Newspapers / The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, … / Dec. 11, 1931, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
News Review of Current Events the World Over Japanese Armies on Move Again While League Council Stumbles ? Raskob Irritates the Drys ? National Political Gossip. By EDWARD W. PICKARD NEITHER Japan nor China was willing to accept the plan de rised by the l.eague of Nations coun cil for an inquiry Inio the Manchurian situation, and the twelve members of that body made u fur ther attempt to draw 2 thnf would please both I sides. but without j apparent success. The salient point of this latter plan was the seudlng of a "com mittee of study" to Manchuria, only In stead of having an Gen. C. P. express mandate for Summerall lnv(,sllKatlnK al| China as well as Manchuria, as the recent Japanese proposal provided, the committee would be Instructed to in vestigate Manchuria, and to Include China if they think It advisable. As demanded by 'he Japauese. the com mittee would have no power to In vestigate trosp movements or to Inter fere otherwise with the war, nor to intervene In any direct negotiations between Tokyo and Nanking that might be opened. Dr. Alfred Sze, In an uncompromis ing communication to the council, told how China looked on this scheme. He said : "An Inquiry without at the same time providing for Immediate cessa tion of hostilities and the withdrawal of Japauese forces becomes a mere device to condone and perpetuate for a more or le^a Indefinite period the unjustifiable occupation of China's ter ritory by an aggressor who has al ready virtually attained his unlawful object while these discussions have been going on. In the circumstances you will readily see It Is quite Impos sible for ni^foj^^jsid^r the proposal In question uuill the basis above men tioned has been adequately laid down." When and if a committee of inquiry Is named, its chairman may be Gen. Charles P. Summerall. former chief of staff of the United States army. He has been suggested for this place by the Japanese and probably would be acceptable to China. Still another plan for solving the Manchurian problem wus to be sub mitted to the council by the Nanking government, according to Dr. Welling ton Koo, who has Just been appointed Chinese foreign minister and assumed his new duties. 1 DOWN on the southern coast of Manchuria is a small strip In which is situated the city of Chin chow. and that It still in the hands of China? or was last week. But evidently the Japanese decided to take over this area also, for Doctor Sze gave the league coun cil Information that the troops of the mi kado were tuoving south from Mukden in armored cars with the intention of crush ing the opposition in Chinchow. This ac tion was explained by the Japanese oo the ground that their interests there were menaced by bandits, but the Chinese assert the activities of bandits there and elsewhere in Manchuria are pro moted by Japan t? excuse their mil itant course. Despite reports of dissension In the Japanese cabinet, it is apparent that the militarists, led by Gen. Jiro Minami, minister of war, are bnving their own way. They will not permit withdrawal of the troops from Man churia, nor are they afraid of exas perating the Soviet Russian govern ment to the point of forceful action although always assuring Moscow that Russian Interests will not be en dangered. COMPLETION of the Lakes-to-the Gulf waterway in 1932 instead of In May, 1933, with a view to assisting business, industry and employment, was anked of the federal government by the Mississippi Valley association at Its anntial convention In St. I^nls. I mators Glenn and I-ewia of Illinois and many others spoke in favor of speeding up the construction work, and argued that the objections raised by the army engineers to a quick On 1st) ? ice and possible floods ? would not be considered valid If the water way were a private enterprise Instead of a government jwjjjec/ The associ Gen. Jiro Minami u t ion voted in favor of a federal bond issue to carry ok the work rapidly. Senator (Jlenn recently urged upon President Hoover and Secretary of War Hurley the need of early com pletton of the work, and said he vio luted no confidence in declaring both of them were in favor of ibis course. Sri RUING up the animals is a fa vorite occupation of John J. Ras k??b, the dynamic chairman of the Democratic national committee. His latest achievement In that way Is the send ing out of a question naire to 88,580 con tributes to the party campaign fund of 192S to get their views on whether the Demo cratic national con vention should de clare for resubmis sion of the prohibi tion issue to the jkk> . , ? , . pie. They ere als? J. J. Raskcb . . ' . . asked what t;iej think on other matters of party pol icy, but the liquor proposition is the main one. Needless to say, Mr. Raskob himself is thoroughly wet. and as he says in his letter to contributors, he believes the time has come "for the Democratic party to fare this Issue squarely and to present to the people a definite plan under the policy of states' rights and local self-government.'* The move was a follow-up to his presentation of the home-rule plan for liquor control last March to the na tional committee. He evoked then a bitter outburst, particularly from southern leaders, many of whom felt deliberate injection of the prohibition issue was a fine way to wreck the | party's 1032 prospects. | This time the dryg again resi>onded j with strong protests. Their board of I strategy, of which Edwin C. Dinwiddle Is executive secretary, issued a state ment which said "wet millionaires" were bringing pressure to bear on both parties to make their platforms wet by threatening to withhold contributions In the 19.12 contest. Some -New Yorkers saw In the Ras kob questionnaire a deliberate effort to split the support of Frunklin D. Roose velt, who is till the leading contender for the Presidential nomination. Sen ators Robinson of Arkansas, Hull of Tennessee and Connally of Texas, in terviewed in Washington, decried Ras kob's efforts. Representative garner of Te:*\s. prospective speaker of the next h >use, partook of a "harmony breakfast" with John F. Curry, chief .ain of Tammany Hall, the other day and il is said persuaded him to aban don his plan to have a member of the Tammany delegation made floor leader. The inter-party truce was completed when Representative John Mcl luflie of Alabama withdrew from the race for the floor leadership. Immediately thereafter Representative Henry T. Rainey seventy-one-year-old veteran from Illinois, publicly annoum-id his candidacy and word went down the line that he had the active support of Representative Garner. Mr. Rainey claimed he already had been pledged 133 of the 217 Democratic votes. Democratic control of the bouse was clinched by the election of R. M. Kle berg, Democrat, in the Fourteenth Texas district to succeed the late Harry M. VVurzhach who was the state's only Republican congressman. MEMBERS Of the senate who are classed as progressive Repub licans were reported to be organizing for opposition to the re election of Sen ator George H. Moses of New Hamp shire as president pro tempore of the senate. They are said to be actuated especially by Moses' attack on them a year ago, when be dubbed them ?*sons of the wild Jackass." Nye of North Dakota. Norrls of Nebraska and Couzecs of Michigan were supposed to be leading the movement and It was believed tbey would support Senator Wesley Lr Jones of Washington for the place held by Moses. The regular Republican leaders feared all this might result In allowing the Demo crats to assume control of the senate as well as of the house. PItOGUESSIVE and Independent members of the house expect to j wield control of Its actions, and at the cal ef Representative LaGuardla of New York those la that category. both Republicans and Democrat*, met Wednesday in Washington to make their plans and formulate their de mands. The invitation to this confer- 1 ence. which was signed also by Paul J. Kvale of Minnesota, the lone Farm er-I.aborite, said that oven though the Democrats might elect the speaker, neither they nor the Republicans could hoi?e for a working majority without the aid of the independents. One of tiie demands of the progressives is lib eralization of the house rules so that "boss control" may be eliminated. T 11 HUE Is an unfilled vacancy among federal Judgeships In the Chicago division of the eastern Illi nois district, and George E? Q. John son, United States district attorney there, is strongly urged for the place by Senator otis F. Glenn, Illinois. The appointment of Mr. Johnson would be nofitien! In somp wnvj. but It ulso would be approved as a reward for the excellent work he has done in the line of prosecuting gangsters and graft ing politicians for evasion of UMr in come taxes. Senator Glenn denied that he had yet made any recommen dation to the President, but other sup porters of Mr. Johnson were insistent that he should be appointed now, though he has three more years to serve of his second term as district attorney and Mr. Hoover, it was re ported. wants hiin to finish his term. If Mr. Johnson Is elevated to the bench, his successor Is likely to be Dwlght H. Green who. though only thirty-four years old. has been one of the district attorney's most eflicient and valued assistants In the prosecu tion of tax dodgers, acting as solicitor for the revenue bureau. IF TilF Democrats in senate and house follow the leadership of Sen ator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas, their leader in the senate, they will oppose auy increase In surtaxes and any great Increase In any of the gov ernment levies. Robinson says such ac tion by congress would "approach con fiscation" and would be likely to pro bing Instead of relieve the depres sion. He proposes instead a bond issue. Senator Robinson argues that taxes should be raised solely to obtain rev enue and not for the purpose "of dis tributing wealth or reducing large for tunes." He Is opposed to a Reneral sales tax, but would consent to a sales levy on luxuries. He said in his state ment : "The most practical method to di minish unemployment Is to revive In dustry. Increase in taxation is a poor method for overcoming depression. In other words, while increases may be unavoidable they cannot be expected to contribute to the forces calculated to restore confidence and courage in the sphere of 'nvestm?ats and enter prises." He added that while he recognised the necessity of balancing the budget, he did not look for a great reduction in public expenditures. THOUGH he is now eighty-eight years old. Gen. A. W. Greely Is still actively interested in the exploration of polar rejjious and he ha? Just been appointed chairman ef the national commlt tee that sponsors a new American expe dition .which will start for the Arctic next June to spend two years on Kllesmere Island, the northern most land on the globe. Capt. Flavel M. Williams will be commander of the party, and Dr. H. B. Maris will be its sci entific director, and the gray-bearded leader of the Ill fated Greely expedition of 1881-1884 is helping them make their plans. They will have radios, airplanes and modern comforts Hi exploring the region where General Graely met with dis aster and where eighteen of his party starved or froze to death. SPEEDING toward Chicago with hundreds of entries for the Inter national Live Stock show, a long spe cial train was wrecked near Lexington. VIo.. by spreading rails. Seven men were killed and others injured. Many fine horses known In the show rings of the country were destroyed. The "million dollar train** waa carrying the stock from the American Royal Uve Stock show In Kansas City. NOTEWORTHY among the deaths of the week were those of Dr. Sam Small of Atlanta, noted editor and evangelist; Louis Loucheur, for mer cabinet minister and once rated as the richest .man In France ; O. C. Simonds of Chicago, famous landscape architect and park designer, and Al bert H. Harris, financial head of the New York Central lines. <(& lltl. W?at?ni NavtpapM Ualoa.) Gen. A. W. Greely rican Diamonds Abandoned Mine of the Kimberley Group. (Praparad by National OfoKraiihlc Society Washington. I f. C.) ? WNII Service. DISCOVERY of uew diamond de|H?8il8 Id Tanganyika has made the colony the focal point of enthusiastic pros pectors in search of the glittering gems. The African diamond Industry is only slightly more than a half cen tury old. Today the continent pro duces nearly nine-tenths of the world's supply. It was in 1370 that the wiudy. dust-swept region of Griqualand. South Africa, suddenly changed from No Man's l-and to Ev eryman's Land, when diamonds were discovered there. Later, it was an nexed to Cape Colony within such me ticulously drawn boundaries thut In side one farmer's house the family dined in that colony and went to bed in the Orange Free State. "Playing Jackstoties with dia tnonds!" Somehow that electrifying caption was overlooked by news re porters In 1800, when, at ilopetown. on the Orange river, the presence of diamonds in South Africa was sig naled by a child, who wus discovered playing with a casually picked-up gem weighing 21*4 carats. At once the South African diamond ; fever was on. Ships lost their crews, | overseas shopkeepers their clerks, po lice forces their "bobbles," the un derworld Its crooks; and perhaps the church lost a curate, and certainly Natal lost a budding cotton planter ? he had once felt drawn to tfc min istry ? in the case of an invalldlsh young fellow uamed Cecil John Rhodes. All raked up the price to get them to Grlquaiand's "desert of drought and diamonds." Future Kiinherley was soon a hcene of canvas tents, of wagons converted into huts, ot prospectors sieving the dlamoiidifcmtis earth, and of "kopje wnliopers" ? those who bought other men's finds on speculation? hurrying to and fro among the sorting tables. Also, there appettred the resource ful "I. I). 11." (illicit diamond buyer), who, co-operating with what might be described as the diamond stealing in dustry. smuggled out stones In con travention to the law. Stowing gems In cigarettes, pipes and hollow shoe heels by no means exhausted his in genuity. The hungry-dog trick ? that is, feeding a starved animal on meat containing diamonds and subsequent ly retrieving them by cutting him open ? was much in vogue. Controlling the Output. Under desert conditions, food was often more precious tlsan diamonds, and baths, if -on could afford that luxury, were taken in imported soda water. Despite prophecies of a brief year's life for Kimberley. the first two decades showed a production of six tons of diamonds from the Griqua country. Indeed, by 1880 the p. ssi billty of South African stones swamp ing the market was sc apparent that Rhodes and his group formed the price-and-output-controlling De Beers company. Modem Kimberley abuts on u three mile-wide circle which contains. with in barbed-wire barriers, mines, hous^ Ing "compounds." process sheds, com pany stores, hospitals, public baths, and kitchens ? In fact, everything nec essary to the industry and its 5.000 Bantu miners. These Bantu "boys" a.e voluntary recruits, who mine for six months annually, returning to their kraals with the wherewithal for meeting taxes, for buying wives with lobota (cattle dowry), or for less serious in vestments, such as concertinas and mouth organs. I* -above ground" hours they are seen cooking their food, or purchasing at cost ,>rlcc at the stores, or depositing their wages with the company's savings depart ment. Often th^se deposits represent such considerable annual aggregates as $280,000 paid" In by 12.000 miners Bach week in the Kimberley mines some 70.000 tons of "blue ground" (hard, dinmontliferous earth) are blasted out. crushed, fed Into running water, rotated tn stotl drunis , along in trouchg. ami washed .?, lahlelike surfaces co,ltw) iroieuui jelly. The r?.t?rv , ? centrifugal force. s,v;tn,?^ b[ Kroundup maw |?IO dhferei,,.,,^ unlta. The jlBBllng pr.? ,sa away barren elements fr,.,? ,h. ter-borne "concentrate.- ?| ' like appearance; and. finally u,/,u mintshed residue Bows acroi, ,he trolcom surfaces, to which ??!? ,?t diamonds adhere. Not at All Exciting. Tel -diminished residue' is it but mildly, since these 7(?.( m m> [uoj of blue ground will prod,,,,. about 10>4 pounds of diamonds-*,/ a ratio of 14.iwo.oiju to l. We might address the cleanser who, broad blade in band. now a,j then scrapes off the dlui:?,i:d||1.rills petroleum and throws It ^ boiling water. "Scraping off millions ot dollars' worth of diamonds iD this way. isn't it rather exciting?' -Why. no" be will pr.ibuld> u swer unemotionally ? and everyon knows what familii' rity hrecls-'if, about like handling aiorinr with a trowel." Inside the sorting room, to which visitors ar? admitted after an eye has scrutinized them from behind a slid baclc panel, men were poking dia rounds through graduated holes ia saiull screens to ascertain the stones' diameters. Ou one table alone lay 18.* ?>0U carats-weight of gems, wort!- ap proximately a million dollars. Keel ing us dizzy us Ali Balm In the treas ure cave, one asks tremalousi) of a sorter: Putting millions of dollars wortk of dianiouds through screen holes, isn't it a bit thrilling?" "Oh, no," he answers, suppressing a yawn ? again that familiarity com P'ex us he popped a one-inch dia mond through the screen, "It's abovt like shelling peas." Kimberley town itself is as simple and homelike a place as you'd find in the suburban area of some American city, it has produced nearly $1,300,. OOO.OUO worth x,f diamonds in half a century. It's difficult to s?oe how the city could adequately have expressed its wealth production save par ing its main 'street with gems; but in truth It has been Its fate to have created fortunes that too often tut ted from South Africa to the attrac tions In London and I'arls. Yet there was an exception. At least one Kimberley digger, Cecil Rhodes, could amass a fortune, yet scorn to use it in the common way. Great weulth coistitu'es a trust, te be administered in the wider Interests of humanity ? sucb was his view. And that he did, according to his lights^ within South Africa and for tt*e Brit ish empire. Many Used in Industry. Not all diamonds are destined t# shine forth from Jewelry that adorns men and women. More than half the world's production of the stones, in quantity, is used in industry. Some form bearings for watches, chrono meters, electric meters, and other ac curate instruments. Other Industrial uses for diamondi are as drills for glass, porcelain, and similar hard substances; turning tools for lathe work ; engraving points; and as cutting edges for rock drilling and sawing. For industrial purposes only the less nearly perfect sod less valuable stones are used. The United States Is the world** greatest diamond consuming country. in 'recent years a wealth of the gems has been literally scooped op from the earth In the regions 01. al luvial diamond deposits Until this change In mining methods came a boat, the greater part of the diamonds &?d been mined for decades by laboriooi digging to great depths In the "pU**" of extinct volcanoes Then mm** '&e slow work of aeparating the stoaei from earth and rock.
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 11, 1931, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75