The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-04-21

None of the tOrtureS which
thousands Of years Of expert
ence have taught them have
they forgotten, and every now
now and then they invent
some new ones.
Recently a sausage caravan was
captured by band of these people.
For two weeks the caravan leader
was Systematically starved while his
captors roasted toothsome morselS
of lamb and mutton over the Goals
where he could see and smell them.
Then he was crucif1ed and strips
of flesh, cut from his living body,
were offered to him to eat.
FlOut Chinese Control
These people are not Chinese.
They are no more Chinese than the
headhunters of Borneo are British.
Only nominally are they under the
Chinese flag, and the government
at Marking would gladly get at and
pacify them if it only could.
But it can't, and thereby hangs
the theme of this story.
Here, in the very heart of Cen
trail Asia, a spot so far away that
the average man scarcely dreams
of its existence, and which God
seems almost to have forgotten, is
one of the principal stages upon
which is being worked out the fate
of the continent.
Next to it, on the south, is Tibet
God Land" the lamas call it
up on the roof of the world, a
tableland 10000 feet high, a shelf
on the side of the Himalayas, lofti-
est mountains on earth.
Cold and Heat Intense
Bordering it on the west is Rus
sian TurkeStan, with its glamorouS
cities of Samarkand, Bokhara, Kul-
ia, Khiva. Tashkent, and KaShgar,
bosom of the empire of Tamerlane,
the Magnificent.
Mostly deserts and GASES. Central
rivers, one of them almost as long
as the Mississippi. But, strangely
enough, most of them just meander
out and lose themselves in the
burning sands.
Winters are so cold that an early
Russian expedition was practically
wiped out by billiards. while trying
to negotiate one of the deserts. OF
10000 camels and 1000 men, only
a thousand each came back alive.
Another expedition reported a
temperature so hot in May that at
10 a. m. the thermometer registered
149 degrees Fahrenheit. At noon
the thermometer exploded, ceasing
to register.
Four Nations Maneuver
In this hellish but historic region,
four nations vie for position-Great
Britain. Russia. Japan and China.
For China, it simply represents a
forlorn hope to gain control over
territory which Biographies mark as
hers.
For Japan, 1t is a far-reaching
effort to outf1ank her traditional
enemy. Russia.
For Britain the motive is India.
Britain fears that if Russia should
ever assert herself in that vicinity,
India might be lost to the empire
Time and again Britain and Czarist
Russia were on the ragged edge of
war over the mountain passes along
midas northern frontiers.
For Russia. foothold in Central
Asia is necessary to maintain some
Semblance of balance between the
lion and the bear.
Threat Over India
Russia does not want India. Fifty
years ago the cars foreign minister
at st. Petersburg remarked in his
instructions to the Russian ambas-
Sador in London
Our position in Turkestan is
purely defensive, considering that
we have neither the intention to
menace nor any interest in menac-
ing England in India. But it gives
us base for operations which if
required can become an offensive
one"
The meaning of this is clear.
Great Britain has many ways of
getting at Russia in Europe. while
Russia can not get back at Britain.
A strong position in Central Asia
to some extent remedies this situa-
ton.
CzariSt Russia frankly intended
that London should understand that
If Britain brought too much pres
sure to bear on her in Europe, she,
Russia, had means of bringing
counter pressure to bear against
Britain in India.
There is no reason to believe that
Soviet Russian policy has materially