1936-02-17 — Page 18

THE HONGKONG TE LEGRAPH, Monday, February 17, 1986,

DEWAR'S

"White Label"

WHISKY

Sole Agents:-

White Label

EST SCOTCH W

GREAT ACE

Dewar & Sap

DBFILLMA

PERT

A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD.

ALL THE FAVOURITE SOLOS AND

CONCERTED WORKS

FROM

"THE MESSIAH

(Handal)

"

are available on “H.M.V." Records

B-4108

Come unto Him

B-8246 Lift up your heads

C-2556 Rojolce greatly

C-2607 And the Glory of the Lord

C-2694 Why do the Nations

D-1620 Comfort yo, my people

D-1620 Every valley shall be oxalted

D-1876 Glory to God

Iwan Davies.

Massed Brass Bands. .Raymond Kinsey, Massed Bands. Peter Dawson,

Walter Widdop. Walter Widdop.

Suddaby & Philharmonic Choir,

The "Messiah" will be produced in St. John's Cathedral by the Hongkong Singers on Wednesday, February 19th, at 9 p.m. Programmes may be obtained from us.

S. MOUTRIE & Co., Ltd.

York Building.

Chater Road,,

TUDEBAKER

Smart to be soon in ! Smarter to buy!

STUDEBAKER

AGAIN LEADS

"Now Automatic Hill

Holder" and

96 Other Outstanding Now Featuros VAILABLE in all Studebakers for 1936 is the new auto- This mar. matic hill holder. vellous development in safòty and comfort prevents the car from rolling back after you have come to a stop on any upgrado, steep or slight. Even the most expert driver often has difficulty in handling the clutch, brakes, gear change lever and accelerator at such times, and this simple, dependable Studebaker innova- tion solves that problem. Moreover, clutch wear will be greatly reduced since the clutch cannot be used as a brake to hold the car on the upgrade.

WE WILL BE GLAD TO GIVE A DEMONSTRATION.

HONGKONG HOTEL GARAGE

Phone 27778-9.

The

Stubbs Rd.

Hongkong Telegraph.

MONDAY, FEB. 17, 1936.

HELPING BRITISH

AGRICULTURE

ment insurance

IN BONDAGE

60

of

To The

T LUNCHEON recently the conversation turned, as it frequently seems ta

BY ROLAND KILBON

In the London "Morning Post"

RACKETEERS

America these days, to the topic-

law enforcement. The difficulties of combating the racketeer were brought up. One of the members of the party, an automobile executive, just returned from the Pacific Coast, had entertained his dis. tributors in San Francisco. Just before dinner he went Into the dining-room

to 'aco that everything was in order.

Suddenly, across the dining- room came toward him a man who might have stepped direct- ly from the set of some, gangster film in Hollywood...

About six feet tall, well dressed,, he wore a. bowler slightly tilted. A cigar. pro. truded at a militant angle from one corner of his mouth. Hard eyes looked threateningly from under heavy black brows, but there was a touch of complaint

you

America's Billion Dollar

Tribute to the Underworld

the

him to assumo the presidenc of a trade association. Wi this name as a "front," the solicit other merchants, hol ing out such advantagea protection from labour trouble price stabilisation and th benefits of collective buyin If these sales talks are Ineffe tive, there are always SUC weapons as chemicals throw over goods, emery powd spilled into gears of delivel vans, the tyres of which ca niso be slashed, and simila in his voice as he said, "Hey, thrown through windows of an sabotage. And finally tho I ain't been fixed up yet.”- apartment house owned by the are beatings and even murder

Corporation. Trippe Realty "What do you mean, fixed

The type of trade associatio up?" asked the automobile man. Shopkeepers commonly buy described by Inspector Lyon protection for their windows, often has from 800 to 600 men "Well, you got sime extra but it was the first such.demand bers, with initiation fees an walters here, ain't you? Ain't this landlord had received and where from five hundre

the head walter?" asked he was willing to fight.

dollars, depending on the siz the Intruder, who, when in-

of the business, together wit The great difficulty in com- weekly dues of from one to fiv formed he had the wrong per. son, remarked, "Aw, skip it" bating racketeering lies in the dollars. The laundry, bakery fact that amounts extorted, at dry-cleaning, fish and poultr and walked off.

least at first, are so small that been the especial victims of this Industries in New York have average individual would type of racketeering. sooner pay up than risk trouble. If he is a business man, he can

the merchants have been united, it is the ordinary that the questioner pass it on to the

consumer.

of the racketeer toj was treading on dangerous The labouring man has been practice ground. He got the distinct finding jobs too scarce to com- demonstrate the need for pro- plain risking discharge and tection. This is done through NOTES OF THE DAY impression that the interloper possibly a beating against the labour organisations of a mush- represented some organisation levy made on him by the many room type and usually without which levies a tax on waiters, racketeers operating as officiala any allation with the Ameri- and wanted to make certain

can Federation of Labour. The of Labour Unions or of none of the extra help escaped workers' protective bodies.

Unions, sponsored by racket- paying for the right to work.

cers, who recruit their members from among reluctant Mr. Dewey in a recent broad- Floyces by thuggery, call strikes That episode, or something

The association like it, is being enacted in every cast address stated: "There in and begin a reign of terror: to-day scarcely a buisiness in

thon offers city, large or medium-sized,

New York which does not special protective services of throughout the United States somehow pay its tribute to the which the ordinary employer is every day in the year. In Now underworld-a tribute levied glad to avail himself. The York City alone, estimates by by force and collected by fear. racketeer simply calls off his police officials and competent There is certainly not a family own thugs and collects an added observers range all the way from in New York City which does fat fee from his victims. fifty millions to five hundred not pay its share of tribute to From millions of dollars annually the underworld every day it racketeering has grown in can- small beginnings Multiplying even the most con- lives and with every meal it eer like manner until there seems servative figure by the number ents. This huge unofficial sales to of major cities where rac- tax is collected from the ultim- "big shots" of the underworld, be no cure.. The so-called keteering is rife

the rung

consumer in the price he who found boot-legging annual tribute the public paya

for everything he buys. lucrative,

have

found There are few vegetable greater fortunes

EMPIRE'S DEFENCE

There is a strong move afoot in Great Britain to subordinate the three fighting services, Navy, Army and Air Force, to a Ministry of Defence, this Ministry to be rea- The extension of unemploy-ponsible for the framing of a gen- Including benefits to

policy, eral defence strategical and tactical questions and matiers of equipment and personnel. Our first, and probably our last reaction to this suggestion, is favourable. It has the mark of practicability; unified control and centralised responsibility, to bring collaboration in the movements of all branches of fighting forces, are Its aims. The value must be obvious. But for the moment the British Government has delayed its decision. The fact of the matter is that the suggestion came by way of a Private Member's Bill, and Lord Eustace Percy, for the Gov- ernment, asked that judgment of the House be suspended until the Government's own proposals were known. Presumably, then, the Government has some similar sort of scheme in mind. The Empire will be impatient to hear it.

workers employed in Britain's agricultural industry is a step which is long overdue. The industry, it is of interest to note, provides employment for about six per cent. of the gain- Elsie Suddaby (Soloist) & Philharmonic Choir. fully occupied people of the na- tion, and it ranks as one of the D-1876 For unto us a child is born

most important productive in- dustries of the country. For many years past, it has been under a cloud of depression, a fact reflected not only in its financial position, but also in the relatively low standard of wage in force when compared with other industries. Much has been done, in the way of Government assistance, latterly with a view to placing domestic farming upon a sound footing and increasing the production of those commodities which are necessary to the life of the nation. The measures so far taken are largely experimental, and they are not without their defects, but as time goes much will be learned from ex- perience, both in relation to the industry itself and to the effect of the Government measures on the consuming public. It has, well been pointed out, as an economic truism, that, ideally, industries should be located in those countries and districts where natural advantages en- able production to take place at the lowest cost compatible with quality. Judged from this standard, agriculture in Britain is in no position to stand on its own feet and successfully meet- outside competition. This is the main circumstance which

In

The New

EVENING DRESS VEST

by EMMS

SAVILE ROW

PATENT NO. 431370

– IMMOVABLE and NON-BULGING

{

Positively the last word in men's dress wear, this new type of vest supersedes all others-It has no collar, neckband or gadgets, fastening simply by a buckle. which fits perfectly in the small of the back without interfering in any way with the comfort of the wearer.

Finest Quality "Marcella'

MEN'S WEAR DEPT.

on

What lies behind this agitation for a change in the old and tested methods? The questions of Rear- Admiral Sir Murray Sueter. He la a Conservative M.P. The fact that he is a naval officer of splendid record allows one to presume that he knows something of the cap abilities and vulnerability of fight- ing ships. The fact that he is a pioneer in British aviation, and the creator of the Royal Naval Air Force leads one to think that his knowledge of the striking power of this newfarm of defence service is probably worth considering. He knows a good deal about mechanis- ed war machines generally, and is an expert in anti-aircraft defences, having built up the first anti-air- craft corps for London and con- tributed much to the evolution and adoption of tanks. This man has achieved much in making the Bri- tish forces more formidable in at- tack and less vulnerable in defence.

His word commands respect.

When Rear-Admiral Sir Murray Sueter questions the advisability of

spending £120,000,000 on new war-

ships, and suggests that the money would be spent to better effect on aircraft and anti-aircraft, defences, we know he has good reasons,

lies behind the Government as- sistance plans, for it is also realised that. apart from econ- omic considerations there must always be certain industries which are essential to the life countored in applying, totally of the nation. The most desir-

new measures to the industry, able remedy for the depression it is encouraging to know that in British agriculture would be in the past four years the in- the development of consump- crease in agricultural produc- tion, for which there is still con- tion has been nearly as large siderable scope, This fact was as the rise in industrial output. recently emphasised by a former Now that the unemployment in- Parliamentary Secretary of the-surance benefits are to be ex- Ministry of Agriculture, when tended to workers of the in- he declared that "we have to dustry, there is a prospect of face the fact that unless we in-attracting to the soil a larger crease consumption, there is no number of contented men, for it alternative to restriction...

is only right and proper that

If farmers can produce more, those engaged on the land

LANE, CRAWFORD, LTD. food, they have to find more

should be at no disadvantage customers. Despite the dif-when compared with workers in flculties which have been...

other walks of life.

1

Attempts to find out who the visitor was and how he had to be "fixed up," brought only the conviction

*

**

ate

Once

em.

80

even

to well upwards of one billion pays dollars.

to make in or fish markets in the City of racketeering. They have taken The true "racket" has been New York where merchants command, appointing as their

not forced-by sluggings, lieutenants well defined by Mr. Thomas E. are

the amall fry Dewey, appointed by Governor destruction of goods, threats criminals who formerly headed Herbert Lehman to prosecute and stink bombs-to pay heavy rackets.

They have brought organised vice and crime in tolls."

with them the higher priced

New York City. He describes One close student of the attorneys who were their it as "the systematic extortion racketeers and their methods is "mouthpieces" in bootleg days, of money through intimidation John A. Lyons, acting Deputy and have maintained their re- by an organisation conducted Chief Inspector of New York's lations with the corrupt police for that purpose." The first Police Department, whose de official and the machine politi- case Mr. Dewey prosecuted was tail involves the command of clan. typical of true racketeering and unusual only in that the victim describes the genuine racket-

-the Anti-Racket Squad. He- had enough backbone to seek

old,

The importance of the

the prosecutor's aid. Dominic Cers as opportunists rather than latter lies in the fact that under

Tassone, nineteen years

long-range planners. When-

assume control.

had represented himself as the organised and helpless, they Judges to the primary Courts, ever an industry appears dis- the general practice of electing agent of a "protective" organ-

the Judge can be compelled to isation which, for an initial

pay political debts from the payment of thirty dollars and a Their favourite method is to Bench. Fortunately, of late monthly retainer of five dollars, contact a prominent and rea- suficient public feeling has would see that stones were not pectable merchant and "induce"

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

“Oh, you know the type. He will fall for any girl who will laugh at his puns."

been crented against the *

racketeer to fortify the position of those Judges who refuse to. pay this price for their places.

The American Federation of Labour is trying to shake off the hold which racketeers have obtained on some of its local Unions, since with the arrival of bigger figures. in racketeer- ing, legitimate AS well BY "rump" Unions have been taken: over by outlaws. At its last convention, the Federation named # committee to

-00

operate with law enforcement agencies in combating this evil. It declared in its resolutions, "We want every racketeer who has fastened himself on a local Union exposed and punished," and invited harassed members to take their complaints, direct to the parent Union. But the members know that one caught complaining will receive at least a cracked pate, if not more. serious injuries.

Mr. Dewey has deferred to the feelings of the racket vie- tima in conducting his inquiry. He has created an independent organisation of young men and. women free from political en- tanglements. His offices in the Woolworth Building are care- fully guarded to prevent any loaks. And within six months of his appointment he has al- ́ ready placed behind prison bars the leading figures of the group of outlaw loan sharks who were. extorting usurlous interest by threats and violence from those Loo far down in the economic scale to be considered safe risks- by legitimate loaning agencies.