Evening star., 1933-01-29


That is how he rose from a $25-a-week
agent to be armament king of Europe
Astute, worldly, diplomatic, Oriental
and Of ambassadorial presence, he
moved about from capital to capital
as quietly and secretively as q Col.
House or Montagu Norman. There
were private interviews with men who
mattered, discreet little parties given to
the right persons, occasionally demon
stration.
AS he swelled he found (as the
Rothschilds had done before him) that
the external regalia of official rank Is
useful. The French granted the "Ad-
ministrateur de la Soc!ete Vickers-
Maxim as he was described in the
official decree, the Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honor. He appeared re-
Splendent at Westminster Abbey in the
panoply Of Knight of the Bath. He
endowed chairs of literature at the
Universities of oxford and Paris in the
respective names of Haig and Foch.
oxford granted the war contractor the
honorary degree of doctor Of civil law.
In short, Zaharoff had found out how
to move among the great, who can in
| fluence war orders, and how to tnf1u-
ence publicity.
You may still see the aged arma-
ment salesman padding around Monte
Carlo in his rubber -soled boots, always
overcoated, a funny little round hat
pulled down over that head which con-
ceals so many secrets.
He is out of the game now. After
the Great War his armament firms
turn over to the requirements Of
peaceful world saucepan lids. plough
shares and the like. But they were
inexpert at the unfamiliar job. Vickers
lost $62 900 900, Armstrong; $50000,0 900.
The bankers made the two great rival
British firms amalgamate. Zaharof1
had got out with his vast profits. He
also thought that the great days were
over. He was wrong. There was an
other big boom around the corner.
One must regretfully remark that
there are no worthy successors to this
great artist in arms salesmanship. The
business fourishes, but it has ceased
to be picturesque. Even the sporting
element, implicit in that mastery deal
Of Zaharoff's when he sold the Greeks.
then preparing for war with Turkey
the first practical submarine. and then
crossed over to Constantinople, told the
Turks all about it and sold them two
even that has gone.
Like Commercial Travellers.
AS 1OT tllc SCIlIlCIIlOh Va tAAC o0oA-
ness" as the gun runners call their
trade, they more usually resemble COM
mercial travellers than the hatchet-
faced crooks or dashing adventures Of
popular fiction and film melodrama.
They were all on view in Shanghai one
day last Summer. News of a $4,000 900
order had brought them hurrying to
hotel, the port and clearing house,
these days, for the war material bought
from the British and European arsenals
for both China and Japan. There was
nervy little Greek, the famous ex-
colonel associated with an international
business group with headquarters at
Belgrade, and the equally celebrated
Irish ex-captain representing French
amalgamation of interests. Spies and
military attaches pricked up their ears.
But almost Immediately they were re-
assured. The Canton crowd were in
the market for arms again. Looked
/ like more trouble for the Marking
group whom the powers find it con-
venient to recognize as the government
Of China, but that was all.
armament business. the gun runners.
and swing the dubious ready money
deals which the big armament firms
do not care to handle direct. I'VE
have the arms. Don't ask where they
come from" Is one Of their slogans
Another is: We can get the stuff,
but have you got the cash?" An in
teresting little crowd. adept at operat-
ing behind the scenes, knowing every
inch of the ground of those subter-
ranean mazes which link politics and
ernment surpluses, discarded material
and job lots from the stocks of the big
armament Manufacturers. And how
they get 1.-The doings" is nobodys busi-
ness.
A League commission In 1928 did
seek to stop possible leak or two by
suggesting that certain information
should be supplied in regard to licenses
granted firms to manufacture war ma
terial But some small nations buying
abroad did not like the idea of the
world knowing where, how or what they
we're purchasing, and the delegate for
Britain put the attitude Of the big pro-
ducers in q nutshell when he said
that his government had not the in
formation required, the manufacturers
themselves would refuse to furnish 1t
and few governments would have the
courage to introduce legislation to COM
pei them to do so.
Big States Attitude.
The big states prefer to let the private
dent in the patriotism Of its own group.
and each concentrating on making
things hot for any gentlemen OF "the
business" who try to run stuff any
where in the territory they are inter-
ested in. Try to buy load OF arms in
Paris for a destination known to be
within the French inundated territory
of Syria, and see what happens to you.
But arrive in Paris or Prague with a
large letter of credit, and let 1t be
known in the right quarters that you
are in the market for a supply OF sec
ond-hand rifles and machine guns, with
ammunition and etceteras, for the lord
of brace of Chinese provinces, and
(provided you can prove your bona
fides) you will be very unlucky or s1ngu-
larly inept If you cannot get the
doings" shipped and delivered without
undue delay or fuss.
Italy keeps a strict watch on her
home and African seaboards. America
watches the Philippines like lynx. 1t
is next to impossible to run arms into
Korea. The British secret service sees
that nothing starts for any troublesome
part of the empire particularly India.
and that if it does start it fails TO ar
rive. The home government keeps a
tight control of all exports. You have
to get Board of Trade license, which
again requires the Endorsement of the
foreign Office, and relevant service de-
partment, war, admiralty or air minis
ter, before you can ship war material
out of the island.
The British have tightened up control
lot since they nearly innocently land
ed shipload of arms in Russia in 1921.
The hard-pressed bolsheviks wanted
arms badly British and American fac
tories had been turning out the standard
Russian rife for the Czarist armies. One
lot of $4,000 stands Of arms, with 600
rounds for each rifle, had been bought
By British aims dealer from a dis
posal commission in England The pur-
chase was on behalf Of White Rus
sian rrnlln who said theY were resellinR