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TRANSPORTATION-SAVANNAH’S PROBLEM.
Rome editorial writers have assignments of extreme diffi
culty. They are expected to perform various other duties about
the newspaper which allow them little time for study, or even
thought. Sometimes they are handicapped by financial obliga
tions, local influences, political entanglements and the like, so
that they are under instructions to please everybody, offend no
one. Then the writer becomes a mental gymnast who must “hunt!
with the hare and ride with the hounds”—“carry water on botff
shoulders”—“straddle the fence” and “keep in the middle of
the road” all at the same time.
Under such circumstancs the poor devil usually resorts to
the paste-pot and shears for the main body of his editorial and
winds up with a liberal application of what is variously termecf
“salve,” “banana oil” or “apple sauce.”
These reflections are inspired by an article appearing recent
ly in a local newspaper headed, “Automobiles vs. Railroads.” It
quotes at length from some unnamed source, and if there is any
point at all to the production it is that the railroads have lost
passenger traffic to the private automobile rather than to the
public bus. In conclusion the article gives a congratulatory
handshake and a simultaneous kick in the pants to the railroads
for what they are doing—and for what they have not done.
The quoted report does not even belong in the “important if
true” category. The public interest is not affected by the ques
tion of whether the bus or the privately-owned car have dim
inished the railroad’s passenger traffic. The point at issue is as
to whether the various forms of transportation are regulated,
taxed and supervised on an equitable and a comparable basis.
That point is of direct, immediate and vital importance to the
average citizen and taxpayer everywhere, and particularly to
citizens and taxpayers of Savannah, a port city, dependent upon
its transportation facilities to a much greater extent than in
terior cities surrounded by an agricultural territory.
This is an economic question that ought to be discussed in
the light of its bearing upon the welfare and progress of this
community. It calls for something more than flippant criticism
or aimless praise. It demands the exercise of an informed pub
lic sentiment to the end that those in authority may enact just
statutes and see to their enforcement without fear or favor. Sa
vannah’s future in large measure hinges upon her transporta
tion facilities. She depends upon all of them—railways, high
ways, waterways, and airways. The man who ships or travels, the
man who sells goods to the carriers direot or to their employes,
the man who works in any field of transportation, the owner of
a life insurance policy, the depositor in a bank, the investor in
a transportation security, ail of these have a stake in the fair
and just regulation of transportation.
It is in this light that the Savannah Daily Times regards
the relation of Savannah to the various transportation agencies
that serve the city. It is from this viewpoint that this newspaper
has discussed the question and proposes to continue its discus
sion without prejudice or bias, with no desire to bend, but under
no necessity of pussy-footing or soft-soaping.
OUR READERS’ FORUM 1
I
(All communications intended (or pub
lication under this heading mult bear the
name and address of the writer. Name*
will be omitted on request. Anonymous
letters will not be given any attention.
The widest latitude of expression and
opinion Is permitted in this column so
that It may represent a true expression of
public opinion in Savannah and Chatham
County. Letters must be limited to 100
words.
The Savannah Daily Times does not
Intend that the selection of letters pub
lished in this column shall In any way
reflect or conform with the editorial
vlewg and policies of this paper. The
Times reserves the right to edit, publish
or reject any article sent In.)
Editor, The Daily Time*:
For a long time I have been under
the Impression that editors knew al
most everything. So, no doubt you
will be able to suggest a satisfactory
solution of a problem which I re
spectfully submit herewith for your
attention. It has been a source of ir
ritation to me and, I am sure, to a
number of other motorists who live
in the southern part of the city. In
fact, I honestly feel this complaint
voices the sentiment of many automo
bile drivers iA Savannah.
Its about way trucks and cars are
parked on both sides of Price street,
all the way from Victory Drive to
Bey street. As you know, Drayton
and Price streets a* present are the
most thoroughly traveled thorough
fares on the east side by people driv
ing to work In the morning. Drayton
street carriers such a heavy load,
many use Price street to avoid the
Jam.
However, regardless of the fact that
Price is very narrow, one finds auto
mobile# and trucks parked in the
morning on both sides of the street
all the way downtown. The result
is motorists must slow their cars al
most to a standstill frequently to
avoid colliding with machines ap
proaching in the opposite direotton.
Then th*4? are the added hazards of
people getting in and out of these
parked vehicle* on the traffic side
and citizens attempting £6 cross the
street after stepping abruptly from
Ifcetnd these stationary automobiles.
A MOTORIST.
J
Editor Savannah Daily Times:
Last year at a meeting of the mer
chants I suggested a Tobacco Fes
tival for savannah. The idea was
thought well of and it is time for us
to begin our plans and lay the foun
dation for a celebration that is city
wide and includes our resorts.
The Tobacco Festival could run an
entire week with a varied and Inter
esting program with the city, county
and every citizen working toward an
event that might eventually be Sa
vannah’s summer Mari Gras.
Every business enterprise and every
manufacturer can oome into an event
of this kind and reap a reward com
mensurate with their efforts and
plans. Manufacturers can rent up
town vacant stores and have displays,
samples and even some Interesting
part of their manufacturing process.
We could fill our town with interested
people and the merchants could buy
“Tobacoo festival features as well as
manufacturers giving special feature
prices on their products for the en
tire week. A manufacturer doing a
local retail business through the re
tail establishments could have an ad
listing their retailers and in ths oen
ter of the ad they oould advertise
that the retailers had speoial author
ity to sell their produot the entire
week at the low price named."
This thing oan grow as a big as
our 00-operation will let it and is a
thing that we should have been doing
before. Let’s get our share of the mil
lions that are now going to other
towns and let’s get the jump on the
other towns by being the first to hold
a "Tobacco Festival." The advertis
ing alone will be worth plenty and
tobacco can replace our cotton profits
of the years that are now sad his
tory.
Forward Savanrv'^ —Every Savan
nahian with his shoulders to the
drive.
W'ith kindest regards and best
wishes, I am,
Yours for a greater Savannah,
JULIAN D. KELLY.
THE BURNING QUESTION!
—WASHINGTON AT A GLANCE—
TOWNSEND PROBERS
As Viewed By Washington Observer
OVERDID THEIR “JOB”
By CHARLES P. STEWART
Central Press Staff Writer
WASHINGTON, May 30—The
house of representatives’ committee
on investigation of the Townsend
plan fell into an error which con
gressional investigating committees
are rather prone to.
It overdid its job of heckling its
victims and prodded an effect oppo
site to the one at which it was aim
ing. ,
One doesn’t need to be a believer
in the Townsend old age pension pro
gram to realize that the representa
tives’ inquiry into it was political in
its motive.
The plan was rolling up a following
whicr alarmed many of the lawmak
ers who did not care to subscribe to
it—meaning most of them, both Dem
ocrats and Republicans. However,
though they regarded it as too much
of a crockpot idea with which to be
come identifed, they were fearful that
their re-election chances would be en
dangered if they refused to do so.
Accordingly, they hit on the scheme
of trying to make it ridiculous.
• * •
Real Purpose
That was the real purpose of Chair
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IVANNAH DAILY TIMES, SUNDAY, mXy 31,1936
man C. Jasper Bell’s committee.
The Townsenditas were given a
modicum of representation in its
membership, but not enough to have
any significant voice in its procedihgs.
The majority were totally unconcern
ed a6 to the proposition’s merits or
demerits. They already were convinc
ed that it was unworkable. Their
whole purpose was to give it plenty
of unfavorable advertising.
At this task they were quite success
ful until they tackled Dr. Francis E.
Townsend.
* * •
“Good” Beginning
First they uncovered a row between
the doctor and some of his leading
asociates, making it appear that the
plan was badly split within itself.
Then they made it look very much
as if several of the doctor’s helpers
had been far less interested in old
age pensions than in lining their own
pockets.
All accounts agree that this techni
que greatly weakened the plan.
Contributions to it seem to have
fallen off tremendously. Presumably
this implied a diminution in its fol
lowing.
Where End
The committee should have begun
to “call off its dog” right there.
Its real work was accomplished. It
had presented Dr. Townsend in the
light of a well-meaning old sucker,
being exploited by a ring of racketeers,
to whom he inadvertently had given
a few suggestions.
Os course the doctor also had to be
questioned, but it should have been
done gently, diplomatically.
Stewart’s View
• • •
Anyone who ever has talked with
Dr. Townsend for five minutes should
recognize that he is an honest fan
atic.
He looks crabbed.
He is pretty “snooty” when skep
tically questioned, as I heard him
queried at a National Press club
luncheon.
But sincerity is branded all over
him.
It is manifest that, If anyone made
money out of his plan, he not the
one who made it.
* • •
Made Sympathy for Him
But the committe foolishly tried
to “pan” the doctor; to pin the stig
ma of racketeering on him.
It ought to have known better, pol
itically speaking.
It created sympathy for him, not
only among Townsenites, but among
folk who pooh-pooh Townsendism on
the run for awhile.
-WORLD AT A GLANCE—
A CROSS SECTION
In One Community in “Townsend Bolt”
OF ELECTION VIEWS
By KEN WOODMAN
(Mr. Ken Woodman, raving
Central Press Correspondent,
takes the place of Leslie Eichel in
the World at a Glance column to
day. Mr. Woodman has been
meeting many perawisand listen
ing to what they say.)
SHERWOOD, Mich., May 30.—The
precise effect of Townsend propa
ganda on the coming election is a
subject of much speculation among
residents of this section of Michigan.
They seem to believe that the Repub
licans wiU nominate a dark horse at
Cleveland and that his chances of
beating Roosevelt lie in direct ratio
to his Townsend support.
• * •
These opinions were expressed to
day by a group of three men and a
woman standing around the delivery
truck of Russell Garret who operates
a huckster's route over a large area
of southern Michigan.
♦ * *
Bad for Borah
Garrett took the lead In the con
versation by declaring:
“It doesn’t look so good for Senator
Borah at Cleveland since he was
so badly walloped in the Ohio and
New Jersey primaries but I think he
could win the election if he were
nominated.”
One of Garret’s helpers, a man
named Collins, spoke up quickly:
“Those primaries don’t mean a
thing. As I see it the Ohio delegation
is just pledged to Taft, a favorite son,
so that It can swing whatever way
the big shots decide when they get
together in their hotel rooms. For all
we know, this may just be a political
trick to give Walter Brown’s machine
a club to wield against either Borah
or Landon in case their man Knox
loses out.”
• * *
An Opinion
“Landon win never make it.'* Gar
ret declared. “He’s just another
Hoover and the Republicans are too
MYNewYork
By
James Aswell
NEW YORK, May 30—When speak
easies bloomed and glowered in the
town, conviviality was largely restrict
ed to the evening hours, although ev
ery office had its “Two Hours for
Lunch Club” composed of privileged
executives who returned to their desks
around three in the afternoon with a
faint bun on.
Now, though, there/has been a
strange swing toward 1 daylight talk
fests—or just plain loafing—in the
“smart” (what a revolting word in
this sense!) places. Bistros like “21”,
the Stork Club, and even the top-hat
tish El Morocco are forced to grin
and bear a plague of customers even
in the morning hours.
These folks are notoriously light
spenders. The just hang around,
chewing pretzels and ordering such
outlandish things as lemonades, plain
seltzer and even milk. A few of the
chatter writers pop in at this time, a
few out-of-towners and now and then
a party of business men who have
descended from cool, quiet skyscrap
er offices to the hubbub of the bars to
“transact business under informal
auspices.”
Altogether the morning rag-chew
ers make up a crowd. And waiters,
sleepy-eyed rom being up into the
dawn with the evening revelers, move
about in sluggish resignation. In
cidentally don’t let columnists fool
you with their frequent protestations
that they’d never go inside a nignt
club if it weren’t that business called.
Most of the madore night clubs and
would hang around them on one pre
text or another if they had no more
excuse for doinp so than askinp after
the headwaiter’s health.
This reporter is the only exception.
He visits the upholstered cellars out
of the loftiest sense of duty and noth
ing else. All right. Laugh. But at
least he has never Joined the mid
morning earbenders in “21”.
* • *
“That gag of printing letters is too
transparent for you to get away with,”
writes G. K. T., of Brooklyn, N. Y.,
“and it’s time someone told you fel
lows see through it. When
you don’t make up the letters your
self you just print them to fill up
space and save you the trouble of
doing you rday’s work. You ought
to be ashamed.
“Telling us that you think such
and-such a letter will be of general
interest Is just a fish story. And
speaking of fish stories, here's one ■
I am such will be of general Interest:
“Peconic Bay, as you know, is where
New Yorkers go every summer to fish.
The chamber of commerce of Shelter
Island, out there, has been seining
up weakfish for weeks (no pun in
tended) and attaching metal identify
ing tags to their tails.
“To the first ten fishermen this
year who catch one of the weakfish
with the aluminum license plates will
go a new $lO bill. It’s just like catch- -
ing fish with $lO notes tied to their ;
tails. ,
“But the way the city fathers got i
the idea interests me. A couple of
them were In town listening to a
would-be comedian In a night club do
his stuff.
“ ‘Good grief,’ groaned one of the
pair, I heard that joke about the
same time I learned to shoot mar
bles. There ought to be a law. It’s i
too bad they can’t tag jok©6 with the I
year and place of origin. Some folks 1
are actually laughing.’
“ ‘No,’ mused the other, ’it Is a f
pity you can’t pin a label on a Joke
for all to see. But wait! There’s an
Idea there and Ithink I have it!’ '
“The qext morning they were both t
diligently tagging fish. It just goes '
o show.” t
smart to choose him.”
The third man, who had been help
ing Mrs. Garret remove crates of
eggs from the truck, cut an abruptly:
“And Borah's just another Roosevelt,
if you ask me. He has the same lib
eral ideas.” He paused, grinning.
“But I’d rather have him in the
White House.”
“Why?” Mrs. Garret demanded,
pausing to wipe her hands on her
apron.
"Well.” said her assistant, “if he
needed a brain trust, he'a got one in
his own head. He wouldn't ned to
call In a lot of college professors with
bright young lawyers to cover up
their mistakes.”
“That may all be,” retorted Garret,
“But he's so liberal he’d split the
G-O.P. wide open. I don’t think
they’ll let him do that.”
* * *
Split the Party
OoHsne eyed his bos with genial
pity.
a minute ago," he pointed
out, “you said that Borah could win
if nominated. Now you say he’d split
the party.”
“Exactly.” Garret grew a little tasty.
“He would lose the more tconserva
tive Republicans but he would gain
all the Townsend strength. He has
openly pledged himself to that group
and old Doc Townsend has endorsed
him.”
Mrs. Garret’s helper wanted to
know whethre the Townsend groups
w:re really big enough to have much
effect on the election.
“Are they?” Garret laughed short
ly. “If you followed me around on
my routes, you’d think so."
He stopped checking his supplies
to devote his mtire attention to mak
ing his next sentences emphatic.
“You just get out and talk to the
older people,” he continued. “All
they can think about is ‘When I get
my first check.’ . . . One woman told
me she would varnish all the floors
in her house, buy a new matress for
her son’s bed, and get her husband
a new winter coat.”
The other two men smiled.
A Serious Matter
“Laugh if you want to,” Garret
said. “But these old people are tak
ing it seriously. They don’t expost
two hundred dollars a month any
more. They say “Just give us fifty or
even twenty-five.’ The)' believe it is
possible to get that and are they
working for it!
In just the towns I make on my
route—Athens, Colon, Union City,
Leonidas and Sherwood—th? paid
memberships in Townsend clubs is
claimed to be obeverd 75 per cent of
the total population.”
“Some of the youngsters must be
looking ahead quite a long way,”
Oolllna laughed.
Prices Tell Hfe Story
“Well,” Garret terminated his re
mark.? abruptly. “I don’t have to
look very far to tell what I'm going
to do. See those egg crates? They
tell the story.
“A few yc-ors ago, at eight cents
a dozen, eggs werent’ worth crating.
We actually poured them rv.t of a
picking box when we got b:.;k from
a trip—didn’t care whether • they
broke or not. Now they are 18 cents
and I want you boy 6 to be dam care
ful how you handle ’em. Business Is
better; I'm better off than I've been
for years; and Roosevelt may not de
serve all the credit but he at least
gets my vote.”
"That’s all right," said his wife,
“but if old people can get a pension
I’m for helping them.”
“Who isn’t?” Collins inquired. "But
there a a big difference between help
ing and hoaxing.”
You’re Telling
Me?
Ohio garage man ha 6 discovered a
new comet. He probably was looking
through his telescope for a customer
who didn’t want his windshield
cleaned, water in his radiator and
air in his tires along with one gallon
of gasoline.
* * *
Haile Selassie may get a job in
the movies, says a news dispatch.
But, will he wear his real beard
or some screen writer’s adapta
tion?
Mussolini is aroused over evidence
that bullets used by Ethopians in
their war with Italy were made in
Great Britain. Evidently II Duce’s
patronize-h o m e-industries program
includes «ft rule against Italians being
hit by anything but genuine Italian
made missiles.
* * *
Marshal BadugUo's recall to
Italy Is regarded by some Euro
pean statesmen as punishment.
Not at all. Take a look at some
of those phtographs of Ethiopia
and you’ll agree the marshal is
being rewarded.
* * *
Henry Ford says that some day
we’l grow automobiles on our farms.
It wil never work. You could never
get a farmer to beat his plow share
into a monkey wrench.
* * *
And imagine the back-break
ing labor of trying to weed an
acre of limousines free of the
creeping flivvers.
A recipe calling for a slow oven
needs a baking temperature of be
tween 250 and 350 degrees Fahren
heit. A moderate oven has a tem
perature between 350 and 400 de
grees Fahrenheit.
In North Dakota and Rhode Island
where life imprisonment is the pen
alty for murder, death by hanging is
inflicted if a person serving a life
term kills someone.
Today is the Day
By CLARK KINNAIRD
Copyright, 1936, for this Newspa
per by Central Press Association
Whit Saturday, May 30; end of
22nd week of 1936. Memorial Day in
42 states, the District of Columbia,
the territories and Puerto Rico and
Virgin Islands. Confederate Memorial
Day in Virginia.
* # *
NOTABLE NATIVITIES
Bernard Ancil, b. 1891, orchestra
leader known as Ben Bemie . . .
James A. Farley, b. 1888, politician
and postmaster-general . . . William
Phillips, b. 1878, U. S. career diplomat
and Undersecretary of State . . .
Rosa Raisa, b. 1893, operatic soprano
. . . “Whispering Jack” Smith, b. 1896,
radio singer . . . Paul Honore, b.
1885, American artist and Illustrator.
Marmaduke, Duke of Norfolk, b. 1908,
premier duke and earl-marshal of
of GreaJ Britain.
• * •
TODAY’S YESTERDAY’S
May 30, 1498 —Christobol Colon,
called Christopher Columbus, sailed
from San Lucar with eight ships, on
his third voyage to the West. On it he
was to behold for the first time the
continent he is erroneously credited
with having discovered in 1492. He
mistook this big continent for an is
land, and named it Isla Santa!
• * •
May 30, 1775—Artemas Ward, 48,
of Massachusetts, the first major
genera commissioned by the Contin
ental Congress, was named command
er-in-chief of the Revolutionary army
—a post he was to hold until George
Washington replaced him. Had he
conducted himself better at the Bat
tle of “Bunker Hill", he might not
have been replaced by Congress with
Washington. He remained as the lat
ter’s second In command.
May 30, 1868 —The first Decoration
Day, or Memorial Day, of the north
ern states was observed. Decoration
Day had already been suggested in
the South, by a Georgia woman, but
the northern holiday resulted from a
letter sent to Gen. John A. Logan,
commander of the Grand Army of
the Republic, by an unknown Cin
cinnati veteran:
“I recall that in my German father
land we had a beautiful custom, and
I know it still exists. On a given day
every May, when the Spring blos
soms are abundant, the people of both
sexes and all ages gather In God’s
Acre, as we call our grapeyards, to
lay floral offerings on the graves of
our beloved dead. Now. let me ask.
why cannot the G. A. °.. inaugurate
a similar observance rr"imry of
the Union dead."
Logan’s General Ord r No. 11. dat
ed May 5, 1868, provided that May
30 be observed as decoration day each
year until the pasrijng of “ths last
survivor of the wa r .”
* *
SUNDAY IS THE DAY
Whit Sunday, May 31; Pentecost
in Greek Catholic calendar. Morning
stars: Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter,
Mercur,. Evening stars: Mars, Nep
tune. Moon: first quarter. (Full
moon: Friday.)
NOTABLE NATIVITIES
Achille Ratti, b. 1857, Pope Pius
XI, the reigning pontiff . . . John
Ringling, b. 1866, retired circus mag
nate, John G. Townsend, b. 1871, sen
ator from Delaware . . . Jack Holt, b.
1889, cinemactor . . Harry W. Wood
ring, b. 1890, assistant secretary of
War . . . Charles G. Abbott, b. 1872,
astrophysicist of Smithsonian In
stitution
• • •
SUNDAY’S YESTERDAYS
May 31, 1790—Congress enacted
the first copyright law of the United
States, covering books, maps and
charts. This, however, was not the
firsfr American copyright law. A copy
right was granted to John Usher, Bos
tonljpokseller, in 1672, on the laws of
the colony! It was one of the conces
sions he received for loaning the col
ony money with which to purchase
Maine.
• * •
May 31, 1889—The Middle part of
Conemaugh reservoir cracked open at
3:30 p. m., precipitating the Johns
own Flood. More of the 2,235 vic
tims of the disaster were killed by
fire than by wateol
* * •
May 31, 1901—The CWA and PWA
and WPA of the U. S. A. were anti
cipated. In India, 6,000,000 persons
were employed on government relief
works because of famine.
* * •
FIRST WORLD WAR DAY-BY-DAY
May 30-31, 1916—Jutland, only maj
or naval engagement of the war, had
its climax 20 years ago Sunday. Yes
terday it was told here how the Ger
man and British fleet* met.
Ignorant of Jellicoe's approach—his
intelligence staff had failed him—
Scheer turned to the aid of Hip
per’s scouting force, now locked In
combat with Beatty’s battle cruisers.
He had no intention of fighting the
whole British Grand Fleet unless he
coul ddo so at an advantage or at
least on equal terms. When he be
came aware of Jellicoe’s nearness, his
efforts were turned to evading him.
But in attempting to retire, he ran
into the center of the British line anr’
into a gauntlet of fire. Under cover
of a smoke screen and torpedo at
tack, he turned back again.
Long months before Jelliooe had
w arned the Admiralty that If a chance
of battle came he would regard the
turning away of the German battle
fleet as a sign that It was trying t<">
lure him into a trap where mines
and submarines lay in wait; that h'
would refuse to be drawn into it.
and. instead, would move quickly tc
a flank.