Historic Saturday

"Whereas on the nights of Feb. 3 and 4, 1917, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, severed diplomatic relations with the Imperial German Government and,

"Whereas more than 16 years have intervened before the American people have turned their eyes back to the lofty ideals of human uplift and new freedom as propounded by Woodrow Wilson . . . and

"Whereas it is now fitting that due recognition be given by the great State of Louisiana in line with the far-reaching principles enunciated by that illustrious Southerner who sought to break the fetters of mankind throughout the world. . . .

"Now, therefore, I, Oscar Kelly Allen, Governor of the State of Louisiana, do hereby ordain that Saturday, the 4th day of February, 1933 . . . be a holiday throughout the State . . . and I do hereby order that all public business, including schools, banks and other public enterprises be suspended . . . and that the proper ceremonies to commemorate that event be held."

Thus last week for the first time in history the anniversary of the day that President Wilson gave German Ambassador Count von Bernstorff his walking papers was officially observed. Though no "proper ceremonies" were held anywhere in Louisiana, the proclamation closed every bank in New Orleans, brought business to a standstill.* And it thereby stopped (as it was intended it should) a run on New Orleans' $65,000,000 Hibernia Bank & Trust Co.--third largest bank in the city. To New Orleans it was the fantastic second act of a drama that opened last month with the crash of the big Union Indemnity Insurance group (TIME, Jan. 16), closely associated with President Rudolf S. Hecht of the Hibernia and Senator Huey Pierce ("Kingfish") Long.

Later in the week New York's lumbering Congressman Hamilton Fish Jr., pursuing his demands for an investigation of all companies that failed subsequent to R. F. C. support, asked for a probe of the Union Indemnity situation. Declaring it "a rotten mess that should and must have full publicity," Congressman Fish also demanded the resignation of President Hecht as chairman of the New Orleans R. F. C. advisory committee. Rudolf Hecht, he charged, had known all along that Union Indemnity was tottering, and as a director he had seen to it that part of the $4,000,000 R. F. C. aid was promptly used to pay off bank loans from his Hibernia Bank & Trust Co.

New Orleans newspapers for days & days did not carry a line on the Union Indemnity crash after their first brief inside-page stories. When they received Washington dispatches on Congressman Fish's charges last week they killed them, ostrich-wise, at President Hecht's urgent request. Of course the news went out to newspapers in the North. Hibernia Bank & Trust, doing a nation-wide business, began to suffer heavy out-of-town withdrawals, and the news seeped through New Orleans' financial district. President Hecht wired complete refutation of the charges and Congressman Fish offered to review the facts. Shot back President Hecht: "Thank you for your message. . . . In the meantime this unfortunate publicity has done irreparable damage to my bank." By Friday night it was clear that the Hibernia could not face another day.

Leading New Orleans bankers and State officials went into an all-night huddle. President Hecht, a swart, smallish man with glistening black hair and a thick cropped mustache, was in a tight fix. For years he fought branchbanking as "financial feudalism" and ''economic vassalage." Last autumn when he was elected second vice president of the American Bankers Association, thus assuring him of the presidency in 1935, he ate his words and said: "We cannot stem the tide of economic events." A Bavarian from Ansbach, he learned banking in Chicago, went to the Hibernia 26 years ago. At 33 he was president. John J. Gannon, whom he displaced, spent the brief balance of his life cursing Rudolf Hecht in all public places as a double-crosser.

To Rudolf Hecht's side last week rallied Huey Long and his puppet Governor Oscar Kelly Allen. It was Huey Long, in New Orleans to fight a Senate investigation of his political steamroller, who ordered a public holiday on Saturday to give the Hibernia a 48-hour breathing spell over the weekend. But no one at the Friday night conference could recall any historic event that occurred on Feb. 4. Routed from his bed, the city librarian ploughed through volumes of histories. Hours later he reported: "Nothing ever happened in this world on Feb. 4." His thanks was a blast of purple oaths from Huey Long. Arthur G. Newmyer, one of the publishers of the New Orleans Item, was roused by telephone. A member of his family dug from the World Almanac the fact that President Wilson had severed relations with Germany on the night of Feb. 3. Huey Long pounced on it: "It took them two nights at least to do a job like that." He turned to Governor Allen: "Oscar, make it for the nights of Feb. 3rd and 4th. That will give you a legal holiday Saturday."

The Times Picayune, forewarned, held its presses until the proclamation was written. The Tribune, another morning paper, replated and re-delivered. Thursday's dispatches on Congressman Fish's charges were then released (on inside pages) in Saturday editions.

New Orleans was thrown into uproar. With banks closed, Saturday night payrolls were not met. Many Negro laborers, living hand-to-mouth, could not buy food. Department stores flatly refused to cash checks. Until news of the holiday-making conference leaked out, newspaper offices were swamped with inquiries from mystified subscribers wanting to know what it was all about.

The R. F. C. promised $20,000,000. Huey Long announced: "I am not a betting man but I am willing to bet no person loses a thin dime. . . . Watch for Monday. All will be happy." On Monday all banks opened for business one hour earlier than usual. The Hibernia ran a full-page advertisement (from which President Hecht's name was omitted), offering to pay each & every depositor on demand. New Orleans returned to its preparations for Mardi Gras.

* Because the proclamation did not reach them until late "Wilson Day," most country banks throughout Louisiana did business as usual.

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