Conquest
of Jehol.
XPANSION of the currency to
the extent of billions of dollars
will result from the legislation which
President Roosevelt asked of the
extraordinary session
of congress and which
wns epacted within a
few hours after the
new congress was
convened on Thurs
day, March 9. The
new currency is based
not on gold, but on
3 ly the liquid assets of
unl the banks. The plan
A was devised after
long hours of confer-
ence by the President,
Secretary of the Treasury William H.
Woodin and a number of financial ad-
vicers of the administration, and it
was the mair feature of their solution
of the banking crisis that was par-
alyzing the nation.
The other chief points in the legisia.
tion which the President ealled for in
his brief hut spirited message were:
Continued suspension of gold pay-
ments and embargo on exports of gold
Clothing of the [IP'resident with the
powers of a financial dictator.
Continuation of the national bank-
ing holiday, wholly or in part, pending
complete reopening of the banks,
Legalization of the bank holiday
proclamation of March 5 and all meas-
ures adopted by the treasury to carry
it into effect.
Because the new currency is not
backed by gold It is called federal re
serve bank notes to distinguish it from
federal reserve notes which are backed
by gold.
To what extent If any, inflation of
the currency will be produced by this
increase in the volume of money was
cne of the big questions involved in
the Roosevelt plan.
That inflation will be the conse
quence was a conclusion widely
reached In financial and commercial
circles, with the result that a leap up-
ward of commodity and security prices
was looked for the moment the ex-
ctanges reopen.
The act creating the new currency
Itberalizes the provisions of the Glass
Steagall act by allowing banks to issue
notes with no gold reserve behind
them. The notes thus Issued are
backed only by United States bonds In
the same manner as national bank
notes issued by national banks. It fur-
ther liberalizes section 10a of the fed.
eral reserve act as amended by the
Glass-Steagall act so as to enable banks
to obtain currency on “liquid assets”
of a character not previously eligible
One of the effects of the legislation
will be to produce a unified banking
system. Only member banks of the
federal reserve system are able to
avail themselves of the privileges af-
forded by this legislation to convert
assets previously Ineligible into cur-
rency. State banks wre compelled to
Join the federal system in order to ob-
tain the funds that will enable them
to reopen,
Another foreseen effect 1s the weed
ing out of weak banks. Institutions
unable to furnish liquid assets for cur.
rency will be unable to reopen. Others
will be able to remaln open to the
extent of their liquidity pending at
least a recovery of general public con-
fidence In banks,
Legisiation to stop hoarding aiso
was considered by congress and meas
ures for reaching and punishing the
hoarders of currency whose withdrawal
of deposits brought on the panic and
caused the closing of the banks were
discussed by the administration and
leaders of the senate and house. As
a preliminary move In this direction
the federal reserve board at the in
stance of Mr. Roosevelt, sent tele
graphic orders to all federal reserve
banks to furnish by March 18, lists of
persons who have withdrawn gold
since February 1, and had not by that
time redeposited their gold with
drawdls,
Sec'y Woodin
For days there was considerable con-
fusion concerning the banking situ-
ation mainly because of differences be-
tween the President's proclamation
and the orders issued by governors of
various states. This was especially
true In New York and Illinois. Day
by day Secretary Woodin issued or-
ders modifying those In the govern-
ment's proclamation closing down all
bunks, but there was much misunder-
standing of his regulations regarding
limiting opening of the Institutions.
Clearing houses were busy holding
meetings but failed to live up to their
name by clearing up the situation and
the banks were uncertain of both their
powers and thelr responsibilities.
In many cities and towns banks
were 2pen tc earry on limited activi-
ties that were required to provide
food, foodstuffs and medicines and for
the meeting of pay rolls. Throughout
the country preparations were made
for the Issunnce of scrip, pendihg the
receipt of the necessary authority
from Washington. Secretary Woodin,
however, ruled ngainst scrip, though
he sanctioned the iesunnee In various
joculities of clearing house certificates
mpningt sound nssets of banks for use
as un emergency elrenlnting medium,
Despite all the confusion and Incen
venience, the ‘American public re.
mained fairly calm and appeared to
have confidence in President Roose-
velt and his advisers. The general
feeling was that the vigorous new
Chief Executive would be able to de-
vise competent measures for tem-
porary relief of the situation and to
force their adoption by congress,
Following the enactment of the leg-
islation for the reopening of the banks
the President asked congress for au-
thority to cut an estimated $500,000,
000 out of government expenditures
by cutting government salaries up to
15 per cent, and by drastic reductions
in payments to veterans. It Is ex-
pected that another $200,000,000 will
be saved by the reorganization and
combining of many government de
partments, authorization for which
was passed In the closing days of the
last congress,
EMOCRATIC membership of 313
in the house of representatives
gives them an unwieldy malority, and
the certain consequence is intra-party
wrangling. At present
the control seems to
be in the hands of
Speaker Henry Rainey
and two allles, Floor
Leader Byrns and
Representative Cullen,
leader of the Tam.
many delegation from
Et New York. Opposed
to them is a faction
headed by McDuffie of
Alabama, who sought
vainly to be
speakeda. It was sald
several of the Alabaman's most active
supporters were quietly informed that
they would be punished by being shift.
ed from Important committees to minor
assignments,
Senator James Hamilton Lewis of
Illinois was elected whip of the Demo
cratic majority In the senate, and
Senator Joe Robinson of Arkansas was
chosen to be senate leader. Also
party authority was made stronger
than it has been for many years. The
caucus agreed that the vote of any fu.
ture caucus upon any measure recom-
mended by the President should be
binding upon all except those who ex.
cused themselves from voting for
cause. It was further agreed that a
simple majority, instead of the more
customary two-thirds majority, should
make the action of the caucus bind
ing and that two-thirds of the whole
number of Democratic senators should
constitute a caucus
The caucus further chose Senator
Kendrick of Wyoming as assistant
leader, Senator Key Pittman as Demo
cratic candidate for president pro tem.
pore, Edward Halsey as candidate for
secretary of the senate, Chesley W.
Jurney as candidate for sergeant at
arms, and L, L. Biffle as secretary to
the majority.
Speaker
Rainey
elected
DURING its brief special session
that convened on Inaugural day
the senate confirmed these appoint.
ments by the President:
Prof. Raymond Moley of Columbia
as an assistant secretary of state,
William Phillips of Massachusetts,
as undersecretary of state, who will be
directly In charge and accountable to
Secretary Hull
Wilbur J. Carr of New York, reap
pointed as assistant secretary of state.
Henry Morgenthan, Jr. of New York,
member of the federal farm board.
Willlam * F. Stevenson of South
Carolina, member of the federal home
loan bank board
T. Dwight Webb of Tennessee, mem-
ber of the home loan board.
OLLOWING out the campaign plan
devised by Lieut. Gen. Kuniaki!
Koilso, the Japanese armies virtually
completed the conquest of the province
of Jehol. The Chinese
governor fled and all
the Chinese troops
were forced out after
a last defensive strug.
gle at Koupeikow, a
pass in the Great
Wall. Japanese planes
first bombed the Chi
nese positions there,
and then General
Kawahara’s brigade :
took the place. The a
Japanese thus com- Gen. Kuniaki
pleted the seizure of Kolso
250 miles of the Great Wall, extending
from the inner Mongolia to the Yellow
sea.
The Chinese fled toward Pelping and
the confusion and fright In that city
led the authorities to establish martial
law. The Japanese sald they would
not push on to Pelplng unless forced
to br reprisals against their country.
men (n that city. Marshal Chang
Hsueh-liang was severely criticized for
the loss of Jehol and resigned as mill
tary overlord of North China, accept:
ing the blame and asking that the na.
tional governmant relieve him of all
posts,
Maxim Litvinov, foreign commissar
of Russia, bluntly informed the League
of Nations that the Soviet government
would not participate in the doings of
L the lengue committee set up to handle
the Sino Japunese quarrel.
HE Los Angeles section of South-
ern Californla, covering an area
from Ventura on the north to San
Diego on the south and extending in-
land for some 30 miles, suffered severe
earthquake shocks on Friday evening,
March 10, causing 128 deaths, injury
to more than 4500 and property loss
running into the millions,
Between 5:58 and 10:50 14 distinctly
violent shocks had occurred, the first
one of which did the greater part of
the damage and caused all the loss of
life.
Long Beach suffered the greatest
loss of life and proportionately the
greatest property damage. At that
point 685 people were killed and 1,000
injured. At Los Angeles 12 people
were killed and some 38.000 were in-
jured. Cther towns suffering severely
and at which deaths occurred were
Watts, 4 dead; Campton, 13 dead;
Santa Ana, 8 dend; Huntington Park,
2 dead; San Pedro, 2 dead; Wllming-
ton, 1 dead; Bellflower, 8 dead; Ar
tesla, 4 dead; Hermosa Beach, 1 dead;
Garden Grove, 1 dead; Walnut Park,
1 dead: Norwalk, 1 dead.
Fire in many of the towns, and es
pecially Long Beach and Los Angeles,
added to the terror, but fortunately
the water mains were not seriously
damaged and the firemen were able to
cope with the flames,
Regular army troops at Fort Mc
Arthur were ordered to co-operate with
the police in preserving order, and
ships of the navy from San Diego
were dispatched to points along the
coast render ald, naval
providing ald and
injured. The governor of California
ordered National Guard troops to the
scene to assist in the work of rescue,
and to maintain order.
to
HOJGH It was generally admitted
that the world disarmament con
ference in Geneva was in a bad way,
the British started to make a last ef-
fort to revive it or at
least to salvage some
thing from its work
With this In mind
Prime Minister Mac
Donald and Sir John
Simon, foreign secre
tary, went to the
Swiss city tn see what
could be They
denied they had any
definite plan of ac
but they hoped
Premier Dala
France and
of Germany
Hitler
some arrangement
1 done
tion,
to get
dier of
Chancellor
gether
Premier
MacDonald
10
that
on
the conference,
Sir John Simon sald before leaving
London that one of the first issues he
and Mr, MacDonald would take up In
Geneva would be the faet that no
other nations had followed Great
Britain's lead In Imposing an ars
embargo against China sand Japan,
which, as he remarked, “leaves [irit-
ain In a situation which cannot be al
lowed to continue ™
The DBritish recognized
financial situation In the
that the
postponement of the war debts
ferences. In the latter matter, bow.
bassador, did find opportunity to talk
with President Roosevelt's advisers
IRMLY seated in power by victory
in the reichstag elections, Chancel
Germany without parliamentary aid for
about two years. His National Social-
in the new reichstag and the Nation-
cent. The election passed off quietly
instead of being the Bloody affair the
foes of the .azis had predicted. The
chancellor believes that democracy is
legal tools to annihilate
try is on the way to restoration of the
monarchy. One superficial sign of this
was the rapld disappearance of the
stituted. Hitler, however, feels that
the restoration must be postponed un.
tll conditions are improved, and In
this the monarchists agree with him.
Goering, Nazi minister without port-
ment,
£8.440000 for the annual
enforcement it stipulated that none of
the money was to be spent on wire
tapping or the purchase of liquor as
evidence. These provisions do not be
come effective until July 1, but Amos
W. W. Woodcock has ordered them In.
to effect now, pointing out that “cases
made contrary to them now probably
will be tried after these provisions be
come nw”
The result of the order, Mr. Wood
cock sald, will mean a complete
change in enforcement methods and
“will enuse this bureau to operate al
most exclusively against the manufac
turers and transporters” of liquor.
This, naturally, is good news to the
operators of night clubs and speak-
easlies,
TRE days after completing his
ninth consecutive term In the
tiouse of representatives, Will R. Wood
of Indiana digd quite unexpectedly in
New York. He was about to sall on »
two months’ cruise of the Mediterra.
nenn for a complete rest after his long
and arduous labore in Washington.
Mr. Wood was one of the most active
and influentinl of the Republicuns in
the house and In the last congress was
chairman of the appropriations com.
mittee, He was seventy-two years old.
® 1931 Western Newspaper Usios.
/
a
4
a
———
—
me?
en rrird
[TH]
Washington. ~The extra session of
congress is starting off with many
millions of people
What Can figuratively pound.
Congress Dc? Ing on its doors and
demanding that It
do something or other about the bank.
ing situation and the economic panic,
Demands are being made that it “fix
things up.”
The demands and appeals, the argu-
ments and the advice that is being laid
on the threshold of every office door
in the Capitol carry every known
scheme, tried and untried, for dealing
with the disturbance in the delicate
balance of our economic and financial
machinery. Freak legislation pana-
ceas, curealls and patent remedies that
would put a quack doctor to shame
are offered. Few of them appear to
have been thought through as to the
ultimate result, and I gather from the
private conversations of senators and
representatives that they are becoming
Just a little bit hardened and calloused
about them,
That people everywhere are suffer
| Ing Is known, That the people have a
what It can Is not to be denied.
But, seeing the problem from the view.
| point of Washington, your observer Is
i inclined to pause and ask what can
congress do? How can congress “fix
things up”? What sort of magie can
do
the country back to conditions
that will provide employment for the
unemployed, food for the hungry, mar
i kets for the products of the factory
and farm and stability for hanks?
: The last congress and the last
| ministration tried to the
lem, and accomplished nothing. No
sooner had the Seventy-second econ
gress expired than we heard assertions
ad
gnlve prob
from those who saw their
Intion die that things would
better If only their partic
had been enacted, But
{ heads among them know
enactment of freak
bills in the world would not change
human nature nor amend the age-old
law of supply and demand
Whether President Hoosevelt Is de
an program that
will restore the confidence of the coun
try in its established institutions and
traditions, time alone will tell. It will
be a slow process. A sifting down of
views of many of those upon whom
responsibility rests seems to Indicate
that it may have strength because it Is
glow In the making. The effects of
anything sensational are generally not
iasting, It is agreed
all of the
economic
* * *
From what many Republicans as
well as Democrats have told me, there
is some ground for
belief that the mere
change of
the government may
result in some revival of confidence.
| Look at the thing this way: Mr
Roosevelt convinced a good many hun-
dred thousand persons throughout the
country in his campaign that he could
Starts With
Wide Support
control of
| ment than Mr. Hoover had done. In
convincing them, he developed their
It is considered,
therefore, that Mr, Roosevelt is start.
out with wide support. It is
claimed that the people will believe in
! him and in his policies at least until
the error of his way is shown In
other words, according to the argu
ment as it is advanced from this
standpoint, the bulk of the people will
be trying to help themselves when
they respond to the appeal of their
President,
There has been an all-gone feeling,
months since the November election,
To put It in another form, many per
asking: what's the use? It is held
among many government officials that
for further declines in general condi
tions,
So the hope is, as 1 see it, not so
: much in what congress can do but In
i whether Mr. Roosevelt can conserve
among the people. If he succeeds,
| things will slowly straighten them:
selves out. If he makes some bad mis
takes, or if congress gets out of con
trol, many here believe we may as
well permit the depression to wear
itself out. Depressions have done
that in years gone by. History gives
no basis to expect that the present
disturbance will be any different in
that respect,
The President undoubtedly has
started off In the right direction (In
holding confidence by the selection pf
his cabinet members. He picked a
group which is generally conceded to
be well balanced between conserva.
tives and liberals. That fact Is made
the more appareut from conversations
which one hears among the conserva.
tives and the liberals of the Presi.
dent's party In congress. The con
servatives claim there are more con
servatives in the cabinet than there
are liberals and the liberals claim
they hold a majority. Even some of
the breast-beating radicals lay claim
to Roosevelt recognition of thelr
philosophy In the official family, Such
a cabinet, therefore, must be de
seribed as well balanced, and on the
same basis it Is to be assumed all of
those factions will stick with the Pres
ident for awhile,
In the meantime, however, there is
that sickening cry of the suffering;
the plea of men who are: losing thelr
farms, the wail of those whose savings
are being wiped out by falling banks,
It gives rise to the question: will con-
gress keep its head and try to enact
sound legislation? Or will it yield to
the clamor to "fix things up” and at-
tempt to do so by undermining the
currency, by voting out additional bil
lions in loans to corporations with in-
curable diseases and to states to spend
every which way, and cause additional
burdens of taxes to be saddled on
those who carry the load?
There appears to be a very real
danger of this situation. Further,
ger that congress will go too far in
harassing big business,
must be legitimate business some
where, [I know that many of the Dem-
ocratic wheelhorses are a little
alarmed They think the
upon which the President is depending
can be undermined in t
» * »
As Republican office holders file out
from their jobs throughout the coun-
try and the Demo-
crates march up to
the counter
der the mandate of
November election, things
transpiring here in Washington
appear to the observers to some-
thing this hub of the
political The “regulars” In
both becoming con-
cerned
Ordinarils
ministration has taken place su
have just experienced,
stick together and
]
ils and the “outs”
New Things
Transpiring pie
the
be
new even in
universe,
major parties are
about it.
when a change in
the “ins”
ail of the
back awhile
we
weize
wit
and suffer,
those
thelr poise
licked
i as the minority,
To the extent that the are
seizing the spolls, the recent change
in control of the government has pre
nothing 3ut the “outs™
are not sitting silently awaiting better
juck. They have begun to build battle
lines
In the meantime, within each of the
major parties other movements
taking place. Within the ranks
the Republicans, that is, the old
line party men and women, there is a
effort to rid the party of
who failed to stand
hitched to the Republican platform
and candidates, Within the ranks of
the Democrats, there is a very definite
effort, just as concerted as exists
among the Republicans, whereby the
conservative wing of the party In
power will have its feathers clipped.
in other words, the regular Repub-
licans are fighting to retain control of
their party and the liberal and radical
Democrats are struggling
mighty effort to capture
their party,
The new Democrats apparently feel
their oats. They want recognition, It
is a problem with whizh the old-tim-
ers have not been compelled to deal
before. Frankly, they are puzzled.
® » -
who were to
np
“ins
sented new
two
are
of
concerted
the individuals
control of
While this was going on,
Norris, of Nebraska, who was elected
as Republican, but
who always has
been the bell sheep
of the progressive
flock, was going forward with some
ideas of hiz own about establishing a
new bloc. He proposed that those of
liberal tendencies band together and
organize a group which could maintain
a headquarters in Washington, to op-
erate freely and without affiliation
with either major party, and 8 wield
the power which he insisted they had
available to them.
The Norris proposition seemed to be
a direct answer to the blast by Sena.
tor Reed, the Pennsylvania Republican
who often has been described as prob.
ably the most regular of all regular
Republicans. Senator Reed makes no
bones about the situation, He says
the time has come to kick out those
who have been wearing a Republican
label at election times when they are
candidates, and who then jump the
reservation, '
But when Senator Norris announced
his ideas about the progressive bloe,
the Reed declaration assumed new
significance to the observers. On the
surface, It may seem to be just an
ordinary party fight, yet the under.
current gossip contains suggestions
that here ually may be the beginning
of a pew alignment In politics,
In every campaign, each major party
has fired blank shells at the opponents
about thelr reactionary tendencies.
Each party has entered the claim to
being the better equipped to adapt the
federal government to the new condi
tions, It has happened year after
year.
Now, however, as a result of the
Reed declaration of principles, the
Norris command to the progressives,
the movement among the younger mem:
bers of the house and the generally
disturbed conditions, some folks actu.
ally are looking for the segregation of
conservatives in one party and
radicals in the other, E
© 1952, Western Newspaper Union,
Norris Plans
New Bloc
Howe About:
A Proud Human Being
Russia’s Plight
Something Wrong
By ED HOWE
HE proudest human being I have
ever encountered turned up today
as an elevator operator in a depart
ment store; a girl of nineteen and
rather good looking. The floor man
ager told me she received $8 a week,
What is the base of her pride? Prob
ably the talk of love In moving ple
ture plays and in magazine stories;
the exaggerated compliments the man
pays the woman when trying to entrap
her. 1 find no fault with the girl; she
is the product of an age in which ev-
eryone pursues wrong policles: prob
ably her father is as proud because he
is a voter as his daughter ig because
she Is a girl. I am not proud about
anything, but there are so many mis
takes 1 am accommodated.
» » .
A common and mistaken notion Is
that the people, after living many
the easiest and best way, and stil)
I have scarcely
who did not make this
One Dr
York city
ly, and wrote
of Russia
“1
sloft a bea
man
or offer a remedy.
tobinson, of
had the idea very stror
Spe
New
is the
which holds
and
the a
and stupidly
sands of years since
puting }
one it has been foll
for these thou
it emerged from
During the past summer Doctor Rob
tells an entirely different
glory
in Lenin
ner va
€n
and wrote of them: “Our
=
tglinnd
iBIBNG
in In oon
was very deg
sified wherever |
uneastable : the
trains 8
the general inefficiency. In
ways a suf
like pig pens, becau
focating. stench: mobs
of ragged, barefoot people lying
He visited the
hospital In Leningrad and an
i
i
not eat the food
overpowering
on the
nd best
floor. largest a
said
offered patients.
At Moscow he visited
room where workers in a
tory ste their meals, and
prisoners in Sing Sing have better and
more abundant food. The
the dining
textile fac
says the
average
month; the
power of & ruble varies from 2
cents. Everywhere he saw long
purchasing
to 10
lines
sup
] walling six
plies: one man had
hours.
He found Kiev had had
been
18 changes
each
of administration in two
the other in the
He
Years,
work of
Soviet
tyranny ;
“I re
writes, “that
on per
declares the
intolerable
conclude,” he
in a vast prison, a hopeless hell, be
cause of the iron attempt to make the
entire country conform to the rules of
Marxism, or Communism." He went
everywhere, and wrote at great length
about his wisit, but found nothing to
commend,
Before starting on his trip he had
declared that Russia was the one
country in which the relations between
the sexes had been put on 8 healthy
normal basis; on his return he said
he did not see a single happy woman's
face; scarcely a decent, comfortable
looking or contented man.
. * »
There is something wrong with the
story that times are good when farm-
ers receive high prices for their pro-
duce. In Russia eggs sell at 10 cents
each: beef at $1.50 a pound; butter
at $2 a pound Yet times are very
hard in Russia; the farm problem
there Is worse than in the United
States, where lately 1 pald 17 cents
for a plece of boiling beef, and it pro-
vided excellent soup and meat for
lunch three days. (I told the story to
a visitor from 100 miles away, and
he beat it a cent with a story about
a plece of boiling mutton.) With us
eges are 2 cents each; butter 25 cents
a pound; wheat and corn so plentiful
and cheap that corn ig being burned
for fuel and wheat fed to eattle and
hogs. There is also something wrong
with the story of Malthus, an ancient
still being admired for great wisdom.
He declared it was inevitable that pop-
ulation tended to overtake and outrun
the means of subsistence. In the Unit:
ed States there is a surfeit of food; so
much clothing that manufacturers are
compelled to shut down. The people
having produced too much food, the
big talkers now say the remedy is to
tax the people as a means of making
food scarcer and higher priced.
. 80
1 am tired hearing old things of no
great interest talked about over and
over. As a young man reaches adult
years, he begins thinking of mating
The same thing has been going on
some millions of years, but we talk
about it today as though such a thing
never happened before, and watci: the
ory DT IE a a
t new
‘mnt in himen tature. © ;
© 1058, Bell Syndioate ~WNU Bervice