[1936 Ap. 1, 1:4]
 
DRASTIC  SHAKE-UP
IN TOWNSEND GROUP

Doctor Will Draw No Pay From
OARP, and Control Will Be
Placed in Board.
ENDS FEES FOR MANAGERS

State  Leaders  to  Go  on  Salary
—He Is to Be Present Today
as Inquiry Resumes.

special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
  WASHINGTON, March 31.—Drastic changes in the management of Old Age Revolving Pensions, Ltd., were announced today by Dr. Francis E. Townsend on the eve of a special House committee's resumption of an inquiry into the movement.
  Criticism of the plan interpreted this as a confession that the organization was not functioning satisfactorily, and that strong medicine was necessary to put it back on its feet.
  Dr. Townsend said the movement, which is principally supported by the "dime a month" dues of its members in all parts of the United States, would hereafter be governed by a board of directors, who would "assist me in forwarding the interests of th e movement."
Plan Considered "for Months"
  Henceforth Dr. Townsend will not draw any salary from OARP, he said. Instead, his salary would be paid out of the earnings of The Townsend National Weekly, of which he is the principal owner.
  He also expects to put State managers on a salary basis, the pay to be "commensurate with the responsibility they carry."
  In his statement announcing the reorganization Dr. Townsend asserted that he had been considering a "plan of democratic management" for many months.
  The board to assist him in handling the affairs of the thousands of Townsend Clubs and in the forming of political other policies will consist of Gomer Smith, Oklahoma City; Gilmore Young, San Francisco; Dr. Clinton Wunder, New York; J. B. Kiefer, Chicago; Frank Arbuckle, Los Angeles; Nathan J. Roberts, Jacksonville, Fla., and Alfred Wright, Cleveland.
  Dr. Wunder will be the Eastern regional director.
  "A bulletin is in preparation to be sent to all Townsend Clubs announcing this new policy and, in addition, requesting the clubs to immediately start machinery in motion to choose by popular election the outstanding and most worthy Townsendite in each State," Dr. Townsend said.
  "These carefully selected individuals will be called together at an early date to serve as a national advisory committee to counsel with me and with the board of directors and to take back to their respective States the matters and policies discus sed and agreed upon.
New Convention is Planned
  "A date is to be set for the second national convention of Townsend Clubs, to be held in a city to be designated, on a date preceding the two national party conventions this Summer.
  "As in the past, all employes [sic] in the national office and all regional directors will be paid a regular salary. I shall ask the new board of directors to select an auditing firm of undeniable integrity and of national reputation to regularly audit our finances and report same directly to the officers of each Townsend Club.
  "Our national headquarters, at present in Washington, D. C., will be moved to Chicago, and a small office maintained in Washington to serve as a contact point with Congress."
  Dr. Townsend is expected to be present when the House committee convenes tomorrow morning. If so it will be his first contact, it was said today, with Robert E. Clements, co-founder of the Townsend movement, since Mr. Clements resigned last week a s secretary and treasurer of OARP.
McGroarty Opposes Bond Plan
by The Associated Press.
  WASHINGTON, march 31.—Dr. Townsend announced appointment of Gomer Smith as vice president of OARP and Gilmour Young to succeed Mr. Clements as secretary.
  The reorganization followed a break between Dr. Townsend and Representative McGroarty, his principal Congressional supporter.
  "I am no longer interested in what Dr. Townsend thinks," Mr. McGroarty said today in predicting that the doctor's leadership would be repudiated if he deviated from the original plan of a transactions tax to raise funds for $200 monthly pensions t o all persons over 60.
  Mr. McGroarty asserted that Dr. Townsend had endorsed a plan proposed by his lawyers, Sheridan Downey, calling for the issuance of tax-exempt bonds instead of a transactions tax to raise pension funds.