Evening Star Newspaper, December 12, 1934, Page 1

degrees; moderate west anc winds. Temperatures—Highest, noon today; lowest, 17, at 2 a.m. today. Full report on page A-9. Closing N.Y.Markets, Pages 15,16 & 17 Entered as second class matter post office, Washington, D. C. No. 33,097. PRESIDENT SEEKS WAR PROFITS BAN, NAMING THREE T0 DRAFTMEASURE Baruch, Gen. Johnson and Gen. MacArthur to Direct Program to Be Started at Meeting Today. IMMEDIATE ACTION + BY CONGRESS SOUGHT Nye Would Delay Bill for Time. Integration of Military, Eco- nomic and Social Phases of Conflict Envisaged by Execu- tive in Suggested Law. By the Assoclated Press. Enactment of legislation intended to take the profit out of war is planned for this session of Congress by Presi- dent Roosevelt. He made known today at his semi- weekly press conference that he had called a meeting this afternoon to discuss & program with Bernard Baruch, World War chairman of the ‘War Industries Board; Hugh S. John- son, former N. R. A. head, and Ba- ruch’s war-time assistant, and high Government officials. At the same time the President directed that Gen. Douglas Mac- Arthur be reappointed temporarily as Army chief of staff to aid in formulat- ing the legislation. Nye Favors Delay. Chairman Nye, Republican, North Dakota, of the Senate Munitions Com- mittee, proposed legislation against war profits last session. Informed of the Roosevelt announce- ment, Nye exhibited some displeasure, although he recognized the need for “taking profits out of war.” “The prospects are very encourag- ing for legislation driving at correc- tion of some of the evils that have been shown,” he said, “but it is going to be very unfortunate if the legis- lative needs are concluded before all the facts are known. “Taking the profits eut of war is a wholly worthy purpose. Let us, while we are doing it, really do what we say we are doing.” There were some quiet hints from other quarters that the President may want to bring an end to the Senate investigation as quickly as possible. Commenting on the White House announcement, Irenee du Pont, muni- tions manufacturer, lauded the pro- posal for drawing up a mobilization plan, “But that has been in operation for 10 years,” he added. “The Presi- dent probably hasn’t gotten on to it yet.” limmot du Pont handed newspa- permen & letter he recently wrote to Nye subscribing to the view that ex- cessive war profits should be elim- nated. Sees Inquiry Sidetracked. Senator Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan referred to the presi- dential move as “sidetracking” the Senate inquiry, and added: “This is one instance when Con- will write its own ticket. “The investigation will continue and I hope that no flank movement will discourage necessary additional appropriations needed for the investi- gation.” Vandenberg said the proposed ‘White House conferences “ignore our first-hand information and manifestly cannot know what else we have in President Roosevelt emphasized he hoped a war never would come again and that he was taking up the ques- tion now because he said there was no war cloud on the horizon. To Study Other Phases. In addition to the financial side, Mr. Roosevelt wants to give deeper consideration to the personnel phase and the economic angles. He believes that as a result of the hurried organization of the Govern- ment for the World War, maladjust- ments resulted, which had a deep bearing on American life in the post war period. For instance, Mr. Roosevelt said there were overproduction, enormous personal profits and a complete lack of co-ordination in the economic system. Likewise, he asserted there was an unequal mobilization of human beings, resulting in the present dispute over the bonus. He called attention to the fact that boys who fought in the trenches got $1 a day, while boys who worked in munitions factories received $8 and $10 a day. Thus the demand for the bonus arose, he said. Others to Participate. Others who will meet with the President include Secretaries Hull, Morgenthau, Dern, Swanson, Perkins, and Wallace; Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, Gen. MacArthur, Joseph B. Eastman, railway co-ordina- tor, and George Peek, foreign trade advisor. The President said he would appoint & successor Arthur before the forthcoming session of Congress is concluded, probably some time late next Spring. Mac- Arthur’s regular term has expired. Mr. Roosevelt said he considers Baruch and Johnson two of the best suthorities on the economic side of ‘war problems. Apparently they have been working on a program to correct the evils and mistakes of the United States in the World War. Will Ask Congress to Act. Upon completion of the program, the President said he would submit it to Congress as one of the most im- portant things to go before the new session. He expressed appreciation for the probably to Mac. WEATHER. (U. 8. Weather Bureau Forecast.) Fair tonight amd tomorrow; rising temperaturé, minimum tonight about 27 d southwest 27, at WASHINGTON, D. C, Called to Depyofit War | IN NEW ENGLAND] _ [ The three men named by President Roosevelt today as advisers on legislation to take the profits out of war. Left to right: Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was reappointed temporarily as Army chief of staff to act in an advisory capacity during the coming session of Congress; Bernard M. Baruch, chairman of the War Industries Board during the World War, and Gen. Hugh S. Johnsen, assistant to Baruch during the war and former N. R. A. administrator. U. 5. CRIME BOARD URGEDTOCUT VICE Bar Association Head Says Wickersham Benefits Are Being Lost Rapidly. Creation by the Department of Justice of a permanent National Crime Commission to carry on, with- out let-up, the war on crime was advocated today by Scott M. Loftin, president of the American Bar Asso- ciation, who presided at today's ses- sion of the National Crime Confer- ence. Declaring much of the work for suppression of crime has been spora- dic and temporary, Loftin deplored the “shelved and forgotten” recom- mendations of the Wickersham Com- mission, which, he said, made one of the most thorough investigations of iaw observance and enforcement of modern times. “The 13 volumes of that commis- sion’s report,” the bar leader said, “are now gathering dust on the shelves of college libraries and copies of most of them are no longer avail- able 2ven from the Government Print- ing Office. This I know to be true for there were only 10 copies to ke had at any price when we wished to distribute scme of them to our committees. Probe Cost Put at $500,000. “Here was an investigation which cost $500,000, the results of which are being lost largely because there was no permanence to the commis- sion. TIGHT LAW URGED 10 CURB NUMBERS Crime Conference Delegates Say Stringent Penalties Will Smash Racket. T (Note: Acceding to a recent re= quest by United States Attorney Garnett, The Star, the Post, the Times, the Herald and the city's Jour broadcasting stations are re- fusing to aid the numbers racket by disseminadion of the race total numbers with which the game here is conducted. Publication or broad- casting of such totals is of no in- terest outside the numbers racket.) Effective laws by which police and the lower " courts are given direct jurisdiction over such activities as the operation of the numbers racket are required in any successful fight against this form of gambling, in the opinion of several law enforcement officials in Washington to attend the Crime Conference. In each case, this opinion was ar- rived at through actual experience with the racket and the difficulties of stamping it out. An outstanding example of a community’s battle against this evil was described by Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City, the campaign there succeeding only after two changes in the city statutes. numbers game started up my Mayor Hague recalled today. “I think this conference should go | jt on from year to year and that the At- torney General, having called us to- gether should give consideration to promulgating the resolutions and re- sults of our deliberations to associa- tions and bodies of various kinds, which can follow them up and report annually what has become of them. I make bold to make this statement be- cause I know from the public addresses which the Attorney General has made that he believes in the principle of continuous and persistent work in this fleld and realizes the problems are not ones which can be solved in a day.” Loftin called for State-wide reform in the system of selecting local judges. He said this reform is being vigorously sought by the American Bar Associa- tios 0 matter how perfect,” Loftin de- clared, “is the machinery for detention and apprehension of criminals, how able and effective the prosecution, how conscientious the juries, there will be a failure of justice if the judges are not fair and unbiased and are not free from political or other prejudice.” Voters Declared Handicapped. Loftin said the public must under- stand the necessity for demanding and requiring proper standards of fitness for judicial officers. Voters, he said, cannot judge the qualifications of can- didates for the judiciary. Belief that habitual criminals should be kept in continuous con- finement was expressed before the conference today by Warden James H. Johnston of the new Federal pen- itentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, where such despera- does as George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Harvey J. Bailey, Alfred Bates and others are imprisoned. ‘Warden Johnston recommended that all prisoners be required to do sufficient work to pay the cost of his support by the Government and that thereafter they be given a chance to earn money for themselves by per- forming extra productive labor. He declared this plan would be an ex- cellent safeguard against unrest and conspiracy, in addition to fitting pris- oners to enter business after their release. “When a man is known to have committed a dozen or more serious crimes,” the warden said, “and to have been properly convicted and im- prisoned three of four times, it would seem that he had conclusively dem- onstrated unwillingness or inability to earn a living honestly and to re- spect the rights of others. “When a man exhibits such a character and disposition he should (Continued on Page 3, Column 5.) ATTORNEY IN SUIT DEMANDS AUTO TAG D. C. Refusal Because of Pending Traffic Warrant Chlllenge:l by Herbert 8. Ward. Herbert 8. Ward, well-known attor- ney, filed suit in District Supreme Court today to test the right of Dis- trict authorities to refuse to issue 1935 license tags to him because a warrant for a traffic violation is pending against him. Justice Peyton Gordon gave officials of the Department of Vehicles and Traffic until December 18 to show cause why they should not be com- services of the Senate Munitions Com- | recently mittee. ‘This is one of the phases of the broad program to be discussed. Pending the conference, the Presi- dent reserved any opinion on means of taking profits out of warfare, q The attorney contends he was in Ocean City, Md, on that date, X which gives the police courts juris- diction over the cases. Recalls Legal Delays. “When we started to fight against it, the law was such that we had to indict runners and bring them before 8 jury for trial. Smart defense coun- sel would picture the runner as an innocent man, guilty only of a minor indiscretion involving a few pennies. Inevitably, the result was acquittal. Delays clogged the courts and even the prosecuting attorneys reached a point where they despaired of making y progress. “Meanwhile, we were finding that the game was being run by big busi- ness organizaztions, so smart that they even picked their runners by types and character, so they would be least likely to incur a jury's disfavor. They had regular counsel engaged, ready to step into cases at any moment. And with the increasing size of the organiza- tions came competition and bitterness between groups. Violence cropped up and conditions grew increasingly seri- ous—all springing from this seemingly cheap racket. “So we enacted a new law which hit directly and quickly at the runners, enabled the police to pick them up if they had slips in their possession and empowered the police courts to handle the cases and slap these fellows into jail for as much as 90 days. This first law conflicted with the State consti- tution, so we found ourselves in trouble again. We corrected the wording of the law in a second enactment and now have a legal foundation for our drive which has never been questioned and which, we believe, would stand in any circumstance, Started Drive on Runners. “The next step was to go after the runners, and we did it. We arrested them by the hundreds, rushed them into police courts and from there to jail so fast that they were helpless. Even the big organizations couldn't stand up against that. The runners were scared when they found that the sharp lawyers hired by the big shots couldn’t help them, plenty of them quit the racket and it was difficult to find new recruits. “Right now the numbers racket is a dead game in Jersey City. Give ‘Washington a law like ours, put the police and the lower courts to work on the problem and you can break it. But that’s the only way.” Similar emphasis upon the neces- sity of effective laws and vigorous en- forcement was voiced by Floyd E. ‘Thompson, former chief justice of the Tlinois Supreme Court, recently brought into the spotlight by his suc- cessful defense of Samuel Insull and 16 others in their trial for mail fraud before a Federal court in Chicago. Says Game Breeds Trouble. “That kind of gambling (the num- bers racket) is a filthy business, bound to lead to all kinds of serious crime and wholesale gang wars such as Chi- ©cago experienced over many years. Chicago’s disgraceful condition at that time was brought on by just such rackets as this one you speak of, and (Continued on Page 5, Column 1.) Zhe Foeni WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION 4 FILM THEATERS RIPPED BY BOMBS Planted Explosives Cause Blasts in Three Cities During Night. RIVAL LABOR UNIONS BLAMED BY OPERATOR Boston, Lynn and Pawtucket Buildings Seriously Damaged. Police Begin Probe. By the Assqriated Press. BOSTON, December 12 —Expflosions ripped out the interiors of four mov- ing picture theaters early today and sent the bomb squads of three South- ern New England police departments into action. The theaters, which police believed were wrecked by planted bombs, were: The Majestic and Tremont in down- town Boston, the Capitol in Paw- tucket, R. I, and the Capitol, in Lynn, Mass. Shortly after 4 o'clock this morning an explosion at the Capitol Theater, Pawtucket, R. I, wrecked the con- crete projection booth and tore great chunks from the walls and ceiling of the auditorium. Boston Theater Wrecked. A half hour later the front of the ‘Tremont Theater, in the center of Boston’s downtown shopping area, was blown out. Then, the lounge of the Majestic Theater, almost diagonally across Tremont street, was wrecked. Just before 5 am. a dull roar came from the interior of the Capitol Theater, in Lynn, Mass., and investi- gating officers found the basement rest rooms torn apart. Deputy Fire Chief William P. Con- nolley of Pawtucket said there was no doubt but what a bomb had caused the blast there. He found fragments of the missile, he said, and there was a strong odor of explosives in the theater. Fire Chief Dennis Coughlin, who re- sponded with fire apparatus to the Boston explosions, said those, too, were the result of carefully planted bombs. Lynn police were just as certain the explosion there resulted from a time bomb. Scrubwomen at Work. The only one of the four theaters in which any one was working was the Majestic at Boston. A number of scrubwomen were the audi- torfum of the house:™" were un- injured, but were badly frightened by the avhich shook The Majestic and Tremont stand on ite sides of Tremont street, almost diagonally across from one another. Quests at nearby hotels were wak- ened by the explosion and windows were blown from nearby stores and lunch rooms. The Tremont is located across from the south end of Boston common and opposite a subway entrance. Early morning workers, waiting for cars in the Boylston street subway station ran to the street as the dull boom from the Tremont explosion trempled the platform. Many feared a section of the tunnel was collaps- m;lu immediate estimate of damage was made, but firemen said there was little doubt 1t would total “many thousands.” City Chemist Stratton, attached to the bomb squad at Boston police head- quartars, said fragments found in the wreckage at the Tremont Theater indicated the use of ‘“dynamite.” Other members of the squad were (Continued on Page 2, Column 4.) - DOCTOR KILLED WIFE AND SELF, SAY POLICE Prominent New York Throat Spe- cialist and Spouse Found Stabbed to Death. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, December 12—The deaths of Dr. Harmon Smith, 62, prominent throat specialist, and his wife were investigated today to de- termine a motive for what police called murder and suicide. Their bodies were found in the library of their East Sixty-second street home, where Dr. Smith had a collection of hunting knives and other weapons. Mrs. Smith’s throat had been slashed by an eight-inch hunting knife. Her husband was found with a dagger in his bared breast. No notes weer found. Dr. Smith was surgeon-director of the Manhattan Eye and Ear Hos- pital and was a former president of the American Laryngological As- sociation. Mrs. Smith was the doctor’s second wife. She was the former Janet Williams of S8an Diego, Calif. Dormitory for Women Given G.W.by Mrs. Henry A. Strong First Building of Kind —in History of Uni- versity. Erection of the first dormitory in the history of George Wasleington WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1934—FORTY-TWO PAGES. Vid — = Only || Shopping Days Until\ Christmas’ Yesterday’s Circulation, 125,153 Some Returns Not Yet Received. UP) Means Associated Press. THEIR CHRISTMAS HOPE! ROOSEVELT BARS PARK AIRPORT SITE East Potomac Project Gets Death Knell—Gravelly Point Is Favored. ‘The proposal to turn East Potomac Park into a commercial airport for Washington, advanced two days ago by Ewing Y. Mitchell, Assistant Secre- tary of Commerce, apparently received | its death blow today at the hands of | President Roosevelt. The President made it very clear at his press conference today that he is against the Mitchell proposal. ‘While rejecting outright the Mitchell plan, the President gave the impres- sion that personally he favors the Gravelly Point site, directly across the river from Hains Point. He said that while he believes the Gravelly Point site requires further study by those in- trusted to handle the matter for the Government, he feels, from what he has heard about it, that the Gravelly Point site looks best. Ickes Likes Project. Shortly after aiscussing the airport | at his press conference, President Roosevelt took up the matter with Public Works Administrator Ickes. | Following this conference Ickes said he was very favorably impressed with the Gravelly Point plan, but that he thought it needed further study. “I would be very glad to allot public works money,” Ickes said, “if, after the proper study has been made, everything appears satisfactory. I be- lieve Washington should have a good airport and I personally am opposed to putting one in East Potomac Park, and from what study I have made of the Gravelly Point proposition, I am in favor of it.” Corrects Wrong Impression. ‘The President took occasion to cor- rect a wrong impression of his con- versation with Clark Howell, chairman of the Federal Aviation Commission, when the latter laid before him the Mitchell plan. Mr. Roosevelt was reported by Mr. Howell as having indicated he was “interested” in the plan to turn East Potomac Park into an airport. The President said today he had the im- pression from Mr. Howell's descrip- tion of the site that he was talking about Gravelly Point. . Although the East Potomac sugges- tion has been so promptly disap- proved, there was increased hope for a final settlement of the District air- port problem as a result of the Presi- dent's manifest interest in the matter. Approved by Experts. The Gravelly Point development which the President indicated has aroused his interest has been approved by virtually every civic and business organization in Washington and by many of the Nation’s aviation leaders and park and planning officials. Plans for filling the area with river dredgings now are being completed by Army engineers and catch basins for this purpose now are being con- structed. The Gravelly Point site ex- tends south along the Virginia shore of the Potomac from the little point south of the railroad bridge toward Alexandria. Except for a small strip of the Virginia shoreline, the site is within the District of Columbia. MRS. HENRY ALVAH STRONG. —Harris-Ewing Photo. Woman Is Killed Seeking Aid for Injured Sister Special Dispatch to The Star. LEESBURG, Va., December 12. —One of the Hutchison sisters broke her hip last night and to- day the other was dead. Miss Minnie Hutchison suffered the fracture shortly after dark in a fall down the stairs of the home where the sisters lived near Lenah. Miss Fannie Hutchison, 72, started for a neighbor's house to summon aid. As she crossed the highway, she was struck by an automobile and fatally injured. John L. Darnell, formerly of Sperryville, now a resident of Washington, driver of the car, was released on $500 bail. Coroner John A. Gibson is investigating. TREEC.LL B0YS PERSH N FLAES Four Others Burned—200 Flee Into Cold as Fire Sweeps Camp. By the Associated Press. NORRIS, Tenn, December 12.— | Three C. C. C. boys were burned to death today when a fire, whipped by | a stiff breeze, destroyed three pine- {bonrd barracks of their camp, a mile from the Government’s new Norris Dam. Capt. John W. O’'Daniel, commander of 20 C. C. C. camps in the Norris area, said the dead had been identi- fied as: Elwood Kramer, 20, Nutley, N. J. Charles Da Palma, 21, East Orange, N.J. Jacob Klein, 20, Bronx, New York City. Youths Panic-Stricken. Morris Klein said he and his brother came in about midnight, after attend- ing a party, and had just undressed. “All at once smoke and fire swept through the room,” he said. “Every one started running. I saw my brother stumbling through the room, but did not see him after that.” Another youth said he was knocked down when “every one started rush- ing to get out of the building.” “I was suffocating and thought I was dying,” he said. “I grabbed an Army shirt and pulled it over my head. I kept my face on the floor and crawled until I came to a door. I opened it and ran out.” ‘Walter Hackman said the boys in the barracks “began pushing and shoving when the fire swept through the room.” “I was knocked down and trampled upon. I remember seeing Jacob Klein and De Palma lying on the floor. I got out through a window.” Four C. C. C. workers were slightly burned as they fled from their bunks. The camp is located on a hillside and a high wind carried the fire through it almost before officers could give the alarm. The damage was estimated at _about $12,000. Camps records were destroyed in the fire. Lieut. Finger said, however, that the unit, commanded by Capt. Douglas S. Mapes of Buffalo, N. Y., was made up of residents of New York and New Jersey. Clothing Lost in Flames. Lieut. Finger said the fire started ULM’'S WIFE HOPES Won’t Believe Him Dead Until Another Week Passes. nounced Mrs. £5,000 (about $25,000) | stanch supporter MGORMACK OPENS LEADERSHIP FIGHT Tammany Expected to Get Behind 0’Connor for Speakership. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. The contest for the Hohse leader- ship in the incoming Congress opened today with the formal announcement by Representative McCormack, a member of the Ways and Means Com- mittee and chairman of the Special Committee Investigating Un-American Activities, that he is a candidate. The Tammany delegation is expected to make a fight for Representative O’Connor of New York, a member of the Rules Committee, who already has announced himself as a candidate for Speaker. Representative Connery of Massa- chusetts, chairman of the House Labor Committee and dean of the -Demo- cratie delegation from New England, who has previously pledged the solid vote of the New England delegation in support of McCormack, today sent out & letter to each Democratic member of the incoming Congress, urging that they vote for McCormack as the man whose election can best unify the party in the House. While McCormack two years ago supported Representative McDuffie of Alabama for Speaker, he is now a of Representative Byrns, who was Representative Rai- neys' teammate two years ago in the contest for election of Speaker and floor leader. He will, however, have the loyal support of the McDuffie fol- lowing from Southern States in the present contest. ‘While administration leaders and Postmaster General Farley, chairman of the Democratic National Commit- tee, have repeatedly announced a pol- icy of hands off in the contest for or- ganization of the House, there would be no objection on their part to Mr. McCormack’s candidacy because of his loyal support of the administration program and his outstanding work as chairman of the Special Committee Investigating Un-American Activities. Representative McCormack has re- ceived voluntary pledges of votes from members of practically every State delegation. Some of the lead- ing members of the House urged him to make the formal announcement of his candidacy in advance of con- ferences of State delegations. In preparation for a drive to put Representative O’Connor into the floor leadership contest, Tammany has had its leader and several of its strongest workers making a study of the situation in Washington dur- ing the past week. Tammany, how- ever, will encounter strong opposition, even in the numerically largest dele- gation in the House, which is from New York, and will have very little support in the second largest delega- tion, from Pennsylvania. Exclusive Readers A recent questionnaire sent by a Washington department store to its customers shows that The Evening Star is taken in 2296 of the 2,747 homes from which replies were received. Of these 2,296 Star-reading homes 1,829, or 79 per cent, did not take the second after- noon paper and 2,045, or 89 per cent, did not take the third afternoon paper. Yesterday’s Advertising (Local Display.) Lines. The Evening Star 47,619 17,219 14,541 2nd Newspaper. . 3rd Newspaper. . 4th Newspaper.. 14,016 Sth Newspaper.. 8,939 Total (x&38%.) 54,715 Washington merchants con- tinuously use The Star as their most profitable advertis- ing medium, a natural result of the predominant reader acceptance given The Star. TWO CENTS. D.C. TAX SURVEY TASKISGVENTO TREASURY STAFF Federal Experts to Check Local Rates Against Oth- ers for President, RESULT WILL AFFECT LUMP-SUM .DECISION Hearings on District Budget Be- gin, With $3,000,000 Report=d Slashed Already. President Roosevelt's proposed survey of taxes paid in a number of other cities to determine whether the people of the District of Columbia are being taxed too much or too little has been assigned to the Treasury Department, Mr. Roosevelt said today he has re- quested the Secretary of the Treasury to have this tax survey made by ex- perts of that department and to report back as soon as possible. The President said he wants the answer to the tax question so as to make up his mind about the fiscal relations between the District and Federal Governments in time to advise Congress accordingly before it gets down to action on the District appro- priation bill, Treasury Is Silent. At the Treasury this afternoon no information was available as to how the department will handle the Dis- trict tax survey assigned it by the President. Unofficial discussion, however, in- dicated the task would go to experts of the Internal Revenue Bureau or the Budget Bureau or a combination of the two. The Internal Revenue Bureau has a vast accumulation of data concern- ing taxes throughout the country and also would have made available to it reports from the Census Bureau concerning taxation of cities of a similar size. The Budget Bureau for years has made careful studies of the District budget. The Research and Statistics Divi- sion of the Treasury also is prepared to make such a study. Sum Reported $41,000,000. In the meantime, it was reported at ihe Capitol, where hearings ol the Distriet bill for 1936 got under- way, that the Budget Bureau has slashed more than $3,000,000 off the original estimates of the Commis- sioners. Estimates calling for appropriations totaling $44,039,356 were prepared by the Commissiovers, but .in the prun- ing process at the Budget Bureau, it was said the mount was cut to ap- proximately $41000,000. The largest reduction, Chai:man Cannon of the subcommittee indicated, was made in the amount of the Federal share of the expenses of the District, the Budget Bureau recommending $5,- 700,000. ‘The Commissioners had sought to have the Federal obligation raised to $8,317,500, which they considered a more equitable share. The $5,700,000 figure represents the amount appro- priated for the current fiscal year from which was deducted, however, 70 per cent of P. W. A. loans to the District, bringing the actual contribution by the Federal Government below $5,- 000,000, the lowest in history. By recommending a $5,700,000 Ped- eral contribution, the estimates of the oners are said to have been reduced by $2,617,500. Another $1,- 000,000 is understood to have been lopped off the budget total by chang- ing the $3,000,000 emergency relief item to $2,000,000, the same amount as appropriated for the current fiscal year. Police Increase Doubtfui. A number of minor reductions also are understood to have been made in the estimates of the Commissioners, especially those containing items for the Highway and Police Departments. The Budget Bureau, it was said, failed to approve Police Supt. Brown's re- quest for appropriations to fill 35 existing vacancies in his long under- manned force. Only three members of the subcom- mittee, Chairman Cannon and Repre- sentative Blanton, Democrat, of Texas, and Representative Jacobsen, Dem- ocrat, of Iowa, were present when today's hearing started. Several other members are expected to attend to- morrow’s session. As usual the subcommittee con- ducted its proceedings behind closed doors. Even the keyhole in the com- mittee room was stuffed. Commissioners Hazen, Allen and Sultan and Maj. Daniel J. Donovan, suditor and budget officer, were among the first witnesses. Tax Assessor Wil- liam P. Richards also was called, The hearings are expected to last several weeks. After all District de- partment heads are questioned civic and business leaders will be given an opportunity to be heard. These groups, however, will be at a decided disad- vantage because of their inability to learn the Budget Bureau's recom- mendations in advance. Chairman announced the conclusion of initial session that the entire time was taken up van, showing the present fiscal status of the District government. SOVIET DEAD TOTAL 75 “Enemies of People” Shot After Official Is Killed. mili= tary collegium of the supreme court. Some 15 “enemies of the people” re- main 0 be tried. A government communique said most of the nine shot yesterday had entered White Russia from Poland, armed with bombs and revolvers. ¢