Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 February 1939 — Page 9

Vagabonc From Indiana=Ernie Pyle

Your Literary News by Pony Express! Columnist Gives Us Lowdown on Mr. Wilder's Bridge of San Luis Rey.

|

KEY WEST, Fla., Feb. 4.—Rap. Rap. Rap. |

~The meeting is called to order. We shall continue today with out semiannual review

of books. ;

THE BRIDGE OF. SAN LUIS REY (By Thornton Wilder)—See, if you just give me time, I finally get around to everything. If things keep going the way they are now, I ought to be back as far as F. Scott Fitzgerald by the time I'm 50.

When I finished The Bridge of San Luis Rey, I could hardly believe what I knew to be a fact—that the book was a best-seller for a long time. Sure, I liked it. I think it’s a good book. But what is there about it to make it a best-seller? A friend of mine says it’s the book’s rather religious quality—an obscure sort of mysticism running through it that leaves the reader feeling he has almost grasped something, and not quite. % Mr. Pyle Whatever it is, I didn’t quite a grasp it -either. WITH MALICE TOWARD SOME (By Margaret Halsey)—This gal

has done with a travel book what I would like to do:

with travel stuff. But I can’t think that fast. I'd

have to hire a dozen gag writers to travel with me. | Margaret Halsey is the wife of a professor who |

went to England for a year on an exchange professorship. | What she does to the English is remarkable and hilarious. I've never seen so many perfect wise-cracking similes between. the covers of one book. Example: The women at a party all looked as if they had changed clothes with each other, just for a lark.” Everything she writes reads like a forest fire. And her cracks are not only howling, but more aptly descriptive than a page full of heavy writing. She takes the English for a big ride. But I understand the book has had a big sale in England, which proves that maybe the British have a sense of humor after all. : -I wish Miss Halsey would go to South America and do a similar book. Within a week after it left the presses, the book would be confiscated in every nation from the Panama Canal to Tierra del Fuego. There would be angry talk about her, and decrees would be passed forbidding her ever to set foot on that continent again. Go ahead and do it, Miss Halsey. . TO A GGD UNKNOWN (By John Steinbeck—This is one of Steinbeck’s books written long before “Of Mice too. books mans.

He Learns More About Fishing

I bought this copy in Buenos Aires. It was a first edition, printed in England. I lent it to the radio operator on one of the Clippers down the line, and he was going to return it to me in Miami. But I guess

It has that same close-to-earthness that all his have. That wonderful understanding of hu-

_he forgot it.

i o | 114 . Le | |

: State,

I don’t suppose it is of any value especially, but I liked the idea of having a book of Steinbeck’s, written befqre he was famous, printed in England, and bought in Buenos Aires. But if I had it I'd just have to put it in storage. There should be some kind of law to make me give books away after I read them. PFLUEGER’S FISHING TACKLE CATALOG—In the front of this booklet I found many interesting things, such as the difference between a brook trout and g broadbill swordfish, and that fly casting is pretty much like cracking a long-lashed whip. But when ,I got to page 48, where is described a nice Pflueger Atlapac reel (No. 1690, 9/0-heavy trolling) for $120, I quiefly closed the catalog, got out my two-bit line, walked down to Porters dock, found an empty box to sit on, and went fishin’. That’s everything I've read. We will now adjourn until next fall. ;

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Colorful Army and Navy Reception, Season's Last, Held at White House.

LY i Friday. —Yesterday I lunched with Mrs. Cordell Hull, wife of the Secretary of and a small congenial group. A party at which general conversation can take place always seems to me. t0 be much more real society than a party at which you are obliged to talk only to your neighbors on either side. In the afternoon I had two appointments.

One

- was with a most interesting couple who have worked

.any c

“Dot,”

theoretically and practically for many years on a plan of life which they think will bring about a really informed and Tesponsible democracy as well as a greater united effort for the well-being of the majority lof the people. It was interesting to listen to them, {though I confess to no great optimism about nges to be brought about rapidly. My | next visitors were three young people and then guests who were staying for the night began to arrive.| The evening reception was given last night for the. Army and Navy and was the last of the season. is reception is always colorful and usually the largest) of the year because more of those invited live in| or near Washington. Twelve hundred people passed in line.

Dot Shows Her Resentment

. Last night one lady told me that she had enjoyed seeing our horses at the Ft. Myer horse show and particularly liked my “Dot.” I am told that instead of showing the indifference to her surroundings that her age would lead one to suspect, on the second evening of the show pranced about like a young thing and brought me an undeserved reputation for riding anything so spirited. The truth of the matter is that she is a wise “woman” and when

- I am on her back she behaves very well indeed. Y

erday morning it rained and I was induced to go up to the riding hall to try two. of the horses they thought I might like, because everyone is afraid that “Dot” might give out and then I will have

' no horse I can ride. One polo pony had very nice

gaits and I liked her very much, but I felt I should end the morning by riding “Dot” in order not to hurt her feelings. However, when I mounted, I found she was going to show me how she felt about being kept waiting while I tried other horses, so I had a dose of her most spirited behavior. :

i

Day-by-Day Science

By Science Service

F you have something on your mind that you would ‘like to forget, just follow these two rules: First, fill your days with new interests, new activities, and these will crowd the old from your ming. , transplant yourself to new surroundings,

‘away from all the little reminders that bind you to

W versity,

the ol New learning or activities and new surroundings, Dr. John A. McGeoch, psychologist of Wesleyan Unitold the New York Academy of Sciences, are the major determinérs of human forgetting, e in actual life, he said, one cannot, short of a psychological vacuum escape the destroying effects of new activity, the wonder is, not that we forget, but that we remember anything at all. - only reason we fail to forget everything is | we learn some things very well indeed. ratory tests have shown that by regulating the

* winterpolated” learning, it Was possible to make people

<-Mc

forget anywhere from 5 to 90.per cent of what they had previously learned. The student will remember his tomorrow’s lesson better he goes directly to sleep after learning it than he will if he goes out tonight to a party or to an ente show. Ce The influence of surroundings is shown, Dr. h pointed out, in the greater ease which many rience in working at their familiar desk, difficulty of working as well in a strange

not forget everything we learn, he said, bevy these two factors, new learning and are prevented fiom having their

and Men” made him famous. It is a good®book, |

a

1e Indianapolis

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1939

(Last of a Series)

By David Dietz

Scripps-Howard Science Editor .

WITH the roar and rumble of thunder, a great steel “ferris wheel” spins round and round in the testing laboratories ‘of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. at

Akron, O.

The wheel, two stories in height, revolves inside a great circular steel track, but does not come within three feet of touching the track. Protruding from the wheel are devices upon which automobile wheels can be mounted

so that, as the big wheel revolves, the tires of these auto wheels ride around the track.

And so, like a squirrel in a cage, the tires go round and round the circular steel track. The track is not smooth. It is purposely covered with rough surfacing of one sort or another. For its purpose is to test the endurance of a

tire, to wear it'out; so that the testing: engineers may °

study its performance, find out why it finally gave way

and how it can be improved.

It is such tests. as these that have made it possible

for the tire industry to furnish improved tires at lower prices, P. W. Litchfield, president of Goodyear, points out. As -an example of progress, he quotes these fig-

ures: : “In 1929, the average best quality tire ran 18,546 miles and cost the consumer a maximum of $14.67. The tire cost per mile traveled was, therefore, slightly under eight-one-hundredths of a penny. “In 1937, the identical average tire ran 31,466 miles, and cost the consumer a maximum of $15.30. The tite cost per mile traveled was therefore slightly under five-one-hundreths of a penny. “Per mile traveled, the tire buyer paid 38% per cent less for his tires at the end of 1937 than he did in 1929. “On the basis of 1929 cost per mile, the purchaser of the identical tire in 1937 got $24.87 worth of mileage. But he paid only $15.30 for this tire and thus he got $9.57 worth of mileage free. “In addition, the 1937 tire provided easier steering, better cush-

ioning and proved to be con-

siderably more resistant to puncture and blowout dangers. The value of these factors cannot be accurately measured, but,

whatever it may be worth, it is in addition to the worth of the extra miles delivered. “The direct beneficiaries of this accomplishment were the owners of the 29,000,000 automotive vehicles which were in use in 1937. Each of these car owners, in effect, got enough free mileage to drive approximately four times from New York to California.” Mr. Litchfield points out that not only the consumer but the worker as well has benefited by

the advances of the tire industry.

» » 8

“YN 1937,” ‘he says, “the average hourly rate and piece-work employee in an Akron tire factory, including skilled, unskilled, male and female employees, received 36 per cent more per hour worked than in 1929.” Pioneer ‘motorists, who remember the early days of the automobile, are in a particularly good position to" appreciate the changes that have come about in automobile tires. But even the younger generation can remember back to the days before balloon tires. Officials of the Goodyear ‘company point out that the automobile could never have reached its present stage of development without progress in the-tire industry. The early automobile with wheels possessing wooden hubs and spokes and steel rims,

. this fabric.

was literally a horseless carriage. The automobile would have had small usefulness for the world, if it had been destined to jolt along on wheels of steel. ‘With the coming of the pneumatic tire, manufacturers -were not only interested in increasing the comfort of motoring but in increasing the safety as well. In all probability, few motorists give much thought to the proc-

esses that go to make tires. Good-

year officials say that they some-

times meet folks who imagine

that a tire is stamped out on

somewhat the same principle that

a housewife cuts out doughnuts. Actually, the. tire is built up through a number of painstaking operations. Three elements, rubber, fabric and : various: compounds have to be integrated into the finished tire. - The process begins : with the cutting up of the plantation rub-

ber and its mixture with the vari--

ous compounds that give it wearing properties, and resistance to abrasion. ; ~ Next; the fabric, in great rolls 48 or 60 inches wide, is run through rollers with the compounded rubber. Fabric and rubber must be at the exact temperatures for a perfect. union. The rubberized fabric next goes to bias cutting machines which cut the fabric in diagonal strips of varying widths, according to the size and style of tire of which they are to become a part. sn » 1= tire builder, as the worker is technically called, builds up the “raw” tire on a drum from It is a complicated process. He builds the: tire, step by step, sidewall; tread, and all.

Then the “raw”. tire moves on

to the pit or vulcanizing room. There an air bag or tube is placed within the tire. The tire

Imes

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

Scientists and engineers cooperate today in making rubber tires safer, better and less expensive for the thousands of automobiles annually manufactured in the United States. Pictured

here are several

scenes

from the tire industry.

At the left is a section of the “Ferris Wheel,” by which tires are tested. At the right engineers are con ducting a “post-mortem” on a tire to find out what caused the damage and how to avert it. Pictured below are tires being inspected before being shipped to market.

itself is then placed within a metal mold which has the tread design machined upon its interior. Fin= ally the mold is lowered into the

steel tanks or. pits, 20 to 30 feet deep, to be cured or vulcanized

under heat and pressure.

It is this process of vulcanization which gives the tire its final form. : As an example of how the nation as a whole has gained by the growth of the tire industry, Mr. Litchfield calls attention to these facts about the rubber industry: “One hundred years ago rubber was used in only limited quantities, chiefly for waterproof clothing and footwear. Now it is manufactured into tens of thousands of different articles, of which automobile tires are the most important. “Crude rubber consumption in the United States in 1936 reached a new peak, amounting to approximately 1,284,689,000 pounds. Today’s unprecedented consumption of rubber may be attributed chiefly to: “Demand for larger passenger tires, which combine safety with

greater riding comfort and longer

service. “Increasing use "of pneumatic rubber tires on trucks and farm

- implements.of all kinds in the in-

terest of economy of operation. “Continual development of new industrial uses for rubber, such as rubber flooring, rubber lining for vats in which steel is chemically treated, and’ sponge rubber cushions and seats.” Scientific research has conti'buted greatly to the utilization of rubber. Among the landmarks in the development of the art of rubber manufacture have been the following: Development in 1899 of a process to reclaim used rubber. Discovery in 1906 of accelera-

~ tors to quicken the vulcanization

process. Use, starting in 1916, of carbon black and other pigments to in- " crease the durability of rubber compounds. Development in 1931 of a commercial process for making syn-

thetic rubber. 2 = =

Wi come now to the end of this series in which I have sought to show how “science takes us ahead,” how the functioning of America’s best scientific and engineering brains has paved the way fof improvement after improvement, raising the American standard of living and strengthening the position of America in the

world. America, as I have said, has had

‘ to wrestle with many problems since the beginning of the depiession. But the nation has marched forward nevertheless. Under democracy, America has achieved those things that the dictatorship nations have not been able to

achieve. : . The people of the dictatorships have lost their freedom - and gained nothing in return. In conclusion, let us take a look toward the future. The horizon is bright for America. Duting my recent visits to great laboratories I found a spirit of optimism everywhere. Everywhere, in electrical laboratories, steel laboratories, chemical laboratories and others, I found the same opinion, namely that only a start had been made and that’ the next 10 years would see improvements outshining those: of the last 10 years. The metallurgists are dreaming of better alloys, the electrical engineers of new lamps and inachines, the chemist of new p.astics and dyes. All of them vision a strorger and mightier America, a richer and happier America where iree men under the system of democracy are achieving more and more of the good things of life.

Side Glances—By Clark

Everyday Movies—By Wortman

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

. 1—Of what country is Cairo the capital? 2—Who was President of the U. S. when the first census . was taken? 3—Name the planetoid that has

. earth. : 4—Has Gen. John J. Pershing lost his ranking since the war? . Which State is nicknamed the Volunteer State? : 6—What is the unit of currericy in Hawaii? : 7—Where are the Chandeleur Islands? » ” »

Answers

»

1—Egypt. 2—George Washington

He was retired on fill general's pay. ; 5<Tennessee. \ 6—The U. S. dollar. : 2 Mexico, - off the coast of Louisiana.

: ssw ASK THE TIMES

1013 13th St, N. gal

approached nearest to the

88 8 struggle between e democracies | ideal, but “for safety, German

Our Town

By Anton Scherrer

50th Columbia Club Anniversary Recalls Marching: Club Which Escorted Harrison te White House.

CON SCIOUS of my duty to keep abreast of the times, such as they ‘are, I was closeted this week with Herbert C. Tyson of the Columbia Club. Mr. Tyson is a very busy man right now because, beginning with today, the Columbia Club starts celebrating

.the 50th anniversary of its birthday. It surprised me like everything to learn that we had anything as old | as that around here. As a going concern, I mean, Like everybody else, I, too, had just ; about made up my mind to accept the impermanency of temporal things. : To hear Mr. Tyson tell it, the Columbia; Club is really older than it looks. By one year, because when you get right down to it, the Club got its start by way of the ¢ld Harrison Marching Club back in 1888. Seems that when Gen. Harrison was nominated, he decided to run his campaign from his front porch at 674 N. Delaware St. Which meant, of course, that instead of gallivanting all over the country like other candidates, everybody had to come to Indianapolis to have a look at Gen. Harrison. This called for a new technique, something in the way of a reception committee to welcome out-of-town delegations and escort them to and from Mr. Harrison’s front porch,

It was Gen. Harrison’s own idea. At any rate, that’s what Ben Walcott told Charles Martindale back in 1888. He said he had been to see Gen. Hare rison that very morning about running off a Presie dential campaign, and that the General had proposed a marching club to be made up of the highest type of business and professional men of the city. That same day, so runs the tale, Mr. Walcott and Mr, Martindale called in Henry Fraser and James Wright, and before anybody was hep to what was going on, the. marching club was on its way. In two weeks, a full fledged organization of 150 men representing the flower of Indianapolis was ready to carry out the wishes of Gen. Harrison.

Harry New Named It

Two months later—in August, 1888, to be exact— the Marching Club was so sure of Mr. Harrison’s elece tion that the members decided to escort him to Wash ington on the day of the insuguration which was still seven months off, to say nothing of an election still to be pulled off. They meant it, too, because just about this time they bought uniforms for the occasion. They consisted of a blue flannel coat and pants, a white vest, and a pearl gray derby. Besides that, every man was required to carry g cane. Sure, they got to go to Washington. By that time, though, the Harrison Marching Club was known as the Columbia Club, having been incorporated as such on Feb. 13, 1889, with Edward Daniels as its first president. Harry New thought up the name. To show that they meant business, the Colum=bia Club bought the old Morrison home which stood

Mr. Scherrer

| next to Christ Church in exactly the same - place

where the present clubhouse is. Michael Spades, who owned the property, wanted $24,000 for it, but Mr, Daniels bided his time and one night routed Mr. Spades out: of bed and dangled $23,300 in front of him. Instead of getting mad the way everybody expected, Mr. Spades accepted the proposition and went back to bed. If you've kept up with Mr. Tyson and me thus far, you're aware that Feb. 13, the real birthday of the Columbia Club, is still 10 days off. Well, that’s explained by the fact that there’s so much to celebrate this year that, to get everything. in, they have to start today.

Jane Jordan— Girl, Impatient to Marry, Told She

Expects Too Much From Romance.

EAR JANE JORDAN—Wayne and I met a year . and a half ago and we love each other dearly but are having many difficulties. We are planning to get married and I have my ring, but the last few months we haven’t been getting along at all. I just can’t stop fussing at him although believe me: I couldn’t do without him. : My life isn’t: a pleasant one since mother died siz years ago and my stepmother took her place. I was very lonely until Wayne came along. I told him that I fussed because I was so impatient to get married, I'm miserable at home and I have no job. I get to see him four nights a week and it seems as if I come to life when he is around. ' Yet before the evening is over we are quarreling bitterly. He is wonderful and he is all that I want, but I am afraid that if we marry we won’t get along and I couldn’t stand that. : ; Is my impatience over waiting to get married causing our trouble? Please do not ask me to give him up as that is asking me to die. He is 23 and I am 19. SO LONELY. » ® 8

Answer—It may be that your expectations of a lover are tinged with magic. All of us read fairy tales when we were children, and in the fairy tales when a maiden was persecuted by a cruel and jealous stepe mother, the fairy prince came along and carried her off on a snow white steed, and they lived happily ever after. Now when a girl grows up and meets an actual young man who is unable to rescue her from an actual stepmother, sometimes her disappointment is very great. The young man can’t produce the white steed or its equivalent. The girl has to reconcile herself to the limitations of reality and it makes her irritable. It is this which you feel in yourself when you blame

‘| your fussing on your impatience at having to wait for

what you want. : . Whether or not you will get along with the young man after marriage depends on your ability to renounce your infantile expectations and accept a more

fairy princess yourself, and that he has to adjust hime self to your shortcomings as well as you to his.

Note to Judy—The answer to the above letter ape . plies to your problem, too. Jo not hurry the young man into marriage because you wish to be rescued from an unpleasant ‘situation. Accept the responsi= bility for yourself ugh he saves ihe soney. for a home, all, he only asked you to wait until June. Aller ; uy 8 JANE JORDAN.

bl i letter to Jane Jordan who will HR Your Shestions in this column daily. : J

New Books Today rs Public Library Presents— Lethe Be

EMOCRACY must look fo itself, says Norman Thomas. In SOCIALISM ON THE DEFENSIVE (Harper) he seeks to explain why it is that “the peace of Europe lies in one fanatics hand,” and to discover the reasons for “the failure of what we have called democracy under the tests of war and peace.” Such a book from the hand of a Socialist leader ine

| volves naturally, & discussion. of both ‘political and economic democracy, of Bussiall

, of the ‘Fascist states, of of lab lette’s Progressive Party, and the Communist America, and, of course, of socialism, its "* War in Burope, ie believes, is all but inevita war, ope, he believe evita S + not for : for power, to keep w

5

have against aggression.” Amer enters the war, will do so as the result

tal for your husband. Bear in mind that you are no