Evening Star Newspaper, February 26, 1935, Page 2

LOWRATES CAUSE CRISIS IN AIRMAIL Bids Made on Cancellation of Contrats Last Year Work Hardships. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. The airmail is in another jam. It's just & year since the cancellation of all airmail contracts, but the mess created by that step has not been {roned out. The result is that some of the air- lines are being forced to consider whether they can continue to carry airmail at all. The whole situation is one of rates. The airmail companies say they can- not survive on present allotments, that all of them are losing money and that some will have to go out of business within the next 90 days if the situation isn't remedied. The trouble arises out of the low bids made a vear ago. Some of the lines, in order to protect themselves from irresponsible competitors and believing that the rates would later be advanced, bid something like 8 or 9 cents a mile. Even rural free de- livery carriers get about twice that amount. Roosevelt Wants Action. Not a single company has ordered any large aircraft equipment since the airmail cancellations a year ago, and many of the operating companies were forced to honor contracts which they Jpd made for airplanes prior to the cancellations. Every one of the operating com- : panies now has been completely di- vorced from the manufacturing end. £o that all the reforms sought have been accomplished. : President Roosevelt has taken a deep interest in the plight of the airmail | companies and has asked the Post Office Department, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the com- - mittees of Congress to expedite action 50 that the airmail system will not be disrupted. The chief difficulty is one for which -the airmail companies are not re- sponsible. Tt involves a clash inside the Government as to the control of the airmail. Naturally, the Post Office Department wants to keep supervi- sion. and the President has indicated he wants the 1. C. C. to take it over. Regulation Welcomed. Private companies say they don't ecare where the supervision comes from so long as it is non-political and effective. They welcome Federal regulation The criticism that the ailmail gets & subsidy of $10,000,000 a year is re- garded as unfair by the companies, because, they say, the postage col- lected from the public means about $7,000,000 in receipts, and because the deficit inh airmail operation arises from the desire of the Government to supply service to sections of the: country that never have been and probably never will be self-sustaining. The Aviation Commission, headed by Clark Howell of Georgia, has just | filed its report, and its recommenda- tions are in the main satisfactory to the industry. The administration has shown no signs as yet of follow- ing the report. An appropriation bill of $14,000,000 has been cut down to $10,000,000, notwithstanding the fact that the reduction recently of the postage to 6 cents resulted in a 37 per cent increase in the amount of mail carried. Harassed by Low Rate. Approximately 215,000,000 pieces of mail were carried in the air during 1934, so that the possibilities of the service are such that a scientifically developed air system some day may get along with very little public sup- rt. But at this juncture the airmail companies cannot afford to run along on a 30 or 90 day basis and at rates which prevent them from meeting ex- penses. Within the last month three of the bidders who entered low bids when the airmail contracts were can- celed have gone out of business. Sev- eral of the other small lines are banging on because it might cost them more if they forfeited their bond for performance than if they kept on carrying the mails in the hope of relief. This has resulted in the use of sin- gle-engine planes, which cannot, of course, carry passengers, since the mail flying is done at night. This means that passenger service has been fuspended in different parts of the country. One Lost All Its Capital. One airmail company had a capital of about $100,000 and lost it all in the first seven months of operation. An- other lost 25 per cent of its capital. Still another lost more than $2,000,000 in 1934. The air lines are paying their nilots out of capital put up by in- vestors. Only one company has paid & dividend in eight years. ‘Those companies which did make a profit in the last several years put the money back into equipment and de- velopment, only to have the contract cancellations come along and break tp their whole opportunity to realize on their original investment. Pilots Valuable as Reserves. America's air service in commercial aviation is the envy of the rest of the world. With the importance of the airplane in future wars, other countries are pointing to the unexam- pled opportunity the United States has to train pilots as an indication of how much stronger the American Army and Navy will be when they need reserves. Last year's experience showed how difficult it was for the Army pilots to endure the rigors of airmail flying. ‘The expenditure of that $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 in excess of receipts, spent largely to give service where favored Representatives and Senators insist it shall be given, is not a large sum in these days of billions, especially ‘when there is an airplane manufac- turing industry which has been stag- nant for nearly a year. It's another case, however, of avoiding recovery and avoiding re-employment as offi- cials contentrate on the kind of leaf- raking jobs that do not make for permanent recovery. Copyright. 1935.) o MRS. MARY HARPER DIES Funeral Services to Be Held To- morrow Morning. Mrs. Mary Ellen Harper, widow of Charles E. Harper, died Sunday after a lingering iliness at her home, 1630 Irving street. She had lived in Wash- What’s What Behind News In Capital President to Win His Fighs on Relief Bill. Both Sides Bluff. BY PAUL MALLON. | { being given out by both sides in this relief bill fight. Both the New Dealers and the Sen- ate oppositionists are doing consider- able bluffing. There will undoubtedly be further hectic backing and filling before the measure is finally enacted, will get just about any kind of a bill he wants. ’ Administration leaders confess as much privately. They concede that their latest move in sending the bill back to committee was designed mainly to teach the Senate a lesson. The strategy appears to have been conceived in a moment of pique af Mr. Roosevelt’s temporary setback the relief wage plan. The idea was that the country would immediately proceed to ridicule the Senate for playing politics. It was a hazardous move, but the congressional leaders are sure it will work out all right. | | i Politics Behind Decision. ‘There was no question among in- !siders that politics was behind the | Senate wage decision. Many of the forty-four Senators who opposed Mr. Roosevelt really voted from sincere conviction. A fair backstage guess | has been made that possibly half of (them did. You can tell the ones who !did by looking into their past labor record. 5 | _The rest could be divided into two classes: (1) Democrats who wanted to get in good with labor. and (2) | Republican old guardsmen who voted | against their real convictions just to make trouble. The vote of this latter class is causing scandalous cloak-room dis- cussion. Even the victors did not like the help they got from this source. They say it discredited their sincere efforts to get changes in the bill. Half a dozen old guardsmen could |be named, who have always been against boosting relief costs, against union wage scales, against inflation | for, yet they voted for it. Guns Guard Long. A Washington newsman was sitting in his semi-suburban home the other night with his wife, when the door bell rang. It was about 10 p.m. He | went to the door, drew it open cau- tiously and was confronted with Huey Long, flanked by two threatening in- dividuals. “Just dropped in for a little chat,” said Huey. “Don’t mind my boys here. They just look big because they have a couple of submachine guns along.” The machine gunners stood guard | while the chat proceeded. When it | was over they scouted around to see {that the coast was clear, escorted | Huey to his car and drove off. | And this is the year of our Lord 1935, the year after a Century of Progress in these United States was celebrated rather expansively at Chi- | cago. i Sheep Thinking In Congress. | Any one who has had any experi- ence with Legislatures, State or Na- tional, will recognize the symptoms behind the current disorderly situa- | tion in Congress, not only on relief, jbut on every other issue. All Legislatures develop sheep hab- its after they have been assembled in session for a couple of months. ‘They think in groups and not indi- vidually. slant on an issue. His associates seize it and poll parrot it around. After it has been repeated often enough it becomes a fact. This is what makes the jobs of lobbyists easy. In fact, the whole city of Wash- ington normally displays the same tendency toward developing deeply grooved viewpoints. Mr. Roosevelt was able to use this historic habit for his own ad- vantage during the initial two years, but now things seem to be getting back to normal. Patronage-hungry Congressmen are behind the move for a congressional investigation of the Home Owners’ Loan Corp. It is only a threat to make the H. O. L. C. open up on jobs. 1f Congress carries it much further, you may see Chairman Fahey resign. He has intimated as much privately to friends. Fahey is dead set against opening up the field agent jobs to the spoilsmen. Anti-Power Groups Aroused. The Grubb decision against the Tennessee Valley Authority lhu aroused the anti-power groups in‘the Senate so much that they have pri- vately vowed to watch all judicial nominations more closely hereafter. immediate effect has beem to inspire an investigation of a district attorney recently nominated in a southern State. The idea, of course, is to ascertain how judges and prose- stand on the power issue be- fore the Senate confirms them The best reason for signing a Townsend old-age pension plan petition has been offered by a small-town school superintendent Jrom a Rocky Mountain State. He was in town recently, seeing his Semator. The Semator remon- strated with him for signing a Townsend petition, saying he had better sense than to believe the rlan workable. “I know it,” replied the school superintendent. “But I had to do it. You see, all the members of the %gm Board in my town are over The Senator agreed this was suffi- cient reason. » (Copyright. 1938.) yOU can save your eyes by not | Y reading most of the statements | but in the end President Roosevelt "ot and everything the amendment stood . A group leader takes a INEW FARM DEBTS “FOROLD CREATED IBorrowing to Buy, Present Trend, With Anxiety About Day of Reckoning. This is the second of a series of five articles contrasting conditions in the Northern States of the Mid- dle West, as Mr. Roosevelt, a mem- ber of the editorial staff of the New York Herald Tribune, found them on a recent tour and in the Autumn T of 1933. ' BY NICHOLAS ROOSEVELT. | A year ago the farmers of the Mid- dle West were crying, “Reduce the burden of our debts or we go under.” | This cry was echoed by some of the “brain trusters” who assured us that not only the farmers but the entire | Nation suffered from too great & load of debt. They insisted that we had to scale down these debts—and when some of us pointed out that the trouble lay not so much in the exces- sive volume of the debts as in the large proportion of bad debts, and when we prophesied that as soon as the then existing debt structure was reorganized the Nation would begin | to pile up new debts as fast as pos- sible, we were denounced with the administration’s favorite epithet of “Tories.” Coincidentally, the Govern- ment set *the example of piling up new debts on a gigantic scale and spent the last year in inducing every | one to borrow who could. It attacked jthe bankers for not lending more freely—and, as a really constructive measure, it proceeded to refinance a large volume of the farm mortgages in need of being reorganized. Times have changed. Today the farmers are, talking less about the | burden of their old debts than about | their hopes of incurring new debts. | Mortgages have been readjusted. The ! local merchants have been or are be- 1ing paid off. No longer does one hear talk of the need of inflation or argu- | i ments for other artificial methods of | ireducing debts. There is no more talk of evictions, and no more threats | of violence. Farmers Are Buying. But most significant of all, the farmers are buying—buying new farm | implements, cars, clothes, radios, even I'more land. Most of them are borrow- g to buy, but that is in the spirit of the times. All are looking ahead to a brighter future instead of brood- | |ing about the depression. Even severe critics of the adminis- 1tralion agree that much of the im- | proved psychology is due to the re- | financing of farm mortgages by Fed- | eral aid. More than $2.000,000,:5) have already been poured out for this| purpose—a sum equal to a quatter of the total farm indebtedness in the country a year ago. This is just about enough to bring relief for the | bad debts, which, it will be recalied | formed only about a quarter of the total farm mortgages. Another fuarter of these $8,000,000,000 mortgages were | in such a shape a year ago that even | . a small increase in farm prices would ! { enable the debtors to pay. Withia | the year prices have increased so | much that payments are now being | treely made. The remaining half of ' | the Nation's farm mortgages were of |such a class that even .uring tke worst of the depression payments on | them were being regularly met with- | out too great difficulty. When it is | realized that scarcely half the farms !in the country are mortgaged. it is ! clear that the $2.000.000,000 poured out by the Government to »andle the | worst cases has been able to afford | very genuine relief. Cash From Other Sources. But the Government has also belped by providing the farmer with cash from other sources. The various benefits under the corn-hog ana wheat restriction programs have been vsed either to pay off small local debis or to buy deferred necessities. ‘ihe sums spent for rural relief work have in part filtered through to the tarms. In the case of the farmers in the drought area these relief payments alone made possible the survival of some of the families. But fully as important as the mort- gage refinancing and other Govorn- ment payments has been the drastic increase in farm incomes due to the rise of prices of basic farm commodi- ties. Corn has nearly 'ripled in price isince the early Autumn of ,933. | Wheat is up 30 per cent. Hogs nate nearly doubled. Milk and other dairy ‘pmduc!s have gone up by about a | third—enough to improve the general i condition of the dairy farmers. Altogether the farmers’ income dur- ing 1934 was materially better than in 1933—the estimates for the total increase run up to about $2,000,000,000 for the entire country. The net result has been that many farms which were losing before are now making money, and those which were run profitably at the oottom of the depression u&] much better off. The strain has been lifted. Psychological Reactions Cited. This has had its psychological reac- tions. There are fewer demands for panaceas now than previously. There is less sullen resentment against the “system.” Less talk is heard of hang- ing Mr. Morgan. More people are be- to say that perhaps we can pull ourselves out by our own efforts. They are grateful for Government aid, of course, but the thoughtful few are quite aware that some day this will have to be paid for. For the moment they are hoping that some one else can be forced to carry the tax burden. To this extent they still talk of “redis- tribution of wealth.” But they are returning to more |orthodox views of economics. This i means, of course, that they will assess correctly the mherent dangers in the Government’s spending policy. Al- ready they are beginning to under- stand that the Government cannot in- definitely give cash to those who would like to have it. Furthermore, they are questioning whether will not themselves in the final analysis have to pay for a large part of the benefits which they are receiving. All of this makes for healthy thinking, and this in turn should ’ead to ultimate healthy action in the Nation. The only ques- tion is whether they will transiate their views into action before the ad- ministration spends its way to further [JANUARY OUTPUT [N.R.A.LEGISLATIVE The Fine Arts Commission has @pproved plans for cutting off the south steps of the old Patent Office Build- ing so as to widen F street. are completed. The architect’s drawing above shows how the south side will look when the changes 10DSTRETBILS AREACTED UON Protest of Taxi Companies Causes Withdrawal of Liability Measure. ‘The Senate yesterday passed four District bills, while the House cleared its calendar of District legislation by passing six. The auto financial re- sponsibility bill, which passed the Senate January 10, and was consid- ered the most important pending measure on the House calendar, was withdrawn by Chairman Patman of the Subcommittee on Streets and Traffic, after protests by taxicab com- panies and operal E One of the measures passed by the Senate is identical with a measure passed by the House for changing the law regarding descent and distribu- tion to give females equal rights with males in inheritance. Either branch of Congress now must approve a mo- tion to substitute the bill passed in the other branch. This is a mere legislative technicality. Action by Congress on the unlaw- ful entry bill was completed today when the Senate. on motion of Chais man King of the District Committee, agreed to & minor amendment made by the House when it passed the measure yesterday. The bill strength- ens the District Code by fixing penal- ties for unlawful entry into vacant dwellings. The House yesterday, on motion of Chairman Norton of the House Dis- trict Committee. substituted the bill previously passed by the Sen-, ate for a similar measure passed by the House on February 4, for the relief of Dr. Chester C. Groff, who, although he had practiced in the District for many years, has been debarred from practice because, due to absence from the city, he was un- able to apply for a reissue of license when a new law requiring registra- tion was enacted in 1928. House Passes Blind Bill. An outstanding bill on which the House acted yesterday., and which still must be acted on by the Senate, is the Ellenbogen bill. eppropriating $75,000 to pay pensions to needy blind persons in the District under the administration of the welfare de- partment What is known as “the absconders bill,” providing for distribution of estates of those who are absent from | the District, was passed by the House | and requires action by the Senate. A slight amendment was adopted in the House carrying a two-year provi- sion for the protection of District residents who may be temporarily assigned to duties outside of Wash- ington. The House passed two other bills which yet remain to be acted on by the Senate. One of these changes the name of Leffler street northwest to Second place to conform to the nomenclature for minor streets. The, other provides for granting e Federal charter to Trinity College, as has been done with all other institutions for advanced learning in the District. The Senate passed a resolution for creation of a commission to consider the advisability of establishing & memorial boulevard from Washington to the Gettysburg battlefield. This measure has not been considered in the House. Deed Fee Raise Voted. The Senate also passed a bill in- creasing the fees charged by the recorder of deeds’ office in an effort to make that office self-sustaining. This measure must be considered by the House. The Senate passed legislation to give the District health officer power to authorize th: opening of graves in cases where death was due to con- tagious disease. The House has not yet acted upon this. The auto liability bill was with- drawn in the House because taxicab men had protested to members of the committee that they had not had an opportunity to be heard on the bill. The District, Committee in reporting out the bill understood there was only one objector, and he was given a brief hearing in executive session. Later it developed that representa- tives of several of the taxicab com- panies had amendments which they desired to have made in the legisla- tion. Chairman Patman of the sub- committee said today he did not know when he could find time to grant these hearings requested by the taxicab people. ‘The taxicab interests have been de | $ at The Evening Star Business Office, or by mail, postpaid WILLIAM W. BRIDE DIES AT HOSPITAL AFTER LONG ILLNESS (Continued From Pirst Page) Claims and the United States Su- preme Court. His later private legal work was of varied character and he | specialized in international law. Resident of Edgemoor. For many years Mr. Bride lived in Edgemoor, Md. He was active in civic affairs and was one of the charter members of the Montgomery | County Civic Federation and chair- man of the Public Safety Committee. He, with other members in the or- ganization, was particularly active in organizing the Bethesda Volunteer Fire Department, serving several terms as president of the Bethesda Fire Board. At the conclusion of his tenure in this position he was made an honorary president for life. Even while serving as an official of the District of Columbia, he continued to take a tremendous interest in the activities of the Bethesda Fire De- partment. Mr. Bride was former counsel for the Rumanian Legation. serving in this ca- pacily from 1924 to 1927. He also served for several years as consul for Rumania in Maryland. Mr. Bride was born here in 1881, the son of Cotter T. and Louise Henrietta (Witthaft) Bride. He attended East- ern High School, St. John's College. | Georgetown University, Columbian College (now George Washington Uni- versity) and the University of Ne- braska. He received the degrees of B. A and LL. B During the war Mr. Bride served as a captain in the intelligence di- vision of the Armv and after the armistice he returned here to practice law, mostly before Federal depart- ments. While engaged in tha* pur- suit he represented many cut-of- town lawyers before these depart- ' ments. | Entered D. C. Service in 1927. ernment service July 1, 1927. He was brought to that office by Sidney F. Taliaferro, then the Commissioner in | charge of the corporation counsel's office ‘The administration of the District’s legal department had fallen into dis- favor with some members of Congress and Mr. Bride was selected to effect some reorganization of its machinery. One of his last important acts as corporation counsel was the prepara- tion for the new Board of Commis- sloners of a draft of the bill to legalize | sale of alcoholic beverages in the National Capital. Member of Many Clubs. Mr. Bride was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1900. He served as a colonel on the staff of the Governor of Nebraska | from 1808 to 1910. He was a member lot the Inaugural Committee for Pres- ident Wilson in 1913 and 1917. He was & member of the Army and Navy i Club, the Racquet Club, the Chevy | Chase Club. the Delta Chi Fraternity, | the_Sigma Chi Fraternity. the Edge- moor Club and the Edgemeor Citizens’ “ASsociation. He is survived by his wife. Lulu Mae Fairbanks Bride, and four sons and | daughters, Dorothy Fairbanks (Mrs. | Paul G. Felix), Adelaide Witthaft, William Witthaft, jr, and Noel Craw- ford Bride. fighting this legislation for years. An auto responsibility bill was introduced in the Seventieth Congress about nine years ago by Representative Rogers of Massachusetts. She reintroduced her bill in the Seventy-first Congress and Representative McLeod also introduced a bill which was passed by the House but not acted upon by the Senate. Again in the Seventy-second Congress McLeod reintroduced his bill and Mrs. Norton of New Jersey also introduced similar legislation. The McLeod bill passed the House a second time, but again the Senate failed to act. In the Seventy-third ess the McLeod auto liability bill was passed by the House. The Senate passed a taxicab liability bill in that Congress, but in a squabble that developed, neither Heuse accepted the other’s measure. The measure now under consideration combines the general auto liability bill with provisions covering taxicab own- ers and operators. This measure is in accordance with proposals for uni- form State legislation recommended by the national conference on street and highway safety, called by the President. The measure was drafted by corporation counsel in conference with groups representing all interested parties and was sent to the Capitol by the District Commissioners. It was introduced by the chairmen of the Senate and House District Com- mittees. The Euvening Star Offers Its Readers | This Worth-While BOOK It explains the permanent partments of the Federal ! Govermment and the Alphabet Bureaus of the New Deal. Every American should read it. Order today. JCity. ceeeinenncnceccass State .ooe ) [ RS Mr. Bride entered the District gov- | AR CONIETED ASBARRN ADES Relatives and Friends Are Found Guilty of Plot to Harbor Pair., By the Associated Press. DALLAS. Tex., Pebruary 26 —A Fed- eral Court jury today convicted 15 relatives and friends of the slain out- law couple Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker on a charge of conspiracy to harbor fugitives from justice. Judge William H. Atwell immedi- ately began sentencing the 15, along with 5 other defendants in the case, | who previously had pleaded guilty. Year and Day for Methvin. Henry Methvin, one-time associate of Barrow, was given a yvear and a day in Federal Penitentiary. The other 14 convicted today were Mrs. Parker, the mothers of Clyde and Bonnie; Hilton Byee, S. J. Whatley, W. D. Jones, Floyd Hamilton, Steve Davis, Billie Mace, L. C. Barrow, Mrs. Steve Davis, Marie Francis, Audrey Fay Barrow, Joe Chambliss and Mil- dred Hamilton. Mrs. Parker was given a 30-day jail sentence. Floyd Hamilton mond Hamilton, fugitive convict, re- ceived a two-year sentence in Leaven- worth Penitentiary. Meanwhile Texas officers pressed an intensive search for Raymond Hamilton, the Southwest desperado’s former lieutenant. Haunts of Hamilton, who succeeded Barrow as the Southwest's No, 1 pub- lic enemy, were watched by officers | after the desperado and a companion ! had shot their way out of a police | | trap at McKinney and kidnaped three farm boys in their flight. Releascd late yesterday, the boys, Buster Mayes, J. C. Loftice and J. C. Harlow, said Hamilton gave them $2 and told them to “get back home and | keep your mouths shut.” They were allowed to take the | motor _car their captors had stolen from Mayes' father. Later Hamilton and his companion were reported headed north from Fort Worth in a stclen machine. P.W. A. HOUSES ONLY 124 FAMILIES AFTER YEAR OF PROGRESS [g@ginued From First Page.) acquiring sites and has attacked real | estate speculators. A Louisvile, Ky., | Federal judge held recently that P. |W. A. lacked authority to condemn |land. Perturbed, P. W. A. asked the | Supreme Court to rule directly on its appeal without awaiting action by the Circuit Court. P. W. A. officials are in the midst of preparations for an effort to put an expanded housing. program in the forefront of the $4,000,000,000 work program if such a plan meets with | necessary approval. Just now. how- | ever, borrowings from the P. W. A. housing division tc eke out relief funds { while the huge work and relief bill is tied up in the Senate have left the housing division with insufficient | funds to finance more than one-sixth of the projects authorized. Ickes, who recertly declared hous- ing was his major “personal interest” in the entire public works program, expects the borrowed $95,000.000 to be refunded from the $880,000,000 the huge bill carries for relief. Jailed for Abandoning Child. OKLAHOMA CITY, February 26 | (#,—David Penn Chitwood, convicted of abandoning his daughter five years ago when she was stricken dumb by an attack of meningitis, was sen- tenced yesterday to five years in the penitentiary by District Judge Clar- ence Congress in Brief ' By the Associated Press. TODAY. SENATE. Takes up slim calendar. Munitions Committee questions Eugene G. Grace, steel executive. Interstate Commerce Subcommittee conducts hearing on coal bill HOUSE. Considers miscellaneous legislation. Agriculture Committee opens hear- ing on A. A. A. nts. Interstate Commerce Committee lation. of economic security bill. YESTERDAY, SENATE. for Commerce, State Dej Interstate Commerce Subcommittee heard mine workers indorse Guffey coal bill. Munitions Committee heard that Labor, Justice and t. Cumie Barrow and Mrs. Emma | brother of Ray- | AT 3YEAR MARK Federal Industrial Activity 90 Per Cent of 1923-25. By the Associated Press. Industrial production last month, the Federal Resgrve Board says, was the largest in any January since 1930. The board’s monthly summary of business conditions, published today, said the industrial output in January amounted to 90 per cent of the 1923- 25 average, compared to 86 per cent 1 December, i Sharply increastd activity in the steel and automobile industries was credited for much of the gain. The report said factory employment and pay rolls rose somewhat during the | month, reversing usual seasonal trends. Large increases in employ- ment at automobile factories and substantial increases at steel mills, | foundries and woolen mills ported. Jobless Put At 10, Meanwhile, however, a report issued lby the National Emergency Council showed the unemployed in the United | States in December, 1934, numbered | 10.830,000 {hajf a million from the American eration of Labor, which estimated that 11,329,000 were out of wqgk at | that time. were re- official and released without comment by the council, the figures were con- tained in a 68-page report by Winfield l i This figure differed , by | Although represented as being un- | PROGRAM DEBATED Reserve Reports House Chiefs Believe Sen- ate Should Act First on ControVersial Bill. —_—— By the Assoclated Press. Differences developed today between some presidential advisers and Demo- cratic congressional leaders over | whether the House or Senate should | act first on the proposal to extend | N. R. A. another two years. Some of the administration strate- gists thought the House should act | firse, because: 1. The Senate upset | the administration’s plans on wages |in the $4,880,000,000 work and relief | bill; 2. The House has been less prone | to revolt this session. Senatorial spokesmen were inclined | to agree, but they met strong opposi- tion from Democratic chiefs on the House side. Byrns Explains Stand. As expressed by Speaker Byrns, their position was this: “I've heard a lot of talk around the House to the effect that since the House has to originate so many bills anyhow. the Senate should start off one of these controversial measures “Besides that, the Senate is on the verge of an investigation of the N. R A. It wouldn't be right for us to i bring in a bill extending the N. R. A. while the Senate was still investi- gating it. “Some members contend that the | Senate committee could investigate {the N. R. A. and consider the bill to Riefler, recently resigned economist of | ¢¥tend it at the same time.” the council, and his associates. The table in the report covered un- from | time the Senate took the rap on employment month-by-month January, 1930, through December. ment, officials said. The Federal Reserve report noted employed in the meat packing indus- said the output of lumber continued at a low level. vanced steadily. the general level of wholesale com- modity prices advanced from jended January 5 to 79.4 per cent in the week ended February 16. beet prices during January and in hog prices during February were reported, while prices of cotton, grains and silk were shown to have declined in Jan- uary and the first few days of this month only to advance in mid-Feb- ruary. The board said the value of con- struction contracts awarded during January was slightly larger than in December. A considerable decline from January, 1934, was attributed to the declining volume of public proj- ects. Figures Not Reconciled. As for the National Emergency to reconcile its figures with those of the American Federation of Labor or with other data published by the Na- tional Industrial Conference Board, a private economic research association. Nor was there any explanation as to the data on which the compliation was based. ‘The council figures showed that since December, 1930, the number of persons in the United States available for employment has increased 1,678,- 1 000 to a total of 50,426.000. The gain population. in employment for December over No- vember. also show an improvement over De- cember. BABES IN W0ODS” | (66 Used to- Sleeping in Forests, They Suffer No Il Effects. Thanks to nights spent in the open | while touring the West with their parents, 8-year-old John and Mar- garet Miller, twin “babes in the woods,” were back at Keene School today with not so much as a cold from their Sunday night's sleep in a thicket just off the Baltimore Boule- vard children of Mr. and Mrs. George F. Miller, 11 Milmarson place, slept 1934. Such detailed figures have never | before been published by the Govern- | Food prices were shown to have ad- | doing to it! The board reported | tion of that Council report, no attempt was made | resulted from the normal increase in | The estimates showed a slight gain | January Federation of Labor figures | RETURN TO SCHOOL' While a thousand men searched a | nearby Maryland swamp, the two | Byrns did not say so. but another majority leader remarked that “it is | something.” | House Gets Blame. Asking that his name not be used, | this leader added “We have to act first on all appro- decreases in the number of persons | priations bills. The Constitution says so. It also says that since the social try, at retail trade establishments and | secunity bill carries a tax, we've got on construction projects. The report | to vcte on that first, too. “We had to pass the $4,880,000,000 jbill first. Look what the Senate is If there’s any liberaliza- bill, the Senate gets the | credit and we get~the blame for the 779 Per | original sin. cent of the 1926 average in the week | “The same thing will happen on social security. It's time these.Sen- ators realized that House members Substantial increases in cattle and | nave constituents, too.” | This member added that changes the | Senate had made in House bills were responsible, to a great extent, for evie 1 dences of dissatisfaction in the House. : Besides the public works bill, he point- jed to the fact that the Senate had | overridden an administration recom- | mendation and voted to restore the & per cent Federal pay cut on April 1. . 'BANK BILL HEARING PUSHED BY GLASS Witnesses to Be Called Will In- clude Eccles, Crowley and 0'Connor. By the Associated Press. With the relief bill cast aside, Sen- ator Glass, Democrat, of Virginia, busied himself today with preparation for hearings on the New Deal bill to centralize more control on the Na- | tion’s currency and credit in the Fed- eral Reserve Board. The Virginian said hearings would be started probably within the mext week or 10 days before his Banking Subcommittee. The list of witnesses is to include Marriner S. Eccles. governor of the board. and other members; a num- ber of leading bankers, economists and teachers of banking: Chairman Leo T. Crowley of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and J. F. T. O'Cen- nor. controller of the currency. Before beginning hearings on the controversial banking bill, the com- mittee may decide to take up the nomination of Eccles as governor of the board, Glass said, indicating that was & question for members of the group to decide. Consideration both of the bill and the nomination has been delayed be- | cause Glass, as chairman of the Ap- | propriations Committee, has been oc- cupied for weeks on the administras tion's $4,880,000,000 relief bill. Sen- ate leaders have decided, however, to let that measure rest for a while be- fore trying once more to put it | through the rebellious Senate. R HORSE SHOW TONIGHT peacefully on a bed of pine needles, | First of Series of Indoor Events one of their coats under them, the other doing duty as a blanket. Miller. a writer and publisher of to Be Held at Fort Myer. The first of a series of indoor horse works on educational subjects, has 'shows at Fort Myer, Va., will be held often taken his family on automobile | tonight at 8 o'clock in the riding hall, tours. enthusiastic readers of have begun to prepare. Too, John and Margaret are | John and Margaret, however, will revise their “never speak to strangers. but only to policemen” rule, which, they now feel, is more applicable to city than country life. The twins obeyed this rule and remained lost | within sight of one of the world's | busiest motor highways. | Early yesterday the twins found the policeman they had been seeking since they were lost in the swamp Sunday | afternoon while on a family picnic. The twins had been seeking the policeman no whit harder than the policeman had been seeking the twins. | ENGINEER CATCHES FISH which is expected to be packed to the N adventure | limit of its 1,800 seating capacity. stories. They hope to join the Bo)’! and Girl Scouts some day, and already | Lieut. Col. George S. Patten, jr, is the director of the show, and assist- ing him will be Capt. James T. Duke, 3rd Cavalry, who is acknowledged to be one of the leading instructors in horsemanship in the Army. Your Income Tax Automobile Deductiens. ‘With the number of automobile own-( ers registering in the millions, the question of deductions for the cost of operation and maintenance of a motor car frequently arises. The purchase price of an automobile, whether it is to be used for business or pleasure, cannot be deducted from gross income. If used for business, it is a capital ATOP 14-STORY BUILDING By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, February 26—L. M. Crow, an engineer, caught a 6-inch roof of a downtown, 14-story build- he opened a bottom valve on the building’s water tank. He believes it slipped through fish was carried through conduits the 250 or 300 miles to Los Angeles and 'oumped into the tank. DUKE BENEFIT PLANNED N\ expenditure; if used for pleasure, it is a personal expenditure—both deduc- tions being expressly prohibited by the income-tax law. Several deductions, however, are al- ucts hearing on holding company | striped, small-mouthed bass on the { lowable in connection with the cost of maintenance and operation of an auto- Ways and Means Committee WOrks | ing, The live fish dropped out when | mobile, used either for business or pleasure. If used exclusively for busi- ness, deductions may be taken for the cost of gasoline, oil, repairs, garage Passed $98,000,000 appropriation bill | screens high in the Sierra Mountains, | rent and other necessary operation and upkeep expenses. Depreciation, based on the cost of the car and its estimated useful life, also is deduct- oMer deductible items are as follows: Sums paid during the taxable year for registration fees, drivers' licenses, personal property tax, and municipal taxes; interest on money borrowed for the purchase of motor car, either for business or for pleasure; loss sustained by reason of damage while car is being used for business, provided such loss is not covered by insurance or other- wise; damages paid for injury to an- other, provided that the car was being used for business at the time, and the damage was not covered by insurance or otherwise, and the amount paid for business purposes. L