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py Carter Field ^
Washington. — William Lemke.
Father Coughlins candidate tor
President, expects to be the di
recting force in the next house of
representatives of a bloc of not
less than 100 members. This Dloc,
he believes, will hold the balance
of power, thus making Coughlin and
Lemke the umpires who decide
what is to pass and what not.
That is, of course, with respect to
questions where there is a regular
party line division between the
Democrats and the Republicans.
All of which is not as weird as it
sounds, in the Hrst place, it will
not take very much of a bloc to
hold the balance between the Re
publicans and the Democrats in the
next house ot representatives, in all
human probability. Experts agree
that there is no likelihood of a
large majority for either side. Even
if Frankim D. Rooseveit runs very
well, indeed, he will be lucky to
carry a majority of more than 50
Democrats in the house. He is
much more likely to have less man
20, with a strong probability that
he might have a slender Repub
lican majority against him.
Whereas if Governor Alfred M
Landon is elected, while the house
is almost certain to be Republican
in that event, there is no probabil
ity of a fat G. O. P. majority. It
would probably be less than 50
There are certain fixed conditions,
such as the solid Democratic dele
gations from the southern states,
the solid Tammany delegation and
the sure Democratic districts in
Chicago that foreshadow this.
Kpr instance. New York state
now has 28 Democratic memners
o' the house, 16 Republicans, and
one Tammany district vacant. The
best the Republicans hope for in the
Empire state, even if Landon car
ries it by 200.000. is a gain of four
seats, so that the Democrats would
still have 25.
So that if Lemke sees any large
fraction of the 100 men and women
he has endorsed for the house
elected they will certainly com
pose a bloc which would be the
balance of power on any issue
which divided the house on strictly
party lines.
Doubtful Elements
When Lemke talks about 100
members in his bloc, he counts in
two elements which he may not be
able to control, but which on many
issues will be in sympathy with
him. One of these is the Town
sendites. Doctor Townsend has not
said what he thought about the
Lemke candidacy. He may or may
not be able to control men who
have been elected on the old age
pension platform, but have made
their own campaigns so tar as other
issues are concerned.
Lemke also counts the Wisconsin
members of the house, which will
be controlled, unless there is an up
set. by the La Follette machine
Here again it is true that the
Wisconsin members may be in sym
pathy with the Coughlin-Lemke ob
jectives sometimes, but it is also
pretty sure that there will be no
dictation to them.
But even if the Lemke claim is
cut down to 40—or for that matter
to 25—it will be a considerable
menace if it can be controlled.
Obviously many of the members
who will be elected on the Town
send platform cannot be induced
to vote for printing press money.
Some of them already have been
nominated in districts where the
election is a mere ratification of
the primary. They believe in $200
a month pensions for those over
sixty, and they do not want the
purchasing power of this $200 cut
by inflation.
The mere fact that most econ
omists agree that the Townsend
route is just as direct a road to
inflation as the Lemke-Coughlin is
beside the point. The Townsend
people do not admit that.
Must Import Wheat
In view of the present drouth sit
uation, which will result, agricul
tural experts figure, in the United
States importing wheat this year,
and in view of the fact that it was
necessary to import a very large
amount of meat last year—especial
ly pork—some friends of President
Roosevelt are urging him to follow
out one ol his own ideas and stop
the “plowing under” scheme so
dear to Secretary Henry A. Wal
lace’s heart.
About three years ago. though
most people have forgotten it. the
President was very strong for the
Pharaoh anji Joseph idea of sav
ing up surpluses in good years,
against the bad years bound to
come.
For instance, this idea would
have involved buying up the little
pigs, or more intelligently, buying
up a big supply of pork products,
and putting it in cold storage.
There was no cold storage in the
days of the Pharaohs, so Joseph
simply put wheat in warehouses.
It would have involved also buy
ing wheat, com and other grains
year before last, instead of paying
farmers not to grow them.
Had this own idea oi Mr. Roose
velt. which he talked about with
friends and with newspaper men
three years ago. been carried out,
the government might not only
have paid all expenses on the trans
actions. but would have thereby
saved the taxpayers practically all
the money paid out in farm ben
efits.
Putting it another way, all the
people of the country, during the
period of AAA taxes, could have
saved five cents on every pound
of bacon they bought, and six cents
on every pound of ham they bought,
those being the amounts of proc
essing taxes assessed against these
particular pork products. (The
AAA tax on pork was only two
cents a pound, but this included
the whole hog. and many parts of
the animal could not. for one rea
son or another, stand the tax, so
the major portion of it had to be
assessed against bacon, ham. pork
chops, and other attractive ele
ments rather than the hides, hoofs,
bristles, etc., which competed with
other products not subject to any
such tax.)
On the Other Hand
Also, of course, there would not
have been the deficit from outlawed
processing taxes which is now to
be made up. in part at least, by
the higher rates of the new tax bill.
This policy, it is further pointed
out, would have resulted, at the
present moment, in there being on
hand, ir government warehouses,
plenty of feedstuffs for the animals
now being removed from the
drouth area. Whereas even last
$ear feedstulTs had to be imported.
The system so far pursued by
the government, therefore, has ac
tually resulted in the taxpayers of
the United States being assessed
not only to make food cost more
in the United States, but to buy food
from foreign lands.
Vet had the President carried out
the idea he talked about, instead
of pursuing the Henry Wallace doc
trine of scarcity, the farmers
would have had the satisfaction of
having big crops in good years, the
government would have held up the
price by big purchases, such as
last year for meat and this year
for wheat, if necessary at a profit.
In short, the farmers would have
been just as well oft as by re
ceiving AAA checks for not grow
ing crops, the consumers would
have paid more—perhaps a little
less—and the taxpayers would have
saved half a billion dollars a year.
Half a billion is cited because this
Is the amount the AAA “plow un
der” campaign cost a year—the
amount of AAA processing taxes a
year—and the amount that must
now be raised to obtain crop reduc
tion under the camouflage of soil
erosion prevention.
Sighs of Relief
Nobody will admit it. officially,
but there were plenty of sighs of
relief around Charley Michelson’s
office, not to mention Steve Early's
White House sanctum, when Mrs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt announced
the other day that she would have
no more press conferences until af
ter the summer. "After the elec
tion" is the way her statement was
construed.
The answer to the relief lies not
nearly so much in anything Mrs.
Roosevelt has said or done as in
the constant fear of what he might
say. Or do.
The First Lady is a forthright per
son. She acts on impulses. Those
who know her, regardless of their
opinion of her views on economic
and social questions, like her tre
mendously. She has real charm.
She has, in addition, a quality all
too lacking in so many wives of
prominent men—the ability to give
the impression to any one talking
to her that she is enormously In
terested in what they are saying—
that it is a new thought to her—
and that the whole course of her ac
tivities is going to be swayed by
it from now on!
This sounds like absurd over
statement. Actually it falls far
short of accurate appraisal of this
extraordinary quality.
But—this is not the picture of
Mrs. Roosevelt that the country as
a whole enjoys. The average man
or woman out in the country chuck
les at jokes on Mrs. Roosevelt's
constant traveling, never being at
the White House.
Use Mrs. Roosevelt
Some of the critics of the admin
istration, especially in the South,
say that Jim Farley, Charley Mi
chelson, and the whole political
wing of the New Deal (this element
having no connection and no inter
locking directorate with the Brain
Trust wing whatever) have been
using Mrs. Roosevelt to make sure
that the negro vote in Harlem and
Chicago would be kept in line for
Roosevelt. They were especially in
dignant when she said she had au
thorized the taking of some pho
tographs. which created some
publicly expressed annoyance in
Georgia.
The fact is that Mrs. Roosevelt’s
political guide, counsellor and
friend is no longer at her elbow.
When Louis Howe was alive, he
was the one person on whose judg
ment she placed unquestioning re
liance. "Louis" could talk to her.
and did with some frequence, as
no one else would dare.
C U«h Syndicate.—WNU Hereto*
Lord Howe Island
Mount Lidgblrd on Lord Howe Island.
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.—WNU Service.
ECORATED with palms”
I I —how often the phrase
| J occurs in descriptions
of social ecents. Wher
ever florists ply their trade and
hace a hand in beautifying pub
lic occasions, palms play an im
portant part. Without them hotel
lobbies, steamship salons, dance
their refreshing greenness.
Often referred to as just “flor
ists' palms,” they are taken for
granted, like many of our common
blessings. In reality, they belong
to a small group usually called
Kentia palms, found only in re
mote islands of the Cornl sea, and
their present widespread use
throughout the civilized world is
one of the romantic tales of horti
culture. A little more than half a
century ago they became an im
portant article of commerce, and
few people even today realize from
what a tiny bit of the earth's sur
face that particular commerce
originates.
In 1788 Lieut. Henry Lidgbird
Ball, en route from Sydney, New
South Wales, to Norfolk island, dis
covered a remarkable pyramid of
volcanic rock rising straight out
of the Tasman sea to a height of
1,816 feet. He descried .and to
the northwest, which further in
vestigation revealed as an island
of unusual conformation and strik
ing beauty.
In honor of Richard Howe, the
British admiral who played an im
portant part in the war with the
American colonies, Ball called his
contribution to the British Empire
Lord Howe island. His own name
was given later to the massive
rock which first attracted his at
tention, and Balls Pyramid is his
enduring monument.
Lord Howe island lies 360 miles
east of Australia and 480 north
east of Sydney. It has the form of
a boomerang, with its length ex
tending nearly north rnd south,
the concave side facing Australia
and the precipitous eastern coast
arched against the surging Paci
fic. In an air line the northernmost
part of the island is only seven
miles from its southern tip and the
greatest breadth is but a mile and
a half.
Formation of the Island.
The northern half is hilly, but
the highest point is only 700 feet
above the sea. The southern half
is mountainous, rugged, and wild.
Two peaks occupy most of this
area, the southernmost, Mount
Gower, rising directly from the sea
to 2,840 feet, while its fellow. Mount
Lidgbird, is but 300 feet lower. The
mountains are thickly wooded, so
far as their precipitous sides per
mit, and are separated from each
other by a lush valley into which
man rarely penetrates. Between
the northern hills and Mount Lidg
bird is rolling country with fertile
soil and a plentiful water supply.
Extending from the northwestern
tip of the island straight south to
below Mount Lidgbird is a broad
coral reef, notable as the south
ernmost coral reef in the world.
Between this reef and the island it
self lies the lagoon which it pro
tects, its eastern side bounded by
a bathing beach of clean white
| sand some two miles long. The
reefs prevent vessels from ap
proaching close; they must anchor
about a mile ofT-shoro, and pas
sengers and freight are then land
ed, by means of motor-lowed
barges, at the jetty near the north
| ern end of the lagoon.
When Ball first landed on the
\ island there were no signs of the
genus Homo; he and his men were
probably the first human beings
who ever set eyes on its beauties.
The richness of the vegetation, the
abundance of birds, and the numer
ous rivulets of clear, cold wa
ter indicated plainly, however, that
| here was a little paradise await
ing settlers. Nevertheless, for
many years the island lay neglect
ed.
About 1833 or 1834 a small com
pany from New Zealand, including
several Maoris, were brought to
Lord Howe, but in two years they
were so discontented that they were
taken back to their old homes in
New Zealand, and Nature once
more was left in untroubled pos
session.
But not for long! American
whaling vessels, scouring the
southern seas, found tnat Lord
Howe island was an excellent
place to replenish their water sup
ply. There were no government of
ficials to deal with, no distractions
to tempt desertion, and no natives
with whom the sailors could get
into trouble. By 1840 reports of
these numerous visiting whalers
reached Sydney, and two families
established themselves on Lord
Howe to grow fruit and vegetables
for the crews. So well did the
settlers prosper that others fol
lowed, and by 1C50 a small com
munity was well rooted on the is
land.
Excellent Climate and Soil.
The climate is delightful, with
much bright sunshine, yet a plenti
ful supply of rain; abundant
breezes, but no cyclones; never a
trace of frost, but very little ex
cessive heat. The soil is fertile,
and nearly everything which grows
in warm, temperate or subtropical
countries can be grown on Lord
Howe. The island has such a trop
ical appearance and there are so
many palms that the entire ab
sence of coconuts is striking. The
explanation is that the mean an
nual temperature is not high enough
for that heat-loving palm.
With the discovery of petroleum
the decline of the whaling fleet be
gan and hard times came to Lord
Howe. Without the whalers, there
was no market for the produce,
both Australia and New Zealand
being too far away.
But necessity often leads to dis
coveries which prove epoch-mak
ing, and so it proved in this case.
There is no record of who first
noticed the unusual hardiness of
the palms growing so abundantly
or who was first to offer them for
sale. But a demand for the palms
from Lord Howe gradually devel
oped. and long before the Twenti
eth century dawned they were in
use all over the world wherever
there were florists.
Four Kinds of Residents.
Governmental machinery is sim
ple. Local affairs arc handled by
a local committee of three, chosen
by the islanders themselves. The
marketing of the palm seeds and
relations with the Australian gov
ernment are handled by the Lord
Howe Island board of control, com
posed of three New South Wales
officials in Sydney, the island be
ing politically a dependency of
that state.
The residents on the island are
divided by two lines of cleavage
into four natural groups; one line
separates those born on Lord
Howe, and hence known as “is
landers," from those born else
where, and so known as "non-is
landers.” This cleavage is not the
basis of a social distinction; if the
islanders look down on the non
islanders they conceal their feel
ings perfectly.
The second line of cleavage sep
arates “participants” from “non
participants,” an economic division
of the island's income from the
sale of the palm seeds. To be a
participant one must be an island
er, or else married to an islander,
and a resident for 10 years or
more.
The degree of participation de
pends on age and sex. All males
twenty-one years cf age. or more
have 25 shares in the allotment.
Women of like age have 10 shares,
but on marriage their holding is
increased to 25 shares. A mar
ried couple will thus have 50 shares
when starting their home. For
each child born to them lu addi
tional shares come to them, with
a maximum of 35 shares for chil
dren.
^______
For Bedspread and Scarf
Pattern 5560
“Company’s coming!”—so out
with the best bedspread, the
dresser’s matching scarf, both
crocheted this easy way. You’ll
have reason indeed, 10 be
proud of this lacy pair, to say
nothing of a tea oi dinner cloth,
buffet or vanity set, all of which
grow little by little as you cro
chet a simple medallion in hum
ble string. Repeated and joined
they make stunning ‘‘heirlooms.”
In pattern 5560 you will find
complete instructions for making
the square shown; an illustration
of it and of all the stitches need
ed; material requirements.
Mind Over Matter
Can we bring ourselves to be
lieve that this Mind was made
only for the body, the greater for
the less, the unlimited and ever
growing Spirit for a short-lived
organization of dust? Can it be
that a power of Intellect, so un
measured and exhaustless in its
range, has been brought into be
ing merely to drudge for an ani
mal existence? How could such
waste of Mind be reconciled with
the wisdom of the Uncreated
Mind!—W. E. Channing.
BOYS! GIRLS!
Read the Grape Nuts ad in another
column of this paper and learn how
to Join the Dizzy Dean Winners and
win valuable free prizes.—Adv.
Hope Looks Upward
“Hast thou hope?” they asked
of John Knox, when he lay a-dy
ing. He spoke nothing, but raised
his finger and pointed upwards,
and so died.—Carlyle.
To obtain this pattern send fif
teen cents in stamps or coins
(coins preferred) to The Sewing
Circle, Household Arts Dept., 259
W.Fourteenth St.,New York, N. Y.
Write plainly pattern number,
your name and address.
Hollywood's latest rage!
Big, de luxe photographs
fashioned into unique
statuettes that stand up
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one over 7 inches high—
every one autographed!
TRIPLE SEALED TO
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Send only two box tops from 7
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The Quaker Oats Co. il
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WF HUkkl Ut.1” AW-TELL 1
■ THE BOSS WON'T HeTto oihtI
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A WAITING ! YOU FACE' V&U'RE
OW HE WANTS GOING TO A
i TALK ABOUT BRIDGE GAME
I AT RAISE I — NffTA WAR
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W HELEN, I WISH W THAT'S THE STUFF/ «fc|
0 You'D STOP THAT J' THROW DOWN YoUR JUgS
# EVERLASTING , r CARDS -THAT
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1 QUIT THIS Jr, UP THE - JHBSBM
'./SAME// ALL RIGHT—"
gk. ANYHOW/Jf'we'll Go iM
^Pl ijiiHfr- THE STUDY
[ WHILE YOU GIRLS
" FlYSOMETH ing
K ABOUT THAT ^
RAISE, CHARLIE— \
I'M AFRAID YOU'RE l
NOT READY FOR.
IT YET—I DON'T
BELIEVE YOU REALIZE
HOW CROSS AMP
IRRITABLE YOU'VE j
^ BECOME i
P SAV—VOU'D BE L,
lRRITABLE,ToO# IF W~
NOU HAD MY _
HEADACHES and pi
INDIGESTION / life
$fefjf*" Starting To 2
v'iMl criticize# is he?
i/# DON'T STAND FOR
If J> IT-TELL TH/S
I# TIGHT-FISTED SLAVE
Sab driver where to
BtBwilLn -« GET OFF / _jr
____
Sounds like well, mavbe
COFFEE-NERVES' LJ I WILL / I CAN'T
X HAP'EM, UNTIL H* FEEL ANY
my doctor made ■ -- worse; Y ^
ME SWITCH To 1 sL/^^CURCPC/ V
1 I'LL HAvFto *
A E# SCRAM' PoSTUM
AN£5,ff 4™^TBRm SS? always drives
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Of COURSE, children should
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