k'.T.*—- 3' 1.0CO - Thurs. July ?,g, 1937 GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY: There's a lot of foreign news tonight. And the big story still is the news from the Far East. One impressive Far Eastern headline comes from London. Great Britain warns Japan’ In the Bouse of Commons today, Foreign minister ^nthony Eden declared Britain’s opposition to any further Japanese acquisition of provinces in China. That does seem to put the Far Eastern fighting into high and inter-national prominence. Let’s take a look at exactly what was said in the House of Commons today, life observe that His Majesty’s Foreign Minister uttered just one word. It was in response to a question. The question was propounded by a Liberal M.P. , who asked: ’’Has the foreign secret ry made it clear to the Japanese Government that we do not approve of any further attempt to detach provinces from the Hanking Government?” ”Yes,” replied Foreign Minister Eden. An eloquent one word affirmation. Clear cut enough, although hardly the equivalant of a direct and outright ultimatum to Tokyo. And then it became less stern and outright when we note that the loreign minister quickly into a vague cloud of words. CHUU - £ All tills in London - while the havoc of war was raging at Tientsin, That great port, the gateway of Morthern China, is a devastated Metropolis this evening. The Japanese bombed from the sky today, and bitter fighting raged on the ground. The terrors of war were unleashed when three powerful Chinese forces made a sudden attack on the Japanese lines. They struck with determination and vigor, and captured posi­ tions a^ong the vital Railway. They were threatening to drive the Japanese from their lines of control, force them out, send them scurrying. Then the war machine of Japan went into action. I All the mechanism of battle was thrown against the Chinese regi ments, and China today showed herself no match for the war sci- enoe of the Japanese. At last reports the Chinese troops were being cut to pieces, driven off in a hail of fire One of Japan's .oaost powerful weapon today was aircraft* Pianes struck at the attaclaing Chinese, and planes bonibed Tientsin They blasted great buildings of the Railway administration, where the Chinese were in force^ and set the Railway Station on fire. Then they bombed the Tientsin Town Hall, and soon it raxt&xJbc was in flames. The Japanese bombers struck methodically at important points. It was largely an incendiary stx attack, with Tientsin on fire in many places. Planes swooped low and dropped floods of gasoline to make the fire they set bum the more freely, M»aztwh±± Meanwhile, the uhinese and Japanese within theCity were fighting, •Japanese civilian inhabitants were being killed by Chinese troops. And in the orgy of blood and fire, the foreign population, kDcrs^ana Europeans and Americans, were caught in the swirl of battle. The reality of their danger ia made graphic hy m A 1------ --- official statement of the Japanese high command today, a-e tat omen t eandid-and—MThe seriousness of the situation," declared Tokyo Generals, "has compelled the Japanese Army to attack bhe Chinese positions despite earlier assurances that it would ^HINA -4 not expose the City's foreign population to peril," 30 exposed. * to peril they were, with from the sky, and—shooting- on—.ev «r y wh er» . hhat about the Americans in Tientsin, .There are a thousand civilians, and a thousand troops, the fifteenth Infantry permanently stationed in that City. And the civilians are complaining about the troops - at least some missionaries^are. C. K-s- "hey made a protest today that the/fifteenth _%h fan try refused to A sally out and rescue them from parts of the City under the storm of war. The missionaries say they were in the thick of the bombing and shooting and called the American^ authorities, asking for soldiers to come and get them. but the (fifteenth -infantry had to repli ed that the^. had better stay wher<s they "were appeal to the Chinese Police, who jgQExrgLt escorted them, /hid they were forced to take refuge, not at the American headquarters, but in the Italian concession. There are stories of other Americans who have found safety under the guard of Italian, French or Bi’itish troops. "he picture at Tientsin is one of war and destruction, but it1) s far otherwise at Peiping, The City of jnorthem peace is CHINA - 5 really peaceful tonight - the Japanese in full control. The anti-Japanese General bunch, having been forced out. A pro- Japanese commander is in control. And all resistance to the troops of the Mikado has vanished at Peiping. The Chinese are crying »treason". They say the peace p%rty of their own pop­ ulation betrayed them and have turned the old capital over to the invader. It's still not clear whether there will be formal openly declared war between China and Japan. Today, ^hiang Kai Shek, head of the Nanking Government, issued a belligerent declaration. It begins in curiously Chinese terms. "Present conditions show," announced the generalissimo, "that the Japanese have completely ignored Chinese wishes." j 1 say they have — killing you is usually ignor­ ing your wishes. "Therefore," Chiang Kai—^hek goes on, "China will fight to the last man." That sounds more familiar - the last man declaration. The question of what the hanking government will do is involved in Oriental ambiguities and circumlocutions. EGYPT ^Another King was crowned todayAnd I have a letter here which has an interesting bearing on today's coronation. \ The letter is from Egypt, from Wendell Cleland of the American University at Cairo. The news event the letter concerns is r | ^Jshe enthronement today of King Farouk as the Sovereign of Egypt - as the twentieth century pharaoh.^Cr maybe - a twenti- i eth century caliph — commander of the faithful. Let me read you a paragraph of Wendell Eielanaig letter from Cairo. "An interesting controversy" he srites " is going on here - 'under the straw' as the Arabs say. The brilliant example of the British coronation has stirred the iffiaginatsion of some staunch supporters of Islam, who are anxious that King Farouk, as the leading Moslem Prince, should be crovmed in the Royal Mosque of Cairo by the Sheik til Islam. 'Lhe advocates ot this idea, "Wendell Cleland continues, "feel that it will bring a great deal of prestige to Egypt. Such a ceremony would maxe it clear to the Mohammedans that Farouk is taking the throne by the authority of Allah - and that would put him in somewhat the posi­ tion of a Caliph, the commander of the Faithful." du iPT - 2 xes, • oes stir the i..iagination - a twentieth cs-itur}' Hare .-.n A1 iiaseaid reigning not in Bagdad "but in Cairo - as Lord of Islam. But there'a another slant to it, another aigle, a contradletion, a controversy. Wendell Cleland of Cairo University puts it this way; •'On the other hand," he writes, "the position of the modem Egyptian politician is that of the Wafd Party, which is now in power and has IT ah as Pasha as Premier. This constitutional group wants no confusion as to where the authority of the king comes from. So they are pressing that Parouk should he enthroned in the Parliament Building and take the oath of office «• thereby promising to be a good and obedient king.” So the parliamentary politicians don’t want any Caliph ruling by the Grace of Allah, successor to hoharamed u* ttA commander of the faithful. They are interested in strictly twentieth century politics. Such was the controversy. Bow let us see how it worked out tod ay - as the i-igkteen year olu hoi, jj ai o a!, ■'as accla im ed k in . H e w s d i op at cli es tell us of gorge on 3 so ea es in C'&iro, ^~3 .r^-ar.ii80'ent in Oriental fashion of the British "oronati .n* Farouk, in a brilliant uniform, riding in a carriage of rold. Runners, each with a colored staff, trotting along 3 1 ■ e* Troops in uniforms of blue and gold, on their heads the R-./al Bodyguards. Crowds of Tfet# c'J- t£jg “t&je Vlc^p-- thousand s unon^thou sands lining the streets cheering the king. Thau, he received homage, seated on a golden throne. It ffas all flamingly royal - but not religious. The news specif in ally tells us that the totrfc enthronement took place in the Parliament Building- Hot in the sacred Mosque of El Rifai. King Farouk took the constitutional oath in the presence of government officers. He did not receive the royal investment at the hands of the Sheik U1 Islam, noi^was he granted the sacred sword., the jewel studded blade of ho hammed ~ A1 i - the* Great * In other words - the politicians of the Constitutional Party had their way A*. .And eo a boy KinL.; Ao k the throne, while here^s who is having his troubles* His kingdom is facing a grave political scandal. The child sovereign himself has been swindled, and the Ministers of his Cabinet have resigned . iVho is the juvenile monarch? Ihy King An and a of Siam, brother cf the Moon, supreme arbitrator of the ebb and flow of the tides, gzaaix possessor of the twenty-four umbrellas. The trouble broke out in a bitter debate in the Siamese parliament. Charges of crockery-were made against 1 e h in.: politicians - the accusation that they had swindled their own King. The story is that government ministers sold a iar e slice of royal property on the cly. and uipch too cheaply. - for a song/ The land was bought up by a political group, and large profits were made by all. The storm of scandal is so violent that now the head of tne gove:, i/nent, % Premier Sena, and Chai rman of the Regency 0 . unoil, Prince Aditya, have resigned. The defrauded young King i s in need of a new set of rainist<irs. Well, His Boyish Maj e sty, An and a, has had financial S1 ~ 2 +. to uo- - s Defo re. In sc)iOi'l at Lu zem e, Switzerland ( he had one of the smallest allowances among all the boys. And it* s on record that once an Asneric=ri news photographer had to bribe him with thirty cents before he would let his picture be taken. o lt'u interesting how coincidences happen, things occuring at the same time. Today is Mussolini * s birthday. He is fif ^.y-four. nad a great celebration at a resort place on the Adriatic - the kind of celebration the Duce likes, a review of warships. There was also a sort of Mussolini celebration in vh |£ j . Paris. It was on the Puce’s birthday that^sadawy De Pontages was draught to trial, that vivacious /french divorcee involved in a drama of love and shooting of which the black shirt dictator is the hero^ Today Ufcfiiufls faced the Court. Evidence was given, . n ?; and a verdict was handed down, •'The legal proceedings were surrounded by guarded secrecy, because it was feared that w M sl . might talk so loudly and volubly about Mussolini and his love as to provoke an international crisis. tut the main lines of the evidence are well known f llUhiie ! s great romance with Mussolini. if : Eling r llyn li ii ted ecstacy to three weeks, but •s Homan idyll sighed and languished for three months. Then it was shattered, through the machinations of Count X>e Cnamoatun, d esc end ant of Lafayette and Prench Ambassador to Italy. The I imS 30 LXi>i I - 2 . Count, s’ne 'laims, .vnxaperoc3. poisonous words about her to Mussoiin ij and destroyed the Puce's love for her. The descendant of Lafayette, *n _.itv.v o-e./s <vxtn nex’, hissed her aixd caressed her* 1 While blighting her great love, he tried to give her another oam to take its place. So she .said. In a Paris Railroad Station, she shot him - wounded him, but not seriously. The evidence that e presented included her diary full of purple descriptions and three hundred photographs of Mussolini, some of them supposedly signed by hin, with tender salutations. He'd hardly have autographed all three hundred with lovelorn epithets. That would have been laborious even for the hard working Dictator, "he wo rid has been wondering how much trutn tnere was ^ hl£(& da * love story. Was it all a freak of feminine imagination. Or did the iron Dues melt in the glow o* A* fascinations, I don't know how conclusive the evidence was in the deep secrecy of the Paris Court today, out the verdict has oeen made public and has interesting implications, fcaaemtib was on trial for having shot the Sasmixi Count Jo Ciiarabrun, nobody denied sh.e bad done just tiiat* 3 o siie was found guilty today. What a the penalty. Why, a year in jail, but the sentence was suspended, which makes it not even ten minutes in Jail, And is fined a hundred francs. With the exchange ■•hat it is, that comes to thirty-3even dollars and a half. All that for shooting the former Ambassador and descendant of Lafayette. But that’s not all. The Count De Chambrun in the Court proceedings demanded damages for having been shot, - which seems fair enough. And the Court awarded him damages - one franc, which is not quite four cents. I don’t know how philosophize this French A A verdict; but I suppose the gentleness-of the punishment inflicted on would indicate that the Ceurt believed her story of the Mussolini romance was true. Also - that she was more a*. justified in startin ' to shoot when it was broken off - which I take to be quite a compliment to Mu sso 1 i■ 1 , nyway, it happened on the Buce’s 54tu -„irti-d, whi^n makes it quite a sprightly coincidence gi&I X ; — world* Cincinnati has a case that's tlie very height Qf boldness -and brass, hainut Finn is a heal Estate dealer arid to him came -f client who said he waited to buy three houses, Finn said sure, he had three houses - but he only thought, he did . He took the prospective buyer to the Walnut Street section of the city to inspect the property - the houses. But no houses were there - merely vacant lots, and a truck driver vho was hauling away a last load of bricks. Jtx tearing down the buildings and selling than for second^ hand raw material. He got a hundred and thirty dollars for tiiam, and they were valued at twelve thousand. The tnr.iolr Upon being questioned, that truck driver admitted f nl i in WI d I ill hi rn—iu -frsw * u m* il i u se-hou 0 ►.