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Show Xeirs Uei icir of Current Events NEW SPENDING PLANS Billion and a Half More to Be Asked for Public Works Program . . . Battle Over Reorganization Bill l s ! Xx I--' v" - .. L ...... - - Members of the house or representatives were swamped with tele-frams tele-frams from citizens all over the country urging that they vote against the administration's reorganization bill which, it was feared, would pave the way to an American dictatorship. Above Is seen Congressman John J. O'Connor of New York, a leading foe of the bill, reading some of the messages mes-sages he received. A . . . SUMMARIZES THE WORLD'S WEEK C Western Newipaper Union. Billion and a Half Wanted HARRY HOPKINS, chief of the WPA, and Aubrey Williams, his deputy, had a conference with the President, and immediately aft- i.xLx(j went out unofficially that Mr. Roosevelt contemplated offering offer-ing congress a public pub-lic works program calling for the expenditure ex-penditure of $1,500.-000.000 $1,500.-000.000 to end the recession re-cession and revitalize revital-ize business. According to the .. , , plan tnis money Harry Hopkins would be raiscd by federal bond issues, and would be lent to states and cities without Interest for periods as long as 50 years; and it would be repayable in small amounts annually. The President, it was understood, plans to push housing and slum clearance projects, his immediate desire being to stimulate heavy industries. Williams has said a much greater emergency relief fund than is available avail-able would soon be needed if the new thousands of unemployed were to be cared for by the government Jesse Jones, whose Reconstruction Reconstruc-tion Finance corporation has been authorized by conRrcss to lend a billion and a half to almost anyone as Jones pleases and pretty much on his own terms, advised business men he would consider their loan applications individually. "The main tiling this act docs for business busi-ness men," said Jones, "is to permit per-mit them to get loans from us for longer terms." Kill Reorganization Bill AT SIX o'clock on the evening of April 8 the President lost his fight for passage of his government reorganization re-organization bill. The house of representatives rep-resentatives voted 204 to 196 to send the bill back to committee, thus shelving it for this session of congress con-gress at least. One hundred and eight Democrats. 88 Republicans, 6 Progressives and 2 Farmer-Laborites Joined to carry the motion, which sent the bill back to committee, thus killing the bill. Voting against recommittal were 191 Democrats, 2 Progressives, and 3 Farmer-Lnboritcs. Not one Republican Repub-lican voted to save the bill. The bill, among other things, would have authorized the President, Presi-dent, by executive order, to transfer, trans-fer, regroup, co-ordinate, consolidate, consoli-date, or abolish any of the 135 bureaus, bu-reaus, agencies, and divisions of government. Cerlnin Independent boards and commissions were exempted. ex-empted. Closing pleas, delivered In dramatic dra-matic fashion by Speaker William B. Bankhend and Majority Leader Sam Rayburn, failed to swing enough votes to save the measure. The two loaders placed tho issue squarely on the President. A voto against the bill wns a vole of lack of confidence In the occupant of the White House, they said. ! In opposition to all this organized cfTort were Representative John J. O'Connor, New York Democrat, chairman of the rules committee, a group of other Democratic leaders and the solid Republican minority. I They argued that the nation was fearful of the bill's Implications. At a period In history when dictators abroncl were growing Increasingly Irrogant, the congress should refrain from passing n measure which seemed to pav Uie way for a dic tatorship in the United States, they asserted. The voting on the motion to recommit, re-commit, offered by Representative John Taber (R., N. Y.), started shortly after 6 p. m. As it progressed the tension was great. The vote was tied again and again. There was tumult when the last member had shouted his vote. Railway "Court" Proposal TI OW to save the important rail ways from bankruptcy was the subject of conferences at the White House and of deep study by the President. He rejected the sugges tion of an cutright government sub sidy, and then adopted and offered for legislative action the plan of ere ating a special unit with judicial or quasi-judicial powers to speed up voluntary reorganization of the carriers car-riers and solve other cf their prob lems. The unit may take the form of a special court or a board within the Interstate commerce commission. commis-sion. It is suggested that congress provide that appeal from the u.i.t's decisions be direct to federal circuit cir-cuit courts of appeal. The creation cf the unit was recommended rec-ommended in a report the President Presi-dent ordered prepared and which was made by three members of the interstate commerce commission. These were Chairman Walter M. W Splawn, J. B. Eastman and C. F. M aha file. Other tilings recommended were the establishment of a transportation transporta-tion board to study co-ordination and elimination of unnecessary duplication; duplica-tion; the facilitation of loans; modification mod-ification of the bankruptcy act to aid reorganization proceedings, and means for accomplishing consolidations. consolida-tions. i "Help Business" Measure WHAT Sen. Pat Harrison called the "help business" measure, being the revenue bill as rewritten by his senate finance committee, was submitted to the senate Though Harrison said he expected Its speedy passage, others believed at least a full week of debate would be necessary. Sen. Charles McNary of Oregon, minority leader, promised to support tho bill, saying, "I think It Is a great Improvement over the house version. ver-sion. I am In favor of speeding its passage to help business." Plan to Defend Czechs JOSEPH rAUL-BONCOUH. French foreign minister, has devised a plan for an alliance linking Soviet Russia. Poland. Jugoslavia, and i V :f ! ak ..;rwj x '.ctuosiovakia with France for th0 sp(.. rifle purpose of protecting pro-tecting tho Czechs from aggression on the part of Nazi German y. The French ambassadors ambassa-dors to Moscow and Warsaw nud the-ministers the-ministers to Prague and nueharesl, who Joseph K' , ' su"iocd l-..l-ltoner '? 1 "ris' w l-strueled l-strueled by ,.,,,. Boncour to sound out tho govern nients to which they Wl,rp n.,.,., ed regarding the proposal KlTorts to bring !,, ',;,.,.,., , between the government of C-e-, Slovakia and Konrad llenlei.r, C deteu German or Na,l p;ulv (,;, ; down when Premier llod.-a rclecte ( H- Nazi demand, for among uie nation's 3. Mill out) f mans to determine whether th,." should tin in autonomy. ' Victory for C.I.O. INLAND STEEL corporation wax I ordered by the national labor relations re-lations board to deal with the Ste-I i Workers' Organizing committee, an I affiliate of the C. I. O., and to sign 'a wage and hour contract if an agreement is reached. The comp.. 1 ny is expected to test the order in j court, but if it complies the C. I O i union will have won by labor boarc action what it lost in a long ami bitterly fought strike last summer The company at that time said it would deal with the Lewis union but would not sign a contract- It con tended this was not required by th. Wagner act and said it consideren the S. W. O. C. and the C. 1 O "irresponsible." "An employer is not privileged u deny collective bargaining to the representatives of his employee;. I merely because he views the rcpre 'sentatives as irresponsible," the! board held. "And the alleged irre sponsibility is likewise irrelevant in j determining whether he must em ! body understandings in a written I agreement." I H -New Wage-Hour Bill j REP. MARY NORTON of New i Jersey, chairman of the house j labor committee, promised some time ago to bring in a new wage t hour bill that she r-yrwrr thought would get E . " i through congress F - ' . ; . j ! and meet with the f jj approval of the . J j President A sub- ' . ! committee of her ; group formulated a : j measure and she j ' j . called the full com- j i mittee to consider i I it Prolonged debate J in the committee , , j . a j Rep. Norton ! was predicted, and r i the bill then would require approval I by a hostile rules committee where . a small group of southerners killed j the previous bilL i This new bill is a compromise. It j ignores the demands of the South , for wage difTerentials to ofTset low- I er living costs; and It is far from : meeting the desires of the two great i organized labor groups. I Outstanding features cf the rr.eas- j ure are: j 1. Creation of an independent five- man agency, which would be ap- ' pointed by the President, subject to . senate confirmation, to fix and ad-. ad-. minister flexible wage-hour stand-. stand-. ards pointing toward the 4O-0 goal ' as "soon as possible." 2. The beard could fix wage rates on the average basic pay for each occupation in individual industries It could not fix hourly rates mere j than five cents over the average during the first year nor go be'.ow it It could, however, increase the hourly rate by five cents every year until the 40-ccnl level is attained. 3. The board cou'.d not set max) mum hours at more than 43 per week at the beginning and would be instructed to re.iuce them grad u.illy to the 45 g.-aL Apparently as a "vote go'.:::' g" device the sub-conin-.ittec cxerrp'.ed agricultural seasonal, railroad and many other workers ar.d restricted the bill to industries eperatu g in interstate commerce. It changed the original measure so that appeals from board orders can be taken to federal d. strict courts instead cf circuit courts of appeals, and provided that the board must report to cer xtcss an nually. The President also cou'.d ask the agency for reports and data. 1 Bigger Dreadnaughts f JNITKD STATES and Great Brit ain advised each ether that they would invoke the escalator clause cf . the London naval treaty and would n -x I 'A: ? build dreadnaughts larger t'-.an S.MW Ions. The Brijish also notified Ge r m a n y and Soviet Russia of their decision Both nations based their action on J pan's refusal to d:s close her naval con struetion plans. France, third tig Senator C lark "y to thj. treaty I announced she would ; continue to adhere to the S.VIW ton : limitation "so long as no continental rower departs from that standard." i Opponents cf the administration's "big navy" program are rather mi merous in congress, though prob ably tn tho minority. One of the ' most consistent of them is Senator Clark of Missouri. Commenting on ; the Invoking of tho escalator cl.uixe concerning battleships, ho said: "It Is just the preliminary announce ment of a world w, do naval build 1 Ing race." Loyalist Spain Split ; SPANISH Insurgent, are. at th writing. 0.r ,hp t of Franco', g,,, t1JrJvc - splnk. , ,hp fv the loyalist, l le of tho country. They captured .he "ncont r"" '"id, known as the key to Catalonia. t'urlher ,outh tho rebel, 0,e l ""'si I" Tortosa ftd their van(-u.,l "etually ,vh, ,,,., o( ' Mi'ditrrrnnran sea All along ,ho Catalonia,, front the Mnemment troop, foi;M :'; .v. Imt I, .eemed the.r , - hopeles, , obM-iv.-,, ed tho war w, , I"" hattle, .,,., s '".MM.,,, the Ao,,.,,,;,, ' V ',V "' ,h '"l '" .-- .1 i niosi ,,,,.1 (n, |