Territory Reclaimed by France Dubbed ‘Hell Hole of Creation’ Prepared bv National Geographic Society, Washington, D, C —WNU Service. As northern Africa recently echoed to the tramp of mobilizing men, French troops made headlines by marching again into a strip of land on the northeast coast of the Dark Continent which had been un der French ownership before. The territory reoccupied was a region between Italian Eritrea and French Somaliland. Little more than 300 square miles in extent, it was ceded by France to Italy in 1935 under an agreement which the Italians them selves repudiated just a few months ago. The area into which the French are reported to have moved has an important strategic location. It commands the southern outlet of the Red sea at the narrow strait of Bab el Mandeb between Arabia and Africa. Furthermore, it is di rectly opposite, and only about 10 miles away from, the British-forti fied island of Perim, off the coast of southwest Arabia. Holds Key to Trade Lifelines*. Through the bottleneck of Bab el Mandeb sail the ships of four em pires, Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and Italy. This strait Is the third geographic key, follow ing Gibraltar and the Suez canal, which unlocks the Mediterranean short cut from Europe to east Af rica and the Orient. Its treacherous currents have earned it the name “Gate of Tears." Including the 10-mile stretch of reoccupied territory, the coast of French Somaliland now overlooks the major portion of the Bab el Mandeb gateway. With the excep tion of its convenient and strategic situation, however, the additional land has little to command it. It is hot, dry, and sparsely settled. Un der a blistering sun, temperatures rise so high that the struggle mere ly to exist is an endurance test. Not a Pleasant Place. Its barren, sandy shores merge, toward the interior, into dry, rocky plateau land with little vegetation. Waterless, except in time of rare rainy-season floods, river beds are usually little more than deep desert ditches. Although the climate is not considered especially unhealthful for white men, the possibility of The small area in black shows territory reoccupied by France after it had been ceded to Italy under the treaty of 1935, in order to strengthen the defenses of Assab. The area covers only only about 300 square miles but is of great value for control of the llab el Mandeb strait. sunstroke is a constant menace. One explorer traveling over a route not far away named the entire re gion ‘‘Hell Hole of Creation.” In this northern section of French Somaliland, the inhabitants are largely Dankali, sometimes called "Black Semites,” because of their intermingled Arab and Ethiopian blood. They earn a precarious living as nomadic herdsmen in the uplands and as fishermen along the shores. Pearl diving is also an important coastal occupation. Fish are plentiful there and are the chief food for many of the na tives, supplemented only by rice, dates, and coffee. In the bush, men add to a scanty food supply goats' milk, and an occasional gazelle brought down by expert marksman ship with sling or dart. Minorca, Spanish Stronghold Important to World Traders The surrender of Minorca gave the Franco Spain control of the last Loyalist-held island of the Balearics group, off the eastern coast of Spain. Minorca is the second largest of 15 islands in the Balearics. In an area of less than 300 square miles, it holds—in normal times—some 45,000 inhabitants. Strategic stepping stones between Europe and North Africa, the Balearics lie in the path of two im perial sea lanes. Minorca, eastern most of the islands, is a geographic halfway mark between France and her North African possessions. To the south runs the British short-cut to India, by way of Gibraltar and the Suez canal. In addition, on both sides of the islands, ships ply direct routes that link the Atlantic ocean with ports of northeast Spain, south ern France, and western Italy. Important In History. To its position on the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Minorca owes an early place in international his tory. Two centuries before Christ, Mago, brother of the famous Car thaginian general, Hannibal, found ed the island's capital of Portus Magonis, now Mahon. In the war against Rome, the Car thaginians made good use of the Minorcans’ special talent for sling warfare. Eventually, however, the Romans took over the island. The Vandals and Moors followed; after which Minorca, with the rest of the Balearics, became a Moorish king dom—and a pirate stronghold. Conquered by James I of Aragon in the Thirteenth century, the island was seized by the English five cen turies later. In the struggles that followed, Minorca changed hands five more times. It was shifted from French to English to Spanish possession, then returned to Eng land, and was finally turned over to Spain. After the treaty of Amiens in 1802, the entire Balearics became a Spanish island province. An Island Melting Pot. Modern Minorca shows the effect of its varied occupations. English, Spanish, and Arab types persist, de spite the general race mixture. Whitewashed houses and garden walls reveal the Arab influence. The excellent port of Mahon on the southeast coast suggests the English provinces, with its gleam ing brass knockers and lace blinds. Visitors to Minorca's country homes tell of seeing Eighteenth century English furniture and French en gravings from the time of the revo lution. On the other hand, Ciudadela, for mer Moorish and Spanish capital on the west coast, is an old Spanish town. Even the prehistoric past is ar chitecturally represented in Minor ca. Mysterious monuments of the earliest inhabitants are the numer ous cave dwellings that honeycomb the mountains and the queer-shaped stone structures scattered about the island. In different forms, the lat ter are known as talayots, taulas, and naus, variously supposed by students to have served as ancient defense towers, as religious and burial chambers, or as practical storage rooms for grain and fodder and shelter for domestic animals. Of special interest to Americans is the fact that this little island in the Mediterranean is the ancestral home of Admiral David Farragut of Civil war fame. The father of the admiral, George Farragut, was born in Minorca of the ancient Spanish house of Ferragut, as it is spelled there. Hollywood Hoax Finally Exposed; Just a Balloon! HOLLYWOOD—The next time a close-up of a snarling movie mon ster brings Junior yelling out of his seat next to yours at the theater, push him back and assure him it's only a big balloon. And when the kid brother comes home praising the golden tresses of the screen Loreleis in "Footlight Parade,” retort: "Aw, rubber.” For again you’ll be right. H. H. Knudsen, Hollywood offi cial of the B. F. Goodrich company and a seasoned expert on motion picture uses of rubber, reveals that almost anything seen in the movies may be rubber. For example, most movie mon sters are made of rubber. The toothy crocodile in the Tarzan se ries was 40 gallons of solidified rub ber latex with seven electric motors in his innards to make his jaws gape and his tail lash. Remember the dreadful face of King Kong, the mountainous ape? That was rubber, too. And the giant dinosaurs which walked, roared and tore through "The Lost World” were motor-driv en rubber latex critters. As for the blondes, continuous wa ter scenes in the musical wreaked havoc with their coiffures. So Knud sen supplied rubber to make water proof tresses for the beauties. The majority of the horses in "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were only rubber equines mounted on tracks and controlled in battle through ingenious mechanical de vices, Knudsen reveals. And the figures that come hurtling down from airplanes, precipices and bridges—they are sponge rubber dummies. Small statues which are bounced off the heads of movie husbands by embattled spouses are made from rubber, as are the guns and knives in G-Man pictures. Rubber has its prosaic uses in the movies, too. Witness the rub berized underwear supplied by Knudsen to the Alaska-bound "Call of the North” company to ward olf colds and give protection against low temperatures and cold waters. WHO’S NEWS THIS WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON NEW YORK.—Just a year ago. Will H. Hays noted a possibly regrettable tendency of the movies toward "escapism.” This led to suggestions that Billy Hays Now he was suc A Matter of cumbing to the Fact Eudemonistverbnl enchant ments of the Hollywood intelligentsia. That all blew over, but here is Mr. Hays today frankly proclaiming himself a eudemonist. Our somewhat con servative dictionary is a bit vague about it. but, in his rough outlines, a eudemonist seems to be one who believes in fairies. In his annual report as president of the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Mr. Hays cites with satisfaction the record box-office success of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and is hap py that “there are still a number of eudemonists left in the world.” There is no disparaging or invidious reference to non-eudemonists, but, since Mr. Hays also reports with gratification that there are no "isms” and no “social significance” in "Snow White,” it is perhaps a fair inference that such black witch ery is the dramatic antithesis. Practicing law in Sullivan, Ind., the homespun, sagacious Mr. Hays was no rising young eudemonist. That came later. He was, however, a rising young Republican politician and a Presbyterian elder, one of the deftest inner-circle technicians of the Indiana party tourna ments, where professional stand ards and scoring are high. That led him inevitably to what statesmen of his earlier day used to call “political prefer ment,” and, as postmaster gen eral in President Harding’s cabinet, he exercised political power of wide range and pene tration. For seventeen years now, he has headed the moving picture industry. „ A round of eight Czar Is Out, “silents.” when Prefers ‘Bill* he left his cab As His Handle inet p°8t' “J now about 28 companies putting out highly vo ciferous Aims—no wonder he be lieves in fairies. He doesn’t like to be called "czar,” preferring just plain “Bill,” if there is any call for an informal salutation. Hearing him wind up in an address, or even in casual talk, one could understand how he could be a eudemonist, as he invokes the founding fathers or the palladium of our liberties, against this or that, but he usually coppers such oratorical bets with a remark like this: “And, after all, it probably wouldn't work.” Thus he is revealed as what might be called a pragmatic eudemonist. In his county seat town, he inherited his father's land-law business. A fragile man, with • slight limp and outstanding ears, he has the mannerisms of the country lawyer, and be wins over opposition, as he used to win juries, with a winsome and disarming smile. He is at times a euphemist, as well as a eu demonist—insisting, for in stance, that censorship is mere ly "self-regulation.” Several years ago, he was worrying be cause the movies were going "masochist.” Sullivan, Indiana, is still home base for Mr. Hays and he is the town's favorite son, in spite of his philological flare-up. IT WOULD be fine if we had a cash register which would ring up a true prophecy when it was turned in. About a year and a half a# ... ag°. George Messersmith Messersmith, Called Hitler’s assistant secre Moves Early ,ary of stat«* former consul general at Berlin, called Adolf Hit ler’s next moves as clearly and ac curately as a spieler for an old-fash ioned barn dance. He turned in to the state department a precise state ment of what der fuehrer had on ; his mind, now fully validated and certified. Naturally, it got little at tention because it was obviously in credible. The Nazis can’t say it was a prejudiced opinion. When Hitler was emerging, Mr. Messersmith thought "evolution would follow revolution," and everything would work out nicely. He changed his mind. When Dr. Albert Einstein suffered certain indignities in getting his pass port, Mr. Messersmith was un justly accused of responsibility. This was all straightened out and President Roosevelt upped him as minister lo Austria. He returned to his present post in July, 1938. He was for 14 years superintendent of the Delaware schools before entering the consular service. 6 Consohri ipd News Feature*. WNU Service. NATIONAL I AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD New Dealers conducting campaign to aid nomination of Thomas E. Dewey as Re publican presidential can didate; the plot being to prevent the nomination of Senator Taft, whom they fear . . . Backers of bill to take profits out of war really do not want the bill to pass, and it probably wont . . . Little likelihood of railroad legislation at this session of congress. WASHINGTON. — New Dealers close to the White House are actu ally conducting a publicity cam paign which would seem calculated to aid the nomination for President by the Republicans next year of a man President Roosevelt cordially dislikes. That man is Thomas E. Dewey. Not that this publicity campaign is praising Dewey. Quite the con trary. It avoids any reference to Dewey wnaiever. ino, me campaign takes the form of trying to wreck the man who is regarded as Dew ey’s chief contender for the Republican nomination, Senator Robert A. Taft of If any group of 10 T. E. Dewey or m0re persons is polled as to the man they would name if going into a pool on the Re publican nominee, a majority of them will be found to be voting for Dewey. This is by no means to say that a majority of every such group actually favors Dewey—that re mains to be demonstrated by polls. But he is the man a majority of people seem to think has the edge at the present moment. If the same groups are asked to name the man they would give sec ond place in probabilities, Senator Taft is almost unvaryingly the one named. This is not a matter of con jecture, and is not news. It is mere ly stating the foundation on which the activities of an important group of New Dealers seem to be based. Every time in the last few months when a group of New Dealers would be at some party or gathering where friendly newspaper men were—espe cially parties where there could be mixing around and small group con versations, it has been noticed that within a few days attacks on Taft would appear in the newspapers rep resented by these correspondents. It has happened too many times to be a coincidence. New Dealers, It Appears, Do Not Like Senator Taft One explanation, of course, lies in the fact that of all the men who have been prominently mentioned as probabilities for the Republican nomination, Senator Taft is beyond doubt the one whom most ardent New Dealers would dislike most to have as President. He stands four square against more New Dealisms, and is on record as criticizing them and demanding their repeal, than any other Republican who has been mentioned as having a chance for the White House. Far more, for example, than Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachu setts, who is inclined to be liberal on many issues. Far more than even Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan, who is probably more popular personally than almost any one who has been mentioned. Whereas Mr. Dewey has stated his position on very few issues indeed so far as the national picture is con cerned. He is against crime, and rackets. But so is everybody ex cept the criminals and racketeers. Small Chance for Bill to Take Profits Out of War With 50 senators pledged to the proposed bill to take the profits out of war. it would seem that nothing could stop its enactment. Yet the probability is that it will be stopped, if not in the senate, then in the house. The proposal has had a strange history, often making ap parent progress, but always falling by the wayside in some unexpected manner. The answer is simple. Most of the congressmen backing the measure, or supporting it, do not want it to pass. There are a very few sincere senators and representatives who { believe that it would be a good thing, but most of them know that actually it would do little to pre vent the country getting into war, and its presence on the statute books during the period immediately pre ceding our entry into war would be little short of a catastrophe. Let us assume that the bill be came law, as the present demon stration of strength among senators would indicate that it readily might. From the day war wa% declared, any corporation which made any profits from supplying w'ar materi als to the government would be taxed virtually 100 per cent of those profits. So there would be no selfish reason for any manufacturer to de sire to get the country into war. That is the real object of the legislation. Its backers want to stop the machinations by which the wick ed munitions makers involve the world in suffering, destruction and death Just in order to make their own filthy profits. The public is very well sold on this idea. There have been lots of plays, movies and propaganda putting it over. There j has never been anything approach ing a sane consideration of the ques- ; tion. But now let us assume that the steel makers of this country clearly see that the United States is bound to be involved in a major war. Un der normal circumstances every one of them, with the war and navy de partment experts prodding them at every turn, would begin getting ready. Before war was declared, unless it came with terrific sudden ness, their plants would be ready to start turning out munitions and guns of the precise type needed by the army and navy. United States Navy Made Good Showing in World War As a matter of fact, the United States navy made a very good show ing in the World war, while Frank lin D. Roosevelt was assistant sec retary, because Sam McGowan, the paymaster general of the navy, got away with murder in placing or ders before the war declaration, j That is why the navy was fixed so ! much better than the army, and why it was so much less criticized, j But under the proposed law any j steel manufacturer who spent a pen ny on the chance that the United States might get into the war would be a traitor to his stockholders, even if he had shown a patriotic spirit. Why? Because there would not be a chance of his making any money for his stockholders, and there would be the cold certainty that, in addi tion to not making any money dur ing the war period, he would run into severe losses immediately after the war period. The history of every munitions making enterprise in private hands has been that it made big profits during the war, and then took ter rific losses after the war, what with cancelled orders, unused inventories and unneeded expansions of plant. So they just wouldn’t. Answer: Government monopoly of the munitions manufacturing busi ness if the law passes. And the army and navy don’t like that. They fear congress would never be liberal enough in advance to have the na tion properly prepared. Unlikely to Be Railroad Legislation at This Session It is very unlikely that there will be any railroad legislation at this session of congress. Congress has been tussling with legislation to put the railroads back on the track to financial stability almost continu ously for the last 20 years. Their condition has been worse instead of better and no laws will be enacted this session which can be of any sig nificant benefit to them without the prospect of a larger volume of traf fic. The very best that congress can do is to help the roads take better advantage of more business when it comes. The problem resolves itself into an attempt to put a better face on the plain fact that the public demands several transportation services but refuses and probably is actually un able, certainly at times, to support them all adequately — railroads, trucks, busses, inland and inter coastal waterways, pipe lines, and air lines. What the public as a ship per won’t pay has b«en met to some extent by subsidies but with the idea more of provoking extension of al ternative, competitive services than of maintaining them. Difficult for Congress to Turn Out Satisfactory Law Couple the railroads’ proposals as presented to congress in the “com mittee of six” bill with the opposi tion of water, highway and air lines, plus the objections of the railroads and their employees to any com pulsion to develop more compact operating systems by consolidation and co-ordination, then add the re sistance of creditors to accepting losses inevitable in railroad reor ganization which offers any prospect of continuing solvency, and the chances are slim indeed that con gress will be able to grind out a law that is of any more durable value than the transportation act of 1920, or the emergency transporta tion act of 1935. In the last year two separate and opposed expeditions into the trans I have set out from the White House. Following the inter state commerce commission’s deci sion last March granting the rail roads a 5 per cent increase in rates on their petition for a boost of 15 per cent, ■■ rrcaiuciu auuacvcu J. B. Eastman called jnto confer ence Commissioners Splawn, East man and Mahaffle of the interstate commerce commission, Jesse H. Jones of R. F. C. and other ad ministration officials, Carl R. Gray, vice chairman of Union Pacific, Hen ry Bruere of the Bowery Savings bank and George M. Harrison, chairman of the Railway Labor Ex ecutives association. The upshot was a report by the I. C. C. commis sioners which the President turned over to congress in April with a message in which he reiterated his opposition to government subsidies i and government ownership.