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WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE
Big Cuts in Lend-Spend Bill
Traceable to Lewis Barrage
Against Garner, Wage Shifts
(EDITOR’S MOTE—When epiaim are rtyinii tn these celnmns, they
are these es the news analyst and net necessarily at this newspaytr.)
__Released by Western Newspaper Union. —
CONGRESS:
Drifting
Time was when C. I. O.’s John L.
Lewis and President Roosevelt were
close friends. If this was an ex
cuse for anti-Roosevelt sentiment
in the rural U. S., such sentiment
might have been dispelled the day
John Lewis appeared before a hos
tile house labor committee. In a few
choice words he denounced proposed
amendments to the 1933 fair labor
standards act In a few more he
called Vice President Garner a “la
bor-baiting, poker-playing, whiskey
drinking, evil old man . .
While this denunciation at least
won Jack Garner the poker-playing
M J ’
■ppp-
.a.—
, JOHN LEWIS
The effect uat ttupendout.
and whiskey-drinking vote if he runs
for President next year, its actual
effect was much greater—indeed, it
was stupendous. By denouncing
wage-hour amendments Mr. Lewis
stepped on rural toes (especially in
the SouthV which wanted processors
of agricultural products eliminated
from minimum wage requirements.
Thus he fanned into a blaze the
growing coalition between Republi
cans and rural Democrats who are
coolish toward the New Deal. Cheer
ing Jack Garner in house and sen
ate, this group proceeded to raise
havoc with President Roosevelt’s pet
multi-billion lend-spend program,
aimed to hasten recovery.
In the senate a $2,490,000,000 orig
inal proposal lost a $500,000,000 item
for toll highways, bridges and tun
nels, another $350,000,000 for leasing
equipment to railroads. In the house
the bill was tied in committee. While
adjournment hinged on this bill and
no other, Senate Majority Leader
Alben Barkley had to bite his finger
nails and listen to an irrelevant two
hour neutrality harangue by North
Dakota’s Sen. Gerald P. Nye. Fi
nally, after remarking quietly that
“there seems to be some sort of an
undercurrent that’s causing this bill
to drift,” he dashed from the cham
ber and yelled at waiting reporters:
“I don’t know anything about any
thing!”
Finally passed and sent to the
house, the emasculated measure
looked something like this: (000,000
omitted)
Original Senate House
Bill Bill Committee
Road *750.. Omitted. SSOO
Farm Tenancy .... 600... .$600.... 400
Public Works 350.... 350.... 350
Electrification 500.... 500.... 350
Exports 100.... 75.... 100
Rail Equipment .... 500.. Omitted. 250
Reclamation Omitted. .90. .Omitted
The price Senator Barkley had to
pay for his measure: (1) adoption of
the amendment of Virginia's Harry
Byrd removing tax exemption on
government securities financing the
project; (2) offering his own com
promise amendment reducing Ex
port-Import bank loans to $75,000,-
000 and providing all loans should
be spent in the U. S.
AGRICULTURE:
Subsidies
Last year the U. S. agriculture de
partment placed 118,000,000 bushels
of wheat on the world market, los
ing an average of 27 cents a bushel
in subsidies because U. S. prices
were above world levels. This year
world production will hit a new high
and Liverpool prices have reached
their lowest levels since 1592. Thus,
to compete on the world market
and still give farmers a fair price
for exported wheat, the U. S. would
suffer a subsidy loss of between 45
and 50 cents a bushel.
Offsetting bigger subsidies, how
ever, is smaller domestic produc
tion. As Secretary of Agriculture
Henry A. Wallace began estimating
production, domestic consumption,
required carryover and export sur
pluses, the picture looked brighter.
Although a 100,000,000 export would
cost the treasury between $45,000,-
000 and $50,000,000, the U. S. prob
ably will not ask so great a share of
the world market when the interna
tional wheat conference meets in
London. To maintain a carryover
of 175,000,000 to 200,000,000 bushels,
an export of only 70,000,000 is need
ed. Thus, compared with the $31,-
860,000 spent on subsidies last year,
a 50-cent subsidy this year would
cost only $4,000,000 more.
Referendum
Only as a last resort does the ag
riculture department want to hold a
referendum on corn marketing quo-
tas for next year. With production
estimates running high and flirting
with the mandatory referendum fig
ure, President Roosevelt signed an
amendment to the AAA act allow
ing Secretary Wallace to delay the
election, basing his decision on the
crop board's September 1 report in
stead of the August 1 estimate. Oth
er amendments, placing marketing
quotas for wheat, com and cotton
all on a similar basis:
C Permit com and wheat growers
who plant within their acreage al
lotment their entire crop without
penalty when a quota is in effect.
C Extend indefinitely the 55,000,000-
acre minimum allotment for wheat.
< Extend indefinitely the 10,000,000-
bale minimum in establishing cotton
acreage.
WHITE HOUSE:
Hatch Bill
Passed by both senate and house,
the bill of New Mexico’s Sen. Carl
A. Hatch to “clean up” politics found
its way to the President’s desk for
signing or veto. Its purpose: To
remove influence or interference of
all federal administrative officials
from elections or nominating efforts
for President. Its result: Incumbent
federal administrations will find
their personal payroller machines of
little help at nomination or election
time. But state machines will wield
great power.
Whether he liked it or not, Presi
dent Roosevelt told his press con
ference he favored the bill's “ob
jectives,” yet he feared it was uncon
stitutional because vaguely drawn.
For example, what can people legiti
mately do under its very broad lan
guage? Can officeholders attend po
litical rallies or voluntarily contrib
ute to a friend’s campaign expendi
tures? Pending a decision from At
torney General Frank Murphy, the
bill awaited presidential action. If
not signed or vetoed by August 3,
Mr. Hatch’s bill would become law.
The White House also:
<l, Nominated James Lawrence Fly,
TV A solicitor, to succeed much-per
secuted Frank R. McNinch as a
member of the federal communica
tions commission.
CL Ordered Secretary of State Cor
dell Hull to move from the second to
the fourth floor of the old State,
War and Navy building, making
room for the six “assistant presi
dents” appointed under the reorgani
zation bill, men with “a passion for
anonymity.”
RUSSIA:
Purge
In the U. S. an incompetent pub
lic official is demoted, er fired at
the end of his term. In Soviet Rus
sia, where Foreign Commissar Max
im Litvinov disappeared mysteri
ously last May 3, public officials may
expect a fate ranging from impris
onment or execution to exile in Si
beria’s wastelands.
Strangely coincidental as July
neared its end were two bits of Rus
sian news. In Moscow, Dictator Jo
sef Stalin and his right-hand man,
F77’ " _ " •
ik’''
► AJel <1
CONSTANTIN OUMANSKY
Purgee?
Premier and Foreign Commissat
Vyacheslav Molotov announced in
the Official Gazette the names of 79
high military and diplomatic offi
cials who had been “stripped of
their decorations,” i.e., placed un
der arrest, for "actions unworthy of
order bearers.” Biggest shakeup
was in the Japanese-pestered Far
East, where Gen. Grigorio Shtern
(successor to the vanished Marshal
Vassily Bluecher) was succeeded by
General Popov.
The other bit of news was gath
ered from such widely separated
points as Berlin, Rome, Washington,
and Tokyo. In each case Soviet
embassies reported their ambassa
dors missing. Washington’s Constan
tin Oumansky, who sailed from New
York July 5 for a “vacation” back
home, had not been heard from
since he watched Moscow’s annual
physical culture parade two weeks
later. Best guesses held that Pre
mier Molotov, who has been shak
ing up the Soviet’s diplomatic serv
ice ever since he replaced Comrade
Litvinov, is doing some more shak
ing up—possibly via th* custom
tested purge route.
BAKER COUNT! NEWS
Short, Short Story
OR 1-2-3 SEQUENCE
I—SURRENDER. Quick on the
heels of Jap-Chinese anti-British
protests and Jap army barricade of
British concessions in north China,
Prime Minister Chamberlain or
dered Ambassador Craigie to recog
nize the “new order in China” and
to promise not to obstruct the Jap
army in its undeclared war. Britain
hoped thus to free her hands in
Asia, meanwhile “detaching” Tokyo
from the Rome-Berlin axis. But he
was wrong.
■Cx
i\w Aril
i f
t —PROTEST. In Washington, the
state department tabulated more
than 600 attacks on U. S. citizens
in China the past two years. Gallup
polls showed 72 per cent favoring
an arms embargo against Japan.
Petitions (above) rolled into Sen.
Key Pittman of the foreign rela
tions committee. Suddenly, as Brit
ain surrendered, the U. S. abrogat
ed its trade pact with Japan, pav
ing the way for an arms embargo
six months hence. Britain's foreign
office called it “co-operation” but
it was far from that. It was a U. S.
protest against Britain’s weakness.
3— REVENGE. At first stunned,
then angry, Japan announced the
price for a new trade treaty would
be recognition of the “new order”
in China. Then Foreign Minister
Hachiro Arita (above), an ardent
admirer of Hitler, suddenly initialed
the long-pending trade pact with
Germany, bringing Japan into the
anti-Soviet axis with Italy and the
Reich. Next she threatened abro
gation of the dead nine-power pact
guaranteeing China's integrity. Net
result of all incidents: U. S., Brit
ain, France and Russia inadvertent
ly found themselves aligned against
Japan, Germany and Italy.
ASTRONOMY:
Silence
At New York’s World fair the
management ordered a “blackout”
and anti-aircraft defense against
Martian invaders, but concession
aires wouldn’t co-operate. At Men
doz, Argentina, an earthquake was
blamed on Mars’ proximity. At
Bloemfontein, South Africa, scien
tists thought they found millions of
square miles of snow on Mars’ sur
face, but it melted in two days.
Cause of all this concern was the
planet’s approach to within a mere
36,000,000 miles of the earth, clos
est in 15 years. At Baldwin, N. Y.,
home of Press Wireless, Inc., Dr.
Clyde Fisher of the American Mu
seum of Natural History led an at
tempt to contact Mars. Figuring it
would take 6'4 minutes for a radio
message to bounce back to earth
if it hit Mars square on the nose,
scientists Morse coded the letter
“N,” waited the allotted time and
got nothing but cat-like squeals.
As a last effort they tried swing
music. That, too, failed to pene
trate and Mars began fading into the
distance, still an enigma.
BRIEFLY . . .
<L In Washington, a U. S. anti
trust suit against the American
Medical association was thrown
out. Reason: Medicine is a pro
fession, not a business.
<l. In Rochester, Minn., 78-year
old Dr. William Mayo was buried
near his brother, Dr. Charles,
who died earlier this year.
<1 In New York, cotton interests
claimed a victory when A. & P.
food stores adopted cotton casings
instead of jute for its flour.
<L In New York, Anthony Drexel
Duke became 21, and inherited
about $6,000,000 with an SBO-a-day
allowance while attending Prince
ton. Comment: “Gosh! I’d like
to know what anybody does with
SBO a day.”
<L In Washington, survivors of
the submarine Squalus, still off
underseas duty until their boat is
raised, got a pay cut.
ADVENTURERS* CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF FEOFLE LIKE YOURSELF!
“Death in the Eeltrap 99
Hello, everybody:
A fisherman takes his living out of the water, and at times
the water is pretty generous. But it’s a treacherous element
when it wants to be, and there are times when it takes back more
than it has given. Sometimes it drives a mighty hard bargain.
Judd O’Rourke, of Hartford, Conn., made his living for eight
or nine months by wheedling it from the Saco river in Maine.
Judd didn’t take any too much from the river. Darned little
more than he needed to live on. But when the river came
around to collect, it wanted Judd’s life in payment for those few
months of subsistence.
It was in the spring of 1929 when Judd started to wrest a
living from the river. He was digging clams and fishing for
eels, down at the mouth of the stream. Eel fishing took quite
a bit of equipment. One set line alone cost about eight dollars
for material and a day’s work putting it together.
A set line is a long rope, with weights on it every 20 feet to keep
it down at the bottom of the river, and three or four hundred shorter
lines attached to it at intervals. The shorter lines are baited to catch
the eels which swim along near the bottom of the stream on their way
out to sea with the ebbing tide.
Set Line Anchored by Concrete Blocks.
Judd’s set line stretched clear across the river. It was an
chored by concrete blocks a few feet out from either shore, and at
one end there was a float that told Jodd where he could find it
when he wanted it. You never take a set line entirely out of the
water. When you want to gather your catch, you haul the line
up at the buoy and work your way along it in a rowboat, pulling
the line up in front of you and letting it fall back in the water
behind.
All through April and May, Judd made his living digging
clams and tending his set lines. And then, on the morning of
June 7, Old Man River presented him with a bill for what he had
taken. The bill was for one human life, and Old Man River
didn’t pull his punches when he started collecting them.
That morning, Judd and his friend, George Croft, were rowing out
to some mud flats for bait. On their way, they passed one of Judd’s
set lines and stopped to see if ’there was a stray eel or two on it. Judd
George was hauling him down—not up!
caught the line at the buoy, pulled it up, and started working along it
toward the other side of the river. He worked along until he was about
half way across, and then the line stuck.
Judd figured it was caught on a snag on the river bottom.
Try as he would, he couldn’t pull it up, so thi two men gave np
and rowed on to get their bait. But on the way back, Judd be
gan thinking that he didn’t want to lose a new eight dollar set
line and decided to have a try at diving for it.
The river was only about 14 feet deep at low tide, and all the clothes
Judd had on were his boots and a pair of old pants with legs cut off at
the knees. He took off his boots, and then tied the boat’s anchor rope
to his waist and gave the other end to George Croft to hold. That rope
was for safety’s sake. The waters on the Maine coast are ice cold,
even in June, and if Judd got a cramp he wanted George to be able to
haul him up. But sometimes the contraptions we rig up for our safety
are the things that do us the most harm.
Judd Finds Where His Line Is Snagged.
Judd dived. He found his line and began working his way toward
where it was snagged. He found the place. An old water-logged tree
stump, rolled downstream by the current, had lodged on top of it. Judd
couldn’t budge the stump. His lungs were bursting, so he rose to the
surface. The only thing he could do now was to cut the line on each
side of the stump and save as much of it as possible. Taking his fishing
knife he dived again.
He reached the bottom, cut the line on one side, and then,
after rising to the surface for another breath of air, he went
down again. Eut this time, he miscalculated his distance. He
reached bottom on the wrong side of the stump and had to work
his way around it. “That took a few precious seconds,” says
Judd, “because now the current was becoming stronger and it
was getting increasingly hard to hold my feet on the bottom. But
at last I found the line. I cut it quickly, doubled my knees under
me and shot toward the surface.”
Anchor Rope Caught on Bottom.
But Judd didn’t reach the surface. He shot up about five feet, and
then stopped with a jerk that took the air out of his lungs. That jerk
scared Judd. “The first thing I thought,” he says, “was that a large
squid had me. To this day I don’t know why I should have thought that,
for the largest squid I have ever seen weighed only a pound and a half.
Then I looked down and saw that it was the anchor rope, tied to my
waist, that was holding me. I knew it must be caught on the bottom, so
I grasped it and hauled myself downward, hand over hand.”
Judd’s lungs were aching now. The air was gone out of them,
and he knew it would be a long time before he could untangle
that rope and get to the surface. Would he make it? Well—he
was doing his best. That 10 feet of rope seemed like 500. His
heart was beating and his head was spinning. At last he reached
the point where the rope was snagged, and then—calamity!
As he reached the snag, the rope suddenly tightened, drawing him
up close against the stump. Up in the boat, George Croft had picked
that moment to become alarmed and try to haul Judd out of the water.
And with the rope caught in the snag, George was hauling Him down
instead of up—down to his death!
Judd began to struggle. But the rope only pulled him
closer to the Hump. It was so tight that Judd couldn’t possibly
free it from the snag, and there weren’t many more seconds
left in which he’d be able to free it. His lungs were bursting
and his stomach felt as if it were turning inside out. He began
swallowing water—and at that moment he thought of the knife be
had brought down to cut the set line. It was in his belt. He got
it out, cut the rope—and that was the last Judd remembered.
When Judd woke up, he was lying in the bottom of the boat, and
George was giving him artificial respiration. George had had the scare
of his life when the rope suddenly went slack and Judd’s body had come
to the surface and then started to go down again. He had fished Judd
out with a gaff and then worked over him until he brought him around
again.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Dancing Cops
Rehearsing clog steps on the sec
ond floor of the police station at
Lynn. Mass., in preparation for
their annual minstrel show, a score
of bluecoats abruptly halted their
terpsichorean endeavors. “Guests”
in the first floor cells complained
nf the noise.
Jails Are Similar
Portuguese prisons of today are
similar to those early Philadelphia
jails. Iron bars before the windows
of the prisons in Portugal prevent
escape of prisoners, but permit the
offenders to talk with acquaint
ances in the street and to receive
food and cigarettes
Uncle
.Says:
That Gets the Crowds
A steam shovel always seems
to do its work so amply.
It was Ed Howe who said that
“every man should be arrested
about two times in his life for
what he thinks.”
Real love seldom makes beauti
ful speeches. More often it is
dumb.
Then They Sober Up
People always laugh at the fool
things you try to do until they dis
cover that you are making money
at it.
There would be but few myster
ies in this world if people looked
into everything as closely as a
woman looks into a mirror.
We Average Humana
We sadly contemplate our bad
habits, and then reconcile our
selves to them.
Tradition should be treated with
respect. It is often worth follow
ing.
Life First
Life comes before literature, as
the material always comes before
the work. The hills are full of
marble before the world blooms
with statues.—Phillips Brooks.
||[|H M
PENNY
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