£&]ft*Lxy” ^ B L.T. SUMQCO - JANUARY £g. 192.^ Good Afternoon* Everybody The principal news currents this past week have from Washington* the i'ar East, and Germany. There was, however, one isolated event that was a bit startling. I mean the hunt for the boss New 2ork racketeer, Dutch Schultz. The Federal authorities are after him for Income Tax violation. They want to get Dutch Schultz jus t the way they got Al Capone. The startling revelation was that Dutch Schultz, out of his bootlegging activities, has been taking personally, more than a million dollars a year. LAME DUCKS Last week almost brought to a close — and next week promises to bring to a full close — one of the most important poli-cical developments of these years. Yesterday the legislature of New Mexico ratified the Lame Duck amendment, and thus became the thirty-fifth state to go on record as iavoring the abolition of that strange limping bird, the Lame Duck. —lust boforo •Nev/ Mexico took-ue llo-ri" tho logislaturev ef-WyewiiTTg-^rfr?TT 1 a rifr Thirty-six states were needed to put it across as an amendment to the Constitution, -tend an Gill that is required now is one more i-ife-ayy an(3 the Lame Duck will to the effect that the Massachusetts legislature is scheduled to consider the amendment tomorrow' — and is A&nwxsfe certain dour old friend the dodo. Ae ar matter uf foot, the*, s The New York Times has a telegram from Boston 'it: to ratify* . n* * 1 LAME DUCKS - g UiB .ttae^fcaii« Braefe1. rgs..triu]'iii}h WSJLM<YL&, ^ l 1 o-^&.^la^ge^^riumph for Senator Morris of f or Nebraska, the veteran Progressive leader, who £&=&&sijlong years t asnsjt d^e , has been battling^ to ---- ‘T " ^ * " " " 1&fcam»=aifca=d£±±=feh Again and again the lawmakers Q+J i refused to listen,to^Bnc±e-r€h*org^ But he kept at it. /"* i&& c ^^JL uNrA , l^fi^^^~^^^^gr^trettTg^pgr33--gJfe&»fe...out, n-i n Morbrnnlm i fead iiow-rh^^haj >wW put—ttere^gh the-aarendmect tha t he—mus t j usk—arbot±t—o o ns i d o r -hi» ±ir5;—ii-fe-*-s- Under the new system Congress will meet every year on January 3rd, It will be elected as usual in November and then,s scarcely more than two months later , will take office^lsabi^! ^ waiting for a whole year as ha3^been~therre:as3*; in the past. ©Iti—G^ng-re-ss^wili' go—out—of"rght—aw'ay—and—®ake—pIra-e-e ~f cm tho nhiri And tho-t-^111 put-arn-end—to—thooc aooombl-agea-ofa d efjeatu^ G ongregsmen-^a n d & e-nato r-s --w-hioh-have--~cause>o- pSPB%. iJ L ___ _ LMIE DUCKS - S ihe President^will take office on January 20th instead of March 4th. Another feature of the amendment is that it clears | up a point concerning which there is much dispute. Suopose that I a man should be elected President and then 1 n»nii>iriiilit die before x "T&b t & h *n£, a-nrtnmoo t<r takjj^foffice^ -----H7rr??,g^- 0rwJ ^cvyoi. has been able to figure that out. But now the Norris^mendment provides that if the President-elect Rhonl-d die^ the Vice-President- elect WeSiiff take his place/— but only temporarily. He would A ✓ **J( remain President un^l_ Congress has tad. a chance to say the word. . Congress «±±i pick* a President krtC&^cz ULnsHt, A ROOSEVKLT —- - ' "" well, it seems as though something definite may finally happen in that much discussed Muscle Shoals affair, ^ramclin Roosevelt last night came out decisively in favor of government operation of the great power development Muscle Shoals. Mr. Roosevelt declared that as soon as he office he will take steps to have the government put into operation the giant power and nitrate plants. The Key York Times ^inform£ us triat the/Presiftent-e^ect is on a toiir down south. He/is in Alabama 1 right/ now, /and he inspecte^ the I^uscle ^hoals/development. / Then he made a spdeeh on the /portico of the Alabama Stqtte Capitol. That’s /the ve] place/where ./efferhon Davis, President /of the his/oath of/offic/e. It /was in/the address he Confederacy,/ took made I that ■jj^cypTn^ "i fly Ro</sevelt camj out iy favor (of goveynmen^ operation of Muscle Shoals JAPAM The week has been full of Important news from the Far East. Tliere are always plenty anything to do with guns or soldie international disputes. It is abo' The Japanese, you knov/, a: people. They go in for poems. A. L ■WJI^ 1 !L^ Japan Inaugurated the new year with a poetry competition The returns have just come in. Lyrics were entered by more than 43,000 poets, and that1 s a lot of poets. A number of verses were sent along by soldiers in Manchuria. And the Emperor and Empress, too, joined in the poetic contest. of the Emperor* s poem was peace, and the imperial lyric is a good deal better than a good many diplomatic documents on the same Manchuria, China and Japan. What it* s Trhi I"h nl mi"» fr rvrr^ryhrtt^- The New York Herald-Tribune tells us that the subject subject. For one thing, it's shorter. Here is the Mikado's niaMix poem: — ” j ijBiiii JAPM - £ r J I V*e pray to the gods of heaven and earth That our reign be peaceful, xiice the waveless sea of morning* xhe bit of verse composed by the Empress has a charming vein of sentiment. Here it is; My mind is refreshed As I see the Hew Year*s sun Calmy rising From the mountainous sea. Of course, in addition to these poetic matters, the week brought us some more reports about the fighting in Manchuria, S kx the battle that is still going on. One report is that a Japanese General wras bombed, together with the Prime Minister of Manchukuo. nd" fs-dena»-cL-^ a bomb was thrown ML. Goner air Mu4e and Miniq||bp Chengs Shey-sa^ the attack was made by Koreans and that^jleneral Mu to was wounded oirpl nditig the Prime Minister wsut rrininni f JAPAN - 3 Meanwhile in Geneva the League of Nations doesn't seem to be optimistic about its peace-making efforts in the Manchurian embrolio. In fact a special cable to the New Xork Times declares that the League has come to a formal decision that t its attempts at conciliation have failed. Tonight is a wild night over in Berlin. That Hitler . 0: demonstration that the newspapers told us was coming has turned into a violent battle. The Nazis paraded from in front of Com­ munist headquarters to the monument of one of their own men. The Communists had threatened trouble. The police took heavy precau­ tions, but the battle between the Hitlerites and the Communists broke out just the same, and a late dispatch to the New York newspaper THE PR0GHESS0 tells us it is raging now. nm crsx££- cr S-7^^ "2 "2 n t^33. £d\l Unvw- , I L.T.^8 INTRO TO V.V;. Last v/Inter English writer. Captain Valentine Williams, gave a series of radio broadcasts about famous Britons were Gaptai& -feir-Mlams •vrggmxfely:-re.tur»ed "fee— eountry^-a!rrB±b^^ve^urt!rdHi^^ r c' to I knew him first as a war correspendenty-mrafr in the days when he was known as one of Lord Northcliffe*s "young men." He was first under fire in the Portuguese Revolution^ wiLh Lho Oepbian army-in the second Balkan war. During the World War he not only was a correspondent but tee- ws-sr a Captain in the Irish Guards, twi-o--e^"Tffm'Tid'eid■. Later he became the head of the London Daily Mail staff assigned to cover the Paris Peace Conference. wj. Qt o —£3."r recovering fromAwound in the hospital t=3&m "The Man with the Clubfoot^" described as the mm INTRO TO finest spy story of the Ho&lm War. Since then fourteen more of his mystery —* secret service — novels have mi Eui’<»po and on this M 4 dQ of Uic water- CflPtQ4.i» 'Vg!onfin^ erf—UnyO v? a-e^^-T ho- IAy s t agy CPnsi v running in the Saturday Evening Postil' A Both as a war correspondent and as a snecial correspondent, he has been credited with some rather startling t&k and sensational scoops — that ±Mr h one over on his newspaper brethren, vwvO^ Captain, I know all Englishmen are supposed to be excessively modest and reluctant to tell about their own exploits, but this is just a little intimate family circle. along, puur yourself another cup of tea - (cough) ^@11 us what was the biggest scoop you ever had. s i CAPTAIN V.W. Righto, L.T. I don* t mind telling you so long as I have your promise that this is just "between us* My biggest scoop, my luckiest break, was in connection with the finding of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen. You remember Tut1s tomb? the ^pserfcsw excitement there was about that sealed door. The whole world was waiting breathlessly to know whethe: ‘ ’ to find out. It was an almost desperate mission. You see, the London Times had bought up the story from Lord Carnarvon, and other newspapers had to take the news from the Times or go without. Carnarvon told me quite frankly I was wasting my time — nobody except the Times would be told L.T.I sure dol And I particularly remember whether the V.W.:- That was just what I was sent to Luxor anything. As my story was sixty feet down in the ground and g l^rrmn ' ? v.w, - the tomb was barred to everybody except the excavators, I felt pretty blue. Carnarvon said nothing about his plans but I managed to discover that the sealed door was to be opened on # a certain Friday, So I went ah&ad just as though I was sure j of getting the story. To the tomb you had to cross the Nile in a bo&t and ride seven miles on a donkey through the hills,— in addition to this, the cable station was more than ajhile from the river landing. I hired the only car in Luxor, a decrepit Ford, to run between the landing stage and the cable office, engaged a special boat and crew to cross the river and for the journey from the Nile to the tomb, bought a Ford in Cairo and had it sent to Luxor by train. It set my expense account back 1500 dollars* and T . ~i£jl c & jj hid M on the Nile bank behind a shelter of bulrushes — ^ A rather like the infant Moses, —not to put the Opposition A on their guard. In case my Ford broke down I n A sexvluas—Esfrhalf a dozen donkey boys as couriers, L^rrymr) < f 1 V.W, - Well, the fatal Friday came, and after lunch Carnarvon, at the head of the digging party,and a group of invited guests, descended into the tomb. With despair in my heart I listened to muffled knocking coming from the bowels of the earth. My organization was complete; but I had no story and saw no prospect of getting it. Then fortune smiled. A fat Eygptian pasha came waddling out of the tomb for a breath of air. It was my only ffhanee and I seized it. Trying on him one of the oldest tricks of the trade, "Excellency, ,! I said, "did they find more than one coffin?" "No, only one," he replied v/ithout guile. "Very beautifully decorated, isn!t it?" I persisted. "Marvelous," he wheezed. "All blue and goldl" Then he realized that I was pumping him and fled. But I had my story, and within five seconds my flash with the news that King TutTs sarcophagus had been found was bumping down the rocky road to the cable station. It was the first message to leave Luxor, and in New York and London the evening papers were on the streets with the news before the excavators ^aUd U™*™ • i v.w. - 4 left the tomb. And poor Carnarvon died a few weeks later v/ithout ever knowing how I did it. L.Ts- That certainly was a noble scoop! I suppose they gave you a handsome bonus? V.W.;- Not a cent. But all good nevfspaper men know that the best work a fellow does is the work he isn't paid for, L.T. s- ^-11 of which goes to show that Captain ValentiiB Williams is a philosopher as well as an able writer. * l^znryWS) SCOTTI IT t ^In the world of the arts the week!s most interesting event was Antonio Seotti*s farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera House, Scotti, the great operatic villai^., the stately gentleman, the beloved veteran, will never sing again. H© is sixty-seven. His career goes back to the almost legendary days when Grand Opera was at its grandest. His stay at the Met3e@p©i£fcz» alone covered a span of thirty-three years. J He is/ above all others, the grand old man of opera. r hav e . a±i=t=oi4* ab-Jlit that fai Well, the newspaper farewell deeply performance on Friday afternoon. It was a dir-g^yy emotional A occasion. Great stars who had sung with Scotti in the past were there, and foremost among them were Marcella Sembrich and Geraldine Farrar. Scotti played one of his favorite roles. £<?sUiSLtUkdc « He was the villainous Chinaman in the opera XdOracolo. He acted the part superbly. For the past several years Scotti's voice has not been what it used to be, but he always was a magnificent actor. When, at the climax of the opera he played the death scene, it*- SCOTTI - 2 gasped, staggered, fell sprawling and lay motionless on the stage,^it seemed like a real death — as if an epoch had died, the older and more stately operatic era that Scotti represented. ffaJrbt, an emotional occasion. ftRGl There were tears in plenty. and comic—v/him that fits so well with overflowing sentiment. Carlo Edv/ards, v/ho is in charge of the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House, tells me of a gnaatai moody little incident. Before L’Oracolo, a short opera, they gave La Boheme, and while it was being played Scotti got himself all fixed up in his Chinese make-up and costume. The music of La Boheme was being played on the stage, and Scotti was walking back and forth in front of his dressing room. He was vocalizing^^Xou know how singers try out their voices with practice phrases*before Scotti was vocalizing ambitiously, loudly. Maybe it was because this was his last performance, the last time he would ever sing SCOTTI - g 9 - in. an opsra maybe that was why he tried out his voice so --- ------------ - • - ~-v-~ ~tr. long and so loudly^ Anyway they could hear it out on the stage It is the duy duty of ray friend Cado Edwards to see that nothing goes wrong, and so he hurried back to tell Scotti to pipe down a little. •'Pardon me, ft&Sa?Scotti," he said discreetly, "But I must ask you not to sing so loudly. They can hear your voice clear out in the audience." a strange look came over Scotti's face. "He came to me,” Carlo Edwards relates, "and put his arm around my shoulder." "Ah, my dear fallow," he iexbjk . exclaimed, "It is a compliment for you to say so. For three years nobody has told me that I have enough voice left for the audience to hear. And now _ what a compliment — and it is at my last performance." That's characteristic of the smiling irony that was always a part of Aina Antonio Scotti. EMD And now let^s get off to a running finish. So did hills Vn'right of Miami. Ellis is one of the colored C /"N brethren who certainly has his wits him. around, A gang of farm hands was standing when Ellis, big, black, and running mighty fast, came dashing right into their midst, ^hey grabbed him, wondering what it was ail about. niiey boss, le1 me go,,T panted Ellis, nI!m helping train the dogs, trainin1 blood hounds. The dogs is gettin* a less;* • right now — Kxxffcc chasin’ me. And you wouicta. 11 want to interfere with the blood feBtHdx hounds* education, would you boss?11 The farm hands jfchBmgtefcxddagy didn’t want to keep the blood hounds from being trained, and so they let Ellis go. 2© disappeared over a distant hill. a little while later the blood hounds came along. A couple of sherifs were with them. They were after Ellis all right, but it wasn’t just gaining. Ellis had ©scaped from the county ix jail. END / At last reports he was still at large. Well, I can't help sympathizing with him. When he ran into those farm hands he aSeSxji&r a tight corner, but A. A he talked himself right out of it. Which reminds me that I've talked myselrAout of my allotted time — ads so long until K ? J