News Review of Current Events
WAR CLOUDS OVER CHINA
Japs See Little Hope for Truce . . . I 3 Senators Hold
Court Bill in Balance ... Steel Mills Smoke Once More
*
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SUMMARIZES THE WORLD’S WEEK
© Western Newspaper Union.
New Sino-Japanese Conflict?
between China and Japan
W AR
was believed almost inevitable
as hopes of settling a new outbreak
of hostilities by diplomatic means
faded out. The fight
ing ensued as Jap
anese gendarmes at
tempted to take over
the policing of Yu
anping and Lukow-
kiao, two villages in
the Peiping area,
near Marco Polo
bridge.
This, the
Japanese said, was
provided for in the
North China truce.
Emperor
According to the
Hirohito
assertions of the
Japanese war office, Chinese soldiers
fired upon the gendarmes and opened
up with trench mortars against the
Japanese contingent at the Yuanping
station. This action allegedly com
pelled the Japanese to make a night
assault, costing 20 lives, in order to
occupy the towns of Lungwangmiao
and Tungshinghwan. It was said
the Chinese troops had also ad
vanced into these points.
Officials of the Hopei-Chahar coun
cil claimed the Japanese moves
were in open violation of the truce.
They further accused the Japanese
of conducting night army maneu
vers, using real bullets instead of
the blanks ordinarily employed in
maneuvers. As Emperor Hirohito
and Premier Fumimaro Konoe con
ferred with military leaders and the
cabinet, the Japanese people franti
cally prepared for the war that
loomed.
China’ s Nanking government gave
orders to Gen. Sung Cheh - yuan,
commander of the North China
forces, that his army was not to re
treat for any reason, but was to be
prepared to make the “ supreme
sacrifice” to hold its position until
Gen. Chiang Kai-shek should arrive
over the Peiping-Hankow railroad
with 50,000 fresh troops.
China’ s demands for a truce were
considered intolerable by the Jap
anese government. They included:
1. Japan must assume responsi
bility for the "incident.”
2. Japan must express regret.
3. Japan must pay damages to the
Chinese and submit guaranties
against such incidents in the future.
Japan made counter demands at
first reported to be accepted by the
Chinese, later repudiated by them.
These were:
1. Withdrawal of all Chinese
troops from the area about Marco
Polo bridge.
2. Punishment for “ the Chinese
responsible for the conflict.”
3. Adequate control of all anti-
Japanese activities in North China.
4. Enforcement of measures
against communism.
As the fighting continued in the
Peiping area, with no hope of an
effective compromise on the two na
tions’ demands, war seemed the
probable result.
(Wash.), Brown (N. H.), Caraway
(Ark.),
Duffy
(Wis.),
Johnson
(Colo.), Lewis (111.), M u r r a y
( Mo n t . ) ,
Overton (La.), Pep
per (Fla.), Russell, Jr. (Ga.) and
Wagner (N. Y.). Lundeen (Minn.)
was the Farmer-Laborite.
The substitute for the original
Ashurst bill provides for appoint
ment of one new justice each year
to every justice remaining on the
court after reaching the age of
seventy-five years. It would enable
President Roosevelt to name one
new justice this year and assure
him of at least one new appoint
ment in each remaining year of
his term, in addition to the appoint
ment he will have as the result of
Justice Van Devanter’ s retirement.
It also provides for appointments
to lower court benches.
It was believed that public opin
ion would decide the commitment
of the senators "on the fence.” If
it becomes apparent that public
opinion is against the substitute as
it was against the original bill, it is
likely that the administration lead
ers in the senate will propose an
amendment preventing the substi
tute bill from including present
members ot the court. This would
postpone the enlargement of the
court until some new appointee be
comes seventy-live.
George Gershwin: Dead at 38.
Obituary in Blue
composer
who lifted jazz music up to
the level of the classics, died sud
denly in Hollywood after an opera
tion for brain tumor. He was thir
ty-eight. His “ Rhapsody in Blue”
was famous among the world’s mu
sic lovers, his opera, “ Porgy and
Bess” one of the most individually
American of all musical works. His
“ Suwannee” sold more than 2,000,-
000 copies, his musical comedy
score, “ Of Thee I Sing,” was a
Pulitzer prize winner, and some of
his compositions, such as “ Strike
Up the Band,” “ Soon,” and “ Some
body Loves Me” were sung and
danced to by millions. Many prom
inent critics called him the most
original force in American music.
— -K —
G
e o r g e g e r s h w in ,
Rebels Fall from Madrid
rebel forces which took
S PANISH
Bilbao after the city’ s first suc
T
P
Strike Riot Kills Two
striker and one policeman
O NE
were killed and twenty men
they have imposed upon the British would operate only until a per
commonwealth and the United manent scheme could be worked
out, placing observers for the non
States an armaments race.
“ We did everything in our power intervention committee in all non-
to avert it, but it is a race, and the Spanish seaports and airports from
British and ourselves must inevita which men and supplies might leave
bly win. I admit the strongest ar for Spain, and in all Spanish ponts
gument that can be made for dic to see that none landed there. After
tatorships—they offer a better meth that, the sea patrol would be abol
od of preparing for war. But I ished.
Mr. Eden’ s plan, of course, would
am sure that democracies provide
not
work without the approval of
a better way to finish a war.”
the
Nazis
and Italians.
The Nazis charged that the am
bassador had insulted Germany and
Italy with his “ arrogance and ig
Navy Hunts tor Amelia
norance.” Voelkischer Beobachter,
OUR ships of the United States
the official newspaper, added: “ If
navy, with attendant airplanes;
there is any talk of defense, then
two
ships of the Japanese navy,
we should speak of defense against
and
a
British freighter scoured the
the arrogant and teacher-like atti
vast
wastes
of the South Pacific
tude of the defenders of western
in
an
effort
to find and rescue
ideals.”
Amelia Earhart Putnam, Am erica’ s
No. 1 woman flyer, and her navi
Lewis Scans the Sea
gator, Fred Noonan. The pair had
OHN L. LEWIS sought to expand been forced down before complet
the scope of his Committee for ing the 2,570-mile hop from New
Industrial Organization by invading Guinea to Howland island, a “ leg”
the maritime industry. With Harry of their ’round-the-world flight.
Bridges, west coast longshoremen’ s
Signals received from the hapless
leader, he sought to unify scattered flyers were so weak that it was
maritime unions in one big indus impossible to tell whether they were
trial organization dominated by the afloat at sea or marooned on some
C. I. O. The American Federation of tiny island, and as the days passed
Labor already has two strong unions it became doubtful that many of
in the maritime field, so this action the radio messages which served
brings Lewis into another point of as clues for the searchers were
friction with William Green’ s or from the two at all.
ganization. The nation has 250,000
So alarmed was the world at the
marine and coastal workers.
loss of Amelia and her companion,
the United States even sent out the
giant aircraft carrier Lexington
Mr. Eden Has a Plan
D LA N S to maintain the non-inter- with 98 planes aboard, which, it
* vention patrol of Spain in a was said, could explore an area of
fashion that will satisfy all the na 36,000 square miles in five or six
tions concerned and insure against hours.
the spread of t h e
conflict beyond the M ae W est Tells All
S p a n i s h borders | T SEEMS Mae West, buxom
have blown about 1 blonde cinema menace DID mar
like papers in a ry Frank Wallace in Milwaukee on
\ storm. And w h e n
April 11, 1911, after all. After stout
you get right down ly denying the marriage which
to it, that is about aroused the whole nation when it
all t h e y
h a v e was revealed in 1935, she did an
amounted to.
about-face and confessed it, al
Now A n t h o n y though denying she had ever lived
Eden, Britain’ s for with the vaudeville player as his
eign secretary, has wife. Her admission was necessitat
Anthony
come up with a new ed when she answered Wallace’s
Eden
one, as deft and per suit for declaratory relief in a Los
haps as futile as any which have Angeles court.
gone before it. It provides for
— * —
the full re-establishment of land
and sea control of movements of Nation Finds More Jobs
EARLY 35,000,000 persons are
men and arms into Spain. French
and British warships would patrol
now employed in non-agricul-
the coastline with German and Ital tural pursuits, the federal reserve
ian observers aboard (the Fascist board has announced. This is only
nations, indignant over the Leip 1,000,000 or 1,500,000 shy of the av
zig incident, have withdrawn from erage in 1929 and 8,500,000 to 9,000,-
the patrol). This arrangement 000 more than in March, 1933.
F
cessful siege are still finding Madrid
a tough nut to crack. In a two-day
battle the loyalist forces broke
through the siege lines about the
city, captured the villages of Villa-
neuva de la Canada and Brunette,
and threatened to cut the besieging
rebels off from their main forces.
So nearly successful was the at
tempt to rout the rebel forces that
C . I. O . Steel Grip Loosens
the latter were forced to admit new
HE grip of the C. I. O. con troops might have to be withdrawn
tinued to loosen in the steel from other fronts, delaying tempo
strike as three big independent steel rarily the drive on Santander, next
corporations—Republic, Bethlehem rebel objective on the Biscayan
and Youngstown Sheet & Tube— coast. The loyalists were reported
reported more than two-thirds of to have recaptured 100 square miles
their idle mill hands had returned of territory about Madrid,
to work. This covered plants in Ohio
Meanwhile, the fall of Bilbao was
and Pennsylvania. Inland, the fourth expected to add 150,000 refugees to
of the steel independents, announced the constant stream pouring into
that it was operating with its nor loyalist Valencia. Although some of
mal force of 13,000 in Indiana since the refugees remained in France,
it and the Steel Workers’ Organiz where they were first taken, the vast
ing Committee signed a compact majority preferred to go to Catalo
with the state labor commission. nia, where the government takes
Steel production in the Youngstown, care of them at its own expense.
Ohio, area, one of the principal Nearly 1,500,000 have arrived in Va
scenes of strike violence, climbed lencia since the start of the war and
to 76 per cent of capacity, 3 per 300,000 have remained there.
centage points above the operating
figure before the start of the strike.
Triple Split for Palestine
The Youngstown Sheet and Tube
ALESTINE would be split into
plant in East Chicago, Ind., an
three parts and British man
nounced that it would open to 7,000
date over the whole country ended,
employees without benefit of written according to suggestions made by
agreement with the C. I. O.
A
the royal commission on Palestine
Youngstown vice president force and delivered to the British govern
fully denied that the company had ment. The commission was formed
made any agreement with the steel a year ago to find some way of put
affiliate of John L. Lewis’ organiza
ting an end to Arab-Jewish riots.
tion, as Gov. Clifford M. Townsend
Under the new plan, about two-
had publicly announced.
thirds of Palestine would be con
were injured at an aluminum plant
in Alcoa, Tenn., when rioting broke
out as 3,000 strikers started a back-
to-work movement. The plant, be
longing to the Aluminum Company
of America, had been closed since
—
May 18, when the strike was called
by the Aluminum Workers of Amer
Struggle in the Senate
WELVE Democratic senators ica, an affiliate of the American Fed
and one Farmer-Laborite were eration of Labor. Difference in
believed to hold the fate of the wages paid at Alcoa and at the com
administration’ s substitute for the pany’ s plant in New Kensington,
original bill which would increase Pa., was the issue in the strike.
the number of Supreme court State troops were on hand, b u t
justices to 15. The administration Adjt.-Gen. R. O. Smith, in charge,
was certain that the bill would re said that they were there merely
ceive at least 39 votes, with 49 to protect rights, and no martial
necessary to a majority. Forty- law had been declared.
Violence continued in the friction
three senators were definitely com
mitted against it. Thirteen were between steel and labor as one
■till uncommitted os the battle unidentified man was killed and six
«aged on the senate floor and in the injured when striking workers of
the Republic plant at Massilon,
cloakrooms.
The twelve uncommitted Demo Ohio, brushed with city police near
crat* were: Andrews (Fla.), Bone a union hall.
T
FRIDAY, JULY 523, 1937
THE B O N N E V I L L E DAM C H R O N IC L E
TWO
verted into an Arab state and about
one-third into a Jewish state. A
small territory, including the holy
cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and
Nazareth, and a corridor to the
sea, would be given to Great Brit
tain as a permanent mandate. It
is claimed that the plan would re
move the Arabs from Jewish dom
ination, give the Jews a home and
protect Christian shrines.
Bingham's 4th of July
w orth
b in g h a m ,
States ambassador to
London, became the third promi
nent American to bring down the
fury of Nazi Germany’ s officialdom
and press when, in an Independence
day speech before the American
society in that city, he declared Un
cle Sam had been forced by the dic
tator countries to join Britain in an
armament race. Mayor LaGuardia
of New York and Cardinal Munde
lein of Chicago had been other re
cent Nazi targets.
The ambassador was quoted as
saying: “ There must be some (of
the dictatorhips) who realize that
obert
R United
J
N
Use of Figures 1 to 24 on Clock
Started in United States in 1884
The system of numbering the
hours of the day from one to twenty-
four, generally regarded as “ for
eign,” is of American origin, early
records of the American Society of
Civil Engineers disclose. The so
ciety itself and one or two other
scientific organizations used it for
some time and meetings were an
nounced “ at 20 o’ clock.”
Prior to 1883 American railroads
operated on “ local” time, based on
local meridians, and clocks in cities
no farther apart than Chicago, St.
Paul and St. Louis differed so much
as to make it difficult to follow time
tables. By 1881 the confusion be
came so great all over the country
that the American Society of Civil
Engineers appointed a committee
on uniform standard time. This
committee set up a tentative system
of hour meridians and circulated a
questionnaire among railroad offi
cials of the United States and Can
ada to determine their reaction.
Largely as a result of that work, the
railroads reached an agreement on
hour meridians in October, 1883, and
put it into effect the following
month. The numbering of hours
from one to twenty-four was sug
gested at the same time.
The society’ s committee next
sought to establish an international
standard or base meridian, from
which time could be figured by hour
ly intervals throughout the world.
Together with other interested
groups the committee brought the
attention of congress to the need for
such an arrangement As a result
President Arthur was authorized in
1884 to call an international confer
ence to discuss the subject.
Twenty-six nations were repre
sented at the conference and it was
then that the Greenwich meridian
was selected as the base. The “ one
to twenty-four” system was also ap
proved and was adopted in England
the following year.
The United
States, however, never followed
suit, despite the fact- that a great
number of railroad managers ap
proved the plan. The American So
ciety of Civil Engineers soon ceased
to “ meet at 20 o’ clock,” and now
the “ American system” is far bet
ter known abroad than at home.
Three Scottish Canals
Being mountainous, Scotland has
not many canals. There are, in
fact, only three. The Crinan canal,
but 9 miles long, goes from Loch
Gilp, in the Firth of Clyde, to Loch
Crinan, on the Atlantic coast of
Argyll, saving a journey of 70 miles
around the stormy Mull of Kintyre.
The Caledonian canal is perhaps
the most picturesque waterway in
Europe. Although 60 miles in total
length, only 25 miles are man-made,
the rest being through Loch Ness,
Loch Oich and Loch Lochy—fresh
water lakes flanked by the moun
tainous sides of the Great Glen.
This unusual type of canal stretches
between Inverness, on the North
Sea, to Fort William, at the head
of Loch Linnhe, leading to the
Atlantic ocean.