ADVENTURERS’
CLUB
“i'rerze nr Burn”
By FLOYD GIBBONS
Famous Headline Hunter.
HERE'S a yarn from the bitter and blustery Territory of Alaska
—the story of a lad who got all the best of it in the end, because
he got all the worst of it in the beginning.
You know it sometimes works out that way—a piece of something
that looks like tough luck will suddenly turn out to be the break of a
lifetime—and that is what happened to Jacob “Jack” Chester.
Itocnuse Jack had to sleep In the cold, he managed to stay away from the
bear. That doesn’t sound extraordinary. But wait till you read Jack’s story
It was In the early spring of 1SS9. Jack and another fellow left Seattle
for Skngway, Intending to push their way Into the Klondike and do a llttl*
gold prospecting.
Skagway was the end of the transportation lines In those days, so,
when they got there, they shouldeied their packs and started out on
foot, along the grading of the White Pass and Yukon railroad which
was then in the process of building.
The grading ran up the side of a long hill, and there was, they had
been told, a railroad construction camp at the top.
It was late afternoon when they reached the summit, and there they found
n gale of icy wind howling over their heads. For n moment, Jack and his part
ner were tempted to turn back, but after some discussion, they decided tc
push on.
Bunkhouse Light Is Cheerful Beacon.
Night fell. The wind Increased. They were stumbling along, chilled to the
bone, and almost all In, when they saw a faint glimmer of light up ahead a*
them.
And In all his life, Jack says, he can’t recall ever having seen a
more cheery or welcome sight than that light.
The light had come from the camp of the grading gang—a camp
that consisted of three large tents (bunk-house, dining-tent and com
missary) and three or four smaller ones.
It was supper time when they arrived, and they sat down In the dining
tent to a good hot meal that brought them back to their usual good spirits.
They asked the camp boss if he could put them up for the night, and he
assigned them to bunks in the bunk-tent. i
The bunks he gave them were In the rear of the tent, because the ones '
The Boys Awakened to Find the Tent Ablaze.
In the middle, where the big barrel-shaped stove was located, were all occupies
by the men working on the Job.
That was where Jack’s tough luck came in. He had to sleep, that
night, in the coldest part of a draughty tent. But that piece of tough
luck of his saved him a hot time later on in the evening.
Jack and his partner were tired. They rolled into their beds and
dropped off Into a heavy slumber. But It wasn't long before they were
up again, to find the whole world tumbling about their ears.
"I don’t know how long I had been asleep,” says Jack, “but I woke ur !
feeling cramped and constricted. A heavy, flapping something was holding me j
down, and a few feet away l could see a flame momentarily coming nearer and
nearer the spot where I lay helpless. Then, suddenly, 1 was wide awake, and
I realized what must have happened—that the tent had blown down and
caught fire.
From Blazing Heat to Piercing Cold.
"Further Investigation, by the light of that blazing canvas, proved that 1
was right The tent had fallen, and the bunk, too, had collapsed. And 1 was
all tangled up In the wreckage.
Frantically, I tried to extricate myself from that confining net of
canvas—even if it was only to get out and face the Arctic blast in
nothing but my underwear. Better freeze to death than be burned to a
cinder, I thought
“Then, suddenly, as If In answer to my wl6h, I found myself free.
An extra strong gust of wind tore the tent loose from all fastenings
and carried it away, and I found myself exposed to the icy blast of an
Alaskan gale, with the thermometer at 15 or 20 below zero.
“YVe were quickly gathered In the other tents, and provided with som«
clothes from the commissary. The other tents held In the wind. It they had
blown down, we would all probably bave perished, for there wasn’t a vestig*
of shelter for miles around, and most of the men were running about, just ns 1
was, with the most ot their clothing off, and nothing but their underwear tc
protect them from the cold, and the chill wind that swept over that bare
unprotected mountain top.”
Jack wasn’t frightened so much while the hullabaloo was golug on. Il<
was kept too busy, even to think.
Real Scare Comes When It’s All Over.
It wasn't until afterward, when he began thinking of what might hav«
happened, that he really began to get scared.
When accounts of the casualties were taken, it was found that 14
men had been burned—six of them severely—by the flames that caught
the tent when it came in contact with the stove.
Those burned men were all the lucky ones who had the warm
bunks up in the center of the tent.
And the hard luck that had made Jack sleep In the cold end was
really the good luck that saved him from injury.
When Jack went hack to the place where the tent had been to see what hi
could recover from the wreck, he found—nothing.
Everything he owned had been swept away by the wind and fire. He nnc
his partner had to go to work for the railroad to earn money to continui
their Journey.
•‘Since then,” says Jack, “I have been within a hair’s breadth of drowning
and once I was buried alive. But I have never had a more agonizing fev
moments than when the screams, groans and curses of those burning mei
mingled with the howling wind and the flames that were creei>ing up on me.’
That’s Jack Chester’s story—and I’ll bet there are thousands of lads am
lassies who could step up to the campfire and match It with one of their own
for everybody has had at least one adventure.
e-WNU swvlcs
Japs Eat Rice, So Our Labor Starves
Top, Ten Hungry Mouths In New England Town as Result of Closing
Textile Mill. Below, American Flag Tie Made In Japan. Right, Jap Women
Making Celluloid Toys for American Trade.
By WILLIAM C. UTLEY
WAVING the old Stars and
Stripes for all to see on the
Fourth of July is great stuff.
It feels mighty good to let
loose once In a while with all the old
patriotic pep and enthusiasm. It's a
visible and appropriate tribute to those
sturdy ancestors of ours who, on an
other Fourth of July, had nerve enough
and sense enough to declare to the
world that they were free men, de
termined and able to live by their
own rule. And It's a heap safer than
shooting off firecrackers. Unless . . .
Take that ting In your hands and
examine it carefully. Do you find a
stamped label on it that says “Made
In Japan”? If you do, go back to the
firecrackers. They’ll do far less dam
age in the long run.
For that flag, with its millions of
counterparts at large in this country,
is putting American workers out of
work, adding them to the relief rolls
and throwing them and their families
into virtual destitution. It is the most
ironic symbol of an oriental industrial
ization and export trade, based on
mass production, slave wages and a
rice-aml-tea standard of living, that Is
using the bait of lower prices to trick
us luto believing tlmt we are "saving
money” by buying Its inferior prod
ucts.
One particular adaptation of the
American Hag—a little silk bow that
is fastened together with a pin—has
definitely been the cause of a plant
In Washington, D. C., which was mak
ing the same article, and whose prod
uct the Japanese Ingeniously copied,
shutting down and throwing Its em
ployees out of work. The Japanese
article could he made to retail in
American stores at 4 or 5 cents apiece.
To make a profit, the capital firm hud
to sell Its product for 10 cents.
Wreck* Textile Industry.
So accustomed ore we to seeing the
label of Japanese manufacture on
ninny kinds of novelties, we lose sight
of the fact that Japanese price cutting
has opened the way for vast inroads
of Its products upon more than a
score of American industries. Most
important of these is the textile In
dustry (chiefly cotton) and the hard
est hit area Is New England, where
plant after plant has been forced by
the combination of Japanese competi
tion and the processing tax to cease
operations.
Cotton growers have been heartened
from time to time by the fact that
Japanese importation of American
cotton lias held up better than that of
other countries. On the other hand,
this is what lias happened after the
Asiatic islanders have manufactured
the raw goods:
American imports or Japanese
gloves are up 500 per cent over 1932;
hosiery, 400 per cent; cotton handker
chiefs and mufflers, 1,200 per cent;
bedspreads and quilts, 100 per cent,
and other manufactured articles In like
proportion. In January, 1935, we
bought 3,341,000 square yards of Jap
anese cloth; In February, 5,744,000
square yards, and in March, 6,217,000.
This was more In each month than the
combined total for three preceding
years, 1931, 1932 anil 1933. The March
Import was more than one-fourth the
total Amercan output for the entire !
year 1934.
Meanwhile our own exports have
been In a steady decline. In 1932 they
were 375,000,000 square yards; In 1933,
302,000,000, and In 1034, 266,000,000.
The chief reason for this slump Is
that Japan has won from us our lm
port markets In the Philippines and
Hawaii, nnd a good share of them In
South America.
Idle Plants Our Cost.
Figured In dollars nnd cents, the
Jnpanese imports from the United
States are twice our Imports from
Japan. But Japanese Imports are
mostly raw cotton which Is manufac
tured and then sold back to us at
prices that cost us many millions In
idle plants nnd unemployed workers.
Japan's skilled laborers, working for
wages that would hardly keep Amer
ican bodies and souls together, have
a genius for Imitating American prod
ucts. In appearance, the Japanese ar
ticle looks quite like the American one,
but almost Invariably the materials
used, nnd therefore the service to be
obtained, leave much to he desired.
An American flashlight, made to
sell for 59 cents, lias to compete, often
on the same shelves, with a Japanese
flashlight Identical In appearance,
which costs 20 cents less. American
pencils, sold for $2.-10 a gross, are re
produced in Japan to sell here for 04
cents a gross; a device to sharpen
them, made here to sell for $1, hns
a Japanese counterpart of Inferior
metal which sells for 37 cents.
Rubber manufacturing In the United
States dropped from 100,000,000 pounds
to 30,000,000 In three years. An
American-nmde tennis shoe sells for
00 cents a pair, Its Japanese counter
part for 30 cents. An American hot
water bottle costs 50 cents; one just
like It but “Made In Japan" costs ex
actly half that.
And so It goes, all the way from
microscopes (American, $12.50—Japa
nese, $1.05) to hinges (American, $3.50
—Japanese, $1.25). Here Is a partial
list of articles, made In America, that
have been reproduced for American
sale by the Japanese, giving the re
tail price as It Is In the United
States today. In each case the Jap
anese article has exactly followed the
American In appearance:
Article American Japanese
Baseball ..$00.15 $00.10
Air Pistol . 6.00 1-95
Comb . 20 .10
Toothbrush .60 .10
Light Bulbs .20 .00
(The Japanese article Is Identical In
appearance, but consumes far more cur
rent, does not burn as long and gives
much less Illumination. Handled chiefly
In stores which are notoriously “cut
rate.")
Article American Japanese
Perfume Bottle .$00.75 $00.20
Candlestick Holder .. 1.50 .20
Silver Mint Dish .... <.00 .60
Dishes (18-piece set) 60.00 19.50
Salt Shaker Set .12.63 1.69
Candy Dish ».,,,•*«• 6.00 .59
Cigarette Holder .... 3.75 1.25
Wholesale Invasion.
In the United States the fishnet
business Is a comparatively obscure
one, If not In point of size at least In
point of familiarity. Vet it did not
take the thorough orientals very long
to discover it. As an example, *n
American fish netting which once en
joyed a good sale at 75 cents is now
giving way to the Identical article of
a Japanese competitor which sells for
32 cents.
Where were the beginnings and what
Is the cnuse of this wholesale invasion
of American business by the Japa
nese? Most authorities nttrilmte It
to the lower standards of living and
the cheap lnbor In Japan, and partly
to the cotton processing tax (the New
Hampshire mill which lost $1,000,000
last year paid $1,274,173 In process
ing tax).
That Is only the situation as It ex
ists today. The seed of the Japanese
export business was planted In 1853.
And the thing that started the whole
trouble that confronts us today was
an American admiral's nose!
In that year Admiral Perry landed
on the Island empire and gave the
sons of Nippon their first introduction
to American practices and habits. The
Mitsui, which was then as now the
Japanese family which represents to
their business Morgan, Rockefeller
and Ford all rolled into one, sent an
artist, who might be compared to the
photographer of today, to sketch a
portrait of Admiral Perry. The por
trait is still on exhibition at the
Mitsui museum In Tokyo.
An Admiral’s Nose.
The artist accentuated the admiral's
sharp features and gave him an ex
tremely long and ridiculous nose. It
looked much like one of our over
exaggerated caricatures of the present
day, but It was not a caricature. The
artist was simply so amazed at nn or
dinary occidental nose that he drew It
all out of proportion.
Admiral Perry’s nose immediately
became the sensation of Japan. It
provoked an insatiable curiosity re
garding people who could hnve noses
like that. The artist was hurried
down to the ship to make a sketch of
that, and of the tools and other be
longings of the Americans. The imi
tative ability of the Japanese Imme
diately began to make itself apparent,
as the islanders began making things
like those of the admiral and his com
panions for themselves.
These few American Ideas became
so popular that it wns not long before
wealthy Japanese were sending the
young hopefuls of their families to
the United States, clad at first in
kimonos, to study at American univer
sities. They brought home with them
the American banking system and
scores of revolutionary ideas from
American industrial institutions.
Kmployed In the now great Japa
nese industrial plants are workers,
both men and women, who have
learned to practice an economy that
would put the Scots to shame. They
live In flimsy houses to a standard
that seems unbelievable.
Workers Are Skilled.
It must not be supposed that be
cause the average worker’s Income is
about $9 to $50 a month he Is a poor
worker. He is more likely to be high
ly Intelligent, very fast and well
skilled, with a hunger for education
seldom matched on this earth. And
his money has a vastly greater pur
chasing power than it would appear
to have. His production Is always up
to the utmost because the entire Jap
anese industrial system works on a
bonus basis tlint allows extra pay for
high efficiency, economy, safety and
production.
The food the Japanese worker’s
family eats would look sorry, indeed,
to the red-blooded American appetite.
But the lowly Japanese Is not discon
tented, for his more well-to-do broth
ers and their families eat much the
same menu as he does.
For what you and I would pay for a
hat, the Japanese man or woman can
buy a complete outfit of summer cloth
ing; for what we might pay for a pair
of shoes, he can get u winter suit and
overcoat; his monthly rent costs him
about as much ns our monthly bill for
gas nnd electricity. That one-time
American institution, the nickel movie,
has become a Japanese Institution—
with the children admitted for half
price.
Japanese exports climb. And so do
our relief rolls.
© Western Newspaper Union.