The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-09-17

WASHINGTON (FP)- Triumph OF
Sen. Sam Shortridge of California IN
his campaign for denomination at the
hands of the Republican voters OF ms
state has been met by grcans from
the veterans of the Senate press gal
lery. Not because ShOrtridge Is a re
dictionary, whose devotion to the serV-
ice of the Southern Pacific Railway
and to the big banking magnates al
California is canine in its complete
ness. The Senate has always had It's
majority of servants of big business
The reason why newspaper cores
pondents hoped that ShOrtrldge WouId
be lost somewhere outside the Golden
Gate is because he is the dullest bore
among all the tiresome persons III
that assemblage.
Tall and cadaverous with a solemn
horse face which is apparently mcaP-
able of a CLINT of humor or a CLEAN
of enthusiasm. Shortridge rises IN
the midst of almost every serious de
bate to ask, pompOusly, some silly
question. Sometimes he repeats his
query three or four times, in a meas
ured voice and with slow gestures
which he considers impressive to his
fellow-senators Usually his ques-
ton stops the debate for five or ten
minutes, because he never is satisfied
with an answer such as the mental
quality of his interruption warrants.
Jim Reed of Missouri once became so
irritated at the showoff tactics of the
Southern Pacific senator that he re-
marked that "No man in human his
tory has ever been so wise in fact
as the Senator from California looks"
Whereupon Shortridge assumed a
lordlier pose than before.
/ Parole of Don Chafin, former sher-
F iff of non-union Logan county, West
Virginia, from Atlanta penitentiary
! has been granted by the federal parole
board. Chain applied for release
4 last June, but another Indictment was
hanging over him, due to his actlvl-
ties as partner in a bootleg enterprise
: and the parole was delayed until that
d Indictment could be quashed. Chat
o ms downfall after nearly score Of
! years of terrorism in Logan was no
u due to his lawless intimidation of the
: trade uniOnists who ventured int
n that corner. of the coal fields of West
= Virginia. Big Bill Coolidge, head o.
the Island Creek Coal Co., dominat
n ing the Logan field, saw to it tha'
d Don was elected sheriff year aftel
q year, on the Democratic ticket Th'
:, island Creek and other coal compan
les, through their county association
sllpplied Don with funds for the hir
ing of private army of deputies, witt
.e which he patroled the road entering
# the county from the north, searches
every passenger train that arrived
AC ( from hOfc
SIS beds in the middle of the night t
explain their errands in his bailiwicI
Occasionally they killed a man, an
o. often the miners whom they jaile
N were beaten. None of these act
~ brought any punishment from tn
e. federal authorities.
But in the campaign Of 1924, Chat
in tried to carry his county for Davl
against Calvin Coolidge. He had bee
a delegate in the national cOnventio
of in New York City, and felt that
4 was up to him to arrest or driv
- into hiding all voters who would NJ
SO support the Democratic nominee. HI
in strong-arm methods aroused the RI
DIS publicans, and as soon as the ma
i chinery could be set in motion the
n0 had him indicted and convicted on
no bootleg conspiracy charge. Chafi
Oh seems to have considered that FEEDER;
he liquor laws did not apply in his terri
- tory.
" His release after a little more ths
OF a year in prison is credited to Big Bi
Ii Coolidge, cousin of Calvin. The co
operator visited his cousin in h
- White House last May, and made
10 request that his friend be turned loos
by Then Big Bill went home to Bostt
do and reported that the White Hou
in would be all right on coal matter
ms When the new yearbook of the I
ute ternatiOnal Federation of Trade u
is ons, Just issued at Amsterdam, seiZ
.,o bodily the membership total of
ave American Federation of Labor a
ex- added it to the Amsterdam total,
ish Kidnapping was done without know
the edge or consent. Such is the asst
- ance of A. F. of L. executives. TIL
Seu do not understand why the Americ
labor movement was counted as bel
independent in 1921, and as being
the Amsterdam group in 1924-as
shown by the yearbook. The eXplS
alton given in the book is that the
two F. Of L. and various other groI
)rk- ScaCCeteo CnLougn uOz5h countries
riat 1 NTo; ,SO,oUU 80. .1,,,,
get theticaHv disposed toward the I.
sup T. U. in 1924.
n a What Amsterdam was trying
,odo prove was that its loss between L
i'.N0 and 1924 was really not so great
Tor to bring the Red Trade Union Int
eavy national into close competition.
oov- A. F. of L. and the Mexican and OF
- unions are, of course, far closer
way sympathy to Amsterdam than to N
ance