The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-01-15

feud between hi mand Rear retireS as commander of tn were both young naval offit It continued when they went as naval experts to the Geneva I1av- al conference of 1927, where Reeves worked against an agree Ynent and Hepburn for 1t.
 The feud reached Q climax during the Pacific maneuvers last suinmer-the greatest peacetirne raaneuvers ever held.
 HEPB U RN commanded the scouting fleet in Alaskan waters which attacked the defending fleet around Hawaiian waters. The defending fleet was commanded by Reeves.
 HEPBURN manuevered all. around Reeves, scored important hits, theoretically "sank" several of his vessels. The referees de- cided that Hepburn, representing the enemy, won the day, could have invaded hte shores of Cali fornia.
 It was largely on the basis of this feat that Hepburn secured his present promotion to take Reeves place.
 Casualty Reeves
 One incident occurred during the Pacific maneuvers that so far has been a strict secret. Theo- retically Admiral Reeves was killed"
 His flagship, the Pennsylvania, clashed with Admiral Hepburn's flagship, the Maryland. And the captain of the Pennsylvania (who, some naal officers suspect, did not like Admiral Reeves) marked down hit for the Maryland on the Pennsylvania's control room.
 Theoretically, the control room was blown up. Admiral Reeves was in the control room. Theo- retically therefore, he was killed.
 The admiral was quite indig-
 nant about this. He did not
 like the idea of being killed,
 especially on his own flagship.
 However, the captain of the
 ship said he had been killed
 and there was nothing much
 Reeves could do about 1t.
 But when the urnpires checked the reports of the two battleships, they found that the Maryland theoretically had fired no shots. Therefore, the control room was intact, as was also the bristling beard of Admiral Reeves.
 NOTE - Hepburn is considered one of the most brilliant strate- gists in the navy. Relatively young, he favors a revolutionary clean-up of navy personnel, is not popular. with the older sea- dogs.
 Justice Roberts
 One unnoticed highlight of the White House reception to the judiciary was Justice Owen Jo. sephus Roberts, immaculate, tall, straight as a ramrod, talking to Joseph B. Keenan, No. 3 man in the justice department.
 Said Justice Roberts: ''I thought the arguments of the government were excellent
 especially those of the solicitor
 general"
 Just three days before, he had handed down the famous AAA opinion knocking those arguments into cooked hat (Stone, Bran- deis. Cardozo dissenting).
 REC NEXT?
 In view of the Supreme Courts banning of the entire AAA al- though only the processing taxes were directly before 1t, much ofii. cial conjecture has arisen regard- ing the fate of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The giant government lending
 agency-whose billions of public
 funds saved hundreds of banks,
 railroads, insurance companies
 and industries from collapse
 is indirectly involved in an un-
 noticed case pending on the
 courts calendar.
 The immediate parties to the suit are the Baltimore Trust company and the Maryland tax commission. The point at issue is whether the REQ must pay state taxes on bank stock it has pur- chased.
 The Maryland tax commission claims that the REC is subject to the state tax just as any other stockholder is. But the bank .. claims that 8 state cannot tax federal holdings. As "a friend Of the court" the REC has filed a brief supporting the banks posi- ton.
 Lawyers think it highly unlikely that the Supreme Court will use the case to pass on the legality of the REC. But if it follows it's | policy in the AAA case of going beyond the immediate question and ruling on the constitutional ity of the whole law, then it may very. well call the turn on the REC.
 Commentator
 Among the hundreds of persona al messages received by the pres- ident congratulating him on his message to congress was one from General Hugh S. Johnson. As one of the New Deals most caustic critics recently, JohnsOn's telegram was particu-