Imperial Valley press., 1935-09-18

LlkenlnB ElIlOpld 70 d lHOueli
setback sky-scraper. each level Of
which presents lnsurmountable ma
tural obstacles to an invading force,
Raymond Keck, world traveller and
recently a visitor to that country,
told a group Of local service organi-
zations last night at the Barbara
Worth hotel that conquering Ethio-
pia is impossible and declared it was
his firm opinion that there will be
no war with Italy.
He explained his statement that
war will not come as being founded
on the general knowledge which
must also be possessed by Italy that
Ethiopia is impregnable; that the
Italian population is not 100 per cent
behind Mussolini in his ambitions;
that its financial condition will not
enable it to prosecute a war; and
that other European nations will
not permit war to happen.
He charged Hitler with being the
direct cause of the present Ethio-
pia-Italy squabble, explaining that
with the Italian army removed from
Europe, it would enable him greater
freedom for action in his plan to
unite Germany and Austria, and
would break the solid circle which
has surrounded Germany since the
close of the World war.
World ethics have improved since
the days when strong nations went
around gobbling territory from
weaker ones, he tleclKed, and point
ed to the almost universal opposi
ton to Italy's course toward Ethlo-
pia as proof of this assertion.
Italy has a triple cause for wish
ing to get Ethiopia, the speaker stat
ed, including additional land for
colonization, revenge for the defeat
by Ethiopia in 1896 and a means of
blackmailing England by gaining
control of the source of the Nile RI
yer, which in turn controls the cot
ton growing area in the Sudan sup
plying English mills with their raw
material.
Country OF Opposites
He gave a graphic description Of
conditions in Ethiopia, stating it is
a country of contradictions, in that
it's people are not blacks, as gen.
orally supposed, but dark-skinned
whites: that it is Christian yet pa
gan; it is civilized and unciyilized;
it is rich in inttral resources, but
still poor.
Doao,,,,+;,,or 4l,a jiFficpIt;ac of in,
vasion he enumerated the sandy
desert, 200 miles across, in a torrid
climate, which must first be over
come by any invading army. Tanks
and heavy artillery would be useless
and an absence of sanitary water
would make it necessary to bring in
supplies by ship, as the British had
to do in the campaign nearly 80
years ago.
Passing the sandy stretch, which
| also offers plenty of opportunity for
diseases of all sorts, an invader
| would strike an area of extremely
difficult country covered with q
| thorn growth, springing out of hard
volcanic rock. The combination Of
thorns and rock would play havoc
with clothing which the Italian SOL
dier would need. The Ethiopian,
wearing no clothing or shoes, and
knowing the country, needs no such
! equipment.
The third level presents the jungle
with all its dangers Of wild animals
and surprise night attacks, the IA
vorite method of fighting with the
Ethiopians, much on the same style
as the American Indians.
The fourth level, before the coVet-
ed plateau country is reached, pre-
sents difficult mountain passes, Of
ten large enough only for men to
march in single file and present eX-
cellent human targets to hidden ri
flemen.
Arriving at the plateau, the top of
the skyscraper, an invader would get
nothing, the speaker said. There are
no cities to capture with the eXcep-
ton of Adds Ababa, merely a col
lection of huts and foreign owned
buildings, the latter offering trouble
to any invader in case they were
harmed. There would be no popula-
ton, as the natives would have re-
treated into the jungles and the
mountains. The invader would find
himself in a trap of mud when the
rainy season came, making it pos