HENDERSON
GATEWAY TO
CENTRAL
CAROLINA
TWENTY-THIRD YEAR
HAUPTMAHN defense fights desperately
REVENUE PROGRAM
IS DECLARED LESS
THAN REAL NEEDS
Will Advance Principle Os
Tax Equity, However,
Revelriue Commis
sioner Asserts
HEARINGS STARTED
FOR NEW MEASURE
Would Retain Capital Stock
Tax in Addition to Levies
on Corporate Reserves;
Helvering Tells Commit
tee It Should Consider
Other Sources Also
Washington, March 30 (AP)
—An administration spokes
man told the House Ways and
Means Committee today its
revenue program would advance
the principle of tax equity, but
would not fully cover the needs
for additional revenue outlined
by President Kooseyelt.
Guy T. Helvering, commissioner of
internal revenue, was the first wit
ness on the tax report drafted by a
ways and means sub-committee as
the basis of hearings after Mr. Roose
velt recommended new levies to meet
bonus payments and farm relief costs.
Remove Inequalities
He said the additional revenues that
would be obtained by revision of the
present corporate tax structure would
result in the removal of inequality,
discrimination and tax avoidance, and
will come mainly from members of
the upper income groups of our popu
lation.”
Helvering told the legislators Treas
ury officials were in complete harm
ony with the tentatively drafted reve
nue program.
The plans embrace raising $591,000,-
000 additional from a graduate tax on
corporation net income, based on per
centages of that income turned into
reserves: $100,000,000 from a “wind
fall” tax on processors who escaped
payment of AAA processing tax levies
nd suggestions for bringing in $83,-
oo'i.OOO from temporary continuation
of capital stock and excess profits
•axes, and $25,000,000 from taxes on
corporation dividends to foreign stock
holders.
Other Sources Talked
Helvering added, however, that he
'.'nought the committee should con
dor whether there were not addi
tional sources of temporary revenue
that can be provided for the next two
or three years "to bridge a gap” be
tween the committee's recommenda
tions and those of the President.
Ethiopia’s
Capital IS ow
Fears Raids
City of Harar Virtu
ally Destroyed By
Italian Bombs I n
Attack Sunday
Addis Ababa, March 30. —(AP) —An
kalian air rain spread fire and panic
'hrouehout Harar, wrought virtual de
truetion on that second city of Ethi
opia, the government charged today,
nd w~poT»-pri several hospitals and
French centers.
A squadron of Fascist planes, Ethi
opian reports said, plunged incendiary
ombs down on the strategic center
for more than two hours yesterday,
leaving the city in flames.
Casualties Few.
Forewarned by scouting planes,
however, most of the populace fled
the ci*v in terror, advices to the capi
tal said, and few persons were believ
ed to have fallen victims to the bom
bardment.
An official communique, relayed by
telephone from Harar to Addis Abaca,
said 15 bombs struck the Egyptian
Red Cross hospital there, several hit
the Ethiopian Red Cross hospital, and
two fell near the Swedish hospital.
A French mission, the French con
sulate, the former Italian consulate,
the Ethiopian radio station and pri
son all v/erc reported officially to
have seen ruined.
' Capital Expects Raid.
The attack on Harar, coupled with
a heavy bombardment of Jijia, 50
miles east of Harar and a center of
E hiopia’s southern defenses, raised
native fears in Addis Ababa that the
capital itself might he the next target
of the Italian aerial bombs.
mt Hailtt Btsuafrlr
ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN THIS SECTION OF NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA
LEASED WIRE SERVICE OF
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
New Hitler Proposals Will
Astound World, Berlin Says
Berlin, March 30 (AP) —Adolf
Hitler, bearing the greatest en
dorsement ever given in any ple
biscite, turned today to drafting
proposals to the Locarno powers
in the Rhineland crisis which poli
tical sources intimated would “as
tound the world.”
The Nazi propaganda machine, mov
ing with speed ana precision, swung
virtually the entire German nation
behind Der Fuehrer in yesterday’s
election, nominally to select a new
Reichstag, but actually to approve
GASTON MISTER
GETS BOLD THREAT
Letter Promises Death Os
Daughter if Condemned
Pair Are Executed
Gastonia, March 30. —(AP) —Rev. W.
Earl Armstrong, of Gastonia, revealed
today the receipt of an anonymous
letter threatening the life of his
eleven-year-old daughter. Jean, if two
Negroes convicted of an attempted as
sault upon her are executed.
The minister also said that a Negro
grabbed Jean’s arm as the child was
playing in her front yard yesterday,
but fled when she screamed.
Grier and Frank Armstrong, Negro
brothers, were convicted at the March
term of court here of entering Mr.
Armstrong’s home at night, and at
tempting to take Jean from the house.
They were sentenced to die and now
are at state’s Prison at Raleigh await
ing execution.
Mr. Armstrong said he received the
letter Saturday and that an armed
guard was kept at his home last night
after the apparent attempt of a Negro
to harm Jean yesterday.
Local police asked aid of Federal
authorities in the case, as the letter
was received tnrough the mail.
S£
Already Stuff Being Writ
ten to Make Up Voter’s
Mitnid for Him
By CHARLES P. STEWART
Central Press Staff Writer
Washington, March 30.—Strickland
Gillian, professional funny man, after
dinner orator, daily broadcaster of
political news by radio out of Wash
ington, and immortal as the author
of “Off agin, on agin, gone agin, Fin
nigin”, was philosophizing aprops
presidential years—
“ Since,” as he observes, “this is one
—a year for what my smart friend
Hank Mencken calls boob-pumping,
when the saps get a workout.
“Credulity will take the place of
reasoning—and there will be no great
struggle for supremacy between the
two in the average ‘mind,’ I put ‘mind’
in quotation marks because I am kid
ding. Nobody uses any mind in a poli
tical campaign; that is, no voter does.
He puts it away in moth balls at the
(Continued on Page Five.)
As Congressional Committee Investigates Townsend Pension Plan
; 2 jffllilll !' A
General view of the investigation in Washington of Townsend plan
Robert E. Clements, resigned secretary and co-founder of the Town- I
send old age pension organization, is pictured being questioned by
congressional committee in Washington headed by Representative J
HENDERSON, N. C., MONDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 30, 1936
the remilitarization of the Rhineland.
Almost Unanimous
Official returns gave Hitler 98.79
per cent —the strongest majority the
head of Germany ever received—of
the 44,952,476 votes cast, only 542,954
votes being counted as invalid.
In the German view, the first that
there was no chance to vote in oppo
sition, but only to take the Nazi party
list or leave it, did not detract from
the overwhelming Nazi triumph.
Der Fuehrer now felt, informed
sources said, that whatever he might
Flood Fund Hits
Near 1-2 Billion
Washington, March 30 (AP)
With many members of Congress
clamoring for projects, the new
flood control bill was expanded
tentatively today from $300,000,000
to $385,000,000.
Chairman Copeland, Democrat,
New York, of the Senate Com
merce Committee, predieted it ulti
mately would involve “between a
half billion and a billion dollars.”
iRTPiPONET
NEW DEAL RULING
Guffey Coal Decision De
ferred; Won’t Pass On
Utility Act as Yet
Washington, iMarch 30. —(AP) —The
Supreme Court deferred today for at
least one week its decisions on con
stitutionality of the Guffey coal and
1933 securities act.
Fourteen opinions were delivered,
all unanimous.
In a ruling on one of the most im
portant anti-trust suits in recent years
the court held certain practices of the
Sugar Institute, Inc., violate the Sher
man anti-trust act, barring restrain
ing of competition.
Despite arguments that its practices
were intended to be cooperative in the
public interest, Chief Justice Hughes,
for the court, held that “the end does
not justify illegal means.”
Granting a government request, the
court refused to pass, at present, on
the public utility holding act. This law
is on its way up to the court on other
cases.
Provisions of the Washington State
law of 1933 imposing an occupation
tax on radio broadcasting were held
unconstitutional. The levy was ruled
an allegal “burden on interstate com
merce.’’
Other aoUons included:
Mrs. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt lost
her attempt to obtain custody of her
wealthy 12-year-old child, Gloria. The
justices refused to review lower court
decisions.
New York officials were granted a
review of their contention that a 1933
law fixing minimum wages for wo
men and children was constitutional.
Arizona’s request for oral argument
of its right to have the high tribunal
determine water rights in the Colo
rado river among seven western states
was granted.
C. Jasper Bell, D., of Kansas City, Mo. Clements (arrow) Is at tile
extreme left, while Representative Bell (arrow) is at the extreme
right, directly across the table from Clements,
demand from the other powers he
would demand not as the dictator but
as the servant of 67,000,000 Germans,
who commanded him not to yield one
inch of German territory, nor one bit
of German rights.
Contents Not Revealed
There was no intimation, however,
of the exact contents of his extensive
counter-proposals to the Locarno pow
ers, promised for tomorrow in his
preliminary reply March 24 to the
London plan for a settlement of the
Rhineland issue.
preSolk
Even Illogic of Roosevelt
Finances Will Be Over
come Eventually
By LESLIE EICHEL
Central Press Staff Writer
What causes movements that prom
ise a great deal for a little to collapse?
They invariably do —of their own
accord. Time is against them.
Even, however, when they strike in
the heat of emotion, nrior to the work
ing of time, they collapse within a
year or two.
Men who study such matters give
this answer:
“Logic is inexorable. Against even
the outcries of millions, logic in the
form of a fate marches on.”
There is no easy road to a settle
ment of problems.
Thousands of our readers will as
sert we are writing of the Townsend
movement. We are.
We wrote, also, a year or so ago
of Huey Long and Father Coughlin.
We said that, in any contest, Presi
dent Roosevelt would win over them
—not because the president was right,
but because the illogical reasonings
of the movements would be disclosed
by time.
The same inexorable march of time
nr fate probably will disclose the il
logic of the Roosevelt financial pol
icy. But, as the president has the
power of government behind him and
as he can change policies to meet ex
pediencies, he is likely to survive
critics and movements. Furthermore,
conservatives and diehards will sup
port a president tacitly in defense of
money. Even while they attack him,
the/ will consider him a bulwark on
this particular issue.
The collapse of “easy-road” move-
YGnntlnned nn Paere Five i
OUR WEATHER MAN
FOB CAROLINA.
Cloudy, somewhat warmer in
west and central portions tonight,
with occasional rain late tonight
in extreme west portion; Tues
day rain and colder, possibly
changing to snow flurries in
mountains.
HO QL CONSCIOUS
Realizing Need for Provid
ing Better Facilities
Than State Gives
VOTING SUPPLEMENTS
Number of Cities and Districts Have
Already Decided in Favor of
Increases, Superintend
ent Erwin Says
Dally Dispatch Barca*,
In The Sir Walter Hotel,
By J. C. BASKEBVq,L
Raleigh, March 30. —The people of
North Carolina are becoming more
and more "school conscious” and are
realizing the need for providing bet
ter school facilities than the State is
able to provide in the State-supported
eight months school term, State Su
perintendent of Public Instruction
Clyde A. Erwin said today. In support
of this contention, Supet. Erwin cited
the cities which have either voted lo
cal supplements with which to im
provee their school systems, or ar
planning to hold elections on the levy
ing of supplemental taxes for schools.
Raleigh an Example.
“The entire State now knows how
Raleigh waked up and voted a supple
ment of $95,000 a year with which to
provide a ninth month, a twelfth
grade and additional teachers, with
the result that many other cities and
towns are going to hold elections and
try to emulate the capital city,” Supt.
Erwin said. “For indications are that
the public generally is at last becom
ing convinced that the only immediate
way to improve the schools is by vot
ing local supplements.”
Eleven cities or counties have either
decided to hold elections for the vot
ing of supplementary taxes for
schools, or are contemplating doing
so, Erwin said. The voters of Reids
ville will hold a school supplement
election April 14, while the people of
Greensboro will hold a similar election
May 5. Other school administrative
units which are contemplating calling
supplementary tax elections between
now and fall are Salisbury, Wilming
ton and New Hanover county, Con
cord, Kinston, Goldsboro, Mount Airy,
Rockingham, Guilford county and
Lexington.
Total Supplements 13.
The action recently taken by Ra
leigh in voting a supplementary tax
for schools brought the total number
of cities which have voted supplemen
(Continued on Page Eight.
Vera Stretz Will
Ask Self Defense
Rlea in Her Trial
New York, March 30 (AP)—Vera
Stretz will plead self defense in the
slaying of Dr. Fritz Gebhabdt, ner
wealthy lover, said Attorney Samuel
Leibowitz today during a recess in
her first degree murder trial.
“On the morning of November 12,”
Leibowitz said, “Gebhardt called Miss
Stretz to his quarters on the pretext
that he did not know how to operate
an electric heating pad she had pur
chased for him. We will prove that
Miss Stretz’s affection for Gebhardt
had cooled and that he attacked her
in his apartment.”
The 32-year-old secretary was on
the stand for the second day, but she
was asked few questions about her il
licit romance with the German in
dustrialist.
Liebowitz occupied most of the
morning session reading letters from
Gebhardt showing his love for the
blonde university graduate.
PUBLISHED EVERY AFTERNOON
EXCEPT SUNDAY.
PARDON BODY ASKS
EVIDENCE IN CASE
OFFERED AT TRIAL
?5
They Are Convinced State
Is Not Goilnig Haywire
and Refuse to Wor
ry Themselves
WILL NOT TURN ON
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Record of 36 Years Not Go
ing to Be Repudiated at
Behest of An Outsider; Tar
Heels Too Intelligent to Be
Swept Off Their Feet by
Demagoguery.
Dally Dispatch Bnrenn,
In The Sir Walter Hote.,
By J. C BASKKIIVII I,
Raleigh, March 30. The more
thoughtful people over the State are
not getting all hot and bothered over
the progress Dr. Ralph W. McDonald
is said to be making in his campaign
for the Democratic nomination for
governor, and are refusing to get all
excited, as are some of the politicians,
according to reliable reports reaching
hei’e from all sections of the State.
They are confident that between
now and the June primary a majority
of the people are going to decide that
either Clyde R. Hoey or Lieutenant
Governor A. H. Graham will make a
better governor of North Carolina and
more to uphold the traditions of the
Democratic party in the State for the
past 36 years than McDonald.
They believe the Democrats of
North Carolina are not going to turn
their backs On records of the nine
Democratic governors they have elect
ed from 1960 to 1936 or forget that
from Aycock to Ehringhaus there has
never been a single whisper of scan
dal or a trace of corruption in tne
governmental affairs of North Caro
lina.
People Too Intelligent.
There are two basic reasons for this
belief, as follows:
1. The superior intelligence of the
people of North Carolina, as compar
ed with that of the voters in most of
the other southern states, due very
largely to the better system of public
education in North Carolina whieh
has been built up by successive Dem
ocratic administrations for the past 36
years, so that North Carolina voters
cannot be swayed by the type of dem
ogoguery which is still used effective
ly in other states.
2. The examples which the voters of
North Carolina have had from other
states, and which they have had
enough intelligence to evaluate and
make them realize that they do not
want a governor in North Carolina
similar to Talmadge in Georgia, the
late Huey Long in Louisiana, Cole
Blease or the present Governor John
ston in South Carolina, Bilbo of Mis
sissippi, Catts of Florida, the Fer
gusons in Texas or “Happy” Chandler
of Kentucky.
Examples Over South.
The people of North Carolina have
read of the recent political turmoil in
Georgia, when Governor Talmadge
Continued on Page Three.)
$144500,000 MORE
IS ASKED FOR TVA
Wanted To Complete Dams
Projects; Olnie in N. C.
for $29,000,000
Washington, March 30. —(AP) —Six
additional dam projects involving an
estimated expenditure of $144,500,000
were recommended to Congress today
to complete development of the gov
ernments’ Tennessee Valley project.
The expenditure’s together with the
$185,188,525 cost of projects already au
thorized by Congress would bring the
total outlay for the huge development
to $329,688,525.
The recommendations were contain
ed in a special TVA report which em
phasized the importance of the pro
gram for controlling floods on the
lower Mississippi.
New projects recommended includ
ed construction of a storage dam on
the Little Tennessee river at Fontana,
N. C., costing approximately $29,000,-
000.
Q PAGES
o TODAY
FIVE CENTS COPY
Wood Expert’s Opinion
About Rail 16 in Kidnap
Ladder Is Question
ed at Hearing
HOFFMAN PRESSING
FIGHT FOR GERMAN
Governor Battles Over
State’s Co|n)tention After
Visit to Hauptmann’s
Bronx Home Last Week;
PWA Wood Expert Dis
putes' Authenticity of! |the
Evidence
Trenton, N. J., March 30 (AP)—The
last-ditch effort to save Bruno Rich
ard Hauptmann from execution to
morrow night from the Lindbergh
baby murder swung into an attack
before the court of pardons today on
the testimony of one of the State’s
chief witnesses —Arthur J. Koehler,
Federal wood expert, who swore it
was his opinion Bruno Richard
Hauptmann built the Lindbergh kid
nap ladder.
A call for testimony at the Flem
ington trial, which included that part
pertaining to Koehler's qualifications
as an expert, was made after the
court had been in session about two
and a half hours.
It was regarded as an indication
that Governor Harold G. Hoffman,
who has questioned the State’s con
tention that Hauptmann built the lad
der, was pressing his fight in Haupt
mann’s behalf. It was learned that
the court, composed of the governor,
Chancellor Luther A. Campbell and
six lay judges of the court of errors
and appeals, only five of whom at
tended the executive session, was es
pecially interested in the testimony
that qualified Koehler as an expert.
Governor Hoffman last Thursday
visited Hauptmann’s Bronx home to
see for himself the attic flooring
from which, the State contended,
Hauptmann took a hoard which be
came rail 16 of the ladder, and one
of the most damaging pieces of evi
dence in the trial.
On his Bronx visit, the governor
was accompanied by Arch W. Loney,
PWA engineer, who later reported to
the governor it was his opinion the
disputed rail did not come from the
attic.
At Hauptmann's trial, Edward J.
Reilly, then the carpenter’s chief de
fense counsel, strenuously fought
Koehler’s qualifications an an expert.
2 More Men
Involved In
Kidnap Case
Gaston Means Pur
ported To Have
Confessed Guilt In
Lindbergh Affair
Trenton, N. J., March 30. —(AP)—
The long shadow of the Lindbergh
baby murder fell across two more
men today, even as the court of par
dons met to consider the mercy plea
of the condemned third —Bruno Rich
ard Hauptmann.
One of the new figures in the in
creasingly bewildering case —the mid
dle-aged clergyman’s son, Paul H.
Wendel—was held in jail here. A for
mal charge of having murdered the
baby was filed against him, but he
issued a statement denying any know
ledge of the crime, and the county
prosecutor said he, too, was convinced
there was nothing to warrant prose
cution.
Gaston Means ‘'Confesses.”
The other man—Gaston B. iM'eans,
former Federal agent, and now a Fed
eral prisoner for having fleeced Mrs.
Evelyn Walsh McLean hy pretending
to be an intermediary in ransom nego
tiations with the Lindbergh baby kid
napers—stood self-accused by a ‘•con
fession” purportedly penned in his
Leavenworth penitentiary cell.
The focus of interest, however,
burned with increasing brightness up
on the principal figure, Bruno Rich
ard Hauptmann, despite the sudden
injection of the new characters into
the case. The question to be answered
either by the court of pardons or by
Governor Harold G. Hoffman was
whether Hauptmann would die as
scheduled tomorrow night.
Court May Stand Pat.
The court of pardons was not ex
pected to change its former attitude,
(Continued on Page Eight.