Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 May 1939 — Page 11
a
TUESDAY, MAY 30, 1939
‘The Indian
apo
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lis Times
SECOND SECTION
Hoosier Vagabond
NEW YORK, Mav 30—The next two . nights we shall spend in the World's Fair amusement area. I say two nights because the thing covers 280 acres. And I'm getting old. I can’t do more than 140 acres a night. Some nights 1 doubt if I could do 20 acres They won't let you in some of the places unless vou're over i6 (so they say) so the first thing 1 did was go to the Children's World and see how old I was. I guess I'm past 16 all right. For, although, this Children’s World is the biggest and most elaborate playhouse I've ever seen, there wasn't much fun in it for me. After that I went and got weighed. The guy guesses your weight before vou step on the scales, vou know. He's supposed to guess within three pounds. He was a wise one, too. He guessed to the very pound the man and woman ahead of me. He feels of your arms and chest (my chest, ha!) before the guesses. “Oh, here's a thin one.” he called to the crowd. “He will weigh only 124 pounds.” Did I smirk. Haw, haw, 124 pounds! I got on the scales and they stopped at 111. The crowd gasped. The old man looked puzzled. “All right,” I said, “give me my money back.” But thev don't do that. Instead, thev give vou a World's Fair cane. As I walked away the man velled. “You'd better change vour diet, voung fellow.” 1 stuck the cane in an ash can Bv then it was time to go to Billy Roses “"Aquacade.” n Nn "
They Swim Like Fish
in an immense outdoor theater. with a half-roof cocked up over it, like a ball park. The place seats 10,000 people. It's one of the few permanent buildings on the grounds. I was lucky enough, being alone. to squirm right down front Before vou is a big curved pool of water. On either end of the pool are high towers. of several floors. An orchestra sits on the first floor of one tower, a men's chorus in the other. Back of the pool is a huge stage This “"Aquacade” is a musical review, much like
You sit
Our Town
In these davs of synthetic optimism it's mighty comforting to run across the real thing in the person of Samuel S. Rhodes, a fellow citizen who after a centun living is content with the world Enough, anyway to want to keep going. Mr. Rhodes celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his birth a couple of weeks ago—on May 12, to be exact. I guess that makes him the oldest man around here—certainly the oldest soldier—which 1s why I've saved him for today's piece. Maybe vou're not aware of it. but evervbody isn't running off a race todav. Now that Rhodes remembers Prison when he shook Rhodes, it appears, was a prisoner there for 60 davs and was standing at the head of the stairs when the President of the Confederacy entered with his staff to inspect the prison. “I stuck out my hand,” said Mr. Rhodes, “and he did the same. We shook hands and then I realized what we had done and I stepped back. But today I'm glad that we shook hands.” Mr. Rhodes feels the same about other men of the Confederacy. Even the soldier who took him prisoner was Kind. although in the end he did take his overcoat. Last vear when ne was 99—I can't help pressing the point—Mr. Rhodes took in the big doings at Gettysburg hoping that, maybe, he'd run across the fellow who locked him up. He didn't. though. ‘I guess I never will get my overcoat back.” he said. = = =
Lived Under 25 Presidents Back
of stall
he looks back, Mr. most vividly the day in Libby hands with
Jefi Davis Mr
Chambersburg, Pa.. the records reveal {that Samuel S. Rhodes came into the world during he Administration of Martin Van Buren, eighth President of the United States. Which is the same as saving that he has seen 25 Presidents come and 20, to sav nothing of Jefl Davis. “Don’t worry about vour Presidents,” says Mr. Rhodes, “that will dn you no good. Your health and pocketbook come first
in
ashington
WASHINGTON, On man Mr Roosevelt and courageous President but Re has pulled his punches in dealing with taxes on the opportunity for increased revenue, with minimum damage to the national economy, lies It is not a popular proposal and Senator La Follette is one of the few politicians whe has had the courage to fight for putting on some taxes where they ought to go. It means taxing a considerable volume of voters and is not nearly as popular as soaking the rich The for heavier taxes on incomes below $50,000 a vear is well set forth in the recent round-table discussion conducted by Fortune Magazine, one of the clearest and sanest treatments of immediate taxation problems that has been produced. In this round table, a cross-section of able men, 15 of them, was assembled for discussion under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Leslie Buell. They included a liberal mannlacturer, a conservative manufacturer, a Socialist, a farmer, two bankers, two lawvers, an accountant, four economists of various schools, a labor union official and a taxation expert— all well=sinformed and articulate. » on »
Split On Profits Tax
This diverse group found an impressive area of agreement and recommended (with some individual dissents): Reform of corporation taxes to eliminate double taxation of dividends. the capital stock tax. the
My Day
WASHINGTON, Monday —I told vou * vesterdav that I would go on with some of the things I could not forget about the miners in Scotts Run, W. Va. One of them is the little girls’ club meeting in the community house at Pursglove. Not a very elaborate community house, but it has one good sized room and a place which will some day be a kitchen and panry if they ever get enough money to buy dishes and equipe ment. I asked those little girls what they were working for and with one voice they said: “Some way to get to camp this summer.” Camp costs $358 a week for every child. They can't pay that, of course. and the welfare agency probably isn't going to be able te provide much this vear. But. to those little girls, camp means three weeks of adequate food and real opportunity for enjoyment and they are going to do their level best to find some way to work for it. Scotts Run is typical, of course, of manv other communities, not only mining areas. but in mill areas and farm areas where they have had droughts and
May 30.- fronts
beenn a bold
1as
middle class—where the greatest
income
case
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| By Ernie Pyle
those in the Broadway theaters, except it is on a big| scale, and about half of it is in the water. | The nicest part of it to me was the element of sur- | prise. You see 72 men and girls come dancing out onto the vast stage from either wing. And after they've danced a while in their glittering costumes, | they begin taking off their clothes, all in time to the music. | They come rhythmically down to their bathing suits. With each thump of the music, off comes a shoe. They march to the edge of the pool, 72 of them. Now you know very well there aren't 72 men and | girls who look beautiful and dance and sing who can | also swim. It's all a pose, like the movie stars who appear to be rolling cigarets but can't actually roil one. And then what happens? | Why, in one plunge they all dive beautifully into the water, and they swim exactly like 72 fish. They drill in the water like soldiers. They go through intricate routines; they swim forward in unison; they swim on their backs; they weave in and out in willowy lines. You just can’t believe such perfect formation could be kept in water. But that's just the chorus. There are four stars. The famous swimmers Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismulier. And the famous nonswimmers, Frances Williams and Morton Downey, ” = n
He Almost Wins a Race
Eleanor Holm is too beautiful to mention. And | the way she and Johnny can swim. Frances Willilams is an old muscial comedy favorite of mine, If you come to the Fair and miss the “"Aquacade,” | I can only feel sorry for vou. | After the "Aquacade”’ I milled around for several hours, throwing baseballs and skee balls and watching come-on shows and Frank Buck's wild animals and things, and finally wound up at the place where vou drive little racing cars around a board track. You can stay in for more than one race. They Just punch your ticket each time, and you pay when vou go out. I drove in three races and was bv far the smartest driver, but the guy in No. 29 had a faster car than mine. When I discovered they were charging me 30 cents a race. I quit and started home. It was just as well, for they were turning out the lights, anyhow.
By Anton Scherrer
When Mr. Rhodes was 5 vears old. in 1844. he came West with his family. They traveled across the Alleghanies in a two-horse prairie schooner The sleeping apartments, consisting of two white goose-feather beds (no chicken feathers. mind vou), were in the bow; the Kitchen utensils at the stern. After 40 days of this kind of hiking Mother Rhodes became ill. They were just a half mile east of Springfield. O., at the time and things didn't look so good Anyway, it got them to wondering what Horace Greeley was up to. It was during the stop at Springfield. just 95 vears ago, thai Mother Rhodes gave Sam some monev to buy bread with. On the window of the bakeshop was a picture of a ginger cake. "To the best of mv recollection.” says Mr. Rhodes, “the ginger cake painted on the window of that bakeshop is the first thing I can remember ever seeing.” It's worth recording if for no other reason than to show how the human mind works. » » n Came Here in 1873 Well, after the Rhodes family settled in Springfield, Sam started out to see the world. He got to St Louis and couldn't get a job because he couldn't talk German. Another def2ct in his education was the discovery that he didn't know how to put heads in barrels. Finally, however. he landed a job measuring logs. “I told the man I was an old log measurer.” he said. and got away with it. Then came the war and with it the day he shook hands with Jeff Davis. He got through it with nothing worse than the loss of hearing in his right ear Next big thing to happen was the Chicago fire. Mr Rhodes hopped on the first train, started a hardware store, and got going while the ruins were still red hot. Two vears later, in 1873, hie came to Indianapolis and hung out a sign apprising peovle that he had opened a hardware store in the Mason House on S. Illinois St.. which later made room for the Grand Hotel. Mr. Rhodes’ sign is still a part of Indianapolis. It's the one over the hardware store at 340 W. Washington St. His son. Clarence, now runs the place. but he wouldn't change the sign for anvthing in the world. he says. :
By Raymond Clapper
excess profits tax; to permit consolidated returns. reasonable allowances for depreciation and the carrvover of losses; abolition of tax-exempt securities: relief of the poor by repeai of all Federal excise and sales taxes except on gasoline, tobacco and liquor: an increase of 700 million dollars in the income from middle brackets: and establisnment of a National Tax Commission to formulate long-term tax nolicy On the undistributed profits tax of which so much is heard, the group divided and also on the question as to whether surtaxes on large incomes discourage venture capital. Of most constructive interest—because it deals with the one big source available for badly needed increased revenue, is the recommendation for higher income taxes in the middle brackets. : In this country, the round-table study points out there are about 10 million security holders, 45 million savings banks accounts and 25 million automobile owners. Yet in 1936, only 5,413,499 persons filed Federal Income tax returns, and less than 2.900.000 paid any income tax. Of course owning an automobile IS no sign of wealth in these times. But we do tax the wealthy at one end and the poor at the other (through hidden taxes and sales taxes) while the middle class gets off easy.
Unless this income group is taxed more heavily, de. T E S r Y O U R | Side Glances—By Ga | bra it
pressure will be strong for more sales taxes, which are the most vicious and unfair of all taxes. : It is noted that members of the round table makIng this recommendation would all be affected themselves by it. “Nevertheless,” the group states. “the needs of the Government are so acute. and the dangers to business from any other form of increase are so real that we strongly urge that the plan be given favorable consideration at this session of Congress.” But it 1s easier to spend than to tax so the recommendation is likely to be filed in the wastebasket.
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By Eleanor Roosevelt
floods, in any area in which the industry by which! the people have lived has petered out for one reason | or another and has left behind a people with |
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means of support. Two things make democracy valuable, freedom and the opportunity to make a living, but freedom without | that opportunity is rather valueless. So it seems to| me that every one of us who cares about democracy should examine our own communities and make sure | that there are no conditions there which are giving] democracy a bad name. Perhaps you think you can do nothing about it. If enough people, however, get | together something can be done in almost every community and you, as a citizen, are responsible in| doing your share. We will soon be celebrating Decoration Dav, On that day we honor the sacrifices made by innumerable people in wars fought. first to free our nation, then! to keep it united and free. Today we rejoice that the necessity of fighting a war is not upon us, but if we have any understanding of our times we know that day by day our Government and each one of us is on| the firing line in a new age, facing new problems and! new conditions which have not confronted us in the past, and which we, therefore, do not know just how to meet,
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By Maj. Al Williams Seripps-Howard Aviation Writer, FF the American military and naval air services would like to take time by the forelock, let them produce a smaller version of the Allison streamlined engine right now, We're late getting at it, or picking up where we left off 15 vears ago. But, as Henry Ford says, there's no better place to start from than where vou stand.
Until about a year ago, the British had concentrated upon refining their Rolls Royce Merlin engines—one of the world's masterpieces among aircraft power plants. It develops about 1200 horsepower, and under stress of war could be bumped up to about 1800 with suitable superchargers and special fuels But the Merlin is too big for the type of fast, superspeed shortrange interceptor fighter needed to attack bombers. Its comparatively areat size necessitates building a large plane around it, The large plane means reduced maneuverability, I'm referring to the British Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. Both these jobs are fast, but they lack the maneuverability so vital in a defensive single-seater fighter. No nation ever sells its latest. and best fighting equipment abroad. And it is most significant that the British are now exporting their Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires to Jugosiavia, Portugal and Belgium. I gave them only a passing mark about one year ago. At that time I claimed the British might go ahead with the Spitfire, but before they got through making the proper alterations they would have a new ship on their hands ” oN n HAVE been watching this single-seater fighter situation in Europe closely. There's no adequate defense against attacking bombers beyond what superspeed, highly maneuverable sin-gle-seaters can offer. It was with no little interest, therefore, that I regarded the production of the German DB-600 single-seater speed engine. This engine is only 67'z inches long, compared to the 75 inches of the British Rolls Rovee Merlin. The DB-600 develops (for normal usage about 950 horsepower, while the Merlin turns out 1200 horsepower. We want the highest horsepower in the smallest compact mass, so the smallest practicable fighter can be built around it. It therefore becomes a matter of achieving the finest common sense coms-
KNOWLEDGE
1-—In Charing 2—What mean? 3-—-Name the smallest Great Lakes. 4—What is the correct pronunciation of the word history? O—What mals? 6—The President of which Central American Republic made a recent visit to the United States? 7—In which part of the human body is the muscle known as the biceps?
which Earopean Cross? does pro
city is tempore
of the
are vertebrate ani-
n ”n ” Answers
1—London, England. 2—For the time being. 3-—Lake Ontario. 4—His'-to-ri; not his'-tri. 5—Those which have a spinal column, 6—Nicaragua. 7—The upper arm. » = EJ
ASK THE TIMES
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promise between power and size. It is in this field of arriving at balanced compromises that the skilled engineer does his finest work. That the British are aware of this problem is best evidenced by the recent production of a smaller type of Rolls Royce engine to parallel the DB-600 Our Allison, made in Indianapolis, is a dandy big engine for bombers and similar large type military ships. but a smaller version is in order right now Our present Allison is 95 inches long and delivers about 1200 horsepower. We, too, need a compact little high-speed engine, which will turn out approximately 950 horsepower The shapes of airplane [uselages and wing designs can be copied over night. But engines are born with bugs—Ilitile ills and teething troubles that pop up with each new cylinder head or major modification of design There are many things man cannot do without a high cost in time. One is to build a new aircraft engine that goes right into production without teething troubles.
HIS air rearmament business will bear lots of watching. To the man in the street, who 1s paving for it, it means fitting out national defense with winged machinery. To the military and naval expert it represents a terrific responsibility for adapting latest research to our needs and production capacities. To the manufacturers, it means, in addition to all worthy regard for specifications and contractual obligations, the making of a profit. The profit inspiration is the only workable motif for the world we have ever had. But, like football, while the profit system is rough, it can be Kept hardy and vital by calling the off-side plays and penalizing by exposure. Hard. straight opinions will be the only check the citizenry will have on the air program as it progresses, and it's only fair to warn that this is an open season on phoney performance claims that cannot be substantiated in the air. There's a current rumor that a new bomber, still in an experimental category, is to be 40 to 50 miles an hour faster than our fastest single-seater, which has
COPR. 1990 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. T WM BEG UL 8 PAT OFF
7;
"I'm not saying that you weren't nice to Mother, but you could have taken that pained expression off your tace!l’
A
Top photo shows the Vultee YA-19, all-metal attack in its initial flight prior to being delivered to the U. S, The YA-19 is powered by a Prat’. & Whitney
Corps at Downey, Cal.
Twin Wasp, 14-cylinder radial, air-cooled engine. “Hurricanes,” the fastest Northholt, Middlesex, England, preparatory to a patrol flight.
squat, Hawker considered
shown the fighting planes,
monoplane Army Air
At center, right, are Britain's Royal Air Force in the world, lined up at Center,
left, German seaplanes, part of the vast air armada of the Reich. Lower left, the 24-cylinder Allison motor, made in Indianapolis, on
view at the General Motors exhibit at the New York Fair,
Lower righty
the 18-cylinder air-cooled radial motor of the Wright Aeronautical
Co: p., also shown at the Fair,
been ordered in large quantities, The single-seater in question is supposed to be good for about 350 miles an hour. If it's doing that, it is about 50 miles an hour faster than the group which preceded it. The new bomber is an experimental job, still to be tested, and vet to prove that, in addition to its reputed phenomenal speed, it is a good bomber. If it can do 380 or 390 miles an hour, it is many miles faster than any other bomber in the world, This I do not believe,
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UR best current bombers, in production, are not one mile faster than 250 and the claim for a sudden jump of from 130 to 130 m. p. h. is just too yeasty. The controversy between the fast bombers and the fast singleseater fighters is an old one. The bomber designers have had it all their own way for many years, since the big round air-cooled radial engines cost them little in the way of wind resistance, while
it has fairly sunk the little sin-
gle-seater fighters. The larger the ship the less the shape of the air= cooled radial engine has counted But now, with the streamlined, liquid-cooled engines, the singlesealers have come into some real go-fast Anyhow, most of the high speed blather ahout bombers ture ing the last eight years has been s0 much nonsense ana smart press agentry. “The bombers are running away from the single= seaters.” has been the cry when a new bomber was pitted against an ancient single-seater. I have pulled up alongside some of these fast bombers and found them lumbering at 145 to 155, ine= stead of the grand 200 m. p. h. or better claimed. Wind resistance versus available horsepower is the yardstick of speed. Less yardage of skin area and smaller wings and fuselage gives the single-seater an ad vantage—if it has the right engine,
TA Pat OF | Dieibated bad vo— Syndieate Ine
| Everyday Movies—By Wortman
"Believe me, Mrs. Ryan, gettin’ my husband to clean up the car, and gettin’ the children and the lunch ready to qo riding in the country on holidays ain't no picnic for me," jg
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