L • T. - SUNOCO - JULY 15, 1*937 THUR3. JAPAN There’s important foreign news tonight - important to the whole world. For instance a report comes from Tientsin tnat an armistice agreement has been negotiated between the Chinese and Japanese - an understanding that stops all the present fighting. But on the Chinese side - this is denied.* Reports of artillery fire near Peiping, and a Japanese attack on a village, said to have been beaten back, with more mention of that ancient Chinese weapon - the sword the broad, heavy Chinese blade. Japanese cavalry charged and were met by a devastating fire of Chinese infantry. Then the fighters with the waving blades closed in. They are called the Big Swords Corps, and they cut up the Japanese horsemen. All of which doesn*t sound so plausible, Chinese successes against the military machine of Janan, and those triumphs U£M - 2 of flashing blades against the modern technique of war. I was talking today to Upton Close, who is a special­ ist on Far Eastern affairs- and he maintains the vital thing is the railroad, that line running from Peiping down to the seaport of Tientsin. By seizing vital railroad junctions, the Japanese can paralyze the movements of the Chinese forces. So the Japanese offensive consists of mobile parties moving along the ralway and the nearby roads - no battle-line. That’s why it sounds so confused. Upton Close tells me the Chinese for some time have been expecting a large scale advance to cut off from the rest of China a}l the territory north of the Yellow River. The plan to be - to bombine all this vast region with the Puppet State of Manchukuo, and to restore the Manchu Emperor Kang-Teh to the Dragon Throne in Peiping. That would turn a great part of China into a huge 3 puppet 3tita rolled by Japan. 3ach may be the meaning .. C tiiis newest slash And such aay be the imposing significanoe of the word v/e have from Tokyo this evening. It * a the big headline of tne day. Trie Emperor Hirohito has ordered the entire Japanese empire to stand prepared for war. Three million reservists have received the command to be ready for mobilisation, And the Twelfth Division has been ordered — —^*<4. yjp— from Japan to China -^may already be on Chinese soil. This ev er. in g all of J a pan is in readiness for am -ed confl i c t, and troops are pouring in to reenforce the Japanese now fighting the Chinese. The Emperor Hirohito has given his Generals the command to bring the Chinese to terns at once. And these terms are drastic* A peace agreement must be made by the local provincial authorities in ¥orth China and not by the Central IT an k in 0 Govemment. Japan insists on dealing with the provinces and not with China as a whole. Tna’* of course, wc; Id gravely weaken C hi -an g-Kai - 3h ek1 a Tanking regime, atid ranking insists it will never yield to any such local .......... .. _ -- ssttlejierit. Tne Ja^ana se d & ■:&>■? the Chinese ri orthem j f fio T-i-ill at mi t that their soldiers were to blame for tue outbreak of fighting* They are to apologize and make a:ueo 5 o - o Japan $ 3to p a.,ti-Japan0 se agitat ion t and j0 in with the forces of Tokyo in opposing Coiamunism. Such are the s Japanese demands, as the I el aid Empire stand at arms today. eurc - b The European tangle takes a new turn,t©4«^ Hitherto, the line-up with reference to Spain has been -- Great Britain and France on one side, and Germany and Italy on the other. The understanding between London and Paris has been a constant feature of the situation. But, today there seems to be a break in the Franco-British entente, London and Paris at odds. This follows that New British non-intervention plan, about which we've been hearing for days. The Non-Intervention Committee, at a stalemate, voted to have His Majesty,s government work out a compromise pronosal. This, it now turns out, includes a limited recognition of belligerent rights for General Franco, Franco's regime no longer to be regarded as mere rebels - they to be granted the rights of a power fighting a war. That's what London suggests, in an effort to reestablish the neutral patrol around Spain and keep the Civil War from spreading. Berlin and Rome have not replied formally to London, kk but the German and Italian governments are said to regard the British proposal favorably. Belligerent rights for Branco suits them. It's France that's balking. Officials in Paris are quoted as saying "No," they don't like it. France EUROPE - 2 does not want to recognize Franco as anything more than a Rebel against the legitimate government of ^ain. So that gives us a new one in the Spanish puzzle - Berlin and i^ome nodding to London in friendly agreement, with France shaking its head and frowning across the Channel. Well, France is in a strong position with regard to Srain. I have a new understanding of that in a letter here, which shows how Englishmen of influence are thinking. Lord Beaverbrook, the OirealP British publisher, writes me w-fctfe'sn®©- ^ A A comments^sl^the European tangle, One paragraph of his letter reads like this: MThe Germans and Italians in Spain," writes the British press Lord, "are counting on the disorganization of the French, and the demoralization of that nation1 s finances. The French will be tried and tested to the limit of their endurance. But, he continues "if .the French decide to strike out in defense of the Spanish government, Franco’s day ix is over, v'/hy? Because the Germans and Italians dare not fight on Spanish soil with their own lines of communication a thousand or more miles in length. The French would meet these foreigners EUROPE ^ 3 on Spanish soil with a base only a few miles away across the border, offering a safe retreat at any time. - 'xX--"vr -xrW. j "Indeed," h* concludes^ "it is certain French could crush the German and Italian forces Such is the sharply reasoned belief of dominant figures of.&sifefcKfe journalism. A that the in Spain." one of the ROBINSON Yesterday we had the feeling of dark political drama in the death of Senator Robinson of Arkansas. Today there*s a deepening of that drains> an increasing bitterness. Yesterday, -'V-P<3Lo£t Q_ -S the enemies of court plan were quick to say that Joe Robinson had fallen a victim of a New Deal determination was blamed on the to change thHis death was President's court plan for which he fought to exhaustionj CL Yes, that was a bitter charge to hurl at the .Thite House - a sign of the hostility and the anger which the project to enlarge the Court has aroused. Today we hear of the //hite House reaction - and it's just as bitter. The president blames the death of Senator Robinson on the Democratic opponents of the Bill, that Democratic opposition which made Joe Robinson's fight such a hard one. The President is said to plan retaliation - they say he intends to take reprisals against the Democrats in opposition, and destroy their political careers. Today there was a sound of reorisal in the declaration made by Democratic Governor Townsend of Indiana coming out of the White House after a conference with the President, he spoke 01 Democratic senator ROBINSON - 8 Van Nuys, a court-change opponent. The Governor declared pCt the Senator had_no chance of being renominated. Each side accuses the other of the death of one of the well beloved figures in American politics. This is the climax of the rage and wrath provided by the Supreme Court % * issue. One report is that President Roosevelt is more determined than ever to have his way. The passing of Joe Bobinson has only hardened his will. But this evening therel's a rumor in the National Capital that the President will with­ drew his hand and let Congress have its way about the Court change^ This report follows a White House conference today in which four Democratic Senators talked things over with the President. They*re nev,' men, First Year Senators - Brown of iiichigan, Johnson of Coloredo, Gillette of Iowa and Andrews of Florida. They emerged from the White House with the statement that they’ve been talking over the Court question with the president - but that’s all they would say, wouldn’t tell whether they spoke in ftvor of the bill or against it. But the report is - against. It is said that these four ROBINSON - 2 First-Erm Senators advised the President strongly to drop the Idea of enlarging the Court, and to let the hill slide away into oblivion. Right now the destiny of that savagely debated Court proposal is veiled in doubt. The Senate has dropped all work for a while, out of respect for Joe Robinson. But, what will happen when they go into session again? White House opponents are saying that the doom of the Supreme Court bill has been sounded, and some administration supporters concede the same thing. There*s Senator J. Ham Lewis of Illinois, an Adminis­ tration Floor Leader. The gentleman with the pink-whiskers- now-grown-gray expressed himself in courtly, flowerj: terms:- **1 think that the President may feel It a propitious time to withdraw the bill.” says Senator Jim Ham. And then he added;- nIt might be recommitted to the judiciary committee for further study and no doubt a mausoleum will be created to it there.n ROBINoON -4 The funeral ceramony for Senator Robinson will be solemnized tomorrow in the Senate Chamber. It will be an impressive ritual of grief. Attending will be the President and the Cabinet, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the diplomatic corps, and the Supreme Court, les, the Supreme Court— at the funeral of Senator Robinson. And he died lead­ ing the fight to change that high tribunal. His own life-long ambition was to become a Supreme Court Justice. It was said that the President would soon appoint him. A life ambition fulfilled. And Joe Robinson1 s lasy days were embittered by accusation and innuendo that he was leading the President1s fight against the Court, so that he would get his own appointment as a Justice. Somber word from Sulliv m County, Indiana, but not a a b a? a s first r e p o r t ed . It was 3c.qd th at T&, n e r y were trapped by an explosion in the B^ker Coal LCint .«m4 V\-. the number seems to be.^SSRSjv twenty thirty. It was A A A reported that four bodies have hejex been brought out but now we learn that these nen are alive -- though badly turn o' . Some twenty more are still trapped in the mine, their fate uncertain, as frantic rescue work tries to save them T>iere ? y^fa.-nili ar echo in the iScottaoaro I case today'-- guilty, of the nine original negroes^ eight are being trier once ^ore. one has already been tried# That happened aome .vhilc aqpta. ago. Just Me was found guilty and conv icted , —the -€iho Qighfe—w%a and iuut QTmrrtmt*&+‘ Today the first of the remaining eight was judge-', and the verdict was that same word -- guilty^ This is the ninth time Clarence,IT orris ^axcsgcis has been tried. In two of the previous trials he was sentenced to death, ^his case reversed by the United States Supreme Court. Today’s conviction automatically carries the sentence ^Tso of death, that long-drawn out Scottsboro Case continues to come always to the same result CRIMK Tomght in the news there are a couple of lively variations on the old theme that ~~ crime doesn’t pay. it did pay nine times for two crooks, who made a specialty of robbing a couple of ladies named Margaret Smith and Frances Blackman, aged sixty and thirty-five respectively. Time and again in the past six months, they held up up the apartment of the two V-CX-Zs*. J women, who moved four times, trying to escape the thieves,- t3it«4«E=*ttC±3n They v/ere robbed on nine, separate occasions for a total of fifteen hundred dollars'. But the crooks tried it once too often - the tenth time. The police were waiting for them and they walked into the trap'. Tonight are in a New York jail. The second case is proof of all the old dth truths about the terror of a guilty conscience. Burglars robbed a clothing store and packed the loot-in an automobile. There was an alarm, end they scattered. The car with the swag was driven off by one of the mob, a tv/enty-eight par year old negro. He made a clean getaway. He was pursued by nothing save his own terror. He drove in wild flight, speeding up sixtfexs CRIME - 2 Sixth Avenue. He thought ell the police cars in the world were after him, but there was nothing on his trail except fear, in his crazy speeding he sideswiped a taxicab, and his car bounced off and tangled with an "El" pillar. The negro jumped out "Mu and took it on the run. Ss%-=K9w the police wsca after him, ^' /\ A attracted by the crash. They caught him.Snd when they went back to the wrecked car, the cons found to their astonishment that it was crammed with the loot of the robbery. That was the first suspicion they had. MONSTER Today I got out some books and looked up the subject of — Sea Serpents, Not that I^e taken a sudden academic fancy to wird monsters of the deep - the thing happens to be in the news. A dispatch in this case which tells us that Newport, Arkansas, is going right ahead with its sea serpent hunt. They’re busy constructing a giant net of rope, forty feet long and sixteen feet wide - with which to snare the monster* Negro plantation workers refuse to go near the place where the Leviathan was last seen: a deep water bend of the White River, a place some sixty feet deep. At New port there is little doubt about the sea serpent. Plenty of the Ozark folk clai n to have seen it, headed by no less an authority than Captain Jack Carver, Bkipper of a United Stages River boat. H© tells how the monster blew up a stream of bubbles alongside his launch. Some experts believe the critter is a Manatee, or as it is usualled called "the sea cow", a hugh sea mammal which flourishes in the Gulf of Mexico, ^o some people believe that MONSTER Today I got out some books and looked up the subject of - Sea Serpents. Not that I*ve taken a sudden academic fancy to wird monsters of the deep - the thing happens to be in the news. A dispatch in this case which tells us that Newport, Arkansas, is going right ahead with its sea serpent hunt. They* re busy constructing a giant net of rope, forty feet long and sixteen feet wide - with which to snare the monster. Negro plantation workers refuse to go near the place where the Leviathan was last seen: a deep water bend of the White River, a place some sixty feet deep. At New port there is little doubt about the sea serpent. Plenty of the Ozark folk claim to have seen it, headed by no less an authority than Captain Jack Carver, Skipper of a United States River boat. H© teHs how the monster blew up a stream of bubbles alongside his launch. Some experts believe the critter is a Manatee, or as it is usualled called "the sea cow", a hugh sea mammal which flourishes in the Gulf of Mexico, some people believe that MONSTER - 2 a Manatee may have wandered up stream from the Gulf to the White River - a trip of several hundred mi^es. Sea serpents are an old superstition with an amazing lot of evidence in their favor. In Scotland, the braw folk of the heather are still convinced of the existence of the loch ness monster. The French can prove that they really had a sea serpent or at leist a weird Leviathan. It drifted on to the beach near Cherbourg ten years ago, and created an immense sensation. A scientist, and Ichthyologist, hurried to the scene, and he identified the giant as a rare, almost unknown species - some­ thing in between a Whale and a porpoise. bo there* s some background of sea serpent lore, as ]|he boys down In Arkansas are out right now trying to catch the Leviathan at that bend in the River down in Arkansas as I say SO LONG UNTIL TOMORROW HQHSTBR - £ a Manatee may have wandered up stream from the Gulf to the White River - a trip of several hundred mijes. Bea serpents are an old superstition with an amazing lot of evidence in thetr favor. In Scotland, the braw folk of the heather are still convinced of the existance of the loch ness monster. The French can prove that they really had a sea serpent or at leist a weird Leviathan. It drifted on to the beach near Cherbourg ten years ago, and created an immense sensation. A scientist, and Ichthyologist, hurried to the scene, and he identified the giant as a rare, almost unknown species - some­ thing in between a Whale and a porpoise. Bo there1 s some background of sea serpent lore, as $he boys down in Arkansas are out right now trying to catch the Leviathan at that bend in the River down in Arkansas as I say BO LOMG UNTIL TOMORROW.