Evening Star Newspaper, December 16, 1936, Page 13

Labor Warfare Case to Test U. S. Law Federal Police Powers May Halt Bloodshed in Future Strikes. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. g EW persons realize that the Roosevelt administration is en- gaged in a criminal proceeding against alleged acts of unlaw- fulness by a labor union. The case in question is remarkable » 1in its scope as well as its novelty. And curiously enough, three interests—the United Mine ‘Workers, certain eoal operators and certain rail- roads—are joined together in back- ing up the Fed- eral Government ® in its prosecu- tion. The labor union is known as the Progressive Miners’ Union and at one time in 1933 it mar- shalled an army of about 20,000 persons in a labor demonstration which resulted in the declaration of martial law. The specific charges uncovered in the indictment of 67 different defend- ants, most all of them residents of * Ilinois, are that a conspiracy was entered into to block transportation snd the mails and that 23 different bombings on five different railroads, the burning of a railroad bridge and 4n all 30 bombings of various kinds of coal mines, as well as railroads, have been perpetrated in violation of Federal laws. Act Under Racket Statute. The jurisdiction which the Federal Government has taken in this affair iz unprecedented, and it is the first important prosecution under the so- called anti-racketeering statute. The troubles in Illinois have ex- tended from December, 1932, to Au- gust, 1935, when at the urgent re- » quest of Gov. Horner of Illinois and his State's attorney general, the Fed- eral Government took a hand to de- David Lawrence. termine if the anti-racketeering law | of June, 1934, was being violated. There are charges that radicals and Communists are back of the disturb- ances, but the primary interest that | will be taken nationally in the litiga- tion is the fact that it opens up a wide fleld for the use of the Federal . Do'ice power. Law Challenge Expected. It is fully expected that the de- fendants will charge that the law is | unconstitutional, and will seek to prove that even if the charges are upheld they do not constitute a Fed- eral offense. but are merely efforts to gain recognition as a labor union. The statute is written so as to ex- empt labor unions from their normal operations of “peaceful picketing,” but does not enable them to use violence or to engage in physical obstruction | to interstate commerce. The exact wording of the exemption is as fol- * lows: THE News Behind the News Pan-American Peace Treaties Disappointing to Wash- ington, Observer Believes. BY PAUL MALLON. : HE smile which State Secretary Hull managed to effect over his new pan-American peace treaties appeared to be slightly strained from here. was not so well concealed. What Mr. Hull wanted was not only an agreement for consultation, but new machinery to make consultation effective, on the basis of our neutrality act. All he got was an agreement that, in case of war, nations would consult for peace. They could really do that without an agreement. It might not have made so much real difference except that the ad- vance promotion campaign, by the President, had inspired every one, including the officials themselves, to expect more. - ‘The best explanation of the treaties is that they can mean anything. They could be very effective for peace if carried out energetically by all the participants. On the other hand, they could be very easily forgotten, as many a stronger treaty has been forgotten in the past. * % * % The one thing which Mr. Hull seems to have accomplished is the f establishment of & new peace m 15 THAT ALL THEY BAGGED formula. In the past the formulas have been at one time or another “arbitration,” “conciliation” and “obligation.” None worked. What we are to have now is consultation. Some authorities here feel the new formula is certainly no worse than the outmoded ones. While, from a strictly realistic stand- point, it does no more than to pledge nations to talk, it does give the diplomats a hew peace idea to play with and to try to develop in & world sadly lacking new ideas. No one can say what would happen if any given war situation arose, because the treaties contain no specifications. But this leeway in itself may inspire more confidence among the Latin American statesmen. At any rate, it is only fair to say the authorities here expect the treaties to mean more than the language of them implies. * K x % The reason why Mr. Hull lost his peace machinery plan lies in the temperament of Latin American diplomats. After all, while President Roosevelt and his State Secretary were unusually gracious about refusing to take the front seats at Buenos Aires, every one knows that the United States is still big, powerful Uncle S8am. The smaller nations in this hemi- sphere are naturally sensitive about it, and their sensitiveness takes the form of a strong defense of their own sovereignty. Anything effective that is done for peace in Latin America will have to be done gently. * X k% Old students of the Far East detected the faint scent of Japanese money behind the seizure of Gen. Chiang Kai-Shek. They suspected a close search of the kidnapers’ household might disclose a stack of yen, not rubles. The kidnaper, Marshal Chang Hsueh-Liang, has a reputation which smoking Chinese warlord who has dealt before with the highest bidder. After the kidnaping, an official statement was given out promptly in Tokio, blaming it on Russia. This, lished Far Eastern tradition. statement this time was issued so promptly it could have been pre- pared in advance. If Japan is bent on further con- solidating its position in China, and paid for the kidnaping to furnish the usual excuse of maintaining order in China, the proper moment was chosen. England’s attention was centered at home, changing Kings. * ok Kk K Bristling bulletins from Moscow and Tokio indicated for a while that hostilities might be imminent. No military authorities here seemed to believe it possible. This is not the proper season for starting wars, or conducting them. If the same thing occurs nexte Spring, our authorities will feel genuine alarm. * ¥ ¥ X Supreme Court lawyers nodded their heads when Chief Justice Hughes sent the Duke power case back to the lower court for a retrial on all its issues. The lawyers have had a notion Mr. Hughes has adopted a policy of not deciding any more New Deal cases than necessary. Or, perhaps a | better way to describe it is that the justices would like to dispel any notion | that they are going out of their way to decide New.Deal constitutional questions, (Oopyright, 1936.) Disappointment in many an official Washington quarter does not disallow such a probability. He is the accepted type of opium=- who, in connection with or in relation [ decided by the Supreme Court, it was | “Provided, that no court of the |t anv act in any way or in any de- United States shall construe or apply | gree affecting interstate commerce or any of the provisions of this Act in | any article or commodity moving or such manner as to impair, diminish, | gpout to move in trade or commerce, or in any manner affect the rights of | gptains or attempts to obtain, by use bona fide labor organizations in 1aW- | or attempt to use or threat to use fully carrying out the legitimate ob- | orce violence or coercion, the pay- Jpcts thereof, as such rights are ex- ment' of money or other valuable con- - | Pressed in existing statutes of the | sigerations or the purchase or rental United States.” | What is meant by “lawfully” carry- ing out the “legitimate objects” of a labor union? The State laws dcflneJ what is or is not a lawful act, but | now the Federal Government comes | ,into the picture to determine whether the activities of labor unions are | *“lawful.” Attorney General Decides. Incidentally no prosecutions under | the statute can be begun by the United Btates attorneys and can be initiated | , “only upon express direction of the Attorney General of the United Btates.” | The present proceeding, which is | against a union that has been fighting | John L. Lewis and his union, was au- | thorized by the Attorney General after | conferences at the Department of Justice with Illinois officials and rep- resentatives of the Lewis unions as well as the owners of the property damaged. | The law states that “any person | of property” is subject on conviction to a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment for a term from 1 to 10 years. Also Provides Felony Charge. Another clause specifically states that any person who “commits, or threatens to commit, an act of physi- cal violence or physical injury to a person or property in furtherance of a plan to obtain the property of an- other” is guilty of a felony. Now, the Progressive Miners’ Union and its leaders obviously cannot be prosecuted for attempting to gain a legitimate union objective, namely, precedence over Mr. Lewis’ union in | its relations with employers. In the famous Schechter case the Government argued that maladjust- ment in labor conditions constituted something that “affected” interstate commerce, but the Supreme Court unanimously declined to consider the effect to be direct. In the so-called Coronado case, also =< - Enhanced by the Raleigh Label ‘DRAPE-LEP’ TIES Exclusive at Raleigh Haberdasher These famous ties are a safe bet for any man. He'll never be at a loss for the right tie if you give him a set of Drape-Leis. Each Alzo in Polo Points . . . dots on solid orounds. DIAPE-LH is different from any tie you have ever seen. Its patented shape makes your dream of a perfect fold and a perfect knot come true. Tai- lored of pure Silk Barathea . . . in 16 beautiful colors. He will certainly appreciate several “DRAPE-LEIS.” OTHER BEAU BRUMMELYTIES S—— | held that physical acts of obstruction ‘x to the operation of a coal mine were }direcfly related to a conspiracy to i injure the coal operator in question |in his interstate commerce transac- | tions. The present statute known as the | anti-racketeering law was drafted by Walter L. Rice, special assistant to the Attorney General, who helped to argue the Schechter case, and is now conducting the prosecutions in the | Illinois coal miners’ cases, on which sealed indictments have only this week been revealed. | | The new law introduces the power | of Federal inquiry into coercion and | intimidation as well as actual violence in labor warfare, and the coming cases may open up a new chapter in | eliminating bloodshed in labor dis- | putes. (Copyright, 1936,) »* N D. C, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1936. TH! opinions of the writers on this page arc.thelr ‘own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. ‘We, the People New Deal Is Moving Toward a Modernized Con- trolled Interest Rate. z BY JAY FRANKLIN. HE recent Treasury flotation of long-term bonds at 2l per cent may look as relevant as the latest improvement in & Rolls-Royce to the man with a thin dime, but it represents the opening of the New Deal drive to force a wedge between banking and industry in order to free our productive energies from the dead hand of conventional invest- ment. The present marriage of industry and banking is more like a shotgun wedding than the Romeo and Juliet affair it appears to the outside world. ‘The old Wall Street gag was to throw an industry into difficulties by tying up its credit and then to place the financial “rescue party” in control of the board of directors. That's what happened to the railroads way back. That's what happened to Gen- eral Motors when the Du Pont-Mor- gan combine took it away from Du- rant. That's what the bankers tried to do to Henry Ford at least twice. That's what happened to the motion picture industry when A. T. & T. and Atlas moved in on Hollywood. And that is why business after business, in self-defense, has piled up big corpo- rate reserves in order fo avoid the chill lips of the financial kiss of death. But on the whole, modern America has completed the process by which the bankers dominate industry, and although they have thereby eliminated most of the financial risks, still con- sider themselves entitled to specu- lative returns on their sure-thing in- vestments. $136,000,000,600 Debt. The Nation's debt structure—the basic credits which support our indus- try, agriculture, Government, cur- rency and banks—is estimated at about $136,000,000,000. Of this sum, | Federal debts represent some $35,000.- 000,000, State and local debts some $18,000,000,000. Thus more than $50,- | 000,000,000 of our total indebtedness— nearly 40 per cent—is ‘riskless” in terms of modern finance, for if our| public credit collapses no other credit has any particular value so far as our banks are concerned. The rate we pay on this riskless capital is what deter-| mines all other interest rates in the long run. Senator Henrik Shipstead of Min- nesota was the first to open fire on| this angle of the national debt. H!l tangled ineffectively with Andnw‘ | | Mellon in an effort to beat down the Federal rate to 33 per cent. Today the composite rate on all Federal ob- ligations is around 2.42 per cent, but this is still too high. The Treasury | and the Pederal Reserve will not rest until they have driven it down to 2 per cent or even less. Controls Own Credit. Under Morgenthau and Eccles, the government has resumed control of its own credit and is thereby putting the heat under the frigid interest rates in other fields of investment. This by-product of Roosevelt’s free-spend- ing policy offers the following possi- bilities for future borrowing from banks: Government bonds—2 per cent: State and local bonds—3 per cent; | mortgages, railways, long-term indus- | | trial bonds—4 per cent; intermediate | credit—4-5 per cent; personal credit, | chattel and crop loans, etc.—5-6 per | cent; commercial credit and money—flexible. These rates are intended only to illustrate the need to diversify. special- ize and render more fiexible our gen- eral credit operations. Why should 6 per cent be sacred, the Federal Re- serve officials are asking themselves, when risks are eliminated? Why should installment-buyers pay the “finance companies” & usurious 10 to 12 per cent, when depression experi- ence proved them the most retiable call | - Belts and Buckles By HICKOK OUBLY welcome this Hickok set. Belt of fine leather with silver- plated buckle - individual- ized with HIS initial. (A) TWOfiMinnl... s Hickok belt and buckle set packaged in o hondsome, modern rette humidor. The buckle, of sterling silver, is indi- viduolized with HIS ini- tial. The belt is of finest calfskin. ® Parking Service at Our Curb RALEIGH HABERDASHER waéiu,lm s <At Men's Whar Stexe 1310 £ sTREET of all transactions? Why should necessitous borrowers go to loan sharks when England's bankers know that a system of personal overdrafts can safely lend them the same funds at & far lower cost? Does modern society exist for @ per cent? Charges Not Issue. The issue is not, as many reformers imagine, the total of annual debt- charges. In 1929, with 80 billion in- come, we gladly paid a total of $5,104,- 000,000—or 6.03 per cent in interest; in 1932, when our paid-out income stood at 48 billions, we groaned under $4,975,000,000—or 10.4 per cent in in- terest; in 1835, with an income of 55 billions, we paid $4,432,000,000—or 8 per cent in interest, It is not the gross totals which are dangerous, or even the rigidity of interest charges in a variable income. The real danger lies in the brutal simplicity of the belief that 6 per cent is the “right” rate of interest to pay for financial accommodation. Ours is an age which finds itself compelled to destroy dogmas. We had to smash the gold standard before it smashed us. In its place we put a policy of “managing” money which | seems to yield more meat than did the golden calf. ‘The next step is to smash the fetish of 6 per cent and to substitute for it a modern policy of “managed” inter- est rates, which will distinguish be- tween the rewards of taking a real chance and the scientific return on capital where little or no risk is in- volved on the part of the lender. ‘This policy is what the New Deal is moving toward; it promises so many changes in politics, business, banking and employment, that it must operate cautiously before it can set up a/ really flexible interest rate in our | economic society. (Copyright, 1936, FIRST OF HEROES STAMPS ARE SOLD Woodring and Admiral Standley Make Initial Purchases on Army-Navy Series. BY the Associated Press. Two new stamps went on sale ves- | terday, the first of a series commem- orating Army and Navy heroes. Roy M. North, acting Third Assis- tant Postmaster General, sold the first sheet of Army 1-cent stamps, depict- ing George Washington and Nathanael Greene, to Secretary of War Wood- ring. Woodring presented the sheet to Mrs. Eleanor Washington Howard, | 80-year-old great-great-grandniece of George Washington. Admiral William H, Standley made | the second purchase, buying Navy| stamps which he presented to Mrs | Howard. The Navy stamps. also 1-| centers, carried portraits of John Paul Jones and John Barry. The Post Office Department also an- nounced release here January 15 of | two more stamps in the Army-Navy | series, depicting Andrew Jackson, Win- fleld Scott, Stephen Decatur and Thomas MacDonough. The stamps | will be of 2-cent denomination, Give HER ARCHER HOSIERY ARCHER “MAGIC SHEERS™; for short, medium or long legs; clear as a crystal . .. or ARCHER “EXTRA SHEERS' 51 geuge. 113 $ prs—$335 ® Phone Orders Filled ... NAtional 7300 This Changing World Latest Flare-Up in China Causes Worry in Both Tokio and Moscow. BY CONSTANTINE BROWN, APAN is worried. The new Chinese civil war threatens to make China into another Spain. Tokio, always concerned over the Asiatic main- land, openly accuses Moscow of having engineered this new flare-up. ‘The Zoviet government is equally frightened that the tragi- comedy which has been enacted at Sian will bring about an unprecedented turmoil in China and accuses Tokio of being the instigator of the situation. The truth is that both nations are likely to have a hand in the affair. ‘The Japanese government seems sad about the recent developments in the Shensi Province. In the meantime, the general staff is getting ready to “protect” Japanese inter- ests in that section of China. This, in ordinary parlance, means that we may see the Japanese take con- trol of Nanking, S8hanghal and the Yangtse River in the course of the next few months. ‘The troops of the Nanking gov- ernment which have been sent against Sian, the headquarters of the “young marshal,” are the best China has. They are German - = TRo = trained and have modern equipment. But the military value of Chinese troops depends greatly on the prestige of their leader, and, of course, the regularity with which they receive payments. Chiang, by allowing himself to be trapped by the fory Chang, has lost face, and it is probable that the divisions Nanking has sent to liberate its leader—if these divisions have been sent at all—will vanish into thin air. The fatalistic Chinese do not believe in fight- ing real heard if their leader has been fool enough to be caught by his enemy And every marshal is the potential enemy bf every other marshal, regardless how friendly their personal relations may be. * % % % ‘Whether the Russians or the Japanese are behind Marshal Chang is difficult to say. The young marshal, like his father, the old marshal, is willing to take money from any quarter, provided the sum is substantial enough. Old Chang was in the pay of the Russians, then of the Japa- nese, then again of the Russians and was finally killed when he tried to double-cross the Japanese for the fifth time. ‘Young Chang is a chip of the old block. He, too, double-crossed the Japanese until they kicked him out of Manchuria. Although Chang departed with large sums and a few reliable troops, he does not quite know the value of momey and is reported to be hard up now. There is no doubt that he would be willing to play the game of any nation—for a substantial consideration. It looks as if Tokio had a greater interest in throwing China into confusion than the Moscow government. Hence, in informed quarters here the belief is that Chang is this time in the pay of the Japanese, although he is masquerading as & partisan of a war against Japan. Of course, there is nothing tangible on which this belief can be based. . * x % % President Roosevelt is likely to be more reticent in the course of the next few months about taking a hand in the critical European situation The Buenos Aires conference should have run smoothly because the interests of the other American nations to avold being drawn in another European war is as great as that of the United States. But, strangely enough, they seem to balk at the idea of a straightforward neutrality agreement in the event of another international conflagra- tion. Europe does not desire the Amer- icas to be neutral in another con- flict. The chief reason is that South America has ample foodstuffs and other raw materials which are of vital importance to the would-be belligerents. And European statesmen have taken tneir precautions long before the Americans met at Buens Aires They made the foreign minister of Argentina, Saavedra Lamas, this year's president of the League of Nations, an honor which the Argentine foreign secretary prizes as highly as his re- ceiving the Nobel peace prize. Furthermore, the British, who have a great deal of influence and prestige in Argentina, mave worked hard during the last few months, not to torpedo the conference, but to render any agreement javorable to the British empire. And that was not difficult. First of all, the foremost families in Ar- gentina and Chile are of British stock. Then, Great Britian can consume, in the event of another war, almost everything these coun- tries produce. The result of the British activities is that the conference is run- ning less smoothly than it was anticipated in Washington. President Roosevelt has reason to be somewhat disappointed in the turn of the B. A. parley and still more disappointed in the prospect of getting the nations of the world to see reason—that wars cannot be made a paying proposition. If the countries of the Ameri- can continents cannot get together on a plan to keep them out of trou- ble, what chances can there be to get strife-ridden Europe to listen to common sense? s THESE hose (in spite of their little price) will make a big hit. Fancy rayon mixtures and lisle mixtures. Stripes, verticals, checks, plaids, clocks. THE kind of hose a man would choose for himself. Pure silks with clocks and fine silk and rayon mix- tures. For men of every taste and tem- perament. ARCHER CHIFFONS; high grade, pure silk; sheer and clear and long-wearing. 500 79ec : * ARCHER “WALKING CHIF. FONS,” for short, medium or g legs . .. or ARCHE “SERVICE WEIGHTS,” woven for wear. 1 LET him put. his foot down in real style in these hand- somely clocked 6x3 silk and lisle ribs, or full-fashioned hand- clocked lisles. Solids and patterns. 1 Headline Folk and What They Do ChangHsueh-liangQuit Playboy Existence to Become Leader. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. ‘WO years ago, Chinese dissident soldiers, loosely called ‘“ban- dits,” started & new technique of capturing soldiers and “educating” them. There was a story of a Nanking captain, kidnaped, in- stalled in comfortable quarters near Sianfu, and put through a two months’ study course on Chinese unity under kindly teachers. He passed his examinations, s0 runs the tale, and Jjoined up with his captors. It's just as if Hitler caught Stalin, treated him nicely and gently eased him through a course on Fichte. There is an ancient legend of a Greek general doing something like this, but this seems to be the first case in re- corded history where the method has been to convert rather than anni- hilate. Of course, there has been plenty of third degree in military an- nals, but that's something different. 8o it is quite possible that Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese dictator, seized by Chang Hsueh-liang and now reported executed by his captor, may be at- tending classes and taking notes on “the Marxian dynamic of techno- logical reconstruction,” or something like that. The extraordinary eareer |of Chang, the “young marshal,” as he is called, indicates that he might readily be up to some such strategy. He was 30 years old, a playboy around Mukden, when his father, Chang Tso-lin, the “old marshal” was blown up by his enemies, in 1928. He had gone through the Mukden Military College and was both a night elub addict and an opium smoker. He swore off on both and started where his father had left off mining and sapping Manchuria. The Japanese chased him out in 1931, but he sal- vaged considerable power and kept a | skeleton army together. He was given his bandit-chasing job in 1934, It was reported that he had eached many millions of his father's $75.000.- 000 in Paris and London. In 1933 he toured Europe in state. They made quite a considerable fuss over him and he was extensively feted and ban- queted. He has a sage, canny way about him which suggests conservative leader- | ship, but no one ever knows what's geing on in the back of his head. About two months ago Chang was talking frankly about the possibility of “co-operation” with the Communists in the Northeastern territory, and China's new “united front” might have been deduced by an astute ob- | server at that time. He is one of the cleverest of Chinese careerists, nicked for quite a few millions by the invad- ing Japanese, and in the phrase of Ogden Nash's rowdy poem, “out to get it back.” (Copyright, 1¥36.) 6,000 Women Doctors. More than 6000 women doctors are on the medical register in Great Britain this year. Use Your Raleigh Charge Aecount . . or open one now. Pay in 30 days or use our Extended Pay- ment Plon No down payment, no interest charges, 4 months to pay.