Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 June 1938 — Page 15

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Vagabond

From Indiana = Ernie Pyle

! Just How Does a Roving Reporter

Go About Taking a Vacation? It's No Simple Matter, Ernie Reports.

Editor's Note—Ernie Pyle, the Vagabond from Indiana, today resumes his daily column after his first rest in many months.

VV ILLIAMSBURG, Va., June 24.—A roving reporter leads a life of hard knocks. And certainly not the most tender item in his agenda is the one of “How to Take a Vacation.” Normal people, anchored in their niches for 11154 months of the year, get their vacation thrill by packing up the car and going somewhere. But that won't do for the roving reporter. He has been constantly going somewhere for the past 112 months. What he wants is just to go home and sit down for {wo weeks. Yet even that is denied him. For he has no home. At least we haven't. Our furniture is in storFa age. We have clothes in Indiana, 2» and blankets and books in Denver. ES We might almost be classed as gE ¢ ». floating population. TEN t t Our only home is our car. And Yh i I am inclined to believe that just : “ sitting in the car for two weeks Mr. Pyle would become monotonous. So, to take a vacation, the roving reporter must hunt a temporary home. Always as vacation time approaches, we visualize some mythically utopian spot where the sun shines warmly, where life is simple, quiet, close to nature, and equipped with hot water and soft mattresses. We are peculiar vacationists. We want to be able to do exactly nothing. We don’t want a resort with a lot of people. We like people, but seeing them the year round is our job. We don’t want to be in a city, for cities are noisy and we want peace. We don’t want to rough it in a cabin somewhere, for we rough it enough on the back roads the rest of the year, So you see, we want something that almost doesn’t exist. We want it so much that we lost the first four days of our vacation hunting it. Yes sir. We drove four days in the rain-—covered 700 miles in Virginia and North Carolina—looking for some hidden glen or dale deep in the woods, where the stream of life had paused only long enough to leave twin beds, bath and reading lights. Why we didn’t think of Williamsburg in the first place, I don't know. We had been here before, and should have known it was the spot. But we didn’t think of it till the fourth day. And then we made a bee-line for here—and got what we wanted. Our room is one of the loveliest we have ever had in traveling. It is big and square and light. We have lots of windows, and a screen door opens onto our second-story porch. Yet we have floor lamps, and bed lights, and a French phone, and cheerful wall paper and two big easy chairs in their cool summer covers. And above all we have absolute privacy.

Auto Undergoes “House-Cleaning”

Since our car is our home, it was well freighted with luggage. We hadn't “house-cleaned” it for a vear and a half. We cecided now was the time to thin out the luggage for a new start. We unloaded everything, down to the smallest scrap of paper. We had eight bags, three dozen books, and four double armloads of astonishing extras —overshoes, pieces of rock, half a hundred road maps, huge manila envelopes full of letters, a stone fish we bought in Wyoming, furs from Alaska we're still carrying, old magazines by the score. Our junk must have weighed a quarter of a ton. When I drove down the street after this colossal unloading, the car was so light it seemed to be leaping. We did all of our sorting the first day. We put everything we could spare in a big pasteboard box. We will take it to Washington and put it in storage. When we start out on another year’s traveling, there will be room for a resumption of accumulating. The sorting is done. Our vacation now envelops us. We have sunk to our necks in dull, slothful lassitude. We do nothing but just sit, and sit, and sit. It is wonderful.

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Believes Those Not Participating | In,War Should Aid Child Victims. |

YDE PARK, Thursday.—I had a very interesting talk yesterday afternoon with a young Spanish lady, Senora Eloina Malasetechevarrai, whe has come over here to try to interest the women of America in the condition of the children in Spain. Some French philanthropist has given a group of Spanish women an enormous estate near Carcassasonne, where they hope to be able to house as many as four or five thousand children, but they will need money for their daily support. I imagine that her idea is to try to revive the type of adoption committees which were prevalent during the World War. Many of us corresponded with children in France to whom money was sent regularly every month for food, clothing and education, until they were able to look after themselves. Whether that can be done again in a country which is not actually at war, I don’t know. When children suffer in any nation, however, it does seem to me that there should be a willing answer to any appeal for help. We must have reached the stage in civilization where those of us who are not actually participating in a war can give something toward the help of needy children. Of course, all I've heard for the last few days is “the fight.” So, though I was working on a manuscript last night, when 10 o'clock came I turned on the radio. Lo and behold, much noise and excitement and then, puff, and it was all over in two minutes.

Believes Business Aided

Much money came into New York and it was probably good for business in general—people traveled from many parts of the country, restaurants, hotels, taxicabs—oh, the ramifications of the way money is spent when an event of this kind occurs

are infinite. So it is helpful, but I think a good many people must have felt their entertainment was rather short. Joe Louis is a great fighter; there seems to be no one left for him to fight. We congratulate him

and hope that he has some wise member of his | family whe takes his money and puts it away, so |

that when he no longer has any opponents, he will be able to do something else to make life interesting and pleasant. I'm always sorry for the man who is beaten or the team which loses. Much effort has gone into training and preparation and it must be such a terrible let-down. I've never seen a fight and probably never shall, but every time I see a crew race or a football game, I grieve over the boys who are beaten and slump in their boat, or the team that has to go off the field cheering the victors when you know their hearts are filled with despair.

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, June 24—A person would be a lot H more considerate of other people if they had ta get on the other side of the fence once in a while. I knew a rich playboy one time who had been caught speeding several times but on account of his papas “pull,” he was always let off with a warning. Finally one time, when he drove right through the main street at 60 miles an hour, the judge lost his patience and told the playboy he would have ’ta give up his driver's license for one

I. yen playboy jumped to his feet and says “Judge. that sentence is cruel ana unjust—do you realize that now I will have ‘ta walk and be at the mercy of those

erasy speed idlots!” on

The Indianapolis

imes

Second Section

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FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1938

The Future Is Electric

Radio Stations Seek to Offset Foreign Propaganda in South America

(Fifth of a Series)

By David Dietz

Times Science Editor

ACH afternoon at 5 o'clock a pleasant-voiced young man takes his seat before a microphone in the General Elec-

tric studios in Schenectady.

Neatly dressed, smooth-

shaven and wearing eyeglasses rimmed in white gold, he is typical of the young Americans who, in business offices, manufacturing plants and research laboratories, are build-

ing the future of America.

It is eminently fitting, therefore, that his voice should be the radio voice of America, carrying the news of Amer-

ica to the world. The microphone before which he sits is connected to two of the most powerful short-wave radio stations in the world, W2XAD and W2XAF, both owned and operated by General Electric. His name is John R. Sheehan and the program he broadcasts is known as the “American News

Tower.” It is a fair and unbiased report of what has gone on that day, not throughout the world but in the United States of America. General Electric, with a background of 60 years of progress in the electrical industry, of which radio has been an important part, was among the country’s pioneers in short-wave broadcasting. It opened its first station in 1925 and a year later its second.

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B- it was not until two years ago that a real effort was made to broadcast a true and uncensored picture of America to the rest of the world. It was about this time that Carl W. Ackerman, dean of Columbia's School of Journalism, and Ruth Bryan Owen, America’s famous woman diplomat, made public statements that America was poorly understood in South America and the Scandinavian countries, because of the constant barrage of German and Italian propaganda.

Recently the Federal Communi- .

cations Commission granted additional licenses to General Electric for its short-wave stations because of the general feeling that something had to be done to offset foreign propaganda in South America. Both the U. S. State Department and Commerce Department were known to be gravely concerned over the situation, particularly over the German broadcasts to South America. A study last year showed that nihe of the 12 American shortwave radio stations were rarely heard in Argentina while a German station frequently blanketed out the three most powerful of the American stations. Much the same report was obtained from Brazil.

UT that situation has been changed today. The German station mentioned sends a directional or “beam” broadcast to

South America on 9540 kilocycles. One of the General Electric stations, W2XAF operates on 9530 kilocycles, while the two others, W2XAD operates on 9550 Kkilocycles, W2XAF uses 25,000 watts of power. W2XAD will soon be using 100,000 watts, making it the world’s most powerful short-wave station. The effectiveness of both stations is more than tripled by the use of a special directional antenna for beam broadcasting perfected by the famous pioneer radio engineer, Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson of the General Electric staff. The two beams are so arranged as to split South America between them. W2XAF is aimed at the western half of the continent. Many of the programs over this station will be in Spanish. W2XAD, aimed at the eastern half of South America, is chiefly to reach Brazil and for this reason its programs are broadcast in Portuguese. The Spanish and Portuguese programs include news broadcasts. These programs, General Electric officials say, are fair and unbiased and in the best traditions of the American notion of free speech.

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N addition to the news broadcasts there are travelogs and lectures describing the scenic wonders of the United States, other entertainment features and much fine music. “It is a battle between American democracy and European dictatorships,” said C. H. Lang, manager of General Electric's radio activities. “I think democracy is going to win this battle.” The special directional antennas being used for the South American broadcasts were first developed by Dr. Alexanderson to enable General Electric to carry on direct communication with Admiral Richard E. Byrd when he was at the South Pole. This type of antenna is known as the horizontal checkerboard type. It is a network of wires arranged in formation like a section of a checkerboard. One portion of the checkerboard acts as a re-

John R. Sheehan, broadcasting the “American News Tower” program over the two General Electric short-wave stations.

Map showing how the beams of these two radio stations blanket South America and crowd out the German propaganda,

flector, concentrating the radio beam in the desired direction. General Electric's radio activities requires several buildings as well as a 53-acre field on which a variety of steel and wood towers are scattered. ” = ” HE antenna structures include a new 625-foot steel antenna and three towers 300 feet high, arranged in the form of a triangle. From these steel masts almost any type of antenna may be strung for operation between wavelengths of 600 and 3000 meters. A fourth steel tower, 150 feet high, may be connected to any of the trio for operation on wavelengths from 200

to 600 meters. The wooden masts make it possible to carry on experiments on wavelengths from 5 to 200 meters.

The largest building of the group is the main power plant. This includes a number of high-powered rectifiers for converting the alternating current supply into a direct current source with a maximum of 20,000 volts.

This building also includes a central pumping system for circulating the water which cools the power tubes. Laymen will be surprised to know that the huge power tubes in these stations develop so much heat that the water in the cooling system becomes so hot that it can be used .n winter to heat the building.

n ” 2

ENERAL ELECTRIC and other shortwave broadcasters are eager to obtain programs for their short-wave stations, Mr. Lang points out. They are hoping that some day all of the good

Entered » at Postoffice,

programs broadcast for listeners in the United States can be made available for South American audiences.

It would not be possible, of course, to make any great use of comedians and the like, but it is felt that programs of fine symphony orchestras, famous vocalists, and so on, would have excellent effect upon the South American audience. That the short-wave radio situation is one which must concern all citizens of the United States is apparent from a recent study made by the United States Department of Commerce of the European broadcasts aimed at South America. The report pointedly remarks, “European programs place ems=phasis on national propaganda.” The report went on to recommend the great need for improving United States broadcasting in Spanish and Portuguese.

NEXT: Electricity Comes to the Farm.

Toledo Plan’ for Industrial Peace

Hailed by Former U. S. Labor Aid

Times Special

EW YORK, June 24.—One industrial community's success in fostering labor peace without a big stick is offered as a model by Edward F. McGrady, former Assist~ ant Secretary of Labor, in an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “How Peace Came to Toledo.” Mr. McGrady, in hy with Louis Stark, newSpbaperman, outlines the voluntary plan by which the Ohio city helped to forestall repetitions of such furious strife as it had seen in the past. “Do you remember the shrieking newspaper headlines a few years ago under Toledo date lines?” Mr. McGrady asks. “Strikes, lockouts, rioting and mobilization of National Guardsmen appeared to be the only news about Toledo that was printed. “Well, to judge by what has happened in Toledo in the last two and a half years, there has been something like a revolution—but a peaceful one. Labor and mangement are no longer at each other’s throats. Instead of giving an exhibition of the terrible costs of intolerance and

misunderstanding, they are showing

us what can be done by pati>nt and tactful consideration of each other’s problems.” ” ” ”

R. M'GRADY tells how the “Toledo Plan” was formulated after the Auto-Lite strike in 1934 and the Chevrolet strike in 1935.

“Carlton K. Matson of The NewsBee, Grove Patterson of The Blade and Richard Patterson of The Times did yeoman service in explaining the plan to the business and professional groups. They talked it from sunup to sundown to all who would listen, and their editorials punched the idea home.” “In my wandering about the country mediating industrial disputes,” he goes on, “I had observed that seme newspapermen covering labor were excellent material for conciliators. In Toledo I found Edmund Ruffin, labor reporter on The News-Bee had a fine grasp of the lzbor situation, and I recommended him. He was accepted as director, and he has been doing a good job ever since. “Toledo got a second good break

in 1935 when it adopted the city manager-small council form of government, which went into office in 1936. 8 # 8

n HE city manager government set the stage for amicable labor relations. It provided adequate police protection without curbing labor’s right to peaceful picketing.” The former Assistant Secretary of Labor summarizes some of the accomplishments of the Toledo Industrial Peace Board in the first 30 months of its existence. It handled in that time 138 disputes involving 28,372 persons,

“Where does the National Relations Board come in on the Toledo picture?” the article continues. “The NLRB is designed for an entirely differént purpose—to see to it that employees in interstate commerce are free to bargain collectivel:’ through their own agents.” “The Toledo Peace Board is a voluntary agency, handling local disputes which may or may not affect interstate commerce directly or indirectly; but the whole procedure is on a voluntary plane.”

Side Glances—By Clark

"As socn as Father reads up on the proper treatment, you're going punished” i)

Jasper—By Frank Owen

Thi

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Which state has the largest . water area? 2—In the church calendar, when is Low Sunday?

3—Name the President of Mexi-

co. 4—What is a gimlet? 5—~Who wrote the American's Creed? 6—On what river is the city of Chillicothe, Ohio? 7T—Who is Jan Syrovy? 8—What title is borne by princes ranking between king and duke?

» n ” Answers

1—Minnesota. 2—The first Sunday after Easter. 3—Lazaro Cardenas. 4—A tool used for boring small holes. 5—William Tyler Page. 6—Scioto. T—Inspector General Czech Army. 8—Grand-Duke.

8 = 8

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., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended be under-

of the

Indianapolis,

nd-Class Matter Ind.

PAGE 15

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

A Whole Half-Block of Buildings In Indianapolis Is the Result Of Father Bessonies' Initiative.

CAN'T help it, my heart always starts pumping when I reach that part of town bounded by Maryland St. on the north, Georgia St. on the south, Capitol Ave. on the west, and the anonymous alley on the

east. It’s the only block in the mile square —certainly, the only half block—that looks exactly the way it did when I was a boy 50 years ago. With the exception of the old Chamber of Come

merce (now called Liberty Building) at the corner of Maryland St. and Capitol Ave. all the property in that half block«belongs to the Catholics. So do the buildings, and I guess it’s perfectly safe to say that all of them were built not only during the administration of Father Bessonies, but as a result of his initiative, I remember Father Eessonies well. He used to come and call on the Kelleher family, our next-door neighbors on the South Side, and I distinctly recall his visit right after the birth of Emmet Kelleher. It was on that occasion that I remember my father telling me to have a good look at the old priest, Father said I'd probably never have another chance to see a man who was confirmed by Msgr. Guilaume Baltazar de Grandville, a confidant of the great Napoleon. Father Bessonies came to Indianapolis in 1857 when he was 42. In 1836, while still a student in France, he offered his services to the Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, Bishop of Vincennes, in Indi ana. After completing his studies, he set out for America, arriving in Vincennes in 1839. The r.ext 13 years he spent in Perry County. During this period he founded the town of Leopold and built two stone and three frame churches. In 1853 he moved to Ft. Wayne and enriched it with a church and parsonage. After that he went to Jeffersonville and the Knobs, and again his stay was good for a couple of churches. By that time it was 1857, the year he came to Indianapolis to take charge of old St. John's Church—not the present St. John’s mind jou, but the one built in 1850 by Father Gueguen. It fronted on Georgia St. somewhere around where the parish house now stands.

He Wasted No Time

First thing Father Bessonies did when he arrived in Indianapolis was to put a cross on top of old St. John's. Up to that time there wasn’t a cross on any church around here. The following spring he started building in a big way. First of all, he built the house at the corner of Georgia St, and Capitol Ave, where a year later, in 1859, the Sisters of Providence opened a school called St. John’s Academy. It was the first convent school around here. Soon as Father Bessonies got the Sise ters of Providence fixed up, he started a parsonage, and two years later, in 1865, he built a school for boys. That done, he got around to a church— the present St. John’s. It took four years and $100,000 to build it. When it was done, it was the largest church in Indianapolis. For that matter, it still is one of the biggest around here. The church was hardly done when, in 1873, he built a new building for St. John’s Academy. It's the one with the nice octagon roof on Maryland St. After that, he started tinkering with the parsonage he had built. He enlarged it, and had it all fixed up so that Bishop Chatard could move into it in 1878, By that time Indianapolis was the seat of a bishop. By that time, too, Father Bessonies was vicar= general of the diocese. With the possible exception of the cross on old St. John’s church, everything in that part of town remains just as Father Bessonies left it. As for the cross, he moved it to Holy Cross Cemetery. For all I know, it, too, may still be there.

Mr. Scherrer

Jane Jordan—

Baby Has Suffered Greatest Wrong From Spite Marriage, Wife Told.

EAR JANE JORDAN-—I am a girl of 19. I went with a boy for five years and thought there was no one like him and he felt the same toward me. But in the past year I married another and now I have a small baby, but I still love this boy and dislike my husband. I started to marry this boy once but my folks stopped me; so when I met my husband we ran away and were married for spite. Do you think I should stay with him and spoil my life just to hold the family together? I know my husband cares very little for me as he leaves me alone all the time. His “folks dislike me and won't speak to me. He doesn't pay my bills or the baby's milk bill. Do you think I should put up with it? I do have love for this other boy and have no doubt about it. I know I could never separate from my baby girl. I don’t step out but I often see this other boy. My husband says he does not love me and only lives with me because he has no other place to go. UNSIGNED. ” ” ” » Answer—So you married for spite. And whom did you spite? A baby girl. No matter what you do you can’t make it up to her for you do not love her father and he doesn’t love you. If you live with him her life will be darkened by the cold, unfeeling atmosphere of her home. She will be deprived of the come fort of two parents who join each other in love for their child. If you ‘leave and marry again she will miss her chance to live a secure, satisfied life under the proe tection of her own father. Perhaps her stepfather will love her and perhaps he will not. When her half brothers and sisters are born, if any, she must face the fact that they are more fortunately situated in the family than she. You've exposed her to certain dangers in life that she should have been spared. And you did it all because of the most trivial of human emotions—spite. I do not think that you or your husband are as important as the baby. She is defenseless. All she can do is put up with whatever her parents think is to their best advantage. Come to an agreement with your husband. If he doesn’t want to save your marriage for the baby girl, there is no point in perpetuating a mistake. But surely you will consider the situation more carefully before you marry your discarded suitor. How do you know that your old enemy spite isn't playing a big part in your selection of a second husband before the first husband is discarded? JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in this column daily. 4

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

IFE in a oollege town is much the same every= where. There is always a small circle of faculty members, intimately concerned with all questions of administration, and often disagreeing among themselves over the right policies to follow. Susan Goodyear in her novel COLLEGE SQUARE (Scribner) has described such a situation in a little provincial town in England, whose college, though small, has a great history behind it and is striving to regain the reputation of its past. The controversy here is over the selection of a new principal, and the consequent difficulties which ensue when the board of governors selects an outsider ine stead of the vice principal. There are moments in the story which, ténse and dramatic, approach tragedy; but it all ends happily to the satisfaction of everyone, and to the best in of the college. The book has “that rare sense reality, that humorous and sympathetic observation of

life which means real enjoyment for every reader,”

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