Newspaper Page Text
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart
National Press Building
Washington, D. C.
Puerto Rican Revival Is Under Way
San Juan (shown above), and the tropical paradise of which it is the capital, are looking up to better times, It is
revealed in the report of the governor, Blanton Winship, shown in inset at the right. The islanders were demon
strative in their approval of the New Deal, as pictured at lower right, and have welcomed the PRRA, administered by
Ernest Gruening (inset, left).
Washington.—It was in the sultry
days of the summer of 1914, it will
he remembered, that
Waiting Archduke Ferdinand
for a Spark was laid low by an
assassin's bullet in a
remote province of Austria. At the
time, the assassination was front page
news for most of the newspapers but
its real import was not generally recog
nized. Nevertheless, from that incident
sprang the greatest war the world has
ever known.
Within a few months of 22 years
after the assassination at Sarajevo the
world sees a situation in Europe where
another such incident would have con
sequences just as violent. At the pres
ent time, ammunition dumps all over
Europe are waiting for a spark to set
them off. It may be an accidental
spark or it may be a spark deliberately
cast into that powder keg. I do not
mean to say that it will happen but I
do wish to emphasize that at no time
since the Archduke’s assassination has
there been a field so fertile for the pro
motion of a gigantic war as the present.
It may seem, and it undoubtedly does
seem to many, that the dangers in
herent in the European situation at
present are afar off. But, it can be
recalled that there were those In this
country who, as late as 1916, said the
European war was 3,000 miles away.
Before it ended, however, 5,000,000
American boys and young men had
been drafted to be thrown into that
European cauldron. It may happen
again.
While there is no immediate possi
bility of the United States getting tan
gled up in the European political prob
lems which spring from hostilities be
tween Ethiopia and Italy, those who
know history cannot fail to agree with
the statement that it Is never too early
to plan for preventing war. For that
reason, then, I believe almost every
family in the United States has a
stake, either directly or indirectly, in
one of the problems with which con
gress must deal. This legislation is
known by the short and rather inde-
scriptive title of the neutrality policy.
It is, indeed, just that, but the point I
seek to make is that the title does not
convey by any manner or means its
full importance or its full effect upon
the lives of each of us. If a policy can
be worked out, a policy that is effec
tive, obviously our chances for remain
ing out of any hostilities in Europe—
or in Asia for that matter—are cer
tainly much better. I do not know
and I do not believe anybody can say
accurately that it is possible to de
velop a neutrality policy that will be
fool-proof; or that will guarantee to
us the removal of possible entangle
ments, or that will prevent us from
stubbing our toes and falling Into the
midst of the mess. It seems to me,
however, that we ought to try.
* • *
A year ago about this time, congress
enacted a bill which was designed to
prevent the shipment
Keep Us of war materials to
Out of War an Y belligerent na
tion or nations. It
Was mandatory. The President was di
rected by congress to lay an embargo
against the shipment of arms, ammu
nition of war to any countries engaged
in hostilities regardless of whether
their claims were right or wrong. We
have had some experience with the
force of that legislation already and
it has not been without its embarrass
ing and difficult phases. Now, how
ever, it is proposed to revamp that
legislation which was admittedly of a
temporary character and is due to ex
pire by limitation of law on February
29. Congress has been told rather def
initely, I think, that this country wants
to remain out of someone else’s war.
The President has the same idea. So,
instead of allowing our citizens to run
wild, ship anything and everything,
make contracts with the countries now
engaged in war or those that may be
engaged later, it is proposed that we
have a permanent policy embodying
whatever principles may be found
wisest to protect us from ourselves and
prevent us from throwing ourselves
again into such a volcano of molten
lava as any present-day war would be.
The problem is not as simple as it
appears on the surface. When congress
enacted the present temporary neu
trality legislation, it provided that the
embargoes, when and if laid, must ap
ply to all. It gave the President no
discretionary power to determine
whether we wanted to use these em
bargoes as a weapon against one na
tion while aiding another. Mr. Roose
velt, in accepting the original legis
lation, said publicly that he believed
he should have such discretionary
power. This was in line with the con
clusions of the Department of State
which necessarily must be the Presi
dent’s adviser on matters of this kind.
Congress was criticized in many
quarters when it made the embargoes
applicable to all belligerents. Now,
however, if we may judge from the
word that comes to Washington, senti
ment seems to be swinging in the
other direction and there certainly is
a considerable, if not a majority, senti
ment for use of the mandatory provi
sion as distinguished from the exten
sion of discretionary authority to the
President. To say it another way, the
sentiment appears to be in favor of
making the embargoes applicable to all
belligerent powers and not just to one
nation w'hose claims our government
may believe to be unjust.
» * *
It is safe to say that before congress
determines definitely what the perma-
* p Pent policy shall be,
t.xpect there will be bitter
Hot Debate debate. In examining
the problem, it is to
be remembered that when the govern
ment lays an embargo against all na
tions at war it takes away possibilities
of tremendous profit. This profit ac
crues to those industries by which sus
taining war materials are produced.
Neutrality legislation, therefore, may
prove costly, not as costly as war, per
haps, but nevertheless a costly action.
Hence, there is no question that many
lines of commerce and industry are go
ing to be drawn into the preliminaries
of this decision.
To explain how disturbing to certain
lines of industry this thing can be, it
is only necessary to recall events of
the last month or so in connection with
the sanctions proposed by the League
of Nations. The League has tried to
force the dictator, Mussolini, to with
draw from Africa by the use of em
bargoes, which is what sanctions are.
The League proceeded with consider
able vigor until it reached the question
of oil. Immediately, shoes began to
pinch and the feet that were pinched
were in every country where oil is
found, even our own.
As a result, they have led the oil
horse up to the watering trough from
a half dozen different approaches but
they have not yet been able to make
him drink. Our own oil interests have
not been quiescent. If the league bans
oil shipments to Italy, the United
States, which is not a member of the
league, obviously will do likewise. Prof
its of the oil companies and the hun
dreds upon hundreds of thousands of
shareholders would be cut.
Further, Mussolini has announced
publicly that imposition of the em
bargo upon oil would mean war. He
did not say with whom he would go
to war but the British and the French
know and they are getting ready. The
British has its entire home fleet in the
Mediterranean at this time and the
Blue Jackets aboard the British men
of war have been drilled thoroughly
anew in the science of manning their
big guns.
So it is seen how delicate this whole
circumstance is. It is plain that when
congress deals with the neutrality leg
islation, It is moulding a pattern over
which there will be undoubtedly an
alignment among our citizens as sharp
ly drawn as though it were a purely
domestic question. There will be those,
of course, who favor a permanent pol
icy which will make it mandatory upon
the President to apply embargoes
against shipments of anything usable
in war and treat all nations engaged in
war alike. There will be set off against
this sentiment those who think the
Chief Executive should have discretion-
ary power and that the government
should not be placed in a strait-jacket
from which it cannot extricate itself
without congressional action. What
ever the conclusions may be and what
ever form the new legislation takes,
it remains as one of the most impor
tant policies to come before congress
in many moons. Whatever is done
necessarily will be a precedent toward
which future generations will look as
time goes on whether civilization be
comes more enlightened or not.
* * *
The Treasury, operating on a fiscal
year that runs from July 1 to June 30,
has just passed the
Must Cut half-way point in the
Outgo current 12-month pe
riod. The figures
show that its receipts are lagging far
behind the expenditures and demon
strates the necessity for cutting down
the federal outgo unless the nation de
sires to see its public debt go far be
yond any total hitherto conceived.
The official Treasury statement as
of December 30 shows that the gov
ernment has spent approximately $1,-
850.000. 000 more in the first six months
of this fiscal year than it received in
taxes and other revenue.
In consequence of this deficit, the
public debt is now approximately $30,-
600.000. 000, the highest point it ever
has reached and that total is roughly
two billion dollars higher than the pub
lic debt as it stood last July 1 when
the present fiscal year began.
Since the expenditures were so much
larger than the receipts, the Treasury
has been operating on a basis that, re
duced to the minimum, shows an out
go of about $1.96 for every $1.00 col
lected in revenue during the first half
of the current year.
© Western Newspaper Union.
Many Arson Fires
In the United States today a house
or other structure is willfully set on
Are—for insurance, excitement or re
venge—on an average of once every
105 minutes, despite the fact that ar
son fires are usually easy to detect and
the punishment is severe. In six
states conviction calls for the death
penalty and, in 14 others, it results in
either life imprisonment or a 20-year
sentence.
Washington Monument Dimensions
The Washington monument is 555
feet 514 inches in height. The base is
55 feet square, and the top is 34 feet
6 inches square.
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
E ncouraging in this age or
oft - appearing governmental
deficits is the report of Gov.
Blanton Winship of Puerto
Rico, on the island territory’s activi
ties for the fiscal year 1934-35.
For Puerto Rico, tiny West Indian
paradise where some 1,700,000 or more
American citizens live under a Stars
and Stripes which ripples in the balmy
trade winds, closed the fiscal year with
a surplus of $606,000, as against a
deficit of $279,000 for the preceding
fiscal year.
Political strife and the cry tor Inde
pendence, which for some time had
been gathering momentum and even
tually resulted in the resignation of
Gov. Robert II. Gore, who had served
since July, 1933, have abated under the
two years of the Winship administra
tion until today Puerto Ricans have
allowed' the greater share of their po
litical ardor to crystalize into a calm,
determined, orderly fight for statehood.
Hearings on the case for Puerto
Rican statehood will be resumed dur
ing the next congress. The congres
sional committee on territories began
public hearings in Washington last
June on a bill which would allow the
Island legislature at San Juan to frame
a constitution and become the forty-
ninth state. This is the desire of the
coalition party now in power in the
Island government, which is completely
autonomous except for the appointment
of a governor by the President of the
United States. There is still some agi
tation in the islands, fostered by the
liberal party, for complete independ
ence, and there has also been talk of
a compromise of the two parties which
would seek for Puerto Rico complete
autonomy without territorial independ
ence. This latter arrangement would
make the island unique politically,
would place it somewhere between a
territory and a state, and is believed
by many authoritative observers to be
the likely outcome.
Revenue Collections Are Up.
Despite the lingering depression
which has not shown signs of lifting
so quickly in Puerto Rico as in tuber
parts of the United States, revenue
collections for the fiscal year just
closed were more than $12,642,(XX), an
increase of $1,371,(XX) over the 1933-34
collections, and $1,442,(XX) more than
Manuel V. Domenech, the treasurer,
had expected. Municipal finances did
not fare so well, and none of the cities,
of which there are many on this thick
ly populated island, built up any sur
plus.
The chief cause for worry lay in
trade and commerce, which revealed a
decrease of 7 per cent in exports and
a 9V4 per cent increase in imports, ef
fecting the lowest favorable balance of
trade in eight years. Yet Puerto Rico
sends 94 per cent of its exports to the
United States, which imported far more
foodstuffs—the principal Puerto Rican
products—than in many years pre
ceding.
Especially worthy of note was the
falling off in the export coffee busi
ness, despite concerted promotional
drives to popularize Puerto Rican cof
fee in the United States. Where in
1934 the island exported 2,970,(XX)
pounds of coffee, it shipped away only
800,000 pounds in 1935. Imports of
coffee for the fiscal year just closed
were 1.142,000 pounds, compared with
only 16,449 pounds the year before.
Governor Winship attributes this start
ling reversal of form to the small size
of the 1934 crop.
There was, however, a general feel
ing of improvement in the governor’s
report. Not a little of the credit for
improvement is given to the Puerto
Rican Relief administration, the efforts
of which are just beginning to be felt,
since its work has not yet reached the
height of the campaign to restore to the
island a more balanced agriculture.
Small Farmer Suffers.
With a population which has doubled
since the island was ceded to the Unit
ed States at the close of the Spanish
American war in 1898, Puerto Rico is
now the most thickly settled agricul
tural region under Uncle Sam’s rule.
Yet holdings of agricultural land are
concentrated to an extent that has
proved itself harmful to the industry
as a whole and has reduced the small
owner to a state approaching economic
slavery.
Although congress, as far back as
1900, foresaw the hovering evil of con
centration of ownership and passed a
law which limited corporate holdings
to 5<X) acres, the law was never en
forced. Millions in American capital
rolled in, to become the foundation for
large-scale farming, chiefly on sugar
plantations, until today holdings of
more than 500 acres Include more than
a third of the area under cultivation,
although they constitute only .7 per
cent of the total holdings. So serious
has this situation become for the small
farmer, hundreds of families from mod
est farms have been forced to give up
and move into the cities, there to take
up their dwelling in the most inade
quate and unsanitary of hovels, consti
tuting a threat to political peace, an
addition to the already difficult unem
ployment problem and a potential
source of diseases which spring from
poverty and uncleanliness.
President Roosevelt, visiting the Is
land in 1934, was impressed by the
evil of this unlawful concentration and
declared that he would revive both
the spirit and the letter of the law
of 1900, and found upon it the return
of Puerto Rico to a sound agricultural
economy.
The President’s interest took form
in the PRRA, but this organization was
slow in getting started with its work,
and it was not until a couple of months
ago that it began to take definite,
measurable shape. On December 1,
1935, the PRRA had enrolled 8,7<X) re
lief workers and 1,500 non-relief work
ers, from which date 2,500 employees,
selected from the relief rolls as far as
possible, were to be added each week
until what was considered an adequate
staff had been assembled.
Funds Fall Short.
Under the direction of Ernest Gruen
ing, head of the division of territories
and island possessions of the United
States Department of the Interior, the
PRRA was to complete operations the
cost of which has been estimated at
$157,000,000. Doctor Gruening has
been faced with the rather discourag
ing fact that his organization has been
given only $64,(XX),(XX) so far, his proj
ects having had to take reduction aft
er reduction In finances.
In the face of these rather funda
mental annoyances, the program cut
out for Doctor Gruening and the PRRA
is nothing if not an ambitious one.
One of the first things to be done is
clearing the slums of the cities and
solving the housing problems of the
farm families who have been forced
to seek the centers of population to
make sure of getting something to eat
(usually from relief agencies). This
calls for $2,200,000.
Coffee and tobacco Industries in the
hills which dot the island everywhere,
as well as sugar plantations on the
coastal plains and the more infrequent
inland lowlands, have suffered from
centuries of soil erosion, with resultant
Impairment of efficiency. Reforesta
tion, forestation and preventive meas
ures against soil erosion will be
started to the tune of $994,000. Mo%!
of the topsoil has been washed away
from large areas, and many of the
trees which were not cut have been
destroyed by hurricanes—those of
1928 and 1932, which took 200 lives
each, as well as the more recent ones,
which wreaked such havoc along the
Floridan shores.
Another aid to the farmer will be
the rural electrification project, a tiny
counterpart of similar projects so dear
to the heart of the administration on
the mainland. This, to cost $2,728,000,
will provide hydro-electric power to
irrigate land, especially that on the
wide southern coastal plain where the
rainfall is far below the average of
76 Inches annually, and to electrify
industries and homes in the interior.
Private power companies, including
two owned by foreign concerns, now
furnish power In some of the cities and
their surrounding areas, but the gov
ernment claims to have no Intention
of competing with these In any way.
There are also several localities In
which power is now supplied by plants
owned and operated by the insular
government.
Fight Cattle Tick.
A project with the double purpose
of protecting Puerto Rican minor in
dustries and furnishing employment
will be the campaign to banish the
cattle tick and the coconut budrot.
This will get $307,000.
Three projects combined aim at the
readjustment of Puerto Rico’s principal
industry, sugar. The Jones-Costlgan
act required a cut of 150,(XX) tons In
the Island s production of sugar. Thli 1
made the unemployment problem even
worse than it should have been. It
abvlated the necessity of finding some
other use for 75,000 acres of mar
ginal sugar land. The PRRA intends
to turn this land Into homesteading
and crop diversification projects.
Hammers will soon ring In tlie con
struction of homes, schools and com
munity buildings. The farmers now
in the city will bo moved out onto
these lands and given opportunity to
become owners of the little farms
upon which they settle. The project
will cost nearly $6,000,000.
Supplementing this project are two
others, that of rural resettlement on
marginal sugar lands ($1,868,(XX)), and
that of resettlement on good sugar
lands ($6,500,000). The projects have
as one of their goals the co-operative
ownership of processing plants and
systems of marketing. Eventually it
Is hoped by this means to diminish the
amount of productive and profitable
land held by corporations In far-re
moved localities and build up the
security of the Independent farmer.
Nor is the ailing coffee-growing in
dustry to be left out in the cold. In
fact, coffee, along with tobacco and
citrus fruit farms, will receive a
larger allotment of funds than any
other of the projects, a total of almost
$8,(XX),(XX). Hurricanes and falHsi"
prices have put these farmers Into a
sorry state. This part of the rehabili
tation scheme is Intended to acquire
and redistribute thousands of small
parcels of land, which are now strug
gling under an unwieldy burden of
debt, at one-half the appraised value.
Will Buy Processing Plants.
Under still another project, the
PRRA will seek to buy equipment for
the processing and preservation of
farm and community products. Such
equipment would include sugar cen
trals, coffee mills, warehouses and cold
storage plants. The estimated cost of
the venture Is $4,000,000.
Amid ail this bread-and-butter talk,
culture will not be overlooked by the
beneficent PRRA. Its program calls
for a grant of approximately $1,200,-
000 to the University of Puerto Rico, a
first rate coeducational institution
founded more than 30 years ago In Rio
Pledras. Originally intended as a
normal school, this seat of learning
now embraces colleges of liberal arts,
law, agriculture and the mechanic arts,
pharmacy and the university high
school. It is known for its fine work
in tropical medicine, tropical agricul
ture and Spanish and English lan
guages. Graduated from Its classes
are many of the leaders of Island life
and, in fact, many prominent persons
throughout Spanish America.
The PRRA administration wishes to
attain a permanent status, but so far
has not been able to secure the neces
sary approval from Washington. Or
dinarily the FERA funds are endorsed
only up to June, 1937, but during the
last session of congress a hill was in
troduced by which the funds of PRRA
might be extended three years past
that date. It didn’t pass.
® Western Newspaper Union.
Russian Children Are to
Build a Railway Tunnel
A railway tunnel, 3,(XX) feet of
line, and a station comp'ete In ev
ery detail are to be built In thetr
spare time by 500 children in the
Tiflis Park of Culture and Rest at
Moscow.
These projects will be an exten
sion of (lie famous Children's Rail
way built in the park by the children
themselves. It is run entirely by
children and has two stations and
1,200 feet of track. It was opened
three months ago, and since then
65,(XX) passengers have ridden in its
tiny train, driven by a child. The
work of building the railway was
supervised by engineers of the
Transcaucasian railway.—Montreal
Herald.
Engineers Will Move River
to Create an Airdrome Site
To move a river so that an aero
drome can be built sounds a fantas
tic task—yet that Is what engineers
are about to do near Nice. The
mouth of the Var, a large river
there, is to be completely diverted
so that an aerodrome can be built
where its waters have flowed out to
the sea for countlc.-s centuries.
For some years the mouth has
been gradually silting up, and a del
ta has been forming under the sur
face of the water. Now it Is pro
posed to move the river bed 200
yards to the west, so that the delta
becomes dry land. On this will be
built an important aerodrome.
Find
Out
From Your Doctor
if the “Pain” Remedy
You Take Is Safe.
Don’t Entrust Your
Own or Your Family’s
Well - Being to Unknown
Preparations
B EFORE you take any prepara
tion you don’t know all about,
for the relief of headaches; or tha
pains of rheumatism, neuritis or
neuralgia, ask your doctor what he
thinks about it — in comparison
with Genuine Bayer Aspirin.
We say this because, before tha
discovery of Bayer Aspirin, most
so-called “pain” remedies were ad
vised against by physicians as being
had for the stomach; or, often, for
the heart. And the discovery of
Bayer Aspirin largely changed
medical practice.
Countless thousands of people
who have taken Bayer Aspirin year
in and out without ill effect, have
proved that the medical findings
about its safety were correct.
Remember this: Genuine Bayer
Aspirin is rated among the fastest
methods yd discovered for the relief
of headaches and all common pains
. . . and safe for the average person
to take regularly.
You can get real Bayer Aspirin at
any drug store — simply by never
asking for it by the name “aspirin”
alone, but always saying BAYER
ASPIRIN when you buy.
Bayer Aspirin
A Promise I* a Promise
Bill Patterson, colored, of Lancas
ter, S. C., was fined $10 for breach
of trust because he failed to return
after a friend In jail sent him to
fetch a ten cent cigar.
NO UPSETS
The proper treatment
for a bilious child
THREE ITERS
A cleansing dose today; a smaller
quantity tomorrow; less each timet
until bowels need no help at all.
A NY mother knows the reason
"when her child stops playing, eats
little, is hard to manage. Constipation.
But what a pity so few know tho
sensible way to set things rightt
The ordinary laxatives, of even
ordinary strength, must be carefully
regulated as to dosage.
A liquid laxative is the answer,
mothers. The answer to all your
worries over, constipation. A liquid
can be measured. The dose can be
exactly suited to any age or need.
Just reduce the dose each time, until
the bowels are moving of their own
accord and need no help.
This treatment will succeed with
any child and with any adult.
The doctors use liquid laxatives.
Hospitals use the liquid form. If it
is best-for their use, it' is best for
home use. The liquid laxative most
families use is Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup
Pepsin. Any druggist has it.