The Alamance Gleaner
Vol. LXIV ; GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1938
No. 25
Vcir# Review of Current Events
CHARGES FILM MONOPOLY
Government Sues Big Movie Producing Companies
and Officers to Break Control
Vincent Meyer, farmer of Johnson county, Kansas, received the first
crop insurance policy issued by the Federal Crop Insurance corporation.
Left to right in the picture above are: Donald Meyer, Mrs. Meyer, Rita,
James, Joseph and Vincent Meyer, Roy M. Green of the Washington
bureau of the corporation, and Roy Turner, Johnson county bureau super
intendent.
W. PuikAJul
SUMMARIZES THE WORLD'S WEEK
C Western Newspaper Union.
Film Companies Sued
T TNDERTAKING to break up what
the government alleges is a
great moving picture monopoly. At
torney General Cummings started a
civil anti-trust suit
against 8 major mo
tion picture produc
ing companies, 25
subsidiary or associ
ated companies and
132 officers or direc
tors, in an effort to
divorce production,
distribution and ex
hibition phases of
the cinema industry.
The suit was filed
in the federal dis
trict court for the
Atty. Gen.
Cummings
southern district of New York. Fed
eral Judge Henry W. Goddard
signed an order for the service of
subpoenas on all the defendants, di
recting that each appear before the
court in Neyr York within 20 days
after being served.
The government is seeking an
equity decree, Thurman W. Arnold,
assistant attorney general, an
nounced, requiring the companies to
divest themselves of ownership of
theaters or of production and dis
tribution facilities.
The suit named Paramount Pic
tures, Inc., Loew's Inc., Irving Trust
company, New York, as trustee in
bankruptcy for Radio-Keith-Orphe
um corporation; Warner Brothers
Pictures, Inc., Twentieth Century
Fox Film corporation; Columbia
Pictures corporation; Universal cor
poration; and United Artists corpo
ration.
Mr. Arnold said that allegedly mo
nopolistic power exerted by the de
fendants has a "tendency to drive
independent theaters out of busi
ness or to compel them to sell to the
producer-owned theater chains on
the latter's terms."
3k
7n
First 'Death Clause' Case
A CTING under the utility holding
company act, the federal secu
rities commission began its first ac
tion to simplify a major utility hold
ing company system.
Chairman William O. Douglas an
nounced that a hearing would be
held in Washington August 8 to de
termine what steps the $300,000,000
Utilities Power & Light corporation
should take to limit operations "to
a single integrated public utility sys
tem."
Douglas said the commission's ac
tion was being taken under section
11B of the holding company act ?
the so-called "death sentence" sec
tion.
Russia vs. Japan
COVIET Russia and Japan, quar
reling over a disputed territory
at the junction of Manchukuo, Si
beria and Korea, were openly threat
ening each other. Maxim Litvinov,
Soviet foreign commissar, in confer
ence with Japanese Ambassador
Shigemitzu in Moscow, told the lat
ter that Russian troops would not be
withdrawn from the area in question,
that the territory was a part of Si
beria, and that Japan would be held
responsible for the consequences i 1
the present "calm" there is dis
turbed. The two statesmen used
violent language and the situation
was considered decidedly delicate.
Pick-a-back Flies Sea
\/f ERCURY, the top part of the
i novel British pick-a-back sea
plane, separated from Maia, the
lower and heavier part, about a
thousand feet above Foynes, Ireland,
and then sped across the North At
lantic, making the crossing at mod
erate speed and without mishap.
Passing over Botwood, Newfound
land, the pilot flew on 850 miles fur
ther to Montreal, alighting on the
St. Lawrence. After refueling the
plane completed its flight at New
York.
The flying time from Foynes to
Montreal was 20 hours and 20 min
utes.
Madden Is Accused
T WARREN MADDEN, chairman
of the national labor relations
board, was charged with secretly
conferring in Washington last De
cember with C. I. O. officials con
cerning the Weirton Steel company
hearing at Steubenville, Ohio. The
charges almost broke up a hearing
of the board.
The three members of the board
were considering the appeal of
Clyde A. Armstrong, chief counsel
for the steel company, who was
barred from the Weirton hearing
by Examiner Edward Grandison
Smith.
Attorney E. F. Reed, acting for
Armstrong, made these charges:
That C. I. O. Organizer Kenneth
Coe, active in the Weirton hearing,
went to Washington last December,
conferred secretly with Madden, and
then returned for another confer
ence with Lee Pressman, chief coun
sel of the C. I. O.
That another C. I. O. follower, an
armed constable, served subpoenas
for the labor board, while requests
by Weirton lawyers for subpoenas
were ignored for weeks.
That Donald Wakefield Smith, jun
ior member of the labor board, at
tended the Weirton hearing last No
vember 18 and made disparaging re
marks about Counsel Armstrong
during the taking of evidence.
L
Strike Brings Martial Law
P OVERNOR KRASCHEL of Iowa
declared martial law in New
ton, home of the Maytag Washing
Machine company, whose plant was
kept closed by C. I. O. pickets de
spite efTorts of nearly half the em
ployees to return to work. National
Guardsmen with armored cars and
machine guns occupied the area but
before they got there the two labor
factions had a bloody street battle.
In North Chicago pickets of the
Steel Workers' organizing commit
tee, affiliated with C. I. O., who had
been keeping employees from re
turning to a hardware plant in de
fiance of court orders, were routed
by deputy sheriffs with tear gas.
Charles P. Howard Dies
pHARLES P. HOWARD, president
^ of the International Typograph
ical union and secretary of the C. I.
O., died in his sleep at Colorado
Springs, Colo. He was fifty-eight
years old. Howard was defeated for
re-election in a referendum last May
by C. M. Baker of San Francisco
and would have gone out of office
September 1.
Owen Wister, author of "The Vir
ginian" and other novels, died at
his summer home in North Kingston,
R. I., at the age of seventy-eight
British Monarch* in Paris
IflNG GEORGE VI and Queen
^ Elizabeth of England went to
Paris for a state visit of four days,
and this was regarded as a vitally
important event politically. Appar
ently it was undertaken to let the
dictator countries know that Great
Britain and France would continue
to stand firmly as allies.
Britain's foreign secretary, Via
count Halifax; the French premier,
Edouard Oaladier, and Foreign
Minister Georges Bonnet held po
litical talks to discuss the world
situation during the visit.
To demonstrate the strength
France can lend the common cause
with Great Britain, the French pa
raded 50,000 men and their latest
war machines before George and
President Lebrun. This military
display outdid that put on in Rome
for Hitler, and it was significant that
places in the reviewing stand were
reserved for the German and Ital
ian military attaches. After the re
view the royal visitors were sump
tuously entertained at the Palace of
Versailles.
? * ?
C.I.O. Proposes a Purge
\/f ORE than 40 members of con
gress are marked for C. I. O.
opposition in the fall elections by a
blacklist formulated by John L.
Lewis and given out
by E. L. Oliver, ex
ecutive vice presi
dent of Labor's Non
partisan league, the
political agency of
the Committee for
Industrial Organiza
tion. Oliver said the
opposition to those
named was based
chiefly on their
stand on the wage
hour bill. He indi
John L. Lewis
cated it merely was a coincidence
that almost without exception those
marked for defeat also fought Mr.
Roosevelt's government reorganiza
tion and Supreme court packing
bills.
Included in the Lewis blacklist
are Senators Tydings of Maryland,
Adams of Colorado and Lonergan
of Connecticut.
? * ?
Wheat Allotment
U R. TOLLEY, AAA adminlatra
tor, announced a national
wheat allotment for fall and spring
planting of not more than 59,000,000
acres ? the mini
mum allowable un
der the act.
The action, which
came as the result
of the 967,000,000
bushel yield forecast
for this year on a
seeded acreage of
80,000,000, came in
the form of an
order signed by
M. L. Wilson, acting
secretary of agricul
ture.
B. R. Toller
State allotments for 1939 com
pared with 1938 and 1928-'37 average
acreage of wheat land in the major
grain producing states include:
Pennsylvania, 772,659 acres, com
pared with 1,093,000 in 1928 and
1,039,076 for the 1928-'37 period; Ok
lahoma, 3,783,954 ; 5,959,000 and
5,088,684; Texas, 3,684,863 ; 5,315,000
and 4,955,426.
Illinois, 1,789,192 ; 2,074,000, and
2,406,116; Indiana, 1,481,810; 2,029,
000 and 1,992,747; Iowa, 389,177 ; 686,
000 and 523,367; Michigan, 669,954;
917,000 and 900,958; Minnesota, 1,
418,702; 2,582,000 and 1,907,878; Mis
souri, 1,705,277; 2,717,000 and 2,293,
266; Nebraska, 3,049,982 ; 5,041,000
and 4,101,634; Ohio, 1,654,847 ; 2,415,
000 and 2,225,448; South Dakota, 2,
943,821; 4,277,000 and 3,958,867; Wis
consin, 90,203; 128,000 and 121,306.
California, 626,306 ; 815,000 and
842,260; Colorado, 1,314,022; 1,846,
000 and 1,767,104; Idaho, 895,549; 1,
253,000 and 1,204,340; Kansas, 11,
067,349; 17,453,000 and 14,883,436;
Montana, 3,414,642 ; 4,918,000 and 4,
592,030; North Dakota, 8,300,488; 10,
634,000 and 11,162,545; Oregon, 768,
303; 1,013,000 and 1,033,218; Wash
ington, 1,681,159 ; 2,295,000 and 2,260,
832.
'Sneak' Flight Over Ocean
]~)OUGLAS P. CORRIGAN, a
young airplane motor expert
from California, couldn't get per
mission from the air commerce bu
reau to fly across the Atlantic, so
he started off secretly from Floyd
Bennett field, New York, and land
ed at Baldonnel, Ireland, 28 hour*
and 13 minutes later.
The remarkable feature of the
flight was that it was made in a
rickety old single-motored Curtisi
Robin plane that was not equipped
with navigation instruments, radio
or the ordinary safety devices. Cor
rigan did not even carry a para
chute.
Having neither flight penrdt, land
ing papers nor passport, Corrigan
laughingly declared in Dublin that
he had intended to fly back to Cali
fornia but set his magnetic compass
wrong and flew in the opposite di
rection. His was the sixth west-east
solo flight across the Atlantic.
What's Your
HOBBY?
Everybody's Doing lit The Banker Has a Toy
Railroad, the Botcher is a Camera Fan, and
the Baker Collects Stamps I
By JOSEPH W. LaBINE
How do you spend your spare time? Or do you waste it?
There's a difference, you see. It's easy to stand on a street
corner and watch the world go by, but you're apt to crawl into
bed that night feeling like a fifth wheel on the buggy that makes
this world go 'round.
How to utilize spare time is a problem that vexed mankind
long before bored monarchs snapped their pudgy fingers to
make the pipers play.
Today, in a world of shorter working hours and increased
social consciousness, intelligent use of our "loafing" hours is a
serious matter. But don t take<
it seriously; instead, why not
find a hobby?
In every walk of life these,
days you're apt to meet
stapip collectors, candid cam
era fans and miniature rail
road builders. The garage
mechanic who tunes up your
motor ^probably tinkers with
, short-wave radio between the
evening meal and bedtime. A
United States Supreme court
justice may surreptitiously
read detective stories when no
body's looking, and your doctor
might collect rare old books.
ance. It'* a hobby that demand*
use of the jigaaw and a lot a* pa
tience. In the end he develop* a
unique skill that may serve him in
good stead should the electrical
engineering profession fail him.
That, incidentally, is an important
feature of hobbies. More than one
amateur tinkerer has turned his avo
cation into a money-making busi
ness. In Massachusetts a woman
who grew up with a liking for tink
ering over old, broken-down bicy
cles has now made that her busi
ness. And a good many years ago
the Wright brothers spent their
spare time playing with gliders in
a deserted spot called Kitty Hawk,
N. C. Look what happened to them!
"Cream on Your Porridge."
It's reached a stage where the
curious thing to look for is not peo
ple who have hobbies, but those who
don't. Someone has called it a way
to "put cream on your porridge,"
which means that a not-too-serious
hobby will add zest to the most
humdrum life. Nor need your work
a-day job be humdrum; Henry Ford,
one of America's busiest industrial
magnates, devotes his spare time
to building the famous Greenfield
village at Dearborn, ,*fich. . Albert
Einstein, the scientist, relaxes by
sawing away at his violin. Aiidre
Kostelanetz, the orchestra leader, is
an expert wood carver.
Pick up the paper almost any day
and you'll find an item about your
next door neighbor's hobby. In Chi
cago one evening last year, M. J.
Smit, a retired gas company super
intendent, was visiting a friend's
home. The friend remarked that he
was going to build a model of the
Italian liner, Rex. That set Mr. Smit
to thinking and a few days later he
started building his own steamship,
a three-foot model of the gigantic
Normandie.
Mr. Smit, who is sixty-eight years
old, suddenly discovered a new
meaning in life. "I found I'd been
missing something," he says. "It's
great fun making model steamships
and I'm going to keep doing it that
rest of my life."
Ace in the Hole.
A few blocks away Arthur Laed
erach, an electrical engineer, goes
down to his whitewashed basement
each evening and works at the hob
by of years' standing? marquetry.
This is the science of making land
scapes, still life pictures and ab
stract designs with veneer woods,
inlaid to give the proper appear
More than one stamp collector has
had similar good fortune, turning
hlj hobby into a professional stamp
business that netted a living income.
And in California the newest avo
cation is "hobby mining," in which
amateur prospectors take to the
hills each week-end in search of
gold. This has resulted in a rush for
claims, reminiscent of last century's
gold stampede. These modern pros
pectors aren't finding much gold,
but they have hopes and meanwhile
it's a lot of fun. Some of them will
probably strike it rich.
Career Hobbies.
Then there's also the hobby which
can be joined with your professional
career. An example is Mildred Dil
ling, internationally known harpist
who began her rise to fame with a
second-hand harp. When she re
tires from the concert stage, many
years hence, she'll have something
more tangible than memories, be
cause she spends her spare time
collecting old, rare, curious and his
toric harps.
Some hobbies can make you feel
like a kid again, which isn't a bad
idea. Several years ago some youth
ful minded father bought his young
ster an electric toy train for Christ
mas and had so much fun with it
himself that he bought another. That
hobby, model railroading, has
grown overnight until now many a
hard-headed business man spends
his evenings playing with a minia
ture train.
It isn't child's play, however. The
serious model railroader builds his
own "rolling stock" to exact scale
size and has from 200 to 1,000 feet
of track on which to run it. Today
you can buy disassembled minia
ture railroad parts and build your
own system, consisting of engines,
Pullmans, coaches and innumerable
types of freight cars. Train hobby
ists prefer freights because of the
variety they offer.
Or, You Might Try?
There's a humorous side to hob
bying, too. Out in Halfway, Ore.,
Walter W. Evans collects ? of all
things ? official positions! Evans is
vice president and cashier of the
First National bank, city treasurer,
high school clerk, secretary-treasur
er of the telephone company, key
banker for his county banking asso
ciation, public education committee
man for the same organization, and
president of the Northwest Oregon
Bankers association. Recently he
decided to run for Justice of the
peace.
Then, in Akron, Ohio, we find Wal
ter Thompson, a gasoline station at
tendant who in the past two years
has dissuaded 10 persons from sui
cide. That, says Thompson, is his
hobby. His station is located at the
end of a bridge. At nearby Cleve
land a strange fellow who Jumped
through the trees at Brookside park,
clad in a tiger skin breech clout,
turned out to be nothing more than
a Tarzan hobbyist. But police
warned him to practice elsewhere.
Maybe the suicide stopper and the
amateur Tarzan aren't true hobby
ists, but to discover how important
this business has become, you need
only look at one of the exhibitions
staged by people who have found a
happy pastime and are willing to
tell the world about it.
Famous People, Quaint Hobbies.
Famous people sometimes have
unique hobbies. Jane Pickens, the
songstress, weaves rugs and makes
bobbin lace because it gives her
time to think. Chester Morris, the
movie star, is an amateur magi
cian and Dr. Frank Black, musical
director for a broadcasting network,
plays with chemistry during his
spare time. Right now he is experi
menting with liquid rubber to use
in making sculpture molds.
Perhaps you already have a hob
by. If not, take a little sage ad
vice from the experts before de
veloping one.
The best way, they say, is to fall
into something you really enjoy.
Don't deliberately look for a hobby;
simply drift into a stimulating avo
cation that brings you real enjoy
ment.
Another thing, don't be too strict
about your hobby, because if you tie
yourself up with a lot of restrictions
the whole thing will suddenly be
come very irksome.
If you're not careful, your hobby
is apt to take too much time at first.
You may get so enthusiastic that
life becomes one continual mental
tussle between your hobby and your
better self. But eventually you'll
emerge from this stage with a bal
anced viewpoint, having learned to
live with this new companion.
You'll discover that moderation in
all things is an excellent idea, but
what's more important, you'll not
be alone with a pair of twiddling
thumbs the next rainy afternoon!
C Weatern Newspaper Union.
Old BIO Morris rf tbc BIm Ridge montali district in North Carolina
tends this ancient frontier Ore as hla hobby. The flame was started by
his ancestors 148 years >[t and has been kept alive ever since.
Storm Wrecks Home;
Blow* Deed SO Miles
MARBLE HILL, MO. ? A storm
wrecked the farm home of G.
C. Key, in Hahn, Mo., carrying
away a deed to the property. Two
weeks later Key got the deed
back through the mail. A farm
er of Brazeau had found it.
Brazeau is SO miles from Hahn.
SON THOUGHT DEAD
TURNS UP AT HOME
*
Greets Mother, 'Hello, Mas,'
She Moans and Faints.
MASONTOWN, PA The identity
of a youth buried in a little ceme
tery near here became a mystery
with the return of fifteen-year-old
Donald Fiore from a two-year hitch
hiking trip.
For Donald's parents buried then
a year ago the body of a lad they
believed was their son, missing
since February, 1936. The body was
that of a boy shot accidentally whils
playing postofSce ? a kissing gams
? in a- darkened room of an CHhre
Hill, Ky., home.
On a little steel marker above
the grave, tended carefully and cov
ered with flowers by a grieving
mother, was a card inscribed, "Doo
ald Fiore, died April 26. 1337.**
"I Buried Ton a Tear Ago." ?
When Donald, a tall, handsome
lad with a friendly smile, came
home, he completed the last IT
miles of the Journey home afoot, and
he stopped first to visit Father
Francis Kolb. As he walked into
the home the priest looked up Iron
his desk, incredulous.
"Why, I buried you a year ago,
didn't I?" he exclaimed.
Then Donald heard for the first
time of his supposed death.
Donald's stepfather, Raymond
Fiore, operates a tailoring shop.
As Donald walked into the store,
the father hurried to the front,
expecting a customer. He stared
unbelievingly at the husky youth.
"Hello, pop," Donald smiled.
The father called Mrs. Fiore.
"Hello, mom," Donald greeted
her.
She moaned and fainted.
Now that her son is home, Mrs.
Fiore will not forget the grave with
its flowers. She said a tombstone
already ordered, will bear the name
"Donald."
Injured Dog Wander* OIF;
Found in Plane Search!
DES MOINES. ? An automobil*
accident which befell Butch, a kind
ly faced Springer spaniel, resulted
in an airplane search, a plane
ambulance ride, and hospitalization
' for the dog the other day.
Butch, owned by Robert Sim an,
flight instructor of the Des Moines
flying service, took off for parts un
known after being hit by a car.
After a futile search by car. Si
man took off in a plane. Flying at
500 feet he finally spotted the dog ia
a ravine west of Fort Des Moinea
army post.
Siman landed in a field nearby,
picked up the injured dog, returned
to the airport with Butch in the
plane, and took the dog to a veter
inarian by automobile.
The dog suffered only minor in
ternal injuries.
Snake Turns Hitchhiker
For Trip to Lot Angeles
LOS ANGELES? A hitchhiking
gopher snake climbed aboard an
automobile in a suburban canyon
and let his tail hang down only
after the car was parked at Third
and Broadway in downtown Los An
geles.
Five hundred persons thronged
the sidewalk and blocked the street
watching Frank Pittman rip up the
floorboards of his car and pull out
the snake. A spectator took tha
snake home.
Bird Set* Roof Afire
With Lighted Cigarette
NEWARK N. J.? A sparrow that
fluttered about with a lighted cigar
ette in its beak was blamed by Pa
trolman Martin Heisele for a fir*
that damaged a roof.
The officer reported the Are as
"apparently caused by a bird carry
ing a lighted cigarette to its nest
under the eaves."
The Silver Didn't Rot
LOOMIS, NEB. ? Eight years ago
Charles E. Ericson lost his billfold
while cultivating corn. Recently
Earl Thorell, present occupant of
the same farm, found the billfold
in the same field while burning
weeds. The paper money in it had
rotted, but two silver dollars re
i mained.