Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 1, Number 11, DeMotte, Jasper County, 6 October 1932 — News Review of Current Events the World Over [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

News Review of Current Events the World Over

Porto Rico Devastated by a Hurricane--Gandhi’s Fast Ends in Victory--De Valera Tells League of Nations What Ails It.

By EDWARD W. PICKARD

ONCE again the “storm of San Eusepio" came out of the southern Atlantic ocean on the feast day of that saint and swept across Porto

Rico as it did in 1928, leaving a terrible trail of death and destruction. For hours the hurricane raged, tearing down buildings, ruining the coffee and fruit crops and killing and maiming the people of the unhappy island. Gov. James R. Beverley thought the dead would number well over two hundred

and the injured more than a thousand. The property damage has not been estimated but it certainly will run into many millions of dollars. Broken communication lines and roads blocked by debris made the gathering of accurate information slow. Before reaching Porto Rico the storm struck the Virgin islands, killing 15 persons, sinking many vessels and wrecking buildings. Later it hit Haiti and Santo Domingo. Most of the fatalities in Porto Rico were in the country districts, for the authorities of San Juan, forewarned, placed many hundreds of the residents in the solidly built schools and churches. The property losses in the city, however, were heavy, especially on the ocean front. Governor Beverley was prompt in starting relief machinery. He formed an emergency committee and placed ample insular funds in its hands. By his order the police impressed into service prisoners in all the jails, letting them work without guards at clearing the roads and streets and reopening communication facilities. The governor of course reported the conditions immediately to Washington and the Red Cross ordered its chief supply officer to the island and sent a destroyer with medical supplies.

MAHATMA GANDHI’S “fast unto death” won a striking victory for the little old-Hindu holy man, for the caste Hindus and the untouchables, hurrying to save his life, agreed upon a compromise electoral plan that was fairly satisfactory to Gandhi. It was hastily accepted by Prime Minister MacDonald and the British cabinet, and thereupon the mahatma broke his fast with a few sips of a lime concoction. For more than six days he had partaken of nothing but water with salt or soda in it, and the physicians at Yeravda jail said he could not have survived much longer. The compromise plan provides that 148 seats in provincial legislatures be held by the depressed classes and that a percentage of seats in the central legislature by reserved for them. It also provides a system of primary elections. These special features are to end after ten years. In accepting this plan, the British government pointed out that some details still remained under consideration. The official statement said this did not imply opposition by the government. Gandhi, though born a caste Hindu, has been making his fight for the depressed classes, and it is possible that his victory may lead to revolutionary changes in their treatment. However, some authorities declare that the gulf between the four castes and the untouchables is of too many generations’ standing, to be wiped out in a day or two, even by the ukase of religious leaders. WHEN the League of Nations assembly opened its thirteenth annual session in Geneva, Eamon de Valera, President of the Irish Free

State, was in the chair as president of the league council, and he took the opportunity to tell what he thought of the league and its failures. He spoke without restraint, telling his gloomy hearers that the league had lost the world’s confidence because it had not boldly tackled the major problems that came before it, nota-

bly the situation in the Far East and the question of disarmament. “People are complaining that the league is devoting its activity to matters of secondly interest while vital international problems of the day are being shelved or ignored.” he continued. “People are saying that equality of states does not apply here in things that matter. “People are becoming impatient at the apparently meager face-saving results of successive league conferences and meetings. They are inquiring whether these conferences justify the burden of contributions to the league’s budget. Finally there is the suspicion that little more than lip service is paid to the fundamental principles on which the league was founded.

“There is a suspicion that action by the league in the economic sphere is paralyzed by pressure of powerful national interests and that if a hand is raised against the covenant sufficiently strong it can smite with impunity.” This last obvious allusion to Japanese controlled Manchuria was followed by a warning that the only way to silence criticism of the league is “to show unmistakably that the covenant is a solemn pact of obligations which no state will find it possible to ignore.” Disarmament, he also declared, was a flop and a bluff. The Lausanne conference on reparations, he admitted, was a mild success, but he made it clear it was not the fault of the league. Nicholas Politis of Greece was elected as the president of the assembly. What that body would find to do was uncertain. The reception and

discussion of the league’s commission on Manchuria already had been postponed for at least two weeks at the behest of Japan, and the statesmen were not agreed even upon the establishment of disarmament, financial and economic commissions. To make matters worse, the steadfast refusal of Germany

to take part in the sessions of the disarmament conference effectually stopped up that august international body for the time being. The steering committee in a quarrelsome secret meeting considered the demand of Arthur Henderson for immediate convocation of the general conference and then announced it had adjourned until October 10. DEMOCRATS now are in control of the United States senate, outnumbering the Republicans by one. This comes about through the appointment of Walter Walker by Gov. William H. Adams of Colorado to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Charles W. Waterman. So the upper house now has 48 Democrats, 47 Republicans and one Farm-er-Laborite. There was uncertainty as to whether the new man would serve in the lame duck session of congress or only until a successor to Waterman is elected November 8. BOTH the Republicans and the Democrats professed to have high hopes of carrying Iowa in the Presidential election, but their claims are

unsettled by the announcement of Senator Smith W. Brookthat he will be in the race for the senate as the nominee of the “progressive” party, expecting to draw support from both the major parties. His decision came three months after his defeat in the Republican primary by Henry Field. He admittedly has a

large following among the Iowa Republicans, especially in the rural districts. The Democrats had expected that Brookhart would follow the example of his brother progressive Republican, Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska, and come out flatly for Franklin D. Roosevelt for President. JOUETT SHOUSE, former executive chairman of the Democratic national committee, gave the California Democrats a shock by the announcement that Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, of which he is president, would support Tallant Tubbs, Republican nominee for senator from that state, rather than William G. McAdoo, the Democratic choice. Shouse said that McAdoo had not made his position clear on the prohibition question. He stated also that the association feared the cause of prohibition repeal might be retarded or embarrassed by the election of McAdoo. It therefore urged, he said, that California advocates of prohibition repeal vote for Tubbs. FOES of President Machado of Cuba reopened their campaign of assassination, their victim being Dr. Clemente Bello, president of the senate, leader of the Liberal party and the man slated to succeed Machado at the head of the government. Seven men in an automobile fired five volleys from a machine gun at Bello as he was leaving his home, and he was struck and killed by eleven bullets. His chauffeur also was mortally wounded. Within a few hours alleged government agents had retaliated by slaying three prominent oppositionists. Dv. Ricardo Arango, and Representative Gonzalo de Andrade and his two brothers. A fourth leader of the Conservatives, Dr. Miguel Aguilar, was fatally wounded.

HOW to arrange the financing by the Reconstruction Finance corporation of the sale of 15,000,000 or more bushels of northwestern wheat to China has been taking the attention of President Hoover and the interested federal agencies. Negotiations have been opened with China and though the final arrangements had not been made, it was said in Shanghai that the deal was practically assured. It involves about $9,000,000 in gold. The grain involved in the proposal would come from producers of the Northwest on whom shipping costs have borne heavily. The relief act authorized the Reconstruction Finance corporation to make loans for financing foreign sales of surplus agricultural products where they “cannot be financed in the normal course of commerce” and where they will not “affect adversely the world markets for such products.” GEORGE WASHINGTON'S famous trowel is being put to use quite often these days. The latest occasion was the laying of the cornerstone of the new $10,000,000 post office building on Pennsylvania avenue. With Mrs. Hoover an interested spectator and hundreds of others gathered about, Mr. Hoover wielded the tool that the Father of his Country used in laying the cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793. He slapped on the mortar and the stone was swung into place, a real mason tested the block with his level and pronounced it truly laid. Postmaster General Brown told the crowd that the day was the one hundred and forty-third anniversary of the founding of the postal service, Senator Smoot spoke briefly, and the President then delivered an address dwelling on the function of the postal service in the making of the nation.

FIVE eminent citizens have agreed to act as a commission which will “survey the transportation situation in this country” and report such recom-

mendations for relief and betterment as may appear wise to them. The commission is sponsored by the National Association of Mutual Banks, and the announcement of its was made by Walter Bennett, New York banker, on behalf of the association. Calvin Coolidge, former President, is chairman of the com-

mission; the other members are Bernard M. Baruch, financier and railway director; Alfred E. Smith, former governor of New York; Clark Howell, publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, and Alexander Legge, president of the International Harvester company former chairman of the farm board. The commission is the result of mobilization of virtually every bank, insurance company, and major business association in the country for a concerted effort to convince congress of the imperative necessity of immediate legislation to protect the financial foundations of the railroad industry. Its survey will include all the transportation facilities of the nation, including busses, trucks, pipe lines and other carriers, as well as the railways. Representatives of the Railway Labor Executives’ association called on President Hoover, asking administration intervention in the matter of the proposed railway wage reductions which they opposed “at a time when there are some hopeful signr that the depression may have run its course.” Mr. Hoover also talked with railway presidents and Secretary of Labor Doak, and the latter then issued a statement that the President felt it was desirable that the question should be deferred until the end of the year, since the present wage agreement does not expire until February 1. GREAT BRITAIN’S national government. formed last October to meet the financial crisis, experienced its first break when three of the most important Liberal and Labor members of MacDonald’s cabinet resigned. Their action followed a disagreement over the tariff proposals approved at the recent empire conference in Ottawa. The ministers who quit, stating these proposals were incompatible with their free trade principles, were Viscount Snowden of Ickornshaw, lord privy seal, former leader of the Labor party, and Sir Herbert Samuel, home secretary, and Sir Archibald Sinclair, secretary for Scotland. Sir John Gilmour was moved from minister of agriculture to home secretary and his former portfolio was given to Maj. Walter Elliot. Sir Godfrey Collins took Sinclair’s place. The Simon Liberals in the house still support MacDonald. NOTABLE among the deaths of the week was that of John Sharp Williams, former senator from Mississippi. He was seventy-eight years old and had been ill for months. Williams was known for his scholariness and his bitingly sarcastic political oratory. PRESIDENT HOOVER appointed Representative Charles R. Crisp of Georgia as a member of the tariff commission to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Lincoln Dixon of In diana. Crisp was defeated for the senatorship nomination in the Democratic primary and so is classed as a lame duck. However, his appointment will not be criticized because of his long and able services in the house. 1932, Western Newspaper Union.

Gov. Beverley

Eamon de Valera

Nicholas Politis

Sen. S. W. Brookhart

Calvin Coolidge