Iceland’s Democratic Tradition
Started by Vikings in 930 A. D.
Tiny Northern Country Is
Model for Others; No
Army, No Debt.
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington, D. C.-WNU Service.
Iceland is a country which
has never had a war; and
apparently it would like to
retain that record. In the is
land, regret was expressed
recently because Iceland was
not included with 31 coun
tries in and adjoining Europe
listed by the President of the
United States as those to
which a pledge of non-ag
gression be given.
Although Iceland celebrated
her twentieth birthday only
last December, this nation has had
1,008 years of democratic history be
hind it. SetUed in the Ninth cen
tury by such varied groups as Irish
monks and Vikings, it established as
early as 930 an elected assembly,
called the ‘•Althing.”
Losing its independence several
centuries later, the island fell un
der the influence of Norway, and lat
er under the rule of Denmark. It
was not until 1918. that Iceland
again became an independent state
-—joined with Denmark only by hav
ing the same king—and received the
new constitution that made it a
young nation with a long past
Country of Contradictions.
Nearly 40,000 square miles in
area, shaped like a giant flounder
floating 200 miles ofT the coast of
Greenland, Iceland is a country of
contradictions. Its climate, tem
pered by the warm, north-flowing
Gulf stream, denies its Arctic loca
tion. Little colder than many parts
of the United States, its farms and
comfortable villages belie its for
bidding name.
In the island fire and ice meet
when snow-capped volcanoes erupt,
■ending tons of water and blocks of
Ice down the mountainsides. Gla
ciers and lava beds, between them,
divide one-fourth of the island's soU.
In the Fifteenth century the Black
Death destroyed two-thirds of Ice
land’s population; 300 years later
smallpox took another 10,000 vic
tims. A bad famine followed, and in
1783 occurred the worst volcanic
eruption of its history, wiping out
farm houses and live stock, and
sending ashes as far as Norway.
Country Without a Jail.
In spite of disaster, however, and
the ever-present economic problems
of meager soil and poor mineral de
posits, hard - working Icelanders
boast considerable modern prog
ress.
Roads and telegraph and tele
phone lines have been built. Elec
tricity has been widely installed;
trucks and automobiles introduced.
Last summer Iceland, after using
German planes and German pilots,
opened her own local airline and is
now flying planes on regular routes
between the capital, Reykjavik, and
northern towns.
Proud of its famous literature and
culture (Iceland knew the bright
light of learning when much of Eu
rope was still in darkness), this
small nation of less than 120,000
people claims today literacy for all
normal adults.
Returned travelers report that this
island has no beggars and no jail—
that all its crimes are "little ones.”
Follow Copperflcld’s Philosophy.
With no army and navy, Iceland
has a balanced budget. Its esti
mated income for 1938 is 17,464,280
kronur (about three and a half
million dollars); outgo, 16,322,141
kronur. Iceland, in fact, recalls Mr.
Micawber’s philosophy in Dickens’
"David Copperfleld”: “Annual in
come twenty pounds, annual expen
diture nineteen nineteen six, result
happiness."
Although handicapped by lack of
many raw materials, plus a soil usu
ally producing only such crops as
hay, potatoes and turnips, the is
land in recent years has been mak
ing the most of other natural re
sources at hand. Its numerous and
swift rivers, useless for navigation,
are valuable as sources of hydro
electric power; its hot springs for
modern heating.
Lowly Mule
*
Holds Own in
Machine Age
Value in Modern Warfare
Shown During Italy’s
Ethiopian Conquest.
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington. D. C.-WNU Service.
Is the mule going to the dogs?
The answer is ‘'no,'’ even in the
machine age.
Both in numbers and in the no
less tangible evidence of human ap
preciation, the mule is holding its
own. One proof is found in a new
statue in one of the chief parks of
Rome—a minor result of the Italian
conquest of Ethiopia. Erected in
1937, this monument is dedicated to
the mule in honor both of its work
with the Italian forces at the Alpine
front in the World war, and for its
later service in the parched and
sun-scorched hills and valleys of
Ethiopia.
Like millions of men in the world
today, Rome's mule hero—slightly
bigger than life—also carries arms.
The 65-millimeter mountain artil
lery piece which it bears on its
back is a symbol of the mule's use
fulness in war. For its strength, en
durance, and sure-footedness are
proverbial in the hard work of trans
porting supplies and ammunition un
der the most difficult conditions.
Helped in Civil War.
The Civil war, says one United
States general, pointing out the Un
ion army’s use of the animal to
haul wagons over rough roads, could
not have been carried to a conclu
sion without the faithful army mule.
In the South African Boer war,
the British forces made good use
of the mule’s special qualities, when
horses were unable to stand up un
der the strain. Dependable under
fire, the mule did heavy duty for the
Allies during the World war, pack
ing artillery and supplies all the
way to the front. In the moun
tains, these beasts often acted as
“portable hospitals,” carrying such
necessities as surgical dressings,
medicines, and blankets to the
wounded.
Italians say that mules were in
valuable during the 1911-12 war
against Turkey for possession of
Libya in North Africa. Some of the
animals were even decorated for
valor, and the story is told of one
faithful beast which escaped from
the Turks after capture and re
turned to its Italian masters, wound
ed but still bearing its artillery
pack.
From time immemorial mules
have been bred and worked in Eu
rope, especially In the mountain re
gions of France, Spain, and Italy.
Sometimes, instead of serving in the
lowly occupations of farm and trade,
they were used by royalty to pull
the royal coaches. Decked out in
brilliantly colored trappings, the
mule in Ethiopia was considered the
proper mount for the upper classes.
By the decoration of his mule, the
rank of the rider often could be de
termined.
In 1905 the United States had more
than two and a half million mules.
By 1926, the peak of mule produc
tion was reached with nearly 6,000,
000 mules and mule colts. Since
then, due to the invasion of the farm
by tractors, trucks, automobiles,
and other farm machinery, Uncle
Sam's mule population has declined
to a little less than four and a half
millions. However, the decline is
expected to be halted within a few
years, as a result of increasing colt
production and other factors.
WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
NEW YORK.—While it is only 36
years since the first feeble
crow-hop of the Wright brothers,
aviation already has the equivalent
of the cauli
Air Vet a Soar flower veterans
After 30; Some of prizefighting
Gave Leg to Fly -veterans, in
cidentally, who
keep right on going after 30. Ben
O. Howard, who skippers the Doug
las DC-4, the largest land plane in
the world, across the country, left
his right leg behind him, on his
way on and up; as did Alexander
P. de Seversky, a marvelous stunt
flier with a wooden leg. And Wiley
Post was served adequately by one
eye in his breathtaking hazards.
They carry on far beyond the one
score and ten which weighted Max
Baer helplessly against Lou Nova.
Ben Howard was flying his
self-made plane in the Bendix
Transcontinental Trophy race in
September, 1936, when he
crashed in New Mexico. He and
his wife, Mrs. Olive Howard,
also a flier, were critically in
jured. He was unconscious 36
days and his leg was ampu
tated.
“Research pilot,” which is now
Mr. Howard's rating with the Unit
ed Air lines, appears to be a bit up
grade from the test pilot job, and
implies engineering and technical
skill as well as coolness and cour
age. All this Mr. Howard gained
in designing, building and racing
planes for many years as the “ride
'em cowboy” of many racing meets.
In 1930, he was flying the night
mail, between Omaha and St.
Louis. Losing daytime sleep at
times, he built a slick little 100
horsepower racer which made
him the 3tar of the National Air
races at Chicago in 1930. His
small-engined planes kept on
snatching prizes from ships
with twice as much power.
After his accident, he was out
for 15 months, and then back
with United Air lines in experi
mental work.
He is dark, slender, reserved,
mastering the air leviathan with the
sensitive and intuitive fingers of a
concert pianist.
f I 'ENNESSEE made a super-grand
splash when it brought Sergeant
Alvin York to the World of Tomor
row, with a special train and a
guard of honor
Super Soldier and what-not.
Finds Home Ills Just as a bal
Hardesi to Hit ance brought
forward from
the world of yesterday, it was the
sergeant who, armed only with a
service revolver and a rifle, killed
25 Germans and captured 132, in
cluding two officers, and herded
them into his home dugout.
The big, red-headed hero of
the hog and hominy common
wealth has been having quite a
deal of hard luck in the after
glow of his fame. Debt, cinch
bugs, boll weevils and flve-cent
cotton are no such shining
marks as mere Germans. He
is busy gunning for the mort
gage on his 395-acre farm, near
Pall Mall, Tenn., trying to build
a silo and hoping for the best.
He is a modest hero and deserves
a cheer from all hands. This being
a pleasant and unique deviation
from that rather bitter monologue
of Lou Angler, old-time German dia
lect comedian. The generals and
the orators were throwing out their
chests, celebrating their victory in
war, “Vere iss der soldier?” was
the plaintive refrain of the piece.
And then the answer:
“He iss over in de woods, cutting
down a tree to make himself a
wooden leg.”
GEN. EVANGELINE BOOTH.
here from London on official
business, says she’s coming
“home” to live next October. A
Cooper union
General Booth, audience hissed
Bonnet Still On, her when she
Coming 1Home' came here from
® Canada in 1904,
but cheered before she finished. She
remained 30 years, running the
army from her quaint old house in
Hartsdale, N. Y.
She will be 74 next Christmas,
relinquishing command of the
international army. The daugh
ter of Gen. William Booth,
founder of the army, she was
reared in London. At 17, the
tall, vigorous, red-hcaded girl
swung into the army ranks,
singing their warrior hymns in
the slums of London. Hoodlums
had a standing offer of $50 for
anyone who would knock off
her coal-scuttle bonnet. Nobody
ever did, then or since, al
though she was once severely
Injured. She was put in com
mand of the Canadian army
in 1896.
(Consolidated Features—WNU Service.
I .
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Reviewed by
CARTER FIELD
No longer any doubt that
Garner is a real candidate
for the Democratic nomina
tion for President... Dem
ocratic leaders are doing
their utmost to prevent
further opening up of the
general tax situation ... I.
C. C. hearings disclose that
Canadians have grabbed
the shipment of the bulk of
American-groum wheat.
WASHINGTON.—It is now ob
vious that John Nance Gamer is a
real candidate for the Democratic
nomination for President next year
whether President Roosevelt chooses
to run for a third term or not
Incidentally, there is one mystery
about Garner which ought to be
cleared up right now. He is far
from being a sphinx, just as Calvin
Coolidge was far from being a
sphinx. But Garner is and Coolidge
was protected from quotation by a
simple rule governing his relations
with newspaper men. Coolidge
would talk to them, and let his views
be stated, but under no circum
stances could quotation marks be
used.
It was to get around this difficulty
that the newspaper men, while Cool
idge was President, invented the
mythical “White House Spokes
man." Lots of people throughout
tne country assumed that there real
ly was a "Spokesman ” They were
right. It was Calvin Coolidge.
Just so, in the present instance,
when newspaper men hear that Gar
ner is advocating something, or do
ing something, and ask him about
it, they cannot p"t quotation marks
around what Garner says in reply.
But they can print the answers, and
they can say that Garner said them.
In fact sometimes they stretch it a
bit, for Gamer very obviously has
another political rule in addition to
avoiding direct quotations, which
is that he denies nothing.
There was a slip-up on this, inci
dentally, a few days ago in connec
tion with the Hatch bill to outlaw
participation in the election of gov
ernment workers in the elections of
federal officers (the original bill
would have made possible participa
tion in primaries and the election of
delegates to national conventions
as well). A young reporter as- i
sumed because Garner did not say
he could not be quoted as saying
this bill would be “law before we
quit” that it was all right to quote
him. So he did.
Never Any Difficulty in
Finding How Garner Stands
But while the old New York World
attacked Coolidge bitterly for put
ting out propaganda under quota
tion marks assigned to the “White
House Spokesman” present critics
of Garner, in magazine articles and
elsewhere, are attacking the vice
president on the other flank. They
are assuming that he really never
says anything. Naturally Garner’s
other rule, about no denials, pro
tects them in this inaccuracy. A
denial would sound sort of silly any
how.
But the truth is that any reputable
newspaper man in Washington has
very little difficulty in finding out
where Garner stands on anything,
though he will come home without
the bacon if his editor insists on
quotation marks.
Another type of comment from
New Deal sources which Gamer has
had to take, or break his rule by
denying, is that he is really in full
sympathy with the New Deal, and
that all l 'e newspaper stories about
his being the brains behind some of
the anti-New Deal strategy on Capi
tol Hill are the bunk.
This has about ended, however,
for the simple reason that it has
been so obvious what Garner did
in the court fight, his attitude about
“letting the cattle get a little fat
on them,” referring to business,
(this was said to the President face
to face by Garner more than a
year ago and was quoted to news
paper men by others present) and
his known views and activities in
other controversies, that to write
any more about his being a 100 per
cent New Dealer would merely
make the writer absurd.
Try to Prevent Opening Up
Of General Tax Situation
Democratic leaders in congress
are doing their utmost to prevent
any further opening up of the gen
eral tax situation. For instance.
Chairman Robert Doughton of the
house ways and means committee
has been flooded with requests for.
a brief hearing from various indus
tries which are being subjected to
special taxation, just as radios (5
per cent), Doughton has crisply told
one and all that there is no desire
to hear testimony on this, and has
refused requests even for as brief
a period as 10 minutes. (This hap
pens to be the time the radio indus
try requested.)
The average person who buys a
radio, of course, does not realize
that he or she is paying any tax at
all. The radio people would like to
have a partial exemption. They
claim that they And a certain com
petition in other house furnishings
and appliances. Thus, they con
tend, they would like to have the
cabinet containing the radio exempt
ed, because as an article of furni
ture it is, in a sort of a way, com
peting in the housewife’s mind with
a fancy table to occupy a particular
corner.
They also complain of another
type of competition. The family
budget may be such that it is a ques
tion of whether to buy a radio or
a washing machine. Of course, the
latter is not taxed, while the radio
is taxed 5 per cent.
“Now what’s the use of taking up
the committee’s time with an argu
ment like that?” an old member
said to a young radio man. "You
know perfectly well you could not
get anywhere. All we could do
would be to decide that as between
the purchase of an article to save
the good wife’s back and a radio
the government had no choice but to
encourage the washing machine.”
Business Interests Hold
Their Fire for the Senate
As a matter of fact, however,
most business interests having an
idea that they might get somewhere
in the tax changes are not figuring
on the house at all. They are hold
ing their fire for the senate. There
are two reasons for this. One is
that the house is determined to rush
some sort of tax bill through. Until
that is done the business interests
won’t know exactly what they have
to fight against, and what to fight
for.
For example, if their proposition
is contained in the house bill as it
is passed, then all they have to do
is to watch to see that the senate
does not strike it out. Anyway, they
would have a chance in conference
when the drafts of the bills as
passed by the house and senate are
adjusted by the conferees.
If their proposition is not con
tained in the house draft, then they
will have more time, and more op
portunity, to work for a change by
the senators. Almost any industry
can count on active support from a
few senators—if from no one else
than from the senators from the
states in which their industries are
active. Besides, one senator can
often force changes in any bill. For
one thing he can discuss the matter
on the floor, taking up the senate’s
time, until the cows come home, a
privilege which the individual mem
ber of the house does not have. The
representative’s time is doled out
to him in very small doses and
with even the subject matter re
stricted.
Important Facts Gleaned
At I. C. C. Freight Hearing
Nobody paid much attention to
hearings conducted by the interstate
commerce commission in which the
operators on the old Erie canal—
the New York Barge canal to be
exact—protested against the cut
in freight rates on grain by the rail
roads from New York to Buffalo.
Actually the hearings brought out
some facts which are not only high
ly important to everybody in this
country who pays taxes, but have a
very definite bearing on several ma
jor proposals in the offing, including
the St. Lawrence seaway, TVA, riv
er development all over the coun
try, public power, etc.
What the railroads did was to re
duce the rate per bushel on grain
from Buffalo to New York from 6.7
cents to 5 cents flat. The canal
operators claimed that this would
ruin them—that they had to have a
differential under the railroad rates
because of the longer time required,
higher insurance, etc.
The funny part of the whole busi
ness is that the railroads didn’t
make that cut in grain rates this
summer in order to take business
from the Barge canal. They did it
to get some of the business back
which the Canadians have been tak- j
ing from them, and taking, incident
ally, without the aid of a St. Law- j
rence seaway, for which Uncle Sam
would pay half the cost.
Canadians Grab Shipment
Of American-Grown Wheat
Last year, it was testified, 77,000,- '
000 bushels of American wheat were
shipped abroad through Canadian
ports, as against only 30,000,000
bushels shipped via United States J
ports. The percentage of wheat j
which moved through the United !
States ports to export in 1932 was
76. In 1938 this had shrunk to 28
per cent. Bear in mind that in all j
instances these quantities and per
centages of wheat refer exclusively
to wheat grown in the United States.
Canadian wheat moved, of course,
almost exclusively through Canadi
an ports.
The American city most interest
ed in all this, of course, is Buffalo.
The big idea qf the Barge canal
was to make commerce through
Buffalo. New York state has spent ,
untold millions with this objective,
first to build the original Erie canal,
before it was realized that the rail
roads were to become the big '
freight movers of the country, and
before trucks were conceived, and
then later to make the waterway a
big modern development, when it j
was rechristened the Barge canal.
Like so many other waterways,
however, the results have never
justified the expectations. It is not
fair to criticize the original concept,
because that was before anyone
realized what the railroads would |
become. It seemed then that wheat
and other goods from the Great
Lakes region and westward, mov
ing by water to Buffalo, and then
trans-shipped to barges for New j
York, would provide a growing tide
of commerce ample to justify the
expenditure.
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)
ADVENTURERS1 CLUB
HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES
OF PEOPLE LIKE VO U R S E L F I
Her Husband’s Funeral Pyre”
Hello everybody:
India! Land of mystery and—“Suttee! ” Suttee,
as you know, is the quaint little Indian custom of burning
the widow on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. It is
a Hindu practice of long standing and from this gruesome
sacrifice the soul of the immolated widow is supposed to
receive a special blessing and follow her husband’s spirit
into that land of greater mystery—the hereafter!
The British government has prohibited Suttee for many
years but it is suspected that many secret cremations still
claim their living victims.
Mrs. Miriam Richardson of Caldwell, N. J., makes the
page today with a tale of Suttee and she knows her stuff.
Miriam’s parents were missionaries in India for a great
many years. Their grass and mud bungalow was situated
in a no-man’s-land of trees, underbrush and jungle grass in
the Central Provinces, which was in the heart of a vast
jungle district. The jungles were infested 'with wild animals. For 2C
years of her life she was lulled to sleep by the gruff, coughing roars of
man-eating tigers, the weird yowling of cowardly jackals and the insane
laughs of hyenas!
Late one night, Miriam says, there came a frantic knocking on the
bungalow door with calls of “Memsahib, Memsahib!” Her mother hastily
opened the door, thinking that perhaps one of the Christian natives had
His hand was to light the Are! The Are that would consume his living
mother and dead father!
been fatally mauled by a tiger. An old native woman stood there wringing
her hands. Her daughter—whose husband had just died—was about to
commit Suttee and the woman wanted the help of Miriam’s father and
mother to save her.
Miriam’s Mother Starts on Mercy Errand.
They started at once, a chokadar—night watchman—being
left to guard over Miriam. Her father grabbed a lantern and the
distracted native woman led the way through a wild jungle path.
Soon the beating of tom-toms throbbed all around them and they
came to a clearing lit by hand torches.
In the center of the clearing, Miriam says, was a funeral pyre—a
prepared bonfire of dried wood on which reposed the body of the dead
man. Around it, at respectful distances, thronged the native crowd.
Through the crowd and near the pyre wandered Hindu priests, their faces
bearing the painted ghastly gray ashen marks of their calling.
“The native woman pulled my mother to the women’s quarters,”
Miriam writes, "here no man was allowed. My father remained with
the men in an effort to dissuade them. In the center of a wailing group ol
women sat the young widow. She swayed to and fro, moaning and
beating her breast with her fists. From the dull gleam of her eyes,
mother knew that she had been drugged and hardly realized the frightful
fate that was in store for her.
“Mother went straight to her and putting an arm around the
girl started a fight against time. She wanted to delay matters long
enough for the effects of the drug to wear ofT so that she could
reason with the distracted girl. Once a little boy—his naked body
covered with ashes and paint—interrupted her. The boy was the
widow’s son. He carried a lighted torch in his little hands and he
had been sent, he said, by the priests to get his mother. His hand
was to light the fire!—the fire that would consume his living
mother and dead father!”
Can you imagine how that kind of a proposition would appeal to an
American mother? An innocent youngster being hoodwinked into thinking
he was performing a holy act by actually burning his mother alive,'
WITH HIS OWN HAND!
Responsibility Shifted to a Child.
It looks to me as if the Hindu priests wished to shift the responsibility
of the whole fanatical sacrifice to a child.
Well, anyway, the sight of the little child with the torch made Mir
iam’s mother redouble her efforts to stop the whole thing. She switched
the conversation to the mystical side of Christianity. She sang hymns
translated into the native tongue and the widow showed some signs of
losing the effects of the drug. A painted priest appeared in the doorway,
His eyes flashed in fanatical anger. “Come, it is time,” he said.
But the determined American mother drove him away, too.
She knew that priests are forbidden the sanctity of the women's
quarters. He left muttering threats as she spoke to his victim of
the God he hated. The widow was crying quietly now and listening.
Meanwhile, Miriam’s father was doing his part. He was going from
group to group—pleading with some—threatening others. A few native
Christians appeared and helped him. The priests raged but all feared
the heavy hand of British law and soon the missionary had his way. The
torch was applied to the funeral pyre WITHOUT ITS LIVING VICTIM,
Body of Husband Burned Alone.
The fire crackled and roared, Miriam says. Scorched human flesh
smelt heavy on the oppressive jungle air—priests sulked—but the body
burned alone.
It was not until the last ember had fallen and the last tom-tom had
ceased its savage strain that her mother and father started back through
the jungle over which the first signs of dawn were creeping. The native
mother and daughter went with them and cried out their gratitude at
every step. They promised to become converts to a faith that could win
against the power of the Hindu priests.
“But,” Mrs. Richardson ends, “the arm of the Hindu priests
in that superstition-ridden land, is long. Thwarted once, it clutched
at its victims again. The women were spirited away later and
when last heard of were living as ‘temple women’ in the power
of the priest whom they feared more than the God of the
Christians'.”
Mrs. Richardson lives in New Jersey now—far from the sounds of
the jungle of India—but I’ll bet she still hears in her sleep the mysterious
throbbing of the Hindu tom-toms. Don’t you?
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
‘Back Drop’ Aids Television Transmitting
A black “back drop” for the
screens of television transmitting
tubes results in more sharply fo
cused and detailed television image
according to a patent (No. 2,156,391)
issued to Willard Hickok of Bloom
field, N. J.
The “back drop” is a film of
graphite at the back of the trans
parent mica support on which are
mounted the photo-electric elements
that convert the scene being tele
vised into an electric image and
which is broadcast through the
ether.
It is explained that when the
scene is focused on the ordinary
photo-electric screen of the “tele
eye” tube, light from the image is
reflected, bounces off the walls of
the tube back on to the screen so
that a double image may be formed.
At the same time the photo-electric
elements scatter the light. All this,
it is indicated, blurs and makes hazy
the image to be broadcast.
The black “back drop,” which is
the subject of the patent, on the
other hand, absorbs the light which
would thus ordinarily be reflected.
The result is a sharper, more de
tailed image
