Saturday, 26 October 1929

Berlin:  

Germany observes the 1,000^th anniversary of the year 929, when East Prussia and Brandenburg officially became German.  But the celebration raises sore points relative to Germany’s post-war borders.  West Prussia is now part of Poland, creating a strip of land called the “Polish Corridor” between two German-controlled territories.  Former Chancellor Hans Luther, in an address, says, “First, the east provinces' fate is Germany's fate.  Second, a nation's duty is to help its weakest members.  Third, the impossible corridor has no support either in history, common sense, or justice.  As Abraham Lincoln once said, 'No piece of work is done until it is done right.'  For us Germans who are working for a true European peace and who must work to hold and strengthen the German east provinces, the rule must now become, 'What thou hast inherited from thy fathers, strive to deserve, that thou mayest actually possess it.'"

Washington: 

Senator Thomas Heflin introduces a resolution in Congress calling for Secretary of State Henry Stimson to turn over all information he has on the Fascist League of North America.  This comes after Harper’s Magazine published an article entitled “Mussolini’s American Empire,” which claimed that the FLNA is part of a Mussolini plot to “raise soldiers for fascism” in the U.S.  The article also says Italian consular officials in the U.S. have been been involved in training Italian-American children in an effort to get them to join the Italian army when they're older.  "These youngsters," the article says, "most of them born here, not only are being taught in Italian schools established by the Fascisti, but actually are being given preliminary training to fit them for the Fascist army.  The article claims Italian-Americans are being taxed by Italian authorities, and that Italian-Americans traveling in Italy are being detained and forced to undergo training in the Italian army reserve.  "This, again, is in accord with Mussolini's idea that all Italians are his subjects and that war material can and should be drawn from America as well as from any other colony."

Nobile Giacomo de Martino, Italian Ambassador to the U.S., issues a formal statement denying these accusations.  "The Italian military law which is attacked in the article is not a product of fascism.  It was promulgated long before the advent of fascism and was enforced by previous governments.  It is not a system unique in the relations between the United States and Italy, such a system existing in numerous other countries."

The U.S. State Department also recently instructed its Ambassador to Rome to protest to the Italian government abouts the allegations.  

To read the November 1929 Harper's article

Manchuria:

A London Times military correspondent files a report stating that the "real problem" in the Soviet-Sino Manchurian conflict is White Russian troops who fled the Russian revolution and now virtually control Manchuria and even parts of northern China.  According to the report, White Russian generals serve as military advisors to the Chinese nationalist government, and in Manchuria, they actively work to provoke conflict with Russia, in hopes of re-igniting their lost war.

At Mukden, these soldiers keep a munitions factory which produces 500 shells, 300,000 cartridges and 120 rifles per day -- by far the highest and best output of any military factory in China.  They also maintain a rudimentary air force of 250 outdated planes.  They have also formed several mounted infantry units.  "There is no doubt that it is these men who are the driving power behind the Chinese to rid Manchuria of soviet Russians and soviet influence," the dispatch says.

China:  

Continued fighting between nationalist government forces and communist rebels is reported around Chengchow, an important railroad hub in north-central China.