Sicily Faces New Development As Result of Italian Program Large Construction and Irrigation Projects Planned. Prepared by National Geographic Society. Washington. D. C.-WNU Service. Next on the list of places for intensive development by the Italian government is Sicily. A new program—to include the breaking up of big estates, irrigation proj ects and large-scale con struction for the future—sug gests that this big island at the "toe” of the Italian "boot” is to be prodded into greater activity and produc tivity. Sicily, nearly 10,000 square miles In extent, is the largest island in the Mediterranean sea. With a popu lation of more than 400 persons to each square mile, it is also one of the most densely settled regions of Europe. Yet, It is estimated, less than 200 families own one-sixth of the land. Although on this rugged triangu lar island more than 4,000,000 peo ple live, because of large estates and the old system of absentee own ership, travelers see few farm houses. Most Sicilians are concen trated In villages 10 or 15 miles apart. Chief Farm Products. Sicily’s chief farm products are lemons, oranges and almonds, plus cereals, flgs, grapes and olives. Ol ives were grown on this island 1,500 years before Christ. Sicily was also an important ancient granary for the Romans. As a source of mineral wealth. Sicily contains deposits generally believed more varied than valuable, including lead, quicksilver, iron, copper, lignite, petroleum. asListos, salt. With the exception of sulphurs —a centuries-old industry which still accounts for a large share of the world’s demand—most of the minerals are found in too limited quantity to be worth extracting. Even the sulphur industry, in re cent years, has suffered as a re sult of the rising competition from new sources, especially in Texas and Louisiana. This decline, togeth er with additional foreign competi tion in fruit-growing, wine-making, MASTER BUILDER. Under the guiding hand of Benito Mussolini, Sicily will be rebuilt. Big estates of the island will be broken down into small tracts, irrigation projects and large scale construction jobs are be ing planned by Mussolini’s gov ernment. and the tropical-products in which Sicily specialized, has added con siderably to the crowded island's economic problems. Nature’s Odd Contrasts. A land of striking natural con trasts, Sicily is a spot where catas trophe sometimes masks a blessing. From destructive volcanic eruption, for example, has come the fertile soil that promotes flourishing crops. Mount Etna—some 10,000 feet high and described by the ancients as an “awful yet bountiful lord”—is one of the world's great volcanic spectacles. Sicily’s geographic location in the heart of the “Dangerous Sea” has brought her prosperity and bitter struggle. Ruins of Greek temples and ps.laces, scattered along the coast, tell a fragmentary story of the island’s “Golden Age,” when Syracuse and other ancient cities STRATEGIC SICILY. Map shotvs the location of the island of Sicily in relation to the im portant Mediterranean region. The island guards the sea at its narrotcest central point on the most direct east-west shipping lane. Dotted line shows general route of vessels. rose to challenge the beauty and power of the motherland, Greece, herself. At the height of its career, Syracuse counted nearly a million inhabitants. Four centuries before Christ, thousands of Athenian slaves following the defeat of Athens by Syracuse, were transported to Sici ly and forced to work in the quar ries. After the Greeks came the Ro mans, who made of Sicily a huge is land granary, manned by slave la bor. In the centuries that followed the decline of Rome, new blood strains were added to the Sicilian stream—Teutonic, with the Gothic and Vandal invasions; Arab, with the coming of the Saracen hordes; Norman, German, French, and Spanish. At the end of the Bourbon rule, when the Italian patriot Gari baldi came to the aid of the revolt ing islanders in 1860, the melting pot of races that is Sicily finally passed to Italy. Today, Sicily’s position in the Mediterranean gives it strategic im portance in international affairs. A stepping stone from Africa to the Italian mainland, it is only 90 miles from French Tunisia, bone-of-con tention between Italy and France. — Colombia Leads South American Aviation Service 17 Busy Transport Lines Form Network Over Andes. Prepared by Nntional Geofraphlc Society, Washington, D. C.—WNU Service. A new airline has caught another corner of Colombia up into the net work of air transport which has giv en that country an all-American rep utation for progress in commercial flying. The new service extends eastward, serving the region of broad jungle plain east of the An des, draining into the Orinoco river. In spite of three ranges of the An des with peaks of 18,000 feet above sea level, already Colombia has the most complex system of airlines in South America. In fact, the three ranges which cut the country into lengthwise strips are the chief rea son for Colombia’s pre-eminence in the air. Rail and highway trans port over mountain barriers was so expensive and slow that Colombia promptly took to the air for South America’s first commercial flight service which has maintained con tinuous operation. Mexico began air mail service south of the Rio Grande, in 1917, with delivery between the federal district (in which the capital is situ ated) and several key cities; but the service was discontinued the same year. In Colombia, the pre- ; streamline "flying crates" of the pe riod blazed a way for air mail in October, 1919, and by February, 1920, they had brought about for pas sengers the amazing transformation of mule-to-wings travel. The Colombian commercial pilots were just one lap behind those of the United States. After experimen tal air mail flights as early as 1911, the U. S. mail started service over the airways in May, 1918. 17 Busy Air Lines. Colombia’s 17 busy airlines serve a population only one-sixteenth as large as that of the United States. Most of them live in the high An dean valleys, between 4.000 and 9.000 feet above sea level, which have a temperate climate, though just north of the equator. The concentration of people in Colombia’s highlands makes one of the most populous and progressive regions in the An des; the highlands arc as thickly settled as most of the United States. About 30 per cent of the Colombians are city dwellers. The densely pop ulated highlands are the source of most of the coffee and leather ex ports, the gold and platinum and emeralds that for four centuries have given the country an assured place in international commerce. NATIONAL AFFAIRS Reviewed by CARTER FIELD United States relations with JafHtn may be changed as a result of the Hitler Stalin pact ... The differ ence between the Russian and German governments is hard to figure out ... To gain his maximum strength before the next election, the President needs poor business and a submissive congress. WASHINGTON.—The whole course of United States relations with Japan may be changed as a result of the about face of the Hitler and Stalin governments. When congress ad journed Secretary of State Cordell Hull had already served the nec essary six-months notice of ab rogation of our commercial treaty with Japan. Not only was this ac tion highly popular in the country, to judge from comments at the time, but it was approved on Capitol Hill by almost every faction and group of congress—from the vigorous par tisans of Britain and France to the most extreme pacifists and isolation ists. Not only that, but it was obvious that if congress had stayed in ses sion much longer there would have been serious attempts, which might have proved successful if given the slightest encouragement by the ad ministration, to take further steps against Japan. This move might not have gone as far as was advo cated by Sen. Key Pittman, chair man of the senate foreign relations committee, who wanted an outright embargo against Nippon, but it might have approached it. Obviously President Roosevelt, seeing that his first move against Japan had been so popular, might at any time have declared that he rec ognized that a state of war existed between Japan and China. This would have meant, under the pres ent neutrality law, that this country could no longer ship “arms, ammu nition and implements of war” to Japan. The only reason this is not in effect today is that Japan has never declared war, and because of fear that such an embargo might hurt China more than Japan this government has never officially rec ognized that war in the Orient ex ists. Obviously, also, congress was set to take some step in this direc tion when it reconvenes, either in January at the regular session, or earlier if the President should call a special session. Opposition to Closing Trade Door With China This feeling, which has been wide spread In the country, has been based on two factors. First, there is very general sympathy in the United States with China as against the aggressions of Japan. But sec ond, Japan has been the ally of Germany and Italy, and as such has been disliked by all partisans of the "democracies.” Up to the Hitler Stalin pact this dislike was shared by the Communist element in this country also. In fact Japan simply did not have any friends in this country, and had hosts of enemies, whose feelings had been fanned by the various incidents, Including the sinking of the gunboat Panay, and outrages on civilians. But now the whole situation has been changed. There is no evidence that there is any friendlier feeling for Japan. Certainly there is no more sympathy with her aspirations to subjugate and govern eastern Chi na. And there is certainly Just as much violent opposition to her clos ing the door to United States trade with China. But Japan is no longer the prob able adversary of Britain and France in a world war—a war into which the United States might easi ly be drawn. So she is—for the time being certainly—no longer a possible enemy of the United States in open warfare in the pending emergency. Many astute observers have long felt that war between Japan and the United States is inevitable even tually. That may or may not still be true, but in the present situa tion it is not a factor to be consid ered. Japan has already, since the announcement of the Stalin-Hitler pact, given evidence of a desire to placate Britain. Naturally she does not like the thought of Germany's giving the Soviet a free hand in the Orient. Having obtained what, according to Gen. W. G Krivitsky and other observers, Stalin has wanted for a long time—a tieup with Hitler—Stalin may easily decide now to slap down Japan in her at tempts to overrun China and en croach on territory that Stalin de sires. Poured If ater on If heels Of the Isolationist Bloc Curiously enough the Stalin-Hitler agreement poured a lot of water on the wheels of the isolationist bloc. They are not doing much screaming from the housetops about it, yet, but they are studying it quietly, gathering ammunition for their own battle with the White House and I state department in the event that congress is called back to Washing ton and the heat turned on to get rid of that embargo provision for "arms, ammunition and implements of war." If the Stalin-Hitler pact proves to be only temporary, the isolationists will argue that it’s fair warning of the danger of monkeying in power politics. If the pact proves to be durable as well as logical, produc ing peace by winning for the dicta tors just what they want without war, they will argue that Roosevelt’s effort to define neutrality as a policy of preventing war is superfluous. The immediate reaction in Wash ington to Hitler’s coup is chagrin that the blind spot in a policy of defending democracy wherever it is attacked was so quickly and brutal ly exposed—reliance on participa tion in this policy of a dictatorship generally included verbally in the list of "democracies.” Of course this inclusion of the So viet among "democracies” has al ways been a laugh to everybody except the so-called liberals. Un less one is for the Soviet lock, stock and barrel, one is not apt to con sider Russia under its present gov ernment as anything but a dictator ship. Most people in this country do not approve either the Hitler or the Stalin methods of government. In fact the dissenting majority, who always wondered why the Soviet was called a democracy, have also been hard put to it mentally to un derstand just why those in this country who favor the Soviet have been so bitter against the Nazis, and why those who favor the Nazis are so bitter against the Commu nists. Hard to Figure Difference Between Stalin and Hitler If one eliminates the fact that the Stalin government has never been excited about what race a par ticular person springs from (not what religion, because both Stalin and Hitler have been rather tough on all religions) whereas the Nazis have no use for Jews, Negroes, or in fact any non-Aryans, the differ ence between the two governments is a bit hard to figure out. So perhaps it should not have been such a blow to certain observers, including the United States state de partment, that the Stalin and Hitler governments have been getting to gether, despite the utmost efforts of Britain and France to bring the So viet into their alliance against Hit ler. However, all these developments are making it more difficult for the President to get what he wants on neutrality legislation. They are cit ed as demonstration of the instabili ty of the promises of European gov ernments; as proofs that the United States will do well to keep out al together. Needs Poor Business and A Submissive Congress Whatever critics of the New Deal, in or outside of business, may figure about what a boom between now and next January would mean polit ically to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, it is a very real ques tion to the President. The problem is that it is not a simple question. To attain his max imum strength from now until No vember, 1940, Roosevelt should have very poor business from now until January, then an utterly submissive congress to vote all the appropria tions for government spending that Roosevelt may want early next spring, and finally a very real re vival of business during next sum mer and fall. The bad business from now until January is necessary in order to frighten congress into giving Roose velt his own way when the lawmak ers meet again. It is also neces sary to prove to the country that Roosevelt knows much better than congress what is needed. Besides, it is necessary in order to put the would-be budget balancers and econ omy-minded group headed by Sen. Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia, Sen. Josiah W. Bailey of North Carolina, Walter F. George of Georgia, Alva B. Adams of Colorado, etc., in their places. The good business that is neces sary to the maximum Roosevelt strength after the new appropria tions are made by a submissive con gress next January is essential to provide good times so that the coun try will be satisfied with the New Deal when it goes to the polls in November, 1940. to elect a new Pres ident, and will vote either for Roose velt himself, for another term, or for some candidate Roosevelt has picked. President Believes the Old Doctrine Still Works It is perfectly true that many of the New Dealers know little of prac tical politics, and do not agree with the doctrine that there must be good times if the party in power is to be retained by the voters. But Roose velt is no tyro in politics. He knows his way around pretty well, and there is very little doubt among po litical observers that the President believes the old doctrine still works. They point to the condition which was allowed to prevail during the summer and early fall of 1930. The administration so tempered the wind to the shorn lamb during that peri od, and for a few months prior to it, that the country had a mild boom. A great many business men decided that the Roosevelt admin istration was not so bad for their own profits—the only thing that in fluences any business man in the conduct of his business and political operations—as the Republican ora tors were claiming, i (Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.) WHO'S NEWS THIS WEEK By LEMUEL F. PARTON NEW YORK —Back in the cham pagne days, when our Uncle Sam was “Uncle Shylock” in Eng land, Sir Philip Kerr, later the marquess of British Envoy Lothian, did Is Old Friend not share this Of Uncle Sam disesteem. He said repeated ly that Abraham Lincoln was his political saint; he risked ostracism ; at his club by admitting that Amer- j ica did a lot to help win the war, and urged that England should at least make a token payment on the American debt. Lord Lothian, arriving in Wash ington as British ambassador to this country, has traveled widely in this country, has always taken home good reports, and, as one of the most skilled artisans of empire building and upkeep, has urged un derstanding and co-operation be tween the two nations, for the well being of both. “The British empire,” he recently said, “is America’s outer ring ol security. If it disappears under Fascist attack, the United States and its Monroe Doctrine, freedom of the seas and so on would be threatened.” A brilliant writer and speaker, addressing cultural and foreign policy groups in many nations. Lord Lothian has spoken and written unofficially, his disserta tions reflecting closely empire policy. There probably is no more scholarly and gifted out rider of the British intellectual dominions than this handsome Oxonian, trained in South Af rica under the famous Lord Mil ner, skilled not only in the real istic “pratique” of empire-build ing, but in its genteel histrion ics. Like Simon, Chamberlain, Hoare, Halifax, Astor, Beaverbrook and virtually all the others of the Brit ish high command in recent years, he firmly refused to believe—until Munich—that Adolf Hitler had any but pacific and constructive inten tions; he shared the prevailing con servative view that German expan sion would be, legitimately, to the east, and that the resurgent Reich harbored no designs against the British empire. In 1935, he visited Herr Hitler and returned with warm reassurance to his countrymen. He reported great achievements by the Nazis and indicated high esteem for their fuehrer—as virtually all his political associates had done. He shared the shock and bewil derment of his confreres in the aft ermath of Munich. He urged that no further concessions be made to Germany and that the Hitler on slaught should be met with an im pregnable alliance against him. It was after Munich that he warned America against the ills with which it would be beset if Britain should succumb to a “Fascist attack.” LOUIS (LEPKE) BUCHALTER, who, it seems, after all, hasn’t been away, was discharged seven times by New York magistrates. Judge Nott, of j Smooth Follow general ses Never Carries s ion s' court, A Shoot in’ Iron twice held him, as did Bridgeport, Conn., several times, but he won, seven to six, in 23 years of tilting with judges and juries, the charges ranging through assault, robbery, burglary and hom icide, as involved in fur-dressing, garment, flour, trucking and fake labor union rackets. He has never carried a gun, and, as befits the richest of all Industrial racketeers, keeps the strong-arm stuff moving smooth ly, with perhaps no more than an inter-office memorandum to carry it through. Unlike his predecessors of such amateur ish outfits as the Gas House Gang, he is no show-off, never wears conspicuous clothes, speaks softly and is never out In front. His gang at times has included more than 500 thirty second degree hoodlums, and J. Edgar Hoover, of the FBI, to whom he surrenders, has put him down as a co-partner of the Barkcr-Karpis kidnaping gang and other equally unpopular outfits. He was born in Essex street, on i New York’s Lower East Side, in 1897, one of 11 children. All his brothers and sisters are honest and respectable. No explanation of his J errant ways has ever been offered. [ In his early youth, he formed a partnership with young Jacob Sha piro, the beginning of a long and poisonous friendship. They worked up from such small beginnings as package-snatching and mauling pushcart peddlers, and, taking on hired help, began to take over old established crime firms, such as the Kid Dropper gang. Their first big business outreach was when they began systematically to shoot up the j leather business. (Consolidated Features—WNU Service.) | Farm Topics [j TATTOO MARKINGS IDENTIFY CATTLE Breeding and Registration Records Protected. By DR. GEORGE E. TAYLOR It is important that dairy animals be properly marked for identifica tion purposes, otherwise there is certain to be confusion on breeding as well as registration records. Ear tattoos properly put in are most sat isfactory identification marks, for they remain legible during the en tire lifetime of the animal. These facts have been determined in studies at the New Jersey college of agriculture. The American Jersey cattle club has required tattoo numbers for registration for a number of years, and beginning January 1, 1940, all unregistered Brown Swiss animals must be tattooed before the applica tion for registration will be accept ed. The objection to ear tags and number neck straps is that they are sometimes lost. In order to insure satisfactory re sults the following simple rules should be considered: The inside of the ear should be thoroughly cleaned of all dirt, wax and oil so that the tattoo ink will penetrate the punch marks. Soap and water may be used, provided the ear is wiped dry with a clean cloth. A clean cloth soaked in gaso line or alcohol is very effective. In getting ready to tattoo, be sure the letters and numbers are placed in the marker right side up and in the correct order. First try the marker on a piece of cardboard to be sure. Place the mark in the area inside of the ear that is free from hair. Avoid crossing any large veins as a safeguard against excessive hemor rhage that might cause the ink to wash out, resulting in failure. Be sure that the needle points are sharp and fine so that they will penetrate the ear properly. By placing one or two thicknesses of cardboard between the punch and the outside of the ear you can insure proper penetration. Apply a liberal application of ink inside of the ear and work the ink into the small holes with the forefinger after the punch is made. There are a number of satisfac tory tattoo inks, pastes and oils on the market. The following formula may also be mixed by any drug gist, using 20 grams of lamp black (dry); 50 cc grain alcohol; 50 cc glycerin and 50 cc of water. A system of both letters and num bers are often used that will indi cate the owner of the animal and also the date of birth as well as the sire. First U. S. President Used Diversification There was a gentleman farmer of certain renown living on the banks of the Potomac who worried be cause his poorer neighbors always had too much tobacco on hand and not enough good food. Their Negro hands were often not in the best of health. Records indi cate that ofttimes taxes were paid partly in money and partly in to bacco, for lack of other medium. The gentleman farmer, who tend ed to his own place carefully, and had definite success growing a vari ety of crops and only a lesser por tion of tobacco, called a meeting of his better-fixed neighbor farmers. They all recognized the problem of one-crop farms and were glad of a leader to change the practice of farmers in that neighborhood. The gentleman farmer was George Washington and he started Fairfax county, just outside of Washington, on a crop-variation system that has j existed to this day. In all Fairfax there is not a commercial patch of tobacco. Negroes have a few plants in the back yard to twist into “terbacker” for their own use. _ Potato Storage Pits Properly constructed pits provide cheap but satisfactory storage for potatoes throughout the storage sea son. The spuds should be placed in the pit as soon as harvested but should be given only a light covering at first, says A. E. Hutchins, vege table specialist. Care must be tak en to keep them dry and well ven tilated, he cautions, and when the ground freezes the covering should be increased. Pits should be made in well-drained soils. A good size is four feet deep, six feet wide, and as long as needed. Pits of the above width and depth will hold about 100 bushels for each five feet of length. Plucking Live Geese The plucking of live geese to save the feathers is quite common prac tice in many country districts. It consists of the removing of the small feathers just before moulting time. One can tell by plucking at one of the geese whether the feathers are ready to come out. Never pluck feathers from a goose when they are moist on the end. Only the small feathers should be taken off the bird and the down should never be removed. Filet Squares for ‘Modern Heirloom’ Pattern 6373 The palm, since ancient times, has inspired artists. It is no won der, then, that this lovely square in such simple crochet uses it as a motif. A stunning cloth or spread of mercerized string— smaller articles in finer cotton— will give you handiwork you’ll treasure. Pattern 6373 contains instructions and chart for making the square; illustrations of it and of stitches; materials needed. To obtain this pattern send 15 cents in coins to The Sewing Cir cle, Household Arts Dept., 259 W. 14th St., New York. AROUND THE HOUSE Cooking String Beans. — Cut string beans lengthwise into splin ters. Cut in this way it takes a shorter time to cook than when cut in short pieces. * * * Placing the Bed. — The right place for the bed, many people seem to think, is against the wall, where it will be fairly well out of the way of the occupants of the. room in the daytime. The right place for the bed is always away from the wall, so that there may be free circulation of air all around the sleeper. • • * Treating Wax Floors.—If dirt becomes ground into a waxed floor moisten a cloth with turpentine and rub the turpentine well into the floor until the wax is removed, then wash the floor anew and pol ish it. • • * When Shirring Cloth.—Lengthen the stitch on your machine and use ruled writing paper and stitch over. The rows will then be even. • * * Cleaning Leather Coverings.-^ To clean leather-seated or leather covered chairs boil together equal quantities of sweet oil, turpentine and vinegar. Bottle until you are ready to use it, then pour a little on a woolen cloth and rub well into leather. To Correct Constipation Don’t Get It! Why let yourself In for all the discomfort of constipation-and then have to take an emergency medicine—if you can avoid both by getting at the cause of the trouble? If your difficulty, like that of millions, is due to lack of “bulk” in the diet, the "better way” is to eat KeHogg’s All-Bran. This crunchy toasted cereal-a natu ral food, not a medicine-has just the “bulk” you need. If you eat it every day, it will help you not only to get regular but to keep regu lar, month after month, by the pleasantest means you ever knew! Eat All-Bran dally, drink plenty of water, and “Join the Regulars.” Made by Kellogg’s in Battle Creek. Sold by every grocer. v ___J Give In! Love conquers all things; let us yield to love.—Vergil. Today’s popularity of Doan's Pills. *f^r many years of world wide use, surely must be accepted, as evidence of satisfactory use. And favorable public opinion supports that of the able physicians who test the value of Doan's under exacting laboratory conditions. These physicians, too approve every word of advertising you read, the objective of which is only to recommend Doan's Pills as a good diuretic treatment for functional kidney disorder and for relief of the pain and worry it causes. , , , If more people were aware of how the kidneys must constantly remove waste that cannot stay in the blood without in jury to health, there would be better un derstanding of why the whole body suffers when kidneys lag, and diuretic medica tion would be more often employed. Burning, scanty or too frequent urina tion may be warning of disturbed kidney function. You may suffer nagging back ache, persistent headache, attacks of diz ziness, petting up nights, swelling, pufli ness under the eyes—feel weak, nervous, all played out. Use Doan's Pills. It is better to rely on a medicine that has won world wide ac claim than on something Jess favorably known. Ask your neighborI