Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 July 1939 — Page 9

up 5 farmer isn’t that There have aly % fo

* SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1939

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Hoosier Vagabond

"DOVE CREEK, Colo., July 20.—When we drove thirough ‘here ‘yesterday and sensed that we had stumbled onto a new and unpublicized frontier, we " stopped and inquired’ to see if it might really be a haven for the desperate |people of the “Dust Bowl.” . fell, it is—with many; many res rvations. There is possibly

| in this rich .new area for

‘500 | families, but of course that ‘would ‘be only a tiny fraction of those driven from their old lands by the wind and dust. Further, many of those have

nothing left in the world but an

old car, a bedstead and a few dollars. It would take capital to get started again out here. Not much, but something. And 10 a man with only $15 to his name, you might as well say $150,000 as $1000. The farming in this new land is completely power farming. You hardly ever see a horse. Machinery costs money. Also, the land is no longer open for homesteading. It is all privately owned, with the exception of a few ‘ tax titles. The land is cheap, but still it does have to be bought. Land prices run from $4 to $10 an acre. Local residents say $1500 is the ideal figure for setting up in this country. Farmers tell me ‘it is easier to get set up here on credit than|in any other place they've over been. A new start out here sums up about like 5: Pown payment on a $3200 farm of 320 acres. .$700 Down payment on a $800 tractor outfit ......$300 Other implements, cows, pigs, seed, etc......$500 The usual terms are three years to pay off on the -1and; two years on the machinery. Thete are farmers here who have paid out everything in two vears; even some who have come completely clean in one year.

Main Crop Is Beans

- Of course these are the exceptions.

Li average ‘been complete ailures. Naturally I have heard only the best Stories:

Our Town

When Thomas P. Swain and A. P. Hendrickson went East the summer of 1895, the last thing Mr. Swain did before leaving was to promise his wife to bring her some shells from the seashore. 3 Wel, one day the two men happened to be at Manhattan Beach when Mr, Swain thought of his wife. He was in| the act of gathering a collection of sea shells when, all of a sudden, he spied a knotted handkerchief lying on the water's edge. It took him some time to untangle the knots. Finally, when he got it untied, a handful of diamonds worth somewhere around $2500, dropped out. Back in those days diamonds were worth $150 a carat. ° Mr. Hendrickson advised Mr. Swain to put the jewels in his pocket, and the two men lost no time - getting out of the neighborhaod. Scon as they reached New York, however, Mr. Swain wrote Mayor Strong telling him of his find. He went on t6 say that if there was any inquiry for the diamonds to request the owner to address him care of Hendrickson, Lefler &.Co., Indianapolis. Mr. Swain was a traveling man for the old 8. Meridian St.- firm. They handled men’s hats—wholesale only. It appears, too, that ads were put in New York papers, and in this way Mayor Strong was able to put the owner of the aos: of the right track, . » = How It Turned Out |, | When Mr. Swain came home, sure enough, there was a batch of telegrams and|letters on his desk. From the appearance of things, it looked as if the jewels might belong to a Mr. Martin of New York. Mr. Swain sent Mr. Martin a wire and in no time received word that he was on his way to Indianapolis. When he got here, he had no trouble convincing Mr. Swain

that he was the owner of the diamonds. Mr. Martin said that he and his wife were walk-

Washington

WASHINGTON, July 29.—It’s this sticky summer heat that’s got old John L. Lewis as it does all fur-

bearing animals. Normally John Lewis is a shrewd labor politician and he wouldn't ordinarily deliver * over to Vice President Garner the solid poker-playing, whisky-drinking support he did during his heat wave before the House Labor Committee. He has made cld Cactus Jack a regular political glamour boy. Only a few days ago I heard an important political figure lamenting his own lack of political appeal in this respect. He felt that because he never smoked hor drank, nor stayed up at night to play poker, he wasn’t considered a good fellow, much as he might like to be one, and that |it militated against his political popularity. I think this man was being unJust to himself for he has a good many other things to commend him. Nevertheless he had a point. As a people we have a strong Puritan strain. Still we do go for a fellow who has a glint in his eye. Now if Lewis had d that Garner was a checse-paring, teetotaling, Im-singing, puritanical old man, he would have put him in the same class as Governor

Dickinson of Michigan and would have mace Garner

Jook like a - public joke. , John took the wrong stance. » » i” "The Tried and True Ways

There are ‘many tried and effective ways of putting the Indian sign on somebody you don’t like in politics. Frank Kent tells of the incident. down on the eastern shore of Maryland when in a political meeting the speaker said of his Spponen: “He is so low

ty either “the farmers or the garden lovers, but it is a help. For that reason, I didn’t complain at all found myself driving through a misty rain most of the time yesterday afternoon, which, around Brewster, N. Y., developed into a regular downpour for about half an hour. | For weeks we have been promising ourselves a drive through Connecticut and a visit with our friends, Esther Lape and Elizabeth Read. in Westbrook, Conn., but one thing and another has turned up and we kept putting it off. I looked at Miss Thompson's desk and at 5 mine yesterday and realized what s day. of neglect could do. I was almost inclined think that it was better never to leave home. But after lunch we did get off at 3 oeloek. a 5 Remembering last year’s evastation from the hurFAL ‘agreeably surprised to find how quickly her scars. Even in the villages where be a continuous line of old trees, there few old. ones left and the young ones

wa 4 “boys have always said that it would give them grea

By Ernie Pyle

But it seems to be the % consensus that a farmer with real ability, and who ‘doesn’t burn his profits up on the road (meaning joy-riding around, and not working) can run $1500 into a $5000 estate and a permanent home here in- three or four years. As long as there is land being cleared, you can call this a boom section. Local residents estimate 25,000 acres were cleared last seasgn. In the old homesteading days, it ‘cost $50 an acre to take the sage off the land. Now, with machinery, it is done for $5. The main crop here is beans. There is also wheat and some corn. The growing season is short. This spring there was a late freeze, and some of the beans had to be replanted. It gets terribly cold in winter, and the snow drifts } igh. Then too, there is some graver than the occasional late freeze. That is the wind. The Dust Bowlers know it all too well. And I

can see a possibility that the ex-Dust Bowlers may be |

turning right around and creating another Dust Bowl. 8 8% Some Clear Wisely, Some Don’t

They had a duster here this spring. It blew terrifically, and some say it did more damage than the freeze. Some farmers are clearing wisely; some aren’t. On some farms, you'll see a strip of sagebrush left clear around each field, for protection. Others clear right up to the fence. The Soil Conservation Service is in here, doing good work. But that’s always been the trouble with some farmers—you can’t tell -them anything. J. L. Dunbar came here from Denver in ’22, He is successful both as a farmer and as a merchant. He can remember when this town was really isolated. © When gasoline was 40 cents a gallon, and the freight rate to Dolores was $1 in good weather and $1.50 in bad. Today it is 10 cents in good ‘weather, 15 cents in bad, and gasoline is the same as anywhere else. : Dove Creek is no longer isolated. The boom is on. These next few years of pioneering will be no bed of roses for those who come. But the main thing is that here—in its fashion —is an opportunity for hacking your way out ‘ to security in what they term the only agricultural frontier left in America.

By Anton Scherrer

ing on the beach when she challenged him to race. During the run he lost the knotted handkerchief out of his pocket. He missed it almost immediately, but when he retraced his steps he couldn’t see a sign of it. He supposed that the tied-up diamonds had. been swept into the ocean. Anyway, he gave up ever finding them when he learned through the papers that

. the diamonds had been found and that information concerning them could be had by calling on Mayor

Strong. | To show his appreciation, Mr. Martin presented Mr. Swain with $150 cash. As for the sea shells Mr.

Swain was supposed to bring home to his wife, believe |

it or not, he left them lying on the precise spot where he found the diamonds. I can’t help it if some of my stories end that way. You might like to know, though, that Mr. Martin's wife won the race they ran that day.

He Was on a Diet Maybe

‘Another traveler's tale is the one tucked away in the archives of the Claypool Hotel. One afternoon back in the days when Henry Lawrence ran the place

on the American plan, a traveler showed up and was assigned to Room 605. When it came time to have supper, the guest said he’d have it in his room. The waiter brought him the bountiful bill of fare, and the man checked off 23 items, to wit: Canape royal, little neck clams, sliced tomatoes, potage a la Windsor, salted nuts, boiled red snapper with sauce admiral, ham glace au Madere,” prime ribs of beef, planked tenderloin steak garni, supreme of chicken aux Perigueux, orange fritters with port wine sauce, mashed potatoes, fried sweet potatoes, lima beans, corn on cob, roast stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce, punch Romaine, nut salad, vanilla souffle pudding, Holland cream, watermelon, American cheese and coffee. . He licked the platters clean. When he learned that Mr.. Lawrence had charged him $1 extra far serving the meal in his room, the man threatened never to patronize the Claypool again, Mr, Lawrence said he didn’t care if he didn’ v

By Raymond Clapper

that Hercules, using an archimedian lever, couldn’t raise him to the level of total depravity.” Secretary Ickes once took out after former Governor Talmadge of Georgia by describing him as a “bubonic plague carrying a rat.” o

And a Few Others

Years ago a young Southerner, wishing to be

elected to Congress, smeared his opponent neatly by|:

describing the menu of the hotel at which the incumbent lived while in Washington. Holding up the menu card before his audience of hill-billies, the candidate asked them to consider the extravagance of their Congressman, spending the taxpayers’ money by ordering eggs benedictine—two eggs for 85 cents. And he asked them if they knew what benedictine was. Benedictine was liquor. Yes, folks, liquor, made by

Roman Catholic monks. So he got the job on thei:

religious issue. A newspaper woman started the gag that hounded a Democratic Senator in my early days here.

I'm in favor of birth control, and in that Senator's case, it ought to be retroactive.” Emil Hurja has in his collection a campaign cartoon from the Jackson period, one of the famous “coffin posters” showing Jackson sticking a sword through the back of a kneeling man. Below is the explanation ‘that Jackson was tried for murder, but pleaded self-defense and was acquitted. Thus there are ways and ways of doing the job. .But for ‘John Lewis to make Garner a poker-play-ing, whisky-drinking hero—why he’s only bringing trade to the Vice President’s door. It is like the way Governor | ‘Dickinson has come to the rescue of the New York World's Pair by telling the folks back home what a sinful place New York is, with a brink to go over in every block.

* By Eleanor Roosevelt

things in| clearing fallen trees from their woods, but it was a sad sight to see one giant maple completely prostrate land many great branches torn away from the oaks and larger maples. Miss Lape and I walked down through their woods to a place where they have “built a rustic. table. They have a nice view out from’|under the trees across the marsh land to the gently moving marshy river and I don’t wonder that they enjoy going down here for lunch. ‘We had a very pleasant evening and got up at an early hour. this morning and left for the homeward drive at 8:15. I find New Haven, Conn. perfectly impossible to get through without being lost, so ‘we tried a road which is a little longer but completely escapes New Haven. It took us no longer to get home. . I suppose I had better make a confession. stopped by a highway patrol officer. yesterday.

I

satisfaction if I would be arrested and I think yesterday I came very near receiving more than the gentle reprimand which was given to me. I had been talking and apparently not watching my speedometer, so I was firmly convinced that I had never gone over 45, and the patrol officer quite as firmly told me I was going 60, and that 50 was “tops” for a rainy day on those roads. I was most humble about it, for when you .are in the wrong you might as well own up to it, even when it was unintentional. I was sent on my way a much chastened and more

careful individual, bya very polite but firm gentle-

man,

ing that may be even|

After] ! listening to the Senator for an hour, she said, “at last] i

Men of Feathers Flock | Together at Seventh Poultry Congress

By J. H. Smith >

LEVELAND, 0., July 29 (NEA) The World Poultry

of frock .coats, Front.

This show comes off only once in three years.

Congress, with 15,000 “delegates” in feathers instead is now in session on Cleveland's ‘Lake

So,

when it comes, it’s big. The 1939 Congress, which opened

yesterday, is the seventh in history; it cost a million.

dollars; covers 20 acres, lasts 11 days. An estimated half-million visitors will view the fancy fowl and see the educational exhibits. Modern equipment

and business supplies all on display for visiting poultrymen, who are swapping suggestions at short course meetings in the Cleveland auditorium. A youth program is on. the schedule for farm youngsters, the raising, judging and proper AUs€ of poultry. And about 22,000 eggs are expected to be laid by the show’s stars. The common

breakfast variety will be cooked in home economics demonstra-

_tions, while the fancy products

from rare breeds will be destroyed. The owners. don’t want “back yard poultrymen” {trying to see

~What they can hatch out of them.

: ” s ” IX foreign nations provide the main sideshow attraction—an exhibit of 700 rare birds in the ‘Hall of Live Poultry, a regular Bronx Zoo of poultrydom. Holland brings the ducks: Ban-

tam Qwakers, smallest ‘of the. species, valued at $100 a specimen. The Dutch also present a Golden Laced Crested rooster with blue shanks and a full, high crown of feathers. The Salmon Faverolle chicken of France wears a natural muff around its neck and sports a beatd —of feathers. Great Britain and Canada have sent “delegates.” The majestic Cubalaya, national breed of Cuba, whose feature is a coat of many shiny colors, is on display. Mussolini's Italy provides a sur‘prise in a large array of pigeons. Particularly the white Romagnoli which looks just like that dove you see flitting about the peace posters. One of the show's beauties, the Romagnoli sets off its atbagtivenoss with cute, feathered eet Italy’s 137 birds are supervised

Ends 45 Years Service

with instruction in

business,”

by Dr. Alessandro Ghigi, noted scientist and president of the University of Bolcgna. - Ghigi has developed many kinds of fowl, including the Ghigi Bantam chicken —a cocky little mite with a gray spangled body and: tufted head. Banty is “attending” the congress, too. i » ” TRANGE as it may seem, a great number of these odd and fancy breeds are not raised, like race horses, purely for show. Such . outstanding = examples : as congress visitors see won't get the ax, but— “With most of these men it’s a . says Dr. Willard C. Thompson of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N, J, who has

“charge of the international live

bird exhibit. “The strange Salmon Faverolle, for instance, is used to supply high quality table meat for the Paris market.” America has a few fowl freaks

.. too—like Lady Lime Crest, chick-

en without a gizzard; who was flown from New Jersey to Cleveland in an airplane. This hen is living without grit after her gizzard was experimentally removed by an Eastern limestone company. Primarily, however, the roles of 5000 American birds at the congress are as entries in contests. Harry Atkins of Davenport, Ia. president of the American Poultry Association,” has charge of the competitive program: First prizes are bronze medals—but they -are more cherished than cash by the fortunate farmers. : 8 2 = ir OULTRY experts have come from abroad to give free advice to Mr. John Farmer of the United States. Dr. Ghigi is: one. Dr. Karl Vetter of Berlin, agricultural official in the Nazi Government and head of the World's Poultry Science Association, is another. Madame Grovlez of France,

‘At Nickel Plate Throttle|

Times Photo.

Engineer John Commons. .. . He'd do 45 more years.

He Plans a Trip, Which For This Railroader Will Be a Change.

u

By JAMES THRASHER At midnight tonight John Commons will climb down from his: locomotive cab to end 45 years of service for the Nickel Plate Road and its predecessor, the Lake Erie & Western. ‘Tomorrow he is going to get ready to take a trip, which is not a busman’s holiday, but a sensible idea. Mr. Commons should be ready for a change of scenery, for he spent about 30.of his 45 railroading years on a yard engine. So, with a family party of six, he is going up to Mackinac Island, St. Ignace and Sault. Ste. Marie. Then he and Mrs. Commons are coming back to Petosky, Mich., until about time for Mr. Commons’ September cold. “Mr. Commons is subject to colds, and for a very good reason. The man on the switch engine has no protection from the weather.e He has to watch the signals and, like the postman, “neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gloom of night” prevents him from ‘sticking head and shoulders out the cab window and watching the track and lights. But Mr. Commons didn’t mind the colds and the weather so much, because his job in the yards meant that he could spend some ' time| every day with his wife and family.

Five sons and four daughters meant|

more to him than speed, comfort and an opportunity to travel. So

Peru, his birthplace, and later in Indianapolis.

|= Like millions of other American

boys, John Commons wanted to be an engineer. One of a family of 13, he worked first in a textile facory and later was a basket maker. But in 1894, when he was 21, he started work as a fireman. He received

‘When it comes to accidents, Mr. Commons thinks he has been, pretty lucky. “I had a few wrecks,” he says, “as many as the average man, maybe more. Once I lost 12 weeks because of a broken knee, but I never received any really serious injuries. Being small and active, Mr. Commons made hurried exits from a cab window on four different occasions. - On two occasions he was able to jump when he saw that a crash was inevitable, Another time his arm rest broke and he fell out. The fourth escape occurred when he was thrown clear. of an overturning locomotive. Mr. Commons isn’t contemplating a lack of things to do after his re-

says; around his home at 812 E. 21st St., 17 years in Indianapolis. A ‘neat hedge, with every leaf in.place; a

thriving flowers show that Mr. Commons has not een ‘waiting for retirement fo e a start. -And ‘how did Mr. Commons like beoing an engineer?

years,” is His answer. “The men you It’s a Aascina

- friends

Dr. Willard Thompson, in charge of the international live bird exhibit, holds the “extremes” of the congress. The big rooster is

JFrench Salmon Faverolle.

A Romagnoli pigeon makes with. an American admirer, Rita Kofron. .

The little one is an Italian Ghigi bantam.

Head - high, Holland’s Golden Laced Crested appears proud of his fancy topknot..

asa catia IRV UUs ORV

Solemn Dutch duck. This Qwaker is one of the smallest and’ rarest of the duck family, Its Body is pure white and its value is wey at

at least. $100.

noted woman poultry raiser, is still another. Ace United States representative is Secretary of Agriculture

Henry :A. Wallace, .-who. is presi- “> dent of the congress this year.

The congress is a ‘stunt of the World's Poultry Science Association, with headquarters in Holland. This organization has 600,-

000 members throughout - .the world. ’ y

‘ Government officials of the host nation. must issue an invitation to the association.” When 1 this has been accepted, cities in that country bid for the ‘convention. The first congress was held at The

< Hague, Netherlands, 18 years ago.

his promotion as engineer in 1901.|

turn. There is plenty of work, he| where he has lived during his|

close-cropped, weedless' lawn and |

“Td like to work at it 45 more meet are ‘sociable, and always ‘aim| a

[BOARD TO BUY

MORE ROAD OIL

‘More Than Care for Needs, Winship Says.

Works Board for oiling Louis C. Brandt, Board president,

said today. The 240,000 gallons bought out of

has been exhausted, Wilbur Winship, Commissioner said. There are still 65 miles of unpaved streets to be oiled. Mr. Winship and Mr. Brandt conferred yesterday on the oil situation. Hundreds of complaints have been coming in from residents of dirt streets, Mr. Winship said. Mr. Brandt said that money for

the Works Board’s unexpended 1938 balance. The 120,000 gallons will “oil the rest of our streets and leave us some oil for emergencies,” Mr. Winship said. : .

‘VAN DUYN TAKES NEW JOB

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. July 29 (U. P)—Grover C. Van Duyn, former Assistant, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, will become manager of Indiana State Teachers College, Aug. 1. Mr. Van Duyn is former Treasurer:of Hancock County.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Pope? 2—What is a chronology?

sided polygon? 4—From the top of which moun-

law? 5—What is the official abbreviation for Pennsylvania? 6—For famous? 7—Why are the boots and stir-

versed at military funerals? 2 8 =» : Answers 1—Pope Gregory I. 2—Measurement of - time. >To. . 4—Sinai. : AGP tr

Wright brothers first few an

- his last’ journey on earth. : 8 8 2 >

ASK THE TIMES

~ Inclose a 3-cent stamp for

question of fact or information: to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013. 13th St, N. W., WashingCc. Tegal ‘and medical ‘cannot he given nor can,

look” 0b i the 3ards, Diet at

to. be. agreeable. t job.”

7be_ dete)

Extra 120,000 Gallons Will

An additional 120,000 gallons of road oil will be purchased by the streets,

the Street Department’s 1939 budget |

the oil would be appropriated from|

1—Who was aE krOwn as the Great 3—What is the name for a nine-

tain did Moses receive the| |

what is Kitty Hawk

rups of deceased soldiers re-

6—As the plies ‘Where the!

airplane. 7—It isan old symbol to Indieate >

reply when addressing any.

Ek ral

Stein Song ||

Gertrude Says a Book || Is a Book Is a Book Is a Book.

ORMAN, Okla., July .29 . (U. P.).—Gertrude Stein, who is. certain “a rose is a rose is a rose,” is at it again.This time she defines books, in an article published in Books-Abroad, international literary quarterly at the University of Oklahoma. Her definition:. ‘You only add books you. never subtract or divide them. and any book that i$ printed is’ a book.”’ In trying to make herself clear, Miss Stein uses the automobile ‘as’ a figure of speech to: declare the quality of. books. d © “So many books have been’ important to me,” she said, “it is like the man who said about automobiles when someone asked him is that make a good one, all automobiles are good, some might go better than others, but they- all go, that is the way books are to'me.”

DOWD SAYS. SOCIETY TO BLAME FOR CRIME|

NEW ALBANY, ANY, Ind, July P.).—Every time a criminal ‘violates a law, society has failed, Ared H. Dowd, warden of the State Penitentiary, told a club. meeting here last night. He recommended social and civic agencies co-opérate to solve juvenile delinquency.

.

“HOSPITAL LAW

DISCRETIONARY

Jackson Rules Pati Patients Need . Not. Be Sent to I. U. Plant. Here.

‘Sending of. bin phtionts ~ to

{Indiana University ‘hospital’‘is not

mandatory under the new 1939 law,

{Attorney General. Omer S. Jackson

said in an unofficial opinion- today. ..The opinion: was asked by Thomas. Hendgicks, secretary of the Indiana State ‘Medical Association, who said the main interest: among ‘physicians is “whether or not it is discretionary ‘or. mandatory -for :county : judges to commit patients to state hospitals.” The new law transferred from

-|township trustees ‘to county “judges

‘the:power to ‘commit indigetit patients to state hospital for treatment at.the. of the counties. | “It js obvious. under the new law. that judges have complete discretion over ‘the .comniitmient of patients,”

. tthe Attorney. Generals ‘ opinion

stated. ‘Judges “may recommend commitment of patients to local hos-

/|pitals gs they see fit.?

* FINED ON GAMING: CHARGE . RICHMOND, Ind., July. 29 (U.P). — Harold ‘McBride of Richmond’ was fined “$10 in Circuit: Court yesterday ona’ ‘charge of operating a’gaming house. He was arrested several weeks ‘ggo‘and a teletype: on. which: police said he was receiving horse race.re‘turns ‘was- confiscated, but later re-

| turned ‘to -its’ iid

Everyday Movies—By. Wortman