Evening Star Newspaper, April 25, 1940, Page 4

House Opens Debate On Wage-Hour Law Changes Today Administration Pushes Bill to Clarify License Power of President Br the Associated Press. Widespread confusion surrounded the start of House debate today on complicated proposals to exempt certain white collar and agricultural workers from the wage-hour law. So many factors were involved that neither pr@nu of famend- ments nor those' o prefer the law In its present form would guess what the outcome might be. A final vote probably will be taken tomorrow night or Saturday. There was & possibility that the House might even refuse to take up the question, by rejecting strict par- liamentary procedure governing debate. Before disposing of the wage-hour issue, the administration was anxious to obtain quick passage of a bill clarifying the President's power to require licenses for trans- actions in foreign-owned securities. Majority Leader Barkley hoped to put it through the Senate in 10| minutes this afternoon and House | leaders agreed to sandwich it into | their program. Attorneys Question Order. The bill was submitted after cer- tain New York attorneys ques- tioned President Roosevelt's execu- tive order freezing the assets of Danish and Norwegian citizens in the United States And requiring li- censes for further transactions in- volving them. The President took the action after Germany invaded Scandinavia. The principal uncertainty in the wage-hour fight centered on two bills to define agricultural opera- tions which would be exempted from the law. At present exemptions ap- ply to operations carried on in the “area of production,” as defined by the wage-hour administrator. ‘The House Labor Committee pro- posed partial exemption from the hour standards for 16 operations not necessarily performed on the farm— such as vegetable canning. Repre- | sentative Barden, Democrat, of | North Carolina sponsored another | amendment which would exempt | these same general occupations from both the wage and hour provisions. ‘Would Exempt “White Collars.” Both bills would exempt white col- lar workers receiving more than | $150 or $200 a month, along with all employes in Puerto Rico and thei' Virgin Islands. A third bill, by Representative Ramspeck, Democrat, of Georgia omits amendments relat- ing to farm operations, but otherwise | corresponds to the other two meas- ures. } The law currently requires a min- | imum wage of 30 cents an hour and | a maximum work-week of 42 hours for employes in interstate commerce. Time and a half payment is re- quired for work in excess of 42 hours. | The Wage-Hour Administration | has said that about 256,000 workers in covered industries would be ex- empt from wage standards under the Ramspeck bill, 273,000 under the Labor Committee’s proposals and 1,183,000 under Representative Bar- den’s bill. About 969,000 Exempt. About 969,000 workers now are ex- empt from the hour standards. Officials estimate that 1,181,000 would be exempt under the Ram- speck bill, 1,433,000 under the Labor Committee bill and 1,957,400 under the Barden measure. Many farmers and their organiza- tions have indorsed the Barden amendments on the ground that the | processors of their crops should be | exempt, lest their own marketing | costs be increased. But Chairman Norton of the La- bor Committee described the Barden bill as a “cheat” and declared that it would mean little to the farmers. She and other administration sup- porters have contended that Repre- sentative Barden's proposals would exempt from the law manufacturing industries that Congress intended to include. Unions Ordered fo Submit Mexican Oil Program By the Associated Press. MEXICO CITY, April 25.—Presi- dent Cardenas, Seeking a more ef- ficient operation of the oil industry which he expropriated from foreign companies in 1938, has presented an ultimatum to the Petroleum Work- ers’ Union to submit a reorganization plan for the industry within 12 days, responsible sources said today. The President told the union to draft its own plan after union lead- ers had advised him the rank and file was opposed to the 14-point re- organization program which Car- denas himself proposed last month and which would require dismissal of nearly 4,000 of the industry’s 18,000 workers along with reduction of wages and institution of work- ing conditions inferior to those pre- vailing now. ‘The government-controlled indus- try, organized after President Car- denas expropriated 17 American, British and Netherlands oil com- panies, has been operating at an an- nual deficit of at least 22,000,000 pesos (about $4,400,000). Spokesmen for the powerful Pe- troleum Workers’ Union said they ‘would submit a program to the Pres- ident, but would not sacrifice gains made in their long struggle with the foreign companies. Possibility of a major confiict was seen in some quarters as a result of the apparently adamant stands of the union and Cardenas. Confession of Two Men Frees Pair in Robbery Instead of facing a jury #h con- nection with the robbery of & gaso- line station, two colored men, in Jail since March 24, enjoyed unex- pected freedom today. The accused men, John K. Stewart, 28, and.Leon M. Smith, 20, ‘were indicted on a charge of holding up a filling station at 70 H street N.W,, March 24. One victim “posi- tively identified” them as the bandits six hours after the robbery. But on the eve of their trial before Justice F. Dickinson Letts in Dis- trict Court, Assistant United States Attorney John- W. Jackson an- nounced, two other suspects held by the police confessed to this rob- bery and about 24 others. These prisoners took police to the scene of this and various other holdups. ) | ready THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, lll-Equipped British Troops Cut Down by Nazi Force (Continued From First Page.) 4 British officers maintained a remarkable calm. But this was a small military machine with vital cogs missing. Able to bomb at will, the Germans had seriously disrupted the organization of the little British expeditionary vanguard in its four days at the front. Later, Norwegian officers told us that the British had confessed that their expedition’s utter lack of anti-airguns and field artillery remained completely bewildering and inexplicable to them. Re- peatedly, I was informed that nearly 1,500 British troops were dis- embarked at Namsos without a single anti-airgun to set up and de- fend the landing against German bombers. Nazi planes struck at the moment and one bomb missed the transport ship Empress of Australia by only 20 yards. English soldiers said they had believed that several thousand more troops were following them immediate- ly. Two battalions sped southward to stop the German advance, driving up from Aasen, but they had received no British reinforce- afternoon, that is. None of them had seen a French soldier. I drove north, 50 miles or more, almost to Namsos, but was turned back without finding any trace of French troops. French Guns May Yet Save British. On Tuesday afternoon, while struggling to obtain piecemeal transportation back toward the Swedish border, we met one man who said he had just seen several thousand French soldiers near another small port. He also reported that three British transport ships had come on Monday night. If this report is accurate, the arrival of large Anglo-French reinforcements may save the shat- tered British advance guard from disaster. I was assured that the French were well supplied with anti-airguns. Thus, French guns may yet save the two decimated British battalions who came to save the Norwegians. * But the roads in this section of Norway are now oceans of mud from the spring thaw. The transportation of large allied reinforee- ments down to the front area will require several days at least, perhaps considerably longer. These rutted, narrow, mud-filled roads serve as cruel accomplices to the German aviators, who can bomb with impunity. German planes are not yet numerous, and fly singly or in twos or threes. Forty British fighters at present could probably clear the skies over the entire allied-Norwegian fighting zones and all vital sections of their rear guard north of Trondheim. The British troops are praying that these fighters will arrive soon and before it is toc late. Following the British defeat near Vist, we were told that | Norwegian troops had been compelled to take over virtually all of | the north front above Trondheim. The Norwegians now have | much larger forces than has generally been supposed. The Ger- | mans are reported to have about 1,800 men in the north drive, but their airplanes and artillery have been terribly important and | decisive factors up to the present. Mg‘;:{g ;’;“%fl,‘,f,,fi;’,“’ ‘:i:ea,c:"l?:;;' | forces on the spot, from just below initiative is now held by alert, ag- Namsos down to the front of Steink- gressive and first-class German |Jer —that devastated, blackened troops. It is guaranteed by Nazi war tt)‘z‘::pv which the Germans now yi constantl; i Norwegian sector and which bomb | I struggled for 48 desperate their objective as easily as a crack | hours to cover approximately 100 marksman picks off clay pigeons. | Miles—from Steinkjer up to Forma- | foss, and then over the blizzard- Three times in one day German | piocked pass to the Swedish fron- planes roared over my head at only | yior ot Gaeddede. 500 or 600 feet of altitude and twice | “'ryo" gwedish photographer, Me- I was in buildings where key Nor- /o der, and myself had to hitch- wegian commands were located | I|hike on trucks and Red Cross am- thought the Nazis' espionage sé*v-|yyjances. We hired cars twice, which | ice—with its formidable network| had to be abandoned because only throughout ~Scandinavia—had al-| the heaviest trucks would plow betrayed these locations. | through the worst inferno of mud | Providentially, this had not hap-|and slush I had ever seen. On one pened and no bombs were dropped. | stretch of road it required nearly So these two Norwegian control | four hours to cover exactly 15 miles. | centers escaped. But without the | Sometimes we spent hours searching allied aircraft and anti-air guns,|for any kind of transportation. At such miracles cannot endure for]the top of the mountain pass we | long. | walked nearly 10 miles through the This is merely an illustration or(smw- | the tremendous initiative which has| Finally, together with the Co- | been handed to the Germans north{ lumbia Broadcasting System'’s Mnyi of Trondheim by one of the|Betty Wason—who had fought her costliest and most inexplicable mil-| way through alone as far as itary bungles in modern British his- | Permafoss and Grong, we walked tory. It has been handed to them | nearly 10 miles through the snow- by those high British authorities who | drifts on the mountain crest. At thrust 1500 young territorials into |last a Norwegian shertff rescued us the snow and mud below Namsos 10 |and drove us to the frontier on days ago, without a single anti-|Wednesday night. For six hours el air gun or a single piece of artillery. |rode on to Oestersund. I had had | On Tuesday, exactly two weeks after | tWo meals in three days and nothing | Germany invaded Norway, the|but water and a chocolate bar for | British have less men in action on | the last 24 hours. During two nights | this front than the Nazis landed in | I had grabbed snatches of sleep on | Oslo by air within the space of | the kitchen floors in farmhouses. eight hours on April 9. In 93 hours I had had less than ments in the 8 or 10 days they had been in Norway—up to Monday | X | was probably at Namsos. Everything | | was still in a state of flux, he said. Disastrous Lack of Organization. These are facts, learned and re- affirmed from the lips of British officers and soldiers. These are still facts, whatever the truth may be about reports of large British forces having landed somewhere between Trondheim and Bergen to the south. Even though three British transports may have entered Namsos Fjord late Monday afternoon, and even though Several thousand French troops are said to be somewhere in that vicinity, the fact remains that the British end of this expedition has started with a disastrous lack of organiza- tion and lack of equipment. As a result, the confidence of No | wegian Army officers in the British | Army and air force has been most seriously shattered and in some | cases completely destroyed. Only | the most energetic kind of British intervention—and immediate in- | tervention—can possibly restore the confidence of Norwegian officers on this battered, mud-clogged front. It | seems now that the allies cannot hope to capture Trondheim from the north within a month or much longer. As to what they can do from the south and by sea, I have no first-hand evidence—and these dispatches are based entirely upon information obtained from mem- bers of the British and Norwegian Ch ‘Gs MEATS COST LESS eight hours of sleep. This was the | toughest physical nightmare I have | ever experienced. It still seems as | if four days and nights had been at | least two weeks long. Started With 3 Swedes. But what a fantastic series of events and revelations. Melander and I were accompanied at the out- set by three Swedish journalists. As soon as they heard about the Ger- mans’ aerial destruction of Namsos and Steinkjer the three Swedes talked wildly about how we would all be machine-gunned as soon as day- light came. They took over our two e AN bR for LATEST NEWS The Night Final Star, containing the latest news of the day during these dramatic times, is de- livered every evening throughout the city and suburbs between 6 P.M. and 7 P.M. Telephone National 5000 for immediate delivery. We Sell U, S. Government Inspected Meats jc@go - MARKET CO. 606 9th St. N.W. 3146 M St. N.W. PHONE NAT. 2939 Pork Sausage MICH. 2023 Country S wen | 136 Ground Beef Smoked Hams S NI alay, '2& Best Country Roit Large Franks Chuck Roast Tender l 3‘# Juicy Ib. Center |'1E Cuts Ib. BUTTER Small Smoked Cured By the ' 1# Fresh Eggs ‘A meal without most s & meal incomplete Extra Whole or Shank Half Ib. 2 Special doz. 'sc cars and dashed back up the moun. tains. Nore of them had come within 30 miles of the front and none had got near enough to see a single Brit- ish soldier. Thanks to their plight, your correspondent is the only news- paperman to report these facts to the outside world. I went a long way round to get into the Namsos sector, north of Trondheim. I was fearful that the allies’ expeditionary forces might capture Trondheim before I could get there. If they did and thereby opened up the Swedish frontier at Storlien, then & score of correspond- ents who were waiting there would beat me to the scene. But I wanted to be the first newspaperman to join the Anglo-French forces. If they were held up somewhere; somehow, I might get there, and my heart was set on going into Trondheim with the British and French—something which would be impossible, in any ev;lnt, if I remained waiting at Stor- ein, The three Swedish journalists and Melander, the photographer, had the same idea. So we rode in to- gether over the mountain road which had only been opened up two days before after being blocked all winter. We rode for hours without seeing a single house and our car rammed and slid along through nar- Tow corridors of snow which was often 12-15 feet high on both sides. It was midnight before we got down the twisting valley to Formofoss. Expected to Find 15,000, All the way I was anticipating reporting to British and French headquarters and to the commander of at least one full division of 15,000 men. In fact, it was reported that the allies had landed three divisions in Namos Fjord. On the strength of these reports and British radio an- nouncements, I confidently expected to be filing dispatches out of Trond- heim within a week. That was Sunday night—a long time ago. A 2 o'clock Monday morning my Swedish companions went off with our car. Virtually every motor vehicle is requisitioned for military purposes in the Norwegian govern- mental territory. By great luck I foufid a car and in three hours had reached the Nor- wegian brigade headquarters from which a British major was about to leave. He said I had better present my credentials to Gen. Carton de Wiart, commander of the B. E. F,, north of Trondheim, but the general So we turned around and drove north. Near Overhalla, a Norweg- ian police officer said that there was no possibility of my getting to Namsos that day, and we had to turn back. Norwegian soldiers guarded the roads at intervals, but we saw no trucks .of British or French soldiers. At Grong, which rumor had painted as badly bombed on Sunday, we found no more dam- age than a burned gasoline station and broken window panes—not even a visible bomb hole in or around the | tow: Two German planes, both flying alone, passed over in the direction of Namsos That was all until we got well south again on the main road which runs along the western shore of Lake Snasa. We had left Snasa village only 20 minutes when two planes dropped six bombs there. They were big ones and reverberated heavily. "(Constantine Brown writes on British strategy in Norway on Page A-13.) Nazis Say Terboven’s Tenure Is Limited By the Associated Press. . OSLO, April 25—German authori- ties asserted today that the appoint- ment of Josef Terboven by Adolf | Hitler as commissioner for the Ger- | man-occupied area of Norway would be limited to the period of occu- | pation. | They said it did not mean either that Norway | protectorate or Norway's constitu- tion had been changea | Terboven, they explained, will act | as an intermediary between Ger- | many and the Norwegian Adminis- trative Commission in Oslo headed: by Ingolf Elster Christensen as long | as regular diplomatic relations are ! broken. ss CAN’T BUY A FINER MAN’S HAT y had become a German | = D. C, THURSDAY, U. . Refugees Brave Air Raids, Blizzard In Fleeing Oslo Party Took Shelter in Tunnel Where American Officer Was Killed By the Associated Press. STOCKHOLM, April 25.—Ending a 12-day struggle through German air raids and the deep snows of Nor- wegian mountains by car, truck, sled and afoot, a party of American war-zone refugees from the United States Legation in German-occupied Oslo arrived here yesterday. The party was in charge of the United States naval attache at Oslo, Lt. Comdr. Ole O. Hagen. Before starting to safety with the party of men, women and children, the attache had obtained a promise from the Germans not to bomb Sjos- Joen, where the women were quar- tered, until after they had left. However, the party encountered numerous air raids along the route, and once took shelter in the same railway tunnel at Dombas, Nor- wegian railway junction point, in which Capt. Robert M. Losey, 31, as- sistant military attache at Stock- holm, was killed the next day, Sun- day, during a German ‘air raid. The officer’s body is expected here today. Auto Obtained Through Police. Deciding to move the party on April 12, Lt. Comdr. Hagen left Oslo by a car obtained through the police with a consulate clerk as the driver. An account of his struggle was told in a prosaically-titled “Bulletin No. Four” issued by Frederick A. Sterling, United States Minister to Sweden. The United States Minister to Norway, Mrs. Florence Jaffray Har- riman, arrived last night. She plans to remain here until the situation is cleared. With a pass through the lines and | six United States flags, the party | started from Oslo at 1 p.m. April 12, but was forced to return and make | a detour because of a broken bridge. Three hours later the caravan was ditched in 5 feet of snow. j Nine Norwegians finally rescued the refugees at 11 p.m. -and they | spent the night at a hotel in Haga, a small town about 30 miles north- east of Oslo. Halted by Wrecked Bridge. On the next day, April 13, the party made fairly good time, reach- ing Ringsaker, about 60 miles north of Haga, before being halted by a | wrecked bridge. There the refugees abandoned | their cars and walked two hours, | | carrying suitcases and two United States flags. Then they obtained | | & truck ride. Subsequently they ob- | | tained cars at Lillehammer and reached Sjosjoen on April 15, “The commander realized they had to return to Lillehammer if they ever got the road clear,” the minister's story related. “He finally got a horse sled for 5 miles to a village where he pro- cured an automobile to go to Lille- hammer. He reached Lillehammer | at 5:30 p.m.,, contacted military thorities and asked for help. * * * There had been & heavy blizzard all day long. “There were air alarms about every two hours throughout the day. The storm continued. He tried to get a mechanic to fix up the cars (two of the three which the party had at Sjosjoen would not start * * *) He arranged for a mechanic about 10 am. Thursday to drive within 5 miles of Sjosjoen. Two Sleds Hired. “Then he hired two sleds with two horses and four men with shov- els. The military plow had started FIRE ESCAPES FRED S. GICHNER IRON WORKS, INC. RE. 2420 THAN 4 55 DOBBS gelim it or not, a fine five-dollar Dobbs hat for men is being made today...and itisa genuine Dobbs! All the Dobbs style and good looks. Everything the Dobbs name stands for. K Sidney West, nc 14m « G " EUGENE C. GOTT, President APRIL 25 1940. work one hour previously, rescue party got to Sjosjoen The cars were fixed and the Amer- icans left Sjosjoen about 4 pm.* ** With the aid of horses and shovels they finally reached Lillthammer at 7pm. “He learned that passage was blocked at Elverum by a destroyed bridge. They adopted a northern route, leaving Lillehammer at 11 a.m, April 19, flying American flags from their fenders and bigger ones over the tops of the cars. That night they spent at farmhouses along the way.” The next day it was necessary to proceed by train, and while waiting -at Dombas Station the party took refuge in a tunnel. From there the Americans traveled to Brekken; then took a bus to Sjallnas, reaching Sweden with “the entire party in excellent shape apart from being exhausted from the arduous jour- ney.” “I knew the area was becoming a dangerous fighting sector so I forced the party to keep going although all were dog tired,” Comdr. Hagen recounted last night as he relaxed with his pipe in the sitting room of the family hotel where the party is staying. “Yes, we wanted to stop and rest,” put in Mrs. Thormond O. Klath of Brooklyn, N. Y., wife of the lega- tion's commercial attache. “but he made us keep on. In view of the fighting we know why now.” Blizzards Called Terrible. Comely Mrs. Klath, complaining only over the fact that she’d had to leave most of her clothes in Oslo, said she probably would return to the United States shortly to place her 10-year-old daughter, Carolyn, in school. Her husband is continu- ing on the job in Oslo. “The trip was horrible and the blizzards were terrible,” added Mrs, Klath, who also had to leave Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland. “It was especially hard on the children. One of them had the mumps, with a resultant throat in- fection. He's in the hospital now and will be all right. “Another had tonsilitis and we wrapped the two of them in blan- kets. It's a wonder they made it.” More Canadian Troops Arrive in Britain By the Associated Press. LONDON, April 25.—Arrival at a northwest port of “a further con- tingent of Canadians” and the first military group from Newfoundland was announced today. The Newfoundlanders were in civilian clothes and many of them tossed their hats into the water as their ship eased into her berth. The | Canadians were in uniform. Canadian strength already in Britain—a division and an air unit— numbers about 20,000 men. The announcement of the new arrivals said they reached an un- disclosed port where Dominions Secretary Anthony Eden extended the welcome to “the first contingent, a large number, of Newfoundlanders who have volunteered for service with the royal artillery.” Taylor Confers at Vatican VATICAN CITY, April 25 (#)— Myron C. Taylor, president Roose- | velt's special envoy to the Vatican, spent an hour today with Luigi Cardinal Maglione; papal seeretary of state, presumably in discussion of the war situation. Feerniture Co. 7th and ESts. S. W. | [ | Yugoslavs See Relations With Russia Resumed By the Associated Press, BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, April 25. —Vice Premier Valadimir Machek said yesterday the impending trade treaty between Soviet Russia and ‘Yugoslavia would oe followed by re- sumption of diplomatic relations be- tween the two countries. There have been no sucn relations since the Russian revolution. 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