The Alamance gleaner
Vol. LXIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1937
No. 11
News Review of Current
Events the World Over
Effect of Wagner Act Validation on National Labor Policy
and Supreme Court Controversy ? President
Orders Curtailment of Expenditures.
By EDWARD W. PICKARD
? Western Newapaper Union.
VALIDATION of the Wagner act
' brought the administration up
against the necessity of formulating
a new national labor policy to pre
vent strikes and to
determine what
course shall be fol
lowed when collec
tive bargaining is
unsuccessful. For
this purpose Secre
tary of Labor Per
kins invited 33 lead
ers of industry and
labor to attend pri
vate meetings in
Washington, stating
they would be asked
to discuss the need
of new safeguards for industry to
balance the gains achieved by la
bor under the Wagner act. Among
those Madame Perkins invited were
William Green, president of the
American Federation of Labor;
John L. Lewis, chairman of the
Committee for Industrial Organiza
tion; Myron C- Taylor, board chair
man of United States Steel corpora
tion; Gerard Swope, board chair
man of General Electric corpora
tion; Harper Sibley, president of
the United States Chamber of Com
merce, and government officials.
Certain of the President's advis
ers have told him a law requiring
the incorporation of labor unions
should be passed; or that at least
there should be a law similar to the
British trades union act which pro
vides that all union funds must be
accounted for to the government
and that unions cannot participate
in sympathy or general strikes.
Organized labor always has op
posed any such legislation and prob
ably would continue to fight against
it.
John L. Lewis thinks one result
of the Wagner act decisions may
be the abandonment of the sit-down
strike, though this, he says, depends
on the attitude taken by employers
in the operation of the act.
U OW does the upholding of the
Wagner labor relations act af
fect the battle over the President's
plan to enlarge the Supreme court?
That question arose at once on an
nouncement of the decisions and re
ceived various answers. Opponents
of the President's bill declared the
necessity for such a measure, if it
ever existed, was entirely removed
by this showing of liberal tendencies
by a majority of the court; and
many supporters of Mr. Roosevelt
admitted that some compromise
such as the appointment of two new
justices instead of six, might be
advisable. But the President him
self let it be known that he wished
his program pushed through without
modification. The favorable ma
jority of one, created by the shift
of Justice Roberts, did not seem to
him safe enough.
This position of the President was
taken also by some of his cabinet
members. Secretary of Agriculture
Wallace declared that agriculture
could expect nothing from the Su
preme court as now constituted, and
urged American farmers to give the
Roosevelt plan their earnest sup
port.
Attorney General Cummings de
clared that the four justices who dis
sented from the court's decision
that the Wagner act is constitution
al still constitute a "battalion of
death" and will continue to oppose
all major New Deal social legisla
tion.
John L. Lewis, head, of the C. I.
O., asserted the Supreme court had
demonstrated its "instability" anew
and that the Wagner act decisions
only made more imperative the
need for enlarging the court.
Senator James Hamilton Lewis of
Illinois, whip of the senate, predict
ed that the President's court plan
would emerge from the judiciary
committee "a much compromised,,
amended and generally trans
formed measure."
/CHIEFS of executive depart
ments, independent officers and
other spending units of the govern
ment were called on by President
Roosevelt to reduce expenditures up
to the end of the fiscal year June 30.
In his letter to them the President
said:
"It is apparent at this time that
the revenues of the government for
the present year will be materially
less than the amount estimated in
my budget message of last January;
and, hence, the deficit will be far
greater than was anticipated unless
there is an immediate curtailment
of expenditure.
"You will carefully examine the
status of appropriations for your ac
tivity with a view to making a sub
stantial saving by eliminating or de
ferring all expenditures which are
not absolutely necessary at this
time.
"You will report to me through
the acting director of the budget not
later than May 1, 1937, the steps,
which you are undertaking to reduce
expenditures and the amount of the
estimated saving resulting there
from."
COUTHERN congressmen found
^ they were no longer in the sad
dle when the house by a vote of
276 to 119 passed the anti-lynching
bill. The debate was furious and
the representatives from the South
were deeply resentful.
"For more than 100 years the peo
ple of the South have kept life in
the Democratic party," declared
Representative E. E. Cox of
Georgia, "and now that that party
has grown powerful it turns upon
the South and proposes to pass
this wicked and cowardly law. This
bill is directed just as much against
the South as any reconstruction bill
passed after the Civil war."
The bill was sponsored by Repre
sentative Joseph Gavagan of New
York whose district includes the big
negro city of Harlem. It provides
that any state officer who surren
ders a prisoner to a mob shall be
guilty of a felony and subject to
prosecution and severe penalties. In
addition, the county in which a
lynching occurs shall be liable for
$2,000 to $10,000 damages, to be
paid to the family of the lynched
person.
Proponents of the measure were
greatly aided by a mob in Missis
sippi that took two negroes from a
sheriff and tortured and burned
them to death. The local authori
ties were supine and called the
shocking affair a "closed incident."
Mitchell hepburn, pre
mier of Ontario, reiterating
his determination not to permit
C. I. O. representatives from the
United States to take
part in negotiations
for settlement of the
strike in the General
Motors of Canada
plant at Oshawa,
promised to "call
out an army if nec
essary" to protect
the property of the
corporation. Hugh
Thompson, U. A. W.
A. organizer, barred
by Hepburn, threat
ened that every Gen
Premier
Hepburn
eral Motors plant in America would
be closed unless the Oshawa strike
were settled soon with recognition
of the union demands. Homer Mar
tin, president of the U. A. W. A.,
called Hepburn a number of un
pleasant names. The Toronto Trades
and Labor Council pledged the sup
port of its 40,000 members to the
union's strike against General Mo
tors.
Hepburn forced two of his min
isters to resign, charging they were
not supporting the government in
its fight "against the inroads of
the Lewis organization and commu
nism in general." They are David
A. Croll, who held the labor, mu
nicipal affairs and public welfare
portfolios, and Attorney General Ar
thur W. Roebuck. Axel Hall, young
mayor of Oshawa, who has been
friendly to the strikers and critical
of Hepburn's action, sent an "ulti
matum" to President Martin of the
Automobile Workers of America de
manding that members of the union
in the United States strike in sup
port of the Oshawa local. The lat
ter body adopted a resolution de
manding that Premier Hepburn
withdraw from the negotiations.
In Montreal 5,508 women garment
workers, members of the C. I. O. in
ternational union, employed in 72
plants, started a strike for higher
wages; and in Fernie, B. C., 1,000
C. I. O. miners threatened to strike
for union recognition.
p OR the second time in two years
" the house passed the Pettingill
bill to repeal the "long and short
haul" clause of the interstate com
merce act. This law prohibits rail
ways from charging lower rates for
a long haul than for a shorter one
on the same route in the same 1fi
rection, and it hampers the roads
greatly in their competition with
water and truck carriers for long
distance traffic.
D EFORE this session of congress
?L* closes it is probable the law pro
viding for publication of salaries
of corporation employees who re
ceive $15,000 or more a year will
be repealed. The house ways and
means committee already h a ?
voted unanimously in favor of rec
ommending such action and the
law now has few supporters in con
gress.
Chairman Robert L. Doughton ex
plained that much criticism has de
veloped as a result of the law which
was passed in 1935. The salary lists
which have been published have
been used as mailing lists by com
panies selling luxury articles and in
the case of some huge salaries they
are thought to have been used by
criminals contemplating kidnaping
or blackmail.
TP HE United States coast guard
cutter Mendota paused briefly
during her regular ice patrol in the
north Atlantic and, her engines
stilled and the church pennant at
the masthead, floated over the place
where the Titanic struck an ice
berg and sank 25 years ago, carry
ing 1,517 persons to their death.
For nearly a quarter of a cen
tury the coast guard cutters have
guided shipping through the danger
ous ice area without an accident,
their motto being "Never another
Titanic disaster." They are on the
job until the last iceberg has dis
appeared.
C1 IVE history - making decisions
r were handed down by the Su
preme court, all upholding the va
lidity of the Wagner labor relations
Chief Justice
Hughes
act ana mierenuauy
broadening the in
terstate commerce
clause of the Consti
tution. The most im
portant ruling made
by five of the nine
justices and read
by Chief Justice
Hughes, was in the
case of the Jones &
Laughlin Steel com
pany and directed
the reinstatement of
ten discharged em
ployees. The de
cision supponea me consuiuuonai
basis of the Wagner act, finding
it a legal "scheme" to protect com
merce from injury resulting from
the denial by employers of the right
of employees to organize and "from
the refusal of employers to accept
the procedure of collective bargain
ing."
The broad constitutionality of the
act, was strongly noted by the chief
justice. He declared that:
"We think it clear that the na
tional labor relations act may be
construed so as to operate within
the spirit of constitutional author
ity."
Hughes defined the right of em
ployees to self-organization and to
select their representatives for col
lective bargaining as "a fundamen
tal right."
Regarding the vital point of the
application of the interstate com
merce clause of the Constitution,
Hughes declared:
"The congressional authority to
protect interstate commerce from
burdens and obstructions is not
limited to transactions which can
be deemed to be an essential part
of a 'flow' of interstate or foreign
commerce. Burdens or obstructions
may be due to injurious action
springing from other sources."
In the case of the Associated
Press, concerning the dismissal of
Morris Watson, a New York edi
torial employee, the court was split,
5 to 4. The majority opinion, read
by Justice Roberts, held that the
act does not "abridge the freedom
of speech or of the press safe-guard
ed by the first amendment" to the
Constitution. The court took the view
that Watson was dismissed not be
cause his work was unsatisfactory
but because of his activities in the
Newspaper Guild, and ordered his
reinstatement.
The three other cases, in each of
which the Wagner act was upheld,
involved dismissal of 18 employees
by an interstate bus company; a
dispute between the Pruehauf
Trailer Company of Detroit, Mich.,
and the United Automobile Workers
Union; and a dispute between the
Friedmann - Harry Marks Cloth
ing Company of Richmond Va., and
Amalgamated Clcthing Workers. In
the bus case the decision was unani
mous; in the others the division
was 5 to 4.
n IPLOMATIC representative! of
^ 20 Latin American republics
gathered in the Pan-American un
ion building in celebration of Pan
American day and listened to an
address by President Roosevelt.
This was formal and was broadcast
to all the republics, but it was fol
lowed by an "off the record" talk
which the reporters were not per
mitted to hear. It was said the
President sought to convince the
diplomats of the good faith of the
United States in its foreign poli
cies, and that, reviewing the prom
ises made by his administration in
this respect, he declared them 100
per cent fulfilled.
Buccaneer Fern Welcomed to Yosemite Lodge
Picturesquely attired aa a bold, j
bad but beautiful buccaneer, Fern !
Arnold, pirate theme girl of the 1939
Golden Gat* exposition, is shown
entering the picture under a tri
umphal arch of ski poles held by
pretty ski enthusiasts at Yosemite
Lodge, Calif. Miss Arnold was the
first exposition beauty to try Yo
semite' s famed ski run.
Bedtime Story for Children
By THORNTON W. BURGESS
PETER RABBIT'S GLAD
SURPRISE.
TT HAD been many days since any
* of the little people of the Green
Forest had seen or heard anything
of Mrs. Grouse and all but two or
three had made up their minds
that Sammy Jay was right and that
Farmer Brown'* boy really had
killed her and eaten her for his din
ner. Tommy Tit the Chickadee
didn't believe it. Chatterer the Red
Squirrel remembered how he had
been kept a prisoner and treated
ever so kindly by Farmer Brown's
boy and he didn't quite believe it.
And Then Mrs. Grouse Walked
Out Right in Front at Peter.
Anyway, he had hope that it wasn't
so. Peter Rabbit tried not to believe
it. But as one day followed another
Peter's doubts grew until at last
he felt that he almost had to be
lieve it.
Now, all this time Jack Frost had
stayed in the Green Forest and on
the Green Meadows and kept the
icy crust he had made over the
snow as hard as ever, which, of
course, made it dreadfully hard for
the little people who live there and
must eat to get enough food. They
were hungry most of the time and
bad to spend every minute that they
"The redaction of railroad fares
seem* to have done everything ex
pected," laya observing Olivia,
"but discourage the hitch hikers."
were awake in hunting lor food.
Only those who sleep most of the
winter didn't mind. But at last Jack
Frost grew tired and went away.
Just as soon as he left, jolly, bright
Mr. Sun saw this and he set to
work to melt that hard, icy crust
until there wasn't a bit of it left.
Then it snowed again, a soft, light
fluffy snow that fell in the night.
The next morning Peter Rabbit
was hopping through the Green For
est, lipperty-lipperty-lip, when sud
denly he saw something that made
him give a gasp and sit up very
straight. Then he looked and looked,
rubbed his eyes to make sure -that
he was seeing right, and looked
again. What was it that he saw?
Why it was tracks, queer looking
tracks that led straight under a
great thick branch of hemlock tree,
and they looked, they certainly
looked, very much like the snow
shoe tracks of Mrs. Grouse.
Peter felt as if he must be dream
ing. He stared and stared and
stared.
"What's the matter with you,
Peter Rabbit? Didn't you ever see
my snowshoe tracks before?" asked
a voice from under the hemlock
tree. And then Mrs. Grouse walked
out right in front of Peter.
Peter's big eyes opened wider
than ever. "Oh!" he cried. "Is ?
is it really and truly you, Mrs.
Grouse?" he cried.
"Of course, it is me! Who else
should it be? Is there anybody else
who looks like me in the Green
Forest?" he cried.
"No ? no," replied Peter slowly,
as if even yet he wasn't quite sure,
"only Sammy Jay said that you
had been killed and eaten by Farm
er Brown's boy and ? and ? "
"And you believed it!" snapped
Mrs. Grouse. "I should think that
by this time you would have learned
never to believe what Sammy Jay
says. You ought to know that he's
the greatest mischief-maker in the
Green Forest. Do I look as if I had
been killed and eaten?" Mrs.
Grouse ruffled up her feathers and
strutted back and forth in front of
Peter.
Peter laughed joyously. "Not a
bit! Not the least little bit!" he
declared. "But where have you been
all this time? Do tell me all about
it! This is the gladdest surprise I
have had for a long time."
Then, Mrs. Grouse told Peter *11
about how Farmer Brown's boy had
taken her home when he found her
so weak that she couldn't fly, and
had fed her and made her as com
fortable as he knew how in the
henhouse all the time that the hard,
icy crust had lasted in the Green
Forest, and then how he had taken
her out and let her go and had
laughed to see her whirr away into
the Green Forest.
Peter listened with his big eyes
opened their widest and his long
ears standing straight up. "Then
Tommy Tit and Chatterer were
right, and Farmer Brown's boy isn't
half bad!" he cried.
"He isn't bad at all." declared
Mrs. Grouse.
C T W. Burf?M. ? WNtJ Scrric*.
The Shoemaker's
Last
By DOUGLAS MALLOCH
I'VE studied the state of the nation,
1 Considered the of the poor,
And wondered what new legislation
Is needed to re-reassure.
And here is the step I'd be taking:
I think that a law should be
passed ?
There ought to be some way of
making
The shoemaker stick to his last.
I'm not one of these view-with
alarmers.
But the man I'd get rid of with
thanks
Knows more about farming than
farmers
And more about banking than
banks.
There ought to be some way of list
ing
A man by his trade in the past,
There ought to be some law insist
ing
The shoemaker stick to his last.
There are places for all of us, broth
er.
And matters for straightening out,
But not in the place of each other,
And things we know nothing
about.
Depression? Well, one thing will
do it,
Will make it a thing of the past:
To each have a trade, and go to it,
The shoemaker stick to his last.
c Doaffla a Malloch. ? WNU ferric*.
Th? Scholarly /
finftr of Jupttar / . r,
p URPOSE has been called tha
' mainspring of progress. But the
Master of our destinies has not de
creed that progress should be made
bjr each of us in the same manner.
Such is clearly indicated by the va
riety of forefingers which come un
der the observation of the analyst
of hands.
Each forefinger and its type indi
cates with amazing clearness the
way in which its possessor formu
late* his or her purposes and put*
them into action.
Tbe Scholarly Finger of Jupiter.
The outstanding characteristics of
this type are its extremely irregu
lar contour and pronounced inclina
tion toward the second finger. These
indicate a high degree of concen
tration and reflection. While the
forefinger of the overcautious type
crooks rather than bends toward
the second finger, the scholarly type
not only bends toward h but almost
? .
FIRST AID
TO THE
AILING HOUSE
By Rog?r B. Whitman
80UND-PR00FING
UNLESS a house is built to pre
vent it, sounds will travel
through walls and floors to an un
pleasant degree. When sound-proof
ing is wanted, it can best be ap
plied while the house is under coo- .
struction. In a finished bouse, sound
proofing is not always possible, be
cause some of the sound is carried
through the framework.
An inside wall usually consists of
wood studs, to which the plaster or
other surfaces are attached on both
sides. Some of the sound is carried
through by the studs, and more by
the vibration of the parts of the
walls between the studs. Packing
the spaces in the walls with rock
wool or other material will cut down
some of the sound, but not all of it.
For a greater degree of sound-proof
ing, a second wall can be built on
one side of the offending wall. This
consists of studs, to be surfaced
with stiff insulating boards, or bet
ter yet, with lath and a kind of
plaster that absorbs sound waves.
This wall should be separated from
the main wall by an inch at the
closest points; there should be no
actual contacts between them. The
same idea can be used to reduce
noise through a ceiling by the build
ing of a false ceiling that is no
where in contact with the one
above.
Noise through a floor can also be
deadened from the upper side by
laying still insulating boards, and
placing a new floor on top. Linoleum
is more effective as a sound deaden
er than a new floor of wood.
Sound-proofing a door requires the
deadening of the sound that passe*
through the door itself, and also
the packing of the ioints all around
the door with sound-proofing ma
terial, such as thick felt. The door
can be covered with a sheet at in
sulating board. Some makes of these
boards are especially treated to
absorb sound waves. A sheet
should be cut to the size of the door,
and attached to it by one-inch strip*
around the edges. Stripe of thick
felt can be had, suitable for filling
the spaces around a door.
Noise may be carried through a
house by the heating and water
pipes; the click of a water meter,
for instance, or noises from an oO
burner or a stoker. These noise*
can be reduced by bracing the pipes
to check vibration and by pipe cov
ering.
? By R ger B. Whitman
WNU Service.
White Birds on Blue
This afternoon frock with an Eton
jacket top ia mad* of a widely
spaced silk print in navy blue with
white birds. The trimming ia hand*
drawn white handkerchief linen with
real binche lace. The hat ia navy
blue felt with white pique.
leans against it throughout its entire
length.
When viewed from the back, the
scholarly type has a bony wrinkled
look that immediately differentiates
it from all other types. The nail of
this type may vary, on some fore
fingers being broad and squared, on
others long and narrow. In either
case, the nail itself is often found
to be ribbed in its structure.
When analyzing a hand jrith this
type of forefinger, you may feel safe
in placing its owner as a man or
woman who has plenty of sound
purpose, but one who puts it to work
only after careful study and dissec
tion of all facts relating to ? worth
while objective.
wi?u Swrtc*