HENDERSON'S
POPULATION
13,873
TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR
U. S. HELPLESS WITH ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS
Hotel And Restaurant People
Protest Wage And Hour Bill
France Seeks Relations
With Franco Forthwith
Basis for Recognition
of Nationalist Regime
in Spain Desired,
Though Hopes for
Ending Civil War
Fade; Try to Halt
Swing to Fascists
Paris, Feb. 21.—(AP)—The French
Foreign Ministry instructed its emis
sary today to go ahead with nego
tiations for diplomatic relations with
nationalist Spain, despite dwindling
hopes for an early end of the civil
war.
Senator Barrard, who came to the
French border town of St. Jean-de-
Luz yesterday after meeting ob
stacles in his talks at Burgos, receiv
ed new instructions by telephone
from Foreign Minister Bonner dur
ing the night.
The French government was un
derstood to hope that even though
the present negotiations should fail
to bring peace, the recognition of
General Franco’s regime might help
check Franco’s swing toward the side
of the fascist powers.
Foreign Ministry officials said Bar
rard’s report to Bonnet on his nego
tiations for diplomatic relations with
Franco created an “excellent impres
sion.” In Berrard’s nevt conversation
with General Count Francisco Jor
dana, nationalist foreign minister was
set for tomorrow afternoon at Bur
gos. Officials expressed the hope the
negotiations would be concluded
quickly, permitting Barrard to re
turn to Paris Thursday.
A session of Premier Daladier’s
cabinet, originally called for today to
recognize Franco’s regime, was de
layed indefinitely pending the out
come of the negotiations.
- '<
Power Sought
By Labor Unit
No Precedent
Daily Dispatch Bureau,
In the Sir Walter lloteL
Raleigh, Feb. 21.—Those who seek
reconsideration of the vote by which
the House killed the bill giving legal
effect to Labor Department rules and
regulations are preparing to point
out that they are not seeking to
make any innovation in the State’s
set-up.
On the contrary, they will show
that just the same powers sought for
the Labor Department have already
been conferred by the General As
sembly without any wild outcry of
“delegated authority!!” or “contrary
to the concepts of a free govern
ment”, as was asserted by Victor
Bryant on the floor of the House.
Examples which supporters oi' the
measure will cite are:
(1) State Department of Conser
vation and Development laws. Sec
tion 2141 (o) of the North Carolina
code authorized this board to make
rules and regulations for the protec
tion and propagation of wild life,
(Continued on Page Eight)
Johnston Asks N. C. Aid
To Save Cotton Region
Raleigh, Feb. 21—(AP) —Complete
cooperation by all persons interested
in all branches of the American cot
ton industry can save the cotton belt
and the industry, President Oscar
Johnston, of the National Cotton
Council, asserted here today, and re
moved “a kankering sore from the
body politic of our nation.”
“The industry needs,” Johnston
said, “an adequately financed promo
tional and advertised campaign to
encourage greater use of cotton.”
Johnston, who has been making
speeches to state units, outlining pur
poses of the council, was introduced
by Governor Hoey. Members of the
legislature and hundreds of persons
interested in the cotton industry
heard him.
Foreign markets must be fought
for, said Johnston, but domestic
markets also must be developed.
Living standards in the cotton belt
-
mttwvtKtitx 59 atilt Btspatch
L,K 'A?S !D a WIRE SERVICE OP
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Chinese And Japs
Claim Air Victory
Shanghai, Feb. 21—(AP) —Both
Chinese and Japanese today re
ported victory in a great aerial
battle over Lanshow, important
Chinese military base in north
west China. A Japanese navy
communique said 36 Chinese
planes, all made in Russia, and
piloted by Russian fliers, were
shot down in the engagement,
which took place yesterday aft
ernoon.
The communique said the Japa
nese planes, numbering scores,
also destroyed the Chinese air
drome and wrecked military
buildings.
Reports from Chungking, how
ever, said the Chinese have
brought down eight enemy planes
and that only three Chinese pilots
were injured. These reports did
not mention any Chinese planes
being destroyed, but did say sev
eral public buildings were wreck
ed and 20 civilians killed.
Britain In
Protest On
Air Attacks
Bombing of Hong
Kong Area Incites
Vigorous Objections
To Tokyo; Answer
Also Asked to In
quiry About Japanese
Intentions
London, Feb. 21.—(AP) — Great
Britain today sent a “vigorous pro
test” to Japan over the bombing of
Hong Kong territory by Japanese
planes.
The foreign office radioed Sir
Robert L. Craigie, British ambas
sador to Tokyo, to protest imme
diately to the Japanese government
in the strongest terms. Full details
of the bombing were not available
at the foreign office, but it was un
derstood the mainland section of the
colony was hit.
Dispatches from Hong Kong said a
railroad station inside the crown
colony border was bombed by Japan
ese planes. A British Indian police
man was killed, and about a dozen
other persons were injured.
Officials said Sir Robert also was
directed to press for a reply to the
British note of January 14, asking
clarification of Japanese intentions
toward western posters in regard to
maintenance of an open door to trade
in China. (The United States on De
(Continued on Page Three)
continue low, Johnston said, largely
because “the people of that section
have been forced to buy the things
they require from the cradle to the
coffin on a (tariff) protected mar
ket, at an artificial price, and to sell
the commodity upon which they are
dependent, cotton, on a world, or un
protected, market.”
During the past ten years, he said,
production and consumption of for
eign produced cotton has increased
steadily, while consumption of Amer
ican-grown cotton has dropped. He
estimated that 2,500,000 farm fam
ilies of the cotton belt during the last
six years lacked by $2,100,000,000
getting “parity income” from cotton.
He explained that “parity income for
cotton producers means the annual
income from cotton, including both
lint and seed, which will have to be
derived from those products to in
sure producers normal purchasing
power.”
ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN THIS SECTION OF NORTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA.
Proposed Measure
Would Force Them
Out of Business, They
Tell Legislators; Law-
Makers Ready for
Trip to Charlotte for
Wednesday Session
Raleigh, Feb. 21.—(AP)—Hotel
and restaurant operators charged
today that proposed wage and hour
laws for North Carolina would force
them out of business as legislative
activity centered in committee
rooms.
The Assembly adjourned its ses
sions to meet tomorrow as soon as
possible after 11:30 a. m., in Char
lotte, the farthest west any legisla
ture has ever met. The legislators
and Governor Hoey will lhave by
special train tomorrow morning.
Five bills were introduced in both
the House and Senate to amend laws
on banking. They would permit
destruction of records of defunct
banks five years after complete li
quidation of the institutions; amend
laws on accounts by minors; amend
laws on liability of public officials
for deposit in insured banks, and on
bonds of insured banks receiving
public deposits; and clearly define
secured and unsecured evidences of
indebtedness and investment.
The Senate got two bills to pro
vide regulation of the sheet metal,
warm air heating and roofing or sim
ilar trades. One Would amend the
present law on plumbing, heating
and sheet metal industries to cover
hot air heating. The other would
create a new licensing body to cover
the sheet metal, warm air heating
and roofing trades.
Dozens of hotel and restaurant
operators argued to the joint labor
committee that their businesses
would not lend themselves to regu
lation of wages and hours. They
contended they could not increase
levenues, and that putting wages
of Negro workers in kitchens and
similar jobs at the same level as
white employees might create both
labor and racial.strife. Hotel ope
rators said the proposals would ruin
the tourist hotel business and close
up “seventy-five to eighty” percent
of the State’s hotels.
Corbitt Co.
Gets Refund
$6,559 Cash
Washington, Feb. 21.—(AP)
The Senate passed and sent to
the House today a bill to pay The
Corbitt Company of Henderson,
N. C., $6,559 for damages it
claimed from the government for
cancellation of a 1934 contract
to furnish the War Department
20 scout cars.
The company did not deliver
them at the specified date, but,
the claims committee said, the
ordinance department did not in
spect all of them promptly, and
delivery was further delayed.
Man, 40, Faces
Child-Theft
Case In West
El Centro, Cal., Feb. 21.—(AP)—
Manacled for a trip back to Pasa
dena to face a charge of child-steal
ing, 40-year-old Townsend Davis,
gardener and church organist, told
a shocking story today, police said,
of his attempted flight to Arizona
with golden-haired Anne Louise
Sweitzer, 8. The gaunt, hollow
cheeked man and his tiny compan
ion were seized yesterday as his old
sedan approached the State border
more than 24 hours after a secret
departure from Pasadena.
Faint from an attack of nausea,
Anne Louise was not able to be
questioned, but admissions by Davis,
Police Woman Anita Taft said, pro
bably will result in morals charges
being filed against him.
A medical examination was to be
made of the girl to determine if she
had been harmed.
As reported by police, Davis told
of spending Sunday night with, the
girl in a single room at Indio be
cause he “didn’t have money enough
to rent two rooms.” When he was ar
rested he had $2.30 and a religious
tract in his pockets.
“I guess I done something rash,
but she wanted to leave home. I con
sidered her home a bad environment
for her,” Davis was quoted as say
ing. .. _
HENDERSON, N. C., TUESDAY AFTERNOON, FEBRUARY 21, 1939
First View of New Type Bomber for Navy
% I 3
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fl III! • 1111
IBr jj & ’’m. ....
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Length, 78 Feet; Weight, 18 Tons; Crew of Seven
New giant bomber for U. S. navy is exposed to public view for first time at Baltimore.
’ : l : ’ ‘ . (Central Press)
Eight Pensacola Navy Planes
Wrecked In Fog; Two Are Dead
Pensacola, Fla., Feb. 21.—(AP) —
Trapped in a dense fog, eight navy
planes were wrecked and two pilots
killed on a training flight last night.
Rain washed away the fog at dawn
today, disclosing the full toll to of
ficers of the Pensacola naval air sta
tion.
Six student fliers escaped by bail
ing out in the darkness in their first
parachute jump. Four pilots landed
safely in south Alabama.
Lieutenant G. F. dresser, Sr., a
Brazilian navy receiving re
gular 'training here, died when his
plane crashed and burned at Corry
Charlotte Has
First Meeting
Ever In West
Daily Dispatch Bureau.
In the Sir Walter lloteL
(BY LYNN NJESBET)
Raleigh, Feb. 21. When the Gen
eral Assembly convenes in Mecklen
burg county Court house tomorrow,
it will be the first time in history
that it has met further west than
Hillsboro, and the second time since
1794 that a session was held out
side of Raleigh. The other outside
meeting was at Edenton on March
10, 1937.
Senator Joe Blythe, Representa
tives Jim Vogler, Wilson Alexander
and Marvin Ritch, returning to tne
capital from the week-end at home,
report that Charlotte and Mecklen
burg are all set to give the law-mak
ers a gorgeous reception.
The party will leave Raleigh by
chartered train at 7 a? m. tomorrow,
byway of Durham, Greensboro and
Salisbury, scheduled to arrive in the
Queen City about 11 o’clock. Separ
ate meetings of Senate and House
will be held in the court house and
then a joint session in the armory
(Continued on Page Eight)
Voting for Pope
To Start March 1,
Cardinals Decide
Vatican City, Feb. 21. (\P)
Cardinals at the Vatican an
nounced officially today they
would meet in conclave March 1
to elect a new pope.
They previously had indicated
they would start the conclave
February 28, with voting to be
gin the next day after Cardinal
O’Connell, of Boston, and the
two South American prelates ar
rived.
The Vatican announced, how
ever, the cardinals decided the
first balloting would begin
March 1. Voting consequently
will begin March 2. All the 62
Cardinals are expected to at
tend.
Speculation quickened on the
chances of various cardinals, al
though all conceded there was
little upon which to base pre
dictions.
WEATHER
FOR NORTH CAROLINA.
Showers this afternoon and to
night; somewhat colder tonight;
Wednesday partly cloudy and
colder, except clearing on north
coast.
Field, where land planes are suar
tered. Lieutenant N. M. Ostergren
was found in his wrecked and burn
ed plane near TvlcDavid, Fla., about
20 miles north of Pensacola. The fog
kept his fate a mystery until after
dawn, when scouting planes took to
the air for a searcn.of the entii'e sec
tion.
Lieutenant J. P. Monroe, aide to
the commandant of the station said a
board of inquiry would convene to
day.
Beside Lieutenant Presser, anoth
er Brazilian officer was in the group.
He leaped to. safety. Nine advanced
McCall Attorney
In F inal Appeals
Raiford, Fla., Feb. 21. (AP)
Attorneys for Franklin P. McCall,
condemned ransom-kidnaper of
little Jimmy Cash, left Tallahas
see early today after aU-night
conferences, and C. A. Avirett
said he would go to Washington
to seek a review of the case by
the United States Supreme Court.
Avirett indicated he had aban
doned, at least for the present, an
earlier plan to have an alienist
examine McCall to test his sanity.
Scheduled to die yesterday, Mc-
Call had given up hope when his
execution was postponed until a
II a. m. Friday by Prison Super
intendent L. F. Chapman a little
more than an hour before the
electrocution was to take place.
Speculate On
Meeting Os
Party Chiefs
Daily Dispatch Bureau,
In the Sir Walter HoteL
By LYNN NISBET
Raleigh, Feb. 21. —Persistant ru
mors that the organization of county
Democratic chairman, effected in
Durham last week, was designed to
give the State chairman more con
trol over local activities, were vig
orously denied today by two or three
of those active in bringing about the
new organization.
The suggestion that the organiza
tion was formed for the purpose
either of abolishing or retaining the
absentee ballot provisions in the elec
tion law, were likewise hooted at. It
was reiterated that the only purpose
behind the statewide tie-up of coun
(Continued on Page Two)
Local Government
Sells Bond Issues
Os Hickorv, Wilson
Raleigh, Feb. 21.—(AF) —The Lo
cal Government Commission mode
“excellent” sales today, Secretary
W. E. Easterling said, of $175,990
Hickory water and sewer bonds and
SBB,OOO Wilson county school bonds.
Lewis & Hall, Inc., of Greensboro,
paid SB.BB premium for the Wilson
issue, with the first $40,900 maturi
ties to bear 2 3-4 percent interest
and the remainder three per cent.
A $1,200 Winton note went to the
First National Bank of Wavnesville,
with interest at three percent.
PUBLISHED EVERY AFTERNOON
EXCEPT SUNDAY.
students and three instructors took
off early last night for a routine after
dark flight.
Not long after they were aloft a
soupy fog rolled in from the Gulf of
Mexico. The well lighted landing
field was blotted out. Thousands of
feet high, the fliers were faced with
the choice of hunting an airport that
was not fog-bound, or flying until
,their gasoline was exhausted and
jumping.
Three instructors and one student
managed successful landings. All
their planes save one crashed with
in ten miles of Pensacola.
Rail Unions
Angered By
FDR's Snub
By CHARLES P. STEWART
Central Press Columnist
Washington, Feb. 21.—The railroad
brotherhoods’ official news organ,
“Labor,” speaks of union leaders as
“fight ing mad”
McManamy
over the dropping
of Frank McMana
my from member
ship on the Inter
state Commerce
Commission.
By its reference
to “leaders,” “La
bor” of course es
pecially means
leaders of the rail
road workers’ or
ganizations. It cer
tainly expresses it-
self with authority; the 15 recogniz
ed standard transportation brother
hoods own the publication. It safely
can be taken for granted, then, that
it knows precisely what it is talking
about on this particular subject—is
doing not a bit of mere guessing, as
might conceivably be the case as to
the average newspaper.
Besides being 100 percent au
thoritative, in its field, “Labor” has
been, thus far, unfalteringly pro-
New Deal. The American Federation
of Labor has not been quite so whole
heartedly so. The A. F. of L. does
not altogether like the National La
bor Relations Board, which is sup
posed to have administration back
(Continued on Page Eight)
Warrenton Negro
Woman Mulcted by
Two Gypsy Women
Warrenton, Feb. 21.—(AP)
Ella Coleman, a Negress, warned
all in earshot today that “the
devil is pn the run,” while police
searched for two gypsies who
possessed hypnotic powers. The
woman said a gypsy with two
gold teeth met her downtown,
called her name and claimed to
know her. She denied the ac
quaintance. A second gypsy join
ed them and the two followed
her home.
There she was “hypnotized,”
Ella said, and persuaded to draw
over SIOO from her bank ac
count. The following day, Ella
told police, she returned to her
“right mind,” found her money
and the gypsies gone.
“The devil is on the run,” Ella
warned. “Watch out; he might
stop at your house next.”
8 PAGES
TODAY
FIVE CENTS COPY
Would Need
2 Years To
Get Enough
Even $110,000,000
President Asked
Might Not Provide
Enough Such Guns;
Europe Declared In
vading South Ame
rica With “Experts”
Washington, Feb. 21.—(AP) —The
Senate Military Committee heard to
day that the army cannot obtain in
less than two years sufficient anti
aircraft weapons to equip its “initial
protective force” of 400,000 men.
Chairman Sheppard, Democrat,
Texas, said Major General Charles
Wesson, chief of ordinance, told the
committee in a closed session this
morning that day and night shifts
would be required in manufacturing
plants to turn out sufficient of the
heavier types of anti-aircraft guns in
two years.
The army made a start on manu
facture of this type of artillery un
der an appropriation of $13,000,000,
and contract authorization of $lO -
000,000 by the last Congress.
Sheppard said testimony of Wes
son and other army officials disclos
ed that even the appropriation of
$110,000,000 sought in the President’s
rearmament program for this pur
pose would not provide enough ar
tillery, ammunition and other sup
plies for the 400,000 soldiers com
prising the regular army, national
guard and organized reserves.
Meanwhile, over the protest of
Republicans that the action might re
sult in leading this nation into war,
the House voted to continue the
(Continued on Page Three)
Chamberlain
Asks Okay Os
Arms Program
London, Feb. 21.—(AP) —Prime
Minister Chamberlain today sought
House of Commons approval for
raising the level of the limit of Bri
tain’s borrowing for her great arms
program to 800.000,000 $4,000,000,-
000), and warned attentive members
that even this huge sum might not
be enough.
The premier opened the second
day of full dress defense debates
with a reminder that 580,000,000
pounds $2,900,000,000 was schedul
ed for armament expenditure in the
next year alone—a sum equal to al
most the entire national debt in
1914. He spoke after the foreign
olfice announced a strong protest to
Tokyo over alleged Japanese air
(Continued on Page Eight)
SCHOOL BUS DRIVER
DEAD NEAR SCHOOL
Windsor, Feb. 21.—(AP) —Danford
White, 22-year-old school bus driv
er, was found dead today on the
Askeville school grounds. Coroner
G. Byrd said death apparently was
of natural causes.
Temperature
Nose Dives
In The East
Middle West Sees
Mercury Slip Far Be
low Zero in Places;
North Carolina Rivers
Pass Crest
(By The Associated Press.)
The mercury dropped as much as
30 degrees and cut short today an
unscheduled visit of summary weath
er to the eastern United States.
Snow was general throughout the
Middle West, where some sub-zero
readings were taken, rain dispelled
fog in Florida and readings in the
20’s were reported in Texas.
New Englanders saw the mercury
slide from yesterday’s 66 to 36 to
day, while the Weather Bureau fore
(Continued on Page Eight)