-'hc.u^tr. tl'f'0- ,:Or^-£]^lSHA The fireworks in London failed to explode, failed to blaze away with as much as one single sky rocket. The predictions were that when the ttore-Belisha affair got to the floor of the House of goomons, there would be a flare of pyrotechnics. Certainly the rumors were plenty - that the dynamic go-getter Secretary of War had been forced out by the generals in France, big-shot brass hats; that it was because of Bore-Belisha1s Jewish antecendents, the top flight generals wanting the War Office to be occupied by a member of the aristocracy; that the trouble was because of Hore-Belisha1s way of making the British army more democratic, which didn*t suit the ideas of the aristocratic big-wigs. Today Prime Minister Chamberlain and Hore-Belisha were scheduled to make • statement to the happened - but no fireworks. Everything was reserved and ambiguous. Polite, soothing statements that didn't mean anything much. About the talk xiitoi** that the Secretary had been HORE-BELISHA - 2 forced out by the generals in France, Chamberlain said:- nIt is pure invention to suggest that there has been army pressure on me to displace Mr. Hore-Belisha." The Prime Minister added:- "No officer serving in any time ever said any word to Then why was Hore-Belisha asked to resign? Chambe rlain explained in these unilluminating words:- nI had become aware," said he, "of difficulties arising out of the very great qualities of Mr. Hore-Belisha, which in my view made it desirable a change should occur." This is taken to refer to Hore-Belisha1s energy and push, Chamberlain calling them, his "very great qualities." And the deduction is made that the generals didn!t A like so much energy and push. That’s the nearest thing to a firecracker in today’s failure of pyrotechnics. Hore-Belisha himself spoke mildly. He denied he had had any friction with the brass hats. "There have been, from time to time, differences of opinion," said he, "but thesej* he added, "have not been deeper than must occur in any association of HOhE-BBLISIlA - 3 men bent on pressing tasks of more than transitory importance.n He indicated that there had been no quarrel about his ideas in making the British army more democratic. And he followed that with something of an epigram. nJt never occurred to me,n said he nto consider that we were making the army too democratic to fight for democracy.” Naturally, all of these pleasantries did not satisfy the discontent in tne House of Commons. The opposition shouted angry calls for more information, complained that the whole business was being hushed up. But nothing further occurred to break the hush. SUB:vL.rJNrS .Lae British admission that the Royal Navy has lost three submarines is an indication of the desperately dangerous work the British undersea fleet has been doing* The subs were operating in German waters, right off the German coast, near the entrance of the Kiel Canal. There^they had succeeded in torpedoing several Nazi warships. They were right in a hornetTs nest. Th© first word today came from the German Admiralty, which announced the sinking of British submarines and stated that some of the men had been rescued. Then London followed ihx with the admission that three undersea craft had failed to return to their bases,^^^^^^s^long they must be given up for lost - the SEA HORSE, the STARFISH, and the UNDINE. Those three had been on desperately dangerous duty in Nazi waters. POPE There has been an exchange of messages between the British Government and the Vatican - this was reported today on what is called ^reliable authorityLondon inquired - Did Pope Pius the Twelfth in his statement of ideals of peace mean to criticize the war aims of the Allies?" The Pontiff had stated the nations at war should seek to bring about peace along the lines of the interests of all nations - rather than according to their own particular interests. Was that an implied criticism of the Allies? The Vatican is said to have replied - No. The Pope had not meant to criticize any nation, save Soviet Russia. The Vatican has a friendly attitude toward the various countries in the war - except Stalin* s Red regime. It was admitted tnat there were points of difference and controversy with Nazi Germany, but Papal criticism was directed only at the Soviets. Such, we are told, was the Vatican reply. FINLAND The Piesident toaay sent a proposal to Congress - that tne United States Lend money to Finland to buy farm products and manufactured goods - but not weapons of wrar. The White House idea is that money should be advanced through the Export-Import Bank and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, This provoked an attack by Senator George of Georgia, who denounced the idea of having the R.F.C. extend loans to foreign nations under war conditions. He took the stand that this would only open the door to dangerous financial deals by the R.F.C,, giving it the right to make loans to belligerent countries, thereby threatening to involve us in war. Then came an argument about what committee should consider the President’s message. Tne idea was to send it to the Finance Committee. Senator Connally demanded that it should be considered by the Foreign Relations Committee, since it concerned foreign relations. That issue was compromised with the decision that both committees consider the President’s recommendation. The concensus in Congress is that we certainly do want to help Finland. But also we do not want to create a precedent FINLAND - 2 for doing tnings in the European squabbles that may lead us into war. One remark is quoted as coining from Finnish sources in Washington - a remark concerning the Presidents specification that money lent to Finland should be used for purchasing relief supplies - and not armament. Finnish diplomat made the comment that if the Finns don’t get weapons with which to defend themselves, there won't be any Finns left to need relief supplies. THIRD TERM The latest lope cn the possibility of a third term was denied at the White House today — put in the category of tips on the horses. The prognostication was made by Washington Correspondent Dave Lawrence, printed in a magazine issue out today Davjj Lawrence S thzg he published*. In the uss states that the President is going to make an announcement that he does not want a third term. F.D.R. will make the statement in these words "that he does not choose to seek a third term". That same word "choose" which Calvin Coolidge used when he said he did not choofle to run. Thff^ prediction ww^aa^the precise date or rather A /\ A dates, two of them. President Roosevelt wil. make his renunciation on either January twentieth or M.-rch Fourth Why Uio^ anuary twentieth jjg QQg ygar before the next Presidential Inauguration while March Fourth is the anniversary of the day on which Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated. To all of this a reply was promptly made by White House secretary Steve Parley. Steve said the prophecy was THIRD TERM somewhat know how in the nature of dope on the horses, end we all accurate horse xif race tips usually are. PROHIBITION A twentieth anniversary was celebrated in the United L-tci^es senate today, hailed by one Senator - Sheppard of Texas, Just twenty years ago. Senator Sheppard witnessed the great triumph of his life. ffiafty. of us-vrllrl-^’or’iembtHP ttje oane&^WfriLt tr- tVua pt, nf ; -*-ht H tt ^ nn ¥irhtmint okampinned -f s, as aiT-apuj»le j ■ arr erang-el?— 1 1 wwl fciici dry e«« Senator Sheppard was hailed as - nthe father of prohibition.n The Eighteenth Amendment was his chief accomplishment. And tne Eighteenth Amendment went into effect just twenty years ago, January Sixteenth, Nineteen Twenty. The country-had- had-wai-“limer prohibition, and—the, amendment^ sealed the dry eya--- seemed-tu mafc-e~±t permanent and perpetual i Ti-ft t wali romombored—epoeh of—prohibition -ia-oted un t x 1—nofir ,ly. nr MinntnftnThlrty-yhrgg-^’ It!s the custom of Senator Sheppard each year to commemorate the advent of the Eighteen Amendment by making an address in the Senate. Todey , on the Twentieth Anniversary, he proclaimed, as he has been proclaiming, that prohibition must 'tiro-fa. n . ... C drv oration xKt= 3 *£ 6 .the color of the Today the Senator s X ^ return. PROlUiITION - 2 present day, was ornamented with current *orld issues, dictatorsniu and democracy. n 0 ne thing is certain,n he cried in his peroration, nwe cannot continue to pour nearly two billion gallons of alcoholic poison every year into the veins of our democracy and expect it to survive.” RACKET In York today, indictments were handed down in a ten million dollar a year racketeering case, indictments charging one of the hugest crime operations on record. ItTs the affair of Lepke, whom District Attorney Thomas E. Dewy A characterized as the most dangerous public enemy of them all. Some months ago, Lepke was a headline fugitive, hunted by both the New York police and the G-men. He was wanted by District Attorney Dewey on charges of racketeering and murder, while the federal authorities had a narcotics charge to press against him. Lepke preferred to surrender to J. Edgar Hoover and the F.B.I., was oromotlv out on trial, and pleaded guilty A to the selling of dope. He got fourteen years in prison. A Meanwhile, District Attorney Dewey has been going ahead with the racketeering and murder angle of the case. Hence todayf s indictments, which give an outline of the undervvorld syndicate headed by Lepke. The story goes back to that bizarre gangster. Legs Diamond, who was killed in Nineteen Thirty-One. Legs Diamond and another criminal big-shot ran an RACKET - 2 immense extortion racket that prayed on the New York garment trade - a methodical shakedown of* manufacturers of men’s TT^x-e Of ^ and women s clothing. fnxxkK—IU" &■ gang—wnrjx3^hr Pinmnnrl if>n~w killed) Mid *o was, uUie.1—bi-g',Bnot who dominatceh v.itli-him»^ left the racketeering field in the garment industry wide open - open for other big time gangsters to step in. And in they stepped, headed by Lepke. He and a lieutenant called "Gurrah" Shapiro organized a mob of two hundred^*- thugs, gunmen. And they built up the garment racket to a new high of extortion and violence. The way they operated was to threaten garment manufacturing concerns wdth labor trouble,^*ires in their factories, with the jcxxxa tossing of acid on their goods, bombing, and finally - murder. They terrorized the industry levied assessments^ calculated in a business way. They put spies in firms, got a line on their incomes, and demanded a certain percentage. Tne indictment toda^ gives a list of payments made by thirty-five firms, each of ».hich paid sums of from fifteen hundred to ninety thousand dollars. T,.e total of the RACKET _ 3 figures named in the indictment adds up to over half a million. But that v,as only a fraction of the take. District Attorney Dewey*s office states that the Lepke mob collected a million a year ewer a period of ten years, for a total of ten million dollars. Today*s prosecution names nine defendants, headed by Lepke, who is serving the fourteen years the federal authorities have given him on the narcotics charge. Others of the nine wus sj^?ir,s3'2±±5 were subordinate members of the mob. They do not include four who were killed - murdered, says the District Attorney * s office, because the gang was afraid they wouid squeal. testify against Lepke. FROG In Chicago today a beautiful blond night club singer filed a damage suit for Five Thousand Dollars, and it should be a warning to bar tenders — don*t monkey around with frogs. The beautiful blond tells how in a Chicago bar they had a fish bowl, and in the fish bowl — a frog. A fine looking frog, the pride of the bar tender. Everything was all right until one evening a customer came into the bar, and k** kzx he had his own pet frog with him. He got into an argument with the bar tender. *hich frog could jump the farthest — the customer’s or the one if in the fish bowl? And they made a bet. uThe bar tender fished the frog out of the fish bowl, and a Jumping contest was staged right there on the bar. After some prodding the frog^Jumped. One took a mighty leap, direction somewhat wrong, missed the bar and landed in the 'lap of a large lady who was having the frog ? boumced a drink. jumping some more and tne large lady swooned and fell off her chair. In doing so, she knocked over the kimsi beautiful FROG - 2 blond who was sitting next to her. The blond fell on the floor with a crash and charges that she tonnuw became nslck, sore, lame and disordered". Ihose were the words she used in her court complaint today, "Sick, sore, lame and disordered". all because of a frog m A k R!ACE y Herefs a marriage notice x±lk that has an interesting sound - society girl marries tiger man. We all know what a debutante is, but whatTs a "tiger man?” In this case heTs a big game hunter, wfhose favorite amusement is to fight South American jaguars with a spear. Edith Louise bray of Green Lane, Pennsylvania, had a coming out party a year or so ago and soon after met Sasha Sierne1, wno told her South American stories of how he had come to close grips with ferocious Jaguars, claws and fangs against a spear. The deb persuaded him to take her and another society girl on his next expedition to the green inferno of the Matto Grosso. Since then, stories have drifted back of how the young ladies had tackled the ferocious jaguar, though they did it with rifles, and accurate aim. They left it to the tiger man to encounter the monster cats in hand to hand^^SnSSSf Or, I suppose you'd call it, hand to claw combat. The iatest big game hunting news comes today, a cable ^ from South America - they're married, the society girl and the 4 tiger man. The end of a perfect expedition.