Word: vain
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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When customs agents boarded Bootlegger Carl Rettich's yacht Prudence in Boston harbor three years ago. they searched in vain for contraband until one chanced to unscrew an electric light bulb. At once panels slid back, revealing thousands of dollars worth of liquor. In Rettich's Warwick house the raiders scraped some whitewash off a brick pillar in the cellar, found and turned a key. A great slab of concrete rose quietly out of the floor, opening the way to a subcellar. Steps led from the subcellar to a huge vault in which were found three machine guns...
...like to have all men suddenly want gold above all else. Last week silver standard China had a taste of the same, though silver instead of gold was the metal wanted. Ever since the U. S. began to boost the price of silver, China has had deflation. In vain the Chinese Government imposed a silver export duty. Silver was smuggled out. When silver prices last week sailed toward Heaven, China grew desperate. Finance Minister Kung appealed to all patriotic Chinese to keep their silver at home. Chinese Ambassador Sze wrung his hands on the steps of the State Department...
...Years ago her Lover Josef left her practically at the altar; her whole life has become one mnemonic system to keep his memory green and rankling. One stormy night the canary gets out of its cage and, terrified by the cat, escapes into the woods. Fraulein Emma searches in vain, finds instead a lovely young girl, Liesl, whom she brings home with her. Liesl cannot stand the cat, so Adolf, her butcher-boy swain, has the cat made away with. That very night sleek, feline Karl puts in an appearance. When Karl stabs the faithful old dog, up pops...
...Yale debaters argued in vain that a policy of self-sufficiency was only postponing a problem which demands settlement eventually. For the United States to look to her own interests can bring her nothing more than the ire of foreign powers. In addition they argued that fascism, dictatorship, and militarism have come with the economic nationalism of Italy and Germany...
Stalin: Germany is in a dangerous state of mind. Efforts to isolate such a nation in the centre of Europe would be vain. It is absolutely necessary to take measures of precaution to make European peace secure...