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WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE
Opening of Gamer’s Campaign
Fails to Stir Political Circles;
New Nazi-Italian Plot Hinted
(EDITOR’S NOTE—When opinions are expressed in these columns, they
are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
- Released by Western Newspaper Union.
POLITICS:
Announcement
"1 will accept the nomination for Presi
dent. I will make no effort to control any
delegates. The people should decide. The
candidate should be selected at primaries
and conventions as provided by law, and
1 sincerely trust that all Democrats will
participate in them."
In these 44 words the sage of
Uvalde, Texas, whom John Lewis
once called a “labor-baiting, poker
playing, whisky-drinking, evil old
man,” tossed his hat in the 1940
presidential ring. Then:
“This is the best time of the year. I like
to sleep out in the open in this kind of
weather."
With that, John Nance Garner, at
71 a pretty old man to be coveting
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GARNER AND CHICKENS
Hatched at Uvalde.
the White House, went into his house
and changed clothes. A few min
utes later he had gone hunting.
Nobody in Washington was sur
prised by the announcement at first,
but over the week-end those 44
words received considerable study.
Points of interest:
1. Unlike other Democratic hope
fuls, Garner did not offer to step
aside if President Roosevelt decid
ed to run again.
2. He promised to make no effort
to control delegates, indicating he
would be a hard man to deal with
in the convention hall. Jack Gar
ner presumably refuses to enter into
any trades.
3. He said nothing about public
questions, which left the impression
that he agrees with the President
on many New Deal objectives. On
the other hand, this might only be
a mark of politeness.
THE WARS:
Plot?
Her disrepute sharply heightened
when the League of Nations ex
pelled Russia, the German Reich
got some solace when Italian For
eign Minister Galeazzo Ciano made
an unusual announcement of his na
tion’s foreign policy. European
diplomacy is now clear as mud, with
Germany’s ally, Italy, aiding Fin
land to fight Russia, who is also
Germany’s ally.
But Ciano’s speech indicated the
picture may soon clear. Only point
of difference between Rome and
Berlin was Germany’s method of
“settling” the Danzig-Polish dispute,
• in the course of which Herr Hitler
agreed that Italy should remain out
of the European war. As for the
Reich’s friendship with Russia,
Ciano charged Britain and France
forced this solution on Hitler. This,
possibly, is the key to future Ger
man-Italian collaboration.
Italy is still loyal to Berlin in
every way, and still maintains that
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CIANO
Is Russia the price?
Poland,
Czechoslova
kia and Aus
tria cannot
be restored if
there is to be
peace. And
by charging
the Russian
pact was
“forced” on
Germany,
Italy admits
that the So
viet has
merely been
used as a tool to bring pressure on
France and Britain. Can it be that
the axis may now force peace on the
allies as the price for keeping Rus
sia out of Europe?
Western War
Almost as a repercussion to the
Graf Spee incident (see below) the
western front saw its first direct
artillery duel over the Rhine. This
was purposeless, because the Rhine
was so flooded that troops could not
cross. In another sector hand-to
hand fighting was reported, while
the French sought Nazi spies alleg
edly dropped by parachute.
Biggest news developed from Brit
ain’s new aerial patrol, developed to
combat the Nazi mine-laying cam
paign. On three successive nights
royal air force planes raided Ger
man seaplane bases, after which the
air ministry said it “tentatively be
lieved” the mine menace was con-
quered. Next day, however, the
war’s biggest air battle took place
over Helgoland Bight, the Nazis
claiming 34 British ships were
downed. London admitted seven
losses and claimed Germany had
lost 12.
British boast-of-the-week: How
her tiny submarine Ursula had pene
trated the mine-infested mouth of
the Elbe to sink a Koln class cruiser
at her anchorage.
Northern War
Still playing to a full house was
the Finnish-Russian war, in which
the Soviet was taking a terrific lick
ing both in manpower and prestige.
For the first time, U. S. newsmen
like United Press’ Webb Miller and
Chicago Daily News’ Leland Stowe
visited the Karelian front and saw
Finnish troops resting snugly in
their warm trenches while the Rus
sians stormed away like madmen
across the river, wasting ammuni
tion and getting nowhere. Soviet
tanks were disabled by the score,
running against snow-covered boul
ders or being blasted by anti-tank
guns. In the north the Finns re
ported they had encircled two Rus
sian forces of 10,000 men each.
Spee
Pan America awoke suddenly to
discover its “neutrality zone” (see
map) was ineffectual. Before she
dashed for the safety of Montevideo
harbor in Uruguay, the Nazi pocket
battleship Graf Spee had almost
been blasted to pieces by three Brit
ish cruisers. One of them, Exeter,
was so badly damaged she headed
for Britain’s Falkland base in the
south Atlantic, also within the neu
trality zone. (Although Britain won
the engagement, Germany lost few
er men.) Three days later, her 72-
hour Uruguayan permit having ex
pired, Graf Spee headed for open
sea where British ships waited like
lions for the kill. Suddenly she ex
ploded, four-inch steel plates bulg
ing like paper sacks. Graf Spee
went to the bottom, her skipper
having chosen to scuttle her in the
face of hopeless odds.
Back at Montevideo a storm was
brewing, but Foreign Minister Al-
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NEUTRALITY & SPEE
The explosion had repercussions.
berto Guani stuck to his post. The
German minister charged him with
a “flagrant violation of international
law” for not giving Graf Spee
enough time to repair her damage.
The Nazis even planned to demand
reparations for the ship. Taking no
chances, Uruguay promptly arrest
ed four of the crewmen and charged
them with blowing up the ship.
A few hours later 1,000 other crew
men, having launched to nearby
Buenos Aires, were interned by Ar
gentina for the rest of the war.
As for Germany, the Spee inci
dent reduced her complement of
capital ships to four. Next day,
Britain reported sinking a 6,000-ton
Nazi cruiser.
INDIA:
Zetland’s Worry
Rapidly approaching, perhaps, is
a crisis in which British domination
of India may pass away. A good
start at satisfying Indian national
ist ambitions was made several
years ago when a quasi-home rule
plan was instituted. But in Novem
ber, faced with racial differences
between the all-India congress and
the Moslem league, Viceroy Mar
quess of Lithlingow invoked emer
gency powers vesting authority in
provincial governments. Native
congress ministries in seven prov
inces promptly resigned as part of
Mahatma Gandhi’s “passive resist
ance” program.
Up in the house of lords to com
ment on this situation rose the Mar
quess of Zetland, secretary of state
for India. The result of this whole
sale resignation, he said, has been
to “set back the hands of the clock
more than 30 years.” Meanwhile
German propagandizers are trying
to make the Indians “look to Nazi
Germany for their freedom.” Only
hope for peaceful settlement, he
thought, was division of legislatures
on communal instead of political
lines. The ambition: “What we
have to aim at is that a legislator
will think of himself as an Indian
first and only as a Hindu or Mos
lem . . . afterward.”
BAKER COUNTY NEWS
RATES DOWN— At Washington
the interstate commerce commis
sion ruled there is “nothing un
lawful” about reduced rates for
trainload shipments, thus revers
ing its former policy.
DEBT UP— Also at Washington,
Secretary of the Treasury Henry
Morgenthau was quoted as testi
fying he favored raising the pub
lic debt limit from $45,000,000,000
to $50,000,000,000.
EXPORTS DOWN— November
U. S. exports were $287,000,000
against $323,168,000 in October,
$12,000,000 of the drop being ac
counted for in blockaded ship
ments to Germany.
DIES UP— A Gallup poll showed
75 per cent of the U. S. still
favoring continuation of the Dies
un-Americanism investigation,
though presidential criticism has
caused a 4 per cent decline the
past six weeks.
LABOR:
Bad Business
First witness before the house
committee investigating the Nation
al Labor Relations board was Dr.
William Leiserson, NLRB member,
whose testimony actually keynoted
the hearing. Its gist: That Dr.
Leiserson has been a minority mem
ber, conservative and opposed to
Members Edwin L. Smith and War
ren Madden, whose agents had been
“impartial” and had used “tactics
one might expect from the (Rus
sian) O. G. P. U.”
Called to the stand, Boardsman
Smith found himself in hot water
Huan:
NLRB’S SMITH
A boycott?
trying to ex
plain his ac
tions during
labor trouble
at the Berk
shire Knit
ting Mills,
Reading, Pa.
First he ad
mitted “ex
tra - legal”
action in try
ing to medi
ate a strike
before
charges
had been filed with NLRB the strik
ing union (now a C. I. O. affiliate)
represented a minority.
But his biggest mistake was in
suggesting to a Boston department
store handling Berkshire products
that “any stand you might adopt
would be listened to with the great
est respect by the Berkshire com
pany.” That, charged the commit
tee, constituted an attempted boy
cott sponsored by an NLRB mem
ber.
At such an embarrassing moment
in the Wagner act’s young life, C.
I. O.’s John Lewis chose to make
his own recommendations for
amendments at the next congres
sional session. The suggestion:
Criminal penalties for violators of
the act.
AGRICULTURE:
Certificates
There were plenty of signs that
the administration’s campaign to
make its farm program self-financ
ing will take shape in a processing
tax — provided congress approves.
Meeting in Washington “to study
something for the President” were
Secretaries Morgenthau and Wal
lace, Federal Reserve Chairman Ec
cles, Budget Director Smith and oth
er fiscal bigwigs. When they parted
it was learned the “certificate plan”
had been discussed. Its gist: A
processing taxjn new dress (the last
one was thrown out by the Supreme
court in 1936) it would consist of
parity payments paid to the farmer
directly by the processor, who in
turn will pass them on to the con
sumer directly. Reason: The U. S.
needs more money next year for
defense, hence must find a source of
Income without boosting taxes in a
campaign year.
MISCELLANY:
Ambassador to President
Back home from Washington to
the republic of Panama went Am
bassador Dr. Augusto S. Boyd, first
vice president of his country, to as
sume the post vacated by death of
19-year-old Dr. Juan Demostenes
Xrosemena, president.
Purge
At Istanbul, Turkish officials
slamped down on Nazi propagan
dists, ordering expulsion of 107 Ger
mans charged with suspicious activ
ities.
Indictment
C. At Washington, the justice de
partment won indictments against a
Russian magazine distribution firm
and three of its officers, charged
with distributing printed material of
a political and propagandous nature.
Embarrassment
(L Fearful of meeting the represent
ative of an enemy power, many en
voys stayed away from the smallest
and most tension-shot diplomatic re
ception the White House has seen in
many years.
Probe
(L President Roosevelt ordered the
tariff commission to find out wheth
er large amounts of foreign wheat—
particularly Canadian — are being
imported to compete with the U. S.
product. One reason for the probe:
For several weeks American wheat
has sold at about 30 cents a bushel
above Canadian quotations.
ADVENTURERS 1 CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI
“Forest Death Trap"
YOU know, when you go hunting, you more or less expect to
meet up with adventures of a certain sort. You might reason
ably expect to be treed by a bear, or hopped on by a wildcat, or
maybe bogged down in a mess of quicksand or socked on the coco
by a falling tree. You might expect almost anything BUT the sort
of mystifying experience that fell to the lot of George S. Quartin
of Brooklyn, N. Y., on a hunting trip near Kingston, N. Y., in the
middle of January, 1929. The best adventures are like that. It
isn’t what you expect, but what you DON’T expect, that gives you
the big thrill you remember all down through the years.
George Quartin and his friend Martin Ross went hunting. They
might have expected to run across bears, wildcats, quicksand or
falling trees, but here’s what actually did happen.
They started out from the little village of Accord, N. Y.—
started out into the woods, and along about evening, after
trying for two or three hours to find their way back, decided
that they must be lost. That’s something else a hunter might
easily expect, and certainly it did happen. But they don’t count that as
an adventure. It was only the beginning of a train of circumstances
that led to a strange, terrifying night when everything was against them
and nothing seemed to make sense.
Night had come on, and still they were walking in circles trying to
find their way out of the woods. They were looking for a place to sleep
when Martin Ross saw a light in the distance.
Hunters Discover Weatherbeaten House.
It seemed to be a flare of some sort. The two men started
walking toward it. The flare died out before they had gone two
steps, but moving in its direction, they came to an old, weather
beaten frame house standing in the middle of a clearing.
There was no light in the house, but they approached and knocked
on the door. There was no answer, but George tried the latch and
the door opened. They went inside—into a big, empty room. There
was a fireplace in the corner, and some wood beside it. They started
to build a fire, but they never got it lighted. From that moment on,
Terrified now, the two lads picked up their rifles and began shooting
at the door.
events crowded on the heels of events so rapidly that they had no time
to think of anything else.
First came a crash outside. It sounded near the door. George and
Martin ran to it—and found it locked. .Someone had fastened it from
the outside!
Then it was they noticed that the big, dim room had no win
dows. What kind of a house was that? They noticed, too, that
the door was a heavy one, made of solid oak—two or three times
as thick and strong as any mere dwelling door had any business
to be. There was something mighty strange about that win
dowless dwelling. A disquieting fear crept into the hearts of both
of them. What sort of place had they stumbled into?
Peculiar Odor Permeates the Building.
Shouting brought them no answer. Then they began to hear voices
outside. Whoever it was out there was ignoring their cries. They heard
sounds of a heavy object being drawn somewhere. A peculiar odor,
faint at first, began to permeate the whole building. The two lads lay
down in a corner, but not to sleep. They lay huddled together, trapped
like rats, wondering what their mysterious captors would finally do
with them.
They lay there silent while the hours went by. Then, sud
denly they were aroused by the sound of an explosion and the
thud-thud of running feet. The smell of smoke began to fill the
room—and in another few minutes the room was thick with the
smoke itself.
Black, acrid, choking smoke! It billowed up from somewhere be
low them—filled their lungs and set them to coughing. Terrified now,
the two lads picked up their rifles and began shooting at the door. But
the door was too thick to yield even to rifle bullets, and if the men out
side heard the shots they gave no sign of it.
The room was getting hot. Now they could hear flames crackling
beneath them. The smoke was so thick that they could hardly breathe.
They were running around in panic, aimlessly dashing from one side of
that strange room to another. Flame was creeping through the cracks
in the floorboards—licking the sides of the wall with its myriad red
tongues. Time was passing, but they weren’t conscious of it. All they
knew was the terrible fear of being burned alive in the mysterious trap
they had fallen into.
Seek a Place to Escape Intense Heat.
Then they were beginning to drop from exhaustion and lack
of air. First George, then Martin. They were on their knees,
groping for a spot where the intense heat would not sear their
skin when they heard a hammering on the door.
They were too weak then to care much what was happening.
Through a daze they watched the door splinter and fall to pieces.
They saw it broken down, felt a merciful breath of fresh air roll
in through the smoke—saw dim, foggy figures come dashing in
through the doorway. Then hands were lifting them—dragging
them out into the gray dawn of a January morning, and George
saw that he was in the arms of a state trooper and being lifted
into the front seat of a squad car.
In another moment, Martin was in the car with him, and they we
rolling along a backwoods road toward Kingston—still wondering at
the meaning of the terrifying ordeal they had been put through. The
whole answer didn’t come until other troopers brought in two men they
had captured in the neighborhood of the house of mystery. The truth
was that Martin and George had stumbled on a backwoods moonshine
plant. The moonshiners, taking them for revenue agents, had locked
them in, and left them to die when, a few hours later, their still ex
ploded and set the house afire. But someone who saw the blaze phoned
the troopers. Otherwise two lads who had gone a hunting might have
ended their day of sport in a night of tragedy.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Iron Sports Equipment Widely Used in Ancient Times
Steel or iron have been favored
for sports equipment since ancient
times, when Greek athletes hurled
the javelin in their games, and then
down through the Middle ages, when
armored knights tested their skill in
tournamegts. Today steel is more
prominent than ever in sports and
games, and every year millions of
pounds of steel are bought in the
form of sports and recreation equip
ment. When many modern sports
were developed wood and leather
were used widely, but the trend is
now toward steel where speed,
strength and safety are important.
Golf, a game in which little stee.'
was once used, in 1938 absorbed
about 1,069,000 pounds in the manu
facture of new clubs, exclusive ot
other uses on the courses.
Os the total for golf clubs 175,000
pounds of steel were used for the
shafts of wood-headed clubs, while
894,000 pounds were used for the
shafts and heads of irons. On the
courses indeterminate amounts of
steel were used for pins to mark the
steel cups and for watering equip
ment, pails, mowers and other ma
chinery for upkeen.
Gas Pressure
May Be Result
of Excitement
By DR. JAMES W. BARTON
UNTIL just a few years ago,
gas was thought to be due
in all cases to the foods eaten—
onions, cabbages, lettuce, peas,
beans. More re
cently, it was
thought that in the
great majority of
cases gas forma
tion and pressure
was due to a sluggish liver ant
gall bladder. Many cases also
are believed due to fermenta
tion of protein foods—meat,
eggs, fish.
It is now agreed that many
nervous or excitable individ
uals, those who eat their food
hurriedly, swallow quantities
of air during meals and par
ticularly if they use much
fluid — tea, coffee,, milk or
water — during meals. Dr.
Walter Alvarez, Mayo Clinic,,
who for many years has done
much original research work on the
stomach and intestines, says in the
Ohio Medical Jour
nal:
“For reasons yet
unknown, some per
sons swallow much
air as they drink. A
‘dry’ dinner will
sometimes give a
much more comfort
able night.”
“Among the other
causes of flatulence
—gas—are: food sen
sitiveness—being al
lergic or sensitive to
i
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Dr. Barton
some particular food or foods such
as eggs, wheat, berries; a plug or
hardened waste matter in the rec
tum or lowest part of large intes
tine, which forces gas back up into
small intestine and even into the
stomach; nervous excitement be
fore, during and after eating; oil,
which while lubricating the wastes,
seems to cause gas pressure, and
any substances added to laxatives in
order to add bulk to the wastes.”
Walls Are Strengthened.
Despite the formation of gas
caused by these bulky substances,
such as agar, most physicians be
lieve that this bulkiness distends
the bowel and causes the muscles
of the bowel to squeeze harder on
the mass of waste and so prevents
constipation. The bowel is kept in
a better condition of health if its
muscular walls have something that
causes them to contract or squeeze
upon the wastes. The walls in
crease in muscular strength by this
work or exercise.
As mentioned before, if the gas
from the stomach or bowel is with
out odor, it is considered as being
swallowed air. If odor is present
then gas is due to one or more of
the conditions above mentioned.
» * »
Removal of
Gall Bladder
T HAVE spoken before of the pa
-1 tient who underwent operation for
ulcer of the stomach expecting that
all his symptoms would disappear,
never to return. He was greatly
disappointed when his physician told
him that if he didn’t stop worrying,
eating rapidly, and not getting
enough rest, he would likely “grow”
another ulcer. Operation for ulcer of
the stomach is not now so common
since it has been found that the pa
tient’s “personality” is’usually the
underlying cause.
Drs. E. L. Eliason and J. P. North,
Philadelphia, in Annals of Surgery,
report their followup study of 264
cases from one to four years after
operation. They found that only 6
per cent (16 cases) were not re
lieved of the symptoms for which
they underwent operation. In four
other cases the relief was delayed
and in others the symptoms com
plained of were not due to gall
bladder disturbance.
Cases Are Investigated.
Now 6 per cent is not a large
percentage to fail to get relief after
removal of their gall bladders, but
Drs. Eliason and North investigat
ed these cases and fodhd that in
half of them (8) there were no gross
or outstanding evidences of gall
bladder disease at time of opera
tion, but in the other half (8) the
surgeon found a diseased gall blad
der with stones yet the patient was
not helped by the removal of the
gall bladder.
The explanation is that sometimes
conditions other than gallstones can
give similar symptoms, “since many
gallstones are ‘silent’ ones.”
The lesson here then is that, de
spite the mistakes physicians may
make and the inability of a patient
to properly describe his symptoms,
practically 19 of every 20 cases un
dergoing this operation obtained re
lief from their symptoms.
For those, then, that are suffering
with gall bladder symptoms, espe
cially those with the terrible at
tacks of gallstone colic, the fact that
operation gives relief to such a large
percentage should not only allay
their fears of operation but should
give them great hope of obtaining
immediate relief and keeping free
from symptoms thereafter.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
TODAY’S
HEALTH
COLUMN