SEEN
and
HEARD
around the
NATIONAL
CAPITAL
By Carter Field ^
Washington.—There are certainly
signs in Chicago, at the conference
between railroads and labor, that
on the part of those particular la
bor leaders at leas*, there is promise
of a rule of reason.
For the first time since this coun
try started to work out of the de
pression. labor, in these confer
ences, despite the knowledge that
the administration is on its side,
has shown a disposition to let the
employer live and make a profit.
This doesn’t sound as though it
were much of a concession. Some
might think that of course labor
would have to take this stand, as,
if there were no profits—if the em
ployer did not "live”—there would
be no jobs.
Every employer who has had la
bor troubles, however, believes that
It is simply impossible to exaggerate
the importance of dealing with la
bor union representatives who agree
frankly that the employer should
not only “live" but should make
a profit. And it does not often
happen that labor representatives,
in a conference with employers,
have been willing seriously to dis
cuss abandoning restrictions on
their employers which they hoped
to obtain by law!
A case in point in the railroad
labor negotiation^ is the bill pend
ing in congress, which restricts the
length of freight trains—generally
called the 70-car bill. Most experts
agree that this idea is not primarily
in the interest of safety. In fact,
some contend that it would increase
rather than diminish hazards. It
is primarily to force the employ
ment of more men to operate more
trains. But the railroads contend
that it would not only increase
their pay rolls, but would cause con
gestion in railroad terminals at
times when there is a rush to ship
perishable freight.
Sounds Reasonable
Now the point is that this bill
passed the senate—the “greatest
deliberative body in the world"—
with hardly any discussion. It was
stopped in the house not because
of the actual strength of its op
ponents, but because of other things.
Those who wanted to stop it had
the advantage of tiie crowded clos
ing days of a session. They had
the advantage of the wages and
hours bill and others far more spec*
tacular than the 70-car train bill.
But railroad representatives here
admit privately that they have small
hope of killing it next session if the
railroad unions continue to press
for its passage.
So the willingness of so many la
bor representatives at this Chicago
conference to call o(T passage of this
law was not an empty gesture. They
were giving up something they
thought of real importance in order
to permit the railroads to make
enough money to give them an ad
vance in wages.
It all sounds reasonable enough,
but it was spectacular in labor re
lations history, of tremendous im
portance to every employer of labor
and to every person living in this
country as indicating a long step
towards industrial peace.
Most observers are inclined to
think that this conference is a straw
in the wind indicating the trend of
labor relations for the next year.
This view may prove too optimistic.
There is no certainty about it. But
it seems probable for several rea
sons. One is that intelligent labor
leaders realize they have a much
aroused public opinion to deal with.
There is more sentiment than they
like for something they would fight
to the last ditch to avoid—respon
sibility of labor unions for their ac
tions, clinched on them by a law
forcing incorporation of unions.
Find Ally in Lewis
The bituminous coal producers
may find John L. Lewis a very po
tent ally on one of the problems that
is worrying them more than any
thing else.
This is government competition
for the coal industry from hydro
electric power developments. It
just so happens that Mr. Lewis is
very strongly persuaded that all this
hydroelectric stuff is the bunk. He
believes that electric current can be
produced more cheaply from coal
than from water power, even under
circumstances favorable to econom
ical water power development. Fur
ther he believes that the engineers
of the electric industry have long
since pre-empted most of the sites
promising low cost development.
It also happens that Mr. Lewis
has expressed himself very forcibly
about the lobbyists who come to
Washington paid by local chambers
of commerce and other associations
and maneuver to get big power de
velopments financed by the federal
treasury in their localities.
Naturally, Mr. Lewis has pointed
out, this benefits that particular
community during the period of
'construction. So would tearing down
a row of houses on one side of a
street, and erecting them again in
precisely the same condition on the
other! The local merchants would
be selling groceries and clothing
and drugs to the workers. The lo
cal doctors and dentists would be
getting some fees from the tran
sients.
But when the whole Job is com
pleted, Lewis points out, it takes
very few men to take care of the
darti and the electric plant. Where
as a lot of coal miners are out of
work forever as a result!
Agree With Lewis
It so happens that every one in
the electric industry agrees with
Mr. Lewis in every particular on
this particular subject, little as they
may think of his C. I. O. and ideas
about gratitude in politics, etc. The
point they make is that the govern
ment right now in this electric busi
ness is gambling with the people's
money.
The point is that the chief cost
of producing electricity from a hy
droelectric development is interest
on the cost of the project. Due to
abnormally low interest rates at
present—they being held down by
artificial government restrictions—
this particular item of cost is very
unlikely to decrease. Quite the con
trary. When the bonds sold now to
finance such developments mature
the government is more likely to
pay a much higher rate.
But the cost of producing elec
tricity from other sources is ex
tremely apt to become less. Mr.
Lewis says current can be produced
more economically now from coal
than from water power. Most en
gineers agree. But not after the
dams and hydro plants are built,
providing the cost of these dams
and plants is charged to profit and
loss.
Nearly every year the cost of pro
ducing current from coal is reduced.
Every few months there is some
improvement in Diesel engines,
which makes the production of cur
rent from oil cheaper. No one knows
when the terrific waste now Involved
in cooling systems will be elimi
nated. But scientists say it’s com
ing and will revolutionize the pro
duction of power, cutting its cost to
a fraction.
So it might pay the coal barons
to have Mr. Lewis discuss this ques
tion with them to their mutual ad
vantage. It would certainly drama
tize the situation before the country
and tend to stop more government
competition!
Scribes Snicker
The fiendish glee of anti-adminis
tration column writers over the dis
covery that Charley Michelson, pre
mier Democratic press agent, at
tacked Hugo L. Black in 1926 as a
Klansman, and as unworthy to fill
the shoes of Oscar W. Underwood,
is a rather Interesting commentary
on how the status of the once abused
press agent has advanced in the
last decade. Also on how much this
same Charley Michelson has done
to advance it.
But it is also rather amazing in
that it has always been the accept
ed doctrine that newspaper men
who wrote editorial or policy into
their stories at all injected the par
tisan flavor desired by their bosses!
So that unless one assumes that
bosses employ writers solely for the
brilliance of their writing, or per
haps in order to present all sides of
the picture, the slant taken by the
writer is In accord with the edito
rial policy of the paper.
It so happens that the New York
World, at the time Michelson wrote
this attack on Hugo Black, had
been running an anti-Klan crusade.
This crusade was conducted by men
in the New York ofilce, only helped
out in pinches by the Washington
bureau, of which Michelson was the
head.
It also happens that the World
was, of all the outstanding news
papers of its time, the most anxious
to have its editorials backed up by
news stories, interviews and color
in general.
Brought Up Reserves
As a matter of fact, there was a
sort of reserve staff, consisting of
ten or twelve young men working
for other—though never rival—
papers. Generally thesjs were
youngsters covering the senate or
house of representatives for non
New York newspapers or press
services. They would be called on
the telephone, as soon as the chief
of the World bureau received his
orders, and directed first to read the
editorial for which endorsements
were wanted, and then get them.
This policy accomplished the
point of indicating to World readers
that their paper had a tremendous
following among the government of
ficials and important persons gen
erally. The World did not pay mon
ey for endorsements. It only paid
hacks to get them.
Later on Michelson went to work
for John J. Raskob, and did his
amazing job of smearing Herbert
Hoover, probably the most effective
press agenting job ever done in this
country. When they were thrown
out the window in the 1932 Demo
cratic convention, Michelson was re
tained by Franklin D. Roosevelt and
James A. Farley—has been writing
Farley’s speeches and many otheis
ever since, and cheerfully blasting
his former employers, Raskob and
Jouett Shouse.
The whole point is that a good
press agent works for his employ
ers, and shoots at whatever target
they direct, just as a good lawyer
resorts to all sorts of legal techni
calities as well as sound argument
to attack his client's opponents.
C Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
BEAUTY ON OCEAN'S BED
A Coral Garden in the South Pacific.
Sea Gardens of the Tropics Are
Replete With Lovely Growths
Prepared by National Qeonraphlc Bocletjr,
Wauhlnittnn, D. C.—WNU Bervlce.
AS ONE sails over the
coral reefs in the Trop
Ji 1l ics in a glass-bottomed
boat and gazes down
at the deep sea gardens, the
coral castles of the reef-build
ers are seen to be adorned
and surrounded by thickets
of waving sea growths that to
the uninitated appear to be a
plant vegetation of varied hue
and graceful form. These
are the gorgonians and, far
from being plants, are in real
ity animal structures. Like
the corals, they are colonies
of polyps, but instead of build
ing limestone habitations
they have specialized in horn,
or chitin, as a building ma
terial.
Descending to the ocean bottom
to examine the gorgonians, you see
that the fernlike plumes, the flat,
lacy fronds of the sea fans, and the
club-shaped branches of the sea
bushes are alive with close-set
ranks of tiny expanded polyps, tint
ed green, yellow, pink, or white.
Myriads of starlike forms extend
radiating arms around open mouths,
hungrily sweeping in their invisible
prey. The delicate, transparent
columns, which are their bodies,
rise from pitlike openings perforat
ing the branches of their common
dwelling places. There is no ob
vious sign of activity.
Yet beneath the outer crust their
bodies unite in a network which per
meates the entire structure, and the
microscopic cells of their tissues are
ceaselessly engaged in laying down
and cementing the central core of
flexible and tough horn which sup
ports tne entire community.
Beautiful Patterns and Colors.
Surrounding this inner skeleton,
the polyps have set in a mosaic of
interlocking needles of lime of most
delicate workmanship and minute
size, the whole forming an invest
ment of rich color.
Yonder rises the reddish-purple,
double-edged gorgonian. its two- or
three-sided branches bordered with
long lines of white polyps standing
in single file like soldiers. If you
remove a small colony of this spe
cies from its anchorage among the
coral heads and carry it with you up
the ladder to the boat, you can place
a portion of one branch in a dish of
sea water under a microscope. In
a short time the polyps expand and
through the magnifying power of
your lenses you can see what they
are really like.
At the tip of the branch several
polyps are fully open. Each trans
lucent silvery creature erects itself
full length and spreads a circlet of
eight tentacles, edged with tiny
toothlike projections. This number
of tentacles, with their ornamenta
tion, is characteristic of gorgonian
polyps, as distinguished from their
cousins, the corals. The central,
circular mouth leads down to the
hollow interior of the creature,
The gorgonians of the West In
dian waters are closely related to
the famous precious coral, which oc
curs in the Mediterranean and the
Sea of Japan, but is entirely lack
ing in American coral reefs. This
species, so important in the jewelry
trade, grows in small branching
clusters on the sea bottom. In life
the coral structure is covered with
a brittle outer crust of soft reddish
color, from which the delicate white
polyps protrude. They are quite
similar to other gorgonian polyps.
If the crust is removed, together
with two other concentric whitish
layers, the hard inner core is un
covered. This is the part that
becomes the "precious coral of com
merce. It varies in color from a
brilliant scarlet, in some specimens,
to a delicate rosy pink, or even
white, in others. It is capable of
taking a high polish and, as every
one knows, ffiay be carved into
beads or other ornaments.
The relative value of the differ
ent shades depends upon the fashion
of the time. A number of years
ago the deep sqarlet was in favor,
to be supplanted later by the rose
colored coral in popular esteem.
While reef-forming corals and
gorgonians are confined to tropical
waters and to comparatively shal
low seas, not exceeding 20 to 25
fathoms in depth, other species,
which are solitary in habit, or that
form small colonies, grow in deep
seas, and in a few instances in
more northern shallow waters.
The beautiful astrangia is found
along the New England coast, en
crusting rocks where the tide flows
freely, in patches about the size of
one’s hand. Its delicate rosy tints
remind one of the terrestrial arbu
tus. Again, those first cousins of
the corals, the sea anemones, adorn
tide pools and wharf piles with their
colorful beauty along the entire
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, while in
the Tropics their brilliant hues add
to the glories of the coral reefs
themselves.
These lowly creatures, together
with other lime-forming organisms
associated with them, have filled a
most important place in determin
ing the geographical and geological
features of the globe. Their mas
sive reefs penetrate the surface of
the tropic seas and must be re
corded carefully on hydrographic
charts for the safety of navigators.
Vast Effects of Tiny Creatures.
Their islands dot the southern
oceans, many of them the abode of
men. Their huge submarine depos
its, elevated by geologic changes of
past ages, have been important fac
tors in determining the outline and
surface features of continents and
have entered into the structure of
mountain ranges. They have fur
nished building stones for houses
and marble for statuary.
Their disintegrated substance has
fertilized fields and grown crops, fi
nally washing down to the seas, to
be worked over again the I
obiquitous polyps for future ages.
Many diverse species of coral
composing a reef form structures,
ever growing higher and higher,
crowding and becoming entangled
with each other in thickets of gro
tesque and weird beauty. The soft
colors of their outer surface run
through varied hues of rose, pink,
orange, tan, yellow, green, blue and
purple—all the colors of the spec
trum. These colors are partly due
to pigments in the living tissues,
which invest the surface of the coral
limestone skeleton, and partly to
another very interesting phenome
non.
Microscopic marine plants, or al
gae, live in the inner tissues of the
translucent polyp wall. Each indi
vidual is a disk-shaped single cell,
amber yellow in color. They mul
tiply by millions, often completely
filling the cells of the endodcrmal
layer.
Since they are plants they use the
carbon dioxide excreted by the
polyp in which they live, and in the
presence of sunlight transform it in
to food for themselves, giving forth
oxygen in the process. The latter
gas, so essential for animal exist
ence, is utilized in turn by the polyp
in its vital processes. Hence there
is maintained a partnership between |
the plant and the animal of equal
importance to both.
Gets Strong Colors From Algae.
If the coral colony happens to be
located in strong sunlight, the algae
multiply with ereat rapidity, giving
the polyp’s tissues a deep golden
hue. This fact accounts for the rich
tans and saffrons of the great elk
horn corals that form the extensive
treelike growths in the Andros is
land reef.
If the coral is growing in a sub
marine nook where the sunlight is
weak, the algae are relatively few
and the coral tissues are seen in
their original pigmented color. For
example, the brain coral is natural
ly green, due to the color of its
pigment, and that is the way it ap
pears in deeper waters and shaded
localities; but in moderately illu
minated areas the microscopic plant
partners are more numerous along
the summits of the sinuous ridges of j
the coral, producing a yellow color j
in contrast with the green in the
winding valleys between them. Fi
nally, brain corals located in the
brilliant sunshine of the shallows
on the top of the reef are so com
pletely impregnated with algae as
to appear a deep chocolate brown, i
-
Rivals for Nudism.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—
I took part in a parade
celebrating old days in Cali
fornia, riding in an ancient
open carriage with our post
master here—he calls Jim
Farley “Jim”—and our con
gressman, who like practical
ly all Democrats in good
standing in the southern part
of the state, craves to be the
next nominee for governor.
If any more aspirants bob up,
there won’t be anybody left to vote
ior them. This cer
tainly has been a
banner year for or
anges and candi
dates.
Our outfit got a lot
of cheers from the
crowds and a per
fect ovation when
passing a given
point where the
Elks also were giv
ing away beer. All
three of us felt pret
ty proud of our
Irvin S. Cobb
selves until we realized that prob
ably the applause wasn’t meant for
us. There must have been thou
sands in that crowd who’d never be
fore seen a horse-drawn pleasure
vehicle.
If Lady Godiva, dressed only in
her long hair, rode on a white horse
through any modern city street,
there’d probably be ten who’d hur
rah for the horse against one who
looked a second time at the lady.
Sight of a white horse would be a
treat to one and all, whereas in
these days of nudism and public un
dressing on the beaches—but that
will be about all for that.
* • •
International Messes.
WITH the great powers tottering
on the brink of hostilities to a
more tottery extent than usual; with
the Spaniards still willing to fight to
the last Italian from Brother Musso
lini’s loan collection; with China
battered to a bloody hash-meat
in what would closely resemble a
war if only Japan had so declared
it, which must indeed be gratifying
to the ghosts of the thousands al
ready slain and the homeless ref
ugees from ruined cities—this
seems a mighty good time for us to
keep our shirt on.
Kindly recall that other historic
occasion when Uncle Sam felt called
upon to hop into a mess cooked up
by foreign nations and, as a result,
not only lost his shirt, but has never
since been able to collect the laun
dry bills for washing the said shirt.
This, if you get the drift, is a subtle
reference to those defaulted Euro
pean debts.
Let us, therefore, highly resolve
that, no matter how great the pres
sure from within or without—mainly
it’ll be, as was the case before from
without—we'll keep the old shirt on.
• • •
Classifying Bores.
I’VE been classifying bores. Class
B bores are those still using the
lapel clutch or buttonhole grapple,
whereas a class A bore is one whose
boast is that he never lays a finger
on you—just holds the victim by
psychic power.
Lately I've met what I should call
a super A type, the same being a
gentleman who, in addition to hav
ing perfect technique otherwise, had
been imbibing garlic to excess—and j
didn’t care who knew it. When fi- |
nally rescued, they had to use a
pulmotor on me.
Meeting this champion leminded
me of what I heard the late Wilson
Minzer say to a gentleman who in
sisted on boring Wilson while suf
fused with the afterglow brought on
by combining bourbon whisky and
Bermuda onions in his diet. His
hiccoughs were not only frequent
but had echoes to them.
Finally, when Wilson was practi
cally ready for artificial respiration
to be applied, he said:
“Dear sir, your breath would start
the windmills turning in an old j
Dutch painting.”
• • •
Typical Texans.
I USED to think a typical Texan
was one who said he was going
to send you a ten-gallon hat and
then didn’t do it. But he is a sub
species.
A really orthodox Texan tells you
he's giving you a pair of genuine ;
Texas steer horns. They’ll be along 1
as soon as he can have them
shipped. But he never ships ’em— ;
that’s what makes him typical.
So many typical Texans have vol
unteered to send me sets of long
horns that, if all these parties were .
laid end to end, you'd have one of
the finest consecutive strings of born
liars ever seen. But they wouldn’t j
stay that way; they’d rise right up
and start looking for Easterners to
promise long horns to.
Not that I’m craving any long 5
horns. They stretch so far from |
tip to tip they make you think of a
muskellunge fisherman trying to
show you how much that biggest
one measured. If you hang them
low, they prong people in the eye.
If you hang them high, they’re
chiefly useful for cobwebs to drape
on. And no self-respecting wife will
let you hang them anywhere.
IRVIN S. COBB
©—WNU Service.
Fall Fashion Parade f
1257
/ 1380
DE THE first to wear the new
Fall fashions in your group
—let Sew-Your-Own help you to
step right out in front, in the pa
rade of new Fall Fashions. To
day’s trio gives you wide choice.
Your first occasion frock if you
are young and slim is a good
looking basque model; for run
around a pretty yoke model that is
as easy to make as it is to wear;
and if you are full bosomed a jabot
model that takes away inches.
The Popular Basque Dress.
If you are twenty or thereabouts,
you’ll adore this pretty basque
dress with its flaring skirt. The
slim wasp waist and short puffed
sleeves above a swing skirt are as
young as the morning. Have it in
a pretty dark print banded in vel
vet ribbon for every afternoon
festivity. It’s a dress that you’ll
wear all through the winter.
Yoke-Style House Frock.
Every woman will be quick to
see the advantages of this frock,
in style and wearability. The round
yoke buttons at front and gives a
fresh, young look to this design.
Best of all, it is cut in one piece
from neck to hem so that you can
make it in practically no time at
all. The waistline is darted for
snug fit.
Look Slim and Sleek.
The newest fashiqns give you a
slim, sleek look even if you are
not blessed with a svelte figure.
The jabot model in the illustra
tion is designed to make even the
woman who is a bit on the plump
side look sleek and inches slim
mer. Make this dress in one of
the new thin wools and see how
you’ll stand out in your crowd as
a fashion leader.
The Patterns.
Pattern 1257 is designed for
sizes 12 to 40. Size 14 requires
4% yards of 39 inch material and
11 yards of ribbon to trim.
Pattern 1380 is designed for
sizes 34 to 48. Size 36 requires 4Vi
yards of 39 inch material.
Pattern 1373 is designed for
sizes 34 to 50. Size 36 requires
3% yards of 54 inch material and
% yards of 39 inch material for
jabot in contrast.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020,
211 W. Wacker Drive, Chicago, 111.
Price of patterns, 15 cents (in
coins) each.
Send 15 cents for the Barbara
Bell Fall and Winter Pattern Book.
Make yourself attractive, practical
and becoming clothes, selecting
designs from Barbara Bell well
planned, easy-to-make patterns.
Take it to anyJ
radio dealer! SeeVJ
the new 1938 farm
radios. Choose
the radio you like
best, and ask your
dealer how you
can save $7.50 on
the purchase of a
new battery radio
equipped with a
genuine Win
charger.
Wincharger
turns FREE
WIND POWER
into electricity,
brings "big-city”
reception to farm
homes. Elimi
G-VOLT
P|
nates B battenes. Ends expensive re
charging. Provides plenty of free electricity
to run your radio as much as you want for
less than 50c a year power operating cost.
See Any Radio Dealer!
Act Above Doubts
Never do an act of which you
doubt the justice or propriety.
~uniA a ^
r.oleman ^
LANTERN £
Light up your Cole
man and go! The D
blackest night hasn't a
chance against this lan
tern! It “knocks out"
darkness with its flood of
powerful brilliance. Just
the light for every after-dark
1..L _I r_ _
night hunting, fishing and camping.
The Coleman lights instantly. Pyrex globe
protects mantles. Wind, rain or snow can't
Sut it out. Strongly built for years of service.
asy to operate. Gasoline ana kerosene mod
els to fit every need and purse. See them at
your dealer’s.
FREE FOLDERS "Send postcard today.
THE COLEMAN LAMP AND STOVE CO.
Dept. WU188, Wichita, Kans.; Chicago. IIU
Philadelphia, Pa.; Los Angeles, Calif. (7188>
mjn^jg2j^^^2SLMisMMU^JdLiJJW
LIFE’S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher
I ■ ■—.... ... I ■■■■'■■ I. — — ■ —*
I
iC«P>il*M 1»*7- b* rr91i Nv"«r'
“Watch out.I think it’s a trick play!?!”