Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1938-07-21
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
Continued from Page ~

-
first step! This is new note, for
usually America prefers to insist on
leadership; not so here.
His remarks have been critically
interpreted in several countries, not
ably in Italy and Germany where
they are discounted as just so much
bosh and talk in view of the fact that
the President always makes out case
for bigger and bigger navies and ships.
Hostile critics point out that if Mr..
Roosevelt meant what he said, he
would not recently have taken the
initiative in the movement to raise
the tonnage limitation of battleships
to $4,000 tons.
Same Thing There!
1t is the same thing in England,
for a few days ago Sir John Simon,
British minister of the navy, got up
in the House of Commons to express
his horror at the insanity implied by
increasing ornaments; before he had
finished. he had succeeded in urging
the House to uphold this insanity, for
he asked for new appropriation of
billion pounds Sterling-for the
naval defense The obvious question
arises: Why do the statesmen of the
great powers so piously talk against
war and at the same time do their
utmost to hasten its approach?
On to Valencia!
Even a long-distance view of the
battlefields of Spain and China ought
to be adequate as warning to the
diplomats. but evidently it isn't. This
week, the Spanish civil war now hav-
ing started its third year of carnage,
centers once more about Rebel Gen.
eral Francisco Frances attempt to
storm Valencia and thus pave the
way for the capture of Barcelona,
provisional capital of the legitimist
Spanish government. Ferocious fight
ing is reported to be in progress in
regions close to the Mediterranean
coast of northeastern Spain, and al
though the loyalist troops are fight
ing most valiantly, the net result so
far seems to be that they are yielding,
slowly but steadily.
Checked at Kiukiang.
In China it seems that the japanese
invaders in their efforts to reach and
capture the city of Hankow have
been at least temporarily checked at
Kiukiang by the defenders. Japan
csc plans have gone completely awry,
and the authorities at Tokyo are
chagrined at the slow and terribly
costly progress the soldiers are max
ing against the men who heroically
fight for China
The japanese assumed real bur-
den when they started their war, and
one indication of their realizing it
is that they have now withdrawn
their invitation to all nations to hold
the Olympic games at Tokyo in 1910.
The official reason given is that Japan
cannot afford it (war is expensive
business, you know!), and the unof-
fetal, that several countries, headed
by Scandinavia, some time ago de-
cided, as protest against Japan'S
war, not to send delegates to any
Olympics at Tokyo. 1t is now said
that this international athletic meet
may take place at Helsingfors, the
capital of Finland, but no decision
has yet been made.
Strife Elsewhere.
In Palestine, fighting between Jews
and Arabs-and British soldiers
goes on undated, each day char
acterized by the death of several per-
sons who get too close to bombs or
machine-gun bullets. There is moth
ing to indicate that negotiations are
in progress for the purpose of end
ing this conflict, and, so far, the only
method employed is that of armed
force.
1t has not yet come to that point
in Czecho-Slovakia, but there is a
new flare-up of hostility between
that country and Germany, for the
German press charges that the
Czecho-Slovakian army is mobilizing,
and Prague vehemently denies the
story, countering with an accusation
that Germany is trying to interfere
in affairs between the CZecho-Slov-
akian government and the Sudeten
Germans living under its flag. In a
few days the Prague parliament is
to meet and will then debate and vote
OIl d pldll w give lIlS ouuStSIl GSI-
mans and other minority groups a
measure of self-government within |
the general frame of the Prague gov
eminent and the national constitu-
ton Whether the Sudeten Germans
will be satisfied, cannot yet be said.
Royalty.
On Monday of this week Dowager
Queen Marie of Roumania died at
the age of g.; she was known as a
colorful parsonage, unafraid of say
ing unpopular things and stating blunt
opinions; she is remembered wildly
in this country from her visit here
twelve years ago.
Unless her death changed their |
plans, the king and queen of Great |
Britain were to pay an official visit |
to the French Republic, already once
postponed because of the death of the |
mother of the queen a short time |
ago; the visit is not thought to carry |
with it any political Importance.
And last Sunday Minnesota had
a glimpse of royalty at its most
charming when Crown Prince Gustaf |