National Affairs: Indictment No. 1

An insignificant little corporation in Brooklyn last week skyrocketed into national prominence when Hercules Gasoline Filling Stations Inc. was made the target for the first Federal indictment charging violation of a permanent NRA code. The owners were accused of working their employes 18 hours per week longer than the petroleum code allowed. with failure to post gasoline prices.—

“This will show that the National Recovery Act has teeth in it,” snapped U. S. Attorney Howard W. Ameli of Brooklyn. Counsel for the defense retorted: “We did not sign the code, but a number of our competitors who did sign it, proceeded to violate it. … In order to compete with them and keep our business going we had to work our men the same number of hours that they did. We refuse to be made the goat. This case may bust the whole NRA question wide open!”