foun
tain pen engraved with the inscription
“Dr. M. E. Brooks.”
i,000 Tickets to Nats Game
Offered in Clean-Up Campaign
Four thousand tickets to an Ameri
can League baseball game at Griffith
Stadium are offered today to Wash
ington boys and girls of 12 years or
older who do a real job in the Junior
Board of Commerce city-wide clean
up campaign.
A free game for youthful clean-up
workers is made possible by the
Washington Baseball Club through
Secretary Edward Eynon. The ticket
plan will be carried out by the Junior
Board, The Star, the District Play
ground Department and organized
boys’ clubs and Boy and Girl Scouts.
Today and every day next week
The Star will print a clean-up cam
paign baseball coupon, to be clipped
by school children and filled out as
*
directed when the special clean-up
jobs—at home, on the playground or
on neighborhood lots—are finished.
The first 4,000 boys and girls to do
their work and get their coupons
signed and stamped will be admitted
to Griffith Stadium on Clean-up Day,
for which the date will be set later.
Clean-up Day will come after the
campaign is finished and school is
out, leaving the way clear for an
afternoon of baseball and fun in the
Griffith plant on Georgia avenue.
Now, here's what must be done to
win a free baseball ticket:
|Work at home, painting, fixing up
or planting, including any of these
jobs: (1> Painting the steps, porch,
(See CAMPAIGN, Page A-6.)
*«
OF BUSINESS TAX
UPHELD IN TEST
Municipal Court Backs D. C.
in Action Brought by
Neild & Sauerhoff.
• —————
$245 REFUND REFUSED
PRODUCE WHOLESALERS
Firm Challenged Congress' Right
to Impose Levy on Business
Outside of City.
BACKGROUND—
Considerable protest by mer
chants and the filing of a number
of suits followed enactment of Dis
trict business privilege tax in Reve
nue Act for 1937-38 fiscal year, with
provision that gross receipts on
business transacted here were tax
able even though interstate com
merce was involved.
The District government won a vic
tory in Municipal Court today in the
first court decision testing the con
stitutionality of the interstate phase
of the District Business Privilege Tax
Act of 1937.
Judge Ellen K. Racdy upheld a
motion by Special Assistant Corpora
tion Counsel Jo V. Morgan for dis
missal of a suit brought by Neild &
Sauerhoff. produce wholesalers of 1303
Water street S.W., who sought to com
pel the District to refund a tax of
$245.92. including penalties. The con
cern had paid the bill under duress on
January 3. when warned by the Dis
trict its license to continue in busi
ness would be revoked unless the bill
was paid by that time.
Attorneys anticipated that the plain
tiff would appeal the case to the
United States Court of Appeals for
the District.
Earlier Tests in Court
A number of suits previously had
been rarned to court testing the in
terstate phase of the tax act. but they
were moves to enjoin the District
from collecting the tax and were de
feated on that ground. Attorneys,
therefore, regarded the Neild & Sauer
hoff cases as an important first test
of the act. The interstate question
arises because the tax is imposed on
gross receipts on business transacted
in the District, although interstate
commerce may be involved.
The plaintitff contended the tax
should be refunded for three reasons:
{11 Because it was imposed on gross
receipts of the firm, a substantial
portion of which came from interstate
commerce, and that Congress, when
legislating for the District, had no
right to impose a tax on interstate
commerce.
(2) On the ground the tax was
' retroactive'1 in that it was measured
by gross receipts of the firm for 1936.
< 3 > Because the tax was ‘'discrim
inatory,” in that while the entire gross
receipts of wholesalers were included
in the tax calculation, only the gross
j commission was involved in calcula
tion of the tax on commission mer
chants.
District Denies Burden.
Thp District contended the tax was
not a burden on interstate commerce,
but that if it were it would not be
unconstitutional because Congress in
legislation for the District, as distin
guished from that for the States, has
the power to impose a tax on interstate
commerce.
The District's counsel also con
tended that the tax was not retroac
tive, but merely measured by gross
receipts of 1936. The District also
claimed there was no discrimination
so long as the tax applied alike to all
wholesalers on one hand, and applied
equitably on commission merchants
as a different class.
Judge Raedy did not give a written
opinion, but merely sustained the mo
tion by District counsel.
PERSHING WILL BRAVE
WEATHER FOR WEDDING
General Will See Son Married
Despite Drenching Rains
in New York City.
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. April 22—Occasional
rains and dreary skies were New York's
portion today, but the weather would
not deter Gen. John J. Pershing from
attending the wedding of his son, his
physicians said.
"The wedding plans will go on as
scheduled." one of his physicians said.
"The general will attend in spite of
the weather.”
Sales Market
Washington is an outstanding
sales market not only on ac
count of its thousands of visitors
at this time but because of the
high average earnings of its
permanent population.
The annual retail sales in
Washington are given as $330,
813,000, and The Star’s thorough
coverage of this rich market ac
counts for the volume of adver
tising in its columns.
Yesterday’s Advertising
(Local Display)
Linn.
The Evening Star.61,368
2d Newspaper_21,897
3d Newspaper..16,337
4th Newspaper_11,546
5th Newspaper..5,759
Total 4 Other Papers..55,539
It is estimated that there are
approximately 150,000 families
in the District of Columbia and
The Star is read In the great
majority of their homes.