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BRISBANE
THIS WEEK
More Y ear*. More Carrs
Monkeys and Yellow Fever
The King Sees Poverty
Ancient Koran Found
The French have a saying, referring
to a man's ape, “One year more, one
care more"—Un an
de plus, un soln de
plug.
European nation?
might take for their
motto, “One treaty
more, one more dan
ger of war.”
Italy, Austria,
Hungary have a
three-power treaty
under which Italy
guarantees Aus
trian independence,
against any attempt
by Germany to ab
sorb Austria, for
Instance. There is
possible cause for war If any cause
were lacking.
l\ews Review of Current
Events the World Over
Half Million Farmers May Get Double Federal Benefits—
New Processing Taxes Abandoned—Clements
Quits as Townsend Plan Secretary.
By EDW^^^pickard
® western Newspaper Union.
Arthur flrlnl»fiite
Sao Paulo, lirazli, worries about re
ports brought by health officers from
tiie forests of tlie upper Sorocabana
area, in that region, where mosqui
toes are thick, explorers frequently
saw “monkeys with high fevers" drop
out of trees and die, dozens of them,
victims of yellow fever.
Fortunately for lirazli cities, the
Jungle mosquito that bites monkeys and
gives them yellow fever keeps away
from cities. The light against disease-
bearing mosquitoes and rats would
keep men busy. If they were not busy
already killing each oilier In war.
G. Tugwell
Edward VIII, new king of England,
visited the magnificently luxurious
ocean steamer Queen Mary In Glasgow,
then went from house to house, knock
ing on doors, visiting some of the worst
slum dwellings In all his kingdom.
Later, talking to Lord Melehett. tiie
kJng put tin* problem of England, this
country and tin* whole world in these
few words:
How do you reconcile a world that
lias produced this mighty ship with
tiie slums we have Just visited?”
D EXFORD G. TUGWELL, head of
x the rural resettlement administra
tion, announced that a special commit
tee Is considering a plan under which
more than half a mil
lion growers of farm
products would receive
double benefits from
the federal govern
ment. It provides that
the rural families now
getting loans from
Tngweli’s administra
tion to put them on
their feet and keep
them ofr the relief
rolls may also receive
full subsidy payments
connection with the soil conserva
tion program now being put into op
oration. There are now 450,000 recip
ients of the Tugwell loans and the
number Is expected to increase to 525-
000 by July 1.
The soli conservation subsidies are
to be paid to farmers who transfer
land from commercial crop production
to soil conserving growths, or who re
sort to other “economic” farm prac
tices. Officials said that the rehabilita
tion clients already are under obiiga
tlon to treat their soil wisely. Before
a family can obtain a rehabilitation
loan II must agree to follow a farm
management plan drafted by tiie gov
eminent.
I ids plan stipulates that tiie borrow
er must conserve bis land’s fertility
nnd grow food and feed crops for home
consumption. It also includes a flnan
cial budget.
p es, etc. The Borah-Nuys bill would
prohibit such allowances only when
ihrv were refused to purchasers of
goods of “like grade
quantity.”
quality, and
Ij^OKI HIItOTA. the new liberal
premier of Japan, declared In an
Interview: “While I am premier there
will be no war”; and continued: “We
Intend to cultivate our traditional
friendship with Great Britain, the
United States, Russia, and other pow
ers, thus fulfilling our great mission of
stabilizing east Asia.”
On the same day that Hlrota made
this pronouncement the soviet Russian
government ordered its ambassador to
Japan to lodge a strong protest fol
lowing a new border engagement which
Soviet advices said resulted from
Japanese attack on a Red frontier
post. Fighting lasted for hours, en
tailing loss of life on both sides, said
the reports.
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart
National Press Building Washington, D. C.
O VK 0f the bis fl " hts within the
^ American Federation of Labor
has been settled peacefully. It was
lor control of the building trades de
partment. In the past, building proj-
eels have been held up by strikes
growing out of arguments over which
of two unions should do a certain
piece of work. The peace pact pro
vides for appointment of an impartial
referee to settle such arguments.
1 lie pact also called for J. W. Wil
liams of the carpenters to head the
reorganization department, with M. J.
McDonough of the plasterers as sec
retary-treasurer. Each has been the
leader of one of the warring factions
and each has styled himself as the
lawful department president.
FEDERAL reserve board has pre
scribed a 55 per cent minimum mar
gin for purchases of stocks, the ruling
becoming effective April 1 for stocks
bought through brokers and May I for
those bought through banks.
The margin regulations were made
to apply only to listed securities on
registered stock exchanges, thus hav
ing no effect upon the large over-the-
counter market.
The maximum loan value applying
to registered stocks has been fixed
at 4;> per cent of current market value.
A marvelously illustrated ancient
manuscript of the Koran, found in a
simp of an antiquity dealer of Cairo,
Egypt, was bought for fifty pounds.’
Heaven knows how many thousands of
pounds It Is actually worth.
Tiie Koran Is said to have been writ
ten by a highly educated Jew, who
suggested ideas to Mohammed, the lat
ter being unable to write.
It Is possible, however, that angels,
supposed lo have revealed divine truth
to Mohammed, also taught him to
write.
Good
news for tree growers, fruit
trees or others. You may get rid of
Insect pests by hammering the trunks
of trees with a riveting machine, such
as is used in driving rivets In city
skyscrapers.
A California inventor patented the
process. This writer proposes to fry
it In a New Jersey orchard at the
earliest possible moment. The rivet
ing Is said to loosen inseet pests, after
"blob it is easy to wash them off
with a strong spray of water, no chem-
leals needed. To save the tree from
Injury, It is probably desirable to put
several thick nesses of old automobile
tires or tubes between the bark
the riveting machine.
and
tills
I bore Is plenty of money I
country, billions or It, Jesse Jones wll
tell you, but It is not circulating,
unhealthy for money In a countrv
for blond In your veins.
? ou know tlu i strange, perhaps true
story of a man who unwittingly passed
a counterfeit .$1(1 hill. Ir went through
the hands of ten Individuals, paid
for $100 worth of goods, and came bat
to Hie man who originally passed It
lie Identified and destroyed It.
Dne hundred dollars’ worth of debt
had been paid, nobody was any tiie
worse. Money is a queer tiling.
O ^L of (lie major features of tin
new tax program suggested by
President Roosevelt is omitted from
the measure prepared by a house sub
committee and on which open hearings
were begun by the ways and means
committee. For political reasons It
was decided that the plan for new
processing taxes on farm and compel
ing products should be abandoned. Mr
Roosevelt's suggestion for a “windfall’
fax to recapture part of the refunded
or unpaid AAA processing levies w
accepted by the subcommittee.
A third suggestion of tiie President,
for graduated taxes on the portions of
incomes which corporations do not dis
tribute In dividends to stockholders,
was changed to provide levies on total
Income of corporations varied accord
ing to percentages of profits put Into
reserves.
The subcommittee agreed that tiie
corporation tax rates should lie so
drafted as to permit corporations, par
ticularly small ones, lo build up re
serves lor lean years without being
compelled to pay comparatively high
taxes for Hie privilege of doing so.
The subcommittee figured on col
lecting some $25,000,000 from taxes on
dividends going to foreigners who own
Block in American corporations and
$83,000,000 from temporary contlnua-
tion of the capital stock and exe<
profits taxes.
DENITO MUSSOLINI evidently ex
pects another European war, and
In preparation for It he announced
several drastic measures on the seven
teenth anniversary of
the founding of the
Fascist party. He
abolished the chamber
of deputies, substitut
ing for it a council of
guilds; and he also
eliminated the coun
try’s large industries,
leaving the medium
and small private in
dustries in existence.
This latter move, he
told the council of the
22 guilds of the cor-
poratlve state, was to increase the na
tion’s economic self-sufficiency. “When
nnd how war will come, one does not
WITH only one change, the house
* V Passed the senate bill to continue
the Electric Home and Farm authority
as a federal agency until February 1,
Mtt7, or any earlier date decreed by
the President. The authority was cre
ated to help finance sales of electrical
appliances.
LJENRY BOYLE SOMERVILLE,
aged and retired vice admiral of
the British navy, was murdered by
gunmen at his residence at Castle-
townsend, County Cork, Irish Free
State. Thrown through the door of the
house was a card bearing these words:
“This British agent sent 52 Irish
boys into the British army in the last
few months. lie will send no more.”
Tiie admiral had received previous
threats because of his recruiting activ
ities.
Thunder
Over Relief
T.\ I REPID citizens of scores of cities
and towns in the eastern and New
England states which were devastated
by tiie unprecedented floods were dig
ging out their homes and places of
business from the mud and debris as
the turbulent waters of many rivers
Washington.—The President’s lat
est message to congress, asking more
than a billion and a
half in new money
to spend on relief
as he sees fit has
caused political thunder to rumble
again. It has brought out In the
open much of the undercurrent of
gossip that has been going on about
political racketeering with federal
funds and it has brought into sharp
relief, just ahead of tiie spring cam
paigning, the fact that tiie federal
government has used something like
$8,000,000,000 under the guise of re
lief since President Roosevelt took of
fice.
Naturally, tiie situation is immersed
In politics. All of tiie charges that
were flung at Mr. Roosevelt during
previous sessions of congress when he
had requested that he be given, as he
was given, blank checks on the treas
ury, have been revived. In addition,
new accusations and disclosures of
petty graft and political machinations
have been dug up and flaunted in the
face of the New Deal leaders. More
and more of these are coming to the
surface and there is no longer any
question that throughout the relief or
ganization there is politics. This is
true notwithstanding the strongly
worded statement by Mr. Roosevelt
that politics was not to figure in the
administration of relief in any way.
Ail of this leads up to tiie conclu
sion that whenever the federal govern
ment horns in on administrative af
fairs of states, counties or municipal
ities. the organization becomes so ex
tensive that it is Impossible for those
at the top in Washington to know
what goes on. It is but another way
of saying that the federal government
ought to confine itself to federal af
fairs, matters of national scope in
stead of attempting to supersede the
local governments in any function.
politicians, has denied these char^.
In toto. Senator Holt called the Hor!
kin’s denial a whitewash of his --
Pinchot
own
torned
appointees and Mr.
loose a fresh fire.
This sort of thing probably will de
velop in every state in the Union.
turns fast.
Mussolini asserted the large indus
tries, particularly those working for
the defense of the nation, would be
formed ln:o organizations called ’’fcey
Industries.” These, he said, “will be
run directly or Indirectly by the gov
ernment. Some will have mixed or
ganization
Do not give "living toys’’ to your chit
dren for Easter presents. Many par
cuts and friends thoughtlessly give
children helpless living creatures, eus
lly hurt live chicks, or newly hatched
ducklings.
The helpless creatures are roughly
treated, mutilated, fortunate If they
happen to be promptly killed, by chil
dren that know no better.
Doctor Townsend promises $200
month to everybody past sixty. That
would cost twenty-four thousand mil
lion dollars a year. Congressmen
know it can’t lie done, but do not dare
say so Individually.
I ownsend clubs have organized mil
lions of votes. The $200-a-month
promise made that easy. Congress
men do not want those votes
against them as individuals.
cast
The hard working, Intelligent Swiss
ration is said to t.e disturbed by the
prospect of another war as by none
other.
Every Swiss under fifty Is armed,
trained and ready. Even in tiie big’
war nobody tried to Invade Switzer
land—too much hard climbing, and
the conqueror would not know how to
run tiie hotels, even if he acquired
them.
Tiie immediate business of this coun
try is to find some way of controlling
flood waters—probably not Impossible
« Kin* Features Syndicate. Inc.
WNU Service.
JI'ST as Chairman C. Jasper Bell
and Ills house commit tee were about
to open (heir Inquiry Into tiie finances
<>t the Townsend old age pension plan
organization. Robert E.
Clements, co-founder,
secretary and director
of the movement, re
signed. He was sum
moned to lie tiie first
witness before Hie
committee but said Ills
resignation was not
motivated by tills, but
was solely due to Ills
opposition to political
activities of other lead
ers of tiie organiza
tion. Dr. F. E. Townsend in Los An
geles expressed Ms “hearty approval”
of Clements’ , and it was predict
ed oflier offi, ...s of the movement
would follow the secretary’s example,
Clements appeared before Hie com
mittee with a great mass of records,
ready to "account for
R. E. Clements
HAVING sent Joachim von Ribben
trop back to London with a modi
fied rejection of the four power plans
for peace in western Europe, Hitler
was preparing his counter proposals
hlcli British Foreign Minister Eden
had requested. Meanwhile the reiehs-
fuehrer continued his campaign tour,
delivering rousing speeches in defense
of Ills policies. Speaking in Ludwig
shafen, in the heart of the remili
tarized Rhineland, he said: “Those
ho want us to grovel on our knees
sfore agreeing talk with u* forget
are not a tribe of savages, but a
uropean nation looking back on thou
sands of years of culture.
“1 stretch out my hand to France.
We want pence for common sense rea
sons. Germany needs no more fame
on Hie battlefield, but is now getting
ready to seek laurels In the Olympic
pence competition of nations. Men who
relish the Indecent thought of victor
ami vanquished are not statesmen.
I hey must lie silent when peace talks
start.”
Most of tiie continental statesmen
who gathered in London to consider
tiie Rhineland affair went home, some
of them in very had humor over the
indecisive proceedings. The French,
disinclined to consider any further pro
posals from Hitler, were urging that the
French. British and Belgian general
staffs get together on plans in accord
ance with the Locarno treaty.
this, as well i s the relief of the suffer
ing thousands, was aided by funds to
taling more thnn $48,000,000 allocated
by President Roosevelt before he left
Washington for Florida.
Rough estimates were that the total
dead in 13 states were 169; the home
less were 221,500, and the total prop
erty damage, $271,500,000. The last
figure probably would be tripled if one
took into account the losses from in
terruption to industry and trade and
the stoppage of the wages of labor.
Li ties along the lower Ohio were
threatened as the flood waters raced
down to the Mississippi and the Gulf
of Mexico, but they had had plenty
of warning and were in a measure pre
pared
ISABELLA GRFENWAY, the capable
lady who has represented Arizona
in congress since October, 1933, has
announced in Tucson that she will re
tire from public life
at the conclusion of
her present term. She
was first elected for
the remainder of the
term of Lewis Doug
las, who resigned to
become director of the
budget, and was re
elected in 1934.
Mrs. Green way owns
and operates several
ranches in Arizona
and New Mexico nnd
a hotel in Tucson, and is also inter
ested in some mining companies. Un
doubtedly she could go back to con
gress without opposition, but she says
she wants to devote more time to her
private activities.
Mrs. Greenway
„ , every penny
collected. Before testifying he said-
“I have nothing to hide. I’m anxious
to appear. I have been responsible
for financing the Townsend plan, i
have collected around $850,00(1 and the
orgnnlznton ,ias spent about $750,000
There is still $100,000 on hand.”
^ L\ ERAL witnesses who appeared
belore a senate subcommittee de
clined that tiie Robinson-Batman anti-
chain store bill, which has administra
tion backing, would promote rather
ban curb monopolies, increase the
cost and lower tiie standard of living
mi decrease employment in whole in
dustries.
The hearing was on the Borah-Van
Nuys hill, a modification of the Robin
son-i'atinan measure, but the witnesses
particularly attacked the latter, which
already lias been reported favorably.
he house judiciary committee report
ed the Utterback bill, still another
modification of the Robinson Batman
measure, and a bitter tight over the
proposed legislation is expected.
The Robinson Patman bill would pro
hibit manufacturers from making price
discriminations in favor of large quan-
tity purchasers, through advertising al
lowances, service charges, brokerage
IN CONNECTION with the signing of
* the new naval treaty by the United
States, Great Britain and France, it
was disclosed in London that the two
first named powers have reaffirmed the
50-50 ratio for their fleets and again
promised not to compete against each
other in naval building. The new
three power pact limits the size of
battleships to 35,000 tons, retains 10,-
000 tons as the maximum for cruisers
and provides no cruisers of that size
shall be built for six years.
In the expiring Washington treaty
there was an article regarding fortl
ficatlon of naval bases. This is not
renewed In tiie new pact, and Japan
requested Information as to the future
intentions of the powers. Conse
quently tiie United States. Great
Britain and Japan were carrying on
diplomatic conversations on that topic.
Tiie new treaty gives the signatories
certain liberty of action in the event
of unforeseen naval activity by powers
not signatory to the treaty. So far as
America Is concerned, this “escape
clause" is taken to apply mainly to
Japan.
FOURTEEN persons perished In
1 Mexico’s worst aviation disaster.
A big trimotored plane carrying ten
European tourists and four company
employees crashed on the ridge be
tween the volcanoes Bopocatapetl and
Ixtaccihuati and there were no sur
vivors to explain why it fell. Among
tiie tourists were Brince Adolf of
Schaumburg Llppe and his wile Brin-
cess Elisheth
C TILL refusing to appropriate $12,-
° 000,000 for the Florida ship canai.
the senate passed the army bill carry
ing approximately $611,000,000. More
than half the sum goes for the military
activities of the War department.
There will be no reduction In the
number of CCO camps during most of
the coming fiscal year, and the en
rol lees will be kept up to about the
350,000 mark. This was the decision
of Bresident Roosevelt after a threat
ened revolt of Democratic representa
tives Induced him to change his mind
in the matter.
Senator Black, chairman of the sen
ate lobbying committee, has added the
Wichita Beacon to the papers whose
telegrams he has seized or attempted
to seize.
Since we are heading into a cam
paign in which Mr. Roosevelt is seek-
in t? re-election, his
Charge opposition is making
Waste much of two phases
°f the spending and
relief situations. They are stressing
the waste that they charge has per
meated every phase of the relief ef
fort in the last three years as well as
the waste that has taken place in the
countless alphabetical agencies that
Mr. Roosevelt has built up in the fed
eral government.
The relief machinery, Roosevelt op
ponents claim, has been converted into
a gigantic political machine, the chief
object of which is to re-elect Mr.
Roosevelt. They claim as well that
there has been created a bureaucracy
that makes us, as individuals, responsi
ble to a thousand little dictators who
act as prosecution, judge and jury
over our every coming and going.
All of these are harsh accusations
but there is enough evidence available
now to make it appear that there is,
at least, some truth upon which such
charges can be based.
Of course, politicians will magnify
all phases of every subject which they
discuss. The opposition will make the
crimes look heinous and the adminis
tration spokesmen will make every
thing look pure. Neither one is justi
fied in going quite to the extent of the
indicated trend. It seems to me that
voters ought not he fully convinced
by either side but tiiat they ought to
examine the picture from, the local
viewpoint where the evidence is first
hand and where tiie people who did a
good job or who were guilty of fraud
or corruption are known to the voters.
Then, if in November the election re
sults for the whole country show a
preponderance one way or another, the
voters will have established their will
as being either in favor of or definite
ly opposed to management of such
things from Washington.
I referred to the Bresidential meg .
sage asking an additional billion iin(1
a_j a u a half for r ^Hef.
And Asks This would not have
New Taxes created quite so
much of a storm had
it not followed closely on the heels of
the White House request for new
taxes. The combination of taxes and
an additional appropriation to he used
as previous blank checks have been
used by Mr. Roosevelt lias enabled
those who are opposed to the President
and those who, while they may support
him for re-election, are not in accord
with some of his policies, to make pub
lic statements of their positions to a
better advantage than was possible
before. If they had been able only to
oppose relief, administration support
ers could have accused them of being
opposed to the relief of destitute. To
put taxes and a blank check together
simply offers additional ammunition
and a good many members of congress
will use it before the new relief ap
propriation is voted.
I think there is no doubt that Mr.
Roosevelt will get the money but there
will be a great deal of accusing and
denying, respectively, before the vote
is taken. That will he necessary In
order to "make a record” upon which
senators and representatives can seek
re-election.
When 'Mr. Roosevelt was voted $4,-
880.000. 000 a year ago, his opponents
threw up their hands and said that
“yon can’t heat $4,880,000,000 for re-
election.” Now. one hears observations
frequently expressed that while “you
can’t beat $4,880,000,000 for re-elec
tion,” it is entirely possible that $4,-
580.000. 000 plus almost that much more
may beat itself. In other words. I
have attempted here to present a com
prehensive analysis of the pros and
cons in order to show that since poli
tics has crept in, has permeated the
relief setup, the AAA organization and
other New Deal agencies, it is entire
ly possible for a reaction to develop
whereby the vast sum of money would
be the cause of defeat rather than the
cause of re-election for Mr. Roosevelt.
1 am making no election prediction.
That would be utterly foolish. What
I have sought to do, however, plainly
and simply, is to show how local com
munities are going to rule the roost
to a greater extent in the 1936 election
than usually is the case.
Split on
Tax Plan
SENATOR WILLIAM E. BORAH Is
campaigning earnestly for the Re
publican Bresidential nomination, and
has just received a big boost for his
?ause in the announcement that Dr.
trancis E. Townsend, founder of the
old age pension plan that bears his
name, will give the Idahoan all his
support. Repudiating Bresident Roose
velt and changing his registration at
Long Beach, Calif., from Democratic
to Republican, Townsend said Borah
was the only Republican candidate
who -even approached” the standard
of the Townsendites. although the sen
ator has refused to indorse the Town
send pension plan as it stands.
Hitherto the Townsend organization
had favored circulation of third partv
petitions in every state to enlist mib
jions of people as a demonstration of
strength. So the doctor’s announce
ment is a reversal of policy.
More
Politics
There are 3,071 counties in the Unit
ed States. In nearly every one of
them, there are a
Republican and a
Democratic county
- chairman. In many
of the counties the Democratic coun
ty chairmen are trying to use the WBA
and its relief setup for political advan
tage. In an equal number of coun
ties Republican county chairmen are
watching for and reporting irregular
ities. There can he no doubt, there
fore, that the charges about relief be
ing used politically will increase in
number as the campaign progresses if
there is ground for the charges. So It
is made to appear that the local voters
will have a complete picture of condi
tions upon which to base their judg
ment.
Two recent instances where impor
tant individuals have called attention
to alleged corruption and political
maneuvering under guidance of relief
leaders serve to support the conten
tion I have just advanced that the
local communities will have complete
facts before them. I refer to the
charges by Senator Holt, Democrat, of
West Virginia, that the whole relief
organization in his state is honey
combed with politics and tiie Litter at
tack by Governor Pinchot. Pennsyl
vania Republican, upon what he called
the manhandling of relief administra
tion in the state in which he formerly
was the chief executive. Relief Ad
ministrator Hopkins, with the aid of
Much is being made of the Presi
dent s proposal to tax the surpluses
of corporations. I
have hitherto report
ed to you something
of tiie nature of the
| tax proposals but there have been de
velopments that bring the subject
again to the fore. One of these. f»er-
haps the most interesting one, is dif
ferences that have arisen between
men who are supposed to be the Pres
ident’s closest advisers. Professor
Raymond Moley, now a magazine ed
itor, lately criticized the tax plan most
vigorously in his publication. At the
same time, attention was directed here
to the recorded attitude of Prof. Rex-
ford Guy Tugwell. Professor Tugwell
published a book called “The Indus-
ti ial Decline” not so long ago and in
that volume he advocated tiie control
of capital by tiie “driving of corporate
surpluses into the open investment
market by taxation. These tw® views
simply cannot be reconciled and yet
they came from two individuals who
have been very close to Mr. Roosevelt
in an advisory way ever since Mr.
Roosevelt entered the White House.
Professor Moiey takes tiie position,
editorially, that if, during the depres
sion, American industry had been
stripped of ail surpluses, few of eveD
the greatest corporations could have
survived. He regards surpluses as
life insurance policies for corporations
and holds the conviction that unless a
corporation is permitted to retain
funds as it sees fit, It cannot protect
itself when our economic structure
goes into a tailspln such as that
through which we have been passing.
The difference in viewpoint of these
two men shows a sad state of confu
sion among the “economic planners of
the more abundant life,” and demon
strates, among other things, that Pro
fessor Tugwell still has very great
influence with the President. While
we have not heard many of Professor
Tugwell’s speeches lately, and it is
probably true, as publicly stated by
the opposition, that Professor Tugwell
has been muzzled for the period of the
campaign, there are many things be
ing done under Presidential orders that
have their origin in the Tugwell brain.
He is proceeding merrily on his way
with the Resettlement Administration
program, of which he is head, and has
14,000 employees on his pay roll Al!
of which seems to indicate that while
Professor Tugwell will not make any
more speeches calling upon farmers
and laborers to ally themselves
against “our common enemy.” he is
still a very effective member of the
New Deal administration
C Western Ne^»p*per Lu.o&