Plight of European Jews
Emphasizes Need of Haven
Tanganyika Most Frequent
ly Mentioned Refuge for
Persecuted Jews
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.—WNU Service.
The plight of Jews in
Europe has brought into the
news spotlight many possible
havens. Thus far, Tanganyi
ka, a former German colony
in Africa (now British), has
been most frequently men
tioned. In addition, however,
suggested places of refuge
include Kenya and Northern
Rhodesia, British African col
onies; Madagascar, French
owned island off southeast
Africa; British Guiana on
the northern coast of South
America; and Melville Island,
off northwestern Australia.
Tanganyika, spreading over more
than 366,000 square miles of East
Africa, was the lion’s share of the
former German East Africa divides
after the World war, and now is an
important link in the chain of "Brit
ish pink” that spreads uninterrupted
from the Mediterranean to the Cape
of Good Hope.
v Hal iurcsis inav cuvit uiuuatiuuo
of square miles of the mandated
area ari the basis of a profitable
lumber industry. Then there are
extensive open areas used as farm
lands where sisal cotton, coffee,
ground-nuts, and grain are grown
for domestic needs, and for export.
Other open country supports 5,000.
000 cattle, more than half as many
sheep and upwards of 300,000 goats.
There are known deposits of gold
mica, tin and diamonds, but mineral
resources have not been extensively
worked.
Dar es Salaam, the chief port and
largest city in the old German col
ony, is in telegraphic communication
with many inland towns and vil
lages, and with the adjoining British
colonies, Nyasaland, Kenya, Ugan
da, and Northern Rhodesia.
Kenya Ruled by England.
Kenya, northern neighbor of Tan
ganyika, looks small on the map of
vast Africa, but it is actually larger
than France.
It is a land of lakes that have no
outlet, deserts where it sometimes
does not rain for a year or more at
a time, fertile, well-watered farm
lands, elephants that climb moun
tains, and tribes where a wife can
be bought for a small amount of
grain or coffee.
England rules Kenya, but she
pays rent for part of it. A strip 10
miles wide along more than half its
Indian ocean coast, and some is
lands off shore, are leased from the
sultan of Zanzibar. England exer
cises a protectorate over this terri
tory, but the rest of Kenya is a
British crown colony.
Forming the boundary of Kenya’s
southwest corner is huge Lake Vic
toria, second largest fresh water
lake in the world. It is the chief
source of the White Nile.
More than 3,000,000 people live in
Kenya. Among them are 17,000 Eu
ropeans, 38,000 Asiatics, and 11,000
ATBDS.
Most of Northern Rhodesia occu
pies the central plateau of Africa.
Only a small area is less than 3.000
feet above sea level while much of
it is above 5,000 feet.
Mineral resources of Northern
Rhodesia are copper, lead and zinc.
The natives have not been apt stu
dents of agriculture.
Today there are in the colony
about 10,000 white men. Most of the
whites live in the southeast near
the railroad which links important
population centers of the Belgian
Congo, Northern and Southern Rho
desia, and South Africa.
Communications Are Poor.
Lack of communications has been
one of the colony's chief drawbacks.
Until more railroads and modern
highways streak the colony, native
porters and canoes will be Northern
Rhodesia’s chief burden bearers.
Madagascar with 241,000 square
miles outranked in area among the
islands of the world only by New
Guinea, Borneo and Greenland. A
high, barren plateau, edged with
cliffs, rises in the central part ol
the island. Towering above the pla
teau are huge mountain masses.
Besides rice and coffee Madagas
car produces vanilla, cocoa, spices,
rubber, sugar millet, maize, cotton,
and tobacco, as well as cattle, pigs,
A view of l.ake Hannington
in Great Rift Valley, Kenya
Colony, hast Africa. In the
background is famed Laikipia
escarpment, at the base of
which roams herds of ele
phants.
sheep and goats. But rice is the
staple crop.
Diego-Suarez, which has one of
the finest natural harbors in the
world, serves as French naval base
and chief commercial port of the
island.
The native tribes (Malagasy) are
not related in any way to African
races, but seem to be derived from
Melanesian and Malayo-Polynesian
stock.
Madagascar’s climate varies ac
cording to altitude. The coastal
lands are hot and unhealthy, but
towns on the high plateau have cool
air and moderate temperatures.
The country in the extreme south is
semi-arid and rather like the Amer
ican Southwest.
British Guiana has a total area
larger than England, Scotland, and
Wales together. Yet the population
is little more thnn 300,000, or about
two people to a square mile, except
in the cities. (In contrast, Germany
has 360 people per square mile)
Georgetown, the capital, accounts
for one-fifth of the entire colony’s
inhabitants.
Gold, Diamonds Abound.
Over two million ounces of gold
and two million carats of diamonds
have been brought out of British
Guiana's jungle hinterland. Exports
of bauxite ore for aluminum now
rival the value of sugar exports. But
almost nothing has been done with
rr:- <3
Jewish refugees such as this
woman will be housed in Brit
ish African or South Ameri
can colonies if plans for a
haven for the oppressed are
culminated.
reported deposits of manganese ore,
oil, and mica, because the rivers—
only lines of communication into the
mountains of the interior—are inter
rupted by a sudden wall-like edge
of the interior plateau, over which
plunge some of the highest and most
spectacular waterfalls in the world.
Melville island, which could ac
commodate some 25,000 Jewish
families, is a rough half-moon of
land across a narrow channel from
Australia’s chief northern port of
Darwin.
Melville island, with an abundant
supply of fresh water, was chosen
as the site of the first colony of
northern Australia. The natives are
a healthy, sturdy people who live
in crude huts made of gum bark.
The island is plentifully supplied by
a wealth of timber. From this bark
are also made canoes, baskets, and
various objects for housekeeping
and ceremonial use. It even serves
as a temporary burial mound be
fore th* customary grave posts arc
set up, and as a patch of modesty
in the “fig-leaf” costume of native
women.
To capable fishermen and hunt
ers, the island offers an abundance
of natural food in jungle fruit anc
game, in turtle eggs, crabs, lizards
—and the popular dugong, or “see
cow," a huge blubbery creature.
Although now uncultivated, th<
fertile soil of Melville island is wel
adapted to the growth of such trop
ical products as coconuts, rubber
and cotton. Wild herds of buffah
still roam the watered plains. als<
suitable for raising domestic stock
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Revitwtd by
CARTER FIELD
General Johnson stirs up
Washington by his advocacy
of Garner for President...
Roper leaves a tough spot
and enigma for Washington
. . . No more foreign loans
will be the slogan this win
ter . . . Boost Taft for
finance committee.
WASHINGTON.—Daniel C. Roper
leaves a tough spot and an enigma
for Washington. The answer to the
enigma may come before very long
and it will be worth studying. Ac
tually that answer will forecast the
future not only with respect to the
attitude the administration will take
towards business, but even as to the
probability of a third term for Pres
ident Roosevelt.
.—.. i It so happened that
i the final forcing out
| of Roper came just
I after publication of
a magazine article
by Gen. Hugh S.
I Johnson which dis
| cussed the third
| term possibility, and
f predicted that
i Roosevelt would turn
~ Mi a llUle t0 t,le r'S"1
'; in order to make
Gen. Johnson certain his renomi
nation and re-election.
This Johnson article aroused no
end of bitter comment in Washing
ton, not only because of his frank
characterization of many of the New
Dealers as "crackpots” but because
of his prediction that an overwhelm
ing flood of returning prosperity
would come within three weeks aft
er John Nance Garner became Pres
ident!
The New Dealers of course do not
concede that an administration such
as Garner would conduct would re
sult in prosperity. But they object
even more violently to the idea of
Garner for President. Obviously
they do not want any such "exodus
of crackpots” as Johnson predicts
would occur if Garner became Pres
ident. They would much rather
have an exodus of the Garners.
Department of Commerce
Does Not Regulate Business
In the policies to be carried on by
the new secretary of commerce
there is not so much interest as one
might think. Actually there are oth
er branches of the government
which are of much more interest
to business. For example, the trust
busting division of the department
of justice. For example, the secur
ities and exchange commission. For
example, the ICC, the federal trade
commission, the WPA, the PWA,
yes, even the TVA.
Actually the department of com
merce is not a menace to business.
It does not regulate business. It
does not decide on the taxes that
business will have to pay. It makes
many studies and gathers a lot of
data which is of value to business,
especially on exports and imports.
But even on that it is of nothing
like the importance to business that
the tariff commission is, and does
not compare to the reciprocal trade
treaty negotiating division of the
state department.
But nevertheless the appointment
of a secretary of commerce is of
enormous importance, despite the
comparatively drab and workaday
functions of the department he will
head. Not by any means because
of the actual acts that the secretary
of commerce will perform, but be
cause his mere selection is a hint
as to the attitude of the President.
So it makes a lot of difference
whether the post is filled by a man
whom business men regard as a
witch burner, or whether the ap
pointment goes to a man to whom
business generally feels friendly.
No More horeign Loans
Will Be Slogan This Winter
No more foreign loans will be the
slogan on Capitol Hill this winter.
Congress is all set to be isolation
ist, as far as Europe is concerned.
It is all set to be extremely friendly
to the other countries of this hemi
sphere. It would even be willing
to fight to prevent foreign aggres
sion south of the Rio Grande. But
it is not willing to risk another dol
lar of taxpayers’ money on loans
to any foreign government, or to
individuals in any foreign country,
either for trade development—the
idea Secretary of the Treasury Hen
ry Morgenthau Jr. is toying with—
or for building up their own national
defense.
This last idea seems to be strong
in Lima, where the Latin-American
countries that favor the new ver
sion of the Monroe Doctrine, which
might now be called a mutual de
fensive alliance, are rather intrigued
with playing their own part. That
part of course, as far as one can
learn here, to be financed from
■ Washington.
Loans for trade development were
always popular in New York and in
big manufacturing communities.
There is a selfish interest as big as
a barn door to explain it. Much oi
the 1S27, 1928 and early 1929 pros
perity was built on foreign loans
i Out in the country, if one is to be
, lieve returning congressmen, there
is a very different attitude. There
is a very keen recollection of the
foreign bonds that defaulted, and
there is considerable resentment
against those the folks out in the
country hold responsible.
In fact, this was one of the highly
significant causes of the tremendous
flop in the prestige of Herbert Hoo
ver. The casual observer thinks of
American investors as some re
stricted class living mostly in old
eastern cities. Let’s look at a par
ticular instance involving these de
faulted foreign bonds.
Bank Depositors Stung by
Defaulted Foreign Bonds
It so happened that the city of
Pocatello, Idaho, had a consider
able deposit in a local bank. Under
the law, the city’s funds were pro
tected more rigorously than the
deposits of ordinary citizens. It was
required that sound bonds be ear
marked in the bank’s vault as •
special guarantee.
Came the bank holiday and the
city officials wanted to know about
the city funds.
“Where are the bonds protecting
them?” they demanded.
The bank officials sadly showed
the city officials just what they had
done. They had earmarked certain
bonds of South American republics
as being the collateral of the city
deposits.
“But why should you have treated
us like this?” the city officials pro
tested. "Why did you put worth
less bonds behind our deposits?”
The bankers explained that, on the
advice of federal bank examiners,
the bank had bought these foreign
bonds. Not only that, they had sold,
at a loss, some irrigation bonds
which the bank examiners seemed
to think nothing of. The bank ex
aminers had lists of bonds they con
sidered good, and these foreign
bonds were on it.
This was not an isolated instance.
Depositors all over the country,
ranging down *e obscure hamlets,
were penalized by this craze of the
Washington government to loan
money abroad. The point is that
the folks knew it then, and remem
ber it now. And their congressmen
know all about it.
Want Senator-Elect Taft on
Senate Finance Committee
A quiet ca paign is under way to
make Senator-elect Robert A. Taft
a member of the senate finance com
mittee. In many ways the finance
committee is the most important
in the senate. It decides on all tax
questions and handles all tariff bills.
Normally a freshman senator does
not aspire so high. If he makes
this committee, or appropriations,
or foreign relations in his first six
year term, he thinks he has made
real progress. To make the Taft
ambition all the tougher, it so hap
pens that no Republican member
of the finance committee fell by the
wayside this year. As a matter of
fact only one of them was up this
year. That was James J. Davis of
Pennsylvania, who won both his re
nomination and re-election fights
handily.
Other Republican members of the
committee are Arthur Capper of
Kansas, Arthur H. Vandenberg of
Michigan and John G. Townsend of
Delaware. Sen. Robert M. La Fol
lette of Wisconsin is also a mem
ber, but is classified as a Progres
sive instead of as a Republican.
In the last session there were 16
Democrats on this committee, only
four Republicans, and one Progres
sive. It remains to be seen what
concessions will be made to the
Republicans in committee assign
ments due to their increased
strength. Having the majority, the
Democrats can do anything they
please. But the probability is that
the Republicans will get at least two
more members of this committee.
There are eight new Republican
senators, and it just so happens that
two of them replace Democratic
members of the committee.
Democratic Losers Are
Replaced by Republicans
Taft, replacing Sen. Robert J.
Bulkley, is one of these. The other
vacancy was caused
by the defeat of Sen.
Augustine Lonergan
of Connecticut. Both
states have been
conceded almost a
vested interest in the
finance committee,
due to the days
when the most im
portant function of
tuiiuumcc
framing tariff bills. „ „ ,
as both states rank S,e11, Bu ey
high in their manufacturing interest
and hence are vitally interested in
the protective tariff.
Other states sending Republican
senators to replace Democrats are
New Jersey. New Hampshire, Wis
consin, South Dakota. Kansas and
Oregon. Wisconsin can be eliminat
ed as far as the Taft candidacy for
the finance committee is concerned
because it already has one member
of the committee in La Follette.
New Jersey, which is sending War
ren Barbour back to the upper
house, is normally considered as
ranking high in its claims to a voice
in the finance committee, but noth
ing like so high as Ohio, and there
is no word that Barbour is making
a bid for the place.
Obviously the other states are not
so much entitled to consideration
because of population, wealth or
manufacturing interest as Ohio.
Kansas already has a Republican
member of the committee, Arthur
Capper.
<t) Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
First Turbine-Electric Locomotive Tested
A new turbine-electric locomotive, recently tested, will enable the Union Pacific to handle its heaviest
standard equipment over the entire run from Chicago to the West coast without changing engines. The 5,000
H. P. engine will run from 500 to 700 miles without stops. General Electric and railroad engineers worked two
years building the locomotive, which is the first of its kind built in the United States.
Daladier’s Son Starts Empire Movement
Jean Daladier, eldest son of the French premier, pins an arm-band on the newest recruit to his recently
inaugurated organization called “Youths of the French Empire.” The movement, he insists, is not political,
but rather to use youthful energy in the nation’s service. Membership is increasing rapidly.
Buccaneer to ‘Recapture’ Tampa
m< : Jfp|:; 'nw?fifgfffffliHMrrTFiPffinnBWRiWi|l|*biWlii|i|IIIWmil' "hi
Gasparilla. legendary pirate, and his motley crew sail into Tampa
harbor to capture the city on the occasion of the Florida day and Gaspa
rilla carnival, early In February. The fete celebrates the 400th anni
versary of the landing of Hernando Desoto.
Contender Lou Nova Plans Campaign
Lou Nova, whose recent victory over Tommy Farr came as a surprise
to a majority of the nation’s fight fans, in battling posture before a picture
of Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis. Nova ranks second to Tony Gaiento
as championship contender, according to National Boxing association
ratings.
I
MILK RACKETEER
Almost as contented as a cat in a
creamery, this kitten has learned to
meet the London milkman at the
garden gate in this amusing fashion
and get a lift back to its home.
TEA TIPPLER
Margaret Robertson, Scottish ac
tress, whose father for many years
was one of the most prominent Lon
don stock brokers, on her first visit
to America tries tippling her tea the
quaint old American way. British
tea circles were reported buzzing.
