Evening Star Newspaper, April 17, 1940, Page 1

Weather Forecast Showers tonight and tomorrow; slightly minimum tonight about 52 degrees. Temperatures today— Highest, 58, at 2 p.m.; lowest, 53, at warmer tomorrow; 6 am. From the United States Weather sureau report. Full details on Page A-2. Closing New York Markets, Page 20. 88th YEAR. No. 35,050. @ WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION ¢ Foening Star WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1940—FORTY-TWO PAGES, %k ritish Bombers Raid Trondheim And Nearby Nazi Seaplane Base; Cruiser Is Sunk, Berlin Claims English Racing Germans for Hold on Port By the Associated Press. LONDON, April 17.—The Air Ministry announced today that British warplanes had carried vut bombing attacks on the air- port at Trondheim, strategic German-held port on Norway's west coast, and on a seaplane base nearby. ‘The ministry’s communique fol- fows: “During last night Trondheim Air- drome was bombed by heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force. A large fire was seen to break out as a result of this attack. “Subsequently a bombing attack was also made on an enemy sea- plane base in the vicinity.” The Trondheim raid was part of Britain’s race to get her forces in control of the vital Norwegian port before the German hold can be cinched with the arrival of more troops and guns. Loss of Sub Admitted. Britain earlier disclosed the loss of one of her new submarines, the Thistle. ‘The Thistle was a 1575-ton ves- sel of the Triton class, intended for general service, and normally car- ried 53 men. The Admiralty merely announced that she was overdue Commons Told Nazis Make False Claims To Get Information By the Associated Press. LONDON, April 17—Sir Vic- tor Warrender, parliamentary secretary for the Admiralty, told tne House of Commons to- ‘day, that it was a ‘“common dodge¥, of the Germans to spread \gbroad wholly or par- tially fdlse reports of which official denials might supply valuable information. He said for that reason the Admiralty has declined to issue official denials of German claims. frpm operations in the North Sea ’ d must be considered lost. She 'was the fifth acknowledged loss to Britain’s underseas fleet since the war started. In response to German claims of having sunk another destroyer and hit a British battleship and trans- port in an aerial attack, an Ad- miralty spokesman refused to make denials which, it was said, might give the Germans valuable infor- mation. Drive Seen Developing. Military observers expressed the view that a drive for Trondheim was developing as the first phase of British land operations in Norway. They said that British forces al- ready in control of Narvik, Norway’s (See LONDON, Page A-4.) Eight Killed, 35 Hurt By Runaway Truck BY the Associated Press. PONCE, P. R, April 17.—A run- away truck filled with home-going workers, its brakes useless, dashed down a hill near here today and crashed into a cement-laden truck and a house, killing 8 persons and injuring 35 others. Thieves Take Watch Dog PITTSBURGH, April 17 (P)— Thieves did a thorough job of loot- ing a downtown market. Police re- ported they took Bum, the watchdog, in addition to $386 in soap, cigarettes and pineapples. News Makes a Newspaper The Star is first, last and all the time a Newspaper. It prides itself on printing the news, as fully, as accurately and as quickly as it can be obtdined. The intelligent citizen today has a vital interest in what is going on in a troubled world. And each day’s Star con- tains another chapter of the dramatic story that is un- folded, day by day, by the feverish march of events abroad. Yesterday’s Circulation The Evening Star Tuesday, Apr. 16, 1940_*160,853 Tuesday, Apr. 18, 1939_*154,277 Increase 6,576 *Returns from newsstands not de- ducted and no samples included. Yesterday’s Advertising Local Display The Evening Star Lines. 49,587 23,591 16,054 2d Newspaper 3d Newspaper _ 4th Newspaper Telephone NAtl. 5000 and have The Evening and Sunday Star delivered to your home. Declares Germans B naval battles of Narvik, disorgan in Berlin, whither the officer was mander Heinrich Gerlach declare. assigned to the chief of the destroyer flotilla in northern Norwegian wa- | ters, also told of the death in action | of his chief, Commodore Fritz Bonte, | at Narvik. | Shortly after giving me the fol- | lowing diary of the Narvik action, the 33-year-old commander was decorated with the iron cross first | class by Grand Admiral Erich Rae- | | der and was taken to an unnamed | hospital for treatment of a gash| over his right eye, a dislocated right shoulder and a double fracture of | the left arm. “Let he just read from my diary,” Wounded Nazi Officer Tells Of 2 Narvik Naval Battles Into Fjord by Superior Navigation (A German eycwitness account of the two British-German black diary by a youthful German naval commander wounded in the first conflict, was made available to the Associated Press today By LOUIS P. Associated Press Foreign Correspondent. BERLIN, April 17.—British forces “neither reached the harbor nor has a single Englishman reached land” at Narvik after two | spirited attempts to force the harbor defenses last week, Com- Far Northern Norwegian ore port. Gerlach, an Admiralty staff officers eat English in Race ized motes jotted down in a little flown for hospitalization.) LOCHNER, | | d today upon his return from the | he said when asked just what hap- pened at Narvik. Just Ahead of English. “You must excuse me if the items are merely jotted down and no ef- fort at literary style has been made. Besides, naturally after being hit as I was by iron parts flying about, I didn’t have much time to organize my material.” “We got to Narvik,” he continued, “only a very brief period ahead of the English. (The Germans landed April 9.) “Our troops were landed with the " (See EYEWITNESS, Page A-8) Bill Leasing Timber To Reich Wins Test 'In Rumanian Senate Action Is Taken Despite Army Protest That It Jeopardizes Defense | By the Associated Press. BUCHAREST, April 17.—The Ru- | manian Senate provisionally ac- cepted today a government bill to give Germany a 30-year lease on | almost 100,000 acres of timber—de- | spite testimony of army officers| that the lease would jeopardize na- tional defense. Tonescu Sisesti, minister of agri- culture, defended the bill on grounds that it was part of an ecenomic un- | derstanding with Germany which | | greatly benefited Rumania. | Military experts said the vast | forest reserves in Central Rumania | constituted a natural defense line. High-ranking officers declared | that enactment of the bill would be | a great strategical error, allowing | Germany to send a large corps of | experts and workmen into forests | { located at “the most vulnerable | spot in the country,” on the old| Rumanian-German border. Sisesti said the Germans should ‘be allowed to build a railroad and establish factories there to carry out lumber operations. The agriculture minister said the Germans had agreed to replant cut- over land and to train Rumanians in forest culture. Export Embargo Protested. ‘Germany previously had protested Bucharest’s embargo on wheat ex- ports and temporary stoppage of oil shipments and, it was acknowledged in official quarters, Rumania is in an extremely difficult position. The action which Rumania took Monday to fortify herself by storing for her own use such vital commodi- ties as wheat and oil paradoxically was seen as having the contrary effect of further straining relations with Germany. Dr. Karl Clodius, head of the Ger- man trade delegation which has been negotiating here for weeks, was sald to have complained that the Rumanian government’s new restrictive measures violated Ger- man-Rumanian trade agreements which the Nazis insist promised them an uninterrupted flow of Rumanian wheat and oil. Severe Blow to Reich. Foreign observers saw the mew measures as a severe blow to Ger- many’s war economy. Rumania, in some years, has exported to Ger- many more than one million metric tons of wheat a year, which is about two-thirds of Germany’s normal import requirements. (A metric ton equals 1102 short tons or 36.71 bushels of wheat.) Rumania’s wheat production in 1938 was 4,922,000 metric tons. Of this, Germany took 500,000 tons. Yugoslavia in that year exported 160,000 tons to Germany and Bul- garia exported another 100,000 tons. | Rumania in addition, has taken other measures for defense. Her Black Sea and. Danube ports were ready to go under navy rule today as an important step in an intensive program to prepare the nation for the possibility of war. Gen. Paul (See BUCHAREST, Page A-3.) Ball Game Postponed Due to Wet Grounds Wet grounds today forced post- ponement of the second game of the Boston-Washington baseball series slated for Griffith Stadium. One game will be played tomorrow, with the postponed game to be booked as part of a double-header later in the season. While the Nationals idled, a pitgher was lopped off the staff. He is James Henry Dean, big right- handed rookie, who won 21 games and lost four last year in the Florida State League. Dean, who has been signed to a Charlotte contract all along, was returned to the Piedmont Oslo Two Days by Bluff and Music Rollicking Tunes Lulled Natives Into Forgetting Resistance Until Too Late By LELAND STOWE, Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent. STOCKHOLM, April 17.—The Nazi regime conquered Oslo by ruse | and treason, but less than 3,000 German troops held Norway's cap- | ital for the first 48 hours by a| gigantic bluff. Most of all, they kept the more than 250,000 Osloans, who remained in the capital, mes- | merized by music discreetly inter- mixed with cocky parades in differ- ent sections of the city by 20, 50 or perhaps 100 soldiers at a time. But music and song were the chief | weapons used to lull the public into | an illusion of normalcy. Thus, we | witnessed the extraordinary spec- | tacle of a nation’s capital being held | securely by impromptu soldiers’| choruses, by one 12-piece military | band and by two accordions. The Germans, at least the Nazi! leaders, have learned a lot more about psychology than thev are given credit for. This is why the| tiny force of German occupation | was able to dominate Oslo from the | moment it set foot on the land, simply through bluff and rollicking | tunes. The Nazi band began its| concerts in the park along Carl Johah boulevard, in the center of the city, the morning after the oc- cupation. Soon several hundred Norwegians clustered around, listen- ing to a jovial rendition of “Roll Out the Barrel.” They kept com- ing and pausing for 10 minutes or more in groups and nobody seemed to think of rolling out the Germans. Soldiers Sing on March. On Wednesday morning, too, one company of spick and span men, their rifles shining, marched down Carl Johan boulevard, pounding | their heels slowly and singing as they went. Meanwhile, skeleton bodies of troops, occupying Parliament and City Hall, also developed an urge to sing popular songs and old German favorites from the windows. But the cleverest bit of musical mass psy- | Right Town, Wrong State ASHLAND, Ohio, April 17 (#).—It was all a mistake, Representative Luther Patrick, Democrat, of Louis- iana telegraphed, that he didn't get here for a Democratic rally last night. He started out for Ashland and wound up in Ashland—Ken- tucky. Two Others Also Held Seriously Hurt by Bombs By the Associated Press, BERLIN, April 17.—DNB, offi- cial German news agency, today described an air attack off the Norwegian western coast in which one British cruiser was sunk by a direct bomb hit and two other cruisers were seriously damaged by German bombs. Augmenting an earlier report (and apparently describing an action of yesterday), DNB said the cruiser which sank was hit by a bomb of the heaviest caliber and went down im- mediately. The agency said the other two cruisers were hit altogether by three heavy caliber bombs and such seri- ous destruction was wrought that presumably the ships will not be able to return to British harbors. ‘The DNB report apparently am- plified a passage in today’s high command communique which re- ported the sinking of a British cruiser and a British submarine in | an air attack off Mold Fjord. Destroyers Also Sunk. Earlier Germany officially re-| ported that a British battleship was | hit squarely by a heaviest-type air | bomb, a destroyer was sunk and a transport ship also was struck in an aerial attack. DNB said that full tails of aerial blows in a German attack on British naval forces off the Norwegian southwest coast still were to be learned. The report followed upon a Ger- man high command communique | announcirg the sinking of a de- stroyer. It used much the same language | to describe the air attack on the| battleship (Schlachtschiffs as the communique had in reporting the transport struck—“hit squarely by the heaviest caliber air bombs.” The battleship was said to have been attacked on the Norwegian southwest coast and the transport on the central coast. The high com- mand said German warplanes recon- noitered yesterday over the central and northern North Sea as well as | along the west coast of Norway. Successes Enumerated. ‘The communique enumerated these successes for the German ex- peditionary forces: 1. The sinking of a British de- stroyer of the “Tribal” class by a | submarine northeast of the Shet- land Islands. 2. A large transport ship “hit squarely by the heaviest caliber air bombs.” de- Disarmament When 3. Norwegian forces in the north | routed by Germans taking control of the ore-carrying railroad from Narvik east to the Swedish border. | Authorized sources insisted Narvik still was in German hands despite | a heavy British bombardment re- | ported by the high command. 4. The German Navy covered the transport of personnel and “ma- | terial reinforcements” to Norwegian ports. 5. Forces ashore broadened the occupied area, developed coastal de- fenses and “fully prepared” fortifi- cations for defense of Oslo. The British destroyer reported | sunk is of the same class as the Cossack, which Germans said was set afire and left stranded in a bat- tle at Narvik Saturday. Altogether Britain had 16 of this class. DNB announced that the latest (See BERLIN, Page A-4) Teachers’ Picket Line In New York Dwindles NEW YORK, April 17—A dwin- dling line of school-teacher pickets, protesting what they described as Mayor La Guardia's “starvation” school budget, marched in front of City Hall all night and vowed to continue their demonstration until afternoon. As daylight came, the 12 (three of them women) who remained of an original 150 held a “sunrise” service at the foot of Benjamin Franklin’s statue in City Hall, offering a “prayer” for teachers as well as for the Board of Estimate, which must pass on the budget. Summary of Page. Amusements, B-20 Comics .B-18-19 Editorials _.A-10 Finance - ._.A-19 Lost, Found, B-13 Page. Obituary -. A-12 Radio ......B-18 Serial Story B-13 Society -.... B-3 Sports _ A-16-18 ‘Woman'’s Page, B-12 Foreign British bombers raid Trondheim and seaplane base. Page A-1 British cruiser sunk by bomb, Ger- mans claim. Page A-1 Army protest on’ Rumanian timber lease ignored. Page A-1 Germans tighten hold on Southern Norway. Page A-4 National Nice says Maryland Republicans united for Dewey. Page A-1 Annual maintenance bill of billion forecast by Navy. Page A-1 Roosevelt-Farley meeting stirs po- litical speculation. Page A-2 Taft favors local administration of relief. Page A-6 Washington and Vicinity Resolutions to bring issues before D. A. R. Congress today. Page A-1 Park Commission purchases land for League farm team for further sea- 50 ' ( Mid-City playground. Page B-1 { Today's Star Compromise bill to cut jobless tax is offered. Page B-1 Two persons seriously hurt in traf- fic. Page B-1 Editorial and Comment This and That. Answers to Questions. Letters to The Star. David Lawrence. Alsop and Kintner. Frederic William Wile. Charles G. Ross. Constantine Brown. Sports Slab feats abound inybanner base- ball opening day. Page A-14 Terps’ powerful Shockey seen rival for Hoyas’ Blozis. Page A-15 Eddie Espey to manage new Penn pin center alleys. Page A-16 Page A-10 Page A-10 Page A-10 Page A-11 Page A-11 Page A-11 Page A-11 Page A-11 Miscellany Service Orders. Vital Statistics. Nature’s Children. Bedtime Story. Letter-Out. Winning Contract. Uncle Ray’s Corner. Cross-Word Puszle. ‘Page B-2 Page B-13 Page B-13 Page B-18 Page B-18 ;lx! B-l: B-1 FapeB1 Paul McNutt Rides Again! Star delivered ‘From Press to Home Within the Hour’ Most people in Washington have The to their homes every evening and Sunday morning. THREE CENTS. /’{(g//, AY Navy Would Welcome War Ends, Stark Says But in Meantime, the 11% Expansion Should Be Voted, Senators Told BULLETIN. ‘The Senate approved a $15.000.- 000 initial appropriation for a third set of Panama Canal locks The action was taken without a record vote. By the Associhted Press. Admiral Harold R. Stark told the | Senate Naval Affairs Committee to- day that the Navy would welcome 2 genuine attempt at disarmament when the European war ends. The chief of naval operations as- serted, however, that if a disarma- ment conference were called the United States should insist that other nations make “a clean breast” of their naval strength. | Senator Lucas. Democrat, of | Tllinois asked Admiral Stark whether | the Navy would want to continue its present construction program unabated in event of a European | peace. “If T thought we could get a dis- ammament conference,” the Admiral replied, “and if I thought the other fellow would live up to it, I would | be perfectly delighted.” But he said | the Navy ought to have its re-| quested authorization for an 11 per cent increase in tonnage which would be provided by a pendiug ! $655,000,00 expansion bill. If this increase is granted, he said, the Navy plans to spend about | $3.800,000,000 in the next six years | building up to authorized strength.\l “No Navy Officer Wants War.” | Senator Lucas said he wanted to | be sure that if Congress approved | the expansion it would not be com- | mitting itself to a construction pro- | gram regardless of changes in the | world situation. Senator Lucas said he had noted some predictions that the United States would be in the war within a year. “If there is a naval officer on earth, that wants war,” Admiral Stark re- plied quickly, “I'd like to find him. We have to bear the burden of war.” This prompted Senator Tydings, Democrat, of Maryland, to observe: “Admiral, I think we ought to have an amendment to this bill to put two Congressmen on each of these ships.” Billion a Year for Upkeep. Earlier, the Navy said the United States would have a billion-a-year bill to maintain the fleet and its air arm at the ex- panded strength now contemplated. The annual upkeep estimate of about $1,157,647,100 was submitted to the committee, which is studying the House-approved expansion pro- gram. An even heavier maintenance bill was likely if Congress follows the recommendations of Admiral Stark for a 25 per cent expansion. The chief of naval operations held the bigger boost necessary to restore the country’s 5-to-3 treaty ratio over Japan. The 11 per cent fleet increase au- thorizes 43 additional ships and 1,011 planes, but does not set aside funds. Building costs, the Navy pointed out, would have to be absorbed over the next several years in addition to the expense of previously authorized construction and the maintenance outlay for the present Fleet. New Canal Locks Opposed. While the Naval Committee heard this testimony, other phases of the national defense problem drew Sen- ate attention. The War Department’s request for funds to start work on a $277,~ 000,000 set of bomb-proof locks for the Panama Canal drew the fire of Senate economy advocates. - They contended that the Army had failed to establish any need for the new locks. At the same time the Senate heard that the War Department intended to request $6,000,000 to start imme- diate work on an air base at Anchor- age, Alaska, and a cold-weather aviation experiment station at Fair- banks, Agaska. The Army originally asked $12,734,000 for this purpose, (See NAVAL, Page A-5) Coffee Forbidden in Denmark By the Associated Press. BERLIN, April 17—The German occupation forces in Denmark today were forbidden to buy coffee, tea and sugar. | | | Barton Is Blamed For Barden Talk And His Accent By the Associated Press. The similarity in sound of the| names of Representatives Bruce | Barton, Republican, of New York and Graham Barden, Democrat, of | North Carolina caused some em- | barrassment for the New Yorker this week. Following a radio discussion by | Mr. Barden of some amendments he | had proposed to the wage and hour law, Mr. Barton was deluged with | letters and telephone calls of pro- | test from constituents in his mid- | town New York district where there | is sentiment for the existing law. One constituent wrote, “Why don’t | you have the courage to come clean | and not try to disguise your voice | with a southern accent!” | Aides of the New Yorker said Mr. | Barton and Mr. Barden are con- | stantly receiving one another’s tele- phone calls and in order to avoid | confusion during a roll call of the| House arranged with the clerk to| cail “Barden of North Carolina”| and “Barton of New York.” Witnesses Disagree On Electing D. C. Units| To Party Convenfions One Civic Leader Tells Senate Group Suffrage Fight Might Be Hurt Witnesses disagreed before a Sen- ate subcommittee today on whether setting up election machinery for choosing the District delegates to the national political conventions would help or hurt the fight for national representation for Wash- ingtonians. The subcommittee is considering the Capper bill, under which a pri- mary would be held on the first Monday in May to vote for both the Democratic and Republican con- vention delegates. Evan H. Tucker, president of the Northeast Washington Citizens’' As- sociation, while not opposing the bill in principle, called this an in- opportune time to pass it, expressing fear that, because of the short time before the conventions, a large| turnout at the polls would not ke ! likely. For that reason, he expressed | fear the result would militate against “the main question of cb- | taining representation in Congress and the right to vote for President | and Vice President.” | Opposite View Taken. | William H. Mondell, vice president i of the District Suffrage Association, took an opposite view. He indorsed both national representation and local self-government, but contended the proposed primary law would Le | a first step toward those objectives. Mr. Mondell, who testified he is a Republican, also criticized plans he said were made last night by the Republican State Central Commit- tee for the District to govern elec- tion of this year’s local delegation to the Philadelphia convention. He told the Senators the State Committee decided that all persons | desiring to take part in the Republi- can selections would have to register between Friday and next Wednesday and that registrations coltld be filed at only one place in the city, the office of the State Central .Com- mittee, in the 1300 block of G street W. Tfie subcommittee also was told (See CAPPER, Page A-6.) D. A. R. Votes fo Pay $100,000 Debt on Constitution Hall Money Accumulated For Purpose Without Appeal to Members The Daughters of the American | Revolution voted at the 49th Con- | tinental Congress today to clear Constitution Hall of its $100,000 in- debtedness before the Golden Jubi- Nice Declares Maryland Is For Dewey Former Governor Sees No Contest by Taft in Primary By G. GOULD LINCOLN. Former Gov. Harry W. Nice of Maryland declared in Baltimore today that Thomas E. Dewey, New York district attorney, is supported for the presidential nomination by all factions of Republicans in Maryland, and that he did not expect any con- test to be made against Mr. Dewey in the presidential pref- erential primary on May 6— either by Senator Robert A. Taft or any one else. Mr. Nice's statement was made in connection with an announcement by J. Russell Sprague, Dewey cam- paign manager, that Mr. Dewey's name would be entered in the Mary- land primary. “It has been quite evident for some time,” said Mr. Nice, “that the pre- ponderant political opinion among Republicans in Maryland favors the candidacy of Mr. Dewey. He is sup= ported by all factions in this State. It is quite probable there will be no contest in the State.” Taft Delays Decision. Senator Taft, who was challenged by the Dewey manager to enter the Maryland primary along with “any other candidate” against Mr. Dewey, said today he would decide by to- morrow night whether he would en- ter the Maryland primary. Should Senator Taft enter the primary, it would be the first in which he and the New Yorker have crossed swords. Supporters of Mr. Taft have claimed Maryland's 16 delegates to the Re= . | publican National Convention. Senator Taft, however, was pree | pared to enter the West Virginia | primary had Dewey done so. His filing papers were prepared—and | he had virtually invited Dewey lee celebration in October. Before the resolution, one of the six presented in the morning session, was passed, Mrs. Henry M. Robert, Jr., president general, corrected a re- port that contributions from mem- bers would be needed to pay off four $25,000 notes. She won a round of applause when she announced that sufficient money had been accumulated to meet the obligation without appeals to the membership for funds. { Other resolutions passed wimout‘ | objection thanked the United States | Forest Service for giving the D. A. R. the opportunity to plant penny pines in Memorial Forest, a Golden Jubi- lee project; closed the list of D. A. R.-approved schools at 14; ordered that the July and August issues of the National Historical Magazine be combined to save money for use on and provided that trust funds estab- lished by the D. A. R. for specific purposes be retained and admin- istered by the society. Defense Resolutions Awaited. The occasion for the last .resolu- tion, it was explained. was that the |D. A. R. had a $3500 trust fund in an organization which had been closed. The D. A. R. got its money back, but, Mrs. Robert said, here- after will administer its own trust fund. The approved school resolutions, the first of which ordered that no replacements be made in the list when vacancies are created and the second of which simply named the aproved schools, was caused by many applications from various States for inclusion of schools on the ap- proved list. The resolutions presented to the Congress usually grow in importance in the latter days of the meeting. The resolutions on national defense and neutrality are not expected to come up until after the report of the National Defense Patriotic Educa- tion Committee is made tomorrow. Greater interest than that which greeted the resolutions was centered on the amendment of the D. A. R. constitution and by-laws. Most im- portant change provided for naming first, second and thfrd vice presi- dents general to be elected along with the other national officers. Several State delegations opposed an amendment which had been of- fered to the National Board of Man- agement cutting the number of vice presidents general from 21 to five. The amendment as passed by the Congress retained the number of (Continued on Page A-5, Column 1.) American Freighter Detained at Osaka By the Associated Press. TOKIO, April 17—The 6,167-ton American freighter City of Joliet was detained at Osaka today when Capt. Robert Olson refused to pay 170,000 yen ($36,000) for the refloat- ing of his ship after it went aground off the Atsumi Peninsula, on the southern coast of Japan, March 26. Capt. Olson said that his ship had been refloated easily, after only a few hours’ work. Two-Alarm Fire Near School Bigger Attraction Than Class A two-alarm fire broke out in a group of vacant buildings across the street from the Powell Junior High School shortly after noon today. Teachers urged pupils to go into the school building—rather than vacate it—at the height of the blaze. Extra police were rushed to the scene when it was reported that the school building was ablaze. The alarm, turned in from the big school building on Hiatt place at Lamont street N.W., turned out an unusually large amount of fire apparatus. The blaze occurred dur- ing the lunch hour and firemen found children in the surrounding streets watching flames curl up from a pile of debris stacked about a vacant building. * The building, which is just across Hiatt place from the school, was one of several three-story frame struc- tures being demolished by W. P. A. workers to clear a playground site. The fire started in some lumber which had been stripped from the building and flames spread to the upper floors. Teachers had their hands full when they sought to persuade the children to return to their studies after the lunch hour rather than to watch the fire trucks arrive. i into the contest. The filing date expired last Sunday night and | Dewey did not enter. : It was learned today that the | Taft supporters have been looking into the Maryland situation and | that they claim considerable sup- | port for the Ohioan as against | Mr. Dewey. They would by no | means admit that Senator Taft had | decided not to enter the Maryland | primary if and when Dewey files. The Ohio Senator said he was leaving for West Virginia tomorrow night and he would know by that time whether his name would go in the Maryland primary. Under the Maryland primary law iall names must be filed 15 days be- fore the primary. The last day for filing, therefore, would be Saturday. | The only signature necessary on the | |8 Golden Jubilee issue in October, fling papers, however, is that of the candidate, so there is plenty of time. The Dewey papers already have been prepared and it is understood will be | filed promptly. The candidates are required to put up $270 for the prive ilege of filing. Mr. Nice is a candidate for the Republican senatorial nomination in Maryland and running against him is former Mayor William E. Broen= | ing of Baltimore. Involved in the | contest is a fight for control of the | Republican party in the State. Mr. | Nice in the past has been supposed |to be furthering the candidacy of Senator Taft—but he made no state- ment of such support. His state= | ment today regarding the Dewey | candidacy is his first formal an- | nouncement. " Tait Reiterates Support. | Galen L. Tait, former internal | revenue collector in Baltimore and | for years influential in Maryland | Republican politics, several months ago declared flatly for the nomina- | tion of Mr. Dewey. He reiterated his stand in favor of the New Yorker today and, like Mr. Nice, expressed the belief that there would be no contest in the primary. The Maryland primary law makes the result of the presidential prefer- ential primary more advisory than actually binding. It provides that the Maryland delegation to a na- | tional political convention shall support the winner of the presiden= tial primary “as long as that dele- gation thinks he has a chance.” If the delegation thought the candi- date had no chance, it might leave him at any time. However, it was predicted today by Maryland Repub- licans that if Mr. Dewey—or Sene ator Taft—should win the primary, the Maryland delegation would cer- tainly vote for the winner on the first ballot and probably on more. The fact that the primary is ad- visory rather than binding may bring the Taft managers and Sena- tor Taft to the conclusion it would be scarcely worth while to enter this contest when, even if he won, the delegation might only stay by Senator Taft for a ballot or two. Senator Taft has uniformly de- clined to enter any of the presi- dential primaries—such as Wiscon- sin, Nebraska and Illinois—saying he did not have time to make a proper campaign in any of these States because of his duties in the Senate. He is entered in the pref- erence primary in Ohio, his home State, alone. Mr. Dewey and other candidates having declined to enter any State where there is a favorite- son candidate. Dewey Speeches Awaited. Mr. Dewey has not entered Mary- land to campaign up to date. He is now on a tour through the West and South. His supporters in Mary- land expect him to come there to deliver some campaign speeches be- fore the May 6 primary, however. Senator Taft has visited the State, speaking at a chamber of commerce meeting and at a meeting of Young Republicans. This was the last part of February. In Maryland, if only one candi- date files in the presidential pref- erence primary, the voters hat the opportunity to vote for an un. (S8ee DEWEY, Page A-3) J