Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r Hit Ban well Ptopl»8f UtL Banwell. S. C, Tharaday, March 4,1987 News Review of Current Events the World Over European Powers Agree on Blockade of Spain to Insulate the War—Farm Tenant Program—Supreme Court Controversy Grows. By EDWARD W. PICKARD ® Western Newspaper Union. . go FAR*as the international non- MiMtfea intervention committee can de it, the war in Spain is now insulated. Representatives of 26 European na tions agreed that no more volun teers for either side in the civil conflict should be permitted to en ter the Iberian peninsula, effective at midnight February 20; and they laid plans for a complete blockade by land and sea that would pre vent the importation of any more men or war munitions. Only Portu gal dissented, objecting to estab- hshment of frontier guards on her territory; Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia ig nored the Portuguese protests and went ahead with the blockade plans, which are to be put into effect by March 6. j The decisions were reacted after France delivered a virtual ultima tum to her fellow committee mem bers to end their bickering and warned Italy she would not stand for “open invasion of Spain.” The French were <piick to place guards at all strategic points along the Franco-Spanlsh frontier. The international naval patrols presumably will not have authority to stop vessels suspected of carry ing arms and men to Spain, but will report ship movements to the committee for action and. will place observers on the vessels to check cargoes. Supposing this blockade to be suc cessful, it may well be that the Spanish civil war will die of inani tion. Then may be brought about that which the international com mittee aeeks—international media tion between the insurgents and the loyalist government. For the present both sides are re newing their efforts for decisive vic tory. The fascists, still driving hard at the “life line” that connects Ma drid and Valencia, also are attack ing the capital itself again. Their airplanes made two night bombing assaults on the city and its envi rons, killing a number of persons; and their artillery constantly shells the highways to Valencia. The loyalist government, at its temporary seat in Valencia, took a new mandate of absolute power from all Popular Front parties and mobilized ail available man power to oppose the insurgent forces. All military classes of the last five years were drafted for im mediate war service. Sec y of Nary Swanson D RIME MINISTER STANLEY * BALDWIN’S government of Great Britain is asking for $7,500,- 000,000 to finance its “war plan in time of peace.” and is meeting with determined op position from the Liberals, Laborites and others in par liament. These es pecially object to the plan for en largement of the nation’s land, sea and air forces by a $2,000,000,000 loan and increased taxa tion. Commenting on the British naval construction program, Admiral Wil liam D. Leahy, chief of naval oper ations of the American navy, served notice that any foreign nations ex panding their navies beyond the standards of recent treaties might expect that the United States would match their construction. He said it was his understanding that this nation was definitely committed to the maintenance of a “navy second to none.” To maintain that prin ciple, he declared, it would be come necessary for the United States to build new ships if other powers did. The present United States build ing program calls for start of con struction this year on two new cap ital ships. Great Britain already has laid the keels of two new craft and the program announced in Lon don calls for the start, after April 1, of construction of a third new vessel. When Britain lays a third keel, then this government is likely to start similar construction. IN A special message to congress * President Roosevelt urged legis lation to “improve the present in tolerable condition” of 3,000,000 farm tenants, presenting this four- point program: 1. Action to open the doors of ownership to tenants who now have the requisite ability and experience. 2. Modest loans, with the neces sary guidance and education to pre vent small owners from slipping into tenancy. 3. The retirement by public agen cies of land proved to be unsuited for farming and assistance to the families living thereon in finding homes on good land. 4. Cooperation with state and lo cal agencies of government to im prove the general leasing system. Congressional leaders promised ImmadiaU action, and Chairman Jones of the house agriculture com mittee said the Jones Bankhead $500,000,000 farm tenant bill now De- fore congress would be made the basis for the new legislation. The President’s „ farm tenancy committee, headed by Secretary of Agriculture Wallace, recommended that congress make available “a definite sum each year for a num ber of years” for a land-purchase program, but mentioned no definite figure. Wallace said, however, ha thought Jones’ proposal for $50,000,- 000 annual appropriation for ten years is ’’reasonable.” Senator Clark T HOUGH President Roosevelt x persisted in his intention to force through congress his measure to ’’reform” the federal judiciary, law-makers who have been his warm supporters are com ing out one by one in hot opposition to his plan to pack the Supreme court. Among them ere Senator Bennett C. Clark of Missouri and Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Mon tana, both leading Democrats. They studied the scheme carefully before issuing their state ments. The announcements of these men was scarcely offset by a radio address by Attorney General Homer S. Cummings, dutifully defending the President’s plan. Senator Clark said he was entire ly in accord with the minor pro posals in Mr. Roosevelt’s scheme, but was totally unable to agree with the provisions for packing the Su preme court. Then came Senator Wheeler, stal wart radical, with a statement which it was reported he made pub lic over the protests of the White House. He said in part: *T am, always have been, and will continue to be opposed to the usurpation of legislative functions by the courts; I am, have been, and will be opposed to usurpation of leg islative and judicial functions by the executive branch of the govern ment. ‘There is nothing democratic, progressive, or fundamentally sound in (he proposal advanced by the administration.” Attorney General Cummings ad vanced these two reasons for sup porting the Presi dent’s proposal: New blood should be injected into the judiciary in order that the Constitution shall be construed in keeping with the changing needs pro duced bjrnew com plexities of national life. The congestion of dockets in the feder al courts is largely due to the inability of aged and infirm judges to perform their share of the work. Investigation has shown, however, that the second reason is unsound. Commenting on Mr. Cummings’ speech, Senator Glasa of Virginia ■aid: *T think it indicates that the country is in infinitely greater need of an attorney general than of addi tional judges on the Supreme court or of judicial wet nurses for six of the present members of the court.” Senator Minton of Indiana de fended the plan in a radio address but probably did it more harm than good, for he frankly admitted the purpose of the administration is to change the personnel and views of the Supreme court, in order that President Roosevelt’s New Deal program will be held constitutional. Other senators who came out against the President’s plan were Nye of North Dakota, radical Re publican; Bone of Washington, Democrat; Burke of Nebraska, Democrat; and Van Nuys of Indi ana, Democrat. On the other side were McAdoo of California; Thomas of Utah and La Follette of Wis consin. Senators Bone and Wheeler intro duced a resolution for a constitu tional amendment that would give congress the power to override Su preme court decisions by a two- thirds vote of both houses, but only after a national election involving congressional seats has intervened so that the people have had a chance to speak on the issue. The American Federation of C,a- bor and Labor’s Nonpartisan league declared their support of the court packing scheme, and the National Grange expressed its opposition. Legislatures of many states adopted resolutions for or against the plan, most of them being in opposition. Mr. Roosevelt received several groups of senators, some of whom are among those opposing the pack ing of the Supreme court, and re iterated his intention to push his plan through congress without mod ification. He said the people had voted for e New Deal end wers going to get it. Atty. Gee. Cummings .sL——about: Arte Fatalities. S ANTA MONICA, CALIF.— Being revolted by our hide- oub record of mortality result- inf from mad automobiling— as what decent citizen is not? —a gentleman writes in some pertinent recommendations. He suggests laws providing, in ad dition to auch other penalties as may follow a con- Jj§|f 111 Irvin 8. Cobb driving or criminal- f < ly reckless driving, or hit-and-run driv ing, that the convict ed party shall lose his license for five years and that his automobile be sold and the proceeds used for the vic tim’s heirs, as the case may be. Whilst we’re on the subject of the disgrace which costs America more lives every month than are being destroyed in the Spanish civil war in any month, here’s another little notion: That a flagrant offender or a chronic offender shall be given a jail sentence, without the option of paying a fine, the only alternative from jail being his or her willing ness to be handcuffed and chained before the public gaze through a period of hours or days at the scene of the accident for which he or she was responsible. That ought to make some con verts to the crusade for prudent driving, don’t you think? • • • WindsAr’s Musical Proclivities. T ATEST word is that the duke'bf Windsor has taken up accor dion playing in a serious way after first toying with the deadly saxo phone and then doing some inten sive bagpipe toodling. Obviously the duke is in a fair way to estrange those who, until now, have faith fully supported him through his re cent harrowing experiences. Even loyalty can be pushed just so far. Or maybe he has a lot of close friends who are deaf. Or maybe Mrs. Simpson is prac ticing wearing earmuffs. Or maybe she can wean him on • mouth organ—a comparatively in offensive instrument. -—-- Or he may just up and refccvn of his own accord. Or something. Let’s not be too hasty in our judgments. • • • Jefferson and Ickes. CECRETARY ICKES is sort of op- posed to naming the projected great national auditorium in Wash ington after Thomas Jefferson, be cause it is pressed to hold sport ing events there when the building is not being used for public gath erings. He invites us to imagine the feelings of Jefferson upon -look ing down on boxing matches or such-like goings-on under that roof. Well, let’s carry the thing fur ther: Can anybody imagine Jeffer son imagining a Secretary Ickes? • • • Madame Perkins’ Ambitions. Vf AYBE it’s not wise to add those new departments to the Presi dential cabinet right now. True, Madame Perkins shows a patriotic willingness—or shall we say deter mination?—not only to look after her own portfolio, but to snatch up such responsibilities as her fellow- secretaries are so careless as to leave out of nights. Still, it’s expecting an awful lot of one weak woman that she should relieve two more members of their responsibilities, duties and author ity when the task of trying to take over the other nine present jobs be sides her own already has taxed her strength severely. And besides, there’s annoying talk that congress may actually oppose the madame’s latest little suggestion that she be made practically the supreme pow er in all labor disputes. But she needn’t worry about that. Whoever heard of guinea pigs defy ing a lady lion-tamer? *• * * * The Flood’s Aftermath. \X71TH the slackening ol the tor- W rents, the peak of drama out of the scene, but the tragedy, less spectacular but nevertheless' des perate, Ungers on—the tragedy of destitution and ruin and sickness. Fur the rebuilding of wrecked homes, the rehabilitation of morale, it is necessary that through the Red Cross we give and keep on giving— *nd I reckon we will. We always have. But there are certain things we need not give the victims, for these be things they never lose and never will—their courage and their sense of humor. We can still laugh at our personal misfortunes even while the world at large weeps for them. I guess, for our race, that’s the main saving grace. , IRVIN S. COBB. • Western Newspaper Union. A Chain of Ants A species of ant joins distant leaves to make its nest, first estab lishing between them a chain of ants several inches long, gradually shortening the chain by removing individuals without disturbing the connection, and finally cementing the leaves where they touch with glutinous matter exuded by young larvae. Washington Digest j Ndtiondi Topic, Interpreted jj By WILLIAM BRUCKART 'MtoO: Washington.—It is undoubtedly one of the fundamental foundation p . stones of demo- i he People cratic government Loee that where a civic Is accorded, the persons who are granted those rights necessarily have some duty to perform under those rights. It is well established, for example, that workers may or ganize into unions; that those unions have the right to bargain collectively which means that a committee representing the mem bers of that union may speak for it in dealing with the employers, and it is a right undoubtedly of unions to call its members away from work on strike. I think there can be no debate concerning these three premises. But since these rights have been granted to workers and accepted by them on the same in alienable basis as the right to vote, the obligations that go with these rights necessarily have been accept ed by the workers. We have just seen a settlement of one of the great strikes of this decade and the return of more than one hundred thousand workers to the plants of the General Motors corporation. Immediately after Governor Murphy of Michigan, had announced that General Motors and John L. Lewis and his Committee for Industrial Organization had reached an agreement, efforts surged and swelled in a movement on the part of each side to claim victory in the settlement. From all sources I have been able to tap, from every trustworthy observer of national affairs, I have obtained vir tually the same story about the Gen eral Motors—C. I. O. strike settle ment. As far as I can see after digesting all of the opinions within my reach, it seems to me that neither General Motors nor John L. Lewis won. What is much more im portant is that the American people lost by that strike and they are in a fair way to lose much more. The General Motors strike was one of the costliest in history. I am told that the workers alone lost something like one hundred million dollars in wages, and, of course, the stockholders of General Motors likewise lost because during all those days, forty-four of them, that the plants were closed, no new cars moved into trade. That means that all the thousands of. dealers and salesmen of General Motors auto mobiles earned no income. . *ThV*milh about the settlement seems to be that each side was will- . tag near the end J rtzfn About to accept Gover- Settlement nor Murphy ■ proposition for settlement as a face saving pro posal. It is undoubtedly true that John L. Lewis would have been sunk without a trace and his move ment to break up the American Federation of Labor and take con trol of labor for himself would have been utterly ruined had there not been some concessions by the Gen eral Motors official^. He apparently attempted to break up the A. F. of X*. before he had sufficient union men weaned away from the parent organization and that is the reason why his position in the General Motors strike was so precarious from his personal standpoint. On the other hand, it is quite evi dent as well that General Motors was forced into a position where it had to make concessions or be charged by the federal government with responsibility for bloodshed and destruction of property in riots. Governor Murphy acted throughout the strike negotiations under the flag of President Roose velt, saying his movements were at the wish of the President. Gen eral Motors did not dare attempt tp run counter to the President’s commands because it could not withstand public sentiment that could and probably 9 would be built up against it should it be publicly criticized by the President. And to support my statement that the settlement is a face saving agreement and that neither side won in it, it is necessary only to consider that this agreement will run just six months. It contains no elements of permanency nor does it show any signs of a basic understanding which will swing pub lic sentiment to the Lewis faction. Thus, there are many observers who feel that another crisis will arise along about Ano.her the first of July CruU and that in the meantime Wil liam Green, President of the Amer ican Federation of Labor, will have built up a considerable amount of strength on his side of the factional fight. What the future holds, there fore, is difficult to guess. It can be said only that in the recent strike and in the controversy that seems certain to lie ahead. General Mo- mitm ton again will be the goat and the public will pay. I have been wondering whether many people recognize how -they are going to pay for .the cost of this strike. I have mehfioned ways in which they have lost by it and it seems equally clear that when the Lewis unions get through with the use of force, it is likely to bring about an increase in the cost of the automobiles they produce. It is like ly to go further than just automo biles. There is a move on now to attempt something of the same sort of labor attack on the steel manu facturers. If that matenializes, it is easy to see how widespread the increased costs will be and how consumers will pay in the end. This may seem to be an argu ment against increased wages. It may seem to be a defense of steel boots that used to be worn by in dustrialists and with which they trod upon defenseless labor. But it resolves itself into a question of justice and a consideration of the problem as it concerns consumers as well as workers. If there is anything in the theory that labor is entitled to a fair wage, there must be likewise some merit in the contention that the public which consumes the product of labor is entitled to an equal amount of con sideration. • • • * Political leaders have been quick at all times in recent years to sit _ , . astride the neck r ederal 0 f business, es- Chartere pecially big busi ness. Corporations were held up as something to be despised, especially if they were large corporations. Lately there has been quite a definite movement for legislation in congress that would force corporations to have federal charters; that is, charters issued by the government at Washington which, therefore, could control such corporations with whatever regula tions were deemed necessary. This legislation, it is true, has not ap proached the stage where a pre diction of its passage can be made. The point is, however, that It rep resents the thoughts of a certain percentage of the people. The ques tion of legality- of such a statute obviously remains to be determined but it is to be noted that this prop osition is simply another step in the movement to cast a stigma upon business, a move to make business appear immoral or criminal or gen erally infamous. Business has found it advan tageous to incorporate. It removes certlin responsibilities from the in dividuals joining in a corporation and adds certain commitments at the same time. Here again are the rights and counter obligations aris ing with those rights and I think no one can dispute the fact that our nation has moved forward more rapidly because of the use of the corporation as a business entity. But I have been unable to find an answer to the question why the federal government should take control by law of business corpora tions without at the same time tak ing control of labor organizations. Now, it is to be noted that labor unions have steadfastly avoided taking the step of incorporation. It is not true abroad where many la bor organizations hold corporate charters just as would a business enterprise. The fact that labor unions have not incorporated leads one to the presumption that the unions have felt such a step would hamper their activities. And, indeed, it might. For example, there have been scores of instances where labor unions, through their authorized offi cials or bargaining committees, have signed wage contracts with their employers—only to ditch that contract subsequently without re gard for its binding force. As labor unions are now or ganized, they are very loosely knit associations and there is nothing by which the individual members are bound except their own will to per form. In the case of a business corporation, for example, the stock holders have invested money and obviousjy when the corporation js sued in court or accumulates any kind of liability the stockholders’ money in the corporation is avail able to pay whatever obligations develop. Hence, the lack of a cor porate organization on the part of a union removes all responsibility insofar as law is concerned from the unit into which the-workers have organized themselves. The point is, after all, that the General Motors strike has demon strated beyond the peradventure of a.doubt that the national labor pol icies are utterly ineffectual and con tain no consideration for the con suming public. Labor, as represent ed by the John L. Lewis faction, has shown its willingness to back its demands with force in disregard of law and it has failed to. answer the responsibilities wtych it seems to me accomplish the rights and priv ileges the nation a< • WMtcra Ntwi OFDWIO IDE HOUSEWIFE • A tablespoonful of vinegar will soften glue that has become hard ened in a bottle. • • • A pinch of alum added to the water when washing blue or green articles of clothing will prevent the colors from running. • • • The stock left from cooked spin ach makes e valuable addition to vegetable soup. • • • Oatmeal on a dampened cloth is excellent for cleaning white paint accord* it^ »ae#fe«T Vmiscr Two or three slices of bacon placed on top of a liver loaf dur ing baking adds to the flavor. • Associated Newspapers.—WNU Service. only LVDEN'S MENTHOL COUGH DROPS will do thoso 3 things.•• and all for • • • 5/ Q dear jour head ^ Soothe your throat Q Help build up your ALKALINE RESERVE WHIN A COLD STRIKISI Nature’s Hymns Flowers are Nature’s hymns, with which in her inspiration, she greets the sun.—Heine. 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