Evening Star Newspaper, March 11, 1935, Page 2

1.5, SEEKS REMEDY FOR EXPORTS LOSS Removal of Tariff Barriers Seen Only Way to Re- capture Trade. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. The sad story of what is happening to America's export trede, and par- ticularly cotton, is coming out in the official figures. Egypt, India and Brazil are taking our textile business from us as the American cotton planter, temporarily soothed with artificially boosted prices due to governmental measures, is threatened with a greater and greater loss of his markets in the long range sense. For ot only is the cotton farmer endangered, but American labor in the textile industry is imperiled. The Bureau of Agricultural Eco- nomics, which is a statistical and fact-finding agency in the Depart- ment of Agriculture, has just revealed that while spinners in Japan bought less cotton from America in the sec- ond six months of 1934 than they did in the first six months, the Japanese increased their purchases of cotton from India considerably in the same period. Cotton Trade Off. The total of cotton exports in Jan- -uary of this vear declined 44 per Jcent in volume and 27 per cent in wdollar value. . “This steady decline,” says the bu- Teau, “is attributed to price factors.” Another way of stating it is that, while the Government here has pegged “the price of cotton at 12 cents through d4ts willingness to make cotton loans at that figure, the world price is below | ‘that point. Hence foreigners find it ‘necessary to buy cotton in Brazil or India or Egypt, where cotton is being grown and sold at less cost than in | "America. « Striking an average of all cotton :exports. the January index was 68, as compared with 74 last December and 109 in January a year ago. Looking at all our farm products we find that the volume shipped «abroad in January, 1935, was the Jowest exported by us during any January for 20 years. The index of &1l farm products exported for Janu- | ary, 1935, was 57, as compared with | 62 in December, 193¢, and 93 in| January. 1934 | High Tariffs Blamed. | So, in a way, cotton is no exception | to the downward trend of our exports of farm products. for we are losing in | the sale of wheat and corn and lard and pork and apples—in fact, all along the line. | No figures are being given out, pos- What’s What Behind News In Capital Commodity Broker Gives Capital Crowd Its Silver Dinners. BY PAUL MALLON. HE only bright spots in an otherwise dull special lobbying season in Washington have been two or more mysterious monetary dinners which have been held at downtown hotels. Senators and Representatives, par- ticularly inflationists, have attended in considerable numbers, as have other distinguished. Washington officials. It is not customary in Washington for a guest to inquire who is paying for a free dinner. Especially not at such elegant ones as these, where good food was accompanied by the best wine, cigars and fairly good after-dinner arguments about why the Government should do some- thing more for silver. A few inquisitive guests were prop- erly rebuked for their social error in inquiring about the purport of these afTairs. What they suspected, however, is true; namely, that a New York commodity broker was the guiding genius, if not the sole financial angel, who promoted this congres- sional silver manna. The last din- ner was arranged at the hotel in his own name. The philanthropic purposes of the | broker will be suggested if you check his name on the Morgenthau list of silver holders. The list says he held only 25,000 ounces at the time it was prepared last year. If this is all he had, he is entitled to a silver-tipped halo as the most disinterested angel who ever flitted around the Capitol dome promoting & Ppolitical issue. | His profit from 25,000 ounces would | not be enough to pay for beer and | sandwiches for the congressional in- flationists. Silver Rush Is Rushless. The Treasury is still very secretive about disclosing the extent of its headlong rush toward a silver boom. sibly because the rush has not been very headlong. | There are ways of proving, how- = The reader will ask, “Why?” The | ‘Senate Committee on Agriculture has | Just completed an exhaustive series of | hearings to ascertain the answer. And it has about come to the canclusion? hat the same old law and custom: =which operated for centuries past can- | ot be repealed now—namely, that =foreign peoples must have purchasing w~power with which to buy our goods “and that they cannot acquire such purchasing power unless we let dawn the tariff barriers somewhat and per- mit them to sell some goods to us. | This does not mean free trade or destruction of necessary protection or any extreme measure. But it does fmean a restoration of world trade by Onatural interchanges between two wcountries of things they can exchange =and of interchanges among three and :lnur countries which will build up, in “what is called a “multilateral” way, «'the purchasing power of all concerned. Today Rrazl is increasing feverishly her cotton production and selling to | sthe European customers we once had. | ~America, on the cther hand. faced for the last five years with a huge Ivarry-over of cotton from year to year, | “has had to find some way to cut cown | othat surplus and ktuild the price up| ;\o save the cotton farmer. i “Stop-gap” Policy. 2 So what Secretary Wallace of the | wDepartment of Agriculture calls a “#'stop-gap” policy was adopted, some- 2hing to bridge over the gap between | Zthe time when we had a surplus that | ~depressed our domestic price and the time when, with the elimination of the surplus, we can remove the re- | $trictions on oroduction and compete again in world markets. { % In the meantime. however, other mations are getting our trade and the buying nations are beginning to de- welop cheaper substitutes, so that| king cotton may grow less and less | valuable as a world crop and Amer- Jea’s cotton planter may find it neces- ®ary to turn from cotton to something else to help him pay the costs of his farm and yield a proft. + Speaking of temporary expedients, JBamuel Lamport of New York, a large Aextile manufacturer, has proposed to he Senate Committee on Agriculture | &n ingenious plan whereby a sum! rqual to 10 per cent of the processing taxes paid by these manufacturers | #hall be appropriated by the Federal | Government to allow about a half | million bales of cotton, now held by Yhe Government here as collateral for doans, to be used for special export at | B price per bale under the world price. Selling Surplus. « Mr. Lamport insists this is not | Bumping but world competition, and | that the Federal Government would ever, that the Government has ac- | quired just about 317,000,000 ounces of silver since it announced the | silver-buying program last year. The average price paid was 50 cents an ounce. This means the cost so far has been about $158,- 500,000. It also means that who- ever sold the silver to the Govern- ment made a profit ranging up to a mazimum of 25 cents an ounce. ‘ The amount seized by the Govern- ment was approximately 112,000,000 ounces. The amount it has purchased since then is about 205,000,000 ounces. These figures may be contested, but you will find they are within 5 per cent of being exact. They show the rush has not yet started. Labor Paradex Explained. If all the howls of labor against the N. R. A. were compressed into | one big shriek, you would have the world’s loudest noise, not excepting Huey Long. No group has ever been more vociferous on any issue. Yet, the other night, labor (through Spokesman William Green) issued a statement urging continuance of | N. R. A The secret of this labor paradox is | simply this: i The industries which want the N. R. A. are coal, textiles, construction, canning. oil, and even steel, which has its fingers crossed about section 7a. These are generally the highly | competitive industries. They employ roughly 15,000,000 men. Against N. R. A. are the less competitive industries, such as aluminum, tobacco, packing, ship- ping, telegraphing. They employ roughly €,000,000 workers. As between 15,000,000 workers on one side and 4,000,000 on the other, it was not difficult for Mr. Green to make up his mind. Huey Long slyly changed his figures in his last radio appearance. Instead of confiscating all individual wealth over $10,000,000, he is now going to | seize all over “three or fo'” millions. Apparently he has been studying arithmetic, and has discovered that | the figures he has been using for two | years did not even add. Now all that remains to be ex- | plained is how he is going to split up | the Ford factory, General Motors, fot actually have to advance any cash because it would be in effect selling | some of its surplus cotton at & dis- count. This discount would not be ! granted until the goods were manu- | factured and ready for export ship- ment, with the invoices aVailable for | fnspection. In other words, the Amer- | fcan cotton surplus would be reduced | faster and the American laborer in the textile business would get more $rork and the total cost would be about 18,000,000, equivalent to one-tenth of e processing taxes already collected. rious consideration is being given the plan. , On the broad question of agricul- ! al exports, there seems to be a | gnanimity of opinion among Secre- taries Hull, Roper and Wallace that the temporary policies now being érvncuwd by artificial control must e way to different policies of a per- anent nature and that these involve femayal of exchange restrictions and quota and tariff barriers. From these §teps, it is further argued by cabinet members, will come the all-important turrency stabilization which tends nowadays to keep all export and im- port markets in a demoralized state. (Copyright. 1935.) e Births Reported. Iomie 4pd Margaret smun. eic) David F_ an y. d Valeria Reckert. girl erbert R. and Marceil Bishop, Eirl. Marcelius and Marjorie Landon, girl. Lawrence and Sarah Seltzer. boy James R and Gladys Snakenberg. boy. ‘homas and Agnes Hunt. boy. Morrison and Mary Johnson. girl. Jesse and Dora Johnson. boy. Nelson iise Jone: L | whether Huey would call the general | called him. United States Steel and the Brookiyn Bridge among his followers. Your share of the split probably will be a spare part of the good will of Ford, a piece of the overhead of Ee:em Motors and the air under the ridge. Smart Showmanship. Huey's last broadcast was one of his smartest. He sent out advance word that he would answer Gen. Johnson. By this device he drum- med up a larger audience than he ever had or ever could get otherwise. Many fight-lovers sat up just to hear anything worse than the general Huey barely mentioned Johnson. Instead, he started his old patent medicine spiel on sharing wealth. The trick was even worse, because he persuaded the broadcasting com- pany to donate the air time free on the plea that it must give him the same time and right given Gen. John- son. ‘The result was he got 45 minutes free air tdune (l:rm had 40 min- utes) and a ger crowd probabl; than Johnson had. i The broadcasting officials were perturbed about the possibility that Huey would libel Johnson and get them involved in a suit. They pleaded with Huey to watch his step. “Don’t worry, boys,” said Huey, “the Kingfish never libels any one.” ‘The promise may not add to Huey's reputation for veracity, as he is now a defendant in a libel suit and was gnoe arrested for slander, but it seemed to pacify the broadcasting officials. . The truth is they are in a delicate position. They cannot afford ! § { creased by more than a million, Byrd | Richberg, after a week end during THE EVENING STAR., WASHINGTON, MELLON TAX CASE HEARING DELAYED Union Trust Co. Transac- tions Considered for Admissability. By the Associated Press. PITTSBURGH, March 11.-—The Government’s effort to introduce testimony about alleged “tax evasion” transactions by the Union Trust Co. was deferred, at least for a few days, at Andrew W. Mellon's income tax hearing today. Upon this question counsel for the financier and the Internal Revenue Bureau argued for nearly two days before it was taken under advisement by members of the Board of Tax Ap- peals hearing the case. Hogan Brings Deferment. Frank J. Hogan, counsel for Mel- lon, brought about the deferment of the matter with the withdrawal of Karl R. Korb, vice president of Union Trust, from the witness stand, sub- ject to recall. Hogan has opposed questions put to Korb concerning the company's afiairs, contending they have nothing to do with the case of Mellon, who seeks a refund of $139.000 from the Government on his 1931 tax return. Henry Clay McEldowney, the bank’s president for 35 years, died last Sat- urday. He was to have been called as a witness. Turning from the subject of Union ‘Trust the attorneys began delving into highly complicated testimony about the McClintic Marshall Co., in which Mellon was a heavy stockholder, and its merger with the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Mellon, almost 80, who says. “I would rather spend the rest of my days in jail than submit to such tyranny,” was present as the hearing went into its fourth week. Admissibility Argued. For half a week the $3,089,000 hear- ing before the Board of Tax Appeals has been bogged down while attorneys argued over admissibility of testimony concerning the securities business of | the Union Trust Co., central banking institution of the Mellons. Presiding Member Ernest Van Fos- san and his two colleagues spent the | week end at Van Fossan's Ohio farm ' considering the question. There were | reports the board might Jelay its decision because of the death Sat- urday of Henry C. McEldowney, presi- dent of the Union Trust. but attor- | neys said they have received no di- rect word this would happen. Robert H. Jackson, counsel for the | | Revenue Bureau. insists that Carl | spacious exhibition galleries and when R. Cobb, vice president of Union Trust, should testify concerning cer- | tain bank transactions which Jackson | said would show the bank “regularly” engaged in tax evasion deals for benefit of its officers and patrons. L TR WESTERN HIGH TEACHER SINCE 1922 SUCCUMBS | Miss Jessie Blair Edmondson Died Saturday at Garfield After Two Months’ Illness. Miss Jessie Blair Edmondson, math- ematics teacher at Western High School since 1922, died Saturday in | Garfield Hospital after a two-month illness, | Miss Edmondson, a member of the | Board of Admissions, was highly re- | garded for her adjustments of study ! problems Her chief out-of-school in- | tivities of the Girl Reserves. Born in Almonte, Ontario, Miss Ed- mondson spent her youth in Belvi- | cere, N. J., where she gained her first teaching experience in the local high school. She was a graduate of Wilson | College, at Chambersburg, Pa. She is survived by her mother and a sister, Miss Beth Edmondson, both of Washington. Funeral services will be held at the Church of the Cove- ' nant tomorrow at 2 pm. Burial will be in Oshawa, Ontario. COST $41,000,000 A YEAR FOR N. R. A,, ASSERTS RICHBERG (Continued Prom First Page.) figures required interpretation. He contended that figures showing more unemployed today than in May, 1934, did not mean there were not more | employed also. | He said the unemployment figures | included a theoretical addition of | several hundred thousand people who | were supposed to have become em- ployable during the period. Pointing out that unemployment figures showed the jobless had in- asked: ! *“You don't contend a million people came into the field since May, 1934?" “No,” Richberg replied, “but you don't get the exact picture by those unemployment figures.” Despite the rainy weather another capacity crowd was on hand to hear which the director of the Emergency Council and Senator Borah. Repub- lican, of Idaho exchanged sharp criti- cism of each other on the subject of | monopoly. Richberg said Borah, if given a change, would help “lead us back to chaos;” Borah called Richberg a friend of monopoly and a “pronounced foe of labor and small business.” tional Emergency Council, declared that the Idaho Republican’s demand that all of N. R. A. be scrapped except minimum wages, maximum hours and & prohibition of child labor would lead to a situation in which: “Monopolies will flourish, unem- ployment will increase, farm prices and wages will fall and relief burdens will rise.” Borah, a leader among N. R. A's critics, came back with a declaration that “Richberg is the last person in the world to talk about monopolies.” “If he is against monopolies and trusts and combines and wants to stop their preying upon the people of this country, let him stop side- stepping and finessing and come out openly for the restoration of the laws against monopolies and trusts and for their enforcement,” Borah said. Richberg contended that it is “what the most reactionary rulers of big business have been urging privately and sometimes publicly for several 10 (v MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1935. Biennial Art Show Jury at Corcoran The jury to select pictures and make prize awards for the fourteenth biennial exhibition of Contemporary American Ofl Paintings, to be held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art March 24 to May 5, met today at the gallery. It will continue its deliberations probably through Friday morning. Seated, left to right, are: Victor Higgins, Jonas Lie, chairman, and Henry Lee McFee. Standing, left to right, are: George Harding, Richard Miller and C. Powell Minnigerode, director of the gallery. The latter is not & member of the jury. CLARK ART PRIZE JUDGES CONVENE f Arrive to Choose Works for | Contemporary Oil Paint- | ing Exhibition. A jury of noted artists, headed by Jonas Lie of New York City, convened | today at the Corcoran Gallery of Art | to choose from a colorful array of entries the pictures to be included in the Fourteenth Biennial Exhibition of | Contemporary American Oil Paintings | at the Corcoran Gallery, beginning Sunday, March 24. The jury tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday will superintend the hang- ing of the selected paintings in the | that work is compleled—orohlblyi Friday morning—the judges will vote to select four pictures for the coveted | W. A. Clark prize awards. Famous Judges. The judges, in addition to Chairman | Lie, are: George Harding of Philadel- | phia, Pa.: Victor Higgins of Taos, N. Mex.; Henry Lee McFee of Wood- | stock, N. Y. and Richard E. Miller of Provincetown, Mass. All have achieved renown in the realm of | American art, and *Chairman Lie is | president of the National Academy of | Design, largest organization of artists in this country. . ‘This is the second meeting of the jury. The first, held in New York City recently, was for the selection of paintings submitted to the New York agency representing the gallery in the receipt of entries. Under rules | of the exhibition, paintings could be | | terest was the promotion of the ac- | €ntered either at New York or at the gallery headquarters here. C. Powell Minnigerode, director of the gallery, welcomed the jury and arranged for its inspection of the hundreds of entries. $2,000 in First Prize. Trust funds established by the late Senate W. A. Clark of Montana and his widow provide the prize awards and defray the costs of holding the biennial exhibitions. First prize is $2,000 and the Corcoran gold medal, | second prize is $1,500 and the Cor- coran silver medal, third prize is $1,000 | and the Corcoran bronze medal and fourth prize is $500 and the Corcoran honorable mention certificate. The show is confined to original oil paintings completed within the past two years by living American artists and not before publicly exhibited in ‘Washington. Invited guests will be given a private | view of the exhibition on the night of March 23 and the doors will be opened to the general public the next day. The show will continue through May 5. JAMES B. GREEN, 65, ATTORNEY, EXPIRES Handwriting Expert for Govern- | ment and Private Agencies Suffers Heart Stroke. James Bryan Green, Washington attorney, handwriting expert for the Government and private agencies, died suddenly yesterday of a heart attack at the home of his sister, Mrs. James W. Cummings, 209 East Thorn- apple street, Chevy Chase. Mr. Green. whose home was at 1324 L street, died just as he entered his sister's home after driving out to pay a visit. A graduate of Manhattan Univer- sity, Mr. Green, 65 years old, had practiced in Washington 43 years. His offices were always in the old Evans Building on New York avenue. He became very widely known as a handwriting expert because of his services in the famous Wan case, the mysterious death at the Chinese Le- gation. Mr. Green was the son of the late John and Celena Green. A bachelor, he is survived by two sisters besides Mrs. Cummings, Mrs. William M. McGregor, 1350 Spring road, and Mrs. Clarence Geoghegan of Panama, and & brother, Thomas Green, doing ex- tensive work for P. W. A. in Texas. Funeral services will be held at Mrs. Cummings’ home Wednesday at 9:15 am, followed by requiem mass at St. Paul's Church, Fifteenth and V. streets. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery. MRS. HAWLEY RITES SET e Widow of Late Admiral to Be Buried in Arlington Tomorrow. Funeral services for Mrs. Ella Moore Hawley, widow of the late Admiral John Hawley, will be held tomorrow at 11 Mrs. Hawley died last Wednesday at the age of 85 at Coronado, Calif. She is survived by her brother, Charles “- | Foe of Snell Joins Lib- eral Coalition Camp of Kvale. Says Party Will Die if “Do Nothing” Policy Prevails. —Star Staff Photo. Welch, California Republican,| Denounces Conservative G. O. P.| | | The fire smoldering under Repre- ' sentative Bertrand Snell. Republican leader of the House, flamed high ' today when Representative Richard J. Welch, a fourth-term Republican, of California, tentatively moved into the liberal coalition camp headed by young Representative Paul Kvale, Minnesota Farmer-Laborite. Welch predicted “liberalization or death” for the Republican party, as he urged a return to the popular prin- | ciples of Lincoln and Theodore Roose- velt. “The party will have to throw off the group which has its knee in the Republican stomach. The party today can't breathe. It is rapidly losing all its adherents. It makes no appeal to the mass of voters. “Why, there aren’t enough Repub- lican members of Congress from dis- tricts west of the Missouri River to fill my office. Denies Radicalism. “If the political principles on which this country was founded are to sur- vive, we must liberalize our aims. I am no radical. Radicalism is too | January which renamed Snell to the | rife today, but I think the one means of checking it is a re-establishment of a strong opposition party with a defi- nite policy of advancement and an end of the standstill principles im- posed on the Republican group at the present time by a 1 group of stand-pat reactionaries.’ Welch, a progressive from San Francisco, who long has fought under REPRESENTATIVE WELCH. the liberal banner of Senator Hiram Johnson, has supported almaost all the measures proposed by President Roosevelt. Raps “Do-Nothing” Policy. | “The President is the only leader who has offered the country a definite program. If it falls flat, heaven knows what the result will be, but the only alternative to the administra- Iuon policy is opposition based purely on the principle of reactionary do- { nothing.” Welch voted “present” in the Re- | publican organization caucus last leadership post. “A refusal to liberalize the Repub- | lican party will mean its end,” Welch , went on. “And the end of the Re- publican party will mean chacs in our Government. This Nation requires a | two-party system. The dozens of | factional splits that would come with a one-party House would balk all | action.” MINE STOCK DEAL 1S BEING PROBED Fluctuations of Grandby Shares Reported Follow- ing “Information.” By the Assoclated Press. The Securities Commission today | began an investigation into the stock | dated Mining & Smelting Co.. Ltd., of British Columbia, in the shares of that company. Amster appeared an hour and a half late at the hearing, after Thomas Lynch, commission counsel, disclosed he had fruitlessly searched for Amster since February 25 in an effort to subpoena him. His appearance was noted in the record without comment from the commission. Lynch read figures on Amster's transactions to show that he engaged heavily in the market after the com- pany’s board had transmitted certain information to stockholders. This information was in a letter dated November 8, 1934, warning stockholders that the directors felt the company’s principal operating company should be closed. But on November 21 the company sent out another letter disclosing tha it possessed quick assets of $10.40 a share. On the first letter the stock fell al- most immediately from $6.13 to $4, but then, after the second letter, moved up rapidly to $7.75. Lynch said that of the 37,400 shares of the company, which were traded in from November 9 up to but not including November 22, Amster bought 16,000 x All but 4,200 shares he bought at between $4 and $5 apiece, the bal- ance at between $5.13 and $5.88, “All of this” Lynch emphasized, “was before the dissemination of in- formation to stockholders that there were $10.40 quick assets per share.” Congress in Brief By the Associated Press. TODAY. SENATE. ?e;]'fl $4,880,000,000 work and re- tioning of Richberg in N. 2 A R in Labor {U. S. REFINANCING 1 IS THREATENED BY LIBERTY BOND SUIT I (Continued From First Page) for payment of a coupon due October 15, 1934, on a Fourth Liberty Loan bond. which the Treasury attempted to call for payment April 15. 1934, and pay in currency. Our claim is that the Treasury must either pay the principal in gold, or continue to pay interest, at least until the final ma- turity as stated in the bond. We have not insisted that the interest be paid in gold, but have been denied pay- | ment in any kind of money (of the { original gold value). on the ground that the bond has matured by call { | transactions of Nathan L. Amster. No claim is made for damages in ex- | prominent New York attorney, and |cess of the face value of the coupon { other officials of the Granby Consoli- | sued on. “The effort of the Government both | to change the value of money. from time to time, and then to fix the time as of which it will pay its debt, is, of course. an even more extreme form | of repudiation than that unanimously | denounced by the Supreme Court in the three opinions filed in the | recent case of Perry vs. the United | States. We believe that the credit of the United States cannot long survive if the Treasury can declare bonds due |and payable when, as, and if, it pleases, in money of any value it may happen to fix at the time.” $1.07 Invelved. The face value of the coupon on which suit is brought is $1.07. It is a small sum, but because of the principle involved, it becomes ex- tremely important. t| So important was the question | raised by this suit against the Gov- ernment considered today that the opinion was expressed the Attorney General would ask that it be ex- pedited to the Supreme Court for final decision. Not only does the question raised | have bearing on refinancing of the Liberty bonds, but it also affects the refunding of the 2 per cent consols and the Panama Canal bonds which Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau called today. # at The Evening Star Business or It explains the permanent departm Frederic J. Haskin Government and the Alphabet | Bureaus of the New Deal. Every American should read it. Order today. City. ceseeenserscences = WAGNER STRESSES LABOR BILL NEED Author of Measure Says It Will Help Balance Eco- nomic System. By the Assoclated Press. Senator Wagner, Democrat, of New Yerk told the Senate Labor Commit- tee todey his labor disputes bill would do much to round out “a balanced economic system.” The first witness to testify at the opening of hearings on his measure, the New Yorker said: “Our alternatives are clear. allow section 7-A (of the recovery act) to languish, we shall be con- fronted by intermittent periods of peace at the price of economic liberty, dangerous industrial warfare and dire depressions. Claims Balance Possible. * “On the other hand, if we clarify that law and bolster it by adequate enforcement agencies, we shall do much to round out the program for a balanced economic system founded upon fair dealing and common busi- ness sense.” ‘The Wagner bill is supported by the American Federation of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, but opposed by many industrialists. It would create a permanent Na- tional Labor Relations Board with power to carry its decisions to court for enforcement. Make a part of the law the “ma- Jority rule” by which a majority of employes in any plant would select the collective bargaining agency for all employes. Outlaw the union. Indorsed by Biddle. Support for the bill was voiced be- fore the hearings started by Francis | Biddle, chairman of the National La- | bor Relations Board. He predicted | that, if enacted, it would lead to a | legal fight and would be upheld by the | Supreme Court. Biddle disagreed with the decision | of Federal Judge John P. Nields in | Wilmington, Del., that labor rehnonsl | It we | company-dominated in manufacturing were not subject to congressional regulation Later in the hearings prominent in- | dustrial leaders are expected to tell the committee that they consider the | bill is designed to unionize all in in- | dustry. All the bill's principal provisions already are being tested in the courts in the form of Labor Board decisions. e | SWANSON DEFENDS TRAVEL PAY ORDER BEFORE COMMITTEE (Continued Prom Pirst Page.) |ing office will be completely elimi- | nated,” he said. i “I cannot exactly say that there has | been much ado about nothing. but I | think I can fairly say that a moun- | tain has been made out of a molehill The Secretary’s letter to the controller general January 30 was unfortunately phrased, and the public has got the impression that the Navy Department has cut loose entirely from the domi- nation of the controller general re- specting the determination of the pro- priety of naval expenditures. That is a wholly mistaken idea. | The law has not expressly provided for the transportation at public ex- pense of officers from their last place |of duty to their homes to await | orders either for retirement or to a new post of duty. No one will serious- ly contend that Congress ever meant that such travel should be at the ex- pense of the officer. The law, how- | ever, has not recognized it or. at least, { the law is not clear. and the general !accounting office refused to read something into the law that was not | there. Says Letter Misinterpreted. “Some one long since should have | come to Congress to have the law amended. Instead, officers have sought and have been granted relief in the Court of Claims. It is only as to cases of this particular kind, abso- lutely no others, that the Navy De- partment has announced its inten- tion to be governed by the uniform | line of judgments rendered by the | Court of Claims. The department let- | ter to the controller general has been | grossly misinterpreted and it is to be regretted that the department itself did not issue a clarifying statement immediately following the erroneous impression conveyed by the newspa- pers on account of the letter not being more explicit.” Representative Ditter, Republican, | of Pennsylvania, who first called the attention of the subcommittee to the fact that the Navy Department was | quoted in the newspapers as defying | a ruling of the Attorney General and who led in the discussion today, with Secretary Swanson as witness, said: “The persistence of the Secretary ot |the Navy and his determination to | ignore the controller general's ruling may result in the House Appropriations Committee refusing to recommend appropriations for the transportation | of the class of officers in dispute.” i Ditter Backed McCarl. “In my opinion,” said Represent- | ative Ditter, “the controller general | is the final arbiter. The great thing |in this entire case is the establish- ment of a precedent. If the door is open for a peep, it can be opened all the way, which would ultimately result in various department heads ignoring the rulings of the controller general.” Strike on in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM, March 11 (By Jewish Telegraphic Agency).—A general strike of merchants, artisans and laborers in Jerusalem was proclaimed yesterday to take place Wednesday as a protest against the high rentals in the city. The Evening Star Offers Its Readers This Worth-While BOOK ents of the Federal “What has occurred is just this | STABLE CURRENCY HELDGREAT NEED International Stabilization Held Most Important to Cure Troubles, BY MARK SULLIVAN. Within the same week in which Gen. Johnson and Senator Long— Hugh and Huey—to say nothing of hooey—exchanged their angry ameni- ties, in which Congress received peti- tions signed by some 10,000,000 people demanding a thing called the “Town- | send Plan,” in which Donald Rich- berg praised N. R. A. and Senator Borah denounced it—within that same week an American outstanding in his knowledge of world affairs, Mr. Walter Lippmann, wrote: “The signs are multiplying that the stage is set for an event of worldwide importance and of unpredictable con- sequences * * * There is no reason to become excited, but there is every reason for fixing attention upon the situation and for preparing to meet it.” Stabilization Held Need. Never since the depression began, indeed, hardly ever since the great war ended 16 years ago, has there been such agreement by thoughtful persons about what is the one most important aspect of present world conditions. If a benevolent genie out of the “Arabian Nights” should ask the statesmen of the world to choose one gift, and were to promise to cure the world’s troubles, provided the right gift were chosen, the one that practically every ade- quitely equipped statesman would choose would be international stabili- zation of currencies. To perhaps nine readers out of ten. “international stabilization” is a mere phrase, and a dull, forbidding phrase at that. Perhaps not one reader out of five even knows the commonplace fact underlying the present confusion, namely, that for a hundred years, one British pound was equal to $4.86 (with other currencies of other nations having similarly fixed relations to each other). That ancient fixity of rela- tion between pound and dollar was as stable, became as much taken for granted, as the very air we breat. Few realize that this fixity has now become | a floating thing, that during the past two years the British pound has run as high as $5.18 and as low as $3.33 | and that other currencies have bobbed | up and down in relation to each other | like sliding sticks in the hands of a boy. Fewer yet realize the conse- quences of this, including consequences which affect the personal fortune of storekeepers in Fargo, farmers at Wichita, bricklayers in Hartford. car- fpenm-s in Cleveland. Just because fluctuation of curren- [ cies is a subject complex and ob- | scure is one reason that makes rem- {edy of the condition slow. If this were a matter of wage rates or of prices of familiar goods, there would be agitation in every country, pressure on the statesmen of the world. Here 1 in America it would be more the sub- Ject of debate than N. R. A. or “work- | relief.” It would occupy first-page headlines in the newspapers instead of being confined to a few lines in cryptic terminology on the financial page and a very infrequent editorial in & very rare newspaper. { Like Bridge Player. Seeking a device to make the sub- | ject clear, I hit upon this: It is like | a bridge player making his bid and be- | ginning to play his hand with the | cards having their regular values in | relation to each other, but, in the | midst of playing his hand, the ace suddenly falling below the king in value, and the other cards changing | their relation to each other with sim- | ilarly unpredictable eccentricity. In | business, the effect of currency fluc- tuations is like the following. which is not a typical transaction, but may serve as an illustration: A manufac- turer in Battle Creek produces an article which costs him $100 to make. | He wishes to sell it abroad at $105. But at some point the $105 must be changed into, let us say, francs. At the time of shipment, $105 may equal 1,600 francs. But by the time pay- ment is due, or the transaction com- pleted. 1,600 francs may equal* only $75. ‘The manufacturer, fearing this, refrains from attempting foreign busi- ness. This illustration applying to America and France is duplicated to one degree or another among all the countries of the globe. If now the reader, even if the reader be a merchant in Des Moines who never has a transaction outside Iowa —if he desires to know how important international trade may be to him, there is an illustration that I saw used not long ago. Two quite able men were arguing about how important foreign trade is to America. One declared that never in the best of times was our foreign trade more than 10 per cent of our business at home. Therefore, said this arguer, America need not be greatly crippled by reduction of foreign business. The other arguer took from his pocket a watch and said: “You see this watch? Well, the mainspring of it is only 10 per cent of the whole of it.” It is true both arguers over-stated their respective cases, but the illustration of the watch has much weight. If in America 90 per cent of our people get their livelihood from home busi- ness, and 10 per cent from foreign business, the idleness of the 10 per cent, flooding back over our economy as a whole, causes dislocations which Tesult in the idleness of more than 10 per cent. May Arouse Prejudices. ‘This allusion to foreign trade may be unfortunate to introduce here, for it may arouse prejudices associated with the tariff. Stabilization of cur- rencies has an importance of its own, an importance at this moment transcending that of tariffs—tran- scending, literally anything else. ‘The reason it has become imme- diately fmportant is this: For a year or more the range of fluctuation be- tween pound and dollar was relatively narrow, from $5 to $4.85. About 10 days ago the pound began to go down markedly, falling as far as $3.71. At once the world is alarmed lest it go farther, lest the disparity between the pound and other currencies- be- come greater yet. By this apprehen- sion is trade between nations set even farther back than before. The alarm takes an additional form. Fall in any gives that country a tem- porary advantage over others. Con- sequently it creates temptation for one nation to reduce deliberately, and for other countries to out-bid by dropping their currencies farther yet. A competitive race in devaluation is always a possibility and always omin- ous. Whether dislocation of cur- mstdtad | ¢ rencies in relation to each other be due to natural causes, as perhaps the recent fall of the pound may be, or whether currencies be reduced erately as is sometimes done—in either case or all cases, the dislocation works further disruption in a world already strongly tending to separate into commercial islands. (Copyrieht. 1935 [ §