L.T, - SUUQCO — TUESDAY -- MAY 5, 1936 GOOD EVENING EVERYBODYIi* This is one of those days that leave aHBgrk"W'^the"' pages of history. Even if the Itaaian oacupation of Addis Ababa had been a mere formal procession, the significance of the event would be there:- An ultimate sign and symbol of the utter downfall of the Ethiopian Empire, which had lasted in one form or another for several thousand years. Also today’s event is a gesture of complete Italian triumph in the face of giant obstacles of nature and against all the opposition of the League of Nations and the British Empire, But the Italian advance took on a vivid turn of drama and suspense with all that savage outbreak of bloodshed and destruction in Addis Ababa; the deadly peril to the while colony there, — the seige of the legations. So today is a day of the formal impressiveness of history plus a flame of theatrical thrill. The scenes in Rome during the past few hours may be dismissed with the adjectives "giant'1 and "stupendous", that is. the crowds and the shouting and enthusiasm. All of Italy today LEAD - 2 staged its vast rally for which Mussolini had told them to be ready. The long expected signal was sounded from the Alps to the top of Sicily - sounded with a shrieking of sirens, ringing of bells and blare of trumpets. The millions of the population dropped everything, and with concerted discipline hurried to the public squares. There a nation mobilized in massed crowds. As one vast radio audience they listened to the voice from the loud speaker. The voice of Mussolini -- the Duce in one of his flaming orations. Last October there was a similar scene of massed radio audiences. Then Mussolini announced his defiant intention to conquer Ethiopia, The next morning Italian troops began the invasion. Today the Duce shouted his messabe to even greater crowds, and his shout was — "The war is over! Ethiopia is Italian!” A nation-wide bravo rent the springtime skies. And there seemed to be nobody in the world to dispute the Ducefs triumphant boast. While he spoke in Rome scenes to illustrate were witnessed far to the south in Africa — the machinery of war rolling through the streets of looted, mob-toxsi Addis Ababa, Jj » 3 Columns of tanks, armored cars and trucks bristling with machine guns rumbled past the British Legation and on into Haile Selassie’s former capitol. There was no sign of resistance. The Ethiopian mob that had stormed and raged had vanished. The shooters and looters had fled to the hills. Some even tried to take refuge in the foreign legations, which they had been threatening with storm and massacre shortly before. The plunderers simply vanished in a panic, afraid of the punishment the Italians might deal out for the reign of terror they had staged. So with the coming of trucks and tanks, the peril to the white colony in Addis Ababa ended today* At the last moment American Minister Cornelius Van H. Engert finally gave in and took refuge in a well-defended British Legation. He and his handful of Americans defended their almost undefendable headquarters against repeated savage attacks -- while the State Department wirelessed him to seek safety in the British strong­ hold, Tonight he's back in his own legation again. Today the Italians assured our State Department in Washington that they will safeguard Americans according to the laws of war. ETHIOPIA 4 Why were the Italians so long in marching Into the stricken city? Why the delay - while the mad mobs were plundering, burning, shooting, killing, threatening a massacre of the Europeans? A siege of the legations^ Wefve had reports for two days that on a mountain slope outside of Addis Ababa, the Italian advance guard was waiting - native troops, those hard bitten black Askaris, who skirmished the way for the advance. And all the while the British and French legations were calling upon the Hialians to hurry and save the Europeans/7 We have an explanation from Rome today, &. that Mussolini had ordered Marshal Badoglio to hurry, march int» ftiiiiitn itwiinM as soon as possible, and put down the murderous anarchy. that But Mussolini also commanded^the march into the city should be made by white troops - that the Italians of the mechanized divisions should have the honor of the triumphal entry. That sounds a bit operatic, something like the triumphal scene in Aida - while the white colony^i But I suppose there may have been some point of policy in this — an African sort of policy, the idea that the Ethiopian natives would be more impressed with the power of the white man, if white men and their ETHIOPIA- 5" machines made the triumph«it entry, instead the the native A black skirmishers. the theatrical gesture^* was blunted a bit - by a giant, dusky fellow, mighty and majestio,with the mane of a lion for a headdress. Has Haiiu! Last night, the night before the Italian machinery of war moved In, was comparatively quiet. Because out of the west came the big chief. Has Haiiu, with a force of a hundred and fifty warriors. He took command of the clty-of-anarchy# J^^e^after some fierce fighting, his warriors cleared away the raging mob that was trying to storm the French legation. Has Haiiu, one of nX Ethiopia's greatest noblemen, arrested hundreds of the^i and seems to have had the situation pretty well in hand when the Italians arrived. The lion skin chieftain was the man of the hour^ to greet the conqueror. Marshal Badoglio. And so, a new dominant figure in the Ethiopian scene may have been created. Haile Selassie gone, Ras Haiiu to the front. He may become an important figure in the Italian occupation. It is possible to surmise something like this from the singular story that lies behind it all. ETHIOPIA - & A time was when the greatest friendship existed between A Haile Selassie, the King of Kings, and Has Hailu, lord of the provinces of the west. They made a trip to Europe together some years ago. But as time and Ethiopian politics went on, the lion of Judah and his great feudal lord, became estranged. Has Hailu plotted against Haile Selassie, and was Involved In a scheme to dethrone him, ” It concerned Lij Yasu, the former emperor. Haile Selassie had deposed Lij Yasu and seized his a crov/n. He kept the former emperor prisoner, manacled with golden A chains. So now Has Hailjl schemed to liberate Lij Yasu and restore him to the throne. But the King, of Kings was too smart and quick. He arrested the lord of the west, took him from his provinces and held him a close prisonerC^When the Italians started their war. Has Hailu was Haile Selassiefs bitterest enemy in Ethiopia. As the war went on, the former emperor, in his golden chains - died most opportunely. So opportunely - that the rumor was that Haile Selassie had done away with him. Meanwhile - a revolt broke out in the western Gojjam province, the hereditary realm of Has Hailu. The rebellion quite ETHIOPIA - % Italians, who did everything they could to stir up the subject provinces against the King of Kings. We all recall how a few days ago, Halle Selassie, defeated In the north, returned to Addis Ababa and vowed he would retire to the mountains of the west and resist to the last inch. His sudden flight by railroad and British battleship came when A he found out that the western provinces were in wild revolt against him.* ilebelllon in Gojjam had spread far and wide. That*s what made the Italian triumph so swift and complete. And now we see Has Hailu, hereditary governor of Gojjam and lord of the west - released from prison and marching with a band of his feudal retainers, into Haile Selassie*s abandoned capital, putting down ‘ ^ /) ___ ,4^ 4 * 70 *0^^ riot and anarchy , an& rescuing the Europeans^ So now we have - Has Hailu riding high, xs Haile Selassie's bitterest enemy^in the foreground as the lord of the western provinces that revolted and overthrew the last chance of the King of Kings to resist the Italian invaders. It may be that the Italians will think that Has Hailu has done well by them. and that he deserves a handsome reward. The least that can happen . J ETHIOPIA - B is that the lord oT the west will go back to the west, more lordly in his lion skin than ever. And as for his lordliness - letfs illustrate It with a majestic incident. This is told me by Joe Israels, war correspondent, who^flashed news to us from Addis Ababa. He tells me somtehing about that trip to Europe made by Haile Selassie and Has Hailu, when they were friends. There xmxb was one gadget of He rode in a sleek, fast automobile and was so delighted that he went at once to the salesroom of the Renault Company and ordered a hundred cars, to be delivered to his province in western Ethiopia. The terms - spot cash, gold on the table. So the automobiles were shipped to East Africa, and a hundred French mechanics went along. At Djibouti the autos were unloaded and the mechanics assembled them. Then the fleet of motor cars k started across Ethiopia, They soon ran out of roads, couldnlt go any furcher» But that didn*t daunt Has Hailu. He sent a call for a hundred thousand of his subjects, to build roads. So it was road-building at a modern civilization that particularly impressedARas,fe£3^& A tremendous clip. Pretty soon, however, they came to a great chasm LEAD - 9 in the mountaine. There was no way to get across it, or around it* So the hundred French mechanics mocked down the ears and the hundred thousand subjects started carrying the parts down the ehasm* It was a long and tedious operation, and by tMs time the French mechanics were thoroughly fed up. They were thinking about that dear Faree, They couldn't stand the African heat any longer. So they decamped, just turned around and went back to Djibouti and Gay Faree, Today, the hundred automobiles, dismantled, in parts, are still lying at the bottom of that chasm. So says Joe Israels, f Has Hailu had one bit of solace. He admired machine guns as much as he admired automobiles, and collected a great store of quick firing weapons in his xp palace at Gojjam, And there his way of entertaining a European guest was to take him on the palace roof and regale him with the sight and sound of scores of machine guns firing in every direction. And Has Hailu rides high tonight, But highest of all rides Mussolini POLITICS Politics today gives us a bit of news from both sides -- something for either side to cheer. One loud voice said: "I am backing Roosevelt.’* It was William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, speaking before the National Womens* Trade Union League. the Unions for the New Deal in the Fall* On the Republican side the word is — Borah won’t bolt* He said It himself —- in East Liverpool, Ohio* He made this declaration to scotch rumors that if he were not nominated in Cleveland he*d take a Republican walk* So party unity won’t be in danger by the Senator from Idaho* ^ . A eyes on the Republican primary. Two native sons are In a somewhat indirect battle — Hoover and Hearst. Ex-President Hoover is entered in the primaries as a Presidential possibil­ ity. Publisher Hearst is supporting Governor Landon of Kansas. The returns, of course, have not yet begun to come in. We’ll have them tomorrow. President Green*sdeclaratioi Meanwhile, it’s political eyes on California today, RATTLESNAKE In Florida they passed- a law - forbidding anybody to A get bitten by a rattlesnake. That seems an odd sort of prohibition - but It's connected with those rattlesnake revivals they’ve been ) kxx ± m having in the south. At Bartow, Florida, a man died after he was ■A bitten in one of those hysterical exhibitionsof snake religion. He announced he was ready to lay down his life for the Lord, and he did. The coroner’s Jury said it was through his own carelessness. There was a flood of protest against the weird practices. So today 1 1 the City Council put snake religion in the class of a 11 public nuisance”. And a rattler revival will be punished by Jail sentences. J PULITZER It's always a pleasant story -- Home town boy makes -------- '■***"** * * fl- * good^ ^nd how the good old home town thrills and rejoices over the jjlory of Its favourite son. However, there’s another the glory of the home town boy, or the gloom of the prophet this story. It concerns the Pulitzer prizes, announced today. The literary world is thrilling over them. Whenever literary awards and honors are handed out, the ladies and gentlemen of the writing profession always thrill, maybe with eestaey or maybe with indignation. anti-war play -- ’’Idiot’s Delight.”• The honors for fiction go to the Oregon forest novel, ’’Honey In the Horn,” written by the former cowboy, H, L. Davis. Poetry, "Strange Holi- nes Journalism, Lauren D. Lyman old saying with Biblical authority -- that a prophet is not ^ I t V ii JL Vll without honor -- save In his own country. which without honor. I’ll leave you to judge -- on the basis of J-his year's price for drama goes to Robert Sherwood’s of the NEW YCPK TIMES for his scoop story about the departure PULITZER -2 of the Lindberghs* And honours go to ¥111 Barber of the Chicago Tribune* Itfs a posthumous award, because ¥ar Correspondent Barber died of malaria in Ethiopia. ^ut the prize that will give a newspaper man the most exhilaration is the one for ~--”the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper during the year*" Who is crowned with the majesty of that award? A small town paper* -- that's the pleasant part of it. *L'he paper is in Iowa, the Cedar Rapids Gazette* The citation says that the Gazette gets the prize for -- "its crusade against corruption and misgovernment in -the state of Iowa." The editors out there staged aaexpose that resulted in accusation of graft against £± forty-five defendents. Well, Cedar Rapids certainly should be delighted with the honour that has come upon its own Gazette. The folks in Iowa must thrill with the good old time sentiment —— a home town boy makes good. Let's look at the news and see. As a result of the Pulitzer prize winning campaign of the Gazette forty-five defendents charged with graft were PULITZER -3 t: lace to face with the law. The number then decreased to thirty-one, when Attorney General Edward L, 0’Connefi and A A several others were cleared* The Attorney General went to trial twice* The first time the jury disagreed# The second time there was an acquittal# "today the news tells us about the remaining thirty- on© defendents — a verdict from the Iowa Suxpreme Court# What's the verdict? All the charges are voided, cases dis­ missed. And this court decision comes on the day of the announcement of the Pulitzer prize granted to the S Cedar Rapids Gazette for starting the graft crusade in the first place* A prophet is'not without honor save in his own country* -^2-- Q — U.