The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 6

BROOKLYN EAGLE. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1938 6 Checked! Brooklyn Eagle (rounded laea Va Anden in Hit.) (Ttidi Mark bit RetietereaU I SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1938 Aatlonal Whirligig Itav Tucker Writes From Washington IUB BROOKLYN BkUXT EAQU FRANK D. aCRROTH, Preawlent and Publliher P. CROWELL, Bearetaayaad Treaiurer main orm til Bulldlnc. Johnaon and Adamt Btreete Brooklyn Mew Dork THJP HONS MAln 4-S30O aawUlad Ada MAlai 4-6200 Chlcan.

1(14 Tribune Tower fan Fianetaco, CaL. Mona4nKk Bulldlni A fat, red-faced figure with an unprepossessing waddle and the appearance of an old time alderman has recently become one of the key persons in President Roosevelt's inner circle. He is Joseph P. Keenan, Assistant Attorney General, who is equally at home with New Deal brain trusters or "economic royalists' at Palm Beach. People are inclined to underestimate Mr, Keenan when they first meet him.

He doesn't look like a statesman, doesn't say much, and listens a lot. They list SUBSCRIPTION RATtS BT MAIL: 1 Yr. Mot. 3 Moa. 1 Mn.

Dellv and 11.06 o.oo 3.00 loo DallT OnlT 00 4.50 1 I 60 90 under Onl 3.00 J.50 1 .13 JO I Wk. .30 .3.1 JO Bntered at the Brooklyn Poetoffto aa Second Claaa Mall Matter him as a ward politl- IIP" i clan who swam to the MEMBEB Of TIB ASSOCIATED MESS The Auoeieted Praia la exeluanelj- entitled to the se for ropubUeatlon of all newe diipatctea credited to or not otherwlaa credited In thla cape and alio the local newe of epentaneoue orleln publlshedl herein. AH rUnta republication of all other matorir herein are alo teaetved. political surface when the Roosevelt tide was running strong and ubiquitously in 1932. Fact is that pudgy Joe sits in on all the private conferences where the builders of a new world and a new political party spin their schemes.

He supplies the practical political advice. He is so occupied with this job he has ever handled cake and having it, too. But from the point of view of the British companies, their prestige as unfailing payors would probably suffer. Perhaps the moral is the less one has to do with the present Germany the better off one is. 9149.500 for linen Probe The expenditure of $149,500, the amount appropriated by the Board of Estimate for Special Prosecutor Amen's investigation of Brooklyn's law agencies or even of the $295,000 originally requested by Mr.

Amen will be well worthwhile if it proves the means of restoring Brooklyn's reputation as a thoroughly law-abiding community. It Is now generally understood that such inquiries cost a lot of money. Even Mayor LaGuardla, who was responsible for the cut in Amen's budget, intimated that more money would be available if it appeared necessary and the amount already allowed Is expended prudently. Incidentally Mr. Amen showed good judgment in limiting his own salary to $20,000.

One of the chief criticisms of other investigations has been the fancy salaries sought by those who conducted them. The Mayor's barbed comments on the cost of criminal prosecution in Kings County drew a retort from District Attorney Geoghan that this was "more of the Smear-Brooklyn Committee talk." The prosecutor made what appears to be a Justifiable complaint about the holding up for nearly half a year of a small expense account from his office. Nothing is to be gained by these constant attacks on Brooklyn. In fact Brooklynltes are tired of all this turmoil over law enforcement conditions here. Official recognition of the need of running down the many charges and insinuations has been taken by Governor Lehman with the appointment of Mr.

Amen. The way is thus paved to bring out into the open all the facts concerning the administration of justice here. Critics and defenders should both await developments at the investigation. If there has been violation of the law the guilty ones should be punished. If not, a clean bill of health should be rendered.

In any event the Amen inquiry will be judged entirely by its results. The Brooklyn Xavy Yard Why does Brooklyn's navy yard continue to be called the New York Navy Ray Tucker that It Is doubtful it major case for the D. of J. Joe won't go any higher, and he is probably quite satisfied with his present assignment in the confidential Cabinet. But he's a man worth watching.

When you read that Joe has been visiting in New York, Chicago or San Francisco, you'll know that something important is up. He's a Presidential torch-bearer-and-burner. a A private check on the new Senate ha convinced the White House that Harry Hopkins is the political orphan of Capitol Hill. It appears to stymie F. D.

secret plan to shift him from WPA to the Cabinet as the beginning of a buildup for 1940. Mr. Hopkins cannot be confirmed if the Senators don't weaken under Presidential pressure. The latest poll shows that he could not Letters to the Eagle Yard? Our Mr. Maxwell Hamilton, who first disclosed to the general pub and preserve the cause of democracy, as it does, it will let the embargo stay as it is.

A victory for the Loyalists in Spain would be a calamity for our country. FRANK FOX. Brooklyn, Nov. 30. Hopes Pan-American Group ill Solve Debt Muddle To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: It -Is sincerely to be hoped that Hon.

Cordell Hull and his associate delegates In Lima, Peru, will not fail to bring before the Latin American countries the question of monies due American citizens. Hun-dreds of millions are due from Chile, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and others. President Roosevelt's "Good Neighbor Policy" means little or nothing unless debts due to American citizens are paid, or an effort made to resume interest payments. JOHN G. ADAMS.

Brooklyn, Dec. 1. Proposal to Lift Embargo Against Spain Opposed To the Editor ol the Brooklyn Eagle: I am very much opposed to lifting the embargo against Spain and cannot understand what leads a large number of more or less prominent people, such as are reported to have signed a petition to the Government recently to that effect, to advocate such a thing. They urRe the lifting of the embargo on the ground that it will be a help to democracy in Spain, and to democratic peoples in other countries. The fact Is that the Loyalist side the Communist side, which is utterly opposed to democracy and democratic principles, the only decent element in Spain being the party commonly known as the Insurgents.

Therefore the action requested by the petitioners would have Just the opposite effect to that which is claimed for it. If our Government wants to help A Fact a Day About Brooklyn The first house erected in Brooklyn was built by William Adrianse Bennett, who with Jacques Bentyn, bought a tract of land at the head of Gowanus Bay, in 1636, and put it under cultivation, Bennett soon became the sole owner of the property and put up the house which did not survive the ravages of the Indian wars of 1643, and was burned. The next house on or near the site was built before 1696, and was known to later generations as the old Schermerhorn mansion, which stood on 3d just beyond 2Sth and which stood for two centuries. Within ten years of the appearance of the first settler, a chain of farms extended from Gowanus to Wallabout, and others occupied the region back from the shore line. Lands were secured by settlers romthe New Sutherland Company, which, anticipating the demand for homesteads near New parceled out the land to settlers, and confirmed purchases from the Indians.

Protests FHA Ruling Requiring Setcer Installation To tue Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: A critic of the New Deal philosophy recently said that under its aegis the man with a dollar in the bank, and not the unemployed or underprivileged had become the underdog. A recent ruling of the FHA In Brooklyn with reference to the issuance of building loans on new homes illustrates this aphorism quite aptly. Before a builder can get an FHA loan, it is now necessary to have sewers installed in the street. In 1923 the Harkness Estate was divided into lots 20x100 and sold at public auction to hundreds of small investors. Most of them still own these lots.

They paid between $300 and $1,000 per lot. In the last 15 years they have paid taxes every year; huge assessments for opening streets other than those on which their lots are located; grading assessments and a huge assessment for the main sewers on E. 28th and 29th Sts. The average assessment-ran around $300 per lot. Therefore, to date every lot has cost its owner three times its original cost.

After 15 years the builders are at last coming close to this area which runs from Nostrand Ave. on the west to Gerrltsen Ave. on Circumferential Parkway Is Saved Again It Is good news for Brooklyn and Queens that Council President Newbold Morris's scheme to kill the) Circumferential Parkway was spiked In the Board of Estimate late yesterday. When he introduced a resolution authorizing Mayor LaGuardla (to seek the reallocation of the $12,000,000 PWA funds now granted to the parkway, Borough Presidents Ingersoll and Harvey objected. That was the end of it since unanimous consent vas needed even for its consideration.

Although this saves the parkway, there remains the matter ofl assuring the Board of Education (sufficient funds to keep its school program going during the last three months of next year. As the Brooklyn Eagle pointed out yesterday it will not be possible to complete until next October all the building projects for which fumds were appropriated this year. But true money involved is far less than the $59,000,000 originally requested. When the Board of Estimate late yesterday adopted the capital levy budget for 1939 included, in addition to the vast sums carried over from this year's budget and the new momey already allocated to schools, an increase totaling $1,745,000 to cover sitos and architects' costs. This was the proper approach $to the problem.

There should now be a dheck-up as to whether this is all the work that can be pushed through nextlyear. Sixty-one Millionaires By popular definition, a millionaire Is one whose wealth is equivalent to a million dollars. That is not, however, Uncle Sam's definition. To him a millionaire is one whose income in a year amounts to a million dollars. The difference, obviously, Is immense.

It has just been revealed that, in 1936, there were in Uncle Sam's realm sixty-one millionaires. These, obligingSy, in 1937 paid 71.66 percent of their incomes in taxes. What was left for them after the States got through was not revealed. It seems probable that the number of such millionaires was considerably swelled in 1937, their taxes payable in 1938. But 1938 seems likely to tell quite another story, for the business depression of the first half of 1938, not to mention security losses, must have taken heavy toll of millionaires and lower-brackets people alike.

Luckily, the pick-up in business, in general and in stock and bond prices since mid-year will result in substantial recoveries, so that Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau will not have quite the collector's nightmare which was in prospect for him a few months ago. Should Britain Pay? Insurance companies, other than life and a few minor lines, habitually reinsure a part of their commitments. The German insurers, hit by the enormous destruction of Jewish property in the recent outrages, are now making claim upon the British reinsurers for payment of that part of the claims so passed along. If the Britons pay, the Nazis will come Into an appreciable bit of sterling, for the government will seize this foreign exchange. If the Britons balk, as well they may on the ground that the authorities refused to halt the destruction and actually encouraged it, some fine points in insurance ethics will be raised.

Germany no doubt will deny connivance, and lengthy litigation would result. Nominally, the British reinsurers are liable, for a public uprising, like an earthquake, is a risk against which insurance is in order. But it would take roll up more than 39 votes, whereas at least 45 will be needed, 49 being an actual majority. Most of the Senators like Harry personally, but he has the habit of rubbing them the wrong way. They also blame him for the purge now forgotten by everybody except its illustrious victims.

Cabinet places most frequently mentioned for the WPA chieftain are Commerce and the Postmaster Generalship. F. D. R. has already been informed that business and industrial leaders would take it as a direct affront if the world's greatest spender were placed in charge of their affairs namely, In commerce.

They just would not co-operate. And the politicos 'have given unmistakable warning that Harry, as a Postmaster General, would be poison. They wouldn't play the dwarf to his Snow White. a a Several major politicos Democratic and Progressive who have talked with the President recently pooh-pooh the idea that he has seriously selected Mr. Hopkins as his 1940 heir.

In their opinion, F. D. R. is using Harry as a false front. The President, according to these conferees.

Insists upon the nomination of a New Dealer by the Democrats himself Or somebody else. He must prevent a Democratic hostile Clark, Byrd, Garner from corralling delegates in the meantime, and therefore must have a White House entry in the race for the next two years, if only to prevent an enemy candidate from gathering too much steam. Therefore he has let it be known quietly that the WPA-er Is his type of man. The President, however, Is too smart ft politician to expect the Democratic convention to accept or nominate Mr. Hopkins.

Bu in the belief of certain insiders, he will utilize Harry to block off other candidates, to pick up New Deal delegates and thereby obtain a powerful bargaining position in the convention itself. Whether F. D. R. will bargain for himself or for somebody else when the time comes, is anybody's guess.

Most politicos thin that he'll be on the job for himself, wittf Harry acting as agent. a NOTES G. O. P. Chairman Hamilton got a new lease on life out of the recent election returns; he's reckoned sure to hold his post now until the Republicans choose a Presidential nominee for 1940.

Hot fight anticipated over report to be submitted by Senator Shep-pard's Committee which investigated campaign expenditures. Maritime Commission determined to build minimum of 50 new shlpi a year for next ten years; about 1,400 seagoing vessels now operated under American flag, less than 300 of which are in foreign trade. Snow Removal Criticized the east and from Avenue on the. lic that the Coney Island boardwalk's real name is the Riegelmann Boardwalk, has now focused attention on the illogicality of the Navy authorities in persisting to call it the New York Navy Yard when the rest of the country, including the thousands of sailors who have worked or visited there, know it only as the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The yard was established in 1801, in what then was and remained for nearly a century the City of Brooklyn.

During those 97 years, all those connected with the navy and with ships In general knew it as the Brooklyn Navy Yard. A habit as ingrained as that cannot be changed in the course of a mere forty years. It is still the Brooklyn Navy Yard to navy men and mariners everywhere. Then why not make it official? Money tor Research American industry has long prided Itself on the expenditures it makes annually for scientific research and experimentation. Moreover, it is quite true that American contributions In this field have been of great international importance.

But it now seems we have been taking too much for granted, and it is time that our status in this respect be re-examined. Clarence Francis, head of the huge General Foods Corporation, is authority for the statement that, as against the 30,000 employes in United States research laboratories, Germany has 70,000 scientists so employed, while Russia has put 100,000 men into her laboratories. Admitting all the advantages that autocracies have in directing man-power, the struggle with such discrepancies must inevitably go against us in the long run. Mr. Francis said that only one cent of every dollar received by manufacturing and agriculture Is spent on research.

It would be well for these great Industries to consider expending at least another cent for the sake of maintaining a position that is now democracy's major bulwark. If it does not, that bulwark may not long be a dependable defense. DiHcriminating Birds I From the St, Louis Globt-Drmocratl Believe it or not, a man in Indiana sa.vs, "When the radio in our cabin home in the woods plays a Beethoven concerto, or some of Mozart's fiddle music, or symphonic hour conceits, the orioles and redbirds come in close to sing their hearty approval. If by chance jazz or swing sneaks in before we choke it off it is the catbirds and bluejays who crowd around to learn how it's done." north to Voorhies Ave. on the south.

Because of this new ruling requiring sewers tnis vast area is no more ripe for building than It was originally. The mast lot owners could expect to get for their land is $1,000, which price in Itself represents a large loss to most of these people of small means. WM. H. SAUL.

Brooklyn, Nov. 30. Sees Poor Planning To the Editor the Brooklyn Eagle: I am writing In the hopes of getting before the City Fathers the deplorable condition of the city streets ever since the Thanksgiving Day snowstorm. In my travels to and from business, I have occasion to traverse the entire length of Wyckoff Avenue and any one driving faster than 9 or 10 miles per hour on that street, in its present condition, is flirting with the undertaker. One of the busiest intersections In the borough, that of Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenues has ice on it in ruts of four to six inches in depth and no effort at all has been made to sand this icy spot so as to afford some means of protection for both pedestrian and motorist.

Today the temperature was in the neighborhood of 48 to 50 degrees with considerable thawing of both ice and snow and it seems to me that with the proper use of several lengths of hose, Wyckoff Avenue would soon have been cleared of most of its present road hazards. Today, I had occasion to be in the neighborhood of Greene and Cypress Avenues and counted 32 large trucks waiting their turn to be filled automatically by one of the GRIN AND BEAR IT By Liclity appparatus. Assuming that it takes 10 minutes to fill a truck, it can be readily seen that the last truck will have to wait approximately 5 or 6 hours before being loaded up. Some system! JUST A TAXPAYER. Queens Village, Nov.

30. City Sidewalk A'ol Cleared To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: You cannot but notice the timely slogan on our Saniudon Department trucks, "We Clean the Streets, Please Co-operate." Very true they do, but it must have been an oversight on the part of the city not to clean the sidewalk surrounding the new proposed Midwood High School which is now, and has been after every storm, a dangerous hazard to pedestrians, owned by the City but never given any attention. I hope some action will be taken before another storm so that we, the people of Flatbush, will see the city practices a little of what it preaches! This stretch of sidewalk is located at Bedford Ave. and Glenwood Road 200 feet long. Mi s.

GEORGE F. RUSSELL. Brooklyn, Dec. 1. Would L'tilite the Sewers To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle: It seems pitiful that with thousands of WPA workers available and with expensive equipment, no real effort is being made to remove the snow and filth from our residential streets in central Brooklyn after a lapse of a week.

Well do I recall how speedily Col. Waring and his successor. Dr. Schroeder, got after the heavy snows of their time. Before the snow had ceased falling, it was being removed; and that with relatively poor equipment.

There was no absurd plowing of the snow Into the gutters to add to the nuisance and menace to health that now bedevils the householder. Properlv handled, the sewers could take most of the snow. Must we wait for relief from the warm sun of next Spring? EAGLE READER. Brooklyn, Nov, 30. Crankmirc in Action By EDCAR A.

Cl'EST city's new pieces of snow removal 25 Years Ago In Brooklyn "The fun of wealth," Old Crankmlre said, "Is in the earning, not the spending; The borrowing and not the lending. Don't get the notion in your head That being rich is all there's to It. They best enjoy the work who do It. "Money's the prize for distance run, The finish, not the bleak beginning; The goal man sets his heart on winning Whirh loses splendor once 'tis won. This is no old man's idle crotchet; Tis better run the race than watch.

Jt "The old, if but they could again. Would very willingly surrender Their wealth and comfortable splendor For strength to stand life's stress and strata, Joy's in the battle and the questing, Nothing's so wearisome as testing!" Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1913 Nearly 100 auto speeders were gathered in by a special squad of eight motorcycle patrolmen in a drive on reckless drivers in this borough. Dr. Maria Montessori, Italian educator who has taught the idiot and insane to read and write, arrived from Italy aboard the Hamburg-American "liner Cincinnati, which docked at the 33d St.

Pier. A swift flood-tide, aided by a brisk northwest wind, caused the Navy tug Uncas to ram the newest battleship, New York, which was leaving the drydock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The woman whowrote It and the movie actors who played in it have now won prizes with "The Good Earth." Meanwhile, the Chinese lost It. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Adolf Hitler and his followers are piling up a fearful score against themselves in the scrolls of fate, a score that must be paid before the story is finished.

Atlanta Constitution. much delving to discover a government that aided or abetted wanton destruction of insurable property, and moreover proposes to benefit by it. Morally, the issue is not clear. Economically, It is a means of eating the "The Winters ain't what they used to be, Culpepper!" I.