Newspapers / The Alamance gleaner. / March 4, 1937, edition 1 / Page 1
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
*mgam The Alamance gleaner Vol. LXIII GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1937 No. 4 News Review of Current Events the World Over Administration's Billion Dollar Housing Bill Introduced ? Epidemic of Sit-Down Strikes ? Townsend Convicted of Contempt of House. By EDWARD W. PICKARD <S> Western Newspaper Union. VENATOR ROBERT P. WAGNER ^ of New York and Representative Henry B. Steagall of Alabama intro duced simultaneously in the senate Sen. Warner and house the ad ministration bill set ting up a program for the construction of homes lor "fami lies of low income." Under the measure the government may lend to state or local housing authorities $1,000,000,000, from July 1, 1937, to July 1, 1941, the money for this nurnose to be raised by bond issues and the loans to be supervised by a new department, the United States Hous ing authority. To supplement the loans congress' is asked to appropri ate $50,000,000 to be paid in out right grants. The loans are to bear interest at not less than the going federal rate and are to be payable over such a period, not to exceed 60 years, as the authority may de termine. Competition with private industry is guarded against, according to the authors, "by insuring that housing projects shall be at all times avail able only to families who are in the low income groups." ^ The four year program calls for the construction of 375,000 family dwelling units at an average cost of $4,000 a unit. Wagner and Steagall insisted that the bill called for "de centralization." "All the direction, planning, and management in connection with publicly assisted housing projects are to be vested in local authorities, springing from the initiative of the people in the communities con cerned," they stated. "The federal government will merely extend its financial aid through the medium of these agencies. The only exception to the strictly decentralized admin istration is that the federal govern ment may set up a few demonstra tive projects in order that local areas without adequate instrumen talities 6f their own may benefit by an experience in low rent housing." LJ AVTNG virtually countenanced the sit-down strike in the case of the General Motors controversy, the administration found itself em barrassed by that favorite ma neuver of John Lewis' Committee for Industrial Organization. Out in Monica, Calif., about 200 employees of the Douglas Air craft corporation went on strike and "sat down" in the big plant, com pletely stopping work on $24,000,000 worth of airplanes the company is building for the government. The men defied a trespass warning and an order to evacuate the plant sent them by the police, and Mr. Doug las refused to negotiate with the union until the strikers got out of the buildings. The situation was complicated by a quarrel over worker representation between the Automobile Workers' union, a C. I. O. group, and the Machinists' union, allied with the A. F. of L. Finally the strikers were indicted for conspiring to violate two old California laws against forcible en try and trespassing, and when 300 armed deputies appeared at the plant, they surrendered and were taken to Los Angeles for arraign ment. Another big government job was halted for a time by a sit-down strike of employees of the Electric Boat company at Groton, Conn., which is building submarines for the navy. There, however, the local and state police soon evicted the trespassers and arrested them, and the rest of the employees, a large majority, resumed work. Speaking "not as an officer of the administration," Secretary of Com merce Daniel C. Roper said that any sit-down strike "that under takes to take over private proper ty is a very serious and fundamen tal thing and in my opinion will not be long endured by the courts." There was almost an epidemic of strikes throughout the country, many of them of the sit-down vari ety. Some were settled in short order but others are still on. OPEN warfare by the govern ment on private power inter ests will be started soon if the rec ommendations of President Roose velt to congressional leaders are acted upon favorably. In letters to Vice President Garner and Speaker Bankhead, the President urged that prompt action be taken to provide for the sale of electric power from the $51,000,000 Bonne ville project on the Columbia river in Oregon; and he intimated this might be taken as the forerunner of a national power policy. The rec ommendations were in accord with a report from the committee on na tional power policy and also with the position Mr. Roosevelt took in the controversy with Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, TVA chairman, who fa vored co-operation with existing power companies and consideration for their investment. Here is what the President pro posed: 1. ? That not less than 50 per cent of the power generated at Bonne ville be reserved for sale to public authorities, such as states, districts, counties, municipalities and other sub-divisions and to co-operative as sociations of citizens. 2. ? That the government construct it;, own transmission lines, sub-sta tions and other facilities for trans porting power so as to make the government project independent of existing utility companies. 3. ? That the federal government control the re-sale rates to consum ers through regulation by the fed eral power commission. 4. ? That the power be sold at rates low enough to promote the widest use of electrical energy, par ticularly to domestic and rural consumers. These rates, the Presi dent insisted, should be fixed with relation to only that part of the to tal $51,000,000 Bonneville investment that the government saw fit to charge to power generation. 5. ? That the federal agency ad ministering the project be author ized to acquire by eminent domain if need be, land, franchises, exist ing transmission lines. r\R. FRANCIS E. TOWNSEND, ^ the elderly Californian who de vised the old age pension plan bearing his name, was found guilty ^ _ of contempt of the Dr.Townsend house of representa tives because he re fused to testify be fore a house com mittee that was in vestigating his scheme last spring and "took a walk" out of the commit tee room. The ver dict, rendered by a jury in the District of Columbia court, made the doctor li able to a sentence of one to twelve years in jail or a fine of from $100 to $1,000, or both. Judge Peyton Gordon deferred sentence until he could pass on a motion for a new trial. Townsend seemed rather to wel come the verdict, saying he had expected it. "Lord bless you, I'll be all the more active," he said when asked what effect a convic tion would have on his movement. "I think it will be the general opin ion that I have been the victim of an injustice. Our organization will be spurred to greater efforts." FOLLOWING the example set by 1 the five operating railway broth erhoods?engineers, firemen, con ductors, trainmen and switchmen ? the sixteen non-operating brother hoods, with a membership of 800, 000, have voted to demand wage in creases averaging 30 cents an hour. This action was taken at a meeting in Chicago of the general chair men of the brotherhoods. Besides the pay increase, the men ask the guarantee of full time employment for all regularly assigned workers and two-thirds time for "standby" employees. The non-operating brotherhoods embrace the clerks, telegraphers, carmen, shop laborers, machinists, blacksmiths, dispatchers, boiler makers, drop forgers, sheet metal workers, electrical workers, freight handlers, express and station em ployees, maintenance of way men, signal men and sleeping car con ductors. PLANS for the complete blockade of Spain by the other European powers, in order to starve out the civil war, met with difficulties ow ing to the bringing up of points in volving the national honor of France and Russia. The French made certain objections to the land patrol and the Russians to the sea patroL TN ORDER to curb "unwarranted *? speculation" by members, all securities exchanges are asked to adopt certain regulations suggested by the securities and exchange com mission. The proposed rules would put exchange members on the same trading basis as the general pub lic. They would have to put up the 55 per cent margin required of other securities purchasers, and would be required to do this by 5 p. in. of the day of purchases. In announcing the commission's step, Chairman James M. Landis told reporters: "This procedure is in accordance with a plan of the commission to give the exchanges the opportunity to regulate the trading activities of their own members. This course, which has been adopted by thjf com mission on previous occasions, will allow greater flexibility in the ad ministration of the rules and will permit minor adaptations to the va rious exigencies of individual ex changes. While the responsibility for the enforcement of these rules will thus lie with the exchanges, the commission will observe both their enforcement and their ef fectiveness." pHAIRMAN HENRY F. ASHURST ^ of Arizona gathered together the members of his judiciary com mittee and began formal consider ?1 1? Sen. Ashnrst ation of President Roosevelt's proposi tion for federal ju diciary reform, in cluding the packing of the Supreme court. It was under stood the committee would arrange for public hearings at which opponents and proponents of the plan would be privileged to speak their minds. Not long before, Mr. Ashurst and several other senators were called to the White House to discuss the strategy of the fight the administration faces. The Arizona senator and Majority Leader Joe Robinson of Arkansas, who was among the conferees, only recently were vociferous in declaring a con stitutional amendment was the only proper way to accomplish the Pres ident's purpose. But now they are obediently supporting the admini istration measure. Senators Frazier of North Dakota, Bone of Washington and Nye of North Dakota also were summoned j to the White House, but what they ! heard there did not change their stand against the President's plan. Mr. Nye, indeed, soon after de livered a radio address against it. At this writing 42 senators have declared against the bill; 32 are on record for it, and the rest have not committed themselves. The ad ministration leaders expected to pick up at least 12 from the non committal group, and claimed more. JOHN G. WIN ANT, who as chair man of the social security board had a lot of trouble with certain senators over patronage and whose reappointment to membership on the board had not been confirmed by the senate, sent his res ignation to the President. Mr. Roos evelt said Mr. Win ant was retiring to attend to pressing private business and would be back in the federal service be fore very long. The former governor of Arthur J. Altmeyer New Hampshire has been considered a logical candidate for the post of secretary of social welfare if that department is created by congress. Succeeding Mr. Win ant as chair man is Arthur J. Altmeyer, already a member of the board. To fill the vacancy in the membership the President nominated Murray W. Latimer of New York. Q FFERING to make peace with ^ the Chinese communists against whom it has waged war for ten years, the National government at Nanking announced the terms on which those reds would be allowed participation in national affairs. The Kuomintang's demands are: Aboli tion of the communist army and its incorporation in the National gov ernment forces; dissolution of the Chinese communist state and its unification with the central govern ment; cessation of red propaganda opposed to Kuomintang principles, and stoppage of the class struggle which divides society into antagonis tic classes and invites mutual de struction. That the Nanking government is steadily growing stronger is made evident in the more conciliatory at titude adopted lately by Japan. A . spokesman for Hayashi's new cab inet in Tokio indicated Japan was willing to abate its demands for simultaneous settlement of all pend ing Sino-Japanese incidents and negotiate separate settlements for each. Strange " Charging Bull " Monument in Berlin This colossal figure of a charging bull rests In a square near the Tempelhol airport, Berlin, Germany. It is built of hundreds of foundation stones taken from demolished houses, when they had been rejected by house wreckers. Bedtime Story for Children By THORNTON W. BURGESS BILLY MINK MAKES A DISCOVERS \A7 HEN Billy Mink slipped *' through the hole under the floor of the shed at the back of the farmer's house, his one thought was to find a comfortable plaoe for a nap. He found it without any trouble.* You know Billy is not fussy and he can dtirl up and sleep al most anywhere. He had stuffed him self so with that fish he had found just outside of the hole that he felt too lazy to explore. So he picked out the first comfortable looking place he came to and there curled up for a nap. When Billy awoke he couldn't first remember where he was. Then he recalled the fish and how he had slipped in under the shed floor. "Now I am here, I may as well find out all about this place," thought Billy and got to his feet. He yawned and stretched and then began to run around underneath the floor of the shed, using his nose as he always does. In no time at all a familiar scent tickled his nose. "Ah, ha!" exclaimed Billy Mink. "So this is where those rats came when they left the big barn I I'm not hungry, but I cei tainly would enjoy a good hunt. I haven't hunted anything bigger than a mouse for ever so long." Away Billy raced with his nose to the ground, following the scent of a rat. It didn't take him long to find a nest under the shed floor. But there was no one in that nest. The rat smell was very strong, and Billy knew that rats had been there only a short time before. The fact is, the rats who owned that nest had discovered Billy Mink and had promptly moved into the house. Billy eagerly followed the trail. It led him to the hole which led in between the walls of the house. Without hesitating a second, Billy popped through, following that Chosen Beauty Queen Mitzie Greene, varsity baseball player with hair on hi* chest and freckles on his hands, was elected beauty Queen of Miami university at Oxford, Ohio, by students who turned down twenty-flve girl candi dates. Green promptly announced his "abdication," and declared his picture would go into the college yearbook section reserved for the beautiful girl* of the campus over hi* "<UaH bodr." scent. It was a queer place. He bad never been in such a place before. But Billy knew that where a rat could go he could go, and so he followed, climbing up between the walls of the house until at last be reached the attic. He could bear the scampering of many feet, and he could hear the squeaks of fright, so he knew that the rats knew he was there. Once in the attic Billy found the rat scent everywhere. It was useless to try to follow with his nose because the rats had crossed and recrossed each other's paths so often that the trail was all mixed up. But if Billy couldn't trust to his nose he could trust to his ears. The sound of scampering feet and the frightened squeaks told him where the rats were. His eyes blazed with the eager light of the hunter, and without even a glance at all the "Jut about this time each rear," says Reno Rltxi, "the Jane brides And themselves poor enough to be happy or rich enough to get a divorce." e B?U SyodicaU.? WNU S?rvlc?. queer things in that attic, things such as he bad never seen before, Billy kept on after those rats. CT W Bowaa ? WNU Barrio*. FlrSt Aid Roger B. Whitman to the Ailing House BOUSES WITHOUT CELLARS pOR economy in construction, it 1 is becoming the custom to build small houses without cellars. One method is to dig trenches (or the foundation walls and their footings, and to fill the space between with a concrete slab. For small houses that are light in weight, foundations are not necessary. The slab is some feet larger than the house all around, with the house walls resting on it. With this construction, the slab should have steel reinforce ment. With proper methods either plan is satisfactory, and reduces the cost of the house by about 15 per cent? that being the usual rela tion of the cost of a finished cellar to that of the house. The concrete slab should be waterproof, and should be insulated to prevent the chilling of the finished floor. With foundation walls, the concrete slab should be so firmly bonded to them that cracks cannot develop. One excellent method of bonding is to set reinforcing strips into the walls at the proper level, so that when the concrete slab is poured, it will be rigidly connected to the walls. The earth should be excavated for eight inches or more, and re placed with cinders, tightly packed and leveled. This will provide ? good degree of insulation. For waterproofing, the cinders should be covered with heavy waterproof felt. Adjoining sheets should be over lapped by three inches, and the ends and edges should be carried up the inside of the foundation wall to above the level of the finished floor. The concrete is poured on top. Plenty of time should be al lowed for the thorough drying of the concrete before the further finishing of the floor. Even with this waterproofing of the floor, it will be unsafe to lay a wood floor in direct contact with it, because of possible rotting. When the concrete has dried out, it should be painted with a thick layer at liquid asphalt While this is still soft, wood flooring is laid on it, and will bacom* firmly bound to the coo crete. This method of laying floor ing on concrete is coming into com mon use, and has proved very satis factory. The layer of asphalt under the wood floor gives springiness. A special form of asphalt known as mastic is made for this parti cular purpose. Linoleum can be laid on the concrete with the same mastic. Asphalt or rubber tiles can also be used. In laying a floor slab, provision must be made for water and sewer pipes. Openings should be left around them, so that in the event of trouble they can be reached without breaking into the slab. ? By Roger B. Whitaaa WNu Service. TBI LANGUAGE m OF TOUR HAND A By Leicester K. Davis ? Public Ledser. tea. r\ Tbt Jtdoui Thumb JEALOUSY has well been termed a "green-eyed" monster." It is a temperamental defect which, when permitted to prey upon the imag inations of those whose love na tures are strongly developed, is sure to cause untold yet needless unhappiness. You will And its indi cations present in many of the hands you analyze. The Thorn b at Jealoosy, Jealousy uprwiu itself In varied forms. It may be at the floating * - ........ BlREUl phrases By DOUGLAS MALLOCH U OW strange the language we r? 1 1 peat. Passed on as we receive it. She said she turned into a street; I hardly could believe it. When someone says he took a train I wonder how he hid it. You'd think the railroad would com plain, Arrest him if he did it. He phoned he'd give the girl a ring; He surely didn't mean it. He never sent or brought ? thing. At least she hasn't seen it. "I'll make myself a piece of toast," She said, and never knew it Waa really something one could boast. So very (ew can do it. "Just push me ov*r Fido's tin, I'll put some food inside it." But how astonished she'd have been If anyone had tried it How strange the phrases we em ploy At divers times and places ? Yes, even tell a girl and boy To go wash off their faces. CDwil" ill IHirh -WNU Scrrlea. Lace for Daytime A sure figure-flatterer is this tail ored jacket dress of brocord lace in a large four petal effect with nubby dots spread throughout the design. The dress is plain, with short sleeves, buttoning at the neck with large ball buttons in contrast ing color to match the patent leath er belt. It has a straight loose jacket with ample pockets and long plain sleeves. It "la one of the stylish washables. Fans Fans made of peacocks' feathers were used in China in 3000 B. C., and there is one in the Cairo mu seum 4,000 years old. The invention was brought from China to Europe by Portuguese traders in the Seven teenth century, and Paris was long the centre of fan-making. In 1685 King Louis XTV expelled all his Protestant subjects and some of them brought the art over to Eng land. The Fanmakers' company of London dates from 1709. kind which merely momentarily dis turbs one's mind and is quickly put to rout. Or it may require long and sound reason before iti insis tent and devastating influence can be dispelled. Or it may cverride reason and will altogether. Ungoverned jealousy is most like ly to be indicated by the thumb in which the first, or nail, joint bends easily under pressure toward the wrist, and where the nail tip is broad, untapered and heavily fleshed to the point of being "clubbed." The first joint of such ? thumb is often shorter than the middle joint, although both may be of even lengths, in which case both sec tions give the impression of being shorter than normal. Or, again, the - middle joint may be abnormally slender, index of too rapid deduc tions made from faulty facts. The third, or palm, joint will always be found prodigiously over-fleshed, pil lowed and without symmetry. The man or woman with jealousy thus indicated, you may be sure, will find the paths of hL or her affection* often blasted by unhappi nets, perhaps by tragedy.
March 4, 1937, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75