Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1935, Page 2

ROOSEVELT ORDER ~ GREATES FLURRY Previous Instruction for Ac- counting and Later Can- t= - cellatior: Is Recalled. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. . The biggest issue in the coming Presidential and congressional cam- paign undoubtedly will be what the Roosevelt administration did with the billions it spent and how many more billions it is going to spend before the budget is balanced. For this reason the latest action of President Roosevelt, ordering all the emergency agenaies of the Government to submit their “administrative ex- penses” to the director of the budget, takes on unusual significance. Unfortunately there is no check upon the expenditures by the emer- gency agencies for expenses other than “administrative”; in fact, all the emergency agencies put together probably wouldn't spend a half-billion dollars for strictly administrative pur- poses. The big expenditures involv- ing many billions are those over which the Bureau of the Budget has no control, and it is these which are caus- ing concern. Orders Often Rescinded. Every now and then the Roosevelt administration reveals an interest in the subject of proper auditing of the Government's books and proper means of getting estimates in advance of 4ncurring obligations, but also, every now and then the President rescinds the orders and the situation is left mot much better than it was before. There is no secret about this be- havior, as it is all written in the public records, but it is regrettably true that | the public does not read “Executive orders” or note the inconsistencies in them or there would have been a ‘widespread protest against the man- ner in which the present administra- tion refuses to centralize in one place the problem of getting estimates from emergency agencies and planning | them so that public opinion may know how the money is spent—not after it has happened, but before the au- thorizations or obligations are in- curred. Accounting Is Ordered. Here is the record: On January 3, 1934, President | Roosevelt in addressing Ccagress said: | “Up to now there has been no co- ordinated control over emergency expenditures. ‘Today. by executive order, I have imposed that necessary | control in the Bureau of the Budget. “Heretofore, emergency expenditures have niot been subject to audit by the controller general of the General Ac- counting Office. Today I am, by | executive order, reposing in him the | authority to conduct such an audit and to continue to audit each such | expenditure. Hereafter, therefore, just as in the departmental expenditures, there will be emergency expenditures, & pre-budget and a post-audit.” Wide-Sweeping Order. On the same day, January 3-—The President issued the executive order, No. 6548, and it was wide-sweep- ing. It provided that ‘“no fur- ther obligation shall be incurred for the expenditure of any emergency appropriation or other available emer- gency fund, including the incurring of obligations through the issuance of securities or otherwise by the several | Jdepartments, independent establish- ments and Government agencies, in- cluding corporations without capital stock which are owned by the Gov- ernment, and corporations with cap- ital stock of which 50 per centum or more is owned by the Government, until estimates of expenditures for | such appropriations or funds for the | remainder of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1934, and the fiscal year end- ing June 30, 1935, shall have been *approved by the Director of the ! Budget.” The only exceptions were the Treasury Department’s own securi- | ties and those Government corpora- | tions which were in existence prior | to January 1, 1932. | Douglas Quits Post, But on January 6, 1934—not more | than three days later—the President issued another executive order, No. 6550, in which he specifically ‘“re- voked and rescinded” executive or- der No. 6548, which is quoted above. It was this reversal which caused the resignation of Lewis Douglas as Di- Trector of the Budget. The executive order issued on Janu- ery 6, supplanting the previous one, merely required that all Government agencies, regular and emergency, shall hereafter “submit to the Director of the Budget a weekly report contain- ing an itemized statement of all allo- cations of funds made during the preceding week.” ‘The difference is that, in the one case, the Budget Bureau was to have a look at expenses in advance, and, in the other, it was to do only the his- torical recording of expenditures after they had already been authorized. No public explanation has ever been given by the President of why he re- voked the pledge he gave to a joint session of Congress for & check in advance of expenditures through the Budget Bureau. Seven ‘Agencies Affected. ‘The negt step was the issuance of an executive order on August 5, 1935, which required seven of the emer- gency agencies to submit to the Di- rector of the Budget estimates of | Wiling amounts to be expended for “admin- istrative expenses.” Then, on August 19, six more Gov- ernment agencies were placed under the same executive order, and finally, on September 4, the remaining emer- gency agencies had their “adminis- trative expenses” subjected to the Budget Bureau's approval. Coincidentally Secretary of the ‘Treasury Morgenthau has emphasized that the director of the budget is not an official of the Treasury Depart- ment, but is responsible directly to the President. Just why the administration has suddenly got busy only on the matter of “administrative expenses” of the emergency agencies, after a lapse of nearly two years, when it publicly pledged to put all expenses of the emergency agencies, administrative and non-administrative, under the director of the budget, is as yet un- explained. to Aid Treasury. If it was thought that an emphasis on supervision by the Budget Bureau of the emergency agencies might be taken just now by the public as a sign that other checks are to come later, perhaps there is some merit in the action. It happens, of course, that the Treasury Department is at | fore them at the time they were in a | feelings. What’s Wfiat Behind News In Capital Morgenthau Gets Les- son From Bond Deal- ers on Chiseling. BY PAUL MALLON. HE adventure of Secretary I Morgenthau and the bond dealers during the last 10 days may be mystifying to the public, but not to Mr. Morgen- thau and the bond dealers. They understand perfectly what happened. Also they understand each other better now, although, of course, they are not saying anything about that out loud. To outsiders, it may seem odd that the Treasury was able to float a $500,000,000 note issue this week at the same interest rate and ap- proximately the same maturity as the issue for ome-fifth of that amount which failed a week earlier. It looks as if there must have been some backstage blood and thunder in the interim. There was not. The inside story is not a movie thriller, but a modern fable in finance, with a lesson for Mr. Morgenthau. You might call it the lesson on “the economizing master and the gravy hounds.” Cut Down on Gravy. Mr. Morgenthau has been cutting down on gravy for the bond-dealing hounds month by month, giving them smaller and smaller opportunities for a subsistence profit. In fact, some | of the hounds have been barking among themselves that Mr. Morgen-l thau was not only an economizer but a chiseler. HOW ABOUT ALITTLE They became convinced of it when he started making them bid for bare bones under the auction bidding sys- tem of bond flotation. They decided | to teach the economizing master a lesson by going on a hunger strike when he put the hundred million be- perfod of liquidation with the banks. The strained period offered them a subtle opportunity to stress their Now, no politician will undertake to say a good word for bond dealers, but Mr. Morgenthau had obviously sharpened his economizing to the breaking point. Their side of the story is that they should be treated as good customers. No manufac- turer tries to chisel prices on his customers, at least not to the limit of taking sizteenths, eighths or quarters of a point from them, especially if the manufacturer ez- pects to remain in business very long. They made that point clear to Mr. Morgenthau, if to no one else. Auction Bid Eliminated. The proof of this story lies in one feature by which the successful issue this week differed from the unsuc- cessful one last week. Mr. Morgen- thau eliminated the auction bidding | system in the successful issue. He offered the new note at par. The dis- gruntled beagles immediately over- looked their liquidation situation and | oversubscribed the issue. You may be reasonably certain that, after this lesson, the auction bidding | system will be used rarely by Mr.| Morgenthau, if at all. Rates Deemed Too Low. ‘This does not mean that everything is happy now in the Government bond | market. There are hints that the re- | turning strikers still consider interest | rates be too'low. Whether there Isl anything they can do about this is| problematical. But you may be sure that, if Mr. Morgenthau fixes the proper rate, he will have little diffi- | culty with Government financing in the immediate future. There is no place else for money to go. Opinions continue to differ about how long the Government can con- tinue to finance deficits commen= surate with the existing one. Some good authorities . subscribe to the optimistic view that it might con- tinue as much as five years, all other things being equal. They base this deduction on the fact that the French debt now is twice the French annual national income, whereas ours is but one-half of our national income. At any rate, the situation is now safe. There is a strong probability right now that the ailing Democratic floor leader of the House, William B. Bank- head, may never return to Congress. He said in a letter to the House at the close that he would return, “God ” If he does not, there will be & strong demand for a mew leader mext Winter to replace Acting Leader Taylor of Colorado, who carried on this session. Mr. Tay- lor does not care much about the job. A sub-rosa_preparatory contest Jor it is already looming up between Rules Chairman O’Comnor and Woodrum of Virginia. Utilities Not Beaten. Do not fall into the error of be- lieving that the utilities interests are going to take the new law blissfully just because two of the errant Mr. Hopson's companies have already filed applications under it. The general erpectation on the - inside here is that probably 95 per cent of the utilities companies will co-operate or appear to, but that 5 per cent will ditterly contest it. And the 95 per cent will be quietly egging on the 5 per cent all the time. . There is no_reason to alter the expectation that the enforcement of these new regulations will be one long series of injunctions. \ President Roosevelt has been pri- vately advised by some of his best friends that features of the new T. V. the moment engaged in some of its most important refunding operations and is to be in the market for more money soon. So it may be that the conversation and apparent fuss being . made about checking expenditures is calculated to aid the Treasury re- A. expansion bill are of very doubtful constitutionality. (Gopyright. 1935.) U. 8. Heavy Coffee Consumer. Nine out of every 10 bags of coffee | ing | he talked with Farley Wednesday. | day after Chairman Henry P. Fletch- shipped from Colombia last year came to the United States. S THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, PARTY LEADERS HAIL STATEMEN “Breathing Spell” Letter Confirms Views of Prog- nosticators. By the Associated Press. The statement by President Roose- velt, made public today, that the New Deal's “basic program” had reached “substantial completion” and that a “breathing spell” for industry is here, was greeted gladly by leaders of his party. Disagreement as to the value of the administration program in busi- ness improvement, however, was ex- pressed by opposition leaders. Assertions similar to the President's had already been made by some of those familiar with his ideas, but they appreciated more public attention would be paid by word from the Pres- ident himself than what they had said. It was noted that the stock market moved quietly higher at the start today. Months ago, Capitol Democratic quarters reminded, Mr. Roosevelt and his congressional chiefs decided all major objectives in a legislative way should be reached at the session just ended. They agreed the next session, coming in election year, should simply clean up comparatively minor odds and ends. “Everything Done.” “We stayed in session seven and a half months,” Speaker Byrns said re- cently, “so we could get everything done that we thought ought to be done immedfately. My understanding is that outside of N. R. A. and the usual appropriation bills, there will not be much legislation next session. “In other words, our big legislative job is about done.” Some had been urging an official answer to continuing Republican as- saults on the party in power and its program. James A. Farley, Demo- cratic National Committee chairman, and some of his aides, had insisted that it was “too early” to start cam- paigning. Others grew restive, Some of these saw significance today in the fact that the President’s ietter was dated September 2, last Monday, and appar- ently written by the President before Follows G. 0. P. Call. They noticed, too, that the eorre- spondence was made public_only the | er, chairman, called the Republican National Committee to meet Septem- ber 25, to lay plans for next year's election. No similar action had been taken by the Democrats, although some emphatically, if privately, ob- jected to what they termed a “do- nothing” attitude. Ever since early in the last session some Capitol Hill Democrats had been insisting that the time bad come for the President to yield some of his extraordinary powers, granted because of the emergency. Letter Comment Roosevelt Pledge of Breath- ing Spell to Business Finds Record in Party. Comments gathered by the Associ- ated Press on President Roosevelt's letter to Roy Howard, publisher, pledging & “breathing spell” for in- dustry, follow: Speaker Joseph W. Byrns—"I think that general conditions throughout the country ® * * abundantly justify the conclusions of the President. All classes of citizenship are feeling more confident and beginning to realize some of the benefits that have ac- crued.” Representative Bertrand H. Snell, minority leader of the House—"If it hadn't been for the New Deal re- covery would now be much further advanced. The improvement we have had has been in spite of the New Deal, rather than on account of it. That is proved by the fact that in the first four months of the administration, before the New Deal laws went into effect, there was more definite, direct improvement in business conditions than there has been since.” Senmator Arthur H. Vandenberg, mentioned as a possible Republican presidential nominee—“I have ex- pressed my opinions on the Senate floor time and again and it would be superfluous to repeat them.” Harper Sibley, president of the United States Chamber of Commerce —"I am going to Washington in a few days and I shall probably have to make & good many statements before long. I am busy with my own affairs now and I cannot comment until I understand the situation better.” Dr. Lionel D. Edie, promient Wall Street economist and business analyst —*"It will be a great relief to business to be fully assured that emergency and reform measures of the New Deal have really been halted and that the main interests of the administration from this point on will be in expe- diting recovery.” Senator Norris, Republican, of Ne- braska—“It states the whole ques- tion. Everybody has got to admit it was a terribly difficult thing the Presi- dent had to meet. I think he has met it remarkably well.” Senator E. R. Burke, Democrat, of Nebraska—“T agree perfectly with the President in his comment. I think the immediate task of the adminis- tration is to make every effort possible to curtail expenditures and balance the budget and I believe that will be the big task at the next session of Congress.” Senater Arthur Capper, Republic- an, of Kansas—“Business and in- dustry must be assured that the New Deel spending program is near an|. end and the budget must be bal- anced before the country can hope to achieve real recovery.” Representative Joseph W. Martin, Republican, of Massachusetts—"It is encouraging to see the President has finally come to the conclusion there can be no real recovery in this coun- try unless private business is given a fair chance to put the unemployed people back to work.” Representative McSwain, Democrat, of South Carolina— “The country ought to be gratified that we are to have no more fundamental and re- forming legislation soon.” Col. Frank Knox, often talked of as a Republican presidential possibility.— “It will be important if it can be re- lied upon.” Patrick J. Hurley, Secretary of War under President Hoover —“The pur- pose of the Roosevelt-Howard letter exchange is to restore the confidence of the people in the motives of the present’ administration.’ * John J. Pelley, president of the of American Rallroads.— “The plan to give business a breath- spell is a very wise move. Any stimulation in business would be most welcome to the % b D. C., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1935, Roosevelt-Howard Letters | |{00LIDGE-ISM NOW Text of President’s Statement That Breathing Spell Has **Very Decidedly” Arrived for American Industry. By the Assoclated Press. HYDE PARK, N. Y., September 6.—The text of the exchange of letters between President Roose- ve't and Roy W. Howard, news- paper publisher, follows. Mr. Howard, in a letter dated August 26, 1935, wrote: My Dear Mr. President: As an independent editor keenly interested in the objectives of the New Deal, I have been seeking reasons for the doubts and un- certainties of those business men who are skeptics, critics and out- right opponents of your program at a time when there is no com- mensurate dissatisfaction being evidenced by others of the elec- torate. I do not accept it as a fact that the interests of what we broadly term business necessarily are in conflict with mass interests. I expect to continue in support of your stated interpretation of American liberalism — notwith- standing 'my dissent and disagree- ment as to some detils and some theorles. Therefore, it is in & friendly and, I hope, constructive, spirit that I attempt a few ob- servations and opinions which I belleve timely and pertinent. These represent, I believe, a com= posite of the most frequently ex- pressed criticisms of your adminis- tration. Business Not Merely Hostile, but Frightened. That certain elements of business have been growing more hostile to your administration is a fact too obvious to be classed as news. So long as this hostility emanated from financial racketeers, public exploiters and the sinister forces spawned by special privilege, it was of slight importance. No crook loves a cop. But any experienced reporter will tell you that through= out the country many business men who once gave you sincere sup- port are now, not merely hostile, they are frightened. Many of these men whose pa« triotism and sense of public service will compare with that of any men in political life, have become con= vinced and sincerely believe: That you fathered & tax bill that aims at revenge rather than rev- enue—revenge on business; That the administration has side-stepped broadening the tax base to the extent necessary to approximate the needs of the sit- uation; That there can be no real re- covery until the fears of business have been allaved through the granting of a breathing spell to industry, and a recess from further experimentation until the country can recover its losses. I know you have repeatedly stated your position on sections of the Nation's problems, but as an editor I know also the necessity for repetition and reiteration. There is need to undo the damage that has been done by misinter- preters of the New Deal. 1 know that you feel as I do— that with all its faults, and the abuses it has developed, our sys- tem has in the past enabled us to achieve greater mass progress than has been attained by amy other system on earth. Smoke out the sinister forces seeking to delude the public into believing that an orderly moderni- zation of a system’ we want to pre- serve is revolution in disguise. Cordially and sincerely yours, (signed) ROY W. HOWARD. President Recognizes Duty To Inform Honest Critics. The President, under date of September 2, 1935, replied: My dear Mr. Howard: 1 appreciate the tone and pur- pose of your letter, and fairness impels me to note with no little sympathy and understanding the facts which you record, based on your observations as a reporter of opinion throughout the United States. I can well realize, moreover, that the many legislative details and processes incident to the long and arduous session of the Congress should have had the unavoidable effect of promoting some confu- sion in many people’s minds. I think we can safely disregard the skeptics of whom you speak. Skeptics were present when Noah said it was going to rain and they refused to go into the ark. We can also disregard those who are actuated by a spirit of political partisanship or by a willingness to gain or retain personal profit at the expense of, and detriment to, their neighbors. ‘Then there were those who told us to do nothing. We had heard of the do-nothing policy before and from the same sources and in many cases from the same indi- viduals. We heard it when Theo- dore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wil- son proposed reforms. ‘The country, has learned how to measure that kind of opposition. But there are critics who are hon- est and non partisan and who are willing to discuss and to learn. I believe we owe, therefore, & posi- tive duty to clarify our purposes, to describe our methods and to re- iterate our ideals. Such clarification is greatly aided by the efforts of those public- spirited newspapers which serve the public well by a true portrayal of the facts and a unbiased print- ing of the news. Confident That Doubts and Apprehension Will Vanish, However, experience is the best teacher and results are the best evidence. As the essential outline of what has been done rises into view, I am ident that doubts and mi ension will vanish. I am confident further that busi- ness as a whole will agree with you and with me that the interests of what we broadly term business are not in conflict with, but wholly in harmony with, mass interests. Inote what you say of the hostil- ity emanating from financial racketeers, public exploiters, and sinister forces. Such eriticism it is an honor to bear. A car with many cylinders can keep running in spite of plenty of carbon—bu$ it knocks. When it is overhauled an important part of the job is the removal of that carbon. 2 In the large, the depression was the culmination of unhealthy, how- ever innocent, arrangements in agriculture, in business and in finance. Our legislation was remedial, and as such, it would serve no purpose to make a doctrinaire effort to distinguish between that which was addressed to recovery and that which was addressed to reform. The two, in an effort toward sound and fundamental recovery, are in- separable. Our actions were in con- formity with the basic economic purposes which were set forth three years ago. 3 As spokesman for those purposes I pointed out that it was necessary to seek a wise balance in American economic life, to restore our bank- ing system to public confidence, to protect investors in the security market, to give labor freedom to organize and protection from ex= ploitation, to safeguard and de- velop our national resources, to set up protection against the vicissi- tudes incident to old age and un- employment, to relieve destitution and suffering and ‘to relieve in- vestors and consumers from the burden of unnecessary corporate machinery. Doubts if Any Party Will Oppose These Principles. I do not believe that any re- sponsible political party in the country will dare to go before the Ppublic in opposition to any of these major objectives. The tax program of which you gpenk is based upon a broad and just social and economic purpose, Such a purpose, it goes without saying, is not to destroy wealth, but to create broader range of oppor- tunity, to restrain the growth of unwholesome and sterile accumu= lations and to lay the burdens of government where they can best be carried. ‘This law affects only those indi- vidual people who have incomes over $50,000 a year, and individual estates of decedents who leave over $40,000. Moreover, it gives recognition to the generally accepted fact that larger corporations, enjoying the advantages of size over smaller cor- porations, possess relatively greater capacity to pay. Consequently the act changes the rate of tax on net earnings from a flat 13% per cent to a differential ranging from 12!3 per cent to 15 per cent. No reasonable person thinks that this is going to destroy competent corporations or impair business as & whole. Taxes on 95 per cent of our corporations are actually re- duced by the new tax law. A small excess profits tax is also provided as well as an intercorpo- rate dividend tax which will have the wholesome effect of encourag- ing the simplification of overly complicated and wasteful intercor- porate relationships. Congress declined to broaden the tax base because it was recognized that the tax base had already been broadened to a very considerable extent during the past five years. Recognizes Invisible Taxes Fall on Poor Man. I am aware of the sound argu- ments advanced in favor of making every citizen pay an income tax, however small his income. Eng- land is cited as an example. But it should be recalled that despite complaints about higher taxes our interest payments on all public debts, including local governments, require only 3 per cent of our na- tional income, as compared with 7 per cent in England. The broadening of our tax base in the past few years has been very real. What is known as con- sumers’ taxes—namely, the invis- ible taxes paid by people in every walk of life—fall relatively much more heavily upon the poor man than on the rich man. In 1929 consumers’ taxes repre- sented only 30 per cent of the na- tional revenue. Today they are 60 per cent and even with the passage of the recent tax bill the propor- tion of these consumers’ taxes will drop only 5 per cent. This administration came into power pledged to a very consider- able legislative program. It found the condition of the country such as to require drastic and far-reach- ing action. Duty and necessity re- quired us to move on a broad front for more than two years. It seemed to the Congress and to me better to achieve these ob~ Jectives as expeditiously as pose sible in order that not only busi- ness, but the public generally, might know those modifications in the conditions and rules of eco- nomic enterprise, which were in- volved in our program. Breathing Spell, “Very Decided,” Is Now Here. This basic program, however, has now reached substantial comple- tion and the breathing spell of which you speak is here—very de- cidedly so. It is a source of great satisfac- tion that at this moment condi- tions are such as to offer further substantial and widespread recov- ery. Unemployment is still with us, but it is steadily diminishing and our efforts to meets its prob- lems are unflagging. I do not claim the magician’s wand. I do not claim that govern- ment alene is responsible for these definitely better circumstances, But we all know the very great effect of the saving of banks, of farms, of homes, the building of public works, the providing of re- lief for the destitute, and many other direct governmental acts for the betterment of canditions. And ‘we do claim that we have helped to resctore that public - confidence which now offers so substantial & foundation for our recovery. I take it that we are all not merely seeking but getting the re- covery of confidence, not merely the confidence of a small group, . but that basic confidence on the part of the mass of our population, in the soundness of our economic life and in the honesty and justice of the purposes of its economic Tules and methods. I like the last sentence of your letter and I repeat it—"With all its faults and with the abuses it has developed, our system has in the past enabled us to achieve has N, A, Towa, September 6 (P).— Mrs. Wesley Jones, - swallowed 1S SEEN BY ANGAS British Financial Observer Says Roosevelt to Throw Aid to Industry. B the Associated Press. NEW YORK, Sept. 6 —~Maor L. L. B. Angas, British finnncial commenta- tor and strong supporter of the New Deal, today predicted that “the busi- ness community will forthwith observe in Washington a President who is anxious to out-Coolidge Coolidge.” The English economics writer and pamphleteer made this forecast in commenting in an interview on Presi- dent Roosevelt's statement that the basic program of the New Deal had been substantially completed, and business now has a breathing spell. The Major, who attracted attention in Wall street a year ago with his pamphlet, “the coming American boom,” asserted that it was politically possible to accomplish needed social Teforms only in the earliest stages of recovery. Second Phase Arrives. o He recalled that he had previously predicted the vigorous jamming through of reform measures at the last session of Congress was in prepa- ration for a new phase in which busi- ness recovery will be the first consid- eration, “As Mr. Roosevelt says” Maj. Angas continued, “the first phase of | the New Deal, namely, social reform, | is now virtually over. The second | phase, as I have repeatedly urged in | my pamphlets, is now admitted by | Mr. Roosevelt as having arrived, | namely, a desire to improve business | s0 that the unemployed may be rapidly re-employed. “If my interpretation of Mr. Roosevelt is correct, the business community will forthwith witness in Washington a President who is anx- ious to out-Coolidge Coolidge in giv- ing industrial prosperity to America. This may surprise his political oppo- nents, but it is & view I have always held of the man.” Recalls Lioyd George Program. The burly, red-headed major re- called that in 1910, when Lloyd George thrust down the throats of his political opponents the unemployment insur- ance, old-age pensions and health in- surance, the whole Tory party com- plained that rugged individualism was being undermined and the budget | weighed down with a burden which | would permanently check the’ pros- perity of Great Britain. “Perhaps, however, Mr. Lloyd George's foresight, so unlike that of the Bourbons and the Romanoffs, saved Great Britain from social revo- lution—indeed, there was no social strife in Great Britain through the | whole slump.” “And Mr. Roosevelt, it is not in- conceivable,” he concluded, “may just have done for Americca what Mr. Lloyd George did for Britain in 1910.” Letter (Continued Prom First Page) looked upon the tax bill as aiming at | revenge rather than revenue—revenge | on business. = Mr. Roosevelt deféffded his tax bill | by saying that it is based upon a broad and just soctal and economic purpose. “Such a purpose,” he wrote, “it goes without saying, is not to de- | stroy wealth, but to create broader range of opportunity, to restrain the Clue to Crater DIVORCE SUIT MENTIONS MISSING JURIST. JAYNE MANNERS. MAURICE L. KUSELL. Kusell, a Hollywood dance di- rector, in a divorce complaint filed yesterday at Los Angeles against Miss Manners, an aciress, asserted she claimed to “know plenty” con- cerning the unsolved disappearance of Justice Crater of the New York Supreme Court. Crater disap- peared in 1930, causing an inter- national mystery. —Copyright, A. P. Wirephotos. 200,000 GRANTED FOR STORM RELIEF Hopkins ~ Awaits Report From Williams on Reported Delay of Trains. A $200000 F. E. R. A. grant for immediate hurricane relief was for- warded to Florida today as officials, acting under orders of President parent delay in evacuating veterans from the Southern keys in the path of the fatal storm. Relief Administrator Harry L. Kop- kins sent the grant to Gov. Dave Sholtz of Florida to defray expenses of rehabilitating the hurricane zone. Meanwhile, Hopkins awaited a report from a personal representative, Deputy Administrator Aubrey Williams, who was dispatched to the scene from Montgomery. The President is particularly inter- ested, it was said, in learning if there Roosevelt, pressed an inquiry into ap- | G.0P. ISSUES CALL FOR MEETING HERE |Fletcher Summons Members of Executive Committee to Capital September 25. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. The first formel meeting of the | members of the Executive Committee of the Republican National Commit- tee in more than a year will take | place here September 25, on call of ilhe national chairman, Henry P. Fletcher. In effect, the Executive Committee meeting will be a curtain-raiser for the meeting of the full committee which is to take place probably im the early Winter, to select the time and place for the Republican Na- | tional Convention, to prepare for the | call for the convention and to an- nounce the apportionment of delegates under the rules. Encouraged greatly by the recent Republican victory in the first Rhode | Island congressional district and by | reports of disaffection with the Roose- | velt New Deal from various parts | of the country, the Republican high command has decided to go forward | more briskly than ever with organi- | zation work. It is for that purpose, Chairman Fletcher's call indicates, that the Executive Committee is being summoned to Washington this month. Regional Gatherings Held. With the entire sympathy of the | National Committee, regional Repub- | lican gatherings have been held during }‘v.he Summer to stir enthusiasm and | to formulate certain principles on | which the party may go to bat next year. None of these gatherings drew more attention that did the Midwest “grass roots” conference which was held in Springfield, Ill, last June. This is particularly true because it is to the Middle West or the West that the Republicans generally are looking for a presidential nominee and party leader mext year. Just what the Executive Committee will do when it meets in Washington Chairman Fletcher is not predicting at this time. Already plans have gone forward, however, for the establish- ment of Republican headquarters in Chicago for the Middle West and other headquarters for the Far West will | be set up later. Democrats Are Active. The announcement of the plans for greater activity among the Repub- licans comes on the heels of plain declarations by Democratic chieftains, among them Postmaster General Far- ley, chairman of the National Com- | mittee, that the Democrats are going forward with campaign activities. A few months ago, with the Repub- licans apparently flat on their backs, the re-election of President Roose- velt looked to be as sure as death and | taxes. He may still be re-elected, and Chairman Farley insists that the vic- tory is “in the bag.” But the veering | of political sentiment recently has | been so widely reported that the Re- | publicans are perking up. It looks as | though the campaign of 1936 would be both brisk and prolonged, with thz Roosevelt New Deal as the maijn issue, Will Come From All Parts. | ~Chairman Fletcher said he had had | in mind for some time the calling of | the Executive Committee, but had | postponed it until after the vacation | period. He also wanted to have fur- | ther advanced plans which he intends to lay before the committee for its | consideration, advice and approval. ‘The members of the Executive Com- mittee will come to Washington from | all parts of the country, bringing with | them the latest reports on conditions growth of unwholesome and sterile | Was undue delay in dispatching a relief | gng political sentiment. It is Fletcher's accumulations and to lay the burdens | of governments where they best can be carried.” erans from the storm-threatened camps. The train was overwhelmed The President then said the tax! law affects only those individual people whose incomes are over $50,000 | by wind and wave after leaving Miami Monday night. Hopkins told reporters he did not train from Miami to evacuate the vet- | | idea that the G. O. P. should take immediate advantage of the swing in sentiment, which he says is easily | discernible, away from the New Deal. | He has recently toured New England |and conferred with State chairmen, a year, and individual estates of de- | know whether the train which started | national committeemen and others and cedents who leave over $40,000. | out to rescue the veterans was dis- | has found the same’ trend, evidenced He added that the law gives recogni- | patched by the Coast Guard or by | in the Rhode Island election last tion to the generally accepted fact, as | the Florida State Relief Administra- | month. he expressed it, that larger corpora- tions have the advantage of size over smaller corporations and possess rel- atively greater capacity to pay. He added that taxes on 95 per cent of | American corporations are actually reduced by the new tax law, and said that a small excess profit tax was provided as well as an intercorporate dividend tax which “have the whole- some effect of encouraging a simplifi- cation of overly complicated and wasteful intercorporate relationships.” Claims Base Broadened. In answer to that part of Mr. Howard’s letter in which he said some believe that the New Deal adminis-¢ tration has “side-stepped broadening the tax base to the extent necessary to approximate the needs of the situa- tion,” Mr. Roosevelt replied that the broadening of the tax base in the past few years has been very real. “What is known as consumers’ taxes, namely the invisible taxes paid by people in every walk of life,” he explained, “fall relatively much more heavily upon the poor man than on the rich man. In 1929 consumers’ taxes represented only 30 per cent of the national revenue. Today they are 60 per cent, andl even with the passage of the recent tax bill, the proportion of these consum- ers’ taxes will drop only 5 per cent.” Howard Says Answer Adequate. SAN FRANCISCO, September 6 (/). —Asserting President Roosevelt's let- ter to him spoke “for -itself,” Roy ‘W. Howard, newspaper publisher, in- dicated here today the exchange of letters would be carried no further. “Business now has the answer to the question it has been asking for months,” sald Howard, who is here with Mrs. Howard and their daugh- ter, ready to sail this afternoon for a world voyage. “I think the statement speaks for it- self. The President states very un- equivocally that the basic program of the New Deal is now complete and that the promised ‘breathing spell’ is here. “It is obvious business has got to in- terpret this as meaning the period of experimeptation is past, and with the action of the last Congress out of the way, it can go forward. “And it looks to me as if business can be counted upon now to go ahead and play ball.” BRITISH AIR RACES ON 385 Planes Must Stop Four Times in Prize Event. tion, under which the construction camps on the keys were operated. Meanwhile & sharp difference of opinion existed among officials as to quiries were started to place the blame. In Florida, the Associated Press re- ported, Gov. Sholtz said “gross care- lessness somewhere” was responsible for the tragedy. Hopkins yesterday authorized Gov. Sholtz to spend any money necessary. ‘The relief administrator acted after discussing the situation with President Roosevelt at Hyde Park, N. Y., by tele- phone. Irvin S. Cobb Says: Civil War Veterans’ Joint Reunion End of Long-Lived Hate. SANTA MONICA, Calif.,, September 6.—Down in Texas a little group of aged men—the United Confederate Veterans—accept the invitation of an- other little group —the G. A. R— for a Jjoint re- union. Their average age now is 90. There'll be but & pitiable handful left when they meet in 1938 at Gettysburg, on the 75th anni- versary of the greates; battle of the war between the States—that high-water mark of American valor, where the gallant Yanks, seeing what the desperate charging Rebs meant to attempt, leaped on their breastworks and gave three honest cheers for the men of Pickett’s Division before they opened fire and turned that yellow wheat field red with the herojc blood of the ad- vancing enemy. It's taken a long time to bury the last lingering animosity between those old men—it's taken three-quarters of a century. Love withers in a day, more’s the pity, but hate has as many lives as an uninsured cat. One little tidbit in the news. At Cleveland, a gentleman broke off the match and sued to get the engage- ment ring back because he learned the lady had a wooden leg. But I guess everything would have been all right if he'd been one of those féllows who go around carving their § initials every chance they get. (Copyright. 1935. by the North American : n'fln:nou Alliance, rlm.) the delay and American Legion in- | The Executive Committee may dis- | cuss informally the forthcoming meet- ing of the whole National Committee, which Fletcher expects to call for De- cember or January. Such a meeting has to be held, under the rules, at | least four months before the national | convention. The convention is usually | held in June. i Members of Commitiee. ‘The members of the Executive Com= mittee are: Chajrman, Fletcher; Ralph E. Williams, Oregon, vice chair- {man; Mrs. Alvin T. Hert, Kentucky, | vice chairman: J. Henry Roraback, Connecticut, vice chairman; George | Keim, New Jersey, secretary; George | F. Getz, TIllinois, treasurer; John Hamilton, Kansas, general counsel, {and Mrs. Grace Semple Burlingham, | Missouri: Mark L. Requa, California; | George A. Ball, Indiana; Mrs. Manley L. Fosseen, Minnesota; Mrs. Guy P, Gannett, Maine; Lawrence C. Phipps, Colorado: Charles D. Hillee, New York: Earle S. Kinsley, Vermont; Harrison E. Spangler. Iowa: Walter F. | Brown, Ohio; Mrs. Worthington | Scranton, Pennsylvania: John Rich- ardson, Massachusetts: R. B. Creager, | Texas; Mrs. Bertha Baur, Illinois, and Walter S. Hallahan, West Virginia. Included in the membership of the Executive Committee are representa- | tives of the so-called Hoover group, the Old Guard, and the more pro- | gressive, Middle Western Republicans. | _In reply to a question, Chairman Fletcher said he thought the Execu- tive Committee should and would have nothing whatever to say about presidential candidates and their | chances. The National Committee should keep away from the question | of candidates at all times, he said. He laughed when asked if he had | any intention of resigning his chair- | manship and said there was nothing to such reports. ‘The great problem before the Re- publicans, as it now appears, is to formulate and unite on an agricul- | tural program which will be a sub- ;‘smuu for the A. A. A, with its rain | of Government checks for crop cure tailment. A great deal of considera- tion is being given to this. . CHANNEL SWIM FAILS LOS ANGELES, September 6 (#).— Paul Chotteau, French concert vio- linist and distance swimmer, was un- der observation of physicians today for possible ill effects of his latest | unsuccessful attempt to swim the | Santa Catalina Channel. Chotteau, waging a losing battle against tricky currents, was taken | from the water late yesterday after- | noon. Slightly more than half-way | across the 33-mile channel, he had been in the water more than 24 hours. Fogs kept his attendants from dis- covering he was off his course. Ex- hausted, he was taken ashere by boat at Point Fermin. Only one swimmer, George Young, has negotiated the distance. ¢