Evening star., 1939-01-08
Law 10 Curb Numbers
Urged by Farmers
In Prince Georges
Asks General Assembly to
Make Possession of Slips
Primu Fucie Evidence

Enactment of legislation by Mary
land similar to that passed by Con-
gress to curb the numbers racket in
the District of Columbia was advo-
Gated yesterday by the Prince
Georges County Farm Bureau.
The group went on record at a
meeting in Upper Marlboro in favor
of q law to make possession of num-
bers slips prima facie evidence of
guilt. The General Assembly also
was urged to authorize police to
enter premises where gambling is
suspected.
Under the present laws, it was
declared, an officer must first obtain
a warrant before he can enter a
place where he suspects gambling.
When the District law went into
effect, it was reported, several big
numbers writers moved their head
quarters to the nearby county. Only
their runners operate in Washing
ton, carrying their receipts back
across the Maryland line to head
quarters, it is charged.
Connick Is Reelected.
w. r. G. Connick was reelected
president of the Farm Bureau for
the fourth consecutive term. Other
officers elected were Harry G. Town.
shend, vice president, and William
E. Duvall, ST., secretary. Both also
were elected for their fourth terms.
The bureau also passed a resolu-
ton indorsing the establishment Of
a hospital in the county, as proposed
by the Federation of Citizens Asso-
Citations.
Sponsors of the loose leaf tobacco
market warehouses at Upper Marl-
boro and at Hughesville, Md, told
the bureau that the building at
Hughesville is now ready to be
opened and that land has been pur-
chased and company formed for
the construction of building at
Marlboro. Work will be started as
soon as plans have been completed
and the structure will be ready to
be opened April l, the report stated.
Establishment of the two markets
Is an outgrowth of dissatisfaction
among tobacco growers with mar
keting conditions on the Baltimore
market. They claimed that com
bine" was formed to force prices
below production costs.
To Ask Change In Laws.
Acting on the recommendations
Of a committee representing the
five tobacco-growing counties in
Southern Maryland, the Farm
Bureau voted to ask the Maryland
Legislature to amend the tobacco
marketing laws of the Baltimore
market to make it mandatory that
all samples taken from hogsheads
be placed in the hands of State
official and left there until the crop
Is sold.
The report also recommended
that selling agents be given quarters
In the State tobacco warehouse at
Baltimore and that no hogsheads of
tobacco shall be resold on the mar
ket except in the name of the
original owner.
To protect produce growers Of
the State from "throat-cutting prac-
tices of bootleg truckers" the Or
ganization voted to propose to the
Maryland Legislature and the Unit
ed States Congress that laws be
enacted placing all trucks trans
porting produce over interstate
highways under the Interstate Com
merce Commission, except where
the produce is actually owned by
the trucker. They also asked Con-
Eress to appoint an officer to en-
force marketing laws on the Dis
trict market.
Seven delegates to the State con-
vention of the Farm Bureau in Bal
timore, starting Tuesday and closing
Friday, were appointed by Mr..
Connick. They are j. E. Hogue,
Cleveland Duley, H. A. Hungerford,
r. E. Brown, Gui Clagett, Harold
Townshend and Joseph Blandford.