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v McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1937 News Review of Current Events JAPS GIRO FOR LONG WAR Mass 30,000 Troops Near Peiping ... Wages and Hours Bill Passed by Senate • • • Take Up Low-Cost Housing wmm :..W ii |fl S'?". ii asp wm iC-- * m smm& 1 Japanese soldiers cremate their dead at Fengtal. U/. J&icjcjtUufT <f > ** fiTTMMXRT7.Rfi THF WOTJT.n’! SUMMARIZES THE WORLD’S WEEK • Western Newspaper Union. North China Powder Keg T IENTSIN, powder keg of the hostilities in North China, was being attacked from many angles as .Japan apparently prepared to fight a long term war. Japanese bombers rained death arid destruc tion from the dries, artillery pep pered the city with shells and, as if that were not enough, a serious earthquake shook the metropolis* foundations. A surprise Chinese attack, by three armies along a 95-mile front from Taku (Tientsin’s port) to Peip ing, drove Japan away from three key railroad stations, provoking Nippon’s retaliation. In the wake of the bursting bombs, flames en gulfed Tientsin’s principal build ings, including the cental railway Station, the militia headquarters, the famed Nankai university and the Chinkiang international bridge connecting the Chinese city to the foreign concessions. In the streets, Chinese and Japanese soldiers fought hand to hand, with entrench ments in some places no more than 100 feet apart. Chinese troops declared that “Thousands of non-combatant men, women and children were killed or injured” by the airmen. Russia protested vigorously to the Japanese embassy in Nanking against the "pillaging of the Russian consulate by White Russian ruffians assisted by Japanese.” The Japa nese denied that any of their coun trymen were implicated, and ridi culed the idea that the Japanese planned any future attacks against Russian consulates. In the Fengtai-Lukouchiao district southwest of Peiping, 30,000 veteran Japanese troops massed for an at tack upon five divisions of China’s central government army, number ing approximately 60,000. Including the remnants of the twenty-ninth army, driven from Peiping by the Japanese, there were said to be 100,000 Chinese. Both sides were well equipped with airplanes. Further evidence of Japan’s ex pectation of real war were the sweeping changes in military per sonnel made after a conference be tween Premier Konoye and Emper or Hirohito. Four new division com manders were named, as well as a new commander for the island of Formosa. It was regarded as sig nificant that all of the new ap pointees were soldiers with exten sive experience in China. The gov ernment was attempting to push through an appropriation of $115,- 000,000 for operations in North China. Bill Green jSaves the Day A FTER William Green, president ** of the American Federation of Labor, had been prevailed upon by President Roosevelt to grace the wages and hours bill with an approv al slightly less than lukewarm, the sen ate passed it, 56 to 28. Southern sena tors, led by Pat Har rison of Mississippi and obviously dis pleased with the bill, pressed a move ment to recommit it to the education and labor committee, but their motion was defeated, 48 to 36. It seemed certain that the south erners would have enough votes to defeat the measure when the metals and building units of the Federa tion voiced their dissatisfaction also, while Green at first refused to com ment. But under pressure from the White House, Green gave out a statement that, while the bill was still unacceptable ,to him, he would like to have it passed in the senate and then improved in the house. As the senate passed it, the Wag- ner-Connery bill to regulate hours and wages would create a labor standards board empowered to set minimum wages up to 40 cents an hour and maximum work weeks down to 40 hours a week. The draft prepared by the house labor committee was far broader in scope than that of the senate. It would extend the limits to permit the board to set minimum wages up to 70 cents an hour and set the William Green IP maximum working week as low as 35 hours. In the house, too, there was oppo sition by the southern Democrats. They objected to the wide latitude given the board. Most of them felt the bill would have a detrimental effect upon the industrial growth of the South. —*— $700,000,000 for Housing T-J AVING disposed of wages and ^ hours legislation, the senate took up the Wagner-Steagall low- cost housing bill. This would au thorize the flotation of a $700,000,000 bond issue by a United States hous ing authority. To meet operating ex penses of the pro gram’s first year, $26,000,600 would be appropriated imme diately. The pro posed bond issue _ was cut from $1,- Sen. Wagner 000,000,000 as a com promise with the Treasury depart ment, which objected to so high a figure. The bill would aid low-cost hous ing projects in two ways. It would make loans to the full amount of contracted projects, aiding the re payment of the loans by direct grants if the sponsors kept rents suf ficiently low; or it would make di rect grants not to exceed 25 per cent of the cost of a project. Under this latter method, the President would be authorized to make an ad ditional 15 per cent grant from re lief funds, to be used only for the employment of labor. Sponsors would be required to contribute at least 20 per cent of the cost. The housing authority would also be permitted to spend $25,000,000 on demonstration projects to illustrate to communities the benefits of elimi nating slums and providing ade quate housing at low cost. The proj ects would be sold "as soon as practical” to local housing agencies. Under the first plan the housing authority would be given power to enter subsidy agreements totaling $20,000,000 annually. —*— Wedge to Split Loyalists A S THE battle of Madrid con tinued to rage, Gen. Francisco Franco's eastern army was driving an ever-widening wedge into the ter ritory near the junction of Teruel, Cuenca and Valencia provinces 100 miles east of Madrid. His object is to impose a barrier between Ma drid and the loyalist government’s capital at Valencia. Government forces all along the line of advance were reported sur rendering or fleeing. Insurgents claimed to have captured large num bers of automobiles and supplies of arms, munitions and clothing. Latest news from the Madrid front indicated that a rebel attack in the Usera sector southeast of the city had been repulsed by machine gun ners and dynamiters. Taking inventories of their forces in the Madrid conflict, the govern ment and the insurgents disagreed; each claimed the other’s losses had been greatest. Rebels reported the government had lost 300 fighting planes and had had 30,000 casualties. The government declared Franco had lost at least 100 planes to its 20 or 30, had lost 20,000 to 25,000 men, and had consumed $15,000,000 worth of war materials. Women Hear War Cry NE of China’s chief agitators for war was Mme. Chiang Kai- shek, Wellesley-educated wife of the dictator. She urged women to fight Japan "according to their ability,” citing the fashion in which the wom en of Spain are occupying the fight ing lines. "In the World war the women of every country gave their best," she declared. "The women of China are no less patriotic or capable of phys ical endurance. "China is facing the gravest crisis in its history. This means we must sacrifice many of our soldiers, masses of our innocent people, much of the nation’s wealth and see ruthlessly destroyed the results of our reconstruction.” Wllxt it about This Business of Golf. O AKLAND, CALIF.—As I sit writing this, I look out where elderly gentlemen, in tent on relaxing, may be seen tensing themselves up tighter than a cocked wolf-trap, and then staggering toward the clubhouse with every nerve standing on end and screaming for help and highballs. I smile at them, for I am one who has given up golf. You might even go so far as to say golf gave me up. I tried and tried, but I never broke a ty phoid patient’s tem perature chart — never got below 102. I spent so much time climbing into sand-traps and out again that people be gan thinking I was a new kind of her mit, living by pref- Irvin S. Cobb erence in bunkers— the old man of the link beds, they’d be calling me next. And I used to slice so far into the rough that, looking for my ball, penetrated jungles where the foot of man hadn’t trod since the early mound builders. That’s how I add ed many rare specimens to my col lection of Indian relics. But the last straw was when a Scotch professional, after morbidly watching my form, told me that at any rate there was one thing about me which was correct—I did have on golf stockings I • • • Congressional Boldness. XAf ARNING to pet lovers: If you v v own guinea pigs or tame rab bits or trained seals or such-like gen tle creatures, try to keep the word from them that some of the majority members of the lower branch of con gress actually threatened to defy their master’s voice. The senate always has been knov/n as the world's greatest delib erative body—and, week by week and month by month don’t those elder statesmen know how to delib erate! But these last few years the house has earned the reputation of being the most docile legislative outfit since Aesop’s King Stork ruled over the synod of the frogs. So should the news ever spread among the lesser creatures, hither to so placid and biddable, that an example had been set at Washington, there’s no telling when the Bel gian hares will start rampaging and the singing mice will begin acting up rough and the grubworms will gang against the big old woodpeck er. • • • Professional Orators. \\T E HAVE in Southern fcalifor- v v nia a professional orator who long ago discovered that the most dulcet music on earth was the sound of his own voice. He’ll speak any where at the drop of the hat and provide the hat. What’s worse, this coast-defender of ours labors under the delusion that, if he shouts at the top of his voice, his eloquence will be all the more forceful. The only way to avoid meeting him at dinner is to eat at an owl wagon. But the other night, at an important banquet, he strangely was missing from the ar ray of speakers at the head table. One guest turned in amazement to his neighbor: "Where’s Blank?” he inquired, naming the absentee. "Didn’t you hear?” answered the other. "He busted a couple of ear drums.” "Whose?” said the first fellow. * • • Foes of Nazidom. TP HE veteran Rabbi Stephen Wise -*■ of New York has been reason ably outspoken in his views on Nazi treatment of his own co-religionists and the practitioners of other faiths as well. And one of the most ven erable prelates of the Catholic church in Europe, while discussing the same subject, hasn’t exactly pulled his punches, either. So what? A friend just back from abroad tells me that in Berlin he heard a high government officer fiercely denounce these two distin guished men. About the mildest thing the speaker said about them was that both were senile. Some how or other, the speech wasn’t printed in the German papers— maybe by orders from on high. Well, far be it from this inno cent bystander to get into religious arguments and besides I have no first-hand knowledge as to the Chris tian clergyman’s state of health, al though, judging by his utterances, there’s nothing particularly wrong with his mind. But I do know Rab bi Wise, and, if he’s in his dotage, so is Shirley Temple. And I risk the assertion that he would be per fectly willing to have one foot in the grave if he could have the other on Herr Hitler’s neck. IRVIN S. COBB C—WNU Service. ADVENTURERS’ CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI << Human Bait 99 By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter H ELLO everybody; You know, boys and girls, fishing is a harmless sport, and perfectly safe just so long as you don’t get things mixed up the way Tony Benciven did. In all the fish ing I’ve ever seen done, the fisherman stays in the boat, and uses a worm, or another fish, or maybe just a hunk of salt pork, for bait. But Tony didn’t follow the usual procedure. For bait, he used him self. And you know, there are fish that don’t hesitate to chew up even a man, if they see him trailing along at the end of a fishing line. Tony lives in Brooklyn, N. Y. He likes Brooklyn because there you can get a swell swordfish steak in a restaurant, without having to go out and catch it yourself. Tony is plenty sick of sword-fishing. There are enough dictators around waving swords nowadays without having the fish do it, too. And like a dictator, a swordfish can drag you into trouble faster than almost anything else on earth or in the water. At least, that was Tony's experience. Tony says he never did want to go on that swordfishing trip in the first place. He had just arrived in Avalon on Catalina island, off the coast of California, and he didn’t know any more about deep-sea fishing than the mayor of Timbucktoo knows about the North Pole. But his friend, Tom Martin talked him into it, and on the morning of August 17, 1931, they set out in a power boat for San Clemente island, about thirty- five miles away. Then Tony Got His First Strike. When they reached the north side of San Clemente, Tom showed Tony how to bait his hook and how to handle his line. Then they began cruising and looking for swordfish. Tony says they cruised for two hours before they saw one, and it was a half hour after that before Tony got his first strike. "That strike,” says Tony, "almost yanked me clear out of the boat. There was a tremendous tug on the line, and I caught my balance just in time. Behind me I could hear Tom yelling in structions and I began reeling in my line. I reeled in until an other violent jerk told me that the fish was diving for the bottom, and then, still following Tom’s instructions, I let the line reel out again. "By this time my hands were raw and blistered, and I was panting from the exertion. When the line was almost all out, Tom shouted to me to reel in again, and slowly, laboriously, I began hauling that sword fish back to the surface. I must have had him almost to the top when suddenly the line went slack again. A second later I heard a hellish roar and the water burst apart close to the boat. The swordfish shot out of the water like a bombshell and fell back again with a loud splash. Then it was off again, in a series of mad plunges, taking most of the line with it. "Tom yelled: ‘It’s a beauty.' And it was. It was every bit of eleven feet long, and it must have weighed close to four hundred pounds. And just then, the fish turned suddenly in the water and charged straight for the boat!” Tom yelled to Tony to haul in the line, and Tony forgot about the reel and began hauling it in hand-over-hand. In the excitement of the moment he didn’t notice that the line had become tangled around his foot. That swordfish was taking all his attention. At the last moment it veered, missing the boat by a fraction of an inch, and then Tony felt a tug at his entangled foot. He was knocked clean off his pins, and be fore he realized what had happened he was in the water, choking and gasping for air, being dragged along at the end of the line. Overboard Among the Sharks. Says he: "In vain I tried to untangle the line around my foot—and in vain I tried to break the strong cord. Down—down I was dragged by that diving fish, and I thought my lungs would burst before it shot to the top again. And then, while I was still fighting for air, I became aware of an even deadlier menace. Sharks! A number of them, swimming nearby, dim, ghostly shapes in the water.” Suddenly, Tony realized that he was no longer being dragged. He looked toward the swordfish and saw the reason. He had come to the surface now, and there was the fish, less than two hundred feet away, charging straight at him. Tony drew in a deep breath. This looked like the end, and he was getting ready to meet it. But the swordfish never reached him. Halfway in its course it was met by two or three darting streaks of gray. THE SHARKS! "What a battle that was,” says Tony. "The fierce struggle threw up mountains of water. And then the line began to drag me into that mad maelstrom. I was getting closer and closer, when suddenly it snapped— probably slashed by shark teeth. Then, free for the first time, I looked for the boat. It was coming toward me at a fast clip—but it was too late. For at the same time I noticed that two triangular fins were cutting the water around me in circles—circles that were getting smaller with every turn.” Bump on the Head—and Rescue. Just the same, Tony began swimming toward the boat. The circling fins were now so close to him that he could see the bodies of the sharks. Suddenly, one of them darted madly. He felt its body touch his foot as it swam beneath him—and he shivered. Wasn’t that boat ever going to reach him? "The other shark would charge at any moment,” he says "It had turned on its side, jaws gaping. I tried to steel my nerves for the inevitable finish. Churning the water wasn’t going to keep this one off. He was ready for the kill. I heard a roar and a ' rush of water behind me and remembered the other shark. Be fore I could turn, something struck my head, and that is the last I remember.” But when Tony opened his eyes again, he was in the boat, and Tom was pouring whisky down his throat. It was the boat that had given him that bump on the head—and it hadn’t arrived any too soon. For Tom had had to fight the shark off with a gaff hook while he dragged Tony’s unconscious body out of the water. Tony says he looked over the side and saw nothing but a couple of fins circling the water where the swordfish had been a few moments be fore. And that’s when he resolved that thereafter he’d get his sword fish in a restaurant, served up on a plate with a piece of lemon and a little parsley. This business of being shark bait was no fun at alL No adventure is any fun—until after it is all over. ©—WNU Service. Hudson and Staten Island Staten island was one of the ear liest discoveries of the explorer, Henry Hudson. He first saw the highlands on September 2, 1609, and on the following day entered the lower bay and anchored in the har bor of Sandy Hook. The next day he manned a small boat and sent it through the narrows to explore the bay, and the island now known as Staten island was discovered Sep tember 4. It was then inhabited by a branch of the Raritan Indians. In 1630 the Dutch West India com pany purchased the island from the natives, giving in exchange for it "some kettles, axes, hoes, wampum, drilling awls, jew’s-harps and divers small wares.” It was the Dutch who named the island, calling it Staaten Eylandt — Island of the States—after the States General, the Parliament of the Netherlands, which was popularly referred to as "The States.” Judge Advocate General, Adviser The judge advocate general is the official legal adviser of the secre tary of war, the chief of staff, the War department and its bureaus, and the entire military establish ment. He advises concerning the legal correctness of military admin istration, including disciplinary ac tion, matters affecting the rights and mutual relationship of the per sonnel of the army, and the finan cial, contractural, and other busi ness affairs of the War department and the army. The functions of the judge advocate general’s depart ment include not only those of the judge advocate general and of his office in Washington, but also those of judge advocates serving as staff officers at the headquarters of army, corps area, department, corps, division, and separate bri gade commanders, and at the head quarters of other officers exercisinf general court-martial jurisdiction- 1 STAR 1 | DUST | ★ M.ovie • Radio $ ★ ★ ★★★By VIRGINIA VALE★★★ W HEN word went around the Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer studio the other day that Lea- trice Joy Gilbert, thirteen-year- old daughter of Leatrice Joy and the late John Gilbert, was making a film test, there was more craning of necks and rushing toward the set than there is even for Garbo. If good wishes could make good actresses little Miss Gilbert will be the greatest of all. Back in the wardrobe department many a tear was shed as seamstresses who had dressed her mother and her father sewed on her costume, and camera men who had been devoted to her father begged for the chance to photograph her. For a long time the studio has owned film rights to "National Velvet,” but couldn’t find a girl who was both young and ap pealing enough to play the heroine. Everyone hopes that little Leatrice will be chosen. —j Hot weather in Hollywood so in tense that the closed-in sets of sound studios are like fur naces seems to have a calming effect on temperament and nerves. Ginger Rog ers and Katherine Hepburn sit togeth er at the edge of the “Stage Door” set at RKO studio, calmly sipping tea and dis cussing the day’s news. At Twentieth Century - Fox, Vir ginia Bruce and Loretta Young swap theorjes on child-raising. At Colum bia, the staff is daily more amazed to find Grace Moore agreeing whole heartedly with every suggestion the director makes. Incidentally, John Ford has an effective way of squelching actors who want to play scenes their way instead of taking his direction. If an actor grows ar gumentative, he lets him go ahead and play the scene his way. Then he rips the film out of the camera, hands it to the stubborn thespian and says, "You can have it. No one else would want to see it.” Ginger Rogers I The daffiest picture of the week is RKO’s "Super Sleuth.” You couldn’t find better hot-weather en tertainment anywhere. Jack Oakie provides the laughs, expertly aided by Ann Sothern, but it is the story that really deserves loud cheers. I don’t want to spoil it for you by telling too much, but you won’t mind knowing that it is the story of a movie star who specializes in de tective roles. Ann Sothern’s career, in the dol drums lately because of second- rate pictures, has suddenly picked up and no one is happier than her close friend, Joan Bennett. If you heard Ann spouting Shakespeare on that best of all summer programs, Charlie McCarthy aided and abetted by Edgar Bergen, you know that she has a sense of comedy that should put her up in the front ranks of high comedy with Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard. ★ When Sonja Henie decided to go to Norway for a vacation a big fare well luncheon was planned for her by Igjg Tyrone Power. That seemed like a charming idea when it was planned and the invitations sent out, but in the mean time Sonja and Ty rone had a squabble and weren’t speak ing. They carefully selected tables at opposite ends of the studio lunchroom and avoided speaking to each other. Hollywood has often giggled over parties where none of the guests were interested in meeting the guest of honor, but this was the first time on record when the host and the guest of honor weren’t speaking. His attentions to Janet Gay nor and Lor etta Young are supposed to have caused it. ODDS AND ENDS—Officials at NBC who discovered Doris Weston and called Warner Brothers' attention to her are de lighted with her performance in "The Singing Marine," say she is the only girl who looks intelligent while listening to other players sing . . . Ben Bemie is at tending dramatic school in hopes of out smarting Walter Winchell in their next film . . • J°<m Crawford will star in the re-make of that grandest of all film stories, "Shopworn Angel" which Nancy Carroll once made ... Ray Milland has been given Claudette Colbert’s former dressing room and his friends are kidding him unmerci fully about his flossy surroundings, walls of blue mirror glass, white dressing table, and thick, thick rugs . .. Whenever actors insist that they just can't do justice to more {han two pictures a year, producers remind them that Gene Autry is the big gest attraction in pictures nowadays, partly because he is so good, partly because he makes so many pictures that audiences have no chance to forget him. e> Western Newspaper Union. Sonja Heine V v,