EBM£E Lov/ell Thomas Broadcast for Literary Digest Friday, September S5, 1951. Good Evening Everybody: Page. A good deal of pleasant international courtesy is going around these days. There's the visit of Premier Laval of France to the United States. The French cabinet today put its O.K. on that proposed tr ip to <SrwrT. The Associated Press interprets the visit which the French Premier is scheduled to pay to President Hoover in Washington as an expression of good will between France/the United States. The French Premier declared that his talks /V with Mr. Hoover will be an attempt to re-establish world confidence, and of course plenty of people are pointing out that France and the United States are today the chief financial powers of the world. j>n And then there 1 s international courtesy in the fact that the French government has chucked that old Iist of criminals into the waste ,A basket. Well, it's been a useless document for a long time. Nothing much 3 4 5 0 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EBAMCE - 2 Page 3 * was ever done about punishing the German leaders who were listed at the end of the World War. The International Newsservice reminds us that first came/Kaiser Wilhelm, and then the Crown Prince. Hindenburg and Ludendorf had prominent places on the Iist. There were 300 names altogether, A Yes, it was just so much waste paper, that Iist of war criminals. But it remain, a curious anom Hindenburg , the^President of Germany was marked down there for trial and punishment as German Commander-in-Chief during the World War. But now that black list is out, and the Germans say they appreciate it^ YY^srX )4 cx \^L. th at 616-31 5M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 Page__s£. There's one chap in this wide world who is supposed to have a somewhat different slant troBt the rest of the A boys on the subject of this world-wide depression. Yes, he's Ivan, the big bad Bolshevik of Moscow. A [OX I wonder what the Ked leaders of the Soviets are saying ‘Yes, and the answer* is that the bolsheviks are entirely inclined to give three cheers and a loud ha ha when things don't go so well with the capitalistic countries, but i t appears that there's more xo it than that. Any joy that I van the bolshevik may feel is somewhat crimped by the tact that he himself is being hit in the pocketbook. And that causes him to have what is known as mingled feelings, tecJ hr^ss correspondent c a b I es that the Soviet Government is among the principal victims of the general price decline in the international markets. ihis has just been made public by the Soviet commissariat RUSSIA - 2 Page___ m fli of foreign trade at mexEte**.. during the first half of this yetir Kussian exports to foreign countri es were 10% higher efijuun - ' ^ — than they were ^fcRr^t he same period last year. out/jh? prices weren't as high thi year as I asresult, tor 1056 more goods the Sov i etsrece i ved 2156 less money. curing the first halt of last year foreign countries paid five hundred.seventeen million rubles to Russia for merchandise, while the figure for the same period this year is only three hundred sixty-six million. And so, old Ivan is making a few funny faces. He just loves to see, other i ! folks have hard luck, but he to find that other folks* hard luck means hard luck Z k tor him Page ^_____ ven i n g of more fighting in Manchuria. The Chinese claim that Japanese airplanes have been bombing Chinese railroad stations. The International News Service passes along a dispatch from Marshall Chang, the governor of Manchuria tel I ing how four refugee trains I eft Mukden crammed with Chinese. Japanese aviators bombed one of these trains, and iicft five people were injured. Reports come along this 1 2 3 4 5 0 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 SM MEXlfiQ Page_ No, this next dispatch isn't about disarmament. It's just the reverse. There's one country that's going to do some naval construction, and that's Mexico. It was announced today that Mexico is going to build a Navy. But that doesn't mean giant dreadnaughts and battle cruisers. Mexico is going to have a fleet of gunboats, coast-guard cutters and armed motor launches. The International News Service reports that the ancient fortress of San Juan UIloa, one of the most famous strongholds in the history of the Western World, will be converted into a shipyard. _______ - 7 yl&rs V^^rL^ . o _ P. 7 g^/-. "2-5" - y3 1 2 3 4 5 0 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 •31 5M lIiIBQ._z_SlELLI ty Page__ /_ Now for a bit of speed. No, I haven’t any aviator here with me this evening who has burned up speed records, or any of those other speed wizards who j try to see how fast man can go in one way or another. It’s just a case of a business man who makes business trips. Plenty of business trips, and he makes them fast. He is Charles M. Ripley, engineer of the General Electric Company, Schenectady, New Yorkm. Mr. Ripley is also an author and world-traveler. Just recently he made a business trip of 6 weeks in which he covered 12,000 miles -« 2,000 miles a week. He flew from New York City to Indianapolis in an afternoon. Next came a sky jaunt in which he left Salt Lake City at 3:45 in the morning, saw t he sun rise behind the peaks of Yel lowstone Park, and arrived in Butte, Montana, in time for breakfast. In flying over the Cascade Mountains from Spokane to Seattle he saw a forest fire below, and then looked down into a valley so deep he cou!dnTt JJIR.Q_.=_E1ELEX - 2 Page. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 s e e "t h © bottom, cilthough it was p mid-day- While flying high over the San Joaquin valley he saw the full moon rise blood-red behind the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Then south, from El Paso to Mexico City, I 100 miles, and finally a swift return from Mexico City to Fort Worth in less than a day. Then a single hop to Cleveland, Ohio. Then back to Schenectady. Yes sir, that was a business trip. And !Tve asked Mr. Ripley whether in that swing around the country he btnri witnessed any marvels that might be appropriate for the Literary Digest Book of Marvels. How about it Mr. Ripley? 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 6'16-3t 5M Yes, Mr, Ripley, you’ve got me in a daze of enchantment, You must be some kin to my friend "Rip”, the believe-it-or-not man. But here’s a marvel gone wrong. It looks as if another popular hero had fallen off his high pedestal. Yes, it’s good old Balto, the dog hero. Several years ago there was an epidemic at Nome, Alaska, and a supply of antitoxin had to be rushed through to the town up there .among the snows. And that’s where Balto became famous. The world was thrilled by a dash to Nome by a dog- teara. Balto was the leader of the huskies. Newspapers all over the country printed columns about the heroic exploit. And in Aew York City a monument was erected to Balto in Central Park, a statue of the heroic dog. But now I’m afraid we are in for a bit of disillusions fflent. Balto was a good dog. Yes sir, he was a line specimen of the brave Alaskan husky. But it appears that he didn’t make that dash to Nome. Today the Vaccination Research Association presented a set of resolutions to Mayor Walker reguesting the Mayor Of H.Y. to Page 13 x 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 have that statue ot Balto in uentral Park pulled down. |he Vacinnation Hesearch Association declares that the famous dog-team dash to Nome was a "fake pure and simple." The International News Service explains that Frank Sepal la, the driver of the team, has admitted that the great exploit was pure imagination. It was just a fake, to produce a bit of false glory. But just the same those Alaskan huskies are splendid animals, and I insist -- In fact, I dogged Iy insist that Baltol'J/tea' a good dogj^^-*^ 25 ■' •l- . lifila-- 2 Page i3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 have that statue of Balto in central Park pulled down. The Vac innation Research Association declares that the famous dog-team dash to Nome was a ^fake d pure and simple." The International News Service explains that Frank Sepal la, the driver of the team, has admitted that the great exploit was pure imagination. It was just a fake, to produce a bit of false glory. But just the same those Alaskan huskies are splendid animals, and I insist -- In fact, I daaafidljt insist that Balt1st a good dog^ > 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JiA££££LL V/e 11 , batiz^fer up and play bal I . Let's see what has been the net result about those basebal I games played in New York for the benefit of the unemployed,1 Well, that net result certainly looks good. It !s exactly one hundredAseven [||| J11 ii!; !: 11 ii if \ 'ii! i thousand, seven hundred seventy-seven dollars and fifty^ cents. All that money goes to the jobless. the games were a huge success, ihe baseball fans came in enthusiastic throngs. The first game on September 9th between the rankees and the Giants drew nearly sixty thousand dollars. Yesterday's double header contributed a little over forty-eight thousand. The New York WorId- 1 If Telegram tells us that the two big baseball shows were witnessed by over 104,000 people* And so everybody connected with the big effort to help the unemployed is happy - that is, everybody except the Brooklyn Kobins who lost both games of yesterday's double header. Uncle Wilbert Kobinson, babe Herman, Lefty ufloul and 1 it is ii u 1 1 ill - 2 Page 3 their mates certainly do enjoy helping the jobless, but they'd like to win a game now and then. If they don't some of them are liable to be jobless too. Page_ 2 their mates certainly do enjoy helping the jobless, but they'd like to win a game now and then. If they don't some of them are liable to be jobless too. I have a news dispatch here the bare facts of which cii’e eriougi* to set one's imagination climbing and soaring. It's an International Wevvs bervice cable that tells of a revolution in Kashmir. i’he Moslems have been trying to overthrow bir Hari bingh, the maharajah. There has been rioting and fighting, with bO persons reported killed, in the beautiful Vale of Kashmir. Today, In Sringar, the capivol of Kashmir, 50,000 Moslems armed vrith guns, swords, daggers, axes, lathis, and viols of acid were gathered to resist the authorities. The London Daily Mail states that the man whom the Mohammedans want to put on throne is Inayatullah Khan, who for a brief space was King of Afghanistan. Yes sir, there you have material for the imagination. First, there is the Vale of Kashmir, that garden of northern India, a land of flowers and beauty amid the giant uplands of the Himalayas. It is populated by Hindus and Mohammedans, and that throws an apple of discord into that paradise, it is predominantly a Mohammedan country but the strange thing Is that the King is a Hindu. Yes and he is the man against whom the revolt of the Mohammedans in Kashmir is directed. Yes, he's that same Hari Singh, who mas Mr. A in the famous scandal that broke out in London some years ago. On a gay visit to Europe this scion of ancient irinces of Hindustan was victimized by a beautiful English woman. And the sensational case that resulted was one of the comedies c. the day. it cost Mr. A plenty. It almost cost him his throne. And then there's Inayatuliah, Khan, whom the Mohammedans now want to make Maharajah of -Kashmir. Yes the brother of the former King Amanullah, who also made a trip to Europe -- and that trip did cost him his throne. He and his wife. Queen Sourya were infected with Western ideas. And they took these Western ideas back to Afghanistan, including short skirts, for the secluded women of the harems of the ±iorce Afghans. They also took back frock-coats and plug hats for the barbaric Moslem chiefs of the mountain tribes. in the revolution that followed Amanullah resigned KASHMIR - 3 his throne to his brother Inayatullah Khun. But Inayatullah was iVIng for only a day, three days in fact. The indignant Afghan mountaineers chased, him. out also. He was too fat to run. so tie British brought him out in a. big airplane. Arid then the water-boy became King of Afghanistan, a ferocious brigand. After a wild and savage reign, he too was chaser out. And today the King of Afghanistan, is another member of the old. royal family, of the Durani Tribe. Well, on a trip to forbidden Afghanistan I happened to make the acquaintance of ln.ayatu.llah, who now has visions of becoming: Maharajah of Kashmir, I remember him as a fat jolly chap in the garjp of a Mohammedan priest. His cheeks were like balloons, and he smiled with the happy contentment of a man who is well-fed and secure In. the faith of the Brophet. He would make jovial, Falstaffian figure as the autocratic potentate of the beautiful Vale of Kashmir, famed lor Its lovely lakes, and its lovely women. Well, I've gone straying away into whims -and fancies KA d H i V i IK - 4 I k 1 r I I I I but it’s time now to come out of this oriental hrearn and get back to the pro,Bey earth. In fact, it’s time to say, 00 LONG UNTIL TOMORROW. ■&