L,Tf_ - SU im QCQ, T.^DNEmAY, :vARCH 19. 19A1. GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: Another British victory in Ethiopia! The coiiiiiiand of the Ar^y of the Nile reports that imperial troops have struck north with lightning speed from Italian Somaliland and captured Jigjiga. That brings the Britons almost within striking distance of the railroad from Djibouti to Add\s Ababa. Once they have cut that line, and they are now only seventy miles aWay, it will be all up with the Italian defense of Etniopia# jxg^xga actually was captured on St.Patrick*s Day. The defenders were taken by surprise. There were some forty thousand Italian troops in that area, but they were digging in to protect themselves against an attack from a different direction, from British Somaliland. Instead -4tot, the assault came from the south. And the speed with which the British moved over that desei desert and csrtl7 arid ^ /V difficult territory, her* A hi At - 2 mountains, uas quite sensational. Then hereTs a report from Cairo, covering the fighting in -ritrea. The British there are capturing one by one all the important positions south of Keren, the Italian fortress which protects Asmara, the capital of Eyitrea. Theytre- fighting there tiii-dbattle began two days ago, and we may A learn at any moment that the defense of Keren has collapsed and that Asmara is in British hands. Altogether, a dozen different British columns are away at Mussolini's African empire, which is defended A by an army under a member of the royal House of Savoy, the Duite of Aosta, who is Mussolini's Generalissimo in East Africa. TURKEY FOLLOW LEAD And herefs a significant bit from a diplomatic front: Turkish Foreign Minister Sara^oglu is in Egypt, conferring with His Majesty^ Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. Ve won!t know until tomorrow what it!s ill about, but it happens at an interesting time gince it follows close upon the heels of at Cotn E^enfs conferences with representatives of Iraq on the southern S border of Turkey. Then herefs another dispatch from Istanbul. The Turkish Government has prolonged the period of martial law in the districts bordering on the Dardanelles. A former decree proclaimed martial law to expire today. But now the period is extended for another three months. JUGOSLAVIA FOLLQyf ^ut here!s a blow that British diplomats have been anticipating for some time. Hitler has Jugoslavia on the i^azi mination of long and strenuous weeks of negot ^ting. The news leaked out first from Nazi sources in Budap st, aut only a little more than an hour ago it was confirmed a^the capiyal of Jugoslavia. ThereJs - a-triny— quite as bad a shock to the British as it might be, in that Hitler does not get a ticket for his is troop^ int« Jugoslavia. Also, he doesn’t get any military help from the Jugoslavs. \That much is good news both for the British and the - Greeks. It had been feared that Hitler might get Jugoslavia lock, stockj and barrel, Just as he did Bulgaria. would have given iim azxx an easy highway into Greece down the valley of the Vardar Hiver. In that way he could have cut in on the flank of the Greek and British troops defending Salohika. • 4 / 0n the other hand, the Jugoslav government agrees" to suppress all influence opposed to the Axis powers throughout the c ou nt ry^ eus-we il -a-e -hos-e i4^al ^tra in a. And ''iio 'l7l° Jugoslavs JUGOSLAVIA FOLLOV TURKKV _ 2 get in return? Guarantees from Germany, Italy and Japan, that Jugoslav territory will not be violated. f The treaty between Jugoslavia and the Axis powers is to be signed in 1k Berlin on March Twenty-Sixth, the day when Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka is expected to arrive in the Naai capital. NORWAY Every so often the news is brought to us more clearly by newsreel pictures than by the written word flashed across the wires. This I observed today at Movietone Newsreel, in the case of some pictures just by clipper glaim. — pictures of A. the British raid on T.nfrit.^rr A A archipelago off the coast of Norway. Remember how, a couple of weeks ago, a daring party of British made a landing on that German-controlled bit of land? They destroyed Nazi supplies, burned huge tanks of oil, and took back with them boatloads of Norwegians. Some of these were Norsemen eager to fight against the enemy of their country. A few were Xxxx(Quislings, Norwegian sympathizers with the Germans. That was the story then, and now, it*s told all over again in far more vivid style. actual In the Movietone Newsreel just A- U^e scenes of the raid on the island, pictures filmed while the daring British party was taking possession, and tne flames ^^^vthey touch off huge Nazi oil tanks- An interesting example of how one medium of news supplements another. newsreel ictures completing the story flashed by the news dispatches. IVAN little item from Moscow a® a masterpiece A of unconscious humor. Soviet Russia wants a coat of whitewash for the character of the Czar Ivan the Terrible. To-h-i-storians tt ■ j-»h<u ^“tot^this is urged in all seriousness in the official Soviet newspaper ISVESTIA, A History has lied about Ivan, says ISVESTIA. His cruelty was merely char act ei-istic of the age in which he lived. People in England and France were probably Just as cruel but they never got written VK^IZ^ c TYO-- a ^ « up the way Ivan did. ThatTs the^tussxai* point of view. On the other hand, ISVESTIA claims that historic documents found in Moscow 'J show Ivan was a great statesman, a skillful diplomat, and a creative contributor to the military art I find in one xE&trfiRXK work of reference the statement that in the City of Novgorod ilone, Ivan killed sixty thousand people in six weeks. That makes him only a piker, as Dictator Stalin is credited with having done his killings not bv the myriads, but by the millions. It has been reliably re ported that in one year alone more than two million people perished in one Soviet province by starvation and by execution. An unexpected compliment for Sidney Hillman, Associate Director of the Office of Production Management. He w & b denounced by a Communist magazine in Moscow. The Communist Internationale, a monthly organ of the Commintern, published a long article about Hillman. It, described him as an agent of the American bourgeoisie, an one my of th< wopkijig^c±zc!gy, an enemy of the Communist Party, and a ferocious enemy of the Soviet. Union. All of which is more calculated to make people over here suspect that Hillman must be HILjj if thatfs the way hefs rated in Moscow. DIES One particular strike in California - and a most serious one - was deliberately promoted by a Communist. It!s a striKe in a die^casting factory, and the effect of it is not only to tie up worK at that plant but in all the airplane plants on the Vest coast, ^or that particular Company is the sole manufacturer of a product which is an essential part of aircraft. The strike, therefore, is cart of a Communist sabotage plot. At any rate such was the charge made on the floor of the house of Representatives today by Congressman Martin Dies. That strike, he said, is being led by a fellow named Kenneth Eggert. And a few weeks ago, according to Dies, the Communist Party released Eggert from his duties in Toledo and sent him to California for the express purpose of sabotaging our national defense. Dies then read from the DAILY WORKER and other Communist Party organs in America - he read extracts indicating that this man Eggert is not only a Communist t b Party member but a Red organizer. And the Congressman pointed out (rut it's a hard and fast Communist rule that, members are not allowed j to move from one part of the country to another without the express permission of the Party. Eggert appeared in California as a DIES - 2 representative of the National Association of Die Casting Workers, a C*I.0« organization. And Dies maintains that the labor union is merely a cover for Eggert*s Communist activity. ~AilD v.e have been expecting for several days. President Ro.,se\e na.s established a National Defense Mediation Board. I‘ consists of eleven members, and their Job is to settle labor disrutes in plants turning out materials for national defense, at tne head of that eleven-man board, Mr. Roosevelt appointed. not Barney naruch, as predicted, but Clarence Dykstra, President of the University of Wisconsin and Director of Selective Service. it is to represent the public along with three other members. Labor interests will be represented by four members and employers by three men including Falter Teagle, former President of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. ST. LAWRENCE Today some news tame first from Canada: Prime Minister Mackenzie Kiri’ and tne united States Minister to Canada have signed the St. Lawrence Power Agreement. That*s all the dispatch from Ottowa said. The explanation from Viashington is that aggrement signed in Ottowa calls for the spending of two hundred and sixty-six millions on a power project in the International Rapids of the St. Lawrence River. At the same time the State Department published notes that had been exchanged between Mackenzie King and President Roosevelt. In all those notes it was eranhatically and repeatedly stated that this worK was part of the Defense Program in accord with the defense agreement between the United States and Canada and also in consonance witn the Program of Aid to Britain. One message from Mr. Roosevelt to Ottowa laid great emphasis on the opinion that it was a matter of vital necessity to get busy on that project at the \ . I ST. LAWRENCE - 2 earliest possible moment since it is the policy of the United States to supply Great Britain and her Allies with material aid to enable them to bring the war to a successful termination. Mr. Roosevelt also feels that the St. Lawrence Project will strengthen our own defenses. It ought to be finished by Nineteen Forty-Five. Engineers have done preliminary work in those International Rapids and have made T such progress that construction can begin in the Spring. Mr. Roosevelt wrote further while our countries must put forth the A .1 maximum immediate defense effort we must also prepare for the possibility of a prolonged emergency which will call upon the industries on both sides of the border. Therefore the combination of the advantages offered by the St. Lawrence Project makes it emphatic that we undertake it immediately. It is implied^but it isn't definitely stated that this project will include a seaway. As tills is an agreement and not a treaty, it does not have to be ratified by bbe Senate. Ho.ever, tbe President has to go to Congress to get the -oney for 0„cle S..’. there of the eapenses. For that all he needs is a majority vote of both the House and ihe Spnate. If it had been a treaty, he would have had to have a two-thirds majority of the Senate. rjvITIJr’.H AID Sere^B 'S bulletin from Washington. The Hv^se of Representatives passed the seven billion dollar appropriation for aid to the British, passed it overwhelmingly. There were determined efforts to amend it, but they all failed. One of them proposed that the sum should be cut from seven to five billions. That was voted down by a hundred and sixty-two to sixty-three. Tomorrow a sub-committee of the Senate will start hearings on that appropriation, and debate will begin early ne>t week. Majority Leader Senator Barkley expects to get it passed after two or three days. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox said that he had already made plans that the first help to be turned out for Britain would be small, fast craft, mosquito boats, submarine chasers, fast motor boats and yachts. MVY More money for our two-ocean Navy. Tne Spnate Committee on Appropriations approved a bill allotting three billions, four hundred and fifteen millions odd for that purpose. Among other items. Uncle Sam will build six fast battle cruisers. Thatfs a type of men-o-war that hitherto we haven't gone in for much in our Navy, though the British have had them for a long while. These are magnificent spectacular craft, carrying heavy, hard-hitting guns and armour, but almost as fast as a destroyer. Epch one of these costs around forty-three millions, and they’ll be used for sea raiders. And of that three and a half billions, <*v\ five hundred and fifty-eight millions will be spent^for-msfctns. some of our older types of vesseis^up-to-date to meet the FOLLOW And here’s a bit of news about the Navy that s^':nds esignificant. All our warships are bein^.. repainted a battle gray. Until recently, they were all of a light color which made them gleam in the sunlight, it. a brave show VVO"^. for naval reviews but tsn^t so good for warfare. As each one 4 A of our men-o-war goes into drydock for overhauling, the dark color gray is painted on it. It’s the same shade of gray as that used by the British Navy. ru^TS In many parts of the country there*s such a dearth of housing that rents are going up like skyrockets, fhsrtt* (Jne of tne inevitable fruits of the defense program. The National Delense Commission has issued a report on the subject and Commissioner Sarriet Elliott, in charge of protecting consumers, announces that it may be necessary for state legislatures to pass laws putting a ceiling on rents. This may have to be done to protect the workers^an^ others also. Of course the best way to keep rents down is to build more houses. But that takes time and meanwhile the situation is critical in some places. alURDEF: Much excitement in a New Xork courtroom. Two men were on trial, one of them bearing the name "Happy" Maione^ The other being Frank Abandando. They’re accused of belonging to tl^tigang of wholesale cut-throats known in the hadlines as Murder Incorporated. "Happy" Maione was made quite unhappy by what the star witness of the State was telling the court. That star witness used to be "Happy’s " pal, but he wasn’t behaving like a pal today^ the prisoner thought. So one P0111^ in the proceedings screamed,' oub-tti®-wordS4- "You lip " wHrh whlcti h?* hurled a heavy glass of water at the witness. ii c , rr v»f • t?@ ducked and the glass hit the judge's bench but fortunately did * * n©t'^do':-'SJiy harm to the judge. His Honor sat tnere quite unperturbed, merely rapping tots for order, the whol^ courtroom was in an uproar. Defense attorneys were yelling at their client to shut up. Peouty sheriffs pounced upon the prisoner who was trying to get at the witness, and spectators were making a rush for the door. After the hubbub had somewhat subsided the defense lawyers attempted to seize upon the fine hour to ask for a mistrial. They declared that that exhibition of temper must be considered prejudicial to the defense. To which the judge replied calmly, "Motion * denied. f ^---------------------