Indianapolis Times, Volume 36, Number 95, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 August 1924 — Page 4

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The Indianapolis Times EARLE E. MARTIN, Edltor-ln-Chlef ROT W. HOWARD, President FELIX F. BRUNER, Acting Editor WM. A. MAYBORN, Bus. Mgr. Member of the Seripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance • • • Client ©f the United Press, the NEA Service and the Scripps-Paine Service. • • • Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Published daily except Sunday by Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 W. Maryland St.. Indianapolis * * * Subscription Kates: Indianapolis—Ten Cents a Week. Elsewhere—Twelve Cents a *\ eek. • • • PHONE—MA in 3500.

TRANSPORTATION COMPETITION | HE Indianapolis Street Railway Company now is planning to operate motor busses as well as street cars. Fine! Nothing will put the transportation business ahead faster and result in better service than competition. Competition improves public utility business just as it improves any other kind of business. One concern is now operating three bus lines in Indianapolis and expects to operate more. Now the car company expects to become a competitor in the bus business as the bus business and the street car business have been competitors. But the car company is claiming something of an unfair advantage. There is a city ordinance that prevents motor busses from loading or unloading passengers on streets on which cars operate. This ordinance was passed in order to stifle competition. Now the Indianapolis Street Railway Company proposes to operate a bus line on E. New York St., where the People’s Motor Coach Company already is operating. Nothing has been said about street car busses not being allowed to discharge or take on passengers on streets where other lines are operating. This state of affairs simply is another proof of the fallacy of that ridiculous ordinance. It should be repealed immediately in order that free and open competition may be established among all systems of transportation. If the street railway company is to compete with the People’s Motor Bus Company on E. New York St., as it should have a right to do, the motor bus company should be allowed to compete with street cars on other streets, thus relieving it of the necessity of winding in and out of various streets in order to avoid car tracks. The time has gone when anyone should have a monopoly in any kind of business where competition is feasible, as it is in the transportation business. Let’s open all our streets to any method of practical transportation. Then let’s have the same regulations apply to all. FACTS ABOUT FUND SQUABBLE NLY FOUR among the thirty largest cities in the United States had a decrease in lire loss during the period 19181923. Indianapolis was the third of these. Only 150 convictions for arson were obtained in the United States last year. The Indiana fire marshal’s ofSee obtained more than forty of them. And the investigators get only $l5O to SIBO a month. Ohio spends SIOO,OOO in its fire marshal’s department. Illinois gets $350,000. Indiana spends $60,000. The State Legislature requires fees from insurance companies and dry cleaning establishments to be paid into funds for upkeep of the fire marshal’s office. The fees total more than SIOO,OOO a year. Yet the same Legislature appropriates only $60,000 of it for the fire marshal’s use and the last two years the department has had to borrow money from the Governor’s contingent fund to pay its expenses. State Auditor Robert Bracken now refuses to honor salary claims because, he says, the $60,000 appropriated has been exhausted. There is $55,000 left in the fire marshal’s fund. Mr. Bracken is entitled to his opinion that no appropriation should be overdrawn. The facts simply bespeak the stupidity of Legislatures in general and the last Legislature in particular. It takes more money to farm a twenty-acre field than a tenacre field. The State fire marshal is taking less money to farm a twenty-acre field than the Legislature would have him spend on a ten-acre field.

HISTORY IX THE MAKING * SHE bright flame of daring adventure lights up the epochmaking voyage of those army round-the-world fliers now nearing their goal. Like Magellan or Columbus, they are writing anew page in history. Only time will tell whether the flight has any practical value as a pioneer in anew means of world transportation, but the human element in the accomplishment cannot be denied. It is a tribute to courage, endurance, skill and fortitude. The names of Lieut. Lowell H. Smith and Lieut. Eric Nelson, pilots of the “Chicago” and the “New Orleans,” may be remembered in days to come equally as well as those of Magellan and Columbus. They will stand out in the history as the first men to fly around the world. A lot of the credit belongs to their mechanics and alternate pilots, Lieut. Lester P. Arnold and Lieut. John Harding Jr. In a large measure, these fellows made success possible although glory has not been as kind to them. Considerable credit, too, is due to Lieut. Leigh Wade, who lost his first plane off the Faroes. If nothing else, his misfortune —and the narrow escape of Lieutenant Locatelli, the Italian—show that the globe flight was not without genuine hazard and risk of life, despite all the precautions taken. The appeal of the difficult and the thrill of success has lured red-blooded men on to adventure and pioneered the lanes of progress since the beginning of history. Such men have blazed the trails and laid the stepping stones upon which others have advanced. And so it may be with these who are winging their way homeward today. “CONSTITUTION DAY” in Berlin was as much of a failure as has been every attempt to establish a restitution day. FAILURE OF the tobacco crop is denied and, it follows, our forests will continue to smoke. WHEAT PRICES are almost as changeable as fashion’s waistline. A PENNSYLVANIA man confesses to the court that he does not know how many wives he has, again showing the advantages of having a card system in the home. SHOWING WHAT a State may do when it makes its wild things an asset, some 250,000 fishing licenses have been issued in Pennsylvania this year. AN lOWA couple have named their baby “Calvin Woodrow,” which is paving the way for “childish phantasies” worth talking about.

WINGED MAIDEN IN SKIES

She Is Called Constellation of Virgo, or the Virgin, By DAVID DIETZ. Science Editor of The Times i—nmong the oldest and most fa|.A mous of all the constellations I'**' is that of Virgo, the VirginYou will find her In the southwestern part of the sky, south of Bootes. It Is easily identified by the first magnitude star Spica, whose color is a beautiful pure white. The ancients imagined the figure as that of a beautiful maiden wearing a flowing robe and with wings growing from her shoulders. In her

I ~ ** # * ZANIAH * \ f \ / *\ \ VINUTMIATRIX \ .//- V p SYRMA-*' * I J* x / i w

THE CONSTELLATION OF VIRGO OR THE VIRGIN.

hand she holds a spear of wheat, the position of which is indicated by Spica. The name Spica means either the spear of wheat or the ear of corn. Sometimes the virgin is imagined to be holding an ear of corn in her hand rather than a spear of wheat, Spica Is Double The spectroscope shows that Spica is a double star, but the component is so close to it that the two stars cannot be separated by ,the telescope. The stars revolve about each other with a remarkably short period of only four days. The star Porrima, situated in the girdle near the left side, is also a double star. It consists of two components of about equal magnitude and yellow in color. In the right arm of the figure Is a bright yellow third magnitude star called Yindemiatrix. This name means the "grape gatherer." It was given this name by the Arabs because at the vintage time this star came up over the horizon just before the sun. In Egyptian mythology, the virgin was identified with the goddess Isis. The Greeks though that she was Ceres, the goddess of the harvest. Favorite of Poet Other legends identified her as Astraca, the goddess of Justice. It is interesting to note that the Greek physician Aratus gave more space to this constellation in his poem about the stars than he did to any other constellation. The onstellation of Virgo Is particularly interesting to astronomers because of the great number of nebulae which it contains. In Egypt it was imagined that Isis, the goddess whom the Evptians pictured in this constellation, formed the ilky Way by scattering grains. Nearby this constellation is the constellation of Libra, the scales. The Greeks, who Imagined the Virgin as the goddess of justice, thought that these were the scales in which justice was weighed. Next Article—The constellation Libra. \ (Copyright, 1924, by David Dietz. Tongue Tips SENATOR MANGUS JOHNSON, Minnesota: “I don’t go to Washington to milk cows but to work, with Wheeler and P.ob La Follette, for progressive ideas.” * * • PROBATE JUDGE JOHN A. DAHL,' Minneapolis: “The world's not going to the bowwows and we are not all throwing our money away. But. saving gets to be a less popular habit every day.” • * * EDDIE CANTOR, actor: "A good dancer is one ■who dances without effort. Therein lies the secret and art of it—naturalness. It is art to conceal art.” • • JAMBS E. PHYLE, Hiawatha, Kan.: "I ran out of bait while fishing one time, and tied a celluloid collar button on the hook and caught more fish with it than I did with regular bait.* * * • WALTER MAILS, Pacific Coast pitcher and comedian: "All lefthanders are supposed to be crazy and I might as well act the part.” Family Fun Dad's Girl "Gc?ss my girl In college has changed her mind about basketball. She is evidently going in for something more useful.” "How so?” "Now she writes that she has made the scrub team.”—Louisville Journal. For the Butcher “Hey, what are you going to do with that meat cleaver?” "You always rest your hand on the scales when you weigh my meat. This time I’ll take away all I’m paying for.”—Judge.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Abandoned By HAL COCHRAN It sure is a riddle, that room in the middle of most every home in the land. For always in summer, it goes on the hummer, and that’s what I can’t understand. The dining-room square is a vacant affair when the hot summer months come around. ’Tis well worth a study why most everybody would rather eat out on the ground. It seems we’re all itchin’ to dine in the kitchen instead of the diningroom table. Or else we go out in the yard with a shout with our suppers, and eat what we’re able. Perhaps comes a stealing that picnicky feeling that calls for the great open air. We’re taking a chance that we’ll nibble on ants, but it’s fun, so we don’t seem to care. The dining-room's bare like the "old vacant chair,” and it seems I can hear it, ho, hum. With time, hesitatin’, I guess it’s just waitin’ for cold days of winter to come. (Copyright, 1924, NEA Service, Inc.)

hi New York By STEVE lIANNAGAN. NEW YORK, Aug. 28.—1n the forty years "Smoky Joe” Martin, acting chief of the New York fire department, has been fighting blazes he probably has learned more about them than the devil himself. "Smoky Joe" is 60, but he doesn't look it and has a head of brown hair that would do justice to a patenthaired sheik. "Forty years ago when I started in the department,” smiled Martin, with a twinkle of eyes that years of smoke haven't dimmed, “theorists showed conclusively—on paper— that there wouldn't be any fires today. "But tho rate seems to increase right along.” The high pressure water system, which ranges from 125 pounds to 300, is the greatest development in fighting tires in “Smoky Joe’s" rime, he declares. The worst fire he ever saw was four years ago in Brooklyn when twenty-nine vats of oil went up in smoke. Fifty companies and ten boats fought fire for four days. “Water is no good in fighting oil fires,” he explained. Martin is the father of eight children. four boys and a quartette of charming girls. There has always been the air of the fire department in the Martin household. There is an alarm bell right In tjie home. Joe left his home to attend one fire and didn’t returr fjr five months—a stairway fell c - him and he had to be sent to a hos[ Ital. “People at fires,” he said, “but you can’t blame them much. I saw one fellow throw a mirror out a window and carry an unbreakable Iron candlestick to safety—you can’t beat that."

Kept Promise! !s . .... . It’s beginning to look like James E. Ferguson’s promise to his dog is going to come true. When "Jim” was impeached as Governor of Texas eight years ago, the dog, then only 2 years old, was disconsolate In leaving Austin. "Never mind,” Ferguson told him, “you’ll live to see the Fergusons In the Governor’s house again.” And now Ferguson’s wife, Mrs. Miriam A. Ferguson (above), has won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination —and her fight for “Jim's” vindication. Since Texas is a Democratic State, her nomination practically means election.

OFFICIAL TELLS OF V.F.W.BODY Cross of Malta Post Has 300 Members —For Defense Day, To the Editor of The Times AIS a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Adjuu— tant of Cross of Malta Post No. 1120 of Indianapolis, I would like to state a few facts for *.he benefit of the public, as the impression seems to have got around that we are an organization within the American Legion. We are connected in no way with the American Legion, although] we have many American Legion members in our organization. The Veterans of Foreign Wars is the oldest soldier organization in existence, outside of the G. A. R., having been organized in 1899, immediately after the Spanisb-Ameri-can War, and is composed exclusively of men who have seen active service. A man to be eligible for membership must have served under Old Glory on foreign shores in time of war. In other words, it is the Gold Stripe outfit. Teach Patriotism The motto of the Veterans of Foreign Wars is “One Flag, One Country, One Language.” We have an Americanization and patriotic program which we endeavor to carry out among foreign citizens and school children, teaching them respect for the flag of our country and its laws. The national encampment of the V. F. W. will be held at Atlantic City, N. J., Sept. 8 to 12. The Indiana delegation, composed of delegates from more than fifty posts in Indiana, four of which are in Indianapolis, with the Cross of Malta Post Band, are planning to go by special train. On Wednesday night. Aug. 2, our hand will *4ve a concert downtown, preceded by a parade of the post, to be followe-d by a three-day festival and Jubilee at Fairview Park. The Cross of Malta Post is composed of approximately 300 of the finest fellows a person would want to meet. In soldier English, “It’s some gang." We are planning to cooperate to the fullest extent with other organizations on Defense Day, and “Believe me, Buddy, there are no slackers in our outfit.” GEORGE HOLMES. Adjutant Cross of Malta No. 1120, V. F. W. “Ma” Ferguson To the Editor of The Times E NOTICE that the women of Texas, known for their Christian ethics and generous hospitality, have elected, by a large majority. a very prominent woman of Bell County Texas, as Democratic nominee for Governor. Asa farmer’s wife, she knows all the tricks of the trade of housekeeping .and can handle the broom to perfection. When she goes to Austin with her broom she will surely sweep the kangaroo politicians from the corners of the Capitol, and that’s no Joke. The above applies to many kangaroo politicians nationwide, for before the sun goes down on the fourth of the coming November there are many seeking office who will reap a Texas fall. ALBERT HEATH. Tom Sims Says A bee wrecked an auto in New Jersey, the moral being: Little things count. A hride who shot at her husband on their honeymoon at Niagara Falls probably saw him before he shaved. "Eve was the first flapper.” says a professor who may have been looking at her pictures.

Our idea of fun would be listening to “Hel’n Marla” Dawes playing a bad game of golf in tight shoes. Phone official says only one in a hundred uses the phone correctly, but he may mean successfully. Tn Paris the fashionable girls are going without stockings, perhaps so they won’t have to go without men. When a mosquito sees a summer boarder unpack a nightshirt he invites all of his friends to the bant quet. Due to the world peace shortage Mexico is having trouble again. Wives cost eight oxen in Zululand because they do the work of more. “Business is humming,” says dry goods dealers. This is nice. But in tho wet goods line business is whistling and singing. “Facts About Women,” says a newspaper headline, but there isn’t any such thing as facts - about women. i Nice thing about having twins at your house is you can sell the alarm clock. In Oklahoma an escaped lunatic was . found making moonshine instead of buying it. This fall the seven wonders of the world will be: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Science An investigation of the mackeral of the Black Sea has led to some interesting discoveries. The investigators, in learning about the depths at which the mackeral lived, found that no fish of any kind lived below 200 yards deep. The reason for this was then discovered. The Black Sea Is composed of two seas, one on top of the other. The upper one is capable of supporting life and the lower is a realm of death where no common deep sea organism can exist. The water in this lower stratum is not only of great density, but it is a puzzle to geologists and biologists. It is heavily charged with poisonous hydrogen sulphate gas, the origin of which is unknown.

CHAPTER OF AIR VICTORY IS WRITTEN Development of Flight During Twenty Years Is Cited, Times Washington Bureau, 1322 Xew York Are. ASHING TON. Aug. 28.—With VX/ the Army's round-the-world flyers—those “Magellans of Skies”—roaring closer toward their goal, the brightest chapter In one of the most absorbing romances of history Is being written. It is man's conquest of the air. It is difficult to realize that barely twenty years ago any man who pro posed to fly around in a heavier-than-air machine was rated as a crank by the United States Patent Office. He was in the same class as the inventor of the “perpetual motion” machine today. Yet, within the lifetime of every person now of voting age, man has learned to fly both higher and faster than the birds. He has risen to a height of nearly seven miles,

USSf EMBPWHMMfiiIiIMM K- % 4

LIEUTEANT FRANCIS J. WEHNER AND THE TREASURE HE’S GUARDED FOR TWENTY YEARS—THE FIRST SUBMARINE TORPEDO BOAT.

streaked through the air at a speed of 267 miles an hour and carried a load of several tons more than a mile up. Flew 852 Feet The human race found its wings on the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk, N. C., on Dec. 17, 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright astounded the world by flying 852 feet. It was the first sustained flight in history in a machine heavier than the air upon which it rode. Back of the airplane, though, was more than a hundred years of man’s attempts to fly with gas bags, such as the balloon. Back of this were the efforts of the ancients, who believed that if all the air were expelled from a hollow ball it would rise, and shading Into legend was Icarus, who is reputed to have soared so close to the sun that It melted the wax which fastened his wings and he fell into the sea. It remained for a couple of French paper bag manufacturers, the Montgolfier brothers, to produce the first aircraft that would rise and sustain itself in the air. In 1782 they filled one of their paper bags with heated air and were rewarded by seeing it float to the ceiling. Man leaves the Earth The next year the Montgolfiers made a big balloon of linen, which rose to a height of over a mile and traveled for more tnan a mile before it fell to the ground. In 1783, man left the earth for the first time. Pilatre de Rozier soared aloft, maintaining his supply of hot air by burning straw and wool in a brazier carried in the balloon basket. The world was astounded by the feat. Benjamin Franklin, present at the ascension, was asked for his opinion as to the use of this new device. “Os what use.” replied Franklin, “is a new-born babe?” A Thought A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. —Prov. 15:13. * * * Nature designed us t<y be of good cheer.—Douglas Jerrold.

It’s a Dog’s Life, Mates!

Ask The Times You can get an answer to any question of lact or information by writme to the Indianapolis Tunes Washington Bureau. 1322 New Tort, Ave.. Washington, D. C.. inclosing 2 cents in stamps for reply. Medical, legal and marital advice cannot be riven nor can extended research be undertaken. All other Questions will receive a personal reply Unsigned requests cannot be answered. 411 letters are eonlideatial—Editor. How many were killed at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew? The estimates vary from 2,000 to 100.000. Exact figures are not obtainable. How does one clean brick or stone work? Mop with a solution of caustic potash or soda with oxalic acid dissolved In water. Or pour the mixture over the surfaces and scrub with a scrubbing brush, but do not dip the hands in this mixture, and do not use it too strong. Which makes the best companion for a child, a Newfoundland or a St. Bernard dog? It is purely a matter of personal choice: both are good dogs for children. Who originated the expression “the almighty dollar”? Washington Irving. The quotation reads as follows: “The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems

to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages.” From “The Creole Village.” What should one do with a potted poinsettia in order to have it bloom next season? After the flowers and bright colored leaves of a poinsettia begin to fade and wither, let the plant dry up gradually, reducing the amount of water daily until It is stopped entirely. Along in April or May, start watering it and let it start to grow again. When is the proper time to slip and transplant rose bushes? Spring Is best. How long did Saul reign as king? Acts 13:21 says that Saul reigned forty years as 'king over Israel. Whis is the most powerful motor —one run by gas, steam or electricity? The size of an engine or motor depends entirely upon its disign, some machines being large and heavy In proportion to the power developed and others small and light. For example, the engines of a torpedo boat developing several thousand horse power are much smaller and lighter than engines of the same power in a city water works. Similarly, an electric motor for a street ear Is much lighter and more compact than one of the same power in a factory. At what temperature will mercury become solid? At —39.5 degrees centigrade. When did Aristotle live, -where was he born, when did he die? Bom nat Stagira (or Stageira) in Thrace, on the western side of the Gulf of Strymon, 384 B. C. He died at the age of 62. What is the specific gravity and relative hardness of diamonds? Specific gravity, 3.52; its hardness, which is assumed to be ten on the i mineral scale, exceeds that of any otoher known substance. What is the fastest speed known in the universe? The speed of light, about 186,000 .miles per second.

THURSDAY, ACU. 28,

WHO WILL TAKE PLACE OF GUARD? Veteran of Civi! War Worries About Guard of Submarine. By .V F.A Service ”| EW ORLEANS, La., Aug. 23. —The lone sentinel of one of L__i the glories of the “Lost Cause” is sorely troubled. Death’s shadow is hovering over | him. But it is not death, in itself, old i Lieut. Francis J. Wehner, last of | the "Suicide Club” of the immortal | old sth Louisiana Infantry, Confederate Army, fears. He has faced that too often to mind it now. It is the fact that probably none will be left to take up his post when ! he is gone—to stand over the his- , toric relic, he has attended these last twenty years. Old Torpedo Boat The treasure he so zealously has watched over is the first submarine torpedb boat. It was built by the Confedracy here in New Orleans

in the closing days of the Civil War. in a last desperate attempt to break the grip of the Yankees’ blockading fleet. It was the greatest Suicide Club in history—that corps of men who volunteered to man that first submarine and the fleet of them the South had hoped to build. There were no periscopes, no oil-burning engines, no self-propelling torpedoes, in those days. No Chance to Escape Into the one-man coffin the volunteer had to climb. He got his bearings on the ship he was to sink, then clamped the iron hatch down over his head and forged forward, by hand-operated paddle-wheels until he bumped the enemy craft. Itwas sure death to the man who went down in it. Y'et the records of the South show hundreds volunteered for this service. But they were never called upon to make the sacrifice. For years that first submarine lay at the bottom of Bayou St. John and Lake Pontchartrain. Then patriotic Southerners raised a fund to salvage it. It was set up in the grounds of the Confederate Veterans’ Home, near the spot where it had sank. And ever since Lieutenant Wehner, now 79, has stood guard over it. But who’ll take up his post when he is gone? Nature It was not the apple that defiled Adam and Eve, according to the Arabs, who have tombs in Southern Arabia over what they claim to be the graves of the first man and woman. The Arabian story is that what they ate was wheat and that God did not cast them out of Eden, but out of Heaven. Adam landed at Ceylon, Eve at Medina.: Arabia, and the serpent at Ispahan, Persia, NEW FORDS FOR RENT Drive Yourself—All Models .Vo Bed Tape. New Central StaPoo LINCOLN GARAGE 38 Kentucky Ave. Lincoln 7688