St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

I ON TODAY'S EDITORIAL PAGE I Turn on the Editorial. I What About the Katrefman I Editorial. Underground Humor in Germany: I From Ken. 1 FINAL in The OnJy Evening Newspaper in St: Louis With the Associated Press News Service (Goeing New York Stock Prices) VOL. 91.

NO. 163. ST. LOUIS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1939-36 PAGES PRICE 3 CENTS. BPATC HITLER TO WIDEN KIEL CANAL AND DRAFT LABOR FOR JOB METROPOLITAN CO.

REVISED RULE FOR $552,000,000 MILITARY EXPANSION MEASURE PASSED BY HOUSE REBELS SEND BARCELONA LOYALISTTO FIRING SQUAD SAMUEL FORDYC Wants Baltic-North Sea Project Finished in Two Years Reich Decrees Right to Conscript Any Worker. BANKER CRABB GETS 4 YEARS IN FEDERALPRiSON Delavan Man Sentenced on Charges of Forgery and Mishandling of Funds Totaling $75,000. By the Associated Press. BERLIN, Feb. 15.

Fuehrer Hit $300,000,000 NCLUDED 0 Flyer Safe After Three Days in Snow fi, r. MWV" i tf iV" T. i Si I i I' i f' 1 i f. i -Associated Press Wirepnoio. Let St.

Louisan Serve Both at Attorney and Director Chicagoan Then Got Same Privilege. $325,000 IN FEES PAID LATTER'S FIRM Inquiry Brings Out Al Smith as New York Life Director Solicited Business for His Oil Firm. By RICHARD L. STOKES A Staff Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. WASHINGTON, Feb.

15. When Samuel W. Fordyce, St. Louis attorney, became a director of the Metropolitan Life Insurance in 1932 and proceeded to retain his position as one of the company's attorneys, Mitchell D. Follansbee, a unicago lawyer and a Metropoli tan director since 1915, insisted that he also should share in the company's legal business.

This was Fol-lansbee's testimony today before the Temporary National Economic Committee. Since 1932, the witness stated, his firm, Follansbee, Shorey and Schupp, was paid about $325,000 in fees by the Metropolitan, covering 1382 foreclosures on $200,000,000 of Chicago property, and numerous loan, sales and miscellaneous transactions. Follansbee was elected to the board, he testified, to replace another attorney, who had failed to observe a company rule then in force forbidding any director to represent the company as counsel. The witness declares that he him self faithfully obeyed this rule for 17 years, but that with the election of Fordyce he discovered the regu lation had "become obsolete." Letter to Vice-President. Thereupon, under date of May 7, 1932, he wrote a letter to Leroy A.

Lincoln, then vice-president of the Metropolitan, the opening paragraphs of which were as follows: "When I came on the board a great many years ago, when the company was first mutualized, or someone else elected at the same time, took the place of Mr. Butcher, and Mr. Butcher was told those days that the policy of the company forbade any director to represent, as counsel, the company in any way. That policy was changed, as I understand, ana tne evidence i of the change was that my friend, Sam Fordyce, retained his legal representation for the company after he became a director. "The company is apt to have a lot of important real estate foreclosures in this vicinity, and I write to you as general counsel asking you to give our firm, which has al ways had both knowledge and facility in such matters, considera tion." Evangelism Before 1887.

As evidence that his request "to be counted in is very reasonable," Follansbee went on in his letter to recount that his father had been an attorney for the Metropolitan, and that "my memory goes back before 1887, when Mr. Hegeman was a young man and used to use Evan gelism on the agents in tne audi torium of the Temple Building, which was torn down to erect the building where we now have our offices." "In those days," the letter con- Continued on Page 8, Column 4. MUCH COLDER TONIGHT, FAIR; CLOUDY, WARMER TOMORROW THE TEMPERATURES. 2S 2S 23 2S 2S 29 29 low, a. m.

a. m. a. m. a.

m. 29 9 a. m. 29 10 a- m. 11 a.

a 28 12 noon 27 1 P- ra. ml 27 2 p. m. a. m.

-'7 3 P. Yesterday's high. 50 (12:01 a. m. a.

m. -it 29 3:30 p. m. Official forecast for St. lAiii and vicinity: Fair and much colder tonight, lowest temperature about 15; tomorrow cloudy, with rising temperature.

Missouri: Fair and colder tonight, much colder in northeast portion; cloudy with rising temperature tomorrow; snow in northwest portion. Illinois: Gener- Happy Birthday, St Louis. ally fair and much colder tonight, eosT-oieTCM EATHt8l0 vere cold wave in north portion; in- creasing cloudiness tomorrow, ing temperature in west portion. Sunset, Sunrise (tomorrow), FES ler acted today to give the Reich a canal from the Baltic to the North Sea wider than Panama or Suez by the time the Reich's largest battleship, the Bismarck, is commissioned two years hence. His decision to have the historic Kiel Canal widened to "make pos sible the parallel traffic of the largest types of ships brought a sweeping decree from Field Mar shal Hermann Wilhelm Goering, director of the four-year plan, whereby every German can be commandeered for any job deemed necessary for the State.

The decree empowered the Federal Labor Office and its sub-departments throughout Germany to draft any worker who might be needed for tasks of importance to the country's welfare. The authoritative news service Dienst aus Deutschland said the widening of the canal was one of the projects which under the four- year plan were given preference. Thus it was considered evidenfcsthat Goering's decree would be invoked to supply necessary labor power for finishing the canal in record time. Day After Launching. Plans for enlargement of the canal were announced today one day after the launching of the Bismarck.

It was interpreted in dip lomatic quarters to mean that the Nazi Government meant to lose no time in making certain that Germany's capital ships could pass through the vital waterway. It took seven years, from 1907 to 1914, to reconstruct the canal in its present form. (It first was dug in 1S95.) The issuance of the Goering decree, however, apparently was prompted by two other considerations besides that of ensuring labor power for tasks deemed essen tial. One was that of no longer paying to a person drafted for a job-as under a previous, milder decree the wages he drew in the job from which he was taken. The previous decree was invoked June 23, last year, for obtaining the necessary man power to build Germany's chain of fortifications along the French frontier.

Ties Workers to Jobs. Another was that workers my now be tied to necessary jobs. This prevents their quitting one firm for another when the inducement of higher pay is offered. The general scarcity of labor in Germany has led to counter-bidding by competing firms which, in turn, resulted in a gradual raising of wages. Under his decree, every inhabitant of Germany, foreigners excepted, may be drafted for whatever form of labor Goering, as dictator of the four-year plan for economic self-sufficiency, deems necessary.

Men or women holding jobs must; be given leave of absence immediately by their employers when drafted. Labor Office to Decide. If a task prescribed by the Labor Office, acting under Goering's instructions, is of indefinite duration, the person drafted is regarded as having resigned from his former position; but if he is drafted only for a stated period, the employer must keep his job open for him and take him back whenever the Labor Office's special requirement is filled. The employer is not compelled to pay wages for the absent period, but the drafted person's wage scale for his new job may not necessarily be the same. After a man is drafted he may quit his assigned place only with the approval of the labor office.

The decree further provides that drafted persons may fiut be put through a course of training. How Decree Will Work. For instance, if there should be a shortage of laborers to lay street car tracks, the labor office might decide it needed 10 men from a photographer's studio. These men must leave their jobs immediately, but they may be put through a brief engineering course before being assigned to track laying. Another important provision is that the drafted person who owns tools may be ordered to place them at the disposal of the state for the task to which he is assigned.

The labor office also is empowered to require employers to obtain its permission before engaging ad ditional or substitute help. Similarly it may compel workers to obtain the permission of the labor office for quitting jobs or accepting new ones. The modified form of the present decree was invoked for obtaining the necessary manpower to build Germany's chain of fortifications along the French frontier. I TREND OF TODAY'S MARKETS Stocks mixed. Bonds uneven.

Curb irregular. Foreign exchange easy. Cotton lower. Wheat bArely steady. Corn firm.

ARMY MAN KILLED PLANE CRASH AT BL Private Loses Life After Ship's Motor Fails Pilot, a Lieutenant, Suffers Skull Injury. An army combat plane crashed two miles north of Bloomsdale, Ste. Genevieve County, killing Prb vate F. F. George of Brooks Field, shortly after 1 o'clock this afternoon.

The pilot, Isadore Paredes, suffered a skull injury. Before he was placed in an ambulance to be taken to the Post Hospital at Jef ferson Barracks, he told a correspondent of the Post-Dispatch the crash was caused by motor failure. Lieut. Paredes said he was flying to Scott Field near Belleville, with George as a passenger, when the motor began to sputter near Bloomsdale, 45 miles south of St. Louis.

"I told Private Geoi-ge to jump, but he replied, 'I'll stick with you." The plane lost altitude and struck some trees," Lieut. Paredes said. The plane crashed on the farm of Jeff Carron. Lieut. Paredes shut off the ignition before the crackup, preventing fire.

Three men working on a road near the scene dragged Lieut. Paredes and George from the wreckage. George was pronounced dead by Dr. A. E.

Sex- auer of Ste.i Genevieve. AUTO OWNERS IN LAST-DAY RUSH TO BUY STATE TAGS Arrests for Using 1938 Plates to Begin at Midnight in County, Tomorrow in City. Long lines of automobile owners formed today at the State Automo bile License Bureau offices at 1701 Chestnut street and 7816 Forsythe boulevard, in the annual last-min ute rush to buy new tags. Arrest of drivers without 1939 State tags is to begin at 7 a. m.

to morrow in the city and at midnight tonight in St. Louis County. The campaign in the county will be conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Constables. More than 15,000 tags were sold at the Chestnut street office yester day, and a line two blocks long had formed when the office opened this morning. About 3500 tags were sold at the county office yesterday.

The line there was a block and half long at one time. $500,000 IN DIAMONDS, GOLD STOLEN ON SHIP; OFFICER HELD Lieutenant on Belgian Steamer Ac cused of Having Pound of Precious Stones. By the Associated Press. ANTWERP, Feb. 15.

An officer of the Belgian steamer Elisabeth- ville, identified by authorities only as "Lieutenant was arrested today in connection with theft of $500,000 in uncut diamonds and gold from the safe of the vessel. A special police commissioner said he found a pound of diamonds hidden in the lieutenant's bedding. The commissioner continued his search for the missing gold nuggets. The theft was discovered at Flushing when the Elisabethville arrived Dec. 21 from Belgium's African Congo colonies.

90-DAY MISSOURI DIVORCE LAW PROPOSED IN HOUSE MEASURE Bill Would Change Residence Provision, Xow Fixed at One-Year Period. Special to the Post-Dispatch. JEFFERSON CITY, Feb. 15. A requirement of only 90 days' resi dence in Missouri, as a preliminary filing a petition for divorce, instead of a year of residence now required by law, is proposed In a bill introduced in the House today by Representative Joseph L.

Ivan-hoe of St. Louis. The bill makes r.o other change- in tne existing law on divorce pro- iceeaings. 49 BELOW ZERO IN MINNESOTA school Attendance at Viarroad 84 Ont, Despite Cold. MINNEAPOLIS.

Feb. 15. The temperature dropped to 49 degrees below zero in Minnesota to- day. but life went on pretty much as usual. In Warroad.

where the lowest temperature was recorded, for ex- ample, school attendance was Si jper cent. OOMSDALE, MO Franco's Court Sentences Eduardo Barriobero, Who as Judge Imposed Death Penalty on Many Insurgent Sympathizers. 6 OTHER PERSONS PLACED ON TRIAL They Are Charged With Committing High Revolutionary Crimes Before Government Forces Lost CataJonian City. Br tti AsMj Press. BARCELONA, Feb.

15. Six Spanish Government leaders went on tiial for their lives today while only military formalities stood between Eduardo Barriobero, first president of the Mad id-Barcelona people's tribunals, and an insurgent firing squad. Barriobero, 61-year-old anarchist lawyer, was sentenced to death last night by an insurgent military tribunal in the same room of the Palace of Justice where he himself 5 once pronounced death sentences on insurgent sympathizers. He will be executed as soon as the Captain-General of the military district formally approves the scn- tence. Barriobero, who told the military court he could have escaped before i Barcelona fell on Jan.

26 but pre- I fcrred to remain, was the first to cet the death sentence from Gen. Franci.co Franco's conquerors of this Catalonian metropolis. Names of Six on Trial. Those who went on trial today were charged with high revolutionary crimes. They are: Emiiio Ventura, a president of the Government People's Court who is accused of signing many death i warrants.

Manuel Garrido, president of the first revolutionary committee or-I ganized in the assembly plant of General Motors in Barcelona after collectivized workers took control of that establishment. He is charged with embezzlement of pesetas. (No rate for the peseta is quoted in American markets.) Emiiio Morales, president of a revolutionary syndicate in the automobile industry. jpiexpelled from Germany and accused of being an assassin and gunman. 1 Pablo Verdad, chief of one of Bar- colona's patrols exercising its own i police authority.

Francisco Piquer, anarchist ac- fused of murdering five priests in I the Convent of the Sacred Family I of Barcelona. All the trials are being conducted by councils of war. Charge Against Barriofero. i Specifically, Barriobero was charged with forming revolutionary military tribunals in Barcelona which his accusers said sentenced to death hundreds of insurgent sympathizers in the early days of the war. The prosecutor charged that Barriobero was principally responsible for a "reign of terror" in Barcelona and Madrid.

He presented pvider.ce to show that on several 'occasions while the popular tribu nal functioned, persons were taken by thp truckloads to prisons or to fcee filing squads. Barriobero was accused also of 'storting money from residents of Barcelona and Madrid after the p'art of the war. 5000 MAINE CHILDREN VICTIMS OF MALNUTRITION jsWature Hears That Hundreds Are urrTing rout Scurvy and IVHugra. By tc Associated Press. AUGUSTA.

Feb. 15. that 5oO0 children in northern Aroostook County, near the Canadian border, were suffering from among them hun-dfds stricken with scurvy and peuagra, was given before a legislative appropriations committee J'esterdav. He are reaping the results of SToi SrUT Leadbetter, State Health and Wei- fare Commissioner, He said the 'nation was most acute on the American side of the St. John Rivt.

which forms the interna- toe-pa! boundary Attributing the situation to eco- reverses. nn of Lesdbet- ters aids said the area's 40.000 resi -Cents suffered from drastic redtic on in this year'f lumber and' pulp- ocd CM.V PICTURED AS "KING OF LITTLE EMPIRE' Co-defendant Bailey Given Probation Both Plead Nolo Contendere in U. S. Court at Peoria. By the Associated Press.

PEORIA, 111., Feb. 15. Willis W. Crabb, ousted president of the Tazewell County National Bank at Delavan, was sentenced today to two concurrent prison terms of four years each an charges of forgery and mishandling of bank funds amounting to $75,000. He pleaded nolo contendere in United States District Court to an indictment returned Saturday in Springfield.

James G. Bailey, a Delavan stock feeder and relative of the Crabb family, who was indicted with Crabb, entered a similar plea. Judge J. Leroy Adair announced Bailey would be permitted to apply for pro bation. Crabb sat calmly in the front of the courtroom as attorneys stated the case to the Judge.

His second wife, Catherine, did not appear with him but watched the proceedings through a window. Absent were his son James, whose appeal from a conviction of perjury growing out of the shooting of his wife is pending; and the first Mrs. Willis Crabb, of Bloomington, who posted the $10,000 bond that gave Crabb his freedom pending today's appearance. "King of Little Empire." Howard Doyle, United States Attorney, told Judge Adair investigation disclosed $40,000 or more was misapplied by Crabb through fictitious chattel mortgages and that the banker also had forged three notes, one for $7500 and two others totaling $10,050. The illegal prac tices started four years ago, Doyle asserted, and involved more than $75,000.

"He was a king of a little empire, and the king could do no wrong, because he ran a one-man bank," Doyle said. The money was used, Doyle con tinued, for speculative purposes and for cattle feeding, in an arrangement with Bailey. Twenty thou sand dollars was lost in 1936 or 1937, the prosecutor said. E. E.

Horton of Peoria, counsel for Crabb, told Judge Adair the defendant had been sick for four or five years and was entitled to consideration on that ground and because he sought to make restitution and "redress the wrongs charged." "His acts were those of a desperate father seeking to protect a son who needed help," Horton said in asking for leniency. Doyle interposed to state the defense of James Crabb in his trials on charges of manslaughter and perjury cost about $6000, whereas 12 times that amount was involved in the case against the father, whose misdeeds, he said, began! yeans befora the son became entangled with the law. Statement for Bailey. A brief statement was entered for Bailey by his attorney, Shelton McGrath of Peoria, who said the cattle man admitted his errors, was guilty and was sorry. Crabb's lawyer asked that consid eration be given his client's weakened physical condition during his imprisonment.

The defendant was taken into custody immediately by United States Marshal Paul E. Ruppel of Springfield. He will be transferred tomorrow to a Federal prison, probably Lewisburg, Pa. Crabb, ill in a Peoria hospital for several days with a leg ailment, went to his Delavan home Tuesday and returned to Peoria for today's arraignment. Except for $5000 set aside in lieu of dower rights to his present wife, he recently assigned his estate, which he value! at $75,000, to the bank under a trustee arrangement in order to insure the institution against loss.

Crabb's daughter-in-law, Betty Coliison CraDb, was fatally shot at the Crabb home and James Crabb subsequently was tried for manslaughter. The jury' disagreed but later young Crabb was convicted of perjury. An appeal will be argued before the Supreme Court Friday. Crabb was the third generation of his family to have connections with bank, Bailey is the father cf Mrs. S.

Reau Kemp, president of the Dela-: Women's Club and the hostess at the gay party which James and Betty Crabb attended shortly before ROY FLYER WANDERS IN SNOW NEARLY 3 DAYSJO FOOD Weather Pilot Finally Reaches Idaho Town Used Compass as Guide After Forced Landing. By the Associated Press. COEUR D'ALENE; Idaho, Feb. 15. Roy Shreck, Spokane weather flyer, missing since early Sunday, reached Coeur D'Alene today and announced he had wandered nearly three days without food.

Shreck said he had crashed in neavv umuer on a. lmriuui near Wolf Lodge, 25 miles east of here. He took the compass irom the plane and started for Coeur D'Alene, through snow that was at times over his head, and in cold so intense he had to keep moving to prevent freezing. "I never slept more than nair an hour all together," he said. It was too cold.

"The worst of it all was not having any food. My stomach started i going bad tne secona uaj. j. mcu to eat snow, but it tasted like pine needles." The first water he had was about 3 o'clock yesterday, when he found a creek in a gully, he said. Shreck, who has made more tnan FORM ARMY Overwhelming Indorsement for the Bulk of President Roosevelt's Emergency National Defense Program Is Voted.

SALES TO FRANCE ATTACKED IN DEBATE Gifford of Massachusetts Fears Step Toward Alliance Democrat Replies U. S. First Defense Is Abroad. By the Associated Presa. WASHINGTON, Feb.

15. Th House overwhelmingly indorsed th bulk of President Fioonevelt's emer gency defense today. In cluding a $300,000,000 expansion of the Army air corps. Passage of the $552,000,000 military expansion bill followed a statement by Majority Leader Rayburn that conditions in Europe were "more volcanic than in 1911." The measure now goes to the Senate. In addition to 3032 new planes for the air corps, the measure would authorize reinforcement of the Panama Canal's defenses and a broadened program to train private industry in munitions production.

Shortly before final passage, the House rejected a P.epublican amendment to "stagger" the air corps expaasion over a tnree-year period instead of the two-year program recommended by the War De partment. The minority contended their plan would prevent accumulation of obsolete planes. By a standing vote announced at 169 to 127, the Hou.se rejected the limitation amendment offered by Representative Andrews (P.ep), New York. In preceding arguments, the House heard sales of warplar.es to friendly Powers abroad defended on tne ground that "Americans at safe only so long as England and France stand." Fear of Alliance Expressed. Representative Gifford (Rep Massachusetts, attacked the air plane sales with a declaration that the inference was "dreadfully plain" that the United States was going into an alliance "with somebody." "Are building planes England and France can get them?" he asked, referring to the proposed construction of 3032 new planes for the Army Air Corps.

"They would be mighty useful to our friends." This called further attention to new French contracts for 415 war-planes, which increased to more than 1200 the number ordered in this country by France and Great Britain in eight months. IVe Iteplies to t.lfford. Ciffoid declared that the current ilf-ft-ria- program whs "utulerriiiu- iined tt keep this country out of war. Representative Pace Georgia, a member of the Military Committee, replied that he thought it was sound policy to aid England and France to build up their defenses because, if those democracies jwith a big Power to prever.t en- 1 that Chanceilor Hitler is ready to "strike" to regain colonies lost in the World War. Pac asserted Hitler was delaying his next move only to "complete his submarines to Continued on Paje 2, Column 5.

1 PLANES SHRECK 5 HOLD DP HOTEL AT HI BEACH; R08 SAFEIY BOXES Gang Ties Up 10 Persons at the Blackstone Works With Chisels to Get Loot, Then Escapes. By the Associated Press. MIAMI BEACH. Feb. 15.

F-ve ho, men ft bank Qf safe deposit boxes in the Blackstone (Hotel early today and escaped with h00t placed by some sources at be- I smonn ssnomn. Insurance adjusters, questioning some 200 guests as to their losses, declined to make a statement until the check was completed. Police Chief H. V. Yocum said he could not tell whether the loot would amount to "$5000 or $500,000." One guest, Mrs.

Antonina Marko of New York, told detectives her loss amounted to $75,000, represent ed by four diamond and emerald bracelets, three diamond rings, a $25,000 pearl necklace and $2000 in cash. She said she placed the valuables in the box last night, but displayed other jewels said to be worth iMHHi u-fi fn sr.p nn raKpn rtpr of a bracelet and brooch worth $2500. The robbers. unmasked and armed with at least one sub-ma chine gun, apparently knew where to look, for they broke open only 14 boxes in the bank of 100. Morgie Berenson, a guet who room.

Dave Greenblaf head porter, told of losing $3oX worth of jew-about elry and cash, representing his life avings Mr3 Morris Miliinet of cut-JEast Orange, N. said she had a bingo prize in one of the rifled and Mrg Anna Blumenthal 0f Portland, reported the theft j- in tHo'x a workman employed by him brought the pilot to town today. Searching planes flew directly over him "dozens of times," Shreck said, but they couldn't see him be-i cause of the heavy timber. When he landed, because of tne' heavy load of ice on his east radio beam from Spokane and; ClllCtA SHIM lie uutrvuj i.it a dozen lortcu uimiuga three years he has been going aloft for weather reports, disappeared after reporting a heavy storm 1 a. m.

Sunday. The pilot reported he had reached the cabin of an-outlying wood ter Norman Erickson, 17 miles from Coeur d'Alene, last night andboxes had remained there. Erickson and was one of 10 persons tied up byjing" tne Neutral.ty Act never was lost, so far as position the robbers during tne holdup, was concerned. quoted one of them as saying to an "I got so tired and discouraged, impatient confederate: I just about gave up, "Wait a minute, Sammy, we've he said. He estimated he had got three mote boxes to make." walked 25 miles through the snowj Finally he said, "Let's go, Sam-before reaching the Erickson cab-'rnv." in- The gunmen were thought to have I before the dictatorships, a ma The thick growth of trees ln'used a expensive sedan which Mrs.

bulwark of th Lmttd which he landed cushioned the Charles Fischette of Miami Beach i would be removed. shock and prevented him from earlier had been stolen! Isn 4 better tJ 'a Er.aUntt ing injured, Shreck said. it9 parking place in front ofjR France planes for their de- Todav he was near exhaustion. ifense, he asked, than to go to war and said his feet were badly swol-j ien out lie was otherwise urv. ana men.

e.yv- Theunted with the hotel layout. Government seismograph station recorded a light earthquake. Light Earthquake in Mexico. MEXICO CITY. Feb.

15. xherofcbrs trussM up the clerk, a bellboy and two went 10 ixic (T- cms epicenter about 100 miles south, at! Returning to the tney Drone 8:40 o'clock last night. No damajepen the safety deposit boxes with kthe latter was found shot to death.was reported..