L. T - TULS. DiuC. 24, 1935 £xjGL^ I- o Ci.eery on Ghristraas e to be able to emphasize that unexpected word - peace. The events of the past few days in world crisis have been pointing sc consistently in the direction of the God of 'ar, that it’s surprising to hear of something that has a significant tone of peace and good-will. "he appointment of Anthony Eden as Foreign Minister in London was universally viewed as a war-lihe sign. Eden, the League of Nations man, had done more than any other single individual to sink the Hoare-Laval scheme for concessions to Italy. And we were told that the dapper young Captain, was on terms of personal antagonism gnd antipathy with the scowling, % net so well dressed Black Shirt Mussolini. All of this raised- prophecies that under +:he command of Eden, the British Foreign Office would follow a hard and determined policy of more sanctions, especially oil sanctions. And, that in response to Mussolini's threat that oil sanctions would mean war, hd en would reply, "go ah e ad and start sc mething ", 1 ill I I s $ 1 li I II ii BkC-LAliD - 2 L-\z\ evening we heard how the war threat darkness was darkened by the announcement that Great Britain had lined up eastern Mediterranean allies, Greece, Turkey, Jugoslavia, for a possible clash of battle wi+h Italy. So it looks like a flum and discordant Christmas so far as the world crisis is concerned. But now — — Santa Claus has come to the international news. I don’t know how much real significance should be read in today’s report from London, but you can't blame a fellow for frying to see all the hopeful peaceable signs he can - on Christmas Eve. "Great Britain to withdraw part of her fleet from the Ked iter ranean" - that’s the way today’s headline runs* London reports that, with Anthony Eden just getting settled in the Foreign Office, the government is thinking about taking a large part of its warships out of the sea in which Italy has so prominent and peculiar a place. Of course what we all think of right away is the fact ENGLAND - 3 when the British fleet wag mobilized in the Mediterranean it was an ominous threat against Mussolini, The Hoar 3-Lav al agreement went into the 30 rap heap 0-jfc 1 •- the anger of the British public and the League of Lation s. Sir faaniuel .rioare, wno signed the peace plan — out* Anthony Eden, who opposed the concessions to Mussolini - in. And now - right away, - word from London about the probability that England would take a large part of her fleet >ea away from, its position menacing Italy, That is unexpected! "/hat reason is given? 7/e are told that the British government ^eels th * its negotiations with the Eastern Mediterranean powers have changed the situation, because Greece, Turkey^and Jugoslavia have lined up to support Britain in case of attack by Italy. And that makes the British position in the Mediterranean a lot safer. As for the sat sty and securi .y provided by the Eastern Mediterranean powers, a cynical bystander might . How far will Mussolini be iwpressed by the Greai navy or the Turkish navy? Along with that, London opinion Held s that tne re will KNGLAED - 4 be nc 011 3anGtjlons against Lius sol ini, The present comparatively cora"'ereial sanctions are enough, doing the trick - so they say. So, oil sanctions are unnecessary. And to finish it all off, .leaders: of British opinion are quoted as saying that they now believe the African conflict is unlikely to spread into Europe - not much chance of a war between Great Britain and Italy, And, I guess that's squeezing every drop of juice out of tonight * s Christmas Eve tidings of European peace and good­ will. i f i 11 s: PfflCE - FOLLOW ENGLAND From Rome we have two items. One is that Mussolini has cancelled all Christmas leaves in the Italian army. Every officer and soldier is to he on duty during the days of the holiday season. And Rome is wondering what it means why the Duce should want to give Christmas so dark and ominous a look. Perhaps he wants to prepare the people for any sort of news that may hreak -- although opinion in Italy is more hopeful right now of peace than it has been in the past week. The other hit of news comes from that city within the city of Rome -- the Vatican. Pope Pius today addressed thirty-four Cardinals, and described the present time as "moments darkened by melancholy, menacing clouds and human bloodshed." Yet he said he hoped for peace, and was praying for peace OK^-T Newo ' rom tne Par East tells as of developments along 'jhrye iines autonomy, diplomatic protest, and rioting. Autonomy comes from Inner Mongolia. The diplomatic protest comes from Outer Mongolia. On the north, China proper has a long line of frontier that stretches pretty much to the nor -;i sii- -ust. Along this there’s a, long but rather narrow strip of territory. Inner Mongolia. Beyond that is a much larger region, Outer Mongolia. Sc ->u have, in succession; China, Inner Mongolia, and Outer Mongolia. Autonomy in Inner Mongolia is just an extension of the autonomy that Japan has been helping along in the northern provinces of China. So when we hear that Prince Teh has declared the independence of a large section of Inner Mongolia, you can consider it right along with actions of various northern Chinese officials in declaring their own independence of the Chinese government in Nanking. It's all fostered by Japan. It’s all part of the slicing o f r of Northern China. Prince ± en is sup osso ORISiT - 2 to be working up bis autonomy business for the purpose of suppressing communism in Inner rongolia. That’s the same otory - in foe Northern Chinese provinces. They too are ou* of squelch the reds. All along, for many months, the Japanese Government has been talking loudly about the C omrnun i st menac e. The riots in Shanghai tie right up to all this, although the students there went on the ramp a-: e -- because they wanted free tickets. "'he students raised cain at the railroad- station. They stormed intothe train*. They wouldn't get cut. They demanded free railroad transportation, and sat all night in freezing coaches, and couldn't be ejected. Why do they demand those Far Eastern railroad Annie Oakleys? 3o that they can go to banking, the Nationalist capital -- there to protest against ihe autonomy movement in Northern China. They want to join a giant Nankin m protest against the aggressions cf Japan. ORIENT -3 i The student agitation has grown so intense that Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese military chief, inaugurated a student protest day at Nanking. He invited colleges all over China to I sand teachers and pupils to speak their mind about Japan 13 grab in Northern China. At Shanghai the trouble is that a lot of students who want to go to Nanking and speak their anti-Japanese minds, haven1t got the price of a ticket. They thought they ought to ride free -- hence the rioting which has been flaring today. The diplomatic protest is like an affair where a clerk in one office sends a message to a clerk in another office, with the two big bosses in the background. The two clerks in this case are the Republic of outer Mongolia and the Kingdom of Manchukuo. The big bosses are Soviet Russia and- imperial Japan. The Soviets dominate Outer Mongolia. The Japanese dominate Manchukuo. So we can it consider that it is Moscow speaking Tokyo. In fact, we are told today that the leaders in the Red Kremlin drafted the Outer Mongolian protest, and Tokio is just as sure to draft the Manchukuoan reply. CRlii^T - 4 It all concerns IConcolian soldiers killed and others taken -.n soners, carried away by a party o f Manchukuoah raiders w-io invaded I..ongolian soil. ongolia demands that these eleven soldiers be released. And moreover, that the Manchukuoan raids 'u-'t he stopped. mhe henrc 1 ian note includes the standard ominous ipl omat ic phrase — serious con sequences. It .varus that serious consequences amy ensue if Outer Mongolia is not given satisfaction. So growls the Red Russian Bear. At the same time he shows his claws end teeth, claws in the shape warships, teeth in the ^cnri of submarines, "'oday one of the most important foviet newspapers in Moscow issues a blunt and warning statement the4- in the past -“our years the Kremlin has quadrupled its fleets of destroyers and submarines — multiplied them by four. And it adds pointedly that this_ augmented boviet oea pow^r is in the Pacific and in the Baltic. Warning — ~ not alone to imperialist Japan, but also to Nazi Germany. TYPHOON Thirty men on a rook* Thirty Pilipino fishermen marooned on a slippery mass of stone, while a typhoon lashes them. That's a story from the Phillippine Islands, Their boat was caught in the typhoon and smashed upon the shoal. The fishermen managed to get safely to the mass of stone projecting from the sea. And there they are now, while rescue is being rushed to them. There was huge damage in the Far Eastern islands — from that Christmas time China Sea storm. Boats at sea were especially hard. In addition to the thirty men on the rock there's another account which tells of the foundering of a tug boat, but its crew of nine were saved• There was blazing Christmas Eve drama in Southern New Jersey today. Blazing is right. Twenty-five thousand gallorils of gas — htoai-gg-hlgav spouting flames to the sky. And with it went a hair- raising tension of suspense and peril -- peril that a whole £« fleet of oil might blast into fire and smoke. Phere"-wass-tha-t- * ♦ "tremendous theatricalj itihun men ha-g# to wrestle^with the violence of elemental forces. It happened on Mantua Creek, which flows into the Delaware River. On Mantua Creek is the town of Paulsboro, a busy terminus for oil shipments. A barge with those twenty-five thousand gallons of gas was moored to the dock, seme- unknown, ranaoit H- ex- ploded^vjllt is believed fcfe# two men aboard were killed. The blazing barge was threatening to spread its bursting ratzacM flames to the dock. So they cut it loose. And the raging volcano went drifting downstream, where it couldn't do much damage. It ran j-*-; aground on a shoal, and there it stayed, like a giant spouting flare. Fire-boats gathered around, but oouldn-t do anything about it, the heat was so terrific. But the blazing gas barge wasn-t doing any harm there -- just the biggest fire you ever saw. fire -g far so good -- but the tide turned. Flood tide began to run up the creek. It floated the barge again, and drifted it upstream. Ana now & roaring volcano was on its way up the creek to the oil terminus, where there were dozens of craft, barges and tanks loaded with oil. If it ever got among them, that would be worse than when Nero burned Rome. There was no hope of putting out the fire. So in despera­ tion firemen, police and volunteers did the one thing they dould co. They stretched three huge cables across the creek to stop the blazing barge and keep it from getting in among the oil fleet. And that did the trick. The floating volcano stooped by the cables, was left to burn itself out GHIil STUAS Froin all over the country the word comes of holiday crowds on their way -heir families and their homes to celebrate tre hoi id ay. All day long trains, buses and airplanes did a record business. Kansas City, Cincinnati, Chicago, Atlanta, Hew Orleans, the Pacific Coast — all report record crowds for la 3+ minute shop ring, Hew York is having the gayest Christmas Eve since pre-Depression days. In Washington the big feature is the lighting of the National Community Christmas Tree this evening. And with lights go music, the singing of the Lincoln Cathedral Choir, the nationally famous chorus of Lincoln, Nebraska which is in the East to sine carols this week at Rockefeller Center and at the Waldorf in New York tomorrow, moniglit it chants i ■ s Christmas chorus in the National Capital, sponsored by President Roosevelt and General Pershing. Yes, a merry Christmas indeed, with even the weather man helping. A white Christmas in many parts of the country. And let’s not forget the saddest Yuletide in the world, the most melancholy Christmas tree being decorated tonight, on a freight ship steaming East, across the murky Atlantic. A young CHRISTY'AS -£ couple aboard that ship, with their small boy — the only passen­ gers aboard. Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh dressing the Christmas tree for little Jon. Stringing the tinsel and the lights, hanging the colored bulbs, arranging the display of presents and thinking inescapable thoughts of that other baby. On their way to exile, because they don’t feel their remaining child is safe in their own country fcei.iti e a radio' rule against speaking: a particular messa:-e oyer the air to any one person. But let’s break t vit nil e, ann transmit a Christmas Day message to a msn aboard a lonely ship, somewhere down in the Antarctic, coasting somewhere along the edge of the polar continent. 1 had a telephone call today from Lady Wilkins, wife of r’ir Hubert Wilkins. Sir Hubert went to the Antarctic with his friend Lincoln, Ellsworth, to organize the expedition - and he remained in. charge of the ship when Ellsworth made his luck­ less flight over the polar continent. Luckless, indeed, it seems, bee au ss aft er so '<nany week s of silence 1 i111 e ho pe c an be cherished "or the famous explorer and his pilot. r-ir Hubert Wilkins is now in charge of the attempts to rescue, '"his is indicated by fragmentary wireless reports coming from the White Gilences of the South Polar World, Well Lady Wilkins told me today that she hasn'^ oeen a b 1 e to g e t in t o c o mmu n icat i o n w ith he r hush ad n for so m e t ime. Hitherto, on all his expeditions, she has succeeded in keeping u> 4 j -■■■■in................ WILK XI* S - 2 in touch wi1 11 nim by wireless. But now, since El 1 sworth has been o st, there has been silence. So she asked me to make a try tonight. She told me that Sir .Hubert,, an. old ■friend of mine, always listens in to this broadcast ^o set his news of the world. So she hopes he nmy hear this message. She wants me to ‘tell her husband that she has a child now. That % his Christmas present. She has adopted a six year old youngster. And she wants me to wish Sir Hubert a Merry Christmas. So Sir Hubert Wilkins in the Antarctic, if by any chance this message gets to you -* I want to tell you for your wife that you have a little adopted daughter waiting to pull that famous beard of yours when you get back, berry Christmas Sir Rubert, and f o al1 of you, '0 LG JIG UI^TL 70*JGHRCW.