"Devil's Laugf~

A few years before the U. S. took Cuba from Spain, Japan took the Island of Formosa from China and kept it. Japanese citizens, however, do not like Formosa, and only enough Japanese live there to take out the oil, timber and camphor. Last week, far beneath the earth's surface, some internal ailment seeking relief exploded a volcano in Japan, shook Alaska, rumbled down the Chinese coast, crossed the shallow Formosan Strait and rocked Formosa with the Far East's worst earthquake since 1923.

It tumbled the Chinese mud houses by tens of thousands, killed more than 3,000 Chinese, injured nearly 10,000. Estimated damage: 10,000,000 yen ($2,860,000). But since the few Japanese live in light wooden houses that shake without falling, scarcely a Japanese was hurt. More important, Formosa's earthquake left practically untouched Japan's oil fields and naval fortifications. Relief workers who swarmed over the scene reported that an astonishing number of Formosans had gone mad. The head-hunting "Green Savages" of Formosa, who had danced to their gods just before the quake struck, looked at the three-foot rents in the earth and whooped, "the devil's laugh."

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