L,T« - SUNOCO. MONDAY. FEBRUARY 15?6. GOOD EVEMIMG EVERYBODY: Itfs been quite a while since the President has provided the country with one of his. characteristic surprises. But he did it today with a vongeanByin' hiar message to Congress. A It was the first time since he took office that he asked the Senators and Representatives to repeal laws which they have passed and which he has signed. Ha-has been famous for his short messages. But the one that left the White House today is quite the most terse and laconic that even he has evor written. All he said was: ”1 recommend the prompt repeal of the Bankhead Cotton Act, the Kerr-Smith Tobacco Act, and the Potato Act.” He offered no reasons. However, we all know that each one of those acts is now being considered by the Supreme Court. And since their ruling on the A.A.A*, everybody has taken for granted that all of those three measures would be wiped out, as summarily as the A. A. A L.T. - SUNOCO. MONDAY, FEBRUARY S. 1936. GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: It's been quite a while since the President has provided the country with one of his. characteristic surprises. it toe But he did it today with a A* drJap message to Congress, It was the first time since he took office that he asked the Senators and Representatives to repeal laws which they have passed and which he has signed. has been famous for his short messages. But the one that left the White House today is quite the most terse and laconic that even he has ever written. All he said was: nI recommend the prompt repeal of the Bankhead Cotton Act, the Kerr-Smith Tobacco Act, and the Potato Act." He offered no reasons, However, we all know that each one of those acts is now being considered by the Supreme Court. And since their ruling on the A.A.A*, everybody has taken for granted that all of those three measures would be wiped out, as summarily as the A.A.A LEAD - 2 Such was the sum total of today!s news from the White House. But the grapevine reports have it that there is plenty of worrying around that mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue. Inflation of course is the big nightmare not only on the banks of the Potomac but on the banks of every river in the country.^ The inflationists, headed by Senator Thomas of Oklahoma and Representative Patman of Texas, have a strong argument. By setting the printing presses to work, - KM? turning out money, they^will avoid taxes. And^in an election year, every congressman hates to go back home and explain to the folks why their taxes are going to be higher. In the House, the inflationists already have^within three votds of a majority. Back of them too they have the voice and influence of Father Coughlin. ? ^Against them they have a large, but disorganized opposl- tion. Ths.t's what the Washington wiseacres say. Sixteen shown A that in every country where Inflation had been enforced, the middle classes are that is, the salaried people, the folks of nrantrafnt moderate means. erys whe^jb^happened to them in Germany. But the trouble withjtfeei is they have no lobby, no strong body to fight their bat«.e. * / SUPREME COURT Washington spectators often wonder what are the emotions of the United States Supreme Court on such occasions as today. For there was a banner crowd come to see the performance* Every seat M&m filled, in every corner of the room. Eager men and women, professional and lay, wanted to hear the fate of the T.V.A< Opinion after opinion was read by oae^e# the courtly dignified justices. But anxiously as the crowd leaned forward, at each new ruling, they never heard those fateful words, 11 Tennessee Valley Authority.n What makes the tension all the more acute is that their Honors never vouchsafe any reason for not handing down a decision. Each in turn reads out the opinion which Chief Justice Hughes la** asked him to write. But the dignity and traditions of the court forbid any explanation to the crowd or the public. So Washington in particular, and the w&rid at large, will have to wait on tenderhooks for another week. Maybe even longer, who knows? So there’s a case where once again no news becomes news. But that doesn’t mean that their Honors did nothing today. They did hand down one ruling of real importance to police SUPREME COURT - 2 officers the country over, particularly Uncle Sam’s police, A gentleman named Arthur Gooch had kidnapped a couple of police officers from Paris, Texas, and sneaked them over the line to Oklahoma. He was laid by the heels, tried in Denver, and convicted under the so-called Lindbergh Kidnapping Law* His attorneys complained that his action was no violation of that law* But, said the Supreme Court, on the contrary, it is,# Holding an officer to avoid arrest constitutes kidnapping in the meaning of the Act. Also, it is an offense to kidnap and transport a person for the purpose of preventing the arrest of a kidnapper. Wv*WA~" SILVER Theref s considerable excitement in various parts of the world over the trade in silver. When Uncle Sam started buying millions of ounces, the price went up. , So the rest of the world v/W? U avc ^ got into the market and sold large CQnsignments*a©£=£fc* The \ 4 principal seller was India. From Bombay alone two million ounces of the white metal warn sent to Hew York. And four milliota more A, are on the high seas. But since that silver was sold, the tables have been turned. The price has gone tikm down. So now India is buying back • what she has just One consequence is that the white metal Is once more in great demand for jewelry. Silver bracelets, necklaces and other trinkets have been popular in Hindustan for centuries. For a while lost cast when the price of the stuff became low all over the world. But now wives and sweethearts are once more demanding A silver gewgaws. And since the Indian marriage season begins in May, there*s prospect of a heavy demand, which will have its effects both in London and on the Hew York market. GOLD A crime story that reaches us from overseas is peculiar in two ways. First of all, because it comes from Africa, from Liberia, the little negro republic on the west coast. Second, itfs a crime that is baffling the shrewdest minds of the C.I.D., the Criminal Investigation Department of Scotland Yard. A shipment of gold bouillon was to be made from Liberia to London. The bars of yellow metal were packed in twenty strong steel boxes. Naturally, the utmost precautions were taken. The shipment arrived at Birkenhead with the seals unbroken. A guard of police and soldiers protected the transfer. When the shipment was weighed at Liverpool, ^ach box was found to be exactly right. Likewise, when it arrived in London. But, Oh, what a surprise when the boxes were opened! nothing but nails and hammer-heads. It was the right weight but the wrong stuff. And the London bobbies are still looking for The twentieth, however, contained that missing beullion "feLct -fee* LONDON That^s familiar news that comes from Londonl- The poor old Naval Conference is* tottering once more. This time it looks as though the French would he the walkers-out. And Chancellor Hitler £3? the cause of it all. A few weeks ago everything looked hopeful, even after the Jppanese made their exit. But now the Naval Agreement between London and Berlin has given France the jitters. And observers say that promises to disturb, if not end, the beautiful friendship between John Bull and France. There1s still a chance that it may be ironed out. But to cynical spectators that Naval Conference has looked like a sick baby from the beginning LIGGETT There was a sharp climax to the drama in Minneapolis i£Jr today* I mean trial of Isador Blumenfeld, alias nKid Gann”, for the murder of Publisher Walter Liggett* It was a serious ordeal that the murdered manfs widow had undergone. For the entire morning she had endured cross-examination by the defendants counsel* The most sensational question that he asked her was, f,Do you associate the defendant with Governor Olson*s gang?" The prosecutor didn*t like that question and objected* But the court allowed it. Mrs. Liggett*s reply, though it wasn*t exactly new, was sensation enough for any court. wMy claim,*1 she said, "is that the murder would not have been committed without Governor Olson* s permission.1* The climax came when Mrs. Liggett found herself unable to continue. Weeping bitterly, she tried to rest and recover sufficiently to go on. But even after a three-hour recess, her nerves seemed to give way and she collapsed. 04 to Trenton, New Jersey, for developments in the older but even more sombre Lindbergh case. Again the LIGGETT - 2 country ±st has its eyes on Governor Harold Hoffman. He has not yet made public the name of the new suspect he has mentioned. tl ■Tie has promised to reveal the Identify of the mysterious man with a handkerchief. When ft^nra-g asked whether he had ordered the man*s arrest, he replying* "Not yet." His explanation ri* is that to move too hastily may spoil the case* ROOSEVELT Any writers who are out to win the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial prize^es-tahli-ehed-ay For to get that tv/enty-five Imndred dollars theyfve got to write the best book on any political, economic or social subject in American life. The deadline for manuscripts e<^2. -tz*^ *Nay 1 Bsqffrgttir> vy rtT.U a -,-Nlfifcf te-en—TUirtythe anniversary of the Vv^rvg, K-Ujb great T.B.'S deathj Tnm .a book on A A such subjects is not one that can be turned out off-hand in a y few weeks. The winning manuscript will have to pass a pretty ran hav A board. Professor Roscoe Pound, Dean of Harvardrs Faculty of Law, severe test. Doubleday, Doran have certainly picked a knowledgeable A Doctor Dodds, tte President of Princeton, Dr. Harold flrleim Moulton, President of the Brookings Institution, Dr. Henry Seidel Canby, editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, and the present T.R., Colonel Theodore Roosevelt — between them all these magnificoes constitute a pgofcty formidable board of critics. So any man who win twenty-five hundred dollars from them^would-bavp-rirmw -pye-t-ty- STARK They're starting a new search for a missing aviator. I know about it particularly because the flying man who has vanished is a neighbor of mine up in Dutchess County. Over the week-end my neighbors were still talking about the dis­ appearance of Howard Stark who two weeks ago took off from Rock Springs, Wyoming for Salt Lake City, Utah. World famous as a blind flyer which he has taught all over the world, lately he has been employed by the Department of Commerce as an expert in that difficult branch of sky-navigation. Today I called up Eugene Vidal, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aviation, anct he told me that the search for Howard Stark was starting in all over again. He said that it was quite likely the missing birdman had made a forced landing somewhere in the snowy spaces of the lopely, frozen West. There are many places out there where he might be isolated -- marooned. The Stark family and the Stark neighbors believe that he will turn up okay. They’ve all kinds of confidence in hi s ability to handle himself on any flying jaunt. They say there’s only one accident on his record, and that was the first time he STARK - 2 flew. He bought an old Jenny, without knowing much about the art of being a birdman -- took off* He crashed into a neighbour­ hood stone fence. He never had another crack-up after that* And the folks up in Dutchess County don't believe that "Silent Howard" has come to grief now WEATHER These are tough days for people who live on islands - like those folks on Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay* Yes, If it hadn't Been for that blimp the Tangier fishing community would be like a party of Arctic explorers eating their boots. Now another expedition is being organized. The plane and the blimp that landed there yesterday only carried enough food for a few days* Eighteen hundred pounds of grub isn't much for fifteen hundred hungry mouths. But the Red Cross is on the job. Incidentally the Tang-erites were disappointed that the rescue fliers didn't deliver them their daily papers. Finally the commander of the dirigible - Captain Verner Smith - managed to find onepaper a day old. It almost produced a riot, because everyone of the fourteen hundred on the island were trying to read it at once. There's a mild coincidence in the fact that a Captain Smith came to the relief of the Tangier islanders. For it was a Captain Smith who discovered that island* Yes, Captain John Smith, playmate of Pocohontas WEATHER - 2 p B According to Author Megley Farson, recently returned from there, Tangier is an interesting place. Barely ninety milew from Washington, it has changed but little since Captain John Smith landed there in Sixteen Hundred and Eight. Originally, there were fourteen families, settlers from Cornwall. And today, so Megley Farson tells us, you can still notice traces of Cornish speech* Mow what they want is corn-beef, and corn bread. But Tangier has still another peculiarity. On that entire island there's neither a highway, nor a motor car, nor a horse, nor a jail. Some time ago, a sheriff from the Virginia mainland brought over a portable one-room prison. He was met by an island reception committee which tossed him and his jail into the usually damp but now frozen Chesapeake. And then along came that cry for help from old Nantucket, Five days since that historic whaling center was in iif f touch with the mainland. But today planes rtrvo mnhirlr+rrrt'.J^o~fly- A supplies to the thirty-six hundred Nantucket islanders. For them it was no novelty. Two years ago they were cut off for a fortnight. VUvJ -tWV ^ ^ WEATHER - S It Isn’t only Islands that are feeling the effects of this continued spel3.. Waterways are clogged. And New England ports seem to be the chief sufferers. Buzzards Bay choked with ice. Uncle Sam’s Coast Guard obliged to give up trying to keep the Cape Cod Canal clear. As a consequence boats from New York to Boston are skirting the Cape.. Every liner entering or leaving Boston harbor has to fight her way through heavy floes. And the Hudson doesn’t look like any canoing place either. It looks as though the believers in the ground-hog legend will have some substance for their credo this year. Any ground-hog foolish enough to poke his nose out of a warm, comfortable hole, yesterday, would have been a woodchuck chump. we And if he didn’t go back for another-long snooze, lip ought to wash him out as a weather prognosticator. At that, some scientists make rude and Incredulous remarks about the good old ground-hog tradition. Dr. Reed Blair Director of the New York Zoo, says his staff has been trying In vain to verify the legend for years. WEATHER - 4 This afternoon’s snowstorm arrived a trifle ahead of time. The promise was that it should begin late tonight or tomorrow. But from the way it’s starting in, this one is going to m make the others look mild. Pennsylvania friends tell me they already have twenty inohes of snow up in the Poconoa. Some men who went up there for the skiing got caught in a storm and it took them three days to dig their car out. The worse the motoring the better the skiing. It snows and snows in the Poconos. And -- SOLONG UNTIL TOMORROW