• - j?
,
WASHINGTON
Washington—The 74th Congress
which has just convened for its sec
ond and final session is trying to
pick up the loose threads of its un
finished program and tie some of
the knots more securely, while con
sidering what is required in the way
of new legislation.
A great deal of the action of this
session will be taken with one eye
on the Supreme Court. If all of
the laws of the last two years whose
constitutionality has been chal
lenged could be passed on by the
Supreme Court at once, it would
save the Senators and Representa
tives a lot of time and worry.
As Congress met there was a
long list of measures on which
there has been no final adjudication
by the High Court. Most eagerly
awaited was the decision on the
A.A.A. Secretary Wallace has a
bill already prepared to offer to
Congress in the event that the Su
preme Court rules that the process
ing taxes are illegal. It is the firm
intention of both the Administra
tion and of Congress to continue
benefit payments to agriculture,
whether the funds are derived from
processing taxes or from some sub
stitute forjn of excise taxes, or are
merely paid out of general revenues.
There is a general agreement,
among those who keep a close eye
on the effects of Washington’s ac
tions upon business trends, that
there will be an increase in the buy
ing of farm products following the
Supreme Court’s decision, which
f ever way it goes.
AWAIT MANY DECISIONS
A more important Court decision
will be that on the Guffey soft coal
regulation act. The expectation is
that this will be held unconstitu
tional, on the ground that the tax
imposed upon coal producers who
do not conform to the terms of the
law is a penalty rather than an ex
cise tax. It was on exactly that
ground that the Supreme Court
some years ago declared the Child
Labor Law Unconstitutional.
Uncertainty as to the Court s
ruling on the Guffey Act is expect
ed to delay action by Congress on
other regulatory measures affect-j
Ing business.
The Supreme court also has be
fore it questions of the constitu
tionality of the Tennessee Valley
Act, the Social Security Act, the
Wagnor Labor Relations Act, the
Railroad Pension Act, the PWA
Slum Clearance program, the Potato
Control Act, the Tobacco Control
Act and the Bankhead Cotton Con
trol Act. Some of these will be
passed on between now and June,
some will not get to the point of a
Court ruling until Autumn. There
fore it is possible there will be no
clearcut Constitutional issue of
which either party can take advan
(Continued on page 4)
ir t’r 'r ?r
* WOMEN WILL *
COME DOWN *
* OFF HIGH HEELS *
V,- *
* Chicago—Women will come *
* down off their high heels at *
* least part of the time this year *
* if the nation’s hooters have *
s:' their way. *
* Advance street styles for *
1936, displayed at the Nation- *
* al Shoe Retailers’ Association *
=:' convention here footwear with *
* heels scarcely perceptible. The *
s:' predominate shade was British *
* tan, a rust color. *
The "more active life” of *
* the American woman, said *
* George Miller of the Show
* Fashion Guild, was responsible *
* for the extremely low heel. *
* * * * * * * *
Champion’s Bride-To-Be
CHICAGO . . t A new photo of
Miss Dorothy Hurd, herself an
ardent golfer, who is soon to be
come the bride of Wm. Lawson
Little, amateur golf king of Eng
land and the United States.
Vote Today
IS Expected
Favors Passage of Com
promise That Would
Be Satisfactory
To All
FORMERLY OPPOSED
Washington—Senator Bailey of
North Carolina has lined up with
the forces seeking passage of a com
promise bonus bill saying that he
was for a measure that would sat
isfy the President, the veterans and
Congress. In a letter to Josephus
Daniels, Jr., North Carolina State
commander of the American
Legion, and William H. Banck,
chairman of the State legislative
committee of Veterans of Foreign
Wars, Bailey, who has heretofore
opposed various bonus bills said:
"I have your letter inquiring as
to my attitude towards legislation
with respect to payment now of the
veterans’ adjusted compensation
certificates and I am glad to re
spond as follows:
"First, I am deeply gratified by
the action of the soldiers, organi
zations in repudiating as unsound
the Patman bill which the President
vetoed in the last session. This
action is an emphateic approval by
the veterans’ organizations of my
course in that matter.
second, negotiations are in
process here which look to a prompt
and satisfying settlement of the
whole matter of the certificates.
The object of these negotiations is_
to contrive a plan satisfactory to
the President, the veterans and the
Congress, whereby there will be
a minimum of delay in effecting
cash settlement of the certificates.
Should these negitiations succeed,
as I believe they will, I expect to
vote for the measure put forward
in response thereto. Meantime, I
shall not take any step tending to
complicate, delay or defeat the ob
ject of these negotiations—that is,
prompt realization of cash in satis
factory amounts by the veterans.
"I feel sure that it will be gen
erally agreed thaft such a determi
nation of this matter, satisfactory
to the President, Congress and
holders of the certificates, is de
sirable on many accounts, and is
especially to be desired in order to
(Continued on page 4)
* 'r * * * * * *
* NAPS IN ABUNDANCE *
* AND LANDS IN JAIL *
* _ *
* Dallas—The inebriated gen- *
* tleman who oh so tired. And *
* the ambulance by the Medical *
* Arts building looked so cozy. *
* So he crawled inside and curled *
* up on the cot to snooze. *
* Leonard Longley, driver of the f
* vehicle, after trying unsuc- *
* cessuflly to arouse his guest *
* closed the doors quietly and *
* drove around to the city jail. *
* Experts wakened the sleeper *
* and put him where he would *
* be able to sleep till court next *
* morning. *
•Je *J« it it it *Je
Cancels 7,000 Debts
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. . , . Charley
G. Armstrong (above), merchant
made a Christmas present of $S6,600
to 7,000 charge customers. HI
“wiped the slate clean" on all ale
counts. “You don’t owe me a cent"
he said. _ _
F. R. Asks For Non-Partisan Suppor^
Aims Across
Party Lines
jin Address
To Democrats
Retention of Popular
Government Termed
Prime Issue
‘NO RETREAT’ SLOGAN
Washington — Renewing an as
sault on those he termed "reaction
aries,” President Roosevelt signaled
the formal opening of the Demo
cratic campaign with an indirect
appeal for support from voters of
all "political affiliations.”
Projecting his voice to hundreds
of Jackson Day dinner rallies
throughout the country, the Presi
dent asserted that the most recent
I language from the Supreme Court
' would "affect the lives of Ameri
! cans for years to come.”
j He concluded his brief reference
to the high court’s overthrow of
, the AAA without offering an im
mediate substitute, but early in his
| address asserted that the "basic is
sue” of the 1936 campaign will be
"the retention of popular govern
ment.”
Applause all but drowned out his
concluding words: "We will trot
retreat.”
An ovation lasting seventy sec
onds greeted the President as he
rose to speak directly to the nearly
2,000 Democratic leaders and ad
herents, crowded into a hotel ball
room for dinner at $5 0 a plate.
The diners included members of the
national committee who meet soon
to select city and date for the par
ty’s convention.
Standing beneath a flag-draped
portrait of Andrew Jackson the
Executive was flanked on the right
by Postmaster General Farley and
on the left by Bruce Kremer,
chairman of the rules committee of
the 1932 convention, who resigned
as committeeman from Montana to
practice law here. Nearby were
Vice-President Garner and Speaker
Byrns.
Seated at separate tables almost
directly below the President were
William Green president of the
American Federation of Labor, and
John L. Lewis, president of the
United Mine Workers. The labor
chiefs, themselves at odds, seldom
have attended the strictly political
functions of either party.
Dionne Quints
Are Wealthy
Callander, Ont.—Each of the
Dionne quintuplets now is worth
$24,000 in her own right, theii
guardians announced.
Between them, the little sisters
have $120,000 in government
bonds in a trust fund. The money
has been accumulated since the On
tario government took charge of
their affairs a year ago.
The sisters now are 19 months
old. If they live to be three years
of age they will ahev about $300,
000 under present contracts.
Then, officials explained, the in
terest from the fund alone will sup
port them.
About $35,000 has been spent for
the quintuplets in the past year, in
cluding approximately $1,000
monthly in operating costs at their
model hospital home.
The babies’ fortune is being built
up by income from motion picture
contracts and from royalties on
postcards, calendars, coats, bonnets
and dolls.
f 1* *
Stoic Calm Is
Kept By Bruno
Trenton, N. J.—News of his
death fate failed to shake Bruno
Hautman’s calm and his belief he
will escape the electric chair.
Col. Mark O. Kimberling, prin
cipal keeper, informed Hauptman
that unless the court of pardons in
tervenes he must die late next week
for the murder of Charles A. Lind
bergh, Jr. He told Hautman the
day and the hour—reparted to be
8 p. m., January 17.
Hauptman’s set expression—•
deep peering eyes and a faint trace
of a smile—never changed. Kim
berling said. Neither did his story
that he obtained the Lindbergh
ransom money from Isidor Fisch,
his furrier partner, who later died
in Germany.
AAA Killed By
Supreme Court
Highest Tribunal Finds
Agricultural Act In
valid By Vote Of
6 to 3
GOES WAY OF NRA
The AAA met the fate of NRA
in the Supreme court.
In a momentous six to three de
cision the extraordinary New Deal
farm relief plan under which over
a billion dollars has been paid to
men on the soil since May, 1933,
was killed.
Justice Roberts gravely read the
minority opinion. The act, even as
amended last August, was held an
"invasion of states rights” and its
taxes beyond the "general we’fare”
clause of the constitution on which
the government relied,
i Justices Stone, Brandies and Car
dozo dissented.
The Supreme court adjourned
shortly after the decision was made
I public, until next Monday, without
I announcing decisions on TVA and
| the Bankhead cotton act. The rul-j
I ings may come a week hence or la
iter‘
I The administration planned
j councils at once to meet the set
. (Continued on page eight)
Motor Deaths
36,400 In Year
Motor vehicles fatalities reached
a new all-time high of approxima
tely 36,400 in 193 5, the National
Safety council reports at Chicago.
The organization’s final tabula
tions showed an increase in auto
mobile accident deaths of about 1
per cent over the previous record of
36,101 in 1934.
To emphasize the enormity of the
deaths, statisticians pointed out the
number of persons who perished in
traffic mishaps last year would pop
ulate cities the size of Santa Bar
bara, Calif., or Orange, N. J.
But the council stated that due to
the increase in the nation’s popula
tion the death rate for 100,000 was
about the same as in 1934—£8.5.
It also concluded the number of
miles a motorist was able to travel
without accident had increased be
cause automobile registration ad
vanced 4.3 per cent and gasoline
consumption went up 6 per cent
over 1934 in contrast to a rise of
only 1 per cent in fatalities. Had
crashes kept pace with the expan
sion in motoring, it calculated, the
1935 death roster would have rang
ed between 37,500 and 38,000.
11 Winter Conies To Seventy-Fourth Congress
—---&- ■ ■■■■- " -
WASHINGTON ... Winter in fact greeted members for the second
session of the 74th Congress which convened for opening on January 3d.
Upper photo is an unusual view of the national capitol, taken at dusk
under its first mantle 'of snow of the season. Lower picture shows members
of the House standing' as the chaplain delivered the opening prayer.
* FOUND GUILTY *
* -r *
* Fayetteville.—Walter Me- *
* Laurin has the unusual, if *
* doubtful distinction of being *
* convicted by two juries on the *
* same day. *
* The fifty-year-old Negro *
* was tried on two charges of *
* breaking ancf ■errt«lfig;n'"With *
* the first also carrying an al- *
* legation of assault. McLaurin *
* drew five years on the first *
*and suspended judgment on the *
8-1 other. *
■
Gwyn Announces
His Candiadacy
Reidsville—Allen FI. Gwyn, of
Reidsville, district solicitor, an
nounced his candidacy for Con
gress, subject to the June Demo
cratic primary.
Representative Frank Hancock
of Oxford, now represents this dis
trict in Congress. Allison James,
of Winston-Salem and Washing
ton, who was in the state house
of representatives when Gwyn was
in the senate, is also an announc
ed candidate for the seat.
There is speculation Hancock
may seek the United States sen
ate seat now held by Senator J. W.
Bailey, and he is due to announce
his plans about January 11.
Gwyn was born near Yancey
ville on November 12, 1893. He is
an alumnus of Trinity college, now
Duke University, and served in the
army during the World War. He
‘also has Served in \the national
guard.
* *
* SECOND THIEF NABS *
* ONCE STOLEN CAR *
'j. «g.
* Chicago—Two youths rid- *
* ing in a stolen car abandoned *
* it when chased by a police *
* squad. The squad caught the *
* boys, then returned to pick up *
* the car. It was gone. Some- *
* body had re-stolen it during 51
* the chase. :i
For Suicides
New York—On the theory that
suicidal impulses should be treatec
as a preventable disease, sever
prominent psychiatrists have organ
ized a research committee to stud)
the motives of suicide.
The group, called the "Commit
tee for the Study of Suicides. Inc.’
plans, according to its charter, to
"Study . . . classify. . . and dis
semintee knowledge. . . concern
ing the history and causes of, mo
tives for the ways and means o:
prevention of suicides.”
Financial support will come fron
Marshal Field, chairman of the Wei
fare Island Research council, an<
"several other contributors,” whos
names were not made known.
In a study of 25 cases, Dr. Ger
aid R. Jamieson psychiatrtist ha
concluded insomia is a factor, basec
on statistics showing about half thi
suicides occurred between 5 a. m
and 7 a. m. he found virtually al
others came duing leisure, indicat
ing need for hobbies and avoca
tions.
First Fingerprint Victim
Faces Prison Term Again
New York—Charlie Crispi who
in his way has probably done more
in the cause of crime detection
than even the G-Men, seemed
headed again for the big house.
Charlie, now 5 5 years old, has
been a lawbreaker for 40 years and
has served 16 years in prisons. Yet
Charlie is the fellow who really es
tablished fingerprinting as a means
of popitive identification.
Back in 1911, there was a burg
lary. On the police force at the
time was Lieut. Joseph A. Faurot
who had been tinkering around for
many months with the new fangled
European idea that a man could be
identified by his fingerprints.
Fellow officers laughed when he
sat down at the scene of the bur
glary and began hunting for fin
gerprints. Finally he found sonu
on a dusty windoy. He checkec
them against the few hundrec
prints he had been collecting from
known criminals. He found the}
matched Charlie Crispi’s.
In court, Crispi offered a strong
alibi. Lieutenant Faurot took the
stand. He said no two sets oi
prints in the world are alike. He
explained the fingerprint "foolish
ness” in detail to the jury.
Crispi listened in amazement;
and before the case could go to the
jury he confessed. From that day
on, fingerprints have been accepted
as proper evidence.
Crispi, arrested on a burglary
charge, faces a life sentence as an
habitual criminal if he is convicted.
40-Hour Week
For The Nation
A drive for a 40-hour week is
projected in official circles as a
possible outcome of the efforts of
Maj. George L. Berry to organize a
business-labor industrial council.
Although his first conference last
month was almost disrupted by an
angry uprising of some business rep
resentatives who were refused the
floor, Berry met this week with 100
industrialists and 30 labor leaders.
Mjany business groups flatly
declined to name representatives to
the council, but Berry, designated
by President Roosevelt as "co-ordi
nator for industrial progress,’’ ex
presses himself as confident of the
group’s success.
The suggestions for the 40 hour
work week, c . j. Tied from smv
of the delegates who form the cou'.i -
cil. Berry also has cited figures
which he said showed business gains
have outpaced absorption of the un
employed, and has declared that
some plan for limiting the work
week is imperative.
It was reported the 40-hour plan
might be offered as an alternative
to the 30-hour week proposed by
organized labor with caut^n exer
cised to avoid an unconstitutional
invasion of state lines.
Food Prices To
BeUnchanged
Supreme Court AAA Rul
ing to Have Little Ef
fect on What Con
sumer Pays
Chicago—Commodity markets of
the nation churned under the stim
. ulous of the removal of processing
taxes, but economic observers fore
saw no likelihood of any decided
I change in the prices of meat and
bread to the eventual consumer.
Spectacular gains of around $1
' a hundredweight were marked up
by hogs.
: At the same time, millers slashed
wholesale flour prices at a number
of points for the full amount of the
1 tax levied under the act outlawed
■ by the Supreme Court decision—
around -1.35 a barrel.
Cotton slumped $1.50 to$2a
bale in the New York market, but
sugar spurted th*. maximum of 25
> points permitted in a day’s trading
I there. *
: In the confusion of trends, many
(Continued on page Eight)
Railroads Fight
Pension Law
Washington — Constitutionality
of another New Deal measure, the
193 5 rail pension laws, was chal
lenged in a joint suit filed in Dis
trict of Columbia Supreme Court
by 13 5 of the nation’s railroads.
The railroads asked a permanent
injunction against operation of laws
imposing taxes on railroads and
rail employes for a pension fund
and setting up a retirement fund
for employes at 65 years of age.
Joining with the railroads were
the Pullman Company, the Railway
Express Agency and the Southeast
ern Express Company.
The bill of complaint asserted
that the true purpose of the taxing
act was not to create revenue for
the support of government but to
furnish funds to pay pensions. It
was on this point the Supreme
Court held the processing tax pro
visions of the Agricultural Adjust
ment Act unconstitutional.