Lowell Thomas Broadcast
ror the Literary Digest
Wednesday, October
8
,
1930
INTRO.
The headlines tonight flash from all cjuar
ters of the globe: the British Dominions have an
emphatic word to say in London—somebody down in Penn­
sylvania has put windows i/-’ - rabbit’s ears—they're
still revoluting in Brazil—and there’s a strange story
from China. And so it goes with the news buzzing in
from one continent and then another--by telephone,
telegraph, cable and wireless.
is being held, the British Dominions have said ’xiV-
to the proposal of Empire Free Trade. There has been
a good deal of talk lately about tearing down the
tariff walls between the various members of the Brit­
ish Commonwealth of Nations. But now the Dominions
say ”nothing doing”.
Canada and South Africa led the opposition.
Old John Bull doesn't seem able to order his children
In London, where the Imperial Conferei
around anymore.
So the idea of Imperial Free Trade




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goes in the waste basket, - at least for a while.
A'hat the Dominions will concede is an lm-
perial Preference, which means they will admit the
products of other parts of the Empire at lower tariff
rates than those imposed on outside nations.
Aith the Imperial Conference on its hands,
the London Labor Government is bringing out a scheme
for relieving the unemployment situation by settling
the unemployed on the land. A story in the New York
Evening Post tonight states that the London government
will ask parliament for power to buy land in England
for the unemployed.
Across the Channel, in France, there is some
complaint that they are not doing right by American
citizens. Our government in Washington, says an As­
sociated Press dispatch, has been asked to do something
about discrimination against Americans who come before
French courts. Americans, it is said, do not get
©dual rights when they are opposed by Frenchmen in law
suits.
One case has caused a lot of comment. Captain
Paul Rockwell, an American who fought in the French
Army during the World War and was decorated for heroism
bought a house in Paris, intending to live in it. The
house was occupied by a tenant, and when the tenant




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found that the purchaser was an American, he refused to
move. Captain Rockwell went to law about it, but could,
not get possession of his property. French judges, ac-
cording to the complaint, refused to listen to the
American1s case. In one instance a judge declared:
"An American has no rights over here. If he wishes to
enjoy the rights of French law, he must become naturaliz­
ed."
Under the Franco-American treaty of 1853
American citizens in France, and French citizens in
America are guaranteed equal rights with the natives
of the respective countries. There are only 12,000
American citizens In France, according to the New York
Times. But there are 155,000 French citizens in
America.
.
0
.
Whatever rights an American may have in
France, there seems to be some dispute about the right
of one particular American to run for governor of
New York.
Simeon Brekerman, represents several inde­
pendent Democratic organisations in New York State. He


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announced today that he has filed with the Secretary
ol St&te, a protest against the inclusion in the
state ballot of the name of Professor Robert Carroll,
dry candidate for governor. The protest charges that
the nominating petition for Professor Carroll contains
Illegal signatures. Brekerman says that all necessary
legal measures will be taken to keep the Syracuse Uni­
versity professor out of the race.
This little argument will cause a ripple or
two on the already troubled surface of our Eastern
politics. If this were South America, it might cause
a revolution.
BRAZIL
_____ ___
The president of Brazil has called 420,000
men to the colors. Percy Foster, International News
Service correspondent, cables from South America that
the Brazilian government is rushing 100,000 of these
to check the rebels while the other reserves are being
mobilized. Warships of the Brazilian navy are steam­
ing up and down the coast, giving what help they can
to combat the rebels.




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j.t looks as though this is going to be the
Dloouiest struggle that the western hemisphere has
seen since our own civil war, says William Phillip
oiju
S, foreign editor of the Scripps-Howard newspapers.
Two arsies, each approximately 100,000
men strong, are marching towards a head-on collision.
The revolt has spread all over Brazil.
Perhaps you are saying to yourselves: nBut
why
all the shooting down in Brazil?”
nWell, because of coffee.”
Brazil raises more coffee than all the rest of
the world put together. The prosperity of the country
depends on it.
A late flash has just come in from Buenos
Aires to the International News Service. It says that
the fall of the city of Sao Paulo is expected any
moment. Another report from Buenos Aires adds that twoj
steamers have been sunk by the Brazilian rebels at the
entrance of Bio Grande do Sul today to keep federal
warships from entering the harbor and bombing that
TIL .
city.
';r~.
From Brazil to New England ought to be a
transition from war to peace—but not altogether.


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NEWS ITEM OF TIP-: HAV
And now of all the wide maze of events that
make up the pages of the newspapers today, what was
the most interesting story? The news item of the day.
And who should I ask to select it?
At lunch I ran into Louis Froelick, one of
the founders of Asia Magazine, who once lived in
China, and I put it up to him.
iir. Froelick thumbed the pages of the New
York Sun: The world*s series, political scandals, gang
wars—he passed them by. Back through the want ads
and the ship news, he went.
"Ah, here it is." And he pointed to a story
from Shanghai, on the far off China Coast. It tells
how, for the first time in history, white men are act­
ing as servants to yellow men. And mind you, this is
no record of an occasional penniless beach-comber earn­
ing food and a chance to ^et back home. On the con­
trary, this involves numbers of white men.’
What a world of meaning such story has to
the student of the races 1 Consider the white mani
Throughout modern history he has—whetner English,
French, German, Russian, or Norwegian-tried to uphold
the white man’s prestige.



7
But this Shanghai story tells us that Rus­
sian emigres—
not
roustabouts, or Bolshevists—but
members of the old Czarlst order—the flower of the
aristocracy of Europe—are entering the employ of rich
Cn^nese. They are chauffeurs, gatemen, clerks, mes­
sengers, body guards, and even escorts—to the wives
of wealthy Celestial traders. White Russians—one time
counts, dukes and peers—serving slant-eyed masters
and mistressesi Driven from their own country—now they
are servin_ yellow masters as faithfully as ever Chinee
boy obeyed the commands of his American boss.
The reason? Of course the exiles must live.
For another thing, there is the great personal satis­
faction the celestials take in being "owner", or master,
of a white wage slave. And for a third, the white ser­
vant has proved truer and more trustworthy, than has
the usual Chinese servant, says the Sun. Many have been
wounded, and several killed in the defense of their
Chinese lords.
But a strange thing has happened to the racial
viewpoint out there in Shanghai. These white Russians
apparently have grown to love and respect their Chinese
masters. Not long ago, a Russian who for many years had
been guard and companion to a moneyed Chinese merchant


8
committed suicide. And the officials found that his
fatal act was the result of grief because his yellow
master had been killed by bandits.
Likewise, the Sun correspondent was watching
a long cue ue of mourners wind down the Tibet road behind
the coflin of a Chinese mandarin. There came a towering
figure swathed in the customary white wilk funeral robe
of China. This particular mourner’s great height, his
European bearing, aroused the writer's curiosity. He
followed. At last, the mourner showed his face. It was
the visage of a Russian of culture and refinement. This
man had for some years acted as the deceased Chinaman’s
chauffeur and guard. And the yellow man had proved
his true friend and benefactor.
’’East is east, and west is west.
And never the twain shall meet.”
That was what hipling told us. But this strange
tale of white men working as servants to yellow men out
in Shanghai gives us something to ponder over.
DQRRAnCE
Philadelphia
papers today printed summaries
late Dr. John T. Dorrance.
of the will of the
Dr. Dorrance





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3
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:UCt aVr Ue'n -
retiring nan, because few of
U'" ’..... . ‘
••
''
°-
us realized that he p;as
: ln the world. He left a fortune
t - '
• -• Ho - lid he ..te those millions?
Ov t or ciu.aec soi;pl
before ;ie ciieo, Dr. Dorraiice gave
sVt c'j'i iiitcrvir\". :le tola the secret of his success.
::R suiu i.iut advertising had been largely responsible
for it.
Advertising no doubt played a vast part in
the building up of that fabulous fortune. You see,
the doctor ras a pioneer in the business of manufactur­
ing conccntrat^c canned products. As the Savannah,
Georg’ a,levs points out, he was one of the men who made
it possible far your wife and mine to spend the afternoon
at the theater and then walk home with the evening meal
under ier arm—from the nearest grocery store. Thanks
tc Dr. Dorra-.ce and some of his competitors, we can buy
whole ..cals in cans
now—
everything from soup to nuts.
Jib NFDLY
By the way, those of you who were listening in
last night will get a kick out of this:
Old Jim hcely
was acquitted today of the murder of Hi Cooley, the man
he fought with, over that girl 47 year- i-°*





10
FBEAK FLASHES
OUv in Coloraco, Jiromy Donohue rtm his auto-
ai0blle over a d°e- He thought it was a police dog. So
ne ji:jiped >ut and tried to put it in his car, to take it
to a nospital. It fought and bit like a tiger. But
Ji..,. sv ;i:astrred it, tied it up, and carted it to town.
•*-i: °-‘f'
tul, tiic ooctoi s fled. His T,dogM was a full—
grown prairie wolf.
DAIIF BOXER
The Evening World brings us news of a little
poetic justice in a -rise fight up in Brunswick, Maine.
A boxer rushed his opponent so hard, that both fell
through the ropes and landed, a la Jack Dempsey, among
the ringside seats,. But then, instead of trying to get
back in the ring
There
they belonged, they went on light­
ing. Hutu rally, the one that landed on top was; getting
the better of it. An indignant spectator stood up,
reached over, and with one punch knocked the aggressor
cold—amid wild cheers.
FED All FLASliJiS
Talking
about Freak flashes, I was looking


11
tnrou£n an acvance copy of the new issue of the Literary
i.igewc -.iuv, ••■ill or, on your newsstands tomorrow morning,
and was getting a few laughs out of the Digest's famous
humorous page, "The Spice of Life." As an old-time
newspaper man, I always enjoy the fun that comes through
typographical errors or mis-written lines. There was
one in the "Spice of Life" which certainly does show how
some headline writers and proof readers go wrong. Here's
a head out of a paper in Middletown, Connecticut;
Princess, 37, weds Man 30 years junior.
Kidnapped, is the heading the Digest head
writer puts over it.
Here's another from the Digest. An ad. from
the Toronto Daily Star:
"A young woman wants washing or cleaning daily.
AUCTION
Ladeees and Gentlemen! We have here for sale
one of the finest little villages in the world. A com­
plete village, ladeees and gentlemen. How much am I of­
fered? Thirty—five cents! What? for a complete villager
Nonsense, ladeees and gentlemen. Nonsense. How muen,
how much? Going, going. To that gentleman over there


12
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with the bulbous nose. $1000. Good, $1000. Anybody
else? One thousand and thirty-nine dollars. For a
complete village, ladeees and gentlemen. It’s worth
a million if its worth a di ..e. Going, going, gone, for
$1,059......
Out in .’-atseka, Illinois, they sold the vil­
lage of Hickman today at auction. Under the hammer went
the postoffice, the general store, and three houses.
Time was when Hickman was a flourishing town—a grain
center. But somehow the folks all moved away.
A^ERICAh LEGION
Boston, after a rather hectic night, settled
down to the second day’s business session of the American
Legion. According to the Associated Press, the night
was given over to frivolity that was not exactly in the
nature of a second Boston tea party. The dispatch adds
that mobs of hoodlums took advantage of the occasion and
staged a night of wild disorder. Bonfires blazed on old ,
historic Boston Common, crowds milled through the streets
all night long—automobiles were wrecked. That sounds
exciting. But the Legion convention police, working
wi th the Boston city cops kept the frivolity from going


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too far.
Among the most picturesque Legionaires at
Boston is one Congressional Medal of Honor man who waited
12 years to get his medal. You all know his name. I
mean Eddie Hickenbacker. Eddie was the oldtime automo­
bile racer who became the best known American flier in
the World War. His final formal reward, the Congressional
Medal of Honor, was given to him only the other day.
I visited Rickenbacker*s squadron when they
were just behind the front not far from Verdun at Toul,
the old French walled city. As commander of the nHat-in-
the-Ringn Squadron, Eddie had many a thrilling air battle.
The other day when he was on his way through to the con­
vention, I was talking to him about his war experiences.
There was one of his air fjghts that always seemed to me
just about the height of skill, a masterpiece in the art
of outguessing your opponent.
Eddie was out by himself one afternoon. Sudden­
ly he saw a flash of fire over the American lines. "Guess
that’s a German balloon strafer putting one over on us,"
thought Eddie. So he swung over, hoping to get into a
position that would enable him to cut off the German. And
that was just the way it worked.
But as he was about to pounce upon the other fel-


low, streaks of fire swept past Eddie*s cheeks. A form­
ation of Fokaers had been hanging up there in the clouds
just for the purpose of catching an Allied combat plane
if it tried to catch the German baloon strafer. Eddie
had flown into a trap.
Turning, he saw two red-nosed Fokkers right
above him. That meant, they were part of the famous
Richthofen Circus. Well, Eddie did some of the quickest
thinking he ever did in his life. He figured they would
expect him to try to escape by diving. They would be
ready to dive on his tail and riddle him with tracer
bullets. So he did just the opposite. Up he shot in a
climbing chandelle, and the second he did so the Fokkers
shot under him in a headlong dive.
"Great. That’s the time I put one over".
But just as Eddie was congratulating himself,
he saw two more Fokkers directly above. There had been
four instead of two, only he hadn’t seen them. So it
fas 4 to 1—two under him now and two above. Yes, he
wa£ trapped by the Richthofen Circus, all right. And
he’d have to do some tall stepping to get out of this
hole.
In less time than.it takes to tell it, the
second pair of red-nosed Germans came down on him.
Throwing himself over on one wing, he went into a wild
slip. The two Germans downstairs might dive to get out



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of his way—or again, they might dart off on a horizontal
line. Eddie guessed theytd try the latter. And as he
fell, he directed his line of fire in front of the nearest
O
a
the planes under him. Sure enough, the German flew
straight ahead, right into his stream of bullets. Fire
shot from i cs gas tank, and the red—nosed Fokker went
flaming to the ground. Eddie turned his wing slip into
a swift loop, and again got a break of luck. He came out
of the loop directly above the three remaining Fokkers.
Well, one of their comrades had gone down in flames, and
now all three were at a disadvantage. That was enough.
So they turned tail for home—and—so did Eddie.
Frank Hawks, flying his mystery Travelair
monoplane landed at Curtiss Field, Valley Stream, L.I.
this evening having flown from Philadelphia in twenty-four
minutes at the rate of two hundred and seventy miles an
hour, establishing a new record.
Yesterday, Hawks flew from Boston to New York,
one hundred and ninety miles in fifty three minutes at the
rate of two hundred and twenty-five miles an hour; also
a new record.


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The American delegation to the forthcoming
coronation in Abyssinia left Paris today. It was headed
by Brig. Gen. William Wright Farth. Ras Tafari I, who
is to ascend the throne of the Ethiopian Empire is one
of a long line of monarchs who claim direct descendancy
from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The ceremony,
which is to take place November 2d is expected to be
performed with all the pomp customary to affairs of
state in the African kingdom.
WORDS
Just a word more—about words. Professor
William Sanford, of the University of Illinois, estimates
that the average person speaks 30,000 words a day in
ordinary conversation. That is to say, he spends one
fifth of his waking time talking at top speed. The pro­
fessor doesnft say how many times we repeat the same word
each day. But even if the average person batted his ”1"
only once a day, he could still talk for two weeks without
exhausting the four hundred and fifty thousand words
listed in the Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary.
Well, I think Ifve done my share in exhausting
those 450,000 words for this evening. So, good night.