Evening Star Newspaper, March 8, 1935, Page 2

A—2 *» CODE COMPULSION BY LAW HELD DEAD Voluntary Co-operation of Business Units Seen Very Much Alive. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. Codes by compulsion of law are dead whether applied to businesses or industries engaged in Interstate or intrestate commerce. Codes by voluntary co-operation of various units of business are very much alive and represent the sole way out of the mess in which the N. R. A. finds itself today. Court decisions by the highest tribunals in different States, as well as by the Supreme Court, have sounded the death knell of codes by compulsion. Conceded by Richberg. Donald Richberg, spokesman for the President, conceded as much when he asked Congress this week to limit the codes to those businesses engaged in interstate commerce. But this would mean inequality. Two businesses alongside one another in the same city, paying different rates of wages and using different working hour schedules for virtually the same kind of labor, would mean & handicap to those actually shipping goods from State to State which the other units would not be obliged to bear. There is another reason, however, why the whole N. R. A. structure is collapsing. The Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Appellate Court of New York State have both handed down decisions declaring that State Legislatures cannot abdicate their functions and delegate their power over code-making to administrative agencies. In each instance, the deci- sion cited in its support the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United | States in the recent “hot oil” cases. In other words, even as to business operating with a State, the legisla- tures cannot simply copy the Federal law and make N. R. A. codes the law of their respective States. This is a delegation of power to an outside agency. Indeed, in this example it is a delegation to the Federal Govern- ment of a power that ought to be ex- ercised by the State Legislature. Wis- said so. Refuse Responsibility. Neither the State Legislatures nor Congress will ever write specific codes. ‘The legislators usually refuse to take the responsibility. And the Supreme Court says the laws must be specific. ‘This means that detailed instructions as to the operation of businesses would have to be undertaken by either State or National legislators and the danger of this is a reaction at the polls similar to that which has attended the drive of the N. R. A. Irritations and grievances have multi- plied under the N. R. A, especially in small businesses. There was much merit in Gen. Johnson's original concept of volun- tary codes, but much harm in the Blue Eagle boycott as a pemlty for those who did not obeby. But the basic idea of volition plus public opin- ion was a step in the right direction. ‘The way out is to preserve the code idea and let Government officials sit in on code meetings as conciliators and mediators, in the hope of bring- ing about in each industry the maxi- mum of agreement in what constitutes a fair trade practice and leaving it to the present Federal Trade Com- mission procedure in the courts to determine what is unfair competition in a given case. The Federal Gov- ernment’s right to suspend the anti- trust laws is a weapon which would be helpful in the event that the Gov- ernment representatives saw merit in the operation of a code developed by the agreement of a majority. The formula for preserving the good in the code system is rapidly coming to the surface. It lies in an abandon- ment of compulsion and a greater re- liance on voluntary co-operation. The emphasis is shifting in that direc- tion partly because there is no other way to produce cohesion in industrial groups and partly because the Federal | and State courts have by their recent decisions revealed the impracticability of a Government dictatorship over economic policy. Another phase of Government con- trol which will have to be clarified soon is the attempt by the Federal Government to introduce the licensing system with respect to products of agriculture. Certainly Government power over the marketing of products in interstate commerce has been seri- ously interfered with in the cases wherein the Federal Government has been enjoined by the courts from pre- venting milk sales inside a State. Tariff Barrier Seen. Likewise the State power to re- strain sales of milk that come in from another State has been knocked down by the Supreme Court of the United States as being a kind of tariff barrier forbidden by the Federal Constitution @s between the States of the Union. All in all, the power to obstruct interstate commerce by laws intended to build up a new economy have fallen down, and the sooner the Roosevelt administration adjusts it- self to the new situations the quicker will recovery come. It is a sad commentary on the qual- ity of legislative intelligence that laws plainly in conflict with the Federal and State constitutions are passed. but much of this must be attributed to the hysteria growing out of the economic emergency. The day of reckoning has come in the courts and this is one of the prin- cipal reasons why legislation is all piled up here in Cengress and why the administration silently looks on in a sort of bewilderment, wondering in what direction to go next. Meanwhile, busiress and industry are clamoring for recognition hy the administration of the fact that recov- ery will come when the raid on busi- ness is superseded by a constructive program which really aims at re- employment of the idle millions. (Copyright. 1935.) S ROBINSON UPHELD Arkansas Senate Votes Confl- dence—Disregards Long. LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 8 (#). —Without specific reference to the current controversy in the United States Senate between Senator Joe T. Robinson of Arkansas and Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana, the Ar- kansas Senate today adopted a reso- lution expressing “supreme confidence in Franklin D. Roosevelt, our Presi- dent, and Joe T. Robinson.” Robinson was described in the reso- lution as “our beloved leader.” There Wwas no dissent in the viva voce vote. 700 Persons in Court. Seven hundred persons were sum- moned recently at Willisden, England, Police Court for non-payment of in- What’s What Behind News In Capital Reaction to Devaluation Hint Just What New Dealers Wanted. BY PAUL MALLON. \HERE was no very deep SOrrow evident around the White House after the President's devaluation hint was given such a confused inflationary interpretation. Indeed, many skeptical observers suspected the hint was dropped es- pecially to get such a reaction. The British have been playing monkeyshines with the pound. Imme- diately after the Supreme Court gold clause decision, they withdrew some of their stabilization props and let the pound slide The best authorities here have been fearing it might go as low as $4.10. Mr. Morgenthau's stabilization boys have been trying to protect the dollar, | but it is no secret that they are babes in the international exchange woods, especially in comparison with the British. Furthermore, the stock market was sliding, and the vague inflationary hint from the White House helped to offset that temporarily. If President Roosevelt was not merely talking for favorable effect, he managed to get it anyway. Dropped Hint to Newsman. ‘What happened at the hint-drop- ping was this: A news repo. :er attending the reg- ular press conference asked if Mr. Roosevelt was satisfied with the com- modity price-level. The President re- plied that he was not and also that he was not satisfled that the burden of debt had yet been equalized (de- valued). ‘This could only mean that he thought a further devaluation of the dollar would have to be made some time. He was asked directly about devaluation and laughed himself out of answering by suggesting that was something else again. His best monetary advisers have | inst further devali i consin and New York courts have both jheeh aiins i uation They believe it would only be an academic gesture which would not affect any- ‘The speech you should have heard on Huey Long is the one supposed to have been delivered over a telephone by the leading occupant of the White House in a talk with a Senator. If it had not been a private Gov- ernment wire, the chief operator might have been plugged in to do & little censoring. Close friends of Democratic Floor Leader Robinson are hinting that it was he who called Mr. Roosevelt befcre he laid the lash on Huey in the Senate. According to them, his lash-laying was a modified version of the President’s view. This is only additional evidence not Hugh Johnson's, Senator Robin= son’s or even Jim Farley's, but some one whom all three represent. ‘Why Huey Modified Attack. Huey has only one adviser—a Senator near him, whom he trusts, After the Robinson lashing, this wise Senator privately advised Huey he had better lie low for & while until the wind blows down. This is why the Whirling Dervish from Louisiana immediately cut his momentum 50 per cent. Meanwhile certain other Senators were getting ready to show at the first opportunity that they are not were Bailey of North Carolina (who asked for the privilege of presenting the Farley report throwing Huey down), George of Georgia and Logan of Kentucky. Old-timers pined for ex-Senator Jim Reed, whose strident tongue has Huey. You may write it down in your notebook that Senator Wheeler, the Montana Progressive Democrat, will not be a vice presidential candidate with Huey. He has remained silent in the face of stories that he would, probably because he likes Huey. His associates know, however, that he be- lieves his future lies in other direc- tions. Swanson-McCarl Tiff Inside. ‘There was more behind the Swan- son-McCarl tiff than an academic misunderstanding between Govern- ment officials. The right slant on that affair may be gleaned from the fact that Attorney General Cummings sanc- tioned Navy Secretary Swanson’s de- fiance of Comptroller McCarl on & rather trivial issue. Two cabinet effi- cers do not go flying off on such tangents without first letting the boss sanction their flight. Those who know more about, the situation than has been printed, believe that the New Dealers are try- ing subtly to administer & mild re- buke to Mr. McCarl. Some of them have felt that he has not played ball with them lately and okayed ex- penditures wholesale as he did at first. Mr. McCarl has always been consid- ered to be above presidential reach. President Coolidge once looked into the possibilities of reaching for him, but became discouraged. Since that time the Supreme Court ruled in the Myers case as follows: “The President is empowered by the Constitution to remove any executive officer appointed by him, by and with the consent of the Senate, and this power is not subject in its exercise to the assent of the Senate nor can it be made 0 by an act of Congress.” The New Dealers may not use this ruling, but they have dug it up and are keeping it at hand. Holmes as a Writer. The world may never agree, bul some litterateurs consider Justice Oli- ver Wendell Holmes one of the great- est writers of this age. The surpassing elegance of his style has been obscured by the fact that he wrote only on one of the world's dullest subjects—the law, (Copyright, 1085 1} that the campaign against Huey is | afraid of Huey. Included in the group | speared many a dervish as fast as|. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, LONG BLAST HELD EFFORT FOR 19% Democratic High Command Meets Attack With Frigid Silence. By the Associated Press, The Democratic high command with which Huey Long is at war met with frigid silence today his latest onslaught on the Roosevelt adminis- tration, Observers noted that, after assail- ing the New Deal as a “St. Vitus Dance” and Hugh 8. Johnson as a general who “never smelled powder or heard a cap snap,” the Louisiana dictator seized the opportunity to at- tempt, before his huge radio audience, to hammer home his “share-the- wealth” ideas. They wondered if that were not an emphatic new indication of an effort to gather strength for the 1936 cam- paigns—in which some observers fore- see the possibility of a third party movement. Of the men who have struck at Long in the past few days, only John- son had any immediate comment on last night's speech. The former Blue Eagle chief who is in Providence, R. I, said: “It's a great joke”—and for the time being let it go at that. He is saving his fire until after Father Charles E. Coughlin of Detroit replies Monday night to the John- sonian charge that bqgh the priest and the Louisiana Senator are demagogues appealing to the “abused babies” of depression. Robinson Listens In. Senator Robinson of Arkansas, the Democratic leader, who has tangled with Long on the Senate floor, tuned in on the speech last night, but had no comment. He told newsmen who talked with him while the speech was going on, that he hadn't heard any- thing to which he wanted to reply. Senator Bailey of North Carolina, | another whom Long has threatened | to send to political oblivion, said he hadn’t heard the speech and “wasn't interested.” Neither was Sernator Byrd, Virginia Democrat, who denounced Long as a demagogue in & recent | speech. | Long’s latest onslaught was termed | by Senator Clark, Democrat, of | Missouri, as “an adroit piece of demagoguery,” but in general it caused little stir on Capitol Hill. “What did you think of it?"” Senator Bilbo, Democrat, of Mississippi was asked today. “He didn’t say anything to make me think,” he replied. Flays Arms as He Speaks. Long flailed his arms as much .as ever as he contended in the radio speech that the White House had de- clared war on him and chosen “the late and lamented, the pampered ex- crown prince” of the Blue Eagle to make the “lead-off speech.” But the “Kingfish” departed from his custom in one respect—he had prepared o manuscript, which he fol- lowed part of the time. One of his departures from it was his disparag- ing reference to Johnson's military that when Johnson went out of N. R. A. he prepared “a blistering state- xdnem" which never saw the light of ay. The reason it was suppressed, he said, was that want to loan him to some other Presi- dent in the future” Once, he for his foes to the phrase “those birds opposing me.” “God save the country from the misdery and distress of that gang,” he said. To the support of his plan to cut the wealth of all rich men down to $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 and otherwise distribute riches, he summoned the Bible and the compact made by the pilgrim fathers. “Laws Handed Down by God.” “While my urgings are declared by some to be the ravings of a madman he said, “and by such men as Gen. Johnson as insincere bait of a Picd Piper, if you will listen to me you will find that it is restating the laws handed down by God to man.” Of Johnson he said that “this erst- while prince of the deranged alphabet makes ready to appear at thz funeral of the N. R. A, like unto the colored lady in Mississippi who there as- serted: ‘I is de wife of dese remains.’” Declaring “the Roosevelt adminis- tration, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Farley, Mr. Astor and all their spielers and spell- binders” are gunning for him because they think he is the “cause of their misery,” he said: “They are like old Davy Crockett, who went out to hunt a 'possum. He saw in the gleam of the moonlight that a 'possum in the top of the tree was going from limb to limb. He shot and missed. He saw the 'possum again. He fired a second time and missed again. Soon he discovered that it was not a 'possum he saw at all in the top of that tree. It was a louse 1n his own eyebrow.” Kitchen Cabinets the Same. The “kitchen cabinets” under Presi- dents Roosevelt and Hoover were the same, he said—“Maybe you gsee a little change in the man waiting on the tables, but back in the kitchen the same set of cooks.” Mr. Hoover's plan, he said, was to plow up every fourth row of cotton, but Mr. Roosevelt plowed up every third row. “80 it has been that while millions haye starved and gone naked; s0 it has been that while babies have cried and died for milk; so it has been that while people have begged for meat and bread, Mr. Roosevelt’s administration has sailed merrily alon, As for N. R. A, he said it became & “national scandal,” Johnson went out “as the scapegoat” and if an N. R. A. parade were called now, “you couldn't get enough people for a funeral march.” He said that with the “P. W. A's, C. W. A's, N. R. A’s, A. A. A’s, J. U. G’s, G. I. N.’s, and every other flimsy combination, the country finds its affairs and business tangled to where no one can recognize it.” Debts and Jobless Increase. “More men,are now out of work than ever,” he said, “the debt of the United States has gone up another ten billion dollars. There is starva- tion; there is homelessness; there is misery on every hand and corner, but mind you, i the meantime, Mr. Roosevelt has had his way.” He sald he had told “Hoover’s crowd it wouldn’t do” and had given the same warning to - “Roosevelt’s crowd.” Now, he said, “they are in a rage at Huey Long because I have said, I told you so.’” prowess. Another was his contention | “Wall Street might | changed a more elegant appellation | D. C, FRIDAY MARCH 8, 1935. \ Sending and Receiving Ends of Radio Speech |AVIDSON DFATH is indicated by the picture at the left. ‘While Senator Huey Long blistered him in a midnight radio speech, Gen. Hugh S. Johnson listened in at Providence, R. I. How it affected him Fellow listeners are Eugene R. Gil- Wit v martin, chairman of the Rhode Island Bar Association, and Roger T. Clapp.—Copyright A. P. Wirephoto. Long is shown at right as he spoke to his unseen audience. JOHNSON LAUGHS | AT LONG ATTACK “It’s a Great Joke,” Former N. R. A. Head Tells Bar, Declining Comment. By the Associated Press. PROVIDENCE, R. I, March 8.— | Broad chuckles were Gen. Hugh &. | Johnson’s way of receiving Senator Huey Long's slashing radio attack upon him. “It's a great joke,” he said, “but I have no comment now.” He indicated he would comment only after Rev. | Charles E. Coughlin, also criticized by | the general Monday night, had replied. | The former Army officer who ad- | dressed the Rhode Island Bar Asso- | ciation last night only touched on Senator Long and on Father Coughlin not at all during the speech. Criticizes Father Coughlin. In a question period afterward he was asked: “Do you think the clergy should | participate in discussion of social | subjects?” “Clergymen have every right to discuss social questions but no clergv- ! man has the right to form a political organization, place himself at tne| head and use‘uugmn and appeals to the emotion rither than by exposition of a particular point of view,” John- | son replied. Speaking of the widening of gov- ernmental supervision of the country’s commerce, Johnson told members of the bar association: “I think that (in the careful and very necessary flexi- bility which so distinguishes our high- est court) that our law is on the verge of refleeting more faithfully the problems of the present * * *.* Sees “Swoop of Economics.” Answering ‘his own question as to whether the Congress or the States shall regulate the various commercial fields, Johnson said: “We must not bury our noses 50 deeply in books of law and precedent that we cannot see and hear the great thunderous swoop of time and eco- nomics, which already has proved to nearly all men to have eyes to see and ears to hear that, in commerce, we are a single country and not 48 watertight political compartments.” Sees Broad Federal Rule. In his address he predicted an ever widening field of Federal supervision over the Nation's commerce — sanc- tioned by the courts. Declaring the Nation was “sweeping like an avalanche” toward a condi- tion of economic complexity in which the small business man is being re- placed by the great corporation, Gen. Johnson said: “I think the Supreme Court has seen this clearly and that if anybody thinks that these great autocrats of the national breakfast table ought to be freed from any aspect of govern- mental attention merely because the old-time butcher, baker or candlestick- maker was not dangerous enough to the public helplessness to need watch- ing —well, he is just living in a medieval dream and probably thinks that Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnle Parker and John Dillinger are Friar Tuck, Maid Marian and Robin Hood. “Corporations Have No Souls.” “Altruistic banditry is s thing of the romantic past and we can be well that corporations have no I am no trust-buster, but I ly believe that our public will not consent to take its soup out of any one dipper without having a direct say in the matter, and that there is no possible workout of this vast and inevitable coalescense of business in which the public shall not have a part. * * *” ‘Taking up Senator Borah’s recent assertion that Johnson had recorded himself as against the little man, the general declared President Roosevelt had “saved more little men under N. R. A. than Senators Borah or Nye ever preached about.” —_— raneously that both Johnson's Monday night speech against him and Father Coughlin and Senator Robinson’s terming his words “the ravings of & madman” had severely irked the isianan. He picked up phrases from both these attacks on himself to repest them as he left his text. Periodically —A. P. Photo. Long’s M illd_Ranges From Poetj COUGHLIN FRIENDS Of Greece to a Dusty Toy Dog By the Assoclated Press. Gargling cracked ice to ease hls‘ throat, Huey P. Long let his mind range from an obscure Greek poet to a dusty toy dog as he awaited his turn at the “mike” to speak on “Our’| Bungling Government and Its Spokes- man, Gen. Hugh 8. Johnson.” While he crunched the ice and posed for photos in many attitudes, the Senator discussed Theognis. The poet, he said, was among the sages who subscribed to the “share-the- wealth” idea. “Theognis,” said Senator Long, “was one of the boys in Plato’s time—one of the greatest.” A listener who was |a bit rusty on Theognis looked him up in the encyclopedia and found— lo and behold!—that he had been “expelled from the Democratic party” of ancient Hellas, The Senator, jumping to a new subject, turned to Mrs. Burton K. Wheeler, Mortana. “Mrs. Wheeler,” he asked, “do you know the line that follows ‘The little toy dog is covered with dust?’ " wife of the Senator from | | Mrs. Wheeler, one of the group which filled to capacity the green-| curtained studio, thought for & moment. | “Gracious me, Senator,” she said. “I can't remember to save my neck.” Long, apparently intending to use the poem in his talk, remarked: “It is a beautiful thing.” But by that time he was asked to test his voice, and the toy dog never did get into| the speech. After Long had been introduced on the air he leaned his elbows on a foot, then on the other. | benefit of those who may not have| listened in from the’start,” he said, Senator from Louisiana, talking from Washington, D. C.” As he progressed he talked faster and faster and louder and louder. As | he finished reading a page, he threw | it on the floor. ~ All through it a bodyguard kept watch. Heflin Is Eager For Senate Job To Tame Long! |Former Member Charges | Plagiarism in Plan to Limit Fortunes. By the Associated Press. Alabama’s J. Thomas Heflin came to the Capital yesterday and made a bid for a return engagement in the Sen- ate—he wants to come back to tame Louisiana’s “Kingfish,” Huey Long. “I'd try to get him in line,” the former Senator said, “and in due time might succeed.” Heflin admonished his old side- kicks in the Senate that they had better follow the lead of President Roosevelt “if you want to serve your country and keep in the good graces of the people back home.” Attired in the familiar swallow- tailed coat and white vest with all the | accessories, the Alabaman put Long in | the role of plagiarist. “Why,” he said, “Huey isn't the first to advocate limitation of fortunes. I did that 15 years ago. Huey is just going about it wrong.” He said Presidens Roosevelt is doing more to “break up concentrated wealth and to give the average man a fair chance in the struggle for existence than any President I have ever known.” Heflin planned to call at the White House today. COUGHLIN TO GIVE _ PUBLISHERS CREDIT Phone Conversation Is Held on Use of Material in Radio Address. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, March 8—Father Charles E. Coughlin of Detroit talked by telephone late yesterday with Har- court, Brace & Co., publishers, who had charged “almost half” of the priest’s radio speech last Sunday was taken from one of their publications. ‘They announced the priest informed the company full credit would be given in the printed version to be distributed shortly. ‘The book from which Father Coughlin obtained some of his ma- terial was “The Economic Conse- quences of the New Deal,” and was mentioned once by name in connec- tion with a discussion of the cigar- ette industry. There were other long passages, the publishers asserted in & telegram, that were not credited. It explains the permanent departments of the Federal Government and the Alphabet Bureaus of the New Deal. Every American should read it. Ordér today. e Order Form ===y Price $1 at The Evening Star Business Office, or by mail, postpaid | Neme Olty. secesnsncssncsnces Stteceee Congress in Brief TODAY. By the Associated Press. | Senate. Considers $400,000,000 Army appro- priation bill. % Nears showdown on $4,880,000,000 work relief bill. Finance Committee hears Donald R. Richberg in N. R. A. investigation. | Agriculture Committee calls Chester Davis in hearing on A. A. A. amend- | | ments. Post Office Committee continues | study of proposed Farley investigation. House. Discusses amendments to home own- ers’ loan expansion bill. Ways and Means Committee hears Secretary Morgenthau on anti-smug- gling bill. Interstate Commerce Committee | continues hearing on holding company control. Rivers and Harbors Committee hears testimony on omnibus bill. Agriculture Committee studies com- modity exchange regulation. Labor Committee works on Lundeen social security bill. YESTERDAY. Senate. Approved a 40 per cent increase in the standing Army's man power. Finance Committee heard Donald R. Richberg defend N. R. A. House. ‘Debnted home owners’ loan expan- sion. ‘Ways and Means Committee agreed to report Vinson-American Legion bonus bill. Post Office Committee approved bill to permit adjustment of rates paid | | airmail carriers. Interstate Commerce Committee heard witnesses on holding company regulation. Merchant Marine Committee con- ductéd hearing on safety-at-sea leg- islation. LONG CHARGES HIT District Attorney Denies Bought Job From Farley. DALLAS, Tex., March 8 (#).—Clyde O. Eastus, United States district at- torney, yesterday characterized as “false” charges made in the United States Senate by Huey P. Long of Louisiana that he bought his job from James A, Farley, Postmaster General. Eastus announced himself willing to appear any time as a witness before the Senate. e Iron Taken From Stomach. A patient at Mayo Mental Hospital in Catlebar, Ireland, is recovering after 115 nails and 2 pieces of iron were removed from his stomach. He The Evening Star Offers Its Readers This Worth-While BOOK SPLITONBANK BILL, Senator Thomas Aids Ad- ministration, Leaving Nye Measure Supporters. By the Associate Press. A difference of opinion over parlia- mentary strategy in banking legisla- Father Charles E. Coughlin of De- with money and credit. Father Coughlin is pushing a bill an of North Dakota, to create a cen- tral bank and have it take over the Federal Reserve System. Senator Thomas is friendly to the bill, but is supporting, instead, the measure presented by administration officials to centralize control over money and credit in the Federal Re- serve Board. His support is based on the theory that it is as big a step as can be taken now. The disclosure of this difference of opinion was the second of two new developments to focus attention on banking legislation. Last night 66 economists who are members of the Economists National Committee on Monetary Policy issued a statement attacking the bank bill presented by the administration officials. They as- serted that, if it were passed, it would “invite ultimate disaster for this country.” Sprague Signs. Among the signers was Oliver M. W. Sprague of Harvard, former special | adviser to the Treasury, who resigned because of disagreement with admin- istration monetary policy. Senator Thomas said: “I am supporting the administration bill because it goes as far as we can g0 at one time. “It will take the power over money and credit out of the hands of the | Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The next time, we can get more. But on the basis of my legislative experi- ence, our best procedure is to support that bill now.” ‘Thomas contended that to push a more liberal bill now was “playing into the hands of the conservatives,” and would result in defeating even the proposal advanced by the adminis- tration officials. ‘The Oklahoma Senator also took is- sue with one of the provisions in the Coughlin-Nye bill, providing for the | popular election of the board to con- trol the central bank. This provision was placed in the bill by Father Coughlin. “You might just as well elect the Supreme Court,” Thomas said. “There would be more politics in that, board than in a board selected by the President and confirmed by the Senate.” The economists’ group attacked vir- | tually every major feature of the | banking bill. “Politics” Deplored, Provisions under which the Presi- dent would be empowered to appoint the governor of the Reserve Board and remove him at any time were de- nounced as making the board “politi- cally controlled” and giving it “little opportunity to exercise independent Jjudgment.” “The proposal to repeal the require- ments with respect to commercial pa- per collateral for Federal Reserve notes is unsound,” the statement con- tinued. “It will enable the Federal Reserve banks to issue legal tender notes against frozen or illiquid assets under the tolerance or policies of a politically controlled Federal Reserve Board. The proposal that “any sound asset” be eligible for rediscount at the Re- serve banks was denounced as opening “the way to converting what should be & commercial banking system into an illiquid non-commercial system.” The economists also found fault with provisions for permitting long- term loans on real estate and increas- ing the percentage of appraised value which may be loaned. Crime Body Told Hotel Checks Calls In Vice Clean-up One of Washington’s leading hotels is co-operating with the Woman's Bureau of the Police Department to such an extent that its telephone operators have been instructed to listen in on all outgoing calls to ascertain whether its guests are communi- cating with women of ill repute. Capt. Rhoda J. Milliken, head of the bureau, made this dis- closure yesterday before the Spe- cial Crime Committee of the House. She said the increase in the number of women of ill repute had confronted her bureau with one of its most serious problems and had resulted in an increase in the number of arrests made by policewomen. PROBE IS DROPPED State Plans No Further In- vestigation of Myste- rious Case. BY JOHN H. CLINE, Btaff Correspondent of The Star. PINEHURST, N. C,, March 8. —Mrs.’ Elva Statler Davidson's strange and mysterious death was a closed book today as far as the State of North Carolina is concerned. All official investigation has been dropped following the return of an “open verdict” yesterday by a core oner’s jury, which decided the 22-yeare old bride of H. Bradley Davidson, jr., Washington sportman, went to her death from carbon monoxide gas un- der unknown circumstances. It was reported a private detective engaged by the Statler interests was still carrying on an undercover in- vestigation, but this could not be con- firmed. Attorneys “Satisfied.” Attorneys representing the same in- terests left this fashionable resort for their homes last night. They said they were satisfied. Solicitor Rowland Pruette, repre- senting the State, has turned down his cards without playing the “pretty good hole card” he told reporters he had. He announced any further in- vestigation was up to the grand jury. Both the sheriff and the coroner said they contemplate no additional inves-' tigation. The attractive young bride, heiress | to the fortune amassed by the late E. M. Statler, chain hotel operator, was found ¥ead in her garage here at 9 am. last Wednesday. What she did during the preceding four hours {and the physical circumstances of her | death constitute one of the most baf- fling mysteries in the annals of the State. An impressive staff of investigators worked for a week and could shed no, light on the case. Their evidence as it was unfolded before the coroner’s jury revealed little liklihood of murder, but left no choice between the theories of accident and suicide. Position of Body Puzzling. The most puzzling feature of the case was the grotesque position in which her body was found. The knees stand between two microphones and | tion developed today between Senator were on the running board, neither began to read. He leaned on first one | Thomas, Democrat of Oklahoma, and | foot touching the floor. ‘The upper part of her body was sprawled across Fifteen minutes after he had start- | troit, who have collaborated closely | the floor boards of her car under the ed, he announced himself. “For the.| heretofore on measures concerned steering wheel, the arms outflung and her head near the brake pedals. | Experts testified she could not have | “this is Huey P. Long, United States introduced by Senator Nye, Republic- | fallen into this position and that if |she had deliberately placed herself | there before losing consciousness the knees would have straightened after death. ‘ These facts and & mass of other | evidence went before the jury, and | that body was unable to decide how | she met her death. Their inability to | decide that question, however, was shared by the throng of wealthy and | socially prominent onlookers who crowded the inquiry hall each day. The jury of six men came in with its open verdict after deliberating only 16 minutes. The foreman said only one ballot had been taken. | The decision reached by the jury | leaves the entire case unseitled The ! baffling question of whether Mrs. Da- vidson died accidentally, by ter own hand or was murdered is no nearer an answer than on the day when her body was found. The pronouncement that she met | her death “by carbon monoxide gas poisoning under circumstances un- known to the jury” was -ead by the acting coroner after the jury had filed back into the community hall from its deliberating place in & neasby fire house. |, Attorneys for the Statler family | had announced they were “satisfied | with the verdict.” Pruette said eny further action |was “up to the grand jury,” which does not meet until next June. Sneriff Charles McDonald refused comment, except to say the verdict leaves the case open for “further investigation.” He indicated he had no intention of making it. Coroner D. Carl Frye said the ver- dict was “entirely satisfactory” to him. Described as Moody. The climax of yesterday's testimony came when Attorney M. G. Boyette, representing Davidson, called Herbert Vail of Pinehurst to the stand. Vail said he had dinner with the David- sons February 8, and that the young wife was very moody on that occasion. “She sat down at the piano and started to play,” he testifed, “but soon left the room, saying her finger action was bad. I followed her out. “She was very despondent, and turned to me and said: ‘It's no use, Herbie. I might as well go out in the garage and turn on the motor." " Vail said he paid little attention to the remark at the time, but three weeks later her body was found there —dead from a cloud of carbon monox- |ide gas pouring from the exhaust of her 12-cylinder car. | Under cross-examination, he admit- | ted he had at first expressed the opin- | fon the death was accidental. He said | he wanted to see it that way for “the | family’s sake.” He said he was “now testifying it was a suicide” becausa the possibility of the case being called an accident had been eliminated by the evidence. Despondency Told._ In answer to another question, h said: “I think she had been mentall :enhlllnced ever since I had known 2o His wife gave the following 'testi- mony: y “Elva was a woman who craved ate tention and became moody if she. didn't get it. Many, many times she told me nobody loved her. She was always despondent at these times. She was also afraid of falling and hitting her head. She suffered from faiting spells and feared a blow on the head might kill her.” Mrs. Vail added that Davidson was “exceptionally nice to his wife.” Mrs. Donald C. Alford of Pinehurst said she never saw a couple “more happy than the Davidsons. He was always thoughtful and considerate; I never saw him any other way.” Dr. C. C. Carpenter said there was sufficient carbon monoxide present in Mrs. Davidson’s body to cause death and a slight trace of alcohol. There was no evidence of any other drug of poison, he declared. He discussed at some length the peculiar kneeling position in which the body was found. Body Found Kneeling. According to the testimony, the body was kneeling on the running board, the upper part of the body sprawled across the floorboards in- side. He said he did not believe she could have fallen into this position and doubted if the body would have remained in that posture had she placed herself there before death. He also testified concerning a num- ber of fresh bruises on her body. ‘They were made befors death, he testified.