davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
Our Electoral College

While the average citizen is vague in his ~knowledge of tbe electoral college this grand Nold institution has endured the onslaughts ~of time and its opponents tolerably well. -Rarely year passes but what some scheme lis propounded to eliminate the electoral col -slege from our method of electing the presi- = dent and vice-president of the United States. z. 1t seems to be one custom that has managed ito weather these attacks. We doubt If ever ' in our time the electoral college will be elmi- fnatcd. It serves its purpose full well. It does ~not work to the benefit of one and the de- !. traction of another.
 Certain western insurgents are rumored to .sbe wagng campaign to change the cleo 4toral college. Now each state votes for ' presidential electors who meet in their re- .fspective states to cast their ballots for their SpreSdential candidates. If the republicans sscarry Connecticut republican presidential tselectors are named. It works the same way Eff the democrats carry the state. The votes 1of the presidential electors are transmitted ito Congress and before the combined Senate
 and House of Representatives the President of the Senate reads the official vote. This stkis of course. long after the actual election. s-but until this action has been complied with s.the election of the president and vice-presi- sdent is not officially recorded.
 .M. In place of this procedure those western .7radicals, republican senators and representa- @tives. propose that presidential electors be
 named who are not committed to any par mficular candidate. This would cause the selection of the president to be thrown into he House of Representatives. just as it was in the early days of the republic. This <wculd permit third candidate to stand an ..even chance with the candidates of the major spolitical parties. It would. however. ob- @yiate the necessity of a third party. Even <khough certain western republicans oppose llE,e administration program frequently they <hse not yet moved to the point where they
 wsnt fo sever their entire relations with the
 .pubIican party. If they did they. would not
 fcnr a third party movement. Independent
 nrssidential electors makes the naming of
 " president free-for-all.
 .1f is quite evident that the independent
 SIoetor idea won't be put into effect in 1932.
 r it ever is. It would certainly require leg
 1lrfive action by numerous states to permit
 1d11ependent electors to be placed on the
 l1ofs And we don't think that suffi-
 ;enf number of states would endorse the
 Islso fo make if worth while. It would re-
 1r;re af the very least twenty-five states to
 <<ure a sufficient number of electoral votes
 - throw the election into the House. It
 -,u1d be easy for either of the two major
 s1rty esndidafss fo se<ure majority of the
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1ssl
Waterbury Day

x Tomorrow will introduce to this city z Waterbury Day. It is not to be confused l with the bargain days and special sales that
 our local merchants conduct at various times
 during the year. Waterbury Day, just as ] similar days throughout this state and the !. entire east is born of the times, hard times I've call them, depression public offi- ] cials claim. It is an extraordinary event in the annals of the city. It is an Old Home }. Week confined with the brief space of twenty-four hours. All roads lead to Water bury. All are urged to participate in this day of days, an opportunity to meet old friends and to find out that Waterbury IS the real shopping center of the Naugatuek . valley.
 Every facility that might possibly aid in making Waterbury Day success has been enlisted by the committee in charge. Tonight everyone should be in possession of the facts and figures of the event, just as during the last ten days they were made aware of the real value of it. Don't look for sensational slashing of prices. Our merchants aren't
 doing that to make Waterbury Day success. They don't have to, as prices today are flower than they have been for years. Too many people have failed to realize that. They have become panic-stricken. A visit to .,Waterbury's mercantile center tomorrow should go long ways towards removing this feeling.
 A hoarded dollar is only dollar. It does no work for its owner. Tomorrow people will have chance to put dollars and cents to work. There will be no chance to squander money right and left tomorrow. No business man wants that done. We don't think it will be done. But there will , be splendid chance to measure the value of your dollar with the value of the merchandise or the service that can be yours for the asking. Waterbury Day permits of this. We know that many people have been waiting for just such an occasion as Waterbury Day. They 5 just needed little push to get them started. Waterbury Day will furnish this.
 Read your paper tonight not solely Its news attractions. but the column after col umn of advertising news. We use the word news purposely, for in these days advertise < ina columns are usually ehoek-full of news. { Too many people overlook this fact. Don't do-it tonight Waterbury Day will be the [ biggest shopping day in the history of this I -city. We predict that confidently. It will . be more than that. though. if the hopes of ! its packers are upheld. It will be the door Sway to better times and less panic-easier sliving conditions It will be all that with < the cooperation of all. Let's give it.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
THE NEW JERSEY VACANCY
 (New York Times)

A successor to the late Repre- sentative Alderman in the fifth New Jersey congressional district will almost surely be a republican His majority in 1928, the year of the Hoover landslide, was 4s.- PAT, and even two years later In a period of depression. 1t wac S1,327. Yet the special election must be called at once if the re- publican party is to have the vote of the elected representative in or ganizing the house. His vote may be needed to give the republicans control. A special election in the fifth New Jersey cannot occur be- fore December.
 The law of New Jersey directs an interval of forty-five days between the issuance of . writ for a special election to i'll a vacancy in the house of representativeg and the actual election. Thirty-one days after the writ issues a nominating primary must be held. Countina from Octboer 20, the forty-fifth day would fall upon December {, Republican leaders point out that the election should be held two or three days before congress meets SO as to give the board of canvass CTS time to certify the vote.. As MT Alderman. who was a citizen of Union county. had served for more than six terms. Morris county may claim the succession. There are d. ready several candidates in the field.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
OLD GUARD COMING BAcKs
(Meriden JournaD

No less an authority than the Watebury Democrat foresees a comeback by the Old Guard in the Connecticut democratic party, of which James J. Walsh was lead CT, on account of the recent pri- mary victory in Hartford scored by Thomas J. Speliacy in the role of O. G Chieftain.
 The Democrat opines that Wn- liam J. Rankin's victory over Da- vid A. Wilson for the the mayor alty nomination was really a clash between the old Guard and the in- surgents in the party and that it marked an suspicious beginning by I the old Guard to re-establish it's supremacy in the state party.
 The democrat sees an organized attempt to unseat the insurgent ele- ment and the newspaper claims to have noted e growing spirit of un- rest in democratic groups not too closely allied with the ffisurgents.
 Despite it's overthrow IS months ago." the Democrat continues, the Old Guard is still a factor in state politics. 1882 looms big in the ofzing as a presidential year of rare pos abilities for democrats and polit- ica1 leaders are not loath to let such an opportunity slip by with out at least q try for a seat on the band wagon. when the parade goes by" ''' 44f et3
 All this is intsrestins here on account of rumbiings of dissatis- faction among Merfdeu domocrats concerning state policies of the powerful insurgents and concern ing the distribution of patronage.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
The Japanese West

Americans are able to sympathize with Japan in some ways. regarding her obvious desire to occupy Manehuria. The Japanese islands are terribly crowded. The country is mainly agricultural. but the average farm is less than two acres. There is a scarcity of fertile soil. The population. already sixth in the world. continues to grow. Man cluria, great in extent. fertile and rich in resources tempts the Japanese as our West tempted us when we felt the need of expan- sion. Japanese statesmen feel that they must expand or perish. And their West is conti- mental Asia.
 Yet they are not expanding in the way our nation did. There is no movement of settlers corresponding to the successive waves of migration that rolled into our own West. Even in Korea under, Japanes control, this is true. And certainly Japanese farmers and gardeners have not been pouring into Man. churia.
 The Japanese penetration there has been business penetration, consisting of merchants. capitalists engineers and, in general, exploit CTS rather than settlers. The real settlers there are Chinese, who have been coming in by millions. There seems to be little of the pioneering spirit in Japan, except in com- merieal and military sense. And the present movement looks, from this distance, like a deliberate effort to dominate Manchuria economically by force of arms
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
Quotations

No matter how important or big the offender, history shows that he is eventually caught. Amos w. w. Woodcock, pro- hibition commissioner. ss You must season statistics with judgment.
 Walter S. GiGfford. t Civilized man is subject to so many inhibitions that ne is rarely free or happy.
 Rev J s. Hardwick.
 
 The overwhelming majority of American people want even more prohibition than they have today. Rev Dr F. Scott Mcbride.
  If you get, you've got to give.
 Theodore Dreiser. Whenever I do indulge my sense of humor. it always gets me into trouble.
 Calvin Coolidge.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21

Old time republicans and those not so old will surely remember Frank H. Hitchcock.
 He was Postmaster General under Taft's ad- ministration and also chairman of the Re- publican National Committee at one time. It is now said that Mir Hitchcock. is anxious to return to politics. He plans to seek the republican nomination for U. S. Senator in Arizona next year. The present incumbent is democrat - Senator Carl Hayden. He will finish his first term in lo33 after six teen years in the lower house. Mir Hitch cock is in the newspaper business with a New York city as we'll as an Arizona ad- dress. Incidentally he was born in Ohio which guarantees his political up-bringing.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21

of this country. Some of their plans include restoration of the breeding ground at Lower Klamath Lake in the far West. Once upon a time it was haven for migratory birds. It was drained in the interest of agriculture. Its restoration is declared imperative. Pro- lection of the large brown bear, Alaskan moose. sea otter. and several other species of animals and fur-bearers are sought. Now they are nearly extinct. While the average life of an American rarely crosses that of a brown bear. for example, country cannot deliberately exterminate species of animal. It's against all laws of nature.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
NEA Service Writer

| kCLAbANO "kAtSk
 Washington. The depression, says Commissioner Ethelbert Stew
 art of the bureau of labor statistics, 1 is playing no favorites.
 The same government which
 has been listening to bankers with pleas for debt moratoriums and plans for a half-billion dollar
 bank relief fund has been making
 surveys which indicate that farm- CTS, workmen and the white col-
 lar classes all have been getting i it in the neck to vraying de- gree.s but always in the neck. .. When you think of the Hong. suffering" farmer and his trou- bles you are likely to think only
 of the wheat and cotton growers. but the producers of fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy prod. ucts are all hard hit by the drop in food prices which for most city families is the only discernible silver streak in the big cloud.
 Although the factory workers
 have been chief victims of unem- ployment and heavy payroll slashes the miners and the oil field work
 CTS have suffered almost equally.
 And the government surveys show | street car conductors, store clerks,
 hotel employees and the like. have
 also been laid off in quite substan-
 tial numbers. By the time you put
 all the facts and figures together you relaize that there probably isn't single group which isn't in | intimate contact with the depres- sion or Is without reason to pray for early revival.
 When you learn that the index l figure for the farmers buying power now stands at 57 1t means
 that his purchasing power as rep- | resented by his products has dropped 43 per cent from its aver
 age from 1910 to 1914. The index | figure was 82 as late as last year,
 So it has gone down fast and far.
 The cause is seen in the fact that
 the index for farm prices has tum-
 bled from III in September of last
 year to new low record of 72 in
 the past September. But the cost
 of what the farmer must buy to
 maintain his family and run his
 farm has fallen only 20 points from
 one summer to the other. His buy
 ing power fell 35 per cent and his
 expenses only about 13 per cent
 during the year. Grain prices fell
 50 per cent from September to
 September. The indexes also show declines of 65 points on fruit and
 vegetables. AZ points on meat anil
 malls, 30 points on dairy and poul- try products and 36 points on cot
 ton and cotton-seed.
 The treasury has revelead that
 the first quarter of the 1892 fiscal year, ending the last of September,
 gave the tipoff on members of the white collar class who make enough money to pay income i taxes. Income tax receipts de- creased 43 per cent from those of
 the first quarter last year. An in- teresting sidelight is that miscel-
 laneous internal revenue receipts declined less than 10 per cent.
 These are made up mostly of to-
 bacco taxes. so it appears that smoking is going on about as usual
 As a further glimpse at the white collar situation one cites re-
 auctions in payrolls of 13 per cent
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
At He National Capitol
Digest of Who's Who and What's Wha
DAILY WASHINGTON LETTER
By RODNEY DUTCHER

for street railway workers, per
 cent for retail clerks and 15 per
 cent for hotel workers between the
 1890 summer and the one just
 past.
 Stewart says the net loss suffered by workers in manufacturing, talk
 ing into account a 40 per cent de-
 cline in total payrolls and lower living costs, has been about 30 per cent since December, 1925 That is the date on which the in- dex figure of 100 is based. Bring ing us up to now on other import ant figures, he says food in that
 period has declined 2S.5 per cent,
 clothing 14 per cent, rent IS per
 cent, fuel and light 11.5 per cent and house furnishings 17 per cent. Food averages only 37 per cent of
 the workman's budget, 1t has been found, so there has been a decline
 of but 15 per cent in the items
 that go to make up the cost of
 living for the workman's family.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21

New York state will vote on a tremend- ous proposition in November. It is plan of forest conservation on a scale never before attempted. perhaps even contemplated. by any state in this nation. let alone any coun- try. It is known as the Hewitt plan and involves expenditure of close to $20.000,000 over period of twenty years in retaining abandoned farm lands for tree-planting pur- poses. It wasn't so many years ago that State Senator Charles J. Hewitt introduced a resolution in the Legislature proposing to bond the state for $l00.000.000 to pur- chase abandoned farm lands for reforestation purposes. It was merely feeler. There was good response from the public. So much so that in 1927 the State Reforesta- ton Commission was created. It proposes to the public purchase of 100000 acres of idle land for reforestation. It will be voted upon m November and we wouldn't be bit surprised if it was endorsed. Of course. New York has always been leader in, this respect. Its state parks and state forests give it an enviable reputation. Blessed by nature it certainly is doing the right thing in preserving for all posterity that which is theirs by inherent right. We cannot destroy the natural heritages that were ours without making some provision to replace them. Every state should have conservation pro- gram comparable to New York's
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
Here. There And EDerylOhere

whole of Lake Meacham. as a re- creational center in the forest pre- serve, contains a slight amount of hyperbole. Although pleasing enough. the lake can scarcely be called lone of the most attractive bodies of water in the Adiron- dacks." The promise of "accom- modatoins for 10000 campers seems rather a large order even in these days, when public camp sites provided by the staet have attained unprecedented popularity.
 It is true that the lake has Hong been famous for its trout" --so long, in fact, and so famous that there are comparatively few trout left. By process of na- tural selection they have grown so astute that 1t is exceedingly diff cult to deceive them by any lure known to man. Under the most favorable conditions that 10000 campers could count on jonly a fractional return on their invest ment 1 nrod, reel and bait. even if they resort to Coolidge hackles"
 Perhaps they will ask no more. A youth once fished three sum mers long in a nearby lake without catching a single trout. t1nally his guide became so disgusted that he secreted dead fish in the boat and put it on the boys hook when he wasn't looking. As if a true sportsman needle any such incen- tive! He could fish ten years without material reward. provided he got a rise now and then to sus- tain his confidence in then exist ence of his prey.
 The 10000 campers will have to be content with, say hundredth part of a trout a day apiece. That is about al ithe fishery will pro duce-evefi if the fish are starved to the poitn of desperation to make them bite. But evan if the campers have to tkae turns looking at the lake, ana watch out for the back cast, they should enjoy themselves at Meachaili. Ii Is near the state road and ringed about with for ests full of deer to be glimpsed in the glare of automobile headlights. All told. this new addition to the forest reserve is wise extension of a wise public policy.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21

Perfection is demanded in the marble stone that will be used as part of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Na- tional Cemetery. A tiny flow just revealed of lotion marble block. Of course. the present tomb of the Unknown Soldier is only temporary. The complete plans call by a magnifying glass has caused rejection for magnificent monument to be completed in the near future. Certainly no flaws, insignificant as that might be, should in- trude themselves. A t
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
COOLIDGE SILENCE
(Hartford Times)

tHartfOrQ I1meS)
 The Outlook and Independent is playfully perturbed over Calvin CooIidge's prolonged Journalistic vacation. It recalls that he stated
 last June that he would cease con- tributing his daily syndicated edi- torialettes during the summer
 months. These have come and gone. E-en October is entering its second half and still there is no sign as to when the Coolidge install
 ments will reappear. The ma gazine concludes with this fillup ON the prospects:
 The people of this great nation are lonely for MT Coolidge's mes sages. Loneliness is not a good thing. Many old people, sick people and poor people become lonely. This Is too bad, but 1t cannot ne helped. For Coolidge loneliness. however, there is remedy. MT Coolidge must write some more daily messages. The people of our great country are confident that, if the terms of his
 contract are satisfactory, he will do so. tt si A bit more serious reflection suggests that the Coolidge journa-
 listic vacation is perhaps being prolonged somewhat because of the volatile condition of national and world affairs. The former presi- dent may feel himself out of sym pathy with some of the Hoover policies of recent times and not wishing to be a hindrance to their execsI lion he may prefer saying nothing at all. Also he Is probably aware that if he does resume his
 daily comments this fall the stress
 and strain of the times may cause
 them to be more critically weighed
 than most authors relish. Nor
 should one overlook the possibility
 that if a vacation Is proving
 thoroughly enjoyable no other req
 son is necessary for extending 1t.
 As he is not to be considered in
 connection with the presidential
 nomination, there is no occasion
 for concern over his silence.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
HE'S PARTICULAR

Jacksonviile. Floriad = One
 Jacksonville drinker Is particular who arrests him. He recently walked up to Patrolman Burley mith, informed him that he was drunk. and expressed the desire to 70 to jail. Let's go." Smith said.
 "No." said the indulger, you won't do. I want Officer II. V. Branch
 10 put me in jail" Branch had to make the arrest before the fntcxi- eatsd one would SO Co Jail.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
TODAY IS THEA
 ANNIVERSARY sgeZA
SEA RATTLE AT RIGA


 On October 21, 1917, the Ger mans suffered heavy losses in fighting in and near the Gulf of Riga.
 Six German torpedo boats were sunk, and two dreadnaughts, one cruisers K torpedo boats. and one transport were put out of ac- ton.
 The Russian fleet was driven into the inner waters of Moon Sound behind a barrier of mines planted by German submarines. German submarines appeared In the Gulf of Finland. Later the German fleet bonn barded positions on the western coast of the Gulf of Riga. British troops attacked the Turks northwest of Bagdad. and the Turks retreated. The British captured number of prisoners and much ammunition. And while the German fleet was bombarding the Gulf of Riga, Allied warships were bonn barding Ostend.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-21
OHMIGosH

They were sitting in the parlor, (Now pleases don't wear a
 fn0wn,) The reason, why it's plain enough, Their car had busted down. A o-O-o ,.s An apple day may keep the doctor away but apple sauce will eventually land a political job.
 o-O-o What the country needs right now: Dollar politicians instead of the ten, twenty z and thirty cent variety.
 o-O-o . It's got so now that you have to put the safe in safe keeping.
 o-O--o
 Editor Day by-Day: I won- der what Eve did the first autumn when the leaves began to fail.--Mrs V. M. Fl. (Sh-h- -h-h, daddy spank.-The Ed.)
 o-O-o
 This completes our regular mid- week program. It came to you over DBD and was furnished through the courtesy of the Water. bury Evening Democrat, pioneer fn this type of newspaper work. We are nigninR off at this time, to be back on the air again tomorrow evening at the usual hour.
 o--O-~0
 Good night.