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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1937)
SEEN _and HEARD around the NATIONAL CAPITAL py Carter Field ^ Washington.—Water-power devel opment by the government and the blessings of cheap electric current were the theme song of President Roosevelt’s speeches on his western trip, and by a curious coincidence it is questions affecting federal powers in this direction which are more im portant, from the White House standpoint, in the term of the Su preme court just opened, than ev erything else put together. As a matter of fact, the high court has ruled on most of the questions af fecting New Deal legislation. So that perhaps Mr. Roosevelt was not ignoring the high court en largement issue as much as some commentators seemed to suspect on that western trip. He made a flank attack, and it is generally conced ed by Washington lawyers that he improved his position considerably. He has now put the court in a position something like this: either the court must go all the way in approving federal power policies, or it will strengthen the President’s contention that the court needs re juvenation. Every correspondent writing from the President's train stressed the apparent fact that the folks out West didn’t give a whoop about the Su preme court issue, but that they were mighty strong for federal spending in their own necks of the woods. And they agreed very gen erally also that more water resource developments ware wanted. The President did not mention the court fight, nor the senators who beat him on it, but it just so hap pens that many of the water re source developments are in the states of senators who fought him on the court issue, Montana, Ore gon, Wyoming and Idaho particu larly. Expect Court Backing Putting all the pieces together, ex perts here are predicting that the high court will sustain the govern ment in every phase of its elec tric power program. For instance, on the right of the federal govern ment to subsidize local governments which desire to go into competition with, or supersede, privately owned electric systems, either by outright grants of money or by loaning the money at very low rates of interest. For instance, on the right of the gov ernment to engage in the electric business. In the famous TV A case the language used by the court held that it was all right for the govern ment to sell power "incidentally produced.” That is, of course, pow er produced by a project the main reason for which was not the pro duction of current, but for some clearly constitutional reason, such as navigation. It is true that in all the TV A dams—there is another TV A case coming up before the high court be fore long—there is the possible con tention that electric power was not the only reason for construction. But sometimes this is a hairline de cision, and the government has been uneasy about the attitude the court might take. This suspicion among experts here that the court may take an ex pedient course is based very large ly on the general acceptance of the belief that at least two of the Su preme court justices “switched” in the Wagner labor act decision. The very generally held view in Wash ington is that at least two justices— enough had they stood by their original position to have overturned the act—changed. The alleged rea son for the supposed change is that the justices feared that if they did not they would contribute impor tantly to President Roosevelt's case against the court then pending in the senate. High Hopes Always optimistic, the chaps who have been predicting erroneously ever since 1933 that President Roosevelt would "turn to the right in the near future" are at it again. This time they base their hopes on his promises in western speeches that he would balance the budget in 1939. and would do it by checking spending. The implication of course is that tax raises would not be nec essary. The process of reasoning which arrives at the result that the Presi dent will turn to the right is a little intricate, but rather interest ing. First, the optimistic conserva tives point out that the President cannot reduce spending appreci ably. They point out that in those very speeches in which he promised to balance the budget he made lavish promises about bigger and grander projects—“more dams on the Co lumbia river,” etc. Whereas his talk of economy was in most gen eral terms. Further, they point out that there is all sorts of pressure for increased spending. On top of this they point to the well-known position of Secretary of • the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and his aides. They are frank ly worried about the tax situation. For instance, they are sure that the income tax returns to be made on March 15 next will fall far short of those made last March. There are several explanations. One is that the calendar year of 1936, for which last March returns were made, was one of rapidly advancing security prices. Hence every one who sold, nearly, had a profit. The Treasury does not give out figures showing the amount of income taxes result ing from security profits, but the Treasury officials know them, and they are perturbed at the prospect of the decline in revenue unless there is a totally unexpected boom in the market between now and De cember. Need Higher Taxes Hence the Treasury is figuring on the necessity for much higher taxes to keep it from going further into red ink. Also it knows that the real revenue producers are few. Sales taxes and lowered income exemp tions are politically verboten, leav ing only boosts in the higher brack ets and in levies on corporations as likely. Business knows this too, and that is a contributing reason, in the opinion of the Treasury experts, for the present timidity of in vestors. So, the optimists figure, the Presi dent cannot stop spending, and he cannot head off higher taxation, which would seem to leave them lit tle to be encouraged about. Except—that they then proceed to look into the reason that made the President promise to do something they do not think he can do. This reason, they figure, is concern about the business situation, concern about this same timidity of inves tors; the unwillingness of present business to expand, and new busi ness to start. Conceding that the President does want to reassure business, and that he will find it impossible to carry out the reassuring promise, the al ternative, they deduce, will be some assurance of another breath ing spell—a period during which no further government regulation of business will be imposed. This, some think, would be just as satis factory to business as a tax reduc tion. But it takes a mighty optimistic mind to go all the way through on this solution and get that answer! Anti-Trust Suit The biggest anti-trust suit in his tory, involving corporations whose capital runs to more than six bil lion dollars, and threatening with jail sentences 58 key officials, most of whom are millionaires, with a sprinkling of multimillionaires, makes Madison, Wis., the oil cap ital of the country. Apparently not one of the 58 of ficials is trusting his own company lawyers to get him out. That threatened jail sentence is too men acing. the progressive sentiment of La Follette-educated Wisconsin is too disturbing as one contemplates jury material. So each of the 58 is dragging along his own lawyers, or group of lawyers. If there is a firm of lawyers in the United States which has ever had any anti-trust suit experience and is not employed on this case, it’s not the fault of the oil millionaires. They have been hiring everybody in sight who had the slightest chance of knowing his way around in a trust suit, or with any particular knowledge of the government law yers who might be used. Accommodations in the town of Madison have long since been snapped up. Most of the bigwigs, both execu tives and lawyers, have organized in little groups and leased private homes, turning them into clubs for the duration of the war. Some are wondering plaintively if they will get home by Christmas. Which is very funny to old-timers in trust suit matters, as they recall the du ration of some of the more historic anti-trust suits. Charge Conspiracy The government alleges in the suit that the big oil companies have been violating the anti trust laws by conspiring on prices. The prac tice, according to government offi cials, really flowered under the NRA, when anti-trust laws were vir tually suspended in return for agree ments by the employers to certain wage and hour conditions, as well as promises with respect to the num ber of people they would employ. But on the day that the Supreme court knocked out the NRA, all the oil companies and their officials were in technical violation of the anti-trust laws. The government probably would not have prosecut ed, officials say privately, if the oil men had thereupon stopped co operating in price fixing. But they kept right on, the government law yers say. Another wrinkle is the provision in the anti-trust laws that an ag grieved party can sue violators of the law for triple damages. Thus if some one can prove that he lost one million dollars as a result of this price fixing conspiracy by the com panies alleged to be violating the anti-trust laws, he can recover, ac cording to the law, three million dollars. This is such a serious angle in the situation that there has actually been talk of pleading guilty and taking light punishment stipulated with the government in advance. The object would be to prevent placing in evidence testimony which would give outsiders all the mate rial needed for these triple damage suits. © Bet) Syndicate. - WNU Service. ON THE 1 WHANGPOO Native Cargo Boats on the Whangpoo River. River That Makes Shanghai China's Most Important Seaport Prepared by National Geographic Society. WRMhitiRton. D. C.*—WNU Service. OF1 ALL the rivers streak ing the map of China, only two, the Whangpoo and the Yangtze, have played important roles in the Sino Japanese incident. The Whangpoo, the river on whose banks Shanghai rises, played a , double role in the tragedy of the embattled city. For Chinese and Japanese, the river and its adja cent mud flats were a heavily bom barded battlefield. For the occi dentals marooned in Shanghai, the sluggish muddy stream was the nearest exit. The Whangpoo river is usually the most anonymous stream in China. Whenever Shanghai is spoken of as a seaport, the Whangpoo is being slighted, for this relatively little known river actually makes possi ble the commercial importance of China’s largest city. The Whangpoo can truly be called the author of Shanghai’s success story: from fishing village to world port in less than a century. Only native junks of Chinese fishermen sailed the Whangpoo and tied up at the walled village of Shanghai in 1842, when foreign trade was first permitted by treaty to enter, since then, the muddy creek has borne sail and steam ships from all the seven seas, until the traffic has con structed a modern metropolis on the Whangpoo's mud flats. Shanghai is two steps removed from the ocean. Vessels must trav el into the broad yellow mouth of the Yangtze and turn to the left into its tributary, the Whangpoo, for 13 miles before reaching "seaport” Shanghai. Constantly hanging over the river Is the threat of silting up. Two million cubic yards of mud a year must be dredged to keep the chan nel open to a low-tide depth of 28 feet. A treacherous mud-bar lurks where the river empties into the Yangtze, and here some sea-going vessels transfer their cargo to light ers rather than cross the bar. Fifty years ago Shanghai was pit ied as a doomed city, about to be cut off from foreign trade entirely by the menacing silt. Warships and ocean liners, however, still ride at anchor in Shanghai’s harbor, keeping China’s leading city among the world’s ten busiest ports. For eign shipping, without reckoning matting-winged sampans and heavy junks that swarm about the harbor, amounts annually to over 30 mil lion tons. Makes the City’s Waterfront. Beside the Whangpoo runs the world-famous Bund, crowded thor oughfare replete with foreign and local color. Clubs, banks, business houses, and consulates focus inter national interest along the water front. With approximately 60,000 foreigners of 50 different national ities in Shanghai on business ^nd pleasure, the Whangpoo bears a great responsibility as commercial entrance and safety exit. Paralleling the river on the route from the Yangtze to the metropolis is the first railroad built in China. But it has not yet even challenged the supremacy of water transporta tion in linking the port with the sea. Clipper ships moored in the Whangpoo. and restless to recruit a full crew by hook or crook and sail for home, brought a picturesque idiom into the English language: “to Shanghai." The Yangtze, while neither the longest nor largest river in the world, is a Chinese combination of Mississippi, Colorado and Potomac. Like the Mississippi, it is the larg est stream in the country; like the Colorado, it flows through the deep est gorges; and like the Potomac, it has the capital, Nanking, a city of historic associations. Compared with the other great rivers of the world the 3.000-mile length of the Yangtze is exceeded by the Mississippi-Missouri. the Amazon and the Nile. In volume it ranks third, after the Amazon and Congo, but in one respect it leads all others: with its tributary rivers, i lakes and canals it constitutes the inland water system most used by ! man as a carrier of commerce. Vast Basin of the Yangtze. The Yangtze drains in all some 770,000 square miles, an area equal to one quarter that of the Uqited States. In its basin live 175,000,000 people, one-tenth of the population of the entire world. A broad, deep natural waterway for ships serves a teeming, civilized population, living on fertile, cultivated soil in a tem perate climate. These people pro duce and exchange goods with the outside world. Little wonder that the Yangtze is considered of strate gic as well as economic im portance! The Yangtze is more to China than any river could be to the United States. In a land of few railroads and almost no improved highways the Yangtze provides the only reliable route to the rich in terior of China. The Hwang, or Yellow river, China’s second largest stream, is too temperamental to be of high economic value. Its sudden floods and shifting channels have earned for it the nickname “China’s Sorrow,” whereas the Yangtze is “China’s Joy.” Yangtze floods, un like that of last summer, are gen erally not destructive, and they cov er the bottom lands with new, rich earth which more than compensates for flood damage. Furthermore, on the broad bosom of the Yangtze, whose name means “Son of the Ocean," ocean steam ers may ascend 640 miles to Han kow, second largest city of China. Here, in the midst of the central plains, is the distributing center, the New Orleans of the Yangtze basin. Smaller steamers can push on to Chungking; junks to Suifu; and row boats to Batang, in eastern Ypnnan province—a total distance of 1,500 miles from the Yellow sea. Some see in the Yangtze, which follows a general west to east di rection, the logical boundary be tween the north and south of China. Geographically, however, China is divided into three main sections, with the great Yangtze valley form ing a middle state. The Yangtze basin is an entity, the people, flora and fauna being distinct from those to the north and to the south of it. The Yangtze has several names among the Chinese, only the last few hundred miles being known as “Yangtze Kiang,” kiang being one of the (^hinese words for river. Some Chinese call the stream Ta Kiang, or Great River. Rising in the mountains of Tibet, near the birthplaces of three other mighty Asiatic rivers—the Yellow, the Mekong, and the Salwln—the Yangtze carves a way through tall mountain ranges, forming some of the deepest river canyons in the world. In one place the Yangtze gorge is 13,000 feet deep. Through the middle plains the Yangtze drains some of the richest and oldest farming lands in the world. Here are many shallow lakes, which absorb the spring thaws and act as feeding reservoirs in the dry season, and fields of tea, rice and wheat. Mineral deposits and ironworks around Hankow, which is really three cities in one, suggest a comparison between this section of the Yangtze and Penn sylvania’s Monongahela. Delta Densely Populated. In the lower Yangtze delta .the countrysides are only a few feet above sea level. The Delta has mil lions of inhabitants to whom land is so valuable that not a single square foot can be wasted. Numerous ca nals, natural and man-made, make this region a Holland of the East. The canals serve as safety valves in time of flood, and also carry nearly all the traffic of this part of China. Thousands of Chinese, loath to waste even a foot of precious land on a dwelling, are born, live and die on houseboats, going ashore only to till their little farms or to market their produce. Each year the mighty Yangtze empties into the Yellow sea some 6.428.000,000 cubic feet of earth in the form of silt—slightly more than the amount excavated to build the Panama canal! If straightened out on the map of the United States the Yangtze would measure from San Francisco to Cape Cod. Throughout its lower, navigable stretches an unending pageant of steamers, barges, junks and sam pans constantly passes. Rafts of logs, with miniature villages on top, drift down with the current. Often these floating homes are partly cov ered with earth, on which vegetables grow, and pigs and chickens wan der at will. Women hang out wash ing and children play just as if they were on solid land. Shanghai once was directly on the Yangtze but the channel shifted and the city now lies twelve miles from the mouth of the great stream, on ; the tidal Whangpoo. 1 ;1 I I 1 i__ The Place of Radio. ANTA MONICA, CALIF.— “Deke” Aylesworth says radio can never displace newspapers. “Deke” is with Roy Howard’s newspapers now and naturally wouldn’t care to have his job shot out from under him by a loud speaker. Most of us feel that way about our jobs, unless we happen to be working in some state institution, such as a penitentiary. Radio never can displace news papers any more than milk-tickets I can displace milk. : The newspaper reader chooses what ! he pleases from the day’s coverage— gratifying obituary notices of people he didn’t like; convinc ing statements from financial wizards ex j plaining why his in vestments turned sour after he'd bought them on ad vice of aforesaid Irvin S. Cobb wizards; and, about once in so oft ten, exciting special articles about the Hope diamond or the William Desmond Taylor case or the lure of Mr. Robert Taylor. But, the lis I tener-in on radio must accept what 1 somebody else already has predi j gested, which puts him in the same class with tapeworms. So long as you can’t wrap up a picnic lunch in a radio or use short wave sets to line pantry shelves [ with, we’ll have newspapers. Thanks, "Deke,” I’m working for a string of newspapers myself. * * * The League’s New Head. I TAKE back all I ever said about the League of Nations being as futile as a fly swatter in a saloon brawl. The league has a new president— the Aga Khan, who has the largest private income on earth because 40,000,000 Mohammedans regard him as divine and pay for the priv ilege, often going hungry in order to do so. And he certainly is quali fied to head a society dedicated to peace—he never parted from any of his wives except with the utmost harmony. Well, to celebrate his election, the Aga Khan gave the most gorgeous banquet ever staged in Geneva— 1,500 bottles of champagne and 300 pounds of caviar. Thus did the league justify its right to existence. There were but few flies in the ointment. Ethiopia's delegates were either deceased or missing, the league having drawn the color line, so to speak, which was more than Mussolini did when he wiped out their country last year. Spain’s delegates likewise were ab sent, being mostly dead or else fighting one another. Sick Calls I)e Luxe. PAT O'BRIEN, the actor, tells this one about an Irish cop at the ' crossing who waved a car contain ing three priests to proceed after j the stop signal had gone up and j then, with harsh words, checked an ! other driver who sought to follow | along, too. j “But you let that other car with I those three clergymen in it go through,” protested the halted one. “They was on their way to a sick call,” stated the officer. “Now wait a minute,” said the citizen. “I happen to be a Catholic myself and I know about those things. Who ever heard of three priests going on one sick call?” For a moment only the policeman | hesitated. Then he snapped: “Say, young feller, tell me this, , you that knows so much—did you | never hear of a solemn high sick j call?” French Slickers. POLICE are still trying to round up the slickers who, in one day, raided twenty-nine banks scattered all over France?" This reminds a fellow of 1931, when the bank ex aminers were coroners simultane J ously sitting on the mortal remains of an even larger number of Amer ican banks, the main difference be ing that these French banks were looted by outside parties.” According to dispatches, this job was accomplished through fraudu lent credentials for strangers pre senting forged drafts. But I beg leave to doubt that part, remem bering when I turned up at various outlying points over there with prop er identifications and a perfectly good letter of credit. What excite ment then on the part of the cashier (spade beard) and what deep dis tress for the president (trellis whiskers) and what stifled moans from the board of directors (assort ed beavers) when, finally, they had to fork over. Why you can wreck a perfectly good bank here in less time than it takes to get a certified check for $9.75. less exchange, cashed in a French provincial bank. But should it develop that any of these recently stolen francs were | earmarked for payment to us on ac count of that war debt—brethren, that would indeed be news. IRVIN S. COBB. ©—WNU Service. Wool Is Going Places LADY, lady, lady have you any thing in wool? Smart women everywhere are clamoring for wool. They’re wearing it to work in, to play in, to date in, to go to church in. Yes, wool is going places 1 Sew-Your-Own is here to day (and will be here tomorrow) with three ultra - smooth new models for you to choose from— just to make sure you won’t be a poor little lady without “something in wool” for Fall. Needs Slim Lines. That “something in wool” might well and easily be the handsome model at the left above. Espe cially does a weightier fabric need slim lines and here you have them pared down to hairline precision. The zipper from throat to hemline gives this frock additional chic, and the far-reaching collar takes care of that all-important need for contrast. French wine, black, duck green, and gendarme blue are the popular colors. Compliment to Youth. Youth and the blouse ’n’ skirt have always gone sporting to gether. That’s a compliment to youth and real flattery for the two piecer above, center. This engag ing combination has a waist-coat ish topper and a simply cut, flar ing skirt. A singular asset is its size range: 14 to 42. And because it is figure flattering every size is benefited. Acetate crepe is lovely for the blouse; velvet or thin wool is smart for the skirt. For a Busy Body. If you’re a busy body or a lady of legion labors, you’ll thank Sew Your-Own for the charming new frock at the right. Now is the time to cut two versions: one in ging ham for housework, another as | your “something in wool” in the long sleeve style for all occasions. The Patterns. Pattern 1375 is designed for sizes 12 to 20 (30 to 40 bust). Size 14 re quires 2lh yards of 54-inch mate terial. With short sleeves, 31/* yards of 39-inch material. Collar I and cuffs in contrast take five ! eighths of a yard. Pattern 1302 is designed for sizes 14 to 20 (32 to 42 bust). Size 16 re j quires 4% yards of 39-inch mate ! rial. Pattern 1382 is designed for sizes W ise and Otherwise *<>♦ “I\o, I'm sorry I can’t marry you,” said the lovely miss to the ardent swain, "but I’ll always admire your good taste." I Sunny smiles are sometimes worn by shady people. Should sportsmen show emotion? Well, after a day’s fishing the angler often has a catch in his voice. If half the world doesn’t know how the other half lives, it is because they have never traded cooks. 1 he words of a wireless announcer are said to travel through the ether < the rate of 155,1164 miles a second. Apparently uhal he says goes. 34 to 48. Size 36 requires 2V2 yards of 54-inch material with long sleeves; 3% yards of 39-inch ma terial with short sleeves. 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 the Barbara Bell well-planned, easy-to-make pat terns. © Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service. •> Take it to any-J 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- ' \ 6-VOLT \\ I FREE 4 POWER From tha I WIND III RUNS II YOUR RADIO nates "B” batteries. 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 Dealerl Fruit of Suffering Out of suffering comes the se rious mind; out of the salvation, the grateful heart; out of the de liverance, the faith.—Ruskin. For more light, better light and longer service,always demand gen uine Coleman Mantles for your air pressure lamps and lanterns* They arej correct in size and shape, and their special weave gives them extra strength* Coleman Mantles are made from high quality materials, specially treated with light-producing chemicals to give maxi* mum light. Cost less to use because they last longer. ASK VOUR DEALER for genuine Cole man mantles. If he cannot supplyyou, write for name of dealer who can. FREE Folder—send postcard. THE COLEMAN LAMP AND STOVE CO. Dept WU 190, Wichita. Kans.; Chicago. II.; Philadelphia. Pa.; Los Angeles. Calit. (7190> BYERS BROS & CO. A Real Live Stock Com. Firm At the Omaha Market w “FIVE Minus TWO /.Pom FOUR” WRONG? Well, yes—and no. The arithmetic of your school days taught that If Mary had five dollars and spent two . , " three dollars remained. But that is mathematics—not shopping! In managing a home ... guarding a limited family income ... we've simply got to do better than Mary did. We must sharpen our buying wits ... ascertain where the dollars of extra value lurk ... take five dollars to town and get much more for the money spent. Fortunately, there are ever-willing guides right at hand—the advertise ments in this newspaper. Advertised merchandise is often exceptional value merchandise. It makes dollars S-T-R-E-T-CH.