AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3865, 10 April 1928, Page 27

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

THE -PRESIDENCY. I quarrels in each party. NEW YORK, April 2. Until each of the major parties decides upon its Presidential candidate, there is little sympathy lost, and often most vicious blows are struck between the various aspirants for this honour in the same party, and so there is nothing .unusual m Hie fact that there have been only the scantiest expressions of grief at the death of fSenator VViilis. He was an important figure and his demise at any other time would have aneant extravagant eulogies find laments, but at th e present time jungle law is the strongest instinck actuating political figures. One observer on ihp ..d a y that Senator Willis died said : '' Ob'-hand, it appeal's that the chief , beneficiary to speak in cold blood is Mr Hoover, who was contending with Senator Willis for the Ohio delegation.” It is now too late to remove Senator Willis's name from the primaty ballots of Ohio; therefore, the Republican voters will be able to express a preference for only him or Air Hoover. The importance of the Ohio primary, however, lies in thefact that if Senator Willis receives the vote it will mean that Senator Willis’s death has not reconciled Mr Hoover’s enemies to accept him for the Republican Presidential candidate. Moreover, it will mean that since the delegates from Ohio will be instructed for Senator Willis, and Senator Willis cannot be voted for, they will obviously throw their strength at the convention to some other individual possibly the Speaker of the Hous e of Representatives, Senator Longworth, or Air Dawes, although the latter has’ del dared that he is supporting Governor Lowden.

It is interesting that at the Michigan primaries to-day Republican delegates for Mr Hoover and Democratic delegates for Governor Smith were chosen, but it is of nr, importance, since they had no oppon ents. .It is more to the point to note that if anyone was ever cordially hated by politicians in his own party it appears to be Air Hoover. The saying is, ** everyone is against Hoover.ft ]a agreed that anyone who will defeat Mr Hoover is the right candidate for the Republican nomination. ‘

Senator Borah continues to trumpet what are paramount issues in the campaign, but practical Republican politicians are scarcely interested in the issues just now. They shudder at the thought that corruption may later defeat them, but at present they are waging an internal battle over men. and Mr Hoover, who is now apparently so pivotal a figure, may disappear overnight once the Republican convention gets under way, , Senator Robinson last week continued his wide attack on the Democrats, drag-' gmg the entire Wilson Administration into the oil scandal.

Senator Walsh and other Democratic senators spurned the charges. There is' unanimity among the Democratic representatives that they will let no one connect Them with oil, but otherwise it can hardly be said that they are definitely determined either upon men or issues, ft is generally admitted in the party that S rO . Ve ™ or , . Sm th is the leading figure, and his friends claim that he will have the required tvvo-third s majority at the convention, but apparently the v have forgotten what an implacable enemy Governor Smith ha s in Mr M'Adob Thev eliminated each other in 1922 It is more than a decade since the Presidential campaign has been so incoherent or so angry Each party has its private quarrel, and it can hardly be said that good government as a political ideal is ask U vo\ nS e ,’ tller Party as it prenares to siblv on 7b f ° r s "P port th « PoHs, ostensibly on the one ground that it alone can assure the people such. GUARDING CHICAGO’S POLLS. NT r NEW YORK, April 6. News from Chicago states that 5000 police, comprising five-sixths of the citv’s entire force, will guard Chicago’s polls in the Illinois primary election on April 10 Ibisi is the most extensive election guard in the history of the city, and it will be augmented by 25.000 volunteer watchers and challengers recruited from civic organisations. governor smith. NEW YORK. April 3. Democratic primaries held in New York, Alatne, and Wisconsin elected delegates who are expected to vote for Governor Smith. These bring the total up to 240, and April is expected to produce 200 more. .-.- 1 c - THE WASHINGTON, April 3. Mr Birch Helms, a Texas oilman, testified Wore the Senate’s Teopot Dome Committee thaf President Harding and three Cabinet officers had warning' in April, 1922, that there was secrecy iu Fall’s lease of the reserve to Sinclair. Mr Helms declared that he protested to President Harding, Mr Hoover, th“. former Attorney-General (Mr Dougherty), and the former Secretary for War (Mr Weeks) personally and by telegram jigainst the secrecy surrounding the lease. WALL STREET TRADING.

NEW YORK, April 2. Stock Exchange trading bore a semblance of normality for the first time in ■weeks, and the frenzy of the.recent days, ■when leading stocks reached new high levels and the volume of trading broke all records, subsided to a murmur. The total sales for the day after approaching.

5,000,000 in several sessions last week were barely over 3,000,000. ' The governors of the Stock Exchange have agreed to suspend trading from the afternoon of April 5 until the morning of April 9, making a triple holiday over Easter. Traders had asked for this unusually long suspension due to the nervous strain to which members were subjected, during recent boom. THE UNEMPLOYED. WASHINGTON, April 2. Senator Shipstead, who represents the Farmer Labour Patty from Minnesota, estimates the unemployed throughout the United States at over 8,000,000 on the basis of the Labour Department’s figures, which he says show a 32.6 decrease in unemployment since 1920. “ , • THE NAVY. NEW YORK, April 2 Portsmouth (New Hampshire) reports that- V 4, which is reported to be the largest submarine in the world, was put in commission in the navy' yard there. It carries a crew of 79. CIGAR STORES MECHANISATION. WASHINGTON, April 4. A further step in the mechanisation of American life has occurred with the installation of groups of mechanisms in thshops of the United Cifar Stores, the largest American tobacconists, with thousands of premises throughout the United States. The device, upon the turning of a crank, delivers any one of twenty brands of cigarettes, gives change, utters “ Thank you,” and repeats the’ advertising slogan of the brand of cigarettes just bought. THE UNITED STATES. OTTAWA, April 3. The United States announces the purchase of a property here with a view to. the erection of a handsome edifice to house the Embassy. REDUCTION IN TAXATION. . WASHINGTON, April 3. The Secretary of the Treasury (Mr A. W. Mellon) recommended to the Senate's Finance Committee a total maximum tax reduction of 201,115,000d01, which is 23,885,000d0l below the previous estimate. PURIFYING CHICAGO. NEW YORK, April 3. A Chicago message states that the suburb of Cicero—the stronghold of the notorious gangster “ Scarf ace Af” Capone —elected the city officials, and before Jioon one man had been killed and two badly beaten. Five gunmen were arrested en route from Chicago, allegedly to support the Capone candidates. They had firearms and other weapons in their possession.

In the meantime both political and gangster circles are increasingly anxious over the Federal Government’s prohibition activities, which are growing daily. Special intelligence agents to-day arrested a well-known gangster allegedly involve! in the alcohol business, whom they con neet wit-h the recent bombings. It is generally beileved that the United States Government has decided to take a hand in purifying Chicago. BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION. NEW YORK, April 7. The New York Herald and Tribune prints the following remarkable despatch, contributed by a staff correspondent at Chicago. 'The correspondent states that machine guns and “ pineapples,” as the natives playfully call bombs, may at Tuesday’s primary election at Chicago “ which particular gang is going to harvest 100,000,000d0l derived from the graft estimated to flow from liquor and gambling. Two armies of jobholders, hoodlums, gunmen, bootleggers, and gamblers will do battle in the 50 wards which make up this city, and in som e of the outlying towns. One will be fight ing under the banner of ‘ Bill ‘ Thompson and Governor Small, who is battling for his political life, and States Attorney Crowe, whose record in ‘ stamping out crime ’ in America’s second city • has aroused no -envy in other communities. Th e other army will fight under the banner of Senator Deneen and Mr Louis Emmerson, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor against Governor Small. ” Wholesale murder is confidently predicted on both sides. No one is quite sure of the outcome, though the opinion generally seefns to favour the betterorganised Thompson side. One judge has been given authority by the Supreme Court to gaol anyone, without the possibility of release under bail, whom he believes to be guilty of vote manipulation, and he has sworn in 3000 deputies, who have power to arrest anyone on suspicion. This mav reduce stolen votes from 75,000 to 25,000. Rival beer gangs, gambling mobs, and alcohol smugglers have developed such armies of gunmen, machine-gun < operators, and bomb-throwers that the /rate for miirder has considerably dropped Murder can be arranged for afiiy ordinary person at 50dol, with considerable competition as to who will get, the contract. However, this situation, which apparently affects only the Republican Party, is complicated. There ar e wheels within wheels, and sometimes it is a knotty problem for .an honest gunman to know just whom to shoot for the benefit of his employe®

MOTOR CAR FREIGHT. NEW YORK, April 5. -the Roosevelt Steamship Line (operating the American-Australian Line), Funch, Edye, and Cd. (operating- the Cunard service), and Norton, Illey, and Co. (operatmg the Ellerman Lines) have announced a reduction of idol per ten on automobiles shipped from New York to Australia and it is indicated that a further, reduction will be made if the competition with the Canadian merchant marine demands it. The situation arises from the Australian" preferential tariff and the point of origin of motor cars. Many thousands of American motor cars were formerly shipped by the above lines. Lately they have been shipped by Canadian, lines, and it is expected that the of the freight rates will result in a resumption of the’ flow-of this traffic through New York. SHIPPING DEVELOPMENT. / » GENEVA, The American branch of . the Swiss +uu of engineers, the Brown Boveri Company, has received an order from the American Government for the construction of six 36,000 tonners with a speed of 33 knots. They are destined for a four-day service from New Aork to Southampton to compete with the proposed British 1000 ft monsters. The United States Government is advancing the capital at 2j per cent, interest. IRRIGATION PROGRESS. . NEW YORK, April 5. Interviewed here, Sir George Fuller (formerly Premier of New South Wales) said he had spent 'some time in investigating irrigation projects in Southern California the Imperia) Valley t and Texas. The’ development of American irrigation under taking was truly remarkable, and had convinced him that the money devoted to them was money well spent. Sir George b tiller said he was also impressed with the work done in the Agricutural Department in California in connection with fruitgrowing, particularly in the use of aeroplanes for dusting orchards with insecticide. The experts there had not yet decided that the best possible results were being obtained in this way but th e work was so promising that h e had written to the New South Wales Minister of Agriculture outlining the methods, so that the latter might determine whether tions.