Show ethiopia takes prominent place in current news by WILLIAM C UTLEY of an italian im resumption R that has not flowered since the crushing of the plans of francesco crispi in 1806 1896 may find its beginning 0 in the current italian adventure into africa per haps not strangely what appears to be the object of mussolini s ambitious eye today Is the same nation that thwarted crispi with nith the complete an of 20 italian troops near ly 40 years ago it Is ethiopia often called abyssinia the last independent nation in the dark continent and the seat of one of 0 the few absolute monarchies left in set sail from naples even as they have in the past few weeks urged to withdraw the african forces by nearly all political parties at home premier crisel refused on grounds of upholding the national hon or and italy continued to occupy points along the abyssinian plateau development of this policy reached its crisis when the italian army was wiped out by the forces of menelek near adoba march 1 1890 temporarily end ing italian colonial ambitions and caus ing crispie crisp s political downfall 11 let ee tt italy retained possessions in somali land bordering ethiopia on the south and east libya to the north and west Z 41 L ethiopian troops on the border pass ng in review with arms upraised typical ethiopian solder sold er the world a dynasty that claims to trace its rulers back in an unbroken line from the days of the old testa ment here Is a nation fertile of soil soll rich in undeveloped natural resources and possessing one of the most livable ell mates in the world yet it Is only now beginning to emerge from the dark ages socially and politically A full fledged member of the league of na eions it yet abounds in slavery one of the oldest christian nations in the world its people yet practice poleg amy ethiopia occupies so ing more than square miles an area equal to france and germany corn com blued in east africa south of the lied red sea always a menace to the power of the pharaohs of egypt in biblical days its population variously estimated at from 5 to 10 now Is composed chiefly of scattered tribes semi civilized and often migratory their local governments are admin by feudal bodies headed by fierce and resplendent chieftains who bear but little relationship to the cen aral government yet history has shown that these people accustomed to and expert in warfare of a guerrilla na ture are more than capable of forget ting their own community problems when the destiny of the entire nation Is at stake at such a time they have proved themselves instantly able to ally themselves with their monarch who today Is a story book paradox of medieval ruler by divine right and twentieth century business manager land of glorious sheba this country in whose rugged 10 foot highlands are the sources of the great nile and atbara rivers Is the legendary land whence came the glorious sheba to become the friend of solomon the wise king ring of kings indeed the man who now rules ethl opia opla claims direct d descend ency from that illustrious union including as one of his many titles negus or king of kings and that isn t all he ile Is also emperor of abyssinia by pow er of trinity conquering I 1 ton ion of the tribe of judah the e wt of god and the light of the world A stronghold of the coptic religion similar in many respects to the roman catholic except for the fact that its priests are allowed to marry ethiopia was shut off from the rest of the world in the sixth century by the closing in of mohammedan nations on all of its borders not until the fourteenth cen tury was it destined to begin bein be in asserting its power over east africa once more and that revival lasted only until years later when mohammedanism again isolated the nation in the six century or an even eden earlier day its people have remained until the last decade or two in 1868 great britain invaded the country and punished it severely for the depredation of certain british out posts in the ignominy of utter defeat the king killed himself his successor was menelek II 11 menelik I 1 was said to have been the son of solomon and sheba although genealogists have never been able to establish proof of the ethiopian assertion of lineage alij tasu yasu succeeded menelek in 1908 and was deposed in 1916 when princess walbern zauditu daughter of menelek was proclaimed empress ruling with her ter for twelve years as regent was Mene leks nephew makkonen the princess died and in 1930 was made king kin calling himself there after halle Sli Sli assle assle ethiopia for centuries had pros in a way despite its backward civilization undisturbed by any but its more immediate neighbors until the african conference of berlin in 1884 when european awards for the first time began dividing up the colon coloni al pie that was africa italy starts spreading italy began her colonial empire building in 1885 by occupying masso wa the natural port of trade of north ern ethiopia this invasion came as a result of a situation much like that of today in 1884 a military party of italians on an official mission had been slain at the hands of ethiopian na tives tt it was the third such outrage la in three years expeditionary forces I 1 of 0 ethiopia although cut off by the anglo egyptian sudan italy gained by the terms of peace pence in the balkan war in 1012 1912 this she all but lost while engaged in the world war but regained once more in 1930 1020 libya la Is now governed by gen italo balbo in the peace with ith italy was granted eritrea ellch lies along the red sea north and east of ethiopia this strip of land almost barren of natural resources Is hardly an eco asset it has no importance geo graphically or politically except as a it commercial outlet for northern ethl opia opla yet italy has tried hard to tempt her people to colonize it as well as italian Soma liland the ceding of part of french Soma liland to italy recently has strengthened her position along the ethiopian frontier whether mussolini is planning to es an italian protectorate in ethl opia opla and thus share in the rich profits of the development of her great re sources which include gold silver iron salt and coal Is a problem ethl opia under haile S lassie seems at last bent on modernization for that reason it Is held by some that italian operations in ethiopia may merely be ilk ak emperor halle Si lassie with the view of getting commercial and financial concessions and power to command the routes of trade from ethiopia to the sea for ethiopia 9 trade will be bid for by many nations even far off janan what seems to give credence to the protectorate plan Is the curious paral lei lel between the situation today and that preceding 1896 1890 when crispi a sim liar ilar plans were defeated claiming they had been wantonly attacked by italian soldiers last decem decent her 5 slew losing some soldiers themselves in the skirmish at ethiopia claims Is within its boundaries by Illo kilometers meters and the italians had no right being there but italy counter claims the place to be part of italian Soma liland additional skirmishes have occurred between the two factions in the same neighborhood of late weeks on january 29 an ethl band attacked an italian outpost at south of and on reb auary 9 there was another battle along the border mussolini protests incensed dictator mussolini in strutted ted his minister at addis ababa inland capital of ethiopia to protest formally he demanded that the at af rican monarch turn over an indemnity of 44 for the lives of the italian soldiers that were lost and order a salute to be fired to the italian flag in addis ababa also demanded was the establishment of a neutral zone between ethiopia and italian Somal Soma lland liland and eritrea from which all ethiopian troops must be immediately with drawn final definition of boundary lines and the exercise of greater con arol over the warlike tribes along the border by halle haile Si lassie lassle the ethiopian emperor refused the indemnity and the salute lie ile denied that the incident at had been provoked by his countrymen and chal ledged the story that one ol 01 the be sube quent battles ever took place the conflict on january 29 involved 25 ethiopians armed simply with rifles who were attacked by an italian band armed by machine guns after various flights by italian airplanes over Gerlog he said ethiopia as a member of the league of nations appealed almost at once to that body against the italian agres slon sion and suggested that the dispute be submitted to arbitration this italy openly refused in effect warning the league to keep out recalling to mind the corfu incident of 1923 1023 when mus brazenly demanded that the league keep out of his affairs with great britain and france rumored to have secretly agreed to allow italy an open hand in ethiopia the league evaded the issue nicely by returning a suggestion that mussolini and halle Sl Si lassle try to iron out their own dif dlf faculties by negotiation the two had seemed good enough friends in the past in 1925 the man who was later to become 0 king of kings rings paid an official visit to rome and was received in cordiality and lavish splendor the two agreed at the time to do nothing to strain the good relations between their countries and signed a treaty of arbitration midway through rebr february uary rome began mobilizing troops largely from its celebrated blass class of 1911 1011 and ship ping them off to her possessions bor der dering ing ethiopia several boatloads of thousands of fighting men led by the nation nations s most distinguished soldier in colonization gen rodolfo graziani Graz lani de parted for africa within a few days accompanied by additional thousands of workmen to build barraci a and oth er necessary equipment by early march it was expected the italian ex forces would number no easy pickings ethiopia s stand ng army numbers about men the militia con talus another or all allot of the latter are but loosely organized and are virtually without modern fighting equipment however knowing the country as they do possessed of an al most irrepressible fighting spirit they present no easy pickings even tor for the most up to date armies the ethl charge d affaires aff alres in rome negra das bassou meaning jesus declared with COW years of independence be hind us we would light to the lastman last man woman and child if italy declared war italy s chief espoused reason for re fusing to submit to league arbitration was its contention that ethiopia never should have been admitted to the league in the first place she asserted that ethiopia had never fulfilled the condition of her admission to the league which was the abolishment ot of slavery and she was correct in the assertion another objection was the general disunion among the tribes in peace time whether the current friction can be regarded as of major international ini Is a matter for the future to decide ak A interesting to watch has been the reaction of negroes in america lo 10 to the toe situation are not true negroes although thousands of years of slave trading with the at af rican interior has brought in consider able negro blood they seem to be basically with a semitic strain from the nearby arabs their color varies from dark brown to al most black negro newspapers in america have demanded that italy not begin inter racial conflict by invading ethiopia A new york paper declared editorially editor lally colored america demands that civill bation does not permit italy to pre elpi tate a world race war by invading abyssinia let civilization beware A W berry general secretary tor for the league of struggle 9 ae for negro rights demanded hands bands off abyssinia I 1 in the negro liberator N with france a nc e and england staying alfh ou out t ethiopia p 1 w would 0 id h have ave little assist assis t ance from other powers in the event of war her only hope would be the league for the league one 0 test 0 union |