LEPKE Z<^L4jUc^ > (I New York City is having a headline political sensation which may well have its repercussions in national politics. Today ^ Tammany Leader William Solomon was indicted and A placed under arrest, he is rated as a number one Tammany figure, wielding an amount of political power second only to that which James J. Hinesused to enjoy — the famous Hines who v/as convicted / of racketeering charges by District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. The meanings are vivid — as DeweyTs office has brought the accusations « which lead to the arrest today of Tammany leader Solomon. Two separate cases are involved. Today’s indictment concerns a scandal connocted with what is called a printing racket — graft in connection with contracts for city printing. The District Attorney’s office has been digging into the case for some time, now it bursts forth the headlines. Tammany Leader A A Solomon indicted and also Assistant State Controller Charles H. Mullens. He’s a Republican, a veteran office holder. They’re Tf accused of having had a finger in the printing racket pie. The second case in the story is that of Lepke, leader Solomon charged with having received money in the Lepke shakedown rackets. This was charged yesterday by a witness testifying in the trial oi the LEPKE - 2 extortion mob which is said to have shaken down merchants to the tune of a million a year. Lepke is the arch racketeer whom District Attorney Dewey called — the most dangerous public enemy. The District Attorney’s office and the Federal authorities had an argument about who would try him. The federal authorities did it O- 5 first and convicted Lepke on narcotic charge and sent him to A prison. Now the District Attorney’s office is trying him, along with several of his henchmen, for city racketeering. Yesterday the testimony was given that in a racketeer’strike in the baking industry, Tai many Leader Solomon took a cut of the money paid to the mob. It takes no political wizard to see the national aspects. District Attorney Dewey rose to national prominence with the conviction of Tammany Leader Hines. And now his office, in prosecuting both the Lepke and the printing racket, has produced charges against Tammany Leader Solomon, and Indicted him. This might a feet Tammany power in New York City, ^t may increase the prestige of Dewey. And Dewey is out campaigning xor the Republican nomination for the Presidency. ta ;: New York*3 great taxpayer demonstration has left the Albany legislators in an acute dilemma. This dilemma a reflection of the two opposite kinds of demonstration that were staged. The taxpayers — protesting against a fifteen millio- n dollar increase of New York income taxes, as proposed by Governor Lehman. Against them were marshalled cohorts opposed to cuts relief, or education^ i A money or hospital expenditures, etcetera. They demonstrated against ^ A hundred / any slash of the budget of nearly four'million dollars proposed 'by Governor, The big show in Albany continued until noon today. Tens of thousand representing their divergent views, a thirteen hour hearing by the legislature — speeches, arguments, harrangues. When it was all over the law makers were left weary, bewilsdered and by the dilemma. The Republican majority 4 plans to/bonfer with Governor Lehman. And the bi£ problem is how to figure out the finances so that they can avoid the fifteen million dollar income tax increase, and at the same time refrain from cutting the four hundred million^budget. How to pleas- t. opposite sides - those who don’t want to pay more and those who don’t want to get less. N.L.K.b. There was a rather startling turn today in the congressional investigation of the National Labor Relations Board^S rei. jiqp wrtu 1?he eharg^ — the suggested charge that tracsbarcar tiTJX Board has violated federal law. ‘Stes* Y\% L.~RT} officials are said to have lobbied in Congress and brought pressure ^There's a federal law which forbids government employees 7T to use government funds to influence members of Congress. Two counts were mentioned today - Number one, officials of the Labcr Board lobbying against a cut in appropriations for the Board. In NineteenThirty-Seven, it was proposed to slash three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars from the aiigrtK funds alloted to the N.L.R.B. Na^uraxiy, the-B^ard didn^t li-tw this ami-today* evidonoo Hjas ■ inti~~Minrad~ 1>n LhciL N.Ii.IHD.- off icials appealed —pr^sourc on (jteK.g*re»o»- The evidence consisted of telegrams sent to union officials in Missouri, Texas and Oklanoma telegrams reading this way:- "Wire senators, and request other labor organizations and individuals to urge that the roduction be y not allowed." The second count suggested that officials in the N.L.F.B. were prompted by the C.I.O. to do some lobbying against labor law amendments which were sponsored by the A.F. of L. Ill of this put it up to the Committee to consider the question -- had ,abor Board officials violated federal law? An executive session was held, after which it was announced that the Committee was divided on the question, and that the affair would be passed on to Attorney Gernal Jackson to decide. Here’s something late:- The Senate has just passed the bill which will enable the Import-Export Bank to make a big loan to Finland. boat You!d think that Red Dictator Stalin has enough sins of his own, without wanting to buy somebody else!s sin. But he tried to tried to purchase Zalmon Simmons* speed boat named - MY SIN. Simmons is the heir to a mattress fortune, but he didnft find you could travel so fast on a mattress, so he proceeded to develop the swiftest boat in the world. Last fall MY SIN enr^r-^riT broke the record. The boat is especially notable for its motor - Ifightweight and much power, a type with much possibilities for aviation use. Today Simmons announced that the Soviet Government had made him an offer. What the Soviets particularly w'ant is the secret of the motor - probably for Red army use. They proposal to buy the plans. But Simmons refused. he said today that he would offer the motor to the United States Government, but as for the Soviets, he put it this way: ’’The motor is not for Russian planes,” said he, ”or for the planes of any country which may some day be an enemy of this country." tartTRen he added this sage reflection:- "I don’t want to have ray own house bombed by a plane operated with my own motor.n FINNS The ftar bulletin from Finland makes this announcement - l*e today evacuated certain positions on the Mannerheim Lina. \ The report from ii4oscoftr declares that the Red Army captured thiity-tw( f'ZTTLlL fortsUig—nTTT>B\ The defenders explain that the positions' they evacuated were mostly machine gun nests in front of the main fortified area - in No Man’s Land. The Finns add that they counter-attacKed successfully, which'would presumably mean that they recaptured some of the positions they had evacuated. All of this makes it apparent that the Soviet divisions have made some progress in their powerful and continued assaults against the Mannerheim Line. The Red forces have advanced, though how far remains to be seen. The Finnish accounts picture huge assaults by massed forces of troops and tanks, covered by intensive artillery fire. the blasting of big guns. The Finns state that the ooviet losses are huge, Stalin’s generals are throwing new masses of men and equipment into the battle, determined to break through, no ma.ttei at what cost. Today we hear that the Soviet high command has made up its mind to crash through the Mannerheim Line by February — ■ FIl\:^S - 2 the Twentieth, anniversary of the forming of the Red Army. So the question stands - how far can thej^oviet troops get into the deep fortified area called the Mannerheim Line? ^Can they break it by sheer weight of mass - no matter how much they have to sacrifice in men and materials? Can they wear down the Finns, forcing them to use up men and munitions until they ^ have ^nit enough left?^ One thing is being noted by the war correspondents. The Finnish command reports heavy Red Army losses - but the Finns have never published a casualty list of their own. How heavily have they lost - with their always insufficient man-power? Another question:- How will the weather affect the Soviet attempt to overwhelm the Mannerheim Line? Europe is engulfed by another cold wave. Reports tell of the bitterest weather in the century. Icy blizzards of weeKS ago helped to bring about those_ Red Army disasters. We are told, howeygg, that winter is^t he best time for operations against the Mannerheim Line - when the ground is hard. But what about the amount of winter they are having now? Majccuaush:': b H ±± x T oo much of it to help the ^oviets maybe. Too mac i of a deadly freeze. NEAxv EAST Here1 s a headline that seems like something twenty-thpgg» A years old. A headline - nThe Anzacs are in Jerusalem.” It w..s in Nineteen Seventeen that the Australians and New Zealanders marched into the Holy City. Jerusalem - captured by Allenby^ army from the Turks, in what we called - The Last Crusade. Now the Anzacs are in Jerusalem again, but not fighting the Turks. In this war, Turkey is ranged on the Allied side, with the Allies massing troops in the Near East, as a move in the war against Nazi Germany. Yesterday the news was that the Anzacs had landed at Suez, thity thousand of them, the biggest contingent of troops ever shipped by sea. And today theyTre in Jerusalem. What memories that wort A brings back. I was with those earlier Anzacs in the Holy City, in -days -wSi«rrreftce“of -Arabia. And memories lOwe recalled, too, by the statement that the commander of the New Szxlata Zealand contingent is Major-General B. C. Freyburg. B. C. are his initials, and after his name the press reports should have put the letters V.C. Durinfe the World V/ar I always wanted to meet him, but Just missed him. I hoped I might write a book about him, but never did. He was one of the most amazing figures of the NEAR EAST - 2 First Vorld War. Re Weis a New Zealand lad uho came to the United States to study dentistry. When the V.'orld War broke out he rushed back to New Zealand, joined up as a volunteer, and was with the Anzacs when they were sent to Gallipoli. The troop transports were anchored off Gallipoli, at night. The generals were wondering how they could make a landing on the beach. Young Freyburg volunteered to swim ashore alone, right under the Turkish guns, reconnoiter, and light fires on the beach. He carried out this bold exploit in magnificent style. I believe it was for this he got the Victoria* Cross. rCs^ r-^ci-vO— Later, on the Western Front he performed exploits and became the youngest E a -General in any of the Allied armies. In his early twenties, younger even than Lawrence of Arabia. He used to go over the top, unarmed, leading his men. He was v*rcunded time and time again. At a hospital in England they told him he could never return to the Western Front, so they gave him a job at the War Office. He was just a cripple. But be:ore the war office knew about it, he had rejoined his division and had again led them in action, and atain ■ v.ounded. NLAR - 3 On the day the y/ar ended he jumped on his horse, started lor No Iran’s Land, and on the v»ay picked up some volunteers who wanted to have over the top they went, led by Brigadier^. C. Freyburg, V.C. After the war he was offered his choice:- a permanent commission as an ordinary general in tne British army, or colonel of the swagger Coldstream Guards. He chose the latter. Remember those days when Gertrude Ederle and otners W. C were swimming the English Channel? Young^Freyburg V.C., with only one leg and one arm, took part in that race to be the first to swim the channel. Now, in the Second World War, he turns up in Palestine as a Major-General in command of the New Zealand forces. I hope he doesn’t accumulate any more BASEBALL Baseball news - it concerns the sacrifice flyt. Today, baseball czar Jud^e Landis formally and completely abolished that old subject of baseball dispute - the sacrifice fly. One of the old rules of baseball was that if a batter hit a fly, and a runner was able to advance to another base after tire fly was caught - the batter was not charged with an out. He was K « time at bat It was considered a sacrifice. —>nd not charged ag^inot him in £igm«-i.ng -hia baling average^ A few years ago, the rule was changed, and the sacrifice fly was abolisned. Soon afterward, however, because oi action by restored - but with a the sports y/riters, to A modification. If a runner was able to score from third base - then it was considered a sacrifice fly. Many hold that this was responsible for the fact that hitters don!t pile up the high batting averages of the heroes of old like Ty Cobb and George Sizzler. The old-timers had the advantage of the sacrifice rule to increase their averages. They often hit over four hundred, an exploit which is unknown today. Last season Joe diMaggio announced BA^n-BALL — 2 tna.t it W8s his ambition to psrform • miracl© — hit ovar four hundred. He couldn^t inaiie it. He won the batting grwith a mere three hundred and eighty-six. This - under the modified rule of the sacrifice fly. Today, that peculiar kind of fly ball was abolished altogether. According to the new rule promulgated by Judge Landis, whenever a batter hits a fly and it is caught, that batter is charged K would cut down batting with an out. Jhimediately there were statements that the change ^ ^-ri erv\ , itting averages .n. j . i . yuin^ Clark Griffiths, the Washington manager, declared that long hitters like Joe diMaggio, Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg, would lose from ten to fifteen points. However, that opinion is not unanimous. Eddie Collins of the Boston Red Sox said he didn't think th*fc change would have much effect. A Oft iml 1 I.ng~HMvr I'iTgTiBi So the fans will have to wait till the coming season to find out who is rightj *****£. # OLD LACIES Here's one of those stran6e stories that fiction would hardly dare to invent. At Buffalo, there were two a&ed sisters, one eighty-nine, and the other ninety-seven. For years they lived together, macm inseparable companions, never apart. When you saw- one, you saw the other. A week ago, both fell ill - at about the same time. And today the report is, that one died at ten thirty this morning. The other - at ten thirty-eight. Still inseparable. bandits Here’s a new use for Nu Blue. Listen to it, Hugh.^cj* tu Scrtt ImntTifcSi. At Kansas City, two robbers tried to hold up a filling station. The station attendant at that moment happened to have a gasoline nose in his hands. He turned the hose on the two robbers and shcwered them v.ith gas. Then he whipped a pack of matches out of his pocket. bandits didn't wait. Before Huffman could get a match lighted, they were a block down the street. And now, Hugh, tell us some more about Nu Blue.