The Alamance gleaner i
_ , ~
Vol LXV GRAHAM, N. C., THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1939 No. 22
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WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE
New Government Lending Plan
Will Hit Trouble, Say Experts;
Strikes Spending Key for 1940
(EDITOR'S NOTE?When opinio on are expressed in these columns, they
are those el the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
POLITICS:
Looking to 1940
"A year ago when the President sent
his 14,500,000.000 lend-spend message to
congress, I said it was like putting a shin
plaster on e cancer. This pian now is
just another thin plaster."
What looks like a shin plaster to
North Carolina's Sen. Josiah W. Bai
ley looks to dubious U. S. business
men as a timely reiteration of the
politico-economic philosophy Presi
dent Roosevelt expounded before
congress last January 4, namely,
that "government investment" in U.
S. financial stability should not
merely be an emergency stop gap,
but a long-range standard policy.
The new plan:
Government agencies would issue
extra-budgetary federal-guaranteed
securities for financing self-liquidat
ing projects. Special U. S. author!
SENATOR BAILEY
Shin plaster for c cancer.
ties would loan a total of $3,860,000,
000 within periods ranging from two
to seven years, the total program to
be divided as follows:
Non-federal public works
like bridges, hospitals
and waterworks $390,000,000
Toll roads, express
highways, city by
passes. etc. 790.000.000
Railroad equipment to be
leased to carriers 900.000,000
Rural electrification
expansion 460.000,000
Farm tenancy program 900,000.000
Increase in U. S. Housing
Authority's borrowing
power 800.000.000
Loans to foreign nations
to purchase U. S.
surpluses 900,000,000
While Senate Majority Leader Ai
ben Barkley assured reporters the
measure would pass immediately,
political wiseacres took great pains
to make an undiluted election issue
of it. Almost universally overlooked
was the White House's violent re
treat from the costly, ineffectual
pump-priming methods it has tried
before, whiqfc consisted not of loans
but straigh^spending. Also over
HEADLINERS
BEAK ADM. HARRY YABNELL
A pop-eyed Japanese consul
in Shanghai received an unex
pectedly brusque message recent
ly for transmittal to Tokyo. It
that thn . ~
American navy
will go "wherev- ,
er necessary" to
protect American
citizens and that
it expects no in
terference from
Japan, who has .
been trying to
shove Occidentals
out of the Orient.
The message
fmrrt Raar A
E. Yamell, (para native of Inde
pendence, Iowa, director at
America's Asiatic fleet and un
official Far Eastern diplomatic
representative since October,
1934. It was almost the parting
shot of a man who has won virtu
ally all disputes with Japan (row
ing out of the Chinese war. For
Mr. Yamell, who meantime has
won the admiration and even the
respfect of Japan, will reach stat
utory retirement age in July.
Veteran of the Spanish-Ameri
can war, Philippine insurrection.
Boxer campaign. Vera Cruz occu
pation and World war (where he
commanded the U. 8. S. Nash
ville), his most difficult assign
ment is the present one. He will
be succeeded by Rear Admiral
Thomas C. Hart, possibly return
ing to his prairie home after a
Job well done.
looked was the small size of a seven
year $3,860,000,000 program com
pared with $20,678,000,000 the New
Deal spent on recovery and relief
from 1933 to 1938. Nevertheless
many a vital hole and many a politi
cal portent could be read from the
measure:
Politics. With 10,000,000 still un
employed and national income about
$12,000,000,000 under the "ideal" of
$80,000,000,000 a year, the adminis
tration will obviously seek to per
petuate itself in 1940 by stimulating
a temporary recovery as in 1938. Re
publicans and conservative Demo
crats point out that the new lending
plan provides $870,000,000 to be
spent next year; with FHA's new
lending power ($800,000,000), with
the emergency relief appropriation
($1,735,000,000^-and record agricul
tural subsidies ($l,000,0flb,000) the
coming fiscal year will bring ex
penditures of $4,405,000,000 as a pre
lude to the campaign and election.
^Mnanee. Fears of orthodox U. S.
financiers went unnoticed in the del
uge of political talk. Among fears:
?. Mr. Roosevelt's insistence that the
so-called "self liquidating" bonds be
taxable brought investigation which
revealed many projects are self
sustaining by so close a margin that
to tax the bonds would make them
a losing investment.
C. Loans to municipalities will be
blocked in many cases by local laws
and state regulations covering mu
nicipal indebtedness. Most large cit
ies, moreover, have already reached
their debt limit.
FRANCE:
Lesson
When French Foreign Minister
Georges Bonnet signed a mutual as
sistance pact with Turkish Ambas
sador Suad Davaz, Italo-German ag
gression into the eastern Mediter
ranean seemed effectively stymied.
Moreover, for Signor Benito Musso
lini it was an object lesson in gen
tlemanly behavior. Results: (1) Tur
key is wooed away from the Rome
Berlin axis; (2) Anglo-French war
time control ot the strategic Darda
nelles makes German invasion of
? ? ? < - 1
TURKEY'S GAIN
It peyl to be a gentleman.
the Balkans less likely; (3) pro-Nazi
Bulgaria is isolated.
Mussolini's object lesson was that
Turkey won the strategic Republic
of Hatay (Syrian Alexandretta) in
return. Though the transfer was
probably illegal in League of Na
tions' eyes, under whose mandate
France ruled it, Turkey neverthe
less gained by negotiation what Italy
has been unable to gain by threat.
Stubborn Frenchmen still refuse to
bow before Mussolini's demands for
Suez canal rights, the Addis Ababa
Djibouti railroad and Italian minor
ity rights in Tunisia.
NAVY:
Speed-Up
Fiscal year's start July 1 mOtns
new funds for new work in most
U. S. government departments. Big
gest appropriations for the 1939-40
fiscal year cover rearmament, and
before July has passed into history
the navy will be well under way
with three new jobs:
Bases. Costing 335,000,000 are 12
plane and submarine bases for
which congress has appropriated
331,621,000 to handle the first year's
work. Outlying bases will be at San
Juan, Puerto Rico; Kaneobe and
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Sitka and
Kodiak, Alaska; Midway island;
Johnston island and Palmyra island
in the western Pacific. Continental
bases will be at Pensacola and Jack
sonville, Fla., and Tongue Point,
Ore.
Ships. Early June found 75 war
ships under construction, the pro
gram running ahead of last year.
Meanwhile 24 new ships are being
rushed, including two 45,000-ton "su
per" battleships. All will be laid
down in 1940 and will cost about
3350,000,000.
Planes. Effective immediately the
"speed-up" policy will be applied to
500 new airships, whose completion
during the 1939-40 fiscal year will
bring the navy's total to 2,132.
How It Works
ANGLO-IT. 8. BARTER PACT
Most nations are deficient in
some natural resources and have
too much of others. In wartime,
inability to export non-essentials
and import essentials would be a
military handicap. Friendly na
tions can prepare in advance
against such emergencies with
out disturbing their economic bal
ances. Under the new American
British barter treaty, the U. S.
will give England $30,000,000
worth (or 600,000 bales) of surplus
COTTON, such as Britain needs
for shells like these. It will
come from 11,300,000 bales held
by the U. S. as security fori
loans to farmers, thereby reliev
ing pressure on the domestic
market. In return, Britain will
give the U. S. 85,000 tons of
.
RUBBER, such as the army
would need in wartime for pur
poses like tires for the above anti
tank gun. Britain will buy the
rubber on open market. Each
nation will hold the reserves for
seven years as war stocks. Lat
er other materials may be bar
tered, for America needs items
like tin, chromium and manga
nese. Although the U. S. de
plores barter as fostered by
Germany, the new arrangement
will merely supplement existing
"favored nation" treaties and is
not a basic economic tenet.
AGRICULTURE:
Strange Feeling
America's "dust bowl" lies rough
ly in the Panhandles of Texas and
Oklahoma, eastern New Mexico and
Colorado, and western Kansas. In
1936, at the drouth's depth, some
16,000,000 acres of once-valuable
grain and grazing were lost.
Reclamation followed, featured
chiefly by conservation of rainfall
and "fastening down" of the soil
with hardy vegetation. Thousands
of square miles were terraced and
cultivated in contour furrows that
held the moisture and stopped ero
sion. By this spring the 16,000,000
"blow" acres were reduced to
800,000.
As wind-weary farmers began
harvesting the summer's crop, they
could look back on a prodigious job
well done. Whereas 1935 yielded a
wheat crop of only 4,000,000 bushels,
the dust bowl's elevator men ex
pect from 15,000,000 to 25,000,000
bushels when this season's grain is
threshed.
TRANSPORTATION:
Pedestrians
"He has boon sadly neglected and has
had to shift for himself. He has evolved
the simple philosophy that his fob is to
gel across the Uriel as best he cess. He
joins with other pedestrians in mess trio
lotion of tragic lights. In rural areas he
walks on the pavement, on the wrontt
side of the road, and wears dark cloth
ing at night."
This, said the National Safety
Council's Leslie J. Sorenson, is the
plight of U. S. pedestrians who in
1938 accounted for three out of ev
ery five persons killed in traffic ac
cidents. What made the situation
more startling were figures showing
two-thirds of pedestrians killed were
violating a traffic ordinance or com- ,
mining an unsafe act. Thirteen per
cent of them had been drinking;
only 9 per cent of drivers involved in
fatal accidents had been drinking.
I
FORECAST
FtJKGE?Succeeding retiring
Got. Richard W. Leche, the late
Huey Long * brother Earl ia ex
pected to "purge" the political
machine created by hie illustrious
brother, thereby preaerring an
air - tight organization being
threatened by diaaenaion. First
to leave: Dr. James Monroe
Smith, whom Huey Long named
president of T^misians State uni
versity.
WRECK?Evidencing the need
for better submarine rescue
equipment, salvagers of the sunk
en U. S. submarine Squalus pre
dict the boat will not be raised
until at least late July.
Brnckarfa Washington Digest
Mixed Reaction Created by
Huge Money Lending Program
Some Legislators Shout Halleluiahs, Others Are Bitter in
Opposition to What They See as Another Gigantic
Flop; Government Credit Menaced!
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service, National Press Bldf., Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON.?President Roose
velt has asked congress for approv
al of another gigantic money lend
ing program. He wants to put out
$3,860,000,000 as a "stimulant to
business." He wants to start right
away and he wants to keep the
money pouring into sinkholes
through the summer and fall and
winter and spring and next sum
mer, too.
The Pr^ident is not proposing
government spending, as distin
guished from government lending.
That is intpttrtant. While it has
been shown by the experiences of
the last half dozen years that this
spending idea is just as successful
as trying to pull one's self up by
.one's boot straps, those who favor
the lending program say this meth
od of bringing about recovery has
not yet been fully tested. The bril
liant-minded, self-appointed saviors
of America, therefore, are out to
prove that government cash can end
a depression.
Arrival of the President's letter
?t the Capitol created quite a mixed
reaction. Some members* shoaled
their halleluiahs of more manna for
the spawning ground for votes. Oth
ers expressed approval of parts of
the gigantic outpouring of cash and
objected to other items of the pro
gram. The third group on capitol
hill at once voiced their wholeheart
ed opposition to'the scheme, offer
ing several reasons why they could
not support the President.
Nearly everything that is done in
the national government is tinged
with or steeped in politics. So the
political phases immediately were
stressed by the opponents of the
program, and they are putting more
steam behind their attacks as the
days go by. Some of these mem
bers are objecting to further outlays
by the government because they
fear that government credit is about
to crack any way, and they predict
the newest presidential plan will
seriously endanger the govern
ment's financial stability. The other
group of oppositionists take a
brutal position.
Say Roosevelt Is Paving
Way for His Renomination
They say Mr. Roosevelt is pro-'
posing this new lending progrant'
now in order to pave the way for
his renomination to a third term in
the White House. I expect that we
will hear more of this aspect of the
situation as the debate develops on
the floors of the house and senate.
There is every reason to believe
that the President will obtain ap
proval for most of his program. He
may not get it all, but when it comes
to getting a legislative program
through congress, nothing equals the
distribution of money as bait.
Thus, it appears to me that we
can treat the proposition from the
standpoint of what will come from
the program in the way of beneficial
results, if any, and to find, if pos
sible, what the long range effect will
be.
First, let me recall that during
the administration of Herbert Hoov
er, when the present depression first
fastened its fangs on our economic
structure, there was the first ma
jor outpouring of government funds.
The Hoover thought was to stimu
late business by lending money and
by spending for public construction.
It was Mr. Hoover, too, who spon
sored "self-liquidating projects" for
which federal cash would be loaned
?the idea being that a self-liquidat
ing project would earn enough
money to pay off the government
loan. That was the way the recon
struction finance corporation came
into being, and that was the greatest
mistake of the early days of the
world depression insofar as our na
tion is concerned.
Well, the Hoover administration
promoted loans for self-liquidating
projects in a big way. As a stimu
lant of business, the plan was a
magnificent flop. The current pro
gram, being modeled exactly as
Herbert Hoover designed the first
one, also will be a glorious flop.
There is, as a matter of fact, not
one bit of difference between the
new Roosevelt program and the fu
tile move in the Hoover day.
Fete Have Confidence in
Policies of Government
Whether this government lending
idea is sponsored by Republicans or
Democrats, by Communists or Fas
cists, the result is bound to be the
same as far as accomplishing any
thing toward business revival. By
its very nature, government lending
creates a doubt in the minds of
every one whether they recognize
it just that way or not. The feeling
that most every one gets is mani
fest in the form of a question: well,
where are we headed when condi
tions are so bad that the United
States treasury has to supply money
upon which business operates?
Which, to my way of thinking, is
simply saying that few, if any, per
sons have confidence in the policies
of their government. It was dis
tinctly true in the Hoover adminis
tration, and I think it is equally true
in the Roosevelt administration.
But I want to go deeper into this
problem. There is something more
that we ought to think about, and it
makes me shudder to talk about
the possibilities inherent in moves
of this kind by a democracy.
Mr. Roosevelt says that, without
a doubt, all of this money that he
proposes to lend will be paid back.
He said in his message on the sub
ject that there would be no loans
approved unless there was assur
ance that the sums would be repaid.
Which is all very well and good.
But experience of banking institu
tions and other lending agencies in
dicates that a certain per cent of
the loans go bad. Poor manage
ment, unforeseen business condi
tions, deaths of key figures, labor
disturbances, changes in the taste
of the buying public for certain
marketable products?all of these
things, as well as the responsibility
of the borrowers, go to determine
whether the money will be paid
back. And so it does not seem un
reasonable to suppose that Mr.
Roosevelt is a bit, a teeny, weeny
bit, optimistic about recovering all
of the funds that are loaned.
Pergonal Political Element
le the Moet Disturbing
It we can dismiss the doubt, how
ever, there yet remains the factor,
the potentiality, of the program
that makes me jittery. Frankly, it
is the personal political element that
disturbs me most.
Let me illustrate. When Senator
Norris, of Nebraska, began fighting
a number of years ago for what
turned out to be the TV A, he and
all other sponsors of that socialistic
government-owned power project
shouted denials all over the place
when it was charged they intended
to put the government deeper into
the field of private business. All
they wanted to do, they insisted,
was to develop a government power
plant that would serve \ to measure
profits of private companies. They
argued that this experiment would
show the power companies were
taking too much profit out of the
hides of consumers of electricity.
They said that if this were not
true, the TV A would be a blessing
to private ownership.
What happened? The answer Is
pretty well known. TV A began
competing with private companies
wherever it could get in the field
against them. Its means of enter
ing some of the fields of competi
tion were of the rottenest type.
On top of that came the opera
tions of Secretary Ickes, and his
public works administration. Mr.
Ickes wanted to see more and bet
ter publicly owned power plants. He
tried, and is still trying, to make
power plants grow where power
plants never grew before?all from
money loaned by the government.
Official* Say Thought I?
To Holp Prioato Banna?
It U only (air to report that
tha top officials in the government
say there is no Intention to use these
funds as was done through tha Pub
lic Works administration. There is,
they say, no thought of discourag
ing private business; the thought is
to help private business. But it is
pointed out, meanwhile, that the
funds which are planned to- be used
in this program will be under the
control of half a dozen different
agencies. Those who know the set
up in the federal government rec
ognize this fact as important. It
means this; Every agency of the
federal government always has
sought and always will seek to per
petuate itself, to expand its power
and its functions. Give it a hun
dred millions or so to play with;
and then express any doubt, if you
can, that its officials will overlook
any spot where they can boost their
own importance. Truly, that would
be too much to expect
OtiUasaS IS wmira m-n?t PfaJ
Speaking of Sports
Hitting Records
Show Oldtimers
Kings of Swat
By ROBERT McSHANE
?flfHETHER or not present-day
batting averages mean as
much as they did in the "good
old days" of baseball is a question
that can be argued endlessly.
The "lively" ball and more strin
gent rules regulating trick pitching
deliveries are two factors entering
into any discussion of relative bat
ting prowess.
A comparison of records estab
lished prior to the introduction of
the rabbit ball with present-day rew
ords leads one to believe that to
day's averages are made the easy
way.
"Home Run" Baker earned his
name back in 1913, and made it a
by-word by hammering out 12 home
runs for the Philadelphia Athletics.
That same year the eight teams of
the American league scored the
amazing total of 158 home runs.
Philadelphia accounted for 33 of the
total. New York trailed with eight
Last year Hank Greenberg, play
ing with Detroit, scored 58 home
runs and the American league
teams produced a total of 884 cir
cuit clouts. The Yanks alone tal
lied 174, and Chicago trailed with 87.
This huge discrepancy Is not doe
to the presence of more sluggers
in today's game. The flve-to-one
home ran ration is the result of a
ball constructed for distance hit
ting. When the ball was introduced
some IS years ago it was in an
swer to the public's demand tor
more home runs. In those days
Babe Ruth was clouting out four
base hits, and the public loved it.
HANK GBEENBERQ
Officials saw the handwriting on the
wall and proceeded to satisfy the
demand by Introducing the lively, or
rabbit, balL
Introducing the rabbit ball meant
merely changing its core, using a
finer grade of yarn, more tightly
wrapped, and a thinner cover, more
tightly sewed on. Resiliency is pro
duced in the ball by wrapping the
yarn and thick cover more tightly.
A ball is made slower by the re
verse process. A smaller core and
coarser yarn, less tightly wrapped,
would be used. The cover would be
thicker and not as tightly seem.
Raised seams would make the ball
still slower.
Canse of Sere Arms?
Regardleee of which type ball is
ased, there win be objections. The
rabbit ball is a boon to batters and
a handicap to pitchers; the stow
baU aids the pitchers and handi
caps the batter. The lively ban has
been blamed as the casse of the
recent epidemic of sere pitching
arms.
George Sister, one of baseball's
greatest players, batted against the
dead ball for five years and against
the lively one in his last three years.
His five - year batting average
against the dead ball was .330. In
that same period his highest season
average was .363 and hii largest to
tal of hits was 190.
His three-year average against the
lively ball was .3996, his largest
number of hits was 397, a record
made with St. Louis in 1921. That
same year he hit .410, a record tied
by Ty Cobb in 1911.
Cobb, Ruth and others who bat
ted against both balls said that the
rabbit ball traveled 50 to 80 feet
farther than the dead one.
There has been, and will continue
to be, talk of slowing down the base
ball. It may be that some slight
change will come to pass, such as
using a slightly thicker cover, but
the change will be negligible. Ma
jor league owners know the public
likes long hits and plenty of them,
and will see to it that those hits
are supplied in abundance.
An increased attendance of more
than 1,000,000 in 1937?one of the
heaviest hitting seasons in history?
is proof of the fans' fondness lor
Lone Contender v
A CCORDINQ to Gone Tunney
there's only on* lighter today
who has tha slightest chsode of do
throning Heavyweight Champion Joo
Louis, and that loos contender is
Bob Pastor, known mora familiarly,
as "Six Day" Pastor because of bis
10-round bicycle race with tha Brows
Bomber in 1837.
At a recent banquet in Detroit.
Mich., tha former champ stated:
"Of aB the Ightars Fee seen late
ly, I'd rata Paster as hariag the
keel ek U
E.."j
ehaaies of the game,
thinks fsgt, (data
g*.?w ay
m? ?a2S5r?Z
pod," <
Tunney is admit
tedly a good student
of boxing. He forked
Gene Tunney
hard to become a great fighter, ana
learned more about the flnfef joints
of the game than many a natural
alugger who came up by an easier
route.
Hit reason (of Pastor as
the logical contender Is simple, h
Tmmey'e own words: "Paster's toe
only heavyweight around today who
ean think."
Few people will argue with Gen
tleman Gene on that score. If any
one of the present heavyweights
whips Louis it will be the result at
hesdwork. The Bomber hasn't many
flaws. He is one of the hardest hit
ters the ring has ever seen, punch
ing as hard with either hand as any
heavyweight And he's tough.
hs is by no means a lightning-fast
thinker.
However, Pastor's ability to tktok
doesn't give him much of an edge,
to his previous fight with Louta ho
was too busy back-pedalling to gut
in his best mental licks. At that
ha was considerably mofe fortunate
than most of the tltla seekers, who,
after a couple minutes of action.
did most of their thinking via ton
dream route. Resting comfortably
an their hacks.
To some extent the National Bon
ing association agrees with Mr. Tun
ney, but with reservations. In re
cent ratings, members of that group
promoted Pastor to the raid: of No.
2 challenger, outranked (at the
time) by Galento. Pastor replaond
Lou Nova in second place. '
It is a dubious honor. Even such
has-beens as Maxie Baer and Tom
my Farr were given rankings. In
fourth and fifth places respectively.
Nova, recent conquerer of Max
Baer, is another of the current crop
who has no place in the ring with
Louie, according to Tunoey. Nova,
he says, is in no way equipped for
a fight with the dusky king. Hie
legs are far from being gedd. and
they keep him off balance much sf
the time. He hasn't much of a punch,
end his defense leaves almost ev
erything to be desired. He's easy
to hit, and that doesn't speak weQ
for hie chances with Louis.
After all, it doesn't seem to make
much difference. By no measartoff
stick could any of the coo tenders be
celled great, but they do furntoh
fodder tor the champion. ?a
Sport Shorts
LJ ARRY GONDER, Michigan
11 City, Ind., golf pro, drove a golf
ball 1.S17 times to a vain attempt to
score an ace on a ISA-yard hole am
his borne course. Odds against him
were figured at 9,911 to 1 . .Gen.
Abner Doubleday. called the fa (her
of baseball, was, among other
things, a founder of the Theoaopfct
cal society . . . Ted Lyons is pttcb
'tog his seventeenth season far toe
White Sax . . . Canadian in u^a
pars refer to Softball at mush bal
, , . Connie Mack
says the greatest
player he has ever ;
managed was Eddie -
Collins . . . A1 i
Schacht, whose top
salary as a player
was 16,000. exports
to earn $30,006 as a
minor league clown
this year . . . Bar
on Gottfried' woo
Cramm, once Ger
many's best tennis
player, who had to
J. . eten*/?K fee m
j-ijuir.?'itratLm.
camp, ha* bacotna a Swedish sub
ject . . . Paul Derringer, CWin
nati ace, walked only gig men in his
8rst 60 inning* this year . . . Vhra
American league players were bam
outside the United States: Pitcher
Carrasquel of Washington fa Vene
zuela, Outfielder r?t?i?ti> eg he
same club in Cuba, Geoffrey Heath
of Cleveland and George Sefldrk of
New York fa Canada, and Amdt
Jorgens of the Yankees fa Norway
... In one inning this season, the
ninth, tho Dodgers used four pitch
ers?and the toes scored only two
"SLaatew.Mhwa
*