Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 September 1936 — Page 14

‘ PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) ROY WwW. HOWARD, , President LECDWELL DENNY EARL D. BARER .... 0 ca. Business Manager i

W SCRIPPS = HOWARD Give /Aght and the

People Will Fina Their Own Way

«53> Phone RIley 5331

WEDNESD! AY 1838.

SEPTEMBER 9,

ONE YEAR—AND FIVE ; NE 3 the City of Indianapolis Oo acquir Gas and Coke | Utility. The trustees and directors to whom | was entrus owned . utility assumed at least

rear ago today red the Citizens sted the operation of the city’s only | publicly two | ma jor One was to manage the property best interest of their employers—the people of |

responsibilities. in the

| Indianapolis. The other was to determine the practica- |

bility of bringing natural gas in to Indianapolis.

Since Nov. 17, 1931, when natural gas began |

flowing through a corner of Marion County, |

> the public had been waiting for an answer to | that A committee appointed on May 1, 1931, to ; the advisability of natural gas— |

question.

investigate BR group headed by Harry L. Dithmer, now City Utilities District president—had not reported. The City had not fulfilled its promise—made |

! far has

protested a rhanufacturers’ move on | 1931,

and extensive

when it June 17, to get natural gas—to “procure detailed “feasibility and extent of practical use of nat-

on gas,

information” on the |

| ural gas.” A “working subcommittee” named in September, 1331, The City had evaded another promise diately fo investigate the practicability of getting natural gas’ a pledge made in protest to a gas company's plea of Sept. 5, 1933, to | bring natural gas here. The City likewise had done nothing about a similar promise made on Dec. 13, 1933, when it sought a PWA loan to take over the gas plant; nor had it kept faith ‘on still another such promise made July 30, * 1934, when bonds were issued to finance purchase of the plant. A year ago, then, the responsibility for end- . ing or continuing this policy of evasion fell * squarely on the men chosen to operate the gas | utility. Theirs was the opportunity, and the | . duty, to thke the public into their confidence . and bring forth the full facts on the feasibility of getting natural gas. The record today shows they did not grasp _ that opportunity. The original Dithmer commit- | tee, after more than five years, has never re- | ported.’ Neither has the subcommittee. Every | _.gne of the City's frequent promises “immediately to investigate” has been broken. No effort has been made to explain why surrounding cities get natural gas:at lower prices than | Indianapolis users pay for the manufactured product. We do not know wha ¢ an impartial investigation would show. A survey last December by W. E. Steinwedell, Cleveland consulting engineer, indicated large rate reductions could be "made by use of straight natural gas. A second Steinwedell report on July 1, 1936, said production costs had been cut so that natural gas | would not result-in a saving. A month ago, :D. J. Angus, one of the gas utility directors, told the Kiwanis Club that | *full, fair and impartial consideration” would | be given .the natural gas question. As late as Aug. 25, Mr. Dithmer was quoted as saying, When we have.had time to determine ac- | curately our production costs, then we will ask | for bids on the natural product to see whether | it can compete with manufactured gas.” 4 And so the promises pile up. ~ How much more time? Is not five years sufficient time for a committee to :¥eport? Is | hot lone year long enough for the public to | be given the facts about its own business? It | is time these promises were backed up by performance.

had not reported. ;

“imme-

HOMESTEAD

OMESTEAD, a steel town of Pennsylvania, was one of the hard-hit towns of depression days, concerned as it was with the mak- | ing of “heavy” or capital goods, Today, 10,000 men are on the CarnegieIllinois pay" roll in Homestead—a thousand ~ more than in the boom year of 1929. Homestead has a shortage of skilled labor and is | closing down its relief office. Has some one—in the language of Gov. Landon—been “fumbling “with recovery” up | there? |

SELF-PROTECTION

N BELL, at the conclusion of a traffic case | the other day, complimented the witness who had appeared to testify against an offender. Later, the judge commented: “One of our | greatest problems is to find witnesses to accidents resulting from reckless or drunken | driving and to get them te court to aid in | the prosecution.} The uncertainty of punisishent is a factor in the high accident toll. Lieut. F."M. Kreml of the Public Safety Institute, Purdue Uni‘versity, who has been asked .to investigate Indianapolis traffic hazards, made such a sur-. ir vey In Louisville last year. He found that . Speeding, reckless driving and other violations were resulting partly from the, fact that many - ‘offenders were escaping legal punishment, The first thing Lieut. Kreml did was to line Up air-tight cases, with proper witnesses and no technical errors. ‘pended sentences and dismissals continued, “he got aroused citizens to appear in cowrt in 8 body when traffic cases came up. The judges’ ‘attitude changed and violations dropped. Judges here a their duty in g adequate punishment traffic violations. But they are hampered : of getting witnesses. Fs the

{ neutrality.

i ment against government.

| across the Pyrenees.

| with sharp sticks,

Prime Minister, | praiseworthy courage.

UNICIPAL JUDGE CHARLES A. KARA- |

When light fines, sus- | | citizens to the income-tax rolls. And we do

| know that these same people, now unfairly | assessed under a sales tax system, would, if

rently are not shifking |

BLUM SETS AN EXAMPLE VERY day

involve every government

than that, evety one of that cor

{ 000.000 people is pulling for one side or the i of demanding inter- ||

other, many to the point vention. :

All that is needed to make Spain's |

other fecling runs high. aroused than in 1914. Now system against social system, peoples against peoples, fight a free-for-all is for France or Germany,

{ Italy or England, Russia or some other excited ! nation to heave a brick from the sidelines. In {| other words, intervene.

Such being the case, the attitude of Pre-

| mier Leon Blum of France is deserving of | high praise.

There is every reason ‘why he, personally, might like to help Madrid. His isa Popular Front regime closely akin to that

most ardent support comes from the Com-

mufiists who from the very first gun of the | Spanish revolution have kept prodding him

demanding intervention. Yet he has refused to budge .from the

| straight and exceedingly narrow path of offi-

cial neutrality. Difficult though his position

| has been, both as a Socialist leader and as | ; the most | | or the apparently vertical Sips of a tower or the

he has exhibited Instead of drifting with the current he has sweat blood pulling against: the popular tide. But the world is not yet out of it. The gory tragedy shaws no sign of letting up in Spain. And every day it continues brings fresh and sometimes unforeseen perils. But if we could be certain that Mussolini and Hitler, Stalin and the rulers of Downing Street will stick to their guns of nonintervention as Blum thus stuck to his, would be considerably less dismal than otherwise must be the case. :

THE SHAME OF TALMADGE HE people of Georgia are voting today in a primary in which’ Gov. Talmadge

{ is a candidate for the United States Senate.

We trust that law-respecting Georgians will bear in mind that since Jan: 11, 1833— Eleven Georgians have been lynched. No lyncher has been punished. —All in the administration of this man who has said so much about upholding the Constitution.

A FAIRER TAX

HE Democratic National Committee asks: “Is Gov. Landon .going to lower the income tax exemption to $750 for single men and $1500 for married men as he has in Kansas?” o 2 2 AVING long advocated a broadened base for our Federal income tax, as a means of raising enough revenue to make possible the repeal of hidden Federal sales and | nuisance taxes, we find it interesting to com-

pare the taxes which people pay under such | lowered exemptions with their taxes under the |

present system. Omitting! corporation levies, which hardly

taxes include the direct tax on single persons who get

incomes

excises as the taxes on cigarets, erators, toilet preparations and amusement | admissions. In computing the hidden taxes we arbitrarily assume what in the main can not be | disputed, that individuals with low smoke about as many cigarets, quaff, about | as many stefns of beer and as many high- | balls, buy about as much face powder and | lipstick and strike about as many matches, as do individuals. with larger incomes. We | also arbitrarily assume that married couples |

biles, but that those with incomes of $2000 |

| and above own automobiles, and therefore pay

hidden Federal taxes on gasoline, motor oil,

i tires, etc.

For the purpose of this comparison, we lump together all these hidden levies and the existing income tax, in a column headed “Present Federal - Taxes.” In another column, headed “Substitute Federal Taxes,” we compute what

lowered to $1500 fpr- married: couples again arbitrarily, that the would be repealed.

hidden excises To avoid confusion,

tations applicable to married couples with no dependents. Here goes:

Present Substitute

Federal Taxes $36.16 36.16 36.16

Income $1000 1200 1500 -

None None

(at this point income taxes would start) 36.16 $ 4.80 - 49.13 (adding auto) 12.00 49.13 30.00 (at this point income taxes start) 57.13 78.73 93.13 120.13

1300 2000 2500

3000 3600 4000 5000

48.00 69.00 84.00

| # ” = 2

HUS we find that all married couples with incomes up to $5000 would actually have

oh income were lowered to $1500, and sales and nuisance taxes repealed. - On incomes ‘above $5000, the figures in the right-hand column rapidly would forge ahead of those in the middle : column, with each successive. surtax taking a larger bite out of the incomes. Thence:

. would come the substitute revenue, on a strict

ability-to-pay basis. : Of course we do not know whether such a substitute income tax schedule would yield enough reventie to make possible the repeal of all hidden excises. No responsible estimates have ever been made. But we do know that

the yield would be large, and that exemptions

of $1500 and $750 would add several million

transferred to an income tax, be dealt with according to capacity to pay. And that is only justice, :

HE foregoing, ot course, is nothing more

makes it clearer that while | Spain is the battleground, the issues there | in Europe. More | ntinent’s 530,- |

| about the four porch columns. | already know that they are Corinthian columns

Himself a Socialist, his.

the immediate future

| gable.

for [os 3 I know least about. can be traced satisfactorily to the individuals! who ultimately pay them, our present Federal | of | more than $1000 a | vear and married couples who get more than | $2500, and such indirect sales and nuisance liquor, | matches, gasoline, motor oil, mechanical refrig-

income |

| the bar.

of Fair Weather” | test to this. the ‘income tax would be with the exemption |

assuming, | 1c 7s 2 &: | pkee Hills.

we | leave out single persons, and make the compu=- |

'A Woman’s Viewpoint

Federal Taxes

| reticule and’ antimacassar days. | were hurrying about on worthwhile affairs; they | were establishing the setup for the New Freedom, | or reforming a drunken universe, or helping to { make the world safe for democracy. 120.00 | i hobby. { a miniature mecca for lovers of art and beauty. | Like great pictures the quilts hang, with colors

their Federal ax bills reduced if ihe exemption |, ended and designs SEllifally Suilined.

OUR TOWN

Anton Scherrer

UT for my bumping into Architect August Bohlen the other day, I should never have

and me it means that it has a four-column porch in front and no peristyle. With a peristyle it would have been put into the peripteral class. The peripeteral class would have put me in a tight place because, whether you know it or not, I have my hands full today without fooling with a peristyle. It will keep me busy enough just to tell you Like as not, you

but, maybe, you don’t know that they are unlike any other columns in town—let alone, any other Corinthian columns. They are different because Mr. Bohlen started their entasis right-above the base line instead of waiting until he got one-third of the way up the height of the column, which is the method most architects around here use. This doesn't mean that other architects don’t know their business, ‘too. It merely means that Mr. Bohlen has some new and entertaining notions on the subject of entasis. = = = NTASIS, it turns out, is a convex curvature added to the taper of the shaft of a column,

generally conical or pyramidal shape of a spire.

‘| Because it can do the aesthetic things it can, it | is generally regarded as one of the most subtle of architectural refinements.

It's something the { Greeks thought up almosi 2500 years ago, but,

| for some reason, it didn't get around to us until | about 125 years ago.

Stuart and Reveit, for instance, measured the Parthenon in 1756, but mufied the entasis. So did Lord Elgin when he pilfered the sculptures in 1801. It wasn’t until nine years later that ‘Charles Robert Cockerell came along with the news that the taper of the Parthenon columns is a slyly plotted curve and not a straight line as everybody up to that time had believed it to be. After that, practically every architect got on the band wagon. After that, too, everybody began wondering why the Greeks did it. Some said it was to create the perspective illusion of more height. Some claimed it was the desire to correct that delusion of human sight which makes a cylinder set on end appear to bulge at the top, a horizontal cornice to sag when placed under a And some, willing to let well enough alone, thought it was nothing more than artistic preference on the part of the Greeks.

o ” I three theories Mr. Bohlen subscribes, I didn’t ask him. . After all, an architect's | private life is his own affair. All IT know is that the Cathedral columns looked nifty enough for me to go around and pick up the recipe for Mr. Bohlen’s entasis. Mr. Bohlen’s columns start with a diameter of 5 feet 2 inches, at the base and immediate~ ly begin to swell which, I repeat, is something entirely new in this town. The swelling continues for about 20 feet until ‘the diameter is 414 inches bigger than it was when it started. After that it begins fo contract. By the time it is ready to receive the capital (which, by the way, is 6 feet high and 7'2 feet across), the | diameter of the column is down to 4 feet 3% | inches. And if you have eyes to see, you'll note

| that the contour is a curve and not a straight

| line. Mr. Bohlen didn’t forget a thing. Maybe, it. would be better for you to have |a look for yourself, instead of taking my word it. Goodness knows, architecture is the

September Oth

IN INDIANA HISTORY By J. H. J.

AURICE THOMPSON, author.of “Alice of Old Vincennes,” was born at Fairchild, | Ind., Sept. 9, 1844, His family moved to Georgia | before the Civil War and Thompson served with | the Confederate Army from 1862 until Lee's | surrender. During the war period, Thompson carried the | essays of DeQuincey and Carlyle with him and

| read from them frequently. After the war he

{ went to Crawfordsville and was admitted to He served one term as a member of | the state Legislature and was appointed state

: geologist in 1885. with less than $2000 income own no automo-

He had become adept 2 arehery in Georgia and he and his brother, Will H. Thompson, were mainly responsible for the revival of the sport

which swept the nation in 1870. Thompson even

wrote a book about it, “The Witchery of Archery.” Although his fame rests today on "Alice of Old Vincennes,” a romantic = historical novel, i Thompson preferred classical pastoral poetry | above all else. His two volumes of verse, “Songs (1883) and “Poems” (1892), at-

Other works of his are “A Tallahassee Girl,” “At Love's Extremes” and “Stories of the Cher-

Thompson died in 1901.

BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

N Greeley, Colo., lives a woman who can show you scores of beautiful quilts which she has

| made in the last two decades. None Some of them fhought it was rather foolish | business, this cutting up whole lengths of cloth

Her friends used to laugh at her a little.

into bits in order to sew them together again.

| They said it was the sort of thing the modern

It smacked of the These friends

woman should abandon.

Meantime, the quilting lady went on with her As a consequence, her home has become

Some are like old-fashioned .flower gardens,

| others modernistic color pieces. and still others | impress | Thousands of tiny bits of cloth sewed together

you with their dignified restraint.

with perfect precision, and the whole quilted with designs as delicate and dainty as the markings of birdfeet on snow. Artisans who become minor artists, such as she is, exist in every community. They are the individuals who express themselves with whatever means are at hand, The woman who makes beautiful quilts is a true artist after her fashion.

Ask The Times

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing an¥ question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bu-

| reau, 1013 13th-st, N. W,, Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor

can extended research be undertaken.

Q@—Has the travel and ente ance of the President of the United increased?

A—No. It is still $25,000 a year. Q—What is | 6 on and

nt allowtes been

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Just between you |

HAVEN'T the least idea to which of the]

The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with whot you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it—Voltaire.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letter short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.) n .-. = u RAPS ADMINISTRATION OF OLD-AGE PENSIONS By William Rupert, Newcastle On the editorial page of The Times of Aug. 29 your comments on social security, entitled, “But It Is Working,” are true, fair and reasonable. You also speak as though you are favorable for an adequate old age pension and for this I want to thank you. - Yes, both parties are and have been for old-age pensions and only differ a little about such. The large majority of people are now for a pension of about $30 a month to those over 65 who have no income. However, few states are giving that yet, but some will soon, as is reasonable and logical. The worst feature about our state is the county option amendment, for under it five persons—the County Welfare Board—have power to give as much below $30 as they liké. Oldage pension laws should be statecontrolled and each person should receive the same amount regardless of what county he lives in. It’s very unfortunate for a poor old person to live in g county where the Welfare Board can and does not seem inclined to do anything worth while for the aged and the needy.

zn n u SAYS REAL WAGES FAIL TO REVEAL PROSPERITY By H. W. Daacke Prompted by The Times editorial of Sept. 3, “Going to the Dogs,” I am giving my viewpoint of recovery in the U. S. A, of which the state

Your Health

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN

Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association

HEN a child comes running in from play, bleeding from a cut or crying over the pain of a bruise, Mother wants to have something ready for immediate application. When the cook burns her fingers or when father stubs his toe against a rocker while walking in the bedroom at night, it is desirable to have ready the necessary material to give first-aid and comfort. For these reasons, every family should have available somewhere in the house—preferably in the bathroom, because modern bathrooms are built that way—a small cabinet in which can be kept all the equipment needed for meeting most minor medical emergencies. It will be necessary as well to have some material, exclusive of remedies, for application in cases of severe illness.* Remedies for severe illnesses should never be’ prescribed by any one but a physician. They should be taken only under the physician’s directions, and they should be discarded when the emergency which created their need has disappeared. A household remedy should ‘have a certain and definite action. It should contain preferably but one active ingredient; that is to say, one substafice of known virtue. In providing such substances, modern druggists add pharmaceutical ingredients to make them pleasant tasting and easy to adminster. The added ingredients, however, have no medical value.

A household remedy should be | mild in its action. Strong medicines |

are poisonous in small doses and probably fatally poisonous in large doses. Dangerous poisons should nevet be kept in the home except under lock and key, with the key

controlled by a person of responsi-

bility. There are records of too many cases in which children have gone to the family medicine chest and taken enough poison to bring about death. The family medicine chest should contain only medicines. In too many homes, one finds the family medicine chest cluttered with cos-

metics ang shaving materials. Heep the family Sadicine chest | |

of Indiana, mentioned in the above editorial, is an integral part. My deductions are based on the assumption that there is no gain to society, because I am well fed and housed, at the expense of my {fellow citizen, who is of those millions that are far from being in that condition. There is recovery, no one can deny, as exemplified in such headlines as the following: “Du Pont’s Profit Nearly Doubled.” “General Foods Six .Months Net Rise $981,286.” “Shell Union Oil Earns $7,619,839. Quarterly Net ‘Income Equals 54 Cents, a Share, Contrasted with 8 Cents a Share in June Quarter Last Year.” “Power Sales at New High.” “Boston El Passengers Up 2 Million in June.” “Bulova Watch Profits Mount.” Whether this recovery, such as it is, was caused by the New Deal or in spite of it, is debatable, but as far as my statement is concerned is irrelevant. This so-called ‘New Prosperity,” largely confined to the upper levels of our economic strata, raises the question in my mind as to whether it will ever reach the masses of toilers in the lower economic levels, because, while profits and dividends are going up rapidly, money wages of employed workers are going up slowly, and real wages, purchasing power of employed workers, are going down. The volume of industrial production is increasing rapidly, while the total of employment in production industry is increasing very slowly, and the net result has not reduced the industrial unemployment to any great extent. This is caused largely by the fact that the amount of production a worker and a dollar of wages has increased tremendously. Most assuredly, hundred-thou-sand-dollar salaries and million dol-

‘| lar bonuses for presidents of indus-

try with the resulting starvation wages for the workers in the same industry, are no signs of health in the body social. ” » FJ MASS MEETING SEEN UNGRATEFUL GESTURE By West Indianapolis Father I have just found in my mail box a letter calling all parents of Washington High School pupils to a mess meeting. This meeting is to combat “certain selfish interests” which are trying to prevent the erection of a much-needed addition to the school. It seems to me that it would be a very ungrateful act for any person residing in West Indianapolis to attend. The city fathers have been unusually kind to us this past summer.

Our children, who heretofore have hdd to wade mud to. their shoe tops on their way up 'S. Belmont-st to schoel, have been provided with a new pavement. Of course, T'll admit that there are-no sidewalks and our children may still be endangered by the traffic, but, at least, the cars can no longer whiz by and splash them with mud. Some ungrateful parents remark sarcastically about the length of time that the school has been erected and the corresponding length of time their children have been sub-

jected to mud and traffic. However,

the city has always provided a hospital to take care of ‘their children in case of accident, and as to their shoes, possibly the city fathers very wisely concluded that the shoes were scuffed and broken and not of the best quality anyhow. It requires very little reflection to see that the fathers were exercising extreme wisdom in protecting more expensive shoes at the cost of cheap ones. Considering all these things, one must come to the conclusion that it would indeed be better to forget this meeting and to attend the jollification and celebration marking the opening of the few blocks of new pavement. Although, for instance; our children may have inadequate schooling facilities and may be dangerously overcrowded from a hygienic and safety standpoint, this may be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps, at some future time, there might be an epidemic or fire at Washington High, in either of which possibility, the resulting casualties would be alarming enough to arouse the city fathers to the necessity for an addition. Then we could be thankful. But if no new addition were forthcoming, the ranks of the innocents would. be so thinned that the remaining children would no longer be overcrowded. We could be thankful for that!

SUNBURST

. BY JAMES D. ROTH Burst out, oh, sun, I've had my weary day. Q’er rain clouds you have won, Low spirits you allay.

Were it not for you, oh, sun, Life would be cold. Shine down on me, oh, sun, For me your warmth unfold.

DAILY THOUGHT

In my distress I cried unto the I.ord, and He heard me.—Psalms 120:1.

ROUBLE and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble—Fenelon.

SIDE GLANGES

By George Clark

a Coun RR RR 5 % ey bch i §

_ ‘WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9, 1936 ‘HY

Vagabond

from

Indiana

ERNIE PYLE.

EDITOR'S NOTE—This roying reporter for The Times goes ere he pleases, when he pleases, in search for odd stories about this and that.

AKE O'HARA, B. C., Sept. 9.— Now I am beginning to get it. The first tingling understanding as a new world opens. The first vague ‘harmony with the spirit of Alpining. It's glacier fever. I have always made silent fun of people who climb mountains. It seemed to me the most utterly pointless of all diversions. But sitting, in the chalet here at Lake O'Hara—6600 feet high, on the shore of the icy green lake, far from anything and everything, so cold even on a summer day, so spectacularly set among the great lonely peaks and the white glaciers and the thick green of the forests—sit~ ting here waiting for lunch, I realized there was something to it. A couple came up on the porch of the log chalet. The man wore dark green shorts. A green coat matched them, and on his head was asfunny little green hat. He walked bent over for a great pack was on his back. The couple scraped their feet, and came on in. Some people were sitting by the firéplace. The man spoke to them. “We watched them cross the glacier,” he said, “and go on over the peak. They got to the peak at a quarter till 1.” Ar :

E - said hey watched them through glasses, and saw them chopping steps in the ice, and saw them stop to rest, and saw them look down when they reached the peak. I screwed up my courage and asked if you could see the peak from here. He said to come outside and he'd show it to me. “Not that one,” I said. me weak to look at it. they climb that?” “Oh, that one's easy,” he said.

It made “How could

climbed that one last year.” It was a steep rise for I should

| say half a mile, all wooded. Then

the timber stopped, and it was a long scramble up over steep, loose rock. And then onto the snow ‘field, the glacier. It looked from here like a 20-foot climb up over the edge of the glacier itself. In reality it was much more than that. And then the glacier, back and up, on up and up, till sheer rock straight up from it to the ridge on top. Hoon = SAT around and listened, during lunch and afterward, like a boy at a circus. I was fascinated. People came in from their hikes and their climbs for lunch. All wore mountain climbing clothes. They looked at home in them. They were just vacationists, | but they were what you might| call professional mountain vacationists. There weren't ‘many, not more than a dozen. You can get up. here by horse or on foot, and the average park visitor doesn't come at all. There's nothing here but the chalet and seven log cabins. Like aviators they are a clique apart from ordinary people. They talk a language. There is some=thing ‘in their blood. I began to feel it. 1 began to like their clothes, and to thrill at the talk of where they'd been. You know that the atmosphere * would be exactly the same, whether the chalet was high in the Canadian Rockies, or in the snowy Swiss Alps, or on the slopes of Everest itself. There is a bond. The thoughts, the technique, the spirit, the fascination, the peril are universal. There is an unspoken awareness of being a little race above common people, almost of having a secret.

Today’s Science

BY SCIENCE SERVICE ROUGHT - WORRIED Uncle - Sam owns at least one bit of real estate where there is no lack of rain—the top of Mount Waialeale, in the middle of the island of Kaui, westernmost of the larger islands of the Hawaiian group. There the average annual rainfall piles up to the impressive figure of 451 inches, and total precipitations in single really rainy years have reached as much as 600 inches. It is one of the world’s wettest spots. ‘To keep an accurate official record of this extraordinary rainfall, a huge rain gauge, bigger than a barrel, has been set up on the mbuntaintop. It is stoutly made of copper, and it will take care of- - 900 inches of rain without overflowing. The gauge is read only once a year, because it is such a nuisance to get - to the summit of Waialeale. Part of the way is a ceaseless struggle with dense, wef, matted trees and shrubs, and the rest of it lies across an open stretch of low vegetation, with endless rivulets trickling be=tween grass hummocks. And every=

{ where there is thick, sticky, seem-

ingly bottomless mud. . Earlier rain gauges on Waialeale were smaller, necessitating at first monthly, then quarterly .ascents. The mountaineering meteorologists were not sorry, therefore, when these develaped defects, and the huge once-a-year gauge was built to replace them. Mount Waialeale achieves its wetness partly through the simple fact that it thrusts its more than 5000

path of the moisture-laden subtropical trade winds. Even more than this, however, it acts as a moisture trap for winds that blow near its base. Together with the slightly higher Mount Kawaikint about a mile to the south, it is the focus of a whole nest of deep can= yons, up which the winds swoop, bringing with them condensed moisture from 1 lower levels. Thus the summit receives a double portion of rain, The extreme wetness of Waialeale receives dramatic emphasis from the almost desert-like ‘conditions that at a sea-level locality only

inches—just about that of the drier parts of Arizona. Probably nowhere in the world is there a sudden contrast betwe

: forest and desert.

feet of altitude directly into the -