The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, May 1, 1935, Page 2

2 Revelations of Huge War Profits Spur Probe of “Dollars of Death” { House and Senate Committees Go Diverse Ways Toward Same Objective DEPRESSION IS AFTERMATH North Dakota's Senator Nye Heads Group Investigating Munition Making Abuses By JOHN T. FLYNN (Copyright, 1935, NEA Service, Inc.) Not long ago Mr. Eugene G. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, told the senate muni- tions committee this story. During the war he did his bit for America as head of the huge company which made ships and steel for Uncle Sam's fighting men. For this he collected 4n one year—1918—a bonus of $1,386,- 193. The other officers of the com- pany split among themselves $1,834,- 272. That makes 9 a total of $3,220,- 465. That was almost enough to pay the salaries (1 of a brigade of in- fantry at the front — privates, non-coms, all of- ficers including | the general. Here is another story told me by Miss Mary M. i J O'Reilly, the able FLYNN ‘and gracious lady who for so many years, as assistant director of the ‘Unitel. States Mint, has actually managed that interesting institution. It is about another man who did his jbit during the war. His name was ‘Beno T. Wirth. As millions of men made ready to go in our armies to France, the government was making frantic appeals to citizens to turn in their platinum. Platinum was need- ed in making shells. The platinum ywas all turned over to the munition makers. But it had to be made into platinum gauze and the secret for doing this, which was German, was not known. The munition plants were unable to solve the problem. ‘They appealed to the government. Beno T. Wirth, a metallurgist in the Philadelphia mint, went to work on the problem and solved it, But he eived no bonus—not even one mil- Hon dollars, not even a thousand dol- He got no more than the sixty ars a week he had always earned, strangely, he was quite satis- What is more, he spent so many sleepless nights on the despe- rate problem that he undermined his health and died. A grateful govern- ment did not even give a dollar to the large family he left behind. No Longer Academic Issue Somewhere between these two stor- fes lies the problem which now faces the American government. Would Mr, Eugene Grace have worked for $60 8 week—$3,120 a year—if necessary to save his country? Or would he quit in & crisis? He says he would have work~ ed just as earnestly if he hadn’t got- ten that amazing bonus, I believe he would. The issue is no longer an academic one. The war-clouds darken over the world at terrifying intervals. Doll- fuss is murdered, Alexander is as- gassinated, Hitler threatens Danzig or Memel or Austria; Japan ravages ‘Manchukuo, Germany re-arms, and the nations of Europe draw their weapons and rush to their frontiers. At each such scare Americans won- @er—can we keep out of the inevitable | struggle? If we go in what will we Zight for? And how? Grave states- men tells us that, try as we may, ‘we will not be able to remain -aloof from the next world war. If we go THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1935 in will we expose ourselves to all the follies, sins and, in the end, the most prodigious losses ever suffered by & victorious nation, as we did in 1917? Have Same Objective At this moment, amid all the trou- blous controvetsies of peace, congress 1s rolling up its sleeves for a real scrap about the next war. There are two groups. Both want to take the profits out of war. One 1s strong in the House. The the Senate. profits out of war by freezing and fixing prices, The other wants to do it by taxes—“paying as we fight.” One plan is put forward in what is known as the McSwain bill. The House has passed that. The other is known as the Nye bill, after Sena- tor Gerald P. Nye, chairman of the munitions committee which has been investigating the munitions makers. Before you can know what the “shootin’ is all about,” you must know several things about this Nye com- mittee. It has been looking into the business affairs of the munition mak- ers who sell at least four billion dol- lars a year of their destructive prod- ucts to the governments of the world. Out of, this investigation many prob- lems arise. The committee plans to Propose legislation to cover all these problems—whether or not the gov- ernment will nationalize the muni- tions business, the question of per- mitting the sale of munitions to for- eign countries during peace time, the problem of selling munitions to bel- ligerents during war, the difficult question of trading with warring na- tions and the delivery of any prod- ucts on American ships, the policy to be adopted with references to lend- ing money to foreign nations, and many others. At this moment the committee is dealing solely with the question of profits in war. It has been forced to advance this phase of the subject because the president has insisted on dealing with it now. Won't End All Wars No one pretends that taking the profits out of war will end war. There are many causes\behind war— THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS old racial and religious hatreds, po- Utical ambitions of dynasties and dic- tators and statesmen, trade rivalries, starts. When other causes ent it may be the deciding tween war and peace. The profits bills are efforts to meet problem, and that problem It is not merely a question of its. War profits are just one of that terrible economic upset attends wars. As soon as the drums roll something happens to economic life of a people. Prices rise. Earnings rise. Wages go up. Profits are swollen, The spiral continues un- til before long the whole economic life of the nation is deformed, The war cost is inflated. When the war is over, the bubble collapses, Fre- guently the victor is as seriously de- vastated as the vanquished, In the!the time to bargain last war America was not invaded.|it wanted But’ scme poisonous evil swept over diers. Manufact the country which left us wounded and sick—and we are still sick. Hits All Economic Evils Because profits represent the cut of those who assume to be our eco- nomic leaders and because they are the ugliest side of the war inflation, attention has been focused on them. The senate bill, however, is designed to hit not merely the profits, but all the other economic evils which go with them. But as profits play s0 prominent a part in all the discus- sions, let us see what. turned the Senate's attention to this subject. In the last war, we sent 2,000,000 men to France, The pay of those men—the two million private soldiers —tor the period they were in France —wWas about $1,100,000,000. This is they did not hesitate to take advan- they were not being paid enough. ‘The Federal Trade Commission made American Central Eastern bose Forged Steel Wheel Co. the sum which one corporation—the | ¥ United States Steel Corporation— made in clear profits, over and above LaFayette gives you eighty horsepower and eighty miles an hour at low engine speed. Fast, nimble, responsive — and built for the smooth, quiet long-life you expect only in expensive cars. LaFayette Bid a" SIZE drives with remarkable ease. Bid Ca" RIDE Exclusive in Nash-built cars, Syn- _ chronized Springing ends back seat bounce—a uniform, level ride in both front and rear seats. system—and more other Nearly 16 ft. long—S ft. wide at rear tread. LaFayette is actually 1° wider, within 23° of average length of cars up to $300 higher. Full pressure lubrication, 7-bearing crankshaft, hollow erank- pins, aluminum alloy Invar strut pistons, oversize electrical fine-car construction features than any of the 21 other cars under $895. . And up, F. O. B. factory. Subject to change without notice, Your present car usually covers down | IT—DRIVE IT—COMPARE IT—BEFORE YOU BUY ANY CAR 20 Main Ave. COPELIN MOTOR COMPANY | Telephone 318 year. In 1915 they made $36,000,000 more than that; in 1916 it was $55,- 000,000 more; in 1917 it was $87,000,: In 1916 the duPonts paid 100 per cent dividend—the investors got back their whole investment. Then in 1917 they paid 50 per cent and the next year 23 per cent. They got whole investment in those twice. At the same time the“fvest~ ment itself increased from $74,400,000 to $306,000,000. See what the war did for some of our leading producers. Here are their earnings for 1914 and 1917: American Rolling 1914 1917 . sereee 963,006 $ 4,406,619 Co. 2,514,625 6,866, 3,303,206 21,995,042 Gloria Vanderbilt's Testimony Revealed New York, May 1—()}—The Amer- ican Wednesday printed a copyright-' ed account of the testimony given by Gloria. Vanderbilt in the secret court sessions of the battle between her mother, Mrs. Gloria Morgan Vander- bilt, and her aunt, Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, for her custody. The 11-year-old heiress expressed dislike for her mother and her love for Mrs. Whitney, who was given principal custody of the $4,000,000 heiress by Supreme Court Justice John F. Carew. 5 Questioned by Justice Carew, Glo- tia, who was almost 11 at the time, testified as follows: @. What did your mother do that made you afraid? A. Well, for one thing, she was mean to me and never let me see anything of her. She nev- er came to kiss me good night. Q. You wrote a lot of letters to her that said you loved her. A. No, I did not, never. I used to write letters to her because I was afraid of her.” Other of Gloria’s statements were that her mother once threw a glass of water at her and took her dog away from her. Authorities, in an effort to keep the salmon running straight up the Avon river, England, have electrified water in the sidestreams sufficiently to give wanderers a shock. SEEK EXPANSION OF RESERVATION WORK State Planning Board Asks Ad- ditional Conservation Pro- Jects for Indians Expansion of an Indian service pro- gram under authorization of the emergency conservation work has been sought in North Dakota, the state planning. board announced ‘We ednesday. Federal: approval of the request ‘would permit additional well drilling, trail building, spring development, forestation and water conservation activities on and adjacent to reser- vations. J. HE. Balmer, superintendent of the Belcourt reservation in Rolette county, reports an approval of $100,- 000 by the Indian service out of an emergency work budget of $360,000 asked. , “FERA and ECW work among In- dians has frequently been more suc- cessful than similar work among Whites,” John Stormon, Rolla, stated. Storman has represented north cen- tral counties of this state in dealing with Indian service at Washington in recent years. “We are informed that many sec- tions of the state have failed to work out their FERA advances,” Storman said. “In contrast, we are proud to point to the record made by our In- dians in working out 83 per cent of all relief advances. Many of our men have ‘actually worked so steadily that they occasionally have a credit bal- ance in their favor from FERA. They have performed many useful tasks incident to development of this area under federal direction.” Figures released by V. E. Back- strom, FERA Rolette county admin- istrator, reveal advances to 663 Indian aly $17,000. ont ‘i been accepted a statemen approximat ly was oul Sunding es of April 15. effect is mailed to the fi Putnam Straightens Out Loan Confusion |*2" Certain that many farmers sre still “in the dark” as to how to obtain their seed arid feed in the shortest ter of deeds. If the application has been ed, the producer goes directly Pre@|reccives in exchange for the rejec! ed_a letter in which the correct Provedure is outlined. statement. For farmers who have made appli- cation for dees ane: two alternatives are open depending on whether the application hes been approved or re- | den-Plowing and rubbish fected. ing. Wachter Transfer. In cases where the application has| Phone 62. Fertilizer, Black Dirt, Come and See the Many Uses of CELOTEX Complete DEMONSTARTION Wednesday and Thursday May 1 and 2 from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. in the store space next to the Prince Hotel Complete showing on how to cover old walls. Its many usesin building new homes, offices, cafes and churches. Everybody Cordially Invited Drain out Winter -Worn Oil with all the junk it has collected—and refill with Sludge-Free IsoVis “D” @ If you could see the junk that collects in your crankcase, in your oil filter, on your valves and pistons all winter long —you wouldn't leave that old oil iri there another day! Chances are, there are bits of road grit in there, Water.Copper and steel chips. Rust. Dirt. Besides, if you're not using IsosVis “D,” it’s likely that Sludge has formed. And Sludge is just the sticky stuff to gather up all that con- tamination and deposit it in and around the vital parts of your engine, So drain out that W.nter-worn oil now. Get rid of it! Let the Sta:idard Oil Servismen flush out your crankcase and put in the correct grade of Iso Vis “D” for the warmer months. Iso Vis “D” won't sludge. It will stay cleaner, give per- fect lubrication all tha time. You'll use Jess be- . tween drains and, it'll put Spring spirit into that | engine of yours! Iso2Vis “D” Motor Oil . « Beag Plus North Dokota Retail Sales Tax . 1€ a qt. Plus Federal Tox Total cee eee o Mags, ie mie 8 © 4) 6. 0 «+ saeeeae AT ALL STANDARD OIL STATIONS AND DEALERS Tests chowthere'gmore in Winter-made Sledge than mects the eye. Bits ©f copper, water, steel, fust—and plenty of com. mon gritty dirt. AD of it slows up your engine, |\robeit of power, wastes ol end gecoline— and. t decasy! of | dows oil and contamination, That's what loge oil Alters end valves, sticke piston rings, makes pistons pump oil. Don'tiet it etey in your motorany longer, now that Winter's past! STANDA ALSO DISTRI 4 D OIL SERVI TORS OF ATLAS TIRES AND BATTE 8 SHORT MINUTES TO DRAIN-AND REFILL WITH ISOVISD Ade Sludge Motor Oo,