Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 250, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 December 1935 — Page 15
It Seems to Me HEYTOOD BROUN COMPARTMENT B, CAR 198.—1 t was the morning before Christmas,-and not a creature was stirring all through the train—not even the porter, although I had my finger on the bell. I wanted him to bring me Santa Claus and a Tom Collins without any sugar. But I am content now that we were passing through a dry state and that Santa missed connections. I went into the club car Esmeralda tw'ico, and he didn't seem to be around. Perhaps he was nding
the rods, a mode of transportation to which he has become accustomed in the last few years. Not that he couldn’t do better with the reindeer. Blitzer-, which is the only one of the animals I can remember, could give the train as far as Richmond for a head start and still pull into Atlanta an easy winner. This is not a fascist argument. The train was running on time, all right, but down in this part of the country time doesn’t seem to matter. It was a queer way to pass Christmas, particularly as I am very sentimental about the day. We
Heywood Broun
should have started earlier, but there was some mixup about the tickets, and I was awakened on the great day not with any joyous shout of “Merry Christmas!” from my loved ones, but merely with the businesslike announcement of the waiter, “Breakfast is now being served in the dining car.” a tt tt Graff TVf/s the Conductor IWENT up to the front of the train talking to the fireman in an effort to get him to put some mistletoe on the cowcatcher, but he did not seem receptive to the idea. Asa wanderer I have been compelled to pass other Christmases in Peking, P|ris, and in Brockton, Mass., but this was my first Christmas on the Southern Railroad. It’s a nice railroad in spots, but none of the train crew could sing carols and no tree was set up. I tried to make a deal with the conductor by which I was to give him a necktie for Christmas, and he was to respond in kind, but he balked. He said he didn’t like my necktie. Asa matter of fact, orange would go very well with his complexion, and as far as that goes, I didn’t think anything of his necktie, either. It was just the spirit of the thing which I had in mind. But I couldn’t sell him the idea. So there I was with a plain lemonade and my memories. If it had been 40 years ago my sister, who is somewhat my senior, would have been standing at the foot of the tree singing something in French about “Noel! Noel!” She couldn’t sing her way through a tissue paper hat, but she had a clean and shining face. And after she got a police round of applause my brother would imitate Charlie Case. And not bad, either. And then it was my turn with a recitation. Something by Heinrich Heine in all probability. I don’t know whether it was instinctive showmanship or the yellow curls I had in those days, but the performance used to panic them. Invariably I got stuck in the middle of the first verse, which was considered cute back in 1895. tt tt tt Considered 'Way Uptown AND as I looked through the train window I was reminded of the horse-drawn busses in which I used to ride along Fifth-av. Perfect strangers were wont to. pat me on the head and say, “And what are you going to be when you grow up, my little man?” I used to crack right back and say, “A lawyer,” for in those days the Liberty League had not been founded. And I got my start right at the foot of the Christmas tree, where the rule w’as, “From each according to his ability and to each according to his needs.” And, speaking of columists, my mother must take most of the blame for what happened to me, since it was her custom to write jingles and little squibs about all our aunts and uncles and even our friends. And I used to think, “It would be fine to be able to write like that. I still think it would. (Copyright, 1935.)
Your Health BY DR. MORRIS FISIIBEIN
YOUR body requires some fat in the diet, if you want to attain maximum growth and avoid developing certain abnormalities of the skin which appear when there is an insufficient amount of fat. A fair amount of storage of fat is necessary to meet certain emergencies of life, such as occur when a person becomes ill and is unable to take the usual diet. a tt a FOLLOWING is a list of foods rich in fats, and another list of foods poor in fats: FOODS RICH IN FATS Avocados (alii- Cream Margarine gator pears) Eggyolk Mayonnaise Bacon and other Fried foods Oils fat meats Goose ' Olives Butter Lard Pastry Caviar Nuts, except Peanut butter Cheese chestnuts and Potato chips Chocolate lichi nuts Sausage FOODS POOR IN FATS Bread Flounder Pickerel Breast of boiled Flours Refined carbofowl Fruit juices hydrates Codfish Fruits Refined cereals Cottage cheese Haddock Shellfish Eggwhite Honey Skim milk Farinaceous Meat extracts Vegetables foods Perch
Today s Science BY DAVID DIETZ--
ORGANIZATION of a psychiatric clinic at Babies Hospital. New York, represents the latest trend in the medical profession’s outlook upon the question of mental health. The clinic has been organized by Dr. Rustin Mclntosh, the Carpentier professor of diseases of children at Columbia University, with the aid of a grant from the Commonwealth Fund. The medical profession is now certain that the foundations of mental disease are laid in early childhood and that, therefore, they must be tackled when the child is young. It is further believed that many physical symptoms have no basis in actual physical difficulties but are mental disturbances. It is believed that the patterns for these symptoms are often formed in early childhood. o a a Approximately 10 per cent of the child patients in the Vanderbilt Clinic are found to have physical symptoms which arise from some mental disturbance, it is estimated by the Columbia experts. These are now being referred to the new T pediatric-psychiatric clinic which is under the direction of Dr. William S. Langford. “Children respond to their environment from the day they are born.” Dr. Langford explained, “and if the response is an unhappy one there will develop some maladjustment which may produce physical symptoms or a behavior problem which worries the parents. This can only be straightened out by getting at the roots of the difficulty.”
'Death/ Society Meets
By Science Service LONDON, Dec. 27. The resolution “that in the interests of humanity it is desirable that voluntary euthanasia should be legalized, subject to adequate safeguards, for persons who are suffering from incurable, fatal and painful disease” was carried by a large majority at the inaugural meeting of the Voluntary Euthanasia Legalization Society at the British Medical Association House here. Lord Moynihan, famous British surgeon and president of the society, opened the meeting with a brief statement of the aim of the society. This was, he pointed out, ‘ To obtain legal recognition of the principle that, in those cases of incurable disease in which the agony reaches, and perhaps oversteps, the limits of human endurance, the sufferer should have a right to demand, and the doctor a right to give, means of release.”
Full Leased Wire Service of the United Press Association.
BRIDGES TO A NEW PROSPERITY
California Laughs at ‘lmpossible,’Finances, Builds Longest Span
The two largest bridges in the world are being built in the San Francisco district. The story of the tremendous feats of engineering involved is told by Philip J. Sinnott, in a series of articles, of which this is the second. BY PHILIP J. SINNOTT . gAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 27.—1 t was absolutely impossible to build a bridge over the two miles between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island—so they built two bridges. It was impossible for “sand hogs” to work in caissons 235 feet below the surface, building up piers from the bottom—so they built the piers from the surface down to bedrock. Financial depression gripped the world as the job began —and that made it all the easier to get the needed $77,000,000. Ihere are plenty of paradoxes in the building of the San I* rancisco-Oakland bridge, the world’s longest bridge, with the world’s deepest submarine foundation, the world’s largest vehicular tunnel, costing more than any other bridge in the world, across the longest stretch of navigable water yet spanned. It is no wonder that, despite 80 years of dreaming, actual plans did not crystallize until 1921. Then motor car dealers gave $40,000 for preliminary tests, and San Francisco and Oakland also made appropriations. In 1929, California created the California Toll Bridge Authority, providing state participation and financial
backing. The authority was empowered to issue bonds to be paid off by tolls. With Federal as well as local interests at stake, President Hoover and Gov. Young named a joint committee to make a study. This group recommended such a bridge as is now being completed. C. H. Purcell, state highway engineer, with years of successful bridge-building experience, was made chief engineer. tt u u Blueprints soon showed a double-deck structure; six traffic lanes on the top deck, three truck lanes and two electric interurban lines below. To clear ships passing underneath and guarantee the Navy certain access to its yards inside the harbor, a suspension bridge was necessary. A single suspension could not be built long enough, so two suspension spans, each a complete bridge, were decided on. They had to be 218 feet above high water, which meant towers rising 505 feet above the bay. tt tt tt TEST borings disclosed a rock ridge, sloping off to great depths on either side of the bridge site. Piers would have to stand on this ridge. Everything was set to offer the bridge bonds to private investors. Then came the depression, and suddenly there were no private investors. So the Reconstruction Finance Corp. bought California Toll Bridge Authority bonds approximating $70,000,000. The state lent the rest of the $77,600,000 cost. At first, tolls will be about what commuters are now paying for other facilities. It is hoped that
Both Sides in TV A Legal Battle Tell Plausible Stories, Says Ernie, Who Discovers Wall Street Is Betting on the Government to Win
(Editor’s Note—This is the last of seven articles on TVA.) BY ERNIE PYLE IT' NOXVILLE, Tenn., Dec. 27. The legal aspects of TVA, no matter which side you take, are complicated indeed. My advice to laymen is: For Heaven’s sake don’t bother your heads about it. That’s what the Supreme Court is paid for. You talk with TVA men, and
they sound logical enough. You talk w T ith opposition lawyers, and they seem correct also. So where are you? The issue is further 1 confused in my mind by finding one TVA lawyer who sees some justice on the other side, and one opposition lawyer w T ho sees
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Ernie Pyle
a few good things about TVA. Maybe it’s just the holiday spirit. Opposition to TVA comes from two sources: The professional de•LIMBERLOST’ WILL BE SHOWN ON NEW MAP Tourists Interested in Site Cause Request for Change. Times Special DECATUR. Ind., Dec. 27.—Gene Stratton Porter's “Limberlost,” near Geneva, is to be designated on newstate highway maps expected to be issued early next year, French Quinn, attorney, has been advised. Because the spot has become a place of interest to tourists, Mr. Quinn asked officials that it be marked ’along with other Indiana points. CROSSING TOLL MOUNTS 60 More Killed in Rail Crashes Than During 1934 Period. By United Press WASHINGTON, Dec. more persofis were killed in grad" crossing accidents in the first nine months of 1935 than in the same period last year, the Interstate Commerce Commission reported today. Last year 1067 persons were killed by trains at crossings, while 1127 j died this year.
The Indianapolis Times
in 20 years the cost will be paid off, and the bridge then become toll-free. tt tt tt ETTING piers down to that 'J rock ridge, 200 feet below the surface, was one of the obstacles. Men can’t work that deep under compression. So they built the piers from the top down. A compressed-air-flotation caisson method was devised. Each caisson was a cluster of steel tubes, 15 feet in diameter, bound with an outer casing. The tubes were capped to provide buoyancy as they were floated into place. Concrete was poured between the tubes and around the inside of the casing. As the caisson sank, another section was fitted to its top, and this in turn was sunk and crowned with still another caisson. The form for the central anchorage pier was 92 by 27 feet in thickness dimension. A structural steel cutting edge, 17 feet deep, was placed around the bottom. Twenty-four huge anchors held the caisson in place as it slowly sank, with surface winds and a six-and-one-half-miles-an-hour tidal current trying to tug it out of place. tt tt tt DIVER BILL REED set new records as down in the pitch darkness of the deep water he checked the position of the slow-sinking caisson. When the mud bottom was reached, the tubes were uncapped and used as wells through which clamshell dredges dug deeper until the huge pier settled on its solid rock foundation 235 feet below the bay. oimilar methods were used in building the four other piers for suspension towers and 39 piers on the Oakland side of Yerba Buena. It was ticklish work, but unseen
fenders *of the Constitution, and the big power companies. It all hinges on TVA’s desire to create electricity and sell it to people in competition with private power companies. The opposers say that’s unconstitutional. The reason it’s unconstitutional for the government to sell electricity, and not unconstitutional for it to run restaurants and do laundry and some 400 other things in direct competition with private business, is that it Is now stepping on the toes of somebody big enough to holler—the power companies. u n u 'T'VA maintains that the sale of power down here is just incidental; that its purpose in building all these dams is to make the Tennessee River navigable and provide flood control. The opposition says this is boloney; that TVA is first of all an
Today’s Contract Problem How would you like to be declarer at four hearts, w’ith West’s holding? Do you think you can make the contract? It was made at the re-, cent national championship tournament at Chicago. ♦ J 10 9 5 4 V 7 ♦QB 5 2 *lO 9 6 N |*AQB 7 V 865 43 r 6 ♦lO 964 W e b *A Q 2 3 5 ♦ A *7 * LPealer xAJ 5 2 ♦ K 2 V K J 10 9 ♦K J 7 ♦KQ 8 4 All vul. Opener —+ 10 Sciution in next issue. 20 Solutioti to Previous Contract Problem BY W. M. M’KENNEY Secretary American Bridie League ONE of bridge's most ardent fans is Leon Mandel of Chicago. Oddlv enough, he seldom plays duplicate or tournament bridge, but he does enjoy those
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The vast scale of the San Fran-cisco-Oakland bridge is hinted at by the aerial view above—what amounts to two bridges run from San Francisco's Rincon Hill at extreme right across the white pier to Yerba Buena Island where another span carries traffic on across the bay to Oakland. The closeup at right shows the bridge actually running through a tunnel on Yerba Buena Island, and beyond is seen the cantilever span reaching out toward the piers that lead on to the Oakland shore. by the public, because it w r as mostly under water. The towers, more than 500 feet high, are in place. Steel-mesh wire catwalks run from Rincon Hill to the central tower. tt tt a CABLE-SPINNING is well un _ der way. the stringing of the miles of steel wire that will hold up the bridge. There will be 34.968 strands of wire, each about two miles long, or 70,800 miles of wire in all, drawn over the suspension towers to support the 2300-foot spans. Those wire stmnds will be compressed into cables 28% inches in diameter. For three years the work has gone doggedly on, day and night. Now, completion six months ahead of time is in sight. The 20-minute ferry schedules and the commuter's ancient felibi, “Fog delayed the boat,” will be replaced within a year by a quick dash by auto or electric train.
experiment in electricity and that the two other things, commendable as they are, happen to be the incidentals. During my several hours of listening to the lawyers, one very clever point (at least I thought so) occurred to me. So I said, “If it’s unconstitutional to sell electricity because it competes with private business, why isn’t it also unconstitutional for the government to build a waterway to compete with railroads and bus freight lines?’’ And came the answer from the opposition lawyers, “It is.” But the railroads just acquiesce. For the reason, I suppose, that the railroads owe the government too much money to be biting the hand that feeds them. TVA says it has the right to sell power because it is to the best interests of the people. TVA wants to sell power for two rea-
LOSES TRICK TO SET HAND
weekly rubber sessions on the yacht or at the Standard Club. After commenting on the fine manner in which he defended this hand, he made a remark which should be valuable to all bridge players—“ Never worry about the declarer making an extra trick or two at rubber bridge, if you have any possible chance of setting him.” After looking over the play of today’s hand, you will have to admit that Mandel’s sacrifice play in spades beat what looked like a sure contract. Mandel sat in the West. Against the three no trump contract, East opened the seven of clubs. Declarer immediately killed West’s jack with the king, returned the jack of diamonds, and took the finesse. This trick, of course. West refused to w-in. The six of diamonds was continued and the ten spot finessed, West winning with the king. He returned the nine of clubs, declarer played a small club, and East overtook the nine with his ten spot, in case his partner was out of clubs. East returned the queen of clubs, dummy discarded a heart and declarer won the trick with the ace. Now declarer made a very nice play. He led the jack of spades,
INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1935
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sons: (1) to raise living standards by cutting down rates and spreading the use of electricity, and, (2) to produce revenue to pay for the rest of TVA’s broad Tennessee Valley rejuvenation program. The opposition people say (1) that if more people would use electricity, they, too, could give lower rates, and (2) that TVA can’t make en<jugh electrical profit to pay for the rest of the program. That, money, they say, is coming and will have to keep on coming from congressional appropriations. u u a THERE are now about a dozen suits against TVA in the courts. They started as early as April, 1934, less than a year after TVA got under way. Not a single one has been decided definitely yet. There is a suit by 23 Alabama coal companies to stop TVA from generating and selling power.
A A J 10 5 ¥AQ 6 5 # J 6 AA K 4 A K Q ? ?7“~|A 8 4 2 ¥Klo'4™ „¥J93 ♦ KS2 w _ b 494 |i J 9 2 S *Qlo£'7 Dealer 6 A9 6 3 ¥92 4 A Q 10 7 5 3 A 5 3 Rubber—All vt* South West North East Pass Pass 1 A Pass 2 4 Pass 2N. T Pass 3 4 . Pas3 3N. T. Pass Opening lead —A 7. 20 West won with the queen, and returned the four of hearts, Declarer finessed the queen, and when it held, he continued his strategy’ of the spade suit and played the ten spot, hoping in this marfner to establish dummy’s nine. But West was willing to sacrifice the spade trick and played the seven spot. Now, of course, declarer could cash the ace and five of spades and the ace of hearts, but he had to lose the last two tricks. (Copyright, 1935, NEA Service, Inc.).
There is a suit by 24 Alabama ice companies for the same purpose. There are suits to enjoin several cities and towns (including Knoxville and Bessemer, Ala.) from accepting PWA money to build municipal plants or to buy electricity from TVA. But the most important suit is the one just argued before the United States Supreme Court—the Ashwander case. It is a suit by minority stockholders to enjoin the Alabama Power* Cos. from transferring some of its lines to TVA. If the government wins, all these other suits will be pushed up through the courts. If the government loses, there may be no need for these other suits. I am told Wall Street is giving odds that the government will win. But TVA is really holding its breath over the Ashwander case. For even if it gets a partial justification out of the Supreme Court, that won’t do. It must get full authority to sell electricity, or TVA probably will wither and die. And another button would fly off the vest of the power trust. LABOR CONCILIATORS CLAIM .750 AVERAGE Adjustment of 749 Out of 1097 Cases During Year ReporteL By United Press WASHINGTON, Dec. 27.—A “batting average” of approximately .750 in adjusting labor disputes was reported by Director Hugh L. Kerwin today in summarizing activities of the Labor Department's conciliation service for the year. The service made possible adjustment of 749 of the 1007 cases in which it offered assistance in strikes, threatened strikes, lockouts and jurisdictional disputes, Kerwin reported. Os those where settlements were not reached, 80 were referred to other Federal agencies, 70 were settled independently and 79 were recorded as “unable to adjust.” Ohio was the scene of the year’s stormiest industrial battles, providing the service with 173 cases. Illinois was second with 113 and Pennsylvania third with 87. Labor disputes which the service adjusted involved 785,077 workers.
Second Section
Entered as Second-Class Matter at PostofTiee. Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER "O OME, Dec. 27.—With the exception of Adolf Hitler there is no man on earth whose selfappreciation is equal to that of Benito Mussolini, the old newspaper reporter. Hitler, however, is an imitator who plagiarized all of Mussolini's original ideas and once made a personal visit to the master to pick up some pointers. Italians, therefore, believe that vanity like his may be only counterfeit, whereas with Mussolini it s real. Mussolini and Hitler did not get along very well, because when two men come
together, each admitting himself to be the greatest man in the world, each one expects a certain deference from the other and they are unable to let down their hair. So the visit lasted only 15 minutes. and they have been going separate ways ever since. Hitler couldn't stand Mussolini's conceit, and Mussolini had never seen such an egotistical man in all his life. Mussolini at .first was flattered by Hitler's imitation. but on second thought he determined to emphasize the distinction between Fascism and
Nazlism. He wanted no partners to share his racket, so to speak, and. anyway. Hitler wanted to take over Austria, which is a branch of Italy under present arrangements and represents a large investment of Italian money. For this reason Mussolini has been urging Austrians to look for the original label and accept no substitutes. Moreover, in view of Hitler's attitude toward the Jews. Mussolini was afraid that if he permitted the world to believe Fascism and Naziism were alike Italians would have to share the boycott. tt tt tt Keeps Best Men at Distance r I ’'HERE are not enough Jews in Italy to constitute what Hitler called “the race,” and Mussolini is not so indifferent to foreign opinion as to forgo the approval and commerce of Jews and those who sympathize with the Jews of Germany. In all other important respects, of course, the tw'o systems are alike and were promoted by the same elements, which is to say the rich industrialists and patrioteers, and for the same purpose—to stand off Bolshevism. It’s a popular topic among foreigners in Italy whether Mussolini surrounds himself with yes men of the most obvious type because he wants to emphasize the contrast or feels himself to be equal to any task arising at home and, therefore, appoints his best men to foreign posts. Most picturesque of those Fascisti who might be regarded as aspirants if not rivals is Gen. Italo Balbo, who wears his whiskers with the jaunty effect of a horse-tail plume on the helmet of a royal guardsman. Dino Grandi, ambassador to London, though less magnificent in the conventional sugar scoop of the diplomat, would be among the last to deny that he himself is a great man and a priceless patriot. Balbo obscured even Mussolini’s splendor when he led his squadron of fliers home from Chicago and entered Rome in triumph, nodding left and right with every whisker of his beard twitching in self-approval. But soon aftenvard he was sent to Libya, and he rarely comes up for air nowadays, although he might crash into print any time in campaigning against the British in Africa. tt tt tt ll—One and Only—Duce MUSSOLINI has a feeling that there is not now and probably never will be another man worthy of the office of Duce and has been promoting the thought among the people that when he dies his position should be occupied by his immortal spirit. This idea is suggested in certain posters and placards showing an idealized scene in new Italy with the bold, brave head of Mussolini in a steel helmet faintly imposed against clouds like a vision. Nowhere does modesty deter II Duce from serving his people as an ideal. They Ijegin to admire him on their first day in kindergarten when their teachers read to them the glorious story of II Duce’s march on Rome. Their education is never contaminated with the poisonous possibility that the Blackshirt leader might be a murderous racketeer who joined the movement in early days only to denounce his creditors as Communists and have them liquidated by nocturnal raiders. When they grow into their teens and are ready for the army their teachers may explain in a clean, wholesome way that certain political vices exist, such as democracy, but only so that they recognize and resist temptation when it comes. ' Religious training is not denied them, but never has Mussolini been heard to dissent from adulation of the Duce. After all. that would be sedition, and Mussolini is a perfect Italian yielding to no man in his admiration for the chief.
Times Books
YOU could call “Thirteen Steps” (Doubleday, Doran & Cos. $2), by Whitman Chambers, a regular murder mystery story, but it is really a little more solid than that. That is to say that while the plot hangs on the question of a murder, and while the reader is kept in suspense as to the identity of the killer right to the end, the book derives its interest more from the interplay of the characters presented and from the study of their confused and tangled motives than it does from the mere mechanics of the crime and its detection. Th§. story has to do with a group of West Coast newspaper men and women; a somewhat neurotic group, hard and rather aimless drinkers, who are perpetually at outs with the world and one another without realizing exactly why. a a a OUT of the welter of their mutual antagonisms comes the murder of a reporter's wife—and almost any one in the group might, conceivably, have done it. Mr. Chambers opens his story in the execution chamber at San Quentin. The condemned man is mounting the scaffold, but his identity is not revealed; and Mr. Chambers proceeds to backtrack, outlining the things that led up to the murder, describing the murder itself, telling what happened thereafter, and keeping you in suspense as to the name of the man who is being hanged. It's an effective trick, guaranteed to keep your interest alive. The people in the book are a pretty fine group of heels, but Mr. Chambers describes them dispassionately and does not apologize for them. All in all. he has written a book which is a cut or two above the mystery story class and which should give you some first-rate entertainment. (By Bruce Catton.)
Literary Notes
Arthur Billingsley Hunt, who conducts the weekly “Hymn Sing” program at NBC, has a collection of over 8000 hymn books. Among them Is a first edition of Martin Luther’s book printed in 1526 which he picked up a few years ago in Vienna. a a a Peggy Wood, the actress, has written her first novel, tentatively titled “Dearly Beloved.” It will be brought out next summer by Farrar & Rinehart. She recently wrote the introduction for an omnibus volume by her father, which Doubleday Doran issued. Her husband is John V. A. Weaver, poet and novelist. a m a John Cheever, whose short stories have appeared in Story and other magazines, will have his first novel published by Simon & Schuster.
Westbrook Pegler