THE UNITED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 16

THE UNITED STATES.

PROHIBITION LAW. WASHINGTON, January 15. A telegram from Cincinatti states that, following conferences with the Executive Board of the Brewery Workers’ International Union, Mr Gompers announced that Labour will start a concerted drive for a modification of the prohibition law and a return to wine and beer of a light alcoholic content. He declared that this would promote temperance, and would provide an antidote to strong drink. A Jersey City message says that three men dropped dead before a bar, a. moment after taking a drink of batWliquor. NEW YORK, January 16. Inaugural messages from Governor Silzer (New Jersey) and Governor Pinchot (Pennsylvania) express opposite views regarding prohibition. The former, urged the State Legislature to pass a resolution asking Congress to amend the Volstead Act in order to legalise beer and wines. The latter declared that above all else they should keep Pennsylvania dry. Each said that his policy was dictated by public opinion in his State. January 18. According to a Trenton (New Jersey) despatch, the Anti-Saloon League passed a resolution urging that the army and navy should be utilised to establish a blockade to prevent rum running and liquor smuggling. This step is considered necessary in order to check the flow of intoxicants into the United States. The navy would be used to check liquor

smuggling along the coast, where, beyond the three-mile limit, 24 vessels, loaded with European stocks, are waiting for small boats to unload their wares surreptitiously. The army would be used on the Mexican and Canadian borders. KU KLUX KLAN TRIALS. WASHINGTON, January 15. At Merouge, witness after witness continues to testify concerning the brutal secret government maintained bv the Ku Klux Klan. One witness, who had been kidnapped and beaten because of his alleged immorality, declared that he recognised among the masked men the Bastrop parish deputy sheriff. \ NEW YORK, January 20. At Bastrop, the prosecution’s witnesses identified two more men as being members of the band which kidnapped Daniels and Richards. A further sensation has been caused by the statement of a youth that he was held up by a hooded hand last night, but released on the band finding that he was not the man they wanted. A Bastrop telegram reports a furl her sensation in the Ku Klux Klan inquiry. John Parker, a former sheriff, was shot dead by a Klansman during arguments over the band's affairs. HERRIN MASSACRE TRIAL. NEW YORK, January 15. At Marion, three shots were fired into the home of George Nelson, one of the most prominent witnesses for the prostcu-

tion at the Herrin trial. Nelson had been previously threatened with death. January 18. At Marion the jury in the Herrin massacre trial has retired. At the Herrin trial, in the presence of 600 spectators, Judge Hartrell, in summing up, said : ‘‘lt is murder or nothing. It is not against the law of Illinois for a man to mine coal without belonging to the United Mine Workers of America, and if a man is assaulted and killed therefore, and for no other reason, the killing is unlawful. You are to fix a penalty of life imprisonment or a minimum term of 14 years, if you find any or all of the defendants amity. If one of the accused men committed the crime and the other defendants stood by and aided or encouraged the crime, it is your duty to find all the defendants guilty.” January 19. At Marion the jury’s verdict, acquitting five of the defendants in the Herrin massacre trial, was delivered after 26 hours’ deliberation, six ballots being taken. The verdict was received without any demonstration on the part of the hushed crowd which was jammed in the building, and was closely watched by sheriffs. The spectators filed out smilingly. The judge .read the decision in each case separately. WASHINGTON, January 20. A telegram from MariAn says that the five defendants who were acquitted at the Herrin trial are still far from being free men. They were returned to the cells on Friday night to await trial, together with eight others, on a charge of murdering another victim of the massacre. The

case will be heard before the court ends its session on February 5. While at first the trial was regarded lightly by the entire district, a more sober view is now taken, owing to the notoriety which has come to the district. Merchants complain that business has been poor since the county earned the name of “Bloody Williamson.” It is feared that the acquittal of the miners will still further inflame the general public against the district. RAILWAY STRIKE TROUBLE. NEW YORK, January 16. At Harrison, Arkansas, angered by recent sabotage in connection with the local railway strike, a mob of citizens descended on the home of a striker named M'Gregor, who fled amid a hail of bullets. Later M‘Gregor’s body was found hanging to a trestle. The mob seized another man who supplied bail for strikers charged with sabotage, and whipped him. January 17. The Governor of Arkansas ordered a company of troops to restore order at Harrison, but the sheriff telegraphed asking for the recall of the soldiers, declaring that he was able to restore order. Meanwhile two strikers, who were quickly convicted of arson, were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. They confessed to burning two railroad bridges. The sheriff spirited them away. In another town a so-called Citizens’ Committee examined the strikers and their friends. The daughter of an alleged strike sympathiser fired upon a crowd, which was leading her father to the court, but no one was injured. She was apprehended. Many of the strikers have left tbfe town, in fear of their lives. The Mayor of Harrison, who supplied bond for the striker who was charged with sabotage, was threatened with a whij>ping and was ordered to resign, but he refused. The strikers have appealed to the Governor for protection, ‘declaring that their lives are not safe. The State Senate approved of a resolution ordering an investigation of the Citizens’ Committee, and has asked the- Federal Court to call a special sitting of the Grand Jury to investigate the alleged sabotage. January 18. The epidemic of lawlessness and mob violence has caused the authorities in three *of the southern States to take measures to prevent mobs from seizing the reins of government. The Arkansas legislature is preparing to investigate the lynching of one striker, and the flogging of others by armed citizens. Louisiana officials are continuing their investigations into the Ku Klux Klan reign of terror, which culminated in the Merrouge murders, while in Texas the Grand Jury has begun to probe the identity of the masked men who flogged a man and a woman. At Harrison mob law is spreading, a,nd more of the striking railwavmen are being flogged in several towns in Northern Arkansas. Others have been ordered to leave the district by the Citizen’s Committee, which is heavily armed. According to a Harrison message, the Circuit Judge Shinn said that the socalled citizens’ court, which was operating behind closed doors examining strikers, was working under his authority. The judge refused to explain the unusual situation, beyond saying that the Citizens’ Committee was under oath. According to the Memphis Press, the so-called Citizens’ Committee at Harrison controlled the 200,000 neople of the district with an iron hand for a week, in its efforts to drive ou£ the railway strikers who were accused of sabotage. The correspondent of the Dailv Express declares that in addition to the striker who was hanged, 30 men were tied un and severely lashed, while 400 men and women were driven from their homes. The Citizens’ Committee elected what was tantamount to a government, ignoring the regular courts and the police, and carrying out its own sentences. Every home for miles around was searched for evidence against the strikers. PRESIDENT HARDING ILL. WASHINGTON, January 19. President Harding has been ill for several days from a slight attack of la grippe. His physician has ordered him to bed, and all his engagements Have been cancelled for the remainder of the week. SEVENTY MILLION DOLLAR DEAL. NEW YORK, January 16. It is announced that the Anaconda Copper Mining Company has paid 70,000,000 dollars for a controlling interest in’the Chile Copper Company, which controls the largest known copper ore field in the world. A new loan of 50,000,000 dollars will be floated to finance the deal, and to provide the necessary working capital. AMERICAN COAL INDUSTRY. WASHINGTON, January 15. The United States Coal Commission, which has been investigating the coal industry, in a preliminary report finds that labour troubles, transportation difficulties, over-development of the industry in the’mines, and of man-power to a point where it is much larger than is necessary to supply the public demands are the primary causes of high prices and the coal shortage from which America has suffered in recent years. The Commission declares that there has been much profiteering on the part of operators, and warns miners and owners that they must settle their own disputes and reach an amicable agreement before the expirations of the present contracts, and thus avert further strikes, which are threatened for April. The Commission issues a further warning that unless the industrv reforms itself through the elimination of strikes and surplus miners, and the offering of steady

employment to fewer men, federal regulation will be necessary. DEVELOPING HAWAIIAN BASE. WASHINGTON, January 17. The Naval Board has submitted t-o Mr Denby a recommendation for the development of an advanced naval base at Hawaii, capable of preserving the entire American fleet at its maximum strength. The work is to be given priority over other shore projects. IMMIGRATION LAW. WASHINGTON, January 15. Sixty per cent, of the number of aliens who are admissible during the current fiscal year, beginning July 1, 1922, entered the United States during the first six months, totalling 215,658, and exhausting tlie quotas of many countries, including Australia, whose quota was 279. FEDERATION OF LABOUR, WASHINGTON, January 16. Mr Gompers has announced that he will urge the American Federation of Labour to join the Employees’ Division of the International Labour Office created by the League of Nations at Geneva. The American Chamber of Commerce has announced that it will join the Employers Division. DECLARATION AGAINST BOLSHEVISM. WASHINGTON, January 17.' The United Mine Workers of America have announced a policy condemning the Moscow Internationale and its attempt to destroy the American legitimate Labour movement and to substitute therefore the principles of Bolshevism. Impatient resentment against social wrongs may prompt wild attempts at the abolition of capitalism, but it remains for the trade union movement to continue its own work. An Albany telegram savs that Governor Smith has pardoned Jim Larkin, who was convicted in 1920 on a charge of criminal anarchy, having advocated the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Governor said the pardon was .not because he subscribed to these views, but because they did not constitute or advocate anarchy, but merely a new and radically different form of organised government. TO PREVENT WARS. WASHINGTON, January 17. Representative Uuck has introduced a resolution in the House providing that the President should inform all the nations that the United States will give its people the sole power to declare war against any nation delegating the same power to its people, thus providing the basis of an international agreement, and making war impossible without a national referendum. AMERICANS TO DEVELOP BAKU. NEW YORK, January 18. A party of engineers and officials of the Barnsdall Corporation, one of the largest oil-producing companies in the United States, will sail on January 27 for Baku, thus marking the first step in the opening bv American operators of this rich oilfield, which has been a bone of contention among English, American, and Italian interests. The mission will work under a conces sion granted by the Moscow Government with the approval of the State Department. It has priority of rights in the Caucasus. President- Day, of the Barnsdall Corporation, obtained the concession some time ago, when, as president of the American Trade Corporation, he became practically the foreign trade agent of the Communist Republics in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. FILM STAR’S DEATH. NEW YORK, January 18. A Los Angeles telegram records the death of Wallace Reid, a popular film star. . „ Wallace Reid's death came following a relapse from a complication of diseases. He was weakened by overwork, and, according to an announcement by Mns Reid, used narcotics during a temporary illness. Reid suffered from a breakdown two months ago. Pneumonia set in, and when his recovery was. expected an intestinal ailment caused a relapse from which he was unable to recover. GENERAL. WASHINGTON. January 19. A message from Philadelphia states that four men were found dead as the result of wood-alcohol poisoning. The Senate passed the Capper Bill, facilitating credits for farmers and live stock breeders. The measure enables corporations that were organised previously in the agricultural districts to finance loans up to 25,000 dollars. NEW YORK, January 20. At Lawrence (Massachusetts) eight persons were burnt to death in a. tenement fire, j