Indianapolis Times, Volume 44, Number 237, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 February 1933 — Page 2

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U.S,TRADERS SEEKING NEW CHINA MARKET Appeal for Washington Help After Manchuria ‘Open Door’ Closes. BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS SrripDi-Homard Foreign Editor WASHINGTON, Feb, 11. —The “open door’’ in Manchuria having been politely but firmly closed in their faces by the Japanese, American business concerns in the orient have appealed to Washington to help them find anew market for United States exports elsewhere in China. Tire “open door" for American goods in the territory seized by the Japanese admittedly now is a mere fiction. Not that the new puppet state of Manchukuo techniaccly has violated the principles of the open door. It hasn’t. Rut, so far is this country is concerned, that market of 30.060.000 inhabitants has virtually '“ceased to exist just the same. Two reasons are given. First, depreciation of the yen from 50 cents to somewhere around 20 has given the Japanese a tremendous price advantage over gold standard countries; and, second, Japanese officials, actually in control of the country, naturally see to it that orders go to their own nationals. British Get Their Share Belief is general in American circles on the other side of the Pacific that before things settle down again in that part of the world, the Japanese wall have similar control over the business of all north China. As the British already occupy a preferred position in south China, 1 hanks to the crown colony of Hongkong, one of the greatest transshipments ports in the world, the door to China as a market for American goods gradually is being closed, locked and barred. Today central China alone seems to offer a future for American commerce. Through this region runs the Yangtze river, the Chinese Mississippi. In its fertile valley live 380,000,000 people, more than onethird of the countrys population and one-tenth of the total population of the globe.

Appeal to Government American business men in the far east have appealed to the United States government to establish additional consulates in that area to facilitate trade. At present there are only three—at Shanghai, Nanking and Hankow. Additional offices are wanted at Changsha, Ichang and Chengtu or Chungking. Chungking and Chengtu are in the province of Szechwan, one of the richest and most populous in China. Its inhabitants are estimated at 50,000.000. Changsha is the capital of Hunan, ft province of more than 30,000,000. Ichang is in the provice of Hupeh, almost equally populous. Chungking, with 1,300,000, and Ichang, with 500,000 inhabitants, are both Yangtze ports. Concentrated In Changsha Chengtu, inland in the heart of Szechwan, has a population of 500,000, while Changsha, in the rich Tung Ting Lake region of Hunan, is connected by railway with the mighty Yangtze. The United States formerly maintained a consulate at Chungking but closed it in 1927 at the time of the Nationalist drive northward. The so-called anti-foreign incidents of that period led to the concentration of foreign nationals in Shanghai, and other more accessible treaty ports. THREE IN RACE FOR AIR SECRETARY POST Assistant Job to Commerce Chief Draws Hot Battle by Backers. WASHINGTON. Feb. 11—With the entrance of William F. Centner, superintendent of Port Columbus, one of the most important flying fields in the nation, the contest for the pos tof assistant secretary of commerce in charge of aeronautics has become one of the hottest in the entire realm of “little cabinet'’ positions. A nonpartisan group of Major Centner’s friends has promoted his candidacy and presented his name to President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Major Centner formerly was airway extension superintendent in the department of commerce. A campaign for appointment of Steadham Acker, manager of the municipal airport at Birmingham. Ala., has been in progress for weeks, while friends of Eugene Vidal, West Point graduate and former football star, are urging Mr. Roosevelt to name their candidate. RETIRED FARMER - DEAD Louis Grautman, Bft. Was Resident of Indianapolis Fourteen Years. Funeral services for Louis Grautman, 80. a retired farmer who died Friday at his home. 1515 Broadway, will be held at 10:30 Monday in the home. Burial will be in Lebanon. Survivors are the widow. Mrs. Anna Grautman and a daughter, Mrs. Annabellc Platt. Mr. Grautman had been a resident of Indianapolis fourteen years.

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IT. T. Blasengvm

W. T. BLASENGYM RUNERAL DIRECTOR 2226 SHELBY ST. DREXEL 2570

DYNAMITE IN THE DARK! Giant Munitions Warehouse Saved by Daring Sleuth

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This Is the fourth of a series of stories, based on information from the files of the United States Bureau of Investigation and other sources, telling for the first, time the bureau's agents’ part In famous mysteries. BY LOU WEDEMAR Times Staff Writer SPECIAL AGENT J-540 just had asked for permission to take his vacation earlier than it was scheduled. The chief looked at him quizzically and J-540 blushed. He was new in the bureau and hadn’t mastered the poker fac*. “Well, sir. I’ll tell you the reason," he said. “I want to get married.” The chief laughed. “Go ahead, son,” he said. “Take as long as you need.” J-s*o had been married just twenty-four hours when he was located by telegraph and ordered to Oklahoma City. Several disastrous fires had occurred on the Ft. Sill military reservation. Despite efforts of three separate organizations of fire-fighters on the reservation, new fires occurred with sinister regularity. In four months there had been eleven, with a loss of more than $3 000,000. The climax had occurred on Aug. 28, 1927, and J-540 was told about it on his arrival by the agent in charge. “One of the buildings at Ft. Sill is a big warehouse,” he said. "It contains 1,500,000 rounds of ammunition, several tons of explosive hand grenades and several tons of black powder and other high explosives. “A week ago, during a small fire on the reservation, one of the officers saw a bonfire at one side of this warehouse. He put the fire out, but now the whole reservation is worried. “Now you’ll be of value, because you have served two enlistments in the army. You ought to be familiar enough with military life to get by at the post.” a tt T-540 TELEPHONED his bride ” and proceeded to lose his identity. He bought an outfit of sec-ond-hand clothes, and hitch-hiked to Lawton. Okla., the county seat nearest the reservation. A county fair was in progress, and J-540, dusty and tired, was inconspicuous among the other hangers-on. Le saw two privates from Ft. Sill, and managed to strike up an acquaintance.

LIVES PAID IN NOOSE BY 2 IN MISSOURI One Dies on Same Gallows as Brother Did Year Ago. By l nitcd Pres* ST. CHARLES, Mo., Feb. 11 David Andrew Miller, 48. woodcutter. was hanged Friday for the murder of Pauline Duebbert, killed when she refused to reveal the hiding place of money on her farm. Miller, the first white man to be hanged in St. Charles jail, went to his death calmly and with prayer on his lips, but writhed in the noose fourteen minutes before death ended his struggle. Bp United Brets CARTHAGE, Mo., Feb. 11. Harry Worden, 27, was hanged Friday on the same gallows where his brother, Lew, went to his death a year ago. Both were convicted of criminal assaults.

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An actual photograph of one of the series of incendiary fires at Ft. Sill, Okla.

He learned little from them except the general layout of the reservation, but, adopting an attitude of stupid pestiferousness, he followed them to the headquarters of the Forty-fourth observation squadron. He stayed there for two days, doing odd jobs for the cook, until the officer in charge spotted him. “Chase that bum off the reservation!” the captain ordered. So J-540 proceded to firehouse station No. 3. A hard-faced man stood outside the fire station, and on the principle that appearances are deceiving, J-540 approached him with a sad story. He needed a sewing kit to patch his pants, J-540 said. Could he get one around there? The hard-faced one, Tim Conklin, got him a needle and some thread from another soldier, Al Bickford. While he w r as waiting, J-540 got into conversation with a group of the men, who found the supposed tramp's news of the outside world interesting. “I suppose I’ll have to be signing up again,” J-540 said. “But I don’t like work, and there isn’t any excitement in the service these days.” Conklin laughed. “Join the quartermaster’s corps and you’ll get plenty of excitement,” he said, winking at Bickford. “We sure do.” “I suppose you call this excitement, sitting around doing nothing.” “Hell, no. When we want to have some fun w r e get one of the fire trucks out.” a tt tt TT'OR several days J-540 tried unsuccessfully to obtain a job with the civilian department of the quartermaster corps. He learned there was deep jealousy between the various fire units and that No. 3 had the best and fastest equipment. One afternoon Conklin was off duty. He and J-540 picked up a ride to Lawton, where J-540 found a money order “from his folks back home.” “Let’s have a party to celebrate,” he suggested. Conklin located two other men stationed at the fire house, Corporal Gasw’ay and Private Carey, and J-540 took them to a movie and dinner. In Lawton that was the nearest possible approach to a party. When the movie was over and they had drunk coffee there was nothing apparently left but to turn in for the night. As they stood on a street corner Conklin whispered something to Corporal Gasway. a six-footer known for his brutal treatment of underlings. “I don’t care if he has got money," Gasway said aloud. “I don’t trust him. I think he’s a government man!” J-540 whirled around. "Just what do you mean by that?” he demanded. u tt tt COME on, now, fellows, don’t let’s break up in a fight,” interposed Conklin. “I know' he’s all right. Corporal. If he gives us the money for the gasoline, he’ll be in it with us, and he won’t dare talk.” This pacified Gasway. “We’ll show’ you a real party, pal,” he said. “Just tag along with me. "We’ll have the biggest party we’ve ever had. tonight.” J-540 knew’ he meant they were going to try to blow’ up the dynamite storehouse. He must get in touch with the major-general at once. The majorgeneral had been notified by mail that an agent was at Fort Sill investigating. and specially selected officers and men awaited J-540’s call. But would he be able to telephone the major-general? At the stroke of midnight, J--540 entered an old barn near the edge of the reservation in company with Gasway, Conklin, and Carey. “Carey," the Corporal said, “it’s your job to make the rounds for the fire* signals and telephone boxes and put them out of commission. “We don’t want to be called out before the fire gets under way, especially tonight. We’ve got a lot of gasoline, thanks to our new pal.

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THE IND’ANAPOLIS TIMES

“You, Tom, go see Bob Hyatt, he’s the sentry nearest the warehouse. Last time he was on duty he fired three shots, as he was supposed to, but one damn near hit me. Tell him to keep out of the way tonight. “I’ll take care of the main job myself.” One of the others objected. “How do we know we won’t get blown up, too?” "I got that all figured out. You and A1 start a fire on the other side of the reservation, and Joe will start one in Lawton. We’ll be answering those alarms when the big gun goes off.” tt tt tt sober, sane human beings could plot, out of pure mischeviousness, to blow up a government arsenal J-540 would not have believed. But Gasway summed it all up when he said, “Boy, I sure get a thrill out of riding those fire engines!” It was nearly 4 o’clock in the morning, just before dawn, when all of Conklin’s and Gasway’s arrangements were complete. All their watches had been compared, and at 4 o’clock exactly three fires were to be ignited. “Then you can get under cover and watch the fireworks,” Conklin said with a hearty laugh. “We’ll put this dump on the map, or blow it off.” J-540 had managed to stay with Corporal Gasway, claiming the right to help touch off the big storehouse. But, unknown to Gasway, he had vised the telephone for a few minutes. At exactly 4 o'clock Conklin set fire to a dwelling at the side of the reservation away from the explosives storehouse. He spoke to the sentry, who grinned and turned his back. As the flames whirred along a trail of gasoline, something unexpected happened. Forty soldiers surrounded Conklin and another fireman, disarmed the sentry, and extinguished the fire before it had done any damage. Simultaneously, in Lawton, Carey’s group and two others we captured in like manner at the instant they ignited fires. No alarm was turned in, for none was necessary. And Corporal Gasway and Special Agent J-540 went about their task of blowing up Fort Sill. tt tt JUST what occurred still is not entirely clear, for J-540’s report simply says, “‘Case completed as directed.” But around Ft. Sill they tell it like this: The wind was blowing fitfully and Corporal Gasway w’as worried. Bidding J-540 wait for him beside an empty shack a few yards from the storehouse, he went to the edge of a clearing and dug up a large package. “This is a little trick I saved up,” he leered. ‘lt's real dvnamite and a fuse. After the shed gets burning, we'll light the fuse and run like hell. Good thing the sentry isn’t around, or he’d get hurt.” A moment later Gaswav set fire to some crumpled paper soaked in gasoline, and flames leaped up inside the shed. He and J-540 ran toward the warehouse. Gasway fumbling with the fuse on the dynamite. At that moment the majorgeneral himself came around a corner of the warehouse on the run, at the head of about fifty other officers and men. They had left their quarters at the first sign

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of movement near the storehouse. Corporal Gasway stopped in his tracks. “You trapped me!” he roared. “I’ll blow you all to hell!” With that he deliberately lighted the fuse. Before J-540 could interfere he hurled it toward the storehouse. In the citement he hoped to be able to escape. The red spark of the fuse marked its course through the air. It fell to the ground and disappeared. A soldier grabbed Gasway, who was laughing wildly. tt u tt J-540 did not hesitate. He could not tell where the dynamite had landed. Maybe the fuse had gone out : maybe not. A moment later he discovered what had happened. The dynamite lay at the bottom of a ventilator shaft twenty feet deep. The ventilator was connected with the warehouse and its store of high explosives. And the fuse still was burning! It was an almost hopeless race against time, but someone had to risk it. J-540 called out: “Get everybody away from here. There’s no use any one else being hurt!” With that he began his descent. The ladder shook. Its rungs were old and unsafe, but he managed to clamber part way down without falling. Would the exnlosion occur before he got to the bottom? The repercussion would not only blow him to bite, but it would probably set off the explosives stored in the big building nearby. tt tt tt SIX feet from the bottom, the ladder, shaken by his frantic descent, buckled and threw him. He landed on the bottom with a thud. Wildly he felt around for the dynamite. He could not find it! Panic gripped him. Had he lost consciousness? Was he about to be blown to pieces? At that moment he heard the sputter of the fuse. His fall had knocked the dynamite aside, belind the debris of the ladder. He reached for it and brought it out. There was a scant half-inch projection of the fuse unburned as he grabbed it and pulled it out. Fort Sill was saved. Evidence given by J-540 and the men who had helped trap the firebugs sent Gasway, Conklin, Carey and ten others to the penitentiary for terms totalling 226 years. Fcur others, sentries, were courtmartialed. And J-540 came home to his bride, permanently prejudiced against firecrackers. Next: Car No. 21.

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BIG CHANGES IN LEADERSHIP OF SENATELIKELY Men Entering Cabinet Will Make New Places: Garner to Be ‘Contact Man.’ lip Rcripps-Tfoieard Xriespaper Alliance WASHINGTON, F*b. 11.—Important changes in the senate Democratic leadership are in prospect. With Franklin D. Roosevelt facing a crucial time of his administration as he takes office, men who heretofore have been in the background will be called upon to push through his program. In the house as well, because Speaker Garner is to become VicePresident, the leadership will undergo a change. At least two of the Democratic older statesmen in the senate, Thomas J. Walsh of Montana and Cordell Hull of Tennessee, are expected to go into the cabnet. If this happens, such men as Senators David Walsh (Mass.), Kenneth McKellar (Tenn.), Pat Harrison (Miss.), Ellison Smith (S. C.). Walter George (Ga.), Henry Ashurst (Ariz.) and Key Pittman (Nev.) would become more closely affiliated with Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arknasas in the Democratic leadership. Progressives More Powerful It is not improbably, too, that under these circumstances the Republican progressives would become a more powerful group, with Senators Borah. Norris, La Follette, Couzens and Cutting wielding more force. There are two important reasons why Mr. Roosevelt would want Senators Walsh and Hull in his cabinet—reasons outside the individual abilities of these two. One is that he would want men in key administrative positions about him who are familiar with current issues and good Democratic doctrine concerning them; the other is that he would want men, who would insure a smoother path for his legislative recommendations. On the other hand, it is observed that the senate would lose if these men are taken over to the administrative branch of the government; for one. Senator Walsh, is a noted constitutional lawyer and Senator Hull is regarded as an expert on tariffs and international trade. Robinson May Take Bench Garner’s transfer changes the senate situation considerably, too. It can be said with confidence that Garner will not be content to simply preside over the senate. To begin with, he will sit in with the cabinet; and there probably will be nothing in the cabinet room that will awe Mr. Garner into silence. He is understood to be ready to assume the job of contact man between the White House and the congress, to help put through the “new deal.” Finally, there is the possibility that Senator Robinson himself may within the next few years leave that body and go to the supreme court, in which event the senate leadership would be open. Senator Robinson was mentioned as a prospect for the high bench when the last vacancy occurred, and is said to be willing to take such an oppointment. Postal Site to Be Condemned Condemnation proceedings for a new postoffice site at Union City, Ind., are to be filed in federal court here by George R. Jeffrey, district attorney, he said today. The site selected, the northwest corner of Union and Oak streets, is held at a price considered excessive by the treasury department, Jeffrey said. A For Sale ad costs only three cente a word. Liberal discount Is allowed for prompt payment.

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hi£ho Trfc Mart R* r (J S Pat. Os A NOTHER perfume bottle like the one pictured here is concealed in the puzzle rectangle. Cut out the seven pieces and see if you can find it by rearranging them. As in most all symmetrical Hi-Ho silhouettes, the bottle may be formed in two ways.

Trouble is apt to bob up most anywhere in a Hi-Ho puzzle. But it was uppermost in the letter F as this solution shows.

R. F. C. MAY CUT INTEREST RATE Plea of Al Smith Before Officials May Result in Action. (Copyright. 1933. by United Press) WASHINGTON, Feb. 11.—Intimations that the Reconstruction Finance Corporation may cut its interest rates have seeped out from the tightly guarded portals of the gigantic money lending agency. This reported shift of direction is said to be due to the forcible argument made before the corporation directors by former-Governor Alfred E. Smith. “The R. F. C.,” he said, “can act like a suspicious banker with two glass eyes, or it can exercise its social responsibility and put men to work.” His shot went home. Today word was going around that the corporation shortly may fall into line with prevailing tendency in the financial world and scale down interest charges from 5 and 6 per cent down to 4! 2 per cent on self-liquidating projects. The chief objection to this is that if the interest rate is placed too low, the incentive to pay off the lpan will be removed. Public protest some time back forced the R. F. C. to cut down to 5% per cent interest rates to farmers on livestock loans which were running as high as 7 per cent. The R. F. C. pays the government 314 per cent for its money. Abbey to Become Club Bit United Brest LONDON, Feb. 11.—Modern business knows no boundaries! Beckingiton Abbey, near Frome, once the home of monks, is to be converted by a Bath syndicate into a dance club and restaurant.

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FARM PICTURE IS PAINTED IN GLOOMY COLORS Low % Domestic Buying Power Held Big Cloud Over Agriculture. Bp Brrippu-Jlntriird Xnctpnprr Alh'tnr* WASHINGTON. Feb. 11. With the prospect, fairly bright that the senate agriculture committee soon may report two bills for farm relief. experts of the United States bureau of agricultural economics have just Issued new figures that again paint the farm situation in gloomy colors. The senate committee may report the Smith-Gcorge cotton bill aimed to raise prices of this staple, now almost exactly half of the five year average before 1914. “The immediate prospect for agriculture," says the United States bureau, "is clouded by the low buying power within our domestic market,” and statistical charts backj ing up this statement show that the money income of industrial workers | has run parallel—and steadily downward—with the farm income since | 1929. Dive By Commodities Using 100 as the index basis for the years 1910-1914. the bureau shows that in December, 1929. the index of the wholesale price of all commodities was 136, as compared with 91 in December. 1932. The industry index was 234 in 1929 and 170 in 1932. But the same indexes show that the prices paid by farmers also has declined. For instance, the living cost index was 160 at the end of 1929 and in the latter part of 1932 it was 109. Production costs went down 40 points in the same period. Using 1909-14 prices as a base of j 100, the bureau made the following I index to prices in January of 1929 and this year: Grains, 115 and 34; fruits and vegetables, 109 and 59; cotton and cotton seed. 148 and 45; meat animals 146 and 51; dairy products 145 and 68; poultry products, 161 and 96. Drop in Pay Rolls Prices paid by farmers for commodities bought was represented by the index figure of 155 in January of 1929 and by the figure of 105 in the month just past. In that earlier January the ratio of prices received to prices paid was 86, but in January. 1933, the ratio was 49. The bureau asserted that by the | end of 1932 railroad and factory pay rolls had declined respectively to about 50 per cent and 40 per cent of their 1923-25 levels, while construction contracts, by which construction pay rolls can be judged, averaged only about 25 per cent of the 1923-25 level. Great Decline Shown “These three measures of industrial consumer’s income,” the bureau said, “when combined show a level of income in the period 192629 about 10 per cent higher than in 1923 with no marked upward trend during that fieriod. “Between 1929 and the end of 1932 there has occurred a decline from abdut 112 per cent to about 40 per cent, as a result of both complete and part-time employment and wage reductions as well. The decline since 1929 has been twice as great as that between 1920 and 1921.” 205 Y’ear Old Deed Held Bp United Brest WATERLOO, N. Y„ Feb. 11. What is believed to be the oldest deed in existence is held by George F. Bodine of Waterloo. The document is 205 years old, but in spite of its age is exceptionally well preserved and the writing quite legible.