The Alamance gleaner 1
Vol lxv "-Graham, n. c., Thursday, January u, 1940 ? No. 49 j
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
EW YORK.?Word comes from
*? London that Sir Seymour Hicks,
who, last September, became offi
cial bucker-up of British civilians,
e; c-?_sailors and
Seymour ? S0idierSi is
Laughter Bombs exploding
Back Up British lau?h 1101111,8
all over the
kingdom, which eventually may
blow down the Siegfried wall like
the trumpets of Jericho.
Sir Seymour, who had a similar
job in the World war, is England's
favorite light comedy actor, a lead
ing producer and actor-manager, a
writer of consequence and a rallying
point for both masses and classes,
as they both claim him as their own.
He started life as a call boy
in a London theater. His next
job was as an undertaker's
mute, a hired mourner, some
times filling in as an emergency
v' paH-bearer and the like. He
wore black well and did nicely
in his new career, until his
memories of the theater obtrud
ed at an unfortunate moment.
He was walking solemnly be
hind a hearse, when a distant
band struck up a tune, which
carried him back-stage again.
He swung open the door of the
hearse and called out, "The
overture begins now, sir."
That shunted him right back to
the theater, which, by all accounts,
he never should have left. He has
written and produced 64 plays and is
the author of eight books of remi
niscence, comment and criticism.
He was knighted in 1935.
n INING with Henry F. Grady
many years ago, this writer
noted that he had that old-time free
trade religion. He has never back
Grady Sticks to
Old-Tim? Free Hull's Jepb
Trade Religion fWtd
to smite the
' Ammonites hip and thigh as they
assail the secretary's trade agree
ments program.
Mr. Grady, S7-year-old Ceitie
and incurably optimistic spe
cialist in foreign trade, is assist
? ant secretary of state and has
taken over the job of expound
ing and putting forward the
agreements. The law authoris
ing the plan will expire June 12,
and the continuation of this
trade policy will be an early
and exciting kick-off in congress.
Mr. Grady, a San Franciscan, ed
ucated at St. Mary's university, Bal
timore, is a man of encyclopedic
learning in, trade matters, a lec
turer at many universities, the au
thor of many books and treatises
and a member of many learned so
cieties. He boils down a mountain
of data and statistics to his vehe
ment insistence that, no matter how
we may tinker with tariffs and quo
tas, the only helpful reality is the
flux of good through the internation
al bloodstream.
TP HE Russian Baltic drive, side
' tracked by the Finns, was, ac
cording to the meager evidence ob
??. tainable, the pet idea of Andrei
? FinmHammered
Wedge Between ferred to in
Stalin, ZhdanoB two
years as Sta
lin's possible successor. Later news
is that Stalin has other ideas about
H. Zhdanoff's future, as the latter
takes the rap for the debacle in
Finland.
He was designated secretary
of the Leningrad Communist
party Committee on December
IS, ISM. That made him a vir
tual dictator of the Leningrad
district, the Pittsburgh of Rus
sia. M. Zhdanoff has been par
ticularly bitter against Britain,
and several correspondents have
attributed to him the disruption
of last summer's negotiations of
the allied powers with the So
viets.
He is 43 years old, a Revolutionist
since 1912, when he left school to
engage in agitation against the czar
ist government. Until 1917, he was
chiefly occupied dodging the police
and joined the army as a germ
carrier for the Bolsheviks. In the
early revolutionary years, he was
one of the leading organizers of
party propaganda and was thrown
into close association with Josef
Stalin.
ICOasoMaMS Featuraa?WKU Sarrtca.1
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBlNE
Lengthy Congress in Prospect
Despite FDR Peace Overtures;
New Tax Measure Faces Fight
(EDITOR'S NOTE?When opinions are expressed la these celsmns, they
are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
???* by Western Newspaper Union.
CONGRESS:
Keynote
"Dear Alben" Barkley settled
down for six months in Washington.
"We'll be here until June," he told
reporters, "but * doubt if there will
be much new legislation. There
probably will be efforts to amend
the Wagner act and the wage-hour
law. The reciprocal trade treaty
program probably will cause the
greatest controversy.
He told no lie there, and Presi
dent Roosevelt knew it. Striking
fast, before the opposition had a
chance to open its mouth, the Presi
dent keynoted the second session of
the seventy-sixth congress in a state
of-the-union speech which attacked
the "destructive mine-field of trade
restrictions." Plumping for renew
KENTUCKY'S BAKKLEY
"We'll be here until June."
al of his "moet-favored-nation" pro
gram in which the administration?
not congress?has the power to sign
trade pacts, he offered this defense:
. . it is advisable to provide, at
times of emergency, some flexibility
to make the general law adjustable
to quickly changing conditions."
Only one other concession did he
want in 1940, because it is an elec
tion year: "I am asking the con
gress for army and navy increases
which are based not on panic but
on common sense."
Conservation of resources, protec
tion of national health, extension of
social security and the merit sys
tem were also mentioned, but in
a moderate voice. Only out-and
out political dart was a crack at
G. O. P. Hopeful Tom Dewey, who
recently accused the New Deal of
"defeatism." Said the President:
"To warble easy platitudes that if
we will only go back to the ways
that have failed, everything will be
all right?is not courage."
Next day congress got the budget.
Items and total:
National defense $1 800,000,000
Work iWIef program. 1.300.000.000
Agricultural programs *00.000.000
Public works and Invest
menta 1.100.000.000
Pensions, retirements ana
assistance 1.200.000.000
Interest on the public debt.. 1.100.000.000
Regular operating 1.000.000.000
Total 18.400.000.000
This, said the President, was an
estimated cut of <613.000,000 from
the current fiscal year, while treas
ury receipts are expected to rise
$382,000,000. Estimated net deficit
for 1040-41: $2,178,000,000, compared
with $3,033,000,000 this year. But to
further cut the deficit, Mr. Roose
velt recommended that his $400,000,
000 boost in defense costs be paid
through new taxes. Commented
loyal Sen. Pat Harrison from Mis
sissippi: "It's not easy to raise
$460,000,000 right off. I'm not strong
on this tax business."
Rolling up its sleeves, congress
found the Democrats enjoyed a
?m A aa c C.
nIBmeS
. ? ? in the news
c. Harry Bridges, West coast C. I. O.
leader freed on deportation charges,
announced he would seek naturali
zation "at the earliest possible mo
ment."
4. Charles Edisea, inventor's son,
named secretary of the navy, began
studying means at speeding up the
naval construction program.
4 Louis (Lepke) BaehaHer, sen
tenced to 14 years in prison for vio
lating the federal narcotics law,
heard that New York's District At
torney Thomas Dewey hoped to "put
him away for 900 years" on racket
charges.
I three-to-one majority in the senate,
and a three-to-two lead in the house.
Major issues, aside from the recipro
cal trade act and national defense:
1. Whether to raise the national
debt limit, npw nearing its $45,000,
000,000 legal peak.
2. What to do about new tax pro
posal, such as Secretary of Agricul
ture Wallace's "certificate plan" (in
effect, a processing tax) to pay farm
benefits.
S. Whether to amend the Wagner
labor relations act, under fire from
all sides.
4. Whether to continue Martin
Dies' un-Americanism committee.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Wire Merger a
Western Union maintains 20,000
branch offices employing 43,000 peo
ple: Postal Telegraph, its competi
tor, has 4,400 offices and 14,000 em
ployees. Thanks to air mail, tele
phone and radio. Western and Postal
are both having financial troubles.
This month, as a result, came a
paradox: While Trust Buster Thur
man Arnold was busy breaking up
monopolies, the much-concerned fed
eral communications commission
recommended to congress that
Western and Postal be allowed to
consolidate.
INTERNATIONAL:
Something in the Wind
It was big news in early January
that hardy Finnish troops had cut
16,000 Russians off from their base
at Sella; had trapped another divi
sion near Suomussalmi; had cap
tured a Russian base at Aittajoki;
had repulsed countless shock troops
on file Karelian isthmus; had even
blasted a Red air base in Estonia.
But the biggest news came from
a little Madrid newspaper called
Alcazar. Said its editorial: "Fin
land is- defending with its flesh and
bravery the treasure of occidental
civilization. Fighting so bravely for
independence she fights also for all
Christianity, and it is inexplicable
that after a long month of war she
hasn't received tangible aid . . ."
Looking about them, European ob
servers wondered if the Alcasmr plea
wasn't being answered. They saw
a series of potentially related moves
PAUL EMILE NAGGLAB
Lonesome in Moscow.
that might eventually lead to peace
among the alliee and Germany, and
to a European attack driving the
Russian bear to his den. Indications:
Uolatiea. Home from Moscow to
London went Ambassador Sir Wil
liam Seeds to write a white paper
on Russo-British relations. Gossip
had it that his conversations with
Premier Viacheslav Molotoff had
bepn stormy, and that he probably
wouldn't return. Also homeward
bound was Au gusto Rosso, Italian
ambassador. Left in Moscow, un
comfortable and lonesome, was
French Ambassador Paul Emile
Naggiar.
Shakeup. The newspaper Petit
Paritien reported from Italy that
Germany was planning a drastic po
litical reorganization to woo the al
lies. It would include Adolf Hitler's
becoming president, succeeded to
the chancellorship by moderate Her
man Goering; purging of radicals
like Heinrich Himmler, Joe Goeb
bels and Dr. Robert Ley; manage
ment of foreign affairs by a mod
erate like Dr. Hans von Macken
sen, ambassador to Italy; slacken
ing of relations with Russia and pro
visional recreation of Poland and
Czechoslovakia.
AM. In ' an embarrassing spot,
Germany announced she would wink
at allied shipments of munitions to
Finland, but could not tolerate troop
movements. Thus it was obvious
the Reich would like to see ber "al
ly," (Russia) driven back, yet could
not risk exposure to allied troops
from the North sea.
Know your nam? One hundred it
perfect wore, and deduct tO for ouch
question you miss. Score of 60 qr more
is acceptable.
1. This English peer's daugh
ter, an ardent Hitlerite who has
been in Germany since before the
war started, returned to England
on a stretcher with a revolver
bullet in her neck. What's her
name?
2. Why did Irish Premier
Eamon De Valera ask parliament
for dictatorial powers?
3. True or False: Martin Dies
has asked eongTess to discontinue
his mi-Americanism probe be
cause of ill health and because
the Justice department is now
prosecuting alien "isms."
4. What do the following have
in common: Robert Fechner,
head of the CCC; Guy Ballard,
head of the "Great I Am" cult;
several thousand residents of the
Turkish earthquake area; the
163rd Russian division on the
Finnish front.
5. If the V. 8. began taking
its decennial census January 2,
why hasn't an enumerator
knocked on your door yet?
L Unit* Vnlkyrle rroomon-Mlttord.
,a.rslsa. Itjpw'nSLteam
dtod Most 1 the RuuUs dhrt
?teu was k'.iir
a Tho tniWnm coon otartsd Join
try L The regular "aoee-couat" rtmn't
aUrt until April L
COURTS:
Tell It to Congress
Well-timed if ita intention waa to
heighten congreaaional demanda for
reviaion of the Wagner act, a deci
sion by the Supreme court upheld
the much-criticized National Labor
Relatione board on three counts:
(1) For refusing to place an al
legedly company-dominated union
on ballots used in a bargaining
agency election at the Falk corpora
tion, Milwaukee.
(2) For designating a C. I. O. union
as collective bargaining agency for
waterfront workers along the Pacif
ic coast.
(!) For ordering employees of the
Jackson, Mich., power company to
vote on the question of affiliation 1
with C. I. O., after a ballot on
C. I. O. versus A. F. of L. had 1
brought no majority vote.
These decisions offered no partic
ular commendation of NLRB, how
ever. Commented Justice Harlan
Stone: . . this failure (of con
gress) to provide for a court review
(of NLRB decisions) is productive
of peculiar hardships . . . But these
are arguments to be addressed to
congress and not to the courts."
TREASURY:
Easy Taxes
Tenderly breaking the newa that
income tax time ia just around the
corner, Guy T. Helvering, commis
sioner of internal revenue, soothed
taxpayers with the announcement
that this year's report forms have
been simplified. Instructions, once
as complex as the report form it
self, have been pared down and
shaved of technical phrasing.
POLITICS:
Appointments
Fast on the heels of President
Roosevelt's judicial and justice ap
pointments came a baker's dozen
of explanations. Among them: At
torney General Frank Murphy was
named to the Supreme court (a pop
ular appointment) to get him out of
the 1M0 presidential picture; Solici
tor General Robert H. Jackson was
reclaimed from obscurity and made
attorney general as grooming for a
place on the 1M0 ticket, probably as
vice presidential candidate under
Cordell Hull; Judge Francis Biddle
of the circuit appeals court (a life
time job) was boosted to the solici
tor generalship to make a place for
unpopular Warren Madden, NLRB
chairman. Thus were several birds
killed with one stone.
Bruckart't Washington Digest
'Pressure Groups' Already Are
Worrying Members of Congress
New Deal Agencies, Seekers After Justice and Promoters
Of Various Movements Active as Usual; Old Age Pen
sions, Unemployment Insurance Not Neglected.
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WWJ Service, NsttauU Frw BMf., Wukiafton, D. C.
WASHINGTON.?About the time
congress reconvenes each year, the
national capital is deluged with
what have come to be known as
"pressure groups." It is a poor de
scription. I believe most at them
can be called "selfish groups" for
the reason that the self-righteous in
dividuals who lead (or promote)
movements or causes or demands
for Justice usually have Jobs of their
own at stake.
They want to keep their followers
happy, especially the saps who eon
tribute hard-earned dimes or dol
lars so that their representative or
their delegation may put up a good
front in the eity of Washington,
Any way, it is the open season for
them, again. They are busier than
a hive of bees. They are engaged
in the annual invasion upon senators
and representatives and among the
numerous New Deal agencies, seek
ing justice, urging help for those
whose liberties are being trampled
into the mud, appealing for this and
tint and the other.
There are the usual spokesmen
for corporations and groups of cor
porations. They, too, are seekers
after justice. They are no more
selfish than the lesser racketeers.
Those fellows, however, have a dif
ferent kind of stake in the results.
The seekers after individual justice,
those who urge maintenance of
"civil liberties," etc., usually are
concerned with keeping themselves
in their jobs, while the seekers after
justice for die corporations and busi
ness interests are trying to preserve
their own material futures.
May Bm Jot Toning Up
Far thm Election Campaign*
There is, however, something dis
turbing about this year's invasion.
It seems to be utterly impossible
that so many new injustices could
have arisen within tho last year.
There always has bean a considera
ble amount of this low form at high
pressure around Washington, but
the Increased number at seekers
after justice this year would seem to
prove that the whole country has
gone to pieces. It may be, of course,
that they are tuning up for the elec
tion campaigns.
Seriously, however, few persons
have been able to analyze the situ
ation. Some suggest that the cur
rent trek of seekers after justice
results from the fact that the na
tional government has become the
focal point for "relief' from every
thing since the depression fell upon
us in 1930. Others feel that a sense
of futility about life, itself, has crept
into this country from the lands
where dictators hold a human life
to be nothing more than a chattel.
If either of these answers is cor
rect, we have a dangerous condition
on our hands. It is the defeatist
attitude.
It represents a decaying civiliza
tion and national leaders had better
wake ap to what it means.
Now, lest someone charge me
with having changed my tune from
several years ago,
I want to recall that
I once feebly at
tempted to pin a
senator's ears back
lor seeking legisla
tion to make every
one register who
visited a senator or
a representative in
behalf of legislation.
He wanted to brand
each one as a lob
byist That senator H BUek
vm Hugo Black,
who now writes binding legal opin
ion* as a member of the Supreme
court at the United States instead
at blabbing lor hours on the floor
of the senate. 1 maintain that ev
eryone has the right of petition to
any government agency. What I am
trying to do here, however, is to
show that there are so many more
"petitioner*" now than heretofore
and to And the reason for it
Many Seekers After
J art ice in Washington
Of course, most of those move
menu will not get very tar. They
will not get as far. In fact as when
I used to crawl under the corncrit
for eggs out on the farm. But then
are enough dissatisfied and dlscour
aged folks throughout the country tc
pay the freight?and the hotel biils
for an extraordinarily large num
her of seekers after justice m Wasb
It is astonishing to sea the lengths
to which soma of them will go. For
example, there is one great church
organization that sought to force the
census bureau to include in the
forthcoming census certain ques
tions that would have given that {
church a powerful leverage in the
future administration of government
affairs, according to well-authenti
cated reports. The church repre- ,
tentative tried for weeks to high ,
pressure the census officials into in
clusion of three questions. He made
some threats about the conse
quences of their refusal. The gov- ,
eminent attorney to whom the cen- .
sua officials submitted the question
had the guts to say "no" and that (
was the census bureau answer.
It was a despicable thing, how- ]
ever, and Illustrates the dangers in
herent in the conditions I have tried
to describe.
The old age pension movement i
and the unemployment compensa
tion movement and the other "wel
fare" movements are represented
in full force.
Othor G roup* Are Working
For Gift a From Gooornmont
There are half a dozen other
groups around town, working for
one thing or another in the shape of
gifts from the government Nearly
all of them have found something
wrong with the present social se
curity law, but they do not agrse
on what is wrong with it The
whole circumstance rather con
vinces me that maybe the law ought
to be tossed overboard. I doubt
that the federal government can
ever administer such law. There
probably is little possibility that any
such law ever can be made worka
ble on a national basis. Some of
the dreamy New Dealers who con
ceived it have faded out of Wash
ington officialdom already and have
left their baby for somebody else to
nurse to maturity. The one service
they performed was to the New
Deal finances, because the original
program has brought six or seven
hundred million dollars into the fed
eral treasury?and it has been
spent
Organized labor has its represent
atives on the scene in a big way.
Both the Congress ?
of Industrial Organ
izations, which is
headed bjr John L.
Lewis, and the
American Federa
tion of Labor, which
is headed by Wil
liam Green, have
national headquar
ters here. What is
a poor politician go
ing to do, however,
when Lewis and
Green are fighting
each other and seldom, if ever,
agree upon what changes must be
made in the national labor relations
act.
The labor row may get more thaa
Jut an ordinary airing daring the
session of congress now under way.
I have written heretofore about
the special house committee investi
gation of the National Labor Rela
tions board. Exposures by that com
mittee already have brought de
mands for the ousting at Commis
sioner Smith and Chairman Mad
den.
American Legion Ceo Really
Pet on High f is asms
There is an offshoot of organised
labor's setup here known as Labor's
Non-Partisan league. I don't know
what it is supposed to accomplish,
but it has a press agent and a staff
of "executives" and they all seem
to get paid regularly.
The American Legion is getting
active again. It wants more gov
ernment money for the ex-soldiers,
and make no mistake about it The
American Legion can really put on
high pressure when it sets out to do
the Job.
I haven't scratched the surface in
naming the pressure groups that are
to be found here for the current ses
sion of congress. There are at least
SO business organisations and trade
associations. The purposes of all
are the same, namely, advantages
for them. The advantages may be
in tha form of cash such as the pen
sion petitioners and the Legion seek,
or advantages that can be turned
into cash after the methods of busi
Sneaking of Sports 1
Amateur Boxing
Seen as Ideal
Prep Program|
By ROBERT McSHANE
A MATEUR boxing as a sport
ranking equal to football, bas
ketball, hockey or any of the others
has been long advocated by Ed
Ha islet, director of Golden Glove ac
tivities in the state o< Minnesota and
one of the most ardent boxing enthu
siasts of the nation, i
Halslet fathers
grans which is backed by the ifta
neapoUs Star-Joans!, m saptl stags
aI the Golden Glove toermaawa* la
Mtonesrta. HebeBeves every
its athletic program; that every
bghter^shenM wis^ii^iMMtot
The helmet protects the head and
eliminates cauliflower ears. Eyaa
rtthdth^Omblc!m' glove.
It is Haislet's claim that boxing
will make better men of the partic
ipants; that no other lport can
exceed lighting in developing co
ordination and akill, building the
body or satisfying the emotional as
pect of competition.
Fosters Champions
There Is Bttle question that the
spert^^ehfeetmnrt^rtm
heavyweight cham
fiM? rf all MM.
" ?T
ggr&-?
Qw r* ?; ? ?i *
rnmi ut |?wtM
carefully and iotlen are stationed
at the ringside and ia tka fcndi|
rooms. Bear boy who is hnscbed
oat is kept under observation for
down must stay down tor the eight
count before continuing to fight.
Today fighting ia a eetonMfib aaL
There is more to ths sport thaw
mare slugging and the ability to
"take it" Hundreds ad high actuals
throughout the nation sponsor ham
ing teams. Competent met rectors
have taught youngsters bow to car*
tor their bodies and bow to stay to
condition, Boxing mists are sera
fully supervised and parents no i
longer fear for their youngsters*
health.
Ansa tear boxtog to Ugh sehooto
wtH reaeh Its rightful place whan
the'welfare ef participants aheee
victory and every ether testes.
That moot of them do now to a
thing distinctly in its favor.
BOWLING
Made Easy
(This is ths last si s sstims si 1 ??
Umtnhf Msd Dsj W Mihmsmtm.
C POT AMD HEAD PDf BOWL
? INC. Spot bowline should not bo
tried by a new bowler unless be li
confident that his delivery is truly
jsjumail
grooved.
A tree spot bewier win pick a spat 1
at a petal where be expects te sat '
the ball down an the^alley, set Ma
tteM step krep'htsbady
<pot, without leekinf at the pins an
The head pin bowler is ene who
addressee the pins, draws an imagt- 'i
nary Una from the pocket te the Ml ,
an the alley where be will aet Ma
ball down, seta his body accnrdknfe 3
object be expects to hit
It te We?i Hue ion ustaaj s