Newspaper Page Text
BRISBANE
" THIS WEEK
For the Pacific States
A Good Example
It Sold for S7OO
! The Pacific states should interest
themselves in air defense, apart
from the national
government.
When a com
mittee of rich
men from New
York called on
Abraham Li n
coln, told him
how much mon
ey they had, and
urged that he
send a good bat
tleship to do noth
ing but protect
New York city,
his reply was
that if he had
J ...-I. I JA | RT | 3ILi..
I "S
Arthur Brisbane
as much money
as they said they had, he would
build a battleship for himself.
The west coast states, California,
Oregon, Washington, co-operating
perhaps with their vigorous neigh
bors of Vancouver, and other points
above the Canadian border, might
well have a few flying ships of their
own, a sort of air militia.
San Francisco, where they com
bine patriotism with plenty of mon
ey, and great civic pride and ener
gy, might well start the idea of a
Pacific coast flying force. That need
not be very expensive. A hundred
machines to begin with, a hundred
plucky young fliers, practicing the
gentle art of flying at night, and
dropping bombs, practicing espe
cially mimic warfare against other
flying machines, would constitute an
admirable object lesson to the rest
of the country.
And if California, in San Fran
cisco for instance, should start a
little flock of one hundred machines,
Los Angeles could be relied upon
to hurry in with two hundred, Seat
tle and other coast cities also.
Such machines need not be a to
tal loss.
In the first place, many young
gentlemen with rich fathers, not
knowing exactly what to do with
themselves, extremely anxious to
find work worth while, and prefer
ably dangerous, would delight in
each equipping his individual ma
chine, for the service of the Pacific
coast and of Uncle Sam, as the
nobles in the old days delighted in
equipping each his regiment, or his
fighting ship, for the service of the
king.
Two hundred or three hundred
high - powered, swift flying ma
chines, directed by quick and coura
geous American brains, would be
worth more to the safety of the Pa
cific coast than a hundred battle
ships. For the fighters that come,
if they do come, will fly miles above
the battleships.
They would come less gaily, less
confidently, if they knew that
trained fliers awaited them.
Hideyo Noguchi, who gave his life
to fight yellow fever in Africa, will
inspire many men. He was born of
a proud, warlike race, intensely self
centered, for 2,000 years a hermit
people. The loyalty of a Japanese
was to family, clan, above all to
the emperor representing his race.
The rest of the world was nothing
to him.
Born one generation after Japan
opened her doors to the world, No
guchi felt the new spirit of the
times. He was loyal to family,
clan, emperor, race; but he was
devoted chiefly to all human kind.
From boyhood to the last, through
poverty and many perils, he studied
how to wipe out disease. He dis
covered the germ of yellow fever,
developed serums to prevent the
fever or cure it, led in the work
that has driven it out of America
and will soon put an end to it
throughout the world.
Yellow fever killed countless mil
lions of all peoples. Noguchi’s skill
and devotion have saved the lives
of millions, too many to estimate,
most of them foreigners to whom
his forefathers would have paid no
attention, calling them hei-min, or
no-folks.
Noguchi’s self-sacrifice to human
welfare sets an example that is sure
to be followed. Perhaps, in time,
most men will see that it is better
to help one another than to kill or
even rob one another.
It is said the Hackensack Indians
sold to the white men for so many
bars of lead, and some finery, worth
altogether S7OO, land on which now
stands the entire city of Newark,
N. J., and a great deal of land be
yond.
The poor Hackensack chief, with
his S7OO, couldn’t buy today enough
land for a tight grave at the corner
of Broad and Market streets in New
ark. Land goes up wonderfully.
Doctors at Kansas City report
that birth control information so
much discussed does little good to
the poor, and has caused an “alarm
ing slump in child bearing among
educated families.”
That is how reform works, usu
ally. But since 90 per cent of hu
man beings worth while come from
poor families, providence may be
working in its usual mysterious way.
Kin> Features Syndicate, *nc.
WNV Service
News Review of Current
Events the World Over
Senator Couzens Defeated in Michigan Primaries—Maine
Recaptured by Republicans —Notable Gathering of
Savants at Harvard Tercentenary.
By EDWARD W. PICKARD
@ Western Newspaper Union.
n EPUBLICANS were highly grat
ified by the results of the Michi
gan primary election for two rea
sons: First, because three out of
five person.- who
went to the polls
asked for Republi
can ballots; second,
bee au s e Senator
James Couzens, a
Republican who has
openly declared that
he is supporting
President Roosevelt
for re-election, lost
his fight for re
nomination. C o u z
ens, one of the
wealthiest members of the senate,
was badly defeated by former Gov.
Wilbur M. Brucker, and there is
more than a suspicion that he knew
his fate beforehand. Brucker, who
is only forty-two years old, has
been in public life for almost twen
ty years. The Republicans re-nom
inated Frank D. Fitzgerald for the
governorship.
On the Democratic side Repre
sentative Prentiss M. Brown won
the senatorial nomination against
Louis B. Ward who was supported
by Father Coughlin. For governor
they chose Frank Murphy, high
commissioner to the Philippines and
former mayor of Detroit. Both Mur
phy and his defeated opponent,
George Welsh, campaigned as
Roosevelt supporters.
In the New Hampshire primaries
Gov. H. Styles Bridges won the Re
publican senatorial nomination, end
ing the effort of former Senator
George H. Moses to stage a come
back. The Democrats put up Rep
resentative William N. Rogers.
Nominees for governor are Maj.
Francis P. Murphy, Republican, and
Amos N. Blandin, Democrat.
Massachusetts will have for sena
tor either Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.,
Republican, or James M. Curley,
now governor, Democrat. John W.
Haigis, Republican, and Charles F.
Hurley, Democrat, were nominated
for the governorship.
The gubernatorial nominees in
Wisconsin are: Gov. Philip La Fol
lette, Progressive; Alexander Wi
ley, Republican, and Arthur W.
Lueck, Democrat.
MAINE, the “barometer” state,
is back in the Republican
column at least so tar as its state
ticket is concerned. The G. O. P.
captured the United States senator
ship, the governorship and three
congressional seats. Senator Wal
lace H. White. Republican, defeated
Gov. Louis J. Brann, who sought
to unseat him. Lewis O. Barrows,
Republican, won the governorship
by a substantial majority over F.
Harold Dubord, Democrat.
The vote cast broke all records
for size and interest in the election
was intense. The state had been
visited by both President Roosevelt,
as he returned from his vacation
cruise, and Gov. Alf M. Landon,
the Republican Presidential nomi
nee, who made speeches there only
a few days ago. Colonel Knox, vice
presidential candidate on the Re
publican ticket, also had canvassed
the state. Brann, who was elected
governor in 1932 and re-elected two
years later, was the first Democrat
to hold that office in Maine and
was personally popular. White was
elected senator in 1930 after ten
years in the house.
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
WALLACE has approved the
new $10,000,000 seed corn loan pro
gram of the AAA. The government
will advance farmers two types of
loans on seed corn stored on the
farm. Advances of $1.75 a bushel
will be made to farmers on 1,000,-
000 bushels of selected corn. The
government will have the option of
buying this corn at $3.50 a bushel
up to April 1, 1937.
The second type of loan permits
advances of 55 cents a bushel on
“good quality and properly stored
cribbed corn which can be sorted
for seed at a later date.” On the
latter type of loan the government
retains the right to purchase the
collateral at $1.50 a bushel until
April 1 next.
It is understood the Reconstruc
tion Finance corporation has agreed
to advance up to $10,000,000 under
the loan program. The loans will
be made to farmers through the
Commodity Credit corporation.
The interest rate on the new loans
will be 4 per cent, the same as
was in effect under the old corn loan
program.
P EDERAL government help in
* controlling their business has
been asked by two large sections
of the tobacco industry.
The Retail Tobacco Dealers of
America, Inc., representing about
300,000 retailers of tobacco prod
ucts, requested the federal trade
commission to authorize a trade
practice conference with a view
for formulating rules for the elim
ination of unfair methods of compe
tition and trade abuses.
Representatives from nine tobac
c< producing states wound up a two-
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1936
day conference in Washington with
a request addressed to the agricul
tural adjustment administration to
draft a model production control
bill.
'T'O THE sixty-sixth annual con
-*■ gress of the American Prison
association, held in Chicago, was
presented a report from the com
mittee on crime prevention in which
it was stated that the tactics of a
certain class of lawyers in defend
ing persons charged with crime
have the effect of encouraging crim
inals to repeat their offenses. The
committee declared that 75 per cent
of the prisoners now in penal insti
tutions in this country had been
“literally faced about into a ca
reer of crime” by their experiences
with defense attorneys. '
The coaching of the attorney
tended to help the defendant find an
alibi for his misdeeds and a sed
ative for his conscience, accord
ing to the report, when public wel
fare should have guided the lawyer
to conduct “which would quicken
the sensibilities of the prisoner and
awaken him to his own misdeeds.”
The committee recommended
more scientific methods in prevent
ing and combating crime and it esti
mated that the country’s annual
crime cost is $15,000,000,000 —“one-
fourth of the national income; half
of the war debt.”
p OR the first time in seven years
*■ the United States is to have a
squadron in European Atlantic wa
ters. It is known as “Squadron 40-
temporary” and Rear Admiral Ar
thur P. Fairfield was named as its
commander. Admiral Fairfield
hoisted his flag aboard the light
cruiser Raleigh at the Norfolk navy
yard and sailed for Gibraltar. At
first the squadron will consist of the
flagship Raleigh, the destroyers
Kane and Hatfield and the coast
guard cutter Cayuga, but navy of
ficials expected its strength would
be increased soon.
The Hatfield, Kane and Cayuga
had been on emergency duty in
Spanish waters since the outbreak
of the Spanish revolt until they were
withdrawn to nearby neutr'.l ports
following the attempted bombing of
the Kane by an unknown plane off
Cadiz last August 30.
IT IS pleasant to turn from war
and politics and read o. the do
ings at Cambridge, Mass., where
Harvard university is celebrating
9
Sen. Couzens
IC :
Dr. James B.
Conant
their various degrees of scholar
ship.
President James B. Conant greet
ed the guests, accepted their cre
dentials and delivered a simple
address of welcome. He noted that
the assembly was an impressive
demonstration of the solidarity of
the academic world, and saw in the
greetings of the delegates “the con
tinued aspiration of mankind toward
a universal fellowship based on hu
man reason.”
Responding on behalf of the dele
gates, Prof. Klie Cartan of the Uni
versity of Paris paid tribute to Har
vard’s contributions to education
and declared that “no barrier, po
litical, religious or social, should be
erected to stop the search for
truth.”
When the delegates were called
up in the order of the age of the
institutions they represented, first
to respond was Prof. Saleh Hashem
Attia of Al-Azhar university of Cai
ro, founded in 970. Then came the
next oldest, the Regia university,
Neglie Stuni Bologna, founded in
the Tenth century, and represented
by Prof. Carrado Gini. Third was
the University of Paris, founded in
the Eleventh century, whose repre
sentative was Dr. Cartan. Oxford,
Cambridge and all the others fol
lowed, down to the youngest repre
sented, the Academia Sinica of Nan
king, China.
World famous educators, scien
tists and men of letters including ten
Nobel prize winners, were among
those who attended the reception.
FRANCE’S famous polar explor
er, Dr. Jean Charcot, and 59 of
the crew of 60 aboard the explora
tion ship Pourquoi Pas were
drowned when the vessel foundered
in a gale off the Iceland coast. One
petty officer swam ashore and told
of the tragedy. Charco; led two ex
peditions to the Antarctic and a re
gion there is named for him, Char
cotland. In 1925, when one of Roald
Amundsen’s north polar expeditions
was missing, Charcot searched the
east coast of Greenland in the Pour
quoi Pas.
the tercentenary of
its founding. In
Sanders theater was
held the academic
reception for 554
scholars represent
ing 502 universities,
’ colleges and learned
societies in every
state of the Union
and in forty foreign
countries, and all of
them wearing the
caps, gowns and
hoods signifying
POPE PIUS XI may be physically
weak, as recent reports say, but
age and illness have not lessened
the vigor of his opinions and his
way of expressing
them. In greeting
and blessing some
five hundred Span
ish refugees who
were received at
Caste! Gandolfo, the
holy father took oc
casion to denounce
strongly the “mad”
forces of Commu
nism which, he de
clared, menaced, in
Spain and else-
where, “the very foundations of all
order, all culture and all civiliza
tion.” He urged the constituted
authorities of all nations to oppose
“these great evils with every reme
dy and barrier that is possible” and
prophesied that there will be utter
chaos if “those who have a duty in
the matter do not hasten tc repair
the breach—if, indeed, it is not al
ready too late.”
The pope spoke especially of the
situation in Spain, but said tha crisis
there is “a school in which the
most serious lesson is being taught
to Europe and to the whole world—
to a world now at last wholly
steeped, ensnared and threatened
Ly subversive propaganda, and
more especially to a Europe bat
tered and shaken to its very founda
tion.”
For forty minutes the pontiff
spoke passionately, his voice at
times broken with emotion, and his
address was transmitted by radio
to all the civilized world.
Reichsfuehrer Hitler, too, took
another hard whack at the Com
munists at a ceremonial tribute to
the World war dead in Nuremberg.
Before 120,000 uniformed Nazis and
50,000 others he boasted of Ger
many’s armed strength and
shouted:
“Our old enemy, bolshevism, is
vanquished within Germany, but
still active around her borders. But
let no one be deceived. We are
ready at any hour. We all have
one wish—to maintain peace but
with it goes one firm decision:
Never to surrender Germany to that
enemy we have come to know so
well.”
If Hitler, as some think, tries to
lead the coming five-power Locarno
conference into forming an anti-
Soviet alliance, he will be firmly
opposed by France. Foreign Min
ister Yvon Delbos says so, and de
clares France will under no circum
stances abandon her military pact
with Soviet Russia.
According to Pravda, authorita
tive newspaper of Moscow, Hitler
plans to attack and partition Czecho
slovakia before he embark? on a
war against the Soviet union.
Benito Mussolini and his cabinet
appropriated large sums to build up
Italy’s army, navy and air forces
to greatei strength and planned to
carry on vigorously the campaign
for self-sufficiency in raw materials.
It looked as if the dove of peace
was preparing to leave Europe, and
as relations between Japan and
China grew more strained every
day, she probably will have to take
refuge on the western continent.
THE Spanish rebels scored their
greatest victory to date when
they captured San Sebastian, cap
ital of Guipuzcoa province and fa
mous Bay of Biscay resort. Santa
Barabara fort, dominating the city,
■was first taken and the city’s war
council then decided to abandon the
place, despite the opposition of the
anarchists. The more conservative
Basque nationals prevented the reds
from burning the city, only a paper
factory and two residences being
destroyed, and the defending forces
retreated toward Bilbao, accompa
nied by thousands of civilians and
foreigners. Insurgent troops, com
manded by Col. Jose Beorlegui,
marched in and were ceremonious
ly reviewed, and the bishop of Pam
plona officiated at a thanksgiving
service.
The municipal governor, Antonio
Ortega, and his staff boarded a
yacht to go to new headquarters at
Zumaya, about 15 miles west of
San Sebastian. The new line of
defense was established at Orio.
Government spokesmen claimed
considerable victories in the Tala
vera sector southwest of Madrid
and not far from the Portuguese
border.
OUR navy’s intelligence depart
ment has discovered that a
recent small fire on the cruiser
Indianapolis while she was being
overhauled in the New York navy
yard was caused by the driving
of phonograph needles and nails in
to an electric cable; and other sus
pected sabotage on war vessels is
being investigated. The work on the
cruiser was being done by civilian
employees and Capt. Charles A.
Dunn, industrial manager of the
yard, said the placing of the
nails in the cables was “undoubted
ly” a deliberate attempt to damage
the cruiser.
SECRETARY OF AGRICUL-
TURE WALLACE is arranging
a series of community meetings of
farmers for the purpose of laying
out the “agricultural conservation
program” for next year. He said
the AAA planned the meetings in
the farm areas in order to discuss
crop insurance and possible max
imum limits of benefit payments to
each farm. He explained the
program aimed at providing “great
er abundance for the average
American home,” and should “help
to check soil erosion, improve fer
tility, encourage better land use
and maintain farm income.”
fl °
National Topics Interpreted * Xl
by William Bruckart
National Press Building Washington, D. C.
> 1
Pope Pius XI
Washington. As the campaign
gets more heated it becomes in-
Call Spade
a Spade
times in a spade being called a
spade—men being named names—
than has happened in a good many
previous years. When this stage is
reached it invariably means that
party workers as well as party lead
ers are thoroughly imbued with the
sense of battle and it means further
that no phase of either party poli
cy or personal affairs of the candi
dates themselves escapes the atten
tion of the opposition.
That probably is the reason why
Mr. Roosevelt lately has found him
self being “kidded” to a greater ex
tent than usually occurs about his
“non-political” visits to various sec
tions of the country. The oppor
tunity has not yet come for Gover
nor Landon, the Republican nom
inee, to be made the butt of such
jokes or the subject of such per
sonal attacks, but undoubtedly it
will arrive long before November 3.
To refer again to the President’s
“non-political” trips, the corre
spondents here have been having a
great deal of fun about the Presi
dent’s determination to learn first
hand about the flood areas of Penn
sylvania and New England and the
drouth areas of the middle west
ern plains.
This is significant. It shows an
important change of attitude on the
part of the Washington observers
who seldom find themselves in a
position where they can tell every
thing they know. It is significant
also from this standpoint that it
shows Mr. Roosevelt to have lost
the loyalty of a great number of
those writers. Time was when 95
per cent of the Washington corre
spondents were with Mr. Roosevelt
on everything he said or did and
when they found vulnerable spots or
weaknesses in his statements or ac
tions they were inclined to overlook
them. Such is not the case now,
however, and I think it may be
added with candor that the Presi
dent’s programs and policies, his
speeches and statements in press
conferences are examined with ut
most scrutiny.
From the Democratic standpoint,
this is distiessing. From the Re
publican standpoint, it is a highly
valuable change in circumstance.
The reason is that as long as the
President had a completely “friend
ly press” he did not need to be so
careful nor did he ever need to fear
that interpretations would be placed
upon his statements or his actions,
other than the interpretation which
he desired. It takes no stretch of
the imagination to realize forthwith
that any time he says or does any
thing to which exception can be tak
en, some of those correspondents
will point out the other possibilities.
I find generally speaking that the
writing corps doubted that the Pres
ident’s Pennsylvania and New Eng
land visits were based solely on his
desire to know’ what the federal gov
ernment should do to prevent
floods. One correspondent was so
extremely frank as to write in his
metropolitan newspaper that Mr.
Roosevelt foresaw not a flood of wa
ter but a flood of Republican votes.
Os course, this is an exaggerated
position for any unbiased writer to
take, but there were any number
of those correspondents who laugh
ingly inquired why it was so urgent
ly necessary for the President to
visit the flood areas at this time —
considering that there was no Con
gress in session and no definite pro
vision for the framing of flood re
lief plans.
• • •
Now as to the President’s visit
to the drouth stricken area: The
Learned
Little
gists of the New Deal organization
have named ths middle western
plains. There can be no doubt like
wise that relief was needed and that
a thorough-going understanding of
the situation by those responsible in
Washington should be obtained.
Yet, I believe it was the consensus
of the writers accompanying the
President on that whirlwind tour of
the dust storms that Mr. Roosevelt
personally gained no knowledge of
conditions that was not already
available to him in reports from
his subordinates. Indeed, lam told
on very good authority that re
lief representatives who had gone
into the drouth area already had
written their reports to the Presi
dent and made their recommenda
tions concerning policies to deal
with that relief situation before he
left Washington on that trip.
It must be quite obvious, how
ever, that Mr. Roosevelt desired to
see conditions about which so much
was being written in the newspa
pers. I think he cannot be blamed
for desiring the opportunity to wit
ness things as they actually were be
fore the rains came; but some of
his speeches from the rear end of
his special train evidenced some
thing more than a hint that he de
sired to see not only the drouth
stricken area but the voters who
live there.
creasingly evident
that the political
battle this year
will result more
drouth was pres
ent in the “dust
bowl” as the bril
liant young strate-
More recently the President has
made a non-political trip into cer
tain areas of the southland where it
is suspected by Chairman Farley’s
representatives that a goodly num
ber of Republican votes exist. In
fairness to the President it must be
said with respect to his southern
trip, however, that he did little ac
tual speech-making. It is true that
he gave the pump-handle handshake
wherever people desired to greet
him but his campaigning was much
less evident in the minds of the re
porters than obtained in his visit to
the north and to the central west.
♦ ♦ ♦
And referring to his trip to the
central west, I am reminded of the
hysteria that has
arisen over soil
erosion. Undoubt
edly, soil erosion
Soil
Erosion
is a problem worthy of general at
tention but the thing that disturbs
me as a Washington observer is that
sail erosion, like a lot of other prob
lems, suddenly has became mixed
up in politics when it is not a po
litical question.
The conservation of soil, of natur
al resources, has been a matter to
which farmers of the nation have
addressed themselves for more than
a hundred years. Who is it among
the farming community that has not
attempted at one time or another
to stop “washes” or who has not
planted some willow trees or some
kinds of bush to prevent ditches
being cut through the middle of
fertile and arable land? And may I
ask further, what farmer is there
who has not given consideration to
crop rotation, to the planting of
types of clover or hay or grasses
that would of themselves enrich
the soil?
All of these things are common
place. All of them have been done
from the time to which the memory
runneth not to the contrary. But
now we find a perfect hullabaloo—a
hysteria—as I said at the beginning
about a thing with which farmers
long have been familiar.
It comes almost into the category
of nonsense. One needs only to
visit the oldest communities in the
nation to find soils that have been
producing for two centuries and
that have continued to show in
creased production through all of
that time. The reason is that those
farmers knew about soil erosion and
they sought to prevent it. Those
farmers and nearly all farmers rec
ognize that soil must be fertilized;
that it cannot be planted to the
same crop eternally without de
stroying its fertility and they know
the necessity and the method for
solving the problem. They have
acted on that necessity.
Notwithstanding all of these facts
we are due to see in the next ses
sion of congress and probably for a
considerable number of sessions
thereafter a bunch of politicians who
will be prating about soil conserva
tion long after the farmers have
become thoroughly sick at the stom
ach about the idea. It is just an
other one of those things upon which
hungry political demagogues will
leap and continue to use as a ve
hicle on which to ride into office.
I was born on a farm and grew
up there. I know the problem in
side out because the farm upon
which I was born was susceptible to
erosion—“washing” as my father
called it—to a greater extent than
is usual in farm lands. It is no
particular credit to any one to boast
about preventing soil erosion be
cause it is a thing that any farmer
will want to do if he wants to con
tinue to make his farm pay him a
return. It is just as much a part
of farm management as it is to see
that the work stock does not develop
sore shoulders.
But the point of all of this as far
as I am concerned is that political
capital is being made out of a con
dition with which politicians ought
not to be concerned at all. Some
may accuse me of ignoring the
drouth condition. I do not do so.
We have had several years of bad
drouth conditions. I find it diffi
cult to associate political controls
over the weather, however, because
the claims of politicians have yet
to reach very far above their heads.
• * •
Announcement is made at last
that former President Herbert
Hoover is going to
take the stump in
behalf of Gover
nor Landon and
Hoover
to Speak
the Republican ticket. Though it
was long delayed, it probably has
come before the country became
convinced that an irreparable
breach existed between Governor
Landon and Mr. Hoover. Rumors
were just beginning to fly and gos
sip tongues were just beginning to
wag that Mr. Hoover would remain
out of the Republican picture this
year so it is extremely fortunate
that he and Governor Landon at
last have been brought together, as
far as Republicans are concerned.
I am not informed as to the rea
sons for this delay. It is evident
that somebody slipped because it
is unnatural for politicians to de
liberately decline to take advantage
of strength when it is proffered
them.
C Western Newspaper Union,