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The Alamance Gleaner i Vol LXV GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1939 No. 21 | WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE Predict New Pact With Brazil As U. S. Staves Off Nazi Bid For Entree to South America (EDITOR'S NOTE?When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of. the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) ____________ Released by Western Newspaper Union. PAN-AMERICA: Hair's Breadth Many years ago when the U. S. clamped down on immigration, mil lions of Germans, Italians and Jap anese turned to unexploited Brazil. When Adolf Hitler came to power he began a diligent campaign to Nazify Brazil's Germans, just as Benito Mussolini tried Fascifying Brazil's Italians to the degree that Brazil's Japs were natively loyal to Tokyo. To Hitler, one of Brazil's major charms was its unexplored iron de posits which might some day be taken by military force. As a foun dation German crews began manning German airships from German airports established in Brazil, an expensive commercial aviation venture which could never pay out except in war. But one of Hitler's mistakes. Was to barter armaments and machinery for Bra zilian coffee, which he theri dumped on the markets to obtain badly needed foreign exchange, thus un ^3 \ i u.s. to eurotf i ft y 3 via AzoHi. <yy ?tSi. /gpftl <.WMIUB ~ Imam. to u. s.I > i.zoq mlut / /J* mazu to sv? \ w africa to . i maziu v RR4715 ir?oq_Miixs \ shoitut 1 ?0<ti bitwiin i '??*' msmhphhis FLYING UP FROM RIO it could became a menace. dermining world prices and damag ing Brazil's coffee trade. Even this blunder was almost overcome, however. Early this year a Brazilian commercial mis sion was about to leave for Ber lin when the U. S. convinced For eign Minister Oswaldo Aranha he should visit Washington. Result: Brazil gained a loan from the U. S., also received aid in developing her resources. After this hair's breadth escape came another. In May Gen. Pedro Aurelio Goes Monteiro, Brazilian chief of staff, was about to visit Berlin for general staff consulta tions leading either to a co-opera tive understanding or a military al liance. Hastily dispatched to Rio de Janeiro was Gen. George C. Marshall, newly appointed U. S. chief of staff. Result: Back home in mid-June came General Marshall with the bacon. On an American cruiser he brought General Mon teiro to Washington, where observ ers expected a military agreement would soon be reached between the U. S. and Brazil. The agreement's substance: The U. S. could use emergency air fields in northern Brazil, thus perfecting the American plan to make an American lake out of the Carib bean, with bases at Puerto Rico and Guatanamo, Cuba, serving as mini ature Hawaii as. Simultaneously, the Atlantic Clip per's inaugural trip to Lisbon with 30 pasdtngers and 12 crew mem bers gave every layman an idea of transatlantic aviation possibilities and their bearing on a U. S. pact with Brazil. Should a European power beat us to the draw, Brazil might easily become an operations base from whence bombers (after crossing the Atlantic at its narrow est point) might work against the Panama canal, Guatanamo, Puerto Rico and even the U. S. itself I tee tmuf). BUSINESS: Housing Doldrums Most U. S. industrialists believe government policy is holding back recovery. But this belief is not universal, for a recent Gallup poll shewed public opinion well split on the responsibility; business itself got plenty of blame. A few weeks later Steelman Ernest T. Weir admitted he thought the "principal responsi bility" for his industry's nine-year losing streak rested on the shoul ders of management. True or not, that charge gave Trust Buster Thurman Arnold good justification for probing deeper into depression's cause. Most econo mists agree that the U. S. boom, when it comes, will begin with re newed housing activities. Hence it is to this field that Mr. Arnold will look first with his new $900,000 ap propriation to "police" American business. Basic idea the j^stic^ depart ment's drive is that a large, well trained anti-trust stall should ferret out illegal combinations of manufac turers, wholesalers) retailers, con tractors and labor leaders. Once such illegal groups are smashed, Mr. Arnold thinks business paraly sis caused by high costs will cease. His allegations regarding the busi ness industry: "Producers of building materials have fixed prices either by private arrangement or as the principal ac tivity of trade associations. Owners of patents on building materials have used them to establish re-, strictive structures of price con trol, control of sales methods and limits upon the quantities sold." Regarding labor unions: "In recent years they have fre quently been used as the strong arm squads for collusive agree ments among contractors, refusing to supply labor where the contrac tors' ring wishes labor withheld. INTERNATIONAL: Russia's Gain? One.hundred years ago a squab ble between Japan and Great Brit ain would have caused no repercus sions in Europe. But today's chal lenge of occidental rights in the Far East is tied inseparably with Brit ain's efforts to perfect a military alliance with Russia. Although Germany has gloated over London's failure both with the Russian pact and in the Orient, best guesses are that not Germany, not England, not Japan, but Russia alone will have profited when today's inter national cauldron has ceased boil ing. Germany has tried in two ways to hamstring the British. While William Strang of the London for eign office is conferring with Dic tator Josef Stalin, the Reich's am bassador to Russia has been or dered to work for a stalemate by offering Moscow a commercial and credit agreement. If Germany thus joined western democracies in beg ging for Russia's friendship, it car ried the begging to still greater heights during the Jap incident by singing a siren song that went some thing like this: "Why should a great power like you care to tie up with people like the British, who can now be kicked with impunity even by the Japanese?" The Reich's second effort, obvi ously in desperation, has been to . , . ? ? WILLIAM STRANG Germany ridiculed kit effort*. push its projected military pact with Japan. Although Tokyo's am bassadors to Italy and Germany both favor Jap participation in the anti-Communist front, the foreign office back home has shunned such complications for good reason?Ja pan has enough ambitions and troubles in the Far East without getting embroiled in Europe's woes. Hence observers predict consum mation of the Anglo-Russ alliance, with Britain asking help in the Far East as well as in Europe, thanks to Japan's clamping down on Lon don's interests in China. For Brit ain this would be merely a last ditch defensive alliance with a nation most Englishmen dislike. Russia would thereby gain British support in her projected Far East ern war with Japan. UKRAINE: Incentive Russia's rich Ukraine ranges from the Carpathian mountains of central Europe almost to the Cas pian sea, embracing 360,000 square miles and populated by 53,600,000 Russians, Slavs and Germans. Through its east and central part run rich valleys of the Dneiper and Dneister rivers, which for years have fed vast Russia. To the east, in the Donetz river basin, lie vast deposits of coal, iron ore and man ganese, ace cards in the deck of any military nation. If Adolf Hitler's fascination for the Ukraine was once a puzzle, pub lic interest has zoomed to such heights since he captured Czecho slovakia and thus made a path to the east, that the Ukraine's re sources are now public knowledge. Even "Mein Kampf," which outlines Der Fuehrer's plans for wresting the Ukraine from Russia, revealed far less than a new U. S. bureau of mines study. Data: The Ukraine's coal reserves are 73,300,000,000 tons; iron, 4,066,000,000 tons; ferruginous quartzite contain ing large iron percentage, 40,800, 000,000 tons; manganese, 441,000,000 tons; lignite, 510,000,000 tons. TAXATION: Profit Sharing Last autumn a special senate committee inspired by Michigan's presidency-aspiring Sen. Arthur Vandenberg began studying profit sharing as a means of curing capi tal-labor trouble. The basic idea: Industrialists would get tax credits for sharing their profits or (if re garded in another light) would be' penalized if they did not share prof- - its. Though pointedly socialistic, the idea caught fire when one wit ness after another told how profit sharing had worked successfully. Soon Republican Vandenberg's idea began looking good to his Demo cratic colleagues, Iowa's Sen. Clyde Herring and Colorado's Edwin C. Johnson, both of whom knew the administration needed a clever card trick to soothe tax-irritated buxi npss. By mid-June Mr. Vandenberg had lost the ball entirely, for Senators Herring and Johnson issued the committee's cautiously worded re port. Its gist was that some "pru dent experiments" in incentive tax ation could be tried "in the spirit of exploration." Points (with crit ics' concensus in italics): 1. Exemption from all income taxes of the payments industrialists make to employees from accumulat ed profit-sharing retirement funds or annuities. (Good idea. Alihestgh it would temporarily make social Mainly s duplication, thai agency would eventually grow mailer at provision for old age re turned to private hands.) 2. Issuance and sale of govern ment profit-sharing bonds which would be available only to profit sharing funds and would be issued for the purpose of protecting invest ments by employees. IGood and had. Would discourage small private invest ment and small banking, meanwhile pro viding new source of money for govern ment spending. May be discriminatory. But would also loosen large private capital for private investment.) 3. Specific tax credits for increased employment by companies following other than capital-expenditure work: similarly, reasonable exemp tion on such expenditures as plant expansion. (Good and bad. Would lower business taxes, but places capital in the position of a child who will be praised by a paternalistic government if he does right and punished if he does wrong. Pre supposes that profit sharing, thus far un tried on a national basis, would be sub stantially a cure-all theI would permit drastic reduction in "extraordinary" gov. ernment expenditures.) Essentially a successful idea in private application, profit sharing will probably be boosted by both Democrats and Republicans in the next campaign. Chief issue will be on the application of government incentive taxation. AVIATION: Students The world'* undisputed No. 1 air power, Germany, can train 49,000 airmen annually. By contrast the U. S. has but 23,000 fliers of both sexes and all ages. Worried lest a war in the air find America unpre pared, a training program will be in full swing by October 19 designed to teach 95,000 U. S. youths to fly by 1944. Cost: 95,479,000 to train 15,000 in the next 12 months; $7,000, 000 a year to teach 20,000 more an- ' nually until mid-1944. Now underway in Washington are plans to offer "ground school" study next autumn at 300 to 400 universi ties and colleges, followed by actual flying. Biggest fear voiced last winter when the program was broached has already been dispelled. To test it the civil aeronautics authority gave primary training to 330 stu dents at 13 institutions, later grant- j ing private flying certificates to 173 of them. Though officials held their i breath, only one student was killed. ' Bruckart't Washington Digest Amazing Decline in American Farm Crop Exports Is Reported Falling Off Is Largely in Cotton Shipments; Blame Is Laid To Trick Remedies Fostered by Agriculture Depart j ment; New Program Involves More Spending. By WILLIAM BRUCKART VWU Service, National Preii Bldf., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON.?The department of agriculture issued a report the other day that showed an amazing decline in exports of American farm crops. Specifically, the report said that export shipments of agricultur al ?fops were 21 per cent less in the last 10 months than they were in the same 10 months ending in May, 1938. Or, if calculated in fractions, Amer ican farmers were able to sell abroad less than four-fifths as much this year as last year. Further examination of the fig ures placed the falling off of ex ports largely in the sales of cotton. So bad have our sales of cotton be come abroad that the authorities now are expecting total exports of cotton this fiscal year to be the low est in the last <30 years of American history. It is a sad state of affairs and does no credit to Secretary Wallace and his subordinates in the depart ment of agriculture. Tbey must take the blame because they have con ceived and promoted and executed all of the nostrums and trick reme dies that were to lead American agriculture to the more abundant life. So, what we have today is a low mark of which none can be I proud, and that remarkable record has bieen attained after billions of : dollars have been wasted in one way or another from the ploughing under of thousands of acres of crops and the killing of 6,000,000 pigs through all of the stages of crop con trol, regimentation of farmers and creation of unprecedented bureauo I racy. But the real shock seems yet to come. There is more money to be spent and a new program to be carried out. Mr. Wallace has now initiated an effort by which export bounties will be paid and this will enable the sale of cotton abroad? so Mr. Wallace believes. President Roosevelt believes so. He has in dorsed the scheme. Doomed to Failure Like Earlier Crackpot Id eat Thus, we have come to a new phase in a long string of govern mental failures?because this one is doomed to failure like the earlier crackpot ideas. Since 1933, when the administration embarked upon its price-raising campaign, cotton sales abroad havi steadily dropped lower. When the efforts to hold the price up by means of a reduced acreage failed, brilliant minds in the administration turned to loans to the holders of cotton so that the price could be held above the world level. Thereafter, and almost at once, cotton goods of a cheaper kind and. made by the worst types of serfdom labor, and cotton, it self, from lands where labor works for a piece of black bread crowded American cotton out of the world market. When I say, as 1 did above, that the latest scheme for artificial main tenance of prices will fail, an ex planation of the reasons therefor ob viously is required. In some quar ters around Washington, however, it is asserted that no explanation is necessary because the thing is ri diculous in the extreme. I do not believe the situation is as clear as that. It may seem to some that pay ment of subsidies to those owning cotton will permit those holders to sell at a lower level than their com petitors from foreign lands. That is to say, the cotton could be sold at whatever price was required to get it marketed?with the United States government making up the differ ence by a direct payment to the seller. When this happens, however, other factors and forces begin'to operate, and there is where the sell ing machinery stalls. I believe no one can safely dis pute the statement that the drop In our cotton exports?and other farm products, too?has resulted from the various price control policies that have been used. Whenever there is an attempt to control prices artifi cially, there is bound to be grief since that action represents an inter ference with the law of supply and demand. A horse will not drink and a buyer will not buy unless he wants the drink or the product. Better to Sell at Lower Price* Than Not at All What is the result? It is plain to see that prices are propped up by various sticks, most of them fur nished out ot the federal treasury. Now, there is no sign at all that either President Roosevelt or con gress is willing to withdraw those sticks which hold the prices up. Since they are apparently to re main, then it is equally apparent that none of our cotton will be sold at prices competing with foreign cot ton. Naturally, the foreign cotton gets into the markets and stays there just as long as our own silly policies are maintained. It seems strange to me why the government continues to harp away on these artificial supports for prices and crop control methods and other devipes which some bright young man thinks will work. There could be an elimination of nearly all of them and, if there were, it is likely that American cotton exports would again be taken in the world market. Of course, the price would be lower. But it strikes me as common sense that it is better to sell at a lower priee than never to sell at all. And I unless all of nature's teachings are to go awry, at once, the price le\el would control the amount of cotton planted very much better than Sec retary Wallace or Assistant Secre tary Brown can do. There is, however, another phase to be considered. Mr. Wallace and the President talk about payment ot the bounties so that our producers will get a full price, even though the foreign buyers get the stuff dirt cheap. While this policy is being fostered, another agency of the gov ernment is promoting international treaties designed to do away with just such policies. I refer, of course, to the reciprocal trade treaties that are the especial pet of Secretary Hull, of the department of state. Hull Hat Worked Hard to Recreate Flow of Commerce Mr. Hull has worked long and faithfully in his campaign to elimi nate the barriers to trade between nations. He has sought to get other nations to eliminate restrictions on quantities of imporfi from the Unit ed States; he has battled against special tariff charges and has used every argument available to recre ate a free flow of commerce be tween the United States and as many nations as will enter into such trade agreements. It fails to make sense to me, therefore, to see Mr. Hull struggling along one road and Mr. Wallace, with the President's approval, car rying out in behalf of the United States the very policies which Mr. Hull finds objectionable on the part of other nations. What must the reaction of the Argentines be, for example, when we say through Mr. Hull that we don't want any restrictions on our shipments to their country?and then say through Mr. Wallace that we are going to pay cash subsidies to our growers of wheat so that they can undersell the Argentines in the world market at Liverpool, England. Of course, wheat has not been included in the initial proposal for subsidies, but will all of those please stand up who believe a sub sidy can be limited to one kind of farm crop! I would feel, if I were a citizen of Argentina, that even the kindly words of President Roosevelt about being good neighbors were lib erally sprinkle^ with hokum. Tap Traamtry for Subndy To Pay Hold art of Cotton The tariff law* lay that whenever shipment! of any commodity from any foreign nation is sold or offered for sale in our market at prices be low the selling prices in the home land of production, our customs offi cers shall at once apply a counter vailing duty. Now, the countervail ing duty is nothing more nor less than a retaliation and it is intended to offset the use of such subsidies as are paid by the government of the land from which the shipment came. We have used it many times; only lately it was used against Ger many. The amount of the duty that was assessed was more than enough to make the price at the imported article higher than our American market quotations on like articles. Here in the Wallace subsidy idea, however, it is proposed to take mon ey out of the federal treasury to pay holders of cotton a subsidy that will enable sales abroad at low prices. The self-same treasury at the very same time must act through its cus toms officers to saa that no other nation doss the same thing to us. aslssssS U Wnsn wsfsi PsSsa-i Speaking of Sports Wood Entitled To Golfdom's Roll of Honor By ROBERT McSHANE " U E'S one ot the greatest go If 11 ?n I've ever ww mm "M because be beat me." It took a lot of courage for the speaker to say that, for he was none other than Craig Wood, who recent ly completed his "reverse grand slam" by losing to young Byron Nel son in the second 18-hole playoff for the National Open title. Wood has found only one compet itor harder to beat than Old Man Par. And that's Mr. Bard Lack, whs has finished regularly In first place slnee 1931. When golfs last chapter is written, Craig win be re membered as the man who eame closer to winning more major cham pionships than any divot digger who ever lived. Opportunity has knocked more than once for him. In fact, it has rapped a steady tattoo on his door. His golfing career has been a suc cession of tough breaks, lost chances and marvelous opposition. His amazing career got underway back in 1931 when the tall, blond haired youngster tied John Golden for the North and South title at Pine CRAIG WOOD bunt. It wasn't one of golfdom's major titles, but it was his first big tournament. He didn't win the title ?Golden beat him in the playoff. From then on his lack would hare spelled disaster to anyone but a fighter. In 193] be tied Denny State for the British Open cham pionship in his first overseas effort Be was beaten in the playoff. Student vs. Teacher In 1934 be reached the final of the Professional Golfers association tournament at Buffalo. Paul Run yan beat him on the thirty-eighth, the second extra hole. An interest ing sidelight to Runyan's victory was the fact that he bad served his apprenticeship under Wood at the club in Deal, N. J. Daring the 1934 season he finished sscaad in five winter elreait tour naments, losing three times te Hor ten Smith. Wood has been plagued by the phenomenal long shots his oppo nents have holed to beat him. Opportunity had stepped inside the door at the near-end of the Masters at Augusta in 1933. Wood had re tired to the locker room to cele brate and there received everyone's congratulations. "It isn't over yet," ha told his well-wishers. "There are still | lot of scores to be posted." Bat Weed, slang with the milling spectators, figured his lead was se cure. Thea the miracle happened. Gene Sarasen scored a doable eagle ea the fifteenth, talcing out a 200 yard wood shot. Sarasen played the next three tales la par and tied Weed for the championship. Weed lest in the playoffs. To keep the record straight, he finished second in the Metropolitan Open in 1936. Reversal Completed Wood has now lost playoffs for the four greatest titles in reach of a professional?the British Open, the P. O. A. crown, the Masters and the National Open. Despite these breaks. Wood has never carped. He has always played his best game, and is the first to give credit to the winner. Wood had two breaks in the first playoff round of the National Open. The first was when his second shot hit a spectator, and was thereby saved from hooking out into the rough. The second break?of a to tally different nature?was when he failed to bole a six-foot putt which would have won the championship for him. One person remarked: "It wae only justice, I think, that the putt missed, for it eseised 9 the break that came before." The speaker, again, wan Craig Wood. All-Star Jinx A STRANGE jinx has overtaken 1 each of the five college football coaches who, in past years, were named to coach the graduated col-, lege all-star team which annually * meets the National Football league professional champs in the pre see % son grid classic. The head coach of the college all stars is selected by millions of fans, ? voting in a nation-wide poll. It is a signal honor for any coach to win 5 that election. The jinx has already overtaken , Noble Kiser of Purdue, whs cos shed the lint all-star team in 1934, Frank . Thomas of Ala- -f. bama, Berate Bier-. .; man at Itioaeeeta, 3 Gua Dorais oT.De- ! troit and Be Meld lin of Indiana. Kizer'a all-stars - met the Chicafo Bears in a scoreless tie. But his Purdue teem, while ftnishipg hi oh in thm WBllim nooie iusu ? conference the pre vious year, experienced ? ffiMs-j troua 1934 season, losing three games. The Boilermakers lost to Rice, Notre Dame, and their tradi tional rival, Indiana. In 1935, the following year, Frank Thomas, coach of the Alabama Rose Bowl champions of the previ ous season, suffered a similar un successful season. Bernie Biermaa, coach ef Wane was bead mentor a( the MM all stars, when they tied the Detroit Lions 7 to 7. He wasn't qui to as unlucky as Kiser or Thomas, bat the Jinx tripped him op when the Gophers, undefeated la S previous ' starts, were whipped t to ? by Northwestern in one ef the see sea's most startling upsets?aa apeet that kept the Gophers from annexing an other Big Ten title. Dorais suffered the same lock in 1937, as did McMillin in MM. Mc Millin's collegiate crew did a Una Job in beating the world's cham pion Washington Redskins 39 to 14, but his own Indiana lads scored <me victory, and that over ineffectual Iowa. Should the Jinx continue, football 1 fans may need more than aa elec tion to name an all-etar coach. It win probably call for a mam date. Gag Backfires TOE JACOBS, manager at Blub- J J berweigbt Champion Tony Oa lanto, struck a new high?or rather, a new low?recently when be I charged that Joe Louis had a metal j slug in his hand the nlgbt be knocked out Max Schmeling. Joe eaa't be blamed lee trying to build op interest in his 1st bey. Something had to be daee. A pub lic mado apathetic by past heavy weight performances eeetalaly wouldn't rush the taraetltee to see Galento in action, erea against the Brown Bomber. Jacobs took it all bafck when Gen. John J. Phelan, chairman at the 1 state athletic commission, threat- j ened to revoke his lioense to New j But the damage has been done. Prize fighting has never been held ' in the same high repute as other sports, with the exception.of aa ab | most obsolete contest called, sins ? tling. Millions of people look upon J prize fighting with a raised eye- ] brow or with compreassd nostrils, , thinking only of the aporfa seam- 3 ier side. It la ah too ^trne Osat bsxhtg fete j _ Unfounded accusations, such aa | Jacobs' bombast, magnify the evils of the ring. Granted that tha aver- J age fan is too smart to be taken la 1 by such hokum, neverthelesa, rape- j tition of such baseless charges have 1 an unhappy effect. A few crackpots can do antold j damage. And the sad part ?? I|J is, they don't suffer the canse j quences. The entire pugilistic pro- J fessioo is the loser. Sport Shorts A RT SHIRES, former White Sox J ^ first baseman, says he finds a refereeing wrestling nistcbsd la the j Southwest more profitable thee A managing a minor league tesa ... I Ray Arcel is emphatic in saying I Joe Louis is dynamite. He has act- j ed as a second for six fightetp who have opposed Louis, and any Jim- j my Braddock was able to ge beyond 1 the third round. He fen in A> eev- a enth. Others handled by Aroel were j Paulino Uzcudun, Jack darkey, 9 Nathan Mann, John Henry Lewie J and Jorge Brescia... Oily IT gamee 1 have gone more than.II innings ha 1 tha 8S-year history Of the KatinebM league, and the Cube have played m I nine of them.
The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 29, 1939, edition 1
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