History and Strife Have No Datelines
Diary of 46 Years Ago
Points Way for Present
By BAUKHAGE
Newt Analyst and Commentator.
WNU Service. 1616 Eye Street.N.W.,
Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON. — Mary Condit
Smith. a young Washington society
girl, visiting dip
lomatic friends in
China, and a ’lev
en-year-old boy in
a little town on
the Erie Canal
both were keep
ing diaries at the
turn of the cen
tury.
Mary, alone in
her room in the
American lega
tion in Peking on
June 11, 1900,
■lipped on her
pink silk dressing
gown, sat down Baukhage
and wrote:
"The telegraph was broken last
night. We have no more communi
cation with the outside world; our
world is this dangerous Peking.”
That same day, though it was
really the day before, according to
the strange tricks Old Sol plays
as he pushes the clock around while
he marches westward and paradox
ically reaches the Far East—that
same day, Monday, June 11, a boy in
the fifth grade of the High street
school painfully inscribed this entry
in his book:
"It rained this A. M. Two more
weeks and we’ll be free from this
School of Misery.” (The next day
it is of record that he broke the
crank of his "wheel”—bicycle to
you.)
The boy’s name appears at the
head of this column and what he
wrote isn’t important, but ]ust 46
years later he was to read Mary’s
diary. She had gone to her reward
long since but not until her diary
became a book and she had become
Mrs. Hooker, a colonel’s lady.
White Man's Prestige
Slipped to Low
As I read this fascinating story,
told in simple, boarding-school Eng
lish, those awful days when the for
eign colony in Peking lived in the
daily horror of massacre during
the Boxer rebellion, became very
real.
Today the fires of civil war are
spreading in China. Voices are be
ing raised, demanding that our ma
rines be withdrawn. American pres
tige has fallen almost as low as It
was when Mary Hooker in her diary
told the dramatic story of the Boxer
Rebellion—that moment in China’s
history when Americans, along with
all foreigners reached their nadir.
History repeats.
The Empress Tzuhsi, a reaction
ary, encouraged the activities of the
Boxers and other groups whose
chief purpose was to cleanse China
of the “foreign devils.” It is only
fair to say that China had passed
through a period during which the
occidental powers had exploited her
to the hilt.
Attacks on foreigners, especially
missionaries, began in 1899, but as
Mary Hooker records, "the diplo
mats and people in general put
these things down to the usual
spring riots which yearly seized
Peking.”
By June and July of 1900, however,
the foreigners found themselves be
sieged in Peking. As late as June
7 Mary’s diary reports:
“Mr. Pethick . , . forty years
a resident of China and an in
timate friend of half the polit
ical leaders, knowing their
weaknesses by heart, urges the
minister to state to Washington
the situation as It is, but all to no
avail.”
Three days later, as I mentioned,
the foreign colony “had no commu
nication with the outside world.”
The next day’s -ntry states:
"Such intense excitement!
This afternoon the Japanese
Chancellor of the Legation went
down to the railway station In
the official legation car to see if
there was any sign of troops.
Returning by the principal gate,
be was seised by the Imperial
(Chinese) troops, disemboweled
and cut to pieces.”
Eagerly Awaited
Arrival of Troopa
From then on the entries become
even more exciting . . twenty of
our marines have been sent by an
officer to guard the big Methodist
Mission . . . the Russian secretary
. . . has figures at the ends of his
fingers about the number of troops
Russia can land in Tien-Tsin . . .
are they trying to prepare us for a
Russian coup d'etat? . . .
Each day the arrival of foreign
troops was awaited. On June 17 the
entry reads:
( "Just one week ago today we
got the telegram that the com
bined forces of England, the
United States, France, Japan,
etc. . . . had left to go to the
relief of the legations in Peking
. . . when the time comes that
the American and Russian lega
tions can no longer hold out, the
British legation will be the stage
for the terrible last act."
The Roman Catholic church was
only one of many burned, and the
converts and their families in the
vicinity slaughtered.
“In some cases,” says the di
ary, “the Christians thought it
better to be roasted in their
houses than try to escape.” (She
herself had decided that sbe
might as well be massacred in
her pink silk dressing gown with
a pink bow at her neck as in her
golf clothes.)
On the 19th of June, the Chinese
government offered to give legation
members their passports and escort
them and their families to the port
There was a division of opinion as
to whether to trust the Chinese. In
the evening the German minister
started to confer a second time on
th-> question when he was murdered
in the streets.
The situation grows worse.
Dead Piled
Around Rampart»
A bullet knocks off the headpiece
of a baby's crib.
All the women are sewing sand
bags.
The Dutch and Austrian legations
burn.
On July 1: "There are so
many dead dogs, horses and
Chinese lying in heaps all
around the defended lines, but
too far for us to bury or burn
them.”
They used the dead horses closer
by, however: “The - - - mess has an
invariable menu. At breakfast, rice,
tea and jam; at tiffin, rice and
horse; at dinner, rice, horse and
Jam.”
With the privations and fear of
the Boxers grew the suspicion and
distrust of the members of the for
eign missions of each other. Rus
sians and English hated each other;
Americans were the buffers. Racial
ructions have no date lines. Mary
Hooker notes:
“The dislike of the Russians
for the British Is so cordial that
It is only equaled by the feeling
the British entertain toward
them. Our compound joins the
Russians, and they love us and
we love them in as strong a
fashion as they hate their Eng
lish neighbors on their other
side.”
And so pretty Mary Hooker wrote
history. . . .
But it was more than history. It
was drama. It was tragedy. Just
look over her shoulder once again:
“July 9 . . . day before yes
terday, the Austrian Charge
d’Affalres was shot at the
French legation. ... At first we
kept a record of the dead or
badly wounded . . . but now
they come in so often we cease
to note the exact number. . . .
“July 16 ... I was en route
to the hospital carrying a pot
of coffee to the doctors and
nurses when some soldiers
passed me, carrying a rough lit
ter, bearing Captain 8trouts
(the British commanding offi
cer) mortally wounded.”
Then July 16:
“It is discussed quietly by
men that they will certainly kill
their wives when that lime
comes (to make a final stand).
God grant it never mayl Apro
pos of this, 1 have in my pock
et a small pistol loaded with
several cartridges, to use if the
worst happens. A Belgian sec
retary stole it from the armoury
for me—‘In case you need it,
mademoiselle.’ ”
Then finally this note on August
15, when the Chinese were closing
in on the improvised fortifica
tions manned by lord and flunky,
soldier and civilian making their
last stand ... “a veritable ring of
flame on all sides of the defenses.”
And then! — “Through that
racket that was around us all
night, we could faintly hear the
unmistakable sound of the for
eign guns of our troops.”
That page of history, let us hope,
will not be repeated.
NO ‘SWEET TOOTH’ YET
Sugar Shortage Remains Acute
WASHINGTON.—No general im
provement in the sugar supply situ
ation is possible until the 1947 Carib
bean crops, particularly the Cuban
and Puerto Rican output, begin to
move to market in large volume
about six months from now, the
agriculture department reports.
Chances that supplies will in
crease sufficiently to permit aban
donment of consumer rationing
next year aprear "rather slim,” of
ficials declare.
The forecast was made in con
nection with announcement that
1,187,000 short tons of sugar will
be allocated for civilian distribution
in the October-December quarter.
The figure compares with an allot
ment of 1,147,000 tons for the corre
sponding quarter last year.
Below Prewar Figure.
Total amount allotted civilians
for 1945 is 5,400,000 tons. This com
pares with a prewar consumption
that reached a peak of 7.587,000 tons
in 1940. The per capita supply this
year is officially estimated at 72.3
pounds compared with 108 pounds
in 1940.
The present short domestic sup
ply situation reflects a drastic de
crease in world production resulting
from the war. World production this
year has been estimated at 27,200,
000 tons, or 7,300,000 tons less than
the prewar average.
Sharpest declines in production
were in Europe, the Philippine Is
lands and the Netherlands East In
dies. In Europe, where normally
considerable beet sugar is pro
duced, shortages of fertilizers and
farm motive power, lack of coal for
operating sugar mills and disrupt
ed transportation have interfered
with production.
The sugar industry in the Philip
pines, important prewar source of
supply for the United States, was
practically eliminated under Japa
nese occupation. In prewar years,
the islands exported nearly 1,000,000
tons a year, nearly all to this coun
try.
FACES MIRROR JOY . . . Happy faces of these Belgian children
show what they think of the American food just arrived at their
camp at Tervueren, near Brussels.
NEWS REVIEW
Means Devised To Halt
Further Lags in Housing
HOUSING:
Fear New Obstacle
Having trimmed commercial
construction and tightened alloca
tion of materials to speed up the
veterans’ emergency housing pro
gram, Housing Expediter Wilson W.
Wyatt feared a prospective labor
shortage as a new obstacle to the
rapid erection of dwellings.
Revealing his apprehensions in
his August report on the vet hous
ing situation, Wyatt indicated that
the government would strive to
head off the latest bogeyman with
an intensive recruiting and appren
tice training program.
Despite a pickup in new building
in July, Wyatt disclosed in his re
port, the emergency housing pro
gram is lagging behind the an-*
nounced goal of 1,200,000 homes and
apartments for this year. During
the first seven months of 1946,
607,100 new dwellings were start
ed and 287,100 completed.
AUTO OUTPUT:
Hits Lag
In calling a press conference in '
Detroit, Mich., C. E. Wilson, presi
dent of General Motors corpora
tion, presented the company’s case
against both the government and
workers for the serious lag in auto
production.
Pointing out that G.M. had turned
out only 400,000 cars and trucks in
the year following V-J Day instead
of the 1,400,000 scheduled, Wilson
charged the Truman administration
THIS IS THE HOUSE! ... Out
at Leniont, 111., a house is rising
which is different than the house
that Jack built in the nursery
rhyme, because much of the work
is being done by a couple of Janes.
Mrs. Joseph Gurski, center, is
laying brick on the new family
home, assisted by willing friends.
with having attempted to appease
labor unions by taking the lid off
wages while at the same time
stating that price increases were
unnecessary. As a result, manu
facturers were “put in the nutcrack
er,” he averred.
Although G.M. has 68,000 more
employees on its payroll than in
1941, production is about half, Wil
son said. Tests on relative jobs
have shown that worker productiv
ity is about 80 per cent of the pre
war rate. Refusal of employees
to extend themselves, a high ab
senteeism rate, inexperience and a
large turnover partly due to the
ease in collecting unemployment
compensation all have contributed
to the inefficiency, Wilson declared
VFW:
Ask Vet Aid
Adoption of resolutions calling for
increased benefits to World War I
vets and satisfaction of domestic
needs first before providing for
those of other nations highlighted
the Veterans of Foreign Wars na
tional encampment i; Boston, Mass.
Congress was urged to authorize
pensions for World War I vets for
old age and disability, with pay
ments made for the latter regard
less of whether the disabilities re
sulted from military duty. Such
payments are made to Spanish
American war vets.
The government was asked to halt
shipments of food to former enemy
countries as long as any American
was unable to obtain sufficient food
stuffs to maintain proper health. A
protest was raised against deliver
ies of grain abroad at the expense
of U. S. brewers while beer was
being imported from England, Bel
gium and Holland.
Other resolutions called for the
trial of Yugoslav airmen who shot
down American fliers; support of
the Anglo-American recommenda
tions for admission of 100,000 Jews
to Palestine, and condemnation of
the practice of awarding actors
combat awards for troop entertain
ment.
NAVY:
To Provide Comforts
One could almost have heard the
rattle down in Davey Jones' locker
when the navy announced that it
was air-conditioning the new cruis
ers. Salem and Newport News, to
determine the best kind of equip
ment for eventually cooling all of
its ships.
In announcing the navy’s plans
for providing additional comfort for
crews on the bounding main, Vice
Adm. Edward L. Cochrane, chief of
the bureau of ships, emphasized
that air-conditioning had proved in
valuable in boosting morale and
fighting efficiency in combat.
Various types of new air-condi
tioning equipment will be used in the
tests in the new 17,000-ton cruisers,
with the cool air transmitted into all
living and working compartments
save machinery areas where the
heat is too intense. Simplified coils
will be shockproof and easily
cleaned, it was said.
<1U*cMame
*704Am
I flep&itesi
Bin WASHINGTON
BBy Walter Shead
1 WNU Corrttpondanl
WNU Washington Bureau,
161S Eye St.. N. W.
Federal Funds Will Aid
Building of Hospitals
TF YOU live in one of the more
*■ than 1,000 counties in the nation
In which there is no hospital, or
where there is no adequate hospital,
there is a chance, if you and your
fellow citizens get together on the
proposition, to get a new hospital at
reduced rates—with the federal gov
ernment paying a third of the cost.
For President Truman has signed
the Hill-Burton bill, the national
hospital construction act which sets
up a potential total of $1,125,000,000
for a five-year hospital construction
program. But do not get excited
and rush down here to Washington
in the belief that one of these hos
pitals can be picked out of a hat.
No Funds Available Now
Only 3 million dollars of this
fund, of which the government’s
share is 375 million dollars at the
rate of 75 million dollars a year for
five years, has been made avail
able by the 79th congress. This con
gress was a cautious congress. It
considered, and probably rightly,
that before any of this money
should be made available, surveys
should be made to determine how
many governmental units could or
would put up the necessary two
thirds cash to build a hospital. This
survey, they opined, would take no
more than 3 million dollars. So
that much money is available for
use of the local units of government.
It will be up to the 80th congress,
which convenes January 3 of next
year, to put up the money called
for in the new law. So it will be
some time next year before the
money is made available. Prob
ably building construction costs are
too high now, anyway.
Sponsors for local hospitals, un
der the bill, may be states, cities,
counties, towns or other public gov
ernmental agencies, or private non
profit hospitals. States will share
in the federal grants in aid on the
basis of their needs, which will be
ascertained through the ratio their
per capita income bears to the na
tional average. Other factors deter
mining the amount apportioned to
each state will be population and
value of products.
May Not Benefit Country
So whether this will favor those
rural counties where hospitals are
so badly needed, or whether it will
work to the advantage of the more
populous urban communities will
depend largely upon responsibility
placed in the hands of a non-gov
ernmental advisory council. This
council is different, however. Most
public health services such as nurs
ing, cancer, tuberculosis and other
activities are presided over by an
advisory council, but they are ad
visory only. The council in the hos
pital act has the veto power, not
only over some actions of the sur
geon-general, who will administer
the law, but likely over some state
action. President Truman doesn’t
like this feature of the act and said
so when he signed it.
At any rate, in counties where
there is need and desire for a hos
pital, the first action is to determine
how much money the local commu
nity can raise. A showing that the
hospital can be maintained after
construction is also necessary. When
this information is forthcoming, the
next stop is to go to your state
health office and ask for inclusion
in the state program—and the state,
if it approves, then makes the ap
plication and showing to the sur
geon-general of the Public Health
service.
Dr. Hoge Will Rule
Actual administration in the sur
geon-general’s office will be in the
hands of Dr. Vane Hoge, who has
been with the Public Health service
for 18 years. Dr. Hoge is a native
of Waynesburg, Pa., and a graduate
of Jefferson Medical school in Phila
delphia.
Dr. Hoge has had several years
experience in clinical work and in
research, and for 10 years has spe
cialized in hospital administration,
and so has an excellent background
as administrator of the new act.
While his office expects much in
creased activity in hospital construc
tion as a result of the federal grant
of $1 for $2 of local money, he de
clared that there was no basis for
estimate on the number of new hos
pitals or additions which may be
constructed as a result.
He advised local communities not
to wait for the state health agency
to come around to visit govern
mental units wanting a new hospital
but urged them to get busy them
selves, determine their needs, their
potential power to raise the neces
sary amount for construction and
maintenance, and then to go to the
state agency themselves.
While President Truman declared
that the construction of hospitals
and related facilities, such as health
centers, was excellent, he said it
was only the first step in the five
point national health program.
AUTOMATIC IRONS
FOR SALE— Automatic Irons. Latest
post-war models, rutomatlc. streamlined.
Delivery from stock. Postpaid $8.95. Order
at once.
THE ARBOR CO.
Nebraska City 4, Nebr.
MISCELLANEOUS
ACE WELDING AND REPAIRING. We
handle trailers and farm wagons. 1833
No. 20th St. Atlantic 2569. Omaha. Nebr.
FARMS FOR SALE
50 valley and rolling farms for sale in
Boone and Greeley Counties. Good soil,
some irrigated, many good bargains.
Priced from $18 to $175 per acre. Write
or phone 361. Mrs. J. F. Thompson,
Broker. Primrose, Nebr.
HOGS FOR SALE
Purebred Berkshire Boars and Gilts eli
gible for registration. Hubert Woitas
zewski, Woodriver, Nebr.
MISCELIANEOUS
For Sale—Prairie hay. truck or car, at all
times. Write for prices. Frank Keller,
Newport, Nebr.
HELP WANTED—MALE
BRICKLAYERS wanted immediately on
project at Boystown, Nebraska. Approx
imately 18 months' work. Inside work
for winter. Scale, $1,825 per hour work
ing 45 hours per week. Double time for
all overtime. Apply Peter Kiewit Sons'
Co., Boystown, Nebraska.
W ^
CUCH versatile crocheted doilies
^ —you’ll find many uses for
them! The graceful fern design
lends charm and beauty to any
home setting.
• * •
It’s crochet that has many uses. Large
doily measures 19 inches in No. 30 cotton.
Pattern 7488 has directions for twadoilies;
sUtches.
Due to an unusually large demand and
current conditions, slightly more time is
required in filling orders for a few of the
most popular pattern numbers.
Send your order to:
Sewing Circle Needlecraft Dept.
564 W. Randolph St. Chicago 80, HI.
Enclose 20 cents for pattern.
No_
Name___
Address_
YOU CAN BE SURE
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98
UUSN visit
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