Evening Star Newspaper, February 25, 1927, Page 1

WEATHER. (U. 8. Weather Bureau Forecast.) Rain this afternoon or tonight; slightly colder tonight; minimum tem- perature, 30 degrees; tomorrow fair The only evening paper in Washington with the Associated Press news ¢ President. This is true in the House |ine fact that thousands of other farm- i i) and colde) at 3 p.m. yester 6 a.m. today. Full *#Closing N.Y. Stocks No. 30,250. post office, Wa: FARM: BILL VETOED AS DISCRIMINATORY BY PRESIDENT UPON SARGENT'S ADVIGE Executive, in Lengthy Mes- sage to Senate, Appends Attorney General’s Ruling Holding It Unconstitutional. MNARY WILL NOT SEEK T0 REPASS LEGISLATION White House Expresses Sympathy With Status 6f Agriculture, Say- ing Other Plans Promise Sound Assistance and Would Be Given His Approval. BY G. GOULD LINCO! President Coolidge today vetoed the McNary-Haughen farm relief bill. . In a lengthy message to the Sen- ate, explaining his refusal to approve the bill, the President declared that it was unsound economically. He attached to his message an opinion of Attorney General Sargent that the measure was unconstitutional. - The President's argument against the bill was directed to the American farmer himself. He pointed out the ills which would accrue to the farm- er if the bill were enacted into law, ‘Temperature : Highest, 61, day: lowest, 55, at report on page 5. and Bonds, Page 14 Entered as second class matter shington, D. C. What Inspired . “ % % % It is not framed to ai furthermore, calculated to injure public welfare.” “The measure discriminates farming. * * * " “The bill will not succeed in tyranny of bureaucratic regulatio present bill will do.” whole will approve, is legislation will facilitate the constructive eff The full text of President Coolidge’s message to the Senate vetoing the MecNary-Haugen bill follows: “The conditions which Senate bill 4808 is designed to remedy have been, and still are, unsatisfactory in many cases. No one can deny that the prices of many farm products have been out of line with the general price level for several years. No one could fail to want every proper step taken to assure to agricuiture a just and secure place in our economic scheme. Reasonable and constructive legislation to that end would be thor- oughly justified and would have the hearty support of all who have the Interests of the Natlon at heart. The difficuity with this particular measure is that it is not framed to aid farmers as a whole, and it is, furthermore, calculated to injure rather than pro- mote the general public welfare. “It s axiomatic that progress is made through building on the good foundations that already exist. For rather than the ills which would come to the consumer. His message, indeed, makes no appeal to the con- sumer as against the farmer. It seeks to convince the farmer himself that the proposed measure of rellef is, in fact, no relief at all, but in the end calculated to impose a burden. The veto sounds the death knell of the MecNary-Haugen bill, with its equalization fee principle, for the pres- ent session of Congress. Senator McNary of Oregon, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, an- nounced he would make no move to pass the bill over the President’s veto. Representative Haugen, Republican, of Iowa, co-author of the measure, mai & We are very much disappointed. Judging from the" fested in real farm relief legislation, un- doubtedly the fight will go on to the end, and in the end wo shall win. That is all I feel iike saying now.” Votes Are Lacking. It is realized by supporters of the bill that it could not muster the two- thirds vote necessary to pass it, not withstanding the disapproval of the as well as in the Senate. They will Jet the matter rest, therefore, with the presidential veto. The veto of the bill also puts an end to all chance for farm rellef legis- lation during the present Congress, although President Coolidge in his message expresses his sympathy with the farmers of America, and points out that other legislative remedies for the farmer have been proposed which might receive his approval. Regret to President. President Coolidge said in his mes- t is a great regret to me that I am unable to come to the conclusion that the bill would help agriculture, be of benefit to the country, and be in accordance with the Constitution. “Other plans have been proposed in Congress for advancement in this re- covery, which plans offer promise of sound assistance to the farmers with- out these unconstitutionalities, inv: sions of executive authority, this con- tracting with packers and flour millers and other manufacturers, this over- production with its inflation and in- evitable crash, without this indirect price fixing, buying and selling, this creation of huge bureaucracies. They are on the contrary devoted entirely to the principle of building up farm controlled marketing concerns to handle their problems, including occa- sional surplus production, and ap- plicable to all agriculture and not to & minor fraction. 1 have frequently urged such legislation. 1 wish again to remew my recommendation that some such plan be adopted.” The so-called Curtis-Crisp bill at the present session of Congress and the Fess-Tincher bill at the last session mre believed to have fitted in with the President’s views. But those measures failed. i Campaign to Continue. The farm organizations backing the McNary-Haugen bill, it is expected, will continue their campaign. In many quarters it is expected that the veto of the farm bill by the President will be a point of political attack against the administration. Already thera have been intimations that oth- er Republicans of prominence who fa- vor the principle of the McNary-Hau- gen bill would undertake to win th Republican nomination for President next year, ¥rom a political point of view, how- aver, the President’s veto of the mes- sage may in the end gain him more strength than it will lose him in view of the strong opposition to the bill in many of the large industrial States. From Economlc Viewpoint. Tackling the bill first from the economic point of view the President a: “It is amiomatic that progress is made through building on good foun- ‘dations that already exist. For many Vears—indeed, from before the day of modern agricultural science—balance and diversified farming has been re- garded by thoughtful farmers and scientists as a safeguad of our agri- culture. The bill under consideration throws this aside as of no conse- quence.” s 1 he President declared that the bill A discriminates definitely against prod- Ucts which make up what has been universally considered a program of safe farming. In the opinion of the President, the bill would give special favors to far many years—indeed, from before the day of modern agricultural science— balance and diversified farming has been regarded by thoughtful farmers and scientists as the safeguard of our agriculture. The bill under consider- ation throws this aside s of no con- sequence. It says in effect that all the agricultural scientists and all the thinking farmers of the last 50 years are wrong, that what we ought to do is not to encourage diversified agri- culture, but instead put a premium on one-crop farming. Singles Out Certain Lines. “The measure discriminates defl- nitely against products which make up what has been universally considered a program of safe farming. The bill upholds as ideals of American farm- ing the men who grow cotton, corn, rice, ‘awine, or. wheat, and nothing else. These are to be given special favors at the expense of the farmer who has tofled for years to build up a constructive farming enter- prise to include a variety of crops and lice stock that shall, so far as possible, be safe, and keep the soil, the far- mer's chief asset, fertile and pro- ductive, “The bill singles out a few products, chiefly sectional, and proposes to ralse the prices of those regardless of ers would be directly penalized, If this is a true farm-rellef measure, why does it leave out the producers of beef cattle, sheep, dairy products, poultry products, potatoes, hay, fruit, vegetables, oats, barley, rye, flax and the other important agricultural lines? So far as the farmers as a whole are concerned, this measure is not for them. It is for certain groups of farmers in certain sections of thg country. Can it be thought that such legislation could have the sanction of the rank and fille of the Nation's farmers? “This measure provides specifically for the payment by tbe Federal board of all losses, costs and charges of packers, millers, cotton spinners or other processors who are operating under contract with the board. I contemplates that the packers may be commissioned by the Government to buy hogs enough to create a near scarcity in this country, slaughter the hogs, sell the pork products abroad at a loss, and have thelr losses, costs, and charges made good out of the pockets of farm taxpayers. The millers would be similarly commis- sioned to operate in wheat or corn and have their losses, codts and charges paid by farm taxpayers. Question of Authority. “It I8 roughly estimated that in this sountry there are 4,000 millers, over 1,000 meat-packing plants, and about 1,000 actual spinners. No one can sayv definitely after reading this bill whether each of these concerns would be entitled to recelve a contract with thé Government. Certainly no inde- pendent concern could continue in business without one. Each of the agencies holding & contract—the effi- clent and Inefficient allke—would be reimbursed for all their losses, costs and charges. “Jt geems almost incredible that the producers of hbgs, corn, wheat, rice, tobacco and cotton should be offered a scheme of legislative relief in which the only persons who are guaranteed a profit are the exporters, packers, millers, cotton spinners and other Processors. “Clearly this legislation involves governmental fixing of prices. It gives the proposed Federal board ak mest unlimited authority to fix prices on the designated comunodities, This is price fixing, furthermere, 6n some of the Natlon's basic foods and mate. rials. Nothing is more certain n that such price fixing would upset the normal exchange relationships exist- ing in the open market and that it would finally have to be extended to cover a multitude of other goods and services. Government price fixing, onee started, has alike no justice and no end. It is an economic folly from which. this country has every yight to be spared. “This legislation proposes, in ef- fect, that Congress shall delegate to a Federal Farm Board, nominated by farmers, the power to fix and collect a tax, called an equalization fee. on certain products produced by those farmers. That certainly contemplates a remarkable delegation of the taxing power. The purpose of that tax, it may be repeated, is to pay the losses incurred in the disposition of the sur- plus products in order to ratse the price on that portion of the products consumed by our own people. Sees Special Benefits. “This so-called equalization fee is not a tax for purposes of revenue in ers who grow cotton, corn, rice, swine, tobacco and wheat, as against ~(Continued on Page 6, Column L) - ' @h controlling the agricultural surplus. * * * . “We must be careful in trying to help the farmer not to jeopardize the whole agricultural industry by subjecting it to the WASHINGTON, Farm Bill Veto d farmers as a whole, and it is, rather than promote the general definitely against products which make up what has been universally considered a program of safg providing a practical method of n and control. That is what the “The bill is essentially a price-fixing bill. * * * 7 “What the farmers want, and what the American people as a which will not substitute govern- mental bureaucracy for individual and co-operative initiative, but orts of the farmers themselves in their own self-governed organizations.” —From President Coolidge’s Message. TEXT OF PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE necessaries of life it represents the most vicious form of taxation. Its real effect is an employment of the coercive powers of Government to the end that certain special groups of far- mers and processors may profit tem- porarily at the expense of other far- mers and of the community at large. ““The chief objection to the bill is that it would not benefit the farmer. ‘Whatever may be the temporary influ. ence of arbitrary interference, no one can deny that in the long run prices will be governed by the law of supply and demand, To expect to increase prices and then to maintain them on a “higher level by means of a plan which must of nece§sity increase pro- ductlon while decreasing consumption, is to fly in the face of an economic law as well established as any law of nature. Experience shows that high prices in any given year mean greater acreage the next year. This does not necessarily mean a larger crop the fol- lowing year, because adverse weather conditions may produce a smaller crop on a larger acreage, but in the long run a constantly increasing acreage must of necessity mean a larger aver- age crop. “Under the stimulus of high prices. the cotton acreage increased by 17 000,000 acres in the last five years. Under the proposed plan, as prices are driven up irresistibly by the arti- ficial demand created by the pur- chases of the board, the millions of farmers, each acting independently, with no assurance that self-restraint on his part in the common interest will be accompanied by a like re- straint on the part of milllons of other Individuals scattered over this im- mense country, will do just what any one else would do under the circum- stances—plant and grow all they can in order to take full advantage of a situation which they fear is only temporary. WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION D. C, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, ¢ Fpening Star. 1927—FORTY-EIGHT PAGES. service. Yesterday’s Circulation, 106,548 WO CENTS. 3,000 BRITISH HOLD BORDER OF FOREIGN AREAAT SHANGHA Take Up Positions as Chi- nese Groups Maneuver for Battle Over Metropolis. AMERICANS WILL LAND ONLY IF CRISIS COMES Clash Between Northern Troops Arriving to Defend City and Sun’s Soldiers Feared. By the Assoclated Press. The military situation at Shanghai seems to be rapidly approaching a crisis. Three thousand British regulars this evening moved into position sur- rounding the Shanghai international settlement. This action followed an appeal by the Municipal Council to certain foreign consuls for aid in de- fending the city. Additional sandbags and barbed wire entanglements are being placed around the international settlement to prevent any invasfon of the foreign section by the demoralized soldiery of Marshal Sun Chuan-Fang, whose de- feated defense forces are falling back into the native section of Shanghai. 28 Miles From City. Sun's retreating defense forces have reached Sungkiang, only 28 miles south of Shanghai, and are not thought likely 10 hold that city unless quickly reinforced. The Shantungese have won their race to reach Shanghai ahead of the Natfonalists. About 8,000 Shantung troops already have arrived and their battle squadron of 16 ships is report- ed to have left Tsingtao for Shanghia | to help defend the city against the advancing Nationalists. Three ~American _destroyers, the Preble, Noa and Hulbert, reached Shanghal today from Manila. But the| 1,200 United States Marines who ar-| rived yesterday on board the trans.| port Chaumont will not be landed un- less required for the defense of Amer- ican interests. More British on Way. A thousand British marines sailed for Shanghal from Hongkong today. The diplomatic body at Peking has issued a warning cautinoing the em- battled Chinese armies against jeop-| ardizing foreign lives and property in the fighting around Shanghal. Labor conditions at Shanghai are Fears Decreased Output. “This was, of Colirse, recognized the authors of the measure, and m.? proposed originally to offset this ten- dency by means fee to be paid by each pr in the present bill the equalization fee is to be paild by only part of the producers. “On the other hand, higher prices will make a decreased consumpticn. From 1917 to 1925 the per capita con- sumption of pork increased from 65 pounds to 86.3 pounds, but in the fol- lowing year, when the price of pork rose by $3.50 a hundred and the price of beef rose only 40 cents a hundred, the per capita consumption of pork Well off almost’'9 pounds. It is not in- conceivable that the consumers would rebel at an arbitrarily high price and deliberately reduce their consumption of that particular product, especially as uncontrolled substitutes would al- ways be available. ““The truth is that there is no such thing as effective partial control. To have effective control, we would have to have control of not only one food product, but of all substitutes. “Increased production on the one hand, coupled with decreased do- almost normal following the calling off of the general strike. A one-day nerd) e-was calisd at Han in protest against the British con n at Shanghal. BRITISH GUARD BORDER. Americans Held on Their Vessels Un- til Crisis Arises. SHANGHAI, February 25 (P).— Three thousand British regulars took | up defense positions along the borders | of the International settlement here to- night because of the situation created by the arrival of Chinese troops in increasing numbers in the city. ‘With the regulars in position, volun- teer defenders of the foreign settle- ments remained on the alert to aid in preventing native incursions as op- posing Chinese governments, strug- gling for possession of the city, con- tinued to concentrate their armies south of here. A volunteer machine gun company also was mobilized this morning and held in readiness, while British troops paraded two six-inch motorized how- (Continued on Page 4, Column 2.) <|CHINA'S “CHRISTIAN GENERAL" DECLARED TO BE HUNGARIAN Marshal Feng Once Served in U. S. Army, Says His “Brother.” Married in Orient and Won Way to Leadership in Civil War, Is Story. By the Associated Press. - BUDAPEST, Hungary, Febftuary 26.—Feng Yu-Hslang, the. “Chinese Christlan general,” is 4n reality a Hungarian adventuref, who served tor a period in _the American Army before going to China, says Judge Fengya of Kassa, Czechoslovakia, who dgelare; the general is his brother. Judge Fengya asserted that Feng held a commission as an American Army captain, but finding American life too tame, he wandered to China, marrying the daughter of a native prince. U. 8. PASTOR BACKS STORY. Feng Joined Army in Aguinaldo’s'l Rebellion, Says Connecticut Man. BRIDGEPORT, Conn., February 25 (#).—Gen. Feng -Hslang, China's “Christian general,” was Maj. John Fengya of the United States Army during the Philippine insurrection and s of Hungarian, rather than of Chinese descent, according to informa- tion received by Rev. Stephen F. Chernitzky of this city. Dr. Fengya of Kassa, Czechoslo- vakia, recognized & photograph of the “Christian general” published in a Kassa newspaper as that of his miss- ing brother, sald Mr. Chernitzky, who gave detalls of Feng's earlier life as described by his brother. Came to United States. Fengya, or Feng, was born in Kassa (then in Hungary), and after gradua- (Continued on Page 6, Column 5.) FENG YU-HSIANG American Army at the outbreak of Aguinaldo’s insurrection. Resligning at the close of the fight- ing, he went to China and married a Chinese girl. Marshal Feng, founder of the Kuo- minchun, or national, armies, has fig- ured prominently in the warfare in China for five years. His troops played a decisive part in the Chihli- Fengtien war of 1922, and during the Spring and Ssummer of 1923 his forces, stationed near Peking, had enormous l:fluence in the political situation there. Seized Peking in 1924. The flight of President L Huan Hung to Tientsin in 1923 was looked upon as an outcome of Marshal Feng's resig- natfon as inspector of the army. During the Chihli-Fengtien war of 1924 Feng selzed Peking, imprisoned President Tsao Kun and formed a pro- visional government, but later execu- tive power was turned over to Gen. Tuan Chi Jul. Recently the ‘“Christian general” tion from the grammar and high schools of his the accepted sense. It is a tax for the special benefit of particular groups. As 3 direct. tax on. the yital Hungarian Ni completion of his course there he came. 0. the United Sfates and jojped the Reking has been described as an “independent militarist” awaiting an oportunity to join the Chinese conflict in Honan Province either on the side of the forces or Nationalists, DAZASKSPUBL HERE DL, PACT Nicaraguan President Wants U. S. Intervention Placed on Definité Basis. A plea from President Diaz of Nica- ragua, to the American people for favorable consideration of proposals he has made to the Washington Gov- ernment to establish new treaty rela- tions between the two countries for the purpose of stabilizing economic and political conditions in Nicaragua was made public today by the Nica- raguan legation here. The communication outlines the treaty proposals which include guar- antee by the United States of the sovereignty and independence of Nic- A, Wi would in turn guaran- o American Tights to the Nicaraguan canal route. “In return for these guarantees which would sound the death knell of coups @ etat and revolutions in Nica- ragua.” the Diaz message said, “my government would concede to the United States the right to intervene in Nicaragua whenever it might be necessary in order to make effective the guarantees mentioned above.” Military Mission Favored. An essential part of the program, President Diaz said, would be Ameri- can co-operation through a military misslon to establish an adequate Nicaraguan constabulary upon which present armies would be disbanded. The project also contemplates the obtaining by Nicaragua ultimately of loans aggregating $20,000,000 for the purpose of meeting present obligations and to construct a railroad and high- ways from the Pacific to the Atlantic o American financlal adviser and recelver general of revenues woul be pmvldzd for as well as American technical and engineering assistants in sanitation programs and develop- ment of other -public works. L The communication said that “as matters now stand” Nicaragua her Central American n':llhl:;g‘lf - quently have “the interve: n of American armed forces ingur terri- tory directed exclusively for the pro- tection of American snd foreign lives and property.” c(" Want_Permanent Plan. “We have’ therefore reached the conclusion that we want to derive for” ourselves some benefit and per- vnanent advantage from American in- tervention, which we have thus far found inevitable, and at the same time transfer it from its present somewhat vague de facto basis to a well defined de jure status ‘with clearly stated responsibilities and ap- parent benefits for the intervenor and the intervened.” The Nicaraguan imbroglio assume a wider international aspect today as the British cruiser Colombo neared Corinto, Wwhere, despite assurances of all possible protective aid by the United States naval forces on both coasts, Great Britain has decided to place this warship for “moral effect’” and a possible refuge for British sub- Jects. Latest dispatches report the arrival of the Colombo in the Canal Zone. She is expected to reach Corinto, on the west coast of Nicaragua, late tonight or tomorrow. Meanwhile, as the situation is recéiv- ing only slight attention in British official circles in London and as the American Senate continues to wrestle with the Borah resolution to send the foreign relations committee on a visit of inspection to the Central American cduntry during the congressional re- cess, Managua cable advices indicate further fighting is in prospect between the Liberals and Conservatives. Attack Reported Planned. The Liberal generals, Moncada and Mena, are reported marshaling their troops for & concentrated attack either on Matagalpa or Granada, im- portant Nicaraguan centers. Con- servative leaders in Managua also are sald to be seeking a conference with the Liberals there in an effort to form a delegation to proceed to Moncada’s lines and attempt to persuade him to give up the fight as hopeless. In view of instructions given the commander of the British cruiser Co- lombo not tgull.ndn:ny lnf::m:] n‘f" Nicaragua, te partment i ficlals see no transgression of the Monroe doctrine in the British action to provide protection for English sub- jejcts and their property. They re- gard the explanation given by Sir Esme Howard, British Ambassador, as a satisfactory one, although a re- ply handed the Ambassador yesterday stated that American armed forces “(Continued on. Page §, Column, 4) Breaks High-Jump Record When Dirt Buries Man in Ditch The world's high-jump record was unofficially shattered this morning when Henry Simms, col- ored laborer, 230 Fifty-fifth street northeast, jumped 13 feet up from an excavation for a sewer in front of 214 Massachusetts avenue northeast just in time to escape a slide of dirt which burfed Lewis C. Peak, plumber, of Landover, Md., up to his armpits. Peak was pulled from the dirt by workmen engaged in the con- struction of an apartment house and taken to Casualty Hospital, where he was treated for a slight abrasion on the head. He was back on the job again within an hour. No one was able to explain how Simms eecaped in time. ; “I saw the dirt coming and jumped,” said Simms, who was safely out of the ditch before the :lidins earth had reached the bot- om. CONFEREES AGREE ON DISTRCTBIL $36,282,385 Measure Cuts Several Hundred Thousand 0ff Senate Proposals. The District appropriat iil, as agreed to in conference, les a total of $36,282,385, it nnounced offi- clally today by the’conferees. This is $66,690 morefhan the House al- lowed and sevéral hundred thousand dollars less than was provided as the bill pagséd the Senate. Final total is $604-tinder the budget as transmitted to”Congress by Gen. Lord. ~ The conference report is expected to be presented to the Senmate and House for ratification within the next day or two, after which it will be ready to go to the President. Additional detalls that were changed in_conference also became available today when the draft of the confer- ence report was completed. Land Purchases Cut Out. Among these revisions were the fol- lowing: Elimination of the Senate amend- ment for the purchase of land in the viecinity of the Harrison School. Elimination of the Senate amend- ment for the purchase of land in the vicinity of the Crummell School. Elimination of the Senate amend- ment for the purchase of land in the vicinity of the Park View School. The House conferees agreed to the Senate amendment which will allow the Commissioners to spend $125,000 appropriated in 1925 for an athletic fleld for Western High School with- out limitation as to price based on assessed value. In the item for the purchase of ground adjoining the site already own- ed by the District on Grant road the conferees changed the wording to al- low the Commissioners to buy other land in the vicinity as well as adjacent to that site. The House item for the paving of Sheridan street from Blair road to Fifth street was modified to include also the paving of Fourth street from Rittenhouse street to Sheridan street. Street Items Listed. Following is a complete list of items for the paving, grading gnd widening of streets as the appropria- tion bill now stands, awaiting final action by the Senate and House on the agreement of the conferees: For paving Forty-fourth place, Hawthorne street to Cathedral avenue. Twelfth place, Taylor to Upshur street northeast. . Fifty-seventh street, Blaine avenue to_Dix street northeast Minnesota avenue, Good Hope road to Eighteenth street southeast. B street, Fifteenth -to Sixteenth street northeast. E street, Thirteenth to Fifteenth street northeast. ‘Widen to 50 feet and repave H street from Seventeenth to Eighteenth street, s Piney Branch road, west side, Yan Buren to Butternut street. Van Buren street, Second street to juct. R street, Thirty-fifth to Thirty- seventh. «”"‘“‘tfi" Page 2, Column 6.) g1 . S RS Ul .Il | —— (] I \ HOLSE VOTE SAVES CRUSERSFORAY Senate Expected to Concur Today in Appropriation Amend:nent. The cruiser fight for the Navy is won, so far as Congress is concerned. The Senate 1s expected to concur in the House amendment to its appro- priation for beginning construction of the three new scout cruisers. Discretion is left with the President as td whether he will use the money for beginning work on the cruisers. The act of 1924, in which the light cruiser program was laid down, gives him this discretion. But the net result of the action of Congress' in placing the cruiser ap- propriation in the bill is to save to the Navy these three cruisers. Had no. appro) tion for beginning their :fltfll n been made at this session Congress, the authorization for their construction would have expired next July, Veto Held Unlikely. Suggestion of a presidential veto of the Navy bill because of the cruiser apprppriation, which the President has opposed at this time, was made on fhe floor of the House during the depate vesterddy afternoon. But legders gi-tfie Capitol do not expect suc] /Aeto. They say frankly that i President vetoes the bill, he ay force a special session of the next Congress, due to the failure of the Navy bill. Senator Hale of Maine, chairman of the naval affairs committee and in charge of the bill in the Senate, was prepared when the Senate met today to move to concur in the House amendment to the cruiser appropria- tion. The House amendment reduced the appropriation for beginning work on the three crulsers from $1,200,000 to $450,000. The amount, it was pointed out to- day, is not material. The victory was one of principle and the cruisers have been saved, in all probability, to the Navy. Furthermore, the Congress has given another demonstration of the fact that the Navy is not to be al- lowed to fall below what the country considers an adequate first line of de- fense. Vote Is Impressive. The vote taken in the House yes- terday was impressive. Representa- tive Butler's motion to concur in the Senate cruiser appropriation, with an amendment reducing the sum, was carried 208 to 172, a margin of 36 votes. It was particularly impressive in view of the fact that on January 7, when the bill was first before the House, a similar proposition was voted down, 183 to 161. . The victory for the cruisers, which is termed by the cruiser program sup- porters a victory for an adequate Navy, was particularly non-partisan, for 104 Republicans and 104 Demo- crats were found voting side by side in the House yesterday for the ap- propriation. President Coolidge will be called upon to determine at an early date ‘whether he proposes to expend the money appropriated for the three cruisers yesterday at this time. Bids to Be ‘Asked. It is the plan of the Navy Depart- ment to call for bids on three cruisers already appropriated for on March 10, and it is expected that bids for the three additional cruisers appropriated (Continued on Page 7, Column 2.) Ex-Judge Vrlgn(r)ires $50,000 Demand; Home/ Is Bombed By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, February 2 Threats that the home of John ELDRIDGE CALLED BEFORE PROBERSIN TRAFFIC SCANDAL Chairman Gibson of House District Subcommitte Also Will Quiz Donovan. CITY COMMISSIONERS DISCUSS SITUATION Director of Congressional Investi- gation Reveals How Informa- tion Was Obtained. With the full Board of District Com- missioners present, awaiting any ao- ditional disclosures on traffic signal light contracts, the Gibson subcoms mittee of the House District commit- tee at 3 o'clock this afternoon went into session, prepared to follow up the sensational disclosures of Wednesday night which resulted in suspension of Traffic Engineer I. C. Moller yester- day by calling Traffic Director M. O. Eldridge to the stand. Donovan also was expected to testify. While the afternoon hearing was in the offing, the Commissioners were in a closed session and additional light was being shed on the case. Chairman Gibson explained that the investigation of the subcommittee throughout has proceeded in an above- board manner with the knowledge of the District officlals, and that it has been conducted entirely through offi- cial channels with the co-operation of District and Federal employes. Source of Information. . “Note books of the stenographers in the Traffic Bureau were turned over to the representatives of the Bureau of Efficiency in the orderly course of the investigation by Traffic Director Eldridge and were transcribed,” Mr. Gibson sald. “That is where we got the information about Mr. Moller's correspondence with the Crouse Hinds Co. “I, as chairman of the committee, checked up on the activities of the agent of the Crouse Hinds Co., Mr. Moller and Mr. Graham (E. C. Graham. president of the National Electric Supply Co.). I called by telephone the room in the Washington Hotel where these men were in conference and lo cated the three of them there togethe: some weeks ago.” Other developments early today were: Traffic Director Eldridge disclosed that he had turned over all shorthand books containing the nal potes on letters from the traffic director's office to_in of the Bureau of Efficlency eafly in December at the time the discovery was made that Moller's letters to Crouse- Co. were missing from the flles. From these shorthand books and notes, Director surmised to- day, came the informa ‘which alded the House subcommittee in its ex- amination of Col. Moller despite the fact that he had taken letters from the files and kept them at his house. Installation of 600 trafic signal lights on local highways has been indefinitely postponed because of the confusion in the trafic director’s office_incident to the suspension of Col. Moller, the engineer who would have charge of the detalls of install- ing the lights. Bids from seven com- petitors are in the hands of Director Eldridge for such lights, but he said he had not yet examined them care- . They were awaiting analysis | by Col. Moller at the time the Caplitol Hill bombshell broke with force on the traffic director’s office. An inspection of specifications in former contracts for signal lights dis. closed today a clause stipulating no bids would be received from bidders | not having installations of such lights in 10 different cities: each such in- stallation to be of automatic interlock type, controlling not less than 10 intersections. This clause was re | ferred to by Chairman Gibson yester- day as one which practically limited competition to the Crouse Hinds or- ganization at the time the first two | contragts for lights were entered into, Moller Still Silent. ! Col. Moller continued silent today | regarding his suspension. He said he felt a statement by him at this time would throw no additional light on the situation in view of the full dis- | closures made by him at the subcom- | mittee hearing Wednesday night. Traffic Director Eldridge admity that the loss of Col. Moller seriously impede and, in fact, effec- tively stop execution of plans which had been placed in Moller's hands in the office of the traffic director. The fact that Moller was suspended and not discharged pending further in-e vestigation cast such a veil of un- certainty over the future incumbency of the post of traffic engineer that much of the work will be left in status quo until the uncertainty is cleared away, Mr. Eldridge intimated. Questioned directly concerning a re- port that stenographic notes had sup- plied the investigators working at the direction of the Gibson subcommittee with valuable data for the examina tion of Col. Moller, Mr. Eldridge this morning immediately recalled turning over all the shorthand note books to the investigators. “You see,” he said, “we preserve all our stenographic notes and file them away for reference. So when the Bureau of Efficlency stepped into the office early in December, I made all items available to them, and these notes and notebooks, I know, were among the things turned over to them. T surmise that is where the coples of the letters dictated by Col. Moller and yet not found in the files were obtained.” First Contract Awarded in 1925. A bird’s-eye view of Washington signal traffic light system discloses that the first contract for si; 1 lights was awarded June 15, l!{;'..eulflll | for a total expenditure for lights and accessories of $9,048, exclusive of the Palmieri, former City Court judge, would be blown up uniess he paid $50,000 to the writers of anonymous letters were followed early today by the explosion of a bomb in front of his home, in Brooklyn. The family, including four chil- dren, asleep when the blast occur- red, escaped injury. Windows in the front of the house were shat- tered. The property is one of the show places along Ocean Parkwa; The bomb had been hidden in shrubbery in front of the house. Mr. Palmiefi ignored the de- mnor‘l)% in two l:t;an that he post ,000 at a spot in Pros) Park. He said he had no knowlmod‘n as to the authors of the letters. cost of installation. This provided for 99 post-type signal lights and two four-way signals, as well as for switch controls, timing switches and other incidentals. Col. Moller admitted on the stand that only 78 of these signal lights ever arrived, the difference being made up in other equipment. The second contract called for 48 single- face signals and other signals, at a total cost of $8,848, and was awarded May 11, 1926. This contract included also nine flashing beacons. Col. Moller admitted on the stand that several items listed in this: con- tract had been received in the first eontract in leu of the shortage of 21 (Continued opegwge 7. Column :y‘ L & P b