St. Louis Post-Dispatch
December 15, 1929

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BUSY Pe-eesees Fe 1} Danight’ °° °940 him, as a wholesaler, to obtain 6 fe as a a. soos °49| Cigars at a greatly reduced price. tes street Huckins declared reading, high, 46 (7 p. m.); low, Official forecast for St. Louis and vicinity: Cloudy with occasional aBEP: 5 NOAH AND JONAH STIEL KEEP AFLOAT, Missouri: Un- settled, local rain, slightly warmer in northeast and éast central por- tions today; to- morrow, partly cloudy and colder. Tilinois: Cloudy, probably light rain, slightly warmer in cen- tral portion to- day; tomorrow, partly cloudy, possibly local rain or snow; colder, This Week’s Weather Outlook. CHICAGO, Dec. 14.—Weather outlook for the week beginning Monday: For the Upper Missis- sippi and Lower Missouri Valleys ~—Temperatures mostly above mor- mal south portions and near or below normal north portions, but a general change to colder may oc- cur by close of week; rather fre- quent precipitation ‘north por- tions, probably one or two periods em —— 5ST-DISPATCH WEATHERB!IRO nue. on Page 2, Colamn &. south portions.- By THOMAS DAWSON A Staff Correspondent of the Post- Dispatch. ° CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia., Dec. 14.— The fabulous Huckins money .mill, whose grist was to be in golden dividends up to 53 per cent annu- ally for investors, today was in a state bordering on collapse, / The financial superstructure reared by a former country store- keeper and his son, a poolroom operator, and thought to involve an estimated $2,000,000 of “invest- ments,” was revealed as unable to meet a note for $2100. A little $3150 investor, who has been trying to get back part of his principal since last Sept. 18 sued}. Elmer 8S. Huckins, financial ‘‘wiz- ard” of Hancock, Wis., for $2100 on one note and $1050 on another, alleging fraud in both cases. Ellwood Royster, worker in a sash and door factory in whose be- half the suit was filed, alleges also that the elder Huckins, his wifes Amelia, and hig son were engaged in a conspiracy to defraud, and that money collected from ohe in- vestor was merely used to pay “dividends” to other investors in the so-called enterprise. Royster asked a writ of attach- ment against all properties of El- mer 8S. Huckins and of Géorge E. Huckins, pending settlement of the suit. The Sheriff of Lynn County tonight was seeking W. J. Barn- grover, attorney for the elder and younger Huckins, to learn what property, if any, is available for attachment. Grand Jury Inquiry Promised. Meanwhile, a bank at Hancock reported another. due note, bearing the signature of Elmer S. Huckins and his wife, Amelia, which could not be paid owing to lack of: funds in the Huckins account. A third note which the Huckins family has been unable to pay was in the hands of Federal authorities at Milwaukee, Wis., who said it would be the basis of a grand jury iné| vestigation in January. Elmer 8. Huckins, in the face of unpaid dividends to investors here who had turned over to him about $100,000, and unable to meet the Royster note for $2100, left his $100,000 home in Hancock, accord- ing to dispatches, and was reported to be in Chicago. George Earl Huckins, who two years ago bought the Cedar Rapids baseball club and who now maintains four automobiles, a chauffeur, and sev- eral servants in a mansion on Bev- er street here, has denied himself to all visitors save Barngrover. He is said to be under the care of a physician. The $100,000 paid into the Huckins enterprise by men and women in Cedar Rapids is thought to be only a fraction of the total gathered from persons in at least four states who couldn't resist the allure of interest ranging from 26 to 53 per cent. Estimates based on the calculations of a former Huckins employe place the agegere- gate beyond $2,000,000. Recalls Ponzi. The allegation made by Royster is that the elder Huckins, aided by his wife and son, operated in identically the same fashion as the famous Ponzi. Huckins, Royster said, repeatedly solicited new loans from hin. Royster alleged that the elder futher, ac- cording to Royster’s petition that he had a particular plan for dis- posing of these cigars that was immensely profitable, but lacked money enough to meet the needs of the expanding business. What the specific plan was, Hucking apparently did not specify. He talked about the 68 per cent profit and it was the profit, of course, that Royster was interested in. In conclusion, Royster alleged that the defendants were not en- gaged in the wholesale cigar busi- ness, did not have special arrange- ments with any tobacco companies, were not engaged in a profitable business as they represented, and that the money advanced was not used in that business but was pro- cured by false pretensss for the sole purpose of carrying on a scheme to defraud. Last September the Federal au- thorities at Milwaukee failed to prove that the elder Huckins was not in the cigar business, and their charge of using the mails to defraud failed. Later, Federal investigators sought to sue Hucking on his in- come tax but were unable to find notations indicating any substan- tial business. George Earl Huckins, according ~|REN. BUTLER AGAIN IN- TROUBLE OVER TALK ON MARINES Sinclair Lewis Wires Borah He ‘‘Confirmed Bitterest Charges” on Nicaragua and Haiti. SECRETARY OF NAVY. MAKING INQUIRIES General Quoted as Telling Frankly How U. _ S. | ‘Troops Control Situation in the Caribbean. By the Associated Press. WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—Secre- tary of the Navy Adams is inquir- ing into recent remarks credited to Major-General Smedley D. Butler of the Marine Corps in an address in Pittsburg concerning American Marines’ activities on foreign soil during elections, ‘ The assumption in official quar- ters is that Butler has been asked to give his own account of the speech to the Navy head. It was explained that this was the customary procedure in such cases, ; Sinclair Lewis Apprised Borah of What Butler Said in Pittsburg. PITTSBURG, Pa., Dean 14.— Major-General Smedley D. Butler, whose address here on Dec. 5 is a subject for inquiry in Washington by Secretary Adams, was quoted in newspapers here as saying con- cerning the election in Nicaragua, where marines were stationed: “The opposition candidates became bandits when it became necessary to elect our man to office.” Sinclair Lewis, the novelist, tele- graphed Senator Borah of Idaho on Dec. 6, telling him Gen. Butler's remarks warranted an “immediate Senate investigation.” Lewis’ tele- gram said Butler “laughingly con- firmed bitterest charges against marines.” Quoting Butler, he said, from a newspaper story which he said he had cenfirmed through Robert K. Cochrane, secretary of the Pittsburg Builders’ Exchange, before which Butler spoke, Lewis said in part: “Concerning elections in Nica- ragua, he (Butler) explained that the opposition candidates were de- clared bandits when it became necessary to elect a candidate. “Regarding Hayti, Butler told how the marine-controlled Presi- dent had dissolved the Congress to prevent the legislative body from passing a new Constitution. He aided the President in drawing up the edict that dissolved the Con- gress, the speaker said.” Lewis told Borah that he had a list of persons who heard Gen. But- ler speak, if the Senate wanted to summon them. The Pittsburg Sun-Telegraph to- morrow will quote Butler as say- ing: “In one election nobody liked the fellow in there, but he was a useful fellow to us, so we had to keep him in. How to keep him in was the problem. “We looked up the election laws and found that the polls had to be opened a sufficient length of time (at least that’s the way we trans- lated it) and that a voter had to be registered to be eligible to vote. The district was then canvassed and 400 were found who would vote for }the proper candidate. Notice of the fopening of the polls was given five minutes beforehand. The 400 vot- ers were assembled in a line and when they had voted, in about two hours, the polls were closed. The other citizens had not registered and therefore were ineligible to vote,”’ FORTUNE IN WOMAN'S DREAM Spaniard Sells 4000 Shares in Lot- tery Ticket She Mentions. By the Associated Press. LINARES, Spain, Dec. 14.—P0- lice reserves were called today to protect a man owning a lottery ticket that a woman of this town dreamed would be the lucky num- ber of a forthcoming lottery. The woman dreamed that a cer- tain ticket number would win the “Gordo,” the big prize of the Christmas lottery, valued at 15,- 000,000 pesetas ($2,100,000). Ev- erybody in town heard about the dream and then everybody discov- ered that a local shopkeeper ac- tually held ticket with the number the woman had mentioned. A great crowd rushed to the shop- keeper’s place of business, clam- oring for a chance to buy the tick- et. The mob broke the windows, wrecked the store and almost suf- focated the ticket holder before the police came to the rescue. The people were then herded into a long line and the shopkeeper es- tablished his own private lottery, selling 4000 shares in his ticket and making a huge profit in a few “Gontinued om Page 9, Column & 1h ours, ‘ OPPOSITION T0 RADIO-TELEGRAP MERGER GROWS Difficulty of Controlling In- ternational Monopoly and Regulating Rates Among Objections. y PROPOSED COMBINE ‘WANTS 8 PCT. RETURN Gen. Harbord, R. C. A. President, Admits It Plans Valuation Far Beyond Its Real Cost. By PAUL Y. ANDERSON, A Staff Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. WASHINGTON, Dec. 14,—The efforts of officers of the Radio Corporation of America during the last week to obtain legislation from Congress permitting a merger of existing radio and cable systems in one international communications monopoly, appears to have had the opposite effect. Inquiry today disclosed that the testimony of these officers before the Senate Interstate Committee has stiffened opposition to the proposed legisla- tion, and that Senators at first in- clined to favor it are extremely doubtful now that it can be passed. Several elements have combined to produce this effect. The insist- ence of the Radio Corporation that it is entitled to special indulgence from the Government and the ef- fort to bolster that position by as- serting that the corporation was “created at the Government’s re- quest,” appear to have made an unfavorable impression. The only evidence of this claim presented in a week of testimony was that President Wilson in 1919 asked the General. Electric Co. not to sell a certain radio invention to the Brit- ish Marconi Co. Obstacles to Merger. Another obstacle to the merger is the obvious difficulty of impos- ing effective regulation an on in- ternational monopoly. The only plan thus far suggested contem- plates the establishment of the gov- erning rules by negotiation. Against this is the admitted fact that the present competition between radio and cables had resulted in uni- versal reduction of rates ranging from 20 to 35 per cent. The third objection raised by the opponents of unification: concerns the rates that would be imposed, assuming that any could be im- posed by Government regulation. Questioning of witnesses by Chairman Couzens has developed that the proposed radio-telegraph monopoly probably would insist on placing a valuation on the unified property far in excess of its ac- tual physical value, and would then expect to be allowed to earn a return of approximately 8 per cent on the inflated valuation. $100,000,000 for $25,000,000. The Radio Corporation and the International Telephone and Tele- graph Co. have agreed on the main terms of a deal by which 200,000 shares of I. T. & T. stock would be exchanged for the existing com- munications facilities of the Radio Corporation, The stock has a market value of about $100,000,000. The radio facilities involved in the proposed deal are admitted to have a physical value of less than $25,000,000, although their market value is placed by the corporation's officials at $40,000,000. This deal cannot be consummated for the present because mergers of cable and wireless facilities aré prohib- ited by Section 17 of the radio act, That is the clause the repeal of which is sought. . Major General James G. Har- bord, president of the Radio Cor- poration, testified under Couzens’ cross examination that he thought the owners of the radio com muni- cations property should be allowed to earn 8 per cent on a valuation that would include not only such intangible assets as “good will” and “going value,” but also on capital invested in research which proved fruitless and in patents which are obsolete or useless. | “Good Will” Is Gift of Public. The fact is that much of the “good will” and mearly all of the “going value” of the property rests on a gift from the public—the wave lengths which the corpora- tion receives from the Federal ers should be permitted to ize their own mistakes.” ‘The effort of Senator Hawes of Missouri to curb or end the service HOOVER FREES 36 REI ‘FROM JAIL AFTER PAR BEFORE WHITE HOUSE — HS, COURT RULES SEARCH. SEIZURE Holds They Must Be _Inci- dental to Liquor Arrest and Not Evidence-Getting Basis for It Afterward. CANNOT BE USED Judge Edwin S. Thomas, in Opinion, Declares Such Procedure Contravenes Anglo-Saxon Justice. By the Associated lress, NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 14.— Federal. Judge Edwin 8S. Thomas today filed an Opinion that search and seizure in prohibition enforce- ment cases must be incidental to an arrest and must not be the ex- ploratory basis on which to base a possible arrest. The ruling was made in the case of Anthony J, Setaro of Danbury, who alleged illegal acts on the part of two prohibition agents. Judge Thomas ruled in effect that the Jones law does not auto- matically make transportation of liquor or maintenance of a nuisance felonies; that exploratory searches by prohibition agents with or with- out a warrant in search of evidence are “in contravention of Anglo-, American justice and that a con- fession obtained after an illegal search and seizure cannot be. used against the confessor.” we The ruling, embodied in his de- cision to suppress evidence and to return a seized automobile of Se- atro, declares that under the prev- alent Federal rule, if the search and seizure is unlawful, the evi-| dence obtained thereunder must be suppressed and seized property re- turned. ACCUSED OF STEALING FROM COMMUNITY FUND BARREL Laborer Caught After Chase Says He Made Money Selling Chick- ens He Found. A man who said he was Albert White, a laborer, 615 Walnut street, was arrested last night at ninth and Locust streets following a chase after a woman told a policeman she saw White tear the cover off a Community Fund Barrel, at Tenth and Locust streets, scoop out the money and run away. In his pock- ets police found five $1 billa and $3.45 in change. White denied having robbed the barrel and said he earned the money picking up dead chickens in the vicinity of Union Market and selling them. . FO6 AND SMOKE RETARD CITY AND COUNTY TRAFFIC Motorists With Bright Lights Re- port Inability to See More Than 15 or 20 Feet. Heavy fog mingling with a pall of smoke enveloped St. Louis and vicinity last, night, considerably delaying traffic. Motorists, even with bright lights, reported being unable to see more than 15 or 20 feet ahead in portions of the West End and the county, where the fog was most dense. “Automobile — windshields were clouded with mist and soot, and motorists were forced to drive at cautious rates. A light wind was insufficient to disperse the smoky mist, which thickened ag the night progressed. Special to the Post- Government's racks we wooo aOmeeew F QUT EXPLORATORY} CONFESSIONS SO GOT | OUSTED WARDEN Slo nl dle whet ee! SRO Vw ee ee ek ee ee ee NOON EDGAR 8. JENNINGS. AUBURN PRISON WARDEN REMOVED BY GOV. ROOSEVELT Edgar S. Jennings Replaced by Elmira Reformatory Superintendent as Result of Riot. By the Associated Press. 7 AUBURN, N. Y., Dec. 14.—Au- burn state prison, which three days ago was the scene of the second conflict in five months between convicts and guards, tonight had a new official in control, replacing Warden Edgar S. Jennings. Dr. Frank L. Christian, superintendent of the Elmira State Reformatory, ‘today was appointed acting warden by Gov. Roosevelt. Since the riot on Wednesday, in which Jennings was held for sev- eral hours as a hostage by the con- victs, and which cost the lives of the Principal Keeper and eight convicts, George A. Sullivan, Ser- geant of the prison guard, had been acting warden under appointment by Dr, Raymond F. C. Kieb, State Commissioner of Corrections. Gov. Roosevelt also ordered Col. George Fletcher Chandler, founder and first superintendent of the New York State police, to conduct an investigation, as the personal rep- resentative of the Governor, into the conduct of convicts, guards and others during the mutiny. Statement by Roosevelt. Directing Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cunningham, and_ the District Attorney of Cayuga Coun- ty to “give any indictments and trials in connection with the prison riot precedence over any and al) other cases at the term of: court beginning Jan. 6.” Gov. Roosevelt also issued a statement in which he said: ; “The very first duty of the grand jury should be to return in- dictments for murder in the first degree against any and all persons who may be guilty under the law of the .murder of the principal keeper, Durnford. : “It is time that prisoners of the State have a clear understanding that violence to guards and keep- ers will be immediately and dras- tically punished. The; purpose is also to accomplish immediate jus- tice in relation to all the acts in connection with the riot covering any inmates, guards or Any other person or persons who have been guilty of any violations of the law.” | Sergt. Sullivan deciared that the leniency of the prison system and the Mutual Welfare League, a sys- tem of self-government among the convicts, were alike responsible for PRESIDENT SAYS NIGHT IN JAL 1 MARTYRDOM Inaugurating New Policy Toward Demonstrators, He Asserts. They Should Be Sent to Parents. BANNERS DENOUNCE POLICY IN HAITI 14 of Paraders Young Girls —Two Policemen Hurt and 14 Persons Arrested in New York Outbreak. By the Associated Press, WASHINGTON, Dec. 14.—Presi- dent Hoover caused the release of 36 Communists from jail today after their arrest this afternoon during a demonstration against the Hoover policy in Haiti in front of the White House, taking the posi- tion that they should be “sent te their parents” instead of granting them “the favor of cheap martyr- dom.” night, a number of speakers stood on the memorial erected by the Ww. C. T. U. at Seventh street and Pennsylvania avenue and har- rangued a crowd of about 160 per- sone" er for his action in releasing them from police custody, asserting he did that to prevent pro-Commun- ist feeling sweeping the United States. The crowd was orderly. There were no policemen in evi- dence. The speakers were those who had been arrested earlier in the day. The President’s action intro- duced something new into the handling of such spasmodic dem- onstrations which occur in front of. the White House, the Capitol and Foreign embassies. There have been numbers of such in recent years, especially after questions in connection with foreign policies had been given unusual attention. These invariably have been order- ly, as was the one today, but here- tofore those arrested in front of the White House generally have been required to post bond. The young men and women had spent two and one-half hours in various police stations and the House of Detention before “Capt. J. P. Carroll of the park police, received from the White House the request for their release. They were charged with parading with- out a permit. Statement from White House. The White House issued the fol- lowing statement: “The President considers that the misguided youths calling them- selves Communists, who have been arrested for demonstrating in front of the Executive offices, should be released and sent to their parents. “He does not believe that any such discourtesy seriously endan- gers the Republic and that a night in jail is only doing them the favor of cheap martyrdom.” men gathered at the west gate of. the White House grounds, carrying Pa On the way to the District ing the Communists ES: At a second demonstration to-° The arrests were made at 2:30 p. m., when 14 girls and 22 young — Buila-— se 7 . Re “ ‘ vie aS mart oh tetiies tt) ae They criticised the President... | a we ~ Vey: - Shao > ee ae ; g * - gue o oy a BS ee a ae ae ee x oi