wn By EDWARD W. PICKARD "JF BE east Texas oil field was the scene of the worst school dis- aster in history. The London Con- solidated rural school, a few miles north of Henderson, was demolished by a tremendous gas explosion and more than 600 children and their teachers were killed. The horror that followed wrought such confusion that Gov. James V. Allred declared martial law in the vicinity of the school, and ordered National Guard troops to the scene. He previously had ordered all state highway patrolmen in the area to proceed there. President Roosevelt, hearing at Warm Springs about the horrible disaster, was most distressed and urged the Red Cross ‘and all of the government agencies’ to stand- by and render every assistance pos- sible. Albert Evans, flood disaster head in Little Rock, Ark., and his staff rushed to the stricken Texas town, and all communities within reach gave aid to the extent of their capacity. The blast smashed to bits the main structure of the educational plant that was termed the largest rural school in America and the richest in the world. About 740 children and 38 teachers were in the building at the time and nearly all who were not killed out- right were injured. Of the latter it was believed many would not re- cover. Fifty or more mothers of the young victims were attending a par- ent-teacher association meeting In the school gymnasium, a separate sons and daughters flying through the air. The women raced to the wrecked structure with screams of agony their bare hands. For a few minutes after the roof caved in, leaving jagged remnants medieval castle, flames shot out above the wreckage. ing was of fireproof construction and feed upon, soon died out. killed, had just left the building. plosion came,” he said. ‘‘There wasn't much noise. lifted up, then the walls and the roof fell in. fell out a minute. It's unbelievable.’ Highway police, National Guards- men and workers from all nearby oil wells managed store some semblance of order at the scene, roping off the campus and systematically carrying on the task of getting out the bodies of the dead. From the oil well machine shops were brought acetylene torches to burn away the steel girders while trucks hauled on heavy iron chains, pulling the debris away from the building. The great force of the blast was taken as proof that the disaster was caused by the ignition. of natural gas which was used to heat the school plant. Unable, because of all the confusion, to ascertain the cause of the explosion, that someone attempted to light a heater which accidentally had been left turned on. The “wet gas’’ used, which comes from oil wells on the school campus, is odorless and so would have given no warning. VIDENCE of good sportsman- ship is to accept the outcome when one has had a chance to pre- sent a fair case to a fair tribunal, said Associate Jus- tice James C. Mc- Reynolds of the Su- preme court in an extemporaneous talk at a fraternity ban- quet in Washington. It was the first time a member of the court had expressed his views on rela- tionship of the court to the government since the President Justice made his proposal McReynolds for packing the tribunal, and op- ponents of that plan were encour- aged to hope other of the justices might be induced to appear before the senate judiciary committee and tell what they think of it. Justice McReynolds, who is seventy-five years old, has voted against the New Deal fourteen times and for it twice. Near the end of his talk the jus- tice said: “I should like to be op- timistic. I should like to tell you that the situation is rosy. I can’t. But I like to believe in the courage of the American people, and I hope they may make a solution of which they may be proud.” Edward 8. Corwin, professor of constitutional law at Princeton, was heard by the senate committee in support of the President's bill and ke got along very nicely until Sen- ator Burke, leader of the opposition, called his attention to a speech the professor made a year ago and a book he wrote 25 years ago, in both of which he expressed views quite different from those he seemingly now holds. Then Senator Tom Con- nally took a hand in the question- ing: ‘Now you say the court is biased. You want to add six new justices who will be biased in the other di- rection, don't you?” Professor Corwin evaded a direct answer for some time, but Senator Connally demanded to know whether he did not support the President's plan for this purpose. “Well, that is one of the reasons,” the witness said. The American Federation of La- bor, like its opponent, the C. 1. O,, has favored the President's court plan, though rather mildly, but President William Green, when he appeared before the senate commit- tee, was even less emphatic in his approval of it. He denied that the court as now constituted ‘has as- sumed dictatorial power or that its members have not the mental ca- pacity or the necessary learning." Senator Wheeler said he was un- der pressure from organized labor because of his position against the Roosevelt program, but he declared he would not change. He said Maj. George L. Berry, the President's co-ordinator for industrial co-opera- tion and also head of labor's Non- partisan League, “has had a man traveling through Montana at gov- against me." “J nant debate concerning the sit- down strike and there were de- mands for a congressional investi- gation of this new labor. Majority Leader lobinson said: ““Manifestly the sit- down strike is un- not individual or to seize or possession of retain 4 4 prop- i % d of the employer for However, he added, it was diffi- Supreme court has passed on the validity of the Wagner-Connery labor relations act. Senator Johnson of California sit-down strike is the most ominous The Democratic senate whip, Sen- nois, vehemently criticized sit-down tactics of labor and demanded in- vestigation by congress. “Is the United States a government?’ Lew- is asked. “Every form of com- merce is being torn apart under the name of controversy between employer and employee, leading to the danger of national riots.” IT-DOWN strikers, ordered by J Circuit Judge Allen Campbell of Detroit to evacuate the Chrysler plants, defied the court when the writ of injunction was served on them and declared they would re- main ‘“‘to the death.” The sheriff said he had done his full duty until he received further instructions from the court and the judge was await- ing application from the Chrysler lawyers for writs of contempt. Meanwhile Gov. Frank Murphy, who had hurried home from Flori- da, set up a committee to con- ciliate the many strikes in that area and to devise a legislative program to dispose of future labor disputes. Rev. Frederic Siedenburg, S. J., executive dean of the University of Detroit, was named chairman of the committee. It has twenty-three members drawn from representa- tives of civic, industrial, religious and labor institutions. Since the committee was limited to four members for labor, Homer Martin, international president of the United Automobile Workers of America, the union waging the city's outstanding strikes against Chrysler Corporation and Hudson Motors, rejected the governor's in- vitation to U. A. W. A. member- ship on the committee, A MELIA EARHART left Oak- land, Calif., in her “flying lab- oratory” for what promises to be the greatest adventure of her ad- venturous life—a 27,000 mile flight around the world, following gen- erally the equator. Her first hop of 2,400 miles took her to Honolulu. With her in the Lockheed Electra twin motored plane were Capt. Harry Manning and Fred Noonan, navigators, who were to leave the plane at Hawaii, and Paul Mantz, Amelia's technical adviser, who was to continue with her to Dar- win, northern Australia. ARRINER 8. ECCLES, chair- man of the Federal Reserve board, started something when he issued a warning against the dan- ni p gers in inflationary price rises, which are due, he says, chiefly to foreign armament demands, strikes and monopo- listic practices by certain groups in both industry and organized labor. He argued for continu- ance of low interest . rates but said the M.S. Eccles pydget should be balanced and taxes on incomes and profits should be raised, if neces- sary, ‘to sustain the volume of re- lief and at the same time bring the budget into balance and permit the paying down of public debt as private debt expands.” The federal reserve system, said Mr. Eccles, ‘‘is powerless to main- tain a stable economy unless other essential nonmonetary factors nec- essary to stability are brought into line either by private interests or by the government.” This statement, presumably made ident Roosevelt, istration leaders were taxes and receipts. Generally they agreed that there will be no exten- may be the Eccles warning will OPE PIUS in a long encyclical condemned communism as ‘‘the ruin of family and society” and erywhere to combat it by recogniz- ing ‘‘the inalienable rights of the working man.”’ He accused the com- munists of having played upon the susceptibility of the working classes with promises of alleviation of “many undeniable abuses." HAT controversy between May- or La Guardia of New York and the German Nazis degenerated into a riot of abusiveness on both sides. German Ambassador Luther again asked and received an apology from Secretary Hull after La Guardia had called Reichsfuehrer Hitler ‘“‘satis- faktionfahig''-—a man without hon. or. And Mr. Hull politely expressed his weariness with the whole squab- ble. In Berlin Ambassador Dodd was telling Foreign Minister Neu rath that the anti-American cam- paign in the German press should be stopped, and both those diplo- mats were pictured as ready to call it all off. ADELINE LA FERRIERE, a beautiful Parisienne, stirred up a pretty scandal when she shot and slightly wounded Count Charles de Chambrun, former French am- bassador to Italy. The young wom- an asserted the count had caused her to lose the love of a '‘great Italian’ man of state whose affec- tions she had won in recent inter- views. She has made many trips to Rome, where she was received in diplomatic society, and is known ranted several inter- Paris papers did not mention Mus- did not hesitate to say that he was the ‘‘great Italian’ involved. labor relations board of violating ing ‘ruthless’ methods in trying to break the strike of 6,000 workers in six of its plants. The corporation employes; plants. France, coasts of Spain designed to isolate the civil war as provided for by the neutrality agreement entered into by 27 nations. The two latter na- tions are guarding the government coast and the two former the Fascist shore line. Ships going to Spain are required to halt at designated ports for inspection and agents of the international committee will ei- ther certify that no arms or volun- teers are aboard. or will accompany the vessels to Spain. HE Creusot works of the famous old Schneider armaments firm in France has been expropriated by the French government and formal possession will be taken by decree. Everything in the workshops and stores of the firm which has to do with the manufacture of arms— tools, machinery, and stocks—will be taken over. D R. ELIHU THOMPSON, one of the country’s famous inventors, a contemporary and friend of Thomas A. Edison, died in Swamp- scott, Mass., at the age of eighty- four. His scientific discoveries and inventions were numerous, but he is perhaps best known as the discov erer of electric welding and the in vention of the cen gal cream separator and the centrifuge, an in- strument used in biological labora (obb what ny } thinks about: Windsor's Finances. ANTA MONICA, CALIF. — By latest reports, the duke of Windsor must start life as a married man reduced to a per- 000, plus guaranteed annual re- mittances amounting to but a beggarly $100,000 more. To be sure, as the old saying is, two can live as cheaply as one—if one of the two hap- pens to be a gold- fish or even a ca- nary—but otherwise the notion hasn't worked out under modern conditions, wives these days being what wives are these days. Still, they do say Mrs. Simpson is pretty handy with a skillet, which, on the cook's Thurs- days off, ought to save getting in extra kitchen help; and what with there being no crown jewels to keep polished and installment houses just crying to help all young honeymoon- ers out—you furnish the bird, we furnish the nest!—Well, by scrimp- ing, the couple should get by, don’t you think? Irvin 8S. Cobb Washington Rumors. OW rumors do float about—es- pecially in the neighborhood of Washington. Well, Washington al- ways has been kind of a windy place. First we hear a boom is to started for Mrs. Roosevelt to ceed the President at the sion of his term. This is promptly denied and the question arises—how is that loyal soul, Uncle Jim Farley, going to stand the strain of waiting until Sistie Dahl gets old enough to run? Uncontradicted as yet is the other report that the White House craves to revive the NRA, under another set of initials and-—let us hope—with a better-looking Blue Eagle than that first one was. * » * “Sweeping” Inquiries. FTER every major disaster which conceivably was pre- ventable, we have a "sweeping in- quiry' or a ''searching probe’ —it depends on which phrase the re- porters like best—to fix the blame. Rarely does anything come of this, but it must indeed be a great con- solation to the widows and the or- phans of the victims. Seemingly, it never occurs to any- one to make the said investigation before the tragedy occurs, with a view of out defective mechanism or imperfect construc tion then. We are a great people for shut. ting the stable door after the horse is gone—shutting it good and tight so the probers may have leisure for their probing. Defying a Glacier. N ALASKA, the Revell family are defying Black Rapids glacier which, without seeming provocation and after remaining perfectly calm for several million years, suddenly started coming down upon them, rumbling and roaring and acting up generally as it advances. Its icy snout is only about a mile away from their roadhouse now, but they're still serving ye olde blue plate special-—choice of jello or be SuUc- conclu- The Revells couldn't be New York people. In New York, everybody strives to move at least once every two years, whether there's reason for it or not. A lady flat dweller there likes the scriptural promise of a house of many mansions because it gives her such a warm glow to think of spending eternity shifting from one mansion to another, re- Crime and Punishment. T A recent trial in New York for a hideous murder, the law- yer for the killer—who, incidentally, had confessed—wound up his plea with this old and reliable and beau- tifully logical standby: “Putting this man in the electric chair will never bring back the woman he slew-—remember that, Gentlemen of the jury.” But putting a brutal killer in the electric chair will never bring him back either, which, after all, is the main idea, isn't it, Gentlemen of any rational jury? IRVIN §. COBB. © Western Newspaper Union. Selecting Indian Chiefs In some tribes, such as the Iro- quois and some Pueblo tribes, cer- tain chieftaincies were always se- lected from a particular clan. While there were hereditary chieftaincies among certain other groups, as a matter of practice such offices were usually elective. It is possible that the political system of the Iroquois influenced the democratic style of government of the United States. Probably the only example in North America of a power analogous to and based on reli ing the fun except for her t “party” to sew, he neat sweet i she 8s wearing uble at all but— And I ere’'s the Story. iid you really and elegant wear- | n't begin to have | r clothes if I didn't Mother Made Daughter's Dress. $1 aren't you 1 business pretty young?" “*No, Auntie Rose, of course not. | I've another one just like it that Grandma made for me. It's red | and it has blue bands around it I'm going to wear it to school tomorrow. “Well, 1 see where I've get some silks and crepe, up my nerve, and have like other people I we join. the Jolly Twelve but I felt 1 wear. Now I've decided to join | The Sewing Circle and make al real fashion debut, come Spring!" | ted to} Just didn't have to | The Patterns. Pattern 1237 is for sizes 34 to | 46. Size 36 requires 4%; yards of | 35 inch material plus five-eighths | of a yard contrasting Pattern 1241 is cut in sizes 14 to 20 (32 to 44 bust). Size 16 re | quires 4% yards of 39 inch ma- terial and 1% yards of ribbon | ffowehold & @ Questions Home Made Crackers—Sift to- teaspoonful With a knife or tips of the fingers (the last is preferable). Knead slightly —just to get into shape—then roll into a very thin sheet, stamp with cutters, or cut into rectangular pieces with a sharp knife, prick with a fork, and bake a delicate brown. » * » Cretonne slip covers will retain their color better if washed in bran water. * » » Clear boiling water will remove tea stains from table linen. » * » Sweet Prunes—A ery delicious as well as unusual way of serving prunes for breakfast is to soak them in fruit juices. Whenever a jar of fruit is opened save the juices and put a few prunes in the jar. When they have become swollen they are ready to be eaten. - * * Keep the top on the milk bottle so the milk does not absorb ice box or refrigerator odors from other foods. * * » A little salt added to an egg before beating makes it light and easier to beat. . * \a To make perfect muffins com- bine all dry ingredients, then add liquids quickly, stirring but not beating. Do aot stir after ingredi- ents are moistened. Fill muffin pans two-thirds full and if mix- ture looks lumpy it will smooth out during baking. . » Rugs should be turned around every six months. Frequent turn- ing causes them to wear evenly. ng WNU Service. 124) oo s 2% yards 10 trim ribbon are Bell Pattern designs from the Bar- well-planned easy-to- Interesting and for little chil- dren and the difficult junior age; Bell afternoon particular women and matrons and patterns for special occa- are all to be found in the Book. Send mature figure; pv 4 Most sions Send your order to The Sewing Dept., Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Il. Patterns 15 cents (in coins) each. © Bell Syndicate, —~WNU Service. Why Laxatives = Fail In Stubborn Constipation Twelve to 24 hours is too long to walt when relief from clogged bowels and constipation is needed, for then enor. mous quantities of bacteria accumu. late, causing GAS, indigestion and many restiess, sleepless nights. If you want REAL, QUICK RELIEF, take a liquid compound such as Ad. lerika. Adierika contains SEVEN ca- thartic and carminative ingredients that act on the stomach and BOTH bowels. Most “overnight” laxatives contain one ingredient that acts on the lower bowel only. Adlerika’s DOUBLE ACTION gives your system a thorough cleansing, bringing out old poisonous waste mat. ter that may have caused GAS pains, sour stomach, headaches and sleepless nights for months, Adlerika relieves stomach GAS at once and usually removes bowel con. gestion in less than two hours. Ne waiting for overnight results. This famous treatment has been recom. mended by many doctors and drug. pists for 35 years. Take Adlerika one. half hour before breakfast or one hour before bedtime and in a short while you will feel marvelously refreshed. At all Leading Druggists, Today Yesterday's Pupil Each day is the scholar of yes- terday.—Syrus. WOMEN'S AILMENTS hig lik ii i Enh
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers