Evening star. [volume], December 04, 1939, Page A-4, Image 4

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Tension in Passing
Through War Zone
Told by A. P. Writer
Rotterdam, Carrying 900
Refugees, Traveled
Through Mined Areas
Fred Vanderschmidt has just
returned to New York after
spending nearly three years in
war zones and European capitals
for the Associated Press. He de
scribes his return passage here.
By FRED VANDERSCHMIDT.
Associated Press Foreign Correspondent.
NEW YORK. Dec. 4.—A 10-day
royage through mine-infested waters
and war zones gives a deck-side view
of the British blockade and her
patrol of the North Atlantic.
With 900 Jewish refugees, largest
single group to reach here since the
war started, and other passengers I
arrived on the Netherlands liner
Rotterdam.
Grim faces turned to laughter as
the liner neared her destination
after passing through the treach
erous North Sea mine fields, the
British “downs" and the gale-tossed
convoy lanes of mid-Atlantic.
We slipped out of Rotterdam be
fore dawn, a blaze of neutral light
in a blacked-out sea. Capt. Thomas
• Stuut took us through the wild
mines of the North Sea and English
Channel, graveyard of thousands
of tons of neutral merchantmen.
Huddle in Corridors.
Too nervous to sleep, the refugees
huddled in corridors or picked their
way fearfully around the decks,
strewn with coiled rope ready for
launching uncovered lifeboats.
Daylight brought the dark shad
ows of British mine-sweepers and
the drone of a bomber, swooping
low to scan the tall letters “Holland"
on our sides.
Then the Downs! In this gray
reach of channel just off Dover, a
fleet of merchant shipping swings
dismally at anchor, the flags of
many nations dropping from the
masts.
Some of the ships have been here
for weeks. None passes without in
spection of the British admiralty.
As we awaited examination, a crip
pled freighter rolled low in the tide,
her decks awash.
The grey outline of a destroyer
raced to and fro on submarine
patrol.
Passed Britisn warsmps.
The Rotterdam cleared the Downs
during the night, but through the
next day the British mine sweepers
and destroyers stole past us in the
mist.
Six days out, and not a glimpse of
anything but British or neutral
shipping. A line of 10 vessels
steamed past eastbound, convoyed
by cruiser and destroyers.
Two refugees were dead and most
of them had been ill by the time we
reached New York. But for the last
three days the decks were filled with
laughing people who had shaken off
despair for the first time in many
months.
Ruthie Kirchen, 19-year-old Vien
nese, sang a gay song in a half dozen
languages in the crowded lounge,
although she had been up all night
before helping the ship's doctor.
A Vienna physician who had been
taking pills to induce sleep said with
a smile:
“Now it will be better.”
People's Lobby Asks
Dies to Probe New Deal
The People’s Lobby today asked
Chairman Dies of the House Un
American Committee to “investigate
who has been guilty of the sub
versive activities which have pre
vented the Democratic party from
carrying out its 1932 platform.”
“An investigation of such sub
versive activities,” said a letter from
the league, “could reveal why it is
that $60,000,000,000. of which half
has been borrowed, we still have
at least 8,000,000 employables un
employed, 1,500,000 farmers nearly
or quite bankrupt and a third of
our people ill-fed, ill-clothed and
Ill-housed.”
The letter added that “the sub
versive activities responsible for this
must be pretty dreadful” and ex
pressed certainty that “we can’t pin
them on Hitler or Stalin.”
Concert Announced
Dr. Walter Bauer will conduct the
Agriculture Department Orchestra
and Symphonic Choir in a concert
Wednesday at 8:30 pm. in the de
partment auditorium, Fourteenth
street and Independence avenue
N.W., it was announced today.
Boris, Whole Show in Bulgaria,
Rules With a Firm Hand
King Is No. I Man
By Deserved as Well
As Acquired Title
By ELMER PETERSON,
Associated Press Foreltn Correspondent.
SOFIA, Bulgaria.—With the tem
porary suspension of the Sobranye
(Bulgarian parliament) there is
new attention to the fairly tall,
thoroughly immaculate and slightly
stooped person of King Boris III.
who makes a hobby of driving rail
way locomotives and who employs
the same firm hand in ruling his
kingdom of 6,000,000 people.
Pending new general elections in
late December and January, King
Boris is again in the open position
of conducting a “personal regime,"
since even the facade of democratic
government is now removed for the
time being.
He is now, you’might say, pretty
much the whole show in Bulgaria.
He has the support of army circles,
both active and reserve. He has
the respect of his people and the
love and affection of a large share.
The No. 1 man in Bulgaria, by
deserved as well as acquired title.
King. Politician. Diplomat. A unique
figure in European politics.
Although some dissension bubbles
under the sjirface, the Bulgarian
public has accepted the suspension
of their parliament with remark
able calm.
Tribute to Monarch.
This is due, in part, to the ban
on any open political activity; the
restraints on public expression of
feelings. In part, however, it-must
be accepted as tribute to the Bul
garian monarch. There is a wide
belief in Bulgaria that King Boris
is a smart man and that what he
does must have point and purpose.
The Bulgarian public realizes that
this country is in a difficult position
today. To a* extent, at least, it
shares the obvious conviction of
King Boris that this is no time to
risk any recurrence of the sort of
party strife that Bulgaria has known
in the past.
It follows that King Boris has a
peculiar status in this day of figure
head and symbolic European mon
archs. To the loyalty he acquires
as a King, he adds definite abilities
as a leader. He has no open, no
publicly displayed support.
unmce uaroi oi Kumama ne nas
no dramatically encouraged national
front. If he pulls political strings,
he pulls them in secret. He has a
flare for sudden and bold moves,
and his political acts are not with
out drama. But there is very little
open buildup.
The people do the talking. The
King acts.
Called Parley of Leaden.
His most recent political move,
and a bold one in many respects, was
to summon 16 outstanding political
leaders to the royal palace to get
their opinion on foreign and domes
tic problems.
The assumption was that he in
tended to appease opposition circles
in Bulgaria's “non-political” Par
liament. The assumption was that
he intended to make a gesture toward
a return to party politics.
Instead, through his loyal Prime
Minister, George Kiosseivanoff, he
dissolved Parliament — promised a
new election.
In summoning these political
leaders, Boris flattered their per
sonal vanity. In letting them talk
themselves out in his presence, he
further flattered them. He asked
questions, ventured no opinions of
his own except to emphasize his
belief that Bulgaria must remain
neutral.
To one of these political leaders,
who was, perhaps, impatient with
things, Boris is reported to have
said:
“I am an old engine driver. I
don’t take a train straight through
from one end of the line to the
other. There are stops along the
way.”
And. this quality of patience is
outstanding today in King Boris,
who, at 45, is at the peak of an
amazing political skill and dexterity.
He has the experience of some bad
moments back of him. Moments
when his position in Bulgaria was
far more flimsy than real. He has
known confusion and crisis and
near disaster.
No Dynamic Personality.
One would expect an outwardly
dynamic personality. To the con
trary, King Boris today gives the
impression of a serious, reflective
professor or judge.
There is no swagger about him, no
spirit of fancy uniforms and belted
overcoats, no sceptered power. He
can talk on even terms with a peas
ant and he can, with a brilliant
mind and with eight languages at
his command, give wit and bril
liance to any conversation. He has
a calm, reflective way of listening to
the opinions of others; a quiet, but
forceful way of expressing his own.
Boris has a long record of homely,
kindly acts. But there are no
cameras around when he stops his
car to speak with a peasant.
There is a popular belief that his
delay in marrying was due to his
intense pre-occupation with the
affairs of his kingdom, and there is
evidence enough to back this up.
If his marriage, to the Italian
Princess Giovanna, proved popular,
the fact that his marriage has
provided an heir to the throne has
further endeared the match to the
Bulgarian public. Crown Prince
Simeon is now 3 years old.
KING BORIS III
British Resigned
To Passing Winter
Without Fighting
Many at Front Thinking
About Yuie Leave, but
With Little Hope
By SIR PHILIP GIBBS,
British War Correspondent.
WITH THE BRITISH FORCES
IN FRANCE, Dec. 4 (N.A.N.A., by
Radio).—The menace of a German
attack, which seemed Imminent a
month ago, is now unlikely for
some time because of the rain, the
floods and internal troubles in the
martyred states, which now are in
smouldering revolt.
Although the Franco - British
Armies are now, as always, on the
alert for any movement which
might happen, there is a general
feeling that we may as well settle
down into winter quarters, as the
Duke of Marlborough did in his
old campaign in Flanders, and make
the best of it as far as possible.
The officers and men are thinking
of Christmas leave, with a tug at
the heart for those who already
know that their chances are very
thin.
Meanwhile, the shopkeepers in
the little French towns are dress
ing their windows already with
Christmas goods and gifts likely
to appeal to English customers—
those muddy men with steel hats
slung over their gas masks who
come out of the bams, billets, dug
outs and gun emplacements up
there in the bog on occasional
visits by lorry to these centers of
civilization, where they press their
noses against shop windows like
small boys in search of new toys.
Not Having Gay Time.
One of these towns behind our
lines takes the place occupied by
Amiens in the last war. It was
badly knocked about by shellfire,
but ha* been built up • again.
Through this town there is a con
tinual traffic of British motor lor
ries and it is the scene of such
entertainment as can be offered to
the troops within reach of it.
It does not do to exaggerate the
amount or frequency of that form
of pleasure One is apt to give
the Impression by an allusion to
Oracle Fields or Leslie Henson that
our army is having a gay old time.
I can assure my readers that is
not so Unless the men make their
own gayety, as many of them do,
they are lucky if they get one
chance of attending a performance
by the players who have come out
to amuse them.
But it is a good sight to see them
crowding into the little old theater,
holding an audience of 700. Now,
for a night or two, it has been filled
with our men from many units
who have been brought down from
their trenches and blockhouses. I
was there one evening this week
when Binnle Hale and Violet Lor
raine. With Leslie Henson and
others, put on a show. It was a
brave show, for these players had
just arrived after a frightful Jour
ney, when all their clothes had
been swept by heavy seas, so, when
they put on their costumes, they
were wet all through. No one would
have guessed it.
Binnle Hale was adorable and full
of fire and zest. Violet Lorraine,
moved greatly by the thought that
she was singlilg her old songs to
sons of the fathers who heard them
in the last war, captured the hearts
of these men. Leslie Henson got
roars of laughter every time he
made a funny face.
They had a wonderful time in
those two hours, as happy as chil
dren at their first pantomime,
after weeks and months in desolate
places—many of them—where there
is only a tough kind of comfort for
those who know how to make it in
the damp straw under the beams of
old barns.
There have been two shows night
ly for the last three evenihgs, and,
last night, after the second show, I
heard men marching down the street
on tnelr way to their billets by
heavy transport and lorries. I can
not say that I saw them, for it was
pitch dark, but they were still sing
ing lustily and still under the magic
of the footlights.
This little crowd of actors and
actresses has been staying at an old
inn, where one now hears the tread
of heavy boots worn by officers and
their orderlies. It is strange and
pleasant to see the little ladies of
the stage popping in and out of
doors or taking their meals in a
room mostly crowded with generals
and war correspondents and other
formidable-looking fellows, some of
whom wear their battle dress, ready
for instant action even if it is only
with knife and fork.
It is stranger still to meet Leslie
Henson offstage and find him a
thoughtful little man with consider
able knowledge of world affairs and
serious theories on the economic
causes of war.
Lectures Being Arranged.
But in this war anything may
happen, especially in this old inn
into which came many remarkable
characters, including officers of oux
mechanized cavalry, tanks and
armored cars, who are the life and
soul of a party and very humorous
fellows even when driving their
tanks over rain-sodden fields. 1
should not be surprised to see the
Archbishop of Canterbury or George
Robey or Emperor Haile Selassie or
all three at once or any other un
likely visitor arriving on a week
end visit.
In the desire to give the troops
some mental relief now and then
from the daily routine of waiting
for war, the army is arranging lec
tures by volunteers from among the
officers and war correspondents. I
was tagged for this duty, and, taking
my courage in both hands, faced a
big audience of troops in a town
where once I had walked with a
sense of uncanny horror about me.
But the corps commander was good
enough to introduce me, and I con
fess I felt rather nervous at this
I talk I had to give, for an intolerable
sin would be to bore a lot of British j
soldiers Who could not very well *
leave the hall till the corps coos*
mander gave the signal. •
I kept my talk on the light side *
and raised a laugh now and then,
so I got away with it. Laughter to ‘
them is the spice of life; and they »
are good at making their own Jokes,
as their fathers did before them
even if the rain poured down on
them and their feet sank deeper in
the mud.
(Copyright, 1039, br th« McNaught
Syndicate, Inc.)
In the Middle Ages women wore '
masks to protect their complexions .
from the sunshine.
ownmar
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