“ ‘KING OF KINGS’ LEADS TOWARD DEMOCRACY.”
“The first faint stirrings of modern democracy are coming to Ethiopia. In the strange highlands of the African horn, it is no longer quite true to call his imperial majesty Haile Selassie I one of the last of the absolute monarchs.
The constitutional government he created in name 32 years ago is emerging at last as an infant fact. Recently the Ethiopian lower house of 251 members debated for two days a change in the penal code. The soil is fertile, its tradition proud, its people quick and its climate fine. Sitting on a plateau 8,000 feet above the torrid Red sea coast, Addis lives in continual springtime. (…)
Faced with these handicaps, the emperor in years past has run Ethiopia alone. He has worked day and night, looking personally into almost every plan and contract, appointing the most minor officials, receiving humble petitioners. (…)
Whatever happens, even the restless young men of Addis admit that Haile Selassie I, the king of kings, the conquering lion of Judah, by a superb personal effort has pulled his country into the modern age. There could hardly be another like him.“