Base Map © American Map Co
natorial election;
Politics
Like all natural phenomena and
many not so natural, U. S. political
fortunes run in cycles of liberalism
and conservatism. Thus every
lengthy Republican administration
has been succeeded by a shorter
Democratic one, attesting to the
American people's inherent conserv-
atism. Since the Republican party
reached its latest low ebb under
Candidate Alfred Landon in 1936,
none but the most optimistic expect-
ed anything but a minor gain so
early as 1938. But it has proved
otherwise, thanks to (1) a growing
belief that the Roosevelt administra-
tion's expensive recovery efforts
have been unsuccessful, and (2) a
fear that New Deal policies were en-
couraging the growth of radicalism.
Moreover, it has been apparent
that the public must eventually pro-
test against the political corruption
which unavoidably gathers around
so large a financial project as WPA.
Though the Roosevelt administration
may be blameless in this respect,
such political machines as that of
Pennsylvania's Gov. George H.
Earle have unsavory reputations.
Another consideration, one that re-
ceived less attention than eventually
proved justified, was dissatisfaction
among America's numerically im-
portant farmers. Since the agricul-
tural vote can control congress, it
looked bad for the administration
when this year’s highly touted farm
program failed. Despite Secretary
of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace's
sincere efforts,
islation has left producers in north-
ern states without permanent relief.
Almost without exception the No-
vember general election has there-
fore made the U. S. return to its
most normal political alignment in
15 years. (See Map). Always Dem-
ocratic, the ‘‘solid South’ has clung
tenaciously to tradition. But this
tradition does not mean the South
will line up 100 per cent behind
President Roosevelt, for South Car-
olina, Georgia and Maryland elect-
with the New Deal.
southern senators and congressmen,
not up for re-election this year,
are also unsympathetic.
Though in many cases the Repub-
lican trend is not so great as the
above map might indicate, practi-
cally all northern states have shown
a surge back to conservatism. This
was especially marked in Minnesota
and Wisconsin, where Farmer-Labor
and Progressive partisans
ousted after long incumbencies.
cratic Gov. Frank Murphy largely
because he sympathized with the
radically tinged Committee for In-
dustrial Organization. In all north-
western states the swing to Repub-
licanismm was due partly to agricul-
tural dissatisfaction. New England's
industrial population rebelled
against allegedly oppressive taxa-
tion and the C. I. O., while this ter-
ritory’'s traditional conservatism
also played an important role. Sub-
stantially the same explanation can
be made for votes in Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
The only important New Deal
gains have come in California,
where a rock-ribbed Republican
governor was ousted; in North Da-
kota, whose notoriously unsettled
political situation has freakishly
placed a Democrat in the governor's
chair, and in Maryland.
But such a resume does not tell
the entire story, for even those
states which remained Democratic
have shown an amazingly strong Re-
publican upsurge. New York's Gov.
Herbert H. Lehman won by only
70,000 votes over his Republican op-
ponent, youthful Thomas E. Dewey,
whereas two years ago Mr. Leh-
man had a 500,000 margin. Illinois,
which remains predominantly New
Deal, increased its Republican house
representation and returned a much
larger conservative vote than in
1936.
Having gained at least 8 senators,
75 house members and 11 governors,
the Republican party once more has
a vocal minority in congress. More-
over its 1940 presidential hopes are
better, despite the defeat in New
York of Tom Dewey, once consid-
ered a likely candidate. If the 1938
dential possibilities, they are Ohio's
Republican Sen. Robert Taft and
Business
Government prosecution of com-
binations in alleged
trade was known as ‘‘trust-busting’
in the days of President Benjamin
Harrison. In 1890 the Sherman anti-
trust law began hacking at financial
octopi in what was shown to be a
legitimate campaign to keep Ameri-
can industry from killing itself by
mushroomed growth.
Modern trust-busting is an out-
growth of the New Deal. Its in-
tended victim is not the monopo-
listic trust of bygone days, but usu-
ally a group of powerful corpora-
tions which dominate an industry.
But though the 1938 model trust
(17 victories, 12 cases still pending,
out of 42 filed since March 4, 1933)
he might also be charged with mak-
ing political capital of his job.
Thus it has been hinted that So-
licitor General Robert H. Jackson,
once an assistant attorney general,
joined the anti-trust crusade last
year largely in the hope of winning
rial nomination. If politics was the
inspiration for some anti-trust suits,
these same suits have now become
such hot potatoes that a vanished
justice department’s dropping them.
One possible example may be the
trust case against the Aluminum
Company of America.
To date this year-old investiga-
tion has failed to uncover much ex-
cept a re-hash of testimony and evi-
| dence from the 1935 federal trade
commission's probe, and a private
litigation of a decade ago from
which the company emerged with a
Champ Clark.
What the Republican upsurge will
do for the U. S. remains conjectural,
but post-election stock market activ-
ity has been encouraging. To aid
industry, the American Federation
of Labor is already banking on G.
O. P. congressional aid in amend-
ing the Wagner labor relations act.
The outstanding fact is that 1938's
Republican party has emerged a
liberal entity,
former ultra-conservatism,
Foreign
|
international importance is some-
times hard to believe, since state
visitors make a studied effort to
avoid shop talk with their hosts. But
diplomatic Great Britain refuses to
minimize the significance of King
George's visit to the U. S. next
summer, and every sign indicates
the English reasoning is correct.
Coupled with the U. S. visit iz an
invitation for French President Al-
ham palace next spring, thereby re-
turning the honor accorded by
Today’ 8 anti-trust division of the
justice department has 90 lawyers
compared with 15 in 1933, handling
THURMAN
New technique:
ARNOLD
Price policing.
summer. While all this sounds like
France and England are desperate-
cle of democratic solidarity, offset-
ting the trumpeting of Premier Be-
nito Mussolini and Chancellor Adolf
Hitler. Though King George's visit
will not result in a U. S.-British
pact, it will certainly tighten the
bonds between England and Amer-
ica.
This means that next spring and
summer Italy and Germany will go
into eclipse, while world democra-
cy stages its show. There is every
KING GEORGE VI
How important is his visit?
reason to believe the Fascist-Nazi
nations appreciate this and realize
they must gain their concessions
from France and Britain within the
next six months. That is why Hit-
ler is pressing his demands for a
return of British-mandated colonies,
and why Mussolini is urging inter-
nationalization of the Suez canal.
People
The death of Turkey's dictator,
President Kemal Ataturk, removes
the most colorful totalitarianist of
our era. A man whose passion was
violation of every accepted rule of
human behavior, he customarily
stayed up all night, ate every food
that disagreed with him, had an
amazingly large capacity for raki
liquor and champagne, was Tur-
key’s champion cigarette smoker
and drank gallons of coffee every
day. He detested exercise. More
benevolent and less anxious for self-
aggrandizement than most dicta-
tors, Mustapha Kemal established a
model nation out of the post-war
debris of Turkey. At his death, the
nation he founded looks in bewil-
derment for a successor, while Eu-
rope fears southeastern-bound Adolf
Hitler may seize the opportunity to
establish his economic strength in
the Dardanelles.
connected with 31 other major acts
of congress, Trust-busting boss is
vestigating the price policies of in-
Arnold: “We are
being forced to take control of in-
flexible price structures and coer-
cions in restraint of trade today just
as in 1933 we were forced to take
control of the financing and market-
Much interest now centers in the
justice department's newly inaugu-
rated suit against Delaware's Co-
lumbia Gas & Electric corporation
for allegedly ‘‘conspiring to monopo-
lize'"” the natural gas industry of
Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and
Michigan. But in accordance with
his probe of price policies, Thur-
man Arnold is probably more inter-
ested in oil. Since crude oil prices
recently plummeted in the wake of
alleged over-production by refiner.
ies, both the President and Mr. Ar-
nold favor a program for state con-
trol over oil production and refin-
ing.
Harking back to the trust-busting
days when Standard Oil's case first
made the U. S. monopoly-conscious.
the new probe will examine every
phase of the oil industry from pro
duction to marketing. Though oil
men will welcome an intelligent gov
ernment program to stabilize crude
oil prices, observers fail to see great
consistency between this program
to raise prices, and other monopoly
quizzes which prosecute men for
Religion
After 31 months of strife, four
months of which cost 1,317 lives
and left 1,150 wounded, Palestine’s
“holy war’ is still not ended. The
British-mandated territory has been
Arabic for centuries but was set
aside as a homeland for Jews fol
lowing the World war, only to arouse
Moslem fears that Hebrews would
soon dominate the land. Using ter.
rorism as their weapon, Arabs have
attempted to force an immediate
settlement on slow-moving Great
Britain, but London has just an.
nounced its refusal to make an im-
mediate decision. Great Britain
proposes to call a conference of Jew-
ish and Arab leaders whose com:
promise agreement would wash
Great Britain's hands of all respon
sibility for the Holy Land. This
would be fine except that Arabs re
fuse to arbitrate in this fashion,
which leaves Palestine’s problem
still a hopeless muddle.
Miscellany
An Evanston, Ill., woman has
been granted a patent for a pair of
pockets to be hung over her cocker
spaniel's head, carrying his ears
for him,
® In 12 months just past, the Meth
odist Episcopal church of America
increased its membership by 181.
297, approximately 1 per cent.
WASHINGTON.—I believe it can
is not their fault en-
story escapes them even
headlines on the front page. Nor
It seems to be true, never-
ality that we call ‘“‘the public’ has
considered fully the significance of
Existence of this condition, how- |
is warrant for an attempt at |
the railroad industry. |
added to it the suggesticn also that |
too, in connection with the |
try. Indeed, prospective develop-
There were, of course, the many
dangers of a financial character |
with which the railroads were be- |
set. There followed the attempt of |
railroad management to reduce ex- |
penses by a program cutting wages |
of the workers by 15 per cent, and |
there came almost immediately |
thereafter the dread specter of a
strike threat by the million or more
rail workers who are highly union-
ized. After that, in the sequence of |
events was President Roosevelt's
utilization of the law providing for |
fact finding commission for the first |
time.
It is necessary only as a further |
review to recall that the fact find-
ing commission heard days of testi-
mony and reported to the President |
that a wage cut was unjustified. |
But the commission made no con- |
structive suggestions. As a matter |
of fact, it added nothing to the total |
of human knowledge, but it got a |
lot of publicity for its findings.
Legislation to Relieve
Railroads Up to Congress
The problem was, thereupon, left |
in Mr. Roosevelt's lap. He called
in the representatives of the rail
managements and the leaders of the
The rail executives were
cut, if there were any way
going bankrupt—more than half of
the mileage being already in the
hands of receivers.
reiterated they did not want to strike
get on their feet,
jobs. J. J. Pelley,
the rail lines, asked then what the
government could or would do, and
So there we are today.
be no strike.
There will
There will be consid-
And it will be sup-
ported by Mr. Roosevelt's adminis-
But I am wondering whether the
country as a whole is fully aware of
is behind the troubles that
awakened the country as a
tion in which the railroads find
derlying conditions that we are go-
ing to find a solution. None can deny
that we need rail transportation;
none can deny that they either must
operate without losses or else they
are going to be left in the lap of
the government, and what a terri-
ble mess that would be, for govern-
ment seldom runs anything without
making a mess of it. The rail prob-
lem, its relation to other forms of
transportation, the public interest,
national policy, all must be threshed
It can not be longer
avoided without increasing the dan-
gers of genuine national suffering.
Public Has Tremendous
Responsibility to Bear
When consideration of the various
phases of the condition gets under
way, if it is done thoroughly, con-
gress must give attention to a re-
vision of some of its long-established
policies. They are basic. When I
am talking about the plight of the
railroads, I am, at the same time,
condemning to the very core some
of the high-handed brigandage, thiev-
ery, corruption, that went on among
so-called captains of industry a few
generations ago. That stealing, that
corruption (in which politics figured
amazingly) put the railroads in dis-
ed interstate commerce commission
saw to that job. Yet, the stigma
and lack of public good will remains
to curse the carriers that operate
over steel rails.
So, there is first the need for a
ments now display. The public must
sibility to bear in connection with
this phase.
Next,
the really important phases,
question of continued subsidy, both
direct and indirect,
given by the government to compe-
like the bus and the truck and the
automotive industry generally.
and private automobiles by the mil-
lions stands as a monument, a
marker, showing where that subsidy |
was distributed. The thousands of
miles of hard roads, all-year roads,
who can
the greatest steps for progress?
Monster of Competition
Cuts Railroad Earnings
Of course, road construction was
necessary. It was vital. The na-
tional policy for good highways can
only be praised. Yet, their very
existence is one of the reasons why
the railroads’ income has fallen off,
We see, therefore, a great monster
from taxpayers’ pockets. The rail-
ily taxed of any industry,
of competition.
There was the creation of the in-
terstate commerce commission
some years ago as a unit of govern-
ment for supervision of the rail
lines. It was, and is still, needed.
But its existence, too, has held down
rail earnings. This has resulted
from the control of rates. No rail-
road is permitted to charge more
than a rate approved by the I. C. C.
While the competitors were creep-
ing forward, under governmental
blessing, the I. C. C. was saying to
“You fellows obey
our orders, or else.
Subsidies out of taxpayers’ pockets
petitor, also. I refer to inland wa-
terways and to coastwise shipping.
value that hardly can be measured.
It is as much a part of our national
the attendant motor transport.
as a competitor of the railroads, be-
cause of a paternal government that
Steps Into the Picture
Lately, air transportation has
such efficient air service, nor as
safe air service, as is to be found in
the United States.
express;
passengers are of the type, general-
ly speaking, willing and able to pay
government subsidy in
ways. The air mail doesn't begin
to pay its way; the government
makes up the difference by con-
tracts that call for stated pay-
ments. And consider the scores of
great air fields throughout the coun-
try! The bulk of them are built at
public expense. True, the air lines
pay for the privileges of the field,
but does anyone think that the air
lines could afford to spend $40,000,-
000 to build such a field as that which
serves metropolitan New York?
federal government grant.
build a proper airport.
how the government has
of an expensive character forced
upon the carriers, requirements for
terminals of luxury-type construc-
tion and so on. I believe it unneces-
sary to recount them. Those that
have been enumerated serve to
show where the trouble is. It does
not show the answer, but I believe it
points the way to an answer. The
answer, as I have mentioned above,
certainly can not be found, however,
unless there is genuine study of an
unselfish sort undertaken by con-
© Western Newspaper Union,
’/
Pattern 1203,
A doll's wardrobe for a regula-
tion 14 and 18 inch doll is easily
made when the little dress is just
two identical pieces , . . coat and
tam mainly in stockinette stitch.
Pat.
making coat, tam and dress
shown; illustrations of them and
of all stitches used; material re-
quirements,
Send 15 cents in coins for this
pattern to The Sewing Circle,
Needlecraft Dept., 82 Eighth Ave-
nue, New York, N. Y
WHOEVER
TAKES
ASPIRIN
SHOULD STUDY
THESE PICTURES
Drop a Boyer Tablet In
water—it starts to dis-
integrate in 2 seconds
whence is ready to
“go to work” rapidly
This “Quick Dissolving” Property
is Why BAYER Aspirin Acts Se
Fast to “Take Hold” of Muscular
Aches and Pains
If you suffer with headaches or the
pains of rheumatism or neuritis,
keep the above picture about gen-
uine Bayer Aspirin in your mind.
Especially if quick relief is what
you want,
For the way a Bayer Tablet works
in the glass is the way it works when
you take it. It starts to dissolve al-
most at once — hence is ready to
“take hold” of the rheumatic pain
or headache with astonishing speed.
Relief often comes in a few minutes.
Always ask for
“BAYER Aspirin”
—npever ask for
“aspirin” alone.
Few
The Daring Eye
Who has a daring eye,
downright lies.—Lavater.
OLD FOLKS
Amazing Relief for
Conditions Due to a uggish Bowels
tells
Bley fhats date
ALWAYS CARRY