Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 November 1937 — Page 13
~
Vagabond
From Indiana—Ernie Pyle North Platte Relief Handled by
Social Workers as Politicians Give Ear to Taxpayers' Pleas for Cuts.
TORTH PLATTE, Neb., Nov. 9.—Is there any justification for believing that politicians are keeping relief going on such a tremendous scale in order to keep their own jobs? I believe not, at least not in any large
sense, Certainly not in Lincoln County, Nebraska. For one thing. the relief administrator here is aot
a politician but a social worker. The entire staff in
this county numbers only 14, and |
most of them are just hired help. Professional social workers are often accused of being too partial to the needy, and of booming relief to keep their own jobs.
I believe this criticism is unjust.
They are certainly more capable of |
administering relief than laymen or politicians are. In this county the administration of relief comes partly under the jurisdiction of the Commissioners, who are politicians in a sense. But the poor Commissioners are so thoroughly entrapped between the re-
Mr. Pyle
liefers’ cry for more and the taxpayers’ cry for less | that sometimes I'm sure they wish they were dead |
and buried. : awl ; And the State Senator from this district is bitterly against the whole theory of relief.
Some minor politicking in relief does exist here, |
and is unavoidable, I suppose. But it isn't really so much politics as just the love for authority, There are a few county boards that absolutely duplicate the work of the general relief administration. These boards don't get any pay, but they hold on because they want to have a finger in the pie. And I have found a few heads of agencies who seem overenthusiastic about enlarging their rolls. Their eyes seem to be on making a good showing by getting a lot of clients onto their great programs, rather than on the actual need of the prospective clients,
Politicians Retreating Now
There is no question that played hard and heavy last fall. of how people were shoveled onto short time before election, a couple of weeks later. I've been told how to get 200 farmers
I've heard relief here a
orders
up on relief by midnight to-
morrow night, don’t care where you get em, just so | The stories were told me. not laughingly |
vou get ‘em. but in a spirit of regret, by people who had to participate in this remarkable demonstration statecraft.
But that is over now, and today I believe there |
is little right to believe that politicians are perpetuating relief. As one fellow told me: are running in the other direction
now. Theyre
trying to make an impression on the taxpayers by
clamoring for less relief.” Even the Republican practically no politics in county relief. hop on Washington! Nebraskans can point te project after project that turned some bright boy in the East arroyo from a lariat drew up the plans.
critics here sav there is
My Dia ry
By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Wisconsin Visit Gives Opportunity |
To See Wood Products Laboratory. OCKFORD, Tl,
ison, Wis. It is a most modern building and stands high up on university ground. In return for a certain amount of university support, students are allowed to work there. Of course, one could spend days being absorbed in the experiments they are making, but we had only a few minutes.
The director, Maj. Winslow, knew of my interest | in some of the research work they have been doing |
on a possible wood-working industry for the Government homstead in Tygarts Valley, W. Va. He told
me at once that their plan was almost complete. This |
homestead is near a national forest and they are going to use the wood which must be cut there.
the laboratory finds will be marketable. The laboratory carried on experiments on the proper drying of
wood for various purposes and gives advice on the |
building and operating of drying kilns.
They showed us their experiments with plywood
glued together with insulating material packed between the two boards. This is to be used in the building of low-cost dwellings. An experimental house
which they had on the premises for exhibition was |
put up in three days. Housing Problem Solution Hinted
The sections of the house are: all advance. This particular house had a flat
a very complete kitchen. They are all watching with
interest to see how it will stand a Wisconsin winter. |
This may be one of the future solutions to the lowcost housing problem.
Last night, on our way to the lecture in Chicago, | we stopped to see the Elks Memorial, a mest imposing | In the rotunda, marble | has been used from every part of the world and the |
and magnificent building.
color scheme is really very beautiful. The murals are interesting, but to the housekeeper’s eye, the most startling achievement was the absolute cleanliness of the building. which they assured me had at times thousands of visitors a day. I think the custodian and his fellow workers deserve great praise.
New Books Today
Public Library Presents— A STORY which never grows stale is that of Elizamarried Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's favorite broth-
er. This heroine. outwardly so beautiful, so chaiming, so femininely alluring, inwardly so shrewd, so calcu-
lating, so heartlessly ambitious, is recreated by Susan | Ertz in her latest novel? NO HEARTS TO BREAR | (Appleton-Century) with skill sufficient to capture the imagination even of the jaded reader already familiar |
with the details.”
Elizabeth's marriage to handsome, dashing, weak- |
willed Jerome Bonaparte, which she thought would place her in the midst of the reigning family ot France, proved a tragic failure because of Napoleon's insurmountable opposition. Nevertheless, throughout her long and active life, she moved among the great of two continents from one sccial triumph to another, and her story is one of the most romantic of her time.
» » ”
- FTER a while, Althea and I grew so poor that we could afford a place in the country.” Thus the Frederic Van de Waters started their search through New England, a search which finally brought them to the Vermont farm which they bought. The Van de Waters, whose family included a 16-year-old son and a Scotty, to which they added a Newfoundland puppy who failed to co-ordinate, trekked to Vermont, expecting to spend only the summer. The serenity and spell of Vermont and the Vermonters, a concern for the dogs, who would be wretched in the city, in short evervthing about the place tied them more intimataly to it. Anyone who has ever longed for a country home. and many of those whe have not. will be keenly alive
to the snow and sunshine. the anima's and p2ople. the |
summer visitors and nativas, which fill this narrative of A HOME IN THE COUNTRY (Raynal),
I have | known a lot of social workers, and |
County |
big-time politics was | stories |
and shoveled off again |
came from higher |
of modern |
“The politicians |
But how they |
out wasteful and practically useless because | who doesn’t know an |
Monday—Limitations of space | prevented my telling you yesterday about one | of the most interesting things I have seen on this | trip, the Federal Forest Products Laboratory in Mad- |
About | 125 men will he employed in turning out whatever |
prepared in | roof, | but they could put on a different type of roof, and they are going to experiment with two-story houses. It is a four-room house with plumbing, heating, and |
beth Patterson, the Baltimore belle, who mn 1803 |
The Indianapolis
By Watson Davis
Science Service Director ELEPATHY is now in the early stages of a popular boom, just as certain psychologists in several leading universities have been toying with telepathy tests for several years. “Keep an open mind! Beware of intolerance! It is what women call ‘intuition,’ what men call ‘hunch,’ what science calls ‘tele-
pathy’ !” So entices the suave, semireligious voice over the radio. A popular book is being distributed by one of the large book clubs, with a misty blue cover, “New Frontiers of the Mind” with “mind” in smoky green lettering, written by Dr. J. B. Rhine and telling the story of experiments at Duke University, the focus of infection of the present telepathy epidemic. Packs of cards with an assortment of crosses, haloes, waves, stars and squares upon them are being distributed in order that believing or skeptical readers may play the telepathy game. » » » O crude table tipping, ectoplasm and Ouija boards, as in former vears. No mediums or spirits. No seances with lights extinguished. Telepathy is playing a new role. “Extra-sensory perception.” That which cannot be told by the five senses: Sight, touch. hearing, taste, smell. The sixth sense? Even beyond that, no sense at all? Now, is it? Admittedly it is an interesting game. A game that scientists have plaved among themselves, seriously but dispationately — most of them. Some enthusiasts have become believers and propagandists — involuntarily discarding the critical scientific attitude. Not all of them. n x 5 HAT is this “telepathy,” if it is? First, telepathy is merely a name for an assumed phenomenon, not an explanation. No one has demonstrated how the supposed communication between minds takes place. Sometimes it is suggested that telepathy is like radio. But radio or Hertzian waves were known physically long before they were used to transmit signals that allow the sending and receiving of messages by radio. Telepathy is not “waves” of any physically demonstrable sort. The claim is that telepathy takes place, but no mechanism explaining how
| the communication takes place is
suggested or claimed. If the reality of telepathy is not demonstrated—and emphatically it is not to the satisfaction of scientists in general—what is the explanation of the experiments that have been made?
Ld ” ”
ECAUSE of the long history of so-called psychic phenonyena, it is necessary to suggest fraud as an explanation. But in the case of current ESP card experiments, such as those conducted by Dr. Rhine, intentional fraud seems ruled out both on the part of the experimenters and the subjects. In such famous cases as the talking horse, minute sensory cues are the explanation. Almost undetectable and sometimes unconscious mannerisms or actions are the explanation in many cases cf human and animal “mind reading.” The horse got a signal from his master that told him to stop pawing just at the time when his master wanted him to stop. These cues are so slight in many cases that both subjects and the experimenter are totally unconscious of them, so much so that they are highly indignant at such an explanation. There may be expression 1n the eyes. muscle tension or some other sign that ordinarily would go unnoticed. Another possible explanation is that “you can prove anything by
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1937
Here's another method of testing the ESP. A screen is placed beAs the card is turned from the pack, the subject points to a key card. The researcher puts the card in the pile indicated by the tip of the pointer protruding under the screen. When the correctly placed cards are counted the subject gets another
tween researcher and subject.
ESP rating.
statistics.” The phenomenon may be due to mathematical error. Pure guessing would lead to the high scores once in a while. It is like a run of good cards in bridge. And once in a great while a person is dealt a perfect bridge hand of all spades. Everyone is amazed, but actually such a hand is dealt just as often as any particular combination of less desirable cards. » » »
ERHAPS the high scores reported by Dr. Rhine in his telepathy card tests are due solely to chance. Some of those studying the research are not completely satisfied with the mathematical handling of the results. This is a case in which mathematicians and psychologists must work together closely. The greatest danger in any such investigation is the understandable desire of both suhject and investigator to get the result that is being tested. This applies to those who do net believe in telepathy as well as those who do. Recognizing that danger, it must be said that another possible, but not probable, explanation of the results is that telepathy does exist!
LJ » »
N the full light of public attention, telepathy has been tried with “negative” results in Seattle, Wash. Prof. Ralph H. Gundlach, University of Washington psychologist, conducted the tests, using techniques similar to those with which Dr. Rhine reports successful tests. Dr. Rhine used a pack of 25 cards with five each of stars, crosses, circles, squares and wavy lines upon them. After shuffling, the experimenter draws a card and the subject tries to name it. A series of six group experiments in telepathy were made over a Seattle radic station. Prof. Gundlach esplained in advance in the press the purpose of the tests and 10 items to be used were publicized.
At the time of the broadcast 10 to 20 individuals, to act as “senders,” gathered in the radio station studio. One of the test items was drawn from the pack of cards, it was made known to the “senders” who kept that item in mind. for a short period of time. No announcement of what item was drawn was made over the radio, of course. Then the item was returned to the pack and a shuffle and another draw was made. This was repeated 10 times.
» 2 ”
BOUT 500 listeners called or - mailed in the order of the draw. No one got more than four items in 10 right and only 1 per cent got four right results. This demonstrated no general capacity for telepathic powers. Prof. Gundlach points out that these tests show no individual capacity for “telepathy” since only one person got three or more items correct in more than one broadcast. A check experiment was performed in which the correct order of items was broadcast after the completion of the experiment. One person reported eight correct and 10 per cent claimed five or better right.
Side Glances—By
tion.”
tional ESP.
Competition has been found in many cases to improve one's ability as a “mind reader.” Competitive tests are conducted like this—two simultaneously sort their shuffled decks into five piles corresponding to the key cards placed between them. Although Dr.
Dr. same
“They probably did not recognize that they cheated,” Prof. Gundlach commented. Prof. Gundlach explained that he thought that the group method of testing over the radio would comb out of the city “any lurking group or individual with telepathic powers.” It failed to do so.
» » ”
T Reed College, in Portland, Ore., Prof. William Griffith attempted extensive duplication of Cr Rhine's experiments with negative results, It is not telepathy, but statistical trouble. That is the verdict from McGill University psychology experiments designed to test the Duke claims for telepathic demonstrations through use of card tests. “The statistical techniques used by Dr. Rhine were so unrelated to the problem that no conclusions properly could be drawn from them.” Dr. Chester E. Kellogg of McGill University’s department of psychology concluded after an investigation begun in 1935 and conducted as part of graduate seminars.
Valid
shuffled. are lessened chances creased.
of 25.
range all
make
below it.
statistical methods, now developed, cannot be used to evaluate the Duke experiments, Dr. Kellogg holds, since the com- ” plete results from the tests conducted by Dr. Rhine have never been published. Dr. Rhine's experiments were given technical publication in 1934 and have now been popularized in a book “New Frontiers of the Mind” (Farrar & Rhinehart) The tests were made in a variety of ways, usually the subjects attempting to name the cards as the experimenter or subject draws and holds them face down.
F the guessing is a matter of pure chance or luck and the individual has no help from marks on the back of the card, facial expression of the experimenter, or other sensory or extra-sensqry cues, then he has on the first call a one-to-five chance of making a hit.
A WOMAN'S VIEW
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson |
higher results.
that impartial. of chance,
time to time.
Rhine assumes that chance through the 25 guesses. if each card were returned to the deck after the call and the deck Actually as a star is removed the chances on that suit slightly and on other
The assumption has also been made that, in the long run, pure guessing would result in an average score of five guesses right out But mathematicans point out that this assumption is not y:" = necessarily correct. the most likely score on any one run through the deck but it may not be the average over a large number of runs because possible scores may extend on one side down to zero but variation of only five points. In the other direction, possible scores the way up to 25-20 points above the most likely score. In other words 20 of the possi ble scores that an individual might lie above five while only five of them lie
If a person guessed only one kind of card, nacurally five of his guesses would be correct. is easy to make a score of five.
” =
UT Dr. Kellogg holds that, in the cases of short runs, chance can produce these
the comparison with chance results should be In such 2 study as Dr. Rhine made, just as in any game relatively low scores must be expected from
“A calculation may show that some special part of the results deviates from the average chance value so markedly that it would occur only rarely, by Dr. Kellogg commented. general trend of the results shows that such cases are actually rare, then the deviations mean nothing. A tyro at baseball, standing at the plate and swinging with might and main, might happen
Jasper—By Frank Owen
Imes
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice. Indianapolis, Ina.
Psychologists Start Telepathy Boom
Some Experimenters Question Evidence Gained in Radio Programs
How good a mind reader are you? Dr. J. B. Rhine of Duke University has been trying to find out in experiments to determine the existe ence of a “sixth sense,” referred to as ESP or “extra sensory percepThe researcher, left, shuffles and turns a deck of special cards. Subject guesses the card turned. Five out of 25 correct shows excep-
2 te ate RTE AEE BRR RIA Ae
di)
Rhine's experiments indicate the existence of a sixth sense, he and his associates still are mystified as to the way it works, However, subjects in general exhibit about the same degree of ESP in all tests, but the degree of ability varies widely,
this straight It would
to connect with the ball and hit a home run. A player's rating, however, depends apon his batting average. Similarly, in the card tests, only long-run results can justify conclusions.” One of the card tests of a Mrs. M. made by Dr. J. G. Pratt, assistant to Dr. Rhine, continued over six weeks and the general average is a little higher than the chance value of 5, a fact that is considered siznificant vy the proponents of the telepathy theory.
holds
the
guesses in-
Five may be UT Prof. Vernon W. Lemmon of Washington University at St. Louis published the results of a practical test of the chances, made by matching one shuffled pack with another one, for 771 runs. This test gave results diverging more from the theorecical chance value than Mrs. M's. “Unless one is to postulate some malevolent daemon interfering with the shuffling of the nacks.” Dr. Kellogg comments, “it will have to be granted that neither set of results indicates the influence of anything but chance.”
Dr. Kellogg also observes that the ESP cards used in the Duke and other experiments are rather thin and translucent, with a light filagree diagram on the back. Even when the pack is lying on the table, Dr. Kellogg finds a shadowy impression of something dark shows through the cards, an impression which becomes much more definite as soon as a card is picked up. All the subjects are familiar with the designs and so know just what to look for. Is it any wonder, then, Dr. Kellogg asks, that some people, perhaps with exceptionally acute vision, are able to score on the average a few points above the figure representing plain luck? 1937 bv
no lower-—-a
the most iikely
So it
series of
He emphasizes of actual
high and
(Copvright Science Service)
chance,” “If the
See this page tomorrow for "TYPICAL FAMILY IN TYPICAL U. S. TOWN"
OMEN with yearnings for ; wedlock are constantly warned
| never to fall for the too handsome male. The Robert Taylor type, we are told, is a washout as a husband. | | Heartbreak is sure to come to the
girl who lets herself be carried away | by physical comeliness, for the | modern Adonis is generally so susceptible to flattery that he is an easy mark for designing females and is certain to develop into a philanderer. Now wouldn't you think the same would be true of the too lovely girls? If so, however, few call atten“tion to it in print. As a consequence wife-hunters | receive very little sound advice on a subject which ought to be of great importance to them, while society and industry concentrates on enhancing the beauty of women sO that the males will remain in |
comatose condition, stupefied, groggy and sometimes knocked cold by the glamorous ladies who surround them. The fellow who picks a wife of only mediocre looks these days is not only regarded as a sap but is called one right out loud. Everybody laughs at him when he passes up a princess for a pill. Yet it's the pill who generally turns out to be the best matrimonial bet. In this case, as in so many others, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, For the average man, laughter is : pre: loveliness In
|
| |
| and property are | Comrade Stalin or | says goes all down the line, even 3 | to the price the butcher charges A
| wisecrack,
| sheep and also a physical runt | to be in the latter predicament. | average-size man, in the eves of my relatives I am
| of my relatives has | they wonder why I never come to see them.
| should know that a man prefers the society of peonle
| will not stay around people who make him feel ferior when he can find others who assure him he is
Second Section
PAGE 13
n Europe
By Raymond Clapper
(Substituting for Anton Scherrer)
Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia Are Different Only in Weather, Sub Rosa Berlin Wisecrack Says.
ERLIN, Nov. 9.—I unlearned a good deal about Fascist Germany by talking with an employer. He manufactures for general retail sale and is not producing for either rearmament or export, and therefore does
not have the special privileges which those two classes enjoy. So he can be regarded as typical of the ordinary manufacturer in Germany, a capitalist trying to get along. He wouldn't say it himself but the first thing that was apparent was that Fascist Germany is no more run for the special benefit of the employer than Soviet Russia is for the special benefit of the worker. Under both systems the §¥ individual exists for the state, not # the state for the individual. In ° both countries labor, management under control What Hitler
\
and dictation by the state. Herr
for a slice of pork. Hence the current underground here, that the chief difference between Russia and Germany is that Russia has colder weather. In Russia all means of production—factories, farms and the stores which distribute the products—are owned by the state. In Germany the title is left in the hands of the private owner but that is about all he retains. He has little control cver his property. He must operate it at the direction of the state. The Government fixes the wages he pays, the cost of his raw materials, his prices, in many instances, the amount he can produce. Ii teils him whether he may enlarge his factory or not, and whether he may dis= charge his employees. It drastically limits his profits, In fact it controls everything, including the squeal, because if he objects he is likely to find himself out on the sidewalk if not worse. Criticism is prac ically treason.
Junkman Popular in Industry
Because the supply of many manufacturing mae terials is extremely limited in Germany the Governe ment rations out much of it, giving first preference to manufacture for export—because of the acute need of obtaining foreign exchange—and the next prefer ence~to armament manufacture. After that, what is
Mr. Clapper
| oddly called “free industry” can scramble for the re-
mainder,
Perhaps my manufacturing friend wants 10 tons of sheet steel. He knows that the supplier of steel will have many more orders than he can fill and will favor the customer who can provide him with some scrap metal in exchange. So before going out to buy sheet steel, my friend tries to obtain 10 tons of scrap metal with which to sweeten the deal. The junkman therefore is important in Germany.
| Citizens are required to save metal toothpaste tubes. { Schoolchildren have holidays so they can collect hones | for glue factories an horse chestnuts for vegetable oil.
ane Jordan
Inferior Feeling Sometinics € ads
People to Greater Achievements, EAR JANE JORDAN--Nature seems to have ree solved that in every litter of pigs there should be a runt. Likewise, in every sizeable human family there is a social outcast, commonly called the black It was my misforiune Although I am an
comparatively small of stature. The perpetual razzing made me unreasonably self-
conscious, resulting in infrequent visits to them. Now They
who seldom if ever remind him of mental deficencies
or physical handicaps. They should know that a man ine
just ax good as the average, The whole thing dates back to early childhood. I'm
| confident that the first definable words I ever heard
uttered were, “My, look how little Tod is!” This Jasted till I was a grown man. and when I finally It them know that I resented it, they seemed amused
| and talked of my size more frequently than ever. I
moved away, but when I went to see them it was the same old gag, “You look thin and peaked! Why don't vou see a good doctor?” What I resent more than
| ever is that when I took my little boy to visit them | thev said, “My, isn't he cute?
But he’s just like his
daddy. He'll never be bigger than a peanut.” They
| can’t seem to understand that talking like that hefore | him may give him an inferiority complex from which
he would never recover. What I want to know 13 should I just continue to stay away from them, or
| should I explain why I never visit them?
THE RUNT. ® nun 8
Answer—The matter of siz>, narticularly of height, has an important bearing on a man’s life. A big man does not worry about his personal prestige as much as a little man. That is why so many little men are belligerent, ready to fight at the drop of a hat, Some= times the big man depends on his size to make an
| impression while the little man develops compensa | tions which enable him to outwit bulk with brains.
Your relatives have behaved in an exceedingly stupid manner. By constantly harping on your size they have made you dread the sight of them. If they have no other qualities which make them valuable to you in spite of their faults, you are right to stay out of reach. I cannot see that it makes any difference whether vou tell your reasons or not. If it would give you satisfaction to let them know exactly how you feel and you are not afraid of the enmity you would incur, go to it. After all. have they done vou so much harm by twitting you about your size? Few of us would get very far in life if we weren't goaded by fear of our own inferiority. Often an inferior feeling is the spark that fires us to achievements we would not otherwise make. Nevertheless, you are right to protect your little boy from the jibes of your relatives. Encourage him in pursuits which will inspire in him that cone fortable feeling of personal adequacy which all of us crave. Let him read the biographies of men who have succeeded in spite of. or because of, their size, like Napoleon. It is a less painful method of inspiring ambition than exposing him to remarks which would hurt his self-esteem instead of building it up. JANE JORDAN.
Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in this column daily.
Walter O'Keefe—
SAILOR’S sweetheart wrote to President Roosee velt asking him to release her boy friend from his enlistment in the Navy. She must have thought she'd strike a sympathetic ear in the case of F. D. R. He knows what it is to be separated from the one you love. He'd probably have agreed to let the lad go if she could have suggested a way to get the missus out of her enlistment with the railroad company. Apparently the President put his son Jimmy to work just in time to co-ordinate the love affairs of the nation. This incident probably seems unimportant, but it
| may be the beginning of a movement thatll sweep
the cuntry; so look for the Democrats to go into aign I backing of Iabor and love,
3