THE ALAMANCE GLEANER
Vol. LXIII ? GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1937
No. 32
JXeir* Review of Current Events
FASCISTS BALK PARLEYS
Break with Soviet Feared . . . Americans in Shanghai
Demand Protection . ?? . Big Jap 'Push' Still to Come
Back from yachting trip, the President, shown with son James, seems
cheerful enough despite troubles of Tanks in Far East.
~^?bAjMUul US. J^idcaJul
7 ^ SUMMARIZES THE WORLD'S WEEK
e Weilem Ncwtpapcr Union.
Russian Note Shies Italy
FURTHER evidence of the com
1 plete accord of the two great Fas
cist governments was revealed when
Germany joined Italy in refusing to
be represented at the Nyon, Switzer
land, conference to end "piracy" on
the Mediterranean. The Nazis gave
the same excuses as Italy: That the
action of Soviet Russia in accusing
Italian submarines of sinking two
Russian merchant ships and de
manding full indemnity made im
partial conclusions of the parley im
possible, and that the whole affair
might better be ironed out by the
committee for non-intervention in
the Spanish civil war.
So heated were the differences be
tween the Italians and the Russians,
it was feared the incident might
lead to a break in diplomatic rela
tions, if not to actual armed con
flict.
Great Britain, Russia and France
went right ahead with their plans
for the conference. British Foreign
Secretary Anthony Eden was in
structed, however, to make no pro
posals which would tend to divide
the Mediterranean powers into Fas
cist and anti-Fascist groups. It was
believed he would propose that mer
chant ships be allowed a naval con
voy through the danger zones.
Britain, one of the chief sufferers
from the submarine attacks on ship
ping, was embarrassed shortly be
fore the conference was to begin
when a Spanish insurgent cruiser
(Italy is known to be aiding the in
surgents) commandeered a British
merchantman off Palermo, Sicily,
and confiscated her cargo of Rus
sian oil consigned to the Spanish
loyalist government.
Yanks in Far East 'Kick'
A MERICANS in Shanghai, con
stantly in danger of their lives,
cabled Washington, demanding the
protection of United States ships.
The American Chamber of Com
merce in the war-torn city asked
Secretary of State Hull for immedi
ate clarification of the State de
partment's stand. Some of them
were bitter toward President Roose
velt, who, from his yacht, had told
newspaper men that Americans in
the war zone would remain there at
their own risk. No deadline for
evacuation had yet been set, and
when rumors spread that the United
States flagship Augusta was mak
ing ready to leave Yangtze waters,
panic spread among the Yanks in
Shanghai.
Many business men, with lifetime
savings invested there vigorously
urged the President to adopt "a
foreign .policy with a strong front
and keep the American flag wav
ing." One veteran Yank resident cir
culated a petition demanding that
the President "get off hia yacht,
get on his feet and get some guts
above them.1'
American missionaries and busi
ness men protested that the Unit
ed States' position in the Far East
was largely the result of their life's
work, and insisted on a more stead
fast attitude to keep the American
stake in China. The State depart
ment replied that there was a broad
distinction between getting out of the
line of fire and relinquishing privi
leges established over the years.
Opposition Surprises Nippon
I APANESE naval guns and bomb
J en carried the war 600 mile*
south of Shanghai when they at
tacked the port of Annoy, which
houses a huge Chinese tort and ar
senal, opposite the island of For
mosa. Their bombs carried little
effect and the shore artillery chased
the warships, completely disabling
one. The battle was but thirty miles
from Hong Kong, recently ravished
by a typhoon.
Elsewhere along the far-flung
front the Japanese were meeting
with opposition the caliber of which
they had not expected. Along the
Woosung front, 200,000 Chinese, in
cluding crack German-trained divi
sions, were successful in holding
back 60,000 Japanese; it was said
to be the severest opposition the
Japs have met since they fought
Russia in 1904.
Japanese aerial bombardments
continued in the Chapei, Kiangwan,
Taichong and Yanchong districts of
Shanghai. The continued peril of
the international settlement and the
French concession spurred the
American, British and French con
suls to demand of both the Japanese
and Chinese that their forces be
withdrawn from that vicinity.
Scores of noncombatants were daily
being killed and wounded there by
falling bombs and shells.
One of the war's most sensational
military coups occurred in the rocky
hills west of Peiping when 4,000
Japanese troops were reported
wiped out by the Chinese in ambush.
The Japanese line was said to have
been driven back five miles by the
terrific onslaught, -and Japanese
commanders were reported more
worried than ever over the success
of their invasion in this sector.
Another of the war's great hor
rors was perpetrated when the Jap
anese bombed a refugee train 30
miles south of Shanghai, killing 300
and wounding 400 noncombatants.
Only in the northern province of
Chahar did the Japanese make real
progress. There they captured the
capital city of Kalgan. A commis
sion of 100 "prominent" Mongols
and Chinese (many df them known
to be associated with the Japanese
army) was setting up a new "pop
ular" autonomous government un
der Japanese control.
Plague Upon a Plague
JOHN L. LEWIS, fire-eating chair
** man of the Committee for In
dustrial Organization, let fly a re
buke at President Roosevelt for im
plied backwatering
on campaign prom
ises and hinted at
the possibility of a
third party in the
elections of 1940. In
a radio speech he
declared :
"It ill behooves
one who has supped
at labor's table and
who has been shel
tered in labor's
house to curse with
I John L. Lewis
equal fervor and fine impartiality
both labor and its adversaries when
they become locked in deadly em
brace."
This was regarded as an answer
to the "plague on both your houses"
which President Roosevelt called
down on extremists of both sides in
the "little steel" strike. In his cam
paign for re-election he had "supped
at labor's table" to the extent of
a half-million-dollar contribution to
the Democratic national committee
by the C. I. O.
Lewis suggested that it would be
a wise move for labor and agricul
ture to wage their battle* together
politically.
Chinese Won't 'Cooperate'!
JAPAN'S aim in the undeclared
war is to make China submit
once and for all to her will, the
Japanese government virtually ad
mitted through its foreign minister,
Koki Hirota. The seriousness of
Japan's intentions were obviated
when Emperor Hirohito, departing
from precedent, referred to the con
flict in detail in a public statement
from the throne, and when it was
revealed that Nippon Is preparing
more appropriations for her already
heavy war chest.
Hirota blamed the Chinese central
government for the present fighting
because it refuses to "co-operate"
with Japan in "maintaining peace"
in eastern Asia. Japanese military
action against China, he said, was
taken to make impossible the re
currence of the current hostilities.
"Japan," he said, "has no other ob
jective than to see a happy and
tranquil North China and Sino-Jap
anese relations so adjusted as to
enable us to put into practice our
policy . .
? "Since China, ignoring our true
motive, mobilized her vast armies
against us, we can do no other than
to counter by force of arms."
The emperor, in addressing the
houses of parliament, greatly irfi
pressed his subjects with a review
of the war, arriving at much the
same conclusions as Hirota had.
The session of parliament was
called to consider the appropriation
of $592,000,000 for the campaigns in
China, raising the total of the na
tion's war chest to $737,000,000.
Dodd and Hull Disagree
T3 Y THE time this is printed Wil
^ liam E. Dodd may no longer be
United States ambassador to Ger
many. In an interview he vigorously
opposed any Ameri
can representation
at the Nazi party
congress in Nurem
berg. Secretary of
State Cordell Hull
refused to comment
upon Dodd's atti
tude, but announced
that the United
States would be rep
resented at the con
ference which will
celebrate H i 1 1 e r's
rule by Prentiss Gil
Ambassador
W. E. Dodd
bert, American charge d'affaires in
Berlin.
Secretary Hull explained that the
action was being taken merely as a
friendly gesture to the Nazi govern
ment, with whom he said the United
States is in complete diplomatic ac
cord. Diplomatic reports have in
dicated that Dodd, now vacationing
here, had made himself unpopular
in Berlin because of criticism aof the
Hitler government's policies. Ru
mor had it that he might not re
turn to his post.
McGrady Quits Labor Post
pDWARD F. McGRADY, assist
ant secretary of labor, and chief
strike trouble shooter of Mme. Fran
ces Perkins' department, resigned
to devote his talents to radio. He
left his $9,000-a-year job to take the
post of executive vice president in
charge of industrial relations with
the Radio Corporation of America,
at a salary variously estimated at
from $15,000 to $50,000.
In a letter to McGrady, Presi
dent Roosevelt expressed "deep re
gret," and added, "Your efforts to
maintain harmonious labor rela
tions have always been in the public
interest and in fairness to workers
and management."
McGrady had been one of the fed
eral mediators who failed to achieve
a settlement of the C. I. O. strike
against "Little Steel."*
Hitler: 'Stand by Japan'
A DOLF HITLER, in a manifesto
to the German nation, offered
to stand by both Italy and Japan
in a "defensive fight against bolshe
vism." He charged that the "two ma
jor wars" now going on (the Sino
Japanese and the Spanish civil
wars) were the result of "attempts
to spread communism."
Germany and Italy's "community
of interests" have emerged in re
cent months, he said, "more and
more an element in the defense of
Europe against chaotic imbecility."
Postage Stamp War
HONDURAS and Nicaragua were
on the verge of running up the
curtain on their own little show in
honor of Mars, the god of war ? all
over a postage stamp. Nicaragua
issued a stamp bearing a map which
showed an area along the Hondu
ras boundary as "territory in dis
pute." Hondurans claimed it was
an affront to their sovereignty,
citing the Spanish award which both
sides accepted in 1906 and which
was supposed to have settled the
territory question. Hondurans were
further incensed when Nicaraguan
radio speakers hinted the Honduian
army couldn't lick a postage stamp,
and proposed sending troops into
that country.
0
When a Balloon Bursts, Your Face Does This
The facial expressions of this twelve-year-old girl, made with a continuity camera, show the time it takes
the brain to react to the bursting of a rubber balloon. These facial expressions, from the start through the
finish, are much the same as those of any person subjected to a similar experience.
Jjy Thornton Burgess
UNC' BILLY WISHES HE HAD
STAYED AT HOME
\Af HATEVER possessed Unc' Bil
* * ly Possum to go wandering off
way, way into the deepest part of
the Green Forest, he did not know
himself. He just went, that was
all. Perhaps it was something in
the air that made him. It seemed
as if everybody was doing a great
deal of wandering about these beau
tiful early spring days. It's a way
''How Did lo' Pass the Winter,
Br'er Beaver?" Asked One' BiUy.
the little meadow and forest people
have in the glad springtime. So
you will meet them in the most un
expected places, very busy doing
nothing at all but looking around.
So Unc' Billy Possum wandered
along poking over sticks and piles of
leaves, peering with his shrewd,
sharp little eyes into every hollow
log and stump, and watching for
signs of nest builders, for you know
Like Pisa's Tower
Situated on the northwest side ot
Chicago in Algair park is an old
time bell tower having almost the
identical characteristics of the an
cient. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
This replica has complete sets of
aid time bells and a aet of the fa
mous Deagen chimes, and is about
the height of a ten story building.
It is 7 feet 4 inches out of plumb.
Unc' Billy has a weakness tor fresh
eggs. He just can't pass a fresh
egg no matter who it belongs to. He
always excuses himself on the
ground that whoever laid it can lay
another, and so no harm ia done,
which, of course, is no excuse at
alL But Unc' Billy seems to think
it is, and whenever he goes out to
walk in the spring he has his eyes
open for new homes of his feathered
neighbors.
This particular morning he had
come as far as the pond of Paddy
the Beaver before he stopped to
rest. There he sat down on Paddy's
dam to pass the time of day with
Paddy, who was swimming about in
his pond just as if he hadn't any
thing else in particular to do.
"How did yo" pass the winter,
Br'er Beaver?" asked Unc' Billy.
"Very comfortably, thank you,
Unc' Billy," replied Paddy politely.
"I had plenty to eat, a comfortable
bed, and plenty of time to sleep.
What more could I ask?"
Unc' Billy grinned "Yo' could
have asked fo' warmer weather,"
said he. "Ah 'done thought Ah
was going to freeze to death.
Ah done wish a good many times
that Ah was way down souf in Ol'
Virginny. Ah don' like such a long,
cold winter."
"Did you call that a long winter
and a hard winter?" exclaimed
Paddy. "Pooh! You ought to spend
a winter up where I came from.
I don't believe that Mistress Spring
has reached that part there yet."
"Then Ah don't want to be any
nearer to it than I am this very
minute!" declared Unc' Billy. "By
the way, Br'er Beaver, have yo'
seen any strangers up this way?
Br'er Jay and Br'er Crow done go
crazy in their haids, Ah guess, for
all they can talk about is a big
black stranger who stands on two
legs and walks on (our legs and is
as big as Farmer Brown's Boy.
They say they saw him somewhere
up around here. Have yo' ? "
Unc' Billy didn't finish what he
had started to ask. He didn't finish
because the snapping of a stick be
hind him made him turn his head.
There stood the stranger in black, as
big as Farmer Brown's Boy, stand
ing on two legs and with the awfulest
big claws Unc' Billy ever had seen!
It was all that Sammy Jay had
said. Unc' Billy gave a frightened
little gasp and shut his eyes tight
for just a wee little minute, hoping
that when he opened them again he
would find that he was mistaken
and that there was no great black
stranger there after all. But when
Unc' Billy opened his eyes he found
that they had not been playing him
tricks. The stranger was there.
Worse still, he was coming straight
toward Unc' Billy grinning in the
most friendly way.
But Unc' Billy didn't notice that
that grin was a friendly grin. All
he noticed were the great big teeth
that showed. He took just one look
and then he started across Paddy's
dam as fast as he could, which
wasn't very fast because he was
afraid of falling in. He didn't once
look behind, and as he scrambled
along he kept saying over and over:
"Ah wish Ah done stay at home!
Ah wish Ah done stay at home!"
e T. W. BurfeM.? WNU S?r?lc?
FIRST AID
TO THE
AILING HOUSE
By Roger B. Whitman
CRACKS IN CONCRETE
Z?1 ONCRETE U likely to crack
^ from settlement and from va
rious other causes. During warm
weather, and aside from appear
ances, this may lead' to no harm.
In winter, however, water may
freeze in the cracks, and then with
the expansion that occurs, the
cracks will become larger, and the
damage is increased. This is espe
cially the case with stucco. What
seem to be tiny cracks in stucco
may be the beginning of a serious
inji/ry.
Cracks in concrete and stucco can
be closed with a mixture of 1 part
cement and 3 parts clean building
sand, with only enough water to
make a workable mixture. A patch
on the surface will do little or no
good. To be effective, the patch
must be forced into the crack; and
the deeper it goes, the better. Nar
row cracks should be widened with
a cold chisel to make space for the
patch. The edges of the cut should
be rough, so that the patch, in hard
ening. will lock itself into place.
Whenever possible, the cut should
ue made wider at the bottom than
on the surface, to give the effect
of a dovetail joint In applying a
patch, the old concrete should be
well soaked with water, so that
moisture will not be absorbed from
the patch. To gain full density, the
*
I patch should be kept damp for sev
eral days.
Small cracks in stucco can be
closed with a mixture of cement and
water to the consistency of thick
cream. This is put on with a stiff
brush, the length of the crack, so
that it is worked in. Before patch
ing, the old concrete should be wet
with water.
In the case of a crack between
a concrete walk and a foundation
wall, patching can be with roofing
cement. This has the advantage
of being elastic, and of keeping the
crack closed should the walk shift
with movements of the earth. The
cement is most easily applied by
melting it and pouring it in. It
may be necessary to make space for
it by cutting out the crack with a
cold chisel. This method can also
be used for closing a crack between
a cellar floor and a side wall.
? By Roger B. Whitman
WNu Servlc*.
?????
MANNERS OF
THE MOMENT
By JEAN
Q?iwuii>
\\T HY doesn't some one invent a
' ' corrugated shoestring? or one
made of Turkish toweling? Some
thing that won't come untied just
as you are rushing to catch a train.
We used to have the theory that
the best way to handle an untied
shoestring was to tie it again. But
without assistance the method is
a Bop. Your bundles (all to the
sidewalk and get muddy, your hand
bag pops open and scatters its coo
tents from gutter to gutter, your hat
The Wealth I Possess
By DOUGLAS MALLOCH
I'VE figured my blessings. I've
* counted my cares,
I've balanced the book of my dally
affairs,
A column (or credits, a column for
debt,
A place for unkindness I cannot for
get.
And yet there were pleasures aloof
with the pain.
And seldom a loss but had soma
little gain.
I find I have more than I ever have
known,
Astonished to note all the wealth
that I own.
I've figured my blessings bat little,
I fear;
My cares I have counted each day
and each year.
Forgotten the pleasure, the pain I
have kept
Forever in mind, ev'ry moment I
wept.
The loss I remember, the amiow
recall.
The happiness hardly remember at
all.
But now I have taken a balance at
last.
The joys and griefs of the present
and past.
I've figured my blessings, I've set
them apart
In a book I am keeping, the book at
my heart
I need not set down all the trouble
and care,
I find I already had written it there.
But I had forgotten the love that is
mine ?
It took a whole column, the hate bat
a line.
The joy always greater, the grief
always less,
I'm really astonished the wealth I
possess.
? Douglas MaQocb. ? WMU Strrtot.
Fall Street Frock
Interesting treatment of the
sleeves and waistline feature* this
attractive street frock far fall, fash
ioned of rust-colored celanew crepe.
The skirt is wide and full, and at
the new short length.
blows off, you tear your skirt, and
you get mad.
It would probably be better to (o
with the thing untied until you come
to a convenient hotel lobby. Bat
if you do that you moat learn to
walk as though you had oo snow
shoes so that you won't trip.
Another possibility is to hail the
first person you meet, ask him to
il l It
Maybe She ShoaJd Have W*n
Pumps Without r
bold your bundles (or a minute and
gracefully stoop down and tie up the
unwieldy bow.
But we still think tbe best nlutkna
of all would be a non-slip shoestring.
Come on, all you little Edisona . . .
get going.