Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 March 1938 — Page 9

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From Indiana =Ernie Pyle

An. Austrian Aristocrat With an |.

~ Idea Has Made a Place for Himself And His Crack ‘Army’ in Hollywood.

He LLYWOOD, March 14.—There is a lit-

tle standing army in Hollywood which .

came into existence simply because a former Austr an Army officer didn’t know any way inthe world to make a living except by train-

ing mn in military discipline. The jittle army consists of 46 highly trained “soldiers.” ; They work as extras in the movies. They can cha ee the: gues af at Buclinghute Palace without s rehearsal. They know : a. a was held in the Napoleonic period. They can ride - horses in mailed coating. They can run machine guns They can bow gracefully ‘and take off a glove in the polished fashion of the old Russian court. And they can do all this because Richard von Opel was born with a silver spoon in his mncuth but lost the spoon in the middle } of his career. Richard von Opel was born an ile Austrian aristocrat. His family had money, and the careers cf its men rations were the careers of the Austrian

imericanized now—legally, and in speech, sught. He believes in democracy. Yet his whole lif: training had unfitted ‘him for making a living in © democracy. He carp to Hollywood in 1932. Out here he saw a picture made in which 10 people were badly hurt and 35 ho: ses killed because the extras weren't trained to do what they had to do. It gave him an idea. “If they were trained as regular soldiers they could do tiese things without being hurt,” he thought. He decide; to form an army—the only thing in the world he ically knew how to do. So von (pel started going around Los Angeles, picking up his future soldiers. He got them out of gas stations, department stores, soda fcuntains. And then they started training. he boys kept their jobs for sustenance, and did their drilling at night. Thiy bought old rifles and sa rs, hired a hall and a smzll drill ground. For six; months these young men afilled without a cent of pai. Von Opel himself taught them military drills, fen:ing and some dramatics. They hired trainers to give them gymnastics, tumbling and such Hons, They rented horses, and learned difficult . A

They Di for Any Flag

Finally they were ready for action. They named themselves the von Opel Cinema Troupe. They have been in ex stence two years, and have worked in 24 pictures. They wil fight and die for any flag the director .puts above them. No patriotic fervor burns in their breasts. "hey fight for money, and parade for ‘money. They won't accept a request to appear at public ceremonies without pay. : They're Napoleonic court dandies today. They're - Civil War heroes next week. They're Royal Scottish Highlz anders in kilts. They're palace guards at the Czar’s ome. Right now they are working in “Marie Antoinette,” as redcoated troops of Napoleon. The day before this was written they had to go through a scene where rioters overpowered the guards and broke into the palace. ~~ Von Opel’s mercenaries let 2000 people rush and -tramp madly over them, step on their stomachs, . stumble on them, kick them—and not a one of them was hurt. "That's what training did for them. Von Opel says no a man has been hurt since they started.

My Diary -By Mrs. Cleanor Roosevelt Firs: Lady Enjoys Mexican Program Staced by El Paso Altrusa Club.

OENIX, Ariz, Sunday—The Altrusa Club, under whose auspices I spoke in El Paso, gave me a little glimpse nto old Mexico, even though I did not have time to zo over the border. They showed me a number of ve y beautiful native costumes from different counties in Mexico, two couples danced delightfully ané¢ one woman, who teaches music in a “private school. sang a Mexican song very beautifully. At the same ‘ime, a tipica orchestra played and I have rarely er ioyed anything more. 2 In the afternoon, we visited Ft. Bliss and saw many buildings which were made possible by WPA. I also was shown the process for making adobe bricks. The Government hospital for veterans also has many improvements on which WPA has worked. At the School of Mines, the depression has really been a ~ blessing in disguise, for only through WPA work could

He is and in tk

they have acquired some very badly needed improve-..

ments. In all these places they have murals done by WPA artists. After the lecture we boarded the night train for Phoenix, Ariz. T woke this morning and saw a heavy shower in the desert. The transition from the desert, with its high czctus plants sticking up like magnified fingers, to green fields and irrigation ditches is quite sudden. We found ourselves looking at winter wheat, old cotton fields and orange groves before we knew it.

Streets Lined With Palms

Some of the streets in Phoenix, lined with tall palms or a double row of olive trees and mountain ash, are very lovely. You would expect the mountains, which have no vegetation, to appear gaunt and pare, instead of that, the shadows and peculiar-for-mation of the rocks made them most interesting and beautiful. In Phoenix we lunched at a WPA practice house where they are fraining some 52 girls in household arts. Later, we visited one of the little houses which the National Youth Administration has built for tubercular patients in the poorest parts of the town. This house was occupied by a young tubercular father and was located within a stone’s throw of the house occupied by his family, so that he can be cared for without infecting them. Because so many poor tubercular people come to this part of the country, the problem all over ‘he state is very serious. This particular NYA project tries to keep the children from

developing tuberculosis.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents— ROM the pen of MARI SANDOZ has come a Fou powerful novel of the Nebraska cattle country. In the latter part of the last century, when land was

land meart power, SLOGUM HOUSE (Little)

‘the stronghold of a family of prairle pirates and Gulla Slogum,

“center of a ruthless pioneer life. ver rat’s daughter, scorned “by her husband's in Ohio and craving power to even her score 1 them, controll=d her sons and daughters with an lievably cruel hand and directed them in actions violated ever law and every canon of decency. ‘ "Phis is a brutal book, written in the language of the frontier. It sweeps from the thievery and treach‘ery of the Nineties ‘0 the depression of today, encom‘passing drought and mortgage foreclosures, suicides, ‘murders and. trials that were travesties of justice. The author writes with a power as strong as a tornado

- and 8s devastaing. » 2 ”

-of this generation a book about “Woman,” plage in the scheme of things, and her £5 quaint as bustles MORAL HISTORY O

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‘and art.” \ information con-

{ Second Section

Tennessee Feud, New Lilienthal Is Most Popular of Tr vA Din cic »

(Second Article)

By John T. Moutoux

Times Special Writer

ASHINGTON, March 14.—Amorng the pooh of the Tennessee Valley the most popular of! TVA’s three directors is 88-year-old David E. Lilienthal. | :

Among them the name electric power. mission on the TVA board.

Lilienthal stands for cheap

To bring them such power has been his

Until last year’s reorganization of the Tennessee Valley Adthority Mr. Lilienthal was referred to as “power director,” because power was his special field in the TVA program. Now, as negotiator for the Authority in conferences with utility executives, he is again acting” in 3 that

capacity. Officials of mukicipalities ; ~in the Tennessee Valley seeking their own distribution systems are relieved that Mr. Lilienthal is once more handling the negotiations for acquiring private utility properties. was at first, with the result that many towns in the valley quickly got TVA power. But power-com-pany suits stopped that, and city officials suddenly found themselves without the help of TVA’s power expert. The eventual dismissal of the 18-power company suits put TVA back .into the picture, and today Mr. Lilienthal is negotiating with heads of Commonwealth & Southern and Elec-

- tric Bond & Share in an effort

to acquire all their properties in the TVA area.

# 2 2

O while charges fly thick and fast in Washington and a fight rages over demands for an investigation of TVA, down in the Tennessee Valley almost every new day finds more towns signing up for TVA power. The only ones down there who are enjoying the Battle of \Washington are the opponents Fy TVA's power program.

and even more than Dr. Harcourt Morgan, Mr. Lilienthal is “a sociable animal” He appreciates the value of a smile and he knows how to laugh. He's easy to talk to—once you get beyond his secretary. Mr. Lilienthal, a nitive of Illinois, took his undergraduate work at DePauw University. After that he went to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1923. Then he went to Chicago and became an associate -in Donald Richberg’s law firm. Three years later he withdrew and went on his own. When still in his late 20s he locked horns in a major lawsuit with the utilities. He was associate courisel for the City of Chicago in a successful suit to force lower telephone rates. Governor Philip La Follette heard of him and offered him a seat on the Wisconsin Railroad - Commission; he accepted. 2 o 2 E was on the Wisconsin commission only two years but he made a name for himself in that time. He made the commission a rate-regulating body in fact as well as in theory. The

state utility law was reframed to make it more effective, with the *

result that electric rates were lowered and the Wisconsin Bell

That's how it

Telephone Co. was ordered to reduce its rates. When TVA was created, Presi-

dent Roosevelt looked the coun- -

try over for a board member who would be the expert on power, and Mr. Lilienthal got the call. He wasted no time. A few weeks after organization of the board, a schedule of wholesale and retail rates for. TVA power was announced. , Chairman Morgan has complained . since that he was not consulted about the rates. The rates have been attacked by private power companies as too low, yet when the

Tennessee Electric Power Co.

sought permission from the Tennessee Utilities Commission to build an auxiliary steam plant at Nashville it testified that it could

produce power by steam for less

than TVA mies, # 2 R. H. A. hie made the fewest speeches of any of the TVA directors... And all the speeches he has made have been on one subject: soil conservation. Phosphate is a plant food that is essential for human life. The TVA agriculture department, headed by Dr. H. A. Morgan, \_revplutionized the processes for

the manufacture of phosphatic -

fertilizer. By using the processes _irivented by TVA, the great phosphate beds of the West may now be developed. While this is one of TVA’s outstanding achievements, it is one of the least known—all because Dr. H. A. Morgan is so shy. > ® 2 =

O one was more surprised than Dr. H. A. Morgan's - friends to see that conservative agriculturist team up with the young = economic liberal, Mr. Lilienthal, on the TVA board of directors. In faet, about the first the public knew that Dr. H. A. had “gone liberal” was when he used the phrase “ragged individualist.” That was after he was on the TVA board but before the split among the directors had become known. Some explain that Dr. H. A. wasn’t in a position to shew his liberal leaning when he \was president of a state university (Tennessee) and had to depind on the always conservative Te islature for appropriatioas. Others contend sina £8 soon saw that Chair A. \E.

\ Morgan always wanted thing

\ own way, and that the only to have some of his own ide adopted was to line up with Mr. Lilienthal. 2 o 2 HATEVER got then to‘gether, the Lilienthal-H. A. ~ Morgan combination has clicked

Sees New Driver Tests

By Science Service OUTHBRIDGE, Mass, March 14. Legislation of the future will demand that automobile drivers be required to pass steroscopic vision tests, Dr. head of the Bureau of Visual Science, American’ Optical Co. pre-

dicted as he placed the blame for|

many accidents upon visual errors of this type. The aviation imdustiy has already recognized the vital importance of stereoscopic vision or depth perception, and refuses to accept a pilot candidate with this fault, he sald.

Side Glances—By

Julius . FP. Neumueller,]

| A person handicapped in this

fashion cannot distinguish objects in their proper relationship—wheth-

back—and yet usually lacks in part or’ whole a realization of his condition. “When such a person is driving an automobile,” Dr. Neumueller said, “he is.a constant and potential threat not only to his own safety, but to others on the road as well.

able accuracy the distance between his car and the one ahead.”

Clark

er one is in front of another or in

He is unable to gauge with reason- |

PEL

fon

“What's Going on Down. There?”

1

with a regularity: that has left Chairman A. E. on the short -end - of almost every proposition for -

some time now.

Mr. Lilienthal was a- , newcomer to the South and to the Tennes-

see Valley, but Dr. H. A. had been |: known and esteemed: Shrougtiout iE Until

the section for years. Chairman Morgan issued his

statement ‘the. other day, -the:

worst that had:.ever been said about Dr. H. A, was: that he was born in Canads. That charge was’ raised against him when President Roosevelt sppoinied him to the TVA board. Chairman . Morgan ‘mentioned the purchase of some TVA phos-

phate lands by Dr. H.-A. Morgan, -

intimating there might havebeen something wrong.

honest. His work in TVA has been notable. .

him soil conservation amounts to a religion, and soil erosion and depletion are the deadliest of sins.

® 2 ®

OBABLY nowhere in the"

country had the land been 50 badly abused as in much: of" the

® Tennessee Valley. For years Dr.

H. A. Morgan had dreamed of a, chance to do something about it, and TVA gave him his opportunity.

The program he worked: out

and put into effect was so sound that when the Supreme Court

. knocked out AAA‘ the Adminis-

tration -already had a pattern for its Soil Conservation Act.. TVA fertilizer program, already

being carried out with splendid

results, was that pattern. About the only difference was that TVA

"gave triple superphosphate fer-

tilizer, instead of the cash bounty provided by the successor to AAA,

as compensation for soil-building. :

Dr. H. A. Morgan is. 70, and his health has been irregular for several years. His only ambition is to be let alone long: Snoligh: to

No one who. . really knows -Dr. H. A. believes . that he could do anything dis-

It has been concerned. .| largely with the agricultural end of the Authority’s program. To .

‘The .

v will.” - Se

David ‘E. Lilienthal

_ finish his job. ‘He is ‘the ‘shyest

member on the TVA Rosi, sid perhaps the only one who really

bates publicity for himself or 1

even: Be. ‘work . : ‘. ® im OR. the frst couple of’. years

Mr. Lilienthal preached, Shep power “all over the. valley. -

orn Srl

The power com -Suifs’. have Joong ; speeches. t' the young: TVA director . po ‘his: edlige. Brew. in popularity. :

Then, all ofa s suid; cane: the

news, from Washington that . Chairman Morgan: 2d an : ' ultimatum. .on - the dex: “Either Lilienthal must go, or 1 nate progressives headed By Coorge Tails ont ty kat Tor « Lilienthal, and. the. reappetsiment.

| wasmale, T-

Jasper—By. Frank Owen

him stalemated for. a time, but

iy Rm "how ' carefully N ‘the ‘mothers of my ‘generation 2 protected from too much “attention—and, al

{the inferiority complexes which .| were said to result—I. wonder. some-

taal [Garland ‘and what ‘kind “of eomil plexes hex 2 going to have:

I | according + wa | oe Pan ah eer: “Just think, { [Lardy a ver ago J Judy: said to me: |.

P Judy le a and to have, : crowds. in the streets. trying: to see| avoid—a runaway marriage. If you two are allowed

! under the sun. Little folks of other F were 8 “to kno

Senator Norris, the. “father of TY va” «It: was about : that * time © Mr. Lilienthal started to :extedd himself beyond the field of electricity. In his speeches he brought out all‘ the main phases of the TVA program. And he usually .had a good word ‘for the other Morgan .on the board--Harcourt Morgan, who stood with him in

‘his power ‘fight. : The : power-company. suit - Had

now he. is free again and he ap‘pears to be going to town with “his ‘goal of cheap power for every home: 1n the - Tenflentes Yaliey..

A WOMAN'S VIEW. By Mrs. Walter. Ferguson sort

‘their | ‘growing ‘children

times. ‘about. little girls. like. Judy |

” said Judy’s mama,

r Monahan of

>be famous, to turn and ‘say there oe

me.” “There's ‘something new for you

Class 3 Ind. °

PAGE 9

[atter

EGUT i is observing Lent—in 8d form, at any rate.. I wouldn't have mentioned it except for the fact that it gives me a che day falls on AprN 17 this year. Mr. Vonnegut still has 30\ days to go plus four Sundays. Maybe you, don’t know that Sundays aren’t counted in the 40 days of Lent. In that case let Mr. Vonnegut tell you that Lent this year eme

braces not only 40 days but five Sundays to boot. Maybe there are a lot of things: youJdon’t know about Lent. To hear Mr. Vonnegut tell about it, there was a time when Lent was a period of but 40 hours. It was as easy as that, he says. Later it comprised 36 days ef fasting, omitting all the Sundays and\also all the Saturdays except one. As a matter of fact, it stayed: like that until Pope Gregory added Ash Wednesday together with the remainder of that week. Pope Gregory had his way because ever since his time Lent is that great period of fasting in the Christian Church ¢and in Mr. Vonnegut’s life, ' too) beginning on Ash Wednesday which comes 40 days previous fo Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays, Mr. Vonnegut begs you to remember). That doesn’t get you anywhere though, because to. find the date of Ash Wednesday you first have to get the date of Easter Sunday. I didn’t know anything could be so complicated until Mr. Vonne« qut took time off the other day to explain it to me, Well, whether you know it or not, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday following the Pashal Full Moon which happens upon or next after the 21st of March, ‘Mr. Vonnegut has a pretty theory that the Paschal Full Moon gets into it because the pilgrims needed moonlight to travel on their way to the great yearly Easter festivities. Curiously enough, Mr. Vonnegut’s theory coincides with that ‘of the World Almanac (Edition 53). : . . Mr. Vonnegut also agrees with the World Almanae that the Paschal Full Moon is the 14th day of a lunar month reckoned according to an ancient ecclesiastical computation and not a real or astrono= mical full moon. For this reason, Easter can turn up any time between March 22 and April 25. This year it got an awful late start, says Mr. Vonnegut.

World Almanac Will Help

Well, that still leaves us to figure the date of the particular Paschal Full Moon we're after. To get it, you have to use a system of Golden Numbers (Page 114, World Almanac), and to work it you have to bear in mind that the Golden Number used is greater by unity than the remainder obtained by dividing the given year by 19. For example, the Golden Number for the year 1938 is 1. The date of the Paschal Full

Mr. Scherrer

Moon for the Golden Number 1 is April 14, and if

you've followed Mr: Vonnegut thus far, you can figure for yourself that the first Sunday after April 14 of this year is April 17. Gosh, I hope that’s clear bes cause I'm not going to explain it again. : Mr. Vonnegut says you don’t have to have any doubt about it, because you can believe everything. in the World Almanac except, maybe, the little slipup on page 947 of this year’s edition. Believe it or not, the World Almanac people still think John W, Xen is Mayor of Indianapolis. FD

\

Jane Jordan—

Don't Take Objections of Girl's Mother Toe Sod Suitor Told.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a young man 21 years

old. I have been going with a girl 18 years old whom I love very much. We have been writing letters to each other. Recently her mother read a letter I ‘had written her. In these letters I asked her to marry me. We have talked it over and have decided to wait for ‘about four years before we marry. Her mother thinks that we will run away and get married. She doesn’t want her daughter to do this because she is so young. Her mother found out about some trouble I got into about four years ago. She is holding that over my head and thinks I am not a fit person for her daughter to go with. This girl doesn’t think that way because she knows that what I did is over with. I am going to the hospital very soon for a serious

operation and the girl’s mother says she can go with me until then. After that she says we cannot see each other again. Please tell me what to do as this is me very much and that is just what the doctor doesn’t want me to do. HEARTSICK. Cw # =» : ; Answer—This mother forfeits sympathy in the bee ginning by reading her daughter's love letters. It simply is unforgiveable. A girl of 18 is no longer a "child and is entitled to privacy in her personal affairs. However, it is done and there is nothing for you to do but face the issue. For the present, do nothing. ‘You have the ° mother’s permission to see the girl until you go to the hospital; so you have no immediate problem. Why cross your bridges until you get there? Your first job is to go through your operation successfully and get ‘well. When you have done this you will be ready to face your problem and you will feel more adequate to it than you do right now. By that time the situation may have changed. The girl's mother a more accustomed to the idea of her daughter’s gement. Words spoken in wrath may be retracted.” You never.can > But if she is

adamant, you’l Siply | have to wear down her objections by an a e as determined as hers. After all the girl is 18 and legally she is her own boss. If she is through school and doesn’t have a job, she should get one in order to establish her independ“ence more firmly. Your plan to wait several years is reascnable and wise and should be respected by any parent. Point out to this mother that she is ny her utmost to bring about what she most wishes to -

to see each other, you will wait. Don’t take the mother’s prohibition so seriously. After all, when. you're well and strong again, and both of you are earning ‘money, what can she do to keep you apart? JANE JORDAN. .

: uk youk-probitms inn SIRE 40 dame ‘Fordan, whe wit > Smayer your questions in: this column daily.

a Walter O Kocloon |

8 Na: YORK,

March 14.—Congress is going to quit a he