The Key West Citizen Newspaper, March 30, 1938, Page 2

y Newspaper in Key West and Monroe County of the Associated Press vely entitled to use SUBSCRIPTION RATES ADVERTISING RATES application. SPECIAL NOTICE cards of thanks, resolutions of ete., will be charged for at nts by churches from which are 5 cents a line. forum and invites discus- d subjects of local or general ot publish anonymous communi- IMPROVEMENTS FOR KEY WEST ADVOCATED BY THE. CITIZEN and Sewerage. misive City Plan (Zoning), Hote’ and Apaithents. Bathing Pavilion. Airports—Land and Sea. Consolidation of County and City Governments. If you are a new voter be sure to register. A big day’s work is often accomplish- ed | tarting early. by APRIL, OUR MONTH OF WARS April is the month of war, so far as the United States is concerned. On the 6th is the anniversary of our declaration of war against Germany, in 1917; the 12th is the anniversary of the first shot, fired at Fort Sumter, that initiated four years of fighting in the last century and the 25th marks the anniver- sary of the declaration. of against Spain, in 1898. war THE KEY WEST CITIZEN A Luckily, as this is written; nq impend- | ing struggle is in prospect but*so uncertain are world events that one can hardly tell when the next conflict will begin. There are, of cours , pending prob- lems with Japan but, these should not lead ’ to war in the near future, whatever may be the possible consequences of future ag- gressiveness on the part of the Far Eastern empire. Then, as a possible source of trouble, | } South America looms up. With it is the necessity of a decision on the part of the people of this country whether they are | willing to abandon the Monroe Doctrine if } that principle implies the risk of warfare. As we see it, the danger is real. Already exchanges are taking place between Brazil and Germany, at the instigation of Ber- lin, on the subject of the treatment ac- corded Germani¢ inhabitants of the Sduth American country, It might lead to°¢om- plications. | SIDELIGHTS By MARCY B. DARNALL, Former Editor of The Key West Citizen Four persons were painfully but not seriously hurt in Ohio when a truck ard an automobile collided, both vehicles being thrown into the ditch. It might have been worse if any of the 50 cases of dynamite with which the truck was loaded had hap- | pened to explode. In the city council lies our trust, to | free us from this awful dust. ae Public office is not always used as a | public trust; sometimes it is used as a hakedown racket. Why worry when people fail to agree } with your ideas; if they had as much sense | F you, of course, they would know much as you know. as When labor is discontented it sits | down while still strong and virile; capital | will sit down, too, but only when it is tired and unable to stand up. i To a sensitive Japanese, whose nation- al odor is kept sweet by a mainly vegetar- | ian diet, the Anglo-Saxons smell like lions and tigers. We are hardly conscious of the meat odor but to the Japanese we reek of it. Pompano is the highest-priced fish served in any Florida restaurant, yet those y Westers can take a yellow-taj] and fix | t up-so that your pompano will taste like carp:by:e0m parison. Miami Priday | The paragtapher of the Flbtida,Times-"| on is conéetned about’ ‘his’ imported s in case the United States should an- « Cuba on the theory that domestic to- never tastes quite as good as the im- ed kind. He needn't worry, Uncle Sam has no imperialistic aspirations. . it is said that history repeats In one instance we hope it doesn’t. When the railroad came to town in 1912 Key West had a population of 25,000, ironically | enough the population started to dwindle, now less thay half of what it was but every sensible person knows that advent of the railroad did not cause iwindling of the population. It was a s of drawbacks. In quick succession West lost the cigar the shing, the Naval Station’s activi- Nevertheless, it is a peculiar and emarkable coincidence that the was & prosperous community rival of the iron horse and is again coming into its own and pristine glory now e railroad is no more. Maybe the s snorting of the iron horse angered and he sought and shed its destruction; let us hope that the itself. business, ete Island before accom- tread of the motor cars will to sleep while | seconds. warned Smith to come across promptly. At the sound of a fire alarm 65 blind | inmates of a,New York institution march- ed from the seventh floor to the street in perfect order in one minute and 40 No damage of any kind was done, it being only a fire drill. That a former jail-bird has sympathy for imprisoned creafures was illustrated by a St. Louis burglar a few nights ago. He took $160 from the home of Sam Zummo and before leaving released the pet canary from its cage. As a vamp who gets her men, Mme. Adrienne Guyot of Brussels appears to be in a class by herself. Although not quite 40 years old, she has confessed to having had 682 sweethearts, 50 of whom she mar- ried. Her mating average was approxi- mately two sweethearts a month and two husbands a year. Maybe this is an old one, but it is re- ported this time from an English parish which advertised: “Rummage sale in the village hall. A chance for women of the congregation to get rid of anything’ not worth keeping. Don't forget to bring your husbands.” . When Mrs. Harry Cale of Wisconsin cared for an injured collie several years ago, she did better than she knew. The dog has twice saved the life of her little son, Robert; once by dragging him out of the way of an approaching automobile, and again by giving the alarm when the room in which the child caught fire. was playing R. B. McClure of Oakland, Calif., seems to think that his wife is not quite up to the desired standards in temperament and habits. In his divorce suit he charged that she was “sullen, mean, irritable, mor- bid, disagreeable, nasty, gruesome, cool, bitter, heckling, jealous, picayunish, loath- some, insulting, brazen, miserly, glutton- ous, temperamental], selfish, ¢ontemptuous, inattentive, uncivil-and incowsiderate.” Amanmay transfer his affections from his wife to her mother, but he can’t transfer alimony, as George Smith, a Michigan farmer, has discovered. After Smith was ordered to pay $7 a week to his divorced wife, he married his mother-in- law and stopped his alimony payments on ground that he couldn't afford to sup- beth. The judge disagreed and ee ee -FLORIDA TAX REVISION LEAGUE It is le that most tax- payers who take the time during | “TAX INFORMATION WEEK”, to study our tax situatio: | should, will be i by the impossibility of securing | and current information. It is a very discouraging job te try to get @ concise, complete, accurate and up-to-date statement of the total tax revenue collected and spent by our state, county, city, and other units of local ent, State departments do issue re- ange usually six months to a year , which tell the story if one is willing to take the time to sep- | arate the simple facts from the complicated detail and just plain Pro; Most state depart. ments seem to think it necessary to load their reports with propa- <a to impress the public with ie importance of their depart- ment, why it should be enlarged or attempt to = and justify the fact that it already been el But, when it comes to county, city, or other local units of gov- ernment, information is almost nil. Few of them make any complete reports to any central ney or to the local taxpayers, o’ condensed legal advertisements of their budgets, which are usually of | little value. | _ The latest complete and detail report on the cost of local govern- | Ment was compiled by the U. S. Department of Commerce for the year 1931. At that time local units of government in Florida were costing the taxpayers about $75,000,000 per year. What local government cost for 1937 is a deep dark secret which no one knows. It is known, however, that 1500 overlapping boards and commis- sions still have authority to levy | ad valorem taxes on property, without limit, and authority to spend the revenue thus raised. It is also known that this “power to tax” has already been used to “destroy” property values in Flor- ida. It is now about to destroy our entire economic set-up. The worst single feature of the ad valorem property tax is the fact that it is degrading the lives of every man, woman, and child in the State, regardless of whether or not they own property or have ever seen a tax collector. If you rent a little home or apartment for $20.00 per month—an average of $6.00 of that rent goes to the tax collector, not your landlord. And, if you look closely you wil find ad valorem taxes “HIDDE in every article you, from hairpins to automobiles, vied The consumer the last analysis it is levied or collected, or what it is called. But, the ad valorem tax is the most iniquitous ef all be- cause it is levied without limit by 1500 boards and completely “hid- den™ from the consumer who pays it. Our ad valorem method of taxing property is not only anti- quated and- obsolete but has been patched, confused, abused, mis- applied, dodged, and evaded by legi administrative officials, and politically fcvored taxpayers until it has become the most an- j inequitable and thoroughly ling system of taxation im- e. Our antiquated ad valorem tax system is the millstone around the neck of Florida today. {if we abolish it by constitational amend- make the real estate boom ears ago look insignificant . ° " ’ ‘ loday’s Horoscope semeeeweccacccesseccoses Self-confidence is the keynote of this day, and indications point t ssful business men. There er that pride or disappoint- nay hinder from making the of opportunity, for unre- nd self-confidence is apt to develop a self-satisfied conceit. Admiral—So you're the Chief f Police in Newport! Glad to know you. I wonder if I could arrange to meet the Fire Chief? C. of P—Sure, just wait until I change hats. MODERN STR as they © , day, even though our , 4nd local governments now ite at. =) DONTJUST PATCH iT UD — SAVE THE GOOD TIMBERS AND REBUILD IT COMPLETELY. UCTURE. NEEDED SEI TAY. = 2 x KEY WEST IN DAYS GONE BY Happenings Here Just Ten Years Age Teday As Taken From The Files Of The Citieen Five train loads of Shriners from Chicago, more than 1000 in number, will be guests on Sunday and will remain for at least half a day. The Medinah Tempie brass band, said to be the finest organization of the kind im the world, may give @ concert during the time they are here. At least 300 automobiles will be needed to take the visitors for a ride around the city. The delegation will ar- rive at Key West enroute to Ha- vana and has chartered the Gov- ernor Cobb and Cuba for the trip to Havana. Returning the dele- gation will reach this city on Sun- day, May 6, and will remain in the city from 5:30 in the morning until 11 o'clock. Registration books will be open from the first of April unti the last day. Under the law they must be open from the first day of April until the first of May THE RISE IN COST OF GOVERNMENT How different the picture actually ts may be seen by looking briefly at figures giving government costs over a period of years. These are the facts: 1. The cost of government mount ed slowly from the beginning: of the century unti] the entranceof the United States into the Worfd War After the war years. Federal Gov ernment costs declined somewha!l until 1927, although state and loca! government costs were rapidly in creasing. Since 1927, there has been a great expansion of Federa’ governmenta! activities so that the local government expenditures it 1937 are more than eleven times those of 1900. 2. A comparison of Federal, state and local expenditures with our na tional income shows a slow but sure growth in the relative cost of gov ernment from 1900 to 1929. From {that point on, government expendi tures shot up rapidly while our na tional income was falling off. To national in come is rapidly increasing, one-quar ter of it would be necessary to pay che huge cost of government : 3. Tax collections of Federal. state equal about seventeen per cent.of our na- ,cfonal income. This is a percentage approzimately double that prior to che depression. It is estimated that axes today amount to $377 a year per family. or about $31 a month. 4 The debt of the Federal covern- ment, the states, and al! other fo litical subdivisions. is now sapproxt mately 57 billion dollars. ‘Tm amount of money would more than pay for all of the seven million farms in the United States together with their buildings. livestock, 1m- plements and machinery. Less tha7 one-balf of it would pay the asressed value of all the real property in New York State. It is a sum aimost twice the total resources of al! of the national banks in the Un:ted States. This government debt represents an increase of 1,900 per cent from the three billion dollar public deot at the turn of the century, ana dur ing the same period the population Increased but 70 per cent. Thus the public debt for each ind:vidual in the United States—every man woman and child—bas tncresees 10 the last 37 years from $40 to $412. In 1936, wages and salaries ‘er all employees og government ng those on work relief. came to $5.145.873.000. whieh works cut to $169 for each American iamily of four. if the extraordinary figures for relief*were added to this nermal total. the figures would be fairly as toundine. etecere IT’S ODD BUT IT’S SCIENCE seece By HOWARD W. BLAKESLEE Seecccccccconscesssesece NEW YORK, March 30—The largest baby in the world is the blue whale—21 feet at birth On the growth of this baby de- pends the hopes of the very old whaling industry. For at one- year-old this baby measures 60 feet long and at a little over two years it is sexually mature. The problem of the whalers is not to kill these youngsters until they have had one baby of their own. With guns. explosive bullets and floating factories the whalers are killing each year an undimin ished number of whales But the sizes are getting small- er. This. aceerding to the British colonia! office. means that more and more whales are killed before having had time to reproduce. Discovery of the very rapid growth and maturity of the blue whale is a recent fact which ex- perts say points to a limit on whaling The limit is not so bed as expected. and the life of the blue whale seems to explain why all the whales were not killed long ago. Roosevelt demands end of spe- cial privilege. asserting this was aim of “third basket” tax. Monday is the first of the month, hence they will be open for the full month. Some 3,500 voters are already registered and it is ex- pected that many thers are yet to register. Some confusion has been caused by in Miami: papers which [Av FOR THE LADI en cae ETHEL ERNEST MURRELL FSSSSSSSSSSOSSESSESSOSSSOSD Lets talk” ajout common law marriage. Any kind of marriage is an interesting subject to the ladies, at least they accuse us of being incurable match-makers, | and perhaps we are. In any case, marriage is legal, pat and fine in Florida. If a man and woman live together, and hold themselves out as man and wife, sans license and theirs is a valid marriage and their children are legitimate. Which reminds us of the gentle- man who came down last season, shipping his girl-friend well ahead of him to avoid any semb- lance of a Mann Act charge. Very clever gentleman he was. They took a room in a not too ex- travagant hotel, registered as man and wife, of course. They played bridge with the Smiths and dined with Mr. Jones. “My wife”, our hero introduced | little girl-friend. law marriage can be dissolved Then came the spring. The!only by death or divorce. Death young man’s fancy turned back seemed a little cold and Cammy North. and divorce meant alimony “Goodbye”, he told his girl- So th®y were seen leaving on @ friend, “here's your ticket home. ‘north-hound train, the happiest See you again some other time”. married couple you can picture But she had a copy of “Law for and we hupe they'll be coming t& the Ladies”, hidden beneath her, Key West soon again years. This is not true anywhere else, however, hence Monroe does 2 common law Club yesterday was in charge of George Perpall, chairman of the boys’ work committee The schools’ crying need at this time is for an athletic field but there is no outdoor field for games, he showed. sans ceremony, The Casa Marina tomorrow will close much the most successful season in the history of this great hostelry. The increase is approxi mately 45 percent. pillow, sq she said, “Not so fast dear, wifey is going with you” And oh, alas and alack for our hero, he was “cotched™ Because, you see, @ common HEAVILY ZINC COATED Per Roll Hs ‘'!2 Mech, 36” wide 2 2 Mesh, 24” wide 4 Mesh, 36” wide 4 Mech, 30” wide EACH With Rubber Tires GARDEN HOSE — we ae 25 Ft. Length 50 Ft. Length Nozzles White and Eliza Streets all voters to Start « Poultry Farm in Your Back Yard —REDUCED PRICES ON HARDWARE CLOTH— LAWN MOWERS Ball Bearing Mowers. 5—16” cutting blades of high grade tool stee! SOUTH FLORIDA CONTRACTING & FNGINEERING C9. “Your Home Is Worthy ( The Best™ TOMA AA hh hhh hk heh had ddadatadl Eduiera: comment likelihoed af enough to dry mud which wi summe- The work has been compietec sand has been placed street in order to grve c surface as the oil sets. A layer The large water tank yard. which faces at Whitehead anc Care streets. is having ar additee ple ed which will afford a navy the en trance capacity There have been several new specimens add- tank end witfur 4 str proposed to have both + ed with specimens The Tug A B Power. Capt Devas, arrived m port ths after onwevTal Peamwact PIRATES COVE FAMOUS FISHING CAMP Ox Oversee Highway. 28 Sie: | <OCLMOPLLELL LAA MAA A hh kee POULTRY FENCING 150 FT. ROLLS, 72” HIGH, SMALL MESH AT BOTTOM WITH GRADUAL INCREASE TO A LARGE MESH AT TOP. $4.35 Sic Per Yard 33c Per Yard SS Per Yard 46c Per Yard si2zzs 15.60 Phone 39~ C hedbeebedetadedededadehdede det ALAA AAA dh hhh hd we