New Method
Used to Map
Ocean Floor
Record Soundings Made
In Atlantic Near
Puerto Rico.
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington, D. C.-WNU Service.
The recent discovery of «
new and greater depth in the
Atlantic ocean, establishing
a new record of nearly five
and a half miles (28,680 feet),
north of Puerto Rico and His
paniola, has called attention
to efforts now being made to
make complete contour maps
of portions of the bottom of
the ocean. The new depres
sion has been named the Mil
waukee Deep, from the Unit
ed States cruiser from which
the record sounding was
made.
"The oceans have been
carefully charted near cer
tain land masses for naviga
tion purposes for centuries, but it
has been only in the past 85 years
that soundings have been made ex
tensively in efforts to chart the floor
of the oceans themselves. Cable
laying advanced the plan, but until
No. 2. ACROSS AND UNDER
THE SEA. All nations strive to
develop the best possible diving
aids. Pictured above is an Ital
ian diver testing a new type of
diving suit to be used for rescue
and salvage work. This particu
lar piece of equipment inns de
veloped by an Italian engineer
and official tests disclosed many
valuable features.
recently recordings of depths of
more than 6.000 feet numbered but
one to every 23,000 square miles.
Ocean Echoes Depth.
More progress has been made in
recent years through new measur
ing methods. For years measure
ments had been made by the slow
procedure of dropping a plummet
suspended by a piano wire. To
make even one sounding in 12,000
feet of water, required stopping the
ship for an hour. Today, delicate
instruments measure the time it
takes the echo of a sound at the
sea’s surface to return from the
bottom, thus measuring the distance
by the speed of sound. This can
now be done while a ship is moving
rapidly and many commercial ves
sels, equipped with the sonic meas
uring devices are speeding the
work.
Sound travels almost five times
as fast in water as in the air, so
that the speed under water is close
to a mile a second, thus indicating
the delicate accuracy with which
the time of the returning echo must
be recorded. The problem is com
plicated by the fact that the speed
of sound in water varies with the
No. 4. WHEN THERE IS
LIFE TO BE SAVED. In the
recent Squalus submarine disas
ter a divinfi bell similar to the
one shotvn here was used. By
means of this kind of equip
ment the navy was able to res
cue 33 men from a depth of 240
feet. This was the first actual
life-and-death test of this par
ticular diving bell and it was
found to be very satisfactory in
such manner of rescue work.
No. 1. A NEW SAGA OF
THE SEA. Since the first time
men have ventured toivard the
ocean's floor they have been
using equipment similar to the
standard diving suit pictured
here. Although numerous safety
devices have been advanced
since these beginnings this type
is still almost universally used.
amount of salt in the water, its tem
perature and varying pressure.
Great Changes Seen.
The comparative shallowness of
the sea in many places has been
vividly suggested in the great
changes that would be made in the
boundaries of countries and conti
nents were the surface of the ocean
to sink only 600 feet, a little more
than the height of the Washington
monument. Ireland would then be
joined to England, except for the
North channel. England in turn
would become part of the main
land of Europe, the water of the
English channel having run out. A
strip 1,500 miles wide would con
nect North America with Asia. New
Guinea would become part of Aus
tralia.
The broadest ocean surfaces are
in the Southern hemisphere, but
north of the Equator occur the
greatest submarine upheavals, de
forming the bottoms of the Carib
bean sea, and the Atlantic and Pa
cific oceans, in a broad expanse
from the latitude of the Panama
canal to that of Philadelphia. In
these regions, especially in the Pa
cific, vast plains and plateaus, tall
peaks and deep canyons form an
other world. In the shallower por
tions ocean currents are the breezes
that sway submarine trees, and fish
are the variegated birds flitting
among the branches, while varied
coral formations look like flower
ing shrubs.
Atlantic Floor Uneven.
Down the middle of the Atlantic,
extending 8,000 miles south from
Iceland, runs a mountainous ridge
almost 10.000 feet above the adjoin
ing basins. Soundings already re
No. 3. FORTUNE LURKS ON
OCEAN FLOOR. Not only do
nations seek to develop diving
equipment to aid in rescue work
but fortune hunters dream of
riches on the ocean floor and
they too advance the science of
diving. The Romano diving bell
shown here is built to enable a
diver to work a mile below the
surface. This is a depth where
the ordinary diver could not
venture because of the terrific
pressure.
corded indicate that three-fourths of
the Atlantic is at least 6,500 feet
deep, and over half is 13,000 feet
deep.
The Pacific has more great depths
than any other ocean, according to
the records of the Hydrographic of
fice of the navy department, which
show eight in excess of 30,000 feet.
The deepest hole in the Pacific is
35,400 feet, just northeast of Min
danao of the Philippine islands.
This is the greatest recorded ocean
depth in the world. The record
in the South Pacific ocean is 30,930
feet; North Atlantic, the new Mil
waukee deep. 28.680 feet; Southern
Atlantic, 26,575 feet; Indian ocean,
22,968 feet. A sounding of 17,850
feet is recorded in the Arctic ocean,
and one of 14,274 feet near the Ant
arctic continent (in the South Pa
cific).
Scientists admit there is still much
work to be done but look forward
to the time when deep soundings
will be sufficient to chart all the
mountains and the valleys on the
ocean floors—the "epeirogeny" as
oceanographers call it. Some vi
sionaries of the Jules Verne type
look forward to the time when great
window-walled submarines with
powerful searchlights will carry
photographers and tourists on ex
tended trips into the depth*
I NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Reviewed by
CARTER FIELD
Amazing angles turn up
in battle Roosevelt is wag
ing over amendment of the
neutrality law . . . Senti
ment seems to be that Sen
ator Norris of Nebraska is
due for a deflating . . .
Monetary bill not likely to
become an issue in the com
ing presidential campaign.
-—
WASHINGTON.—The battle Presi
dent Roosevelt is waging over the
amendment of the neutrality law has
some amazing angles. To begin
with, scarcely any intelligent ob
server, unswayed by politics, really
believes that any law that congress
could possibly pass will insure keep
ing the United States out of war.
And as to neutrality, as Bernard
M. Baruch told the senate foreign
relations committee, “There ain’t no
such animal.”
Any possible law will hurt one side
or the other in any major conflict.
It is openly admitted that the sort
of law the President wants would
probably favor France and Britain
as against Germany and Italy in
the war everybody is afraid of right
now. And curiously enough every
one admits that the continuance of
the present law favors China in the
struggle against Japan, as long as
it continues to be an undeclared
war, but would favor Japan the mo
ment two-year conflict became a de
clared war.
But the present law, for the pres
ervation of which a new battalion
of death has been organized in the
senate, bans shipments to belliger
ents (in a declared war, of course)
of "arms, ammunition and imple
ments of war.” There is no mention
of food, or of steel or cotton which
can be made into explosives. And
there is very little prospect that
any determined fight will be made
to include those. Yet actually they
are of the essence.
%
Food Most Important of
Articles We Might Export
Looking at the situation practical
ly, of all the articles that this coun
try might export to the nations men
tioned as being favored by the Pres
ident’s plan, food is the most impor
tant. The rest of the things follow
so far behind as to be relatively
unimportant. In a big long drawn
out war it is starvation, both of her
army and navy and of her civilian
population, that Britain fears most.
France is pretty nearly self-support
ing, leaving out the possibility of
extended occupation of her territory
such as occurred in the World war.
Everyone knows also that lack of
foodstuffs was one of the elements
which operated potently to bring
Germany to her knees in the World
war. The darkest days of that war,
from the standpoint of the allies,
were those when there was terror
that the German submarine block
ade might starve out England.
It is common knowledge that Eng
land has been stepping up her arms
and munitions and airplane produc
tion to the point where supplies of
these war materials may not be of
pressing importance. The longer
the outbreak of war is delayed, the
less important these particular im
ports will be. The rush buying of
planes and munitions by Britain and
France in the last year from this
country was against the possibility
that war might break out before
their own productive capacity was
adequate.
Of course they will continue to
need the raw materials. But none
of these is barred in the present neu
trality law. So that the situation is
presented that the neutrality bloc in
the senate is staging a heroic battle
to prevent shipment to France and
Britain of things that they probably
will not need when war comes, and
is doing nothing to prevent ship
ments, at that time, of things that
Germany will probably be doing her
utmost to prevent Britain and
France from getting.
Monetary Rill Not Likely to
Re an Issue in Campaign
There is much talk about the mon
etary bill being an issue in the
campaign but, while it is of course
impossible to say that it will not be,
it would seem that the probabilities
are against it. It is far more likely
that, as far as the voters are con
cerned, it will be forgotten.
Had the revolt against President
Roosevelt succeeded, that would
have been something else again.
Had the net result been that the gov
ernment ceased its subsidizing of do
mestically mined silver, that would
have been decidedly a couple of oth
er horses. It might easily have been
the decisive element in determining
who is to be the next President of
the United States.
Then, the silver mine owners and
the silver mine employees would
have had reason to remember, with
resentment, the whole affair. It may
be that the President's remarks at
Hyde Park, attacking the Republi
cans for supporting higher silver
prices, would have redounded to the
benefit of the Republicans.
As it is, the silver mine owners
will get just six cents an ounce,
roughly, more than they were get
ting before, ft is n*>t Important po
litically. Even if it were terribly
important economically, which it is
not, it would have been a settled
fact so long before the heat of the
campaign develops that only a few
persons would have been interested.
It may be that the Republicans
will be able to make some use of
the continued subsidizing of foreign
silver. Few persons inside the Unit
ed States are in favor of that, and
these few only exporters to silver
producing countries, of which, after
Mexico is named, there are few.
Important Factor Is if
Something Else Pops Up
But that issue also may result in
indifference on the part of the vot
ers. The important factor there is
whether anything else happens to
keep public interest in it alive. For
example if, during the presidential
campaign, Mexico is still being held
up to the public, because of news
events then, as treating American
capital badly—if she happens to be
selling the oil from the wells she
confiscated from Americans, for ex
ample, to Germany—this particular
subsidy will hurt the Democrats con
siderably.
This subsidizing of foreign mined
silver is a very difficult thing to de
fend, on the stump There are busi
ness men who favor it, business men
with things to sell to Mexico and
other silver producing countries, but
naturally such individuals are the
rare exception when it comes to cal
culating voting strength. They sim
ply do not count.
So, if it happens to be a dull
campaign, with very little to inter
est the voters, this foreign silver
situation just might happen to be
important, especially as none of the
rank and file of the Democrats
would be interested in defending it.
Or, if Hitler should be raising cain
at the time, with Mexico apparently
on the side of the dictatorships, it
might easily become a tremendous
ly important issue.
Senator Norris of Nebraska
Seems Due for Deflating
It one may predict the toppling
off their pedestals of present idols
by the same rules which have gen
erally worked in the past. Sen.
George W. Norris of Nebraska is due
for a deflating. He has run up
against that curious and hard to
understand intangible—pride in it
self of the house of representatives.
He may or may not win this time—
in the conference row over that TVA
hundred-million-dollar bond authori
zation. But he has hurt the pride
of the house, and the wound will not
heal. Nothing lasts forever, and the
members of the house as well as
the senate were getting a little tired
of the Norris dictatorship anyhow.
So when Norris appeared as the
only senator to represent the upper
house in the confer
ence on the TVA
bill, he was taking a
chance. He ought to
have realized it, but
dictators gradually
grow callous to pride
in other people.
Members of the
house generally
might not ever have
known about it, but
Andrew J. May of „ .
Kentucky, chairman
of the house military affairs com
mittee, was enraged at Norris’ un
yielding attitude. So he issued a
statement which began:
"Responsibility for the present
stalemate of the house and senate
conferees ... is squarely on the
shoulders of Sen. George W. Norris.
It is a sad commentary on our dem
ocratic system of government that
one member of ‘the most delibera
tive body in the world’ does not
know the meaning of the word com
promise and presumes to impose his
will, arbitrarily and arrogantly,
upon the house of representatives.”
/Vo One Wants to Get Into
Controversy With Norris
Those are pretty nearly fighting
words to the house! Or at the very
least, they are calculated to bring
about a declaration of independence. j
One may wonder why Uncle George
laid himself open to the attack. Not
by his stubbornness. No one who
knows Norris would expect anything
else. But by his very delight in the
fact that the other senate conferees
were entirely willing to leave every- i
thing to him—thus putting him in the
position of one man telling the house
what it could and could not do!
It is not at all surprising that the
other senate conferees did not at
tend the meetings. They did not
want to get involved in a controver
sy with Norris. Nobody does. It
is not very healthy politically. When
everybody assumes that one's an
tagonist is absolutely honest and sin
cere one starts out with two strikes
and an unfavorable umpire. And it
was so easy to say to Norris, "You
just go ahead and chew those house
fellows up. We are behind you IOC
per cent.” Especially as his fellow
senators had such marvelous ex
cuses for looking out for the inter
ests of their farmer constituents in
the agricultural bill.
But the house members didn't like
it at all. They are very jealous
of the senate anyhow, though indi
vidually most of them aspire to to
gas. There is no more sure-fire ap
peal than an appeal to the pride of
the house as against tha senate.
Moreover, there is a new genera
tion in the house that knows not
Joseph. Almost nobody is left who
served with Norris when he was
battling against Uncle Joe Cannon.
To many of the newcomers he is
just a tiresome tradition.
i Bell Syndicate—WNU Serviced
Not So Hot! Weather’s Warm
But These People Know Tricks
From mid-July to late August
most of America expects its
warmest weather, although the
sun has already started its re
turn trip to the southern hemi
sphere. But enterprising and
uninhibited Americans have
found many ways to escape the
heat. For example: In Detroit
(above) sweltering citizens con
gregate around spraying hy
drants. This method is most
popular in New York’s tene
ment district. Right: A hap
py, young lady indulges in a dis
tinctly American summer treat.
Above: On the beach near
Gloucester, Mass., another lady
finds the temperature of 94
not so bad. Left: Professor
Charles M. Heck of North
Carolina State college kept
cool last summer making a
“heat survey" from various
levels of New York's lofty Em
pire State building, lie
is shoivn here testing
his new “prophesying”
instrument. According
to Professor Heck, heat
rays rising from the
earth are absorbed by
moisture in the air and
then re-radiated. Most
heat sufferers don’t
care — but that’s
science for you.
It's done in the best of city and small town families on those hot
nights when beds feel like blazing infernos. This Chicago couple
followed the crowd, taking baby right along and covering his
buggy with mosquito netting while mother and dad sprawled com
fortably on the ground. If hen dawn peeps over the horizon they'll
head for home and breakfast.
WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
YORK.—Within the exploits
of men of achievement may—
and often does—lie the favoring ele
ment of chance, frequently recog
nizable. But often, too, it is hidden
in a vague background of contribu
tory factors.
In Jascha Heifetz’s agreement to
appear in a forthcoming motion pic
ture, Samuel
Way Smoothed Goldwyn’s pow
For Success of ers persua
Sam’s Exploit Sion once again
excite the envy
of his rivals and the admiration of
his friends. The eminent violinist’s
personal aversion to the screen as
a medium of expression has long
endured in the face of repeated of
fers. Mistrust of sound track repro
duction of the notes of his beloved
violin was joined with his repug
nance to the elemental music he
believed he would be called upon to
play and, above all, was his objec
tion to strutting the screen as an
actor. So Goldwyn’s success in
overcoming the great musician’s re
luctance is now being proclaimed.
Yet, lying back of Heifetz’s
name on the dotted line of a
Hollywood contract are various
imponderable factors. His wife,
for instance, who was Florence
Vidor of screen fame, may have
been the influence behind his
first appearance on any stage in
a histrionic capacity. This was *
last spring when he took the role
of a hill-billy fiddler in the an
nual show of a sophisticated
midtown club, of which he is a
member. Garbed in overalls,
cotton shirt and red wig topped
by a broken down straw hat he
played “Turkey in the Stiaw,”
violin upon his knees, as the
time-honored jig tune has never
before been played. And for an
encore there was “Danny Boy.”
So who can say that the siren
Voice of Sam Goldwyn was not mere
ly the fanning of a flame lighted
when, with gusto and amid wild ac
claim, he sawed a violin lying across
his knee?
Born in Vilna in 1901, Heifetz’s
American debut came in October,
1917. An American citizen now, he
lives in Redding, Conn.
Sam Goldwyn it was who lured
Maxine Elliot to the screen back
in 1917 and she was but a prede
cessor to such exalted artists as
Geraldine Farrar.
DAUL ROBESON’S magnificent
* bass voice will have adequate op
portunity for expression in his por
trayal of the title role of Sam
Byrd’s forth
Bishop’s Plight coming produc
Altered Aim of t>°n of a play
Paul Robeson adaPted ,by the
author from
Roark Bradford’s John Henry sto
ries. There will be incidental music
by Jacques Wolfe.
One often marvels at events,
apparently casual at time of oc
currence, which are found sig
nificantly to have affected hu
man lives and so shaped desti
nies. When Paul was a senior
at Rutgers, where he had won
high scholastic honors and
gained for himself a national
reputation as a football end, he
was looking toward the cloth as
a profession. His father was a
clergyman in a small communi
ty in New Jersey and, from boy
hood, Robeson’s idea had been
to follow in the paternal steps.
Not long before graduation, the
elder Robeson died and among the
funeral arrangements was a plan
to have the presiding bishop of the
church conduct the obsequies. Ac
cordingly, the prelate came to the
scene of the funeral from his home
in a village in the southern part of
the state and after the services he
addressed the assembled mourners
substantially as follows:
“Brothers and sisters, I had to
borrow the money to come to this
scene of sorrow and unless you all
contribute to defray my journey
home, I am afraid I shall have te
walk.”
Whereupon, of course, the neces
sary traveling fund was raised. Aft
er a while the bereaved son met
the late Foster Sanford who was
his football coach, his guide, mentor
and friend.
“You are still headed for the min
istry?” Sanford asked.
“Yes sir," was the reply. "I still
am, sir.”
"The highest you can ever get
to be in your church is a bishop,
isn’t it?” Sanford asked and
when Robeson said that was
true, the coach fixed him with
his compelling blue eyes. “And
so you are going to enter a pro
fession where, even as a bishop,
you will have to borrow money
to get from north Jersey to south
Jersey.’”
That was all that was said. But
next day Robeson came to his
friend, confiding his intention to
plump for the law and for voice.
(Consolidated Features—WNU Service.)
