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tSE THE- NEWS INTERPRETED A Commentary Ora, ^jie More Important Events of the Week. By ELIZABETH EEDY !” DEMOCRACY ON THE SPOT: Instead of planning to march in and take over Czechoslovakia whole- sale, at a single “coup”, as he did Austria, Adolf Hitler is in the pres- ent case using other methods which are calculated either to cause Czech- oslovakia to blow up from the in- side, or to give Hitler reason for coming to the “aid” of the German minority inside “Central Europe’s bulwark of democracy.” The campaign being waged is a cruel affair. Here in one of Eur- ope’s happiest, best run, most effi- cient countries, internal dissension is being stirred up, brother turned against brother. Konrad Henlein, leader of the Sudeten Germans, a party in the Czech parliament, takes his orders direct from Hitler, makes most unreasonable and uncalled-for demands on the Premier of his own country, insists that Czechoslovakia abandon democracy and become part of the “true Fatherland, Greater Germany.” It is predicted that early in June, Henlein will demand that the Germans in Czechoslovakia be permitted a plebiscite, expressing whether they desire to remain where they are or join Greater Germany. About that time, or even a little sooner, the crisis is likely to come to a head. (How would we Canadians like it should the French Government stir up all sorts of trouble in Quebec and cause our French-Canadians to demand a plebiscite: “Shall we stay with Canada or become part of France?”) Czechoslovakia has allies, pledged to come to her aidâ€"France and Russia. But now France is tied up in the new Anglo-French military alliance which does not guarantee Britain’s help should France choose to aid Czechoslovakia. In fact, Brit- ain is already telling the Czech Premier that his concessions to Ger- many are not good enough, that he must give in to Hitler still further. Czechoslovakia is in an intolerably difficult situation. Democracy has never in the history of modern times been put on so bad a spot. * * * * SPEED AT CROSSINGS: A sta- tistical survey made by the Motor Vehicles Branch of the Provincial Government reveals that most acci- dents in Ontario occur at intersec- tions when experienced drivers are at the wheels of cars, in good con- dition, in broad daylight. Too much speed is said to be responsibleâ€"-a speed greater than the traffic or road, conditions warrant. Nuff said. * * * * HIGHWAY TO ALASKA: Being pushed at this time by the Govern- ment of the United States and the Government of British Columbia is a proposed “five-nation” highway to Alaska, from" Mexico, through the U. S., British Columbia and the Yu- kon territory, P remier Pattullo, of British Columbia, was in Washing- ton last month conferring on the matter, and now the U. S. House of Representatives has passed and sent to the Senate a bill authorizing the President to appoint a five-man Commission which would negotiate with representatives of the Dominion Government. The building of such a highway would open up a whole new territory for tourist development in Canada and tap untold sources of revenue (which we badly need). Incidentally its value as a “military road” is self- apparent. * * * * AFRICAN OPENING: Italy is eyeing South Africa as a possible field for new trade developments. Prospects there are indeed inviting from the Italian point of view. Sale of coffee, cement and other goods from Italian East Africa to the Union of South Africa would pay for the purchase of South African meat for consumption in Ethiopia, and for raw materials to be used by Italian industries at home. * * * * WHAT CAROL’S AFTER: Dicta- tor King Carol of Rumania is work- ing up to something down there in his corner of Europe. After all re- sistance at home has been crushed (of the peasants, of the “Iron Guard”), observers tell us that he is likely to make a go for Hungary, swallow it up, with the connivance of Poland, eventually create a Bal- tic-Black Sea axis favorable to the schemes of Hitler’s Germany. John Gunther’s “Inside Europe” informs us that Rumania is a coun- try rich, rich in natural resources whose finances are bled, white by mismanagement of funds, and politi- cal graft. Just now the government owes France a great deal of money. * * * * BLOWS TO PRESTIGE: Hon. H. H. Stevens, Reconstructionist mem- ber in the House of Commons, de- clares that Dominion prestige and Dominion credit have been dealt sev- ere blows during* the past year. Re- ferring to the Dominion Govern- ment bond issue which went on the London market three months ago and hung fire for a week or ten days, he declares that the defaulting of Moosejaw on some bonds just pre- viously, was responsible, together with the loss in credit of certain of our provinces. Each now default places an even heavier burden on the Dominion, detracts from Cana- dian credit. rise BOOK SHELF By ELIZABETH EEDY | â- <&â- <*' #â- â™¦â- â‚¬> a # « o o “Here Ai*e My Lectures And Sto- le»” â€" By Stephen Leacock. “A year ago,” says Mr. Leacock, spoofingly, “I retired from college lecturing, at the urgent request of the college trustees, who were very grim about it. Now, at the request of innumerable friends all over the country, I am retiring from lecturing on the public platform as a humor- ist.” Here in one book are the fun- ny speeches and some other miscel- laneous items from the lunacy of Leacock, Canada’s premier humorist. Elsewhere Mr. Leacock has spok- en of his excruciating experiences while lecturing; here you get the lectures themselves, and quite a feast they make for those who have followed his written word for lo, these many years. The lectures are more serious, at least in spots, than some of us had been imagining. “How Soon Can We Start The Next War?” for instance, turns out to be Italy Has Lost 2,000'In Spain Admits 8,004* Wounded; Toll Is Larger Than That in Ethiopia The newest insurgent drive, which has cut government Spain in two, has raised Italian casualties in the Spanish civil war to 700 more than Italy admitted losing in her Ethiop- ian campaign. Figures published in April reveal- ed that more than 2,000 Italians had been killed and more than 8,000 wounded in the expeditionary force aiding insurgent Generalissimo Fran- cisco Franco. Of these, sixty-seven officers and 468 men have been killed since March 9, when the insurgent start- ed their drive through eastern Spain to the Mediterranean, In the same period 218 Italian of- ficers and"2,264 men were wounded and fifteen missing. Fruit Juice is Big Business Something like ten million cases of tomato juice are produced in Am- erica yearly. Second favourite is pineapple juice, in cans, totalling 2,- 500,000 cases, and third, well over the two million, is grapefruit. Orange, apple and grape juice come next in popularity in that order, with such exotic drinks as passion fruit, prune, apricot, peach, pome- granate, loganberry and papaya juices competing for high places on the popularity list. EDITORIAL COMMENT FROM HERE. THERE EVERYWHERE. AND CANADA Cur German Minority. Any day now Canada may expect to be faced by a demand from Hitler that we cease oppressing the German mi- nority within our borders or else.â€" Stratford Beacon-Hreald. •â€"-oâ€"- Not Perceptibly Sweeter The world is reported to Have con- sumed more sugar last year than ever before. But it does not seem to have sweetened international relationships ill perceptible degree.â€"Brockvllie Re- corder and Times. â€"oâ€" Service to ibe Community A single grain of sand is almost in- finitesimal, yet every grain counts In forming the far-flung shores of the sea. Similarly every individual wh is honest, industrious, and imbued h the spirit of service is an influence of real worth in any community.â€"Kitch- ener Record. Getting Lots of Help One result of the Rowell Commis- sion lias been the excellent work done on Its behalf by private and public or- ganizations, Through it, citizens in most parts of Canada have had an op- portunity to study and probe the fun- damentals of governmental expendi- ture and operation. These studies in Ontario Meter Car Deaths Increased 40% la 1937 Bâ€"D a timely oration full of sound sense, amounting almost to one of those talks for serious listeners-in on the radio. Lunatic But Happy Our lecturer is happiest, perhaps, in his talks to college audiences, such as “Recovery After Graduation, or Looking Back on College,” in which he mulls delightfully over the dear old campus scenes, gayly mis- quotes Shakespeare. “What I Don’t Know About the Drama” and three lectures on “Fren- zied Fiction,” give Mr. Leacock lots of leeway to give us scraps of bur- lesque. You can’t tell exactly how Mr. Leacock feels about life at this point, of course. In the final piece in his lecture volume he’s a trifle pes- simistic about retired professors who, think they are going to complete their great masterpieces now that the hustle and bustle is o’er. Here is his last word on that: “When peo- ple say to me, “You’ll be able now to finish your book on the History of Political Theory,” I answer, ‘To hell with it’.” “Here Are My Lectures and Stor- ies,” by Stephen Leacock, 251 pp., $2. McLelland and Stewart, Limit- ed, Toronto. Butterfly Eggs Poison Cattle Year’s Fatalities Number- - 756, Compared With 546 in 1936â€"- Accidents Cause Economic Loss of $38,309,000. PEIPING. â€" Butterflies are caus- ing the death of cattle in north China and Siberia, according to a Russian agriculturalist in this city. The eggs of the butterflies, laid on grass or corn, are poisonous. TORONTO. â€" Ontario motor car accidents caused 766 deaths in 1937 compared with 546 in 1936, an in- crease of -more than 40 per cent., ac- cording to official statistics of the Highways Department. There were 12,092 persons injured compared with 10,251 in 1936. Number of fatal accidents in- creased from 501 in 1936 to 686 last year. Total economic loss through car accidents in 1937 is estimated at $38,300,000. This includes monetary loss through deaths, injuries and property damage, including hospital care and other costs arising out of collisions. Speed The Major Cause During 193V there were 304 hit- and-run drivers involved in acci- dents, as against 221 the previous year, this type of drivei eing respon- sible for 14 deaths and 158 injured. Police apprehended 170 hit-and-run motorists. Excessive speed was given as the greatest contriuting cause in acci- dents, with driving on the wrong side of the road next. Figures also show- ed the most dangerous time on high- ways was between five and eight o’clock in the evening, Some With Physical Defects Last year 230 drunken drivers were involved in accidents, as com- pared with 177 in 1936, 16 of the accidents in 1937 producing fatali- ties. Ninety-six drivers with various physical defects figured in seven fatal accidents. themselves should reap rich rewards in a better understanding of public questions, quite ,apart from the delib-j orations of the Commissioners them-! selves.â€"Financial Post. Smoke in the Hills The weather grows warmer and No- va Scotians are beginning to enjoy the best of the Spring season. Anglers are going to the lakes apd rivers and others are taking to the open road for a change of scene and air. It is a) pleasant season. The sun begins to give some warmth, signs of life are on every hand, and the whole world is filled with anticipation of growth, and bloom. The countryside has a beauty peculiar to the season. Sturdy horses draw ploughs through the rich earth and blue smoke curls up from the hills as men of the soil clear their land of brush,â€"Halifax Chronicle. : â€"oâ€" Sick Motor Cars Tre Safety League is on safe grounflf when it insists that all Used cars: should be examined for mechanical de-’ fects before they are resold. If they: were, many of the death-traps to be1 seen on th highways would be on the junk-heap. Pending a general exam- ination of motor vehicles, drastic at- tention should be paid to those that' seem to be falling to pieces. These are a menace and should be speedily, removed. Special care should be exer-; cised toward making sure that per-' manently diseased cars, made temper-, arily convalescent with ,a paint brush and a monkey-wrench, are kept off the highways.â€"St. Thomas Timea-JottrnalJ â€"oâ€"- Indian Not Vanishing They used to refer to the Indian as the ‘‘Vanishing American,” but the fig-1 uros refute the theory entirely. The Indian, far from vanishing, is increas- ing in numbers, in Canada at any rate, so the picturesque and pathetic title no longer holds. Indian population figures in this Do* minion have varied somewhat in the last few years. The Bed Man did, indeed, appear to be declining numer- ically in 1924, when a census showed that .the. Indiana of Canada numbered only 104,000, as compared with 110,000 in' 1907. But latest returns issued by the Department of Mines and Re- sources show that there are now ap- proximately 114,000 Indians resident in this country.â€"Brantford Expositor. THE EMPiRf All in the Next: Front Litre “For ‘Barcelona’ read ‘Battersea’ or ‘Birmingham,’ and one need go no fur- ther than the day’s newspaper for a picture of tl" next war. None will be able to tell when he may be in the front line. Men and women alike will find the menace of death confronting them in aspects more horrible than ever tried the stamina of classic hero- ism. The King of: Terrors, when Hec- tor and I.ysamler faced him, was a gentleman in comparison with the shapes in which peril, death, and suf- fering will overhang every English- man's home. The bomb will rain alike on the just and the unjust, the stal- wart and the coward. Tenderness of nerve or conscience will gain no ex- emption. One and all, we shall be faced by a menace deeper than has ever darkened the page of history. If it be true that ‘all that a man hath will he give for his life,’ the instinct o' self-preservation has never been aroused by a such a summons.”â€"Lon- don Observer. THE WONDERLAND OF OZ The Gnome King became so exasp- erated by General Bings’ remark that he picked up his scepter, which had a heavy ball made from a sapphire at the end of it and threw it with all his might at General Slug. The sap- phire hit the General upon the fore- head and knocked him flat on the floor of the cavern, where he lay mo- tionless. Then the King rang his gong and told his guards to take the General out and throw him away, which they did. This Gnome King was a bad man and no one loved him. He was a powerful monarch and he had re- solved to destroy the Land of Oz and its magnificent Emerald City, to en- slave Princess Ozma, Dorothy and all the Oz people, and recover his magic belt. This Magic. Belt was the same one that had once enabled the Gnome King to carry out many wicked plans, but that was before Ozma and her people had marched to the un- derground cavern and captured it from him. The Gnome King < ould not forgive Dorothy or the Princess Ozma and he had determined to be revenged upon them. Dorothy Gale was now back in Kansas with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Uncle Henry, you remem- ber, had had to go to Australia for his health. That had cost a lot of money. Now he was home. There was a mortgage on the house and Uncle Henry could not pay, so the banker told him that if he did not pay it by a certain day, the farm l. i vvi urnnlil llzl falrotl