Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 December 1936 — Page 9
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"BY RAYMOND CLAPPER ©
VW ASHINGTON, Dec. 12.—This, like the story in London, is about empire, and power, and what men live for. Two mysterious elderly strangers stood in the small New York auction room over-
looking St. Paul's graveyard on the afternoon last year when the bankers sold control of the Van Sweringen $3,000,000,000 railroad empire for $274,682. ‘I'nese two strangers were the angels of the Mid-America Corp, an infant two days old, which a moment before had picked up for the price of two locomotives enough railroad trackage to circle the eartn. One of the strangers was George A. Ball, a Muncie (Ind.) capitalist who makes glass fruit jars. The other was a relative by marriage, George A. Tomlinson, a Cleveland business man, a friend of O. P. Van Sweringen. They had offices in the same building. Once O. P. Van Sweringen asked his friend to open negotiations, which failed, for a Cleveland newspaper. Both Tomlinson and Ball held minor directorships in the Van Sweringen hierarchy. Both believed the odd railroad brothers to be great operators. .
~~ Bo, in a desperate situation in August, 1935, crowded: by his bankers, O. P. Van Sweringen turned again to his friend and office neighbor, Tomlinson. Bogsther they motored to Muncie and enlisted Ball's elp. - :
The plan worked out was that two strangers should bid in the Van Sweringen properties at auction. Arrangements were made by the bankers so
that they would not have to compete with unlimited bidders,
Mr. Clapper
Drew Up Agreement
HE Van Sweringen lawyers drew up an agreement to embody this plan. It provided that after Ball and Tomlinson obtained control of the Van Sweringen properties at auction, the Van brothers were to be given a 10-year option to purchase 8250 shares of stock at $1 a share, voting control to .g0 with the option. To carry out this idea, the Mid-America Corp. was organized Sept. 28, 1935. Two days later the corporation held .its first meeting, voted the Van brothers a drawing account of $100.000 a year, and the Vans signed the agreement. That afternoon they all went down to the auction room and Mid-America, with a Van Sweringen director acting as agent, bid in the property. Just before dinner time they returned uptown with the railroad empire back in their pockets— that is, so far as any one knew. ‘ * This week it developed in Senator Wheeler’s Senate railroad financing investigation that the bankers held on tp their voting control until Feb. 1, when they released it.to Ball, who handed it over under this agréement with the Van Sweringens.
. ” ” ” Option Not Exercised
HE Van Sweringens neglected to exercise their option, so instead of putting up $8250 to obtain permanent control they got their 10-year control for nothing. ‘ But the strain of fighting. off creditors on one side while trying to operate these vast properties on the other, proved heavy. One of the brothers died. Then the other brother died. And the option reverted to Ball—his relative Tomlinson having practically withdrawn from the affair after the auction. Now Ball has the whole empire. hidden strings, it is his to control. Property is sometimes described as something which one has the exclusive right to possess, enjoy and dispose of. The Van Sweringen brothers found none of these privileges in their empire. For them it was a tyrant that hounded them into their graves. Then it fell, unsought, into the lap of a frail. little man, who already had more money: than ‘he knew what to do with. we
Mrs.Roosevelt's Day
BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
EW YORK, Friday—We saw a most entertaining play last night called “Stage Door,” in which Margaret Sullavan is a most enchanting hergine. I liked her all the better, I suppose, because she made her thesis so attractive. You could not help but feel that being an actress in the theater was an art, and being a movie star in Hollywood was just- a way of earning a living. + Of course, this is not always so and great actors and actresses make great pictures, but a movie will never be to me quite the same as a play. There you get the full force of a personality, feel a depth of ~ emotions and are moved to tears or laughter in a more poignant way than you can be through the medium of the screen. I went up to Buckley School at nine o’clock this morning and spent almost an hour listening to the music period in which the primary sang and played various instruments. I think it is quite remarkable how these youngsters learn to conduct. My own small grandson and another little boy beat a drum in time to the “March of the Wooden Soldiers,” with a very sure sense of rhythm. I sat through the reading lesson and even took part, much to the children’s joy. I .would gladly have stayed longer, for there is nothing more interesting to me than a school. Apparently the election is still very much in the minds of the youngsters, for Mrs. Adams, who is now head of the school, smilingly whispered to me that one of the boys came up to her as I came in and asked: “Isn't that Mrs. Roosevelt?” She said, “Yes.”+ He remarked sagely: “Then we mustn't men- _ tion Mr. Landon.” After an hour with the dentist I was released with the pleasing information that I was through for this winter at least. I talked with Franklin Jr. this morning on the telephone and he is still about the same. Infections of this kind are slow and it is of course very pleasant to have the doctors tell you not to worry, but-it makes it no less annoying to have an illness, lengthen out into weeks when you hoped it would be over in a few days.
New Books
PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS—
CERESTED especially in the lives of ordinary ; people throughout the world, Lester Cohen bécomes an inquiring reporter in the book, TWO WORLDS (Covici-Friede). The reader travels with him to France, England, Russia, India, China, and Japan. In these countries the author and his wife entered’ two worlds—the world of capitalism and the world of communism. : ; This is both a book of travel and a book of social philosophy. It is not the philosophy, however, but the author's conversation with the men and women he meets on the streets and elsewhere in these countries, that makes this book different from an ordinary travel book. Mr. Cohen may be considered a master of mimicry, 50 aptly does he transcribe conversations, dialects, and mannerisms. His book is made most readable because of his individual style, his engaging sense of humor, and his sincere manner of writing.
#0 8 BEST SELLERS : od T= 2 ipps-Howard book soE-thesWesk poll, taken Si. nd reveals best-sellers fi “week ending Dee, 5 are: We Or the ION—Gone With the Wind; Drums Along the
Unless there are-
i A
; White Banners; Yang and Yin; Great |
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1035
ho
nT
"WITH THE QUI
8 = =
NS AT CHRISTMAS |
Isolation in ‘Quiet Room’ Is
! (Fourth of a Series)
BY ALLAN ROY DAFOE, . (Copyright, 1936, NEA Bervice, Inc
Ontario, Dec. 12.—Perhaps the most in-
ALLANDER,
M.D, O. B. E. .)
teresting room in the Dionne children’s nursery today
is “the quiet room.”
- Thanks to the fact that the nursery has been enlarged to the point where it is quite a large “plant,” we have been able to reserve an entire room for disciplinary purposes. That is why we call it “the quiet room.” " The Dionne girls, as I have said before, are never punished physically. Our only form of punishment has been to segregate the girl who has “been bad” from the
others.
~
At first, when the girls were younger, we simply set.
the “bad one” apart and did not allow her to take part in
therplay of her sisters. But
now that they are larger, it
is necessary to put the one who is being admonished in
a separate room. : So “the quiet room” developed. It is eight feet by six, light and airy, and in every way equal to any other room in the house. There is a table, a single chair. On the table we keep picture books, - and the large window provides plenty of light. Everything is entirely comfortable. But note two things: There is absolutely nothing in the room with which the child can hurt herself, and the only element of punishment is that she must be alone, and separated from her sis- - ters. I can’t say enough against the custom- of some parents of locking their children in a dark closet or in the cellar or some other cramped or uncomfortable: place. That is barbarous and cruel. It. brings in fright as part of the punishment, -and that may “have very bad effects on the child’s nervous system, immediately or.
later on.
In our “quiet room” there is nothing like this. The child has every comfort. and amusement her sisters have, except their com-. pany. That has proved punishment enough. i We always make it clear to the children exactly-why they are sent to the “quiet room,” and explain that when they are in the mood to be “good girls” again, they may resume ‘their normal relations with their sisters. : ‘ ” FJ ” T is facilities like this, the ability to devote .one room entirely. to this disciplinary purpose, that
‘makes our nursery “plant” quite .t
an institution. Naturally, it doesn’t seem like an “institution” to the children. Most of it they have never even seen. -The part actually used by the children themselves is kept in every way as much like a honie as possible, But the nursery has been growing almost as fast as the little
girls themselves. Today, with the: |
newly completed staff house, the
buildings and ' equipment would
represent a value of more than $40,000, all paid for with money earned by the quintuplets them‘selves, and held in trust for them. Before next: summer we hope that the group of buildings will be entirely inclosed by .a long fence that will run back into the wooded area behind the house. This will make an inclesure of several acres, and wili enable the children to play among the ‘rees and flowers of the natural Canadian woodland without Jeaving their own inclosure. ; Even now the group of build-ir-s makes quite an impressive “plant,” much more adequate than" the original nursery. “The nursery itself has been extended to more than twice its size in.those-days, and the staff house, a separate building some 50 yards away on - the rocky hillside adjoining the nursery yard, com- . pletes our “layout” for the present. # ” ” ANY visitors, seeing the nur= sery only from the side facing’ the road, do not realize what an extensive place it is. The _ playroom, which extends all the way across the front, and which, with its veranda, is visible from the road, is duplicated in size by
the ‘¢hildren’s bedroom, just be-"
yond it. Ck Still farther behind this are lavatory, dining room and a small sitting room: for the staff. A wing extending out toward the playground from the center of the building contains the “quiet room” which I have described and an isolation room which is nct used except in case one of the children should come down with a communicable illness. This room has scarcely been Jused, but if it should save four of the children from catching any other children’s disease which had attacked one, it would be well worth while. - In this wing, also, is the special ‘playroom, fitted up with piano, phonograph, and facilities for story-telling, dancing and music. 2 2 2 N the second floor is a row of storage closets filled with the
- many toys and other gifts which |
have been sent to the quins by their well-wishers. Such usable clothing and - toys beyond immediate need are given to the Dionne family. i But many of the toys are such as will be very useful to the quins a little later, and many of the costumes and other articles are of a special nature scarcely adapted to everyday use. Also on this floor are bedrooms for the housekeeper and two maids. ?
Now all that is. a pretty elabo-
Only Punishment for Dionnes
/ rate layout, especially if you include the outdoor playground and ‘the staff house. The niiffiber of people employed, regular and part-time, varies between 10 and 15, ; ) Even with the enlarged nursery, this presented a housing problem, and it was to solve this prob-. lem that the new staff house was. built. isi This, in two separate sides of
. Why, Marie! . What have you done now ? That’s the “quiet room” you're sitting .in, the room where quins are separated from their little sisters when they’ve'been naughty. And though you may grin impishly, for the room is light and airy, and contains picturebooks you may look at, we know that pretty soon you'll miss those four other little sisters. And then you'll be sorry. :
quarters for ‘three . nurses or teachers, and for the three police.
tary facilities available to visitors has also been made, and by, next ; summer the whole group of build-
.ings will give the appearance ‘of a small village in itself.
By gl
NEXT—How the quins enjoy outdoor life; their diet for .cold-
er weather; how check is kept on health, ; FRAT al
Army Medical Library | Observes Its Centennial
BY SCIENCE SERVICE
VV ASHINGTON, Dec. 12.—~An outstanding institution is celebrating its hundredth birthday this year. Although relatively few Americans may ever have heard of it, its fame has spread all over the world. This institution is the Army Medical Library, or, as it is also known, the Li of the Surgeon General's Office in Washington. It is housed in a modest red brick building adjacent to the Smithsonian, Institution. Within this building may be found a collection of rare and historical medical specimens, photographs, and a veritabl€ ‘treasure mine of medical literature. The library contains 1,000,000 items, 400,000 of which are books. .It has been called “the best medical library in the world.” : The Army Medical Library played an important part in the development of medicine in America and, according to Dr. Henry E. Sigerist, medical historian, “has made itself iclt all over the world.” 5 tJ » # “YT.is probably the only case in history,” Dr. Sigerist states, “where a military authority in one country has' contributed so much to international knowledge.” The high esteem in which the library is held may be seen from the fact that Sir Humphrey Davy Rolleston, one of England’s most eminent physicians, . journeyed. .to this country especially to deliver the oration of the evening at the Ilibrary’s hundredth birthday party, held in the library building
You can find in this library ref-
erences to everything of importance on medicine and allied subjects that has ever been published in any language “since the world began.”
These references are available|.
through the world-famous .Index Catalogue which the library publishes. This Catalogue was started
by the library’s first librarian, Joan.
Shaw Billings, to whom also
~
feelt. for building up the library
| contains :- 450,
bula (books dating before 1500 A. D.) in the world, the library It has the largest and most complete series of French theses on medicine to be found anywhere in the world. This collection is not approached even in France itself. The number of German theses on medicine in the
Army: Medical Library is even
larger. The work of the library is carried on by a staff of 26 persons.
" = »
5000-Year-old Picture Links Civilizations ~HICAGO, Dec. 12. — A 5000-year-old picture of a bull
with curving horns and a mon-
strous hump on his back, unearthed in Mesopotamia, is important archaeological evidence, linking two of
the world’s great ancient civiliza-
tions—India and Mesopotamia. The humped bull pictured on a green steatite vase has been found in ruins of Tell-Agrab, old Mesopotamia City, Prof. Henri Frankfort, director. of its Iraq Expedition, has just reported to the Oriental Institute. Since the humped: bull was not a native beast of Mesopotamia, but was a familiar figure on the art ol India in that day, the pictured animal is considered good evidence that a close relationship between India and Mesopotamia existed. Another fragment of the same
in | Mesopotamian vase is decorated
with a picture of a Sumerian with large ‘hooked nose, typical of the people living in Mesopotamian cities in 3000 B. C. Thus the vase combined in its art a picture of a na-
KNOW YOUR INDIANAPOLIS
"Eight hundred high school basketball teams participate in the Hoosier championship battle and sporting authorities say the Indiana backboard festival, in March, is the largest basketball tourney of its kind in the ‘world.
tive inhabitant and g foreign animal.
potamia and India was far less arid in ancient times’ than today, Prof. Frankfort pointed out, and he believes travelers went from one center of. civilization to the other both by land and by sea. » 2 ”
Study Tropical Diseases
INCINNATI, Dec. 12—A band of disease fighters at the University of Cincinnati here is being especially trained to combat tropical diseases in the event of epidemics Jmporied into the United States by While officers of the United States Public Health Service are developing new methods of quarantine needed to protect the nation’s health since speedy air travel has brought the
tropics dangerously close, the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati's department of preventive medicine is teaching doctors and medical students to diagnose, treat and control tropical diseases, such as yellow fever, ma-
A of doctors and medical students under the leadership of Dr. T. J. LeBlanc, University of Cincinturned from a summer of first-hand
School of Tropical Medicine at San
Juan, ‘Puerto Rico.
i v v
‘A WOMAN'S POINT OF VIEW
BY MRS.' WALTER FERGUSO
” writes John Gordon Ross in a re- :
cent magazine
.| * interested in politics.”
«
.| :geous course for Congress to fol-
The land that lay between Meso-
-| This was done while much of the
| racy is to really function. The cour-. laria and various forms of dysentery.
nati medical professor, has just re-| study .of tropical diseases at the|
a “duplex” house, provides living
EDITOR'S NOTE—The coura-
low is to submit a constitutional ‘amendment providing more specific Federal regulation over commerce, but if this can not be done Congress should at least require a two-thirds vote of the Supreme Court to invalidate Federal laws. This is the view by Judge Warrum, chief counsel of the United Mine Workers, biggest American union, in a statement requested by Scripps-Howard Newspapers. ‘His comment follows: : HE legislative objectives, of the "Administration were overwhelmingly indorsed at the - polls.
New Deal had reached an impasse in the Supreme Court. Though the conflict was before the people, it can not be supposed that the popular mandate will affect the court. The result will be that legislation of fundamental import will not only continue to be nullified, but consideration of such measures will be disturbed by fears of their validity and ridiculous and vitiating devices resorted to in the hope they may thus be sustained. The situation is absurd and relief from it is imperative if our democ-
ageous course would be for this Congress at once to submit to the states for ratification an amendment
Miners’ Counsel Urgesa Constitutional Amendment
BY HENRY WARRUM
fine it and to determine what intrastate transagtions affect jt for regulatory purposes. The Supreme Court has said that “Commerce among the states is not a legal conception, but a practical one, drawn frem the
| course of business.” Why should not
this practical subject be left to Congress and not to the conflicting views of judges? 2 8 = & it HIS is the time for submission of amendments, but if their fortune is feared for, then at least one of the. suggestions discussed in a recent editorial in the ScrippsHoward newspapers should be followed. This suggestion was for a congressional revision of the judiciary code so that acts of Congress could be held unconstitutional only by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Supreme Court. = If an act is vetoed it requires a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate, each, to override the veto— in obvious respect for the judgment. of the executive. If the act is passed Congress and approved by the President its fate should not depend on the views, whether legal of economic, of one man. It is a long declared principle of the court that no act of Cong shall be held unconstitutional uniess it is so beyond a reasonable doubt. ‘The ‘conflicting views of the Justices should in all reason be evidence of that reasonable doubt. The court ‘might welcome such a standard of
yd 9
VOTER COERCION" BILL
By Scripps-Howard Newspaper Allidnce
never. before.
Further improvement in _sani-
Our Town
- BY ANTON SCHERRER
~~ 8
SPEAKING philosophically, as I try fo do
once in a while, it strikes me that the "alarming number of small smart magazines now on the market threatens real values as I-know whereof 1 speak be-
cause the same thing happened once before, and because no adefuate analysis was made of it ab the time, maybe it's not amiss to review the whole situation today. : - Forty years ago, I recall, we had: a -perfect deluge: of picturesque periodicals, all doing their durndest to give expression to the Zeitgeist. We lived through it at the time, but that’s no reason we can do so again. ; "The deluge began with the “Chap Book” I remember. Then came “The Lark” and with it, in the very first number, Gelett Bur-
| gess’ soul-stirring and spontaneous
quatrain, “The Purple Cow.” Remember? Of course you do, because you've never been allowed forget it. “I never saw a Purple Cow; I never hope to see one; But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one.”
How Elbert Hubbard ever had the nerve to starg the “Philistine” after Mr. Burgess had the situation sewed up is something else I've never been able to figure out, but the fact remains that he did. What's more, he made a go of it, and because he did is probably why everybedy thought it his privilege to send a personal message by way of an arty magae zine. Indianapolis was no exception. t » EJ 8
‘Ishmaelite’ 2
OF Dec. 1, 1896, Indianapolis came across with “The Ishmaelite,” a monthly published by the Mount Nebo Press. In appearance, it was more of less like the “Philistine.” ' Like the “Philistine,” too, it was a “periodical of protest.” With this difference, however, that whereas the “Philistine” ‘did a lot: of moralizing on the side, the “Ishmaelite” never stooped that low. From the very beginning it stood pat without benefit of parenthetical remarks. In the first -number, for instance, it came right out and declared that: “We are against the whole decadent btisii€ss in literature, religion, art or politics. In our . opinion - Shakespeare ‘is a greater poet than Elia Wheeler Wilcox and a greater dramatist than Jerome K. Jerome and Clyde Fitch.” : In the first number, too, the “Ishmaelite” cracked down on domestic affairs. “We shall do what we can to suppress those hold-ups known as linen showers and kitchen showers.” That was telling ‘em, and to cap the climax it said: “We~do not especially care for the new woman.” Coming as it did in the time of the Battle of the Sexes, it left everybody gasping for breath. . After: that, of course, nobody gave the “Ishmaelite” more than two months to live.
» » 2 Lived Until 1899
ELL, as a matter of fact, the “Ishmaelite” lived until May, 1899, and in the course of that active ity gave expression to some of the best nifties ever pulled off in this town. In the May number of 1897, for instance, Grace Alexander rendered an opinion
course,” and in the very last number, somebody sure prised everybody with: “One touch of Ibsen makes ‘a: ‘whole stage sin.” It's things like that that scare me. \ ! Everybody in Indianapolis who was anybody was pulling nifties like that. at the time, including Johm E. Cleland, Meredith Nicholson, Booth Tarkington, -Hilton Brown, the .Howland brothers, Hector Fuller, May: Shipp, Emma Carleton and ‘George Calvert. Indeed, Mr. Calvert submitted a piece about “Dante, the Politician,” and it was in the nature of a scoop, because Mr. Dooley, who was supposed to cover that department, hadn't got. around to Mr. Dante yet. The “Ishmaelite” folded up finally with the Bowene Merrill people advertising “Palmer's Patented Hamse mocks in prices ranging from 49 cents to $3.”
Hoosier Yesterdays DECEMBER 12
N account of George Rogers Clark’s victory at Kaskaskia reached Gov. Henry, the power back of the Clark expedition, in Virginia in October, 1778. At the next meeting of the Legislature the Governor recommended, and the members voted, that all the land west of the Ohio taken by: Clark be organized + 8s the ‘County of*Illinois. On Dec. 12 of .that year | John Todd Jr. was appointed to establish the authors ity of Virginia in the new conquest. : Todd reached Kaskaskia in May, 1779, soon after Clark returned from his campaign against Vincennes, His instructions, as Gov. Henry had written in the first paragraph of the letter of appeintment, were: “The present crisis rendered so favorable by the good disposition of the French and Indians, may be improved to great purpose. Considering, therefore, .you will take care to cultivate and conciliate the affections of the French and Indians.” Shortly after his arrival Todd held an election, the results of which were never recorded. However, about this time a criminal and civil court was estab‘lished at Vincennes and it is believed that this was one result of the voting. Todd soon returned to Vire ginia on business, leaving the colonies to govern themselves, and the French, without the support of the Virginians, rapidly melted away before the attacks of the Indians. Col. Todd was a distinguished soldier before he was appointed to govern Illinois. He fought in the battle of Point Pleasant and was one of the men who endeavored to get kegs of gunpowder into Kene tucky. He was killed in the disastrous battle of Blue Licks, 19, 1782, where he .was in come mand—By R. W. id
~ Your Health BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor, -Amer.
to the effect that “the 'Wagner craze has run its