U. jf f&j i j&y STRIKE The strike trouble in Canada t^k^l^ly turn today, with a vigorous argument between Premier Hepburn of* the Province of* Ontario and Ian MacKenzie, Minister of National Defense of the Dominion. The Premier and the Minister / That' s the latest in the Canadian extension of our own strike epidemic - labor trouble* beyond the border. The Dominion version has been vivacious from the start - ever since the General Motors strike in the U.S.A. reached northward to the General Motors planfat Oshawa, Ontario. First, it was Premier Hepburn versus John Lewis and the C.I.O. - the Premier denouncing the American labor organization with scathing words. Then it was Premier Hepburn versus two members of his own Cabinet, who did not agree with his anti-Union policy. One of them, his Labor Minister, said hefd rather march^j the workers than ride with General Motorstwo dissenting members got out, disrupting the Ontario Cabinet.^Today's ructions, Hepburn versus Mackenzie, cap the climax. The Premier announced that he had conferred with the Minister of Defense, and tbs-t the Minister had promised him the STRIKE - 2 full support of the Dominion In battling the strike at Oshawa. He1! have the unlimited backing of the Canadian government In squelching C.T.O. John Lewis and Communism. He would have the Canadian army, regiment upon regiment, if need be. That was the Hepburn pronunciamento, and it sounded most formidable - until Minister of Defense MacKenzie denied it. He declared today that he had made no such promise of military aid to the Premier. "Naturally,” says he, "I did not give him assurance of assistance, as that would be a matter of policy for the whole government to decide vvh en Hepburn heard this denial, he promptly denounced the minister of Defense and the Dominion government. "Vaccillating," f1 the government of Ganada I ** * is Aolng* » Weak and wobbly^^^Moreover, he came out v/ith the demand - "Take the mo unties out of Toronto." Last week the - -ffij jp @ Premier asked for the mounties, and got them - a detacnraent^Si t3»* Toronto Armory ready to dash to the scene if there should be any trouble at Oshawa. Now he wants them to go, demands that they be removed. He declared that from now on. Ontario could handle STRIKE - S its own strike troubles, without any aid from the Dominion government. It's an interesting international phenonenon, when a strike epidemic in the United States moves across the border and causes so much political commotion in Canada* Labor trouble is no respector of frontiers, runs wild, runs International. Canada and the United States jnas close together, with intimate /v. A and complex ties. That*s illustrated ^ when the rumpus in our own automobile industry reaches into Canada and today brings about a war of words between tofiE Ontario On our own labor front - we find the maritime strike spreading in !New York. The PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, which was stopped from sailing yesterday, was still tied up today. The trouble has spread to other ships of the International Mercantile Marine - their crews going on sit-down strikes today. The Union leaders threaten to tie up every vessel operated by the CORONATION News about the coronation should have a noble and dignified air, suggestive of stately ceremony and royal pageant. I’m afraid, however, that word from London this evening hardly lives up to those exalted specifications. It- tells us^thieves, A robbers and pickpockets. The central figure in this distressing piece of news is quite a beguiling personality. He’s Theodore Benjamin Hoste, a graduate of Cambridg^and a war hero. Also - the king-of-the- railway-station-sneak thieves. He’s tb» suave, cultivated alumnus of Cambridge who has just been re^ased from the A Pentonville Jail, after serving a year’s sentence for stealing suitcases to the value of four hundred pounds. That’s two thousand dollars - and a lot of suit cases. The black sheep Cambridge man declares that he has reformed. He has been inspired by the coronation spirit. So he has informed the police of the scheming and plotting that went on in the jail where he was confined. Short term prisoners about to be released were laying plans for^the London underworld to celebrate the coronation In a big way. One contingent mapped CORONATION - 2 out tactics for picking pockets in the vast crowds along the route of the royal procession. Another cohort formulated strategies lor robbing houses while everybody in London v/6uld be out to see Their Majesties go by. A third legion of the crooks arranged to act the part of guides for Jolly friends, cr dancing partners for the ladies. And then they'a loot them, plunder them - visitors - especially Americans. So the police are taking elaborate precautions to make sure that the crowning of George VI doesn!t become a carnival for thieves. Theyfre taking precautions likewise in grim Dartmoor Prison. That's England's most feared ana forbidding jail - bleak and harsh Dartmoor. "The granite jug," they call it. Discipline is being made stricter. Ordinarily, the only weapons resorted to there are clubs, but a report tells of the Dartmoor guards holding rifle practice; the target a dummy figure repre­ senting a convict. This too in preparation for the coronation. The word is that the Dartmoor authorities have discov- ereo a convict plot to stage a desperate outbreak on coronation day - a v/ild attempt at wholesale escape. CORONATION - 3 I Some time ago the Home Secretary told Parlimeat that ° | Ris Majesty1 s goveminent had decided not to decree a coronation amnesty. It’s an ancient custom of European courts to set if thousands of prisoners free in honor of great royal events. But nothing like that will happen when George the Sixth is crowned, ^o declared Sir John Simon. When word of this got to Dartmoor, the convicts were savagely disappointed. All the more so, because of news from I Italy. England and Italy seem to be running at cross purposes j in strange ways these days, even at Dartmoor. The convicts there heard how several weeks ago Mussilini decreed an amnesty in hon­ or of the birth of a son to the Italian Crown Prince, - thous­ ands of prisoners turned loose. That embittered the convicts in the Granite Jug all the more - their government doing nothing for them on the King's Coronation. They whispered and muttered among themselves, fhey figured that on England's gala day, vigilance vill be relaxed, a mirthful, carefree spirit - even among the guards of frowning 1 Dartmoor. they planned their outbreak. They?d stage their protest with wild violence - and even escape. All Hades to break loose in the granite jug n coronation nav. _______ h EVEREST There’s to be a new attempt to climb Mt. Everest, and we hear a name that’s mighty familiar in southern Asia - Rut- tleage. It was he, Hugh Ruttledge, who figured in two previous attempts, which did not succeed. Last year he tried it with two companions, but the summit of Everest and its twenty—nine thousand feet was not to be vanquished. Hugh Ruttledge is a man of adventure - adventure and solitude. Once he ran a farm on a wild island off the coast of Scotland. He had to walk nine miles to post a letter, which might be picked up by an infrequent boat. He was a magistrate in India, serving among the most isolated tribes, ^or the past several years, he has lived at sea, on a boat - he and his wife navigating lonely waters. Now, he’ll have another trial at the topmost pinnacle of Everest, loneliest place on earth. This new attempt, sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society of London, is all set, equipped with a permit from the high lamas at Lhasa. The British Commission Lhasa arranged it. Got ib on Tibet’s New Year’s Lay — as a New Year present. There was. however, a hitch in the ritual - and it looked for a nervous EVEREST - 2 moment as if the permit might be refused. The great notables arrived, one after another, in the order of precedence. But Tibetan precedence is the opposite of ours. The less important ones come first. The greatest dignitary comes last, as a sort of climax. The Lama who wasnext to the last failed to appear. They v/aited for hours. It looked as if the late comer had balked, and was refusing his consent to the Mt. Everest plan. That had everybody on pins and needles. Finally, a procession appeared in the distance, approaching with a stately tread. It was the missing Lama. Did he apologize for being late? Not at all. He said he was on time, on the tick of the minute, and could prove it, - by the clock. It turned out that some weeks before, the British had presented him with Quite a treasure, an aleirrr; cloc>.., which he regarded as the ultimate measurement of time, the standard and authority. That shiny time-piece, however, had been run­ ning slow. In several weeks it had lost about three hours. - __ ^ EVEREST - 3 So, "that’s why the Lama was latia, and almost spiked the Mt. Everest expedition. A slow clock can make trouble at Tibet. But the clocks in this studio are never slow. SPAIN -sJk-. During the last few months Spain has provided the world with many a shock of startled bewilderment, but I don*t know more astonishing than the novel idea which flashes today* It’s the suggestion of a compromise between the rebels and the jringers though there’s nothing so amazing about that* The argument is that the Spanish Ciyil War has reached the ^talemate stage, neither side able to win decisively* That too seems reasonable enough* So the suggestion is that the leaders on both sides step out -- both General Franco and Premier Caballero of the Valencia Government** And that sounds fair enough in a compromise idea* The plan is for the government then to be token over by a military dictatorship consisting of non-political generals, leaders who are not believers^either Red or Fascist ideas* So far, there’s nothing particularly startling in all this* 'T’he amazement comes when we hear of the general who is proposed as the head of the compromise military government, the general who under the new scheme would become dictator of Spain His name - MlaJ^ - that same general Uiaja who Is in conmand SPAIN #£ ’■v . 9 of the defense of Madrid, fighting a battle of desperate blood- shed ^i^dst the Rebels* That does seem like a strange com­ promise to offer to the rebels — make the enemy commander the big boss of everything* Yet, the word is given out in London with some precise details. They say the plan has been suggested to both sides, and both sides consider it favourably -- including the rebels. The logic in the whole business lies in the declara­ tion — that the rebels respect Miaja, .regard him favourably — as soldier to soldier. The necessary inference from all this is -- that General Mlaja is merely a military man, not a believer in red theories and Left Wing pi politics — merely a soldier fighting for the government that employs him* His personality seems to be that way — rough, blunt, strong — a simple and direct man of action. He's the son of a metal worker of Northern Spain. He joined the aray as a cadet, aerred for eighteen years In Morocco, rising slowly in rank. The outbreak of the Civil SPAIN #5 war found him a general, and in the crisis he was made Minister of T,,ar. That job lasted for only a few hours* Since then heTs been serving as a straight-away fighting man* Today hefs the central figure In this astonishing report. I wonder how the communists and anarchists on his own side will take It? A mood of compromise was felt also in London*s non­ intervention committee* An#1 Mussolini *3 man, Grandi, made a large conciliatory gesture* He said, yes, weTll consider a scheme for withdrawing the foreign volunteers out of Spain, including the Italians. That's the thing Mussolini i for weeks has been refusing to do* Ever since the defeat of the Italian contingent northeast of Madrid, the Roman Duce has refused to consider any Idea of taking his battalions out of Spain* Today that stand is reversed* Rome agrees to talk business. To this the Sax* Soviets make a concession. The Russian delegate said that Moscow would refrain from sending a committee S 1 to Spain to investigate the Italian help to Franco. I BASEBALL Today we have a statement by a mighty man, one of the heroes of the past - the great Honus Wagner. Today, old Bonus is an executive, not in the Big Leagues, but in sand lot baseball He presides over the Semi-pro Baseball Congress, with the title of -— Commissinner. loday he tells us there are more participating players in baseball than in any other sport; school and college football and basketball included. And Honus gives us figures. In the semi-pro league, twenty-five thousand sand lot teams complete every summer, with four hundred thousand players. So says he - baseball Is king. And that's just what you'd expect old Honus Wagner to say - that mighty shortstop of yesteryear. Yes, the baseball season is at hand, and at Watertwon, Wisconsin "Turkey" Gehrke got out of bed. "Turkey" is renowned in the northern woods as the man who stays in bedall winter and goes to baseball games all summer. His only two interests life are — the mattress and the diamond, "Turkey" says he can't stand the cold weather - it gives him a misery in his stomach. In winter he must keep warm under blankets - so he has spent tne last twenty-five winters in bed. Last fall he climbed in. Qince then ^resident BASEBALL - 2 ROOSEVELT has been Inaugurated and King Edward has abdicated — while "Turkey11 Gehrke was in bed. Now warm sunshine has come upon theland, and the crack of the ball against the bat resounds on the diamond. So today "Turkey11 Gehrke, the human hibernator, rejoined his cronies. What did he talk about? He says the important thing this year is what the Chi cage Cubs are going to do. "Turkey11 thinks they111 win the pennant, if their pitching doesn’t slump. The hibernator is a fan for the Cubs - because what can hibernate better than a bear? I can sometimes and ; SO LONG UNTIL TOMORROW