REFUGEES A 7 . _ The ^help-t he-refugee” movement takes on larger dimensions today, with some explanations by President Roosevelt. (in a press conference at V/arm Springs, he Was asked a number of questions ~£Za erican^p’i«Wiiniog«»tg^ to twenty-nine nations 'to up an international commission that would enabl^ about the Ameri< Austrian and German refugees to find homes in other countries - we to admit them to the limit of the legal quotas. The President was asked whether the proposal applied O chiefly to the Jews who are mispressed in anti-Semitic countries. He answered that the plan was meant to apply to a great many \ i Christians also - wefd get a certain proportion of Christians.^/ The question was then asked - did the welcome to the refugees mean only people from Austria and Germany? Or - did it also apply to countries like Russia, Spain and Italy? The President said yes, it did. Now, that brings up a curious point. Italy is one of the nations invited to join in the welcome to the refugees. But, Italy iS also named as a nation from which refugees will anti-Fascists, Italians opposed to the Mussolini regime. Italy REFUGEES - 2 to give up refugees and also to take them in - not the same ones, for that would be too complicated. Maybe it would be a swop, with Mussolini trading oppressed Italian anti-Fascists for oppressed pro-Fascists from somewhere else - x£=*» could find some A a oppressed pro-Fascists. Maybe^rey Russia - although Stalin seems to prefer^Mwaoafe&aay tirose old Fascist companions of Lenin. It might be that Italy would consider it smart and economical to unload TT its concentration camps into somebody elsers country. One trouble is - what about the oppressed Communists in the Fascist nations* How weTve could we take them in, when^oe^got- a law forbidding the ?7P entrance of Communists into the United- States. This double role word^from'Rome'^^toatthe Italian government is likely to turn the whole idea down. One angle is that Italy, being an ally of Germany, will have to consult Hitler about it* *8^ the prospects are not good that Italy will participate in American plan. Great Britain, on the contrary, is ready to join that’s the authoritative word today from London. REFUGEES^- 3 The President in hls^decleration today made it clear that the refugee proposals apply to every nation that has an oppressed minority. He harked back to the days of yore, when the United States was the haven for political refugees from everywhere, and said that the old time welcome was still a policy of this nation - within the limits of the immigration quotas, SaEseaeampiBSk Well, there are plenty of nations with oppressed minorities. HereTs a dispatch from Poland which tells of anti- Semitic riots in V/arsaw. They occurred at a technical high school, where nationalist students staged an anti-Jewish meeting of three thousand, and demanded that all Jews be kept out of the school. That was followed by a rowdy disturbance as the crowd stormed through ml classrooms and laboratories and maltreated Jewish students. A*notier reminder of the brutal anti-Semitic wave that is sweeping through nations like Poland, Hungary, Roumania - each with an oppressed minority that would come under the American refugee plan, as sident explains it. Meanwhile, Austria and Germany are getting ready for Sion of the ft 1 ft/"» +’ -5 l-MO j. i_4. t i Vi ft 3 gesture REFUGEES - 4 two countries. Hitler is campaigning, making electioneering speeches - though why does he have to do that? At Koenigsburg in East Prussia, he made a boastful speech today with one bit of yragatB braggadocio that had an ominous and formidable ring. Talking of the near future, he shouted - «i will be the leader of the greatest army in the world’s history.” And there may be much truth as bragging in that. MEXICO The Mexican government is in a dilemma, (having seized the r Vvt — four hundred million dollar foreign oil properties,^ tt*^Vu?esmen don't taow what to do with them. Operate them, of course - but what will they do with the oil? Sell it to somebody - but -h»n. to whors? In other words, the Mexican government is looking for customers who will pay with sound cash ■jfaagxgaask tun•! ujuaiTt^need* foreign currency, to bolster financial position- but at the same time foreign sales abroad are likely to be complicated by the falling value of Mexican money, the Peso slipping. it looks as if the authorities at Mexico City might A get at least one^«td^ customer for oil* There*s one nation that stands ready to buy. Guess around a bit, and you*11 think of - Japan. The Mikado *s minister at Mexico City declared today that Japanese companies are very much in the market for the oil the Mexicans have seized. He explained that Japanmost of its oil right now from California - but the price is high. They»d get petroleum cheaper from Mexico, so they’ll place large or e There’s even talk of laying a pipe-line from the east coast of the Mexican oil fields, across the country, to the Pac the country. mexk !Q 2 where the Japanese could get it much more easily. The pipe-line however* would be exceedingly expensive. Here’s a late dispatch from Tokyo which states that Japan may eventually buy fuel oil for its fleet, from the Mexican government. This Mexican oil situation is most interesting, if not joyfully entertaining. The Mexican government seizeds the four hundred million dollar oil properties, which were mostly owned by Americans -- and then turns around and sells that former American oil to J|apan. Which will bring a wry smile to the patient long suffering countenance of your Uncle Sam. JAPAN The Japanese claim they won a great air battle, swarms of planes battling in the sky • Ihe Mikado* s men say they destroyed fifty Chinese war planes — and that figure .vould indicate just about the greatest air battle ever. .. . . . . . . . ma T.V.A. The T.V.A. is now formally and finally m the congressional whirlpool* A lot of water rushes over the Tennessee Valley dams and a lot of power is generated, all of which will be matched by the rush of words and the high power conversation when the investigation gets going. It was voted by the Senate today - a Joint quiz by a ten-man committee, five senators and five congressmen. The Senate resolution now goes to the lower House, where it is sure to be ratified. The argument about the investigation found the senators lined up in two factions - friends of the T.V.A. and enemies cf the great power project. disagreed on what the investigation was to investigate. The friends of the T.V.A. wanted to inquire into charges that big companies had been monkeying around and hx getting undue favor The enemies of the T.V.A. thought the inquiry should look into charges of corruption, malfeasance, on the part of people in control of the project - along the line of the charges made by Chairman Arthur E. Morgan, whom the President ousted. The two factions got together today with a compromise - 1 !: ■I 1 I T.V.A, - 2 or really> it s a combination. Both, lines of Inquiry are to be made. The investigation will consider T.V.A, relations with big companies and also the accusation of fraud. The opinion of the friends of the T.V.A. was voiced by Administration leader Senator Barkley, who said he was convinced that the probe will reveal nothing corrupt^ Jfcdmfc-.tstgatefca; will merely redound to the glory of the T.V.A. WAGES I W II In Washington today a financial figure was named - Thirty Cents, Thatis not a lot of money, but it takes a dominant place in the long drawn out controversy about the Wage and Hour Bill. The Bill proposes to set a minimum wage, and the recent argument has been - how high should that minimum wage be? Naturally, the Union leaders want it as high as “A-------- X today President Green of the AmericanjFederation of Labor said - ^Thirty Cents,tt a mininmm wage of thirty cents an hour. No worker in the nation to get less than that* He declared that his unions would never accept a Twenty Cent an hour minimum, as has been proposed, but they wouM take Thirty Cents. That, however — with a condition. A temporary minimum, with the understanding that there would be increases over a period of several years, until the figure was raised to Forty Cent s. SPAIN /Tonight, the Spanish Rebels are shouting - "The end of the war is in sight'." ^ Today they captured an important objective - a toum regarded as the key to the campaign in northern Aragon. Everywhere along the wide front, the Left Wing troops were in hasty retreat, pursing delaying-tactics, blowing up bridges and buildings, blowing up everything. The Barcelona plan is now to make a stand at fortified lines before the City of Lerida. ThatTs an important industrial place, and its fortifications are the last line of Left Wing defense. If the swift Franco advance ' ■ ' IS; * ''U T£ crashes through there, it promises to be a headlong rush to the sea. That's why the Rebels are cheering - "The end of the war is in sightl" gQTTTH AFRICA They had an earthquake in South Africa today, nothing violent, a mere mild tremor. But it produced terrifying results in one place - a gold mine at Johannesburg, a deep shaft, fi below the surface^ The trembling of the earth cracked the rock, loosened it, brought about a psx terrific fall of stone. blocked the entrance of the shaft where scores of miners were working. They were trapped. were brought out, fifty-seven native black miners and five white men. There may still be some others in the deep shaft blocked There was a swift drive of rescue work and sixty-two men by the rockfall. Let’s paraphrase Shakespeare and say - "What’s in two names?” And the answer might be, that two names can be exceedingly appropriate. Let’s consider it from a nautical point of view, maritime, oceanic. In the old days of warfare at sea, a first ranking fighting craft with tall masts and spreading sails, a ship of the line, was called — a man’o’war. Nowadays, in the era of steam and steel armour, giant fighting craft is called — a battleship. So you might say that the present day battleship is a child of the old-time man’o’war. Now - that’s also true of horses. It’s most appropriate that a son of that mighty thoroughbred. Man’o’war, should be named "Battleship.” I doubt whether Man’o’War, in his greatest racing thrill, ever won a more exciting track event than Battleship did today. The Grand National is one of the world's great classics, and the Irish Sweepstakes focused triple attention on it. l,t1'xr~a Steeplechase that is most spectacular^.With thirty jumps and thirty-six hor^sln it. One of the smallest of the thoroughbreds A ■p limbed Man’o’War. was Battleship, a rather pigmy-progeny of the big Not expected to »in either, not a favorite. I II PACE - 2 flttshing. jitsPfeio^> burly of the race one jump after another. And one after another of the horses fell out of the race. "Fall" is right, those breakneck spills when a jump goes wrong. One of the thoroughbreds was injured so badly they had to destroy it. It all turned into a nerve-tingling duel down the stretch, a duel between Battleship and the Irish steeplechaser. Royal Danieli. Royal Daniel! looked like the winner, but Battleship challenged him, out-stayed him, and out-ran him. The finish was so close that many people couldnTt tell the winer. Once again that ManToTWar is A A sire in the world-of -the~thoroughbred. His descendants have made Well, L,he pack wrent dashing in the swift hurrjte*. couldn’t see that Battleship won by a neckj ax today with the triumph an amazing record on the track*, a rack., a record that came to a climax of the appropriately named - Battleship. And there1s racing news from Brunswick, New Jersey.- ^Swimming races, and the theme of the story is - colds, cold in the RACE - 3 head, snuffling and sneezing. They are staging the National Intercollegiate Championships, and the fifteen hundred meter free style race was^gsam today. The champion was out defending his crown, John Macionis, captain of the Yale Team. It didnft seem any too likely that herd successfully defend it, because the Yale swimmer has beenff©F4n^-£rS® a series of colds^ Il®=b«s==l 3 «ew ^ obstinate siege of snuffling and sneezing. But msm he did, he splashed the fifteen hundred meters in twenty minites and fifteen and a half seconds. So he!s still champion - and still has a cold. nOOLIDGE And now — here’s where I sink into the depths of humiliation. I have made a lot qf apologies and retractions And now on the time., but tonight, I've got to make the most mortifying explanation of all.- It Is bad enough to go wrong on a fact or make a sour guess, but the worst of all Is — when you tell an anecdote and. fail to get the point across, andhave to explain what the joke was. A A I’ve been^ getting a stream of protests from the radio audience all because of a Calvin Coolldge story I told. For example Mrs. John M. Inman of Concord, New Hampshire writes. f,I don’t believe it there was a word of truth in that sarsaparilla story. J It didn’t seem just respectful to our former President.” Mxxxx Miss Margaret B. Kelly of Belle Harbor, Long Island says; ”It was cheap”. Mrs. Caroline Tomlinson of Boston, chides me severely. "That wasn’t news", she writes, "that was mental smallness on your pscxtx part." ’even in poetrjJ I’m scolded^ by Mrs Nina Judd of Waterbury, Connecticut. She versifies as follows: C00LIDGS_- - Believe iiol escli accusing ‘torxgue As some weal people do But still believe that story wrong Which out not to be true. b Well, itJs all because I didn't put across £he point of the story. I told an anecdote I nad heard of how President Coolidge in his Massachusetts home town invited a party of newspapermen for a drink, and ordered sasparilla -- all around. When each had had his bottle of sasparilla. President Coolidge reached into his pocket brought out a nickel and paid for his own. Now that does sound like a jibe at the Coolidge economical habits. What I railed to make clear was -- that it was just a joke Calvin Coolidge was playing on the ewspapermen. Just a bit of the sly dry Coolidge Humor. Just a josh. And a story T’r. Coolidge loved to tell. So I don't deserve to be scolded for being disrespectful to the memory of an honored President. I deserve worse then that - a make thorough bailing out for telling an anecdote and failing to miek the Point and that Ird better mention this because ITm bound for M Coolidge's home state tonight - bound for Vermont - and So LONG until MONDAY.