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Show 1 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Brackart's Washington Digest Harass Business With Suits While Seeking Its Co-Operation One Government Agency Presses Litigation Against Industry, While Others Urge It to Get Ready for Wartime War-time Production; Lollypops Being Investigated. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WNU Service, National Press Bldf ., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. There were two news stories emanating from official offi-cial tources here recently that seemed to emphasize an unusual contradictory situation that obtains In present national government policies. pol-icies. One of the stories had to do with a projected expansion of our military services. "Representative Vinson of Georgia Is- prepared to ask congress at its next session to spend an additional $1,300,000,000 on our navy. Other house leaders are submitting an army expansion program pro-gram that will cost a record-breaking $1,670,000,000. Now, no one can deny the Important Impor-tant of national defense. They may differ as to how much of a structure is required, but not as to the principle. prin-ciple. It always is well to remember remem-ber that few nations, or individuals, pick a fight when they know they are due to meet real troubler-whlch is to say that a strong army and navy are essential to peace. These two announcements concerning con-cerning military plans were made known on different days. It so happened hap-pened that on the day that the army program was given to the newspapers, newspa-pers, the department of Justice was distributing a statement telling of what it believed to be a great victory In court over a corporation. That story concerned the anti-trust action against the Aluminum Company of America. The department lawyers were obviously In high glee because a New York Judge had admitted some 30 documents Into evidence in the proceeding. Mention was not made that the Judge had rejected something like 140 other documents, or exhibits as they were called, but much glory was claimed for the government's side. It Is not for me to say whether the gigantic Aluminum company has violated vi-olated a law; that is the function of the court The thing that I object to Is the apparent role of the government govern-ment lawyers In this and numerous ether proceedings. Their attitude Is almost the same as though they were engaged In private litigation instead of serving and seeking Justice In behalf be-half of all of the people. It la an attitude that Is dangerously near to persecution, rather than prosecution, and it Is wrong. Bu$inet$ Being H atoned By Whole Flock of Suite The announcement regarding the Aluminum trial recalled that there were a whole flock of other suits being pressed against nearly every kind of business In the nation. The department of Justice seems to be trying to get some kind of a record in its efforts to harass business, and this Is not surprising when one considers thatThunnand Arnold, the former professor, is guiding this policy and that Attorney General Frank Murphy Is more of a crusader crusad-er than even the late Theodore Roosevelt. Thus, upon examination I found mat there were some 23 or more proceedings being pushed by the government, actions that may be caned "major litigation" In that they Involve some of the main units of American industry. I have no Intention In-tention of offering a defense for any of them because I do not know the facts. It Is, however, significant signifi-cant that these actions are going forward from one governmental agency while other groups are calling call-ing upon American" business to make itself ready for wartime production In event of need. It will be recalled how President Roosevelt told a press conference not so long ago that there were "raids" being conducted on our war resources by some foreign powers. That is, material usable in war was being bought here, and there was little lit-tle control of these purchases by our military services. Whether this condition brought about the creation of a control board - within the army and navy, I do not know. It is nevertheless a fact that the control board soon was created and purchasing missions from Eng-i Eng-i land and France have to consult with that board. Long Range Planning for War Reeervee Proceeding Mention should be made, in this connection, of the frequent statements state-ments from official sources of the long range, planning for , war re- serves that has been going on. This '....'iJiwSPttmhaft fcem io process cf uV velopment since 1921. but It obviously obvious-ly has taken on new Impetus since fire broke out in Europe. Business has been advised repeatedly' any . in various ways that it must consider consid-er itself at the beck and call of its government in event of war. And that is thoroughly sound. But how, I wonder, can these two things go hand and hand; how can business be en- eouraged tomake Itself ready in case of national emergency and go about that Job wholeheartedly while the same government, supposed to be operating op-erating as a unit. Is attacking and seeking to destroy the very machin ery which the national defense requireseven re-quireseven demands T I used the Aluminum company only as an Illustration, and it happens hap-pens to be a good one. There are something like SO army officers, concerned con-cerned with Inspection, consultation, consulta-tion, guidance, in the various plants of the Aluminum company. There are dozens more, yes, several hundreds hun-dreds of army officers and naval officers doing like work in scores of other great manufacturing plants. You can see them crawling all over skeletons of ships in shipyards. They have to make inspections to make sure the specifications are met They are to be found in experimental laboratories, lab-oratories, using private funds and private facilities for tests looking to improvement of the various things used in war. All of which is fine; it is a co-operation business ought to give, but, again, there is posed that question of how can government govern-ment get all of these things done while a group of theorists, paid by the same taxpayers, devote their time to prosecution of the most flimsy flim-sy interpretation of law violations? When I was digging around on the list of pending government prosecutions prosecu-tions 'I found the so-called "big three," Ford, Chrysler and General Motors, in the automobile field, were being prosecuted for alleged violation viola-tion of anti-trust laws In automobile installment financing upon what surely is a strange basis. When the suit wss started it was simply a charge of unfair competition in the matter of financing. The thing has simmered down now, however, and the issue actually is whether it is violation of law for using methods of financing installment buyers in a manner that results in less cost to the buyer. Hold lf$ Wrong to Provide ForCheap Auto Financing That is to say, the present issue Is whether it Is a violation of law to set means of cheap financing. From all of the facts I have been able to gather, our government through its department of Justice, actually is asserting as-serting In court that it is wrong for the automotive companies to maintain main-tain financing corporations which wlU result In a saving to the purchasers pur-chasers of motor cars. If that is not silly, then I have a cock-eyed mentality. One ought not pass over the temporary tem-porary national economic committee commit-tee which has been sitting, off and on, tor more than a year. The committee com-mittee is supposed to be leading the way to a new national economic policy, a new method of doing business busi-ness in the United States. It may, but I doubt It Thus far, about the most tangible results certainly, the most Important effect of the Investigation In-vestigation and hearings Is the opportunity op-portunity that has been accorded government theorists to expound their ideas. For them, it has been a great opportunity. Dozens of them have been able for the first time in their lives to see their opinions set down In printed form In the committee com-mittee record of the hearings. Of course, in referring to the T. N. E. C, one surely ought to call attention at-tention to the great number of witnesses wit-nesses from commerce and Industry Indus-try and the gouging and sniping of them that has been going on by group of "thinkers" who serve as lawyers for the committee. One ught to mention also to the half-baked half-baked testimony presented in a number num-ber of instances by witnesses whose chief gripe seemed to be that they or their businesses were not making mak-ing money. Lastly, reference should be made to the effort that has been made throughout the hearings to discredit dis-credit every line of business that has grown big. Lollypop Industry Actually 1$ Under Investigation I have no way of knowing what the government is spending in aU of these trials and Investigations. Nor is it possible to know what the cost to business has been. The T. N. E. C. has had half a million dollars and it will get some more. The department of Justice has been hiring hir-ing lawyers by the bagful! The federal fed-eral trade commission likewise has been Jumping onto business practices prac-tices from great industries like steel and cement on through the list to the manufacturers of lollypops. (Don't laugh at that last one, The lollypop industry actually is under limstigatwo, for ome efflcial believes be-lieves that there is a large monopoly of lollypoppies.) But to name a few others among the nation's industries ' that' eager' government prosecutors are using Xo make reputations tor themselves as lawyers, we find these: milk, oil, steel, building material In all phases, sulphur, rubber, glass, motion pictures, pic-tures, telegraph, telephone, utilities of all kinds,- food d istributors; to-1 bacco, insurance, typewriters and trade associations. The effort tc show that medical doctors ar tradesmen, and subject to the antitrust anti-trust laws also should be Included WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH W. LaBINE V. S. Ships May Be Registered Under European Neutral Flags In Effort to Grcumvent Law (EDITOR'S NOTE When pinions are expressed In these columns, they are Own of the news analyst and lot necessarily of this newspaper.) ' Riltutd by Western Xihum Union. MARITIME: Neutrality Having fought for and having won "cash and carry" neutrality, the United States promptly sought ways to circumvent it While American vessels and sesmen loafed along the waterfronts, crsfty minds were thinking up at least two ways of maintaining maritime traffic despite neutrality: (1) chartering foreign ships, a perfectly legal method used MINISTER BRENNAN Tht President sympathised. by Black Diamond Lines. Inc.; (2) registering U. S. ships with other nations, also legal but carrying a few potentially unpleasant implications. implica-tions. With Its next meeting still a week away, the maritime commission was almost certain to refuse requests for transfer of some 90 U. S. vessels to Central or South American registry. regis-try. When the idea was first broached. President Roosevelt supported sup-ported it Later, after getting a lecture lec-ture from Secretary of State Cor-dell Cor-dell Hull, he told reporters that the more he thought about It the more convinced fie became that it wasn't right Reason: It would place sister American republics in a neutrality position different from our own. Loud aa the complaints of American Ameri-can ship owners were those of lesser European neutrals whose thriving U. S. commerce wss stopped by the neutrality law. Two loudest objectors objec-tors were Eire and Belgium. The former sent its minister, Robert Brennan, to tell the state department depart-ment that Eire should be excluded from the "combat zone" because be-cause she is neutral and will remain re-main so; because Eire needs U. S. products; because Eire doesn't believe be-lieve U. S. ships would be endangered endan-gered visiting her ports. Belgium sent her Ambassador Count Robert Van Der Straten-Ponthoz to inquire about transferring U. S. ships to Belgian Bel-gian registry. Certainly, commented the President Presi-dent objections to Latin-American transfers wouldn't prevail in the case of European neutrals like Ireland. Ire-land. It was a pretty aafe guess, therefore, that U. S. ships may soon sail under European flags. EUROPE: The War Gone like sudden sunshine on a cloudy day was the Belgian-Dutch effort to make peace between Hitler and the anies. And after the sun came threats of rain, for It ended the last hope of armistice. There was still much saber rattling, such as Winston Churchill's speech calling call-ing Der Fuehrer a "cornered maniac." but the foes were ready to start slaughtering. Sea and air warfare went ahead precipitously. One day Berlin announced an-nounced (by Inference) that henceforth hence-forth all British-French merchantmen merchant-men would be torpedoed. Reason: They're all armed. Next day, after a successful but pointless air attack on the Shetland islands, Berlin warned it would "show the British what it means to be at war with NAMES' vie in tho hdys: James Monroe Smith, ousted president of Louisiana State university, uni-versity, was given 8 tQ. 24 years In prison for forgery, obtaining money under false pretenses and misuse of funds. Al Smith Jr. was sworn la .as New - York ciy councilman, -, following fol-lowing the family political fool' steps. Murry Guggenheim, 81, capitalistic capital-istic member of the famous copper-mining family, died at New York. Ex-Kalser Wilhelm II was reported re-ported building a bomb-proof cellar cel-lar at Doom, Netherlands. Moses Annenberg, Philadelphia publisher and erstwhile operator of a horse-race betting tip service, serv-ice, announced after a U. S. crackdown that he had "forever quit the business." Germany." In 72 hours 11 ships were sunk, one a British destroyer. Britain, for her part, sank two Nazi merchantmen and a U-boat The week's most thought-provoking news dispatch came from John T. Whltaker of the Chicago Daily Nettt, who cabled from Rome that Der Fuehrer's position looked desperate. des-perate. Said Whitaker: Hitler had Indecisively retreated after massing troops on the Belgian-Dutch frontier; fron-tier; he can pierce the Maginot line only by wasting a million men; be can't break the British blockade; Scandinavia opposes him, and a strike at the Balkans win bring down the wrath of Russia and Italy, each of which "has his measure." Conclusion: "He finds, for the first time . . . that the cards are not stacked against his Immediate foe. And as he delays, confusion and defeatism de-featism are inevitable at home . . ." Finlandia Leaving Moscow without customary cus-tomary diplomatic formalities, Finnish conferees returned to Hel-singfors Hel-singfors where awaiting officials already al-ready knew they had refused to grant Russian demands. Immediately Immedi-ately the Soviet press began a withering with-ering anti-Finnish campaign which could only be a prelude to armed action. First Moscow' Prmvda claimed Finland was on the brink of economic ruin, but Helsingfors quietly replied the Finns could get along. Next the Soviet news agency, Tass, accused Finnish ruling circles of fostering anti-Russian policy. Helsingfors answered by announcing there would be no resumption of conversations. CRIME: O'Hare-Capone Who killed Cock Robin was never a greater mystery than who killed Edward J. O'Hare, Chicago racetrack race-track owner whose assassination in early November set off the biggest gangland witchhunt since Alphonse Capone went to prison in 1932. Reasons: Rea-sons: The murder came Just before Capone was released, and O'Hare was known to have associations with Capone. Two theories to date: (1) That O'Hare. as interim manager man-ager of the Capone gambling syndicate, syndi-cate, was "rubbed out" because he refused to turn back the reins when "Scarf ace Al" was to be released. (2) That O'Hare was slain by dissenting dis-senting Capone mobsters who feared he would return the reins to Scar-face Scar-face Al. The deeper federal and city investigators in-vestigators probed the mystery, the more complex it became. The more embarrassing, too, especially for one Judge Eugene J. Holland of Chicago Chi-cago municipal court, who was associated asso-ciated with O'Hare in a real estate enterprise. Officials wondered if there could be any connection between be-tween this and the fact that only 28 of the 12,624 Chicago gambling cases ) w m'S aW&iii i m i JUDGE HOLLAND Embarrassed. handled by Judge Holland In the past IS months bad resulted in convictions. con-victions. Two days before Ca pone's mysterious myste-rious release in Philadelphia, a 21-year-old named Russell Stoddard was held by Los Angeles police after a mysterious stabbing. Not only did he claim to be a former O'Hare bodyguard, but officials found In his possessions a letter indicating that Stoddard knew who killed O'Hare. COURTS: 5 to 4 Only two years have passed since Franklin- Roosevelt sent the senate his first nominee to the -Supreme! wurtAlaba'm Black Since then.' one by one, have come Liberal Stanley Reed. Liberal Felix, Frankfurter .and liberal Bill Douglas. With only four Roosevelt appointees, the nine-man court was still theoretically anti-New Deal. This month died .Justice, Pierce Butler, 73-year-old conservative, a Catholic from Minnesota. When his successor Is named, the New Deal will have in' lindTsptited liberal majority ma-jority which will last at least another an-other generation. Among possible successors observers listed another midwest Catholic, Michigan's Frank Murphy. - - - - :' ; If ' ' Kium your newt? Coca tht following question counts 20. Score: 100. xeollent: 80, $ood;60, average; 40, poor; 20 or 0, tskt tiki L Arrow en above map points te Lagunffias, Veaesuela. It was In the news becasse: (A) the new U. S.-Yenesuela trade pact was sifned there; (B) BOO were killed In a Are; (C) a two-headed baby was born there, 2. The Neva river, rsmning threngh Leningrad, Rossis, overflowed over-flowed Its banks although ne dams or dykes were broken, and ne rain felL Russia blamed Finland. Fin-land. Why? S. Thousands of trees enrooted In the 1S38 New England hurricane hurri-cane have Just been disposed of. How? 4. What former senator from California recently boomed President Pres-ident Roosevelt for a third term? 5. Prince Frederick Wilhelm, youngest son of the former German Ger-man crown prince, waa reportedly: reported-ly: (A) beheaded aa an anti-Nail plotter; (B) hinted as Adolf Hitler's Hit-ler's successor; (C) killed at the western front (Answers ml bottom of column.) CONGRESS: Annuities Exempted from social security are some 10,000,000 self-employed persons, agricultural workers and domestics, who thus receive no retirement re-tirement income at age 65. Also exempted are minor groups like seamen. sea-men. At the next congressional session, ses-sion, announced New York's Sen. Robert Wagner, he wUl introduce a SENATOR WAGNER, How much lavtdf government-sponsored voluntary annuity an-nuity plan whereby anyone making the necessary payments can buy an annuity paying $1,200 a year at age 60 or 65, L ., 8100 a month. The chief Wagner argument: That such annuities can be handled by the U. S. at a substantially lower cost than private insurance companies. A high insurance executive, he said, had raised no objection to the plan. Nevertheless, critics got to work Immediately. Though admitting private firms now make a substantial substan-tial profit It was asserted the U. S. must use the same mortality tables and can therefore save no more than an approximate 2.1 per cent agent's commission on its annuities. Tax Fight Tax revision may be No. 1 on the congressional agenda January 1 A hint that not even the administration administra-tion knows what to do about it appeared ap-peared when Acting Secretary of the Treasury John W. Hanes criticized the proposal of Marriner S. Eccles. federal reserve chairman, to adopt higher taxes and thus pay for next year's fiscal deficit Commented Mr. Hanes: ". . . I don't think he spoke for the administration ... I doubt if he spoke for congress . . ." INDUSTRY: Man With Stick When the Justice department's Trust Buster Thurman Arnold shows his face, any well-trained industrialist industrial-ist rushes to get his books in order. or-der. Thus far Mr. Arnold's big stick has struck at the railroads, movies, building Industry, aluminum, medicine medi-cine and many a lesser trade or profession. This month he struck again; At Los Angeles a federal erand Jury Indicted 41 major and second ary ou companies and two associations associa-tions on charges of conspiring to raise artificially and maintain gasoline gaso-line prices on the Pacific eoast (Oregon, (Ore-gon, Washington, California, Arizona ;Bnd.;:Ne?dfete: the Indictment, the defendants control con-trol 95 per cent of gasoline sales. 1. (B) la correct. One of Lagunil lai' major oil terminals exploded 1 "Because of windi from Finland" was the Soviet explanation, which charged FioUnd wUh failure to inform in-form Russia of meteorological con dltion. S. Sold for tli.400,000 to a lumber wholeialers' co-operative . William Gibbs McAdoo 6 (A Ms correct The report wai later denied. " WWW Mntii VWm LA6UNIIU3 V WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK i By LEMUEL F. PARTON N' EW YORK- Rudolf Friml, mak er of melodies for 23 years, final ly gives credit to bis collaborators. With tht ouljl board, he's always N oted Composer withgrtat Credits Ethereal composers. Collaborator. while they help him round out a score. He never knew why the "Song of the Vagabonds" just sang; Itself through In five minutes, faster than he could score It until he learned that he had an ethereal spokesman, or spooksman. IDs career, from the start en down te his present fifty -ninth year, Is a testimonial te eccnlt guidance, In planting hint always al-ways In the highway ef Lady Luck. In Prague, his birthplace, his father worked tn bakery. One day, his mother gave his father money to buy wood. Fates er phantoms guided him instead te a pawn shop, where he made a down payment en a tiny plane. RudotfTs mother was as angry she wanted te chop It te pieces, but the bey persuaded her te let him keep It One day the owner ef the bakery passed by, beard the lad playing beau-tlfuBy beau-tlfuBy and helped groove him into als musical career. At the age of 10, he had published pub-lished a barcarolle. In the musical conservatory of Prague, where be studied under Antonin Dvorak, he teamed up with Jan Kubelik. They were playing at a concert which Daniel Frohman happened opportunely oppor-tunely to attend. He took them to the United States for a tour of 80 cities. Whether or not Mr. Friml was Just an amanuensis for spirits, his compositions com-positions streamed along rapidly "Olorlanna," "The Firefly," "Ka-tinka," "Ka-tinka," "High Jinks." "Musi Hath Charms," "The Vagabond King," and a whole album of others, none ef them seeming to be of ghostly Inspiration. Hollywood still keeps him busy and successful. H GORDON SELF RIDGE, the Anglo American merchant prince, visiting this country, makes it a tossup between communism c . . . , and ruinous H. C. Selfrtdge ta3lit,on. Sees Passing of Queried about Success Idyll Europe after the war, he asks, "What of It? What Is the difference between communism and a society where a tax takes half of the Income and a surtax the other half 7" He says the day ef initiative and enterprise Is past He is an authority en that subject Sixty -two years age, he swept etrt a store tn Ripon, Wis. Two years Utter, be waa aa errand boy for Marshall Field as Co. in Chicago, and a partner when he quit tn 1904. Punch ribbed hhn mercilessly when he opened his store tn London, and the smart salons were full ef clever mots about the Am ericas Invader. Invad-er. He made them like hhn. He hired as head ef his dress department de-partment Lady Affliek, who had thought up the cleverest Jokes about him. Here In 1937, he wsl optimistic about Europe and the world In general gen-eral Now he says, "The opportunity opportu-nity to achieve and to show results has been eliminated all over the world." A LBERT SARRAUT, French mhv later of interior, swings on the French Reds with a spiked club. He links them with the Germans and AUrtSarra J "J; Tough One Day, from all "vfl- Pacific the Next J?' pslities, cities and towns." And he means to do Just that M. Sarraut as governor-general of French Indo-China, was regarded ss s hard-fisted and implacable colonial administrator. Returning to his country villa In France, be read Tolstoy, and renounced all belief in force. When be became minister of Interior, hit enemies, catching him tb.ua off guard, swarmed all over aim. He resigned from the ministry minis-try and said: "1 And new that I have sw do " aire te smite hip and thigh those hr'dre: gentlemen take ever the Job and see what you can do with It" , 8,Mo Jbecarne minister, of , the interior, but offered his resignation when King Alexander was assassinated assassi-nated in Marseilles. But taking the premiership, he again swung his war club, hotly denouncing obstructionists obstruc-tionists and meddlers. Alternately tough and conciliatory, he is a, veteran vet-eran of the rough-and-tumble of French politics. A vacation. In his garden, where he la given to reading read-ing and meditating. Is apt to bring on the Tolstoyan mood. (Consolidated Features WNU service.) As Nature Diet., " Nature will give . SJ but i SS abwe Vv hi:uLr-er pi cows In a meadow meant Co snort. 4u.ii u,eant. thoroughly fan,;!;.." N People gathered toeetw pot where there rf? inn nnn Dr. Pierce's Pleanf p. T Apple are effect ccnmulated bodyjM Man Proposes Man proposes, but God Thomas a'Kempia. I Wff Of L buys famous BJtt H ASPIRIN'S Fad relief from musci j pains 1 it Take 2 Soyer Aspirin Tablet with glaa of water. The quick modern odern t ondnl wticpd ease headache and rheumatic We feature the fact that B pirin costs onh It a tablet home the point that Lb J reason even lor the most j minded person to accept i less than genuine faH-actia Aspirin. For at the most, it ea lew pennies to gel ttotui frnm thm nairtt n? nnnfi. tism or headache . . . tnA J the speedy action for wkl juuuiu is worm utmost,- lYV fhltt VBV MIM Mi know almost instantly M MF.nraid nmiu I I, L . J replaced expensive "pain raj in inousanas oi cases. Ask for genuine "Bayer Aspirin" by Its full name when you buy . . . never ask for "aspirin" alone. Stern Lights Human exnerience. II stern liehts of a shin It lumines only the path v have passed over. 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