Burma, Important British Colony,
Provides ‘Back Door’ to China
CHINA
“BACK DOOR” OPEN. Map shows the route of the recently
completed highway running from Rangoon, Burma, to Chungking,
capital of war-torn China. Because many of China’s eastern sea
ports are blockaded by the Japanese this route has become an
important life line for the forces of Chiang Kai-Shek.
Recently Completed High
way Used for Shipping
War Supplies.
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.-WNU Service.
Burma, where demands for
independence are reported to
be growing steadily more in
sistent, is an important link
in ttye British Empire chain.
Efast of India, Burma
tou/ches on the north the hor
de!' of Tibet; on the east that
of China proper, French In
d'o-China, and Siam. With
fl’ ngers of land thrust into the Bay
f jf Bengal, Burma stretches south
far down the west coast of the Ma
lay peninsula, to share with Siam
the narrow and strategic land bar
to the China sea which culminates
In the Malay States and England’s
naval base of Singapore.
From Burma runs the recently
completed highway that is China’s
vital back door entrance for sup
plies, now that many of her eastern
ports are closed by Japanese occu
pation. Connecting Rangoon—half
way down the long coast of Burma
—with the Chinese provisional capi
tal of Chungking, in the heart of that
war-torn country, this route covers
in all more than 2,000 miles, twist
ing a tortuous motor path over Chi
na’s high western plateaus, dipping
deep into rugged gorges and rising
high over mountain passes.
Burma Route by Rail.
The Burma section of the route,
about one-third of the entire dis
tance to Chungking, is mostly by
rail, which provides communication
between Rangoon and Lashio, near
the western border of China. On the
way the railway passes the town of
Mandalay, of Kipling romance.
Through Rangoon, as capital and
chief port of Burma, flows most of
the country’s foreign trade, now re
ported to include incoming trucks,
gasoline, machinery, and munitions
destined for the Burma-China road
as a result of the war in China. All
together, Burma's import-export
business was estimated for the last
fiscal year at more than $278,000,000.
Rangoon, accessible to river nav
igation 900 miles inland, is also
known in the international transport
field for its excellent airport, where
three major lines converge. So
many ’round-the-world aviators and
air-minded travelers come this way
that it has been predicted that Ran
goon will become to the air lanes
what Singapore is to sea lanes—a
"crossroads of the East.’’
Burma is strictly agricultural
country with rich soil and plenty of
rainfall. It is more fortunate than
many of its oriental neighbors; for
with little more than 14 million
people to support in an area of
about 261,610 square miles, there is
an adequate food supply of the
East’s chief staple—rice. More than
two-thirds of all cultivated land in
Burma is devoted to rice production,
which provides a large exportable
surplus sent not only to populous
India and other Far Eastern coun
tries but also to Europe.
A largely one-crop economy, how
ever (of secondary importance are
other products such as peanuts, cot
ton, millet, sesame seeds), presents
problems of its own. There is need
for new industries to provide more
diversity and help solve the unem
ployment problem. Of Burma's
millions, less than 90,000 now are
employed in industry.
After farming, the famous teak
industry is Burma’s next best means
of livelihood.
Without Caste System.
The Burmese have developed into
a group different from either Indian
or Chinese, yet with traces of the in
fluence of both. They are without
the caste system and their women
go unveiled. Although their main
religion came from India, their dia
lects are related to those of the Indo
Chinese. Most travelers agree that
the people of Burma are easier to
understand than other Orientals; for
while their manners are those of
the East, they have also a frank
ness and direct sense of humor akin
to that of the Westerner.
Yet despite geographic, racial and
other differences that set it apart
from India, politically Burma was
divorced from the larger country
only two years ago. Today this coun
try, as a crown colony of Great Brit
ain, has its own senate and house of
representatives, although the legis
lation of these bodies is subject to
veto by the English governor who
also controls national defense and
foreign relations.
Odd Regulations
Give Protection
To Auto Driver
Traffic Safety Rules Vary
On Highways of
Foreign Nations.
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington, D. C.-WNU Service.
While many traffic safety
regulations are similar the
world over, some countries
have evolved unusual and
even comic measures for
the safety of their people.
Though comic many of these
rules are none the less effec
tive.
In England there is no
speed limit on highways ex
cept in the congested areas.
In Bucharest authorities have re
cently instituted a drive for pedes
trian control A special court has
been set up to try offenders. This
safety regulation has been success
fully used in other European and
American cities.
The traffic board of Calcutta not
long ago passed a rule banning ra
NOISELESS COP. You can’t
blow your automobile horn in
Rome, and the traffic cops don’t
have any whistles, but they stand
on a pedestal in the middle of
the street. So the old excuse
about not having seen them
doesn’t go at all in traffic court.
dios or phonographs In automobiles
as distractions to motorists and
therefore traffic hazards. Officials
of Riga, capital of Latvia, quieted
traffic by prohibiting the unneces
sary tooting of horns and ordering
that all milk cans be silenced by
wrapping them in sacks or straw.
Americans visiting large European
cities often are amazed by the
lack of traffic noise due to such
"non-tooting” regulations.
Several countries have adopted
the use of posters as a means of
reducing accidents. In Sweden post
ers are used to combat jaywalking.
One Swedish sign warning pedestri
ans against jaywalking shows a hen
scuttling precariously across a busy
street. The sign reads: “Don’t be
a Laura!”
Flashing red and green signals
are the usual world-wide traffic
symbol denoting stop and go. How
ever, Uiere are found many and
amusing variations in style and col
or. In Lisbon, on narrow streets,
policemen hold up paddles painted
red on one side and green on the
other. In Singapore the traffic
“cops" have a long horizontal, white
board attached to their backs. To
regulate traffic, the policemen turn
not a light, but themselves!
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Revitwed by
CARTER FIELD
The temper of the peo
ple of the United States is
decidely against participa
tion of any kind in a Euro
pean war . . . Conditions
vastly different from those
at the time of the World
war ... “Big business” con
fers on plan to bring about
a big boom in business be
tween now and January in
hopes of refuting Roose
velt's dire predictions.
WASHINGTON.—The greatest dif
ference of opinion about any one
important question in this country
today is whether the United States
can keep out of war in Europe.
There is no doubt about the tem
per of the country. If a referendum
could be held tomorrow, nearly all
astute politicians believe it would
go overwhelmingly for remaining
neutral—or, as most people put it,
minding our own business.
Moreover, there is no such ele
ment in this country today as there
was immediately after the invasion
of Belgium in 1914, which kept in
creasing until, in 1915, when the Lu
sitania was sunk, it reached a for
midable crest.
On the other hand, there is no
such division of sentiment in this
country as there was from 1914 to
1917. In many states the German
population openly sympathized at
that time with the central powers,
particularly in the upper Mississippi
valley, which, as one old political
leader remarked at the time, is
more Teutonic than Anglo-Saxon.
Minnesota, for instance, contrary to
the belief of most Easterners and
Southerners, has more Germans
than Swedes, more Germans than
Norwegians, though of course if the
Scandinavians are considered as one
racial group, they outnumber the
Germans. Wisconsin, Nebraska and
Missouri, not to mention Illinois,
have huge German populations.
But today there is not much sym
pathy for Hitler among these Ger
man segments of our population
which were so fervently pro-German
in 1914-1917. Most of them still love
Germany, but they do not like Hit
ler. There are plenty of exceptions,
of course, as becomes apparent
when one starts to canvass the situ
ation, but it is very obvious that in
stead of the German-Americans be
ing a solid pro-Hitler bloc they
would show a substantial majority
against him. Most German-Ameri
cans today would be pleased at the
news of a political turnover in Ger
many, which would throw Hitler and
the Nazis out of power. Most of
them would even prefer the return
of the Hohenzollerns to continuance
of the present regime.
Neutrality Laws Would
Not Keep Us Out of War
All of which is cited to show that
this country does not have to travel
as far now in order to reach the
point where it would plunge into
the war on the side of Britain and
France as it did in 1914-1917. Yet,
although President Wilson was re
elected in November, 1916, on a
"kept us out of war" issue, the coun
try was in the war just five months
later. So it may be wiser to be
conservative in assumptions as to
this country's remaining out of war
in Europe.
Very few people think that the
present neutrality laws, or for that
matter any variation of them which
anyone has suggested, would keep
this country out of the war. As a
matter of fact, the present law is
very much misnamed. It provides
against the shipment of "arms, am
munition and the implements of
war" to belligerents. Yet it has
never been applied to the present
conflict between Japan and China.
The answer is simple. The ad
ministration believes that to recog
nize that a state of war exists and
consequently to impose an embargo
would benefit not China but Japan.
The government at Washington
sympathizes, quite openly, with Chi
na, not Japan, as the Nipponese
are wrathfully aware. So it ignores
the spirit of the law, though observ
ing the letter. Nobody kicks much,
because the whole country is al
most a unit in sympathizing with
China.
There is no doubt that the sym
pathies of the administration will be
even more strongly and actively on
the side of Britain and France
against Germany. Hitler will know
that.
Plan Boom in Business to
Refute F. D. R.’s Predictions
Half a dozen conferences of men
whom the New Dealers would call
"big business" have been held in
the last few days on an agenda look
ing to a sharp revival of business
between now and January, when
congress meets again.
The idea is to cause such a re
vival of business, and such an in
crease in employment by private
employers, that the dire predictions
of President Roosevelt growing out
of the defeat by congress of the
spend-lend bill will be made to look
ridiculous to the returning law
makers.
It would be little short of a mira
cle if anything came of the con
ferences. If business revives and
employment increases, it will not
be the result of them. Despite the
pet theory of certain radicals, busi
ness is not such a cohesive unit in
its operations. As a matter of fact
no big corporation, even acting
alone, is ever inspired by political
motives in deciding on an enlarge
ment or curtailment of its opera
tions.
When business expands it is al
ways for one reason, and only one.
The same is true when it contracts.
There is never any doubt about the
motive, whether it be based on
sound or poor judgment. The mo
tive is always profit. When busi
ness sees a chance to make a profit
it expands. When it fears losses if
it continues the present scale of op
erations, it contracts. It may make
a mistake in either direction, but
there is never any question about
why it was done.
New Dealers Needn't Worry;
Nothing Will Come of It
So while gentlemen with imposing
names really have been conferring
on this question of a manufactured
boom in order to thwart the Presi
dent, no New Dealer need be wor
ried. Nothing will come of it If
the management of any particular
corporation decides that by expand
ing it can make another 20 cents on
each share during the next six
months, that corporation will ex
pand its operations. If it figures
that it will lose money by continu
ing the present rate of production,
it will begin laying off men.
One of the few exceptions in his
tory happened in the early days of
the Hoover depression, in the spring
of 1930, when President Hoover in
duced a number of railroad and
big business executives to continue
just as they were going, when all
the executives wanted to cut down.
But that exception only made the
“rule of profit’’ motive surer be
cause of what happened then. Ev
ery corporation that took Mr. Hoo
ver’s advise on that occasion suf
fered terribly as a result. Mr. Hoo
ver will always believe that what
he induced these big employers to
do softened the blow—cushioned the
decline. But no business man wants
to offer his own surplus to be used
as a cushion.
Predict Real Market Boom
Following Outbreak of War
New York stock market gyrations
perplex most outsiders, and the per
plexity increases if one attempts to
get an explanation from shrewd
market operators.
Never was this more forcibly dem
onstrated than by what the market
has been undergoing in the face of
repeated war scares. Every time
there is a scare the market dips.
Sometimes it almost crashes. Ex
perts agree that when war really
breaks out in Europe there will be
a real crash.
But the same operators will tell
you that not very long thereafter
there will be a real boom in the
market, with a crop of “war babies’’
not unlike those of 1915, though the
names of the companies may be dif
ferent.
Moreover, the same shrewd opera
tors will tell you that the rise of
these war babies will merely be a
wave on top of a tide, which will
sweep the prices of most sound cor
porations upward. The tide will be
the inevitable result, they say, of
business conditions in the United
States which will be brought about
by the war in Europe. Almost re
gardless of any details with regard
to what nations join in the conflict.
Their logic is something like this.
The United States will be the only
country in the world capable of ex
porting many needed products in
any quantities. This goes especial
ly of course for manufactured goods,
rather than raw materials, though
the demand even for some raw ma
terials will be prodigious.
See Increased Demand for
All Kinds of Supplies
As a result of this certain spurt
in manufacturing, there will be in
creased demand for electrical en
ergy, for coal, for all sorts of things
necessary to the manufacturing
processes. This will spell enormous
ly increased buying power on the
part of a very large percentage of
the whole population, including coal
miners, oil workers, textile workers
—everyone who participates in the
production of materials not only by
the factories which do the exporting,
but those which supply them.
With so many lines busy, of
course, the buying power of all these
employees will in turn spread the
prosperity into lines having no con
nection with the supplying of export
trade materials. In short, the coun
try will have a huge boom, very
much like the one it began to enjoy
in 1915 as a result of the World war.
Moreover, the world demand for
all sorts of United States products
will be much greater than it was
then because of one important
change in the world situation. Dur
ing the World war, the other big
manufacturing country that profited
enormously was Japan. It is true
that Japan was on the Allies' side
during the World war, but actually
it did very little fighting. After its
successful raid on Shantung and the
German-owned islands in the Pacif
ic, Japan virtually forgot about the
war, settling down to making goods
and selling them at a profit to the
Allies and the rest of the world.
This time Japan will not be able
to take advantage of the same op
portunity, whether or not she joins
with Germany and Italy in the war.
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)
(-AUTUMN SPORTS
Football Is Serious Business
But Here’s the Funny Side
Each autumn, at risk of smashing their cameras, sports photog
raphers get a classic assortment of pictures from the gridiron. They
catch beautiful action plays, freak accidents, fumbles, penalty
plays and quite a bit of rough stuff generally. The above pose, for
example, is not one of endearment. Jack Williams of Santa Clara is
merely using a high tackle to down St. Mary's giant, Mike Klotovich.
Jack is probably saying, ",Beg your pardon, Mike." And Mike
answers, “Not at all, Jack" . . . maybe, but we doubt it.
There are many variations of the fum
ble, but one variation is as costly as the
next. The felloiv below must feel rather
foolish having his arms tucked nicely
away—and lo, no ball!
HI huff and I'll puff and I'll shove—and blow your ballplayer
down. This is one way to break up a passing attack, but don't try
it while the referee's watching. The trick, preserved for posterity
by your photographer, cost Georgetown a neat 15-yard penalty in
its game with Hampden-Sidney last autumn. Yes, Sylvia, it's
against the rules. But Georgetown won 51 to 0, anyway.
To prove footbalFs a
rough game: Left: This
| chap just collided head
on with a brick wall of
the grandstand and is
being carried off the
L field with severe head
L lacerations and a frac
B tured wrist. No, Came
■ lia, we don’t know why
9 he did it.
Right: Spectators get |f
it, too. Here is Miss m
Thelma Quinn, Ten
nessee cheer leader, §ij
after being k. o.'d when \
she got mixed up with
a bunch of players in
last year's Orange Bowl
game. Verily, it's a
great game, but keep
off the field.
This Neui York Giant is soaring through air. His name: Hank Soarl
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
I I
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
NEW YORK.—On his record, it
would appear that Gen. Ed
ward Smigly-Rydz, Poland’s strong
man, might be more inclined to fight
Germany with
Polish Leader out Russia’s aid
Started Career t^ian wit^ He
r;„i,;_c .• m. made his career
Ftghtmg Soviet flghting the Bol.
sheviks, and news dispatches of the
last few weeks have hinted that he
has been considerably embarrassed
at being drawn into the new appar
ently broken fellowship with Russia.
It has been clear that being saved
by Russia was the least and last
of his ideas.
He is beyond doubt the ablest of
Poland's military leaders, and, once
the bell rings, there is no question
that he can and will fight, as he
proved in the campaigns to free
Poland and in his forays against
early-day Bolshevik Russia.
He never has quite come
through as a dictator. In 1936
there was one of those “ideologi
cal’’ build-ups in which he was
to emerge as the head of re
constructed Poland. Handsome
and imposing, of dominant
bearing, he looked the part, but
he couldn’t seem to manage the
big talk necessary for the Job.
The best they could get out of
him was something to the gen
eral effect that nobody would
ever be allowed to take a single
button from Poland’s robe.
On August 6 of this year, when it
appeared that Germany might just
take the robe and leave the button,
he was expected to make a sizzling
speech at Cracow. His audience
was howling for a knockout punch,
but the speech was mostly shadow
boxing, with nothing specific about
what he proposed to do about
Danzig.
Fifty-four years old, with an
engaging personality, he has
been a popular dinner guest and
holds the honorary presidency
of the Polish academy of letters.
The old Marshal Joseph Pilsud
ski, nearing the end of his life,
anointed the general as his suc
cessor. He has been supremely
efficient in his army job, but,
as a strong man, has been
somewhat overshadowed by the
showier, more facile and adroit
Josef Beck, the foreign minis
ter. But fighting is his main
business and knowing observers
figure that, talking little, he is
more apt to fight.
A MICHIGAN friend of this writ
er reports that Gov. Luren D.
Dickinson's war on sin may turn
out to be good political medicine
out there.
War on Sin While big-town
May Be Very political leaders
Cate Politics somewhat ^em
barrassed by the aged governor's
alarmed discovery of wickedness in
high places, the word is that his
forces have been intrenched and
widened since he let loose about
the drinking and dancing orgies of
the Albany conference of governors.
His Bible class at Eaton, Mich., is
crowded to the doors and he is
besieged with requests for lectures
and participation in revival cam
paigns. Currently he tells a gather
ing of Chicago and Detroit “pupils’'
that this Albany conference was
pretty much like Belshazzar’s feast
and that our Babylonian wastrels
will drag us down if we don’t mend
our ways.
For 25 years, Mr. Dickinson
has held in fee simple the anti
sin vote of Michigan. It has
held steadily around 200,000
votes, undivided in its allegiance
in his repeated forays against
evil, chief of which has been his
still continuing prohibition bat
tle. He is a spare, bald evangel
of righteousness, his friendly
eyes glinting behind his octag
onal rimmed glasses when he
is aroused, his meager frame
shaken with pietistic fervor. He
employs much of the lexicon of
the late Dr. Parkhurst of New
York, in assailing sin, and some
of his phillipics seem to voice
again the pious horror of the
author of "New York by Gas
light," written 60 years ago.
He is a native of New York, born
near Lockport in Niagara county.
His parents removed to Eaton,
Mich., when he was a small boy.
There he still lives, happily en
gaged with his Methodist church
Bible class, and, more recently,
with the state of Michigan and, un
happily for his peace of mind, in a
bout with evil which he never knew
existed before.
Shays’s rebellion of 1786 jolted the
big-town politicians with a reali
zation of what a mixture of agrari
an discontent and old-time religion
may amount to. In Governor Dick
inson’s compact voting phalanx,
things are something like that. His
allied conservative Republican or
ganization appreciates all this.
(Consolidated Features—WNU Servic«.>
