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!!”