OCR Text |
Show News Review of Current Events the World Over Congress Quickly Acts on President Roosevelt's Request for New Legislation Reopening of Banks Spurs Upturn in Business Activities. PRESIDENT ROOSEYE1.TS request to congress that he be given authority au-thority to make cuts in the salaries of government employees up to 15 per fKj-r- -? cent, and to make re-ductions re-ductions In the amounts paid to vet- " . erans, that authority ?fJJt- I? to include practically 1 v an entire revamping of the government sii policy as it applies sv J ' to government ex-I ex-I vss" penditures, as it ap- , . plies to veterans of LJ i Wor,d war and other wars, met with President a quicg respnn5e on Roosevelt pan of the house of representatives and the senate. The bill passed the senate by a vote of 62 to 13. Forty-three Democrats and nineteen Republicans voted for the measure; four Democrats and nine Republicans against it. The vote in the house was CG6 for the measure and 13S against it. That result was not achieved without difficulty, diffi-culty, and the difficulty came in the ranks of the President's party, and its passage would not have been possible without the aid of Republican members mem-bers of the house. In a party caucus 82 Democratic members bolted the President's leadership and voted against the measure, their opposition being to that portion of the bill giving giv-ing the President dictatorial powers In the matter of expenditures for veterans. vet-erans. At the final roll call, IP" Democrats Dem-ocrats and 69 Republicans voted for the bill, and 92 Democrats, 41 Republicans Repub-licans and five Farmer-Laborites against it. Several members who were opposed to. the bill but who did not wish to be recorded as against an economy measure, decided not to vote. An analysis of the vote shows that 6S per cent of the Democrats voting and 62 per cent of the Republicans stood by it, but leaders said that the Democratic percentage for the measure meas-ure would have been much lower had not a parliamentary maneuver been Invoked to prevent rebellious members mem-bers of the party caucus from going through with their plans. Still another factor was credited with part of the favorable vote, and that was the word passed around the house cloakrooms that President Roosevelt planned to denounce the opposition In a nation-wide radio broadcast If the bill had failed of approval ap-proval It is believed the President . will make a saving of approximately S3S5.-000,000 S3S5.-000,000 in the expenditures for veteran vet-eran relief by cutting out all men whose disability, on which claims for relief are based, was not the result of war service. The reduction in the salaries of government employees is expected to save approximately another an-other Slo0.D00.0X). In the senate an effort was made to delay the passage of the act by proposing pro-posing amendments and the senate chamber resounded to the oratory of friends of the veteran and of federal employees, battling, against certain and overwhelming odds, to win some amendment to the bill. TT7HILE the President has received ' Republican aid in securing desired de-sired legislation for bis hankins, econ cm; and beer program, he will probably prob-ably not be able to r --y.-;.. depend upon it to the .- :4' same extent at least X tor his farm program. A That contemplates giv- ; -tjj ing the President die- i - 1 tatorial powers In so manipulating the price i ' ; of farm products to j bring them up to what t j Is termed a "parity" s J price. The contem- i plated law would authorize au-thorize the President, Secretary acting through the Wallace secretary of agriculture, to fix a parity price of each farm product; that is. a price at which the producer of the product would be placed on a parity with the producer of manufactured articles. For example, the secretary of agriculture might declare SI a bushel to be the parity price of wheat. The object then would he to manipulate manipu-late the price of wheat upward until the desired parity price should be reached. In order to raise tne prices of farm products the secretary of agriculture under the terms of the hill would in vol;e various devices. Fie might employ em-ploy the domestic allotment plan to Influence the prices of one group of commodities and the government land leasing plan In the case of another group. Secretary Wallace Insists that It would not be a price fixing law for the reason that no price would be fixed by flat. Instead, a price would he declared to aim nt and the measure adopted would tie those Judged most likely to raise the priee to (lie point desirerl. The products covered in the contemplated con-templated law are wheat, corn, cotton, entile, sheep. tiogi, milk, dairy prod UdH, tobaero and rice. Along with this the President pro poM-s the ruling down of farm niort-g.'igcs niort-g.'igcs nri'l n reduction In the Intercut In-tercut rates through agricultural credit agencies, all of which are to be consolidated under the direction of Henry Mprgemhau, Jr. BANKS began opening for business on March 13. On that date only banks connected wilth the Federal Reserve Re-serve system and located in Federal Reserve bank cities opened their doors under licenses from the Treasury Treas-ury department Banks In all clearing clear-ing house cities that had applied for and been issued licenses either by the federal treasury or. in the case of state banks, by state banking departments, depart-ments, began opening on Tuesday, and those in the smaller cities and towns on Wednesday. There were no restrictions placed on the hanks in the way of limiting withdrawals, with-drawals, except where the depositor was attempting to secure sums that would indicate hoarding, when the per son making the withdrawal was required re-quired to state his purpose and give his name and address. The banks were also required not to pay out gold or gold certificates, the embargo the President had placed on gold being continued, and vast amounts of the metal were being returned re-turned to the hanks. F"p to March 13 it was estimated the Federal Reserve bank in New York had received more than $100,000,000 of hoarded gold and in Chicago more than S2o.000.000 had been returned. The returns throughout through-out the nation indicated a larger amount of gold brought hack to the banks than the total withdrawal of the metal since February 1, though the government did not give out any definite statement on the subject. It was after the President had repeated re-peated and emphasized the embargo he had placed on gold payments that Governor Elood of Ctah signed a bill passed by the legislature requiring "the treasurer of the state of Ctah and of each taxing subdivision within the state to pay all public employees under their jurisdiction in gold coin." Where will Ctab get the gold? The President, in a published statement state-ment and also in a national broadcast, broad-cast, detailed In simple language the reasons for the national bank holiday and the plans for opening. He was careful to emphasize the point that the time of opening any hank was not determined by its relative condition, condi-tion, but by the ability of the officials of the Federal P,eserve banks and of the Treasury department to make the proper check for the Issuing of licenses. He explained that banks that were not sound would not be permitted to open except under government supervision for the purpose of reorganizing them. The reopened banks were supplied with a liberal allowance of the new currency based on bank assets, hut In practically no case was any of this needed as the deposits exceeded the withdrawals, and In many cases the new currency was returned to the Federal Fed-eral Reserve banks. PRESIDF.VT ROOSEVELT took time out from the urging of new legislation to give some consideration to the filling of important diplomatic posts. Fie has sent to -the senate the names -: ' S of Robert Worth Fling- ',. ham, publisher of Louisville, Ky.. as am- 'g- j, hassador to Great ' ' " W P.ritain; Jesse lsador " Straus, president of ' R. EI. Mary & Co., -New York department store, as ambassador to France, and Jose- 1 phus Daniels, war sec- retary of the navy. J" ' Strau under whom Mr. Roosevelt served as assistant secretary, as ambassador to Mexico. At least one of these will meet with some opposition In the senate. Senator Sena-tor Arthur RoMnson (Rep.. Inrt.) on nounced that he would offer evidence that Mr. I'.ingham had made speeches In England which caused him to he labeled as "apologetic American. ' Advisers of the President, however, declared that he was fully satisfied that Mr I'.ingham will assert and defend de-fend America's position on all Issues emphatically and patriotically. WORLD war veterans, the U. S. Supreme court decided, are with out priority over other depositors In the claims against Insolvent hanks for the money received from the I'nitod States. The ruling was handed down in a case Involving a deposit of approximately approx-imately .?r,.iKKi which Sinn Spioer hud In the llargis I'.nnk and Trust company com-pany of P.reathitt county, Kentucky, when It became Insolvent, The assets of the hank were not sufficient suf-ficient to pay all depositors, and It was contended that money received from the United States hy veterans for insurance and disability allowances was money of tin? I'nited States while on deposit In batiks to the credit of veterans find was therefore entitled to priority. The Supreme court derided ol herw ise. ATORNAFiO swept the Tennessee-Kentucky Tennessee-Kentucky border from tin. Mississippi Mis-sissippi river to the ('uniherliind mountains, killing 30 persons. Injuring more than I'OO and did tin iiiji jo estimated esti-mated at $1,000,000. WITH a special message of only 72 words the shortest Presidential Presi-dential message ever written the President secured legislation amending amend-ing the Volstead act and making 3.05 per cent beer legal in the United States. The President's 72 words were : "I recommend to the congress the passage of legislation for the Immediate Imme-diate modification of the Volstead act, In order to legalize the manufacture manufac-ture and sale of beer and other beverages bev-erages of such alcoholic content as is permissible under the Constitution; and to provide through such manufacture manu-facture and sale, by substantial taxes, a proper and much needed revenue for the government. "1 deem action at this time to be of the highest importance." The beer bill provides for an alcoholic alco-holic content of not over 3.05 per cent, for a tax of So a barrel, for a license fee of SI. 000 (or each brewery, and the law to he effective 15 days after It is signed by the President, which means beer will be on sale shortly after the first of April The bill was passed by a strictly non-partisan vote. In the house 23S Democrats voted for it. and 5S against; 73 Republicans for and 39 against, and 5 Farmer-Labor for. Twenty members did not vote, and there are two vacancies. va-cancies. Kansas was the only state whose representatives voted solidly against the bill, while the representatives of IS states voted all wet. The senate amended the house bill to Include wine, to make the alcoholic content of both 3.05 instead of 3.2 and to prohibit sale to children .under sixteen six-teen years of age. The vote In the senate was 43 for the bill and 30 against, also along strictly non-partisan lines. It is estimated the S5 a barrel tax on beer will produce about $125,000,- 000 additional revenue, OF SPECIAL interest to Roman Catholics is the allocution delivered deliv-ered by Pope Pius at the secret consistory con-sistory inaugurating the holy year. . j His holiness issued a . warning that commun- IV"' : ism Is attempting to : exploit the world's -. . V political and economic - Z t disorders and ex-L ex-L - ' ' ' pressed a fervent wish ; for disarmament and fr"'. !' --t' settlement of war 1 debts. The pontiff be- stowed the Roman ' v. .. i purple on six new Pope Pius cardinals of the church and announced that two others would be elevated later. The six elevated were: Pietro Furoasonl-F.iondi. former apostolic delegate at Washington; Archbishop Villeneauve of Quebec, Angelo Dolcl, Archbishop Innitzer of Vienna. Arch-bishop Arch-bishop Costa of Florence and Archbishop Arch-bishop Fossatl of Turin. Second only to the "nefarious propaganda of communists" which, he said, threatens Christian civilization, the pontiff deplored proselyting activities activi-ties of Protestant sects In Italy and Rome. He describes these activities as being "impudently pursued" and urged all the faithful to co-operate against "this menace and defend the treasured riches of city and nation." PLANS for Immediate reconstruction and rehabilitation are well under way In Los Anceles and Its suburbs, where earth tremors caused II." deaths and property damage estimated at J7.VV"". An appeal has been made to the federal government and the Reconstruction Finance corporation for the majority of funds needed for rebuilding. re-building. Congress passed a bill, Introduced In-troduced by Senator William C. Mc-Adoo Mc-Adoo of Los Angeles, for an emergency emer-gency appropriation of $.",.fni,iiio to relieve Immediate distress In the stricken area. The earthquake will probably give to science the first accurate records of Just how the earth shakes during such a disaster, Information which may be highly valuable In construc-Ing construc-Ing buildings to withstand earthquakes In the future. THE French cabinet Is sounding out the members of the chamber of deputies In an attempt to whip up a majority In favor of paying the Jl 0.201. 4r!2 war debt r-rpm.irn Installment to the t ' j United States which f ' ' " was defaulted on De- cember 15. ... Former Premier j i jf-r"""' Ilerriot has been M. i . ,' living In the govern 1 tnenl's behalf, seek j '. ' ? .. 3 Ing pledges to vote ; , J favorably In rase Pre j.. '- . f mier I'aladicr should J ,4 "v J ,!"'' '" bring "H' premier" iiiiill'T to n vote. Iht- . ,. Daladier not h:is iH't'ft trlliiiK lh drptnU'S flint it Is nccrssM ry to nrt quit-lily, ns llu? cnvrrntnci.t would lilio to have the pnyim-nt roincido with tlio di parliirp of tlio new Kroiu'l) n ml ijissa dor to Washington. "T"M I K tn'W nduiinistnilion refuses to n Mow the 1'nlted Slates to ho hound hy any action that is taken, but nrees to join llm League of Nations mom-hers mom-hers In n discussion of what the world should do about .Japanese military inroads in-roads In northern China. Hu'h U. Wilson, minister to Switzerland, Switzer-land, has been named to sit at the council table with the league's special advisory committee on the umh'Hared war In the Far Kast. with two Important Impor-tant rervat ion : 'The I'nited States, a iioimiember of the b-aiie. vil mt vote. It will not a;:rce In ndxatice to bow to the cmiiMiittec's dc. isiou, which may call for an economic ,v. colt or other coercive measures. lf.'!3. WeRlt'tii Ntwn'np'T I'nli.n. |