$20,000, ooo Fine

THE PRESIDENCY

$20,000,000 Fine

Biggest fine ever assessed in U. S. history was the $29,000,000 penalty which Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis slapped on the old Standard Oil Co.--a fine which was never paid. Last week President Roosevelt came near Judge Landis' mark. By canceling all airmail contracts he in effect fined the stockholders of U. S. aviation companies an estimated $20,000,000, all because of the dubious methods employed by some of their company officers getting airmail contracts (see p. 30). There was a good chance, moreover, that, unlike Standard Oil, aviation stockholders would pay, for with air contracts canceled the value of their stock tobogganned in all markets. Many an observer wondered last week whether the President had not made a political misstep. The President was put in an uncomfortable position when Colonel Lindbergh wired him a protest that commanded the attention of the country. This criticism touched a tender White House spot. Stephen T. Early, the President's second assistant secretary, met it with a double-barreled reply. One barrel went off with a smart bang: Colonel Lindbergh, famed for his Press-shyness, had deliberately sought "publicity" by releasing his telegram to the newspapers before giving the President the courtesy of receiving it. The second barrel emitted a weak weasel: the Colonel's telegram was "in error" in its statement that the President had canceled the contracts. True, the President had not canceled the contracts but Washington and the world well knew that Postmaster General Farley would never have dared to sign the cancellation without the approval of his President. P: Besides his airmail action the President gave U. S. businessmen another jolt that made their back teeth rattle. He sent a message recommending Congress to undertake regulation of stock and commodities exchanges, a message timed to be published along with the introduction of a drastic bill (see p. 49) designed to stop all big businessmen from trading in the stock of their companies. P: President Roosevelt sent another message to Congress recommending that sugar be made a basic commodity, proposing definite quotas for the various sources of U. S. sugar supply. Restriction would be paid for by a processing tax, but a reduction in the sugar tariff would keep the consumer from bearing the burden. This proposal promised relief not only for an industry that has been sunk in overproduction for a full decade but also for hard-pressed Cuba. The preliminary quotas proposed by the President: U. S. Sugar Beets. . . . . . . . 1,450,000 short tons

Louisiana & Florida

(Cane) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260,000 " "

Hawaiian (Cane) . . . . . . . . 935,000 " "

Puerto Rican (Cane) . . . . . 821,000 " "

Philippine (Cane) . . . . . . . . 1,037,000 " "

Virgin Islands (Cane) . . . . . 5,000 " "

Cuban (Cane) . . . . . . . . . . . 1,944,000 " "

Total sweets for 125,000,000

U. S. stomachs . . . . . . . . . 6,452,000 " "

P: "We have ideals. We are a growing organization. We believe that we are accomplishing fine American results not only for our own membership but also for our families, our communities and our nation." Thus spoke the President to a million "Fellow Scouts" on the 24th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. He advised them to spend the rest of February collecting furniture, bed clothes and garments for distribution to the needy. P: To the War Department the President sent Secretary Stephen T. Early, to deliver a sharp reprimand to Assistant Secretary of War Harry Woodring for publishing an article in which he said that the Civilian Conservation Corps was part of a program of U. S. military preparedness. The article aroused a storm of protest among U. S. war-haters. When Secretary Early had delivered his message to Harry Woodring he emerged to say: "It was a question of not expressing his views clearly. For that he is sincerely regretful." P:On the President's executive order the Capitol Export-Import Bank of Washington was last week chartered with $1,000,000 in common stock subscribed out of Public Works Administration funds and $10,000,000 of preferred stock subscribed by the RFC. Purpose: to finance sales of cotton, copper, agricultural machinery to Soviet Russia.

P: Shifting pawns on the diplomatic chessboard, the President moved Minister J. Butler Wright from Uruguay to Czechoslovakia, Consul General George S. Messersmith from Berlin to Uruguay as Minister.

P: Called to the President's study were: 1) Ambassador de Freyre of Peru and Minister Alfaro of Ecuador to discuss settlement of their frontier dispute; 2) Senator Dill and Representative Rayburn to discuss a bill for a communications board to regulate radio, telegraph, telephone and cable companies; 3) Senators Byrnes, Borah and Norris to discuss the St. Lawrence Waterway Treaty. The last meeting was interrupted by a blaring horn and mouth-organ demonstration staged before the study door by Sistie and Buzzie Dall. P: The President's mother and his daughter went to Ottawa for the wedding of Irene Helen Robbins, daughter of U. S. Minister to Canada Warren Delano Robbins, relative of the Delano family. Pressed to say something to eager Canadian newshawks, Mrs. Roosevelt Sr. declared that the President does not write her often enough. The President's wife attended Washington's fancy dress Junior League ball wearing a gown similar to the one in which she made her debut 30 years ago, but refused to put a rat in her hair. P: Still trying to head off the drive to end the cut in Veterans' pensions which he achieved last summer, the President announced that he would restore pensions to those ruled off the rolls until their cases had been reviewed. Two days later, when the anti-bonus, anti-pension American Veterans Association convened in Washington, the President sent them a cordial greeting: "I am taking this opportunity of extending a welcome to you . . . and of expressing appreciation of the patriotism and high ideals both of the organization . . . and of its individual members." P: The President and Mrs. Roosevelt gave their last State dinner of the season (to Speaker and Mrs. Rainey), gave their last State reception (to the Army and Navy).

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