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Show News Review of Current Events the World Over Congress Passes Veterans' Bonus Loan Measure, Despite Hoover and Mellon Chairman Legge to Leave the Farm Board. By EDWARD W. PICKARD FOLLOWING t h u lead of Speaker I Nicholas Longworth, nearly all the Republican Repub-lican members of the house of representatives representa-tives deserted the ad-ministration ad-ministration and voted with the Democrats Dem-ocrats for the passage of the bill increasing maximum loans on Speaker bonus cert Hicntes held .-u v World war veter- Longworth - ans from 224 per cent to 00 per cent of their face value. The repudiation of the strongly held views of President Hoover and Secretary Sec-retary of the Treasury .Mellon was decisive, the vote being M'6 to 3!). The opposition votes were all. cast by Republicans. Re-publicans. I.ongworth's activity In he-half he-half of the measure was exerted In bringing about an agreement In the ways and means committee. As soon as the Jill was handed up to the senate its proponents in that body took steps to hold up nearly ull other legislation in order to get it through before Friday night. They were determined that It should not he lulled hv a pocket veto, which would be possible if speedy action were not obtained. Smoot, Reed and other ad-nunistration ad-nunistration senators sought delay in the hope of finding a compromise that would make the measure acceptable to the President, but in vain. The bill was passed by the senate by a vote of 72 to 12, all the nays being be-ing Republicans. Administration leaders in both houses admitted that there was no hope that a veto by the President could be sustained. -Secretary Mel-Ions Mel-Ions arguments agaiust the bill and the figures he gave as to its cost to the governmeut were vigorously disputed dis-puted by many representatives and senators. In the last year Andy has lost mucn of his prestige as a financial prophet. The house followed up its passage of the bonus loan bill by passing without with-out roll calls a bill authorizing the expenditure of $12,500,000 for construction con-struction of veterans' hospitals and a bill authorizing the expenditure of S2,S50,000 for additional facilities at national soldiers' homes. The hospital hospi-tal bill is designed to furnish about 3,300 additional beds. The house veterans' committee reported re-ported favorably a bill for pensions for widows and children of deceased World war veterans. The bill is estimated esti-mated to cost $18,000,000 the first year and $131,000,000 over a period of five years. The administration has sought to prevent action on this legislation legis-lation at the present session. ENACTMENT by congress of the Interior In-terior department appropriation bill carrying the $20,000,000 drought relief loan and its official approval by the President removed most of the danger of a special session, despite the controversy over the veterans' bonus loan. The passage of the compromise com-promise relief measure was scored as a victory for Mr. Hoover and his policy pol-icy of opposition to any federal appropriation ap-propriation that could be interpreted as a dole, lu the senate the vote on the hill was 67 to 15; and in the house a formal vote was not even taken on the conference report. SENATE and house conferees agreed on a compromise resolution which provides for government production, transmission and sale of power at the Muscle Shoals plant, as in the original Norris resolulion. That measure is changed only In the part concerning the nitrate plant. By the compromise com-promise resolution the President Is given one year to negotiate u lease of the nitrate plant to a private corporation, cor-poration, failing which the government Is to begin operation of the plant. Unless Presiiient Hoover abandons his former stand he will veto the bill. SOON after March 4 next, Alexander Legge, chairman of the federal farm loard, will retire from that body and hand over his multitudinous multitudi-nous troubles to another. an-other. It Is believed in Washington that his successor will be James C. Stone, now vice chairman of the James C. board and formerly stone an assistant secretary Df commerce. Mr. Stone represents especially espe-cially the tobacco interests. Mr. Legge will resume the presidency ot the International In-ternational Harvester company. When he resigned that office in July, 1929, to head the farm board at the urgent request re-quest of President Hoover, he said he could not absent himself from the company for more than one year. However, the exigencies of the farm hoard work have prevented his leaving leav-ing it before this. At least three other members of the board may drop out before long. It Is onderstood. They are: C. C. Teague, fruit and vegetables representative, .Samuel R. McKelvle, whesl member. and William F Schilling, the dairy member. Almost from the day Mr. Legge took up his duties as chairman of the farm board, he has been the center of attack at-tack from political nnd grain trading quarters. While he met these onslaughts on-slaughts with a vigorous defense of the hoard, It is conceded that his decision de-cision to relinquish bis duties with the government was Intluenced by the violent controversy his policies aroused. 'or almost a year Mr. I.cgge's service serv-ice has been directed towaril stabilizing stabil-izing the wheat market. Opposition urose In Washington and in parts ol the grain belt to the purchasing hy the government of millions of bushels of surplus wheat to steady the market and maintain prices. t A h -lisv.j1" ..jm POSTMASTER General Waller Brown was the center of a series of somewhat some-what acrimonious discussions dis-cussions during the week. In the first place, he called air mail operators into conference and told them they would have to increase service Postmaster an1 readjust rates to Gen. Brown meet a llet1rit es"-mated es"-mated al $1M).000.000 for the next fiscal year. He said schedules sched-ules were not being met, connections at junction points uot being completed and average speed not kept up to staudird. As for rates, the operators were warned that unless they revised them, congress would do it In his speech to the operators, Brown warned they could not look for support from military branches of the government since these "were not at all enthusiastic nbout any part civil aeronautics might play In any preparedness pre-paredness program," but spoke of such aid "with some contempt." This brought from Rear Admiral Moffett, chief of the navy bureau of aeronautics, the statement that he was sure .no one in naval aviation ever had spoken with contempt about civil or commercial pilots and airmen or what they have accomplished. "We have the highest respect for them." he added, "and believe that they would be of tremendous value to the country in time of war." About the same time some senators learned that Mr. Brown and the interstate in-terstate commerce commission were contemplating making increases In the parcel post rates. Declaring this would cost the American- people $7,000,000, Senator McKellar of Tennessee offered of-fered a resolution asking Mr. Brown not to make the changes until they have been approved by congress. McKellar Mc-Kellar and Senator Norris of Nebraska contended the raise would be In the interest of the express companies which they said would get much of the business now handled by the parcel par-cel post. McKellar added the increases in-creases would be a heavy burden on the fanners. The resolution was adopted. PRESIDENT HOOVER put his signature sig-nature to the bill providing for a 44-hour week for postal employees, which becomes effective July 1 and will affect 150,000 letter carriers, office of-fice clerks and railway service men The President then announced that he would ask congress to authorize the appointment of a special commission commis-sion to investigate ways and means of placing the Post Office department on something like a paying basis In disclosing dis-closing his intention to take steps to cut down the annual postal losses the President pointed out that the Post Office department faces an estimated deficit of $100,000,000 for the next fiscal year. SENATORS, mostly Democratic, gave considerable of their time for several days to debating the wet and dry question. Mil-lard Mil-lard Tydings of Maryland, Mary-land, wet, obtained the adoption of a resolution res-olution calling on the Wickersham commission commis-sion to forward to f y the senate the testi- Senator mony on which the Tydings commission based its recent report on prohibition. Tydings nnd some of the dry senators from the South engaged In acrimonious discussion dis-cussion tu the course of which Mor-risot- of North Carolina said some most uncomplimentary things about Chairman Rascob of the Democratic national committee. Next day Senator Wagner of New York delivered a prepared speech calling call-ing on the Democratic party to lead the way to prohibition reform and attacking the President for "throwing "throw-ing away" the opportunity offered by the Wickersham report "to lead a grateful people out of the morass of criminality, corruption and hyprocrisy in which we have been bogged for eleven years." The method of bringing about Im proved conditions which the commission commis-sion did not discuss was. he said, that of state option under federal control. He offered a plan under such a method. meth-od. He would have repeal, but with a Joint agreement between federal and state governments, as part of tne state's repealing action, to guarantee state control without the saloon. T7 THFLBERT STEWART, commls-sinner commls-sinner of labor statistics, presented pre-sented to the senate committee on food costs a mass of government statistics sta-tistics showing a wide discrepancy between be-tween the prices paid by consumers for milk and dairy products aud the prices received by farmers. He said the figures showed a very apparent failure of retal. prices to follow the decline of wholesale prices In milk. The average price of milk In 51 cities Is 13.3 cents a quart. Stewart said, and the farmer is receiving an average aver-age price of a little less than 4.5 cents. Representatives of the dairy industry indus-try testified the consumer was receiving receiv-ing the full benefit of reductions in the wholesale prices of their products. But Chairman Capper showed that one of the companies had averaged profits of about 20 per cent on Its stock during dur-ing the last live ye. rs, which, he said. Is about ten times the profit the' farmers farm-ers in Kansas get. FOUR days of political jockeying In Spain ended with the formation of a new monarchist cabinet headed by Admiral Juan Baulista Aznar. Fur the time being both revolution and the renewal of a military dictatorship were avoided, though the fundamental issues are not settled. Guerra and Alvarez, leaders of the opposition, both bad failed to form governments that King Alfonso could accept. The new cabinet is made up of extreme right monarchists with the conservatives, conserva-tives, liberals and Catalan Independents Independ-ents represented. It Is believed Admiral Aznar will consent to a special session of the parliament which will make certain reforms in the constitution, leaving the powers of the throne unimpaired. Aznar is the oldest ranking officer In the Spanish navy and has not been a partisan in politics. VfARIOOS problems of naval warfare, especially that of the relative value of the heavily armored battleship bat-tleship and the airplane, air-plane, may be' solved ill the great war game of the navy which began be-gan at the start of the week in Panama waters. The forces Vice Admiral nere divided into the A. L. Willard "Blue" fleet and tna. "Black" fleet. The former, under command of Vice Admiral Ad-miral Arthur L. Willard, flying bis flag on the Arkansas, was entrusted with the- defense of the Panama canal and of a hypothetical Nicaragua canal. It is the Atlantic or scouting fleet and was reinforced by the aircraft carriers car-riers Saratoga and Lexington and the dirigible Los Angeles; by planes from the naval air station at Coco Solo and by a big Beet of "V-4" submarines. The attacking or "Black" fleet was not nearly so strong in planes but more powerful In other respects. It was commanded by Admiral Frank H. Schofield. The "Blacks" had about eighty planes, forty from the aircraft carrier Langley and the rest from battleships and a division of new 10,-000-ton "treaty" cruisers, tried out for the first time In war operations with the fleet. This division, composed of the Northampton, the Salt Lake City and the Pensacola, was assigned to Admiral Schofield's command for the war problem, though ordinarily it operates in the Atlantic. The umpire ship was the Texas, flagship of Admiral Jehu V. Chase, commander In chief of the United States fleet and general director of tlie wrar game. r N THE Sunday before the be-ginning be-ginning of Lent the government of Soviet Russia declared war against religious influence in the schools, enlisting en-listing all Soviet children In the campaign. cam-paign. The commissariat of education educa-tion in a manifesto said: "We cannot allow the morality of our children to be degraded by re ligion, tne churches recently had the audacity to creep into our schools. In one school tiny crosses were distributed dis-tributed among pupils." The commissariat voted funds for an issue of circulars calling upon school teachers to intensify their antl-religious antl-religious instruction, nnd it appealed to the movie trust to produce special anti-Christian films for Juvenile consumption. con-sumption. V""'F' "le alie;:ed iniquities ol v v postal leases are still under Investigation, In-vestigation, the house gave its approval ap-proval to a program for wider federal ownership of postal facilities which has the backing of the administration. The bill passed authorizes the expenditure ex-penditure of $4.-.000,000 for the re moval of postal activities from leased quarters Into government-owned substations sub-stations and garages. It received a unanimous vote. r EATHS of the week included s those of Louis Mann, veteraD comedian; Gov. Frank C. Emerson ol Wyoming; W. R. Merriam, former gov ernor of Minnesota, ami Louis Wol-helm, Wol-helm, movie and stage actor. MaJ Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, commandei of New England troops In the Work war, who died In Boston, was burlee in Arlington National cemetery. I (). 1931. Wuttrn Newiraw, Union.) |