OCR Text |
Show AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN 1 ' ' ' ' J 1 i . i. t I ' 1 ! 1 '. -I 1 i :',- T I T l ! s t i ' v ' - , I 1 ; 1 Bruekart'a Wathlnqton Dig ft Co-Operation of Business Sought By Wage-Hour Law Administrator 'Andrews Pictures Industry of Country as Mainly Decent; Will Depend on Citizens, Not Inspectors, to Make Law Work; Warns Against Chiselers. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Frew Bldg., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. Mr. Elmer F. Andrews hasn't been in Washington long enough yet to become either widely praised or cordially hated, but he has started on his Job at administrator ad-ministrator of the new wage and hour law, and so it will not be long until the country knows him. He has a tough job; one of the toughest. Indeed, since Gen. Hugh Johnson tried to run NRA. Thus, It seems proper to review and examine some of Mr. Andrews pronouncements since he came -into the administration. adminis-tration. nia main theory of proceeding with a new and wholly untried policy at law la to gain co-operation of business, busi-ness, the business which the law la to effect. He pictures the Industry of the country aa mainly decent, as willing to do the right thing, and to that extent certainly he la entitled to commendation. For, all too often In the last five years, all business has been grouped by first one New Dealer Deal-er and then another, as being crooked. Mr. Andrews feels apparently appar-ently that business is honest until lis records show it. to be dishonest, and then to apply the lash to the individuals, in-dividuals, and not the whole industry, indus-try, as wrongdoers. "We are going to depend upon the citizens of the United States, not an army of inspectors from Washington, Washing-ton, to make this law work," Mr. Andrews said In a recent speech. The administrator further espoused es-poused the policy of giving the states the Job of enforcement within their Jurisdictions as far as that can be done. To this, he added that the law enables a worker to sue for double dou-ble the amount due if any employer fails to pay the minimum wage, explaining ex-plaining that this provision takes one enforcement phase out of the hands of the federal government and creates watchmen of every worker. Since the law, with its minimum of 25 cents an hour becomes effective October 24, (where interstate shipments ship-ments of products are concerned) Mr. Andrews obviously believes that Individual workers will get pretty well acquainted with their rights before be-fore the effective date. Aaku for Co-Operation To Minimize Crookedneia 9 Mr. Andrews warned against chiselers. chis-elers. He took the position in an interview that chiseling was to be expected and added that "chiselers will get rich and fair employers will go broke in the short run" of things, but he seems to believe that there can and will be sufficient co-operation to insure the minimum of crookedness, crook-edness, undercutting and cheapness. At least, it is hoped the condition will work out that way. Although I never have believed that a federal wage and hour law would prove satisfactory, sat-isfactory, it is entitled to a fair chance to show whether it can or can not be worthwhile as national policy. And Mr, Andrews is surely entitled to the co-operation for which he has asked unless he develops like so many other New Dealers to whom extraordinary power suddenly has fceen entrusted. From a quarter of a century of observation, I am inclined to the belief be-lief that the great majority of business busi-ness concerns will "come clean" in their relations with the new federal office. Obviously, some will not, but the bulk will try to abide by the law as they understand it So, I think It is not from the bulk of business interests that Mr. Andrews will get his load of trouble. There will be cheap skates who try to take advantage ad-vantage of any and every situation to gain an advantage on their competitors. com-petitors. That will be one kind of trouble that can be traced home rather quickly. Then, there will be another kind of trouble that will not be so easily untangled. It will come from "reports" of alleged violations some from the "watchmen," some from the chiselers who will seek to cause trouble for or suspicion suspi-cion of violation by, competitors. There will be some labor racketeers who will try to force union organization organiza-tion by threats of "reports" of violations viola-tions which reports obviously would be damaging even though they may not be true. All of these things are due to come, and it is under this test that we can best judge Mr. Andrews An-drews as a public official. DoubU Value of 'Watchmen' In Enforcement of Law As to the sources of information upon which the staff of the administrator admin-istrator may subsequently act, there is some reason for doubt. .1 mentioned men-tioned some of them above. My doubt as to the value of a "watchman" "watch-man" in enforcement is based upon what we aU saw during the early days of prohibition. "Stool pigeons," pig-eons," they were called then. And stool pigeons operated everywhere; some were Just plain busybodies, and others were fanatics. The result re-sult was that gradually a disrespect for law grew up, and this disrespect disre-spect was blamable to a considerable considera-ble extent upon the fact tjje early provisions of the ,law encouraged "squealing" and "squealing" more times than not is used as a means of vengeance, of "getting even" with someone who Is disliked. It has been many years since business, busi-ness, generally, was said to have a policy of "the public be damned." There can be no doubt that business conscience has changed immeasurably immeasura-bly since those days. It Is apparent, for example, that two of the really great sins of employers, namely, oppression op-pression of labor and defrauding of labor, have largely passed out of existence. ex-istence. Competitors seem to be watching each other In that regard and union labor officials have lent a hand. An employer no longer is received re-ceived among decent people once it is learned that he has cheated his workers of their wages.. . Now, Mr. Andrews says that one of the things he hopes to accomplish is to "clean out dark corners." That is to say, to finish the job of helping industry get rid of that low level of humanity which, by virtue of its momentary power as an employer, oppresses labor or refuses to pay wages earned. Surely, the co-operation of employers and workers alike is required in this effort Honest employers have much to gain by having the "dark corners" cleaned out and disinfected with a good grade of roach powder. But again, it is being pointed out in many conversations, con-versations, the administrator must be on guard as to the sources of his information. Irreparable harm can come from missteps in filing charges of violation because of the trend in public consciousness towards general gener-al fairness of which the wage and hour labor is an evidence. Job May Make Andrew Either a Hero or Villain Summed ud. then. It seems to me that Mr. Andrews has a Job in which he can turn out to be either a hero or a villain. A verv great deal will depend upon the type of Individuals with which he surrounds himself in administrative work. An illustration of what I am trying to say is to be found in the setup of the national labor relations board. I have watched that outfit through many of the cases it has handled and I simply can not believe it intends in-tends to do otherwise than play the game of the C. I. O. and John L. Lewis as against the American Federation Fed-eration of Labor. Time after time, the A. F. of L. has charged discrimination discrimi-nation and, to an outsider, most of the claims and protests seem to have been justified. The board's staff Is full of radicals and quacks and individuals whose government salaries are larger than they ever before drew in their lives. The question of federal supervision supervi-sion of wages and hours takes the federal government quite closely into the lives of millions of workers, Just as many other new activities of the government under President Roosevelt has done. One of these Instances has Just come to fruition and is worthy of reporting because it shows the fallacy of a national government interfering everywhere. This story relates to the effort of the farm security administration, (which was once the resettlement administration that was founded by the former Braintruster Rexford Tugwell) to reform the lives of some of the residents of the ADnalachian mountains. These people were moved out to a model town to clear the Shenandoah National park. They were to have nicer homes and enjoy greater opportunities in life. The trek started three years ago. Bought Liquor Instead Of Paying Grocery Bill Only lately, however, it has come to public notice that the governmental governmen-tal agency in charge had evicted one of the families moved them out on the sidewalk, so to speak. "Ida Valley," the community'! name, was shocked. They were all "hill billy" families, and they could not understand such treatment Well, the crime the man committed commit-ted was that he had used his WPA check to buy liquor Instead of paying pay-ing his grocery bill He had been warned, of course. But the warnings warn-ings went unheeded, and finally, the government, like a private landlord, moved him and his family outside. Obviously, no person is going to condone the failure of this man to pay his debts. But there is something some-thing more to the incident What I am wondering is why a government anybody's government should attempt at-tempt to "make over" a person who does not want to be reformed in his living conditions. This family had lived, its ancestors had lived In the Appalachians for years. It had its habits, its traditions. It got along pretty well and from what I have seen in many trips through those mountains, they do not care much about the "more abundant life." They want to be left alone, and I think that is a pretty sound philosophy philoso-phy of life just to be let alone as far as government is concerned and as long no harm is done. C Weittrn Ncwipaprr Onion. -Weekly News Peace Wins Shalloiv Victory, Compared to That of Hitler -By Joseph W. La Bine Foreign Since early August, when Czechoslovakia's Czecho-slovakia's Sudeten area first began attracting Relchsfuehrer Adolf Hitler's Hit-ler's serious attention, Italy's Premier Pre-mier Benito Mussolini has been out in the cold. While Germany's chancellor chan-cellor talked with British Prims Minister Neville Chamberlain, while the world read about French Premier Pre-mier Edouard Daladler and Czech President Eduard Benes, Adolf Hitler's friend in Rome was asked not once for his opinion. But he gave It nevertheless, thundering six speeches of defiance at western democracies in as many days. Another rebuff came when Frank lin Roosevelt drafted his first note to Germany and Czechoslovakia (See WHITE HOUSE), tending copies to Britain and France, but PREMIER BENITO MUSSOLINI . . . headlong into the headline. not to Italy. Sorely hurt II Duce was ready to jump headlong into the headlines first chance he got That chance came unexpectedly. Night Defore, In Europe's capitals, frenzied governments rushed mobilization, mobi-lization, prepared for air raids. In Berlin, where Adolf Hitler had set a 12-hour deadline on the Czech question, ques-tion, troops began marching to the frontier. Though the Reich's every demand had been granted, Chancellor Chan-cellor Hitler's stubborness over detail de-tail was a barrier neither London nor Paris could hurdle. ----- In such a crisis, at President Roosevelt paved a smooth entre with his second note to the Fuehrer, both Washington and London appealed secretly to the one man whose persuasion per-suasion might stay disaster. That man was Benito Mussolini, fellow dictator of Adolf Hitler, southern mainstay of the Rome-Berlin axis. n Duce rose to the occasion, talked 30 minutes to Berlin by telephone, tele-phone, soon had wires humming to London and Paris. With a scant two hours to spare, Der Fuehrer had cancelled his march, arranged in its stead a four-power conference next day at Munich. To that Bavarian Bava-rian city, where a scant 25 years before be-fore the bemoustached chancellor had worked as bricklayer and house painter, flew Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini, Edouard Daladier. Nine hours they talkedjjemerging with an agreement ' that meant at least temporary peace for Europe and some measure of integrity for Czechoslovakia. Terms: (1) Czech evacuation of Sudetenland by October 10; (2) supervision su-pervision of evacuation by international interna-tional commissioners; (3) plebiscites in Sudeten areas with minor German Ger-man population; (4) exchange of populations; (S) Czech release of German prisoners, soldiers, police; (6) settlement of Polish, Hungarian minorities disputes by four-power meeting if nations concerned fail to reach agreement among themselves; them-selves; (7) international guarantee of Czech integrity. As Europe's peacemakers headed for home, a world well accustomed to treaty breaking might well wonder won-der how long the Munich pact would stand. Terms were one thing, plain facts another. Among the facts: (1) Adolf Hitler had won every demand; de-mand; (2) by signing the four-power pact, France and Britain withdrew with-drew their support of Czechoslovakia; Czechoslovak-ia; (3) Russia, left in the cold, turned cold eyes at all western Europe; Eu-rope; (4) by summoning the Munich parley, by winning their terms, Germany Ger-many and Italy now hold a whip hand over Europe's destiny, can probably make further aggressions without much opposition. For peace, only victory at Munich was that the world's war lords had avoided unspeakable disaster even after mobilizing their armies, a feat unparalleled in history. Transportation Though 928,500 members of 19 railroad unions voted to strike October Oc-tober 1 in protest against a 15 per cent wage cut their walkout has been averted until at least November Novem-ber 20 by presidential intervention under the railway labor act of 1926. Starting investigations last week Was an emergency committee which has until October 30 to dig out the facts. Committeemen: Prof. Harry A MlUis of Chicago university, Dean i 1 S- - J ft- - 'ah:1 2 IXevlcw James M. Landls of Harvard unl-verslty's unl-verslty's law school, Chief Justice Walter P. Stacey of the North Carolina Caro-lina supreme court With rallroad-lng's rallroad-lng's monumental problem brought to a head, labor's protests became secondary to an investigation of why one-third of U, S. railroads are In receivership, why another third borders on bankruptcy. When committeemen finish their Inquiry, unions must wait another 30 days before striking. Chief hope is that a solution of railroad financial difficulties will obviate a strike by that time, with congressional aid following close behind. White House TWs country can bet be served by putting in positions of influence men who btlievf in peace end who will relist re-list this administration in ieeking to give jrem advice to either aide . in Europe." Day after he recited this opinion of Franklin Roosevelt to Chicago Republicans, Iowa's onetime Sen. Lester J. Dickinson might have admitted ad-mitted that he spoke too hastily. Traditionally isolationist, long silent In Europe's crisis (See FOREIGN) U. S. officialdom kept hands off until un-til every other effort failed, until Adolf Hitler was poised to march against little Czechoslovakia. Then, to Relchsfuehrer Hitler, to Czech President Eduard. Benes, went President Roosevelt's plea: "On behall of 130 million of American Amer-ican end for the take of humanity everywhere, I most earnestly appeal to you not to break off negotiation . . ." Next day, as Iowa's Dickinson was speaking, came Adolf Hitler's reply disclaiming responsibility, maintaining the "terrible fate" of Sudeten Germans made delay Impossible. Im-possible. By nightfall all Europe had surrendered hope, and by nine o'clock the President was willing to try again. To Berlin went another cable. Its highlight: x "There are two points I might to emphasise; first, that alt matter of difference dif-ference could and should be settled by pacific methods; second, that the threatened alternative , . . of force . . . i a unnecessary as it it unjustifiable." Craftily phrased to maintain U. S. neutrality, the President's message nevertheless contained the word "unjustifiable" which connoted a measure of sympathy for Britain and France. Moreover, he dispatched dis-patched a personal note to Italy's Premier Benito Mussolini, another to Tokyo, - thereby asking Relchsfuehrer Relchs-fuehrer Hitler's two bedfellows in totalitarianism to plump against war. No President in modern U. S. history his-tory has ever taken such a step, nor did much time elapse before tongues started wagging. Would Franklin Roosevelt's intervention embroil the nation in Europe's squabble? Did Washington have a secret "parallel action" agreement with France and Britain? And, most important for the moment, would the President's move bring desired results? By daybreak the last question was answered. To Munich, Adolf Hitler summoned Britain, France and Italy Ita-ly for peace negotiations that undeniably un-deniably resulted in part from Mr. Roosevelt's intervention. By noon, Secretary of State Cordell Hull assured as-sured correspondents that the U. S. has no "parallel action" agreement. By nightfall, even arch-New Deal hater Sen. Rush D. Holt admitted the President's course had been wise. Unnoticed, shoved Into the background back-ground by Europe's crisis, was the U. S. political picture which nonetheless none-theless may change definitely as an upshot of the President's action. Recalled Re-called was last summer's Fortune IOWA'S DICKINSON .o "ret advice" to Europe. poll which showed the New Deal's two most favored features were rearmament and foreign policy. Whatever might result from Munich's Mu-nich's peace parley, the Czech squabble proved (1) that Germany's expansion efforts will continue to threaten Europe, and (2) that the U. S. cannot escape some measure of participation in world affairs. Will the administration's success thus far bring national approval for continuation con-tinuation of New Deal foreign policy? pol-icy? A safe bet was that political speeches leading to November's election will stress foreign relations, possibly urge important revision of the neutrality act, under which the President may now invoke "cash and carry" provisions anytime a state of war exists abroad. ? ' i J War vakia't problem that botn ouna ana Spain (See Below) received scant attention. One press association'! total 12-hour report from both bat-tlefrorrtj bat-tlefrorrtj was 29 words, but U. S. headline writers knew the name of Hankow would soon be flashing from their pencil tips. Reason: Japan's lnvadlne trmr erect closer UP the Yangtze river to its ultimate destination, desti-nation, appeared almost certain to capture China's onetime provisional capital before another month Is up. Chief Question is whether venge ful Nipponese troops will turn Hankow Han-kow into the wholesale slaughterhouse slaughter-house they made of Nanking last winter. If they do, it will wreck central China's No. 1 industrial city, a trading and manufacturing point of inestimable importance. Pioneer of western industrialization, Hankow's Han-kow's three WuHan cities of Hankow, Han-kow, Hanyang and Wuchang opened their doors to foreign trade In 1858, became a machine age center of rice, flour and textile mills, aye works, oil refineries and distilleries. Since the WuHan cities head water and rail facilities to all south China, their loss will be a severe blow to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai- she.. Since China's capital has moved 600 miles up-stream to Chungking, observers wondered last week whether Japan will stop at Hankow, as promised, or push on to drive Generalissimo Chiang's headquar ters still farther back Into Asia. Only scant hope for China's fu ture came from far-away Geneva, where the League of Nations council DR. V. K. WELLINGTON KOO He we not too hopefuL Invoked article 16 of its badly battered bat-tered covenant, voting economic and financial "sanctions" against Japan. This was a futile hope, however, since sanctions failed miserably when last applied against Italy in her Ethiopian conquest Moreover, the League agreed that "co-ordinated action" against Japan was impossible, im-possible, that each member could apply sanctions If It desired. Never Nev-er before have sanctions been invoked in-voked against a non-league member. mem-ber. Not too optimistic was China's scholarly delegate, Dr. V. K. Wellington Well-ington Koo, who reluctantly admitted: admit-ted: "The only question now i to what extent various member of the League will participate in sanction." .Though Spain's war was postponed post-poned last week on account of wet grounds, observers thought they saw clearing skies that bore close relation to the Munich peace parley (See FOREIGN). From Rome came almost unimpeachable word that Premier Benito Mussolini Js withdrawing with-drawing support from Generalissimo Generalis-simo Francisco Franco's insurgent army, and at the same moment Paris heard insurgent Spain would be neutral in any European war. By the time these two rumors were patched together, they added up nicely. If Generalissimo Franco remained neutral, he would be useless use-less to Italy in fighting France. But a more important reason lay In Premier Mussolini's sudden about-face about-face from which he emerged as Europe's Eu-rope's No. 1 peacemaker. Already credited with proposing the Munich parley, since no one else could deal with Relchsfuehrer Adolf Hitler, II Duce was probably seeking to Improve his relations with Great Britain by Invoking the Italo-British friendship pact Signed last spring, this treaty has been dormant because Italy refused to desert Generalissimo Franca Still another reason for D Duce's act might be Italy's inability to continue con-tinue financing Fascism's Spanish battle. Whatever the cause, observers hoped a Europe gone suddenly peace-mad would let the Spanish war fizzle out With Italy quitting, with Germany likely to follow suit, and with loyalist Spain already dismissing dis-missing her foreign fighters, the hope was a bright one. Saddest U. S. news of Spain's war was the capture by rebel troops of James P. Lardner, 24-year-old son of the late, famed Author Ring Lardner, in the last engagement of his company, the renowned Lincoln-Washington Lincoln-Washington brigade. Peoph vjvuuujv, OCO land, the liner Queen Elizabeth by Queen Elizabeth, who barely had time to smash a bottle of champagna before the ship slid down to sea ahead of schedule. SPEAKING OF M; O There really no blue or ' feathers, but sun rays, rain can make our nesting frkna.i peacock l Prpar4 by If athma) Oawaphlc Society, Washington. D. C. WNU Sarvlc. THERE is nc .blue pigment pig-ment in the feathers of birds;, neither, with rare exceptions, is there any green. The only pigment colors in ordinary birds' feathers are reds and yellows and blacks, and all the other colors are due either to a combination of these or to the superficial structure of the feathers overlying some other pigment. Blue feathers, for example, contain only brown or blackish black-ish pigment overlaid by a layer of prismatic cells which reflect only blue light rays. Sometimes the structure is that of minute pits on the surface of the feathers. When they become filled with water during a rain, they lose their refractive power, and the birds, apparently, change from blue to white, as In the tropical swallow tanagers. Again, the blue color Is due to minute air spaces In. the superficial layer of cells, Just as the blueness of the sky is due to minute dust particles, and the blueness of the milk on the boarding house table to the minute cream droplets. So long as our blue birds remain between us and the source of light, they are not blue birds at all and therefore may go unnoticed. Yellow birds are usually conspicuous conspicu-ous because our eyes are very sensitive sen-sitive to yellow. But many birds have a blue-producing structure overlaid by a yellow pigment, so that the combination sends green light to our eyes. Then we say these birds are green. Wet the back of a parrot and It becomes brown, or scratch the surface of one of the green feathers with a knife and a dark mark is left This is not because any green pigment Is scratched off, but because the yellow yel-low and the prismatic cells have been removed and the dark layer beneath exposed. But there seem to be many red birds among these tanagers and finches. Why do we not see them more often? Certainly we have no trouble seeing a red traffic light-indeed, light-indeed, most of them seem to be that color when we are In a hurry. There are some reds, such as the Iridescent throats of the humming birds, for which the structure of the feathers Is responsible. But most reds, such as those of the tanagers and finches, are due to pigment, and they register as red under all light conditions. To be really effective, effec-tive, however, the red must be exposed ex-posed to direct sunlight Should a scarlet tanager alight In the middle of a sunlit lawn or a cardinal fly across the open space In a garden, either bird would attract at-tract attention, but most of the time they are sitting among the shadows of green leaves, where they are poorly lighted. The sunlight is reflected re-flected from the leaves more readily than from the birds, especially since our eyes are peculiarly sensitive to greens, Winter Markings During the. winter many birds have their conspicuous marks veiled by gray edges to the feathers. These edges break off during the spring, exposing the color underneath. The male house sparrow, for example, in winter seems to have only a narrow nar-row line of black on his throat, because be-cause the rest of his black cravat is concealed by the gray tips of the feathers, which break In AprIL Red finches display no such gray edges to the feathers. But upon examining ex-amining a feather with a lens, one will find that the red pigment occurs oc-curs only In the main branches of the leaflike structure, the parts called the shaft and the barbs, while the more minute branches, or barb- CAFETERIA DINING ROOM' BUFFET -) AH located ofl main lobby-finest bod at reasonable pric h DINING DANCING St 1 rvrov nmiv ' j rimronBY NIGHT i Mrs. J. H. WATttS, W - CMAUNCIYW; aroftfc.TjV the r4 a..r k 'y brighten u Thu, ft. Zl remains ttit ani M do th finch, th. crossbills. IfeJ beak nv 25 mate. onrvTrtt ty. though a. No nna k.- "7 I factrypu e:cei In n,, male, but tw femal n duW to attract atteattViT uy the brffiiaT'6 this famUy tog the e exception breasted beaks. MaletJi: only sit on the U rules of blrdZ as they do so, Grosbeak JbV Whether beans, or because ot ft k the incubstlnnm.t the general frr -there is a relethft tallty among tmtVi beaks, nd some j,' For their k a pair of ataf Angeles ijndtmi electric sicitck falsi owner immtdimVt)'. prevent tUdnat fledglingi anil their novel mat i young are rtarti ft cies becomes Kimk beaks are not si s renesting si ire aw t There if no cm fe America when iBt mentioned tin be fcai huloxia, hepatie twf bunting, and Shirpfi example, are not north of the MexJestk The lazuli banttil grosbeak, weitffl finch, house finch,? Lawrence'i goldfindar the Pacific coattss3 mountain regies, . breasted grot and indigo bunttol birds of the tutan It is difficult to K species hai home when It to as it pleases mdoWr tensively. B to explain how JW birds got Into Nft nally. Certain cf ft' tanagers. the J rose-breast; grosbeaks, and close relative to America and Wj Hence, ? came originally tr K biases m rate- The Spirit of tff. and Fair Dealing Prevails at V In SALT lAtff MPlAfM IUb WW o the Nation's 400R00MS-J t |