Show news review of C current I 1 events the world over drouth crisis brin brins brings s federal aid business revival con in first half of 1936 steel industry fi fights ra aits drive for unionization by EDWARD W PICKARD 0 bertern vows paper union E EARS ARS that drouth may arri F trieva bly destroy farm crops in north and south dakota eastern montana and wyoming prompted president roosevelt to marshal in relief funds to combat the damage and to develop further plans for fighting drouth secretary of agriculture henry W wallace who left washington for a personal survey survey of the stricken areas declared that from all reports condi t i secretary wallace eions had become as sario serious us as they were in 1934 due to lack of sorely needed rains the secretary declared that un les rains descend in the sun scorched regions the government will buy head of cattle in the next month in st paul minn the governors of the five drouth stricken northwestern states met with federal works progress administrator harry L hopkins and administrators from the various states mr hopkins ordered relief jobs made immediately available for from to farmers who have seen their sole source of livelihood destroyed tt st the jobs were to be made available on water conservation projects farm to market roads rural schools and recreational projects president roosevelt in washington appointed a special committee composed ot of secretary wallace budget director daniel bell aubrey williams assistant works progress administrator and dr rexford G tugwell resettlement administrator they will work in cooperation with a committee of department of agriculture officials the president instructed budget director bell to study government appropriations to determine what funds are available continuing c business recovery during the first esix months months of 1936 2936 fulfilled the hopes of optimistic prognosticators and surpassed the expectations of conservative forecasters all the leading trade barometers registered fair business weather at the close of the first ha half if of the year the production of automobiles reached units in the first six months of 1936 the best for the period since 1929 improvement was further reflected by the th steel industry the operations of which rose from per cent of capacity at the start of the year to per cent at the end of june the output of electricity climbed steadily to reach an all time peak in june the steady recovery of the railroads was indicated by which worked up to approach their best levels since 1931 the figures for the first six months of 1936 were substantially better than those for the similar period of 1935 A strong upsurge of home building gave impetus to the construction industry although it still remained at subnormal levels A AN N INCREASE of 90 per cent in the cash farm income on cotton wheat tobacco corn and hogs from 1932 to 1935 was recorded u un 4 7 chester da daris der the agricultural adjustment act invalidated by the supreme court last january according to the annual report of chester C davis former administrator made public in washington cash farm income from these five major farm products which came under production control rental and benefit beneat payments was in 1932 the year before the AAA became operative for 1935 it was oo the report pointed out that cash farm income from all other products increased in the same period from to 4 mr davis who was icentry recently appointed by president roosevelt to the federal reserve board declared that cash available for living expenses taxes and interest from farm cash income was the highest in 1935 since 1929 and two and one half times greater than it was in 1932 DEFYING D a drive to force unionization of its workers the steel industry in a strongly worded statement issued by the american iron and steel institute declared it will oppose any attempt to compel its employees to join a union or pay tribute for the right to work although the statement did not mention him by name it was re carded by observers as the first official response to the recent announcement no by john L lewis president of the united mine W workers ork of america of a campaign to unionize steel employees in order to prevent the ca closed ased shop the industry said it 11 will use its resources to the best of its ability to protect its employees and their families from intimidation coercion and violence and to aid them in maintaining collective bargaining free from interference from any source the unionization attempt comes at the time when steel operations have set a new record for 1936 reasserting its belief in the prin caples of collective bargaining the indu statement pointed out that employees now pick their own representatives for collective b bargaining a r by secret ballot the statement declares the steel industry is recovering from six years of depression ind and huge losses and the employees are beginning to receive the benefit of increased operations any interruption of the forward movement will seriously injure the employees and their families and all business de dependent upon the industry and will endanger the welfare of the country IN TN ESTES PARK colo gov al 1 fred M landon republican presidential nominee continued his vacation begun with his family the 0 4 p 7 Z s I 1 sl gov GOT landon week before and made plans for reconvening con of the kansas legislature and for the acceptance speech he will deliver belive r in topeka on july 23 although governor landon was resting preparatory to the rigors of the campaign affairs of his state and confer ances with political advisers occupied considerable of his attention when the kansas legislature reconvenes a propos proposed ed amendment to the state constitution will be introduced giving the state broad power to provide far reaching legislation for social welfare and to operate cooperate co with the federal government governor ern or landon was quoted as describing the proposed amendment as 41 satisfactory the amendment which may be the basis for similar action in other states reads nothing contained in this constitution ution shall be construed to limit the power of the legislature to enact laws providing for financial assistance to aid infirm or dependent persons for the public health unemployment compensation and general social security and providing for the payment thereof by tax or otherwise and to receive aid from the federal government yielding to the urgings of i party leaders gov herbert H lehman of new york announced that he would run again for the office of governor the governor had announced several months ago that he would not be a candidate again giving as his reasons the press of personal business and a desire to retire to private life democratic leaders declared the governors decision will help the national ticket to carry new york in the election next november in a statement issued to newspapermen governor lehman said he could no longer resist the appeals of national and state democratic leaders the statement sta temen t said regardless of personal considerations erat ions however compelling I 1 feel that I 1 can no longer resist the pleas of my party both in the state and in the nation or of those with whom I 1 have worked in closest association for man years and with whom I 1 have w waged aged the fight for equal opportunity and social security therefore if my party in this state chooses to nominate me aga again in and it if the people of the state aga again in call on me for ser service vice I 1 shall proudly accept the call and will devote myself wholeheartedly to the interest of the people of the state R RETIRING from the post ot of comptroller general J R mccarl announced that following the expiration of hi his s term of office he would aid in the government reorganization study undertaken by the senate committee headed b by y senator byrd of virginia gen mccarl criticized new deal emergency agencies as loosely and extravagantly set up and as tax consuming in the extreme he declared that a systematic reorganization of both regular and emergency agencies would improve government administration and reduce the cost to taxpayers of strikes in the persistence provinces kept france in a state of unrest A gain of new members was reported by the general confederation of labor organized iced labors official body altogether it was estimated that workers were still absent from their jobs in spite of reports of strike settlements in scattered sections throughout the country the french riviera witnessed a general exodus of foreign tourists from hotels and resorts following a lockout by the proprietors the hotels were closed indefinitely after the employers declared they could not meet workers demands for more pay and shorter hours this retaliation by the owners against the threat of a workers strike upset the summer tourist season one of the most profitable to the french government representatives were busy attempting to settle three serious strikes iron and steel workers in the lorraine region naval shipyard workers at st nazaire and employees y I 1 dyve s on the pari machines at parisian race tracks WHILE representatives of lead in ing powers gathered in geneva to lift league league of nations economic sanctions against italy and the ret ref ugee emperor haile selassie of ethiopia prepared to plead the cause of his nations freedom european statesmen considered the possibility lity of a and reformation of the league observers agreed that while informal discussions on the league reformation daile selassie would be held it was probable that the question of reorganizing the international ter national pact body would be postponed until the september assembly Y DESPITE ESPITE his previous decision 1 declaring unconstitutional the tax on railroads to permit pensions I 1 justice jennings bailey of the district of columbia supreme court ruled in an oral opinion that the railroad retirement board could pay pensions to railroad workers the justice declared that his previous decision on the validity of the rail pension laws could not be construed to mean that the retirement act itself was unconstitutional he ruled that the government could proceed to collect from rail workers a sum amounting to 3 12 1 2 per cent of their salaries and could use the money to pay retirement pensions to the workers when they reach 65 years of age or have worked 40 years he also ruled that the railroad retirement board could proceed to collect information on which to allot the pensions provided it did so at its own expense and by becom bensing the railroads for any clerical work involved justice baileys original decision in the case had specifically enjoined the railroad retirement board from taking any steps to compel the railroads to furnish information the decision ruled that the tax law adopted to finance the pensions was unconstitutional and ruled that the tax measure and retirement ti measure setting up means of paying the pensions were inseparable acan breckinridge breckinridge RIDGE LONG american ambassador to italy submitted his resignation to president roosevelt because of illness the diplomat declared that he hopes to recuperate his health during the summer and to take an active part in the presidential campaign in the autumn mr longs place will be taken by undersecretary of state william phillips he will represent the united states government in rome in in an effort to solve italo ameri can problems arising from conquest of ethiopia mr phillips has had a distinguished career in the diplomatic service he has eld posts in europe the far east and canada and has three times been sub sec detary in the state department the most pressing problem facing mr phillips in his new post is the regularizing of americas relations with ethiopia now claimed by italy as a territory but still recognized by this country as independent the importance of this question observers declare is indicated by the selection of mr phillips for the italian post only on rare occasions in the past have active sub cabinet officers been given diplomatic posts floods which followed a series bof L of cloudbursts in south texas caused property damage estimated at millions of dollars and cost the lives of 22 people rains which ell at the rate of 0 nine to ten inches a minute swelled the creeks and rivers of the afflicted areas into wild floods it was reported that thousands of 0 acres of farm land in gonzales and adjoining counties were inundated As the flood waters receded they revealed a grave picture of 0 destruction the flood ripped through the settlement of kyle between austin and san antonio washing out bridges and wrecking a train it was here that the loss of life was greatest in the guadalupe valley it was estimated that acres of farm lands been inundated A although the waters subsided rapidly the flood had wiped out the corn and cotton crops |