Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 September 1938 — Page 15

Vagabond

From Indiana = Ernie Pyle

Alas, Alack, Poor Ernest! Our Own, Our Native Philosophical Genius Finds Himself a Mere Ignoramus! |

AMBRIDGE, Mass. Sept. 22.—Although I am a very ignorant man, and could

i

The Indianapolis

Imes

Second Section

Air War * » ® * * * » ® ® ® ® ® By Mai. Al Williams

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER

29

dnd gy

1938

Entered as Second-Class Matter Indianapolis, Ind.

at Postoffice,

hardly be called even a bench-warmer on ne Commercial Aviation in Europe a Satellite fo Military Flying

field of philosophic thought, still there has always been in me a deep veneration for

those who have studied and achieved high | scholastic degrees. It has always been my thwarted ambition to ve | yhilosopher, To become so wise that I might like Emerson and think like Justice Holmes. Hence I have always looked | up with respect to the Ph.D, the | Doctor eof Philosophy. And so, wearing a long-billed | cap and a dirty shirt as badges of | my own wretched ignorance, I| slunk into the sacred halls of Har- | vard today on a devout mission to find out what makes the philosophers so smart. Three hours of research took me | through the entire list of theses | upon which 1000 Harvard men in | the past 10 years have gained the | all-knowing status of Ph.D. Just from the titles, I thought, might come some clue | to a program of practical philosophy for myself. | Here, if ever, was the source of a broad, placid design for living. My first title read: | The Inheritance of Harelip and Fused House Mouse.” | Audubon took his secret from the birds, and Tho achieved his philosophy from the growing things of nature, There are philosophers who have learned from tip busy ant and the buzzing bee. But to sit at the feet of a hare-lipped house mouse (probably gnawing on cheese) is getting too darn | philosophical for me. Even “and fused” is over my |

hoard ata

Mr. Pyle

in the |

‘Morphology and Syntax’... Eureka!

So I must seek further. Something simple, but | well-rounded. This title caught my eye: The Morphology and Syntax of the Periphrastic | Passive in the German Works of Notker III.” There you have the key. When you know that, what else is there to know? Eureka! Rut I thumbed further along, seeking a treatise on > and death, a calm and acceptable understanding it all. My answer was A Statistical Analysis of Fluctuations in the Price | Howdy Socrates, you old corn statistician |

OMMERCIAL aviation is a sideline in Europe, and

largely is the satellite of the military. | aeronautical brains are concentrating on fighting and

bombing airplanes.

The best

Thus, there are no radio directional beams in Europe. Neither are there beacons for night fiying. No one makes an effort to supply a prospective airline customer with weather information, and almost without exception the major airlines ignore the safety belt for passengers. A safety belt won't preserve a passenger's life in case of a crack-up, but it will prevent injury in minor ground ac-

cidents.

Yet the airlines tuck the belts under the seat

cushions and forget about them.

The atmosphere of air war prevails. ride on an airline, it's all right with the operators.

it's much like going for a pleasure cruise on a battleship. I think it is significant that the things missing in European airline operation are things useless or not available under war condi-

tions.

British Imperial Airways does exert itself in behalf of comfort for the traveler, but in overland operations on the Continent uses antiquated ships which are safe but infamously slow. The Handley-Page “Heracles,” a gigantic biplane, cruises at 90 miles an hour, and makes the trip

| from London to Paris, about 250 | miles, in two hours and 20 min-

utes. » & 4

IR France and other major airlines are using ships openly designed after the American Douglas and are cutting into English business with faster services.

| The British explain the discrep-

I don't know whether you would call Darwin a hilosopher or not, but he did work out a highly | osophy of existence calied Evolution. he following philosophical work seems to fall right Darwin's field: “An Investigation of Reconstitution Various Operations on the Tails of Frogs.” | It is my understanding that this philosopher kept cutting off a frog's tail, to see how far up he could go the frog died An old-fashioned conviction this essay almost useless for me. I have gone It 1s |

1ran 3 "me ea-apout p

all

Following |

re nders

r me to change now. yild go on for hours. In the reading rooms of rd I scratched down title after philosophical ife and Works of Thomas Sprat”—"The jon With Pressure of the Phase Diagram of the » Mixture Na-K'—"Extensions of Partially OrSets'—"Hugh Henry Brackenridge" —" The Quadrennial Legislative Session of Alabama” | n and on nd late that afternoon you could have seen a ilosopher named E. Tobias Pyle, Ph. T, late ard, stumbling about Harvard Square. He flashlight above his head, and the startled f Cambridge heard him calling faintly, 1enes, Demosthenes.”

pilot.

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Trying to Delve Too Far Into the Future Seems Quite Unprofitable.

EW YORK CITY, Wednesday.—Anvone reading the papers today must wonder a little at the of people in high places. Apparently eneration is entirely willing to undo what a predone. Perhaps the only thing we can is the fact that trying to project our- | rather unprofitable |

stency ~~ aac one Nas

¢ oo far into the future is a iness. We might better deal as fairly and as careas we can with situations as they are at the nt and leave the future to look after itself » many people whom I know are always wor- | about what they will leave to their children. I 1ite convinced that it is more important to give | Idren all the advantages you can so that they useful in the world and may meet any | ns which might arise in their lives, than it is to worry about what you may leave them in dollars and cents. When you pass on, you will leave behind | vou a generation of well-equipped and useful citizens able to manage their own lives and cope with the world as their forefathers did am always proud and to a certain extent relieved | any own children prove that they are | tirely able to cope with life by themselves, for, after | their own characters are the only absolutely sure ! thing we can count on in the future. As far as I} myself am concerned, I am going to try to do what I | can about today and let the next generation deal | with tomorrow. A Party for 12... Around 7:00 o'clock last evening, at my apartment in New York City, I felt as though I was living in a kaleidoscope. My brother said that he and one other person would join us at dinner. Then his vounger generation behaved a little the way my younger generation does occasionally, and he found himself giving a party for 12 people This was a little bevond the capacity of my apartment and some of them drifted in for a minute and then drifted out again. Finally, four of us reached in perfect quiet and calm. The party had We four probably should have felt depressed | that we were not going to join in the gay evening, but | I am getting old and I heaved a sigh of relief that I was starving by my own fireside with no excitement going on

of my

ur qe

1afs?

ed all night and this day, so Miss Thompson and I dovetailed our engagements this morning in order that my brother's car and chauffeur could | look after both of us. Each time we emerged from | a building it was raining a little harder than before. Nevertheless, I have ordered some winter clothes, been to the dentist, bought some Christmas presents, and | lunched with an old friend.

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, Sept. 22—I read the other day where one of our lawmakers wanted to put through a bill to make doctors use plain English names ad of Latin so that peopled know what was the matter with ‘em and what they was takin’ for it. I had one uncle who kept losin’ jobs on account of ill health and finally his wife sent him to the i My uncle says, “Now Doc, don’t give me none f them technical Latin names for my ailment—tell me in plain English what's the matter with me.” The doctor examined him and says, “All right, | I'll tell you—youre jest plain lazvr.” My uncle says, | “All right but can you give me a technical name for it | so I can tel! my wife?” | (Copyright. 1938) $

inst alld

ctor

| oversea work, civil aviation's

ancy in their commercial speed by pointing to the huge air rearmament programs now under way. But the condition existed long before the rearmament program started. It’s inconceivable that the Ger-

| mans and the French would get

together and organize a string of radio directional beams from Paris to Berlin. So these beams don't exist The European method of aerial navigation, however, is exact and satisfactory. A pilot is able to get radio information from ground stations at the rate of about 120 observations per minute which permit him to draw lines on his airmap and chart his exact position in the air.

This is effected by the radio

| operator tapping out his request

on his Morse key for position information. Two or more-ground stations immediately check the direction from which these messages have come. Each ground station reads the other’s direction check, draws the two or three lines on an air map, and supplies the information directly to the

= = ® I was amazed at the lack of de-icing equipment on Furopean airline ships. More than two vears ago the British were ac-

| quainted with the Goodrich type

of de-icer, developed in this coun-

fry and used on all our transport ships. But they decided against it

Recognizing necessity, thev did however, produce what has been called “political paste” —which was plastered all over the entering

| edges of the wings to prevent the | adhesion of ice.

The slang name of this goo openly indicates that

| it did not work and was regarded

with derision. Transoceanic flying, is getting attention chiefly on its own merit. It is recognized that beneficial results will come from control of oceanic air routes, and the age-

| old struggle for control of the sea

lines, and consequent trade, is being re-enacted. But in ironing out the problem of distance flight and hitting upon the type of airplane best suited for réesearch and testing will be valuable to the military. It will not be the first such instance. England's Blenheim bomber, for instance, is a brazen copy of the American Iiockheed transport plane.

If you want to But

HE commercial plane that can carry passengers across the Atlantic inevitably will have its military prototype. Transoceanic airline operation, however, is decidedly in its experimental stages. Flying boats and seaplanes are held best suited for the work by one group, while another school of thought is biding its time until a multi-engined land plane is developed to remain aloft with only haif its engines running. The gear of a land plane: is valuable pounds lighter than the clumsy hull of a flying boat or the wind-resisting pontoons of a seaplane. The flying boat as we know it today is not carrying a profitable payload on trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific operation. True enough Pan-American Airways is operating over the Pacific and has, with the British Imperial Airwavs, made experimental flights across the North Atlantic. The fiving boats of neither nation have the necessary range for a profitable payload on board. The British are frank in this confession. Years behind the American, the British Government sponsored the Short Empire flying boats, which capitalized on later design and improved construction technique and are greatly superior to our Clipper ships. But the Empire flving boats, like the American ships, require all four motors in operation to sustain normal flight. The answer to very profitable payloads seems to reside in increasing the size of the boats and curtailment of construction weights. g & & VISITED the Short Brothers plant which manufacture the Empire flying boat at Rochester, England, this year. The present Rritish Empire flying boat has an all-up weight of approximately 45.000 pounds. At Rochester I saw a still greater type of the Empire flying boat which totaled 70.000 pounds. As far as I could discover this larg-

er British boat is the prototype of | a huge overwater plane for pa-

troling the sea lanes in time of

war. The British admit that it is |

not large enough to undertake the transportation of profitable payloads across the Atlantic. They do seem quite certain, in fact, that until flying boats are built which weigh in the neighborhood of 200,000 pounds, profitable payloads carriage is an impossibility. Meanwhile, under partial government sponsorship, Pan-Amer-ican Airways has contracted with the Boeing Co. for the delivery of six experimental flying boats which were originally designed to weigh about 70,000 pounds. The first of this series of six is being tested for seaworthiness which involves 250 miles of surface taxiing and weigh approximately 86,000 pounds. The flying boat holds great possibilities in that its landing and takeoff areas at either end of a journey are unlimited, and require no maintenance or upkeep.

HE Italians appear to be wavering between multi-engined fiving boats and long-range highspeed land planes. The French have been decidedly ineffective in producing a flying boat to stand in the same category with Pan-American and Imperial Airways flyiag boats. They have been conducting transoceanic air service across the South Atlantic, but their operations are of

Side Glances—By Clark

| tens set

Isn't that the girl who helped me with my canning last year?"

AA EE —————— a Ng S SEE a CR A

little technical value to the records established by America and Britain. Until recently it has been difficult to analyze satisfactorily the attitude of the Germans in the design and construction of waterborne aircraft. They have been operating twin - engined flying boats which are based and launched by catapults on mother ships. It is of singular interest that while no other country is able to build a practical Diesel engine for aircraft, the Germans have made about 15 successful North Atlantic crossings with this type of plane. The Germans also have developed a route through the North Atlantic with a rather queer contraption, a pontoon job, manufactured by the Blohm and Voss Shipbuilding Co. of Hamburg. The Germans regard this ship as an experiment and do not intend to duplicate its construction, since it also is deficient in payload carrying capacity. = ” = HE school of thought which has been waiting on the door-

step for the development of the 5 — -—

ASHINGTON. Sept. 22— The Sudeten Germans are not all, or overwhelmingly, Nazis. If it were not for fear of retaliation, many of them would oppose annexation to Germany.

tory. The tragedy of the Germans within Czechoslovakia was that they became a subordinate element after having been dominant. The Sudetens, except for a very few, had never been subjects of Germany. Their forebears had come originally at the invitation of the Bohemian (Czech) Kings. After the World War, the Sudeup four districts, asked to be joined to Austria. But these four Sudeten districts were not one homogeneous territory. In fact, only one of them was adjacent to the new Austria. The other three were contiguous to Germany: if they were not to be included in Czechoslovakia, they would have to go to Germany. And the Allies were in no mood for anything like that. Most Sudetens followed one of three parties in Sudenland—the Social Democrats (Socialists), Christian Socialists (conservative) and Agrarians. All three for a time maintained a “‘negativist” at-

THOSE SUDETENS—

‘By E.R. R.

| Their

At least, | that seems to be the story told | by history of the Sudeten terri-

el

proper multiengined land planes for transoceanic work feel that they are ready to step across the threshold and go to work in a big way. The recent nonstop flight of the German Focke-Wulf {ourengined Condor from Berlin to New York in about 25 hours, and return in 19 hours, has brought this school to its feet in a yelling mood. The main purpose in using a flying boat for long overwater work is that it can land on the surface in case a motor fails, The limitation to this, of course,

it. In 1926, however, the Chris-

| tian Socialists and the Agrarians

went “activist” and were given representation in the Cabinet. example was followed in 1929 by the social Democrats. 5 ” 2 the world depression the Sudeten region, which highly industrialized. New strength came to the two Sudeten “negativist” parties—the Nationalists and the National Socialists. They were disbanded by the government in 1933, but a vear later the Sudeten German party, organized along Nazi lines, arose under Henlein. In 1935 the new party polled more than two-thirds of the vote in the Sudeten districts, and got more than twice as many seats in Parliament as the three “activist” parties. In municipal elections in 1936 Henlein lost ground, and again in 1937 when the Praha government agreed to employ Sudetens in state services proportionately to their numbers. The Henleinists repudiated the concession, it did not work out to the satisfaction of the other Sudeten parties, and then Hitler decreed that the Sudeten problem must be solved his way.

HEN struck was

| Empire ) titude toward the government at |

| Praha, refused to co-operate with | boat to America.

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

A

‘ Wort man

——

Mrs. Rumpel's Reoming House "Yes, sir, you can't beat this room for four dollars and if you're a drinker, the saloon across the street sells the biggest five-cent

beegin town."

ARN

ifs marked by the condition of the sea’s surface. Nevertheless, a flying boat down on the ocean has a chance to lift. But the German FockeWulf Condor which can continue its flight with a full load on board, with any two of its engines out of commission, introduces. a new factor. In other words, such a plane involves little or no possibility of having to land before reaching its destination. The British had ambitions of checking the flight efficiency of a four-engined land plane on trans-Atlantic operations against that of the Empire flying boats. They built the four-engined giant “Albatross.” When I was in England, the Albatross made a few trial flights and was taken back to the factory for modification. Since then the Albatross’ fuselage cracked in a landing after a test flight. o 8 o

HE British also developed a | | to give them to Germany.

| Czechoslovakia despite their own protests and

giant air transport called the “Ensign.” It is a 40-passenger job far below the all-round performance of the American Douglas DC-3's and not at all in the class with the Focke-Wulf Condor. The British have conducted some very interesting experiments in pick-a-back planes. This parallels the German experiments for catapulting planes into the air with greater loads than they could

takeoff with. The British launched a small four-engined

, Speed plane from the back of an , Empire flying boat.

I think this idea was worked out backward. They should have fueled the flying boat from the speedy Mercury and sent the big They sent us the wrong one. These experiments to date are in search of a way to overload

| long-range water-borne aircraft,

possess no commercial significance, but do mean something in military operation. Aggressive aeronautical engineers, unhampered by prejudice, are convinced that the flying boat hull is at present an insurmountable burden, and that the production of giant land planes will carry the first profitable payloads between Europe and America.

Lighter-than-air operation over the Atlantic has, since the Hindenburg disaster, been precluded by the American monopoly on helium. The dirigible has been outmoded as a military craft, I think, but it still bids fair to figure in the air transportation picture,

When I was in Germany I was quietly informed that scientists are perfecting a process to extract helium from the atmosphere in usable quantities at a reasonable cost. It was also reported that the new dirigible is being redesigned to use hydrogen temporarily. The point is, one way or another the dirigible is coming back.

THE END

(Copyright, 1038, by Pittsburgh Press Co.)

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—-What is an interloper? 2—Can fish close their eyes? 3—Which naval battle in the World War was most important? 4—How much is % of 14? 5—Who wrote the novel “Great Expectations”? 6—What is the name for a word or phrase that reads the same forward and backwards? 7—In what industry did the C. I. O. start its organizing campaign? 8—In troy weight, how many ounces to a pound?

LJ ” os Answers

1—One who interferes in affairs in which he has no concern. 2—No; they have no eyelids. 3—Battle of Jutland. 4-1-6. 5—Charles Dickens. 6—Palindrome. T—Iron and steel industry. 8—Twelve, ” ” ”

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 research be under-

PAGE 15

Washington By Raymond Clapper

Borah Retraces the History of The Treaty of Versailles and Sees His Fight Against It Vindicated.

VW ASHINGTON, Sept. 22. —Senator Borah, who led the fight against the Treaty of Versailles 20 years ago, has lived to see himself vindicated. For the partition ing of Czechoslovakia, which seems immi=nent, will shatter one of the few remaining monuments to our effort to make the world safs for democracy. Dismemberment of that little democracy, which was carved by hand out of the old Austro-Hungarian empire, will make the wreckage almost complete. Poland still stands, but democracy did not live long there. A military dictatorship soon took over. Czechoslovakia, however, struggled bravely on with its attempt to keep its democracy alive in a hostile environment. Now, since the powerful Allies who were responsible for its birth are no longer able or willing to save, little but a hollow shell can survive, if that. Czechoslovakia was our particular baby, the child of Wilson's dream of the self determination of peoples. Czechs, while under the heel of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were rebellious in their demand for freedom and took courage from Wilson's wartime 14 points, the tenth of which promised self-determination for all peoples. Bohemians in the United States raised much of the money and assisted in the agitation which resulted in their declaration of independence, issued in

Mr. Clapper

| Washington, in October, 1918, before the end of the

war. A few weeks earlier the United States had recognized the Czechoslovakian National Council as a de-facto belligerent government, thus setting the pace for the Allied Governments and preparing the way for admission of Czechoslovakian delegates to the peace conference later.

The Fixing of the Boundaries

Czechs revolted, set up their new government at Praha. The new president, Masaryk, sailed from the United States and took charge at his new capital a month after the Armistice, in which Austria had accepted the independence of Czechoslovakia as a condition, Much difficulty was met in fixing the boundaries because heavily populated German centers were scat tered around the territory. The Sudetens, even then, begged not to be left at the mercy of their new Czech masters and wanted to be left with Austria. But those districts were not contiguous to Austrian territory as redefined in the peace conference. They were close to the German border, but the Allies were in no mocd So they were held .nside the protests of Germany. This was to be self-determi-nation for the Czechs, not for the Germans. Even at the time many recognized that this solu= tion of the problem, for which there probably is no perfect solution, was likely to cause trouble. It remained for Hitler, 20 years later, to make the protest effective, as he has one after another of Germany's protests against Versailles. That treaty is gone. The League of Nations continues its dreary career as a debating society, but its words fall unheeded on the world and the Wilson peace program lives only in memory as a noble ideal which nations are not as yet sensible enough to forge into reality. No wonder Senator Borah, surveying this -lismal end of Wilson's magnificent crusade, says again, “America, stay out!”

Jane Jordan—

Deserted Husband Advised He Is Mistaken in Morose Attitude.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am 39 years old and have been married 14 years. We always were happy together and had a very comfortable home and twa beautiful children, a girl of 13 and a boy of 11. In the last year I found my wife acting coldly towards me. I learned that she was infatuated with a wouldbe friend of mine. I tried in every way to make her see her mistake for the sake of the children and the only answer I got was, “I don't know what is wrong with me.” Three months ago she packed up and left me and the children. I see her often with this man. He is single and much younger than she. My wife is the third married woman he has been mixed up with. I saw my wife this week and asked her just what she was going to do. I offered to give her a divorce but she doesn't want one. What hurts is that I still love her and cannot get her out of my mind after all she has done in deserting me and the children. All my future seems shot to pieces. It is the little ones who have kept me going as I still have them. Will you please advise me? JACK.

Answer—If I knew what you could do to ease up the whole situation and re-establish a satisfactory life I would tell you, but I don't. These things take time and no one can foresee the events which will bring about a better life. You didn’t ask for this experience in so many words, but you let it happen. Had your wife felt in you a core of strength which just would not put up with the desertion of her post, she would have besn afraid to trifle with her position of wife. As it is you have taken it all on the chin and love her just the same. Don't you suppose she knew this well enough when she left? The chances are that she will come back when her fling is over for she evidently knows that her love affair won't last. The man sounds like a mischief maker to me, one who finds satisfaction in taking a woman away from another man and loses interest as soon as it is accomplished. Try to find out what was lacking in you that brought about this situation so that you can avoid it in the future. In the meantime go about the business of building a new life as firmly as you can. You have your children to care for. You are only 39 and your life isn't over by a long shot. What do you have against yourself, anyway? You've got plenty to live for although you may have tough going for a while. Other men have been victore ious over a similar situation; so can vou. JANE JORDAN

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

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

" E had in his bones whatever it takes to make music,” had Rick Martin, “the meanest, rattiest, loveliest swing band music.” Youthful protege of an amazingly “sweet and hot” Negro orchestra, Rick owed his later fame as the greatest white trumpet player of his time in no small measure to the tutelage of those great naturals of jazz. The sensation of a New York orchestra and idol of the swing-mad publia at 25, Rick was never quite satisfied with himself. An intensive, creative spirit, always urging him on, kept mind and body blazing at white heat and in the end destroyed him. After the collapse of his marriage to a brilliant, neurotic college girl he “went to pieces in

| a big way, so thoroughly that he killed himself doing

it. Dorothy Baker in YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (Houghton) presents a delicately powerful study, not only of one man’s frustrate musical genius, but of the wild cacophonic art of swing itself. And the men who make jazz what it is, are, she proves, always unique,

often great, and sometimes, like Rick Martin, supremely tragic. T