The Centre reporter. (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, April 29, 1937, Image 3

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    By WILLIAM
TIONAL PRE SE
‘Washington.—Many spineless offi-
cials of the federal government
were horribly
Must Curb ghocked the other
Lewis
day when several
hundred farmers
took matters into their own hands
and drove a bunch of sit-down
strikers out of the great Hershey
chocolate plants in Pennsylvania.
They thought it was terrible that
men who were striking for higher
wages should be beaten and slugged
as the farmers at Hershey, Pennsyl-
vania, treated the sit-down strikers.
The strikers had closed the choco-
late plants, thus cutting off the
daily market for thousands of gal-
lons of milk.
Fortunately for the country the
number of these spineless creatures,
charged with official responsibility,
is very few. But I mention the fact
because therein is a key to some of
the things that have been happen-
ing in the Roosevelt administra-
tion's treatment of the labor dis-
turbances.
I believe no one can support vi-
olence but there can be no doubt
that the federal government is
charged with responsibility for pro-
tecting rights. Rights are possessed
by everyone under our Constitution
and under our form of government
and when a handful of individuals
assume to disregard the rights of
others it becomes something more
than a situation about which soft
words and tears for the down-trod-
den worker are required.
The importance of the action of
the farmers at Hershey, Pennsyl-
vania, cannot be minimized. It is
a straw that points which way the
wind blows. It means that unless
the headlong and unrestrained ac-
tions of John L. Lewis and his labor
agitators are curbed, sooner or later
we will pay with blood; we will
pay with lives of citizens because
the American people always have
insisted and always will insist upon
a square deal.
In treating of conditions within
the country, it is well always to
aveid inflammatory declarations. I
hope 1 am never guilty of unfair-
ness in anything I write. But the
cold fact is that, in this country,
the time has arrived when govern-
ment must make a choice between
tion.
must be protected, but it is equally
who are not members of any union,
be said that the Roosevelt admin-
their sworn duty.
corded Governor Murphy of Mich-
igan for ‘‘settling’’ the strikes in
help wondering whether the term
“settlement’’ is correct when strik-
ers thumbed their noses at the
courts and when law enforcement
officers were told by their superiors
to hold off the execution of court
decrees. It seems to me that we, as
a nation, will have cause to regret
‘“‘settlements’’ of that kind for a
good many years to come.
* » »
I am inclining to the belief that
there is only one word capable of
— describing the at-
Political titude of the Roos-
Cowardice evelt administra-
tion
ter.
Labor has a weapon in the
interests have refused to be fair.
But when labor abuses, instead of
uses, the weapon available to it,
then the time has come to call them
to account just as business interests
are called to account when they vio-
late laws. The difference is that the
ranks of labor involve millions of
votes whereas, the ranks of business
involve only a comparatively small
number of votes. Therefore, by any
line of reasoning I have been able
to follow through, it seems to me
that the federal government's posi-
tion thus far can properly be de-
scribed as political cowardice.
There are a number of reasons
why I think this term is appro-
priate. First, there was the famous
night conference when Mr. Roose-
velt returned from his Georgia va-
cation and talked things over with
the house and senate New Deal
leaders. They emerged from that
meeting with the President, saying
that the federal government could
do nothing; that no federal laws
had been violated and that no re-
quest had come from any proper
authority for federal government in-
tervention.
It makes one laugh, such state-
ments as these. If President Roose-
velt and his administration had de-
sired to curb sit down strikes, does
anyone believe that he could not
have conveyed word to Governor
Murphy of Michigan that he was
willing to help? I think there are
N D (
plenty of grapevines by which word
could have been sent to the Mich-
igan governor and, I truly believe,
that if there had been a request
most overnight.
quite convinced that Mr. Roosevelt
if he seriously wanted to get mixed
up in the labor row.
Then, I am reminded of the very
frequent attacks which were forth-
coming from the White House and
employers and banks and business
generally failed to measure up to
New Deal demands in the recovery
emphasis on those occasions. He
has been completely silent in the
current situation.
» * *
silence through protection given him
by political ma-
Kept neuvering in the
Silent
stance of this, let
me cite the efforts of Senator
McNary of Oregon, the so-called Re-
publican leader, in the senate, who
attempted to put the question di-
rectly to the President. He sought,
when the senate was floundering
and dodging over a resolution con-
demning sit down strikes, to change
the form of the resolution from one
needing only concurrence of the
house to a joint resolution which is
a measure that requires the signa-
ture of the President. Majority
Leader Robinson was quick to block
that maneuvering. No one needs to
tell you, of course, that Mr. Roose-
velt did not want to have that reso-
lution come to him.
So, as a second instance of fed-
eral government sissiness, we see
a subservient majority of New Deal-
ers adopting a resolution which said
in effect, “You naughty boys! You
know it is wrong to indulge in sit
other people's property, and we are
going to slap you on the wrist for
it.”” Well, that was a declaration of
policy but when the resolution was
before the senate they could not
resist the temptation to denounce
Then, we have another cirgum-
stance. Representative Dies, a Tex-
as Democrat, proposed a resolution
know what the
of the house smelled a thorough-go-
ing inquiry into labor organizations
labor groups, into racketeering
where local labor organizations are
in the hands of irresponsible or
scheming radicals. So, the house
sneaked out from under and, as
painlessly as possible, dodged this
issue by depositing the Dies resolu-
tion on the table from which, of
course, it will never be withdrawn.
I called these policies political
cowardice in an earlier statement
in this article. All of the elements
seem to me to be present to justify
ticians who have run away from
several occasions
Talk of to the politics that
Third Term is imbedded in the
situation. There is
so much of politics in the picture
that one hears in the under current
around Washington a discussion of
President Roosevelt's future plans.
It is curious, but it appears possible,
that Mr. Roosevelt may be forced
to run for a third term. Such a
course obviously would break all
precedents, but Mr. Roosevelt likes
to break precedents.
He has stated on several oc-
casions his ambition to leave the
White House in 1940 with the nation
at peace and economically prosper-
ous. This observation has been re-
peated whenever the opportunity
was propitious. On the last occa-
sion, there were a number of ob-
servers in Washington who sus-
tained the same reaction to the de-
claration, namely, that perhaps
and only perhaps—Mr. Roosevelt
had a yearning in his heart to serve
another four years after his pres-
ent term expires. One writer, noted
LoL
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington, D, C.—~WNU Service,
HEN you enter Guatemala
City, you are in the most
populous place in all Cen-
tral America. With a pop-
busy
tels. Its motion picture theaters,
showing mostly American ‘‘talkies”
subtitles, advertise
with big electric signs overhanging
the streets in Broadway style.
At the capital's covered central
of foodstuffs, textiles,
utensils, furniture, and other com-
modities is endless. Its long aisles,
and the streets adjoining the mar-
ket building and cathedral, are al-
ways jammed with a noisy, restless
throng of merchants and buyers.
heavy!
tables and exotic flowers
with the greasy smell
food, the aroma of roasted coffee,
incense.
freshly slaughtered meat. Nor will
they find appetizing the leached
corn mash for tortillas; or arma-
dillos roasted in their shells; or
crude brown sugar pressed into
dirty blocks and But vis-
{tors are delighted with bright trop-
fcal fruits piled in disar-
ray, graceful baskets glazed
balls
artiatie
artistic
and
primitive hand looms.
Guatemalans are proud, and just.
ly so, of the fine coffee grown in
their high in Eng-
lish and Spanish
at every turn
Grows the Best
World.”
On the days when tourist trains
arrive in Guatemala City, the
partment of agriculture holds open
house.
roasted coffee, wrapped in glazed
paper, are presented to each visitor.
They are appropriate souvenirs of
a nation which is the sixth most im-
portant coffee grower in the world,
being exceeded only by Brazil, Co-
lombia, the Netherlands
Venezuela and El Salvador.
The second most important ex-
port is the banana, grown
coastal plains bordering the Gulf of
Honduras and the Pacific.
Airport a Busy Spot.
One of the busiest spots today in
this busiest of Central American
capitals is La Aurora airport. Here
the trunk line of the Pan Amer-
jcan Airways from Brownsville,
Texas, to Panama connects with a
half-dozen local air services to dis-
tant parts of the republic.
Many who do not come to Guate-
mala City by plane, come by boat,
lands. Placards
that
Coffee in the
tropical port. Between steamers
this “back door” to Guatemala
drowses in the shade of tall bread-
fruit trees and coconut palms, and
with the Indians of the coastal la-
goons,
Its dingy water front, ragged por-
ters and fishermen, stifling heat,
and main street pre-empted by rail-
tracks give no promise of
the color and activity of Guate-
mala’s gay, modern capital, high
The first part of the 73-mile jour-
ney to Guatemala City follows a
gently rising plain, whose black vol-
canic soil is planted thickly in ba-
nanas, sugar cane, cotton, cacao,
and fruit trees. Guatemala City is
nearly a mile above sea level, in
the cool and healthful tierra tem-
plada, or temperate zone, and the
train must gain most of this alti
tude in the last fifty miles.”
Not far beyond Palin the line
creeps through a narrow valley be-
tween two towering peaks and
comes out on the edge of mountain-
rimmed Lake Amatition. For sev-
eral miles the railroad winds along
the shore, passing groups of In-
dian women washing clothes in hot
springs at the water's edge. It is
a convenient laundry, for clothes
may be boiled in the springs and
rinsed in the cold fresh water of the
lake without taking a step!
The train approaches Guatemala
City through verdant suburbs which
give way to warehouses and rail
road yards, indicating the commer.
cial activity of this busy Latin
American capital, ~
ture, and very high ceilings.
the air seems a trifle chilly, “Yes,
the winter is just beginning,”
may reply.
“Winter?
in May?
He explains that “winter” in Gua-
temala is the rainy season, May to
October, a period of clouds, damp-
In the tropics? And
hastens to add, ‘part of every day
is fair and sunny.” In “summer,”
November to April, there is little
or no rain, the sun shines through-
out the day, and the people are
healthier and happier.
One may be awakened in the
morning by the clamor of church
bells, the rumble of heavy oxcarts,
and the musical chimes of carriages
bearing worshipers to early mass.
Guatemala City is compactly
Stand on the roof of one of
a clean and pleasant community,
most of whose white, blue, pink,
and buff-colored houses and shops
are one or two stories high. Only
a few concrete business buildings
and stone church towers rise above
Founded in the year the United
States declared its independence,
Guatemala City is a comparative
youngster among the communities
of Latin America. Several times
it has been damaged by earth-
quakes, and in 1817 almost the en-
tire city was destroyed. It has lost
its Old World air, although it still
has many Moorish-type homes with
led windows and patios
aglow with flowers.
Fascinating as is Guatemala City,
however, it is but a prelude to that
native Guatemala which is older in
High
of the capital, pure-blooded Indians
still dress as did their
ancestors,
new, and live their lives al-
r
Until a few years ago, when the
government launched an extensive
road-building program, travel in the
highlands of Guatemala was slow
and arduous. Now one may motor
from the capital westward to the
Mexican border and east to El Sal-
vador.
Motoring Through the Country.
Speeding along the floor of the
of Indians and vehicles bound for
the markets of Guatemala City.
Stolid, earnest-faced men trot by at
by a tumpline across the forehead
that supports the heavy loads on
their backs. For miles, they have
been jogging along at this peculiar,
forward-falling gait.
or wooden frames, they carry goods
of all kinds—earthen jars, furniture,
bags of grain, or fresh vegetables.
Sometimes it
mother's back.
tive costume.
changed in hundreds of years.
those who know the different cos-
might be carrying
their necks reading, "I am from
Solola,” or “I am from Chichicas-
tenango,’’ et cetera.
It iz regrettable, however, that
many of these costumes are disap-
pearing. Native garb has been re-
placed by blue denim and cheap
imported cotton goods throughout
most of El Salvador, and these ma-
terials are now penetrating Guate-
mala. Under the harsh treatment
of the Indian's daily toil, such fab-
rics are quickly reduced to tatters.
Unlike the half-naked aborigines
of the jungle lowlands, or the itin-
erant tradesmen and servants of
the cities, the Indians of the high-
lands of Guatemala have main-
tained a proud semi-independence
as farmers, weavers and pottery
makers.
Conquered but never assimilated,
they are aristocrats among the na-
tive peoples of Central America,
and they are sufficiently well or-
ganized to make mass petitions to
the central government when local
conditions demand it. They have
had much less contact with other
Murmurings of Spring
HES I
, J SOR
{ & \
Bh =
“Okay, Mother, you win,
the subject by
clothes. We'll put on our cullottes
y a round of golf,
at? Gee, Mother, you nev-
“IF YOU'D take a few steps, |
Sis, I believe I'd be inspired
to answer that questi ‘Did you
ever see a dream wa
are less than dev
-truly a menace!’
“You meow so sweetly, Connie
I'm a bit suspiciou }
peplum frock of m thi
you catty. Your eyes really aren't | fact, n, you're just
green by rights, you know." je.”
change
and join you ir
astating | how's tl
oung two-piece
pique is
toc In
about
ine
The Patterns,
1987
Addi
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think sizes
Chow
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st). Size 16
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