Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 September 1939 — Page 9

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1939

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~The Indianapolis Times

SECOND SECTION

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Hoosier Vagabond

IN THE CASCADES, Wash, Sept. 19-—-We sat on two mots, in a little white tent on a mountain top. A gasoline lantern hissed and shed a white light. It was cold outside. We were T000 miles from war. And yet we might have been sitting in a tent in Europe. Two men in uniform sat on a cot. They wore Forest Service uniforms. One was repairing a rubber mattress with adhesive tape. Another was studying a map as he listened to battle reports over the radio. The map was of the Wenatchee National Forest. We were T000 miles from the real war, but right in the midst of war between fire and men. Fires were raging all around us— within 15 or 20 miles. The forest was burning. The ravages were breaking out in new spots several times a day. The latest was what they called the Liberty fire. It had sprung up in mid-afternoon, and it was now 9 at night. It was thrilling to hear. And even more thrilling was the eavesdropping on the routine but urgent exchanges of orders and pleas from the men on the battle fronts. Over the radio we heard a Ranger Station say to headquarters: "Can you take a long order for supplies for the Liberty fire?” = 2 =

An Urgent Order The headquarters man cut back in and said, "Go ahead.” And then over the radio came this: “This order is urgent. It must be sent here by truck tonight, so we can pack it up the mountain before daylight. It must be there in time for breakfast. “Fifty sleeping bags. (That meant there were already 100 men at the new fire. A sleeping bag accommodates two men. One sleeps while the other works.) “Fifty pounds of coffee of potatoes. Two cases of eggs.

It Seems to Me

NEW YORK, Sept. 19 —The talk that the English and French are malingering along the Western Front comes only from those with small comprehension of the military and the political situation. If the Allied Governments hurled vast numbers of men against the wall right now they would greatIv strengthen Hitler's next oifensive, which is sure to be dangerous and may prevail. I refer to the German peace offensive, which may break out within two months or less At the moment all English and French spokesmen say they will not talk terms with Hitler while he digests Poland or shares the platter with the Soviets But when the time comes there will be an active appeasement party in both lands Naturally, Der Fuehrer will make the usual promises and say that he wants nothing more. And if the Soviets share in the grab through ante-nuptial agreement or by threat of force, there will also be pledges on the part of Stalin It is easy to say that nobody believes Hitler any more and that there is a growing lack of faith in the Bear that walks like a worker. It is also certain that peace after Poland will constitute complete capitulation upon the part of the Western Powers. Democracy will die not only in England and France but throughout the little nations, such as Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland and Switzerland. Russia and Germany will be in a position to share the spoils or fight for them. = » = - . Appeasement Sentiment Strong And it is this latter hope to which the appeasement party in England and France will cling. ‘They will hope the not impossible clash between the ambitions of the dictators may lead to a double knockout.

One hundred-fifty pounds Twenty cans peaches.

Washington

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19.—One word before the battle begins, before Congress meets, not as does the German Reichstag to hear what the orders are. but to weigh in its own discretion the recommendations of the President and then vote them up or down as it chooses. That this can happen at all is a remarkable thing in these times, a thing that cannot occur now in any other great country. Everywhere else, among the major powers, representative assemblies are either dead or exist only, as in France and England, In a state of suspended animation. We alone are still trying to make a go of democracy. If that is a legitimate source of pride, it also is a responsibility to make us humble and to safeguard this lone free-functioning survivor of the great institution of seli-government. Of all conceivable tragedies to the cause of democracy, the worst would be for Congress to fail in this hour to show itself equal to its responsibilit;’, That responsibility is to discuss with intelligence and understanding the questions which arise and to decide them with a conscience single to the best in- , terests of the United States, hiere can be no other standard. 5 ” n

Hearing the Other Side

In what other major country now could Senator + Borah have made the speech which he made the cther night, discussing what he deemed to be the dangers of the Administration's desire to repeal the arms embargo? I have been unable to see any such danger in this as Senator Borah does, and I am more certain in that belief now that I have heard what he has to say on the other side.

My Day

CLARKSBURG, W. Va. Mondav—Well, we are off again, leaving Washington on our way to West Virginia. We go through beautiful country. but much that we see reminds us that a great nation at peace still has many problems to solve. This is a prt of the world where agriculture and coal mining meet. The two extremes of wealth and poverty shook hands in this industry even when it had not reached today’s situation. Now we add not the problem of “can a mine profitably carry better wages and better working conditions?” But “what can we do with people who once worked in the mine and never will work there again?” To me there is a sense of urgency about solving our economic problems and finding some kind of a pattern which we can offer the future. I read both Anne O'Hare McCormick and Dorothy Thompson this morning, and the announcement made to the Russian people by their Government on their entry into Poland. That last docu- ~ ment could only be given to a gullible nation. But it is disheartening in the exireme, and I fear that Anne O'Hare McCormick is right in her conclusion that in this war the seeds of other wars are being

sown, “- .

w

By Ernie Pyle

Twenty cans pineapple. Fifty loaves of broad. Four cases of dynamite. . . And on and on, until you thought they were feeding a real army. In this vastly wooded country, forest fires are almost constant in the dry summers, Up to that night, there had been 103 fires in the Wenatchee Forest alone. Sixty per cent of those fires, Supervisor Brown said, were man-caused. People tossing out cigarets, failing to put out campfires. The other 40 per cent were from lightning. Modernism has come to forest fires. The radio, the airplane and the caterpiller tractor have revoiutionized forest fire fighting. When a fire breaks, a lookout tower reports it bv radio or telephone. A small group of fighters is

sent immediately. » = »

Carry Portable Radio The foreman carries a radio on his back. Within 10 minutes after arriving at the fire, he speaks right back to headquarters—describes the fire, gives exact location, tells how many men he needs, what kind of equipment, how much food, and so on. From 50 to 200 men, carrying packs on their backs, are on their way within an hour. Inaccessibility is the fire-fighters’ greatest problem. There is one fire now where the men had to be lowered by ropes over great cliffs. So ghastly was the climb that it was impossible to pack food up to the fighters fast enough to sustain them. Sc the Forest Service used an airplane. Every | morning it flew over, dropping boxes of canned fruit, | meat, bread. a five-gallon can of egg yolks, thousands | of feet of rubber hose, hand pumps for pumping water | from nearby lakes, axes, sleeping bags. A ton of) stuff a day was dropped out of that airplane in home- | made parachutes. The CCC boys stand high in Forest Service eyes. Foremen say they'd rather have 50 CCC boys than| 100 ordinary men. For they are strong and willing. | and when they arrive at a fire they know exactly what to do, and do it with the efficiency of a machine,

By Heywood Broun |

The plight of the European democracies will be worsened if we refuse to revise the Neutrality Act or | if decision is endlessly delayed by a Senate filibuster, | In such circumstances it would be reckless folly | to build up huge casualty lists in an offensive which | might well prove futile. Hitler has already begun preparation for the drive | by which he hopes to complete his conquest of Europe | without further bloodshed. It is well to bear in mind | that German casualties in Poland have apparently | been slight until now.

Patience the Watchword

(First of a Series)

By James Thrasher HE Indianapolis Civic Theater was born, on Feb. 16, 1915, into a world of strife, a theater of abundant and significant activity, and a city of literary distinction. It has struggled, persisted and prospered. It has endured innumerable troubles, shifting its aims and ideals to match a changing world.

But it has lived. So, with the beginning of the new season next month, the Civic's members and patrons will cele-

| brate the 25th birthday of what

The line of attack by negotiations has already been | indicated in the German press. Churchill is under | constant fire as a gangster and murderer. The charge | that he ordered the torpedoing of the Athenia is played up on the first page of the Berlin newspapers day after day Goebbels seems to be out as propaganda chief. | Possibly he has been demoted because Churchill's! guilt was a second thought in the official press re- | leases. The first German exvlanation was that the Athenia had probably struck a mine. But that par-, ticular mine has now been sunk without trace in| the Nazi newspapers.

The line on Chamberlain has switched almost overnight. In the beginning he was stigmatized as a villain who had brought on the war by encouraging | Poland to prey on Germany. But according to the] latest reports Berlin now pictures him as a wellmeaning old gentleman who has been kidnaped by! the war party against his will. | The German peace offensive is going to be very! tough, because at the moment Hitler holds the high cards. Democracies all along the line are on the defensive. They must watch and wait and play for developments behind the front. Superhuman pa-| tience rather than reckless courage must be the keynote. The time has not yet come,

By Raymond Clapper

The other night Rep. Bruce Barton of New York, a Republican who agrees with the President on repeal of the arms embargo, was discussing the duty of the minority party in a period of world crisis. ‘It is our duty,” he said, “to question and to de-| bate. and to make sure that all facts be presented to | the American people, all arguments fully heard. This | does not mean that we should obstruct for the sake! of obstruction, or embarrass and annoy any Ad- | ministration simply because it bears a different party | label. When in our judgment the President is right, | we should support him regardless of party considera- | tion or profit. When, according to our judgment and | conscience, his proposals are hasty or ill considered. | no hysteria should be allowed to sweep aside our) judgment.” 2 = =»

| and authors, but every worker who

has become a really venerable landmark in the history of American community drama. And it will be a community celebration in the truest sense. For the Civic's existence today is the sum of all the efforts of scores and hundreds who have nourished it with time, talent, strength and money through the years. Not only the quarter-century veterans, actors and executives, or the directors

in organizing Indianapolis’ Little Theater, specified “an unostentatious setting such as Lady Gregory described that of the Irish National Theater to have

has held a prompt book, painted promp b been.”

a set, gathered props” or sold subscriptions to an adamant public. It was a proud and cultured Indianapolis to which the late William E. Jenkins of Bloomington came on Feb. 2, 1914, to plant the germ of the Little Theater movement. The aging Riley lived here, and the mature and successful Tarkington, Ade and Nicholson, and Kin Hubbard, with his sharp, homespun humor. Indianapolis was on the literary map, with a reputation to maintain. = = =

O when Mr. Jenkins told a Drama League audience at the Herron Art Museum of the Chicago Little Theater's work, there seemed no reason why Indianapolis should not have a similar project. Mr. Jenkins was librarian of Indiana University, and he had recently been to see Maurice Browne's production of “The Trojan Women" at the Chicago theater. His account interested some of the audience sufficiently to invite Mr. Browne here the following autumn to address a group of Little Theater enthusiasts. Then, soon afterward, Lady Gregory lectured here. This gentle, earnest, gifted visitor from Ireland must have had a persuasive influence. With Yeats, she had

2 ” ” HAT was happening in the theatrical world that night of Feb. 16? In New York, that

very week, the Washington Square Players opened their first productions at the Bandbox Theater, and began a five-year history which led into the Theater Guild of the present day. The brilliant example of the Abbey Players and the Moscow Art Theater was fresh in the minds of American players. Granville Barker, the English author-actor-stage manager, had just revived the defunct New Theater movement. And the night that th: Civic Theater's founders first met, he opened his imaginative and arresting production of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” at Wallack's Theater.

Charles Frohman, David Belasco, William A. Brady and George M. Cohan were among New York's leading producers. The Castles were appearing on Broadway in “Watch Your Step,” and Al Jolson was just closing a long engagement at the Winter Garden. Ethel Barrymore was starring in “The Shadow,” Elsie Ferguson was lending her lovely presence to ‘The Outcast” and Marie Dressler was packing them in with something called “A

La Follette's Experience

raised the Irish drama in 15 years from nonexistence to a point of | international eminence. At the Abbey Theater in Dublin she had

Mixup.” Owen Davis, in his pre-Pulitzer Prize days, offered Broadway his the advertise-

That is easy to say now. But once upon a time, more than 20 years ago a man tried to say the same thing—in some of the identical phrases—in the United States Senate. He said: “I had supposed until recently that it] was the duty of Senators and Representatives in Con- | gress to vote according to their convictions . . . quite | another doctrine has recently been promulgated . . . and that is the doctrine of standing back of the President whether he is right or wrong. For myself, I have never subscribed to that doctrine and never shall. I shall support the President in the! measures he proposes when I believe them to be right. | I shall oppose measures proposed by the President when I believe them to be wrong.” The man who said that was Senator Robert M. La Follette, the elder. It was the night the Senate | voted to go to war with Germany. For those words. SO commonplace and easy to utter now, the late Senator La Follette paid an excruciating price in years of ostracism and martyrdom. Luckily we haven't gone over the precipice this time—not yet.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

What can we do as a neutral nation to bring some influence to bear in the future, when of necessity all nations must come to a period of weariness and have a breathing spell? Certainly abdicating one’s right to have a conscience and to use one's intelligence is never helpful. Certainly thinking only as individuals of what is safe for us, or what will profit us, is not very uplifting to the individual and does little to make our nation a force for good. I read recently a statement by a United States Senator on neutrality. I listened to another Senator on the screen last night. Why must we approach

these questions solely from the point of view of what '

will save our skins and our pockets? One man says this is 1914 all over again. No, there may be similarities, but there are fundamental differences. We have come a long way since 1914, I hope and pray that we will not have to fight with

“Sinners,” which, ments stated “was ‘The Old Homestead’ and ‘Way Down East’ rolled into one!” Samuel Goldwyn was still Samuel Goldfish, and had just gone to Hollywood to accompany Cecil B. DeMille with a movie troupe to Japan for Jesse Lasky. n ” ” UGENE O'NEILL writing plays for none as vet had The Wharf

provided a hearing for Synge, Colum, Shaw and Robinson, as well as for Yeats’ work and her own. Two years before she had brought her Abbey Players to America and to Indianapolis, where Synge's “The Playboy of the Western World,” showered with insults and vegetables elsewhere, was given a quiet and respectable reception under the law's wat:zhful eye. It is small wonder, then, that the ways and means committee,

‘Perfect’ County Babies To Be Given Examination

The Indianapolis Lions Club and 40 co-operating organizations are to complete plans tonight for a community service program in which 1000 Marion County babies, from 1 to 3 years old. whose parents believe them to be in perfect health, will be given free physical examinations. Various organization leaders and civic representatives will discuss details at a dinner-meeting in the Claypool Hotel.

The Lions Club will be assisted | by 50 physicians, members of we GUILD T0 SPONSOR Indianapolis Medical Society, in the oA vinin DISCUSSION SERIES

A winning child will be selected and crowned “Marion County's perThe Aquinas Guild, young Catholics’ group, will sponsor a series of

fect child” by Mayor Reginald H. | Sullivan in a ceremony at Butler open discussions on “Problems in Human Relationships.”

Fieldhouse. The ceremony will take the form of a community party, The Rev. Fr. John Doyle, professor at Marian College, will have

with entertainment and dancing. Proceeds of the party will be used charge of the meetings. The problems to be discussed include war,

{by the Lions Club for relief of the blind and underprivileged in the mercy killing, morality of modern government, state and social secur-

county. ity, and freedom of speech and the

been two years, seen the Theater at

had

but stage.

armed forces in this war, but we do have to fight with our minds, for this is as much a war for the control of ideas as for control of material resources. If certain ideas triumph, then what our forefathers ante in this nation would receive a very serious ow. What we need to think about today is how we can be useful as well as neutral. the ideals which now make life worth living for us.

Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children | that an average of 25 per cent of are dying. Are we going to think only of our skins |the We have a right to stay at]

and our own pockets?

peace, if by doing so we render a greater service to!infirmity, according to Lions Club

a war-torn worid.

maith somos. I imi.

We must keep alive | nations

This community program has been carried out by the international Lions Clubs organizations in 4] cities. Each one takes about {20 weeks to complete, and only two | Press. : The meetings will be held each Thursday at 7:30 p. m, beginning Sept. 28 and continuing through January, in the Sodality room of

programs are undertaken each |year. The Indianapolis Lions Club St. John's rectory on Georgia St. CHILD KILLED IN FALL

(has had an application for this service pending with international] | headquarters for three years. | In every city where the examihave been carried out, examihation has shown| VINCENNES, Ind, Sept. 19 (U. P.).—Vivian Carson, T-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Carson, died yesterday from injuries received when she fell from a car driven by her father,

{careful

supposedly are suffering

healthy children from some hidden

officials. :

Pe Atl Btn. es

—_—— Bs Provincetown, Mass, w hich cradled O'Neill's fame, did not open until thz following summer,

That, then, was the world into

which the Little Theater Society of Indiana (for so it was called for 15 years) launched it=self. And its purpose was as high as that of any of its lusty Eastern contemporaries. Here is the first circular announcement: “It is hoped to create a theater which shall be a distinctly Indiana version of the work begun by Lady Gregory and her Dublin associates, inspired by Gordon Craig, exemplified by Max Reinhardt in Berlin and by Maurice Browne in Chicago, and in close likeness to the methods of New York enthusiasts who, as the Washington Square Players, have won surprising approval for their offerings at the Bandbox Theater.” There was more, too, of aims and ambitions; enough to make an Indianapolis newspaper say, editorially, on April 11, 1915: “. . . Apparently they not only propose to revolutionize the stage, but

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Which amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the U. 8.? 2—On what bay is Newport, R. 1.2 3—What is the name for a fe male terrapin? 4—Is the name of Bryan (Bitsy) Grant associated with golf, tennis or track? 5—What is a depilatory? 6—In which war was the Battle of Spottsylvania Court House? T—What is the hydrosphere of the globe?

” ” ” Answers

1—Thirteenth. 2—Narragansett Bay. 3—Cow. 4—Tennis. 5—An agent for removing hair from the skin. 6—American Civil War. T—The waters of the earth. s ” 2

ASK THE TIMES

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St, N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended research be under

AX

- taken,

1. Maxwell Parry, Civic Theater co-founder, playwright and actor, with Maude Adams in the last word in automobiles of 25 years ago.

2. Mr. Parry, who specialized in character parts, made up for an appearance in a Yale Dramatic Club play.

3. Mrs. Mary H. Flanner was on the Civic's first board of directors.

4, The ways and means committee which

outlined the Civie

Theater's organization included Mrs. W. O. Bates.

5. Carl H. Lieber served as ways and means committee chairman and vice president during the first season.

human nature as well, for they announce as their maxim Isaiah's millennial vision of workers who ‘helped every one his neighbor; and everyone said to his brother. Be of good courage.’ ”

” o 5 ILLENNIAL, perhaps, but the theater's subsequent history almost might force the editorial writer to eat his words. It is patently impossible to list,

in these accounts, even the officers who have served the Civic Theater in its first 25 years. So if space is given to the early executives at the expense of later ones, it is only for historical purposes, and the neglect of others implies no discourtesy or disrespect. The ways and means committee which met on Feb, 16 of 1915 included Carl Lieber, chairman; Miss Eldena Lauter, Mrs. W. O. Bates, Herbert Foltz, Henry B. Heywood, H. H. Brown, and Maxwell Parry. The first year's officers were William E. Jenkins, president; Mrs. Jennie Ray Ormsby, first vice president; Mr. Lieber, second vice president; H. H. Simmons, secretary; F. R. Kautz, treasurer, and Miss Mary E. Holliday, chairman of the membership committee.

The board of directors included Mrs. Mary H. Flanner, Miss Lauter, Mr. Foltz, Hatha» y Simmons and William O. Ba.cs. Among the new officers’ first tasks was the selection of a theatrical director, and their choice was in keeping with their own aims and the spirit of the

times. On July 2 they appointed Samuel A. Eliot Jr.

u " “'

R. ELIOT was the grandson of Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard, son of the Rev. Samuel Atkins Eliot and a nephew of Prof. George Pierce Baker, from whose classrooms at Harvard and Yale came forth a distinguished generation of playwrights, directors and designers. Mr. Eliot had studied with his uncle, had toured Europe, where he worked with Reinhardt, was associated with Winthrop Ames in founding the New York Little Theater and had been one of the famous group vhich, sitting in a Greenwich Village studio, had spontaneously conceived the Washington Square Players and their theatrical philosophy.

NEXT—Early Difficulties.

Everyday

Movies—By Wortman

ET ce a

"Look, lady, I'm an old hand in this business.

Please don't be

squeezing the melons soft and mushy so they look like they're gotten so you can have an excuse to knock down the price."

acts

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