FF ANYTIIING of moment is accom-
plished by the present session of
congress, almost certainly the last
“lame duck” session that ever will be
held, political observ.
ers will be aston-
ished. The Democrats,
in numerical control
of the house, seem be
wildered and uncer
tain; the Republicans
gleefully assist In dis-
tracting their oppo-
nentsand complicating
thelr attempts at leg-
|slation; the more rad-
ical members of both
parties slash right and
left and add to the
confusion, The senate doesn't espe
cially like the house's beer bill, and
the house doesn't approve of the re
peal resolution before the senate. Pro-
ceedings In the upper chamber at this
writing are held up by a filibuster con-
ducted by Senator Huey Long of
Louisiana for the purpose of defeating
the Glass banking bill. And over all
hangs the prospect that President
Hoover will veto certain of the most
important measures if they reach the
White House,
As for
ho
Rep. Rainey
balancing the budget, that
probably will have to wait for the
special the new congress.
President Hoover apparently has aban-
hope that It can be accom-
plished at this session, and the Dem-
ocruts, Including 'resident-Elect Roose
velt, give no indication that they have
Jecided how It should be done. They
now deny that they plan to raise the
income tax, the leaders who conferred
with Mr. Roosevelt repudiating their
first statements that such was thelr
intention. Representative Henry T.
Rainey of majority leader,
declares congress can balance the fed-
ernl budget the imposition of
additional taxes, except a tax on beer,
and his statement is greeted with gen-
eral expressions of approval from the
taxpayers and many members of con-
gress. He says the budget should be
balanced by cutting down the cost of
government-a proceeding that has the
nominal approval of both parties—and
that the imposition of a heavier tax
burden on the people would be to “in.
vite revolution,” All of which sounds
fine, but so far congress has failed to
reduce governmental costs in any ap
preciable degree. The amount it will
save in this session may not be as
much as $100,000, 16%),
Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippl,
one of the most astute of the Demo-
crats, agreed with the Rainey pro
gram. "We" he sald, “are going to
try to retrench sufficiently to aveld
levying of new taxes. It is too early
now to tell just how close we can
come to balancing the budget through
economies. Our plan Is to hold off on
revenne legisiation for several weeks
while we try to secure enactment of
the heer bill, re-enactment of the gaso-
line tax and all possible economies.
When we know how much we can
raise and save it will be time enough
to talk of new taxes”
session of
doned
% :
Hinols,
without
EMOCRATIC logrolling
publican tactics of hampering
marked the debate on the domestic
allotment farm relief bill in the house.
Even If it were passed by house and
senate it probably would be subjected
to veto by the President. The measure
was loaded down with amendments
by representatives who refused to be
controlled by their party leaders
Proposals to include rice within the
benefits of the act were adopted 00
to 24; peanuts were added by the close
teller vote of 111 to 110 and the but.
ter fat products of the dairy Industry
included 102 to 75 on a rising vote.
When it was finally assured of passage
by the house, the [loosevelt farm relief
program was rounded out with the in-
troduction in the senate of companion
bills designed to lighten the burdens
of agricultural mortgages through the
use of further federal ald and fdderal
money.
and Re
ENATOR BORAH'S assertion in
‘J the senate that France was justi.
fied In her stand on the war debt
because President Hoover In his con-
ference with M. Laval
had given the Euro.
pean debtor aations
reason to believe thelr
obligations to the
United States would
be scaled down if
reparations were re
duced brought on =a
sharp debate between
the ldaho gentleman
nnd Senator Hiram
Johnson of Californian,
The row started with
the reading in the sen.
ate of letters from
Secretary of State Stimson and See
retary of the Treasury Mills denying
that Mr. Hoover had given Laval any
such assurance, These denials, Borah
snid, were Inconclasive, though It is
hard to see how they could be more
specific,
Jolingon thereupon soundly berated
Borah for his stand, and satirieally
scolded him for not giving the senate
Senator
Johnson
the “facts” known to him when the
moratorium was before that body In
1031. The exchange of personalities
between the two erstwhile close
friends was acrimonious,
Though Mr. Roosevelt declined to
co-operate with President Hoover on
the war debt question, he is getting
ready to tackle this and other Inter-
national matters Immediately after
his Inauguration, In pursuance of this
plan he held long conferences in New
York with Secretary Stimson, Col. Ed-
ward M. House, who Is an authority on
foreign affairs; James W. Gerard,
American ambassador to Germany at
the time the United States entered
the war; Sumner Welles, who was
assistant secretary of state in the Wil
son administration, and Senator Swan.
son of Virginia, one of our delegates
to the disarmament conference.
Over In France there Is a growing
belief that Mr. Roosevelt secretly en-
gaged himself to a drastic revision of
the war debts, and the public also re
fuses to accept Laval's denial that
President Hoover promised him a re
duction,
S LAID before the senate, the reso-
lution for repeal of the Eight.
eenth amendment was a compromise
between the drys and wets on the
Judiciary committee and satisfied no
one. It is deésigned to bar the saloon.
retains for the federal! government a
certain amount of control over the
iquor traffic, aims to protect dry
states from Importations of liquor
from wet neighbors, and provides for
submission of the amendment to state
legislatures rather than to special
state conventions. Speaker Garner and
Representative Rainey sald the reso
lution In that form would not even he
introduced In the house If it were
passed by the senate, because it does
not conform to the Democratic plat.
form,
RESIDENT HOOVER in a special
message asked congress to ratify
long-pending international arms
convention or to enact legislation at
this session, giving the Chief Execu-
tive wider powers In placing embar-
goes on shipments of arms to belliger-
ents. Neither request is likely to be
granted. Chairman Borah of the sen
ate foreign relations committee has op
posed the arms convention for years
and Is still against it, he and others
holding that it would not interfere
with the enterprises of the greater
powers, but would discriminate against
small nations. Senator Shipstead of
Minnesota sald he could approve nei
ther plan, and some of the Repub
lieans, notably Representative Ham-
fiton Fish of New York, declared
themselves against them.
the
1 K INGFISH" LONG'S filibuster
against the Glass banking bill
amused a handful of senators and a
lot of visitors in the galleries, but kept
the senate from ac
complishing anything.
Huey made a number
of sarcastic allusions
to SenatorGiass,
which rather annoyed
the Virginian. He as
serted that when re
cently he sald he
knew more about
branch banking than
Glass, he really “was
not giving himself
much ecredit™ Then
he produced a big
Bible and read from Isaiah:
“Woe unto them that join house to
house, that lay field to field, till there
be no place, that they may be placed
alone in the midst of the earth.”
“Just change that to branch banks.”
be shouted, "and you've got what'll
happen to the independent bankers.”
“If you don't take the house of
Morgan into ecasideration,” was an-
other contribution, “you ain't going to
regulate many banks with any bill you
pass here. The house of Morgan is
the undisputed kingfish of the bank:
ing business.”
Long's plan to end the depression
was characteristic. He would survey
the country, order production to cease
of any product of which there Is now
plenty, issue ten billion dollars of fed
eral bonds for food, clothing, and pub-
lle works, and “just a little capital
levy” on the rich would pay for all
of this program.
Sen. Glass
EPUBLICAN membership In the
house of representatives was re
duced by two during the week by
death, Congressman Robert R. Butler
of Oregon died of heart disease in-
duced by pneumonia, Next day the
capital was shocked by the sulcide of
Samuel Austin Kendall of tae Twenty.
Fourth Pennsylvania district. For
months he had grieved over the denth
of his wife and finally gave up and
put a bullet through his head as he
sat In his goom in the house office
building,
Among other well known men who
died were Guy D. Goff, former United
States senator from West Virginia,
and Benton McMillin, former gover
nor of Tennessee and for 20 years a
member of congress
THE CENTRE
N RESPONSE to a special message
from the President urging “emer
gency action” to stave off wholesale
forced foreclosures, congressional lead-
ers promised a partial revision of the
bankruptcy laws at this session. The
house judiciary committee began con-
sideration of a bill embodying the prin-
ciples suggested by Mr. Hoover to ease
the debt situation during the present
period of depression.
ALVIN COOLIDGE'S will was
found among his personal papers
and filed for probate. In a few words
the document, drawn by Mr. Coolidge
himself, leaves his entire estate to
Mrs, Coolidge. The property was estl-
mated by friends at bout $250,000,
John Coolldge, the former President's
son, was provided for in a trust fund
estimated at $100,000, created by Mr.
Coolidge a short time after his son's
marriage to Florence Trumbull
That Mr. Coolidge had known for a
year or so that he was In danger of
sudden death was 'ndicated by a story
from New York to *he effect that his
application for $200,000 life insurance
had been rejected because of the con-
dition of his heart.
LLINOIS Democrats victorious In
the November election gave the
country a lesson on how to get elected
at small cost. Figures submitted by
: the candidates In that
state to the clerks of
the senate and house
showed that William
H. Dieterich spent on-
ly $272 In winning the
United States senator-
ship; the expenses of
his defeated rival,
Senator Otis F. Glenn,
were 355.848 Martin
A. trennan expended
only 82 in his success.
ful race for the place
of congressman - at
inrge.
The most expensive victory in [il
nols—the cortested victory of James
Simpson, Jr. Tenth [llinols District
Republican congressman-elect, cost £3.
850. Personal, exempted expenses
brought the total up to £18014. iis
election was contested by C. H. Web
er, Democrat, who spent £1,525,
William MH.
Dieterich
HOSE lown farwers who condnet-
ed the “strike” of last year are mak-
ing rather successful attempts to stop
the property for delinquent
taxes and unpaid mortgages. In sev-
eral localities they gathered In large
crowds= and saved the properties of
farmers, at least temporarily, Their
demonstrations were orderly,
snles of
IVE THOUSAND Indiana farmers
met in thelr annual conference at
Purdue university nd adopted a pro
gram developed by the farm manage
ment experts of that institution. The
fourteen point plan, worthy of the
attention of agriculturists of other
states, includes a policy of “pay as you
go, reduction In costs especially those
for outside labor, production of concen.
trated products to reduce marketing
costs, production of high quality
goods, taking advantage of marketing
short cuts, Increased intensity of op-
erations on good lands, culling of live
stock ‘vigorously’ and feeding of good
animals increased attention to
seed selection, testing and other crop
practices, Increased study of manage
ment practices, increased use of home
grown seeds, producing more of the
family’s requirements on the farm, in-
creased production of legume cnops,
avoidance of investments in permanent
improvements, and making more use
of governmental and educational
forces available to farmers.”
well,
ESPERATE fighting for possession
of the rich Jehol province was
Chinese armies toward the
the week. The scene
of the battle was
Chiumenkow pass In
the Great Wall, the
Pass of the Nine
Gates.” The Japanese,
employing infantry,
cavalry, artillery and
bombing planes, at
tacked fiercely and oe
cupied the northern
end of the pass but
the Chinese concen
trated at the south
ern end and put up a
stiff resistance, being
aided by the mountainous nature of the
country, Japanese planes flew far across
the border of the province and bom-
barded the city of Jehol and other
towns, the war office justifying this ae-
tion by charging that the presence of
Chinese troops there constituted a
“menace” to the Japanese forces, Of
course the Chinese were on thelr own
soll, but a little thing like that does
not deter Japan. The Tokio war of.
fice claimed victory at Chiumenkow.
Gen. Tsal Ting kal, who commanded
the Chinese Nineteenth route army in
its gallant defense of Shanghal a year
ago, has come to the front and asked
that he be permitted to lead his army
from its encampment in Fukien prov.
ince against the Japanese invaders
He hag little confidence in the stamina
of Marshal Chang and seeks to repince
him as commander in the Shan.
halkwan region.
The Chinese Nationalist government
handed to all the foreign legations
in Peiping an sharply worded note
stating that Japan, a signatory of the
protocol of 1001, had taken an unfair
advantage of the terms of the pro
tocol when its troopa attacked and oe
cupled Shanhalkwan. For this reason,
the protest sald, the Chinese govern
ment could not be held responsible for
whatever may be the result of Chinese
resistance against Japanese aggression.
©. 1913, Western Newsoaver Union.
Gen. Tsal
Ting. Kal
WHAT'S GOING ON
IN WASHINGTON
Bill Is Complicated and
Delicate Problem.
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
Washington.—It has been a good
many moons since congress has tack-
led a problem so complicated and so
delicate as the present agricultural re-
lef measure, the so-called farm parity
bill, with which it is now wrestling.
It has taken hold of the domestic al-
lotment plan, disguised by the new and
pleasing name, in the hope that it may
be the method of solving what every-
body knows to be a most distressing
condition in a basic national Industry.
There can be no doubt that the
farmers must have higher prices for
their products if the Industry is to
survive, and that is the fundamental
premise upon which the farm parity
bill was drafted. Chairman Jones, of
house committee on agriculture,
which wrote the bill, told me, however,
that he and other members of the com-
mittee looked upon the proposal as of
an emergency character; that it will
have the temporary effect of providing
needed Increase In prices, and
that the committee members who sup-
ported It thought it was worth testing
at least until] such time gs permanent
changes and restoration of values can
he effected.
The representatives who voted to
submit the bill to the house do not
conceal thelr concern over the delicate
nature of the tool with which they are
working. Along with the potential
good admittedly In the domestic allot
ment
f abu
inngers of huse,
pian, there are obviously grave
and it takes no
{ that the good
soothsayer to forecast
ean be destroyed If the weaknesses fall
to stand against practical business op
eration,
"
Ihe
t Is under consider
the
zations have
18 acceptable to them,
the Bill
th, the bill provides that
wheat,
rs are below
ation that which
three
Means.
irice levels of
rice or he
hauls, adjustment
a tax-—is to
ng of the com
an amount suf
» up to the pre
ment would ap
part of the
estiec con
not on exportable sur.
wremiums will be paid to
who with the
requirements of the legislation. Com-
pliance with the requirement consists
of obeying the command to reduce the
acreage
the producer comply
isl reduced acre
ns reduced output and reduced
it means a gre for
of the product available
supporters of the bill, “we
force the prices higher”
But the bill is not nearly so simple
lines make It
requires, in the
that there be a virtual referen
of course,
utp ter demand
that supply
So, say the
can
appear.
first
ong them, to determine
applied to a
When 60 per
rs of wheat, for ex
ample, approve the plan for thelr crop.
the federal government begins to enl
lect the tax, and will do so, under the
terms of the present bill, for a period
year. It is provided that it
# st x
iL Lhe prog
of one
Presidential proclamation, but that is
The tax is collected from the pro-
to the producers who have
the requirements and who have
them. The amount of the
the amount of “a fair exchange allow-
ance.”
This “fair exchange allowance” Is
defined as the difference between the
prices received by producers at loeal
markets and the “fair exchange value”
which approximates “the same ratio
fas the price for the commodity paid
producers at local markets during the
base period (September, 1000, to Au-
gust, 1014) Bore to prices for all com-
modities bought by the producers dur.
ing such base period.” That, of course,
seeks to make the difference in prices
the farmers receive and those which
they pay for commodities bought vir
tnally the same now as they were In
the period before influences of the
World war were operative,
Take the Case of Hogs.
In the case of hogs, the “fair ex.
change value” Is fixed on a sliding
scale, the figure being 8314 cents a
pound from approval of the act to
April 80, 1033; 4 cents a pound from
May 1 to June 30, 1088; 4% cents a
pound from July 1, 1083, to beginning
of the marketing year of 1033-34 and
5 cents a pound after that time, plus
an additional one-half cent a pound
for each increase of ten points in the
Index number for factory employment
over that same number as it stood at
the time the act was made operative.
Reduced to simple language, this Int
ter provision seeks to establish an én.
forced upward movement of the price
as greater numbers of workers are re
stored to factory pay rolls,
The producer may not get certifi
cates of adjustment, however, with so
much ease as asking for them. He |
has to prove and submit a sworn state-
ment therefor, that he has reduced
his acreage, or the tonnage of his hog
production, by 20 per sant,
The funds with which to pay those
certificates would be raised, as was
stated earlier, by the tax on process
ing. The first processor would be
called upon to pay the charge fixed,
and then the treasury would use the
amount in pro rata repayments as a
reward to those farmers who complied
with the voluntary reduction program,
80 there would be, theoretically at
least, a tendency to balance consump-
tion and production by holding down
the latter,
From these facts it is seen that
there must be an apportionment, a de-
termination of the amount that may
be produced of each of the commodi-
ties to which the bill applies. The
method Is this: the secretary of ag-
riculture, in effect, determines what
the normal requirements for domestic
use are going to be, and apportions the
total among the producing areas ac-
cording to thelr previous percentage of
the total output,
But the secretary cannot stop there.
The allotment must be carried on
through the several states to the coun-
ties of each and to the very unit, the
farm, so that each farmer may know
what he may plant In wheat or cotton
or tobacco, or how many hogs he may
grow for market. It thus sets up one
of the most far-flung organizations
known to history, for it is self-evident
that the secretary of agriculture, nor
any other one human being, could do
that job by himself, There will have
to be, first, a federal organization for |
the headquarters, state headquarters |
and county headquarters, and workers
in all of them In order to see that the |
If there is not
throughout,
requirements are met,
such an organization
there will be no way to prevent abuse |
of the adjustment privilege. |
» * *
On the Other Hand.
as to the other side of the ple.
If the pla Jones
in that
the two
increased price due
¥ and presumably the add
wdity by
n works as Mr
armer will have
fold benefit of the
«
to the bour
ed value en the ««
plies,
» plan works, the consum-
in the unusual sit
’
the farmer
to raise
» price by lin he supplies. In
short, the cons 8 read will cost
niller mays an ad
wheat, and
as a
through the list
eventually
» terms of the law,
dily be seen that this eir-
certain to present a
processor of
the hogs, and so on
of wh nodities
cumstance
sharp a nt between
and residents of larger cities and prob- |
ably of smaller cities and towns as |
There is evidence of it already |
undercurrent of discussions |
pitol, and the circum- |
at which senators |
d representatives are looking with
well,
in the
ind the Ca
stance is
not one
ks, for after all city votes are
of the poli- i
intry
wiant to some
are the cot votes,
i8 true of a very great
1 of which the
ignment become
%, from al
the al
in Jt ntion » use of the |
farm parity system, {ts sponsors are
that American agriculture is
g under conditions of un
an em
saying
now produc
restricted individualism In
when all other production, Including
agriculture in almost all other coun
tries, is either protected or controlled
They are saying that American agri-
culture should not be denied the right
to set up its own defenses. It should
have its protecting itself
against this free competition until the
time arrives when other producers ac
cept free trade.
* . »
Cause for Worry. i
It is the potential abuse of the priv. |
fleges accorded by the proposition, |
however, that causes the greatest wor |
ry. Some opponents urge that the tax
will be collected and the farmers will |
be rewarded, and that there will be |
an early tendency to forget about the |
limitation on production that is sup- |
posed to result. In that event, it |
would be undeniably special privilege, |
a subsidy that would rup !=to hun- |
dreds of millions annually,
lehind the terms of the legislation, 1
too, lies an almost certain pressure |
that will bear down on congress ev. |
ery day of the year to Increase the |
bounties or rewards paid for reduced
production. Farmers could claim they
were not receiving all they were en.
titled to receive under the policy of
the bill, and demands for higher tar.
ifs would be inconsequential beside
the furore that could be set up in be.
half of a plea for higher adjustment
rates on wheat or tobacco or hogs.
The bill undeniably puts agrienlture
deeper into polities than it ever has
been,
The bill har not been passed yet,
and it appears that even if the senate
gives it approval, there may be a Pres.
idential veto awaiting. Bu: the fact
remains, legislation which many
friends of agriculture fear may have
more of the bad than It has of good
is nearer final enactment now than it
ever has been before. The domestic
allotment plan, the export debenture
plan and the equalization fee have
run the gauntlet several times before
in one form or another, yet never be
fore have the prospects of final ap
proval been as near as now, since
there Is a change coming in the White
House soon,
means of
*
Indians Well Skilled
in Art of Trepanning
Burgery, In at least one form, was
an advanced art in New world
before the coming of Columbus. This
was the operation for wounds in the
skull, known as trephining. Such is
the conclusion of ir. Ales Hrdlicka,
curator of physical anthropology of
the Smithsonian institution, from an
Intensive study of the “trepanned”
skulle in the National museum eollee-
tions. In the Andes, he says there
were skilled “specialists” in this line
who perfected their technique on
corpses and then operated with ex.
treme boldness and rather uniform
success on the living. For the most
part they were surgeons attending to
the wounded after a battle. Doctor
Hrdlicka believes that the beginnings
of this surgical art may have been
brought from Asia by some of the
original migrants and that it eon-
nects with the neolithic trephinings
of Europe and northern Africa.
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to these complaints. It increased my appe-
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