POLITICAL ODDITIES See Page 2 Lwj qr~an Iai4 Latest Deadline in the State C"LODY r L. LXVII, No. 34S ANN ARBOR., MICHIGAN, SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 1956 FOUR PAG~ES are Boost tequested ly Railroads N.Y.C., Pennsy Ask For 'Realistic Basis' Britain Slows Military Buildup In Middle East Under Pressure For Peaceful Suez Settlement WASHINGTON (P)-Six Eastern j railroads, including the New York Central and the Pennsylvania, yes- terday proposed a whopping 45 per cent increase in the first-class passenger fares-a step that would J make such travel on their lines for more expensive than flying. These railroads and two others also petitioned the Interstate Com- merce Commission for a five per cent hike in basic coach fares. The ICC probably won't take s final action on the request for at least six months. But it was thought likely it would look with favor on some sort of -increase since it recently acted on its own to begin a study of continuing losses from railroad passenger operations. Losses Offset These losses have been offset by profitable freight traffic. In their petition, the rail lines said they lost 1% billion dollars on their passenger operations in the past 10 years-an average of about 125 million dollars a year. And this year, they reported, their losses are running even higher. In confirming persistent reports that big fare increases would be sought, the Central and Pennsyl- vania-which together carry about 25 'per cent of the nation's rail passengers-joined in a statement. which said: 'Realistic Basis'. "We have found it imperative to take bold action to put our fare structure on a realistic basis. "By this we mean bringing it to a level at which the type of service offered by our railroads will re- flect the cost of such service." The statement did not provide any estimate of how much first- class passenger traffic'the railroad would lose by a 45 per cent hike in fares-neither did it say in so many words that higher fares would compensate for any loss in passenger traffic. Boost Fares The proposed increases would boost coach fares from the pres- ent 3.544 cents a mile to 3.721 cents a mile. First-class rates would be upped from 4.725 to 6.851 cents a mile. Under the proposed first-class rates, minimum rail sleeping ac- commodations from New York to Chicago would cost $76.50 com- pared with $49.61 for a first-class Yairne ticket. The present rail fare is $55.25. The lines asking for the 45 per cent boost in first-class rates were the Central, the Pennsylvania, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Norfolk & Western, the Pennsylvania-Read- ing Seashore and the Lake Erie. Eisenhower Vetoes Flood Control Bill WASHINGTON (A) - President Dwight D. Eisenhower provided some election-year fireworks yes- terday by vetoing a bill which would have authorized $1,600,000,- 000 in flood control and rivers and 4 harbors development. Without using the term "pork barrel," the President criticized some provisions of the measure- which contained pet projects of many congressmen-as "not in the public interest." It was the first veto of a rivers .. and harbors authorization bill since President Franklin D. Roose- velt killed a similar measure in 1940, and likely will produce con- siderable congressional grumbling. The President said he regretted the action. The bill carried authorizations for 99 projects or project modifi- cation, and 14 river basin improve- ments. As an authorization bill, it merely would have written into law authority for the projects- the money has not yet been ap- propriated. Work could not have started anyway until after the next Congress provided the funds. President Eisenhower's veto statement said: "While the major- U.S. More Optimistic' About Suez DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM COMMITTEE-One hundred and eight members of the committee have been meeting formally this week. Main problem: the civil rights plank, which southerners warned yesterday could lose tpe election if made strong. Regard Critical, Situation Still But Discount Platform Drafters Try For Civil Rights Unity CHICAGO (All)-Democratic platform drafters, trying to hold steam below the blowoff point heard demands yesterday for adoption of a strong civil rights plank and a Dixie warning this would cost the party the election. The strategy through hours of hearings all was aimed at stopping any big North-South civil rights row before it could start. Yesterday it worked. Today could be different. Gov. George Bell Timmerman Jr. of South Carolina will be back then for more testimony. It was Timmerman. who warned yesterday of a Dixie bolt and loss of the election to the GOP if the Democrats insist on backing at -%next week's National Convention the Supreme Court's decision bar- ring segregation in public schools. Stassen s Insistent Demand D r v . The governot, as a leader in marshalling Southern opposition to the court decision, took the witness chair after the Platform Committee had heard insistent Pro~gressing demands by Northern lawmakers, labor union leaders and others WASHINGTON (IP) - Harold urging a strong civil rights stand. Stassen said yesterday he is writ- He said: ing 5,000 GOP leaders details of "A profederal civil rights plank his drive to sidetrack Vice-Presi- infringing upon the constitutional dent Nixon and get the GOP vice- rights of the states and their peo- presidential nomination for Mas- ple, a prointegration plank, or any sachusetts Gov. Christian Herter. approval of the school desegrega- Stassen told a news conference tion decision will insure a Demo- he believed that if he hadn't cratie defeat in November. kicked up a furore over the vice- "It would be an outright en- presidency, the issue would have dorsement of the Republican ad- been opened by the Democrats ministration," "even if the Republicans closed Cooling-Off their eyes to it.", Cooling-off efforts in the plat- But Senator Andrew F. Schoep- form committee were led by pel (R-Kan), who heads the GOP Southern members. They re- Senatorial Campaign Committee, frained from firing at Northern said he thinks the Stassen drive witnesses demanding a school de- "has consolidated and 'solidified segregation plank questions that the Nixon sentiment all over the might have touched off explosive country." debate. Both Nixon and Stassen called The hold-down was helped along at the White House yesterday, but by sandwiching witnesses backing neither disclosed the nature of less controversial measures be- their discussions. tween those advocating party en- Upon leaving the White House, dorsement of the Supreme Court Stassen said his campaign for desegregation edict. Herter "not only is continuing but How long the truce would last I am encouraged." was uncertain. Many witnesses Nixon had little to say about still were to be heard. Plans to politics. Newsmen asked him to wind up the hearings Friday had comment on Stassen's statement to be junked. that Herter now has a 50-50 Only toward the end yesterday chance for the No. 2 spot on the did the air of tension in the ticket, but the vice-president re- crowded committee room begin to plied he has "said all I am going relax. Chairman John McCormack to say on that subject." sat on the lid. Adlai Denies Need Of Truman's Ok.ay CHICAGO (P) - Adlai E. Stevenson, the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said yesterday he thinks he can win even without the blessing of Harry S. Truman. Aides who shared his opinion made it clear that they "very much" want the former President's endorsement.' Stevenson and his strategists alike stated they have no inkling of the choice Truman plans to announnee today. Toss Two Questions Newsmen toosed two questions at Stevenson as he strode down Michigan Avenue with his sister, Mrs. Ernest Ives, and Sen. Clinton Anderson of New Mexico. The big one was whether he figured he could be nominated if Truman withholds his backing. Stevenson, a picture of confidence and good humor during a busy day, turned serious. "Oh, my, I don't know," he said, adding that he was not too well informed on "calculations" of delegate intentions. But then he made a distinct answer: "I think so." The other query was whether his camp knew which contender would receive Truman's nod. We Don't Know His unhesitating reply: "We don't know." Stevenson's campaign manager, James Finnegan, has estimated High Court Democratici 'E nga') By PETE ECKSTEIN t Special To The Daily C H I C A G O-Just two words presently stand in the way ofI Democratic unity: "Su p r e m e Court."l As final preconvention prepara- tions are being made, the lines on the civil rights plank are clearlye drawn. If there is an endorsement of the high court decision in the Democratic platform, as both leading candidates for the presi- dential nomination have suggested, the party can expect nothing but trouble from Dixie. But if the plank hedges on en- dorsement of the decision-or de- clares it inappropriate subject matter for the platform of a polit- ical party-the solidity of the "Solid South" will again be a fact. The plank can endorse a Fair Employment Practices.Commission, measures to extend the franchise to the southern Negro, abolition of1 the loose rules on ending Senate debate (and filibuster), an assist- ant Attorney General to prosecute civil rights cases, and anything else Northern hearts desire. ,W1e'1 Swallow' "We'll swallow anything else," Sen. Sam Ervin of North Caro- lina, a leading Southern spokes- man on the platform committee, told The Daily. But if the plank specifically mentions the court, 'It's likely to help the Republicans win the elec- tion. Gov. George Bell Timmerman of South Carolina, leader of the mi- nority of Southern extremists, doesn't agree with the more mo- erate Ervin. "We must have a strong platform and a strong candidate," he told the platform committee, "condemning the un- constutional usurpation of auth- ority by the central government." After describing the party's 1952 plank as stronger that the Republican's, Timmerman con- cluded that "civil rights, promises of integration, and the Negro vote were not keys to success in the 1952 election, except to the ex- tent that the Democratic planks on civil rights and integration per- suaded four Democratic Southern states to vote Republican." Initial Offer Timmerman's bid, if even auth- orized by the responsible southern leadership, was only the initial offer, the ideal point from which hard bargaining will begin. Er- vin, a member of the current southern inner-circle, seemed to be expressing the south's final terms, a soft-spoken ultimatum from which there can be no re- treat for those southerners who value "their section honor and present seats of power and res- ponsibility. Northern attitudes are more in- definite at this point. Both Gov. Averell Harriman and Adlai Stev- enson have advocated mention of the high court decision. Steven- sonites are not likely to press their claims considering the southern opposition when the former Illin- ois governor advocated endorsing the decision. A Negrq member of the commit- tee told The Daily that up to the time of Gov. Timmerman's de- mand for condemnation of the decision, he was willing to consider it above politics. However, he in- terpreted the South Carolinian's Use of Military Force1 WASHINGTON ()-Top Ameri-. can officials were described yes-I terday as slightly more optimistic about chances of settling the Suezr Canal crisis without the use of military force. They were reported to regard the situation as still critical. But they were also said to believe thatc secret diplomatic work and theE "moral pressure" of world opinionF have begun to exert a claminig influence which will be felt at the1 London conference next week. No Emergency Session E In keeping with these views. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles yesterday discounted the possibility that an emergency ses- sion of Congress might be sum- mroned to deal with the crisis. Asnhe left by plane for a review of the Middle East picture with UN Secretary General Dag Ham- marskjold in New York, he said: "There is nothing which would now suggest the need for a special, session of Congress.", After lunching in New York later with Hammarskjold, Dulles told newsmen he did not ask the sec- retary general to take any action in the Suez crisis. He said they had merely reviewed the general, situation in the Middle East. Ike Calls Leaders President Dwight D. Eisenhower has called congressional leaders to the White House for auspecial briefing Sunday on the surge of d e v e 1 o p m e n ts which followed Egypt's seizure of the canal in a nationalization move. Commenting on the impending White House session, Dulles said: "The President feels very strongly about sharing responsibility with Congress, particularly if there should be any risk of hostilities." Adm. Arthur W. Radford, chair- man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be among those present at tomorrow's session. Harry Gives No Opinion On Choice CHICAGO ()-Harry S. Truman turned tantalizing sphinx yester- day to keep pacesetter Adlai E. Stevenson and Averell Harriman guessing uneasily on his choice for the Democratic presidential nomi- nation. From the Stevenson camp came one report that Truman had de- cided Harriman is his man, but Stevenson backers said he had it in the bag, regardless. Equal Optimism Stevenson himself told reporters that yes, he thinks he can cap- ture the nomination at next week's Democratic National Convention with or without Truman's support. His campaign manager, James E. Finnegan, exuded equal optimism. Truman apparently made up his mind definitely yesterday on the person to embrace in the intrigu- ing game of political post office whirling merrily through conven- tion preliminaries. But the former President wasn't saying yet. He did set the time and place for announcing his pref- erence-a 3:30 p.m. EST news conference Saturday. Among other preconvention highlights: A Chance Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennes- see hit town-no longer a presi- dential aspirant but thinking 'U' Regent Accuses State Medical Group DETROIT (M)-A member of the University Board of Regents yesterday said he had been subjected to "pressure" by the Michigan State Medical Society to discourage Regents' approval of a University doctor to study hospital and medical care plans in Michigan. Regent Eugene B. Power made the statement following a charge by a member of the governor's commission conducting the study that two Medical Society and Blue Cross officials had made "efforts to block a successful study." Leonard Woodcock, United Auto Workers vice-president and a member of the commission, made the charge in a letter to Gov. Williams and George E. Bowles, ' study commission chairman. ESTES: Put on Pressure ESTES:_ Woodcock said there was evi- dence that William S. McNary,y executive director of Blue Cross of the Medical Society's council, TP r b put the pressure to bear. Blue Cross, meanwhile, flatly denied today that it has made efforts "either openly or covertly" Contract by block the inquiry. The study already was -started by the University's Public Health WASHINGTON (A) - Senator economist, Dr. S. J. Axelrod, who Estes Kefauver (D-Tenn) yester- resigned a week ago because he day' accused, top off ocials of the said "interested parties" were not Eisenhower administration of a cooperating. "criminal" conspiracy to cover up Power, a Democratic member of on the Dixon-Yates power con- the Board of Regents, said despite tract. pressure exerted, Regents gave He demanded a grand jury in- their unanimous support to the vestigation. study under the direction of Dr. Sen. Kefauver directed his blast Axelrod. at Sherman Adams President 'Not Compatible' Power said he had been informed by the Medical Society that "the point of view of Drs. Axelrod and Nathan Sinai, director of the Uni- versity's Public Health economics bureau, was not compatible with that of the Medical Society." Woodcock wrote that McNary had "expressed opinions . . . at variance with those of voluntary hospitals and doctors" and that this prompted the resignation of Dr. Axelrod. Jury Returns Indictments SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (P)--A San- gamon County Grand jury re-1 turned 46 indictments yesterday against Edward A. Epping, former aide to Orville E. Hodge, in a milli on dollar check-cashing swindle. Hodge, ousted Republican state auditor, has been charged in 46 similar indictments with embezzle- ment, confidence game and for- gery. He is free on $100,000 bond after pleading innocent. Hodge, Epping and Edward Hintz, resigned president of the Southmoor Bank and Trust Co., of Chicago through which the checks allegedly passed, were named in two other conspiracy indictments. Dwight D. Eisenhower's righthand man in the White House; Chair- man Lewis L. Struss of the Atomic Energy Commission; Chairman J. Sinclair Armstrong of the Secu- rities and Exchange Commission; former Budget Director Rowland R. Hughes and others. The Tennessee senator, a Dem- ocratic vice-presidential possibil- ity, charged Adams and the others of conspiring to conceal facts about the highly controversial Dixon-Yates contract, now can- celed, by refusing to yield docu- ments to his Senate investigating group. "This whole plan was crudely conceived in darkness for the base and ulterior motive of destroying the TVA-Tennessee Valley Au- thority," Sen. Kefauver said of the disputed contract. He added that indictments and convictions have resulted "in cases involving similar circumstances." Sen. Kefauver ordered copies of his statement published in the Congressional Record and deliv- ered to Atty. Gen. Brownell. He also invited President Eisen- hower, "if he is still unconvinced that Mr. Adams betrayed him and the American people," to order Adams to waive immunity and submit to questioning by the Sen- ate Anitimonopoly "task force" headed by Sen. Kefauver. Diplomats Tell of Plan For Control Nasser Challenges Right To Call London Conference on Suez LONDON (P)--Britain last iight braked her build-up of military power in the Middle East under mounting pressure for a peaceful settlement of the Suez Canal crisis. The slowdown came as Western diplomats spread the word of an American-British-French plan to guarantee the freedom and inter- national control of the waterway as part of a compromise settlement with Egypt. The plan envisages a new inter. national treaty to govern the us of Suez and conditional recogni- tion of Egypt's nationalization of the canal and its installations. Postpone Trooplift Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his military chiefs ordered a second postponement of a mam- moth trooplift to the Mediterran- ean, the announced withdrawal of two parachute battalions from Cyprus, Britain's Middle East mili- tary headquarters. The official war office explana. tion was that the parachute troop- ers are coming home to continue their training, for which better facilities are available here than on Cyprus. President Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egyptian regime meantime chal- lenged Britain's right to have call- ed next week's London conference on the Suez ?dispute and charged Eden is trying to belittle Nasser in the eyes of the Egyptian people. A statement issued by the Egyp- tian embassy here served the first official notice that Egypt will boy- cott the projected 24-nation con- ference fixed to open next Thurs- day. Egypt took the same line as Soviet Russia did Thursday by questioning the composition of the conference and declared further the participants will be left with "no choice other than to accept the British point of view." The British Foreign Office ad- mitted bewilderment about the meaning of Russia's critical reply to the invitation. The Soviet gov- ernment, whil saying it would par- ticipate, listed nearly a dozen ob- jections to the talks as they are envisaged by the United States, Britain and France. Brush off Russia Britain, however, brushed off the Russian bid to recast and postpone the meeting. Officials said it will begin Thursday as ar- ranged, with or without the Aus- sians. Britain already has mounted an impressive display of military power in the Middle East in case of a blowup over Suez. The British moves have led to criticism from such key Commonwealth countries as India and Ceylon, as well as Russia and the Arab states. At home, seven leftist Laborite legislators asserted publicly Britain would be guilty of aggression if she carried out what they de- scribed as Eden's "threat to take unilateral action by force" to im- pose international control over the canal. 'Blind Force' The Liberal Manchester Guardi- an joined in warning Eden that the use of "blind force" would hurt the West more than Egypt, The Guardian took the view all nations have the right to national- ize resources within their own borders and said the British might expect new seizures of their inter- ests in the Middle East. University Student Pluges to Death CHICAGO OA-A Korean school teacher studying for a master's decgree a t the TUnivs~ity o f Michi-. AT BLACKSTONE HOTEL: Averill Visits Harry, Called 'Good Fighter' CHICAGO (IP)-Gov. Averell Harriman was praised as a "good fighter" by former President Harry S. Truman yesterday soon after the New Yorker flew here to challenge Adlai Stevenson for the Demo- cratic presidential nomination. But, Truman wasn't saying - until today whether Harriman or Stevenson is his favorite for the nomination. Harriman called at Trumn's suite in the Blackstone Hotel and talked with him about 10 minutes. Afterward, they stood smiling and shaking hands in the doorway hile photographers and newsmen shot pictures and questions. 'Successful?' "Was it a successful conference?" Truman was asked. Truman replied that any conference with Harriman was suc- cessful. "Do you think he is a good fighter?" a newsman asked, recalling that Truman has said the nominee should be that kind of man. "Harriman's a good fighter," said Truman. Confident Harriman, to a question whether he expected to win the nomina- tion, said he has been confident all along. Harriman flew here aboard an American Airlines plane from Buf- falo, N. Y., and was greeted at Midway Airport by supporters carrying home-made placards with such slogans as: