The Independent-Record from Helena, Montana • Page 5

THE HELENA DAILY INDEPENDENT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2,1937 MONTJJU PvntkkM to (he hw HieXilUJnam Company, luc. Helena. Montana WILL A. CAMPBELL. President and Editor Member of The AMOClated Preee.

The Associated Preee excluelvely entitled to tbt uw lor publication ot aU dispatched credited to It or not oiherwUe credited 10 ihla paiwr and alao the local newe published therein. and 4M Subscribers will confer a favor by calling the office BATES Dally and Sunday, delivered by carrier or by mall, one ymr. In advance Daily and Sunday, one month, by carrier or by mall, in advance Sunday Independent, by mall only, one year. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1937 HAS REASON DEPARTED? Somtimes we read of the troubles men bring 9n themselves in this country, and wonder if reason has departed from their minds. The present strikes are evidence of madness; the bending of the knee of government is weakness; the inability of authorities to cope with organized minorities, is a surrender; the apotheosis of men like John L.

Lewis, may be the first signs which herald a dictator. Yet, with all our troubles and doubts, when we look on Russia, we are asked to believe a madness among white men, which we cannot comprehend. What kind of madness prompts 17 alleged conspirators to glibly recite their crimes into microphones for all Russia to hear? What kind of madness has seized the mind of Stalin if this fantastic form of suicide should prove to be only a thing he has proposed and imposed in some sinister way on 17 more victims for purposes of his own. Who can be expected to believe the tale they join in telling against themselves? Who now can believe the similar tale told against themselves by Zinovieff, Kameneff and the others last August, the alleged conspiracy for which they paid their lives? Consider: These are men Avho already have given the best of their lives to the theory on which the Soviet government was built, men who have known Siberian exile for their faith, men who went through the blood of the revolution and who have sustained the hardships of the construction period. Suddenly they are charged with plotting to undo all they've spent their lives doing, plotting to turn their country over to capitalism, to relinquish part of their land to their archenemies, Japan and Germany.

With them in the alleged plot, himself indeed the chief alleged plotter, is said to be Leon Trotzky, exiled some years ago because he complained that the government set up in Russia was not sufficiently communistic, and for some years now almost an international nuisance because he has continued his complaints from one refuge and another outside. Leon Trotzky, as welcome in most capitalistic countries as the plague, is alleged to have organized this capitalist plot against his own land. And to these fantastic charges they all stand up in court, face the microphones that will carry their voices to every corner of the country, and shout, not their innocence, but their guilt! All, that is, but Trotzky. Trotzky is not in Moscow. Trotzky is safe in Mexico.

There, he shouts not only his own innocence but that of all those who are engaged in "admitting" their guilt in Moscow. He proclaims it all a frame-up on the part of Stalin. Can you believe Trotzky and still consider Stalin sane? When Zinovieff and his comrades of the inner Soviet council walked before the microphone and thence before the firing squad, you could rationalize it--if you could rationalize it at all--as the action of fanatic martyrs, willing to sacrifice their reputations and their lives to bind Russians closer together against a common enemy. You could do this once, perhaps, but it is difficult to do it again. You can't make yourself believe it twice.

We doubt that the Russian people can be made to believe it twice. If the Russian people do not believe it the hand of the Soviet government is not strengthened but weakened. If the Russian people do believe that Radek and the others are telling the truth against themselves, will the Russian people now have faith in any of their leaders? How can they? The comparatively mild abberations of Mussolini, the sanguinary disorder of Hitler's mentality, had not prepared us for the madness that seems to have seized Moscow. Does it mean that when the dictator arrives, reason must always depart? Under the abundant life program a gang of outlaws can take possession of property and hold It for ransom, while the President of the United States "cracks down" on the owners for refusing to open ransome negotiations. FEWER PRESSURE GROUPS It has been noted by everyone in Washington, whether in or out of Congress, that the pressure group business has hit a low ebb.

The Seventy-fifth Congress has had a free hand thus far. There is no longer such a thing as the utility lobby in Washington. The money reform advocates all ceased to howl when Coughlin folded up. The gold bill, the RFC and stabilization measures all went through without a discordant note. A Congressman was heard to ask another Congressman the other day if he had seen any bankers around Washington this year.

Even the fanners are "laying off" Congress now, it seems. The merchant marine people got what they were looking for last year and have not been back this session. Neither the tariff crowd nor the civil liber- lies group has let out a peep and if it were not for John L. Lewis one would hardly know there is such a thing as a labor problem in the country. Veteran Congressmen are wondering what has happened to all the lobbyists.

Washington does not seem quite natural without them, they say. Aside from the various groups which maintain representatives in Washington year in and year out, such as the dairy organizations, the lumber, oil, mineral and other groups, lobbyists have been conspicuous for their absence up to now. These resident representatives of the different lines of business are generally quite well known to the members of Congress. They are hardly to be classified as lobbyists, anyhow. And they often are more helpful than harmful when Congress comes to dealing with some of the knottier problems of industry.

Doubtless the annual report of the Chamber ot Commerce will list among other accomplishments of fie year, the acquisition of the state headquarters of the hobo union. PAROLE For the third time in eight months. Chicago has lost a policeman through murder by a paroled convict and in Michigan a few days ago a state trooper was killed by a man who had served three sentences in penal institutions and who was paroled a year ago. Under the law of Michigan, the murderer of the trooper has been sent to prison for life, and in, say, twelve or fourteen years, when he is thirty-six or thirty-eight years old, will be at liberty, free to resume where he left off. In view of this prospect for the future, tlie young man's past is of interest and also of importance.

He stole an automobile as a boy. Then he stole another car and was sent to a reform school. Then he got out, became a confirmed thief and was sent to a reformatory. Then he became a thief and a holdup man, kid- naped the trooper, handcuffed him to a rural mail box, clubbed him into insensibility with a revolver and finally sent a bullet crashing through his head. And when he is thirty-six or thirty-eight, still a young man, he will be free to prey upon society.

The efficacy of the law which makes possible his return, it seems, leaves a great deal to be desired. It's too bad some smart race like the Japs did not take the country and make- something out of it before the oil, timber and top-soil were all exhausted. TOO MUCH ENTHUSIASM Perhaps another Congressman is beginning to realize that neophyte solons, like children, should be seen and not heard. Because his speeches during the late campaign were interpreted as giving aid and comfort to the opposition, Senator Rush Holt of West Virginia earned the ill-feeling of many of his colleagues and was deprived of the patronage that would have been his had he not been obstreperous. And because his lone objection delayed passage of a resolution which might have halted shipment of a cargo of war materials to Spain.

Representative John Toussaint Bernard, new farmer-labor Congressman from Duluth, may be the target of his colleagues' resentment. The enthusiasm of freshmen Congressmen is commendable, but it is apt to get them into difficulties. We spend millions on so-called battleships, then when a good war comes along, all they do is to keep out of battles like they did during the world war. Race bookies were raided in New York the other day. They must have stood to take some heavy losses and called the police themselves.

John Coolidge is reported to have taken a powerful rap at President Roosevelt's Social Security program. John has a lot of old Vermont in him. The fellow who used to sit up with a sick friend, now lias a-perfect alibi; he's sitting down with the boys in the plant. Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the Foom The Minneapolis Tribune. THE TYRANNY OF WEATHER How completely man is subservient to the weather is brought to the fore by such catastrophies as the Ohio flood, but his thraldom Is made equally apparent by drouth and in Innumerable other though less spectacular ways.

In his radio address Tuesday night, Secretary Wallace advised the farmers of the country to plant abundantly "because I don't like the way the weather has been acting in recent years." And the next day the price of wheat dropped in anticipation of larger crops. Not only does the weather affect the welfare and the lives of millions, but even comments on the weather have their effect. Dr. Abbott of the Smithsonian Institute is inclined to attribute the major phases of terrestial weather to spots on the sun, but it will be many years before a sufficient number of data are secured to make this suspicion a certainty. Mr.

Hovde of the local weather bureau blames the erratic movements of air masses for the floods, as well as for the "unusual" weathw in California. We all know that were it not for the beneficent climatic effects of the gulf stream, England and most of western Europe woulfl enjoy about the same weather as Labrador and any pronounced shift of the Japanese current would reduce our Pacific coast to the desert sterility of coastal Peru. Despite all that our learned meterologis'ts know about the weather, it is a wholly capricious and unpredictable factor in our lives, apparently as indif- fent to the likes and dislikes ot Secretary Wallace as it was of the desires of Secretaries Hyde- or Jardine. Man has gone to the poles, magnetic and geographical, to the Greenland ice cap and to all the obscure corners of the earth in search for weather knowledge and no doubt has a lot of it. But little good it does him to believe that drouths and wot spells alternate cyclically in 22 and 44 year even if his belief is substantiated by the ring designs of the big sequoias.

He just has to do the best he to scratch out. a living and a little comfort in dust storms or in mud. Mark Twain's complaint that despite all the talk about the weather, nothing ii ever done about it, still remains unsatisfied. FLOOD. STRIKE AND GOLD CONTROL NEXT SUMMER WE LY To Be HAVING Odfk Alto DUST SIMMS "AMO EVERY PftAYlN RAIN sjeWs mere centre! In Strikfi nM rtanJ mere than tiny new AOM.

SENDING AU lu.w Ail I lAuC Our foU rtitrutt mtt now fcttinf (erne math ittidtd V. S. control. SENTENCE SERMONS By the Rev. ROY L.

SMITH, O. D. PaMor Pint M. E. Church LM Angelee THE BEST PART---Of any sermon is the thinking it starts.

--Of any education is the stimulus to action it brings. --Of any meal is the appetite we bring to it. --Of any entertainment is the good humor of the crowd. --Of any day is that part in which we most nearly forget ourselves. --Of any book is that part which inspires us to try.

--Of any city is that in which children are being trained for good citizenship. The Raskin letter By FREDERIC 3. BASEL'S Author of The American Government DROUGHT MIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA Washington, D. Jan. again the green pastures of California have attracted migrants from the Middle West.

Across plain and mountain they have trekked, most in worn and battered automobiles, but some hitch-hiking. In fact, the figures relate only to those who traveled in automobiles. The census of arrivals was taken at the stare borders by Inspectors of the bureau of plant quarantine, and their principal attention was given to automobiles. It is probable that many footsore hikers entered the state without transportation. And there is no record of those coming in by train.

The latest figures available so tar are only for the first six months of 1936. In that period, 27,867 persons entered the jurisdiction in cars bearing other than California license plates. Th's was a drop of 36 per cent from the numbers which entered in the last six months 193B. That period showed an entry of 43,180 persons. The sharp decline would have been significant had there been no drought in the summer of 1936.

The first six months of 1936 obviously ran from the first of January to the first of July. While dry weather set in early in the year, the hardy and hopeful farmers of the Middle West did not give up. They piled hope on hope for rain which might save at least a part of their crops. They did not want to abandon their farmsteads or farm jobs unless no alternative was presented. They hung on.

EJo it was scarcely to be expected that the migration due to 1936 summer conditions would be reflected in the figures for the first half year. Figures for the second half are being compiled and, in due course, will be made public. It is expected that a large Increase will be shown. As matters stand, the migrations for the 12 months, embracing the last six months of 1935 and the first six months of 1936, show a total of 71,047. Migrations to California are an old story in American history.

The tale of the gold rush after the discovery of gold at Suiter's Mill in 1848 forms one of the most fascinating chapters in Amercan annals. The steady westward march continued thereafter with spasmodic spurts and slackenings. In every unusual period there has been a renewed surge. For example, during and after the World war, when farm were so high that land speculation began and farmers thought they were rich for life. many ot tbe older owners sold their lands and moved to California, expecting to spend the rett NEWSPAPER! of their days in rocking-chair comfort.

Then came the depression of 1920-21. In the course of this, many banks closed, many mortgage swere foreclosed, leaving disillusioned men and women. They migrated to California. It seems that the state ie a magnet in both good times and bad. Only periods of normality find California tree from migrants.

Migration, is not always a one- way affair. Indeed, it seldom is. During the same twelvemonth in which 71,000 people migrated to California, some thousands of Calif ornians--eiiher the native-born or persons who had sojourned there for some time and who had tired of the climate and themselves migrated eastward reentered the state. There were 16,315 of these. So far as was possible, the authorities counted only those who entered the state in need of employment.

No account was taken of the millionaires, retired or otherwise, who sought the soothing or other intluences of the west coast. By far the majority--nearly 80 per cent--of the migrants into California in both 1935 and 1936 have been from the drought-ridden middle western states of the Dust Bowl. Their farms blown away and their cattle lying dead, desolation faced them. Most of them had automobiles of come sort and, packing their children and a few of their more precious belongings in the cars, they set out for the SO THEY SAY! mHE place to break up gangland It in the high chair, not the electric Hansen, former prosecuting attorney of Chicago. hear it said that Russia didn't like democracy, when the fact is that Russia merely went from one dictatorship to another.

--Lyman Bryson, professor of education at Teachers' College, Colum bla University. should always have been tougher, but the trouble always was that we did not know what to get tough Guy Tug discussing the past of the New Deal. QOCIETY it too sophisticated. It must be taken back to nature now and Elsa Maxwell, society "party gUer" extraordi nary, explaining her recent "farm" party. olden West.

The same trails that saw the covered wagons pass saw these later migrants. The figures compiled showed the number of occupants per car. The average for all cars entering the state with migrants is put at 4.S. When baggage is considered, this makes a fairly full vehicle. But a difference was noted in re- to the regions from whence the migrants come.

The cars from the states which had not suffered so severely from the drought showed an average of only 4.2 persons. In contrast, it is shown that cars from the drought states showed an average of 5.4 persons per car. When it is considered that these figures are averages, it requires little imagination to realize that some of the cars were packed and covered with passengers like an automobile load of undergraduates going to a football game. But these people were crossing desert, plain, and mountain, spending days and nights on the roads. The statistics evoke a picture of the flight from the Dust Bowl.

While nearly 80 par cent of the migrants entering California came from the Dust Bowl states and therefore, presumably, were motivated by the desire to get away from their unhappy and unprosper ous environment, others went to California because of labor opportunity offered. California has march of seasonal crops, beginning fairly early and going right on through the autumn and early winter. The harvesting of these crops is a process which always has attracted labor from outside. Some remain, others come and go with the seasons. There are the various fruit and vegetable crops and toward the end of the year, the cotton crop of the San Joaquin valley and some other localities.

Many Mexicans and some Negroes come into the state from other jurisdictions solely for the purpose of working at these harvests. The harvests home, they teturn to other work, often outside the state. These can scarcely be regarded in the same category as the refugees from the Dust Bowl, many of whom, doubtless knew nothing about the crops California and their harvest periods, but who were taking to flight from intolerable conditions attheh former domiciles. California was not in a position to absorb these refugees in addition to the old hands accustomed to come every year. A special study made showed that California had about 200,000 seasonal harvest hands who swung with the seasons.

When the hegira from the Dust Bowl set in, it was discovered that there were something like 180 agricultural workers for every 100 jobs. Some attempts have been made, especially by Los Angeles authorities, to establish patrols and turn back the unwanted migrants, and this has been, to some extent, successful. Still some leakage Is bound to occur over the state borders. This whole migration situation has raised serious problems. The volume of unemployment in California has been raised above normal, and bordering states, where stopped migrants have felt the repercussions.

It has been long since migrations ot such a character have taken place in the United States. Western states, especially, a bfen in the habit of urging people to settle within their borders, but now, it appears, the tune has changed and the notes of "California, here we come," ring sour. Answers to Qocsttom A reader can get the answer to any question of tact by writing The Helena Independent Information Bureau, Frederic i. Haskln, Director, Washington, D. C.

Please enclose three (3) for reply. Q. How did the word blackguard originate? E. M. A.

The term was used in the 16th century with reference to the lowest menials ot a noble house, the scullions who cleaned pots and pans. It was also used of the tiangers-on of an army camp and of vagabonds in general. Q. Does Louisiana still hare the newspaper license tax enacted by Senator Long? E. W.

A. On February 10, 1936, the newspaper license tax was unanimously invalidated by the United States Supreme Court on the ground that it abridged the freedom of the press. Q. Why did Charles Dickens use the pseudonym Boz? R. J.

A. A younger brother of the author had in childhood received from the latter the nickname of Moses, which being facetiously pronounced through the nose became Boses, and being shortened became Boz. Q. I)o all the in the United chow the effect or soil erosion? H. W.

A. About one-third ot the acres of laucl show little or no soil erosion. Q. Please give gome information, about the inventor ot the Galling gun? H. W.

A. Richard Jordan Catling was born in Hertford county, North Carolina, in 1818. While a boy he assisted his father in the invention of a machine for sowing cottonseed. Subsequently he invented a rice sowing machine, later adapted to sowing wheat in drills. He graduated in medicine at Cincinnati, but before establishing himself in practice conceived the basic Idea of the gun which afterwards made him famous.

In 1361 he built the first types of the revolving battery gun now known at Catling. This was improved in 1865 and immediately adopted by the United States government. In 1886 he invented a new gun metal of steel and aluminum. Congress soon afterward voted him $40,000 to perfect a new method of casting cannon. He died in 1903.

The Family Doctor By DR. MORRIS FISHBEDT Editor, the Asurleu AUMlitlon, of HyfeU, the Health MSIUlM. Practically all children used to have measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps, chickenpox, and whooping cough, and it was the attitude of most mothers that the youngsters might as well have them over with. That conception of disease no longer prevails. It is known now that a child need not suffer from these infectious diseases, and that it is possible to avoid some of them, particularly if parents cooperate with health departments and physicians in preventive measures.

The city of Manchester, X. has not had a single case of diphtheria for five years. It should be possible for every city in the United States to achieve a similar record. During the first six months of his life, because of breast feeding and the immunization received at birth, a child usually has the resistance materials necessary to overcome many infections. Moreover, the nursing infant, because of his helplessness Is usually isolated from contact with many sources of infection.

After the sixth month, however, the infant stops nursing and begins to move about more. It is necessary, then, to give him the advantage of modern preventive methods which increase his resistance to certain diseases. At the age of 9 months, children may be vaccinated against smallpox. The vaccination usually is made in the upper part of the left arm or on the outer side of the left leg, above the knee. It will prevent smallpox in the vast majority of cases.

By the 12th month children should be immunized against diphtheria. The method now used involves injection of a substance called diphtheria toxoid. The doctor usually will inject this into the loose tissue of arm or leg, or occasionally into the back or the abdominal wall. Some physicians use two doses; others a one dose loxold. Usually the child begins to develop immunity immediately after the injection and within four months is protected against diphtheria for some time.

Vaccination against diphtheria and smallpox is today an established procedure for all children. When there are epidemics of scarlet fever in a community or in institutions where there are many children, such children should be vaccinated against this disease. For whooping cough and measles, the methods are not established and are used only when epidemics threaten. If a child or an adult is to travel in foreign countries where the food and water are not so well sanitated as they are in the United States, he is wise to guard against typhoid fever by taking the necessary injections. Lockjaw is so serious that physicians generally recommend the use of inoculation whenever a child has been cut, injured by fireworks or suffers any other type of njury in which tissues are broken and possibly contaminated with soil, clothing, or other materials which may contain the lockjaw- germ.

We do not as yet recognize any specific method of inoculation against the common cold. Certain vaccines are promoted for this purpose, but they still are considered highly experimental, and are not recommended by the majority of doctors. With available methods of prevention, and with the specific control of infectious diseases that ie possible, the prevalence of diseases in the United States is definite charge against the intelligence of its citizens. America seems to have more than 350,000 cases of measles. 200,000 cases of smallpox, 180,000 cases of scarlet fever, 100,000 cases of mumps, and 200,000 cases of whooping cough every year.

It should be possible to cut down these figures exactly as we have such diseases as typhoid fever. Control of diphtheria is definitely in sight. With development of research and better understanding of these diseases, It is reasonable to predict that the future will see still more of the infectious diseases brought definitely under control. Walt Mason, Himself The World's Most Famous Rhymstcr THE CORONER keen on revo- lutions, would kill all ancient institutions. They would abolish now the crowner, and make him an out-and-downer; they say his job is a reminder of a i times when men hollow forms and ceremonies were not, as now, considered phonies.

He ents all a conditions; he is the tool of politicians; he gets the price of grub and toddled, for looking wise o'er shattered bodies. He is not trained in any science, and bluffing is his sole reliance. And yet he has endured for ages, and gone along and earned his wages. When people die, quite unexpected, the crowner's jury is selected; we'd never know what fate had licked 'em without the crowner's final dictum. We might continue guessing vainly, and framing theories up insanely, but for the crowner's explanation, the victims died of high taxation.

The crownrr, dignified and polished, I'd hate to see man abolished. For centuries he has been holding -his quests without such futile scolding, coprrliht, 1117. tor The Otorse MttUnw AtfMw Mirier HOROSCOPE 101 Mcdurci- Nevipipet TUESDAY. FEB. 2, 1937.

Mingled good and evil aspects are discerned for today, according to astrology. The plenetary government may aggravate whatever is troublesome or perplexing. Persons in authority are well directed under this rule of the btars. It should encourage heads of government affairs and stimulate the work of legislators. Congress will attract extraordinary interest in the next few weeks when debates of supreme importance will take place.

Alignments on international issues will bo surprising. There is a sign believed to encourage secret plots and hidden forms of sedition. Propaganda hostile to American ideals may be peculiarly effective at this time. This is a fortunate sway for those who bear responsibilities and guide the destinies of employes. Leadership will be needed as national and international problems multiply.

Workers continue under evil omens that seem to indicate much selfish thinking and protracted discontent. They are to make great gains, for shorter hours of labor us well as better wages are prognosticated. After holiday romances there likely to be a period of little sentimental interest. GfVls may find suitors apathetic at this- time. This is not an auspicious day for meeting strangers and is especially forbidding for making the acquaintance of young persons of opposite sex.

Persons whose birthdate It Is have the augury of a year of snd- den changes and uncertainties, but It should be fairly lucky in financial gains. Children born on this day probably will be Inclined toward secrecy regarding their plans or their activities. Subjects of this sign usually are talented and able to succeed Fritz Krelsler, violinist, was born on this day 1875. Others who have celebrated it as a birthday include Sir William PMpps, first governor of Massachusetts, 1651; William Rose Heart, pott and editor. HU, A I.