Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 November 1937 — Page 14
Vagabond
From Indiana—Ernie Pyle
(Editorial, Page 14)
Relief Will Stay Several Years, |
Typical Family in Typical U. S. Town
North Platte Convinces Ernie; Big Families Cause Him to Worry.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb., Nov. 10.—And now that I know all about relief in North Platte, and vou know all about relief in North Platte, what do you think? Untangling myself as best I can, here is what I think:
I can’t see any possibility of an immediate change in the relief specter in Lincoln County, Nebraska, our “average” small town. I can't see where even the : wildest boom could create enough jobs to put everybody back to work in private employment. It I were a relief dictator here, I'd make up my mind that this thing is not temporary, and I'd simplify the relief machine and get it in shape for efficient handling over a period of years. \ I'd leave the money expenditure, . at least for the present, just where it is, and also the ratio of Federal, state and county contributions. Then, I'd have the Federal Government keep its fingers entirely off. (That might be unwise in some places, but I think it would be distinctly wise here.) With all the ordinances from Washington stopped, I'd toss about ten of these alphabetical relief agencies up in the air, and when the whole thing settled down we'd have just two kinds of relief—work relief and direct relief. I'd put WPA on a $1-a-day basis (or maybe a little higher), work six days a week and eight hours a | dav. I'd make it possible for a man to get right back on WPA after a short outside job was over, And if I found one refusing to take a hard threeday private job, I'd kick him right off relief. (I think 1 would, but then I suppose I'd get to thinking about his poor wife and 14 kids, and let him back on again.)
Thinks About the Future
And then next spring, if general conditions still look good, I'd certainly try some kind of experiment in cutting down relief for the summer. As a starter, 1 believe I'd cut off one-fourth of the relief clients. You'd have to do something that seems unfair—you'd have to cut off the top fourth, the most deserving fourth. You'd have to do that because they are the ones most capable of finding support for themselves in the open market. The lazy no-goods are unequipped to get or hold jobs, and you can’t let them starve, And then, if I could get relief running efficiently, I'd sit in a corner with my chin in my hand, and think and think and think about the future. First, I'd think about whether there's anything that could be done toward converting our present mass of “muscle men” into men who know how to do something and have the brains and the wish to do it. Then I'd try to do something about this guinea-pig reproduction of families who lack the mentality and the character to make, their own way in the world. That's the problem to make you shiver. The case of the kids. People continue to reproduce their pitiful selves like flies in the shantyvtowns of every city and town in the country and life has the children whipped from the day they are born. People on relief today are living in a world that has no place for them. Jobs for these people just do not exist.
Mr. Pyle
| | 1 | |
My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Governor Horner Asks First Lady To Tell How She Rears Her Children.
LOOMINGTON, Ill, Tuesday.—I was both flattered and flustered by the fact that Governor Horner joined me on the platform last night in Rockford, Ill. Not as a speaker, unfortunately. but as part of my audience. When the time came for questions, everything in the world was asked of me from such domestic questions as: “What is your favorite recipe, can vou cook it yourself and can you tell us what the ingredients are?” to “What do vou think the chances are of bringing about peace in the Far East?” The Governor seemed a little restive at first. I think he was afraid I would be embarrassed. When the lecture was over he confided in me that he har sent in one question. I dug it out to find that it was: “How do you rear your children when you travel around the country so much?” The poor man, being a bachelor, had not realized my children are all reared. Quite obviously, no one can leave home for long periods of time when she has young children to look after. Alas, my youngest son is a senior at Harvard getting married in June. Also, I never did believe in grandmothers who tried to rear their grandchildren. The hotel in Rockford is run on the old-time principle that the proprietors are hosts and I have never seen anyone more attentive and kind than our host and hostess. They even gave us breakfast at 6:30 o'clock this morning and were up to see us off.
Visits Children's Home
We arrived in Bloomington in the middle of the day and in the afternoon I went out to see the Illinois Scldiers and Sailors Children’s Home. It is a very interesting establishment run for dependent boys and girls, It was founded in 1867 for the children of Civil War veterans. When they became scarce, the State of Illinois took it over. The school is run by the nearby normal school. The entrancing part of the place was the children's village made up of small whitewashed brick cottages, just the right size for little children. Each one has a living room, the floor of which is laid so as to furnish entertainment for the children. In one place there are squares for hopscotch, in another for checkers, and so on, all over the floor.
New Books Today
Public Library Presents——
HE ubiquitous Hercule Poirot, late of the Paris Surete, fully equipped with waxed mustachio, an elastic conscience. and a rapid fire imagination, is sleuthing again in Agatha Christie's POIROT LOSES A CLIENT (Dodd). The client in this case was Miss Emily Arundell of the small town of Market Basing, England, and
she had been dead almost two months before she |! consulted M. Poirot. A letter she had written finally |
reached its destination and started an investigation into a supposedly natural death which brought to light sinister motives and unique opportunities in the case of every person closely connected with the old lady. The facts that her will was changed hurriedly after a seemingly accidental fall downstairs; that at a seance the evening before she died a weird halo appeared around her head; and that her pet terrier pup acted very strangely indeed, were most suspicious. But the overpowering fear manifest in Miss Arundell’s letter was the factor which led M. Poirot to accept a dead woman as a client and, in so doing, to become embroiled in one of his most exciting cases. » = » WEDDING where the bride stands all day long with downcast eyes while her guests feast, where the bridegroom entertains his guests in his own home, where only after the merrymaking is finished do the young people see each other, is one of the first memories of Nexhmie Zaimi. In DAUGHTER OF THE EAGLE (Washburn) she tells of her home life in Albania, “Kingdom of Eagles.” and in so doing tells the storv of other Albanian girls of her class. On the other hand, her rebellion against the old traditions, desire for education, and final break with her family and subsequent coming to America make this her own particular story. __ Although there is much telling of small happenngs, this biography shows the whole picture of the tiny kingdom, “The Citadel of Ghenghis Khan,”
ancient, living in the i g Be pas vet keeping a suspicious |
The Indianapolis
ica's typical city.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1937
The U. S. Department of Agricul
ture, which has just completed a survey of 19 small cities, 140 villages and 66 farm counties selected at random over
the nation, says it is.
The Department considers Beaver Dam with its population of 9867 closest to the average in every respect. Its average family averages 3.6 persons, the largest families being either in the highest income brackets or on relief. For the 458 families interviewed at random in Beaver Dam by the Department’s Bureau of Home Economics, the
average income was $1309. Only 10 per cent of the families interviewed have
more than one wage earner. During some period of the year studied, 11 per cent of Beaver
Dam’s families had been on relief. Of those independent of relief, 66.9 per cent received an income of less than $1500 annually. Wage-earning families in Beaver Dam have an average income of $1219 to spend each year; business and professional families, $1952, and clerical families, $1747, the data show.
" n LJ HE way the lives of the Irving G. Welch family here fit into design for living described by the survey makes this father, mother, 11-year-old son George, and 5-vear-old daughter Joan a typical family of this typical town. Twelve years ago, just four
vears after he went to work for local manufacturers of barn equipent, Mr. Welch married Miss Gertrude Brotkowski. Today she is 31, and he 35 with the distinction of being one of three “oldtimers” among the 110 men employed by his company. For years he has been cupola tender for the plant. And in that span he has become accustomed to the scorching heat rising from his furnace, which melts all of the iron used in the foundry, Eight years ago the family moved into the seven-room house they now occupy. Their rent is $20 a month, which is the exact figure which the Government found to be the average for its average community. “But it's too much,” says Mr. Welch, A little wistfully, Mr. Welch mentions that in 1930 he might have built his own home, but didn’t. This winter his family is to enjoy the comfort of oil burning stoves, which are being installed to replace coal stoves. » » ” HE typical family spends a busy day. The alarm clock rings at 7 a. m. Mrs. Welch prepares breakfast and serves it around the kitchen table. George usually starts for St. Peter's parochial school, where he is in the sixth grade, when father leaves for work. Then mother's day bhegins in earnest. With little Joan busied with her dolls and their two carriages or rollicking with her puppy “Trixie,” Mrs. Welch washes dishes, bakes, makes beds, picks up last evening's papers from the overstuffed velour davenport and chairs, cleans, washes or irons, according to weekly schedule. Judging from her basement larder, she cans most of the fruits and vegetables which the family consumes during the winter. Much of the supply is grown in her own, garden.
n " ” Y 12:15 o'clock, she has dinner ready, and father and George are home again. Afternoons afford time for mother to make all of Joan's clothes, some of George's, and a few of her own, using the sewing machine before the dining room window. Bridge isn’t one of her interests. By 5 o'clock her husband and son are home for the day and there's supper to get. Evening is pretty largely hob-by-time. Father reads the daily paper which comes into his home. Mother picks up her crocheting or knitting for a few moments of relaxation before tucking Joan into her crib. If George hasn't a lesson to study for tomorrow, his father lets him work with him in his basement, workshop. George's hobbies are his chemistry set and model airplanes, of which he has at least half a dozen that will
actually fly. Father does cabinet work, builds miniature furniture for the children, knickknacks for his wife, and keeps the wagons, bikes, scooters, skates and toys in repair for all the kids in the neighborhood. Sometimes he takes his son hunting or fishing. Occasionally he plays soft ball or howls. He plays schafkopf with his wife and their friends. Now and then they see a movie at Beaver Dam's one theater, 6 » » » HEN friends come in, the kitchen floor may become a dance hall for the evening. The Welches and their guests are jus’ as near to the world's greatest dance bands as their radio. Perhaps once a month they go with friends for an evening of dancing at some nearby roadhouse, Outside his home, which Is unmistakably Mr. Welch's big concern, his interest revolves about his lodge. He is now serving his third term as president of Aerie No. 1638, Fraternal Order of the Eagles. That responsibility (the lodge claims 600 members from the city.and surrounding territory) calls him from home every Tuesday evening, and during the fall and winter requires considerable travel about the state with his degree team. Mrs. Welch is devoted to the Christian Mothers Society of St. Peter's Church, and attends the auxiliary to her husband's lodge the first and third Thursdays of every month, while father has his innings at home alone with the children. Like Longfellow’s ‘Village Blacksmith,” this typical American man “goes on Sunday to the church.” And so does his wife. Their son attends the regular children's mass, as Joan will when she is old enough.
o = n OLITICS? Mr, Welch always has been a Democrat, and—"“As far as I'm concerned, President Roosevelt is O. K.,” he declares in no uncertain terms. Bob Elson is Mr. Welch's favorite radio sports announcer, Bing Crosby and Bob Burns star performers in his opinion. Of course the careers of Fred MacMurray of the films, former Beaver Dam boy, and nf Madeline Horn, who
has earned no mean fame for her ice-skating prowess, never lack in interest for Beaver Dam residents. Mrs. Welch, although thoroughly American, comes of Polish parentage. Her husband is a mixture of German and Irish extraction. Mr. Welch knows the satisfaction which comes largely from self edueation. His father having been killed, he was forced to leave school after completing the seventh grade to help support his family. But he was not satisfied to forget about study. He continued studying and reading at home, took four years of manual training work and an additional three years of metal work at the Beaver Dam vocational school. Mrs. Welch, left an orphan at an early age, never had the privilege of study beyond eighth grade. “But if things go right, the kids will get an education,” Mr. Welch vows. Mr. Welch, his wife, and the two children have life insurance. Mr. Welch has a savings account in a local bank, but no checking account,
See this page tomorrow for
"SANTA CLAUS BESET BY CONFLICTS"
Side Glances—By Clark
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This is the typical family of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's typical town—the Irving Welches of Beaver Dam, Wis. Mrs, Welch makes sure that
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daughter Joan Is getting along all right with supper, while Mr, Welch and son George get down to the business of eating.
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Although the average family income is but $1309 look, bright with signs and the lights of shoppers’
a year, Beaver Dam's Front St. has a prosperous cars.
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“The World's Greatest County Fair” draws throngs to Beaver Dam each fall.
Vine-entwined canneries with neat lawns provide a livelihood for many of the typical town's residents and a market for the countryside's produce,
A WOMAN'S VIEW By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
@®
FIGHT PNEUMONIA
Ruy Seienee Service ASHINGTON, Nov. 10.=A committee of pneumonia experts is to meet with Surgeon General Thomas Parran, U, 8S. Public Health Service, at the U, 8. National Institute of Health here Friday to lay plans for bringing this third greatest killer among diseases under control, Pneumonia takes 100,000 lives annually in the United States, Dr Parran said in announcing the eonference today, It ranks second only to heart disease and cancer as a cause of death. If the influenza deaths were added to the pneumonia death figures, the total would almost equal the annual cancer death toll, Dr. Parran believes that “a move toward a program of concerted action should be inaugurated” to reduce the high pneumonia mortality. Doctors who are to attend the conference include: Dr. Donald B. Armstrong, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. third vice president, in charge of healt and welfare work; Dr. David P. Barr, Professor of Medicine, Washington University, and Physician in Chief, Barnes Hospital, St. Louis; Dr. Russell L. Cecil, Professor of Clinical Medicine, Cornell University Medical Center, New York City, Dr. Lloyd H. Felton of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, noted bacteriologist and serologist; Dv. Alfred Friedlander, Professor of Medicine and Dean, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati; Dr. Roderick Heffron of the Commonwealth Fund, New York City, who established the pneumonia con” trol program for the State Health Department of Massachusetts; Dr. Ernest E. Irons, Clinical Professor of Medicine, and Dean, Rush Medical College, Chicago; Dr. Roger I. Lee, consultant in internal medicine, and formerly member of Massachusetts Public Health Council, Boston; Dr. George H. Ramsey, Assistant Commissioner for Preventable Diseases, New York Department of Health, Albany.
ia
RE you still carrying on your vicious misrepresentations about military preparedness?” asks a correspondent who has never approved of the material in this column, “I was amazed at your recent
statement that the aggressor nation in the World War suffered the worst defeat. Don’t you know that Germany is one of the most powerful countries in Europe today and menaces in military strength the safety of England, France and Russia?” It takes a nervy commentator to carry on after such a wallop. Even so, it seems to us this gentleman has his eras confused. Germany is still a place on the map ‘of Europe. It is called by the same name; probably the sun shines as brightly and the rain comes down softly as of old. A large part of the glamour of Kaiser Wilhelm's land was built out of uniforms, parades, and goose-stepping soldiers. But where is that Germany now — that strong, nation which based its claims to superiority upon the force of its armaments? It is gone, vanished from earth. In its place there is another Germany, one that persecutes its best citizens, exiles its men of genius, confiscates the property of its great, a country from which philosophy has fled, where liberty no longer exists and religion wears a Small mustache. The Germany once respected by scholars and thinkers the world over is no more. It died, impaled on the bayonets of its own Ajers, ] to the ambi
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Jasper—By Frank Owen
Copr. 1937 by United Feature Syndieate, Toe.
"He's got a good advertising slogan, too—'Only One Stop to
Chang Feet! " ” Hen fu Ae 2 > Sm *
Second Section
ny
PAGE 13
ina.
In Europe
By Raymond Clapper
(Substituting for Anton Scherrer)
Nazis Chunteract Enslavement of Labor by Teaching Citizens How To Discover 'Joy Through Work,’
ERLIN, Nov. 10.—Labor under the Nazi regime has been rather thoroughly en. slaved but the Government seeks to soften the rigors of the system with its “joy through work” campaign. This is a skilful propaganda activity which provides work. ingmen with low-priced holiday trips, morale-building activities and a good deal of talk about the "beauty of labor.” As part of this general campaign workingmen are encour aged to make their surroundings as attractive as possible, Accord~ ingly, in one factory which I visited, employees recently had obtained permission from the management to convert an unused plot within the 71actory grounds into a flower garden, Each employee donated one hour of his own time to making flower beds-that is, each employee ex- , cept. one, who said he had other 4 use for his spare time, Promptly a Nazi Party official, to whom the incident had been reported, took his working card or “labor passport” away from him, His discharge from his job was automatic and he will be unable to obtain another job, as employers are forbidden to hire anyone without a Government working card, This suggests the severity of the discipline, Often it was said in defense of slavery in the South that the Negro was cared for by his master and was always sure of food and shelter, Much the sume may be sald for labor under the Nazi regime, Also you can say the same for workers in Communist Rus sia. The standard of living is highar than that which American slaves had to endure but there is little more freedom. The workman in Russia and Germany pays a price for his subsistence. The price is the vire tually complete surrender of his freedom. The dif ference is that in Russia they promise to give him back his freedom some day and in Germany they don't,
Jobs Are Guaranteed and Binding
Under both regimes at present, the workman is the economic slave of a dictator. He is as much sub» ject to the supreme will at the top as if he were living under Ivan the Terrible. He does get bets ter food and clothing perhaps. What the Communists call the slaves of capitalism are as free as air coms» pared with the robots of fascism and communism, Over here and in Moscow they say that capitalism gives the workman the freedom to walk the streets in search of a job. Here they guarantee him a job in fact, if he has nothing better, they compel him to work on the road gangs or at some other form of forced labor. You can take your choice, In Russia the individual works for the state and fs as bound to it as if he were in the Army, In Germany he technically works for a private employer but in designated industries he is forbidden to change his employment without permission of the Government Labor Office. Under this procedure the worker is virtually bound to his job, a situation probably with« out precedent in the modern capitalistic state,
-—
Mr. Clapper
Jane Jordan—
Acting as Good Influence Becomes Boring After Marriage, Girl Told.
EAR JANE JORDAN-1 am a girl of 18. I met a young man three years my senior over a year ago. Sometimes I think T am deeply in love and other times I have no love for him at all. Yet he has treated me with the greatest respect. His past has bothered me. He drank and ran around with the wrong crowd. Ome of his friends got him in trouble and he spent a few nights in jail, Since our meeting he does nothing wrong that I have been able to find out. He says he loves me and wouldn't give me up for anything. He has asked me to marry him six times, but he has no job. I know another boy of my same age who is almost perfect. I have known him all my life as he is a neighbor. Our affection has grown unknown to my other boy friend who won't look at anyone but me. Shall I choose between the two or drop them both? M. E. B. ” ” ” Answer=If your letter reports the facts correctly it would be folly for you to marry the young man whom you describe. His record tells us several unfavorable things about him; he drinks when reality becomes unpleasant; has has not been able to conform to the rules of the social order; he is easily ine fluenced by bad companions; he is not able to earn a living. In other words, he is a person poorly equipped to function in the world as it is. His attachment to you may hold him steady for the time being, but we have a right to expect him to revert to his old habits when the first strain appears. He has given us no indication of reserve strength to lean on. All this you realize although you may not have reasoned it out. The fact that you have emotional revulsions against him and for days feel no love at all is proof of it. Every woman ought to respect her own inner negation and refuse to consider marriage with one whom she instinctively refuses. Doubtless the boy's attachment to you is a good influence in his life and it makes a girl feel fine to be a good influence. However, it gets a bit wearing after years of married life. Some of the strength of the partnership should reside in the other half. Besides it is not so easy to influence a man after mareriage as beforehand. Everyone puts his best foot forward during courtship. Once the girl is caught he seldom works so hard to keep her good opinion. What was noble advice before the ceremony is apt to become nagging afterward. You haven't told me much about the other boy whom you desighate as perfect. You have given ho reason whatever for dropping him simply because you mistrust the first boy. He may not be the one whom you eventually will marry, but a pleasant friendship with a reliable boy always is worth while whether it leads to marriage or not. JANE JORDAN.
Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan who will answer your questions in this column daily,
Walter O'Keefe—
ME. de Fontanges, the gal self-accused of kisse ing and telling on Mussolini has been refused admission to this country, Benito Mussolini has bluffed England and France into silence, but it took a woman to shoot her mouth off and get away with it. She planned to work in a Broadway night club, Even on New Year's Eve that would have been a lot quieter than listening to Il Doochay. Rumor says that her passport photo was a pice ture showing La Belle Fontanges with Mussolini's arm around her, At that, she probably is better off than Brune Mussolini was on his visit here. At least she won't have to work in a night club that is being picketed by Ethiopians. It's getting tougher to enter the United States, With so many people being turned away from our shores, it might be more appropriate if the Statute of er) led her right hand down and pointed thg