Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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-. » l Th« Bm«w«I1 P«opl«-8—tl—I, BfweU. 8. C, Thindmy, Febrwy 4, 1M7 News Review of Current Events the World Over t ^ . # President Roosevelt in Inaugural Address Pledges Aid for Forty Million Under-Privileged—Secretary Per kins Tries to Break Motor Strike Deadlock. By EDWARD W. PICKARD e We* ten. Newtpaper Union. Any time the President sends for us we’ll be there.” Lewis’ position was strengthened by the settlement of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass company strike and in* creased prospects that Libbey- Owens-Ford glass workers would return to their jobs. His strategy has been to curtail General Motors production, and interfere with its principal competitors, Ford and Chrysler, as little as possible. Re sumption of production by glass manufacturers would permit Ford and Chrysler to produce at full speed while sit-down strikers keep General Motors plants inoperative. President Roosevelt L OFTY ideals, beautifully worded and eloquently voiced. That seems to be a fair description of the second inaugural address of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Standing bareheaded on the capitol portico in a cold, pelting rain, he took the oath of office administered by black robed Chief Justice Hughes, and then, in ringing words carried by radio to the ends of the earth, he pledged his administration to carry on its fight for the social security and material prosperity and happiness of the entire people of the United States. In effect, he promised that the federal govern ment would bring about a better life for one-third of the nation now underprivileged, and that the pro gram of planned economy would be continued. For forty millions who are not getting their share of the nation’s material benefits the government will provide homes, food, clothing, education, recreation and increased incomes. The President’s listeners inter preted some of his phrases as a challenge to the Supreme court, as when he said: “Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human relation ships increase, so power to govern them also must increase—power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential democracy of our nation and the safety of our people depend not upon the absence of power but upon lodging it with those whom the people can change or continue at stated intervals through an hon est and free system _or elections. The constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy impotent. "In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private auto cratic powers into their proper sub ordination to the public’s govern ment. The legend that they were invincible—above and beyond the processes of democracy—has been shattered. They have been chal lenged and beaten.” Before the inauguration cere monies, Mr. Roosevelt and mem bers of his family attended a special service in St. John’s Episcopal church. After delivering his address the President reviewed the military parade from a cupola built in front of the White House. In addition to the soldiers, sailors and marines, samples of the Civilian Conserva tion corps and of the National Youth administration were in the line, as were the governors of 46 states with their staffs. Secretary Perkins S ECRETARY OF LABOR FRAN CES PERKINS herself undertook the difficult task of breaking the renewed deadlock in the General Motors strike, but at this writing she had not made much progress. Governor Murphy of Michi gan, who went to Washington for the inauguration, helped her, arrang ing separate meet ings with John L. Lewis, C. I. O. lead er, and President Sloan of the motor corporation. But his efforts to bring these two gentle men together seemed futile. Lew is summoned Homer Martin, head of the striking union, and John Brophy, C. I. O. lieutenant, from Detroit and conferred with them on “strategy”. All the union lead ers appeared supremely confident, and Lewis insisted the demand that the union be recognized as the sole bargaining agency must be conced ed if there were to be any strike settlement negotiations. Secretary Perkins, after talking with both sides, went directly to the White House. She said she Vvas “keeping the President informed” of developments. The belief was general that it would be necessary to invoke the personal aid of Mr. Roosevelt to bring about a peace ful settlement. . Lewis brought about the tempo rary suspension of negotiations by a statement he gave the press. With brutal frankness he said: "We have advised the secretary of labor that the ‘economic royal ists’—and the du Fonts and Mr. Sloan are among them—used their money to try to drive Mr. Roose velt out of the White House. “Labor rallied to the President’s support when they attacked him. “These same economic royalists now have their fangs in labor, and labor aow expects the government to support labor in its legal and logi cal objectives.” This was too much for Sloan, who started for home with the remark: “We find it useless to attempt any further negotiations ia Washington. /^ONGRESS did not wait for the ^ inauguration to rush through the bill asked by the President ex tending for two and one-half years his power to control the two billion dollar stabilization fund and to devalue the dollar. Senator Van- denberg and Representative Snell, minority leaders, made futile ef forts to amend the measure so that it would call on the secretary of the treasury to submit to congress a complete audit and report upon the operations of the fund after the expiration date in 1939. The fund originated three years ago at the time of the 40 per cent debasement of the dollar. Gold holdings of private individuals, banks and the reserve banks com mandeered by the Treasury, were “revalued”. Each ounce of gold formerly valued officially at $20.67 an ounce was arbitrarily raised to $35 an ounce. This resulted in a two billion, 800 million dollar “profit” for the Treasury. The odd 800 millions was imme diately diverted to the Treasury’s general account to cover federal expenditures. Two billions were al located for use as a “stabiliza tion” fund. New legislation was passed authorizing the secretary of the treasury to use the stabiliza tion fund to manipulate the value of the dollar in foreign exchange transactions, to purchase silver and gold and to rig the quotations on United States government securities in the market. T~\ ISPATCHES from Vatican city said the condition of Pope Pius XI was steadily growing worse. He was suffering excruciating pain, especially in the right leg. The pon tiff, however, insist ed on conducting some of the business of his office, telling Archbishop Castigli- oni he was deter mined to work a s long as breath re mained in his body. The pope was greatly distressed to hear of the death of Bishop M. J. Gallagher of Detroit, the superior of Father Charles Coughlin, “radio priest.” Bishop Gallagher made a visit to the Vati can about six months ago. Pope Pius 'T'HE conflict between fascism ■■■ and communism in the 01 d World grows more intense day by day, and the German Nazi leaders insist every nation must espouse one side or the other. Air Minister Goering declares England especially should align herself with Germany and Italy, but Foreign Minister Eden in a speech before parliament virtually handed back to Germany the question of Europe’s fate. “We cannot cure the world by pacts or treaties,” said he, “or by political creeds, no matter what they be.” He demanded to know whether Ger many intended to use the “mani fold gifts of her people to restore confidence to a world sick of an tagonism,” or “to the sharpening of international antagonism and a pol icy of even greater economic isola tion.” German officials called Eden’s speech "untimely;” and Ulrich von Hassel, German ambassador to Italy, speaking in Cologne, described the “axis of Rome-Berlin” as a “central pivot around which the whole of Europe revolves.” “Germany and Italy,” he said, “are destined to fight the false doc trines of the east (Russia) and sur mount western capitalism. Germany and Italy are neither east nor west, but the center, and Europe will be able to keep in harmony only if they remain the strong central axr It was said in Berlin that a mixed German-Japanese commission has been named to carry out provisions of the Berlin-Tokio anti-communist agreement of la$t November. Over in Japan Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita opened the parlia ment with a speech in which he declared communism was to blame for the political troubles of the world. He defended the Germten-Japanese pact as directed only against com munism and not intended to foment dispute with world powers. He ad vocated that all eolonial possessions of all nations be opened to free trade. what thinks about: Maktag 1937 A Safe Tear. S ANTA MONICA. CALIF.— This time last year we were all dedicating ourselves to a crusading campaign to make 1936 a safer year for motorists. We were going to cut down the volume of traffic disasters, going to reduce the appalling mortality toll which had marked the pre ceding year. So what? Well, here’s what. The end of 1936 showed an all • time top for deaths on the public highways— roughly 37,450, or approximately 450 more than in 1935. So now we’ll pious- Irvin S. Cobb ly resolve, all over again, to do something about this hideous destroyer which kills by the thousands and maims by the hun dreds of thousands and makes our fatalities and casualties in the world war seem, by comparison, puny. And what will come of the re newed agitation? The National Safety Council will wage a gallant, hopeless fight, various local organi zations and civic bodies will do what they can, newspapers will rail and statesmen will deplore—and the ghastly record of slaughter will keep right on mounting. • • • The Value of “Experts” T HEARD a supposed expert ad- A vising a director, bound for Africa to shoot a big game picture, that practically everything about his kit was wrong except possibly his rear collar button. It reminded me of the pampered millionaire’s son who was heading for the arctic circle. He called in a veteran of polar expeditions and told about his outfit. All went well until he started describing his parka. “It’s fine,” he said, "made of seal skin and the hood all fringed with wolverine and—” “One moment,” said the profes sional, “is the hairy surface of the pelt worn next to your body?” “No,” said the youth. “The fur is outside, of course.” “AH wrong,” pronounced the crit ic. “Thermal demonstration has proved that to conserve the bodily heat the hide should be turned so the fur is used as a lining and the smooth or naked side is exposed, thus cutting the wind.” The youngster burst out laughing. “Have I said something to excite your mirth?" demanded the special ist. “Oh, not at all,” said the amateur, I was just thinking what a darned fool a buffalo is.” » • • Americans in England * T> ENEWED excitement has been aroused in the British isles by the discovery that yet another mem ber of the royal family—this time it’s the young duke of Kent—not only shows a regrettable tendency t o enjoy himself as any normal nat ural, healthy youngster might, but, what is even more distressing, has lately been seen in the company of an American woman. Oh, these pestiferous Yankee women! In spite of all that can be done, it’s almost certain some of them will witness the coronation, and several thousands of them will break their girlish necks trying to do so. • » • Militarizing the C. C. C. n EPRESENTATIVE NICHOLS of ^ Oklahoma is trying to accom- 3lish something which should have jeen done long ago. He’s preparing a bill to make military reserve units of the C. C. C. boys, which would mean discipline and morale for housands of young Americans and, if needed, would provide the nucleus of a trained citizen-army. Seems to me there is every reason why congress should enact the leg islation, not as a warlike gesture, nit as a peace-time move for na tional defense and national protec tion. But watch the professional jacifists fight it—professional paci- ists being well-meaning folks who believe in Santa Claus, turning the other cheek, and the beautiful, if slightly impractical theory, that a white rabbit will be perfectly safe among a pack of greedy coyotes. • • • Actors Trading Careers. FT ALF-WAY across the continent, LI actors who have succeeded in Hollywood and are headed east, hop ing to break into the legitimate stage on Broadway, pass actors who, having succeeded on Broad way, are heading west, hoping to break into the movies in Hollywood. It is a two-way traffic which grows heavier all the time. Thus we see how human hopes are uplifted and how curious a thing is human nature, not to mention human ambition. Also it’s good for railroad travel. But if the jaybirds suddenly de cided to trade their nests for wood pecker holes and the woodpeckers fell in heartily with the idea, we superior creatures could laugh at feathered friends for being such idiots. IRVIN 8. COBB, •-wm; SanriM. I ^ By WILLIAM BRUCKART NATIONAL PRESS BLOG. WASHINGTON, D. C. Washington.—Two messages to congress by the President have __ created more messages than the usual ex- Cauae Stir citement attend ant upon such things as the new session has set tled down to its annual considera tion of public affairs. In each of these were Presidential declara tions that are beginning to rever berate and that means they are highly controversial. In Mr. Roosevelt’s annual mes sage “on the state of the union,” he took occasion to tell congress how much he appreciated its “co operation” with him. He followed that bit of back patting with prob ably the boldest statement he has made since entering the White House four years ago for the first term. He called upon the Supreme Court of the United States, in a roundabout way to “co-operate” with the other two branches of the government, the legislative and ex ecutive. The other wave of excitement, not to say disturbance, was caused by the President’s special message asking congress for a wholesale re organization of the executive de partments and agencies—calling this proposal a plan for moderniz ing the government. One can circulate through the cor ridors and offices of the Capitol and office buildings and hear mut- terings aplenty and even a consid erable bit of outspoken criticism by senators and representatives of the two circumstances I have men tioned. There are many members of the legislative branch who are entertaining a feeling that the de mand for Supreme court co-opera tion was equivalent to carrying the ball out of bounds. But that part of the Presidential pronouncement is not likely, in the end, to produce the battle on the floor of the senate or hoase that will result from some phases of his “modernizing” pro gram. The fact is that our national gov ernment has become a structure, insofar as the executive agencies are concerned, that sprawls out like an octopus. About 75 per cent of these units and agencies are prod ucts of the New Deal recovery program; they work at cross pur poses; they move in their own sphere and make their own poli cies with almost no direction from the White House. Certainly, the time is ripe to clean up that mess. Yet, in cleaning up these condi tions, in reorganizing, it is undoubt edly the consensus of those charged with responsibility for the job ttiat common sense must be used and discretion employed or else untold damage will be done to the govern ment and to the whole economic structure of the naton, including the taxpayers. • • • The Presidential reorganization program was sweeping in charac- , , ter and that is the Reorganization reason why it has Program run into obstacles. - For example, the plan calls for placing the interstate commerce commission, the general accounting office, the federal trade commission and the civil service commission largely inside of old- established departments over which cabinet officers preside. Now, a cabinet officer is and always has been in the past a political ap pointee, an individual who had been active in promotion of a party cam paign and usually one who has made important contributions of money to his party’s campaign fund. So, it becomes plainly evi dent, I believe, that to place such agencies as those I have named in regular departments, is to place them completely under political domination. Where it is good, therefore, to place strictly administrative agen cies under cabinet control, it be comes equally dangerous to place under political domination such quasi-judicial agencies as the ICC and the general accounting office. There can be no doubt of that fact. That is the crux of the disturb ance among the legislators under the reorganization proposal. Those of us who have had long experience as writers and observ ers in Washington have seen evi dence in almost every adminis tration of attempts of politicians to get their fingers into the pie of rail- read rate making. They have adopt ed all sorts of tricks; they have used subterfuges and they have em ployed strong political pressure time after time to gain control of railroad rate making. Through all of these years since the ICC was established, there has always been enough sane minds in congress who, with White House backing, could resist this political move. Natur ally, therefore, it is a matter of some question why President Roose velt should attempt to toss the in terstate commerce commission and its rate making power straight in to the laps of the politicians. Of course, the Presidential mes sage on this point appears on its face to provide against the end that I have mentioned but old timers in congress point out how this wedge, driven only a little further, will bring about political domination of the ICC. • a m i_ It is hardly necessary here to set down all of the potential dangers _ . that can emanate rotential from political con- Dangert trol of such a vast structure as the railroads of the United States. It is unlimited in its possibilities. Dan gers are inherent in any program of that kind with which the politi cians are identified and it appears to be a circumstance in which con gress, if it is going to serve the people properly, should call a halt. As to the general accounting of fice and the plant to include it in the Treasury again under the rule of an auditor general, the reorgani zation scheme simply will set con trol of public expenditures back a quarter of a century. One of the earlier Presidents made no effort to conceal the use that could be made of the auditing unit of the gov ernment when he said, on an occa sion where the chief auditor ruled an expenditure illegal, that if it were not possible to change the ruling under the law, it still was possible to change the chief auditor. I am not making a charge that the present administration desires to spend congressional appropria tions illegally; but one cannot dodge thtf conversations that are taking place around the Capitol in which legislators recaU how President Roosevelt criticized John R. Me Carl when he was comptroller general for a decision that prevented use of public money in a manner de sired by the President. To sum up this particular phase of the situ ation, one hardly need to say more than that if the auditor general is a subordinate of the Secretary of the Treasury, he is likely to take orders from the Secretary of the Treasury, whoever that Secretary may be. And, since the Secretary of the Treasury is an appointee of the President and serves only at the President’s pleasure, in my mind a link is established where by the White House again will con trol determination of legality and illegality of expenditures. Congress created the general ac counting office in order that it would have an agency independent of the Chief Executive and the executive departments to keep tab on how those executive agencies expend ed the money which congress ap propriated. That was the reason why the office of comptroller gener al was made to carry a fifteen- year appointment with removal only for malfeasance or misfeasance. Now it is proposed to tear down that structure and bring the whole auditing organization under a cab inet officer. But there is another phase to be considered. It has been my good fortune to be in Washington dur ing the entire life of the general accounting office as weU as for sev eral years before. Of my own knowl edge, I can say that the general accounting office has recovered mil lions of dollars of illegally disbursed funds as well as prevented illegal disbursement of other millions. • • • There seems to be more support for inclusion of the civil service commission in the Civil form of a civil Service service adminis trator under an executive department than there is support for breaking up of the fed eral trade commission as the Presi dent proposed. Neither of these agencies has such an important bearing on the public as a whole as do the other two I have dis cussed. The plan to make the civil service administration subject to cabinet control was softened con siderably by the President by inclu sion of a proposal to make all gov ernment employes below policy making grades subject to civU serv ice laws. That is a big step for ward, provided it is not a ruse to permit packing the lists with ad herents of one political party or the other, whichever may be in power. The federal trade commission, like the interstate commerce com mission, is a quasi-judicial body. There has been objection to its pres ent setup as prosecutor, judge and jury but many legislators believe this can be corrected without emas culating the agency and destroy ing its identity by putting it into ah executive department. It ought to be free and independent and ought not to have any politician in a cabinet chair telling it what to do when it seeks to make business be honest. • Wcctcm M*w*p*p«r Omm. Boil five large sweet potatoes and cut them crosswise into pieces one and one-half inches in thickness. Lay in pan and put two tablespoonfuls of butter, cut in slices, over fhem; then three tablespoonfuls of powdered sug ar and two tablespoonfuls of mo lasses, and cook in oven for ten minutes to get nice and brown. Copyright.—WNU Servlc*. From a MEDICAL JOURNAL THIS: ABOUT COLDS! "The reseuchM (of these doctors) led them to believe that colds result from ta acid condition of the body. To overcome this they prescribe various alkalies.”That’s why, teday— LUDEN S 5/ NOW CONTAIN AN ALKALINE FACTOR In Mutual Sympathy Nature has concatenated our fortunes and affections together with indissoluble bands of mutual sympathy.—Barrows. At Your Best! Free From Constipation Nothing beats a clean system for health! At the first sign of constipation, take purely vegetable Black-Draught for prompt relief. Many men and women any that Black- Draught brings such refreshing relief. By its cleansing action, poisonous effects oi constipation are driven out; you soon feel better, more efficient. Black-Draught costs lees than meet other laxatives. BLACK-DRAUGHT A GOOD LAXATIVE Cultivatijn of Mind Cultivation is as necessary to the mind as food is to the body.— Cicero. 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