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Show Xe ics Itevicic of Current Events SHANGHAI FEARS PLAGUE Cholera Adds to Death Toll . . . Chinese Planes Bomb American Liner . . . Britain Protests Attack on Envoy SUMMARIZES THE WORLD'S WEEK Western Newspaper Union. ' 'Black Death' in Shanghai AS IF there were not horror enough in Shanghai,, the ill-fated ill-fated city found itself face to face with a new peril bubonic plague. The outbreak of the disease, first discovered in the French concession, conces-sion, where most of the American population lives, was traced in large part to the sanitary difficulties in removing the bodies of Hongkew civilians ci-vilians killed by bombings, artillery shelling and machine-gun fire. Sanitary officers in the concession conces-sion and the international settlement settle-ment fought frantically to check the spread of the dread cholera. They were hampered by Japanese military mili-tary forces which insisted upon keeping closed areas where there still remained bodies to be buried. Admiral Harry Yarnell, commander com-mander of the United States Asiatic Asi-atic fleet, canceled all shore leaves for sailors and ordered Chinese hands off American ships. With the port of Shanghai closed to American Ameri-can shipping other than warships, because of the ever-increasing danger dan-ger of bombs and artillery fire, 500 Americans who had intended to leave on the next liners out of port were stranded, making a total of 2,000 American inhabitants who remained re-mained exposed to the double dangers dan-gers of warfare and cholera. Announcement by the Japanese that they had perfected a plan for bombing every air base in China was regarded as a warning to foreign for-eign nationals throughout the 3,000,-000 3,000,-000 square miles of Chinese territory terri-tory that they had better evacuate if they were to be safe. Evacuation of Americans from Shanghai was difficult with the ban on shipping. Warships appeared the logical means of rescue, but there were few in the Shanghai area capable of taking aboard large loads of passengers. Accordingly, a cruiser squadron of six ships was being prepared to leave the United States, steam to Shanghai and remove re-move those stranded there. The Japanese embassy warned foreign nations that they had better bet-ter advise the Japanese navy of movements of ships into the vast blockaded area, lest these be mistaken mis-taken for Chinese supply ships. The embassy intimated that cargoes of ammunition and military supplies might be denied admittance and advised ad-vised foreign ships that it might be a good idea to,permit Japanese authorities au-thorities to inspect their cargoes before entering the blockade. International Crises ONE grave international crisis followed another in the new Sino-Japanese war. Britain was still awaiting reply to her protest over the wounding of His Majesty's ambassador am-bassador to China by a Japanese airman when four airplanes, identified identi-fied as Chinese, swooped down upon the American liner, President Hoover, Hoov-er, flagship of the Dollar line, dropping drop-ping bombs which killed one person per-son aboard and wounded eight The President Hoover, having deposited de-posited a load of refugees in Manila, Ma-nila, was nearing Shanghai to pick up another load when the bombs struck, tearing 25 holes in the ship above the water line. The ship immediately im-mediately notified Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, commander .of the American Ameri-can fleet who took command of all American shipping in the emergency. emergen-cy. He ordered the President Hoover Hoov-er to continue to Japan, and radioed other vessels that they must not enter "hostile" waters off the Woo-sung Woo-sung and Yangtze lightships. It was only a few days before the President Presi-dent Lincoln, another Dollar liner, had had to run a gauntlet of artillery artil-lery fire to get 160 American refugees refu-gees on their way to Manila. China's ambassador in Washington, Washing-ton, Chenting T. Wang, lost no time in making complete apology for his government in the Dollar liner incident inci-dent to Secretary of State Cordell Hull. He said the President Hoover had been mistaken for a Japanese transport by a Chinese aviator. He offered to make full financial redress re-dress immediately. It was indicated indicat-ed that a court martial was in store for the erring airman. More spectacular, but only because be-cause of the importance of the person per-son it involved, was the shooting of Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatch-bull-Hugessen, British ambassador to China. Britain's note to Tokyo was couched in stringent terms. It said, in part: "The plea, should it be advanced, that the flags carried on the cars were too small to be visible is irrelevant ir-relevant There would have been no justification for the attack even had the cars carried no flags at aU. "The foreign and even the diplomatic diplo-matic status of the occupants is also irrelevant. The real issue is that they were noncombatants . . . "Such events are inseparable from the practice as illegal as it is inhuman of failing to draw that clear distinction between combatants combat-ants and noncombatants in the conduct con-duct of hostilities' which internation- t V-.-. X - ""'':' "-X -. i ? . Wounded by Japanese airmen, Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hu-gessen is center of strained international interna-tional relations. al law no less than the conscience of mankind "has always enjoined. "His majesty's government must therefore request: "FIRST A formal apology to be conveyed by the Japanese government govern-ment to his majesty's government; "SECOND Suitable -punishment for those responsible for the attack; "THIRD An assurance by the Japanese authorities that necessary measures will be taken to prevent recurrence of events of such a character." char-acter." Tokyo's reply was temporarily withheld, pending a complete investigation. in-vestigation. Trouble Ahead for Ford JOHN L. LEWIS' magic touch effected ef-fected a compromise between warring factions of the United Automobile Auto-mobile Workers of America sufficient suffi-cient to permit the election of officers, offi-cers, but that failed to cover up the fierce dissension in the C. I. O. affiliate's af-filiate's Milwaukee convention. Several times only a fortunately-timed fortunately-timed adjournment saved a day's meeting from breaking up in a riot The clashes were between the "progressive" "pro-gressive" faqtion of the union, headed head-ed by President Homer Martin, and the "unity" faction, containing most of the "left" members, who opposed op-posed Martin's program. In the end, the Lewis compromise forced Martin to retain several unity group officers he had apparently been anxious anx-ious to depose. New officers added were, however, chiefly adherents of Martin, and it was believed his faction fac-tion still held control of the executive execu-tive board. Of chief importance in the convention conven-tion was the decision to go ahead with the campaign to organize the employees of the Ford Motor company. com-pany. A special tax of $1 per member, mem-ber, which would bring in a net of something like $400,000, was voted for the purpose. Lewis predicted, "Some day Henry Ford is going to be so very tired he will be willing to accord to his employees the rights that are due them." War May Soon Be Luxury S NE good argumnt for peace is ' that the rising costs of raw materials ma-terials are making war more expensive ex-pensive than ever. This was demonstrated dem-onstrated when London financial circles cir-cles revealed that parliament will be asked to vote supplementary funds to carry out Great Britain's armament program for the present year. In February experts figured the cost of armaments at $7,500,000,000 over a five-year period. Now it is apparent that many more millions will be required. The cost of antimony anti-mony has increased from $385 to $465 a ton, copper from $265 to $275, heavy scrap steel from $18.75 to $22.50, tin from $1,135 to $1,295, and zinc from $105 to $115. Steel ship plates a year ago cost $46.75 a ton; now they are $57. -K Jersey Kids Picket Mayor 'TP HE next thing you know babies will be picketing their cradles for more milk. Spurred on by frequent fre-quent accounts of industrial strike picketing or by the encouragement of disgruntled politicians several hundred boys between the ages of seven and thirteen years rose in revolt re-volt against the city fathers of Jersey Jer-sey City, N. J. Shouting their war cry, "We want playgrounds!", the youngsters tied up traffic with their parade. They dug up cobblestones from the streets, sprinkled the pavements with broken glass, built barricades of boxes and stones which made driving hazardous for automobilists. The boys directed their campaign against Mayor Frank Hague and United States Senator A. Harry Moore, upbraiding them with placard plac-ard mottoes condemning their alleged al-leged failure to provide sufficient playgrounds for the safety of children. chil-dren. Police dispersed them gently at first, but when they reorganized and resumed the picketing, the officers offi-cers were forced to seize 15. YOU Figure It Out! TT IS true that the first session ol 1 the seventy-fifth congress appropriated appro-priated a vast amount of money, but just how much? It depends upon your point of view. Rep. John Taber (Rep., N. Y.), ranking minority member of the appropriations ap-propriations committee, in preparing prepar-ing a compilation for the last issue is-sue of the Congressional Record, estimated es-timated that congress had appropriated appro-priated $10,252,892,556, all for use in the current fiscal year. He contended con-tended this amount of spending in one fiscal year would result in a deficit of between $3,000,000,000 and $4,000,000,000, and a national debt of more than $40,000,000,000. Publication of Taber's statement drew a reply from Clarence Cannon (Dem., Mo.), chairman of the committee. com-mittee. He presented a series of tables which he claimed proved that the last session appropriated only $8,427,605,854, of which only $7,448,-648,922 $7,448,-648,922 was for the 1938 fiscal year. Then, just to sharpen the wits of laymen who sought the answer to the puzzle, Carter Glass, Democrat- i ic senator from Virginia, who has j often differed from the administra- tion on points of expenditures, of- j fered his estimate that $9,389,488,893 had been appropriated. He added that the national debt is really closer clos-er to 40 billions than the 37 billions reported by the treasury. Puppet King for Ethiopia? WHEN Mussolini captured Ethiopia Ethi-opia (or did he?) it was frequently fre-quently said that he would never be able to control it, much less develop it, for the Ethiopian tribes are wild and terrible. Apparently he is now coming to the same conclusion and is about to turn for help to of all people! the former emperor, Haile Selassie. It is known that the Italian government gov-ernment has made certain overtures to Great Britain to determine how she feels about the "Conquering Lion of Judah" ascending his throne once more, but strictly as a puppet for whom II Duce would pull the strings. Britain is said to be willing because of the ever-present Italian threat along her Mediterranean lifeline. life-line. France, too, has been approached on the matter. Frenchmen own the important railroad from Addis Ababa Aba-ba to Djibuti, but one of the principal prin-cipal stockholders in the French corporation cor-poration is Haile Selassie, and the Italians refuse to recognize his holdings. hold-ings. It is believed that if the French agree to the puppet monarchy mon-archy the validity of the emperor's shares will not be questioned. Then France will be able to buy them. The fly in the ointment is that Haile Selassie will have none of this. He will rest his fate entirely with the League of Nations, of which Ethiopia is still a member. Meanwhile the continual raids by native tribesmen, still faithful to their emperor, leave no Italian life safe in the African country, and are making II Duce's "colonization" a joke. -K Dictator Visits Dictator TJERLIN was preparing a hero's -' welcome for Benito Mussolini, .Italian dictator due to visit the German Ger-man capital during September's closing days. Throughout the city II Duce's obvious popularity was a realistic reminder of the friendly alliance al-liance which has developed between the two Fascist nations. Unter den Linden and the Wil-' helmstrasse were being decorated with bunting, colored lights and huge German and Italian flags. Various Va-rious tours and military maneuvers ma-neuvers were planned for II Duce's visit He was to arrive in a private airplane, his own hands at the controls. con-trols. During his stay he was to be the guest of Adolf Hitler in the presidential palace. Plans called for his appointment as honorary leader of der Fuehrer's private guard and as colonel-in-chief of a Nazi cavalry regiment. -K Japs Eye Sino-Russ Pact TN TOKYO it was widely believed Athat the non-aggression pact signed by the Russian and Chinese governments was accompanied by a secret military agreement which would ally the two enemies of Japan Ja-pan to the extent that Soviet munitions, muni-tions, military advisers and aviators avia-tors would be dispatched to China. The charges were that by the terms of the secret agreement China Chi-na fully recognizes Soviet activities in Outer Mongolia and the province of Sinkiang in return for a joint defense understanding against Japanese Jap-anese advance in China. Mediterranean Menace T EGARDED as a renewal of at-lv at-lv tacks on shipping in the Mediterranean Medi-terranean due to the Spanish civil war was the submarine attack upon the Russian freighter Timiryazev off Algiers. When the ship sank after being struck by a torpedo the captain cap-tain and the crew of 29 were picked up by a fishing boat and brought to Algiers. None of the crew could identify the attacker, although all reported they had seen a submarine's periscope peri-scope just before the blast. K Louis Retains Championship TpOMMY FARR, the Welsh fighter whm aU the "smart guys-thought guys-thought was a set-up for Joe Louis world's heavyweight champion' gave the "Brown Bomber" the surprise sur-prise of his life in New York, when he stayed 15 rounds. Louis got the eminently fair decision, but Tommy was still fighting like a tiger when the final bell rang. |
