Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 September 1937 — Page 11

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From Indiana—Ernie Pyle Siberia Lies Darkly Against Sky;

Friendly Bering Sea Eskimo Takes

Visitor Into His Hide-Lined House.

AMBELL, St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Sept. 21.—It was 10:30 at night when we dropped the hook. The sun had just set, but there was still some daylight. Davits swung, and pulleys creaked, and down into the water went one of the Northland’s surf boats. Down the ladder went the nine of us, every man in hip boots and heavy-weather clothing. Some of us wore sheepskins and wool stocking caps. Some wore parkas, with hoods drawn tightly over heads. It was a strange sight. To our left lay St. Lawrence Island, rising barren and flattish cut .-of the cold black sea. Il was a mile or so away. Over to the right —a long, rough silhouette ascending darkly into.the purple of the western sky—was Siberia. Our little boat rose high, and fell deep, and a cold spray filled the twilight and whipped our faces as Mr. Pyle we tossed across the mile of Bering Sea to St. Lawrence Island. I have an Eskimo friend, dressed in a reindeer parka, whose mame is John Apangalook. John took me about the village of Gambell, through the late dusk. He took me into his house. We stepped high, through a hole about two feet square, doubling up as we skinned through. We were in sort of a wooden shed. It was darkish in there. The back end of the shed was a doorless wall. John went to the wall, knelt down, said something in Eskimo. An answer came from beyond. ~ John reached to the bottom of the wall, and pulled up until he made a small V-shaped hole. And then I 7Jealized the wall was made of hide—reindeer hide. It fell from the ceiling like a stage curtain, making a separate room behind.

‘l Don’t Understand This World’

On hands and knees we crawled under, into the room beyond. The young Eskimo dropped the curtain behind us, inclosing us. We were enfolded, encompassed tightly, by windowless walls of thick hide, above and below and all around. The light from a small flame was very dim, and for a couple of seconds I could not see. Then there grew slowly before my eyes the scene. A thin old man sat cross-legged, Gandhi-like, on the floor. I squatted in front of the old man, and John squatted, too. The whole floor was bare like a dance Ball There was no furniture—no beds, no chairs, no

The floor was of walrus hide, dark and smooth like linoleum, and slightly oily. The dim light came from a small flame on top of an empty tin can. It was a seal oil stove. This flame was cook stove, lamp, heating plant. : I thought: “How far this is from my world, that I always

- thought was the whole world. How strange, me sit-

ting here at midnight in the dimness, within these walrus walls. It is a vast world and I don’t understand it.” , :

~My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Young Roosevelt's Muscles Sore After Game With ‘Nine Old Men.’

YDE PARK, N. Y., Monday.—While I was still at breakfast this morning, the Secretary of the Treasury -arrived. He announced that the President

had asked him to come as early as possible and he agreed to be here at 6 a. m. but the President postponed it until 9. He was here ahead of time so he sat and talked with me.’ This is the most glorious day and so we started out early this morning, or rather, as early as I could get my youngest son to limber up. He thought climbing mountains in Scotland after game had put him in excellent condition, but the baseball game with the “niné old men” yesterday must have been quite strenuous, for he confesses to being a bit stiff today. However, when we came in from our ride he jumped his horse over the jumps in the field. Mrs. Henry Leach and Miss Dorothy Straus, who were driving down the avenue on their way to call on the President, told me that both he and the horse seemed to be in excellent condition. The President took a short drive this morning and this afternoon he is going over the back roads, as he does on every trip up here. I hope he will stop for a few minutes at the picnic which Miss Nancy Cook is giving to the Democratic women from Syracuse. This group has entertained the Democratic women of the state so ‘often when conventions and meetings have been held in Syracuse, that the picnic today is a kind of return:celebration. It seems somewhat .cold to eat out of doors, but I feel it will be pleasantly warm in the sun.

Concerned Over Endeavour

We are all much troubled by the lack of success in finding the Endeavour. Anybody who sails yachts cannot help but be interested in the safe arrival of this boat at her destination. We all hope that no real harm has come to her, for boats of this kind are not built to weather heavy storms at sea. The mere

fact that the British challenger has to cross the ocean

is one of the handicaps under which the loser always has to sail, for even to cross in good weather requires a stancher boat than needs to be built for sailing the race in home waters. Someone sent me an old clipping telling the story

" of the ice-boat races which used to be held on the

Hudson River at Poughkeepsie many years ago. Among the boats mentioned is one on which my husband has often told me he sailed many times. Since I have lived here, I can remember only one winter when the jce was thick enough for much ice-boating. I imagine keeping the river open for shipping to go up to . Albany will make it out of the qugstion ever again to . have much ice-boating.

‘New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

- ‘A MOTHER who has, in her time, done her bit toward the emancipation of women; a father who is broad-minded with an effort; an old lover who visits the household, as it were, incognito; a daughter who takes her freedom with determination; a young man who is going to Belgium and who “makes such a fuss over being seduced”; and a young aunt whom . people call by her first name because, as she says, she has had “so many last names it’s the only one

i I'm sure to answer to”—these amusing and quite

modern characters create a laughable, occasionally

* - touching, play. 1

: king ‘of housing undertaking sponsored by the Gov5y 38 & 4 : 3 3 4 Ei PA i

: soni vganniny AS sie a

Ellen’s insistence upon her freedom to love and her mother’s struggle between her natural fears for ner daughter and her desire to act consistently with her unconventional past and her liberal ideas, form

L ‘ the nucleus of the situation in Mark Reed’s YES, MY

DARLING DAUGHTER (French). An occasional happy twist to the lines, unexpected turns to the plot, and really likeable people constitute a comedy which, neither profound nor hilarious, provides an hour of

pleasant diversion. : 8 (a =»

: N= types of occupations inevitably produce new

types of business books. The first book in its field, in the Business Branch Library at least, is HOUSING MANAGEMENT (Covici) by Beatrice

and activities of those operating a large-scale, lowrent Government housing project. ~ Such a job, or profession, involves much more than that of the commercial building manager, goes further in its task of readjustment than that of the average social worker, demands more recreational programs than that of the average playground director. In addition, the housing manager has to arouse and maintain public interest in the community in this new

£0

Second Section

(Second of a Series)

By Stephen and Joan Raushenbush SINCE 1935 England has been rearming at a great rate. She felt herself obliged to do this in order to catch up with Italian |. and German preparations for war. It seemed to her statesmen like a race with death. After two years it became clear that the.program was going very slowly, in spite of huge appropriations and a national de“sire to be armed rapidly. In 1937, Drew Pearson (The Times columnist), in London, offered an explanation of this fact. “The reason for Britain's arms program bogging down is not the pacificism of British leaders, but the conservatism of British industry. owners still insist on 15 per cent profit on arms orders, whereas France has nationalized its munitions plants, and Hitler and Mussolini squeeze the big industrial-

jsts.”

To some mighty words once uttered by Chancellor Philip Snowden, “Let the world come against her, England stands there still,” one might now add, “waiting for 15 per cent profit.” The first reason advanced for Government production of munitions is the fact that private munitions companies hold up the Government for high profits in peacetime, : un 2 n HEN the big U. S. Navy pro- : gram began in 1933, munition interests did it, and the Navy knew and said they were doing it, and was powerless to prevent them from doing it. Prices went up largely because the Navy needed all the shipyards. This meant that the Government got fewer ships for its money than it would have received from its Navy yards, and fewer than other nations receive for their money. ; Three times 1n 1936 the Gov‘ernment asked for bids on copper. According to the Walsh-Healey Law the copper offered for sale to the Government had to be produced by labor working no more than eight hours a day. The copper companies preferred not to bother to make any such provisions for their labor, and did not bid, although the copper was vital for the national defense. In spite of the law, the Navy was forced to go into the open market and bid in competition with foreign armaments companies. In January, 1937, Secretary of the Navy Swanson was quoted in the press as’ saying that private bids for a floating drydock for Pearl Harbor, considered a vital defense measure by the Navy, were $21,000,000, and that the price was so high the Navy would build it itself for $12,000,000.

# ” ” -

HE greater cost to the Government of building cruisers in private yards than in Navy yards has been estimated by three Government bodies, even including items only private companies need pay, such as insurance and taxes, at $2,000,000 per cruiser. The steel companies are no laggards, either, in charging the Government amazingly high prices. Before we entered the World War, Josephus Daniels, then Secretary of the Navy, pointed out that the price for armor plate was scandalous. Identical bids were being received from Carnegie, Bethlehem and Midvale, at exactly the same

Merry - Go - Round

British factory

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21; 1987

Entered as at Postolfice,

ar Madness and the | nited States

Arms Firms Sell Powder to Foreign Nations Cheaper Than to Our Army

Times-Acme Photo.

Czechoslovakian infantrymen, with an ample number of machine guns, lined up in open order as skirmishers during recent maneuvers of the Czech Army. With war clouds hovering over aimost every country of Europe, the little powers in central Europe are especially interested in developing their armies to the highest point of perfection,

just in case

price, $454 a ton. “The Govern-

~ ment figured it could produce that

plate at $262 a ton. In 1936 the question of the prices for armor plate came up again, very briefly. No Navy figures were offered. The bids no longer were identical. The steel companies had learned something. But the results were still amazing. Carnegie Steel, one of the three companies which get armor plate orders from the Navy, had secured an award of some tonnage in 1930 by a bid of $560 per ton. On this bid, according to its own figures, freely submitted, it made a profit of 58.2 per cent. It cost the company $350.73 to make the steel. By the company’s own figures the profit was $203.14, or 58.2 per cent. : on ” 2 ID Carnegie lower its bids to the Government on later demands for the same class of armor plate? It must be reported that they went up instead of . down. Apparently 58 per cent was not enough.

On another Navy contract, for turret armor, the company’s own figures showed it made $166.72 a ton, a profit of 43.4 per cent of costs. That wasn’t enough, either. In 1934 it was bidding $535 a ton instead of $560, and in 1935 it raised the ante to $595.

On still another Navy contract, In 1933, it made 42.7 par cent profit on a bid for $545 a ton. That wasn’t enough, either. ‘Bids in 1934 and 1935 were $40 and $50 more. The British companies, holding up their Government’s program for only 15 per cent, begin to look moderate and reasonable. Occasionally the Army audits costs, although these audits do not seem to find their way to Congress. - One was found in the files of Sperry Gyroscope, which is a big Army and Navy supplier of stabilizers, pilots and antiaircraft equipment. It has licensed Germany and Japan for some of its devices and has a subsidiary in Japan. It has led the fight to abelish the 10. per cent profit limitation on Navy work which was imposed a few years ago. An Army auditor found it was making profis; from 39.7 per cent to 89.8 per cent on an order for 108 flight indicators, an average profit of 54.6 per cent of cost.

Side Glances—By

gel ake

. 9-2/

; # £ COPR. 1937 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. T. M. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.

"Oh, | remember reading about this fort in history class. | didn't pos, : know it was real." sean

On an order for 114 turn indicators for the Army Air Corps profits went as high as 91 per cent, averaging 40.4 per cent. ” u ”

RATT and Whitney went into the business of manufacturing airplane engines, largely for the Government, and made $11,437,250 in eight years on a $1000 investment. } Wright Aeronautical Co., engine manufacturer, reported its own figures showing profits on sales to the Navy of 31.88 per cent (1935), 21 per cent (1926), 29 per cent (1927), 44 per cent (1928), 30 per cent 1929. On sales to the Army these unchecked figures showed profits of 93 per cent (1926), 31 per cent (1928), 18 per cent (1933). In 1926 when Midvale was bidding against the Government Arsenal at Frankford, the bids ran like this: Midvale, $102; Frankford, $68; Midvale, $96.75; Frankford, $31.74. On the 1928 awards for projectiles the Government saved $623,236 by awarding them to Frankford. The fact that Government production is cheaper has been recognized for some time by the Army. In 1916 the Kernan Board found that the Government was manufacturing in its arsenals at a cost of 18.6 per cent lower than

the cost charged by private com- . panies, .even before adding a .

charge of 6.6 per cent for Government inspection of articles made in the private factories. Since inspection by men paid for by the Government is an essential part of the final costs to the Government of private production, the actual conclusion of the Kernan Board was that Government production was over 23 per cent cheaper than private production. Material costing the Government $100,000,000 when bought from private companies would cost it only $77,000,000 when made in the arsenals. The difference probably is much greater

now. 1 2 8

” N 1928 the private ammunition companies persuaded the Frankford Arsenal to add to its costs all items which private companies have to add, including interest, taxes and profits. After that was done the companies compiled their own cost figures for the

‘rene

manufacture of ; the standard

|A WOMAN'S VIEW

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson UESTIONS I wish somebody

would answer:

Why is it that the more houses 5

we build the less chance the tenant has of getting a decent one at a reasonable rate, and that all real estate booms are invariably followed by rising rents? : Why millionaires like the late Andrew Mellon are rated as philanthropists because they lcave their fortunes to charity when the need for huge charity funds is now recognized as a social disgrace? Why, although we are carrying on a frantic campaign to decrease motor deaths, we permit signs all along the main highways which in-

form drivers where they can get |

the best beer, wines and hard liquors? : : Why white men will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to see Joe Louis knock out one of their race and yet feel indignant when a plain Negro citizen jostles them on the street? . Why nations apparently believe

'it is smart business to spend bil-

lions of dollars on war maneuvers to protect half a billion dollars worth of private property on the other side of the earth? . Why women don’t make a fuss about the exorbitant prices they

+ have to pay for hosiery, the most | expensive and least - durable item | in

their dress budget? Why bountiful crops always precede the announcement that food prices are going up? : How many American mothers are willing for their sons to go into the Far East to fight for the protection for what Mr. David Lawcalls “Our Rights in China?”

J | |

Army 30.06 cartridge. showed Frankford’s costs, including the items it does not actually have to pay, to be $23.18; Peters’, $20.21; Remington's, $28.88; Winchester’s, $31.67; Western's, $33.87. This comparison is especially. interesting because it was made by the private companies themselves, who refused to show it to Frankford when it was completed. The big customer of the du Ponts for powder is the Army. In recent years it has been selling the Army over 2,000,000 pounds of . powder annually, and even has been selling some to the Navy, which has its own powder plant. It has been making the Army pay to keep du Ponts ready to work for it during a war. The company’s own unchecked figures show that in 1931 they made 39 per cent profit on the cost of powder sold to the Government. In 1932 it was 34.8 per cent, and in 1933, 35 per cent. In spite of the fact that it is

cheaper to make powder for big

orders than for smaller ones, the company does not always give the Army the lowest prices. In 1932 it was offering a certain type of

- rifle powder to England for 54.5

cents and to Belgium for 57.6 cents, although it was charging the Army 71 cents for the same kind of powder. The agent who was offering such prices to foreign countries was, in fact, rebuked by his superiors, who said, “we cannot take the chance of this reduced figure being divulged.” ” » ” THE Government has few A munitions factories of its own as yardsticks. It pays whatever the private manufacturers ask it to pay. Later, when the war is over, the taxpayers get around to paying the extra taxes because the munition makers were able to hold up the Government. The story of what happened during the war is too widely known now for more than a few illustrations. Midvale Steel and Ordnance (not the present Midvale Co.) files showed by company figures that the Government had paid $580 for 14-inch shells on which the cost was $300, and the profit $280, or 93 per cenf. Shells for. 12-inch guns cost $230 and were sold to the Government for $380, a profit of 65 per cent.

The results _

Shells for 16-inch guns cost $551 and were sold to the Government for $900, a profit of 63 per cent. While this was going on Midvale Steel and Ordnance was telling the Government that pig iron cost it $75, when the actual cost was $51.29. They made their huge profits on the basis of that misrepresentation. ? Take another case, showing the power to hold up the Government in time of war. In the fall of ‘1917, while the boys were being drafted, the War Department found that there was a desperate need for a huge additional powder factory. It went to the du Ponts, who controlled about nine-tenths of the nation’s powder production for help. ’It offered them liberal terms to direct the building of the plant. It offered to pay every dollar of expense, to advance a million dollars on account of profit, and to have the profit go to arbitration.

» ” 2

UT du Ponts wanted the Government to pay more for their skill and ability, Pierre du Pont,

then company president, wrote

that “we cannot assent to allowing our own patriotism to interfere with our duties as trustees” for the stockholders. He was one of the 10 largest stockholders at the time. The Government threatened to build the plant itself, but it did not have the expert knowledge. Finally a contract satisfactory to the du Ponts was given, but not until after the plant had been held up for over three months at a very critical time in the war. It would have made $15,000,000 a year for the du Ponts if the war had gone on longer. What would have happened to one’ of the drafted soldiers who could not assent to letting his own patriotism interfere with his duties as trustee for his family and children and had refused to go to the front, is another story.

NEXT: Uncle Sam pays a premium on powder,

(The book, “War Madness,” from

by th e ibrary Foundation, du Pont Circle frarzhen: Building, Washington,

It pays to park right up against the curb. Most ordinances require

National Sqfety Counc:

that you must park within six inches. Many-an accident is charged

up to some parker’s failure to park close enough to the curb. Where -

cars are parked on both sides of the street even an inch may be the ‘margin of safety that insures you against property damage to your car

and .probably to the auto of the motorist who tries to pass. Stick. to the curb. ; - > » 3h ER 7 Wii : E

nd-Class Matter anapolis.

PAGE 11

Ind.

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

Public Auditorium for Indianapolis Was Comment Topic 25 Years Ago; Ice Cream Sodas a Nickel in 1912,

Frank B. Wynn wrote a long letter to, L. H. Lewis, manager of the convention and publicity bureau of the Commercial Club, in the course of which he urged purchase of

the square immediately east of Military, Park and south of Ohio St. as a site for a coliseum. It was the day, too, Charles J. Truemper and his crew decorated Washington St. in anticipation of an antismoke convention in Indianapolis. Paul, son of Otto Stark, picked that day to tell his father that he had been married to Ziza Kent, since June 2. The day, too, George M. Dickson, general manager of the National Motor Vehicle Co. coined the word “motoress” to fit a certain kind of driver around here. | Sept. 21, 1912, was the day, too, the drug stores of Indianapolis seriously considefed charging a dime for an ice cream soda. They wouldn’t have thought of it, though, had not Dorothy Lane, British born star of “A Butterfly on the Wheel,” playing at English’s at the time, spilled the news that Indianapolis was the only place in the country where you could buy an ice cream soda for a nickel.

Smokes 25-Cent Cigars

It was the day, too, Louis G. Deschler’s star salese man, Billy Burk, revealed that Tom Taggart smoked 25-cent cigars every day. Rightaway somebody figured that it amounted to $2281.25 a year. In leap years, even more. The thermometer in front of Henry Huder’s drug store fluctuated between 58 low and 77 ‘high all day, Fifty years ago today was just as exciting in its way. It was the third day of the State Fair, for instance, that Tom Taggart entered Stoker for the $150 purse of the three-minute trotting class. The Indianapolis Art Association entered a painting labeled “The Kiss of the Siren.” : Hanlon’s “Fantasma,” with Lulu Burt in the title role and Louis Pizzoula as the clown, was playing to S. R. O. at the Grand. The Eden Musee was going good, too, with Big Winnie, the largest woman in the world (493 pounds) as chief attraction. Sept. 21, 1887, was the day Indianapolis licked Boston, 1-0. Jerry Denny, Tribe third baseman, knocked a ball so high in the fifth inning that it took three minutes for it to return to earth. Some old-timers say it never did return. : : It was the day, too, work had to be stopped on the Union Depot on account of the rush of travel. The day, too, John P: Frenzel learned that Grover

Cleveland would arrive in Indianapolis at 11 a. m, Saturday, Oct. 1, and leave the same afternoon at 3,

Mr. Scherrer

Jane Jordan—

Suiior's Jealousy of His Fiancee Held Threat to Happy Marriage.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I have a very dear girl friend who has confided in me, but I do not feel

eligible to give her advice. This girl friend is dating a boy whom I have known from childhood. He is not only handsome and desirable, but is also of a good family and has one of the best reputations of any boy I know. The couple is thinking seriously of marriage, They are truly in love and devoted to each other, Their only problem is his jealousy. He wants the girl's undivided attention. : Whenever she suggests a group he would rather be alone with her, and if she goes against his wishes and makes a party of it, he has a pouting spell. When his pout is over he is all right and just as devoted as ever, Don’t think he doesn’t enjoy other friendships himself. He is very popular, but she is the one he prefers to all others. She knows he loves her and so does

everyone else. What should they do? ; UNDECIDED.

” ” ” ANSWER—Tt would not do for either you or me to advise this young lady. She won’t like losing him, and unless he mends his ways she won’t like marry ing him; so either way we'd be wrong. The only thing’ she can do is to point out that his jealousy is a sort of illness instead of a normal, natural reaction. : Perhaps everyone feels some fear that he will lose the person who makes up the happiness of his life, When actually threatened with such loss his jealousy is a healthy reaction. But when a man spends his time anticipating his loss before it cccurs and who tries to guard against it by hiding his girl from his friends and hers, it is an unhealthy reaction. Jealousy has so mahy roots that I do not know which one his feeds upon. The young man’s wish to dominate the girl is obvious. Somehow his attitude hints of an earlier situation which he may have experienced with his mother. Perhaps when he was a child he resented the arrival of brothers and sisters

because they took his mother’s attention from himself. In refusing to share his girl's attention with others he may be striving to realize a childish wish which has stuck to him like a burr all of his life. Perhaps he finds other young people so attractive that he cannot imagine why the young lady should

| prefer himself to these other, and to him, more bril-

-liant rivals. He may project his own temptations onto the person .of the girl and read in her behavior what he would feel in her place. If his imagination is very keen he might try to put himself in her shoes when an attractive boy approaches her, and attribute ree actions to her which she does not have, but which he would have in her place. As I said in the beginning, you and I can do nothe ing but perhaps the young lady can interest her fiance in unearthing the unreal causes of his jealousy, JANE JORDAN,

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in this column daily. AA tr pS mS.

‘Walter O'Keefe—

"| JDELIEVE it or not, Russia is going to hold a gens

eral election and you can bet that there won't be any “write-in” vote for Leon Trotsky. Stalin is determined to show Jim Farley what a landslide really is. The Big Red would have taken Maine and Vermont out and shot them. / The Soviet constitution guarantees that they can cast a secret ballot and you can bet that Josef will keep the results secret, too. .

counted by the election board and those who vote against him will be counted by the coroner. The election law specifies that they can “nominate anyone who is not insane.” There’s one Russian law we could adopt with profit over here in America. Somes

times here, that seems to be a qualification instead of

TWENTY-FIVE years ago today Dr,

i ER TT ARNE BS 0

Those who cast their votes for Stalin will be

3 HABITAT

tins oR RA AE TRS 0