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Show News Review of Current Events the World Over Speaker Rainey's Death Starts Race for His Position Prominent Men Organize Liberty TLeague to Combat Radicalism. By EDWARD W. PICKARD by Western Newspaper Union. HtCNRY T. RAINEY, veteran con-Kressman con-Kressman from Illinois and speaker speak-er of the house, died unexpectedly In a St Louis hospital where he was be- Henry T. Ralney Heved to be recovering recover-ing from an attack of bronchial pneumonia. The Immediate cause of his death wa3 angina an-gina pectoris. Mr. Ralney, who was within with-in a day of being seventy-four years old, was first elected to congress con-gress In 1902, and he served continuously with the exception of one term, being defeated de-feated in the Harding landslide of 1020. He was elected to the speakership when John Nance Garner became Vice President. His control over the house during the sessions ses-sions of last year and this year, while the President's program was being put through, was gentle but so firm that the legislators were kept well In line. Mr. Ralney devoted much of his eervice In Washington to efforts to Improve Im-prove the condition of the farmers, for he held that farm prosperity was essential In any program for national well being. He also was a student of tariff and fiscal subjects. As a Democrat Demo-crat he was always a "regular." He was the author of the tariff commls-lon commls-lon law and of much other Important Impor-tant legislation. Mrs. Ralney acted as her husband's secretary for years and Is so well acquainted ac-quainted with congressional work that the Democrats may select her as the candidate to complete his term as representative rep-resentative from the Twentieth Illinois district. Mr. Ralney was buried In his home town, Carrollton, after services which were attended by President Roosevelt and many other nable persons. SPEAKER RAINEY'S death will result re-sult In a spirited contest among a number of men who are ambitious to ucceed him. First In the line of suc- Joseph W. Byrns cession, so to speak, Is Representative Joseph Jos-eph W. Byrns of Tennessee, Ten-nessee, who has been serving as majority floor leader and who Is head of the Demo-I Demo-I cratic national con- gresslonal committee. . President Roosevelt is going to take no part I In the race, but the more liberal of the New Dealers are known to favor Sam Eayburn of Texas. Well Informed observers ob-servers believe Byrns will be elected speaker and Rayburn floor leader. Other aspirants for the speakership are John E. Rankin of Mississippi, who has announced his candidacy; William B. Bankhead of Alabama, and John J. O'Connor of New York. Mr. Byrns has been a member of the house continuously, since his election to the Sixty-first congress. His work as floor leader, In conjunction with Rainey's rule as speaker, was not especially es-pecially pleasing to the New Dealers for some months during the last session, ses-sion, but before adjournment most of the misunderstandings were cleared up. In any case, the administration seldom interferes In the selection of the leaders of congress, not wishing to Irwur the enmity of powerful members mem-bers of the party. RETURNING from his swift trip to attend the funeral of Mr. Ralney, the President went directly back to Washington Instead of going to his Hyde Park home. This change In plan was due, It was said, to the development develop-ment of a bitter dispute between Gen. Hugh S. Johnson on one side and Donald Don-ald Richberg, Mr. Roosevelt's chief industrial in-dustrial adviser, and Secretary of Labor La-bor Perkins on the other, over the new structure to be given the NRA. The issue, It was disclosed, Is whether wheth-er there shall be a board of control In authoritative management of the NRA or a board which shall be more advisory rn power, leaving the real control still in the hands of the administrator ad-ministrator and his deputies. It was expected Mr. Roosevelt would take command of the situation and determine deter-mine definitely what shall be done with the recovery administration. ORGANIZED labor scored a victory over Recovery Administrator Johnson when the national labor relations rela-tions board ordered John Donovan, former president of the NRA union dismissed by Johnson for "Inefficiency," "Inefficien-cy," reinstated to his position with the labor advisory board. "The agencies which are administering adminis-tering the law should In their own dealings uphold its purposes," the board said In Its decision, giving a veiled reproof to Johnson for what it Implied was a violation of section 7a of the NRA. With rather bad grace the NRA accepted ac-cepted the rebuke and permitted Donovan Don-ovan to return to his Job. Johnson himself had nothing to say about It, but Dr. Gustav Peck, Donovan's Immediate Im-mediate superior, Issued a statement In which be sniffed at the board's de cision and warned Donovan that he would have to "toe the mark." Soon after this the NRA announced that It does not rpgard Itself as obliged to withdraw the Blue Eagle in cases where the national labor relations rela-tions board has found companies guilty of violation of section 7A of the national na-tional Industrial recovery act and of subsequent failure to obey the Instructions Instruc-tions of the board. The labor board has recommended withdrawal of the Blue Eagle to the NRA compliance board in all cases where companies have disobeyed Its Instructions to reinstate discharged employees. The decision by the NRA will remove teeth from decisions by the board, since it may now hear cases, make decisions, and find that no penalties are inflicted for disobeying disobey-ing its orders. "'OTTON garment code amendments reducing the working hours and giving workers a wage increase have been signed by the President. The amendments, which affect plants in 42 states, are of far-reaching importance. Sidney Hillman, labor advisory board member and Amalgamated Clothing union head, termed signing of the order "the most far-reaching move NRA has yet made to Increase employment." It was hoped that this order would avert the threatened strike of the garment workers. TWO prominent Democrats, two Republicans Re-publicans almost equally prominent, and one leading industrialist, all of them of conservative tendencies, have L 4 k ' Jouett Sbouse j united to organize the I American Liberty I league dedicated to a war on radicalism in the United States. I The five founders of the league are: Al-; Al-; fred E. Smith, Democratic Demo-cratic Presidential candidate in 192S; John W. Davis Democratic Dem-ocratic Presidential candidate in 1924; Nathan L. Miller, Republican Re-publican ex-governor of New York ; James W. Wadsworth, Republican congressman from New York, former senator and Presidential possibility for 1936; Irenee Du Pont, manufacturer, who supported Smith in 1928 and Roosevelt in 1932. They believe be-lieve the league membership will grow Into the millions and that it will become an important element in the national life. , For president of the Organization the founders selected Jouett Shouse, former for-mer chairman of the Democratic national na-tional committee and president of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment until repeal was accomplished. accom-plished. In a statement Mr. Shouse set forth the purposes of the league as follows: "It is a nonpartisan organization, formed, as stated In its charter, 'to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States and to gather and disseminate information that (1) will teach the necessity of respect for the rights of persons and property as fundamental to every successful form of government, and (2) will teach the duty of government to encourage and protect Individual and group Initiative and enterprise, to foster the right to work, earn, save, and acquire property, and to preserve the ownership and lawful use of property when acquired.' ac-quired.' " To interviewers Mr. Shouse declared the league was not anti-Roosevelt, but it seemed clear that it will be opposed to most of the major purposes of the New Deal and the radical professors of the brain trust. He said he had visited the President and informed him fully of the purposes of the league, but he would not tell what Mr. Roosevelt's Roose-velt's reaction had been. TN THE nature of a reply to the for- motion of the American Liberty league was a speech delivered in Washington by Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper. He denied that the "profit motive in American life has been or is to be abolished" by the New Deal, asserting that It seeks only to abolish "certain profit abuses," such as profits on watered stocks and disproportionate dis-proportionate salaries. "Private enterprise," said Mr. Roper, "is getting back upon Its own feet, and more and more is exerting its initiative in-itiative and is able to relieve the federal fed-eral government of responsibilities, which under normal conditions belong to business. "Pardon my repeating again that the Roosevelt administration is squarely behind this principle. It believes In Just profits for management and capital capi-tal and an equitable return to labor for Its rightful rewards in the economic eco-nomic processes. "No thinking business man desires to have the old order restored. He does desire and is entitled to have the new order characterized by a better control against economic cataclysms and by the freedom to exercise his initiative in planning for the future of his business In the light of an equitable equit-able profit system." THE strike of truck drivers In Minneapolis Min-neapolis was ended when the men and their employers accepted a compromise com-promise agreement, and martial law In the city was discontinued, business thereafter speeding back to normal conditions. The peace plan, devised by federal representatives, provided that all employees on strike be returned to their Jobs without discrimination and on basis of seniority. It Included an agreement to hold an election within ten days In each of the 10G firms involved in-volved to determine whether their employees em-ployees want the drivers' union or other representatives to act for them in collective bargaining, and a pledge of the 16G firms to pay for at least one year not less than 50 cents an hour to drivers and 40 cents to helpers, help-ers, platform men and inside workers. Y'ILLIAM GREEN, president of " the American Federation of Labor, La-bor, says he hopes the general strike of textile industry workers will be ft William Green averted; but he announces an-nounces at the same time that the federation federa-tion indorses the strike and will cooperate co-operate fully with the officers and members of the United Textile Workers' organization. He appointed federation federa-tion committees to as sist the textile workers work-ers and announced that he would draft trained organizers and strike specialists special-ists from other unions to ,aBSlst the textile union. George A. Sloan, president of the Cotton Textile institute and chairman of the cotton textile code authority, said the threatened strike Is not Justified Justi-fied by the facts established by impartial im-partial government economists. Challenging the wage Increase demand de-mand of the United Textile Workers of America, Mr. Sloan declared that "as a result of three basic wage provisions pro-visions in the code the hourly wages paid in March, 1934, show an Increase of 7 per cent as compared with March, 1933, when there was no code. "All of this has meant a substantial Increase In manufacturing costs," Mr. Sloan said, "and the research and planning plan-ning division of the NRA found, after a comprehensive Investigation last June, that 'under existing conditions there Is no factual or statistical basis for any general Increase in cotton textile tex-tile code wage rates.' " Mr. Sloan estimated the present number of workers at work in some 1,200 mills in the cotton industry at 460,000. LIEUT.-COL. MARIO HERNANDEZ J organized a plot to overthrow the government of President Mendieta of Cuba and establish a military dictatorship, dictator-ship, but the authorities got wind of it and frustrated the conspiracy, in which a considerable part of the army was involved. Col. Fulgencio Batista, head of the army, said that Major Benitez and some soldiers were sent to arrest Hernandez and that eight men of the detachment were killed. Hernandez tried to shoot Benitez but was himself shot in the head and neck. The official report said Hernandez was 'being rushed toward Havana in an automobile abd that the car upset, the prisoner being killed, though the others oth-ers in the car were uninjured. MaJ. Angel Echevarria, commandant of Fourth Infantry at Camp Columbia, and Capt. Augustin Erice, chief of the signal corps, conspirators with Hernandez, Her-nandez, were captured later and a summary court martial sentenced them to death. Four thousand troops in Pinar del Rio are confined to barracks, under arrest, and a thorough reorganization of the entire high command of the Cuban army Is in full swing. About 200 civilians have also been arrested as parties to the conspiracy, charged with carrying messages to military plotters. EIGHTY-EIGHT Soviet citizens are now under arrest in Manchukuo, charged with plotting against Manchukuo Man-chukuo and Japan and sabotaging Japanese military trains. The Russian government, through Acting Consul General Rayvid at Harbin, has presented pre-sented to the foreign office of Manchukuo Man-chukuo a demand for an explanation of the arrests and Insists on prompt measures for the release of the prisoners. "The arrests were made without documents, accompanied by searches of the apartments and offices of Soviet employees of the Chinese Eastern railway rail-way which have not been explained," Rayvid said. The Japanese allege that some of the prisoners confessed to an attack on the Japanese military intelligence office at Suifenho (Pogranichnaya), to sending Manchurian and Corean communists com-munists Into the territory, to wrecking wreck-ing trains carrying Japanese troops and munitions toward the frontier, and to creating general disturbances along the eastern line. Probably before long will come the news that the Japanese have seized the Chinese Eastern railway, and that may very well result In war between Japan and Russia. BY A vote of about 10 to 1 the people peo-ple of Germany decided that Chancellor Chan-cellor Adolf Hitler's action In assuming assum-ing the powers of president was all right. The result of the plebiscite was: "Yes," 3S,3G2,709; "No," 4,294,-654; 4,294,-654; "Invalid," 872,296. Though the "yes" votes were several million less than In the November plebiscite on the withdrawal from the League of Nations, Na-tions, the Nazis are satisfied and Hitler Hit-ler appears to be safely fixed as the country's ruler for the rest of his life. His power, as chancellor-leader, Is ereater than that of any other dictator. |