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Show Bruckart's Wtuhington Digest Complete Network of Markers In U. S. Alone of All World Is Guide U.S. Coast, Inland Boats There Real Freedom of Speech ADVENTURERS' CLUB ( HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI Disturbing Signs Recently Indicate All Is Not Well; Administration Tirades Against Press Become Frequent; Concerted Effort to Get Rid of Critics. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press Bldg ., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. One of Amer- ed from the air waves. Mr. Camica'! greatest and most glorious tra- eron continues on the air. Gen. Hugh ditions is the jealousy with which its S. Johnson, former NRA boss, is a citizens guard the right of free pain in the neck for the New Deal speech and a free press. There is as well, but nothing has happened no nation in the world now, and to him, yet there never has been one, where Other rumors of the type could such freedom for expression of opin- be mentioned, but I was asked how ion is accorded as we have in the any body in the government would United States. For proof, if proof dare to interfere. The same letter be needed, simply take the old atlas asked how such ends could be and examine the countries, one by achieved. one, and abundant evidence will be A few I refound. Here, alone in all of the ferred 'to paragraphs earlier, governmental supervision, world, can an individual or a group licensing, etc. That is the answer .have its untrammeled say. to the question;. i Any radio station There have been some signs late- gets a license for only a short pely, however, that are disturbing. I riod. Renewal of , that license dedo not mean to pends, according to law, upon comthem by a discussion of them, but pliance with' federal communicathe greatest lesson that I have tions commission regulations and learned is that the American people the law's provisions. This would will correct conditions, or prevent seem to leave only a limited distheir development, if they know cretionary power. It is a case, howwhat the facts are and And them ever, like ' the army officer making adverse. an inspection of a buck private's During the last several months, barracks: if he wants to find dirt, he there have been frequent tirades will find it. In the case of the radio against the press of the nation. station, its owners live in dread of Some of the denunciations have censure and, I suspect, they are come from President Roosevelt in generally amenable to suggestions reply to press criticism of some of from headquarters in Washington. his policies. Other administration spokesmen have followed the Presi- President's Trusted Adviser dent's lead. Notably among them, Drafts Reorganization BUI and certainly the most vicious, is So, to link the Roosevelt denunciathe secretary of the interior, Harold L. Ickes, who seems, in this in- tion of newspapers and the Wheeler stance, to be the lord high chief radio bill, one has only to know that verbal executioner of opposition Chairman Frank McNinch, the President's most trusted radio adwriters and newspapers. Mr. Roosevelt's recent assertion viser, largely drafted the Wheeler bill. That measure, that some newspaper owners are de- reorganization it should be added, reduces the liberately misrepresenting the facts communications commission to a and Mr. Ickes' assertion that "our of three. There would newspapers are not as free as they membership be "administrative assistants" apought to be in a democracy" con- pointed for each of the major types stitute serious accusations, even aft- of communication, and, thus, one er one forgets how constantly Mr. individual becomes czar of radio, Ickes gets out on a limb. It seems to me, therefore, that there ought another of wire communication and to be some clarification of the situa- so on. And, while the members of commission must be named "by tion. It might be asked, and prop- the and with the advice and consent of erly, I believe, why Mr. Roosevelt the senate," the administrative asand Mr. Ickes do not point out those sistant may be anyone who has the newspapers that are charged, in efnecessary political pull. fect, mm nlain linn. I repeat that the statements related above represent the belief of a Administration Seeks to good many persons. Get Rid of the Critics One of the swift changes that has Now, to turn abruptly from one taken place in this country is the phase of the situation to another, switch in the attitude of the bulk of attention should be directed to the the newspapers. It will be recalled recent bill introduced in the senate that when Mr. Roosevelt and the by Senator Wheeler, the Montana New Deal took over the governDemocrat The bill proposes re- ment there were so few editorial organization of the federal commu- criticisms of the President's pronications commission, the agency gram that any outcry was negligithat controls radio. Radio, of course, ble in effect. The corps of news la thm "fre h writers who attended the President's noVi" 4uct newspapers are the "free press" press conferences acthat is one of the guarantees of the cepted his statements without equivnational Constitution. ocation, or without question. It was There can be no doubt that the a press relationship more friendly federal communications commission than any other President ever had. is shot through with dissension. Then, some of the New Deal ideas There is no doubt that it has de- proved flops and editors started askveloped one of the worst messes in ing questions. Their Washington government supervision of any in- correspondents searched deeper dustry. It is a shameful situation, than just official handouts. It was and there appears to be no solution about this time that the personnel except to get rid of the bulk of the of various agencies for "press relapersonnel, from the commissioners tions" began to undergo expansion. on down the line, until all trouble Time after time, well known cormakers have been eliminated. I respondents were hired, and they have written frequently in these col- could not be blamed because the umns that the best law can be de- jobs were lucrative. I was offered stroyed by selection of bums to ad- one. By coincidence, of course, the minister it; and the general ap- quantity of "statements for the praisal here is that the members of press" increased, accordingly. the federal communications com- Once He Laughed at Them, mission are a pretty sickly lot of But officials. The government appointThings Have Changed ments tft mmmliiiim ka, wi nl. A few years ago, Mr. Roosevelt also do not constitute a list of menwith the few editorial critidealt tal giants. "Buried Alive" HELLO, sure laid an icy hand on the shoulder of Joseph I've had to Kuritz, who sent me one of the best written yarns could have used last at and now writing date. Joe's at Brooklyn a to be ambition mining engineer his youthful a job He gave up to and switched in story, related today's events of as a result are the ask if me, magazines you mechanical engineering. But, Joe. looking for people who can write like close. In April, Accordingly, I'm following his script pretty Coal Alden Co., Scranton, 1920 ' Joe was a surveyor with the Glen to was investigating assigned Pa. It was his first job, and he - I'll explain. mine.in the Cayuga pillar robbing" Miners must leave enough coal to support the roof of the that caves in mine, which consists of shale, a scaly rock, . over-emphasi- . - - . twice-a-we- Well, you ask, how does this have anything to do with President Roosevelt's denunciation of the newspapers. Where does it touch free speech that may be adverse to the New Deal administration? The answer lies in a belief, now held by a great many observers in .Washington, that somewhere in the administration is a concerted effort to get rid of the critics. There is little political pressure that can be exerted upon the newspapers, because they will speak their views through their columns, tut with the radio, government supervised, licensed, a weighty club over its head at all times, the situation is differ- ent Radio News Commentators Eliminated From Air Waves Some things have happened lately that bear recounting. Just as an example, and to cite only one case, Bqake Carter is off of the air as a news commentator. He was a severe, and, at times, a vindictive critic of the New Deal. A' former friend of the New Deal, Dr. Stanley High, recently wrote in the Saturday Evening Post that Carter was kept out of new contracts by the administration. There have been frequent recurrences of the rumor, too, that W. J. Cameron, who speaks for the Ford Motor company, was marked by administration trouble shooters as a speaker who ought to be eliminat ek cisms in masterful fashion by laughing about them. That was the attitude of most department and agency heads. But things have changed now to the extent that editorial criticisms and unfriendly stories, or stories that include information beyond the handouts released from government sources, become the subject for vitriolic attack from government quarters. I have no idea how long the campaign against the press may run. It surely has plenty of momentum now, and there is plenty of money available for "press relations" work. Mr. Ickes said that the modern newspapers can "dish it out but cannot take it." I wonder if Mr. Ickes "can take it" after dishing it out It has been my conviction always that the best censorship that America can have is the censorship of the newspaper reader and, more recently, the censorship of the radio listener. No newspaper can go on and on when its columns carry untruthful or unsound material. The radio can not go on unless its programs are proper and popular, because it continues to be easy to turn off the switch and silence the speaker. Nor are we, in this country, compelled to listen to some demagogue in Washington or in a state capital. And all of this leads up to the question: is there an attempt being made at censorship! If there is, it is time for us all to know about it. Weattra Newspaper Union. EVERYBODY! Pillar robbing means stealing coal from these remaining supfa which workers ports,' and is illegal, since it may cause cave-in-s and brick buildings even explode, mains water burst and are killed, gas easily Symbolical of the new and the old in light houses, these two mariners guides stand at the entrance of Chesapeake fray. The masonry tower at the left was the first lighthouse built by the United States government from an appropriation made in 1790. Its successor, brightly colored, was built several years ago. Geographic Society, Prepared by National WNU Service. D. aid of a single lighthouse or a single for there is neither light nor buoy, of Most people, thinking buoy to be found anywhere in all lighthouses as standing by the these thousands of miles of villainsea, do not realize to what ous river." extent inland waterways are Floods Imperil Buoys. Lights on the lower Mississippi also marked. maintained during the period The navigable waterways were flood of 1927 under the of the of no other continent can com- most great circumstances. Near trying pare in extent and importance Natchez a keeper was driven from with those of North America, his house, which was flooded to the which comprise the St. Law- eaves; yet no matter how high the got, he kept his light going. rence and the Great Lakes; water As the river rose, the lantern was the Mississippi river system; raised several times by adding' to the Atlantic and Gulf intrfi-coast- its support Homes in the vicinity waterways; the Alaska in- were flooded to their roofs, and it is such long river a mystery where the keepers found side channels,-anand bay approaches to great sea- shelter. The keeper of Windy Point light, ports as Delaware bay, Chesapeake bay, the Mississippi river passes, on Grand Lake, La., reported: "I and the Columbia. Many of these am yet on the job, but the water are marked for seagoing vessels, has run me out of my house. I have the oil on some logs. I will stay out boats. others for shallow-draThe Atlantic coast inland water- here. All is well." When an incoming steamer way, from Cape Cod to Key West, is about 1,900 miles in length, and reaches Ambrose lightship, picks up is marked by 3,200 aids to naviga- the pilot and heads for New York, tion. The lower portion of this route, it soon passes between two large south from Norfolk, is a combina- lighted buoys marking the actual tion of natural channels and arti- entrance to Ambrose channel. On red ficial cuts, and is a winding, pic- the right side is a light and bell, on the left a turesque passage. white light and whistle. The special type of beacon best The then follows six miles of is to Florida the ship waterway adapted a simple palmetto pile, sunk by wa- a dredged channel, 2,000 feet wide ter jet into the mud. The top of the and 40 feet deep, lighted with frepile carries a finger board pointing quent buoys on either side and special markings at turns. Large lintoward the channel. ers, which formerly waited for the Markers Break Loose. now pass in and out of New With many vessels and tows going tide, York harbor under all conditions through the passages, which are but that of dense fog. is a often narrow and crooked, it U. S. His 10,900 Buoys. busy job for a lighthouse tender to in This these markers Along other coasts and at harbor place. keep interesting channel lures scores of entrances, buoys mark the sides of private yachts to balmier climates the channels as well as shoals, in winter, and much commercial rocks, or wrecks. Their upkeep is traffic moves over some sections of an endless task for the fleet of lighthouse tenders, which constantly pick it. The Mississippi river system in- up and set out the buoys, restore cludes about 4,500 miles of naviga- them to their proper stations, bring ble waterways, and is marked by them in for their annual overhaul, nearly 5,000 small lights and buoys. and supply the lighted buoys with Its once heavy traffic developed and tanks of compressed acetylene gas. This country now has over 1,640 lighted buoys, and a total of over 10,900 buoys of all types and sizes, not including the number of reliefs. Despite unceasing care, buoys sometimes break away in storms, are torn loose by passing vessels, or sink. Some have had strange adventures and to them poets have often ascribed human attributes. There is Kipling's poem, "The Bell Buoy," and Southey's "Inchcape O Waahinicton, al d It's earthquake, fire and flood. Old Timbers Prove Useless as Support. standing on the land collapse. The Cayuga had been deserted for 50 years. Inside Joe and three of millions companions found pillars cracked and crumbled by the weight of tons of rock they had held up for five decades. As supports they were useless and might just as well have been mined out Old timber erected by miners to protect themselves in those far, bygone years milwere rotted, useless. A touch and they collapsed to dewed dust. Not much between Joe and the millions of tons of rock over his head. chamber Worse, the workings were of the "pitch" type-e- ach like a long, sloping tunnel, some very steep. The roof was dangerously cracked. Slabs of shale hung so loose a breath wouldg send them crashing to the floor. Fallen rock covered the table. This floor in sizes from a list to dining-rootunnel floor. on the avalanche start an slanting "gob" can loose this over to climb were rock, covered Joe's duties lovely job! with slime. If he made it it was safe for the others to come up. If he didn't and started a fatal avalanche Joe forgot to tell about that. fungi-infeste- d, steeply-slantin- m Joe's Lamp Ignites a Pocket of Whitedamp. Well, sir, Joe climbed gingerly upward, clinging to the glistening coal at the side, peering ahead by the faint light of the lamp fastened pillar above his cap-vizo- He stepped, light as a falling feather, testing every r. ft quick-flashi- ng quick-flashi- ng Joe clung to the pillar on his stomach. footfall. At the top our 'human fly," as Joe calls himself, was to establish a point for the transit a surveyor's instrument to shoot at Joe never made It. Twenty feet from the top Boom! An explosion like a giant bassdrnm shook the earth in a bolt of livid flame. GAS! Joe's light had Ignited a pocket of whitedamp! Splinter! Crack! Crash! The shock jerked rock toppling from the g floor! The roof, dropped it on the loose "gob" on the slide was on! At first with thumps scarcely audible above the rolling rumble of the waves of flame over his head, then, in a roaring crescendo, jagged rock raced, leaping and thundering downward past Joe, hurtling into the hell of darkness far below. Joe's lamp had gone out with the explosion. But above him was blinding glare a marching surf of fire, lighting sp the chamber overhead. Blistering white heat flood of angry rock below! Joe clung to the pillar on his stomach, ducking hurtling rocks, shrinking from the biasing heat above. With clawing fingers and toes that vainly sought foothold in the hard floor, he lay there it seemed ages aching muscles The slide diminished. The "carbonic oxide" above burned fitfully, threatening any second to seek out with its rainbow flames another pocket, spreading in chain explosions through the underground terrain, burying Joe and his companions. steeply-slantin- above-thund- . Lighthouse without seal This North Carolina brick and wooden lighthouse, 140 years old, note stands embarrassedly in m bog, far from water. But once Fort Caswell was an island and the old light with Us gingerbread scroll work was a guide through the channel. The channel has long since been filled up but the durable old light still remains. reached its zenith before the days of marking the channels. In 1874, when the first navigational lights were placed on the Mississippi, the river . already carried 1,100 steamboats, besides other craft. Mark Twain describes graphically the job of a young pilot "learning the river," and memorizing "the shape of the river in all the different ways that could be thought of." He refers to piloting on "vast streams like the Mississippi and Missouri, whose alluvial banks cave and change constantly, whose snags are always hunting up new quarters, whosef sand bars are never at rest, whose channels are forever dodging and shirking, and whose obstructions must be confronted In all nights and all weathers without the lie Began to Figure His Chance for Escape. Joe thought of the others. Had they been crushed to a under those tons of rock trapped in some doghole or cross-cin a pillar? The rolling flames died, went out In the inky black Joe groped for a match, lit his lamp. The floor was clear. He stepped out Instantly Rock." he tobogganed down on a slab of rock he had overlooked. Four hundred A strange story is that of the feet below he brought up short on the heap of loose rock. It had blocked Frying-Pa- n Shoals Buoy 2A FP, the entrance completely. which a few years ago broke from Joe was caught like a rat lie sat on a rock, wondered that its moorings off the North Carolina he was not frightened, began to figure his chances of seeing suncoast and set out for the open sea. light again. It seemed suddenly very precious, sun and open air. It was 40 feet long, weighed 12 tons, Air! The rock had sucked much out the explosion had driven with light and whistle, and cost more out and the fire had burned he didn't know how much of 8,000. the oxygen in that black pit. Would the rest last till Recovered in Ireland. they got to him? This runaway buoy drifted over Then. Joe says, did grip him. He shouted himself hoarse. into the Gulf Stream and sailed for He smashed a rock panic a pillar, listened. Not a sound. repeatedly Europe. Though sighted and report- Just silence. Terrible silence. against Joe saw death ahead suffocation, ed many times, no vessel recovered thirst, starvation. Unwounded, he wished slow for death swift death, rather Finally a French steamer saw than this drawn-oagony. Now he could only wait helplessly. it approaching the Irish coast and Joe says he prefers to forget the next nine hours. Imagination can ;hthouse authorities there were be the most horrible form of torture. But his companions had escaped. notified. With all hope gone for Joe, they had notified the surface. A 13 After months at sea and a voy-crelay of of about 4,000 miles, 2A FP (the rescue crews, working as only mine rescue crews can, dug through the pillar from an adjoining chamber and pulled Joe out nine hours later. "FP" stands for "Frying-Pan"- ) From that day on the only coal Joe can stand looking at is in a was washed ashore off Skibbereen, stove. He quit the mining engineer career cold. But I still say he can Cork. Ccunty Sounding its whistle day and write like a professional? What do you think? Copyright WNU Service. right, another buoy broke away from near Nantucket shoals light-rhidrifting 3,300 miles in 19 Siberian Witch Doctors Believe Prehistoric months, circling between Bermuda and the Atlantic coast Cause Elephants Earthquakes by Burrowing In some waters around Nw YnrUtraffic is rough on buoys. Wooden In the belief of the Tungus witch in the hall of the Stone are spar buoys, formerly used, were doctors of Siberia, the giant pre- carvings on mammoth ivoryage preby sometimes cut down more than once historic elephant known as the historic men, necklaces of mamin a single day. Now wooden spars mammota exists as a huge burrow- moth beads, and a superb ivory have been replaced by light steel ing rat, whose death is certain the of mammoth tusks from the pair which can better collibuoys, resist moment he sees the sun, states a Lena river, Siberia. sions and the slashing of ships' pro- curator of Physical Anthropology at "The mammoth, which roamed pellers. Field Museum of Natural over Europe In Pleistocene times, In areas below the Narrows, in the Field Museum News.History, Other where tow barges pass out to sea, Siberian natives believe that earth- became extinct more than a hundred centuries before the biith of it became necessary to protect the quakes are caused by these gigantic the story states. "Prehislighted buoys from the towlines by "rats" tunneling at high speed just Christ" toric man hunted and trapped this s teeth or cutting-kniveputting into below the surface of the ground. huge animal for food, made beads the upper structure of the buoy. On exhibition in the division of of his ivory tusks and tools of his was the of n irate Strong language at Field Museum is a long bones. On smooth pieces of Paleontology when they discovered the purcomplete skeleton of a mammoth bone, too, he engraved, with tools pose of this contraption, which one and a large mural painting repre- of flint, symbolic drawings of magof them termed a "cussed porcusenting it as it appeared in life; and ical and religious significance." pine buoyl" jelly-sme- ut life-givi- ' ering it ng ut je - tug-me- ar |