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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1938-02-24, Page 6Commentary on the Highlights of the Week's News . . by Peter Randal HELPING 1L.1): Many of the heavy german shells fired by Spanish Insurgent soldiers into, I.o;•alist ranks the past few weeks did rot explode. ',l'liey did no damage, lilted no ane, because they had been filled with saw- dust by inanition workers in the Ger- an ;factor -:es where they were made. clot being allowed under the Nazi re- gime to say a word or perform any Sot of sympathy towards the Spanish Loyalists, these factory workers found an indirect but marvellously effective Way to aid their fellowmen in another Country. * * * * RAY OF HOPE: An all-time record for moisture during the month of Feb- ruary has been achieved on the Re- gina plains. The heavy snowfall did it. The dry southwest areas of Sas- katchewan the past week were blank- eted in a welcome coat of white, in some places twelve to eighteen inches deep. Crop prospects have brightened very considerably, especially since this precipitation of snow follows up- on the heavy rains of last autumn. Chances for a good crop are better than they have been for many a long year. Let us hope the West will get e break in 1938. * * * * CUTTING OFF ONE'S NOSE? It fa difficult to understand just why Great Britain is moving toward mak- ing a loan of large ssms of money to Mussolini. Italy's financial position has been very shaky for the past year. Without substantial aid from an out- side power, the Fascist regime might very well face collapse. If Britain now extends a loan, Muss- olini's band will be strengthened for farther depredations in the east; she Viil be in a position to finance another "volunteer" army expedition into Spain. Italy will be more powerful than ever in the Mediterranean. But that is what Britain in the long does not want, because the Medi - En anean is her "lifeline" to the Near st and India. * * * * PERMANENT CAR MARKERS: A plan has been presented to the To- ronto Board of Police Commissioners proposing that permanent license plates replace the present yearly Markers 011 Ontario cars. It is sug- gested that larger plates be used, five Inches ,by 16 for the front and 12 x 3.for the rear. These would be weld- ed to the body of the car and colored stickers attached to windshields would indicate that the yearly foe had been paid. Sounds grand. If we had the same plates year after year, maybe we could remember our license number. * * * * BRAVE WOMAN: Ishbe! MacDon- ald, daughter of the late British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, is not a snob. Neither is she a coward. This former hostess at No. 10 Downing Street, London, last week disclosed her plans to marry the village "han- dyman" of Speen, Buckinghamshire. A former house painter, electrician's helper, ditch -digger, drum -player in the village band, Miss MacDonald's fiance has been a regular customer at the "Old Plow," au inn which she operates. Miss MacDonald does not allow worry over "what people will say" to stand between her and happiness. * * * * PRISON FINDINGS: Shortly to be presented to Parliament at Ottawa is the report of the" Royal Commission on penitentiaries, a tabulation of find- ings made during a thorough inves- tigation of Canada's prison system. It is expected there will be some "eye- openers" on how the penal situation is administered, and a number of very definite recommendations for reform. The report should indeed be valu- able, since the Commission took care to hear the evidence in private of every convict who wished to speak. A study has been made of how the "detention and reformation", which the present law calls for, has been carried out. * * * * PAGING DOBBIN: Next time, he swears, he'll take the horse. A farmer a couple of miles from London the other day set off for town driving his '38 model sedan. The road was hor- ribly icy. He kept her under 25, but before he had gone half a mile, the car slid quietly into the ditch. The neighbor's team did some hefty pull- ing, negotiated the sedan back onto the road again. This time, our man kept her under 20. But in spite of his careful manipulating of the controls, the car turned right around and faced east instead of west. Annoyed beyond words (do you blame him?) our far- mer refused to fight fate any further. He, continued east, arrived without event in his own yard a few minutes later, and locked away the car. xff- LISTEN...17, 7/a4 CANADA-1938IMPERIAL 'S' INSPIRING TPROAGRAM EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT On a National Coast to Coast Network Mussolini Finds Empire Costly African 'Development Appears to Have Absorbed More Than A Billion Dollars Empire building in Italian East Af- rica—including Ethiopia and Italian eomaliland—has cost the government nearly 30,000,000,000 lire pebout $1,- 08,000,000) since the beginning ot.the Xtalo-Ethiopian war, according to sta- tistics 'published in the newspaper I'opolo Di Roma.. Italy 'has expended the following sums in East Africa in the last threes complete fiscal years: 1934-35-985,000,000 lire. 1935-36-41,136,000,000 lire. 1936-37-47,519,000,000 lire. Another indication of the large ex- penses required in colonization was I1en in the growing budget deficits ,since 1930, the article said. The fiscal fear of 1930-31 revealed a deficit or Only ti 04,000,000 lire, Deficits for the last two fiscal years follow: 1935-36-12,686,000,000 lire. 1986-31—:16,230,000,000 lire. These figures include the deficit of the Italian -railways. WHOLE TRADE OF ORIENT IS SLOWLY STRANGLING Rhin For All Business Seen In Japanese Victory by Chinese Envoy -- Door to Western World Would be Closed. No highly organized nation in the Occident can hope to escape from the evil results of the '''desecration of China, declared W. C. Liu, special en- voy of the Chinese Governmept who spoke last week in Toronto. "A number of well-meaning, fear- stricken pacifists can trace their busi- ness losses back to last Suly when the Japanese were allowed to invade China. Business conditions slowed down even more when the Japanese invested Shanghai on Aug. 13," he said. "How on earth can the Western nations hope to have a peaceful, pros- perous condition of things while the whole trade and commerce of the Or- ient is being slowly strangled by the war machine of one nation? And be- lieve me when I say it is affecting the whole of the East. To Close Door "If Japan wins this war she will close China to all other countries ex- cept those who are able and willing to pay heavy tolls. Long before that day arrives Japan will be bankrupt and slowly sinking in her own mire but she will have dragged down China and a large portion of the com- mercial world with her." The Chinese nation had every con- fidence General Chiang Kai-shek would be able to hold Japan in a death grip until the conflict could be brought to an effective conclusion. A new army of 1,500,000 men was taking form in the interior of China. This would in all probability be augmented by units from other nations within a very short time. "Fighting Own Battles" Notwithstanding reports from Jap- anese sources, Mr. Liu asserted China had received no assistance from fore- ign troops. "So far we have been fightingaeur own battles," he said. The Soviet air- craft were purchased in the same way as the airplanes from the United States but no fighting pilots had been supplied. Paris Replaces Chestnut Trees With Hardier Varieties, Such As Plane Trees and Sophora — Gas Fumes Killed Some. Automobile exhausts are continuing their work of destruction to Paris trees, and it will cost the city park department 1,720,000 francs for re- placement of dead or dying trees dur- ing 1938. One of the main attractions of the city has always been the number of streets lined with trees, and the city government is attempting to maintain the tradition by substituting hardier varieties for the traditional elms and., horse -chestnuts. Several years ago it was necessary to replace the chest- nuts on the upper half of the Champs Elysees with plane trees. Thase are doing wall, and the .same plan is being followed with other streets. At the same time, experiments have been carried on with a great variety of trees. Tar Emanations Harmful One liter of gasoline of the type used by cars in France produces 600 liters of oxide of carbon. This is in- jurious to most trees, and is the prin- cipal cause of the difficulty, It has also been tound tea.. emanations from the tar and asphalt used on the pave- ments are harmful to vegetation in Summer. According to this year's park pro- gram the chestnuts on the Rue Caulaincourt will be replaced with the sophora, a tree that has been found to be specially strong. The elms of the Boulevard du Palais will be replaced b/ plane trees, as will those on the Avenue de Maine, the Avenue d'Italie, Avenue de Clichy and Ave- nue de Saint-Ouen. Ontario Planning Fish Hatcheries News In Review 82 Civilians Killed In Air Raids HANKOW.—Word that more than 200 civilians, including several for- eigners, were killed by Japanese air raiders at Chengchow cast a pall this week over elation raised in Chinese Government circles by reports of Chinese successes along the northern part of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway TORONTO.—It was reported un- ofiicially. at Queen's Park last week that construction of four new fish hatcheries with rearing ponds, at an estimated cost of $120,000, is pro- vided for in estimates of the Ontario t1epartment of Game and Fisheries to ,be recommended for inclusion in the budget at the forthcoming ses- sion of the Provincial Legislature. It was understood the hatcheries will be located at New Liskeard, •Peterborough, on Manitoulin .Island and in Muskoka. Trout and other varieties of game fish raised in the new plants will be used primarily to stock lakes in the surrounding dis- tricts, Trade Pact Negotiations OTTAWA.—Important negotiations which concern the modification of the trade agreement between Canada and the United Kingdom are in progress now. They are antecedent to the negotiations for a revised treaty be- tween Canada and the United States because the negotiations for an Anglo- American pact are ahead of what Ot- tawa and Washington are figuring on- between themselves:. Austria's Nazification VIENNA.—Fuebrer Adolf Hitler of Germany, backing up an ultimatum with strong• military forces alongAu's- tria's northern frontier, last week forced Chancellor K-urt Schuschnigg to place five Austrian Nazis or Nazi sympathizers in his Cabinet. Schuschnigg, long a. bitter foe of Nazi penetration into Austria, where the Nazi Party has been outlawed since June, 1933, announced his capi- tulation and submitted his new Cab- inet list to President Withelm Miklas after Hitler's three-day ultimatum ex- pired. Rearmament. Program Increased. LONDON.—Great Britain this week ended the first year of a $1,500,000,000 ($7,500,000,000 five-year rearmament program and planned a heavy increase in defense expenditures in the second year. During the 1937-38 fiscal year, Brit- When Ice Cream Was First " ade In the Seventeenth Century „ Italians Claim Its Dis- covery Then one day in a cafe in Palermo the wonder was effected, says the Irish Independent. A young appren- tice who saw the ineffectual attempts of his clients to keep cool tried his hand at a mixture of treacle and ice. Tho result was rather good. in fact it was a considerable improvement on anything hitherto devised. So the ap- prentice followed up his experiments. He made a wooden box with a double bottom. In the lower department he placed a quantity of crushed ice and filled the other with cream, when lo! the original ice cream. It is not sur- prising that the apprentice who had the genius to discover ice cream had also the sense to realize the possibil- ities of his discovery. When he had made sufficient money in Palermo to enable him to start on a large way he established in Paris. It was the be- ginning of an Italian peaceful pene- tration that has lasted to the present clay. The English claim they had dis- covered it before this time. It was in 1660 the apprentice from Palermo op- ened his shop, and it is claimed that Charles I had already treated guests to ices at a banquet. Charles seems to have been very proud of this deli- cacy; for it is on record that he gave his chef $100 yearly pension to keep the method of production a secret. ain has spent £269,739,000 ($1,348,- 695,000). Sir Thomas Iuskip, Minister for De- fense Co-ordination, said the 1938-39 figures would be between £325,000,000 ($1,625,000,000) and £350,000,000 ($1,- 750,000,000). Against "Mixed Marriage" VATICAN CITY.—Referring directly to the prospective marriage between King Zoz I of Albania and Countess Geraldine Apponyi of Hungary, the Vatican organ, Osservatore Romano, this week gave voice to the Catholic Church's objection to "mixed mar- riages". Ossorvatore recalled that ordinarily such a marriage is regarded as void when it involves a union between a Catholic and a person who has not been baptized. , Disturbed By Japs LONDON, Eng.—The Earl of Ply- • mouth, Under-Secretary for Foreign ,Affairs, told the House of Lords last week -end the Government is closely watching the problem of international trade on the Yangtse River In China, as well as the future of the Chinese Customs Administration. Lord. Plymouth termed "very dis- turbing" the announcement by Japan- ese authorities In Shanghai that they would not respect even foreign obiiga- , tions secured by the customs. Killed In Manoeuvres PRAHA, Czechoslovakia. — Four fliers were killed this week when two Czechoslovakian army planes collid- ed and crashed during manoeuvres. near Milovice. Two Murderesses NEWARK, N.J.—Mrs. Ethel Strouse Sohl, policeman's daughter, and Gene- vieve Owens, her companion -in a $2.10 holdup duringwhich a bus driver was slain, were convicted of first-degree murder by an ail -male jury which recommended mercy. Denies His,,Letter Provocative MOSCOW. Joseph Stalin's widely published letter appealing to the work- ers or the world to unite behind the Soviet Union it it Is attacked must be read as a document of domestic, rath- er than international, importance, au- thoritative Soviet sources declared this week. They warned thatto interpret the message in any other way would in- evitably lead to inaccuracy and exag-. geration. SAVE THE COUPONS Get this Beau/Mil Silverdale (Wm,Rogers & Son) CE "" " THE WORLD AT LARGE of the CANADA ; • THE EMPIRE P CANA SS A I . THE EMPIRE They Do It Over There While Boards of Education on this continent are hesitating about the use of radio broadcasts in schools, there are more than 7,000 schools in Eng- land receiving lessons via the ether waves.—St. Thomas Times -Journal. Hit Wrong Man Marshal von Blomberg, German Minister of War, has resigned and departed on a honeymoon with a young lady of whom the army officers did not approve. Now why couldn't that have happened to Chancellor Hitler, instead?—Woodstock Sentinel - Review. Children Won't Applaud A prominent headmaster in South Africa is strongly advocating a six- day school week. He says that the gap from Friday afternoon to Mon- day morning is too long, but he needn't expect any applause from the ranks of juvenile Canada.—Brantford Expositor. Radio In The Family Broadcasters ,Should ever bear in mind that they are not talking to sophisticated adult audiences, as in the theatre, but that what they say goes into homes where there are young boys and girls. What gets by in a theatre, where there has been undue laxity of recent years, is utter- ly out of place in the midst of a fam- ily. Radio has been slipping 1n this respect for some time, one of the most frequent offenders being a high- priced comedian whose tiresome per- sonal allusions are sometimes in very questionable taste. Radio is family entertainment, and should be kept as clean as family life itself.—Stratford Beacon -Herald. The Township Clerk Nominating candidates for the post of "forgotten man" is a not uncom- mon occupation these days and one hesitates to suggest additional nom- inees. Isn't it just possible, however, that, whoever else may be entitled to the designation, the municipal clerk is in line for such recognition? And now at a time when all over the district, municipal clerks are tak- ing up their duties for the year, it might be opportune to stop and think what that work. means. Clerks are important officers in cit - lea and towns but especially •in the rural municipalities the work of the clerk is almost all -embracing. Town- , ship councils get in the habit of rely- ing on the clerks in. many ways and year by year, as new regulations are put into force by the government, the scope of their' duties increases. — Sault Ste. Marie Star. Americans Trip Maroons for Hockey Victory sa sea a r ass ss massifs xb+.::a. sass my .c::.,:a,.d+� : ,-. tl.v, rney Seluririer, No, 1.1, of the New Vork Americana, skates past,the net of the Montreal Maroons, having sh t a goal past Bill Beveridge, who attempts to save.' (Note bulge in net, as puck itdboundd from force of shot);, The Perfect Egg Canada claims to have produced, af- ter years of research and experiment, what is from the point of view of the consumer in England the perfect im- ported egg. The first consignment of these eggs has just arrived in London —750 dozen—and' they will be dis- tributed to experts in various parts of the country, from whom opinions will be gathered. The housing and feeding of the poultry have been min- utely watched, the eggs have been graded and tested, they have been sent over in special chambers kept at a fixed temperature and watched by vigilant C.P.R. officials, and they are being handled on this side with all the care usually bestowed on the most precious cargoes. — Irish Inde- pendent. Cast-off "Charity" The self -comforting but specious opinion that anything is good enough for charity is apparently more widely held than the large number of genuine givers who make real sacrifices would lead one to believe. It seems there are far too many people who are in- clined to look upon charitable institu- tions as a convenient dustbin in which cast-off clothing and other oddments no longer fit for human human use can be deposited with a minimum of trouble—thus obtaining for the givers a fictitious glow of godliness and at the same time saving them the bother of burning the articles at home. For that, it appears, is what the charitable institutions have to do with the rub- bish. After all, charity may cover a mpltitude of sins, but It must cover something. Blankets that are but shreds of 'their former selves, gloves without fingers, hats without crowns, coats that let in the lour winds of heaven, and other rags that shame gilded alms, can cover nothing but the recipients' confusion and the donor's hypocrisy. In such ,cases the charity that begins at home might well end there.—Johannesburg Times. Canada's Best 1937 Customer Dominion's Sales In the United States Top All Other Nations' For The Past Year. Canada sold more goods to the Unit- ed States than any other country dur- ing the year 1937, the U. S. Commerce Department -announced last week at Washington. At the same time, the Dominion was the second largest customer of the United States, with the United King- dom occupying first place as purchas- er. Japan was the United States' third rankingcustomer, followed by France Germany and Mexico. The United Kingdom, now negotiat- ing a trade agreement with the United States, bought $535,000.000 worth of merchandise in 1937, out of total Unit- ed States shipments to the world of $3,345,158,000. Britain Buys More The British purchases were 21 per cent more than in 1936. Canada negotiating a new trade agreement, increased its buying in the U.S. 33 per cent to $510,000,000. Japan which bought cotton and other goods there in large quantities until a few •month$ ago, bought $288,000,000, that 'was $54,000,000 'more `than the Ylnited States bought from Japan. Britain and Canada also bought a great deal more from the United States than they sold. Canada's sales in that country totalled 1$399,000,000 in 1937, an increase of six per cent over 1936, It is possible to see only about 2,000 stars at any one time with the naked' eye,: and only persons with keen eyesight tan see this number. 400 students .occupied a cafe at Lille, France; for 7 hours and drank only one half-pint of beer. They were staking a protest` against being forbidden. to Make a procession; •