Evening Star Newspaper, March 17, 1931, Page 2

A—2 #x - CITIZENS PROTEST HIGH GAS PRESSURE Takoma, D. C., _Association Also Objects to Penalties Charged by Utilities. Reduction of gas pressures in the Dis- trict to 6 inches, the maximum formerly allowed mission, was advocated last night by the Citizens' Aseociation of Takoma, . C. The association took the position that the adjustment of gas appliances to operate efficiently on the recently al- lowed 8-inch maximum pressure “is g expensive, unnecessary and wholly sidequate method of eorrecting the in- justice being done the users or cus- tomers.” The Utilities Commission, the asse clation declared, “owes it to the citi- zens to require the Washington Gas Light and the Georgetown Gas Light companies to keep the gas pressure within some standard limitation,” d that the allowable pressure “be such as is most efficient and economical from the standpoint of the user or cus- tomer.” Objection was aiso made to the method of charging bills, and in a reso- Jution adopted it was stated “that there is no reasonable warrant or justifica- tion for either the Washington Gas Light Co. the Georgetown Gas Light Co. or the Potomac Electric Power Co., requiring either the user or customer to be chargeable at varying dates in the different’ months with the payment of bills rendered by the companies, or to subject the user or customer to a pen- alty of 10 per cent per month on bills rendered, particularly when the com- y the Public Utilities Com- | D. C. Man Once on Viking TELLS OF “WRECK” BY REX COLLIER. XACTLY a year ago, the vetetan | sealing ship Viking was chiS | actor in a movie melodrama which featured & shipwreck and rescue_extraordinarily like the sea_tragedy which has now befallen her and her doughty crew. One of the motion picture officials who was aboard her when the film “Catastrophe” was staged is a WasH- ington man, Thomas B. Sweeney, ir., and today he told of his incredulity when first notified that the Viking was |lost in a real drama of the North. Associated With Frissell. Sweeney, who is with his parents at | panies have the power to require secu~ rity from users who are not financially responsible and hayve the additional wer of penalizing & delinquent uml discontinuing service.” ‘The association will urge the Board of ‘Education to fireproof the stairways of all the old graded District school It will also request the purchase of the squares bounded by Underwood, Van Buren, Third and Fifth streets for a new senior high school and also that a new school be provided in the section lying north of Underwood street and east of the tracks of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. A teachers’ room for the Takoma Park Public School will also be requested of the Board of Edu- cation. UTILITIES MAGNATE MAY BECOME HEAD OF LOCAL GAS FIRM (Continued Prom First Page.) comment coming from his office until the Department of Justice compl the inguiry it is making for him into the gas situation. Pressure Is Reduoced. In the meantime the commission re- ceived a series of reports relating to the gas situation, One of them came from President Wood of the gas com- pany, who sald that gas pressure throughout the District had been re- duced to the required eight-inch tem- porary maximum. This statement was supported in another report submitted by T. L. Reynolds, acting chief en- gineer of the commission. A third report, however, filed by B, A. Potter, the commission’s gas en- gineer, declared that gas appliances he had personally examined were con- suming too much gas, while water heaters varied as much ‘as 78 per cent in excesfof their rated capacity before being readjusted. Mr. Potter based his report on & check he made of adjustments on con- sumers’ appliances in the area between Sixteenth and Eighteenth streets and Newton and Monroe streets and Park road. “I personally observed eight of the adjusters at work,” Mr. Potter said, were burning too much gas and were adjusted lower, The water heaters varied as much as 78 per cent in excess of their rated gapacity before being re- adjusted.” R Obeyed Commission. Mr. Wocd submitted the gas com- pany report in cbedience to instruc- tions iscued by. the commission several weeks ago which contained a waming that unless pressures were reduced to the 8-inch mnxlmmlul:z Hh’;;eh 16 in the then two remain -gmure areas, penalties would be voked. These two areas’ weére in the general vict of Twenty-first and N streets and Seventh and 8 streets. Mr. Wood seid he is mow able to report that “pressures within the Dis- trict are within the limits prescribed, therefore further reports on this mat- ter will be unnecessary.” r. Wood aléo reported that in the period between March 7 and 15, in- clusive, company inspectors adjusted the appliances of 4,088 gas consumers. Mr Reynolds based his report on the activities of the company last week, ending with Friday. In this period, he sald, the company made 2,306 regular service calls over the entire city, and in addition made 572 special calls in the district_between Sixteenth street and Rock Creek Park. Pressure charts taken by the gas| company in each of the fire stations during the week, he declared, showed that the maximum did not exceed 8 inches and the minimum did not go below 4 inches, ALBRECHT TAKES STEP TO VALIDATE MARRIAGE Leaves to Visit Archduke Otto to Make Formal Renunciation of Royal Rights. By the Assoclated Press. BUDAPEST, March 17.—Archduke Albrecht, one-time candidate for the Hungarian throne, left for Belgium last night, where he will visit Archduke Otto to make formal renunciation of all his royal rights in order to obtain validation as a private individual of his marriage to a woman not of royal blood. Albrecht’s wife, formerly Mme. Irene Lelbach, divorced wife of the Hungarian Minister to Sofia, whom he married tn England last August, is expecting the birth of a child. The archduke hopes to make his marriage valid by obtaining a pronouncement from the Catholic Church that his wife's first marriage was canonically illegal. Archduke Otto, who recently became head of the Hoyse of Hapsburg and otetender to Ke.gary's empty throne on attaining his majority, is a student at the University of Louvain. Promi- nent monarchists have started a move- ment ‘o place him on the throne. Albreel! is 42 years old. BAND CONCERT. By the United States Soldiers’ Home Band this evening, at Stanley Hall, at 5:30 o'clock. March, “The Irish King™” Overture, “The Shamrock, Two Irish popular songs, “Ireland Must Be Heaven”..McCarthy “I Love a Little Cottage” .O'Hara Gems from the Irish Musical Comedy “Shameen a Dhu” ... .Olcott Intermezzo, “Irlandals Waltz song, “Ireland, M: letes | who actually piloted the ship during the their home, 1520 New Hampshire ave- nue, is a close friend of Varick Frissell, Holiywood producer, ‘Who is reported missing in the explosion of the sealer. Sweeney, who was associated with Frissell in the production of the new picture, fo_be called “White Thunder, said that Prissell had returned to the sealing grounds with a cameraman to several additional ‘“‘atmospheric shots” for insertion in the film. “The New York distributors criticized the picture because it did not have enough sealing and ice scenes—back- ground stuff,” Sweeney said. “Frissell decided to take another trip back to Newfoundland with the Viking on her regular March trip this year, so as to et the necessary scenes, I don’t think gc was accompanied by any one but a cameraman and his inseparable canine compapion, Cabot, a huge Newfound- | land, which went with us on the previ- ous expedition.” Dynamite Used to Blast Ice. Sweeney sald he did not know how the loss of the Viking will affect plans of the producers for early release of “White junder.” The picture features Capt. Robert Bartlett, polar explorer, movie cruise, it was stated. It is cer- tain no decision will be made until the fate of Prissell is established. Frissell had borrowed approximately $250,000 with whlflhl'g make the picture, weeney recalled. BSweex!-y said the Viking carried a store of dynamite last year. The ex- plosive s used to blast & way through the ice in case the vessel gets caught in & jam, he said. One of the sequences in the movie showed members of the crew blasting an ice jam. Disaster Like Pieture. “The sent disaster is a tragic real- ization g{emnny of the incidents con- jured up by Frissell for his picture, Swecney stated, “Frissell hit Lpon the idea of filming & sea rescue among the | ice floes of the sealing grounds. He en- listed, the aid of friends in fnancing the plan, engaged Capt. Bartlett and supporting cast and hired the Viking which was one of the oldest vessels in the sealing fleet. “The sealing season is from March 1 to 15. Ali seal babies are born.on one day, usually about March 1. It inst the law to capture the seals after they are » month old. All the ac- tion must take place in the short space ot about two weeks. “Qur scenario called for the wrecking | of the ship in an ice jam and the scat- tering of the survivors on floating ice. | Bome were supposed to make their way | to shore, but others dled on the ice. I have still pictures illustrating various of these sequencee “When we got back to New York and put the film together it was found that | while the plot action was satisfactory, a_few additional ice close-ups. for at- mosphere purposcs were advisable. That | is what Prissell went back for a few | weeks ago.” MAIL FLYER FIGHTS STORM FIVE HOURS ON RICHMOND RUN (Continued Prom First Page,) at 3:05 o'clock this morning bound for | Bolling Field. The clouds were heavy, | with snow and rain falling along the | line but he hoped, with the aid of the new Department of Commerce radio range beacon service, to get through. Clouds Block Landing. After following the beacon course 45 or 50 minutes, which normally would have put him within sight of Bolling| Field, J2zmicton was “pinched off” by | clouds and fog, which closed in com- | pletely and made it imposeible for him | to land. He turned back toward Rich- | mond to land if necessary and try | again when the fog had lifted. When he reached Richmond, how- | ever, he found & hole through the blankets of clouds overhead and decided | 40 climb up above the clouds and try to find another opening through which | he might descend in the vicinity of Bolling Fleld. He ciimbed for an hour and a quarter and finally cleared the cloud banks at an altitude of 9,000 feet. Picking up the radio beacon signals, Jamieson again came up to Washing- ton. When he judged by the strength of the beacon signals that he was nearly sver the city the radio cut out complete- ly for some reason he could not de- termine. Without anything to' guide him he cruised around two miles high above the clouds looking for a hole through which he might drop with some assurance of a safe landing. While he circled around, | W. B, Martin, in charge of the Bolling {Pleld airmail station at night, could hear his motor from the field below. Martin switched on the field floodlights but the fog and clouds klanketed even their powerful beams from the view of the pllot above. Fuel Supply Runs Low. Jamieson finally was forced to turn back to Richmond as his fuel supply began to run low. While he was flying | around the wind was picking up, with- out his knowing it, and he went back south cn the wings of a §5-mile-an- hour tail wind. When he came down {ous of the clouds he found himself 30 miles south of Richmoi~. He turned back north once more and landed at Richmond at 6:25 o'clock, after being {in the air 3 hours and 20 minutes. His plane was refueled, and Jamie- son tock off for Washington once more at 7 o'clock. By this time the morning sun had begun to beat down the clouds and mist, and he was able to get through, landis at Bolling PFleld at 8:10 o'clock. After a five-minute stop | here he completed his run to New York [ mail rescued from Treat's demolished plane down to Richmond early yester- Longing for You” . ‘Young Hnlle:v"éume Out of the Kitchen, Mary n' “The Star Spangled Banner.” Pully 400,000 radio receiving sets are Argentina, h‘;*h "y day afternoon, followed Jamieson up Washipgton with a second section, ichmond at 8:15 o'clock. rry” Pabst, former Marine Co: .pilot, succeeded in breaking through E storm yesterday afternoon with a load | which by eny such tests are too high, Pilot John Armstrong, who flew the | INVOLVING SEALER. Thomas B. Sweeney, jr. member of a former expedition of the -Viking, in two poses, one on the ice in the same area where the ship exploded. The dog is Cabot, member of the Viking cre: which was on the ship when the di aster occurred. ULTIMATUM WARNS PEPCO TO REDUCE RATES FOR POWER (Continued From Pirst Page) known that many enterprises, subject to competition which you do not have to fear, are satisfied with a return which is far less. “In the case of any utllity serving the public, the reasonableness of its rates must be tested in several ways. It 15 not enoufi.h that they are low compared with similar charges in other localities. There must be considered all the perti- nent facts, such as the cost of render- ing the service in question, the profit made after providing for all operating expenses and its relation to the fair alue of the property and useful in such public service. A company strives to maintain a schedule of rates, will the greater reiurn compensate for the feeling on the part of its customers wnich will be thus engendered? On the other hand, would not the friendly at- titude of its customers, if the compan; sursued 2 different course, be well wort! what it would cost?” Backs Sliding Agreement. The commission next goes on record as holding that under paragraph 18 of its organic act it can set up a sliding scale by entering into an agreement with the company and disregarding the consent decree so long as it honestly determines that such a course would be necessary and reasonable. ‘The letter states: “The ccmmission is well aware such action on its part might and probably would lead to litigation, and it has distinctly evinced its desire to avoid litigation if this be possible. On the other hand, it may be just as well tb state right here that the commission believes the sliding scale should be modified (the word shculd is under- lined) nlonf lines which it has indi- cated and if, to accomplish this pur- pose, it becomes necessary to take the matter to court or if any action taken by it is challenged before the court, the | commissicn will not hesilate for a“ moment to use its utmost endeavors | to secure favorable action by & court | on any prayer which it may make, or | to defend most vigorously befcre a court | any action which it may take.” | Shortly after there follows a state- | ment that' the commission, by entering | into the consent decree in the first place, does not consider itself estopped from revaluing the property of the company at any time, quoting from paragraph 9 of its act, to the eflect that the com- mission may at any time on its own initiative meke a Trevaluation of the property of any public utility, After es- tablishing this position, the commission then calls on the company to reflect upon the relative advantages of an agreed value, as at present, and the value which might result from a valuation proceedings 2t this time, when com- modity prices are generally low. ‘The letter concludes: | _“It is the intention and the desire of | the commission that all of the matters treated herein may be placed before the officials of your company who determine its attitude, its policies and its actions. | It is urged that they think seriously of the effect of any decision they may reach. The commission desires you to | confer with it once more, and as soon as pessible after your board of directors | has acted. At that time it will expect | you to state clearly, definitely and final- | | 1y just what attilude you assume, just | what, if anything you propose to do, or | are willing to do about this matter. Thereafter the commission will very | promptly decide what action it will take | in the premises. Athenian Bakers Strike. ATHENS, Greece, March 17 (). — | Many Athenian bakers struck today in protest at the Tariff Commission’s re- | vision and t# minister of interior has introduced a bill authorizing him to | | prevent the striking bakers founding or | conducting bakeries of their own. of northbound mail, which he carried from Richmond to Washington. Prom this point north, however, the storm was 80 bad the mail was sent on by rail. Treat, none the worse for his har- rowing experience in the storm near Laurel, Md., Sunday night, was back in ‘Washington today ready to take up the “shuttle” plane from Washington to New York at 6:30 this evening. After taking the shuttle North, he is going to double up and bring back his regular night plane, leaving New York at 9| o'cleck, Richmond bound. A barnd-new parachute was recelved for Treat at Bolling Field this morning to replace the one which saved his life Sunday night. His old ’chute must undergo thorough inspection and re- packing before being reissued. Treat will wear the new parachute when he takes off for New York, e | While she watched she sent what little | three families who occupled the island | made BY YOUNG WOMAN Radio Flashes Dispelled Idea That Blast Was Only Movie Scene. R the Assoclated Press. ST. JOHNS‘.Newfoundlln& March 17.—An 18-year old girl last night car- ried on against tremendous difficulties in an effort to send through static-filled ether news of those who were aboard the sealer Viking, which was destroyed Sunday by an explosion. Listed unromantically on the records of the Mackay Radio Co. as O. Bartlett, the young woman, who serves as radio operator on Horse Island, near which the Viking was destroyed, spent feverish hours tapping out messages for the outer world, many of which were never received. Thought Movie Set. Rumors of the explosion had reached here earlier. But it was known ihat the Viking was chartered for motlon picture purposes and it was belefea wnat had been taken for disaster was only a carefully staged scene. This be- lief was shattered only when Miss Bart- lett's message was read to Parliament by the prime minister, and the govern- ment's agencies marshaled and dis- patched to the Viking's survivors, It was at 9 o'clock Sunday night when the girl's first message flashed through the ajr, giving the first actual hint of the tragedy in the ice-filled waters near the lonely island, which she shares with three families. “Heard terrific explosion this morn- ing,” she said “Wreckage of burning steamer sighted about 8 miles east of here. Also men traveling on ice toward island.” Men on Ice Watlched. ‘Then followed anxious hours of wait- ing, while she watched the human forms on the ice some miles away. news she could. “No particulars at hand, yet,” she messaged. “Ice in sbad condition. Heavy sea, wind blowing off shore. PFirst crowd of men may reach island. Others have very little chance. Making very slow progress.” Then came a disturbed note. The hasty calculations this worried message came: “People have only plies for selves. here. and sufficlent sup- No medical assistance No chance getting to mainland.” First Real News Obtained. The night dragged, while on the island the three famflies and the girl made whet precautions they could, to care for the mariners staggering to- ward them through the Arctic cold end against a shrieking gale Meanwhile all the information at Miss Bartlett's disposal had been sent to Government officials. There wasn't much. Simply that there had been an explosion on an unidentified steamer eight miles away, that the steamer was in flames and that men were walking across the ice toward the island. Early in the forenoon, however, came the first sepcific news. A trace of the girl's excitement en- tered the message, which began, “The men have reached the island; in such exhaustive condition could give no co- herent story. Impossible wire further details no Name of Vessel Learned. Impossible, just then, perhaps, but within a few moments she wired that the ship was the Viking; that the cap- tain was seriously injured and that the cook, Wireless operator and doctor were missing. The one man who could relieve her and the man who could care for the injured were missing. Nothing to be done about it, so, a little later, she passed on the word that dynamite, used to free the ship when it became caught in ice jams, had exploded in the ship's stern, demolishing the vessel aft and setting her ablaze forward. If Miss Bartlett was suffering from fatigue cor nervous strain® from the ordeal under which she labored, there was no hint of it in the distressing message that followed: “Men below and asleep when explo- sion_occurred. Many blown to pieces Twenty are dead and injured unknown.” And then the ether filled with static. Of the messages sent out few were re- | ceived. (Copyright, 1931, the Associated Press.) EUGENE W. CISSEL COMMITS SUICIDE Rockville Resident Shoots Himself in Head at Home. Bpecial Dispatch to The Star. ROCKVILLE, Md., March 17.—Eugene W. Cissel shot and killed himself at his home here last evening on his forty- first birthday anniversary. His wife told police that she had feared for some time that her husband was contemplating suicide. Mr. Clesel, who was a member of a prcmment Montgomery County family, is sald to have been despondent for more than a year. His health was not good. After a conference last night with Ststes Attorney Stedman Prescott and Policeman Harry Merson, Dr. G. V. Hartley, who was called into the case by Mrs. Cissell, issued a certificate of death by sulcide. MRS. IDA H. HARPER T0 BE BURIED IN MUNCIE Writer and Lecturer, Noted as Suf- frage Leader, Died Here Sat- urday Night. The ashes of Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, author, journalist and lecturer, who died in Homeopathic Hospital here Sat- | urday night, were being sent today to Muncie, Ind., for interment in the fam- ily burial piot. Mrs. Harper was widely known as a protagonist of woman suffrage. Her best known books were “The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony” and the “History of Woman Suffrage.” Since 1904 she had been a delegate to European conferences of the Inter- national Council cf Women and the In- ternational Suffrage Alliance. At the time of her death she was living at the headquarters of the American Associa- tlon of University Women here, A daughter, Mrs. Winifred Harper Cooley of New York, survives, BOY FILES $50,000 SUIT Thomas D. Fitzgerald, jr., a minor, through his father, Thomas D. Fiiz- gerald, 1450 Girard street, today filed suit in the District Supreme Court to recover $50,000 damages from Willlam H. and Frederick A. Hessick, trading as W. H. Hessick & Son, coal merchants, for alleged personal injuries. Through Attorneys A. Coulter Wells and Willlam H. Carey, jr. the boy tells STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C IVIKING NEWS SENT | 3 TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1931. i B b Ak __Upper: The crew of the ill-fated sealing ship Viking, which exploded near Horse Island, Newfoundland, March 15, blasting away the ice to make a passage for the ship. The above photo was made during a previous trip cf the ves- gel to the Arctic. The list of dead among the 142 men aboard the vessel was placed at 25. One hundred and eighteen, including the captain, reached safety. ‘The blast occurred when a magazine co: and blew the stern of the ship toward the forward end. Inset ntaining powder and dynamité exploded Varick Frissell, 27, of New York, who with his companions left New York on the Viking about two weeks 8go_with motion picture equipment to film supplemental scenes for the motion picture “White Thunder,” of which he is the producer, is among those missing. He is the son of Dr. Lewis Frissell of New Ycrk and a nephew of Gov. Gif- ford Pinchot of Pennsylvania. Lower: alive may be seen here and there. 25 DEAD, 118 SAVE INVIKING TRAGEDY Varick Frissell, Cameraman and Explorer Numbered Among Those Missing. | (Continued From First Page) and his two companions sailed with sound motion picture equipment to tnkel additional scenes for Frissell's picture of the seal fisheries, which he began on an_earlier trip. He is 27 years old, a graduate of Yale | University and a member of the Royal | Geographic_Soclety. He is the son of Dr. Lewis F. Frisseil of New York and a relative of Gov. Pinchot of Penn- sylvania. | Sargent is & graduate of Harvard | College in the class of 1912. He has engaged in exploration and research work and spent last year in Scandi- | navia [ Worst Disaster in 17 Years. Penrod, the cameraman, was formerly associated with Prof. Willlam H. Bristol at Waterbury, Conn., in the develop- ment of sound picture apparatus. The sinking of the Viking is the worst disaster that has overtaken the Newfoundland seal fishers in 17 years. In 1914 the steamers Newfoundland and Southern Cross were lost with a_total of 215 lives. Records of the sealing trade shaw that 547 lives were lost in | 110 years, to which must be added the toll of the Viking when the exact | figure 1s ascertained. When disaster overtook her, the Vik- ing was the only ship to be separated | from the rest of the fleet, which sailed | from here March 9. The other vessels | passed through the Strait of Belle Isle into the Gulf of St. Lawrence sev- eral days ago. The strait is now jammed with ice, making it impossible for the others to get back to the aid of the Viking crew. - The Newfoundland Legislature was adjourned when word of the Viking dis- aster reached the chamber. Govern- ment officials immediately dispatched the rescue vessels and ordered depart- ments bandling the situation to remain open all night. CAPTAIN MAKES REPORT. Commander of Viking Lists Ten Men | as Missing. | HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, March 17| (P).—In the first report he has been | able to make to his government, Capt. Abram Kean, jr., told this morning of the explosion which cost him his ship | and the lives of probably 25 men Sun- | day night. His report was cabled the | Canadian press by Hon. H. B. C. Lake, minister of marine and fisheries. | Capt. Kean said he was on the bridge | when the explosion tore his vessel. He | was hurled to the ice, through which the steamer was slowly pushing her way, and was severely injured. He said a check had been made of 118 survivors who had succeeded in reaching Horse Island over the eight |G miles of heaving ice floes. As a resu:t of this check, he reported, his three American passengers, Varrick Prissel! A. E. Penrcd and Harry Sargent, wer missing, as well as the navigator, Capt. W. Kennedy; the chief engineer, J. Murphy; the second engineer, F. Par-. nell; the third engineer, H. Hanniford: the 'ship’s physician, Dr. W. J. Roacn} the wircless operator, C. King, and the steward, S. Ulett. ‘The mate, Alfred Kean, he said, was still on the ice with a broken leg. Druggist’ Evolution Periled. the court that he was invited to rids on a truck of the defendants ¥eb-uary 3.! 1930, at Fourteenth street and Columbia road, and as he had mounted the run- ning board preparatory to entering the cab with the driver the vehicle made a sharp turn throwing him from the truck and inflicting serjous injuries resulting from & parked automobile, DES MOINES, Iowa, March 17 (#).— | Evolution of the old time apothecary | into a short Junch vender is threatened in Towa. Representative C. M. Langland has offered a measure providing no food may be prepared or served in any retail establishment which offers or keeps for sale polsonous or substances. The seal hu:gers in action. | By the Assoclated Press. Members of the party hunt their quarry on the ice blocks. A few seals still P. Photos. WELSH COAL MINERS QUIT CARDIFF, Wales, March 17 (#)— Five thousand coal miners of South | ‘Wales quit work today in protest against | a wage cut of 14 cents a day awarded | recently by th> chairman of a joint| conciliation board. | Leaders who had prompted a deci- sion by the miners’ delegates at a con- ference yesterday to postpon: action for a week were concerned at th: action, and elsewhere it was feared that when ! the delegates resumed their conference | next week they would vote definitely for & policy of abandoning their iools. DENIES SEEKING HODVERS SUPPORT Macy Says He Urged Ap-;‘ pointment of Judge, Not Aid | in Municipal Probe. W. Kingsland Macy, Republican state chairman of New York, said today that | he had not conferred and had no inten- tion of conferring with President Hoo- ver regarding a State investigation of the municipal affairs of New York City. Macy said he had w™ed the appoint- ment of State Senator John Knight for Federal judge of the western district of New York. He recommageed Knight for the job two months ago, but the appointment was not made after organized opposition to his appointment arose in Erle County. ‘The White House also said there “was no truth” in published reports that Macy had attempted.to interest Presi- dent Hoover in securing an investiga- tion by the New York Legislature, PROBE AID RUMORED. By the Assoclated Press. NEW YORK, March 17.—The New York Herald-Tribune today said W. Kingsland Macy,* Republican State chairman, had gone to Washington to seek President Hoover’s support of a legislative investigation of the city gov- ernment Mr. Macy will appeal to the Presi- dent, the paper said, to persuade Wil- ilem L. Ward, Repubiican leader of Westchester County, to withdraw his opposition to a resolution pending in the State Senate. Senators Seabury C. Mastick and Walter W. Westall thus far have blocked passage of the meas- ure, purportedly under orders from Mr. Ward. The New York Times sald ‘he State Democratic party had been split into three factions by the agita'fon for an inquiry. They were naraed as the leading Tammany grour, headed by John F. Curry, the suprorters of Gov. Franklin D. Rcosevelt und the follow- ers of former Gov. Alfred E. Smith. Lenten Service New York Avenue Presbyterian Church 12:20 to 1:00 O’Clock Speaker This Week Dr. Carl C. Rasmussen Meniorial Lutheran Church Ausplces Federation of Churches Open to All You Are Invited to Attend SURVIVOR TELLS OF BLAST HORROR Night Explosion Scatters Bodies Amidst Wreckage of Sealing Ship. (Continued From First Page.) asunder and parts of the wreckage were th.own in all directions. Men lay dead and dying in the tangled planking and ropes, then it started to burn. The in- t:s;d were groaning and screaming for Malmed Borne From Ship. “Every able man made a mad dash for the side and the ice, but when the first panic was over the uninjured re- turned and risked their own lives to rescue their comrades. 5, alive—even though they were maimed and dying and the fire danger was getting greater all the time —were extricated from the wreckage and cared for as far as possible. Some went down with the sfirn of the ship and others, I think, weré killed outright in their berths and cabins. “The fire started immediately after the explosion and consumed the main rt of the ship. By the light of the urning vessel we were able to extract more of the wounded and dead from the. debris before she finally slid be- neath the ice. “Timbers, planking and woodwork were splintered into match sticks by the explotion and parts of the thip flew out onto the ice for hundreds of feet around in all directions. Blast Is Mystery. “I don't think it will ever be known what happened,” he continued. “Some say it was the boiler and others say it was the powder magazine. I don't think it could have been the boiler because the ship wass topped in the ice for the night and the steam pressure was at its lowest. I believe it was the magazine, contalning the explosives we used to blow our way through ice jams, because the stern of the ship went up, while the midship and forward part escaped. If the boller amidships Rld burst it would have wreckec her altogether.” The trek over the ice to Horse Island was pathetic. Men with broken arms and legs were forced to scram- ble over the hillocky ice. Blind, dazed and maimed men, they tofled wearily along like soldiers returning from a chell-torn section of trenches after rellief had arrived. Little parties here and there lugged the body of a friend. On they marched toward the beacon fires on the headland lit by fishermen who had seen from afar ;‘he 1;:’1? ‘larek gl ttl’:‘e explosion and ire at marke e destructic the Viking gz (Copyright, 1931) AS AUTO AND CAB CRASH Small Sedan Nearly Demolished After Turning Over Follow- ing Collision. ‘Two men had a narrow escape from serious injury today, when the auto- mobile in which they were riding over- turned at Third and F streets, follow- ing a aollision with a taxicab, Aaron Nadler of New York City, a passenger in the overturned car, was treated at the office of Dr. J. Rozier Biggs in the Investment Building, for cuts and bruises about the arms an legs. Herbert Todd of 509 Longfellow street, driver of the car, escaped in. jury. car fell, its left side, wher Mr. dler was sil ough the small in which the men were riding w. onsiderably Park, of 210 Flower avenue, Tal damage. N was - ] JOHNSON ADVISES 6.0, . 0 LISTEN Holds Party Cannot Afford to Make Light of Recent Pro- gressive Parley. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN, Declaring that there is “something | wrong in the Republican party” as dem- onstrated by the congressional elections last Fall when such Republican strong- holds as Illinols and Ohio turned to the Democratic camp, Senator Hiram W. Johnson of California issued a state- ment last night warning the G. O. P. not to make light of the recent Progres- sive Conference held here, but to give heed to the economic problems which that conference had discussed. The California Senator, the late ‘Theodore Roosevelt's running mate in the 1912 presidential campalgn, and himself a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920 and 1924, gave no indication in his state- ment that he intended again to seek mination. A part of his statemept, however, was interpreted in some quar- ters as an attack on the renomination of President Hoover. He suggested that the leaders of the party exercise their “vaunted litical talents” if their prime consideration is party and prin- ciple “instead of personality.” Has Opposed Hoover. Senator Johson was last elected to the Senate in 1928 at the same time that President Hoover was Ccarrying California. Their campaign for elec- tion ran along in California without apparent friction. Senator Johnson, however, has not traveled along with the Hoover administration since it came into office. On the contrary, his voice has been one of those raised most often in the Senate in criticism of the ad- ministration. Despite the relinquish- ment of his owh presidential aspira- tions, the California Senator may desire to have something to say about the selection of the next Republican nomi- nee for President. Certainly 1t is no secret that he would not pick Mr. Hoover. Whether he could be induced to run as a candidate in California for the State’s delegation to the next Republican National Con- vention is a matter which other anti- Hoover Republicans in the Senate considering. Already some of the Pro- gressive Republicans are talking of forming an anti-Hoover bloc int the con- vention, through the means of State delegations instruct; ey cted for favorite son Statement Is Quoted. Senator Johnson did not attend the recent Progressive conference, but he may _take part in the deliberations of the Progressives when it comes to fram- ing their legislative pi for sub- inission to Congress next Fall. The Cc:}llomh Senator's statement, 8: ‘Any gathering of seriouses ed men and women devoting itself to con- sideration and study of questions of na- tional import is a fine thing,” Senator .lohg:ggn lared. " the discussion is participated in by those in mn‘ o undertake accomplishment, and by others who have made a life study of economics, and the subject matter con- cerns the immediate well-being of our Ppeople, only 2 gatherings, good can come frem such whem With Many Views. ther we agree or disagre the sentiments hzld or expren;efle?:y‘rt’r';)z | conference is ct no ccnsequence,. Wi h meny views of th= conferees I ag:ee With some I am. In‘ disagreement, but public consideration, study and dicus- £lon constitutd” the econtribution and v;‘luven?( nefi conh{emnce. - What thoughtful tan in public today is not deeply mteluw‘zi‘f mdl“e’; troubled, about unemployment, repre- sentative government, the power ques- tlon, monopoly’s encroachments, public utilities end the like? It is well to dis- cuss them in the cpen, Questions thus presented with care and study will stimulate Nation-wide consideration and evu'.:dnl a multitude of counsel may eome om. “Some of our Republican ;::}{e bfilfl;g:o t.h:e,e el?:rt but -~ t concern o them—polees. Bt s R sophic_onlooker,” who long ago his own course ‘and prefers in hig way to follow it, might suggest only Progressives, in the interim bew for tween sessions, bring these tions up in public meef discussion. Can_any on":n{ml‘u standpat wing of efther c%g;mexl-fl;lith earnest and pul ussing economiq e P Urges Stock-Taking, “The Republicans in command ¢ the party machinery may jibe -5 them take sf of the ger:h?lu‘ let epublican party. Less than months have - since New M‘ was lost to 'publicans by three- guarters of a million votes, and Illi- nois by a like number; since ‘Massa- chusetts and Ohio, the cradle of Re- bublican Presidents, repudiated re- publicanism; since, Kansas, the rock- ribbed Gibraltar ‘of the 'Republican party, defeated even the acknowl- edged spokesman of the President. It politics are only to be consid- ered, let my Republican brethren re- flect that something s radically wrong somewhere. Somebody should ascertain what it is. And recent events demon- strate there is a real reason and neces- sty of study, reflection and conference of those who so loudly proclaim and pretend a deep and abidi g affection for the Republican party; and ample opportunity, if their prime considera- tion is party .and principal instead of personality, for the exercise of their vaunted political talents.” Ayres Warns Democrats. While Senator Johnson was warnin, his Republican brethren, Representauvg | Ayres of Kansas, a Democrat, who has held his district in the Sun Flower State for eight terms, issued a ‘warning to the Democratic party, saying that if it un- dertook to write a wet plank into its platform, it would face defeat. With a practical regard for politics and also, perhaps, with the understanding that the Democrats may nominate a candi- date for President who is not friendly to national prohibition, Mr. Ayres said there should be no plank inserted in the party platform calling for more vigor- ous supression of the liquor traffic, He wet plank in our platform would * be repudiated by a great majority of the members of the party in such States 1s Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennes- see, Georgia and many others, and it would have to be repudiated by our party’s candidates for the House and Senate from those States, or their de- feat would surely follow. Holds Issue One of Morals. “On the other hand, should the plat- form contain a plank declaring for even more Vigorous suppression of che manu- facture and sale of alcoholic beverages it would be repudiated by Democratic candidates for the House and Senate in such States as New York, setts, New .::lrsey and d:uow‘n.w “So, on the groun e ency, a declaration on prohibition in any par- ticular would be fatal to the party's prospects next year, and, in all nrob- ability, would create such a breach that it would require many years to heal. “However. my oposition to such a plank is based on a h: T ground than mere expediency, and that is that pro- hibition should not be considered a political, but a moral and social prob~ lem that will be solved not only more 1damaged, the cab, driven by Leslie Lait | quickly, but more satisfactorily, by keen- ing it out of a national campaign whera there is always & great intensity of 2