Evening Star Newspaper, January 17, 1932, Page 26

Bread, Butter, Bacon, Beans laigs an’ git be did, hey?' And ‘so this rustic spoke honestly, em- phatically, in his homely way for him- self, those assembled there with him and for ' thousands of other tenant farmers and small town business men clustered in village and hamlet and at cross-roads all over the State that night, awaiting the news of what had come of their | efforts to speed the election of one ¢ | their own to the State’s highest office. This was_the second group, the ones who had laughed with him. On the third and last group, " (Continued From First Page) the job did lak 1t oughter ment proceedings. The “wildcat” is still in his stump. And the law-making gentlemen, gathered from the length and breadth of the State, view him | from a discreet distance with a “what next?” look in their eyes. Indeed, in Oklahoma it is not “when the eagle | eams,” but “when the wildcat roars.” The 1829-1837 period comes to mind when e ocrs of Alfalfa’s tilts with Dis Legislature, for we know that the statesmen of that perlod, never know- v ing precisely what to expect from Jack- |, i i : 205, did the mext, best thing and stayed | .MUlish’ gnes, the -backbitecs; Hio beyond the blandishments of “KINg | pingers” and “craven wolves of plutoc- Andrew's” témper. |racy” (to quote only a few of| The second message to the Leglsla- | .jjrafa's” characterizations of those ture, on February 4, last year, was co- |y, would oppose him), he leveled his cerned chiefly with measures for the | it " Ang *once the cannon were in relief of the unemployed and the farm- | position and the range set, he laid down ers, and & new tax law which would | g rolling barrage of investigation that | mean a shift in the burden from the ho"Dronticed would blow to smithereens masses to the moneyed. The first tWO0 every stronghold occupied by the enemy measures were passed: the last, the | ‘with his pot of gold, seeking his pound tax bill, was modified by the Legisla- |of fiesh.” The barrage is still rolling in; ture. Murray flung down the gauntlet | ang scattered about the plains out there to this assemblage with & few Temarks | are some convincing evidences of what which have since become classic in the | Jittle is left of these “enemies’ " strong- Southwest | holds. New enemies spring up, true; “Thirty days ago I submitted three byt the militant Bill holds them no relief bills. One was signed a few days | brief. ago, another today, and you kilied the | Were you to inquire just who and third yesterday. what constituted this skuiking “enemy.” “If you justified that in your own | just whom they sought to vanquish, Bill conscience, before your fellow citizens would in all likelihood reply that and before your God, you are welcome | “powerful interests” were the enemy, ORILIE T | and that they sought the scalps of the “Pass the (third) bill the way it is | “common people.” and be damned. I'll veto it! | It is the ancient fight reset, the grad- “The roll will be called and the fire- | ually fading frontier as a background, bells will be rung before this is over.|and another “Old Hickory” plays the | When you have whipped me, you can | lead role of general to the quaintness of | brag about {t—but wait until'you do!” | “Turkey in the Straw: and the meas- % e ured tread of his militia. But if any High-toned” Folk Shocked. | one, his enemies included, thinks that | Indeed, from what other character | “Alfalfa Bill" Murray is the near-illiter- ate that the fiery Andy was. they are mistaken. More than one interviewer has come away from Murray’s office to tell you that this old fire-eater is as well read as any one they've known. His familiarity with more than one fine and beral art has surprised some of the | most “lit'ry” who have met him, And yet he persists in holding forth as simply “a hard workin’ country boy, trying to git al life, to some, might well suggest. Ran Away At 12 Years. 1 Murray is the proverbial preacher’s offspring only in so far as he “at the age of 12 became a wayward son and absconded” from his home in Texas on the pretense of going to church. From that time on, however, we find none of the prodigal in his life, but rather a bit of adventure and no little progress, how- ever harried. He chopped cotton, hired | out to farmers, attended country school | a few terms and then, while teaching, completed work for a B. 8. degree at a small college in Parker County, Tex. He nemt took a fling at the newspaper busine-s, forsook that for the law (read- ing &i night from borrowed books) and, armed with something of a reputation as & practicing attorney, set out cross- country. Destination: the virgin Terri- tory of Oklahoma in general; no par-| ticular spot. But Tishomingo, then the | capital city of the Chickasaw (Indlan) Nation, claimed him. Not long aiter he | martied a niece of Douglas H. Johnston, Governor (to this day) of the Chicka- saws. This automatically made Bill a Chickasaw citizen, with the right to practice before the tribal courts. And the Indians, from those old days on, have called him “Homonockana,” meaning “He-warrior-of-a-man.” It may be that this early title “keyed” his future ca- | reer. But we are positive of one thing— | the Indian braves did not err in their christening. We also note, now that we hear mq and daily of this true fron- tiersman's exploits, that “Don’t let him fool you™ has become the general tenor | (gult{?o“ who seek to describe “Alfalfa Calls Militia to End Toll Bridge. The first time “Alfalfc Bill” had oc- casion to call out the military—before the more recent ofl ruckus—there was & short-lived border vendetta. The | casus belll was an ancient toll bridge, for many years and for more miles the only connecting link between Oklahoma and Texas * * * that is, unless you want- ed to wade or take chances with the quicksand. When a new free bridge was completed there was rejoicing on ?glt‘l;l sides of the Red River. No more But the Texas courts issued to the old | bridge owners an injunction which would prohibit the opening of the free bi e. When the injunction arrived | on the Texas side of the river, on the Oklahoma side there arrived a set of plows with which the approaches to the old bridge were turned into cabbage in the world,” as his | in our national history but the irasciblg, “Andy” Jackson would you expect such challenges, hurled into the front teeth of those who would even s0 much as alter one of his pet bills? | ‘To some the election of “Alfalfa Bill" | Murray to the Governor's chair was Jjust a practical joke turned sour. To another class it seemed virtual emanci- | pation, the salvation of the State, hope and equal rights and honesty after years of corruption and public scandal ranging from one impeachment after another to the conviction of minor of- ficlals on all sorts of charges (and there had been more ‘charging” than convicting, at that). Still others, the so-called “big business” crowd, were | bitter, and vowed to make this his- | tronic son of the soil rue the day he| Jeft his fallen project in the El Gran | Chaco region in Bolivia, where for nvei years he struggled to establish a colony | of Oklahoma farmers who quickly be- | came homesick and returned to the short grass of their native State. | The first group, the ‘“high-toned” element, he merely forgot. They, said | Bill, “warn't worth their salt, any-| how.” They were the supercilious ones | who had sniggered gleefully when a lady feature writer in an Oklahoma newspaper described “this uncouth farmer’s” table manners as atrocious. She dwelt upon the fact that “Alfalfa Bill” “wolfed his pancakes” and ate with his knife. Murray replied, to the delight of thousands of tenant farmers, that he had never cut himself and that, moreover, he had always digested and | enjoyed his cakes. The elite city folks | shuddered when the feature writer next | described the kind of underwear Bill wore—flannel, Winter and Summer, | according to report. Then it was Bill's | turn, and he complacently observed that the time he spent the night in | an Oklahoma City hotel, the writer | must have been “takin’ in the wash- | ing downstairs, else how'd she know?” And there was another concerted guf- | faw over the land. Faithful Servant Pledges Vote. | This brand of ridicule, however, was | gentle when compared to most of the | scurrility d his way. I happened to be in Oklahoma City when the final Democratic primary was being run off, and Murray was contending for the nomination against an Oklahoma City millionaire educator of high social and community standing. It was not dif- ficult to see that the local press was bitterly against Murray; and I was not | surprised to learn that practically all of the radio stations were also in the hands of his opponents. It looked like ® one-sided affair to me. | I could not understand why my father (a friend of Murray's since Territorial days) was so confident of “Alfalfa’s” nomination. I had already heard my share of political mud sling- ing—having been raised in Oklahoma- but I have never heard more calumny heaped upon one man than was tossed | patches instead of roads that night through the ether onto the | Next day, down marched the Okla- frail old shoulders of Murray. After | homa militfa—two squads of youngsters | at least six speakers had finished im- | under the command of a major, a cap- passioned tirades, I wondered how, if | tain and a couple of second lieutenants. but an infinitesimal part of what they | A day later their commander in chief, | said was true, this man could be at lib- | “Alfalfa B{ll" (in person) arrived on erty, much less running for public of- | the scene and glared in the direction fice. T remember the two epithets most | of the Lone Star State. In his bat- used by his denouncers as “Red” and |tered valise is reported to have been “failure.” |a trusty horse-pistol. “Homonockana” The next evening I stood in the was defying the Texas courts, again Jobby of & small, cheap hotel on North | doing battle for the common people Broadway in Oklahoma City, and saw who would profit from the free bridge and he first time “Alfalfa | Texas thereupon retracted the injunc- Bill" “social menace,” etc. There | tion and, amid the click of heels and he lolled in a rickety, cane-bottomed | cameras, the new bridge was declared | chair, unmoved by anything save per- haps a ludicrous avowal of loyalty coming from an old darkey who had | for many years been a door-keeper at the State Capitol “Yo' done fed me when I 'uz hongry Mistah Bill," said the old darkey, “'n’ *'n yo' done gib me a wahm coat when I 'uz cold='n’ I'se gwine vote fo' you effen I loses mah job gits read | outen de pahty!” (most cologed persons in Oklashoma are not Democrats) If there was anything to worry about that eventful night, you wouldn’t know it by watching Alfalfa Bill. If election returns were pouring in, well—he couldn’t be bothered. If. at his age, when most people have retired to an obscu; of weary reflections upon life Iready lived, he might by these very feturns prove to himself, friends and enemies alike that he was not the back number, failure and “Red” they had him cracked up to be—what of it? He wasn't worried about that either. He simply swung one long, lean leg over the arm of the creaking chair, puffed placidly at his nickel cigar and joked | with the “boys” surrounding him. | 1 think there must have been several hundred people in that lobby that | night open. An artilleryman’s campaign hat Jauntily askew upon his vected the cameramen, “Shoot, boys!" Then he was away to whatever fracas | might await him in Oklahoma City. | He didn't have to wait long. | Curbs Oil Production. | Oil producers in Oklahoma scemed, | early in August, intent on forcing the | price of crude oil down as deep as some | of their glant “flusher” wells. Said the | Chief Magistrate of that State: “All is not as it should be, boys; shove the | price of petroleum up to a dollar!” It was said in & spirit of friendly co- operation * * * in the interests of the industry and the State. But—so Mur- | ray's friends say—the producers didn't like it and told Bill to run the political end of things, grow patches of alfalfa or anything he liked—they would tend to the ofl business. It was then that the Governor decided to teach the pro- ducers a lesson in economics, conser- vation and constitutional law.” He had successfully instructed the politicians. Could he now handle big business? Of doubt there was plenty. The first step in the lesson was an- other frank appeal to reason. Murray stated that ofl selling at 10 cents a THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 17, 1932—PART TWO. school children were brought into the controversy because certain lands desig- nated in early statehood as ‘“‘school lands” were under lease to the oil companies. And 10-cent ofl did not re- turn to the State in taxes an fota of what it normally would. ‘At first the producers vacillated. Then they emphatically demurred. “Alfalfa Bill” growled. He was again the pro- verbial wildcat. He directed the militia to sleep with their muskets. He him- self was waiting until he saw “the whites of their eyes.” He did, very soon, for when after several days the ante was raised to a bare 50 cents a barrel, Mfalfa Bill” issued an executive order which put his military on the run to | the spouting wells, 1In this order he pointed out that what the producers were doing was “extracting” a natural resource of the State; that this could never be replaced; that the people were being filched out of that which was justly theirs by big business. They ral- lied 'round their leader as he put & stop to the “pillage.” Only the small “strip- per” wells (25 barrels or less & day) were unaffected. Drafted State Constitution. In less time than it took to write the order, almost (and the Governor is no slouch when it comes to turning out an order, speech, or neat bit of journalistic “politicking,” either), the daily produc- tion of 425,000 barrels was decreased by | 350,000 barrels. From the respectful distance of 50 feet—no closer—could the producers view that which was theirs. “When you are ready to post the fair price of $1 & barrel, you can start | pumping again,” Bill told them. | A concerted protest then arose in the | shadows of the derricks, sounded in the Jegal offices of the companies and Wwas heard as far away as Washl n. Opinjon was various. Could this “self- appointed dictator” get sway with such high-handed practice, coercion, etc.? Most thought he could not; others wondered vaguely; but still others— those who remembered “Alfalfa Bill" as the young president of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in 1806, as the man who actually drafted that con- stitution—thought that he could. “He must know what he's doing" they argued. He did know what he was doing. As just noted, he drafted the constitution of Oklahoma. And it was this constitu- tion which he quoted as his authority when he issued his executive order of | August 4, 1931, calling out the militia and stationing them about the wells until the $1-a-barrel price should be resumed. He quoted the constitution as follows: “Section 7955. That the taking of | crude oil or petroleum from any oil bearing sand or sands in the State of Oklahoma at a time when there is not a market demand therefor at the well |at a price equivalent to the actual value of such crude oil or petroleum is hereby prohibited.” ,* * * Other States Follow Lead. In this same order “Alfalfa Bill” or- cGered the Guardsmen to fix bayonets! And thus the bayonets remained for 65 days—until the price of crude oil reached the $1 mark, around which it has remained. It is significant to note | that oil produced by the small “strip- | per” wells, which were unaffected by the | order and which sold at 70 cents a bar- | rel during the shutdown, returned more in taxes to the State than the enormous production did with the price around 15 cents a barrel. As the Guardsmen continued their vigil day after day, there were attempts 2t compromise. In Oklahoma City the price of 75 cents was offered. Murray | was adamant. “One buck or nothing,” {he shot back. Others came to plead. Murray waved them asid ‘The price of crude rallied gradually, |cent by cent. Texas' Governor, Ross Sterling, looked across the Red River, took a hint, shipped a thousand of his |own militia into East Texas oil fields |and shut down wells until a proration |law could be drafted. This action caused |a combined shutoff of more than 1I.- 000,000 barrels daily in oil production —about two-fifths of the production of the entire United States! Then Kansas got busy and passed a proration law and sliced off another 102,000 barrels a day. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray had led the | way! Was Representative Here. And so we return to the vaulted, mar- ble halls in the capitol building in Okla- hcma. We hear again the raucous scraping of a country fiddler, the pro- testing moan of the harmonica: “First lady right, her beau to the left. Do se do. Right and left and back again. Do se do.” We take another final look at “Al- falfa Bill” Murray. Less than two years ago he was as obscure as any man in any old street; unknown, unsung to the new masses crowding steadily into the young State; all but forgotten, even by the oldtimers, who almos: overnight were called upon to recall how, a quarter of a century past, this same “Alfalfa Bill" had placed an ambitious, youth- ful shoulder to the wheels of early were to remember that he had credit- | ably served them in the Nation’s Con- gress from 1912 to 1916, to be rejected for longer service only when he pre- dicted, and warned them: “War's comin’ sure as Christmas. Look out!” And we wonder how many of them even now have heard that no less a public man than the late Champ Clark once called | | Murray “one of the best constitutional lawyers in the United States; possibly the best parliamentarin in the world.” Bread and Butter, Bacon and Beans. Now we suddenly find ourselyes think- ing of what the street car conductor sald when we arrived: “State Capitol. End of line. Folks, here's where the next President of the United States hangs out!” This announcement is invariably bellowed to the fares concluding the car ride from downtown Oklahoma City, And from the lapels of many a passen- ger we have seen glittering a bright campaign button, testifying in red let- ters that encircled .a bewhiskered vis- age: “Our choice for President—Wil- | liam H. Murray.” That these sporters of the Murray | insignia are in dead earnest you will find out soon enough if you talk to one | of them. Proudly they tell you of the | Mississippi Valley headquarters in | Chicago, of the Murray-for-President | Clubs, the “4-B Clubs,” if you please. And later, when a fat manila envelope, | chock full of pamphlets, arrives at your mail box, and down in the left-hand corner you read the slogan, “Bread and | Butter;” Bacon and Beans” you'll get | the “4-B” idea. Doubtless ‘“Alfaifa | Bill's” slogan is a good one. Allitera- | tion and its fundamental appeal make And T felt conspicuous because |hgrre] was not only an affront to good | it so. But whether it may crescendo to 1 had on an ordinary business suit and | j;dement, but was a8 wholesale travesty [a battle hymn or remain a far wail in a white collar. There were hickory shirts aplenty, and blue denim overalls | and galluses with grimy thumbs hung in them, chest high. And why not? This was their big day, the nester's| day. And, somehow. in that thick air, | pungent with strong tobacco, you felt that it was & great day for Oklahoma— | for better or for worse. “Come on,” sald my father go over and say ‘hello’ to him.” moved with difficulty through crowd. Alfalfa Bill spied us as we ap- proached “Hi “Doc's an old Tishomingo boy, t0o, informed the immediate crowd % he word. “My oldest boy,” explained my father, indicating me, “here from New York.' Murray squinted at me for a mo- ment—pityingly I thought. “Howdy, son, I've knowed your for 30 years!" He extended his His was the ‘one pump st drop” hand- shake of the Southwestern farmer (he's = good actor, all right, when it pays to be) “How old are you, son?" he went on bruskly, before I'could acknowledge the introduction. I told him. “Humph!” he chuckled, “you daddy had twice as many whiskers as you when he was that old—and they were redder!” He slapped his thigh, chuckling Around us other thighs popped, and other chuckles rippled about the tight circle, Is Well Read Despite Appearances. One gangling farmer turned to me Iater, said :mm;wucmy. “Wal, when Bill gis out ther in thet Capitol house, he's -gonns pere back on bl hind | “We'll We | the | They | nodded as one, hanging onto his every! upon the rights of school children. The the wilderness is still problematical. Depressions in History of America Have All Melted Away Abruptly (Continued From First Page.) Nation as to the “responsibility for Doc!” he greeted my father.|commercial panics” in the issue of October 11, 1877, with the statement: “The cause of the present depression in England and Germany, as well as in this country, is held to be the enormous errors in judgment of the great managers of capital, as shown in ‘Then, | the prodigious overtrading and over- daddy | production of the years between 1865 hand. | and 1873. For this, of course, the work- ing men, though they suffer the conse- quences, can in no way be held respon- | sible. As we now look back, this over- production certainly seems to have been rodiglous. There is hardly any lead- ng branch of industry, either in Eng- land or America, which does not now | seem to have been, seven years ago, | adding to the world's stock of goods in & most reckless way. “The great industrial activity of pe- riods of inflation is not caused simply by the eagerness of manufacturers to turn out goods; it is caused also by the eagerness of the rest of the public to buy the A 1 comment on the situation in the same issue suggests that “it may be that we shall eventually have men in control of our great accumulations of capital who will be able to take in the | whole industrial and commercial field of the globe, with its vast body of deli- cate, interlacing interests, with so much judgment and perspicacity as to see from a distance the faintest sign of & glut or collapse, and resist resolutely the temptation of rising prices and the contagion of universal hopefulness. Such men must always be scarce.” Referring to changes in personnel, | the article suggested that the coming of the panics once in 20 years was re- ‘hted to the fact that “the men who figure in one panic seldom figure in _another.” . | Sees True Role of Clothes. | Prom the Sioux Falls Daily Argus-Leader. | They say that clothes make the man. | What they really do, however, is make the woman and break the man. et Liquid Iceland. From the San Jose Mercury Herald. Iceland has no unemployed. This would seem to disprove the frozen assets theory. BRUCE NCE n an oMl English castle a d e crepit old soldicr was telling us what happened to vic- tims of the royal displeasure. From this cham- ber Lord ‘So ha{‘dbsgx i had gone forth to be hanged. }g{ere, Lady X had made her toilet before they chopped oft her head. Three unfortunate occupants of this room had been burned. The old guide wagged his white whiskers dolefully. “Nobody died a natural death in the good old days,” he said ’So]id Block of Granite Hewn for Yale Building OTTAWA, Ontario.—A solid block of blue granite, hewn from the side of Mount Sir Donald in the Canadian Rockies, was recently shipped _from British Columbia, to New Haven, Conn., to be incorporated as a corner stone in the new Strathcona Memorial Build- ing, now in course of erection at Yale University. Formerly part of the sclentific school at Yale, this building is intended as a memorial to the late Lord Strathcona, who was one of the ploneer railway builders of Canada. PUBLIC LIBRARY Books for Thinking America. In co-operation with the recommen- dation of the American Library A.usn-i ciation through its _president, .Miss Josephine Adams Rathbone, that “Books for Thinking America” be brought to the attention of the public during the week of January 17, the Public Library presents the following list which will be continued next week: Historical Background. The Rise of American Civilization, by C. A. and M. R. Beard. 1927. I was g.ancing recently at William Hard’s book, “The Women of Tomorrow.” In the first chapter he turns back to the women of yesterday and traces the careers of some of the wives of our Colonial period. The Harvard class of 1671 had 11 graduates, 1 of whom died a bachelor at 24. Of the remaining 10, 4 were married twice and 2 were married three times—18 wives for 10 husbands. .Of the 70 chidren born to these 18 wives nearly one-third died in child- hood. Or take the wives of the 418 Yale husbands of the period from 1701 to 1745. Thirty-three died before they were 25 years old. Fifty-five died before they were 35 years old. Fifty-nine died before they were 45 years old. statehood and pushed hard. More, they | middle age! for particular punishment; that the world humanity may be abou of human life as pleasure. But the race survives. grows better. And was pessimistic: “Do any other age? Woul of Troy?” She answered, “No,” and she Helen, with all the luxuries t! ou think consider intolerable. my share of the “good old days.” These 418 college-bred husbands wore out 147 wives before full Many people assume that our age has been picked out by Fate The truth is that never from the beginning has it been pos- sible for & man or woman to live 50 years in the world without experiencing war, ?amc and distress, Trouble is as normal a part P! I said to a smart woman who has suffered some reverses and you, for example, like to have been Helen vide, had to live amid discomforts which the modern woman would These nresent days are not so hot, but anybody is welcome to (Copyright. 1932.) because business is bad all over t to fold up. the general condition of people you would have been happier in was wise, hat the ancient world could pro- Latin America Face (Continued From Third Page.) the few which has survived the revolu- | tionary epidemic of the last two years | in Latin America. A revolution did| start last Spring, but finally was crushed, and its leader, Gen. Ferrera, died in the attempt. The present gov- ernment came to power four years ago as the result of fair and free elections in which its leaders were the candidates of the opposition party. The control of the government thus passing peacefully from the Conservatives to the Liberals, these have been particularly careful in nicipal elections during the last four and fair presidential contest. Two Nations’ Leaders Mentioned. Some of the outstanding candidates seem to be, among the Liberals, Vice President Diaz Chavez, Minister of Gov- ernment Argueta, who was the diplo- matic representative of Honduras in Washington last year; Minister of Pub- | lic Works Medina and Senor Zuniga Huete; and among the Conservatives, Gen. Tiburclo Carias and Dr. Venancio Callejas. An equally important list of candi- dates is being discussed for the Nica- raguan elections. Here, too, the contest is to be decided between Liberals and | Conservatives, the former now holding | power. Dr, John B. Sacasa, at present | Minister to Washington and a former | Vice President, appears to have the largest popular support. Other out- standing candidates within his party | are Vice President Aguado, Minister of | Foreign Affairs Arguello and Dr. Espi- nosa. Among the Conservatives former | President Adolfo Diaz still seems the | dominant figure. The announcement of Secretary Stimson last year that the United | States Marines will be entirely with-| drawn from Nicaraguan territory im- mediately after this presidential elec- tion, gives the contest an added signifi- cance. The man chosen to be the next chief ~executive of Nicaragua must, | then, be one able to count upon such an overwhelming popular support as to make that withdrawal possible. Two Others Likely to Elect. Presidential elections are a serious business everywhere. They are par- ticularly so in Latin America, where politics play such a predominant role. | They are even more particularly so at this time, when critical economic con- ditions prevail and radical social move- | ments are in progr As if these four were not enough, two | other presidential contests may be held | in Latin America during 1932, Both in| Brazil and El Salvador the provisional | regimes which came to power by revo-| Jution must give away to popularly elected new governments. This is much | more imperative for El Salvador, for the present provisional government has been denied recognition. . Although in neither one of the twc| the date for presidential elections has | yet been set, Brazil and El Salvador Wwill most likely be added before 1932 is over to the list of Latin republics which have changed authorities during the year. Two other Latin American countries will also witness presidential inaugura- tions, although the new chief execu- tives have already been chosen there. | Elections were held last year in Ecuador and Argentina, as the result of which Dr. Bonifaz and Gen. Justo were se- lected to head the destinies of those two nations. They are now waiting to receive the reins of government from the hands of the temporary rulers, who have been in control since the over- throw of the old regimes and super- vised the recent elections. One-Third Will Change Presidents. ‘The situation, however, is compli~ cated in both countries by peculiar con- siderations. In Argentina it is dark- | ened by the uncertainty as to what will | be the attitude of the present provi- slonal administration—which has lately grown very unpopular—in turning over the government, and what its influence will be on the newly elected authoritles. In Ecuador the situation is made more difficult by the fact that Senor Bonifaz must walt eight months before he is inaugurated, his election having been primarily secured with the support of the conservative elements, who are in opposition to the present authorities. To sum up, at least one-third of all the Latin American republics are scheduled to change Presidents during the year. How many more will change them out of schedule—that is, as the result of violence or coups d'etat—no one may say. | But this is not all. There are still | other political puzzles in the Latin Amerlcan calendar for 1932. | The consolidation of the recently in- augurated conservative regimes in Chile and Peru, and the check of growing popular unrest among the working classes, already strongly influenced by radical propaganda in those two coun- tries, is & large order for the new Chil- With Many Changes in Presidents Due/| supervising free congressional and mu- | years, and now promise an equally free | [tion has recently been linked up with | this matter is of vital importance to s Troubled Year group antagonisms within the files of the National Revolutionary party will keep the Mexican rulers busy. Renewed Disorders Possible. In Cuba and Venezuela, where the last two remaining samples of strong- hand governments subsist, the danger of renewed disorders, and even civil | war, is almost permanent. This danger | is _considerably more serious in Cuba, | where economic conditions add to the | discontent of the population and rebel- |lious elements are much more active than in Venezuela. Popular opposition to the government becoming stronger in Paraguay, Bo- livia, the Dominican Republic and Hait{. In the first two, as in most of | the South American republics, opposi- Communistic agitation. To top this extraordinary list of po- tential headaches for Latin American | statesmen curing the current year, two international controversies must be added—the Bolivia-Paraguay feud over the Chaco territory and the Guatemala- Honduras boundary question, which fig- ure prominently in the “official pro- gram” for 1932. (Copyright, 1932.) MARINE CORPS NEWS President Hoover has awarded the Navy Cross for service in Nicaragua to Sergt. Paul Kerns who recently dis-| tinguished himself upon assuming com- mand of a Guardia patrol operatin against bandits in the central area of Nicaragua. President Hoover likewise awarded the Navy Cross (posthumously) to Russell White, who fell mortally wounded while leading & patrol of 1 officer and 15 enlisted men of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua in the central area of that country. Brig. Gen. George Richards, pay- master of the corps, is this month cir- cularizing all retired officers and en- listed men and reservists, of the 16 and 20 year classes, respectively, di- recting that they complete on official form card (furnished gratis) a report which must be signed personally by each retired or reservist person. If mentally incompetent, or if a power of | attorney has been given to indorse his checks, the guardian or person holding the power of attorney must explain by letter why the personal signature could not be obtained. No future monthly checks will be mailed by the paymaster of the corps until this per- sonally signed report or letter of ex- planation is received by his office. As quite a large number of the retired | and reservist personnel of the corps reside in and adjacent to the Capital them and must be complied With. The 2d Division Association, District | of Columbia unit, in which a large | number of commissioned officers and enlisted men of the corps, both of the retired and active list, respectively, are included in the membership thereof, | will shortly hold a get-together meet- ing here. The national adjutant of the Vet- eran Marine Corps Leglon, accom- panied by a delegation of members, | attended the meeting in the House Office Building Wednesday evening, at which time in company with variou other delegations of veteran organiz tions they were addressed by Repre- sentative May of Kentucky, Repre- sentative Fitzpatrick and several oth- ers regarding plans now under way for payment in full of adjusted World War service certificates. Plans were made whereby later the Veteran Ma- rine Corps Legion will be represented in future activities, and & scheduled all-veteran street parade of World War veterans in furtherance of this pending legislation. The U. 8. S. Nitro will arrive on the East Coast of the United States in the latter part of February with small detachments of commissioned officers and enlisted men of the corps who have completed their foreign shore tours of duty, respectively. First Lieut. James Ackerman, First Lieut. George F. Good and Second Lieut. Harry C. Lang, now on duty in Nicaragua, are among those assigned duty ashore at Quantico, Great Lakes, Ill, and Norfolk, Va. respectively. Different With Hoover. From the Loulsville Courier-Journal President Hoover says he does not approve “in a remote sense” of cancel- lation of the war debts. But the debtor nations seem to regard their obligations as something decidedly remote. No Improvement. F83.B3s4r. “It is a masterly survey of American civilization in successive periods.”— Carl Becker. The Epic of America, by J. T. Adams. 1931. F83.Ad175. ““The Epic of America’ is a cour- ageous attempt to put the quintes- sence of American experience and character into brief compass."—H. S. Commager. Business Crises. Hard Times—The way in and the way out; with a special consideration of the “seen and the unseen,” by R. T. Ely. 1931. HC83El 9. “This is a small book that can be read in a few hours, but it is packed with practical wisdom—the wisdom that can come only from long, clear, hard and sound thinking on & gigantic prob- lem."—G. W. Harris. Forecasting Business Cycles, by W. M. Persons. 1931. HKP.P44. “Dr. Warren M. Persons does an im- portant service in bringing together the attested records of business conditions in the past that may be used in mak- ing sclentific forecasts.”—W. B. Shaw. The Nemesis of American Business, by Stuart Chase. 1921. HCB83.C389n. “The substance of his criticism and suggestion appears to be that we suffer as we do primarily because our eco- nomic life is not planned, and that we ought to put our heads together and substitute plan for disorder."—William MacDonald. Business Adrift, by 1931. HK83.D72. “Any book that will raise questions like these and enccurage business men to think courageously and constructively about them is of incalculable value. * ¢ By all means read this book."— Ordway Tead. American Weighs Her Gold, by J. H. Rogers. 1931. HM R63. An analysis of ‘“the extraordinary maldistribution of the world's gold sup- ply, with its attendant evils, and the extent to which America, thrcugh her tariff and rate policies, is responsible for the present depression.” W. B. Donham. Industry. Racial Factors in American Industry, by Herman Feldman. 1931. HFO.F33. “Having collected a mass of appar- ently unrelated data on the subject, Dr. Feldman has welded it into a vol- ume of singular importance, one that gives the reader the sociologist's and social psychologist's interpretation of a complex problem in industrial manage- ment."~—I. De A. Reid. Concentration of Control in American Industry, by H. W. Laidler. 1931. HL.L14. “This is a book of extraordinary in- terest to the business man or to any one economically-minded. * * * The scope of Mr. Laidler's investigations lends weight to his arguments.’—Re- view of Reviews. Menace of Overproduction: Its Cause, Extent and Cure, edited by Scoville Hamlin. 1931. HC.H187 “Some of (the writers) recognize the sickness of our acquisitive soclety as frankly as do most radicals. They de- scribe expertly the symptoms of this sickness, and much of their testimeny is valuable.”—James Rorty. Unemployment. Unemployment: A Problem of Industry (1909 and 1930), by W. H. Bever- HFW .B466ua. ysis of the situation in Great Britain which has much to suggest to “thinking Americans.” Distributed Leisure: An Approach to the Problem of Overproduction and underemployment, by L. C. Walker. 1931. HFW.W15. “Thus far the leisure of the masses has come in the form of undesired and dreaded unemployment. Mr. Walker roposes a way by which this unusable eisure can be so distributed as to be- come a blessing instead of & curse.” Some Folks Won't Work, by Clinch Calkins. 1930. HFW.CI2. “Here are the facts and figures and specific cases which give the lie direct to that old bromide that any man who really wants work can get it.”—E. B. ChafTee. The Problem of Unemployment, by P. H. Douglas and Aaron Director. 1931, HFW.D748p. Y. W. C. A. News ‘The Music Hour will be held today at 5 o'clock with the Bernheimer Trio presenting the program. Tea will be served from 4 to 5 o'clock, with the | members of the Chevy Chase Chapter as_hostesses. R. H. Sargent of the Geological Sur- vey will give a travel talk with pictures at the Elizabeth Somers residence today at 5 o'clock. Tea will be served follow- ing the talk. Committee meetings for the week in- clude Rooms Registry at 11:30 o'clock Tuesday, and Publicity-Finance at 2 o'clock Wednesday. The board of directors will Thursday at 10:30 o’clock. ‘The meeting of the Chapter Council will be postponed until January 25, when it will meet at 11 o'clock in the board room. The Thursday Club of the industrial department will have a sightseeing trip to the Capitol Thursday at 2:30 o'clock, conducted by Miss Saida L. Hartman. The Americanization class will meet Friday from 1 to 3 o'clock. Any for- elgn-speaking girl or woman is invited to attend. Miss Dorothy Donnally of the Americanization School is the teacher. Forty-eight Girl Reserves of the Alumnae Girl Reserves will take part in the pageant at the Cause and Cure of War Conference. All registrations for the Girl Reserve trip to New York, January 30, must be in by Saturday. The bridge groups will meet from 7 to 9 o'clock in the club rooms of the B. and P. department and at 6:30 o'clock the Tuesday Club groups will meet. The Blue Triangle Club will meet at 6:30 o'clock for supper, after which they will have an illustrated lecture on “Appreciation of Paintings.” The Music Hour at 614 E street will be held today at 4 o'clock, with the Vaughn Orchestra of Calvary Baptist Church presenting the program, which is under the direction of Chester Hutch- inson. Mrs. Henrietta: Wagner will be the sololst and Mary Callahan, reader. Tea will be served following the Music Hour, with Miss Aleada C. Nelson, recreation secretary, as hostess. The Optimists Club will meet Tues- day at 614 E street to make a scrapbook for the children of Corbin Hollow, in the meet From the Manchester Union. A monogrammed silver doorkey s & Christmas suggestion. What folly! It ean and Peruvian authorities. The church dispute and won't make the keyhgle 8 bit easier to the constant find, Blue Ridge Mountains. Colonies for om Third Page.) have 35 square miles aplece. What is wanted is not the opportunity to trade but the opportunity to produce. The rockbound valleys of Labrador un- doubtedly contain nickel, gold and cop- per—the same formations that created Cobalt, Copperclift and Flin-Flon. There are vast beds of iron in the far north and in the interior and the valleys of the south carry forests of birch, popular and spruce. Enormous water power runs to waste. The Ham- ilton River, which dramns the interior country into Hamilton Inlet, sends a Toaring flood of water down a fall of 760 (Conti a sheer plunge of 315 feet. Measured in height and volume, it exceeds Niagara climate is rude but not mimical to hu- man life. There are two seasons, Win- ter from October 1 to June 15, and Summer for three and one-half months. Prospects Exceed Selling Price. Ownership of such a country car- ries with it, for the government's finance, the fees and taxes of concession transmission of power. A hundred mil- lion dollars begins to look insignificant beside the resources—or beside the chances of such a country. “chances” are certainties. The basin of the Congo is a vast territory of 1,500,000 square miles lying in the heart of equatorial Africa. It contains, equality, perhaps, with Brazil, the most exuberantly fertile territory in the world. The rich soil steaming under the torrid sun has brought forth the great central forest. Here gigantic trees and tangled creepers forbid human approach. “Into these primeval for- ests,” wrote David Livingstone, “the sun, though vertical, cannot penetrate except by sending down at midday thin feet within a distance of 12 miles. Part | of this descent is at the Grand Falls, | or any other falls in North America. The | companies and the expropriation and | Now turn to the Congo, where the | War Debts? ' All the world read of the tyranny, the slavery and the atrocities of the Congo. | Sir Edwin Grey, the British foreign sec- retary, told the British House of Com- mons on February 26, 1907, that the |#Congo Free State Hhad morally fo feited every rigat to international recog- | nition.” Translated out of diplomatic language, this is equivalent to & page |and a half of profanity In 1908, very reluctantly, the Belgian | Parliament took over the (Belgian) Congo. Since then it has been Bel- gium’s “colony.” If any one can find any moral claim on the part of Belgium to keep this part of the world as a “possession,” he has a staggering 1 agination. The powers gave it to Bel- glum only through jealousy of one an- other. In it at present are about 15,000 Belgians. They can't develop it, and they don't. They haven't the capital, the ships, the opportunities or the population which would let them do so. But consider what might be done. The Congo River and its branches represent 20,000 miles of water courses. Of this 6,000 miles are navigable for | steamers. The main river can be as- cended from its mouth for about 100 miles; after that is a stretch of 250 miles with rapids and shoals; but after reaching Stanley Pool the main river is navigable by steamers for 1,000 miles and the tributary rivers for more than 4,000, Ofters Gateway to Africa. This magnificent water course offers the real entrance to Africa, the real | gateway for African trade, the proper | avenue for the development of & con- | tinent. A real seaport at or close to | the mouth of the Congo (the Belgians | havn't the money to touch it) would | become one of the great harbors of | the world’s shipping. | Prom the basin of the river radiating railways could reach out to the Sudan, the Rhodesias, to South Africa. Even pencils of rays into the gloom.” | the little spiderweb of tin-pot lines In the upper Belgian Congo one such forest on the Aruwiml covers 25,000 square miles, into most of which the sun never penetrates. One may imagine the inconceivable wealth of such soil if ever cleared and utilized. The sur- rounding parts of the great basins are uplands, all fertile and all of great agricultural value. For tropical prod- ucts and, above all, for rubber, the Congo is unsurpassed. There is great mineral wealth still scarcely begun to be developed; enormous deposits of cop- per in Kantanga, tin west of Lake Tan- ganyika and gold in the northeast. But above all the Congo Valley means rubber. Congo Promises Greater Value. In extent the Congo basin is 15 times the size of the transferred territory of Labrador. At the same rate of pay it would be worth $1,500,000,000. But | there is no comparison in economic | value. 000, then “owning” the Congo is easily worth all the outstanding war debts due to the United States—that and a lot more. At present Belgium (since 1908) owns two-thirds of the Congo Basin, under the name of the Colony of the Beligan Congo. In it is one Belgian to every 60 | square miles, and even he wants to go home. The “French Congo,” on the north side of the mouth of the river, contains (in the Congo Basin) more than 400,000 square miles. The rest of the Congo area is British—the rest of any thing generally is. ‘The ownerships came as the result of the iniquitous ‘“scramble for Africa” which contained within itself the seeds of the World War. The blood and tears shed in the rubber forests of the Congo Belgium. The Belgian Congo owes nothing—Iless than nothing—to the Bel- glans. The river was discovered, at its mouth, by Portuguese; explored, from below, by the British Navy and from overland by Livingstone and Henry M. Stanley. While the great nations were staking out Africa, Leopold, King of the sBel- gians, created in 1876 the “International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of Africa.” the claims of the others, the European powers presently agreed to let this area, under the benign tutelage of the noble Leopold, become an internationally open and neutralized state under the name of the Congo Free State. The aims and objects of the powers in Africa were never better summarized than in a pre-war description of the “opening” of the Tanganyika district which tells us that “the first steamer was placed on the lake in 1884 under the name of iGlad Tidings of the Gospel, followed shortly after by a more modern boat with a quick-firing gun.” Atrocities in Congo Recalled. King Leopold had in his mind much more than geography. The ‘personal domain” which he proposed to drag out of the Congo business included 112,000 square miles. Even when a horrified world tried to choke some of it out of him, what he couldn't carry to the grave still stands in the royal villas at Ostend and on the Riviera and royal annuities paid for with the blood of the Congo natives. Plans are being formulated for the conduct of the District of Columbia 1932 Citizens' Military Training Camps procurement campaign, scheduled to be opened on February 15, 1932, or as sdon thereafter as the TNeCessary ap- plication forms and other literature are received. During the current year, young men from the District enrolling in the approaching C. M. T. C. camps will undergo this training at the fol- lowing stations: Infantry and Signal Corps at Fort George G. Meade, Md., Infantry at Fort Washington, Md.; In- fantry at Fort Howard, Md.; Field Ar- tillery at Fort Hoyle, Md.; Coast Ar- tillery at Fort Monroe, Va., and Cavalry at Fort Meyer, Va. A number of inquiries have been re- ceived at local reserve headquarters re- | questing application blanks. The form heretofore used for this purpose is be- ing revised and as soon as the new forms are received a supply will be| furnished each recruiting agency. In the meantime, candidates should await the arrival of the proper forms. A printed pamphlet entitled “Pro- curement Plan and County Organiza- | tion” is now being prepared and copies | will be furnished all recruiting agencies | on or about February 15, 1932. This | pamphlet, together with circulars of | information, which will be furnished | at about the same time, will contain | complete information regarding the C. M. T. C, including the names and addresses of all military and civilian If Labrador is worth $100,000,- | were avenged on the battlefields of | Each jealous of | | built by Belglum shows what could | be done. | Just imagine that the United States took over the development of this area. What a chapter in the history of & world of peace might be inscribed to obliterate the evil pages of a world of wal The outlet here afforded for American money, American machinery, American brains would set in motion a new world movement of prosperity: would redeem at once the short-ended seesaw of the balance of trade, would solve or postpone for later solution most of the world's economic problems of today. It would give all the world the opportunity to start over again and forget the past, except to avold its errors. In that grand old melodrama called “The Silver King” the hero fell upon his knees and cried, “O God, turn back the universe and give me yester- day!” Well, here it is if we want it. The United States can do it, and no other country can do it. The United States has the money and the brains and, more than that, it has the labor. It is the only nation that has it. Where? Why the colored people of America. They came from the Congo. The Congo climate that kills the whites is “back honte” to them. The Congo native won't work. You have to beat him to it. But the American colored man has had six generations of it and he knows how. Think! What a wonderful dream come true, if that happened. Six gen- erations ago the Congo natives were driven on board the slave ships from the yellow beaches of West Africa—six gen- erations of toil and tears and history— and now they would come back, millions 'of workers, equipped with the white man's knowledge, ingrained with the white man’s purpose, to show to their lost cousins of Africa what cen be made of the old homestead. One can imagine no more inspiring dream than this— the return of the children of the slaves to found, under the guardianship of America, a United States of Africa. Come, let us start it! Suggests United States Acquirc Congo. All that is needed is a new congress or. adjustment of debts and reparations on a basis of territorial sovereignty. The | Belglans could be squared by letting them off their debts to England and the TUnited States—even their own home | cebt of $1,000,000,000 might be thrown in. If the sanctity of their home terri- tory was such that it set the world to | war, the lack of sanctity of their colo- | nial territory is such that it may be used to set the world at peace. France could | move out of the French Congo without knowing it and very few British people are aware that they own any of the Congo basin. Perhaps even an odd ¢or- ner of the map could be found for Mus- solini and an island—there are said to be 4,000 islands in the Congo—for the Germans. The native? He won't care. He's used to anything—getting rubber, being a slave, being photographed for motion | pictures, hunting Hons for social study— | he just thinks the European nations are crazy. If he protests, let him have as his share, in return for his land, the cighteenth amendment to the Constitu- | tion of the United States—and tell him | to keep it. Organized Reserves instructor on duty at Washington re= serve headquarters, will go to Win- chester, Va., Wednesday evening, where he will conduct a conference on the riffie company and platoon in attack. He will also held a review of the organi- zation of a platoon. Cavalry reserve officers of the District will meet at headquarters Thursday evening under the direction of Maj. H. C. Dagley, Cavalry, who will discuss machine guns and their employment. The War Department has recently promulgated Army Regulations No. 150-5 governing the administration and functioning of the Enlisted Reserve Corps, a considerable number of mem- bers of which are residents of the Dis- trict. Members of the Enlisted Reserve will be in an inactive status, except when placed on active duty (a) for training, instruction, or other duty, in time of peace; (b) in the event of a national emergency expressly declared by Congress. The Enlisted Reserve will consist of the following sections: Ad- jutant General, Air Corps, Cavalry, Chemical Warfare Service, Coast Artil- lery, Corps of Engineers, Field Artillery, Finance Department, Infantry, Medical Department, Ordnance, Quartermaster and Signal Corps Enlisted Reserve. Enlistments will be limited to persons eligible for enlistment in the Reguiar Army, except that for original enlist- ments in railway operating units the maximum age limit will be 45 years. The regulations is divided into several personnel engaged in the recruiting project. Application blanks and litera- | ture will be mailed to all trainees who, satisfactorily completed the Basic, Red | and White courses last year. | Fort Eustis, Va, will no longer be| used as a training center for the 1932‘ camps, and the training activities that | have in the past been conducted at| this post have been transferred to Fort | George G. Meade, Md. Members of the 428th Infantry (Old) will meet tomorrow evening at local reserve headquarters for their con- ference to be conducted by Capt. W. G. Layman, Infantry, who will discuss de- fense against aircraft. ! Capt. Layman will also conduct the Infantry conference Tuesday evening at reserve headquarters, his subject be- | ing the same as that for the preceding evening. | Maj, J. M. McDowell, Field Artillery, will conduct the instructional conference | for Field Artillery reserve officers at headquarters Wednesday evening. Maj. McDowell will conduct a terrain exer- cise, conststing of a battalion of Field Artillery in a withdrawal. In addition to the tactical situation, factors will be introduced into the situation reviewing The Children’s Music Hour will meet Saturday morning at 614 E street and its program will be “Compositions of Schubert,” matters covered in previous conferences, and in addition thereto facts relating to care of animals, forage, reports, etc. o Maj. W, A, Jones, Infantry, assistant sections as follows: Enlistments, assign- ments and transfers, appointments of non-commissioned officers and special- ists, separation from service, reports, uniform and equipment, training, mobi- lization, and pay and allowances. Lieut. Col. DeWitt M. Evans, Infantry Reserve, having been relieved from as- signment to the 80th Division, is re- lieved from eassignment to the 320th Infantry. Second Lieut. Hugh M. Beville, jr., Infantry Reserve, ha moved to the 2d Corps Area, is relieve from assignment to the 320th Infattry, Second Lieut. Thomas A. Bryan, Ine fantry Reserve, having accepted reape pointment in the Officers’ Reserve Corps, without the privilege of assigne ment or active duty, is relieved from assignment to the 320th Infantry. Sec- ond Lieut. Joe D. Hughes, Field Ar- tillery, is aesigned to the 155th Field Artillery Brigade. Prosperity Without Knock. From the San Antonio Exoress, Sir George Paish, British economist, asserts that the world is on the threshe old of unparalleled prosperity. And the sign on the door reads, “Enter without knocking.” =4