Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-08-13
HON. GEORGE WHITE MAKES
ADDRESS BEFORE ROTARIANS

4
/ The meeting of the Rotary club
was held last Friday evening at the
Malta hotel, the president, Chas. E.
Fisher, presiding. The usual order
of business, and the banquet took
place. There were 80 members of
the club present, and five guests:
Hon. George White of Marietta:
Chas. Gaylord of McConnelsville;
John Martin of Lakewood: Wayne
Macklem of Bristol township, and
/ Rev. George Van Artsdalen of Vic
tor, N. Y.
The first named of the guests
Hon. George White, former governor
of Ohio, was the speaker Of the ev-
ening. He was introduced by Mr..
David Lowe. Mr. Whites address
was a resume of his recent trip
around the world, following his we'd
ding
He and his bride left Columbus
| by airplane for Los Angeles, Calf,
the trip being made in 8 hours. At
| Los Angeles they took ship for Hon
olulu, and spent one day on the is
lands. They were received by the
governor general and were royalty
entertained. Mr. White was honor
ed by having wreaths placed around
his neck. These were marks of hon
or bestowed upon. him by officials
and organizations there. Incidental
ly, it may be mentioned that on their
sea voyages, Mr. and Mrs. White
We're always seated at the captains
table on the vessels, these honors
and others having been bestowed up
on them as result of Secretary Of
State Cordell Hull having introduce
ed them ahead to ambassadors, con-
suls and so on, SO they would be
looked after.
Their next stop after Honolulu
was at Tokyo, Japan-a short one,
and from there they took train for
Kobe, seaport of Japan, from which
place they boarded ship for
Shanghai, China.
The outstanding feature of this
place to Mr.. White was the people
people and people, SO crowded and
congested that as far as l 5 miles
out on the sea could be seen groups
of vessels, with so many as 60 fami-
lies in group, fishing, and living
there day and night. On the rivers
it was the same, only more crowded.
Manila came next, and here they
were entertained by the presi-
dent of the Philippine islands They
then went back to Shanghai. They
noted that the English dominate the
ports, and at Hongkong they noted
that the English have strong fortifi-
cations. They were entertained by
the consul general, and visited
shrines and other places of interest.
Their next stopping place was
Singapore, British island south of
the Malay peninsula, where many
interesting things were seen.
Bombay in India, where they were
received by the governor general,
came next. Here thing Of peculiar
interest was the Tower of Silence
a place of worship and burial for
those of the merchant class There
are three courts in this Tower of
Silence. No one except the priests
and the Prince of Wales has ever
gotten in as far as the second court.
Ex-Governor White had the priv
ilege of getting into the first court.
The third one-the inner court, is
where the priests, and only the
priests, can enter. A gruesome tale
in regard to this Tower of Silence
was told to Mr.. White. When a per-
son of the merchant class dies, his
body is carried to the gate of the
temple court. There the priests re-
ceive it and place it in the "am-
phitheater" which is surrounded by
great trees where focks of buzzards
roost, and these soon consume the
bodies of the dead-a hideous thing
we think, but one which has to this
class of the people of India a back
ground of religious belief.
Mr.. and Mrs. White left Bombay
with the governor general, and with
several merchants took the trip up
through the Red Sea and the Suez
canal. They visited the isle of NAL
ta-Melita of the Bible story, and
there they saw a church on the hill,
built by the Crusaders. In it, it is
stated, are some Of the finest tapes
tries to be found in the world.
They saw three Italian transports
headed for Ethiopia-two filled with
soldiers.
Through the strait of Gibraltar
and to Marseilles, France-right at
Tic llIllS VI the anu lu6y were
sent through the city officially by
automobile. They took train at Mar
seilles for Paris, and were there in
time to get the first breakfast serv-
ed at hotel following the big strike
over France. Mr.. Whites wife was
formerly a student in Paris, and
there both were delighted to meet
some of her former instructors
From Paris the next place of stop
ping was Cherbourg where they took
passage on the steamship Queer
Mary, the largest ship afioat-106t
feet long and 125 feet wide. They
came over in four and a half days
and landed at New York after a tril
of II days around the world, several
days less than Jules Verne wrote
about in his famous book, and with
plenty of stops enroute to see the
wonderful things.