Evening Star Newspaper, December 3, 1931, Page 2

A—2 THE EVENING s Address o D. C. HOME CONFERENCE 3. 1931, e T el DETECTIVECADMITS STAR, ACCORD ON ORIENT WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, - DECEMBER SHIDEHARA DRAFTS | Text of Hoover’ STUDES AR BECIN President Outlines Problems to Be Faced by Delegates to Parley. (Centinued PFrom Pirst Page.) creditably solved every other segment ©f the credit structure more effectively than that of the purchase of a home “Our chief problem in finance re- Iates to those who have an earnest de- sire for a home, but whose initial re- sources run to only 20 or 25 per cent (of the cost of a home) Refers to Bank Plan. | These people, he asserted, are ai “good risk.” ere willing to apply their ncome and savings to home purchase. and to find a way to meet their needs is one of the problems the conference should consider President Hoover cited his recently revealed plan for creation of a system of home mortgage discount banks which he said was brought forward “in the confidence that through the creation of an institution of this char- seter we could gradually work out the problem of tically promoted home ownership on such terms of sound finance as people who have the home- owning aspiration deserve The Chief Executive was presented by Secretary of Commerce Lamont. co- chairman of the conference with Secre- tary terior Wilbur, who hd a place slso on the platform at Consti- subion Hall, where the session was held As one of the first fruits of the spe- cialized sess the Committee on | Types of Dwellings, headed John Thider, executive director of the Massa- chusetts Housing _Association, found that overcrowding 4s “the basic evil in bed housing and is closely associated with high land values. Evidence was found that the ratio of the cost of & lot to the cost of the house to be bullt upon it remains fairly con- stant, and that the contemplated density of land occupancy apparently is the chief factor in determining land costs. As most of the country's houses have been built for the upper income groups, comprising only half of the population the committee insisted on the necessity of some plan to meet the needs of at Jeast_some of the less fortunate half of the population. School As Focal Point. A similar attack on overcrowding eame from the committee on city plan- ning and zoning, headed by Frederic A. Delano, chairman of the National Capi- tal Park and Plannijg Commission. ns The school should be the focal point of the neighborhood, this committee found. Stores and commercial amuse- Dients belong st major traffic intersec- tigns and the border streets should pro- vide the best sites for apartment houses, 1t reported. The committee found an evil now Is that city planning in practice has been Predicated upon endless growth of the city, that zoning regulations have been £86 liberal, with the result that popu- have shifted constantly and gaused unstable values, which, in turn, hindered home ownership. Short-sighted methods employed in {Hfe designing of homes was assailed in e Teport of the committee on design, headed by Willam Stanley Parker, president of the Architect’s Bmall House Service Bureau. 1t recommended adoption of a prac- thee of designing houses as parts of a community, rather than as individual entities. The committee vigorously demned the wide-spread practice Building in practically unvarying repe- titlon. of & single “standard” plan on lots that are too narrow. This, ‘held, produces a depressing appear- gnce and contributes to rapid neigh- borhood obsolescence. above all, the committee felt that home financing interests should lend money only on homes of sound design instend of taking only the casual inter- @st in this subject which it said is now the rule. con- of c Single-Family House. I“Dr. Joseph Hersey Pratt of Boston, former president of the American Cli- matological and Clinical Association, as chairman of the Committee on Housing and the Community, reported that the ideal of the average American is home- owriership of & single-family house. “‘Home-ownership tends to root citizen- ship, to bulld & man and his family into the community,” he asserted. His committee listed among its mem- bership the following Washingtonians: Dr. Royd R. Sayers, chief surgeon of the Bureau of Mines; Miss Agnes L. Peterson, assistant director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau; James E. Ives, senior phyicist of the United States Public Health Service, Morton G. Lloyd, chief of the safety standards section of the Bureau of Standards; Miss Alice L. Edwards, executive secre- tary of the American Home Economics Association, and Dr. James P. Peake, | senior surgeon in charge of the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Pratt explained that from a yey made by the committee which c erod all phases of the medical and | soclological aspects of housing, r gardiess of the type of home & man mi sccept, the weaving of the neighbo hood ties must not be neglected and provisions must be made for restora- tion facilities Dr. Pratt sald the committee has rec- ommended steps to eliminate blighted areas, and to effect State legisiation which will make it legally and prac- tically possible to assemble at reason- ;ble r;’osl sufficlently large tracts of land or the development of the neighbor- hood unit. ¢ The committee has recommended that from the point of view of heaith that the size of rooms in modern houses and the number of persons per Toom are more significant than the number of persons per block or per acre in a crowded district, Crime and Housing. A group of soclologists and oriminol- ogists on the committee reported on & careful critical study of the relations of housing to delinquency. The con- clusion drawn was “delinguency is con- centrated in the area of bad housing and is assoclated with a complex of conditions, of which bad housing is only one.” Of the 99,000 accidental deaths an- nually in this country, about 30,000 oc- cur in the home, according to the com- mittee. This number of fatalities al- most equals the 33000 attributed to automobiles in 1930 and exceeds the 19,000 class of industrial accidents. Non-fatel home accidents have been estimated at 4,500,000 As to the causes of these accidents in the home, the com- mittee said. falls rank first, abo third of which occur on stair &tepe. The next most numerous type slippery floors and rugs R proximately 50 per cent. of all fires oceurr in dwellings and approximately 70 per cent of the loss of life occurs in dwellings. Defects in the construction and arrangement of buildings which al- Jow fire to spread and to suffocate or cut off the exists of occupants before they had opportunity to escape were cladsed with improper use of gasoline and other inflammable liquids as the Jargest factors in the loss of life by fires in the home. As corrective measures to reduce these fatalities, the committee gave detafled estions dealing with the building, equipment and the use of the home, Argentine Convicts Strike. CORDOBA, Argentina, December 3 (™ .—Nine hundred convicts in the penitentiary here have gone on & hun- r strike in protest against the prison §ood, the darkness and emaliness of cells, snd infiiction r- (3} President Declares Home Ownership Now More Feasible and Desirable Than Ever, in Address to Conference Here. HE text of President Hoover's | sddress last night before the | first session of the Presidents | Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership in Con- stitution Hall follows You hate come from every State in the Union to consider a matter of basic national interest. Your pur- pose is to consider it in its long view rather than its emergency as- pects. Next to food and clothing, the housing of & nation is its most vital soclal and economic problem This conference has been called espe- clally to consizer one great segment of that problem; that is. in what manner can we facilitate the owner- ship of homes. and how can we pro- tect the owners of homes? The conference also has before it some phases of that other great seg- ment of housing: that is, the stand- ards of tenement and apartment dwellings. While at this time we give primary emphasis to home own- ership in city, town and farm, we are all of us concerned in the im- provement of city housing. 1 hope we may at some future time subject the question of city housing to more definitely organized national intelli- gence, through which we shall fur- ther establish standards which will give Impetus to public understanding and public action to this, the ques- tion of blighted areas and slums in many of our great cities. I am con- fident that the sentiment for home ownership s so embedded in the Amer heart that millions of people who dwell in tenements, apartments and rented rows of solid brick have the aspiration for wider opportunity in ownership of ther own homes. To pOSSess one's own home is the hope and ambition of elmost every individual in our coun- try, whether he lives in hotel, apart- ment or tenement Confidence and Security. While the purpose of this confer- ence is to study and advise upon the very practical guestions of home de- sign, of materials, of building regu- lations, of zoning, of taxes, of trans- portation, of financing, of parks and playgrounds and other topics, yet behind it all every one of you here is impelled by the high ideal and as- piration that each family may pass their days in the home which they own; that they may nurture it as theirs: that it may be their castle in all that exquisite sentiment which it surrounds with the sweetness of family life. This aspiration ne- trates the heart of our national well being. It makes for happler married life, it makes for better children, it makes for confidence and security, it makes for courage to meet the battle of life, it makes for better citizenship. There can be no fear a democracy or self-government or for liberty or freedom from home owhers, no matter how humble they may be. There 1s a wide distinction be- tween homes and mere housing. Those immortal ballads, “Home, Sweet Home,” “My Old Kentucky Home" and “The Little Gray Home in the West” were not written about tenements or apartments. They are the expressions of racial longing which find outlet in the living poetry and songs of our people. They were written about an individual abode, alive with the tender associations of childhood, the family life at the fire- side, the free out of doors, the inde- pendence, the security and the pride in possession of the family'’s own home—the very seat of its being. That our people should live in their own homes is a sentiment deep in the ,heart of our race and of American life. We know that as yet is not universally possible to all. We know that many of our people must at all times live under other condi- tions. But they never sing songs about a pile of rent receipts. To own one's own home is a physical ex- pression of individualism, of enter- Frlu. of independence and of the reedom of spirit. We do not in our imagination attach to a transitory place that expression about a man's home being his castle, no matter what its constitutional rights may be. Individual Endeavor. But to return to our practical problems. Over 30 committees, em- bracing the collective skill and ex- perience of our country, have been voluntarily engaged for the past year in collecting the best of national ex- perience from every part of our country, in collating it into definite recommendations for your considera- tion. Like the solution of all prac- tical problems, the facts first must be discovered; they must be assem- bled in their true perspective, and the conclusions to be drawn from them must be the inexorable march of logic. This conference has not been called primarily on legislative questions. Its major purpose is to stimulate individual action. It seeks a better planned use of our Nation's energies and resources, especially those that are rooted in neighborli- ness and mutual help, and those that find expression in our great national voluntary organizations, in our schools and colleges and in our re- search laboratories. The conference Tepresents a place in our mastery of the forces that modern science and modern technology place at our dis- posal. It is not to set up govern- ment in the bullding of homes, but to stimulate individual endeavor and make community conditions pro- pitious. The basis of its action is to collate the whole of our experi- ence to date, to establish standards, to advance thought to a new plane from which we may secure & revital- ized start upon national progress in the building and owning of homes. About a year ago we held in Wash- ington such & conference as this in relation to the health and protection of children. That conference es- tablished new standarcs ani & new and higher plane of understanding and action It presented a set of standards and conclusions, and those conclusions, I am informed, have now been printed in literally mil- lions of copies—through the associa- tions which were interested, through State authorities ani municipal au- thorities. They have penetrated the thought and permeated the practice of the Nation. Many conierences have been called by the go'ernors of many States, by the mayors of many cities, to consicer and apply their conclusions. Their actions have al- ready wielded a powerful influence in the administrative functions of government from the Federal Gov- ernment down to the smallest com- munity. They have been made the basis of legislative action. They have lifted the sense of public and individual responsibility in the Na- tion. And it is & result of this kind which we are confidently expecting from this conference. Cwnership Desirable. I notice that some—not the mem- bers of these committees—have con- tended that the development of city and urban life necessarily has driven us to less and less possible owner- ship of homes. 1 do not agree with that ‘The very development of transportation, the advantages of distribution of industry today make the ownership of homes far more feasible and desirable than ever be- fore. But it involves vast problems of city and industrial management which we should have the courage to face. It involves also a great prob- lem of finance. The newly married pair setting out upon the stream of life seldom come to their new state with sufficient resources to purchase or enter upon that great adventure of life of building & home. It has long been my opinion that we have fairly creditably solved every other segment of our credit structure more effectively than we have solved this one. In normal times the Federal Reserve System bas given mobility to financing of commercial transactions. The agri- cultural banks and the insurance companies have given mobility to farm credit. The public exchanges have given mobility to the financing of industrial credit through stocks and bonds. Through various dis- count companies we have established mobility for the sale of automobiles and radio sets and fur coats on the installment plan, where 20 or 25 per cent cash payments are gratefully accepted. ‘We have in normal times, through the savings banks. insurance com- panies, the building and loan asso- ciations and others, provided abun- dant and moblle finance for 50 per cent of the cost of & home through the first mortgage, But the definite problem is not presented by those who can find 50 per cent of the cost of a home. Our chief problem in finances relates to those who have an earnest desire for a home, who have a job, and therefore possess sound character credit, but whose initial resources run to only 20 or 25 per cent. These people would willingly work and apply all their rent and all their savings to gain for themselves this independence and security and social well being. Such people are a good risk. They are the very basis of stability to the Nation. To find & way to meet their need is one of the problems that you have to consider; that is, how we can make a home F‘the for in- stallment purchase terms that dignify the name credit and not upon terms and risks comparable to the credit extended by a pawnbroker. Our building and loan and many ?thel;ol.;w;llflmiu have made an ef- ort nd & solutign for this gréup, but it is as yet hley uny n‘rruuz and the question substantially un- solved. Many More Phases, I recently made a public proposal for the creation of stem of home loan discount banks. That proposal is familiar to you, and I will not traverse its detalls at the present time. It was brought forward par- tially to :neet the situation presented by the present emergency, to allevi- ate the hardships that exist among | next wek is uncertain. S BELIEVED NEAR !League Anxious to Get Dis-| pute Out of Way Before Debt Parley Opens. BY CONSTANTINE BROW' Reports received from Paris by the State Department today indicate that the Sino-Japanese conflict is now in a fair way of settlement. Whether the settlement will occur this or early The Council of the League is anxious to have the whole thing out of the way because the very important negotiations regarding Ger- many’s capacity to pay th> Young plan annu'ties will be opened next Tuesday. Neither France nor the other members of the Council want this unsavory Ja- penese-Chinese dispute on their hands when the more important raparations problems come up. The settlement of the Manchurian problem is reported to be ell in favor of Japan. The neutral Investigation committee which will be set up by the League and is likely to contain an American member will eventually reach Manchuria and start leisurely examin- ing a “lost case.” Japan now controls the Provinces of Heilungkiang and Kirin. It has been prevented by the determined attitude of the American Government to take by force the Liao- ning Province, including its capital, Chinchow, but military and diplomatic authorities are certain that this last of the three provinces will be swallowed up by Japan in the course of the next few months The Japanese have come to realize it is not necessary to use armed forces to complete the occupation of Manchuria. They are pressing the point that the Chinese warlord who controls that province should withdraw behind the great Chinese wall into China proper, As soon as this has been accomplish- ed. it is reliably reported from Mukden, the Japanese will endeaver to establish & Chinese government of their own to control the three provinces. This gov- ernment, composed of Chinese who are in sympathy with the Japanese policies, will be given full authority under the direct control of the Japanese govern- ment, which will at first maintain suf- ficlent armed forces to maintain in power their dummies; afterward a Man- churian police force controlled by the Japanese is likely to be set up, while the Japanese forces will be withdrawn into the railway zone and into Korea, alwa. ready to intervene whenever the Chine: may threaten to get out of hand. TARIFF WAR GRIPS WORLD, SAYS BAKER Nations Trying to Be Self-Suf- ficient—U. 8. Is Peace Leader, Former War Secretary Believes. By the Associated Press CINCINNATI, Ohio, December Setting up of tariff barriers by nations, each trying to be self-sufficient, has created & state of economic Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War in the Wilson cabinet, said last night. Baker told the Commonwealth and Commercial Clubs that since the prin- ciples of nationalism were set up at the Versailles conference and the eco- nomic equilibrium of Europe disturbed, a war of tariffs and commercial com- petition has been in progress. “The latest shot fired in that war was the British election which turned that free trade nation toward a pro- tective tariff,”” he said. Without the consent or acquiescence of the United States, no world conflict could be undertaken, he said, and stated that in his opinion “the policy of the Unitea States is the greatest instrument for creating and maintain- ing a peaceful order.” 7— SNELL SEES HOOVER, BUT REMAINS SILENT home owners today, and to revitalize the bullding of homes as & factor of economic recovery, but in its long- distance view it was put forward tn the confidence that through the creation of an institution of this character we could gradually work out the problem of l{ltemlucllly promoted home ownership on such lerms of sound finance as people Wwho have the home owning aspira- tion deserve in our country. And there are many other prob- lems involved in your investigations which bear equal importance to the problem of home financing. The surroundings in which such homes are to be built, the very method of their building, transportation and other facilities which must be pro- vided for them, and the protection that must be given to them from the encroachment of commerce and in- dustry—all of these and many other subjects you will compass. You should be in a position when you complete your work to adviseour country of new standards and new ideals for our country. I wish to express our gratitude, in which I know you will sll join, to the hundreds of committee mem- bers who have labored so devotedly and capably in preparation for your conference. I assure you of my ap- preciation for your coming and my confidence of the high results that will flow trom your deliberations. RESIDENCE VACANCIES FOUND UNUSUALLY LOW | Commerce Department Data on 313 State Agrees to Care for 75, but Cities Show Very Few Homes Are Empty. Vacancies in residential buildings in 37 cities of the country are “unexpect- edly low,” according to data compiled by the division of bulldings and housing of the Department of Commerce and made public today. Vacancy surveys made within the | past year in these cities show less than 5 per cent of single family houses are | vacant in two-thirds of the cities, and | in no city do the fgures exceed 9.5 per_cent. Cedar Rapids, Jowa, with 1.4 per cent shows the lowest proportion of vacan- | cies in single family homes. Vacancies in apartments were found in this study to range from 4.4 per cent to 20.2 per cent, and in two-family dwellings from 34 to 20.1 per cent. The figures show & greater demand for the single family house on the basis of the vacancy study. In none of the 37 cities was the total vacany figure for all types of residential property found to be more than 112 per_cent. The lowest was 2 per cent, ‘The tendency of families to “double up” in housing provisions, due to cur- tailment of income, should be carefully considered in any analysis of vacancy figures, Commerce officials point out. In St. Louls, for instance, it is found there are more than two and & half times as many “extra” familles living in single-family homes as there are single houses vacant. MINER WITNESSES STRANDED AT TRIAL 25 More Must Go Home Without Funds. By the Associated Press MT. STERLING, Ky, December 3 — More than 25 defense witnesses here for the trial of W. B. Jones, Harlan county mine union leader charged with ' murder, are faced with the prospect of making their way to their homes, 250 miles away, with no funds to pay their transportation. After more than 100 defense wit- neases were evicted from their boarding houses last night because their bills were unglld, the commonwealth agreed to pay the expenses of 76 of them when the defense staff said they had no money to support them while here. After this announcement, the boarding houses decided to keep all of them one more night, When 45 of them said they had no suppers last night, James Price, Thi- Cago, representing the National Defense Committee, said his organization would feed them. The agreement of State's attorneys to bear expenses of the 75 was approved by Assistant Attorney General Sam H. Brown. Judge Henry R. Prewitt sald he would call a conlerence today to;de- termine what would be done with the other witnesses not included in the group the commonwealth will support. It is likely they will have to return to | their homes without testifying. New G. 0. P. House Leader Says He Cannot Discuss Legis- lative Program. After a visit at the White House to- day Representative Bertrand H. Snell of New York, new Republican leader of the House, said that it is impossible for him at this time to discuss the legisla- tive program of his party for the com- ing session. He again emphasized, however, that it will be necessary at this session to consider and bring to a vote a number of controversial questions that have heretofore been held back and denied an opportunity for action in the House. These include such measures as repeal or modification of the prohibition laws, disposal of Muscle Shoals and veterans’ legislation Representative Snell declared em- phatically that the rules of procedure in the House are to be liberalized and that back of the liberalization of the rules is the desire, intent and purpose of & large number of members to force a vote on these controversial matters which have previously not been per- mitted to come td a vote. In reply to question, Mr. Snell said that he was in sympathy with this ef- fort to force a vote because his posi- tion requires that he shall act with the majority sentiment of his own party. YEAR'S FIRST FREEZE SENDS MERCURY T0 31 Freezing temperatures made their Fall debut here last night, when the mercury slid down to a 30-degree min- imum for the first time since Spring, Increasing cloudiness and higher tem- peratures are predicted today. Although the mercury never climbed above 44 yesterday, it was expected to- night’s minimum would not be below 40. Rain and continued warm weather were forecast for tomorrow A ccld wave, now prevalent in the Northwest, is expected to move toward Washington over the week end, but 1t has not been definitely determined when and if it will strike the city. The charity missions reported no in- crease in the number of men applyin for lodgings yesterday. Mcre than 805 men slept at the Salvation Army, Cen- tral Union Mission and Gospel Mission last night, but this was regarded as an average group. Approximately 200 of those lodged at the missions work at th'ed District woodyard each day, it was sal DOCK STRIKE ENDS BOSTON, December 3 () — of 800 Boston longshoremen l:l:trhlt: interfered with shipping at this port since October 8 was ended yesterday :’hen the steamship operators agreed 0 Temove non-union colore from the docks. i The settlement was announced after conference between Joseph P. Ryan, president of the Internationai Long- shoremen’s Assoclation, and membets of the Steamship Operators’ Committee In a joint statement, Ryan and John The cases of ten men, Including Jones, alicharged with murder as a result of & quadruple killing at Evarts (B T g N. Levins, chairman of operators’ group, said o remained to be work: Bobsby vy e PEAE PROPOSLS Japan Insists Agreement to Observe Neutrality Is Suf- ficient Guarantee. (Continued Prom First Page.) | get his forces and civil regime out of | Manchuria to the area south of the | wall by either® diplomatic or military means—it is Indifferent which. The last remnant of Nanking's au- thority over Manchuria will then have disappeared. Japan will control all Manchuria through a series of local Chinese puppet governments, which it is busily engaged in setting up. Throughout these proceedings, Ja- pan has been somewhat, though mnot in Peiping. Japan clearly Intends to greatly, hampered by the fact that Ghina, on September 19, appealed to the League of Nations for protection under the existing treaties. The League in turn got in touch with the United States, which has been co-operating with the League to effect what is being iphemistically called a “peaceful set- nent.” Apparently in thus seizing Manchu- ria Japan has broken three solemn treatjes, namely, the League covenant, the Kellogg pact and the nine-power China treaty. But as nobody wants to risk war with Japan to defend China, the League powers and the United States are trying to negotiate a solution which, while it accepts as de facto the Japanese seizure of Manchuria, reserves de jure recognition thereof and at- tempts by means of neutral observers and a neutral inquiry commission to internationalize the whole subject. Japan tried a long time to maintain that it would brook no interference from third parties, but, under strong diplomatic pressure from the United States, finally itself consented to pro- pose an inquiry commission whose find- ings it naturaily hopes will be long de- layed and purely platonic. Seeks De Jure Recognition. Meanwhile, now that Manchuria is nearly all occupled, Japan is trying to prepare de jure recognition of its claims there by getting them written into the League’s draft resolution. In particu- lar it insists that it must be allowed to keep its troops in Chinese terrjtory in Manchuria as long as it considers it necessary “to protect the lives and property of its subjects.” In the second place, 1t insists that it must retain the right to send troops at any time anywhere m Manchuria against “bandits”; in other words, it must have that complete police power over the whole territory which is the essence of any protectorate. Finally, Japan refuses any authority whatsoever to neutral observers in the so-called neutral zone which the League is trying to organize around Chinchow. It wants the League to order the Chi- nese to the south of the wall immedi- ately on the pain of a new Japanese advance on Chinchow and it wants the Chinese police in the Chinchow zone to take orders from Mukden hereafter in- stead of from Nanking. The League powers and the United States, in which China has reposed all its hopes, are still struggling to try to involve Japan in some form of inter- national solution, but as their utter disinelination to take any form of sanc- ticns against Japan becomes more and more apparent, Japan's intention to refuse any form of international solu- tion except in name and in order to en- to “save their face,” as the Orientals say, seems equally apparent In the complicated situation formed by China’s shrewd diplomatic skill, Ja- pan’s ruthless military determination and the wavering maneuvers of the western powers, it fs. still too soon to forecast ‘results either immediate or ultimate. (Copyright, 1081.) BALKS AT TIME LIMIT. | Tokio Flatly Opposes Report to Paris on Evacuation Progress. BY B. W. FLEISHER. By Cable to The Star TOKIO, Japan, December 3.—Finding most unsatisfactory the unheralded pro- vision in the draft resolution of the League of Nations Council in Paris to the effect that the proposed inquiry commission, If (ne Japanese evacuation s not progressing when it arrives in Manchuria, shall report the situation to the Council w'th recommendations, government quarters here expressed themselves as discouraged. They declare that the “League treating Japan like a child if it thinks that she can be taken in by this. There is still danger thut the whole thing will come to grief if this is the way the League is going to work.” Japanese interpret the provision in question as a velled attempt by the League to fix the date. for the evacu- ation of Japanese troops to within the South Manchurian Railway zone, which fixing Japan insists is impossible. Prob- ably the most sensitive member of the family of nations, Japan, is not ac- cepting their phrasing let alone the provisions of the Council tending to censure her Mancaurian actions. ‘Throughout the Manchurian inci- dent Japan has barely tolerated the League's intervention, contending that the affair rests solely as between Ja- pan and China. However, she has been willing to submit to a certain amount of what she has considered inconvenience in order to assist the League to escape an embarrassing sit- uation, which, Japan holds, it should not have entered in the beginning. Thus the League’s every step to con- ciliate China in this crisis was regarded throughout the nation loathsomely. The Tokio government considers that the League's duty should be simply deletion or modification of objection- able parts of the resolution and of Chalrman Aristide Briand's declara- tion. This done, Japan will gladly ac- cept the measures proposed by the Council. (Copyright, 1931.) LEAGUE AWAITS REPLIES. Japan and China Have Not Reported Views on Inquiry Board. PARIS, December 3 (#).—The League of Nations Council today awaited notes from Tokio and Nanking in the hope that these might serve to reduce sev- eral formidable obstacles which are still obstructing the realization of a plan for Manchurian peace. Replies from both governments as to whether they will accept the League's resolution pm\td!{xg for ;a aommLssion f uiry are still unreceived. i lnmqad?!’llon_ Dr. Alfred Sze, Chinese spokesman, has asked his government to express its views upon the Japanese proposal that a neutral zone be estab- lished in South Manchuria and removal of the Chinese within the great wall. Observers of neutral governments would have no part in the settlement, accord- ing to this proposal. Dr. Sze informed the Council mem- bers that formation of a buffer area, without participation of neutral parties, would not constitute a neutral zone, in his opinion, but he said he was willing to lay the propsal before the govern- ment at Nanking. SCHACHT IS RECOVERING German Financier, Hurt in Auto Crash. Rests Easily. WAAREN, Mecklenburg, Germany, December 3 (#).—Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, lur:rr head of the Reichbank, who { the steamship | was ed in an automobile acci- | commissioner nly a few dmufl,;;n, ";f;‘el;z a comfortable night and | Mexico Claims ed out and that a should recover soon, his doctors say, succesd Dr. Hi Bchpeht s Frau todsy from Bertin, 5 able the United States and the League | is | tated the letter. BARBOUR WILL FILL MOR! ENATOR and Mrs. Warren Barbo terday as they prepared to leave | cently appointed to fill out the the regular post in the coming election. FICKERT DENIES MOONEY SUPPORT Former Prosecutor Says Let- ter to Walker on Pardon “Un- fortunately” Worded. By the Associated Fiess. SAN FRANCISCO, December 3.—En route to Santa Burbara, where he will “spend several days soaking up sun- York left behind him today a contro- versy which tesulted from his piea for & pardon for Tom Mooney, convicted of bombing the San Francisco Prepared- ness day parade tn 1916, The discussion centered about the | letter signed by Mooney's prosecutor, former District Attorney Charles M. Fickert. In 1% Plckert said that “in my opinion you are probably right in maintaining that it would be to the best interest of the State that executive clemency be granted to Mooney.” The letter was written in Walker's suite at a local hotel. The mayor read |it during his pardon ples before Gov. | Rolph, and when ii was heralded as an indorsement by Fickert of a pardon for Mooney, the former district attorney declared that it could not be construed to mean that he Lersonally was seeking executive clemency for Mooney. Says Wording “Unfortunate.” In Los Angeles, Fickert issued a state- ment in which he termed the wording | of the letter “unfortunate,” and said he | has not changed his opinion that Mooney is guilty as convicted. He said the letter had been written hastily. ‘The former prosecutor related that the Walker party sent him a telegram asking his attitude in the Mooney clemency question and that he was in- vited to the Walker suite in a San Francisco hotel. “There was some kind of a party going on in the mayors room, but I was not in there. Senator Hastings of the mayor's party suggested that I write a reply there to tne telegram and they wanted to know particularly how I looked on Young's opinion that the Oxman testi- mony was a lot of romance. Oxman was the man whose testimony was so damaging to Mooney. “It was about 8 o'clock at night and I said that I did not have a stenogra- pher. They sald we could get the hotel stenographer, and so we did, and I dic- Senator Hastings took the original and gave me the copy. Hasn't Changed Attitude. “The next day, when I filed the copy in my office, a friend remarked that the letter might be misconstrued, and I or- dered that it be kept securely in my files. I later saw, under big, glaring headlines in the newspapers, that I had come out for clemency for Mooney, but 1 did not mean to do so. “I did write, as my letter states, ‘In my opinion you (Walker) are probably right In maintaining that it would be to the best interests of the State that executive clemency be granted to Mooney,” but I meant that this might be true if Goy. Young were right. “Oxman always stuck to his story. I belleved it during the trial and after that. To the day of his death, Oxman maintained it was true. I still think so, and I am not changing my position against clemency for Mooney.” HOOVER TO SPEAK ON BICENTENNIAL February 22 Address Before Joint Sessions of Congress | 4 Announced. President Hoover will address the joint session of Congress when that body convenes February 22, to honor | the 200th anniversary of the birthday | of George w-.;hlnglrgn. Later in m{ day he will go to Alexandria to witness the big civic and military parade to be held in that historic Virginia city in connection with the Bicentennial pro- gram. The President authorized Senator Swanson, Democrat, of Virginia, to make the announcement, following the | latter's visit to the White House today, | when e saw Mr. Hoover in connection | e program on n's bmgd-;.z o oy The President will address the joint session of the Senate and House onbrhl morning of the 22nd, Senator Swanson said, and after luncheon he will go to Alexandria. Prominent Government of- ficials as well as Former Gov. Byrd and other Virginia dignitaries will attend the ceremonies in that city. After the parade, Senator Swanson | said, the President will join the pilgrim- | age to Mount Vernon, . ALFARO NAMED ENVOY Claims Commission Head Will Rep- resent Panama Here. Dr. Horaclo P. Alfaro has been ap- polnted Panama's Minister "to. \he United States. Announcement of his appointment was made today by the | Prnams legation. | r. AURro at present is presiding of the United® States: | He will his duties as United States Senator from New Jersey. shine,” Mayor James J. Walker of New the case in view of Gov.| New Senator and Wife ROW’S UNEXPIRED TERM. ur photographed in New York City yes- for this city, where Barbour will take up Barbour was re- unexpired term of the late Dwight W. Morrow. Barbour has not yet definitely decided whether he will run for H0LDS ANTHRACTE ST HUST BECUT Gen. Disque Tells Mining | Congress Change Must | Come to Save Industry. Necessity for reduction of production costs in the anthracite industry in order to remedy the present hard coal situation “to the advantage of the pub- lic” was emphasized by Brig. Gen. Brice P. Disque, exeeutive secretarv of the Anthracite Institute, in an address l;:(ol’%a'ihrnnpgnmz session of the Amer- | ican Mining Congress at the Mayflow: Hotel this morning. o “We of the anthracite industry are awake today to the fact that less satis- factory fuels have displaced several millions of tons of anthracite because home owners cannot pay the price and pay for cheaper fuels,” Gen. Disq pay pe en. ue | | Foresees Automatic Burner, | _The speaker anticipated the appear: ance on the market of an automatic machine, available to houses of all sizes and costs, which will convert an- thracite into heat without attention from the home owner more than once 4 month. Gen. Disque ascribed the present un- profitable status of the coal industry to “reluctance on the part of operators to recognize the change that has occurred.” Today many operating companies pay taxes in excess of their profits, he stated, and some pay royaltics 10 times as great as their earnings per ton. “Meanwhile,” he added, the labor sit- uation is unfortunate. The average pro- duction of each unit of labor has fallen from 2.75 tons per day in 1911 to 2.64 in 1929.” Simultaneously the miners of bituminous coal have increased their daily prduction from 4.01 to 5.42 tons. Smoot Gives Talk. | Other speakers at the first meeti | of the two-and-one-half-day conve?‘q | tion here included Senator Reed Smoot, chalrman of the Senate Pinance Com- mittee; Arthur A. Ballantine, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Repre- sentative James W. Collier of the House | Committee on Ways and Means, all of | whom discussed phases of the general to] Iuld“‘fi:llflcrtl.} Taxation.” on to Gen. Df - ference this morning hn’:?iu;'tht:l: ;3:- lfit‘ni}x::c"e" discuss aspects of “Modern BITUMINOUS MERGERS 0. K. Donovan Holds Plan to Rehabilitate Industry Is Legal. NEW YORK, December 3 William J.” Dohovan, former ‘Assistant | United States Attorney General, today | told bituminous coal operato; - | senting the bulk of thrmdu:rynfr::t they could legally go ahead with a plan for consolidated ‘sales agencies and physical mergers to reh - Zhrds abilitate the in | Col. Donovan, r |opinion on the plan, in view of | anti-trust laws, gave his -pprovonl :z};f {ro;: :1 comlnn]tee 1;( more than 50, rep- | resenting coal mines in S east of the Mississippi, R Would Unify Sales Agencies. The plan, details of wj | disclosed, was expected o e moreois g_ with = portant changes. It was b;:"g:‘wh;m. subcx(:mxlnltue vcll 15, appointed as the result of & previous mee committee some weeks "ng. e Although the detalls were guarded carefully, nown the plan laid the most immediate emphasis on the consolidated sales agencies, under which operators in a district would market their coal through one agency. There would be & number of districts, Many Plans Offered. ‘The mein committee w; the call of the Nnflonll‘éo‘:}nml:! tion, and at the meetings several weeks g0 & score or more plans for helping the industry, which has been wracked by overproduction and flerce competi- tion, were discussed. No agreement was r?u}:;d, hlowever. and the task of sift- ing the plans was turng subc(]xmgltteev i ed over to the Col. Donovan’s opinion wa; - ered especially alfnuu;-m by .ihecogs‘eg- ators, in view of his experience with anti-trust cases during his services as Assistant Attorney General during the Coolidge administration. BORROWS GUN, KILLS WOMAN, SHOOTS SELF Man Held Under Guard in Hospi- tal After Street Shooting in Kentucky. at today's meetin By the Associated Press. FLEMINGSBURG, Ky. December 3.— Mrs. Ethel Yates Hunter, 35 was shot and killed on a downtown street here today by James T. Williamson, a widower about 60 years old, who then shot and wounded himself, Williamson had borrowed a shotgun a short time before from a hardware store and one load went through the woman’s body near the heart. She died half an hour later. He then re- | turned the weapon and went to his room, where he shot himself through armodio Arlas, who re: . et - e == the mouth with a pistol. Physicians aaid he had & chance to recover. He in s hospital at etained to render an | YOUTH BORE MARK Defense Witness in Barrett Case Says Baber’s Lip Was Injured. ___(Continued From Pirst Page.) ernoon and described in detail _the beating he said he received from Bar- Tett. “Just as I opened the door to my apartment,” he said, “Barrett me around the neck and dragged me in. I didn't know who he was, having no idea the police would be in my apartment. He struck me in the mouth with his fist and knocked me across & sofa. Before I could get up he hit me three or four more times. “Then he accused me of having kill- ed a motorman and the woman. 1 de- nied both charges. He kept on beat- ing me, however, and said he had a good notion to kill me. I could smell whisky on his breath.” Baber sald another officer interfered. suggesting that they question him for a while. He said Barrett replied: “Get the hell away. I'm in charge here.” The youth said he was deaf in one ear and cut and bruised about the face and head after the beating. Mrs. M. O. Meyers, 1021 Rhode Island avenue northeast, said she saw Baber after he was released by police. She said his lips were swollen, his eves cut and black and that there was a cut on his nose at that time. M. T. Milburn, Baber's roommate, also sald Barrett was drinking on the night cf the alleged assault. SORBER TRIAL NEARS END. Defense testimony that 14-year-oki Arthur T. Paul, colored, admitied that injuries said to have been inflicted by Policeman George Sorber, on trial in District Supreme Court, were received when he slipped and fel, was given this morning. All witnesses had been heard st 11:30 o'clock this morning. Before the case was to be submitted to the jury, how- ever, arguments by the Governmeat and the defense were to be heard. Testimony yesterday and today de- veloped a conflict as to the time Sorber is alleged to have beaten Paul in an alley in rear of the O Street Market, when he found him leaning into his automobile. Paul testified yesterday he was beaten about 2 o'clock in the aft- ernoon of August 1. Sorber and sev- eral other witnesses, however, told the jury the “tussle” happened shortly after | 8 o'clock on that day. On the stand thls morning Sorber admitted that he “tussled” with the boy. When asked if he struck Paul he said he could not tell definitely, and that “anything might happen in & tussle.” The policeman said the colored boy sustained the cut over his right eye and bruise to his right cheek, for which he was treated at Freedmen's Hospital, in his attempt to escape arrest. Coming out of the market, Sorber dectared, he found Paul leaning inte his car. He touched the boy. on the back, he testified, and in straightening up Paul struck his head inst the primer, probably lnfllct\ng the cut at that time, the witness added. Sorber said he told Paul he was under ar- rest, and that the boy in trying to make his escape, struck his head against the wall of the market. Paul fell to the ground and Sorber stumbled over him, the policeman stated. Dur- ing the struggle which ensued, he testi- fied, no more force was used than was necessary to maintain his arrest. Blamed Hurts on Fall. Yesterday Paul had testified that Sorber knocked him ‘his fist and kicked him about” i while he was down. J ‘This morniig, Bernard M. H:ger. driver for the Receiving Home, first witness for the defe testified that while he was taking Paul from the second precinct to the Recelving Home, the boy told him he was hurt when he slipped and his head struck a wall. John Wilson, second precinct patrol driver, also told the jury that Paul ad- mitted at Preedman’s Hospital that he received] his injuries by falling against the wall. Testimony yesterday by the boy that he had complained to Lieut. J. W. Pierson at second precinct that Sorber had beaten him, was denied by Lieut. Plerson today. The Government was represented by Assistant United States Attorney John J. Sirica, and the defense by Attorney James A. O'Shea. HARKER ARRESTED ON DRUNK CHARGE Police Brutality Case Witness De- nies Wrong—Continuance of Hearing Granted. A hearing on charges of drunkenness, disorderly conduct and illegal posses- sion of an indecent photograph was indefinitely continued in Police Court today in the case of James Henry Har- ker, key witness in the recent grand jury investigation of alleged police bru- tality, who was arrested last night by a8 No. 2 precinct patrolman on M street near Ninth street. Harker, according to the arresting officer, Pvt. R. E. Willlams, gave the alias of “Joe Hancock,” and Williams was unaware of his identity until this morning. Harker, however, declared to newspaper men that the circumstances of his arrest were “mighty funny,” since he was neither drunk nor disorderly and had never seen the pho ph al- leged to have been found on his person. Judge Isaac R. Hitt continued the case for & hearing in a few days when Defense Attorney S. McComas Hawken asked more time to prepare a defense against the charges. R-100 SCRAPPING STARTS CARDINGTON, England, December 3 (#)—Sledgehammers ban inst the f{ramework of the bfiddx.‘n;mh to order R-100 today as 20 workmen carry out the government's scrapping the ship to save money. ‘When their work is a little further advanced a steam roller will run over the parts of the framework and flatten them out. Eventually, it is expested, the scrap iron dealers who have ht the metal will turn some of it into ash ti 4