Evening star. [volume], September 23, 1937, Page A-13, Image 13

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
U.S.Law Seen
Bar to Black
as Justice
Statute Seems to Make
Him Morally Ineli
gible, Writer Says. |
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
ANY workman who joins with
any other workman or anybody
else to intimidate or coerce
a fellow’ employe whether or
not he is a member of a union may
go to jail hereafter if convicted by
the Federal courts of that offense.
inis pro
aouncement of
what constitutes
the law of the
land has been
made possible by
the very credit
able work of the
Department of
Justice, presided
over by Attorney
General Homer
Cummings, in de
ciding to make
use formally of a
statute hitherto
little known but
just as effective
vuuaj ao iv i* ao jvaivi ogu rv m u
passed by Congress.
The law has been invoked to secure
Indictments in Harlan County, Ky,,
but it can be invoked to punish per
sons in unlawful picketing or "sit
down" strikes. The Federal Govern
ment. in other words, has been given
by Congress a police power which
many people heretofore have insisted
belonged only to the States.
Language of Statute.
The language of the statute is as
follows:
“Section 51 (Criminal Code). Con
spiracy to injure persons in exercise
of Civil rights. If two or more per
sons conspire to injure, oppose,
threaten, or intimidate any citizen
In the free exercise or enjoyment of
any right or privilege secured to him
by the Constitution or the laws of
the United States * * * they shall
be fined not more than $5,000 and
Imprisoned not more than 10 years.”
Clearly the Constitution assures a
man the right to work, the right to
“life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap
piness.” Article V of the Constitution
says that nobody shall “be deprived
of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law.” This means that
the Constitution guarantees a person
against physical violence, and the
statute quoted contains a direct refer
ence to "any right or privilege secured
to him (.the citizen) by the Constitu
tion."
Praise for Department.
Civil liberties are just as sacred
whether violated by terrorism applied \
by employers in Harlan County or by j
C. I O. Union terrorists in refusing '
to obey Michigan court injunctions and j
in intimidating workmen in automobile *
plants. The Department of Justice
deserves much credit for bringing the
old statute into operation again.
Incidentally the Roosevelt adminis
tration will find in the same statute
a few clauses that make it virtually
mandatory that any known members
of the Ku Klux Klan be prosecuted.
The statute says:
“If two or more persons go in
disguise on the highway, or on the
premises of another, with intent to
prevent or hinder his free exercise or
enjoyment, of any right or privilege so
secured (by the Constitution! they
shall be fined not more than $5,000 and
imprisoned not more than 10 years,
and shall, moreover, be thereafter in
eligible to any office or place of honor,
profit or trust created by the Con
stitution or laws of the United States.” |
The above paragraph follows im- j
mediately on the section which forbids
two or more persons to “injure, op
press, threaten or intimidate any citi
zen in the free exercise or enjoyment
of any right, or privilege secured to him I
by the Constitution or the laws of the j
United States.”
Obligation of Klan.
The Ku Klux Klan has as its
fundamental obligation a conspiracy ;
not exactly to prevent religious free- 1
dom or worship as such but to prevent j
any Catholic. Jew or Negro from hold- j
ing governmental office in America.
The Constitution says:
“No religious test shall ever be re
quired as a qualification to any office
or. public trust under the United
States.”
Thus it will be seen that the
Congress of the United States has al
ready spoken on the subject of what
thi Klan oath embraces. The Federal
laws make it a crime for any group
to conspire to prevent any citizen
I What’s Back of It All
Move to Unify Southern Factions Seen in New
Cotton Plan of Wallace and Johnston.
BY H. R BAIIKHAGE.
WHILE the President prepares to examine his political fences in the
West, some very deft politico maneuvering is being planned in
the South. It isn't advertised as such, but it has the earmark
of a very judicious mixing of heart and pocketbook balm for
the disgruntled Southern Democrats, high, low and middle.
The move is carefully camouflaged with cotton blossoms. But
sharp-eyed observers claim to see underneath the innocent covering
a definite and well-laid campaign to unify the South by bringing
together conflicting classes in support of an economic issue.
The campaign starts on October I at the triple-A meeting in Memphis.
The general in command will be Secretary Wallace, with a staff of
ace advisers and publicity men.
The ammunition will be an outline of an optimistic program for a
iciapi/uie ux ixit wuiiu inuinci iui i
This will involve a reversal of
the triple-A policy. Secretary Wal
lace will announce the discontinu
ance of the former policy of high
loan values, which maintained an
artificial price for cotton. The new
procedure will permit cotton to
seek its own level in the world mar
ket. A subsidy to the American
producer will make up the differ
ence between what is known as the
domestic allotment once and the
SO/ ITS
TIGHT '
YOUftB , .
AT TER. Q ti C°p, ^
world price. What It amounts to is an "export bounty.’’
* * * *
Meanwhile, an effort will be made, in line with the Hull trade pacts,
to obtain reduction of tariff on imported goods and thus increase the
buying power of some of America's foreign cotton customers.
Behind the forthcoming dramatic announcement is a well-laid
plan, prepared with an eye to make it not only economically under
standable, but politically effective. The man responsible for the
spade work is Oscar Johnston, big cotton planter from Mississippi,
recently called upon by Secretary Wallace, because of his practical
experience, to replace Culky Cobb, former chief cotton adviser to
the Secretary.
While it was not disclosed at the time (or since), it was Johnston
who dictated the present 9-cent cotton loan and 3-cent subsidy. And when
this started the riot in Dixie, it was likewise Johnston who met the em
battled State commissioners in Memphis and told them to keep their
shirts on until they heard what Secretary Wallace had up his sleeve.
* * * *
Nor have the "big fellows” been the only ones to get special
treatment from the Department of Agriculture to put them in a
receptive mood. The tenant farmers, icho will close their organi
zation meeting just as the triple-A begins have just been offered a
larger share in the benefits under the 193S soil conservation program.
* * * *
While it can't be done officially, the National Labor Relations Board
is making some private goodwill gestures toward employers.
There is nothing in the Wagner act permitting an employer to file
a complaint against labor. But now it is being suggested, very much off
the record, of course, that the plant owner who believes in collective bar
gaining with union representatives of a majority of his workers has an en
trance. albeit a highly unofficial one, into the N. L. R. B.'s deliberations.
This private entrance has always been there, but this is the first time
that it has had a welcome sign on it.
* * * +
This is it: When competing labor unions resort to "terroristic’*
methods to get members among the workers of such an employer,
thereby interfering with business, he may appeal to the labor board.
Informally, of course.
All he has to do is to pick up the phone, call the nearest N. L. R B.
district director, complain that union organizers are bulldozing his em
ployes and that such threats inter
fere with efficiency.
This cry for help, when it
comes from an employer sympa
thetic to collective bargaining, will
not. fall on deaf ears. N. L. R. B.
officials will call the rival union
heads into conciliation, convince one
or the other of them that an elec
tion should be held to determine
which group the majority of work
ex a pxrirx.
This procedure has been followed in a number of cases already. It is
slated to be increasingly employed with the growing intensity of the C. I. O
A. F. of L. drives.
* * * *
A neat question arises for the Social Security Board to settle.
Is the oyster business agricultural or industrial?
Agricultural workers are excluded from the benefits of the Social
Security legislation, but the oystermen say this shouldn't prevent
them getting their old age pensions and unemployment insurance,
They say they aren’t farmers. v
But, replies the opposition, you depend on harvested crops, resulting
from the planting of seed (which Is truei, and those who count their days
in terms of seed time and harvest are certainly farmers.
(Copyright. 1007. by North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
from enjoying his constitutional right
—in this instance the right to hold
public office no matter what his race
or creed or color.
It will be noted that the laws of the
United States further state that any
one convicted of such a crime shall
himself be ineligible to hold any
public office. This means that mem
bers of the Ku Klux Klan if prosecuted
for their offenses would be ineligible to
hold office. Former Senator Black
was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
He was, of course, never prosecuted.
The language of the statute would
seem to indicate that he is morally
ineligible to hold office under the
Government of the United States.
He took, an oath to deprive his fellow
eitizens of certain constitutional rights.
This is entirely apart of course from
questions of legal ineligibility which
have been raised because Mr. Black
was a member of the Senate at the
time the retirement law increasing the
emoluments of Supreme Court justices
was passed, whereas the Constitution
;ays no Senator or Representative can
be appointed to any office in which the
emoluments have been increased while
such a Senator or Representative was
serving his term in Congress.
(Copyright. 1927.)
- ■ ■■■■«--•
HOSPITAL DESIGNATED
Dependents of Navy Personnel to
r
Be Treated at Portsmouth..
Secretary Swanson today revealed
he has designated the Norfolk Naval
Hospital at Portsmouth, Va., for the
hospitalization of dependents of naval
personnel on the active list. This
action was taken upon recommenda
tion of Rear Admiral Perceval S. Ros
siter, chief of the Bureau of Medicine
and Surgery, Navy Department.
The Bureau of Navigation at the
department in informing the service
today of the new ruling said it is
understood dependents in this con
nection include "lawful wife, unmar
ried dependent children and the
mother of the officer or enlisted man.”
(THE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
x necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in
The Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions man be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
-—-—- |
Roosevelt Attitude Toward O’Mahoney May End
Speculation on Court Vote Reprisals.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
WHEN Mr. Roosevelt's trip to 1
the West was .first an
nounced, It was put partly
on the ground that he
wished to visit his daughter and
grandchildren living in Seattle. To
that purported reason not much serious
attention was paid by newspaper men
and politicians—most of them Just
smiled. It was also said Mr. Roose
velt was taking the trip for an
opportunity to look at the great
public works which his administration
has been building in the Northwest.
To that reason the observers and poli
ticians said, "Well, maybe.”
A reason for
the trip not given
by Mr. ftoosevelt
but widely sur
mised, whether
too cynically or
not, was that Mr.
Roosevelt wished
to travel through
the States of cer
tain Democratic
Senators who
conspicuously op
posed his court
measure; that
Mr. Roosevelt
wished to get for
1-1 -If
States impressive demonstrations of
public applause; that by these demon
strations he wished to show the local j
Democratic Senators opposing him j
that he was popular, and that pre
sumably his court plan was also pop
ular. An extension of this reason, j
widely surmised—again whether too '
cynically or not—was that Mr. Roose
velt wished to show, in a conspicuous
way or a subtle way, a "cold shoulder"
to the local Democratic Senators who
had opposed his court proposal and
by thus showing the cold shoulder to
them, encourage the local Democratic
organizations and voters to reject the
offending Democratic Senators at the
polls.
This is a familiar'political strategy.
It has been practiced by presidents in
the past.
Period of Doubt.
Following the first mention of Mr.
Roosevelt’s Western trip, there was a j
period of “off ag5in, on ag’in," during
which it was sometimes said Mr.
Roosevelt was in doubt about taking
the trip. This period coincided with a
corresponding appearance of inde
cision with respect to policy about the
Democratic Senators who had opposed
Mr. Roosevelt’s court plan.
After some weeks of indecision about
the Western trip, the Black situation
8rose. Subsequent to the breaking of
the Black sensation, Mr. Roosevelt
announced definitely that the Western
trip would be taken. For this develop
ment a wholly new reason was sur
mised by some commentators.
However .that may be. whatever may
be the core of substance in the welter
of official reason and unofficial sur
mise, the fact is that Mr. Roosevelt is
now on the train. The further fact is
that Mr. Roosevelt's first stop is at
Cheyenne, Wyo., Friday afternoon.
The yet further fact is that Mr. Roose
velt is now obliged, whether he now
wishes or not, to take an attitude
about one of the most important of
the Democratic Senators who oppose*!
his court measure. The Senator is Mr.
Joseph C. O'Mahoney of Wyoming.
Mr. O’Mahoney’s contribution to the
defeat of the court measure was ex
ceptionally large, because of his
obvious sincerity, his obvious reluc
tance to take a stand against the
President's measure, and the obvious
turmoil of spirit through which he
passed before he took his position.
Mr. Roosevelt, in stopping in Wyo
ming, cannot avoid taking one attitude
or another about Mr. O'Mahoney. As
Mr. Roosevelt stops in Wyoming, as
he shows himself to the eyes of the
Wyoming public, every Democratic
worker in the State will be watching
for a cue, a sign whether they are to
turn "thumbs down” on Mr. O'Ha
honey.
As I WTite, I am informed that Mr.
O'Mahoney is traveling to his Wyom
ing home by automobile and Is today
In Western Iowa. Mr. Roosevelt’s
attitude toward Mr. O'Mahoney can
express itself in any or all of a dozen
ways. It can show itself by whether
he gets in touch with Mr. O'Mahoney
and invites him to ride on his train;
by what reason is given if Mr. O'Ma
honey does not ride on his train; by
how he receives Mr. O'Mahoney as
suming he receives him: by degrees of
cordiality between his reception of Mr.
O'Mahoney and his reception of other
Democratic leaders; by whether he
mentions Mr. O'Mahoney in his Chey
enne speech, and how he mentions him.
Mr. Roosevelt’s attitude can express
itself by shadings of manner as subtle
as the tone of his voice, or the expres
sion of his features. At this sort of
thing Mr. Roosevelt Is exceptionally
subtle and skilled, as expert as the best
of actors.
If Mr. Roosevelt shows in an unmis
takable way discrimination against
Mr. O'Mahoney, then the tale is told.
If there are to be reprisals against Mr.
O'Mahoney, then most certainly there
will be reprisals against all the 30-odd
Democratic Senators who opposed the
court measure. For Mr. O'Mahoney,
excepting his opposition to the court
proposal, was particularly loyal to the
President. Without looking up the
record. I should say offhand that Sen
ator O'Mahoney voted for all the
important Roosevelt measures except
the court one. Mr. O Mahoney, be
sides, is a man of exceptionally hieh
character and ability. Indeed Mr.
O'Mahoney constitutes an opportunity
for Mr. Roosevelt to do a generous and
high-minded thing—to say plainly that
he respects the right of a Senatdr to
vote according to his conscience.
(Copyright. 1937.)
We, the People
Constitution Day Trips up Political "Shiva’s Temple”
Rewarded by Wondrous Sights.
BY JAY FllANKUN.
FLOATING like a mirage in the Grand Canyon of American history,
our national “Island in the Sky”—or, as so-called constitutional
lawyers prefer to call it, “Shila’s Temple"—has until recently de
fied the efforts of political scientists to scale its precipitous tides.
Constitution day, however, witnessed a bold attempt to explore the
flora and fauna of this “lost world” which has been isolated since the ice
age oi me American uonsuuiuon.
Prom all directions, parties of po
litical explorers swarmed up the
cliffs—some roped together, some
using a breeches buoy, some with
the old-fashioned hook-and-ladder
equipment of the partisan fire
fighter, others simply playing po
litical leapfrog. More than one
oratorical expedition found itself
stranded on the side of the moun
tain at a Un t
mouse of an idea, convinced that that is the only life in the lost political
world. Other parties—bolder or luckier—peered over the edge of the
plateau and reported what they saw.
* * * *
President Roosevelt, fully equipped with pemmican and periscopes,
reported finding the ruins of a prehistoric civilization of laymen. There
were traces, he said, of repeated battles against marauding lawyers, whose
fossils littered the approaches to Shiva's Temple with wagging jawbones
and gnashing teeth. Secretary Ickes, in a rapid rocket flight over the
sky island, shouted that he had seen a completely petrified Supreme Court
and warned that it would take dynamite before the search party could
get beyond that barrier. Tunneling up from below, Secretary Wallace
discovered a fine bas-relief of farmers and laborers working together—
swapping industrial pay rolls for corn and hogs with unmistakably Mid
western smiles.
Other investigators were not so reassuring. G. O P. Chairman
John Hamilton, leader of a separate scientific expedition organized
by Mr. Paul Block and the Tory press, had barely strapped on his
climbing-irons when a great Black hooded creature—which looked
like a cross between a pterodactyl and a judge—flapped in front
of him, uttering dismal Klux. Senator Burke of Nebraska posed
for photographers a rock formation which resembled the face of
Abraham Lincoln and ftate utterance to warnings that dinosaurs
and ichthyosauria were waiting to devour those who ventured beyond
the foot of the escarpment.
Dear old Dr. Burton K. Wheeler, professor of dilatory osteology at
the University of Wisecracks, got halfway up the hill before his un
rivaled wind gave out. sat back puffing in a cave and announced that the
“lost world" was populated by a tribe of savage dictators.
* * * *
Up there, in that high, thin air, men see clearly but unsteadily. As
the political sun turns on the heat, the mountains seem to dance and quiver
and the mirages form like thunderh^ds. One man sees a monster,
another finds a mouse. Men go mad with thirst—or hope of buried treas
ure—and run around howling like wolves or turn to stab their comrades.
For our “Island in the Sky” is the will of the American people. To
those who understand that, will come fame and—in a humbler sphere—
riches. Those who oppose it often starve amid the gaunt cliffs of public
indifference or are crushed by swift rock slides of public disfavor. The
will of the American people is what carries us all: Our Constitution,
courts, Congress, administration. States, cities, big business, little business,
farmers, miners, factory hands, prostitutes, politicians, stockbrokers,
bankers, sheriffs, cops and robbers, bonds and shares, mortgages and
breadlines.
Human history—our own included—is bestrewed with the wreckage
of minorities which have sought to manage and direct the public will
against the general welfare of the
people. The problem of our age
is to enable the people's will—ex
pressed by their indifference as
well as their desires—to prevail
against the interests of intrenched
minorities, without inflicting in
justice upon those minorities or
endowing the agents of the ma
jority with tyrannical powers.
It is fun to be fooled by the
legalistic and technical interprets
tions oi our written Constitution, but it is better to know what it is
all about and to realize that political instruments are simply devices to
promote the common good, not revelations of divine right, not strait
jackets to confine the majority in a political asylum for economic lunatics.
Until we. as a people, reach that understanding of the meaning of public
life, our “Island in the Sky” will remain unexplored and the "Shiva's Tem
ple” of big business lawyers will continue to smoke with human sacrifice.
(Copyright, '1937.)
An American
You Should
Lee A. Strong Stands
Guard Against Threat
of Insect Pests.
BY DELIA PYNCHON.
ALL Summer the ground crew of
beetles, weevils, worms, grass*
hoppers have massed lor a
field day of crop destruction.
All Summer the flying squadron of
moths, flies, mosquitoes have beaten
————fiatsffgftgEgaaaa t nplr wintrv dp
tructively about
rees and hu
nans. The Na
ion's annual
ross loss In i
rops and trees,;
mman disease
nd incapacity,
ind their control,
s about three bil
ions.
There Is a eer
ain positive "I'll
;et you yet" look
■ bout Lee A.
Strong, commit
_i _i._l
W V* W VUIIVIV*
and eradicate this burrowing, crawl
ing, jumping, flying army of pests.
Chief of the Bureau of Entomology
and Plant Quarantine, Department Of
Agriculture, Strong is constantly vis
iting the ever-moving scenes of dep
redation. He plans his counter at
tack on the spot. It may be an S O S
for trench diggers, for sprayers, for
insecticide, for the department s four
new autogiros, making aerial mapa
of infected trees. Strong does not be
lieve in “remote control.”
His life and education have been
the field of experience. Farm born in
Iowa, 1886. he started work eariy,
husked corn with the best of them.
His powerful build, keep brown eyes,
ruddy complexion, ready smile, un
assuming simplicity b^ar witness to a
life of effort and reality.
To Washington hi 1929.
He worked on railroads; he worked
on fruit farms. He was working on a
Nebraska fruit farm when the first
spraying for the deadly coddling moth
took place. Interest aroused, he con
tinued study of insect control first
hand, became ultimately morticultural
: inspector for Los Angeles County,
California State Department of Ag
riculture; came to Washington in
1929 as chief of the Bureau of Plant
Quarantine.
It is an empire of scientific ef
fort to oversee. Three hundred for
I eign and tJnited States offices do
quarantine, regulatory, research work
under Strong's supervision.
The border patrol is essential. It
1s keeping more of the calculated
20,000 foreign pests from joining our
equally numerous domestic varieties.
Many unwelcome insect-immigrants
have slipped In. During Revolutionary
days the Hessians brought over some
objectionable flies with their ha".
The Oriental fruit moth hid on som°
Japanese cherry trees. The Japanese
beetle sneaked In on some ballcu
azaleas, to name several of legion
David Lawrence.
Quick-dissolring Jack Frost ^
speeds cake-mixing!
$■ CRISPY SPICE COOKIES
(Makes about 4 doien) ?X; -
_ HStafc* . % teaspoon sod, ■&
X 1 cup Jack Frost l/4 teaspoon salt
A 2eJf U**r ,»teaspoon ciiwamoB 'mm
H 9 BB* r. • n V2 teaspoon allspice
■ 2 cups sifted flour Vs teaspoon cloves I^B
1 teaspoon bak.ng 3 tablespoons milk,
powder .bout
1. Cream butter until soft. 99s'
2. Add Jack Frost Granulated Sugar gradually, ■El
beatmg until fluffy. Jack Frost makes this ■$1
creaming job so much easier and quicker be- ■&$'.
cause it s super-sifted, quick-dissolving. vXv
i 3 Add well-beaten eggs, beating until smooth. flj^E
9 4-S>ft flour. Measure. Sift again with baking
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5. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk
beatmg until smooth after each addition. —
16. Drop from teaspoon on greased cooky sheet
2%-Ear*-N"™- - 4ss H
^ minutes! mod•r‘t• «75* F.) .bout 15 I .
I WISE HOUSE- J ■
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Mark Sullivan.
KOMANCE just parks on the doorstep when a girl has
„ a Camay complexion! Stays there, too, if she keeps
her skin lovely year after year!
"This business of complexion care is serioussays
charming Mrs. Blanchfield.’Tve actually seen girls ruin
their looks just because they neglect their complexions.
I never skip my Camay care—not for a single day!”
Sound advice! Mrs. Blanchfield’s brown eyes may
twinkle, but they tell she knows what’s what! Here is a
tip for clever girls—the girls who are out to win.
Many a girl is lovelier today because she has found
out this. No soap has the same rich, velvety lather
tlMM-HACHNr OMILIZAVeK/p
Lee A. Stronf. »
Follow my Camay oeauty care to have
SAYS THIS PRETTY NEW YORK BRIDI
Camay has to get skin thoroughly clean. Camay's beauty
bubbles go down deep to the pores, remove the grime
and dirt that cloud the beauty of your skin. Remember,
skin that’s really clean is lovely!
No other leading beauty soap is milder than Camay.
Repeated tests, carefully made on every type of skin,
have shown that Camay is definitely, provably milder
than other well-known toilet soaps.
No soap that you can buy is better than Camay, but
you’ll find this gentle beauty soap reasonably priced.
Why don’t you buy half a dozen cakes today? Let
Camay be your way to a new and glamorous beauty!
Trade-Mark Re. U. B. Pit. OS.