The Indianapolis times., 1935-11-16
Washington
Merry-GO-
Round
BY DREW PEARSON and
ROBERT :. ALLEN.

kObEh -. ALLEN.
XXTASHINGTON. Nov. 16.-Ons
w report which never got by the
italian and and British war cenSors
told how three Italian destroyerS
stopped and searched a British
merchant vessel in the Strait Of
MeSSina. They found nothing on
her and let her proceed. Rome
claimed the Strait of Messina to De
Italian territorial waters. and
neither the British nor the Italians
wanted to arouse public opinion by
letting the incident leak out. The
United States government. however,
received an official report =. Emil
Hurja. pudgy Man-Friday to jim
Farley on the Democratic National
Committee, had his expenses for the
trip to Manila paid by the Philip
pine government. The national COM
mittee continued his salary during
the Journey, though what patronage
he handled in the Philippines re-
mains a mystery.
XNTHITE HOUSE circles whisper
w significantly of a smash sur
prise the President has up his
sleeve for political foes who have
been hammering him for failing to
balance the budget. Inside word is
that the budget, now being pre-
pared, will not only be balanced but
will show perk surplus. The spec
tacular feat is being accomplished by
slashing appropriation requests to
the bone and making use of huge
uneXpended balances of emergency
appropriations. An instance OF this
is the little known cache of approx
imately $4,000 900 held out from
the $4,000, 900 900 Work-Relief grant.
. . A busy winter season in the
capital is in prospect for J. P.
Morgan & Co. 1t is slated for
appearances before both the Senate
munitions and railroad finance in
veStigating committees. Febru-
ary l will see a reShuffling OF
Federal Reserve system titles. Heads
of the twelve Reserve Banks will be
known as Mr.. President" instead of
Governor" The title Governor"
will be used by members of the new
Reserve Board, whose official deSig-
nation is The Board of Governors
Of the Federal Reserve Banks" &.
To supply investors seeking in
formation regarding stocks, the Sc
curities and Exchange Commission
maintains a 24hour photostat serv-
ice Which-for a fee-turnS out
facsimiles Of all reports filed with
it.
A BILL providing for regulation
L n of commodity exchanges is on
the Administrators must" calendar
for the coming session of Congress.
The proposal has been pending for
several years, but this time, with
presidential elections in the offing,
the White House plans to get active
ly behind it. The measure would
place control of. commodity markets
under the Agriculture Department,
| not the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The daily mail
bag for the President and Mrs.
Roosevelt is now averaging around
2000 letters. One letter recently re-
ceived from a man in West Virginia
asked the President for loan of
$3.50, with the assurance that if the
request were granted the borrower
would say nothing about it to any
one" Vice Chairman John
Hamilton of the Republican National
Committee is complaining to friends
that most of his working day is
consumed opening and answering
letters containing recovery programs.
Hamilton says programs come in not
only from all parts of the United
States, but from many foreign coun-
tries. Much interest is being
displayed by political leaders of
both parties in the active behind
the-Scenes role played by Earl j.
ChrlStenberry, secretary to the late
Huey Long, at the recent Townsend
plan convention in Chicago Christ
enberry was seen in frequent secret
conferences with DR.. Townsend and
OOAlC4 lICduo VI Clle movement.
n
d ECENTLY compiled official sta
IN tiSticS show that there were 1872
more extra dividends declared in
the first 10 months of this year than
last. The 1884 figure for the period
was 402, this year 534. Octobers
dividend declarations topped those
for any previous October in four
years. Harry Hopkins assist
ant relief administrators are coming
into their own. Each has been sup
piled with an official automobile
and chauffeur. e. The latest issue
Of Consumers Guide, official pub
lication of the consumers division
of the AAA. takes a sharp rap at
Secretary Henry Wallace for made
quate representation of the buying
public at the recent potato and
corn-hog hearings.
g-Lt