Cakes & Opium

Avoiding the excitement incident to the proclamation of a dictatorship fortnight ago, dark-eyed Italian-born Tsaritsa loanna took a few days rest last week at the comfortable summer palace of Euxinograd. near Varna on the Black Sea. But even on holiday royalty has its duties, and one of them is entertaining local ladies. Seated on little gilt chairs, they sipped glasses of hot tea and munched tiny cakes, which the Bulgarian ladies found "marvelous." Her Majesty smiled amiably:

"Thank you! I baked them myself. Oh yes, and the cookies, I baked those too. You see, both my father and my mother insisted all their daughters learn to cook. We were allowed in the kitchens when we were finished with our lessons, and I enjoyed cooking. King Boris is very fond of home cooked meals."

Home cooking is not entirely a lark for Tsar Boris and Tsaritsa loanna, most impoverished of European royalties. At all events it has proved a highly popular habit with their subjects. In Sofia again loanna went with Boris to the gold-domed Alexander Nevski Cathedral to honor Saint Cyril who helped to invent the Cyrillic (Modified Greek) alphabet. All in a row before the cathedral stood the Cabinet of the new Premier, Kimon Gueorguieff. Crowds regarded the Cabinet coolly, but a roar like a rolling breaker followed the progress of the Tsar and his Queen from the palace to the cathedral and back again.

Part of the suspicion with which Buigars regarded their new government was that few in Sofia knew what it stood for. When Lieut.-Colonel Gueorguieff and his adherents of the Zveno Club took over the government and announced a long program of objectives, it was universally understood that the smooth coup d'etat had the silent approval of Tsar Boris. Last week an equally insistent story had it that conscientious Tsar Boris threatened to abdicate when news of the coup was brought him, was persuaded to carry on by one-time Premier Mushanoff. The ousted Mushanoff Cabinet was received last week by Tsar Boris at the palace to soothe its injured feelings.

For several days Bulgars were at least convinced that their new government was thoroughly Fascist in manner and intent. So admitted the new Finance Minister Peter Todoroff. who wrote that the coup had been planned for six months, that the army was determined to carry out a "reconstruction of the political regime to which end all political parties must be dissolved and a new Parliament set up composed of representatives of corporations." So. too. it seemed last week when, on the Vienna model, a new burgomaster and four vice burgomasters were appointed for Sofia by government decree. But when confused newshawks called on Premier Gueorguieff he rolled his one eye at them and swore that there was nothing Fascist about his new government, that in fact political elections would soon be held.

"It is quite improper," said he, "to call the new regime either a Fascist or a corporative state. This, first of all, is a Bulgarian government! It is adapted to the particular need of this particular country and is not patterned on any foreign model."

Asked Associated Press Correspondent Wade Werner:

"Would you describe the trend of the new regime toward the left or toward trie right?"

"Neither left nor right." boomed the one-eyed premier. "STRAIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE!"

A new job, not included in its original program, was laid directly at the feet of the Gueorguieff government by the League of Nations last week. The pleasant fields of Bulgaria blush with roses from which perfume manufacturers extract essential oil, Bulgaria's best known product. Not so well known is another Bulgarian industry. League investigators of the international narcotic trade have often pointed an accusing finger at Bulgaria as one of the most important manufacturing sources of illegal opium and heroin. Last week came another League report on opium, and its charges against Bulgaria were stronger. Stuart J. Fuller of the U. S. revealed that in 1933 Bulgaria imported enough acetic acid anhydride to manufacture 13,000 Ib. of heroin, four times the legitimate needs of the entire world. Col. Charles Henry Sharman of Canada charged that Bulgarian production of raw opium rose from 8,880 Ib. in 1931 to 99,000 Ib. in 1932, to 143,000 Ib. in 1933. Dr. Augusto de Vasconcellos of Portugal summed up: "The figure cited by Mr. Fuller is sufficient to kill millions of people, and where murder is involved it is imperative to take strong measures." Dimitri Mikoff, Bulgaria's representative at the League, knew that these figures were accurate, knew that this time the League had his country over a barrel.

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