Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 February 1939 — Page 2

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BY LEGISLATORS

Seek Views of Constituents As Democrats Arrange Caucus for Monday.

(Continued from Page One)

agreed that this procedure will'save time and enable them to conduct a more impartial study of the matter. :

rnold Nahand (D. Indianwho introduced the bill, r leaders are “getting just a little impatient” with the bill’s progress but were “willing to go along with the committee.” He said they are more optimistic about thé Senate Minimum Wage ‘Bill which has been reported out of committee without recommendation. Democratic Senate leaders are reported to be frowning on the bill, awaiting second reading in the ‘upper chamber, which would remove the Governor's appointive power over the State institutions personnel and place nearly 5000 employees under a merit system.

Faces Serious Hurdle

This measure was recommended ‘favorably by the Senate Committee on Benevolent Institutions yesterday but faces serious opposition when it is called down for second reading Monday or Tuesday. Senator Eugene Payton (D. South Bend) is. its author and it is said to have the backing of the Indiana League of Women Voters. The House Ways and Means Committee is to waste no time in reporting out, one way or the other, the bill to reduce the gross income tax rate for retailers from 1 to % of 1 per cent, according-td Rep. J. Frank Smith (R. Lafayette), committee chairman. The Committee drafted a qualified report, recommending the bill ‘pass if means could be found for replacing the resultant loss in revenue, and presented it to the House yesterday. Speaker James Knapp refused to accept the report because it was not in the proper form and sent it back to the committee. Rep. Smith said the committee would meet Monday afternoon to consider the measure. The progress of both Republican and Democratic election reform programs has been slow. In the House, the five G. O. P. measures have been reported out of committee, with some difficulty, but have been blocked by a mass of other legislation from reaching second

‘Heated Debate Due

In the Senate, two bills to extend the direct primary have been reported out of committee, but Democratic leaders have agreed with Governor Townsend on certain revisions and it is believed likely they will be recommitted. Some of the most heated debate of next week is likely to accompany attempts of the Republican majority in the House to advance its platform measures returning appointive powers to high state officials, making the Attorney General's ‘office elective 'and permitting the Secretary of State to name the State Securities Commission. . These measures are awaiting second reading. The G. O. P. bill to return the “Two Per Cent Club,” Democratic campaign fund collection agency, under provisions of the Corrupt Practices Act, has - progressed to third reading without arousing opposition from the Democratic side. The Senate Education Committee is expected to give its approval to the Indiana High School Athletic Association next week by allowing the bill of Senator John Bright Webb (D. Indianapolis) to abolish the association, to die in commit-

tee. A public hearing is to be held the latter part of next week on the House bill to return the 16-team high school basketball tournament’ finals and provide scholarships for deserving players.

LEWIS PROBES PAWN SHOP REGULATIONS

Sifts Report Brokers Handle Stolen Goods. -

Prosecutor David M. Lewis today began an investigation of pawn shop operations following reports that several shops knowingly had been accepting stolen goods. “Evidence has come to my office recently that indicates some pawn brokers are taking goods they know to be stolen, then forcing the owners to pay pawn fees to recover their articles,” Mr. Lewis said. “A case came to my attention this week in which a stolen adding machine was pawned, then recovered by its owner, who warned the broker that he was the only person in the City owning that type machine. The machine owner also told the broker that if any one ever attempted to pawn it again to notify him. “Several weeks later the machine was stolen again and it was recovered in the same pawn shop.” Mr. Lewis said he will make a thorough investigation of all the facts in the case and submit evi- ~ dence to the Grand Jury. : The prosecutor also said any stolen goods confiscated at pawn shops by his office would be re- : turned to rightful owners without forcing owners to pay pawn fees. It has been the custom of the Police Department to have the owners of stolen goods pay the pawn fees in order to get the co-operation of brokers in apprehending thieves.

me VALENTINES ~

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OFFICE SUPPLIES Y FURNITURE 2nd & 44 ———————————————————

City Would: Be Relieved by Proposed Issue of fires.

' An estimated $250,000 obligation of

| the Indianapolis Civil City resulting

from mishandling of Barrett Law funds over a period of 25 years, would be relieved under terms of a bill to be reported in the House Monday from committee. This measure, which was introduced several days ago, was acted upon favorably by the - House Affairs of the City of Indianapolis Committee, following a public hears ing yesterday attended by members of the City legal department and representatives of banks. Committee members were told that the maladjustment resulted from prepayment of assessments and fund transfers under the Barrett Law. When municipal improvements are made and assessments are levied against adjoining property owners, the city issues Barrett Law bonds to contractors and retires these bonds over a period of time by the principal and interest payments made by the affected property owners,

Interest Low

Edward H. Knight, City. Corp. counsel, told committee members yesterday that over a period of years some people paid their assessments at once, depriving the City of interest which would accrue if these payments were made on in: stallments. Money collected from some property owners was not always segregated by City officials to retire the specific bonds issued by the City against their assessmettt, but was used to pay off the first bonds falling due, he said. As a result of these transfers, prepayments and delinquencies the City still has approximately $250,000 of these bonds outstanding. “A Supreme Court decision in a case involving South Bend held that the city was liable to the payment of these bonds and could be forced to levy a 1 cent a year tax rate for the purpose of liquidating them,” he said. Indéntures Provided

The bill to be reported out by the committee would enable Indianapolis to issue indentures in exchange for these old bonds and to pay off these indentures either by a property tax levy, a bond issue or use of gasoline tax funds, he said. The City could be mandated to pay off these old bonds by the tax levy if this step was, not taken, he

said. Committee members agreed to

return a favorable report on the bill but were undecided what interest rate these new City notes should carry. As drafted, the bill called for a rate of more than 4 per cent while some committee members wanted this reduced to at least 2 per cent. A measure is expected to be introduced in the House next week to enable cities to recall Barrett Law bonds at once if the assessments are paid up promptly by property owners who: prefer this method of payments by installments. New Job O. K. Due Meanwhile the House Committee on Indianapolis Affairs was scheduled to return a favorable report Monday on a House bill to enable Marion County Criminal Court Judge Dewey Myers to hire a court investigator for $3000 annually. At the committee meeting yesterday Carl Dortch, representing the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, asked that the measure be delayed to enable his organization to make a further study of the need for this court official. “As a matter of principle, we feel that legislation of this sort actually is usurping the powers of the County Council, which should make appropriations of this sort,” he declared. \ Judge Myers said he intended | to hire only one investigator but he asked that the salary be fixed so as to avoid an annual dispute with the County Council over this appropriaion. ; “I need an investigator to gather facts on cases involving poor persons who are unable to hire adequate counsel,” he said. “The police department. and sheriff’s office do not have extra men available to assign to this work. “Instead of collecting facts for the prosecution of an individual this investigator would attempt to furnish the court with information in the defendant's favor which in ofher cases would be brought out by the defense attorney.” Committee members said they did not favor the present form of the House bill to increase the salary of the chief probation officer of the Marion County Juvenile Court from $2500. to $3600, although Judge Wilfred Bradshaw asked that this measure be reported favorably. Committee members said they thought a smaller pay increase should written into the bill. dl

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Report on Barrett La ‘Revision Due Monday; |

Bill Shift

Expect Democrat Move to Avoid Making Election Issue.

Democratic State Senators were reported today to be planning an amendment to the city manager joint’ resolution the upper house passed last week, to postpone the date for the commission’s report from Oct. 1, 1940, to Dec. 1, 1940.

vent the city manager question from becoming an’ issue in the 1940 general election, it was said. The resolution was introduced in the Senate Jan. 27 and provided for a commission to be set up to investigate the best method of providing Indiana cities with a city manager plan. However, it was learned today that the measure never was sent to the House for its concurrence. It was held in the upper chamber when Senator Claude McBride (D. Jeffersonville) filed a written mo-

automatically withholds the measure until it is recalled to the Senate floor,

duced in the House the same day and was referred to Judiciary “B” Committee by consent of its sponsors. This committee is to consider it Monday or Tuesday. Sponsors of the resolution, which include several civic groups, were reported to have planned originally to ask that the committee report in the spring of 1940, but felt they were compromising with the political parties in placing the date between the primary and general elections.

Measure Urges Stricter

Law on Firearms

A bill to provide rigid regulations for the sale and possession of firearms, and make Indiana's laws pertaining to guns uniform with those in other states, was being studied today by the Senate Committee on Interstate Co-operation. Introduced yesterday by Senator Jacob Weiss (D. Indianapolis), the measure would make fingerprinting compulsory for those applying for gun permits. The applicant would be required to fill out .a form prescribed by State Police, giving his reasons to possess or carry a gun. The measure was prepared by the Interstate Commission on Crime. It would make fingerprinting compulsory for those seeking permits. The State Police would be required to transmit the prints and information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Washington. The applicant then would apply to the Circuit Court judge of his county for the permit. Under present law, fingerprinting and a clean record from the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not necessary. Citizens would be permitted to own and- keep in their homes or places of business a gun without the permit to carry, but the gun would have to be. registered as in the other case. _. : Courts in‘ Indianapolis have been co-operating with City Police by requiring fingerprinting of gun applicants. Such is not the case in other cities throughout the state, however, Senator Weiss said.

JORDAN ESTATE CASE SET

Trial of a $497,407 claim against the estate of Arthur Jordan, founder of the Jordan Conservatory of Music, has been set for Feb. 28 in Probate Court. The claim was brought two years ago by Willis G. Howard, who based his claim on deals with Mr. Jordan in loans and titles to several apartment buildings.

The reason for the move is to pre-|.

tion with the Senate clerk which |

An identical resolution was intro-|’

Hall. Her cousin Sereno Corchia,

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Louisa Corchia, 17, who learned to sing from phonograph records because her unemployed father couldn't afford a teacher, will have a gala debut as a coloratura soprano at New York's swank Carnegie

operator of a bar and grill, con=-

tributed most of his life’s savings for her $1200 expenses. .

Families in Evansville Area Evacuate, Warmer Forecast Here.

(Continued from Page One)

pecting 45 to 47 feet when the crest reaches that vicinity next Friday or Saturday. Mr. Armington stated that it takes a week or two for snows and rains to reach the main rivers. Deep snows still remain in the “pocket district” at Evansville and in the advent of warmer weather these snows would melt and send the river still higher. Aurora, still in the process of reconstruction from the 1937 flood, is again threatened by the Ohio which passed 46 feet and is approaching the 53-foot flood stage.

Nine Fishermen Drown In Maryland Squall

BALTIMORE, Feb. 4 (U. P).— Nine fishermen were drowned in Choptank River, off Chesapeake Bay, when a squall struck a fleet of 20 oyster boats last night, captizing three, . The winds lasted only a few minutes but attained a velocity estimated at 75 miles an hour. Capt. Theodore Woodland, Mate Emerson Wingate and two Negro sailors drowned when the Annie Lee sank. Capt. William Bradford and four sailors aboard the Agnes were lost. Four men aboard the Nora swam to shore after the boat capsized.

HOLDS TRI-STATE MEETING Representatives from Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky attended an allday session yesterday at ‘the Hotel Lincoln in which Sears, Roebuck & Co. showed its new 1939 line of major home appliances.

Rise

Ohio Valley Peril Lessens; Some State Rivers Rise

in Mercury Brings Relief; Red Cross Stands By to Aid.

(Continued from Page One)

drowned in Horse Creek near Danville, W. Va. Mayor Joseph D. Scholtz, of Louisville, where the Ohio River is five feet below flood stage of 28 feet, said the situation “certainly doesn’t warrant anybody getting excited about a flood here at present.” Flood stage may be reached there tomorrow morning. Several Louisville and Jefferson County roads were under walter. Residents along the river, recalling Louisville’s disastrous flood of two years ago, began evacuation. U. S. Meterologist J. L. Kendall predicted flood stage of 28 feet at Louisville-by Sunday. The city took no officiad flood precaution but Mayor Scholtz said that its experience in the 1937 flood would be valuable in case of a serious flood condition.

here today but the forecast was warmer Sunday followed by rain. In the South, tornadic winds damaged Columbia, S. C., Lagrange, Ga., and Philadelphia, Miss., yesterday. A child was killed near Meansville, Ga., by a wind storm. The Western Maryland railroad announced that no trains would be operated from Cumberland, Md., to Elkins, W. Va., today because of undermining of tracks between Westernport and Luke, Md., by the Potomas River, Shawneetown, Ill, oldest town in Illinois devastated by the 1937 flood and in the process of being moved back to higher ground, grew appre-

hensive as the Ohio rose toward -a

Listen to the “TOWN CRIER” Daily Except Sunday 11:30 A: M., WFBM

crest of 43 to 45 feet. .

If you purchased your home “on Con

tract,” it may now be posSible to obtain

a loan here and Bo

get your - deed.

PROMPT ACTION may permit filing Yax exemption for 1940. We will be

glad to discuss the possibilities without

_ any obligation to you. Call this week!

INDIANAPOLIS,

The weather was fair and cold |

FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSN. 27

AY Te VT IB HL

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Starts in this Sunday’s

CHICAGO SUNDAY TRIBUNE

WHAT has happened to married life in Germany?...How has the Hitler rule affected the love of husband and wife?... What of their children? . . . An American society girl, Gladys Porter Reinke, who married a Nazi but returned to America because she could not tolerate conditions in Nazi Germany, answers these vital questions in a startlingly frank manner. Here is an amazing account of daily home life under German dictatorship. A woman, whose love for her husband was shattered by Nazism, opens her heart — and tells alll Her romance, her honeymoon — then her daily life as a housewife, her emotions, her fears, her concern about

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