L« T» SUNOCO, Wednesdayp Ootobor BZt 1935 GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: - A jovial, smiling, sun-tanned fisherman arrived in the lovely harbour of old Charleston, South Carolina, today# Charleston, the city of imperishable beauty had on its best bib and tuoker to welcome the fisherman# For it was His Excellency, the President of the United States, u^tKL <5L , hv^ooseviet* The principal reason for his smile was thmt one hundred and thirty-eight pound sailfish that he had caught off Cocos Island, the legendary haunt of seventeenth century bucaneers• A You oould hardly expect him to be allowed to return hoirie without having to make a speech. He gave a talk to the lads of the Citadel military School of Charleston. He kept it short and didn't overburden the ears of his listeners. The most important thing he said was something he had said before, and repeated again with double emphasis:- "Whatever happens this country must be kept free from any foreign entanglements," And he elaborated further:- "We will positively not be dragged into any quarrels that do not concern us, any wars on other continents." And what about those entanglements on other continents? LOUDON They take on a curious complexion tonight. For one thing, we have another friendly gesture from the British Lion. Instead of lashing his tail and roaring, he is purring softly. His feelings as presented by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in the House of Commons today are almost incredible, when we recall the thunders that have gone out from London in the last month* a It is just as though the Old Lion was inviting the Duce to pat his head and say, "Nice Kitty I" But remember that line written by Rudyard Kipling: MOh, beware my country When my country grows oolite." And, the Right Honorable Stanley Baldwin conveyed a hint of that in his speech to the Commons. He announced the date of the general election for the fourteenth of November. Then he added; "It is fortunate that this date should be imperative, according to the law of mgland. If we had to postpone it until next January, we might find the country facing a far more difficult LONDON - 2 crisis.,I Another part of his speech was significant, *** told the House that^ T,His Majesty’s government have been investigating the military establishment and find the defense forces of the Empire fee tea totally'inadequate.” And he continued: nIn the interest of world peace, it is imperative that our forces be stronger.” 71 * 44 * untfti *> the-uiffemphasis: ”Unless the imperial Parliament consent to strengthening the forces, I shall be obliged to decline to serve longer as Prime Minister.” So far as that goes, it seems clear enough. But the question that has us all guessing is: "What did the British Prime Minister mean by his reference to next January? What have the statesmen of Europe up their sleeve?” PARIS i-'Q-LLCh1/ 1,0 But trial's nothing compared to the sensation in the news from Rome. What makes it more portentous is that it comes by way of Paiis. brict c, it really amounts to is a call from Mussolini which ' -| means, in effect:- "Don’t shoot, colonel. I'll come down." In more diplomatic verbiage, the iron-fisted war-lord of Italy says to Great Britain and France:- "If you'll hold off^on those sanctions, the penalties to be applied by the League, I'll withdraw part of my troops from Libya." Which is something - a recall of a threat. For the Duce's massing of troops on the Egyptian border was one of the things Britain was taking seriously. Mussolini also wants Britain to withdraw ships from the Mediterranean. London not so optimistic. But Rome rumors say four British warships will be w their awn. All in all, the voice from Rome tuning in with the voice from Westminster, makes a melodious duet. makes a melodious duet. The Stock Exchange continues its mysterious course. The value of shares^ecmt ^v.-o Late this afternoon, for no apparent reason, a wave of buying swept down on Wall Street. Many securities went up as much as three points. Cotton went up Seventy-five Cents a bale. Figure it out,if you can. ^ ( ? % HEARS? I should rather like to be in Sacramento, California, at this moment. I'd like to be able to observe for myself the reaction to the latest sensational word from that roaster of sensation, William Randolph Hearst. By declaring his intention of leaving California because of that state's extravagant income tax, he makes a dramatic gesture that reverberates all over the nation. It's being featured in the newspapers of London and Paris tonight. One irony in the situation is that the California income tax which drives Mr. Hearst out of the state was imposed by an administration that was elected because everybody was afraid of the confiscatory taxes threatened by Upton Sinclair. If you'll forgive a Biblical comparison, poor old Upton Sinclair threatened C; to chastise the Californians with whips. But the man they elected in his place has chastised them with scorpions. The announcement from W. R. , as the newspaper world calls him has Belasooed the current epidemic of fantastic taxation. He has given not only us taxpayers but the tax layers of nation, hear sf_ - 2 state, county an6 city, some thing to think about. Says the six foot lord of San Simeon: "If I stay in California, the taxes will eat up eighty per cent, if not ninety, of my entire income," That includes, of course, the California income tax, New York income tax on his eastern earnings, and what Uncle Sam demands. As westerner, I was interested in one paragraph of Mr, Hearst’s letter, the one in which he said: "Heaven knows, I don't want to leave California, No one does. Least of all a native son whose father was a pioneer." That calls to mind the fact that the fame and glamor of W.R.Hearst has eclipsed that wild west fame and glamor of hi s father, Senator George Hearst. The Senator was one of the most picturesque fellows who ever went from the south to win millions out of the mountains of the west. George Hearst was a contemporary flEAPST - 3 of the whole rugged group of upstanding men who, in one way or another, made western America what it is and incidentally piled up plenty ^snga*^ for themselves. It was a saying in rr\ CTvdt' * California that the two best miners the men who had the most unerring bl nose for gold, were James D. Fair and George Hearst, TZf; Senator came of the rugged Scotch-Irish stock. He v/as well into his fifties before he finally made his fortune. He was a man of quaint and homely humor. His dislike of affectation and frumpery sometimes disconcerted his snobbish friends. One of the nicest anecdotes about him is that once when he was running for office, he was reading a speech that had been written for him. There were hecklers in the audience who found fault with that elaborately prepared address. Thereupon George Hearst threw his notes to the floor and said: "Listen, you, this is what I want to tell you." And thereupon he poured out a vigorous stream of forthright sentiments in the good old western vernacular^ At the end o- which a voice from the gallery shouted: "Hell, George, why ^ 1 " *"L AM3ERG In Pennsylvania, Governor George Earle issued the decision that two mobsters must go to the electric chair on November eighteenth for the kidnapping and killing of William Weiss. Turn over the page and consider this by way of contrast. In a remote part of Brooklyn; a blaze on the street; a burning automobile. After the firemen put out the flames, they found in the charred wreck the body of a man, soaked in gasoline, chopped with a hachet. It sounds like the old days of prohibition, when such murders were so commonplace that we hardly spoke about them. The gentleman whose mutilated body was found in Brooklyn went by the anem of "Pretty Louis Amberg." He was the seventh of his clan to die a violent death in the last two months. The dead man had gloried in the name of "Pretty Louis". He got that sobriquet because he was reputed to be the ugliest of five ugly brothers. Three of them are dead. One committed suicide in the Tombs. Another disappeared. Still another was shot down in a gangster execution I told about sometime ago. And still another is an honest, respectable fellow who has never been in any trouble. Their mother, in sorrow, hao to change her name, long since. GIFTS Therefun in little old New York today. The face of Father Knickerbocker is wreathed grin. But if you look at those of his boys who are members of the Board oi Estimate^ the nigh rulers of Gotham — are their faces red? Aciik the in* The episode now referring to was supposed to be a state secret, shared only by some Ten million people in and around the metropolitean section of Greater New York. Bufr rca-tly too*. to tee»n i #\ A party of dignitaries from the Land of the Rising Sun xiEisjmtiEEi recently paid a visit to New York, Calling at the City Hall, they left a handsome donation of gifts. They included some handsome pieces of porcelain, exquisite Japanese prints, jewelry, musical instruments, superb specimens of ebony carved as only the Japanese today can carve them, canes, beautiful embroidei ed silk klmonas, - all sorts of charming things* ^ T a generous gesture on the part of the j # visiting apan GIFTS - 2 Mayor LaGuardia was particuarly delighted and he told the visitors that he was going to distribute this collection of gifts among the public schools of New fork, for the benefit of public scholars. But before doing this, in a genial moment. His Honor the Mayor said to his colleagues on the Board of Estimate, Aldermen, such as the President of the Board of the President of the various boroughs, the Comptroller, and so forth: "Why don't e you boys take* some ^£-fchcrae "^hingfr home to the kids ?M But when His Honor arrived at the City Hall this morning. what did he find? Nothin of that generous collection wee—lof* but a few odds and ends. His distinguished colleagues had taken him so much at his word that nothing worth sending anywhere was |!| left. There's a tale going round Father Knickerbocker's beautiful City Hall today that one Civic Father had grabbed so much that it took two secretaries and a chauffeur to load the things in his car, pap#**7 if hauetiFfe 'Qlipegdy**! Thoro * o n nf— —1 The moral is that on the Atlantic Coast one is not afraid, of Japanese bearing gifts. GIFTS - 3 It slso reminds me of a legend current when I was a ettfe reporter in Denver. The legend was: "Whenever a reform*^ administration is elected, take in the mat off the front porch." HAPSBURG I got quite a kick in a story that came to light today in Vienna. It was the story in the news of that bloodless revolution of last week. You may recall that the entire explosion, as related, was difficult to understand. But now the truth comes out. The meaning of the thing a is that young Archduke Otto, must wait many more years before he csn sit on the plush and gilded throne of i^aria Theresa, There had been quite a few rumors that the Austrians wanted the Hapsburgs back. But now, it seems it was just those rumors which provoked last week's upheaval, For the upshot of it was that the cabinet minister who was put out, Emil Fey, was the principal lobbyist for the descendants of tragic Franz Josef, We have known for days that Herr Fey was out. But it just dawns upon our consciousness that with him go the imme- HAP SB UR G -2 dlate hopes of the ambitious i - jit ^Itious iron-willed Ex-Empress Zita, the mother of the Austrian pretender* This paragraph from history makes ua all the more interested in a new book, the memoirs of the former Princess Stephanie. To recall her to your mind we have to go way back into the most sensational tragedy of the tragic Hapsburg family. For the Princess Stephanie is the widow of the Crown Prince Rudolf, the victim of the melodrama at Mayerling vfclch produced one of the darkest, deepest mysteries of all time. Even many Hapsburgs today don’t know what really happened that night of 1889 when the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and the K , . y&CaJsL4U beautiful Baroness Marie -Sot oar a- were found dead in the imperial hunting lodge. it^Not only articles but entire books have been written around that fantastic, almost incredible story. Every writer of detective yarns, every student of history has tried to fill in the details. Brit-cveTr at-this date,' the tragedy^of Mfliyoriing^ ig/a-pref omid mifl ill fPrOTSTtTig a mysbery ao thn» identity. ale r-or the dioai'pearanee firj no quo Salva tor) bo studants- ia£-.1TTyS amm -QrtW HAPSBIJRG - 3 All this makes the memoirs of former Crown Princess Stephanie all the more interesting. She spares the feelings of nobody. NAZI There’s an addition to the list of “verbotens” in Germany. A couple of weeks ago Der Fruhrer made an important speech. It was delivered in a large auditorium on the Wilhemstrasse. Hitler was in his best ” a, Never was his booming voice more booming. But even 1 > boomingest of boomers has to pause occasionally* And at one of those pauses came a sacrilegious sound that shocked all of the Faithful, It was a snore, (Parenthetically, as a world traveler I might add that if you haven't heard a German snore your ears have missed a rare delight.) It was as shocking as though a Feringhi had entered the Grand Mosque in Cairo or Bagdad with his boots on,. Of course it couldn’t be ignored. They ran down the adenoids from which that impious sound effect had emanated. And today there’s as a new '’verboten” in the Nazi decalogue "verboten to snore when der master speaks,'* And — SO LONG UNTIL TOMORROW