The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, March 08, 1922, Image 1
THE SUMTE!! WATCHMAN, Esti
CONSOLIDATED AUG? 2,3
LEGISLATURE
IS NEARING
ADJOURNMENT
?^
House Takes Recess;
Until Tuesday t o
Permit Senate t o
Catch Up
Columbia, March 3?The house;
of representatives adjourned today j
to meet Tuesday nighL There is ]
little left for the house to do until j
the senate passes the appropria-j
rion bilL A resolution adopted j
by the senate to adjourn sine die j
next Saturday before midnight, was j
objected 10 in the house and went j
over for consideration^ until next |
week. Only local matters were j
nsidered in the house today.
Columbia. March 3>-The senate j
Thursday night passed and sent to
the house for concurrence in some j
amendments the bill, passed by the J
hottse last year, to increase the:
powers of the public service com- j
mission, so as to give this commis- j
sion authority to regulate bothj
rates and service of public service j
companies, and to include all utili- i
ties within the scope of the com
mission's jurisdiction. The bill was
introduced in the- house last. year j
by Representative, now speaker, J. j
B. Atkinson, of Spartan burg. I
This bill is in line with the new J
railroad commission brll. now 1
awaiting the governor's signature, j
and enlarging the commission to
seven members and giving it also j
the work of the public utilities com
mission, j
The new railroad commission bill I
was amended in tn*e conference so
as to give tpa commission author
ity to regulate rates and service of
all utilities* municipal as well as
corporation owned. In the senate
Thursday an effort was made by
some of the senators to recall the
act from the governor's otfiee. stat
ing that the amendments had pass
ed without their knowledge. There
was opposition to request the gov
ernor to send the act back, the sen
ator* in opposition stating that ?he
other senators should not have
"gone to sleep." It is net likely,
however, now that the recall reso
lution will be,voted ou^duc.to the,
senate's action in passing the utili
ties bill.
..In the debate -Thursday ^night
Senator Miller, of'fJarlington, spoke
for two hours. i
A hot debate between Represen
tatives Amick and Barfe. of Lex
ington Thursday night in the house
featured the consideration of two
bills aimed at abolition of the ru
ral police system in Lexington coun
ty, one to repeal the rural police
act. the other to put up to the
people the question of the abolition
of the system. Mr. CTRourke of
Charleston took a hand in the de
bate, asking many questions and
charging that tue rural police sys
tem in every county was rotten. Mr.
Barre represented the proponents
of the rural police system in Lex
ington and Mr. Amick spoke for the
opponents. Both bills wore intro
duced by Mr. Amick, but both
were lost.
Columbia, March 3?The ways
and means committee of |he House
has introduced a bill to authorize
the state penitentiary to pledge
its cotton to the South Carolina
Co-operative Marketing association.
Representative Jacksou, of Suroter. I
is sponsor of the bill on behalf of j
the committee.
SAFEIN
LOUISIANA!
Gov. Parker Refuses Requisi
tion For Stock {Salesman
Bator* Rouge. La., Maich 3.?
Governor Parker today refused to
honor the requisition of the Gov
ernor of South Carolina for the
return to that state of J." II. Cov
ington, one of the officials of the;
Union Pipe Line and Refining Com
pany, of Shroveport. Lau on the
charge of violating the "blue sky"
law at Anderson, S. C.
Mr. Covinxton was charged with
selling 3.">0 shares r:* stock for $:>,
?00 to S. M. By?-rs, and VV. J. King,
of Anderson.
Replying to the charges in an
affidavit. Mr. Covington declared
that they were brought because
he refused to buy back the siock
at a tremendous profit to the own
ers.
Governor Parker said in view of
that fact and satisfied the transac
tion occurred in Shn-veport and
not in South Carolina ?nd inas
much as the stock was the person
al property of Mr. Covington and
not company treasury stock, he
would not honor the requisiiion.
TRADING IN
STOCKS REVIVE
Business Was Exceptionally
Good This Week at New
York Exchange
Norfolk. March 4?Three per
sons were burned to death and two
overcome by smoke in a fire in a
three story boarding house lure.
The dead ale Helen White. South
Norfolk. Lena McKensley. Crad
dock. and B. M. Hyatt, seaman of
the I". S. S. orion. Several were
also rescued by fireman.
iblislietl Aprii, 1850.
881._
TMDOUS j
DECREASE IN
FERTILIZERS
Sales For Past Seven j
Months Seventy Per !
Cent Less Than For;
Period Two Years
Ago _?
New Orleans. March 4?New Or
leans cotton exchange figures show i
a decrease in fertilizer sales during j
the seven months ending with Feb- j
ruary of sixteen per cent compared j
with the same period a year ago j
and a decrease of seventy per cent;'
compared with sales two years ago. ?
ENGSTRUM BID
FOR MUSCLE
SHOALS!
i
-, , ? i
i
Former Senator Butler of
North Carolina Explains
Proposal to Senate Com
mittee
Washington, March 3 (By the;
Associated Press). ? George "VV. j
Goethals, former major general in j
the army and builder of the Pana- j
ma canal, will take personal charge j
of the development of the govern-j
ment-made projects at Muscle j
Shoals in the event the offer of |
Frederick E. Engstrum of North
Caroline, ship builder and engineer, |
for lease and completion of the j
Alabama properties is accepted by
congress, it was announced today, I
Mr. Goethals already has agreed, it |
was added, to accept the task of j
completing the great dam at Mus- \
cle Shoals, and other projects for
Mr. Engstrum.
The announcement of the agree- ?
ment between Mr. Engstrum and>
Mr. Goethals was made by Marion j
Butler, former senator from North [
Carolina, in testimony given the!
house milhary committee on the!
proposal which was under eonsid- j
oration as a competitor to those <
submitted by Henry Ford and the f
Alabama Power company.
The committee devoted both ses- !
sions today to an investigation of J
the Eugstr-um offer, receiving MrJ
Engstrum first for a brief intro- j
duction of his bid and later exam-j
ining Mr. Butler who appeared as i
legal adviser for the North Caro- j
linian. MV. Butler said nitrate and j
fertilizer production, viewed in the
sense of their relation to the na
tional defense, was the prime ob
ject of the offer he spoke for, al-j
though hydro-electric development j
would not be neglected.
While the former senator did not j
refer to .the Ford offer by name he ?
argued strongly against eongres-!
sional action which would permit'
the principal water power project!
of the South to be controlled by a j
private concern.
Nitrate and fertilizer production!
at the shoals. Mr. Butler said.!
could be made a national asset.)
permitting cheap soil foods for the}
farmers and reduced prices for
loodstuffs for the consumer*.
In reply to questions by Reprc- |
sentative Stoll of South Carolina,!
Mr. Butler said the corporation to i
be created under the Engstrum j
plan would "capitalize itself un
til it got to be a "going concern" j
and was willing to offer a surety!
bond of any size the government (
suggested to assure the proper
execution of the offer. Both Mr.
Butler and Mr. Engstrum would be
directors of the corporation, it was
stated, in addition to two others
who would be designated by the
secretaries of war and agriculture.
The witness said the remaining
three directors would not be named j
at the present time, although he;
denied that James B. Duke, of
North Carolina was associated eith
er directly or indirectly with the
corporation. Reports that Mr.
Duke was allied with Mr. Eng
st rum wen? emphatically denied.
The only financial considera-i
(ion tin- proposed corporation would _
receive in return for its work of de- j
veloping tin- properties, it was ex-!
plained, would be Trom the sale of j
power not required to operate the]
nitrate plants, from the sah- of]
[fertilizers and nitrates, and the j
j per cent, fee it would receive from!
the government on tin- cost of]
[completing tin- Wilson dam and;
[Other construction jobs,
j Mr. Butler showed that ;ill oven-!
head expenses, including tin- em-1
I ploy ment of engineers and other!
\ operating costs, would i.e paid l?y
! the corporation out of tin* ."? per j
i cent, fec und would not be charged!
[against the government as part of
the cons'ruction costs.
U was Chairman Kahn's opin
ion that ir would require tin* com
j mit tee at least a week, working in
executive sessions continually. io
draft a report to tin- house on
the Muscle Shoals question.
HOT TIMES IN
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires. March '-. The
senate and assembly of Tucuman
have been held prisoners for over
twenty-four hours by order of the
[senate president to force ;i n elec
i tion of a federal senator. The
I building is surrounded by firemen
land armed civilians and the la
I test dispatches cay pistol fighting is
I going on inside.
"?e Just and Fear 2
BRITISH
POLITICS
UNSETTLED
Chamberlain's Pledge;
of Solid Cabinet!
Support of Premier!
Does Not Relieve I
Uneasiness in Gov
ernment Circles
London, March 4?Austen Cham
berlain's declaration of the solidify
of the cabinet behind Lloyd George
had little appreciable effect on the
situation which threatens to bring
about the resignation of Premier
Lloyd George in the opinion of the
majority of the political writers
in today's papers.
CABINET CRISIS
POSTPONED
Lloyd George's Threat to Re
tire From Office
London, March :i (P>y the Asso
ciated Press). ? Premier Lloyd
George's threat to resign hss been
suspended at the urgent solicitation
of his Unionist colleagues in the
cabinet, according to an authori
tative statement tonight but no
justification for its withdrawal is
said to exist as yet.
Official denial is made that any
exact time limit has been fixed for
receiving assurance of loyalty to the
premier from the adherents of Sir
George Younger, the Unionist load
er, although it is added that ob
viously the tension can not be ex
tended indefinitely'. v
Meanwhile there is no indication
of any move on the part of the
Unionist party to dethrone Young
er as its head. No meeting of the
whole Unionist, party has been
called, and the general opinion is
that the only happening will be
that the Unionist ministers in the
cabinet?Arthur j. Palfour and
Austen Chamberlain?may publicly
reprove Younger for his tactics as
Lord Dirkcnhcad already has don?\
Speaking at Oxford today. Aus
ten Chamberlain announced that
Unionist ministers had unanimous
ly requested the premier to con
tinue as-head of the government.
Not the slightest repentance lias
yet been shown by the "die hard"
Conservatives whose opposition to
the leadership of the premier is
primarily responsible for the pres
ent crisis. They 'are cooperating
with the Ulsterites in the house of j
commons in putting up a stiff fight
against the Free State bill by pre
senting amendment after amend
ment.
Sir Laming Worthington-Evans,
secretary for war. in a speech at
Colchester tonight revealed that tin
premier lately offered to retire
from the government and support
it in carrying out Its Irish program?
but all the Conservative members
of the government assured him of
their support and begged that he
continue.
In the endless speculation about
the crisis there is much insistence
on the view that Mr. Lloyd George
has arrived at a point in his politi
cal career where he must define
whether his future path will lead?
toward Liberalism or Conserva
tism.
Since he became leader of: the
coalition under the abnormal cir
cumstances of war requiring a na
tional, not party, policy, his political
coloring has been in abeyance. If
the coalition now disappears it is
argued he must elect to attach him- 1
self to one party or the other.
According to some belief his
present action is a bid for leader
ship of the Unionist party, and
that if this fails there are two al
ternatives before him. first to form
a new Centrist party and second,
to try" to go back to leadership of
the Liberal or Liberal-Labor party.
Oxford. England, March U (By
the Associated Press). ? Austen
Chamberlain, government leader in
the house of commons, in an ad
dress here this evening announced
that after consulting his colleagues
in the cabinet lie had given Prime
Minister Lloyd George a unanimous
reply that they considered it neces
sary in tin- national interest that
tin- premier should continue- to car
ry on the government.
CHALLENGES
MONEY POWER
IN MICHIGAN
Representative Kelly An- j
nounces Candidacy For the
j
Senate
- - v- i
VYasbirigt^on. March 4.? Dcclar- j
trig "it i.s vital to Michigan that !
money shall not be the determining I
i
factor" in tin- forthcoming election, j
Representative Patrick II. Kelley j
anounced that hV would be can- j
didatc for the senate, seeking Ilm
seat now held by Senate]- Tow ri
ven.1.
'flie man with money to burn
has a hot time.
I"im- motto: Watch your step, but
don't look do\\ n 1? do it.
Lnnuis is suggested as mayor of
Chicago. Since he will gi\e ai. his
tine- to baseball, he is qualified.
\ot?r<et all the ends Thou Aims't j
Sumter, S. C., Wedn
ONE YEAR OF
REPUBLICAN
LEGISLATION
Present Congress Has
Been at Work 12
Months and Has Ac
complished Little
Good
15y WALLACE BASSFOUD
(Special News Correspondent)
Washington. March 4. ? The
Sixty-seventh congress is just com
pleting the first year of its term. It
has but twelve more months of ex
istence: if its latter half leaves no
better impression on the country
than its first. then certain it is that
it will "so down in history as one
of the big disappointments, dis
heartening to its closest frh-nus
and even to its own membership.
Few. if any. attempts to defend h
congress that has become tin? butt
of the jokesmiths on the. stage and
in tlm funny papers. Its efforts?
if they can be called such?to re
lieve the distress of the country
might become tragie if it were not
for the saving sense of humor pos
sessed by the American people.
Everyone laughs when Ahe Martin
says that business is picking up?
he quotes the proprietor of the live
and ten cent store as savins he pas
sold more checker-boards in the
last year than during all of Wil
son's administration. And the
Washington theatre rings with ap
plause when Will Rogers, the
comedian, tells of the recent fire
on the roof the treasury?how it
stopped when it had burned down
to where the money was. as the
administration had beat the lire to
it. Every test of public opinion
shows that congress has made it
self intensely unpopular. If any
nie had prophesied this outcome
when Harding and tin- big Republi
can majority in congress came to
bat a year ago he would have been
laughed at. hut the public has been
treated to a succession of delays
and party splits on important, mat
ters, with increasing bewilder
ment and helplessness. Every Re
publican in congress seems to be a
party unto himself, with the ex
ception of a few (dear-headed men
Iii;?- Jim Manu~who might bring
some order out of this chaos had
his ungrateful party given him the
place he bad won. the speakership.
but it went to one who admits his
own utter inability and that of his
party.
And yet. every cloud is said to
have its silver lining, ami we can
reflect with joy tnnt this congress
has only twelve months moro to
li\>.
Still fiddling with the tariff, the
two committees in charge of such
legislation in house and senate
send acrimonious messages <? k
and forth !?? catch other while
business twiddles its thumb and
w;iits and waits, no' even being
;iI?I?? to guess what to do in the cir
cumstances. The store shelves re
main ui?illed. the factories idle,
the ships motionless. These com
mittees, not satisited with quar
reling from one end <>f the eapitol
t?> the other, have equally bitter
quarrels among themselves. And
at the White House it is not differ
ent. Tim president and the nat
ional chairman. Adams, have been
;>t daggers' point tor weeks over
the appointment of ;i successor to
j Postmaster General Hays, the mi
r inu of the vacancy as secretary of
the national committee, and
ronage genera Hy.
Speaking of Hays retails what
Maun said ol him in the house the
lothcr day. .His remarks make one
it be thy Country's. Thy God's and
esday, March 8, 1922
AjHERE HE) ? 'vV>
^5.C. COTTON]
FARMER.
MILITIA ON i
GUARD AT !
PROVIDENCE
-
Authorities Anticipate
Clash With Strikers;
in Rhode Island
Textile District
Providence. R. I.. March 6.?
Heavy forces of fli?- National Guard
and coast artillerymen guarded the
. ifMPc ?"ompany's plant at Hope to
day in expectation that textile
trikcrs would picket the plant
with strikers from other mills
against the orders of the authori
ties. The expected test of the
picketing regulations, however,
was not made.
I..
I5LACKST0NE MILLS
ARE PICKETED
Pawtuckct, II. I.. March 6.?
Blackstone valley mills were pick
eted today, due to rumors of an at
tempt to resume work after the
close down of two weeks. The sit
uation is unchanged.
wonder what sort of bargain the
Movie Trust got when it agreed to
pay Hays $1.50.000 per year as a
sort of field marshal. Mann said
in tiie course of a debate: "1 It
has not been worth a live-cent
piece since he has been postmas
ter general. He does not know any
thing about tin- postoffiee depart
ment: ami. for one. I am mighty
glad he is getting out of it. His
only objeel lias been to be extrava
gant in his own personal relations
with the government. Long-dis
tance telephoning is Iiis main long
suit."
Tin- bonus nuestion. like the cof
fin of Mohammed. remains s,.s
j ponded between heaven and earth.
When Harding asked congress to
adopt bonus legislation and to pro
vide a sales tax to pay the bill, he
knew Hie agricultural conference
which had just been held in Wash
? ington parsed a resolution saying:
"We positively and earnestly pro
test against any consumption, or
sales, or manufacturers' lax. or any
other tax which shifts tin- harden
onto those I- ist able to pay. onto
tin- nccessitiea of life, it has prov
ed disappointing financially and
unjust socially wherever tried."
That resolution passed unanimously
iii a farm conference which Hard
ing called, then within less than
three weeks In- asked congress to
pass ;i sales tax. Why*.' Two rea
sons: he knew the farm bloc was
against tin- tax and that labor was
emphatically on record against it,
and he could tell the
Legion h<- was for t he
that In- was blocked by
sition: further, everyom
capitol knows that ever since it be
came apparent that Harding was
to be elected the Wall Street dis
trict has flooded congress with let
ters and arguments of every sort,
directly and througl1 the great
New Vork newspapers, under con
trol of rile financial interests, urg
ing the enactmeni of a sales tax.
Ui^ business seeks, through land
ing's recent action, to briny the
sales lax into use iir>t on the plc.-i
that it [s necessary to pay the
bonus?thai for the entering wed;;--.
Their hope and mr<-nti<'n is that it
shall he made, within ;i lew years
to rake tin- place of ;<ll income and
corporation taxes. This has been
expressed in the Wall Street Jour
nal and the New York Tribune
repeatedly.
A m erica n
bonus lull
this oppo
abot't tiie
Tin- Shipping Hoard is paying
$y.00t) per year to one Matthew R.
Clausscn as. advertising manager.
This is. the sane. man who had
Ar" / .
/. . - ?
WINDING UP i
LEGISLATIVE i
SESSION
Bill Now Before Sen-;
ate to Regulate the
Telephone Rates
Legal Fight Expect
ed
j Columbia. March 6.?Loner tel
? ephohe rates or k le*al fight to pre
Ivent them is what now appears 011 ?
[the horizon, judging from the ac
tion of the state senate in voting
last week in favor of the bill by
Representative Foster, of Spartan-;
burg, already passed by the house.
| to put telephone rates back at the
same price basis as that of Janu
ary J., 1921. The senate will prob
ably dispose of this bill during the
[coming week, and this, together
with the appropriation bill, which
it)ay reach the senate Monday
night, are the two outstanding
matters of importance yet to be
disposed of.
The senate Friday night voted
21 to 13 not to strike*out the en
i acting words of the telephone rate
bill and this left il on the calendar
j with a strength apparently great
enough to malte it a law. Whether
tiie senate will this week pass it on
third reading; or kill it. remains to
. he seen.
An amendment by Senator Mill
er is pending to provide free phone
service in certain zones, the radius
j of which in some rases is as high
: as forty miles.
There is considerable discussion
of this hill, ami some le^ai au
thorities hold that it. is unconstitu
tional, and that if enacted into law,
it will !><-? taken to the courts.
This bill is tin' result of the tele
phone rate case of last summer,
when the railroad commission, af
ter many hearings, and much in
vestigation, granted the telephone
rate increase. The action brought
a light on the railroad commission
which resulted recently in the pas
sage of the act to en large the com
msion to seven members, all mem
bers to he paid a per diem rather
than :i salary, the elTec! of the bill
being to abolish Uie commission as
it is now couslituted. This act is
i now on the governor's desk await
ing his signature.
Tlie luxury tax bill is 071 tbo
senate calendar. It may die there.
Tie- ?'bad check" bill is on the
calendar. It may die there.
1: is expected that the appropria
tion bill will be introduced by the
finance c ommittee Monday night, or
Tuesday morning. It will likely by
passed this week, and adjournment
sine die is expected Saturday. The
house is marking time, waiting for
the senate to dispose of the numer
ous important measures on its
calendar. The house *vilt not re
convene !'?>r the week untli Tues
day ni;; lit.
Former Governor ''ox. of Ohio,
who is on a vacation stay in Aik
en. has been invited to address the
legislature this week, He has ad
vised that he will try to come to
Columbia Wednesday or Thursday.
-+ m ?
London. March G.?The world
will know within forty-eight hours
definitely whether Lloyd George,
the prime minister, will resign.
Experts are diametrically opposed
in opinion how the crisis stood as
the result of the .week-end confer
ences.
eharge of the advertising propa
ganda for Germany after the war
began in Europe, the friend of
Captain Loy-cd. Dr. Albert and
Von ?ernstorff. Great pity the man
who sunk the Lusitania can't be
found?the president might lind a
fat job for him.
THE TRUE SOLI
NO FINAL
VOTEON
FOSTER BILL
Senate Adjourns Until
8 O'clock Monday
Nigh t ?Fight
Against Recalling
R. R. Commission
Act is Abandoned
Columbia. March Z.?Just before !
the senate adjourned at 11:10
o'clock to meet again at 8 o'clock
Monday night, debate on. the Eos
tor telephone rate l>ill which has
raged throughout the day, was
continued until Tuesday morning
without a final vote being taken on
the measure.
Practically the whole legislative
day of the senate was taken up
with the Foster bill requiring the
Southern Bell Telephone and Tele
graph Company to decrease its
rntes to the level obtaining before
January 1. 1*21, when the present
increase authorized by the state
railroad commission went into ef
fect.
Early this morning it was indi
cated that the bill would pass when
the senate, by a vote of 2Z to 13.
refused to stride out the enact
ing words. Various amendments
were offered by Senator Miller,
who led the light for the bill, the
most important of which was that
to reestablish the free exchange
radius or that allowing exchanges
without charge between exchanges
situated within thirty miles of tach
other. This amendment had not
been brought to a vote at a iate
hour tonight.
The senate finance committee
announced tonight that it would
work on the general appropriation
bill tomorrow and have it ready
for tnstroduction to the senate by
Monday night.
The bill providing fo ra tax of
one-third of a mill on each kil
owatt hour of hydro-electric power
manufactured in this state was ad
vanced to third reading with no
: tice of general amendments and
; debate on third reading,
i The tight against the consolt
! dated railroad commission bill to
get it back into the senate so that
, it could reconsider its concurrent i
> in the section providing super
visory powers over rates and serv
! ice of public utilities has been
; abandoned. The amendments to the
j public service last night cxemtp
; ing existing service contracts and
i municipalities removed much of the
j objection to the railroad commis
sion amendment.
! The senate tonight advanced to
I third reading the Cooper bill, pro
viding-for amortization of bonds
and other securities held by in
surance companies and the ways
j and means committee bill to in
! crease the license fee of insurance
agents to $3 per annum and rc
? quiring insurance companies to j
j duplicate lost policies without re-I
i quiring ah indemnity bond. The j
; senate at Poth the day and night |
: sessions passed a large number of
I local measures.
CEMETERY
DRIVE BEING
CLAYED
j _,
Trustees of Sumter Cemetery
Association Hold Meeting
I
; A meeting of the trustees of the
I Sumter Cemetery Association was
i held on Thursday afternoon at
i which time the committee on im |
i provements of the cemetery report - j
ied that they had made a contract!
; with parties, subject to the approv
al of the trustees, for the claying
[of the drives in the cemetery on a
! basis of l*i L'-3 cents per square
j yard, drive ways to b'* paved 12
I feet wide. The trustees approved
? of this and authorized the execu
: fion of the contract. Other matters
[of importance looking to the im-I
provemeut of conditions at the
? cemetery were discussed but it was,
? thought best before acting on these
r<? get a representative meeting of
.the lot owners of the association.
Such a meeting has been ordered
! called on Thursday afternoon ai 4
! o'clock, the meeting to be held ifi
[the assembly hall of the V. M. C.
? A. It is earnestly hoped that a?
; many lot owners as possible will j
i find an opportunity to attend thisj
i meeting. All ladies interested inj
I improving and beautifying the'
; cemetery are especially invited to I
attend the meeting. The officers
land trustees of the association
j fed that this is a most opportune j
ttime to make the improvements j
I due to tie- low cost of materials
and of labor.
Tlie work of the claying of the
cemetery drives is in charge of Mr. i
G. C. Sugg, contra'-for, of Wilson, j
S. C. and is progressing very nice
ly. The lirst drives being clayed
are those in the western part of
i he cemetery. Clay is being dug
from a pit in this section which
will later he tilled with the sand
removed from the roads
Amarillo. Texas, March 6.?Rev;
J. G. Keller, a catholic priest at
Slaton was seized by masked men
Saturday night and beaten and tar
red and feathered. It is claimed
today that the incident was the
outgrowth of sentiment against him
during the war on account of pro
German accusat ions.
rHROX, Establi?JUcd June 1. 1S66.
_VOL. LIIL NO. 7
BONUS TO BE
PAID ITH
DUE BILLS
Scheme Framed by
Republicans to Sat
isfy Bonus Hunters
and Increase Public
Debt
Washington. March 2.?A com
promise soldiers* bonus plan under
which the cash feature would be
eliminated where'the former ser
vice men would be entitled to
more than ?."i0 adjusted service
pay was agreed upon today ten
tatively but unanimously by a spe
cial committee of the Republican
members of the house ways and
means committee. In the nature
of a substitute for the discarded
cash feature there would be add
ed to the adjusted sendee certifi
cate title a provision whicb^w?.ulo*.
enable tlic men selecting cer
tificate option to obtain ifajnedi
ately from banks a loan, wgfm* to
one-half of the adjusted ajSrvice
pay to which they would be eB%tl-'
ed on the basis of a $l*a day for.
domestic service and ?1.2.*j a day
for overseas service.
In announcing the compromise
asrreement Chairman Fordney said
it probably would be a week be
fore all details of the loan provis
ion could be worked out and the
original bill amended to conform
to if. He expressed the opinion
that the plan would be so well re
ceived by house members generally
that it would be unnecessary to
submit the new bill to a party con
ference thus speeding up the time
of its submission to the house.
Chairman Fordney and other
committeemen said thes' believed
the new plan would meet with
i general fa\or in and out of con
gress, for three reasons, which
j were summarized a? follows in for-,
mal statement issued by Represen
j tative Green, of Iowa, ranking Re
I publican on the committee.
**1. The needy veteran can ob
tain money as soon, as his cerifi
cato is issued and in greater amount
than is provided by the cash plan
of the original bill.
"2. XTo large drafts to be made
on the treaty UHtil the expiration
of three'Vears.
3. No new taxes required."
Word went around among hou??
members that the compromise plan
was acceptable both to President
Harding and to the officers of the
American Legion and late in the
day after there had been informal
exchanges of views amm.g mem
bers it was said trial apparently a
strong sentiment in favor of the
new proposal was developing. Rep
i resentative Garner of T ?xav. the
j ranking Democrat on the way ; and
j means committee, said while there
I probably would be some opposition
from the Democratic side, it was
j his opinion that a majority of the
j Democrats would suppor t the
amended bili. He thought the loan
feature would t^nd to extend cred
its to extent of half a billion dol
lars and thus result in some in
crease in the Cost of living during
t the expansion period.
At the rreasmy department the
compromise was described by high
i officials as "the lesser of two
evils." ft was iutffeared thai Sec
retary Mellon still was opposed to
the enactment of any bonus legis
i lation at thi stime which would
caus^ a serious drain on the treas
' ury but officials said this plan
i would make the financing much less
difficult than would have been tha
case under the original cash plan.
FOURTEEN
KILLED AT
CROSSING
New York Central Express
Train Crashes Into Auto. .
Bus
Cleveland. March 4.?The death
of another victim brought the toll
from the collision of the New
York Central express train with an
! automobile a* PainesvIUe to four
| teen killed and five injured, three
I of whom are expected to. die. The
coroner's inquest will be heid to
i day. Many of those killed were
I returning from a dance. The train
was ?vhhing sixty miles an hour.
-? ? ?
MUSCLE SHOALS S
COMMISSION
I Congressman Kohn Advocates
Committee to Straighten
Out Tangle
Washington. March 4.?The cre
ation of a national commission
empowered by congress to straight
en out government tangles re
garding tlie Muscle Shoal" pro
ject and enter negotiations for the
sale or lease of property was ad
vocated by Chairman Kahn of the
I house military committee. The
I commission will consist of secre
taries of war. agriculture and rh^
? treasury.
"Kilts have been worn *ince
1626"?news item. Ah, the thrifty
Scotsmcn,
Movie pipe organs have about
500 stops, but seldom do.