HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1938-04-21, Page 6By Elizabetk Eedy
Highlights of the Week's News
Commentary on the
WATCH FRANCE: France has
often been called "the key nation of
Europe." Now, as never before, this
designation is apt, For the eyes of
all European governments are watch-
ing the shifts and changes in the
French Cabinets those days, and for-
eign policies of many countries are
modified accordingly.
An article in "Current History"
points out that, since the National
(Chamberlain) Government of Great
Britain is a Government of the Right
or Conservative elements, it is greatly
to its interest to have a government
Of the Right in France, too. Hence
the break-up of the French Popular
Front, coming simultaneously with
the resignation of Leon Blum, Leftist
Premier, last week, was cheered
mightily in London.
In Berlin, too, the fall of the Blum
Cabinet was hailed as the opening of
a new era, with French. policy more
favorably disposed toward Germany.
. likelihood of the early drawing away
from the Franco -Soviet pact by the
new French Government was also
pause for rejoicing there, strengthen-
ing Hitler's hand to make faster work
pf Czechoslovakia (or Alsace-Lorraine
or Danzig or Lithuania).
At •home in France the nation was
apparently not so pleased. Leon
Joubaux, French labor leader, claim-
ing followers numbering six million,
was furious at the forced break-up of
the Popular Front, threatened a gen-
eral strike of all .industry. Socialists
and Communists alike, who together
form the largest bloc in the Chamber,
cried "Down with the Daladier Gov-
ernment!"
overnment!" The former would not lend
the government their support when
invited to do so; the latter were ex-
cluded as being too extreme for a
Centre or Right government.
For a moment, then, France was
close to revolution which was kept
from coming to a head by the realiza-
tion that "another 1789" in France
would precipitate a general European
war. Why? Because civil war in
France would create a situation there
directly comparable to the situation
in Spain; the armies of Hitler and
Mussolini would undoubtedly plunge
into the conflict and there you would
have it.
The new government is representa-
tive of only a small section of the
French people, with pressure being
brought to bear on it from both the
Right and the Left. The crisis is still
on; France will be worth watching
for the next few weeks and every
new development will be significant.
CONSERVATIVE LEADER: Every
day in every way the list of prospec-
tive candidates for leadership of Can-
ada's Conservative Party is growing
bigger and bigger. Sometimes rumor
moments it, later to bo denied. At
present live candidates are prominent-
ly mentioned: Arthur Purvis, former
Chairman of the National Employment
Commission; Hon. Dr. R. J. Manion,
former Minister of Railways and Can-
als; Hon. J. Earl Lawson, once Min-
ister without portfolio in the Bennett
Cabinet; Denton Massey, Toronto M.
and Sydney Smith, President of
University of Manitoba.
P.,
the
WHAT HITLER 'MAY PROPOSE:
The foreign affairs commentator who
writes under the pen -name of .Augur
reported last week in his private ser-
vice to London subscribers that Ger-
many would propose a sensational
deal for extensive territorial acquis-
ition when Chancellor Hitler visits
Premier Mussolini in Rome next
mouth.
Augur said Germany would ask a
free hand in gradual absorption of the
Danubian region.as far as the Black
Sea. In exchange, it would offer to
help Italy eventually to take from
France the rich strip of French terri-
tory along the Italian border includ-
ing the Savoie region and the Medi-
terranean port of Nice; the Mediter-
ranean island of Corsica, and the
North African possession of Tunisia.
PRESIDENTIAL SETBACK: Presi-
dent Roosevelt's administration stag-
gered under an overwhelming blow
dealt in the United States House of
Representatives last week when a
number of Democrat members "cross-
ed the floor of the House" and voted
with the other side against the Presi-
dent's Government Re -organization
Bill. The issue was one of increasing
Presidential powers to permit long
overdue reforms to be made in the
executive branch of the government.
Observers say the defeat in such a
manner of the Re -organization Bill
means a big drop in the prestige of
the President, that it will mark the
beginning of a nation-wide struggle
between F.D.R. and his "big business"
critics.
READY IN AUGUST: The long -
heralded transatlantic air eervice on
a twenty -four-hour schedule between
New York and Foynes, Ireland, will
start this summer, perhaps by the first
of August, it was officially announced
from New York last week. (Passen-
gers and mail will be carried—com-
mercial flights must wait till later.)
According to the schedule, two planes
will take off simultaneously from op-
posite sides of the Atlantic, an Im-
perial Airways "pick -a -back" plane
from Ireland, a Pan-American Airways
Boeing seaplane from Port Washing-
ton, N.Y.
Says Stratsphere
Has Possibilities
Harnessing and Storing of Atomic
Energy Are Among Them
The great potentialities to be de -
rayed from the exploration of the strat-
osphere, among which the harnessing
and storing of atomic energy was,
perhaps, the most important, were
discussed by Squadron Leader John.
A. Sully, until recently commanding
officer of an R.C.A.F. squadron at
Winnipeg, in addressing the Kiwanis
Club of eloatreal last week. The
speaker expressed the view that the
conquest of the stratosphere was but
a matter of time.
Purposes of the explorations being
made in 'the stratosphere, said Squad-
ron Leader Scully, were many. Scien-
tists were trying to discover what
the changes in air pressure and tem-
peratures
emperatures were at that level in com-
parison with sea level, and what was
the wind speed, believed to blow stead-
ily from the east. Efforts also were
directed to finding out what the elec-
trical conductivity of the air at strat-
osphere height was for broadcasting
purposes and for the navigation of air
machines.
Would Revolutionize Industry
The explozers also were interested
in discovering all they Could about
the sheet of ozone which was sup-
posed to envelop the earth at a great
• height and which stops or "dampens"
the ultra short -waves which scientists
say would otherwise destroy all life
on earth. The effect of the rarefied
air of the stratosphere on radio sig-
nale was another problem waiting
"Most important consideration of
all, however," the speaker said, "was
that the discovery of how to harness
and store atomic energy would com-
pletely revolutionize industry, and
would probably be the salvation of
e"' civilization when the earth's present
Stock of coal and all came to an end,"
The
BOOK SHELF
By ELIZABETH EEDY
British imports last .year totalled,
$5,148,560,000, a high record of
many years;
Construction is to extensive in Co-
lQQmbia that a shortage of materials is
treatened.
Guards along the Russian border
are using dogs to detect trespassers.
South A
MURDER ON SAFARI, by Elspeth
Huxley.
A new type of murder story came
into being last autumn with the pub-
lication of Elspeth Huxley's "Murder
at Government House," which was at
once a satire on high official life in
Chania colony and a cracking good
thriller. All-round fun. Now Mrs.
Huxley has done it again with "Mur-
der on Safari."
Vachell, the Canadian sleuth who
tracked down the killer of Chania's
Governor, is back, too, with some
even stranger problems to solve. Can
a herd of buffaloes prove the alibi
of Rutley, Lady Baradate's conceited
chauffeur? Why did the elephants
take alarm end move mysteriously
away? Who put walnuts on the im-
provised coffin containing the remains
of Lady Baradale? Then there's the
thrilling climax, in which Vachell
sets a trap for the murderer with
himself as bait, •
The charaterization, the witty
style and the swift -moving action of
the plot grip the reader's interest
from the first page to the last, and
vividly re-create, from the writer's
first-hand knowledge, the sights,
sounds and smells of the African
wilds in which the scene is set.
Murder on Safari, by :Elspeth Hux-
ley, pub. by Reginald Saunders, To-
ronto. $2.
ericarogr
..
".ai
Js, �: T
Thin. :Ed di
Australia Plans
R• search Course
Institutions On Aeronaa tics to
Cost Million Dollars
Hon, R. G. Casey, federal treasurer,
has announced Aurtralla will set up
aeronautical and engineering research
institutions at a capital cost of $'1;
000,000.
The establishments will be based
on recommendations contained in a
report by H. E. Wimperis, former di-
rector of the British Air Ministry at
Farnborough.
Mr. Casey said the Wimperis.report
directed attention to the need for
creating a chair and department of
aeronautics, with a reader in meteor-
ology, at one of the universities. This
would ensure a supply of aeronautical
engineers for military and civil avia-
tion.
Experimental Work
An establishment equipped for ex-
perimental work• in wind -tunnels .for
engine tests, and for the physical tests
of aircraft instruments and other ap-
paratus, would cost $572,000 with an
annual maintenance cost of about $5,0,-
000, Mr. Casey estimated.
In addition, capital cost of building,
and equipment for a national refer-
ence 'standards laboratory at Canberra
would be $320,000, with a maintenance
cost of roughly $40,000.
News In Review
______ `•oma r _ . t
Fear War With Russia
TOKIO. — The danger of conflict
with Soviet Russia is increasingly
claiming the attention of Japanese
leaders and the public.
Persistent rumors of preparations
—lacking official confirmation — .and
bellicose statements on both sides
have intensified public anxiety.
In informed quarters it was under-
stood Japan recently moved some
regular army units from China battle-
fronts to Manchoukuo to man the .bor-
der of Manchoukuo and Soviet Siberia.
Chinese Prepare Push
SHANGHAI. Chinese said this
week they were preparing a gikantic
drive toward the Yangtse River in an
effort to retake Nanking, the capital
they lost to the Japanese Dec. 11.
New victories along the Tientsin-
Pukow Railway and Taierchwang
fronts were seen by the Chinese as
an inspiration for the new offensive.
A strong Chinese force along the
Tientsin-Pukow line was reported
ready to stroke out toward Pengpu,
about 100 miles north of Nanking.
a
Consider Next Move
BERLIN.—Chancellor Hitler's next
step was debated this week in the.
wake of the greatest vote of confi-
dence ever accorded him.
His creation of a greater Germany
by annexation of Austria March 13
drew the approval of more than 99
per cent, of the nearly 50,000,000 per-
sons who voted in the April 10 plebis-
cite.
. Germans speculated whether he
would be inspired to take 'rapid action
on other Nazi "unfinished" business.
Would Spend $5,000,000,000
More
WASHINGTON. — A potential $5,-
000,000,000 program of spending -for
recovery took more definite form this
week when President Roosevelt and
his advisers agreed to ask the United
States Congress for increased relief
appropriations.
TO Stop Avalanches
By planting thousands of alder
bushes on the upper slopes of the
Alps, the Swiss Government hope to
check avalanches.
These tremendous falls of snow,
which rush down the mountain sides
at express speed, have caused heavy
loss of life and great damage to pro-
perty in years gone by. The object
of planting the bushes is to hold the
snows in the upper Alps and so check
the first movement which !a:hers
force as it rushes • downwards
Chinese pigtails are being used in
making textiles in Bradford, Eng-
land.
In Some Respects, Says Senator
Webeter, Who Deulares That
Interest In the Sorthern Con-
tinent Is Growing Day By Day.
The importance of the nations of
the South American continent is to -
recognized increasingly recognized by
Europeanbeing powers and by the United
States, Senator Lorne C. Webster
said at Montreal last week in recount-
ing the impressions made on him by
a 00 -day 15,000 mile visit to that
continent.
The unsettled European situation his
largely responsible for this new at-
tention to South America, Senator
Webster believes ee the new attention
being exemplified by German, Italian
and more recently British radio
broadcasts clireered at South Amer-
ican listeners. Everywhere in South
America representatives of the vari-
ous world powers are engaged in fos-
tering closer commercial and political
intercourse with that continent.
Thoroughly Modern
In some respects, the Senator
found, South America has passed
North America in development. For
instance South America has a regular
Trans -Atlantic airplane service, car-
rying passengers, mail and perishable
express. Some o' the universities of
South America ante -date North Amer-
ican institutions as McGill and Har-
vard by as much as a hundred years.
Good roads are much in evidence
throughout the continent, and thor-
oughly modern motor cars, railways,
radius, moving pictures, etc., are'to be
found,
"Much' of the South American na-
tive population is being Anglicized
by movies made in the United States
and Britain," Senator Webster re-
vealed, "with the younger generation
learning the language quite well by
this means."
The Younger Generation
"The same younger generation is
developing an intense na'ionalistic
spirit, a spirit very much in evidence
in other parts of the world," the sena-
tor found, "and. young leaders are
rising rapidly through the continent."
The colorful historical background
of South America, and the many at-
tractions it has to offer, give it great
potentialities as .a tourist mecca, ac-
cording to the Senator. "Names like
Morgan, Raleigh and Captain Kidd,
Drake and the Spanish Main, are
brought vividly to mind by South
America," he said, "and their asso-
ciation with the lands visited lends a
distinct fascination."
Poor Things
Some girls marry and have nothing
but their husbands to show for it.—
Quebec Chronicle -Telegraph.
They also canvassed the possibilities
of broadening the Federal Govern-
ment's present housing activities,
such as the United States Housing
Authority's program of clearing slums
and building homes for low income
groups.
Sent Down For Five. Years
NEW YORK. Richard Whitney,
bankrupt broker and former president
of the New York Stock Exchange, was
'sentenced last week to:serve from
five to ten years in prison for. grand
larceny.
Whitney, whose brokerage firm,
Richard Whitney & Company, failed
on March 8, had pleaded guilty to two
'indictments charging first degree
grand 'larceny in the misuse of secur-
ities entrusted to his care 'by the New
York Yacht Club and members of his
family.
.TI'IL WORLD
AT LARGE
CANADA
of the
CANADA
THE EMPIRE'
Morning's the Time
A watch that is 'wound in the
morning will last longer. The tight-
ly wound main spring will stand the
shocks and jars of day better than
a loose main spring. For the same
reason people are fresher and do bet-
ter work in the mornings. By night
they get run down.—Windsor Star.
_0_
Better Be Careful
Dr. W, T. Crombie, Superintend-
ent of Queen Alexandra Sanitarium,
London, Ontario, and noted author-
ity on tuberculosis, has an unpleas-
ant thought for us. If proper tests
were taken, he asserts half of the
population of Canada would be shown
to have tuberculosis. Not that they
should be in sanitaria, decidedly not,
but they should protect themselves
against care and overwork lest they
find themselves there. Canadian
Magazine.
—O ---
A Rig Attraction
Every effort must be put forth by
the authorities at Queen's Park to
conserve and increase the game fish
and wild life in general in this pro-
vince. That the great Northern On-
tario playgrounds and fisherman's
paradise are the main attractions to
American tourists who left something
like $295,000,000 in this province in
1937, is evidenced in the constant
stream of inquiries flowing into the
Canadian Travel Bureau each spring.
—Guelph Mercury.
la —e—
Canada's War Debt
As shown by the Canada Year
Book the war and demobilization ex-
penditures of Canada up to and in-
cluding the fiscal year 1920 totalled
$1,670,406,236. In the next three
years, 1921-23, there' were further
expenditures of $23,000,000 odd and
since then there have been additional
small items chargeable to war. These
figures apply only to actual war•.ex-
penditures. To get the cost of the
war there would have to be added to
them the large, continuing, outlays
for pensions. From 1914 to 1920 the
gross debt of Canada rose steeply
from $544,391,369 to $3,041,529,578.
This enormous increase was chiefly
but not entirely due to the war ex-
penditures.—Kingston Whig -Stand-
ard.
—0—
Those Royal Commissions
The Ottawa Journal laments the
now familiar orgy of royal commis-
sions which has marked, our Canadi-
an political scene in the past few
years ... .
But it is a splendid way for a gov-
ernment to skate around responsibil-
ity; it is assumed that by appointing
a commission they have "done some-
thing about it."
The list of commissions in the past
few years would be an impressive
one. Whether the price of clearing
the air in some cases was worth the
cost is an open question. Yet one
might well wonder where the respon-
sibility of politicians in action begins
and where it' ends—or if the royal
commission is going to become a con-
venient vehicle for holding' electoral
support.—Hamilton Spectator.
A Delightful Suritize for London (England) Couple
ffs ,..>�2 "w:',MA",wr'"Vall
It isn't every British sub'ect 'ho Emil his IY,ng end Qu.cn at the door in amwer to a knock. .1V1r. and Mrs.
C at the eeehtl had that delightful and ;uprising experience in their Lon -
Charles. Whitaker, old age petisiolre,s (
• don flat, March 29„ Just as they were la nese g for tea. At the left, the Ding and Queen, during the teatime
ehetl
THE EMPIRE
—0—
Inconsistency
The whole of Hungary's agricultu-
sal labor market has been disorganiz-
ed. Why? Because Germany has
engaged 20,000 Hungarian: agricul-
tural laborers for work in East Prus-
sia,
Yet Germany still keeps up her de-
mands for colonies, saying that she
needs to find an outlet for her sur-
plus population. London Sunday
Express.
"It Has No Parallel"
Those in Canada who cherish the -
freedom of speech, writing, and pub-
lic meeting guaranteed by the Con-
stitution are much concerned at the
"Padlock" Act recently passed in
Quebec. The measure has no. paral-
lel in a British Dominion. One
clause declares it to be illegal for
any house to be used to "propogate
communism of bolshevism by any
means whatsoever," though it is to
be n'nted that in no part of the Act is
any attempt made to define these per-
nicious doctrines ... Among elemen-
tary principles of British constitu-
tional government are freedom of
speech, of the press, and of public
meeting, subject to the limitations of
the criminal law; the right of a man
to a fair trial in open court if
charged with an offence; and the
freedom of the home from arbitrary
search. All of these are violated by
the new Act, and the anxiety of lib-
eral opinion throughout Canada at
the reactionary nature of the measure
can well be understood.—Manchester
Guardian.
Expert Visions
"Flivver" Plane
Forecasts Mass Production of Air-
planes for Private Owners'
Use
Dr. Alexander Klemin, head of
New York University's school of ae-
ronautics, this week forecast mass
production of "flivver" airplanes
within five years which would incor-
porate revolutionary safety devices
for the' private owner.
In an article in the "Quadrangle"
undergraduate publication, Dr. Kle-
min said developments making for
greater safety would include an abo-
lition of rudders to simplify opera-
tion, improved air brakes and devices
to make "stalling" and "spinning"
impossible.
The prices of the "fiivvers", he ad-
ded, would be down to those of popu-
lar automobiles. Vehicles' may be
made, he said, which could be used
either as airplanes or automobiles.
Tricycle Landing Gear
He characterized as the most pro-
mising safety development the tri-
cycle landing gear which simplifies
landing. Another encouraging factor
in modern light plane design is the
elimination of rudders, inasmuch as
the novice pilot has a hard time co-
ordinating his hands and feet in us-
ing ailerons, elevators and rudder,
Dr. Klemin found.
Lateral control, as in some pres-
ent day experimental types of planes,
would .be achieved by aileron opera-
tion.
The service costs of the "flivver,"
the article concluded, would be no
greater than on the average automo-
bile, and hangar rent would approxi-
mate garage rent.
NeiN Coal Furnace
,Runs Fria ° Weeks
Without Attention to Fuel Sup-
' ply, Ash Removal or Dam-
per Setting
The head of the house, weary after
a season. of coal stoking, can look for-
ward to another winter when he
won't have to fire the furnace more
than once a fortnight, the Mellon In-
stitute reported this week at Pitts-
burgh.
Dr. E. R. Weidlein, director, at the
end of the Institute's first year in its
spacious $0,000,000 home, told trus-
tees of the development of anthracite
heating equipment that operates "for
weeks at a time" without attention.
He told, too, 'how 213 scientists had
spent $1,062,830 in the year on scien-
tific research on things ranging from
shirt collars to dish washing.
Pointing to the possibilities of coin-
bining heating plants with other
household utilities, and of using base-
ments for recreation and other pur-
poses, he said:
Installations of anthracite heating
'equipment are now .operating for
weeks at a time, witbott any attention
Whatever to the fuel supply, ash re-
moval, or clamper; settings."