Evening Star Newspaper, April 5, 1940, Page 3

Economy Advocates In House Face Hard Fight Over Relief $500,000,000 Increase Proposed ia $985,000,000 Fund for W. P. A, By the Associated Press. House economy advocates were rolling up their sleeves today for one of the toughest bouts of the ses- sion—a battle to prevent a $500,000,~ 000 increase in the proposed $985,~ 000,000 W. P. A. fund. Relief moved to the top of the card after the House yesterday passed the $784,999,094 Army bill, the last of the session’s 11 regular appropriation bills. As approved by the House, these measures provide for total expenditures of $6,120,123,- 932. This far, the House has managed to hold spending below President Roosevelt's budget estimates, with a single exception. It jolted the economy program only on the Labor Department-Federal Security bill, tacking on about $67,000,000 pri- marily for the C. C. C. and the Na- tional Youth Administration. In several instances, however, the Senate already has boosted the House figures. On the relief question, the move for heavier spending found support in both House and Senate. Pepper Opens Relief Drive. No sooner had a House Appropria- tions Subcommittee started hearings on the W. P. A. estimates yesterday than Senator Pepper, Democrat, of Florida launched an effort to sdd $150,000,000 to the current year’s re- lief fund of $1.477,000,000. Senator Pepper asserted the in- crease was needed immediately to prevent “real suffering” before June 30—when next vear’s relief money becomes available. The House committee heard Col. F. C. Harrington, W. P. A. chief, outline the present relief situation and explain how the $985,000,000— the amount W. P. A. would get under President Roosevelt's tentative relief estimate of $1,125,000,000—would be used. Col. Harrington testified behind closed doors, but afterward some committee members said the $985,- 000,000 would carry an average of 1,600,000 persons on W. P, A. rolls for the ycar starting July 1. That would mean, they said. a reduction of approximately 500,000 from the total on the rolls this month. It is to offset large-scale reduc- tions that the boost-relief-funds movement has started. Legislators from urban districts said the move- ment had a good chance of getting its objective. In approving the huge Army bill without a roll call, the House not only sustained its Appropriations Committee in slashing $67,357,660 from the amount recommended by President Roosevelt, but trimmed off an additional $1,000,000 intended to buy more land for Fort Knox, Ky. $66,474,151 Less for Army. As finally approved, the measure carried $66,474151 less than the Army had for the current fiscal year. Almost half of the huge fund voted yesterday was earmarked for pay, food, clothing and transporta- tion of the expanding Army and for new construction at military posts. In addition, the measure carried approximately $103,710,000 for muni- tions, including $61,250,000 for so- called “critical” items of equipment such as anti-aircraft artillery, tanks, anti-tank guns, semi-automatic rifles and heavy artillery; $12,000,- 000 for seacoast defenses, including fixed and mobile coastal guns, and $18,500,000 for new motor vehicles for the Regular Army and National Guard. The bill carried a total of $165,- 762,162 for the Air Corps, but that included funds for only 57 new planes. The Army originally re- quested money for 496 planes, mostly for a “rotating reserve,” but the War Department agreed that the rapidly expanding productive ca- pacity of the Nation's aircraft in- dustry made a large plane reserve unnecessary. Just before final passage of the bill, the House swamped a pro- posal by Representative Marcan- tonio, American Labor, of New York to send the measure back to the Appropriations Committee for a horizontal cut of 10 per cent. Acting Speaker Rayburn, Democrat, of Texas announced the standing vote of the motion as 178 to 17. Un-American (Continued From Page A-1) munist party had 125,000 dues-pay- ing members in Pennsylvania alone. One of the party’s hjghest officials, he said, had given the committee the information. “We don’'t know whether it is true or not,” Mr. Dies added, “but we are very anxious to find out.” Asserting that Earl Browder, na- tional secretary of the Communist party, had “deliberately” minimized the numerical strength of the or- ganization “in order not to alarm the people,” Mr. Dies said “it would put a very different light on the whole picture if it develops that there are 2,000,000 people in this party.” Hearing Is Pnstponed. On his return from a Federal Court hearing on the return to North Carolina of William Dudley Pelley, Mr. Dies found the commit- tee’s hearing room crowded with spectators but due to a mixup over witnesses, the tentatively scheduled hearing was further postponed. Committee sources said it had been intended to call the “second in command” of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to question him about the activities of the Communist party in recruiting soldiers in the United States for the Loyalist army in Spain’s civil war. Meanwhile, a District Court grand Jury today began investigating charges against James H. Dolsen and George Powers, Pittsburgh Communists, that they failed to an- swer questions before the .House Committee on Un-American Activi- ties. The jury heard witnesses, in- cluding Committee Chairman iDes, “for about half an hour. The Dies committee placed seized Communist documents in its official record yesterday a few hours after Federal Judge George A. Welsh had requested at Philadelphia that no use be made of them until he could pass on a petition to recover the papers, Judge Welsh granted Communist party attorneys a hearing today on their petition to recover the docu- ments and to obtain warrants charg- ing committee investigators with A A Ann, 7. (Story on page A-1.) THE EVENING LOS ANGELES.—BEFORE TRAGEDY STRUCK—Of these four children, shown happily at play, only one was alive today. The others were slain with their mother. Davis, 3; Chloe, 11, the survivor; Daphne, 10, and Deborah Left to right: Marquis Judge T. S. Williams 0f Court of Claims Dies at Home Here Heart Ailment Is Fatal To Former lllinois Representative Judge Thomas S. Williams of the United States Court of Claims, a former Republican member of Con- gress, died early today at his home, 3414 Garfield street NW. He had been ill five weeks with a heart ail- ment. With him at the time of death were his wife, Mrs. Mabel S. Wil- liams; his son, Harold S. Williams of Taylorville, Ill, and his two daughters, Mrs. Ruth Hansen of New Orleans, and Mrs. Alice Browne of Falls Church, Va. Judge Williams had been a mem- ber of the Court of Claims since 1929 His nomination to the bench by President Hoover was confirmed by the Senate November 1 of that year He resigned his seat in the House to become a judge, having repre- sented the 24th district of Illinois since 1915. Mr. Williams was born February 14, 1872, in Clay County, Il His early life was spent on a farm. He was educated in the public schocis of the State and Austin College at Effingham, Il In 1896 he was admitted 10 the Illinois bar, Two years later he was elected to the State Legislature, serving two years as a member of that body. He was also for seven years State’s prosecuting attorney for Clay County. Mr. Williams was elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress in 1914 and assumed office the following year.| During his 14 years in the House Mr. Williams was a leader in farm relief work. For many years he was a member of the Agriculture Committee and was also a member | at one time of the Committee on| Committee and the Committee on Rules. Informed of his death today, Chief Justice Richard S. Whaley of the Court of Claims expressed deep re- gret at the loss of a man of whose ability he said: “As a member of the court, Mr. Williams’ decisions were distin- guished for the clarity with which his opinions were stated and the broad knowledge of law which they displayed.” _— conspiracy to violate civil liberties. Subsequently, Chairman Dies had an investigator identify the data and placed it in the committee's record. George F. Hurley, the in- vestigator, said the documents in- cluded membership lists, and Mr. Dies observed that they showed Communist members were active in a large number of organizations, among them the League for Wom- en Shoppers. *Asked by reporters about Judge Welsh's action, the chairman said the inquiry was the first informa- tion he had about it. “The records are all in, are a part of the record of the committee, and a part of the evidence,” he said. “It’s a fait accompli (accomplished fact). The matter is now academic. I don’t see how we can give them up. 1t is out of our control.” Mr. Dies also said he had never heard of a court issuing an injunc- tion “against Congress.” The documents were not made public at this time. Before newsmen had told him about Judge Welsh's request, however, Mr. Dies said the names of the party members men- tioned in them would be made pub- lic probably today. Capt. Samuel J. Rubley testified he had made weekly reports to the headquarters of William Dudley Pel- ley’s Silver Shirts while he was ac- tive in the Medical Corps of the Na- tional Guard at Detroit in 1933. He attrfouted his actions to “alarmist” talk on revolution and said he was now “thoroughly ashamed” of what he had done. Your Children Will Enjoy DELICIOUS WHOLESOME LVERN ICE CREAM At Your Nearest Melvern Dealer Slayings (Continued From First Page.) father broke down and sobbed “Oh, my poor baby!” To which Chloe re- plied: “Buck up, dad. Don’t let it get you down.” Examined By Psychiatrist. Dr. Paul De River, police psychia- trist, after questioning Chloe, de- scribed her as above average intelli- gence. It was he who said he con- sidered her “the cruelest-blooded, coolest individual I ever met.” Veteran police officers, accustomed . to questioning hardened criminals,' said they were astonished by the imperturbable demeanor of the girl, described by one police matron as having “a face like an angel’s.” “I had a very limited interview with the girl in the police station after I had been called into the case,” said Dr. River. “She stood up well for one of a family struck by such a crime. She showed little emotion. “Child With Imagination.” “Chloe is a precocious youngster. She acts like a girl of 15 or 16 years of age. She is a child with a great deal of imagination and is well read. “As to her guilt or innocence, I cannot say. She told me she was sure she had not committed the | murder.” After being questioned for awhile, Chloe sat down with Capt. Edwards and ate a hearty steak dinner. When he refused to order her a bottle of beer, she snapped: “Mother and I split a bottle a couple of days ago.” Repeated questioning of the girl led Edwards to conclude, he said, that Chloe awakened while her mother was still in bed; went to the kitchen, where Marquis and Daphne were playing, and fatally bludgeoned them; then encountered her mother in Lhe hallway and beat her to| death, Capt. Edwards said the palms of | Chloe’'s hands were blistered, ap- parently from considerable use of the hammer. Tried to Burn Body. Continuing his reconstruction of | the tragedy, Capt. Edwards said: “Chloe then went into the bath- room and killed Ann. In an attempt to disguise the whole affair, she tried to burn her mother’s body. She dragged a mattress from a daybed in her mother’s bedroom, placed her mother’s body on the mattress and started a fire, “The nightgown was burned from Mrs, Davis, but Chloe saw she could not, as she hoped to do, burn the house. She changed her clothing, took an hour to think things over, concocted a story about her mother believing in demons and called her father.” When the father reached home, Capt. Edwards said, and inquired what was wrong, she told him, “You'd better go in the kitchen and see.” Sought' to Calm Father. Later, the police captain related, the girl said to her father: “Daddy, you mustn’t get excited; let's go for a walk.” Chloe had a head injury police believe she either suffered in a struggle with her mother or she inflicted upon herself with the ham- mer to substantiate her story. En route home from the police station for a re-enactment of her version of the crime, Chloe waved airily to schoblmates who, faces white with terror, were clustered on the lawn. Inside the house, she walked sprightly through the rooms, telling her story in a lively chatter. Father “Nuts,” She Says. At one point, she strolled over and started to play a small organ pur- chased for her by her father, of whom she once remarked: “He's nuts.” ointing to some books in her room, Chloe said: “I'm a book- worm. I read all the time.” Little Patricia Axtell, a neighbor, told police she once saw Chloe fly into a rage and beat her mother re- peatedly with a broomstick when' her mother refused her a nickel for Your Medical Bills or Dental Bilis Paid by Medical-Dental Exchange .+ » without interest or extra charges. For full informatien call REpublic 2126 or visit 725 Albee Building. STAR, Mrs. Lollta Davis, the mother shown with Chloe as a baby. 4 —A. P. Wirephotos. candy. She also said Chloe refused | to obey her mother in simple house- hold duties. Both Chloe and her father told | Capt. Edwards Mrs. Davis had never before talked of “demons” or ex- hibited any sign of insanity. Davis added that she was “as normal as any woman could be.” Dr. V. J. Stack told Edwards, how- ever, that Davis telephoned him two ! weeks ago and said he feared Mrs. | Davis was losing her mind. “I have known the Davis family | for years,” the physician said, “and knew the parents to be devoted to | their four children.” He said Mrs. Davis and her chil- dren were in his office last Wednes- day to confer with his associate, Dr. J. A. O'Connor, about treatments she had been undergoing for anemia, but added “I observed nothing that would indicate she was deranged.” Davis said his wife had been an excellent mother and that she read and studied much of her time to im- prove herself as a parent. On the bookshelf of the family home were such works as “How to Be a Good Mother” and “How to Raise Chil- dren.” Landon, Hamilfon Head Kansas 6. 0. P. Delegates By the Associated Press, WICHITA, Kans., April 5—Kan- sas Republicans are opposed to a third term “for any President” and are insistent that the United States maintain “strict and resolufe neu- trality” to keep out of the European ‘war. They passed resolutions to that effect at their State convention yes- terday. They chose Alf M. Landon, 1936 presidential nominee, and John D. M. Hamilton, Republican national chairman, to head their delegation to_the national convention. The Republicans instructed their delegation to vote for their veteran Senator, Arthur Capper,.for Presi- dent, while studying the chances of other aspirants. Senator Capper, in Washington, accepted the favorite son designation as “complimentary.” Yanderbilt Heiress Gets Divorce at Reno RENO Nev,, April 5—At a private trial in which she charged cruelty. Consuelo Vanderbilt Davis, grand- daughter of the late United States Senator James G. Fair, won an un- contested divorce here yesterday from her second husband, Henry Gassaway Davis. The heiress daughter of Mrs. Gra- ham Fair Vanderbilt was married to Mr. Davis at Miami, Fla., No- vember 26, 1937. She divorced her first husband, Earl E. T. Smith, here in 1935. IT COSTS NO MORE 25 Add. Hr. ¢ . To mionie 25€ 1320 N. Y. AVE. |break by a special order of the| Swiss Bees Get Sugar BERNE (#).—Sugar is rationed in | Switzerland, but Swiss bees get a Federal Office of War Supplies, if they're domesticated bees. Drive slowly —expect the unex- pected. 4 WASHINGTON, D. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1840. France May Make Red Propaganda Capital Offense Decree Reported Drafted To Accelerate Drive Against Communists By the Associated Press. PARIS, April 5—France'’s new| government was understood today to | be considering a decree which | B would make dissemination of Com- munist propaganda a treasonable offense punishable by death. The decree, proposed as the final step in an antf-Communist cam- paign launched last September 26 |5 when- the party was outlawed by the |8 government, was reported by semi- official sources to have been drafted | § by Henrl Roy, Minister of the In-| nature of Premier Reynaud. Would Lift Search Ban. These sources said the decree would further assist the government in its drive to stamp out Communist activities by: 1. Lifting the legal ban which has long piohibited police from entering and searching private homes be- tween dusk and dawn. 2. Augment squads of police as- signed to investigate seditious activ- ities. 3. Permit deportation of Com- munists to concentration camps in | North Africa. Held 77 Chamber Seats, The Communist party in France | once counted millions of Frenchmen | among its members, held 77 of 618 | seats in the Chamber of Deputies and formed part of the People’s Front which governed the nation from 1936 to 1938, | The government subsequently pur- | sued its “Red” hunt by enacting a | law expelling from public office all | Commumst.s who failed to resign PIANOS for RENT New full keyboord spin- et and small uprights, only $5 monthly. Grond pionos, $9 monthly. Al the money you poy o3 rental o purchose p decide to buy later. 1330 G Street “The Best Buy Is This TESTED Spray With Certified Killing Power 1 Quart DEFENZ and one pound MOTH Crystals for g terior. and to be awaiting the sig- |g from the nlny within & month after imposition of the ban Communist memberu of the Chamber of Deputles saved themselves by resigning in time and are sitting in the chamber today. London has electric-light earrings. ! Cannot 5) art A Benches SH DUPONT Window Shade. 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