Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

"Oh, we're going to a luau, to a luau, to a luau, Where we'll dance the hulu-hulu On a beach beneath the stars. And there'll be a lot of singing, For the singing boys are bringing All their tricky ukuleles

And their sobbing steel guitars."

Yes, sir, some of tt e"e lajs irn goirrg to jo,in all those lucky friends of mine who have been there, and go to Honolulu. In this world of continual and bitter controversy concerning anything and everything, there seems to be only one subject on which all men meet on common ground, and that is Honolulu. I have yet to hear a single visitor who had a word of anything but lavish praise for that Island and its charm. It ought to be a grand place to rest a set of nerves worn to tatters by the hellaciousness of these days in which we are living.

Now and then some s""l";J rises to refute the charge that the Scotch race is a "tight" one. But the fact remains that the city o,f Glasgow, Scotland, with a population of about one million, has 60O,(X)0 savings accounts. Proving that the poet was probably right when he wrote that-"No Mactavish was ever lavish." *,r:t

P. T. Barnum, the famous showman, was Scotch. And, in order to effectively combat the extremely undesirable demand for free admittance to his famous show, he dug from the Scriptures the foll,owing quotations, and posted them at the front door of his show:

"Thou shalt not pass"-Numbers XX, 18.

"Suffer not a man to pass"-Judges llI, 28.

"None shall pass"-Mark XIII, 30.

"Neither doth any son of man pass thereby"-leremiah LI,43.

"Though they roar, yet they cannot pass"-Jeremiah, 32.

"So he paid the fare thereof, and went"-Jonah f, 3. *:f*

While Glasgow probably holds the world's championship for savings accounts" the good old conservative city of Philadelphia, Pa., holds, in my opinion, a much better championship-that of homes. There is a far greater percentage of single residence buildings in Philadelphia than in any other city of importance in this nation. And each year it continues to pile up a splendid record for building single residences-homes.

Which reminds me of J Ot! Jrot"y ad I read the other day in the Los Angeles Times. The Bank of America was the sponsor of the ad which had to do with home building. The heading read in big type: "Bank of America lends you both the MONEY to build the home you want, and the EXPERIENCE to help you build wisely." The body of the ad stated that as a pioneer in making FHA Title U loans, they had in two and one-half years helped more than 12,000 Californians invest more than fifty millions of dollars in substantial hornes. The ad continues: "When you finance through this bank, your plans and specifications are carefully checked by an FHA architect, and valuation experts pass upon the desirability of the neighborhood you have chosen. During actual construction of your home, representatives from both Bank of America and FHA make regular inspections to see that work is proceeding according to plans and specifications. When you borrow from the Bank of America you receive not only low-cost financing but the advantage of valuable experience as well." And THAT, folks, is my idea of a swell and helpful bank ad.

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I had something to say last issue about Adolf Hitler and his bedevilments. Since writing that I have learned that effective October 15, all Rotary Clubs in Germany are suspended. That great organization that preaches and practices fellowship, tolerance, helpfulness, honor, love of God and country, peace and goodwill among all good men, is now taboo in Hitler's country. Those sort of teachings cannot breathe the foul air of dictatorship, and live. So one of the last ties that has bound unfortunate Germany to a tolerant and hopeful world-is severed.

The President of International Rotary is now a Frenchman, elected at the last June convention at Nice. And, strange to relate, he was placed in nomination for that office by an outstanding German Rotarian. But even this sort of gracious gesturing had no effect on Adolf the Ax-Man. Rotary preaches equality and goodwill among all men, regardless of race or creed. So Rotary departs from Germany. ,t ,F :k

The stock market continues to sag "rri droop and wend its way downward. Aloud on all sides comes the questionWhy? The only answer seems to be-War. But that, in my opinion, is not the answer by about a million miles. The anxiety of all business men and all practical business thinkers over the present situation-'even though at the same time there exist various signs of a modest boom-is what is causing business shares to fall all about us. fn my own

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