’ ~ SUIjQCO - Thurs. Mav 14 19S6 ailsnby One of the great figures of our time, in fact one of the foremost military figures of all time, died today. And the | whole British Empire mourns the passing of ^ield Marshal Viscount f Allenby -- at the age of seventy-fi I am tempted to devote myyentire broadcast to him tonight, because it so happens^€hat he influenced my life almost as much as any other humaii being. I knew him during the World s' War and in later y^ars as v/ell. Night after night, year in and year out, fpcfm the platform in cities around the Globe, I told the stony of his campaign. He has sometimes been called "The Modern R de Lion." But he succeeded where Richard the Lion-hearted failed. For Allenby was the leader of the Allied -- mostly British -- armies which brought true the dream of Western peonies by sweening the Turks from the Holy Land, by driving the armies of the Sultan from Beershebe, Gaza,- Bethlehem, Nazareth and Damascus! -- liberator of Jerusalem.' Right now we are at the time of year when boys and girls I f § are taking examinations, at school. And whenever a youngster tells ALLSNBY - 2 me what a tough time he has with his exams I enjoy telling him of what Field Marshal Allenby once said to me. He told me that in his youth he was a honeless student, that he failed in his examinations time and again, and that he really became a soldier because his family decided he wasnTt good for anything else. As I recall it he first gained considerable fame in the war in South Africa. There he was in command of a column of cavalry. His soldiers liked him because he lived right with them, ate the same food, and wore the same clothes as an ordinary Tommy. He did this right from the time he was first made a Lieutenant in the Sixth Dragoons, mtil he was a full Colonel in South Africa. Two Commanders-in-Chief leading the British forces against the Turks in the Liar East had failed. Then a third Commander was sent out — Allenby. The soldiers called him The Bull," because you could hear his roar all the way from Dan to Beersheba. Generals' knees quskea when they came Into his presence. But the Tommies loved him. He injected a new spirit into the army in the Sinai Desert. And from the time of ALLEMBX - 43 : Ms arrival his troops never stopped until, they had conquered both Palestine and Syria* in perhaps the greatest Cavalry campaign of all time, a campaign that military leaders look upon as a Cavalry model. I Physically, he was a giant. He* may have failed in his examinations as a youth, but he was a scholar. I found that in addition to his being a great soldier he.was a master of Latin and Greek; and also a naturalist and a botanist. By the end of the campaign he knew the name of every wild flower and YU~v^*j2? every animal and bird in the Holy Land. Migratory birds stop] in Palestine on their way South, and it was a common thing, when I was with him, for the great Commander -in-Chief to slip off alone in the early morning, go down to a pond, and spend an hour or two there studying the migratory birds. 1 recall—once, in~bhe ••Valley of the- < ofi feWeiaDuad was intww. sad. —Sfae ComKHMier—not -aaly beleed febe. 41 II if i Is Si ! I H I 1 ; I ALLSNBY - 4 Ail ths world has heard the story of his entry into Jerusalem. Some years before, the Kaiser had entered the Holy City. A special section of the wall was knocked down for him, so he could r>ass through where no human being had passed before. The Kaiser was mounted on a white charger, wearing his Imperial helmet. But Allenby, the man who had freed the Holy Land and liberated the Holy City — when he entered Jerusalem, he simply walked in on foot through the old Jaffa Cate. He didnft even go in first, but had a number of officers precede him so that he would not be too prominent in our motion pictures. Lawrence of Arabia was- one of his proteges. Nearly all other army officers were imratient with Lawrence, couldn’t under stand him. But Allenby knew how to use his talents. And the success Lawrence had in Arabia was due largely to the help he received from Allenby. A short time after the fall of Jerusalem his campaign entered on its second and last phase. He tricked the Turks with e camouflage army in the Jordan Vall©y> while the bulk of his forces concealed themselves in the orange groves many -lies away near the shores of the Mediterranean. One morning when the Turks ALLFNBY - 5 were not looking for it, his troops, along the Mediterranean, smashed a hole in the Turkish line, and through that hole Allenby sent his ssA cavalry. And they never stopped until they had swept the Turks from northern Palestine, the land of Samaria and all Syria. That ended the Ottoman Empire. The names of so called great men vanish quickly from the pages of history. But the name-of Lord Allenby of Jerusalem and Armageddon will be there until ^he end of time. Well, perhaps I’ve already devoted more time than I should to telling you about Allenby. But, had it not been for him, it is unlikely that I would be a. radio commentator today. AUSTRIA There are two things to he especially noted about the coup d^tat In Austria. One - it was so peaceful and quiet. The other that it has international implications so wide and deep. We have two well known figures, Chancellor Schuschnigg and Vice-Chancellor Prince von Starhemberg. Schuschnigg is not such a flaring character, but Prince von Starhemberg is - a blue blood aristocrat, the Fascist power behind the Vienna government, the would-be Austrian Mussolini. Now a third personality appears, quite unknown on this side of the water - one Josef Peither. We are told that he is a powerful leader of the peasants1 party, whose importance has been increasing - in the background. Of recent days, Schuschnigg and Reither have been on the outs with the AUSTRIA - 2 dictatorial Starhemberg, the raan of power. Ti^the tw0 went A to President Miklas of Austria, told him they wouldn’t work with Starhemberg any longer, and Chancellor Schuschnigg offered his resignation. Instead of accepting it. President Miklas turned around and gave Schuschnigg complete power, made him dictator of Austria - In silent partnership with Reither, the backstage peasant leader. And immediately they ousted Prince von Starhemberg as-Vice-Chancellor. The latest word is that they are going to disarm and abolish the Heimwehr, which is Starhemberg*s and own private army,^on which his power has been based. It was all done without a shot being fired, a xsaqi bloodless coup d’etat - although you can’t tell what violence may develop when they start disarming the Heimwehr. As for International complications - take the immediate event that caused Schuschniggand Reither to take the supreme measure of tossing Starhemberg out. It was a telegram to Mussolini - sent by the Austrian Fascist Prince. Starhemberg is a tremendous admirer of the Duce. He has been the focus of Italian power and influence in Austria. He was scheduled to go AUSTRIA - 3 to Home to attend a football match, and at the same time to confer with Mussolini about Austrian collaboration if Italy should withdraw from the League of Nations. But before going, he sent that telegram - in which he congratulated Mussolini effusively on his Lthiooian victory. He described the Italian- African success as nThe triumph of Fascism over democratic dishonorableness and hypocricy, and over democratic mendacity." Heavy words those! The telegram was sent without the knowledge of the Vienna government, and when Schuschnigg and neither learned about it, they objected strongly, ^hey saw in the telegram an injudicious attack on the powers that have been opposing Italy, the League of Nations and Great Britain. Io ''heir mind it tended to put the Austrian government in dangerous opposition to those Powers. So today’s event in Austria is a blow to the DUce, a come-down to his prestige in central Europe,/ Vienna tells us that the policy of the new Schuschnigg dictatorship will be — less Fascism and more freedom, and the cultivation -f bettei AUSTRIA - 4 word this afternoon that ochuschnigg has telegraphed t Mussolini declaring that Austria is still Italy’s frie loyal to its alliance with Italy* reletions with Na?i Gemany. At the same time we have / Schuschnigg is a blueblood, son of a brigadier-general of old imperial Austria-Hungary. The younger Schuschnigg became an officer too, fought in the World War and was mptured by the X t al la ns. His political partner, neither, is no blueblood at all, but a peasant - a middleaged agrarian of the farms. However, the two men are at one in this, that they are both devoted Catholics, leaders of the Catholic Party. Schuschnigg entered politics as a disciple of the statesman priest. Monsignor Seirel, who for years was Chancellor of Austria. Schuschnigg looks like a bespectacled professor, a grave scholar who spends his spare time in his library. ^uch is the man who tonight stands in sunreme nower at -Europe’s Number One danger point. EXPLOSIONS New Jersey^s greatest explosion came into the news again tonight — the Black Tom blow*-up of twenty years ago* Those of us who remember the World War period only have to be reminded of Black Tom and the way those tons upon tons of high explo­ sives blew up* But a whole new generation has grown up since then, and they* 11 have to be told how Black Tom was a pier in Jersey City, center of munitions shipments to allied armies, a dock where barges of dynamite and highexploslve shells were loaded It was midnight on the Thirtieth of July, 1916, when the cry of fire rose* A wild blaze had sprung up amid those ship-loads of deadly violence. In a few minutes the whole thing blew up, one kxa shattering, rending burst* And then another even more violent* For miles around, all over 6 * metropolitan New York shattering windows fell tinkling 5nto streets* Bursting shells were hurled skyward like giant s insane artillery fire, bombarding Ellis Island, bombarding the Statue of Liberty* The famed B Goddess still carries the soars where she was hit by missiles from Black Tom^/^Burning, exploding barges drifted down New York Bay. And the New Jersey scene IgTPLQSlOKS -2 around Black Tom was one of indescribabl^ dewastation. lives were lost and the damage ran into the tens-of millions. AmtThe word immediately flashed — German spies/ reports and rumors of secret agents with mysterious codes/wb£w* low at the Allied cause touching off A A deposits of high explosive. There were investigations. It seemed only too likely that it was a wartime plot, but no absol­ ute evidence was uncovered. ^Later the fair went before the German-American Mixed Claims Commission^ which was deciding on wartime questions between the United States and Germany. The American charges In the Black Tom explosion were dlsmissedt -r. Now, however, the case comes to the front once more. TTe hear from Vashington today that the German-American Mixed Claims Commission has reopened the case, and Secretary of State Hull has appointed William D. Mitchell, Attorney General of the Hoover Administration, to present the American contention. New evidence is the reason. But what the new evidence may be is being kept a secret. fe only know that it must concern wartime plotting and the doings of secret agents. HTYPLOSIONS -3 This same development today m also includes another explosion, the wartime blowing up of the Kingsland Munitions factory* This happened six months after Black Torn. The whole T* N* T* factory went up in one stupendous blast* This also was supposed to be spy work, although that Claims was never proved* But now the Mixed^Commission is reopening the Kingsland explosion also, reopening the charges that it was a secret agent plot* After these New Jersey explosions, letfs take one that didn't happen — story of how lightning set fire to a giant gasoline tank at Summerville, New Jersey* The gods of the storm blasting away with shattering thunder and lightning, when a bolt hit the gasoline tank* *aiT3Hue flames were creeping along the top* Nearby was another huge tank filled with illuminating gas. If number one went, number two would go also. It might blast the whole town of Summerville right out of existence* That's what George Greeley, the plant superintendent knew, as he saw the blue flames creeping along the gwortu* tank. And did he run? to the tank, climb. tcyplqsions -4 ed sixty feet to the top and with an explosion threatening any instant he beat out the flames. Today George Greeley said: "It was only a part of the day,s work." r FARMS The problem of agriculture gets more and more attention - not only from the politicians as the campaign season rolls on, but arso from the scientists. Today, we hear of a loud call - abandon farms. That is - abandon a whole lot of useless farms, a million of them, embracing two hundred and fifty million acres. This idea is proposed by Dr. Alonzo Taylor, Director of the Food Research Institute of Stanford University. The doctors idea is we have too many farms, producing too much food, with not enough people to eat it. £x£ He says there are a billion acres under xxxxxxxfiKtxlEiujudtx cultivation now, while eight hundred thousand '*A- acres would produce all the food the.nation needs. But there1 s a counter argument to that - put forth by scientists who point out that farms can grow not only food supplier i ( but also various products for industry. This idea is championed by Dr. Carl Compton, President of'Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Boston Tech. He says; "Don’t plow under the - I surplus crops, but bring them to the chemical laboratory and let the scientists find a new way to use them.. Scientists can find all sorts of ways. related-^ Wheeler McMillan, editor FARMS - ^ of COUNTRY HOME goes back to the old proverb that you canft make a silk purse out of a sowfs ear IT. ftsspsm y you can. A A A scientist named A.V. Little has just finished taking a sow's ear and making an exceedingly beautiful silk purse out of it. And this same scientist might just as well go back to that good old Shakespearian line about painting the lily. paint the lily with - skimmed milk. Recently, he helped a paint manufacturer who was having trouble in making his paints stick on after they were brushed on. The remedy for that was - mix the paint with casein, which is made from skimmed milk. JAPiSEESB TEACHERS I auppose that dreams come true, and here's a case of Gilbert and Sullivan coming true. Fanciers of the Mikado, will hardly imagine that the merry doings of Koko, Poohah and Yum-yum have any relation to sober actualities in Japan. However, let's look at the news and we'll find that one of the most rollicking lines of the Mikado has come true - more or less. It's the song which tells how the emperor of Japan, determined to suppress the practice of flirtings And he decreed in words succinct, That all who flirted, leered or winked, Unless connubially linked. Should forthwith be beheaded,'* The news we have from Tokyo does not say anything about beheading, but it does decree stem punishment - for male and female schoolteachers who flirt. Anew educational order commands that schoolmasters and schoolmams shall be most circumspect. Ho unmarried men teacher is permitted to oe an official of a girls' student club. Men teachers and women teachers are forbidden to walk to and from school together. And school principals are warned to keep a stem and exacting eye on the private lives of the teachers. That's what they say in word succinct. And I'll say in words equally succinct — SO LQHG UNTIL TOMORROW.