Evening Star Newspaper, August 26, 1936, Page 1

WEATHER. (U. 8. Weather Bureau Forecast.) Showers probable tonight and tomor- row; somewhat cooler tonight, slightly ‘warmer tomorrow; moderate winds. Tem-= peratures—Highest, 96, at 4 p.m. yes- terday; lowest, 70, at 9 p.m. yesterday. Full report on page B-2. Closing New York Markets, Page 16 No. 33,720. Entered as second class matter post office, Washington, D. C. STEELNAY BOOST WAGESOF 5000 WITHIN 9 DAY Carnegie Employes Present Plea for National Commit- tee Recognition. $5 MINIMUM PAY BASE DEBATED BY INDUSTRY Chance for Profit Admitted by Spokesman—September 9 Deadline on Dispute. B7 the Assoctated Press. PITTSBURGH, August 26—Steel circles revived talk yesterday of a gen- eral pay increase for the industry’s 450,000 wage earners on the heels of an uaheralded demand by employe representatives of the Carngie-Illinois Steel Corp. for recognition of a na- tional wage committee and a 25 per cent pay boost. A usually reliable source informed | the Associated Press he expected an| increase “within 60 to 90 days,” if| present activity in production con- tinued. He explained: “The industry, as a whole, is not out of the ‘red’ financially, or at least | not enough to resume dividend pay- ments. It seems logical to expect most | of it will show an operating profit in | third-quarter reports. “It would not be surprising to see gome concerns resume dividend pay- | ments, a move which I believe would be followed by an increase in wages.” $5 Base Pay Considered. ‘This informant added that there is| & divergence of opinion as to whether a minimum wage of $5 a day should be established, with a smaller rate of | increase for those in the higher wage | brackets. The present minimum pay ranges from $3.12 to about $3.90 a day which one source declared applies £o less than 7 per cent of the workers, | He said the industry already is pay- ing its skilled workers a higher rate than that of automotive and canning companies, steel's best customers, whereas the latter’s lowest bracket rate is higher. A dozen Carnegie-Illinois employes, five elected in the Chicago-Gary dis- trict and others from the Pittsburgh- Youngstown area, to represent fellow | workers in company-sponsored collec- | tive bargaining agencies, disregarded | regular procedure in presenting their | demands direct to the president’s | office of the largest United States steel | subsidiary yesterday. | The employers' representation plan | provides such grievances shall be | taken up at individual plants and de- | cided by a committee composed of five men chosen by each side. The “insurgents” left their petition with Vice President L. H. Burnett | after a brief conference and mailed a | copy to President B. F. Fairless, now on vacation. They stated they desired a wage tgreement arranged under direction of the Steel Workers Organizing Com- mittee and bluntly asserted “we de- mand”: A national wage committee; 25 per | cent wage increase; 40-hour work | week; weekly pay checks; just “senior- ity rights”; more “adequate” safety measures and a “better” vacation-with- pay plan. They set September 9 as the dead- tine for a meeting with their com- mittee to “effectuate a settlement on an honorable basis.” Action Not Unanimous. Seven members of the Pittsburgh Employe Representatives’ Central Committee, including F. W. Bohne of Youngstown, chairman, refused to “go along” with the group making the de- mands. These men conferred with the rompany's district industrial relatiors | director. Bohne explained their position. “The employe representative body in the Pittsburgh area has asked for & minimum $5 wage and $1.10 increase for everybody. Until the main body has voted on new demands, they can- not be entertained by this Central Committee, nor can we join in with any other groud purporting to repre- sent any other body of employes until such proposal is put to a vote of all the employe representatives in our district.” ‘There are 18 representatives in the Pittsburgh district, only 12 of whom attended yesterday's conference. Bohne said the Chicago members were per- mitted to attend after they said they represented no one but themselves. 10 PER CENT BOOST HINTED. Bteel Prices Are Likely to Rise, Editor Declares, By (tic Assoclated Press. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio, August 26. »The Youngstown Vindicator said to- day that a 10 per cent increase in steel wages will perhaps be made next week or shortly thereafter. An article signed by Ernest Mc- Nemenyi, the newspaper's industrial editor, said that steel prices are likely to be advanced at the same time. The Vindicator said: “The determination of steel prices for the fourth quarter is said to be holding back the announcement of wage increases. Increases in steel prices, it added, probably would average $2 a ton on all steel products. “The basic rate of steel pay, that for common labor, varies in different districts. In the Youngstown district (See STEEL, Page A-3.) | PENDERGAST RESTING Condition “Satisfactory” Physi- cian Declares at Hospital. NEW YORK, August 26 (#).—The condition of Thomas J. Pendergast was described as “satisfactory” by Dr. A. V. Lyman, his physician, after he had visited the Kansas City, Mo., Democratic leader at the Roosevelt Hospital shortly before noen today. Dr. Lyman would make no further comment except to say that Pender- night ter undergoing an abdominal oper- 4 ‘Why Did I Do It, ThomasCried After Shooting, Widow Says, Recounting Horrors of Ride @b WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1936—THIRTY-FOUR PAGES. ##x%x* Estranged Husband Started for Hos- pital With Victim, But Apparently Lost Nerve, Stricken BY PHILIP H. LOVE. Shaken by tragedy, Mrs. Lillie Balderson Thomas, 27, lay abed in the home of her sisters today and, between occasional outbursts of weeping, told a graphic story of how her estranged husband killed her escort, forced her to accompany him on a wild ride through Virginia and then shot himself to death. “It was the most terrible ordeal I've ever experienced,” Mrs. Thomas declared. “But if I had to go through it all over again, I still would have left my husband—I hated him that mi Mrs. Thomas, an attractive, blue-eyed woman, with light brown—almost blond—hair, said the shooting, which occurred early yest maxed a long series of threats from her hus- band. The husband, Clifton D. Thomas, 31, a St. Elizabeth’s Hospital attendant, had her since their separation last April 6, Of the other man—Gilmer L. Snyder, 27, fore- man of an automobile repair shop—Mi said: “I didn’t love him, either. apartment, at 1430 Belmont street, husband accosted them. “It was about midnight,” she said. was just about to get out when CIift as if from nowhere, “I rolled up the window and locked the door. He hurried around to the other side talk to you, too.” “We both said, ‘All right,’ but he drive somewhere,’ he said. I refused. “He drew a gun. to kill both himself and me shortly be I'd known him. (See SHOOTING, Page A-5.) He was just somebody who was awfully nice to me.” She and Snyder, who was a licensed airplane pilot, and was best known as “Pat,” rode into Vir- ginia, she said, and had just returned to her “We double- parked in front of the apartment house, and I It was the same one with which he had threatened Woman Asserts. uch.” ———————————— erday, cli- “pestered” she added. rs. Thomas when her t appeared . Mrs. Thomas, of the car and said to Pat, ‘I want to insisted he could not talk there. Let's fore I left him. He'd had it ever since SPECIALIST CALLED 10 DERN'S BEDSIDE Secretary Semi- Conscious After Spending Rest- less Night. By 1pe Assoclated Press. A noted heart specialist was brought here by plane from Boston today at President Roosevelt's direction to at- tend Secretary Dern, seriously ill in ‘Walter Reed Hospital. The specialist, Dr. Fritz Meyer, arrived early this morning and was immediately taken to the hospital where the War Secretary was reported | in a physicians’ statement this morn- | ing to be in a semi-conscious condi- tion after having spent a “rather rest- less night.” Although the War Department made no announcement concerning Dr. Meyer, it was learned authoritatively that he had been sent for at President Roosevelt's direction after he had been recommended by William C. Bullitt, newly named Ambassador to Paris. Bullitt, it was learned, informed the President Dr. Meyer was considered the outstanding heart specialist in Europe, and had saved the life of Edward A. Filene, prominent Boston merchant, when he was stricken with heart trou- ble in Moscow a year ago. Call Made by Request. Although the President was informed that Army doctors and specialists from Johns Hopkins Hotpital in Baltimore | were doing everything possible for Dern, he expressed the wish that Dr. Meyer be called from Boston last night. After reporting that the Secretary was in a semi-conscious condition, the (See DERN, Page A-2.) BOLT KILLS 2 GOLFERS Tragedies at Separate Country Clubs Accompany Storm. CHICAGO, August 26 (#).—Two golfers were killed by lightning at two suburban country clubs yesterday dur- ing a rainstorm. Lester Topper, 25, was struck while playing the Pickwick course near Glenview. Otto Hanson, 53, died on the West- ward Ho course in Proviso township. Both were standing under trees for shelter when the bolts struck. Both were accompanied by golfing com- panions, who were unhurt. Italian Troops Held Superior To Crack British Regiments This is the third of a series of siz stories on uncensored revela- tions regarding the Italian con- quest. . BY EDWARD J. NEIL. (Copyright. 1936, by the Associated Press.) NEW YORK, August 26.—Memories of a war correspondent, retiring from that business: The sun-blackened, altitude-tor- tured, foodless, waterless but abso- lutely unquenchable Italian infantry in Ethiopia seemed far and away better soldiers than Britain's first- class regiments, the queen’s this and the king’s that, who were fighting the Arab redhots in Palestine. The British Tommie has all the s equipment found k in & mail order for tea at 5 p.m. « -+ + the Italian is just & whittler R on a back fence, but a hunk of cheese and a slug of Chianti now and then keep him perfectly happy . . . Italy’s crack regiments, after tough bate E. J. Neil tles, Bersaglieri, Black Shirts, Grenadiers, cracked rocks, like convicts, to make roads for supply trucks, singing and proud of the chance to do more. . .. Incidentally, the Ethiopian is fiz FRANCE, ALARMED, TIGHTENS DEFENSE Predicts 6,000,000 Men Will Be Under Arms After Nazi Two-Year Plan, Br the Associated Press. PARIS, August 26.—French statis- | ticians tonight estimated 6,000,000 | men, a third of them Germans, would | be “ready for war” when Germany's new two-year term of military service becomes effective. E | While France mapped intensive plans for strengthening military de- | fense, convinced Germany is heading | for war, the statisticians reckoned the men under arms in Europe’s leading military states would soon reach 5,-| 369.000. They estimated Germany, in addi- | tion to regular fighting units, which | | they placed at 1,365,000, would have | 400,000 Nazi militiamen and 275.000 in labor camps organized along military | | lines. Virtually all sections of French opinion asserted Chancellor Adolf | Hitler's latest decree increasing mii- | itary training periods from one to two | years moved him toward armed con- flict. Gen. Marie Gustave Gamelin, chief | of staff, and other military leaders conferred with Premier Leon Blum and it was announced effects of thz| | Nazi decree creating an army twice | | the size of that of France was being | studied in the hope of reaching “rapid. | practical decisions.” Officials said a high military com- | mittee including army generals, Premier Blum and Yvon Delbos, min- ister for foreign affairs, was continu- ing “serious consultations” but any decisions were not disclosed. The suggestion was advanced unoffi- cially that France convert her public works program into reinforcement of national defense and possibly includ- ing creation of semi-military organ- izations. Tension was increased by French dispatches from Warsaw reporting a recent interview between Chancellor Hitler and Admiral Nicholas Horthy, regent of Hungary, concerned with forthcoming proclamation of com- pulsory military service for Hungary. Informed quarters said increasing French military service beyond two years definitely was out, but agreed the nation probably would move toward an increased mechanical effectiveness of her army and strengthen military alliances, especially with Russia and { Poland. most over-rated fighter in the world . he dances himself into a fury, waving his sword, before going into battle . . . then he screams and rushes forward, a great movie mob scene . . . He runs forward until the Italian ma- chine guns have mowed down every- one around him . .. as soon as he finds himself alone, he drops every- thing . . . he just doesnt retreat, he goes all the way home, buries his sword, and plants some corn or something . . . one defeat, and the only army an Ethiopian general has left is himself . . . usually he goes home and plants some corn too . . . even when winning, they stop fight- ing at dusk . . . everyone wondered why they didn’t harass Italy’s armies with guerilla warfare . .. two reasons: Others may fight alone, he doesn't . . . others may fight at night, he doesn’t either . . . extra reason, he never heard of it and wouldn’t listen to anyone who tried to tell him , , . The Arab is a ten times better fighter. . . . The cutest diplomatic stunt of the century was Italy’s handling of cen- sorship and newspaper men . . . Even nice things about Italian soldiers couldn’t get through to the papers . . . Reason: As long as Ethiopia foolishly claimed victories she wasn’t winning, the League of Nations and the world at large were lulled into a sense of security as to the Negus' ability to handle the situation with- out_help ; . . The truth about the situgtion, what we were trying to (Continued on Page 3, coham 6) | WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION NEW WORLD PEACE PARLEY REPORTED PRESIDENTS PLAN King Edward, Mussolini, Hitler and Other Leaders Would Be Invited. EFFECT FOR AMITY BELIEVED CERTAIN Friend Said to Have Been Told Roosevelt Would Be in Best Position for Step. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, August 26—The New York Times reported today that Pres- ident Roosevelt is giving serious con- sideration, if he is re-elected, to in- viting heads of several nations to confer on means of insuring world peace. If the proposal is carried out, the | paper said, Mr. Roosevelt would ask King Edward VIII, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Presi- dent Lebrun of France, representatives of Japan and China and a few others to meet with him at a convention site, Mr. Roosevelt has told his friends, the paper said, that in event of his re-election, he believes “Le will be in | the best position any American Pres- ident has ever been to promote the cause of world peace.” Influence Against War. The cause of war and prospects of disarmament would be discussed, the article continued, with the conferees personally agreeing to use their in- fluence to prevent war in any part of the world. “Mr. Roosevelt feels that, even if the conference amounted to no more than a gesture, it would be a powerful one and certain to delay war if not to avert it for a much longer period,” the Times said. ‘The few persons with whom he has not know whether he will make known his plan before the November election. The New York Times said: “The President has outlined his | idea thus far, the eminent members of the conference would generally dis- | cuss the prospects and hopes of dis- armament and peace, consider the seeds of war, and unite in a procla- mation of personal purpose to use all their influence to prevent war in any part of the world. would be expected to take more vigor- ous and definite form behind the con- ferees than it has attained on the present separate nationalistic basis. While carefully refraining from as- suming for the United States any ob- ligation or responsibility for militant action for peace in the Eastern Hemisphere, and making no request of any foreign states to assume these, the President would point to condi- tions in the Western Hemisphere and urge the pan-American agreements as a model. Versailles Conference. The Versailles peace conference after the World War is the only oc- casion in recent years in which a President of the United States has met with a group of European leaders on foreign soil. President Wilson went to Paris as head of the American delegation. | Even then he did not meet around the conference table the actual heads of states, but their representatives— Prime Minister David Lloyd George of England, Premier Georges Clemen- ceau of France and Premier Orlando of Italy. During President Hoover’s adminis- tration, visitors to the White House— on separate occasions—were Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald of Eng- land and Premier Pierre Laval of France. Seven weeks after Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, Ramsay MacDonald again came to Washington in April, 1933, to discuss plans for the impeading World Economic Con- ference in London. Former Premier Edouard Herriot of France and Prime Minister Richard Bennett of Canada joined the two men for further conferences on disarma- ment, the gold standard and other subjects coming in the scope of the London meeting. Previous Conferences. Both President Harding and Presi- dent Coolidge called naval reduction conferences in Washington, but were not delegates themselves. President Coolidge went to Havana to open the Sixth Pan-American Con- ference on January 16, 1928. He de- livered an address, but he and his party of 86 did not remain for the plenary sessions. It was the first visit ever paid to the capital of another American re- public by a President of the United States while he was in office. Less than a month ago—on July 31 —President Roosevelt went to Quebec for an official visit to Lord Tweeds- muir, governor general of Canada, and Prime Minister MacKenzie King. He said then that “frank dealing, co- operation and a spirit of give and take See PARLEY, Page A-3) Readers’ Guide Page. Amusements --—---- Answers to Questiops Comics ---- Cross-word Puzzle Death Notices ----. Lost and Found - News Comment Features__A-9 Sports .. Washington Wayside _.___A-2 Women'’s Features . .‘..B-lo 35 Public opinion | STRIKERS GASSED, TIRE FIRM GLOSES Cumberland Labor Unit Asks Nice to Curb Use of Tear Bombs. By the Associated Press. CUMBERLAND, Md, August 26.— Edmund 8. Burke, president of the | discussed the proposal, it added, do | Kelly-Sprngfield Tire Co. plant here, announced today the plant was closed indefinitely because of a strike. Three tear-gas barrages by po- lice on strike duty at the plant here sent a protest to Gov. Harry W. Nice today from Burke said the plant was closed be- cause “employes who wanted to work could not get proper protection.” Pickets still were gathered in front of the plant today despite the fact that it was closed. There was no at- tempt to have the 7 am. shift go to work. The council, said to represent 22,000 Western Maryland workers, wired the Governor it “condemned” use of State police to “intimidate strikers engaged in peaceful and lawful picketing,” and asked that the eygcutive “curb their unwarranted activities.” Senator Kimble Objects. ‘Twice yesterday afternoon the of-| ficers resorted to gas to clear the street in front of the plant. When the 11 p.m. shift reported for work last night another barrage was laid down to scatter a crowd of about 400 strike sympathizers. State Senator Robert B. Kimble, Western Maryland labor leader, ob- jected to the use of the gas. He con- ferred with Edmund S. Burke, Kelly- Springfield president, and urged him to close the plant pending negotia- tions, “to prevent loss of life.” Strike leaders backed his plea with assertions “tragedy” might result if the plant remained open. Burke de- clined to close the plant. Has Council’'s Suppert. The Allegany Trades Council named a committee of six to assist local No. 26, United Rubber Workers of America, in pressing the strike. W. Henry Frazier, the committee chairman, has unanimous support of the council in aiding the strikers by lending “moral, financial and physical aid * * *.” Frazier said the council regarded the strike as justified. Earlier, Burke met with John Geis, president of the rubber workers’ local, and requested a list of the strikers’ grievances. Geis said the list would be prepared. Both denied any agree- ment had been discussed. The strike has been underway since Monday morning, and yesterday’s use of tear gas was the first forcible action taken by police. The local union is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Officials of the Maryland-District of Columbia Federation of Labor, an A. (See STRIKE, Page A-2.) HEAT WAVE BROKEN; INFANT IS VICTIM Mercury Expected to Remain in 70s Today—Showers Prob- able Tonight. The Capital today will enjoy temperatures almost 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, the Weather Bureau predicted this morning in forecasting & break in the heat wave that claimed s 7-month-old baby as its latest victim. Although unable to say how long the change will last, the forecaster believed overcast skies and light showers during the afternoon would keep the mercury from going above 78, Showers are probable tonight and tomorrow and tonight will be “some- what cooler.” Tomorrow, the fore- caster said, will be slightly warmer. Yesterday’s high temperatures, which reached a peak of 96 at 4 p.m., were ascribed as a factor in the death of Leo Ralph Davis, son of Mr. and Mrs James L. Davis, 3557 Sixth street, The baby died in his carriage in the living room. At 9:30 this morning, the tempera- ture was 76, compared with 84 at about the same time the Allegany Trades | | Council yesterday. ¢ Foening Star Hauptmann Trial | Publicity Scored | In Report to Bar Interviews by Jurors and Condon Articles Denounced. Ev the Associated Press. BOSTON, August 26. Magazine articles by Dr. John F. “Jafsie” Con- | don, paid interviews by Hauptmann case jurors, the activities of Gov. Har- | 0ld G. Hoffman and what it termed a “publicity campaign” by counsel on both sides, received outspoken con- | | demnation today before the American | Bar Association. { The report by a special Committee | on Publicity in Criminal Trials was presented by Judge Oscar Hallam of | St. Paul, former justice of the Minne- sota Supreme Court. It denounced as “fundamentally wrong” newspaper and radio publicity at the Hauptmann| trial.. | Conduct of the trial by Judge Thomas W. Trenchard received the! | approbation of the committee, which |added: “In his judicial conduct he was undisturbed by the whirl of ex-| citement roundabout. * * * “There has been no suggestion of | any impropriety in connection with | the conduct of the jury during the trial. Like the court, they were ap- parently undisturbed by the excitement | about them.” The overcrowded court room, the | (See BAR, Page A-5) ARREST TIGHTENS NET ABOUT LAWYER iSuspect’s Seizure May Also Solve $1,500 Fairfax Dairy Hold-Up. With the arrest of a long-sought colored man in Baltimore, police here announced today they believed they had in their hands the solution of the $1,500 Fairfax Farms Dairy hold- up, as well as a witness who will tighten their case against a well- known lawyer in custody since Sunday morning. The colored man is believed by police to have engineered the $300 hold-up of Sam Siratonis’ tailor shop in the 3000 block of Fourteenth street last week. Siratonis was struck on the head with a blunt instrument by the bandits, who overlooked $2,000 in a safe. - ‘The lawyer, against whom charges are expected at any time, has been named in the signed confessions of two other colored men held since last week, as the master-mind of their riminal depredations. Despite daily questioning, however, he has stoutly refused to admit any connection with the group. The Baltimore arrest followed all- night questioning of the man’s mother and brother and another colored woman concerning his whereabouts. These three were picked up late yes- terday in Alexandria. Chief of Detectives Bernard H. Thompson at once ordered Detective Sergts. Paul Ambrose, Elmer Lewis and Jack Baker to proceed to Balti- more to return with the man, who is expected to face the lawyer some- time during the day. This latest arrest brings to eight the number of persons taken into custody by police in their wide drive The only evening paper in Washington with the Associated Press News and Wirephoto Services. against hold-up men, who, in recent months, have been terrorizing shop- keepers and pay roll handlers. By tpe Associated Press. PUTNAM, Conn, August 26— Pooka, the pet alley cat of Mr. and Mrs. Armand Denis, explorers, was back home today after doing & bit of exploring on its own. ‘Twice lost in Africa while serving spread hunt was started, but appar- ently it was home all the time. Denis found it last night between the first-floor ceiling and the second- story fioor of his home. He cut away s portion of the floor after hearing Pocka's plaintive rm. Cat Explorer Ap parently Walks Through Ceiling in Latest Trip WALLACE AGREES TOMILK CONTROL Tentative Acceptance Op- poses D. C. Price Ad- vance, However. BACKGROUND— | To stabilize the Washington milk | market, which means establish- | ment of one price, co-operative producers two months ago asked Secretary Wallace for a marketing agreement. It was protested by independent producers on the | ground the agreement would curb | their highest price output, for the agreement strictly limits the amount of milk each producer can sell at the marimum price. The milk agreement is ilegal un- der portions of the agricultural adjustment act, which were not touched on by the Supreme Court. It is control of supply and not of production. BY BLAIR BOLLES. | With the declaration “there is no justification for any increase in prices | charged to Washington consumers for milk or cream,” Secretary Wallace | tentatively agreed today to Federal supervision of the Washington milk market. The agreement making this super- | () Means Associated Press. vision effective will now be submitted to handlers for their signatures, | and producers will be requested to indicate whether they favor issuance of an order embodying the provisions | of the agreement. The agreement, written after 10| days of heated hearings at the Agri- | culture Department and a month's | study by dairy experts of the Agri- cultural Adjustment Administration, is designed to stabilize the District milk market. ‘The market is supplied now by 1,400 | producers in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, 1,100 of whom belong | to the Maryland and Virginia Milk | Producers’ Association and the other 300 are independent. Two-Thirds Agreement Needed. Two-thirds of this total number, or the producers of two-thirds of the milk entering Washington, must ap- prove the agreement before it is ef- fective. The agreement was sought by the association, and since this body can| vote for all its members, it is almost a foregone conclusion that the agree- ment will become operative, observers | say. The first step toward governmental cantrol after final approval by the Secretary of Agriculture is the ap- pointment of a Federal marketing ad- | ministrator to see that the agree- ment's provisions are upheld. The issuance of the agreement has | been bitterly fought by the Washing- (See MILK, Page A-2) — HITLER AND AUSTRIAN MAY CONFER IN FALL Fuehrer Schuschnigg and Regent of Hungary in Talk on Reds. by the Assoctated Press. INNSBRUCK, Austria, August 26.— An officer of the hunting party of Ad- miral Nicholas Horthy, regent of Hun- gary, said today a meeting of Horthy, Reichsfuehrer Adolf Hitler of Germany and Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg of Austria was contemplated in the Au- tumn to organize “resistance to com- munism.” Hitler, the officer said, probably would meet with Premier Mussolini of Italy following the three-power cen- ference. Contemplates Joining How the cat happened to be there was a mystery. But the Denises have grown accustomed to such mysteries. Once before Pooka was lost in Fez, Morocco, and was restored to its own- ers in the desert by the pilot of a disap] Africa, and mysteriously reappeared in Marseille. Mrs, Denis, the former Leila Roose- velt, i a distant relative of President Roosevelt. She and her husband re- turned recently from an expedition Anmmsemmguum Yesterday’s Circulation, 129,419 (Some returns not yet received.) TWO CENTS. REBELS MOVE UP IN FURIOUS DRIVE ON KEY POSITIONS OF LOYAL FORGES Desperate Battle Is Waged in North as Government Troops Resist Offensive Aimed at Irun. LETTER LINKS ALFONSO ' WITH FASCIST REVOLT, “Victory Is Ours!” Former King Is Quoted as Saying in Message Confiscated by Officials in Ma- drid—France Urges Committee to Push Embargoes. BACKGROUND— Since revole flared in Spanish Morocco, July 18, Fascist rebels have been making slow but steady progress in their drive on key po- sitions of Spain's loyalist forces. Insurgents have pushed forward until they dominate Western Spain from Gibraltar virtually to French border. This week they claim new victories which place them in po- sition to dominate roads to Madrid and indicate approaching downfall of Irun in north. Socialist govern- ment, meanwhile, voices confidences in its troops and insists its position is gaining strength. By the Assoclated Press. . Rebel Spaniards smashed a power- ful offensive at the Government's key positions on the Bay of Biscay today, while Socialist Madrid, through a con- fiscated letter, linked former King Alfonso with the Fascist revolt. A rebel army of 2,000, with a tank, armored cars and big guns, struggled a mile closer to Irun in desperate fighting, with three miles to go. Re- treating government militiamen, blow- ing up roads, sent their wounded back to Irun. Government planes impeded | the onslaught. The “Alfonso letter,” seized in a | Madrid house, was quoted as inform- ing the rebels: “Victory is ours!” and | “You can count on me for any assist- ance you may need.” 1t is no secret Alfonso favors the in- surgents and despises the Socialist- Communist - Anarchist bloc which seized power in Spain last February, He has, however, disavowed sugges= tions the rebellion was a monarchial movement. Alfonso quit Spain, on request, five years ago. Alcazar Shows White Flag. A white flag, fluttering 1rom the long-beseiged rebel garrison in Toledo's famed Alcazar, caused the wildest of excitement among loyalists. However, after Loyalist trucemakers had been greeted by shots, the govern= ment concluded the 1,700 rebels were fighting among themselves within the Alcazar and that only one faction, weary of the long siege, had hoisted the flag. Fighting also was reported west of Toledo and government war planes moved again on the rebel cities of Oviedo, Zaragoza and Teruel. Jose Giral Pereira, Spain's premier, exuded new confidence. He said “the military situation gets better for us every day,” and declared only the rebels would cause international com- plications. Grim products of the bloody war, executions went on. Four rebel officers died before a firing squad at Loyal, au- tonomous Barcelona. Already France and Great Britain have conferred on diplomaic proposals to stop the shoot- ing of prisoners and other incidents of ferocity. Minister Sides With Rebels. Madrid's Minister to Tokio—not the first to take such action—announced he had sided with the rebels. There was no official Japanese comment, In the last analysis, Japan likely would be lined up in sympathy with the rebels, along with Germany, Italy and Portugal. The French and Russian tendency is to take the side of Madrid in any Rightist-Leftist showdown. With Great Britain, however, France, Russia, Italy and Germany have agreed to a “hands off Spain” accord. To make this agreement and its pro- posed arms embargoes effective, France (See SPAIN, Page A-4) I1 Duce Holds Parley. AVELLINO, Italy, August 26 (P).— Premier Benito Mussolini turned from Italy’s military maneuvers today to discuss the international situation with his son-in-law and foreign min- ister, Count Galeazzo Ciano. Better Buying Merchants advertise what the people want to buy—Today's Store News as found in The Star is of Fur Coats, Fall Frocks, Women'’s Shoes Gloves and Hats, Sport Coats, Clothes for College and School, and many articles of Special Merchandise for ‘Thursday only. Yesterday’s Advertising: Local Display. The Evening Star_ Lines. 27,639 19,959 12,634 2d Newspaper___ 3d Newspaper 4th Newspaper_._ 12,233 5th Newspaper___ 5,942 The Midsummer circulation of The Star is now about 8,000 ahead of last year and 15,000 more than two years ago. ‘