Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 220, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 January 1931 — Page 9

Second Section

STATE SENATE ACTS TO Lin TAX BURDENS Bipartisan Legislative Body Suggests Income, Poll and Luxury Levies. LEADERS IN AGREEMENT Lieutenant-Governor for Fourth Plan to Guard Against Invalidity. Constitutional amendment to afford some measure of relief from heavy property taxes is sought in a resolution adopted unanimously in Indiana senate today. Introduced by Senators Tholie W. Druley <Dem., Wayne) and William V. Doogs (Deni., Dubois, Perry and Spencer), the resolution asserts it is the sentiment of the senate that to effect tax reduction, farm machinery, implements, lives'ock and farm products should be exempt from taxation, and that all household goods, up to SSOO, be exempt. This latter provision would apply to all taxpayers in the state. Deeming a constitutional amendment necessary to accomplish these amis, the resolution recommends such amendments be prepared for submission to the voters at the earliest possible moment.

Farms Hard Hit The resolution carried without a dissenting vote and now goes to the house lor concurrence. Speaking for his resolution, Druley asserted that from 30 to 60 per eeni of the rental value of Indiana farm lands is consumed by taxation. Striking at the present tax exempt bonds and notes of counties, townships and municipalities, Representative Howard Grimm 'Rep., De Kalb) today introduced in the llouse a bill, which he claims would raise revenues of several million dollars. The Grimm measure provides for taxation, alter August. 1931, all bonds, notes and other indebtedness issued by any municipal corporation or maintenance of free gravel townships for building, construction or mtaintenance of free gravel or macademized roads; municipal bonds for maintenance of streets, highways, drains, levees, parks, docks, waterways, boulevards, playgrounds, bridges, sewage disposal plants and any other improvements lor public benefit paid from special assessments or special taxes. Amends Present Law Another measure sponsored by Grimm amends the present tax law to bar mortgage foreclosure suits against real estate unless the mortgage bears indorsement of the county auditor showing it has been offered for taxation every year of the document's life. Both bills were referred to the ways and means committee. Both Representative Walter Myers 'Dem., Marion), Speaker of the house, and Lieutenant Governor Ed Bush, preside;., of the senate, announced they favored the plan of Bush contending that at least four permitting the bipartisan tax committee to introduce measures within a few days. Bush contends that at least four revenue raising measures should be enacted in order to safeguard state income in event one or more of the measures should be declarerd unconstitutional. Senator J. Clyde Hoffman, member of the committee and chairman of the state tax survey commission, presented the commisison's finding tor consideration. Poll Tax for Both Sexes These recommendations embraced p *2 poll tax for both men and women; a income tax for individuals and another for corporations, and a retail merchants license which would have the same effect as a sales tax. Hoffman declared,the commission agreed on a l per cent tax on total retail sales as desirable. He asserted the courts have held sales taxes excise taxes, and therefore constitutional. when Lieutenant-Governor Bush questioned the legality. Amounts likely to be raised by the commission's taxation plan were apportioned by Hoffman; Corporate and individual income taxes. $7,500; poll tax for both men and women, Ni 20.000.000: retail sales tax, $7,000,000. and doubling of auto license fee, $6,240,000. Split on Levy Limit Plan Members of the joint legislative committee were divided on the advisability of including in their program the revenue plan of Senator Addison Drake (Dem., Sullivan and Vigo) which would limit property taxation to $1.75 on each SIOO of property. •mis bill has been branded by James Showalter, chairman of the state tax board, as a “gallery play.” Showalter declares a minimum levy is impracticable and that governmental units would be thrown into debt. Bash, Myers, Senator Lee J. Hartzell <Rep., Allen and Noble', president pro tern of the senate, and Representative Delph L. McKesson • Dem., Marshall), majority floor leader of the house, are to meet tonight to discuss further the joint committee program. BUILDING ACTIVITY UP Construction Expenditures Show 8.1 Per Cent Increase. By United Press WASHINGTON. Jan. 22.—A marked increase in building activity was recorded during December. labor department reports showed today. Statistics from 293 cities of more than 25,000 population showed an increase in construction expenditures of 8.1 per cent over the November figure. Alleged Jail Breaker Held Cleo Cozad, 28. of 1114 English avenue, is held by police today pending further questioning and* return to Russell. Kas., where authorities want him for breaking jail.

Full Leased Wire Service of the United Prea* Association

U. S. WOMAN OFFICIAL FLEECED OF $50,000

Chicago Collector of Internal Revenue Wins $207,000 ‘on Paper’ at Faro, Then Falls for Wiles of Confidence Men, and Leaves Sadder and Poorer. By United Press SPRINGFIELD, 111., Jan. 22.—Mrs. Myrtle Tanner Blacklidge, United States collector of_ internal revenue at Chicago, told police today she had been fleeced of $50,000 in cash and $207,500 “on paper” by two men with whom she played faro at the Abraham Lincoln hotel.

Mrs. Blacklidge told Police Chief Thomas Sullivan she came here last Sunday, at the suggestion of a friend, and gambled with two men, whose last names were Reynolds and Parker, but whose first names she did not know. At that time, she said, she won $207,500 “on paper,*’ which the men refused to pay until she had given cash for a $50,000 check which she had put into the game. She went to Chicago, she said, and told Edward R. Litslnger, member of the board of review and a prominent politician, what had happened. Litsinger, she said, furnished her with $50,000 in SI,OOO bills, which she brought back to Springfield Wednesday night.

Again she gambled with tne men, this time at an- R i., rk )irW other hotel, she said, and o rhe first deal lost all her * $50,000. The men left the xvom a few minutes later and disappeared “I realized I had been duped,” she told Sullivan

INDIANA FIRM'S BID IS FAVORED South Bend Company May Build U. S. Hospital. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 22.—Ralph Sollitt & Sons’ Construction Company, South Bend, Ind., virtually was assured the contract for the Indianapolis \'eterans’ hospital today when officials of the bureau's construction division determined to award the job to a firm guaranteeing to employ local labor. Sollitt’s bid was $487,000, against $524,000 offered by the Algernon Blair Company of Montgomery, Ala. The Blair bid was understood by veterans bureau officials to contemplate the importation of cheap labor from the south. Bids on the hospital were opened Tuesday afternoon. The Sollitt bid did not reach the bureau until Wednesday morning. Investigation disclosed, however, that it had been mailed at South Bend at 6 p. m. Monday and postoffice officials stated that in the ordinary course of business it should have reached the veterans’ bureau in time for the opening Tuesday. The construction division, agreed, therefore, to receive the bid. Formal announcement of the award is expected early next week. Sollitt offers to begin work in fifteen days and to complete in 250 days. TWO COUNTIES VOTE Wells, Adams Cast Ballots for House Member. By United Press BLUFFTON. Ind., Jan. 22.—Close contest between Democratic and Republican candidates was indicated as voters of Wells and Adams counties went to the polls today to elect a successor to the chair of Representative George L. Saunders, Democrat, Bluffton, who died at Indianapolis on the eve of the opening of the 1931 legislature. Candidates in the special election today were Virgil Simmons, Democrat, and Dillon Myers, Republican, both of Bluffton. Early balloting was light and lack of interest among voters was apparent. Polls will close at 6 tonight. GRAIN DEALERS MEET Speaker Is Optimistic on Prosperity Return. Overproduction is not as excessive as it has been painted, E. E. Elliott, Mimcie, Indiana Grain Dealers Association president, told the association today at its annual convention in the Board of Trade building. Survey by Elliott of Indiana farm homes and farms indicate a heavy shortage in furniture, rugs and other supplies, which he believes will be purchased with the gradual return of prosperity during 1931. He found in the cities “a heavy shortage in furniture, rugs and other supplies and buildings needing paint, roofing and repairs,” he said.. CONGRESSMAN RESCUED Representative Bankhead and Wife Saved by Firemen From Flames. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 22.—Firemen today saved Representative William B. Bankhead of Alabama and Mrs. Bankhead from a $15,000 fire which swept into their apartment from an adjoining house. One fireman was injured when embers seared his face as he was carrying Mrs. Bankhead down a ladder. leggedeno~rljmor Farm Board Chief Says Grain Operations to Be Contiined. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 22.—Chairman Alexander Legge denied today to the United Press that the farm board has decided to discontinue wheat stabilization operations after the end of the 1930 crop year in May, 1931. Milk Selling Wife Divorced By Times Special WARSAW, Ind., Jan. 22.—Charles D. Konkle was granted a divorce in Kosciusko circuit court when he testified that Jlrs. Della Konkle, after buying a cow with her own money, charged him 5 cents a glass for milk. The couple was married forty-one years ago and are the parents of eight children, the yngest being 18 years old.

The Indianapolis Times

Mrs. Blacklidge, a woman about 45, expensively dressed and of very striking appearance, said that Fred Litsinger, nephew of the politician, was in the room with her when she lost the $50,000 Wednesday night. Edward Litsinger, she said, was in the hotel. Litsinger himself also reported at the police station. He said he had come to Springfield to visit some politicians. He refused to talk about the faro game. Called Closed Incident The federal revenue collector told that the gamblers had refused to pay her $207,500 Sunday because they said she had entered the game without cash. She said she had known one of the men in Chicago and that he had played cards with her husband, who died last year. Both Litsinger and Mrs. Blacklidge said they would return to Chicago today. “So fas as I am concerned it is a closed incident,” Mrs. Blacklidge told newspaper men. “Although I could, I am not going to make a sob story out of this. I am the victim of confidence men, but there was nothing wrong so far as I personally am concerned. Prominent in G. O. P. “Mr. Litsinger understood the entire matter when the money was secured in Chicago. He was to get SIO,OOO of the money.” Mrs. Blacklidge succeeded Mrs. Mabel Reinecke as federal collector of internal revenue at Chicago. She was appointed by the President on March 1, 1929, and took office April lof F year. She had been prominent as a leader in the Republican faction headed by Senator Charles S. Deneen. Bus Service Offered MICHIGAN CITY, Ind., Jan. 22. —The Northern Indiana Railway, Inc., has submitted a plan to city officials suggesting abandonment of street car service and replacement with eight buses at a cost of $70,000. A decision on the matter is expected early in February.

INDIANA BELL TELEPHONE CO. TO PUT THROUGH $5,821,000 PROGRAM

Siamese Twins in Court

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A crowded courtroom at San Antonio, Tex., broke into appplause when Violet and Daisy Hilton, famous Siamese twins, took the witness stand together to testify in their suit against Myer Myers, their manager, for receivership and accounting. Principals in the action are shown here: Mrs. Edith Myers is at the left, Violet and Daisy Hilton are in the center and Myers is at the right. Violet who did the talking for the strange pair, testified they had never received any of the $200,000 they earned in vaudeville, and explained that Myers had said he “was putting it away for us.” Notice the double fur coat the twins are wearing.

SENATE AMAZED BY BROOKHART CHARGE

By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 22. As house Republican leaders sought a compromise today on the senate’s $25,000,000 hunger relief fund, Senator Brookhart (Rep., la.), opened his long-delayed attack on the nomination of Eugene Meyer Jr. to be governor of the federal reserve board. Brookhart proposed that Meyer’s nomination be referred again to the finance committee for further inquiry. The senator said he hoped to obtain a vote on that today. Meyer conferred at the capitol today with Chairman Smoot of the senate finance committee. Republican leaders are confident Meyer’s nomination^will be confirmed, with votes to spare.

INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 1931

LAW'S SCORE THREE TO ONE ON FUGITIVES Two Recaptures and a Death Leave Single Reformatory Inmate at Liberty. By Times Special PENDLETON, Ind., Jan. 22. Three of the four convicts who made a dash for liberty at the Indiana state reformatory here re-’ cently, are now accounted for. One is dead and two have been recaptured and returned to the institution. Peter J. Stoner, parole officer, had unusual luck when he went to take charge of Enoch E. Pleif, 28, who was captured at Greenville, Fla., after he had stolen an automobile. While Stoner was in Florida, another of the fugitives, Samuel W. Sanders, 21, was arrested at Madison, so the parole officer had both men as his prisoners when he arrived at the reformatory. Sanders resisted when a deputy sheriff took him into custody and was shot twice in a leg when he tried to wrest a revolver from the deputy’s hand. Both men waived extradition. Sanders was sentenced from Vigo county for five to twentyone years for automobile banditry. Pleif was serving a three to ten year sentence for second degree murder. Another of the escaped prisoners, Lee H. Powell, was found dead at Indianapolis, a victim of pneumonia resulting from being exposed while lying in a haystack several days hiding from pursuers. Bruce A. Scott, the only prisoner now unaccounted for, is the object of a nation-wide search. He has been identified by photographs as the bandit who held up and robbed, the Daleville bank a few days after escaping from the reformatory. The four men climbed through an elevator shaft to freedom. Sanders, who was employed at the reformatory as a plumber, had obtained % key by a ruse. HENLEY SUIT VENDED Strange Divorce Case Sent to Hancock Court. Hancock county circuit court at Greenfield has been selected as the scene of the strange divorce trial in which Mrs. Ethel Williams Henley asks absolute severance of her alleged marriage bond with Manford G. Henley, Indiana adjutantgeneral. Although the date of the trial has not been set definitely, it was indicated by attorneys that first evidence will be presented to Judge Arthur C. Van Duyn some time next week.

Brookhart aroused a flurry of indignation when he charged that he had been denied an opportunity to question Meyer in committee, before the nomination was reported favorably. Senator Ashurst (Dem., Ariz.), who supported Meyer, said: “That is the most shocking, astounding thing I have heard in nineteen years in the senate.” He said if the charge should be substantiated, he would support Brookhart's motion to recommit the nomination to the committee for further consideration. Senator Couzens (Rep., Mich.), also expressed amazement. He said he would “not cond£#ie any such refusal to hear a senator.”

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go!

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“I’m still the emperor,” former Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany is reported to have told a recent visitor at his estate in Doom, Holland. And in the new photo at the left, you see the deposed Teutonic ruler, still regally attired after twelve years in exile, as he appears today, his seventy-second birthday anniversary.

LEISURELY BANDIT ROBS 22 IN GOLD COAST TOUR

Smile Stays on Face as Blind Man Meets Death By United Press CHICAGO, Jan. 22.—Blind Alex Urdanowicz, 73, died as he lived —with a smile on his face. "You got to keep smiling,” Alex used to tell his companions at the Illinois industrial home for the blind. And these companions, who loved Alex because he was the best story teller at the home, knew today that he followed his own advice, even in death. Lightly they ran their fingers over his face as they filed past his coffin, and the smile, they know, still was there. Alex was a coal miner in Clinton county sor 1 fifty years. Several times he was trapped by cave-ins. His narrow escapes from death were many. “But I just kept on smilin’,” he told his blind pals when he recounted for them his experiences. He smiled, also, he said, when he went blind. He was down in a mine when it happened. He told a fellow worker that his safety lamp had gone out and he couldn’t see. It was his eyes that had “gone out” instead. They led him out of his mine, smiling.

Looking up from the gloom of business depression today was announcement of President James F. Carroll of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, that its construction program for 1931 of $5,821,000, has been approved. “Our 1931 construction budget is part of a three-year program which will involve, according to our present view, an expenditure during the three years of close to $18,000,000,” President Carroll said.

KIDNAP PLOT FOILED Four Held as Principals in SIOO,OOO Conspiracy. By United Press DETROIT, Jan. 22. Four men, one a former policeman, were held today as principals in a plot to extort SIOO,OOO ransom from a wealthy Detroiter after kidnaping one of his two children. All have confessed, police say. Two of the men were seized by detectives at the doorway of the home of Horace S. Maynard, secre-tary-treasurer of the Senior Investment Corporation, as they attempted to force their way into the house to abduct one of Maynard’s children Wednesday night, Two other men and a woman were arrested later at their homes. An underworld tip to Inspector William Collins of the police squad several days ago led to frustration of the plot. George B. Spears, 45, formerly chief accountant for a steamship company, admitted he Was the “brains” of the gang. nameTchqolofficers Center Township Groups Meet and Select Directing Staff. Representatives from the three schools in Center township met in the Margaret McFarland school Tuesday afternoon and elected the following towrfship officers: Mrs. Dallas G. Arnold, chairman; Mrs. Milton R. Benner, vice-chairman; Mrs. Jacob P. Seitz, secretary and treasurer. The executive board members are Mrs. Georgia Lancaster, Mrs. Lillie Grannemann, and Mrs. Frank V. Dawson, the presidents of the Parent-Teacher associations in the three schools. Mrs. James L. Murray, president of Marion county council, presierd. disease survey asked Red Cross Is Requested to Study Conditions in Drought Areas. By United Press MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 22.—The Red Cross was asked today to make a survey'in drought areas of the extent of malaria and pellagra. Cost of the investigation was estimated at $400,000 by health officers from six states, who met here.

With his second wife, Princess Hermine, shown at the right in a striking new portrait, the exiled monarch is entertaining other members of the fallen House of Hohenzollern. The medals and other decorations which you see him wearing here are reminiscent of his war-time pictures.

“Although we do not discount the seriousness of the depresssion we have been passing through, we feel that there are unmistakable signs of gradual but steady recovery during this year, and this, together with our unshaken faith in the future of Indiana warrants, in our judgment, the program we have adopted.” Included in the budget of almost $6,000,000 is $1,000,000 for anew general headquarters building here. It will be completed late in 1932 at a total cost of $1,850,000. An item of $1,076,000 for exchange lines will provide additional Interoffice trunk cables between exchanges in Indianapolis. Approximately a quarter-million dollars of an SBOO,OOO fund apportioned for central office equipment is to be spent here for additional toll and local apparatus. BONDING COMPAN7SUED Sullivan Bank Asks $50,000 Lost as Result of Forged Notes. Collection of $50,000 on an indemnity bond from the London Lancashire Indemnity Company of America is sought in a suit filed in federal court Wednesday by the Peoples National Bank and Trust Company of Sullivan. The Sullivan institution, formerly the National bank of Sullivan, charges the bank lost a total of $165,536.01 through acceptance of a large number of forged notes by Edgar D. Maple, cashier, who was found dead in the bank Jan. 16, 1929, after being shot.

ABSENT VOTER ACT WOULD BE REVIVED

Preparations have been made by legislators to introduce two bills to restore the absent voters’ law which was wiped off the statute books in 1927. . One measure 1s backed and sponsored by the railroad brotherhoods, other labor organizations and commercial travelers’ associations. The measure receiving the major portion of support would set up a local absent voters’ election board to consist of the county clerk in general elections and the city clerk in municipal elections, and one other person appointed by the organization chairman of opposite political faith than the clerk. The voter who expects to be ab-

Second Section

Catered is Second-Class Matter at Postoffice Indianapolis

Holdup Man Runs Elevator and Gathers Loot From His Passengers. By United Press CHICAGO, Jan. 22.—A shabbily dressed bandit, who knew how to operate an elevator, made a twoblock tour In Chicago's exclusive Gold Coast district Wednesday night, robbed two hotels, held up twenty-two persons, attempted to rob another hotel, and calmly walked away. His first stop was a fashionable hotel at East Delaware place, where the clerk handed over SBS. Smilingly, the bandit waited in the lobby and stopped eight guests, seven men and one woman. The victims were taken to a sixth floor room, where one of the* was forced to ntfx highballs. After emptying their pockets, the bandit left the guests locked in the room and departed by way of th lobby, where he robbed James Burns, a politician, of $lO, and told him to visit the sixth floor room. The clerk in another hotel, less than a block away, gave up S4O and the bandit remained in the lobby for a half hour. He answered the elevator bell eight times and each time obtained a few dollars from a guest. Wending his way through groups of policemen, the bandit sauntered a few doors down the street and lined the clerk and the janitor of another hotel up against the wall. He obtained only 35 cents, became alarmed when the clerk mentioned the house detective, and left while his victims, their faces to the wall, thought he was opening the safe.

STUDENTS ON STRIKE Undergrads War on Cops in Spanish University. By United Press MADRID, Jan. 22.—Police battled with striking students at the University of Madrid today a few hours after a general strike among students became effective. The strikers were repeatedly charged by police, who injured several in fighting before the students were dispersed. A group of monarchist youths and legionnaires led the student hostilities, collecting iron bars and clubs for the battle. The royalist students battled the striking Republican students, who shouted threats against King Alfonso and the cabinet. The strikers sent delegates to all provincial universities demanding a general strike throughout Spain. LIVING COSTS REDUCED Drop of 6.2 Per Cent in 1930 Found by Department of Labor. By United Press WASHINGTON, Jan. 22.—The cost of living decreased 6.2 per cent last year, according to department of labor statistics gathered in thirty-two cities.

sent election day would appear at the courthouse in case of a general election, or cit? hall in event of a municipal election, not more than ten days or less than three days prior to the election. No ballots would be mailed. The absentee vote ballots would be deposited in a ballot box having two locks, the key to one being retained by one board member, and the key to the other by the other member. A second bill would provide for the mailing of ballots to persons unable to appear at the polls with the same time provisions as the above, but would provide for the mailing to the county or city clerk ok the marked ballot.

SCHOOL COST DISCUSSED AS TAX PROBLEM House Committee Lays Aside Gwin Bill to Consider Other Measure. SALARY CUTS PROPOSED Parke County Superintendent Suggests Reduction of 10 Per Cent. I “Cut my salary and the salary of every other county official 10'per cent if you’re going to do away with minimum teacher salaries and open the jobs up to competititive bidding.” This was the proposal laid before the house ways and means committee by Edward J. Fisher, Rockville. superintendent of the Parke county schools, as the committee deliberated on school legislation with Its con-elating problem of reduction in costs of administration of government. Fisher's avowal of willingness to accept a reduction of his salary ol $2,400 a year came as the committee heard school superintendents from various parts of the state urge the necessity of relieving the tax burden on property and stress the plight of poverty sticken southern Indiana. Debate on Unit Bill The committee members debated the merits of the school levy bill now pending, introduced by Representative Fabius Gwin (Dem., Martin and Dubois), which provides for a levy with the state as a unit of taxation, a board of control composed of the state tax board, the state auditor and the state superintendent of public instruction, to determine size of the levy after scrutiny of all available data on administration cost. In connection with the hearing on the Gwin bill, the committee heard Harry Kirk, state aid auditor, criticise the present state aid law, which expires this year, as too inelastic. He asserted the requirement for approval of purchases a year in advance prevents economical administration. Gwin Measure Tabled The committee voted to table the Gwin measure until it has had an opportunity to study other similar legislation yet to be introduced. Representative Albert F. Walsman (Dem., Marion), research director for the Indiana Taxpayers’ Association, interjected the property valuation issue during a talk ‘to the committee by Kirk, whose administration has been under fire for some time. “Do you know of instances where county superintendents have connived with township assessors to reduce assessments in order to place townships in state aid category?” queried Walsman. “I do not,” replied Kirk, and Walsman abandoned that line of questioning.

PREDICTS CHANGE IN DRY LAW BY WOMEN Mrs. Sabin Believes Fair Sex Will Vote for Prohibition Reform. By United Press CHICAGO, Jan. 22.—The women of the United States eventually will use the constitutional right given them in the nineteenth amendment to bring about a revision of the eighteenth, believes Mrs. Charles H. Sabin of New York, founder and national chairman of the women s organization for prohibition reform. Speaking before a meeting of the Illinois members of her organization, Mrs. Sabin predicted Wednesday night that “women’s suffrage will restore to our country, liberty, honesty, temperance, sobriety and sanity, to replace the present era of intemperance, intolerance, dishonesty and corruption.’’ TWO FAMILIES FORCED INTO STREET BY FIRE SSOO Damage Caused by Roof Blaze on Double House, Two families were forced to flee from their homes early today when flames destroyed the roof of a double residence at 450-45014 Trowbridge street. A passerby .saw the flames and notified Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stuck, and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Haywood, who grabbed clothes and fled from the structure. Origin of the blaze was not determined and loss was estimated at SSOO. Stuck is owner of the house. ACCUSE SIX OF THEFT Police Arrest Alleged Robbers of Silk Firm, Six men were under arrest ou larceny charges today, alleged to have stolen about S4OO worth of hosiery from the Real Silk Hosier’/ Mills, Inc. They are: A1 Feldman, lblt Ruckle street; Archie Lendy, 1824 Union street, Frank Pluckebaun. 1731 Ashland avenue; Edwin D. Wiles, 438 North Walcott street; Clarence Lasley, 32 Layman avenue, and Le Roy Lewellen, 1536 South Harding street. REALTORS OPPOSeTfeES Prepare to War on Two Bills Providing Tax on Mortgage Recording. Two bills now pending in the Indiana house, which call for payment of a recording fee on contracts of conditional sales of real estate and on mortgages, face bitter opposition from the Indianapolis Real Estate Board. “We already are on record,’’ Frank F. Wooling, chairman of the board's legislative committee said, “as urgently favoring a reduction of the tax burden on real estate. These j measures have just the opposite effect." ll