Evening Star Newspaper, March 22, 1935, Page 2

FRIENDLY GESTURE TO BUSINES EEN Modification of Hostile| Legislation Hinted by New Dealers. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. The theory that some of the drastic legislation hostile to business may be’ toned down by Congress at the in-| formal behest of President Roosevelt | has been acdvanced in various quar- ters here in the last few days with an aspect of authority that cannot be‘ ignored It is being sugrested that perhaps | the turmoil and strife that has bcen“ produced by the extreme proposals | would bring their own corrective in | a series of modifications which will be far more acceptable to the inter-| ests affected now than would !n\'e been the case if the extreme position had not been taken at all. | In other words. the administration | is again represented as trading to get | the maximum it can attain in the way of legislative reform, leaving it | to the protests of the business inter- ests to outline the true nature of the limits to which legislation can really go without serious injury. Protests of People Heeded. So far as Capitol Hill is concerned there are few signs that modifications are being inspired by the adminis- tration. On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence that the protests | of the people are being heeded. for | never in many years has there been such a flood of mail antagonitsic to legislative proposals. Perhaps the most difficult thing to explain about the administra.on’s attitude is its tendency to disclaim measures. Thus Joseph Kennedy, chairman of the Securities and EX-| change Commission, and one of the ablest officials in the New Deal, made a speech in. New York this week try- ing to cheer Yup the business and financial community by pointing out that New York City was too blue and that things weren't as bad as they were painted—and that they rarely ever are “Why conjure up legislative mon- strosities that will never see the statute books asked Mr. Kennedy in his addre: Bank Bill Worries Business. Well, the various legislative mon- s*rosities which today are worrying business and finance may be listed as follows: First, the banking bill. which will put complete control of the issuance of money into the hands of political government and thus abolish what- ever independent judgment praisal there might be on the subject of the wisdom or unwisdom of Gov- ernment-issued bonds or currency Second, the agricultural adjustment act amendments, which seek to license all food businesses and processors, in | tability of it is obvious. fact every business growing out of a farm product or competing with a farm product, and forcing the ma- jority in any industry to accept the | will of the Secretary of Agriculture on prices and other factors in marketir.g agreements. ‘Third, the destruction of all holding companies by 1940 in the electric and gas industries, irrespective of whether they have economic and engineering justification or whether their securi- ties have been lawfully sold to the public. Industrial Strife Feared. Fourth, the complete centrol of em- ployer and employe relations by the Federal Government and the removal of minority rights from employes, thus encouraging industrial strife and cre- ating new uncertainties in fixing the costs of merchandise. | Fifth, amendment of the Federal Trade Commission law to permit Fed- eral inquisition of every business in | the country, whether incorporated or | not, and making every business that “affects” interstate commerce come within the Federal jurisdiction as to whether it is guilty of “deceptive acts.” Every one of these measures was ! sponsored by the Roosevelt adminis- tration. Every one of these is pend- ing in Congress and is represented as being in the President’s program. If it is not seriously intended to pass any of these “monstrosities™— for they are the things which are dis- turbing business today—then Chair- man Kennedy’s speech has sensa- tional implications. - It means that business really has nothing to worry about, for all these proposals are then | to be regarded as political gestures only. | Kennedy Is Conservative. | But every one of these reforms is | backed by important officials in the | administration, persons who have the | confidence of the President. | Mr. Kennedy is known to be some- | what conservative in his point of view, and he has certainly made a favorable impression on the financial world by the careful way in which he has revised the securities law regula- tions to make them less onerous. But what Mr. Kennedy has been unable to exp'ain is how it happens that one day a banking house is able to announce a big issue in a given field, and the Securities and Ex- change Commission points to it with pride as a sign the capital marke’s are reopening, and then, a few dars later, the President of the United States issues a message creating doubt of the worth of securities fs- sued in that whole field "of endeavor in which the new issue is to be floated. Specific Assurances Wanted. If the capital markets are to he reopened, those who take risks in floating the securities—to say noth- ing of those who buy them—are going to ask for much more specific assur- | ances than they have got before. In- deed, investors would want assur- ances from the source of all au-| thority that, once they go ahead, | there will not be a reversal of engines | in their respective fields by an ad- ministration which one day proposes extreme legislation, disclaims and disavows it the next, and, in the end, | is found to be sponsoring all the main | principles of reform legislation, no | matter how deflationary the effect | on business and finance. Mr. Kennedy had a worthy motive in trying to remove “legislative mon- strosities.” but the trouble is that | neither the White House nor Capitol Hill has shown any visible signs of softening the blows. This makes it doubtful whetHer the assurances from administration spokesmen this week can be taken as truly significant ot a spirit of voluntary change and com- promise. They may be, however, a sign of an aroused electorate and, a retreating administration. (Copyright 1935.) . Mother Is Sentenced. LITTLE ROCK, Ark, March 22 (#).—Mrs. Minnie Rose Jenkins, 29, late yesterday was convicted of first | degree murder and gentenced to life imprisonment for thm poisoning last November of ¥ her 8-year-old daughter, Alta Fern, responsibility for some of its own| or ap-| !still in their original place. What’s What Behind News In Capital Experts Believe Hitler Is Playing War Game as Subterfuge. BY PAUL MALLON. HE re-saddling of the Four | Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Herr Hitler was almost as puzzling to our diplomatic seers s to the average news- paper reader. The diplomats know | fittle more about what he is up to | than you do, but they have their own | ideas, which may accurately be con- | densed as follows: Hitler is only an omen. What is fundamentally wrong with the situation is that he and all the rest of the statesmen of Europe are not brilliant enough to solves the economic catastrophe in which they ave mired. It is a favorite old remedy of dictators and states- men to order the beating of the war drums when the people threat- en to do more than cry for bread Hitler is an opportunist playing that game, and he is not the only one He does not want war, but he must have diplomatic victories, by threat- ening wars. He must keep on having them. He cannot stop until his do- mestic, economic and political situa- tion is safe.’ As no one here believes his situa- tion is going to be safe any time soon, the belief is general that the game has only started. To continue paraphrasing the per- sonal thoughts of our political wise | men | This game requires hazardous living ‘ under the constant threat of war. | without getting into one. At least the broad objective is to stave off war until economic chaos threatens to | engulf you at home or until you are | strong enough to conduct a war with & reasonable chance of success. Hitler stole this technique from the Japanese. They have been playing just about the same game in the Orient. By aggressive, war= like diplomacy, they have won fre- quent diplomatic victories jrom Russia and every one else in Man- choukuo and China, thus avoiding political chaos at home. Of course, with all this loading and | priming of guns, one is likely to go off at any time. When war will come is anybody's guess. The best guessing here ranges from one year to five. It may be sooner or later. The inevi- THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. (. FRIDAY. MARCH 22, 1935. “Yoices” of Notable Dead Liven [\ REROUTING Art‘vf,or Art’s Sake Is Painful Three-year-old Robert Gray of so he used his 17-month-old brother containing a c the picture, bu tic acid as the medium this photo was taken before the paint had been removed. Pasadena, Calif, felt an artistic urge, Jack as his canvas and auto enamel Hospital doctors had to finish —A. P. Photo. Duststorms Tra When Dry Farming Got Start‘ Havoe and Pictures Wake of Midwest Phenomenon 1 ced to War, queness Revealed in Likened to Pompeiian Scenes. What duststorms mean to the heart of the wheat country and how its people regard suggested meas- ures for curbing their destructive- ness are discussed here by the editor of the Emporia Gazette, whose Kansas home has been darkened by the clouds of dust. BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE. EMPORIA, Kans, March 22 (N.A N.A.).—The greatest show since Pom- peii has sped over the high plains of | Colorado and Texas and sifted golden Russian Trade Parley. The way is being shrewdly and | quietly left open for a resumption of trade-debt negotiations with Russia. Contrary to official promises, made six weeks ago at the White House and State Department, the Export-Import Bank for Russia has not been abol- ished. Of course, all they would have to do to abolish it is to tear up a tuuple of credit papers in George Peek's files. However, the papers are | The inside explanation is that the anger of the State Department has cooled. Our diplomats (influenced by | our Ambassador to Russia, Bill Bullitt) have decided that to tear up the papers would be an unnecessary af- front after our curtailment of the Moscow Embassy staff and the deci- sion not to build a new embassy. That means they have hope. Informal Talks Held. ‘There is more to the hope than the papers. It may be denied, but certain informal talks have been held lately between Russian and American offi- cials. | Ong thing which has helped to soften the situation considerably is #e fact that the Soviets recently mined $20,000,000 of new gold and | also received a loan from France. | Russia is now refusing credit from American firms for that reason. Furthermore, the January trade fgures showed that she is taking | more goods from us. ] Of course, if she wants to buy and | has money—that will be different. | Bonus Battle Dull. The House bonus battle was a dull affair, Interest seemed mainly lim- hed to half a dozen bonus Repre- | sentatives and the familiar squads of | veterans from Washington hospitals, | who always assemble hopefully in the the congressional galleries when mat- ters affecting them are under discus- sion. However, attendance both in the gallerles and on the floor was defl- clent in comparison with earlier vet- erans’ debates. The reason is every one knows it does not make much difference what | kind of bill is passed by the House. | | Hottest Conference. The hottest private conference held in Washington recently was that of Co-ordinator Richberg with the Labor | Advisory Board. Irate United Miner John Lewis is supposed to have conducted a cross-ezamination of Richberg on New Deal labor policies which could have been no more spectacu- lar if Lewis had chased Richberg around the room with a red hot poker, After hours of it, at 7 p.m,, Richberg | excused himself to make a telephone call. He never re-entered the room. Lewis and the others finally decided | it was as diplomatic an exit as they | had witnessed and made telephone | calls themselves. The Old and the New. Rail Co-ordinator Eastman, an ad- vocate of streamlined speed for rail- ;ol:l. has a sand hour-glass oh his esk. Debonair Senator J. Ham Lewis took no chances with the Irish vote and wore a green handkerchief for four days after St. Patrick's day. (Copyright. 1935.) o Toothache Defies Drug. IOWA CITY, Iowa, March 22 (#).— Leo F. Burke had a roaring toothache and decided to take a few sleeping potions. After ing five, the tooth still ached. He t five more. When Burke awoke in the toothache, | Spring ite] he still had b gray dust over Oklahoma, Kansas Nebraska, Missouri and parts of Iowa, The dust is still sifting down through the trans-Missouri region. In the sky, men see a blue sun, a steel-blue sun shining through a shimmering, lemon- gray haze The whole landscape is painted with a thin, bone-colored dust which hides the greening wheat and the voung grass covering the crab blos- soms and the forsythia that herald the It is a weird and eerie silver- colored world, and, without a breath of wind, the dust is still drifting down. It came without a breath from the heights of 16.000 feet. The vast re- gional dust storm stopped the orderly processes of civilization. Schools closed. Trains slowed down; their headlights could not penetrate the brown darkness. Kansas officials closed the highways: accidents were piling up too fast. Visibility for more than 50 feet was impossible at the height of the storm. In the towns and villages electric lights gleamed like curious blue-steel balls. Chickens went to roost. Cattle turned from the pastures toward the barn. Men went indoors. Traffic and trading stopped, as it might have stopped at Pompeil when Vesuvius began raining dust upon the little Mediterranean city. Pneumonia pa- tients, and little children out in the storm who did not come in, quickly died. Though the death toll was not large, probably more deaths resulted from traffic accidents than from any other cause. Called Worst in History. All over Western Kansas, Nebraska and Colorido the newspapers call it the worst duststorm in history. And what caused it? Fortunately there is little ioubt about it. It was the war. The duststorm was one of the prices we paid, and will keep on paying for many ycars here in these prairie States, Jor the blessed privilege of sacrificing our young men to the war god. It happened this way: When the millions in Europe were called to arms, European fields were idle, the price of wheat shot ap to a | dollar and still higher. The peak was more than §2. Frantically men went out into the high semi-arid dry coun- try in Eastern Colorado, in Wyoming, in New Mexico and in the extreme western counties of Kansas and vlowed up the sod. They put in wheat by a process known as dry farming. ‘They raised » few crops, made a little mpney, not much, even at the peak prices, for a paying crop dia not come more than one year in three. But the desert soil which had been covered and bound against the wind by sagebrush and the natural foliage of the region, had heen crumbled into dust, its protection gone. After the war the nigh plains entered a wet cycle. The ary cycle hegan threg years ago. The wheat crop failed and failed again, and the vast dusty acres, mil- lions of them, were unprotected when the high March winds struck them. Last year the March winds came and rolled up billions of tons of dust and scattered 1t all over the American | continent and far out to sea Last Summer Cropless. No crop grew last Summer, and this Spring the March wind is sucking up like water in its funnel these billlons of tons of dust which drift i the sky, great brown clouds that show a bronze sunset all over the Mississippi Valley. and. then, at some hidden atmospheric signal, these tons are released and come sifting down on a windy day as the high cloud, urged by some upper current of the air, journeys eastward. Wednesday's cloud moved from Trinidad. Colo. to the Mississippi River between sunup and sundown, sifting its yellow, desert dust as it went What's the answer? The old-timer, who has seen small duststorms in other dry years. but nothing like these today. rejects the tree beit as a cure In the first place, he thinks trees won't grow. The old-timer tried to grow them himself. As a rugged. home- steading individual, with a Govern= ment bounty held out to encourage him, he failed when he tried to grow trees, and he feels that what he could not do as an individual the Govern- men cannot do Even if the Government could get the trees to grow, still the old-timer is skeptical. For the dust does not come from the land where the tree belt is planned. It comes from the high, dry plains further westward, just under the Rockies. The land slopes down from this plain, which | Mes about 4.000 feet above the level of the sea, on a rapid sliding incline, to less than 800 feet in Eastern Texas, Oklahome, Kansas, Missouri and Ne- braska. It is in the high altitudes, the highest plains altitudes, that the trouble starts. Moreover, the trouble with dust- storms probably will persist as long as the dry cycle is unbroken. We are now going into its third year. It may run five or seven. It may close this Spring. We have had a dry Winter all over the dry plains, the trans-Missouri. No Immediate Rain. Indeed, for the most part, upon | these Western prairies, lower down from the mountains, there seems to be no immediate prospect of rain. The prairies have had a dry Winter. The whole region is going into a dry Spring. We may have another drought-stricken Summer. In which case, trouble, vastly more tragic trou- ble than a duststorm, is waiting for us ahead. The answer? There is no answer | except in the eternal resilience of man. He bounces back out of trouble | with an unbelievable energy, with a faith that moves mountains. And through it all he laughs. In an Emporia real estate office this sign greets the townspeople: “Great bargains in real estate. Bring your own container.” At the peak of the duststorm, when a particularly | black cloud of dust rolled down Main | street, some one said, “Hi, here comes | Pikes Peak.” And at the height of it | all, while the inexplicable calamity | was putting its paralyzing hands upon the orderly processes of life, some one wrote in dust on the plate-glass win- | dow of the busted First National Bank of a high-plains town: “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, ! the men folks raved and the wimmin cussed; take it, and like it, in God we trust.” (Copyright. New 1935. by North 51 American per Alliance. Inc.) The Evening Star dep: at The Evening Stat Business, Office. or by mail‘postpaid Offers Its Readers This Worth-While BOOK [t explains the permanent artments of the Federal Government and the Alphabet | Bureaus of the New Deal. i Every American should i read it. Order today. BYTU. 5. AGENCIES | Midwest ‘ngencles joined hands to study pre- id]slurbnnc?s in the future. | the peak of its Intensity over Wash- | ington late yesterday afternoon, lin- | Chicago and other Midwestern cities. DUST FIGHT BEGUN Government Seeks Curb of Destructive Stormis—Pall Passes Capital. While the air over Washington was comparatively clear, remnants of the wdrst dust storm in the country's his- tory drifted over the East, South and today as seven Federal ventative measures against such costly Traces of the dust, which reached gered in variable winds above the city today, according to the Weather Bu- reau station at the airport. Large clouds were reported this morning over Richmond and Southern Virginia generally, North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, and above Shifting winds at varjous levels aloft had scattered the great dust cloud after it swept eastward across the Mis- sissippi River from the drought- | parched plains of the West. E 300,000,000 Tons Lifted. Experts estimated that at least| 300,000,000 tons of fine topsoil had been lifted from fallow fields of the West and whirled eastward before a high gale. The winds then shifted and left scattered clouds floating over the eastern half of the United States. Yesterday's dust cloud here, which partly obscured an otherwise clear sky with a brown haze, deposited a film of light mud over Government buildings, | homes and automobiles At once Secretary of the Interior Ickes agreed to turn his soil erosion service over to the Department of | Agriculture, where it will work in { unison with six other agencies on a soll conservation program. I Given C. C. C. Workers. | A portion of the Civilian Conserva- tion Corps now working on soil ero- sion projects will be put under Sec- | retary Wallace's department, and both these groups will be joined with a new organization formed of parts of the A. A. A, Forest Service, Bureau of Chemistry and Solls, Bureau of Agricultural Engineering and Bureau of Plant Industry. At the same time, Dr. Charles E Kellogg, acting chief of the Soil Sur-| | vey of the Chemistry and Soils Bureau. | completed a study of planting methods | that is expected to forestall in some measure future soil blowing unless' droughts continue to be more severe. He urged planting easily blown soll with pasture and sod crops as he said: | “The chief cause of the dust storms of 193¢ and 1935 was the severe drought, as a result of which the soils which are susceptible to soil blowing were in a loose, dry state, and as a further result of the drought had little or no protective covering. Continued severe drpught will lead to further soil-blowing.” Vast Reach of Storm. Yesterday's dust cloud stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes as it rolled eastward, 11.000 feet high most of the time. When it reached Washington, it carried about 2.000 particles of dust to the cubic centimeter. Ten tons.of dust per hour to each square mile were dropped by this huge bank of dirt. | STRACHEY'S BOOKS QUOTED AT TRIAL Attorneys for British Economist Argue Objections to Deportation. By the Associated Press CHICAGO, March 22.—Attorneys for Evelyn John St. Loe Strachey, British economist, threw the full weight of their arguments into the controversy today to prevent deporta- tion of the self-styled “Intellectual Communist.” Long excerpts from Strachey’s books and magazine articles were part of the hearing record after Willlam J. Zuker, immigration inspector, read the material yesterday. Strachey’s attorney, Arthur Garfield Hays, New York lawyer, objected to Zuker's request that the defendant express an opinion on Communist pamphlets, but Zuker insisted that | Hays make his objections to Washing- ton and said he would file a record of the hearing and his recommendation | with Secretary of Labor Perkins at_once. Strachey, denying the Government's charge of advocating forcible over- {throw of the Government, said, “There is nothing to prevent the hold- ing of communistic beliefs and holding | a sincere love for one’s country, which I claim to hold.” 'RECORDS OF DEAD ' CLERK ARE PROBED Auditors Seek Connection, if Any, After Body Found With Bullet in Brain. With the death of Harry Goodrich, | 52, colored, a clerk in the District tax collector’s office, who was found dead with a pistol bullet in his brain at 608 Division avenue northeast this morn- ing, auditors from the General Ac- counting Office began checking rec- ords in the tax office to determine if | any shortage existed. Specifically, the auditors sought to discover if any connection existed be- tween the death of Goodrich and the arrest, last week, of Alfred Moss, also colored, a clerk in the water mains tax division of the District assessor’s office. Chatham Towers, District tax col- lector, ordered the auditing of the of- fice books following the death of Goodrich. Goodgich was found dead in the bath room of the home of Annie Jack- son, colored, at the Division avenue address this morning. A .32-caliber bullet had been fired through the roof of his mouth. Goodrich lived on the Wilson road, Fairmont Heights, Md., and was the father of five children. ——— | BULLITT STARTS TRIP William C. Bullitt, Ambassador to Russia, left today for New York, where he is expected to confer with Alex-| ander Troyanovsky, Soviet Ambassa- dor, before sailing March 27 for Moscow. Me, were good-by. s of the Sovict embassy staft the station here to nyl Spiritualists’ First Air Seance Maina Tafe, medium, in door of airplane in which she conducted spiritualist seance last night on flight over New York Fourteen in dark. ened cabin said voices identified themselves as those of 8ir Arthur Conan Doyle, Floyd Bennett, Roald Amund: Copyright, A. By the Associated Press NEW YORK, March 22—Eerle voices of undetermined origin, wafting through the inky blackness of a dark- ened cabin plane as it soared 4.000 feet above New York, gave spiritualists a topic of paramount interest today. The voices identified themselves as belonging to the spirits of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famed creator of Sher- lock Holmes and a firm disciple of spiritualism; Roald Amundsen, ex- plorer; Horace Greeley, crusading newspaper editor of a past era, and Lincoln Beachey and Floyd Bennett, aviators. Attempted for the first time so far as the participants knew, the airplane seance took place last night through efforts of a group of New York spir- itualists to overcome ‘The interference, they explained, sometimes handicaps their attempts to contact the spirit world. Song Starts Seance. Fourteen spiritualists were in the plane, from which all light had been shut by newspapers tacked across the windows. After the liner was in the air, Miss Maina Tafe, the medium, suggested “everybody sing.” All did. Soon an unearthly and thin voice Roosevelt Text e e e e Law Changes to Pro- tect Public. The text of the message follows Every enterprise in the United States should be able to adhere to the simple principle of honesty without fear of penalty on that account. Honesty ought to be the best policy not only for one in- dividual, or one enterprise. but for every individual and every enterprise in the Nation. In one field of endeavor there is an ob- vious means to this end which has been too long neglected, the the setting up and careful enforce- ment of standards of identity and quality of the foods we eat and the drugs we use, together with the strict exclusion from our mar- kets of harmful or adulterated products. The honor of the producers in a country ought to be the invariable ingredient of the products pro- duced in it. The various qualities of goods require a kind of discrimi- nation which is not at the com- mand of consumers. They are likely to confuse outward appear- ance with inward integrity. In such a situation as has grown up through our rising level of living and our multiplication of goods, consumers are prevented from choosing intelligently and pro- ducers are handicapped in any attempt to maintain higher stand- ards. Only the scientific and dis- interested activity of Government can protect this honor of our pro- ducers and provide the possibility of discriminating choice to our consumers. Loopholes in 1906 Law. ‘These principles have long been those on which we have founded public policy. But we have fallen behind on their practical applica- tion. No comprehensive attempt at reform 1n the regulation of com- merce n food and drugs has been made since 1906. I need not point out to vou how much has hap- pened since that time in the in- vention of .aew things and their general cdoption, as well as in the increase of advertising appeals. Because of these changes, loop- holes have appeared in the old law which have made abuses easy. It is time to make practical im- provements. A measure is needed which will extend the controls for- merly applicable cnly to labels to advertising also; which will extend- protection to trade in cosmetics; which will provide for a co-oper: tive method of setting standards and for a system of inspection and enforcement to reassure consum- ers grown hesitant and doubtful, and which, will provide for a neces- sary flexibility in administration as products and conditions change. I understand this subject has been studied and discussed for the last two years and that full irfor- mation is in the possession of the Congress. Would Hit Chiselers. No honest enterpriser need fear that because of the passage of such a measure he will be unfairly treated. He would be asked to do no more than he now holds himself out to do. It would merel make certain that those who are less scrupulous than I know most of our producers to be, cannot force their more honest competitors into dishonorable ways. ‘The great majority of those en- gaged in the trade in food and drugs do not need regulation. They observe the spirit as well as the letter of existing law. Present legis- lation ought to be directed pri- marily toward & small minority of evaders and chiselers. At the same time even-handed regulation will not only outlaw the bad practices of the few but will also protect the many from unscrupulous competi- tion. It will, besides, provide & bulwark of consumer confidence throyghout the business world. It4s my hope that such legisla- tion be enacted at this session of the Congress. “interference.” | sen and others. P. Wirephotos. (the source as yet undetermined) came from one of the two aluminum trumpets in the aisle. It said it was Sir Arthur, and describ>d the experi- ence of talking with persons in an airplane as “more fantastic than death itself.” “Floyd Bennett” was heard as the plane roared over the Brookiyn air- port named in his honor. The next voice, ascribed to Lincoln Beachey, sald the spirit of Wilbur Wright was standing beside him Arthur Ford. a friend of the late Sir Arthur, said after the seance he was sure “that was Sir Arthur's voice.” The voice which claimed to be that of Amundsen came through v much trace of an accent, althou Amundsen’s voice was marked by his early years in Norway. Describes Death on Ice. This voice, in answer to a question told how Amundsen met death on a rescue flight in the Arctic, a tragedy still unexplained by history. “We became lost in the fog over trackless wastes of ice” intoned the weird voice. “It was just as well that 1 went when I did. My work was done. I have been down with Byrd in Little America watching over him.’J WRITER FATALLY STABBED N CLUB Woman Held by New Or- leans Police Says It Was “Personal Matter.” By the Associated Pre NEW ORLEANS, March 22 —John Irving Pierce, 23-vear-old magazine writer of Jackson, Miss., and local university student, was stabbed to { death early today as he sat at a table in the fashionable “Nut Club” here. With him at the time was a woman. who police said was Marian King, also 23. a former newspaper woman The woman, who with Pierce, was well known in New Orleans night life, was accused by police of the stabbing and was held without formal charge. M. E. Culligan, assistant district attorney. reported that the girl ad- mitted driving the blade of a small knife into the heart of Pierce after a | series of quarrels, but he quoted Miss King as saying “it's a personal matter.” Refuses to Give Reason. Miss King refused to give any spe- cific reason for the stabbing. but Cul- ligan made public two letters which he said might throw some light on the case. One lotter, dated January 13, sent from Annapolis, Md, and addressed to the girl said “Won't be long now when you'll be with me.” The letter was written on stationery of the United States | destroyer Babbitt and was signed The other note was signed by |Plerce. It was addressed to Mont- | gomery, Ala., and read: “I love you. | senses now. I trust you. I really do. That will never happen again. Please come back to me, as I am lost without you. I have wired a ticket. Call at the ticket office. Wire me collect. This was written on a telegraph blank. Student at Tulape. Plerce had taken up an academic course at Tulane University prepara- tory to entering the Medical School. The girl deseribed herself to offi- cers as & newspaper woman who had written as a b sister” on Detroit, New York and Chicago newspapers, but she has never worked at her pro- fession in New Orleans. Officers sajd she admitted to them she met Pierce in a night club while she was penniless and drifting about from club to club. Victor Fouert, 22, a waiter in the “Nut Club,” gave police his version of the stabbing. He said he ushered the young couple into the club and seated them at a table near the entrance. The last floor show was on. Police | quoted Fouert as saying: . “While I was serving them drinks I saw Pierce hand the girl a knife. Then he ordered a second rounél of drinks. While I was returning with the drinks I noticed that they were quarrelling. “Suddenly the girl rose from her seat. I saw her thrust her right hand forward an into Pierce’s left side.” Fouert said then Pierce quietly | picked up the knife without uttering a word, closed the blade and placed the knife in his pocket. ed into his hip pocket, drew out his wallet, placed it on the table and shoved it over to where the girl sat. “Here, pay the check,” Pierce said. Then, according to Fouert, the wounded man walked less than 10 feet from the table, collapsed and died within 10 minutes. . ‘Whisky Candy Barred. TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 22 (#).—Nathan Mayo, State commis- sioner of agriculture, yesterday advised fie Cuban ccosulate in Miami th of da laws prohibit the manufacti candy containing whisky. I have come to my | plunge the knife blade | Then, mortally wounded, he reach- | *| L. Hopkins BEGINS SUNDAY Change on Ninth and Four- teenth Streets Approved by Officials. The voutes for street cars on Ninth and Fourteenth streets will be changed Sunday &s & temporary move in connection with rerouting of the Capital Transit Co., under an order approved today by the Public Utilities Commission and the District Com- missioners The changes have been made pos- sible by progress of “sork on small sections of new track construction, particularly at Ninth street and Pennsylvania avenue. Soldiers’ Home cars, after Sunday, will come down Ninth street, turning west on G street, then south on | Eleventh street, east on E street and returning north on Ninth street. Other cars using Georgia avenue will come down Ninth street to Penn- sylvania avenue, turn east there and continue to Peace Monument. Rush- hour service on these cars, however, will continue to run to the Bureau ot Engraving and Printing The Fourteenth and Decatur cary will turn west on New York avenus and Pennsylvania to Nineteent) street and then turn back through I' | street and Seventeenth street | The Fourth street southwest busses. | after Sunday, will go along Seventh instead of Ninth street, between Constitution and Pennsylvania av- enues because of removing old street car tracks in that section Constructi i} we will be and be Afinished June 15. GIRL OF MY DREAMS’ TESTIFIES FOR STATE Frechette Confronted by Letter to Miss Curran in Trunk Murder Case. By the Associated Press HOWELL. Mi March 22.—Cl accused of murder of Robert unmoved vesterday Curran, Kal whom he calls * Dreams,” appeared as a ss against him active young brunette told of several dates with Prechet diately after disappear Brown, young t ng operator, whose body was found crar d into the mo- tQr trunk by offic arrested Frechette February 7 at Nevada City, Calif. A setter mailed February Salt Lake City, in which Frechette told Miss he had “fixed” d in evidence and Miss Curr: Frechette. a former convict. toid her two days before Brown vanished that “vou’ll never see me again,” Miss Cur- ran testified Excerpts from the purported con- fession Frechette signed at Nevada Citv after his arrest were read into the record. the as Miss Grace laundry worker 1 of My 5 from FORCED STERILIéATION CASES INVESTIGATED Four Relief Recipients RQuizzed, With No Crime Noted, At- torney Declares. By the Associated Press MARTINEZ, Calif, March 22— Deputy District Attorney Rex L. Boyer, investigating reports some re- lief recipients of Contra Costa County had been coerced into undergoing sterilization operations, said yesterday four reported cases had been thor- oughly taken up, and that the inquiry was continuing “We have found nothing yet in- volving any erime,” he said The district attorney will submit Boyer's report to the grand jury. Dr. Edwin W. Merrithew, county physician, said when the inquiry started several days ago, that no ster- ilization operations had been per- formed without written consent of patients, and that in many cases quests for operations had been fused. ALIEN WANTS COMFORTS Facing Deportation, He Asks to Go Second. Class. MILWAUKEE. March 22 (#) —Nine times Athanasios Alexiou. 47, crossed the ocean between the United States and Greece, but because it was at his own expense, he traveled third class. Now, facing deportation, he asked if | the Government wouldn't oblige him with second-class comforts. The an- swer was “no.” 2 re- Maurice Through as “Sissy.” CHICAGO (#).—Maurice Chevalier s he is through with “sis rales Stopping off en route to Cannes, | France, he said he ‘atended to sun { himself there until a moving picture | producer decided to give him “the kind of a part I want.” He said the producers had wanted | him to “laugh, kid and play all the | time,” while he wanted to “do some- thing different.” | |Congress in Brief By the Assoclated Press ‘TODAY. | Senate. Continues debate on work relief bill. PFinance Committee hears Francis | M. Curlee on N. R. A. | Labor Committee questions wit- | nesses *on Wagner labor bill. House. Votes on bonus. “ Interstate Commerce Committée hears opposition to holding company control. Banking Committee takes testimony on omnibus bank bill. 'YESTERDAY. Senate, Rejected proposal to restore anti- trust laws. Pinance Committee heard Sidney Hillman in defense of N. R. A. Munitions Committee concluded questioning of John T. Flynn on tak- ing profits out of war. House. Tentatively approved Patman plm | to pay bonus by expanding currency. Education Committee heard HeATY on relleving finanoml plight of schools.