THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1936
THE HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON.
OREGON STATE NEWS
OF GENERAL INTEREST
National Topics Interpreted
by William Bruckart
National Press Building
Since the steel industry has its
company unions, there is a con
viction in many quarters that Mr.
Lewis might well pause to consider
whether this is the time to carry
forward his program of bringing
steel workers under national labor
union control. There are those who
believe that the company unions
eventually will become units in the
larger labor structure of the coun
try and, if that be true, it is made
to appear that Mr. Lewis has hurt
labor’s cause.
On the other hand, the steel in
dustry already is under attack by
the government. Mr. Roosevelt
suddenly “cracked down” on some
of the major companies recently,
charging them with collusion in
bids on government work. He
came out with this charge at a
time which undoubtedly will stiffen
the backbone of the union agita
tors—and it is not unlikely that by
the same token he has stiffened
the resistance which the steel com
panies will use.
Yet, it does seem that the steel
companies made a fatal mistake in
the pronouncement they have is
sued. There are too many people
who will be inclined to believe that
the steel companies have taken ad
vantage of an apparent assurance
of collapse of federal supervision.
There are few who believe that the
federal compulsory collective bar
gaining statute will last very long
but the fact that this statute is
due for the discard, it sems to
me, hardly warrants the action
which the steel companies nave
taken. They are no more war
ranted in that than union labor is
warranted in taking advantage of
the political situation to feather
their own nest. A real danger, in
addition to this, is that Communist
agitators are going to use this situ
ation as one vehicle for spreading
their propaganda of dissatisfaction
and discontent and Mr. Roosevelt’s
» • •
attack on massed capital unfortu
For a number of years, steel nately lends itself to the nefarious
companies have refused steadfastly schemes of the Reds.
« • *
to recognize un-
Steel Bucks ion labor as rep-
It long has been said that the
Unions resented by the
method of administering laws fre
professional lead
quently has creat-
ers in the American Federation of
-Tax Law
ed more dissatis-
Labor. They have attempted to
Irritation faction among the
defeat the inroads of that organiza
citizens than the
tion by forming what is known as requirements of laws themselves.
company unions, groups of employ Tax laws of whatever kind furnish
ees on the pay roll of each corpora a splendid example. It has always
tion. They have accorded to these been true since we have had in
groups the right of collective bar come tax laws that taxpayers
gaining and have insisted that they have complained more about bu
would deal only with the represent reaucratic regulation, indecision,
atives of the company unions for lack of uniformity in administra
the reason that they believe they tion and. generally speaking, slow
then are dealing with the employ processes of settlement than about
ees concerned with questions of pay the amount they were required to
and working conditions in that par pay. The same is true about our
ticular plant. If the national un customs laws despite the fact that
ions were recognized, officials of a they affect fewer persons directly.
given company always have had to
The other day the Treasury is
negotiate with the expert union ne sued a notice to customs inspectors
gotiators who are paid by the na that was “effective immediately.”
tional organization. The results It was a change in policy respect
have not always been happy. This ing the quantity of goods an indi
combination of circumstances, to vidual may bring in from foreign
gether with a disposition on the shores without the payment of the
part of the steel companies, I am customs tax.
afraid, to be rather selfish in their
Since 1798 or thereabouts, there
attitude toward labor has devel
oped a continuing controversy that has been a law which permitted a
has raged over the last score of returning American to bring in
commodities of whatever kind he
years.
desired, except narcotics, up to
It happened that the rather inso $100 in value but that law permit
lent announcement of the steel ted the Treasury to make excep
companies, their challenge, came tions. The Treasury notice the oth
almost simultaneously with the de er day was an announcement of
livery of President Roosevelt’s an exception to this $100 exemp
speech accepting the Democratic tion. It said that no inbound trav
nomination for re-election. It was eler could carry more than one
in this speech, it will be remem wine gallon of liquor without the
bered, where Mr. Roosevelt de payment of the customs tax there
nounced “economic royalists,” in on. A practice had sprung up since
which he resorted to expressions the import duty on liquors has been
bound to create class hatred and made so high of returning tourists
in which he used language that is bringing in almost the full exemp
certainly going to help discredit tion in liquor alone. Probably the
corporations which are large practice was getting very bad and
enough to attract national atten no one questions the judgment of
tion. Of course, I know that Mr. the Treasury in determining poli
Roosevelt did not have the steel in cy. But it is the method employed
dustry particularly in mind in his in making this change that has
assault on massed capital but the aroused criticism.
effect is the same as though he
In ordering the new regulation
had been shooting directly at the “effective immediately,” the Treas
steel industry because of the coinci ury forced upon hundreds of trav
dence mentioned above.
elers the necessity for paying duty
The tragedy of the thing is that on their personal stocks of liquor
the professional labor leaders are in what amounts to a surprise or
going to use the steel industry’s der. They had left foreign shores
challenge politically.
under one regulation and arrive un
•
*
der another.
From all of the inside discussions
I have no doubt at all that the
that I have heard, it appears that Treasury’s reason for changing the
the issue between rule while the game was being
The Real the steel industry played
result in a considerable
Issue and its workers is amount will
of revenue for the govern
no longer simply
But there are many who
whether the steel industry shall be ment.
believe, as I do, that the depart
unionized. It is a question of how ment in all fairness should have
it shall be unionized. In addition issued its regulation to become ef
to this, Mr. Lewis has been chisel fective at some fixed date in the
ing away for several years in future in order that citizens who
promoting his labor union idea of must comply with it would be pre
organizing all workers in one unit pared by proper notification of
instead of the craft union idea that what they were expected to do and
is basic in the American Federa the penalties for failure to obey.
tion of Labor. That is to say, Mr.
The incident to which I have re
Lewis proposes to have a steel un ferred is an outstanding example
ion or a shipbuilding union or a tex of inconsideration and such things
tile union instead of organizing the always cause citizens to have a
workers in accordance with the hurt feeling, a feeling that the gov
particular jobs they do, whether ernment changed the rules without
they be engineers, painters, car consulting those who must obey the
penters, moulders or any one of rules.
the various other crafts.
• Western Newspaper Union.
Washington.—The steel industry
of the United States has cast for it
self a role in the
Labor and forthcoming cam-
Politics paign—whether it
intended to do so
or not. The same is true of John
L. Lewis and his segment of or
ganized labor—and it is pretty gen
erally suspected that Mr. Lewis in
tended to get labor questions well
mixed up in politics. It is all
more important because of Presi
dent Roosevelt’s attack on “eco
nomic royalists’’ in his Philadel
phia acceptance speech.
Whatever rights the steel indus
try has or whatever rights Mr.
Lewis and his followers have, the
fact remains that they are all knee
deep in politics and there is every
reason to believe that each side
will suffer in public esteem as a
result. It means simply this: each
side is mixing up problems that
are basically economic in charac
ter with sordid, even unclean, po
litical motives.
This outburst is prompted by two
things: the gigantic steel industry
has taken the position that it will
defend itself against encroachment
of professional labor leaders like
Mr. Lewis and President William
Green of the American Federation
of Labor and their satellites “from
any source.” The steel industry
thereby has thrown down the chal
lenge and now that such a die is
cast, the steel industry will be
compelled to do a number of in
defensible things if it adheres to its
program.
The same condition is to be ob
served in the organized labor situa
tion. Whether Mr. Lewis is willing
to admit it or not, his declaration
that he will foster, even enforce,
his scheme for organizing the steel
workers is likely to lead to over-
zealous acts by his followers—and
overzealous and foolish acts all too
frequently lead to bloodshea.
C WAFP
O.obb
s about
Brief Resume of Happenings
of the Week Collected for
Our Readers
Vernonia—This town last Monday
night celebrated the opening of the
Oregon-American lumber mill, idle
since 1931, with a street dance and
entertainment sponsored by the local
chamber of commerce. The mill em
ploys between 600 and 700 men, pro
viding the community’s chief payroll.
Lostine—Clay Boyd of Lower Val
ley isn't on the boat bound for Ber
lin with the rest of the Olympic
team, but possibly his time for a
race he recently ran can stand com
parison with theirs. Boyd, while go
ing for wood, sighted a half-grown
coyote pup and took after it. He
caught it.
Corvallis—First post-summer ses
sion to be scheduled at Oregon State
college will open August 3 and con
tinue four weeks. Most of the courses
offered will be in education and sci
ence, and are arranged to permit
graduate students especially to earn
at least 15 credits of advanced work
in a summer.
Crater Lake — The discovery ot
crisobalite, a rare mineral, in the
Crater Lake area is subject matter
for a paper prepared by Carl E. Dut
ton, ranger naturalist, who found the
mineral in the region of Union peak.
The unusual specimen, a talus frag
ment, has a pitted surface covered
with small white crystals.
Enterprise—Frank Sizemore spot
ted a large cougar in a tree and shot
it. When he saw how emaciated the
cat was, he investigated more thor
oughly and learned that at some
fairly recent date the animal had
picked a porcupine for its lunch—
and got nothing more substantial
than quills for his efforts.
LaGrande—Work on two federal
projects here is rapidly nearing com
pletion. The new $95,000 under
grade crossing has only the finishing
touches lacking and will soon be
open for traffic. The new gymnas
ium-auditorium for the LaGrande
high school is being all enclosed and
the interior finish virtually done.
The Dalles—A delegation of busi
ness men returned from Prairie City
last week with the report that pos
sibly a large deposit of Dixie granite
near there would be utilized in con
struction of the new state capitol.
The deposit, according to Colonel
James B. Small, retired rock expert
of the United States reclamation serv
ice, will be of proper quality and suf
ficient quantity for the work.
Albany—Cost of educating Linn
county non-high school district stud
ents in the several high schools which
they attended during the last school
year was approximately the same as
during the 1934-35 year, J. M. Ben
nett, county school superintendent,
has announced. With Brownsville,
Jefferson and Portland claims lack
ing, the total, $35,246.65, is little
more than $1200 lower than the fig
ures of the previous year.
Klamath Falls—Giant bull-frogs
have been "planted” on the banks of
Lost river and the tule marshes of
Lower Klamath lake as a starter to
ward the establishments of a new at
traction for outdoorsmen—bull-frog
hunting. S. J. Coull and Howard
Strode brought the amphibians here
from the Sacramento district. Some
of the frogs measure 18 inches. They
passed inspection by Charles Riley,
game commissioner, who believes
they will help materially in cleaning
the region of flies and insects.
MINIATURE GALLOWS RECEIVED
Klamath Falls—A miniature gal-
lows, believed a replica of the scaf
fold on which Captain Jack, Modoc
chieftain, and his aides were hung
after the Modoc war, has been re
ceived to be placed in the Modoc lava
beds monument museum here. Gen
eral W. C. Brown, U. S. A., retired,
of Denver, gave the gallows to Rang
er Don C. Fisher,
General Brown received the gal
lows, made from wood from the or
iginal structure, when he was a lieu
tenant stationed at Fort Klamath in
1873.
HOP CONTRACTS SIGNED
Salem—A three-year hop contract
calling for prices of 35, 25 and 20
cents per pound had been written
here last week, the first agreement
made since a recent rise in prices re
sulting from extensive damage done
by downy mildew. Also reported
were sales of 86 bales of 1935 clns-
ters and 68 bales of fuggles at 30
cents. Reports Indicate that Willam
ette valiey yards are Improving dally,
thanks to the warm weather.
Dealers who signed 12-cent con
tracts before the price jump are con
sidering advancing the figure volun
tarily to 15 cents to insure clean
picking, it was said here.
Newport—Mr. and Mrs. Raymond
Compton of West Salem, who have
several acres of tobacco growing on
their farm in Alsea valley. are hav
ing a large dryer built to accommo
date the large crop, now nearly ready
to harvest.
Salem — Business-« ras Ing agents
who camped on the trail of J. W.
Ferguson, state forester, now enter
his office at their own risk. Tired
of combing them out of his hair, Fer
guson posted this sign: "We shoot
every tenth agent.
Page Three
Club
An Immortal Oration
everly hills , CALIF —
future has a rotten trick
B of The mussing
up the judgments of
the present. What a pity it is that
we can’t wear our hind-sights in
front.
When I read where some pon
derous performing pachyderm of
the literary elephant quadrille says,
“This story will live forever,”
I get to thinking about a time-yel
lowed copy of a metropolitan news
paper I saw once, a
paper that was print
ed on November 20,
1863.
It devoted great
gobs of praise and
nine solid columns
very soli d—to the
eloquence of the
Hon. Edward Ever
ett of Massachusetts,
who, on the day be
fore, after months of
Irvin 8. Cobb preparation had, on
a battlefield down in
Pennsylvania, spoken two hours and
turned loose enough oratory to fill
about nine gas balloons. But of the
subsequent and incidental remarks
of another man, an awkward, shy
man from Illinois, who had spoken
just two minutes, it said, "The
President was also heard briefly.
The applause was formal and scat
tering.”
Prejudices of Critics.
FTEN, ‘twould seem, the pro
fessional reviewer makes up
his mind beforehand that he
doesn’t like you and behaves ac
cordingly.
A friend sent me a clipping from
a small city—it dealt with the open
ing of the picture, "Everybody’s
Old Man.” The writer was quite
severe in his analysis. He didn’t
like the film. Passionately, he
didn’t care for me.
The joke was that the theater
where the picture was to have been
shown burned down just about the
time the paper went to press, and
the picture wasn’t ever shown in
that town.
The next best illustration of the
point I’m making dates back years
ago. I was discussing various nov
elists with that gentle wit, the late
Oliver Herford.
“Ollie,” I said, “what do you
think of So-and-So’s books?” “My
dear Cobb,” he softly murmured,
“something I once wrote about him
—in a critical way—so prejudiced
me against the man I could never
bear to read any of his books.”
O
Self-Anointed Dukes.
UT here we’re waiting for that
Spanish baron and that French
count back in New York to form
the mother branch of their Noble
men’s club for the protection of
holders of genuine titles in Amer
ica and, presumably, as a guar
antee to our own home-grown heir
esses that, when they marry, for
eign princelings or what not, the
goods will be as described. There’s
been a lot of title-legging, you
know.
As soon as the organization gets
started we’re going to open the Hol
lywood division. Since only the au
thentic nobility may qualify, it’s
figured that the active roster will
be confined to a very limited group.
O
•
«
•
The State of the Nation.
AR be it from me to turn alarm
ist right on the heels of the hot
wave, but I feel it my duty to warn
my fellow-Americans that this frag
ile and crumbling republic is
doomed. That is, it’s doomed if
you can believe what comes out of
our sainted political leaders in the
way of predictions.
Hark to the quavering chorus
which already has started up: A
crisis exists. Every professional
crisis-breeder in the land openly
admits it. I can't remember when
a crisis wasn’t existing. But they
come larger in campaign years. We
are facing a dread emergency
which has had no parallel since the
last occasion when we faced a
dread emergency. This very hour
the nation totters on the brink of
an abyss.
F
Miracles and Misdemeanors.
()NCE upon an early time there
— was a man so holy that even
the wild creatures would not harm
him. He drew a thorn from the
paw of a tame lion and the grate
ful beast followed after him. So he
became a saint.
Only the other day in a court in
Tanganyka, which is in Africa, a
black man—a savage by our defi
nitions—was on trial. It seemed
the lions were raiding the stock, so
the native authorities set traps for
them. The accused found a lion in
one of these traps and made a lad
der and went down and helped the
great brute to escape.
Being arrested, he explained sim
ply that the lion was his friend. So
they fined him $12.50. In the olden
times it was a miracle. Nowadays
it’s a misdemeanor.
IRVIN 8. COBB
•— WNU Service.
"Too !\luch Courage’
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter.
SOMETIMES it’s a fine thing, boys and girls, to have one of those
— cast-iron, copper-plated nervous systems that don’t get all in a
jitter the minute something happens.
Steeplejacks have them—and so have structural ironworkers who
spend most of their working day twenty stories above the street, bal
anced on a ten-inch iron beam, playing baseball with red hot rivets.
I ve always sort of envied birds like that for their courage.
And again, at times, I’ve been glad I don’t have nerves
like theirs. After all, our nerves are about the best warning sig
nals we have—and you know what usually happens to the guy
who doesn’t pay any attention to the signs.
Take the case of Bill Woods, for instance—William H. Woods of
Brooklyn, N. Y. Bill isn’t an ironworker, but he’s got an ironworker’s
nerve. Put him in a burning building, and my guess is that he wouldn’t
begin to get excited about it until the fire actually began creeping up his
coat-tails. I’m judging him now from the way he acted in that restaurant
in Brooklyn on April 30, 1934.
This Adventure Starts With a Cup of Coffee.
It’s quite a story, boys and girls—a story that starts out with a walk
ing tour through the streets of Brooklyn. Bill and his friend, Charley
Young, had been taking an evening, stroll, and eleven o’clock found them
at Boro Hall park. Charley suggested that they drop into a cafeteria
for a cup of coffee before they hit the hay. Bill agreed, and they crossed
the street.
They went into the cafeteria, took their checks from the ma
chine at the door and went over to the long counter. They or
dered coffee, and the counterman turned to get it. But no sooner
had he turned than he swung back toward the door and said:
“What's the matter over there?”
That’s the first intimation Bill and Charley had that anything was
wrong. They looked in the direction in which the counterman was star
ing. Several men were scuffling over near the door. Then, suddenly from
the center of that milling group came the sound of a shot!
Bedlam Breaks Loose in Cafeteria Following Shots.
"In the moment that immediately followed,” says Bill, “no one
stirred. Everyone in the place had stopped eating and all eyes were
turned toward the door. That moment of indecision didn’t last long, how-
ere da
The Man Fell Over Backwards and Was Still.
ever, for suddenly another shot rang out, loud and deafening in that en
closed space. No one knew what had happened, but you couldn’t mistake
that sound.”
At that second shot, bedlam broke loose in the cafeteria.
Women screamed. Men jumped up from their seats. Tables were
overturned. Everyone thought of just one thing, and that was
getting under cover. Everyone was running about in frantic
haste to get a door between them and that revolver—everyone,
that is, but Bill Woods. In all the hullabaloo he alone kept his
head. And it nearly cost him his life.
Bill looked around for Charley. He was gone—evidently into a mill
ing crowd of people who had run toward the back of the cafeteria and
were trying to crowd into the washrooms. Those who weren't there were
crawling on their hands and knees, trying to get under a table. Bill no
ticed that and decided to get under cover himself. There was a radiator
with a screened grill in front of him and he dropped down behind that.
There followed a brief silence punctuated only by the sounds of struggling
men, then another shot reverberated through the room. That was when
Bill’s curiosity and his nerve got the better of his common sense. He
stood up to take a look.
Bill Made a Fine Target for the Man With the Gun.
Over by the door, a man, gun in hand, was standing, back up against
the cashier’s counter, while half a dozen younger men tried to wrestle
the gun away from him. “One of the younger men,” says Bill, “picked
up a heavy sugar container and hit the older man over the head. I saw
the glass break and the sugar scatter over the floor, but the man with
the gun seemed invincible. They couldn’t beat him down. They were
too, many for him in the end, though, and finally he fell behind the cash
ier’s desk. And then, thinking all danger was past, I walked over to the
counter.”
Bill walked over until he was within ten feet of the fallen man
when, to his amazement, the man started to sit up. The gun, still
in his hand, rose until it pointed straight at Bill’s midriff. Too
late. Bill began to wish he’d been one of those nervous individu
als who had taken refuge in the washroom.
He stood petrified—afraid to move. He drew in a deep breath and
waited to feel the bullet bite into his flesh. At that distance, the man on
the floor couldn't miss.
Timely Arrival of Copper Saves Bill’s Life.
Then, the only thing that could save Bill’s life happened. Through
the restaurant door came a police sergeant with a drawn pistol. He got
the situation at a glance, took deliberate aim at the man with the gun,
and shot him through the stomach. That was the end. The man fell over
backwards and was still. A red circle of blood slowly widened beneath
him.
More policemen came. They began asking questions. The
cashier of the restauran! had been creased over one ear by a
!
bullet, and one young man, shot through the shoulder, was lean
ing against the counter, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
They told the story. The man with the gun, they said, had been
drunk. He had walked over to a table and accused another man of
laughing at him. An argument started and the drunk drew a gun. That
was when Old Lady Adventure stepped in and started shaking up thrill
cocktails—one for everybody in the house, and a deadly one for the man
with the gun.
©—WNU Service.
Women Wore Men’s Shoes
During Ohio’s yesteryears the
forests were so swampy that
women could scarcely walk to
church or to other gatherings in
their pretty footwear. So instead
they wore the rough heavy shoes
used by the menfolk. Close to their
destination they would deposit the
rough shoes in a fence corner or
some other near-by place and put
on their dainty shoes to wear in
side. Thus their Sunday footwear
lasted years and veara.
Montreal’s Historic Crosses
Many of the historic crosses in
Montreal were raised by the
pioneer inhabitants to commemo
rate being spared from the St.
Lawrence River’s ravages before it
finally was brought under control.
Founded by the man who erected
its first and most famous cross,
Paul de Chomedy, le Sieur da
Maisonneuve, Montreal is frequent
ly called the “City of Crosses.”
Maisonneuve’ cross was erected
almost 300 years ago.