EDITOR'S NOTE-—~When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst, and not necessarily of the pewspaper, Europe Almost forgotten by war-mad Europe this month has been little Albania, whose conquest by Italy really started the cauldron boiling. While Benito Mussolini quietly made the tiny Balkan state part of King Victor Emmanuel’s monarchy, Eu- rope became a frantic checkerboard of moves and countermoves in which harried France and Britain seemed badly outmaneuvered. Biggest news came from the Balkans, where democracies concentrated on Gre- cian friendship while Premier John Metaxas quavered under threats of Axis invasion if he continued hob- nobbing with Britain. Finally, al- GREECE'S METAXAS Britain was nice, Italy even nicer, though British Prime Minister Chamberlain offered a weak ‘‘guar- antee'’ of protection to Greece and Italy, Premier Metaxas took pains to proclaim joyfully thaf Italy prom- ised to respect the Greek frontier. This, he said, symbolized a “new period of Italian-Greek relations,” but it was merely symbolic of how lesser European states, one by one, are bowing to the Axis rather than accept doubtful ‘‘protection’ from France and Britain, By mid-April the post-Albanian crisis had subsided but another was plainly in the offing. Newly strengthened, Italy and Germany are expected to jab soon at any of 20 possible points, confusing the democracies so badly that aii dic- tator demands will be granted. Among possible attack points: Spain. The civil war is over but Italian troops are still arriving in defiance of the Italo-British Mediter- ranean pact. The excuse is a ‘‘vie- tory parade’’ on May 2, but shrewd old Field Marshal Henri Petain, whom France named its first envoy to Burgos, has returned in disgust to explain that he was snubbed and treated insolently, and that General Franco is a tool for the Axis. If this is true, Italy or Germany could attack France's southern border, British Gibraltar or French Algeria from bases in Spain. Mediterranean. Gaining nothing by howling for French Tunisia in northern Africa, Italy has changed her tactics, reverting to silence. But several German troop trains have passed through Italy bound for Italian Libya, potential operations base for a Tunisian campaign. Balkans. Italo-German thrusts converge here, focused on Rumania, Greece and Turkey. Docile tools of the Reich, Hungary and Bulgaria have massed troops on Rumania’s border, threatening to strike if King Carol gets too friendly with Britain. Yugoslavia is neutralized, surround- ed by Hungary, Bulgaria and Al- bania. From the latter point, and Trend How the wind is blowing , . . AVIATION — Round-the-world airplane tickets, placed on sale for the first time, are priced at $1,785 for a trip requiring 14 days, including 11 overnight stops. SHIPPING—A total of 165 ves- sels, aggregating 678,000 gross tons, are under construction in U. S. shipyards, compared with 105 ships weighing 389,000 tons last year at this time. EXECUTION—Maj. Edward J. Dyer, retired U. 8. army officer, suggested before the Washington Society of Philosophical Research that euthanasia (mercy killing) be adopted for aged indigents, hopelessly insane and diseased persons, children born as mon- sters and first degree murderers. Justification: “One of the Ten Sommandments might be modi- CATTLE—Because eggs bring only 11 cents a dozen, A. W, Ellsworth, dairy farmer at Hurd, N. D., is feeding his cattle ege- nog, raising the “milk-fed” standard. from Rhodes and other islands of the Dodecanese group, Italy could strike at either Greece or Turkey. Northeast Europe. Poland, fearful of invasion yet jealous of her inde- pendence, risks German invasion from north and west as the price for a military pact with Britain. Also to the north are Lithuania, Lat- via and Estonia, tools of the Reich and potential points of invasion into Poland, Likely sources of trouble here are Danzig, which seeks an- nexation by Germany, and the Po- lish corridor, where Germany wants to build a highway from its “‘main- land” to isolated East Prussia. Western Europe, Mysterious Ger- man troop movements have brought reinforcements on both sides of Bel- gian, Swiss, Dutch and Danish fron- tiers, any of which might be crossed in a brisk German coup. Less like- ly is a strike against France, which would precipitate a general war. Result. Though forced by public opinion to stiffen, Mr. Chamberlain's government still hopes to woo Italy from the Axis and make peace by appeasement. Mr. Chamberlain will not declare war, which is the only alternative to a stronger foreign pol- icy if the government would remain in power. This failing, parliament has become so hostile that Anthony Eden, ex-foreign minister, iz an ex- cellent bet to succeed Mr. Cham- berlain when the next crisis arrives. Domestic In New York marine underwriters boosted war risk insurance. The treasury announced $365,436,000 in gold fled to the U. 8. in March, while $49,000,000 more arrived in two mid-Aptil days alone. At Rome, Mussolini Mouthpiece Virginio Gay- da wrote in a caustic editorial for his Giornale d'Italia: “The United States should heed timely advice before those European nations (Italy and Germany) which have been chosen as targets by America, are forced to occupy themselves in the same spirit with American internal affairs.” Back in Washington from Warm Springs, where he had prom- ised to return next fall “if we don't have a war,” President Roosevelt heard tw2 cabinet officers (Hull and Morgenthau) warn that a European war is likely unless effective curbs are placed on Nazi-Fascist threats to the world economic structure. What his seemingly casual remark intended, the President later ex- plained was that “we” meant not we VIRGINIO GAYDA He offered advice to the U. S. the U. 8, but western civilization. It also gave ‘“‘positive direction to public thinking” on the European situation. While a Gallup poll was reporting that 65 per cent of the U. S. popula- tion favored boycotting German- made goods, congress was busy cre- ating a foreign trade program that would fight the Reich with its own weapon, namely, barter. Its gist: The U. 8. would trade wheat and cotton surpluses for such strategic materials as tin and rubber. Since neither Italy nor Germany can fur- nish tin and rubber, the U. 8. would be joining the Stop Hitler bloc eco- nomically by dealing primarily with Britain and the Netherlands. More- over the move would jibe with ‘‘cash and carry” neutrality—being debated simultaneously in the sen- ate—because the barter plan would give “nations which have control of the seas’ access to American sup- plies as provided by the controver- sial Pittman resolution. Britain and France are those nations. People Dropped, at his own request, Thomas R. Amlie, former progres sive Wisconsin congressman, from consideration as a member of the interstate commerce commission. Reason: Congressional reticence over confirmation. @® Sentenced, in New York federal court for smuggling, Mrs. Edgar N. Lauer, wife of a New York state supreme court justice, ® Chosen, as “American mother for 1939,” Mrs, Elias Compton of Woos- ter, Ohio, mother of Nobel prize win- ner, Dr. Arthur Holly Compton; Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy Pres. Karl Taylor Compton; Lawyer Wilson Martindale Comp- ton; and Mrs. C. Herbert Rice, mis- sionary and wife of the principal of a college in India. Taxation Time was when the ambitious U. S. mother wanted her son to be a banker. But nowadays the hand that counts money keeps far less of it. Today's ambitious mother should tu- tor her son (or daughter) to enter the motion picture industry. At Washington, the house ways and means committee received its an- nual list of top flight U. 8S, wage earners and their salaries for 1937, disclosing that Movie Magnate Louis B. Mayer led the pack with $1,206,- 503 ($1,161,753 as production execu- tive for Loew's, Inc., $134,750 as vice president of Metro- gee ” Goldwyn - Mayer). | # | Second place went to | Loew President J. Robert Rubin, $651,- 123; third, Publisher William Randolph Hearst, $500,000; fourth, Loew's N. M. Schenck, $489,602. Of 63 salaries top- ping $200,000, an ' even 40 were report. == ; ed by movie work- Louis B. ers. Highest paid Mayer cinema star: Greta Garbo, $472,409. Highest paid radio star: Maj. Ed- ward Bowes, $427,817. Highest paid industrialist: International Business Machines’ Pres. Thomas J. Watson, $419,308, One consolation for bread-and-but- ter workers is that the more a man makes, the more he pays the gov- ernment. Sample: More than $800,- 000 of Louis Mayer's $1,296,503 prob- ably went out in federal taxes. On net incomes of $50,000, the govern- ment gets 17.7 per cent, or $8,869; on $1,000,000 it gets 67.9 per cent, or $679,044. Often heaped atop this levy is a state income tax, like New York's, which ranges from 2 per cent of the first $1,000 taxable income to 7 per cent of all taxable income over $9,000, Pan America In late March Argentine officials reputedly discovered that Nazi agents were undermining their coun- try. Papers unexpectedly printed a facsimile of the letter Germany's Buenos Aires embassy had written to the Berlin foreign office, saying: “We are able to annex Patagonia.” Hardly willing to surrender a rich, unworked section comprising one- third of Argentina's territory, police dug for dirt, soon discovering a well- organized chain of Nazi centers di- recting the work of German agents throughout the nation. Alfredo Muller, chief agent, was arrested and charged with plotting against the state's security. More raids in- land disclosed more Nazi commu- nities, and after three weeks’ prob- ing it became evident Germany had probably committed a blundering tactical mistake. Reasoning: Alone among the larger South American nations, Ar- gentina has favored German barter commerce. The rest of Other America has eschewed it, knowing that Nazi political and military agents work hand in hand with Nazi tradesmen. Having discovered a Nazi threat to its security, Argen- tina is already clamping down on German imports, ready to join her neighbors in a solidarity declaration. Thus the Patagonian incident fits perfectly with President Roosevelt's often-experienced dreams of Pan- American unity. Meanwhile, several thousand miles away, Ecuador is worrying over the chance that Germany may seize the strategic Galapagos is- lands, which lie 1,000 miles south- west of Panama, and which Cali- fornia’s Rep. Edward V. Izak re- cently wanted the U. S. to purchase as a naval base. Aviation Some 4,100 miles southwest of San Francisco and 3,250 miles northeast of Australia, just south of the equa- tor, are Canton and Enderbury is- lands, the former named for a Mas- sachusetts whaler wrecked there in 1854. Both islands went officially unclaimed until March, 1938, when President Roosevelt saw them as a vital link in U. 8S. defense and a log- ical base for trans-Pacific aviation. When Great Britain disputed the claim it was announced last August that both countries would use the is- lands for commercial aviation, but not until recently was a formal treaty signed. Its 50-year provisions: U. 8. and British administrators will reside there, exercising powers to be determined by consultation; American interests will build an air- port, to be used by British aircraft in return for a fee. pact, for Canton and Enderbury lie only 1,850 miles from Hawaii, direct- ly on the route a ship would take to Sydney, Australia. Canton boasts a quiet lagoon nine miles long and three miles wide, ideal for planes. But aviation to the contrary, many a congressman was dubious when asked to ratify the treaty. Reason: If Britain were involved in war, an attack on British property in the Pa- cific might force the U. 8. to defend the islands, thereby getting its own feet in the international puddle. Miscellany At Memphis, Tenn., juvenile court authorities played host to a 16-year- old Mississippi farm girl who said she (1) had never seen an electric light; (2) had never talked over a telephone; (3) didn’t know Frank. lin Roosevelt was President; (4) had never seen a Ch tree; (5) had never eaten an ice cream core; (6) had never seen a motion ture; (7) had never been higher than the second floor of a building and never heard of an elevator. WASHINGTON.—Court decisions as a rule are difficult things for lay- men to understand. True, most ev- eryone who hears or reads an opin- ion by a learned justice will know what the result is—whether one side or the other wins. But, generally speaking, the public as a whole fails to understand the full importance of a decision. It is not their fault. Comparatively few persons are trained in law, and a good many of those only believe themselves to be lawyers. For that reason, as well as the fact that many persons do not have the time or the opportunity to exam- ine court decisions, 1 have been won- dering whether it is clear exactly what happened when Mr. Justice Stone recently read the decision in the case involving taxation of fed- eral and state employees. No doubt, most persons realized that Justice Stone had ruled there can be taxa- tion of the salaries of federal employ- the federal government may tax the salaries of state officials and employ- ees and employees of lesser govern- ments like cities and counties. But there is more to the ruling than the much more. As a matter of fact, I believe that those who were privileged to listen to Justice Stone that day heard an opinion that is going to go a long way in changing the course of gov- ernment from the federal govern ment down to the lowliest township. I think frankly that it will be sev- eral years before the full force and effect of that decision will be ex- erted, both nationally and locally, but I am definitely convinced that it will be felt and that it will have im- portant effects upon governmental policies. And beyond that, the decision told another story. It told the story that ments are hard up for tax sources, dance is over; now, it's time to pay the fiddler, Never Before Has the Nation Had Such a Gigantic Debt It can not be construed otherwise. debt of more than 40 billion dollars. where their state constitutions per- today. I do not know of anyone who jes, and counties. too, must pay their fiddler. were working and there was good business, the taxes rolled in and there was little or no thought about post offices, new county courthouses, new city halls, new bridges and so on. Money was spent rather lib- There were They said, in effect, “Aw come on and vote these bonds. We can pay them off over 20 years and the little teeny added tax won't hurt.” It probably did not hurt, in those days. But there came the depression and there came 10 mil- lion men out of work, and there came the worst business in a half century. Then, that teeny little bit of tax did hurt. The taxpayers weren't paying taxes, because they had no money to pay them. There was, however, a debt. The destitute had to be fed and clothed. First, the local authorities did it: then the states and then the days of Billions upon It was about 16 billions to start with because only 9 billions of the World war debt had been paid off. Since the taxes were not bring- ing in enough money, the federal treasury borrowed and borrowed some more. Now, They're Seeking Money To Pay Their Fiddlers Now, the time has come to begin paying off the debts. The states and the cities and the counties have been looking for money to pay their fiddlers. The national government has been looking for money to pay its fiddlers. Each unit of government has had to leok around for new spots, new things, to tax. Taxes are as high as can be regarded as productive in many of the ui) ways of taxation. So, where we turn? was the question. President Roosevelt has believed for a long time that it was rather silly that officers and employees of the federal government should not be taxed by their home states. He has believed, too, that the federal - government should have the right to tax the income of those who were ation because they worked for a state government, or city govern- ment or a county government, or tended that bonds and income from bonds issued by state and local governments and school districts and drainage dis- tricts and irrigation districts should be taxable. He has thus far been this direction, and the matter was not before the court, It. therefore, did not figure in Justice Stone's opin- ion. Sometime, such taxation may be brought about. 1 hope so, any- way, because it is a proper subject of taxation, it seems to me. But to get down to another direct result of the Stone ruling which, by the way, was supported by seven of the nine justices of the highest court. Tax Exempt for 69 Years For the last 69 years, the pay of official or employee could not be taxed in any form by Of there was no income tax tional or state, and during most of that time, as well, there was not the press for government revenue that now obtains. But, to repeat, for 69 state or local governments the pay of a fed- eral worker, nor could the federal government touch the pay of a state or city or county worker, even after the federal government turned to in- come taxes as a revenue source. Some judge, somewhere, sometime, it. It was just taken for granted. All of that now has been changed, judge is sufficient to fall within the federal tax brackets, he will pay. It will be the same with everyone It will be the same with federal officials and other federal employees stationed or liv- ing within a state that imposes in- come taxes on its residents. No one has yet calculated how much additional tax will be obtained sult of the decision. Nor has any- one made a real guess as to what employees. In the case of the fed- eral payroll, the civil service com- like 800 thousand receiving checks There are in porations. The stock of these is and they are, therefore, “instrumen- hitherto with payrolls exempt from state income taxes. There is one thing, however, of which we may be sure: the jobs, the political plums, the 5-thousand and 10-thousand dollar jobs have suddenly become less juicy. They are less lucrative by about $560 on a 10-thousand dollar job. What Effect Will Additional Taxes Have on Jobholders? Very important also, in my opin- will have upon the mind of the job- holder. You know, a jobholder very BecomingNecklines HE neckline is a very impor- tant detail in" making your dress becoming. Thus No. 171, designed for large figures, hasta plain, deep v-neckline which is especially slenderizing. Darts at the waistline tend to make you look inches slimmer. This is a particularly comfortable dress to work in, with its deep armholes, slashed sleeves, and easy waist. It’s easy to put on and to iron, too, thanks to the button-front. A diagram design, it may be all fin- ‘ ? Wy, rs Areas we a ham, percale nice for this For the heart-sha neckline charming be! The mini shou skirt accent t the silhe dress prints, you many r No. 1719 is 38, 40, 42, 44, 38 requires ya material; 4% var No. 17268 is d 14, 16, 18 yards of ich yards of pleating or ruffling. Spring-Summer Pattern Book. Send 15 cents for the Barba: Book, which is now 1 yourself attractive, becoming clothes, signs from the Barbara Bell well planned, easy- 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. selecting vehicle accident shows that 9 per cent of the motor ve- hicles in fatal accidents were re- ported as defective In non-fatal accidents defective vehicles numbered 4 per cent. The council commented that “it seems certain that mass statistics understate the true importance of this problem. A careful study | made several years ago indicated that wehicular defects were at | least a contributing cause in 15 i per cent of the accidents. reports A Ar CONSTIPATED? Mere Is Amazing Relief for Conditions Due to Siuggish Bowels If you think all lxzati ves art alike, It is one way by which he can curry favor, make votes for himself, 1 jobholders are going to stop and think a wee bit more. sibly stop to think how much it will take out of his pocketbook. That ought to be helpful, because it ought to reduce the number of flannel- mouths going about the county or district, shouting for another bond isstie before the ink on the last one gets dry. One of the results, there- fore, possibly may be to cause that type of public official and advocate of “improvement’’ to favor living within the income of tax receipts. To make it complete, now, we Pea [LON . pee Rie Mh an aa ah SE Eb Utter Poverty Debt is the worst kind of pov- erty.—Proverb. [LER EET oF: [el [ely of the kidneys. are to become overdazed tnd fail 10 Mier Spores rtd
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers