Evening Star Newspaper, January 26, 1937, Page 1

(U. 8. Weather Bureau Forecast.) Cloudy and colder, probably rain or snow tonight and tomorrow; lowest tem- perature tonight about 32 degrees. Tem- peratures—Highest, 60, at 3 p.m. yester- day; lowest, 42, at 10:30 a.m. today. Full report on Page A-2. Closing New York Markets, Page 12 85th YEAR. No. 33,873. Entered as second class matter post office, Washington, D. O. WASHINGTON, D. C, @he Foen L 4 ‘WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION ny Stae TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1937—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. #*#%* The only evening paper in Washington with the Associated Press News - and Wirephoto Services. Yesterday’s Circulation, 146,898 (Some returns not yet received.) TWO CENTS. (#) Means Associated Press. “SUPER-FLOOD” THREATENS IN VALLEY AS RAGING OHIO SWELLS MISSISSIPPI @ < PRESIDENT CALLS PARLEYS 10 AP LABOR PROGRAM Three Conferences of Work- ers and Business Lead- ers Are on Today. SETTLEMENT OF STRIKE NOT TO BE ATTEMPTED Police and Pickets Clash in Dis- orders at Cadillac Plant in Detroit. BULLETIN. Secretary Perkins sald today the General Motors Corp. had “failed in its public duty” in refusing to accept her invitation to attend a strike peace conference. Army Unit Sent From Ft. Belvoir To Flood Area { 4 Officers and 106 | | Enlisted Men to Entrain. Company B, 5th Engineers, composed of four officers and 106 enlisted men, today was ordered from its post at Fort Belvoir, Va,, info the flooded Ohio River valley for emergency duty. ‘The company probably will be sent to the vicinity of Louisville, Ky., to handle the operation of boats and sup- plies, the War Department announced. Commanded by Capt. Robert K. McDonough, Corps of Engineers, the company was to make the trip by spe- cial train directly from the Virginia post. The men will not be armed, but will be equipped for field service. ‘The special train is expected to go to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind., and from there the company will be sent to its flood duty post under orders of the commanding general, 5th Comps Area. | Other officers of the company are | First Lieuts. Kenneth D. Nichols and John J. Davis and Second Lieut. Ralph | E the Associated Press. | President Roosevelt has called three | conferences of labor and business Jeaders for late today to discuss labor | legislation. | ‘White House officials in announcing the meetings said they were not fori the purpose of trying to settle the automobile strike. | Asked if the President had formu- | lated a program to place before the conferees, the President’s aides said the discussions would be preliminary to preparation of legislation. To the first conference at 2 pm. the President invited Secretary Per- kins, John L. Lewis, chairman of the | Committee on Industrial Organiza- tion; Sidney Hillman, president of the | Amalgamated Clothing Workers, and | Charles P. Howard, president of the International Typographical Union and C. I O. secretary. This conference was scheduled to last 20 minutes. Next to meet with the President | were Miss Perkins, Harper Sibley, | president of the Chamber of Com- merce of the United States; George Meade, chairman of Secretary Roper's Business Advisory Council, and Rob- ert Fleming, president of Riggs Na- | tional Bank and treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce. | This meeting was scheduled to last | only 10 minutes. The last conference of the day was to include Secretary Perkins, William Green, president of the American | Federation of Labor, and Charlton Ogburn, A. F. L. counsel. FIVE INJURED IN CLASH. Police and Pickets in Fight at G. M. C. | Plant. $) the Associated Press. DETROIT, January 26.—A woman and four men were injured today | when police and pickets clashed at one entrance to the Cadillac Motor Car Co. plant here. Union leaders said police swung their clubs on the pickets surrounding the plant. Six automobiles got through the picket lines into the plant. Police sald they carried executives of the! company. l The five persons, suffering head injuries, were taken by union workers in private cars to receive medical at- tention. Attempt to Rush Line. Fighting broke out between police and pickets about 8 am. when an automobile containing two men at- tempted to pass through a line of pickets at a gate leading to the executives’ garage. A group of men, aided by a few women attempted to overturn the car, but police charged the group with clubs. While the picket line was in dis- order three more automobiles went through the gate. Two had gone in before the violence started. Each car ‘was occupied by several men, appar- ently foremen and officials, More than 100 patrolmen were held in readiness nearby, and two truck loads of horses from the police mount- ed division were parked at the admin- istration building’s entrance. A strike has been in progress at the plant, a General Motors unit. Picket lines, assembling about 7 a.m., marched for a time in a closed circle as a loud speaker on a motor truck nearby urged them to “Let nobody in.” (See STRIKE, Page A-6.) TWO SONS RESCUE MOTHER IN FLAMES Rescued by her two sons after her clothing became ignited by a fire be- lieved to have started from a cigarette, Mrs. Hannah Warren, 65, of 1307 ‘Twelfth street, was in & serious con- dition’ in Emergency Hospital today ‘with body burns. Kermit Warren, 27, found his mother “too frightened to scream” | March, 1934, but Controller General | D. King, all of the Corps of Engineers. The enlisted men were specially se- lected from the various companies of | the regiment and most of them are | skilled craftsmen, such as boatmen, mechanics and carpenters. 0., WORK GROLP T0 GET HOURS CUT Elliott Rules 40-Hour Week for Certain Classes of Per Diem Workers. A new financial and administrative | problem was dropped into the laps of the District Commissioners today when Acting Controller General R. N. Elliott ruled the 40-hour-week law should be applied to certain classes of | District per diem workers. | District officials could not calculate at once exactly how many of the per diem employes would be affected by the ruling, but District Auditor Daniel J. Donovan said he believed it would have to be applied to all 2,800. It appeared that services would have to be cur- tailed, or additional funds must be | provided by Congress for salary pay- | ments. The ruling applies particularly to | per diem men employed in the sewer, refuse, water and highway divisions, where men now are employed on 8 | 44-hour week. The 44-hour act became law in Elliott decided the statutory provi- sions were not “self-executing” and decided mechanics were not entitled to their claim to time and a half for overtime in the past. But he concluded the wages of em- ployes in question who are found prop- erly to be within the terms of the act “should be adjusted” in accordance with the act “prospectively effective.” Permanent Per Diem Group. Maj. Donovan had told the control- Ier general the District had some 2,000 permanent per diem men and about 800 on a temporary employment basis. Elliott said the provisions of the Dis- trict appropriation act for employment of services on a temporary basis and limiting employment to nine months during the fiscal year for certain classes of work “do not exclude em- ployes whose wages are paid under said appropriation from the provisions of the 40-hour-week statute. "Neither does the fact that the rates of wages are fixed on a per or piecework basis exclude them from the 40-hour-week provision. “The Saturday half-holiday law has (no application to employes paid on a 40-hour-week basis.” ‘The District Wage Board, it ap- peared from the Elliott ruling, had divided per diem workers into four major groups. Under the mechanics’ group are listed trade foremen, senior mechanics, mechanics, junior me- chanics, minor mechanics and sub- mechanics. Under a labor group were listed labor foremen, labor subfore- men, skilled laborers, laborers, drivers, watchmen and junior laborers. Under an auto driver group were heavy truck drivers, light truck drivers and pas- senger car drivers. The fourth classi- fication was a checker group consist- ing of material checkers. Terms of Statute. Discussing which of these groups should be included the controller gen- eral said “some of these classes of positions would appear to be within the terms of the act—particularly those under the mechanical group and perhaps some classes under the labor “But it is doubtful whether the last three classes under the labor group or any of the classes under the auto driver group or the checker group come within the term ‘several trades and occupations,’ as referred to in the statute. “For instance, the classification act, .| as amended by the Welch act of May 28, 1928, seems to include in grade 3 of the custodial service positions re- quiring the ‘guarding of offices and storage buildings’ and those ‘operating passenger and freight automobiles.” “The proper classification of these positions is & question for administra- 2 'y tive consideration.’ | street from the varnish plant and the | fire that followed a dozen explosions. JOINS LOUISYLLE PESTLENCETHREAT Flood-Stricken City Awaits' Arrival of Army Regulars to Speed Relief. FLAMES DESTROY PLANT OF VARNISH COMPANY Known Death Toll Set at Five, With Property Damage Reach- ing “Millions.” By the Assoctated Press. LOUISVILLE, Ky. January 26.— The danger of fire joined the threat of pestilence and shortage of water v;) plague flood-stricken Louisville to- ay. While the city waited for United States Regulars to arrive and assume the task of bringing order out of disaster chaos, a blaze this morning burned the big plant of the Louisville Varnish Co. Two colored men, badly burned, were brought by rescue boats to a relief station at Broadway and Eighteenth boatmen reported two colored men had drowned in trying to escape the It was feared for a time that flaming oil would spread the fire through the | flooded district. But after blazing | spectacularly, the fire died down. The amount of damage could not be os- timated at once. Volunteer relief workers and Tep- | resentatives of all other agencies en- | in rescue work welcome coming | of the Federal troops to enforce mili- | tary rule at the request of State and civil authorities. Police, firemen, National Guardsmen | and special police were practically | worn out by long hours and hard work. Relief stations were operating, however, to do what they could for | the town's approximately 230,000 | homeless. | Scattered Cases of Disease. There already were scattered cases | of typhoid, scarlet fever and meules.} Relief agencies said the number of sick | was undoubtedly much greater than | officially reported. As to the property loss, it was sim- | | ply referred to as “millions” by Mayor | Neville Miller and members of his Emergency Committee. The total known deaths in Louis- ville were five, and the State's total | was 42, including an estimated 12 con- victs shot or drowned in rioting at | the State Reformatory at Frankfort. All during the night there were frantic reports to police stations of looting in flooded residential sections. A typical one would be, “Men seen looting at Blank street near Blank.” But police headquarters and City Hall had no record of any application of Mayor Miller’s orders to “shoot to kill all looters.” 57.5 Crest Expected. The flood stage, normally 28 feet, stood at 56.9 feet at 10 a.m. (Central standard time). The rise was slow, with a crest of 57.5 expected by to- night or Wednesday. The previous all-time high was 46.7 in 1884. Civil authorities tightened regula- tions today under the martial law proclaimed yesterday by Gov. A. B. Chandler. Persons on the streets had to have passes. ‘ Refugees were still being sent out of town by the hundreds and many other hundreds were getting away as best they could. The highway south- east to Danville and on to Nashville was open. The Mayor began Sunday urging every one who could to leave the town and even then described conditions as “horrible.” Bodies of animals floated about, or " (See LOUISVILLE, Page A-4.) Summary of Page. Amusements B-16 Comics 1! Lost & Found A-3 Obituary -.--A-10 NATIONAL. Danger of fire joins pestilence threat Page A-1 Valley. Flood spurs Congress action on $790,- 000,000 relief bill Page A-1 Fourteen refugees die as boat cap- sizes in Paducah. Page A-1 WASHINGTON AND VICITY. Forty-hour ruling made for D. C. em- ployes. Page A-1 Red Cross fund nears $500,000 mark today. Page A-1 Tear gas used to capture man after shooting. Page A-1 Red Cross collects over, $55,000 for flood relief. Page A-1 Chrysler executive quizzed by La Fol- lette Committee. Page A-5 House hearings on farm tenancy elim- ination open. Page A-16 Acton, sobbing, tells jury how he shot Mursch. Page B-1 Archbishop Curley opens war an com- munism at dinner here. %fl B-1 DANGER OF FIRE [41N BOAT DROWN INPADUGAH STREET Rescue Barge Loaded Withi Refugees Capsizes—City’s Death Toll 20. BY the Associated Press. PADUCAH, Ky, January 26— Refugees poured out of this flood- stricken city of 38,000 on the Ohio River today, leaving behind at least 20 dead and a threat of fire from gasoline-filmed waters. Red Cross officials announced 14 persons drowned with the capsizing of a rescue barge coursing the city’s streets. Names of the victims were not available. Survivors swam to nearby buildings. Previously six lives were lost. Fred Duncan, a T. V. A. lineman, was elec- trocuted. George Pace, an aged man, died of pneumonia. Four unidentified Negroes drowned in the surging waters. A 20,000-gallon tank of gasoline toppled from its mooring in the city's southern supply district last night and spread a coating of the fluid over the waters. Hospitals were crowded to capacity. “We have ample food and clothing,” said Charles Waggener, chairman of the Mayfield Red Cross unit, “but are desperately in need of coal to heat the school houses and churches filled with refugees. “We have barely one more day’s sup- ply.” ——— FOREIGNERS OUSTED Portugal Clamps Ban After Lisbon Bombings. LISBON, January 26 (#).—Portugal began today to expel numerous foreigners as the aftermath of last week's series of Lisbon bombings. Officials blamed the bombings on inter- national reverberations of the war in adjacent Spain. Kentucky Judge Dies. GLASGOW, Ky., January 26 /P)— | Kentucky mourned today the death of Chief Justice Basil Richardson of the State Court of Appeals. He died here yesterday at 71, Today’s Star . | EDITORIAL AND COMMENT. This and That. Answers to Questions. Stars, Men and Atoms. David Lawrence. Paul Mallon. Headline Folk. Jay Franklin. Mark Sullivan. Page A-9 | SPORTS. Di Maggio of Yankees anxious for base ball action to start. Page A-14 Two big coaches would have foot ball line unchangeable. Page A-14 Coach Robertson thinks Woodruff could beat 4-minute mile. Page A-15 Ouimet sees short round as big fault in U..S. amateur. Page A-15 FINANCIAL. | Bonds decline (table). Page A-11 Floods curtail steel activity. Page A-11 Stocks irregular (table). Page A-12 Curb list eases (table). Page A-13 Oil output at new peak. Page A-13 N. & W. earnings climb. Page A-13 MISCELLANY. ‘Washington Wayside. ‘Young Washingtan. City News in Brief. Page A-2 — Li:i 'S TELL JIM FARLEY THAT WONT BE ENOUGH! DEATH TOLL 111; WATERS COVER MILLION ACRES “Worst Is Yet to Come,” Say Officials in Stricken Zones. House Held in Session to Speed $790,000,000 Deficiency Bill Party Lines Disregarded as Bloc Maps Move to Boost Appropriation to $1,499,000,000. E7 (ke Associated Press. Speaker Bankhead told reporters he would hold the House in session to- day until it had passed a $790,000,000 relief-deficiency appropriation bill on | which the administration is counting | for flood relief funds. He said an agreement to limit de- bate would be sought and that “every | effort” would be made to obtain pa.s-' sage before nightfall. “The administration is anxious to | get the bill through,” he said. Party lines were disregarded by a ! group of Representatives in mapping | a campaign designed to increase President Roosevelt’s deficiency re- lief-deficiency appropriation to $1,- 499,000,000. Farmer-Laborites, Progressives, a few Democrats and some Republicans, including Representative William Lemke, Fargo N. Dak., Union party presidential candidate in the last campaign, attended a meeting with that end in view. The proposed $7,900,000 relief fund was intended originally to care for work relief until July 1, but Presi- dent Roosevelt gave out word it should be used for flood sufferers un- (See CONGRESS, Page A-5.) TEAR A SUBDUES SHOOTINGSUSPECT Man Driven From Home by Fumes After Motorist Reports Shots at Car. Tear gas was used by police to cap- ture a 64-year-old retired Navy yard machinist early today after he alarmed residents of the Southeast section, officers reported, by firing a shotgun at a parked motorist and then locked himself in his home. The prisoner—Paul 8. Colin, 1118 K street southeast—was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and committed to Gallinger Hospital for mental observation. ‘The shooting was reported to police by Edward O'Connor, 40, of 713 Princeton place, a street car motor- man, who said Colin fired at his au- tomobile a'few minutes after he had let Mrs. Clara Simonds, 35, of 1116 K street out of the car. O'Connor said he had called for Mrs. Simonds at a party after he fin- ished work and had driven her home. As she was about to enter her house and O'Connor was preparing to pull away, Colin, police were told, ap- peared in the doorway of his home with the shotgun. Fires Twice at Car. Without warning, Colin, according to the report made to police, fired twice at O'Connor’s machine. The mchngumuckmlnthermotme Prightened, Mrs. 8imonds ran down the street, and O’Connor stepped on the accelerator. At the corner, he picked the woman up and, together, they went to the fifth precinct. When arrived at Colin's home, they said, they could see him standing in the front room with the RED CRISS FUND NEARING S50 Appeal for Flood Relief Is Meeting With Quick Na- tional Response. List of contributors on Page A-3. Contributions to the Red Cross flood-relief fund neared the $500,000 mark today, as each hour brought new reports of growing disaster in the devastated Ohio and Mississippl basins. At 10 a.m. national headquarters reported & check-up showed $375,- 000 in contributions already tabu- lated. This did not take into account the untabulated checks and those pouring in with every mail. Red Cross officials said they were highly pleased with the res, to their appeal for $5,000,000 to aid the flood victims, and had high hopes the money would be received in time to enable them to render every as- sistance to the flood sufferers. Quick Response Here. The District Red Cross reported more than $12,000 received yesterday. The stacks of checks on hand this morning had not yet been tabulated. Contributions through The Star also were piling up rapidly. At 11 am. a total of $4,388.10 had been tabulated and was ready for transfer to Red Cross officials. This figure included $801.75 received yesterday morning. More cash and checks were coming in rapidly, indicating the District’s quota of $48,000 will be promptly subscribed. Mrs. Raoger J. Whiteford, chairman of the Chevy Chase, Md., division of the Red Cross, announced flood relief contributions from residents of that area will be accepted by her. Mrs. (See SHOOTING, Page A-5.) (See FUND, Page A-4.) Star Will Receive Funds for Red Cross Flood Relief The District of Columbia has been assigned a quota of $48,000 (originally $24,000) for flood relief by the Amercan Red Cross. The Evening Star will assist in raising the required amount by receiving and acknowledging in its columns the contributions of Washingtonians. Red Cross, for flood relief. Evening Star. Make checks payable to District Chapter, American Bring or mail them to the cashier, The The Star has made a contribution of $250 to this fund to start the ball rolling. Those who desire to submit their contributions directly to the American Red Cross may send District Chapter, American Red or deliver cash or checks Cross, 1730 E street. to the Cities Evacuated. MANY THOUSANDS MAROONED; WIDE WAR WAGED ON DISEASE “People Dying Like Flies in Indiana ” Legislator Tells Governor. Homeless Total Hits 550,000. (Full Page of Flood Pictures, A-7.) By the Assoctated Press. o Fear-stricken tens of thousands cowered behind weak- ening levees or fled to higher levels today as the monstrous yellow tide of the Ohio River sweiled to record-breaking flood heights on its sweep to the Mississippi. Eddying in muddy, slow-rising torrents, the waters spread over an area of more than a million acres, taking a toll of at least 111 known dead, driving 550,000 from their homes and leaving many thousands more marooned. Whole towns and villages showed only rooftops. “Worst Is Yet to Come,” Officials Warn. Property damage was estimated at more than $300,000,- 000 in the entire area and at more than $10,000,000 in Cin- cinnati alone. On every side, from city officials and Army | Engineers, came the warning: “The worst is yet to come.” Wholesale evacuations of flood-sieged towns in Ten- nessee, Western Kentucky, Southeastern Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi signaled the greatest mass flood exodus in history. From Pittsburgh in the North, where anxious crowds watched the flood relentlessly spread over the edge of the billion-dollar business district, to the crest of the deluge sweeping into the Mississippi River beyond Cairo, I, a panorama of watery desolation extended mile on mile. In the lower Mgsissippl Va&gg.mwhhelret wt,oé)fih:]egl;% a{nsaycie homeless in 1927, authorities awai e big tes - tem of dikes and levees, built along a 300-mile stretch of the Mis- sissippi after the 1927 disaster. “A super flood is on its way,” came the grim warning from Lieut. Col. Eugene Reybold, district chief of United States Army Engineers, at Memphis, Tenn. giReybold redicged flood stages along the Mississippi at least 10 feet higher than records set in the tragedies of 1913 and 1927. State Representative Claude L. Baylor of Speed, just back from flood-ravaged Jeffersonville, regurted to Gov. Townsend of Indiana today that “people are dying like flies” there. The National Guard's scant communications from the Ohio River town, in Southeastern Indiana, brought no reports of death. ‘Appealing for doctors, nurses and medicines, Baylor said: “The people of Indiana do not realize what is going on in the Jeffersenville area. “People are dying like flies.” «“Jeffersonville is gone.” The deaths, he said, were from exposure and pneumonia. President Roosevelt, anxiously watching the progress of the tidal sweep through eleven States, sent out the crisp command to legislators debating a $790,000,000 relief request: “Step on it!” President Appeals for Fund for Sufferers. The President sent out word that the fund, originally intended to care for work relief, should be appropriated for flood sufferers in the emergency. Harry L. Hopkins, W. P. A. administrator, estimated 650,000 to 700,000 would be homeless by Wednesday or Thursday. Red Cross officials renewed their urgent appeal for contribu- tions to a $4,000,000 relief fund. The first day’s receipts at national headquarters reached $375,078. At midday Hopkins reported to the 1l;;;esldendt that conditions at Louisville and Cincinnati were slightly proved. In Louisville, Ky., United States Army troops moved into the virtually isolated city of 330,000 citizens to clamp down the military Dead in Flood 111 Known Casualties as Waters Engulf Communities. B the Associated Press. The Nation counted 111 known dead today as the worst general flood in its history spread tentacles into 11 States. Ohio. dead include: East Liverpool—Harry Burgess, 64. Cincinnati—Harry Vaske, 47. Ravenna—Robert Chatman, 11. Columbus — Jennie Tomlin, Daniel Bush, 11. Kentucky. Known dead, 44¢. The identified dead included: Madisonville—F. M. Monroe, Carl Curry Chester Coffman, Alonzo Utley. Scott County—Leo Stevens, 36. Louisville—Henry Arnold, 74, ex- posure; John Schmidt, 55, exhaus- tion; Mrs. J. L. Reed, 79; Mrs, Eliza- beth Gathof, 74, and son Sylvester, 40. Slaughters—National Guard Sergt. ‘Tom Brown. Hendersoun County—Roland Gib- son, 65. Prankfort—Thomas Willard, 60. Indiana. 8ix known dead. Identified dead include: Hardington—Infant Cook. Lawrenceburg—George Corte, 54; Bee fi Page A-5) 22; Thirteen known dead. Identifed | rule arbitrarily declared by Gov. A. B. Chandler. Khaki-clad Engineers rushed con- % struction of pontoon bridges to speed | the evacuation of more than two-thirds of the city's population. | Gov. Chandler warned the Federal | Government that State and local au- | thorities could not combat pestilence, | panic and hunger in the wake of the | city’s worst flood. | Two thousand Kentucky National | Guardsmen were on emergency duty throughout the stricken area. Lieut. A. Burton of the United States Air Corps, after a boat inspection of Louisville's West End, reported 2,000 (See MISSISSIPPI, Page A-5.) RAIN OR SNOW DUE WITHIN 24 HOURS Falling Gauges in Potomae Dis- sipate Any Fears of Flood Here. More rain or possibly snow will move in on the Capital during the next 24 hours, according to the Weather Bu< reau. ‘The official forecast called for “cloudy and colder” this afternoon, probably “rain or snow tonight or . ‘Wednesday.” ‘The minimum temperature overnight is expected to be about 32 degrees. Despite the prediction of more pre= cipitation, falling gauges in the Po- tomac River Basin today dissipated any fears of & fiood here,