Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 December 1938 — Page 17

: ~ librarian, Miss

Vagabonc

| From Indiana=Ernie Pyle

R { He Hurries Into Town to Get Some Snake-Fright Serum After Viewing The: Sights of Butantan (Institute.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dec. 21.—Butantan is

a combination of research institute tol

study snake venoms and factory for the production ‘of snake-bite serum. They ship serum all over the world. There are 23 known types of deadly . snakes in South America, according to the. Institute's ephia Fontes. Seven of these 23 are different forms of rattlers, similar to our own. EE |At Butantan, they extract venom from each snake about once a week. The virus is then injected into horses, which have been previously iminunized, so it doesn’t hurt them. Certain reaction takes place, and then the horse’s blood becomes antivenom serum, You would suppose that Butantan would have men out in the jungle all the time hunting snakes. Buf it doesn’t. Farmers and Indians ship them in from the interior. ' It is a law in Brazil that any snake consigned to Butantan must be carried free by the transportation companies. The institute doesn’t pay for snakes. But they do send free serum in exchafige for the snakes. It is appalling, the number of snakes that arrive. 3

According to Miss Fontes, there isn’t a snake in Butantan that has been here more than six months.

Mr. Pyle

The venomous snakes won’t eat in captivity, They ||

live a few months, then die. Butantan does not force-feed these snakes. They just use them until they die. They sell the skins. The institute has only a few of the constrictor type, and no big ones at all. The biggest constrictor they have is only about three inches thick and maybe eight feet long. The vicious and deadly bushmaster lives only a few days after arriving here. The director of Bitantan is Dr. Jayme Cavalcanti.

Trained Reserve Pilots Key to Power in Sky

By Maj. Al Williams

Time: Special Writer os PHE United States sud- =" denly has become apprehensive ‘of air war, and the clamor is on for planes. First, 7000 were mentioned as necessary for .defense. Then 10,000 and up.

Oddly enough, the chief snake-handler’s name is|

Sergio Cavalcanti. He and the director aré not related. There are several snake-handlers, but they say Senhor Cavalcanti is far and away the best. Most of the snakes are kept. in open pens, with concrete walls. The floor of the pen is below the ground level, so thet from inside the wall is about six feet high and slants inward. We walked to the pen where they kept the rattler types.

Handler Takes : Risks

It was a hot day, and the snakes were all in their little huts—rounded concrete huts that look like beehives. Senhor Cavalcanti stepped to the top of the wall, and jumped i! He had a short pole, with a steel hook on the end. He reached into the huts and began pulling out snakes by the dozens. : In a few minutes he had half a hundred snakes around him, every one capable of killing him. They were crawling right around his feet. He kept a close. watch, and several times drew back a step or two just as one would strike, : He poked them, to make them mad. One big one struck and struck, but always fell a little short. “Don’t the snake handlers ever get bitten in there?” I asked Miss Fontes. Senhor Cavalcanti pulled up a pants leg. He wore heavy black leather puttees under his trousers. But even so, handlers do get bitten. Senhor Cavalcanti said that, in his eight years there, he had been bitten 16 times. And then, standing there among the rattlers, he added a joke. “It’s 17 times now,” he said. long ago.” : I asked! Miss Fontes if any of the snake-Handlers ever died from bites at the Institute? No, in the Institute’s 38 years, not one had died. Effective serum was always ready to be administered. But there is no serum for fright at the Institute. That is sold only «lowntown. I bade Miss Fontes a Shaky adieu, and want to town.

“I got married not

My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Fears Some May Think She Is High Hat Due to Attitude When Alone.

EW YORK CITY, Tuesday.—As I went into the airport station in Washington yesterday afternoon, I noticed a striking looking woman with a bunch of chrysanthemums. While I walked up and down waiting for the plane to be ready, I again noticed her talking to two gentlemen, but I restrained my desire to stare. Finally she came up to me and said: “I am Rose Bampton who sang for you last year and I am glad to.see you again.” In excuse for my apparent rudeness, I could only plead that day clothes make one look different than evening clothes, | The truth of the matter is that I have acquired he habit of looking at no one when I am out by myself. I. realize it is behaving rather like an ostrich because I base this on the theory that if I don’t _recognize people -they will not recognize me. Howsver, there are two drawbacks to this procedure. One s that I sometimes miss people that I would like ery much to see, as would have happened in this case Miss Bampton had not spoken to me. The second

one is that unfortunately people recognize me just

the same and prokably think I have gone “high hat.” . | I arrived in New York City in plenty of time to put a few Christmasy finishing touches to my little apartment before my brother and four friends came to ‘ dine. We went to see: “Kiss the Boys Goodbye,” a lay written by Clare Boothe. That she is clever and that the lines are entertaining, nobody will gainsay. "This pldy.does not leave'quite as unpleasant an impression with me as did her play, “The Women.’ The whole cast is good and [Helen Claire acts Cindy Lou Bethany very weil.

Younger People ‘Can't Take It’

| In spite of all her ridiculous patter and the reliance on ancestors and duty to a “class,” there is something fine in the little girl who swallowed all the insults to herself but finally butted the gentleman who attacked the class in which she believed. {And the boy who was stupid, even though he could make his stables pay, was a relief in that welter of people, all “intelligent” poseurs stupidly searching for emotional thrills. : | We all of us know such people but most of us get away from them as much as we can. I am ‘waiting for the play which I think Clare Boothe will ‘some day write when the bitterness of the experiences which she evidently has had are completely out of her system. That play may be a great play, for it will be written about real people and the cleverness will not be just superficial turns of word and phrase, but there will be depth and meaning and understanding. I hope she won't delay too long. The short time I spent at the Ambassador Hotel after the play was very pleasant. The exhibition dancing was charming and Miss Chaney and my brother actually succeeded in getting five other couples on the floor to dance the Virginia Reel. They did it very well considering that it was new to most of them. I noticed with amusement that one of the girls seemed to be panting for breath, which shows, I think, that the younger generation can not “take it” as well as the older ones: can.

Day-by- Day Science By Science Service

She once was considered the oldster among industries which did not know that constant research is the secret of perpetual rejuvenation. A decade or more ago there was a certain amount of scorn among practical steel men for too much flavor of research scientist. 4 Now that attitude has changed and the industry has changed with it. Just one of the big steel concerns has some 86 laboratories that conduct research

» manufacturers jump

Even if our aircraft into overnight expansion of production facilities, what’s to

happen after the last. plane of the gigantic order is delivered

to the Government? ‘What hap-

pens to the aircraft industry then? The Government is in a tight fix now because of unwillingness oy to plan for air power, or inability to anticipate the necessity of it. One of our military air units can get. approximately only 120 ® bombers a year ¥aF from the indus- § try. Does anybody sense the need of specifying a time limit in which -to build and deliver the 10,000

- Williams planes? : Mal-W Although the

material and’ organization prob-

‘lems might be solved — and “might” js the right word— America will not be an air power

. the day the final plane is deliv-

ered. Not by a long shot! That

| takes care of the material side

only in the task of building air power. ‘

J. -,I ‘can anticipate this country

building thousands of airplanes. I can. see - them streaming out of factories. I can see about 2000 of them taking to the air. But all the rest. are on the ground—

staked out and waiting for pilots

to fly them. No one has devised ways and means for delivering competently trained pilots by the train load. Records of our Army and Navy flight training schools demonstrate that approximately only 30 per cent of the physically fit young men of this country who apply for flight duty finally win their service wings. . 88 F we were alone in this percentage rating, I'd say there was something wrong with our training planes, our selection standards, or, possibly our training methods. But England, France, Italy, Russia and Germany are all in the

same dilemma. All are short of pilot personnel.

The effort of each country to

make up this shortage has piled up

- casualty lists only little short: of

actual war ‘training records. Germany and Italy planned not only for airplanes, but also for people to fly them after they were built. Both these countries already are air powers. Yet both consider

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1938

: 2 2 2 ii Former Navy test pilot and speed ace, Maj. Al Williams is an acknowledged authority on military aviation. He has observed, at first hand, the rise of air power in Europe. Last summer he inspected the best foreign: warplanes. His “Air War” series, published during -the September crisis, attracted international attention, and echoed for weeks in quotations and comment. With his knowledge of foreign aviation and air power as a

background, Ma; Williams interprets American aviation as a factor of our defense in an: exclusive series of stories. In today’s story, the second, he discusses. the: pilot

problem in this country.

themselves short of war pilots in spite of their huge forces. : Russia has been making a typical uproar about training its youth,

The French recognize the neces=

sity of building. manpower, but they talked themselves into a complete stupor, and nationalized their aircraft industry into chaos. There’s’ no lesson to be drawn from them. The British went whole hog into losing sight of the training factor. While the nation sweated with anxiety and the leaders planned, British factories began to turn out airplanes which could not be manned and flown away. Then they went into another national planning tailspin and offered to train any man or woman in the Empire to fly for $1.25 per hour, the difference between that and the real cost to be borne by the Government. The flight training casualty record of the current year in a suitable tombstone to the failure to plan flight training consistent with the airplane manufacturing program, 2 #2 a F we are looking for hardearned conclusions it'is well for us to consider those of the British on the expected casualty rate of

Side Glances—By Clark

a nation engaged in an air war. The British estimate the necessity for replacing their entire air force personnel as well as material every 30 days. | The magnitude of the personnel replacement problem is best appreciated by observing that the present strength of the Royal: Air Force is 70,000 trained men. Only about 5 per cent of this total are pilots. If the air war lasts one year, the British maintain they will have organized and lost 12 air forces! I have reserved consideration of the German personnel situation until the last because we can learn a valuable lesson from it whether we like the ‘source of the lesson or not. The Tréaty of Versailles deprived the Germans of sizeable aircraft engines, which meant in effect—no” "German air force. Nothing in:the ..treaty restricted aeronautical ‘research, nor the promotion of glider and sail plane activities: as 2a, national sport. . With the true significance unappreciated by foreign nations, the Germans taught thousands of youngsters fo fly powerless gliders. They established dozens of world’s records for glider and sail planes.

training:

Training pilots in wholesale lots is a principal problem in U. 8S.

military aviation, says Maj. Williams. Top right, conventional training for service pilots. Left, a “Putt-putt” whose civilian pilot has a running start as a military prospect in that he’s at home in the air.

Every German youngster who qualified in gliders was fine material for the German air force. # ” ”

ND itisrecognized by those who have paid in prestige to learn that air power is not an existing air force but the trained reserve personnel. What is the solution of this flying problem for the United States? The files of the Civil Aeronautics Authority disclose more than 20,000 persons qualified to hold Federal flying licenses. And with each name is a statement of the license holder's experience in the air, types of planes flown, and a record of physical fitness. Much of the first year in training a recruit to become a military pilot is devoted to teaching him to feel at home in the air, developing his air sense and air judgment. The value of these 20,000 civilian pilots is therefore incalculable to the military services since they need only to be taught to bomb, shoot, photograph and fly formation. : : Our national wealth and capacity to turn out thousands of fighting airplanes, if we ever get that capacity harnessed, is only one factor in the drive for air power. Our real wealth will lie in the number of civilians who are trained to be at home in the air. "Americans are not adapted psychologically to glider flying on a grand scale. We know power and must have it. The German plan would not, therefore, work over here. In spite of Government fumbling and uncertaifity in the

field of civilian aeronautics there

are a few thousand American equivalents of the German gliders

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

in. the form of 50-horsepower Aeroncas, Cubs, Taylorcraft and the like. ‘ ih 2! 2 ”» ” EFORE this Government can ‘plan sensibly for 10,000 fighting airplanes, it will have to provide some incentive for its civilians to take to the air on their own account. This incentive could be provided by sponsoring the development of the Putt-Putts and by purchasing a few thousand for flying clubs. A two-fold benefit would accrue from such a program. First, a junior civil air reserve would be established with lower requirements for candidates. Military and naval flight training schools and methods are only experi ments. They are by no means conclusive methods for accepting or rejecting. potential war-time pilots. Thousands of air-wise civilians. would be available in wartime when flight require. ments automatically relax.

The second benefit would be the stimulation and perfection of our small plane production and the market for it abroad. Along these lines, the Civil Aeronautics Authority recently announced an expansion project for its Private Flying Section to give it the status of a division. But none of these long time policies can be inaugurated until a consolidated governmental agency is created to handle all aviation. Until such agency is saddled with the sole responsibility for our air defense and the single purpose of providing it, America never will be safe in the air.

Next—Our West Coast Defenses.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—In which State is Lake Okee=~ chobee? : 2—Whom dif President Roosevelt recently appoint Surgeon General of the Navy, with the rank of Rear Admiral? 3—What is a phonoscope? 4—What is the name for persons who devote their lives to the study or collection of antiquities? 5—In which city is the Field Museum of Natural History? 6—What is antimony? 7—What does the Italian word maestro mean? ‘8—In units of length, how many links are in one mile?

Answers

1—Florida. 2—-Dr, Ross T. McIntire 3--An apparatus for testing the quality. of musical strings. 4—-Antiguaries. 5—-Chicago.

pps 6--A metallic element.

7—-Master,

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 Sf, N. W., Washing-

| of saloon keepers we used to have.

Fan JANE JORDAN—I am a girl 18 years old in

pects to marry go around telling others that he is

Our Town By Anton Scherrer 0

Yule Poetry Not What It Used to Be And the Reason Lies at the Door of Our New Crop of Saloon Keepers.

JN my own stuffy way I am something of a student of contemporary verse, and there is nothing I should like better today than to tell you why poetry just now is at a low ebb, especially in and around Indianapolis,

The present plight of poetry is not altogether the result of the age of science, as many critics would have us believe. To be sure, new forms, new subjects, experiment and evolution may have had something to do with the kind of poetry we have to put up with today, but certainly it can’t explain the present all-time-low of Christmas poetry which in the very nature of things isn’t in any way connected with the age of science. I hope that disposes of the age of science. All right. That brings me to the next step to determine, if possible, what in the world the : matter with present-day Christmas Mr. Scherrer poetry if you can’t blame it on the bi a age of science. Well, that’s what I'm here to tell you about. Believe it or not, the reason Christmas poetry isn’t what it used to be is because we haven’t the kin

Sixty years ago, all the saloon keepers around here knew how to handle Christmas in verse, and none bets!

| ter than Mr. Caspar, at 29 S. Meridian St. You could

also get into his place by way of No. 9 Pearl St.

Listen! g “CHRISTMAS AT CASPER’S”

“Come my hearts—old and young! ome where doors stand open wide, Toasts go round and songs are sung To keep the merry Christmas tide, Tom and Jerry, punch and wine, Good old Bourbon, rare and fine, Turkey, eggnog and champagne, Game and oysters—come again, Come—the door stands open wide!”

Or, Try to Beat This One

I'd like to see some modern-minded poet do half I as well. Indeed, I'd like to see him keep up with Max

‘Herlich who ran the saloon at 20 N. Delaware St.

“Come where the lager foameth, Sparkling fresh and free Where Christmas eggnog waiteth Waiteth for you and me. Max—the Max of a million— Will ready be on hand To greet his friends by the trillion With the best that’s in the land.”

It was that way all along the line. Charlie Lauer, Sim Coy, Joe Emminger of the Circle Park Bar and Mr. Welz of the Circle House Sample Room never let a Christmas go by without bursting into rhyme. Ins deed, one Christmas I remember Mr. Welz used poetry to steer you straight for fear you might get into Joe Emminger’s place by mistake: “i i] “For a tod, or a meal, the right place to go 1 ES Is the Circle House Sample Room—no mistake here, | you know. : av No, 15 to 19 North Meridian St.” by . That same Christmas moved Mrs. Ida Seibert to emulate the saloon keepers: ; “Come. ladies and list, for your own good and gain, To my gentle persuasion, : Tiel {= Of course it is time for a new dress again, With beautiful fit, and a pannier and train, For a Christmas occasion, res { : When i search of a first-class modiste you come And let Mrs. Seibert fix you up with a gown, | "Tis the only dressmaking establishment known To which no stair ascends.” Mrs. Seibert's unique establishment “to which no stair ascends” was located at 180 E. Washington St.

Jane Jordan—

Boy Friend Engaged to Another Should Make Up His Mind, Girl Told.

love with a fellow who is supposed to be.going steady.- He has been going with some girl for about two or three years. He works every night and I meet him when he gets off from work. He also comes. to see me on Sunday evenings. He says he doesn’t love this girl, but that he can’t let her down because she has done so much for him, She has helped him make something out of himself. She loves him very much and thinks there is nobody else on earth like him. He has given her a ring but says he doesn’t intend to marry her. I have never met the girl and she doesn't know about me. If she did she would quit going with him. I wouldn't want to be the cause of their splitting up because I wouldn’t want to hurt her, although I hate giving him up altogether. He doesn’t want me to go out with other fellows, but doesn’t say anything | when I do because he feels he hasn’t the right to. Do you think I am doing right by going with him or should I quit? BLUE EYES. Answer—In my opinion the young man should | either break his engagement or stick lo it instead of | trying to carry water on two shoulders. If he isn’t in love with his fiancee he can’t avoid hurting her no matter what course he takes. - Most women would pre- | fer a clean break to being deceived. ‘Few things are more humiliating than to have the man a woman ex-.

bound by ties of duty and not by love. Let this be a lesson to you. The woman who does too much to help a man is not always the one he loves | best. He doesn’t like to feel dependent, and obliga- | tions irk him. He'd rather have a woman dependent upon him than vice versa, and he wants to impress her with. his masculine strength and independence. | Probably this man will love the woman whom he serves better than the one who serves him. : You may feel sorry for the girl who has lost but I doubt if any action of yours will restore the man’s love for her. It is just that you may save yourself an unhappy entanglement if you turn him down until he has freed himself from his unwelcome engagement, if ever. 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—

ANSPORTED again through the medium of a delightful story to an island in a fjord of Western Norway, the reader relives the experiences of “Northern Summer,” and continues the adventures: of Gosta of Geijerstam and his spirited family ime STOREVIK (Dutton). Golle and Svante and Bri this time there's a new little girl, adorable Sunni —and all the rest of them, and their multitudinou activities on the little island farm make up an idyl love and laughter and simple family life which e subtly into one’s thoughts to become almost distinguishable from more real-but less stirring m ories. : : To

From the time when the children gathered

first cowslips on the sun-warmed slopes of Helleberg!

until the ‘winter, when, snug and warm in th ancient, gray house which was harassed by: all blasts from the frozen Arctie, we follow he Ore

ton, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can ~ extended ‘research be tal > Nn in

: : \ ree Lh Mrs. Rumpel's Rooming House : "Now listen, dear—if the boss should come over and. speak tous | "Accepting ‘ these ‘gifts from the. roomers sure . cramps.-my this evening, please don’t: start talking’ about my salary.” SL style when liget after them for their rent,” : ZH

et 23 bop {oni tr hs

primarily or incidentally, spending a cool $1,800,000 annually in’ scientific searchings, U. 8. Steel Corp. began its major fundamental research program on a large scale in 1908, *

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