Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1938 nr' ) ■Weekly News Review- V. S. Turns to ( Price Policing 9 In Anti-Monopoly Campaign •By Joseph W. La Bine Business Government prosecution of com binations in alleged restraint of trade was known as “trust-busting” in the days of President Benjamin Harrison. In 1890 the Sherman anti trust law began hacking at financial octopi in what was shown to be a legitimate campaign to keep Ameri can industry from killing itself by mushroomed growth. Modern trust-busting is an out growth of the New Deal. Its in- tended x victim is not the monopo listic trust of bygone days, but usu ally a group of powerful corpora tions which dominate an industry. But though the 1938 model trust buster can be credited with success (17 victories, 12 cases still pending, out of 42 filed since March 4, 1933) he might also be charged with mak ing political capital of his job. Thus it has been hinted that So licitor General Robert H. Jackson, once an assistant attorney general. <■ ' N-.< THURMAN ARNOLD New technique: Price policing. joined the anti-trust crusade last year largely in the hope of winning New York’s Democratic gubernato rial nomination. If politics was the inspiration for some anti-trust suits, these same suits have now become such hot potatoes that a vanished political purpose does not justify the justice department’s dropping them. One possible example may be the trust case against the Aluminum Company of America. To date this year-old investiga tion has failed to uncover much ex cept a re-hash of testimony and evi dence from the 1935 federal trade commission’s probe, and a private litigation of a decade ago from which the company emerged with a clean bill of health. Today’s anti-trust division of the justice department has 90 lawyers compared with 15 in 1933, handling monopoly cases and proceedings connected with 31 other major acts of congress. Trust-busting boss is Thurman Arnold, whose fetish is in vestigating the price policies of in dustry. Says Mr. Arnold: “We are being forced to take control of in flexible price structures and coer cions in restraint of trade today just as in 1933 we were forced to take control of the financing and market ing of securities.” Much interest now centers in the justice department’s newly inaugu rated suit against Delaware’s Co lumbia Gas & Electric corporation for allegedly “conspiring to monopo lize” the natural gas industry of Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Michigan. But in accordance with his probe of price policies, Thur man Arnold is probably more inter ested in oil. Since crude oil prices recently plummeted in the wake of alleged over-production by refiner ies, both the President and Mr. Ar nold favor a program for state con trol over oil production and refin ing. Harking back to the trust-busting days when Standard Oil’s case first made the U. S. monopoly-conscious, the new probe will examine every phase of the oil industry from pro duction to marketing. Though oil men will welcome an intelligent gov ernment program to stabilize crude oil prices, observers fail to see great consistency between this program to raise prices, and other monopoly quizzes which prosecute men for allegedly raising prices. Agriculture Although U. S. department of ag riculture officials admit export sub sidies are not very effective in re ducing wheat surpluses, the govern ment has committed itself to ex porting 100,000,000 bushels by next July. Of 40,000,000 bushels thus far exported, 16 millions have been aid ed by subsidy payments from the federal surplus commodities corpo ration. All such sales have gone through regular trade channels. But wheat export has become a disgusting business. Since every wheat-producing nation seems to have a surplus this year, the export market is glutted. In early Novem ber, Liverpool prices were the low est since 1933-34. At such a time, the real purpose was obvious when AAA’s Francis A. Wilcox left for Europe ostensibly to “study agri cultural conditions.” Observers are betting that Mr. Wilcox is really attempting to find European buyers for U. S. wheat, and that the gov ernment may enter business as a di rect exporter of wheat. Meanwhile, Secretary of Agricul ture Henry A. Wallace received en couragement for his “domestic dumping” farm program which con gress will debate next January. Call ing for government subsidy of sur plus farm products for home con sumption, the program has received “endorsement of objective” from Idaho’s Sen. William E. Borah. De nouncing the economic puzzle that lets Americans starve in a land of plenty, Mr. Borah said: “I am in formed that 25 per cent of our young men between the ages of 17 and 25 would be unfit for army service in case of war because of the want of nutrition during their youth.” Domestic Last June 10 the U. S. business index (figured on a normal of 100) stood at about 76. By November 8 it had risen to 90 and as a result retailers throughout the country an ticipate as big a Christmas shop ping volume as last year. Actually, it should be better, because last year’s November index—while com parable to this year’s—was definite ly on a down-hill slide that did not stop until well after January 1. On every financial page in the country there are encouraging signs, most important of which has been re employment in the automobile in dustry. New York’s auto show, touching off an unprecedented vol ume of motor sales, has given strength to most commodities. The only pessimist in this picture has been the weather man, whose Indian summer lasted well into November and thereby blocked the normal upsurge of retail buying. International Japan once offered an excuse for her Chinese aggression. To com plaints that she had violated the nine-power treaty guaranteeing Chi na’s integrity, Tokyo used to an swer that she had taken no terri tory for annexation, therefore had not violated the treaty. If someone charged her with violating the Kel- logg-Briand pact against war, Ja pan answered that the pact said nothing about defensive war; by some mysterious definition, Nippon regarded her Chinese conquest as a defensive proposition. Now that China is conquered, Ja pan feels safe to abandon excuses. Tokyo has stated officially that it may be necessary to repudiate the nine-power pact, which is almost tacit admission that she has both violated and abandoned the Kellogg- Briand accord. Moreover she has named the turncoat Chinese war lord, Gen. Wu Pei-Fu, as leader of a new central Chinese govern ment which combines the old Nan king and Peiping units. Though an- UNDERSECRETARY WELLES The protests become outspoken. nexation is not mentioned, China has been absorbed economically and politically by Tokyo. The U. S. has been most stern in its protests, since Great Britain is too busy appeasing dictators to speak up in defense of her Chinese stake. To Secretary of State Cor- dell Hull’s demands now come surly replies that the U. S. had better keep its hands off China or Japan will “take retaliatory measures.” This state of affairs is probably behind the latest U. S. anti-dictator outburst, more outspoken than its increasingly outspoken predeces sors. Sumner Welles, undersecre tary of state, has given the world fresh notice that the U. S. is ready to protect not only itself but all the western hemisphere from “the doc trine of hatred” now threatening civilization. The new American policy, a la Welles: “As a nation we will as sure ourselves that we are in a posi tion to defend ourselves from all aggression from whatever source it may arise, and to be prepared to join with our fellow democracies of the new world in preserving the western hemisphere safe from any threat of attack.” Heaped atop this plea for western hemisphere consolidation will be the eighth Pan*American conference, opening December 9 in Lima, Peru. Observers expect a U. S. delegation headed by Secretary Hull to fur nish plenty of ear-burning thrusts at Japan, Italy and Germany. Star Dust ★ Good-Will Jalopy ★ Costly Separation ★ Picturing Lincoln By Virginia Vale D ID “Josephine, the Tat tooed Jalopy,” happen to come your way on her return journey from Hollywood to Hartford, Conn.? If she didn’t, you ought to hear her story. It is really the story of two young men, Frank and Jack Pinney of Hartford, who paid $13.95 for the ancient car (born in 1928) and set out for Hollywood. They took along some white paint, and star tled the movie center by requesting movie stars and celebrities to grasp a paint brush and autograph Jose phine. They were a sensation. Josephine was soon covered with names, and the owners refused an offer of $2,000 for her, it’s said. And the Motion Pictures’ Greatest Year representa tives were delighted with them; they’ve become unofficial good-will ambassadors for the industry. They ran into one difficulty; peo ple whose autographs didn’t mean much were all too obliging about scrawling their names on Josephine. The Pinneys let them do it, and, since Josephine’s space was limited and they had to go in for big names only, they’d wipe off the undesira bles with a bit of turpentine and then tackle somebody who meant something to them. Of course, they may thus have obliterated signa tures of people, now unknown, who will be stars before the car is a year older, but that couldn’t be helped. & / ’ Don’t ever say that Samuel Gold- wyn isn’t kind hearted. By sending Jon Hall off to Eng land to do “The Thief of Bagdad” he tore the bridegroom from his bride, Frances Langford. But he’s going to pay for a five- minute transatlantic phone call for them each week that they are separated! You will recall when Jon and Frances eloped to Prescott, Ariz., last June, Jon’s mind was a bit hazy as to his birth place, he giving it as New York city, instead of Fresno, Calif., on the license application, necessitating a remarriage later to ease their minds as to the legality of their marriage. 5* Evidently the next cycle in the movies will be based on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. The success of the play, “Abe Lincoln in Illnois,” in New York started it. Now three producers have an nounced that they will do Lincoln pictures. Goldwyn will star Gary Cooper as the Great Emancipator, Twentieth Century-Fox will cast Henry Fonda in the role, in “Law yer in the West.” * Frances Langford When Bill Janney (who plays the title role in “Howie Wing—the Ad ventures of a Young Aviator,”) be gan portraying the daring Howie he hardly knew what made a plane stay in the air. But flying got him; he has been spending his spare time taking flying lessons from Ralph Smith, a pilot on the last Byrd Ant arctic expedition. . * • ODDS AND ENDS . . . Johnnie, the Call Boy of u Johnnie Presents," is learning the Morse code from one of the radio engineers . . . That New York elevator boy who was engaged for "Gone With the Wind" spent four months in Hollywood waiting for it to begin, and now has returned to his job in the elevator; he’d rather wait there, he says. <2> Western Newspaper Union. Chicken-Stealing in China Stealing chickens is regarded as a major criminal offense in China. Ther^ are many instances on record in Chinese courts in which the “hen coop” raiders have drawn harsher Bruckart’s Washington Digest President Promises Legislation To Relieve Railroad Situation Thoroughgoing Re-Examination of Rail Problems Essential to Finding Reasonable Solution; Competition Cuts Earnings; Public Has Responsibility to Bear. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press Bldg., Washington, D. C. There’s something about the radio serial, “Pepper Young’s Family,” that brings luck to those who have anything to do with it. Originally it was called “Red Da vis,” and in its second year a young* actor who wasn’t getting along too well was engaged to play the role of “Red.” His name was Burgess Meredith. Broadway producers and Hollywood executives heard of the program, listened to it—and first thing he knew, he was a success on the stage/ Then he began to do a picture occasionally; remember him in “Winterset,” his first big one? * Later, Martha Scott was engaged to play bits in the serial. And Mar tha landed in a stagq play, “Our Town,” which was one of the year’s biggest hits of last season, and is still playing. st* If Toscanini is your favorite or chestra conductor you can be sure of hearing concerts with him lead ing the orchestra weekly through December 3; from January 7 through February 25 he will alter nate with guest conductors. & • sentences than armed robbers. embezzlers and WASHINGTON.—I believe it can be said that most readers of news papers “digest” their news rather slowly. It is not their fault en tirely that the full significance of a news story escapes them even though it may be spread under black headlines on the front page. Nor do I mean to say that all readers are lax. It seems to be true, never theless, that days or weeks or even months and years may pass some times before the intangible person ality that we call “the public” has considered fully the significance of reported events. Existence of this condition, how ever, is warrant for an attempt at analysis of what has happened, what is happening, and what is likely to happen in the railroad industry. Perhaps that statement should have added to it the suggestion also that there will be something affecting the public, too, in connection with the recent series of incidents and events directly concerning the rail indus try. Indeed, prospective develop ments portend even more. There were, of course, the many dangers of a financial character with which the railroads were be set. There followed the attempt of railroad management to reduce ex penses by a program cutting wages of the workers by 15 per cent, and there came almost immediately thereafter the dread specter of a strike threat by the million or more rail workers who are highly union ized. After that, in the sequence of events was President Roosevelt’s utilization of the law providing for consideration of the differences by a fact finding commission for the first time. It is necessary only as a further review to recall that the fact find ing commission heard days of testi mony and reported to the President that a wage cut was unjustified. But the commission made no con structive suggestions. As a matter of fact, it added nothing to the total of fyiman knowledge, but it got a lot of publicity for its findings. , Legislation to Relieve Railroads Up to Congress The problem was, thereupon, left in Mr. Roosevelt’s lap. He called in the representatives of the rail managements and the leaders of the unions. The rail executives were willing to call off the proposed wage cut, if there were any way to be found to keep the railroads from going bankrupt—more than half of the mileage being already in the hands of receivers. Union leaders reiterated they did not want to strike and they did want the railroads to get on their feet, because it meant jobs. J. J. Pelley, spokesman for the rail lines, asked then what the government could or would do, and Mr. Roosevelt promised legislation. So there we are today. There will be no strike. There will be consid eration of rail legislation in the next session of congress that will be de signed to help the railroads so they will have at least as much income as expense. And it will be sup ported by Mr. Roosevelt’s adminis tration, by the railroads and by the railroad unions. But I am wondering whether the country as a whole is fully aware of what is behind the troubles that formed the immediate basis of the news developments recorded above. And I am wondering further wheth er the shock of the strike threat has awakened the country as a whole to the need for a thorough going re-examination of the situa tion in which the railroads find themselves! Because it is in the un derlying conditions that we are go ing to find a solution. None can deny that we need rail transportation; none can deny that they either must operate without losses or else they are going to be left in the lap of the government, and what a terri ble mess that would be, for govern ment seldom runs anything without making a mess of it. The rail prob lem, its relation to other forms of transportation, the public interest, national policy, all must be threshed out very soop. It can not be longer avoided without increasing the dan gers of genuine national suffering. Public Has Tremendous Responsibility to Bear When consideration of the various phases of the condition gets under way, if it is done thoroughly, con gress must give attention to a re vision of some of its long-established policies. They are basic. When I am talking about the plight of the railroads, I am, at the same time, condemning to the very core some of the high-handed brigandage, thiev ery, corruption, that went on among so-called captains of industry a few generations ago. That stealing, that corruption (in which politics figured amazingly) put the railroads in dis repute as an industry. But most of that has ended. The highly respect ed interstate commerce commission saw to that job. Yet, the stigma and lack of public good will remains to curse the carriers that operate over steel rails. So, there is first the need for a national acceptance of the good faith which most of the railroad manage ments now display. The public must give credit where credit is due, and the public has a tremendous respon sibility to bear in connection with this phase. Next, and without doubt one of the really important phases, is the question of continued subsidy, both direct and indirect, that has been given by the government to compe tition of the rail lines, competitors like the bus and the truck and the automotive industry generally. There can be no dodging the fact that this subsidy exists under vari ous guises, and the great motor in dustry which bred, busses and trucks and private automobiles by the mil lions stands as a monument, a marker, showing where that subsidy was distributed. The thousands of miles of hard roads, all-year roads, are a part of the subsidy that went to competitors of the carriers, and who can say that such an expendi ture by government was not one of the greatest steps for progress? Monster of Competition Cuts Railroad Earnings Of course, road construction was necessary. It was vital. The na tional policy for good highways can only be praised. Yet, their very existence is one of the reasons why the railroads’ income has fallen off, or, more properly, the normal in crease in receipts was not realized. We see, therefore, a great monster of competition set up with money from taxpayers’ pockets. The rail roads long have been the most heav ily taxed of any industry, which is to say they helped pay for creation of competition. There was the creation of the in terstate commerce commission some years ago as a unit of govern ment for supervision of the rail lines. It was, and is still, needed. But its existence, too, has held down rail earnings. This has resulted from the control of rates. No rail road is permitted to charge more than a rate approved by the I. C. C. While the competitors were creep ing forward, under governmental blessing, the I. C. C. was saying to the rail lines: “You fellows obey our orders, or else.” Subsidies out of taxpayers’ pockets have gone to build up another com petitor, also. I refer to inland wa terways and to coastwise shipping. This means of transportation has a value that hardly can be measured. It is as much a part of our national economic life as the highways and the attendant motor transport. But it exists, and it is able to operate as a competitor of the railroads, be cause of a paternal government that made things easy and gave a help ing hand wherever it could do so. Air Transportation Now Steps Into the Picture Lately, air transportation has been expanding with remarkable ra pidity. No nation in the world has such efficient air service, nor as safe air service, as is to be found in the United States. It is carrying increasing amounts of freight and express; it is transporting thousands upon thousands of passengers. These passengers are of the type, general ly speaking, willing and able to pay for the luxury train service which is profitable when the trains are filled. These air lines are benefiting from government subsidy in several ways. The air mail doesn’t begin to pay its way; the government makes up the difference by con tracts that call for* stated pay ments. And consider the scores of great air fields throughout the coun try! The bulk of them are built at public expense. True, the air lines pay for the privileges of the field, but does anyone think that the air lines could afford to spend $40,000,- 000 to build such a field as that which serves metropolitan New York? Funds for it came largely from a federal government grant. The same beneficent Uncle Sam is put ting out several millions at the door step of the national capital here to build a proper airport. There are other things that could be taken up and set apart to show how the government has helped competitors of the rail lines in most practical fashion. Questions of tax ation, grade crossing construction of an expensive character forced upon the carriers, requirements for terminals of luxury-type construc tion and so on. I believe it unneces sary to recount them. Those that have been enumerated serve to show where the trouble is. It does not show the answer, but I believe it points the way to an answer. The answer, as I have mentioned above, certainly can not be found, however, unless there is genuine study of an unselfish sort undertaken by <toa- gress. £ Western Newspaper Union. Doll's Wardrobe Is Easy, Quick to Knit Pattern 1203. A doll’s wardrobe for a regula tion 14 and 18 inch doll is easily made when the little dress is just two identical pieces . . . coat and tarn mainly in stockinette stitch. Use up your left-over wool! Pat tern 1203 contains directions for making coat, tarn and dress shown; illustrations of them and of all stitches used; material re quirements. ' Send 15 cents in coins for this pattern to The Sewing Circle, Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth Ave nue, New York, N. Y. Please write your name, ad dress and pattern number plainly. Palace of the Soviets The Palace of the Soviets, which is to be an enormous building, is being constructed on the site of St. Saviour’s cathedral in Mos cow. Plans call for a pyramidal skyscraper in ascending circular terraces, surmounted by a 325- foot figure of Lenin. With a base 460 feet in diameter and a main hall with a capacity of 20,000 per sons, the height of the total struc ture will be 1,365 feet. Built of reinforced concrete and rustless steel, it will contain 148 elevators and 62 escalators. Still Coughing? No matter how many medicines you have tried for your common cough, chest cold, or bronchial irri tation, you may get relief now with Creomulsion. Serious trouble may be brewing and you cannot afford to take a chance with any remedy less potent than Creomulsion, which goes right to the seat of the trouble and aids nature to soothe and heal the inflamed mucous membranes and to loosen and expel germ laden phlegm. Even if other remedies have f idled, don’t be discouraged, try Creomul sion. Your druggist is authorized to refund your money if you are not thoroughly satisfied with the bene fits obtained. Creomulsion is one word, ask for it plainly, see that the name on the bottle is Creomulsion, and you’ll get the genuine product and the relief you want. (AdvJ Stupid Man A man must be excessively stu pid, as well as uncharitable, who believes there is no virtue but on his own side.—Addison. CONSTIPATEI? Don’t Let Gas, Nerve Pres sure Keep You Miserable When you are constipated two things happen. FIRST: Accumulated wastes swell up the bowels and press on nerves in the diges tive tract. This nerve pressure causes head aches, a dull, laay feeling, bilious spells, loss of appetite, and dizziness. SECOND: Partly digested food starts to decay forming QAS, bringing on sour stomach, add indigestion, and heartburn, bloating you up until you sometimes gasp for breath. Then you can’t eat. You can’t sleep. Your stomach is sour. You feel tired out, grouchy, and miserable. Adlerika gives you the DOUBLE ACTION you need. This efficient carminative cathartic relieves that awful GAS almost at onee. It usually clears the bowels in less than twe hops. No waiting for overnight relief. Sold at all drug stores Born Great The truest mark of being bom with great qualities is being born without envy.—La Rochefoucauld. SOOTHING FOR COLDS Inhale vapors of Penetro to soothe irritated mucous mem- l bran63 of nose, throat Penetro is stainless, snow-white. PENETRO Impudent Success Nothing is so impudent as Suc cess—unless it be those she favors. —Planche. Sentinels of Health Don’t Neglect Them ! Nature designed the kidneys to do a marvelous job. Their tsak is to keep the flowing blood stream free of an excess of toxic impurities. The act of living—lift itself—is constantly producing waste matter the kidneys must remove from the blood if good health is to endurs. When the kidneys fail to function as Nature intended, there is retention of waste that may cause body-wide dis tress. One may suffer nagging backache, persistent headache, attacks of dixsiness, getting up nights, swelling, puffineas under the eyes—feel tired, nervous, all worn out. Frequent, scanty or burning passages may be further evidence of kidney or bladder disturbance. The recognized and proper treatment b a diuretic medicine to help the kidneys get rid of excess poisonous body waste. Use Doan’s Pills. They have had more than forty veers of public approval. Are endorsed the country over. Insist aa Doan’s. Sold at all drug stores. DOANS Pi LLS /] 11 A T /]