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S A , tl ti 1 * « « t) * ti « J t « li 3 H K la 3U *¥ d <01 d d tti d f 'd •»s» •a« P P* *• Ah U ri ti !n pl Ci THIS WEEK ? iNews Review of Current f -mmrr Events the World Over Nobody Wa* Frorr n One Strike Subaide* “ The Emperor Has Lions 1,000,000 Tiny Pigs SerersJ bar* written to this eotama offering to let themselves be “fraxeo stiff and then ra mmed to life* to the interest of sci ence. as suggested by a Los Angeles chemist. R. S. Wil lard. They will be nrrj to hMr. the American Med ical Lobby Committees Quarrel Over Magnate Hopson—Presi dent Signs Social Security Act—Tri-Power Confer- • ' * • V ' ence on Italo-Ethiopian Question. —-k \ By EDWARD W. PICKARD V e w. ILL ROGERS, famous actor and- hamorist, and Wiler Poet, one W ef the best known filers In the world, crashed to their death in a plane while flying from Fairbanks to Point Bar- row, Alaska. The two men. close had been enjoying an aerial association 11 ! trip in the North, and Pogt. Ur wntarrl** later to fly to Asia. Nesra of j. .jtfrrx xlnr the fatal accident waa tent to Seattle .net'd fr«dDf . br stJJllbr Mo ^ -gMl lard of freezing a ** id ** h * d «« T «ed the bodies from the wreckage. T“., deed monkey and then soh^timtiag a lire one. supposed to have been frozen and thawed onL Doctor Fishbein. editor of the Amer ican Medical Association Journal, says, anybody frozen stiff woold sorely die. It waa an Interesting yam while It W _ ^ m lasted. New York’s strike of onion men •gainst President Roosevelt. General Johnson and the WAP (“Works Prog ress administration'*) seems tempo rarily to hare collapsed. Mr. Meany. New York labor leader, said ail onion men won id go oet and stay ont and nonunion men woold follow. The news la that the nooanion men did not fol low, and the anion men went back •d work. Robert Moses of the park depart ment. who employs 25,000 workers on park projects, reports only 110 de- •ertera An interesting photograph from Addis J-haha shows two servants of the Ethiopian emperor, riding on Ilona one female, one male. In the palace garden. The emperor's lions are trained In this fashion for ase as •watch dogat Too can easily be- Bere that intruders “keep oat." For war parposea however, lions are pot particularly valuable. Tear gaa and deadly poisonous gas would din- courage the liona as they would men. and lions cannot Jump as high as an airplane. 1 c x v-i i In Chicago’s stockyards half the bog pens are closed, prices are soaring, men have lost joba all for lack of hogs to posh around and botcher. The yards are suffering. And only a little while ago an ear nest government, determined to help the farmer and promote prosperity, was batcbering tens of thousands of •farrow sows* to get rid of them be fore their little pigs could be born. •Too many little pigs will make too many big plga” said the government. Too can imagine the ghost^\of a mil lion pigs floating over the stockyarda squeaking In their baby voicea “We told you so.' R IVALS in the matter of publicity. the bouse and senate committees on the activities of lobbyists got into ! a tangle that certainly didn't enhance their dignity. How- j ard C Hopson, the j long sought head of the Associated Gas and Electric Utilities system, permitted the j emissary of the house committee to find him, and Senator Huso Black flew into a rase and had his committee threaten Hopson wi r h contempt proceedings H. C. Hopson cn j^ 5 j ( appeared be fore IL Chairman OConpor of the boose body was angered by this an 1 declared: “Hopson is In my custody. I've got him. Nobody else has got him. Nobody else la going to get him." The elusive, chunky utilities mag nate told the house committee about f M(* various companies and related the saga of his travels while he was be Ing sought. But he politely refused toan- swer questions concerning the sources and amount of his income. He tes’l- fied that f»e “believed" the Associated Gas system had spent “eight or nine hundred thousand dollars" In opposi tion to the Wneeler-Rayburn utility j control btlL That’s just a small fraction of the fSOOXOO.CCw equity ip our companies j which would be destroyed If the bill i becomes -law and remains law,' he de clared. I To one question by Cox of Georria j Hopson replied: “I resent that In quiry. No gentleman would have ' asked It." Whereupon Cox threat- j eced to kick him out of the room on- , less he withdrew the answer, and Hop- son mildly withdrew it/ : amount to a . O'Connor Introduced in the boose a so that he resolution that severely s:ammed the senate, but it dropped when Word came that Senator Black would wait to take Hopson after OCoanor’s bunch through with him. of the population against 100 per cent of the hazards and vicissitudes of bfe but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of pro tection to the average citizen and to bis family’ against the loss of a'Job and against poverty-ridden old agcf. This law, too. represents s' corner stone la a structure which is being built bat is by no means complete—a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions, to ict as a protection to future administra tions of the government against the necessity of going deeply Into debt to furnish relief'to the needy—a law to flatten out the peaks and valleys of de flation and of Inflation-Tin other words a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic struc ture of vastly greater soundness." the Methodist Episcopal cborcb. the Methodist Episcopal church. Sooth, and the Methodist Protestant eh arch have been in session la Evanston, ITL. and have agreed upon a form of -thet is to he aohodtt^* twAhe conferences of the three churches and, if ratified by them, to all the .annual conferences. The new organization, it was agreed, would be called the United Methodist church and woold consist of six jurisdictional or regional [ conferences. ' F ARMERS who believe (hat their individual rights are being en croached upon by the adaiinistration'a agricultural policies are offered a chance to get together by the organi zation and incorporation ia Chicago of the Fanners’ Independent Connell of America. Dan D. Casement, a fanner of Manhattaa. Kan. is president of the body. Stanley f. .Morse, South Caroline farmer and consulting agrl- Washington! Piaest National Topics Interpreted By WILLIAM BRUCKART J|||||pi| Washington.—Wj)lle two congres sional committees have b<<en seek ng newspaper publicity Legulation for themaelvMi In promoting Investlga- LoW ”" Uens of legislative lobbies, the Fedeiral Trade Commission has quietly taken the position that v.«vu.u« * , 'legislative activities" onther>art fl ^ culturist, is executive vice president --Individuals or business ‘® ter . p not so- ba<L. r Strangely enough, the heretofore has been la- and Chris J. Abbott. Nebraska stock- man and farmer, and Clyde O. Patter son. Ujlnois Jersey breeder, were In corporator*. Dr. Charles W. Burkett, agricultural authority of New York and formerly director of the Kansas agricultural experiment station, and L. G. Tolies, farmer and past master of the Connecticut State Grange, are other vice presidents of the council, and Dr. E V. Wilcox, representative commission beled as rather radical but In this In stance it has taken a mnch more con servative’ view of efforts of private citizens to protect themselves than have the members of congress. The commission made known its po sition In only one case, but the under standing Is that It represents a view of a majority of the commission r»em- of the Country Gentleman. District of b»ra and thai in—all probability there land. Premier Pierre Laval, of France and Baron Pompel Alolsi of Italy met in Paris, as arranged, to see If they couldn’t de vise a way to avfrt the Italo-Ethiopian war. due to begin in Sep tember. Eden had a plan all prepared and after outlining It to Laval he* laid it be fore Baron AloisL The latter, of coarse, had no power to assent but was compelled to submit the proposals to Premier Mussolini. Columbia, is secre r ar> treasurer; Fred L Crawford. Michigan coogtvss man and farm owne-; E M. Dorsett farmer and past n aster Penofylvania Slate Grange, and Kurt Gre-mwald, farm manager and arricair^r d engi neer. New York, are directors. To me there Is bat one Issue, whether we are going to have a con stitutional government or have a dicta torial regime," said Charles E Col lins. Colorado cattleman and president of the American National Live Stock association, regional vice president of the new organization. j Baron Alois! War talk continues. Mussolini an nounces a new air weapon ''over whelmingly powerful." but does not say what It la. Plain TNT and poison gas are powerful enough. Hitler, announcing that his country Is “ready to meet any outside peril." adds: "No power on earth can attack us." That seems a little overconfi dent. . A prosaic financial telegram suggests that the public debt of Germany haa However. It gave . opportunity for a ^iiculous quarrel ; between the New Yorker awd Rank n of Texas. Late in the day Hopson calmly walked Into Black’s committee room and asked: “Is some fine here look i Ing for me?" Black and his committee then questioned the utilities man for sn hour or two and got ^mighty little out of him except smooth sarcasm that ^JOBODY liked the new tax made the chairman quite furious: At j that congress waa w That II Duce would accept It without change was cons.dered unlikely, but it formed a basis for discussion. According to the best information, the Eden plan embraced these chief points: # L Important economic concessions for Italy In Ethiopia. 2. A proposal that Italy be given the right to colonize and exploit rich, sparsely Inhabited portions of the Ethiopian uplands probably under a League of Nations mandate as is pro vided for former German colonies in article XXII of the League of Na tions covenant. 3. The offer of an outlet direct to the sea for Ethiopia, as a measure of compensation for its concessions. It was understood in Paris that Mussolini still demanded what would mandate over Ethiopia ould have political as well as economic control over the coun try. This Great Britain does not like, and France ia rather on .the fence. The British Insist that in. any case there must be an Immediate show down. One correspondent said If Great Britain adhered to the policy at which Eden hinted in his conrersa- ’tion with Laval, it would mean either dissolution of the League of N'ai.ons or else collective 'aaiictions against MuasoLini. involving the risk of a Eu ropean war. Waliaca S ECRETARY of Agriculture Wallace has changed his mind about the re stead of asking the farmers for a cut of 15 per cent, as was announced recently, the figure is now placed at 5 per cent. Wallace told report ers that the change was decided upon after the government's Au gust 1 survey of crop conditions indicated .that total wheat pro duction this year would amount to only 0OEOOO.OOO bushels as S * c ' y compared with domestic requirements of 635.000000 bushels. The step was taken, be asserted, to assure smple supplies for domestic consumers. He said that it fu* **- peeled to place the country Id a “strengthened position" in the export market. He added the change in pol icy will not result in any marked re- juctfon in benefit payment to farmers. He did not say what the exact reduc tions in the payments would amount to. AAA officials estimated that approx imately 52.000.000 acres would be placed under contract this year. They asserted that the government Is given “adequate powers" to deal with the situat.on If a bumper wheat barvcri* should result in 1306. made the chairman quite that time both Hopson and'his attor ney had citation. been served with contempt iOY. MARTIN L DA VET of Ohio r has “pulled a fast one" on the been increased by 20.000000.000 . Republicans in behalf of the Dqipo- marka. That might represent an Interior enemy of considerable proportions. Uncle Sam, with all his spending, make* a little something for hlmselt His money-issuing privileges, paper dollars worth about 50 cents: and Mirer coins containing leas than half their value in silver, have given the treasury a profit of about *3,000.000,- 000. And at this moment it d -es not ap pear to have hurt anybody. W«ho un derstands money? „ Stocks are better, prices higher, in London and In Wall Street. The Lon- j don Dally Mall »ayi: “A stock ex- - change bo^m seems to do more tor world trade than anything. The rea son Is that it gives c^nfilence every where.’’ Stmage anJ powerful Is “confl- O deree." You cannot fee It. feel It, weigh it, but you can easily destroy it cratic party. The G. O. P. leaders were demanding a state-wide by-elec tion in Ohio to fill thg vacancy era- | ated by the death of Representative- at-Large Charles V. Truax. believing the result woold demonstrate, even more clearly than did the Rhode Is land election, the waning strength of the administration. But Governor Da- vey went to Washington and consult ed with President Roosevelt and then announced that he would not call and could not be compelled to call a spe cial congressional election uc:i. next year His declared reason was the cost, not-fear of party defeat. Court action to force the calling of the elec tion there Is no restriction of hi* discre tion in fixing the time of the ejection. bill orking on. and the senate finance committee had hard work making up its mllKi aa to the form it would recom mend. First it altered almost every provision of the bill passed by the boose add chanced U from a “soak the rich" measure to one which would soak practically every one. This was done by low ering personal income (ax exemptions and starting the surtax in- S * nato ' Bonh creases st *3.000 In stead of *50.000. The litter feature was proposed by Senator La Follette and was adopted to keep him -in line. Also, the inheritance taxes which President Roosevelt had asked for were eiinri- nated. Protests against increasing the taxes on little incomes came Immediately, W HEN the President’s -social se curity bill was finally enacted in to Law, the senate adopting the confer ence report already agreed to by the will not be quch fuss or furore again respecting the efforts of private citi zens to engage the attention of their elected legislators when their pocket- books are in danger. No such attitude Is In evidence at the Capitol Certainly, no such evi dence has been given by Alabama's Senator Black and his senate investl- gatlug committee. The house'Investi gating committee, under the chairman ship of John J. O'Conner of New York, has not been quite so ferocious but it has not overlooked opportunities to get on the front page of newspapers when ever possible. The two congressional Investigations have come to be regarded bv Washing- ton correspondents largely as farcical. I reported to you some weeks ago that the probable result of the congression al investigations would be the smear ing of many men of wealth and the exposing of any shortcomings of cor- porationa"Cn which the committees could lay- their hands. That has been the result to date and the^utlnok has. been changed. As far as anyone can see now. neither committee Is go ing to adduce any evidence or testi mony that will be helpful in the fram ing of legislation—that Is 'the basis upon which congressional Investiga tions proceed and It is the only basis in law they have for such inquiries. In support of the assertion that there Is much publicity sought, one needs only to reflect on the circum stance of those two committees en gaged in a battle to obtain the testi mony of Howard C. Hoj>son, the big shot of the Associated Gas and Elec- txisTPmpany. Mr. Hopson has been sought to give testimony respecting his company's lobbying activities and was looked upon by the chairman of each committee as a star witness—a star because he Is one of the biggest men to the utilities field and therefore good headline material We here in Washington saw the spectacle of subpoena bearers from each committee chasing through the streets In a race to hotels where Mr. Hopson was reported seen. The elusive Mr. Hopson was not discovered In any of the three hotels where rumor said he was quartered. Then rumor got busy again and a process server raced •ion deals with literally thousand* ©i Individual bnslneasea each year. It has Jurisdiction to order elimination of unfair trade practlcea and to expose Just plain cheating In private bastness. Therefore, the commission may be said to have a vital influence on the Uvea and businesses of those whose opera tions may be characterized as small and Important only .in small commuW ties, as well as on the great masses of capital and national trade associa tions. Since the commission has shown a willingness to consider the rights of Individuals to foster their own Inter ests, some observers believe that Its prestige will be enhanced and that we may find In the future that the com mission will be a popular government al unij rather than one which bosiness looks upon with fear. N 4 v . • Throughout iue KooeeveTf admin is-* tratlon we have observed almost dai# announcements that Executive Order » house, probably many thousands of men and womea al over the country * ftidlywer the Virginia roads'to” the began figuring oa the pensions they Sfi® of Attorney Patrick J. would receive under Us terms. It is nnlikeiy that one in - a thousand has any clear idea of bow the new pro gram's pension system will work, so we reprint here a neat summary pre pared by the Associated Press show ing its operation as applied to “Bill Jones": > “Suppose young Bill Is twenty when the law goes Into effect sod makes an average monthly salary of $K*} until be is sixty five. He win get a monthly pension, until his death, of *53.75. “In detail, here ia what will happen to him: ' "In the calendar years 1937, 19.& and 1939 be will pay a salary tax. of T pear rant or I ntal of *36 for the Hurley, who waa -secretary of war In President Hoover’s administration and who has served as attorney here for the Associated Gas and Electric com pany at times past It turned out that Mr. Hopson was not at the Hurley home and the faithful process server was forced to return empty handed. • • • Bat to get back to the Federal Trade Commission. Its position may yet be ^ regarded as deter- Oehcate minable only on the Question merit of »» Individ ual case or circum stance. That Is to say the commission probably dias not condoned sharp prac tices In tnb relationships between pri- tbree years. In 1940. 1941. 1912 be will pay 1H pra cent, or *54. In 1943, 1944. vate business and official agencies, and 1945 the tax will be 2 per rant-hr { the President has l done this, that or the other thing “by executive order." In the rush of legis lation designed to help us over the emergency In 1933, executive orders came thick and fast. No one thought a great deal about them. It was un usual for them to emerge from the White Hpnse In such numbers but I believe It was the general desire to forget the precedent that was being established, numerically at least, in the issuing of executive orders because of the acute conditions in the country. —Subsequently, attention was calledP officially to the great number of these orders and that they had. the force and effect of law. It was the more Impor tant because the Supreme court 6f the United States called attention to the facts. The court digressed far enough In a weighty opinion which It rendered to suggest that It was impossible for the average individual to know what these executive orders contained; what inhibitions or prohibitions were pre scribed and what rights. If any, a citl- ien had left The American Liberty league, which is addressing itself consistently to analysis of governmental affairs, in forms me that between March 4. 1933, and the end of July, 1935. Mr. Roose velt issued more than one thousand two hundred and fifty executive orders. The league offices also say that this is a greater total than the number of executive" orders Issued over the pre ceding 10 years. Some fifty new agencies and addi tional branches of existing agencies or departments have been created by the simple expedient of an executive order. These new agencies have embarked upon all sorts of projects, never even discussed at the time of the enactment of the law under which they were 1» sued. • • • In addition to the executive orders, k Is claimed that something like twenty thousand administra- Ordert Upon tlve orders have been Ordert issued by officials of various Agencies whose sole legal basis for their sets' was an executive order signed by the President "The examples of executive orders which have been cited show clearly a usurpation of legislative power," the league commented in a statement Is sued the other day. “By no stretch of the imagination can many of these or ders be regarded merely as ministerial acts In execution of laws, enacted by the congress. Policlei are Involved which under the principles of democ racy should be passed upon by the con gress. members of which' reflect the varying viewpoints of citizens of dif ferent areas and schools of thought So long as the judgment of the entire membership of the congress is applied to Important questions a balance will be maintained In the public Interest It URROUNDED by a group of not- Fove’y woman, led by Paris fa?h- lo* designers. 1* still trying to find out what she really wan ? s. Universal Service dispatches from Paris describe •dresses as transparent as lace cur Ons from the knee down; skin-tight tvening gowns with ect-out designs aa * Ng aa elm leaves from under the arm* to the aip-line. Cape coats of white fui\ slit wide open on both sides." One gown"is made entirely of “plaited gold braid." When will women settle down finall? to some one style, as men have done? kas heep utartwMnir-Pxvey njl] f ^ ,l ,* eiu>tor *’ rtt * l<!JguutIrgl ~ >Bd ^ 1° •n* 19*8 d* tax w\Y be 2H P** *enL or *90. From J949 to 1981 Inclusive, the tax will be 3 per cent, or a total of *1.188. "Thus, in 45 year*. Bill Jone* will have paid in *1.440 All the time his employer will have been matching his tax payments, so the total paid to the federal treasury will be *2-880. “At sixty-five Bill Jones can expect to live perhaps 10 year* more: If he Hi get back *6.450. country at large. Senator* Borah of Idaho and Norris of Nebraska were among the “independents”.' who ex pressed their disapproval Mr. Borah especially was vocal In oppoeition. gbles and in the glare of photog- j - Fami!ie# w ' !lh tiiese income* Interesting Items In taxation For instance, government will collect Income tax on “public relief." If your generous Uncle Sam gives you *94 « month, the amount that unions now spurn, be will take back *13.12 in In come tax: That seems like giving your little boy a stick of candy and biting ef the end of IL r—tr—eradicate lac WXU" raphefT • -flaahlightm, .President Roose- velt put his signature on the social security set, of-which he said: “If the senate, and house of representa tives in this long and arduous session had done nothing more than pass this biit tbe session would be regarded as historic for ail time." Among those who were present were Senator Robert F. Wagner of New York and Representative John Lewis of Maryland, who jointly drafted the bill; Secretary of Labor Frances Per kin*. who had a hand In its making, and Senators Pat Harrison.^ William King, and Edward P. -Coctigan. In a »alk intended for reproduction ! on the sound screens of the country, the President said: “This social security measure gives at least some protection to 30.000.0i.iri of our dtizens. who will reap direct benefits through unemployment com pensation. through old age pensions and through Increased services for the protection of children and the preven- tioa of Hi health. “We can never Insure 100 pa cen tre now paying more than their pro portionate share of taxes sod at the same time are facing higher prices for i food, clothea fuel and rents," be said. So the committee suddenly reversed itself abruptly, rejected the La Fel- lette plan by a vote of 8 to 7, The bill which the committee re ported was passed by the senate by a vote of 57 to 22. It contains new pro visions to compensate for those, elimi nated from the house hilt and the es timated revenue is only Jl.UUU.UJU less This is divided in the senate blip as follows: Graduated corporatloa In come ta* f cs.soe.see Corporation exce*s profits and capital stock taxes «l|.ees,#45 *1.890 In pensions, what he actually Intercorporate di^derd taxsp IS.m.MS , s ^ucttri from SI.890 and Increased estpte taxes with I related gift taxes, IM.SSS.M* Increased sortases oa in come i la excess of «i.see.»«e does, he “When BUI Jones dies this Is what will happen: “His avertge annual salary will be multiplied by the number of years he paid taxes. In other words. If be dies after he has paid taxes fqr 45 years. *1.200 wftUbe multiplied by 45—giving a total of *54.000. Arbitrarily, the bill stipulates that Bill Jones’ estate shall be entitled to 3% per rant of that or *1.890—less any amount be received In The XCTlon of the commission in this instance'was with reference to a mo tion of counsel for the International Association of Ice Cream Manufac turers. The attorneys asked that the commission strike out of the complaint against the association three para graphs which charged association offi cers and members -kith‘attempting to urge legislation and local ordinances “in bad faith." That question, of course, Ts very delicate. It presents a collateral question as to whether when an individual seeks legislation of a protective character for his own Inter ests or legislation that xTTTnid film in his business.xJieha/ done so ’In bad faith." Undoutftbflly, there may be times when bad faith could be prop erly charged. But In discussing this phase of the situation In many quar- I ter* in Washington. I found the con- senstis to be that protection of prop- | can h»rdly be cataloged as effort k, see, tee Total 9:c».eee.eee NO thus more doaely follows the demands of President than the pensions before be died. “If Jones dies before he gets hack J made in bad faith. Nevertheless, the politician* at the Capitol take a different attitude and they do not hesitate to follow through the remainder paid to his heirs. If he fives until be gets back all of the *1.890 and more, hi: heirs get nothing. “If Jones should die before he reaches Mxty five, his heirs would be mtitled to • payment of 3Vi pa rant if the total wages oa which taxes had pahL" H- any scent they obtain of Information which, when published, will hit news- papa front pages. " The reason I regard the action of the Federal Trade, commission as be ing so- significant is that the commit ts contrary to our scheme of govern- ment to place supreme power in the hands of a single ^dividual as has bran done in European countries wherfe parliamentary bodies have become non entities. Encroachment by the execu tive uwon legislative prerogatives, in viola ti (Tty of the letter or even of the Intent of the Constitution, smacks of autocracy and despotism. It Is sub- verslve of popular government" So long as executive orders and ad ministrative regulations issued under them Involve only administrative prac tices, there Is seldom much public in terest l«> them. Always, after enact ment of logisla^on. the administrative agencies designed to carry out the pro visions of the legislation Issue rules and regulations Interpreting the stat ute. But It Is to be remembered that In such cases, the authority is in a statute and that statute Is in printed form and widely distributed. In other words, Individuals have an opportunity to know what the law Is and have no excuse tor violations of IL Such-is not the case, however, wlttT*ex*cufi(ve or ders. They are Issued from the White Utilise and copies are filed with the Department of State. Ordinarily, they get no further publicity and the aver age man In the street. harHttle oppor tunity jo know what they afe. * ^ • Wwtvra NtwqxpOT Uatoa *u ■*