Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-29

The reported appearance Of two
lonely and lifeleSs islands of the coast
of Brazil is a reminder Of the ancient
legend that a continent, termed Allan
tbs, once existed in the midst Of the
Atlantic Ocean and was engulfed after
the islanders had made a triumphal
conquest of the western coast Of Europe.
The scientific significance Of such lands
Is recognized in theories Of their dis
appearance in legendary times and re-
appearance Eow The discovery was
made by a mariner sailing under British
colors, but his failure to claim posses
sion by right of discovery gives Brazil
an opportunity to extend jurisdiction.
Their value to any nation is debated,
though a potential strategic worth Is
recognized.
British eagerness for land is recog-
nized by the Chattanooga Times. as it
discourses on the fact that "the master
of the British steamer Lelands seems
not to be in the line of those men
whose claims made so vast the posses
sions of their country" The Times be-
lieves that many an old English salt
of other days would have stopped his
ship and taken possession. or at least
made secret report Of his discovery"
and that "the conduct Of the master
Of the good ship Lelands must have
caused many a dead Englishman to
turn over in his grave or stir uneasily
in Davy Jones locker and many live
one to pinch himself" That paper
suggests "a decline in the English
hunger for land even a growing weari-
ness Of the burden of having so much
of the face Of the earth to look after"
but concludes that perhaps the affair
signifies nothing at all except that the
master Of the Lelands Is an unusual
EngliShman."
"Such possessions may be liabilities
rather than assets" thinks the Chicago
Tribune, agreeing, however. that the
avidity of Europe to pick them up IS at
least an instinct" AS a precedent for
the restraint of the master mariner, the
Tribune notes retrogreSsion on the part
of the United States, with Guam as an
example, and adds: "TheSe islands in
question are probably covered by the
Monroe Doctrine, If that still has any
vitality. It may be doubted that Mr..
Stimson thinks it has"
"Hailing these Islands as return OF
Atlantis attests the fascination the story
still has for man." remarks the st. Paul
OlSsJdUCLl, Will JIIC All bAACL
1.-THE story Of the lost continent, which
eventually sank into the sea, has in
trigued spectators In coSmography from
earliest times. Even Minnesota has some
interest in the legend. because the well
known politician, Ignatius Donnelly, the
Sage of Nininger,' was firm believer in
the Atlantean theory, and his brilliant
defense of 1t gave him vast reputation
as q scholar among his Minnesota
friends" An editorial writer in the New
York Herald Tribune declares he "hopes
the Atlantean mystery never will be
solved" because such a grand old
dream never should be lost as SUCH
I'm all the worlds romance" de-
clares the Hartford Times, nothing has
lived much longer than Plato's tradition
Of Atlantis, from which he claimed to
have heard from Egyptian priests many
thousands of years before his Athens
stood. came conquerors of the Medi-
terranean coasts"
Recording that the islands now
found are near st. Paul's rocks. far off
the coast of Brazil, the Times states:
est. Paul's rocks, like the 'Chimneys'
In the mideastern North Atlantic, like
the Azores, or st. Helena, are on a
ridge of the ocean floor, with branches,
which in irregular shape lies under the
ocean on both sides of the Equator, and
which in the South Atlantic reaches
almost all the way across from Africa