The Flop

Getting clown to brass tacks in Harar last week, New York Times's candid Harold Denny cabled: "The exodus of disappointed 'war correspondents' and camera men from Ethiopia is now well under way after one of the greatest and most expensive flops in journalistic and newsreel history. . . . The Ethiopians have an unmatched talent for procrastination--they dislike doing anything today which possibly can be put off. "The result has been that a hundred or more correspondents and camera men are gnawing their fingernails at Addis Ababa, Harar and Dire Dawa knowing less about the fighting they are supposed to be covering than the newspaper reader in New York who, at least, has prompt news from the Italian side. . . . "Correspondents have little hope that the postponed journey to Dessye with Emperor Haile Selassie will be more colorful than a highly interesting Cook's tour, with no possibility of seeing action, since the correspondents, whom Premier Benito Mussolini does not want harmed, presumably will be an effective bodyguard against bomb attacks on the Emperor's party."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.