SEEN
and
HEARD
around the
NATIONAL
CAPITAL
fiy Carter Field ^
Washington.—The good old days
of 1929 are not coming back—are
not en route—are not even desired
by the New Deal. This has been
said by President Roosevelt many
times, but its present importance
lies in some figures recently sub
mitted to a group of economists by
Dr. Harold G. Moulton, president
of the Brookings institution.
Dr. Moulton made some very in
teresting comparisons with 1929 em
ployment and production figures.
Some construed the chief thought to
be that the country has not arrived
yet at a situation where enough of
everything for everybody can be
produced by people working only
forty hours a week.
But more significant, in the view
of some of the New Dealers who
have been studying his attitude,
Is that the doctor made a liberal
estimate about the number of men
who could be employed—in addition
to those working at present—in
what are classed as the durable
goods industries—primarily indus
tries which produce machinery and
other things which are not used up,
but generally add to the country’s
productive capacity. As for exam
ple, a new blast furnace, a new
newspaper press, new canning or
textile machinery—in fact, machin
ery of any sort.
Ur. Moulton estimated that more
than eight million more men would
be employed in the durable goods
industry it 1029 conditions were to
be equalled. This does not mean
that precisely that number less are
employed now jji the durable goods
industries than were in 1929. Allow
ances are made for increase In pop
ulation and other factors.
But the chief point here made by
the New Deal economists is this
huge number of persons employed
in the durable goods industries was
one of the really vital things wrong
with the then situation—one of the
important factors which resulted in
the collapse—one of the contribut
ing causes to the situation which
the New Deal is seeking to correct
Logic la Simple
President Roosevelt does not be
lieve such a large proportion of the
country’s labor should be used in
the durable goods industries as was
•o employed in 1929. His logic is
simple though not very widely un
derstood.
His point is that too much of the
earnings of the big corporations in
the good years preceding the crash
was plowed back into the business.
Too many units in the various in
dustries, he points out in conversa
tions, decided that business was
good, they could sell more goods
than they could make—so they built
an additional plant.
The result was, that instead of
these earnings being distributed,
whether to labor, to stockholders,
or, by reduced prices,* into creating
a larger purchasing power which
would absorb more goods, they
were frozen into plants for the prod
ucts of which the day came when
there was no market.
Immediately the situation spread,
lack of confidence was inspired, peo
ple began to save and hoard money,
and the factories stood, as he likes
to say, “stark and idle.”
So the New Deal economists would
dread the day when Dr. Moulton’s
estimate of how many more men
could be employed in the durable
goods industries might be realized
in actual employment. They would
figure another 1929 crash would fol
low very speedily.
Popularity Declines
Probably the decline of President
Roosevelt's popularity is much
more real—certainly it is much
more obvious—on Capitol Hill than
it is out in the country. Senators
and representatives in private con
versations admit that they believe
the President has lost only a frac
tion of his following in the country.
Proof of that pudding will not
be evident until there are some sig
nificant primaries, in which somo
anti-New Deal Democrat puts up a
real battle.
But on Capitol Hill there are a
surprising number of Democrats
who seem anxious that the Presi
dent’s foot should slip a little. It is
one of the reasons why the fight
against enlargement of the Supreme
court has become so important—
and so bitter.
Most of the insurgents do not ex
plain why they are insurging—they
claim that in each particular case,
be it the court, or the reorganiza
tion, or federal economy, or the
PWA, or what not, much to their
regret they have been forced to op
pose the President.
It is perfectly true that they, in
most instances at least, are really
opposed to the President on these is
sues. But there is an underlying
motive which has not come out in
the open.
This is a burning desire that,
when the Democratic national con
vention meets three years hence, it
will be dominated by what they like
to call "Regular Democrats,” and
it will positively not nominate a
New Dealer to succeed Mr. Roose
velt
Third Term Up Again
They are assuming—and it seems
to many observers to be a violent
assumption—that the President will
not seek a third term. Strangely
enough their very course of action,
if sufficiently successful, may force
the President to take another nom
ination. It may turn out, if what he
will regard as the reactionaries in
the Democratic party are appar
ently in control and purpose to
name some man he will not believe
will carry out his policies, that Mr.
Roosevelt will conceive it his pa
triotic duty to run for a third term.
This possibility, however, does not
seem to enter at all into the logic
of the insurging Democrats. They
are frankly hostile to the nomina
tion of any of the men who they feel
sure would win Roosevelt’s approv
al. It is not so much Secretary of
Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, or
any other or the hall dozen New
Dealers who have frequently been
mentioned for the White House in
the recent past.
Being politicians themselves, the
senators and representatives who
hope to regain control of their party
at the next convention and put a
man more satisfactory to them in
the White House, realize that any
thing may happen in the three long
years to come to trip any particular
candidate. So it is not individuals
they are planning to beat—it is re
ally, in essence, the New Deal it
self.
It is not so much that they want
to make any move that Mr. Roose
velt would regard as a backward
step. But they just do not yearn
to go any further forward. They
think they have gone plenty far al
ready in revamping the country’s
economic structure. They want a
"breathing spell."
The same logic spells plenty of
trouble for Mr. Roosevelt next ses
sion unless there should be some
convincing demonstration that the
country is behind the President, not
the insurgents.
Labor Bill Hits Snag
The whole trouble about the max
imum hours and minimum wages
bill, so far as getting it through con
gress is concerned, lies in that dif
ferential between wages in the
North and wages in the South.
In one way or another the gov
ernment has always avoided mak
ing any move which would inter
fere with the generally accepted
idea that the wage scale in the
South should not be so high as it
is in the North.
The South has drawn many indus
tries from the North as a result
of this differential, plus certain oth
er advantages, such as smaller cost
for heating plants due to warmer
climate, etc. It has been justified
by the slightly lower cost of living
in the South for the workers. For
instance, many southern mills, lo
cated in small communities, are
worked by people who live on tiny
farms, which, through the labor of
their wives and children—their own
when unemployed—provide them
with vegetables, chickens and some
times even a little pork.
The movement of the textile in
dustry to the South is a good illus
tration.
But naturally the employers of
the North, and the labor union lead
ers, and those who agree with Pres
ident Roosevelt and John L. Lewis
about building up buying power
among the classes of labor now un
able to buy luxuries, dissent violent
ly
It so happens that Chairman Wil
liam P. Connery, of the house labor
committee, comes from Massachu
setts, which has been hard hit for
many years by this idea of a wage
differential in favor of the South.
Naturally he is vigorously against
making any exceptions which would
discriminate against New England
in the new wages and hours bill he
has introduced at the President’s
request.
But just as naturally southern
senators and representatives are
not anxious to see anything done by
the federal government that would
have the effect of removing this dif
ferential, which for some years now
has been building up southern in
dustry.
Question of Politics
At the same time the southern
senators and representatives are
politicians, nnd the workers have
more votes than the employers—or
even the chambers of commerce.
And it might be assumed that the
local storekeepers would be in sym
pathy with the workers. So it is
just possible there may be more
votes in eliminating the differential
than in keeping it—even for the
southerners.
That is just speculation, of course,
for there is no indication yet that it
is working in that direction. The
indications are that the southern
legislators regard the differential as
an advantage, and will fight to keep
it.
All of which points to labor trou
bles in the South sooner or later,
for John L. Lewis is very set on the
idea of building up buying power,
and not purely from an altruistic
standpoint at all. The C. I. O. has
two objections to groups of under
paid labor. One is that they are
probably competing with labor the
wages and hours of which the union
is trying to improve. The other is
that it wants more people buying
automobiles, electric refrigerators,
radios, etc., which are produced by
comparatively well paid labor. The
more buying the more jobs, the
more jobs the more union dues.
£ Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
■ '-'i'‘- a
Yucatan
Wood-Burning Engine In Yuratan.
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington, D. C.—WNU Service. •
! HE peninsula of Yucatan
projects northward between
the Caribbean sea and the
~ Gulf of Mexico like the thumb
of a giant hand. Located in its
northern half are the states of Yu*
catan and Campeche and the terri
tory of Quintana Roo, in the Repub
lic of Mexico.
It is almost as flat as the prover
bial pancake, though, as one travels
from north to south, a few low
ranges, little more than foothills,
are encountered, few exceeding 500
feet above the sea. The country is
a limestone plain of recent geologic
formation, covered with a dense,
rather low forest which increases
in height from north to south as the
soil grows deeper.
Yucatan has no surface water, no
rivers or streams, and relatively
few lakes, but everywhere are to
be found large natural wells called
cenotes, which made life possible in
ancient times. In the formation of
these, the surface coralline lime
stone, honeycombed by the action
of water, has broken through, ex
posing the subterranean water level.
The cenotes and modern wells
vary in depth directly with the in
creasing elevation of the land as
one withdraws from salt water,
from only a few feet at the coast
to about 100 feet in the interior. The
level of the subterranean water
table, however, always remains the
same.
There are only two seasons, the
dry and the rainy. The former be
gins in December and lasts official
ly until May 3, Santa Cruz day,
when the faithful believe the rains
should commence, though actually
it may have been raining since the
middle of April, or Nature, in a
contrary mood, may have held off
until the middle of June.
The thermometer does not fall be
low 39 degrees Fahrenheit, and does
not rise above 107 degrees. But
these two extremes do not tell the
true story, since the average max
imum is in the eighties and the av
erage minimum in the sixties.
The nights, even after the hottest
days, which are in April and May
before the rains break, are cool,
because of the trade winds which
sweep across the peninsula from
east to west practically throughout
the year, bringing the freshness of
the Caribbean sea to cool the sun
parched land.
Almost Completely Isolated.
Although Yucatan is a peninsula
Joined by a broad base to the con
tinental land mass to the south, It
is, practically speaking, an island.
For every person who manages to
fight his way into the peninsula
through trackless jungles, across
vast swamps and over stony ranges
of low hills which together form an
all but impassable land barrier,
hundreds reach Yucatan by air or
water.
This circumstance profoundly af
fected the civilization which flour
ished there in ancient as well as in
modern times.
Because of its almost complete
isolation, the peninsula was select
ed by the Carnegie Institution of
Washington more than two decades
ago, ns a center for the intensive
study of American aboriginal civil
izations. Foreign influence having
been reduced to a minimum, Yuca
tan is an excellent “laboratory
case” for such a study.
This subtropical paradise is not
difficult of access from the United
States. Merida, the capital, is only
nine hours by air from Miami and
less than six and a half from Mex
ico City. There are regular steam
ship sailings from New York and
from New Orleans to Progreso, port
of Yucatan. There is every facility
for convenient touring about the
peninsula, even the modern Maya
land lodge in the venerable ruins
of Chichen Itza.
Merida, with about 110,000 people,
must be one of the cleanest cities
of its size in the world. All the
streets are paved. Ninety per cent
of the houses are rough masonry
coated with lime plaster. Flat
concrete roofs rest either on wooden
beams or, in the modern houses,
on steel beams.
The houses are painted in every
color imaginable, pastel shades of
cream, pink, green, blue, and yel
low prevailing.
Patios Are Delightful.
As in all Spanish cities, the dwell
ings present to the streets either
entirely blank walls or heavily
barred windows, but, once within
the great front doors, even the hum
blest have their enchanting patios.
In the more pretentious homes
broad-arched cloisters with tiled
floors surround the patios on all
four sides, and in more modest ones
on one or two sides.
The patio itself usually is a riot
of brilliantly colored tropical flow
ers, many of which distill rare per
fumes.
Today, with its well-lighted, clean
streets, its many parks, its movies,
electric signs, autobusses and mill
ing newsboys, bootblacks with their
little portable boxes, and sweetmeat
venders, Merida is a city of the
Twentieth century.
But with Maya Indians in their
picturesque native costumes rub
bing shoulders with Mexicans in
the more familiar habiliments of
the modern world, even with Amer
ican visitors in plus fours strolling
beneath the medieval dignity of the
cathedral towers, a thousand years
of human history unfold before the
eye.
The story of man’s earliest occu
pation of Europe has been recov
ered from the caves of France and
Spain, so in Yucatan the archeolo
gist naturally turns to the caves, of
which there are many, for evidence
concerning man’s antiquity in this
region.
It would seem that the dwellers
in the caves were the same people
as the builders of the great cities
of stone, since excavations disclose
that both appear to have used the
same utensils, the same kinds of
dishes, bowls and water jars, the
same kinds of corn grinders, arrow
and lance-heads, fiber cleaners, pot
tery burnishers, and the same kinds
of jade ornaments, earplugs, nose
plugs, beads, and pendants.
However, about the builders of the
cities of cut stone, the ancient
Maya, the archeologist knows more
than a little, and with the Maya the
clouds of obscurity surrounding the
ancient history of Yucatan begin to
dissipate.
Sometime during the early years
of the Christian era there developed
in what is now the northern part of
the Republic of Guatemala—more
exactly, in the department of Peten,
Guatemala, south of Yucatan—a
civilization which archeologists
have called the Mayan.
This civilization-, which was des
tined to become the most brilliant
cultural expression of ancient
America, was based upon agricul
ture, chiefly the raising of corn.
Mayan Civilization.
Because the early Maya were pri
marily farmers, they became inter
ested in the phenomena of time, the
passing of the seasons, the several
stages of the farmer’s year—when
the forest should be felled, when
the dried wood and leaves should
be burned, when the com should be
planted, and when harvested. All
these were of vital concern, so their
priests at a very early date, prob
ably by the beginning of the first
millennium before Christ, turned
their attention to the measurement
of time and to the study of astron
omy.
Although the Maya in their knowl
edge of the apparent movements
of the heavenly bodies—the sun,
moon, Venus, and probably other
planets as well—far excelled both
the ancient Egyptians and Baby
lonians, their greatest intellectual
achievement was the invention of a
chronology, exact to the day within
a period of 374,400 years, which is
as accurate as our own Gregorian
calendar. For the first time in hu
man history, their mathematical
system to keep account of this
chronology made use of a positional
system of writing numbers involv
ing the conception of the abstract
mathematical quantity of zero, one
of the outstanding achievements of
all time.
While our own numerical system
is decimal, increasing by tens from
right to left of the decimal point,
the ancient Maya system was viges
imal, increasing by twenties from
bottom to top. But all the essential
elements of our modern arithmetic,
including numeration by position
and use of a symbol to represent
zero, had been devised by the an
cient Maya 2,000 years ago, and at
least five centuries before the Hin
dus had developed the fundamentals
of Arabic notation in India.
By their exceedingly accurate
system of chronology as well as by
their knowledge of the apparent
movements of the heavenly bodies,
the Maya priests were able to pre
dict eclipses and the heliacal rising
and setting of Venus. Moreover,
what was of even greater impor
tance to the Maya farmer, they had
determined the length of {he trop
ical year with as high a degree of
accuracy as Pope Gregory XIH did
a good thousand years later.
The Good Old Days.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—
Taking pen in hand to
write Uncle Sam’s check for
that next installment, I look
longingly backward to what
I’m sure was the golden age
of our generation.
It was the decade that began soon
after the turn of the century and
ended with 1914.
Kings lolled se
curely on comfy
thrones and dicta
torships in strong
nations were un
dreamed of.
Without shaking
the foundations of
the financial temple,
Teddy Roosevelt
was filing the alliga
tor teeth of preda- mmaa.
tory wealth. Irvin S. Cobb
People laughed at
the mad suggestion that there could
ever be another great war—let
alone a world war.
With suffrage in prospect, women
were going to purify politics.
Taxes were a means unto an end
and not the end of our means.
Standards of living climbed faster
than did the costs of living.
Automobiles were things to ride
in at moderate speed, not engines
to destroy human life with.
Millions actually believed that, if
prohibition by law ever became ef
fective, drunkenness would end and
crime decrease.
Yes, I’m sure those were indeed
the happy days—the era when the
Twentieth Century limited started
running and W. J. Bryan stopped.
• • •
. Synthetic Imitations.
WE STOPPED at a wayside sta
tion advertising pure orange
juice; there’s one every few rods.
Next to autograph hunters, oranges
are the commonest product of Cali
fornia.
The drink was the right color.
But there didn’t seem to be any
orange in it. The best you could
say for it was that probably its
mother had been badly frightened
by an orange.
I made inquiry, and an expert
told me some roadside venders—
not many, but some—were peddling
an essence compounded of chemi
cal flavoring and artificial extracts
because it kept better than the gen
uine article.
I thought America had reached
tops in the gentle arts of substitu
tion and adulteration when we be
gan making pumpkin pies out of
squash and maple syrup out of corn
stalks and buckwheat flour out of
a low grade of sawdust—anyhow, it
tastes like that—and imported Eng
lish sole out of the lowly flounder
and scallops out of skate fins. But
when, in a land where a strong man
couldn’t tote a dollar’s worth of
oranges on his back, there are par
ties selling synthetic imitations —
well, just let the east equal that
magnificent stroke of merchandis
ing enterprise!
Poor Little Rich Men.
LET us take time oft to pity the
poor little rich man who owns a
large but lonesome sea-going yacht.
During the depression, the species
grew rare—there were money lords
then who hardly had one yacht to
rub against another—but, with bet
ter days, a fresh crop lines the
coasts.
No matter how rich, the owner
feels he must use his floating pal
ace. He may be content with a
saucer of processed bran and two
dyspepsia tablets, but no yacht crew
yet ever could keep soul and body
together on anything less than dou
ble sirloins. So he goes cruising—
and gosh, how he does dread It!
For every yachtsman who really
gets joy out of being afloat, there
usually is another to whom the
great heart of the nation should go
out in sympathy. You almost ex
pect to find him putting ads in the
paper for guests who can stand the
strain; everything provided except
the white duck pants.
• • •
Problems on Wheels.
AMERICA’S newest problem
goes on wheels. One prophet
says by 1938 there’ll be a million
trailers and three million people
aboard them. Roger Babson raises
the ante—within twenty years, half
the population living in trailers and
all the roads clogged.
So soon the trailer-face is recog
nizable. It is worn by Mommer,
riding along behind, while Popper
smiles pleasantly as he drives the
car in solitary peace—getting away
from it all. Have you noticed how
many trailer widows there are al
ready?
But as yet nobody reckons with
the chief issue: think of the in
creasing mortality figures when the
incurable speed bug discovers that
not only may he continue to mow
down victims with head-on assaults,
but will garner in many who es
caped his frontal attack by side
swipes of the hitched-on monster
that is swinging and lunging at his
rear like a drunken elephant on a
rampage!
To catch ’em going and coming—
that should be a motor maniac’s
dream of earthly joy.
IRVIN S. COBB.
WNU Service.
A clr Mo A Quiz Wi,h
2*JL“ Answers Offering
jPT i7 ■ Information on
J±nOtner ■ Various Subjects
1. Where was the first session
of the United States Supreme
court held, and how many justices
were present?
2. Are the authorized version
and the King James Bible the
same?
3. What animal is the fastest
runner?
4. How big is the standard par
achute?
5. When was the federal income
tax first imposed?
6. What state has furnished
more Presidents than any other?
7. How many counties in the
state of Delaware?
8. How many kinds of time in
use in the world?
9. Who wrote, on the eve of bat
tle, “If I survive, I shall soon be
with those I love: if I fail, I shall
soon be with those I have loved”?
10. How many snapshots do am
ateur photographers in the United
States take a year?
Answers
1. The first session of the United
States Supreme court was held in
the Royal Exchange in New York,
February 1, 1790, with three of
the six justices present.
2. They are. The King James
Bible becpme known as the au
thorized version, probably be
cause it bore the line “appointed
to be read in churches” on the
title page.
3. The cheetah in short distance
miles
Classified
“Did you ever get your diamond
back from that peach you were
stuck on?”
‘‘No; she’s the cling - stone
variety, y’know.” — Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin.
Round-Up
“Would you give ten cents to
help the Old Ladies Home?”
“What! Are they out again?”
FIXED
"Is your office boy steady?”
"Steady; he’s almost motion
less.”—Montreal Herald.
Darn Wrap
Mr. Jones found some holes in
his stockings and asked his wife:
"Why haven’t you mended
these?”
"Did you buy that coat you
promised me?”
"No-o,” he replied.
"Well, then, if you don’t give a
wrap I don’t give a darn.”—St.
Louis Globe-Democrat.
runs. It can run down a deer or
antelope for a short distance.
4. The standard airplane para
chute has a spread of 24 feet when
open.
5. In the year 1916.
6. Virginia.
7. There are but three counties
in the state of Delaware.
8. Sixty-three kinds of standard
time are used in the world.
9. This sentiment was contained
in a letter written home by Sir
Charles Napier, a distinguished
British general.
10. Amateur photographers in
the United States take 500 million
snapshots a year to use up 3 mil
lion pounds of film and 14 million
pounds of printing paper annually,
according to the Literary Digest.
* * * * *
CHERRY PUDDING
Mr*. T. B. Neely, Fort Worth, Texa*
Cream }i cup Jewel Special-Blend
Shorteaing with cup sugar. Add
1 egg, yi cup milk, yi tsp. vanilla,
yi tsp. lemon extract, yi tsp. salt,
lyi cups flour, 2 tsps. baking pow
der. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour into
greased shallow pan; spread with yi
cup drained cherries. Bake 25 min
utes in a moderate oven. Cut in
squares and serve warm with this
Cherry Sauce: Blend yi cup sugar,
2 tbsps. flour and yi tsp. salt. Add
1 cup water, 2 tbsps. Jewel Special
Blend Shortening, 2 tbsps. lemon
juice and yi cup cherries and juice.
Cook slowly, stirring constantly,
until sauce thickens. Adv.
Foreign Words —
and Phrases w
Laissez qui je vous responde
(F.) Allow (permit) (suffer) me
to answer you.
Une nuit sans sommeil. (F.) A
sleepless night.
Uberrima fides. (L.) Super*
abounding faith.
Furor arma ministrat. (L.)
Fury provides arms.
Dehors. (F.) Outside.
Ubi jus incertum, ibi jus nul
lum. (L.) Where the law is un
certain, there is no law.
Hablen cartas, y callen barbas.
(Sp.) Let writing speak, and
beards (that is, mouths) be silent.
Tout le monde est sage apres
coup. (F.) After-wit is every
man’s wit.
Sans les injustices des hommes.
(F.) But for (were it not for) the
injustice of men.
"Oh, I remember
now—you bought
a quart of
Quaker State
when we were
first engaged!
GO MRmER*
BEFORE YOU NEED A QUART
Always adding oil? Then make
the“First Quart” test. It’s easy. Just
drain and refill with Quaker State.
Note the mileage. You’ll find you
go farther before you have to add
the first quart. That’s because
there’s an “extra quart of lubrication
in every gallon. ” The retail price is
35^ per quart. Quaker State Oil
Refining Corp., Oil City, Pa. .
