Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 September 1937 — Page 18

Vagabond

From Indiana— Ernie Pyle

63 Per Cent of U. S. Colonists Who First Went to Matanuska Remain; Government Has Waiting List Now. ALMER, Alaska, Sept. 2.—One of the main things we hear in the States about the Matanuska project is the great number | of colonist I've heard all | kinds of figures Some Alaskans

s who went back. on this.

(most of whom detest the very idea of farm-

ing in Alaska) have told me that only 20 per cent of

the original families were still here. So 1 asked the Government men, and they got out the books and added up and gave me figures, and I don’t believe they'd dare lie about it. Here they are: Families who came originally, 200; families that have left, 75; ratio of original ones left, 63 per cent. Of the 200 families that came here in the first batch, 27 went back home that first summer, even before the houses were built. So the Government built only 173 houses, and closed the colony membership at that figure. Since then, two houses have burned. And one is in a location where no well water can be found. Which leaves the colony at 170 is all it will ever be, tor the Government intend to enlarge this colonv. Every one of those 170 farms is occupied today, and there Is a waiting list. In Washington, main reasons for the First, the fact that the colonists arrived. Second. the fact that relief officials in the three states from which colonists were chosen simply dumped off their prize problem-children, to get rid of them, thus stocking the colony with many people who couldn't make a living if turned loose in a bank vault.

Some Went for the Ride

The surviving colonists with whom I have talked verified these Government excuses. They say many of the original group came just for the ride. Others were incompetents who either wouldn't work or couldn't think. Of course, not competents. A good devastating disease known left, because of family illness. There were a couple of dozen reasons why people left, many of them perfectly legitimete and no discredit to the colony or themselves. The end of the exodus has not come yet. There are people here who are such poor managers they just can’t make a go of it, and will eventually throw up the sponge. There are a few perpetual troublemakers still here, and they will undoubtedly get the gate. The colonists themselves sav people will be giving up and leaving for the next 10 years. If you were to come here and look around would see whv some go and some stay You would see two neighbors, on adjoining farms, working the same kind of land, men who ctarted exactly even two years ago.

One Does Well, Another Doesn’t

And vou would see today that one man has a neat home, and 20 acres of land cleared, and has held his debt down to $3000, and has a small income from eggs and pork and odd jobs. And vou would see his neighbor's barnlot cluttered up with a shabby collection of discarded implements: a stumpy, grubby 10 acres of cleared iand; $10.000 in debt; nothing coming in. and no hope for the future. The answer? The same thing. on a small scale that makes one man a Rockefeller and the other a gas pumper. Just the difference in individual temperament and ability. Some people know how to succeed, and some don't. In Washington there are tions from farmers who want to be Matanuska colonists. But to become a colonist now, you not only have to be interviewed by an agent from Washington, but you also have to pay your own way up. Most of the applicants can’t pay their way.

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Mr. Pyle That

doesn’t

houses

told there had been two Matanusks:

weren't ready

1 was trouble at

homes when

all those who went buck were inmany came daown with that as homesickness. Others

you

thousands of applica-

County Fair Brings Together People Who Rarely Meet Anywhere Else.

HE PARK, Wednesday-—Our county fair brings people together who rarely meet anywhere else. Tt is an amusing thing to see people you haven't seen for a long time. Some of them do not change at all, some of them grow up and, except for a family Joven! ance, vou find it hard to recognize the chubby ittle child you knew years ago in the tall, slim girl you see today. Yesterday a very handseme, slim, with black hair brushed straight back from her forehead, came up to me and for a minute I hesitated. Then my mind went hack to the old days when I was growing up in Tivoli and I recognized the youngest of a 2roup of cousins who lived in the place next to my grandmother's. She was Pauline Clarkson then, and I could not have called her anything but Pauline yesterday if my life had depended upon it, though she is married and has a different last name today. There were some beautiful horses and ponies being shown, but the farm teams impressed me the most, Some of the strongest and finest horses I have ever seen were in the ring and driving around the field. The exhibits by individual farmers, wha had gathered together everything produced on their farms, interested me greatly. The variety was quite astonishing | we the arrangement was often very artistic. I was quite proud of my sister-in-law's gardener. who won several prizes with his vegetables and had sz most beautiful exhibit of flowers. Four or five of us walked down the lonz street where the sideshows were set up. I was sorely tempted to stop and try to catch the little white balls which I saw tossed about in one booth, but I realized that if I did there would probably be a crowd around in a few minutes. Instead, we all had ice cream cones. As always, the 4-H Clubs were interesting. I liked the group prize idea they have this year. I also like the opportunity they gave the girls, not only to make individual garments, but to gather together a complete outfit. This shows their taste in shoes, gloves. hats and pocketbooks. It is valuable, as the judges give criticism from the point of what is becoming and suitable. Gi For the first time they had a stamp exhibit and I wish my husband could have seen it. We dined with my sister-in-law last night and saw her new Scottie puppy, a lady with all the timid attributes of a lady, who completely won my husband’s affections. She lay in his arms with complete contentment and though only 4 months old, knew enough to put her cold nose up against his cheek and gently lick him. The fog is heavy from the river every morning. but the sun seems to burn through in the daytime. Mrs. Scheider and I are starting off for a picnic in Connecticut.

Walter O'Keefe —

USSOLINI is going to Berlin to visit his chum Hitler and everything has been nicely planned. The visit will last two days. That will give Mussolini one day to talk about Il Duce and it'll give Hitler one dav to talk about Der Fuehrer. Their schedule calls for a radio cppearance at 7 o'clock in the evening, and they’re probably going to deo a European version of Amos and Andy's act. Mussolini is going to Germany because he wants tn see some soldiers marching again. He hasn't seen sirice he sent his own troops to Spain. Considering rcmances they should have a lot, to cial about. Hitier's name has been linked with Pola Negri and EBEenito was “the ecstasy kid” to a French newspaperwoman. Last spring the little Nazis were writing on the fences “Adolf Joves Pola!” and he went around changing it to read “Adolf loves Adolf!”

young woman,

any

th . thei

that |

AICTE SRR A

The Indianapolis Ti

Second Section

Lain

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1937

Television—Lusty Giant of Science

Several Obstacles Prevent Universal Commercial Use

This first pertable German television camera, shown recently at a Berlin radio exhibition, gives you a glimpse of the future when television cameramen regularly will bring into the home moving pictures of important occurrences—while they're occurring!

(Last of a Series)

By Morris Gilbert

NEA Staff Correspondent

EW YORK, Sept. 2.

— American

television, if it

to fulfill its promise, must first kick over a pretty big set of obstacles—the cost of programs, the cost of receivers, the broadcasting limitations of short waves and man-

made static.

If television could be commercialized as readily as was sound broadcasting in its crudest stages, the other obstacles would resolve themselves in short order. Immediate commercialization is impractical because of

the difficulty of insuring advertisers an audience. This is due to the cost of receivers (in England they sell for $300 and would cost approximately the same here in the beginning), and because the short waves that have to be used for transmission can be received only within a 20-mile radius. Television networks are impractical because present landline facilities, which do a magnificent job of linking sound transmitters, just won't do to carry pictures from city to city.

7 on n HERE are two possible methods of overcoming the transmission barrier. One is by installation of special cables, called “balanced cables,” like the present “coaxial cable” which links Philadelphia and New York Ior other purposes. Such cables might carry television between great communities. But the cost would be almost prohibitive. The other possible method is a “booster” system, by which programs might be relayed a hundred miles on a beam, rather than a broadcast. channel, by intermediate stations. Pictures so transmitted would lose a great deal of sharpness. Either system is so expensive that much of the delay in television today is due to the question whether commercial programs in limited areas yg pay their way. Program problems also nts be solved. Television is the cruelest

of all dictators to the subjects before the apparatus. With sightless radio, a singer, a speaker, or an actor in a piay can read his lines, mop his brow, receive instructions by gesture from directors close at hand. In television, the die is cast. Once in front of the blazing lights and the mike, the performer is on his owin— and there can be no retakes! The consequence is that rehearsal costs in television are enormous. E- n on

EHIND that problem is the question: What kind of programs will interest an audience 365 days a year? It can't be purelv drama, because drama itself can function better in its natural element. It can't be purely movies, because movies also have their own perfected sphere. A community does not produce a daily pageant or other public function which is interesting and available. No doubt it will be a combination of these things, pius such matters as fashion display— which R. C. A. has already produced with much success—and other entertainment features, all geared to television with the same skill which modern man has used in gearing similar affairs to radio. Adult education should have its place, “skills” and technics could be taught. 4 » »

NOTHER obstacle: Static. At present horrible blizzards suddenly gust across the television “silver screen.” The picture is dotted with a fiercely whirling ef-

More than 1250 feet above the crowds of New York's famed Fifth Ave.—at the peak of the Empire State Tower—the National Broadcasting Co. has perched a strange array of poles and rods that make a television antenna.

fect that looks like snow. Reason: An automobile idling at the curb within 100 feet, Best cure so far conceived: The “damping” of all spark plugs. Best place to do this: At the automobile factories. Not only the plugs but all other electrical apparatus on motor cars must be bridged, too. It's a large order, but not impossible to fill. Worse than the static produced by cars is man-made static. Fe-ver-machines and other devices in doctors’ offices make every patient temporarily a radio antenna, and he knocks television pictures within range out of kilter. A minor obstacle is the torture of actors before the eye-mike. The heat is ferocious. The glare attacks the eyes with violence, These obstacles are being gradually overcome. So is the matter of make-up, the black-painted lips, the hideously calsomined face. The pretty girls who have blossomed forth as television's answer to broadcast announcing are less offensive to the naked eye in the studio than they were a short time ago. » o » UT, vou ask, isn't the British Broadcasting Corp. faced with the same problems? How is it that it can broadcast regularly, but Americans cannot? First, the B. B. C. is not concerned with making a profit. It operates on funds provided by listeners’ license fees and is Government subsidized. In America it must be self-supporting. Furthermore B. B. C. has an audience of only 2000 receivers, most of which it has sold “on approval.” Second, the transmission problem is less complicated than in

China War Developments Forcing Neutrality Stand, Clapper Says

By Raymond Clapper

| Times Special Writer

ASHINGTON, Sept. Administration has the issue of applying the Neutrality |

Two A, are forcing the aded Chinese ports | issue to a showdown: 2.— The

First,

(ican port in an American vessel, thaving sailed from Baltimore last

Act to the undeclared war in China | week.

fon as long as it can wisely do so. |

Second, Japan already has block-

Side Glances

By Clark

\ come. LS. PAT. ©

Would you explain some of re farmer's problems to little Emery? We want him ‘to be a congressman when. So gpg”

a cargo of 20 airplanes for | ducked | China is on the way from am Amer-

| {

{in this country.

| ple.

| shipped

against nese shipping. Her | ing that see a supply of munitions to China being kept up by third powers.” That warning was issued shortly after the American planes started on their voyage to China. In view of Japan's ruthless course in China,

By L.7A.

The makeup of performers for appearance before the television cameras has been simplified over the black-painted lips and hideously Here Mme. Elizabeth Rethberg of Metropolitan Opera receives a special television makeup prior to an ex-

perimental demonstration in New York.

calsomined faces of earlier days.

the United States. The one transmitter at Alexandra Palace serves nearly one-third of the population in the British Isles. A single transmitter at New York, for instance, would serve only an eighth or less of the United States population. If conditions here were so simple —and there were enough fans

Entered a: at Postoffice,

who would plunk down $300 for a receiver and take whatever programs a Government subsidized agency put on the air—the metropolitan areas of the United States could have television tomorrow, Since television will have to pay its own way, it won't be put to the public until it can be done profitably for evervone concerned,

Schoolbook Rental Plan Favored by McMurray

LTHOUGH

| pils in 25 states are to be pro- | COUNTY OR DISTRICT PAYS--

| vided with free texthooks when they

[ return | diana more

to school this month, has found the rental satisfactory, according McMurray,

plan

Flovd 1.

{ ent of public instruction.

[ 20

| |

| when funds

it is a safe assumption that she is |

giving us advance notice that she does not intend to let these planes or other ‘military America reach Chinese forces. n n n

to broad policy, the first

supplies from |

Ss A question is whether fhe United |

States is to get into the war. There is no sympathy for Japan's course Her

methods are |

regarded as outrageous by most peo- |

Sympathy But there is agitation, not for declaring war on Japan but for fighting a sort of undeclared, bloodless war against her. That is, we hope it would be bloodless. The idea is to give all of ‘the help we can to China. This shipment of planes to China

is on China’s side. |

has been classed by the State De- |

partment technically as “nonmilitary,” although no one has any | doubt as to what China wants them | for. By recognizing a state of war, the | Neutrality Act automatically would forbid shipments of arms and military supplies. Credit would be cut off. Americans would have to keep | off belligerent ships. American ships would be forbidden to carry

arms to belligerents. Those thugs |

would be automatic. ” n ”

HEN, if the President chose, he

| |

| | |

could invoke the discretionary |

cash-and-carry provision forbidding listed nonmilitary materials for China and Japai in American vessels requiring that the goods vested of American Then, whoever wanhted 20 “nonmilitary” planes would have to comz. and get them, and assume the esponsibility

| | {

from being | and | be di- | ownership. |

In this State, both the free and rental plans were left to local op-

tion bv a State Legislature act two | | years ago. | Alexandria, | exercise { Mr.

A few cities, including Anderson the free McMurray said. Among the 25 states which quire free textbooks for elementary

| grades there are 20 which extend |

| the requirement to high schools (one only when funds are available) {and two which “authorize” free | books for high schools. Among the states which “authorize” {free

| books for | there are 10 which extend the au- | | thorization to high schools. » ” ” HE following tables states which require and those which authorize the general distri- | bution of free textbooks, arranged |

show

according to the unit which must |

bear the cost.

States Which Require Free Textbooks

STATE BEARS COST— Arizona* California Delaware Florida* Kentucky* TOWN OR CITY BEARS COST--New Jersey Rhode Island Vermont **

Louisiana Maryland New Mexico* Oklahoma** Texas

Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire DISTRICT BEARS COST— Oregon”® Pennsylvania Wyoming

Montana Nebraska Ohio*** COUNTY BEARS COST-— South Dakota Utah *Neither required nor authorized for high schools in Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico and Oregon. **Authorized but not required schools in Oklahoma and Vermont

***Required for high schools are available

for high

a survey shows ol

In- | to | COUNTY OR CITY PAYS— superintend- | | DISTRICT PAYS—

and Tipton, | textbook option, |

re- | , | counties (Alabama)

(Georgia,

| favor of free textbooks, some of the

the |

‘and unattractive books; | books discourage home libraries and | pride that comes from ownership; textbooks used by differ- | ent pupils may be unsanitary, the expense of free textbooks increases school taxes.

in Ohio |

States Which Authorize Free Textbooks (Asterisks Indicate authorization does

not, apply to high schools.)

Missiesipni® North Carolina*

Alabama# Georgia¥é

Virginia

Second-Class Matter Indianapolis,

Missourittd Nevada New York North Daketa* Washington* West Virginia Wisconsin

Arkansas Colorado* Tdaho* Minois* Towa* Kansas Michigan* Minnesota® Grades 1-6 In

fRequired for certain

++State Board of Education may provide

1931). ffiState subsidy (Missouri),

Among the many arguments in

Free textbooks make educational

uniformity of textin getting

they save

promote dispatch

in the purchase of books used for only one they promote economy when

Arguments against a free textbook |

system include:

Pupils are likely to receive worn | free text-

individual

and |

| | n u ou | EGARDLESS of

the argument |

pro and con, the fact remains |

that since the first free textbook | system was started in Philadelphia | in 1818 the states charge creased. | has ever taken a | Nevada, datory law system.

number of cities and providing books without gradually but steadily inOnly one state, Nevada, “backward”. step. in 1935, abandoned its manin favor of an optional

National Safety Council

It hardly seems necessary to point out the danger of driving an

automobile when one has been drinking.

At one time it may have

been considered quite “smart” to drive while intoxicated. The smart

thing to do nowadays, however, is to pass up all drinking if you are planning to drive. It doesn’t take mach liquor to dull the mental faculiar the vision and slow down réaction time. The drinking driver

ties,

= . " 3 ‘,

{

| of an i

PAGE 17

Ind.

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

Saturday Nights of the Nineties Were Starred With 'When Band' Concerts and Long Walk Home.

F you are old enough to remember what a summer Saturday night (circa 1890) was like, you may recall the curiously divided state of your emotions when you tumbled into bed. It was hard to tell whether vou felt excited beyond the point of endurance, or just so dog-tired that you didn't care what hap. pened next. The reason for this funny feeling was, that Saturday night was the time we kids got to go downtown to listen to the When Band. For sheer excitement there was nothing like it around here, and I still recall how we used to boit our Saturday suppers and hurry outside to scan the sky, fearful that something might yet happen to ruin ow night, The state of weather lot to do with it, for the reason that the When Band couldn't possibly operate when it rained. That was because the concerts al fresco, from the top of the portico =xtending over the entrance of the When Store It was another example of John T. Brush's amazing genins, Mr. Brush had more ideas whirling inside his head than any man I ever knew. In 1875, for Instance, in company with some other men, he opened a little ones room clothing store about where the Douaiass shoa people now do business on Pennsvivania St. Ha might have called it “Brush, Owen & Pixlev” had he been an ordinary man, but Mr. Brush wasn’t that Kind. He called it the “When,” which sounds pretty foolish until you know why,

Started Advertising Early

I don’t know how long it was. but it must been several months before Mr. Brush got ready to open his store that he started to advertise. For this purpose he bought a lot of space in the newspapers with the single word “When” in bold, black letters, Public curiosity was aroused to a high pitch when all of a sudden Mr. Brush changed the ad to “What.” TI guess Mr. Brush still had “Where” sleeve, but he didn't have to

before he got to that point Indianapolis saying “When! Well, that's the way the When Band got its name, too, because nearly all the members were employed in the store. Mr. Brush was mighty proud of his band, and particular, too, because I remember he wouldn't let it play for money, although its services were freely tendered to charitable entertainments. For some reason, however, the band sounded best when at home on top of its own portico. The best place to listen to the band was on the opposite side of the street, just about where the Harry Levinson people now sell hats Anyway, that was the best place to see the drummer. 1 didn’t always get to stand there, however, because a lot of kids around town discovered the same hing for themselves,

of course,

had a very eood

Mr, Scherrer

were given

have

read up his because long he had everybody in

use 1t,

Spur to Business

The concert started around 8 o'clock. I remember, and lasted about 90 minutes. But we never started for home until 10:30, That was because father and mother always spent the hour after the concert shop= ping around and looking at show windows. Mr. Brush’s concerts brought so many people downtown on Saturday nights that other stores kept open, too see? Well, that brought about a real complication, be cause when 10:30 arrived, like as not there wasn't a streetcar to take us home, And that’s when we had to walk, which, of course, was the reason for the funny feeling when we tumbled into bed. I don’t remember when it happened, but it was several years after the When Band was in operation that the streetcar people put on extra cars after 10:30 on Saturday nights. They were called “owl cars” which was just as funny in its way as the word “when.” I hope I don’t have to tell you that ended up owning the New York Ol ants,

A Woman’ S View

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Wealthy Los Angeles Apartmant Owner Gives His Profits to Charity,

ACATION NOTES: On an errand to the oppo= site section of Los Angeles from where our apart= ment is situated, our car refused to budge when we wanted to start home. Neither extra gas nor kicks on the starter moved her. Before I found a mechanic T had walked off a pound, at least, and lost a perfectly good disposition. Well, the long and short of the affair was that Miss Motorcar went to a high-powered garage for repairs, It was almost like turning a loved one over to a coterie of surgeons. We stood around helplessly while the men opened her up to prgbe into her insides. Pres ently the attending physicians called into consultation an ignition expert, who was followed by yet other specialists. It was decided to operate. The list of ailments was long, some $40 worth—but it was the garage and its owner I started to tell about,

Ninety men were employed, all master mechanics, and during the conversation we discovered that the garage belonged to the man who owns the apartment house where we were living—Mr. George Pepperdine,

His is a name to conjure with in California. Like s0 many successful men he came out to the Middle West, where as a youth he began his career on a $5 bill. Buying a small supply of auto accessories, he was soon doing a flourishing business. With the nucleus of his fortune made he moved to Los Angeles and presently established enormous auto supply houses all over this end of the country. With the surplus wealth he has bought nine apartment hotels in this city, Every cent of the profits they bring goes to charity,

Mr. Brush

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

URING the 18th Century, when Louisiana was still a French colony, some of the rich French planters took as wives quadroons from New Orleans. Their “free-mulatto” children inherited their land and wealth, forming a caste of their own, keeping slaves as did the white plantation owners, and sharing

the economic disasters which befell the latter during the late 19th Century. Among the 20th Century descendants of theses proud and independent mulattoes Lyle Saxon finds the story which he tells in CHILDREN OF STRANGERS (Houghton). Primarily it is the story of Famie and the son which she bore to her white lover. Al= most white herself, she worshiped her red-haired, blue-eyed son. And to prevent his sharing her anomalous position in a world where she was apart from both Negroes and whites, and to help him escape the grinding poverty into which the once wealthy mulatto community had fallen, she forfeited her veuth and health and finally her caste so that he might go free into the world of white men. This is a touching and significant inferpretation gwidual, of a secluded community, and, in se, of the whole race of mulattoes who, belong to neither,

a large between two worlds, enti: