Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 March 1938 — Page 9

"Vagabon

From Indiana —Ernie Pyle

‘Ernie Assures You That Summertime

Won't Catch’ Him in Death Valley; Even Now Water in the ‘Car Boils.

EATH VALLEY,.Cal.,, March 26.—Cali- I

fornia’s recent floods extended clear back into the barren, wastes of the Mojave Desert. And it was the circumstance of the floods which plumped us into one of the most spectacular panoramas that I have ever

looked upon. . I refer to the dedient iio Death Valley from - the south end. We didn’t make this approach through

superior wisdom.’ It was simply that the main paved highways were washed out, and. it was a case of come in through the Cave Springs dirt road or not at all. You're on the rim of Death Valley at Cave Springs. From there you drop 3600 feet in a twisty, Ty 15-mile drive onto the floor of the Valley. One thing I wanted to find out about Death Valley ‘was whether it is actually a place that is limited, circumscribed, measurable—or whether it just. spraddles all over everywhere without any real sides. . Mr. Pyle I figured you couldn't really stand and see Death Valley. Well, you can. It is limited. It is definite. It is like an immense slash in the earth. It has a floor, and high sides. It is 130 miles long, and ranges from 6 to 14 miles wide. There is nothing consistent about the Valley. floor. I have driven the whole 130 miles, and there is hardly - 2 five-mile stretch that is the same.

‘Some places it is sand. Some places. very gravelly, . with good-sized rocks. Some places actually swampy: Black; like. old ig Some places snow-white—salt beds, the same as -

.-and marshy. Some places hard and

1 Utah. In some places. there is no vegetation whatever. .Eut most of the Valley has a thin scattering of low

. sarubs—greasewood, bunch grass, small mesquite, ‘and : i _ | €ven some flowers.

“That famous “lowest point in the U. S.” is not fi # we center -of the valley; but clear over to one side. 17s only a few feet from the road, and you could go

stand in it if you wanted to wade in the salt marsh.

1 just looked at the sign and let it go at that. “It’s 280 feet below sea level. If you built a 20-story s building there ifs spire would still be lower than. a . rowboat on San Francisco Ba$.

Temperature Goes to 134

You've all heard of Death Valley's terrific summer ‘heat; -Well, from what I've been able to pick up, everything is true—and. then some. It has been : officially recorded as high -as 134 in the shade—and . there is no shade, except artificial shade. . I would be afraid to drive down into Death Valley in summer. Every summer, even in this modern day, somebody is lost. | Even if you stay on the road—well, pulling up the : gradual rise toward the north end, our radiator boiled, _ right here at the end of winter. And our car is one which runs unusually cool. What would it do’ in summer?

And. suppose you broke down? You can walk 10°

cr 15 miles in Death Valley in winter. But in sumrer you and I would die in- less than 10 miles, even if we had plenty of water. ' That's the thing. that frightens me. You die even if you have water. They say that often you can't see 100 yards for the heat waves. Walking far is fatal. Changing a tire is dangerous. Just lifting a jug is exertion. Youll “never cakch me in Death Valley in summer.

My Diary

By Mrs: Eleanor: Roosevelt

Patients. in " Orthopedic Hospital Show Imagination in Their Work. QEATTLE, Friday—I have seen so many interest

ing things in: the past few days that it is diffi

<ult to find space to tell you about them.

pital yesterday. It is gther unique because it is managed entirely -by a lares group of Seattle women. On the top floor ther an occupational therapy room supervised by-an ¢ . onally good teacher. The work which the children in this hospital have ‘accomplished shows that she has real|imagination. ‘I would be willing to put the goods: these patients have made on sale anywhere. A modern village, a series of tiny animals, even a toy rocking horse, seemed ta have individuality. you do not encounter i the ordinary toy store. In one of the wards} a little girl recovering from infantile paralysis presented me with an old-fashioned bouquet made e lady who is in charge of the sale they have every . surrounding the hospital. The children. love these gardens and look forward to the day when: they will be allowed to go out and/ enjoy them. “Today, we stopped for a minute at the Swedish hospital to shake hands with a Boy Scout who is recovering from a broken hip he suffered after a case of infantile paralysis. | \ i

Building Recreation Center

This morning, my daughter and I spent two hours visiting WPA and NYA (projects. One WPA project stands out in my mind as especially valuable to the

youth of the community, A recreation center is be-

ing developed which will include a golf course, baseball field, swimming J podls and a camp site for the ts.

Public Library Presents— “HE African jungle

eld no terrors ‘for Margaret e had made two expeditions with her husband, upon one of which she had the temerity to take her two small children. Upon her return to America from the second expedition, Mrs. Hubbard found he of earning a living for her children. She first tried the’ barnstorminglect s method, which, she ‘says, turned out to but most unprofitable. Con‘sequently, she or to chance another African visit for the purpose of photographing native life and jungle animals.

AFRICAN GAMBLE (Putnam) is the result of this -

momentous decision. Accompanied by an old friend,

Dr. Mabel Ingalls, and a cameraman, she invggded

Barotseland, where the trio succeeded in estab friendly relati with natives all along thejr route. They returned triumph with a picture which “would have to stand or fall on ifs merits as a merry tale of life among the Barotse.” The reader cannot refrain from admiring the pluck of Mrs. Hubbard,

who “put her trust in God, the other fellow and the

future”—and he must surely close the book “with the Jesvens hope that the author's gamble may. turn out be a SuScesstul one. : 2 ; ® s » NOTHER puzzle to -challenge the ingenuity of that gut old sleuth of Scotland Yard, Sir Henry Merrivale, is found in THE JUDAS WINDOW, by John Dickson Carr Only one familiar with prisons and | discovered the cleverly concealed Ju

1s would have s window in the

otherwise. “sealed” room, where the murder was com-.

mitted. The story, told for the most part in the form of a trial, is unusually successful in" ‘holding the reader's attention. Though proof, circumstantial evi-

dence, and even the prens rig own confession points guilt, Sir Henry believes that he is innocent, 1 reasoning and finding. of tf evidence un- .

ear for the benefit of the gardens’

(Carter Dickson, pseud) (Morrow).

self faced with the problem |.

. epg Article No. 4

On Unemployment: Relief

(When by executive order of May: 8, 1035; the Pregidoitt’ liunched the vast Works Program with the present WPA as its key agency,

not less than 40 Federal agencies participated. in it. These, wi alphabetical names lending the New Deal a ° distin

th their char-

guishing': acteristic, had been hastily organized to combat the emergency. in 1933. The Administration's Bi had been the President's ‘19

to Congress on ‘March 21,

calling for three ‘attacks upon: the ge.

lem—the Civilian Conservation Corps for idle young men, the Public

Works Administration: for large-scale projects - to

jobs, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration for aiding state and local authorities in general direct relief. "The ‘CCC is the subject of the next installment of the: President's commentaries to his “Public Papers.” In today’s article ‘the beginnings of the FERA and its development through various stages ‘into the present WPA are marrated in President .Roosevelt’s own Words taken from his five volumes, and" never’ before: published.) -

IN 1933, direct relief work was: immediately necessary. to !

feed and clothe millions of our destitute and unemployed citizens whose resources and means of ‘livelihood had. completely vanished: during. the years of depression. go When I first ‘took office, there existed little of: impor- _ tance either in the way of precederit or in factual ‘knowl- * edge to guide us in the formulation of" an sdequste Holicy f

‘of unemployment relief.

Indeed, although the depression had continued for. -

more than’ three years’ and ‘the numberof: unemployed had gradually risen to more than 15,000,000 employable persons; the very idea of Federal aid to the needy. had been stubbornly resisted by the then Federal Administration until the passage of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act approved July 21, 1932.

Even then the measure of responsibility assumed by the Fed~ ‘eral Government was slight. That statute, disregarding the then desperate financial condition of many states and cities, still assumed unemployment relief to be a matter of exclusively local responsibility. It proposed to ‘lend money, through the "Reconstruction. Finance Corp. at 3 per cent inter- : est ‘to the respective states, up to a total of 300 million dollars. These -loans were to be repaid to the RFC by deduction from future Federal highway grants to the borrowing states. As an al‘ternative, loans could ‘be made directly to cities and counties to aid in financing projects: which were “self-liquidating in ‘character. ». :

+4 \-. .Later experience has shown that “ @ proper recovery and. relief policy , . “should avoid: great reliance upon

self-liquidating. project s and schemes, because these add little

‘and do not create large-scale purchasing power. We now know that adequate care of the millions re-

4 ..quiring public assistance neces‘Among. other things I visited the orthopedic hos-

sitated a system of outright Federal . ‘aid, consisting of grants rather than loans. The problem of unemployment was a national one—beyond the resources of states and -mtunicipalities, already overburdened by decreasing tax receipts and increasing indebtedness. Private philanthropy was wholly inadequate to supplement local public relief ef-, forts. In accordance with my message, the Congress passed the Federal

Emergency Relief Act, $Pprgied ‘

by me May 12, 1933. New Relief Policy :

The statute was expressive of the new Government attitude. First, it recognized that relief was a social problem t6 be administered by a social agency rather than by the Reconstruction Finance ‘Corp., which, was purely a financial agency.

Second, it provided for outright

grants to dates instead of the

| prior system of making loans to’

states repayable out of future highway grants. Third, it definitely recognized that relief was not the complete responsibility of the: 'stales and “their local political subdivisions, and that the Federal Government had its share of responsibility where local and state resources. proved inadequate.

When, as Governor of New York,

I:set up a’ TRAY Emergeney |

‘Relief Administration in 1931; to

administer state appropriations. of

~ money for direct aid to’ the lo- © calities, I appointed Harry L. Hop-

kins as its head. When ‘this new national agency was set up in 1933, Administrator.

.I appointed him

The: ‘task : he faced ' was - stupendous. Little © was : known at Washington : about the efficiency of the local, relief ‘organizations There were no such: organizations in some states and in ‘many counies. Action had to be. immediate. It was immediate. The day after he took office, on May 22, 1933, he telegraphed his first’ communication to the Governors of the respective = states; and before nightfall he had made. grants of money to: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, and Texas. From the very beginning twa important points of policy were. evident: (1) The operations of

‘the program, aside from certain

basic standards and stipulations, were to be decentralized and local

in character, and (2) work, rather ~

than idleness on a dole, was preferred. Again and again 1 found it necessary to repeat the principle that

when the. locality has done all it . can, the obligation is on the state "to try to complete the unfinished

job,"and that only after the stdte and the localities have done their; utmost should Federal funds, be, provided. ° :

The FERA in’ Washington wasconcerned primarily with -the : granting of funds: to the Governors of states. After the grant was made, the funds became the property of the state, and were thus beyond. direct administrative control of the FERA. Virtually all the $4,114,000,000 : expended through this co-operative Fed-eral-state-local relief system from June, 1933, through August, 1936, was disbursed by the local offices. The

program provided for

either work relief or direct relief: to a destitute family, according to its needs, as determined by in-

vestigation. Families sometimes had no member able to work, or communities’ did not have public projects on which-to employ them. In these cases the needy were supplied directly with cash or with groceries, fuel, clothing and other necessities. Approximately 2,000,000 persons were engaged in work relief in

March, 1933, and 1,500,000 in No- :

vember. | In , these early months of the

‘program, relief work projects were

Soiled out entirely by local of1s. without any FPederal visa. Much was excellent and of ‘pronounced permanent: value, but a considerable ‘quantity was too hast ily i or of the /“leat1g”

November, 1933, a new

on brought about the cre-

ation of another relief agency by Executive Order, the Civil Works Administration (CWA). : I decided to initiate .the: CWA at this time for a number of rea-

sons: Relief needs continued with

increasing seriousness, as the win-

put workers into °

- that of the :

With the: depression at its: deepest. point, as Presi-

ter months came on. The sharp business revival : of s the summer months had ceased; ‘and, indeed, | a reaction had set, in. 7

The relief Tolls. which "had de’

had .begun to rise again: in .Oc tober, 1933. ‘ The Public Works

“Administration (PWA): had “not -

been able by. t time to’ commence a very extensive program, of large’ public ‘works. : I came to the- conclusion | that by shifting to this new CWA program 1,500,000 people : employed in local relief activities, and other

‘dent Roosevelt was about to take office in 1933, breadlines formed not only in principal cities, but in. most

i Contiined in an ‘authorized advanke publication of his. MOOR! ‘andi com Pe v

ments to “The. Public Papers: and Addresses of Franklin Db Roosevelt?)

employables who were then on:di- -

rect relief, ‘a. great quantity: -of purchasing power could be inject-

ed into the economic system-in a -

short: time; that. the direct relief rolls would 'be greatly :reduced; and that adequate wages for. uséful projects would be be substituted for inadequate pay on. work, of little value. Its organization : and : ‘operation - were essentially different from which was mostly a state. ahd: ‘Jochl program, The CWA was: cotupletely.¢ pera ed and. 90 per cent. “by

- By. the end of Toner, iors. than 1,500,000" /persons - were; at work on CWA projects, and:in January, 1934, the CWA. reaghed its peak of 4,203,644 workers earn-

. the Federal Government.

week. © ‘The CWA was pdt designed. as a continuing program. By :the

* end of ‘March, 1934, it was: largely “terminated, despite widespread

— pressure to make it peimanent: CWA was relatively costly, when’ compared wiin the FERA; and’ as soon as its prime purpose was believed to have been served, it was abandoned in favor of a work relief program hiring only

destitute unemployed ons, budgetary deficiency basis. The step

was taken as a matter of economy. . In evaluating the benefits of

- ing more ‘than . $64,000,000 per 5 :

red, 3 Sesontciss, A

small commutes 3 ds well, Here is a breadline in - Times Square, New York City, where men were given fond from. a, truck...

lie

| title.

‘Second Section

PAGE 9

ter ga

al Our Town

‘By Anton Scherrer | Marius Fortie Chose Indianapolis ;

“As a Home After He Left Africa, ~ But He Couldn't Stand the Winters,

CAN'T get anywhere with today’ § $CO0D

people and their latest book, ~ “Black and Beautiful,” a ‘gustful, realistic tale of an

| Italian boy who spent a great part of his life

living and loving in Equatorial Africa at a

time when it was still full of howling hyenas, croco= -

‘diles, puff adders, vermin and beautiful native girls,

| Marius Fortie, the author and hero of the story, was raised in the empty world re- :

served for orphans. What's more, he suspected that’ insanity tainted his blood, and so-at the age of 19 he left his native Italy to seek his fortune elsewhere. Africa welcomed, him with open arms. He picked up Swahili, the Bantu language, in no time at all, and with the help of it - became a full-fledged trader in what was then German East Af- - rica. He accomplished this in three ngonths. Then Mirembe, a 15-year-old Bantu girl, showed up. She personified for him the simplicity and grace of all Africa. Carried away ‘by her black beauty, he not only bought her, but gave ‘her his safari name of ‘Bwano Méryo. know, Mr. Fortie is the father of her child. Then came Panya. Her mother objected to letting her youngest daughter go on safari, but Bwano Maryo was not to be denied. Panya went on safari, a playful and joyful companion, and remained behind at Ujijl to have her child: - Mr. Fortie reports all this in a wistful way. ‘After Panya came to Mr. Fortie’s affair with Lahabu, the Golden, the girl who gave the book: its She, almost wrecked his life. Sick with the dreaded blackwater fever, to say nothing of his love affair, Mr. Fortie felt that Africa had betrayed him. He resigned his position and went to the coast where a doctor told him he had six months to live.

City Was Recommended _ That's when he came to Indianapolis (Scoop No. 1), He picked Indianapolis, he said, because somebody -had told him it was “an intensely American commune ity, speaking good English, the heart of a brilliant literary activity.” Moreover, he also observed: “As I had dome in Africa I decided to go wholeheartedly

Mr. Scheiter

native in America also, to adopt without compromise

and without reservations the new language and the new land.” ‘Fortified with this philosophy, Mr. Fortie arrived in Indianapolis in 1912 and worked two years with the Waverly Electric people at 139 S. East St. He boarded at 542 E. 33d St. In 1914, he received a * letter summoning him back to Africa. He went. Six years later, however,: he was back in Indianapolis (Scoop No. 2). In 1920, or thereabouts, he had a desk in Frank Cones’ office, 505 Lombard Building, Mr. Cones remembers him well and recalls that Mr, Fortie did a nice business manufacturing a lawn fertilizer known as “Amalawn.” Lilly & Stalnaker and the Vonnegut people sold loads of if. During his stay here, Mr. Fortie also bought the house at 920 E. 40th St. Mr. Cones is under the impression that Mr, Fortie was getting ready to marry and settle down,

| I'm sure I don’t know. All I know is that he left

~ Official picture of Franklin D. Roosevelt used exiemtively during

the 1933 campaign. There had been a growing con-

viction on. the part of the Con- -

gress and myself that the time had come when the Federal Gov-

ernment could well afford te with-

CWA there ‘must be taken into graw from the field of direct

consideration the 1933 necessity

relief, leaving that 1esponsibility

for such a program, the speed to the verious states and locali-

with ;which it iwas . inaugurated, and its quick termination within

five months. It provided definite

proof that an extensive work pro-

. gram could pe quickly and profit-

ties; and to establish a larger works program. My Executive Order of May 6, 1935, established the Works Prog- . ress Administration (WPA) as the

ably undertaken with benefit to key agency in the Federal Works

the communities and. to the unemployed,

Works Progress .

Administration

Upon: the dissolution of the CWA the FERA again large-scale work relief, called the Emergency Work Relief Program.

By January, 1935, its employment ”

peak : of 2,500,000 was reached. However, during this period, more cases were receiving direct relief

“than work relief.

The next great step in the program of relief was. taken by: th organization, in 1935, of ho: v Works Progress Administration.

Side Glances—By Cla rk

il)

Relief Program Started i in: N. Y.

- AS Comment of . Prelit Rovserelt - from His Forthcoming - : Books. -

‘In 1931 and ‘again in ‘1092, ‘ (as Governor of New, York), I recommended : to the "State ‘Legislature that steps be taken to institute a system of unemployment insurance. -: * As the distress among the unemployed ‘increased, and as the burden on :local: A and local government became - greater than they could carry, and as: ‘the Federdl Government. continued to refuse to |.

bul unable to work, should go without a nieces- ’

‘ Program.The Works Program is the term used to designate the entire program of emergency work provided by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Acts of 1935, 1336 and: 1937. Forty Federal agencies par-

‘fostered ticipated in it, including Resettle-

ment Administration (RA), Rural Electrification Administration (REA), ‘National Youth Administration (NYA), Civilian Conserva‘tion Corps (CCO), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Works Progress Administration was charged with the responsibility - for an honest, efficient, - speedy and co-ordinated execution of the work relief program

- asa whole. It was the largest

5 ~ employer; “by February, 1938, “it

‘ emergency work relief. the entire responsibility for di-

"had reach ed a peak Of over three * million - persons, The Works Program had’ the

: advantage of the experience of

~ the prior agencies in large-scale It left

rect relief for unemployables to ine states and localities. ith respect to work projects, tate and local governments

ies given the responsibility, with few exceptions, of originating

and

to fit local

determining - the eligibility of workers on the

' basis ‘of actual need.

- At the same time, ‘through Federal approyal of these projects and through the carrying . out of a Federal wages and hours policy and by means of Federal accounting: and purchasing, there

‘| were obtained a general central- | “ized

planning and responsibility. In view. of :the fact that the

principal, purpose of WPA was to ' provide work, Federal approval

‘the | ‘was given only to projécts which ; | “could be. out ‘by the type °

- tional Copyrig!

es 7 flow up 1

' ness and the A of rivals

jobs, but the outlines of a sound national policy “for “work "relief have become fixed through the long experience which Sulminated 4n WPA. : : Copyright 1038; sopyTight under Internal nion; all Fights is Tegepved under Titer American os nion

(1910) by Franklin D. Sop distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

President Roosevelt's

Comments Next Week The plight of the young men of

> the nation; the plight, too, of the A - nation’s natural resources in 1933

will be the topic of President Roosevelt's fifth article, devoted to. the purposes and the organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC. This article will appear Monda3s March 28. .It marks-the beginning of the second week of the President’s own story of the New Deal publishéd in Indianapolis’ exclusively in The Indianapolis Times Five fortheoming books by the

President, “The Public Papers and

Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt,” contain: the notes and comments which make “up this series of articles. In the sixth artic the President c Federal Government's crime:

ents on the war - on

Disarmament and trade agree- :

ments are discussed in the seventh and eighth- articles which will be published .on ‘Wednesday and Thursdays Neutrality is the subject of the ninth article, to’ be published Friday. Saturday; in. the 10th article, Mr. Roosevelt explains the-actions, aims and accomplishments of his Administration. in the de of the. dollar. - il

IA WOMAN'S ‘VIE By Mrs. Walter Ferguson.

He eoorm tv in the face and think: “Iam nothing to keep him out of

ple war?” The question comes

in a letter. I.wish.I knew the answer. The unconcern I women to the danger in which their children stand is one of the riddles of the century.

If" there were only some way we |

could be aroused to a sense of our

power and our pefil. "of gaily dressed; women

,'on Tuesday,

down our city. streets, ‘business of daily

' Indianapolis _in . 1922. Said. he. _couldn’t stand the winters here. : He went ‘back to. Africa, this time to. round up his children and grandchildren—his “immortality” as he

calls them. Whatever you do, don’t miss this part of

the book. It alone.is worth the price of admission, ;

Jane Jordan—

Girl Told She Can't Depend Upon

Marriage to Stop a Man's Drinking.

PEAR JANE JORDAN—AIl and I have been going together for eight months. I am 19 and he is quite a bit older. I feel that I love him very much, but I am not sure he loves me. He seems quite at-

| tached to me, but becomes embarrassed when we are

‘alone. Several times he has almost proposed to me, but has never quite done it. My sister opposes the match because he has a tendency to drink. I firmly believe that once we are married I will be able to ‘break him of the habit as he only has been drinking

lately. I also think that he might be worrying about |

something. I do not want to make any careless decision. My mother is dead and my father is in an

‘without beginning with the Bobbs-Merrill .

Next thing we ye

institution, so I am trusting you with my great pe pers

sonal decision. ; 8 ” » i Answer—Even if I knew the man I could not take the responsibility of making so important a decision

for you. I cannot help but take the man’s drinking

more seriously than you do, T mistrust a man who drinks because he is worried. He who drinks only upon’ convivial occasions to celebrate a happy event, as a .toast to a friend, or to add to the gaiety of a gathering, does a harmless thing; he can take it or let it alone. “But he who drinks when life 4s dark, who

turns to alcohol as an escape from the respensibility -

and hazards of life, who cannot feel comfortable with

out artificial aid, does a da habit grows he cannot let liquor alone.

It long has been recognized that what is one man’s -

mest is another man’s poison and this is particularly applicable to alcohol. Because some men can drink without apparent damage to themselves we tend to believe that any man can drink without incufring a risk. This is not true. Some men cannot drink; more accurately, some men cannot stop drinking.

In general we can separate them into two classes: The happy and the unhappy drinkers. The unhappy

drinker is the one to be feared. : You mention the fact that your friend is embar-

réassed, ill-at-ease when you are alone’ together; that .

he never quite brings himself to the :point of proposing although you can see it is on his mind; that you think he is worried about something. suggests a con= flict which he dfinks to relieve. I ‘do not say it is “true, for I do not know, but it is something for you te

watch, and reason enough for you to delay your de- :

cision to marry if he ever does propose Beware of him if he asks you to. marry him when he is under the influence of liquor and is more or less indifferent

_when sober. I do not share your op! optimistic conviction -

‘that once you ‘are married you will be able to break him of the habit. This is a bit of wishful thinking which seldom works out in fact. If it is true that the

‘man drinks in order to lessen the pressure of respon=

sibility, in what way will the addled responsibilities of

‘marriage relieve his temptation to drink? . JANE JORDAN.

pat your problems in = a letter to Jane Jordan, who wilt

: answer SOE Whmtions In this eolti dally.

gerous thing. ‘As the

It is. difficult to determine who can and who cannot drink.