Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1936-12-17
GETTING DOWN TO
BRA


ITO BE OR NOT TO BE~-A KING
No matter what our opinion may be
regarding the incidents which lead up
to the abdication of King Edward VIII,
n thing stands out quite clearly in
the minds of the newspaper fraternity
it made the biggest story that has
happened in the world since the Ar
mistice. To begin with, here was the
ruler of the greatest empire in all the
world establishing an unhitherto pre-
cedent and renouncing his throne. In
the newspaper venacular, it was a
story made to order" Whether the
king abdicated or not would not have
lessened the widespread human inter
est in Simpson-Edward love tangle and
its accompanying complications. II was
Just one of those yarns" that couldn't
miss" The $50 million people report
ed to have listened to the Kings fare
we'll address to make up the biggest
radio audience of all time, testified TO
that.
And the final chapter has by nc
means been written. True, Edward has
left the throne; another member of the
royal family has been crowned king.
David Windsor, now carrying the title
of Duke of Windsor through the grace
of his brother, has gone into exile in
Austria. But there will be much to oc-
cupy the vigilence of newspaper re-
porters in the months to come. A di-
vorce is yet to come for Mrs. Simpson,
and that is still more than four months
away. People will want to follow the
activities of both the LADY in waiting
and her lover until they are free to
marry. But more far reaching than the
marriage, and affecting a greater num-
Der of lives, we believe, will be the re-
sultant effect of Edwards withdrawal
as ruler of the British empire. Already
one nation is practically ready to re-
nounce allegiance to the crown and
become a republic. Others may fol-
low. Surely there is evidence that King
George vi will not prove the popular
ruler his brother had already become,
and there may be consequent weaken
ing of the hold of the nobility owe the
great masses of subjects.
In spite of its very serious aspect,
the Wally Simpson affair had unmis-
taxable flavor of a Graustark. 1t might
have been devised by Robert w.
Chambers, with music by Sigmund
Romberg. That it should have hap
pened in England, Of all places, is
enough to make a supreme court JUS
tice chuckle with mirth. Stanley Bald
win, conscientious and nobly-inten-
i'll 1xo+.~.11, rnnronI annc1dn7-nh l "
hustered as he BUNDLED back and
forth between palace, parliament and
his prime minister's residence. The
cabinet, converting with much solemn
ity, to deal with the menace created
by a charming young woman from
Baltimore, looked something like play
ers in a Gilbert & Sullivan opera. The
two people who managed to retain
their dignity far better than all the
rest were, peculiarly enough, the two
very persons about whom all the fuss
was being made-the king and Mrs.
Simpson.
The King has been sacrificed for
what? To keep anachronism alive in
this modern world. England, a most
t~horouphgoing democracy, has kept the
institution of kirgship. With every
thing else in the land brought up to
date. il has insisted on preserving the
kinpship under glass, like a treasured
fragment of the 18th century. The king
has none of the power his torbears
enjoyed, but he is supposed to play by
the same rules they played by, to act
as if he and all his connections were
of a finer clay than that of the COM
mon folk.
II seems to have occurred to King
Edward that this is all nonsense. why
not take this museum piece out from
under its glass case, blow of the cob
webs. and bring it up to date? Why
not indeed? Citizens of a republic are
probably barred, by the nature OF
tb;nqs from discussing the thing m
t~ellipently; vet they can hardly be
blamed for having a sneaking feeling
that Edward was fighting principally
Acknowledgement old fogeyism! Little
wonder that the common people were
with him. Not surprising that, as you
roat neople on the street or rubbed ell
hows with them as they worked, mere
in America, sentiment ran overwheim-
inelv on the now-exiled kings SIDE. y
inst couldn't be otherwise, 1t WASH !
that we were being maudlln; or tha'
we were seeming to condone looseness
in marriage vows or customs; 1t was
inst that we admired a real human
being who wanted to throw on ihe
mantle Of superfciality and be IKE
other folks. We Of America ike ina
because we're that way.
David Windsor will have the woman
he loves. In exile now, rid OF the irk-
some restraints and stutfy, conventioh
that he always detested, he insists NJ
IS happier than at any previous unn a'
IN his whole career, even when ne wa
the Prince of Wales. And, he VIII ul.
doubtedly always be able to feel ina.
while %eainign his freedom, ne mas ne;
hetraved his empire by leaving
without an able leader. In the neV
Wing. the Britons will have gained :
n,ler at least more seriously suited u
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