The Alamance gleaner VOL. UV. GRAHAM, IS, C., THURSDAY OCTOBER 4, 1928. NO. 35. HAPPENNINGS OF THE WEEK NEWS REVIEW OF CURRENTEVENTS Mabel Willebrandt'* Hoover Speeches Create a Stir? Help Storm Victims. By EDWARD W. PICKARD MRS. MABEL WILLEBRANDT. assistant attorney general of the United States, was the storm cen ter of the political campaign last week, and If she.enjoys publicity she must hare had the time of her life for she fairly crowded the candidates them selves off the front page. Mrs. Wille brandt has especial charge of the gov ernment's legal proceedings against dry law violators and already had In curred the enmity of wet New Yorkers who resented the raiding of night clubs and similar doings. Then she started out to make speeches for Mr. Hoover and one of her first efforts In this line was an address to a big Methodist gathering In Ohio in which she urged that all members of that church should get together to help In the defeat of A1 Smith. That gentle man and countless others immediately accused her of attacking him on re ligious grounds, and there were numer ous demands that she be separated from her government job and also that she be taken from the Ust of accred ited Republican spellbinders. Some of the Hooverltes seemed to be fearful lest she become the female Doctor Bun-hard, of the campaign. Declining to retract or modify any of her utterances, Mrs. Willebrandt as serted she had asked the Methodists to oppose Smith on the ground of his views on prohibition and had made no mention of his religious beliefs. She said Smith himself was trying to "dodge behind his own church," and furthermore that the Democratic can didate was the one who had made prohibition an Issue of the campaign. Congressman Walter Newton of Min nesota, chairman of the Republican speakers' bureau, stated that Mrs. Willebrandt was speaking under the auspices of that bureau and that de mands for her, from every part of the Middle West, were far more than she could fill. GOVERNOR SMITH, In the coarse of his Western toar, spoke at Denver In advocacy of absolute gov ernment ownership and control of the natural water power resources of the country and for Immediate action In the construction of Boulder canyon dam. Then he moved up through Wyoming to Montana and In Helena devoted most of his address to the Teapot Dome scandal and the alleged responsibility of the Republican party therefor. The chiefs of the seven In dian tribes of the state made him a member with the name "Leading Star." Turning back toward the east, he passed through North Dakota, where the political situation Is pe culiarly complicated, and during a brief stop In Bismarck he was chris tened "Chief Charging Hawk" by the Sioux. Thursday night he spoke In St. Panl on a variety of topics, and next day he entered the Wisconsin tangle. It was believed that In his Milwaukee address he might take up the subject of prohibition, hitherto Ignored during the tour. Some days before Senator Blaine of Wisconsin had completed his flop by announcing his Intention to rote for Smith. Re publican leaders said this amounted to little since Blaine never had been a real Republican. 8enator Borah of Idaho was the big gun of the Republican speaking bat tery during the week and his loudest explosion was In Kansas City, where In lively fashion he contrasted Smith's record and knowledge of the farm problem with that of Hoover, violent ly assailed the equalization fee, and blew up the charge that Hoover was responsible for the lowering of the price of wheat dnring the war. He also defended the Eighteenth amend ment and paid his disrespects to Tam many. IIHTH the approval of President ' ' Coolldge, Secretary of State Kel logg sent Identic notes to Great Brit ain and France setting forth our government'* attitude toward the naval limitation agreement reached bj those two nations. The contents of the notes were not made public, but It was understood that they stated the British and French suggestions could not be accepted by the United States as a basis for naval limitation, and pointed out the reason. The American objection to the Anglo French agreement was tersely ex pressed by the London Dally News when It said: "It gives Great Britain unlimited small cruisers, France un limited small submarines, and gives America nothing she wanted. It Is almost too crude to be true." Dis patches from London Insist there are no secret clauses In the agreement Some of the French papers are In dignant over the American opposition to the pact, saying England and France are held slaves of the United States by their war debts. WITHOUT having made much progress toward disarmament, the assembly of the League of Nations ended Its fall session. Almost its last act was to pass a resolution that the disarmament preparatory commission should meet again not later than January 1. No mention was made in it of any plan for a general disarm ament conference, and Germany and Hungary refused to vote after Count von Bernstorff had made a bitter speech chiding the league for its slow ness and asserting that Germany was helpless and surrounded by heavily armed neighbors. At the final session the earl of Lytton, speaking for In dia, warned the league that while it was firmly established in Europe, its position in Asia was not assured. Costa Bica, which resigned from the league In 1925, gave notice that it would rejoin. Rehabilitation u now the great task In Florida and Porto Klco and the job Is in the hands of the Bed Cross, as Is that of feeding the thousands of storm sufferers. An Im mense sum Is being raised by popular subscription for these purposes. In Florida the dead are now estimated to number more than 2,300, most of them In the region about Lake Okeechobee, where the dikes broke down and the waters were driven over the land. The exact number never will be known. Reports Indicated that the white death list was about TOO. The danger of pestilence made It neces sary to burn most of the bodies as soon as they were found. The Porto Rlcans were reported to be In pitiful state. There were more than 15,000 cases of Influenza, and malaria, mea sles and other diseases prevailed among the refugees. The homeless on the Island are stated to number 284,000. Probably 150 persons. Including children, perished when the big Nove dades theater In Madrid. Spain, burned. The fire started on the stage and the tragedy closely resembled the burning of the Iroquois theater In Chicago years ago. The flames spread through the business district of the dty, destroying many buildings. Five villages In the state of Coa huilia, Mexico, were swept away by floods and many lives were lost. The Chliiese dty of Hankow was the scene of a tremendous conflagration that destroyed thousands of buildings and an nnknown number of lives. The old Spanish fort of Cabrerlxas Bajas on a hill above Melilla, Morocco, was demolished by an explosion of the powder magazine and scores of lives were lost EMILIO POBTES GIL, secretary of the Interior, was elected provision al President of Mexico by a Joint ses sion of the senate and chamber of deputies, without opposition. He will take office on December L when Pres ident Calles' term expires. The con gress also ordered that a popular Presidential election should be held on the third Snnday of November, 1929. Senor Portes GU will be one of the few Presidents Mexico has ever had of exclusively civilian career, being devoid of any active military experi ence. Until" selected by President Calles for bis cabinet he had been governor of Tamanllpas, where he established partial prohibition, sup pressed open gambling, and estab lished the first state supported indus trial school In Mexico for Indigent children. He Is known as a friend of the United States. According to a statement laaued by him, he will tot low the policy of the late President Elect Alvaro Obregon In the uplift ol the peasantry, encouragement of Ir rigation and extension of schools in the rural districts and mountains. H< will work to Incorporate the Indians, which form 50 per cent of the popula tlon. Into the body of the nation. He will go along the lines laid down by President Calles. While organized labor will not be represented In the cabinet, be will, nevertheless, extend a helping hand to the labor unions as part of the government policy to uplift the laboring masses. INLAND WATEItWATS CORPORA * tlon. In an application tiled wltta the interstate commerce commission, proposes extension of the government barge llne3 services on the Mississippi and Warrior rivers to all parts of the country through the establishment ol joint barge and rail rates and barge and rail through routes. The corpora tlon's application first asks the com mission to declare that the services ol the barge lines are a public con venience and necessity for expansion of the services to the tributaries ol the Mississippi, Including the Ulinoli waterway. Virtually every railroad In the country is named In the part ol the application asking the establish ment of through routes and joint rates. Joint barge and rail rates 2C per cent lower than all-rail rates be tween specified points are sought by the corporation, that being the basis on which existing barge and rail rates are generally made. WHEN NIcaraguans go to the poll) on November 4 to elect a Presi dent every voter will be marked or the hand with a chemical stain as h< casta his ballot in order to prevenl repeating. To avoid misunderstand Ings the election board, headed b] Gen. Frank L. McCoy, U. S. A., Is sued a statement explaining that th< chemical was harmless and the stall will disappear within a day or two An election official said maliclom agents are spreading reports among the Indians that the Americans wll use a chemical that will poison th< voters. Other alleged threats to bin der the voting are rumors that thi Americans eat children, and that tin Sandinistas will attack the booths. 01 kill those registering or voting. MME. GANNA WALSKA, open singer and the wKe ot Harold F HeCormlek of Chicago, Is an Amerl ran citizen, despite her residence Ii France, and will have to pay duty 01 jewelry and personal effects whicl are said to be valued at about $-.500, 000. This ruling was made by Phil!) Elting, collector of the port of Net York, who told Heftry D. Bolkley, at torney for Mademoiselle Walska, tha her claim to foreign residence an< consequent Immunity from duty hai been denied. Bulkley immediatelj made plans to appeal and will. If nec essary, carry the matter to the l*nlte< States Customs court and the Cour of Customs Appeal. ANOTHER -air derby," this tlm< from Los Angeles to Cincinnati was pulled off last week. First plao In class A was won by Robert A Drake of Pittsburgh. Pa., and in clasi B by Charles W. Holman of St. Paal Arthur Goebel, flying bis "Yankee Doodle" plane, won the nonstop ran In 15 hours and IT minutes. CHINESE Nationalists In Shanghai unofficially announced that the) had practically completed the reor ganlzatlon of the system of govern ment, eliminating the previous Soviet form, which was borrowed from Rua sla. Under the new scheme. General Chiang will head the Nationalist gov emment council, his position being similar to that of President or pre mler. Gen. Pal Chung-hsl reported from northern Chlhli province that he had completely defeated a remnant of the Chlhll-Sbantung troops and that Gen Chang Chung-chang had fled, presum ably to the Japanese leased area In Manchuria. DEATHS of the week Include those of Sir Horace Darwin, son ot Charles Darwin and himself a noted scientist, and R. F. Outcault, veteran newspaper comic strip artist Western Lines Seek Increases in Rates The first step toward Instituting (tenera! upward revision of freight rates In western territory has been instituted before the Interstate com merce commission by representatives of Western trunk line railroads. Agents of the Western roads asked the commission for permission to file Immediately applications looking to Inn mats on a wide range of com ritory, and asserted that the Increases were necessary because their earnings "tor some years bare been and now are conspicuously Inadequate." Western railroads hare contended during recent years that their earn ings were considerably below those of carriers in the Eastern and Southern dlstxicte It was also declared that trainmen and conductors In the West ern territory hare pending demands for wage Increases which harm been pushed almost to the point of striking. Coinciding wlt> this, the BSmnlidn rescinded tl?e authority which It had Siren L. F. Loree to bold a position as director of the Mlssoarl-Kansas Texas railroad, and he was ordered to withdraw from the directorate In question. Mr. Loree. who was president oi the Delaware * Hudson company, went on the board of the Missouri Kansas-Texas In connection with kls plan to consolidate that railroad with the Kaunas City Southern and St. Louis Southwestern.?St Louts Pant Dtapatch. ROAD WAS I CLOSED M by O J. Walsh ) > S A-RHIE POTTEB tod her sls f eter Cynthia lived In the old V J Potter homestead. They were i middle-aged, healthy, good looking and possessed of comfortable I Incomes. To their friends and BC i qnalntances It seemed as if "the Pot I ter girls," aa they were called, bad i everything to make tbem happy and i contented. Bot this was not the case In fact they had too mocb leisure In which to find fanlt with each other and their surroundings. That was why this sloppy morning they were driving along a country road. The night before at their evening meal they bad bad a perfect duel of words over some trivial thing and had only settled the matter by deciding ro drive over to see Mlnty Granger and have her decide the dispute for them. Carrie was driving their bright new ? coupe and shimmering along at a good rate of speed when suddenly they , were confronted by a detour sign, i The sign bore a rudely executed ar , row which pointed toward a read , that seemed to follow crumbling stone i walls off through a field. "What a perfectly dreadful looking road!" Cynthia cried. I "I should say It was" Carrie bit her Up, nervously. ' "Well, It's very evident the main ' road Is closed, Carrie," Cynthia said. I "You can't possibly drive over thai rough one. The only thing you can do Is to go back." There was relief , In ber voice. "No. We won't go back." Carrie's I voice was firm. Not for one moment > wonid she show the white feather be t fore the timid Cynthia, and anyway If they did go back home the dispute r would remain unsettled, for Carrie knew that her sister always managed ? to get the best of an argument. Cyn i this would fire all her guns, as It k were, and then when she saw she was I losing ground she would begin weak 5 ly to cry?thst usually ended all dla 1 putes. s There was another reason why Car - rle did not wish to tarn back. She a bated to tnrn a car a round She t conld drlre straight ahead bat when r she had to take her eyes from the front of the car In order to see where the back wheels were going she al ways lost ber nerve. Cynthia knew ' this. "No I We will not turn back," Car rie said with a little shake In her 1 TOlce. She drew a long breath end 1 taking a firmer grip of the wheel turned from the main road Into the detonr. Cynthia braced herself as the coape bounced and swayed over the rough road. Their suitcases and the gen erous box which they had packed with nuts, candy, fancy cakes, a can later of Imported tea and sundry books and magazines they were tak lng as a surprise to Minty Granger rattled ominously. The car windows cracked as if tbey would break, but Carrie kept right on going. They had followed the road for some time when the sunlight began to dim and an occasional raindrop slashed against the windshield. Car rie set the automatic windshield cleaner In motion. Finally the mad seemed to leave the level and lead straight np a steep hill. "Ob?oh!?Must we climb that hllir* Cynthia could not keep back the exclamation. The hill loomed ominously ahead of them, dark with trees. Carrie's Ups tightened and she changed to a lower gear. The car would need all Its power to make the grade. Bp, np, up tbey went, the en glne laboring. "Oh." Carrie thought with despalfgrlpplng her heart. "Will we ever get out of this mess?" Just as she was beginning to hope they were nearlng the top of the hill the engine gave a wheezy gasp an" I stopped dead still. She set the brakes to prevent the car from sliding back down the hill. Turning she met the frightened eyes of her sister. "Sit tight. Cynthls," she said with more courage In ber voice than she felt In ber heart. "No damage done so far and If I'm not mistaken. I see smoke right over there. Let's explore. We may find a house." They got out of the car and after s moment's search found a path lead ing through the woods This path led straight Into a clearing where they espied a small, rough shanty. A dog earns out and barked as they ap proached. At first they were terribly frightened becaose he acted so un friendly but Carrie spoke to him coax tngly and after a moment he let them > proceed to the boose. Jnst as Carrie was about to knock the door opened and a tangle-headed little girl of , eight appeared She gszed at the two women with wide upeo brown eyes and after giving tliero an ap praising look smiled at Cynthia. "How do joo do." Carrie aald. "la jour pnpn or anj ooa bore who eao help with a carl" "Ask the ladj In, Hettj," a weak rolce bade from within. The little girl opened the door and motioned thetn to enter. As their eyes became accustomed to the dim Interior of the room they saw a woman lying on as old coacb whlcb had been drawn close to the Ore. "Come In, ladles," the woman In vited. "Hetty, give the ladles chairs," she added to the little girl who stood shyly by her side. Hetty shoved two chairs toward the women and they sat down. "Are you 111?" Cynthia asked with deep sympathy in her voice. The woman was young and would have been pretty had she not looked so sad. "No, not really sick," the womau answered with a weak smile. "But 1 fell some time ago and must have strnldbd my hack. My man works down in the village during the week. He cuines borne Saturday nights. Het ty and 1 have been getting along alone?I'm afraid things don't look very nice." she added apologetically Things did not look very nice. While the woman had been talking Carrie and Cynthia had been taking note of their surroundings. Never In all their lives had they seen so bare a room. Here was such a poverty as they had never known. The place seemed lacking In every possible com fort. To a helpless woman with only the companionship and care of a Ut tie child It most bave been almost unendurable. Suddenly Cynthia, noting the tin combed look of the woman's hair, said: "Wouldn't you like to have me brush your balr?" "*v'hy, thank you," the woman an swered with a brightening of her tired eyes, "that would be fine. My head gets sorts tired, and I tumble around so much my hair gets all snarled up? My man combs It ont when he's here and Hetty does her best " Cynthia brushed the woman's hair and braided It Into a comfortable flat braid. Carrie did a like service for the little girl. It was amazing what a lot of little thlnga tbe slaters found to do for Hetty and her mother, and the time passed so quickly that the hands of the old clock on the mantel pointed to 12 before they realized the lateness of the hour. Then at Car rie's suggestion Cynthia and Hetty ran back to the car and brought tbe gifts they were taking' to lllnty Granger. Carrie baked corn bread, cooked potatoes, brewed a good pot of Mlnty Granger's Imported tea and fried some crisp strips of bacon. Wben the food was prepared (bey drew the small kitchen table close to the couch. It was quite a merry meal. Tbe worn an and child ate heartily. "You are looking better already, my dear," Cynthia said smiling at the woman, who hud raised herself to a sitting posture. "I am feeling better," the woman responded. "Tbe doctor said when he was up here last week all I needed now was to get an appetite. My man and Hetty tried to flz things but I couldn't eat. 1 guess I was lonesome, too?I Just couldn't seem to swallow anything we had." Carrie and Cynthia stayed long enough to wash dishes and put the room to rights and then at Carrie's suggestion they bade good-by to Het ty and her mother and went back to tbelr stalled car. Carrie climbed In to the car and stepped on the starter button. Much to her surprise the en gine began to throb. She changed gears and the car moved forward. "Climb In, quick, Cynthia I" she cried, "before this pesky thing changes Its mind I" They drove on for t mile or two when the rough rosd again Joined the main highway. Bat Cynthia no ticed that Carrie Instead of proceed ing In the direction of Mlnty Grang er's house turned and drove deliber ately toward home When they got home they asked their next door neighbor what be supposed bad been wrong with the car npd he replied with a smile at their Inexperience: "Your engine got overheated. That detour over Shepard's hill would tax a better car than yours. No doubt your engine boiled. Wben It got cool yon could start It again." Tbe girls put the car Into their garage and on their way to the house Carrie aald slipping her hand through Cynthia's arm, "Tomorrow. Cynthia, hill or no hill, we are going beck to see Hetty and her mother." "Yoo are tight, Carrie," Cynthia said. "And this time we will take epough comforts along to last that poor woman till she gets around again." -The trouble with us, Cynthia," Carrie aald honestly, "la that we have bad aucb nn easy time ourselves we have grown crabbed end selfish. We hare been getting too mean to enjoy the blessings we bare." Tbe dispute was settled out of court, as It were, and It was qolte a time before they even thought of Mlnty Granger, so absorbed were they in life as they saw It through their awakened eyes. <^