Congress Speeds
EDITOR'S NOTE-—When opinions are
expressed in these columns, they are those
of the news analyst, and not necessarily
of the newspaper.
Defense
On January 1, 1936, Japan
scrapped her 5-5-3 naval treaty with
the U. S. and Britain. Subsequently
an arms race started on both land
and sea, precipitated each time Der
Fuehrer or Il Duce made an ag-
gressive step. In the U. S.,, even
loud-mouthed congressmen were
loathe to think of defense in terms
of actual invasion until self-right-
eous Germany swiped Czecho-Slo-
vakia and Memel. Two weeks later
congress got down to talking cases,
passing an unprecedented $513,188,-
000 army appropriations bill in jig
time after war talk like this in the
senate:
Oklahoma's Thomas: “Every na-
tion must be ready every moment
. . . to defend itself.”
Utah's King: “The only possible
danger is from Japan, and
Japan is beating her head against a
stone wall in China. Even if Ger-
SENATOR LUNDEEN
He favored Hitler technique,
many should defeat England, 1
haven't the slightest idea that would
endanger us."
Indiana’s Minton: “Germany
might obtain Bermuda or part of
Canada.”
Minnesota's Lundeen: “Then let
the United States seize Bermuda
and Britain's West Indian posses-
sions to force payment of her war
debts. Andrew Jackson set a prece-
dent in collecting a debt from
France by threatening to seize
French territory in his
sphere.”
Indiana’s Minton: “That would
be adopting the technique of Hit-
Jer.”
Having boosted army funds $52.-
987,000 over the current year's ap-
propriation, congress had next
House.
naval program was
President Roosevelt
one
approved
cost $95,000,000 each, bigger
One good reason:
the U. S. is able to out-arm
back into a limitation treaty.
Present U. S. strength
33,000 tons.
ized.
Six more
underway. Last Japanese report
none over 33,000 tons, and three un-
der construction. Vague rumors
nage.
world’s third largest sea power sets
the pace.
Agriculture
Though the house approved an
$816,513,000 agriculture appropria-
tions bill ($499,500,000 of which is for
soil conservation benefit payments)
the measure was far more signifi-
cant for two exclusions:
(1) Parity. Not included in the
Trend
How the wind is blowing . . .
WEALTH WESTWARD-—Fleeing
European war scares, $56,204,000
in gold--largest consignment on
record—arrived in New York on
the S. S. Manhattan.
MATURING UNIONISM — In
1938, U. 8. labor strikes dropped
50 per cent and union member-
ship hit a record high of 8,000,000.
Reason given by the labor depart-
ment: Transition in management-
employee relationship.
FARM HEADACHE--More than
40 per cent of the $7,632,000,000
U. 8S. farm income for 1938 went
for debts and taxes, agriculture
department figures show.
EARNINGS DOWN — Standard
Statistics company reports the
net 1938 income of 1,898 corpora-
tions was 42 per cent under 1937's
figure,
U. S. Defense:
President's original budget, but
tossed in anyway, was a $250,000,000
grant for parity payments. But no
financing was provided, and the
house seemed economy bent. Rath-
er than resort to unpopular process-
ing taxes the house voted against
parity, winning disfavor of the po-
tent farm bloc and a victory for the
President, who insists extra-
budgetary needs must be met with
definite taxation. Agriculture lead-
ers hoped the senate would restore
parity; even so, an embarrassing
situation apparently lay ahead. With
no money, glum dirt farmers saw
only one way to pay off the govern-
ment loans on which they have
pledged 81,000,000 bushels of wheat.
The way: To default, making the
U. S. the world's largest wheat
owner,
(2) Cotton, Another rejected
amendment called for $60,000,000 ‘‘to
develop domestic markets and sub-
sidize foreign exports.” This obvi-
ously referred to the plan President
Roosevelt broached a few hours ear-
lier: To spend $15,000,000 between
now and August 1 by paying pro-
ducers $1.25 a bale (on 8,000,000
bales) for releasing their govern-
ment-held loan cotton for sale on
the world market. Though the 1939
crop will otherwise swell govern-
ment-held surpluses to 13,000,000
bales, congressional economy appar-
ently won. Said Virginia's Rep. Clif-
ton Woodrum: “We might as well
repeal the budget and the account-
ing act, and let pandemonium and
chaos reign.”
Meanwhile, far in the future,
southern cotton farmers saw relief
the ttonless"
revolutionary ‘‘co
lege, Said
an over-large,
without detracting from
the
wonder if
the
cotton
farmers
whose price is fairly constant,
Among other things, U. 8S. rail-
roads blame high taxes, bad busi-
ness and unfair competition from
Labor blames the railroads them-
selves. Most people blame a mix-
ture of geographical, economic and
political factors, in which every-
body's hands are partially soiled.
When railroading reached a crisis
last autumn and congressional aid
became imperative, a flock of pana-
ceas arose ranging from the Hast-
ings ‘‘postalizing’’ plan to the sub-
stantial bills of Montana's Burton K.
Wheeler and California's Clarence
F. Lea. Both management and la-
bor pressed their particular cases
lution.
B. Eastman,
ICC'S COMMISSIONER EASTMAN
A guiding hand?
commissioner, who told the house
interstate commerce committee that
leadership and apply some
form of compulsion.” Whether Mr.
Eastman’'s will be the guiding hand
remains to be seen, but his com-
ments were at least clarifying. After
attacking the apparent reluctance to
consolidate or co-ordinate as “waste-
ful practices,” and after refusing to
recognize any benefits from greater
freedom to increase rates, the ICC
member outlined a few high points
for rail recovery:
(1) The government should give
concessions in taxation and relief
in connection with grade crossing
elimination and reconstruction of
bridges over navigable waters.
(2) Elimination of rate conces-
sions to the government would save
about $7,000,000 a year,
(3) All important forms of trans-
portation should receive “equal and
impartial regulation,” preferably
under ICC direction.
While the house sped passage of a
bill to facilitate voluntary rail re-
organizations, Mr. Eastman pointed
out that creation of a new reorgani-
zation court would delay rather than
facilitate matters. His alternative:
Give ICC charge of reorganization
duties. *
People
Douglas Fairbanks, ex-movie star,
has been ordered to return $72,186
refunded by the U. S. on income tax
payments in 1927-28-29,
Europe
Few observers doubt that Adolf
restoration of
the pre-war Hapsburg and Hohen-
zollern empires. Most agree, also,
that his next step will be capture of
the Free City of Danzig (now under
League control) and the adjacent
corridor which is Poland’s only out-
let to the Baltic sea. That Ger-
many will get these concessions
without a fight is further evident
because Danzig is already 90 per
cent Nazi; Poland, moreover, ap-
parently recognizes her futile posi-
tion and is ready to move into the
German orbit rather than join a
French-British-Russ alliance permit-
ting Soviet troops to cross her soil.
Though German Ambassador
Hans von Moltke has assured Po-
Anza) (//
f] / UTHUANIA
Y/
PRUSSIA
CORRIDOR
DANZIG AND POLISH CORRIDOR
Next on Hitler's list?
land of Germany's good intentions,
Nazi press notes like these sound
suspiciously like the start of another
campaign:
Field Marshal Goering’s Essener
National Zeitung: ‘Polish attacks
on Germans (in Pole territory) are
an intolerable strain on the German-
Polish treaty of friendship—democ-
racies pull the strings!” (Similar
allegations regarding German mi-
norities preceded recent Nazi inva
sions in Austria, Sudetenland and
Czecho-Slovakia.)
Deutsche Diplomatisech-Politische
Korrespondenz: The paper advis
Poles to continue collaborating with
Germany and not to listen to ‘‘for-
lest the results not be
“advantageous.” The ‘foreign si-
rens'’ are obviously France and
Britain, whose failure to back up
protection promises the past year
will undoubtedly force Poland to
seek German mercy.
ed
w
"s
The unhappy plight of U. S
employer-employee relations may be
due either to (1) the Wagner labor
relations act, or (2) American Fed-
eration of Labor's battle with Con-
gress of Industrial organizations.
Like an impatient school teacher,
both congress and the White House
have resolved to end this squabble,
the White House by sponsoring A. F.
of L-C. 1. O. peace talks, congress
by amending the Wagner act.
When April 11 h
ing date for senate c«
ings on Wagner amendments, labor
peace talks were in full bloom. But
80 strong are the workingman’s feel-
ings about the proposed changes that
peace advocate thought
hearings might have been delayed
until labor's warring factions either
was
To amend the act, con-
gress can pick from four sets of pro-
all opposed by C. 1. O., three
(1) By Massachusetts’ Sen. David
I. Walsh, obviously favored by A. F.
Curtail the national labor
require NLRB elec.
by in-
dustrial units; permit employer pe-
titions for elections; permit appeals
in representation cases.
(2) By Nebraska's Sen. Edward
R. Burke, and supported by the po-
tent, strike-weary National Associa
tion of Manufacturers: Require that
NLRB have representative from la-
bor, management and the public;
outlaw deduction of union dues from
outlaw ‘‘coercion”
by either employers or unions; es-
tablish code of *‘unfair labor prac-
tices’' for unions as well as em-
ployers; forbid strikes unless a ma-
jority of employees approve; require
all union officials to be U. 8. citi-
zens; permit transfer of "unfair la-
bor practice’ charges from NLRB to
federal district court.
(3) By Oregon's Sen. Rufus Hol-
man: To split NLRB's duties. Ad-
ministrative and investigatory pow-
er would be vested in a labor rela-
tions commissioner. Final decisions
would be made by a nine-member
labor appeals board.
(4) By Kentucky's Sen. M. M. Lo-
gan, supported by the National
Grange and other farm groups: To
extend exemption of agricultural
workers under the Wagner act to
processors and packers of farm
produce.
Miscellany
Figured, by New York's Rep.
Bruce Barton, that the stock market
usually gains when President Roose-
velt goes fishing or vacationing, usu-
ing tour.
@® Willed, by the late Chicago Jew,
Harris Goldman, that his 32.year-
old Congregational daughter will re-
ceive one-seventh of his estate (val-
ued at from $300,000 to $500,000) if
she marries in the Jewish faith with-
in a year, that otherwise she will
receive only $5.
@® Scheduled for congressional ap-
proval, the highly controversial gov.
ernmental reorganization bill, com.
promised to remove most of las
year's objection,
|
WASHINGTON.—It was not so
long ago—six or eight years, per-
haps—that the annual cost of the
department of agriculture to the
taxpayers of the country amounted
to something like $40,000,000. There
was some talk even in those days
about the drain upon the federal
treasury resulting from department
of agriculture operations. The to-
tals were questioned; many persons
wondered whether the politicians
were justified in voting that much
money to the department because
there was little to show in the way
of results. That is, congressmen
packages of seeds sent out to their
districts.
It was in those days, however,
that the department of agriculture
was seeking to operate effectively.
Farming was not regarded by the
folks who used to run the depart-
ment as a subject for politics. The
departmental officials were going
about their business, rendering as-
gistance in the form of advice and
promoting better farming-—when the
farmers asked for it.
1 was reminded of those days re-
cently when the house appropria-
tions committee brought out for
consideration the appropriations bill
for the department of agriculture
for the fiscal year that begins next
July 1. A Rip Van Winkle who could
have slept through the last 10 years
would have believed, truly, that he
was in another The ne
money bill for the department con-
tains a total of more than $1.000.-
000,000. The measure, indeed, ranks
as the third largest appropriations
bill of this year when altogether
there is likely to be almost $10,000,-
000,000 appropriated.
What Is Planned to Do
With a Billion Dollars
It is extremely difficult to realize
what a billion doll That is,
it is difficult for me to understand
what it is. I can write the figures
glibly enough. But to comprehend
that sum of money, or a billion of
anything, is something almost out-
side the pale of human knowledge
Yet that is what the department of
wr i
world.
is how that money is supposed to
be divided:
8,560,000 for soil conservation
payments.
$250,000,000 for parity payments.
$191,000,000 for road building.
$21,462,000 for soil and moisture
conservation and operations.
$24,984,000 for the farm tenancy
progre
$7,175,000 for eradicating tubercu-
losis and Bang's disease.
and its services.
$4,978,000 for retiring
lands.
vestigation.
$1,500,000 for wild life restoration.
estry.
250,000
program.
There were some other odds and
ends embracing items of 20 or 40
or 90.thousand dollars, amounts so
small that men almost
cause they have forgotten how
speak in such limited numbers.
Then, and here is the joker which
is hidden away. I really should not
say “hidden’ because no reference
is made in the agriculture bill lan-
guage. The joker is that there are
almost countless millions of other
dollars with which the department
can play around, including approxi-
mately $100,000,000 of money for use
in getting rid of farm surpluses.
That is the money from which Sec-
retary Wallace and his advanced
thinkers will draw funds for the
soon-to-be-famous food stamps.
for the water
to
blue eagles before the NRA was
plowed under. But the undis-
tinguished, yet befitting, end that
came to the NRA blue eagle has
not deterred the advanced thinkers
from attempting something else that
is blue—a blue stamp for relief food.
Yes, relief workers will have the
same wages as before, but they will
receive free blue stamps with which
to buy surplus products for foods.
How Wallace’s Men Think
I must write a little bit about that
blue food stamp, about how the ad-
vanced thinkers think it will work,
before 1 report on the main depart-
ment of agriculture appropriation
It seems to be Secretary Wallace's
ignate certain farm products each
week as being “surplus” and to help
get them off of the glutted market
by making them available for relief
workers’ kitchens. The first trial
of the scheme will be limited to six
cities. In those areas, the relief
supervisors will be supplied with
books of blue stamps. They are
rather pretty stamps, too. Each
WPA worker will get a book of
stamps of a specified value. He
can take those stamps to his gro-
cery store and use them just like
they were quarters, or half dollars
or dollars. The groceryman will
take them and he will be paid hon-
est-to-goodness United States mon-
ey for them. Thus will the surplus
stocks of food products be reduced
and the remainder will bring better
prices. Or so say the advanced
thinkers.
When I read the explanation of
the program that was sent me by
one of Mr. Wallace's publicity staff,
the first thing that struck me was
the extreme discrimination that will
result. It is easy to see. Take any
man who is trying to hold down a
private job. It may be paying him
only $50 a month, or about the same
as the relief worker gets. Natural-
ly, he would like to be making more
money. Who wouldn't? But he sticks
on his job and stays off of relief.
Then, when he gets paid he goes to
the grocery store to buy some food.
He pays cash, and gets his food.
About the same moment a relief
orders the same
list of groceries, perhaps, and pays
for them out of a stamp book. It ap-
pears to me that the hard bitten
private worker is going to find little
solace in remaining on his job. It
strikes me he—and millions of oth-
ers—are going to
be resentful of
such tactics.
There is another phase of the pic-
ture which was mentioned to me by
tepresentative Hope of Kansas, one
of the ranking members of the house
committee on agriculture. He sug-
gested that the blue stamps are go-
ing to create a lot of bootleggers.
For example: the relief workers are
not permitted to buy liquor with the
stamps. They won't be redeemed
if they are used to buy anything
but food. However, Mr. Hope could
see no reason why a relief worker
uor store owner might possibly be
a crook. It is possible, you know.
He might own a food store, too. or
he might have understanding
with a food store owner who would
an
unt. What is
cedure? It's your
The whole thing strikes me as be-
ing so silly as to defy one's powers
of imagination. It is dealt with here
at such length only because I re-
to stop such
guess,
ro~
1 within the
agriculture for which
$1,000,000,000 is soon to
be appropriated for a year’s opera-
The blue stamp scheme is
ing of 6,000,000 pigs was doomed
and as the limitation of
Now, lest I be misunderstood, let
me restate with emphasis that there
rk that the department
Road
appropriations, for in-
stance. Where would this country
be had there been no attempt to
build usable roads? Who can say
that eradication of tuberculosis and
Bang's disease among live stock is
not a valuable aid to farmers?
nas been doin
building
I am not prepared to say that th
wild life restoration program is
wholly bad. It seems probable that
the country ought to rebuild the
wild life stocks that have been wan-
tonly destroyed in the days when
people could go out and shoot ducks
thought of the morrow. It is a pro-
gram for which considerable justi-
fication can be advanced.
But it is to be noted that most of
these items are small. Neither the
department of agriculture adminis-
tratign nor the members of the
house and the senate have seen fit
to do more than maintain them. I
have seen the inmates of the capi-
tol squirm and fuss and scowl about
some of them, while swallowing the
items reaching into hundreds of mil-
lions with the greatest of glee.
As I said, it was not so long ago
that department of agriculture ap-
propriations were regarded as huge
if they totalled 40 millions. As far
as I can see, agriculture is no bet-
ter off today than it was in those
years. Of course, a very great
number of farmers have learned
that the beautiful phrases like ‘the
more abundant life” and such, are
meaningless. But I venture the as-
rather expensive,
surely made to appear that there
are some large Ethiopian gentlemen
in the wood pile. When the politi-
cians and the advanced thinkers
joined hands to manage agriculture,
Just then Jederal expenses for the
partment agriculture began
ard.
2soming upw,
Have Lovely Lines
HE full-sleeved, high-waisted
dress (1721) is a perfectly
charming fashion for afternoon
parties, club meetings and lunch-
eons. It does nice things to your
figure, because the bodice is gath-
ered into just enough fullness, and
the high waistline makes you look
simmer around the middle and
over the diaphragm. Make it of
silk crepe, georgetie, prints or
chiffon.
Here's a simple
(1670) that brings you one of the
very smartest styles of the sea-
son—the button-front frock for evy-
little pattern
The Patterns.
3 ened for siz
iE
No. 1670 is designed fo
38, 40, 42, 44 anc
long sleeves, size 36
yards of 39
short sleeves,
ob,
Make smart new frocks for street,
daytime and afternoon, with these
simple, carefully planned designs!
It’s chic, it's easy, it’s economical,
to sew your Each pattern
includes a step-by-step sew chart
to guide begi
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., 247 W.
Forty-third street, New York,
N. Y. Price of patterns, 15 cents
(in coins) each.
& Bell Syn
own.
TS.
dicate. —~WNU Service
They won't BELIEVE
«+.it's CASTOR OIL
Good old reliable castor oil, a house
hold stand-by for generctions. has
been “modernized” ot lost. A brand
new refining process washes oway
all the impurities, which, in the post,
made costor oil so objectionable,
leaving Kellogg's Perfected Tasteless
Castor Oil odorless, tasteless, EASY
TO TAKE, fullstrength, always de
pendable. Get a bottle of Kellogg's
Perfected today for general family
use. Demand genuine Kellogg's Per-
fected — accept no socalled “taste.
less” substitute. Soild at all drug
stores in 31% oz refinerysealed
bottles—only 25¢ a bottle Approved
by Good Housekeeping Bureau.
yal
a
Keeping at It
Perpetual pushing and assur-
ance put a difficulty out of counte-
nance, and make a seeming im-
possibility give way.—Jeremy Col-
lier.
How Women
in Their 40's
Can Attract Men
Here's good advice for a woman during her
change (usually from 38 to 52), who fears
she'll lose her appeal to men, who worries
about hot flashes, Joss of pep. dizzy spells,
upset nerves and moody gpelis.
Get more fresh air, § hrs. sleep and if you
peed a good general system tonic take Lydia
E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, made
especialy for women. It helps Nature build
up physical resistance, thus belps give more
vacity to enjoy life and assist calming
Jittery nerves and disturbing symptoms that
often accompany change of life. WELL
WORTH TRYING!
Give a Thought to
MAIN STREET
* For, in our town . . . and towns
ours clear across the country
sxitherds a steady jevalation
going on. Changes in dress sty
and food prices . . . the rise of a
hat crown . . . the fall of furni-
ture prices—these matters vitally
affect our living . .. And the news
is ably covered inadvertisements.
« Smart people who like 10 be
up-to-the-minute in livin,