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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1939)
► Hainan Island, Taken by Japs Inhabited by Aboriginal Tribes Strategic Land Held by China for Past 2,000 Years Prepared by National Geographic Society. Washington. D. C.—WNU Service. First important break in Chinese ownership of Hainan island, southernmost posses sion of China, for more than 2,000 years, came with the recent landing of Japanese troops on the island. The island lies in the Gulf of Tonkin whose shores are formed by the southern part of the Chinese mainland and by the northern part of French Indo-China. Ever since the Chinese conquest of the flat coastal regions in 111 B. C., Hainan has been Chinese. There now are more than 2.000,000 Chi nese on the island but most of them live In the coastal zone. The moun tainous region in the interior is the domain of the Lois, aboriginal tribesmen who have refused to be dominated by outsiders. Because of Hainan’s lack of mod ern development, it is of litUe pres ent commercial value to any coun try. The climate is tropical and coconuts, pineapples, mangoes, ba nanas, breadfruit, oranges, sugar, and rice thrive, but a comparatively small area of the island has been cultivated. The forests are rich in hardwoods, including mahogany, but there has been no extensive lumber ing operation. There are known de WHEN JAPS ENTERED HAINAN—Japanete marinet, their band playing, entering the important tea port of Hai koic during the occupation of Hainan Itland. posits of gold, silver, tin, and re* ports of the discovery of copper, lead, iron and coal deposits, but mining has been done only on a small scale. Strategically, however, the island is important It places Japanese forces within 1,500 miles of Brit ain’s new naval base at Singapore. A modern transport airplane could take off from Hainan and land in French Indo-China after an hour’s flight;-and a flight to Manila would take only about 3V4 hours. In fast battle planes, those times could be halved. The Lois tribesmen are partially responsible for Hainan’s economic plight. They inhabit small villages in the inland mountains, to which they were pushed back by Chinese immigration. Most of the tribes men have managed to avoid com ing under Chinese control. Lois customs have not changed for centuries. Three blue tattoo rings are worn on their left hands to protect them from smallpox. Charms are generously worn to ward off evil spirits; and the medi cine men are highly respected as devil chasers. Like their ancestors, the Lois of today do not use hooks when they fish. Instead, they dam a river, pour into the stream poison ous Juices from roots, and easily spear the stupefied fish. Staid London Drops Tradition, Eats Yankee Salad, Ice Cream _ '* _ Big Restaurant Chain Notes Transition in Englishmen's Diet Prepared by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.-WNU Service. Simple qualities of old-fash ioned English cooking are not disguised, as in Paris, by fancy names and sauces. Un like the French, the English do not feel that inventing a tasty new dish is more im portant to mankind than dis covering a new star. But somewhere in London the epi cure may easily find any con tinental dish, be it Italian, French, German, or Greek. There are Indian restaurants, too, like Vereswamy’s, where re tired army men go for curry and rice. London has as great a variety of eating places as any world city— except Paris. You can easily find American hot cakes and com on the cob. Dense populations of recent times have brought the rise of large in dustries which import vast amounts of food, prepare and distribute it. Conspicuous is the Lyons company of London. It operates over 250 eat ing places, a string of hotels, em ploys 30,000 people, and uses nearly 2,000 trucks to deliver food. ‘‘In the 40 years of its life, our pioneer cafe at 213 Piccadilly has fed over 35,000,000 people,” said an official of this company. “Some guests, young men when we started, still dine with us. “We have seen changes in Lon don's eating habits. During our first year, we served only 40 dishes of ice cream a day; now we sell as many as 3,000,000. Curiously, about 70 per cent of all our customers ask for vanilla flavor. When this fact was ferreted out by reporters, a perfect spate of letters followed, many to the Times, wanting to know why people didn’t eat more straw berry, lemon, etc. "Take salad. Years ago we served none at all. Now our customers eat half a million dishes a day. "Weather, of course, affects hu man habits. Our weather expert makes his Anal decision between three and five every morning. The change point in diet lies between M and eo degrees. Fifty is on the cold side and people start to order more soup, hot entrees, stewed steak, hot sweets, suet dumplings, and jam rolls. Sixty is the begin ning of a milder spell. Then de mands upon the cold counters and ice cream increase.” So huge is this firm’s tea business that it pays one-sixth of the whole tea duty collected in the United Kingdom, and sells more than 1,250, 000 packages of tea a dayl At this company’s Greenford fac tory sits a line of teatasters. These men of keen palates may taste a thousand different brews a day. Sam ples of drinking water from differ ent places in the world are tested and tea blends are made up to suit each locality. Robinson Crusoe never heard of vitamins, but he was on the right LONDON IN A FOG — A scene on Black friars bridge during a typical London fog. Lyons restaurants, preparing for such emergencies, have an extra supply of hot foods on hand. track when he packed and stored limes and dried grapes. This vitamin problem is only one of the many studied in Lyons' lab oratory, with its 150 chemists. They not only test flour dough and other foods for nutrition value, but make bacteriological examinations of fish, meat, and poultry. NATIONAL AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD Taft's Gridiron dinner speech didn't do much for his presidential ambitions . . . Two schools of thought on the subject of a Euro pean war . . . Sabre shak ing here might help to keep fteacc there . . . New Deal ers present another of their brilliant ideas in the new job fixed for Edward J. Noble. WASHINGTON.—It is not permit ted to repeat anything said in a speech made at a Gridiron dinner, though from time to time history has actually been made by speeches at the gatherings of that organiza tion. But there is no ban on the comments of guests following the dinner. Consensus is that Sen. Robert A. Taft did not do his presidential am bitions any good by his speech at the recent dinner. As a matter of fact, one diner actually congratulat ed Thomas E. Dewey on Taft’s speech! Dewey, incidentally, who spoke at the December Gridiron dinner, had a much better break all around than Taft. In the first place, President Roosevelt did not reply to Dewey. He did not really make a speech at all. just a few pleasant remarks at the end of the dinner. After Taft’s speech, however, the President made a real speech, which, accord ing to comments of guests after wards, was a very good one. In the case of Dewey the club followed its customary practice of having one speaker from each of the major parties, but, the President r.ot wishing to make a regular talk, James A. Farley had to carry the load for the Democrats. Farley was in a tough spot. ' He had to make a speech to which the President would listen, which meant that he had to be very careful about what he said. General opinion afterward was that Jim did not do himself justice, which made Dewey’s spot all the more attractive. A curious phase of all this is that the President actually feels rather friendly, personally, toward Taft, and dislikes Dewey very much in deed, yet as a result of his own ac tions Dewey was helped and Taft was hurt before gatherings of tre mendous political importance. Taft's Economic Views Anathema to New Dealers Roosevelt is so politically minded that it is just possible he “planned it that way.” Taft may be person ally more agreeable to the New Dealers than Dewey, but his eco nomic views are anathema. It is very obvious that most of the New Dealers have been moving heaven and earth to discredit the Ohio sen ator for months. Taft in the White House, with a sympathetic congress, is just the last thing the New Deal ers would want to see. It might, as they see it, bring about a re action in their favor, which would sweep them back into power four years later, but they shiver at what he would do to their social and eco nomic “reforms” in the meantime. Many of the tycoons present at the Gridiron dinner were terribly disappointed. They have been agree ing with so much that Taft has been saying, in his speeches, statements and radio talks, that the Ohio sena tor had obtained a considerable fol lowing for his candidacy in down 1 town New York, and in the financial districts of most of the big cities I of the country. The.* not only liked his views, but hip magnificent showing in Ohio against New Deal Sen. Robert J. Bulkley. But since the Gridiron dinner they are remembering Alfred M. Landon, whose views also they agreed with. In fact they remember sadly the points the Kansas governor made in his 1936 speeches. But they also remember the deadly dullness of his speeches—how he drove away votes every time the radio carried his voice. Which is not so good at the moment for Mr. Taft's chances. Two Schools of Thought As to a European War President Roosevelt is being sharply criticized for his warlike ut terances, even attacked for “gam bling” on getting this nation in volved in casualty lists. But there is a school of thought, to which many friends and many opponents of the New Deal subscribe 100 per cent, that the more certain Mr. Roosevelt can make Hitler and Mus solini that the United States will en ter the war on the side of Britain and France, if and when w-ar comes, the less chance there will be of a big European war. Even more important, those hold ! ing this view believe that if the op posite is done—that is if Hitler and Mussolini can be convinced that the United States will remain neutral, the probability of war is increased, and the probability that the United States will eventually be sucked into it will become much greater. The theory behind the support that President Roosevelt gets on this is sue, on which he is being opposed by most Republican leaders and by a great many Democrats, Is very simple. We start with the assump tion that war is not absolutely cer tain—that it may be that a suffi cient number of factors can prevent it—that Hitler and Mussolini are not absolutely determined to keep on un til they force a general conflict. If this assumption is not correct, then nothing matters very much. There will be war, and eventually the United States will be drawn into it. In that case nothing said at this time by President Roosevelt or any body else is important. Only what is done by way of preparation is important. But if the assumption is correct, then it would seem obvious that the more strength Hitler and Mussolini know is going to be thrown to their enemies the more chance there is that they may decide not to risk the consequences of war. Sabre Rattling in V. S. Might Help Keep the Peace There are several theories which seem to reinforce the argument. For example, it is believed by most army officers here that if war comes the power of Hitler will at once be come very much curtailed. The Ger man army does not recognize Hit ler as a military genius. It has been backing him right along be cause of his demonstrated hold on the people, and because of his dem onstrated power as a bluffer in in ternational negotiations. But with the coming of war, it is held, he would be sidetracked and ignored. The prestige resulting from the ear ly victories — most army officers think the early conflicts would be German victories—would go to the men who directed the troop move ments. Pretty soon a new Hindenburg or a new Ludendorf would be the pop ular hero of Germany. The thought is that Hitler must know this, and would be scarcely human if he rel ished the idea. Hence the longer he can win victories by sabre rat tling, instead of actual military en counters, the longer he remains No. 1 man in Germany and retains prac tically dictatorial powers. Noble's New Job Another Bright New Deal Idea No one is ever going to say that the New Dealers do not have ideas. They reek with them. One of the most interesting involves the rea sons for the sudden elevation of Ed ward J. Noble, administrator of the civil aeronautics authority, to as sist in administration’s program for the promotion of business recovery as undersecretary of the department of commerce, a new position which congress will be asked to create. The answer, it is explained, can be found in a public statement made by Mr. Noble the day before his appointment. In brief, Mr. Noble, in the eyes of President Roosevelt and Secretary of Commerce Harry L. Hopkins, has made a huge suc cess in applying government regu lation to one industry—the air lines —which are highly competitive and alive with individual initiative. So the theory is that Mr. Noble, having accomplished this with air lines, can spread out over all lines of business his supervision and co ordination, and bring about the ideal economic state visualized by Roose velt and Hopkins—no monopoly, plenty of competition, plenty of indi vidual initiative, and yet complete regulation and control by a benefl cient government! In the public statement in ques tion, Mr. Noble dwelt at length on the record made by the air lines during the last winter. The lines, he pointed out, flew more than 64.000, 000 passenger miles for each pas senger fatality between December 21 last and March 20. There was but one fatal accident in that period, during which the lines flew 17,863,270 plane miles. The statement also pointed out that the three transcontinental lines and the principal north-south line flew 50,000,000 passenger miles this winter without a single forced landing. After recounting this record Mr. Noble said: Turns It Into Boost jor Government Regulation “These figures present a striking example of the way a highly com petitive business, in a stage of high ly individual initiative, can co-oper ate with government regulation and get results.” Much further down in the same statement Mr. Noble said: “It seems to me that the lesson is obvious. Sane and wise application of our regulatory laws not only protects the public but at the same time en hances the profit of the business. Long experience has shown—and it is shown strikingly in the air trans port industry—that only through the co-operative services of the govern ment can this kind of regulation pro duce a result that protects every body, both the enterprise and the citizen. I wish other business men in this new day might learn that the air transport industry has learned so well, and applied so well, on the record it presents here today.” A critical examination of all this might produce just a little skepti cism. In the first place, it is pointed out, the railroads also can make a magnificent showing so far as pas senger miles per fatality are con cerned. But this "proof" that gov ernment regulation of highly com petitive enterprises is not calculat ed to appeal to investors. The finan cial situation of the railroads, to put it mildly, is not bright. Also critics are inclined to think that fate had more to do with the small number of fatalities in the ail service this winter than government regulation. S) Bel] Syndicate.—WNU Service. Big Top Hits Trail Once More With Bigger Bundle of Thrills Shut down last mid season by bad busi ness, Ringling's t(great l est show on earth” ex pects its biggest run this year thanks partly to Charles LcMaire (left), noted designer who planned unique costuming, air-condi tioned big top and re styled it with a blue ceiling. _ _ '* Elephants are al ways good circus at tractions. Modoc, an acrobatic pachyderm, pulled this head stand from her trunk of tricks at the show's winter quarters. Horses are also good attractions. Above, Tex Elmlundt, famous trainer of liberty horses, puts a quartet through their 6aces. Beloic, Achmed!, the performing horse, performs for illiam Heyer. He leaps directly up into the air and lantls in the same spot. This is probably the first time such a stunt has been accomplished or photographed. r Aerialists rehearse their breath-taking feats ; at winter quarters. ...■■ " mumiiaiiiii ..in Right, Hubert Castle, iris* nr</ of the wire, knows what perfection means, and here he is putting in some practice at his specialty. Reckless riders, intrepid handlers of fero cious animals and the world's funniest clowns complete the picturesque assortment. Roustabouts loading up for the overnight trip. WHO’S NEWS THIS WEEK < I By LEMUEL F. PARTON '^J’EW YORK.—Progressive educa* * ’ tion has been pushed around a lot lately. The Bellwether Lincoln school of New York has been back* See What Came Of Leaving Chap With $2 Camera tracking, as have several other Daniel Boones of the educational wil derness. From the right came the charge that they just let the young sters fool around with toys and tools, without rubbing in any real educa tion. Here’s a field goal for the other side. At the somewhat ultra Foun- • tain Valley, progressive school of Colorado Springs, the boy David Hare, scion of a highly placed New York family, was given carte blanche to build his education around a $2 camera. The idea, as in all progressive schools of those few years back, was to give the green light to any creative impulse. But, at 22, here Is Mr. Hare with a New York exhibit of cam era portraiture, with President Roosevelt among his subjects, and with famous artists and photographers, including Arnold Genthe, cheering him as the “Leonardo da Vinci of the cam era.” Specifically, they agree that young Mr. Hare has proved indisputably that the camera not only may be, but now is an in strument of the highest artistic expression, and that he demon strates an absolutely new meth od and medium of color por trait photography. His three-lens camera allows the superimposing of color images, in the manner of the color-printing process, and makes possible shad ing and emphasis in the service of mood. His is the first and only color portrait exhibit in the country. Art ists and prominent society folk are boiling with enthusiasm over Mr. Hare’s achievement. He is a tall, shy, personable young man, somewhat inarticu late, as he filters life through a lens, and hesitant in any other form of expression. As was the young Lindbergh. There is the same “We” combination here. Whether he knows the preposi tions used with the ablative or whether he stumbled across the “Bridge of Asses” is not re vealed. OUT of the limbo of the past rises “Ole Bill,” Bruce Bairnsfather’s famous walrus-mustached cartoon character of World war days, to Time’s Attrition Marks‘Ole Bill’ AndHis Creator adorn recruit ing posters be ing displayed throughout the United King dom. Bairnsfather says his revised character reveals signs of age, but, for that matter, so does the car toonist. The slow attrition of 20 years since a slender youngster created "Ole Bill,” in a trench in Flanders, has added to his bulk, had taken toll of his thatch of wavy black hair. Bitterness came, too, as when he returned all his war medals to the British government in protest against its treatment of veterans. Somehow, despite the wide and varied exploitation of Bill— books, lectures, a play, “The Better Ole,” a syndicated piece and so forth—Bruce seemed to get the short end of it all. He is said to have received some $10,000 out of $500,000 earned by his black and white creation. Putting on his own review, “Ulle,” he lost $40,000, and after that events led him straight to bankruptcy, liabilities $75,000, assets negligible. He was born in India of a long line of army forebears and began life as an electrical engineer. Of recent years, what with lecturing, writing and drawing, life is said to have dealt more amiably by him. SELECTED for transfer from his post as ambassador to Argentina to the government of Gen. Francisco Franco in Spain, Alexander W. Wed dell, 63 years Our Ambassador old, bears with To Spain Packs him such assets Diplomatic Bag “ £ £*% perience of a career diplomat, a man of tact and diplomatic deft ness, combined with broad humani tarian sympathies. Mr. Weddell was educated at George Washington university law school and the University of Catania in Italy. Appointed private secretary to the minis ter to Denmark in 1908, he en tered the consular service two years later as consul at Zanzi bar. He spent two years, 1913 14, as consul at Catania, going thence to Athens as consul gen eral. Retiring from the diplomatic serv ice in 1928, he returned six years ago, filling various consular posts until his appointment as ambassa dor to the Argentine. ® Consolidated News Features. WNU Service.