Evening Star Newspaper, March 19, 1922, Page 1

—gentering about the arms conference 42: lowest, 24 Full report on page 5. i | | WEATHER. i ] in_today and tomorrow; no de- cided changé in temperature : Temperature for twenty-two hours cnded at 10 p.m. last night: Highest, [ —— No. S86.— No. 28448, Unteral as second-cluss matter - WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, N / Sunday St / MARCH 19, 1922 LEADERS GLAIMING 64 SENATE VOTES FOR 4POWER PACT Utmost Opposition Strength Given as 29 by Support- ers of Treaty.- NECESSARY TWO-THIRDS IS MORE THAN ASSURED Any Danger Because of Attitude of Reservation Foes Now Be- lieved Past. | Ratification of the four-power Pacific treaty by the Senate when the vote is taken Jriday is assured, Sen- ate leaders claimed last night. The utmost strength of the opposition was given as twenty-nine votes— twenty-five democrats and four re- publicans. The suppgters on the other hand expert to cast sixty-four votes in favor of ratification on Friday, or more than the necessary two-thirds, _even with the opponents mustering their full strength. Absentees Taken Inte Account. These figures take intoaccount the | fact that three senators who would vote for the treaty if present may be away from Washington. They are Senator Crow of Pennsylvania, who is ill in a hospital in Pittsburgh; Senator Owen of Oklahoma, who has not yet returned from Europe, and Senator Trammell of Florida. The last two senators may yet be here for the vote. Any danger that may have existed because of the attitude of some of the republican senators who, believe that the treaty should be ratified without any reservation whatever and who have opposed the Brandegee reserva- tion, Is now passed, it was sald. The danger lay in the fact that if this reservation should be defeated then some of the senators who are counted upon to vote for ratification would have voted “No" with disastrous ef- fect. y Situation Well in Hand. The republican leaders now have the situation well in hand. They assert they have enough votes to adopt the Brandegee reservation, which was re- ported favorably by the=foreign rela- tions committee, with republican votes alone, since it takes only 2 ma- jority vote for this purpose, and also that they wlill have democratic sup- port for the reservation. As soon as ghe four-power Pacific treaty has been disposed of, it is the plan of Senator Lodge, chairman of the foreign relations committee, to call up the supplemental treaty signed by the four powers, which ex- cludes from the operation of the four- power Pacific treaty the home land of Japan. It Is not belleved that this treaty will lead to any extended de- bate after the folr-power pact has been ratified. 3 Chll_e-e Customs Next. Following the disposition of the supplemental treaty, it is- likely that | the treaty dealing with Chinese cus- toms duties will be takeh up, it was said last night. Provision is made in this treaty for the appointment of an international commission at an early date, and it is considered imperative to dispose of this treaty with as little delay as possible. This treaty will lead to some debate, for a number of the senators have criticised the conference for failure to grant China tariff autonomy, and are.opposed to having the United States enter into @ compact with other nations re- stricting China’s tariff. After this treaty has been acted upon, the general treaty with China, in which the othHer eight powers par- ticlpate, agreeing to respect China's territorial and administrative ig- tegrity, elc, may be taken up. i Two Treaties Will Remain. There will remain but two other treaties, the naval limitation treaty and the treaty prohibiting the use of submarines as commerce destroyers, and the use of polson gas in war. The latter is expected to be ratified with little discussion and without epposition. The naval treaty will be watified overwhelmingly, it is be- lieved, although some of its provi. sions will be attacked, motably ar- ticle XIX, which provides for limit- ing fortificatiogs of island posses- sions of the United States, the Brit- ish empire and Japan in the Pacific. The whole fleld of controversies was revived anew in the Senate yes- y during an all-day debate on the ’; -power Pacific treaty. Join Battle Directly. For the first time since early in the “week the treaty’s supporters joined Battle directly with its irreconcilable opponents, and & score of senators yund fully as many issues of the treaty fight were drawn into the running crossfire of argument. Senator Robinson, democrat, Ar- Xansas, started the fleld day of eratory “with a speech supporting his amend- ment to pledge the four signatory Yyowers against secret diplomacy. He ‘was seconded in the attack by Senator Johnson, republican, California, who @sked Wwhy the Franco-Japanese alli- i mnce as well as the Anglo-Japanese al- Jtance had not been terminated by the Your-power pact, and later Senator Borah, republican, Idaho, joined in with an assault on the Shantung set- tlement as an example of the sort of diplomacy with which he sald the United States should not.aassociate dtself. FPoindexter Defends Parley. ‘When the discussion drifted to the val limitation treaty and its fortifica- (Continued on Page 4 Column 4) PASSENGERS LOCKED UP AS FLAMES SWEEP SHIP Crew, Under Threat of Drawn Pistols, Battles Lire 16 Hours—Panic Stricken Saved \ rom Disasler oi v Liner Potomac. By the Assaciated Pross. NEW YORK, March 18.-—A thrilling tale of fire at sea, with 104 pan stricken men and women locked in thelr_ staterooms and stokers held at their posts under the threat of drawn pistols, was related by pass- engers of. the United States liner Potomac when she arrived here today from Brenien. It was a tale of Yankee pluck and ingenuity. of a skipper's refusal to give up his ship until every hope had been abandoned. and of his ac- ceptance of the “thousand to o chance” which turned a thr ning catastrophe into a merely rowing experience for those aboard. The firc was@iscovered at miduisht March 2, a few hours.after the P'c- tomac, with Capt. William McLeod in charge, sailed from Bremen up the coast of Holland into the Norih sea. She had been steaming along on a smooth sea when suddenly, with howls of warning, the Spanish and Filipino stokers bounded from the hold and started for the lifeboats. Inferno of Smoke and Flame. Officers, with drawn revolvers, or- dered them back to the fireroom, which had become an inferno of smoke. with ~lames billowins from an adjoining compartment where mattresses, life preservers and ships stores had mysteriously taken fire. The dread cry of “fire” spread quickly through the ship. The 104 passengers broke from their state- rooms, and made for the lifeboats. Capt. McLeod sent Stewards to herd them back and prevent the frenzied ones from leaping overboard. Chief Engineer E. M. Garland al- ready had placed guards over the boiler room crews, and with streams of hose were spouting tons of water on the blaze. Engine Room Flooded. The engine and fire rooms were flooded with water, but huge clouds of smoke pouring from the hatchways and the almost unbreakable heat RUMANIA IS FACING SOVIET OFFENSIVE, Military Drive Looked For if Genoa Parley Has Un- favorable Outcome. FOOD SUPPLY FAILING Army Would Undertake Foraging Expedition—May Be Opposed by Gen. Wrangel. By Cable to The Star. BERLIN, March 18.—Soviet Russia is preparing a military offensive against Rumania, according to in formation received here today. Th drive, however, is said to be con- tingent upon the outcome of the Genoa economic conference. Should Moscow fail to obtain recognition and credits there, the red army is to be turned loose on Rumania chiefly in order to selze the stocks of grain and other food stored in bassarabia. According to persons returning here from Moscow, the flood situation in Russia is rapidly approaching a cri- sis, in which the soviet government will no longer be able to feed its army. The failure of the bolsheviki to obtain credit at Genoa in the form of money, food and materials, it is sald, would leave the Moscow authori- ties only one way out—undertake a foraging expedition into neighboring states, of which Rumania is militarily the weakest. Intervention Move Charged. The feverish military preparations under way in Russia are distinguished in the press and are being excused by soviet leaders with the explanation that the allies are planning a new intervention move in Russia. That the allles contemplate any such interven- tion is a pure Invention of the soviet leaders, it is understood in authori- tative sources here, where it is sald that the only persons who even think of intervention any more are a few exiled Russian” monarchists who dream of regaining their lost prop- erty. G Gen. Wrangel, the last of the antl- red leaders, is still theoretically head of a broken army of about 25,000 men, but he is in refuge in Jugoslavia and is in no position to undertaks any serious military movement against the bolshevikl. He is, however, con- sidering rushing the remnants of his army to Rumania by sea should the reds attack Rumania. Opposed in Many Circles. But even this move is strongly op- posed by nearly all sections of Rus- sian opinion, both in and out of Rus- sia. The prevailing belief is that the situstion in that country is moving rapidly .toward decisive events, re- gardless of what happens at Genoa, and the only thing which would be sure to give the soviet government a new lease on life is a move on the part of Gen. Wrangel. As far as the internal situation in Russia is concerned, your correspond- ent learns from- observers just out of Moscow that there is sure to be an- other mutiny in the troops soon. like the Cronstadt uprising, except on a far bigger scale. epyright, 1022.) . yaround the stokers. next to the fire, | guve evidence that it was gaining headw: i At 1 am. the fire had become so | flerce that the decks were hot. ml | 4 o'clock the Iotomac slowed down to half speed. At 4:50 Capt. McLeod | ordered the engines stopped. and the blazing craft rolled sluggishly about while the whole crew turned fire fighters, % Seamen went over the sides in chairs with sledge hammers, smashed in the cast iron port lids, and dir their heses into the heart of the fire, but without effect. Tiven live steam, turned into the hatch- tailed to retard the fames. At §:20 am., after the §. O. §., had been sent out and A rescue vessel was heaving to, to await the result of the battle, Capt. McLeod decided that. rather than beach his ship he would try a stunt he learned during the war, while dodging enemy subma- rines. =z bos'y WAYS, Saved by War-Time Trick. He steamed ahead at top speed, until the whole ship throbbed with the vi- bration and her outline was almost obscured by the dense smoke sweep. ing astern. Suddenly he ordered the | rudder hard-over. As the vessel ca- reened in the “come about” hér star- board side lifted so sharply as to throw the tons of water in her hold up along her sides and over the heart of the fire. Immediately the flames subsided, and at 4 p.m., sixteen hours after the alarm was sounded, the fire was under control and the vessel resumed her voyage. Chief Engineer Garland was over- come by hedt and fumes in the last hour of the fight, and was under the care of the ship's surgeon for severai days, according to passengers, who narrated the tale, Richard Albrecht, chief officer, and Alfred Puff, a sea- man, were slightly Injured. The Potomac still had about thirty tons of water in her hold when, with a list to port, she steamed in to | “PIGGERY” WAS STILL. Garbage Made Into Whisky at Kane, Pa. KANE, Pa., March 18.—Federal agents who raided the supposed piggery of Andy Orzichowski, on the outskirts of | the city, today declare they found the | place to be a well equipped distillery and that portions of the garbage its owner had gathered from the refuse cans of the city had gone into the'man- ufacture of whisky and not fnto hog gallons of were seized, garbage-distilled with nearly 100 Most of the whisky gallons of prepared mash. whisky made in the place was being shipped to the federal Pittsburgh, agents ray. . OUTRAGES AGAINST CAR LINE PLANNED Two Taken at Portsmouth in Alleged Attempt to Blow Up Bridge. By the Associated Press, PORTSMOUTH, Va., March 18.—A plot with wide ramifications to blow up bridges and property and cripple service of the Virginia Rallway and Power Company, operating street car lines in this city and vicinity, kas been uncovered by Norfolk county police. Two men who, it is al- leged, attempted to blow wup the company’s Cradock bridge, have been arrested and police lines have been cast for others, The company is engaged in a strike with its platform employes of two months’ duration. Second Arrest. \W. J. Cox, & motorman formerly employed by the company, was ar- rested this afternoon in connection with the attempt last night to blow up the bridge. Another former em- ploye, W. H. Callaway, was arrested on the scene of the attempt by of- ficers who had maintained a five-day- and-night wa Callaway,and Cox, according to the police, had tamped two sticks of dy- namite into holes bored into the foun- dations of the bridge and had at- tacled fuses, when they were sur- prised, the former being overpowered by the officers while the latter made his escape by fleeing Into swampland bordering the company lines. County police claim to have evi- dence against the two men held and others whom they expect to arrest within twenty-four hours. Informa- tion in the hands of the officers to- night indicates, they say, that the attempt to blow up the Cradock bridge was but the first of a serles of outrages planned against the com- pany, to destroy property and ef- fectively cripple service. ‘Water Main in Danger. One charge of dynamite was plant- ed within eighteen inches of the water main supplying Cradock, a com- munity of 4,000 people, and the fed- eral government's ammunition depot at St. Juliens Creek, and would have destroyed, officers sald, the high-ten- slon wires supplying those two places with electric power. C?unty officers disclosed last night that a mysterious explosion early last Tuesday morning, for which fio explanation was given, had been an unsuccessful attempt to wreck the Cradock bridge. 3 NWovd S ! THe BoNVS P~ HO, HUM! DRY CHIEF ORDERS - STAUNTONINQUIRY Haynes Sends Fulwiler With Directions to Get Facts in Moonshine Case. Special Dispatch to The Star. STAUNTON, Va., March 18.—Sent here by Federal Commissioncr Haynes Robert A. Fulwiler, prohibition di- rector of Virgi has been in Staunton, his home city, probing the disclosures made in court here Tu day by Tom Tisdale, convicted moon- shiner, who gave the names of six prominent men as being backess in his still operations. Maintains Silence. Though it was announced that it was the purpose of Commissioner Haynes to bring to justice the so- called “higher-ups,” Mr. Fulwiler has refused to make any statement ex- cept that with his investigations com- pleted he will report at once to his chief, Mr. Haynes. Mr. Fulwiler was closeted with Charles Curry, orie of Tisdale's law- yers, and Commonwealth’s Attorney H. H. Kerr, one of the six involved in the case by Tisdale. A wall of silence also surrounds the course of action to be pursued by William Grubert, head of the per- mit division of the state prohibition forces. Grubert also is a Staunton man, and has been here for several days He was mentioned in connec- tion with the “syndicate’s” brandy still. Letter of Commendation. Commonwealth’s Attorney Kerr has received a letter of commendation from H. B. Smith of the state pro- hibition department at Richmond, in- dorsing Mr. Kerr for his splendid co- operation with the prohibition officers in the past. The letter says: “I have the utmost confidence in you as & man and a gentleman, and do not believe one word of this false charge by this man who has_been apprehended in violating the Mapp law and who has charged you as one who employed him in this violation.” Fulwiler stated today he expected to return to Richmond tonight. —_— YANKS BID RHINE ADIEU. 1,100 Start for Home as Band Mourns “How Dry I Am!” By the Associated Press. COBLENZ, March 18.—While the band played “How\Dry I Am!” the fa- vorite tune at departures of American troops for the homeland, a train carry- ing 1,100 members of the American Rhine army left here this evening. Sixtyefour German brides are accom- panying their husbands to the United States. Bright spring weather brought out thousands of the inhabitants to see the Americans off. The train/is due at Ant- werp tomorrow morning and the men will sail on the transport Cambria in the afternoon. > The American forces on the Rhine now are below the 4,000 mark. —_— PUT SHINBONE IN SPINE. Operation in Philadelphia Is for 5 Paral; PHILADELPHIA, March 18.—An op- eration in which five inches of shinbone were cut from the leg of a four-year- old boy to replace five inches of his spine, bone was performed in a hospital here today. The ratient, George Hawkinson, was brought from his home at Concord, Mass., by his parents. He is paralyzed from the hips down. The operation took an hour and twenty minutes. The plece of backbone removed was diseased and is said to have caused the paralysis. It was not negessary to put a plate in the boy's leg, as physicians said that because of his age the shinbone will grow in such a | to late tonight, but it was feared the atrike would seriously affect commer- clal activitien, ... il SenNg 5 s % manner as to replace the portion res Berlin Would Send Him As Envoy to United States ¥ & ' wipe Worlp PHOTO DR. OTTO LUDWIG WIEDFELDT. 977,000 GEMS LOST ON SHOPPING TOUR, Gone From Purse of Mrs. Louis Washington, Widow of Descendant of President. Mrs. Louis Washington, widow of a direct descendant of George Wash- ington, according to her story, com- plained to the Washington police bu- reau Friday that she had either lost or had stolen from her purse $27,000 in jewelry, which she was carrying with her on a shopping expedition. A two-day search by detectives has S0 far failed to restore to her the missing gems, and the account of her loss finally became publio yes- terday, though originally suppressed by the authorities at her request. Mrs. Washington, whose husband was reported to have died at Nice, France, some years ago, explained that she ordinarily spent her winters in the capital, and though seldom given to wearing her ornaments, gen- erally carried them tn a specially con- structed contalner, worn round her waist. On the day of the loss, she happened instead to place them in a mesh hand purse, and discovered their disappearance when she opened the bag at a store counter. The- most valuable article in the collection, she reported, was a dia- mond necklace, worth, she said, $10,- 000, but several rings carried dia- monds pearls, and rubies, in plati- num settings. While in Washington, Mrs. Washington stopped at the Grafton Hotel. 24-HOUR STRIKE GALLED INALL PORTS OF ALY Protest of Naples Workers Against Non-Union Men on Docks Made Nation-Wide. By the Associated Press. ROME, March 18.—A general strike was proclaimed today in all the ports of the Italian kingdom as an act of solidarity with the port workers at Naples, who declared a twenty-four- hour strike this morning. The strike at'WNaples was precipitated by the re- fusal of the workers to allow non- union members to be employed om the docks. No disorders had been reported up e e e GERMANY SUBMITS WIEDFELDT'S NAME Seeks U. S. Views on Ac- ceptability of Krupp Offi- cial as Ambassador. Although mno officlal information could be obtained from the State De- partment yesterday, it become known that the name of Dr. Otto Ludwig Wiedfeldt, one of the high offictals in the Krupp organization, has been submitted by the German govern- ment to the United States to deter- mine his acceptability as ambassador from Berlig. in Washington. Press reports from Berlin for some time had indicated that Dr. Wied- feldt would be the cholce of the Ger- man government for ambagsador. High Cest a Problem. Great difficulty has been experienced in obtdining a man of sufficient pri- vate means to represent Berlin in America without undue cost to the German government. It was esti- mated several weeks ago that the ex- pense of maintaining a suitable em- bassy in Washington would amount to approximately 100,000,000 marks a year with the present unfavorable rate of exchange against Germany, and the problem of finding a man who could pay a large share of that cost from his own wealth delayed selec- tion of an ambassador, according to Berlin dispatches. Resigns From Krupps. Dr. Wiedfeldt has been managing director of the Krupp works at Es- sen, Germany, but an Associated Press dispatch Friday night from London said he had resigned the directorate. He is one of the wealthiest Germans of the present day. Refusal of the State Department of- ficials to comment on the request for consideration of Dr. Wiedfeldt was explained as due to the fact that such a request properly was a matter for the consideration of President Hard- ing. 1,600 TINY TOY “BOMBS” SEIZED BY POLICE AS SCHOLARS RUB EYES By the Assoclated Press. NEW YORK, March 18.—A tiny toy “bomb,” selling for a penny, ‘was the latest plaything of Brook- lyn school children until today, when a policeman seized 1,600 of them in the store patronized by the children. Teachers complained of the noise the glass tubes made when popped during recess, and reported the exploding chemicals caused the children’s eyes to smart. It was said the little tubes were used by overseas troops during the war to purify drinking water. —_— Member of Al rights The Associsted Press is exclusively entl the use for republication of all news dispatch eredited to 1t or not otherwise credited fu thl paper aud also the local news published herein. dispatches herein are also reserved. the Associated Press led t o of publication of special * Uncle Sam’s Cash Grows $286,000,000, With More to Come Preliminary reports received yesterday by the Treasury of 1- collections of March 15 1 ments of imcome prof taxen showed a total of $286,- 000,000 on depoxit fm federal rexerve banks. These reporis, it was explain- ed, covered collectionn deponit- d up to Inst night, and several ays must elapse before all dia- tricts were accounted for or the final total for the quarter approximated. On the the amount received so far of- ficinly declared it was impos- sible as yet to determime whether Becretary Mellon's es- timate of $460,000,000 im tax receipts for, the quarter would be _ obtained. Receipts from March payments last year ag- sregated $727,000,000. CONFESSES CRIME LAID T0 2 OTHERS Soldier Admits Hold-Up to Get " Innocent Men Out of Jail. VETERAN OF LATE WAR Walter Reed Patient, Who Takes Blame for Shooting, Was Pershing’s Guard. Couscience - stricken over the knowledge that two innocent men are beginning the second half of ten- year sentences, imposed on them for a hold-up In Buffalo, of which he alone was guilty, Private Raymond Martlew, twenty-five years old, said to be a world war veteran and mem- ber of Gen. Pershing’s honor guard | during the victory parade here of the 1st Division, walked into the | first precinct station house yesterday afternoon and surréndered to the police. Military authorities at Walter Reed Hospital, where Private Martlew has been undergoing treatment for dis- nin of | | | FIVE CENT PRESIDENT T0 TAKE UP OTHER SOLDIER AID BEFORE BONUS lConference Scheduled for To- night on Hospitalization and Vocational Training. ARRIVES HOME TODAY FROM VACATION TRIP | Mr. Harding Will See House Lead- ers Tomorrow—S$till Holds to Sales Tax Plan. By the Associated Presw. ON BOARD PRESIDENT ING'S TRAIN, Near Savannah. Ga., March 18'—President Harding will take up, ahead of the soldier bonus, two phases of government aid for former service men when he re- turns to Washington tomorrow, name- Iy, hospitafization and vocational training. These will be discussed at the White House conference Sunday night between the President, Director General Forbes of the Veterans' Bu- reau, Brig. Gen. Sawyer, Gen. Dawes and officials of the American Legion in Illinois, The President has no engagement with the House republican leaders as et to talk over the soldier bonus sit- uation, it became known today, and will not see them until Monday. HARD- No Comment on Bonus. The President today declined to comment on the soldier bonus situa- tion as reported from Washington, and was said to feel that any ad- vance statement on any conference he may have with Chairman Fordney {and other House republican leaders {Monday on the subject would be Im- proper. The President i{s known to retain the same position on the bonus as outlined in his letter to Chalrman Fordney, which was enactment of & sales tax or postponement of the leg- islation. Mr. Harding was consulted by Secre- tary Denby over the long distance telephone at St. Augustine on the ability incurred in the service, were notified of his action, as were police officials of Buffalo. Martlew declar- ed he was not a fugitiye from jus-. tice, never having been suspected of the crime he claims he committed, except by one person, Robert Siegel of Buffalo, a friend of his, who is one of those serving sentence in prison unjustly. Consclence-Stricken. The constant tug of his conscience, reproaching him for betraying his friend and a stranger and urging him, since the night of the hold-up, Christ- mas eve, 1916, to give himself up, was responsible for Martlew's confession, according to the prisoner’s statement to Lieut. Holmes and othes attaches of the first precinct. He does not remember the name of the man who he says he held up, robbed of 65 cents and shot in the foot in the Cold Springs section of Buffalo five years ago, but remembered that he conducted a bakery. Two weeks after the crime he was arrested and charged with burglarizing a room {n his board- ing house, the grand jury later acquit- ting him on this charge. While in jail he conversed with Robert Slegel, and the stranger, whose name Mart- lew does not remember, who were ar- rested shortly after the baker's hold- up, identified by the victim as high- waymen, who shot and robbed him and subsequently were sentenced to ten years, each. Martlew believes that Stegel suspected, from Martlew’s in- terest in the hold-up exhibited by his questions, that Martlew was guilty of the “stick-up” for which the two in- nocent men were sentenced, and this fact, he says, preyed on his mind all these years. ‘Wounded in War. According to his story to the police, a year following the robbery Martlew enlisted with the 30th Infantry in Buffalo, was sent overseas and par- ticipated in the Aisne defensivo and the engagements about CThateau Thierry and the Champagne-Marne territory, recelving wounds from shrapnel in his back and hip. He re- turned to the United States as a member of Gen. Pershing’s guard of honor and marched up Pennsylvania lavenue in the great victory pro- cession. Martlew said he was bora in Au- (Continued on Page 2, Column “Tapping” Phone Wires by Radio May Prevent Private Confabs By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, March 18.—Tele- phone conversations among nelgh- bors haye lost privacy through a radlophone device which the So- clety~for Electrical Development announced tonight has been dis- covered by Albert E. Proffitt of Providence, R. I It is called “the link between radiophone and tele- phone,” and is shrouded in mys- tery. -~ The soclety, however, vouches - for the statement that Profiitt has been *successful in hearing over his radio instrument many con- versations sent over ordinary tele- ones. Dhmm radio fans heard of Prof- fitt's “radlo link” they scoffed, the soclety stated, and talked about “wire-tapping.” This accusation, however, is ridiculed. The discovery was made late - Sunday, said, when he ot heard distant voices, then an op- erator repeating telephone num- Navy fuel situation it was asserted and was understood to have told Mr. Denby to carry out the intentions of Congress and practice all the economy - in fuel possible. The Navy Secretary was said to have felt that the $6,390.- 000 appropriation for fuel for the Navy for the rest of the fiscal vear was insufficient and it would hardly be possible to keep the Navy steam- ing. Mr. Harding is understood to ™ have suggested that everything prac- ticable be done to carry out the wish- es of Congress without crippling the Navy. Informed of Battleships. The Navy Secretary also told the President, it was sald, the situation concerning the West Virginia and the Washington, and of the final decision to order the completing of the West Virginia, now building zt Newpor: News, Va., because it was nearer com- pletion than the Washington. Mr. Harding will be unable to make the trip to Alaska until Congress z.d- journs, it was declared, although he feels that it would be well worth while’ to get first hand iaformation as to conditions in the territory, The President is very much intirested in Alaska and desires to do every- thing possible to maka it prospor. Should Congress remain ia session un- til the first of August, it would then be too late for the President to make the trip, administration officials v-ith the party said. The President will make no cam- paign speeches this year, it was add- ed. He is booked for three speeches in the near future, however, one at the unveiling of the Hamilton monu- ment, the Grant Memorial in Ohio, and the Lincoln Memorial in Washing. ton. Speaks With Train Crew. Mr. Harding, during the few min- utes the presidential train stopped at Jacksonville to change engines, walked forward and shook hands with the engineer, fireman and mem- bers of the train crew. He was cor- dially greeted and the engineer on the train north from Jacksonville was told by the President to take his time, “I will be careful,” the engincer re- plied as the Chief Executive shook his hand and wished him well. Accompanying the President home is Under Secretary of State Fleteh, who said he had about two days'~ work to do after reaching Washing- ton before relinquishing his presen: position. Mr. Fletcher said he ex- pected to leave the first of mnex: month to take up his duties as am- bassador to Belgium. CONFERENCE ON BONUS. Republicans Discuss Plans Prepara- bers. “I listened and heard the voice of a neighbor which I recognized,” he went on, “I began to feel that, I was on the verge of an impor- tant discovery. I copied down what I heard and went to the woman whose message it was and asked her If it was correct. She sald in great surprise that it was. Since then I have picked up fif- teen different conversations, all of which I have verifie The secret of the radio eaves- dropping, which he jealously guards, lies. in the wiring of his amplifier, the society’s statement sald. Proffitt studied electricity in public schools of Providence and 1or the last ten years has been employed by the local telephone company, - tory to Meeting President. Presldent Harding{s attitude toward the compromise soldiers’ bonus bill will be learned by the House leaders at a conference at the White House tonight, if the plans of Majority Leader Mondell go aright. Mr. Mondell announced last night he has requested a conference Wwith the President upon his return from Florida and that he had asked that the conference be held tonight. -Other House members handling the bonus legisla- tion whom the President may desire to consult will accompany Mr. Mon- dell. Once more, therefore, the President is to be asked to take a hand in the muddle over soldier bonus legisla- tion. It is understood that Mr. Mon- dell will seek to obtain the Presi- dent’s views of the compromise bonus (Continued on Page 2, Column 1) _ -