Show news review of current events Sue CONGRESS ENDS SESSION dodges most of must legislation shelves wages and hours bill shell hits U S flagship in china wa 1 1 S 4 W 1 I d 4 A breatha spell of congre S happy in adjourn irnest at last file out of the capitol in washington 14 A y summarizes THE WORLDS WEEK 0 western newspaper union hooray school Is it if there were more than a EVEN few threats of laitu I 1 get you after school the nations lawmakers were happy as schoolboys at the end of the term as the first session of the seventy fifth congress came to a close at last the senators and representatives fairly bogged down with months of wrangling much of it futile through the intolerable washington summer were glad of release even if such release carried the implication that there might be a special session in october but the legislators left the capitol in the realization that the session just ended will probably become known less for what it did than what it did not do four out of five of president Roosevel ts major must measures it did not pass the fifth it passed only with reservations which put a new complexion upon it congress did not pass the wages and hours bill after being passed by the senate in unacceptable form with the understanding that it would be improved in the house the bill was still buried with the house rules committee when the bell rang congress did not pass the new crop control bill which includes secretary wallaces ever normal granary project it was agreed that this legislation be brought up during the first week of the january session or the special session it did not pass the presidents desired legislation for reorganization organization re of the executive department it did vote the white house six new secretaries ret aries though it did not pass the proposal to increase the membership ot of the supreme court by six justices who would apparently be selected with a view to insuring the constitutionality of new deal measures by a vote of 70 to 20 it permitted a substitute measure which would have deded the justices one at a time to die a natural death in committee in addition to failing to enact this legislation demanded by the chief executive congress defeated the korris bill to create seven little and the crop insurance bill proposing a revolving ving fund of the senate tailed failed to ratify the sanitary convention with argentina modifying the restrictions on imports of meat and live stock however congress did pass the wagner low cost housing bill but with restrictions on the unit cost which will it is charged make the program virtually unavailable for new york and other large cities which constitute the principal slum problems the measure was on the presidents must list pass a sugar quota which may be vetoed by the president he threatened to veto such a bill it it limited the output of puerto rico an and d hawaii to and short tons annually and it does just that extend the neutrality law to prohibit the shipment of arms ammunition and implements of war to belligerents or extension of credit to them pass the guffey act creating a commission to fix prices and control the marketing ot of bituminous coal appropriate for work relief in the current fiscal year pass a bill to outlaw personal holding companies and other alleged means of tax evasion passed a reform bill for or the lower courts designed to speed appeals to the supreme court and permit the department of justice to intervene in cases involving the constitutionality of a statute ratified the buenos aires peace treaties which include a consultative pact for common course of action when war anywhere threatens the american republics extended the three years the president had asked that it be made permanent passed a farm tenancy bill to help share croppers buy their own farms arms this provides for the expenditure pend iture of the first year the second year and in succeeding years appropriations for the session totaled this was less than for the 1936 session which included for the soldiers bonus 4 K premier sees long war PREMIER KONOE declared in tokyo that there would be no settlement of the undeclared war until japan had punished the chinese army he admitted that he believed the fighting fightlin g would be of long duration the japanese foreign office was said to have rejected a british plan to establish a neutral zone in shanghai A spokesman said the chinese soldiers must withdraw far enough beyond the limits of the iced zone of 1932 to make an attack impossible the governments aim was expressed as a desire to restore amicable relations between japan and china but to chastise the chinese militarists t Guf feys unholy three SINCE S INCE the fight on the presidents court plan began in the senate it has become more and more obvious that a serious split impends in the democratic party ranks it was not a secret that certain of the senators and representatives were marked tor for extinction fish fries and harmony dinners notwithstanding but few expected the bombshell that broke when sen joseph F guffey ot of pennsylvania in a radio pee ch just before the end ot of the session assion es sion op openly aly named senators 0 Aa mahoney honey ot of texas burke ot of ne and wheeler ot of montana as iena senators tors who would not return to washington after the next elections there ensued in the senate that night one ot of the bitterest verbal battles batties on record with president garner forced several times to call senators to order burke summed up reply of 0 the three attacked when he said that it Guf feys statement were true we might just as well forget about jefferson island and harmony din ners and get ready for or a real bat lie wheeler on the senate floor said that if the democratic bosses want to drive us out of the democratic party they will not have any difficulty in doing so I 1 say to you guffey that if you nominate your governor of pennsylvania or yourself for president of the united states you will not have to drive us out admiral yarnell protests SAM was brought nearer U UNCLE than ever to the unofficial war in north china when a shell exploded on the deck of the augusta flagship of the united states As asiatic fleet killing freddie john falgout a seaman and wounding 18 others of the crew the ship was lying at anchor in the Whang poo river in the heart of the international settlement of shanghai it was impossible to determine whether the shell had been fired by the chinese or japanese admiral harry E yarnell commander of the fleet warned the governments ern ments of both nations against sheIl shellfire fire over american and aad foreign warships the president and the state slate department were inclined to leave diplomatic overtures to the military naval and diplomatic officers in china the president declared that under the circumstances accidents such as the one which beset the augusta were bound to occur ic franco batters iron ring second iron L LOYALIST ring the one around santander on the northern coast is proving no more invulnerable than its first the fortifications about bilbao rebels have broken through it besieging the hungry city and bombarding its fortifications with artillery general francos forces have captured several important neighboring towns in villacarriedo Villa carriedo considered an important sector in a the national defense ministry at valencia admitted that the government had met defeat in the fighting about santander but claimed the victory had cost the insurgents sur gents heavily in men it also claimed that an italian sergeant taken prisoner reported that four italian divisions were fighting with the rebels on the santander front the loyalist airplanes were reported as successfully driving francos bombers into retreat but at great loss in one duel it was said that 18 government planes were shot down by the fascists 4 c declared or not its war war of 1932 was a S SHANGHAIS second rate movie sham battle compared with going on over there now the city of inhabitants and its environs are a scene of destruction terror flames and death on a mass scale the horror of which is unthinkable thousands upon thousands of civilians lie dead dying and wounded and the toll increases day after day no esti estimate mat has even been attempted to determine the amount of casualties among the chinese and japanese fighting forces indeed such an estimate today might be woefully inadequate tomorrow tor for reports tell of whole brigades being shot or blown to bits in a single encounter square mile after square mile especially ally in the native chapai district has been gutted by fires that rise in the wake of bombs and artillery shells millions of men women and children face slower even more terrible death by hunger for who is to bring supplies from the outlying farm arm fields while the whole area Is under terrific fire even in the international settlement life Is fleeting insecure tor for bombs and shells drop there too and with refugees inside to be led fed shops are rapidly locking their doors to protect their wares from rioters As this is written the chinese land forces outnumbering the japanese four to one are forcing the invaders slowly back to the whang poo in fierce ground fighting whether er expected japanese reinforcements will be able to turn the tide of battle is problematical at the same time japanese warships half the entire japanese fleet must be in the Whang poo are showering exploding shells upon huge concentrations of chinese soldiers in the great aerial battle of the war I 1 the he chinese scored a decisive victory successfully turning back scores of japanese bombers and fighting planes the government reported that it had brought down 46 japanese planes in the first ten days of the fighting including 30 giant bombers said to cost each under the continual threat of bombs and with fires raging on all sides the governing council of the international settlement admitted that it was unable to care for its own ward road jail one of the worlds largest plans were being made to turn loose the inmates which included murderers thieves and narcotic addicts the japanese were reported attempting to land fresh troops as reinforcements for the ground force being pounded by the chinese hi nese question blacks eligibility THE rhe senate confirmed the presidents X nomination of sen hugo L black of alabama to the supreme court 63 to 16 but only after a bitter fight following which the minority protested that the confirmation had been railroaded through six democrats and ten republicans voted against black the democratic insurgents led by edward R burke neb and royal S copeland N Y based their objections principally upon charges that he was associated with the ku klux klan kian and therefore unfitted to sit with the high tribunal tor for reasons of racial and religious prejudice the republicans notably william E borah idaho argued that he could not legally become a member of the court that his eligibility might be tested before the court itself was a possibility when attorney albert levitt former special assistant to attorney general homer S cummings filed a plea for leave to pray an order for black to show affirmatively why he should be permitted to serve as an associate justice he raised the same legal questions as the lican minority had 1 that black could not become a justice because during his term as a senator the retirement act was passed permitting justices to retire at full pay the constitution provides that no member ot of congress shall be appointed to an office which was created or the emolument of which was increased during his membership in congress 2 that no vacancy existed on the supreme court anyway since jus tice willis van devanter had only retired not resigned and may still be called for judicial service by the chief justice it was expected that the black appointment would become political odder fodder in the next campaign 4 hint of a third party OHN L LEWIS chairman of the J JOHN committee for industrial organization iza tion added his condemnation of the seventy fifth congress to that of william green president of the american federation of labor tor for not passing the wage hour bill lew is threatened to lead his followers out of the democratic party unless it delivered on campaign promises leaders he said must either restore sufficient party discipline to permit government to function under their guidance or confess that their party is not the vehicle by j which the people of the country may progress to a solution of their pressing social problems lewis had just received another disappointment when the new york shipyard strike of 0 WC ac 1 I 0 affiliate collapsed after nine weeks insurgents sur gents took command of approximately 2000 members of the industrial du union of marine and shipbuilding workers and voted to return to work immediately it C campaign aftermath Tc down by the house rules committee ommittee when he demanded a special investigation rep bertrand H snell of new york ers caz floor leader has carried direct to attorney general homer S cummings his charges of violation of the federal corrupt practices act by the 1 Demo democratic craic national committee the charges arise from national of chairman james A Far parleys leys ingenious method of selling democratic convention books autographed by president roosevelt for each in a letter to cummings cumming snell charged 1 that sales of the book autographed by the president in 1936 at each constitute an fileca illegal collection of campaign funds and i a direct violation of section of the corrupt practices act 2 that a colorado man was the v I 1 victim of eleven specific acts of reprisals by the resettlement administration and threats to put him out of business since his refusal last october to subscribe to the book sales campaign 3 that a new yorker was approached pro ached by a democratic campaign committee agent with promise of white house intervention in return for a subscription or retainer snell attached affidavits and a synopsis of the evidence he had furnished the house rules committee french lifeline periled perilea Peri led tarance THE ie paris press dai disclose eath cT that t france considers herself in danger of losing her posse possessions in the near east and of having her air route connections with the far east severed because of revolts in syria censorship of the news out of syria is strict but some reports have leaked through which indicate the revolt recently quelled was a serious one according to one onedis idis patch the population is extremely dissatisfied with the terms of the franco syrian treaty signed last september 10 As soon as the proper machinery can be set up the treaty provides a unified syrian state will be formed from four of the five mandate areas which the french hold in the levant large sections of the population differ in religion from the syrians in damascus they are willing to be governed by a foreign nation like france as they have been tor for centuries but they do not want to be subjected to the will of the damascus politicians |