Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1940, Page 1

Weather Forecast Rain and cooler, with lowest about 60 tonight; generally fair, moderate tem- peratures tomorrow and Sunday. Tem- peratures today—Highest, 80, at 1:30 p.m.; lowest, 72, at 5:45 a.m.; 76 2 p.m. From the United States Weai Full details on Ps Closing N. Y. Markets—Sales, Page 16. 88th YEAR. No. 35,1 the; Bureau report. age A-2. 3 = . 36. @ WASHINGTON, Waves of British Warplanes Carry Air Battle to ‘Germany As Nazis Continue Assaults 8 Reich Ships Shot Down, London Says; 10 Die in Scotland By the Associated Press. LONDON, July 12—With R. A. F. attackers matching their German foemen raid for raid and with de- fense forces levying an unrelenting | toll on planes attacking the British | Isles, the air war of Western Europe reached a new peak of intensity today. The day's first casualty report came from Northeast Scotland where it was said one bomb killed 10 persons “as far as known” and injured many others. The plane which dropped it was shot down and the cret perished in flames. On the basis of official and un- official reports, the tabulation of German planes shot down today in defense of the British Isles and British shipping stood in mid-after- hoon as follows: Scotland, one bomber. East coast, four bombers. South coast, one bomber. Southwest coast, two planes of unspecified type. The “all out” attack of the Nazi | force was still to come, but so wide- spread have been the daily assaults | already that King George VI him- self narrowly escaped death or in- Jury yesterdsy somewhere in South- ern Englang. Blast Deep Into Reich. Wave after wave of heavy British | bombers blasted military objectives | deep in Germany last night, it was reported by aviation circles in anticipation of an official outline of new British-wrought destruction. Three British planes failed to re- | turn, but the Air Ministry balanced | this loss by announcing that fighter | commands of the British defense had confirmed the loss of another German plane in yesterday’s action over England, thus bringing yester- day’s total of German planes destroyed to 23. | During raids yesterday on Ger- | man-occupied France and the; Netherlands, it was announced, one | British bomber penetrated far into | Germany’s industrial Ruhr valley and in broad daylight attacked oil depots. German planes crossed the south- west coast in the early morning light, but were quickly intercepted by a British fighter. Bursts of gun- fire from the fighter were followed immediately by the dropping of six bombs within less than a half- minute. Bombers when attacked frequently try to lighten their planes by emptying their bomb racks, target or no target. Three houses of a southwestern coastal town were demolished and others were damaged. One bomb | struck a children’s playground. Night Casualties “Slight.” ‘The Air Ministry said that night raiders crossed the eastern and | southwestern coasts, dropping bombs | “in a few districts near the coast” | to launch a new day of assault on | sea and land objectives. Casualties in the night attacks | were “slight,” according to the Air Ministry, and none was fatal. The daily raids have been taking @ sharply increased toll in eivilian casualties, but actual figures on the dead have been cloaked by such official phrases as “several dead” | or “a few fatalities” No new deaths had been reported by early afternoon, however. Nazi raids were broadened today to include Scotland as well as Southern England. A German bomber roared out of the clouds over a northeastern Scottish city shortly after noon and three Spitfire fighters met it with a swift-rising challenge. The invader dropped two bombs as the fighters roared up. The bomber had run a gauntlet of anti- aircraft fire, but apparently was caught by full bursts of the fighters’ guns. Like a wounded bird, the plane circled the city, losing height. Smoke poured from the tail. The bomber just cleared rooftops on the outskirts. It struck a tree and bounced across a road into a build- ing where both it and the building burst into flames. The crew perished. Heavy anti-aircraft fire was heard (See LONDON, ( Page A-4) Japanvl;uls Contraband Control on Indo-China B the Associated Press. HONG KONG, July 12.—The Jap- anese Navy dispatched a dozen offi- cers to Kwangchowan, French- leased port midway between Hong Kong and French Indo-China, to- day to block the remaining French- controlled inlet for trade destined for China. The Japanese said they were es- tablishing the Kwangchowan con- traband control in accordance with the agreement which last week placed Japanese inspectors at five key points in Indo-China in order to sever China’s most important eco- nomic liteline. Kwangchowan is connected with the Chinese hinterland by roads and waterways and with Indo-China by regular ship services. Burma Parleys Continue. TOKIO, July 12 (#).—“Satisfac- tory progress” in the negotiations on Japan's demands for closing of the British Burma route to arms for China was reported by the Japanese foreign office today after a meeting of Ambassador Sir Rob- ert Leslie Craigie and Foreign Min- ister Hachiro Arita. The two were understood to be seeking a compromise on the de- mands, which Britain's first reply early this week failed to meet. Sir | Albert Lebrun was a | before the World War—as “French- Two Destroyers Also In Renewed Mediter By the Associated Press. ROME, July 12.—Italian warplanes‘ set a British aircraft carrier on fire and seriously damaged two destroy- ers yesterday in the four-day-old Mediterranean air and naval battle, the high command reported today. Declaring that the engagement which began July 8 “is not yet finally ended,” the communique described Italian air pursuit of a British| squadron of two battleships, an air- craft carrier and smaller vessels convoying five large freighters in the | Malta region. “The aircraft carrier, struck by a | bomb of extremely large caliber,| stopped suddenly with flames on| board visible from above, while sev- eral ships speeded to its aid,” the communique said. It declared that one of the es- corted freighters was sunk by a bomb. The bombardment was said to| have taken place under heavy anti- | aircraft fire while the ships were | steaming eastward from Malta. | The high command reported that Ttalian planes and light columns of troops had attacked a British fortress on the Egyptian side of | the Libyan frontier, destroying a| Somaliland also was reported. | The Italians claimed to have shot | down in flames four British planes | from aircraft carriers. One British plane was reported down at Sidi- | barani and two others in Kenya. | Two Italian planes failed to re-! \English Aircraft Carrier Fired In New Clash, Italians Claim Declared Damaged ranean Conflict turn from the attack on the British warships, the communique said. Italian Forces Cut Off In Forts, British Report LONDON, July 12 (#).—British “flying columns” of mechanized units are harrying Italian troops cut off |in the forts of Capuzzo and Mad- delana on the frontier of Egypt |and Italian Libya, British military informants said today. Strong Italian columns had ad- vanced to the frontier and mo- mentarily pushed back British armored car patrols operating in a 60-mile zone behind the frontier. These columns, part of Italian forces in Libya estimated here at 250,000 men, reoccupied forts which the British previously had taken from garrisons of native Libyan troops. The British “flying columns” now have flanked the forts and are har- rying supply trains. A pipeline running from the coast to supply the forts with water also has been cut, the informants said. The main Italian stroke in the Libyan theater has been a “recon- | naissance in force” as far as the British-held town of Salum (Sol- lum) on the Mediterranean just within Egyptian territory. Salum ‘WITH SUNDAY MORNING EDITION D. C, ‘War Sinkings Total 4,329,213 Tons, Germans Declare Fires Started in Raids On Britain, High | Command Announces still is held by the British. Official British sources declared that “wild claims made in the Ital- ian communique today regarding attacks on the British fleet in the (See ROME, Page A-3) Petain Takes Over Authorifarian Reins 0f Remodeled France Power Absolute Subject To Germany's Will; Lebrun Resigns By the Associated Press. VICHY, France, July 12.—Under the shadow of the swastika, aged Marshal Henri Philippe Petain took into his hands today the reins of an authoritarian France. Publication in the official jour- nal of a ‘“constitutional act” over his own signature gave the 84-year- old “hero of Verdun” combined | ‘powers of President and Premier and marked the death of the defeat- ed third French republic. President “forgotton man.” (The German wireless reported from Vichy that Lebrun had placed his resignation in Mar- shal Petain’s hands. Marshal Petain, it said, quoting a French communique, told the President he “intended to combine hence- forth the chairmanship of the Council of Ministers (cabinet) with the office of the head of the French state in order to assume personal responsibility for the management of public affairs * * *.” Lebrun, it added, “with unselfishness for which the country will be grateful,” submitted his resignation.) Rights to Govern Limited. Today Marshal Petain theoreti- cally held more power than any Frenchman since Napoleon III, but his right to govern as he pleases—at least until a new national as- sembly is formed—actually is lim- ited by France’s position as a con- quered nation. Another ‘“constitutional act” he signed gives him legislative power “during this period of serious inter- national tension and internal crises.” The remnants of the old Parlia- ment will remain through this transition period, but may not meet except at Marshal Petain’s:summons. The old Senate and Chamber of Deputies legislated themselves out of existence Tuesday and Wednes- day by granting him full power to set up a new constitution which then will be submitted to a refer- endum. Presumably all Frenchmen even in German-occupied areas will be asked to vote under the plan, but that apparently depended on Germany s decision. It is not known yet whether Adolf Hitler will consider residents of Alsace-Lorraine—part of Germany men” with the right to vote in such a referendum. Although more than half of France is occupied by troops of (See VICHY, Page A-3.) French to Don Mourning On National Holiday By the Associated Press. GRENOBLE, July 12—Bastille Day, France's national holiday, an- niversary of the revolutionary storm= ing of the Bastille prison, will be marked Sunday as a day of national mourning, according to a dispatch from Vichy today to the newspaper Le Petit Dauphinois. Religious services will "be held through France to honor the nation's war dead, while special ceremonies will be given for schuol children, who will be instructed in the new aims of the regime of Premie: Marshal Henri Philippe Petain. Robert had new instructions from London before today's meeting. ¥ At Vichy the religious ceremony will be followed by & military review., Nazi ‘Condor’ Troops Reported Massed on "Portuguese Border Heavy Axis Pressure Is Exerted to Force Nation’s ‘Co-operation’ By BLAIR BOLLES. News of great pressure being put on neutral Portugal by the axis powers to co-operate somewhat in the manner Denmark has ‘“co- operated” in the fulfillment of the German-Italian war plans reached here today in company with reports that several German “Condor” divi- sions have been massed on Spanish soil along the Portuguese border. The troops, according to an au- thority with unsurpassed informa- tional resources, have been moved south from France in 23 trains with | full equipment. Condor troops are | veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Their presence in Spain today is in- terpreted as an indication of an early land drive against Gibraltar, with Spanish assistance. It is expected that Portugal will protest the German-Italian de- mands for co-operation, but give up in the end. The price of refusal, it is said, is blockade of Portugal’s Atlantic coast, occupation by Ger- | man and possibly Spanish troops and military subjugation fdr the duration of the war. Independent 800 Years. Portuguese acquiescence in the axis demands would be accompanied, it is believed, by assurances from Berlin and Rome of Portuguese ter- ritorial independence at the war’s close. Portugal this year is cele- brating her 800th year of independ- ence. The German interest in Portugal lies chiefly in the completion of Germany’s blockade of the con- tinent from England. Except for (See PORTUGAL, Page A-4) France to Give Bonus To Demobilized Soldiers By the Associated Press. VICHY, July 12—The French government announced today all de- mobilized soldiers will be given a bonus of 1,000 francs, of which 200 will be paid immediately and 800 by 2 later order. | By the Associated Press. | BERLIN, July 12.—The German | | high command reported today that | 14,329,213 tons of “enemy merchant | | shipping space or shipping space usable by the enemy"” have been sunk by German naval and air nc-l tion since the start of the war. “To this figure of ships sunk must | be added over 300 ships damaged | primarily by the air force, which, in part, were hit so severely that they are unusable at present or be- cause of necessary repairs will be unusuable for months,” said the daily communique. The total given by the high com- mand amounts to more than half | the total tonnage lost by Great | Britain in the entire World War— | 7,830,765 tons. Torpedoes and Mines Lead. The daily communique, giving new point to Germany’s declaration of a “starvation blockade” of the British Isles, divided the sunken shipping | space as of July 3 as follows: By torpedo hits and mines, 1,920,- 439 tons. By turface craft and naval means, 1,352,461 tons. By the air force, 1,046.313 tons. Renewed assaults on airports,¢ harbors and war industries in South- ern and Central England and the sinking of four merchant ships and a tanker in the English Channel were masked up to the credit of German fighting planes and dive bombers. Nine other merchant ships were reported “severely damaged.” British Admit 1,000,000 Tons. ‘Thus, declared the high command, Germany’s successes in the econom- ic warfare have “reached a height perceptible to England.” The German figures presumably incjude all Allied and neutral ship- ping which Germany has destroyed, not merely British. British losses acknowledged thus far total nearly 1,000,000 tons. The German claim would repre- sent a monthly average of about 400,000 tons of shipping space sunk in the present war, now 10 months old. That would be roughly the same average as the toll exacted from Al- lies and neutrals in the 21-month period of unrestricted submarine ac- tivity in 1917-8 in the World War. The monthly average for British shipping alone for that period was about 205,000 Channel Bases Helpful. Germans emphasized that the present war’s rate of sinkings has increased steadily since bases have been won on the English Channel for supplying submarines and planes. This has saved submarines from long _journeys to the north around the British Isles to get at Britain's Atlantic shipping lanes and has greatly increased the effective ra- " (See BERLIN, Pdge A-3.- Summary of Page. Amusements, A-12-13 Comics .. B-14-15 Editorials ___A-8 Finance ..__A-15 Lost, Found B-9 Obituary __A-10 Page. Radio - B-14 New Serial Story Foreign German _divisions reported massed on Portuguese border. Page A-1 Plane carrier fired in battle, Italians claim. Page A-1 Petain takes over reins of authori- tarian France. Page A-1 4,329,213 tons of ships sunk, Ger- mans declare. Page A-1 British trade raid for raids with Germany. Page A-1 Britain to recognize Selassie as law- ful ruler of Ethiopia. Page A-3 Norwegian denies Nazi occupation was inside job. A-4 Totalitarian shift in Rumania affects big U. S. stake, Page A-4 National. Roosevelt not to attend Chicago convention. Page A-1 Roosevelt says wage-hour standards to be preserved. Page A-1 Today’s Star Farley silent, Garnerites stubborn as convention nears. Page A-3 Democratic Resolutions Committee meets today. Page A-3 Washington and Vicinity 1940 District Soap Box Derby to be run tomorrow. Page B-1 Governors of Maryland and Virginia asked to tax hearing. Page B-1 Ten arrested in Rockville riot to be tried July 22. Page B-1 Man critically burned in truck ex- plosion near Beltsville. Page B-1 Editorial and Comment This and That. Answers to Questions. Letters to The Star. David Lawrence. Alsop and Kintner. Frederic William Wile, Constantine Brown. Charles G. Ross. A-8 A-8 A-8 A-9 A-9 A-9 A-9 A-9 Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Miscellany Nature’s Children. Vital Statistics. Bedtime Story. Letter-Out. ‘Winning Contract. Page A-10 Page B-9 Page B-14 Page B-14 Page B-15 FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1940—THIRTY-FOUR PAGES. DOC. IS THERE You CAN PRI lAKE N A Three Killed, Six Hurt As Mill Boiler Explodes By the Associated Press. HOLCOMB, Mo, July 12—A terrific explosion of a second-hand boiler in a sawmill here killed three men, but six others, all seriously injured, today were expected to recover, i TALK M8 SLEEP? One of the dead, Farmer W. L. | Compton, 55, had come. to the mill | to get a load of lumber. The other | ¢ Foening Star *okok I ‘From Press to Home Within the Hour’ Most people in Washington have The President ] Roosevelt Reiterates ‘Wage-Hour Policies 'Will Be Retained | | | $136,743,900 in Contracts | Awarded in Move for two were mill workers—Luther Davis, 25, and Elmer Smith, 28. End of Gravel Strike Declared Possible This Affernoon Col. Fleming Concedes That 60 Workers May Be Classed as Seamen Settlement of - the five-day-old strike that has paralyzed District building construction and laid off 6,500 men is seen as a “definite pos- sibility during the afternoon” by Howard T. Colvin, Labor Depart- ment conciliator. Mr. Colvin's statement came after a concession by Col. Philip B. Flem- ing, wage and hour division ad- ministrator, that 60 of the 250 strik- ing employes of the Smoot Sand & Gravel Corp. would be classified as seamen. Reduced Work Week. The strike was called by Sand and Gravel Workers’ Union, Local No. 122075, in support of the company's contention that its dredge workers were seamen and, therefore, ex- empt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s 42-hour-week regulation, When the company reduced its work week for these employes re- cently, to comply with the wage and hour ruling that the dredge men were. not seamen and could not work more than 42 hours a week without payment of overtime, the net resuit was a pay cut for the employes involved. In agreeing to the seamen clas- sification for the 60 men, Col. Flem- ing stressed that his action was as administrative interpretation and subject to revision by the courts. His decision was reached, it was said, after conferences with John Carmody, Federal works administra- tor; W. E. Reynolds, commissioner .of public buildings for the F. W. A., and M. H. McCloskey, president of McCloskey & Co., contractors. ‘Wants Findings Made Public. Thomas A. Butt, treasurer of the Smoot concern, late yesterday issued a statement inviting Thurman Arnold, Assistant Attorney General, “in view of Arnold’s announcement that the Department of Justice will call for a grand jury investigation to determine the ‘legality of the monopoly controlled by the Smoot Corp.’ to make public the findings of the investigation which his de- partment has recently made and thereby save the taxpayers unneces- sary expense.” John Lochner, secretary of the Washington Building Trades Coun- cil, estimated that about 1,000 had been added to the number of per- sons laid off as a result of the strike in the last two days. He figured two days ago that 5,500 were idle; 2,000 on Federal projects, 2,000 on District projects and the remainde on private construction. Ice Truck Drivers Strike After Discharge of Two About 15 ice truck drivers and helpers at the Consolidated Terminal Corp., Eleventh and E streets S.W., walked out this morning in protest of the discharge of two drivers and in support of a demand for recogni- tion of Drivers, Chauffeurs and Helpers Union, Local 639, as the bargaining agency for the some 60 drivers and helpers employed at the plant. A spokesman for the corporation said that the two men were dis- charged for “cause,” that the union had never been recognized as bar- gaining agency for the drivers and helpers and that all trucks were operating as usual. S. M. Keyser, business agent for the union, declared the two men had been discharged for “union ac- tivities” and. that the union did represent a majority of the employes. Uncle Ray’s Corner. Page B-15 Croés-Word Puzzle, Page B-15 Service Orders. .. .. .. PageB-16 A He said that later in the day addi- tional men would join in the picket line established around the plant. 2 | Two-Ocean Navy | By the Associated Press. President Roosevelt asserted at a | | press conference today that the administration would go ahead with ‘ its present policy of maintaining | standards under the Wage-Hour Act | for work on the defense program. | The Chief Executive spoke at a | | press conference shortly after the | Navy Department awarded contracts totaling $136,743900 as a part of | the vast program to build up the | Nation's Pacific and Atlantic de- | fenses. Reads Letter From Fleming. Mr. Roosevelt read to reporters a letter from Col. Philip B. Fleming, wage-hour administrator, which covered the question of the necessity |of raising the ceiling for hours, | above which time and a half must | be paid. Col. Fleming informed the Presi- dent that any complaints from key defense industries that the payment | of time and a half for overtime was making their operation difficult | would be brought promptly to Mr. | | Roosevelt's attention. The admini- | strator added that only three such complaints, all from small estab- | Gen. Marshall | Urges Guard Mobilization Army Chief of Staff Backs Training Bill At Senate Hearing By J. A. O’'LEARY. | Immediate mobilization of the | National Guard and enactment of | the Burke-Wadsworth compulsory military training bill with “minor” | changes were urged today by Gen. George C. Marshall, Army chief of stafl, in testimony before the Sen- ate Military Affairs Committee. | Gen. Marshall declared it is “ab- | solutely necessary that something be | done at once along the lines” of the bill, which calls for training on a | selective basis of all male citizens between 21 to 45 and registration of men from 18 to 65. | The measure also was indorsed | by Gen. William E. Shedd, assistant | chief of stafi, who detended the | fairness of selective service over | volunteer enlistments. 930,000 by October 1. | Col. H. L. Twaddle, War Depart- | ment training expert, told the com- | | mittee the Army would have 930,000 | men in training by October 1, if | Congress enacted the Burke-Wads- | worth bill. This number would in- crease to 1415000 by next April, he testified. The cost of the training program | | was estimated by Col. Twaddle at $1,000,000,000 the first year and about | $750,000,000 for each succeeding year. | By June, 1945, at the expiration | of the compulsory training program | contemplated in the bill, the Nation would have 1200,000 men under | | arms, backed up by 3,000,000 trained reserves who had completed their training and gone home, he said. Gen. Marshall said the National Guard, with its 230,000 men avail- able on first mobilization, should be | | help form the nucleus for training | the men to be conscripted into the | armed services, he said. Guard Is Willing. Meanwhile, Secretary of War Stimson received assurances that officers and men of the Guard are “ready and willing” to respond to a summons to active service. The as- surances were contained in a letter from Brig. Gen. Walter A. De La- | mater, president of the National Guard Association, and Brig. Gen.| | Charles H. Grahl, president of the | lishments, had been received. “Were there any defense need in certain industries for abrogation of | the time and one-half rule,” Col. | Fleming wrote, “nothing could keep | me from so reporting. In my con- | tacts with industry no such need has | yet beer demonstrated to me.” Describing the letter as an inter- esting checkup by an independent source, the President said he had not | asked for it. that it arrived last| night and that in view of its con- tents the administration’s present | policy would be continued. i Cites 1917 Order. Col. Fleming cited an order is-| sued by the Army chief of ordnance on November 15. 1917, when the]| country was at the height of its| World War procurement effort. | The order said industrial history | proved that “reasonable hours, fair | working conditions and a proper wage scale are essential to high production.” To wave aside indus- trial safeguards, the order de- clared, would be short-sighted and lead gradually toward lowered pro- | duction. | Col. Fleming asserted maximum production today calls for maximum efficiency of the machine. This, he said, usually is obtained by using relays of workers in shifts sufficiently short to make constantly intense effort possible. French System Called “Rigid.” The public’s attention, he said, should be called to the fact that the French 40-hour week in effect from 1936 to 1938 was a “rigid limitation” with little resemblance (See DEFENSE, Page A-2.) Nuts'z:':ame Called Off; Double Bill Tomorrow The Washington-Tetroit baseball game scheduled for today at Griffith Stadium was called off on account of rain. A double-header has been schec uled for tomorrow, starting at 1:30 pm. Maeterlinck Arr i By the Associated Press. HOBOKEN, N. J, July 12— Maurice Maeterlinck, the Belgian,| playwright who wrote the cele- brated “Bluebird,” arrived from Lisbon, Portugal, on the Greek liner Nea Hellas today, a war refugee. The 78-year-old writer wore a gray wig held down by a hairnet and clutched a French edition of “Gone With the Wind.” He said all he had left in the world was the little baggage with him. He plans to stay with a friend in New York until the war is over and re-establish himself with a new play about the Catholic Church which he wrote in Portugal. With him was his attractive blond ! changes in the Only Possessions His Baggage Adjutarts General Association. President Roosevelt, a little later, told his press conference he had an appointment with Secretary Stim- son to explore the desirability of mo- bilizing the National Guard. Gen. Marshall | recommended | Burke-Wadsworth bill to raise the proposed $5-per- month pay to the $21 monthly which is basic Army pay, and to in- crease the proposed eight-month training period to at least a year, Man-Power Program. Col Twaddle told the committee that if the National Guard is not called up as & training nucleus, it will be necessary to reduce substan- tially the number of men who could be enrolled for compulsory training | at the start in September. If the Guard is utilized for the first year, the man power program would develop as follows, he ex- plained: | On October 1 this year: Regular Army, 300,000 men; National Guard, | 230,000; first class of conscripts, 400,000. Total in training, 930,000. By April 1, 1941, Col. Twaddle estimated the Regular Army would be up to 375,000 and the National Guard up to 240,000. Calling in the second class of 400,000 enrollees, | (See TRAINING, Page A-5.) | | | | Five Perish, iwo Injured In Cincinnafi Fire By the Associated Press. CINCINNATI, July 12.—Five per- sons died and at least two others were burned severely as fire early today trapped 30 residents and em- ployes on the third floor of the Holy Family Home, a branch of St. Fran- cis Hospital. The dead were: Mary Rose Wat- kins, 42; Mary Theders, 57; Minnie Brandhoff, 57; Regina Niekamp, 45, and Rosaline Burns, 41. Injured were Theresa Bukart, 78, and Jennie Kenster. Those fatally burned were found huddled in corners. ivesin U. S., wife, 30 years his junior, whom he married 20 years ago. She was carrying a cage with two bluebirds and confided to reporters that she had also brought along, unknown to her husband, two dogs. He doesn't like dogs. Maeterlinck said all his money had been in Belgian banks now in German hands, and that his books and papers were lost in Paris. He added that he was a noted enemy of the Germans, liable to immediate execution, because of his play “The Burgomaster of Steelmonde,” which | dealt with the German World® War invasion of Belgium. The Maeterlincks have ‘spent much of their time for many years in Nice. They left there before the war started last September, | called up first to start any training, | program. The guardsmen would | | pendent, Star delivered to their homes every evening and Sunday morning. (P) Means Assaciated Press. THREE CENTS. " Reveals He Will Not Attend Chicago Con vention Does Not Know If He Will Send A Message By JOHN C. HENRY. President Roosevelt will not at- tend the Democratic Convention in Chicago, he told his press confer- ence today. Asked if he might send the con- vention a message disclosing his personal political intentions, he re- plied that he had not given the mat= ter any thought one way or the other, Mr. Roosevelt said he would go on a Potomac River cruise tomorrow afternoon and would be back in Washington late Sunday. If possible, he added, he will go to Hyde Park late the following week end. This program for alternate week ends of relaxation probably will be followed through the rest of the summer, he added. To a question of whether this plan might be changed as a result of ac- tion by the Chicago convention, the Chief Executive answered that he did not see how that made any dif- ference, since he is still President of the United States. Expected to Remain Silent. _ These remarks, elicited in every instance by questioning, were Mr. Roosevelt's only contributions today | to the burning question of whether he would accept nomination for a third term in the White House. Their quality of definiteness makes it extremely probable now that Mr. Roosevelt will maintain his silence u_:roughnuc the convention, where his renomination seems assured. Looking in good health and fine spirits as he received the press, Mr. Roosevelt launched his conference by a discussion of defense matters and an assertion that there will be no relaxation at the present time in :vage and hour standards in indus- ry. The political portion of the cone ference was opened by the question about his possible visit to Chicago. Although his negative reply was unqualified, a second questioner |asked if he might fly out there. | With mock seriousness, the Prese | ident said he considered the ques=- tion an insult to his veracity since | he had just said definitely he was | not going. Reminded that the Republicans took considerable pride in calling their own convention “unbossed,” | Mr. Roosevelt said he hadn't the | faintest idea whether the Demo- | cratic session will fall into this category. Releases “Dunces.” At this point a reporter said the “dunce cap club,” formed when the President told a third-term ques- tioner to don a dunce cap and stand in a corner, would meet in Chicago next week and dissolve its member- ship. Asked if they might expect a message from the President, Mr. Roosevelt remarked that recent progress has been good and that a large percentage of those once in the corner have been released. In his discussion of week-end plans Mr. Roosevelt emphasized that he would always be close to Wash- ington .or in immediate telephonic connection with the Capital. When down the river, he said, the White House yacht remains close to the Quantico Marine base and in radio communication with it. If neces- sary, return from Quantico by au- tomobile may be made in a little more than an hour. Senator Norris of Nebraska, Inde- expressed his conviction yesterday—his 79th birthday anni- versary—that Mr. Roosevelt will be nominated, and went on to say he would make “a few speeches” for him, principally in the Middle West. House “Draft Roosevelt” Drive. On the House side, a “draft- Roosevelt” drive was launched yes- " (See ROOSEVELT, Page A-2.) Philosophy of Plenty The population of Wash- ington has increased during the past 10 years by 36 per cent and of Greater Wash- ington by 43 per cent. The circulation of The Star has increased during the same time in the City and Suburbs by 41 per cent daily and 43 per cent Sunday. The average advertising rate of The Star during the same period has increased only 12 per cent, showing a de- crease of cost of advertising per thousand of circulation of about 20 per cent. Yesterday’s Advertising (Local Display) i The Evening Star. 2 67,128 2nd Newspaper 3rd Newspaper _ 4th Newspaper _ Total, 3 other papers, 61,788 Yesterday’s Circulation The Evening Star Thurs, July 11, 1940__*155,869 Thurs., July 13, 1939__*148,650 Increase .. *Returns from newsstands not deducted and no samples included. e