PE
EDITOR'S NOTE-—When opinions are
expressed in these columns, they are those
of the news analyst, and not necessarily
of the newspaper.
Business
Most of America’s 4,000,000 small
business men nowadays make little
profit, can raise little capital, can-
not widen their markets nor im-
prove their competitive positions.
Whatever the cause, the problem is
so serious that an even half-dozen
credit-loosening measures are now
pending in congress. Realizing that
unscientific action would be blind
staggering, Harry Hopkins’ revital-
ized commerce department recent-
ly asked amendment of one such
measure to direct it ‘particularly
to the vital needs of small busi-
ness enterprises” and provide re-
search facilities.
The earliest step in this direction
started last fall when Wyoming's
Sen. Joseph C. O'Mahoney began
surveying U. S. business develop-
ment with a $500,000 appropriation
and his so-called ‘‘monopoly’’ com-
mittee. Thus far successful in find-
ing business’ pulse, the O'Mahoney
committee has been given another
$600,000 to find what's wrong with
the pulse.
Announced simultaneously by Se-
curities and Exchange Commission-
SEC'S JEROME FRANK
O'Mahoney funds, Jaycee probers.
er Jerome M. Frank is an SEC-
sponsored survey to be conducted
with O'Mahoney funds by 561 chap-
ters of the U. S. junior chamber of
commerce.
various financial channels through
which small business may obtain
small business from obtaining cap-
ital.
While “Jaycees’
underway, SEC was already work-
ing on a dozen special surveys.
lems of local industry
fected by droughts;
England region where business has
been lost via depression and in-
creased competition from other sec-
tions; Denver, a typical mountain-
state section; Detroit-Toledo, a typ-
ness activity.
Quickly dismissed by Mr. Frank
was the possibility that his SEC
might be to blame, since registra-
tion requirements for small securi-
ties issues were liberalized "a year
ago with no resultant increase in
securities borrowing by small busi-
ness. Starting out without any
“preconceived ideas,”” investigators
will not try to pin responsibility on
banks or anyone else until the eight-
week probe is completed and find-
ings tabulated.
Relief
Growing with other anti-adminis-
tration congressional sentiment has
been resentment against relief ex-
penditures. President Roosevelt
was warned last December that he
might expect an investigation this
session. Though economizing legis-
lators agreed to vote deficiency
funds (to last until July 1) before
tearing WPA apart, they lopped
$150,000,000 off the original $875,000,-
000 deficiency request. When the
White House asked that the cut be
restored, rebellion had reached such
heights that Mr. Roosevelt was
lucky to get $100,000,080 of it.
Thus freed to tackle WFA itself,
a 12-man relief sub-committee went
to work under Virginia's economiz-
ing Rep. Clifton A. Woodrum. Fa-
vorite among suggested remedies
offered the eight Democrats and
four Republicans is a measure pro-
posed by Mr. Woodrum himself, to
turn relief administration over to
states and municipalities, the U. S.
to concern itself chiefly with allo-
cating funds. Aimed partly to wipe
out WPA’s huge field organization,
the bill would also knock $500,000,000
from President Roosevelt's budget
estimate of $1,734,000,000 for relief
during the 1939-40 fiscal year.
If reported favorably and ap-
proved by the house, Mr. Wood-
rum'’s measure will get a warm wel-
come from the senate appropria-
tions committee which is headed by
Virginia's Carter Glass and has a
conservative majority, Chief non-
partisan question mark is whether
state and municipal relief setups
may not handle relief funds so
amateurishly as to force an even-
tual return to closer federal super-
vision. Another question mark: If
congress supervises relief alloca-
tions by states, will pork-barrelling
result?
Europe
Since Memel fell to Germany,
Europe's four great powers have en-
gaged in unprecedented diplomatic
warfare. The French-British drive
is to encircle Italy and Germany
with arms, thus preventing further
aggression. Italo-German counter-
move is to thwart encirclement. So
highly perfected is this warfare that
France and England have marked
off their sectors of activity, London
working with Poland and Russia in
the north, Paris with Rumania, the
Balkans and Turkey in the south.
North Europe. Poland is the key
nation in Britain’s campaign,
though Russian adherence to a Stop
Hitler bloc is far more vital to the
British cause. But Poland will not
allow Soviet troops to cross her soil,
which means that Russia cannot aid
the anti-aggression bloc until Hitler
swallows more territory and
reaches Russia’s frontier.
Traditionally a fence-straddler,
Poland has signed a mutual defense
Spain
Though recognition by the United
States again placed Gen. Francisco
Franco's Spain in the good graces
of international society (all other ma-
jor powers had previously “recog-
nized the Nationalist government)
the war-torn Iberian peninsula still
faces a tremendous task, Franco's
sole ineffectual international gesture
as a European power has been to
join Germany, Italy and Japan in
the anti-Communist pact. Having
his heels,
could turn to more pressing internal
problems. Among them:
Order. Though Spain needs man-
power to rebuild, many moons will
pass before unemployment will be
ond wind after 32 months of war,
discharged Spanish soldiers will not
readily bow to anything less than
military law. Franco's answer is
expected to be a 1,000,000-man army
until early 1940,
Health, Substantiated reports
from Madrid tell of a scurvy-like
disease sweeping former Loyalist
ing important reservations.
Esthonia)
More-
(Lithuania, Latvia and
a Stop Hitler drive. Rumania, the
tary pact operative against Ger-
many as well as Russia, but Ru-
mania is too far away and too com-
pletely under Germany's economic
thumb to offer much help. Thus
especially since the
mild defensive gestures she has
made thus far have been enough to
make Germany threaten to de-
nounce the 1934 Nazi-Polish friend-
ship pact.
South Europe. Of the Balkan
states, only Rumania has received
attention from both France and
Britain. The latter nation has of-
fered help in event of German ag-
gression, while France chimed
with an important trade treaty.
Main French efforts have been
aimed at solidification of Jugoslavia,
into an anti-
Bargaining
Turkey to keep
Italian Balkan bloc.
WN
2
Wy | Fifty-mile Strait of
Vv-—"4 Otranto where Italy could
A oa bottle up Jugoslavia's
outlet to Mediterranean
if she controlled Albania. §
ITALY'S COUNTER MOVE
Who bosses the Mediterranean?
Bosphorus so that French-British
warships could protect Rumania in
the Black sea. In exchange, France
was reported willing to give Tur-
key a 10,000-square-mile district in
Alexandretta, Syria.
But Italy replied quickly by
threatening seizure of King Zog's
tiny Albania, which would give him
a key foothold on the Balkan penin-
sula. Controiling the narrow Strait
of Otranto (see map), Italy could
block Yugoslavia’s outlet to the
Mediterranean, a threat which bid
fair to explode France's plans. At
the same time Italian and German
troops moved steadily into African
Libya in anticipation of a drive
against Tunisia. When all was said
and done, it was questionable wheth-
er France still controlled the Medi-
terranean.
Recapitulation. After three weeks
of “‘encirclement’” diplomacy,
France and Britain have still to
catch their biggest and most vital
fish, Russia, and have gained half-
hearted military agreements with
only three nations, Turkey, Poland
and Rumania. In a pinch any of
them might collapse.
Miscellany
Total U. 8S. expenditures for the
fiscal year’s first nine months ($6,-
764,353,436) exceeded income ($4,
390,177,312) by $2,374,176,124.
@ Ninety-five per cent of the voters
in Europe's tiny Liechtenstein (pop-
ulation, 12,000) have signed a pri-
vately circulated declaration re-
jecting union with Germany.
JULIAN BESTEIRO
A humanitarian was court-martialed.
territory, caused by lack of fresh
fruits, vegetables and milk. Its med-
icine chest emptied, short of band-
ages, iodine, salves and medicines,
Spain has sent hurry-up orders to
cope with the sorriest physical pfight
an enlightened nation has suffered
in modern times.
Housing. Though intent on restor-
ing shell-pocked Catholic churches
in Madrid and other former frontier
points, Franco faces a far greater
carpentry job in placing roofs over
several hundred thousand ex-Madri-
lenos who fled the capitol in war,
returning in peace to find their me-
tropolis a shambles,
Revenge. Most Loyalist leaders
like Gen. Jose Miaja fled Spain after
hoisting the white flag of surrender.
Twa notable exceptions were Gen.
Segismundo Casado, war minis
of the defense council, and Julian
| Besteiro, a moderate Republican
who took no active part in the war
except to supervise feeding women
| and children during Madrid's tw
| year siege. Humanitarian or not,
| Senor Besteiro was arrested and
| court martialed along with General
| Casado.
Finance. Before the war Spain's
gold reserve of $740,000,000 was ex-
ceeded only by the U. S., Britain
and France. Also on hand were vast
hoards of silver. By April, 1938, the
U. S. federal reserve bulletin re-
ported Spanish gold had dropped to
£525.000,000, and by this month as
General Franco entered Madrid, no-
body apparently knew where any
Spanish gold might be. One vague
hint was that Marino Gamboa, a rich
Loyalist-sympathizing Filipino, had
moved most of it to Mexico and
thereby insured the solvency of Loy-
alist refugees. Meanwhile National-
ist Spain held an empty bag.
People
Killed, in an automobile accident,
27-year-cld King Ghazi I of Iraq,
succeeded same day by his three-
year-old son, Crown Prince Feisal.
@® Introduced, by the duchess of
Windsor to Parisian society, the
“peeping petticoat,” whereby sev-
eral inches of white flounce show at
the bottom of dresses.
@® Released, on $35,000 bail pending
an appeal, New York's Racket Fixer
James J. Hines, recently convicted
of conspiracy in the late Dutch
Schultz's policy ring.
Politics
Since Mrs. Harry Hopkins died
two years ago, motherless Diana,
aged seven, has been cared for
by her father and by President and
Mrs. Roosevelt. Father Hopkins
has bounced about the U. 8S. for
years, coming from New York to
become what Republicans call
“crown prince” of the administra-
tion, first as WPA director and later
as secretary of commerce. With-
out home roots, Mr. Hopkins began
rummaging for some in February
when he went speechmaking in his
native Iowa, a gesture critics
thought might be a bid for the 1940
presidential nomination.
Hence the press was skeptical
when he announced his home ad-
dress would henceforth be Grinnell,
Jowa, where he had just been
named a director of Grinnell col-
establish a home for Diana.
If a political significance can in-
deed be attached to the move, it is
that Mr. Hopkins would stand a con-
siderably better chance of winning
the 1940 nomination as an Jowan
than as a resident of New York,
where his political following is nil.
WASHINGTON.—Unsound and un-
cealing their weaknesses for vary-
ing lengths of time. It seems to be
true, however, that those weak-
nesses, like one’s sins, will be found
out. This is especially true of writ-
ten laws that are predicated upon a
formula of how things ought to be
known acts and customs and living
conditions of the people who make
up our nation.
Take the old NRA, for example.
Its glaring weaknesses and impossi-
ble prescriptions were discovered
rather soon by the persons and busi-
nesses who had to abide by the
terms of that law. It was not so
long, however, before most of us
discovered that the artist who had
sketched the original design of the
blue eagle had made a mistake. You
will recall, of course, that the de-
sign had 13 feathers in one wing
and 12 in the other. That was bound
to make the bird fly in a circle, and
how true it was of the law, itself!
Even, then, there were many per-
sons who believed the law was not
given a sufficient trial before the Su-
preme court mowed it down.
Among those who held a convic-
tion that NRA would work was
Senator Guffey, the Pennsylvania
New Dealer. It is the same Sena-
tor Guffey who attempted to de-
stroy, politically, all Democrats
who disagreed with President Roose-
velt—tried to ‘‘read them out of the
party" in a radio address.
Senator Guffey, with the aid of
hn L. Lewis and the C. 1. O.,
hrough congress the so-
called Guffey-little NRA coal law.
The coal industry was divided in
sentiment about the bill, as I re-
member the legislative battle, but
Senator Guffey won. There came
about a national bituminous coal
commission, with power to fix
prices, with power to compel a lot
of other things, including the right
of punishment under other laws if a
coal mine owner should commit the
horrible crime of selling below cost
in order to get rid of his coal
Guffey Law Cost the Coal
Industry Many Millions
The first law so enacted was
mowed down by the Supreme court
big brother NRA. Senator Guffey
tried again. And so for two years,
in force that applied the same prin-
ciples of regimentation as NRA to
the coal industry, and during that
time, according to official reports,
the soft coal industry has lost mon-
ey. It lost $37,000,000 in 1937, and
it lost about $60,000,000 last year, the
coal commission has reported.
Naturally, the coal mine owners
are not taking this loss without a
squawk. It is not a great deal more
than a chirp, however, because the
production of coal dropped from
tons in 1938. That is pretty rapid
really fat.
In consequence of this, and other
conditions affecting labor and prop-
erty, Representative Allen, a Penn-
sylvania Democrat, has introduced
in the house a bili to reconstruct the
Guffey law. His proposal would
eliminate the price fixing; it would
eliminate the special tax on the coal
industry for upkeep of the high pow-
commission, and it would place the
industry again on a basis where its
individual mines would be compet-
ing for public patronage instead of
I mentioned above that the indus-
try had lost money. Well, you and
1, as buyers and consumers of coal,
to mention the thousands of
We would
accomplished the almost insur-
mountable job of establishing a set
of federally fixed prices. It would
have cost us money because we
would pay the price that was fixed,
and that price would have to be
high enough to allow a profit for
the lowest grade and most ineffi-
cient mine operator.
Another Tug of War Between
Coal Miners and Operators
One of the reasons the mine own-
crs lost money was because many
who supported the law were con-
vinced it would mean increased
duction costs, and the public would
not feel it.
The contract then negotiated ex-
pired recently and a new one is now
being considered in the regular tug
of war that occurs between miners
and operators every two years. In
the meantime, however, things hap-
pened to labor in the soft coal mines.
As 1 mentioned above, there was a
decline in production of coal. It fig-
ures out at 22 per cent. That ob-
viously means that, while labor ob-
tained an increase of one-tenth in
the rate of pay, it worked only four-
fifths as much time according to the
records available to me. 1 fail
to see where labor gained from the
law. Moreover, from the federal re-
lief authorities I learn that living
conditions and buying power among
the persons living in coal mining
areas have declined almost in direct
ratio to decline in production of coal.
With respect to the added taxation
placed upon the owners of the
mines, the surface indications and
the original declarations of support-
ers of the law have proven to be
quite misleading. The law required
the industry to pay a tax of one cent
a ton and to meet assessments to
cover the expenses of boards that
were set up in the various regional
areas. It is easy to calculate
the one cent tax raised $3,420,000 on
342,000,000 tons, produced last year.
But that figure does not the
extra assessments th
thn
that
show
at were paid to
nor does it re-
every » owner had to
extra clerks I
to take care of all of
various and ry reports that the
national commission and the region-
al boards saw fit to require,
the com
the
Expense Borne by Industry
Again, it was expected that these
costs and taxes would be at
a nice word for concealing the facts
from the consumers—in the selling
price that was to be fixed. But, as
I reported earlier, the commission
never quite got around to fixing the
prices under the current law.
Hence, the hundreds of thousands of
dollars which the law's sponsors
said would be passed on simply be-
came an added expense borne by
the industry.
The law has another featur
you and I, as individuals, do not feel
directly. It is another one of those
concealed things. The law specifies
sorbed —
which
and consumer to last
for more than 30 days. That is to
say, no price can be quoted for
more than 30 days in advance. That
may not appear important, but it
is highly important.
The practice of large users of coal
is to enter into a contract for a sup-
ply of coal to last, for example, for
Having
tween operator
ufacturing establishment, for in-
stance, will be able to know what his
price of the goods he manufactures
and sells. Fuel costs are important,
and it therefore becomes plain that
large users of fuel have an unknown
factor in their expense item for a
year's plans. What do they do?
They have to estimate that item,
and they take the maximum that
they can expect to pay for coal—
and users of their product have to
pay that added amount whether in
breakfast food or harvesting ma-
chinery or railroad freight rates.
That one feature of the law alone
has completely disorganized the coal
industry.
Coal Operators Are Left With
Supply in Sizes Not Needed
The 30-day limit also has had an-
other effect. When a mine owner
could make a year's contract or a
number of such contracts, he knew
coal or slack that his customers
needed. Without a contract, the big
month and the next month, some
TIPS to
Gardeners
Fertilizer Usage,
(GARDENS can't go on produc-
ing excellent flowers and
vegetables year after year without
an application of fertilizer now
and then, Because stable manure
is difficult to obtain, a complete
commercial fertilizer recommend-
ed by your dealer will prove most
satisfactory. Before applying fer-
tilizer, however, give considera-
tio" to a few simple, practical
hints,
First, be cautious! Nev
fertilizer recklessly or over-al
dantly. Don’t be like the
who saw a neighbor get good re-
sults from a sparing use of ferti-
lizer. He proceeded to apply 10
times as much, but expecting 10
times as good results
den proved worthless,
3roadcast the complete fertiliz-
er over the 10 days
planting, using about thr
per square
weeks afte
seems
side
lightly alongside
BX gs, U
cultivate. Apply from
to two pounds per square rod
garden.
er appl
but his gar-
soil before
rod.
dressing
inches from the pl
only
Hail Those Depressed,
Yet Optimistic Souls!
O YOU ever think as you pass
folks th
much as
the
same }
defeats
about the
about. ihere
they are thinking
r
They have nn
at
you are.
same hopes
struggle
food, cle
stead of a whir
} we
* -
wan
Grow Full Rows
instead of stragglers!
a Sand.
te St Te
£ ad a
ills &.v
ile Be
PLANT FERRY'S
TIEN LEY
bast von 3 1! It"
Be sure about your garden seeds! It's
easy to buy seeds in their pri
pable of producing firstclass yields.
for
me — Ca
Ferry's Seeds must pass rigid tests §
lit Only
seeds in their prime are packaged, and
each packet is pate,
Grow a better garden this year by
planting Ferry's Dated Seeds. Select
them from the convenient Ferry's Seeds
display at your dealer's, Exciting novel
ties 10 make your garden different, and
popular flower and vegetable favorites.
Look for this date mark on each packet:
“Packep yor Szasox 1939.7
v each year.
FERRY-MORSESEEDCO,
Seed Crowers, De
trolt and Sen Fran.
cises, Use Ferry's
Carden Spray—eee-
nomieal, non.peol.
sopous,nonsisining.
FERRY’S
SEEDS
General Knowledge
It is easier to know mankind in
general than man individually .—
La Rochefoucauld.
DRINK =
OT WATER
x ut loosen the CLINGING wastes
Sire” of the 10 herbs in Garfield Tea and
you not only “wash out” internally-—but
of
to the lining, undi-
Garfield Tea
hot water as
ties to drink. Mild,
THOROUGH, prompt
10c & 25¢ of druggists.