WEATHER Fair to partly cloudy and con {jaufd c°o1 Monday night and j Tue»ti-»y (Lire ffluv&s - Kettus Largest Daify Circulation of Any Newspaper in North Carolina in Proportion to Population GOOD AFTERNOON *Th» office wag on an off-day roso to remark that Italy uemed to bo off-Tuni* in ita latest inter* national »ong and dance act. VOL. 57—No. 302 HENDERSONVILLE, N. C., MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1938 __3_ SINGLE COPIES, FIVE CENTS MUSICA OPERATED MONTREAL ARSENAL ^ rT" "t* 'f* ¥ ¥ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ T T T ▼"TV andon Puts Monroe Doctrine Above Politics (1SSIES linn IIULK1G ;.S. to Make "Last Ditch" Fight for Solidarity ;ay argentine i TAN D DEFINITE ;n. IVru. Dee. 19. (UP)—' r.i -..ted States is prepared to L • . "lust ditch" for a dec 1;..: \ of continental solidarity r :hv eighth Pan-American con that will pledge the 21 i: ican republics to joint re t against "non-American" p. t it was reported last I* S Secretary of State Cor t . will insist upon a dec iratii'ii. over Argentine objec c•.« that specifically differen i: - . r.veen aggression from it- , the western hemisphere i. • :-American quarrels. Ar r.t.r.a has opposed any project • :::-g for unity against "non u.aan" countries, contending ■t. conference statement of i.:arity should make no refer ee o continents. A: unimpeachable source with United States delegation the United Press that the R.ach between Washington and Lenos Aires on the w- • ling of le declaration, which Argentina fcs sought to shear o: all strong L'guage directed by implication tiinst the European dictator luntries, was "fundamental on hich there can be no conipro , t, »# Reports of the United States ade came after da>-long ef ts by Peru and Brazil to rec v the American and Argen e viewpoints. Today was ex i■•■'! to revfal Argentina's re L n to the stiffening United attitude. Earlier, former Governor Al K M. I.andon of Kansas, in a i: j speech and in an exclusive tr: view, castigated European ian regimes. The latter, i".: :: said in the interview, are i ifioiind on the democra ts ;:t present but they can not ■ • foi long because they t- ..M-d on false theories that ft .ml to collapse. "I'emocracies are facing their t retreat in history," Lan -ai 1. " That can not be ig- ( out neither can it be ig this is only a tempo situation. Not a single re - :<• '-conomist believes the .an-' philosophy of eco can succeed. It is ba>ed L •ad will not permanently j Mure. As these totalitarian regimes1 4 • a; , democracies again will ascendancy. Hut by the their ascendency comes democracies must have1 c -ci the lesson not to neglect 1 ' mity to stretch the, ■ fellowship to all man- ] Id." '•>> Republican presiden ^ .are and titular head of j k 0. P., who is a member' American delegation, in a i speech Sunday afternoon I '■va.« re-broadcast in the1 j; States by the National , : ; g company, warned of • N'az:sia and Communism Americas. He pleaded for v ' solidarity based on ?.";r..-.:,ies of the Monroe Doc- i ; - : cited the danger of . "e described as a tight by "isms" for control '■ n hemisphere. - always unite against) aggression." he said. •' ans—all of us—from j to the Straits of j nave nothing in com tiiiued on page three) 'Ian I hristmas Event Thursday , K»r Mills River S Hutchison, pas ' ;i< River Presbyter-i ; .nounces that on ■ ■ruber 22, at 7:30 i.-.ior. intermediate i : " • departments of the >"/a then- will present i. . m "Christmas Can Service," under the j { ' f Mrs. F. A. Bailey. ' invites the people of . ' of the commun-1 • bt present. < Picturing Alaskan Rescue Drama Hole's how two sourdough trappers went to the rescue of 18 men on the wrecked trader. The Patterson. 011 the bleak and ro^ky shores of Cape Fail weather. Naval planes from the »?ew bas:. at Sitka carried the trappers Tom Smith and Vic Manville to Lituya Bay. From there the two men went overland 25 miles in an attempt to lead the crew out to the open waters of Lituya Hay, where the coast guard cutter Haida waited. FRENCH DEPUTIES CHEEK WHEJN TOLD NATION WILL BLOCK ANY ITALIAN MOVE FOR COLONIES CHAMBERLAIN TO UN TEST Labor is Planning No Confidence Motion | LONDON. Dec. 19.—(UP) — Prime Minister Chamberlain to day warned Germany that it would be a "tragic error" to mis take that Britain's efforts to pre serve peace for a sign of weak ness. Chamberlain sounded the! note of warning in a vigorous de fense program of appeasement toward totalitarian powers. LONDON, Dec. 19. (UP)—The ! Labor party today proposed a blanket lack of confidence vote J against the government's foreign | policy. As signs multiplied that Prime Minister Chamberlain is harden ing his attitude toward dictators, Hugh Dalton was delegated for the Labor party to move "that this house has no confidence in the foreign policy of his majes ty's government." Passage of such a motion, how ever, was inconceivable because of the big conservative majority. It also was indicated that gov ernment spokesmen would make it plain that Chamberlain's policy would continue, but would be stiffened by the demand that both Hitler and Mussolini do some constructive work toward Euro pean appeasement. Will Not Give Up Any Colonies to Italy PARIS, Dec. 19. (UP)—For eign Minister Bonnet, shouting above the frenzied cheers of mem bers of the chamber of deputies, today said France would never surrender an inch of her terri tory anywhere to Fascist Italy. "Any surprise move intended to oblige France to cede territory can lead only to armed conflict," Bonnet said. It was an unequivocal and ap parently final answer to the agi tation in Italy for the surrender of French territory to Mussolini's aspirations in the Mediterranean and Red seas. DUCE FAILS PUBLICLY TO MENTION TUNIS CARBONIA, Sardinia, Dec. 19. (UP)—Premier Benito Mussolini yesterday avoided any reference to Italian territorial demands against France when he spoke to 30,000 Fascists and miners while dedicating this new autarchial "coal city" only 120 miles from French Tunisia. Standing in the Lictor tower of Carbonia's town square, II Duce devoted his first public pronounce ment since the first cries of "Tu nisit! Corsica!" were raised by the Fascists to a mild account of how this mining town of 12,000 inhabitants was built in a year in malaria-infested swamps. Foreign diplomats who had awaited Mussolini's speech to learn whether he would give of ficial backing to the anti-French demands believed that a discreet warning by Great Britain had served to restrain II Duce from (Continued on page three) SWEEPING CHANGES PROPOSED IN SOCIAL SECURITY SET UP BY ITS ADVISORY COUNCIL WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.— (UP)—The White House an nounced today that President Roosevelt will send to congress early in January a special mes sage dealing with improving the social security act. Stephen T. Early, secretary to the president, said the mas sage would deal with extending the coverage of the act and the strengthening of its provisions. By MACK JOHNSON United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec. 19. (UP) The advisory council on social se curity last night proposed sweep ing changes in old age pension j provisions of the social security act, chief among them that the federal government join employ ers and employes in financing costs of the old age program. The recommendations were con tained in a formal report based on a year of study and were re quested by the senate finance committee to aid it in determining whether the social security «ci should be amended. Administration leaders already have laid plans for revising the act in an attempt to check-mate so-called crackpot pension schemes which President Roosevelt has de nounced as "short cuts to Utopia." Other important changes sug gested by the council call for start of c.d age benefit payments beginning January 1, 1940, in stead of two years later; provi sions embracing widows and or phans, and a $200 limit on death benefit settlements. Contrary to expectations, the report did not propose increases in the present old age benefit scale which ranges from $10 to $85 a month. Changes suggested by the council include: 1. Payment of benefit to sea men, employes of national and federal reserve banks, and work ers in non-profit religious, charit able and educational instructions. (Continued on page three) i> tVvcfc. Banks was attempting to stop a truck driven by Leonard Dill and stepped into the path of an auto mobile driven by Ulysses Ran dolph Bell. Bell was absolved of blame by Coroner J. F. Brooks, who said after an investigation that the accident was unavoidable, -i— Banks came to Henderson county about 20 years ago from Madison county. He was a farm er of the Etowah section and served at one time on the county road board. Officers said today that Banks was in Asheville Saturday morn ing and borrowed a Chevrolet coupe from a brother, Gross Banks. Banks, they said, left Asheville about 9 o'clock Satur day morning and was to return not later than 2 o'clock in the af ternoon. y The officers were continuing a search today for the car, which had not been seen since Banks left Asheville. Funeral services for Banks were held this morning at 111 o'clock at Pleasant Grove church! with Rev. C. E. Blythe and Rev. W. S. Hutchison officiating. Pallbearers were Richard Ham- ( ilton, Walter Gray, Vick Orr, j James Drake, Eli Dalton and i Mitchell Bell. lie is survived by his widow;] three daughters, Ruby, Goldia, and Sylvia Banks; seven sons, j Creed, Watson, Anderson, Walter, Charlie, William Leonard and D. C. Banks, and two brothers, Carl C. and Gross Banks, both of Asheville. At Patton Memorial hospital today it was stated that young Jackson would be discharged to-1 day. ] He was injured when a Ford truck, in which he was riding (Continued on page three) PRESBYTERIAN MEN TO MEET The Men's club of the Presby- j terian church will hold its regu lar monthly meeting tomorrow j night at the church house. Supper will be served at 71 o'clock after which Mr. F. 0. Clark of the~Farmers Federation,; Asheville, will be the speaker of, the evening. IjOW temperature io« ....... 23 degrees. SATURDAY • i Maximum temperature—48 de grees. Minimum — 29 degrees. Mean—38.5 degrees. Day's range —19 degrees. SUNDAY Maximum temperature—52 de grees. Minimum — 36 degrees. Mean—44 degrees. Day's range— 16 degrees. Normal mean temperature for December—39.2 degrees. Rain fall to date—.40 inch. Normal I rainfall—5.46 inches. Women in the Coster Case INFORMER Eleanor Lockne informed Wash ington officials on the true iden tity of "George Vernard," fiscal a^ent of McKesson & Robblns, for wnom she worked as secre tary. She indicated he was real ly Arthur Musica, one of three brothers involved in a 191.'* swindle. } MYSTERY WIDOW Possible new mystery in the j tangled McKesson & Robbins ! case is the true identity of Mrs. Frank Donald Coster. The flc- ! titious "Who's Who" reeord of 1 her suicide husband gave her ! maiden name as "Carol Jenkins • Schiefflin of Jamaica, L. I." WEED QUOTAS ARE DEFEATED County Joins Other Sections to Kill Plan Henderson county burley to-1 bacCo producers on Saturday vot ed in opposition to the establish ment of national tobacco quotas. The election was held at the of fice of the county farm agent. ! Only slightly more than half •' of the growers in this county I eligible to vote on the question j balloted. The vote was 32 against I national marketing quotas and 17 j in favor of the quotas. A total of 91 farmers in Hen-1 derson county were eligible to j vote and only 49 went on record with ballots. In 20 Western North Carolina! counties farmers voted 5,792 to | 2,6(50 against the establishment of marketing quotas. Of these 20 counties 11 voted against and 9' for the quota establishment. Madison county, with the larg- i est number of burley producers, ( voted against the plan by more > than 2 to 1. CROP CONTROL FOES ELATED WASHINGTON, Dec. 19. (UP) Opponents of the administration's crop control program hailed re jection of marketing quotas for 1939 by tobacco farmers as an indication of dissatisfaction with the New Deal's farm policies. AAA officials minimized the ! defeat of the proposed tobacco j quotas on the grounds that the : growers are not in as difficult a plight as cotton farmers who are ' faced with declining prices, rec ord surpluses, and bumper crops.: Almost complete .returns from Saturday's referenda showed that neither growers of burley nor dark tobacco in 14 states gave the necessary two-thirds vote to make the marketing program effective, j On December 10 similar re- j strictions were voted down by rice and flue-cured tobacco grow ers while cotton growers by a majority short of last year's, agreed to invoke restrictions. AAA official^ said that tobac co growers have had "good mar keting" conditions and prices and that they want to "go it alone" next year without federal re strictions. Rejection of a market ing quota means that growers of crops involved cannot obtain fed eral loans next year if prices faill. As a result of the referenda, tobacco growers will be free to market all their crop next year I without paying the two-cent per pound penalty tax on dark type marketed in excess of quotas. The penalty on excess marketings of ■ the other types would have been half the market value. Legion Auxiliary Plans Made for Needy's Baskets Mrs. Frank Yarborough, presi- j dent of the American Legion Aux iliary today requested all mem bers to leave their donations of food, clothes and toys at English Shoe store, opposite the post-! office. Food especially is needed,, she said. The members will meet j at the Legion home Wednesday. morning at 10 o'clock to prepare ' the baskets. P.-T.A. MEETING IS POSTPONED The East Flat Rock Parent Teacher association meeting for December has been postponed, it was announced this afternoon, on account of the holiday closing of school there on Wednesday of this week. Announcement will be ; made later with regard to the i date and arrangements of the as-, sociation's meeting. Fire Department Is Called Twice The fire department answered two calls yesterday, small dam age resulting in both cases. In the morning the department answered a call at a negro home on First avenue. A call in the afternoon was an swered at the home of Henry Reid, corner Beech and Pace streets. U.S. LOANS FOR INDUSTRY ARE UNDER ATTACK WASHINGTON, Dec. 19. (UP) Acting Comptroller General R. N. Elliott today charged that the Farm Security administration, in lending money to cooperatives for construction and operation of silk hosiery mills was competing both with private industry and the farmers themselves, since the hos iery \vould compete with domestic grown cotton as material for hoSo. Gifts to Needy to be Made Follow ing Carols The Rev. George Pennell, as president of the city ministers as sociation, which has in charge the preparation of a program to be given at the community Christ mas tree Saturday night of thia week, today announced that the program will open jit 7:30 o'clock Christmas eve, with carol singing led by J. C. Coston, and express ed th*. hoao that churches in the city and county will send del egations to take part in this car ol service. Rev. Dr. D. E. Camak, pastor of the First Methodist church, will offer the opening prayer. Rev. Dr. L. T. Wilds, pastor of the Presbyterian church, will read the scripture. The Rev. Mr. Kesterson, Bap tist pastor, will also offer a pray er. Two more carols will follow and Mayor A. V. Edwards will make the address of the occasion. Following this will be the dis tribution of gifts to needy fam ilies, concluding the program. SR. GIRL SCOUTS ARE TO GATHER Senior Girl Scouts will meet Tuesday evening at 7 o'clock with Mrs. R. S. Gibbs, Jr., at her home, she announced today. At tention was called to the fact that the girls are to bring with them lanterns and sleigh bells. The senior girls are also asked to bring in all the money that has been obtained in the sale of Christmas cards, while each girl is reminded that she is to bring an inexpensive Christmas gift. 32 Are Killed in Brazilian Wreck RIO DE JANERIO, Dec. 19.— (UP)—Thirty-two persons were killed and sixty injured last night in a train crash on Central Do Brazil railroad in the state of Minas Geraes. The crash occurred when a runaway freight struck a passen ger express. WHITE RUSSIAN EMIGRES IN PARIS CHEER MOVEMENT FOR FREE UKRAINE AND NEW 'CZAR' PARIS, Dec. 19. (UP)—More than 1,500 White Russians, gath ered in Paris to acclaim 21-year old Grand Duke Vladimir as the "czar presumptive" of all the Russias, yesterday cheered the, new Ukrainian independence! movement as heralding the first major blow to the Soviet regime J which drove them into exile. The members of the "Union of j Russian nobility," meeting in a solemn ceremony at the Maison de Chimie only a half-mile from the Soviet embassy, said they re fused to serve as "tools" for Ger many or any other foreign power 1 in striving for a Ukrainian state; of 40,000,000 or 45,000,000 peo-1 pies carved out of Poland, Rus sia, Rumania and Czechoslovakia. They are friendly to Germany, they said, only because the Nazis are foes of Bolshevism. They greeted the agitation for an independent Ukrainia, how ever, in a hope that subsequent developments might lead some day to collapse of the Soviet re-1 gime and re-establishment of the Czarist throne. Asserting that he "remains faithful to the principal of Rus sia's territorial integrity including the Ukraine," Duke Vladimir de nied reports that while in Ber lin he would confer with Chan cellor Adolf Hitler on a reported Nazi plan to offer him the re gency of an independent Ukrain ia. Despite Vladimir's denials feel ing persisted in Paris that his vis it to Germany might not be en tirely unrelated to the Ukrainian independence movement. He said in his denials that: 1. The Czar of all the Russias cannot reign over one Russian province. 2. The Ukraine is only a fron tier region of Russia. 3. The Ukraine is the birth place of the Russian empire and cannot be detached. 4. The Czar cannot permit in fringement of Russia's territorial integrity. HELD LIKELY SCENE OF HIS ARMS TRAFFIC Had Munitions De pot in Montreal for 5 Years SIX INQUIRIES MERGED IN ONE NEW YORK, Dec. 19. (UP)— McKesson and Robbins vice pre»i dent, Frederick Wingerslcy, rs» realed today that Philip Musica in the role of drug company president, F. Donald Coster, had attempted to purchase 1,250,000 army rifles as recently as last spring in connection with the mu nitions traffic he built up—as an ilicit sideline. NEW YORK, Dec. 19. (UP)— The big scale munitions traffic which Philip Musica biiilt up as F. Donald Coster, president of McKesson, Robbins, Inc., may have been centered in Montreal, where he operated the old United States government arsenal, the attorney general's office disclos ed today. Investigators reported that Mc ; Kesson and Robbins had operat ed the munitions warehouse in ; Montreal for five years, j This''disclosure was made by i Assistant AttOraay General Jo seph Ruggierl, who: went to Mon treal in an attempt to find 18 million dollars worth of assets which Musica, as Coster, falsely | listed in the records of his com i pany's crude drug department. Ruggieri testified at the hear ing today as six federal investi gating agencies merged their in quiries into Musica's shadowy dealings. NEW YORK, Dec. 19.—(UP) Federal agents, noting the fre quency with which McKeaaon and Robbins trucks had been hi-jacked during the reign of F. Donald Coster as president of the huge drug firm, last night investigated the possibility that he had been stealing his own drugs. His connections with bootleg I gers during the prohibition era, j when he used a hair tonic business for diversion oi alcohol into illicit channels, would have provided an excellent opportunity for arrang ing the wave of hi-jacking against McKesson and Robbins trucks which occurred during 1934 and 1935 for a total loss approximat ing $250,000. The hi-jackings, occurring in New York state and Connecticut, might have served a twofold pur pose for Coster, since they would have reduced taxes, while permit ting him t« share a personal cut with the gangsters. Coster, who, as the notorious Philip Musica, swindled New York banks of $1,000,000 in pre-war days, leaned heavily in recent years on George E. Dietrich, the Musica brother who was assistant treasurer of McKesson and Rob < bins. Dietrich had a wide acquain tance among former bootleggers, particularly in Bridgeport, Conn., near which Coster lived. Bridge port bootleggers, it was said last night, used to itiarvel at Diet continued on page three) 5 Shopping Doys Till Christinas W^HfibcP COtMCgriCuT .A&NAMkPHtfAtfN** MArflMG GOOO IH A 0lO WAS/ T OOMNG BACK TO CHEIST ^ MAS riVB TEAM AGO— Repeal's arrival was still being toasted. . . . Japan was pray ing for heir to the throne. . . . Year's outstanding personality in sports, the Giants' Cart Hub* bell. ... A red-headed Con necticut lass named Hepburn was making good in big way. . . . "Let 'Em Eat Cake" was wowing New York. . . . Radk fans' pet hate was jazz, pot showed. . . . Bolivia and Para guay rowing over Gran Chaco