davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
See Possibility of Creating
A Lot of Bootleggers

There is another phase of the pic
ture which was mentioned to me by
Representative Hope of Kansas, one
of the ranking members of the house
committee on agriculture. He sug-
gested that the blue stamps are 60
ing to create lot of bootleggers.
For example: the relief workers are
not permitted to buy liquor with the
stamps. They won't be redeemed
if they are used to buy anything
but food. However, Mr. Hope could
see no reason why a relief worker
couldn't use the stamps to buy liq-
uor from liquor store and the liq-
uor store owner might possibly be
crook. 1t is possible, you know.
He might own food store, too, or
he might have an. understanding
with food store owner who would
take the stamps at a few pennies
discount What is to stop such pro-
cedure? It's your guess.
The whole thing strikes me as be-
ing so silly as to defy ones powers
of imagination. 1t is dealt with here
at such length only because I re-
gard it as typical of a great many
things that are going on within the
department of agriculture for which
more than S1,000,00 $1,000 is soon to
be appropriated for years opera
tons. The blue stamp scheme is
destined to fail, even as the plow-
ing under of crops and the slaugh-
tering of 5000, 900 pigs was doomed
a-bornin' and as the limitation of
crop production was certain to flare
back on those who were sucked into
the maelstrom of nit wit plans.
Now, lest l be misunderstood, let
me restate with emphasis that there
is good work that the department
can do, and has been doing. Road
building appropriations, for in
stance. Where would this country
be had there been no attempt to
build disable roads? Who can say
that eradication of tuberculosis and
Bangs disease among live stock is
not valuable aid to farmers?
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Learn Beautiful Phrases
But at Rather High Cost

l am not prepared to say that the
wild life restoration program is
wholly bad. 1t seems probable that
the country ought to rebuild the
wild life stocks that have been wan
tonly destroyed in the days when
people could go out and shoot ducks
or deer or what have you without
thought of the morrow. 1t is pro-
gram for which considerable justi-
fication can be advanced.
But it is to be noted that most of
these items are small. Neither the
department of agriculture admins
tration nor the members of the
house and the senate have seen fit
to do more than maintain them. l
have seen the inmates of the capt.
tol squirm and fuss and scowl about
some of them, while swallowing the
items reaching into hundreds of mil
lions with the greatest of glee.
AS l said, it was not so long ago
that department of agriculture APP
preparations were regarded as huge
if they totalled 40 millions. AS far
as l can see, agriculture is no bet
ter off today than it was in those
years. Of course, a very great
number of farmers have learned
that the beautiful phrases like 1.-The
more abundant life" and such, are
meaningless. But l venture the as
sertion that the education has been
rather expensive.
From all of these things it is
surely made to appear that there
are some large Ethiopian gentlemen
in the wood pile. When the politi-
clans and the advanced thinkers
joined hands to manage agriculture,
just then federal expenses for the
department of agriculture began
looming upward.
G. Western Newspaper Union.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06

can take those stamps to his gro
Gerry store and use them just like
they were quarters, or half dollars
or dollars. The groceryman will
take them and he will be paid hon.
est-to-goodness United States mon
ey Tor them. Thus will the surplus
STOCKS OF food products be reduced
and the remainder will bring better
prices. Or so say the advanced
thinkers.
When ! read the explanation of
the program that was sent me by
one OF Mr.. Wallace'S publicity staff,
the first thing that struck me was
the extreme discrimination that will
result. 1t is easy to see. Take any
man who is trying to hold down a
private job. 1t may be paying him
only $50 month, or about the same
as the relief worker gets. Natural
ly, he would like to be making more
money. Who wouldn't? But he sticks
on his job and stays off of relief.
Then, when he gets paid he goes to
the grocery store to buy some food.
He pays cash, and gets his food.
About the same moment a relief
worker walks in, orders the same
list of groceries, perhaps, and pays
for them out of stamp book 1t ap-
pears to me that the hard bitten
private worker is going to find little
solace in remaining on his job. 1t
strikes me he-and millions of 9TH
ers-are going to be resentful of
such tactics.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
A Safety-M
AdVenturer
THE Colorado river was referred.

THE Colorado river was referred
l. to as mysterious monster
until Maj. J. w. Powell made the
first authentic survey of its canyons
in 1869. 1t lured many daring adj
venturers to their death both before
and after his first expedition.
Strangely enough, Powell was a,
scholar and not an adventurer by
purpose. Even when he made his.
successful journey down the river,
it was his methodical preciseness,
rather than engineering or navigat-
ing ability that brought success.
The Colorado descends an average
of more than eight feet each mile
and makes this drop by series Of
rapids. 1t RACES through canyons
with perpendicular walls that often
tower several thousand feet.
Powell never ran into anything
dangerous when he could avoid IL.
Being a geologist and not naviga-
tor, he beached his boat and sent
men along the cataract walls to re-
connoiter the rapids ahead before
he attempted to descend them. Pow
ellis methods were so successful
that he is one of only few who
ever made expeditions down the Col
orado without losing single life.
He travelled the Colorado from the
Green river in Wyoming to Virgin.
canyon below the Grand canyon,
bringing back the first authentic in
formation about that natural wonder.
Although he was professor Of
geology at Illinois Wesleyan univer-
sity and had had no navigating ex-
perience before his first venture, he
designed boats that became models
for Colorado river work.
Major Powell was a paradox-a
cautious man whose motto was.
safety first" and yet he was one Of
Americas greatest adventures.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Bruckart's Washington Digest
Find Joker in Department Of
Agriculture Appropriation Bill
It's the Soonto- Be- Famous Food Stamps and Here's
How Advanced Thinkers Think 1t Will Work;
Billion Dollars Is All They Want
By WILLIAM BRUCKART
WNU Service, National Press Bldg, Washington D. c.

WASHINGTON.-It was not so
long ago-six or eight years, per-
haps-that the annual cost of the
department of agriculture to the
taxpayers of the country amounted
to something like 10000, 900. There
was some talk even in those days
about the drain upon the federal
treasury resulting from department
of agriculture operations. The to-
tails were questioned; many persons
wondered whether the politicians
we're justified in voting that much
money to the department because
there was little to show in the way
of results. That is, congressman
could show very little except the
packages of seeds sent out to their
districts.
1t was in those days, however,
that the department of agriculture
was seeking to operate effectively.
Farming was not regarded by the
folks who used to run the depart
ment as subject for politics. The
departmental officials were going
about their business, rendering as
sistance in the form of advice and
promoting better farming-when the
farmers asked for it.
l was reminded of those days re-
Gently when the house appropria-
tons committee brought out for
consideration the appropriations bill
for the department Of agriculture
for the fiscal year that begins next
July /. A Rip Van Wrinkle who could
have slept through the last 10 years
would have believed, truly, that he
was in another world The new
money bill for the department con-
tains a total of more than $1,000
600, 900. The measure, indeed, ranks
as the third largest appropriations
bill Of this year when altogether
there is likely to be almost $40, 000,-
600 900 aDDrODriated
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Europe

Almost forgotten in the heat Of
European affairs was a prediction
that came true: That March would
be crisis month. AS March neared
its lamb-like end. Reichsfuehrer
Adolf Hitler and Premier Benito
Mussolini had indeed engineered
crisis and Europe's democracies
were found wanting. The blunt fact:
For nine days after Germany'S
Czech conquest, France, Britain,
Russia and Poland sought unsuc-
cessfully for solidarity while Hitler
made hay in Slovakia, Memel, Lith-
uania, Belgium and Rumania. The
aftermath: Mussolini found courage
to cry openly for the first time) for
French concessions. By the months
end it appeared flowers would bloom
this April in Europe, for only the
remote possibility of French anti
Italian action could mar an other
wise complete Nazi-Fascist victory:
Germany. Of minor importance
to jittery London and France are
new German treaties Handwriting
Slovakia and Lithuania. OF greater
interest is the barter treaty with
Belgium, an i1road that strikes close
to home. But most important is
the pact Hitler showed down the
throat of Rumania's King Carol. It's
gist: About 80 per cent of Carols
farm products, and most of his
5000, 000-ton annual oil production
go to Germany; Rumania is brought
politically, militarily and economi-
cally into the Reich's orbit by con-
cessions unprecedented in modern
economic relations between two SOW
ereign nations. With Hitler appar-
emily headed eastward, Rumania Of
fers an excellent Trojan horse for
penetration of the Russian Ukraine.
But increasingly remembered is the
fact that another empire-bound war
rior, Napoleon, met his match in
Russia.
Spain. By late March the 81
month civil war had apparently run
its full course, ready to end with a
Nationalist victory, to be followed
by German-Italian domination.
Italy. All that remains to COM
plete totalitarianism's 1889 conquest
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
ADVENTUROUS
AMERICANS
By
Elmo Scott Watson
A Frontier Paul Revere

JAMES WATSON WEBB was the
~ famous editor of the New York
Courier and Enquirer who also had
a career as politician and diplo-
mat. But he deserves more honor
for a daring exploit which he per-
formed as young man on the Hi
noiS frontier. The scion of an old
New York family, Webb ran away
from home at the age of II and went
to Washington where he persuaded
John c. Calhoun, secretary of war,
to give him a commission in the
army.
In October, 1921, young Lieuten-
ant Webb was sent to join the garri-
son at Fort Dearborn. In the mid
die of the winter John Kinzie, the
Indian agent at Chicago, reported
to the commander that the Sioux
and Foxe Indians were plotting to
surprise and massacre the garrison
at Fort Smelling the next spring.
Colonel Mcneil Immediately
called for volunteers to carry the
news Of the plot to Fort Armstrong
(near Rock Island, ILL., so that word
could be sent up the river to Fort
Smelling. Lieut.. Webb offered to
make the journey. Accompanied by
a sergeant and a Pottawatomie
guide, he set out early in February.
He intended to 60 first to the
post of a French trader on the
Rock river and there secure a Win
nebago guide. But when he reached
the post he found the Winnebagoes
holding war dances. So Webb and
the sergeant cautiously circled
around the camp and headed
toward Fort Armstrong.
The weather was bitterly cold and
the two men faced the danger Of
perishing in the raging blizzard. But
in spite of this they reached Fort
Armstrong in safety. AS result OF
their trip, the commander at Fort
Smelling so reinforced his post that
the Indians did not dare attack and
a possible massacre was averted.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
What Is Planned to Do
With a Billion Dollars

1t is extremely difficult to realize
what a billion dollars is That is,
it is difficult for me to understand
what it is. l can write the figures
glibly enough. But to comprehend
that sum of money, or billion of
anything, is something almost out
side the pale of human knowledge.
Yet that is what the department of
agriculture seeks this year, and here
is how that money is supposed to
be divided
S429. $50, 900 for soil conservation
payments.
S250,000, 900 for parity payments.
$191, 100000 for road building.
S2l, 1852, 900 for soil and moisture
conservation and operations.
S24, 984,00 for the farm tenancy
program.
$7,175,000 for eradicating tubercu-
losis and Bangs disease.
$6,996, $40 for the weather bureau
and its services.
S4,978,0OO for retiring submarginal
lands.
$1,631 900 for soil and moisture in
vestigation.
$l,500, 900 for wild life restoration.
100000 for cooperative farm for
estry.
$3.50, 900 for the water facilities
program.
There were some other odds and
ends embracing items of 20 or 40
or 90 thousand dollars, amounts so
small that men almost smirk be-
cause they have forgotten how to
speak in such limited numbers.
Then, and here is the joker which
is hidden away. l really should not
say hidden" because no reference
is made in the agriculture bill lam
guage. The joker is that there are
almost countless millions of other
dollars with which the department
can play around, including approx
mately $500, 900, 900 of money for use
in getting rid of farm SURPRISES.
That is the money from which Sec
rotary Wallace and his advanced
thinkers will draw funds for the
soon-to-be-famous food stamps.
The country got its belly full of
blue eagles before the NRA was
ploWed under. But the undis-
tinguished, yet BETTING, end that
came to the NRA blue eagle has
not deferred the advanced thinkers
from attempting something else that
is blue-a blue stamp for relief food.
Yes, relief workers will have the
same wages as before, but they will
receive free blue stamps with which
to buy surplus products for foods.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Congress

u. S. business was pouting genu-
inely last February when Harry
Hopkins made his famous Des
Moines speech promising a new adj
ministration effort to start the re-
covery bali rolling. But to business
men, recovery was precluded by
high relief costs and ''exorbitant"
taxes. When the administration in
dictated unwillingness to slash costs,
Mr.. Hopkins highly touted ZAP
peasement" plan begged down and
in its place arose the most hostile,
economy minded congress President
Roosevelt has ever faced.
Many administration leaders, like
Secretary Morgenthau and Vice
President Garner, are economy
bent. Others. like Federal Reserve
Chairman Mariner Eccles, White
House favorite, believe government
should spend when industry will not,
providing a semblance of normally.
But so unpopular philosophy bucks
the public trend, which is poor poll
tics. A smarter course is to give
congress and the nation its econ
omy. If prosperity results, the
White House will baSk in glory; if
it misses fire, the public can be re-
minded that the White House coun-
seled against it all along.
Whatever the reasoning, a sudden
switch in administration attitude
has brought new peace to Washing
ton:
Eccles Demarche. Appearing be-
fore a special senate silver commit
tee, Mr.. Eccles COMPOUNDED his audi
ence by advocating governmental
economy. His reasoning: while 1
am convinced that such policy
under present conditions would
have disastrous results, we live in
a democracy, and, therefore
the viewpoint of the majority should
promptly be made effective" His
suggestion: That federal spending
be concentrated on non-competing
public activities, i.e., buildings,
roads, schools, hospitals, housing.
Morgenthau Demarche. Next day
Mr.. Morgenthau gave administra-
ton blessing to congressional plans
for postponing scheduled increases
in payroll contributions for social
security. also endorsing a pay-as-
you-go system founded on sound ac-
tuarial principles. Present assess
ments are l per cent each against
employer and employee. In 1910
and 194l this would jump to u per
cent each; per cent to 1915; 212
per cent to 1913; 8 per cent each
after 1913. Mr.. Morgenthau' four
alternatives:
I'D One per cent to 1910; 112 per
cent to 1913; 2 per cent to 1916; 212
per cent to 1919; per cent after
that.
(2) Boost from l to IA per cent
in 1910; to IL per cent in 1871; to
Ia per cent in 1912; present sched-
ule thereafter.
90 Boost from to 1lS per cent in
1910; to ia per cent in 1871; to IL
per cent in 1912; present schedule
thereafter.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
King Strang

IN 1847 James Jesse Strang-and
the first two names are in the
proper orderl-led colony from
Voree, near Lacrosse, Wis, to the
Beaver islands just west of Tray
erse bay in Lower Michigan. There.
he set up a Kingdom" over which
he ruled with an iron hand. He
was a picturesque figure with his,
flaming Whiskers almost as red as
the kingly robe he wore.
Not only did he dispense his OWN
cruel brand of justice to the people
in his colony but he constantly made
war on the Irish fishermen on the
mainland and often pillaged their
homes Finally he became so bold
that President Fillmore issued
warrant for his arrest on charge
of treason for setting up an indie
pendent government within the Unit
ed States. For some unknown rea-
son he was not found guilty and re-
turned to his Kingdom"
But his downfall was not long in
coming. He made law that alb
women were to wear short skirts
with baggy boomers. When Mrs.
Thomas Bedford refused, her hus-
band was logged for upholding her
refusal. This was a fatal mistake.
For Bedford and another man who
had been flogged at the same time,
waylaid their hated monarch and
shot him. He was taken back to die
of his wounds at Voree and the peo-
pie of his kingdom" were driven
away from their island by the in
habitants of the Michigan mainland.
GWestern Newspaper Union.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06

(4 Omit increase to ~ per cent
in 1910; step up rates in l943 and fol-
low present schedule thereafter.
Morgenthau reasoning: The trend
of business conditions in specific fu-
ture years could not be accurately
foreseen in 1885 when social security
was started under the present S40,-
900, 900, 900 reserve plan. Today il
appears a S3,000,0 100000 reserve
would be sound.
Also recommended was a trustee
board to hold social security funds,
thereby spiking criticism that the
money is now being used to pay
governmental expenditures. Under
actual operation, payroll contribu-
tons now go to the treasury, are
shifted to the old-age reserve fund,
then invested in treasury securities
to bring the cash back to the gen.
eral fund.
Sour Note. Given a highly COW
eted concession, congress has found
economy is easier to talk about than
enforce. Next on the list is the
farm appropriations bill, carrying
S250,000 900 item for parity pay
ments which had not been included
in the original budget estimate.
Farm-state representatives foresee-
ing political suicide if parity APP
preparations were not made, hoped
the money might come from re-
newal of processing taxes. Indus
trial-state lawmakers knew their
constituents would object. And both
groups reflected that less social Sc
curity income would leave Secretary
Morgenthau's cupboard bare.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Miscellany

Favored, by more congressman,
expansion of the neutrality acts
leash and carry" provision to in
clude sale of munitions to warning
nations.
. Commemorated, by special
Irish postal stamp, the 15oth ami
versary of the American Constitu-
ton and George Washington's in
stallation as first U. S. President.
o Offered, by Japan, return of
inundated Caroline islands to Ger
many 'as gesture of good will and
an example to other countries hold
ing former German colonies. Stipu-
lation: The islands are to be sur
rendered when the Reich RECEIVERS
colonies from Britain and France.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06

HotU the rUind is blotUing .

HotU the iuind is bloroing .
RISK-Thanks to Adolf Hitler,
rates on marine war risk insur-
ance covering shipments through
the Baltic sea have been raised.
SPIES - Attorney General
Frank Murphy reports foreign
spies are becoming more active
in the u. S., but that federal
counter-espionage agencies are
prepared to cope with them 100
per cent"
TREES - The national forest
service in 1888 planted 140, 900, 900
trees in 81 states, covering 1884,
268 acres.
DIVORCE-Seeking new indus
tries, the Kansas legislature is
considering a one-day divorce
law to attract more people to the
state.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06

Something ioas stuffed doton his throat.
is French capitulation to Mussolini's
Mediterranean demands. No COM
petent observer expects Paris to
balk at ID giving minority rights
to Italians in Tunisia; CD granting
Italy share in administration of
the Suez canal, or CD allowing It.
ally to control the railroad from
French Djibouti to Adds Ababa,
Ethiopia's key city. So long as no
territorial demands are made, Paris
will register nothing more positive
than an air of Righteousness.
Significance. Europe's future will
henceforth be dictated from Rome
and Berlin, since democratic soli-
darity efforts continue to fail,
France and England cannot be ex.
pected to oppose any dictator con.
quest short of encroachment on their
own territory, and even here they
would balk at armed opposition.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
Pan-America

In early March Brazirs Foreign
Minister Oswaldo Aranha arrived at
Washington, spent two weeks max
ing friends and returned home with
basketful of plums. In return for
liberal u. S. credit allowances to
develop Brazilian trade and indus
try (partly Pan American defense
measure) Senior Aranha agreed to
resume payment on Brazilian debts
to U. S. bondholders on July /.
But commitments that were con-
venient in Washington were hard to
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06
F. j. Taylor Has
Jamaica Boys
Idea of Canal


canal being too narrow. In the
quaint lingo of the British-taught
island Negroes, he used to say:
Yes bahs, ships grow hugely
in coming years and if some is
fighting ship it must go swiftly
and not fear other passing great
ship. Axing parding sir, we
Jamaica boys say canal need
great charging"
Frank J. Taylor, president of the
American Merchant marine, returns
from the canal to New York with
the same idea. He says congress
should spend $500, 600, 900 to widen
the canal for both commercial and
national defense reasons. Mr.. Tay-
lor's career is Brooklyn's favorite
hoy who made good" story-from
81 day to $35, 1000 year, which is
the possibly vulgar epitome of such
careers in this day and age.
He was an orphan lad in a
Manhattan slum, at work at IL
as an apprentice at Robbins dry
dock in the Red Hook section
of Brooklyn. He rose in politics,
in the state assembly for IL
terms, sheriff, commissioner of
records, welfare commissioner
and comptroller of New York
City.
Retiring from the last office in
1887, he went to Florida, but the
steamship owners tracked him down
and burdened him with this $35, 900
job. He fights government intrusion
on private enterprise, but says the
shipping interests will cooperate eff
fectively with the United States
maritime commission.
@ Consolidated News Features
WNU Service.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06


repeat when the foreign minister
returned to Rio de Janeiro. To pac-
fly hard-pressed Brazilians, the
smooth-tongued statesman told his
home folks that Il always subordi-
mated that moral obligation of pay
ment to material capacity to do it
My theory Gin promising pay
menD was to tranquilize more than
half a million holders of our bonds"
Observers have decided Senior
Aranha is merely playing a clever
game of diplomatic hide and seek.
From safely within his own BALI
wick he can make pointed differences
that Brazilian bond payments will
not be forthcoming as expected un-
less U. S. tradesmen jump to re.
duce his nations large SURPRISES.
People
Organized, by Mrs. Ken Maynard,
estranged wife of the cowboy &C.
tor, an escort service to assist ine-
briated Los Angeles night club
guests to their homes.
oTurned religious, Al Cspone, for.
mer Chicago beer baron now i'm
prisoned at Terminal Island, Calf.
When a visiting minister asked pris-
oners to stand if they felt the need
of the Saviour" Capone was the
first to rise.
The Coolidge examiner., 1939-04-06

EDITORS NOTE-When opinions
are expressed in these columns, they
are those OF the news analyst. and not
necessarily of the newspaper.