The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-05

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Viewed from one angle, Carol
royal vagabond, more concerned v
welfare of his country.
Viewed from another angle he
may be a young man who was I'M
happy in a loveleSs royal marriage
that was not of his own choosing
and disguised with the machina-
tons that surrounded the Ru-
manian throne and therefore sought
to get away from it all.
CERTAINLY his father, old King
~ Ferdinand, was king in name
only during his last years when
Carol was growing to manhood.
The powerful Bratianu family,
which had imported the royal fam
lily from Germany generation
before when Rumania gained its
freedom from the Turks, really
ruled the country. Ion Bratianu,
prime minister, led the king around
by the nose-politically speaking.
Queen Marie, Carols mother, tried
to buck this outfit when she came
from England as the young grand
daughter of Queen Victoria to be-
come Ferdinands wife She failed
and, being wise, promptly joined
them.
~ROWN PRINCE CAROL, how
~ ever, was imbued with more
independent ideals. He hated Bra
tianu and the latter's brother-in-
law, Prince Babu Stirbey, mys-
terious figure at the Rumanian
court.
when I am king I will clean out
your whole crowd" he is once re-
ported to have told them.
And so there was war within the
royal palace.
When Carol fled with Nine. Lu-
pescu a graft scandal was prompt
ly discovered in connection with
the purchase of military airplanes.
He had approved the contracts in
question, to be sure, but his friends
say he countersigned them inno-
Gently.
ITO the devil with this crooked
business!" Carol is said to have ex-
claimed, when these accusations of
dishonesty reached him. Il am sick
Of it all; I am going to enjoy life
normally as any man should"
It Il n
1T was the Bratianu influence, it
l. is claimed, that compelled King
Ferdinand to demand Prince Carols
remuneration of the throne after it
had been represented that Carol, in
Paris, was plotting a revolution in
Rumania.
Bratianu quoted the king, then
almost on his deathbed, as saying,
Carol is the foul branch of the
dynasty which must be cut off to
save the tree"
And when Ferdinand died and s.
year-old Michael became king, Bra
tianu followed this up by appoint
ing himself executor of what he
called the last will of the dead
king.
Moreover, he became Queen Ma
rie's Disraeli, guiding her as he had
guided Ferdinand.
The brand of Rumanian politics
that Carol had asajled was notori-
Gus. The Liberals. with Ion Brat
ianu at their head, ran the country.
The profits of members and
friends of the government were not
a subject of gossip or scandal. They
were mentioned in a matter of fact
manner as a sort of accepted and
expected practice.
TON BRATIANU'S brother Vim
l. tia, was minister of finance and
thus in control of bank credit.
Credit was both scarce and eXpen-
sive in Rumania, costing ordinary
folk from 80 to AZ per cent. Thus,
when peasants defaulted on their
lands - as many cid - they were
forced to sell them for whatever
they would bring The liberals
bought and prof1ted hand
somely.
The brand of politics practiced
in elections, it has been said,
would make a Chicago ward boss
think he had died and gone to
The local police project was a
car with powers to pass on tax
sheets, applications for shopkeepers'
licenses and the like. Seldom. there
fore, did anyone dare risk his dis
pleasure on election day.
When Ion Bratianu died, his
brother, Vintila, not half as shrewd,
succeeded him as the power behind
the throne.
Clamor for the return of Carol
began to be heard openly and soon
it increased.
TINE CaroIists' strength continued
l. to grow and the time for his
return rlpened sooner than even he
himself had expected.
Announcement that everything
was ready came to him in a tele-
gram from his brother, Prince
Nicholas, while Queen Marie was en-
route to the passion play at Ober-
Carol responded quickly, arriving
in Rumania by airplane at mid
night.
Next day the national assembly
met, solemnly decided that Carol
had never renowned his rights, that
little Michael had never been king,
that since Ferdinand's death the
rightful king of Rumanla had been
Carol II" and therefore unclaimed