Evening Star Newspaper, April 6, 1924, Page 1

y WEATHER. Mostly eloudy, probably showers today; tomorrow fair and somewhat cooler; moderate south, shifting to west, and northwest wind: Temperature for twenty-two hours ended at 10 66, at 4 p.m.; lowest, 48, Full report on page 11. m. last nigh Highest, at 10 p.m. No. 993.—No. 29,195. Entered as second-class matter post office Washington, D. C. he WASHINGTON, 80 TAKEN IN DRIVE ON BOOTLEGGERS, USING BUTLER PLAN Rich Real Estate dperator Is Among Accused—31 II- legally Freed, Is Charge. SERVANT OF PROMINENT FAMILY ALSO ARRESTED Raiders Get 600 Gallons of Liquor. Scandal in Bonding of Prisoners Hinted. Maj. Sullivan yesterday Butler-ized Washington. Whether he asked for advice or re- ceived it in his recent visit to Phila- delphia, the Quaker City clean-up and Washington's city-wide raids yester- :y—planned by Sullivan, Commis- oner Oyster and Lieut. O. T. Davis —bore earmarks of similarity. Some of the high spots in the raid were: Arrest of Morris Levy, wealthy real estate operator, at 737 Rock Creek Church road, on a charge of selling illegal possession of liquor. Release of thirty-one of the fifty- odd prisoners taken at the second precinet by United States Commissioner Callan in a manner which U. S. Attor- ney Peyton Gordon denominated “il- legal” and the initiation of an inve: tigation of these releases by Depart- nient of -Justice operatives. Hitt Butler Arrested. Arrest of Thomas Rayner, butler for twenty years to the family of Mra. Robert Hitt, at present employ- ed by Willlam Hitt, 1501 New Hamp- shire avenue, and the search of a portion of the Hitt residence for liquor. The search was fruitless. More than eighty prisoners were taken and approximately 600 gallons of liquor seized in the raids, which started at 7 o'clock yesterday morn- ing and were continuing in desultory hion, at midnight. Levy was arrested at the 2nd precinct when he was surrendered by his attorney, Martin J. McNamara, last night at 9 o'clock. McNamara brought several friends in with Levy and asked J. L. Asher, who is the complainant in the case, to identify his ‘client. Asker picked out Levy immedigtely as the man from whom he had bought Tiquor. Levy denied ever having seen Asher before. $1,000 cash bond was provided for Levy's release. €w Seandal Threatened. The incidents surrounding the re- lease of the thirty-one prisoners on bond approximating $50,000 threaten a new scandal in police circles. Police, when asked why Commissioner Callan came to the 2nd precinet to conduct hearings when warrants were sworn out by Commissioner Macdonald who held the affidavits and detailed charges, stated that he was brought there by “bondsmen” after it was learned that Macdonald would not hear cases against first offenders. Some time ago the Police Court judges issued orders against bonds- men overwriting their liabilities, and set twice the assessed valuation of their property holdings as the amount of liabilities they could assume. Asa result only two or three bondsmen e qualified to go bond in Police Court cases. Bondsmen Reap Harvest. A gentlemen’s agreement exists, it was stated, between Commissioner Macdonald and the police court, whereby Macdonald will not hear cases of first offenders against liquor laws, which are misdemeanors in the jurisdiction of the police court and consequently will not assign bands in such cases. Since Macdonald was unavailable, therefore, it was stated, Commissioner Callan was impressed into service to authorize bonds in the cases. Bondsmen immediately began rcaping a harvest which was pro- hibited them in police court practice. Those listed as “limit liability” men in police court wrote bonds in Com- missioner Callan's hearings. The first charge made against the legality of the hearings was that there was no complaint or afidavits before the committing magistrate when the hearings were initiated. He was simply told that such and such a charge was against such and such a person. Later, when it was discovered that prohibition agents had signed no complaints which, ac- cording to Assistant District Attor- ney Hart, are the first essential for a hearing, efforts were made by per- «ons to get Prohibition Agent Francis V. Hertzig to sign the complaints after the cases were called Prisoners Are Released. He communicated with Divisional Pronibition Chief Harry Luckett, he cala, and under his orders refused to do so. Asher was sought and re- fused on the same grounds. Mean- while the prisoners whe had been arrested during the morning were being released by Capt. Peck of the second precinct on recogmizance of the signature of United States Com- missioner Callan. Although Lieut. Davis asserted last night that he had been interviewed n the matter by two operatives from the Department of Justice, and that they had assured him the releases were perfectly legal, United States Attorney Peyton Gordon amnounced that the case, as explained above, wag not in the jurisdiction of Com= missioner Callan, and that his office would take steps to probe the affair thoroughly. As a result, it was declared, every Continued on Page 2, Column 2.) BY N. 0. MESSENGER. The contest for the republican presidential nomination will be as £00d as over by the end of this month and will result by that time in President Coolidge having a clean majority of delegates, ac- cording to estimates of William M. Butler, the national manager of the Coolidge campaign. He will have approximately 634 delegates, or 79 more than enough to nomi- nate. This estimate excludes Il- linois, Michigan and New Jersey; President Coolidge can get the nomination without these states, he says. Up to vesterday he had 38% delegates. Senator Hiram W. Johnson does not admit defeat, but says that the fighting has just commenced AKILLED, T3 HURT IN'KLAN RIOTING Visitors Alleged to Have Re- taliaced When Attacked at Lilly, Pa. By the Associated Press. LILLY, Pa., April 5.—Four men were killed and thirteen injured when shots were fired into a crowd of townspeople just before 500 members of the Ku Klux Klan boarded a special train for Johns- town, after holding ceremonies in a fleld near the town and a demonstra- tion In the streets. The dead, who were all residents of the town, are: Phillip Conrad, twenty-five; Frank Measko, twenty-two; Floyd Paul, twen- ty-eight, and an unidentified man. The injured, some of whom are expected to die, were taken to hospitals In Johnstown and Altoona. A special train bearing 500 robed men arrived at the railroad station here .early in the evening. The Klansmen detrained and held a cere- mony at a field near the town. They were at the station ready to entrain again when the shooting occurred. Some residents of the town are said to have played a stream of water trom the town fire hose upon the visi- tors as they were marching back to the station. TRAIN FROM JOHNSTOWN. Special Returned to Starting Point After Shooting. PITTSBURGH, April 5.—Officials of the Pennsylvania. railroad here to- night said the special train bearing klansmen, who are said to have par- ticipated in a shooting last night at Lilly, Pa, seventeen miles cast of Johnstown, Pa., in which two persons were killed and more than a dozen wounded, originated at Johnstown, Pa.” and returned to Johnstown late last night. 25 KLANSMEN ARRESTED. Johnstown Police Also Confiscate Fifty Guns. JOHNSTOWN, Pa, April 5.—~When the special train bearing members of the Ku Klux Klan back from Lilly, Pa., where four men were killed and thirteen injured in a shooting just before the klansmen entrained after holding a demonstration in that town, arrived in Johnstown shortly before midnight it was met by more than fifty police offi- cers, headed by Sheriff Logan N. Keller. Twenty-five klansmen were arrested and about fifty guns were confiscated. RUMANIAN ROYALTY LEAVE TODAY FOR PARIS By the Associated Press, BUCHAREST, April 5.—King Ferdi- nand and Queen Marie of Rumania will leave Bucharest tomorrow for Strasbourg, en route to Paris, for their official visit to the French capital. They contemplate also a visit to Brussels before their return. END OF APRIL WILL SEE COOLIDGE WITH MAJORITY Such Is Claim of President’s Manager, but Johnson Says Fight Has Just Commenced. and “to wait until the preferential presidential primaries are heard from. * ¥ ¥ X In the meantime Senator John- son, campaigning in Ilinois, is Keeping up an insistent attack upon the administration, saying things that the democrats are lis- tening to very eagerly and treas- uring up against the time they can use them in the campaign for election. According to his esti- mate of the present republican party, it is reactionary to the core and “needs a housecleaning, which he wants to undertake. The republican leaders are bear- ing up under his criticism as best they ecan, re ding _hi “(Continued on Page 5, Column NEW FIELD OPENS INDAUGHERTY QUIZ Wheeler Says Anti-Trust Record Will Be Taken Up This Week. A busy vesterday pushing the ever-widening circle of the Senate Daugherty com- mittee still farther out, even though the committee itself was not in ses- sion. Senator 'Wheeler, democrat, Mon- tana, the committee's prosecutor, promised that before the end of this week witnesses would go on the stand to testify concerning the record of the Department of Justice in the matter of anti-trust law enforcement, which is as yet one of the few fields of inquiry upon which the committee has not entered. Monday will be de- voted, however, according to present plans, to the taking of additional evi- dence bearing upon Indian land cases staff of assistants spent in Oklahoma and the enforcement of prohibition in New York. Daugherty Aets Investigated In connection with the prediction that anti-truet cases would be taken up, it ‘was learned that the commit- tee's agents have gone exhaustively into transactions by former Attorney General Daugheriy touching upon anti-trust decisions against the New York, New Haven and Hartford rail- road. No indication of-what the com- mittee expects to show in that situa- tion has been given. The scheduled transfer of the in- quiry to Washington Court House, | Ohio, and the Midland National Bank, operated by M. S. Daugherty, the former Attorney General's brother, will take place, according to present plans, at the end of this week. Sena- tor Wheeler and Senator Moses, re- publican, New Hampshire, have been delegated to pursue the investigation there, while the committee holds in suspension a motion to cite M. S. Daugherty to the Senate for con- tempt for failure to open the records of the bank fully to the committec. Letter Sent Brookhart. H. L. Scaife, a former investigator for the Department of Justice, wrote a letter yesterday to Chairman Brookhart, referring to recent state- ments made public by Guy D. Goff, former assistant attorney general, and George W. Wickersham of New York, challenging testimony which he has given during three appear- ances before the committee. He sug- gested in the letter that the proper | place “for a show-down will be on the witness stand, and not in gratuitous statements issued at long range by ex-employes of the department under investigation.” He also suggested that both Mr. Wickersham and Mr. Goff be sub- poenaed by the committee “to take the witness stand and be questioned as to the documents which have already been placed in the record” of its in- quiry. SERVICE HOSPITAL RADIO FUND, 'STARTED BY ‘ROXIE; $4,500 SHORT Star Will Receive Contributions to Make Up Deficit. Miles of Wire Required to Supply Set for Each Patient. T P — With the fund ralsed by “Roxie” and “nis sang- for the installation and maintenance of radio receiving apparatus for the disabled service men at Walter Reed, Mount Alto and the Naval hospitals approximately $4,500 short of the estimated amount necessary, The Star will undertake to Lelp raise the deficit, at the request of the committee having the matter in oharge, by receiving contributions, Al persons, especially radio enthu- siasts, who can fully appreciate the power of radio to make life a bit brighter for the bed-ridden patients at the three service hospitals in Washington, are urged to ald in swelling the fund which “Roxie” and his troupe made a special trip to ‘Washington to create. Contributions of any amount will be received by The Star, acknowledged in its col- umns and turned over to James H. Baden, vice president of the Commer- Y clal National Bank and treasurer of the ~Roxie” fund. The contributions should be addressed to The Stars “Roxie” fund, Leroy Mark, who was chairman of the “Roxie” reception committee and who has taken an active part in the movement to install radio Sets in the three service hospitals, sent the fol- lowing letter to “Roxie” yesterday: “The spirit of co-operation in get- ting radio sets installed in the hos- pitals is evidenced by the fact that several meetings have been held in ‘Washington, the final one of which was last Thursday afternoon, at- tended by the following: Command- er John B. Kaufman, executive officer of the Naval Hospital; Col. D. P. Pen- hallow, medical officer in charge of Mount Alto; F. J. Wemple, ‘electrical engineer of the United States Vet- erans’ Bureau; C. E. Creecy, trans- (Continued on Page 6, Column L) | | ! wnday St WITH DAILY EVENING EDITION D. C, = SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 6, 1924—104 PAGES. HER PRESIDENTIAL PATCH. COMBINED FOREIGN SERVIGE TOGET0.K. Diplomatic and Consular Measure Expected to Pass House This Week. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Co-ordination, reorganization and classification of the diplomatic and con- | sular services into a single “foreign | service of the United States,” with | retirement annuities, is provided for in a bill sponsored by Representative John J. Rogers of Massachusetts, which is expected to pass the House early this week. House leaders have arranged to ex- pedite its passage 50 as to permit action by -the Senate at this session. This s the most important sd] beneficial step ever taken to place the foreign service of the nation on an efficiency basis, those who have been in closest touch with the State Department have assured Congress. It will be of inestimable advantage to the commercial as well as diplomatic interests of Americans. The Rogers bill has the strong sup- port of President Coolidge and the State Department. It will emphasize the importance of merit and experience rather than pos- session of private fortune in selec- tion of emissaries to foreign govern- ments. This measure was passed by the House during the last Congress, but was caught in the usual eleventh- hour jam in the Senate. Appropriation Increase. The burdén upon the Treasury for the operation of the Department of State, of the diplpmatic service and of the consular service for the last fiscal year was $454,000. The Rogers bill would increase this amount by about $345,000 annually. A 16-inch gun, which is now being set on its emplacements in defense of the Pan- ama canal coast, complete, will cost $450,000. First-class instrumentali- ties in our diplomatic and commer- cial foreign relations are just as im- portant as in our defensive and mili- tary relations. The cost of this one big gun in comparison with the cost of an up-to-date foreign service, fit- ted to cope Wwith eventualities, illus- trates the relatively small outlay necessary to give this country a proud standing among the nations of the { world in the fleld of diplomacy. Hitherto the diplomatic side of the foreign service and the consular side have ' occupied separate, watertight compartments. There has been a minimum of contact, and practically no personal ‘exchange. Yet in our modern world, almost every interna- tional question is partly diplomatic and partly commercial. Take such | questions as tariffs, coal, seals, oil and a score of others, and you have a mixed Qquestion involving national policies, diplomatic negotiations and commerce. The more business a man knows, the better diplomat he will be and the more international poli- cles he knows the better consul he will be. On the other hand, a peor consul may quite conceivably make an excellent diplomat, and, converse- 1y, a poor diplomat make an excelleat consul. Interchange of Persommel. The Rogers bill authorizes for the first time free interchange between the two sides of the service as the interests of the United States may dictate. A young man of twenty-five seeks to embark upon a diplomatic carszer. He has just been graduated from college and passas an excellent examination for the diplomatic corps. There can be no sounder practical education for such a young man than to turn him for a few years into a consulate, where for the first time he will learn business methods and where he will learn that worth-while foreign service is not exclusively an opportunity to shine in society. He will be a better man, a better American and a better foreign serv- ice officer all his life, because of the background of his experience in a consulate. The provision fer inter ((Continved on Page §, Colmn ) TODAY’S STAR Part One—42 Pages. General News—Local, National, Foreign. National Pciitical Survey—Pages 4 and 5. Schools and Colleges—Pages 22 and 23. Army and Navy News—Page 33. Radio News and Gossip—Pages 34 and 35. Parent.Teacher Activities—Page 36. Reviews of New Books—Page 37. Boy Scouts—Page 37. Financial News—Pages 38 and 39. The Civillan Army—Page 40. Girl Scouts—Page 40. Part Two—16 Pages. Edilwl%nfl Editorial Features. Washingfon and Other Society. Tales of Well Known Folks—Page 12. At the Community Centers—Page 14. Veterans of the Great War—Page 14. Around the City—Page 1. D. A. R. Activities—Page 15. Part Three—12 Pages. Amusements—Theaters and the Photo. play. Music In Washington—Page 5. Notes of Art and Artists—Page 5. Motors and Motoring—Pages 6 to 10. District National Guard—Page 10. Fraternities—Page 11. Part Four—4 Pages. Pink Sports Section. Part 5—8 Pages. Magazine Section—Fiction and Features. Part Six—10 Pages, Classified Advertising. News of the Clubs—Page 9. Spanish War Veterans—Page 9. Graphic Section—8 Pages. World Events in Pictures. Comic Section—4 Pages. Mr. Straphanger; Reglar Fellers; and Mrs.; Mutt and Jeff. GUARDSHEN SENT TONENTUCKY M Tense Situation Follows Kill- ing of One and Wounding of Another Man. Mr. By the Associated Press. FRANKFORT, Ky, April 5.—Two companies of Kentucky national guards- men have been ordered to the mining camp of the Liberty Coal and Coke Company on Straight creek in Beil county by Gov. W. J. Fields. An out- break of labor trouble was marked by killing of one man and wounding of another Thursday. The order was issued Friday night, but was kept secret until late today to facilitate movement of the troops. Machine Gun Company D, from Wil- liamsburg, and Company G, 149th In- fantry, Barbourville, were ordered to proceed to Straight creek, “under cover," by Adjt. Gen. James Kehoe, folowing a conference with the governor. ’ The troops were moved in motor trucks, and & number of them were at the scene ready for duty early today. ““The situation is very tense, and com- plicated by inroads of unknown parties, supposedly agitators from other mines,” Adjt. Kehoe said. “The adjutant geheral's office is hold- ing in readiness three large units for instantaneous dispatch in event of com- Pplication and it becomes necessary.” H. F."Reed, representative of union miners at the Straight' Creek camp, said tonight he had investigated the shooting Thursday and determined members of the organization were not ‘implicated. He declared he had cautioned the men against violence. Officlals of the company challenged Reed's statement and asserted efforts to prevent non-union men from work- ing was responsible for the trouble. Reed said the union miners were anxious to accept an invitation from Gov. W. J. Flelds for an arbitration conference. It was intimated com- pany officials were willing to meet Gov. Fields and to negotiate directly ‘with'the men, but that they were dis- inolined to deal with the uniom. TAX ON RADID SETS EMBODIED IN BILL ported to Senate Before Middle of Week. A last minute attack on the reve- nue bill, in an all-day session of the Senate finance committee yesterday, brought changes in the taxes on radio sets, jewelry and estates and delayed a report of the measure to the Senate until this week. The 10 per cent radio tax was made applicable to all sets and parts with- out exemption after the committee earlier in the day had voted to in crease from $15 to $50 the minimum price of a set on which the tax would be levied. This and the 10 per- cent tax on mah-jong sets costing more than 36 are the only new taxes carried by the bill. The taxes are levied on the manufacturer. The radio tax, Chair- man Smoot declared, would not resalt in an inerease in the price of sets and parts to consumers. Parts Not Speeified. Just what parts will be taxed, how- ever, will be left to the jurisdiction of the internal revenue bureau, as in the case of the tax on automobile parts, Mr. Smoot said. He figured the tax would net about $20,000,000, point- ing out, however, that no accurate estimates were available. Practically all of the rate schedules now have been agreed upon, Mr. Smoot said, and he predicted that the few odds and ends of the bill yet to be taken up would be agreed upon to- morrow, so that the bill may be reported to the Senate by Wednesday. This, however, will necessarily delay actual consideration of it by the Sen- ate until the following week. Meanwhile, Chairman Smoot said, the soldier bonus bill passed by the House would be taken up by the com- mittee. Little time would be neces- sary for the disposition of this meas- ure, be added, and several republican members predicted the bonus bill would be given precedence over the tax bill on the floor of the Senate. House Provision Widened. The House provision opening tax returns to inspection by congres- sional committees was broadened yes- terday by elimination of a previous restriction voted by the finance com- mittee, making it possible for the committees to make public “any relevant or useful information” ob- tained in inspection of the tax re- fturns. The commiittee had previous- ly voted to allow congressional com: mittees to make public only the names, addresses, amount of tax paid and amount of refunds given to the (Continued on Page 2, Column 6.) Sunda; 60 cents “From Press to Home Within the Hour” The Star is delivered every evening and y morning to Washington homes at per month. Telephone Main 5000 and service will start immediately, ¥ FIVE CENTS. REDS REPORTED READY TO INVADE BESSARABIA Troops Being Massed on Border, Excited Populace Believes. By the Associated Press. BUCHAREST, April 5 (Jewish tele- graph agency).—In consequence of the break-up of the Russo-Rumanian con- ference in Vienna, the Bessarabian population is living in a state of nerv- ousness and excitement. Rumors have been current that Soviet Russia is massing troops along the frontier. The Rumanian government has taken every measure to calm the population. Hope is expressed here that a meet- ing of armed forces of Russia and Rumania will be avoided through the Anglo-Russian conference to be held in London soon. | PLANS DEEP STUDY * OF EXPERT REPORT Reparations | Wants to Allow Plenty Time for World Reaction. By the Associated Press. PARIS, April 5.—"Possibly Mon- day, probably Tuesday, in any case ‘Wednesday at the latest,” vised forecast for the submission to the reparation commission of the | long-delayed report of the reparation experts committee. The combined | English texts so that they will mean the same thing and not lend them- !selves to contrary interpretations, and the natural difficulty facing the French national printing bureau in {members of the drafting committee, i who are anxious to get away from Paris and seek a well earned respite on the Riviera and in Italy, Corsica and even Elba. ‘WIll Avert Confusien. The experts are determined that no suoh confusion shall arise over their | report as arose in the case of the | Versailles treaty, in which the French \and English texts varied in several | notabie instances so as to permit | widely divergent interpretations. As ian instance of this divergency will [be recalled the famous provision re- garding the Monroe doctrine, which Was ‘eminently sstisfactory to the United States in the English version, but in French lent itself virtually to an opposed thesis. From the best autlorities in rep- !atations:and diplomatic circles, it is learned that the reparation commit- tee will not be likely to hurry in dis- cussing the report of framing reso- lutions to submit to the allied gov- ernments, because it is desirous above all things of leaving plenty of time for the reaction of world opinion, particularly the opinion of Berlin, to reach Paris. The .commission then will, after a brief delibefation, refer the text to the allies for an attempt at final set- tlement. Therefore, the next con- structive, forward move can hardly be expected before the end of the forthcoming week. The French foreign office has reit- erated its willingness to accept the report wholeheartedly as far as it has hitherto become known in general outlines, particularly in view of the fact that it will be a unani- mous conclusion and bear the signa- tures of impartial American experts. The British are now inclined to be- lieve that the French will desire a speedy summoning of the interallied conference, at which they will raise the question of the interallied debts at the same time as the reparations from Germany. Nevertheless, they voice the belief that France will not be entirely disappointed if the onus of Tejecting a settlement is thrown on Germany. ‘The British readily admit that they do not consider the report to be per- fect, so far as its provisions have become known, but they concede that it is the best that can be done in the way of a compromise agreement and for that reason hope for the speeding up of interallied conference project some time after April 15. —_— Robbed of $725 in Crowd. NEW YORK, April 6.—While scores of pedestrians and motorists passed nearby, Jerome Kerns, cashier of the Tremont Film Company, was held up today by two men on a cross-walk in the Bronx and robbed of $725. ST D LTS e Buak e siblediet gian RUINS OF GREAT MAYAN CITY, By the Associated Press. WALPOLE, Mass.. April 5.—News of the discovery of the ruins of a great city of the first Mayan Empire, lying miles inland in the uninhabited jungie of British Honduras, has been re- ceived by Lieut. Col. Walter M. Whit- man from his son, Edmund S. Whit- man, stationed in Honduras, Col. Whitman said today. Amid the ruins was one massive pyramid, towering 300 feet, the letter said. The huge stone structures, covering Kundreds of acres, date back 3,000 | years, according to- estimates, Col. Whitman sald. The discovery was made by an expedition under Prof. Mitchell Hedges and Dr. Gann, oper~ ating with Belize, capital of British Honduras, as a base. Col. Whitman.| said that he understood tbat the ex: pedition was under British auspices,] backed by a London syndicate, L} - 3,000 YEARS OLD, DISCOVERED Massive Pyramid, 300 Feet High, Among Chief Features of Relics of Ancient Civilization in Honduras Jungles. A portion of his son's letter, which Col ‘Whitman made public. reads: “An ovent has completely over- shadowed the revolution. One Pro- fessor Mitchell Hedges, and Dr. Gann, disappeared not long ago into the trackless wilderness of British Honduras. And now, from the depths of bosque; comes authentic word that they Mave discovered a great city of the first Mayan empire, covering hundreds of acres, compris- ing a wonderful monolithic period, and among other structures, a single pyramid towering over 300 feet in the air.” The ruins are covered with the Mayan hieroglyphics which for many years archaeologists have been trying vainly to decipher, Col. Whitman said. Most remarkable, he sald, according to the scant information that had reached him, was the size of the (Continued on Page 2, Column 1.) v Committee | is the re- | difficnlties of editing the French and | turning out letter-perfect, fool-proof | : English texts, again has set back the | Measure Now Cannot Be Re-! its | CONTNUED PG ON ANENDED GAS TAK BLLIN DO | Citizens Doubt Ability to In- duce President to Veto Reciprocity Plan. D. C. FISCAL RELATIONS ARE LEFT UNDISTURBED | Action of Conferees Considered | Real Victory for Washing- ton People. Victorious in preventing an in gement on the present fixed fiscu ations between the District and { the federal government, as containe the gas tax bill passed by th House and Senate, citizens of the Dis ! triet were studying the measure last night as agreed to in conference yes | terday to decide whether their fight { should be continued against a pro- posal which many believe is still ur fair to Washington. After reading the text of the agreement yesterday, Daniel J | Donovan, District auditor, expressed the bellef that in so far as the fiscsl relations are concerned the measure in its. present form is a victory for the District fr in 1 Gives All to Distriet. | ¥e said the bill recognizes {right of the District to entire credi |for all moneys collected as taxes |Some fear had been expressed sov- eral days ago that an effort might be made to require the District to divide the personal tax on automobile with the federal government on the | 60-40 basis. This action was dis- | pelled by the conferees yesterdav, | Who decided that the money raised { from the two-cent per gallon gasoline tax-——about $900,000 annually—will be placed to the credit of the District in the Treasury and used for street im | provements, and the money thus ap- | propriated “shall be matched on the 160-40 or other basis.” One interesting question was raised at the District building yesterday concerning the conferees' decision have the gas tax money used street improvements alone. It was Will Congress continue to make its annual appropriations for street im- povements in addition to allowing the $900,000—plus the federal govern- ment's proportionate share—to be available for streets? It was felt, a cording to spokesmen at the District building, that if the gas tax money i appropriated over and above regulur street appropriations, it will provide a much needed additional fund for im proving the highways. If on the other hand, the budget bureau or, Congress should cut the regular estimate for street' work on the assumption that the District is getting $900,000—plus the federal government's 40 per cent contribution—for streets, the streei system of Washington will suffer rather than benefit, from the gas tux bill. Next Move in Doubt The next move of the citizens who have fought the gas tax bill since it was changed from the commgssioners' original measure by the House and Senate was in doubt last night. Ed- ward F. Colladay, president of the board of trade and chairman of the joint committee representing citizens and civic bodies on this measure, said last night that he had called a meg- ing of his committee for Tuesday af- ternoon at 4:30 o'clock in the board of trade rooms, where the measure will be discussed. He declined to say what, if any, recommendations would be made for further action. Charles A.-Baker, president of the Federation of Citizens' Associations and chairman of & special committee of that body appointed to examine the gas tax measure, said last nigh his committee would also meet this week to decide their course of action He was unwilling to predict what it might be. Will Net Act in Haste. “We do not want to act hastily on this matter,” he said, “and we cer- tainly do not want the conferees to think that we are ungrateful for the concessions they have made. We are pleased over the fact that the fiscal relations have been left unchanged, although there still exists a differ- ence of opinion concerning the fair- ness of Tetaining the personal prop- erty tax on automobiles. We do mot i mind being justly taxed, but it is serious question whether this ad- ditional tax is either just or neces- sary.” Obviously, it was indicated Jast night, about the only move the citi- zens may now take in OPPOSing thy measure before it becomes law is to endeavor to inQuence the President to Veto the bil>, #nd there was little hope | of having this done. The Commission ers, in the first place, are mot dise ed 10 take any hand in having the ‘i‘fi‘i vetoed, It was learnad on good suthority, and it is doubtful {f the President would be moved by pleas ISR TRCLCd the Suppore of the duis Constituted local® Suthoritles —how. ever representative that plea mighy be. Seeks Action at Once. The conferees' report on the bill will be submitted to the Senate by Senator Ball, chairman of the Dis- trict committee, when that body meets tomorrow. Senator Ball said last night he would ask unanimous consent for-its immediate considera. tion. . Senator Ball said he expected the Senate to agree to the report and he believed. the House would also ap. prove it. The bill will then be sent tq the President for his signature. The bill, as it stands now, provides for a 2-cent a gallon tax on gasoline in the District, an annual license fea of 31 on automobiles and retention of the present personal nroperty tax, The temporary reciprocity agreement with Maryland will become perma. nent as soon as the gasoline law iy enacted. 5