A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 98, 20 January 1938, Page 7

A BACKGROUND TO THE NEWS

Dr. William E. Dodd A few days ago, Professor William E. Dodd, late IJnited States Ambassador to Germany, made a scathing indictment of Nazi policy. \ ..' Professor Dodd was American Ambassador in Berlin for more than Tour years. He is a man of liberal views and during his period of office tried to improve relations between his country and Germany, particularly over the Jewish question. He worked for the better treatment of the Jews in Germany, and, on the American side,-for the stoppage of the boycott and the anti-German agitation. Toward the end his relations with the German official world had not been very cordial, particularly since the last Nuremberg Party Congress in September, which, unlike the British an’d French Ambassadors, he did not attend. Dr. Dodd hopes to write a second.'volume to his history of the Old South of the United States. He was formerly professor of history at the University of Chicago, and is ah authority on the early history of the Southern States. “When asked to come to Berlin in 1933, he said, “I decided to accept the offer in spite of the fact that I was not a millionaire , and utterly unable to spend 50,000 dollars a year, as most American Ambassadors are in the habit of doing. I had-studied European history in Leipzig more than two years. . . . These experiences and genuine interests caused me'to come to Berlin in July, 1933, in the hope that I might render some service to my country an'd perhaps aid in the cause of world peace. Within a year of my arrival there were some real discouragements. . . . Germany is a marvellous country, with economic problems much like those which trouble all Western civilisation.” Prince Konoye One of the men who looms large in the affairs of Japan to-day is Prince Konoe, the Premier. Prince -Fumimaro Konoye is Japan’s thirty-fifth Premier since 1885. He is the direct descendant of the founder of the great Fujiwara clan. His popularity in the House of Peers, the scarcity of statesmanship in Japan, and the undivided support of Prince Kimmochi Saionji, the last of the Genro, dr Elder Statesmen, brought him into the limelight. Since the installation of the Cabinet system 52 years ago, there have been 36 Ministries under 22 men. Prince Konoye is the first to head the Cabinet without having gone through the test of holding office as a Cabinet Minister, and he is the youngest, with the exception of the first Premier, Prince Ito, who took up the duties of office at the age of 44. Prince Konoye, however, has been the President of the Upper House or the Diet for the past six years, and has gained tt great deal of prestige. In 1934, when the Tokio Government was semiofficially dispatching a series of missions to re-establish the amiable Japanese-American relationship, which had been disrupted as a result of the Manchurian incident, he Iva's in the United States as a “good-will” ambassador. At 13 .his father died, and so he became head of the Konoye family. He attended the Kioto Imperial University, and in 1919 accompanied Prince Saionji,, to whom he is distantly related, to the Paris. Peace Conference. At the age of 30 he was automatically elected to the House of Peers, over which, before the Russo-Japanese War, his father presided. French Parties

There is a political crisis in France, and efforts are being made to form a Cabinet. “Germany,” says John Gunther, “is Hitler. But France is a whole lot of people. Six hundred and ten of them are members of the Chamber of Deputies, subdivided into bewilderingly numerous parties and groups. In the less than 70 years of the French Republic there have been about 100 Cabinets. Living in France to-day there are 14 ex-Prime Ministers. From one point of view France is the reductio , ad absurdum of democracy. “Several factors cause this extreme I political fluidity. For one thing, as Siegfried says, the Frenchman wears his heart on the left, his pocket-book on the right; therefore, he is a creature of conflicting impulses. Second, the parties and groups are not clearly demarcated as in America or England. Politics is largely a matter of personality ; deputies are individuals rather than members of a rigid party machine, and many belong to no party at all. “The French electoral system is a combination of the British and American. in that the Chamber is elected for a stated period (four years), but that the Cabinet must resign if it is outvoted ; the new Cabinet carries on with the old Chamber, which is the source of much of the confusion. There are so many parties that no single one can command a majority; they combine in coalitions. The Left can seldom form a straight Left Ministry, but it is always strong enough to throw any other Ministry out. “The changes, the reshuffles, do ; not as a rule mean much. The Public Service—the permanent staff of each Ministry—holds the fabric of government tight and secure. The Prime Minister is titular rather than actual ruler of the country: he is a weather-vane, registering with fair accuracy the state of public opinion at the time; behin'd him the bureaucracy'carries on.” Nish

A peasant, named Bozo Labowitsch, who claimed to be 137 years of age, has died at Nish. Nish is a fortified garrison town of Serbia on the left bank of the river Nishava. Its position is importamt from a strategic point of view, for it lies at the convergence of several' of the important Balkan high roads, ahd also at a railway junction. It is also ir centre of commercial activity. There is a railway repairing factory and au iron foundry. It is the see of a bishop and the place of a royal residence. The population is about 25,000. Aberystwyth During a severe storm in the English Channel, damage estimated at £20.000 was done on the promenade at Aberystwyth. Aberystwyth is a town near the mouth of the River Ystwith, Cardiganshire, Wales. The people are engaged in fishing and in the manufacture of woollen goods and machinery. It is the seat of the University College of Wales, and is a great bathing place Edward I built a castle there, and the remains of Owen Glen'dower’s dwelling still exist. Taliesin, the poet, is supposed to have been buried there. The population is more than 11,000. Owen Glendower (Owain ab Gruf fydd) was born in 1359 and died in 1416. He was a famous Welsh chieftain who opposed the English in Henry IV’s reign. He was the last champion of Welsh independence against the English kings. Taliesin was a late sixth-century British bard. He is held by some to be a purely mythological personage.