- Fliers View Live
Volcanoes Over
9
i Islands of Japan
40^ ' "
lr. Two of Historic Planes Are
t Almost Lost in Storm;
Smith Sleeps Through
* Banquet.
«> f -
■;.f r Told by LOWELL THOMAS,
uj "When we flew across the Pa
rifle and landed at Paramushlru
It seemed as though we aud
' denly had descended from the clouds
Into a new world.
Of course, there
Isn’t much differ
ence between the
Islands off the
coast of Alaska
and the islands
near Siberia."
says Lieut. Leigh
Wade. "Both are
away up north,
at the edge of
Bering sea. Both
are as barren as
islands can be.
And both are the
home of howling
blizzards.
"Just the same, we were mighty
,1 \ tickled to have Alaska, the Aleutian
!V Islands, and the Pacific ocean behind
' \ig. The presence of the Japanese de
stboyers with their smart looking llt
3j^ tie sailors partly may explain our
£ feeling that we were in a new world.
** The long names around which we had
difficulty twisting our tongues helped,
loo.
Rolls With Ship.
{ ’ "The gale that blew the first night
£> we were at Paramushlru was a stem
winder, with a storm howling and n
high sea running. The officers in
sisted on giving us their bunks, and
4 n the one I occupied must hayj been
a little wider than usual. At any
late, there was nothing I could brace,
myself against.
7. "When the ship rolled, I rolled with
- it. My recollection Is that the ship
never stopped rolling. The cabin was
J; full of trunks, shoes, .and all sorts of
things that kept slamming back and
-{' forth from one end to the other. On
3r«; one side was a bookcase. Once, when
Jv the destroyer gave a lurch, the books
-/ all tumbled out on top of me. I got
^up and put them back carefully,
ijj^ "A moment later, however, there
r-; was another lurch, and Webster’s un
0.'1 abridged dictionary hit me on the Jaw
’7‘t and nearly broke It. Robert Service’s
novel, ‘The Roughneck,’ nearly
" cracked my collar bo’ne. Mark Twain’s
< ’Innocents Abroad! plumped on my
• stomach. Harry Franck’s ’A Vaga
. bond Journey Around the World’
{ cracked me on the shlna, while a llt
-.tle volume of Shakespeare’s ’Much
r Ado About Nothing’ nearly put out
/on* eye. Just as I reached up to
TS switch on the light, Irvin Cobb’s
■*> ’Roughing It De Luxe’ caught me In
;r_ the ear.
' - "Never In my life have I been so
Intimately in touch with literature as
that night!
jr
Almost Ixise Two Planes.
"The sea remained rough ail Fun
‘day. It was not until late In the after
J,;tinon that Jack and Hank could even
{ get out to the planes to look them
• rover. But It was most fortunate that
'-ithey reached them when they did. be
cause as far as the Boston and New
•v Orleans were concerned the world
{'flight nearly ended right there. The
J .gale had blown them back and forth
{{until two of the mooring bridles had
1'been almost sawed away. The Boston
“'•was hanging by one strand, and In a
i few minutes the last strand would
. have been chafed through.
"That night we all went over to
.l^one of the Japanese destroyers to a
“.party given In our honor, but at 2
m. Monday morning we. took lan
«l)terns and rowed out to the planes,
ntil then the sea had been too rough
V for us to service tip. At 7:10 we took
5>,..ff for Hltoknppu, and made the
‘{^coldest flight of the entire trip since
,' leaving Seattle—colder than any
IVvhfr* along the Alaskan coast.
,i"We kept plunging in and out of
•• snow squalls and hopping over one
Japanese Island after another, each
■} a bit more forest clad than the last.
, Climate From Alaska to Cuba.
J, We were amazed to discover that
• {there are more than 4,000 islands be
longing to the empire of Japan, ex
ij^tendlng oil the way from the latitude
• of Alaska to the latitude of Cuba.
^*They are inhabited by' more than 66,
^000.000, but as we flew above the
^.Islands and looked dowb on mountain
VVanges, active volcanoes, and prlme
**-*val forests we realized how true was
Jr the remark the captain of the Ford
V had made that only a small portion
' 'of them were or rould be populated.
L "After the desolate stretches of
country we had been flying over up
Jv’to this time It was mighty nice to at
Tyeast look down and see villages and
jfjdiumfln beings occasionally. We also
• passed over herds of sea lions sun
' nltyt themselves on rocks or awim
r ming about. Half way down to Yet
, nrofu we pasaed over Shlmurfhiru,
.'Truppu, and Innumerable smaller
f'islHnds. But even more Interesting
£ than the herda of sea lions and vll
• *lages were the volcanoes we passed
Allntll we started on thla trip we never
J* realized that there were ao manv ac
,‘tlve volcannea in the whole world as
' {there are over here In Japan. There
£ are over 100 rones at. present, extinct,
| but which look as though they might
.{'explode any time, and about 13 that
/jetill are on fire.
A Where Quakers Are Commonplace.
3* "IVe also were laboring under the
S .delusion that the reeent great earth
^.quake, which nearly wiped out Toklo
.'and Yokohama, was a rare occur
-;"renre But to our astonishment we
Jearned that there had been 13,750 of
{..them recorded during the last 13
,‘years, or approximately three *nd
' lone-half ahocka dally.
£, "In fact, during our ahort atny Mr.
• Vulcan's battering average was fully
' 1,000 per cent, and we were shocked
I / more than three times per day—nor
.am I referring to the Japanese bath
ing customs either.
/♦ "On L’nlshlru Island we flew over
'/.■n nMlve volcano, and n village that
we were told afterwards hail been de
^•seated for many years. Then, after
r' .dlvlng down for a close view of the
r perpendicular cliffs of the mountain
‘«bu» Island of Ketol, we looked down
ftylnto the smoking craler of a volcano
|j,cn Fhlmushlru, and a half hour later
rt+if,w clouds of atrum coming from l«o
I ?&*•**
Route Fliers Used to Span Pacific
vk
//jgj
tmSEt rj^c X v ^ ~ '
ofjaMH) * <•
Map shows route followed by Intrepid world fliers on the Jumps which
took them across the Pacific ocean by air for the first time in history. The
island of Parainushir was the first Japanese outpost visited by the fliers.
cones on the little Island of Rebunt
sirboi,
“Only one large Island, Uruppa,
now remained between us and Yeto
rt'fu, where we were to land. Uruppa,
lhcldentally, possesses two more
mountains where Vulcan is busy at
his forge. The island Is utterly de
serted, excepting during the fishing
season, when the primitive folk from
nearby islands come here to fish in
the bays facing the Sea of Okhotsk.
Five Volcanoes on Island.
“Y’etorof,u, one of the largest is
lands of the Kurile group, Is 110 miles
long, from two to 20 miles wide, and
lias five steaming volcanoes, one of
which has been In violent eruption
quite recently. Arrangements'' had
been made for us to come down and
refuel on the shore of a lake just a
mile inland from Illtokappu bay, on
the Pacific ocean side of Yetorofu.
“As we passed over the hay, which
is just a little over half way down
the island, we saw the American and
Japanese destroyers waiting for us.
On the shore of tihe lake were several
hundred school children who had
walked 27 miles to see us arrive.
That is, they had walked nine miles
to the lake and home again on three
successive days, expecting each day
to see us fly down from Pararnushiru.
They were from the town of Fure
betsu, the capital of Yetorofu.
“It was easy enough for us to tell
that they were school kiddies, be
cause the government insists that
they wear uniforms.
Children Shew Respect.
“The little boys have black caps
and kimonos, while the little girls
wear the trousers and carry parasols.
As we walked past them they sucked
In their breath with a whistling
sound as a mark of respect, and put
out their hands to touch our flying
suits Just as the Hindus In India
reverently touch the sacred cow.
“One of the teachers, bespectacled
and wearing a dark gray gown, clat
tered up to us on his wooden sandals
and in response to our questions told
us many interesting things about the
schools of Japan. He said that, much
the same as in America, all children
are obliged to attend school until
they are 14. He also said that there
are more than 30,000 schoole, at
tended by nearly 10,000,000 children.
"On# thing that impressed us was
the sturdiness of those 200 youngsters
who had trudged 27 miles on their
wooden shoes to see us descend from
the clouds and land on their island.
Keep Physically fit.
“The teacher told us that nil of
them go through rigorous exercises
every day and that the boys nre not
only taught to fence with swords, to
swim like seals, and to master Jiu
Jitsu, but that they are put through
courses in military drill before they
even enter high school.
“When we asked him what sub
jects the children studied he named
over the usual things that we are
taught in America, and then added
that English is the most puzzling to
them because we of America have
such a quaint custom of writing
backwards from left to right, while
they do it the way it should be done
and write and read from right to left!
“They also think we are dumbbells
oecause be take off our hats anil
keep on our siloes when we enter a
house. It isn't your hat that's dirty,
its your shoes, say these spotlessly
clean little people.
Fall Asleep at Dinner.
“We were completely Worn out as
a result of having slept only an hour
nr so the previous night when the
Japanese naval folks had given the
party for us at Kashlwaliara bay.
The SSO-mtle flight we had made
through the cold upper air had kept
us awake and alert, hut now we were
all in, and that night several of us
fell asleep at dinner. The boya aaid
they caught me sound asleep with a
fork load of peas suspended In mid
air.
"One advantage we had on this
aerial trip around the world was that
a considerable part of the time we
were completely off the beaten track.
As on our trip down the Kurile Isl
ands, for Instance, we were seeing a
region that the tourists never see and
that few explorers from the western
world know anything about. Nor did
we just see the countries from the
air. Owing to climatic condition* we
spent just about as long in most
places as the average traveler does
who visits foreign lands by sea and
by train.
Stronger. But Lost Islands.
"Among other things too numerous
to mention we discovered tlint tip here
In the northernmost part of the Jap
anese empire, live a race of people,
a mere remnant now, who once ruled
over all of what now is Japan. They
are utterly different from the ruling
race of the islands today. Their eyes
are not set aslant. They are brown
instead of yellow. And they are far
stronger physically than the Japan
ese whom the rest of the world know.
"They are shaggy, primitive men
v.hA wear clothes made out of the
bark of trees. The ‘hairy men of
Japan' is what they are commonly
called by the few outsiders who ever
come this far north. Alnn« is the
name by which they, are known to the
other Inhabitants of Japan.
"These hairy men are great hunters
like tlie hairy Kssau, and they crawl
into' the dens of grizzly bears and kill
them In hand to hand combat with
knives. In fact, according to the
myths of this ancient race they are
the aboriginal people of Japan and
are descended from a beautiful prin
cess and a grizzly bear.
"Some people seem to think that
they look like a mixture of Mongol
and European. We saw a few of them
and could see why thU theory has
arisen.
"They live in primitive huts and
are no more civilized than the
Eskimos of Siberia and northern
Alaska.
"Only about 18,000 of them still
survive, and a large proportion of
these live along Volcano bay on the
Island of Yezo, although there are a
few of them sprinkled up and down
the Kurites. The men have long hair
which they cut off st the shoulders.
Their beards and mustaches are ex
ceedingly long also, ind give them a
patriarchal appearance. The common
solution consists of stroking the
beard.
"The women of this hairy race are
unable to raise s growth on their
faces, so they do the next best thing
and tatocf mustaches on their upper
lips.
Circled World by Map First.
"Next morning. May 20, we rolled
out of our blinks aboard the de
stroyer at Hitokappu, before dawn.
It was just 3:30 a. m. when we eat
down to breakfast In the ward room.
We then walked Inland to the lake
where the cruisers were moored, got
the planes ready .and hoped to fly oft
south before sunrise. We were anxi
ous to get on, because we knew that
lands of mystery, romance, and ad
venture lay ahead of us.
"We had had just about enough of
the Arctic for a while and wanted to
fly on to the exotic lands of the
lotus eaters, of which Erik Nelson,
our much traveled sea rover, had told
tjs so much as we sat around the
sheet Iron stove in the cannery at
Chlgnik, Alaska, where each night
we circumnavigated the world two or
three times by map."
Read the next story of the thrilling
round-the-world lllglit in The Omaha
Rea tomorrow.
tOSTEOPATHY
ia an efficient curative
._SYSTEM
Both Agriculture
and Roads Harmed
by Gooding’s Bill
Builds Up Seaboards at Ex
pense of Middle West;
Propagandists Use Canal
as Excuse.
ARTICLE VI.
By WILL M. MAUPIN.
Because middlewestern
shippers and the railroads are
resisting the Gooding amend
ment to Section 4 of the inter
state commerce act, subtle
propaganda is being used to
convince the people that the
railroads are conspiring to
close the Panama canal to
freight traffic, and use it sole
ly as a part of the national
defense. Just how false this
propaganda is has been set
out in three preceding
articles.
How the interior industries
of the United States are being
discriminated against under
present freight rate condi
tions will be explained in this
article. In this case the cause
of the industrial and agricul
tural west and the cause of
fhe railroads are identical.
Both are discriminated
against, and unjustly so. The
protest they voice is met by
the propaganda for the At
lantic coast industries and
vessel owners that there is a
railroad conspiracy against
the canal.
Take Ine ease of the water earrler.
It Is free to come and go as It pleases
or as its interests Impel. It ran dis
continue service the minute it finds
It unprofitable, or when it finds a
chanco to sell its service at a higher
price In another direction. Ths was
Illustrated during the war, when It
almost completely abandoned the
canal service to take up the more
profitable overseas service. It Is not
under the jurisdiction of the Inter
state Commerce commission as to
rates, nor under the jurisdiction of
any boarfl as to wage rates. The sea
man’s act provide* certain humane
working conditions, but vessel own
ers may employ whomsoever it pleases
at wages which they are free to set
without government supervision. The
service can change lte channel* of
trade from day to day. It Is not ob
ligated to serve any particular ship
per or any particular community. It
Is protected against the competition
of foreign owned vessels between
coastal points, thus having s mono
poly of coastwise shipping. Its only
regulations, other than Its own de
cisions, are those Imposed in the mat
ter of regulations as to the us* of
ports and rules of navigation.
In contradistinction to this, th*
railroads have their freight rates
fixed by th* commission. Their rates
of wages are fixed by the federal labor
i. ' ’ ' n
JOHN
HENRICKSON
The Jeweler
Established 1882
DIAMONDS. SILVERWARE,
CHIME CLOCKS, WATCHES
Op«n Evening* Until Cfcrlatma*
Walk Two Block*
and Buy for L**c
N. E. Cor. I6th and Capitol
Cuticura Should Be
In Every Home
Dally um of Cuttaira Soap keepa
tha poree active and the akin cleat
and healthy, while the Ointment
heala plmplee end other Irrltatione.
Cuticura Talcum la a delicately mad*
Ice ted entiaeptic powder of pleeeln*
fragrance.
SSHggilgl
■Sl-T-.tr.aa fradaew Are *«*»“«■]
board. Their money is not Invested
in ships which nmy change thei:
channels of trade from day to day,
but le invested in fixed property which
must be maintained and operated.
They may not decrease operation am:
service st their own will, but cniv by
and with the consent of a commission
whose members have no financial in
terest In the property. They may not
extend their lines to serve additional
territory without permission, and then
under restrictions and regulations
and they always face .the difficulty of
securing credit in the matter of ob
tatnlng new money for capital in
veatmenta. Their relations with ship
pers and to the communities through
which they run is closer and more
vital than ever can be the case with
water carriers. And. lastly, they
must continue to operate their prop
ertles anh serve' the public, whether
it be done at a profit or at a loss.
The water carriers may change
their rates at will and without notice;
the railroads cannot. The water car
rier* may discriminate ae between
shippers and as between communities
they serve without fear of the law.
The railroads are properly prohibited
from doing those things.
It is In this wise that the rail car
riers suffer and the water carrlere
profit. The former are regulated and
controlled and their rates fixed. The
latter are neither regulated nor con
trolled and their rates are of their
own setting.
Once more, for emphasis, protests
against this discrimination are met
by the charge of propagandists for
Atlantic coast shippers and vessel
owners that a conspiracy is afoot to
close the Panama canal.
As for that charge. It may be
stated as a self-evident truth that the
Panama canal could be filled in with
out seriously disturbing business con
ditions, but abandoning the railroads
of the country would mean chaos.
The Panama canal has cost the
government to date J469.000.000, and
in only one year of its existence has
it earned operating expenses and has
never earned an amount sufficient
to meet interest on outstanding bonds
or a sinking fund for their retirement.
The entire country bears this burden
of outlay of principal and Interest.
Only a comparatively email section,
however, enjoys the benefits of the
lower rates It afford*. The traffic
through tlie canal ha* already nearly
approached its carrying capacity. If
It Increases much more It will have
to be enlarged. This will be at a
great additional cost to the people
for the benefit of a comparative few.
The question is not: Shall the Pana
ma canal be closed? To intimate that
such Is the desire of anybody Is to
convict the one making the Intima
tion of either Ignorance or a desire
to deceive.
The question, stated In concise
terms. Is this: Shall the two sea
hoards' activities be coddled and
built up at the expense of the In
terior by unjust discriminations In
favor of the users of the Panama
canal, or shall an effort be made to
so equalize rates between user* of
the canal and user* of rail trans
portation as to equalize the burden
of charges borne by the users of
both?
Present renditions discriminate In
favor of water carriers and const In
dustries. and against interior Indus
tries. These conditions may be reme
died in either one of two ways, or by
a combination of the two. Water car
riers may be placed under the juris
diction of the Interstate Commerce
commission and their rates for trans
portation fixed by it, while the fed
ral labor board fixe* the wages they
shall pay, so that an equitable balance
may be maintained between rail car
rying charges and water carrying
charges. Canal tolls may be Increased
so that the returns will pay mainte
nance, interest on the bonds and pro
vide a sinking fund, these tolls to be
sufficient to maintain a balance just
alike to the rail and water carriers
and to the whole people. Or the pres
ent section 4 of the interstate com
merce act may be left as it is and the
railroads permitted to make lower long
haul rates to preserve their share of
transcontinental traffic and thus be
saved the necessity of Increasing rates
between Interior points. All of this
action to be taken, of course, under
the jurisdiction and by permission of
the interstate commerce commission
upon proper showing.
What it means to the middle west
if the Goodmg amendment is adopt
ed will be discussed In the succeeding
article of this series.
FISCHER
PIANOS
¥
Mickel Brothers have long desired to be the rep
resentatives of the famous Fischer line of Grand
and Upright Pianos. At last that desire has been
accomplished, and we take pride in announcing to
our friends and patrons that the home of this won
derful line of musical instruments is right here at
loth and Harney.
Everybody wants a Baby Grand and sooner or later
every family buys one. To those who have not yet
made their decision, let us say, that the Fischer
Baby Grand, at its price, is the greatest piano of
all makes sold at anywhere near the price of it.
We could go on saying many fine things about the
Fischer, but we would prefer that you satisfy your
self of its qualities. Come in ami see it; hear it
and admire its beautiful case and finish. We know,
if you do this, the Fischer will need no boosting
from us; it will sell itself.
Remember, Mickel's Is the Xmas Store.
A Hundred Gifts to Choose From.
Grand $860 Upright $550
MICKEL’S
IBth and Harnoy Phone AT loafic 4361
Grand Island Fire
Origin Is Mystery
Investigation Fails to Con
firm Theory of Spontane
ous Combustion.
Grand Island. Dec. 18.—Deputy
State Fire Warden Butcher and In
vestigator Harry Itequartte. complet
ed late Wednesday an investigation
of the recent $500,000 fire here, with
out determining definitely whether the
theory advanced by men working on
the pile that there was spontaneous
combustion of the sugar was to be
accepted or rejected. It was learned,
however, that some sugar men deny
the declarations that sugar could not
of Itself start to burn.
Deputy Butcher had been advised
that Mr. Wietzer, formerly in charge
of a Colorado plant which had a simi
lar fire, believed that fire to have
been caused by spontaneous combus
tion, but it is asserted by others that
the Colorado fire was due to a coin
bination of man and the cigaret.
Further Information, it appears, will
be awaited by the state department
before th»re is any classification of
this fire.
Deputy Butcher declared that with
the equipment it had, the Grand
Island fire department had certainly
done a wonderful lilt of work In sav
ing the Koehler hotel with an entire
section of its roof and a part of the
upper floor ablaze, lie suggested that
the local department should have a
truck equipped with a pump.
At the meeting of the city council
last evening it was decided to seek
some changes by way of special bills
to enable the city to purchase such
equipment. Bevies made for this and
street purposes are now fully tip to
the limit allowed by the charter* for
cltie* of this class City Attorney
Prince likewise urged the importance
of the city formulating and adopting
its own charter. \
Itichard Ooehrlng, sr., heaviest ih- 1
dividual loser by the fire, announced
that he will not rebuild the whole-^^
sale house destroyed. Mr. GoehrlfW*^
was one of the stockholders of the
Grand Island National hank whidh
closed a year ago In order to liquidate
the bank dollar for dollar and reor
ganize. He placed a loan of $25,000
on the wholesale buildings and the In
surance will no more than cover this
loan and clean off the debris,. As he
is 70 years old, he announces that he
will place the property on the mar
ket, Instead of undertaking new ob
ligations.
But one
of many
For the youngster on your
list—a Brownie Gift Box. .
It’s the whole picture
making "shootin’ match
—No. 2 Brownie camera,
film, album, paste, portrait
attachment, booklets — all
for $5.00. _ .
There’s fun beginning
Christmas morning and
that’s the kind of a gift
you want to make.
Brownie Gift Box is but ^
one among many worth*
whileChristm?shintsyoull i
find at this store, f
Eastman Kodak Co.
(The Robert Dempster Co.)
1813 Fernem St.
Branch Stara J
308 South 15th St. M
-
Use a
Club—
'
!
on
Old-Man >
Put-it-off
t
OLDAfan Put-it-off is trying to rob
you. When lie urges you to put
. off joining the “(iet-Ahead-iSav- ^
ing Club” he might as weB be taking
cash from your pockets. For. if you
keep putting it off, you will not join (
at all, and then you won’t hare that ;1
extra cash next December. It takes
only a minute and a coin to join.
Choose Yout Club:
One t ear t
25c Fren-Deposlt Class .$ 12.50 I
Mr Ften-Deposit (lass .«. 25.00 J
#1 Ften-DepiisU ( lass . 50.00 I
#2 FTen-Deposit Class . 106,00 I
$3 Ften-Deposit Class .15M# I Fids
#5 Fsen-Deposit Class . 250.00 J Interest
$75*0 Fsen-ileposii Class. 375.00 \ 11 All .
$10 Ften-Deposit Class . 5oo.oo Fin mi nis f
•e Derrenslng Class . 63.75 / Are
5e lnereaslng-ani|.Derrea*inc I lass 325»o I Made
lor Inereasine.and.Deereasing Class 65.00 V Promptly
2nr Inereaslng-and-deereasing I ls»s 130.00 1
2r InereasIng-and-Deereasing ( lass 13.00 |
2r Decreasing ( las*. I
le Decreasing ( las*. 12.75 J
1c lnerea*ing Class. 12.75 /
Yob may pmy aa far la adsaace aa yoa wlak.
Th« ISat rada rarly la aril December. Kaay ta Start—Kaar
ta Flalahl
It takes only a minute and a coin to join.
Your Book Is Waiting—Today!
The Omaha National Bank ^
Thru Daily Sleeper ‘
to ST. LOUIS 4
by way of Kansas City
I.v Omaha .. ljjp.B.
\r. Kansas City.$10 p. m.
I.v. Kansas C ity.. 9 JO p. m.
■\r. St. Louis.. 6:55 a. m
1 Tining Csr for Oinner.
Ticket* sad Reacrvaltoa* at I’moe Statma ar—
I 11 y Ticket Othoe
; 111 S. ^oternth Straei
I Ouutu. Nebraska *
AT iant.c I
I
k
%
j
THE SCENIC RESTFUL ROUTE \ \
to
m
■I
