The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-08


touched by the intense suffering of
the strikers and against all prec-
edent he had sent his personal
check for $50 to the Somerset
Miners Distress Fund.
Never in all history had the
heir to a throne boldly aided the
unpopular side held by the under
dogs.
He had resold the Empire to
far-fung dominions, and now he
was reselling England to the low
ly working men who were being
broken by unemployment, strikes
and the world crisis.
TWO years later, on Christ
l. mas night, he broadcast an
appeal in behalf of the Lord
Mayors Fund for the relief of
distress in these same mining
areas.
His words were burning with the
intensity of his feeling. He had
written down the speech on his
own typewriter:
Picture for moment an I'M
employed man in, say, the Rhond-
da Valley or in Durham. He has
been without work for months,
perhaps for year or more.
"His small son is packing off to
school with only a thin jersey be-
tween his back and the bleak win
ter air. Shirt and vest he has
none. His little sisters shoes and
stockings don't bear thinking
about, and her dress is a cloak of
her mothers, who doesn't go out
of doors until her daughter comes
home, for the simple reason that
this dress is joint property.
And day after day the. father
tramps the one narrow, winding
street of the valley town-the
same little postofflce, the same
half-empty shops, the same cha
pei, and ever the grim, overhang-
ing hills, sonber and treeless,
shutting out all but the one slit
of the gray sky above"
II Il
LIE had followed this appeal by
IL personal visit to the closed
mines. For two days he tramped
through deep mud and snow, CALL
ing at house after house that know
the extreme limits of poverty and
tragedy.
"This is positively CHASTITY" he
muttered time and again. 1T
makes me sick at hear to see and
know that there are such condi-
tions."
AS quickly as time would per-
NIT the Prince insisted that he be
taken over the very worst sections
OF England, Scotland and Wales.
One of the most dramatic Incl
dents has to do with a great din
ner at the House of Parliament
to all men wearing the Victoria
Cross, probably the most highly
coveted medal in the world.
After the dinner was announced
it was discovered that many of
the V. C.'s did not even have suf-
ficient money to pay their way to.
London. A special fund was raised
and on this night of Nov. 8, 1929,
321 men wearing the simple
bronze cross of honor met at the
Royal Gallery of the House of
Lords.
The seating had been previously
done by a drawing of numbers.
At the right of the Prince sat
Sergt. w. F. Burman, now a
chauffeur. He had won his deco
ration by cleaning up desperate
machine-gun nest.
At the left of the Prince was
Viscount Gort of the Grenadier
Guards, who when badly wounded
had crossed an open bit of ground
to obtain the help of a tank. So
it went around the great board.
THE Prince spoke from his
l. heart: There are those of us
on whom the Sovereign has been
pleased to confer the most Honor
able Order of the Bath, the most
Exalted Order of the Star of In
dia, the most Distinguished Order
of st. Michael and st. George or
the Most Eminent Order of the
Indian Empire.
Tonight I speak, If I may, of
the most Enviable Order of the
Victoria Cross-the most demo-
cratic and at the same time the
most exclusive of all orders of
chivalry.
Democratic because it takes
not the least heed of a mans rank
Or his social status; exclusive be-
cause its simple insignia is the
most coveted honor to which His
Majesty's subjects can aspire, and
it also gives the right to entry
into the most select corps we know
in this Empire
"You, our guests, have been
awarded an honor which, it is true,
can only be won in time of war;
and there is no wise man living
today who, having learned what
war means, does not pray that
war may never again come in this
life"
Never had there been a dinner
quite like it, and probably it will
never be repeated again. The
Prince was the only man present
who did not wear v. c., but
there was no soldier there who did
not look upon him as a true COM
rade, a soldier who along with
them had done his full duty and
fought good fight.
MONDAY: Frazier Hunt paints
a colorful word picture of "The
Bachelor Prince Who Became
King" as he is today in his new
regal role as ruler of the worlds
larceSf qunuira