Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCORMICR MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1937 New* Review ot Current Events JAPS CARRY WAR SOUTH Checked by Chinese . . . Japan Aims to Subdue China Once for All • . . Lewis Rebukes President Roosevelt Japan tries to force her will with machine guns in Shanghai. ^^dLunuuJt iA/» J&udcsftjdL A SUMMARIZES THE WORLD’S WEEK O Western Newspaper Union. Opposition Surprises Nippon J APANESE naval guns and bomb ers carried the war 600 miles south of Shanghai when they at tacked the port of Amoy, which houses a huge Chinese fort and ar senal, opposite the island of For mosa. Their bombs carried little effect and the shore artillery chased the warships, completely disabling one. The battle was but thirty miles from Hong Kong, recently ravished by a typhoon. > Elsewhere along the far-flung front the Japanese were meeting with opposition the caliber of which they had not expected. Along the Woosung front, 200,000 Chinese, in cluding crack German-trained divi sions, were successful in holding back 60,000 Japanese; it was said to be the severest opposition the Japs have met since they fought Russia in 1904. * Japanese aerial bombardments continued in the Chapei, Kiangwan, Taichong and Yanchong districts of Shanghai. The continued peril of the international settlement and the French concession spurred the American, British and French con suls to demand of both the Japanese and Chinese that their forces be withdrawn from that vicinity. Scores of noncombatants were daily being killed and wounded there by falling bombs and shells. But Japan’s long-awaited “big push” had not yet materialized. It was believed large reinforcements were being awaited. The Chinese man power was beginning to tell against the inferior numbers of the Japanese. Only in the northern province of Chahar did the Japanese make real progress. There they captured the capital city of Kalgan. A commis sion of 100 “prominent” Mongols and Chinese (many of them known to be associated with the Japanese army) was setting up a new “pop ular” autonomous government un der Japanese control. The Chinese soldiers driven out of Chahar were reported concentrating in Shansi province, to the south. —*— Plague Upon a Plague JOHN L. I*EWIS, fire-eating chair- man of the Committee for In dustrial Organization, let fly a re buke at President Roosevelt for im plied backwatering on campaigh prom ises and hinted at the possibility of a third party in the elections of 1940. In a radio speech he declared: “It ill behooves one who has supped at labor’s table and who has been shel tered in labor’s house to curse with equal fervor and fine impartiality both labor and its adversaries when they become locked in deadly em brace.” This was regarded as an answer to the “plague on both your houses” which President Roosevelt called down on extremists of both sides in the “little steel” strike. In his cam paign for re-election he had “supped at labor’s table” to the extent of a half-million-dollar contribution to the Democratic national committee by the C. I. O. x Lewis suggested that it would be a wise move for labor and agricul ture to wage their battles together politically. “Labor has suffered just as our farm population has suffered,” he said, “from a viciously unequal dis tribution of the national income. “The exploitation of both classes of workers has been the source of panic and depression, and upon the economic welfare of both rests the best assurance of a sound and per manent prosperity.” —¥— Chinese Won't 'Cooperate'! APAN’S aim in the undeclared war is to make China submit once and for all to her will, the Japanese government virtually ad mitted through its foreign minister, Koki Hirota. The seriousness of Japan’s intentions were obviated when Emperor Hirohito, departing from precedent, referred to the con flict in detail in a public statement ft John L. Lewis from the throne, and when it was revealed that Nippon is preparing more appropriations for her already heavy war chest. Hirota blamed the Chinese central government for the present fighting because it refuses to “co-operate” with Japan in “maintaining peace” in eastern Asia. Japanese military action against China, he said, was taken to make impossible the re currence of the current heetilities. “Japan,” he said, “has no other ob jective than to see a happy and tranquil North China and Sino-Jap- anese relations so adjusted as to enable us to put into practice our policy . . “Since China, ignoring our true motive, mobilized her vast armies against us, we can do no other than to counter by force of arms.” The emperor, in addressing the houses of parliament, greatly im pressed his subjects with a review of the war, arriving at much the same conclusions as Hirota had. The session of parliament was called to consider the appropriation of $592,000,000 for the campaigns in China, raising the total of the na tion’s war chest to $737,000,000. —■*— Dodd and Hull Disagree T> Y THE time this is printed Wil- liam E. Dodd may no longer be United States ambassador to Ger many. In an interview he vigorously opposed any Ameri can representation at the Nazi party congress in Nurem berg. Secretary of State Cordell Hull refused to comment upon Dodd’s atti tude, but announced that the United States would be rep resented at the con ference which will celebrate H i 11 e r’s rule by Prentiss Gil- bert, American charge d’affaires in Berlin. Secretary Hull explained that the action was being taken merely as a friendly gesture to the Nazi govern ment, with whom he said the United States is in complete diplomatic ac cord. Diplomatic reports have in dicated that Dodd, now vacationing here, had made himself unpopular in Berlin because of criticism of the Hitler government’s policies. Ru mor had it that he might not re turn to his post. Eleven ambassadors, thirty min isters and seven charges d’affaires were scheduled to attend the rally, the most conspicuous absence be ing that of the papal state’s repre sentative. Most distinguished guest expected was Premier Benito Mus solini of Italy. Palestine Plan Approved G reat Britain’s plan for the establishment of separate Jew ish and Arab states in Palestine received the favorable report of the League of Nations’ permanent man dates commission. The scheme, evolved to solve the differences for ever arising between the Arabs and Jews, would give them each a state of their own and leave a third divi sion of Palestine, the part contain ing Jerusalem, Bethlehem and oth er important shrines, under British mandate. The 235-page report said it was “conceivable the new states result ing from partition might remain un der mandate until they gave proof of ability to govern themselves.” —*— Postage Stamp War ONDURAS and Nicaragua were on the verge of running up the curtain on their own little show in honor of Mars, the god of war—all over a postage stamp. Nicaragua issued a stamp bearing a map which showed an area along the Hondu ras boundary as “territory in dis pute.” Hondurans claimed it was an affront to their sovereignty, citing the Spanish award which both sides accepted in 1906 and which was supposed to have settled the territory question. Hondurans were further incensed when Nicaraguan radio speakers hinted the Honduran army couldn’t lick a postage stamp, and proposed sending troops into that country. Ambassador W. E. Dodd" 'Jbj/wkd about Tombstone Inscriptions. P HOENIX, ARIZ.—A gentle man took me sightseeing through a cemetery that abound ed in proud mausoleums and stately shafts. I figured he wanted to show me that rich folks continue to enjoy the utmost luxury even after becoming de ceased. How futile and how vain are most tombstone inscrip tions. They give the dates of birth and death — events in. neither of which the departed had any say-so — unless he committed suicide. And just as the av- Irvin S. Cobb erage graveside eu logy is a belated plea for the defense, offered after the evidence is all in, so an epitaph is an advertisement for a line of goods which perma nently has been discontinued. Somehow this burying ground stuff reminds me of hired critics of other men’s efforts. The difference between professional book review ers and the other obituarians is that the latter do their work after you pass on, but the reviewers can’t wait until you’re dead to write your literary death notice for you. Maybe critics are to authors what fleas were to David Harum’s dog; they keep authors from brooding on being authors. * • * « Catching Barracuda. J EO CARILLO is quite a yachts- ■*- / man when not acting for tho screen or leading parades. He’s our champion parade leader. It’s got so they don’t dare let a colored fu neral go past his house for fear he’ll rush right out and head the proces sion. On one of those days when there wasn’t a parade, he took Victor Moore and me out on his boat. We caught a mess of slim, yet fragrant fish. Leo called them barracuda, but, with their low retreating fore heads and greedy jaws, they looked more like shyster lawyers to me— the kind who chase ambulances and eventually get disbarred. • * • ** Glad, Mad Artists. H eretofore, the glad, mad geniuses, who produce master pieces of sculpture and painting which resemble nothing on heaven or earth or in the waters below except possibly some bad dream which these parties had once -while feel ing pretty bilious, have depended upon the ultra-ults among the intelli gentsia for support. But now one hears divers million aires may endow for them an aca demy or a gallery—or .possibly it’s an asylum for the more violent cases. Anyhow, there’s money be hind the cult, and when money gets behind a thing in this country, it usually flourishes, provided the money doesn’t get too far behind, as happened in 1929, when the rest of the country was trying to figure out what had become of the deposits and investments, which we, of the sucker class, had entrusted to our leading financial wizards. Still, we of that same ignorant mass-group do not have to buy ex amples of this new schoool. We don’t even have to look at them unless we’re in Germany and are escorted to the official state-run display by a regiment of Nazi storm-troopers. And, aside from their ideas of what constitutes art, it’s said that some of the artists themselves are not really dangerous, merely annoy ing in an itchy sort of way. In other words, they’re all right if you don’t get one of ’em on you. * • * Pugilistic Authors. J M ALWAYS missing something. On the occasion of one really his toric battle between a brace of dis tinguished writers, I yawningly left the scene before Messrs. Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser quit swapping hard words and started swapping soft blows. And it was just my luck to be out here recently when Ernest Heming way threw a book—or maybe it was a publisher; anyhow some such hard, knobby object—at Mr. Max Eastman and Mr. Eastman retort ed with a tremendous push which damaged Mr. Hemingway not at all. The typical writer, no matter how red-blooded his style may be, packs all his wallops in his pen and never in his fist. There have been excep tions. Once Rex Beach cleaned out a night club all by himself, but his opponents were hoodlums, not fel low-writers. He had something sub stantial to work on. Some of my belligerent brethren in the writing game never lose an argument, but, on the other hand, none of them ever won a fight. Neither did their literary opponents. In fact, next to the average profes sional pugilist, I can think of no one who, in the heat of combat, equals a writer for showing such magnifi cent self-control when it comes ei ther to inflicting personal injury or sustaining same. IRVIN S. COBB. ©—WNU Service. f-toyd ADVENTURERS’ CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI “The Door to Death" By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter H ello everybody: Here’s the tale of the hand that saved a submarine from going to the bottom—and staying there. It’s the tale of the hand that saved that vessel from destruction and its crew from drown ing. And incidentally, it saved the life of Edward Lowgreen of New York City, who is today’s Distinguished Adventurer, and the man who is telling us this yarn. Ed came to this country in 1926, from Sweden. Over there he had been a sailor. He went to sea in 1919, starting as a mess boy and work ing his way up to a fireman’s job. Then, in June, 1922, he came home to visit his folks and that visit set him moving toward the big adventure of his life. At home he met one of his old school pals, who was a sailor in the Swedish navy. He talked Ed into going back with him and enlisting in the same outfit. A few days later he was on his way to Stockholm where he signed the papers and was assigned to the submarine Illen. Ed didn’t like the navy discipline very well. He says that after he had been on that submarine for two months he felt as though it had been two years. But one day he heard that the sub had been ordered out on a cruise. It was going to Danzig, Germany. That promised to be a little more interesting. It was so doggone interesting, in fact, that Ed will never forget that cruise. The trip over was uneventful. On the way back, though, it was hard work. They went through a course of training on the return trip, and all the subs in the fleet made one practice submergence after another. It kept the crews busy. When the Illen was about to go under water, Ed and a petty officer had the job of taking down the wireless antennae and bringing it in from the deck. It didn’t look like a dangerous job—but it turned out to be not only dangerous, but fatal. Ed and the petty officer had taken the antennae down several times in the course of that return trip—and then, one day, they went up on deck to take it down again. It was a beautiful day. The sea was calm, and ;he Illen was riding easily on the water. The order had been given to “Get ready to submerge” and Ed and the petty officer were doing their share. The Sub Was Sinking Under Them. In the routine of sending the sub under water, the final submerging order was not given until the petty officer with Ed reported back be low. But this time, something went wrong. They were still taking down the radio gear, when suddenly, the sub BEGAN TO SINK UNDER THEM. Ed will never forget that moment—and the whole crew of that vessel had good reason to be thankful for what happened next. In panic, Ed ran toward the hatch. It was closed, but not fastened down. He was trying to get to it—swing it open, and get inside before the ship went under. But Ed didn’t have a chance to make it. He would just about reach the hatch and get it open by the time the water closed over the sub. Then the water would rush in—sucking Ed in with it. It would flood through the submarine, sending it to the bot tom and drowning the whole crew! That’s what would have happened, if it hadn’t been for THE HAND— the hand of the petty officer. He kept his head when Ed lost his and be gan racing toward that hatch. He reached out—caught Ed—and then the sub slid out from under both of them, and they were strug gling in the water. Both men had on heavy rubber boots, and they filled with water. “Mine felt just as if I had a ton of coal on each foot,” says Ed. “I looked around for my partner, and just caught a glimpse of him when I felt myself going down.” Boot Came Off Just in Time. Ed went down, and stayed down until he thought he was never going to come up again. Then he started to rise. His head broke water for an instant, and he managed to catch another breath of fresh air in his lungs. Then he went under for the second time. All the while, he was trying to swim, but his water-filled boots seemed like so much lead. As he went under the second time, he bent himself double in the water and began tugging at one of those boots. It was awkward work. In that doubled-over position, it was twice as hard to keep the air in his lungs. The boot stuck and wouldn’t come off. It seemed to Ed that he was going down twice as far as he had gone the last time—that he had been under twice as long. Then, suddenly, the boot came off. Ed was so exhausted that he didn’t even try to get off the other one. His chest was aching—his head was spinning. Bright spots were dancing be fore his eyes. But he was going up again—rising toward the surface. At last his head was out of the water again. As if it were a dream, Ed saw a rowboat coming toward him. It didn’t seem to make much difference to him whether that boat picked him up or not. Ed was tired. He wanted to go to sleep. He sank back into the water and im mediately lost consciousness. The Hero Never Came Up. Ed doesn’t remember being dragged into the rowboat. He doesn’t remember anything until he woke up in a bunk aboard another boat. His partner wasn’t with him, and the whole division was searching for his body. They never found it though, and his funeral was held there on the high seas at the spot where his body had gone down. The commander of the ship read the service, and threw a wreath on the water. He was paying a tribute to a hero. But only Ed knew then that that hero had saved the lives of the submarine’s entire crew. ©—WNU Service. Social Security Is Old in Primitive Australia A system of “old-age pensions” has been practiced in Australia by the Kendall river (Gulf of Carpen taria) blacks since time immemo rial. These primitive folk make cer tain foods “taboo” to the young hunter, and he must bring them back to camp and hand them over to the aged, who are unable to stalk game for themselves. The old people are jealous of this prerogative and instill in young minds a great fear of its violation, reports the Australian Press bu reau. So the crows that fall to the young huntsman’s spear must be brought back to make tasty repasts for the aged of the tribe, lest the youth who eats them grows black feathers over his body. Kendall river region has been won over only in the last two years by Rev. W. F. Mackenzie, and when the government ketch Melbidir ar rived at the mouth of the river he boarded the vessel and made the journey three miles upstream to where his faithful man Uki has con tacted the natives and won their confidence. As the Melbidir went up the river, alligators were sunning themselves on either bank. Some of the natives hold them sacred, and give them in dividual names. However, when Mackenzie shot one there was heavy feasting by young and old. The “old-age pension” law was suspend ed, and even the most superstitious, and those whose “totem” is under the alligator, accepted their portion. A “boo shell,” which carries sound for miles across the water, heralded the minister’s approach. The blacks were a wild collection, bare to the waists, and with only bags or old calicos around their middles. Long, deep lacerations on their chests and arms told how they had suffered in fashion’s cause. Their noses were pierced with wal laby bone and their ears cut to car ry bamboo ornaments. Folk Cookery in Scotland Centuries have handed down folk cookery in the villages and towns of Scotland and England. Some of the names of these dishes are strange to the average visitor. The scone of Scotland is more known than the Cornish pastie and the Kentish pie. The majority of Amer icans have never heard of Goos- nagh cakes from Lancashire; rye loaves and rum butter from Cum berland. From Bakewell comes the famous pudding, cakes from Ban bury, bannocks from Selkirk and jellied eels from Bishopsgate. The secrets of frumenty, sillabubs, star- gazey pie, salmagundy and singin hinnies will be divulged oftentimes to visitors to the villages, and if they are lucky, visitors will be able to sample Queen Henrietta’s Morn ing Broth and the little white man* chets. Picking It “Remember, my boy,” said the elderly relative, “that wealth does not bring happiness.” “I don’t expect it to,” answered the young man. “I merely want it so that I may be able to choose the kind of misery that is most agreeable to me.” “Dear, dear, you mustn’t play with daddy’s razor, baby! Moth er’s got a tin of peaches to open.” Faulty Deduction A suburbanite once christened his baby “Homer” and on the clergyman asking him whether he had done so because Homer was his favorite poet, he replied: “Poet? Why, no, sir; I keep pigeons.” THE ANSWER “What’s the secret of your wife’s hair not turning gray?” t “Can’t say—she keeps it dark.” Heap Plenty Names A Scotsman went into a tele graph office to send a wire, and was told that he had to pay for his message, but that his name went free. He thought it over for a while, but then said in a broad Scottish accent: “Ye may or may no think it, but I’m an Indian, and my name is T won’t be home till Saturday.’ ”—Montreal Star. In Short One of the briefer musical crlts cisms appeared in the local pa per: “An amateur string quartet played Brahms here last evening. Brahms lost.”—Detroit News. Natural history rewritten: Night birds don’t give a hoot. The Limit Hotel Maid (to new arrival)— The proprietress says, madam, that she will move your dressing- table, alter the position of your bed, let you have another blanket, and provide some wedges for your windows, stop the clock striking on the landing, and give you a separate table at the window—but she says you’ll have to take the weather as you find it.—Louisville Courier. 2-Volt „ Model FB-76 6-Volt Model FB-77 IND CHARGERS OR PORTABLE \S GENERATORS offered at « eat saving with the purchase of a E 6-volt Single-battery Radio, — • — E POWER ADAPTER permits easy d quick conversion of the G-E 2-volt ittery Radio over to a single 6-volt tterv model at a surnrisinelv low EASIEST TERMS PERRY-MANN ELECTRIC C0. f INC. (.Wholesale Distributers) COLUMBIA, S. C.