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GIVE the railroads a chawce.
The railroads of this nation, privately-owned and operated,
j have in the last fifteen years been subjected to more different
J kinds of competition than any other business operation. The first
A important competition which presented itself to railroad opera
- A tors was that of improved barge service on inland waterways.
iThis new method of transportation, with the encouragement and
, subsidies received from the national government, practically put
line railroads out of existence. The second problem which
K■resented itself was that of freight and passenger transporta-
Mtion by truck and bus, they being allowed to use the public high-
■ ways of the nation, adding another burden upon the shoulders of
I the operators of our railroads. Third, the perfect set-up of trans
continental commercial air lines with their fast schedules will
have to be reckoned with by railroads.
The three transportation systems mentioned rn competition
■ to railroads are without question a great asset to our country
■ but for the government to allow bus, barge and airplane com
panies to run wild in competition without governmet supervision
■nd at the same time ham-string railroad operators with red tape
Hnd regulations is unfair to them and not conducive to the best
■glterest of the public. In many of the small counties in the states
!pa|>ur nation, the railroads are the largest, tax payers, therefore,
■uld be given the protection and co-operation which they are
HHftly entitled to.
SSB&gl There are various safety appliance acts and regulations per
gßKiing to equipment and personnel that effect railroads. Why
ffiild not all other transportation be subject to the same super
■>nf For instance, we have freight buses which operate across
MSVcontinent on a day and night schedule. Why should not the
require that there be two licensed operators and a helper
eac h These trucks and buses, if not properly oper-
MBkI, are a real menace to the tax payers of this nation who use
■Arnation’s highways.
read in the daily papers of many passenger bus acci-
I dents with great loss of lives in which many instances govern-
I ment investigators fail to fix responsibility upon equipment or
I operation personnel. In the early development of this nation,
L there was much time and money spent by the government in the
F promotion of our present railroad systems. These railroad sys-
I terns were the dominant factor in placing this country of ours
L in the leading position in international governments. It does
Bayern practicable that we should tender them the same co-opera-
and consideration which is now being extended towards
■newer forms of transportation. It is natural for us to enthuse
■ over new methods but our enthusiasm should not be allowed to
■go to the extent of injuring other sound business operations
■ which are necessary to the prosperity of this country.
President Roosevelt is wise in his move to allow railroad
I operators, elected by the stock and bond holders of their cor
| porations, to run their business. With the competition which rail
roads are now presented with, it is necessary that the smartest
Brains in the railroad world be allowed to proceed with their
B’wn judgment untrampled by red tape and superfluous govern-
Mnent supervision. Our railroad companies have produced the
■finest railroad executives in the world. They know their busi
| ness. They are good American citizens and can be depended upon
to give us a real job, if let alone.
The Savannah Daily Times suggests to the law-makers of
1 our country that they pay more attention to sane, equitable leg
-1 islation effecting all transportation so that each group may have
a fair chance to deliver to this nation the efficiency and opera
tio which is necessary to good government.
FIFTEEN MILL AMENDMENT
Overall limitation of taxes by state, county and municipali
ties is not a new idea in government. Reduced to a simple state
ment, it places a limit which may be levied upon all the taxing
units of government against any one piece of property. This re
acts to keep expenses down and thus throws on the brakes
against extravagant spending and compels compulsory economy
in government.
The state of Georgia has been practicing economy during
the past three years with results that have astounded the nation
and have been of material benefit to the people. In addition to
economizing, there has been a material reduction in taxes. Even
the most partisan among us are compelled to admit this truth.
The city of Savannah can but profit by the example set by the
state and thereby giving the people further relief from the bur
den of taxes.
Eight states in the Union have in operation laws limiting
taxes. The operation of the law has been entirely satisfactory.
The state of Ohio has had this system in force for sixteen years.
In 1919, the limitation was set at fifteen mills, the same as now
being proposed in Georgia. The law gave such satisfaction that
in 1933, the citizens of Ohio by an overwhelming vote again re
duced the constitutional limit to ten mills.
Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma. Rhode Island,
Washington and West Virginia are all successfully and satisfac
torily operating under such laws, either by constitutional or
statutory requirements. Experience has shown the wisdom and
value'of such limitations and in none of these states does there
exist the threat of bankruptcy.
If Mayor Gamble is conscientious and has the. necessary con
fidence in his ability as an executive, he will endorse the passage
of the. fifteen mill amendment in order to stabilize the function
ing of city government.
MyNewYork
By
James Aswell
NEW YORK, May 36—Rando
musing: Boxing sane and officials live
in constant terror lest an exuberant
fan do something that will so blacken
the eye of the sport that it will again
be legally tabooed in the town . . .
For instance, bottle throwers are a
particular bugaboo of the fistic moguls
. . . Recently during a bout, two -pop
containers were tossed into the ring
and a deathly stillness descended on
the gathering—as full of foreboding
as the hush on a Tugwell dinner party
after somebody quoted from Adam
Smith's "Wealth of Nations" . . .
The offenders were pounced upon
and promptly hustled off to jail where
six-month sente”cr', the maximum,
were imposed . . . You see, pop-bottles,
well aimed, can kill and maim as ef
fectively as bullets. . .
Jimmy Walker, who dearly loves a
prize fight, scarcely ever bestirs him
self in public except to attend them
... He has nev.tr, I am told, visited
City Hall since his return to America
from long exile . . . But he did, one
day, my spy declares, wander past the
old pile, musing with a damp eye
upon former glories . . . Incidentally,
Jimmy’s attire is not quite so resplen
dent as it used to be in the old days
... It must be a relief to relax a bit
now sartorially . . . Once a man in
public life gets the reputation for
natty cressing he has tokeep at it
diligently, rising to newer and ever
newer glories ... If he quits Beau
Brummeling the voters are likely to
rebel . . .
And I never knew until recently
that the big-money gamblers never
seek the absolutely best seats in Mad
ison Square Garden for a bout. They
congregate in Section 5, which is a
bit back and to the side ... At the
ball park, similarly, their pews are
located, not behind first base which is
considered ideal, but opposite third
base . . . That, an expert insists, is
merely habit—they know where to
find one another and keep asking for
the same positions . . .
• * •
Rooftop vignette: two small boys,
painting an inscription on a water
tank, in large white letters, laboring
diligently for an hour in the hot
sun . . . The inscription: "O. K. Pal."
. . . All the big musical shows have
stringent rues against sun bathing by
chorines—because the tan doesn’t
show up to best advantage, particular
ly when it is slightly uneven in dis
tribution, behind footlights . . . Cir
cular in the morning mail: "Are You
a New Yorker Who Knows the Spirit
ual Value of Nudism?" . . . Ans.: No.
• * •
Now the sidewalk picture-snapping
has flowered into a racket here and
there . . . Some of the snappers re
member to forget to insert a little
film in their boxes first—and of
course when the quarters come in. via
the thoughtful mailing cards distribut
ed after each candid click, the matter
is promptly forgotten . . . Except, per
baps, by the bilked "subject" . . .
“Pre-Honeymoon", the new Anne
Nichols farce, bids fair to repeat the
strange success of "Abie’s Irish Rose"
. . . Once again the critcs have damn
ed with all the adjectives at their
command and once again the lines
have begun to form at the box-office
. . . Seats, I hear, are selling eight
weeks in advance . . .
And lastly comes the story of the
Englishman, visiting New York for
the first time, who saw the following
sign picked out by lights on a movie
marquee: “Desire—Pronounced Suc
cess" . . . “What illiterate idiots these
Americans are!" he breathed. “Any
fool would know that’s not the way
Desire is pronounced.’
ONE MINUTE PUtPIT
The righteous shall flourish like the
palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. —Psalms 92:12.
SCOTT’S SCRAPBOOK by R. J. SCOTT
BL. One o f< he 'Tallest ZieodoßoF
lALLEST CLOTH USUALLY
MEN EVER KMOWM ARISES FRjOM
KZy RUSSIAN. SHLPHONATeD
MACHNOW, EXHIBITED o,L ,WHICH
IN EUROPE BEFORE ST ALMOST ALBATS
YUE WORLD WAR- gF USED To SOFTEN
HE WAS 9 FEET; ,AKC> LUBRICATE
q IKl z-Up< -Tk) 1— SSL, The FIBRES
/dp 1 woven so The/
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about 2 felet yg i highspeed
® ‘I WEAVING OF
W- \ Machinery,and
Jlvlj Bi rarity feel softer
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gMBMIBI Medieval
I WEAPON I
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COPYRIGHT. 1936. CENTRAL PRESS ASSOCIATICm r> ’ A
SAVANNAH DAILY TIMES. TUESDAY, MAY 26, 1936
HOW MUCH LONGER CAN WE KEEP IT UP?
MESk \#a * :
>7 0 uZA \
/V /‘'l. \\ \
T nr—- £
You’re Telling
Me?
MAN IN MEMPHIS, TENN., *ay*
he is going to get rid of his 1909
model auto and go back to the horse
a:id buggy. He knew the new fangled
invention wouldn’t work
• ♦ •
“War ”, says a pholosopher,
“is humanity’s greatest curse be
cause it recuces the world's sup
ply of everything.” Except taxes.
• » ♦
The world does improve. We can
remember when, and not so long ago,
either, that some radio announcers
thought three strikes were out—in a
football game.
• • •
The children of politicians al
ways know when campaign time
is near. It’s when Daddy gathers
them all around him and calls up
the photographer.
• « •
England -has a new boat, the big
gest in the world. Germany has a
new dirigible, the biggest in the
world. And Uncle Sam has a new
hope Europe will pay us its debt, the
biggest in the world.
♦ ♦ ♦
This will have to be the last
paragraph in today s column be
cause it's past quippign time.
—WASHINGTON AT A GLANCE—
ALL SOCIAL LEGISLATION
Subject to Attack Similar to Guffey Law
SEEN ENDANGERED
By CHARLES P. STEWART
(Central Press Staff Writer)
WASHINGTON, May 26.—The fed
eral supreme court s outlawing of the
Guffey coal act was not in itself so
much of a shock to New Dealers. At
least, they were expecting it.
What does perturb them is the
implication in the high tribunal’s rul
ing that no imaginable kind of social
legislation of national proportions
will stand the constitutional test. Not
only are they alarmed for the future
of such new agencies as the Social
Security and Laor Relations Boards.
The suggestion is heard that older
setups, like the Federal Trade Board
and even the Interstate Commerce
commission might be put out of busi
ness if attacked on grounds similar
to those upon which the Guffey law
was invalidated.
The Guffey decision was not entire
ly satisfactory to all anti-New Deal
ers, either.
• ♦ ♦
A Sick Industry
Bituminous coal mining is a no
toriously sick industry. Not only
the miners but many of the big mine
owners suffer from the ma.’ady. The
latter were as hopeful as the former
that the Guffey remedy w’ould ease
their sufferings.
Now it appears that the proposed
medicine is illegal.
A considerable number of conserva
tive as ’.veil as liberal congressional
voices are raised to the effect that,
to keep up with changing conditions,
various new enactments are needed,
whether or not they are unconstitu
tional.
♦ ♦ *
Issue May Be Forced
Rooseveltians seemingly have not
been in favor of fighting, during the
coming campaign, for a limitation of
the supreme court’s power to nullify
acts of congress.
Some time ago the president hint
ed at the is. Ung of such an issue,
wnen he :poke of the undesiraoillty
of returning to “horse and buggy”
days, as defended by the court’s
“nine old men” in their opinions. It
was a "wise crack” which evidently
did not “take,’’ however, or apparent
ly he thought it did not, for he did
not fellow it up.
But today, with the august "nine’s"
-WORLD AT A GLANCE—
POWERFUL INTERESTS
Tying Up Senate Investigation Funds
HALT RAIL PROBE
By LESLIE EICHEL
(Central Press St ass Writer)
WASHINGTON, May 26—Power
ful interests still have powerful sway
in Washington.
That is the word emanating from
the forces trying to bring about an
investigation of railroad holding com
panies.
The public has 20 billion dollars in
vested in railroads, according to
Washington estimates. The railroads,
of course, have been heavily over
capitalized, ‘ watered," in the past.
That is their trouble now. But,
worse, the watering has continued
through holding companies, liberals
assert.
And the chief offender has been
the Van Sweringen interests, the lib
erals charge.
The Van Sweringen roads have
blocked every effort by whcih the
government could unravel the skeins
of their empire, much of which has
gone through reorganization with
terrific loss to the Investor.
* * *
Blocked
Last year, the senate’s interstate
commerce committee of 20 members
with Senator Wheeler of Montana as
chairman, unanimously recommended
that the senate allot $25,000 to its
special senate committee investigat
ing railroads.
The senate’s auditing committee
gave consent to the measure.
This special senate committee
thereupon employed as its counsel
Max Lowenthal, brilliant young law
jeer of New York, who has special
ized in investments. Lowenthal is
the author of “The Investor Pays,’’ a
startling resume of the means by
which the investor does pay.
Lowenthal immediately proceeded
to uncover facts for the special com
mittee that put the railroads on their
guard. In particular, the Van Swer
ingen roads, enveloped by a multi
tude of holding companies, resisted.
Enough “pay dirt’’ was uncovered
to indicate conditions that, if expos
ed, would bring strict regulatory
laws, because of public indignation.
But here is where the committee's
money ran out. And, fundless, in
vestigators could not.proceed.
Whereupon the 20 members of the I
r , rrin .. rcp COmmlt .
■ All Os Us -
ONE KIND OF LOVE
IN A BOOK I have just read, a
woman who has been married many
years to a man says to a much young
er man:
"Do you know what love is, Caul?”
"I thought I did. I’m not so sure
now.’
She spoke with faint bitterness.
"Then I’ll tell you. It’s giving and
giving and giving, and when you feel
that you've nothing left to give,
you've only just begun to love. Want
ing to have someone all to yourself
isn’t love: that’s enjoyment. If the
man you love prefers other company,
then he must have it, and if you look
like a martyr it isnt love, and if
you feel like a martyr, it isn’t love.
You’ve got to give all the time, but
he must never know that, because
it will embarrass him, and there’s
no place for embarrassment in love.
You’ve got to appear selfish some
times just to give him a feeling of
equality. You’ve got to give him an oc
casional fight, otherwise he’ll find
you monotonous. You’ve got to be
obstinate sometimes so that he can
have something to kick against.
You’ve got to be just jealous enough
to flatter his vanity, but not so
jealous that it will irritate him.
“You’ve got to make him believe
that you're the one person who’s al
ways the same, and to give him that
illusion you’ve got to be different ev
ery single day of your life . . . You’ve
got to be completely natural and
that means you mustn’t stop acting
for a single second, because love isn’t
natural, and if anyone tells you it is,
don’t you believe them . . . It’s nat
ural to want to own someone, but I
tell you there’s nothing in nature
that makes you want to spend your
life thinking of another person’s hap
piness. If I’d li“en natural, Marius
wouldn’t be with me now.’
majority manifestly determined to
block his whole program, he may
have tc.
Frank Healy, prominent in NRA’s
legal counsels, once undertook an in
quiry into worldwide social legis’a
tion.
He had a competent staff to hulp
him. and he iouad. he tells me, that
nearly every cl’Tized country on
earth has social laws of a sort that
Uncle Sam’s high court considers ua
constitutional.
“Which,’’ he assures me, "is be
cause these countries have not such
inflexibly written constitutions.”
Senator James Couzens of Mich
igan raises the point:
"What is constitutional, anyway?
"I vote for a law that I think is
constitutional.
"The supreme court holds that it’s
UN-constitutional—but by a 6-to-3
or 5-to-4 majority.
"On my side are three or four of
America’s pre-eminent jurists.
“Am I to think that I am wrong,
with this minority agreeing with me?
—and I’m not even a lawyer.”
A Conservative Court
The queer thing is that the out
standing supreme court appointees
wer chosen by conservative presi
dents:
Justice Brandeis, named by Presi
dent Wilson, not so very radical.
Justice Stone, named by President
Coolidge, surely a conservative.
Justice Cardozo, a Hoover selection
certainly not a "red.”
Even Chief Justice Hughes was a
reformer in his youth.
Justice Roberts was regarded,
when nominated by President Cool
idge, was considered a mild liberal.
But It is a conservative court.
Justices Van Devanter, Mcßey
nolds, Sutherland and Butler pre
dominate.
tee again voted unanimously—this
time to request SIOO,OOO to carry on.
The measure calling for the appro
priation went to the senate’s audit
and control committee. There it has
reposed for some six weeks—although
ths committee usually gives its judg
ment in two or three days. But here
this particular measure has lain—
and liberal senators wonder how it
can be forced out on the floor of the
senate for passage.
Senator Byrnes of South Carolina
is chairman of the senate’s aduit and
control committee. Other members
are Senators Tydings of Maryland.
Bachman of Tennessee and Town
send of Delaware. All are anti-lib
erals.
* * *
Bankruptcy
The 1933 railroad reorganization
law has been especially helpful to
railroad holding erm panics and dis
astrous to investors.
Insiders, who dissipated the money,
actually are given court protection
while investors are robbed of their
rights.
It is as if a man were held up by
a robber and when the robber was
caught the victim were forced to pay
a fine for being robbed.
The Missouri Pacific, a Van Swker
ingen line, has been cited to this
writer as a case in point
♦ ♦ ♦
Victim a- Intruder
Then, the othe. day, a senator,
probably guilelessly, offered an
amendment to the federal bank
ruptcy act which caused the hair of
liberals to stand on ends—when they
accidentlly read the contents of the
bill
It would further intrench the few
men who manipulate a holding com
pany They would be supreme in an
organization, be legalized The in
vertor would be an intruder.
At least, so an able attorney in
terpreted it to this writer
This amendment was desut by
the Howard C Hopson interest it
has been freely asserted in Washing
ton. Hopson, it will be recalled, was
the utilities promoter who disap
peared when desired for questioning
by the senate lobby investigating
committee Chairman Black finally
had Hopson produced.
Some of his stockolders later pro-
Today is the Day
By CLARK KINNAIRD 1
Copyright 1936, for thte Niwpo
per by Central Press Association
Tuesday, May 2«: mornipg atan,
Venus. Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, eve
ning stars: Mercury (till 31st), Man,
Neptune. Birthstone: emeral<J.
Scanning the skies: There is a
common idea that people need vaca
tions in summer. Studies published in
Ellsworth Huntington’s "Civilisatioß
and Climate" show the need is ap
parently greater in winter than in
summer, for it is winter that causes
the greatest atrain.
NOTABLE NATIVITIES •
Mary, Queen of England, b.' IM7
. . . Paul Lukas, cinemactor. . . .
George B. Everett, president Mont
gomery Ward and Compnay . . . Euj
gene Goossens, b. 1393, composed and
orchestra conductor. . ... Shall er
Mathews, b. 1863, religion* educator.
» '» »' • *
TODAY’S YESTERDAYS ’
May 36, 1793—Samuel Pepys die<l
at 70, after four years of blindness.
He was unknown for 122 years after
his death, then he became one of the
most famous persons In literature! It
wasn’t until the eighteen-twentiea
that his diary, which he had writte,n
without thought of publication, was
found, deciphered and made public.
May 26, 1799—James Burnett; Lord
Monboddo, died at 85. He a Scottish
judge, not Darwin, first advocated the
theory that apes and men had com
mon ancestors, in his monumental,
“Os the Origin and Progress of Lan
guage.”
100 Years Ago Today—The first
"gag” rule, i e., curb on debate or ac
tion on a legislative subject, was
adopted by a hous? or congress, the
house—to quash anti-slavery agita.
tion A resolution adopted 117lo68de
creed that “And whereas it is ex
tremely important and desirable that
agitation of this subject should be
finallj’ arrested, for the purpose of
restoring tranquillity to the public
mind ... all petition';, memorials,
resolutions, propositions, or papers, re
lating in any way, or to any extent
whatever, to the subject of slavery,-
shall without being either print’d or
referred, be laid upon he table, and.
that no further action whatever shall
be had thereon.”
May 26, 1857—Dred Scott and his
family were emancipated, in St.
Louis. Mo., by Taylor Blow, after their
case had made the War Between the
States inevitable and ’‘further action’’
by congress mandatory.
No one knows wh.-t beet me of the
negro who stands out as one of the
most important figures in American
history. He disappeared after his free
dom was granted voluntarily, two
months after he had Induced one of
the most celebrated of all the supreme
court’s decisions.
FIRST WORLD WAR DAY-BY-DAY
20 Years Ago Today—The German
government reluctantly appointed a
food administrator. It was an admis
sion to the Allies that th'ir blockade,
designed to starve out the civilian
population, was having a measure of
success. It was another argument
with which proponents of ruthlees
submarinewarfare could beat < down
those who were against it.
Actually, however, appointment of
a food dictatorship was not actuated
by a shortage so much as a demand
for checkmatirj of profiteering. The
bread tickets were issued; at first,
to enable the poor to- have cheap
bread and force those who wanted to
buy more food than the bread ticket
prescribed, to pay heavily for the
indulgence. ■ • ....
About this time the -rations of the
common soldier in the Kaiser’s army
became. Breakfast—coffee -or a sub
stitute, with dry bread. Lunch—soup
with occasional small pieces of msatl
vegetables and bread. Supper—bread
and marmalade.
There are always those who will
profit on human misery in any coun
try. A flood of "substitute” begad
to appear in Germany coincident with
the tightening of the food dictator
ship in staples. One of them was a
"soup cube,” a swindle consisting of
96 per cent cooking salt and 4 per
cent coloring matter!
(To be continued)
• * *
IT S A FACT
Thomas Alva Edison wasn’t chris
tened that. He adopted the Alva
when he was 15 years old, after hav
ing read about an exploration trip
of the Spanish Duke of Alva.
Hot water pipes freeze more offer
in winter than cold water pipes.
Rhode Island had two state cap
itals for many years.
Murad IV Turkish sultan decreed
that none among his subjects might
drink coffee or intoxicating liquor or
usetobacco, upon penalty of death,
and had 18 persons executed in one
day for violation of this edict. He
himself died a drunkard before he
was 30!
The cuckoo lays her eggs on the
ground and carries it in her mouth
to her nest. One of the reasons why
she’s considered cuckoo.
tested his spending $75,000 apiece for
lawyers and a million or two (of
stockholders’ money) to fight the
utilities holding company bill Bui
the stockhlders found that their in
vestments entitled them to few
righto.
♦ ♦ ♦
What is What?
Railroad holding companies are pe
culiarly tangled The senate’s inves
tigators, trying to enter the Van
Sweringen maze, have been balked
because the holding companies that
control the holding companies that
control the railroads are not railroad
holding companies, but innocent-ap
pearing investment or real estate
holding companies They are shocked
when asked anything concerning rail
roads And ther documents ara some
were else