Evening Star Newspaper, January 26, 1937, Page 2

A—2 %% FIRST REFUGEES - REACH COLUMBUS Portsmouth Group Takes Special Trains Con- tacted by Busses. B the Associated Press. COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 26.— More than 500 twentieth century Acadians—residents of flood-tormented Portsmouth on the Ohio River—com- pleted today an excursion of misery from the squalor of their temporary shelter in the flood zone to the safety of this State capital. Carrying pitifully small bundles of belongings, mothers hugging tiny chil- dren to their breasts, the first of the flood refugees to be moved inland from the swollen Ohio boarded one of the two special Red Cross trains at a tiny crossing near Portsmouth last night. Early today, after more than six hours in the railroad cars, the ex- hausted survivors of the Ohio Valley's worst flood reached Columbus. They found a ready welcome, skilled handling by Red Cross workers, and finally prayed for rest and peace in quickly assigned quarters. Exhausted in Mind, Body. ‘The fugitives climbed from special busses 5 miles from Portsmouth as a special approached as close as possible to the flood. They submitted as stoically to the removal as they did when rising water drove them first into second stories, then away from their homes and into temporary shelters. There was no resistance as the refugees trudged onto the waiting train, and sank into their seats, most of them totally exhausted in mind and body. A strangely assorted group, all were alike in an almost complete loss of belongings as the flood waters swept over the Portsmouth wall, which for 24 years had resisted every attack of Old Man River. Nearly half the group, 248, were children, many of them pitifully tiny children, their grimy hands and sweaty bodies unwashed for many days because of the acute shortage of water in Portsmouth. In one of the 12 cars of the train I found Mrs. Frank Reed, a pallid, worn woman, nursing an infant daughter who became two weeks old as the train of humanity roared to- ward Columbus. In the seat beside her were three other small children and the remainder of the family, four other sons, a daughter and her 68-year-old husband. “We were rescued just in time” she said. “I didn't want to leave because of the baby. But they final- ly had to pack us out by boat.” ‘Woman Puffs at Pipe. In the next car was the resident aboard, 80-year-old Marm Brown, who puffed stoically on a long, curved pipe as her son, Isaac, and her daughter, Susie, told of their escape from the flood. Every car of the long train con- tained its quota of injured, children nursing bruises and lacerations re- cejved in their escape from the floods. Several women were ill or exhausted and others, unused to train riding, became sick as the train started its Journey out of the high-water area. Dr. Albert L. Berndt, a knight of medicine in muddied rubber boots, torn brown trousers and a rumpled, grimy shirt, rallied his nursing staff, including two volunteers, and turned a luxurious club car on the rear of the train into a temporary hospital. Mrs, William Hanshaw of Ports- mouth aided him in caring for the sick and injured, while in a car ahead her husband, Raymond, described their flight from the flood with little more than the clothes on their backs. “Everything is gone,” he said. “We had good furniture, clothing and other things. I wonder how it will be to start all over again.” DANCE CLASSES BEGUN, SPONSORED BY CENTER Tap and Rhythm Being Taught in Boutheast and Southwest Wash- ington Groups. ‘Tap and rhythm dance classes have been inaugurated in Southeast and Southwest Washington, with Rena Cournyn and a corps of assistants in charge, according to announcement by the Community Center Depart- ment. Weekly lessons are being held on the following schedule: Buchanan School, Thirteenth and D streets southeast, 9:30 a.m. Saturday; Hine Junior High School, Seventh and C streets southeast, 10:30 a.m. Satur- day; Orr Elementary School, Twenty- second and Prout streets southeast, 3:15 p.m. Monday; Anacostia Junior High School, Anacostia, 3:15 p.m. ‘Wednesday; Jefferson Junior High School, Sixth and D streets southwest, 3:15 p.m. Thursday. Classes for instructors who are as- sisting Miss Cournyn are held three nights a week at Buchanan Center or Hine Center. oldest Today. Benate: Meets for routine business. Wheeler committee resumes rail- road financing inquiry. La Follette committee continues labor espionage study. House: Begins consideration of deficiency- Felief appropriation bill. Military Committee opens hearings on proposal to take profits out of war. Banking Committee opens hearings on extending housing modernization act. . ‘Ways and Means Committee con- tinues hearings on reciprocal trade agreement extension. . TOMORROW: Senate: May not meet. Judiciary Subcommittee will meet on O'Mahoney bill to license corpora- tions. Foreign Relations Committee, exec- utive, at 10:30 am. Interstate Commerce Committee vontinues railroad investigation. Civil Liberties Committee continues labor hearings. House: Considers miscellaneous bills on union calendar. Agriculture Committee considers farm tenant bill, 10:30 am. Rivers and Harbors Committee con- siders 17 miscellaneous bills at 10:30 am. District Committee meets, 10:30 am. ; Washington Wayside Random Observations of Interesting Events and Things. PUBLIC SERVANT. HERE is at least one employe of the District tax assessor's of- fice whose letters are most gratefully received by Wash- ington taxpayers. She is Mrs. Anna E. Thompson, chief refund clerk. Now that you know her you will understand. It is Mrs. Thompson who has the job— and the pleasure—of notifying tax- payers that for one or more of many possible reasons the District owes the taxpayer money—not vice versa, as is more to be expected. This comes to light because Fred Allen—the tax assessor, not the comedian—reports that Mrs. Thomp- son has just sent out tax refund notice No. 10,000. Since 1929, when the District began voluntarily sending out notices that it owed refunds to tax- payers, Mrs. Thompson has dispatched glad tidings of refunds amounting to $450,000. Why the refunds? There are many reasons. Sometimes it is for over- payment of due taxes, sometimes for payment of taxes on the wrong prop- erty, sometimes for duplicate pay- ments, sometimes for mistakes in calculations, sometimes for change n area of a taxable property or reduc- tion in the amount of improvements on developed properties. Time was when the taxpayer had to discover such mishaps and demand fefunds, but that was changed some eight years ago. Incidentally, Mrs. Thompson had something to do with correction of this system by calling the attention of former Tax Assessor William P. Richards to the justice of the District voluntarily sending out notices of due refunds, it is said. LR CUSTOMER A man with a suitcase walked into an Eleventh street lunch room the other day, took a seat at the counter and ordered a cup of coffee. Upon arrival of the or der the man stared at it @ moment. Then, without a word, he got up, took his suitcase and walked out. The counter man glanced after the customer and loosed a number of uncomplimentary phrases. A waysider, witness to the strange proceedings, questioned the waiter. “That man,” he ezplained, “comes in here every other day and orders coflee. When I give it to him, he just looks at it and walks out. He doesn’t touch it, but he doesn’t pay for it either.” * x x % CASTANETS. OU’D never think of & night club as an institution of learning, but the night club editor claims he learns all manner of things from his job. The latest thing he learned was about castanets and he’ll probably carry his new knowledge with him to the grave oa account of it is such a startling revelation. “Few people realize,” this press re- lease starts out, “that a pair of casta- nets are of different tone.” Probably mighty few people even wondered about it, but there it is. The ones on the left hand are pitched lower than the ones worn on the right. The story goes on: “Another interesting thing about these instruments, if such they may be called (just so you call a spade a spade, you can call a castanet anything you want to) is that they must be ¥arm to produce the proper sound.” So you learn something else; you probably didn't even know a cas- tanet had a proper sound. Anyhow Spanish dancers carry their casta- nets in flannel bags, close to the body, to keep them at the right tempera- ture. Spanish dances with castanets are considered exceedingly difficult to learn and execute because the casta- net beat comes between the beats of the music. Moorish dances are tough, too. Moorish dancers use bells in- stead of castanets. They ring the bells off beat, too, instead of one. * %k k ¥ PEACOCK. ONE of our operatives could-—and will—tell you a story about a cer- tain otherwise dignified lady who occasionally has been known to plunge off the water wagon. Recently she, together with a niece and nephew= in-law, went away on a trip together. The thing was not much of a success in one way for the young people spent their time keeping aunty on the non- alcohol side. ‘They were, however, completely suc- cessful in that and counted them- selves lucky, if slightly disappointed, when they arrived back in New York. Now! 2 BT Tuas THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, SPILLWAY AVERTS CAIROFLOOD PERIL Levee Cut to Save Town and Secondary Dike Is Strengthened. By the Assoclated Press. CAIRO, Ill, January 26.—Relief boats cruised about & 131,000-acre Mississippi River floodway today, speeding rescue to Missouri lowlanders trapped in the basin, which was in- undated in & desperate battle to save Cairo from the flood-swollen Ohio River. Red Cross officials and & Missouri State Highway Department engineer sald at least 500 were caught when the Mississippi tumbled through crum- bling levees to course across the $21,000,000 Birds Point-New Madrid, Mo., floodway, near the Mississippi- Ohio confluence below here. A Na- tional Guard aviator, however, re- ported none in the area. Red Cross officials, directing relief boats from New Madrid, Mo., said the refugees did not appear in immediate peril. As soon as they were taken from the flood most of them were rushed to the court house at New Madrid, then sent to Sikeston, Mo, away from the river. Seawall Strengthened. Army engineers dynamited through the levee to send the Mississippi into the spreading floodway and ease ten- sion here, where every able-bodied man in the partially evacuated city labored atop & 60-foot seawall to hold back the Ohio. Flooding of the basin apparently halted, at least temporarily, the threat of indundation to Cairo. The Ohio remained virtually unchanged at 58.67 since 6 o'clock last night. The river was expected to remain at about that level until Thursday. Then, with the Birds Point Basin full, another rise is expected Rere. Workmen rushed construction of & 3-foot bulkhead on the seawall, pre- paring for an expected 61-foot crest, 21 feet above flood stage. W. P. A. Bolsters Levee. On the Missouri side, 1,500 W. P. A. workers from Poplar Bluff and other Southeast Missouri towns worked to- day to bolster the setback levee, Charles L. Blanton, jr., W. P. A. administrator in the Missouri district, said the set- back will be raised 4 feet along 14 of its 27-mile stretch. It protects nu- merous Missouri communities. Officials said most of the residents of the Floodway Basin Wwere tenant farmers and share croppers. Many succeeded in moving their live stock and some household goods shead of the inundation, but several abandoned everything to the water as they sought safety. ‘Two colored persons drowned and at least 10 persons were missing after the Mississippi rushed from its course with & current so strong it crushed houses and farm buildings. Three observation airplanes cruised along the line of the 60-foot set-back levee at the rear of the basin, re- | porting the predicament of isolated refugees. New Madrid Evacuated. ‘Women and children hurried out of New Madrid after Army engineers and the Red Cross ordered that community and the entire southern section of New Madrid County evacuated. Merchants raised their stock on scaffolding and boarded their stores against a threat- ened invasion of the Mississippi, pre- dicted by the chief Army engineer at Memphis, Tenn., to be on its way to a record crest. Most of New Madrid's 2,309 resi- dents were gone to nearby communi- ties long before daylight. The town is at the southern extremity of the Bird Point Floodway and is protected by a 60-foot set-back levee. Within an hour after the floodway was opened six feet of water covered most of its 131,000 acres, and the river crept slowly toward the set-back levee at Charleston, haven of 2,300 refugees. Another 5500 were concentrated in nearby highland areas. Citizens Warned. The basin residents had been in the floodway since morning “at their own risk,” Army engineers declared. The engineers announced Sunday they would dynamite the levee. There were reports that farmers planned armed resistance, but en- gineers encountered no opposition. The Birds Point-New Madrid Flood- way, completed in 1931, was built to lessen flood threats at Cairo. This is the first time it has been used. Observers predict a new rise, slower than the first, probably will come down the Ohio about Thursday to bring a crest between 60 and 61 feet at Cairo by the end of the week. Shawneetown, the first Illinois com- munity affected by the flood, was vir- tually deserted today. Harrisburg, 22 miles from the river and relief head- quarters for Southern Illinois, was par- tially inundated. The waters had not yet broken over the main levee at Shawneetown at last reports, but were expected to pour over momentarily. Communi- cation with the area was difficult. At Golconda, Rosiclare and Me- tropolis, health authorities at Spring- field were advised, refugees were safe on high ground. Sandbags were placed on the lcvees at Mound City and here. anTie? ‘The first night there, however, they had a call from aunty, located in an- other room of the hotel. “There’s a peacock on my window=- sill,” aunty reported. “Go back to bed, you'll be all right in the morning,” the youngsters re- assured her. After half a dozen calls they carried the point. The next day, you might want to know, aunty’s window sill was the talk of New York. There had been a peacock at the window; a peacock which is now being credited with hav- ing set an altitude record for the species, Usually, they do not get that high. *x %% SERVICE. The electric light in the hall of Ann Purcell’'s home in Cottage City went out suddenly one night about a month ago. She tried an- other bulb, but it didn’t work, so she concluded the firture was out of order, Recently she asked Carroll Higgs, who knows about such things, to fix it, first explaining the symptoms. Carroll brought a stepladder from the cellar, a bag of tools from his home, and prepared to go to work. Before ing, however, he acrewed & st e 18,000 TICKETS OUT FOR BIRTHDAY BALLS Sale Begun Yesterday in Six D. C. Department Stores Under Miss Catherine Harrison. More than 18,000, tickets to the President’s birthday balls Saturday night have been distributed for sale, it was announced today by Chairman George E. Allen. Sale of tickets began yesterday at six department stores, Lansburgh’s, the Hecht Co., Jellefl's, Kann's, Pa- lais Royal and Garfinckel’s, under the supervision of a group of girls headed by Miss Catherine Harrison, daughter of Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippl. They have been available for sev- eral days at hotels, banks, the Ameri- can Automobile Association, the Key- stone Automobile Club, Government departments and s group represent- ing the various professions and busi- nesses. An added attraction for the seven- hotel affair is Amanda Snow, radio singer known as “Psul Bunyan's Sweetheart,” who will bear & pipe of peace from Minnesota to Chairman Allen. She is being sent here by some Minneapolis business men to represent that city. socket and threw the switch— “just to make sure,” he ezplai -:IM w; the lady’s redl LIGHT COST SLASH ISEXPECTED TODAY Utilities Commission Will Order $500,000 Cut by Power Company. A deicsion of the Public Utilities Commission, probably forthcoming to- day, will order a half-million-dollar reduction in local electric light bills this year, an amount that the Potomac Electric Power Co. will divide about equally between residential and com- mercial consumers. ‘The anticipated aggregate reduc- tion, while the largest in recent years, will mean a monthly cut, however, of only about 15 cents in the bill of the average citizen, based on an esti- mated average consumption of 75 kilo- watt hours, William McK. Clayton created a flurry at the close of the hearings late yesterday when he demanded that, in view of the “impregnable financial position of the company,” that the Utilities Commission should make an additional reduction of $350,000 which, he asserted, would give consumers a “fair break.” Clayton, representing the Public Utilities Committee of the Federation of Citizens’ Associations, contended the met return should be fixed this year at 6 per cent under the sliding-scale arrangement for the de- termination of rate adjustments. This would mean a reduction of one-half of 1 per’ cent, with an equivalent in- crease in the total available for rate reduction. Protest From Company. ‘The commission, however, was not expected to consider Clayton's plea in determining the forthcoming reduc- tion. It brought a vigorous protest from company officials. Financial statements prepared by the Pepco Co. and the commission, computing the net amount avail- able for return to consumers, were in virtual agreement. The commission fixed the sum at $512,401.63 and the Pepco estimate was $504,021.19 on the agreed valuation. Either of these fig- ures or a compromise between them will be retained by the Utilities Com- mission. ‘The new rates proposed by the com- pany, showing the distribution of the reduction between the various classes of consumers, involved few changes. Small commercial users, however, would benefit more than private con- sumers, Under the new rates for city resi- dential users, the citizen using 200 kilowatt hours would be billed for $4.90, whereas under existing rates he would be charged $5.30. The most any resident would get under this arrange- ment therefore is a 40-cent reduction per month. According to the records the average household uses only 75 kilowatt hours per month, so the bill would be reduced by about 15 cents. 141,254 Householders Affected. The total reduction of $255.702 pro- posed by the company in schedule A would affect 141,254 household cus- tomers. Residential users are now charged 3.9 cents for the first 50 kilowatt hours. This rate would continue. For the next 50 kilowatt hours the charge is 2.9 cents, which would be reduced to 2.3 cents. The next 100 kilowatt hours involves a present charge of 1.9 cents and this would be reduced to 1.8 cents. There is no change in the present rate of 1.5 cents for over 200 kilowatt hours. Under schedule D, for small com- mercial users, the most any one will receive in the way of a reduction is estimated at $3.60 per month in the bill rendered. The total of $217,791 would be spread between 23,300 cus- | tomers. A firm billed now for $118.80 for the first 3,500 kilowatt hours would be billed $115.50 for 4,300 kilowatt hours. Further reductions of $31,189, to make up the total of $504,682 proposed by the Pepco Co. would be spread chiefly among various classes of in- dustrial users. Included, however, are 1,657 rural consumers who would benefit to the extent of $4,450. Financial Condition Cited. As the one-day hearing was about to adjourn peacefully, Clayton in- jected his demand that the Utilities Commission take into consideration the “impregnable” financial condition of the Pepco Co. in determining the reduction for this year. He had earlier protested that the approximate $70,000,000 valuation base fixed in 1924 had been determined “behind closed doors.” Clayton cited that the company’s surplus in 1936 had reached $30,781,- 930 and that the rate of return under the sliding scale agreement has aver- aged 8.91 per cent on this valuation during the period from 1925 to the present year, when it was computed at 7.93 per cent by the commission yesterday. He claimed the company was pay- ing 3% per cent interest on its bond issues of $15,000,000, which had been allowed by the commission. “I am here asking for a reduction from 6!; per cent to 6 per cent in the rate return for this year,” Clayton said. He went into the financial status of the power company, claiming, how- ever, that he was not criticizing its “remarkably prosperous condition.” € Per Cent Held Ample. “Six per cent is an ample rate of return, however, for & company that has $30,000,000 in reserve,” he added. “I am merely asking that the com- mission give the consumers a fair break in this matter. A further re- duction of one-half of 1 per cent on the valuation is about $350,000.” William McClellan, president of the company, sharply protested the line of Clayton's arguments, charging the lat- ter has been “harping” on that issue for years. He claimed the company was not responsible for the surplus built up un- der regulations of the Utilities Com- mission. The company cannot use this surplus, he claimed, and it cannot issue common stock to reduce it. ‘William A. Roberts, former people’s counsel, represented some Ninth street commercial consumers at the hearing. He wanted the commission to modify its rules so that the power company cannot arbitrarily make charges in the matter of defective electric meters. He claimed it was “grossly unfair and un- Just” to make the customer responsible for keeping his meter accurate. Roberts cited the case of a colored woman who was charged $46 over a period of two years, claiming the com- pany itself had failed to detect im- proper meter wiring. He suggested that the same rules governing gas meters should be imposed py the com- mission, as they are “more equitable.” CONTRACT AWARDED ‘The Treasury awarded yesterday s $123,371 contract for construction of 8 post of at Arlington, Va., to John e Selden M. Ely, retiring head of the fifth division of the public schools, who has been in charge of the school patrol movement, photographed yesterday as he received a gift at the luncheon given by the Park View Parent-Teacher Association for the patrol boys of that school. Grace Myer, teacher in charge of the Park View patrol; Mrs. Louise Raebach, president of the P.-T. A.; Policeman Frank L. A school principal. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1937. Ely Honored by School Patrol ch, Mr. Ely, Patrol Capt. Puree Lejft to right: Fedder and Emily Scrivener, —Star Staff Photo. REBELS ATTACK | SOUTH OF MADRID Ground and Air Forces Faii to Take Railway and Highway Goals. | BY the Associated Fress. MADRID, January 26.—Massed in- surgent ground and air forces as- saulted Madrid's southern road and | rail communication lines for three | hours today. Government militiamen, the De- fense Council announced, drove the attackers back to their positions at Sesena, west of the railway station and highroads they wanted to take, Fascist infantry and cavalry, a dozen tri-motored bombers, 20 pursuit planes, ground batteries and what the newspaper El Sol called “the German infantry” participated in the attack on the railway station. ‘The insurgents sought to surround the important communications center of Aranjuez and cross over to the Valencia road, which is Madrid's main line of communication with the | coast. Militiamen, crawling flat on their stomachs, withstood the terrific air and ground bombardment until gov- | ernment planes came to their aid. | Violent fighting was reported from the Asturias front in Northern Spain. Government besiegers of Oviedo launched fresh attacks. Reports from | Gijon sald thick black smoke shot sky- | ward from several buildings in Oviedo | as government guns blasted the ca- | thedral, the La Vega Arms Factory and the North Station, RED RIDER REPEAL ACTION PROMISED Chairman Norton Forecasts Call! for Consideration on February 8. From a sick bed Chairman Norton of the House District Committee gave assurance today that the Kennedy bill for repeal of the “red rider” to the 1936 District appropriation act would be called up for consideration February 8, the next “District day” in the House. Suffering a mild attack of flu, Mrs. Norton was unable to appear in the House yesterday—the first “District day” of the current session—and con- sideration of the “red rider” repealer was automatically postponed for two weeks. “I am very sorry my illness was Lo responsible for a delay in House con- Ia' sideration of the Kennedy bill,” said Mrs. Norton. “There will be no fur- ther delay if I can prevent it, and I am confident it will be called up on th~ next District day.” Kennedy's bill, the first District measure to be reported to the House at the current session of Congress, occupies a preferred status on the calendar. The only other District bill on the calendar is one authorizing the Commissioners to create two classes of detectives in the Police De- partment. By the next District day, however, & number of other additional bills are expected to be added to the list. The District Committee is scheduled to hold two meetings in the meantime, and some of the members hope to have reported out favorably the non- controversial bills that died on the calendar in the last Congress, FUNERAL RITES HELD FOR MRS. MARY COYLE & Mrs. Mary Hart Coyle, 85, widow |Df of Thomas J. Coyle, died of & heart attack Sunday at her residence, 138 E street southeast. Born in Westernport W. Va., she was the daughter of Mrs. Mary Don- nolly Hart and Patrick Hart. She came here at an early age and until | M recently was employed in the Post Of- fice Department. She is survived by & daughter, Mrs. Margaret Newham; & son, Bernard J. | R Miss | Porti Cole, and two grandchildren, Loraine Coyle and Bernard J.. Coyle, . Funeral services were held today in 8t. Peter's Catholic Church. Burial ‘was in Mount Olivet Cemetery. U. S. CORONATION GROUP | President Roosevelt appointed a special commission last night to repre- sent the United States at the corona- tion of King George VI of Great Britain in May. James W. Gerard, former Ambas- sador to Germany, will head the com- miasion as “special ambassador.” Gen. John J. Pershing and Admiral Hugh Bodman be gther membera. CHICAGO ELECTRICAL STRIKE THREATENED Aldermen Plan Appeal to Legisla- ture for Funds to Meet Pay Demands. BY the Associated Press. CHICAGO, January 26.—Chicago aldermen considered yesterday #2n ap- peal to the Legislature to avert a threatened strike of 800 municipal electrical employes. Legislative action empowering the | city to raise additional funds to meet the electricians’ demand for restora- | tion of a deprssion pay cut appeared to be the only alternative the city had to a cessation of municipal power. In a demonstration of what the | strike would mean, the electricians walked out for almost three hours Fri- day night, cutting off street and traf- fic lights, leaving arterial bridges raised and endangering the fire and | police alarm systems. | A truce, originally agreed upon until | today, was extended until Tuesday by business agents of the two union locals mnvolved, while the city considered | means of meeting the union demand | for a pay roll boost of approximately | $192,000 this year. THE WEATHER | Workers proposed | extension of the “futile” | Alexander McKeown, federation vice HOSIERY WORKERS ASKHOUSING PLAN Urge Congress Appropriate! $1,000,000,000 for Big Project Now. Br the Associated Press. ‘The American Federation of Hosiery in a resolution | adopted today that Congress enact im- | mediately a long-term housing pro- gram and appropriate “not less than & bililon dollars” to finance it. The resolution urged preference to communities having & “decent labor policy and offering a variety of em- ployment opportunities,” to avoid any condition now prevalent in one-industry towns. “By housing is meant not merely dwellings but planned neighborhoods,” 1t asserted. president, called attention to the auto- mobile workers' strike, asserting it was | evident strikers could not depend sole- ly on the Government to enforce col- lective bargaining. “Don’t count too much on Govern- District of Columbia—Cloudy and | colder, probably rain or snow tonight and tomorrow; lowest temperature to- night about 32 degrees; moderate north or northeast winds. Maryland—Cloudy, probably rain or snow late tonight and tomorrow; colder tonight and in south portion to- morrow. Virginia—Rain in south and cloudy, probably rain or snow in north por- tion tonight and tomorrow; colder to- night and in east and south portions tomorrow. West Virginia—Cloudy, probably and tomoriow, and in north portion tomorrow; slightly colder tonight. River Report. Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers very muddy today. Report for Last 24 Hours. . Temperature, Barometer. Yesterday— grees. Inches. 4 pm. 9 3 Record for Last s, (From noon yesterdav to noon todar.) oglUEDESL 60, at 3 pm. yesterday. Year ‘]G:n. 42, at 10:30 a.m. today. Year Record Temperatures This Year. Highest, 76, on January 9. Lowest. 30, on January 5. Humidity for Last 24 Hours. (From noon yesterday to noon today.) Highest. 90 per cent. at noon yesterday. Lowest, 36 per cent, at 9 p.m. yesterday. Tide Tables. (Purnished by United States Geodetic Survey.) ago, Coast and ‘Tomorrow. 4am. e m. Z 223pm. The Sun and Moon. |Sun, today __... Sun. tomorrow Moon. today 5:40 p.m. Automobile s must be one-half hour after sunset. Precipitation. Monthly precipi lon in inches in the Capital (current month to date): Month. 1937. Avs. _Recor January - 6.81 filj‘gi 'sléfl 2 89 100 8¢ Augus 2 September ‘34 Qctober ‘88 November B Weather in Various Cities, Temp. Rain- Stations. Baro. H'h.Low.fall. Weath'r Abilene, Tex. _ 30.30 58 26 ___ Clear Alb: n, Y, 44 34 Cloudy 64 46 0.04 Cloudy 568 42 ___ Cloudy 62 44 Cloudy 56 40 0,04 Rain —4-12 ___ Cloudy B 3 52 36 Buffalo, N. 4 22 Charleston. )2 78 66 1.01 Chicago, 11 0.50 18 6 Cincinnati, Ohio 30.46 368 20 Cleveland, 10 38 38 20 olumbia, 16 72 48 0.24 Denver, 0 38 Helena, Huron, 2910 I i e Dt £ o RS RSTNINENRTRE R PR BRSO B B ARDIA POSSSOOS SR n i rom G302 LLAERRRE5.Y FOREIGN. (7 a.m., Greenwich time, today.) > ‘Temperature. Weather. - 38 Cloudy London._ England. Paris. Prance loudy Berlin, _Germi loudy t, ance Cloudy Zurich. Switzerland. loudy Stockholm, loudy Gibraitar, in (Noon, Greenwich time, today.) Horta (Fayal), Azores 58 ) Rain (Ourrent observations.] 3 WI‘L uds . 5! oudy an Puerto Rigo_ y == snow or rain in south portion tonight | 84 | cent below the production cost of the ment assistance,” he urged. Leaders of the federation took a | | definite stand on the side of John L. Lewis' Committee for Industrial Organization in its breach with the | | American Federation of Labor. | Raising of a $50,000 fund to help | | the C. I. O. was recommended by | { Emil Rieve, president, who assailed | | the attitude of A. P. of L. officials | | toward the automobile workers’ strike. He added, however, that “I am not advocating that any union should | leave the ranks of the A. F. of L.” Representative Ellenbogen, Demo- crat, of Pennsylvania, sponsor of a bill to regulate labor conditions in the | textile industry, told the delegates he | was certain the bill is constitutional and asserted it would be enacted if the federation made a fight for it. George Baldanzi, vice president of the United Textile Workers, urged the delegates to “go all the way down the line for C. I. O. and industrial organi- zation.” Meantime, the National Association | of Hosiery Manufacturers asked the Tariff Commission today to protect the domestic industry from increasing imports of low-production-cost, seam- less cotton hosiery from Japan. Earl Constantine, representing the association, told the commission at a hearing: “The factor of low labor cost, which accounts for the lower prices of the Japanese products, is one which cannot be met by the American manu- facturer without destroying the pres- ent American standard of living.” He said hosiery imports from Japan of a type comparable to the American product increased from 271,000 dozen Dpairs in 1934 to an estimated 2,125,000 dozen pairs last year. He said a 50 per cent duty increase—the maximum possible under the 1930 tariff Jaw— would not equalize the difference be- tween production costs in the United States and Japan. Even by such an increase, he said, the wholesale price of the Japanese prod- ucts in this country would be 16 per comparable article made in America. CHEVY CHASE BANK PAYS OUT IN FULL ‘The receivership of the Chevy Chase Savings Bank has been closed, with depositors of the bank paid “in full,” Cary A. Hardee, receiver, announced today. The last dividend of 20 per cent was made possible by a voluntary advancement of cash by the stock- holders, but without an official “as- sessment” against the capital stock of the bank. In closing the receivership Receiver Hardee has turned over remaining assets to Paul Sleman, attorney, of the Colorado Building, who was elected stockholders’ agent. Sleman now will have charge of “further liquidation” of these assets, Hardee announced. A total of $677,618.35 was paid to depositors of the bank, who held what is known as “unsecured liabilities,” while a total of $113,385.49 was paid on secured liabilities. The remaining dividend checks, which number about 1,000, mostly in small amounts, not yet called for by depositors, have been turned over by the receiver to the Treasury De- partment. At the Treasury it was explained that depositors who have failed to call for their checks will be required to ap- ply for them, preferably in writing, at the Insolvent Bank Division of the office of the controller of the cur- rency, on the tenth floor of the Wash- ington Building. The application must TROOPS T0 PATROL ARKANSAS LEVEES 28 Dead in Three Southern States and Homeless Mount to 125,000. BY the Associated Press. MEMPHIS, Tenn, January 26— Martial law was ordered for Eastern Arkansas and troops patrolled weak= ening Tennessee levees today for the South’s fight against all-time high flood waters, Twenty-eight persons were known dead in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. The homeless were esti- mated unofficially at 125000 and 2,000,000 acres lay under water of the Mississippi and its Soutnern tributaries. Gov. Carl E. Bailey, authorized by his Legislature to declare martial law in the East Arkansas flood zone, or- dered three companies of Guards- men out at once when Government Engineers advised that the main Mississippl River levee at Mellwood, 20 miles south of Helena, “might go out within 24 to 36 hours.” To Police Tiptonville Area. Gov. Gordon Browning said he considered martial law unnecessary in West Tennessee, but that troops ‘would police the areas in the Missis- sippi lowlands around Tiptonville. Warning that a “super flood is on its way” came from Lieut. Col. Reybold, district chief of U. S. Army engineers, and spurred harassed relief workers to plan for still more herculean labors. Wholesale evacuations of be- leaguered towns in Tennessee, Western Eentucky, Southeastern Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi burdened refugee centers while the Mississippi felt out the strengt h ofits confining dikes. Fear 55 Feet in Memphis. “There will be 55 feet in Memphis before the water now in sight from the Ohio moves out,” Col. Reybold said, adding that the crest probably would come within 10 days or two weeks. He predicted general stages along the Mississippi some 10 feet beyond rec- ords set in the disastrous 1913 and 1927 floods. The Mississippi hit 42 feet here to- day, 8 feet above flood stage and less than 5 from the 1913 record of 46.6. Along with his forecast of a serious situation, Col. Reybold offered the aid of engineers in evacuating completely the St. Prancis River basin from Cairo, II1, to the mouth of the White River if an emergency arose. Move to Higher Ground. Refugees from the lower part of West Tennessee to the section near Cairo where the Ohio River empties into the Mississippi moved out en masse to higher ground, Fears were expressed a main line levee below Hickman, Ky., might give way. Workers were called to strength= en the weak strip with sand bags. Bhould the levee crevasse flood waters of the Mississippi would surge to a union with the burdened waters of Reelfoot Lake, whose levees already are weakened. Precautions were taken to prevent spread of disease along all fronts. Im- munization of refugees in the strickea areas against typhoid fever was under- taken. 23 Dead in Tennessee. The death list unofficially reached 23 in Tennessee. Six persons were drowned near Riverdale, Ark., when a boat overturned on Little River, rais- ing the toll in that State to 11. In Arkansas the rise of the St. Francis and Little Rivers was slowing | down, but preparations were going for- ward for a long siege of high water. Rescue work proceeded throughout Eastern Arkansas. The situation in Middle Tennessee eased with slow recession of the Cum- berland. Evacuations were reported in certain sections of Mississippi lowlands, but there was no cause for immediate alarm along the Tallahatchie and Coldwater Rivers. SOVIET SABOTAGE LINKED TO REICH Engineer Confesses Wrecking to Help Germany “Recover Power.” BY the Assoclated Press. MOSCOW, January 26.—Alexander Stein, German mining engineer, testi- fled today at the trial of 17 confessed Trotzkyist plotters he engaged in Siberian sabotage to help “Germany recover her former power” in the Soviet Union. The 55-year-old engineer, first foreign witness in the trial, declared through an interpreter he received his instructions through another Ger- man, named Flesser, who told him: “Germany had to recover her former power so Germans in the Soviet Union had to engage in wreckage o as to in- crease German strength and give her & free hand. Flesser relayed the wreckage orders, Stein testified, after receiving them from “a person in an official position in the U. S. S. R, who would help us in case of failure.” Stein testified his activities were regulated by A. A. Shestoff, one of the Russian defendants, who has con- fessed to plotting overthrow of the Stalin government. Shestoff con firmed the German's statement. Stein's testimony followed a heated debate between Prosecutor Andrey Vishinsky and Vasily Ulrich, the pre- siding judge, over mention of a “cer- tain foreign official” in the trial. The German engineer asserted Fles~ ser had attempted to get him to join the Communist party and Shestoff had obtained an application blank, which later was refused by party offi- cials. Shestoff again confirmed the testimony. Stein said his wrecking activities were centered in the coal mines near Anjer, but “later I was reprimanded for insufficient wrecking.” ‘The argument between the prosecu« tor and judge resulted in Ulrich ree versing his previous order that evie dence involving foreign officials be heard in secret. - MEASURE FAVORED A subcommittee of the House Ju- diciary Committee yesterday ordered a favorable report on a bill authorize ing the chief justice of the District Court of Appeals to become a member of the Judicial Conference. The conference is composed of the chief justice of the Supreme Court be accompanied by some documentary evidence of the claim, such as a re- pt from the recejver, & receiver’s or the claim number, and the chief justices of the senior circuit Federal courts. It meets once s year to formulate recommendations to Congresa k