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News Review of Current
Events the World Over
Disastrous Flood Moves Down the Mississippi—Mass Evac
uation Prepared—Secretary Perkins Moves to
Compel General Motors Strike Parley.
By EDWARD W. PICKARD
© Western Newspaper Union.
G RADUALLY the terrible flood
in the Ohio valley subsided,
but the yellow torrents were pour
ing down the lower Mississippi
the nation was mo
bilized to save the
people there. By di
rection of the Pres
ident and Gen. Mal-
in Craig, chief of
staff, the army
made all prepara
tions for the evacu
ation of all inhabi
tants along the riv
er between Cairo,
111., and New Or
leans. The details
for this mass move
ment were worked out to the
point by commanding officers in
region and thousands of
trucks and railroad flat cars
collected. Headquarters for ....
evacuation were set up at Jackson,
General
Malin Craig
last
the
motor
were
the
Miss.
Lieut. Col. Eugene Reybold, dis
trict engineer at Memphis, ordered
the prompt delivery of 5,000,000 bur
lap sacks for the erection of sand
bag bulwarks, 15 cars of lumber, 210
outboard motorboats, 300 small
boats, 300 life jackets, and 1,500
lanterns.
The secretary of war authorized
the use of not only regular army
troops but also members of the
Civilian Conservation corps, the
National Guard, and the Red Cross.
General Craig said that if the bil
lion dollar levee system, erected
after the great 1927 flood, failed to
hold, about the same area affected
then would be inundated. Many
thousands of people already had
been removed from homes along the
Mississippi, but Cities like Memphis
and Vicksburg, being on high
ground, were believed to be safe.
At New Orleans river experts re
fused to admit danger of a super
flood along the lower reaches of the
river. But Secretary of War Wood
ring in Washington had reports
from engineers which said the
levee system on the lower Missis
sippi probably would not be able
to withstand the present flood when
it reaches its crest.
At this writing the effects of the
flood may be thus summarized:
Homeless, nearly a million. Dead,
probably more than 500, including
200 in Louisville. Damage, conserv
atively estimated at more than $400,-
000,000.
Congress hurried through a defi
ciency appropriation of $790,000,-
000 which the President promised
would be made available for flood
relief; and the American Red Cross,
working at high speed, was raising
a fund of $10,000,000 to which the
people of the entire country con
tributed liberally. Supplies of food,
drinking water, clothing and medi
cines were poured into the stricken
areas.
Cincinnati, Louisville, Ports
mouth, Frankfort and Evansville
were the worst sufferers; but every
city, town and village along the
Ohio and its tributaries shared in
the disaster. Fires broke out in the
Mill Creek district of Cincinnati and
destroyed property valued at $1,500,-
000 before the flames could be con
trolled. Throughout the entire re
gion transportation was crippled,
Pure water and fuel supplies were
shut off or greatly reduced, and
outbreaks of typhoid and pneumonia
were threatened. In Louisville the
hght and power plant was forced
to shut down.
In Frankfort, Ky., the state re
formatory was flooded and the pris
oners were removed to other
Quarters with the aid of troops. The
convicts took advantage of the
emergency to start a riot and about
? “ ozen were killed. All of southern
Indiana was placed under martial
law by Governor Townsend.
leadei of the senate, she asked the
prompt passage of a bill empower
ing her department to subpoena per
sons and papers in connection with
investigations of strikes. To the
press Miss Perkins said that once
she had this power she would sum
mon Sloan to a meeting with Lewis
in Washington; but she was not
sure she could compel him to nego
tiate a strike settlement.
Sloan had posted in all General
Motors plants a denial that the cor
poration was responsible for the
breakdown of negotiations and was
‘‘shirking our moral responsibil
ities.” He reiterated his refusal to
treat with the union so long as
the sit-down strikers held the plants-,
and continued with a promise to
employees;
‘‘We shall demand that your
rights and our rights be protected”
against “a small minority who have
seized certain plants and are hold
ing them as ransom to enforce their
demands.
‘‘I say to you once more, have no
fear. Do not be misled. General
Motors will never let you down. You
will not have to pay tribute for the
privilege of working in a General
Motors plant.”
Sloan contends that more than
100,000 G. M. employees have ex
pressed a desire to return to work.
Lewis scoffs at this claim but w’ill
not countenance the holding of
an election to determine whether his
unions command the majority nec
essary to constitute them the sole
collective bargaining agency. The
federal labor relations board could
order such an election but it has
not intervened, and probably will
not.
Governor Murphy of Michigan
had not modified his refusal to per
mit the National Guardsmen sta
tioned in Flint to be utilized in
carrying out a judicial order that
the plants be vacated by the sit-
down strikers.
'T'HE six-week strike of 7,100 em-
ployees of the Libbey-Owens-
Ford Glass company ended with ap
proval by the union committee and
company officials of a wage agree
ment giving a flat eight-cent-an-hour
increase in all plants of the com
pany. A one-year-contract was
signed.
The agreement provides for ap
pointment of a committee of five to
investigate wage rates of the Pitts
burgh Plate Glass company with a
view to establishing uniformity of
rates throughout the flat glass in
dustry.
A/I AYBE it was just a promotion
stunt for the book, but Senator
Joseph F. Guffey of Pennsylvania,
Democrat, introduced in the senate
a resolution calling
for an investigation
of the truth or falsi
ty of scurrilous
charges made
against the Supreme
Court in “Nine Old
Men,” a volume au
thored by two con
ductors of a Wash
ington gossip col
umn. In offering the
resolution Guffey
made a bitter attack
on the Supreme Court, saying:
“The President of the United
States, with his characteristic frank
ness and courage, has opened for
debate the most troublesome prob
lem which we must solve if we are
to continue a democracy.
“That problem is—whether the
Supreme court will permit congress,
the legislative branch of our gov
ernment, which was equally trusted
with the Supreme court by the
framers of the Constitution, to per
form its duties in making democra
cy workable and effective.”
The senate heard Guffey’s speech
in silence and referred his resolu
tion to the judiciary committee.
A rtificial scarcity of farm
products is abandoned as a pol
icy for the time being by Secretary
of Agriculture Wallace. He said in
Washington that the two drouth
years of 1934 and 1936 have brought
more thought on farm production by
consumers and farmers than ever
before. While a year or two of nor
mal weather would tumble wheat
prices, if full acreage is planted, the
time has come for a lifting of the
restrictions, he said.
“In the year immediately ahead,
I feel that farmers should think
primarily of their duty to consum
ers,” Wallace said. “I think that in
the’ coming year it is wise for us
to produce as much as we can. We
should, of course, divert a certain
amount of corn and cotton acreage
to soil conserving crops, because
that will make for greater long time
productivity of our farm land.
“But for the most part, let’s fill
up the storage bins this year. It is
good policy to vary the plans for
storage of crops in the soil accord
ing to the state of supplies in the
granary above the ground.”
Sen. Guffey
Washington.—The arrival of the
first robin is only a sign of the com-
ing of spring. It
Danger does not bring
Signs spring weather.
Nevertheless, we
Americans watch for signs all our
lives and lately there have been sev
eral of them in national affairs that
are worthy of notice.
There never has been a time in
our country’s history, as far as I
have been able to discover, when
the tension surrounding labor con
ditions has been as dangerous as it
is right now. I do not believe any
one can forecast what the results
are going to be; what all of these
strikes and factional fights in or
ganized labor mean and I am con
vinced that they represent some
thing much deeper than just dis
satisfaction with wages or growing
pains of expanding business. In
other words, there are many stu
dents of national affairs who are
attempting to analyze current labor
conditions as signs of new times.
Most observers with whom I have
discussed the present labor prob
lems, are hopeful that these trou
bles mean only continued increases
in the demand for labor. That is,
they want to accept these signs as
indicative of a returning and sound
prosperity in commerce and indus
try. Yet, none of them is quite sure.
There are too many “ifs” and too
many uncertainties for anyone to
attempt a complete diagnosis of the
circumstances.
Some weeks ago I ventured the
opinion in these columns that the
rift in organized labor between Wil
liam Green as head of the Ameri
can Federation of Labor and John
L. Lewis as sponsor of the indus
trial union idea, likely would result
in serious trouble for the labor un
ions themselves. I was unable to
report then that which I can write
at this time, namely, that the
schism in organized labor appears
certain to set back the cause of
organized labor many years. In
deed, it seems that the split, tan
gled as it is with partisan politics,
may prove to be the uncharted rock
in union labor’s course and its ship
may founder on it.
* * *
But the situation is fraught with
graver possibilities, I am sure.
There are ele-
Grave ments and influ-
Possibilities ences at work in
the labor situation
today that easily could lead to riots
and bloodshed. From riots and
bloodshed it is only a step to revo
lution of a political sort.
None here knows exactly what
the administration’s labor policies
are beyond the exaggerated prom
ises made during the last Presi
dential campaign. Of course, Pres
ident Roosevelt and the bulk of his
New Deal spokesmen are exceed
ingly friendly, overfriendly some be
lieve, to organized labor. The New
Dealers had organized labor with
them in the last campaign. Now,
however, it is made to appear that
the support of labor in the cam
paign is proving more or less em
barrassing to the administration
which has just started on its second
four-year term.
Some of the critics of the admin
istration are outspoken in their
statements that Mr. Roosevelt is
trying to dodge, trying to avoid, get
ting mixed up too deeply in labor’s
problems. Some of his subordinates
have been active but the President
has stayed out of the picture just
as far as he could and as long as
he could.
I am inclined to believe that these
assertions that Mr. Roosevelt is
afraid to take leadership too fre
quently in labor’s problems are un
fair to the President. They amount
to a statement that he lacks cour
age—which is not true. On the con
trary, there are many who believe
with me that Mr. Roosevelt senses
developments yet to arise in the la
bor situation and he is, therefore,
being cautious as to is steps thus
early in what threatens to be a
national labor crisis.
On the other hand, it is difficult to
explain why the national labor rela
tions board has been so nearly qui
escent through such strikes as the
plate glass and portions of the auto
mobile workers.
If there ever was a situation
made to order for use of the agency
set up under the so-called Wagner
law, that situation was to be found
in the two strikes just mentioned.
The board did so little in those cir
cumstances that its existence can
be said to have been forgotten. It
amounted to a dead letter insofar
as the law itself is concerned. In
some quarters one can hear discus
sion to the effect that sponsors of
the national labor relations act and
board were unwilling to have that
agency and the law receive a real
test at this time. I have been un
able to confirm this thought at all
but frankly the circumstances that
one sees indicate there is some
truth in the rumor that too much of
a burden should not be unloaded on
the board for its first real test.
Business interests never have be
lieved the law to be constitutional.
The New Dealers, however, have
eunweiiueu vuciierousiy __
valid and yet we have the picture
of a New Deal agency failing to
perform the very functions for
which it was created.
• • *
I mentioned earlier some of the
signs and portents that are visible
in the labor situa-
Sit Down tion. One of the
Strikes most important of
these is the sig
nificance of the “sit down” type of
strike. I find many informed au
thorities who refer to the “sit down”
strike as a key point in present la
bor problems.
It is something new in this coun
try. It is a program of striking in
which labor is entirely passive but
by which it usurps the rights of own
ership. The workers simply stay in
the plants, offering no trouble and
for the most part avoiding destruc
tive tactics. But it is the fact that
they remain in the plants, the prop
erty of their employers, that is caus
ing considerable worry in govern
ment circles.
The reason why this phase of
strike tactics is creating concern
lies in the fact that it amounts to
the seizure of private property by
individuals who have no right or
warrant in law. It would be the
same thing as far as legal rights
are concerned if a group of strikers
went to your home or mine and
announced they expected to stay
there. There is no difference in
the two situations. While the ef
fect on you or me would be less
important to the country as a whole,
it remains as a fact that our rights
would be violated in exactly the
same manner as rights of corpora
tions were violated, say, in the Gen
eral Motors strike. After all, you
and I are merely units of the great
mass of people that make up the
United States of America. Now, it
takes no great stretch of the imagi
nation to recognize that if union
labor establishes its ability to oc
cupy the property of others and fixes
that as a precedent, then where are
the rights of any person who owns
property. It matters not whether
it is a small cottage, a farm home
or a great industrial plant—the right
to own property, guaranteed to us
by the Constitution of the United
States, is virtually nullified.
One of the rights of American cit
izenship is a right to own prop
erty. It is a principle that has
grown to be sacred with us since
the Boston tea party. Yet, it is
being challenged and thus far the
federal government has made no
move to break it up. As long as
employers organize and tread on la
bor with a steel boot, just so long
the workers are entitled to organize
to combat mistreatment from busi
ness. But it does not seem to me to
be a right of labor to actually take
private property. To that extent I
cannot feel very kindly toward those
strikers at present asserting such a
right through use of the “sit down”
strike.
Now, there are reasons why the
federal government has not acted.
If troops were sent into private fac
tories to drive out the “sit down”
strikers, one can readily see what a
riot would result. But if the federal
government fails to enforce this in
herent right, it is not doing its
sworn duty to the rest of the people.
And it was only a few weeks ago
that Mr. Roosevelt again took the
oath of office as President, swearing
to enforce as well as defend the
Constitution.
Then, another phase of the situa
tion is being discussed. The Wag
ner law says employers must nego
tiate collectively “with the major
ity” organization of employees and
it decrees further that the labor re
lations board shall determine which
is the majority organization; that
it can decide this question on evi
dence or order an election among
employees. None can tell usually
whether union or company organiza
tion employees are in the major
ity in some of these strikes, so the
labor relations board has kept out of
them.
Taking this labor situation as a
whole, I believe I am justified in
saying, as I said earlier, that it
portends a crisis. Preaching of class
hatred has been the main occupa
tion of certain elements in the last
three or four years and now those
elements are reaping what they
sowed. The tragedy of it all is
that the rest of us have to reap
the same reward.
© Western Newspaper Union.
Wisdom Teeth
Such appellations as “wisdom
teeth” to indicate the third molars
or “eye teeth” to describe the ca
nine teeth are the carryover from
the Middle ages to our own time
of the relationship generally ac
cepted between tooth and wisdom,
tooth and eye, says Hygeia, the
Health Magazine.
Sleep Talk May Be Legal
Words spoken in sleep are not
evidence of a fact or a condition
of the mind, yet, says Collier’s
Weekly, some courts of the United
States have ruled that such testimu
ny is admissible.
Going to the Party?
W HERE is the party? At Mrs.
Smith’s on Walnut street and
it looks awfully much as though
the principals were caught by the
candid camera. Luckily, how
ever, they’re perfectly groomed
for their parts:
Introducing Janet.
Janet in her jumper (Pattern
1996) is asking Mother which
glassware to use. Her plaid blouse
in taffeta makes her feel very
dressed up. Mother chose this
style because the many possibili
ties for change make it a ward
robe rather than a dress and she
knew it would be easy-to-make.
Your own little girl may have
this same ensemble in sizes 6, 8,
10, 12, and 14 years. Size 8 re
quires 1% yards of 39 inch ma
terial for the jumper and 1%
yards for the blouse.
Mother, the Hostess.
Mother is the perfect hostess,
calm and assured, because she
knows her all-occasion frock with
its sprightly crisp apron (Pattern
1220) is becoming and appropri
ate. For house wear she made
up this model in print. She is
wearing here the crepe version
and knows that it will be delight
ful for later on in cool black and
white. It comes in sizes 34, 36,
38, 40, 42, 44, and 46. The dress
and apron in size 36 require 5Vt
yards of 39 inch material. The
apron alone requires 1 V« yards.
And the Guest.
The guest just arriving is wear
ing her trigest Sew-Your-Own.
She likes it because the puffed
shoulders and swing skirt make
her hips look smaller. The collar
is young and the sleeves stylish.
This frock is especially chic in
silk crepe alpaca or one of the
lovely new prints. For your own
daytime distinction, then, why not
make up Pattern 1205? It is avail
able in sizes 14, 16, 18, and 20
(32 to 42 bust). Size 16 requires
4% yards of 39 inch material. One
ball of yarn required for trim
ming as pictured.
New Pattern Book.
Send for the Barbara Bell
Spring and Summer Pattern Book.
Make yourself attractive, practi
cal and becoming clothes, select
ing designs from the Barbara
Bell well-planned, easy-to-make
patterns. Interesting and exclu
sive fashions for little children
and the difficult junior age; slen
derizing, well-cut patterns for the
mature figure; afternoon dresses
for the most particular young
women and matrons and other
patterns for special occasions are
all to be found in the Barbara
Bell Pattern Book. Send 15 cents
today for your copy.
Send your order to The Sew
ing Circle Patern Dept., Room
1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago,
111. Price of patterns, 15 cents
(in coins) each.
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
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