tiflfiK Jhms c 1/ Thank you, Hugh, and good evening everybody. Greetings and salutations and a somewhat bashful and shaky ^hello,, to my eminent predecessor, Lowell Thomas. And by the way. I’m sure you’ll all be happy to know that beginning Monday, Lowell Thomas is to take over this broadcast and T ara going on a well-earned vacation, back to the Town Hall show, Wednesdays at nine. I had to sandwich that in, and in return, I might say that I think Blue Bunoco is peachy, as Lowell told you last evening, he and Mrs. Thomas and their lad. Sonny, are now cruising off the coast of Maine near Christmas Cove with Commander MacMillan, who Z2L-, 9£, has just returned from another Arctic trip to Baffinland. / v , lil i ' nfli V 4— •mi y UUxruyL /f Sr ; • 1 EUROPE The news from Europe was dark and ominous all day - until late this afternoon. It was just an hour or two abo, that a dispatch came through saying that tne ^zechoSlovak government had discharged and arrested some police officials. It seems like a small police court matter, but the officials in question were those involved in what they are calling the Maehrisch Ostrau incident. That was the affair of a couple of days abo, when Czech police slashed into a gathering of Sudeten Germans and beat up a Sudeten deputy. This Caused a burst of German rage both in Czechoslovakia and in Hitler*s Germany. It caused the Sudeten German leaders to break off their negotiations with the Czech government. They stopped all discussions aJ^ of the compromise that Prague was offering. The Maehrisch Ostrau ijajtxc e incident brought the whole dangerous crisis to a deadlock - with the Germans charging that the Czechs were using terrorism against the Sudetens.lL a Today, the government of Czechoslovakia took a formal st p by making public the compromise it was offering. ^Ju^t the sam -< a , advance word has ksah been indicating for days^,- a c inkea plan EUROPE - 2 along tin© linss of tlie Swiss cantons, iHrhich would give a great measure of autonomy to the minorities, especially.German v _ * ^ aino»A»4o'ol While the Czechs were making public their plan, the Sudeten Germans were making an announcement of their own. They said, once and for all, that they would not resume any negotiations for a compromise until the Maehrisch Ostrau incident was settled to their satisfaction - liquidated, as their statement expressed it. A-' vva -f1 So there*s the rnLinirt of this latest news from Prague - an announcement by Premier Hodza ^tiat the police involved in the Maehrisch Ostrau incident have been discharged and arrested. This is an attempt by Prague to liquidate the affair, and bring the Sudeten Germans back into the negotiations. V*ill the Germans consider it liquidating? The late news from Prague expresses the belief that they will, that they*ll be satisfied and will come back to discuss the compromise. Thus hope is renewed that the whole thing may be worked out peacefully. Thl§ news comes as a relief, after a whole day of international tidings of the most ominous sort. From Lon(,on came EUROPE - 3 word that the British and French armies had made last minute arrangements for an outbreak of war. 2a Plans drawn for the instant dispatch of swarms of British war planes to French airdromes. Britain sending bombers mostly and keeping pursuit planes at home to ward off bombers/ Britain sending troops, mechanized units, tanks, motorized artillery, machine guns - though no great host of fighting men as in Nineteen Fourteen. That’s how todayTs story went, the British and French high commands planning for an outbreak of war at any minute, ^The London statesmen held conferences all day long, not only among themselves, but also with political leaders outside of the government - like Winston Churchill and labor chieftains. When they do that in England, it always looks as though something mibhty serious were immediately expected. And today the London newsp£f)ers carried big scareheads about the possibility of war. In New York T\ the stock market broke, because of the that war was near.y I could go on piling up facts from far and wide, all Tfcl building up the immediate danger of 0 war crisis. But luckily, we have that last bit of news which indicates that the Czechoslovak government has taken action to settle the Maehrisca Ostiau incident and start the negotiations going again. ^7 bfek EUROPE, -4-. Here’s a late flash, a dispatch just in from frapue. It states that the Czechs ana the 'Germans have come to a settlement of that Maerish-/'wtpe incident. The Germans have accepted the Czpch action as a liquidation of the affair. CARDINAL Fifth Avenue, New York, was cut off from traffic around Fiftieth Street today. Thousands of people were crowded in the street before St.Patrick^ Cathedral, and the Cathedral itself was jammed. Eleven hundred policemen were on duty to handle the throngs, and ambulances were waiting to help any who might be overcome in the crush. Such, in a matter of numbers, was the final public tribute to Patrick Cardinal Hayes, whose funeral was solemnized today. Four thousand ecclesiastics walked in the procession - headed by three Cardinals - Their Eminences Douskoyty of Philadelphia, Mundelein of Chicago, and Villeneuve of Quebec. The funeral oration was spoken by Archbishop Rummel of New Orleans, who spoke of the New York Archdiocese in these words: "A broken-hearted flock without a shepherd.n And how numerous a flockI During the several days that the Cardinal lay in state, three hundred thousand passed his casket for a last farewell. And so today, with ancient ceremony and amid thronging multitudes, they solenjnized the funeral of His Eminence, Patrick Hayes, Cardinal Archbishop of New York, HINES In Mew iork the Hines trial goes on. Justice Pecora today refused to toss the case out of court, refused the demand of the defense that the charges against J^mes J. Hines of Tammany hall be thrown out. Lawyers always make a motion of dismissal in a case, the judge usually refuses. Today Justice Pecora went at length into the technicalities cited by -by- the defense, and one after another he turned them down as grounds for dismissal. However, here’s one thing he said, something concerning the defense contention that the evidence presented by district Attorney Dewey does not constitute a clear case against Hines. The Justice said that he was cuote "Not entirely free from doubt" End ouote trt this point. had a certain doubt whether the prosecution has presented a clear case against Hines. But he would leave that to the jury. There was enough evidence against Hines to let the jury decide -- decide whether they believed the evidence of the state witnesses who have testified against the Tammany leader. With that, the trial continuepU the defense nutting on its witnesses. These were tecnhical experts to testify about, the check that Dixie Davis claims he gave to Hines. They said the check/ as presented in evidence had been tampered with, so things dragged on with the usual technicalities of the experts. PH I LA DELi-'HJ A ■....... .... ,... ■ : ■ v-.. • ■ -. si- Charges Philadelphia brought a Number One indictment today. Who was Indicted? Why, the Mayor, Mayor S. Davis Wilson. The indictment charges him with — failure to suppress gambling In Philadelphia, There are a whole string of accusations — al! connected with gambling. C07AD0NGA The last act In the drama of the Coimt of Covadonga was played today in a Miami courtroom. A girl faced the coroner’s jury,-a night club cigarette girl. Mildred Gaydon, the cigarette girl, was at the wheel when the car crashed with mortal injuries to the Count^of Covadonga, son of Ex-King Alfonso, and former Crown Prince of Spain. So Mildred Gaydon had to face the coroner’s jurj on the assumption that she might have been guilty of negligence in driving. The testimony today dwelt upon the sinister theme of * O — ■ A ^ hemophilia, the malady of kings, it was testified in court trrrtrT: that Mildred, the cigarette girl, knew that the Count of Covadonga was afflicted with the hereditary taint of hemophilia, and that - 5 < 1 I il any slight scratch might bring on the fatal bleeding that could - i i not be checked. It was jttold how Mildred Gaydon on one occasion said: ”1 know theCount’s condition and I wouldn’t want him scratched in i my automobile.” So, knowing this, she drove with care and the accident was unavoidable - such was the contention. Mildren Gaydon, the cigarette girl, sat in court, white-faced t£$3E3£BZK3££ nOVADQNGA_ - 2 and tense, as the most tragic bit of testimony was ^iven. The secretary to the Count of Covadonga testified that in his last moments the dying prince of Spain exclaimed: "For God's sake, see that nothing happens to poor Millie." YsTith that, the cigarette girl broke into sobs. And then the court handed doim the verdict in these words: "The Count of Covadonga came to & his death as a result of an unavoidable automobile accident, and no criminal negligence attaches to Mildred Gaydon." JTTDGE When I sav; this next news dispatch, it looked at first glance like something dramatic, a crime thriller. I sav^ something about a judge and a killer, but the killer turns out to be a killer-diller. It all concerns a lav.suit in New York where a swing band is suing a marching organization. The swin^ band wants to be paid and the inarching organization says the music was terrible. Eighty dollars was the fee agreed upon, of which only eight was paid - that, said the defense today, was too much. "No harmony," testified the defense today, "emanated from the instruments." The boys certainly must have been swinging it hot. "The sounds," continued the defense, "were most discordant." Must have been a xxnxxxg jam session. "And the bass drum player," shriked the defense, "the bass drum player beat the drum with a barrel slat with a rag wrapped around it." Now that’s serious. V/hen I was a boy my father sometimes used a barrel slat to do a bit of beating, out it wasn’t a bass drum he put across his knee - I know. I can still feel it as I sit here at the microphone. The music maestro admitted that the drummer used a barrel slat to zn play the drum, but he ehallen0ed the judge to ——, ...... . —x —a— I H | f i JUDGE - 2 tell the different, said you can get the same kind of boom with a barrel slat that you can with a regular drumstick. The judge got so tangled up in the swing jam that he put ’o';..: the case off to think it over, until the maestro could bring his band into court next Thursday - a band of seventy swing artists. The maestro said he would, and added: nIfm going to give the judge a killer-dillerKilling, isn’t it - it just slays me I PREJUDICE I know I’ve got a lot of prejudices' — so why doesn’t somebody invite me to lunch? After a good two-hour luncheon, from soup to coffee and cigar, my prejudices diminish and almost disappear. How do I know this? I don’t, but the scientists do - about me, about you, about everybody. Because those highbrow boys, the psychologists, have just finished a lot of research about the effect of a good luncheon on people’s prejudice^. Today, Dr- Gregory Razran of Columbia University told the American PsycholObical, Association at Cleveland how fifty persons were chosen to represent all kinds of prejudice^. Democrats and Republicans, New' Deal and Anti-New Deal, employer and union man, religion, race, and everything. These fifty prejudice| guys were tried out by the psychologist before lunch, their prejudice^ tested, measured and weighed. By the way, how much does a prejudice weigh? After it was all figured out, the fifty biased people sat down and had lunch - just a prejudiced luncheon club. After they had finished coffee and cigars, they were tested again, their prejudice 1 measured and v.eighed. And it was PREJUDICE - 2 found that their various kinds of bias had decreased by eighty per cent. Instead of a pound^prejudice there would be only about three ounces. to figure out something big. The psychologists were told today that the thing to do is to turn the nation into one big luncheon club. Just sit our hundred and tvyenty million people at one table and give them each a forty cent luncheon, and all prejudice and bias will disappear. Those hundred and twenty million lunches at forty cents would come to :£i£fcyxiBf*llWTCX3te*33Ucg forty-eight million dollars, not counting the cost of building the table. Allowing each person three feet of table room for swinging the knife and fork, and lining them up on both sides of the table, I figure it will take a table thirty-six thousand miles long, which would reach one and a half times around the world, that’s how we could get rid of prejudice. SxxxkyS So what? Well, you can leave it to the scientists HUSBAND - Anyway, what has the Trade Commission got to do with a girl getting a husband? They*re not buying and selling husbands these days, are they? Or are they? 1 HUSBAND I hate to disagree with such a majestic outfit as the Federal Trade Commission, but the Commission is?all wrong, it took action today against a publisher that has Oot out a book called — "How to Win a Husband." The blurb said that in ten easy lessons, a girl could get the fellow she wants. This, the Federal Trade Commission objects to, handing down the opinion that you can’t teach a girl to get a husband in ten easy lessons. Well, maybe not easy ones. They may be hard lessons. The Trade Commission took exception to the general curriculum, described like this in the advertising matter: "How much would you pay to win the love of the man you want?" inquired the blurb. "Then don^t sit back and let the other girl have him. Win him for yourself, in spite of all obstacles." Well*- that seems to me like the right way to win a husband. Don’t sit back and let the other girl have him. Wade right in and knock the other girl out of the .vay, toss her out of the window. Also, win him for yourself in spite of all obstacles, as the lesson says. Walk right up to him and ^rab him. nd if he resists, knock him down. ■iARRIAuE Nineteen Thirty v,as eight years ago, if my arithmetic is still holding out. That makes eight years of married life for Mrs- Louise Rehm of Cleveland, And, she certainly did find marriage and a home - a going concern. For her home all the time was - a trailer, Mrs, Rehm told the judge today that the only home her husband ever provided for her in their eight years of marriage was one of those things that go hopping along, and. pull up for the night, and then on some more- The judge said - divorce granted, thinking; that marriage in a home of that sort is too much of a going concern. CLOSE I understand that all radio commentators must have a snappy sign-off, so 1*11 borrow a phrase from my friend Lowell and say that I hope the week-end passes quickly, because it’s — well, because if it doesn't, it's — SO LONG UNTIL MONDAY. And Lowell Thomas.