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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1937)
SEENand HEARD around t/ie V NATIONAL CAPITAL! By Carter Field ^ FAMOUS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT Washington. — Just one more change on the Supreme court bench and folks will begin wondering why President Roosevelt thought last January that any packing was nec essary! Yet two or three more changes are almost certain within a year. The court now stands as follows: Left: Brandeis, Cardozo, Stone, Black. Middle: Hughes, Roberts. Right: Sutherland, Butler, Mc Reynolds. So that to obtain a favorable five to four decision, any question need only have a sufficient approach to being within the realm of federal powers to win the votes of one of the two middle of the roaders to be assured of victory. Which is the more significant when it is realized that Black takes the place of Justice VanDevanter, who belonged in the extreme “right” division. So that the difference is that the three remaining conservatives, Sutherland, Butler and McReynolds, must now win the support of both of the middle of the roaders, Hughes and Roberts, In order to win. Both middle of the roaders will probably serve on the court for a long time, but all three of the con aervatives are headed for retire ment in the near future. As a mat ter of fact, if there were not the present bitter conflict all thrae would have retired at the end of the term in June. This is regarded as an undeniable fact by personal friends of the three Justices. It has also been well known for some time that Justice Brandeis would like to retire. Retirement of Brandeis, of course, would not be much of a change. True. Brandeis, with Car dozo and every other member of the court, voted the NRA out the window. Whereas Senator Black, not only publicly, but in his pri vate conversations, denounced the court for that decision. But even if President Roosevelt had been granted his six justice in crease last January it would not have affected the NRA case, assum ing that precisely the same question could have been presented to the enlarged court. For apparently nine justices would have voted as they did before, and the new six. presumably, would have voted as the man who appointed them want ed. That would have left it nine to six •gainst the new version of NRA. In the picking of Black, of course, the President came pretty close— as close as it was humanly possible to come in calculating ahead—to avoiding a fight in the senate on con firmation. Obviously any lawyer who had expressed the views on economic questions that Black has would have encountered a tremen dous fight So if Roosevelt wants to fill the vacancies sure to come in a few months by men holding Black’s views, he will probably name other senators! Cotton Plan Wrong President Roosevelt is not ex plaining the real reasons why he consented to cotton loans after so positively telling the newspaper men that there would be no loans without crop control legislation. But the tremendously important thing about the whole business is that from the point of view of the econ omist invoking the law of supply and demand, both the President and the senators and representatives who forced government cotton loans over his protest, are wrong. Either the President’s plan or the plan of the congressmen will lead inevitably to disaster for the South, In the opinion of every disinterest ed expert who has studied the situa tion. Either plan would lead to molding the price of cotton up to 12 cents a pound or better. In fact, zither plan aims at putting the price higher than that. Under the so-called "parity price" theory, the price of cotton should be about 17 cents a pound. This “parity price" figure is de termined by measuring the buying power of a pound of cotton over the years from 1909 to 1914—the period immediately preceding the outbreak A the World war. The point is, how many cents a pound would cotton have to be now, it at any given time, in order to buy tlit same amount of other commodi ties that the average sales price of cotton would have bought in this ,909-1914 period? If prices go up, of course, the "parity price” moves up with them. Presumably the whole effort of the administration should be to main imn this “parity price." Well, that is a very pleasant thing lor a cotton farmer to contemplate, d be doesn't think of anything zUe. But there are a few other ihuigt which, if he does any reading yr thinking in his off moments, might cause some dilution of his joy n thinking about the maintenance A this "parity price." It is an uncontroverted fact that Brazil can produce cotton at 6 cents 4 pound—barely over one-third of this "parity price.” It is also an uncontroverted fact that Brazil has a tremendous acreage not yet di verted to cotton—an acreage big enough t<! supply the entire world with cotton, for that matter. Brazil has already expanded her cotton production something like ten times as much as such optimists on the domestic cotton situation as Secretary of Commerce Daniel C. Roper thought she could three years ago. Like many others, Roper sim ply would not believe the reports that United States consuls in Brazil were sending him. A national magazine sent a cot ton expert from New Orleans down to Brazil to study the situation. He confirmed the consular reports, but still optimism about the domestic cotton situation radiated in Wash ington. It further happens that Germany has been busy at work developing a substitute for cotton. So long as the world price is high, the Ger mans will work constantly at that problem. They can produce cotton substitute now, but the price is too high. But they are confident they can eventually get the cost of pro duction down. The terrible part of the whole business is that once Brazil has in creased her production sufficient ly, or been joined by enough other cheap producers, there is very little the United States government can do. The world will be supplied with cotton from sources other than the United States, and at a price below the cost of production in every state east of the Mississippi river. In fact, there are only two states, Texas and Oklahoma, which can then con tinue cotton growing at a profit. Soft Pedal Sugar Fight One reason the big controversy over sugar is so confusing to the average reader that he just skips over it is that nobody is really say ing what he means. Every one in volved has motives, but they are not talking about them. They talk about something else. President Roosevelt and Secre tary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes are working in the interest of the island producers—Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin islands. Sena tor Pat Harrison, of Mississippi, chairman of the senate finance committee, and those following him are working in the interests of the sugar refiners in continental United States. Roosevelt and Ickes want to put no limit on the amount of sugar that may be refined in the islands. They claim that to do so would be to dis criminate against American citi zens, as these islands are all part of the United States. But the simple fact is that labor is cheaper on the islands. So that if their production were not restrict ed—and as there is of course no tar iff on the sugar they send to the United States—the ultimate result would be that every refinery now working in continental United States would be closed down. In fact, this is perfectly known to Ickes, who professes a desire to see work provided in new refineries, particularly in the Virgin islands, his special charge. Roosevelt has developed a keen interest in the wel fare of the poor people of Puerto Rico, etc. Underlying this, however, is some thing else. Roosevelt and Ickes just happen to dislike intensely the "economic royalists” who own the sugar refineries in this country, par ticularly in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. This feeling prob ably started off against a few of them, but as the fight grew hot it spread to them all. Roosevelt has used plenty of adjectives in describ ing the "lobby” which was trying to get congress not to strangle the domestic refining industry. In fact, he permitted newspaper men to quote him to the broad general ef fect that it was one of the most per nicious and wicked outfits working against the cause of the people. Pat Harrison, however, has cer tainly proved a thorn in the admin istration’s side on this issue. Down in his heart Pat has not forgiven the President for defeating him for Democratic leader oi the senate. There is no doubt, whatever, of course, that it was Roosevelt’s in fluence which elected Alben W. Barkley, of Kentucky, over Pat by one vote. In this case, however, Pat had a local reason to fight. Many of his Mississippi constituents work in the refineries at New Orleans. Pat did not want them to luse their jobs through the government literally closing these refineries down. So he offered a "compromise” which would get around the idea of discriminating against American citizens. This compromise would simply provide that all existing re fineries could refine sugar up to their previous maximums. This would keep the domestic refineries going and permit the ofishore re fineries to do just what they had been doing, but would close the door to new offshore refineries. C Bell Syndicate.—WNU Servlet. INK!Iiw MINI il'i'i -^janrrz The Rose Red Cihj Petra Is Off the Beaten Path. Old Petra Now Accessible to Travelers After Many Centuries of Oblivion Prepared by National Geographic Soelf ty, Washington, D. C.-WNU Service. PETRA, silent city of the forgotten past, halfway between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, exerts a magic spell upon the minds of those fortunate enough to know it. Its single and weird approach, through a deep rock cleft more than a mile long; its temples, numbering nearly n thousand, cut into the living rock of stupendous cliffs and showing Babyloni an, Egyptian, Greek and Roman influence; its high places, courts, libation ba sins and altars where the ancients worshiped; its amaz ing color, the work of Nature lavish with ocher and all shades of red—all these are mysterious, enthralling. “The rose-red city, half as old as time,'’ has a history that began long before histories were written. Near it have been fond worked flints of the Late Chellean period, millenni ums before recorded dates. It’s first written history is fond In the Dible; for the land about it was Mount Seir of old (now Esh Shera), home of the Horites, cave dwellers whose progenitor was Hori, the grandson of Seir. These Horites are first mentioned at the time of Abraham In connection with the subjugntion of the land by Chedor laomer. For centuries Petra was a rich caravan city, a veritable crossroads of the ancient world. The Arabian peninsula was a network of caravan routes, over which passed the prod ucts of Africa, Arabia, and India to the valley of the Nile, Palestine, Phoenicia, and the Euphrates-Tigris valley. Deserted When Rome Fell. Goods were brought to Petra for storage and for trans-shipment in every direction. So important was the city that the Romans built two road's to tap its wealth. When Rome fell, however, its doom was sealed. Abandoned save for a few desert tribesmen, who lived miserably in its caves, as some of them still live, Petra passed from the notice of the outside world, remaining in oblivion for more than a thousand years. In 1812 the Swiss traveler, John Lewis Bruckhardt, disguised as a Bedouin sheik, reached it and re turned to tell of its mysteries. It had then become sacred ground to the Arabs, and danger menaced any infidel who approached it. In the century after Burckhardt few explorers attempted to visit it. Not, indeed, until after the World war was it accessible to any save the most intrepid; and even now vis itors cannot enter it save under protection of armed guards. With a comfortable camp for accommoda tion of guests during the summer months, Petra at last is open to se rious travelers. The trip from Jerusalem to Petra and back once required about a month of arduous caravan travel through country infested with law less Bedouins. Construction of the Mecca railway from Damascus to the sacred city of Medina was a first step toward opening the country, and later a highway from Jerusa lem to Ma’an and a smooth dirt road from Ma’an to Elji brought motor vehicles within two miles of the ancient city. Airplanes, too, now carry passengers to Ma’an. bound for Petra. When the British cleared the way for automobiles between Ma’an and Elji, the Bedouins rose in open re volt, complaining that the road would deprive them of their income from renting saddle animals to j Petra visitors. Warfare ensued, several persons I of both sides losing their lives. After ' the government had crushed the re j bellion by armed force, the Bed ouins received assurance that the road would not be extended beyond Elji, and that their horses and mules wculd be hired under govern ment supervision for the last part of the journey. How to Reach the Ruins. Thus the Bedouins have kept modern transportation from actu ally infringing on the silence ot long ago and preserved for Petra a measure of its isolation. However you travel to Petra, whether by railroad from Damac cus, a method almost disused; or by car from Jerusalem, the most practical way; or by air, the lat est innovation, all routes converge on Ma’an, a thriving abode village girdled with walled gardens of palms, figs, and vegetables, and surrounded by flat, chalky white desert. There is an English school here, and visitors are often amazed to find that many of the Arab youths understand and speak English. From Ma’an you drive northwest by car, passing the spring of Ain Musa, to Elji. Here a happy crowd of Bedouins, with emaciated riding horses and pack mules, await your arrival. Descending first by slippery trails over limestone rock, you follow the bed of Wadi Musa to a mighty bar rier, the eastern range of the red sandstone mountains that enclose Petra. Wadi Musa deepens. It seems that you are entering a cul de-sac, but here Nature has rent the range asunder, cutting a nar row opening. For this long slit the Arabs have coined the name Es Siq (a cleft). Through it the fountain and flood waters flow in winter, and after trav ersing the precincts of Petra city, find their way into Wadi el Araba by another greater gorge, the Wadi es Siyagh. Through Bab es Siq. Approaching the gateway, Bab es Siq, you pass through a small sub urb of Petra, without the precincts of the fortified city. This was a city of the dead, as was most of what is left of Petra. Objects of interest are tombs of the pylon type, cut from the solid rock, but, unlike the facade monuments of Petra proper, blocked out to stand apart as build ings. Here, too, are scattered white sandstone hummocks, rock domes into which large numbers of small chambers have been cut without faces. Many of like character are found on the less accessible mountain tops. They are believed to be the troglodyte homes of ancient people who lived on Mont Seir before the descendants of Esau made Edom | of it. The Siq is 6,000 feet long as the crow flies and considerably longer as it winds. Once it was all paved, and channels were cut into its pre cipitous sides to lead the spring water into the city. It is 20 feet wide in its narrowest parts and ex pands to not more than two or three times this dimension. Its sides are stupendous, making men mere ants by comparison. In no place may you see far ahead, crooks and corners prevent ing. A streak of blue sky like a twisted ribbon is all that is visible of the heavens. Your horses slip over the great boulders that choke this ancient av enue, your Bedouins chanting their weary and melancholy notes. After 20 minutes of this bewitch ing seclusion, you strain your eyes for a first glimpse of the vision you know awaits you. Even though you watch, it bursts upon you as a surprise. The Siq ends abruptly in a cross gorge. From the face of the cliff opposite the Siq mouth El Khazna has been cameoed out, a temple to an unknown deity. It peeps at you at first, you see a little more, and then it bursts upon you in all its beauty. This cross-canyon has been called the “Outer Siq.” The name “Lower Siq” may fit it better. Its walls are equally precipitous. To the south its valley floor rises abruptly to the mountain top on which the Great High Place of Sacrifice is lo cated. Steps have been cut at no little expenditure of energy to make easy the ascent of the worshiper. To the north the Outer Siq expands, opening into the Petra basin. Colds Due to Allergy By DR. JAMES W. BARTON © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. Sometimes you find your self sneezing and cough ! ing, with a “running” nose and naturally you believe you have caught a cold and are > in for a few days’ misery. However, in a very short time, hours at most, the sneezing, coughing, and stuffiness of the nose disappear, much to your surprise. The truth of the matter is that in stead of having the usual “infec- j Dr. Barton tious cola, aue to the “cold,” flu, or other organisms get ting into the system, you really had an “allergic" cold in the head due to some substance you breathed in from the air, or some sub stance you had eat en. The usual or com mon cold in the head is due to over heated rooms, tack oi ventilation, not enough moisture in the room, ex posure to wet and cold, inhaling dust or irritating substances, in fected tonsils, and adenoid growths. All these interfere with the mucous membrane of the nose so that it is unable to fight off the organisms that cause the cold. With the usual or common head cold there is a feeling of tiredness, chilliness, slight headache. The symptoms last from two or three days to several weeks. Not Like Common Colds. However, in the “cold” due to al lergy-sensitiveness to various sub stances—the history, the onset, the symptoms themselves are consider ably different from those of the common cold. Dr. Norman W. Celin, Seattle, Wash., in Northwest Medicine, says: “Frequent colds at any sea son or at special seasons of the year are often manifestations or symptoms of allergy. To diagnose that the condition is allergic there must be an investigation of (1) a family history of allergy, (2) pre vious allergic history of the patient (asthma, hay fever, eczema, stom ach and intestinal upsetments) and (3) a present history of allergic symptoms. All foods, plants, sub stances handled in industry and other substances should be tested by the scratch method or injection into the skin. The most constant symptom of nasal or nose allergy is a "stuffy nose which is always worse in the morning; chronic cough occurring especially during the early morning hours is likewise a symptom.” I believe that these simple methods of learning the dif ference between the usual head cold due to infections, and colds due to allergy (sensitiveness to substances) will enable us to treat either type intelligently. Use of Dinitrophenol. There are cases where the body processes are working at the normal rate, the individual does not eat much food and yet the body weight is much above normal. It is in these cases that the new drug dini trophenol has been used with much success. From San Francisco, where a great amount of research work has been done on dinitrophenol, come some interesting findings. In using thyroid extract to make the body processes work faster and so burn up fat, care must be taken where there is any heart ailment as the thyroid extract throws extra work on the heart. However when Dr. M. L. Tainter used dinitrophenol in three cases of overweight suffering with angina pectoris, without any heart symp toms occurring. Dr. Harold Rosen blum, San Francisco, determined to find whether the dinitrophenol in creased the rate of the heart beat, whether it increased the amount of blood the heart pumped and wheth er it increased the blood pressure. Accordingly the rate at which the blood was flowing was observed be fore, during, and after the use of dinitrophenol in patients who were being treated for overweight. The blood travels completely around the body in from ten to six te&n seconds. The tests were made In the morning, no food having been taken since the last meal of the previous day—fourteen hours or thereabouts, the patient lying quiet ly at rest. A record was also kept of the weight, the pulse rate before and during the period during which I dinitrophenol was given. The results showed that although the rate at which the body processes ! were working was greatly in creased, nevertheless the heart did not beat faster and the amount of j blood pumped by the heart was not | increased. The blood pressure also I was not increased by the dinitro ! phenol. The reason that dinitrophenol should only be used under a physi cian’s supervision is that so many are '‘sensitive” to this drug just as so many are sensitive to pollens, furs, hairs and other substances which cause hay fever, asthma, and eczema. They're Cinches to Sew I yES, the sewing bug will get * you, if you don’t watch out, young lady! And when it does there will be a hum in your life (and we don’t mean head noises). Right now is the time to begin; right here is the place to get your inspiration. So all together, girls: it’s sew, sew, sew-your-own! Inspiration Number 1. The vivacious model at the left is the number 1 piece for your new autumn advance. It calls for taffeta, embellished, as you might expect, with grosgrain. You may use vivid colors too, Milady, for Fashion has gone color mad this fall. Reds of every hue, bright blues, lavender, warm browns, all are being featured in smart ave nue shops along the Rue de la Paix. Morning Frock. For most of us, each day de mands that a little work be done. Sew-Your-Own appreciates this Getting Out Novice (whose ball has disap peared down a rabbit hole)—What is the best thing to use here, cad die? “A vacuum cleaner.” Congenial Chap Tourist—Don’t you ever get lonesome up here? Mountaineer—Oh, yes, but I have a couple of good jokes I tell myself. Even a good wife may make a mistake. And the good husband has to eat it. No Hurry Said Mrs. Peck, looking up ro mantically from the novel she was reading: “My—how thrilling! Tell me, George—what would you do if you suddenly saw another man running away with me?” ‘‘Why, I’d simply ask him why he was running!” answered Mr. Peck, thoughtlessly. (Hospital report: ‘‘As well as can be expected.”) and the need for frocks that are practical, pretty, and easy to keep that way, hence the new utility frock in the center. Five pieces are its sum and total; seven morn ings a week its cycle. Any tub well fabric will do nicely as the material — try one version in printed rayon. Tailored Charm. The waistcoat used to be a gen tleman’s identification, but, alas, like many another smart idea, womankind has copped it. Here you see an attractive example of this modern contraband. Not only does it have suavity, but it is en tirely feminine, as well. The ex quisite waist line, sweet little col lar, and puff sleeves, make this a number you can’t afford to pass up. The Patterns. Pattern 1363 is designed for sizes 12 to 20 (30 to 40 bust). Size 14 requires 3% yards of 39-inch material, plus 18 yards of ribbon for trimming, as pictured. Pattern 1354 is designed for sizes 34 to 46. Size 36 requires 4% yards of 35-inch material. Pattern 1252 is designed for sizes 12 to 20 (30 to 38 bust). Size 14 requires 374 yards of 39-inch material. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Price of patterns, 15 cents (in coins) each. © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. ln[TP?BLACK™ -■ ''■'In Keeps Dogs Away from ■‘'"Get |] Vb Evergreens,Shrubs etc. I'our N 1936 Use lttTeaspoonful D*aler PL VB, P«r Gallon of sPr®» Adversity the Test Prosperity makes friends and adversity tries them.—Plautus. 6BB checks P GOLDS D FEVER LIQUID. TABLETS „ first day salve, nose drops Headache, 30 minutes. Try “Rnb-My-TIsm”—World’s Best Liniment ^V LIFE’S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher I EXERCISE chart I o a 'CoprrUM .-TC£s^> “What if you are a few minutes late to work . . . Junior’s got to finish his exercises!!”