Show news review of current events CHINAS HORROR GROWS I 1 thousands sands die in unofficial war senate confirms black appointment house debates deficiency bill A L V W IF st summarizes c THE WORLDS WEEK 0 western newspaper union declared or not its war S war of 1932 was a second rate movie sham battle compared with going on 0 over er othere there now the city of in inhabitants and its environs are a scene of destruct destruction tion terror flames and death on a mass scale the horror of which is unthinkable thousands upon thousands of civilians lie dead dying and wounded and the toll increases day after day no estimate has even been attempted to determine the amount of casualties among the chinese and japanese fighting forces indeed such an estimate today might be woefully inadequate tomorrow tor for reports tell of whole brigades being shot or blown to bits in a single ter square mile after square mile especially in the native chapai district has been pitted by fires that rise in the wake of bombs and artillery shells millions of men women and children face slower even more terrible death by hunger for who is to bring supplies from the outlying farm fields while the whole area is under terrific fire even in the international settlement life is fleeting insecure for bombs and shells drop there too and with refugees inside to be fed shops are rapidly locking their doors to protect their wares from rioters As this is written the chin chinese ese land forces outnumbering the japanese I 1 four to one are forcing the invaders slowly back to the whang poo in fierce ground fighting whether the japanese reinforcements will be able to turn the tide of battle is problematical at the same time japanese warships half the entire japanese fleet must be in the Whang poo are showering exploding shells upon huge concentrations of chinese soldiers eyewitnesses eye witnesses reported that the japanese had concentrated some 40 destroyers six cruisers four dread an airplane carrier and many gunboats gun boats in the rivers near shanghai only through a clever maneuver did the chinese prevent them from gaming gaining 0 the upper reaches of the Whang poo and shelling shanghai from the rear the chinese in a surprise attack captured six japanese merchant ships sailed them into the heart of the channel and scuttled them prevent ing passage american authorities in shanghai decided upon immediate evacuation by the yanks living there the danger which confronted them was emphasized when stray japanese bombs blasted the american baptist mission leaving the fate of 20 persons inside in grave doubt united states marines were on hand of course to offer what protection they could to american nationals tio nals and reinforcements were quick in leaving san diego calif to join them the U S S augusta flagship of uncle sams china squadron lay in the Whang poo alongside the japanese ships with shrapnel flying about their ears americans were getting out of china on every available ship it was not considered likely that president roosevelt would invoke the neutrality act so long as no officials official state of war between japan and china existed this would involve the declaration of embargoes on arms and on the extension of credits to both nations a situation which would be of definite aid to the aggressor japan since china is in far greater need of war materials japan continued to defend itself officially from the wicked chinese whom its foreign office characterized as prejudiced however the defense was being carried on in the other fellows back yard japanese authorities continued to insist that they meant no harm to the chinese people and that their aim was still for the cooperation of china Manchu kuo and japan they also revealed that voluntary contributions to the nations war chest coming from all over japan had passed the mark ar question blacks eligibility T THE HE senate confirmed the presidents nomination of sen hugo L black of alabama to the supreme court 63 to 16 but only after a bitter fight following which the minority protested that the confirmation had been railroaded through six democrats and ten republicans voted against black the democratic insurgents led by edward R burke neb and royal S copeland nd N Y based their objections principally upon charges that he was associated with the ku klux klan an and therefore unfitted to sit with the high tribunal for reasons of racial and religious prejudice the republicans notably william E borah idaho argued that he could not legally become a member of the court that his eligibility might be tested before the court itself was a possibility when attorney albert levitt 14 k P 41 ii I 1 appointee in judicial mien former special assistant to attorney general homer S cummings filed a plea for leave to pray an order for black to show affirmatively why he should be permitted to serve as an associate justice he raised the same legal questions as the republican minority had 1 that black could not become a justice because during his term as a senator the retirement act was passed permitting justices to retire at full pay the constitution provides that no member of congress shall be appointed to an office which was created or the emolument of which was increased during his membership in congress 2 that no vacancy existed on the supreme court anyway since justice willis van devanter had only retired not resigned and may still be called for judicial service by the chief justice it was expected that the black applin appointment ament would become political fodder in the next election campaigns grist from the mill A A FTER months of wrangling over 1 the supreme court measure the wages and hours bill the ever normal granary bill and other administration musts the house of representatives began to act upon some other legislation in haste with a view to adjournment some day some time the house appropriations committee reported out the years last deficiency fici ency measure to supply funds for government operations overlooked in the regular budget it called for two previous deficiency measures totaling nearly a billion had been passed the committee turned down requests from the executive department for in additional appropriations some of the appropriations recommended were for new buildings for federal feder al participation in the new york worlds fair and for participation in the san francisco worlds fair funds for the operation of the jones bankhead farm tenancy act and for naval building were denied altogether appropriations for payments to federal land banks and the federal farm mortgage corporation and the national labor relations board were sliced severely the house passed the low cost housing bill but with so many alterations te rations ns that it had to go to a joint committee for the di differences to be straightened out before it could be sent to the white house the senate had approved a bond issue of the house shaved it to the house also raised the percentage of funds which local communities must contribute to projects increased the limitation of cost of a single dwelling to or 1000 a room and cut the limit of an any one states share in the funds from 20 per cent to 10 per cent the house also passed a bill designed to plug the tax loopholes by which it was alleged the wealthy have been legally or illegally avoiding the payment of income taxes which they have a moral it if not a legal right to pay the extremely complicated bill carried unanimously after only two hours consideration strange doings at sea FOUR COUR insurgent airplanes dropped 25 bombs upon the danish vessel edith and sank it in the medi teran nean came the report from barcelona the crew of 20 and a french observer for the non inter bention control were rescued by two fishing boats the owners of the vessel in copenhagen said it was their twentieth ship to be captured or bombed by the rebels the captain of the french freighter peame reported to authorities that a torpedo had been fired upon his ship by an unidentified submarine which floated beside his ship for several minutes oil oc the tunisian coast when the spanish tanker campea dor was sunk in the mediterranean the rebel command issued a taking the full blame but the captain of the tanker insisted an italian destroyer sank it campaign aftermath TURNED down by the house rules committee when he demanded a special investigation rep bertrand H snell of new york republican floor leader has carried direct t to 0 A attorney t general homer S cummings his charges of violation of the federal corrupt practices act by the democratic national committee the charges arise from national chairman m an james A Far parleys leys ingenious method of replenishing the bartys treasury by selling democratic convention books autographed by president roosevelt for each in a letter to cummings snell charged 1 that sales of the book autographed by the president in 1938 1936 at each constitute an illegal collection of campaign funds and a direct violation of section of the corrupt practices act 2 that a colorado man was the I 1 victim of eleven specific acts of reprisals by the resettlement administration and threats to put him out of business since his refusal last october to subscribe to the book sales campaign 3 that a new yorker was approached pro ached by a democratic campaign committee agent with promise of white house intervention in return for a subscription or retainer snell attached affidavits and a synopsis of the evidence he had furnished the house rules committee c rebels press santander D R from the insurgent rv command said that 35 villages and 1000 prisoners had been captured by the rebels in their drive on santander and the tiny remaining slice of the northern spanish coast held by the government the government admitted that some advances had been made but refused to concede that general francos forces were threatening the main defenses of the santander area franco in his new drive was using the same tactics which eventually fc brought rought about the downfall of bilbao after a siege of many months bombing planes and artillery were pounding the fortifications while other airplanes poured machine gun fire upon trenches insurgents planned the santander advance to require as little manpower as possible so as to leave enough men at the madrid front to start a separate offensive there if necessary they admitted the loyalists had caught them napping with an offensive west of madrid in july causing them to abandon the santander drive temporarily but declared that that will not happen this time X rumor has parley farley quitting IS IS genial jim parley farley going to 1 resign as postmaster general to become the executive head of an automobile firm what his friends in washington e say and jim has not denied the rumor as he has promptly d denied e n I 1 e d similar rumors in in 7 the past parley farley it is said seeks to rehabilitate his personal fortunes As postmaster general he has lost a year over his salary jun jim parley farley of and is according to his friends today in debt the story went that he would become an executive of the pierce fierce arrow motor corporation that 5 new shares of stock would be delivered to him and that he would also be allowed to share in the stock purchase warrants wonder if the pierce arrow sales force is watching the charts for maine and vermont french lifeline periled perilea Peri led T THE HE paris press disclosed that france considers herself in danger of losing her possessions in the near east and of having her a air I 1 r route connections with the far east severed because of revolts in syria censorship of the news out of syria is strict but some reports have leaked through which indicate the revolt recently quelled was a serious one according to one dispatch the population is extremely dissatisfied with the terms of the franco syrian treaty signed last september 10 As soon as the proper machinery machiner y can be set up the treaty provides a unified syrian state will be formed from four of the five mandate areas which the french hold in the levant large sections of the population differ in religion from the syrians syrian s in damascus they are willing to be governed by a foreign nation like france as they have been for centuries but they do not want to be subjected to the will of the damascus politicians X K protests lease of ships L T A influential newspaper of buenos aires argentina caused some stir by vigorously protesting the proposed leasing of obsolete united states warships to brazil declaring that such an act would upset the balance of naval power in south america secretary of state hull had written a letter to the senate naval committee asking congressional authority for the leasing of overage over age war vessels to south american republics when th the e objections were noted president roosevelt pointed 0 out ut that the vesse vessels I 1 a in question were 0 obsolete o bs olete and were only to be used tor for training |