The Huron Expositor, 1932-05-27, Page 64
he South Seas
bou rules the king-'
f the Fiji island group,
rads over 38-5 square
islands. Her subjects
human beings.
'seen Salote wants to count
k. 9?l1,0cts she does not send census
7�1t ee sound of the
t the entirTS. At e epopulation line
treets of their respective vil-
�� s ' And they, are counted then
'and, there. They are counted every
three months, and woe .to the village
Queen Salote is not a mere orna-
thatshows a decline in its population.
7nenii. 'Her services were recently
recognized by King George, who
placed her in the company of many
distinguished British ladies by con-
ferring upon her the title, "Dame
Commander of the British Empire."
This is a British honor, which is
only bestowed on British women who
have served the crown in one capac- telling them that your government
ity or other. Although Queen Salote• owes as many golden crowns as there
are pebbles on the south shore of
this island. That shows there is
something wrong with your govern-
ment. -
"Look at my domain., We have a
surplus in our treasury. We have
absolutely no national debt and we
have no poverty."
"Have you no sex problems in your
kingdom?" I asked her majesty.
"The only sex problem we have
in my domain is to marry and raise
children.. If a husband and wife
cannot get along they take their
complaint to the local chief. T' have
enacted a law to guide these chiefs.
At the first complaint, both husband
and "wife, regardless of who -•is the
guilty party, get five stokes ' of the
rod. Then they must go home. Af-
ter they hi{vle eased their scores, they
think the matter over. The next
time they are tempted to quarrel,
they think of the ten strokes that
4
,yoti would realise what an a tue>;lai
structure is rnouhted on them,
9 always considered America a••na.,.
tion made un; of barbarians in, what
you call, eivilizied costumes, 1 saisr
your moving pictures, and I was
mortified. I cannot understand how
American rulers permit these condi-
tions. My government has made.'pov-
erty impossible. We do • not allow
anybody to become poor. Neither do
we allow anyone to become rieh and
arrogant:" -
It was 'very hard not.. to smile at
the remarks of a queen who had
twenty-six thousand odd subjects. I
kept a straight face and tried to
look serious in the presence of her
gigantic majesty. I think she sensed
it. She right away quoted
facts in
proof of her claim.
"Well," she continued, "Germany
is bankrupt, England has just bal-
anced her budget, but the Americans
are short. We here do not deal with
figures like you do. I had to explain
your indebtedness to my subjects by
+ aJ!,I+rr...
is the sole sovereign in her kingdom,
and her word is law, she is a volun-
tary ally of His Majesty, King
George.
Her • great-great-grandfater. King
George Tubou I., was a fighter and
philosopher as 'well. A fighter be-
cause he wrested control of the is-
lands from' a half-dozen warring
chiefs and turned it from a lot of
disorganized and uncivilized islands
into a neat, compact little kingdom.
with a flag, coat -of -arms, constitu-
tion, parlianrent, state church, taste
for sardines and English breakfast
tea and tate most luxurious palace eve-
er seen, in the islands. He proved
his status as a philosopher !by -chang-
ing from .cannibal to Christian—de-
ciding, no doubt, that it was easier
to be a Christian than to eat one. At.
any rate, it was more profitable, for
as Christians the Tubou family has
attained more power in eighty-five
years of Hongan domination than in
centuries before. would be due to them on a second
King George II. did not need to co plaint. I believe in the ancient
fight for his rights, but he made up hilosophy in these matters that
for it in other ways. Had he lived P h n there is a quarrel in the lam -
in America he might have been known I -
as a "hot sport," for he was fond of ily oth sides must have contributed
the galloping ponies and raced his ! t0 i fidelity is punishable by death.
famous string of blooded horse; 1,
As to as I rule these islands hu,-
thr•oughout Australasia. ,Despite' bands st obey their wives. In the
• these diversions he had plenty of •
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R'S IMPIL1S►.
tions, as ;!. J. C. 'Mlartyn .,Ooiats ' ortt,
ia• The New. York Times, he has un„
ua, sal powers, which mayor may
not hays been contemplaited when
ills Thrid• Republic was constituted.
A�otha,sa clOes, for instance, are peri:
sonans aceredited to him, Ile may
also, in conjunction with the cabinet,
form ' a secret treaty with a foreign
power, provided that this t$ eaty
does nti'tainvolve any !budgetary ex-
penditure. This was the authority
for the secret treaty between France
acid Russia. When war is declared
it is the president who issues the
proelamation, but it is the legislature
which .passes the declaration. But
if war is threatened, it is the presi-
dent who must take the necessary
steps for safeguarding the nation.
This he 'does by decree on the advice
of the cabinet. •So we see that on
almost eivery occasion he is hampered
from independent action by the
cabinet, This moved President Casi-
mir Perier on one occasion to say;
"The president can in due form
place • his signature beside that of
another, if he. is asked to do •so; but
otherwise, except in the case of
resignation, his signature would only
serve the purpose of an autograph
collection . . . ' Among all the
powers which seem to be attributed
to him, there is only one that the
president- of the Republic can exer-
cise freely and personally—the presi-
dency of national ceremonies."
secret of prosperity in my domain."
"If tourists knew of your• domain
and its excellent Iaws, you would
have a number of visitors,.'^ I sug-
gested.
Her majesty does not want tourists
to visit hsr island. If they do visit
it, they must do so one at a time. Ev-
en then, the lucky one 'would not be
permitted to stay more than two
weeks.
Queen Salote hassimattr composed
of 50 canoes. Two months ago she
and a number of other neighboring
island rulers hada disarmament con-
ference to limit building of war
canoes. Nine rulers met and, in. ex-
actly six hours, signed the agreement.
.a, he queen, and she. rules
time to rule Tonga wisely, and to
make profitable diplomatic egnnec- her house, and he must obey without.
of i question. His function is in the field,
tions. Ile was a great admirerhe
'Great Britain, so much so, in fact, or on the sea when es is occupied
wo-
`that in 190.0 he voluntarily placed his' with his fishing ventures. If the the
kingdom under a British protectorate! man chooses to work outside in
field ,ththe
en she must obey herhusband.
and when, a few months later, his - ' ••• .
daughter was born he ordered hes "We punish the villagers if they
brought up like an English royal' show a decline in their popUeation,
princess. but there is a'punishment for couples
Queen Salote has no use for Am- if they have more than ten children.
erica and the Americans. She told It is public policy not to encourasra,
me this in plain English, which „she- couples to have more than ten,, be -
learned in a New Zealand finishing ! cause under my law every boy, on
school. And she is a "finished" queen! reaching the age -of 18, is given six
from her head to •her ankles. She is . acres of crown -owned lend. If each.
six feet eight inches tall, and she4.family increased its population too
weighs 350 pounds. Although she ; rapidly, then we would eet• have crown
wears fashionable dress and dons her land .to parcel out. The person to
ermcine cloak when she is addressing! whom the- crown land is given must
her parliament, she absolutely and cultivate it. And he .can have -..it as
emphatically refuses to wear shoes long s he lives without paying a fee
or stockings. If you could see her on taxes. -On his death the land re -
size eight feet planted on the ground, vents• back to the crown. This is the
Ill
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Presidents of France
Have Limited Power
It seems curious that the French
constitution by which a premier may
be dismissed from office after serv-
ing a month or a day, yet gives hint
much more power than the president
who serves for seven years and who
can be re-elected. It is not the more
or less permanent head of the state
who is entrusted with supreme au-
thority but the lesser minister who
may be tossed into private life by a
hostile vote in the Chamber of Depu-
ties. The other day France elected
the fourteenth, president of the Third
Republic in the person of Albert
Brun. Only five presidents have serv-
ed the full term, one of the reasons
being that when ni.en become presi-
dents they are usually well stricken
in years. Five resigned before their
terms were completed, one was elect-
ed for a second term and two were'
assassinated. President Jules Grevy
was given the„ unprecedented hono:
-of re-election, but was forced out a
short time after his' second term had
begun. Sadi Carnot was assassinat-
ed like President Doumer. Felix
Faure died in circumstances that pro-
duced a national scandal whose rev-
erberations have not wholly ceased.
Millerand was removed from office.
His removal was brought about
because' he took a view that the
possibilities and even responsibilities
of his office demanded 'that. he be
more active politically than had
been the' custom of former presidents.
In general, the theory is that the
position of the .president.•is like that
of the King of England who reigns
but does not govern, and who,
according to Bagehot, exercises, his
chief . function by warning or en-
couraging his ministers. Of course,
it depends a great deal on• the per-
sonality of • the reigning sovereign
or the president. We know how
great an influence was exerted by
Queen Victoria, some of it in matters
which, constitutionally, were not her
concern. But when Millerand be-
came president, he conceived himself
to .be in power as head of the
national bloc. He announced that
he disapproved of the tradition that
kept the president above politics. and
declared that his regard ..for the
national compelled him to become
active. Several times he overstepped
the line laid down by precedent, but
apparently with popular approval.
In 1923 he made a political speech
favoring his particular bloc, which,
however, was defeated in the subse-
quent election.
lBllerriot was called upon to form a
ministry but made his acceptance
conditional upon the president's
resignation. Millerand retorted by
calling upon Francois Marshal. He
formed a rninistry ibut was defeated
in the assembly and forced to resign.
Millerand, loudly protesting, was
obliged to accompany his protege in-
to private life. This example proves!
that the French people really do de-
sire their president to. remain aloof
frorii politics, although he is ex-
pected to exert an important influ-
ence upon his ministry, hand is far
° from being a political eunich. He
has a salary of about $100,000 a year,
but this is insufficient for the de-
mands made uponhis purse, which
are mostly social. He has at his
disposal two magnificent palaces,
but has not as much time to enjoy
them as the British prime ministers
have the country home at Chequers.
The president is obliged to be a hard
'Worker, even if much of his work is
routine and formal. Ie has to pre-
side at all cabinet meetings where
matters of policy are concerned, and
this would seem to suggest that he
should have something to do with
the policy of the government.
That Dreaded Time of Life
Mrs. Brockhank Tells Why She
Recommends Dr. W'alliame
Pink Pills to Women
of 40 to 50.
Color and
Appetite
Returned
Perhaps his most important pre-
rogative is that of dissolving the
Chamber of Deputies. This he can
only do with the consent of the
Senate. The power was placed in
his hands to prevent the usurpation
of authority by the lower ,chamber.
But in effect this function would be
almost impossible to discharge. One
Of the curious laws by which he is
fettered is that every official signa-
ture of the president of France must
be accompanied by the signature of
a member of the cabinet. That is to
say, if he wished to dissolve the
Chamber he would have to secure
the consent of a member 'of the
government, who would thus be
signing his own death warrant with
that of his associates. In France as
in England, if a minister differs from
his colleagues he resigns. Therefore,
a cabinet minister who would be
willing to dissolve the Chamber
would already have relinquished his
power to place his signature beside
that of the president. Only in ex-
traordinary, circumstances, therefore,
is it possible for the •president of
Pranee to perform the most impert-
ant act of which he is capable under
the constitution.
But in the realm of foreign rela-
"Myage was 48
—which every
woman knows is a
critical • time • of
life—when I! de-
rived such benefits
from Dr. Will -
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hank, Hamilton; Ont. "I felt son tired
and depressed: could not sleep; my
appetite was impaired; my skin and
lips were pallid. I could not make
any headway with my housework. I
got discouraged, as! tonic after toni;,
did not better my condition. My sis-
ter, a graduate nurse, advised Dr.
Williams' Pink Pills. After taking a
few boxes any condition greatly im-
proved. My sleep was restful and
m'yr.•natural color and appetite re-
turned."
Dr. Williams' Pink Pills rebuild
health by creating new blood and in-
creasing the red blood •cells, which
restore the wasted tissues and re-
vitalize the exhausted system. They
remove the cause of run-down or
nervous conditions. Try thele. At
your druggist's in the new protective
glass containers. 50c a package.
Magical in its Beate
tifyina effect o n the
couiplexian. Soothes
sunburn -- a` , subtle,
f rg,grance gives alluring ,
charm. Try this dainty
toilet requisite.
At your druggist
DAL
as mews a •ferzn O words; � <.,--
4o wear .at I will ibe •faithful an
bearb;ue allegiance. to '(lis lixajestt
King 'Ge'eeke, his, heirs and s'ue-
eessortla aceordiag to lay. Se help
me doll." It means no mnore, we
believel'qhan- t'h'at a man shall try
te, be a decent eil4zen. Naturally he
chilli 'not -be a decent citizen and
bear allegianee to- another monarch.
-Decent citizens of . England in the,
past have sought . oivl
to erthrow the
,monarchy' to which trey owed alle-
Igianee, but in .these cases. they justi-
fied themselves on the ground that
the monarch had first of all proved
recreant to his obligations, to his
sulbjects. One= part of the !mutual
pledge 'having (been violated the other
part collapsed autotmiatically. • Mr. de
Valera as it, devout, and! even puri-
tanical, 'Catholic, is well aware that
the Coronation oath was " iPtered in
1941 to avoid giving offence to his
fellow Catholics.
For centuries the- oaths -taken by
sovereigns, •mem'bers of Parliament,
members of the Prissy Council and
other necessary oath takers were.
ecclesiastical in purpose. Their
!Hain idea was to show- abhorrence
of the mass, the,.,;invocation of saints
and other practices held to be idola-
trous and superstitious by the'
!Church of England. A little more
than a century ago, or in 1829 to be
exact, the Catholic Emancipation
Act was passed. Before that time
the oath rade it impossible for a
Roman Catholic, even if elected, to
take his seat in Parliament. -But
now Daniel O'Connell was elected
and his hope and expectation were
that he would be the first man of
his religion for centuries to' sit-" in
the House of !Cone -none.. He was
defrauded of this! amibition by a
particularly knavish trick, for the
Catholic Emaneipation Act restricted
the taking of the new oath to
those elected after the passing •of it.
0"Connell's election had come first.,
so when he presented' himself, at the
table of the Hoose and demanded
that the new oath„shouldbe admin-
istered to him, he was refused.
The Speaker offered him the old
oath, but on the motion of Broug-
ham he was allowed to speak at the
bar in his own justification. He.
then asked to see the old oath and
it was handed him. The . House
waited 4areathlessly while he read it.
Then he. said, "I cannot take it.
Part of it 3 know to be false; an-
other part I believe•rto be untrue."
The House deeided that a new
election must be held in Clare and
&Connell was again returned, this
time without opposition. , But his
airdbition to be the first Catholic
for generations to sit in the House-
was
ousewasfrustrated, because in the mean-
time the Earl of Surrey, eldest son
of the Duke of Norfolk, was returned
for the pocketborough of Horsham,
took the new oath and was seated.
The liberator soon followed 'him,
since his re-election qualified him
for adinittance after taking the
modified oath.
But the oath still contained an
expression which, while acceptable
alike to 'Catholics and Protestants,
still served as a barrier against the
Jews. -That was the declaration,
"Upon the true faith of a. Christian."
Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild
was elected as a Liberal for the City
of London in 1847, but for three
years did not attempt to take his
seat, sitting :below the Bar which is
technically' outside the 'House. • The
Commons passed' a bill reproving the
objectionable term but the Lords re-
sisted. So de Rothschild asked to be
sworn on the old Testament, and
with his head covered, according to
Jewish rite. .This was granted but
the objectionable words remained,
and when he came to • them he
stopped and said that as they were
not 'binding on his conscience he'
could not utter them. So he re-
turned to his place below the bar,
and it was not until 12 years after
his first election that the oath was
amended so that he could (become an
accepted memberof the Rouse.. The
next time thequestion q estion of the oath
became critical was in 1880, When
Ohailes Bradlaugh, an atheist, was
elected from Northampton. -He ob-
jected to the , words, "So help ane
God," and some of the moat dis-
graceful scenes in parliamentary his-
tory were enacted before Bradlaugh,
the idol of his constituents and one
of the imlost 'vital personalities in
England, was permitted in 18,80 to
take his seat.
lasesualla Haw
had made a tentative, agreement with
the 'International Telephone and Tele-
graph Company for a loan of $11,-
000,000, in return for which he would
pledge a majority of the stock of
the L. M. Ericsson Telephone Com-
pany. Whether he had actually re,
ceived the 'money or was negotiating
for it, the writer is not aware. But
in any event the Morgan people in
the United States' were interested in
the deal and they asked an audit of
the company's assets. This was made
by Price, Waterhouse and Co:, a Lon-
don firm which forwarded to the house
of 'Morgan a startling report. It ape
peered that the bash reserves of, the
company had been taken by Kreu-
ger, their place being taken by
European government bonds.
When !confronted with this fact he
retorted that the bonds were worth
just 125 per cent. ,of what they were
listed , at in his statement. . Morgan
retorted grimly that whatever they
were actually' • worth the fact re-
mained that they could be bought at
'that time for fifty per cent. of the
value Kreuger had placed on them.
This ended Kreuger, so far as the
United. States was concerned;• and
the distrust bred of the investigation
led to the demand that he should
pay the $4,000,000 debt about to
fall due to Lee, Higginson. Hie did
not have the $4,000,000. Still less -
did he have the $115,436,000 he owed
Swedish bankers. The evening after
his unpleasant interview with ' the
NLorgans he went to his Park Avenue
pent house and confessed to friends
that his head was cracking. This
was actually the first defeat in his
career. It was the first time that
he had been unable to get the money
he required. More important• still it
was the. first time that a great 'bank-
ing house had secured 'proofs'b'f his
"perfidy. It was the 'beginning of the
end for Kreuger. He returned to
Paris and a short time later took his
life
We remember reading a couple
of years ago an article by the re-
doubtable Isaac F.'M'arcossan about
Kiieuge'i• in .the Saturday Evening
Post. He was there accepted as one
of the most important men in the
world, the European who controlled
more wealth than any other. He
seemed then to be at the -very peak
of his powers. He was head ofl the
match monopoly of the world. Not
only did he control the manufacture
and sale of most of the matches
made anywhere, but , in return for
government monopolies he was pay-
ing millions of dollars: Many gov-
ernrnents found it useful to make a
monopoly of matich sales just; .as
other governments make a monopoly
of liquor sales as a convenient form
of taxation. They gave Kreuger the
monopoly and he paid the taxes, re-
couping himself from the match us-
ers. The match industry led him in-
to other businesses, and it is said
that when he finally came to the,end
of the road he controlled no- fewer
than 400 corporations, independent
and interlocking.
Of the soundness of his position
before the coming of the depression
there never was any doubt, but a
scrutiny of his affairs might show-
that
howthat even then there was the same
re -
at
as the
his car
Kreuger, Match King,
Was Colossal 'Swindler
Ivar Eireuger has been compared
with John Law whose 'Mississippi
Bubble was the gaudiest financial
swindle. of the Eighteenth Century.
It it not yet known just how rotten
-were the various companies and se-
curities upon which he reared the
tremendous edifice which seemed as
strong as the Bank of England. It'
has been discovered that many of the
bonds which he had deposited or of-
fered as security were forgeries. It
is said that the losses borne by Amer-
ican investors alone reaches a quar-
ter of a billion dollars. In Sweden
thousands of men who' a few months
ago considered themselves well to
do ase ready for the 'bread line; and
there are many others scattered
through Europe,to whom the collapse
of Kreuger brings ruin. It is stag-
gering to think that a man like Kreu-
ger, who had control ..of wealth esti-
mated at a billion dollars; should
have been laid low because he did net
have immediately to hand the $4,000,-
000 owed to Lee, Higginson and Co.,
oI Boston, which had been farmed out
to four American banks. -The sum
would'h,ave been merely chicken feed
to Kreuger three years earlier. But-
when
utwhen the demand was made he did
not have it, and he knew that the
game was up. •
Like other great magnates, Kreu-
ger was hit hard - by the fin-
ancial depression. The greater his
holdings and investments, the great-
er was the -strain upon them, and so
complicated were his machinations
that a sudden wrench upon one link
might snap the chain and bring de-
struction to all his enterprises. He
doyou need
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kind of swindling which was hi
source in the past two years.
must sti e
rk the averagepers
ers
most remarkable feature of
eer, or at least his more recent car-
eer, was that nobody thought of ques-
tioning any statement he made until
the 'Morgans became inquisitive over
the International Telephone and Tele-
graph loan. Bankers seemedto think
it no more necessary to make an aud-
it of his books than would the secre-
tary of one of Mr. Morgan's dabs
before cashing a 850 cheque for him,
or than a scrupulous hostess would
make sure to look up the pedigree
of the Prince of Wales before decid-
ing that he was -an eligible guest.
He was Kreuger, who it now turns
out forged with his own hands $100,-
000,000 worth of bonds. To say that
he chose suicide rather than disgrace
for the loss of his riches is to tell
the insignificant half of the story.
He committed suicide rather than face
the, prospect of spending the rest of
his life in a penitentiary.
Oath of Allegiance
Again Causes Trouble
If the old injunction "Swear • not
at all," had been literally o'beped by
nations which profess Christianity, a
good deal of trouble' would have
been saved the world. President de
Valera had brought to the front again
the question of the oath ' of alleg-
iance,- in consegquence of which the
relations of Ireland may be plunged.
back into the old unhappy state that
existed before the setting hp of the
Free State. He had said that while.
he took the oath on entering the
Dail he did so with the public ea -
planation that it was meaningless;
and he now argues that the agree-
ment to°"snake the oath part of the
treaty between England and Ireland
was valueless since it was made un-
der duress. To this we might reply
that the duress was upon both sides.
Failure to sign the treaty wonted
have caused a renewal of Civil war
in Ireland, and this would have been
as repugnant to the feelings orf Eng-
lishmen as Irishmen. De Valera ap-
parently is not - tolerant enoti h.,, to
take the attiture of Henry IV of
France, who said, "Paris is well
worth a !mass." ' Peacee to him, is
not well worth an oath to which he
ha's said he attaches little signifi-
cance. --
In any event, whatever the signi-
,ficance of the oath of allegiance, it
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nus
pone was receiving a very large in-
come from his various illicit enter-
prises, and that he was making a tax
return on only a fraction of his in-
come. The difficulty was to prove it.
But a beginning was made by trying
to pierce the oufer fortifications of
the 'Capone stronghold, by detaching
'from him one by one the guards who
stood between him and the law, the
so-called fall guys, the underlings
who would glibly perjure themselves
at a nod from their ,overlord; the
lieutenant who, if the worst came to
the worst, •would take the well known
rap.
This, it is to, be remembered, was
a Washington campaign, and not a
Chicago campaign,- and it was from
Washington that the detectives were
sent who were active in the war
upon Capone. It did not take thetii
long to lay Ralph Capone, Al's
'brother, by the heels for income tax
evasions. He was, of course, small
fry, and had taken na such extra-
ordinary precautions as the big shot.
Frank Nitti and Jack Guzick were
other lieutenants against whom the
government made out cases and put
away for short terms. In the mean-
time scores of operatives were out
on Capone's back trail They went
to hundreds of places where he had
visited, getting details of his ex-
penditure. One or two are believed
to have become members of his gang.
They were not interested in 'his kill-
ings, nor his brothels, nor his
gambling rooms. They were merely
interested in the income he derived
from all sources. They ingratiated
themselves :with beer sellers and pick-
ed' up hints as to the amounts they
had paid. Al or his agents, Dry ag-•-
ents in the same cause, and not in
the cause of prohibition, raided speak-
easies, securing further information.
At the same time, a corps of ac-
countants was trying to trace his
financial operations. This- was ex-
tremely difficult. Capone kept no
bank books. He wrote no cheques.
He did not collect his graft• in per-
son, He was the general of an °under-
world army who did not soil his own
hands with blood or loot. Neverthe-
less a number of' bank accounts was
disclosed in names that were various
but similar. The- idea was that they •
were Capone's. -A stronger clue was
provided by an examination of the
books of the Western Union Tele-
graph 'Corn-pany. These showed that
when Capone was at Miami, Guzick
had wired him large sums of money.
A raid in 1925 which had proved Ca- •
pone the owner of a Cicero - •house,
and had been conveniently forgotten, - was recalled. The- ostensible keeper
of this resort had admitted that the
profits in three years had amounted
to more than $600,000. This had
gone to Capone. The United States
Government could find no evidence
that be had paid taxes .on it.
Capone by this time was well
aware that the hounds of justice
were hot on his trail. He knew that
they could prove something against
him. So in ,1930 Lawrence P. Mat-
tingly, his Washington attorney...Iliad
written to the Internal Revenue De-
partment admitting that his client's
income over a six year period was
$266,000, and offering to pay taxes on
this assessment. -With these pieces
of evidence in his hands Johnson
asked for and obtained an indietr
anent against !Capone. There was a
general understanding -that he would"
enter a plea of guilty, pay a large
fine -and submit to a short term of
imprisonment. If he had had sense
enough to remain silent this is what
would have happened. But he could
not suppress his exultation. The press
published the news, and the next day
in court Judge Wilkerson, who had
been a party to the undertaking, was
forced to repudiate it in noble, hollow
words of virtue. •Capone's plea of
guilty was withdrawn and. he faced
a jury. He was found guilty on the
evidence of a hundred witnesses. In
ethe course of the trial the fast em-
erged that in the years from 1924 to
1929 he had a net income of at least
$1,039,65.4, and conceivably 'five times
as much. ••
Cheating Uncle Sam
Fatal For Capone
Truth may or may not he stranger
than fiction but it . is undoubtedly
slower. Long before the tactics em-
ployed successfully against Al Ca-
pone were in operation, or rather
were known to be in operation, we
read a novel in which the plan was
worked out against an imaginary Chi-
cago hoodlum who had hitherto de-
fied the law It mray have been a
coincidence, but we prefer to believe
that the lawyers must, have been
reading the novel. Now that Capone
is finally in a federal penitentiary,
where he will remain for a few years,
it is interesting and somewhat path-
etic, to note the steps the Government
found it necessary to take against the
gangster; We probably do Mr: Ca-
pone no injustice when we say that
he has committed and planned mur-
ders, robberies, tortures, .blackmail
and aimost'every other major crime
known to law. But he was convicted
of none of these.felonies. He was, as
a matter of fact, convicted of what
millions of self-respecting Americans!
—and ,other'' Citizens for that matter
—do as a Matta; of course. He failed
to make proper ilxorhe tax returns.
His offence, in other words, was an
artificial one, and it is open to ques-
tion whether, as a matter of morals,
it is indeed a crime. At worst; -it is
a erirne comparable with smuggling.
Through !bribery, terrorism and
politfeal influence, Capone had so
entrenched himself in Chicago that
the ordinary courts, and the ordin-
ary processes of law, were powerless
against him. He could have remain-
ed the underworld ruler until his
death had it not been for the plan
devised by George E. 9. Johnson, a
'United States District Attorney, or
as we prefer to believe, adapted by
Mr. Johnson from the novelist. Ile
started with the knowledge that Ca -
GLI
ai
"I want a revolver—for my Imo -
band."
"'Did your husband say what make
of revolver?"
"No, but I don't think that matters.
He don't even know I'm going to
shoot him."
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