Nogales international., 1932-12-17
Today and
.1olktQR&Sw
FRANK PARkERk NX II
NOCkBRID6ER ~ NJ


al Alberto Alessio of the Italian
Navy, whose duty was to report on
the usefulness of the biggest of all
italian merchant vessels for naval
purposes in case of war.
"All of the worlds shipbuilding is
under the control of men whose
chief preoccupation is war; said one
expert. mo important ship can be
built anywhere today without gov
ernment subsidy, and the subsidy
is to enable the navy to control
the design and construction of the
ship. so it can take it over for fight
ing purposes if necessary"
Eyes; and the United States is.
the most rigid in Its requirements"
said another. an American. "Our
adnoirals sit in washington and tcy
to make every commercial vessel
built in America into a warship.
One result is that we have trouble
competing in cargo carrying and
passenger traffic, with ships OF
other nations.
Perhaps the world will sometime
get out from under the fear of war,
but not if men whose livelihood is
earned by preparing for war have
their way.
WIRELESS - I'm thirty years
Thirty years ago I stood with
Marconi On Table Head, Cape Bre-
ton Island, and listened to him pre-
dieting what his wireless telegraphy
would some day do. 1t hadn't done
anything up to then.
Every ship on the ocean will have
it." he said. Passengers will get the
news of the whole world every day"
It sounded incredible then. It is
still a marvel, for his boast came
true. I am writing this in midocean
on the Rex. A few minutes ago l
read the complete report of the
days price fluctuations on the
worlds principal stock exchanges,
received by wireless and posted on
the ships bulletin board. Just now
a boy brought to my cabin daily
newspaper, printed on the ship and
containing the most important news
CT the day from America and Eur
cpe.
fl wanted to I could go up to
the Marconi room and telephone to
l.,y folks back in America. Marconi
din't dream that particular devel-
-epnent of wireless; the radio tele-
phone is due to Lee de Forest, an
American who set out to improve
on Marconis work.
Some time-neXt year or later,
perhaps-it will be possible for
travellers at sea or elsewhere not
merely to talk with folk at a dis
lance but TO see them. Television
is "just around the corner"
COURAGE - - demand of sea
It is impossible to cross the At
lsntic, if one is of thoughtful tenn
perment, without marvelling at the
courage of those who first sailed
across it. Columbus's largest ship,
the Santa Maria, was less than 100
feet long; five hundred Santa Ma
r:as would not take up any more
room than the single great ship on
which 1 am writing this.
It took him more than two months
to make the voyage we are complet-
ing in six days; two months of I'M
certainty amid utter loneliness. For
nothing can be lonelier than the
open sea. For three thousand miles,
between New York and Gibraltar,
we on the Rex saw no sign of life
outside OF our ship; we sighted no
other ship, saw not a single gull or
other bird, not even a whale.
Police Commissioner Mulrooney
CT New York and stood at the rail,
looking out over the empty ocean,
and debated whether Columbus or
L:ndbergh showed the most courage.
We agreed that Indy took the
greater chance but that Columbus
took the greater responsibility. We
left it that they were both brave
men.
TUNNEY model
Crossing the Atlantic one OF my
fellow passengers was Yale profess
scr, who told me that almost the
entire faculty of that university felt
the greatest admiration for Gene
Tunney, retired heavyweight boxing
champion. Gene took some special
courses at Yale, and has lectured to
student classes on Shakespeare.
What we admire about Gene is
his character and his intelligence in
developing his native ability" said
Continued on Page Four)