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Show Munitions Plant Demolished by Blast U 'r--, .?-- v -- . y y ; : Airvlew soundphoto showing the damage done to the Herrule Powder company plant at Kcnvil, N. J., when a scries of explosions literally blew the plant oft the map, killing more than a score of persons, injur-ing many, and rocking the countryside for miles around. Injured in Blast fet viil k&r This soundphoto shows Frank Frenskl, right, and Frank Ferna, plant workers of the Hercules Tow-de- r company at Kenvil, N. J., in a Dover hospital being treated for in juries sustained when the powder plant was destroyed by a series of explosions. GENERAL HUGH S. JOHNSON UmlF-l- ur. J WNUS.VH. COMMANDEERING POWER WASHINGTON. This column has been so busy kibitzing about the con-scription of men under the selective service bill that it hasn't had much space for kibitzing about the "conscription of industry" or wealth the "commandeering pow-er" added to the Burke-Wadswor-bill. Of course, the whole idea of tack-ing this provision on a selective serv-ice bill is pure political hokum. It was put there to enable congression-al candidates for to say to their constituents: "I wouldn't vote for conscripting men's lives until I had insisted on voting to conscript men's dollars." The power to take over private property for public use is as old as English law. It was called the law of eminent domain. It is practiced almost every day in peace time and is called the process of "condemna-tion." The only real difference in war is that it is called "comman-deering." Any important difference in the proposed legislation is only in the method for determining whether the noorf is fur "nublic use." In both cases a court must determine what must be paid the owner for his prop-erty. That must be so because the Constitution itself provides that pri-vate property may never be taken "for public use without just com-pensation." In peacetime condemnation the court must adjudge both that the proposed use is "public" and what the compensation shall be. In this proposed legislation, whether the property is to be taken on a rental or ownership basis, the secretaries of war or navy can determine whether the use is "public" but it is as it must be left to the courts to determine just compensation. In time of war or times like these, where nearly every use in connec-tion with armament is public, there isn't much to that distinction. The law is faulty, however, in vesting the commandeering power in the two secretaries. It should be in the President That is another lesson of 1918. Both war and navy depart-ments frequently commandeered the same supplies. President Wilson finally straightened that out by re-quiring all commandeering orders to be signed by the chairman of the war industries board. Apart from that, the Smith or sen-ate version of the commandeering amendment is good. The objection-able circumstance is the nature of the debate. There is no measure of "just compensation," for a human life deliberately drafted into mili-tary service is not the donation of anything to the public. It is the periurmunce 01 an oongation to me public. "Just compensation," as re-quired by the Constitution, for a dol-lar is a dollar. On no sustainable theory do the two relationships stand on the same ground. Neither con-demnation nor commandeering are, as the politicos like to say, conscrip-tion of wealth. It is electioneering buncombe. Finally, as our World war experi-ence proved, while "commandeer-ing" of some facilities like land, docks, warehouses and supplies gen-erally will frequently be necessary as a convenient method of deter-minin- g price, the "taking" of manu-facturing plants for government op-eration very rarely happens only once by the army at least in 1918. The power to do so is useful for what President Wilson called "a club behind the door" in negotiation. The practice of doing so on a rental or basis is useless and unnecessary. The government has neither the personnel nor the ability to move in and operate a private plant. The war department, for ex-ample, has all it can handle in fight-ing a war. If government has, as it did have in 1918, over priority powers power, fuel, supply and trans-portation it. hnc & man's plant. If he doesn't behave, it can choke his operation to death in two weeks' time as we threat-ened to do a few times in the old war industries board. The threat was always sufficient. We never took over any plants. No matter how you slice it, this is still boloney. DRAFT LOTTERY The next big news story on the domestic front will be the great na- tional draft lottery. In the Civil war draft, names of young men in each county were written on sep- arate slips of paper and put in a Jury wheel at the courthouse. The order m which men's names came out was the order of their going. There was so much chance for graft and fixmg in ms methQd ta "17, we invented a new way. hnRC!iSiratin cards in h Ical nZt .SlT W"e en a "serial oughly shumed. Usually there were less than 3,000 cards in each district P " WES t0 haVe from 1 on sljPs 01 SSI""! ?,Ch Put to a gelatin , d'Stinguished audience. The ci War drew ot the first Iv. u contai"ed the number Tha'n?eant at in each of the 4.200 odd local districts the man -- hose number was 258 was the first ho would be called for examination. SimpleCroelif Pattern 660 CHQOSE three colo hades and white t tions for easy handlk strands of string, ca; rags. Pattern 6601 contains dlr illustrations of materials required; color order to: Sewing Circle Needle 82 Eighth Ave. Enclose 15 cenU in cm tern No Name Address u J persona EVERT WOMAN'I j Dr. Murray's HygleniePowl moil. 10c (coin). MCBBI 4200 Melrose Ave., HOUIW WHY SUFFER fi FEMAU C0MPLA ""SSBSIS! YOURSELF gotong raU fleprosedUtcly-yoa- rw Compound to help relievo monthly pain j"11 headache) and k(,S dus to funrtlonil , dreda of thousands ol voua women. Trv WNU W J f FRSrf WfHEN kidneys fujl with dirtiness, bm d9j night, when vou.J j working lidn M are used every y" , mended the country. Farm About Town: Senator Bob Wagner and kin standing in the long queue in front of the Rivoli for al-most 30 minutes to see "Foreign Correspondent" . . . Ralph Bella-my wearing a Roosevelt button In Jimmy Kelly'g place, which is not only smart but safe in Kelly'g . . . Gypsy Rose Lee reading the first 15 pages of her first book, "The G String Murder" to Life photogger Eliot Klisofon, in the Stawklib. will pay her 20 cents per $2 copy . . . Leelee Pons, with a tan from Honolulu . . . Broad-way's own Wilkie (Mahoncy) who ghosts B. Bernie's quips . . . Billy Rose, Franchot Tone, Myron Selz-nic- k and other leather-lunger- s talk-ing at once In Moore's and not one listening to the other. Sallies in Our Alley: Judge Jean Nathan, the fussy was in one of those heated discussions in the Algonk dining room when owner Frank Case passed. "What's Mr. Nathan so excited about?" he inquired of a waiter . . . "He's talk-ing about the war," was the reply, "he doesn't seem to like it!" . . . MUton uerie, wno nas innernea ine late J. Osterman's col'm in Variety, was gleeful over the assignment. "Imagine," he Imagined, "I've writ-ten only one column and I'm booked for Loew's State already!" . . . CJive Howard's definition of an ag-ing ham (one who never played the Palace): "A would-b- e Has-Been- " . , . And then there's the one about the Stock Exchange messenger who was held up in broad daylight and robbed ... Of 35 Willkie buttons! Midtown Vignette: It happened re-cently at the Hurricane, weeks be-fore Betty Allen took over the Ethel Merman role in "DuBarry Was a Lady" . . . Betty's lifetime ambi-tion was to appear on Broadway . . . When she warbled at the Park Ce-ntralthat was on Seventh avenue and "DuBarry" is on Forty-sixt- h street, a whole half block from the Grandest Canyon . . . And then came the chance at the Hurricane for only five nights, but It was Broadway at last! . . . Well, her premiere night was glorious . . . Telegrams from everybody in "Du-Barrv-and friends sent Dosles and fellers sent good wishes and they all came and packed the place, too . . . What a thrilling night it was for her . . . After the show (she stopped it cold) they hugged her in person and she was the toast of the town . . . Then everybody went places with their boy friends and Betty wound up the loneliest gal In town because nobody asked for a date. New Yorchids: The way Dinah Shore renders "I'll Never Smile Again" at the Paramount . . . The Ink Spots' Decca-ratio- "We Three" . . . Hugh Bradley's book click: "Such Was Saratoga," which got 105 swelegant reviews . . . Var-ga- 's lovely blonde In black stepins in the September 15 Esquire . . . Warner's "City for Conquest," Cag-ney'- s next . . . Cecilia Ager's lit-erary lace on a new film-flo- "It's a heavy light comedy, elfin like an elephant. It capers, trips and falls flat on its face, gets tp, falls down and gives up." Broadway Ballad: He was a wealthy Englishman, prowling around the world for fun. She was a smart Broadway showgirl, prowl-ing around him for profit . . . They met in Montreal, where she was fea-tured in a night club, and he fell so hard 'or her that you could have heard his monocle drop ... He lavished her with goodies a brace-let, a diamond ring and a proposal, not a proposition . . . Her mother, the stage variety, came up from New York to "manage" the affair . . . Then Came The War and his income from England was suddenly stopped by foreign exchange regula-tions . , . Her maw yanked her back i to New York bracelet, ring and all ... He was left in Montreal broke and brokenhearted . . . For weeks the nightclubs in which he was a good spender "carried" him for meals, while his frantic love-letter- s to her remained ignored . . . Final-ly he wrote asking for the return of his engagement ring; its pawnshop value might help him pay his rent . . No answer ... In despera-tion he went to the American consul and told his story . . . The consul sent on the information, and today mamma and daughter are in custo-dy of the United States for "smug-gling a diamond bracelet and ring across the border"! Broadway Casanova says the trou-ble with getting stuck on some oth-er guy's gal is that you're liable to get stuck with her. Add literary lace, the authorship of which eludes us now: "A political platform is just like the one on the back, of the street car not meant to stand on, just to get in on" . . . E. Cuneo's: "When you see the Ver-mont hills you look at God Him-self!" ... A truck driver's sassy retort to a pedestrian who yelled curses for almost being run down: "Take it easy, Greasy!" . . . Sen-ator Tydings' comment In congress about conscription: "I would rather have it and not need it, thin need it and not have it!" 43 flfi.'r.TTfr.-,ilf- t r, tTjyy,r BRITAIN, U. S. WOO RUSSIA WASHINGTON, D. C Behind-the-scene- s talks are still continuing be-tween the state department and Rus-sian Ambassador Oumansky with a view to putting relations between the two countries on a more even keel, and perhaps evolving a little teamwork in regard to Japan. But the talks aren't getting far. Simultaneously, Sir Stafford Cripps, British ambassador in Mos-cow, has been doing his best to win the Russians over to the British side. If Stalin should mass his Red army near the Hitler sphere of in-fluence in the Balkans, it might slow up the Nazi air attack upon England. So Sir Stafford's negotiations in Moscow are a matter of life and death. However, they aren't getting far either. The Russians have been letting Sir Stafford go out on the leash just so far, then they bring him up abruptly. Just what goes on in the mind of Stalin, or Hitler either for that mat-ter, is like doping out what goes on in the mind of the Sphinx. But there are certain signs that Hitler is fac-ing more and more toward the west ana may nave given up nis old de-signs on the east and Russia. There are also signs that Stalin believes this to be true. For instance, the settlement of Germans in the new German-seize- d Poland has not been successful. The Germans don't seem to like moving into Slav areas. Furthermore, the Pan-Germa- n group seems to be dominant in Berlin. For years there have been two schools of German thought in the Berlin foreign ofllce and the war ministry, one believing that Ger-many's future lay in moving into Russia, the other that it lay in dom-inating western Europe;. At present the latter group seems to be inilu-encin- g Hitler. Their plan is to create a peasant state in France and the other Latin countries of Spain and Italy. In France they have already removed all of the machinery from northern factories lock, stock and barrel. And it is significant that the part of France which the Nazis left unoccu-pied is largely agricultural; so that it will be a long time before France ever is able to come hack ns an industrial country. Note Betting inside the diplo-matic corps is that Hitler will move in on Russia when he gets ready, even if he does try to dominate west-ern Europe first. COUGHLIN BACK AGAIN Father Coughlin is quietly plan-ning to stick his oar into the presi-dential campaign with a new radio series to begin around October 15. But he is having a lot of trouble arranging contracts with stations. Since the controversial nature of his talks bars him from the big net-works, under the National Associa-tion of Broadcasters' code, the only course open for him is to buy time on individual stations for purely po-litical speeches. This the radio priest is now trying to do. But he Is encountering a lot of coolness among station owners. They are at a loss just how to clas-sify his fulminations, since his po-litical support has been repudiated by Wendell Willkie, and he already is persona non grata with Roosevelt. Note Coughlin plans to broadcast by means of transcribed records over the individual stations. This is much cheaper than network broadcasting a possible tipoff that the cash isn't rolling into his coffers as it once did. CANADIAN PILOTS One matter discussed by the joint U. S. --Canadian defense board at its first meeting in Ottawa was the training of Canadian pilots in the United States this winter. Canada's severe weather makes winter training extremely difficult for aviators. As one Canadian board member expressed it, "Your worst weather conditions are better than our best." Also, Canada is serious-ly handicatniod hv larlc nf train. I ing planes and instructors. The big pilot training program be-ing conducted by the U. S. govern-ment has made it hard for Canada to obtain trainer planes and instruc-tors here. So the Dominion is eager to set up a large school somewhere in the U. S. South or Southwest where Canadian youths could receive fly-ing instruction this winter. If the necessary facilities can be obtained, Canada is ready to send 5,900 men south for training. All the costs would be borne by Canada. The only thing desired by Canada is the privilege of establish-ing the school on U. S. soiL Note The U. S. army has trained military flyers from South American countries for several years, though only in very small numbers. MERRY-GO-ROUN-Both Annapolis and West Point, at the suggestion of the President, will graduate their 1941 classes next Feb-ruary instead of June. The war department will shortly ir.st;i II a civilian as head of its press division an important innovation. In the past, army officers have been assigned to this job. Newest decoration in the office of Bill Green, A. F. of L. president, is a handsome silk flag, the gift of the American Flag association. British Gunners on U. S. Destroyers 9 i - v.." J Somewhere In Canada gunners of the British navy are being in-structed by American naval gunners in the operation of a secret device that Is part of the guns aboard the over-ag- e destroyers turned over to Britain. The secret mechanism has been obliterated in this soundphoto by the censor. Hindu 'Prophet' India's most prominent lady na-tionalist, Madame Kamaladevi who recently arrived in Los Angeles, predicts self-rul-e for India is now assured because of the breakdown of Britain's machinery in India. UncleM To Be Cut by Strati After a while friends handling temperamer.i "with gloves," and lea their "cruel" fate. Men who like to holi particularly susceptibli head. It is their affiii The age of discrete you don't want any might get you into to; Are We Not Easy-- ( Here in America mei millions of other peop without going to jail, All steps forward tha taken in civilization na individuals. Collectiv those without ambition You Never Can Tel The value of experiei upon the dividends it p Some climb the ladi and some walk under Nazis Bomb Poet Milton's Tomb r--t V 'i; " ' vtV yZi s:w rt J The statue of John Milton, the famous blind poet of Great Britain, is toppled from its pedestal by a Nazi bomb that fell on St. Giles, one of London's oldest churches. In the churchyard lies the tomb of the great poet, who was the author of "Paradise Lost." The interior of the church itself was also damaged by the blast. Heroine Miss Leonora Lindslev of New York, shown on her return to Goth-am, after having been an ambu- lance driver in France. Self Advanta No man can live"1 regards himself alone everything to his own Thou must live for thou wishest to live ft Seneca. Both Their Hearts on Wrong Side The Smith twins, Bell and Nell, of Decatur, Ga., are in reverse. Their hearts are on the right sides of their bodies, instead of the usual left side. Their spleens, too, are on the wrong side right instead of left, and their livers, too, are on the wrong side. The twins are eight years old. Hero "'" 'ram .tmeTon' ' diSMBe Printed S250 or V appr-"Po- n introduet ?T i- - Kened;m0fwb'.R0P. Gratitude I We seldom find PecJ ful so long as we j tiWto render then Rochefoucauld, J |