The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1929-12-13

As We See 1t
Nv Tom O'FIaherty

u tomperature is almost as
- "a at the South Pole as rlgnt
Ow = PIentywOOd, according to
S6e5ifs.rd 6eiS T E. Byrd, explorer extra
Henalu Sasy who has dropped the
Iroh,G nr;csu flag in the centre OF
An saeIlItaT antarctic circle. Byrd flew
the S,iIes ai beyond and around the
tDt.om ~ n Of the earth. The pole is
OOSV s"ge CAP fringed by mountains,
anu : nus IN the centre of an uplifted
SIls hundreds of miles in dia-
atSr shl There is no possibility of
lD.SiuO p on that chaotic terrain he
I s which is another good rea-
10Y" G wby the United States and
TInglanH I should 60 to war over
NE big iceberg.
.mong the adventurous charac-
,.-. with Byrd is a professional
1,;sb G trOuble-seeker by the name
= McGinnis. He totes the title
y Cautain which he earned run
U;rg I Guns in some Balkan scrim-
msSe Hardly a war has taken
nl.ee in the last two decades
hat he hasn't injected himself
into He is a man of advanced
aniniOns but he believes that
5eaIs are no good if they are not
Sorth fighting for. Whatever
O0sitiOn he takes on political or
s0ciaI questions, it is predicted on
tbe hOUe that it will lead to hos
6Iities He joined the Byrd ex-
peditiOn when the Kellogg Peace
Part went thru. He thOt this
agreement signed the death war
rant of war for evermOre and to
drown his sorrow he sailed for the
South Pole,
3
Once. while McGinnis was out
Of wOrk-which means out of war
he asked me TO use my influ-
ence in starting a fight some
where. advised him that l was
content with having licked the
British Empire, a task that Occu-
pied my time for about twenty
five years and that ! had reform
ed and was now something of a
Dacifist in practice tho not in
theory. He told me that he had
large family TO support, that he
thOt | was acquainted with some
South American revOlutiOnists
who, according to o. Henry, fol-
bowed the profession selected for
his life work by Captain McGin-
mis-.
As a matter of fact all / ever
knew about South American rev.
OlutiOns came to me from a per-
usal of the said O'Henry tales.
However, my heart was melted by
the captains tearsOme plea and
asked him if he had any partic-
ular choice of country in which to
ply his warlike trade. He re-
piled that on looking over the map
there was no country where the
Possibilities for slaughter and
carnage looked better than in Chi.
ma. ITS a great country" he
said, trembling with excitement
"and the population is more thar
4OO,OOO,OOO... | could make a for
tune supplying the armies moi
recognized by the League of Ma
tons with smuggled weapons
Of war. And he added. as il
catering to my belief that wars
should not be indulged in mere1.
iOr purely mercenary motives
III do my best to free the peas
ants from the grip of the tyran
nous tuchuns."
AS | was writing a series of ar
tlcles on the Chinese question a
me time | did not want to bav
!he situation disrupted and per
maps an entirely new one substi
!uled before l could get my stuf
IN PRINT, so | eOmbed my brain fO
Sme scheme to get McGinnis of
Cnma. The possibility of placin
gun in every Chinaman's HON
!SOk him by storm and l kne,
'aat 1t would take a lot of ingeE
w'y to get him off the track.
aeUinnls ever got running gun
WuO that country it would mea
new alignment of tuchuns an
would have to rewrite my al
ueles which promised to win m
N. %C.OshltlOn as an expert on ii
OluheSe question. l realized {
sOuiSe that at best it was utopia
" expect that my Chinese anal,
ss would Outlive the changes 81
IOn'hs Ia would be likely to brins
~. S:s. II really doesn't make muC
g Sglllertnce to a journalist wheth,
G% passing of time proves he
E Eis"' or wrong as long as he ge
als y. stuff published. People fo
se seI easily fortunately for ther
on9 r,,es as well as for the polite
anO military experts.
nc = | could only think of cOup
=, u,..a nations equally persona n,
snu:. ,asa 70 me, here was an Oppo
unity to make trouble for the
b0: oould introduce McGinnis
VII er respective cOnsuIates. CO
- Ls ~, 'hem that it was their du
Son l. Mi each other off by proxy
tos" nOr OF their respective ance
MS T's and gods and promise tbc
4 E,'I.y Of publicity and a pensi
i b.nise Ease their governments we
Bnt BAlupt I as a result of the W,
aSa;e @ mere was another rub. Mu
sa.as' nsos my viii and desDite !
idU,gsslOn, idsa1;sslOn | had imbibed a lot
mvaoIs a,lsm and could not bri
resD,n.!, , % .,t the point of taking
velpO pOnSloility ;l9ity for what might
%ioRP. P INTO another world war
Raise Oe T,s sent 10 Holland with
This was unthinkabIe