Coral Gables Riviera

PAGE 4 THE CORAL GABLES RIVIERA FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1942

CORAL GABLES RIVIERA

AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER Published every Friday by the Miami Riviera Publishing Co., 306 Coral Way, Coral Gables, Fla. Established January, 1926 Combined with the Dade County and Coconut Grove Times, 1929. ALBERT E. HARUM President and Publisher JAMES B. MOORE Managing Editor Charles S. Leyden Advertising Manager Gertrude Hardeman Circulation Manager Helen Reynolds Society Editor Edythe Farley Credit Manager Mailing Address, P. O. Box 704 Telephone 4-1634 Member, Florida Press Association National Editorial Association Represented in the National Advertising Field by the American Press Association, New York City SUBSCRIPTION RATES Six Months $1.25 One Year $2.00 Out of Town $3.00 Entered as second class matter May 21, 1926, at the Postoffice at Miami, Florida, under Act of March 3, 1879.

It's Up to You

Property-owning voters living between Coral Way and Hardee Road will have an opportunity next Tuesday to signify their desire to have schools for their children that will be second to none in the county. This can be done by voting in favor of the proposed $850,000 bond issue that will be placed before the electorate on that date. To vote in the bond election it will be necessary to be a registered voter, as well as a property owner, or freeholder. Special voting machines will be installed in the various precincts by the school board, solely for recording the vote on the bonds. If the issue wins approval of the voters, and later is validated by the courts, in about a year from now the school board will be in position to market these securities and obtain much needed expansion, renovation and repairing of the school plants. Tentative plans of the board call for piecemeal marketing of the securities in that money will become available only as rapidly as the work can be done. This will result in keeping financing costs to rock bottom and also will enable the board to have the work done at the most advantageous times. Good schools always have been recognized as assets that help increase the value of neighboring real estate. Parents like to live where their children can obtain a good education, and this desire brings more potential purchasers for property than would be the case otherwise. This, in turn, means that property owners, as well as parents of school children, gain the benefits from improving the school system as much as possible.

Important Housecleaning

Not before in the history of Coral Gables has spring house cleaning been so important. Because 1942 is the critical year for the democracies, it is unlikely that there will be such an important spring house cleaning in any future year. Why? War industries are waiting for the copper, iron, brass, rags and rubber that Coral Gables housewives will drag out of hiding and start on the way to be made into tanks, planes and guns. The Dade County Defense Council's subdivision of clothing and salvage has issued an appeal to the housewives of Coral Gables that they gather the material for a tank or plane during their spring house cleaning. It can be done. Every home in Coral Gables harbors some item or items of past usefulness which could go into the crucibles of war and come out in the shape of a lethal weapon to turn against the Japs and Nazis. Now Uncle Sam wants all those items and asks that they be pulled out of hiding and put to use for the armies of democracy. Men can and should help with this important task. In fact, women cannot handle the heavy objects that are to be found in early every home. Teamwork by men, women and older children will make every Coral Gables home safer from fire bomb attack and will supply our brave soldiers and sailors with the weapons they so badly need. Spring house cleaning will do its share towards wining the war.

Gas-Saving Tips

Pointing out that consumers can save considerable gasoline by careful driving habits and proper care of cars, the Consumer Division of OPA, offers these gas-saving suggestions: Trade rides with your neighbors, cut out Sunday drives. Walk more. Drive slowly and carefully. Speed and careless driving waste gasoline. Take care of your engine. A faulty engine wastes gasoline. Use the right oil: light oil for Winter, heavy oil for Summer. Keep your carburetor and spark properly adjusted. Use your hand choke sparingly. Use first and second gear as little as possible. Have your spark plugs cleaned every five thousand miles, and have the distributor points checked for cleaning adjustment at the same time. If your clutch is slipping, get it adjusted immediately. A slipping clutch means waste of engine power and gasoline. Keep your battery charged. A well charged battery means easier starting, less choking, less gasoline consumption. Keep your tires properly inflated. It takes more gasoline to drive a car with under inflated tires. Park in the shade wherever possible.

WALTER LIPPMANN

With the appointment of Governor McNutt and the War Man Power Commission we can perhaps begin to see in a new light and somewhat more clearly the many labor questions which the country has been discussing. A long step has been taken toward universal service for war; Governor McNutt is specifically directed to recommend the legislation which will be necessary to supplement the powers that Major General Hershey has already developed in regard to deferment under the draft law. Now when a country moves toward universal service, the peacetime labor problem is transformed into the war-time manpower problem. In this change takes place, all the stock issue in industrial relations are changed, and many of these issues are superseded. It is, therefore, not only reasonable but very necessary for Congress and for the public to pause for a reappraisal of the actual situation. In the broadest terms, the essential difference is that the old labor problem in war industry has revolved around the hiring of men and women by private employers, whereas the new manpower problem will revolve around the conscription of men and women by the government for service to the nation. Yet what has happened recently in the agitation about the forty-hour law shows how confusing it is to think as we have usually thought about the labor problem. From all parts of the country there is a very strong attack on the forty-hour law as an obstruction to the war effort. At the same time, the responsible officials in Washington have been unanimously opposed to a change in this law, and the heads of the war industries have taken little or no part in asking that the law should be changed. This is purely a very odd situation, and it has produced a rather bitter and excited controversy. Yet it is, I think, a case where the advocates on both sides have been right, but there has been no meeting of minds because they have been talking about plants which have war contracts: it is quite true that in these plants the forty-hour law does not hold production down to forty hours a week. It merely increases the weekly wage. A repeal of the law would mean an actual reduction of wages. The war production officials look upon repeal as a dangerous nuisance which would open up a new cycle of labor demands to bring total weekly wages back to the present level. For in these plants money is not a consideration to the employers because the government pays the wage bill. This explains why Mr. Nelson and all the other officials do not want the forty-hour law disturbed, and it is not necessary to invent other reasons, as, for example, that they are being in by the labor union officials. On the other hand, the agitation against the forty-hour law, which is so strongly reflected in Congress, has its own valid basis. It is not necessary to invent reasons for it, as, for example, that it is some sort of anti-labor conspiracy. The agitation against the forty-hour law does not arise from the war contractors, but, on the contrary, from the industries which do not have war contracts and must, therefore, pay their own wage bills. I find also, from letters which reach men, and from letters to Congressmen which I have seen, that the complaint comes from the smaller business men who do not deal with Mr. Nelson or with the war-procurement agencies. For them the forty-hour law is a real impediment to a longer working week and to the more complete use of their machines and plants. For them the law works—as in the days of depression it was meant to work—namely, as a severe penalty on longer hours in order to compel them to hire more men. Their complaint is a real one. They are not paid by the Government. They cannot raise prices or Mr. Henderson will put a ceiling over them. They cannot easily hire more men because men are being drafted into the army or lured into the war industries, where they get deferment and also higher pay. The feeling in Congress comes from them, and it is no accident that the feeling is strongest in the South and Southwest, where there are relatively more small business men who are caught by frozen prices, rising taxes, shorter supplies of materials and labor, and, finally, penalty payments for working more than forty hours. It is plain, I think, that as Mr. Nelson proceeds with the conversion of industry and as Governor McNutt and General Hershey proceed with the mobilization of manpower, more attention must be paid than any one is authority is now paying to the problems of producers who, though outside the war effort itself, are nevertheless very necessary to the country. Because they do not have war contracts and Government subsidies, they need separate and different treatment in regard to prices, wage policy and taxes. What is good and workable policy for the war industries is almost certainly not going to be a good and workable policy for the other industries. And while they must, of course, give the right of way to war industries on priorities and materials and manpower, the very fact that they have given the right of way makes it all the more necessary that they should be considered and protected. No one in Washington is really making this his preoccupation. Every one is so preoccupied with war industry that no one is wholly concerned to look after another industry and speak for it at the Treasury, in the formulation of labor policy and in the operation of price control. There are many obvious reasons why the essential non-war industries must be protected. There is one reason, which is perhaps less obvious, that is worth emphasizing. As more and more materials and men are mobilized for war, there is an ever-increasing need to develop substitutes to keep the life of the country going. These substitutes can in many cases be discovered and suggested by the Government. But by and large this is a field where the inventiveness and private initiative and the enterprise of the people can do much and are in fact indispensable. Where we do not have to regiment for war we ought, I believe, as a matter of deliberate policy, to put a premium on private enterprise in the belief that it can solve many problems which the Government is too busy to think about. For that reason we ought in our laws to favor enterprises which develop substitutes out of materials that are not pre-empted for war. We ought to revise the labor laws to promote these enterprises. And we ought to think carefully about price ceilings in this field so as to be sure that in the rush to freeze everything we do not freeze out the incentive for invention and ingenuity and initiative. (Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.)

Stumping the Good Fairy

By BROWN WHERE IS HE? SEND FARM LABOR! FARM LABOR! U.S. FARMER WORKMEN WANTED POLITICS FARM BLOC BROWN

Mark Sullivan

The labor situation, as it now lies between Congress and the President, is broader than labor. It involves wages and the possible "freezing" of them, profits of industry, cost of living inflation, sale of Defense Bonds and mobilization of man power for industry. All these are involved either in the so-called labor bills before Congress, or in the message President Roosevelt is to send to Congress next Monday. The immediate legislative situation is that Congress intended to begin action on labor bills this week. They agreed to defer action until after the President sends his message. The background of the present development began last November. A coal strike for a closed shop was being conducted by John L. Lewis. He proceeded in spite of public outcry that the strike slowed up defense industries dependent on coal. Congress was eager to pass legislation dealing with strikes, the closed shop and other aspects of labor. On November 24, the President, in a conference with Congressional leaders, assented to legislation. Thereupon the House passed a bill. It was very drastic, but the House, in its irritation, gave it a majority of 2 to 1. From the House, the bill went to the Senate Committee on Labor. About mid-December, representatives of the President asked the Senate Labor Committee to suspend action on the bill. They said the President wished to take steps of his own about labor. The Senate Committee suspended action. Since that day, neither this nor any other comprehensive labor measure has emerged on the floor of Congress for action. As conditions developed and new complaints about labor matters arose, such as the one about the forty-hour week, bill after bill has been introduced. Many have had—and still have—strong support. Some have gone as far as the stage of hearings by committees. But always, with one unimportant exception, actual action by Congress has been deferred, mainly at the request of the President. The latest occasion was this week. Apparently now something must happen. Either Congress will be satisfied by the President's message to them next Monday—or Congress will proceed to act. Meanwhile, the steps taken by the President were mainly two. He set up an informal "labor Cabinet" consisting of a group of high labor leaders who meet with him in a spirit in which, as the President has expressed it, all take down their hair and call each other by their first names. In addition he has appointed four representatives from each of labor, industry and the public. The board is not specifically authorized by Congress, nor are its decisions determined by any act of Congress. Its authority is derived from the general war powers of the President. It is apparent the President prefers that labor matters be kept within the hands of himself and his appointees rather than be intrusted to Congress. Since some of the questions arising are deeply fundamental, this raises the constitutional issue of the division of powers between the Executive and legislative branches of Government. Many in Congress, and many outside, feel that in the existing condition, Congress is in effect, to this extent, abdicating. As labor matters are now handled, it is obviously important to know what are the relations between the President and the labor leaders. Do they defer to him, or he to them? There is some evidence that the President puts pressure on the labor leaders by using Congress as a threat. When he was trying to persuade John Lewis to stop the coal strike last fall, he said, in a letter to Mr. Lewis: "The pressure on me to ask for legislation (on strikes) during the last couple of months . . . has been not only constant, but it has been very heavy." Mr. Lewis was not moved. There is also evidence that the labor leaders sometimes resist the President. When last fall's coal strike was before a board appointed by the President and the board decided against the closed shop, two of the labor members of the board resigned, angrily and publicly, practically ending the board's existence. At the same time there is plain evidence that in some important matters the labor leaders have deferred to the President, against their own inclination and interest. An example is the undertaking of the labor leaders to have no strikes so long as the war lasts. On this and other matters the attitude of Congress and the atmosphere of Washington are blurred by an underlying condition. This is the common assumption that the President regards labor as an important body of his personal following, and of the New Deal as a political force. (Copyright, 1942, New York Tribune, Inc.)

OUR TOWN by Jim Moore

A friend of ours was decrying the fact that the young men are going away to the war with no fanfare, flag waving, parading, etc. He told us that during the last war, when soldiers left their home town, that there was much playing of bands, marching of feet and cheering. "Nowadays," he said, "the men are called, they quietly say good-bye to their family and friends, and off they go. It isn't right." Personally, we take issue with that line of reasoning. Bands and parades are all right—and it is one way of giving the boys a nice send-off. But, after all, war is no picnic, nor should it be regarded as such. We like the way the young men of today are going about doing their bit. They fully realize that there is a job to be done and that they are going to do it. As one of them said to us the other day, "Hell, we don't have to be pepped up to give those Japs and Nazis a paste in the snoot. Just let us at 'em. We'll do the job." That's exactly the way we feel about it—and when it comes our time to go, we won't need any band either. The youths who are daily donning uniforms are going to war for one purpose—to win. They realize it might take time and a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But they have no doubt about the ultimate outcome. At least the vast majority of them haven't. We underwent a nauseating hour last week when we were forced to listen to a young punk telling a lot of older men his ideas about the war. He took up 60 minutes of valuable time, that, in our opinion, was utterly wasted. In his opinion the Japs had a superior army, our Navy was nothing to be proud of, and a lot of other blah, blah, blah that seemed to indicate that he had already given up the ship and was waiting for the Axis to come and take him over. Now the 16-year-old was supposed to know what he was talking about. He had been under fire and lived to tell the tale. But it just so happens that we had talked to another lad, a short while ago, who had been in the same exact place under similar conditions. But what a different story he had to tell. "I'm going back as soon as I can," he said, "and help pay those babies back." And he did. After hearing our dismal young friend, we got a bit curious about how other boys his age felt about the matter—so we asked a lot of them. The answers made our blood tingle with pride. That lad, it seems, was the exception that proves the rule. Don't think for one moment that our soldiers and sailors aren't in this war to win, with no if's, and's, nor but's. And with pride like that, there can be no other outcome.

This ONE'S ON You

NEW TITLE—Benny Oldham is justly proud of his new title, "The Barber Who Shaved Cordell Hull". Benny had the distinction recently of scraping off the distinguished whiskers and has an autographed card to prove it. * HIGH WATER— Here's an item of the Ripley variety that floated to the surface after the recent heavy rains.It's about a couple who were flooded out of their second-story apartment! Yes, believe it or not, the torrents flooded the sun deck and high water filled the living room, forcing Jim and Suzy Reece to move to another apartment until things dried out. * PERSISTENCE—Dr. R. J. Fritz of St. Joe., Mo., arrived home this week with an amusing story to tell his friends. While vacationing at the Antilla Hotel, Dr. Fritz made it a daily custom to walk up town and have breakfast, and then take a long stroll through the Gables, drinking in the beauty of the flora and architecture. One morning recently, he had breakfast at the Coral Gables Grocery and started on his walk. As he paused at City Hall, he noticed a grocery boy, laden with a large bag of groceries, coming up the street. As he again paused at the Christian Science Church he saw the same boy, puffing laboriously up the parkway. His stroll took him past the former Aerocar plant, where he stood watching the Pan-American radio men at work. Again he spied the boy in his wake. As the boy came abreast an paused, the doctor conversed with him awhile. Finally the doctor returned to the hotel and stopped at the desk for his mail. To his astonishment, there was the faithful grocery boy, standing beside him, perspiring profusely. Mickey Whitton, on duty at the desk, queried the lad, asking why he didn't deliver the food to the kitchen. Doggedly, the boy pointed to Dr. Fritz. Further investigation revealed that the lad had picked up a bag in the store and had been instructed by the checker to "follow the man in the gray hat". Un-fortunately he had picked the wrong "hat", but believing he was obeying his orders, he unflinchingly "delivered his message to Garcia" with no questions asked.

In Our Mail - - -

Two weeks ago the tennis team of Ponce de Leon was faced with the difficult situation of going to the State High School Interscholastic Tennis Tournament at St. Petersburg. As we were without funds the situation looked hopeless. Then, to our intense happiness, help presented itself. As our team had won the Southeastern Florida League championship, there were some people who thought we should have the opportunity to go. We, the members of the tennis team, would like to thank the kind and generous men who were interested enough in us and the game to give unselfishly toward the advancement of it. The donators were: The Country Club of Coral Gables, who paid all the entrance fees; Mr. Edward Brignam, Mr. Julian Eaton, Mr. Denman Fink, Mr. Carroll Daniels, Dr. Oden Schaeffer and Dr. William McKibben—all helped to pay the necessary transportation and living expenses. We are truly grateful for your help and confidence in us and are very sorry we did not fare better in the play. Although we feel that the experience and education we gained will in the future help us to bring credit to you. As Coral Gables has the best players in Miami and Miami ranks high on the list of homes for good tennis players in the South, we feel certain that Coral Gables could be ranked first in the state. She has the support and facilities necessary and we the young tennis players are on our way up, thanks to your swell co-operation. Yours sincerely, PONCE TENNIS TEAM, Bobby Paige.

Book Briefs

"The Development of Hispanic America," by A. Curtis Wilgus (Farrar and Rinehart, Inc). Reviewed by LOUISE LEYDEN Due to the proximity of Hispanic America to Florida, especially by air, this new book on our Southern neighbors should prove to be of more than passing interest to all in this vicinity. The author, A. Curtis Wilgus, is associate professor of Hispanic American history at George Washington University and is renowned for his work in this field. While "The Development of Hispanic America" is primarily a history, still it is far more than a collection of facts and statistics. It is a scholarly treatise upon the various periods of growth and expansion from earliest times down to the present era. The book is divided into two essential sections, representing the period from discovery to revolutions for independence, and the period from 1824 on through to today. These chief divisions are many times sub-divided, taking up backgrounds, discovery, exploration and conquest, Colonial development, revolutions for independence of the modern states and international relations in the modern period. One of the most significant chapters, and one of vital importance in regard to the "Good Neighbor" policy, is the chapter upon Pan-Americanism. Here the author describes the first Pan-American conference which held its initial meeting on October 2, 1889. Each subsequent conference is taken up and dealt with separately, bringing to light the chief things accomplished. It also lists the societies and organizations whose aims are to foster better relations with Hispanic America through cultural and social media.