L. T. « SUNOCO * WEDNESDAY -- MAY 6. 1936
GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY;
From California today come echoes of the political
fights of eight years ago* Hoover wins, is the message
conveyed
by the Republican primary returns in the Golden State*
We've always heard that a prophet is not without honor
save in his own country. That doesn't seem to apply to the
ex-president. In this fashion Mr, Hoover turns out to be the
first real stumbling-block in the path of the well oiled
political machine of Governor Landon. Quite a respectable
victory too for Mr, Hoover's supporters! It amounts to some
thing like a majority of three to two - the figures being a
majority of 100,000,
While it is estimated as a definite setback for
"Kansas Alf", It doesn't mean that he won't eventually get
California's forty-four delegatea. Nominally, the conflict was
between Landon and Earl Warren, the Republican Chairman of the
state* As Mr. Warren is a strong friend and partisan of the
ex-president, the race actually became one between the Kansas
Governor and Mr. Hoover. As soon as his victory was assured,
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Mr. Warren formally released the forty-four delegates pledged to
him. In other words, they go to Cleveland uninstructed, free to
vote as they decide on the floor of the convention.
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The South Dakota returns are also interpreted as
somewhat of a monkeywrench in the Landon machinery. There the
Governor for a while was running neck and neck with Senator Borah.
Actually, Landon won, but his majority, fifteen hundred votes,
was
exceedingly slight. This was quite a disappointment to the
managers of the Landon campaign, who had been confident of
a
comfortable victory.
This South Dakota affair was particularly interesting
in a political sense. It was the first out-and-out ballot battle
between the Idaho Senator and the Kansas Governor. Furthermore,
it took place right in the heart of the agricultural middlewest.
That made it a real test of strength. Another important event in
this primary campaign was a statement made by Senator Borah in
Zanesville, Ohio, Some of his previous utterances have led to
the fear that he might bolt the convention if it goes against him.
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So it was reassuring to the party leaders to hear hinnsay:
"If
Mr. Landon or Mr. Knox come to Cleveland with a fair expression
from the people that he is their dhoice, I shall not stand in the
way.fT
Now for a glance at the Democratic picture. In
California, President Roosevelt swept the field. Senator McAdoo
will head the delegation that goes to Philadelphia. And he will
cast all forty-four votes for the President. Upton Sinclair,
the Epic flag bearer, ran a bad second. Congressman John Stephen
McCroarty, the champion of the Townsend Plan, though Dr. Townsend
himself didn’t endorse him, dicTriit even poll one-tenth of the
votes cast for Mr. Roosevelt. California approves Poet McCroarty
as an author of the mission play thfct many of you may have seen
at San Gabriel. But evidently they think poetry is no path to
the White House.
In South Dakota and In Alabama, the President had no
opposition. But critics of the New Deal are taking heart from
the results of the Maryland primaries. The President won, they
admit. His majority over Colonel Henry Breekenridge was something
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like five and a half to one. But here, as in Pennsylvania,
Colonel Breckenridge was running without any campaign machinery,
------
and with an amateur organization^ So the anti-Roosevelt Democrats
look upon that Maryland affair as a remarkable showing.
*gJaa final Demo or a tic figTrrfcrs^arg
taxes
President Roosevelt’s program is running up against
an unexpected snag in Congress. It almost amounts to a rebel
lion of important Democratic Senators. The cause of the
trouble is those processing taxes. As everybody knows, they’ve
been a source of wide discontent ever since they were Invented
to finance the ill-fated A. A. A.
The President was counting upon them to provide
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revenue of one billion, a hundred and thirty-seven million
dollars, tfest.he asked Congress to provide for the next two
years. When the Supreme Court knocked out the Triple A it
also knocked a serious hole In the national•revenue. The new
processing taxes were devised to meet this deficit. But the
House threw them out whan it passed the tax bill. And now,
a canvass of the Democratic members of the Senate Finance
Committee shows that eight of them are equally adverse to re
storing those unpopular processing taxes. With eight Democrats
on the committee definitely agains^t the Idea it stands* a
pretty poor chance of going through. The five Republicans
of the committee are unequivocally and unalterably opposed to
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TAZCES' -a
the proposition.
The attitude of the people who object to the pro
cessing taxes is that theyfre nothing in the world but
a thinly disguised manufacturers1 tax.
HIMDMtBURG
You’ve probably seen the Hindenburg, the world’s
mightiest airship in the newsreels. If so, you can picture her
as she is at this moment soaring high over Western Europe
fix
on
her way to America.
"All aboard f or Lakehurst, Mew Jersey," was the cry
at Freidrichahafen late this afternoon• Of course it was
night time in Germany, stars shining brightly in a clear sky
while thousands of enthusiastic Geimans cheered the beginning
of a new era in trana-Atlantic travel. That1 a what they believe.
The directors of the Zeppelin company and the
celebrated Hugo Bekener are predicting that the success of this
voyage will mean the possibility of a schedule, Mew York to
London overnight -« soon.
There are a hundred people in the air tonight aboard
this new luxurious aerial giant. Fifty of them are passengers.
All, save the newspaper men have paid five hundred dollars a
piece for the passage. Even the journalists are paying part
fare, about the equivalent of steamer tickets.
This time it's a test trip for the Hind en burg. Her
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cruaiing speed is eighty miles an hour. That may hring her
into Lakehurst late Saturday,
Regular traffic across the ocean by huge dirigibles
is now no idle dream. The smaller ships, the Graf Zeppelin
has made a hundred and seven sky voyages from Europe to Africa
to South America, regular as clockwork, carrying twelve thousand
passengers and many thousands of pounds of freight and mail.
An unusual feature of this giant new zep is her
power plant# She's the first oil burning sky sailing olgar;
four Die eel engines of eleven hundred horsepower each. With
their sixteen cylinders apiece they're the light eat motors ever
built in ratio to the power they deliver.
Somewhere in the air tonight - sailing West - the
giMjttflggtar greatest of all ships of the air
ETHIOPIA
The tumult and the shouting dies over the eonqueat
of Ethiopia* The King of Kings departs, the captains have
almost finished their job. And now the diplomats take the field.
Today's attitude of the European governments is one
of those ironic comic poses such as you find only in the field
of high diplomacy. With one voice Great Britain and France
say:
"Again we px protest against your annexation of Ethiopia,"
With their next breath they Bay:
"We ah,all. want you to respect
our pa spheres of influences," That means, for John Bull's
part, "Don't monkey with our rights around hake Tana," And
France demands, "Don't forget we built and own that railway
from Djibouti to Addis Ababa, the Red Sea to the heart of the
Ethiopian Plateau,
Mussolini, now that he has Ethiopia in the palm of
his hand, replies with a gesture which says in effect:
"We've
won, so we can afford to be generous." In other words, he
assures both London and Paris that their spheres of influence
will be respected.
At the same time, he bluntly repeated the ringing
ETHIOPIA - 2
declaration he made yesterday from the balcony of the Palazzo
Venezia:- "Ethiopia is now Italian,'* Followed by the
solemn warning:
"We shall defend it with our arms against
anyone who tries to take an inch of it"!
It is generally believed that the formal proclamation
that Italy has annexed Ethiopia will be made on Saturday,
Of
course the futile protests of Great Britain and
Prance are merely for the purpose of saving face. Their demands
that their spheres of influence should be respected are
equivalent to recognizing the conquest of Ethiopia as an.
accomplished fact. And, in diplomacy an accomplished fact —
a fait accompli - is more than nine points of the law.
They also came forward with the demand that Ethiopians
should not be pressed into the Italian, army. 'There was
considerable irony in the Puce’s reply. He gravely assured the
Powers that the Ethiopians would not be armed. It stands to
reason that no conqueror is going to put weapons into the hands
of natives right away — before he is sure that they are
completely and finally subjugated. While the Italians have
ETHIOPIA - 3
Ethiopia in their hands, they are still quite a distanoe from
having all the diffuse and warlike tribes subdued and pacified.
Later he’s sure to am them, drill then! - and maybe use them
in Europe — a la Senegalese.
There1 s still considerable marching, and possibly
fighting to be done in the wild mountains of what was once
Haile Selassie’s realm. General Graziani's armies are approach
ing Harar and Jijiga, the only two important cities still to be
occupied. And one can still hear the ping ping of rifle fire
in and around Addis, But Marshal Badoglio reports that the
sole cause of this is suppressing isolated gangs of bandits.
Another diplomatic irony is the Duce’s new-found
enthusiasm for the League of Nations, In a newspaper interview
he dec! a re a th e L eagu e mu a t b e preserved , re f o rra ed and mad e mo r e
workable. This from the Dictator who has recently been denounc
ing Geneva so fiercely and on whose head Geneva heaped the
punishment of Sanctions. Mussolini’s sudden love for the League
i s no doubt to be found in the theory -- that Geneva can do him
no more harm, while in the future it might be conveniently used
against somebody else. Also, the spectacle of the "Dues as the
ETHIOPIA - 4
friend of the League of Nations is likely to soothe tJKue and
please the statesmen of Geneva and their followers.
It's quite a change from being Governor of Rome, the
Eternal City, to being ruler of Addis Ababa. But that's the
honor that has fallen to Major Giuseppe (jewseppy) Bottai,
Yesterday he was the first Italian soldier to enter the con
quered capital. Now he becomes its ruler. Politically, it may
be recognized as a considerable distinction. But after you've
been ruling over the ancient city of the Caesars, with its
palaces, museums, cathedrals, lovely churches and temples on the
Seven Hills, to drop down to being boss of a ruined collection
of mud huts atop an Ethiopian plateau - well, to say the least,
it’s a transition. At the same time, of course, the Governor of
Rome today lives not only in the shadow of the Seven Hills, but
in the shadow of Mussolini. On his Abyssinian plateau. Governor
Bottai will be the Number One man.
Though moat of us never heard of Bottai until now
we leam that he's the No. Two big-shot in the inner councils
of Eascismo, an ±k intelligent, highly educated, knowledge
able young man. He's not quite forty - one, but he has
had a lively and distinguished career, as a newspaper man,
geSECT ETHIOPIA - £T
authorj economist, professor. He became a deputy in the Italian
Parliament at the green age of twenty-five. In fact, he was the
youngest member of Parliament in the history of Italy. The
greybeards protested, called him a young upstart. But they
couldnTt shake him. In the historic march of the Black Shirts on
Rome, Major Bottai walked at the head of eight thousand men from
the Abruzzi. Y/hlle he was still a deputy, he was made Director
for Corporative Studies at the august University of Pisa (Peesa).
has wielded powerful influence. He was editor of the GIORNALE
DI ROMA. He became Under-Secretary of State when he was only
thirty-one. Three years later he was appointed Minister of
Corporations. That’s a key job in the Fascist polity. And
when he was barely thirty-seven, Mussolini put him on the Grand
Fascist Council. That made him in effect a member of the Cabinet.
of him. But evidently he has the experience and equipment to do
it. There’ll be plenty of scope for his brilliant accomplishments
Though he has kept out of the limelight up to now, he
As Governor of Addis Ababa, he has a tough job ahead
a.s an economist and an
administrator, in rebuilding that squalid
ETHIOPIA -
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place of African mud huts. What is more, he has the front that
people expect of a governor. Tall, handsome, with an imperialistic
tilt to the eyebrows in his keen. Intelligent face, he carries an
wherever
air of authority,, w&sxjsx he goes.
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PIGEONS
For hundreds of years men have been using
pigeons
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to carry messages. But not even in Asia, where the practice was
invented, have these interesting fowl been used so inge\ously
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as by a family now living In Portland, Oregon. The family owns
a bird called "Blue Boy". And it is Blue Boy's function to
compete with the Telegraph Company, messenger service^and the
Telephone Company, Here's how it's done:**
When the nineteen year old son of the family goes to
work in the morning, he takes Blue Boy with"him in a basket.
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As soon as he gets on the job, he releases Blue Boy, who carries
back to papa the family street car pass. Blue Boy makes the trip
In four minutes. Then papa rides downtown on the family pass,
again carrying Blue Boy with him. After papa has reached his
shop, he sends Blue Boy back, again with the pass, so that mama
can use it at noon to bring her menfolk hot luncheons.
Blue Boy also enables the family to do without a
phone In the house. Whenever any one of them goes anywhere, he
or she takes Blue Boy along. Instead of telephoning that they'll
be late for dinner, they write a note and let Blue Boy do his stuff.
He never gets a wrong number, and you don't have to put a nickel
into him to make him carry on .
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