Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 February 1938 — Page 9

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From Indiana==Ernie Pyle

Mainland Programs Are Relayed by Honolulu Broadcasting Stations; Trackless Trolleys Create Stir.

ONOLULU, Feb. 9.—A friend back home writes: “It's about time you tell the folks on the mainland whether they can get Jack Benny and Lum & Abner in Hawaii on a foggy night. 1 don’t see how Hawaii can

expect a lot in the tourist trade unless that is possible. Anyhow, I want to know.” Of course that letter comes from a cynic who has no radio, nor has he any interest in Hawaii's tourist

trade. He's just making conversation. But he does raise a question, s§0 here is the answer: Yes. you can get Jack Benny over here on a foggy night. No, you can’t get Lum & Abner because for some reason they're not sent over here. You see, when you turn on your radio here vou get n local station. You hear the big mainland programs by relay through the local station. So you hear only what mainland programs they decide to relay. There are three radio stations in Hawali—two in Honolulu and one in Hilo, 200 miles southeast. They have local programs in between mainland programs. Every person in Hawaii has at least six radio sets, and every evening they bring them all down and set them up outside my window and turn them on full blast. So what's the difference whether you can get Jack Benny or Lum & Abner? They both make noise. Maybe I can think of a few more items like that about Hawaii. Well: The busses in Honolulu won't take on a passenger unless there's & seat for him. And you never have to wait long. The bus service is swell. They've just put on those new trackless trolleys here. and boy what a fuss is being made over them! It's against the law for a taxi to cruise, You have to phone for one, and wait. Bathtubs are as scarce as snowshoes over here. Everything is shower baths,

Hawaii's Personality Is Different

As for Hawaii's personality, there is something different about it. There is an indefinably happy, gen=erous, free spirit about the place. Hawaii is gentle. People work hard, but not too hard. Not the real indolence of the tropics, nor yet the indifferent attitude of the drifters in Alaska—it's a perfect compromise between the two. It's in the air, somehow. It does something to strangers the minute they arrive. People who, on the mainland, are huff-puff and all efficiency and discourtesy will slow down a little over here, become human, and even get downright cordial. A friend was telling me an experience he had when he first came here in the Twenties. He was an engineer. He got off the boat, looked in the phone book, found an engineering firm, got the manager, asked for a job, and got it right off. “When did you leave San Francisco?” the manager asked him. My friend told him. And when he got his first pay check his pay had started from the day he left San Francisco. Where else would that ever happen?

My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Interested Community Can Better

The Work of ls Public Servants.

WW Eo Tuesday.—I had a rather busy time yesterday afternoon. At 3 o'clock I met

three ladies, one of them here on a visit from New |

Zealand. It was interesting to hear her say how far away she felt before starting her journey, which took 15 days to San Francisco. I could not refrain from suggesting that some day we would do it in far less time by air. Next, I attended Capt. Dalrymple's funeral. He was captain of the White House guards and I had always thought his expression really very beautiful, kindly and yet strong. From 4:30 on, there were three teas to vary our usual two teas, and two additional appointments, all of which brought me very near to dinner time. At 8:30 the Red Room was pretty well filled by some 45 young people shepherded by Mr. Frederick Davenport. They came to hold their usual Monday evening meeting with me. This group, with the help of a foundation and an able board of trustees, is getting practical experience working in Government departments and institutions, or in some Senator's or Con-

gressman's office. Sees Influence of Young People

Thev wondered whether people are going to be any more interested in Government in the next few years than they have been in the past. I feel vary sure that just such groups as these young people, are going to make a tremendous difference in the general interest taken in Government by communities all over this country. People are going to find, that whether a man Is a local, state or Federal official, he represents fairly well the type of community from which he comes. If that community is interested, when he goes home he is apt to be asked by groups and by individuals the reasons why certain things have been done. He is going to find he has to be very much more wideawake to obtain information and to be able to answer the questions put to him, and thus he will become a better public servant.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

BOAT ride on any river is a joy. But to take a journey on a river which is famous for its

histarical associations as well as for its beauty furnishes pleasure of a high order. THAMES PORTRAIT (Macmillan) is the narrative of such a journey which E. Arnot Robertson took with her husband. To the source of the Thames they went first, as far as Lechlade, beyond which nothing larger than a canoe can go. For their outing they bought an old launch, which proved to be somewhat halting and decrepit; but, after all, the delays enabled them to linger among the little villages which bordered the Thames. . Visiting Medmenham Abbey and many other places of interest, they rode past Reading, Windsor, Eton, Dorchester, Hampton Court, and down to Southend, where they caught a glimpse of salt water and the ocean going vessels, and mingled with the other craft floating uhder the Tower Bridge. “The Thames is a baffling river, indeed,” says the author, “and rich in associations with every phase of English life, Tt has seen more than the imagination will hold of meaningless pomp and real grandeur and fanatical devotion and greed, and the unrecorded happenings of widely differing lives.” ” » »

(Mrs. Roosevelt's column, above)

T is Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, “who has led so many of us in the struggle for peace,” to whom Wirs. Eleanor Roosevelt dedicates THIS TROUBLED WORLD (Kinsey). In this volume she states the ulti. mate objectives of peace lovers, gives the immediate steps to be taken, and then presents a summary—ail in 47 pages. The author thinks there is no perfect and complete program for bringing about peace in the world at the present. ‘Those who remember the World War must present a true picture of war to the younger generation, and must make their every-day living an adventure such as will serve as a safeguard against war, she says. In the long run, however, the first step toward peace must be a change in human nature. Individuals must strive for self-discipline, self-control, and a better understanding. When such an under-

standing has been etablished, a better relationship beTwoen groups of people, abe believes, Wil, develop. |

Jewish

Crowded Russian Ghet

e Indianay

lis Ti

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1988

Destiny

tos Replaced by Fa

.

(Third of Five Articles)

By Theodore Andrica

Times Special Writer

JBIROBIDJAN is an attempt to demonstrate that it is possible to make toilers of the soil out of a group which for thousands of years lived in crowded ghettos. This autonomous Jewish state in the Amur-Ussuri district of the far eastern region of Soviet Russia is the outgrowth of the movement in European Soviet Russia to

settle Jews on land.

The crumbling of the Tsarist regime and the emergence of the Soviet system of government brought many

changes in Russia. The liberation of the more than 3,000,000 Jews from the crowded ghetto life was among the most important results of the revolution.

While the Jews gained political and social freedom, the new order of things in Russia plaved havoc with their economic traditions because more than 70 per cent of the Russian Jews were engaged in petty trading. Trading was to become a state monopoly in Russia, according to Communist theories and the large number of Jewish traders created quite a problem to the Soviet authorities. Jewish leaders and Soviet officials agreed in principle that one contribution toward the solution of this problem would be to settle as many Jews as possible on land. » » » COORDINGLY the Soviet Government appointed a committee in 1924 to study the question. The American Jewish Joint Distributing Committee in co-operation with the Soviet Government actively started the movement in 1925 when $400, 000 was given to settle 1000 Jewish families in the Ukraine. Later the number increased and today there are altogether 250,000 Jews working on collective farms, mostly in the Ukraine and Crimea. Although enjoying the racial liberalism of Soviet Russia, the Jews in Ukraine still remained a minority. Then came the idea of estabe lishing an autonomous Jewish state in which the Jews could live at parity with other national groups within the borders of the Soviet Union,

The territory of Birobidjan was chosen. The area is about 24,000 miles square. On the southern and southwestern side Birobidjan is separated from Manchukuo by the great Amur River. The Biro and the Bidjan Rivers form the boundaries on the west and the east. The northern boundaries are rather sketchy. » » »

IROBIDJAN'S climate is like that around Winnipeg, Can-

ada. ‘The winters are long ang

‘cold and the spring is short, More

than half of the territory is cov ered with timber, including cedar, The lant produces wheat, soy beans, rice. Near the forests bee keeping is a profitable industry. Huge deposits of iron and coal and metals are within the territory of the Birobidjan Jewish Republic. Jews from Ukraine, numbering 800 were the first settlers in Birobidjan in 1928. They found a primitive territory, primeval forests and little prospect of physical comforts of any kind. The town of Birobidjan itself was a group of two-storied log houses in a sea of mud and show. The largest part of the first pioneering group returned to Furopean Russia. Only a handful of the hardiest stayed. They oleared forests, built log houses, sowed wheat, soy beans and rice. Some went to work in the nearby iron and coal mines. ®.% » ROM the beginning the Soviet Government displayed an active interest in the project. At least 700,000,000 rubles were invested by the Government in the

Birobidjan territory since 1928, The Kremlin plans to make Birobidjan the third largest metallure gical base in the Soviet Union. Sirobidjan has an immense

pa pe

rmliands in Birobidjan

strategic value to Russia, Manchukuo, across the Amur is strongly fortified by the Japanese and in case of a Russian-Japanese clash in the Far East Birobidjan may be used as a springboard by either party, Jewish colonization in BirobidJan is supported largely by the American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan, better known as the Icor. In 1929 the Soviet Government proclaimed Birobidjan as autonomous Soviet republic for Jewish colonization with Hebrew as the official language. Three years ago the Soviets opened the doors to non-Russian Jews, particularly from Poland, al though some went from America, Germany, Palestine and Argentina. It costs a little more than $400 to take a family to Birobidjan from European Russia. » » » REAT changes have occurred in Birobidjan since 1928. During the first few vears after the territory was opened for colon ization only a fraction of those who went there remained. Lately, however, a larger per centage remains and only a few return. The population of the territory numbers 60,000, of whom

20,000 are Jews. Half of the Jews live in the town of Birobidjan, the rest on collective farms, There are at least 20 Jewish com munities in Birobidjan. The town itself was just a way station for the Trans-Siberian Express five years ago. Now it is an express stop and a flourishing eity with more than 20,000 population. It has two daily papers, two thee aters, a radio station, two hose pitals, a normal college for teachers, an agricultural experimental station and a mining college. There is an acute shortage of houses. Only the expert mechanies and some of the higher officials live in houses, the rest in barracks. The first ‘settlers lived in tents. The Jews who live on land do so either in purely Jewish collectives or in villages with a mixed population of Koreans, Mongols and Cossacks,

Birobidjan is rapidly becoming an important center of electric light as well as heavy war industry. There are factories making building materials, brickyards, cement kilns, sawmills and shops manufacturing furniture,

” » ” OME of the furniture made in Birobidjan is sold as far as Khabarovsk and there seems to be more demand than supply, When the new clothing factory is finished this year it will give employment to 2000, A shoe factory with a capacity of 2,000,000 pairs of shoes per year has been started and a knitting

mill employs nearly 1000 persons. The Soviet Government erected a

Sho Men bla nepoitn tne.

Upper Teft—<A Jewish worker in Birobidjan shown at the lime works at Londoko. Upper Right--Main wntreet of Birobidjan, capital of the Birobidjan Jewish Republic, Lower Right=A modern har. vesting machine on a Jewish co operative farm in Birobidjan, Map shows the location of the Jewish Republic in the Soviet Far East,

printing plant at a cost of more than a million rubles, Nine thousand Jews are employed by the state, Birobidjan has 100 primary and secondary schools, attended by 13,000 children, and 108 pre-school institutions such as nurseries and kindergartens. There are 16 libraries, eight motion picture theaters and 16 health stations on the entire ter= ritory, Only 3 per cent of the area is now under cultivation, although more than 15000 acres of hew land are being drained and plowed every year, As the territory develops, Biro bidjan will have the facilities to absorb more thousands of Jewish families from Russia and especially from Poland and Lithuania,

NEXTeJewish settlements Ukraine,

in

Times Special ASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-The first public “nomination” of John L. Lewis for President of the United States, made at the United Mine Workers’ recent convention here, has directed attention to a major political fight scheduled this year—the contest for Pennsylvania's governorship. If Mr, Lewis should achieve what he has described as his “personal ambition” that his labor-leader aid, Thomas Kennedy, be elected Gove ernor next November of the greatest industrial state in the Union, the result would be vital on whatever presidential aims Mr. Lewis may harbor, Y The Pennsylvania contest is the greatest political fight in which the Lewis forces have supported ‘‘their own men” to date. They were in a number of smaller ones last fall, with mixed results. The first hurdle that Mr. Lewis’ Pennsylvania candidate must jump is the contest for indorsement by the State Democratic organization, headed by Senator Guffey and State Chairman David L. Lawrence. Long

Lewis’ Political Aims Face Test in Pennsylvania

| conferences have heen held here on

that subject. It is apparent that the organization leaders have been trying to convince Mr. Kennedy that a “straight labor candidate” can't win, The Kennedy candidacy 1s one reason why Senator Guffey may be the organization candidate for Governor. The decision on that score will be made at a state committee meeting in Harrisburg about Feb. 24, If Senator Guffey takes the accolade, or sees that it is given to one of the three or four other organization Democrats who are anxious to succeed Governor Earle, the question then will be the course of the Lewis forces in directing the disposal of the large C. 1. O, voting strength in Pennsylvania, Will they have received such assurances from the organization that they will support the slated candidate? Or will they swing back of the Republican candidate, who may be ex-Covernor Gifford Pinchot, a man experienced in flirtation with the labor vote? The third possibility, a third-party ticket, is believed remote.

Side Glances—By Clark

A WOMAN'S VIEW By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

DUCATING women to buy within their incomes fis the newest objective of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, humbering approximately three million members, Fathers of apis ought to greet the news with joy, since they have to put up the cash eventually for goods obtained on credit. I'd feel more cheerful about the scheme, however, if 1 politicians would follow our example. On the whole it seems to me that housewives generally live within their incomes. But what about the men? While we are buying sanely in order to put over the drive for patriotic and economic stability, they're throwing money away with both hands on wild-eyed political schemes and for war machinery, which they tell us they do not intend to use. If the average housewife followed the same tactics, laying in a huge supply of unnecessary articles, she would be slapped into the insane ward. For advocating the same plan, politicians have been known to go to the Cabinet, The United States has adopted a definite polfcy of outdoing the Joneses in the matter of armaments and we seem to be dedicated to the plan of liv ing magnificently and permanently beyond our means. What the women will save by a thrift program the men will toss off on one order of

Doesn't it remind vou of the oldfashioned setup when Mama took

in washing while Papa played the horses or shot oraps behind the liv-

knew the

funkier

"it's all right, Aunt

4

{ ¥ Gish

Jasper—By Frank Owen

Cope. TH Wy United Feature Sendicate, Tht, 4 wy

Gussie—Jasper will swap your parrot a box of crackers for his fingerl” i

4 Be

Second Section

PAGE 9

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

Artist Wilberg, Who Painted the Atrium Room Murals, Later Became Norway's Chief of Art Instruction,

DON'T want vou to think that it took Henry Behrens a whole afternoon to tell me what 1 told you yesterday, There's a lot more to it. For tnstance, Mr. Behrens told me that

Theodore Wilberg, a Norwegian, painted the pretty murals over ih the Olaypool's Atrium Oafe, Everybody calls them Pompelian murals, but properly speaking, they are Herculaneum murals, says Mp,

Behrens. As a matter of fact, the Atrium started out as the HerecuIaneum Room, and if you don't belfeve it take a look at the lettering on the Claypool's Illinois St, mar quise, The reason for ealling it the Herculaneum was because the Congress Hotel in Chicago had a Pompelian Room, and too much of a good thing is just too bad for the hotel business, says Mr. Behrens, Anyway, two Pompeiian Rooms inside of 200 miles was a Jittle thick, and so Mr. Behrens and Mr, Wilberg and the Olaypool people did the next best thing and named their room after the town which Suffered Wilebus as much as Pompeii did on Aug. 24, + D, T18, when Mount Vesuvit e oUt heh Mo 15 let loose. I thought Theodore Wilberg was a genius, says Mr. Behrens and could desigh anything he put his mind to. As a matter of fact, besides painting the murals le also desighed the exquisite light standard and the original furniture in the place, The murals are especially hoteworthy, says Mr. Behrens, because they were ll he Pajette” which in less technical lan. > means that they aren’ ) most modern a t stencil work, the way ter finishing the Atrium in Thdianapo Wilberg went to Cleveland to help decorate i, hoga County Court House. It was another Behrens Job ($00,000). After that, Mr. Wilberg worked oh seve eral other big projects, and then suddenly one day sometime around 1915, he packed up and went back to Norway, Next thing Mr. Behrens heard was that the King of Norway had appointed Mr. Wilberg Chief of Art Thstruction—of the whole country, mind you.

First Assistant Came Over

It was on the Cuyahoga Court House too Behrens ran across Frank Brangwyn--in , Wt Rit. way, to be sure. Seems that Mr, Brangwyn, the greatest of Bnglish mural painters, had received the commission ($30,000) to paint the mural, "King John Bighing the Magna Oharta,” and to get, things going he sent over Ernest Saunders, his first assistant, Mr. Saunders brought with him Mr, Brangwyn's prelimi nary sketch for the project, and Mr. Behrens still rew members that he had to raise a $2000 bond to get the customs officials to release the sketch. : Mr, Saunders’ business over here wax to get the exact measurement of the space to receive the miiral and to get the Court House people to approve his masse ter's sketch. Me did both in a surprisingly short time says Mr, Behrens, At that, he stayed long enough to lose his taste for tea, He substituted American cocktails instead, Mr, Behrens says that a couple of years ago he rah across Mr. Brangwyn's sketch again, This time it was part of an exhibit showing examplex of Brangwyn's art, Tt was priced at exactly $20,000. Mr. Behrens says he could kick himself that he didn't wangle Mr, Saunders into giving it to him.

Jane Jordan—

Girl Told Not to Blame All Mer Troubles on Handicapped Brother.

EAR JANE JORDAN--I have a deformed brother and it is because of this that I have ho friends to speak of. T have met several boys whom 1 like a lot and they seem to like me too until they see my brother, They come once to my home and that is the last I ever see of them, I've tried to talk my mother into sending him away, but she won't even think of it. As for my brother, he can’t remember what you tell him one minute afterward. I've tried to get a fob. but mother doesn’t want me to work, I thought 1 could meet some friends that way since she won't ssnd my brother away. Haven't I the right to get a job? 1 know I would enjoy my life much more. I'm old enough, a little past 17, and I never got to go through high school. 1 think I ought to be getting some enjoyment out, of life, Isn't there some way out of this awful lonely, miserable life 1 am leading? It's not only me but my other brothers and sisters who are suffering from this cause as much as I do. T've read where you have helped others solve their problems. 1 do hope Ra oh suggest a way in which I might have a hap» er life,

Mr. Scherrer

» " ”

Answer-Even if you didn’t have a handicapped brother you ought to go either to school or to work. A girl of your age should be preparing to stand on her own feet, If she can’t afford an education then actual experience is the next best thing. It is too bad that you had to quit school. If you can finish you should do so, even if you have to attend night classes. Almost any girl of 17 would be unhappy if idle. An interesting occupation of some sort is essential for a useful, contented life. Very few girls are satisfied to stay around the house all day with nothing to do ex« cept help with the housework. 1 ‘do not know why your mother objects to your working unless she thinks you are too young and is loathe to do without your help. Neither do I know how you ean persuade her to let you find a job, If your older brothers and sisters are employed and in sympathy with vour wish for a job, they might be able to influence your mother, Is your father on your side? No doubt vour brother would be better off in an: institution devoted to the training of the subnormal and the handicapped. 1 can’t say for sure because 1 do not know what his trouble is. However, your mother cannot be forced to part with him if the fdea causes her pain. She should consider her other children who are embarrassed by his condition enough to keep him oul of view when they have guests. It fs not unusual for a mother to sacrifice the strong children in the family to the weak. She expects her normal children to share her feeling for the one who needs protection the most, but that’s not the way life is. Be careful not to blame everythitig that happens to you on your brother. It would be easy to shift the responsibility for personal failures on to your home situation. You will have to find the courage to sues ceed in spite of your handicaps and I believe that » job 1s the best solution for your problem. Don't fore get that everybody has something to overcome and each thinks that his problem is the hardest. JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in this column dally,

Walter O'Keefe—

OLLYWOOD, Feb. 0.--Adolf Hitler took a couple of hours off the other day and revised the Ger. man “Who's Who.” A bunch of generals were thrown out of the book, and you can probably look them up in a concentration camp. Rumor says there's a plan afoot to restore Kaiser Bill Hohenzollern to the throne, but that’s ridiculous on the face of it. Bill's too old now to be giving that Nazi salute, It sounds very much as if it’s a plot to help Gen, Goering, Hitler's stand-in, to get a hold on the Kaiser's