Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1935, Page 2

PHILIPPINES FEAR - NEW DISORDERS Precautions Taken to Pre- vent Violence During Tuesday’s Plebiscite. By the Assoclated Press. MANILA, May 12.—More alarmist reports, more cutting of communica- tion lines and further preparations against violence today marked the ap- préach of the Commonwealth Con- stitution plebiscite. _Police, armed with rifles, guarded newspaper plants in Manila against rumored violence plots. “Telegraph wires were severed in Bulcan Province, scene of one battle in the Sakdalista uprising of May 2 which cost 60 lives. Constabulary forces sped to the scene. Radical Forces Meet. Political leaders accused of responsi- bility for the uprising attended a mass | meeting called to laufich the candi- | dacy of Emilio Aguinaldo, erstwhile insurrection chieftain, for the presi: dency of the projected new Common: wealth government. - An intense hunt for 14 service pis- tols which disappeared from the United States destroyer Smith Thomp- son was staged by 1,000 employes of the Cavite Navy Yard. Aguinaldo, cheered by several thou- sand persons at the meeting, refused to comnlit himself on whether he wolild run against Manuel Quezon. The old rebel leader referred to | Quezon as “the most eminent poli- tician in the country.” ? Scouts Japanese Peril. . Aguinaldo minimized the idea of | Japanese peril which Resident Com- | thissioner Pedro Guevara in Washing- ton recently cited to Congress. . The cutting of telegraph wires was taken as evidence extremists still were sactive in the outlying areas. There have been many reports of deflant Sakdalistias mobilizing in the hills near Manila. This group has opposed the Commonwealth plan on the ground it would perpetuate the power of Que- zon, whom they dislike. Undersecre- tary Leon Quinto established the Sak- dalistias would muster only 200,000 votes out of a possible 1,700,000. JAPANESE EXONERATED. Filipino Leader Denies Influence Behind Recent Uprising. SAN PEDRO, Calif., May 11 (#).— & denial that Japanese influence was fesponsible for recent uprisings in the Philippine Islands was voiced by Dr. Hilario Moncado, Filipino official, upon his arrival here today from the Islands. “ Dr. Moncado, president of the Fil- fpino Federation of America, said he Was en route to Washington, D. C., to =know something. The member can’t | reading a story or talking about THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTO BeKindtoCongressmen Demand Voiced by Sabath and O’Connor ““Downtown Upstarts” in New Deal Branded by Demccrats. By the Associated Press. Harsh, sarcastic remarks by two Democratic House leaders yesterday stirred new li‘e into the months-old argument over whether administra- tion officials treat Congressmen with the proper respect and consideration One leader, Representative Sabath of Illinois, chairman of the unofficial | House Democratic Steering Commit- tee, said he would discuss the situa- | tion with President Roosevelt this | week | The other, Representative O'Connor of New York, chairman of the Rules Committee, declared that it was “every | man for himself” on the question of patronage — getting jobs for con- stituents. Calls Then “Upstarts.” Sabath’s criticism centered on “these upstarts downtown who take them- so damn seriously,” he added: bout fair treatment of Congressmen | s0 they won’t have to spend half their | time downtown waiting to see the| fourteenth assistant to the assistant secretary. | “If they would give us the same at- tention they give to a lot of lobbyists | and fellows who hang around all the | time, it would be all right. | “Suppose & new member gets a letter | from a man back home who wants to | get the information over the tele- | phone. He has to go downtown. An if he disturbs an understudy who is card game or a tea party, he gets in: sulted. “Things aren’t as bad as they used to be, because a lot of secretaries to secretaries. who used to think they were bigger than the President. are| beginning to give Congressmen a little | time.” Groups Hit for Attitude. O’Connor told newspaper men that | patronage troubles were caused by “self-perpetuating groups that con- | tinue in office as administrations come and go.” “The departments should keep Con- gressmen advised about what is going | on,” O'Connor said, “but boys stand- | ing around on street corners know where the jobs are before the Con- gressmen hear about it. “Politics plays no part in job-giving. It's a question of friendship or kin- ! ship. Congressmen, who were elected by the people, have no look in. “Take the Securities Commission, for example. One staff was taken out of a Wall Street broker’s office. Take the legal division—it was taken out of a New York law firm, Elihu Root’s. “People get these jobs and call in ‘What we're tring to do is bring | F REPRESENTATIVE O'CONNOR. their friends and relatives and class- mates. Why, I understand that one whole Princeton law class has been put to work in a downtown depart- ment “The patronage committees estab- lished by Congressmen have accom- plished nothing, and in my opinion never will. I will never again serve on such a committee. Each Congress- man has got to battle for his own recognition.” O’Connor took one crack at the Steering Committee’s concern about patronage: “The Democratic Steering Commit- tee was organized last Congress. Its purpose was never very clear, but surely it was not set up to deal with patronage.” @sk for a more liberal immigration Quota for his countrymen. MIDWEST G. 0. P._ BARS NEW DEALERS FROM CONFERENCE (Continued From First Page.) e - - = Arst objectives of the strategy in which Mr. Hoover and the Republican Na- tional Committee leaders find them- lves in concurrence, they have in mon the further purpose to pre- e the party to rally anti-New al sentiment from the right. This 48 described as a natural expression af the two groups. They are other- e not working together so much some New Dealers suspect. This 4s partly because the National Com- mittee leaders have no thought of re- minating Mr. Hoover and are anx- us to avoid having all the Re- Bublican revival moves discounted as part of & movement in his behalf. 2! Rightward Trend Indicated. & The first definite indications of the htward trend of the Midwestern gdnference were seen in the strikingly anti-New Deal resolutions adopted Igst week by the Committee on Ar- ngements. Since there was no call the Arrangements Committee but o fix the time and place for the con- ference and the method of representa- tion, the attack on the New Deal, rintended as it was by National ©Gommitteeman Harrison E. Spangler of Towa, was considered the cue for those who would follow that leader- &hip. It virtually foreclosed the plan of the Kansas Republican leaders, who would have made the Liberal William | Allen White the prophet of a new or- der in the Republican party by making him head ot the Resolutions Commit- tee. All that is said to be changed n¢w. Mr. White is not expected to head the Resolutions Committee or write the declaration of principles for the Midwestern States. He had made it clear that if intrusted with this responsibility, he would assume it with the thought that the present leader- &hip of the party must be sidetracked. Refused to Attack New Deal. ,While not accepting the New Deal in toto, neither had he attacked it fiatly. The plan to have him draft the Midwestern Republican creed, in the hope that it might signalize the “rebirth” of the Republican party in the Midwest, where it was born, ap- pealed to presidential candidate pos- sibilities, such as Senator Arthur H ‘Vandenberg, Republican, of Michigan. Senator Vandenberg last Fall refused to make his campaign for re-election on a platform flatly attacking the New Deal. ‘The straws in the wind are blowing the other way now. Republicans in Congress, who have kept in touch with dévelopments in the arrangements for the Springfield conference, to be held June 10 and 11, cited today’s statement by J. D. M. Hamilton, Kansas member alid general counsel of the Republican National Committee, as another in- dication of it. It was considered un- likely that Mr. Hamilton would feel warranted in saying he would veto credentials for Kansas Republicans who had leanings toward the New Deal unless he felt assured of his backing in the State. And the “liberal” teénd was considered stronger in Kansas than in the eight other States. It was pointed out on behalf of Mr. ‘Hamilton, in Topeka, that those sign- ing the conference call, chiefly the national committeemen of the States concerned, were pledged to select as delegates only Republicans ready “to give vigorous battie” to the Roosevelt administration. 1$300,000 FOR PROBE ALBANY, N. Y, May 11 (P).—New York's Public Service Commission :g was granted an additional $300,- to expedite its efforts to procure lawer rates for utility services. The sum was made available when Gov. Herbert H. Lehman signed into 1aw a bill recommended by him in the closing weeks of the 1935 Legislature. -The law also provides that special n connection with the Speaks in Forum SECRETARY WALLACE. WALLAGE TO TALK N RADID FORUN Secretary Discusses A. A, A. in Air Address Thursday Night. Secretary Henry A. Wallace of the Department of Agriculture will dis- cuss the operation of th A. A A. and proposed amendments thereto in the National Radio Forum Thursday at 10:30 p.m. The National Radio Forum is ar- ranged by The Washington S*ar snd broadcast over the network of the National Broadcasting Co. The A. A. A. has been under fire from several directions in re- cent weeks. The administration has pending several amendments which Secretary Wallace insists are neces- sary, clarifying amendments. These amendments have been attacked by some of the members of Congress who contend they give dictatorial powers to the Secretary of Agriculture over all farmers. The processing taxes, imposed in carrying out the policies of the A. A. A, have been denounced by the cotton textile industry representatives. Secretary Wallace is expected to come to the defense of the farm poli- cles of the administration and to BAN ON OFFICIALS LOBBYING STUDIED King Considers Measure to Bar Porpaganda for Legislation. Senator King, Democrat, of Utah, is censidering the advisability of propos- ing a bLill to prevent officials of Gov- ernment Department from making speeches or writing articles designed to build up sentiment throughout the country in support of new legisla- tion or increased appropriations for their respective branches of the Gov- ernment. The Utah Senator emphasized he has not decided definitely to present a measure on the subject, but said the question has been brought to his attention and that he is considering it. He indicated his belief is that depart- mental officials should not persuade the people, by speeches or written arguments, to indorse plans that may be pending in Congress for expansion of the activities of a department or other agency of the Government. He said his attention had been called to the fact that Congress, in 1919, placed a provision in a deficiency ap- propriation law forbidding any ap- propriation to be used for the ex- pense of any letter, printed mat- ter or other communication intended to persuade any member of Con- gress to favor or oppose any bill or appropriation, whether before or after introduction. This did not prohibit officials or employes from communi- cating with members of Congress on 1equest, or from sending forward, through proper official channels, re- quests for legislation or appropriations Ceemed necessary for the public busi- ness. The question Senator King is now deliberating on is whether it would e advisable and justifiable to go fur- ther and ban Government officials from delivering speeches and writing articles intended to influence public opinion generally regarding proposed legislation or new appropriations. SWITZS VAN.ISH AFTER RELEASE ON SPY CHARGE American Officials in Paris Say They Understood Couple ‘Went to Belgium. By the Associated Press. PARIS, May 11.—Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Switz, Americans recently acquitted of charges of espionage, have disappeared following their re- 3 rican officials said they understood the couple went to Bel- point to the benefits to the farmers under them. PRINCESS IS SILENT ABOUT REMARRYING Count Von Haugwitz-Reventlow Said Not to Have Appeared in Reno. By the Associated Press. RENO, Nev, May 1l.—Reports Princess Barbara Hutton Mdivani will be married here to Count Kurt Von Haugwitz-Reventiow, Danish noble- to- | man, immediately after she obtains her divorce from Prince Alexis Mdivani Monday, were met by rigid silence tonight. George Thatcher, her attorney. was not at home, and a special policeman zuarded the hotel room of her father, Pranklyn Hutton, from intruders. He Mrh charged against -the utility .company - investi- cated. 5 A glum. ‘The State Department at Wash- explained, in view of the couple’s con- fessed activities as spies, a circum- In place of passports, certificates of American citizenship were issued. DROPS COUNCIL CHARGE District Attorney Dismisses State- ment Afainst Officials. BOSTON, May 11 (/)—A charge | Russian. that 10 members of the SIPERS SERED INVALLAGE TAL Long’s State Farmers Cheer Secretary Pleading for A. A. A. Loyalty. By the Associated Press. ALEXANDRIA, La., May 11.—Sec- retary of Agriculture Henry A. Wal- lace today struck a blow for the New Deal agricultural policies in Huey Long's home State of Louisiana and said that the administration of his chief, President Franklin D. Roose- velt, had been “strengthened by’ sniping politicians.” Wallace came here today from Washington to urge the farmers at a State-wide rally attended by thou- sands to stick by the President in his farm-relief policies and to fight for continuance of the processing tax as the farmers' tariff against the cor- poration prowess of big business. The cabinet member spoke from the public square to a cheering crowd and denounced in generalities Long and other politicians or “special in- terests” who have attacked the New Deal, which Wallace declared had “placed the farmer back on his feet and increased his income.” Wallace did not mention Long by name, either at noonday luncheon preceding the speaking or in his aft- ernoon address. But he warned the people against appeals made by “some who profess to speak in the name of the common people. There are plenty of persons,” he said, “who can stir up trouble.” Farmers Are Warned. “There are some who profess to speak in the name of the common people and attempt to draw a red | herring across the trail. It is ex- | tremely important that the farmer be not deluded. It's easy to say, ‘Don’t you think you ought to get more money—that you ought to get 30 cents for your cotton, and so forth, but where are you going to get it?’ Three hundred luncheon partici- pants roundly applauded Louisiana Representatives in Congiess who in- | directly slapped at I.ong’s political | anti-administration moves as they were assembled in the luncheon for Wallace. There the Secretary told the meet- ing that “as long as they (farmers) stand firm with the President we need have no cause to fear the fu- ture.” Representative J. Y. Sanders, jr., of the sixth district, without mentioning the name of Long, said that the Louisiana farmer was “humiliated at the remarks of the man who claims to speak for Louisiana.” Five out of the eight Louisiana Representatives were present at the luncheon. After concluding his address Wal- lace returned immediately to Wash- ington. Long bitterly assailed the program of the Agricultural Adjustment Ad- ministration when he spoke at Des Moines, but Wallace announced today that he would not assail Long. More Concern for Farmer. “I am more interested in the bet- terment of the farmer,” Wallace said. Attacks or their organization, he said, had not weakened its prestige and the Nation's farmers are “stronger for the Agricuitural Adjust- ment Administration than ever be- fore.” Answering attacks on the A. A. A. program by those who, he said, wished to abandon the processing tax under the Hamiltonian policy of “unity | achieved by the grant of govern- | mental powers to a relatively few and | powerful groups,” Mr. Wallace de- | clared the tax should be retained as | the farmer's tariff until industry | abandons its own tariffs . “The Republicans and some Demo- | | crats,” he said. “say farmers should | do nothing for themselves, but should | the big corporatinns. ® * ¢ ‘Mzeking speeches against corporations, even passing anti-trust laws against them, doesn't get us anywhere. The only sensible alternative is for agri- culture to obtain and to use Govern- mental powers comparable with those already used by corporations.” Heading the Secretary’s Reception Committee were Representative Cleve- |land Dear of the eighth Louisiana district, Mayor V. V. Lamkin of Alex- andria and Morgan W. Walker, pres- ident of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, who formally welcomed the secretary. After a noonday luncheon in his honor, attended by many officials and other leading citizens, Mr. Wallace addressed the crowd on the city square in an open-air meeting. He urged the farmers to “get up on their hind legs and fight for what they know to be simple justice.” “The next few weeks will be crucial,” he said, and “if the ranks of agri- culture are divided, it is almost a cer- tainty that what farmers have battled for for 15 years will be lost.” JAPANESE REPORT MYSTERY ATTACK Fishermen Claim Vessel Fired on Boat Off Formosa and Seized Catch. | By the Assoctated Press. TOKIO, May 11.—Tenslon in For- mosan waters, where Japanese police are busy tracking down “spies,” in- creased today when Japanese fisher- men told a strange tale of having fired on by a mysterious vessel bs:nmnco (Japanese) News Agency dispatch from Taihoku quoted the fishermen as saying the vessel ap- parently was a small man-of-war manned by 100 Chinese with a few Occidentals, believed to be British, ‘bo‘r:;l;d‘flahemwn said they were in the small motor boat Hojo yesterday when the mysterious vessel ap- Recall Proposal Now Pending in House Is Based on Emergency. Present Situation Hardly Comparable to Congestion of 1918. BY J. A. O'LEARY. The present move %o fix or control , rents in Washington by law recalls the trying period the District passed through from 1918 to 1925, when the World War emergency lea to the es- | tablishment of a “temporary” Rent Commission that continued for more than five years, while Congress threatened to enact other more dras- tic laws. Just as the rental legislation of 1918 was based on an emergency “growing out of the World War,” the proposals now pending in the House are based on the presumption that a new emergency exists, “growing out of the war against the depression.” While the creation of new govern- mental agencies since March 4, 1933, has brought a large nimber of tem- | porary employes to Washington, the present hcusing situation is hardly comparable to the congestion of 1918, which caused Congress to declare an emergency justifying the setting aside of private contracts between land- | lords and tenants, and creating a | Rent Commission. Study Held Appropriate. Before considering revival of those drastic war-time restrictions, there- fore, it would seem appropriate for Congress to ascertain first the extent | of existing housing facilities here, and compare the present figure with the abnormal congestion that followed the influx of war workers in 1918, when even the renting of rooms in private homes throughout the city hardly proved adequate to accom- modate the new population without serious overcrowding. The rent laws of 1918 to 1925, it should be borne in mind, resulted from the gathering in Washington within a short period of 100,000 new residents, at a time when the normal population of the city was only 364,- 000. In other words, the population of the city was increased suddenly by one-third. Natural Law Unbalanced. With this steady stream of new arrivals seeking houses. apartments or rooms, the law of supply and de- mand was thrown far out of balance. | The demand far excecded the avail- able supply of housing With the newcomers bidding for accommoda- tions, the opportumity to obtain higher rents was not confined to owners of property, but was offered also to lessees by subletting all or part of properties in which they were tenants. | Charges of profiteering in rents be- gan to fill the air on Capitol Hill and members of Congress, in trying to ! prevent exorbitant increases, brought | forward drastic remedies which struck at all property owners alike. | The spokesmen for owners of ren‘al | properties did not oppose the geneial objective of regulating rents during | the war emergency to keep them at| a reasonable level. but some of the| provisions that were enacted, and some of the plans that were con- stantly being advocated in Congress were 50 sweeping in their terms that| for seven years landlords and ftenunts | were arrayed against each other be-| fore congressional committees and in | the courts. Many Lessons Learned. Washington learned several lessons from its experience with emergency | rent legislation, and members of the present Congress should consider the history of those prior experiments in local rent control before re-enacting similar legislation. ‘Washington learned. first, that tem- porary, emergency laws have a ten- dency to linger on indefinitely and are brought to an end with great dif- ficulty, even after the courts have restrained or curtailed their func-| tions. Wasl also learned that dis- cussion of such legislation leads to the advocacy of measures more dras- tic and far-reaching than would be necessary to correct the conditions complained of. The first thing Congress did, for example, when the rent agitation be- gan in the days of the World War, was to pass the Saulsbury resolu- tion (afterward declared unconstitu- tional), which allowed all tenants who had been in possession of a property for one month or longer to continue to oecupy it without an increase in rentals. It prevented the eviction of a tenant as long as he paid the rent and did not become a nuisance. As long as those conditions were met, a tenant could only be evicted if a bana fide purchaser wanted the house for occupancy by himself or family. ‘Temporary Expedient. ‘The Saulsbury resolution was an admittedly temporary expedient, by which Congress sought to “freeze” the rental situation as it then stood, and to prevent evictions for the purpose of renting to other tenants at higher rates, until a rent regulation law could be drafted. In July, 1919, eight months after the signing of the armistice, however, the life of the resolution was ex- tended. Members of Congress had started before that dat~ discussing a rent regulation law to take the place of the broad, sweeping Saulsbury resolution, but the House and Senate took widely different views as to the form of regulation, and it was Octo- ber, 1919—a year after the armistice— before the Rent Commission law, based on the war emergency, came into existence. For more than a year before the Rent Commission was set up the question had been debated and buf- feted back and forth between House and Senate. In the House former Representative Ben Johnson of Ken- tucky, then chairman of the District Committee, started out early in 1918 by advocating a bill which sought to limit rents arbitrarily to 10 per cent above the rates for the year ending with September, 1916. Resorting to the taxing power, this bill sought to levy a 100 per cent tax on receipts from rental property if they went more than 10 per cent above the 1916 level. is| | October, 1919, the tenant was subject | District Court of Appeals held the D. C, MAY 12, 1935—PART ONE. Efforts to Revive District Rent Commission Legislative Experiments D f War Emergency In Housing Far Worse Than Today “ The Fllenbogen rent commis- sion bill, practically identical to the war-time Ball rent act, de- clares its provisions are made necessary by ‘“emergencies grow- ing out of the war against the depression,” resulting in “danger- ous” rental conditions. A similarly worded declaration was contained n the enacting clause of the Ball rent act, although the emergency at the time of its enactment was attributed to the World War. Botween 1916, the year before this country declared war on Germany, and Armistice day, 1918, some 78,000 war workers were brought to Washington, in- creasing the total from approxi- mately 40,000 to 117.760—an in- crease of 194 per cent. Between February 28, 1933, and March 31, 1935, there were 31,586 employes added to the executive establishment in Washington, in- creasing the total from 66,802 to 97.308—an increase of 47 per cent. These figures indicate the dif- ference between the emergency of war - time Washington and_the conditions of today as far as Gov- ernment workers population in- crease is concerned. The normal population of Washington in 1916 was 364,000— and to this normal population the emergencies of the war brought an increase of almost a third, re- sulting in an extraordinary hous- ing shortage. The 1930 census gave the Dis- trict a population of 486,869, and rough estimates of the city's population today place it in the neighborhood of 525,000, an in- crease of about 8 per cent. | upon the Ball rent act, creating the Rent Commission, to hear and deter- mine rent complaints. Although based on the emergency of the World War, and originally limited to two years, the Ball law was continued by Con- gress from time to time and did not finally pass out of existence until May, 1925, nearly six years after the war had ended. The main feature of the Saulsbury | resolution, namely, that a tenant could | retain possession regardless of the terms of any lease or contract as long as he paid the rent, was carried over and made a part of the Ball rent act. | The only difference was that after to any modification in rent ordered by the Rent Commission, but, as be- | fore, he could only be evicted if the | bona fide owner wanted to occupy the house himself. Long Series of Court Fights. ‘The whole period of this emergency rent legislation was marked by & long series of court fights between | landlords and tenants. Before the; Ball act was placed on the statute| books, the legality of the Saulsbury resolution had been challenged in court, and in December, 1919, the! resolution unconstitutional. In an | opinion by Justice Robb, the court| held it not only deprived a citizen of | property without compensation, but | was not uniform because it affected in one way property already under lease, and in another way property not under lease. The Constitution | is not superseded by a declaration of | war. the Appellate Court declared. ‘This decision, however, involved the separate resolution, which was lbcmtl to expire, and the identical provision | had just been re-enacted by Congress | as a part of the Ball Rent Commission | measure. Then began a series of court at-| tacks on the Ball act. in the course | of which the issue twice reached the United States Supreme Court. In| June, 1920, the Court of Appeals held | the Pall law unconstitutional, as t previously had done regarding the | Saulsbury Tesolution. Ten months | later, in April, 1921, the United States | Supreme Court, by a five to four de- | clsion, reversed the appellate tribunal | and sustained the Ball act. The ma- jority opinion, rendered by former Justice Holmes, contended that the laws of eminent domain and those conveying police powers, justified re- striction of property rights without compensation in cases of public emer- gency. The minority argued that the Con- stitution bars such a statute in specific terms. They also cited the prohibition against any State adopting a law im- pairing the obligations of contracts. Commission Extended. The two-year life of the Rent Com- mission was drawing toward a close, but Congress, in August, 1921, ex- tended its existence until May. 1922. Before that date rolled aroung, how- ever, Congress again breathed new life into it, prolonging its existence for two more years and enlarging it from three to five commissioners. This made the date of expiration May, 1924. In April, 1924, another case involv- ing the legality of the law came up for decision in the United States Supreme Court, just three years after the 5-to- 4 decision. The highest court sent this suit back to the District Supreme Court for trial on its merits, holding that it was necessary to develop the facts as to the emergency existing before it could act on the question of constitutionality. While the constitutionality was not decided as to that case, the highest court. nevertheless, stated that “if the question were only whether the statute is in force today upon the facts that we judicially know, we should be compelled to say that the law has ceased to operate. Here, however, it is material to know the conditions of Washington at different dates in the past.” Al h the court® had indicated plainly that it regarded the emer- gency as having passed at that time, Congress one week later again ex- tended the life of the Rent Commis- sion for another year, or until May 22, 1925. t- New Suits Filed. Meanwhile, new suits were con- stantly being filed in the courts, and in November, 1924, another of these test cases reached the District Court of Appeals. Taking notice of what| posed the supreme tribunal had said the previous April, the Appeliate Court held there was no longer & housing emergency in Washington, and that after the Supreme Court had spoken in April, there was no constitutional basis for the action had sub- Congress. sequently taken in extending the rent law for another year. In that decision Justice Robb point- uring War Law Enacted in 1918 Continued in Force for More Than 5 Years. Provisions of L ion Brought Long Series of Court Fights. 11925, it had been rendered impotent by the court decisions. During those close months numerous injunction suits were filed, restraining it from acting. Permanent Law Urged. ‘But, despite these adverse rulings by the courts, the movement to keep the commission alive went on in Con- gress. During the Winter of 1925, with the date approaching when the commission would disband, suggestions rent law. In February the House District Committee reported out a measure which would have extended the commission again, until May, 1927. Apparently taking note of what the courts had said about the pass- ing of the emergency, the commit- tee amended the section of the orig- inal law which referred to the World to justify continuing the commission Congress over the District “in pursu- legislation over the seat of the Gov- ernment.” | ters, to regulate the real estate busi- | ness generally and to prevent fraud | in real estate transactions. One sec- tion provided for the licensing of real estate brokers and salesmen. The other was intended to prevent ficti- | tious sales and the making of fic- titious trust deeds on property. Blanton Takes Hand. When the House District Com- mittee reported this three-fold bill, Representative Thomas L. Blanton, ‘Texas Democrat, decided to take a hand in opposition to prolonging the existence of the Rent Commission, and he did it with his customary vigor. Mr. Blanton was strongly in favor | of the two other chapters of the bill— to prevent fraud in real estate sal and to license those engaged in tne | real estate business. In fact, he had sponsored separate bills on these sub- jects. But he was just as strongly against contimuing the Rent Commis- sion, and the minority report he filed |in the House on that occasion con- cluded with the statement that is | continuance would cause property values in the District to slump at least 3314 per cent. “Such slump,” he added, “would cause thousands of families who have bought homes and paid all they had as a cash payment to lose everything.” The Texan began by pointing out that he had supported the Saulsbury resolution, the original Rent Commis- sion law, and its continuance up to May, 1922, as emergency measures made necessary by the war. “This Rent Commission, which was purely an emergency of war and when first initiated was declared to be temporary, should have expired and gone out of existence on May 22, 1922, said Blanton's minority report. Cites Passage of Ball Bill. Congress, however, had passed a! new Ball rent act at that time, Mr. Blanton pointed out, “extending its life two more years, to May 22, 1924, and increasing the commission to five commissioners, was passed by the Senate. the landlord collected more rent than was authorized by the commission the attorney furnished by the Govern- ment at $5,000 should recover same by suit for such tenant I realized then that the next step would be to make this commission a permanent institution of the Government, and I then did everything within my power to defeat it, but the House passed it. And since 1918 property rented here in the District of Columbia has been kept from its lawful >wners by law.” Further on in his report, the Texan stated that “at all times during the past three years there have been several hundred desirable residences vacant in Washington because the owners did not want to take chances on getting in their oroperty an un- desirable tenant, which they would not be able to put out by law. These owners would have been glad to rent such properties had it not been for such Rent Commission. The owners of several thousand vacant lots would have been glad to erect substantial houses on same for rent had it not been for such Rent Commission.” Expenses Were $200,000. That Congress came to an end on March 4 without passing the rent act continuing bill, and two months later the commission finally closed its doors and went out of existence, on May 22, 1925, nearly six years after the World War had ended. During its existence the expenses of the com- mission amounted to slightly less than $200,000. Its officials estimated it brought about yearly reductions in rents amounting to about $200,000, and increases amounting to $100,000. A total of 9,441 cases were docketed, of which 6,555 came up for hearing. Determinations were made in 6,335 cases, 63 were held up by injunctions, 401 were not calendared for hearing and 464 were not disposed of. Offi- cials of the commission explained the number of cases does uot indicate the number of rents affected, since one case often related to the rents of an entire apartment house. It is doubtful if any law in the history of the District was ever the center of so much strife and contro- versy. The six-year period was marked by frequent hearings before House and Senate committees, protest meetings, of tenant groups on the one hand, and property owners on the other. Those who opposed the ted extensions repea of the law believed its existence was retarding the new housing develop- ments needed to meet the growth of population. The supporters of the law argued that rents would go up if the law were not extended. Glance Back Pertinent. A glance back at that turbulent period is pertinent at this time, be- cause some of the measures being pro- in the present Congress are almost identical with the terms of the Ball law and the Saulsbury resolution, which led to so much litigation a decade or more ago. In fact, the Ellenbogen bill, which the House District Committee has re- ported, lng on which hearings are in The pending bill even embodies ti substance of the old Saulsbury resolu- tion of 1018, allowing tenants to retain possession of property irrespective of the expiration of any lease or contract were advanced to enact & permanent | War emergency, and sought instead | on the basis of the police power of | ance of its power to exercise exclusive | | This bill had two other new chap- | It also providec that where | [AARDATOED RELIEF INQUIRY Indicates Strongly He Wilt Veto Efforts to Pro- long Probe. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, May 11.—The alder- manic relief investigation, which has alternately entertained and irritated the taxpayers for more than a month, appeared definitely at an end tonight. Mayor F. H. La Guardia indicated strongly that he would veto an effort to prolong the inquiry. which halted from lack of funds this week after & serles of hearings which were held by opponents to have presented a comic and distorted picture of the city’s efforts to provide for 1,400,000 unem- ployed. Unless additional ‘unds are forth- coming, the committee may not even | be able- to prepare a report on its | findings or correlate the testimony that depicted New York as a happy | hunting ground for professional social | workers and relief chiselers. Many Charges Made. There was testimony that approxi- | mately $24,000,000 of the city’s an- | nual relief expenditures of $124,000.- | 000 was going to chiselers; that $3.- | 187,000 was being spent on ‘“boon- doggling,” eurythmic dancing lessons, | safety pin surveys and other “white collar” projects which the commit- tee’s counsel, Lloyd P. Stryker, char- acterized as “bunk,” and that out-of towners in the Home Relief Bureau | alone drew $2,500,000 of the pay roll, | while New Yorkers werc unable to | get jobs. | On the other hand, there was an almost constant barrage of criticism | against the investigators, who were accused of overemphasizing minor de- tails while ignoring the relief problem as a whole. | Parks Commissioner Robert Moses imputed to Stryker a aesire to use | the investigation as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court bench, and vigorously defended his handling of work relief projects wnich came unde: the committee’s scrutiny Smith Brought Into Fray. One of these, the Central Parl: Zoo, brought former Gov. Alfred E Smith into the fray with the asser- tion that the committee had “picked up a hot potato” when it took up that matter. Smith, who had a back- yard menagerie of his own when he was in Albany, is honorary night su- perintendent of the zoo. Moses, when he finally reached the witness stand, denounced the whole system and gave it as his expert opin- jon that no substantial number of men could be put to work here within the next 12 months under the new $4,800,000,000 Federal program. Among witnesses at the committee hearings were: The “chicken enumerator,” who said his relief job consisted of going around and asking housewives how many chickens they ate a week. His supe- riors explained later that they were compiling information for a cam- paign against the poultry racket. Professor Relieved of Cash. ‘The professor who told about mak- ing intelligence tests of persons on relief, and encouraging them to try hard by offering small cash prizes out of his ewn pocket. One day he came across a bright individual who took all of his ready cash, $18. The social case worker who said she considered herself a member of a “privileged class” when she was asked why she barred more than one member of a family from holding relief jobs while she and her husband were both on the pay roll. An iron works owner, three times & bankrupt in private business, got $39,000 out of parks relief projects through his $14,000 plant. Although he and members of his family were on relief rolls themselves, he bought fur coats and two automobiles and sent his family to the country for 10 days. FOUR GIRLS DRO'W—NED WHILE WADING IN RIVER Children Step Into Deep Water. Wet and Barking, Brings Hint to Mother. By the Associated Press. HUTCHINSON, Kans, May 11— Four small girls, three of them sis- ters, drowned today in the Arkansas River, their Spring holiday turning to tragedy as they waded unexpect- edly into deep water. The children were Lorraine Meta, 6; Thelma Metz, 8; Esther Mets, 3, and Ida May Blower, 7. The Metz girls' dog, dripping wet and barking furiously, brought the first hint of the disaster to their mother, Mrs. George Metz. W. S. Straight, who was fishing in the river, said he noticed the girls wading and then saw them disappear. Unable to swim, he hurried for help. Long to Honor Balbo. ROME, May 11 (#).—Breckenridge Long, United States Ambassador to Italy, left today for Tripoli to confer the Distinguished Flying Cross upon Gen. Italo Balbo, awarded him by Congress in recognition of the mass airplane flight to Chicago. Dog, April Circulation Daily...126,967 Sunday132,382 District of Columbia. ss.: of "THE EVENING AND SURDA S aeter UNDAY STAR. does ol o Fa 1?:1‘;‘3’.’:.‘:'&-" pape: Damed woiq vaa Tibuted during the month of hrfl. AD. 1935, was as follows: DAIL g 2 17 3 18 g 1 g 2 10 25 11 26 i3 i 15 30 Less adjustments. .. .... Total net daily circulation. Average di Daily aversge number of o o SSTTRE® JLmber of covie Daily average net circulation..., 126.967 AY vs. Copies. 21, 135,564 28 . 134.831 T