Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I r*>. r*>. V McCORMICK MESSENGER. McCORMICK. S. C.. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25. 1937 ’*s£Meur By Edward W. Pickard © Western Newspaper Union Senator Clark Clark, Wheeler Attack President’s Court Plan 'T' HOUGH President Roosevelt 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 are 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 cfourt. He continued: ‘‘The conclusion is unescapable that to increase the court at one time by the increase of an additional two- thirds of its present membership is to pack the court with reference to a particular situation and par ticular litigation now pending or to be immediately pending before it. “To me it seems a radical and unnecessary change in our whole system of government, without the submission to the people in the proper form of an amendment to the Constitution. Therefore I shall vote against that portion of the Pres ident’s proposals.” 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: “I 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. “The issue is: How are we going to prevent in the future this usurp ation of the legislative power by the courts? Shall we attempt to coerce them by packing the court with six new men? If we do add six new men to the court does it correct the evil? Or is it merely a temporary expedient? “Every labor leader, every farm er, and every progressive-minded citizen in the United States would have been shocked and protested from the house tops if President Harding, President Coolidge, or President Hoover had even inti mated that they wanted to increase the Supreme court so as to make it subservient to their wishes. “If this administration can in crease the Supreme court to make it subservient to its wishes, an other Harding administration can do the same thing. “There is nothing democratic, progressive, or fundamentally sound in the 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 by new com plexities of national life. The congestion of dockets in tHe feder al courts is largely dtte 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 Glass of Virginia said: “I 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. World Is Preparing for Another War A CCORDING to a survey made by the Foreign Policy associa tion, the world expenditure on arms and armies in preparation for war has more than doubled in the last two years, reaching a record height of $11,000,000,000 in 1936 alone.Npie Atty. Gen. Cummings cost of armaments in 1934 was $5,- 000,000,000. Soviet Russia in both years is ac credited with the lead in the spend ing for military purposes, its mili tary budget for 1936 reaching al most $3,000,000,000. But the great est increase in the course of the two years was recorded by Ger many whose tremendous rearm ament program has raised the Ger man military budget to seven times its 1934 level. It is estimated as spending $2,600,000,000 in 1936. In Germany, Japan and Italy the proportion of the national income going to unproductive military pur poses has reached “alarming fig ures” and many other countries have “strained their financial re sources,” the report declares. Indiana Auto Workers Appeal to President AA EMBERS of the United Auto- mobile Workers stirred up a riot in Anderson, Ind., that result ed in the injury of several men, and Governor Townsend responded to an appeal from the sheriff of Madison county by sending Nation al Guardsmen to maintain order and keep outsiders from entering the county to aggravate the trouble. Thereupon Victor Reuther, a leader of the U. A. W., sent a telegram to President Roosevelt calling for “direct intervention” and demand ing the lifting of the military re strictions “so that union members can become free men again.” In formation from Anderson indicated the union men were directly re sponsible for the disorder. Hayashi Urges Russia and China to Be Peaceful G EN. SENJURO HAYASHI, pre mier and foreign minister of Japan, in a formal statement of policy to the parliament, said his government would “pay special atten tion” to the adjust ment of the em pire’s relations with soviet Russia and China, and urged those nations to cease their quarrels with Japan and try to comprehend Japan’s position and aims in East Asia. He called attention to the fact that Japan no longer is bound by any naval limitations treaty but de clared “there shall be no change in our policy of strict adherence to the principle of nonmenace and non aggression.” Hayashi’s cabinet decided on a budget reduction of approximately 8% per cent; Lieut. Gen. Hajime Sugiyama, the new war minister, ob jected to any cut in the huge army budget, but it was reduced slightly. Sugiyama British Destroyers Fire on Spanish Rebel Plane CIX bombs were dropped by a ^ plane, supposedly a Spanish in surgent craft, close to two British destroyers off the coast of Algeria. The warships, which were not dam aged, drove away the plane with gunfire. The British government at once lodged protests with the Fascist authorities. Valencia, the temporary capital of the loyalist government, was shelled by an insurgent warship and many persons, most of them wom en and children, were reported killed and injured. The city is packed with refugees and the civil population was panic-striken by the bombardment. A few days previously a Fascist warship shelled Barcelona, capital of the autonomous state of Cata< Ionia. Schuschnigg Favors Return of Hapsburg Dynasty R estoration of the Hapsburg dynasty in Austria was openly advocated by Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, who committed his government party to that proposi tion. He intimated that a plebis cite would be held to decide the question. The chancellor asserted that in creasing official support would be given to the campaign to place Archduke Otto of Hapsburg again on the throne which his father, the Emperor Karl, “fempor'arily • re nounced” November 11, 1918. s The archduke is twenty-four yea**s old. Jim Farley Banqueted by 1,600 Democrats U EADED by President Roosevelt ^ and Vice President Garner, 1,600 Democratic government offi cials, state committeemen • and prominent figures in the worlds of business and sports honored James A. Farley with a banquet in Wash ington. Mr. Garner was master of ceremonies and called the roll of distinguished guests by states. Mr. Roosevelt made a speech, which was carried to the country by radio. Irvin S. Cobb abottt; % Reducing Auto Fatalities. S ANTA MONICA, CALIF.— Being revolted by our hide ous record of mortality result ing from mad automobiling— as what decent citizen is not? —a gentleman writes in some pertinent recommendations. . He suggests laws providing, in ad dition to such other penalties as may follow a con viction for drunk driving or criminal 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? • • • Windsor’s Musical Proclivities. T ATEST word is that the duke of 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 a mouth organ—a comparatively in offensive instrument. Or he may just up and reform 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 proposed 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. A/f 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. ■\17TTH the slackening of the tor- W rents, the peak of drama out of the scene, but the tragedy, less spectacular but nevertheless des perate, lingers on—the tragedy of destitution and ruin and sickness. For the rebuilding of wrecked homes, the rehabilitation of morale, It is necessary that through the Red Cross we give and keep on giving— and 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 yo-.mg larvae. Washingtoni Digest Jik National Topics Interpreted By WILLIAM BRUCKART iMilMig NATIONAL PRESS BLDG. WASHINGTON, D. C. Washington.—It is undoubtedly one of the fundamental foundation stones of demo- The People cratic government Lose that where a civic right or privilege 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 bargaiit 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. The truth about the settlement seems to be that each side was will- f At in 6 near tha end irutn About to accept Gover- Settlement nor Murphy s 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 Ljibor and take con trol of labor for himself would have been utterly ruined had there not been some concessions by the Gen eral Motors officials. He apparently attempted to break up the A. F. of L. 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 to run counter to the President’s commands because it could not withstand public sentiment that could and probably 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 Another th e fi rs t G f j u iy Crisis 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 tors 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 mentioned 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 materializes, 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 Federal qf business, es- Charters 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 contrbl 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 certain 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 obviously when the corporation is 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 tack of a cor porate organization oh '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 which it seems to me accomplish the rights and priv ileges the nation accords it. © Western Newsu per Union. Of IDIfRfST TO 1 HOUSEWIFE Cane-bottomed chairs should be brushed to remove all dust and then washed with salt and water and placed in the open air to dry. This treatment tightens up the cane. • • • You can produce your own sour milk for use in sour-milk recipes by simply adding a teaspoon of vinegar to each cup of fresh sweet milk. • • • Carrots can be made crisp be fore cooking by scraping and leav ing in cold water for half an hour. • • • Sometimes ink stains can be re lieved from the hands by rubbing them with the inside of a banana peel. e Associated Newspapers.—WNU Service. Beware Coughs from common colds That Hang On / No- matter how many medicines you have tried for your cough, chest cold or bronchial irritation, you can get relief now witb Berio ith Creomulsion. us trouble may be brewing and a chance you cannot afford to take with anything less than Creomul sion. which goes right to the seat of the trouble to aid nature to soothe and heal the Inflamed mem branes as the germ-laden phlegm Is loosened and expelled. Even if other remedies have failed, don't be discouraged, your druggist is authorized to guarantee Creomulsion and to refund your money if you are not satisfied with results from the very first bottle. Get Creomulsion right now. (AdvJ Being Noble There is a great deal of sett satisfaction in being noble. May be that’s its essence. mem KEEP ST. JOSEPH ASPIRIN HANDY Be prepared for your family’s pains and colds. Keep St. Joseph Aspirin handy. World’s largest seller at 10c. St.Josepli GENUINE PURE ASPIRIN Hand to Mouth Existence The young man growing his first mustache has a very concerned look about him. BLACKMAN STOCK and POULTRY MEDICINES Are Reliable vr* Blackman’s Medicated Uck- A-Brttc wr Blackman's Stock Powder we- Blackman’s Cow Tonic ■w* Blackman's Hog Powder we- Blackman's Poultry Tablets we- Blackmon’s Poultry Powder Highest Quality—Lowest Price Satisfaction Guaranteed or your money back BUY FROM YOUR DEALER BLACKMAN STOCK MEDICINE CO. Chattanooga, Tenn. WOMAN’S AILMENTS Mr*. 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