Evening Star
- Duce and British Secretary Confer
- Cold and Hunger Forcing Miners to End British Strike
- The Star Sets New Record
The Evening Star's front page of September 30, 1926, carried two prominent dispatches involving Britain. An Associated Press dispatch from Leghorn described Mussolini slipping out of Rome incognito by special train to receive Foreign Secretary Sir Austen Chamberlain aboard a former Turkish yacht, with cheering crowds on the old Medici docks and the subject of the talks kept secret. From London, John Gunther cabled that cold and hunger were driving miners back to the pits — about 150,000 now at work — as A. J. Cook spoke of an "organized retreat" and delegates weighed Prime Minister Baldwin's offer of a national arbitration tribunal if the men first returned on the owners' district terms. A front-page editorial hailed the day's 78-page issue as a new record, "with possibly one or two exceptions," for regular American dailies and argued that a newspaper is the heart and voice of its community as well as an economic necessity.
Translation
DUCE AND BRITISH SECRETARY CONFER
Mussolini Meets Chamberlain on Yacht Anchored in Leghorn Harbor.
By the Associated Press.
LEGHORN, Italy, September 30. — Premier Mussolini received Sir Austen Chamberlain, British foreign secretary, aboard the yacht Guilana in the harbor here today for their much-discussed conference, the subject of which was kept secret up to the hour of the meeting.
Mussolini, traveling in strictest incognito, left Rome last night on a special train. He spent the night at Vada, a small station 20 miles from here, and arrived in Leghorn shortly after 9 o'clock this morning.
Destination Kept Secret.
Except for the railway officials, no one last night knew that the premier was coming here, as the newspapers had mentioned several other places as possible sites for the meeting with Sir Austen. As the news of his arrival spread, flags began to appear throughout the city.
The premier and his suite were driven in automobiles from the railway station to the port, where they boarded a motorboat and were taken the Guiliana, a former Turkish yacht captured during the war.
Chamberlain Comes by Boat.
Shortly afterward Sir Austen, who had arrived last evening on the yacht Dolphin, descended into a tender with his suite and was taken to the Guiliana escorted by the Italian scouting ship Tigre.
Meanwhile the weather, which had been threatening, cleared, and the sun shone brilliantly. The old Medici docks were filled with spectators who shouted enthusiastically.
Premier Mussolini, in a gray morning suit, and attended by Signor Grandi, undersecretary for foreign affairs, received Sir Austen at the gangway. They clasped hands warmly, exchanging felicitations. After introducing the members of their suites, they retired for a private conversation.
COLD AND HUNGER FORCING MINERS TO END BRITISH STRIKE
12,000 Sent Back to Pits Since Monday Bring Total Working to 150,000.
TRANSHIPMENTS OF COAL ARE PUT UNDER EMBARGO
Government Seizes Cargo From U.S. Consigned to Belfast Under Emergency Measure.
BY JOHN GUNTHER.
By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
LONDON, September 30. — Cold weather has broken the coal strike. Upward of 12,000 miners, defying the strike leaders, have been forced back to work in the pits since Monday, making a total of about 150,000 miners now working.
"Emperor" A. J. Cook, secretary of the Miners' Federation, said Wednesday night that an "organized retreat" must begin as a result of the chill weather and of starvation. The retreat will become a landslide within a week, it was predicted today.
Strike May End Today.
The national conference of miners' delegates, meeting Wednesday, saw that the fight was hopeless, but as a last effort to evade unconditional surrender, deferred action until next Wednesday. Final decision will be based on district votes of the miners.
But the strike may be called off late today or tomorrow as a result of a further meeting of the conference of delegates to discuss Prime Minister Baldwin's proposal to establish a national arbitration tribunal to settle the dispute if the miners first return to work on the owners' district terms.
Negotiations Are Over.
Secretary Cook's speech is a confession that negotiations no longer are possible and that the miners must either submit to the owners' terms as a whole, or dribble back to work [?]
The Star Sets New Record
With today's issue of 78 pages The Star establishes a new record, with possibly one or two exceptions, for all regular daily issues of American newspapers.
Furthermore, it presents this phenomenal issue without effort other than to serve its regular readers and advertisers. Indeed, The Star did not "make" this tremendous issue at all. Washington made it. It is a measure not of The Star's selling power, but of its drawing power. It reflects not what merchants were persuaded to do, but what they themselves wanted to do on their own behalf and on behalf of their city.
It presents a newspaper in its highest aspects — not merely as a mirror held up to the life of a great community, but as the very heart and voice of that community, through which the vast energies and aspirations of all the people throb and make themselves vocal.
Thus viewed, how intimately is the newspaper bound up with the community! It brings, of course, the ever-changing story of the outside world by telegraph and cable. It reflects the vivid local happenings — (tragical, startling or merely "run-of-the-mill") in its columns. But a great newspaper typifies more than simply the unfolding of the day's news. It is an economic necessity, as well as a medium of information and entertainment.
Through such a medium the vast economic life of a people finds expression. Without it that economic life would be seriously crippled, if not permanently impaired.
In this issue, for instance, business in all its phases finds expression — expression essential to its welfare. The merchants, large and small, present their seasonal offerings. The classified advertiser (whose name, in truth, is legion) is here with his insistent, brief, but highly personal [...]
Context
Why a Chamberlain–Mussolini meeting drew attention in 1926
The paper stresses secrecy: Mussolini travelled incognito, rival sites were floated in the press, and the agenda was withheld until the hour of the meeting. The standing of the visitor explains the interest. Chamberlain had been Foreign Secretary in Stanley Baldwin's second government since late 1924, and his reputation rested above all on the Locarno agreements of October 1925, signed with Germany, France, Belgium and Italy to settle differences by arbitration rather than war, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. Italy was therefore a party to the settlement on which Chamberlain's reputation chiefly rests, and he also said of Mussolini that he was "a man with whom business could be done." The dispatch itself establishes only the choreography of the encounter at Leghorn — the Italian escort ship, the enthusiastic crowds, Grandi at Mussolini's side — not what the two men discussed, which the paper says remained secret.
What the miners were fighting over, and why 'district terms' mattered
Gunther's report comes months into a coal stoppage that had already begun before the nine-day general strike of 4–12 May 1926. The Trades Union Congress had called that strike in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage cuts and worse conditions for 1.2 million locked-out miners; when the TUC gave up, the miners held out on their own. The Samuel Commission's report of March 1926 had recommended a 13.5 percent wage reduction and the withdrawal of the government subsidy; when the owners then offered new terms, the Miners' Federation of Great Britain refused both the wage reduction and regional negotiation. That is why Baldwin's offer in the article is framed as it is: a national arbitration tribunal was dangled only if the men first returned on the owners' "district terms" — precisely the district-by-district bargaining the federation had resisted. That the final decision was to rest on district votes suggests how far the national front had already frayed.
How the 1926 lockout actually ended
The article predicts a "landslide" within a week and says the strike might be called off that day or the next. In the event the drift back continued for roughly two more months: by the end of November most miners were back at work, and those still employed had to accept longer hours, lower wages and district wage agreements — the outcome Cook's "organized retreat" speech foreshadowed. The miners Gunther describes as "defying the strike leaders" also point to a lasting fracture. The Nottinghamshire miners' agreement to return against the policy of the Miners' Federation, associated with Spencerism, divided the miners as a national bargaining force until the National Union of Mineworkers was formed. The paper's figures of 12,000 returning since Monday and about 150,000 at work are its correspondent's contemporary estimates rather than settled totals.
What kind of newspaper was boasting of 78 pages
The editorial's claim that its 78-page issue set a record "with possibly one or two exceptions" for American regular dailies is the paper's own assertion, and its argument that Washington's merchants, not its salesmen, made the issue is civic boosterism as much as analysis. The institution behind it was well established. The Evening Star was an afternoon daily published in Washington from 1852 until 1981, and for most of that time it served as the city's newspaper of record. Since 1867 it had been owned by the Noyes, Kauffmann and Adams families, whose interests held the paper for four generations. That long family ownership helps explain the editorial's voice: it presents the Star not as a mere commercial vehicle but as "the very heart and voice" of the capital's community, bound to its merchants and classified advertisers.
Original
DUCE AND BRITISH SECRETARY CONFER
AN OR ALL tructions se-DeSight. er 30. - n Richard gnate, in 00 of imGeorge E. ne Daughl. Howl not the he claims rector for property Harry M. General. onspiracy s. bout his William S. cked Willl the aid pplied. ty. y but we from Milve could. " ler about informalon to me ms inforne no ineyond the talk with until after rmany to r the day ttle was s in the Julian W. Building. the case the case efused to ed, or to n them. I r said he o disclose had been Williams German r the Soe Metaux shares of ithout an ' s defense The stand him had 1921 of Hongkong. The British steamer Hydrangea observed many fisher folk clinging to the wreckage and calling for help. Despite a rough sea the Hydrangea's lifeboats rescued 35 persons. DUCE AND BRITISH SECRETARY CONFER Mussolini Meets Chamberlain on Yacht Anchored in Leghorn Harbor. By the Associated Press. LEGHORN, Italy, September 30. - Premier Mussolini received Sir Austen Chamberlain, British foreign secretary, aboard the yacht Guilana in the harbor here today for their much-discussed conference, the subject of which was kept secret up to the hour of the meeting. Mussolini, traveling in strictest incognito, left Rome last night on a special train. He spent the night at Vada, a small station 20 miles from here, and arrived in Leghorn shortly after 9 o'clock this morning. Destination Kept Secret. Except for the railway officials, no one last night knew that the premier was coming here, as the newspapers had mentioned several other places as possible sites for the meeting with Sir Austen. As the news of his arrival spread, flags began to appear throughout the city. The premier and his suite were driven in automobiles from the railway station to the port, where they boarded a motorboat and were taken the Guiliana, a former Turkish yacht captured during the war. Chamberlain Comes by Boat. Shortly afterward Sir Austen, who had arrived last evening on the yacht Dolphin, descended into a tender with his suite and was taken to the Guiliana escorted by the Italian scouting ship Tigre. Meanwhile the weather, which had been threatening, cleared, and the sun shone brilliantly. The old Medici docks were filled with spectators who shouted enthusiastically. Premier Mussolini, in a gray morning suit, and attended by Signor Grandi, undersecretary for foreign affairs, received Sir Austen at the gangway. They clasped hands warmly, exchanging felicitations. After introducing the members of their suites, they retired for a private conversation. PARIS WORKING GIRLS GET 11-CENT LUNCHES American Cafeteria Makes Cheap GLEN BEAT Woman thron By the As HAVE - Glenna titleholder women's at Merion Wilson of Miss G of the bi ment wh many ups smiling g who neve too seriou a sensati holes, aft over most ning the come 2 u enteenth Miss W margin fr superiorit short gam and her c applause braved a on the gr Edith [?]
COLD AND HUNGER FORCING MINERS TO END BRITISH STRIKE
[?] [?] - SEVENTY-EIGHT PAGES. *. NERS PIPES al, Tell Bark ember 30. [?] ry feelCOLD AND HUNGER FORCING MINERS TO END BRITISH STRIKE 12, 000 Sent Back to Pits Since Monday Bring Total Working to 150, 000. TRANSHIPMENTS OF COAL ARE PUT UNDER EMBARGO Government Seizes Cargo From U. S. Consigned to Belfast Under Emergency Measure. BY JOHN GUNTHER. By Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News. LONDON, September 30. - Cold weather has broken the coal strike. Upward of 12, 000 miners, defying the strike leaders, have been forced back to work in the pits since Monday, making a total of about 150, 000 miners now working. " Emperor " A. J. Cook, secretary of the Miners ' Federation, said Wednesday night that an " organized retreat " must begin as a result of the chill weather and of starvation. The retreat will become a landslide within a week, it was predicted today. Strike May End Today. The national conference of miners ' delegates, meeting Wednesday, saw that the fight was hopeless, but as a last effort to evade unconditional surrender, deferred action until next Wednesday. Final decision will be based on district votes of the miners. But the strike may be called off late today or tomorrow as a result of a further meeting of the conference of delegates to discuss Prime Minister Baldwin's proposal to establish a national arbitration tribunal to settle the dispute if the miners first return to work on the owners ' district terms. Negotiations Are Over. Secretary Cook's speech is a confession that negotiations no longer are possible and that the miners must either submit to the owners ' terms as a whole, or dribble back to work [?] Con PRES RAIL Believed Public Act BY [?] Still con the count ed and the ter served railroad Coolidge w to the ne legislation desirable of more t cussed the recently. Presiden impression
The Star Sets New Record
ing phyto their ough hunnd shafts ely conered and oned men go, safety nel and forHe was, a shift were on mpanions by Capt. the Pabst ining Co., lden Mine ar Olson, Co., who e danger. ys. asked Trethree men to his comous places n relayed e surface and well. " he imprisrejoicing, cigarette other aror comforther removal diately disrs started nfer with last night father of was the o the surons were smouth. the res mine resater, after r his fam - [?] 104 years, believed to have been the oldest woman in West Virginia, dropped dead yesterday while laughing at a joke told by her husband. tain. At the present time the President is of the opinion that Congress should authorize consolidation under (Continued on Page 2, Column 5.) The Star Sets New Record With today's issue of 78 pages The Star establishes a new record, with possibly one or two exceptions, for all regular daily issues of American newspapers. Furthermore, it presents this phenomenal issue without effort other than to serve its regular readers and advertisers. Indeed, The Star did not " make " this tremendous issue at all. Washington made it. It is a measure not of The Star's selling power, but of its drawing power. It reflects not what merchants were persuaded to do, but what they themselves wanted to do on their own behalf and on behalf of their city. It presents a newspaper in its highest aspects-not merely as a mirror held up to the life of a great community, but as the very heart and voice of that community, through which the vast energies and aspirations of all the people throb and make themselves vocal. Thus viewed, how intimately is the newspaper bound up with the community! It brings, of course, the everchanging story of the outside world by telegraph and cable. It reflects the vivid local happenings - (tragical, startling or merely " run-of-the-mill ") in its columns. But a great newspaper typifies more than simply the unfolding of the day's news. It is an economic necessity, as well as a medium of information and entertainment. Through such a medium the vast economic life of a people finds expression. Without it that economic life would be seriously crippled, if not permanently impaired. In this issue, for instance, business in all its phases finds expression-expression essential to its welfare. The merchants, large and small, present their seasonal offerings. The classified advertiser (whose name, in truth, is legion) is here with his insistent, brief, but highly personal " I w My pa seven a my mo aide le my fat " I le trooper 1925 I hand b I think " I le and o woman adelph raspher The w over a where for rob at hea The of the Thoma Hotel, Servic The de the fir of you means The co and D tour m John estate the cit man hu not inv by Mrs The this tr Easla terday Cabe f fore th Fune Busch at 3: 30 Fifteen will be tery. fied i parlors body. will be his fo
Source: Holding institution