Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 December 1936 — Page 22

(Ernie Pyle, Page 14) ‘BY RAYMOND CLAPPER 'VWASHINGTON, Dec. 10.—Senator Bur-

ton K. Wheeler, the demon investigator from Montana, and his expert in railroad

finance, Max Lowenthal, are showing us, how the American system works, in spite of

regimentation by government bureaucracy, when it really gets up steam. : The example which they are taking spart in their special Senate investigation of railroad financing 1s

an economic empire. ii} This empire is bounded roughly

by New York, Norfolk, Salt Lake

and the Mexican border. Its property is valued at $3,000,000,000 embracing 14 railroad companies operating 23,000 miles of track, 249 interlinked companies interested in coal mines, department stores, hotels, trucking companies, parking lots, steamship lines, grain elevators, rail and motor equip~ Ms: ment, street car lines, refrigerator companies, and one peach orchard. The major holding company of this empire, the Alleghany Corp., controls subsidiaries with 104,000 employes, a pay roll of $180,000,000 8 year, using 2,630,000 tons of coal, 130,500,000 gallons of fuel oil, and other supplies costing $18,000,000 a year, oe This is known as the Van Sweringen empire, because two odd brothers, starting as real estate promoters in Cleveland, built it up with the financial backing of the House of Morgan. Remember the name, Alleghany Corp. That is the key to control of this empire. In 1928 J. P. Morgan and partners floated this gigantic holding company, controlling the largest network of railway mileage in the country perhaps. : About one-third of the common stock of this new company, 1,250,000 shares, was offered by the Morgan interests to a favored list of prominent figures at $20 a share, which was $11 to $15 below the open market price of the shares at the time. » » n Special ‘Bargain Price ‘MONG those who were invited to participate in this bit of free competitive enterprise at a special bargain price were William H. Woodin, later to be Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury; Senator ‘William G, McAdoo of California, Wilson's Secretary of Treasury; Charles Francis Adams, then about to become Hoover's Secretary of the Navy; Newton D, Baker, Wilson's Secretary of War; Gen. Pershing, Col. Lindbergh .and Owen J. Roberts, who the following . year became a justice of the Supreme Court. The list, hundreds of names long, reads like pages out of “Who's Who.” Obscure indeed was the man who did not make that cut-in list, and get his opportunity to buy into the Alleghany Corp. under the market. Five years later the Morgans were advancing money to meet Intespss on Alleghany’s bonds. Had a default been ‘permitted, bondholders might have got at the collateral, That might have meant the loss of one or more important units of the empire, thus beginning its disintegration. ° a } : :

Mr. Clapper

”n ” ” Morgan Backed Van Sweringens ERDINAND PECORA, as conusel of the Senate Banking Committee, sought to establish when he investigated the Van Sweringen financing several years ago that the Morgan house had for 17 years adviséd and backed the Van Sweringen brothers. Appar- . ently it was determined to bring the structure through the ,storm. £0 . Senator Wheeler has taken up the sfory at this point and his disclosure of how $8250 held control of

this teetering empire at a critical moment is only .

understood in the light of this earlier history. j It is an episode worthy of close study by any ambitious young man eager to become an economic royalist on limited capital. It shows also that good oldfashioned American initiative can surmount even a tight bureaucracy such as the railroads are under with the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Mrs.Roosevelt's Day.

BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

NEV YORK, Wednesday—How much more interesting school is’ made for children these days. This morning I went to the opening exercises at the Todhunter school because I had presented the library with a book called “Peggy Covers the News,” by Emma Bugbee. I asked the authoress if she wou come and say a few words on reporting as a pri sion and expected that only the older girls would be interested. Even the younger girls, however, listened with the keenest interest. Apparently it is no strange idea for any youngster nowadays to know that she may have to earn her living. After the exercises were over I went up to my granddaughter’s form room and all the children showed me the maps they were making of the tontinent of Africa. In addition, my small granddaughter ‘has made a map of North and South America and marked her grandfather's trip on it. In her book ‘she had clippings from newspapers— photographs and speeches—much of it material I would never even have found, certainly not have read, when I was 9% years old. She can hardly wait to bring. her entire piece of work down to Washington to show it to her grandfather. She recites with pride the names of all the cities, rivers, islands and the ocean on his route. I can remember nothing so interesting when I was that age. From there I went to the dentist and Christmas shopping. As 1 waited for the elevator in a department store, one of the little errand girls asked me to give her an autograph. I looked around furtively and seeing nobody who might follow suit, I rapidly scribbled my name and thought: “For once I am getting away with it!” But just as I was getting on the next elevator another little girl appeared from nowhere, pencil and paper in hand, pleadingly asking far an autograph. This time I was adamant and reverted to my usual answer and said that I could not start signing autographs in crowds because, if I did it for every one who asked then I would do nothing else! I had to explain thjs last night to a group of young . people who wanted me to come and speak at a meet‘ing. If I began to go to individual units of large organizations, much as I would like fo, I would have even less time than I have now to do anything else.

New Books

PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS— T= Mayflower’s to Virginia!™ That cry along the wharves of England in the momentous year

of 1620 sent men's thoughts soaring toward high achievement in a new world.

Addition to our Pilgrim lore will be eagerly welcomed by Americans to whom the story of the Plym-

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. A = =

Ley 5% Ce) aL on

Marie points with eager finger at the picture of the Child Jesus, which is shown to her by devout nurse Noel.® The Dionne quins recognize "the Child of long ago, and excitedly point out His picture to nurses or parents with the cry of

Jesu! Jesu!”

. (Second of a Series)

BY ALLAN ROY DAFOE, M.D. 0. 'B. E. © (Copyright. 1936, NEA ‘Service, Inc.)

ALLANDER, Ont., Dec. 10.—Though Christmas is: still some weeks away, the Christmas spirit and atmosphere already have taken possession of the nursery where the five little Dionne girls are preparing for. their third

holiday season.

So that you may see Christmas pictures of the children on Christmas Day, it is necessary to take the pic-

tures in advance. This makes Christmas-time really a.

season instead of just a day

~ at the nursery.

So the wrapping of presents, the cutting of two fine Christmas

trees, the appearance of the red Santa Claus. uniform, with the deép blanket of snow that has for some time covered: the countryside, all make up a real holiday atmosphere. The children don’t tire of it. The only effect will: be to lessen the chance of nervous disturbance when the big day comes. They'll be used to the festive atmosphere, and “take it in their stride.” Christmas ‘here among the French-Canadians is largely for the children. For older people, Christmas is chiefly a religious holiday. With the older children, they all turn out for a solemn midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The old folks have their fun later, on New Year’s Day and on

Jan. 6, which is called “La Fete

des Rois,’ or the Feast of Kings. The Dionne quintuplets are still a bit young to take part in one of the important pre-Christmas ceremonies common among the French. ®# 8 8 : HAT is the custom of writing notes asking for presents; and attaching them to the strings of kites on some windy day before Christmas. The children believe that their letters by this informal “air mail” eventually reach the Child Jesus.

I suspect that many a time the

delivery is accomplished through parents who have shinned up a tree to rescue the letter from a branch. . French children hang up thei stockings just as do children in e United States. But they are haps more careful in selection of the stockings to be hung, and in printing their names to be at-

tached to each stocking so: that there may be no mistake about

who gets what gift when Pere

her

Noel comes down the chimney, just as Santa Claus does south of the Great Lakes. Older people have“ their redl celebration at New Year: :But in

the meantime, children have an-

other duty::during the week between. They write long letters telling of their good deeds during the last year, and excusing theirbad ones. * These are placed under . their father’s plate at breakfast. - After the father of the family has given the father’s blessing (“la benediction paternelle”) with the sign of the cross, he reads the letters

‘solemnly aloud. - The ehildren :

' greet their parents, the little verse: “Je vous aime, “Je vous adore, “Que voulez vous “De plus encore.” ® 8 = EW Year, when the .older - ¥ people exchange gifts, is the time for family reunions, rather than Christmas, ‘which is espe-: cially for the younger children, The Feast of the Kings on Jan. 6 is again largely for the grown= up folks. : SA ih So you can see that since the Christmas season is a three-week affair up here in French Canada, the quintuplets are not at all out of order if their Christmas festival starts a little early. Presents already are arrivipg for them. ; 3 Though the snow is quite deep, people ' continue to come to see the . children, and unless the weather is especially severe or unpleasant we allow them to be seen at play in the yard, just as in the summer, Wal : Only the other day a. woman from Alaska by ar ent met

usually with

her sister from Missouri here at

the nursery. Each had made half

of the long journey that separated

‘

them, meeting in:

Europe's Plight Held Due To Treaty of Versailles

BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

EW YORK, Dec. 10.—Evil deeds in world affairs - have frequently been punished by the logic

Italy, Hungary and Poland—could

haye been isolated and the spread of fascism made unlikely, if not im-

. wie

§ Copyright, 1936, NEA ..

That other Child is some one .to love,Marie has been told, and. here she manifests her love with an impulsive kiss as she holds the picture of the Child Jesus. “For of such,” said the Child of Bethlehem grown older, “is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Story of Yuletide to Have Real Meaning for Quintu J

her. .

At the feet of nurse Noel, Cecile -and Emilie “receive instructions in the Christmas story that never. grows. old... Cecile’s attention, child-like, has wandered for the moment, but Emilie kisses the picture of the Child Jesus, which the nurse holds before

tCopyright, 1936, NEA Service, Inc.|

Eyes fized with reverence

routine. - Note Emilie’s tiny

¢ and wonder on a picture of

J the Child Jesus on the wall above them, Emilie and Yvonne kneel in the evening prayer

that 4s a part of their daily hands attempting to assume

Dionne family,

the position of prayer.

Around a large Christmas tree in:the dining room of the nursery, we hope to have for the first time a complete reunion of the whole including ‘all il

KNOW YOUR: - INDIANAPOLIS their machines built to their | own style, body color, with | Duesenberg of Indianapolis, makers of one of the nation’s

‘have presents not only for their parents, but for all their older and younger brothers and sisters. Jt will not be

will during ‘the’ Christmas esti Sitailea by |Worker Always Can Check | y Account Status

Regessary this year for surgical gowns to be worn

in the nursery, and there seems ‘now little danger of winter colds being carried’ into the nursery by the. other children; : I no longer wear’ the sterilized gown in entering the nursery, except for a time after I have been away from Callander. : 2 LAR aR 0 HIS season, for the first time, Christmas should begin to mean something more than just-a joyful party to the little Dionne girls. Nurse Noel has been stressing the story .of the Child Jesus in her readings to the children, and we feel sure that they will begin to have some ‘understanding of the story of Christmas. - Father McNally, parish priest at Corbeil, makes more frequent visits to the nursery than formerly, to keep,in close touch with supervising the religious training . of the children. Their clear understanding of the simpler nursery rhyme stories makes it certain that the outlines of the story of the Child Jesus, always appealing to children, will ‘begin to be clear to them this year. On several occasions recently, when I arrived at the hospital, the little girls would come running to me, holding up picture books illustrated with the Christmas story, and crying out “Jesu, Jesu!” [ with shining eyes and great animation. Christmas dinner for the children, however, won't be any different from that of any other day. Those pictures you see of the little Dionne girls sitting beside luscious stuffed 4urkeys don’t ‘mean that they eat them.’ They're just expressions of the holiday atmosphere. » } No turkey, and no Christmas candies, is the rule, Well, maybe just a taste of turkey or a bit of cake that is not very rich. There will be plenty of time for all these things later. I. don’t mean to imply that ‘all these things are necessarily bad, but children so young can afford fo wait a little. Suan With greater gaiety than ever before, with the opportunity. for a family reunited around a giant Christmas tree, and with their first ; of the beau-

Next—How the quins are taught

to take care of themselves. How *

(Eighteentlf of a Series)

PRE woke wi be able to eam

able without into furnish such infor-

‘know, but it’s all to the good, be-

cause in the end it makes for a kind of sanity. I suspect the kind of sanity I notice in old men is nothing more than their ability to isolate illusions and remove them from the department of love. It manifests itself in their determination to be let alone. What's more, in their determination to remain outside things. Outside crowds and groups, even those they like (if such a thing is-imaginable); outside cenhurls and Soules, including : 3 eir own; outside themselves, their as, whims and desires. 5 Joan W Apparently, the compensations are many. Pla = in a state of isolation, they aren't bothered with standards. They aren't -even bothered with come parative values the way the young are. It doesn’t excite the old men, for instance, to learn that Grant Wood is better or worse thin Breughel, or that El Greco was a piker compared with Thomas Benton. Men who have lived long enough to know accept Wood and Benton on their own terms and let it go that. By the same token, they give El Greco : hing that’s coming to them. It simplis even Mrs. Simpson's case. Art, predis cated on such an outlook, becomes less tangled and painful. As for life, it becomes a matter of apprecig= tion instead of the warped thing the youngsters have to put up with, : : EJ » »

Removes Some Wonder

T be sure, such an outlook removes a certain amount of wohder. Old men, IT have noticed, don’t wonder about much any more. It doesn’t move old men, for instance, to learn that Blanche Stillson and Glenn Black digging in Mayan ruins and Indian mounds, turn: up with pre-historic nursing bottles and kiddy cars. If may thrill youth, but old men, somehow, don’t need any more evidence that the ancients had babies. e

In the end, I guess it comes down to the difference in the matter of taste. Old men, I think, live for flavors, not for vitamins. What's more, unlike youth, they don’t disdain the simple pleasures of life, Give them a decent soup, a glass of old wine, an honest piece of tobacco, a pair of shoes that don’t > pinch, an obsolete book; a contented woman, the softness of a spring morning, the lilt of a Schubert song—give them any one of these things and they can capture the very essence of living. Indeed, the way things look, old men are the only ones capable of enjoying Schubert for himself alone. :

» # »

"Youth Can’t Do It

7 OUTH can’t do it, because youth, for some reason, always tempers its appreciation with the kind of dress the singer wears. I bring up the subject because of Elena Gerhardt who used to come to the Maennerchor pretty regularly. She sang the German songs better than anybody else and she did it in the gosh-awfulest get-up ever thought of by anybody The old men didn’t mind. They were ready to accept her lovely voice dressed up in anything, but the youngsters couldn’t. Anyway, Elena Gerhardt doesn’s come to America any more. vn

More recently I have noticed a change for fi better in this direction—not on the part of he youngsters, to be sure, but on the part of the middle aged. Confronted with ‘the dilemma of a beautiful voice dressed atrociously, the middle-aged, I notice, simply close their eyes. Donald Gilley of the Jordan Conservatory does it, and it seems to work. Another 15 or 20 years, Mr. Gilley will keep his eyes open and discover that it doesn’t hurt at all. A

Hoosier Yesterdays

DECEMBER 10 EZ sD EGGLESTON, author, was born at Vevay, Dec. 10, 1837. His father, Joseph Cary Eggleston, was a Virginian who had located at Vevay to practice law. His mother was Mary J. Craig, daughter of Capt. George Craig, one of the earliest settlers in Switzet~ land County. : £2

In 1841 the family moved to a farm near the town where, six years later, Joseph Eggleston died. It was while living on this farm that Edward learned to understand and love nature. > At 9 years of age he returned to Vevay for three years. This period marks his principal schooling. Be= cause of ill health, it is said that Edward never was able to attend a full term of school at a time. In spite of this handicap he was able to educate himself from a well-stocked family library. His mother re= married. He joined the Methodist Church at the age of 11 and at 19 entered its ry. For 10 years after he became a minister he was pastor of churches in Mili=

In 1866 he went to Evanston, 1, to edit “The Lit=

‘tle Corporal.” It was while there that

Your Health

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN

I" November, 1918, the Allies had a | clean slate for international § Their it aus