The Alamance -gleaner
VOL. LVI. GRAHAM, N, C., THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20, 1930. NO. 3.
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1?John K. Northrop's novel airplane, the Flying Wing, In Its successful test flight over Burbank. Calif. ??The
yacht Saunterer which was used by President Hoover end his party during their fishing expedition at Long Key, Fla.
3?MaJ. Gen. Herbert B. Crosby, selected by the President as commissioner of the District of Columbia and expected
to reform the liquor and vice conditions in the National Capital.
NEWS REVIEW OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Wets Give House Committee
Opinion of Dry Laws?
Hughes Confirmed.
By EDWARD W. PICKARD
WHAT the opponents of the
Eighteenth amendment and the
Volstead act really think of those
pieces of legislation and their effect
on the lives and morals of the Amer
ican people was brought out forcibly
last week in a hearing held by the
Judiciary committee of the house of
representatives. That body has be
fore it a number of bills designed to
cancel or modify the prohibition laws,
and Chairman George S. Graham of
Pennsylvania, himself a wet, decided
to give both sides a chance to present
their best arguments. The public in
Washington liked the idea and flocked
to the hearing in numbers that
thronged the large house caucus room.
Mr. Graham, opening the proceed
ings, said: "This hearing will not In
terfere with President Hoover's crime
commission, but rather, be in aid
thereof."
The Eighteenth amendment, he as
serted, has been tested for ten years
without satisfactory results, enforce
ment having left "a train of conse
quences most deplorable and depress
ing to every patriot.
"Let us reason together," he sug
gested. "Not with the fanatic, for he
is the foe of religious as well as in
dividual liberty, but with broad
minded men and women of every faith
pnd belief, and try to relieve our
country by conceiving a new system?
one not founded on the bludgeon and
viviuiiuu vi iiicu a cuuscicuiiuus cuu*
Tlctions regarding drink.
"No law can ever be enforced that
Is destructive of right and individual
liberty. You may create a guerrilla
warfare and its conditions, reeking
with murder, bribery, corruption, vio
lations, or evasions and disrespect for
all law. Every law to be capable of
being enforced without such a train
of consequences must not be Incon
sistent with the mind of the people
of the country as being right and must
not be destructive of individual lib
erty."
Representative Sabath of Illinois
first explained his proposed amend
ment giving the government control
over the dispensing of liquor as in
Sweden and Canada, and then called
as his first witness Walter W. Lig
gett, a magazine writer whose articles
on prohibition have brought him be
fore various grand Juries. For an
hour Mr. Liggett told of the crime,
debauchery, corruption and hypocrisy
he said he had found existing in Wash
ington. Boston. Michigan. Kansas,
Minnesota and North Dakota. Sum
marizing It. he said:
"In Washington 700 speakeasies and
?1,000 bootleggers operate unmolested.
In Boston prostitution Is rampant, with
35,000 persons engaged In purveying
booze. In Kansas, after 50 years of
prohibition, there is not a town where
I can't buy a drink in five minutes;
Detroit is in the grip of gangsters and
crooked politicians; drinking goes on
merrily in Minneapolis; and North
Dakota consumes immeasurably more
liquor than before prohibition."
The witness Inade many sensa
tional detailed statements and when
cross-examined by drys he declared he
could prove them nil hut was sure he
would not be called on to do so.
This was only the start, for the As
sociation Opposed to the Prohibition
Amendment had a lotog line of wit
nesses ready for each proposed bill.
After the wets were through, of course,
the drys were to have their oppor
tunity. and they, too, were fully
primed for the occasion.
DOTH wets and Democrats were
cheered by the results of an elec
tion in the Springfield (Mass.) district
to fill a congressional vacancy. The
successful candidate was Fred D.
Griggs, a Democrat and an avowed
wet. The Democrats professed to be
lieve this presaged the election of a
Democrat in November to succeed
Senator F. H. Gillett, who Is not a
candidate for renomination. The
Springfield district, which is the home
of former President Coolidge, is nom
inally Republican, but Griggs won by
several thousand votes. Some of the
Democratic leaders said the result was
to be credited to dissatisfaction with
the Hoover administration.
TN THE Central West there were
several big events in connection
with prohibition. A federal grand Jury
in Springfield, 111., indicted the Flelsch
mann Yeast company, the Corn Prod
ucts Refining company, and the Hub
binger Brothers company of Keokuk,
Iowa, as corporation conspirators
against the dry law. They are charged
with furnishing large shipments of
yeast and corn sugar to illicit dis
tillers. A lot of minor .bootleggers
also were indicted. Another federal
grand Jury in Chicago returned in
dictments against 18S individuals and
small concerns scattered over the
country on charges If misusing indus
j trial alcohol. The government offi
I cials sold this was the breaking up of
! the biggest "alky" ring in the country.
I the king of which was Anastassoff
I Srebren, an internationally known
chemist who invented a process of re
distillation for removing non-drinkable
ingredients from specially denatured
alcohol.
BEFORE reaching a vote on the
confirmation of the appointment
of Charles Evans Hughes as chief
justice of the Supreme court, the sen
ate heard a number of rather violent
attacks on the supposed attitude of
Mr. Hughes toward economic prob
lems and to warm defense of that gen
tleman and his record. Leading the
opposition was Senator Borah of
Idaho, the chronic opponent of almost
everything anyone else wants. Be,
as well as Carter Glass, Cole Blease,
Brookhart, Blaine, Wheeler and Con
nally of Texas lmsed their arguments
against the appointment mainly on
their alleged belief that Mr. Hughes
was more in sympathy with the oil,
gas, electricity, coal, transportation
and power magnates than with the
people, and that his views, as Borah
said, on matters pertaining to great
combinations might. If reflected in Su
preme court decisions, lead to "great
economic oppression." All of which
was replied to ably by Senator Glenn
of Illinois and others.
The vote for confirmation of Mr.
Hughes was 52 to 20. Voting for con
firmation were 3S Republicans and 14
Democrats, while in the negative were
11 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
SUBMARINES are not to be banned
as weapons of war by the naval
conference in London, but their use
against merchant ships is to be re
stricted and "humanized." Such Is
the assertion of Mr. Stimson and Mr.
MacDonald, heads of the American
and British delegations respectively,
made after the question had been
taken up by the conference in plenary
session. The British proposed that
the submarine be abolished and the
Americans seconded that, but the
French and Japanese objected, as was
expected, and the Italians sat on the
fence. All, however, were willing that
ruthless warfare by submersibles on
merchant vessels should be outlawed.
Premier Tardlec put France in a
commanding position when lie gave
out the French demands. He an
nounced that he was willing td aban
don his government's naval require
ments which were laid down in the
1923 program, on one condition only.
This condition is a mutual guarantee
from the other powers.
By 1936, the French memorandum
says, the French navy will comprise
a total tonnage of 724,479 tons. This
approximates the sea strength of
Japan, who proposes 757,070 tons as
her proportion, and swamps Italy, who
suggests a figure in the neighborhood
j of 400,000 tons as her needs. The
' French strength would approximate
the British and American strength In
a ratio of 3-2.
| The Japanese delegation on Thurs
! day made public its position, stating
that Japan is ready to assent to a
holiday in battleship construction un
til 1936, which also is favored by the
i Americans and the British; that Japan
Is willing that the tonnage of battle
ships be reduced to 25,000 tons and i
| the maximum caliber of guns to 14 i
| inches.
PRESIDENT HOOVEIt. with Mr*. !
Hoover, Justice and Mrs. Harlan I
I S. Stone and a few others, spent a de- I
lightful week fishing at Long Key, I
Fla. All of them made good catches !
and Mr. Hoover and Mr. and Mrs. j
Stone each captured a big sailfish.
WILLIAM HOWARD* TAFTS |
steady progress toward recovery
last week was surprising to his phy- j
sicians, though they insisted he was
still a very sick man. He had over
come his restlessness at night and the j
sleep he obtained was so helpful that
he was able to leave his bed and move !
about without assistance.
I^ING ALFONSO of Spain has ex
tended amnesty to all those whom
De Rivera exiled and taken other
steps to please the people, bnt the ,
republican sentiment in his country
Is growing alarmingly. Anti-monarch
ists who returned from foreign lands
nt once resumed their agitation and
threats against the throne and its oc
cupant are made openly. At a cele
bration of the anniversary of the
sbort-llved republic of 1873 the at
tacks on Alfonso were savage. One
of the speakers declared: "There are
only two roads open to the Bourbons.
One leads to the frontier and the
other to the scaffold." The police
were ordered by Premier Berenguer
not to disturb this and similar meet
ings, though street demonstrations
were barred. Count Romanones, for- 1
mer premier and leader of the Lib
erals, says the only way to save the
monarchy in Spain is to establish a
constitutional government modeled
after that of England.
FREDERIC M. SACKETT, the new
* American ambassador to Germany,
presented his credentials to President
Von Hindenburg and was most cor- {
dlally received. In his address Mr. ?
Sackett expressed his admiration for '
the president as the living embodiment
of German love for the fatherland. He
then praised the energy and deter
mination with which the German peo
ple are facing poet-wnr problems, and
expressed the hope that the two great
republics would be able to labor to
gether for peace in years to come.
TEN million dollars will be ad
vanced, It was announced by the
federal farm board, to the new Grain
Stabilization corporation, organised In .
Chicago recently by grain co-operative .
associations. Id an effort to check the :
decline in wheat prices.
The new corporation, the first of Its
kind created and financed under the
terms of the marketing law enacted
seven months ago, will be empowered
to purchase and store such quantities
of wheat as may be necessary to con- j
trol the surplus and stabilize the mar- !
ket. It was incorporated In Dover, i
Del.
I& HIS. Wasters Newspaper Colon.)
5 NOT NEED f
I GREGORY'S ?
I PICTURE I
<? by D. J. W&Uh.)
GREGORY placed his tray on the
cafeteria table and arranged
the dishes. He thought bitter
ly of the dinners he had eaten
with Helen at that table. Not a fash
ionable restaurant, yet It served food
that was extremely satisfying, remind
ing them of the meals in the small
town from which they had come. There
was the same baked ham, full quarter
cuts of pumpkin and mince pie, and
coffee piping hot.
Gregory sighed as he tasted his to
mato soup. Never, he thought sadly,
would he face Helen and hear her
comments on the happenings of the
week. He recalled the quarrel, which
hud terminated their meetings. He
realized that it had been largely his
own fault but he was too proud to
attempt a reconciliation.
"If she wants to make up, let her
say so," he reflected.
His soup grew cold as he tried to
concentrate upon the Sunday paper.
At last he pushed away both the pa
per and the soup and reached for his
roast. How different the meat looked
from that which Helen had comment
ed on the week before.
"This roast is Just like Aunt Tildy
cooks," she had said.
Gregory pushed his plate away, his
appetite gone. From his table near
the rear he looked toward the street
and debated whether to go into the
storm, raging with winter fury. It
seemed foolish to let a mere woman
take away his appetite. Suddenly, he
sat up as if an electric current had
passed through his body. Four tables
away was a woman he recognized.
There was no one else who could wear
*lia? Kino I.or n-l?k ??>?? ulr Vaa It
was Helen *
She. too, seemed without appetite.
Her knife and fork lay unused beside
her and she looked into the street.
Her back was toward Gregory and lie
could not see her face. He wondered
if she felt as he did.
A form passed and repassed the
street door, that of a man wrapped
in a worn orercoat. Its collar turned
up to keep out the ley, snowladen
wind. The man's face was covered
w?h a stubble of beard, the growth
of at least a week. His cheeks were
emaciated from lack of food. Greg
ory did not look at him. He knew
that he was passing and repassing hut
Ills thoughts did not go beyond the
fourth table. He did not notice that
the man looked hungrily at the food
displayed In the window and once or
twice moved as if to enter.
Gregory almost forgot his resolution
not to attempt a reconciliation as he
watched Helen, so attractive, so charm
ing! Although her oack was to him,
lie could picture her eyes, so beau
tiful, so tender! It is strange that
he did not think of his last glimpre
of them. Th?y had been far from
tender then. Hut he remembered only
more pleasant days when they had
reminded him of violets or June skies.
The woman arose and started to
ward the door. Gregory unthinkingly
moved to follow, hut remembered him
self before carrying out the Instinctive
action. Helen opened the door but.
instead of going outside, she beckoned
toward the form moving back and
forth there. The man obeyed her sum
mons eagerly. Gregory could not hear
their words but, a moment later, Helen
led him to the counter and told him
to fill a trapr.
Til pay for It," Gregory heard her
tell the cashier before returning to
her table.
Later, the cashier presented a check
and she counted out several coins. The
object of her charity sot at a table
near Gregory, who watched him. fas
cinated. lie ate soup eageriy and aud
ibly and fixed his eyes eagerly un the
meat and potatoes to follow.
"Evidently hasn't had a quarrel with
his sweetheart!' Gregory thought,
taking a sip from his lukewarm coffee
lie finally gave up the task of try
ing to eat. His neighbor had emptied
his tray and was resting In his chair,
as emaciated as ever, but his fam
ished look gone. Gregory saw Helen
coming in his direction. His heart
beat foolishly as he wondered If she
would ask forgiveness. But she paused
at the next table.
"Was everything all right?" she
asked the mar.
"Great," he answered. "And thank
you. It's been months since I've had
a meal like this."
"That's all right," Helen said, hast
ily. "I Just thought that yon must
be hungry."
As she was about to turn away, she
saw Gregory. Her eyes flashed and,
tossing her head, she went toward the
door. The tramp, with not a crumb
left, followed. Gregory, realizing the
Impossibility of eating, trailed behind.
Outside, Gregory turned up bis fur
collar. Although It was only midaft
emoon, the atmosphere was gray and
murky. He looked about to see what
had become of Helen. Her form was
almost indistinguishable through the
thick curtain of snowtlakes. Beside
her was the man she had fed. wav
ing his hands as If excited. Gregory
did not like the looks of It and fol
lowed. They turned at the corner and
he broke Into a run. They were not
more than twenty feet away when ho
reached the turn. They had paused
and were talking.
"Come on now." the man said. "Gim
me a dollar. You must have sotno
dough. You wouldn't 've bought my
dinner If it'd took your last cent. No
body ain't goln* to go broke buyln' u
bum a meal."
"But I say I've no more money,"
Helen protested. "Please go away.
I've done all I can."
The tramp looked quickly about. No
one was in sight. Gregory had stepped
into a doorway. The tramp threw
out his hand and grasped Helen's
handbag.
"Let go." he commanded.
"Oh, no, no!" she screamed.
"Thought you didn't have any
money," he grinned.
Gregory stepped out and laid a hand
on the tramp's shoulder.
"Quit that," he ordered. "What are
you doing? Some man you are, trying
to rob a woman who's Just given you 1
the first square meal you've had In
months."
The tramp gave the handbag a Jerk.
Its handle broke and he was free to
fly. Gregory started to follow but the
robber turned the corner and had dis
appeared when Gregory reached it. He
returned to Helen.
"Hope you didn't have much money,"
he said.
"None at all." she answered, her eyes
shining into his, "only your picture and i
I don't need it now that you've come
back!"
"Helen!" he cried, taking her into ?
his arms.
They stood alone on the snow-swjpt
street, the chill wind striking them,
but only summer* warmth In their
hearts.
Founder of Jesuit Order
Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of
the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, was
born in 1491 of a noble bouse at the ,
castle of Loyola. Spain. He was a sol- '
dler, and desperately wounded in the !
war with France, and during his con- .
valescence determined to become a
"knight of Christ." He reported divine I
visions and commissions, and after
much hardship succeeded 9 founding '
an order which devoted itself to the
extension of the faith, particularly un
dertaking missionary work. This Is one
of the most powerful of the Homan
Catholic religious organizations.
I Only One Requirement
Joe. a wiry little Trench Canadian,
who farms a small tract In Ludlow,
drove his wagon Into a Ludlow paint
shop recently and announced to the
boss:
"I want this wa-gone she's be paint
red!" ?
?'All right. Joe," answered the paint
er. "And what color do you want the
wheels?"
Joe scratched his head a moment In
thought, an I then shrugging his shoul
ders. eloquently replied: "Oh, I donn
care. Any color so long as she's red.'*
Springfield L'nlon.
Early Bird*
The nightingale, favorite songster
of the British isles, confines hi* activ
ities to the southeastern English coun
ties bordering on the channel. /The
annual pilgrimage of the British Km
pire Naturalists' association to *he
Surrey downs Is atten<led by visitor*
from the I'nlted States, Canada. New
Zealand. Australia. Africa and India,
who come to this favorite nesting
place of the nightingale In the hour*
of darkness Just to listen to tin* ex
quisite beauty of the bird's song.
Considerate Suicide
An unusual method of committing
suicide was used by a man at Iiuryos.
Spain. He attaches] a stone to a Ions
copper wire and went out to find a
high tension supply cable. He then
wound the other end of the wire round
his arm and threw the stone over the
cable. He was found dead from
electrocution with a note pinned to
his hat warning others that they
risked death If they touched him be
fore the current was cut off.
Eel's Second "Heart"
The eei has ill the tall a lymphatic
sinus?that Is an Inclosed open space
tilled with lymph. The slnns pulsates
and Is, therefore, sometimes called the
caudal heart. The sinus, however. Is
a simple structure and does not haTe
the complex mechanism of a true
heart.
Baby's Good Lack
A haby today, born Into a reason
ably intelligent family, ctands a far
better chance of developing Into a
healthy, happy and more reasonable
human being than did bis ancestors.?
The Country Home.
\PRIBILOF |
ISLANDS,
Seal* on One of the Pribilof Wand*.
. ? ? . . _ _
irrfp?rvi oy ia? vwniiiiuw
Society. ar**fchttlf D. C>
AMERICA'S farthest northwest
and Asia's farthest northeast
mark the icy region where air- i j
planes cf the United States
and Soviet Russia have been seeking
to find Ueot. Ben Eielsoa who disap
peared while trying to carry aid by
air to a marooned ship. The region
In which search was made embraces
Bering strait, a portion of the Arctic
sea to the north, and Bering sea to
the south.
While whaling ships pass through
these waters at intervals, much of the
region Is far from being a frequented
one. Bess than 300 years ago Bering
strait had not been crossed by a boat
with a civilized navigator in command. I
but since then, whalers, Arctic explor- I
ers, and adventurers have passed
through and across the strait.
About twenty years after the PR- 1
griins landed ??n Plymouth Rock, two
Russian expeditions sailed along the
western bank of Bering strait without
seeing the American side. Later a
trading station was established on the
Russian bank, but it was nearly a cen
tury later that Alaska was explored
from the west.
Rumors were current at the Russian
trading station that there was an is
land in the strait, bidden by the fug
that envelopes the region, and that
America lay to the east. - The -island**
proved to be two Islands now known
as Diomedes. Today one of the I ?i
otuedes belougs to Russia, the other to
the United States; for the Internation
al boundary line runs between them.
They ore inhabited by F-skimos who
make their living chiefly as -go fce
j tweens" for American and Russian 1
traders.
Nim?H for Vit<i? R*rinn
Bering strait and Bering sea rake
their names from Vitqs Bering, a Dan- I
ish navigator who enlisted in the Ru*- |
sian navj in 1703. refer the Great i
ordered hfm to the east coa?t of Si
beria In 1723. He went overland to
Okhotsk and then to Kamchatka
where he built a ship for his exploru- '
tions. He sailed up the Bering sea
coast but America was hidden in the
fog. On a subsequent voyage, in 1741.
he saw the American continent f.-r the
first time. On his way back to Si
beria. Bering's ship was wrecked on
what is now known as Bering island
in the Commander group. Sailor* who
reached the mainland carried the story
of the fur trade possibilities in Alaska !
and soon Russian trappers and traders
moved to the new continent.
If the international boundary itae
continued north and south as it does
through the strait, half of the Aleu- j
tlans would belong to Russia. But at !
the south end of the strait it veers
south west ward, missing the western
end of the Aleutian chain by about j
150 miles.
The Commander Islands form the
only group on the Russian side of the
line while the United States acquire*!
the St. Lawrence. St. Matthew. Nuni
vak and the (TibUof Islands when
Seward paid Russia $7,000,000 for the
| famous "Seward Ice Box." as Alaska
| was called by the critic* of the pur
chase.
Perhaps the most important and best
known of the American Islands are the
Pribilofs, where the United States bu
reau of fisheries maintains a sealing
station and fox ranch. The Pribilofs
consists of 3 islands, lying in the Ber
ing sea. about 200 miles north of the
Aleutian chain. St. Pauls and St.
I Georges Islands, the largest and only
ones of the group that are inhabited,
ure each slightly more than SO square
miles in area. The other three are
merely Jutting rocks with a combined
area no larger than a fair-sized east
ern fann.
Seals on the Pribilofs.
The islands are bleak and desolate.
Their barren, volcanic peaks and
rocky shore# are hostile to vegetation.
ia try? wtnrer ?ney are wtrn
ice and snow. an?i whipped by the
frigid Arctic gales, wblle during the
raranw mouths. that fog that envel
opes rhe whole area is so dense that
me sun's rays rarely touch the earth.
As a result the riimare is uncomfort
able, cold and damp. Toward iiitunm
the wind clears the atmosphere and
here and there grass and on-sees make
the best of the short fogies* and are
less season. Only a few years agi*.
the inhabitants of the islands were en
tirely isolated from the rest of tfn?
world f>r six months of rhe year, but
the radio has changed that eondirie*
When Ihrihilof. the Russian navi
gator, where name the islamls bear,
landed there in I7M*5. after three years'
search for the breeding j_i nee i* of the
seals ?bet frequented the north Pa
cific and Bering seas waters, he focal
no human life, but mrlliims of seal*.
He was followed by Russians and later
by natives from *he Aleutian island*.
Russians and a few American* make
up the present population, moat ?f
whom are connected with rhe govern
ment sealing and fox raising n?his
tries.
While seals are sometimes known as
sea bears, their acmes peculiarly fol
low those of cattle and dog* am! even
human beings. The adult male is
called a "bull** and the female, ft
"cow." Instead of referring either f??
bears or cattle by calling the baby
seals "cubs" or "calves." man call*
them "pups." The young male* fare
better by annexing a name of human
origin?ha cheiors.
The more rocky the shore, the more
the seals like it during the breeiflac
seasons, for the hareuis (seal families!
forsake the few smooth spots on the
Islands and establish their rookeries
(hreediag-?plftccs) f-*g the broken
rocks along rhe shore, or on the side*
of rocky hills. Frimi the rim the rook
eries appear to the eve a* eoilectiofts
of black ?pl. tcfaes cootintiftB* nieving^
while to the ear comes a Meed of load
grunts and bark* Each of these
spMcfces represents * harem of 30 er
CO cows and. perhaps, twice as aianr
pups, which are protected by a ball.
As odd weather appr?>ache* rhe
cows and newborn pups Leave the be
lauds and go simrh. followed shortly
afterward by the bulls. They never
touch land until tbeir return to the
Pribilofs in the spring. The two lo
ihree-ut??tfcs'-oi?l pups, who have been
subsisting on milk and hardly know
how to "navigate." are forced to make
their own way without assistance from
the rest of the family. As a result. It
Is estimated that 50 per cent of then*
ilia ).d#npia f* J noTf <p'l?i-n
How the Herds Are Protected.
The seal herds of the Pribiioft de
creased from between loDO.OUO and 4.
OOO.Ott) when the islands were rakes
over by the United Stares in 1S6S. to>
150.0U) in 1011. Although the govens
ment placed restrictions on killing them
on the islands, the loss was largely
due to the killing of cows while they
swam about in the water in the sum
mer. perhaps seeking s?iaid and fish
at the nearest fo*ni source, a hundred
miles south, or during tfce winter while
in the Pacific. The death of a cow in
the winter means the loss of a pup to
be born the following summer, while
a similar killing in the summer would
perhaps be more disastrous, for the
new-born pup left at the rookery would
die of starvation and an unborn pup
would also be lost. Laws and treaties
now protect seals while at sea.
Scientific propagation Is showing its
favorable effect upon the herds annu
ally. Only surplus males are killed
for their pelts. The best furs are tak
en from seats under fire years oId
Those that are to be killed are Sep
tra ted froiu the herd, struck on the
head with a large ctuh. and then
struck through the heart with a knife.
After the killing an expert skinner
can remove the pelt of a seal la tee
or three minutes.