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Show Thursday, December 29, 1938 THE PARK RECORD PAGE THREE Irish 'Land Problem' Is Traced to 1649 Invasion The nature of the soil and crops and the character of the relationship between landlord and tenant were major factors in the Irish "land problem." prob-lem." After Cromwell's invasion in 1649, the seizure and distribution of land among English landlords reached its height and gave rise to the evils of absentee ownership. The great famine of 1840-50, and of 1846 fn particular, caused unendurable privation, says a writer in the Philadelphia Phil-adelphia Inquirer. Until 1870 the landlord class was generally favored in legislation. The encumbered estates act of 1849 did provide for the sale of those Irish Estates whose rents were mortgaged ibut the resulting influx of speculators increased the tenant's burden. The (Act of 1870 gave the tenant compensation compen-sation and made it possible for him ito become owner of the land. However, How-ever, there was no restriction on rental rates and the tenant whose payments were in arrears was unprotected. un-protected. After the famine of 1879, the Irish land league was formed and two years later the Irish farmer's "Magna "Mag-na Carta" recognized the three F's: fair rent, fixity of tenure and freedom free-dom of sale. Subsequent acts of 1885, 1887, and 1896 stimulated land purchase. The Wyndham act of 1903 offered a bonus to landlords who were willing to sell. The evicted tenants bill of 1907 compelled the sale of land needed for evicted tenants ten-ants and the amended land, purchase pur-chase act of 1909 liberalized this provision. By 1921, two-thirds of ;Irish land was property of the tenants ten-ants and shortly thereafter a com-jpulsory com-jpulsory law transferred the re-'mainder. 'By Hook or by Crook, Saying of Middle Age 4 1 In the Middle ages the common ipeople were forbidden to cut down itrees for firewood. This was a privilege priv-ilege specially reserved for the iLords of the Manor. Naturally, a 'great deal of hardship resulted, and to avoid unrest a dispensation was 'given whereby they were allowed 'not only to gather deadwood but to be permitted to break off with a bill-ihook bill-ihook any dead branch. The crook enabled them to pull such a branch within reach. 1 And so people spoke of getting firewood "by hook or crook." This phrase came to be used for other (things as well and so we still say we'll get something by hook or by .crook when we mean "by any method meth-od possible," says a writer in Pear-Son's Pear-Son's London Weekly. The phrase "to eat humble pie" originated in the Middle ages from deer hunting. The coarser parts of this animal were usually given to the inferior - servants. These parts of the deer were called "Umbles" or "Numbles" and in the course of time the word was corrupted into "Humble." "Hum-ble." So to eat humble pie meant to be one of the common folk, whereas today it means to accept an inferior position, or to "climb down." Dingo Dog of Australia Is Puzzle to Biologists The Australian dingo has proved something of a mystery to biologists, writes Frederic J. Haskin in the Washington Star. The dog is a stoutly stout-ly built, somewhat shortlegged animal ani-mal averaging 50 inches over all including in-cluding 11 inches of tail. It is dun colored as a rule, although some have black spots which, it is claimed, have arisen from interbreeding inter-breeding with imported European dogs. The stance is graceful, not unlike that of a greyhound and the foxlike, fox-like, triangular ears and the pointed nose give an impression of keenness. keen-ness. The animal is fleet and a mighty hunter. It likes mankind, but is quite lacking, it would appear, in the undying faithfulness of most dogs. It is not at all unusual for a dingo to shift its allegiance. For example, a visitor may come to a camp to which a dingo has been attached at-tached for months, even years. The dog will decide it likes the visitor better than its master and follow him off. The dingo, as a rule, does not hunt in packs but singly. The spinifex rat is the usual prey. However, since the introduction of sheep and the establishment of the great sheep stations ttie dingoes have preyed un mercifully upon the creatures. A sheep station in the United States would be called a sheep ranch. Aus tralia has its own nomenclature Thus where Americans refer to a flock of sheep Australians call it a mob of sheep. A single dingo has been known to pull down 100 sheep in a single night. Soaps Made From Tallow Laundry soaps are made from tallow, tal-low, with resin added to give the yellow color. The fatty material is melted and lye is added. Then saturated salt solution is added. The soap floats to the surface. Transparent Trans-parent soaps contain alcohol and glycerin. Floating soaps are usually usual-ly a mixture of tallow and coconut oil, potash and soda. It is air in the soap that makes it float. Castile Boap is made from olive oil and soda or mixed potash. Shaving soap is prepared chiefly from coconut and palm kernel oils, which impart its lathering qualities. Small amounts of gum or other substances are often added to shaving creams to make the lather dry more slowly. The most important of the animal oils used in making soap are tallow and grease; of the vegetable oils, cottonseed, cotton-seed, coconut, palm, castor, olive, linseed and soy bean. Sap of Sapodilla Tree Chewing Gum Ingredient If a blight should destroy the sapo dilla tree millions of Americans would mourn for it is the sap of the sapodilla tree that supplies chicle. And chicle is the basic ingredient of chewing gum, relates a writer in the Philadelphia Record. The chicle is drained from the trees in Central America jungles in the rainy season by machete-bear ing natives, called chicleros. They climb the trees, cover them with cross-hatchings of cuts, connect these with central canals that drain the sap into canvas bags. The liquid is then boiled, poured into molds, hardened into bricks, and thus shipped. On arrival in factories in the United States, the bricks are dried out for 30 hours, then melted, filtered, poured into mixers, stirred with pulverized su gar, corn syrup and flavoring, then cooled and rolled. The rolled gum is fed into "break ing" machines which cut 22 sticks of gum with one click of the punch press, turning out 3,300 sticks a min ute. Wrapping machines turn out 120 finished packs of five sticks each, per mmute. Belize, in British Honduras, is the headquarters of the chicle contrao tors, who hire native crews to ex tract the sap. Bruckart's Washington Digest Camphor Tree an Evergreen The camphor tree, an evergreen looks like a linden, has a smooth. greenish bark, with white flowers and red berries. The chief obstacle to its cultivation is its slow growth, as a tree is 50 years old before it is available. The camphor is obtained by chopping the trunk and roots into small chips, and applying heat in a still. The camphor comes off as a vapor, and is condensed. As camphor cam-phor fumes overstimulate the tear glands, the workers in the refineries weep, and weep, and weep. The Venetians were the first people in Europe to refine camphor. They probably learned the trick from the Chinese. Then the Dutch got a monopoly on refining, and it is only in recent times that the process has become generally known. Three Important Problems For Congress to Consider National Defense, Relief, and the Railroads Are Pressing Questions ; This Congress Will Not Vote Money Just to Please the President. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press Bldg., Washington, D. C. How to Live Live then, live to your utmost and your best. Do not be afraid of anything; any-thing; neither the bitterest sorrow that the world holds, nor its most poignant joy, can bring you anything any-thing but good, so long as you embrace em-brace it willingly, passionately. But, shun a sorrow or a joy, and you are clipped, maimed, blinded. Benson. Inhabitants of Bolivia Bolivia, the Switzerland of South America, has been ruled by a few families of pure Spanish ancestry for the past 120 years, but its population popu-lation includes a great number of Indians. There are the Quechuas and Aymaras, over whom the Incas ruled; the indolent Chiquitanos of the eastern section who live in primitive prim-itive palm hovels in the lowlands; the Chiriguanos, a warlike race living liv-ing in the foothills of the Andes, and the lawless Tobas, robust, thickbod-ied, thickbod-ied, untamed. - .IWBiMI?yyrtl . There's nothing I know of that goes with your family's home recipes like this personal whiskey whis-key recipe our family puts up! Harry E. Wilken ill 5lrrr? I I -7J CJL M - aVI, . ' 'CI I ; I e m mi Our Family 'a Personal Recipe WASHINGTON .If it were possible possi-ble to close one's eyes to the tragedy of the scene and forget all about the sadness of the world, one might produce a masterpiece of humor concerning the situation in the nation's na-tion's capital this week. After the manner of the circus hawker, one might shout that the greatest show on earth is about to open; one might call attention to the fact that this show is unlike most others because it has two "big tops," and one might, without stretching the imagination, imagi-nation, suggest that if you want to understand what is happening, or is about to happen, you had best keep your eyes trained on both tents. Yes, in all seriousness, there are two shows this winter. One of them has many actors, many voices. It is to be found in the halls of congress con-gress on Capitol Hill. The man on the flying trapeze never excelled by comparison with members of the house and senate. Never were there better clownish acts than are staged annually in those chambers. Instead of vocal applause and much clapping clap-ping of hands, however, the actors in the Capitol Hill circus want applause ap-plause in the shape of votes; they want to have the home folks approve. ap-prove. Now, concerning the other tent, there is only one actor. But he controls many Charlie McCarthys. He used to operate a puppet show. He made his actors perform so well that they became known as rubber stamps. But an election has intervened. inter-vened. Some of the strings that controlled puppets have been broken, bro-ken, others have become knotted, and the master actor probably has somewhat more critics in his audience audi-ence than he formerly had. National Defense and the Railroads Serious Problems And so we get down to cases. President Roosevelt will offer to congress in a few days his program for building up the national defense. He will tell congress, as well, what the needs of the destitute are and how he conceives that they must be met. As a third great problem, and probably the most difficult as well as of concern to every one of us, there is the question of what to do to save the railroads of the country. No official seems to have found a proper or sane solution, but to me it appears that the time has come when national action is called for in a much more concrete form than the "intellectual liberals" surrounding surround-ing the White House are accustomed to advance in bringing about the more abundant life. Trains run on money, as well as steel, and if the owners do not get some money very soon there won't be more than half a dozen rail lines in the country that have escaped bankruptcy. In addition to these problems, we are likely to see competition between be-tween the two shows for some very juicy jobs. Of course, these concern con-cern largely the north ring of the Capitol Hill circus, namely, the senate, sen-ate, which must confirm presidential presiden-tial appointments before the act is completed. It is not too much to expect that there will be considerable considera-ble difference of opinion between the White House and the senate over a good many of these selections. There is always the annual mess of appropriation bills. Work has been started on many 01 them by committees which have charge. But it should be remarked that the work has been only started. It is by no means finished. For in these money bills this year there are tons and tons of hot air. There are not enough rubber stamps to bring a majority vote if, as and when wanted, want-ed, like it has been for the last several sev-eral sessions. In other words, in the forthcoming session, unless all signs fail, there will be close scrutiny scruti-ny of appropriation bills. Congress Won't Vote Money Just to Please the President From present indications, I believe be-lieve it may be said that Mr. Roose velt will get money out or the cur rent session of congress only when the congress decides it desires to vote money. It will not vote money just because the President says monev shall be voted. Further, it appears certain that there will be no more "blank check" appropriations. appropria-tions. The end has come for that tort of thing. Hereafter, one may expect that congress will have its sav as to what is done with the money, where and how it will be spent. In other words, there is such intense hatred of Professional Re- lipver Harrv Hopkins that the bulk of the congressional membership is awaiting an opportunity to clip Harry's wings as the world's greatest great-est spender. And it might be added just here, too, that there are certain cer-tain senators and representatives ivhn would rather welcome a chance to take a slap at the whole new deal relief setup, not to mention a sice A Friendly Service This story is told of the late Thomas Thom-as A. Edison, who was showing a party of friends over his beautiful summer residence, equipped with many labor-saving devices. One exception, ex-ception, however, was a turnstile so stiff that it required considerable strength to force a passage. One by one, his guests pushed through. At length one of them ventured to say, "Mr. Edison, why do you have everything ev-erything so perfect except this awful turnstile?" "Ah!" replied the host, his eyes twinkling. "Everybody who pushes the turnstile around, pumps eight gallons of water into the tank on my roof." In some country districts of France a custom is observed which is supposed to enable people to fort-cast fort-cast the weather on Christmas day and throughout the coming year, says Tit-Bits Magazine. Twelve onions are placed in a row and on each is placed a dab of salt. If by Epiphany the salt on any onion has melted, the month represented by that particular onion will ba wet. If the salt on the twelfth onion is dry, then Christmas day also will be fin. At Baux, in Provence, shepherd! hold a watch-night service at which they pray for good weather. EacU; arrives carrying a lighted taper ani a lamb and prays before a crib, u the shepherds did 2,000 years ago.1 wise smearing that thereby would be given the President. It must be remembered that Mr. Hopkins is Mr. Roosevelt's closest friend and adviser. This national defense program about which the administration has been doing so much talking has its merits, I believe. As far as I have talked with officials, with students of international affairs, with foreign representatives, I find none who is happy about the prospect. It is a straight-out challenge to the democracies democ-racies of the world that has been waved by Hitler, Mussolini and the others. Dictatorship is feeling its oats. With Communism on the one hand and Fascism on the other, there surely is need for preparedness, prepared-ness, and that is what Mr. Roosevelt Roose-velt is proposing. Big Navy Helps to Keep Foreign Statesmen Rational It looks like a tremendous waste of money, because hundreds upon hundreds of millions will be spent for ships, for aircraft, for fortifica tions. I always have leit that a big navy the mere presence of it helped keep some greedy and aggressive ag-gressive foreign statesmen in their right senses. The change in war methods that has come about from development of the airplane re quires that our air force be strengthened. All of these things must be considered. But if they were not to be considered, I have two other reasons for believing the President is on the right track. witnessed the terrific waste in the attempt to build a war machine in 1917 and 1918. If it is built up ac cording to plans, without haste, by people who know their business, we will at least get something for our money which we didn t in 1917. Those who have ever visited the James river in Virginia surely will agree with that statement after they have seen several thousand boats built for war purposes, rotting to the water s edge without ever hav ing been used.- The second reason to be men tioned is that expenditure of money for this type of construction is going go-ing to mean jobs. It will take many people off of relief. Again, surely it is worth more to have something substantial built than to have strong men raking up leaves or building privies. Before the debate on the defense program is over, of course, there will be charges that Mr. Roosevelt has set up a hobgoblin of fear. He will be charged with having pro posed the defense program to distract dis-tract attention from his failure to help business out of its slump There is some truth in that. But there is truth in the reports that we are not protected, as a nation, and that our army and our navy would be like a terrier fighting a police dog if we should have to mix it with any foreign power. Railroad Picture Important As Is the Defense Program The railroad picture is as impor tant in a domestic way as is the defense program. Indeed, I can not help wondering what our defense program would be like if the rail lines break down. I am told that the war department has figures showing that if the railroads were called upon to haul 25 per cent more traffic now than they hauled in 1937, some of the freight trains would be taking short cuts across corn fields and trying to leap over creeks. Some of the senators and some administration officials want to pro vide additional government loans to the rail lines to help them build up their rights of way. That sounds foolish to me. To loan them more money is simply to break their backs with added debt. They have all of the debt that they can stand now. I have about reached the conclu sion that an actual subsidy to the railroads may be the best and the cheapest thing to do. Give them cash; treat them as other means of transportation have been treated. There is no use denying it, for the government has subsidized waterways. water-ways. It is giving cold cash to the merchant marine. It has subsidized highway construction which in turn enabled the sale of motor cars. It has given funds for airport con struction and has construction lighted light-ed airways for planes. Each and every one of these is a subsidy and calling them by any other name does not change the fact. It would seem to me, therefore, that if the administration and congress con-gress were to vote a plain subsidy sub-sidy of a couple of hundred million dollars a year for, say three years, they would be rebuilding an industry we must have for peace as well as war. The fur.ds could be granted for use on roadbeds and buildings. C Western Newspaper Union, ...PLAN TO MAKE THE FULLEST PROFITABLE USE OF ELECTRICITY ON YOUR FARM New uses have been developed during the past year and old uses improved . . to make electricity more practical than ever for your farm. It is wise management manage-ment to get complete information. Possibly Pos-sibly adding a few labor-saving devices to those you already have will pay you handsome dividends in 1939. as wsll as adding to the comforts of every member of your family. Come in . . . Let's talk it over. SEE YOUR DliiLEE OH 0m?' 'OHWA I from the producers of the World's Finest Wines Make your Holiday Hospitality complete with "THE THREE MUSKETEERS" Guasti, Winehaoen and Victor Hugo ef Fruit Industrie!, Lid. Guasti Port-Code 92 Fifth Muscatel-Code 9M-Fi(th VinehaYcn White Port-Codes 950-Qt.; 951-CaI. Port-Codes 95-Qt.; 9-Cal. Muscatel -Codes 99-Q(.; 990-Cal. Tokay-Code 1006-Qt.j 1007 CaL Sherry-Code lOW-Qt. Angelica-Code IQTJ-Qt. Victor Hugo Brandy Codes 405 Fifth; 06-CaL aiu-or |