Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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* «5 McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1936 * L 1 - - - . .. ■AMERICA’S WORLD EXAMPLE OF PEACE It’s No New Idea; but Sacrifice of Profits on Other Nations’ Wars Is; Practicality Remains to Be Tested. By WILLIAM C. UTLEY W ITH the civil war in Spain presenting new and perhaps near- er-than-ever possibilities of another great war on the European continent, the stage was appropriately set for an address by the President of the United States concerning peace, and how this country shall maintain it in the face of struggle abroad. The address was delivered before, a crowd of 12,000 persons at Chautauqua, N. Y., and additional millions at home listening to their radios. It stamped the nation’s course, at least for the duration of the present administration, as setting the example of peace to the world through the “good neighbor” policy. If President Roosevelt’s speech*" iwas good political fodder, although .jit had been advertised as non-polit- \ ical before its delivery, it was that I chiefly by reason of the chief exec- [ utive’s unrivaled artistry in seizing Jthe dramatic opportunity to play upon the emotions of an audience, ' and may have been expected and '(excused in an election year. i Significant was the fact that the most enthusiastic applause came , after the President’s passionate declaration: “I hate war!” Signif- «- Roosevelt Speaks on Peace. leant in another way, perhaps, r is the fact that the response would have been equally enthusiastic had he hated spinach, red flannels or washing dishes. Decries ‘Fools’ Gold’ The President said that before the 1932 election, *T have made up my mind that, pending what might be called a more opportune mo ment on other continents, the United States could best serve the cause of a peaceful humanity by setting an example.”. Later on, he said: 'T wish I could keep war from all nations; but that is beyond my power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United States helps to produce or promote war.” The President also said: "If war should break out again in another continent, let us not blink the fact lhaf we could find in this country thousands of Americans who, seeking immediate riches—fools* gold—would attempt to break down or evade our neutrality . . . “If we face the choice of profits or peace, the nation will answer— “we choose peace.” The policy of America, the great peacemaker, setting an example to the world, is not new. Long and often sorrowful accounts of its high moral achievement and almost com plete physical failure are readily to be gleaned from even the newer pages of history. Rights of Neutrals But the policy of foregoing the profits to be collected from other nations’ wars—profits which wduld provide work and income for mil lions of unemployed— in order to maintain absolute neutrality and peace, is new. Because it requires individual personal sacrifice as well as collective good behavior, it is perhaps on even a higher moral plane than the exemplary policy. Its possibilities in application have yet to be tested in any real way. President Roosevelt admittedly struck the popular chord when he gave assurance that the nation would dedicate itself to maintain ing neutrality in the case of any war. It is little short of innovation to imply the waiver of the rights of neutrals to trade freely on the high seas in time of war. Yet that, or nearly that, has been the demonstrated policy of the administration in the llalo-Ethiopian situation, when it announced on October 5, 1935, that Americans would deal with belligerent nations at their own risk. Before the European war broke out in August of 1914, this nation was definite^ committed to neu trality and in the two years that followed made heroic—almost com ic-opera—efforts to maintain it. The government’s secret agents went so far as to shadow persons suspected of having tendencies other than neutral, and put them in jail or deported them. Yet with the perspective given us by the passing of the years it would seem that our neutrality, while it was a legal fact up to April, 1917, was morally non-existent. Ameri can sympathies from the start were with the Allies. They were expertly exploited by the propaganda of the Allied diplomatic services, and only whetted by the inability of the Ger man diplomats, with their blunders inspired by the hopelessness and desperation of their situation as it became more and more apparent that America was itching to join the fight against them. Our Peace Efforts The picture of the United States, waiting with Wilsonian idealism to be turned to as the great example of peace and the mediator of the conflict, when its sympathies were all too plain, even to the Allies, is to be found in the records of inter national diplomatic correspondence of the period. We got into the war. It was a “war to end all wars” so when it was over, the victorious nations at tempted to organize to preserve the peace — assuming that the status quo at the end of the war could be permanently preserved, an assump tion sadly shaken since. We had participated in the conference of the Hague and other international peace movements. Largely at our own President’s suggestion, the League of Nations was formed, with its offspring, the World court, but we stayed out of them. We sat in on the interminable disarmament conferences. And finally, we brought forth the Kel logg pact which outlawed war—on paper. Unfortunately it did not suc ceed in outlawing war on the earth’s surface, and perhaps it was the Kellogg pact of which President Roosevelt was thinking at Chatau- qua when he said: "It is a bitter experience to us when the spirit of agreements to which we are a party is not lived up to. It is an even more bitter experience for the whole company of nations to witness not only the spirit but the letter of international agreements violated with impunity and without regard for the simple principles of honor." The President cited the nation’s attempts to co-operate for peace. “We co-operated,” he said, “to the bitter end — and it was the bitter end — in the work of the general disarmament conference. When it failed, we sought a sep arate treaty to deal with the manu facture of arms and the interna tional traffic in arms. That pro posal also came to nothing. Not Isolationists “We participated— again to the bitter end —‘ in a conference to continue naval limitations, and when it became evident that no general treaty could be signed be cause of the objections of other na- . tion, we warn our citizens at home and abroad to preserve the spirit and letter of our neutrality. The country’s application of the neutrality law in the Italian case has been mentioned. The next ap plication was on last August 7 when the government instructed its dip lomatic and consular representa tives in Spain that its policy was one of non-interference, advising American nationals in the same vein. This raises a fine point. Our law applies to fighting between two nations—but the Spanish incident is a civil war and concerns only one nation. International law experts say that political neutrality does not obligate the nationals of a neu tral nation unless that nation has a domestic law which controls such nationals. From this view point it seems that our neutrality law does not cover our nationals in the Spanish case. How Business Cooperates Only one case has been reported which might reflect the attitude of American business men with re gard to non-interference in Spain. That concerned an airplane manu facturer who stood in a fair way to receive an order. He asked the government’s advice, was advised not to fill the torder, and didn’t fill it. Whether the co-operation of business men with the government was so satisfy ing in the Italo-Ethiopian war is not so apparent. Department of Commerce re ports showed a sharp upswing in exports to Italy of military supplies not covered by embargo—things like copper, iron, steel, vehicles and petroleum—even after the neutrality law was passed. But it is impossible to tell whether this increase was due to the war or a natural recovery in trade. It fell off shortly before the acknowledged defeat of Ethiopia. To his administration’s “good neighbor” policy the President gave much of the credit for the harmoni ous conditions which he said existed in the Western World. “Throughout the Americas the spirit of the good neighbor is a practical and living fact,” he said. “The 21 American republics are not only living together in friendship and in peace; they are united in the determination so to remain. “To give substance to this deter mination, a conference will meet ton Dec. 1, 1936, in the capital of our great southern neighbor. Ar gentina, and it is, I know, the hope of all chiefs of state of the Americas that this will banish wars forever from this portion of the earth.” 3,090 Miles of Friendship He cited the abandonment of our right to interfere in the internal affairs of Cuba, the withdrawal of marines from Haiti, the new treaty with Panama, and the various re ciprocal trade treaties effected un der Secretary Hull, as evidence of our good-neighborliness. The latter treaties, of course, have been fre- >•* '< I Wr%. 1 * Ml 11 - ymm £ is-ff fK' > mg Spanish Snipers Hide in Church. tions, we concluded with Great Britain and* France a conditional treaty of qualitative limitations which, much to my regret, already show signs of ineffectiveness. “We shun,” he continued, “polit ical commitments which might en tangle us in foreign wars; we avoid connection with the political activi ties of the League of Nations; but I am glad to say that we have co operated whole-heartedly in the so cial and humanitarian work at Geneva. . . . "We are not isolationists except in so far as we seek to isolate ourselves com pletely from war. Yet we must remem ber that so long as war exists on earth there will be some danger that the na tion which most ardently desires peace may be drawn into war" The gist of our new neutrality policy, has been indicated. It is simply that we will not sell military supplies to any nation or nations which are engaged in war. In addi- quently upheld as too neighborly. The outstanding example of good neighbors are the United States and Canada, the President said: “The noblest monument to peace and to neighborly economic and so cial friendship in all the world is not a monument in bronze or stone, but the boundary which unites the United States and Canada — 3,000 miles of friendship with no barbed wire, no gun or soldier, and no passport on the whole frontier.” To which his opponents might add that the lowering of the tariff wall January 1 has permitted multiple increases of imports over that frontier. But few could disagree with him when he said: “We seek to dominate no other nation. We ask no territorial expansion. We oppose imperialism. We desire re duction in world armaments.” And Americans, to a man, it may be supposed, “hate war.” © Western Newspaper Union. © o e © mm p a n I s la <C i t i e 9 Docile Cows Haul Bulls to Spanish Arenas. Prepared by the National Geographic Society. Washington. D. C.—WNU Service. M ADRID, the Spanish capi tal; San Sebastian, Spain’s swanky resort where the American ambassador summers; Toledo, that inland Span ish town of oriental atmosphere, and Barcelona, teeming Mediter ranean port, have been thrust into the spotlight recently by political disturbances. Madrid is a modem capital. There are only a few narrow streets, old fashioned dwellings and arcaded plazas to remind a traveler that its tree-lined boulevards, tall palatial buildings, subways and _ airports evolved from a restricted wall-girt Spanish town. While modernization has gone steadily on in recent years, there have been times when nearly whole sections of the city bowed at once to the plan of the city builders. In the construction of the splendid Gran Via, with its big hotels, smart shops, department stores and sky scraper business buildings, more than four thousand dwellings in a labyrinth of ancient streets in the heart of the city were demolished. The Gran Avenida de la Libertad is one of the finest boulevards in Europe with its flanking govern mental palaces, museums, hotels and palatial residences overlooking spacious plazas and ]&rks. The Avenida’s wide, tree-shaded walks for pedestrians, lying between the inner and outer automobile and car riage highways, are normally much alive by day and literally thronged by early evening. Rows of chairs are parked on each side of the broad walk. All along the walk are refresh ment booths where soft drinks are the main stock in trade. As one sits sipping a cool, creamy, almond- flavored horchata, a boy known as a barquillero appears with a barrel like receptacle containing sweet, rolled wafers called barquillos. One hands the boy a coin, spins a wheel atop the barrel and watches for the figure which indicates the number of wafers one wins. Parade on The Avenida Meanwhile, the sidewalk parade passes on—army officers in brilliant uniforms, men garbed in black, pretty, graceful dark-haired women and sturdy bareheaded, barelegged children. Wizened peanut vendors, and coquettish flower sellers raise their voices above the din of loud conversation and laughter. The mon of Madrid are clean-shaven for the most part; the women have bobbed hair. Fans are the vogue in Madrid, and a colorful tint they give to the afternoon promenaders. Madrid’s summer temperature is high, but it is a dry heat. In the sun you broil, but wherever there is shade, there is a breath of cool air' from the near-by mountains. The city is more than 2,000 feet above sea level. Abundant water has made it pos sible thoroughly to flush the streets from four to six times a day. Along with this, systematic tree planting and park development have made a refreshing city in the midst of a scorched plain long stripped of trees. The old Castilian farmer be lieved the birds were mortal ene mies and left no haven for them. Madrid’s shops close every after noon from one or two to four or five o’clock. The dinner hour is from 8:30 to 10:30 but there is plenty of time left to enjoy promenades, band concerts and movies before retiring, for even the band concert continues until 2 o’clock in the morning. If a traveler stays up to put Madrid to bed, he is likely to meet huge, creaking, two - wheeled, hooded carts lumbering into town with country produce bound for the cen tral market where hills of vege tables are soon to rise. San Sebastian Is Gay Vacationists swarm to San Sebas tian. A graceful scallop of beach, constant cooling breezes from the Bay of Biscay, regattas, yacht rac ing, tennis tournaments, horse rac ing, bull fights, roulette, and for merly royal patronage made San Sebastian the Newport of* Spain. Wealthy Spaniards from other sec tions, diplomats, and foreigners, however few in the city’s 80,000 people, have given San Sebastian a European veneer over its native aspect. In the midst of the summer fri volities of Spain’s fashionable world, local Basques impassively continue their fishing, speaking their strange language unintelligible even to many Spanish visitors. Their name for their city Is Iruchulo. The city stands near the eastern end of Spain’s northern coast, 10 miles from the French border where the numerous visitors change trains on the overnight trip from Paris. Here the Pyrenees meet the sea, and both unite to create unique qualifications for a summer resort. The Bay of Biscay rolls into San Sebastian’s semicircular harbor in a half-moon of blue-green, the same regular curve repeated in the beach’s yellow crescent. At the opposite ends of its mile diameter rise rocky headlands which have offered for centuries protection against naval assaults. The western bluff supports a new lighthouse, beside the abandoned one, now an observation tower. On the eastern mountain stands a sub stantial Spanish castle, less asso ciated with dreams than with night mares of siege. A distinctive atmosphere survives in the Old Town. In this Basque fishing settlement, at. the foot of Mt. Urgull, dark nets dry along the wharves and laundry hangs from windows of the narrow, five and six storied houses. Nearby the ancient church of Santa Maria wears a white-sailed ship above its doorway to show kinship with its parishion er? who must go down to the sea in ships. Toledo Looks Moorish Toledo occupies the crest of a hill rising nearly 200 feet from the Tagus river, 47 miles southwest of Madrid. When the catapult was the modern engine of war, it was al most •impregnable. The Tagus formed an admirable moat on the south, east and west sides; and the neck of land on the north stretching toward a fertile plain was protect ed by the plurality of walls that surrounded the city. It is difficult to imagine that with in less than two hours’ train ride from the Spanish capital, there is a city, with marked oriental appear ance. The Puente de Alcantara, the principal gateway to Toledo on the east, is of Moorish design with mas sive high towers at each end. It was built in the Thirteenth century. From the time one steps upon this bridge, until the river is re crossed by way of the Puente de San Martin, dating back fifty years earlier than the Puente de Alcan tara, the many relics and ruins of medieval days in Toledo give a flavor of Palestine and Arabia, with a touch of French Gothic here and there. The road approaching the city from the bridge winds around the hill past the Hospital de Santa Cruz, a. Fifteenth century building, and then through a Moorish archway that was nearly 400 years old when Columbus discovered America. It leads to the public square which still retains its Moorish name—the Zocodover. The “square” is really a triangle with one slightly round side. A wall of balconied buildings surrounds it, pierced at frequent in tervals by narrow cobblestone streets hardly wide enough for two Toledo donkey carts to pass. There are narrow sidewalks but few pe destrians use them. Toward the middle of the city, the lofty but graceful tower of Toledo Cathedral rises above the housetops. The narrow, winding streets in the neighborhood, bor dered by unattractive buildings, do not permit a full view of the edifice. It is a splendid example of French- Gothic architecture with carved monuments, stained glass and trac ery work comparable with that of other European cathedrals. It covers about the same area as that of Cologne cathedral and took 266 years to build. The foundation stone was laid in 1227. Busy Old Barcelona Barcelona is modern in appear ance, although the port dates to the Second century and ranked with Genoa and Venice in Mediterranean trade in the Middle Ages. The spacious harbor into which the Phoenicians sailed in quest of new peoples with whom to trade, and which Columbus triumphantly entered after his return from America, now is pierced by long, modern wharves, each accommo dating several large ocean - going vessels at a time. The old quay, now well paved, is lined on its inner side with modern buildings and a promenade flanked by two rows of palm trees occupies its center. The old part of the city, once surrounded by a wall, still has some of its canyonlike streets and bal conied windows of bordering build ings nearly meet. But many of these crooked lanes now open into wide streets. Barcelona has a magnificent Gothic cathedral, a university, many historic churches, museums, and new buildings of pure “Barce lona architecture, the lines of which simulate ocean waves, but the out-door life of the inhabitants is the lure of the Spanish city. B lOf INTEREST TO 1 HOTOflft Flowers for the house should be cut in the late afternoon. * * Beets are fattening and there fore excellent food for those de siring to put on flesh. * • • To keep tKe coffee pot sweet, boil a strong solution of borax in it occasionally. * • • Fill crevices in floors with putty and smooth off with a knife. Do this three or four days before putting finish on floors. * • * Custard filling will not soak in to crust if the white of an egg is brushed over crust before pour ing in custard. * * • Never wear rings, except plain bands, when washing fine laces, silks, etc. Rings may catch in fabrics and tear them. * • * Always wipe your electric iron with a clean cloth before heating it, to remove any dust or dirt. • * * To remove print from flour sacks, rub print with lard and leti stand over night. In the morning boil in water with soap in it, then rub until print has all dis appeared. • • • Never sprinkle rose bushes with the hose. Put the hose on the ground and allow the water to seep in around the roots of the plants. • • • If patent leather shoes and belts are rubbed occasionally with a glycerin-dipped cloth the leather will not dry and crack. © Associated Newspapers.—WNU Servlcs. Canine Gave the Game Away The talk in the club was on sen/ sible dogs. Brown said, “I have the best in the world. Seon after I got it the wife and I went out. On coming home several hours later, I found the dog lying on the sofa, so I gave him a sound hid ing. Next time I came in he was on the floor, but on finding the sofa was warm I gave him an other hiding, even more severe than the first. *T suppose that cured him. ,, said Jones. “Not exactly,” said Brown, “you see, the next time he was standing by the sofa blowing on it to cool it.” Costly Trek The most spectacular and costly trek in history took place between 1922 and 1924 when 500,- 000 Moslem Turks in Greece and 1,500,000 Christian Greeks in Turkey were returned, under an exchange agreement, to their re spective countries. This compul sory intermigration took a toll of 300,000 ilves through disease and exposure and cost more than $100,000,000.—Collier’s Weekly. HEALS BABY’S HEAT Soothe and heal baby’s heat and chafe with pore, snow-white Moroline. The 10c size / contains times as much as the 5c size. SNOW WHITE PETROLEUM JELUf Bat Who Does? No one is afraid of one who is cranky if he admits it. Up in the Morning Feeling Fine! The refreshing relief so many folks say they get by taking Black- Draught for constipation makes them enthusiastic about this famous pure ly vegetable laxative. • Black-Draught puts the digestive tract In better condition to act regularly, every day, -vithout your continually having to take medicine to move the bowels. Next time, be sure to try black- draught A GOOD LAXATIVE Another Good Habit Thinking seriously is habit forming. Keep it up. WNU—7 36—86 It Usually Is Reward should be in proportion to usefulness.