’ m i I : feUriiuCQ - December 11. 19 g 4 , Good ETening, Everybody: i or days we 'nave been navi nr an overbalance of foreign new- — ail because of that crisis between Yugoslavia ana Hungary, and the threat of war. Bat tonight it’s different. There1s scarcely any foreign news; the tidings are predominantly American. And this foreign silence is the most graphic possible iniieation that tne risis is passed, — that when the big powers get togetner and decided mere she ole be no trouble and pushed their compromise arreemenp upon the 1 cole fellows — why tnat settled tne European tension in a liffy. So we have mostly American things no tali about tonight; and mao’s a cheery sign. BYRD A r&tr.er puzzeliag message sputtered oyer the air today. A pattern of ether waves started out from some icy cold weather, streaked ncrtnwarc through plenty of hot weather — is the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics — and ended up here in cold weather again. Then deciphered the message said;- “Tfe will break camp and leave for Hew York the last week in January 1955.* It was from Admiral Byrd down in Little America. Yes, he and his expedition are leaving the Antarctic the last week of this coming _ ^ .. — January. Sow about the pommeling part'of it. Phis is found in the fact that Admiral Byrd's plan all along was to stay cown there on the Southern Polar continent until s-cne time in Spring.. *^o he's leav -a ing a mouth or two ahead of schedule. ¥hy? Has anything jone wrong? Hatj*'the croeals been too much for toe explorers? They ’ ve mad an. arduous ami hazardous time of it — Byrd's -ong retreat in his hermitage of ice end the battle fry dog s_ed to reech him, end tnen the explorations by airplane which solved one of one mysteries of tue Antarctic tcmrinenf end resulted in toe discovery of two hundred thcueamd square miles of new, icy lend, which Byrd claimed for the BYRD-2 United States. The only information that we have is contained in that brief message which was received this afternoon by the General Electric Company’s short-wave station in Schenectady — telling that the Byrd Expedition is returning ahead of schedule. vr The whjsand wherefores are merely something for exploration enthus­ iasts to speculate upon — something to provide conversation at tomorrow’s gathering of the Adventure Society. This is a new organization which is holding its inaugural luncheon at^Hotel Gotham tomorrow with world adventurers like -Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Johnson and Major Anthony Fieila to do the story-telling. no When we gather around the table we^will be trying to figure out why Dick Byrd is coming back sooner than he expected \SLsU hi v^ef CRIME The Mg crime conference in Washington, after getting off a resonant start on the radio last night, continued to-day with further determined declarations - that Uncle Sam is out to croso gangs and racketeering. There was one plainly worded statement of J. Edgar Hoover, the youthful Director of the Bureau of Investigation of the Derartrent of Justice. He blamed crimes on politics, declared tnao raoceteering flourished beceofje of crocked pcliticims, and stated ro^o-oly treat criminal gangs wh,.♦! be iconed if pclltical tress .re 5 v>>poootr,ctihg V,e *or ^ of .s relit e*.err vtf troa eto 11 tr; % - coori 11 es. I metcee -mere ere timt/ fe^ of to »-'oo v-;% V.. S* enc _ fttr : -ne ne: tne vrr nerrc.vr eh vo*/^; ty ^ sV/r/ ■' •••** cetentlj. It , •• j tolt sie 07 ilc-e lopo V >/»*•• _. _ , . „ .^ . : ±-w f' -»v '’o'C’S'eri / O- true kar r.ent Ihe a -nn^r'.'t of . 0 ^: , ,/ - ^ T * of tine Italian io-rau of ther i*r-* ’000 >o.;c4 £ o'; Hks ’ em ao ret nether . r I as * . ' to r ot* --*'.0 f-• f of r to'' . . - r* V '0 ^ ,*w '■-Ou--* i^nr O5 0 -> i O- ^ iACCA 'r'“ ^ cb BB - 2 out to save the big shots. His prisoner was prepared tc testify as the state’s witness, hating been promised a light sentence in return, five or ten years. ’ 1 On the day o* tne trial, Mi^ce iiaschetti appeared in court and si found that his prisoner had changed his mind - would not testify. In fact the blackhander was yelling curses, screaming that Kike I H had double-crossed him. : Yes, money and politics had done their work! With the trial scheduled for eleven o’clock, they had taken the state’s l I witness into court at nine, put him immediately on trial, and ! sentenced him to life. Ho wonder he was yelling that he had been dcuble^rossed. Ho wonder he refused to testify at the trial of the big shots that followed. Mth tfe**wifeess against them thus removed, the big shots went Scot-free. There vm some hum-drum legal proceedings in a small New Jersey town today. This was a preliminary to what will be the most widely publicized trial in American legal history. In the little courthouse Hunterdon County, New Jersey, the lawyers of Bruno Hauptmann demanded that the State of New Jersey furnish them with a bill of particulars, giving facts about the case against Hauptmann, points of evidence against him. Supreme Court Justice Trenchard refused to consider the demand until Hauptmann was brought into his court. That*s the usual custom. The defendant is required to appear personally, while his plea is presented. So they brought him into court, the Bronx carpenter who was accused of the murder of Baby Lindbergh. With these formalities settled, nothing happened. The judge put off the matter until next Thursday, when the arguments will be heard. Then the court will decide whether Haupt­ mann's lawyers are to get the bill of particulars which they demand. It was just one of those preliminary «#±x*±**«z skirmishes. SI . *a * J FIRE Tlie very factor tiiat inakes tlie Miciiigan fire so tragic, may also have caused the outbreak of the flames. As for the tragic aspect, it was only yesterday that the Michigan Legislature gathered at the capital city of Lansing, It was a special session called to consider a recount of ballots cast in the November election. So naturally the city was crowded and a considerable portion of the legislators put up at Hotel Kern, The hotel was alive with activity, jammed with guests, and dignified by the presence of a host of assemblymen, state senators, and other political leading lights. It does seem like a tragic coincidence that the dis­ astrous hGJ‘el "^ire should have flamed that night -- at day break. Yet there is a logical connection that may be inferred. The meeting of the Legislature made it a festive night at Lansing, with festive doings at Hotel Kern, where so many Legislators gathered. Is it possible that the fire may have been started by some la+.e jovial party in a room? That que tion is oeing asked - inv estigated. FIKb - 2 . he fact "tiiat 'tne hotel W3.s so oldt forty years ol<31 accounts for the calamitous swiftness of the blaze, which in mere minutes turned the place into a burning inferno. Guests and hotel employees had only the briefest time for swi^t escape - if they did escape. Many were trapped, with a list of casualties that makes this one of ^he most diaastrous of hotel fires. After a day of searching in the blackened, frozen ruins, it is still uncertain just how many were killed. The police said at first that the death list might reach forty. How it seems as if it might be worse than that. And on that list of casualties are various members of the Lichigan Legislature. It was the old pitiful story of people trapped in rooms by flames, perishing by smoke, smd fire, jumping from windows. And the bitter cold weather made it all the worse. The Grande River flows through Lansing. The hotel stood right on the river bank. On one side its windows looked down into the water. Many of *he trapped guests leaped ^rcrr. these windows into the river, and some were drowned in the frigid benumoing water. T1-.. t - ~im On the Pacific Coast it?s a case of tragedy averted. San Francisco Bay is a great place for ferry boats, huge flat barge-like boats that carry crowded hosts of passengers between San Francisco andthe showy cities that line the great curve of the Bay* If one of those Golden fSgb ferry boats with a full cargo of humanity aboard were to sink, that would be a major catastrophe. It nearly happened today. A coastwise steamer, the Ruth Alexander, hit a crowded ferry boat. With the heavy impact, the jammed commuters were knocked down^ aa^sprawling mass of human bodies. The ferry boat got much the worse of the collision. It narrowly escaped being sunk. As it was, a swift bit of wholesale rescue work had to be put on. The steamer came alongside. Ropes were stretched between the two craft, and the passengers, clinging to the ropes, climbed from one boat to the other. debts December fifteenth is the day when instalments on the War Debts fall due. And Uncle Sam is due to get a lot of money. That sounds like news, doesn't it? But it really isn't. December fifteenth is also pay-up time for John Q. Public when he has to kick in with the final instalment of his income tax. So Uncle Sam will get plenty of mazooma from John, not from the foreign debtor nations. This of course was to be taken for granted - but just to make it official, here's word from London, saying that Great Britain will default on her War Debt payment XHd once more. According to the books, John Bull should fork over a hundred and seventeen million dollars on the fifteenth, but toda^’from across the water, comes a brief message saying that England will not pay up. A few days ago France made a similar declaration concerning her own War Debt. It is always a t?ood bet to predict that Finland will put the money on the line. And—lime i 1 e- a bet tar bet thei* over. A Because the little northern republic has taken advantage of her paid-up promptness to borrow some money over here, and would hardly do any defaulting with a loan in prospect. RUTH Let's think of several words that begin with "B", There's Baseball, also Babe and likewise Bambino. With the two big Leagues staging their annual meetings in Hew York, there are various important matters to be discussed. But right in the middle, pops that irrepressible phenomenon, Babe Ruth, Vftien the basebali season ended several months ago, it didn’t seem as if there'd be much of the Babe Ruth problem. We all know the familiar figure of the rather rortly gentleman with the small feet and spindly ankles, the honest, open but by no means beautiful face. The Babe is frank in admitting that his pins are not as good as they used to oe. Everybody knows that the home-run hammer man is on his way out. Just how far out - that was the question. ^h ' Babe announced that he wanted a job as a manager, and, if he couldn’t get i4*, he would retire from baseball. Whereupon there was no wild scurrying among the magnates offering the big fellow a managerial job. It is quite apparent that the bosses of baseball had no flaming belief in the Babe as a manager. Maybe they think lie's too good-natured, Maybe they think he hasn’t the sharp drive needed for a field marshall in BU TK - 2 pennant races. Anyway, the greatest baseOali player of them all seemed to oe headed for ancient history - no flaming urgent problem to tax the mentality of the magnates. It seemed certain that the highest paid player in baseball had seen his last season in the big money, it during the months since the end of the season, there has been a flashing c '*ange. How come? Well, because of +hat Far Eastern Asiatic baseball tour. Maybe they were ready to count the old fel low out ever here, but in Eastern Asia he swept to greater triumphs than he ever experienced before. The Japanese went off the honorable nut ever the Labe. To the Millions in Nippon he is the greatest American, They packed the ball parks with immense crowds to see the Babe's team in action. And when the great American himself w s not scheduled to play, tne attendance ^ell off remarkably. And now, the word is that a Japanese byndicate has been formed, a Nipponese Baseball Syndicate, the object of wnich is to + ake the Babe back to the land of the Rising Sun and keep him there. They want him to take charge of a star Japanese team. manage, it, - 1 iii tiie outfield and hit home runs for the d elect at i cn ,f " -.e Far Eastern frana, Aiid they are willing to pay him plenty of money - scads of yen - to do so. Yes, that’s the sort of thing our own Big League magnates understand. They know that the Bah r- is still a big drawing card, and new they're confronted with the fact that the Japanese nay toke him away from tiiem. That's what has tossed the Babe Ruth problem like a flaming bomb into the meetins of +he two Leagues. Right now the big bosses of the National League, gather­ ed at the Waldorf, are mu 1 in, over the fact that they themselves would like to take Ahe Babe over from the American League aiid have him bring his daah of fane and color i. to their own circuit. And as for the American L r gu e magjiat es - why, headed by Colonel Jake II III 1 m : 1 1 I Ruppert, the Babe's owner, they’ve been startled to a new real­ ization of the n o t en t i a 111 ie s of the old boy "’ho made the no me run a national institution. So t e problem they're wrestling with is- wh t to do about 1 e Babe? The boys were a little prematare in counting tie Cult an of Swat ouJ of the big money, He'll have at 1 eaat ne more season in 4 he lav e salary rank® - S'? en if its yen aiid ,. q j; dollars. japan Now for our very meagre bits of foreign news; - There is of course that day to day theme, the naval situation, we have a pattern of contrast. The Japanese Privy Council was in session today, called "by the Emperor Hirohito, It met and draft­ ed a -nescage to the United States, This message announces that Japan is. calling off the Naval Treety r-cw 5n ^orce. The formal letter will he sent to Washington about December nineteenth. Meanwhile, the first trans-oceanle telephone radio service betv/eon tie United States and Japan has been opened. It was officially inaugurated when Secretary of State Cordell Hull spoke to Koki Hirota, the Japanese Foreign Minister in Tokyo. "'aid Mr, Hull to Hr. Kirota: MBy further exchange of ideas and of commerce, radio telephone service will be o^ mutual benefit to our people,'1 Said Hr. Kirota t Mr. Hull: "I ^eel confident that this system of comnunication will prove to a means for Pro­ motion of und erfetanding and good-will," In ctiicr .>:o rd s Mr, Hi rota raised hr. Hull's flowery ante. SAAR si Foreign correspondents with Sherlock Holmes tendencies have figured out an angle on the Saar question. They have deduced that January election am exceedingly important. This they have arrived at by inferring that London, in contributing British soldiers to police the election, is going to send one of Englandfs crack regiments, probably the Scots Guard, now on duty at the Tower of London, Sherlock Holmes correspondents picked up a clue in an to be admission by the British War Office that the ^troops, sent to the Saar would take along full dress uniforms, the traditional British red coats. These newspaper detectives started meditating on the fact that the common ,n uiti .- n - cx * of British regiment does not go in for those fancy full dress uniforms. The only ones that/do are the household cavalry, the life guards^ assigned to protect the King and the royal family - and also the famous Scots Guards at the Tower of London. They reason that England would not send the King’s own soldiers, so it must be the Scots Kfcfchthat are getting the election job. r So that’s the Sherlock Holmes deduction of the foreign SAAR - 2 correspondents - Britain sending one of her most famous regiments to the Saar election, the braw Scots in their fanc^iesTt'licilts supervising the battle of votes between the Nazis and the anti- Nazis €f com ae there will be other Foreign .S^erotayy^ 3-i*- hundred-eol^4rors from iIo3rland ftnd-&w«4en wil^do ole^t-ioa ^ay^> Yes, that's all the foreign news for this broadcast tonight• No wazd alarming report about any Balkan crisis fe c%n all be thankful about that, and SO LONG UNTIL TOMORROW