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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1937)
SEEN and HEARD arbund the NATIONAL CAPITAL py Carter Field ^ Washington. — High army and navy officials are completely muz zled on the neutrality issue as far as any public utterance fs con cerned, and one may be sure that, remembering the experience of Gen. Johnson Hagood, none of them are going to prove embarrassing to the administration even if sum moned before congressional com mittees, but—they think nothing of it. This writer has asked any num ber of high ranking army and navy officers the very simple question: "Is the senate cash and carry neu trality plan, or the house plan giv ing the President wider discretion, more likely to keep this nation out of a World war?" Similarity of the answers would almost convince a listener that there had been a solemn military conclave, at which a formal doc trine with respect to this subject had been approved. For the answer almost invariably runs something like this: "Neither plan will keep this coun try out of war. Both plans are vicious in many respects. The sen ate plan forces every far-sighted foreign nation to plan to get its war supplies from some other na tion, unless it is sure it has plenty of shipping to fetch them from this country, and even then there is the incentive to build up supplies else where. This of course tends to de atroy our export trade, and creates an additional artificial encourage ment to other nations to build up their own merchant marines, as they know they cannot make use of ships flying the American flag. "The house plan is highly danger ous because it grants the President virtually power to discriminate be tween belligerents. To discriminate, of course, is to take sides, and right away this country is, to that limited extent, on one side or the other. No Sure Way to Peace "There is no sure way of main taining peace, and never will be in this world. The nearest approach to it is a very adequate army and navy, the larger and more dan gerous to any possible antagonist the better. No nation is running around picking quarrels with a na tion whose army and navy it under stands to be definitely superior to its own. "Any other precaution is Just practical and, if it works at all, is far more likely to work toward getting the United States into war then keeping it out.” Incidentally, of course, most irtny and navy men do not like the idea of discouraging munitions exports, even. They like the British system of encouraging munitions manufacturers, with the thought that when war does come the coun try gets off to a flying start, as con trasted with the terrific lag inevita ble if there is only govern ment manufacture of munitions. They insist that the government will hever spend enough money, in peace time, to have the facilities ready to turn out sufficient supplies when war comes. Only the incentive of private profit, they assert provides that sort of capacity. Moreover, they do not like to see the munition-making business transferred to some other country, possibly one which some day will be at war with the United States. Senator Bennett C. Clark of Mis souri has not had much success so far in working out his solution for this problem. He would have the government manufacture—or buy— and keep in stock sufficient jigs and dies and tools so that on the out break of war all sorts of factories and machine shops could be trans formed into armament plants. Peace Conference Diplomatic denials are always to be taken with a grain, in fact a pinch, of salt. This goes for the recent denial of Secretary of State Cordell Hull with respect to bettea prospects of a peace conference. Of course all that Mr. Hull denied was that this was the errand of Norman H. Davis in London, and In this he was, at least technically, correct. Regardless of any statements made hitherto or to be made in the future, however, President Roose velt is thinking a great deal about an international conference. He has been for a long time. No one in the diplomatic corps here is going to embarrass Mr. Hull or the Presi dent by rushing into print about it, no matter what the President and his Secretary of State may say. but virtually every important em bassy and legation in Washington knows all about the highly unoffi cial inquiries that the President has caused to be made with respect to an international conference, which will have two major objec tives. One of these is the maintenance of peace. The second is some more permanent and dependable stabiliz ation of the dollar with the pound and the franc and other national monetary units. There is a very excellent working arrangement right now so far as dollar, pound and franc are concerned—in the tri partite agreement. But that is just a gentlemen’s agreement. It is not only unsanctioned so far as the parliamentary bodies of Britain, France and the United States are concerned, but it is susceptible of being cancelled on a few hours’ no tice at any time. Mr. Roosevelt has been thinking seriously of such an international conference for a long time. It will be recalled that he sent up a trial balloon last summer, during the campaign, through the New York Times. It was never officially con firmed but no State department official or diplomat in Washington has ever doubted that it was in spired direct from the White House. Wait on Spanish War At the moment, the situation is waiting on the Spanish war. Present inquiries are as to whether the gov ernments concerned will agree to such a conference when and if the Spanish conflagration stops shooting sparks all around the various Eu ropean powder dumps. It is likely to come very soon, now, for though there is not much sign of peace in Spain there is a growing belief that the danger in volved of its spreading to other na tions is growing appreciably less with every passing day. Certain dangerous figures have learned that troops and weapons they thought irresistible are not truly so. The same figures have learned that their possible enemies in a war are more i .ngerous than they had thought. Nor does this apply solely to either side. It applies to both. All of which has put certain European govern ments in a much more receptive mood to a peace plan than they were when Mr. Roosevelt sent up his trial balloon last summer. Actually, also, there is very real need in the opinion of the Roose velt administration, and also in the view of several European govern ments, for currency stabilization. The New Deal is concerned about runaway price rises. It would like very much to accomplish Just the opposite of what it was trying to do in 1933 and 1934. It would like to make the dollar more valuable in stead of less. As evidence of this, it has even considered marking down slightly the price of gold—in dollars. Treasury department op position has prevented this. Eggs for Russia There would seem to be quite an opening for chicken farms in Rus sia, particularly in the vicinity of Moscow. Ambassador Joseph E. Davies has discovered that the egg supply of every foreign embassy and legation in the capital of the U. S. S. R. is supplied by diplomatic couriers, who bring the eggs 800 miles from Warsaw, Poland. This doesn’t look so far on the map, but it is only 787 miles from Washing ton to Chicago, only 733 miles from Chicago to Atlanta, and only 840 miles from Indianapolis to Charles ton, South Carolina! It might be borne in mind, in as similating this rather curious— to American farmers—lack of egg production in the vicinity of Mos cow, that transportation facilities in the United \ States, both railroads and highways, are immeasurably superior to those in Russia, so that actually the difficulty and time in volved in transporting those eggs is much greater than for comparable distances in the United States. And this entirely aside from the fact that the eggs cannot be shipped in ordinary fashion, but must be car ried across the frontier, front about the center of Poland to about the center of European Russia, by a diplomat courier exempt for ex amination, from hold-up and from tariff duties. Incidentally the American embas sy Is the only one in the Russian capital that is not supplied with certain luxuries, and, from the American standpoint, necessities, b; couriers. Young attaches at the United States embassy keep writing their friends and relatives to send them every sort of thing, from canned tomatoes to tooth paste, from insect powder to cold cream, which, for various reasons probably entirely in keeping with the scheme of things in Russia, are not easily obtainable by purchase there, and virtually unthinkable, therefore, for the ordinary inhabitant. Russia No Rival All of which, being discussed at a recent Washington dinner where most of the guests were State de partment officials and their wives, with a slight sprinkling from Capitol Hill, brought forth the declaration of one senator, who had visited Rus sia. that he thought the idea that Russia would be a competitor of the United States within a few years ridiculous. He made the statement after con siderable wonder was expressed that the Russian peasants, living in such poverty, did not seize upon such an obvious market for eggs as the various embassies and lega tions of Moscow. True, the market would be small, comparatively, but it would be enough for quite a few farmers with farms close to the Soviet capital to do very well in deed. "It wouldn’t occur to the Russian farmers that any one would want really fresh eggs,” broke in another senator. "Several of us were over there a few years back. We had plenty of food, but we noticed they like eggs just a bit 'high.’ We couldn't eat them." e Beil Syndicate—WNU Service. I California Condors. SANTA MONICA, CALIF.— Local naturalists are all agog over the discovery that the California condor is coming back in numbers to his former haunts just up country from here. In fact, they are going out of one vio lent gog right into another. Because the condor, the mightiest winged creature in all North America, was sup posed to be practically ex tinct, along with such van ished species of native wild life as the great auk, the pas senger pigeon and the light ning rod agent. So now we have ssrt up a new mark for envious Florida to shoot at. For while they . may nave croupiers at Bradley’s in Palm Beach, with eyes as keen and bleak as the con dor’s are, and real estate dealers in Miami as greedy as he is, our frustrated rivals will be put to it to dig up a bird with a wing spread of from nine to elev en feet. Irvin 8. Cobb • • • Communism’s Giant Foe. HARDLY a day passes but we read in the paper of an ac count of individual heroism, of sac rifice, of devotion to duty—some thing which renews our faith in hu man beings and makes us realize that scattered through the world are splendid souls of whom we never heard before and probably shall never hear again. When the emer gency chme he rose to it—and that's enough. But because, in the last few months, we’ve learned to expect it of him, I’m thinking many of us fail to appreciate a recurrent act of gallant service by one venerable, enfeebled man whose name is fa miliar to all Christendom. From time to time, triumphing by sheer will power, by sheer singleness of purpose above his own suffering, Pope Pius XI, speaking frqm what soon must be his deathbed, sends forth a clarion call for a united front against the growing menace of communism. • • • Waning Merchant Marines. AFTER we’ve spent billions in government subsidies trying to build up a proper merchant fleet of our own, it’s just a trifle discon certing to read that, among the six nations leading in maritime ship ping, the United States still ranks third in gross tonnage, fifth in ships having a speed of twelve knots or better, and last in ships built within the last ten years. But, although Los Angeles is a great port, we have no time right now to pester about a comparatively trivial thing such as the threatened vanishment of the American flag from the seven seas—not while we’re still so uncertain about who will have the leading parts in ‘‘Gone With the Wind.” To date, nearly every lady in the movie colony has been suggested for Scarlett O’Hara except Mae West and Jane Withers, and as for Rhett Butler—well, it may yet be necessary to cast that role as a whole minstrel first part, with an interlocutor and six end men. • • • Italians in Spain. IT MUST be slightly annoying to those Italian soldiers who were flung headlong upon Spain to fight in a war in which they had no per sonal interest, when, through mis take, they are mown down in hun dreds by their own troops, and then the bewildered remnants And them selves in the hands of the oppos ing government forces, who have a reputation for sometimes being a trifle with prisoners whom they capture. Still, it must be a great com fort to the confused captives—and to the relatives of the fallen back home as well—to have assurance from Mussolini that they are win ning the way for fascist doctrines. Until they heard that cheering mes sage, those battered survivors prob ably thought that they had been licked. • • • The Height of Gall. AS J. CAESAR remarked at the time, all Gaul was once divid ed In three parts, but it is obvious that subsequently there was a com plete re-consolidation. When France, already in default to us on one little four-billion debt, starts scheming to peddle her new est issue of government securities over here, that must indeed be re garded as the height of gallishness or Gaulishness—spell it either way, reader, it’ll come out the same. Moreover, to evade the Johnson act, she would have American investors send the money to Paris and buy these French bonds there. This sort of smacks of inviting Br'r Rabbit to come into camp to be massacred, instead of hunting him down with the dogs. IRVIN S. COBB. ©—WNU Service. Rainy Season Bridge in Guatemala City. Prepared hy National Geographic Society, :Washington, D. C.—WNU Service. HEN you enter Guatemala City, you are in the most populous place in all Cen tral America. With a pop ulation of 120,000, including about 6,000 foreigners, Guatemala City is a thriving metropolis of well-paved streets, department stores, luxury shops, cafes, country clubs, busy factories, garages, and modern ho tels. Its motion picture theaters, showing mostly American "talkies” with Spanish subtitles, advertise with big electric signs overhanging the streets in Broadway style. At the capital's covered central market, the largest in the country, the array of foodstuffs, textiles, utensils, furniture, and other com modities is endless. Its long aisles, and the streets adjoining the mar ket building and cathedral, are al ways jammed with a noisy, restless throng of merchants and buyers. And the odors, strange, spicy and heavy! The fresh scents of vege tables and exotic flowers mingle with the greasy smell of cooking food, the aroma of roasted coffee, and the balmy fragrance of copal incense. Those with weak stomachs may not like the appearance or odor of freshly slaughtered meat. Nor will they find appetizing the leached corn mash for tortillas; or arma dillos roasted in their shells; or crude brown sugar pressed into dirty blocks and balls. But the vis itors are delighted with bright trop ical fruits piled in artistic disar ray, graceful baskets and glazed pottery, and gay textiles wove* on primitive hand looms. Guatemalans are proud, and just ly so, of the fine coffee grown in their highlands. Placards in Eng lish and Spanish remind the visitor at every turn that "Guatemala Grows the Best Coffee in the World.” On the days when tourist trains ar rive in Guatemala City, the depart ment of agriculture holds open house. Small packages of freshly roasted coffee, wrapped in glazed paper, are presented to each visitor. They are appropriate souvenirs of a nation which is the sixth most im portant coffee grower in the world, being exceeded only by Brazil, Co lombia, the Netherlands Indies, Venezuela and El Salvador. The second most important ex port is the banana, grown in the coastal plains bordering the Gulf of Honduras and the Pacific. Airport a Busy Spot. One of the busiest spots today in this busiest of Central American capitals is La Aurora airport. Here the trunk line of the Pan Amer ican Airways from Brownsville, Texas, to Panama connects with a half-dozen local air services to dis tant parts of the republic. Many who do not come to Guate mala City by plane, come by boat, agti dock at San Jose, a sleepy little tropical port. Between steamers this “back door” to Guatemala drowses in the shade of tall bread fruit trees and coconut palms, and carries on a desultory commerce with the Indians of the coastal la goons. Its dingy water front, ragged por ters and fishermen, stifling heat, and main street pre-empted by rail road tVacks give no promise of the color and activity of Guate mala’s gay, modern capital, high up in the cool central plateau. The first part of the 73-mile jour ney to Guatemala City follows a gently rising plain, whose black vol canic soil is planted thickly in ba nanas, sugar cane, cotton cacao, and fruit trees. Guatemala City is nearly a mile above sea level, in thj cool and healthful tierra tem plada, or temperate zone, and the train must gain most of this alti tude in the last fifty miles. Not far beyond Palin the line creep3 through a narrow valley be tween two towering peaks and comes out on the edge of mountain rimmed Lake Amatitlan. For sev eral miles the railroad winds along thj shore, passing groups of In dian women washing clothes in hot springs at the water’s edge. It is a convenient laundry, for clothes may be boiled in the springs and rinsed in the cold fresh water of the lake without taking a step! The train approaches Guatemala City through verdant suburbs which give way to warehouses and rail road yards, indicating the commer cial activity of this busy Latin American capital. “Winter” Means Rainy Season, From the terminal, taxis whisk visitors over smoothly paved streets to their hotel, frequently a grandi ose structure with a glass-covered patio, mahogany floors and furni ture, and very high ceilings. If one remarks to the clerk that the air seems a trifle chilly, “Yes, the winter is just beginning,” he may reply: Winter? In the Tropics? And in May? He explains that “winter” in Gua temala is the rainy season, May to October, a period of clouds, damp ness, and dismal rains, although, he hastens to add, “part of every day is fair and sunny.” In "summer,” November to April, there is little or no rain, the sun shines through out the day, and the people are healthier and happier. One may be awakened in the morning by the clamor of church bells, the rumble of heavy oxcarts, and the musical chimes of carriages bearing worshipers to early mass. Guatemala City is compactly built. Stand on the roof of one of its modern buildings and you see a clean and pleasant community, most of whose white, blue, pink, and buff-colored houses and shops are one or two stories high. Only a few concrete business buildings and stone church towers rise above the prevailing flat, red-tiled roofs. Founded in the year the United States declared its independence, Guatemala City is a comparative youngster among the communities of Latin America. Several times it has been damaged by earth quakes, and in 1917 almost the en tire city was destroyed. It has lost its Old World air, although it still has many Moorish-type homes with iron-grilled windows and patios aglow with flowers. Fascinating as is Guatemala City, however, it is but a prelude to that native Guatemala which is older in race, culture, and traditions. High in the Sierra Madre west and north of the capital, pure-blooded Indians still dress as did their ancestors, worship their old gods as well as the new, and live their lives al most unaffected by modern civil ization. Until a few years ago, when the government launched an extensive road-building program, travel in the highlands of Guatemala was slow and arduous. Now one may motor from the capital westward to the Mexican border and east to El Sal vador. Motoring Through the Country. Speeding along the floor of the valley, one passes a steady stream of Indians and vehicles bound for the markets of Guatemala City. Stolid, earnest-faced men trot by at a half run, their heads held rigid by a tumpline across the forehead that supports the heavy loads on their backs. For miles, they have been jogging along at this peculiar, forward-falling gait. In cacastes, or wooden frames, they carry goods of all kinds—earthen jars, furniture, bags of grain, or fresh vegetables. Their women hurry along beside or behind them, arms swinging free ly, their burdens on their heads. Sometimes it is a basket of live chickens, a fat roll of clothing, wov en fabrics, or a bundle of firewood. Almost always a baby bobs up and down in a shawl slung across the mother’s back. Each tribe, and almost every vil lage, in the highlands has a distinc tive costume. Designs have not changed in hundreds of years. To those who know the different cos tumes, the Indians of the highlands might be carrying signs around their necks reading, ‘‘I am from Solola,” or “I am from Chichicas tenango,” et cetera. It is regrettable, however, that many of these costumes are disap pearing. Native garb has been re placed by blue denim and cheap imported cotton goods throughout most of El Salvador, and these ma terials are now penetrating Guate mala. Under the harsh treatment of the Indian’s daily toil, such fab rics are quickly reduced to tatters. Unlike the half-naked aborigines of the jungle lowlands, or the itin erant trades men and servants of the cities, the Indians of the high lands of Guatemala have main tained a proud semi-independence as farmers, weavers and pottery makers Conquered but never assimilated, they arc aristocrats among the na tive peoples of Central America, and they are sufficiently well or ganized to paake mass petitions to the central government when local conditions demand it. They have had much less contact with other races than Indians elsewhere have had, and are not badly scourged with alcohol. Consequently, Jiey have retained.their self-respect and are neither subservient nor cring ing Overcoming Tuberculosis By DR. JAMES W. BARTON © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. THE first thought in treat ing a patient is to learn just what is causing the symptoms. Sometimes the symptoms are not very se vere or pronounced and the physician has to make a number of examinations be fore he feels certain of the nature of the trouble. Thus a few years ago when a young adult complained of being Dr. Barton tired all the time and losing weight, the physician would suspect tuberculosis or “consumption,” as it was then called, but there might not be much in the way of other symptoms to guide him. There might be very little cough, no pain in the chest, no spitting of blood. However, since the discovery of the valuable help that an X-ray of the chest can give, this method of examination is now used everywhere to prove or disprove the existence of a tuberculous spot or spots in the lung tissue. Death Rate at Its Lowest. When we remember that some years ago a victim of tuberculosis was doomed just as was a victim of pernicious anaemia and diabetes until quite recently, it is gratify ing to know that the fight against tuberculosis is now successful. Thus during the past year the death rate from tuberculosis in North America is the lowest it has ever been. The treatment has not varied dur ing the past thirty years; it con sists of fresh air and sunshine, rest, and nourishing food. When the tem perature keeps at normal, light ex ercise is given which is gradually increased up to five hours of light work daily. Rest is the biggest factor in the treatment because every movement of the body means that a little more air must be breathed into the lqngs and if the lungs are to heal they also must be resting, as much as pos sible. * * • Causes of Underweight. When an individual is apparent ly going down hill physically, face pale, skin pallid or “dirty-looking,” loss of strength, loss of weight, dis like for any mental or physical work, pains in joints and muscles, tongue pale, flabby and easily marked or indented by the teeth, then it is not hard to understand that something is certainly wrong in the body somewhere. If little red spots appear on the skin, first on the legs and later on other parts, which spots later become quite large as if blood were immediately un der the skin, and swellings appear in the bend of the elbows and knees, the physician knows that he has a well developed case of scurvy to treat. Scurvy, or scorbitis as it is called, is due to a lack of vitamin C in the food that is eaten and so fruit and vegetables containing this vitamin— canned or fresh—is the immediate treatment. These foods are oranges, lemons, combined with meat juice or the white of egg, later followed by other foods containing vitamin C, that is potatoes, watercress, raw cabbage, onions, carrots, turnips, tomatoes. However, physicians have been re alizing for some years now that there are other conditions in the body in which, though the symp toms are not so outstanding as in scurvy, are nevertheless due to a lack of some necessary mineral or vitamin in the foods eaten; at least not enough of these substances to fulfill the needs of this particular individual. Thus a patient may be pale, iacK strength, have little or no appetite, and an examination of the blood will show that anaemia—lack of iron— is present. Although the iron con tained in all the cells of the body is only 1 part in 25,000 of the body weight, nevertheless every one of these tiny cells must have some iron in it if it is to do its work properly. The foods containing, or rich in, iron are meat (especially liver), egg yolk, leafy vegetables— spinach, dandelion greens—beans and peas, fresh and dried. Another mineral that is often lacking, one which is needed for building bone and teeth, building nerve tissue and making the blood more “sticky” and thus helping the healing of sores, ulcers, and other skin conditions is calcium, or lime as it is usually called. The indi vidual wonders why he feels so weak, lacks appetite, and has little resistance to ailments. The treat ment here is the eating of foods that are rich in lin>e. The foods rich in lime are spinach, cauli flower, turnip, dried peas and beans, dates, figs, raisins, milk, cheese, egg-yolk. It is surprising the way an in crease in the foods containing iron and calcium, most of which are like wise rich in phosphorus also, in crease the weight, appetite, and gen eral health and strength of many "run-down” individuals. I Happy Hulda Goes On Dishpan Duty THURSDAY Pattern 1383 Happy Hulda, as chief-cook and-bottle-washer, invites you to cross stitch this set of seven tea towels (8 to the inch crosses), in the gayest floss you can find! Pattern 1383 contains a transfer pattern of seven motifs (one for each day of the week) averaging about 6 by 6lk inches; material requirements; illustrations of all stitches used; color suggestions. Send 15 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) for this pattern to The Sewing Circle Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth Ave., New York, N. Y. jKfTm VOlitQ I By j Helen I Twelvefree* Creamed Eggs With Chill and Rice To two cupfuls of well-seasoned medium white sauce add one tea spoonful chili powder and six hard-cooked eggs, cut in quarters. Meanwhile, cook one cupful of rice, season it to suit the taste and arrange in a border around a platter. Pour the egg mixture into the center. Serves six. Copyright.—WNU Service. Foreign Words ^ and Phrases Etourderie. (F.) Giddy conduct, an imprudent caprice. Ricordo. (It ) A souvenir, a keepsake. Ex animo. (L.) Heartily. A contre coeur. (F.) Unwilling ly Calembour. (F.) A pun. Pas seul. (F.) A dance per formed by one person. Don't Irritate Gas Bloating If you want to really GET RID OP GAS and terrible bloating, don’t expect to do it by just doctoring your stom ach with harsh, irritating alkalies and "gas tablets.’’ Most GAS is lodged in the stomach and upper Intestine and is due to old poisonous matter in the constipated bowels that are loaded with ill-causing bacteria. If your constipation is of long stand ing, enormous quantities of dangerous bacteria accumulate. Then your diges tion is upset. GAS often presses heart and lungs, making life You can’t eat or'sleep. Your head aches. Your back aches. Your com plexion is sallow and pimply. Your breath is foul. You are a sick, wretched, unhappy person. YOUR SYSTEM IS POISONED. Thousands of sufferers have found In Adlerika the quick, scientific way to rid their systems of harmful bacteria. Adlerika rids you of gas and clean# foul poisons out of BOTH upper and lower bowels. Give your bowel# a REAL cleansing with Adlerika. Get rid of GAS. Adlerika does not grip# —is not habit forming. At all Leading Druggists. WNU-U 16—37 Love’s Base The best and truest part of love is Friendship. To Get Rid of Acid and Poisonous Waste Your kidney* help to keep you wdl by constantly filtering waste matter Crom the blood. If your kidneys get functionally disordered and fail to remove excess impurities, there msyo* poisoning of the whole system and body-wide distress. _. • Burning, scanty or to° SUfSirtSw nation may be a warning of some kidnflr or bladder disturbance. . , , You may suffer nagging Aarkacbe, persistent headache, attacks of dtoinaa ifpttine up nights, swelling, puinnes* under*the eyes—feel weak, nervous, all ^"rTsuch cases it is better to rely on a medicine that has won countrywide acclaim than on something' less favor ably known. Use Doan* Pill*. A multl tude of grateful people recommend Doan’*. Atk your neighbor^_ THE CHEERFUL CHERU5 Im studying astronomy. It rests my mind somehow To think ^bout those fVr-off worlds — Our owns so mussed up now. HTC***!