Walkerton Independent, Volume 54, Number 32, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 3 January 1929 — Page 2

Walkerton Independent Published Every Thursday by THE IND EPENDENT-N EWB CO. Publishers of the WALKERTON INDEPENDENT NORTH LIBERTY NEWS LAK EI’ILLE_ STANDARD "¥hE ST. JOSEPH COUNTY WEEKLIES dem DeCoudres, Business Munster Charles M, Finch, Editor SUBSCRIPTION RATES g* 11.8* ; Months .9* ry Months ~,,, ,M TERMS IN ADVANCE Entered at the post office at Walkerton, ^•4., as seoond-elaas matter. Time was when a girl who had nothing to wear was out of style. Science added six years to our lives and then gave us the auto and the plane. About the only time a nickel Is any good any more is during a taxicab war. -JiQfrtdar songs are being written now that haven’t been written for a . hundred years. Three-quarters of the liver complaint today. is about It costing 75 cents a pound. A man who is clever enough to be boss at home is also wise enough not to brag about it. Every time we count ten before speaking we forget what it was we were going to say. Simile: As obscure as some of the “famous authors” who come out en masse for a candidate. How wonderful, to have 12 trunks of nice things for the customs gentlemen to paw through I About the only bet left, in the detective mystery story line, is to have the author the criminal. The way to drive lizards off of lounges would be to restuff the latter with the old-time horse hair. The great orator’s only explanation, the morning after, was that the radio must have misquoted him. That slight rumbling in the early talking movies may be a truck passing by with the hero’s fan mail. So live that your biographer can dispose of several fascinating myths about you and still have a hero. The trouble with being a “thrill slayer” is having to wear wide stripes when plain colors are in fashion. Perhaps the easiest way to keep in touch with’ all of your relatives is to own a cottage at a summer resort. If there is 'anything in the protective coloring idea, why doesn’t Nature dress up the deer like a guide? It takes 64 muscles of your face to make a frown and 16 to produce a smile. Why work your face so hard? A woman who spends seven hours having her hair waved and getting a facial massage looks beauty-shop-worn. A Tennessee mountaineer whittled himself out a complete set of false teeth. Mounted in gumwood we assume. If Methuselah had run for office in his old age wouldn’t the opposition have been kept busy looking up his record ? A Hollywood babe, twenty-two months old, has a vocabulary of 300 words, one of which unquestionably is “Ramona.” Figuring four years as about the average college term, an alumnus is one who has finished paying on the coonskin coat. Once upon a time a man convinced his small son that algebra would fit him for something big later .n life, but his name is forgotten. There is no evidence of public thrift in the fact that more than a thousand million packages of chewing gum were manufactured last year. Ours is a very elastic language, and when a popular jazz leader takes a tune apart, and can’t get it back, it is called an “arrangement.” The shoe manufacturers have pooled a $4,000,000 fund to advertise their product, expecting, no doubt, to put everybody on their feet. ' Those disappointed with the various diet regimes might get in touch with the well-known British essayist who says, “Conversation makes the meal.” Fairy Story: “Once upon a time there was a man who arrived home with his arms full of 35 bundles, and everybody in the family rushed to open the front door.” Who can remember when the girl was pretty well fitted out to go away to school with a couple of blue skirts and three middie blouses? A writer says the distance from Funchal in Madeira to Bermuda is a certain number of miles “as the crow flies.” Do crows do that? The absent-minded fellow sat down and wrote his usual strong letter to a tobacco company last night, after stuffing a wad of tinfoil into his pipe and lighting the same. Tb.e most meticulous young man. locally—the one who puts on a hunting jacket to look for studs—recently bought a swimming suit to play pool. We are glad to learn that Mussolini has announced “a new vigorous policy.” His soft, easygoing ways have been causing us a lot of worry. The Georgia printer who fainted when informed that he had inherited 51160.000 probably will wish they had left him unconscious until the inher Itance tax was deducted.

NEWS RECORD OF THE ™ 1928 Summary of the Notable Events of the Twelve Months in America and Abroad. HOOVER’S BIG VICTORY Republicans Sweep the Country In the Presidential Election—Kellogg Treaty to Outlaw War Signed by Nearly All Nations— China Won by the Nationalists—Germany and the Reparations. By EDWARD W. PICKARD Herbert Hoover was the dominat ing figure of the year 1928 in the United States. This by reason of his sweeping victory in the Presidential election at the close of the most interesting campaign the country had had in many years, and his “good will” tour of the Latin American republics. Until the verdict of the polls was rendered, Mr. Hoover’s rival for the Presidency, Gov. Al Smith of New York, was almost equally in the public eye and the public mind. Economically and financially the country enjoyed a prosperity that has seldom been equalled, not withstanding the fact that the problem of relieving the troubles of the agriculturists remained unsolved Internationally, the outstanding event of the year was the putting for ward of the so-called Kellogg multi lateral treaty to outlaw war and its signature in Paris by nearly all (he civilized nations of the world Efforts to accomplish a reduction of armaments, made by the League of Nations and by various statesmen, had no definite results, but the Kei logg pact was looked on by most pea pie as a real step toward world peace. The tenth anniversary of the artnis tice found the questions of German reparations still unsettled but the governments most concerned were about to open a conference for the purpose of determining finally what and how the Germans must pay. The close of the year also saw steps being taken by President Coolidge’s ad ministration for the reopening of the question of American adherence to the world court in the hope that the European nations might accept the American reservations. In the Far East China provided much of the interest and to the relief of the world its internecine warfare was ended with the victory of the Nationalists. Japan furnished a spectacular incident in the formal coronation of Emperor Hirohito. Latin America was rather more peaceful than usual, with the exception of Nicaragua, and In that republic the American marines and diplomats succeeded in bringing an end to the civil warfare and in giving the little republic a real election of a President INTERNATIONAL Early In January President Coolidge created a precedent by journey ing to Havana, Cuba, to attend the opening of the Pan-American confer ence and to deliver an address before that body. He returned at once, leav ing the interests of the United States In the able hands of Charles Evans Hughes and his fellow delegates. At the instance of Mexico it was decided that the union should not have power to conisder political questions, though some of the delegates tried earnestly to make it virtually an American league of nations. Honorio Pueyrre don, head of the Argentina delegation, insisted that the union adopt a declaration against the maintenance of tariff walls between the American republics, and when Mr. Hughes would not listen to this and it was turned down by the conference Pueyrredon resigned both from his delegation and as ambassador to Washington. Before this occurred he and many others found occasion tb denounce intervention by one nation in the internal affairs of another, the attack of course being aimed at the policy of the United States in the case of Nicaragua. As it was evident that a resolution embodying these views could not be carried unanimously, further discussion of the subject was referred to the seventh conference. Definite results of the session were: The acceptance by twenty states of a code of private international law; adoption of resolutions that disputes of a juridical nature be submitted to arbitration, that aggressive war be outlawed and the republics of America committed to the use of peaceable means for the settlement of all disputes between them; the beginning of the codification of international law; the signing of a convention on commercial aviation, and the putting into full effect of the Pan-American sanitary codie In December there was a serious threat of warfare between Bolivia and Paraguay over the disputed Gran Chaco region. At the stime time a Pan-American conference on concilia tion and arbitration opened in Wash ington, and its first efforts were di reeled toward averting tin’s outbreak of hostilities. The council of the League of Nations also urged the two republics to settle their quarrel with out resort to arms. On February 6, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the sign ing of the first treaty between the United States and France, the two nations signed a new arbitration pact binding each party not to go to war with the other. The American government at the time suggested that a better way would be to unite the efforts of the two powers to obtain the adhesion of all the principal pow ers of the world to a declaration denouncing war as an instrument of their national policy. This was the inception of the multilateral treaty which Secretary of State Kellogg later proposed to the chief powers One by one the nations accepted the plan in principle, some of them with res

ervations, and finally the pact was drawn up to suit all. France there upon invited fourteen other nations to sand representatives to Paris to sign (he treaty. All responded, and on August 27 the ceremony was per formed. The pact was left open for the adhesion of other nations and within a few weeks most of the governments of the civilized world had accepted it. Promising as this movement toward general peace seemed. It was regarded by certain elements in some countries, especially the United States and Italy, with cynical derision. Approval by ti e American senate is necessary to give it effect, and some of the senators were known to be opposed to It. Senator Borah, chairman of the foreign relations committee, however, gave the treaty his warm indorsement. Great Britain and France an nounced on July 30 that they had reached an agreement that would be a basis for negotiating the reduction of naval armaments— which the United States had vainly sought to bring about. The terms of the agreement were not fully revealed, but it was soon discovered that they provided that Great Britain should have all the light cruisers, destroyers and submarines of 600 tons or less that she desired ; that capital ships of the size and armament needed by the United States were to be limited, and that, turning to land forces. Great Britain agreed to abandon her opposition to the principle of conscription, which would enable France to maintain the largest army on the continent. A storm of disapproval broke out not only in America but also in England and France, and the statesmen who had negotiated the agreement were denounced for their stupidity, for it was immediately evident that the United States would not countenance such an arrangement. Our government was not slow to express formally its rejection, ami Italy followed suit. The result was that the agreement was disavowed and abandoned. Evacuation of the Rhineland and the fixing of the total of the reparations obligations was still Insisted on by Germany. By the terms of the Dawes agreement she was paying large sums regularly on account, but the time when the payments should end was corning no nearer. The allies at last recognized this intolerable situation and in November It was agreed that a congress of experts should be convened to revise the Dawes plan and try to fix the total reparations. France persisted In the idea that the question of rep orations should be tied up with that of her war debt to the United States but Washington made it plain that this could not be. John Bassett Moore. American, resigned on April 28 as a member of the permanent court of International justice, commonly known as the world court. Most of the national groups nominated Charles Evans Hughes to succeed him. and the assembly and council of the League of Nations overwhelmingly confirmed the choice on September 8. FOREIGN Great Britain pursued the even tenor of its way, but was not in good economic condition. The great num ber of the unemployed, especially In the mining districts, led the govern ment to try the experiment of help ing many men to migrate to Canada and Australia to engage in agricultural work. This was successful to a limited extent but did not especially please the dominions. Early tn the year parliament passed the women s franchise measure, known as the “flappers’ bill.” and thus about five million more women were given the vote. During the session of parliament the house rejected the prayer book revision proposed by the authorities of the Church of England ; and Churchill introduced a spectacular budgetary scheme for reforming local government and relieving industrial depression. J. IL Whitley resigned as speaker and Capt. E. A. Fitzroy was elected to succeed him. Attacks on the metropolitan police led to a parliamentary investigation and to the appointment of Lord Byng as commissioner. King George contracted in flam ma tion of the lungs late in November and his condition became so alarming that the prince of Wales and his brother, the duke of Gloucester, hurriedly returned from a hunting trip in Africa. His majesty appointed a royal commission, headed by the queen, to act for him during his illness. Dr. Randall Thomas Davidson, archbishop of Canterbury and primate of England, created a precedent by resigning, in July, and Dr. Cosmo Lang, archbishop of York, was appointed to the place. The earl of Birkenhead resigned as secretary of state for India and was succeeded by Viscount Peel. On February 1 James McNeill was Installed as governor general of the Irish Free Slate. Perhaps the most interesting event in the empire, outside of Great Britain was the decisive defeat of prohibition in New South Wales and Canberra, the federal district of Australia. In November the South African cabinet of Premier Hertzog resigned and he formed a new government. France, as always, devoted an enormous amount of attention to politics. Premier Poincare held power throughout the year. In the elections on April 22 he won a decided victory, and wlren he resigned in November he was persuaded to retain office and form a new ministry. The radical socialists were recalcitrant and Poin care left them out of his government. The tenth anniversary found France in a gratifying state of rehabilitation. Most of the farm homes am] buildings had been rebuilt, the flooded coal mines had been restored to pro duction and factories had been restored and all were busy. The franc had been stabilized and the foreign trade showed a large increase Unemployment was almost nonexistent. The communists created disturb ances during the summer in Limoges, Troyes and Ivry but were effectually suppressed. Several Alsatian auton omists were convicted in May and sentenced to prison, but President Doumergue pardoned them. Scandals attending the granting of divorces by the Paris courts to Americans led to

reforms In the procedure of those tribunals. Germany, laboring under the burden of the reparations payments, was said by her ambassador to Washington to be distinctly on the upgrade. This notwithstanding rather unfavorable business conditions and an increase in the numbei of unemployed. With Premier Mussolini still its dictator, Italy seemed to be making steady progress, and the supremacy of the Fascist party was continued and strengthened. The duee put into full effect his plan for reorganization of the government to put practically all power in the hands of the grand council, accomplished monetary reform and put through a law for his pel scheme of land reclamation and utilization. Rumania was torn by dissension, the Peasant party demanding a share in the government. Finally the revolt grew so serious that Premier Bratiano was forced by the regency «.o resign and Juliu Manin, leader of the peasants, came into power as head of a coalition government. Ahmed Zogu, the handsome young dictator of Albania, decided that his country should have a king and promoted himself to that position, taking the title of Scanderheg 111. Soviet Russia’s rulers have not yet solved the great Issue of how to reconcile the conflicting Interests of the industrial and the agrarian sections of the population, and during the year there were sporadic revolts of the peasants, without result. The government continued its earnest efforts to enlist financial aid from abroad, and one of its successes was the completion of a contract with the International General Electric company of New York for the purchase of $25,600,600 worth of electric equii>ment in this country. The exploitation of the country’s rich oil resources was carried on energetically. The rules governing concessions to foreign business Interests were radically modified In September. Generally speaking, Russia was in a healthier condition than at any time since the revolution. Victory of the Chinese Nationalists was won after long and hard fighting and despite the opposition of Japan Marshal Chang Tso-lin, Manchurian war lord, was forced to abandon Peking on June 3, and on Ids way to Mukden his train was bombed and he was fatally injured. The Nationalists established a complete government and constituted Nanking the capital of the republic, '’hlang KalShek. their generalissimo, was elected president of the council. The name of Peking was changed to Peiping, meaning “Northern Peace." The United Stntt took the first step toward recognition of the new government by negotiating a treaty granting China tariff autonomy. Great Britain. Germany. France and Italy all began negotiations with tin* Nanking government, Japan alone holding aloof because of her claim that her old treaty with Chinn was still In effect Gen. Alvaro Obregon, being the only surviving candidate for the Presidency of Mexico after the recalcitrants had been suppressed, was elected on July 1. to take office on December 1. But on July 17. as he was attending a banquet in his honor, he was assassl nated by a young native named Toral. 'l’he crime created a great sensation and the trial of the murderer and his alleged accomplices was watched with immense interest. In November Toral was convicted and condemned to death, and a nun. Mother Concepcion, who was accused of being the “intellectual author" of the crime, was condemned to twenty years in prison. It was up to the national assembly to choose a Provisional President to serve fourteen months from December 1, and. President Calles refusing the lob, it was given to Emilio Portes Gil. The government showed rather more leniency toward the Catholics than In the previous year, and on September 17 it ordered all churches reopened. While American marines were trying quite successfully to pacify Nicaragua and quite unsuccessfully to catch Sandino, the rebel chieftain. Brig. Gen. Frank McCoy as the head of an American electoral commission was arranging for an honest and impartial Presidential election. This was authorized by a decree of President Diaz. The voters were properly registered in advance, and when they went to the polls on November 4 each man was required to dip his thumb in a stain to prevent repeating. The election was carried off peaceably and resulted in the choice of Gen. Jose Maria Moncada, the Liberal candidate. His majority over Adolfo Benard, Conservative, was about 20.000. Dr. Vincente Colindres was elected President of Honduras, and President Machada of Cuba was re-elected. On October 12 Dr. Hipolito Irigoyen was inaugurated President of Argentina. He is over seventy years of age, has been in public life for forty years and is deeply beloved by the masses of the Argentine people. Don Florencio Arosemena was elected to the Presidency of Panama and was inaugurated on October 2, and Dr. Jose Guggiari was chosen President of Paraguay. INDUSTRIAL America’s prosperity was reflected in the unprecedented business done by the stock exchanges and the enormous increases in the value of securities. During the summer the strikes of coal miners in the bituminous fields were settled, ami in July the United Mine Workers of America abandoned the Jacksonville scale as a basis for wage agreements. In the anthracite fields the deplorable conditions remained practically unchanged. Mergers of large banks and of automobile manufacturing companies were com pleted. Trainmen on western railroads threatened to strike for more pay and changed rules, but after the federal mediators failed to settle the dispute President Coolidge named a board to handle the matter and the men were awarded a wage increase of G ] Z 2 per cent. The American Federation of Labor held its annual meeting in New Orleans in November and declared war on the displacement of workmen by machinery. DOMESTIC Nothing else was so interesting to the people of the United States as the business of selecting their next Presi-

dent. The campaigning started early, and from the beginning it was tolerably apparent that Secretary of Com merce Herbert Hoover would win the Republican nomination, and that Gov. Al Smith of New York would head the Democratic ticket. The G. O. P. national convention met on June 12 in Kansas City with the Hoover delegates strongly entrenched, the only other prominent candidates being Frank <). Lowden of Illinois and Senator Charles Curtis of Kansas. Lowden was supported by the leaders of farm organizations who wanted the Mc-Nary-Haugen agricultural relief bill, and they promised that there would be a tremendous demonstration by farmers if the convention did not at least adopt a platform plank to their lik ing. This turned out to be a false alarm, and Hoover went over easily on the first ballot after the resolutions committee had fixed up a platform to conform to his policies. Senator Curtis was consoled with the nomination for Vice President. Mr. Hoover selected Secretary of the Interior Robert C. Work for chairman of the national committee, and the campaign work was promptly organized. The Democrats met in national convention in Houston, Texas, on June 26, and from that moment there was no doubt of Smith's victory. The southern Democrats, however, being nearly all dry and Protestant, made such fight as they could, and on June 28 accepted the nomination of Smith on the first ballot with wry faces. The enthusiasm of the governor’s supporters was such that there were many assertions that the party would stand solidly behind him. How wrong the prediction was is known to all. It took only one ballot for the convention to choose Senator Joe Robinson of Arkansas as Smith’s running mate. He was the first resident below the Mason ami Dixon line since the Civil war to be named on a Presidential ticket by either of the major parties, and his selection was regarded as a wise, strategic move. Governor Smith, on receiving word of his nomination, rather upset the convention by a telegram in which he declared he had not changed his opposition to the present prohibition laws and methods of their enforcement. John J. Raskob, chairman of the finance committee of the General Motors corporation, was made Democratic national chairman, and un der his leadership the party, for the first time in many long years, obtained ample funds for the campaign. Both candidates made several speak Ing tours, ami for the first time radio was used extensively in the campaign The people were thoroughly aroused, and the religious Issue, though deprecated by the leaders of both parties, would not down. It and also the prohibition issue cut both ways. In the middle western and western states the question of farm relief was played up. but In the end it was overshad owed by rhe fact that the country hi general was exceedingly prosperous, and the voters did not care to make an experimental change. Nor did most of them relish the idea of entrusting the government to a Tammany man and his friends. All In all. the prosperity issue probably was the deciding factor. The American people, men and women. went to the polls on November 6 in unprecedented numbers, and when their ballots had been cast Hoover and Curtis carried forty states with a total of 411 electoral votes, and Smith am! Robinson had carried eight states, with 87 votes in the electoral college Hoover's majority exceeded even that of Wilson in 1912. Moreover. he smashed the solid South, winning Florida, Maryland, New Mexico. North Carolina ami Texas. Smith's states were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia. Louisiana. Massachusetts. Mississippi. Rhode Island and South Carolina. He failed to carry New York, though Franklin Roosevelt (Dem.) was elected governor of that state. When the popular vote was considered, the de feat of Smith did not seem so humiliating. The total vote cast was ap proximately 35,000(100, and of these Smith received about 15,066,000. The Republicans made important gains in both houses of congress, so that Mr. Hoover is assured of legislative support for his measures for at least two years. Three more women were elected members of the lower house, bringing the total to seven. The only Socialist in congress. Representative Berger of Wisconsin, was defeated. Oscar De Priest, who ran as a Republican in Illinois, was the first negro elected to the house in thirtyfive years. Two weeks after the election Mr. Hoover sailed from San Pedro, Calif., on a good will tour of the republics of Central and South America that was to last about two months, and he announced that he would not select his cabinet until after his return. On his trip he was received everywhere will) enthusiasm by the officials and people of the countries visited, and it was believed the tour would do much to cement the friendly relations between the Latin American nations and the United States. Legislation for naval construction, flood control and farm relief occupied much time in congress from the first of the year. The first, as finally passed, provided for the construction of fifteen cruisers and one plane carrier and carried s364.<nmummi. in the matter of flood control President Coolidge insisted that the states especially interested must share rhe cost, and the measure adopted recognized this principle and appropriated $325,060.1 KN) for the work. The President was equally insistent against the McNaryHaugen farm relief measure and when both houses passed it he vetoed it. Another major piece of legislation was the finance bill which reduced taxes more than $200,600,006. The Boulder Canyon dam project, so dear to California, was the subject of a long and bitter fight. The house passed the bill, but when congress adjourned on May 29 it was left as unfinished business in the senate. Congress assembled for the short term on December 3 with small prospect of passing any important measures except the necessary supply bills. The Republicans decided that the matter of tariff revision should be taken up early in January, but it was virtually agreed upon that this and farm relief should be passed on to a

special session which Mr. Hoover had said he would call. President Coolidge in his message gave an account of his stewardsiiip for five and a half years and pictured the state of the nation as most favorable, with peace, prosperity and good . ill unprecedented. The senate passed the Boulder dam bill amended to meet objections. President and Mrs. Coolidge spent their summer vacation at a fishing lodge in northern Wisconsin. Their son John went to work in the oflices of an eastern railroad, and In November his engagement to Miss Florence Trumbull, daughter of the governor of Connecticut, was announced. The convention of the American Legion was held in San Antonio, Texas., in October and Paul V. McNutt was elected national commander. At the same time the United Spanish War Veterans met in Havana, Cuba. In September the Grand Army of the Republic held its encampment In Denver and chose John Reese for Its cow-mander-in chief. AERONAUTICS Col. Charles Lindliergh carried over Into the new year with his tour of the Latin American countries around the Caribbean sea, and Interest in his doings was maintained through 1928. On February 29 he was awarded the Woodrow Wilson medal and $25,<J00, and three weeks later President Coolidge pinned on his breast the Congressional Medal of Honor. In May he became connected with an air transport company. Late in the year he flew to Mexico and was the guest there of Ambassador Morrow, which gave rise to the report that he was Io marry Miss Morrow. The year saw some great events In aeronautics. First of these was Bert Hinklers solo flight from England to Australia in 15 days. Then in April Koehl and von Huenefeld of Germany and Fitzmaurice of Ireland, starting from Dublin, made the first westbound nonstop flight across the Atlantic. landing on Greenly Island In the Straits of Belle Isle. Capt. G. H. Wilkins and Carl B. Eilson made a remarkable flight across the Arctic regions from Point Barrow to Spitzbergen in April. The monoplane Southern Cross with a crew of four flew from Oakland. Calif., to Australia with stops at Hawaii and the Fiji islands; and two Italian aviators flew from Rome to Brazil. In June Amelia Earhart and two pilots flew from New Foundland to Wales. Art Goebel flew from Los Angeles to New York without stop In 18 hours 58 minutes, and Tucker and Collyer made the same flight in the other direction In 24 hours 5! minutes. Soon afterwards these two airmen were killed when their plane crashed in Arizona. Another great achievement was the flight of the huge German dirigible Graf Zepjtelin from Friedrichschafen, Germany, to Lakehurst. N. J., carrying mails, freight and paying passengers, and her safe return. Tragedies of the air were numerous, the most spectacular being the loss of the airship Italia on which Commander Nobile of Italy and a large party were exploring the Arctic regions from Spitzbergen. The dirigible fell on the ice floes and some of the men were carried away with the balloon part and never found. Others, with Nobile, were rescued after many attempts by airplanes and icebreaking steamers. Capt Roald Amundsen, the famous polar explorer, was among those who attempted to reach the survivors by airplane, and he and his five companions perished in the icy wastes. In March Capt. Walter Hinchcliffe and Miss Elsie Mackay of England attempted the western flight across the Atlantic and were lost at sea. Captain Carranza of Mexico, who had made a nonstop flight from Mexico City to New York, was caught in an electric storm as he started home and perished in New Jersey. Capt. C. T. Courtney and three companions. flying from the Azores to America, were forced down in midocean but were picked up by a steamship, and the same thing happened to two Polish aviators who started from Pa is. Hassell and (’earner of Rockford, 111., flew to Cochrane, Ont., and thence started for Stockholm via Greenland. They reached their first stopping place. Mount Evans, but their plane was too crippled to continue. In October Com. 11. (’. MacDonald, English aviator, undertook to fly from Newfoundland to England alone in a small plane and was lost at sea. A novelty that may be promising was the gyroscope plane, invented by a Spaniard, in which he flew across the English channel, rising and descending almost vertically. Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first flight of the Wright brothers, an international civ il aviation conference opened in Washington on December 12 with 49 nations represented. Orville Wright was the guest of honor and Charles Lindbergh was presented with the Harmon medal awarded by the In ternalionai League of Aviators. DISASTERS No disasters comparable to the Mississippi floods afflicted the United States in 1928, but southern Florida was swept by another tropical storm in September that killed 2,260 persons and did vast property damage. The same storm already tiad ravaged the Antilles, the losses in Porto Rico being especially heavy. A sensational event in November was the sinning of the steamship Vestris off the Virginia capes with the loss of 111 lives. of other disasters the worst were: In Januarv: Russian steamer foun flereu in the Black sea. 2<*l being drowned; mine explosion at West Frankfort. Tenn., killed 21. In Feb ruary: Twelve killed by oil refinery explosion in Everett, Mass.; fire in Hollinger gold mine at Timmins, Ont., killed 39 In March: Landslide in Santos, Brazil, killed 260; San Francisquito dam near Los Angeles broke and 436 were drowned; destructive earthquakes in Italy and at Smyrna with many deaths. In April: Earthquakes in the Balkans, in Greece and in Peru fatal to many. In May: Mine explosion at Mather, Penn., killed 198. In June: One hundred perished In a tornado tn Oklahoma. In July: Three hundred drowned when a Chilean transport sank; Libog. In the Philippines, destroyed by volcanic eruption

In August: Italian suitmarine was sunfc in collision. 27 men drowning. In September: Theater fire in Madrid. Spain, was fatal to about l_*O. In October: French submarine was sunk by a steamer and 43 were lost, in November: Destructive (bods in Missouri and Kansas; terrible storms on the Atlantic coast of Eur<q>e and on the Black sea. resulting In the loss of many lives. In December: An earthquake in southern Peru wrecked several towns and killed about 200 persons. NECROLOGY Among the well-known |*ersons taken by death were the following: In January: Loie Fuller, dancer; Emily Stevens am! Dorothy Donnelly, actresses; Marvin HnghitL railroad builder; Thomas Hardy and Vicente Blasco Ibanez, novelists; Louis Post, Talcott Williams and Arthur Clarke, journalists; F. IL Stead, English editor; Earl Haig, commander in chief of British armies in the World war, and Admiral J. M. de Itobeck of the British navy; Maj. Gen. G. W. Goethals, builder of the Panama canal; Rear Admiral Victor Bine. U. S. N.; Andrew MacLeish, E. L. Ryerson and William Du Pont, commercial magnates; Count Hugo Hamilton, Swedish statesman, and the earl of Warwick. In February: Herbert Asquith, earl of Oxford, former British premier; Prince Charles Lichnowsky, German diplomat; Marshal Armando Diaz, Italian commander in chief In World war; Eddie Foy, veteran cotnediar^ E. B. Butler, Chicago millionaire merchant; James L. Ford, author. In March: William H. Crane and Nora Bayes, actors; Rodman Wanamaker, merchant prince, and J. \V. Packard, automobile pioneer; Senators W. N. Ferris of Michigan and Frank B. Willis of Ohio; W. C. Sproul, former governor of Pennsylvania; Viscount Cave, British statesman, and Gustav Ador, ex-President of Switzerland. In April: Chauncey M. Depew; CuSc gressman J. A. Galli van of Boston and^ Martin B. Madden of Chicago; Stanley J. Weyman, novelist. IL C. Carton, dramatist, and Charles Sims, artist, all of England; Dr. Sanger Brown, noted alienist; John A. Dix, former governor of New York; E. M. Statler, hotel owner; Floyd Bennett, famous aviator; Archbishop Mora y del Rio of Mexico; Baron Peter Wrangel. leader of “White” Russians. In May: Congressmen T. C. Sweet ot New York and T. S. Butler of Pennsylvania; Sir Edmund GosSt^p^ England and Bessie Van Vorst of America, authors; Allan Dale, dramatic critic; Prof. Hideyo Noguchi and Dr. W. A. Young of the Rockefeller institute; Herschel Jones of Minneapolis and E. B. Piper of Portland. Ore., journalists; Dr. Edgar F. Smith of Philadelphia, eminent chemist; Federal Judge W. H. Sanborn of S:. Paul; William D. Haywood, former L W. W. chief, in Moscow. in June: Holbrook Blinn, Robert B. Mantell, Leo Ditrichstein and John Dooley, actors, and Avery Hopwood, playwright; John D. Work, former senator from California; Federal Judge Adam C. Cliffe of Sycamore, Ill.; E. T. Meredith, former secretary of agriculture; Senator Frank R. Gooding of Idaho; Donn Byrne. Irish American novelist; Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, Swedish explorer; J. R. Bone, editor Toronto Daily Star; Mrs. Emeiine Pankhurst, English suffragist; Marshal Chang Tso-lin, Manchurian leader; General SwinebarL American soldier of fortune. In July: Capt. Alfred Lowenstein, Belgian capitalist; Howard Elliot, railroad executive; G. E. Chamberlain, former senator from Oregon; Congressman H. IL Rathbone of Illinois; Ellen Terry. English actress; D. C. Davies, director of Field museum. Chicago; Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman; Dr. George Colvin, president University of Louisville; Rear Admiral W. M. Folger, retired; Federal Judge D. C. Westerhaver of Cleveland; T. B. Walker, wealthy Minneapolis lumberman and art patron. In August: George E. Brennan, Illinois Democratic leader; George K. Morris, New York Republican leader; Col. George B. Harvey, publicist; Congressman L. A. Frothingham of Massachusetts; Gov. A. IL Sortie of North Dakota; Maude Granger, actress; Gil Robinson, circus man; D. M. Delmas, noted San Francisco attorney; J. B. Laughlin, steel magnate; Viscount Haldane. British statesman; Marshal Emile Fayolle, noted French strategist; Mary Garrett Hay. suffragist. In September: Maurice Bokanowskl. French cabinet member; Rear . ^t^ral G. F. Winslow, retired; Bishop Lt. Hartzell of Cincinnati; Urban SJ^ker, baseball pitcher; Lincoln Eyre. American war correspondent: Roy K. Moulton. humorist; It. F. Outcault, comic artist; Brig. Gen. W. N. Bixby; E. A. Stilwell, railroad man; Sir Horace Darwin. scientist. In October: C. W. Barron, editor of Wall Street Journal; George Beban and Larry Semon, motion picture stars; A. F. Seested. publisher of Kansas City Star; W. J. Flynn, former chief of U. S. secret service; Benjamin Strong, governor of New York Federal Reserve bank; Robert Lansing, former secretary of state; George Barr McCutcheon and Frances Newman, novelists; Rev. IL A. Torrey, evangelist; Sir Frank Dicksee. English artist; Dowager Empress Marie of Russia ; Brig. Gen. F. IL McQuig-'. former commander of American Leg^ ” In November: Dr. Frank Crar f! Eliza Scidmore. American wriWVs; Prof. T. C. Chamberlin of University of ("hiea^o. noted aeolo^isj ; Dr. John Harding, father of late President Harding; Congressman W. A. (ffdfield of Arkansas; G. H. Jones, chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Thomas F. Ryan. New York final.-ier; Rear Admiral F. F. Fie’< her, retired; Gen. Baron Jacques, Belgian commander in World war; Admiral Scheer, commander of German fleet in battle of Jutland, In December: Henry A. Haugen, Chicago banker; Lord Tennyson, s- a of the poet; Ezra Meeker, last of the Oregon Trail pioneers; Miss Alice Longfellow, daughter of th- American poet; James A. Patten, Chicago financier; Jacob M Dickinson, former secretary of war. Theodore Rouer s, actor. (© by Western Newspaper Uuioa.)