Evening Star Newspaper, June 24, 1923, Page 1

WEATHER. Partly cloudy and somewhs.t warmer, possibly thundershowers today; to- inorrow fair. ‘Temperature for twenty-two hours ended at 10 p.m. last night: Highes 93.3; lowest, 70.2. Full roport on page 5. “From Press to Home Within the Hour” The Star is delivered every evening and. y morning to Washington homes at 60 cents per month. Telephone Main 5000 and service will start immediately. he iy Star, WITH DAILY EVENING EDITION No. 952.—No. 28,908. BETTER DAY NEARS FORU. . FARMERS, PRESIDENT AVERS Worst of Depression Past, He Tells Big Audience in Great Wheat Belt. SHOCKS WHEAT, HANDLES TRACTOR LIKE AN EXPERT Mr. Harding Shows Himself Adept as Farmhand—To Reach Denver Today. By the Associated Pre HUTCHINSON, Kans, June 23.— President Harding became a farmer again today while in Hutchinson for an eight-hour visit. He drove a binder, he shocked wheat, he talked with farmers about their problems &nd he delivered an address on the agricultural situation. In his address, made to an audience largely composed of farmers at the state fair grounds, he spoke as the President of the United States, but with an understanding that comes only from: having lived and worked on a farm. To the farmers who heard him, he brought a prediction of a better day, declaring that “clear- ly we are through the worst of the depression and can reasonably ex-| pect gradual improvement.” The chief executive's real contact ‘With farm life came after he and Mrs. Harding and their party arrived here at 10 a.m. from Kansas City. The entire party was taken on an|, automobile ride out into the famous Reno county wheat district of which Hutchinson is the center. Shocks Whent. Arriving at an especially large wheat field, Mr. and Mrs. Harding left their car and soon the highest official of the nation was putting sheaves of wheat up in their shocks, talking with the country boys and holding in his arms the bables, con- versing earnestly with the owner of the farm and joking with the farm hands and, finally, perched on the seat of a farm tractor, 'he drove a binder around the section of the field which was being harvested. . Earller he spoke briefly fo_several | thousand school children. After his mddress at the state fair _&rounds he visited the salf mine on. ihe edge of Hutchinson and played-a few holes of golf. He also, during the day, met his “first boyhood sweetheart,” as he described her in a preface to his fair grounds’ address. The President, in making mention of tee renewed ac-| quantance in his spéech, said he had not seen her for forty-five years but did not give her name. Meets Harvest Hands. Arriving at the wheat field on what is known in this part of Kansas as the Chester O'Neill farm, the Pres- ident and Mrs. Harding left the motor car and walked to the gate into the fleld. A number of persons had gathered and the President and Mrs. Harding shook hands with sev- eral harvest hands. Poses With Baby. “Warren, have your picture taken ‘with the little baby,” said Mrs. Hard- 0. The baby was a chubby blue- eyed little girl, a year or more old, “Now don't be afraid to hold it laughingly remarked Mrs. Harding, &s the cameras clicked at the Pres- fdent with the little girl In his arms and several other youngsters at his feet. After the handshanking and talk with the children, which went on while the President was waiting for the binder to drive up, the party ‘walked into the wheat field. Pres- ident Harding and Gov. Davis put up & shock of wheat but, not pleased with thelr work, shocked another. Shows “Ohio Way.” “Now, let me show you the Ohio ‘way,” said the President, and after stepping a few paces gathered up sev- eral bundles of wheat and shocked them to the approval of Gov. D&V‘!l and Senator Capper. 7 “Do 1 get in on the farm bloc now?” Jaughingly remarked the President to Senator Capper, head of the Senate farm bloc, as he brushed some of the wheat straw from his dark coat and white flannel trousers. When the binder was driven up by @ farm hand,iwho had been cutting wheat during the morning, the Pres- 1dent was asked to drive it about the 100-acre field and consented to do 50 at the urging of Mrs. Harding. Runs Big Tracter. The President mounted the trac- tor, a thirty-horsepower machine, and after Instructions from the operator started it on its way about the fleld, while moving picture men backed shead of him, turning their cranks and recording on film the scene of the country’s chief executive driv- ing a tractor in a Kansas wheat field. The binder outfit, it was ex- plained, was designed for one man to operate, and this is the first season it has been tried out in Kansas, 3 As the President went down the fleld he talked interestedly with the farm hand who had been operating the machine, but never 'once forgot to pull the rope to drop the bundles of wheat when the ~arrier was full, The first turn did not even prove an obstacle, and. the President turned the wheel hard down to the left and negotiated the corner to the praise of farmers and others who followed in his wake. Four times the President made the corners of the fleld, and by the time he had driven the tractor around to the starting point it was Temarked that he did not seem & new Entered as second-class matter post office Washington, D. WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 24, 1923.—EIGHTY-SIX PAGES. | HARDINGS ARE EXPECTED TO MAKE HOME HERE Regarded as Unlikely That They Will Return to Marion Upon Leaving the White House—Inter- ests and Attachments Are Here. BY ROBERT T. SMALL. Marion, Ohio, which has risen to international fame as the home of a President of the United States, 1s to be denied the added boast of being the home of an ex-Presi- dent. Mr. Harding’s announcement last week that he had sold his majority interest in the Marion Star is accepted here as confirma- tion of earlier reports that when of duty at the White se is over he will not return to live again in the thriving 1t- tle city which was the mecca of so many political pilgrims in the fall of 1920. Naturally Mr. Harding’s stay at the White House is still indefinite. His present term expires a year from next March 4, but the Presi- dent and some of his closest polit- ical friends are nureing the idea that perhaps a second term is possible, if not probable. May Travel in Europe. Be that as it may, it is virtually settled that when he leaves the White House—either in 1925 or 1929—Warren G. Harding will fol- low the example of Woodrow Wilson and become a resident of U5, WILL CONTINUE SEIZING SHIP RUM Treasury Officials Determin- ed to Confiscate Liquor on All Foreign Vessels. Disclamiing all responsibility for the delays which complicated seizure of the Baltic and Berengaria sealed liquor ' stores in New York, Treasury and prohibition tight yesterday in their determination to confiscate all bar liquor brought | into American waters and reiterated their previous announcement that it Wwas up to the officials’ in New York harbor to carry this policy promptly into effect. The only instructions issued fromn Washington during the day, it was asserted, were intended to’ tighten | rather than to mitigate the binding | force of the confiscation program. Assistant Secretary Moss ordered Dr. E. K. Sprague, public health officer of New York, to revoke a permit the Treasury heard he had given for the liner Berengaria to retain all liquor it carried as for medicinal purposes, and the action Dr. Sprague was re- ported to have taken was given offi- cially as the principal reason for are- statement of the Treasury’s interpre- tation of the Supreme Court ruling barring beverage liquor from terri- torlal waters of the United States. The - Berengaria’'s stotks were re- ported to the Treasury as “out of all proportion to any possible need” the ship could have for medicinal liquor. Mr. Moss called especial atfention in a telegram to Dr. Sprague, Assisiant Collector Stuart and Palmer Canfield, prohibition director for New York, therefore, that in the recent letter of.Secetary Mellon, dealing with me- | dicinal liquor and crew rations, “it was not intended, and it was ex- pressly so stated by the Secretary, to allow any liquory to be brought into territorial waters of the United States except such as were intended for medicinal purposes.” No Relaxation. Mr. Moss called attention to the exemption granted liquor for crew rations, but this exemption. consti- tutes a restriction also in his opinion, and he informed the federal repre- sentatives ‘that they were obliged to relax the regulations no mcre for either medicinal purposes or rations than was required by the laws of the flag ‘under which the particular ship operated. The telegram concluded with the mandatory paragraph that the federal agents “will immediately make seizure” of such liquor stores as do not fall within the exemptions authorized by the regulations and the supplemental letter by Mr. Mellon. Discussion here of the protests filed by the masters of the Baltic and the Berengaria have drawn at- tention to a recent decision by a British court, which is regarded as supporting In some degree, at least, the American government’s assertion officlaly here sat! ‘Washington, D. C. A year or two of travel in Europe may precede the settling-down process in the National Capital, but in none of the detalls of his future life does Presidents Harding contemplate more than occasional visits to the folks “back home” in Marion. The President, however, has not vet sold his home on Mount Ver- non avenue, where the famous front-porch campalgn was con- ducted, and later where the con- ferences of the “best minds” were held. A Marlon contractor Is oc- cupying the house under a long- term lease. For sentimental rea- sons the President has hesitated to part with the house, although he quickly disposed of his Wash- ington house, bought at the time he came to the United States Senate. For sentimental reasons the President recently bought a farm in Ohio, but farm life does not fit into any part of his fu- ture plans. Made Plans Long Ago. Mr. Harding's plan to make ‘Washington his future home was reached when he first was elected to_the Senate. For six or eight (Continued on Page 8, Column 5.) MACMILLAN SALS ON ARCTIC VOYAGE Explorer and Party Expect to Increase Scientific Knowi- | edge of North. | | By the Associated Press. | WISCASSE, Me., June 23.—The 113- | ton auxillary schooner Bowdoln, bear- ing Capt Donald B. MacMillan and his party on their way to resume | sctentific. work and explorations in the Arctic, sailed from this port just before 6 o'clock this evening. | The booming of cannon gnd deaten- “ing salutes of sirens and® whisties cheered the explorer and his si% ‘as- ! soclates as the stanch little schooner ! slipped down the Sheepscot river on the first leg of her perilous voyage of more than 2,100 miles to northern | Greenland. MacMillan planned to anchor for | the night at Booth Bay harbor to make preliminary compass adjust- ments. The present is the explorer's | tenth trip to the polar regions in | Aifteen years. ! Best Equipped Craft. The Bowdoin, named for Bowdoin College, MacMillan's alma mater, and declared by the explorer to be the best scientifically equipped vessel to carry the expedition to Cape Sabine for sclentific work and explo- ration in Ellsmere Land, and to bring it back safely a year from next Sep- tember, unless ‘ice condtilons make necessary a two-year stay in the orth. Immediate plans of the expedition call for a run out to Monhegan Is- land tomorrow from the overnight anchorage to complete the compass adjustments. At daybreak Monday the Bowdoin will sall for Sydney, C. B., where she is due next Friday, to take on the balance of her 3,000 gallons of fuel oil and meet Canadian customs requirements. Open-Air Demonstration. | The departure of the Bowdoin was rreceded by an open-air demonstra- tion on the grounds about the cu tomhouse at the head of the dock. The speakers included Gen. A. W. Greely, leader of the -ll-fated polay expedition of the early ’80s, which lost elghteen of its members at Cape Sabine. Gen. Greely, now in his eightieth year, expressed . his | gratification that Capt. MacMillan wag carrying north with him a bronze tablet, the gift of the National Geographic Society, to be erected at Cape Sabine in commemoration of | the dead of the Geely expedition. WILL MAKE RADIO HISTORY. Problems of first importance in the new science of radlo at last face the probability of settlement as a result of the departure for polar regions of Dr. Donald B. MacMillam, for fifteen years known in the scientific world as an explorer. The ‘Interest .of amateurs has cen- tered first on the 'static problem, with (Continued on Page 14, Column 2.) (Continued on rage 2, Column 6.) President Meets Sweetheart Of 45 Years Ago in Kansas By the Assoclated Press. HUTCHINSON, Kan., June 23.— Forty-five years ago Warren G. Harding, then a boy of twelve, had a love affair with a small girl ‘which, at that time, was belleved by the school companions of each to be of a serious sort. Certainly, they sald, Warren would marry Mattle. Today, the same Warren Hard- ing, now President of the United States, met and recognized the' same girl in Hutchinson. She had motored more than-a hundred miles He told of ‘the boyhood romance in his address before 7,000 peopls assembled to hear his discussion of the agriculturial problems of the country at the state falr grounds and described her as “my first boyhood sweeheart; married, hap- Py, a grandmother and doing her rt in “the citizenship of this @reat community.”" Members of the President’s party said later that the President did not know Mattie by her married name. He only remembered her as Mattle Mell . of. Caledonfa, Ohio, - ‘whom he had not seen for forty- ‘fve _years, ever taken in the Arctic, is expected | COAL COMMISSION RUSHES REPORT T0' . FORESTALL STRIKE Anthracite Miners Elect Of- ficials Expected to De- mand Pay Raise. WAGE NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN NEXT TUESDAY Harding Stressed Necessity of | Keeping Mines Going Before Leaving on Western Trip. By the Associated Press. The Coal Commssion is rushing to completion its “Teport on wages, profits and costs in anthracite min- ing, in order that its findings may be brought to bear in a labor.situa- tion of increasing intensity now aris- ing in the industry. Miners' wage cbntracts expire Au- gust 31, and ‘a strike is threatened unless negotiations for replacement are successtul. In recent union elec- tions supporters of John L. Lewis, | present national head of the United | Mine Workers, have met with a sharp defeat, and it is considered certain that when delegates of anthracite workers meet June 26 to frame new wage demands the element newly come to dominance in the official cir- cles of the unions will at least set out to gain substantial wage ad- vances. The commission is required to make a report by July 1 to afd in the wage negotiations. Harding Takes Hand. President Harding was advised of impending dangers to the anthracite supply just before leaving for the west, and he wrote a letter to John Hays Hammond, chairman of the commission, stressing the necessity of keeping the mines in operation. The commission, in behalf of the gov- ernment, is shaping its policy to take | an active hand as sgon as the miners’ union representatives meet with the committees representing mine opera- tors and will insist upon a ‘settlement. While the commission’s reports as to the facts of costs, profits and oper- ating conditions in the anthracite conclysipns as to public policy affect- ing coal- ‘production will be ‘left to formulation i its final report on the bitiiminous branch of the industry next, fall—its members hope to have a considerable amount of data usually at issue In wage negotlations clearly defined and placed above controversy. Digest Experts Work. Chairman Hammond, with former Vice ' President Marshall, Clark Howell, Dr. George Otis Smith, Charles P. N&ill and Dr. Edward De- vine, the other commission members, have digested reports of an expert staff and returns of all the mining companies concerned. In the matter | of wages the commission will show the actual earnings of practically all the anthracite workers employed, grouped on a scale running from $300 per year to $3,000 and $4,000, according to number of days em- ployed and rate of pay. The largest group of anthracite workers, it is ex- pected, will be shown earning annual incomes of $1,700 to $1,800, at ap- proximately 270 days of work per year. When the report comes to finding the costs of anthracites-now some- where around a base of $8.20 at the mines—commission members expect to find another vexatious problem. Some big anthracite-producing com- panies are inclined to deal with pro- duction costs on the assumption that the unmined coal in the ground was worth 10 cents-per ton, while a num- ber of independent producers, leased land owners and leased land de- velopers value it all the way up to $2.40 a ton. Three Average Scales. Thus the value of anthracite in the ground comes into the industry's price and cost equations in a fashion with which the commission cannot entirely deal. Tentatively it has been decided to set up three sets of average cost figures in the report. (Continued on Page 14, Column 4.) CHILD FALLS 4 FEET; INJURIES ARE FATAL Marjorie Day, Two - Years 0ld, Topples Off Steps of Back Porch. -While playing yesterday afternoon on the back porck of her home at 307 15th street northeast, Marjorie Day, two-year-old daughter of Ralph and Mary. Day, toppled down the steps and fell to the ground, a distance of four feet, recelving injuries to her head that proved fatal. At the time Mrs. Day was in the back yard hanging up clothes. The child @id not seem to b badly in- jured when the mother rushed to its assistance, &nd she gave it'a drink of water. - A little while later the child became ill and was taken to Casualty Hospital OfMcials at the hospital were un- able to give the exact cause of the chiid’s death. Ralph Day, the father, is emplayed by the United States Coast Guard Service as a law and contract clerk. The lttle girl, in :cmumu Advertisements—Pag: -feldy—will - be . partial—elace .majox |. dddition to her parents, is survived by three brothers,:Ralph, jr.. twélve; ‘Willlam, tén; James, five; two sis- ters, larr -lxuu, and un. lnun. TODAY’S STAR PART ONE—34 Pages. General News—Local, National, Foreign. 8chools and Colleges—Page 20. Radio News and Gossip—Page 22. Financlal News—Pages 22 and 23. PART TWO—16 Pages. Editorials and Editorial Features. Washington and Other Soclety. Girls and Their Affairs—Page 15. The Civilian Army—Page 15. Parent-Teacher Activities—Page 15, D. A. R. Actlvities—Page 16. PART THREE—12 Pages. Amusements—Theaters and the Photo- play. Music In Washington—Page 4. Around the City—Page 4. Motors and Motoring—Pages 5.to 9. Boy Scout News—Page Aviation Activities—Page 8. Serlal Story, “The Mystery Girl"—Page 9. Fraternities—Page Army and Navy News—Page 10. Feat War—Page 10. Boys’ and Girls’ Page—Page 11. Review of New Books—Page 12. Spanish War Veteran: ge 12. PART FOUR—4 Pages. Pink Sports Section. PART FIVE—S Pages. Magazine Section—Features and Fiction. ROTOGRAVURE—$ Pages. World's Events in Pictures. COMIC SECTION—4 Pages. Mutt and Jw, Reg'lar Fellers; Betty; Mr. and Mrs. AGREEMENT ON OIL HANDED OBREGON First Half of Gentlemen’s Pact Drawn Up by Recog- nition Conference. By the Associated Press. R A(-'; /1"0 i /, 4 T ORCHESTRA! |Reporter’s Chameleon Palm | Baffles “Noted” D. C. Seers Future, But Strong = wF inds Them Weak on Past, Present and on Collecting Gold From Gullible Customers of Both Sexes. Those industrious souls who sit up late at night addressing envelopes for mail order firms or typing legal docu- ments to augment the weekly stipend to make it meet the family budget are wasting time. There's a more lucrative and amusing way to pass the extra hours. nished the fundamental idea. In Washington today there are eighty inatvidimls “iwhio: {ireeded the advice of the late Mr. Barnum and are profiting thereby Andethere’'s no earthly reason why a few more could not step into the field. Competition is the essence of progress. Moreover, the method is easy, and ambition has no limitations. The writer has in mind the palm- ts, clairvoyants and just plain for- ishing business delving into the past, present and future of mortals who have little faith in themselves or the fates that guide their destincs. No college degree Is nécessary to |JURY AGAIN FINDS TOUSSAINT GULTY; Slayer of Father, Former D. C. Hotel Man, Is Given 99 Years in Prison. Special Dispatch to The Star. WICHITA FALLS, Tex., June 23.— P. T. Barnum fur-| tune tellers who are doing a flour- | engage in this profession, if iz can be termed such. The faculty of | committing to memory the lines of & | book on soothsaying and several ante- | deluvian “magic word” phrases is evi- dently the primary requirement. An | office with a few oriental decorations to give the requisite atmosphere also is desirable, but-not absolutely essen- tion. The majority of palmists and ik’ i Washington through experience, ew trinkets that have some his- torical-connection. with Kigg Tutankh- amen's age enhdnce the appearance of their sparsely furnished sanctums and make a deep impression on the pro- spective psychic convert. Police Readers, Too. But before engaging. in.the busi- ness of reading - palms,. gasing into crystals, etc, the medium, must first have his. own palms read by Maj. Daniel Sullivan’s stalwart guardlans (Continued on Page 2\ Column 2.) 'STREET ESTIMATES ' EXCEED 2 MILLION { Commissioners to Ask About $4,500,000 for Schools and Public. | | - tentative estimates of Commissioners for the | When the | the District MEXICO CITY, June 23.—President | Henry J. Toussaint was found gullty | fiscal year 1924-1925 g0 to the bu- Obregon is considering the first half of a gentlemen's agreement between Mexico and the United States Jooking to the settlement of the sub-soil and petroleum question. '~ The agreement has been drawn up by the recognition conference. At today’s session of the conference the second half of the agreement, looking to the settlement of the agr: rian problem, was discussed, and at the conclusion of the deliberations Charles B. Warren and John Barton Payne, the American delegates, de- clared. that good progress was made. Under the agreement, which super- sedes the treaty of commerce and amity first suggested, Mexico pledges herself upon her national honor to carry out the guarantees which the United States deems necessary before granting recognition of the Obregon. government, s Knowledge that a gentlemen's agreement had been chosen by the conferees .as & means of securing guarantees for American property rights in Mexico came as a surprise, since no hint had been given as to the method the United States would consider adequate for the protection of its petroleum and properties. It is announced that until the pe- troleum section of the agreement, which President Obregon has under advisement, and the agrarian clauses, which the conference is framing, are complete and approved, the details of the undertaking will not be made public. BELIEVE SHIP FOUNDERED. “ PENSACOLA, Fla, June n—'nu Italian bark Escambla, with a crew | of nineteen, ‘which sailed from he: for Genoa, Italy, December 19, and has not been heard from since, ‘i foundered at sea and sunk, accord- ing to the belief expressed tonight by Bosasco Brothers, her owners. The Escambia, captdined by A. Merello, carried a cargo of lumber, za in excellent condition and ‘was ily insured, the owners ‘sald, when of the charge of murder by @& jury at Anson, Jones county, at 0 o'clock this afternoon ‘and his punishment fixed at ninety-nine years in the state penitentiary. Toussaint was on trial for lhe sec- ond time for the murder of his father, O. H. Toussaint, a former hotél pro- prietor of Washington, D. C. The elder Toussaint was killed in this city on the night of February 6, 1921, and the defendant was arrested the following day, at which time he made a confession, in which he de- tailed the killing of his father. On the first trial the case had in Wichita county, he was found gulilty and the death penalty assessed. The| appelate: court reversed the case on grouridé of misconduct of the jury #nd, when the case was again set for ‘trfal in this county last April, a change of venue was: granted and the case was transferred 'to Anson, Jones ‘county. Trial began last Wed- nesday with the selection of the jury. As In the former trial, ‘the defens. was insanity, it being contended that the defendant was suffering with & permahent form of thsanity. The defense sprung a sucprise in ant took. the stand and remained there for- four hours. He .detailed the history ot his life. He exhibited scars to the jury which he said were placed there by blows from his fa- ther. The case went into the jury's hands at 4:15 o'clock today and at 5:30 a verdict had been reached. On the first ballot the twelve men voted guilty but it required. three ballots to agree on -the punishment, four jurors holding out for the death pe- tlty ——e HOT COFFEE KILLS GIRL. DANVILLE, Va.,' Juné ° 23.—Pear! Clayton, five-year-old daughter of Wal- ter Clayton of Blanche, N. C., dled in a local hospital today of burns she re- celved last night when she upset a pat of steaming coffee at the supper table. nnufldmuflul«mufl. attempting to brush sway a fly, over: turned the ‘coffée pot. Her neck lnd fimqmmnd bymuot Mouid. : reau of the budget early in August they will carry more than $2,000,000 to be spent on the streets of the city. It is also reported that -the Com- missioners ask for nearly $500,000 for the extension of service sewers under the assessment system to provide sanitary facilities for the new houses in suburbin sections. Although the original estimates of the board of education have not vet reached the District building from Franklin School, indications are they will aggregate’ between eight and nine milllons, ‘of which approximately $2,500,000 probably Will be for new buildings and grounds. Estimates for Police. The preliminary expense account of the police department for the mext District bill also has been completed and is said to approximate $2,000,000. It s understood a request for an in- creawe in the number of privates has been incorporated. Another division. that will have to seek more funds for the fiscal year 1925 than it has for the coming twelve months s, thecity refuse division, charged with the collection of gar- agrarian | the trial at Anson when the defend- bage, ashes:and trash., For the yeéar beginning July 1 the Commissioners have $860,000 for ref- juse disposal: But the experience of the past has shown need for an ap- propriation -of nearly $1,000,000 for m- work, due to the steady growth burbs. m.ny branches of the munifcipal rvice have not yet completed their i preliminary figures, and for that rea- son’ it'is impossible fo predict at this time what will b the tota] ot the first bidget the Commissioners lay before Director of the Budnv. Lord. Last summer . the local officials transmitted a tentative budget aggr gating $31,000,000 in: round numbers. The first figures that go to the Treas- ury this summer ‘from the District bullding will not be much under that amount. All of the preliminary estimates will be in'the hands of the Commi; slonérs’ earl¥ in July,'and’ they will immediately studying them for fled from: the'lava stream. FIVE CEN TS. WTARL DECLARES CONGRESS IS ONLY POWER ABOVE HiM Controller General Flatly Re- jects Daugherty’s Opinion on Compensation. ANSWERS COMMISSION’S DECISION TO PAY CLAIMS Dispute Over Occupational Diseases Brings Sharp Assertion of Offi- i cial's Prerogatives. Controller General McCarl, whose authority in the disbursement of pub- lc fulds has been challenged several times by cabinet members and other officials, has informed President Harding that he regards his decisions as final, and appealable only to Con gress. He is willing to ‘“conside: the views of Interested officials at all times, but the opinion of none of them, he holds, is controlling on his office. The controller- general's “declara- tion of Jurisdiction” came to light yesterday in publication of monthly rulings by the general accounting office. The statement bore directly on an opinion handed down in May by the Attorney General's office, con- struing portions of the federal em- ployes compensation act contrary to & decision by the controller gen- eral. McCarl indicated he would decline to approve disbursement vouchers from the compensation commission despite the ruling of the Department of Justice, unless the payments were in accordance with the controller general's view of the law. Commission States Policy. Earlier In the day Mrs. Bessie P. Brueggeman, chairman of the com- mission, had announced that it would “pay cases dealing with occupational diseases as formerly.” Mr. McCarl had held that such payments were to be made only in cases where injuries were determinable in point of time, while the Department of Justice had agreed with the commission that such & restriction 'Was unnecessary. The opinion of the Attorney Gen- eral's office Was transmitted to Mr. McCarl -late in May and he wrote the President that to follow such a ruling “would result in the unauthorized ex- penditure of public funds on unlawful awards.” “The opinion of the Attorney Gen- eral as to matters regarding which he may with propriety express an opin- ion,” the letter said, “is entitled to most respectful consideration and great weight, but even such an opin- ion is advisory and lacks the force of a judicial determination. Most infre- quently have attorneys general ex- pressed opinion on a matter deter- mined by another official.” Defines His Powers, Mr. McCarl continued that he could not regard the opinion as sanctioning payment by the commission since that meant for the commission to disre- gard the decision of the comptroller general. “The soundness of the decision need not be discussed.” the letter contin- ued, “but it seems proper to suggest the absence of any mention therein of the basic laws which control all branches of the government in the use of public funds and places the duty upon this office to see that the laws with respect thereto are duly ob- served. * ¢ * “Broad discretion is vested in the employes' conpensation commission by the act creating it, and as to the exercise of this discretion this offica is not concerned, but there is no power given the commission to dis- regard the provisions of the law in granting awards of making payments of public funds. Sees Peril to Treasury. “To hold that, in the examination of the commission’s accounts, this office may not refuse credit for pay- ments made in violation of law, would be to disregard the clear in- tent of the law, make Ineffectual the provision that the action of this office ‘shall be final and conclusive upon the executive branch of the govern- ment,’ abandon all pretense of ac- countability for public funds gnd destroy a sound accounting procedure that has been built up through the experience of more than a century. “I am always' pleased to consider most carefully the views of any in- terested branch of the government in connection with any matter before me or In support of a proper request for! reconsideration of action taken, but I may not accept the opinion of any official Inclusive of the attorney general as controlling my duty under the law.” WORST OF ETNA ERUPTION IS OVER Flow of Lava, Stones, Axitu and Cinders Has Now Lessened Considerably. ! By the Associated Press. CATANIA, June 23.—All indications are that the worst part of the Mount Etna eruption is _ virtually over. Naturally, this does not m that the flow of lava, stones, ashes and cinders will cease immediately, but the flow has lessened- comsiderably from early fn the week, when the people of: the surrounding . country