Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 June 1938 — Page 9

Vagabond

From Indiana == Ernie Pyle

Johnny Palm Is Tough Little Nut Whe Has Traveled Nearly 100,000 Miles Behind Alaskan Mail Teams.

Editor's Note—Ernie Pyle, after three years of traveling, is taking a vacation. Hence we are taking this opportunity to reprint some of his readers’ favorite columns, as indicated in their letters to him and to the editor.

ATRBANKS, Alaska, June 20.—Johnny Palm is a tough little nut, as they say. He wouldn't reach five and a half, I guess, and he weighs 125 pounds. But what that man has been through!

He has been an outdoor man in the North for nearly 40 years. He came with the 08ers, looking for gold. But after a few years he switched to dogs. And now he has been running the winter mails,

behind dog teams and horses, for more than 30 years. We figured up about how far he has traveled behind mail teams over the Alaskan snows, and it comes close to 100,000 miles. Think of it—100,000 miles! It has been a tradition around Fairbanks for decades that “Johnny will get it through,” no inatter what the weather. His run was from Fairbanks to Circle, 162 miles, six days each way, every night out in some showcovered little way-cabin, alone, When winter blizzards would come up, and the mail would be davs overdue, with no means of finding out what had happened, people would say, “Johnny will make it through if anybody in Alaska can. He's a tough little nut.” And through all those 30 hard years Johnny has heen drinking whisky. At one time he drank two quarts a day. He doesn’t drink =o much any more, but he still likes a nip or two at the end of the day. But he never gets drunk, and he never drinks now when he’s on the road in this modern age of automobiles. I'd take Johnny Palm to be around 55. His hair is grayish, but wisps come down over his forehead in a boyish mahner. He walks with his feet out, and his knees bent—the walk of an eager youth hurrying somewhere with sore feet. Johnny is like a mosquito—nervous and jumpy, always on the hop, can’t sit still. He talks a lot too; talks with an engaging little impediment that makes him say “wock” for “rock,” and “nevow” for “never” He is politeness to an extreme; he “misters” everybody; he is always full of gracious thanks; he is thoughtful in all little things. Johnny's time ig full now with his summer truckfreight line over the Steese Highway between here and Circle, He ran his last dog-team mail two years ago. He gtill has charge of the Circle mail run, but has turned the driving over to younger men, And yet——

He Keeps No Books

Just this spring. about break-up time, Johnny went out and walked a hundred miles over the snow to see how soon the highway would be cleared of its choking drifts. He's a tough little nut, all right, Johnny Palm is the errand boy of the Steese Highway. There isn't anything he won't (and doesn't) do for people. You'd be surprised how many hundreds of errands people want run. It's “Johnny, take this note in to Frank, will you?” and “Johnny bring me a set of hinges on the next trip,” and “Johnny, have these films developed and get me a pair of high boots, will you?” Johnny hasn't any bookkeeping system at all for his truck line. If he could collect for all the work he's done, he'd probably be well off. He has a flourishing trade but he never has any money. Johnny Palm's heart is too big. That's his trouble. Up in the first part of this piece I said Johnny was about 55. I put it that way so you wouldn't get the wrong impression of how he looks and acts. For the truth is, Johnny is past 70. Alaska certainly has its points. And one of them is that its hardest-living men wind up their hard careers looking and acting about 15 years younger than they actually are. I imagine Johnny Palm will still be making at least one trip a week to Circle when he's 150 years old.

My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady Offers a Few Personal Sidelights John's Marriage.

YDE PARK, Sunday -—There is probably little I can tell you about the last few days that has not already been in the news columns, unless I give vou a few little personal sidelights! Friday evening, after my mother-in-law and my grandchildren had arrived at the Statler in Boston, T was to go to Nahant in time for a 7 o'clock dinner party, which we were having on the Potomac for the wedding party. My mother-in-law’'s sister, Mrs. Price Collier, was the only one at the Statler who decided to go with me. I imagine the children would have heen delighted, but they were not invited. In any case, the ride from Hyde Park had left them very weary. Mrs, Collier and I left about 6:15. I am not very fond of getting in and out of little hoats and climbing up and down gangplanks in evening clothes, but there seemed to be nothing else to do. We walked down the long dock at Nahant and finally reached a very wet float. We climbed into the motor boat which was to take us over to the Potomac, clutching long flowing dresses and knowing they were getting wet and dirty. The Potomac itself looked very pretty, strung with colored lanterns, and we had some quiet time for conversation, for the young people had changed their plans and decided to dine at 8 o'clock. They all looked very attractive, but somewhat weary, when they finally arrived. I sometimes wonder if all the entertainment that poes before a wedding isn't just an added burden to everyone concerned!

Hopes for Couple's Happiness

Myre, Collier ahd I went back to the Statler ahout 11 o'clock. My small grandson, who was sharing my room, murmured &leepily, “Hello grandmere,” and was wide enough awake to remember it the next day and insist that he had not been asleep, which I rather doubt. They roused us bright and early yesterday morning to drive to Salem and join my husband and everybody else on the boat, and again we were ahead of time and sat pleasantly chatting on the deck fpr an hour before we left for the church. Mis. Clark looked as young as her daughter. There was a sense of intimacy and peace in the little church. To many people present. the Rev. Endicott Peabody's part in the wedding ceremony is almost essential, for he has somehcw succeeded in attending the weddings of a vast numbr of his Groton boys. Anne was a very lovely bride. As she and John ran to their car, her last look was for her mother. They were showered with rose petals and good wishes, and the sun s upon them, so we shall hope that the storms of life will be few and that when they come, they may have strength to meet them,

“E

Mr. Pyle

on

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, June 20-—About the smoothest runnin’ thing in the world is a well organized factory. No matter what départment you get into, the work looks easy but it's only because each worker {s skilled in his particular job. 1 knew a captain and an engineer oh a hoat who got to arguin’ one day about which one had the easiest job. Finally to settle the argument, they traded places. Ten minutes later, the captain hollered up through the speakin’ tube and said, “I give up— I can't make these engines go anymore.” The engineer hollered back “You don't have to—the boat's

up on dry land now!” (Copyright. 1038)

Co RE bi pn li a i nba Cp ade

5) ¥ '

tT i ion Sp

The Indianapolis Times

Second Section

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1938

Putered Becond-Olass Matter ab Fostothee, Indianapolis,

PAGE 9

Ind,

The Future Is Electric

Largest Increase in Consumption Seen in Domestic Field

(First of a Series) By David Dietz

Times Science Editor AMERICA’S consumption of electricity will double in the next 10 years. That is the prediction made by M. O. Troy, commercial vice president of the General Electric Co. What this means in terms of world leadership, industrial progress and higher standards of living, can only be appreciated if we view this prediction in the light of electrical history. General Electric is celebrating its 60th birthday this year. Sixty vears ago there was practically no electric consumption in the United States or anywhere else in the world. There were some electric telegraph lines in existence and a lot of people had electric doorbells operated by oldfashioned “wet batteries.” A few inventors had begun to experiment with electric arc lamps and a few far-sighted engineers and capitalists were beginning to think about the future of electricity. Sixty years ago—in 1878 — the Edison Electric Light Co. was formed. It was a Wall Street lawyer, Grosvenor Porter Lowrey,

who backed the “wizard of Menlo Park” in that momentous step.

» » ”

EANWHILE, in Cleveland, Charles F. Brush was perfecting his arc lamp and organizing the Brush Electric Co. The first permanent installation of are lamps for street lighting was put into operation on the Public Square of Cleveland in April, 1879,

At the same time another noted scientist and electrical pioneer, Dr. Elihu Thomson, had organized the Thomson-Houston Electric Co. Another pioneer company was organized by James J. Wood of Brooklyn, Within a few vears, all of these conipanies were merged with the Edison company and the name changed to the General Electric Co.

The first great impetus to the electrical industry was Bdison's incandescent lamp. Are lights vere all right for street lighting. ‘They could be used in factories or stores with a certain amount of success. They were utterly impossible for home use, Rdison brought the electric light into the home, The second important boost eame from the development of

the electric motor Nineteenth Century factories used huge steam engines. The inside of a factory was a complicated, noisy, dangerous network of shafts, pulleys and moving belts which brought the power to the machines. The electric way was to put a small motor on each machine. Flexible wires that could be run anywhere took the place of the whirring belts. And so the electrical industry grew and the consumption of electricity grew with it. Year by vear America used more and more electricity until a record of 75,204 476,000 kilowatt hours was established for 1029, Consumption fell off during the depression years but regained momentum as the country began to emerge. A new world's rec-

ord was set in 1936 when the con- «

sumption was 90,044,265.000 kilowatt hours,

"5 N » HIS record was in eclipsed in 1937 when sumption was 998.300.000.000 Mr. Troy expects the next 10 vears to duplicate what {it has taken 60 vears to accomplish. He visions a consumption of nearly 200.,000,000,000 kilowatt hours by 1048,

Furthermore, Mr. Trov expects the march toward that goal to begin before the end of 1038, perhaps within the next few months. He points out that while the consumption of electricity was 8.3 per cent below the 1937 average during the first months of 1038, it was still 5 per cent above the corresponding point in the 1936 consumption and 15.7 per cent above the 1929 average.

An increase in electric consumption tends to become permanent if it is a domestic increase, Mr. Troy explains. The reason is simple: The man who buys an electtic refrigerator during good times does not throw the box away in bad times. That refrigerator becomes a permanent addition to the demand for electricity. It is in the domestic field that My. Troy looks for the largest in-

turn con-

Side Glances—By Clark

lcore. 1838 BY NEA SERVICE. INC. if i

"You spoil every movie we seg by telling me how lousy it isl" _ |

»

3

crease In electric consumption although gains are likewise expected in the industrial field and the commercial and transportation field. Fg & 4 Al present America’s consumption of electricity is divided as follows: Industry uses 53 per cefit, commercial users and transportation account for 185 per cent, domestic users, including farms, constitute 19.7 per cent. Domestic use of electricity is tremendous when considered by itself. It is small when considered in the light of what the future holds. Nearly 23,000,000 homes, more than 70 per cent of the homes in America, are equipped with electricity. But, Mr. Troy points out, at the present time the American home

nisms.

Child Labor Amend

A 60,000-kilowatt steam-turbine-generator built for the Detroit Edison Co. by General Electric, top left.

This photo, made in the G. E. plant at Schenectady, shows the mammoth rotor of a 75,000kilowatt steam turbine-gener-ator being lowered into place, top right.

M. O. Troy, commercial vice president of General Electric, who predicts that America will double its consumption of electric power in the next 10 years,

Is only between 5 and 10 per cent electrified. Few homes make full use of electricity. In addition to the 10,000,000 homes that are still without electric lights, it is esti= mated that: 10,000,000 homes are electric irons. 20,000,000 are without -electrie washing machines, electric vacuum cleaners and electric toast ers 24,000,000 are without electric refrigerators. 28000000 are ranges. 29,000,000 are without electric water heaters, air conditioning apparatus or automatic central heating systems. There are approximately 31.000,« 000 homes in the United States.

” ” ” HE demand for more elec- . tricity is going to mean the demand for more generating

equipment. Mr. Troy believes that it will not be long before America

without

without electrie

will he faced with a shortage of generating equipment unless publie utilities begin to get ready for the increased demand. The last few years have seen remarkable advances in the art of designing electric power plants, Mr. Troy points out. Steam tur bines are now operating at higher temperatures and higher pres sures, Generators are running at higher speeds with their rotors encased in an atmosphere of hy« drogen to obtain better cooling. “Between 1020 and 1934, the out= put of electricity in the United States was doubled while the coal consumption remained the same,” he added. “The average efficiency of power stations in 1034 was the equivalent of the highest efficiency in 1920.” During 1937 some 16 hydrogen cooled generators were put into generation. The first to be put into operation was a 25,000-Kkilo= watt turbine-generator built for the Dayton Power & Light Co. Hydrogen cooling is also to be used on the third 110,000<kilowatt vertical compound turbine-gen-erator now under construction for the Ford Motor Co. It is now becoming the practice to put a high-pressure turbindgenerator ahead of one operating at lower pressure and tempera= ture. The steam as it emerges from the first turbine is then sent into the second one. General Electric is also engaged in manufacturing a number of waterwheel generators. The first of two 48-000 kilovolt-ampere vers tical waterwheel-driven generat« ors was recently completed for Bonneville Dam. This generator is larger than the Boulder Dam generators, having a frame 40 feet, 7 inches in diameter as com=« pared to 30 feet, 9 inches at Boul der Dam.

NEXT-=Electricity and the Rail roads.

ment Fight to Go On

Despite Passage of Wage-Hour Bill

By Herbert Little Times Special Weiter ASHINGTON, June 20-—-A signal for renewal of the fight for adoption of the stymied Child Labor Amendment has been given by the National Child Labor Committee, which estimates that only

25 per cent of working minors will be affected by the new Federal ban under the Wage-Hour Bill. Courtenay Dinwiddie, committee secretary, praised the antichildlabor provision of the Wage-Hour Bill but said that because it applied to interstate commerce, it would touch “a minor proportion of the children now at work.” The committee, he said, will con= tinue its efforts for an amendment as the only method by which Federal protection may be extended to all child workers. The Federal law will give no protection to children engaged in mers cantile establishments, hotels, ress taurants, beauty parlors, garages, offices and street trades, he said, “nor to a great number of those in

industrialized agriculture who are on the move, and for whom no state acknowledges responsibility.” (This referred to the fact that the law forbids work by children under 16, except for their parents in agriculture, if it interferes with school ing required by law. Most state laws do not require children of non= residents to attend school.)

” ” ”

HE shift of child labor in recent years from factories to stores and personal-service occupations, Mr. Dinwiddie said, makes it likely that the Federal law will not affect more than 26 per cent of working children. Enactment of the hill, the childlabor provision of which is simi lar to the 1916 law knocked oui by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in 1918, was hailed by Mr. Dinwiddie as ‘the most important advance toward eliminating child labor since the industrial codes were invalidated.” Administration of the child-labor

Jasper=By Frank Owen

Feature Syndicate, Ine.

3 be Ua

"Keep quiet! If Mamma catches us using her new hat we'll be out slapping mosquitoes again!"

provicions is placed in the U. 8

Children's Bureau, which is author= |

ized to issue employment certificates and to co-operate with state and local offices which administer state laws, The provision is effective 120 days after President Roosevelt signs the hill. The child-labor constitutional amendment is now before the Supreme Court on the question whether Kansas and Kentucky Leg= islatures could properly ratify it after previously rejecting it. If the Court rules next fall that one rejection by a state forecloses furs ther reversals, the amendment will definitely be dead, as it has been rejected at one time or another by more than one-fourth of the 48 states. If the Court upholds the Kenfuecky and Kansas ratifications, the amendment has an outside chance of obtaining the nine additional ratifications necessary to make 36.

"TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—-What was the maiden name of Mrs. Franklin D. Roose velt? 2-~-Name the two kinds of tele scopes. 3—Does the marriage of an alien man to a woman citizen of the U, S. confer American citizenship upon the hus band?

4-What was George Washing ton’s middle name? 5—What is a pyroscope? 6—Name the unit of weight for precious stones.

” ” ” Answers

1—<Anna Bleanor Roosevelt, 2—Refracting and reflecting, 3-No. 4—He had none. 6—An instrument for measuring the intensity of heat radiate ing from a hot body, or the frigorific influence of a cold body. 6-—Carat,

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St, N. W,, Washing ton, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended research be under daken,

a

| an alibi and asks for

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

Aunt Chaney, Who Was the Firs® Hired Girl Around Here, Deserves Some Credit for Our Street Plan.

T always comforts me to know that Miss Chaney Lively kept house for Alexander Ralston, the bachelor surveyor who figured out the plan of Indianapolis. Indeed, Miss Lively has wormed her way into my heart

80 completely that if I had anything to do with it I'd credit her with some of Mr. Ralston's achievements. To tell the truth, Indianapolis with its wide streets, diagonals and Circle wouldn't be what

it is today had not Miss Lively been around to take the load off Mr. Ralston’s mind. Miss Lively, or “Aunt Chaney” as everybody called her, was the first colored woman to arrive in In« dianapolis. For all I know, Mr. Ralston may have brought her with him in 1821. Be that as it may, she ran Mr. Ralston’s big brick house on W. Maryland 8t, until he died in 1827. She lived at least ppg, 30 years longer, and I recall Mr. Schwomeyer, our grocer, telling me “hen 1 was a little boy, that he remembered seeing her and her little flock of children when she lived at Maryland and Meridian Sts. By that time, said Mr. Schwo= meyer, her name was Britton, Seems she had married a barber by that name. I don't know anything about Barber Britton, but he certainly knew his business when he picked Aunt Chaney for a wife. I bring up Aunt Chaney not because she was Mr, Ralston’'s servant or the first colored woman in Ine dianapolis, but because she was the first hired girl around here. Chances are, too, that she was the first hired girl to get married. Somehow, the only subject in which my interest never lags for so much as an instant is what I re member of our hired girls and their love affairs. Strangely enough, Mother didn't have any colored girls when I was a kid, and consequently there aren't any marriages to report. She had her quota of white girls, however. As a rule, they were daughters of well-to-do farmers who wanted to learn the ways of the city. I don’t know how the girls did it, but they caught on mighty fast—sometimes so fast that it was only a matter of few months’ stay in the city and they found their man and got married. Of course, every time that happened Mother had to start all over again, bring in another girl from the country, and hope for the best. Now that I look back, I can see where Mother made her mistake, She a.ways picked pretty girls.

“It's the Butcher Boy for Me!”

Ella was a typical case, pretty as a picture, and the only reason we had her a couple of years was because she was very young when she came to us, I guess Mother got the idea that Ella was going to be a fixture, else she wouldn't have done what she did. Anyway, one night Mother inveigled Father to go to a party with her, secure in the belief that everything would be all right with Ella watching over us kids. Around midnight when they got back, they found Ella with us kids in her lap, listening pop-eved with excitement to a man proposing marriage. It turned out to be the butcher boy of the neighborhood. It made Mother so mad that she threatened to change butchers. She didn't though. She started all over again and this time she brought Agnes from the country. Agnes stayed 10 months and married the barber of the neighbor« hood. Somehow, Agnes’ marriage impressed me most. 1 guess it was because of Mr. Schwomeyer’s story that Aunt Chaney had married a barber,

Scherrer

—

Jane Jordan—

Seek to Master Marriage Problems Before Quitting, Young Wife Told.

EAR JANE JORDAN-—I am ried and have a son 1 year old is 21 years old and wild and reckless. When we quarrel he always tells his family all about it. He wants me to stay at home while he is working and wait until he comes. Sometimes I don't see him until late that night. I had a talk with him and asked him in a nice way to leave, but he always has forgiveness, Should I leave LOUISE.

18 years old, mare My husband

him? » ” ” . Answer—You can't solve any problem simply by walking out on it. All you do by this method is to incur a new set of problems and sometimes they are worse than the first. First of all make up your mind that you won't show the white feather, Sometimes in marriage there is nothing to do other than to leave your partner, but this should not be done until everything else has been tried, Obviously your husband has two desires. One is*to be footloose and fancy free, and the other is to hang on to his family. Explain to him that he will have to choose between the two and stick by the one which affords him the most satisfaction, Marriage is a job of co-operation. Doubtless your expectations of what marriage can do for you have been too great. Your ideas of matri« mony have been gathered from sentimental plays, stories and movies wherein the hero and heroine lived happily ever after. This sentimental view of marriage is not in accord with the facts, and young people who have been nurtured on such ideas are due for a rude awakening when they face the reality. I cannot tell you exactly how to get along with your husband. You two will have to work that out for yourselves, Perhaps your husband will have some suggestions if you both earnestly desire to make a success of your marriage for the sake of your baby, Whatever agreement you make should include the promise to keep parents on either side out of all your

difficulties. JANE JORDAN.

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

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

RITING AS A CAREER (Harcourt). A reale istic approach to authorship sans sentimene tality by Thomas H. Uzzell. A guide for the eager beginner starting down a long, hard road. U. 8. ONE (Modern Age). Mile-by-mile descrip tion of U. 8. Road 1 which incorporates in its length, from Maine's northern border to Florida's tip, the old Boston Post Road, Paul Revere's route in '73, and many other historic channels of communication and transportation. History, romance, practical informaetion, comprise this valuable tourist guide, prepared by the Federal Writers’ Project. FIRST STEPS IN WEAVING (Macmillan). “Its terms, its tools, its procedures,” presented in a simple manual for the beginner in one of man's most ancient arts. Illustrations and diagrams add to the clarity of Ella Victoria Dobbs’ instructions. THE NEXT CENTURY IS AMERICA'S (Greenburg). Carroll D. Murphy and Herbert V. Prochnow defend America and American democracy against the charge of decadence, urging the nation to go forward In the paths of liberty, rather than to surrender this freedom for the “pottage” of security. THE STORY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY EX. PLORATION (Knopf). Along the Amazon, among the head-hunters of New Guinea, from Mount Kamet to Mount Everest, with the explorers made famous by their explyits, By Charles E. Key,

So ——

¥