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The last two Kings of Siam have fostered temperance and monogamy by precept & example. After studying conditions throughout the Occident, after pondering the advisability of restrictive regulations, King Prajadhipok and his predecessor decided that the risk of inflicting on Siam bootleg liquor and bootleg immorality was too great.
Matter of fact Siamese polygamy is steadily on the wane, has been for at least two generations, and is expected to die out because increased living costs are making it difficult to support more than one wife.
Just as the last King of Siam lay dying his only child was born. Had the babe been a boy and born a few hours later it would have been "born a king" like Spain's Alfonso XIII. Had the dying monarch been polygamous he might have had a son long before.
The babe turned out to be a girl. The Crown passed to Prajadhipok (brother). Today, since his monogamous Majesty has no son, the heir is his brother, Prince Paribatra of Nagor Svara.
Pride & Piety. Siamese are famed as a gentle people, prone to smile and take life easily; but they are intensely proud of independence won by ceaseless vigilance (both Britain and France have seized Siamese territory by a process called "rectifying the frontier").
Today the Siamese Army is modern, mechanized. Siamese build all their own airplanes, importing only the motors. On the Royal Siamese Air Mail bi-weekly service has been maintained for seven years, 44,000,000 pounds of mail and merchandise have been carried, with two accidents, no deaths.
Siamese are proud that 91% of their paper money is covered by securities readily convertible into gold, almost a world record. They are proud that their budget has balanced for years, grateful that King Prajadhipok has cut the royal civil list 30%, pepped up princely officials by discharging dullards no matter how royal they may be.
Finally Siamese are unaffectedly religious, which is not to say good or goody-goody. Buddhist priests in plain yellow robes go from house to house in the early mornings, stop motionless and silent before each door proffering a bowl. If no food is placed in the bowl the priest moves on. If food is forthcoming, as it nearly everywhere is, he hurries with his bowl to the Buddhist monastery, shares with his fellows, devotes the rest of the morning and the day to religious duties.
Anyone can see that the priests are popular, that Buddhism is popular in Siam. The eighty-odd French and English cars in King Prajadhipok's garage are all the color of a Buddhist's robe, yellow, national color of Siam.
Educated in England (Eton & Woolwich), preferring U. S. advisers, the King of Siam nevertheless transacts the business of his realm at Bangkok in an Italian setting. Like Dictator Benito Mussolini, this mighty little monarch has as his workroom a vast white marble hall, pure Renaissance in style, alien to Siam as an iceberg, but dramatic, breathtaking.
*Films exposed by the King of Siam are developed by experts attached to the Royal State Railways. Ably administered by His Majesty's brother, Prince Purachatra, the Royal State Rail ways develop & print merely as an accommodation, are justly famed for punctual service, punctual profits.