davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
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 A Book a Day
by BRUCE CATION

In Beyond Desire," Sherwood Anderson is still groping for the
 key to American 1ife--groping Tn confusion and wonder and Occa- sionally in terror, but always with
 a deep tenderness for people and
 with profound poetic insight. Sometimes, in this book, he seems to feel that machinery is the keey--that a worship of the ma chine is to be the lands salvation. At other times he leans toward Communism as the new religion. In the end he is not decided; but meanwhile he gives you Q beautiful land moving novel. The plot Is slight. It is about
 Red Oliver, son of g doctor in a Georgia mill town, who wants to get himself into rapport with the
 spirit of his age and fails because
 he can't figure out what that spirit
 may be.
 He plays baseball, fumbles about blindly with woman who dazzles him, works in the mill, and at last goes drifting northward,
 wanting to ally himself with the luckless mill hands, but not know ing qMite how to do 1t. Finally he gets involved in a Communist
 strike in North Carolina and is shot
 to death by a National GuardsmAn. That's all. But you get to know Red Oliver almost as you know your own brother; and you get to know the others, too--the mill girls, the townsfolk, the rulers of
 the town, all of the actors in the |perplexing and chaotic drama which incarnates sthe perplexity and chaos of America itself.
 Beyond Desire'' is published by
 Liveright, and sells for $2.50.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
Railroad Peace

If a lot of big railroad men mean what they cay. it was great thing for them and the country when. after a meeting in New York the other day. the heads of eastern trunk lines gave out this statement: The executives of the four systems (the New York Central. Pennsylvania Baltimore and Ohio and Chesapeake and Ohio) have agreed and composed ali differences between them selves arising from the Interstate Commerce Commissions four-system consolidation plan of July. 1o32." Efforts to unify the eastern railroads along with the important lines of the West and South. have been hanging fire for dozen years They were delayed by the Commission and by the rail- roads themselves.
 "The effect of the agreement" it is ex- plained. will be to set up in the East four systems fairly evenly balanced as to assets. mileage and outlets to Atlantic and Great Lakes ports and to the West. It will enable each of the systems to compete more fav- orably with the motor vehicle. the pipe line. the electric transmission line and, to lesser extent. the government-s supported waterway. all of which have cut into railway revenues in recent years. Economics from the group ings will be realized through the elmina- ton of duplicating facilities and from more economical routing of traffic" Railroads are as important as any single factor in the revival of business. If they can eliminate their dead wood and cooperate among themselves and with the Interstate Com merce Commission. the prosperity train will be ready to start.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
It Didn't Last Long

When congress convenes in December one of the first things that it may be asked to do is amend the emergency tax measure that it eventually put through this year to permit first class postage rates to return to two cents for the first ounce. The present rate is three cents which is equivalent to what it was for a short time during the World war. Prior to that and since that lime the rate has been pretty much fixed at two cents. The present three-cent rate went into effect July 6. It is natural for citizens and Aaxpayers to inquire why congress has to engage in such a rigmarole as this.
 Here's what the house postofflce sub- committee has to say about the present rate of three-cents: Tn view of representations made to the sub committee at its hearings. the falling off in the volume of first class mail since the three-cent rate went into 'ef- feet. the post master generals recent public statements that the two cent rate should be restored as soon as the postal business war ranted it, and the desire of the sub-commit- tee to build up mails so as to provide more revenue and work opportunities for the pos tai employes and substitutes who are being deprived of employment as a result of the decreased postal business =" return of the old rates is advocated
 When the increase in the first class rates was first suggested we opposed it. We did this on the assumption that since first class mail was paying its own. way it ought not to be touched It was other classes of mail that created the postofice department deficit. vet the government took the easiest way out Of the situation by trying to tax first class nail which would hit the greatest number of taxpayers. No wonder mail income has fallen off in the few months that the new rafes have been in effect. We don't doubt hut what business houses are adopting other and less expensive means of transmitting messages. etc. And people who might send 4 dozen checks through the mail two or tl,ree times a week. now deliver the cash iii person. thus avoiding the extra cent post fsge and the tax on checks. Our legislators 6ktsinly need to put their heads together ahd tfgure ont some other way of balanc- ine tie budget
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
Little Nations Speak Out

The little nations may yet save the League of Nations from the follies of the great powers The little nations take the League seriously. It offers them. for the first time. chance to speak their minds. air their own grievances, demand their own rights and tell the powerful nations what they think of them The lesser powers are afraid to tackle problems which the big fellows usually con- sider their own special province and some which they are inclined to evade.
 The other day. at Geneva, Senor de Madariaga of Spain and Ramon de Valera. president of the Irish Free State and also Council. spoke firmly to Japan. De Valera rebuked the Japanese for going ahead with formal recognition of Manchukuo without waiting for publication of the commissions presiding officer of the League of Nations report and for trying to postpone indefi- nitely discussion of that report. It is be- lieved that the silent spokesmen of the bigger nations approved the plain-speaking of the Spanish and Irish representatives. ,'
 The outcome of this particular issue IS unknown. It remains true. however. that the frankness of the lesser powers is, a valur able and wholesome thing. The big fellows may try to manipulate things behind the scenes but the little fellows will keep useful check on them by their growing habit of speaking their minds with the whole world for audience.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
(AIgpO|Id[a| F0Nipsg gf|972

incumbents are being renominated and reelected this year even though a large minority is being booted out.
 But 1t does make a lot of diff ference when a dozen republican senators refuse to campaign for the Hoover ticket and when some even denounce 1t.
 Most. of their states are fighting ground for the first time since 1916 and Hoover needs the sup port of those progressives and their supporters. Each one has a personal following, some of them very large.
 Norris, vigorously campaigning for Roosevelt, is likely to be the
 influence which will cost Hoover Nebraska. Johnson, attacking Hoover and praising ARooGevelt without declaring for him, can sway enough votes to make Cali fornia a doubtful state.
 And to the extent that you con- sider Wisconsin, Iowa, North Da- kotat and Pennsylvania doubtful states you must concede Q large degree or temporary pONtlcaI po- tericy to the LaFollettes, Blaine, Brookhart, Wye and Pinchot. Their failure to help Hoover may make "the difference"
 Hoover's thoroughgoing con- servatisrn, which has alienated nearly all the progressive leaders, means that a Hoover victory will be a tremendous victory for the conservatives. On the other hand, Hoover may wish later that he had done more to appease the progress sives.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
So They Say

We are nearing the crossroads at which the fatal decision must be taken-for peace and disarma- mentor for renewal of mad competition in armaments and ul- timate war.
 Arthur Henderson, president Gc-
 neva disarmament conference.
 ::
 Now, if ever, is the time to see that boys are employed to keep them from joining the ever-swell- Ing ranks of homeless. wandering youth.
 Joel R. Moore. supervisor U. &.
 probation system. 1: :b
 We definitely are out of the pam icky state that banking and bus- mess have been suffering for many months. Wilson Mccarthy, Reconstruct ~tion Finance corporation direc- tor.
 There is more danger of the for gotten nation than of the forgot ten man.
 President James Lukens McCon- aughy of Wesleyan university.
 New York is a fine place to play but I couldn't work there.
 Ellen Glasgow, novelist.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01

Twenty eight inches separate man or for that matter. woman from death in a head-on collision where: two automobiles are travelling twenty miles an hour. We have this on the authority of no other than H. L. Yeagley of Pennsylvania State col lege. He bases his determination on the fol- lowing description:- T was climbing the side of Nittany mountain, when car came around curve at full thirty mile speed, with the driver asleep at the wheel. Just beside us it dashed head-on into concrete abutment hastened over expecting surely to find a corpse; but though the car was a total wreck. its driver, an elderly man, was only trifle bewildered and bruised .. ." Making measurements the scientist found that the car moved two feet between the moment of contact between the wall and the front bumper and complete stoppage. The steering wheel was bent forward SIX inches From this" says Mir 4eagey. It
 is apparent that the man was stopped through distance of about two and hali feet. This is about the same as falling into freman's net from the fourth floor of building Oh, yeah! Then you try falling into the net Mir Yeagley. We'll take your word about the twenty eight inches of safety. but we don't imagine that the idea
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
Troublesome Conquests

Korea is seething with unrest. Just as Japan was beginning to regard that de- pendency as satisfactorily subdued. the smoldering fire burst into flame again as result of the Japanese invasion of Man churia A Korean tried to assassinate the emperor of Japan last winter. Korean stu dents have been spreading patriotic propa- ganda again. an activity in which they are skillful, They grow more nationalIstlc. They want independence. There are 2l.- 100000 of them.
 There is continued trouble for Japan in Manchuria, too. Its 25.000,000 or more of Chinese and Koreans do not like Japanese rule any better now than they did six months ago. And there is vast China be- yond permanently hostile to Japanese am- bitions Nearly all the world powers have grown great through conquest at strategic times and places. But land-grabbing is not what it used to be. There is new spirit loose in the world spirit of self-determl- nation among oppressed peoples and gen. eral disposition to respect it.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
esn be soId to motor car manufaetursrs q that they win fedcsign their models.

We don't blame officials at Washington for laughing at-fhe rumor started in Japan that this nation is tunneling under Boring Strait with the purpose of running rail- road line through it from Alaska to Mos COW. That's rather fantastic idea, not to mention being trihe too expensive for this old nation of ours to shoulder right at this moment In fact in flush times we doubt. if the government could be persuaded into backing or engaging in such an undertaking. Japanese have been basing their claims on the recent Roy Chapman explorations in the Gob desert of Monsolias Personally. we should never want to ride over this route. as even before it would enter the fifty-mile underwater tunnel it would pass through the most desolate portion of North America. It's good laugh. though. and they are appreciated in these hard times.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
THE DIVORCE RACKET Second Only to Anti-Trust and Volstead Enaetments
BY~JOHN B. GRECO.

Perhaps outside of the anti- trust sherman act and the Volstepd enactment, there is no other legal provision the operation of which has yielded more fraud, perjury and corruption than the present divorce laws.
 Divorce actions arising from sincere and honest contentious, are as rare as sidereal showers in spring. The legal remedy Is fre- quently resorted to either as an escape from the rilon0tony of mari- tai relations which spring >from an aversion to submit to the trials and sacrifice of married life or as a means to legalize illicit intimacy.
 The tendency of human nature to lose interest when the novelty wears off, untampered with proper expectations of the ideals and sanctity of wedlock, leads many to seek new explorations. Under the pretext of incompatibility, often confused for an unconscious sup pressed desire to shake off the yoke, promiscuous a cquaintances are freely indulged in. easg
 The undue liberties, justified by broadness of mind, breed a mental state that idealizes the newly made friendship and despises the lawful companion. The distracted fancy and fioundering mind throw the one into unfavorable contrast with the other. The delusion of having found better understanding in the apparently congenial company, creates 8 hopeless condition verg- ing on obsession which makes the sudden incompatibility, in the otherwise happy home, an intoler- able nuisance.
 The domestic hearth under such circumstances Is turned into a real jungle of confusion and disorder. The least provocation stirs a quar- rel, so much so, that each begins to imagine hell within and Q paradise abroad. The familiar phrase of a misunderstood hus- tual dissolution of their marital relations. a
 It is mostly under these circum- stances that lay is called upon not to remedy an evil but to place a seal of legitimacy on immoral and corrupt activities. Collision ex- pressed in terms of well planned choice of suitable grounds for die vorce appears in nearly every acc tion. However common and popu- lar are our divorce procedures. the public mind is not yet cleared of the false notion that one can ob- tain divorce if the other party con- sents. The phrase T will" or twill not sign the divorce paper' is usually used by either one of the other party involved in the divorce action.
 are treated as mere agencies or bureaus not unlike those of Soviet Russia. Tn the. manner of sightless Jacob, who through artifice and trickery, was led to impart the blessing upon the deceitful zimpos- ter, our procedure is made to place the stamp of approval upon fraud, connivance and perjury. ssY
 The essential requiDite necessary for the divorce seeker is freedom from guilt which might be the basis for counter .charRes by the party itself accusod. Thus whom both parties are equally guilty, each having ground for dtvorces
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01

Farm real estate taxes increased just l50 per cent in the period from 1913 to 1930 in New England. And if that is conducive to this back to the farm" movement of which we hear SO much then we are sadly mistaken. In our own little state taxes on farm real estate rose from an average of 5 cents per acre to $1.61. These figures are based on Department of Agriculture inves- tigations and are fairly accurate. Personally we don't see how good many rural dwell- CTS retain thex vast acres. It certainly is high time that the land owners benefited by sweeping tax revision. It has been needed now for too many years.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
To-day's Selected Poem,
AGAIN THE AUTUMN

(By Glenn Ward Dresbach in The Christian
 Science Monitor) Again these divers in the blue Deep pool of air, the swallows, cool And g1inting, arc to silence through The golden leaves upon the pool. Again old orchards mass the tang Of cider-richness in the haze; The sum- drowned nests of orioles hang Above the sumac's windy blaze. Again the autumn fills the heart With musky fragrance and the sound Of wings that ghsten-and depart And apples falling to the ground.
 Beverly photo.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
SATURDAY, OCTOBER l. 1ssi
More Toll Road Propaganda

Perhaps we are prejudieed. but we must confess that the thoughts of the Merritt highway being opened as toll road does not meet with out liking. That. of course. dcesn't count cae way or the other with state officials, but we believe that public opinion will be opposed to the new parallel route of the Boston Post road as toll road Fairfield county may point out the advan- tages of such proposition. but there will be plenty to point out the danger of the state indulging in such an experiment. Not that the road wouldn't probably pay for itseIf in short order in this way but would the state stop the tolls once the bond issue had been retiredi
 Perhaps it would and perhaps it would nit. It might find that such scheme pro- vided substantial amount of revenue that the state highway department could use very nicely in financing other big projects that would have come up by that time. And in the meantime there would be demands from other parts of the state for toll roads and bridges. The demand would be based on the same reasons, as those now being advanced by individuals and organizations in Fairfield county. Remember what hap pened several years ago when private cor poration sought franchise so that it might secure rights of way all the way across the state from~th New York to the Massackus- .etts line. It was turned down fatly.
 We'll. why shouldn't private companies finance toll roads in Connecticut. if the state is going into that business. Maybe we don't understand Fairfield county prob- 4ems away up here in Waterbury. Certainly we are not subjected to the outrush of .horde of New York motorists in the tour ira season. But Connecticut isn't so large that one section is so terribly overerowded with motorists and the remainder prac- tically isolated We know that the paral- liel route to the Post road is an absolute necessity and the sooner it is built the better off traffic conditions will be. That attitude highway department isn't moving fast enough with its plans for building the Mer- ritt highway. It has been our contention right along that it is.
 It must be remembered tbat this road in- yolved an entire new right of way from the New York state line near Portchester all the way up to Bridgeport. That in itself is an expensive and arduous task. We don't know whether the state has acquired rights of way from one end of the route to the other. but certainly it is going at this deli cate and dsagreeable job as best as it can. If the project can be rushed by securing loan from the Reconstruction Finance cor- poration by all means let us try to secure one But if people think the speedy com pietion of the road is going to provide jobs for thousands of unemployed they are due for a sad awakening. Commissioner Mae- donald exploded that thought some time ago Highway jobs, at the best can't take care of more than a few hundred men and then only in the warm months. The toll road to us is still fantasy.
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01
BoLTING COP. PROGRESSIVE

Washington - Although the | progressives have been having some very bad luck, especially those who call themselves repub-
 licans, they will be accorded a
 large share of the credit or blame in case Governor Roosevelt defeats
 President Hoover in the November ! election.
 A close election is always fol- lowed by innumerable explana- tions and 1t can be argued plaus-
 ibly that had it not been for any I one of a dozen minor factors, some of them accidental and some cas- | fly avojdable, the outcome would have been different.
 If Roosevelt wins he will have
 won both his nomination by virtue
 of progressive support and his
 election by the acquisition of an independent vote for which the progressives in public office may be considered the spokesmen. His election will have been aid- ed by the enthusiastic support of the democratic progressives and the opposition of the republican progressives to Hoover. There will be other factors, of course,
 but unless a landslide is in pros- pect the progressives will be an important one.
 Neither the organization of an independent league of progressives for Roosevelt headed by Senator George w. Norris of Nebraska, nor the defeat of Governor LaFollette and Senator Blaine in the Wiscon-
 sin primaries, following that of Senator Brookhart in Iowa, signl- fies anything decisive in the pres- identfal campaign.
 The republican conservatives carried Wisconsin in a campaign restricted carefully to state issues, ex-Governor Kohler having assert ed after his 1880 defeat that Hoo. yer had been too big @ load to carry. The LaFollettes lost their democratic support because the democrats voted in their own pri- mary and there seems to be real chance that Roosevelt will carry the state.
 As for Iowa. straw votes and farmer unrest have indicated such marked trend to Roosevelt that President Hoover will make spe- cial trip for speech at Des Moines.
 Furthermore, the argument, that the Wisconsin result augurs badly for Hoover simply because 1t demonstrates the voters are out to unseat those in power doesn't stand up for the reason that most
The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-01

ithe law ignores their claims and compels them to remain as they are, on the ground that if they are not fit to live with each other by the stronger reason they are not fit to live with any one else. When such a state of, affair prevails we | find that by secret arrangements one party assumes the role of tho virtuous spouse and the other plays that of the black sheep and fiees to parts unknown. &
 It is strange that the average case brought to the judicial atten- ton should turn out to be non-
 contested. A comparison of the
 list of other actions with that of divorce shows that in the majority
 of cases of the latter type the de- fendant takes no issue, while in
 the former the very opposite is true.
 As a matter of experience, the average person sued at law seldom f fails to- appear and set up a de- fence. The bulk of civil actions that are brought to our courts con-
 sists of vindicationg or assertion of property rights. The litigant who has been deprived of that which he thinks belongs to him as a mat ter of right enlists the aid of the tribunal for proper redress, while the other side assuming avcontrary attitude proceeds to defend what he claims to be his rights.
 The fact that the property rights, which are comparatively vile, should be 50 diligently asserted such indifference, creates Q suspi-i rfnr that. Nannnt hA axnlafnAA An basis other than fraud and collu- sion.
 There Is no reason why the Iibel- ous charges set forth in the ordi- nary divorce action, should be passed oyer in silence and without the slightest shade of protest. Does not the situation indicate a lack of sincerity and good faith in the procedure? If not, are the rights
 arising out of domestic relations of less importance than the rights of private 1ownership7 Are all divorce
 actions worthy and righteous
 causes, that so many of them go
 through our courts without the test Where real grounds are absent the party who is either prompted by passion, disappointment or hat-
 red and is consequently bent on
 bre. ing the matrimonial bonds, resorts to the despicable practices
 of entrappipg the innocent spouse through sneaky agents, and thus creates the necessary causes at will by means of such panders and de- ceivers. Thousands of dollars are being spent by debauchers and pleasure seekers who have humor- ed all their whims and desires and have nothing else to explore but the allurements of novelty which they carry not only in the field of amusements but also in the hearth of the domestic life. VI