Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 31, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 April 1936 — Page 17
It Seems to Me HEW® BM jyjILWAUKEE, Wis., April 16.—Much has been written about the lack of crime in England, and there has been speculation as to the factors which make for law and order in that country. But one need not go to such a distance for research. The city of Milwaukee, where Dan Hoan has been mayor for 20 years and has just been elected to another four-year term, presents an even more admir-
able record than any good-sized city of the Old World. A local newspaper man was complaining to me about it only this morning. “This,” he said, “is a terrible spot for a police reporter. In a year and a half we’ve had only one murder, and that was of no interest whatsoever. An obscure woman poured gasoline over her husband while he was asleep and then set fire to him. It seems he used to beat her. Os course, that was big for us, but it was just one of those personal differences in which nobody but the people concerned
Hcywood Broun
take much interest.” My newspaper friend looked gloomily through the window at the Utopian scene and continued: “I certainly would like to get away from here. I’ve worked on papers man and boy for 15 years, and in all that time I can’t remember that Milwaukee ever had a good murder.” ‘ How about kidnapings or stickups?” I asked, hopefully trying to cheer up the poor fellow, but he only went deeper into melancholy. “We’ve never had a kidnaping that I can remember,” he admitted sadly, “ and our last big robbery was months and months ago.” a tt u It's Very Annoying THE things which annoy us,” he went on, “are the disappointments. Every one and so often we see the New York and Chicago papers with big headlines, ‘Crime Wave Sweeps Country,’ and naturally, we figure that we ought to get our share. But what happens? The best we get is, ‘Man Held for Passing Traffic Light.’ ” I could not resist the temptation to pour a little salt into the wounds of my confrere. “In New York,” I told him, "things are very different. Os course, we have our slack periods, too, but they don’t last very long. “Only the other night I was in a restaurant, and a veteran news gatherer passed by. I’d heard that he had gone executive, and I rebuked him for it. ‘lt's true,’ he said, ‘that I’m acting as Joe’s assisant over at the Syndicate, but he lets me out tc cover something every now and then. I went to the execution at Trenton, but I don't see any chance of getting away on an assignment again for some time. Nothing’s happened in the world. There isn’t any news.’ “1 told him not to be so pessimistic. I assured him that almost any moment something exciting would happen and the kindly fates who watch the destiny of New York reporters would be sure within no time at all to drop a good crime story into the toe of his stocking. An hour later I left the place and ran into the headlines of the bathtub murder.” My Milwaukee friend shook his head in utter surrender. “I blame it on the Germans and the radio,” he exclaimed with sudden violence. “They’re ruining everything.” His wild words puzzled me. “The Germans and the radio are ruining what?” I inquired. tt tt tt So They Arrest the Wife THE chance to live a decent newspaper life in the city of Milwaukee,” he answered. “It’s like this: The Germans are always law abiding, but they have a tendency to get petulant. "We used to have a few pretty good cases where a German husband came home morose from a concert and strangled his wife. Wagner makes quite a few Germans dissatisfied with women they marry. “We never got it the other way around. I can’t remember a single German woman in Milwaukee who ever murdered her husband. You see, with them the man is the boss. Stabbing a husband would be the unforgivable sin. It would make the neighbors think that he lacked authority in his own home.” “Yes, yes,” I interrupted impatiently, “but what has all this got to do with the radio?” “You don’t understand Germans,” I was informed. “An Italian, when he makes up his mind, will just go zingo, but a German can’t murder his wife without first telling her about it, and while he’s shouting around the house the neighbors call up the police and in a few seconds there’s a radio car in front of his house and the police snatch his wife away to the station house.” “But why do they arrest her?” “For violating Milwaukee's anti-noise ordinance.” (Copyright, 19361
Roosevelt Wants Norris Back Again BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, April 16.—Although Senator George Norris has said he was not a candidate for re-election, the Administration is ready to force him into the race rather than take a chance on the new Democratic senatorial nominee in Nebraska, former Rep. Terry Carpenter, a filling station owner who made a freak campaign on the Townsend plan. Senator Burke, Nebraska Democrat, is ready to bolt and support Norris, a pro-Roosevelt Republican. ,a a a SUGGESTIONS that Dr. Rudolph Leitner is being recalled from his German embassy post here to be chief of the American section of the German Foreign Office because of what happened at a recent German beer party at the embassy are without foundation. Ten days ago Ambassador Luther gave his annual Bockbicrabend attended by more than 100 Senators. Representatives, officials and newspaper correspondents. Afterward one version got into print that Senators cracked jokes at Hitler's expense and that Senator Barkley of Kentucky, in his exuberance, picked up a pickle, stuck it under his nose and gave the Nazi salute. If any such breaches of hospitality occurred, the embassy staff, of course, had nothing to do with them. Dr. Leitner's promotion was decided upon some time back, but announcement was delayed because Ambassador Luther tried to persuade the Foreign Office to keep him here as counsellor of embassy. He carries the main load of work and is expert at it. But the Nazi government feels it has not made a particularly favorable impression on American opinion and it was thought that because of Dr. Luther’s intimate understanding of this country he would be valuable in Berlin in dealing with this situation. Tall, Austrian by birth. Dr. Leitner is one of the most popular members of the diplomatic corps, a golfing partner of White House Secretary Early, and a regular guest at Gridiron and White House correspondents dinners. Dr. Leitner, as a career man in the German diplomatic service, has not participated in the domestic politics of his country. He has been here 12 years. a a a YOU can take your pick of apparently conflicting Labor Department employment statistics depending upon your politics. In one recent government publication there are two sets of figures. One group shows that last year employment was 2 per cent nearer 1929 than industrial production—that is, re-employment not only was keeping up with increased production, but was running slightly ahead of it. A few pages later, another set of figures shows that in December and January, employment was lagging some 20 per cent behind production. Dr. Isador Lubin, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, can tell you how the figures do not conflict, but he leaves you as befuddled as ever unless you're an economist and know the tricks. As they stand, the figures are perfect for campaign year. You can make a case for either side, by choosing your figures.
ROADS Unbelievable As It May Sound, the Air Is Getting Crowded; Control Towers and Block System Needed. BY DAVID DIETZ Scripps-Howard Science Editor YOUNG man with coat off and shirt sleeves rolled up, sits at a desk in an octagonal penthouse whose upper walls and roof are made of glass. Before him upon the desk is a series of electric switches and signal lights. Behind the switches is a panel resembling the playing board of some new game. It is painted green, marked with white streaks, dotted with miniature electric lights of white and green and red. At the back of the desk there is a group of instruments like over-sized automobile
speedometers and some three or four radio loudspeakers. A voice comes out of one loudspeaker. “Smith in United Airlines 111 to WRDT. Over Elyria at 2000.” The young man glances at the signal lights on the chart and instrument panel before him. He surveys the horizon through the glass walls of his pent-house. He glances at the big dials on the instruments on his
FOURTH OF A SERIES
desk. Then he snaps a switch, picks up a radio microphone and speaks in an even, crisp voice: “Wind, northwest nine. Barometer, 29.86. Ceiling, 900 feet. Visibility, three miles. There is a small bi-plane ship over the southwest corner of the field. Nothing on the field at the present time. O. K. to come straight into a northwest wind for your landing. Use east portion of field.” The glass-inclosed pent-house is the control tower of an airport. It
Ls located upon the rcof of the administration building. Newark, Cleveland, Chicago and a number of other airports now have such towers. The switches control field lights and radio facilities. That chart, resembling the playing board of some new game, is a model of the airport itself. The big dials indicate wind direction .and velocity. From the radio loudspeakers come the voices of pilots as their planes approach the airport.
HE'S A REAL CZAR
AT those fields which have installed control towers, the man at the microphone is the commanding officer of airport operations. No plane may take off from the field or land upon it without his permission. They must follow the directions which he gives as to approach, etc. The rapid growth of air travel has made these control towers necessary. Traffic is too dense around airports to permit any one to leave or arrive as he pleases. The need for the control tower is doubly important at night and triply important when the weather is bad and the ceiling is low. Then it is up to the control tower man to watch his step. Planes have to be brought into the airport with care. If conditions get too bad, they must be ordered to nearby ports where conditions are better. At an airport like that in Cleveland, the control tower man is a busy man. There is an average of 100 incoming and outgoing planes a day. At a given moment there may be planes approaching from every direction of the compass. One airliner is winging its way in from New York, another from Pittsburgh, a third from Chicago, a fourth from the West. On the ground, transports are getting ready to take off. The man in the tower must get them in and out without a hitch. Unbelievable as it may sound, the air is getting crowded. There is a problem of congestion. Yes, there is plenty of air over the United States. But that is like telling a Sunday motorist that the countryside is broad. He has to keep his auto upon the concrete road and the road is crowded. The planes are flying the radio beacons. They are headed for the same airports. They propose to land upon the same airways. And so, adequate control, particularly at
THIS CURIOUS WORLD
JFJkl 9 FRANKINCENSE. AND MVRRH, ' Jaw both of biblical fame, are: * USE TDDAV/ MYRRH IS USED lIM SOME % BRANDS OF TOOTHPASTE; FRANKINCENSE. ,N mustard plasters. , Y hCA sa)v , C£ wa jF) _ THERE ARE ABOUT \ v\ EIGHT THOUSAND f 1 V \ SELECTED AND CATALOGUED [ # X V \ VARIETIES OF If P \ I APPLES \ V/ /
We of today are deeply Indebted to the carboniferous period of millions of years ago, during which time huge forests of curious trees and shrubs died and became fossilized into what eventually became coal. Some Idea of the amount of vegetation necessary to form the world's coal supply can be gained when one stops to realize that some coal veins are 200 feet thick. i • - te' - -
The Indianapolis Times
night and whei> the weather is bad, is absolutely necessary. Likewise it is increasingly important to know where planes are along the radio ranges. There is, for example, the problem of planes on different airways crossing each other’s path. If both planes are flying by radio and instruments in a dense cloud bank, it is important to know where each one is. As more and more planes take to the air, the problem is going to become more and more important. It is for this reason that the United States Bureau of Air Commerce last April launched a movement for uniform airway and airport traffic control. Under the plan, the bureau, which maintains the airways, will likewise take over the job of controlling the traffic upon them.
RAIL SYSTEM IS MODEL
THE plan calls for the establishment of control towers at busy airports which do not now have them and the appointment of “flight control officers.” Their duty would correspond in many ways to the train dispatchers of railroads and would supplement the flight agreements now in existence between airlines as to crossing altitudes, etc. The plan, discussed at a series of
WASHINGTON, April 16.—The Securities and Exchange Commission is being sued by five large corporations to prevent publication of the salaries and other compensation paid their officers. Yet, simultaneously, the salaries are a matter of public record. The suit eventually will go to the Supreme Court, but until then the SEC is not supposed to divulge the salary secrets of the five firms. Any one who really wants to, however, need only look through the Treasury’s income tax report sent to the House Ways and Means Committee recently. Here are the salaries which the five companies pay: American Can—H. W. Phelps, president, $121,530; C. E. Green, vice president, $140,000; F. S.
By William Ferguson
THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1936
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meetings which culminated at a big conference in Washington in November, 1935, would divide the air into a three-dimensional latticework of roads with a block system to mark it off into blocks like those of a railroad. Properly designated beacons would mark off the blocks visually, while radio marker beacons would designate their boundaries in stormy weather. The United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have all agreed to the development of such a system. When their ships flew the airways they would be treated by the flight control officer
Washington Merry-Go-Round BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
Wheeler, chairman of the board, $76,360. Evans Products—E. S. Evans, president, $45,000 in salary and $90,000 in bonuses. United States Tobacco—John L. De Voe, president, $35,000 in salary and $27,820 in bonuses; L. A. Bowers, vice president, SIB,OOO in salary and $27,820 in bonuses; J. D. Cahart, vice preisdent, $lB,500 in salary and $6155 in bonuses. Mathieson Alkali—E. L. Allen, president, $86,400. National Biscuit—R. M. Tomlinson, president, $106,500; Frederick Beers, vice president, $59,450. a a a FREDERICK LIBBY of the National Council for the Prevention of War, who has offices just opposite the War Department, was selling “Peace Bonds’* to finance a drive for reduction of armament. He hit upon the idea of selling them in Hollywood. One of his buyers was Anita Louise, young screen actress. After the bond was purchased, Miss Louise consented to be interviewed and pose for the photographers. “Miss Louise,” asked one newsman, “what is your opinion of peace and war?” “Oh,” replied the movie star, applying a touch of rouge, “I think peace is nicer.” ’ a a a THE American Federation of Labor, which maintains a regular “legislative agent” (usually called “lobbyist”) on Capitol Hill, is wondering just who he really represents. The gentleman in question, William C. Hushing, recently appeared before the Senate Immigration Committee in favor of the KerrCoolidge bill. This would give immigration officials discretion not to break up families by deporting worthy aliens. The A. F. of L. is for the bill, and Hushing gave a perfunctory indorsement. Suddenly fierytongued Senator Reynolds of North Carolina burst into the picture. He wanted to know if the KerrCoolidge bill really received Hushing’s indorsement. Hushing stammered, fumbled for words, finally said: “I’m terribly handicapped, Senator. But I have to go along with the views of my superior officers, of course.” “Well, what about Sec. 4?” demanded Reynolds. “Are you for that or against it?” “I am not supposed to express personal opinions. But I am going to do so anyway. The section is very bad in my opinion. I would never agree to it.” Starting from there. Hushing ripped into the entire bill and assailed both Secretary Perkins and Immigration Comrmssioner'Daniel W. Mac Cormack. Hushing particularly was recriminatory regarding the action
The czar of the air—the control tower operator.
after the fashion of a special train on a railroad.
ALTIMETERS NECESSARY
THE fundamental provision of the system is that all planes be equipped with a standardized altimeter. This is absolutely necessary, since the operation of the system depends upon an exact agreement on this point Eastbound planes would travel at altitudes in odd thousands of feet, 3000, 5000 , 7000, etc. Westbound planes would travel at even altitudes, 2000, 4000, 6000, etc. Where routes of airlines inter-
of Miss Perkins in disbanding the notorious squad of so-called “immigration inspectors,” who during the Hoover Administration, even raided churches in their drive against alleged aliens. He did not point out, however, that when Miss Perkins fired these “immigration inspectors” she also fired Mr. Hushing’s brother. a a a ct'HE fact that Shelley wrote a poem extolling the “blithe spirit” of the skylark does not make that bird welcome to United States customs officials. An undesirable alien, the skylark is excluded as being “injurious to agriculture and horticulture.” .. . The well-laid plans of the Pan-Amer-ican Union for anew administration building on Constitutionav, near their present quarters, were blasted by Secretary Ickes, who wants no other structure so near his new Interior Department building. . . . Government laboratories claim credit for the fact that more than half a million boxes of oranges went into canned juice last season. They developed a process of “flash pasteurization” which avoids the cooked taste and keeps the “bite.” (Copyright, 1936. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
GRIN AND BEAR IT
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“Would you buy a ticket for. the Nurses’ Dance, Mr. TweepJ'l
sect, exact rulings would govern the altitudes at which crossings were to be made. Planes would report their entry into each block by radio. For this purpose, all blocks would be numbered. Thus, for example, a pilot would report “United Airlines 111. Block 10. Altitude 6000. On top.” The last phrase would refer to where he was with reference to the clouds. It would either be “On top,” “Blind,” or “Under.” Such a system of flight control would enable the flight control officers and the control tower men to know at any given instant every plane that was in the air over the United States. When ships were flying blind, it would enable the officers to keep them widely separated in different blocks and at different altitudes. It would enable them to land ships in airports and to clear them with the minimum loss of time. As already mentioned, it would enable ships of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard to fit into the commercial schedules and fly the radio ranges without fear of confusion. In addition, it would permit private pilots whose planes were equipped for blind flying to use the radio ranges in the same fashion. Flight control would also give the officers the right to order down those private ships which were not properly equipped for flying in bad weather. Adoption of this unified system of flight control will mark a significant step in the development of American aviation. First came the development of the airplane itself. Next the emphasis was placed upon the instruments necessary for flying, altitude meters and the other devices to be found upon the instrument board of every adequately equipped plane. The third step was the development of the Federal Airways System with its beacon lights, its radio range beacons to show the direction of flight, and its marker beacons to locate specific points. Now comes a standardized, na-tion-wide traffic code of the air. TOMORROW—The future of privately owned planes.
by Lichty
Second Section
Entered ** Seemirt-Clas* Matter st rostoffire. Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER TORK, April 16.—1 t might surprise some of us to hear that, for all our troubles in this country, the United States enjoys the envy of every nation in Europe with the exception of Great Britain, which is now in the throes of a boom, and that millions of people would leap at a chance to come over and share our poverty with us. The British seem not to envy anybody, for they have plenty of money and confi-
dence and their national spirit is strong, being unaffected by thenpartisan political grudges and ambitions. They are in the money now and they have the rare good sense to realize that they are having a good time and, furthermore, they are pleased to know that both Italy and Germany look up to Great Britain as a superior nation. Os course, it burns the proud Fascist or Nazi to be told that he holds his country inferior to any land on earth, but they are constantly revealing their sense
of inferiority in their censored newspapers and in the public orations of their bosses. The only difference between them in this respect is that the Fascist leaders preach hatred for Britain, whereas Hitler fawns upon the British government, tries to imitata British manners and is constantly telling his subjects that they are as good as the British in this or that pursuit, from rowing or skating to manufacturing. tt tt u Showing Their Inferiority The Nazis’ feeling of inferiority never was mora clearly betrayed than in the pathetic bombast with which their captive journalists exploited petty athletic victories or explained away unimportant failures in the so-called winter Olymyic games at Gar-misch-Partenkirchen. After all, in any nation which actually feels itself to be great and strong, a winning performance on skates, skis or bobsled is not to be reckoned as a glorious achievement. The Americans, for example, have been producing great athletes for many years and their triumphs in international competition have become so commonplace that American sport writers long ago ceased to wave the flag and turned instead to exploiting the intelligence of certain of our superathletes. Had the Americans won the winter Olympics that would have been an oft-told story, so when they made a poor showing this year that was news. The German journalists, however, did not accept failures as merely that and nothing else, but stretched their language into strange shapes explaining that although Ludwig cr Otto finished last he went dowm fighting gloriously for the Fatherland and, considering his handicaps, might be said to have scored a moral victory for Hitler and the spinning pinwheel of the Nazi banner. But I began to report a great envy of the United States, discernible even in France where the love of country is fierce but where every man and woman constantly is aware of the menace which blows from the Eastern frontier like a cold wind. Germany always is there, Hitler has proclaimed that France is an enemy and must be destroyed and the airline from the front is shorter than it was in the old days. So inevitably, some day, the bombs will fall. tt n tt No Hostile Neighbors Here THIS country rubs borders with no hostile neighbor and that is a condition which no continental nation enjoys. Frenchman and German man the frontiers constantly watching for a warlike move. The Pole and Russian eye one another across an imaginary line with hatred and suspicion and the Czech knows that Hitler awaits the day when he will turn loose the guns and planes, pinch off Czechoslovakia, snuff out the hard-won freedom of the people, suppress their language and massacre the dissenters. It is hard for Continental Europeans to understand the American discontent and impossible for them to realize that poverty can exist in a land so blessed with what it takes to live well and protect itself. A strange, fortunate, though somewhat foolish land, the United States of America, where there is too much of everything and some people are even tired of liberty and beginning to pine for the rule of the mob and club.
Liberal Viewpoint BY HARRY ELMER BARNES
THE announcement of the necessity of suspending institutional aid to the college paper, The Teachers College News, at Teachers College in Columbia University is a symptom of a critical situation, in which the sympathy of forward-minded teachers and observers will go out to Dean William F. Russell. It is well known that Dean Russell had an ardent personal interest in the purposes for which the college paper was established. He has given out under his own name one of the most eloquent and forceful statements of the value of the press and of the necessity of maintaining its freedom unimpaired: “Whoever thinks let him speak. Whoever would muzzle another, let him stay his hand. Bring on the opposition. Let it be heard. Then we shall have all the forces in full play.” This might even be adopted by Roger Baldwin as the slogan of his American Civil Liberties Union. So cogent was it that the Teachers College News ran it at the head of its editorial page. Indeed, it was a statement broad enough to protect full academic freedom as well as the freedom of the press. a a a THE students apparently were conscious and appreciative of the brave stand of their dean. They did a fine job with the college paper, maintaining good taste but not evading the issues of th§ day. The Teachers College News has been one of the most important and best edited college papers in the United States. Even the issue published after the announced necessity of suspending institutional support was very restrained in tone. His attitude toward the freedom of the press and of teaching has not been the only evidence of Dean Russell’s progressiveness and of his keen sympathy with the underdog in the present social crisis. In a notable article some time back he came to grips with the current problem of unemployment and the economic impasse. He declared that we must find “new frontiers,” in the way of new types of industrial training and opportunity. This must take the place of the old land frontier of the West, if we are to provide an outlet for our surplus manpower.
Times Books
IN “American Chamber of Horrors* (Farrar and Rinehart; $2.50), Ruth de Forest Lamb rounds up all the evidence that has been brought forwaid in connection with the famous Copeland bill, and offers it to the public in compact, easily digestible form. It makes an appalling exhibit. Its force is increased by the fact that Miss Lamb does not take the uncompromising attitude of some of the advocates of that bill. Half a loaf, In her viewpoint, is a great deal better than no bread at ail; and she is concerned here with shewing how very greatly even half a loaf is needed. She simply proves that the present situation is intolerable, and presents enough evidence to show that the Copeland bill, in its present form, is about as mild a remedy as the consumer can afford to (By Bruce Catton.)
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Westbrook Peglep