Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 November 1938 — Page 9

Vagabond

From Indiana = Ernie Pyle

Planes Stopped Three Years Ago, U. S. Flier Highly Regarded in Peru Despite Strange Sequel to Flight.

IMA, Peru, Nov. 12.—There is an American aviator named Hughie Wells who is one of the half-dozen best-known Americans in Peru. But probably nobody will ever know what mental torture and dark emo-

tional sloughs he has gone through in the last three years. You may have heard of his case. In Peru, it is known as “The Affair of the Four Condors.” In April of 1935, Hughie Wells led a flight of four new Curtiss-Condor - airplanes from the States to South America. Some people believe the planes were headed for, Bolivia, to be sold for use in the Chaco War. This would have been a violation of the U. S. neutrality law. Another belief is that they were to be sold to Chile for a commercial airline, which + would have been perfectly legal. Ome variation of this rumor is that. Chile then intended to sell the planes to Bolivia. Actually, the planes had permission from the American departments of State and Commerce to make the flight as survey trips for a new international airline. But the planes got only as far as Peru. Here they were stopped, on orders from the U. S. Government. And here they still are. Mr. Wells is still here, too. There are lots of rumors about him among flying men back home. I have been told repeatedly that Mr. Wells’ citizenship had been taken away, that he was an exile, a man without a country; that if he went home he faced the penitentiary.

But that wasn't- true. He is still an American citizen. He ‘is at peace with both the State and Commerce Departments. The one catch is that the Justice Department still has an indictment against him i i with an airplane and an ammunition company.

Mr. Wells can return to the States any time he wants to return, but he couldn't leave again as long as the indictment exists. Since Mr. Wells’ business and livelirood is now in Peru, he stays here. He has told Secretary Hull that if the case comes to trial, he will return. When the planes were grounded here, Mr. Wells just sat in his hotel room for six months while the international confusion went on around him. Finally the air began to clear, and important Peruvians came to him with a proposition. The Condors could do a useful work, and a company was formed “Condor Peruana de Aviacion.”

Organized Survey Flights

They made a number of survey flights into the Andes, and over the jungles beyond. Then they set out to locate landing places. Mr. Wells spent 23 days on muleback, getting to places where his Condors now land regularly. Mr. Wells has done such remarkable work that he is on excellent terms with the Peruvian Government: and many people say that he has done the United States more good in Peru than any other American here. Hughie Wells is a medium-sized, .good¢looking man around 40, a New Englander, well educated, schooled in engineering. He has been flying for 20 years. He helped organize Pan-American Airways, and was its first pilot. He has the Distinguished Service Cross for war-time flying. He was. one of the notable test pilots in the early, dramatic days of aviation. He smokes a pipe, but never drinks. He suffers from the damp cold in Lima, as do most Americans. He speaks some Spanish, but has found he isn’t adept at languages. His wife and daughter were in the States this summer, but Mrs. Wells is back here now. Mr. Wells like Peru. He feels there is greater opportunity here than at home. And Peru needs him. When the last technicality of his case in the States is disposed of he hopes to make a couple of vacation trips a year back north.

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Progress Reported at NYA Parley; Trip Short, Luggage Just as Heavy.

LBANY, N. Y,, Friday.—I wert down to the station to see the President off fur Washington at 1 o'clock. Little Diana Hopkins, who was going through to Washington with her father, settled herself comfortably in a chair opposite the President in the observation end of the car. After carefuily seating her doll in a comfortable corner, well covered up so the draughts would not disturb her, she seemed to feel all her responsibilities were over and she could relax. In saying goodby to Diana, I told her that I was looking forward to the 23d of Decembel, when she would be with us again in the White House, and asked her if she had written her letter to Santa Claus. She looked at me wisely and said: “No, I think I will let it be-a surprise because last year Santa Claus did not bring most of the things I asked for.” That is a good philosophy to acquire at any age, but it seemed to me a little sad to have acquired it at 6 years! In the afternoon, Miss Thompson and I journeyed to Albany, N. Y., laden down with six pieces of baggage which always go with us on even a short lecture trip, and we have four lectures next week. The occasion for my being here in Albany 1s a meeting "of the advisory committee of the National Youth Administration in New York State. Commissioner Mulrooney, who is the head of the state advisory committee, invited me to attend the sessions, to dine with them last night, and to speak at the meeting in Chancellor's Hall.

Thankful for Peace Mr. Charles Taussig was the other speaker.

I was

very much interested to hear him tell of the ad- | vancement made in the work of the National Ad- |

visory Committee and the suceess of their first regional committee meeting in Minneapolis. The next meeting will be held in New Orleans. I hope I may be able to attend it, for it is very interesting to hear the reports of the work done in the

different states. I try, of course, wherever I go, to familiarize myself with the program being carried on in the particular locality, for I agree with Commissioner Mulrooney who said to me last night: “We are fixed in our ways, there is little that can be done about us, but youth is in. the development stage and that is where progress can be made.” The New Yor state program seems to me to have grown tremendously since the last meeting I attended and I felt like congratulating Mr. Kail Hesley on the good work he has accomplished. Today is Armistice Day and I wish that on this day we could bring home to everyone in our country how fortunate we are to have no threat of war hanging ‘immediately over our heads. In any direction that we turn our eyes, we see people who live in daily anxiety either because of the threat of war, or because cne is actually going on. For what we are spared may the Lord make us truly thankful!

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, Nov. 12.—I think the studios are right about runnin’ in new faces on the screen ever so often. When an actor is in the business too long, the public gets to know all about him or her and no matter what part they play, they can’t hide their real identity. You're supposed to feel sorry for the poor little workin’ girl on the screen, but it’s kinda hard to work up a lot of sympathy when on youl know the actress is gettin’ § $2000 or $3000 2 Yoek,

ndianapolis

mes

Second Section

aba

(Last of a Series) By Willis Thornton

NEA Service Staff Correspondent NOTHING shows better what has happened to the world since Armistice Day, 1918, than the widespread rejection of peace as a way of life. : Today few people talk of peace as a decent and permanent way of running the world’s affairs. The best we can hope for is peace as a desperate putting off of a war for which we feverishly prepare. Today, talk of neutrals’ rights, of barring barbarous practices in war, of adhering to a treaty after it has become a disadvantage to do so—such things are shrugged aside

“unrealistic.”

But before the World War such things were no joke to thoughtful people. Peace sentiment, and workable machinery for adjusting disputes between nations, had made progress. In 1914 the Senate ratified 18 of 20 treaties negotiated by Secretapy Bryan for peacefully set-

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1938

as Happened to Us?

Masses Appear Better Off Despite Khan Chaos Since Armistice

] Sh ed eA Al 1

tling disputes. War with Mexico after the Vera Cruz affair seemed inevitable. But Argentina, Brazil and Chile mediated a settlement at Niagara Falls. A Universal Peace Congress had been planned in Vienna in September, 1914. The war killed it. Peace conferences at The Hague had been so successful that sensible people believed protection of noncombatants and neutrals, outlawry of dum-dum bullets and poison gas, had been accomplished. They felt sure that workable machinery had been set up for peaceful adjustment of differences, or at least to confine war within narrow limits. What the World War and later wars have done to these “accomplishments” needs no comment. After the World War, the peace movement took new hope. Among Wilson's Fourteen Points were: 1. Open diplomacy. 2. A just realignment of Europe's borders and of colonies. 3. A ‘general association of nations” to guarantee political and territorial independence for great and small states alike. A mere reading of the words tells what happened to that dream. oo PO HE peace treaty was not made in the open. Many of the Fourteen Points went glimmering in what was less a “peace” than a distillation of war hates. Ceaseless unrest testifies that the borders laid down were not satisfactory. The United States in a wave of disillusion, rejected the League. Defeated Germany and revolutionary Russia were excluded when 41 nations organized the League. Later Germany and Russia were to join, but Germany, Japan and Italy withdrew when the League tried to restrain their aggressive movements. Great Britain and France dominated the League and its policies from the opening session. The United States wanted no part of the war settlements. Her wish to withdraw from international affairs was evident from 1919 on. But a narrowing world kept forcing its problems upon

known to the prewar generation. The Allies tried to perpetuate their winning combination. France, closely related with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Belgium, and other small

countries, tried to hold the pri-

macy of Europe. All this fell as Hitler rose, and Germany now dominates the continent.

Britain's mighty empire, for

several generations the guarantor ..

of a “Pax Brittanica” with her great navy, is no longer so dominant.

In Asia, Japan's apparent con= quest of China completely alters the Pacific world. As the League's half-hearted effort to restrain Italy in Ethiopia by economic sanctions failed, so the United States failed to rally support of the nine nations (including Japan) which had signed a treaty guaranteeing the territorial integrity of China and the “Open Door” with equal trade rights in China for all. : Disillusioned by a Europe that is not at war today only because it dared not face the awful consequences, and by an Asia that flames with large-scale conflict, the United States has turned inward toward its nearer interests in the western hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine has been revised into a united policy of all the American nations, and a formal or informal American “League of Nations” is projected.

. 8 # ”

HE pre-World War world believed pretty strongly in two things: (1) That private ownership of the means of producing things, and private management

of their production in free competition led to the best results for

most men. (2) That the freest possible exchange of these goods between countries, with certain tariff restrictions, would make for the welfare of peoples and better world understanding. Both assumptions have been challenged, the first by the rise of socialist and quasi-socialist economies, the second by the idea of national self-sufficiency. First fruits of the World War were the Russian revolution, and

“national trade.

her. When war reparations failed, war debts failed, and the United States had to try adjustment with the Young, Dawes and Hoover moratorium plans. One reason the United States entered the war was to defend her rights as a neutral. “Contraband” was once a generally accepted list of materials directiy useful in war. Today, with “total war” the modern plan, even a piccolo might be considered “contraband” as contributing to the morale of soldier or civilian. In short, neutrals today have nn rights during a war which they are not prepared to enforce at gun-point. Slowly at first, lately with a rush, diplomatic conceptions and lineups changed utterly from those

Side Glances—By Clark

repudiated and

experiment.

it stands, and

great challenge

the revolutions

the first widespread attempt at a socialist state. Foreign debts were

foreign invest-

ments and property confiscated by Russia without compensation. The particular social sect called the Communists took charge of the

After 20 years the - socialist world is scarcely less divided than the capitalist as to the success of the Russian experiment. But there

the 20 postwar

years have thus been the first

to the individual-

istic and private-ownership principle, at one-time viewed as the last word in progress. S Following Russia's revolution,

in Germany and

Italy, though they spawned a different order than that of Russia, nevertheless produced economic

x

Nerd.

"'Sure—some day we're going to look back at all this and laugh. -

J hat's 5 what we 53d five years ago,"

Entered. as Second-Class Matter at Fos office, Indianapolis Ind.

and

orders that have points similar to it. » ” o UCH regimes naturally produced a new order in interBecause all dealing was centered in each case in a central government, the old channels of trade began to rust. For various reasons, military and political, each country tried to produce what it needed, with as little trade as possible. Surpluses were dumped on the world market regardless of cost, throwing out of gear the economies of those countries which were still operating in what had been a comparatively open market. Totalitarian countries found an advantage in international trade because they could deal,” subsidize and high-pressure buyers and sellers on a scale impossible to countries - whose trade was being carried on by individuals. Money lost some of the meaning it had to the prewar generation. Russia and Germany swept the boards clear and began over again after inflations that destroyed all values, all savings. France three times devalued its money, reducing savings by that much, Even in the United States it was conceded that dollar devaluation in terms of gold, though it repudiated the Government's expressly pledged word, was best for the majority of the people. Eight years of grinding depres-

' sion failed to swing the great ma-

jority of American sentiment away from individual ownership and enterprise. But the swing toward centralization was marked. Labor, always before the World War hostile to any government dictation of working conditions, turned to the NRA, the National Labor Relations Act, the Wage and Hour legislation for security in addition to its own bargaining and organizational power.

2 ” 2

EOPLE generally have turned to their Federal Government for help as never before. That includes elderly people who want pensions, World War veterans who asked and got a billion and a half-dollar payoff, bankers who wanted loans, farmers who wanted higher prices, railroads which wish to be saved from bankruptcy, local communities which want roads, schools, bridges and a myriad of public improvements, but which can’t pay for them. Result: In July, 1914, the Agriculture Department had 16,000 employees. Today it has 75,000. This increasing centralization is reflected in the Government's financial position. Before the World War, the United States owed debts abroad. The whole public debt was less than a billion dollars. Now depression debts rise toward 40 billions, and no end in sight. National budgets which used to show a small surplus each year now runs billions in the red. Yet in all this change, and even

with unemployment a world problem, a survey by the League of Nations finds that the masses of people are better off than they were before the World War. A rising standard of living for the average workingman and his family, and especially for youth, is the active concern of democracy and dictatorship, of capitalist and socialist state. As the average man came into his own politically in the 19th century, so in the 20th he is demanding, and getting, his economic heritage. » ” 2 EFORE the World War there were plenty of boys who had grown up in the United States without ever having seen a soldier. Which shows the pre-war innocence of a country which is now being forced into a prospective military budget of $1,300,000,000 for 1940. Complete rearming and modernizatich of the Army is under way. Air defense enthusiasts are demanding an air force three and four times the present one, which includes something over 3000 Army and Navy planes. The World War made certain that another war will be a “total war.” That is, every person, every resource, every energy, every thought, must be concentrated on winning. Everything becomes a part of the war machine, no opposition, no debate, no private ends, no withholding, can be tolerated. That is war today, and scarcely a person doubts it. Measures already introduced in the Con-

. gress would give the President

practically ~ dictatorial power if war comes. Yet little objection is

- quire a strong force

#| ¢ Prosecuting attorney,

heard, for since the World War,

that is what war means. ” 2 2 RMAMENTS have increased steadily since the World War that was to end them. But now the rate of increase is dizzily speeding up. especially since Germany threw off the Versailles restrictions in 1935 and Japan withdrew from naval limitations in 1936. The result is that the United States faces a different arms problem in 1938 than she has ever faced before. In the past, dominance of the friendly British fleet in the Atlantic had ‘been considered so great that the United States could concentrate much of its naval force in the Pacific. Now it is believed that conditions rein both oceans, especially since the Panama Canal might be so readily closed by air attack. For the first time, continental United States has become a possible target for air attack, and for the first time American cities begin to demand something of the defensive measures Europe knows too well. Twenty years after the World War, the United States finds itself forced to build defenses on a scale unimagined. Not only military defenses against a world madly rearming, but other defenses. Defenses against foreign totalitarian schemes which aggressively seek a foothold in the place that has proudly called itself “The Land of the Free.” Defenses against economic aggression and diplomatic chiseling. And finally, defense of

the greatest remaining stronghold -

of the idea that government must be not only “of the people,” and “for the people,” but actually “by the people.”

Besieged Madrid Scene of New Fight on Pellagra

By Science Service

EW YORK, Nov. 12.—Spain, the proving ground - for one of advances in recent years, the development of “blood banks” for blood transfusion purposes, will be the large-scale test laboratory of what may yet be another major step forward—the nicotinic acid treatment for pellagra, a widespread dietary deficiency disease from which .large inumbers of people suffer. Forty thousand Madrilenos, among those in Spain’s capital city now beginning their third year under siege by Gen. Francisco Franco's Repel treated with 26 pounds of the precious stuff, the aift -| Nobel Laureates, Dr. stein, Dr. William Parry Murphy, one of the discoverers of the liver cure for anemia, and Dr. Harold C. Urey, Columbia University heavy

medicine’s most. spectacular

armies, will be of 39 well-known American sci tists.

use of the remedy.

Permanent relief from the disease is not expected from the nicotinic acid, as a critical food shortage in

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

—

$

“Let's go over to the other side—we can see the chegr leaders better," Ln

It will be the first large-scale

Madrid may be expected to continue to cause new cases of pellagra. Only a marked improvement in the food

i situation can alter this condition. Nicotinic acid as a remedy for pellagra was discussed by Drs. David T. Smith and Susan Grover Smith of Duke University only a short time ago at the fall meeting of the Sciences. These two are among the scientists who contributed $425 to purchase the supply of the drug; others are Drs. R. R. Williams of the Bell Telephone Laboratories and C. A. Elvehjem of the University of Wisconsin, both of whom were early workers in

National Academy of

the nicotinic acid field.

The list of donors includes three Alpert Ein-

hydrogen finder.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Is the North Pole nearer to the center of the earth than the Equator? 2—Is it proper for a bride to wear a wedding gown and veil when the groom is dressed informally? .3—Name the alloy of copper and zinc. 4—Which states officially are called commonwealths? 5—Into what body of water does the Mississippi River flow? 6—Name the German Minister of Economics? 7—What is the name for the science of antiquities?

3 2 ” Answers

1—Yes, because the earth is slightly flattened at the poles. 2—No. - 3—Brass.

_ 4—Massachusetts, Kentucky,

Pennsylvania and Jirginia. 5—Gulf of Mexico. 6—Dr. Walther Punk. T—Archaeology.

8 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 research be.

PAGE 9

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

Elections Are Pretty Tame Now, But in the Old Days They Settled Many Weighty Measures With Fists,

()CCASIONALLY I get to wondering (to stewing, too) why the men around here don’t use their fists more instead of talking so much. Fifty years ago when I was a kid, elections were always settled with fists.

In these days of synthetic optimism we resort to words and what does it get us? At best, only a recount of votes, a thing unheard of when men took their fists with them to the polls. Goodness

knows, the forfeiture of fists is something to worry about, but before I wrestle with that phase of the problem it might be well to review some of the historic fights of Indianapolis. Probably one of the earliest was the one back in 1823 when Calvin Fletcher, our first and Squire Obed Foote ran out of words. In that fight Mr. Fletcher got licked. It's a matter of, record because when the fight was settled, Prosecutor Fletcher took the matter up with himself and informed the Grand Jury. Sure Mr. Fletcher was indicted and fined. That's the kind -of men, to say nothing of the brand of humor, we used to have around here.

Mr. Fletcher must have given a grand account of himself, however, because shortly after his run-in with Squire Foote he bluffed a foreman of the Grand Jury just by taking off his coat. As near as I recall, the Grand Jury had found an indictment against a man for selling liquor without a license, by far the most frequent offense of that time. The foreman refused to * sign the indictment giving as his reason that he

Mr. . Scherrer

wouldn't indict others for what he did himself.

“If you don’t sign it,” said Mr. Fletcher, “I will take you before Judge Wick.” Which is exactly what

he did. Judge Wick opined that the only way to make headway was to leave the foreman to his conscience

and his God, and ordered the jury to return to their

room. When they got there, Mr. Fletcher peeled his

coat and threatened to thrash the daylights out of the foreman if he didn’t come through. That settled it.

Monroe Doctrine Stirred Things Up “Has the foreman signed the bill?” asked the Judge when they returned to the court room. ‘He has,” said Mr. Fletcher. “I thought his conscience would not

let him rest until he had signed it,” said Judge Wick. Also very early in the annals of Indianapolis was

the affair between Andrew Wilson, a mill owner, and

a neighbor by the name of Zadoc Smith. They quar=

reled over the Monroe Doctrine which leads me to be

lieve that they fought it out in the winter of 1823, They came back from their fight looking like wrecks, and never to their dying days told anybody who of the two got licked. It’s pretty well established, however, that they settled the matter between themselyes because from that day on they never again diScussed the Monroe Doctrine. Another fight of the same secret and undetermined kind took place between Capt. Wiley and Jim Smith, two tailors, who fought it out in the State House Square, but who came out ahead nobody knows. This much is certain, however: After the fight they never again brought up the question as to Whestier a man’s vest should have five or six buttons.

lane Jordan=-

Girl, 18, Anxious for Car, Advised To Prove Reliability to Her Dad.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a girl of 18 and for the past three years I have been wanting a I've begged father to get one but he says he I can’t understand it for he owns a lot of property. We have a big, beautiful home and

everything we could wish for but a car. I have clothes, money and a bike, yet I'm eating my heart out for a car. I go with a nice fellow who has a cute little V-8 and he lets me drive it once in a while. I have a wonderful father and mother. Please tell me how I can get my parents to buy a car. Mother wants one, too. WISHING.

Answer—Perhaps your father is telling the truth: and cannot afford a car. Then perhaps he is afraid to buy one for fear you will want to drive it all the time. In view'of all the horrible accidents that occur with youth at the wheel, his hesitance to bring this problem into the family is understandable. Doubtless this makes you impatient and angry, but I feel sympathy for your father. The responsibility of turning a child loose with an automobile is a source of care and anxiety which you do not under-: stand. My 17-year-old son worked on me for a long time before I gave in. His campaign consisted of in- * creasing my faith in his reliability. By proving himself responsible in school, responsible about money, by keeping reasonable hours and making his word as good as gold, it finally dawned on me that he was mature enough to handle a car. Use the same tactics on your father, They're very effective.

» ” ” Ds JANE JORDAN--My husband and I had a quarrel over this: The man in the next apartment from ours had a girl friend over there. He came over and asked my husband to have a drink with them. I was in the other room at the time; so he didn’t ask me. My husband came in and said to

me, “I am going over next door to have a drink and smoke a cigaret.” I said, “Oh, don’t go over there,” and he got mad and said terrible things. Here is what I thought: If the man next door asked my husband over he should have asked me also as he had his girl friend there. If he had been alone, I wouldn't’ have said anything. Do you think I am right, or my husband? UNDECIDED,

Answer—Your neighbor hs has bad manners and so has your husband. It was rude of your neighbor to extend a casual invitation to your husband which did not include you and rude of your husband not to decline unless you also could go. Bad manners after marriage are just as deplorable and objections able as bad manners beforehand. 4 However, I think the error was more careless than malicious and now that it has occurred it is better to drop it and stop talking about who was right and who was wrong. To humiliate and embarrass him by showing him up as a boor is to invite retaliae tion and to keep trouble alive. JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will 4 £i answer your questions in this column dai

car. can’t afford it.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

“Fre go Vagabond Voyaging, down to Rio and the River Platte; off on the Road to Mandalay, where the famous flying fishes play . . . there’s an empty bed in an outside stateroom on a freighter that's ready to take you to strange harbors.” And who hasn’t felt that urge of wanderlust and } to sail the seven seas to the outports and bypaths Ahe world ? = Sr Larry Nixon tells how you may take such a Trip, in his book VAGABOND VOYAGING: STORY OF FREIGHTER TRAVEL (Little), an answer to the would-be-travelers’ questions ‘concert the cost of a voyage, the freighter lines carrying p sengers, the people that you meet and the & officers, what to wear and what to do while at

the smallest d

the short trips and longer ones; nor does he talls that make such a trip