Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 January 1937 — Page 20

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ERNIE PYLE

ONG BEACH, Cal., Jan. 8.—Purely in my capaciuy as a reporter, I made a trip out to the Gambling Boat, anchored in the Pacific nine miles from Long Beach. Took my friend Cavanaugh along as guide and coun-

selor, although it turned out the only thing he knew about gambling was how to pronounce *‘croupier.” - Cavanaugh and I got to talking, on the way out,

about our gambling careers. And it developed that neither of us had ever played a hand of poker or shot a game of craps. ; Cavanaugh said he had refrained from gambling all these years not so much on account of his high moral standards but because he couldn’t bear to lose. I said that was my trouble, too. But I said I'd play $5 » this time. : The gambling boat appeared to be an old freighter with an inclosed deck built almost its whole length. The manager stands at the top of the gangway as a sort of welcom-

Mr. Pyle ing host, and there are a couple

of mighty big guys on each side who say nothing.

The gambling room is the width of the boat, and must be 200 feet long. It's paneled in light pine, and. the lights are bright. : Cavanaugh and I started out on the slot machines, just sort of feeling our way. The first nickel I put in brought out three. So I moved over to the next one, and it also coughed up three. So I stepped over one more. and out came three more nickels. __ “Boy, I know what's doing this,” I said to Cavanaugh. “We're almost the first ones out here tonight, and they've got these machines set to cough up on the first play, just to lead people on. So if we go right down the line, just playing once on each ma-

2 chine, we'll get away with all this come-on money.”

» 3 ”n Other Machines Not Set

O that's what we did, but apparently they didn't have any of the other machines set, and when we: came to the end of the line I was out an even dollar and Cavanaugh was 80 cents short. “Let's try roulette,” I said. : I shoved two $1 bills at the croupier and I would have fainted if he'd asked me what I wanted. He didn't say a word, just shoved over two stacks of chips. : J I watched some people, and then put one chip on the “O” and the man spun the wheel, but it stopped at 23. The ‘next time, I put one on the “O” and one on a side square which said “1 to 18” or something like that. But the croupier looked sour and shoved it back and said “three chip minimum.” Nobody laughed, but I sure was embarrassed. Anyway, when the wheel stopped that time it stopped on the “O” and I snapped my fingers and said “Hot Dog!” and everybody looked at me admiringly as the man shoved over three big stacks of chips. u n 2

Dinner Is Free INNER is free on the gambling boat, so we went in and had a fine full-course meal on the house. While we were eating, a fellow told us about the boat. He said this was the third one out here since 1929. The other two burned. The most he ever heard of anybody winning was $3700. The boat people sent a bodyguard home with the winner. He said he had never heard of anybody jumping off the boat after being cleaned out. After dinner I decided to try the spinning wheel. You have to play a quarter a throw. The odds run from 2 to 1 up to 40 to 1. I thought of playing the 40 to 1, but decided the 2 to 1 was more my speed, £0 I put down my quarter and the cursed wheel stopped right smack on the 40 to 1 peg. Now I know why people shoot themselves at Monte Carlo.

Mrs.Roosevelt’s Day

By ELEANOR ROOSEVELT EW YORK, Thursday—Miss Read and I flew over to New York last evening, and had an almost perfect flight. The line had put on some new flight stewards, who were extremely solicitous for everyone’s comfort. I think our particular one was deeply grieved because I7did not smoke and did not need any attentions of ahy kind, even being able to fasten my own safety belt! Arrived in New York, we separated and I went to

% dine with two friends, one of them from the Middle

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West who is here on a visit. They had a perfectly delicious dinner awaiting me. and the only person who seemed a little dissatisfied was the police dog who had to wait until we were finished before his feeding time came. He sniffed at me with great curiosity because of the two dogs I had left in Washington at the start of the trip. He is a joy to watch with the rubber toys which Santa Claus presented him with for Christmas. My dogs are too sedate to play with these toys and give me a look of great contempt when I try to interest them. They practically tell me that. I should know better at my age than try to make dignifled dogs play like puppies. s I started out early this morning to do some errands and a few minutes after 11 I was at the Junior League Club House to open a course which I organize every winter in connection with the Todhunter School. After my talk on the course, its purpose and probable interest, the Junior League entertains me at lunch and I am allowed to talk again for a few moments to the members present. As I was talking # an inspiration suddenly came to me for the course. Every year the group has come to Washington for two days in the spring and visited various Government departments and met a few Government officials. I think this year it would be interesting to suggest a change, Why not take a short trip to see various Government activities, instead of spending two or three days in Washington? They are fairly close together, and not far from Washington, four homestead developments under the Resettlement Administration, each of which has distinctive problems, and I believe a visit to them would be an interesting

educational experiment.

New Books PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS—

ENDRIK VAN HUYTEN and his friend Pieter de H Groot tramped through the forest. The time was 1795; the place the Mohawk Valley. There beside a beautiful “little lake, they settled down, Hendrik to build a cabin, bring: his wife, found a family and a village. Through the eyes of Glenvil we watch some hundred years of world events: The Erie Canal, the coming of the railroad, the Civil War, boom times and bad times. The Van Huytens decline; no longer do they have the vigor, the fighting brutality of old Hendrik. “Black sheep, black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, THREE BAGS FULL” (by Roger Burlingame; Harcourt). “One for the master, one for the

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"dame, and one for the little boy who lives in the lane.”

In the last 300 hundred pages we have the romance of a Van Huyten and the little boy who lives in the lane—a boy who quickly, it seems, is no longer little and who intends to have his bag of wool, the “one for the little boy who lives in the lane.”

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O less a personage than Alexander Pope once ! said, “True wit is nature to advantage dressed. What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.” Tt.ese lines have rarely had a more exact application tian is given them in EXCUSE IT, PLEASE! by Cornelia Otis Skinner, daughter of the famous actor Otis Skinner, and an actor. and monologist in her own right. (Dodd-Mead.) : : Such common and riot-so-common experiences as learning to skate after 40, hiring a maid, brushing up on one’s high-school-learned dancing, having one’s portrait done by an artist who is “trying to be to painting what Gertrude Stein is to poetry,” attending a football game, and the homely act of telephoning, confront one as familiar friends in new and sparkling dresses and can not fail to entertain.and amuse even

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1937

Enterec as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

PAGE 19

BUILDING TRENCHES IN THE SKIES

(Fifth of a Series) By MAJOR AL WILLIAMS

Times Special Writer

HE Red wings which one day may sweep over Europe are young and

strong—but untested.

From a psychological standpoint, it may be fear of unknown strength that prompts Italy and Germany to look with anxiety toward Russia. Who knows the true strength of her military forces? And then it may be that communism and dictatorships forever must measure each other up for a scrap. Regardless of the political complex of the fuse which may set, off the bomb, my job was to look at the explosives and try to estimate how the shrapnel will fly. Russian airplanes and engines give definite evidence of the French design trends. The ordinary procedure is to purchase a number of sample planes and engines along with - designs and licenses to manufacture from other countries. Then, with the technical information at hand, the Russians go ahead with their own production. Mass production - is the keynote. I went over one of their singleseater fighters—a low-winged liquid-cooled engine johi The workmanship was crude, but the ship had good lines and undoubtedly was fast. The’ engines looked like a cross between a French “Lorraine” and a pano-Suiza.” It was armed by four machine guns, mounted in the wings and firing straight ahead. No American or British aircraft inspector would have approved the ship for service. ” ” Et]

FOUND a certain type of rivet used part of the way, then four or five strangers, to be followed by still another style. A makeshift of manufacture, it looked particularly strange on a fighting airplane whose efficiency is its teeth. Buf if the wrinkles in the skin of the ship, along with the haphazard riveting and the generally crude workmanship, do not affect the aircraft’s factors of strength, and are merely a mark of mass-pro-duction haste, then perhaps the super-critical experts had better put their heads together and see if the Russians haven't stolen the

. march on them.

Russia does have a big air force, even if the estimate of 000 ships is right and the reputed 12,000 is incorrect. The significant point is that she’s getting geared to turn them out like sausages. Since 1933 her air arm has been increased 500 per cent. The total number of pilots instructed in all types of planes during 1933 was 34. Last year, Russians claim, 30,000 pilots were trained. And in the drive to make Russians airminded they haven't neglected the youngsters. There are 750,000 airplane model builders and students holding membership in the junior airmen group. The air authorities of Europe are prone to make a grievous error in underestimating the airmanship of the fighting Russian pilot. They all do, except the Germans. I have confirmation from pilots who have seen fighting in. the Spanish campaign that Russian ships and airmen stack up with the best in Europe. And in Spain —proving ground for equipment to be used in the next war—Russian equipment was good. I saw samples of aircraft guns, planes, engines, ammunition and parts of high-speed tanks marked U. S. S. R. and which did service in Spain. ” n o NE pilot, who had served in the rebel army, told me it was getting tough for a native to find something to do in that civil war. Russia, Germany, Italy and France had all but taken it over for a warmingup session of their new war machines. It has long been contended and often admitted that fighting aircraft could only destroy and could not, capture anything. Russia has learned that this is not always true, and doubtless has made a note of it. Related to me in confidence by airmen who participated, the story must be told without disclosing identities. Russia had just begun to ship

“His- *

If might is right, Russia looms as one of the greatest war threats on the European front. Besides turning out big four-motored planes as the one above, the Soviets are training their young men to be fliers and they get their parachute experience by leaping from towers like the one at the right. Below, this

Russia Building Gigantic Air F oe for Next War, Williams Says

like it.

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picture gives an idea of the size of the Maxim | iorki, the largest plane ever built—a Russian product. This giant cight-motored ship came to a fateful en; in a crash in which more than a score of persons were killed. Unperturbed, the Russians are building more

soldiers, fighting pilots and equipment to Spain by way of the Mediterranean. Certain other nations, sympathizing with Spain's rebel forces, were anxious that Russia’s supplies be stopped. Blockades with battleships would have been too cumbersome and obvious. So the job was done by bombing planes. Not in one instance, but in dozens. A regular air patrol was established, and upon sighting a Russian ship| it was instructed, by radio from the bomber, to make for a port to be inspected. In one or two cases the Russians refused to heed the warning. The bombers winged in a little closer and dropped 500-pound bombs. That did the trick, and from then on the bomber merely cut lazy circles about each captive ship as it followed instruction and made for a port. And in this manner many a Russian ship was captured and disarmed. Of course, no battleship would 50 meekly respond to such orders and would not be intimidated so quickly. But no homber would try to capture a fighting ship—it would be prey for dropped from high altitudes. But a transport with food, passengers, and ammunition, needs barter

live bombs .

with a bomber or sink without a single shot in defense of itself. And so Russia, victim in this tactic, well will remember the maneuver and the enemy. An “off the record” incident, it nevertheless has been noted and tucked away for future reference, 2:2 a NE trick that Russia talks a lot about but keeps in the bag so far as practical demonstration is concerned is the one of moving troops by air. Whole machine gun regiments have been taken up in planes, transported to a desired spot, and then dropped out to float down on parachutes. In a ground war, such regiments could be dropped behind the enemy’s line. As soon as the landing is negotiated, the chutes are discarded and the machine guns are set up and ready to start firing. In past wars, ground troops have maneuvered for weeks and months to catch the enemy with such fire from both sides. Just how much success the aerial plan may have is yet to be known. But the French, keen military students, are organizing army training schools to do the same thing. The Russians claim that in 1933 they had only 30 parachute schools and clubs while this year that

INSECT'S HEART-THROBS STUDIED

the most sated reader. Sketches by C. Soglow illus-

Heart-throbs of insects—even a lowly cockroach— are being recorded by Dr. J. Franklin Yeager of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington. At right Dr. Yeager gives the insect (in the paraffin bathtub) a drop of nicotine solution. closeup of apparatus showing how a fine hair, attached to the heart, is connected to a delicately | balanced thread of drawn glass. Light coming from

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At left is

—Science Service Photos. j

the projection lantern at the left illuminates the glass thread, whose shadow passes through the microscope at the right onto an automatic moving recording paper. permanently recorded for further study. Goal of the { fundamental research is to see what various drugs . do to insect heart action so that the best ones may wl be. chosen for’ insect control."

Thus the insect’s heart beats are

d :

number has been swelled t) 25,000. Towers have been bu lf in most amusement parks and ; & the top of each tower a parack ite is suspended at the end of ar arm. An enthusiast steps out on g platform and the chute is att: ched. Upon a signal, the parach ite is released and another Ri |ssian peasant knows something | bout aviation. Another device adds even more intrigue to parachute jumpii 3. A powerful motor is installed in a hole, about 25 feet deep. Tht sides. of the hole and the floor have been cemented; ‘the motir is geared to a propeller rc ating horizontally. Across the i)p of the hole is a grid or gratii 3. A man equipped with a par chute stands on this. The engito below speeds up and the stron | propeller rushes up through th grid. The man pulls his rip cor! and the parachute pulls him up fo an altitude of 100. feet or | more. Slipping off to one side and out of the blast of air, he then drifts “down. It's more fun that, the loop-thé-loops, and will ccne in very handy when there's : war

to be fought. ”n ” ”

HERE has been muc’ en- | thusiasm as Russia sef about to sell aviation to its own 1eople,

and thus so subtlely take their measurements for war wing fittings. In such glowing terms have they extolled their air progress, the Federation Aeronautique In-

to recognize Russian air records. The official accounts had been giving more attention to creative. imagination than to accuracy. Many aviation authorities, remembering this angle, still are apt to underestimate Russian accomplishment in the air. But Russia is as serious as it is enthusiastic. When the British established their last world’s records with their Schneider Cup racers, the chief engineer of the Supermarine Co. was approached by an Amtorg representative who wanted to buy a hundred ships of a similar design. The engineer told the Russian that the ships were strictly racing craft, built only for speed, landed at well over 100 miles per hour, and required special training for pilots. What could Russia possibly use them for? A lot of men surely would be lost if they were put into service. The Russian explained that they intended to put a single machine gun on each ship and use them as fighters. If they. lost a lot of men . . . well they had plenty of men. This viewpoint is a chilling one. The squandering of manpower in the World War gained certain objectives when “wave” attacks were sent against machine gun and other fire. Infantry lines came in surges, the front line being breast-

- plates for the one following, and:

when it was shot down, then the second line became protection for the third. And so on until the objective was reached. if the next war comes on Red wings from Russia, then it will come with a double-edged weapon. For Russia will squander both planes and pilots without conscience or qualms. They've plenty of both.

NEXT.—How America stacks up with Europe.

Sullivan Discribes Events Resulting in Auto Strike

By MARK ASHINGTON, Jan. §5—The automobile strike can oest be understood by reciting som: of the steps and conditions that l¢d up to ®t Lt Up until a few years ag¢ practically all the organizing and leading of labor was in the hands of the American Federation of Ledor. It had been in existence some J years. 8 » ”

OON after the Roosevelt, Administration came into p wer, it took a step which greatly nlarged the field for those who mak: careers of labor organization and le: dership. There was enacted, first in I RA and later in the Wagner Law an act which undertook to make ¢ cllective pargaining universal and, i; effect, compulsory, on both work rs and employers. Obviously this greatly : creased the field for supplying org: ization and leadership to workers. So to speak, the Wagner Act incre ased the number of “sales prospects fo take in the entire body of labo: in the country. The opportunity v is taken advantage of by the Ameri an Federation of Labor. It incr ased its staff of organizers and ¢therwise proceeded to develop the nw fields. One important subordina 2 in the A. F. of L. was an aggres ive personality, John L. Lewis, he: d of the Mine Workers, ene of th: largest

units. within the Americar Federa--

SULLIVAN tion. Mr. Lewis began a. rebellion against the American Federation officials. Mr. Lewis set up, partly within the old federation and partly outside, a new institution under the name Committee for Industrial Organization, avbreviated to C. I. O. He also practiced a technique different from that of the old federation. He would organize all the workers in each plant and industry, from office boy to skilled mechanic, into one union. The old federation technique had been to organize by crafts. Mr. Lewis, with much attendant publicity, began a drive to organize the large mass production indus-

tries, especially steel and motors, in

which the old federation had never made much progress. There ensued the recent strikes in automobile supply plants, and the present ones in the heart of the industry itself.

KNOW YOUR INDIANAPOLIS The Public Library, with a collection of 600,500 books, is maintained at an annual cost of more than $423,000. It is one of the 14 largest in the coun-

" much less, guarantee—the sex of

ternationale until recently refuseds®

+ Christmas, especially

Our Town

NE day, just about a year ago, Mrs. Alma Gardner surprised her grown-up children, and her husband, too, with the remark that she'd like to run a pet shop. It was a sort of casual remark, rendered

more or less objectively, and nothing more was said about it at the time. A week later, however, her son brought up the-subject again. Indeed, he developed the idea this time, and offered to show his

mother just the right location for such an enterprise, provided, of course, that she hadn’t lost interest in the notion in the meantime. Well, that was the start of Mrs. Gardner’s pet shop. Her first sale was a good-sized bundle consisting of a live canary, a package of bird seed, a conditioner, a package of gravel and a cuttle bone. She got a dollar for it. She was afraid to charge more, she says, because she couldn't determine— the bird. Mrs. Gardnef knows ir. Scherret a lot more about the business now. Which doesn’t mean, of course, that Mrs. Gardner didn’t know something about birds to begin with. She knew plenty. At any rate, in an academic way, because, ever smce she can remember, she’s been interested in fauna and flora. So much so, that when her children were old enough to take care of themselves, she went to college and studied ornithol= ogy and botany. And a little astronomy, she admits, ” ” a

Beats College

YEAR in a pet shop beats anything you can learn in college, says Mrs. Gardner. All kinds of problems turn’ up. Just now, it’s the moulting epidemic. Seems that canaries are moulting more than they ought to, and it’s got their owners upset. And right in the beginning of her career, she was asked to fix up a crippled canary. Mrs. Gardner can fix up crippled canaries, provided they don’t break anything beyond the first joint. Anything around the shoulder is tough business, says Mrs. Gardner, principally becausé the canaries won’t hold still long enough to be helped. And once, a terribly excited man showed up and said he wanted a can . kind of a canary, just so it could sing. He said he couldn’t go home unless he had a canary to replace the one that had died the night before. Mrs. Gardner pooh-poohs the theory that only male canaries can sing. She said she once had a female that had the sweetest tune imaginable. It doesn’t happen often though. Nor are German Harz canaries the only ones worth considering. Mrs. Gardner had a Yorkshire canary the day I was there, and it was just about the prettiest thing going. Much bigger and longer than the German birds and prettier in color, too. It's not a roller, though. Seems the Harz birds have a monopoly on that secret. as ” ”

Sells Many Love-Birds

RS. GARDNER sells a lot of love-birds, too. They usually come in pairs and in all kinds of colors. Just before Christmas she sold a pair of blue ones. Seems that the employees of a beauty parlor had chipped in to buy their boss a present. Mrs. Gardner did a rattling good business this | in cats and dogs. She was | cleaned out of cats. The fox terriers and wire= | haired puppies sold well, too. So did the wardrobes for dogs. Mrs. Gardner has the most complete line of dog wardrobes I ever saw—raincoats, blank:ts, sweaters and shoes. The shoes, fashioned on the crder of galoshes, are mighty cute and just the thing this kind of weather. The raincoats, made of oil-skin, come in handy, too. Dog sweaters come in two styles this year—the knitted kind and the kind made of Bras wool. Men invariably choose the brushed wool and insist on have ing the dog sweaters red.

: / . A Woman's View By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

HOPE social security programs will not fool us into thinking we are great-hearted about ke old. Ex-

as the following prove something else: A man was lately denied permission to remove his 75-year-old mother, ill with tuberculosis, from a county home because he confessed he and his wife hoped to live on her pension. AN The ingratitude of children toward parents and benefactors is a striking fact of our era. To be sure, the average parent is not always a

future, nor wisdom in training his children. He’s too busy supplying their present wants. And he does the best he can even though that best isn’t always good enough to keep him from economic disaster. If he errs, it is on the side of leniency. And for that, according to the philosophers of the modern school, he should be roundly trounced. “The young must fly forth,” they say, “loosed ‘from filial.re= sponsikilities. The state and the nation will care for the old, while youth, forgetting obligations, can do great deeds.” As if great deeds can ever be accom plished by men and women who lack loyalty and grati-

lack the companionship and love of their children. I am reminded here of an old fable which goes something like this: g : A man, forced to support his aged father, fashioned a wooden bowl and spoon for him and then ordered the old one to take his meals apart from the others in the family. One day this same man went into iis yard and saw his 5-year-old son, the very apple of his eve, cutting at a bit of wood. “What are you making, my child?” he asked, and the boy piped a quick reply: “I'm making a bowl for you to eat out of, father, when you are old like grandpa and come to live in my

Your Health

By DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN

Editor, American Medical Assn. Journal

HEN the vocal cords are congested, they will be found on examination to be thickened. Rest will give them a chance to return to normal. By rest is meant not only relaxation from activity, such as speaking, but also from inhalation of irritating substances. Inflamed or overworked vocal cords may be rested to some extent by whispering instead of talking aloud. The voice also is modified by infection in nose and sinuses. Under such circumstances, the voice will have a nasal twang or tone. Treatment of the nose frequently will relieve this condition, at the same time eliminating the source of infection for the vocal cords. The most serious causes of hoarseness are cancer and tuberculosis of the vocal cords. When hoarseness persists for a long period of time and refuses to yield to rest or any other ordinary treatment, there should be examination to determine whethe¢ some serious condition of the type mentioned is present. If a cancer in the larynx is found early, it may be removed surgically or treated with radium. There are instances in which such treatment has saved lives. If not treated early and suitably, the cancer, of course, extends to other parts of the body and causes death. Operations have been developed for complete removal of the larynx. Under such circumstances. the patient may be supplied with an artificial larynx, or taught to speak intelligibly, though he has no larynx. Tuberculosis of the throat, if noticed early, is treated not only as is tuberculosis elsewhere in the body, but also with direct application of ultra-violet rays. Special devices have been developed for applying the rays of the sun through mirrors, and also artificial ultra-violet rays, directly to the infedtion in the larynx. Hoarseness sometimes is caused by injuries which

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| damage the nerves that control thé larynx,

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cept, perhaps, in an impersonal sense. Sugh incidents - 5-year-old

canny person. He doesn’t use foresight about his own’

tude, or pensions ease the heartache of old people who -

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