PAGE SIX
THE DALLAS POST, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1938
-
? ; More Than A Newspaper—A Community Institution ¥ ;
“Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of : THE POST'S CIVIC PROGRAM
speech or of Press” — The Constitution of the United States. 1. A modern concrete highway leading from Dallas and con
The Dallas Post is a youthful, liberal, aggressive weekly, dedica- The Dallas Post Ro on the si Trail at Tara
ted to the highest ideals of the journalistic tradition and concerned Established 1889 2d greater deve opment of community consciousness among
primarily with the development of the rich rural-suburban area about Tesidonts & Dafis, Tenshi, Shavers, and Fernbrook.
Dallas. It strives constantly to be more than a newspaper, a com- : : » 3 enti gation of focal hire protection,
munity institution A Liberal, Independent Newspaper Published Every Friday 4. Sanitary sewage systems for local towns.
: Morning At The Dallas Post Plant, Lehman Avenue, 5. A centralized police force.
Subscription, $2.00 per Year, payable in advance. Subscrib- Dallas, Penna., By The Dallas Post, Inc. . 6. A consolidated high school eventually,” and better co-oper-
ers who send us changes of address are requested to include both tion between those that now exist. :
=) new and old addresses with the notice of change. = Advertising HOWARD W. RISLEY... oo General Matiopds Z Compins Shun o pies from local school affairs.
| rates on request. ; : : nstruction of more sidewalks.
: HOWELL EB. BEBS. iin Managing Editor i :
pe 5
The Anniversary Of Repeal
: Five years ago this week the United States came out of
~ the dreadful nightmare which was called Prohibition.
Five years ago there were about 200,000 speakeasies
~ functioning and at least 200,000 active bootleggers. It is es-
~ timated the country was spending more than $4,000,000,000
a year on illicit drinks and that more than 85 per cent li-
quor sold was green, improperly made, insufficiently aged
or imperfectly denatured and therefore more harmful than
legal liquor. ;
~~ No one can forget the gangs which flourished
under prohibition and the indifference to law which de-
veloped, even among ordinarily law-abiding citizens. The
thrill-drinking among high school pupils, the increase of
graft among policemen, the bottle-tilting in back alleys,
Jcloak-rooms and drug stores were customs which were
dropped with a sigh of relief five years ago this week.
The high hopes which were held when the nation re-
~ pealed its prohibition laws have not all been realized, but
we cannot but admit that the situation, aside from any
moral question, has improved immeasurably in five years.
‘Last year more than a billion dollars was collected in liquor
taxes—all money which formerly went to organized crim-
inals. Illicit distilling and selling have become a minor pro-
blem. The old nation-wide alliance of liquor and politics
has not been restored. Deaths from alcoholism have fallen.
~ The wave of drinking among the young, although higher
than before Prohibition, seems to have receded.
Conditions after five years of Repeal are definitely
better than they were after 13 years of Prohibition. It is
every citizen's duty to use his power and his common sense
to improve the situation and make the liquor business as
~ honest and as wholesome as it can be.
: A Philadelphia judge has hit upon one of the best of
~ plans to settle marital difficulties. Make marriages more
difficult and divorces more easy, he suggests.
The Miracle Man
If Judge Arthur H. James accomplishes everything
that has come to be expected of him at Washington he will
~ surely be a miracle man. Everybody seems poised, ready
to greet the millenium after January 17.
Governor-elect James is a personable, conscientious,
person, but no magician. He has no wand to wave to
improve overnight the lot of nearly 10,000,000 Pennsylvan-
~ ians. He cannot, with a snap of his fingers, reverse a tide
of events which has been sweeping onward for six years.
He will be bound by all the limitations of a human being,
and he will be, regardless of his honorable title, only one
man among many thouands who have a part in conducting
the State’s government.
His task at Harrisburg will be difficult enough, with-
out the burden of unfounded hopes. His program is one
which will take time. It is unjust to expect that prosperity
will dawn anew over Pennsylvania on the morning of Jan-
~ uary 18 just because a man most of us admire has gone into :
the Governor’s mansion.
If we sit back, and wait for Arthur H. James to pro-
duce miracles we shall wait in vain. We have a responsibil-
ity, too. It is to take advantage of the loosening of Penn-
~ sylvania’s bonds, the new faith in the future and do our
“share to dispel the economic shadows. We cannot ask Judge
James to do it all.
The fastest talker in the United States is the man who
has convinced his wife there will be no cold weather this
Winter and that they should just leave the screens up.
American Speaks Up
Only on rare occasions do top-flight government of-
ficials openly and directly criticize the government or pol-
icies of another power. Thus, when President Roosevelt
recently spoke of the Jewish persecutions in Germany as
being horrible and almost unbelievable, he was doing the
unusual and the daring. The immediate response was a bit-
ter campaign of vilification against this country in the in-
~ spired Nazi press. The response here was about 100 per
cent favorable to Mr. Roosevelt's stand.
Furthermore, there’s a growing sentiment in this coun-
try for breaking off all commercial and diplomatic relations
with the Reich. That would be an economic blow to Ger-
many, which is shaky financially as it is. But few think it
could produce much result unless other powers. joined in,
notably England and France. And inasmuch as these coun-
tries are now trying to cultivate German “friendship” there
seems small chance of that. :
More immediate is the problem of aiding the persecut-
ed Jews. There is a fair chance that one of Germany's for-
mer African colonies may be turned into a Jewish haven
~ and homeland. This would not solve the problem by any
means, but it would do a great deal to lessen it. And, inas-
much as Germany has been seeking the return of these co-
lonies, it would be an ironic, back-handed slap at Hitler.
In the meantime, don’t be surprised if the American
Ambassador to Berlin, who was recently called home to “re-
port,” doesn’t return to Berlin for some time to come.
RIVES
- MATTHEWS
In London the word is they'll have
Wally and Eddy out of the cafes and
nightclubs of Paris by Christmas,
that they'll fang a Yule pig along
with Momma, Bertie, Liz and the
kiddies at Windsor Castle, and that
by New Year's Wally will be a
Royal Highness to whom it will be
necessary, from then on, for all the
gals, who gave her a ritzing, to drop
a curtsey.
* *
Wally will then be the first Amer-
ican to have attained royal status in
England, and the first divorcee to
have appeared, officially, in the pre-
sence of the Queen Mother, who
has, for years, refused to truck with
renovated ladies, much to the annoy-
ance of some of them who did not
shed their mates on grounds any more
sensational than that their hubands
had the maddening habit of singing
in the bathtub, or some other similar
annoyance which lenient courts al-
low to be called incompatibility.
* *
Now Wally, as all the - world
knows, has been twice divorced.
Both times, I believe, she was techni-
cally the injured party. The last
time, obviously, she was fit for a
king, but Mr. Simpson preferred to
breakfast before witnesses with what
is commonly known in ye merrie
olde England as a totty. And then,
as soon as he could, after Wally’s
decree “took,” like a vaccination
against the hoof and mouth disease,
he got hitched to another divorcee.
Apparently Mr. Simpson likes to
marry dames with references.
* *
Of course there is more in this
business of the reconstruction of the
lady who goes in for wearing scarlet
lobsters on her gowns than meets the
eye. If it were just a case of aiding
women, you would not find the Bri-
tish Government, and its stooges,
Bertie and Liz and the rest of that
gang, telling Wally and Eddy to
come back home because all is for-
given.
* #*
“There is plenty they will never
be forgiven. Eddy will be pitied, but
Wally will continue to be scorned as |
a climber. And as a climber, she will
continue to be feared. Theres no tell
ing where that jane’s ambition will
take her. And no counting on mercy
when she is given an opportunity to
revenge herself on all those who
were responsible for hounding her
out of England as that campire who
had her clutches on the Empire’s in-
nocent darling.
* *
I said it two years ago, and I still
maintain’ that as long as Wally
Windsor lives, she'll be a menace to
the peace and stability of the royal
family system in England. Maybe
now she’s more of a menace living
in Paris than she would be as a Roy-
al Highness living in England, where,
presumably, she will be pressed into
service as ap assistant baby kisser,
bazaar opener and cornerstone-layer.
Maybe they'd rather have her wield-
ing a sterling silver trowel than a
manure fork or a pick axe. But it’s
my guess she won't be content with
ranking equal to the other royal
duchesses, even though they're send-
ing one of them off to the wilds of
Australia. Every time Wally sees
Liz, she'll tell herself that there, but
for the ungraciousness of the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury and Stanley
Baldwin, would she be going.
Who can tell? Maybe the Wind-
sors threatened to visit the United
States next Spring, and thereby queer
the impending visit of Bertie and Liz.
Maybe the game is to appoint Eddy
regent of England during the absence
of his brother. And what a chance
that would give Wally! Then she’ll
be a sort of queen with a power of
attorney she'd wangle around so that
it. wouldn't be revoked. That gal
would like to be queen, I'll bet, and
she’s still got plenty of tricks up her
sleeve. Besides, Chamberlain isn’t the
opponent Baldwin was for Wally,
judging by some of the finesses Hitler
got past Neville . And Wally’s a
better player than Hitler
Naturally shell go back to Eng
land with Eddy billed as “the woman
he loved,” and on that beside Holly-
wood appeal, she’ll continue to play
for popular support Still, it seems to
me the English arent as dumb as all
that. I believe they'll see through her
little tableau. After all, had she real
ly loved Eddy, according to all the
best cinema formulae, she would have
given him up because his destiny and
duty called. Or, she could have com-
promised, as so many women of sha-
dy reputations have in the past
(they're all supposed to have hearts
of gold), and not demanded the su-
preme sacrifice.
I still think that as Eddy’s sweet-
heart, she would have fulfilled the
romantic requirements of Holly-
woodsmen, and she would have gone
down in history enshrined among alt
the noble ladies of the bedchamber
whom kings have loved, rather than
as the flatchested, hard-faced climber
who made a king, and members of his
family, ridiculous,
The Mail Bag
Editor:
With reference to proposed in-
come tax on salaries, I think it would
be interesting if your paper would
figure out what this would mean to.
the individual taxpayer.
In other words, there are figures
available as to the percentage of a
person’s earnings that would be tax-
able under the sales tax of two per
cent. If I do not miss my guess, the
politicians would be getting more out
of a wage-earner at two per cent or
even less of his earnings than from
the sales tax. In other words, a man
would pay a tax on what he earned,
and also pay another or double tax on
real estate (as either owner or renter)
and likely double taxes on some
other items.
With a sales tax, food, real estate,
etc., eliminated. It is worth looking
into.
Ww. S. C.
* *
Editor:
There is not now, nor has there
ever been, nor will there ever be, any
conflict between capital and labor,
The correct definition of the word
capital is wealth—that is, labor pro-
ducts—devoted to aiding in the pro-
duction of more wealth. Factories,
mills, machinery are capital. There
can be no conflict between a steel
rail rolling mill and the workers at-
tending it.
The popular delusion that there
exists a state of warfare or a class
struggle, as it is usually termed, be-
tween production instrumantalities
and labor is derived from the notions
of Karl Marx, who imagined that
something he called capital was op-
pressing the industrial workers by
compelling them to work for low
wages. Whatever some employers
of laber may have done, or may now
be doing, it is not the capital but its
owners or managers (the French
word entrepreneurs correctly describ-
es their function) who are responsible
for disputes between employers and
employes. Whidden Graham.
New York
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*
City Symphony
By Edna Blez
We made our annual pilgrimage to
New York last week end and regard-
less of the many times we have fre
quented the big city we never fail
to thrill to its excitement and general
air of festivity. Last week-end was a
particularly good time in New York
because it was really a holiday week-
end and the streets were jammed
with Christmas shoppers as well as
students and scores of people who
had eviuently come to town for noth-
ing morc than a general good time.
* *®
The outdoor skating rink in Rocke-
feller Center looked like something
out of Vogue or Harper’s Dazaar and
never have I seen such picturesque
skating costumes. They weren't what
one might term exactly warm but the
girls were apparently out to show off
and didn’t seem to care that their silk
stockened legs were purple with the
cold. T suspect the attendants were
not picked for their skating ability
alone because they were unusually
handsome young men. The music
sounded like an old fashioned music
box and the whole effect was un-
usually quaint and charming.
* *
Going to the theatre in New York
always seems different than the same
procedure in any other city. I don’t
know what the difference is but there
is a general air of excitement which
seems to be lacking elsewhere. I was
fortunate enough to see the much-
heralded “Abe Lincoln in Illinois”,
and I firmly believe it will become an
American classic. Raymond Massey
brings Abe Lincoln to life so perfect-
ize it was only a play. I felt I had
lze it was only a play. I felt I had
seen and known Mr. Lincoln and
evidently I was not alone in my opin-
ion because a very nice old lady sitt-
ing next to me said at last she had
met Abe Lincoln, and she felt the ef-
fort of coming down from Westport,
Conn., had not been in vain, because
she had had a rare experience.
* *
I saw Maurice Evans in the uncut
version of Hamlet. It begins at six-
thirty and there is an hour intermis-
sion at eight o'clock, and the play is
over at eleven-thirty. I didn’t notice
that it was any longer than any other
version I have witnessed but it might
have been that it was so perfectly
produced. It seemed all too short and
I don’t think you or I will ever see
a Hamlet who will equal the per-
formance of Maurice Evans. The
whole play is done so perfectly and
in such exquisite taste it wasn't at all
surprising to hear the audience shout-
ing, “Bravo! Bravo!” I have never
heard an audience give vent to such
an outburst of enthusiasum.
* *
New York is such a crazy place it
is possible to dine in a very fine res-
taurant where everything is genteel
and up to the minute and just around
the corner there might be a “joint”
where one can enter another world.
I happened on such a place while I
was in the big city and I was amazed
to find a place where everyone seem-
ed to know everyone else. One girl
brought along her dog. He was a
most intelligent canine and evidently
everyone in the place knew him and
he had no difficulty getting plenty to
eat. The waitress fed him crumbs and
scraps and he managed to have at
least a bite of everyone's lunch. A
big city teeming with life and excite
ment, and right in the center of it
a bit of a small town!
THE LOW DOWN
from
HICKORY GROVE
Since November 8 business has
seemed to be taking just a little
more interest in life, and the
family, which has been hovering
at the bed-side, has a minute's
time now to run out for a sand-
wich.
Business is like a person, a
whole lot. You go and pick up
the smallpox or something, and
your temperature which is O.K.
at 98, it scoots up to 102, and
you are flat on your back. And it
does not seem like 4 degrees is
much, but boy, it sure removes
your appetite for ham and eggs
or corn cakes, etc. And with
business, it is not an iota differ-
ent—it can be sick, too.
These fix-everything fellows,
they were whittled down quite a
speck, on Nov. 8, and business,
it has quite a bit more sparkle in
its eye already. November 8, it
was quite a day.
Yours, with the low down,
JO SERRA.
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