THE ALAMANCE GLEANER VOL. LU. WHAT'S GOING ON NEWS REVIEW OF CURRENT EVENTS No Tax Legislation This Session —Smith Named Illinois Senator. By EDWARD W. PICKARD WITH the prospect of n surplus in the government treasury of about 1500,000,000 on July 1, 1927, the Demo crats in congress are loudly demand ing that a general tax reduction bill be passed at this session. But the majority members of the all-powerful ways and means committee of the house will not agree even to President Coolidge's suggestion that there be a temporary reduction In the income tax payable next year. It has definite ly decided that no tax legislation what ever shall be introduced during the short session, adopting what it called the alternative plan of the President, that the surplus should be applied to ward reduction of the public debt. This latter plan for disposal of the huge sum of money, thte Republican leaders hold, will inure to the benefit of all taxpayers, whereas, tos Senator Smoot asserted, the flat percentage cut in Income taxes would mainly benefit only a few large corporations. Under the plan of the Republicans the debt reduction during the fiscal year 1927 will-reach the huge total of ap proximately $1,070,000,000, which, with single exception of the year fol lowing the close of the war, will be the greatest amount of debt retire ment accomplished in any similar period thus far. Senators Swbnson, Harrison, Cope land and King all arose In the senate Wednesday to protest against the de cision of the Republicans. Swanson said ( tax legislation was being side tracked with the deliberate view of reducing taxes next year shortly In advance of the Presidential* election. Copeland said the administration was guilty of "legalised larceny" in col lecting upward of $500,000,000 more j, money In taxes than needed, without '■* providing some method of refunding the surplus to the taxpayers. Senator Harrison demanded that the Demo crats and Republicans forget partisan differences long enough to enact a Mil reducing taxes at this session. WHEN the house passed the treas ury appropriation measure It scotched the plan of Assistant Secre tary Andrews to obtain $500,000 for the payment of prohibition spies to be expended witnout accounting. Last week General Andrews tried to have this provision re-inserted In the bill lu the senate, but Senator Bruce raised • point of order and was warmly sup ported by other eminent wets, and again the scheme was defeated. The employment of spies in enforcement the prohibition law was roundly denounced; but of coarse what killed the plan was that the clause In ques tion, permitting advances from the enforcement fund, would violate a federal statute and also was an at tempt to legislate in an appropriation bill. ~ AS WAS related last week, the house naval affairs committee discovered that the budget bureau estimates for naval construction dur ing the coming year make no provision f or completion of tbe 1924 cruiser building program or for the building of two dirigibles authorised .by con gress. The committeemen were angry, and their ire was increased when Sec retary of the Navy Wilbur submitted • "Is annual report showing how the administration's retrenchment policy was cramping and crippling the navy, wherefore the committee, by unani mous vote, sent Chairman Butler to the White House with a letter which, though secret, was known to appeal j° the President for his sanction for Immediate action to build up the navy Jo the limit fixed by the 5-53 Wash ington treaty. The committeemen • * ay 'he navy is now in third place anl is fast falling to fourth place, ,"d approximately $500,000,000 is deeded to bring It up to its :igbt fr®aty strength. They want as much or construction during the coiping Je&r as finances and facilities will Televisor Hailed as Big Scientific Triumph Modern science, which recently ® af ie possible telephonic conversation* • Cr o3« the Atlantic, now has added a "ailing new possibility, that per ils who telephone also see those to they speak. That prospect of vlstoD may grow ®« of an apparatus called the tele- I £* )r . tor which a scientist sees a I ir lte futur ® ss a means of trans- K wotUw nleture* by radio. permit. The procedure of the com mittee is without precedent. W/'HEX. the senate took up the rivefr and harbor bill, included In which Is authorization for the devel opment of the lower Illinois river as part of the lakes-to-the-guif waterway, , the senators from states that have been fighting Chicago's diversion of lake water for the sanitary-*'canal threatened a filibuster because they feared the measure would approve of that diversion. However, the leaders of both sides in the controversy hefd an all-day conference and Wednesday night reached a compromise jyhlch seemed to assure the speedy passag? of the bill. It was agreed that this amendment should be Inserted: "Provided that nothing in-this act shall be construed as authorizing any diversion of water from Lake Mich igan." pvISREGARDING all warnings. J-* Governor Small of Illinois on Thursday appointed Frank L. Smith; senator-elect, to fill out the unqppired term of the late Senator McKlnley. It was expected that Mr. Smith would go to Washington in a few days and at tempt to take the seat, and that the Democrats and some Republicans would undertake to exclude him be cause of the slush-fund scandal at tached to his primary campaign. Tfte Republican leaders had hoped that this fight would not be brought on until next session because if precipe Itated now it would delay necessary legislation. Mr. Smith had Indicated that he wished to present his defense to the senate at this time, but he yras warned that If possible an Immediate vote on the question of admitting him would be had, so he would have no chance. Governor Small declared that In appointing Smith he was fol lowing the wishet of the Illinois elec torate as expressed at the polfe In November, and that not a charge of undue Influence or corruption at that election has been made. Senator Ashurst of Arizona Introduced a reso lution designed to prevent Smith from taking his seat. ALBERT B. FALL, former secre tary of the interior, and Edward L. Doheny, oil magnate, are not guilty of conspiring to defraud the govern ment in connection with the leases of the naval oil reserve at Elk Hills, Calif. Such was the verdict of the jury that heard the case against the two men in the Supreme court of the District of Columbia. The celebrated case, Involving the leasing of {he naval reserve oil lands to Doheny and the SIOO,OOO transac tion between them while Fall was sec retary of the Interior In 1921, had been on trial for 23 days, with 17 lawyers dealing in a great mass of technical evidence. The jury delib erated for many hours and brought In Its verdict of acquittal on Thursday morning. Counsel for the government at once took up the second of the oil lease criminal cases. In tbls one FaU and Harry F. Sinclair are the defend ants and it involves the lease of the Teapot Dome oil field to Sinclair's company. DEBATE on the agricultural bill In the house Wednesday served to give the Lowden Presidential boom an airing. Representative Dickinson of lowa alhided to the Illlnolsan as a leading champion of the new McNary bill for farm relief, and Mr. Howard oi Nebraska asked the lowan If "his candidate" was not a little beyond the desirable age for a President. Mr. Dickinson retorted that the two-term limit for Presidents was of more con cern to the American people than the age of a President WARNING to Christian civiliza tion that "Its foundations are be ing again attacked and undermined" by religious restrictions In Mexico Is contained In a long pastoral letter is sued by the Catholic episcopate of the United States. It sets forth fully the church side of the controversy with President Calies' government, whose charges against the church Jt says have been fabricated for campaign purposes. The bishops declare the letter Is not an appeal for political Intervention or for action of any kind by the American government. Some of the foreign oil companies • doing business in Mexico have accept ed the Mexican petroleum law. apply- The device as it operates at present and ita possibilities were explained at St Louis by Dr. E. F. W. Alexander son, consulting engineer of the Gen eral Electric company and" the Radio Corporation of America. In experiments preparatory to trans-Atlantic telephone service, engi neers have talked with New York re cently from London, and some per sons btlleve that with a phone circuit paralleled by a perfected televisor*per sons talking may see each other. An Invisible ray that permits seeing Ing for confirmation of their conces sions. Luis Morones, minister of In dustry and commerce, v?as In warm controversy last week with the Stand; ard OU company over the question whether or not its representative had made such application. The Associa tion of Producers of Petroleum in Mexico, meeting in New York, stood pat on its opposition to the Mexican law. ,v Z"''HANCELI.OR MARX* and Foreign Minister Stresemann are not hav ing an easy time maintaining their majority in the rejchstag. but Mart is defiant. Last week he «>{fered an alliance to the Socialists, promising to give them representation In the cab inet, and they refused. When he told this to the reichstag the Nationalists abused him and left the chamber. Philipp Scheidemann, Socialist leader, attacked the cabinet bttteHy» especial ly Minister of Defense Gesaler. H-J charged .that a secret fund existed in the budget for the manufacture and hoarding of arms . and airplanes in Russia. He asserted that the allies knew all about "the rotten militaristic conditions In Germany" and added: "We might as well correct these con ditions ourselves as have the allies act for us." All of which was nuts for the French opponents of Brland's policy of conciliation. II ELATIONS between %taly and France continue rather strained and movements of French troops to ward the frontier are going on, while by January 12, it is expected, the en tire French fleet will be in the Medi terranean. Mussolini 'stated recently that he had 30 divisions north of the Po river. Of course no one pre dicts actual warfare, but everyone is nervous. The Italian government also has annoyed Great Britain by falling to invite the British fleet to visit Italian ports during its maneu vers in the Mediterranean early next year. TURKEY, with both Italy and Eng land in mind, is trying to arrange protecting alliances. A London cor respondent says: "Within the last few days Turkey has offered an offen sive and defensive alliance to Persia on the same lines as the treaty It re cently made with Afghanistan. Great Britain is now subsidizing Persia through the Anglo-Persian Oil com pany to the tune of £4,000,000 ($20,- 000,000) annually, but It will have to dd even better if it wishes to keep Persia, which is threatened by Tur key, Russia, and Afghanistan, In line." DISPATCHES from Barcelona say another conspiracy to assassi nate King Alfonso and Dictator de Rivera has been discovered in Madrid and many of tbe plotters arrested. They bad planned to shoot the pre mier from a closed motor car In front of his office and tben to kill the king with grenades when he was attending Gen. de Rivera's funeral. OFFICIAL announcement Is made in Warsaw that the Polish army now has 258,095 soldiers and 179,000 officers, and that the navy has 2,124 sailors and 236 officers. These forces, which do not Include the militarized police, will cost about $76,500,000 In 1927. With the police and the special guards on the Russian and Lithuanian frontiers, Poland has nearly 400,000 men under arms. It Is thus the great est military power In central Europe, with an army four times as big as Germany's and reflly much stronger than Russia's. DENMARK has s new cabinet formed of members of the Farm ers' party with Madison Mygdal as premier. The foreign minister Is Dr. Phil Moltensen, member of the Dan ish delegation to the League of N«t tions and president of *he Danish In terparliamentary group. PRESIDENT ADOLFO DIAZ of Nic aragua has again asked for help from the United States, this time re questing that it create a naval neutral zone along the entire east coast of Nicaragua. This, be says. Is "the only mesns of preventing the Mexlcan-suj/- ported rebels from advancing toward tbe capital and overthrowing my ad ministration." Only a;few days ago a gun-running vessel landed at an east Island with arms, 4,000,000 rounds of ammunition and troops. in total darkness, has been demon strated feasible through an Invention of John L. Balrd, British scientist. Mr. Balrd's televisor Isolates and then employs rays which are outside the visible spectrum, th? sensitive electric eye of the apparatus readily selecting eye., In a demonstration Balrd's In visible "searchlight" projected on a screen the outlines of a man sitting In total darkness. Darkness will no longer give security as a cloak military ope rations. GRAHAM, N, C., THURSDAY NOVEMBER 4, 1926. ABOUT «8» AUSTRALIA (c\ War -voce ~«>oc/ . Hauling Wool In Australia. (Prepared by the National Geographic Society, Washington. D. C.) AUSTRALIA, most remote of the large overseas units of the British "empire" that recently have been given a status that almoat amounts to Independent nation hood, is 12,000 miles ftora the British Isles. Its isolation has made it In some ways the most self-reliant and democratic of Britain's offspring. Although more than 7,000 miles from the United States, Australia has been very strongly influenced governmental ly by the latter country. The institu tions of this Southern commonwealth are more nearly like our own than are those of any other important coun try. The commonwealth of Australia (which has been In existence as such only since 1901) consists of six states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queens land, South Australia, Western Aus tralia and Tasmania. As In our own Union, the states delegated only cer tain specific powers to the federal government and retained all the rest themselves. The law-making machinery consists of a senate and a house of represent atives. The members of both are elected. There Is provision for non voting delegates from the unorganized Northern territory, paralleling the ar rangement In the United States where by Alaska, Porto Rico and the Philip pines send non-voting delegates tc congress. The federal parliament ol Australia has an advantage over the American congress in Its smallness. There are now 36 senators and 70 rep resentatives. There is in Australia a federal dis trict like our own District of Colum bia, outside tjie boundaries and Juris dictions of the states. In this district a permanent federal capital city is now being built, and it is planned that the next parliament (that meeting in 1927) will be held there. Pending the building of this capital the city of Melbourne has been the temporary seat of government. As in Canada, the executive power haa In the past been exercised by a governor general, In theory represent ing the British king, but In some re spects acting as representative of the existing British government Under the most recent London agreement as to the status of the dominions, the governor general will In the future be merely the personal representative of the king, a sort of official figure-head* standing by while the all-Australian premier, cabinet and congress n>n the country. Government of the States. Until the formation of the common wealth in 1901 the present states of Australia were separate colonies. New gouth Wales is both the oldest and the roost populous of the units, but It is exceeded in size by both Queens land and Western Australia. Its popu lation is more than two million. In form of government and methods of election {here are much greater dif ferences between the states of Aus tralia than between those of the Unit ed States. New South Wales, aa be comes the oldest of the units, is most conservative, having an upper house whose members are appointed for life by the British king. None other of the six states haa such a feature. In the make-up of Its lower bouse. New South Wales swings to a democratic extreme and employs proportional rep resentation. Like all the other states. New South Wales haa an appointed governor and a cabinet. In Victoria the members of both houses are elected, those of the up per for six years, those of the lower for three. Those who vote for uiem bers of the tipper house, however, mast own a certain amount of prop erty. Members of the lower house are elected by universal suffrage. Queensland la the most democratic of the states.* It has gone so rar as to throw overboard the idea Inherited in our own country from England that the legislatures of states should con sist of two housefe. In 1922 Queens land abolished Its upper house and Its laws are now made by a single house of representatives whose members are elected for three years by universal suffrage. South Australia and Western Aus tralia both have governments like that of Victoria, legislatures of two houses, the upper elected under prop erty qualifications, the lower by uni versal suffrage. Tasmania has an upper house made up In the same way but the members of Its lower house are selected under a system of pro portional representation. Big aa the United Statu. Australia Is almost exactly the same size as the continental United States, having an area of 2,974.581 square miles. Nearly half the commonwealth, however, is in the tropics. Tasmania has the coolest climate; It lies In lati tude corresponding to northern In diana and th« southern half of Mich igan. Melbburne, the southernmost big city of the mainland. Is in latitude corresponding to that of Washington; while Sydney, Australia's New York, Is In a position like that of Raleigh. N. C. Going northward along Anstralla'a eastern shore, one advances Into warmer and warmer territory. By the time the city of Brisbane, capltul of Queensland, Is reached, one has at tained a latitude comparable to that of Palm Beach, Fla. From there the state of Queensland sweeps on until Its' northernmost point is nearer th* equator than southern Mexico. This "hot country" Is Australia's sugar bowl, much of the tilled groumi being devoted to the growth of can# as In America's South. As In the lat-' ter region, too, cotton grows well an«l Its production Is becoming a greater apd greater Industry. The north central portion of Aus tralia, making up the northern ter ritory, la little developed and ail but unknown. There, and In the northern' parts of Queensland and Western Au«\ tralla dwell most of the few thousand remaining Australian natives, the "blackfellows." A large proportion of these are still savages. « The northern and western portion of South Australia, and most of the Interior of Western Australia are desert lands. They are more pro nounced deserts than the great arid belt of the United States east of the Rocky mountains. The Australlau desert regions are practically uninhab ited and unused. Arquad the rrtnge of this super-dry region, however, is a semi-arid area In which millions of sheep and cattle graze. In the better watered, agricultural regions wheat la the principal prodoct. Minerals, especially gold, have been found in various parts of Aostralla. Western Australia, a crafts the conti nent from the older settled communi ties of southeastern Australia, owea Its development largely to the discov ery- of s*Jd. The traditional policy of the com monwealth is for a "White Australia," a policy as firmly grounded there aa Is the Monroe Doctrine In the United States. It is not that Australia de spises Immigration. It la rather that she has clung tp her ideal of "a homo geneous people of Drltliii origin," and ■till believes In IV ' AMONG HIS OWN PEOPLE By BOYD GURNEY (Osrrlsht Sr W. O. Chapman.) I {/fT""WE sentence of the court Is, I that Private Albert Ksne be X dishonorably dismissed from the service of the goverp ttebt." Colonel Scott snapped out the Words, Private Albert Kane raised his . head stid looked at the officers for the first time. Wasfrel, outcsst, he had expected a minimum of two years' Im prisonment. And that was all his sen tence —to be dismissed from tbe reg iment. "You're lucky, Kane. Wish I was in your shoes," said one of his com panions, as he gathered,bia things to gether. "Going I suppoee?" "Yes," snswered Ksne nonchalant ly, end walked toward the entrance of the camp. Kane was free. He had enlisted six months before, after a year of dis sipation, in the rain hope of forget ting the past. Once, so long ago that the memory of that time was like a dream to him, he had been a decent man. He had bad a good position In a western city, and be had loved Dorothy Davis, whom he knew to be the one womsn in tbe world whom be must love forever. At last be bad been In s position to ask her to be come his wife, v And she bsd broken the news to him that she was engaged to be married. It was to Colonel Scott s msn considerably her senior; and Kane had gathfred that If he had asked her sooner . . . however, there waa no use apeculatlng about that. ' Kane gave up his position, and be hardly remembered anything of tbe year that followed. Suffice it that, at the end of It, he found himself pen niless outside an army camp In Texaa. He had the sadden thought of redaem- Ing himself. Here, at least, there would be a life of action. Kane en listed. , He found the monotony of army lite in the little border post Intolerable He found that Colonel Scott was hla commanding officer. He found that every week be saw Dorothy. He fled from tbe sight of her, and fortunately for him, she did not recognise him la his soldier's uniform. Once be was sent on an errand to her home, aad he left the message with tbe servant and fled. He ate bis heart out. He he csme known as tbe worst soldier la the regiment. He waa continually punished. At last he committed a graver offense against discipline and wss tried by court-martial and die Tionorably dlacharged. In his relief from bis fete he re solved to go East and try to make a msn of himself. But as be stepped, with his bundle upon Ma arm, serosa tbe enclosure, be saw Dorothy coming toward him. In vain he turned his eyes awny. She saw him; she knew him. He saw the look of recognition In her eyes. She Hopped. Kane hurried paat her, not daring to look back. He gained the entrance to tbe barracks. But he did not go toward the railroad ata tlon, as be had planned Instead, ha turned southward toward tbe border. He walked jauntily past tbe custom house, over the bridge, snd flung him self upon the ground. He wss In Mex ico, aad he meant never to return. n Albert Kane looked up Into the sky and searched the distant hills. Tbe summer sun waa declining, aad aa the meacai want out of him he real ized his aha ae meat. For fifteen months be bad lived In tbe squslld Mexican village twelve mllea beyond the border. At first looked on with suspicion, be had be come identified with the villagers. He sprawled In tj>e adobe hut. an thing, like tbe creep ing lizards sbont him. Few men have sunk to such depths aa Kane had reached. Now, deep ta bis heart an elusive memory stirred. It waa a memory of America, which had once been dear to him, of a civi lized land where human faces looked Into hla Instead of the brutish peas anta' eyes.' What waa It ha was remembering? He know now. Somebody had kicked him. It waa the rebel leader, Santoa, riding by with a hundred troopers. And what was It had been aald? * "That Gringo la always In a stupor. He la harmless. Do not kill him." Santoa bad kicked him eontompto oOsly and' ridden on bis way. Bat Kane renumbered now. He remem bered tbe whispered colloquy. No body knew that he understood msch Spanish, for he aeldom spoke to any one. But Kane had gathered that the troop waa to raid the American camp at sunup.' Slowly the realization of thta crept NO. ,3«J. Into his mind. He heard again the langhter of the Mexican leader, his boast of what he would do to the Oringos, his talk of the American women . . . thai slowly, like a flower, Dorothy's face unfolded before his eyes against the fading West Kane staggered to »his feet and looked ahont him. Tethered to a near by hnt was a One stajfNon. the prop erty of Santos, which be had left there till bis return on tbe morrow, not wishing to risk it in the impending fight, if fight was to be. Net body was guarding It Kane crept toward it He saw the saddle and bridle at the door of a near-by but. In a moment he had placed the saddle on tbe animal's hack and fastened tbe girth. , He fitted the bridle, hearing shoots as the Mexicans saw him and divined his purpose. Men ran toward him. Kane cot tbe halter and leaped «a tbe stallion's back. la a moment he was «Wj, galloping along tbe road that led toward tbe border. Behind him be still beard tbe criea of tbe stupefied Mexicans. 11l Once oat of sight of tbe Tillage be moved slowly, for before him. lattea away, outlined against the buili—. be saw the cavalry of Santoa inareb ing. Tbe day died and tbe stare came oat. Kane rode along tbe de serted road. It was midnight when be saw tmr off the winding Rio. looking down, he saw tbe ramp of the raMere at tbe foot of tbe hill. A high bank am either side of him, rising ido tbe nwntaba ret off all possibility of a diloni. Ha mast ride tbroagb the camp. He gave bia horse a rent; then, mounting, be csatinqped. very mnUana ly. until, topping tbe last Mil. be saw the pickets under bin. Then biunad his bores to tbe gallop. * Faster and faster be drove tbe atnl* lion down tbe hilL He benid tbe shoots of the gaard. be eaagbt n dsba of men. risen trom sleep, aiailog at him; and then be waa renirfng tbe gaantlet between two lines of Mexi cans. He heard their excited shootn. Bullets whissed past hint. He frit an It were tbe sting of a betas tbroagb the forearm, tbroagb the ihoolder. On right hand, pierced, iliuwtl nerve leaaly from tbe«jretns. Be frit the Mood stream dawn hiss. Then be had peased these, aad aa Mo snorting horae gathered Itself together beneath him. he hoard the liia» wMh wild yells, take ap the psnrit. Tbe river gUatened before Mm. The car rent ran fast and Strang. Only a aae ment he hesitated; sad. aa be dM m he felt another ating sndsr tbe sees. Then he drove the ataman lata the water. Tbe balieta whipped the water abaot and an awfal feiatnesa. He Mt tbe Icy water wrap him iswnd Hbs a abroad. BMUnd Mm his paranare hod from the aaath to tbe north hank ad the Rio in feed time. The comet wns imaging Ms away. Bat betece Mm ha anar. whlta against the eight tbe tents mt Ma sere people. With a last effort Kane sparred the tagging beast henaatb tbe water. The ktaHlon saerted and and denly began ta tread ap— tbe river bottom. Splashing and plaaglng. It gained the Americaa aide aad roshi* op tbe bank. Behind Mm tbe Mexlcaaa ween still firing. hot now the ballets wont wild Kane wa* ta no danger. M only he coald poll himself together and reach Ma goal! He reined In the stallion with Ma last tit! re strength. He walked It slowly through the entrance ta the camp. Mea ' were already alert, s roused by the shots, and telling In. Kane beard the colonel's voire. He saw a woman standing at hla aide. He stopped the horae in front of the com manding officer. "Santos Is leading a party to attack tbe camp, sir* he faltered. "I came to —ware you—" And Kane fell from his horse into the arms of the colonel's orderly. They carried Mm Into the colonel's house. Kane opened his eyes after a long interval, to see faces looking inta his. He saw the doctor shake hla head. A sense of supreme Joy .thrilled him. It was good to die—lt waa good that thta should be ended—and ha end ed thus. And among the feces he saw that of the colonel'a wife. Her tears Ml over him. Kaaa tried ta speak, but there waa no need of speech. In that last interchange of looks all was explained, and the reconciliation effected He had aaved others—what did It matter If he coold not fare himself? And, with his eyes still hnldlag Dor othy's, ha fell asleep Faithfuln*** Give us a man, young or old, high or low, on wh«in wo know wa can tbor ooghly depend—who will stand Arm when Othar* tell—the friend faithfol and true, the adviser boneat and fear lees. the adversary Just and cMval rous; In «ofch an one there la a frag ment of tie Rock of A gee.—Dean

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