GIBRALTAR OF THE EAST
Chinese Boat Colony at Singapore.
Singapore Is the British Empire's
Powerful Naval Base in the Orient
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington. D. C.-WNU Service.
HREE cruisers of the
United States navy re
cently steamed into the
Orient, bound for a friendly
harbor which is famous os
being enemy-proof — Singa
pore. They represented the
United States as the only for
eign power which took part
in Great Britain’s naval dis
play when new docks were
opened in the port already so
well fortified as to be called
the Gibraltar of the East.
New docks In Singapore are like
new skyscrapers in New York—
structures that are symbols os well.
For Singapore is a city, an island,
a tradition, and a threat. The
oval island is the southern tip of
the Malay peninsula.
The white-walled red-roofed city
spreads along the island’s southern
shore. It Is the city’s 36 square
miles of harbor that bred the tradi
tion: the biggest port between the
China sea and the Mediterranean,
surely among the world’s leading
ten. This importance is shown by
crowded docks, with anchored ves
sels banding the harbor in zones of
increasing size and diminishing
number of craft.
Its Threat Is Concealed.
The threat of Singapore, meant
for whoever yearns to fight the Brit
ish navy, is veiled from sight in
mangrove swamps, but reputed to
be on the island of Seleter, in the
shallow strait cutting Singapore is
land from the mainland of Johore.
Its docks, among the largest of their
kind ever built, can receive and re
pair battleships. Its air and naval
force nourished the legend that the
end of the Malay peninsula, nosing
down into the Netherlands Indies,
is a dragon’s head, and Singapore
furnished the fangs.
Unlike rocky Gibraltar or cau
tiously aloof Malta with a big chip
of fortress on its shoulder, Singa
pore sheathes its strength in a green
cloak of palm, banana and rubber
trees, naturally luxuriant just 88
miles above the Equator.
The low island flaunts no military
insignia to distinguish it at a dis
tance from the balmy emerald isle
set in sapphire southern seas so
popular in travel literature. Yet its
217 square miles contain the most
progressive urban area within a
1,000 mile radius, enough naval
strength to dynamite Far Eastern
diplomacy, and a remnant ct jungle
heart in which monkeys swing and
chatter.
Most Important of the four British
possessions comprising the Crown
colony of the Straits Settlements,
Singapore is their capital. Because
of its strategic location at the un
avoidable gateway of all oriental
traffic east of India, it is capital
also of nearly half the world's trade
routes.
Because it is a free port, ships
from every continent except South
America discharge cargoes into the
shadowy and odorous warehouses
for storage until transshipped, then
drain other warehouses for cargoes
to take home.
Much Trade and Manufacturing
Exotic wares cross the docks: In
dian shark fins destined for Chinese
palates, Egyptian pickles for Su
matra. coriander seeds from Mo
rocco to Java. Australia ships meat
and wool and Sour. Canada and the
United States send automobiles, ma
chinery, and canned goods. Cloves
and coffee from Africa, rice and
silk from China, matches and cot
ton goods from Japan, hemp and
hardwoods from the Philippines,
rubber and oil and spices from the
Netherlands Indies, and from Eu
rope supplies for trransplanting
home civilization into the Eastern
tropics—these are unloaded on the
docks of Singapore, ‘ Emporium of
the Orient.”
In addition to playing landlord for
international trade, Singapore
minds its own businesses. Pineap
ples are canned, soap is made from
coconut oil, rubber is smoked and
graded for shipping. An island in
the harbor is headquarters for the
world’s largest tin smelting plant.
In a recent year, 42 per cent of the
world’s output of rubber and 20 per
cent of the tin were dispatched for
worldwide use from the docks of
this port.
Although an island, Singapore has
direct railway connection with the
mainland by way of a causeway
crossing to the Malay state of Jo
hore. The trip north to Bangkok
in Siam is merely an overnight
ride. For faster travel over the
jungle, Singapore has a new sea
side airport built on reclaimed tidal
mud flats and equally useful for
land and sea planes. Draining the
airport's site was an important
step in freeing the city from the
tropical curse of mosquitoes and
malaria, the death rate from which
in two decades was reduced 90 per
cent.
The whole island is dominated by
the city of a half-million, its exten
sive parks and suburbs, and a few
mediocre rubber plantations. Ba
nana trees, tree ferns, and travelers
trees, tree ferns, and travelers
palms luxuriate over the prim Eu
ropean greensward of golf courses
and race track. That Chinese ef
forts at rice raising and truck farm
ing are not equally luxuriant is
blamed by Malay superstitions on
the red soil; it was drenched with
blood and thereafter accursed at the
sack of old Singapore in the Thir
teenth century when Javanese
slaughtered the inhabitants and lev
eled the brick-built houses and pro
tective earthen wall.
Established by Sir Stamford Raffles
The old city is believed by some
to be the Malayur of Marco Polo,
the "island that forms a kingdom,”
which even in the days of that early
globetrotter had a great deal of
trade in spices and other wares.
Afterwards pirates haunted the
neighborhood.
Today the Raffles hotel, Raffles
square, and the bronze statue there
in—indeed, all Singapore is a mon
ument to a Nineteenth century sales
manager supreme for British trade.
Sir Stamford Raffles. Flaunting
treaties and reversing the work of
diplomats, he is remembered for
having accomplished what British
authorities claimed at the time to
regard with "unfeigned regret”—
the founding of Singapore as a mod
ern free port.
When a treaty in 1814 had given
the Netherlands a monopoly over all
ports of the rich Indies trade. Raf
fles established a puppet sultan to
sell Singapore harbor for British
use. He put Sultan Husain on a
throne to usurp his usurping broth
er’s royal authority, and rewarded
him with $1,000 and some rolls of
yellow and black cloth. On Febru
ary 6, 1819, Singapore’s birthday, a
free trade treaty was signed. In
four months the now world famous
port had an increase of 5,000 in
population.
Soon the name of Singapore was
echoed among seamen with a sinis
ter ring. The sultan who sponsored
it was not above suspicion of poison
ing his father. The first British
governor was stabbed by an Arab.
Pirates swaggered into port to buy
weapons, then anchored in ambush
outside the harbor.
The name acquired associations
as fierce as its meaning in the
tongue of India from which it came
—Singhapura, City of the Lion. Yet
Raffles, who kindled the sinister ex
citement, escaped all its dangers
and died young after falling down
stairs.
The population rush to Singapore
after its opening as a free port, re
peated on a small scale a century
later in a "rubber rush," as indi
cated by the racial hodge-podge
found in the city today. Sprinkled
through the English city, with dig
nified stone buildings lining macad
amized avenues, are short streets
straight from China.
Chinese signs line open fronts of
first floor shops; from second,
third, and fourth floor windows
above them, items of the family
laundry on projecting poles fly like
banners. Long red Joss candles for
use in Chinese joss houses are
poured by hand in workshops in the
shadow of Moslem mosques. Yet
many Chinese know no language ex
cept English, and are proud of being
slant-eyed British subjects. The
city is fringed with Malay villages
on stilts over water.
Ilo Not Congratulate Bride
A guest is careful not to congratu
late a bride. This is in violation
of the rules of etiquet. One wishes
the bride the greatest happiness
and congratulates the groom.
SEEN
HEARD
an$und the
NATIONAL
CAPITAL
py Carter Field ^
Washington.—The Farley maxim
that the Democrats should fight to
the last ditch for every possible
j elective office, no matter how hope
less the fight might seem, and al
ways with a view to building up the
organization for the “next election"
is being shamelessly abandoned, ac
cording to some very caustic crit
ics inside the Democratic party.
Out in the country some Demo
cratic leaders, sharing this view,
are very much disturbed. They are
telling their senators and represen
tatives that all is not well, that the
Republicans are likely to make big
inroads this fall, and that there will
be a terrific number of casualties
among Democratic house members,
if not among Democratic senators.
This impression that the Demo
cratic machine is not functioning
at top speed, that it is depending
more on general propaganda and
more on the strength of Roosevelt
with the voters, is enhanced when
such pessimists come to Washing
ton and try to get something done
about it.
“I told our problems to Charley
Michelson,” a Democratic worker
from Missouri told some friends aft
erward, “and I was afraid he
would go to sleep while I was talk
ing.”
What that worker did not know,
of course, was that Charley might
be excused for being bored at hear
ing the same tale for the thousandth
time. On the other hand there is
the old story of the boy who kept
crying, “Wolf! Wolf!” when there
was no wolf, and who regretted
his false alarms very much when,
after the real wolf came, no one
paid any attention to his cries.
Call It Good Strategy
There are some influential mem
bers of the party, however, who be
lieve that it is good strategy to let
down for a while.
They don't think it would hurt
very much if the Republicans should
gain sixty or seventy seats in the
house of representatives this fall.
They do not expect that the Re
publicans will do anything like this
well, but point out that there would
be some advantages to such a
change. For one tiling the Demo
cratic majority in the house would
not be so unwieldy and topheavy.
For another it would put, as they
express it, the "fear of God" in the
hearts of the surviving Democrats.
So these survivors might be brought
to heel much more easily on White
House commands.
"But suppose the Republicans
should acmally get control of the
house?” one of them was asked.
"That is almost impossible,” re
torted the Democrat.” "But sup
pose they did? Wouldn’t that put
the Republicans on the spot before
the country? What could they do
except snipe at the President and
the New Deal? I think actually it
would be far from an unmixed evil.
I think a house for the next two
years controlled by the Republicans
would do more to insure a sweeping
Democratic victory in 1940 than any
thing I can imagine.”
Interest in the senate battles this
fall is mostly personal. Nothing
could shake the grip of the Demo
crats on the senate except a crop
of upper house funerals far in ex
cess of any reasonable probability.
Stumbling Block
Nothing would surprise anyone
who has been watching the stale
mate on the wage-hours regulation
bill, but it is quite apparent that
the magic formula which would
open the door to its enactment has
not been found.
Secretary Perkins remains the
chief stumbling block. Not because
of anything she has done about it,
but because of where to put the ad
ministration of the act, and the dis
cretion about tempering the wind
to the shorn lambs—in this case
the sections of the country and the
particular industries which might
be favored with differentials—is the
chief problem on which agreement
is not in sight.
If Miss Perkins were entirely sat
isfactory to William Green, presi
dent of the American Federation of
Labor, to John L. Lewis, head of
the C. I. O., and to congress, the bill
would go through like greased light
ning. To put it another way, if
Miss Perkins were to resign tomor
row, and the President should ap
point Edward F. McGrady in her
place, passage of the bill would hap
pen within 36 hours.
But—there is no likelihood of
that. Lewis and Green are not will
ing to trust Miss Perkins. Congress
is not willing to trust her. So the
alternative would seem to be an in
dependent board or commission to
administer the law. This is where
the power of Green in congress be
comes important. Green sticks to
the position he took two months ago
that he would not trust such a
board. His shins are still too much
barked up by the national labor re
lations board, which he says, favors
thj C. I. O. as against the Ameri
can Federation of Labor.
The way around that, apparently,
would be to permit no discretion at
all in the administration of the act,
to pass a law specifying that no
workers could be made to labor
more than a given number of hours
a week, nor paid less than a
given amount per hour or per week.
Seek Magic Formula
This would be all right if it were
not for the sections of the country
and the particular industries which
think they must have a differ
ential. The only way to have a
law and to permit such exceptions
in its enforcement is to vest dis
cretion in some administrative
body.
Solution of this problem requires a
magic formula. Administration ex
perts have been busy trying to
evolve this formula ever since, but
it is still undiscovered. The Presi
dent is not willing to humble Miss
Perkins in order to get the law
through. No other solution has been
suggested which would come with
in a mile of success.
It might be found tomorrow. The
President still hopes that it will be
found before the end of the present
session. But he is not as optimistic
as he was. In fact, there are indi
cations that he has become con
vinced the bill will not pass this
session, though he is still insisting
on it.
The new committee appointed to
study the situation, of course, is
just a gesture. The same men ap
pointed to that committee have been
working on the problem as individ
uals for more than a year. Mere
ly naming them to a committee is
not going to clear up the fog. Nor
will the fact that they meet as a
committee help much. They have
been conferring as individuals,
and as members of the house labor
committee, for these many months.
There is no magic in the word
“committee,” and, short of Ed Mc
Grady, there is no magic in anything
else that has been suggested.
Electric Industry
Every now and then something
crops up to make the dispassionate
observer wonder if Franklin D.
Roosevelt really hates the electric
industry as much as it believes.
Most recent among these develop
ments is the letter which J. D. Ross,
one time government ownership ex
ecutive in Seattle and now big boss
of Bonneville, wrote to a Mr. Neal
in Knoxville. The sum and sub
stance of this letter was that it was
good policy to buy out the existing
private companies, and to pay a
fair price.
There has been considerable
question as to whether this was not
a bad slip on Mr. Ross’ part, one
calculated to get him into pretty
serious trouble with the President.
The answer seems to be that there
is, so far, no indication that it has.
The further answer Is that very re
cently Mr. Roosevelt, discussing
the Supreme court decision approv
ing public loans and grants to local
communities for government owner
ship power plants and electric dis
tribution systems, said that he as
sumed municipalities and other
»local governments contemplating
such projects would negotiate with
the privately owned units now sup
plying them with a view to avoid
ing duplication.
The point seems to be that Presi
dent Roosevelt does not go anything
like so far as either George W. Nor
ris, Nebraska senator and daddy of
TVA, or Representative John E.
Rankin, the Mississippi utility bait
er. Rankin has said frankly, many
times, that because of their past
sins he would, in buying out private
ly owned utilities, pay only second
hand junk value for the proper
ties.
Roosevelt’s “prudent investment
theory” applied to the price which
should be paid for any utility is
pretty tough, the utility men think,
and their opinion is shared by most
men who have ever been in busi
ness, but it is a lot better than
Mr. Rankin's idea. In fact, it is
not very far from correct to say
that Roosevelt is about half way
between John Rankin and J. D.
Ross in his idea as to what would be
a fair price for any privately owned
utility.
Check on Prices
There are plenty who think that
Roosevelt is not really eager to have
the entire electric industry of this
country public-owned and "operated
—that all he wants is enough of it
so operated to be a check on the
prices charged by the privately
owned companies.
Roosevelt believes strongly in the
social value of cheap electricity.
Those who hold the view just stated
believe that cheap current, and not
public ownership, is his real objec
tive. Tinctured a little, of course,
by the enmities which gradually de
velop in such a long fight.
It must be remembered that this
fight has not been going on only since
he entered the White House. Most
of the bitterness was engendered be
fore that, when, as governor of New
York, he did some things which ir
ritated the utilities, and as a result
of which many of their executives
supported other candidates for the
Democratic nomination in 1932.
Which last, of course, is something
that could not be overlooked.
There are a good many impartial
observers, folks who think govern
ment ownership is always an eco
nomic crime, who wish devoutly
that the privately owned utilities
would test this theory out by mark
ing down their rates. It might cost
them some money, though even this
is debatable, as evidenced by the
records of the privately owned elec
tric company in Washington.
© BeU Syndicate—WNU Service,
WHAT to EAT and WHY
(2.4-1jus ton Goudlii ’&iicu.5ie5
CARBOHYDRATES and FATS
Foods That Provide Motive Power
For the Body Machinery ★ ★
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
8 East 39th St., New York.
THE human body might be compared to a framework filled
with machinery. It takes food to build the framework,
food to run the machinery and food to keep it working effi
ciently and this food must be of the proper type.
Last week, I discussed the body building proteins and
explained how to distinguish between those which build and
repair body tissue, and those<$
that are adequate for main
tenance, but not for growth.
It is equally important that
you should learn something of
the fuel foods which are neces
sary to fire the body engine
and furnish motive power to
propel the body machinery.
Fuel Foods Keep
Us Alive
The body could not function in
the absence of fuel foods any more
than a machine
could run without
power, or a car
without gas. Ev
ery breath re
quires an expendi
ture of energy,
and so does every
movement — from
the beating of the
heart to the wink
ing of an eye.
Even in repose,
the body machin
ery is kept functioning only by
an ever-present supply of fuel.
For, as long as life continues—
even when you are lying perfectly
still—you need fuel to carry on
the internal work of the body.
Activity Demands
Energy Foods
Every type of daily activity, in
cluding work and exercise, re
quires additional fuel. If you walk
slowly, you expend twice as much
energy as when you sit still. And
when you walk fast, you may use
up four, five or six times as much
energy.
The chief fuel, or energy pro
ducing foods, are the carbohy
drates—that is, the starches and
sugars; and fats. Protein also
has some fuel value, but its pri
mary function is to build and re
pair tissue.
Carbohydrates are quick burn
ing. They might be compared to
the flare of a match in a dark
room, which gives bright light for
an instant, but is soon ex
tinguished. Fat, on the other hand,
burns slowly, like a lamp whose
wick is turned low.
Danger of Inadequate
Fuel Supply
Recently there has been a ten
dency to minimize the importance
of the fats and carbohydrates, due
to the craze for dieting. Some of
the results of disregarding the ab
solute necessity for these foods
are extreme irritability, and a
greater susceptibility to fatigue,
nervous diseases, tuberculosis and
other infections.
Too Much Fuel
Causes Overweight
It is true, however, that an excess of
fuel foods will tend to produce over
weight. For if we assimilate them,
and do not utilize their potential energy
Your Food Is Your Fate
'T'HE third of the series of
A articles entitled “What to
Eat and Why,” written by C.
Houston Goudiss, the eminent
food authority, author and ra
dio lecturer, appears in this
issue.
In these articles Mr. Goudiss
tells how you can be strong,
beautiful, wise and rear healthy
children by combining the right
food materials in the diet. He
points out the vast influence
which food wields over one’s
life.
The housewife and mother
who desires to know what foods
will benefit her family the most
will do well to read these ar
ticles week by week and make
a scrapbook of them for ready
reference.
in muscular effort, they will he stored
—as fat—usually in most inconvenient
locations! On the other hand, an excess
of any food is a detriment. Therefore
the goal should be enough, but not loo
much, of all necessary foods.
Since botli carbohydrates and
fats are energy foods, one might
expect them to play an inter
changeable role in the diet. To a
certain extent, they do, although
fat, being more concentrated, pro
vides two and one-fourth times as
much fuel value as an equal
weight of carbohydrate.
But because of the variation in
the way these materials are han
dled by the body, it is generally
considered that health is best
served when 40 to 50 per cent of
the total energy value of foods is
provided in the form of carbohy
drate and 30 to 35 per cent in the
form of fats.
Carbohydrates Are
Quickest Fuel
Carbohydrates, which originate
chiefly in plant life, are readily
converted into heat and muscle
energy. Foods rich in carbohy
drates include bread, potatoes,
macaroni, rice, cooked and ready
to-eat cereals, peanuts, dried and
preserved fruits, sugars and
syrup.
Sugar furnishes heat more
quickly and more abundantly than
any other food. But it has a ten
dency to dull the appetite and is
also apt to cause fermentation.
Therefore, a large measure of our
heat and energy is best secured
from starchy foods such as bread,
cereals, macaroni and potatoes.
Quick energy can also be ob
tained from the easily digested
sugars of fresh and dried fruits,
such as prunes, apricots, raisins
and fully ripened bananas.
Here is an interesting and important
point which is frequently overlooked in
unscientific reducing diets. Fat re
quires carbohydrates for its proper utili
zation by the body. That is why women
who try to reduce without following a
scientifically planned diet frequently
become seriously ill as a result of cut
ting down on carbohydrates while over
looking the fats contained in milk, but
ter, and other foods.
Relation of Fat
To Health
Fats are so necessary to the
body economy that it is no exag
geration to say that without fat,
n
Plant With Care
C^XERCISE care in planting and
also in preparing to plant.
Though soil may be rich, it will
not produce as it should unless it
is prepared thoroughly.
A primary consideration in
planting is to have the soil favor
ably moist; damp, but not wet. If
circumstances demand that you
plant when the ground is dry,
moisten trenches or drills before
dropping the seed.
To retain moisture after plant
ing, cover seeds immediately with
fine earth and press down firmly.
Harold Coulter, vegetable ex
pert of the Ferry Seed Institute,
advises that temperature be con
sidered at the time of planting.
Too high a temperature is often
as detrimental to seed germina
tion as one too low. A tempera
ture between 65 and 75 degrees
is most favorable.
Soil must be loose so seedling
sprouts can push through, and
roots develop. Where the soil
forms a heavy crust, it may some
times be broken sufficiently to let
seedlings through by gently prick
ing the soil with a rake.
life, in its higher forms, is im
possible. The noted Arctic ex
plorer, Stefansson, found that he
could exist satisfactorily on an
all-meat diet, provided he ate lib
erally of fat. On a diet of all lean
meat, he became violently ill
within a week.
Besides furnishing concentrated
energy values, fats help to create
the fatty tissue which cushions
the nerves and abdominal organs,
and forms the pleasing contours
of face and figure.
Because it leaves the stomach
more slowly than proteins and
carbohydrates, fat retards the di
gestion of these food groups some
what, and thus gives staying power
to a meal. At the same time it
promotes the flow of pancreatic
juice and bile, thus helping in the
assimilation of other foods. Foods
rich in fat include butter, cheese,
egg yolk, cooking fats and oils,
margarine, olives, pastry, peanut
butter, most nuts except chestnuts
and lichi nuts, various kinds of
sausage and frie dfoods.
Anger Destroys
Fat Reserves
Experiments have demonstrated
why nervous, irritable individuals
are usually thin, while those with
a serene temperament often ac
cumulate weight. It hjis been
proven that anger and fright in
crease the amount of fat in the
blood and remove a corresponding
amount of fat from its usual stor
age place beneath the skin. A fit
of anger may take off more fat
than an hour’s exercise, or two or
three days of enforced diet. Thus
the person who allows himself to
become upset continually with
draws the fat reserve from his
body. Such persons could profit,
perhaps, by taking more of the
fat-forming foods.
But whether the members of your
family are good natured, or irritable,
young or old, they need a constant sup
ply of fuel foods—at every meal, every
day. Fuel foods produce energy—and
energy is the motive power of life and
work and thought.
© WNU—C. Houston Goudlss—1938.
"Home-Wrecking"
Qualities of Poor
Furniture Polish
How often a houseful of fine fur
niture and handsome woodwork is
spoiled by the use of a poor furni
ture polish! There are many pol
ishes on the market today—some
fair, some good, others excellent
for luster and long life of the fin
ish! The best is non-greasy, be
cause made with a fine, light-oil
base! In time, furniture and wood
work can be ruined by the per
sistent application of a cheap,
poor polish! Such polish will con
tain kerosene, harsh abrasives
and harmful acids—destructive el
ements, that are unseen and un
suspected! The housewife may
use one of these polishes, feeling
that she is economically keeping
her furniture polished—but this is
poorest economy, if she values
her furniture (and what house
wife does not?). The furniture in
a home constitutes the largest
part of the furnishings—and will
show up like “sore thumbs” when
dried out, cracked or checked.
This is just what occurs, when
other than a reputable oil polish
is used! Too, a quality oil polish
is less expensive! Less is used at
one time—for it’s undiluted. The
resultant glow is deeper, richer,
more lasting! Best of all, the fin
ish of the furniture and woodwork
is properly “fed” and kept i/
prime condition! So beware oi
harsh, “bargain” polishes—for
through them, the furniture suf
fers!
WHEN YOU CLEAN HOUSE
USE O-CEDAR-THE
POLISH THAT CLEANS
AND PRESERVES YOUR
-1 FURNITURE j
More
women
use
O-Cedar
Polish
than any
other
kind—for
furniture,
woodwork
and floors.
It CLEANS
at it POLISHES
»
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