Evening Star Newspaper, October 19, 1921, Page 1

cloudy and colder. today. YUTRST T Y - 0. 28297 WEATHER. Unséttled tonight; tomorrow partly Temperature for twenty-four hours ended at 2 p.m. today: Highest, 73, at 2 p.n. today; lowest, 50, at 7 a.m. Closing New York Stocks, Page 23 . | Entered as second-class matter post office Washington, D. C. Che WASHINGTON, FREIGHT RATE CUTS LOO AS MORE UNIONS CONSIDER JOINING IN STRIKE ORDER President to Make|Roads Preparing Word of Board Respected. FLOUTING ORDERS TO BRING ACTION Must Stand Ready to Chastise Those Ig- noring Decisions. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. President Harding has determined to make the United States Railroad Yoard so important a body that when jt hands down & decision saying vither side in a controversy is wrong 1he full wéight of public opinion will Vring the necessary pressure to bear 1o compel obedicnce to the mandate N board. was the original idea of Con- in creating the Railroad Labor joard. and the first challenge to the power of the board has developed. Jixeeutive influence has saved what Jnizht otherwise have been a steady collapse of the whole structure erect- €l by Congress. Mr. Harding has made jt clear that he wants the Rail- road Labor Board tago ahead and call both sides to task. ‘Will Prevent Strike. Mr. Harding’s course will unques- onably prevent a strike, for neither railroads nor the labor leaders ild be able to compete successfully ngainst a formal wis right OF Wroug. vately will admit that. The of the = Both sides pri- nly with any org: Sonis its decisions. mmons sent to the railroad 1 hr railroad, «ials of the Pennsylvania ' ho recently defied the decision of the | wages, the entire benefit of which board. Preaident Not Interfering. M. Yabor Eoard will succeed only if it plays fair with both sides and that it! Jnust be just as ready to chastise a big institution like the Pennsylvania railroad as a railway union. —Mr. Farding isn't showing any partiality to cither side—he isn't actually in- terfering In the detafls of the contro- wersy. He keeps on pointing out 1hat Congress has created the Labor Board to settle disputes and that both sides must toe the mark and obeéy that board. Mr. Harding has confi- dence in the integrity and honesty gnd fair-mindedness of the board and elieves public opinion will follow ts decisions. The railway brotherhood chiefs call- ed a strike in advance of a decision by the board. They took action large- 1y because the railroads announced that they would seek a second cut in wages. But there's a vast difference between a request for a cut amnd the actual granting of the same. Mr. JHarding feels that the calling of a strike is largely a misunderstanding —a, fear of something that may or may not materialize. The President is connfident that when the Labor Board ‘ormally calls upon each side to be- ave there will be no more flouting of its authority. Labor Chiefs Watching. The labor chiefs have been watch- §ng to see whether the Labor Board hiad any real power behind it. When they saw the Pennsylvania railroad jgnore the decisions of the board thgy were prompted to do likewise. The remedy for the situation, in the opinfon of the administration, is to zet_back to fundamentals—to make Toth sides respect the board. 1f that isn’'t accomplished. chaos comes once more into the railway problem and no improvement will have been made over the situation in 1916, when the Adamson law was Yorced through Congress to avert a sirike. But with the Railway Labor Board made equal in importance to 1he Interstate Commerce Commission as an executive body, the end of strikes on American rallways will be in sight. So long as the board re- gards itself as a judicial body and acts without favor to either side, the ublic will come gradually to regard ts word as final and strikes or lock- outs in deflance of the board's decision will not be deemed practicable by either side. Majority Will Rule. Even if the board should issue a smajority and minority report, the views of the majority will carry suf- ficient weight to swing public opin- Son. Railway employes on the one J'and would not as a body defy such 2 report any more than Stockholders of a railway would permit executives 1o pursue a policy which s against 1ite verdict of the railway board. yulings of the Interstate Commerce, them o join n and_the Supreme Court of the Unl States are accepted vithout challenge and it is the aim of the administration to add to the snoral _influence of the Railway Labor Board so that its word will carry just as far. Incidentally, there's a reduction in greight rates coming. The White Jlouse con't say so officially, but every Fign points to it. There are some cases pending-in the Interstate Com- snerce Commission involving rates on Jiardwood lumber, grain and grain roducts, which may remave a large gartpr the 25 per cen ed last year. The rallroads have made voluntary cuts in handling export grain, live #tock, oil and building materials, and $t is estimated that practically all of e $400,000,000 wage cut will be off- t by freight rate reductions within Commi [3 . wuestion of whether the increased in- ol of the railroads, due to low ’ I pun at a profit to their stockholders. Earnings Pleking Up. Parnings of the roads have picked in recent months. and one set of ftatisticians is busy showing how the t in wages made it possible, while snother set argues that the increased Siness the roads are doing really is yesponsible for the better financial Bhowing. — When rates are further reduced it Qecision as to who)their share of losses in the present President feels that the United |profit as otner industries had during 0 faliroad labor board should act|the period of high prices, because anization which | their earnings were fixed by the gov- He approves of | ernment. ‘herbood chiefs to come to Chi-|ligation to tue public service,” he said, o to talk things over informally |“tne managements of tne railroads of end makes it clear that he wishes the | the country nave recently announced fourd awill also call in promptly offi- | tnat tuey Wil 43K e nailiOud Labor Harding believes the Railway|gxerciscs the balance of control of The | <rs and rairoad executives urgi | t Increase grant- | tive councils and executives of tne e mext fortnigiat. Then it will be a)group now under instructions for sec- Zhit rates, will cnable them to take | ¥e of their operating expenses, orischeduled a meeting here Friday and Shether further wage cuts are neces- | pary in order that the roads may becision, leaders of these eleven unions to Fill Places of Strikers. RAIL BOARD MAY URGE REDUCTION Failure to Support Body Before Brings Stone’s Criticism. By the Associated Press. CHICAGO, October 19.—In the event the threatened railroad strike is called the roads are prepared to “do our ut- most to move necessities, utilizing to the fullest possible extent all the man power available,” Charles H. Markham, president of the Illinois Central rail- road, declared today In an address be- fore the American mining congress. Mr. Markham said the present trans- portation ngle was due to the fact that ninety-min: public bodies have a hand in fixing the rules, income and expenses of railroads have no voice in the expenai- ture of more than 9/ per cent of taeir operating costs. “The remedy,” he sald, “is to place the roads and that the tonce moro in tne hands of railway man- agements—under competent and broad- minded supervison—the control of operating costs, in such a way that re- sponsibiity may properly be fixed upon the ‘managements for the opera- ton of their properties.” Have Taken Share of Losses. The railroads, he said, have taken period of readjustment, despite the ract that they were not permitied to “With a consciousness of their ob- for a further reduction in tney prorose to pass along to the pun- lic in reauced freigut rates. This buts the situation up to the public, wiich L6 nALFoad LADOF Luwid. 1l ‘Wie Public wants reduced rates its representa. tives on the labor board have the op- poriunity to obtain tnem by granting such wage reductions as will make reduced rates possible. Union Conference Opens. The first of a series in Chicaga, at waicn represei @il T4CLIONS 1IN Lue Tuulusd SWEiKe S1tuLLION WY deCide the OULCOme OL the strike call issued by tne Big FOUT DruTUernoods 10r UCLODEr 3u. uc- 8an here togay, L0 conlLue over the week end. ‘t'nree group, meetings are sched- uled: Eixecutives of the shopmen, main- LelAUMUE UL Way WOIKers, clerks, leleg- rupuers and others meet loday, tlo- LOrrow, Friday and Sunday v ueCide Loelr attitude toward tne annoduced strike Of Lne Lrain Service eiupioyes, Wiln indications o a Huai decision ai 8 Joint conierence Sunday. Z. Brotnernoud leaucrs ure on their Wway nere to hear tne goveruments atutude through the Ruilroad Lapor Board Lomorrow. Executives to Meet Friday. 3. Rauroad executives of tue central division meel frigay In Cnicago Lo disCuss all puases 0L LNv SIrike silUd- tion, wnlle executives oIl tne otuer adIVISIons meet SuMullaneously in tneir UWn regions. rresac sate reductions approxi- mately equivalent to tne 12 per cent wage reuuction 1n wages orderea last vuiy 1 by the Kailroad Laver Boara we Ina.cated as tne prooable vasic Buggestion Lie 1auor boara wil pro- pose, WILh loe DACKIDG Of tue ad- winistrauon, to avert the Strike. “l undersiand,” sawd Cowmunssioner Den W. Hooper,- & ldemiver oL e “public’ ¥roup of the tavor LOAru, “chat the intesstate Lomunerce Com- nussion has a number of important rate reduction cases on hand, on waich 1t will act inmediately. That will give us sometning to work on.” Strike Suspension Vital. The board’s poucy, as outlined by Commissioner Hooper, would propose to the orotnerncod chiers immealate suspension of the Birike oruer on tneir parts, and theirr influence in prevenung other waikouts, whue the executives would be usked to concede the withdrawali of tne proposed re- Quest for furtner wage Culs ana grant an immediate reauction of freignt rates. president J. R. Howard of the Farm bureau Federation today had on ule beiore the interstate Commerce Commission here a peution ror a 10 10 20 per cent ireignt rate reduction on neeessiies of lire, and at tne |same time he telegrapned union lead- hyn in a4 conterence nere. ruilure of the brotherhood chiefs to join a strike agreement with the cieven other raillroad unions at a Conierence ReTe 1Sl Weck has nade uncertamn the outcome of the SirIke conierences here, beginuINg toduy. Vote Authorizes Strike. Referendum votes have authorized the leaders of the Maintenance of Way men and shopmen, wno meet here today and tomorrow, to call a strike at their discretion, but shopcratts leaders have summoned their execu- Maintenance of Way Union have call- ed general chalrman of their tweive divisions. Membership of these two and others of the eleven organizations which have not issued strike notices number 1,500,000, as compared with half a million in the train service tional walk-outs, ber 30. Officials of the telegraphers have beginning Octo- the clerks Sunday. No definite de- indicated, will be made before the end of the week. While prospects for settlement of the strike were growing brighter, Army officials, ft is understood, were making preparations for operating trains_by federal troops. 5 Army Being Polled. Dispatches from San Antonio ‘said officers of the 8th Corps area, in the southwest, had been instructed to §s expected that disinterested analysis| compile and forward to Washington Avill ‘have no trouble in_finding out|)ists of all officers and enlisted men svhich claim is correct-” Meanwhile, | with experience in twenty-six lines precedent has been established by | of rallroad work. ?rc:ldenl Harding in bringing the| " Soutbwestern roads largely com- -. §. Rallrdad Labor Board into con-|prise the group under instructions to gerence informally with the Inter-| walk out the first day of the strike, tate * Commerce Commission. It{and it iy understood that the geaks the ice and makes it possible | preponderance of votes favoring a #% have further conferences. Birtke by the brotherhoods, came 4Copyright, 1921.) from tha®™section, SIX NURSES POISONED BY “HOMEMADE” FUDGE By the Associated Pre: CHICAGO, October 19.—An exhaus- tive search for the sender of a box of poisoned candy, responsible for the critical illness of six nurses at the West End Hospltal, was being con- ducted today by post office Inspectors. The box came through the mail and was addressed to Miss Helen Rosen- feld, a seventeen-year-old student nurse. K contained homemade “fudge.” analysis of which was said to show that the deadly poison permeated all of the candy. Miss Rosenfeld came to America nine months ago from Austria and has been a student nurse in the hos- pital since that time. In the candy hox was a typewritten note bearing the following inscription: “From a patient who was an ardent admirer. This candy was faithfully made. The girl invited six other nurses to share the candy with her and with- in @ few minutes all of them became One of the theorles advanced by the postal authorities is that instead of a patient some jealous suitor sent the box to Miss Rosenfeld. D. C. LINES SPECIAL ORDER WEDNESDAY House Committee Votes to Take Up Street Railway Bills at That Time. The House District committec to- day made all legislation referring to the Washington street rallway situa- tion the order of special business nex Wednesday. A revised bill introduced vesterday by Representative Woods of Virginia and several other bills which members have stated thelr in- tention of introducing will be before the committee. On the motion of Representative O'Brien of New Jersey. a subcommite tee of five was authorized to confer with the District Commissioners on an investigation of the police and fire departments. Representative O'Brien argued that millions of dollars’ worth of property in the District is not ade: quately protected and gave the recent re at the National Hotel as an illus- tration. Rallway Lobbyist. The statement was made by Rep- resentative Hammer of North Caro- lina that the Washington Railway and Electric Company is paying $1, 200 and $1,500 a month for the serv- ices of a lobbyist. The District Commissioners were also censured by Representatives Lampert, Keller and Sproul for the declsion to locate the new tubercu- losis school at Jl4th and Upshur streets. 2 The committee today ordered a favorable report on a bill which al- ready has paased the Senate au- thorizing the closing of Piney Branch streets. . fa ex- plain { Commission= ers favored such actlon. Representa- tive Lampert of Wisconsin said that he had made a personal investiga- tion and assured the committee there was no reason why such ° action should not be taken. Bill to Give Authority. ~Representative Woods told the com- mittee that the Commissioners are preparing a bill which will give them genecral authority to close such streets without specific authorization from Congress. Strong objection to such legislation was offered by mem- bers of the committee. Representative Walters of Penn- sylvania invited all members of the District committee to attend a .con- ference Friday morning with a spe- cial subcommittee of the BSenate-on the school building program for the District. Chairman Focht said that these two matters of legislation, the new school program and the street railway merger, were the two major proposi- tions which the committee hopes to clean up this year. Chairman Focht said that the proposed blue-sky law for the District, on which hearings are being held by a subcommittee of which Representative Joe Brown of Tennessee is chairman, has attracted attention all over the country. He forecast that a model blue-sky law will soon be favorably reported from the commiitee. Changes in Measure. Representative Woods explained the principal changes in his new bill over the measure which the House last week recommitted to the District com- mittee. The principal change is in the ap- portionment of taxes to be borne by the street car companies and the Potomac Electric Power Company. The rejected bill provides that 4 per cent gross tax now paid By the street car companies should be repealed and a tax of 1 per cent should be imposed upon the net receipts of the merged corporations. The new bill proposes to reduce the tax to 1 per cent in the case of the street car companies, but to allow the 4 per cent gross tax to remain upon the Potomac Electric Power Company. The next important change would be to make it mandatory upon the Public Utilitfes Commission to keép separate accounts of the street rail- way and the electric power com- any. The third important change would eliminate the feature in the rejected bill which granted the street car companies relief from payments for improvements on their right of way. Representative Woods explained to the committees thit :.n injustice was being done in making charges of overcapitaljgation. He showed that by Public Utilities Commission figures the Capital Traction Company is overcapitalized less than per cent and the Washington Railway and Electric Company less than 10 per cent. Today’s News in Brief Kalorama Citizens’ Assoclation scores new auto parking rule and . police. Page 5 Gonzaga College to celebrate its cen- (en:i‘fll next month. Page 15 Statue of Stonewall Jackson unveiled at Charlottesville. Page 16 Petworth citizens back board of edu- cation and Commissioners in charges of delay in school building. Page 17 Senate ratifies peace treatics with Germany, Austria and Hungary. ! Page 17 Japanese delegates leave San Fran- cisco for Washington tonight. . 3 Page17 Southeast citizens open campaign to dbtain comfort station. Page 17 Government employes urged to join citizens’ assoclations. . Pagel? Obregon regime bitterly flayed. Pago 18 Alaska industries at standstill, mine 1 Page 19, Lord Grey says league has machine for arms limitatjon. Page 2 Briand says France must reject-force. if he is to be representative - - ference. « g Deielad el el P bt U S e loa i SR e et ol e PRESDENT RGES LS PARTPATION INWORLD AFFARS Points to Need of Co-Opera- tion in Speech at York- town Celebration. DOCTRINE OF FRIENDSHIP WITH BRITISH CECLARED Says That Any Program to Sub- merge Nationality Must Fail. By the Associated Press. YORKTOWN, Va, Ocntober 19.—A doctrine of enduring friendship be- tween the United States and Great Britain was pronounced by President Harding today at a ceremony com- memorating the final surrender of the British expeditionary forces here to the revolutionary army of Washing- ton. President and Mrs. Harding were guests of honor at the celebrations marking the 140th anniversary of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The presidential party arrived from the eapital after an overnight trip on the Mayflower, which cast her anchor in a cove which through many sum- mer weeks 140 years ago reflected the grim ports of the anchored French fleet, as it lay watching the be- leagured British army. Mr. Harding's address. the feature of the day’s program, was delivered at the foot of the Yorktown Monu- ment, erected in 1881. At con- clusion. ac proceeded to Willlams- burg to participate in the installation of Dr. J. A. C. Chandler as president of the College of William and Mary. Since the original celebration of Yorktown day, students of the college have made it an annual holiday, journeying to this place in a body to join in the ceremonies. Pence for Evermore. The President declared in deliber- ately chosen words a sentiment of peaceful relationship between the two great Eng! peaking nations for all time to e. That either should ever agaln lift the sword against the other, he said, must be “unthinkable.” “In’ the trusteeship of preserving civilization,” he continued, “we were naturally arrayed together, and the convictions of a cigilization worthy of that costly .preseitation will exalt peace and_warn against conflict for al] time to come.” Four members of the cabinet, in- cluding the Secretary of State, were in the company of officials who heard the pronouncement and participated in. the ‘#nniversary :demonstration. Other_distinguished -guests included rs u&;hc diplomatic e of. prepared ad- a‘grefldent also took occa- sion tg-Tenew the nation's pledgeé of pl:t ation in :the broader affairs of the world and declared his belfef that the time had come for “essen- tial ca-operation” among nations gen- erally " for the betterment of the world, Century of Peace. “We must not claim for the new world,” said Mr. Harding, “certainly not for our colonies alone, all the liberal thought of a century and a half ago. There were liberal views and attending sympathy in England nd a passionate devotion to more liberal tendencles in France. The triumph of freedom in the American colonies greatly strengthened' liberal views in the old world. Inevitably this liberal public opinion, deliberate and grown dominant, brought Great Britain and ‘America to a policy of accommodatiorf and pacific adjust- ment for all our differences. There has been honorable and unbroken peace for more than a century, we came to common sacrifice and en- sanguined assocfation in the world war, and a future breach of our peaceful and friendly relations is un- thinkable. In the trusteeship of pre- serving civilization we were natufally arrayed together, and the convictions of a civilization worthy of that cost- Iy preservation will exalt peace and warn against conflict for all time to come. “Our thoughts have lately been concerned with those eévents which made history on the scale of a world, rather than of a continent. Yet the lesson is the same. It is the lesson of real interdependence among the nations which lead civilization. “In our great crisis, nearly a cen- tury and a half ago, France came to our aid and made our independence possible. In her supremely anxious hour we gladly went to her support and did our part to secure her lib- erty. A grateful republic fuifilled an obligation “which the passing gen- eratiops had not dulled. Hungering for Understanding. “Reflecting foday on the Inevitable- ness of our participation, on our ties of kinship, friendship and fellowship, and_ appralsing anew the way the world—God's good world—must share the espirations te realize the noblest ideals for mankind, there is a fresh hungering for understanding, a new call for co-operation, a clear convic- tion of purposes and devotions and loyalties not limited to sovereignties or national boundaries. As the for- tunate. successful citizen is both in- spiration and example"tr the commu- nity of his growth, so must the fortu- nate and successful nations help the world to the higher and nobler levels of accomplishment. <Here at York- town was sealed the charter of the new and freé America, but in the charter was written the rational lib- eralism of the maturing eighteenth century crying out from both conti- nents. “Shall mankind, then, go on yet for generations, for centuries, know- ing ‘but refusing to'We guided by these truths? "Not if conscience and reason are properly asserted. I be- lieve the time is, come when there must be recognition of essential co- operation among nations, devot. each of them, in its own peculiar na- tional way, to the common good, the progress, the advance of all human kind. Let us hope that we stand at the dawn of a new day, in which nations shall be stronger for con- tribution to the world's betterment, of common purpose and united as- piration. and the security of & com- SPURNS LOANS FROM U. S. Offers Would Have to Be Very Tempting, Says Victoria Oficial. URNE, October 18.—~W: M. % treasurer of ris, to- day. informéd:& represe: 40t an American clal conoern an offer of. ‘164 3 {l;u- :ho vnlc; States” wonld:-hgve . t6 de very tem ng to be néapzod. 28 thé dealings of Vi with London financiers pre- | viously had bésn . The -Bouth Aust has been directly wg loans trgnz;lo United States. N bering WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION because each will feel the assurance | ‘goverament proached regard- | / PR Star. D. C, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1921-THIRTY-TWO PAGES. Member of The Associated % Al rights dispatches | | l the use for republication of sll news dispatches credited to it er et otherwise credited In this Paper and also the local news published herela, the Associated Press Press s exclusively entitied to of publication of spectal berein are also reserved. Yesterday’s Net Circulation, 87,277 TWO CENTS. Dy the Assoriated Press. Myron T. Herrick, the American The room in which the expl the bomb blew up. THE ‘KEN-CAP KLAN Agriculturists Derided for Compromise Tax Bill by Senator Moses. Charaeterising -the sgricultural bloo of the Senate as “the invisible em- pire which now seems to be ruling us” and dubbing it the “Ken-Cap Klan,” a play on the names of Sena- tors Kenyon and Capper, S Senator Moses of New Hampshire today de- rided the compromise tax-revision bill forced»upon the Senate repub- licans by the agriculturalists. =~ He predicted that it would disgust the people, who have been promised real tax revision and an abandonment of to the republicans at the elections jin_1922 and 1924, For himself, the New Hampshire senator declaréd his stand in favor of the Smoot substitute bill, which provides a new system of taxation— the ~ so-called manufacturers’ sales tax. After quoting from the republican and democratic platforms of 1920, which promised the people relief from war taxes, simpler tax laws and laws fit for peace, so that wealth would not be withdrawn from pro- ductive enterprise, now “archaic docu- ments,”. he said “The reaction to these declarations, these demands, these promises, is now before us_in & multiplex form. First, that of the revenue bill as it came from the House; second. that of the bill as it came from the finance com- mittee here, and, third, that of the amendments forced upon committee recognition by that division of the in- visible empire which now seems to be ruling us and which may be styled, 1 hope without irreverence, as the Ken-Cap-Klan.© And in this latter connection, Mr. President, I wish to record myself as standing with the senator from Indiana as a member of the republican bloc which meets so seldom and whose opinions are ap- parently of little consequence. “In this connection also I trust I shall arouse no resentment in saying that those senators who comprise the so- called agricultural bloc have shown gcant consistency in withholding their solioitations from the only real dirt farmers on this side of the chamber. And I doubt not, sir, that When any of the promoters of this bloc shall be seeking renomination, as they will one, three and five years hence, they will not seek it as a nominee of a bloc, but of the republicau party, whose votes also they will pursue election day.” Benator Moses declared the panding bill was the work of the t9¥perts” employed by the Treasury Depart- { ment and the committee. | “When I view the rosult of thetr | handiwork,” said Senator Moses, “as presented to us in this bill I cannot but feel that we have before us the tattered rags of a tax measure three faded, but which now has been patched and embroidered in a vain at- tempt to bring it up (to the mode of 1922. This was not the promise of last year; this cannot be the ful- fillment o sponsible for it sertously expect to seek the judgment of their fellow countrymen in 1922, “This measure is nhinli drawn un- der the inspiration of the inspiri slogan, ‘Soak the rich’ I .hold 'no brief l?or the rich; neither I nor any kin have'ever steod within rcle. But I cannot help think- t the rich may 1 ‘om ffeti even as Peter the arned from the repeated as- saults of Charles XII nhow to fight. | Ifdeed, sir, they have already begun. i Capital has gone on strike.” . " nd I hope that I may again crave forgivenéess if I point out that the [ solicitude of the agricultural bloe for |the people fnds agcurate expression in thelr proposed amendment d creasing from 2 per cent to 1 1 cent the taxation on incomes ranging from $8,000 to $10,000, a figure which with - great exactitude brings rellef to a senatorial salary plus mijleage and stationery allowance.” Mr. Moses suggested that Congress would do well to limit governmental expendifures instead of seeking new o8, % Taking up the Smoot sales tax plan, rnat has proposal wipes.out the mui proj - nui- ~taxes which have burdened all from -the. -child with -his 1o the aged with his medicine It ‘places texation upon in- at a point where accumulated FARM BLOC DUBBED' ~ DOWNU. 5. FLAG existing war taxes, with dire results, Now SHUST VEN VAS BOMB EXPLODED IN HOME OF AMBASSADOR HERRICK PARIS, October 19.—A bomb exploded today in the house of ambassador, seriously injuring the valet who opened the package containing it. losion occurred was wrecked. Ambassador Herrick arrived at the house two minutes after THREATEN T0 TEAR Many Menacing Letters Re- ceived by American Em- bassy in Paris. B the Assoclated Press. PARIS, October 19.—Threats to tear down the American over the American embassy here are contained in many letters, which have been received at the embagsy in the last few days, protesting agalnst the con- viction in the United States of Nicolo Sacco and Bartolameo Vansetti, two lialians, for the murder of Frederick A. Parmentar. paymaster of a shoe- making= establishment, at Braintree, Mass. In all. between 300 and 400 leuerg of protest have been received, at thérate of more than 100 2 day. There have been numerous demon- strations by radical elements in Italy over this case, newspapers here in Paris have taken up the campaign, urging their fol- lowers to protest to the embassy and announcing a mass meeting for Fri- ay. It 1 1 i is being planned to follow this meet- ng. The Paris police and French minis- try of foreign affairs have been noti- and_the communist is reported an attempt to demonstrate in front of the embassy 1 | 0K S RECOVERED: DOCLMENTS GONE (Finger Prints to Be Taken in Investigating Theft of Bergdoll Papers. The box, containing Bergdoll and jprivate papers, stolen from the office | of Representative Ben Johnson (dem- ocrat), Kentucky, Monday night. was found early today on the fifth floor of the House office building, broken open and with important documents missing. Employes of the building reported that they located the box in an unoc- cupied storage room, completely cov- ered over with rubbish. After a hurried examination of pa- pers which were not removed Mr. Johnson ‘announced that some of his private letters had not been disturb- ed, but that every document showed evidence of close inspection, and that not a single siip of paper relating to {the Bergdoll investigation was left. ! Finger Prints on Window. ! After a conference with Speaker! Gillett, who stated he proposed to go | !to the bottom cf the robbery, Mr. !Johnson called on the ‘Washington | ' police to obtain the finger prints of | lall office building police and work- men. He said he wanted these for! comparison with finger prints found! | | | !one man, but they are convinced more !than one person had a hand in the robbery. Unable to break the lock, the thieves pried off the hinges. Somebody tak- ing part in the crime evidently vut his hand, as a small particle of blood was discovered where the lid was raised. Electricians’ Report. An assistant electrician who occu- NEW PARKING RULE DENOUNCEDBYD.C. BUSINESS LEADERS Commissioners Amazed to Find More Criticism Than Praise for Move. M. AND M. ASSOCIATION SEEKS PUBLIC HEARING Flood of Objections Already Re- ceived—R. N. Harper in Favor of Step. Anticipating expressions of an- proval from Washington business men over the change made In the parking regulation prohfbiting parking in front of entrances to business places in the congested section, the District Commissioners today received criti- cism principally from the interests which it had expected would be benc- fited by the order. The Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association early voiced a protest and sent a communication to the Commis- | sioners requesting a hearing on tid question. At the headquarters of the organization it was said an almos continuous velume of objections frov business houses to the new rule pou « ed in during the day. Commissloners Surprised. While the Commigsioners had e pected the trafic amendment woul: meet with criticism in many quar ters, they were surprised at attitude taken by the businer interests. These interests have pro. tested vigorously over the condition created by the existing regulation the Commissioners said. They have maintained that their business was being gerfously menaced through th blocking of the approaches to the buildings. The Commissioners real- ized there was much justice in the complaints, and vesterday's action in zmending the regulation was taken to relieve what they considered a hardship upon business. X Sentiment had not crystallized sufficiently today to indicate whether business would line up solidly in op- position to the order. President Albert Schulteis of: the Chamber of Commerce described the present situation as “intolerable.” but #aid he had not given sufficient study to the change ordered by the Commission- ers to reach a conclusion as to whether it would better conditions. President Bradley of the Board of Trade made a similar statement. The rule, he stated, is a drastic one, and h® was not prepared to say that he believed it offered the best solution of the prob- lem. Harper Praises Idea. Robert N. Harper, president of the District National Bank, said that the amendment, while drastic, is @ step in the right direction. “It may require sone minor changes that will be indicated after it has been tried out,” said Mr. Harper, “but I be- lfeve it will greatly improve present con ditions, which are making the transac- tion of business difficul President King of the Merchants and _ Manufacturers’ Assocfation named a committee to present the or- ganization's profest to the Commis- 1t is composed of Gen. Anton on the window pane of the office | S.ONCTE: : George 8. De Which the thieves cut away to gain| seiieh TN and Leo Baum. entrance. Local police officials sald | Tre wommittes lost no time in fram- they obtained finger prints of only ing its protest, which follows: Merchants Frame Protest. “The dally newspapers announce that the Commissioners have promul- gated a regulation abolishing the parking of automobiles in the down- town section. E “The Merchants and Manufacturers' Association desires to express its keen sense of the disappointment at the sweeping manner in which the pies a cot bed in a small room on the fifth floor of the office building said that about 2:30 o'clock yesterday morning he heard a noise which he thought was on the roof of the build: ing, and which sounded like some fied by the embassy of the receipt of the letters of protest. including those which carried the threats, and the State Department in Washingon also has been informed. years. old, long_since out of style and | The ministry of the interior has been asked to take suitable action in the case. As a consequence, police and the French government de- partments have initiated precautio ary measures. The embassy, it is stated, will be well guarded. both on Friday and later, on the day when it has been reported here the pris- ers were to be executed. (No action toward sentencing the prisoners in the Braintree case has as yet been taken by the Massachusetts courts, sen- tence having been temporarily stayed and the times for filing exceptions taken by the defemse with a view to an appeal having been extended to November ] at the time of their con- viction at Dedham last July.) A - pamphlet attacking American Justice and the American government was circdulated widely in the Paris street cars yesterday and a copy of the pamphlet was delivered at the embassy. today. COL. WHEDON, G. A. R. LEADER, DIES HERE | i ia short illness. today to Louisville, Ky. where fu- neral services will be held tomorrow. | Interment will be at Louisville, ! .Col. Whedon was eighty-one vears the G. A. K., and a resident of Wash- Ington for the past twelve vears, died old. He was born July 30, 1840, at Milroy, Ind. He entered the federal that promise if those re- army in August, 1862, as a lieutenant of the 82d Indiana Infantry, and was following Near the close of the war he | b, | promoted to captain the year. was captured during an action in ng | South Carolina and was incarcerated !in the Confederate prisons at Au- smm and Macon, Ga., dnd Anderson- ville. = Col. ‘Whedon came to Washington 1daughter, Mrs. E. C. Wickersham, at |the Calvert street address. He was a member of the G. A. R. and the Loyal Leglon. . He Is survived by Mrs. Wickersham. He was a thirty-third degree Mason and a member of.the Scoptish Rite body at Louisville. He was also past commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. The body will be sent-to Loutsville for’ burial. "JOINT IAEETING FRIDAY. The first meeting of the joint Sen- ate and House committee on schools in the District of Columbia Is to be held Friday morning in the offices of the. Senate District committee. Sen- ator Capper of Kansas, chairman of the Senate committee, said today that arranged for the meeting with nlitive Walters, the House committee on.aschools, and that the investigation of the school l sitoation “here would "be- conducted |st jointly. the | Col. Americus Whedon, a veteran of the ‘civil war and vice commander of yesterday at 1930 Calvert street after The body was sent in 1909 and made his home with a|which is a ledge wide enough for a rman of | : ;one breaking open a box. He go a ladder and climbed over the wall, | across an unfinished portion of the | building under the roof, and down a | | ladder into the storage’ room. where | the box was found today. The box was not there at the time, but he saw | a man run from this room and heard him descending on the elevator. He looked down the elevator shaft and found the car stopped at the fourth floor, with the door open. During the Investigation yesterday two police detectives went from the ! storeroom through a small hole in the wall into an unfinished place under the eaves through which pipes run, and found no box there. Today, how- ever, the assistant electrician sug- gested to the chief electrician that they should again look in this dark hole, and when they did so they found the box. Opened in Outer Room. The box was opened in the outer | room, as was shown by a piece of plank inside the box which matched | with another piece found on the floor of the room. showing that the board had been broken in attempting to pry open the box. Jere South, formerly chief clerk of | the House, and now a Washington at-| torney, in company with Mr. John- | son, today discovered a new set ot} fingerprints in the unfinished place under the roof of the building where the assistant electrician crawled through to apprehend the burglar. These fingerprints will be studied in { connection with those found on the window in Representative Johnson's office. - Longworth Office Entered. The office of Representative Nicholas .Longworth, republican, Ohio, on the fourth floor of the House office bulid- ing. was entered last night by rob- |gr who broke open twa filing cab- nets. Finding nothing of value, the rob- ‘bers vented their spite on an um- brella by breaking it up. ‘The office was entered apparently through a window on the court side, under i | man to use as & footpatin. This is the fourth time Mr. Longworth’s office has been entered. % 5 i HEAR BRITISH NAVY PLANS | London Paper Says £2,000,000 Is to Be Spent on Pacific Bases. LONDON, October 19.—Reviving a rumor that Great Britain is.preparing | a new naval base, in the Pacific, the Daily Sketch says it is intended to spend £2,000,000 in converting Binga- pore into a first-class station, while | Commissioners have handled this all- | important question of traffic. “The committee, of which Vice Presi- Anton Stephan is chairman. ealizes that this is indeed a prob- {lem. the solution of which, however. annot Dbe found in a regulation which would absolutely prohibit the parking of cars at any period of the twenty-four hours, regardless of wind or weather and the density of trafiic. Enongh legulation Already. “It is the opinfon of the committee that there is sufficient regulation the present time to meet the traffic problem of the District of Columbia, providing the same is enforced. “Jt would appear as if the lack of enforcement i& due to an insufficiency in our police department. “Whatever the cause, should be found at once. “The veritable storm of protest that is being set up in Washington today as a result of this sweeping ruling of the Commissioners will, no doubt, reach you from other quarters. “But, in any event, the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association wants to be heard on this question, and re- spectfully requests the privilege of a conference at the early convenience of the Commiseioners.” Reason for Drastic Move. The amendment adopted yesterday is in line wit® the Commissioners’ policy, it was stated at the District building today. ‘to Improve traflic con- ditions through experimental steps. The first of these steps was taken shortly after the present civilian Commissioners were inducted into of- fice, when an order was passed pro- hibiting center parking in Pennsyl- vania avenue north of the street car tracks. Commissioner Oyster an- nounced at the time his intention to ‘clean up” Pennsylvania avenue and develop it for traffic rather than storage purposes. Later Zenter parking on Pennsyl- vania avenue south of the street cars was abolished, the order putti this change Into effect e lpulating conditions undef which curb” sms's'ng would be ted. The immediate resvit of this amendment was an increas. ‘s curb parking. Hotels, banks, stores and other business houses suddenly found the entrances to the structures oocupied by them blocked by cars park- ed at the curb. Protests began to reach the Commissioners by the score. - Full Probe of Complaints. The Cammissioners gave attentive ear to these com and admitted thdt the régulation might have to bt amended in.order to'preserve the rights of the complainants. They announced. however, tbat it would be their policy to give the ruld a thorough trial, during which time a careful study would be made of the traffic_situation. Police. Captain Headley, In charge of the traffic bureau, at the direction ofy tF > District heads, since has made an\investigation of practically every a remedy an alternative base of less importance is to be created in Australia. The Sketch adds.that if an agree- ment is reached at the Washington m!mnu‘th:‘ .arrapgement. can be into a first-class verted SUERests co-operation’ with the “United complaint registered to the hard alefl'by the existing regu- otel proprietors said ey business pro- arriving taxicabs the entrances of ships ca: lation. ‘were _losing spective guests cculd not get near embll-‘l:me(i‘-. the Stores complain- ed that prospective' customers who e6uld-fot: drive up to_their entrance because of machines being park-d = Prie 3, Column ia