Evening Star Newspaper, May 6, 1940, Page 1

Weather Forecast Cloudy and somewhat warmer, lowest temperature about 60 degrees tonight; tomorrow partly cloudy and cooler. Temperatures today—Highest, 82, at 2 pm.; lowest, 47, at 5:45 am. From the United States Weather Bureau report. Full details on Page A-2. Closipg.Nev Yesk Merkess—Sales, Page 18 88th YEAR. No. 35,0 69. ch ‘WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION Germans Begin 200-Mile Trek|WarExtension Up Rocky Coast to Aid Narvik:|ToSoutheast British Drive to Tighten Siege English Are North Of Mo, Nazis’ Starting Point By LOUIS P. LOCHNER, Associated Press Forelgn Correspondent. BERLIN, May 6.—Adolf Hitler today dispatched Alpine troops on a difficult 200-mile trek through al- most impassable mountains in an attempt to aid the besieged Nazis at Narvik, which has become known in Germany as Norway's “Alcazar.” | The Fuehrer's trusted mountain troops began their march from the neighborhood of the little Norweg- fan town of Mo, about 100 miles north of Namsos, and the terminal both of railway and normal automo- bile highways. Between Mo and| Narvik there is only a narrow coun- | try road, sometimes only a mere path, North of the Alpine detachment on the road to Narvik German scouts were reported to have spot- ted British units cut off from the main expeditionary force when the | allies abandoned the Norwegian port of Namsos last week. The British were seen in the re- gion between Mo and Bodoe, small | Norwegian coast town about 65| miles north of Mo. It was believed ! that they were attempting a forced march to join the pressure on Nar- vik. : Aim to Mop Up Unit. ‘The first objective of German troops on their way to Narvik would be to | mop up these detachments. After accomplishing this task, Bodoe it- self looms next as an important ob- Jective, authorized sources said. ‘The German air force seemed in-| tent upon breaking up consolidation of the British forces from the Trondheim front with those besieg- | ing Narvik. At Bodoe German forces were expected to lose no time in building an airport from which the | dreaded “Stukas” (German power diving planes) can operate. Some military experts are opti- mistic enough to believe the *Stukas” are able to polish off thi allied troops in the Narvik regios sufficiently to make unnecessary the continuance of the arduous Ger- man march across tough mountain territory. | Meanwhile, the German high com- mand reported that British artillery forces in the Narvik region had been strengthened but that no“more in- tense fighting had occurred in the sector. Claim Battleship Hit. Reporting further blows against the British Navy, the high com- mand said that “one enemy battle- ship” was hit by a heavy bomb off Narvik and that two German air- planes had captured a British sub- marine which was damaged by a| mine April 15 in the Kattegat. The reported bomb hit on a British battleship followed upon Britain’s official denial of Germany’s | claim Saturday that Nazi bombers had sunk a 30,000-ton British battle- ship and a heavy cruiser off Namsos on Friday. The German airmen blasting at the last allied foothold in Norway were reported to have blown up a| munitions dump as well as hit enother battleship. The Nazi report said that heavy #moke arising from the warship | showed the effect of the bomb. Evidently the battleship formed part of the naval cordon facing Narvik, Theories Are Upset. Hitler's orders to relieve the Nar- vik detachments, which have been under siege since shortly after the Germans went into Norway on April P, upset all theories thus far aired in informed circles. The Narvik Nazi forces have been | estimated in British and French re- ports at between 3,000 and 4,000 men. For weeks the German press in dealing with Narvik wrote of it as unimportant in the Norwegian de- velopments. In private talks sources?usually well informed intimated that Hitler would soon give orders to the bot- tled-up Germans in the ore port and its vicinity to retreat strategi- cally to the Swedish border if neces- sary and let themselves be interned in Sweden. Germany’s lack of eontrol of the airport which commands Narvik was given as one reason why the withdrawal would ensue as a stra- tegic necessity. } Even those persons in official cir- cles who believed the Germans could hold out at Narvik seem to have had no inkling of Hitler's plans to send re-enforcements by land. They counted on the efficacy of the German air force to drive British ships away with the coming of better weather, thus permitting re-enforcements to be sent by water. Narvik Nazi “Alcazar.” ‘The feeling that Narvik is be- coming the Nazi “Alcazar” was ex- pressed by Education Minister Bernhard Rust in an address to German youth. Spanish National- {sts withstood a 71-day siege in the Alcazar fortress at Toledo during the Spanish civil war and were rescued when Nationalist troops saptured the city. Hitler appears to have decided on solving the Narvik problem by sending troops by land in a man- ner mindful in its dramatic pos- sibilities of Hannibal's crossing the Alps. There is this difference, however: While the German troops are on this last bottleneck of 200 most difficuit miles, the Nazi- air force will be counted upon to protect them against possible enemy sur- prises. The high command’s laconic state- ment in its communique that “Our troops started to advance northward from Grong,” eastward of the port of Namsos, which was abandoned (See BERLIN, Page A-3) + Nazis Determined to Shatter Allied Blockade at All Costs Stowe Declares Battle for Narvik May Be a Decisive Factor of War By LELAND STOWE, Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent. STOCKHOLM, May 6.— Ger- many’s fleet access to North At- lantic' trade and a shattering blow to the allies’ sea blockade are fur- ther Adolf Hitler’s final objectives behind the swiftly intensifying bat- tle for the strategic seaport of Nar- vik, just above 68 degrees lattitude, North. A constant stream of Nazi airplanes is now reported speeding northward from Trondheim. This can only mean that Berlin is de- termined to fight desperately to keep Narvik out of British and French hands, and that the Ger- mans see an unprecedented oppor- tunity of breaking through the allies’ Atlantic blockade at last. Even more than in Southern and Central Norway, the struggle for Narvik is certain to resolve into a bitter contest between sea power and air power. Both south and |north of Trondheim, German avi- ation seriously disconcerted or neu- tralized powerful units of the Anglo- French fleet. At Narvik, it seems probable that N; supremacy of the air will challénge Great Britain's supremacy of the sea as never be- fore. The outcome may prove of great historical importance. On the basis of the Norwegian cam- paign, to date, it appears that the Germans have definite advantages in defending Narvik and that the scales are weighted considerably in their favor. The allies’ Atlantic blockade fs e Counter-Attack Wilis New Nazi Thrust in West, French Report Both Sides Suffer Losses As Assault by 300 Reich Troops Is Crumpled y the Associated Press. PARIS, May 6.—A new German thrust on the western front crumpled n»efore a sharp counter-attack by advance French units during fight- ing for the third successive night in the Saar sector, the French high | ommand announced today. Both sides suffered losses, a War Ministry spokesman acknowledged. He described French casualties as “slight,” but said details were lack- ing as the fighting was still going on. French military spokesmen said about 300 Nazis moved to the at- tack through the rugged No Man'’s| Land after sharp exchanges of fire between artillery. They said that the attackers did not succeed in penetrating between the French outposts éast of the Maginot line as they had the night before and were forced to withdraw after suffering losses. The fighting in the strategic Saar sector in the center of the 100-mile front between the Moselle and Rhine Rivers began just before dawn Saturday when two German companies launched an assault on advance French positions under cover of an artillery barrage. Repulsed, the Germans came over in greater numbers on Sunday to encircle three French outposts only to be beaten back by French re- serve units from the rear, French | reported. The War Committee of the French cabinet met with President Albert | Lebrun at the Elysee Palace today. The five-man “inner cabinet” in- cludes Premier Paul Reynaud, Vice | Premier Camille Chautemps, Min- ister of National Defense Edouard Daladier, Finance Minister Lucien Lamoureux and Georges Mandel, Minister of Colonies. Earlier M. Reynaud conferred with Paul Naggiar, Ambassador to Moscow, who has been in Paris, officially on “sick leave,” since Sep- tember., President Due to Leave Hyde Park Late Today By the Associated Press. HYDE PARK, N. Y., May 6— President Roosevelt was expected to leave Hyde Park late this afternoon for Washington. The President came up from the Capital to spend a quiet week end in the country, Bullertfiifin The Securities Commission or- dered hearings today to deter- “mine whether the North Ameri- can Co. and Union Electric Co. of Missouri had made illegal political contributions. The commission said its in- vestigators had obtained infor- mation indicating that the companies had spent sums on politics which were not shown on the books of the companies as reported to the commission. Whelchel Acquitted In Georgia of Postal Job Sale Charges County Commissioner, Accused as Go-Between, Also Exonerated By the Associated Pre- GAINESVILLE, Ga, May 6— Representative Whelchel, Democrat, of Georgia, was acquitted in Federal Court today of charges that he con- { spired to sell postal appointments. A jury, which had considered the case since 6 p.m. Saturday, returned Marvin Underwood at 8:45 o'clock | this morning. { The verdict also freed Mr. Whel- | chel's co-defendant, County Com- | missioner H. Grady Jones, who was accused by the Government as go- between in the alleged job sales. Scarcely 60 persons were in the court room when the jury filed in to return the verdict. The Federal prosecutors were headed by Assistant Attorney Gen- eral O. John Rogge, who directed the recent investigation into Louisi- ana politics, and District Attorney Lawrence Camp. 2 Commenting on the verdict, Mr. Rogge said: “The Government can do no more than develop the facts and present them to a-jury that represents the people. Their decision is final, since the Government has no right of appeal. this case to deter the continued in- | being investigated.” | Mr. Whelchel said as he left the | court: “I expected to be acquitted be- cause I had faith in the fairness of the people of Georgia.” The acquittal verdict was re- | turned on five counts in the princi- pal indictment, which had’ accused Mr. Whelchel and Mr. Jones of con- spiracy to sell appointments, and on a sixth count in a separate indict- ment which charged Mr. Whelchel alone with. conspiracy. In one indictment of five counts Mr. Whelchel was charged with re- ceiving $1,100 each from Hulon Hol- comb and Paul Grogan for appoint- ment as rural carriers at Ball Ground, Ga. Thermomefer Rises (To High of 82 Degrees A continuance of spring weather— with the temperature going to 82 at 2 o'clock—was assured Wash- ingtonians today and tomorrow after near-record crowds jammed public parks here yesterday in & typical May day. The forecast was cloudy and sorhe- what warmer today, with tomorrow partly cloudy and cooler. Zoo officials estimated 40,000 per- sons visited the park yesterday, while the double cherry blossoms “{around Haing Point lured 50,000 to East Potomac Park. Numerous pleasure craft were seen on the Potomac River. P The double blossoms, the National Capital Parks office said today, will remkaln through the middle of this week. Summary of ge. | Mrs. Roosevelt urges “drastic” action Serial Story B-13 Society --B-3 Sports __A-14-16 ‘Woman’s Page ....B-12 Comics _B-16-17 Editorials __A-10 Finapce _._A-17 Lost, Found B-13 Obituary ..A-12 Foreign Nazis begin 200-mile land trek to save Narvik. Page A-1 Southeastern Europe gripped by fear of war spread. Page A-1 Eliot holds plane superiority im- proved. Page A-4 National Police and C. C. C. youths seek outo of girl’s slayer. Page A-2 Army sets stage for largest peace- time maneuvers. Page A-6 Washington and Vicinity Voters cast ballots in nearby county primaries. Page A-1 Directed not guilty verdict returned in teamsters’ case. Page A-1 A Today's Star to help institutions. Page A-1 Migrants an the increase, Secretary Perkins tells committee. Page A-2 D. C. Committee fails to agree on compensation bill. Page B-1 D. C. ofmcial killed, unidentified woman hurt in trafic. Page B-1 Editorial and Comment This and That. Answers to Questions. Letters to The Star. David ‘Lawrence.- Alsop and Kintner. Frederic Willlam Wile. Constantine Brown. Charles G. Ross, Miscellany Vital Statistics. Nature’s Children, the verdict to District Judge E.| “We cannot allow the verdict in | vestigation of the complaints now | Europe Looms Turks Are Reported Massing on Greek And Bulgar Borders By EDWARD KENNEDY, Associated Press Foreign Correspondent. WUDAPEST, May 6.—Extension of the war to Southeastern Europe seemed more imminent today than at any time since the first days of the conflict. Contributing to the belief of many diplomats that a crisis may be reached this week were the follow- ing developments, officially uncon- firmed in some cases but given gen- eral credence: 1. Turkish troops were reported massing along the Greek and Bul- garian frontiers. 2. German troop concentrations were noted near the Yugoslav and Hungarian frontiers, as well as the shipment of Nazi tanks and war materials into Eastern Slovakia, a Reich protectorate. 3. Italian military activity near the Yugoslav frontier and the Dodecanese Islands. Reds in Poland Reinforced. 4. Appearance of Russian rein- forcements in former Poland near the border of Ruthenia, which Hungary obtained in the final dis- | memberment of Czecho-Slovakia. (Authoritative Soviet Russian | quarters in MoScow denied the reports that Russia had massed divisions opposite Ruthenia.) 5. Publication of German. reports | that the allies are about to land | troops in Salonika, Greece. (In London, official British sources said there is “absolutely no truth” to reports that the British intend to march troops through Greece.) 6. The presence in the Aegean Sea of units of an allied battle| fleet, now based at Alexandria. 7. A new spy scare in Hungary, re- sulting in the arrest of 200 persons suspected of working for both | France and Russia. Two Border Incidents. Two border incidents involving Italian and Yugoslav forces—both a week ago—and the heavy rein- forcement of Italian troops on the ! Yugoslav frontier were reported in | Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. Yugoslav | military quarters estimated that Italy now has more than 300,000 men massed north of Fiume. One Italian soldier was killed and three seriously wounded when a Fascist ‘patrol attempted to disarm a Yugoslav sergeant on Yugoslav territory near Fiume, Yugoslavs as- sérted. The Itallans told a mixed commission which placed responsi- bility on them that they thought the sergeant was on Italian soil. In the second reported incident Yugoslav anti-aircraft batteries shot down an Italian plane and charged that its pilot, who drowned, had been photographing defense works. Uneasiness Manifest. Uneasiness was manifest through- out the southeastern capitals, in a state of high tension for weeks past, and many diplomats, including United States officials, sent pessi- mistic reports to their governments. Belgrade verged on a panic for a short time.yesterday following a ra- dio announcement that removal of | civilians from the city had been recommended by the government. Fears were allayed, however, when it was a explained that the an- ‘houncement was a misleading re- broadcast of a lecture on air raid precautions. Struggle Over Bulgaria. Germany and Britain meanwhile were reported engaged in g diplo- matic struggle to obtain assurances of Bulgarian support in event of trouble in the Southeast. Both Dr. Karl Clodious, German economic expert, and Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, British Am- bassador to Turkey, were known to have conferred with government of- ficials in Sofia. The nature of Dr. Clodius’ pro- posals was unknown, but Sir Hughe was understood to have made Bul- e Foening ~ TWoNpeR WHY L) ToaT SERRAIL IN 1938 [ WAS THIRE) tar WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, MAY 6, 1940 —THIRTY-EIGHT PAGES. K ‘From Press to Home Within the Hour’ Most people in Washington have The Star delivered to their homes every evening and Sunday morning. (®) Means Associated Press. THREE CENTS. Mrs. Roosevelt Urges ‘Drastic” Action on \D. C. Insfitutions Becomes Mor:e Convinced | Suffrage Is Essential Here, She Says Mrs. Roosevelt today urged “dras- tic measures” to bring the District's “long-neglected” institutions up to date and added that the further| she looks, the more she is convinced that suffrage is essential for the | | District. She told her press conference too much of the money spent here goes for public buildings which visttors | can see and admire, instead of for the city's institutions. | “Washington is such a beautiful city,” she declared. “That's why it is so pathetic that things which/ deal with human beings are so de- plorable.” Conditions of District institutions, she asserted, have been getting| worse over a long period of years and now have reached a state which will require a large capital ex-| penditure before they are com-| pletely remedied. Compared With States. She compared District institu- tions with those in the States after | the World War. Building during | the war had been neglected, she said, so that when people looked around after the war they found horrible conditions, lack of facili- | ties and general overcrowding. It required a large npproprlanoni in almost every State to make up for what had been neglected during | the war. “The situation here is exactly| analogous,” she declared. “You don’t touch anything which isn’t the result of long neglect.” She used as an example the fact that seven girls were confined in cells at the National Training School at the time of the fire last week. She said she had never heard of more than two girls in the cells and indicated that lack of funds caused the discontent which sent the girls into confinement. Drastic measures will have to be faced and taken jointly by Congress and the people of Washington before conditions are improved here, shé declared. / Sense of Responsibility. It was in this connection that she said she had become convinced that the District should have a vote to give citizens of the District a sense of responsibility for their institu- tions. Mrs. Roosevelt placed part of the responsibility for the neglect of Dis- (See BUDAPEST, Page A-8) (See MRS. ROOSEVELT, Page A-3.) Judge Fay L. Bentley Renamed For Another Six-Year Term Juvenile Court Nomination Goes to Senate Committee Miss Fay L. Bentley today was reappointed to another six-year term as judge of the Juvenile Court for the Disrtict by President Roose- velt, who submitted her name to the Senate for confirmation. Shortly after the nomination of Judge Bentley reached the Senate Chairman Ashurst of the Judiciary Committee referred it to the follow- ing subcommittee: Senators King, Democrat, of Utah; McCarran, Democrat, of Nevada, and Austin, Republican, of Vermont, Miss' Bentley first was appointed judge of the Juvenile Court October 25, 1933, by President Roosevelt. She had been director of school at- tendance and work permits of the Board of Education. The appoint- ment caused a contretemps, because her predecessor, Judge Katherine Sellers, stated her refusal to resign until Miss Bentley had been con- firmed by the Senate. The new judge planned to take the oath of office at once. She worked successfully for a change in the status of her own court. June 1, 1938, the”court lost its status as a criminal tribunal and became a place in which children who misbehave are given informal hearings, Jurisdiction was extended to include cases of all boys and girls 18] up to the age of 18 years. B-17 Judge Bentley was born in Bloom- | Edueation. 2 & JUDGE BENTLEY. —Underwood & Underwood. ington, Ill, and studied social work at the University of Chicago and under the late Jane Addams. She came to Washington in 1920 as an employe of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, where she investigated taxes paid on goods manufactured by child labor during the short period before the Child Labor Act was declared unconstitutional. Prom there she moved to the Children’s Bureau, Labor - ment, and in 1925 to the Board of A ; Schwellenbach || Appointed to U.S. Bench | President Roosevelt nominned‘ Senator Lewis B. Schwellenbach, | Democrat, of Washington today to | be United States district judge for the eastern district of Washington. | The appointment fills a judgeship | that has been vacant since last| September and came after five| months of reports that the junior Washington Senator had been se- lected for the post. Direcledvgid 0f Not Guilty Issued In Teamsters’ Case Government Failed to Show Criminal Intent, Judge Letts Rules BACKGROUND— Millions of doilars’ worth of Government building was tied up here tn summer and jall of 1939 by local teamsters’ strike in pro- test of failure of concrete-mizer truck drivers to transfer member- ship from engineers’ union. In October teamsters’ local and five union officials were indicted for anti-trust violation after Justice Department investigation de- scribed as part of Nation-wide probe of construction industry. Holding the Government had failed to show any criminal intent | on the part of four members of | the Teamsters’ Union charged with | conspiring to tie up building opera- tions in Washington last fall, Jus- tice F. Dickinson Letts today in| District Court granted a defense motion for a directed verdict of not guilty. Justice Letts stressed he was ap- proaching the case on ‘“‘elementary” grounds and was not ruling on the controverted subject of whether labor i subject to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, under which the prosecution was instituted. And, as James Haynes, special { assistant to the Attorney General, pointed out, Justice Letts did not rule on the right of labor to strike in purely jurisdictional disputes be- tween unions. The Government had contended that the strike of team- sters that led to indictment of the union leaders was the result of a jurisdictional quarrel between two ' A.F. of L. unions—the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the International Union of Operating | Engineers—and not, as the defense asserted, the result of efforts to ob- tain higher wages or better working conditions. Judge Upholds Defendants. Justice Letts asserted that, from the evidence presented in the case, the defendants had reasonable grounds to believe that the team- sters’ union and not the engineers’ union had jurisdiction with employes of the building concerns involved in the strike, and that the defend- ants were “wholly justified in the | Bethesda, Silver Spring, Takoma (See TEAMSTERS, Page A-4.) Vofers Flock fo Polls In Nearby Counties’ Primary Confests | Radcliffe-Bruce Race | And Johnson's Bid for | House Seat Hold Interest (Pictures on Page A-4.) By JACK ALLEN. { Favorable weather and brisk bat- | tles all along the political front sent Maryland’s electorate swarming to the polls for the congressional | primary contests today. In the suburbs close to Washing- ton many hurried to the voting places before leaving for work this morning. | Hundreds employed in Federal de- partments and local establishments planned to rush home late this afternoon and visit the polls in| Montgomery, Prince Georges and | other nearby counties. The heaviest voting in these areas was being carried on in the densely populated areas along the fringes of the District, especially Chevy Chase, Park, Hyattsville, and Riverdale. In Takoma Park, where a spirited town election also is in progress, more than 500 voters had cast their ballots less than a few hours after the polls opened. It was reported that some of the | workers at the Takoma polls re- | quested residents to vote first in the | town election and then, if they had | time, to vote in the primaries. Apparently a number followed this | course for there were more votes cast in the municipal election than in the congressional contests. . Light Ballot in Rural Areas. Balloting in the more rural sectors i was comparatively light, but steady, and it appeared that a good vote would be cast in these districts, too. At Annapolis Gov. O’Conor was in an optimistic mood as he and Mrs. | O’Conor cast their ballots. | “I naturally feel optimistic,” the Governor said after he had marked his ballot. From reports I received from all over the State I am con- fident that Howard Bruce will be nominated for United States Sen- ator.” “The same goes for Representa- tive Sasscer. His renomination is a foregone conclusion.” Election workers said a light vote was being cast in the Democratic primary while there appeared to be little local interest in the Repub- lican fight. Principal interest in the primaries has been stirred by the Democratic (See ELECTIONS, Page A-4.) Swedish-Nazi Notes Cited BERLIN, May 6 (».—DNB, official German news agency, an- nounced today the exchange of letters between Adolf Hitler and King Gustaf V of Sweden which “affirmed complete agreement over the future political attitude” of Germany and Sweden toward each other. It said the ex- change occurred during the last half of April. Mount Rainier U. S. Unready for a Blit'zkrie'g, Military Engineers Warned Declaring that America must be in & position to “out-blitz the blitz- krieg,” Brig. Gen. George V. Strong today declared that the Army is mow short half a billion dollars’ worth of “critical and essential” items of equipment. He asserted that this “very real problem may involve our continued national existence.” The 60-year-old former law pro- fessor, now the Army’s assistant chief of staff in charge of : the War Plans Division, said that modern are dif- fers from previous conflicts “in a keener appreciation and more effec- tive use of the time element.” This is caused, he explained, by the use of the airplane and motor vehicles. America is largely unprepared with materials to fight such a war, he indicated, because of the “starva- tion policy forced upon the War De- partment over a long period of rs.” “We have made our plans and are in position to take the first step for safeguarding the Western Hemisphere,” he said, “"We are real problem which may involve our continued national existence is realized, and funds are appro- priated for urgent requirements, we will not be in position to take the secqnd step—that is, make a major military effort * * * in time to meet the probable necessities of a situ- ation which would involve us in a major war on this continent.” Addresses Military Engineers. Gen. Strong’'s speech was pre- pared for delivery before the an- nual meeting of the Society of American Military Engineers in the Willard Hotel. Presiding at the session was Col. J. Monroe John- son, Assistant Secretary of Com- merce, who was inducted as the soclety’s president this morning. Engineering, said the general, will play a greater part in safeguarding the Western Hemisphere than any other profession. The Panama Canal defense is especially a matter of engineering, he declared. He reported the canal now almost completely éafe- from attack solely by land or ses, but said (Bee A , Page A-3) i £\ Court Upholds Conviction of 12 0il Concerns Combine to Fix Prices To Improve Conditions Is Ruled lllegal BACKGROUND— Federal District Court in Wis- consin convicted 12 oil companies and 5 individuals on charges of violation of Sherman Act by con- piring to raise price of gasoline. Circuit Court reversed convictions on ground lower court jury did not determine whether defend- ants’ act constituted “unreason- able restraint of trade” to which Sherman Act was limited by deci- sion of Supreme Court in 1911, By J. A. FOX. A business combine that has the purpose and the power of fixing prices is illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act even though the price control is designed to improve. conditions within an industry, the Supreme Court said today. The 5-to-2 decision affirmed the conviction in the Federal District Court at Madison, Wis., of 12 major oil companies and 5 officers who were charged with participation in a stabilization: program in the Middle West five years ago to bolster the price of gasoline when a surplus threatened the market. The decision was read by Justice Douglas with Justices Roberts and McReynolds dissenting. The Chief Justice and Justice Murphy did not participate, the case having been handled in the Justice Departmen* when Mr. Murphy was attorney general. The Supreme Court ruling re- versed a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tth circuit, which had upheld a defense appeal that the restraint alleged by the Government was rea- sonable. Roberts Favors New Trial. “Under the Sherman Act,” the Supreme Court said, “any combina- tior. formed for the purpose and with the effect of raising, depress- ing, fixing, pegging or stabilizing the price of a commodity in inter- state or foreign commerce is illegal per se.” In their dissent, Justices Roberts and McReynolds declared: - “No case decided by this court has held a combination illegal sole- Iv because its purpose or effect was to raise prices. The criterion of legality has always been the purpose or effect of the combination unduly to restrain commerce.” Justice Roberts expressed the opinion that Government counsel argument in the case was “highly prejudicial” to the defense and for that reason a new trial should have been granted. “I do not think the court took proper means to counter-act the impp-priety and prejudice thus created and I think the only remedy available is to set aside a verdict ensuing upon such misconduct,” Justice Roberts said. The Court of Appeals has based its reversal in part on the ground that Government counsel had used the transcript of grand jury proe ceedings to refresh the recollection of certain hostile witnesses. Hanging Fire Since 1936. The case has been hanging fire since December, 1936, when in Dis- trict Court for the Western District for Wisconsin at Madison 27 cor- porations and 56 individuals were indicted under section one of the Sherman Act which prohibits re- straints of commerce. Since then one group has been dismissed; three corporations and 15 individuals who were found guilty were granted new trials which have been held up awaiting disposition of the present case, involving the 12 corporations and five individuals who also were to get new trials. Involved in the present case are the following companies: Soconye Vacuum, Wadhams, Empire, Cone tinental, Pure, Shell, Sinclair, Mid~ Continent, Phillips, Skelly and Globe of Oklahoma and Globe of Illinois. The individuals are C. N. Arnott, vice president; H. T. Ashton, man- ager of a division for Socony= Vacuum; R. H. McElroy, jr., of Pure; P. E. Lakin of Shell and R. W. McDowell of Mid-Continent. Conviction carries a fine of $5,000 or & year in jail, or both. The combination of the oil com- panies was designed to remove what was known as “distress” gasoline from the market. The Court of Appeals said the trial court errone~ ously had charged the jury that if it feund the defendants combined for the purpose of raising and fixing (Continued on Page A-12, Column 3.) — N soumn 37 On WMAL Tonight Radio Forum Senator Guy M. Gillette, Democrat, of Iowa will be the guest speaker on the National Radio Forum at 10:30 o'clock. He will discuss work and poli- cies of the Special Senate Campaign Expenditures In- vestigating Committee, of which he is chairman. The program is arranged by The Star and is heard over a coast-to-coast network of the National Broadcasting Co. Election Returns Latest returns on the Mary- land primary will be broadcast by The Star over Station WMAL at 9:45 o’clock. Bul- letins also will be inter- spersed with regular programs throughout the evening. Stay tuned to WMAL or call The Star, National 5000, for up-to-the-minute news on all angles of the Maryland elec- tions. Polis closs at'Y pat. A