Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 January 1938 — Page 12

Page PDF (14.58 MB)

Back to issue view

iz hE

~ . CHAPMAN AND HIS , edited

Vagabond

"From Indiana—Ernie Pyle

Life in a Leper Colony Has Ie ;

Pleasant “Side as Patients Are |

Supplied With Homes and Money.

KK ALAUPAPA, Island of Molokai, Hawaii, Jan, 4.—After you once get yourself adjusted to being here in the Leper Settlement of Kalaupapa, you realize that you have been surprised by how different. the , whole place is from what you thought: it was.

True, everywhere you turn you see suffering and’|

in piteous and repulsive forms. You don’t

i really get used to that—but you do come to accept it,

and then you gradually come to see that the place is far more “natural” than you ever dreamed. Kalaupapa is not regimented in appearance, like an institution. You see no rows of cottages all alike, and no great prison-like dormitories. Kalaupapa is really almost like any small town of 500 people, except there’s not much of a "business block.” ¢ You wouldn’t recognize the onestory, tropical-architectured- hospital as a hospital. The “staff compound” is-simply an area with three Ybrivate homes and one good-sized Yshaped building enclosed by an unobtrusive picket

The superintendent and each of the two doctors

has a home. The rest of the white staff live in the

* general building, which has private rooms and a small general dining room. : The patients are- housed in’ two: ways—either in private cottages on good-sized plots of land, or in one of the four “homes.” ‘These homes are; little settle= ments within the Settlement, and they are for those least able to take care of thernselves. The hardest thing for me to realize about Kalaupapa is that, within the confines of the Settlement, the patients are free men and women.: Nobody has to do anything. You can lie in bed all day if you want to. You can read all night if you. wish. You can go to another fellow’s ‘house and stay: all night. Even going to the hospital; or receiving medical treatment; is absolutely voluntary. You can lie in

your cottage and die :without anybody bothering you, 3} : HH you want it that way.

Guns Not Allowed

The patients of course have to obey the Territorial laws, but there are mighty few Settlement rulings. Firearms are forbidden. There is a jail, and now and then somebody is in it. The usual offenses-are fights, profanity on the streets, and petty thieving from each other, Last year there were. only four court cases, all minor ones. The Settlement has a sheriff and five policemen. They. are patients, or ex-patients. A community of 500 pretty peaceful people doesn’t need six officers, of course, but it gives them something to do.

In 1936 a Filipino girl shot and killed her sweetie, |

another Filipino patient. They had been having a lover's quarrel, and it seems he was going to stab her, so she plugged him. They don't know how she got the gun. The case was taken to Honolulu and they finally decided “oh ‘well, insufficient evidence.” = The girl is still here. Last July a Filipino stabbed: his wife and then stabbed himself to death. The wife recovered. Suicides are few and far between.. Right now there's : only one fellow in jail, and he hasn't done anything wrong. He's crazy, and too violent forthe mental ward. A large percentage of the patients work. They don’t have to, but ‘they like to be busy and to get the extra money.

wd Diary By:Mrs. Elsatior- Reosevelt

Personal and , Individual Aid Is Most Valuable in Time of Trouble.

DE PARK, N. Y, Monday— Yesterday I met some friends who arrived in New York, and then I men up to the country. The last few days have not been very cold and the landscape looks more like November. I am not; Sate sure iether I am. to get a real glimpse of ter or no : soln all the happy activities we have been having, - TI could not ‘help but think ofa sad little story that was told me on the Ey ‘the ‘other Gay: Betors 1 left at Billings, Mont. c actor in me remarked: “Some people’ a it g retty hard.” ® When I inquired what specific’ thing"} ught this into his mind. He told me there wg<a ily on board being sent back to Philade oy. the relief administra-

2 A man, his wife ard" two i children, had gone out six months ago with. a Aittle capital they had saved from- long years’ sof work in Philadelphia.” They had rosy promises. from the man’s uncle, who wanted him to join in a ‘chicken business; and they thought all was secure. If did not work out gnd the money ‘melted away until they finally had to apply for relief. The young mother has developed tuberculosis. Now they are on their way to be supported; until the man can get a job, by her father and mother, who are barely able to take on: this extra burden. : We all know dozens of similar stories, but when you actually talk to people it brings it a little closer.

Much Taken for Granted 3 also hope that before the young mother becomes more seriously ill, or before the children become infected, she can be taken care of. I shuddered at the thought of a youngster sleeping in the same berth with her on the train. I er Om Ae Tali keep In mind the many things which we so often take for granted in our op A lives and for which “we should be thankful. ‘It might make us search a little more diligently .for the places where we could extend a helping hand. still believe it is the personal and individual thing

New Books. Todoy

Public Library Presents—

of literatute, * left mind; ‘some. , others have depertinent JOHN JAY by M. A. De Wolfe Howe (Houghton) does both. One-of the leading essayists and men of letters of his time, Mr. Chapman. knew the great and the near-great in politics, in ture , in education and religion,

. TT IROUGHOUT ibs the - sta

a, Ive. ehgrossai] the 9 picted eras. The anicula

ve |

By Ned. Brooks

Times Special Writer

VV ASHINGTON, J an. 4.

rial investigations — Some already completed, some in progress and others pro-. posed — appears likely to influence = the pattern of

sion of Congress.

Chairmen of several inquisitcrial committees’ are preparing to-wind up their labors early so that rec sults of the studies; may be available for early legislative action. An inquiry into. an unexplored sector will be launched today when a committee headed by Senator James F. Byrnes: (D:'S. C.) opens hearings. on relief. - Clothed with:broad authority to investigate policies and. praciices of WPA and ‘ils predecessors, the --8even-man committee hopes to chart the . Government's yellet policy for future years. Serving with “Mr. Byrnes are Senators Clark (D. Mo.), Hatch (D. N. M.); Murray :(D. Mont.), Frazier (R..N. D.), Davis, (R. Pa.) and Lodge (R: Mags. dais Demands for other inquiries are om the returning

2: SENATOR HATCH is seeking an investigation of alleged monopolistic practices. A resolution by Senator ‘White .(R. Me.) for.an investigation of the radio industry and the Federal Communications Commission ‘has already beer. reported favorably to the Senate. Another inquiry is being talked of as a result of the split among directors of the TVA over basic matters of policy. Senator Norris (Ind. Neb.), father of the TVA Act, has “indicated favor for such an. investigation. - Forthcoming Teports of the Senate Civil Liberties Committee dre: expected to be followed closely by bills aimed at industrial espionage and undercover activities against unionization. This. inquiry, - ol which- $90,000 has been spent, has established 42-year-old - Senator La Follette (Prog.- Wis.) as a leading Senate prosecutor. ‘Legislation for the abolition or , rigid supervision ‘of “superholiing “companies in the railroad industry is expected to grow out of disclosures before the Wheeler committee, which for more than two years has been investigating rail financing. :

8 wis HE Lobby Investigating Committee, inactive for more than a year, is expected to resume activities. early in the year. urider direction of its‘new chairman, Senator ‘Minton (D. Ind.), successor * to Hugo L. Black. Earlier disclosures resulted in the passage of bills by both houses intended to curb lobbies but conferees failed to agree on a final draft ‘and none ever became law.

—A series of senato-

Seng-

legislation by the 1938 ses-

."Serfator La Follette (Prog. Wis.) has won fame as the Senate's _ablest inquisitor. The findings of the committee on Civil Liberties he * now heads have been very significant in labor relations.

“Senator Minton said yesterday he ‘expects to call the Committee together to plan an investigation of “capital's sit-down strike.”

: “T feel the same way as Interior Secretary Ickes and Assistant - Attorney General Robert L. Jackson about business: being on a strike,” he said. None of the investigating agencies can point to the record of achievement made by the Senate Banking Committee, which early in 1933 began its inquiry into stock «exchange . practices, tax avoidance: and bank closings. These revelations provided the foundation for creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, ‘banking reforms and tax loophole plugging. : “This inquiry, directed by Ferdinand Pecora, who was paid $235 a month, cost $275,000 but brought returns of millions in income taxes which bankers and large corporations bad... previous evaded. ;

Following close behind was the

_ inquiry of the Senate Munitions Committee, whose findings laid the basis for the series of neutrality ‘enactments and the move-

ment still in progress for remov- ;

ing the profits from war.

Fra

Senator Minton (D. Ind.) inherited Supreme Court Justic: Hugo

Black’s chairmanship of the Special Senate Lobby ‘Investigating

Com-

Avittee, which is to resume: its activities soon.

Senior. Byrnes (D. S. Cc) Gg “was to open his probe of WPA = its predecessor elief agencies.

. Other. House -and Senate investigations instituted during the New Deal were directed at ocean

olistic practices in “American business.

and air mail contracts, Government reorganization, Judicial re-

. sion movement,

By L. A.

“American Association ‘for the Advancement of Science said that

aufo drivers under 25 years of age could ‘be made to drive as safely as drivers in other age groups. Those words had a new sighifi-

Ohio because Sunday night seven Ohio ‘school children, none = older | than 15, were killed at Butler, Ind., by a train before which they drove their car. Specifically, the experts said that 100,000 drivers between tlie ages of 16 and 20 kill nearly twice as many persons annually as the average 100,000 drivers in all age groups. The worst of all death-dealers are male drivers :between .19 and 21 years. of age. These statistics stand, siid the experts, in ‘the face of the admitted fact that more highly ski'led. drivers are found among, young people than in any other age group. - But their

(Side Glances—By

AST week ‘traffic experts of the.

§000 lives could be saved arnually if

cance ‘this week for Indiana and

expertness ‘does not compensate for thoughtlessness.. . : A study of motor vehicle laws in the 48 states shows unquestionably that g art ‘of the blame for the tragic figures cited lies squarely at the door of state legislatures which have enacted licensing and minimum-driv-

ing-age laws characterized chiefly

by laxness an

™ new: Eas passed by e 1937 ‘Legislature and now

operative provides that children

from 14 to 16 may drive to and

permission of their parents. It provides that beginners’ ‘permits must be held by drivers from 14 to 16 and that they must be accompanied hen by adult license holders. . In 25 jurisdictions it ‘still is possi-

16. to. operate automobiles with full sanction of the law, and two states (Mississippi and Ohio) impose no minimume-age limits whatever. Children of 14 may operate auto‘mobiles on the'same terms as adults

Clark

| children under 16 in the District of

from school and nowhere else with:

ble for children below the age .of

in Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma "and South Carolina; children of 15 in Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, . South Dakota, West Vir-ginia-and Wyoming. “Junior permits” may be issued to

Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin, and to children between the ages of 14 and 18 in Texas. In most cases such permits are conditioned upon: parental approval,

VEN this state of fact, however, represents an improvement over 1936, according to the American Automobile . Association's digests of traffic laws for 1936 and 1937. Until 1937 there was no minimum age limit for drivers in Georgia (now 16), Montana {now 15), Oklahoma (now 14), South | Dakota (how 15) or Tennessee. (now 16 with junior permits). Virginia |

Jdriving age from 14 to 16, and

| together several dle Aged Widows, a few -Junior| |

“| nordes of tired and disillusioned

within the last year has raised 8 Texas—raised the. minimum ‘“un-

A WOMAN'S VIEW

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson HE Man Next Door believes we may finally become em-] broiled in the Far East fracas, and after thinking the matter over he says he’s in favor of drafling the | women first. It seems to me a very. reasonable; | : The" older men won't go; they. never do, of it is obvious. there arg too many women about. The earth is simply

of Mid-

en’s Division, a working ° girls would flock Tor en-

form, un-American activities,

Rapidly. Mounting Automobile Toll Among Youths Blamed, ori States’ Lax Driving Age Laws

restricted” ‘age from’ 14 to 18, but

retained Junior’ permits. for drivers

as young as 14. Kentucky, ‘New York. Utah and Vermont will not issue full driving licenses to persons under: 18 years of age, and junior permits cannot |

be obtained if the applicant is

younger than 16. New Jersey Axes a flat minitum age. ef 17,

with no exceptions.

The matter of legal driving ages has received, by and large, .comparatively little attention. in. the

.consideration of : ways. and means of cutting down ‘the nation’s an-

nual toll ‘of some 40,000 dead: in

motor accidents.

‘There is, trend in it “toward | standardization. of driving requirements. This’ trend is evidenced by the 1937 changes in ‘minimum-age

“showever, this. coun

limits cited above, and’ also ‘by. re-

-markable progress in the last two years in the direction of uniform—

and fairly stringent; — 7 licensing:

ay definite try -

bondholders’ protective commits tees, the Townsend old-age penchain stores, safety at sea, safety in the air, receiverships in bankruptcies, War Department purchasing, campaign expenditures end alleged maladministration in. the Virgin Islands.

Heard In Congress—

EP. HOBBS (D. Ala): If a cow AN. strays onto an acre diverted from cotton and planted fo kudzu and there takes a bite of tae kudzu’ vine, that bite, according to the provisions ‘of this bill, costs the owner of that farm all payments which would otherwise be his—un-

(Laughter.) If a chicken takes a peck at a soybean raised on a diverted acre, the owner ‘cannot. sell the chicken or -gny . egg produced by - her! If ‘he gathered the soybean -hay— and fed it to his dairy herd, he could not sell a drop of milk from a single cow without forieiting all payments. These are but a few of the absurdities now in this bill by reason of She Boileau Amendment.

# 2 =a ; ENATOR BILBO (D. Miss.)

reading from ga newspaper article: “. .. through the kind offices

lof: Senator Ellison D. Smith, Demo-

erat, of South Carolina, a number of. cotton speculators will share a plump kitty. .ioie

Senator Bailey (D. N. C.)=—Can the distinguished tor from Mississippi kindly explain to me what is meant by “kitty”?

- Senator Bilbo—The writer uses the. expression “plump kitty.” I think he-has reference t¢ a nice little sum of money, a king of a jackpot. : ‘ Senator Bailey Wit is a “jack-" pot?” Senator Bilbo—I regret that the ‘Senator has not been in Washington long Shough to learn what » “Jackpot” is Senator Bailey—The “kitty” is that portion of the proceeds on the table in a poker game which is set aside for the house, or on other occasions it is set aside in a common pot to be gambled for subsequently. . « « If the court should accept my definition, then the article is libelous: per se; but if it adopts the idea of “kitty” being a young cat, it is not

laws.

Josper—By_ F rank

Hbelgus per se. (Laughter)

Owen

- tion was formed.

less he and his householc eat the | .| cow!

= * Short visits away. from home, perhaps a year or so

Our Town

‘By Anton Scherrer Ruins on - Washington St. Bring : Memories of the Few Distilleries Formerly Located in “Indianapolis.

R some reason, Indianapolis never had many distilleries. Seems. strange, too, when you consider the abundance of ‘good corn around here in the early days. Stranger still, when you. consider that whisky at social gatherings of the rhost respectable settlers Was qulie Tegular and In gand tage: if the liquor was :

good. As for our early doctors they dspended on it, ay

‘only’ for themselves, but for their patients as well. Whisky with ‘tansy was considered a general good

pophylactie. 4 or, as Gen. S. F. Cary ed to say, “It was good for worms in children and for almost anything in adults.” Sa Well, that makes it appear all

the stranger that a lively town like

ours should show such an appalling lack of enterprise in a business so fraught with potential profits. I don’t know why. Maybe it was be- : cause other towns had the advantage of water transe portation; maybe, because the taste for imported liquor got an early start in Indianapolis. To be sure, Indianapolis started out with the prome ise of a good distillery. It was the one on, or near the old bayou southwest of the city. That's where Daniel Yandes built the first mill, too. As near as I can find out, however, Mr. Yandes had nothing to do with the

Mr. Scherrer

first distillery, which also seems strange in light of the

fact that Mr. Yandes had a hand in almost everything that concerned the start of Indianapolis. For some reason, the bayou distillery didn’t last long, and disappeared by the time the town organiza« It’s another anomaly, because legend has it that the old bayou product was better thar “Robinson County,” and almost as good as “Jere sey Lightning.”Somewhere about the time of the completion of the Madison Railroad, Capt. Cain established a distillery

. on the northeast border of the town, outside the

“Donation,” and kept it running B few years. didn’t last, either.

Passed to Some Farmers

About the same time, or maybe a little earlier, Jacob Landis built a little distillery on Pleasant Rup, just a little below where Holy Cross Cemetery now is. A few years later, the still house passed to some of the “farmers living around.

A few years after the .close of the Civil War, the Baker, sometimes known as the Mount Jackson dise tillery was built, close to Little Eagle Creek, and ran fitfully, with long intervals of suspension, until: about 5 years ago. It was the last of the legal Sills around ere. I wouldn’t have thought of all this had I not passed the ruins of the old Baker distillery the other day. Believe it or not, they're still there, a ghostly pile on the south side of Washington®st., just a little west of where you go in to see Dr. Max Bahr.

Jane Jordan— Short Visits Away From Her Home Advised for the Girl Who Is Shy. EAR JANE JORDAN—My daughter is 16 and just beginning to go with the boys. Her father didn’t want her to have dates before she was 16 and kept her away from boys until recently, which I now think was a mistake because she is too shy to enjoy herself in a mixed crowd. She is a’ nice looking child and many boys ask her for dates but she doesn’t know how to entertain them and they don’t come back. She is our only child and always has spent a lot of time with us. She has girl friends but often has said she hada better time with her parents than with the young people. Now she really wants to go out but doesn’t know how to mix with the others and would rather stay home than make the effort. I don’t want my daughter to be an old maid. Perhaps it is too soon to worry, but if she keeps on

hiding herself away, she may be alone in life after we are gone. How can I help her? : " MRS. S.

CHa Answer—Of course it is ‘a mistake % hide our daughters away from boys until they are 16 and then expect them to be entertaining without previous exe perience. As a rule the girl who is most at ease with boys is the one who has played with them all ‘her life, who has walked back and forth to school with boys and girls and whose minor crushes on the opposile

sex have not been discouraged. / An only child is at a disadvantage because it has not had the benefit of continuous association wii 'h other children. Too often an only child is not res ‘quired .to adapt itself to the wishes of others at all, Life is made tuto easy by. the adoring parents whose lives are orgamzed for the benefit of the, child. A protected only child is brought up in a situation which never again can be duplicated in later life, This is a poor preparation for life outside the family circle. Many a girl never has spent a night away from; home. and the’ first separation from the parents comes. as a painful shock. Girls who have slept in the same

room all their lives and then suddenly are sent away

to school suffer tortures from homesickness. Some

. even have nervous breakdowns and have to ‘be sent

home. 7" Now that you see the evils of the family ‘which is a closed corporation, all you can do is to correct it gradually your daughter out of the, nest,

away at school, and above all a larger circle of friends her own age will be helpful. A shy girl is one who is low in the art of co-operating with others. She is more interested in herself than her friends. which ties her outside of herself and her home is advantageous. : ‘Girls: should be taught. to. esteem their own sex, If a young woman has been brought up to believe that boys have the best of it jn life, that women are ine ferior to men, she may feel an antagonism toward

| boys - which prevent pleasarit cémpanionship with

them. If she: believes in her own value as a oman she has one of the greatest assets a girl cAn have

§ | help her in #hoosing a satisfactory partner in Inare N

riage. i JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter: ‘to "Jane ‘Jordan, who will answer your questions in this column daily. 5

| Walter C Oo Keefe—