The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-09-17
BOSTON LAWYER ASKS
HUGHES NAME GROUP
For BLACK INQUIRY
kcontinued from PAGE b'

~ 1Contihue" -
,.orsors owed it to the senate to
denv the charges if they could. 1t
wos not done either before or at
tor the vote was taken. 1t was for
that reason / withheld my vote
for the confirmation Of Black. ,
"This is a good illustration OF
what happens when an admins
tration acts hastily and what hap
Mons when senator's vote blindiy
For every suggestion that is made
bv the White House. The presi,,
dant should appoint an impartial
hoard to investigate the charges
or the senate should do so. -
VI "If the charges made are true
the president should ask for MS
resignation" o &C
Wheeler's statement came as y
the controversy raging arounu
Black spread to the house ieauep .
ship, forcing Speaker William -; -.
Rankhead, D., Ala, to issue wig
orous denial that he ever peiohs
cd TO the Invisible Empire.
Bankhead's statement " a .
prompted by a suggestion i r;Oh
Representative Hamilton ,sii
IN Y that it might be well
~ find out the status OF the
suoaker" in view of the fact that
be ike Black, is native of Ala
ne Inv" hocause il was the
sneakers brother, Senator Jom
Bankhead, who assured the sem
ate that the newly appointed JUS
t;co was not a member of the
hooded order. a.,
From his home in Jasper, Ala,
Sneaker Bankhead issued this re-
tort to Fish: -.
~ have never belonged to the
Ku Klux Khan. | never was inVlt-
ed to join. That is that" ,
Although hi sbrother scoffed at
,he Black expose as a rafting
of old bones" the speaker flatly
refused to comment on it. He linz
tied his statement to Fish's sug,
qestion and declared that it would
not REQUIRE a thorough investiga-
t;on to determine his (Bank-
head's) status.
The New Workers. statement
that aroused Bankhead's wrath
was: w
"if Khan affiliations are to be
q, tost Of office. IL might be well
10 find out the status of the
speaker of the house, who like
wise halls from Alabama.
He criticized Black for EN-
couraging or permitting ms
friends to deny his membership
in the hooded order as an act OF
"duplicity deserving the highest
censure." Unless President Roose-
welt compels Black to resign from
the bench, Fish said, "the people
will rightly say plague on both
your houses"
There was no indication from
the White House yesterday that
Mr.. Roosevelt contemplates any
change in the policy he laid down
on Monday in regard to Black
al that time he told newspaper
men he would make no comment
on the Klan expose printed in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and syn
dicated by the North American
Newspaper Alliance, until Black
returns from a vacation abroad
and has had an opportunity to
read the dispatches.
Meantime, Albert Levitt, for
mer Justice department employe,
said today that he would prose
cute his action before the SUI
preme court charging that Black
is constitutionally ineligible to
serve on the high tribunal. His
plea to the court is not based on
Blacks alleged Klan relations,
but on the ground that as a SEN
ator Black increased the emolu-
ments of the post by voting for
a bill providing retirement pay
for supreme court justices and
mus is prevented by the consti-
tuition from accepting a court as
signment. Also, Levitt contends
that there is no vacancy on the
bench because Justice Willis Van
Devanter retired and did not re-
sign.