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Show KLAN ISSUE DOGS BLACK Newspapers Claim Proof He's Life Member . . . Fleet Stalks Submarine Pirates ... Japs' Big Push Starts SMwufcc 14. PLdccVLd SUMMARIZES THE WORLD'S WEEK Wt.lcrn NwspApT Union. Fiery Cross Haunts Justice PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT suf-' suf-' fered what was probably the most embarrassing period of his entire en-tire political career as the whole country stormed over the publishment publish-ment of what was claimed as documentary docu-mentary proof that Hugo L. Black, recently appointed a Justice of the Supreme court, was and Is a member mem-ber of the Ku KIux Klan. The series of articles, copyrighted by the North American Newspaper alliance and printed In the newspapers news-papers which subscribe to its service, serv-ice, included reproduction of Dlack's resignation from the hooded brotherhood, broth-erhood, allegedly turned in to the organization in 1925 but never made known to the public or to the Klans-men Klans-men in general. It also contained reproduction of the minutes of a Klan meeting in the following year at which Black was said to have become a life member and was given a gold "passport," one of the highest honors conferred by the order. or-der. Implications of the revelations, if they are true, are manifold. President Presi-dent Roosevelt asserted that he had no knowledge that Black was a member of the Klan when the appointment ap-pointment was made. He refused to comment further until Black- returned re-turned from Europe, where he was vacationing. Black, hounded for a statement by the press, went into seclusion in London and refused to confirm or deny the accusations. Opposition to the administration lost no time in making political capital cap-ital of the situation. Senators who had been marked for political extinction ex-tinction because they had dared to oppose the administration on the plan to add six new justices to the highest tribunal found it the finest kind of defense ammunition. They pointed out that the President, in his opportunity to appoint one new justice of the liberal character he desired, had appointed a man who, if it were true he belonged to the Klan, was incapable of administering administer-ing impartial justice to Catholics, Jews and negroes. Other senators . declared they never would have voted vot-ed for his confirmation had they known he was a Klansman. It was admitted that since Black had already taken his oath of office there might be no means of correcting correct-ing the appointment other than by iniluencing him to resign. This the President might do, it was believed, be-lieved, if Black did not deny the charges upon his return to the United Unit-ed States. Showdown on 'Sub' Piracy GREAT BRITAIN and France were massing the greatest destroyer de-stroyer fleet ever operated in the Mediterranean sea, to police it and c a f o ti t n yA Tipnirs b shipping from attacks at-tacks by "pirate" submarines, as a result re-sult of the agreement agree-ment signed by nine powers at Nyon, near Geneva. The powers signatory to the pact also included in-cluded Greece, Jugoslavia, Jugo-slavia, Turkey, Ru- m o r i a "Rulcrnria M. Litvinoff Egypt and Russia. Italy and Germany had refused to attend the conference when Russia publicly accused Italy of operating the "pirate" submarines which sank two Russian ships, and threatened reprisals if Italy did not pay indemnity. indem-nity. The principal provisions of the agreement, which Germany and Italy were invited to join, were: 1. Mediterranean shipping will be restricted to the regular-ship lanes, which will be patrolled by French and British warships, in both the eastern and western stretches. If Italy agreed, she was to be allowed al-lowed to patrol the Tyrrhenian sea. 2. Patrolling navies will attack and attempt to destroy any submarine sub-marine which attacks merchant ships other than Spanish, without first giving passengers and crew opportunity op-portunity to leave in lifeboats, as outlined in the 1936 London naval treaty. 3. Signatories expressly declare ihat they do not concede belligerent rights to either party in Spain. 4. Patrol ships arriving on the scene of an attack too late to prevent pre-vent it will be authorized to attack any submarine in the vicinity, provided pro-vided they are satisfied it is the guilty one. 5. These measures will be executed execut-ed by the British and French fleets anywhere in the Mediterranean with the exception of the Adriatic. Eastern East-ern powers will protect neutral shipping in their territorial waters. 6. Signatories agree not to let any of their own submarines put to sea in the Mediterranean unless accompanied accom-panied by a surface vessel, except in certain "exercise" zones. 7. Signatories will not permit foreign for-eign submarines in their waters unless un-less in urgent distress or on the surface and accompanied. It was plain that delegates knew that explosions might occur in half a dozen European capitals if their - . . - " 1 : t L HANDS ACROSS EUROPE Jointly refusing to attend the anti-"piracy" conference, Hitler (left) and Mussolini once more show the complete accord of the two Fascist governments. pact did not get into operation before be-fore there were any further attacks on shipping. They were embarrassed embar-rassed in conference by the Russian foreign commissar, Maxim Litvinoff, who insisted on naming Italy, as the "pirate." Russia at first refused to sign, on the grounds that the second sec-ond provision was no protection at all, merely requiring submarine commanders to be "gentlemanly" before sinking ships, and that it implied im-plied recognition of both Spanish parties as belligerents. Britain's Anthony Eden was reported to have convinced the signatory powers that it would be impossible for a submarine sub-marine to sink a ship under those conditions. -K China's German Strategy JAPAN'S long-awaited "big push" in China was believed definitely "on" as the Japanese assumed virtual vir-tual control of North Hopei, and made important thrusts into the Chinese Chi-nese lines at Shanghai, after the most terrible fighting of a month of undeclared warfare. At about the same time, the Chinese, Chi-nese, heeding at last the advice ol German officers generally conceded conced-ed the "brains" of the central army, began a strategic retreat to the "third area of defense" mapped out by these same officers after the Shanghai conflict of 1932, which was conducted under identical conditions. condi-tions. Apparently the Chinese plan of retreat re-treat was to withdraw defending troops from the range of Japanese naval guns in the Whangpoo and Yangtse rivers. The Chinese were reluctant to leave positions which they claimed had been held against the Japanese invasion, but the German Ger-man advisers finally won them over to the theory that these positions had been held at a cost far out of proportion to their importance. The first strategic stage of the Chinese fighting in Shanghai as planned by the German officers was to slow down and harass the landing of Japanese reinforcements; the second, to divide the Japanese lines, and the third, to deprive the Japanese of the use of their naval guns. Realizing what is going on, the Japanese command has ordered rapid advance no matter what the cost, in an effort to change an orderly or-derly retreat into a complete rout. As a result, the Japanese for the time being are the heavy losers in men, rather than the Chinese. No Help for Munitions Ships ANY American merchant vessels which carry arms or other implements im-plements of war to China or Japan will do so at their own risk, President Presi-dent Roosevelt warned shipping concerns. con-cerns. This policy applies to all of the articles listed in his proclamation proclama-tion of May 1, 1937, when he invoked in-voked the neutrality act against both parties in the Spanish civil war. The President's order also forbade any government-owned vessel from carrying war materials to China or Japan. Unless war is declared he has no control over other American shipping, but he warned shippers that if ships carrying such cargo are bombed or attacked they need expect no action on the part of the United States. Copeland Loses in Primary TWENTY-ONE arrests were made as violence dogged the polls in New York city's most spirited mayoralty may-oralty primary in years. Senator Royal S. Copeland, who ran for the Republican nomination although he was supported by Tammany Hall, lost the honor to Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, fusion candidate for reelection. re-election. Copeland made his bid for the G. O. P. nod by bitterly opposing oppos-ing President Roosevelt, but the stamp of Tammany precluded his nomination. The Democratic nomination nom-ination was captured by Jeremiah T. Mahoney, who had the backing of Democratic national chairman James A. Farley. "Keep Us Out of War' PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, anxious anx-ious over conditions in Europe and the Far East, cut his vacation short and returned to Washington to discuss developments with his cabinet cabi-net After discussing the situation with Norman H. Davis, his European Euro-pean ambassador-at-large, and Bernard Ber-nard M. Baruch, and getting reports re-ports from the State department, he was said to be convinced that there was a real possibility of implication im-plication of the United States In a foreign war. Baruch called Europe a tinder box, ready to explode at any time. In an address before an outdoor meeting of Dutchess county (N. Y.) citizens President Roosevelt had said, "World conditions are pretty serious. I am glad to say . . . that we are going to do everything we can in the United States not only the people of the United States but the government of the United States to keep us out of war." Headache for the League AT GENEVA, the Chinese delegation delega-tion framed an appeal against . Japanese invasion, to be presented to the League of Nations. The appeal, ap-peal, which urged peace-loving members and non-members to join in action against the "aggression," invoked Article 17 of the League covenant, which would invite Japan to sit in on the council of reply The Chinese statement charged , that since mid-August Japan has! thrown 60,000 troops into the Woosung-Shanghai area. "The intention of Japan . , . cannot can-not otherwise be interpreted than to : dominate Shanghai . . . and to attack at-tack Nanking, the capital," the statement said. It also declared that j the Japanese blockade of the entire. Chinese coast was illegal. Eijl Amau, Japanese minister to Switzerland, made it plain that Japan had no intention of returning to Geneva to sit at any council j board that discussed the Far Eastern East-ern hostilities. Nippon resigned from the League after it had judged her the aggressor in the invasion in-vasion of Manchuria in 1933. $300,000,00 in New Money SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY TREAS-URY MORGENTHAU has agreed to issue $300,000,000 in cash against an equal amount of the j treasury's "sterilized" "steril-ized" gold. The move was believed to Save been made because of recent weakness in the market for government govern-ment bonds and a 16 per cent decline in the stock market over a period of about four weeks. r r7wii Li 5 il open market com- Secretary , mittee of the federal Morgenthau j reserve board announced that it had authorized the twelve federal re- j serve banks to buy additional amounts of short term government securities. -. In some quarters, the treasury's move was interpreted as an about face by the administration, reversing its year-old policy of trying to pre-: vent an untimely inflation. Loyalists Ready to Pay Up IT WAS reported in Geneva thai the Spanish loyalist government and the American government had agreed upon $30,000,000 as a settle-j ment for American claims arising out of the Spanish civil war. This, I it was understood, would cover every kind of damage suffered by( American business in Spain since the beginning of the war, including confiscation and appropriation oi private property for military purposes, pur-poses, as well as material damages. In voluntarily offering a settlement settle-ment .while the war is still going on, the Valencia government shattered revolutionary traditions. It was believed be-lieved that the loyalists were anxious anx-ious to emphasize the fact that they are not the revolutionary government, govern-ment, but the real government oi Spain, and consider prompt payment pay-ment of claims one of the best ways of keeping the respect of other nations. na-tions. Czechoslovakia Loses a Saint THE "little father of Czechoslovakia," Czechoslo-vakia," Dr. Thomas G. Masryk, founder of the' republic, died in Pra-ha. Pra-ha. He was eighty-seven years old. It was the efforts of Dr. Masaryk in the great capitals of Europe during dur-ing the World war which made possible pos-sible the creation of his country. Its people revered him as the symbol sym-bol of their liberty, the patron saint of freedom. He was their first president, pres-ident, serving first in 1918, and being be-ing three times re-elected. In 1935, with old age coming upon him, he resigned his office to Eduard Benes, his colleague, who was at his bed when he lost the battle against the death he philosophically considered "tizs common enemy of mankind." He once said: "If it must come I shall at least know I died fighting it." Nazis Too Busy to Fight ADOLF HITLER, German dictator, dicta-tor, struck what might have been a cheerful note, in conference with foreign government representatives represen-tatives at the Nazi rally in Nuremberg, Nurem-berg, when he declared that Germany Ger-many is too busy to become involved in any war. He said that the plans which he and other Nazi leaders have for the country would take from 20 to 40 years to complete, and that war might be disastrous. |