The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-05-04
1iojIlijd'09'9((Slj
National Topics Interpreted e fFYFTTT5A
by William Bruckart ssrE3W

SlLlO0 C03I the cOueS nave pcEulltcd
the great industries TO grind the
smaller ones. the little fellows, to a
commercial death.
The Presidents views of the report
are not known at this time, but it has
leaked out that Mr.. Roosevelt Is will
ing to have the review board call
spade a spade. knowledge of his at
titude came through devious channels.
There was rumor around washington
that the Precedent was going TO try 20
kill of the board by withholding funds
from it, The board was the idea or
some OF the senator's. anyway, and II
was believed the President felt none
too warmly toward It. Yet il has now
been established that the President is
going 10 uphold the hand of the
board, notwithstanding extreme pres
sure that is coming from NRA quar-
tiers to get rid of it.
In some Washington offices there is
a very definite belief that Mr.. ROOse-
welt is entirely willing TO let General
Johnson retire. General JOhnson's
bombastic style OF speech and his
crack down" threats have not been
so well received in many places and
there is opinion available that the
general ought To fade out Of the NRA.
Mr.. Roosevelt can't fire him. That
would be dangerous thing TO do
from political standpoint. II does
seem, however, that a change is COM
ing.
Business leaders have begun to
preach more strongly against the
codes and they are getting more and
more adherents. Some economists
who were thoroughly ''sold" on the
codes have begun TO doubt that the
types of regulations adopted are all
that they have been advertised. As
the things are put in practice, their
weaknesses develop. Whether they
can be corrected for practicable ap-
plication remains to be seen.
With all OF this war talk hither and
yon, inquired from the War depart
ment and found that
Army roughly one-third Of
n...:Lr,t;, our army forces are
garrisoned outside
OF the United States. The latest off,
cial tabulation shows the army as
having 12156 officers, SS5 warrant Of
fcers. and 123,459 enlisted men, in
Guiding around 1000 Philippine
14n
warrant officers and 35.036 enlisted
men are on posts outside Of continen-
tai United States.
The matter Of the location of our
army personnel is pertinent ar this
time, too, because of the possibility
that the United States government
sooner or later will grant independ-
ence to the FilippinOs. I hope il is
later, rather than sooner, for hear
so much discussion of dangers that
appear certain TO develop if the Flip
pinos become nation unto them
selves. The consensus seems TO be
that the natives will be able TO govern
themselves. but whether they can pro-
tect themselves is another matter.
The United States has an army
strength of 553 officers. 81 warrant Of
f1cers and 4.064 enlisted men in the
Philippines. in addition to the Philip
pine Scouts who number 81 officers
and 6,39S enlisted men. That is quite
a force and an influence against any
ideas that foreign powers must over
come before they seize the Philip
pines. II should be mentioned that
the force and influence existent there
also includes some rather important
American gunboats and a naval base.
Pearl Harbor, which undoubtedly is
the defense key. SO no bloodthirsty
foreign statesmen are going after the
little islands as long as our forces
are there.
There is an international phase TO
be considered at this time. one that
is not as apparent as it is real I re-
fer TO the tangled skein of circum-
stances resulting from Japanese dec
larations of a right to influence
Chinese affairs and 70 use force IL
necessary. That threat-and it can
not be called by any other nameis
notice TO Russia and TO all Of the
Western powers. the United States
included, that the Japanese program
of territorial expansion is going for
ward. II may be that many powers
will be involved before Japanese
statesmen are made TO understand,
but certainly II is not time in which
TO consider withdrawal from that i'm
portant position that our nation has
in the Philippines.
But TO get back TO the distribution
of our troops abroad: the army has
men stationed In Hawaii. China, Alas
ka, Panama and Puerto Rico. But in
anticipation Of withdrawal Of the
troops from the Philippines. little has
been done in improving or strength
ening the Philippine Notifications in
the last year. and less expenditure
is planned there for the future In
stead. the Canal Zone and Hawaii are
the outposts where money is being
spent. It is readily understandable
why the Canal Zone should be fully
prepared. In event Of war in which
our country is involved. the Panama
canal is worth hundreds of millions
Of other expenditures. since II Is IN
der American control and no other
ships can pass there without our
consent.
The largest overseas force OF the
American army is the contingent in
Hawaii. Its strength is SIC officers,
A warrant officers and 13,S4S men.
compared with minor contingents on
the remaining posts on the Pacific
side of the continent The Alaskan