So
obscure, so ignominiously in the shadow of Dictator Benito Mussolini,
is bantamweight King Vittorio Emanuele III that news last week that he
had actually done something important came to most Italians as a
pleasant shock. His Majesty, after deliberating off & on for 22 years, finally handed
down his decision as arbiter between France and Mexico in the forgotten
matter of minute Clipperton Island, 700 miles off the Mexican shore,
annexed by France in 1857, seized by Mexican Dictator Porfirio Diaz in
1897. Last week the bantam King gave Clipperton Island finally to
France. During the 22 years in which His Majesty has been making up his mind,
tragedy has stalked Clipperton Island. So bleak and blasted is the
little isle that it will not support life. The Mexican garrison has
had to be supplied with food from the mainland. In 1920 Mexico was so
busy with revolution that she sent no food. The helpless garrison began
to starve. When a boat from Mexico finally put in at Clipperton Island
only one man was found alive. France will use her rock as a seaplane base.
