Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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“ » The Barnwell People-Sentinel Barnwell 8. Thursday, April 2, 1936 BRISBANE THIS WEEK If Russia Joined Japan Not Heroic Action Lloyd George Hopeful England Still Safe Editors talk about Asia, led by Ja pan, conquering the world. They might speculate on a un ion between Japan and Russia. Improbable, you will say, truly, but If Russlan-Japanese hostility could be changed Into Rus- slan-J a p a n e s o agreement a new world chapter might open. You hear of Rus sia's “red army.” 1,300,000 men, thor oughly armed, and 7,000.000 reserves. Y r u see photo graphs of Russia's amphibian tanks, mounted with machine guns, rolling over the land and swimming rivers; you read about Intensive training of tens of thousands of Russian air pilots, parachute Jumpers, etc., and see even the broad-shouldered young Russian women drilling with rifles. Western Eurepe may have a problem closer at hand than Japan. News Review of Current " ■ ’ ' ' ' ' ■ - , • ' • 1 ' ■ . • _ ' ‘ ■ s Events the World Over Eastern States Devastated by Great Floods—Germany Con demned by League Council—President Asks Billion and Half for Relief. By EDWARD W. PICKARD C Western Newspaper Union. Arthnr Hrlebane Our British cousins In the Revolu tion cheerfully let loose howling, scalp ing Indians on their cousins In the American colonies, and bolshevism might cheerfully turn Asiatic killing ef ficiency against western “capItaRsm.” You remember how cheerfully the great historian Gibbon predicted that. In the American war, “with firmness all may go well,” because “Scotch High landers, Irish, Hanoverians. Canadians, Indians, etc., will all In various shapes be employed.” There Is no reason why Russia of 1D36 should be more squeamish now than England at the end of the Eight eenth century. Lloyd George, who ought to know about Europe and war since he and ©Id Clemenceau won the big war, tells Universal Service this present war Is *'off,” France having learned that “even her most ardent friends In Europe •brink from war.” Lloyd George declares that pence “without derogating from the dignity of any of the powers” will be pre served, If France does not make It Impossible. Lloyd George says not 1 per cent of Englishmen would vote for war. and rot 10 per cent for employing sanctions against Germany. If enough rich Americans go to Eng land to “escape kidnapers” the kid- | napers may move over after them, ns j professional gamblers follow on big ships. London police arrested Alfred i Molyneux, thirty-one. trying to extort , $1,000 from the Countess Barbara 1 Hutton Ilaugwitr.-Reventlow. ottering to reveal a plot to kidnap her baby, j I’ollce knew by the moderate price It could not be an American “snatcher” or confederate. Easily caught, the • I young man confessed he had Invented the plot. C TATES of the Central East and New ^ England suffered severely from the almost unprecedented floods. Scores of lives were lost and the vast prop erty damage cannot yet be estimated. At least 150,000 persons were' made homeless. Conditions were worst In western Pennsylvania. The Mononga- hela and Allegheny rivers, uniting at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio, poured raging torrents down over the great Industrial city, driving the people from their homes and places of business. The famous “Golden Triangle” between the rivers was completely Inundated; transportation and communication sys tems were suspended and power plants were put out of commission so the city was plunged In darkness. The plight of the suburbs was equally bad. Farther east, Johnstown was en tirely flooded and the terror-stricken Inhabitants fled from their homes, but the great Quemahonlng dam was hold ing and the danger of a repetition of the disaster of 1889 seemed to be pass ing. Dozens of cities and towns along the Susquehanna and Its tributaries were, under water, and In New York the Mohawk, Hudson, Schuylkill and Delaware rivers were out of their banks and rapidly rising. The Potomac, too, became a raging flood and In Washington an army of men was work ing feverishly to save the buildings and monuments. In the flatlands. Ten thousand persons were rendered homeless In the New England states and about a score lost their lives. The emergency there was greatest In .the valley of the Connecticut river. Many cities were cut off from rail transpor tation and also were without light and power. American Red Cross rose to the emergency, as always, mobilizing Its forces to relieve the suffering. Admiral Cary T. Grayson, Us national head, Is- susd an appeal for a fund of $3,000,000. President Roosevelt also called for this amount In a proclamation. Sec retary of War Dern was appointed emergency flood relief head by the President and Immediately ordered the generals commanding six corps areas of the army to extend full aid for prevention of .loss of life and de struction of property. Work Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins gave blanket authority to all WPA officials to employ their workers In any way necessary In rescue work and In strengthening levees. The United States Coast Guard sent many power launches, provisioned and manned, from the Chicago area to help In the relief work at various points. To prevent robbery and vandalism Na tional Guardsmen were on the Job at Pittsburgh and other places. With “visibility cut to zero,” street lights burning by day, not visible across the street, dust storms are blow ing over parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Nhw Mexico. By such displays of nature's j>ower, for which man's foolishness Is respon sible, fertile areas of the world have been changed to deserts. A bill that would have llijiited work to five working days of six hours each, or thirty hours a week, Is dead In con gress for the time being. It would have given workers twenty-four hours off on Saturday and Sunday, eighteen hours ©ff on every d^r day—eight hours for sleep, “ten hours for what we will.” All that will come some day. but not by discouraging improved machinery. Joachim von Ribbentrop An Intelligent young man who fought well In the big war speaks of “the 2-to-r’ advantage which modern meth ods give the defense over the attack. To let the other man or nation come at you, If you are prepared, has been wise in the past. It might be different In future wars. If the attacker, with a couple of thou sand airplanes, dropping explosive bombs and poison gas. should surprise the enemy. “Defense" would have no 2-to-l advantage over that sort of at tack. Lloyds, the great English insurance concern, at first refused to Insure against war at any price. Now Lloyds will insure, otherwise “bet,” nine and a half to one against war wl hln six months. Wall Street wanted that news and of course cheered up. A mother of Fort Worth, Texas, of fered her body to Chicago’s Cook Coun ty hospital for dissection after natural death, if the hospital would provide a free operation for her son. The hos pltal declined the body, performed the free operation. Now twenty, all women but one, offer to sell their bodies, “de livered after death.” The governor of Campeche in Mex- co, after keeping all churches in his frtte closed for more than a year and , half, now permits all to reopen, A fight against religion often start* lolently. to wind up feebly. C K'n* Feature* Syndicate, lac. WNU Service. G ERMANY was forced to denounce the Locarno pact because the Fra neo-Russian mutual asslstancetreaty was directed only against the reich and ranged 275,000,- 000 people against It. That Is what Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hit ler's adviser on for eign affairs, told the council of the League of Nations when It met in London to pass on the complaint of France and Belgium that Germany had vio lated both the l/ocarno pact and the Versailles treaty by remilitariz ing tbe Rhineland. Nevertheless, the council by unani mous vote condemned Germany as a violator of both treaties. How she shall be punished, If at all, remained to be determined. France and all her allies wanted the Imposition of sanc tions; Italy could not be brought to favor that, being herself subjected to such penalties; Great Britain, striving to preserve the peace, sought some middle way out of the dilemma. Representatives of Britain, France, Belgium and Italy devised a plan which provides for a conference of world na tions to draft economic, disarmament, and security plans. This plan also pro vides that Germany, In the meantime, would agree not to fortify the Rhine land and, pending a new agreement with Germany, Britain would guar antee France's security. The French especially liked tfiis be cause it amounted to a military de-" tensive alliance with Britain, hut they did not believe It would be accepted by Germany, Von Ribbentrop, accompanied'by an Imposing lot of experts und secretaries, was sent by Hitler at the request of the council. Tbe relchsfuehrer had consented to be representjwb-^after British Foreign Secretary Eden as sured him he would do his best to per suade France and -Belgium to consider Hitler's new security plans after Ger many bad been formally condemned for its action in the Rhineland.* in bis address before the council Von Ribbentrop emphatically asserted that France by approaching soviet Rus sia in concluding “what really was a military alliance," did not respect tbe Locarno ticuty. And the Sovlet- Czecboslovakian agreement also, be declared, constituted a further danger to the rcich. France’* proposal to submit the France-Russian treaty to The Haguo court was tald by a spokesman for the German delegation to be futile and useless. He hISo said the plan sug gested by the English, to police the Rhineland zone with an Internaffonal force, was “absolutely unacceptable.’ A third provision, for drawing up a system of mutual guaranties among the Locarno powers, to operate In caso of an attack, the spokesman said, wa& unnecessary because Germany has no Intention crossing her frontiers.” None of the Germans, however, even intimated that Hitler would withdraw any of his troops from the Rhineland Hitler was continuing his speech- maklng tour in Germany. At Koenigs* berg he said: " “For once a single man comes forth In Europe behind whom stands a whole nation. He extends his hand to othei nations. Whoever* dares reject this my hand, behind which 69,000,000 peo pie are united, must bear responsibility In the eyes of history. I have beer the herald of the German people for more than three years. I am now the herald for peace In Europe." CECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ^ WALLACE announced the estab lishment of five regions for adminis tration of the soli conservation and domestic allotment act, substitute for the In fj valid AAA. H. R. Tol ley, administrator ot the new plan, said the department already has begun a field serv ice to administer the program in various states. As under the AAA, the leading part within the states is to be played by the farm ers’ county and com munlty committees. Mr. Wallace also directed discontin uance of the four commodity dlvlsionr whose work of liquidating AAA pro duction control programs will be taken over by the regional directors. Tho order leaves Intact other administra tive units of the AAA, such as the division of marketing and marketing agreements, division of program plan ning, and the division of the consum ers’ counsel. H. R. Tolley R USH D. HOLT, the young Demo cratic senator from West Virginia, gave notice that he would continue to hummer at the Works Progress admin istration until, a senate Investigation was ordered, fie demanded an Inquiry Into all relief activities under charge of Administrator Harry L. Hopkins, and other agencies affecting relief, the RFC, CW^. and FERA. In reply to some of the charges made, Mr. Hopkins Issued this bulletin: “No employee of WPA la required to make any contribtulon to any political party. No WPA employee’s Job will be In jeopardy because of failure to make such contribution. “No employee of the WPA shall at any time solicit contributions for any political party, and evidence of such solicitation will be cause for Immediate discharge. The question whether or not to contribute to any political party la a matter entirely for the voluntary de cision of employees. ^ “No person will be employed or dis charged on the ground of his support or uonaupport of any candidate.” S INCE the recent elections In Spain the riots staged by the leftists have been growing more vicious dally,- and after disorders at Logrono In which a number of persons were killed the Span ish army was aroused to vigorous protest Premier Manuel Azana was told by the offi cers that unless his new left government adopted measures to atop the widespread violence the army would take the main tenance of order Into Manuel Azana j tg own hands. Gen. Carlos Masquelet, minister of war, was said to be In sympathy with the army’s demand. Azana held a heated conference with Francisco Largo Caballero, president of the Socialist party and Is said to have told him that he believed revolu tionary Socialists were responsible for most of the disorders, demanding that the violence cease Immediately. Largo Insisted that the Socialists be permit ted to demonstrate, but finally gave In to the premier and Issued orders to all Socialists to behave themselves. Despite strict censorship Imposed by the governor of Logrono it was learned that Incendiaries there set fire to six convents and churches, four tightest centers and a lightest news paper, and then attacked the army barracks, attempting to seize artillery. P RESIDENT ROOSEVELT packed up bis fishing tackle and started South for bis annual angling cruise, this time on the new Presidential boat, the Potomac. He made a brief stop at Winter Park. Fla., where he received an honorary degree from Rok ; lins college, ills plan was then tc board the Potomac and spend about two weeks on bis old fishing grounds off the Florida coast. Mr. Roosevelt bad Invited as his fishing companions bis eldest son, James; an uncle, Frederick A. Delano, and three mates of his fishing cniiso of last fall, Capt. Wilson Brown, Unit ed States navy, and Col. Edwin* M. Watson, United States army, his mil- j itary aides, and Capt. Ross T. Mclntire, . United States navy, Wiiite House phy- : siclan. .'I T HE Treasury reported that Income tax collections for the first 16 days March amounted to $281,758,032, or a gain of 46.4 per cent over the $192,- 429,413 In the corresponding period of last year. Practically all collection districts registered an increase. Since the first of the year, the Treas ury said, $.361,428,990 has been col lected on the Income tax, an Increase of 45.6 per cent over the $248,060,132 gathered In for tbe same period of 1935. Jr Washington Digest j National Topics Interpreted By WILLIAM BRUCKARTjySj NATIONAL PRESS BlDG WASHINGTON D C A' iiuii E LEUTHERIOS VENIZELOS, prob ably tbe greatest of latter-day Greek statesmen, died.In Paris, where be was in self-imposed exile, following an attack of grippe. He was seventy- ! two years old.. Venizelos. former premier of Greece, j fled from the island of Crete last March after a revolt he beaded collapsed. He was tried and sentenced to death, but King George after his recall offered him amnesty. Venizelos, however, re- fused^to return, declaring "Greece will never see me again.” He was an ardent republican an/T denounced the restora tion of tbe monarchy. S EIZURE of private telegrams by tbe Black committee has resulted In a fierce warfare of words between John J. McSwaln of South Carolina, chairman of the house committee on military af fairs, and William Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher. Senator Black withdrew tbe subpoena on tbe Western Union company In the Hearst case but first made public what purported to be a copy of a telegram frotp the pub lisher to one of ids editorial writers In which McSwaln was cullwl “a Com munist in spirit and a traitor in ef fect.” McSwaln promptly read this In tiie house and then vigorously and elo quently defended himself and de nounced Hearst. The publisher retorted with an open letter to ids editorial writer lu which he said; “McSwaln Is a politician of the low er order, and his extreme radical pac ificism Is a danger to the peace and protection of the nation, and to the safety of the men, women and chil dren who constitute the American people.” S ECRETARY OF LABOR PERKINS was accused of harboring hundreds Of deportable criminal and radical aliens in the United States by Senator Robert R. Reynolds of North Carolina when he Introduced a resolution calling upon the Labor department to furnish information allegedly withheld from congress. Senator Reynolds’ resolution said that request had been madq of Labor department officials for Information concerning “in excess of 2,600 aliens in tbe United States known to and allowed by the Department of Labor To remain in the United States, al though subject to deportation.” The •equest, tbe resolution stated, was re fused. - O NE and'one half billion dollars will be needed to carry the Works Progress administration through the coming fiscal year, according to Presi dent Roosevelt's figuring. Therefore he asked congress to appropriate that sum. He thought it would be sufficient to care for the destitute unemployed, together with $1,000,000,000 in unex- pemled previous appropriations snd the $600,000,000 carried In the budget for tbe civilian conservation corps and various public works. Limitation of federal relief expendi tures to tlii$ figure, however, is de pendent upon re-employment of sub stantial numbers of the idle by private industry, the President said. \ As the President’s message was pre sented, Si»eaker Joseph W. Byrus re veuled that Mr. Roosevelt had advised bis leaders that any Increase In tbe appropriation over bis estimates must be accompanied by new taxes to pro vide revenues to cover tbe added cost P ROCEEDING with Its great re armament program, the British .overnment has named Sir Thomas Inskip, attorney general since 1932, t<r ;>e the co-ordinator jf the entire scheme, jiving him a newly created cabinet post This selection by Prime Minister Baldwin was i surprise. It had been thought the place might go to Wins- lon Churchill, Neville Chamberlain. Alfred Duff Cooper or Sir Samuel Hoare. Sir Thomas Is known as an “anti-JIngolst,” is sixty years old and always Is calm ind unruffled In tbe bouse of commons •r at the bar. It will be bis duty as iefense co-ordinating minister to syn* hronize activities of libs army, navy, iml air services. Sir Thomas Inskip C OMPROMISE brought to an sad; the two weeks' strike of building service workers In New York and tbou- .ands of elevator operators and other •mployees leturned to tbelr jobs In mine 2,400 apartment bouses and lusiueg* structures. Tbe settlement •rwvlded for Immediate re-employment r all strikers and arbitration of wage* r.d hours. Washington. — Overshadowing all else ln f the national capital at this writing Is the contro- - Need Curb versy that Is boiling on Inquiries and surging around the head of Ala bama’s Democratic Senator Black, who is the chairman of the senate’s lobby Investigating committee. As an off shoot of this controversy, the federal communications commission is In wa ter- much too hot for bathing and It begins to appear that when the steam blows off the communications com mission is likely to be a thoroughly discredited federal agency because of the part It played In Senator Black’s unprecedented seizure of private tele grams from the Western Union and Postal Telegraph companies. Speaking generally, it has been sel dom that a United States senator has ever attempted to assert the authority that Senator Black has used and it Is equally unprecedented that a federal agency has gone to the extremes that characterized the action of the com munications commission In connection with the seizure of'the messages. But some good may come from the police court prosecution tactics em ployed by Senator Black and some good may come from the accusations leveled at the communications com mission because that body helped Sen ator Black carry out his plans. The country-wide Indignation that has arisen from Senator Black’s usur pation of power has brought to the front a question that needs public at tention and needs It badly. I refer, in this connection, to the steadily expanding efforts of congres sional investigators, especially sena torial Investigators, to take over, as their own, powers that always have been regarded as reserved exclusively to the courts. The consensus among Washington observers certainly Is that the legislative Inquiries have devel oped to a point where the Uiost hum ble requirements of Justice have been and are being completely Ignored. Whether they are so Intended, these inquiries, and this Includes Investiga tions conducted by committees not 'only of congress but of state legisla tors and even city councils, are ap proaching the point where they are al most tyrannical. It goes without saying, then, that the time has arrived for citizens to as sert themselves. These Inquiries will not proceed when tbe elected legisla tors, state or national, learn that the people do not approve of such high handed tactics. • • • In order to haye an understanding of tbe latest of these escapades. It Is necessary to review Black's < briefly what has hap- Activities pened in the rase of the senate fHffby In vestigating committee. Almost a year ago the committee sought the aid of the federal communications commis sion which bad the color of authority in law for investigating the business of the telegraph companies. Senator Black issued a broad subpoena, direct ing tbe telegraph companies to make available any and all messages bis committee desired. Communications commission agents then went Into the telegraph company files, read every thing’they could find and made copies of all of the messages which those agents, under guidance of Black In vestigators, thought would he helpful to the Black committee In exposing operations of private Individuals. The purpose of tills, as outlined by Senator Black, was to locate clues to the machinations of business Interests who were seeking passage or defeat for legislation pending In congress. The Alabama senator wanted to "show up” lobbyists. He contended and has maintained consistently that “these malefactors of great wealth” could not accomplish any Influence In congress unless it were done secretly \tid “in the dark.” In other words. Senator Black per suaded members of the communications commission to help him In bis fishing expedition. He persuaded that organ ization that It should become a party to an unrecedented effort designed as a dragnet, a movement to smear any body and everybody who had used tele graphic service. The Black plan was carried put In secret. Senders and receivers of mes sages which those agents copied knew nothing about If. Tbe operation was Just as much “in the darlf' as any of the lobbying about which Senator Black complained, even more so. It was only by accident that the facts became known hut when they did be come known, the lid was promptly blown off. ^ The end Is not yet, nor Is it even In sight. One federal Judge has Issued a restraining order against such tactics and a half dozen other applications for similar orders are pending. Un doubtedly. the (Questions, whatever the rulings may be, will find their way eventually to the Supreme court of the United States. The senate Itself Is looking Into the situation. It has, by resolution, asked the federal communications commis slon to make a report stating the facts tnd by wh^f authority It acted.* So there Is much hubbub about the whole thing and If one may Judge from the line of conversation generally heard around Washington, Senator Black Is on the hot spot, and the spot thus far has shown* no Indications of entering a cooling stage. -• • Senate Investlgatfons long have been considered by many people as a modus operandl that creak Charge with unfairness. U»- Unfairness biased observers fre- • quently have criti cized them because of the methods em ployed. It seems absolutely necessary that the senate should have power to call witnesses.* to ask legitimate and proper questions and to force answers. If It Is going to enact legislation to correct evils. It must be equipped with such powers. But the point Is that In seeking such Information, tha senate has consistently permitted its com mittees to act in a fashion that can be described by no other word than out rageous. I have watched them over a period of nearly twenty years and sel dom, If ever, has there been an impor tant Investigation that did not degen erate sooner or later into h condition that savored of police court practices. Respectable citizens have been suh- poened, have gone before tbe commit tees willing to tell their complete story, anxious to co-operate and have found themselves treated ns outlaws and criminals. This situation has be come so prevalent In senate investiga tions that when any citizen Is sub- poened to appear before a senaje in vestigation these days, his neighbors and friends begin to ask each other what crookedness Is Involved. In other words, the psychology of the senate In vestigation, as it has developed through the last fifteen or twenty years, has become one that reverses the constitutional right of an Indi vidual that he is Innocent until he Is proved guilty. For several years, there has been a bill pending in congress designed to prevent, or at least reduce, lynching*. The theory back of It is that many times innocent persons have been lynched and that every one has a rialit to a trial by Jury In a properly consti tuted court. Over across the Atlantic ocean, dictators have operated and have employed the “blood purge,” the summary death sentence or the execu tion without granting the accused the right of defense. Undoubtedly some persons guilty of murder or rape have been lynched; undoubtedly the “blood purge” by the Nazi rulers destroyed some bad characters and undoubtedly tbe summary executions by the Soviet or the Fascists of Italy have provided death for individuals who were fester ing sores to humanity, but there can tie no doubt that in the case of the iynchings or in the case of the "blond purge” or the summary executions, many Innocent persons have bad their lives snuffed out. f So it is with senate Investigations. Undoubtedly they- have uncovered some dirty eronked dealings. Undoubtedly they have brought to puhljf attention activities and conditions tlWM^lfiight to have been exposed. 'Yet, the fact re mains that nearly all of our people are decent people, law "abiding and self- respecting. And when senate investi gations go beyond proper limits they approach. If they do not wholly be come, tryanny* • • • In defense of Senator Black’s action In the lobby investigation, I think it I. <ran fairly he said Not Wholly | )t > j s n ,>t wholly to Blame 1° blame if he has gone further than any other in the program of inquiry ynd prosecution upon which he lias launched. Little by little, bit by bit, tbe senate has arrogated to itself au thority hitherto not used by it. Little by little, it has encroached upon what many believe to be the jurisdiction of tbe courts and in a like manner it has taken unto Itself (lowers hitherto sup posed to have been exclusively- re served to the executive department of government. It would seem, then, that if other senate committees had established the precedent. Senator Black could prop erly use the same methods. The’trou ble Id his case Is that he did not stop at limits previously set, discreditable as those limits were, but went beyond them.. To repeat, there Is every Indication that some good will come out. of this circumstance. Important men and bril liant lawyers and great organizations like the Chamber of Commerce of the United*Stater, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Liberty league have taken note of the steadily expanding power claimed by the senate. This means that the ques tions Involved will get into the courts. It Is to 4>*‘ hoped that they will be presenterfto the courts in such a man ner that (lie questions may be finally and lastingly answered^liat the pow ers of the legIslators’TTTiay he delimited and that a definite expression may come from the Judiciary.that will de termine whether members of tbe house and the senate can serve at once as legislators. Judges and prosecutors. A Western NewspAper Union.