Sons of So-and-Sos

Addison E. Southard, U. S. Minister at Addis Ababa, respectfully sent a recent issue of the Berhanena Salam to the U. S. State Department. The Government's semi-official organ, printed on Emperor Haile Selassie's private press, only paper with a national circulation in Abyssinia. (Abyssinians are more than 90% illiterate), Berhanena Salam's leading editorial was marked for Statesman Stimson's consideration. Extolling the virtues of Temperance, expounding the evils of tej (native liquor, made from honey), the editorial was released by the State Department "not as Prohibition propaganda but as interesting reading." Excerpts:

". . . Some young men approach the shops and listen. When they see the tej nicely presented in a row in decanters they say: 'Let us buy a piaster's worth and taste it. . . .'

''The musicians request them to give their names. The musicians begin to praise them by calling them so and so, son of so and so, and thus their hearts are filled with pride. . . . They begin to think about the ways of procuring money. Readers, you know what harm this causes the city.

"Therefore, we inform you that drink shops should be forbidden, as they have become the source of all sins."

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