The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965, August 29, 1935, Image 2
Smuggling Guns to Ethiopia New Game • ■ - ---- Rumrunning Adventurers Now Turn to Arms. Paris, France.—Europe’s gang sters and international adventurers, who have found time on their hands since bootlegging booze into Amer ica became a dead Industry, have discovered a new racket in gun running into Ethiopia. While the chancelleries are busy trying to find a solution to the quar rel between Benito Mussolini and the emperor of Ethiopia, Halle Sel assl I, gunrunning racketeers are busy rushing Into Enst Africa the munitions which may blaze when talking ceases. With some 500.000 men to resist the might of Italy, and the need for airplanes, tanks and motorized artillery, the ruler of Ethiopia has sent emissaries to munition plants of Europe to try to obtain the equip ment necessary to carry on war against the white Invader of the kingdom founded, according to le gend, by Solomon and the queen of Sbeba. Secret Orders Placed. Owing to the ban on export of arms, the Ethiopians have not been able to buy enough war stocks, al though the emissaries have offered gold from their fabled mines. Some secret orders have been passed and ships, under sealed Instructions, have sailed mysteriously from sev eral ports In Europe down through the Suez canal and the Red sea. Normally, they carry trinkets and western goods for the emperor’s people, but in reality they have been loaded to the Pllmsoil line with pow der and arms. The gunrunning racketeers are supplementing this traffic. Mostly Greeks, Germans, Armenians and other Individuals of no defined na tionality, they have spread their ac tivity from the capitals of Europe to the shores of the Red sea and the inland frontiers of the emperor's kingdom. Their agents throughout the west ern capitals are charged with the mission of buying all available rifles, shot-guns and revolvers and, If pos sible, machine guns. These nre then shipped to the nearest port, where bartering goes on with the captains of vessels bound east of Suez. Racketeers Charter Ships. The smugglers’ agents offer big rewards to sen captains who are willing to use up available space In loading guns for the East African war. As, however, the number of vessels available on the regular routes Is limited, the racketeers have been chartering vessels of their own, Idle tramp steamers, yachts and sailing craft Crammed full to the decks with grenades and rifles and machine guns, they steer for the Red sea. unload their cargoes and rush them over the cnrnvan routes by camel and mule pack to the frontiers of Ethiopia. Here the Ethiopians, hungry for the guns which they need to defend their sol), are rendy with precious gold-dust tied In cloth, which they pay to the gun traders. Throughout the vast desert wastes Archer Kills Snake With Bow and Arrow Fresno, Caltf.—Spinners of fanciful rattlesnake yarns often wander further from the truth than fishermen, but Arthur H. Shipley, deputy county superin tendent of schools, vouches for this one: Shipley spied a 3-foot snake along the roadside one day. Anxious to get a set of rattles, he searched for something with which to kill the reptile. Clods of dirt served only to enrage the snake. Finally he thought of the bow and arrow in the back of bis car. With only three shots Shipley pinned the rattler to' the ground in three different place. A fourth arrow pierced the head and killed the snake. Shipley has a set of rnttles as evidence. of Arabia and the Yemen, where Lawrence roused thp tribes against the Turks In the World war, the gun traders today are searching the land for guns which they can ship across the stretch of water which separates the Arabian state from Africa. Arabian tribes, eager to help their Ethiopian neighbors against the invading Europeans, gladly con tribute their sharp-shooting rifles to the cause, especially when they get well paid for their benevolence. Mailbox’s Use Disputed by a Mouse and a Woman Washington.—Miss Frances Lund qulst, of Brookfield, Conn., wrote her Uncle Sam an urgent note con cerning the mutual disturbance of herself and a long-eared field mouse. “Dear Uncle," wrote Frances, “What shall I do about it? A field mouse with lung ears and big eyes has made a nest in my mail box, and every time I lift the top I dis turb him and he disturbs me—and how! 1 had to leave this postcard on top. ’ The Post Office department said It would refer Miss Lundqulat's ap peal to the rural mall service, whlcn Is expert in solving field mouse and allied problems. Robot Puffs Cigar and Reads Books Montreal.—Mrs. Betty Leyborn, professor at the British Institute of Mental Science, has taught her robot, "Algi,’’ how to see, read aloud and think. Mrs. Leyborn has brought Algi to Montreal for a series of pub lic demonstrations. She argues that the robot really thinks be fore it answers and can produce the right reply for the right question. Algi has a mechanical nervous system Inside a nickel-plated body which reacts to the vibra tions of the human voice and controls the answers. The ro bot’s ears are concealed micro phones. The eyes are photo-elec tric cells which actually can read a book and repeat the words In the book audibly. Algi can smoke a cigar and fire a pistol whenever told to do so. School Teacher Learns She's Recorded as a Boy St. Clalr8Vllle, Ohio.—Bertha Of ferdinger, a school teacher, learned that she had been officially recorded as a male for the 30 years of her life. The discovery was made when she applied for a passport and was surprised to find that she had been listed as a boy when her birth rec ord was submitted In 1809 without a first name. An order of Probate Judge Harry Albright was necessary to correct the error. Spend $1,000 Month on Dionne Babies Famous Quintuplets Finan cially Independent. Callander, Ont,—Through their physician, Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, the Dionne quintuplets recently gave a message to the world. They said: “Thanks for all your help, and we wunt you to know we are now self supporting. We say this be cause so many persons and organ izations helped us when we were not able to take care of ourselves. Now we are making enough money to meet all our needs and allow us to save some. We thought you would like to know.” Doctor Dafoe sat back In a deck HE STIRRED ST. PAUL When liomer S. Cummings, United States attorney general, designated St. Paul as the "poison spot of crime" Wallace Jamie, twenty-seven, crime student, walked Into St. Paul’s public safety building and asked permission to hang around as a Bldellne spectator, to watch a po lice force in action. Jumle watched and worked with the knowledge he had obtained at the University of Chlcugo and Northwestern univer sity crime schools, and brought into use a number of devices of his own invention. Through a monitor sys tern he tapped all telephone wires In the public safety building and rigged up an Instrument to record conversations of police officials. In side of lamps and telephones he Inserted microphones connected to ills own office and recording ma chine. lie established a close link between high officials of the police department and the crime element. The grentest shnkeup In St. Paul’s •- 1 — • ■ - —.. .. chair on bis front lawn and elab orated on the statement The girl babies of Oliva and El zlre Dionne are not nearly as wealthy as many persons believe. They have $45,000 in bonds and cash, and contracts now In force probably will bring them another $50,000. In their 14 months of life the youngsters have spent a lot of their own money. How much, the doctor declined to say. The Canadian Red Cross paid for the nurses for a year and, with the Ontario government, helped out in various ways. In the last four months the children have paid all their own expenses—and expenses of quintuplets are large. No figures have ever been given out, but salaries of the doctor and nurses probably total $450 a month. Other salaries, for an orderly, two maids and two guards, take perhaps $250 more. That total of $700 does not Include upkeep of the hospital, which must be large, as all the staff, but the doctor, have their meals there. Everything the ba bies eat and drink is of the best and their food bill Is large. In addition there are many ex tras which all go to make $1,000 a conservative estimate of the ba bies’ monthly expenditure. One of their chief assets is their home, valued at $20,000. The small Dafoe hospital that was opened a year ago has been enlarged to a 12-room building with three baths. The babies’ $45,000 In bonds and cash hns come from endorsements of products they use—milk, tomato juice and the like—and motion-pic ture and newspaper photograph contracts. turbulent police history ensued, and now he hns been named deputy commissioner of public safety by H. E. Warren, commissioner. Blame Henpecked Mates if Women Go Hysterical Berlin.—"If women go hysterical their husbands are to blame In most cnses, and especially the henpecked ones !’* This Is the conclusion reached by Dr. G. Glehm, psychiatrist of a large snnltarlum at Zepernlck In the north of Berlin, as a result of an Investigation of cases of hysteri cal women. This kind of husband constitutes the greatest danger for the hysteri cal patients, he believes. Naming Reno, Nev. Iteno, Nev., Is named after Gen. Jesse Lee Iteno, a federal officer In the Civil war. Work Relief Job for the Imperial Valley One hundred four-horse teams are here busy on one section of the All American canal which will replace the main now serving California's Imperial valley. The new canal will have a width of 2T2 feet, a depth of 21 feet and will carry the water of the Colorado river <Stt miles across die valley for Irrigation purposes. The men and teams shown In the photograph above have turned more than l.tXKi.dOO yards of earth with their Fresno scratters. SEEN HEARD annmd the NATIONAL CAPITAL fiy Carter Field Washington.—Herbert Hoover is not going to say anything about his possible candidacy for the Repub lican nomination next year for some time to come. That may be accept ed as a fact, regardless of various stories to the contrary. This state ment Is based on the Impression ob tained from the former President by one of his close friends, who had a long talk with him While no single word can be put in quotation marks of what Mr. Hoover said to this friend, the Im pressions the friend obtained are highly significant In a word they are: 1. That Mr. Hoover craves a vin dication. 2. That he therefore wants the nomination very badly. 3. That he would prefer to have the nomination come to him with out effort, either on his own part or that of his friends. 4. But that If it becomes ap parent that the nomination will not come that way, very little coaxing would be required to Induce him to get out actively for It. As this Is written—anything can happen to change It—the famous public utility holding company leg islation seems destined to die, so far as this session is concerned. Strangely enough, a mere lifting of a hand by the President would re sult In Mr. Roosevelt’s getting more than half a loaf—really nine-tenths of a loaf. Even without the death sentence the bill is terrifically dras tic. There would be no trouble put ting the measure through both houses of congress If the conferees of the two houses should report the bill back without the death sen tence. Very Much Exaggerated Actually the Importance of the death sentence has been tremen dously exaggerated by the publicity over the fight between the Presi dent and the utilities. The utilities concentrated on this one objective, and as far as congress is concerned, they won the fight. But Its Impor tance can best be Illustrated by the simple statement of the alternative, or house, provision. The senate draft forces the end of the certain holding companies on a certain day. The house provision leaves discre tion as to whether the sentence shall be executed In each particular case by a commission—members of which are appointed by the Presi dent. So that Mr. Roosevelt could ob tain his objective without the slightest difficulty—IF—he would acknowledge defeat In this spec tacular battle. The utilities would emerge with some glory, but with out the fruits of victory. The President would have the fruits, but little glory. Yet betting odds at the moment are that he will wait until next year, when he expects to win both fruits and glory. Downward Revision Processing taxes and farm bene fit payments are both due for a sharp downward revision next year. High AAA officials, In private dis cussions, explain this on economic grounds. Actually President Roose velt will force their hands on po litical grounds. Experts who have studied the Rhode Island sltuntlon—so disas trous to the New Deal In Its Impli cations—bring back a remarkable story. They say that the price of ham and bacon had more to do with the result than even the cotton processing taxes, although the lat ter are blamed, together with Jap anese Imports, for the closing of so many textile mills. These reports flabbergasted the administration and delighted the Re publicans. Both the New Dealers and G. O. P. leaders hnd figured that while the conditions affecting the First Rhode Island district ex tended to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, they were not general. On the other hand, resentment against high prices for pork prod ucts, It is figured, would be Just as apt to be strong in California or Michigan as In Rhode Islnnd. In this connection there was much Interest in the apparent healing of the breach between Governor Davey of Ohio and the New Deal. All the bitterness against Davey fol lowing his caustic comments on Re lief Administrator Hopkins was care fully concealed. Davey hnd in his power to force a state-wide elec tion in Ohio to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representa tive-at-large Truax, and most po litical observers believe that if an election were held today In Ohio the state would go strongly Repub lican. Must Cut Food Price* In the first place, Ohio was never very strong for Roosevelt. Its del egation did not even vote for him on the finnl ballot at Chicago. On election day, when most states were piling up record-breaking majori ties, Ohio gave Roosevelt only about 73,000. Moreover, resent ment In Ohio, which has consider able state pride, is rather strong over the failure of the President to put an Ohioan In an important place. The administration Is now faced with almost the necessity of reduc ing food prices before election. On the particular items on which there is now the most resentment, pork products, no difficulty is anticipated. Pigs are usually marketed at the age of nine months, so it should be possible to have a plentiful sup ply of pork for the nation’s house wives well before November, 1936. Reduction of benefit payments on hogs would naturally have the ef fect of enormously increasing hog production. Similarly, reduction of processing taxes on pork would help to reduce prices on ham, bacon and other pork. But danger threatens from several other angles as far as the grocery bill is concerned. Re ports from the Northwest and Can ada about the ravages of black rust on the wheat crop are alarming. Some of the AAA experts are fear ful that wheat may touch $1.50. This would be fine for farmers not affected by rust but would bring the same kind of clamor from house wives. So a sharp soft pedaling of the wheat reduction program, ac companied by a reduction in the processing tax on wheat, is in order. In fact it may be taken for grant ed that regardless of all past the ories, the administration will do its best to have food prices down by next summer. To Make Concessions President Roosevelt will make concessions In the present labor war on relief projects. The con cession will not be to pay union scale wages on work relief projects. The President’s jaw Is firmly set on this. It will be to remove present restrictions which limit Jobs to peo ple now on relief. Very little has been heard from union labor sources on this last phase, but it has been vitally Im portant to the unions. Not only to the rank and file, who need work in many instances, though they may have had sufficient pride and suffi cient savings to stay off relief, but to the leaders. For men out of work are not apt to be reg ular in paying their dues, and thus the union treasuries get hurt. Espe cially as union leaders have been forcing in the check-off system wherever possible for years now, with the result that union workers, in more than a majority of cases, are not used to paying dues per sonally. They are educated up to having their dues deducted from their pay envelopes. Hence, no pay envelopes, no dues. Work relief Jobs, under the orig inal formula to which the union leaders object so strongly, were to be given only to persons on relief rolls last May. The Job could not be obtained unless the United States employment service so certi fied. In the near future orders will go out from Washington that the employment service must certify union men who need Jobs, whether they were on relief last May or not. This will meet a very Important point in the present controversy between the government and union labor, but it will by no means leave a good taste in the mouths of the union men. May Cause Feeling The situation makes for artificial discriminations—likely to raise bit ter feeling. For exaitiple, two groups of bricklayers may be working across the street from each other. One group will be on a public works project—one approved by Ickes un der the old “spend our way out of the depression” theory. Those men will be drawing the prevailing wage. The other group will be working un der a work relief project—approved by Harry Hopkins. They will be drawing relief wages. Under the Hopkins schedules the highest rate permitted at present Is $04 a month! Obviously every man drawing the lower wage will be sore for they will be union men In each case; the administration may be fairly brave at times, but it Is not going to em ploy many non-union bricklayers in big city projects. The man draw ing the lower wage will have a grouch against the government to start with. But John Taxpayer also enters the situation. He Is being taxed for relief, and knows It. The aver age middle class taxpayer has more or less of a fixed opinion that union wages In the building trades are too high. He resents the day wage rates for carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers and plumbers, though he thinks It fine that Henry Ford has raised minimum wages In his plant to $(! a day. As to Huey Long All this talk about Huey Long is food and drink to conservative critics of the administration. There is nothing they would like better than for Huey to be an independent candidate for President, and to run In as many states ns possible. They figure he would not get any elec toral votes, save possibly those of Louisiana, where his machine con trols the election machinery. But they also figure that In certain rad ical states, particularly in the West, every vote he would draw would come from Roosevelt’s strength, thus aiding in the election of the Re publican nominee. CoDvrlght.—WNU 8»ry|o«. I THE AZORES Modern Wheels Sing a Discordant Note In Rural Azores. Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.—W’NU Service. □ITTLE more than 1,000 stat ute miles from European mainland and about 1,300 miles from Newfoundland, in lati tude a little north of Lisbon, a lit tle south of New York, lies the most westerly of the nine Azorian islands. Fast steamers from New York reach Ponta Delgada, metropolis of the Azores, in live and a half days. Seaplanes have flown across from Newfoundland between dawn and dusk. Three hospitable har bors in this friendly archipelago await the coming of commercial seaplanes, which will form another link between the New world and the Old. Closely allied as they are with Portugal, of which they form an Integral part politically, these fer tile green Islands, with their lush pastures and mist-wreathed moun tains, long ago turned their faces toward the West, sending their frugal, industrial sons to the United States, where, before 1929, there was probably one Azorian to every two left at home. Most of them are found in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California. More than once on the streets of Azorian towns, a traveler Is ap proached by a stranger who doffs his hat and politely inquires: “You are an American?” When you assent, your new ac quaintance Informs you he voted in New England or California, but was bom in the Azores; was “back home to see the old folks,” or “here until times are better in the States.” From a rounded hilltop back of a rainbow-tinted town, one looks past oblong fields bordered by high stone walls of dark-gray lava to tile roofed, many-w’indowed buildings stretching between gardens and parks along the curving coast. All about is the trilling, piping, and fluting of birds. In the fields bare foot men sing as they toil. Portugal’s "Islands Adjacent.” In the Fifteenth century, the val iant ocean-mapping Portuguese col onized these islands and, save for 60 years of Spanish rule, have gov erned them ever since. The islands, of volcanic origin, stretch for about 375 miles from northwest to southwest, in three severed groups with clear channels between. Corvo, smallest and by far the most primitive, lies farthest north; Flores, beautiful and well watered farthest west. To the southeast, across a tem pestuous stretch of sea, is the cen tral group: Fayal, seat of the ocean conical mountain; Sao Jorge, with Its rich pastures, exporting excel lent cheese; Graciosa, with “more wine than water"; Terceira, most interesting historically, preserver of old customs. Another wide channel and the traveler reaches Sao Miguel, which the British and Americans call St Michael’s, largest and most impor tant of the group, with Ponta Del gada, chief city of the archipelago; and, again to the south, Santa Maria, first to be discovered and colonized. “Islands adjacent" is Portugal’s official designation of Madeira and the Azores, the last named, as one wit has remarked, being adjacent only to one another. In Portugese the name is Acores, which signifies “hawks.” The wide expanse of ocean on every side and the force of the en compassing winds tend to give the newcomer a feeling of isolation. This lessens as the weeks pass, in spite of the provoking sight of many big ocean liners, which steam past the Azorian capital with only the blast of the siren as a nod of recognition. Portuguese mail boats, leaving Lisbon twice each month, come by way of Funchal. Madeira, and reach Ponta Delgada in four days. One of these ships goes only as far north as Fayal; the other goes beyond Fayal to Flores, touching six times a year at lonely, storm-harassed lit tie Corvo. The round trip from Pon ta Delgada to the northern islands can be made in one week. Motor boats and sailing vessels also ply. when weather permits, be tween insular ports. Independent of the World. There Is a fruit and passenger line of small ships, with semi monthly service between Ponta Del gada, London, and Hamburg. Ital ian. French, and Greek transatlan tic liners stop at the Azorian cap ital. Ponta Delgada and Horta, with their adequate artificial break waters, are havens for ships In need of fuel, provisions, or repairs. Cruising ships crossing the North Atlantic now and then Include the Azores on their Itinerary. To the quarter of a million Azor ians their temperate, agriculturally productive archipelago Is a com plete little world In itself. For their food supply these islanders are practically Independent of lands beyond. They produce their own cereals, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, butter, cheese, and eggs. They make sugar from the beet, spirits from the sweet potato, press their own grapes into wine, “roll their own” tobacco, "curl their own” tea. Their seas abound In fish. Their buildings are constructed from the volcanic basalt of the Is lands. Furniture Is made from na tive woods. They manufacture linen from home-grown flax and woolen garments from sheep’s wool. Lux uries are Imported, chiefly from the Portuguese mainland; but should every ship sailing these seas fall to call at the "Western Is lands,’’ the Azorians could survive. Ponta Delgada’s religious festival In honor of Santo Cristo dos Mil agres (Our Lord of the Miracle), is one of the Azores’ most striking feasts to tourists. The devout wor ship an Image called locally "Sant’ Crist’.” This image, revered for nearly 400 years, is remarkable for the number of precious stones with * which it is adorned. When a na tive of Sao Miguel prospers In the New world, a portion of his first savings is usually sent to his be loved Sant’ Chris’. The festival begins on a Thurs day with the arrival In town of farmers bringing 00 head of cat tle to be slaughtered as meat for the poor. Banners wave; rockets shoot skyward in broad daylight; a band plays. Worship With Skyrockets. On the following day the meat* with bread, is blessed and distrib uted. On Saturday the sacred Im age Is conveyed with ceremony from Its home In an old convent to the Church of Esperanca (hope), next door. That night thousands kneel before it. Not only from the rural district of Sao Miguel, but from the neighboring Island of Santa Marla, worshipers flock to the capital. The facade of the church glow* with electric lights, adjacent build ings on the public square are il luminated, and a line of flaming arches stretches across the streets. There is a band concert, with fire works and rockets, the latter be ing closely associated with religious ceremonies in all Portuguese lands. On Sunday afternoon comes the procession, when the image, accom panied by the clergy and hundreds of laymen, Is conveyed throngh the city and back to the convent. Men and women of distinction, of the middle class, of the peasantry, all participate. Embroidered hanging* drape balconies. The street* are strewn with incenso (PIttosporum> leaves, aromatic fennel, and fresh blossoms. All kneel as the Image, under Its canopy of native-made feather flowers. Is borne past. One Is disappointed that so few old native costumes are to be seen on the streets during those festival days, but glad that one, at least, still survives. It Is the capote e capello, distinctly Azorian, the wom an’s long, dark-blue cloth cape, cir cular in shape, with a large hood of the same material, resembling a coni scuttle. It Is amusing to see two capotes stopping for a friend ly gossip. The scuttlers meet and only gesticulating hands are visible. The shrouding of the woman’s f head and shoulders is a relic of cen turies of Moorish rule on the Ibe rian peninsula. This particular gar ment may be of Flemish origin, brought by early colonists from Flanders. Some Azorians believe It owes its being to the period when these Islands were ruled by Spain. The hood Is not always the same, heing larger on the Islands of Santa Maria and Sao Jorge, more stiffen ing with buckram and whalebone In Fayal. The young moderns scorn It; but, conservative, convenient, protective, and long-lived. It Is still worn by some of the older women, especially for early mass. If the wearer happens to see somebody on the street whom she wishes to avoid, presto! the hood Is pulled farther forward and she Is within her own fortress.