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Show WEEKLY XEWS ANALYSIS BY JOSEPH IT. LaBlME Congressional Patronage Grab Shoves Political Wheelhorses Into Justice, Commerce Jobs (EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed In these columns, they are those of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.) ' Released by Western Newspaper Union. CABINET: Patronage An able economist, Republican Wiilard L. Thorp was borrowed from Dun & Bradstreet to be advisor advi-sor in the commerce department's bureau of foreign and domestic commerce. com-merce. Next Harry Hopkins named Republican Thorp chief of the bureau, bu-reau, but a patronage-minded Democratic Dem-ocratic congress turned him down. This was Secretary Hopkins' first conflict with patronage, but another was destined soon in which Attorney General Frank Murphy would also learn about patronage. Up for simultaneous simul-taneous congressional consideration came two appropriation bills, one to give Mr. Murphy's department $1,000,000 for Thurman Arnold's ter and son-in-law. Although their relatives seemed near agreement, II Duce and El Caudillo were not. Yet Franco's independence was not comfortable. Needing peace above all to reconstruct recon-struct his nation, the generalissimo generalissi-mo must nevertheless be imperialistic imperial-istic like other dictators. This means a strong hand in Tangiers, which all good Spaniards demand be regained from France. It also means re-establishing Spain's lost world prestige, necessitating an increased in-creased influence in Spanish-speaking Spanish-speaking Latin America. This program pro-gram plays right into the Axis' hands, stimulating conflict between Spain and the democracies and thus assuring Spain's aid should Rome and Berlin declare war. EDUCATION: I X 4 - $ t J I - IV . 1 CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Trouble Brewing Contrary to popular belief, Germany Ger-many did not annex Bohemia and Moravia when Czecho-Slovakia was dismembered last March. Moreover, More-over, the new land of Slovakia remained re-mained "independent," though well under Berlin's thumb. Outright annexation an-nexation of all these lands was confidentially con-fidentially predicted by European observers in late May when Czechs, their patience broken, apparently began a passive resistance campaign cam-paign against their Nazi overlords. By mid-June Czech "Protector" SENATOR McKELLAR lie smelted patronage. Consolation Not since 1928 have graduating college students found jobs awaiting await-ing them. Though this year's crop of seniors will fare somewhat better bet-ter than 1938's, a decade of hard luck has revolutionized the graduate's gradu-ate's outlook, made him glad to take any job, and placed an entirely different dif-ferent interpretation on the significance signif-icance of a college degree. Sample: To the University of Chicago's 799 graduates, President Robert May-nard May-nard Hutchins addressed this gloomy message: "We know now that graduation . . . does not carry with it the promise that the graduate gradu-ate will ever be able to earn a living liv-ing . . . We must recognize that you may never make a nickel that you would not have made if you had never come here, that your education edu-cation will not hoist you by so much as a single rung up the social ladder." Then, to soothe parents who wondered won-dered why their youngsters should be asked to waste four years, President Presi-dent Hutchins offered the following left-handed consolation: ". . . Higher High-er education should help the graduate grad-uate make intelligent use of the leisure which thoughtless engipeers and a blind economic system have given him." TREASURY: Hoard India was the "sink hole" of precious pre-cious metals before the World war. By mid-June of 1939 a cellar under Fort Knox, Ky., appeared to be the new sink hole, for there was kept much of the $16,008,915,000 which represents 60 per cent of all the world's monetary gold stock. Most alarming to financiers, who see gold becoming cheaper and cheaper, is the fact that since January 31 the U. S. has absorbed more than one and one-third times the world's estimated esti-mated gold production for 1939. Reason: Europe's war scares. On December 31, 1934, U. S, gold holdings were comparatively mild, totaling only $8,238,600,000. Harmonizing Har-monizing with mobilization, they began be-gan zooming when Czecho-Slovakia mobilized against Germany last May ($12,915,100,000) kept rising until un-til Munich's conference ($14,511,200,-000), ($14,511,200,-000), slackened off during quiet January Jan-uary ($14,682,000,000), then zoomed during this spring's war jitters to the current $16,000,000,000 mark. Biggest loser is England, which since 1933 has shipped $3,760,600,000 $ OP t AH ' ' GEN. VLADISLAV PRCHALA For "resurrection of the nation." nwly stimulated antitrust drive, the other to give Mr. Hopkins' department depart-ment $225,000 for employing a staff of experts to consult with business and industry. Neither expansion plan called for political wheelhorses, but Messrs. Hopkins and Murphy must take wheelhorses or nothing. Sponsored by Tennessee's Sen. Kenneth McKel-lar McKel-lar (who can allegedly smell patronage pa-tronage further than any other seven sev-en men in congress) a' proviso was adopted requiring congressional approval ap-proval for all men hired under either eith-er appropriation at a salary of $5,000 or more. Almost incidental to this ruling was the fact that congress cut Mr. Murphy's bill from $1,000,-000 $1,000,-000 to $300,000, and Mr. Hopkins' from $225,000 to $133,500. Murphy grudge: To proceed with detailed investigation and prosecution prosecu-tion of antitrust cases, Thurman Arnold Ar-nold needs smart young lawyers minus business or political connections. con-nections. One good reason is that wheelhorses would instill New Deal-ism Deal-ism into the drive at a time when the administration needs business' friendship. Political lawyers are notoriously ineffectual, Mr. Arnold believes. Hopkins grudge: Special assistants assist-ants created under the commerce bill would work with business representatives repre-sentatives directly on whatever problems might be presented, a job obviously requiring men who have been too busy with economic affairs af-fairs to meddle in politics. SPAIN: Friendly Relatives Last March 17 Dictator Francisco Franco accepted a friendship non-aggression non-aggression pactwith Portugal, whose mere moral support against the Loyalists was slight compared with the guns, planes and men of Rome and Berlin. Observers immediately immediate-ly predicted a cast-iron military pact with the Axis, but weeks dragged into months until the world suddenly realized General Franco would be no pushover; like a smart politician he was playing both democracies and dictatorships for all they were worth, staving off an Axis pact so long as possible. Mid-June found Franco's brother-in-law and minister of the interior, Ramon Serrano Suner, visiting in Italy with persuasive Count Galeaz-zo Galeaz-zo Ciano, Mussolini's foreign minis- Konstantin von Neurath got Der I Fuehrer to send fearsome Hein-rich Hein-rich Himmler of the Gestapo to Prague. Other reports had it that German troops would invade - Slovakia, Slo-vakia, incorporating the entire defunct de-funct nation into the Reich. Just as active, however, were counter plans that reeked of adventure adven-ture and mystery. In Prague it was whispered that anyone wanting to join the Czech "legion" being formed in Poland could enter the coal mines in Maerisch-Ostrau and emerge across the border. Hundreds Hun-dreds of young men disappeared, showing up in Poland where Gen. Vladislav Prchala (who commanded Czech troops against Hungary last winter) was forming a campaign for "resurrection of the nation." Warsaw gossip said scores of former for-mer Czech officers have sailed for France, where they are forming special Czech legions controlled by French military authorities. The spirit spread to Slovakia, which has learned its old Czecho-Slovakian nation was not so bad after all; a reported 4,000 Slovakian troops crossed the border into Poland, following fol-lowing three military planes. Though much inspiration for these moves came from within Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, much also came from the strong Czech organizations or-ganizations abroad. With 12 legations lega-tions and 70 consulates still open, with such men as ex-President Eduard Benes mobilizing worldwide world-wide Czech sentiment for revival of the republic, Germany indeed had a problem on its hands. Meanwhile Mean-while London and Paris feared Der Fuehrer might solve the problem by casting out the Czechs as he had the Jews. 1 rTxra K it K.Jb2 ,l s 1st $L f i 1 FOREIGN GOLD England's loss is heaviest. to the U. S., and which in the first four months of 1939 sent $852,400,000. But some of England's shipments have exceeded her national bank's gold reserve, indicating that foreign for-eign gold has first fled to London, then to the U. S. France, which lost $934,000,000 in 1935, offers the only encouraging picture in today's gold problem. While other countries bordering Germany have frantically shipped their metal elsewhere, the strong-arm strong-arm government of Premier Edou-ard Edou-ard Daladier is now enjoying an influx in-flux of gold and capital. Biggest reaction in the U. S. is a steady increase of adjusted demand deposits de-posits in federal reserve banks. In early June, as gold hoardings reached their new peak, reserve bank deposits also hit a high water mark. |