Evening Star Newspaper, January 7, 1924, Page 1

WEATHER. Fair tonight and tomorow; change in temperature; no lowest tem- perature tonight about 20 degrees. ‘Temperatu~e for twenty-fcur hours ended at 2 pm. today: Highes: noon today; lowest, 19, today. 34, at at 6:30 am. ¥ull' report on page 7. Closing N. Y. Stocks and Bonds, Page 22 29,105. Entered as gecond. post office Washington, D. lass matter C. BRAFT, CONSPIRACY, WASTE CHARGED T0 FORBES BY ORYAN “Neither Able Nor Honor- able,” Says Report on Former Bureau Director. DISHONESTY ALLEGED IN HOSPITAL BUILDING Record Stirs Rage and Shame Among All Ex-Soldiers, General Declares. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. “The outstanding cause of unsatis- factory conditlons™ in the Veterans' Bureau, which led to investigation by & special Senate committee, was fts “leadership during the incumbency of Col. Charles R. Forhes,” the Senate committee will be told when it meets o latter part of this week, in a re- port of more than 30,000 words by the committee counsel, Maj. Gen. John F. O'Ryan of New York. This report lays terrific indictment Forbes, declaring, in effect, sgainst that he not only failed In a sacred trust, but that he was a participant fn a conspiracy to defraud the gov-| ernment. The report of the committee will not differ materially from the report of its counsel, it is believed by those in closest touch with the investiga- n, which has covered nine months, 1 2 volunteer corps of investiga including 600 lawyers, 550 doc- tors and 200 special experts assisting the e ttee. Indictment of Forbes. The indictment against Forbes in the O'Ryan report says: “While many of the shortcomings of the government can be traced to novelty and the magni- tude of the undertaking and to haste in early development and to inexperi- ence or inadaptability of personnel, the standing cause of the unsatisfactory conditions existing In February, 1923, d which led to this Investigation, is to be found in the leadership of the bureau during the incumbency of Charles R. orbes. which covered the period from “April 28, 1921, to February 2§, 1923."* The report is extremely sensational throughout, Gen. O'Ryan going fear- lessly into the “dishonesty and neglect” discovered, without qualification where. his opin- fon, it belongs. It mentions rfany cases f alleged corruption, of hoepital sites irchased for much more than thelr | assessed valpe, of contracts to favored | contractors, of ‘looting” and many | other abuses. | One very important recommenda- tion made by Gen. O'Ryan is basel upon his criticism that the Vetarans' ! Bureau relies too much on records and | not enough upon the personal story | and appearance of the veteran in| passing .on compensation claims. Board of Appeals. He shows that ordinarily the claim- { ant meets a contact officer, who helps | him fill out his claim, and a medical officer, who gives him a physical ex- | amination. After that his case is| pussed upon by officlals who see only reports. Gen. O'Ryan would abolish the district boards of appeals and have the veteran appear before a board consisting of the medical of- ficer, the rating officer and the con- tact officer and possibly a vocational training officer and a local business man. Either the veteran or the other | members of the board or all could ap peal to a central board of appeals at Washington from the dec!sion of the rating officer under the O'Ryan plan. This only one of a number of | constructive suggestions for further | improvement made by Gen. O'Ryan after reciting an impressive list of re- forms already accomplished, many of ihem through _the . co-operation of Gen. Frank T. Hines, the present di- rector of the bureau. With the bluntness of a soldier, the and placing responsibility | Citrus Growers, Fighting Frosts, Flee From Heat By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, Callf, January 7.—Cltrus growers, who last week stayed up =all night keeping their orchards warm, yesterday put away their smudge pots and climbed into their family automobiles, in an_ ef- fort to escape the heat—the ther- mometer registering 80 degrees. ANTEKLAN PLANK UNDERWOOD PLAN Alabaman to Wage Cam- paign on Lines That Swept Buchanan Into Office. BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Senator Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama expects to be nominated and elected President of the Unlted States on the fssue that carried James Buchanan Into the White House in 1866. Buchanan made opposition to know-nothingism his battle ery. Un- derwood has adopted ohostility to the Ku Klux Klan as his campaign slogan. He will elevate it almost to the dignity of his paramount issue. He and his friends believe that the country will rally around it as enthuslastically as they supported Buchanan of Pennsylvania in his crusade against the know nothing party sixty-eight years ago. Alabama’s favorite democratic son will inaugurate his real pre-conven- tion campaign at Cleveland on Janu- ary 22 and continue it next day at Akron. Underwood will wade into the Ku Klux in the north, as he did In the south, in the region where it is trongest. It was in Texas that the Alabaman first proclaimed his war- tare on the Klan, and his guns next will be unlimbered in Ohlo, where, with the single exception of Indiana. the Ku Klux is more powerful than in any other state in the Union, not excepting even Texas. Klansmen rate their strongholds nowadays as In- diana, first; Ohlo, second, and Texas, Underwood purposes not only fight- ing the Klan in his own campalgn for nomination, but will demand the insertion of a categorical anti-Klan iplank in the democratic national platform of 1924. It was at James Buchanan's direct insistence that the | democratic convention of 1856 put an anti-know-nothing piank in its plat- form. Asks Party Be Courageous. Underwood will refer to that his- toric and triumphant precedent, and | Wil ask the democratic party to be as courageous as its forbears of pre. clvil-war days were. The Buchanan plank’s language, in Underwood's opinion, is dramatically applicabie to present-hour conditions as far as the Klan agitation ie concerned. It called for unqualified freedom of civic and rellglous liberty, specificaily men- tioning Roman Catholics and foreign- born eftizens. There was no refanefic to either Jews or negroes, because Jewish immigration was not & factor at that time and the negroés had not been emancipated. In all essentials Buchanan charged the know-nothing party with the same attacks on American liberties and constitutionalism as Underwood charges the Ku Klux Klan with, Many democrats of the 1368 erd thought Buchanan's program foolishly venturesome and hopeless. The know- nothings were more strongly in- trenched, politically, than the Klan is today. They campalgned as a party and won_elections in states as far apart as Masschusetts and Kentucky. They were especlally formidable in Maryland, and gave Baltimore the current nickname Sf the “Mob city.” It was said that no less than two- thirds of the Unlon was more or less under thefr Influence. But Buchan- an, stripped to the buff, successfully persuaded his party to combat know- nothingism, and won the presidency. At the time in the Thirty-Fourth Congress _ (1855-1857) the know- nothings had five representatives in the Senate and forty-three in the House. See McAdoo Perplexity. Underwood's friends make no secret precision of a surgeon and the skill of an attorney, Gen, O'Ryan in his | report tells of the many problems considered during the inveatigation by the speclal committee, consisting of Senators Reed of Penusylvania, ©Oddie of Nebraska and Walsh of Mas- sachusetts. The circumstances surrounding the sale of Veterans' Bureau supplies at Perryville, Md,, by the then Director Forbes to the Thompson-Kelly Com- (Continued on Page 2, Column 3.) ATTEMPT T0 KILL KEMAL THWARTED Hand Grenade Reported Hurled at President of Tur- key Injures His Wife. B the Associated Press. ATHENS, January 7.—The Mitylene correspondent .of the Greel newspaper Tleftheron Vemas telegraphs that an unsuccessful attempt was made to-as- sassinate Mustapha Kemal' Pasha, bresident of the republic of Turkey, at Smyrna. The hand grénade *intended for Kemal, injured his wife. Mustapha Kemal Pasha, who, on Oc- tober 25 last, became the first presi. dent of the new republic of Turkey, is the man to whom Turkey owes her Present position In the near east. Prom- inent early in the world war in the Young Turk movement, Kemal became @ military leader of fame and it was Vecause of his skill as a general that the Hritish were obliged to abandon the Gallipoli campaign. After the war he organized the now famous national- ist army, whose actlvities led to the roclamation of a “holw war’ against im and the dispatch of the Greek army futo Turkey. r the defeat of the Greeks, Kemal established the govern- ment at Angora and was made presi- dent of the national assembly, which, in November, 1922, decreed the abolition of the sultanate. Kemal's election to{ the presidency of the republic #lowed not long .after Turkey's remark- able diplomatic successes at the é:ll:lnne eanumnmm recently reported as suffe from heart $r, e, ey T ), + ter a merchant of Smyrna, v ‘0 of their bellef that their candidate's {open hostility to the Klan will put Willlam G. McAdoo on the horns of {an Increasingly embarrassing @ilem- | ma. McAdoo is not yet publicly com- "mil!efl on that issue. He occuples | the famous position assumed by Rob- | ert G. Ingersoll when the great athe- { st was asked if he expected to go to { heaven or hell. “I've friends in both { places,” said the silver-tongued un- bellever, ~ Underwood's political ad- vigers have convinced’ themselves that straight-from-the-shoulder op- position to the Ku Klux is the win- ning democratic strategy. They think it will harness New York, New Jersey, and the most popu- lous New England states to the Un- derwood chariot, certainly at the convention and probably for the elec- tion. Underwood expects his Klan stand to be as embarrassing to Coolidge, if they are rival candidates for elec- tlon, as it will be to McAdoo in the pre-convention campaign. Indiana and Ohlo contain tens of thousands of republican klansmen. Underwood wonders if Coolidge dares to alien- ate them by an anti-Klan attitude. It he straddies or sympathizes, Un- derwood's backers say, the President will endanger himsél? in the very citadel of his normal strength — Massachusetts—which holds 70,000, French Catholics, to say nothing of hundreds of thousands of Irish- Americans. . What the Catholics and Jows of New York state between them will do about Klan or anti-Klan candidates, the Underwoodites point out, needs no mention, In addition to “swatting the Klin,” Senator Underwood Intends to “sw, the bonus.” He will unlimber his swat-stick in Ohio later in the month. Another thing at_which it will be Wielded 18 the Fordney-McCumber tariff. Underwood will plead for sweeping reductions in that law ong_with_the reductions In taxar tion for which the Coolldge-Mellon plan calls. On prohibition Underwood will ad- vocate law enforcement. (Copyright, 1924.) JEWELS WORTH$10,000 STOLEN IN APARTMENT By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, January 7.—Three bandits today forced entrance into the fashionable 7th avenue apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Richmond, took Jewels valued at $10,000 and fled. The robbery was carried out in a manner similar to that perpetrated last _Thu: in 79th street apart- ent_of d Palter, where loot of ,000 in jewels was taken. BORAH AND LODGE GLASH IN SENATE DEBATE ON SOVIET Latter Sees Menace to Our Institutions in Giving En- voys Entre Here. TRACES PROPAGANDA DIRECTLY TO LENIN DOOR Pictures Moscow Rule as Most Tyrannical in History of Russian History. Russia was debated at length today In the Senate, with Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, republican leader, speaking agalnst recognition of the soviet government and Senator Borah, republican, Idaho, urging that recogr nition be acocrded. In a carefully prepared address. Senator Lodge declared there wero “interlocking directorates” between the soviet government, the com- munist party and the internationale, with deslgns inimical to the American form of government. Senator Borah replled that at least the time had come to negotiate with the Russian government to determine whether recognition prerequisites laid down by President Coolidge in his opening address to Congress could be met. Agrees With Coolidge. The Idaho senator sald he was in perfect accord with President Coolldge’s statement on the question, —Tequiring settlement of American claims, ad- Justment of the Russlan republic debt and cessation of communist propaganda in this country, as conditions precedent to Russtan recognition. These “funda- mental proposals” Senator Borah said, “were universally recognized as de- sirable." Recognition of Russia, he de- clared, would “tend to bring about better conditions throughout the world." “Recognition of the present Rus- slan government,” Senator Borah serted, “would constitute neither ap- proval of its policy nor of the char- acter of the men forming it. Such action would mean simply that we realize that it is the only governing power in Russia, deal at all with that great mation, it must be through its government.” The present policy of the United States, he continued, constituted "a requirement that Russia change not only her government, but the very character of men comprising it, and her very internal policies.” < Senator Lodge interrupted to demy having made any such condition fin his_address. ‘The one point I emphasized,” Ja- clared the Massachusetts senator, “was that the present Russian govermment persisted in its attempts to inter- fero with our government through propaganda.” Senator Brookhart, republican, Towa, asked what was the present status of Russo-American relations. “Apparently one of war on the part of “the United States” replied Mr. Borah. - Declaring the present government of Russia has endured for six yvears, “de- spite four invasions, munitioned and financed by foreign governments,” Sen- ator Borah said. “What would take its place if Mr. Hughes' declaration consolidates sufficient moral influence in other nations to overthrow it.” “No one can expect anything but chaos and misery, unlimited and in- describable,” he said. The Russian soviet government is dominated by the Russian commun- {st party, and together they dominate the communist or third {nternational, Senator Lodge declared. The republican leader of the Sen- ate charged that communist propa- ganda in the United States, designed to overthrow American institutions of government, “comes directly from the government we are asked to rece ognize.” Among the agencles mentioned by Senator Lodge through which the Russian communist party, the soviet government and the communiat in- ternational are working in America to undermine the United States gov- ernment are the I. W. W., the Union of Labor Youth of America and the Workers' Party of America. Quoting extensively from publio records and documents to show the interlocking of the soviet govern- ment, the Russian communist party and 'the communist international, Senator Lodge said: “The function then of the so-called soviet government is to govern Rus- ala: the function of the communist international 1is to carry out the policy of the party abroad. But, al- though it is possible in a ocertain measure to delimit their funotions, on the other hand, it {s impossible to dissociate them, for the interests of all are {dentical. In the same de- gree an the existence and stabllity soviet Russia are of importance to the third {nternational, the strength- ening and development of the com- munist international: is of great mo- ment to Russia. (Steklov, Izvestia, November 7. 1922.) Or, as Zinoviev put it, in his report at the fourth congress of the communist interna- tional (bulletin of fourth congress, No. 2, page 22): “‘You know that one has often blamed us in that the International is merely & tool of the Russian soviet republic. —There are even many triends who make such assertions. It is, to be sure, clear that an important and very close interdependence ex- ists between the first proletariat re. public _and the - communist party, which fights against the bourgeoisfe— such an interdependence should exist and must exist. From our commu- nistic standpoint it is clear that the communist_international {s important for soviet Russia, and vice versa. It would be laughable to ask who h; the advantages, Who {s subject and who is object. = It is the foundation and the roof of one building. One longs to the other.’ Compares Groups. “The third international can be compared’to the spiritual head of the Russian communist party, and the so- called soviet government to the secu- |1ar arm of that party in the country, by whose exploitation it maintains the international. The Russian com- munist party is the body that unites them, Or,-as Kamenev in & speech before the Moscow soviet (Pravda, November 9, 1922) said: ““The soviet state and th munist international fighting -organizations of the pro- letariat. One fights to seize the state apparatus, the other has already taken into its hands that apparatus and carries on the work of realizing a communist sqclety.’ “The so-called soviet government is Abloluulyn wnhunm:‘enmml:::;d by the ussian col 2 t is the character and organiza- (Continued on Page 4, Column 7.) and If we are to! WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION WASHINGTON, D. C., MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 1924—THIRTY PAGES. 3 DEATHS BLAVED ON COLD WEATHER Chicago Toll 17 Lives as Subzero Blasts Subside. Entire South Icebound. By the Assoclated Press. CHICAGO, January 7.—The middle {west, plaing states and northwest welcomed a return of normal tem- { perature today, while the subzero blasts that wrought havoc for forty- eight hours spent themselves in at- tacks on the east and south, But it is feared that the rellef is only tem- | porary, for colder weather again has {appeared over the western Canadian provinces. A recapitulation of the effocts of the cold at Chicago shows a loss of severteen.lives diFectly attributable to it, and that the sixteen degrees below zero recorded broke a record of twelve years. Thermometers today had climbed more than forty degrees from the lowest point reached, however, and generally fair weather for a few days ot least Is forecast. Entire South Icebound. Witih the exception of Florida, the entire south was held lcebound Sun- day, but the forecast indicates that the mercury wlill rise during the day. South Carolina throughout Sunday shivered in its coldest snap since Jap- uary, 1918, the temperature dropping to four degrees above at Columbla Georgla suffered with the cold, espe- clally In the northern and central parts. The thermometer registered four-tenths of a depree above zero Sunday morning and an aged woman was reported frozen to death. An- other death In ‘Atlanta of a woman whose clothing caught -fire from an open grate was also attributable to the cold wave. “One negro was reported frozen to death and a white girl and a negress ‘were burned to death while trying to keep warm, as a result of the low temperature of Saturday night and North Carolina experienced one of early Sunday morning in Macon, Ga. the mertury falling to 8 degrees be- low zero in the mountains and to 12 above on the coast. Girl Dies of Burna. Alabama reported one fatality at Sheffield as a result of zero weather. Seeking warmth in front of an open fireplace, a fifteen-year-old girl of Fayettoville, Tenn., received burns from which she died this morning. No deaths were attributed to the cold snap in Memphis or surrounding territory, and the midsouth expects that low temperatures will mean a profit of millions of dollars to this region when casualties are counted among the boll weevil. Ice formed on the Mississippi sound at Bay St. Louls, Miss., early today for the first time {n twenty-one years. The ice was of sufficient strength to permit skating as far out as 1,000 feet from shore. The cold weather in New Orleans and vicinity Satarday night and Sun- day was responsible for six deaths. New Orleans was visited by the first freeze of the year Sunday with foe everywhere. Reports from the in- terior and coast points in Loulsiana and Mississippl told of temperatures ranging from 12 to 16 degrees. INFANT FROZEN TO DEATH. Mother and Another Child Nearly Perish of Cold. Special Dispatch to The Star. CUMBERLAND, Md, January 7.— One death is charged to the cold snap, that of Thelma, aged twenty- five days, dsughter of James Gor- don, at Ridgeley, W. Va., opposite this city. The home was without fire, and when neighbors arrived they found Mrs. Gordon and her two-year- old son without sufficient Covering. The mother and older child were nearly frozen and the infant was frozen to death. The temperature considerably mod- erated this morning, the lowest- be- Ing 10 above &t Altdmont. on top of the Alleganies, near Oakland, whers yesterday morning it was 12 below. HARRISON TO TALK TAX. A Jackson day banquet speech to be delivered tonight by Senator Pat Harrison of Mississip) on the sub- Ject of the Mellon plan for tax re- duction, will 'l,l.l h&om m'nmo. The w w! e1iv Sen- :nr rrison at & banquet in Pitts- urgh, Pa, its coldest days Sunday since 1918,] OH, LOOK WHO'S HERE KILLS SELF AFTER CAR SERIOUSLY INJURES MAN George A. Rooth First Flees, Then Shoots as Police Enter His Home. Assaciated Press. FRANCISCO, Callf., January 7—George A. Rooth, sales manager for a mllling company here and prominent soclally, shot and killed himself last night as the police were entering his apartment to arrest him in connection with serious injurles to Heber Tilden, clubman, who was struck by an automobile when he alighted from a street car. The driver of the automobile, which struck Tilden fled, according to the po- lice, returning to jook at the injured man before an ambuiance arrived, after whichk he s sald have left again without offering ald. Evstanders noted the license num- ber on the car, and it was through that, the police sald, that they lo- cated Rooth, Mrs. Dorothy Rooth, who is sald to have been divorced from Rooth resently, 19-In New "York. ~ OOLIDGE SHIPPING POLICY HITS SNAG Plan to Transfer Powers to Board May Go Back to President, Is Intimated. Cons!deration by the Shipping Board of a resolution to make effective the administration’s new shipping plan was held up today after considerable argument centering about 2 new pro- posal sent from the White House. It 1s intimated by some board offi- cials that the resolution, which Is understood to provide for the trans- fer of extensive powers from the board to the Emergency Fleet Cor- | poration, might be sent back to | President Coolldge. Author Not Named. l The revised resolution was taken from the White House to the Ship- ping Board's offices by Chalrman Jones of the Senate commerce con- mittee, but information as to its author was withheld. While one or two niembers of the board were said to have expressed a favorable attl- tude toward it, others took the posi- tion that they could not sign away certain powers which were sald to be included in the new proposal with- out violating their oaths of office. Decision Expected Soon. Whether the board would return the proposal and resume considera- tion of a proposition along lines simi- lar to that adopted September 30, 1921, which divorced the Bhipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corpora- tion, as far as control and operation of ships was concerned, was expected to be decided shortly. KLAN LOSES CASE IN'SUPREME COURT Appeal to Restrain Publica- tion of Alleged Stolen Papers Is Denied. The appeal of the Ku Klux Klan in its suit to restrain publication of sertain papers alleged -to have been.! stolen from klan headquarters in' At- U lanta, was denled today by the Su- preme Court. ? D. C. RENT LAW ADVANCED. on March 10. The Supreme Court advanced today for hearing on March 10 next the case brought by the Chastlston rought by Corporation to test the constitutionality of the rent law in the District of C:III‘ML | state of Puebla, little military activ- lmc By U. 8. Supreme Court|” MEXICAN UPRISING DECLARED ON WANE No Headway Made in Month, Says Capital—Federals Claim Steady Gains. By the Associated Press. MEXICO CITY, Januars 7 (By radio via the Fort Worth Star-Tele- gram.)—Official government reports: upon the Mexican military situation indicate that the revolutionary move- ments confonting the Obregon gov- ernment on the east, west and south of Mexlco City have not progressed materially since the first rebellious activity ke out just a month ago while the federal armies are con- stantly improving their organiza- tion and positions, and the govern- ment 15"daR¥-strengtbaning both ita domestic and {nternational relations. Since the capture of San Marcos and re-occupation of Puebla, in the ity has been manifested upor the Vera Cruz front aside from tke federal occupation of Tehuac' i, which was evacuated last week, Pu ~ suant to strategic federal movements. While Gen. Bugenio Martinez, com- mander-in-chief of the Vera Cruz op- erations, has been making preparations for an offensive against the Vera Cruz revolutionists under Gen. Guadalupe Sanchez and Adolfo de la Huerta, as well as Gen. Fortunato Maycotte and Gov. Manuel Garcia Vigil in the state of Oaxaca, he has been forced to devote considerable attention to eliminating the menace to his rear through the op. erations of revolutionary forces in the state of Hidalgo. + Offensive Is Near. With the expected rebel advance from the vicinity of Tehuacan still un- materfalized, it Is generally belleved the federal offensive will not be long delayed, as the war department stated in its latest communique the offensive against Guadalajara would start with- in forty-elght hours, and the bellef bas been expressed that offensives on both the Jallsco and Vera Cruz fronts would start simultaneously. Federal euccesses at San Marcos, Puebla and Octopan, and the defeat of Romulo Figueroa at Zacualpan, in the state of Mexico, were declared to more than offset the disaster which overtook federal columns at Teocuticlan, in the state of Jalisco, under Gen. Lazaro Cardenas, operating in the rear of the army of the rebel general, Enrique Es- \rada, who is now occupying Guadala- jara. Although operations against Guadalajara have been at a etandstill lately, military operations on the west- ern front were shown in the state of Mexico, when Gen. Marcelo Caraveo infiicted a crushing defeat at Zacual- pan, upon a rebel column, under Gen. Romulo Figueroa. Defeat Upnets Rebel Chief. Gen. Figueroa, according to' Inter cepted radiograms, confidently expected to march unopposed upon Mexico City and the defeat upset his plans consid- (Continued on Page 3, Column 6.) INTRIGUES ON FOOT FOR CROWN PRINCE Restoration Party Seeks Coalition of Silesian Catholics With Industrialists. BY HIRAM K. MODERWELL. o to The Star and the Oh Da By B e . “Coryiant, sk e BERLIN, January 7.—Webs of in- trigue ‘are already beginning to spin about the former crown price, ac- cording to Herr Lania in the usual- 1y well informed Weltbuehne. According to Lania the ‘“crown prince party” has recently been or- ganized under Hergt, leader of the German nationalist party, who as- rted that he had succeeded in iting Silesian Catholic land hold- rl‘l ‘with the Protestant industrial- sts. His friends boast that Hergt re- cently obtained Informal assurances from English statesmen that restora. tion of the Prussian monarchy would not be opposed providing no attempt ‘was made to restore the previous em- tre. Volunteer “home defense” brigades are being organized to support the grown prince movement. To pay them, land owners are taxing emselves five pounds of rye per acre nonth-l{. t he ref elp 3 inisists on leading & quist ‘I!q “From Press to Home Within the Hour” The Star’s carrier system covers every city block and the regular edi. ‘tion is delivered to Washington homes as fast as the papers are printed. Blast Wrecked Dixmude, Body Of Chief Shows By the Associated Press. ‘TOULON, France, January A medical examinatior of the body of Lieut. Grenadan, commander of the dirigible Dixmude, has shown that the officer received a violent shock, that all his limbs were broken, and that he was dead be- fore he fell into the sea. Thess facts, the experts believe, show that the dirigible exploded and that her cars dashed down- ward with terrific speed. the bodles of the crew being hurled against the sides of the cars when the Dixmude struck the water, All the cars were closed except that of the commander. BOK REFERENDUM NOW UP T0 PEOPLE Succesful Plan Out of 22,165 Is Passed on for Ap- proval of Voters. NEW YORK, January 7.—The people of the United States begin voting to- day on the proposal to have their government adopt the program se- lected by the American peace award as “the best practicable plan by which the United States may co-operate with other nations to achieve and preserve the peace of the world."” The program is the one selected by the jury of award from 22,165 plans submitted from twenty-two countries in the contest for the §100,000 offered by Edward W. Bok for the most practical means for the United States to co-operate with other natlons on the preservation of peace. Author Not Named. The name of the author will not be revenled until the people have fin- ished voting upon it, early in Febru- ary. He already has received $50,000, half of the prize, and will receive the balance if the program is approved. The plan was numbered 1469 and was known only by such designation to the jury, only one person, a dele- gated member of the jury, being cog- nizant of the winner's name. Turough coupons printed In daily and weekly newspapers and in mag- azines, the public will vote. Writ- ten criticisms of the plan also will be reviewed. Prize Offered in Jaly. Announcement of his $100,000 prize was made by Mr. Bok on July 1, 1923, On November 15 the contest closed. Mr. Bok's award was followed by the action lzst weck of Edward A Fiiene, Boston merchant, in offering $50,000 for a European competition for the best plan for restoring pros- perity to the war-stricken continent. Mr. Filens frankly credited his ac- tion to inspiration received from the Bok award. PLEASES LEAGUE HEADS. Officials Glad at Chance for Ref- erendum in U. S. By Radio to The Star and the Chicago Daily News. Copyright, 1924 PARIS, January 7.—League of na- tions officlals are delighted at the Bok peace plan and declared that if the full text does not centaln such modifications that its oufline is mis- leading. adoption of this plan or something similar, by the United States, would almost certainly be welcomed by the league and govern- ments which are members of the league. Therefore it would be a real step toward organizing world peace. Great Interest is expressed in league circles in the referendum on the Bok plan which will now be held. It is declared that this is the first time the American people have been given an opportunity to express themselves on the league issue uncomplicated by extraneous {ssues. (Full text of prize winning peace plan on page 4.) BILL ASKS $762,000 FOR DISTRICT PARKS Zihlman Measure Would Buy Klingle Valley, Piney Branch and Patterson Tracts. Appropriations not to excesd $763,- 000 for the purchase of four large tracts of land for the extension, of the parkway system of the National Capital would be authorized under a bill introduced today by Representa- :lv’, Frederick N. Zihlman of Mary- and. ‘The plots of land recommended for purchase are: Klingle valley, eighteen and one- hololt acres, price not to exceed $200,- 000. Piney Branch valley. cleven acres east of 16th street, price not to ex- ceed $155.000. Piney Branch valley, nineteen acres extension west of 16th street, price not to exceed $107,000. Patterson tract, sixty acres, price not to exceed $300,000. e WOULD CANCEL LEASES. Caraway Introduces Bill in Teapot Dome 0il Probe. Resolutions to cancel the lease of Teapot Dome, Wyoming naval oil re- serve, to the Sinclair Interests, and California reserve, No. 2, to :::t!‘fil-Amerlcln 011 Company, were introduced today by Senator Cara- way, democrat, Arkansas. Immediate consideration was blocked by Senator Smoot, republican, Utah. Senator Caraway's resolutions charged that the Teapot Dome lease was obtained “corruptly” by private negotiation. DE VALERA QUIZ DELAYED. DUBLIN, January 7.—John Finner- ty, the American attorney, who is in conmection with the litigation Devolving Irish republican funds in America, has announced that, at re- Quest of counsel for tie Free State government he has postponed taking the testimony of Eamonn de Valera, and others concerning the ownership of the fund until the arrival of Wil lism Cannon from America on Jan- T 9875 TWO CENTS. WEEKS AND DENBY HIT CONSOLIDATION OF DEPARTMENTS War Secretary Points -to Many “Evils”of Plan for Reorganization. DENBY FEARS MORALE WOULD BE IMPAIRED Unity of Effort Held Possible Now Through Various Joint Boards and Budget Burean. Consolidation of the War and Navy Departments was opposed by Secre- tary Weeks and Secretary Denby to- day at the opening of hearings by the joint congressional committee on re- organization of the government de- partments, The plan to consolidate the two service branches into a “department of defense,” as proposed in the plan recently eubmitted by, Walter F. Brown, chairman of the committee, was assalled at length by the Secre- tary of War, and as vigorously, but in much shorter form, by the Secre- tary of the Navy. Secretary Weeks declared that the proposal to consolidate the two de- partments, part of the general plan as proposed for the reorganization of the executive departments, “should not be favorably considered at the present time, in that such action will not accomplish the objects claimed for it by its sponsors, will adversely aftect the efliciency of the Army and Navy and will serve to impose an ad- ditional agency between these two agencles of the commander-in-chiet, the President.” Fears for Morale. Secretary Denby said that “the combination would impair the morale of the Army and Navy, and clog their administration and so prove a menace to the national defense.” Secretary Weeks occupled most of the time devoted to the first hearing, which was held In the public lands committee roam in the Senate office bullding, and which ended after the two secrstaries were heard. Mr. Brown presided. Declaring that the War and Navy departments are the result of a cen- tury and a quarter of growth, with “all that implies in the way of tradi- tlons and esprit de corps, and that settled organizations and long estab- lished traditions should be changed only as the result of the most in- disputable evidence that changes are desirable, Secretary \Weeks summar- ized his contentiong. 4s_follow: “It may be stated: ‘3 . That national defense is not a clearly defined function that cam be entrusted to a single service or to.a single department. It {s a function of the executive and all departments are involved in the discharge of this function. i < Have Distinct Missions. “2. That the War and Navy De- partments are two of the several executive agencies established by law to assist the President in carry- ing out his functions. Neither one nor both of these departments are ex- clusively charged with.the functions of national defense. “3. That the Army and Navy are two of the several Instruments es- tablished by law for making effec- tive certain policies of the govern- ment. “4. That the Army and Navy have distinct missions which demand sep- arate and specific equipment and training. ‘That the duplication of effort and the expenditures resuiting there- (Continued Column 4.) COURT OVERRULES EDUCATION BOARD Louise F. Denny Wrongfully Denied Position, Justice Van Orsdel Holds. The District Cort of Appeals in an opinion by Justice Van Orsdel today reversed the decision of the District Supreme Court, which had refused a mandamus against the board of edueation to compel the appointment of Louise F. Denny to the position of probationary teacher in the colored high schools. The ap- pellate tribunal finds that the teacher headed the list of eligibles May 1, 1923 and was entitled to the place made vacant by leave of absence granted Otilla Cromwell. The board defended its refusal to appoint the petitioner on the ground that the vacancy was only temporary. that the teacher, Otilia Cromwell, had 2 “gentleman’s agreement” with As- stant Superintendent ~Wilkerson that when she returned from a spe- cial course at Yale he position would be open for her, an dalso claim- ed that a subsequent examination for eligibles had been held and that the petitioner on the merged lists stood No 8. Justice Van Orsdel says he is not impressed with either contention of the school board. As to the merger of the lists, he points out that the merger was made after the filing of the petition of Miss Denny and was dated back to the time of the exami- nation, and when she brought her sult she was the first on the list. There is no discretion, says Justice Van Orsdel, In the board of education under its rules as to the appointment or rejection of a teacher whose name {5 at the head of the eligible list. 'As to the gentleman's agreement,” the court points out, that the “pledge" ‘must be filed with the superintendent of schools so that it may serve notice not only to the board itself, bu to competing teachers that a vacancy does not_exist. The assistant could not.ignore the rules in this regard, the court suggests, nor could the board abrogate its own rules to meet the exigencies of a single case, and “certainly not to the detriment of a right which had accrued. ‘he case is remanded to the Dis: trict Supreme Court for further pro- ceedings.