SOUTHERN OREGON MINER
Page 2
GENERAL
HUGH S.
JOHNSON
i
Washington. D. C.
TROQUET CLIQUE’ AND
FRANCO LOAN
MILITARY BURDEN
WASHINGTON.-The inside story
It is astonishing to find in my
of how the career boys nearb' put mail and to hear in talk—most re­
over the $100,000,000 credit to Fas­ cently here among leading industri­
cist Spain indicates the strength of alists at the convention of the Na­
"the croquet clique” inside the state tional Association of Manufacturers
department. This is the group which —a sort of half-formed opinion that
plays croquet almost every evening if we can keep out of war. either by
with Cordell Hull, and is equivalent aiding Britian to preserve her em­
to the ’Cliveden set” in England pire by some sort of peace accepta­
As a matter of fact, it was a part ble to her, or by aiding her to do
of the old Cliveden clique—Lord much more, we can avoid the con­
Halifax and Sir Samuel Hoare—who tinuing necessity and burden of
started the idea of helping General maintaining an army and navy in­
Franco. Sir Samuel Hoare is now vincible in every area in which our
British ambassador to Spain, and it national safety is or may be en­
was he who sold the idea to Ameri­ dangered.
can Ambassador Weddell, long fa­
That is a cruel illusion. We have
mous for his ability to follow rather slept too long on our rusting arms
than lead.
Force and not good faith is the rule
Lord Halifax and Hoare apparent­ in the world today. It is only real­
ly thought it would be smart poli­ istic for us to recognize that. With
tics to get the United States to lend its resources reasonably organized
a hundred million dollars to Spain, and mobilized for war. this is the
in which case Britain might win a strongest nation on earth. Stronger
few months of Spanish neutrality than any probable combination of
and certainly could not lose—since other nations.
only American money would be in­
Considering its strategic position
vested.
behind two oceans, it can become
So Ambassador Weddell had sev­ impregnable in this hemisphere. But
eral talks with General Franco and it can de so only if it is and re-
later sold the idea to some of his : mains so organized and mobilized.
friends in the state department, no­ It can do so only if it confines its
tabb Assistant Secretary Breckin­ defense to the areas in which its
ridge Long and James Dunn. Jim­ strategic territorial advantage ex­
my Dunn, adviser on political rela­ ists.
tions, today has become one of the
At this war-dance stage of world
most important figures in the state conflict, as in any war, leaders on
department. For he is Cordell Hull’s both sides say their only war aims
chief croquet partner. In fact, it is and the only basis of peace is the
on Jimmy Dunn’s lawn that many complete destruction and subjuga­
of the croquet matches take place. tion of its enemy. In the present
So Jimmy Dunn sold the idea of balance of power that is most un­
the Spanish credit to his croquet likely.
Hitler, with the military
partner, and for a time it looked as equipment of all Europe accumulat­
if Mr. Hull would put it across. It ed in many countries through years
was at this point that Under Secre­ of rearmament in his hands and his
tary of State Sumner Welles stepped heel on the nocks of all the fighting
into the picture. He communicated peoples, is little likely to be com­
direct to the President who at that pletely dislxlped on land in Europe
time was away on his Caribbean without a vast Internal upheaval,
cruise.
which now seems u.;hkely.
Roosevelt agreed with Welles that
Yet Hitler, with little distant na­
to throw a hundred million dollars
into the lap of Fascist Spain would val strength and many strategical
and territorial handicaps, is little
be extremely unwise. However, a
compromise finally was worked out, likely completely to destroy either
the British navy or the British em­
largely for the purpose of saving
pire.
Mr. Hull's feelings, since he had
Suppose this is wrong. Suppose a
already gone rather far out on a
limb in favor of the Spanish credits. peace of complete conquest, subju­
gation and revenge wcre imposed
Therefore the Red Cross will send upon either side as it was at Ver-
a certain amount of food and medi­ sailles or a century earlier at Vi-
cal supplies to Spain. How much enna. Would either result—a con-
this will be remains to be seen, but quered peace or a negotiated truce
the croquet clique will see that it —create a condition, in which, after
is enough to keep Franco in power both these lessons, we could ever
despite the rising tide of discontent rely on anything less than our own
among the Spanish people.
strength completely adaptable to
HIGHWAY HITCHES
One major item of the new de­
fense budget to be submitted to con­
gress in January is a system of
super-highways linking key indus­
trial centers. The plan calls for
the greatest road building program
in the history of the country.
Elimination of transportation bot­
tlenecks, such as prevailed during
the World war. is one goal; also
the problem of conflicting state high­
way laws which are a serious im­
pediment to defense.
For instance, the war department
entered into a contract with a truck
line last summer to transport small
arms and ammunition from Chicago
to Sparta, Wis., where maneuvers
were being held. It was a rush or­
der, but was held up because the
trucks didn't conform to Wisconsin
limitations. In another case build­
ing materials for an urgently need­
ed powder plant in Indiana were de­
layed because of highway statutes.
In an effort to unravel the maze
of state traffic rules, the interde­
partmental committee on interstate
trade barriers has surveyed 301 stat­
utes. Thirty-nine state legislatures
meet in January, and defense au­
thorities plan a vigorous drive to
persuade them to remove these de­
fense obstacles. The highway re­
port has already been sent to the
legislative heads of Kentucky, Lou­
isiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New
Jersey, New York, Rhode Island,
South Carolina and Virginia.
Federal officials want the states
to solve the problem themselves, but
if they don't, congressional action
will be sought under the constitu­
tional prohibition against interstate
commerce barriers. Such a move
doubtless will stir up the hot opposi­
tion of railroads, who favor the ex­
isting system as an aid in fighting
truck competition.
• • •
MAIL BAG
L. K., St. Louis—Senator Clark’s
isolationist views are completely
consistent and sincere; doubtless go­
ing back to similar views held by
his father, the celebrated Champ
Clark. Senator Clark always has
i
been an ardent opponent of war. He
had a distinguished record in the
last war.
J. H., Muncie, Ind.—Secretary of
Labor Perkins is not foreign born;
she was born in Boston, Mass., April
10, 1882.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
In speaking Spanish, Henry Wal­
lace has difficulty with the words
meaning “Swiss” and “Swede." Re­
sult is he sometimes refers to his
Swiss brother-in-law as a Swede.
Everybody who enters Justice
Murphy’s chambers in the Supreme
court is asked by his secretary to
sign a guest book.
any military or naval problem in
our’own defense in this hemisphere?
It is a vain hope. We should aid
Britain to the full extent that does
not involve us in a war for which
we are not remotely ready, carry­
ing financial obligations that could
ruin us and with an equally impor­
tant qualification—to the full extent
that it can be done without post­
toning our own rearmament for any
eventuality—all-out rearmament on
land, sea and in the air and all-out
preservation of our great financial
and
industrial
solidarity
and
strength.
We are not following this rule, or
we are following it too slowly vrith
too many exceptions and too many
blunders. Every informed observer
in Washington knows that our de­
fense program of production is
about 30 per cent behind the most
pessimistic advance schedules.
Thirteen Killed by Explosion
Friday, Dec. 27, 1940
Tobi to Leave li. S.
WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
(Consolidate^ Feature»— WNU Service.I
N’EW YORK—This writer hap-
’ pened to be down ia Eliza­
bethton. Tenn., in 1928 when Ed­
ward F. McGrady was kidnaped
,
. ,
. . , from his hotel
Army Labor Aide In thc middle
For Fair Break to ot the night.
Ownership, Labor
do*™ ln
r
the wilder­
ness and told to keep going. He
was an A. F. of L. representative,
organizing the rayon mill workers.
He walked straight back to town,
met his assailants, and explained
to them there had been a mistake.
Always dapper, smiling a wry smile,
he never so much as lost the crease
in his trousers in this adventure.
The vigilantes bought him a drink.
Nobody knows the trouble he’s
seen, but he’s straightened out
a lot of it, too. and now at 68.
he becomes the special labor
aide to the army as special la­
bor consultant to Secretary
Stimson.
He has held down
many a sizzling-hot lid of labor
strife and. respected by owner­
ship for wise counsel and falr-
di-aling, he is equally respected ,
by labor as a hard hitting con­
tender for its rights.
It was in September, 1937. that he
was upped 53 stories to a mahogany
and mono-metal office and a sal­
ary of $25,000 a year as director of
labor relations for the Radio Corpo­
ration of America. His singular suc­
cess as a labor conciliator during
the preceding five years, while as-
sistan' secretary of labor, lay In
keeping the friendship of both sides
But no one ever called him a yes
man. He is hard-headed and tough-
minded.
He was a newsboy in one of the
sleaziest of Boston slums. He be-
came a newspaper pressman, and
a union organizer. Samuel Gom-
pers sent him to Washington, where
he remained 14 years as the legis­
lative agent of the A. F. of L.
His habits of speech, never
bookish or turning to double­
talk, have had much to do with
his success in clearing up what
he calls “misunderstandings.’’
In short, hard-hitting words, he
has preached the responsibility
of labor to co-operate and pro­
duce, as well as bargain, along
with the responsibility of owner­
ship to give the worker a fair
break. He was assistant admin­
istrator of the NBA under Gen.
Hugh Johnson. In his new post,
he nerves without salary, hav-
Ing been partially released from
his duties by President David
Sarnoff of the R. C. A.
Members of four families in Cincinnati, Ohio, were blasted out of their
beds by a pre-dawn explosion that wrecked a three-story downtown tene­
ment building, and killed 13 members of live families. A dosen others
living on upper floors were injured, l’hoto shows firemen removing
InJut cd victim from thc scene of the explosion.
Princess Stephanie Schilllngiurst
has been ordered cxpcllrd from the
United States by the department of
Justice. She was once known as
London’s leading Nasi hostess.
British Pack a Blenheim Bomber
This scene, somewhere In Egypt, shows a ground errw packing a
bomb bay of a Blenheim bomber with a cargo of death and destruction.
Planes like this have been battering thc Italian base of Bardia, a port
and key Fascist base 15 miles inside of Libya, as the British blitzkrieg
sweeps on in its counter-invasion of Italian Libya.
Commanders of Four U. S. z\ir Districts |
Norman Armour. U. H. ambassa­
dor to Argentina, w ho is reported be­
ing considered by President Roose­
velt as a successor to Joseph P Ken­
nedy, as U. H. envoy to England.
Aiding British
’S austere, ascetic lit­
P ORTUGAL
tle $2,500-a-year dictator, Dr. An­
tonio Oliviera Salazar, is the
shrewdest man In the business, when
_
.
—. ,
it comes to
One for Ripley — keeping
out
Dictator Dialiking ot bad trou-
Uniform, Oratory ble- and mak
mg a general
showing of solvency and peace. Just
r.ow, reports from Europe that he
is putting out peace feelers are in­
teresting if not important. He is on
middle ground. With his co-dicta-
tors, he has assailed democracy, but
DEFENSE PRODUCTION
Bill Knudsen’s speech at the Na­ his country has been for centuries
tional Society of Manufacturers was 1 more or less in British leading
like a breath from a mountain top strings, and he is charged with none
on a muggy day. He was a prac­ ; of the brutal excesses of the other
tical production man talking their j Continental tyrannies. It was in
language. He was an honest man May of last year that he made a
mixing the bitter with the sweet j sharp break with Italy and Germa-
and handing it out with the bark , ny and swung into the British orbit.
In 1928, when Gen. Antonio Car­
off.
Production lags. >Our machine for mona seized power, he summoned
defensive manufacture is not on an the acidulous, little, bespectacled
all-out basis It doesn't mean any­ professor to take a hand in the gov­
thing to report the production of ernment. Dr. Salazar said it would
so-and-so many airplanes or ships be all or nothing. With the under­
unless you tell what types you are standing that England would con­
talking about. Some are big and tinue its benign mandate over Portu­
complicated. Some are little and gal, he took over as premier.
simple.
He dislikes uniforms and nev­
er wore one, and dislikes ora­
Two years before he was called
tory even more. He has made
to Washington, or even mentioned
four short speeches in the 12
elsewhere for that purpose, this col­
years of his premiership. By
umn began to urge that the govern­
cutting out all social reforms,
ment make use of Mr. Knudsen in
and curtailing expenditures for
the speciality in which he is a verita­
public health and education, and
ble genius. That speciality is the
by developing a guild system of
mechanical aspects of production in
bis own devising, he has con­
the American model of vast mass
served resources and cut down
output through factory organization
the external debt. There is a
and method. The present program,
disagreement as to what has
now that so many of the contracts
happened to the internal debt.
have been placed, is now moving
His critics say it has risen
into exactly that phase. In that
sharply and that real wages and
phase you could sift America with a
the standard of living of his
fine-meshed sieve and find no bet­
people have been lowered.
ter man for that job.
Right at the start of his regime,
But that is not the whole job. It
is only one part of the whole job. there were complaints from tourists
The whole job is insurance of the that Portuguese hotels were infested
flow of materials, power, labor, with fleas. Dr. Salazar, a recluse
finance and transportation. It is with no fear of detection, tried out
careful watchfulness of the procure­ one of the hostelries and didn't get
ment program of the various gov­ much sleep. The next day, there
ernment agencies themselves to was an official decree, with ribbons,
keep them in balance and to prevent a wax seal and everything, fixing a
duplications, cross-wires, counter­ $25 fine on hotel keeps for each
flea caught. This decree, like all
bidding and waste-through-haste.
It is also a constant vigilance for his others, was signed, “Professor
the supply of civilian needs. Mili­ of Finance in the Law Faculty of
tary and naval needs must have an Coimbra University." He is a non-
absolute right of way, but we should smoker, a teetotaler, and a rage
tarian.
not create hardships elsewhere.
The four major generals in command of the four air districts Into
which the United States has been divided are shown here. Top, left,
Maj. Gen. B. K. Yount, commanding general of the Southeast air corps
district. Top, right, Maj. Gen. John F. Curry (N. W. district); bottom,
left, Maj. Gen. James Chaney, (N. E. district); bottom, right, Maj.
Gen. Jacob Fickel (8. W. district.)
Somewhere In England . , . Na­
tive Indians have flocked loyally to
the banner of the British royal air
force, lending their abilities to Brit­
ain in Its fight for life against Ger­
many. This Indian pilot Is having a
mug of hot coffee after a flight.
U. S. Releases Planes to Greece
Released by Nazis
In swift execution of aiding the nations fighting aggression, the
United States government has released to Greece 30 P-40 pursuit planes,
pictured above, for Immediate delivery. The planes, rated by air experts
in America as possessing greater speed, maneuverability and stamina
*k*a lUir’a best, mount four wing-contained machine guns each.
Mrs. E./ Deegan, U. 8. embassy
clerk In Paris, who was held by
Nr.ils and later released. It Is
thought she was accused of aiding
British officers escape from France.