Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 January 1940 — Page 7
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1940
SECOND
SECTION.
Hoosier Vagabond
“ABOARD S. 8S. SIXAOLA, Bound for Panama, Jan. 13.—Well, we passengers all have eachother
pretty well sized up by now. And it doesn’t look as °
though this voyage were going to be especially Tellicking: 5 There isn’t a half ounce of romance on the whole boat. The female situation is appalling. The entire feminine cargo consist ‘either of little children or middle-aged ladies. There isn’t even+a good horse-faced damsel of tender years aboard.
As for the males—-I seem to
be the only desirable one on the.
passenger list. And on second thought I don’t know that I'm such a bargain. Understand, I'm not trying to
Passengers. It’s’ just that we're all good, steady people, I'm afraid. We're what you might call the backbone of America. Most of us are pretty surprised at! being on a steamship. There isn’t a single countess aboard, nor a gam‘bling shark, nor a champion swimmer, nor an ambassador, nor a honeymooning couple. putting one arm in a sling and appearing on deck wearing a black silk mask, just to stir up a little gossip. 8 = » .
Nobody to Dislike
The ship will carry 90, and: there are about 45 of us aboard. Quite a few just made the short run to Havana, and got off there. About 15 people are ‘making the round trip as a vacation cruise, and the rest are going to Panama to work. The male department consists almost wholly of men assigned to jobs on the new Panama Canal locks. There are crane operators, electricians, dredgemen and cement men." Most of them have been working on big dams in the States. ‘Several are straight from Ft. Peck and Grand Coulee. : I will say this—the passenger list is shy on its quota of thoroughly repulsive people. We have only
Our Town
IT'LL BET YOU never knew that three of the great-" est seafaring stories ever written were whipped into shape right here in Indianapolis. Charles Nordhoff, a German boy born and bred in Westphalia (where the real pumpernickel comes : from) came to America when he was 5 years old. He didn’t know a word of English. After a grade school education in Cincinnati,. he was apprenticed at the age of 13 to a printer. He served a year and went to Philadelphia, where he worked as a compositor on a paper. When he was 14, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy, served three years, and went around the world. After expiration of the term of enlistment he spent several. years on mérchant vessels and in New England fisheries. In 1852 when he was 22, he turned up here. It appears that his uncle, Prof. Nast of Greencastle, persuaded him to come to Indianapolis and study law in the office of Governor Joseph A. Wright. It also turns out that Charles Nordhoff had another uncéle—Thomas Nast, the famous caricaturist whose cartoons did more than anything else to rid New York of Boss Tweed and his ring). Soon as the young Nordhoff settled in Indianapolis he discovered that he had little taste for the law. On the other hand, he was hungry for literary work. Legend has it that he had a room-at the Old State House and read everything in the State Library, except the law books. # ” 2
Start of Writing Career
One day Austin H. Brown, then working on The Sentinel, urged Charles to come over and have a look at the plant. When he got there, the editor offered him a job. The editor was Mr. Brown's father (today’s piece approximates a fairy tale). Charles accepted the offer and served as reporter, city editor, . and editorial writer, all at the same time. He took all his meals at the Austin H. Brown house the three years he lived in Indianapolis. It was during these years that Charles Nordhoff, in
® hy ° Washington | CINCINNATI, Jan. 13.—No, the unemployment problem hasn’t disappeared here either, and it isn’t ely to at any time soon even though business is bouncing along, thanks to war orders and to general recovery. This is a big city and it’s doing well. It is big because it has about 205,000 persons gainfully employed, including a wage-earning group of about 165,000. That includes both shop and white-collar workers. Cincinnati is doing well because department-store sales are uw 7 per cent over last year and anufacturing employment is 15% per cent greater than a year ago. There are at least 8000 to 8500 more jobs in Cincinnati than there were a year ago.
The other side of the picture is not so cheerful. On Jan 1, the State Employment Office here had on file applications for work from 24,239 persons. Those persons, with their dependents, represent a fairly large community in themselves—sfill unable to find work in private industry although times are good. How is this unemployed army being taken care of? City relief is carrying 8000 cases. WPA is carrying about 10,000, which is about half of the number on WPA a year ago. Apparently some 6000 more unemployed, whose applications for jobs are on file, are struggling along on their ewn resources, living off relatives or picking up grocery orders from some of the minor agencies. " 2 ”
WPA Workers Envied
The State Employment Office found jobs for 16,594 persons last year—twice as many as were placed 1~/in -1938. The 10,000 persons on WPA are known as the aristocrats among the reliefers and are the envy of the
My Day
NEW YORK CITY, Friday.—The Democratic Digest, published once a month by the women’s division ‘of the National Democratic Committee, is undertaking
a very interesting demonsfration of how one can actually g0 about knowing one’s own community. Mrs. Dorothy McAllister and Mrs. May Evans decided that public health was a good study point in any city or rural district. They invited a small group of women to join them yester--day in the District of Columbia Health Commissioner's office. We were told first about the *~things which the department was doing that were considered important to public health. They are inspecting glassware and silverware in all the restaurants and soda fountains in the city. At fst the number of germs found on glasses was extremely high, but they ‘have brought it down so that many restaurants run below a hundred, where they once were up in the thousands. In the’ district, the most serious menaces seem. | to.be tuberculosis and pneumonia. Deaths from tuberculosis are far higher among the Negro citizens. - In the course of the conversation, it was brought
’
say anything against my fellow-
I feel like |
to furnish books for township libraries.
-By Ern ie Pyle
one spotted so far. And I expect he’s really all right, but gee whiz, you've got to dislike somebody -on board a ship. ° ‘ When this certain fellow passed our deck chairs today, That Girl said to me, “That man is going-to get. off before he gets to Cristobal.” If you consider that we don’t stop any more between here and Dal, maybe you can gather what was in her min
The war, I understand, is largely responsible for |
our lean passenger list. I don’t know why on earth anybody should be afraid to cross the Gulf of Mexico on an American ship, but apparently lots of
; people are.
2 8 8
Travel Hurt by War '
In the hotel lobby in New Orleans the other day we heard one woman say to another, “You simply can’t go anywhere -on a boat npw, you know.” And at the United Pruit offices, a company employee who had been on vacation came back while I was buying our tickets. He Spoke to his fellow-workers behind the desk. “Has the war hurt business any?” he asked. “Hurt it? one of them said. “It’s crucified it.” Yet nobody on this ship is afraid. People on deck hardly ever meéntion the war, but we all think it would be exciting if we could see a German freighter or a British warship. Some of the ladies thought they had an incident yesterday. They spotted some ships far on the horizon, and decided it was a German vessel being chased by two British destroyers. They were very excited until one of the officers told them it was a tanker and two fishing boats. - We have had two lifeboats drills already, and the officers seem fairly serious about it. Lifeboat drills always give me the woolies, for I can’t help but visualize what I would do in a crisis. I would push all the women and children overboard, and crawl into the Hares lifeboat and hide. It horrifies me to think about i
We do not have American flags * painted on our].
sides, as some ships have: But at night the big flag
that flies from the stern is framed in the beam of two|They've started that since the war.|
bright spotlights.
By Anton Scherrer
his spare time, wrote “Man-of-War Life,” “The Merchant Vessel,” and “Whaling and Fishing,” every one of which was a graphic account of a kid's experiences on the high seas. The books had a big circulation not only because of their merit, but because of H. W. Derby. Mr. Derby, then a partner of Harper Bros., had made contracts with most of the Western states Nordhoff’s three books were accepted by him with the result that they got into every library in the country. Mr. Derby took a fancy to Charles Nordhoff right from the start and had him transferred to work on Harper's Weekly. His first work was in writing matter to fit illustrations-that were furnished him. In the course of his stay with Harper’s, Nordhoff became acquainted with William Cullen Bryant, who then edited the New York Evening Post. In 1861, Nordhoff became managing editor of Mr. Bryant's paper. He was with the Post all during the crucial Civil War period—until 1871, as a matter of fact. In his spare time he wrote “Secession Is Rebellion” and “America for Free Working Men,” two challenging books that had everybody talking. ” ” 2
Joins Bennett's Herald
After leaving the Post, Nordhoff spent several years in California and Hawaii, doing nothing. He was only 41 at the time. On his return in 1874, James Gordon Bennett grabbed him off for the New York Herald. Nordhoff was placed in charge of the Herald's bureau of correspondence in Washington at a salary of $10,000 a year, just about tops for the time. In his spare time during this period he wrote “Politics for Young Americans” and “Communistic Societies in
- the United States.”
When Nordhoff retired in 1890 gfter a stay of 16 years, with the Herald, Mr. Bennett placed him on a pension of $5000 a year during life, the only condition being that he write for no other paper. Nordhoff went to California to live and was never known to stick his nose into a hewspaper office after that. Charles Nordhoff died th 1901. It works out somewhere around $55,000. That's what it cost Mr. Bennett to keep Mr. Nordhoff’s nose out of a newspaper office after he retired.
By.Raymond Clapper
other unemployed. WPA has 4000 on its waiting list. These jobs pay from $57.50 to $92 a month. If you
are not lucky enough to get one of them, ey is a dismal prospect indeed. You might find Ci work relief at $24 a month, which gives you that much in cash and spares you the humiliation of having to live off grocery orders. Proportionately, the unemployment problem isn’t nearly as severe here as it is in some of the smaller cities—as in Springfield, for instance, where about 14,000 are’ employed and 5000 are looking for jobs. Still, no matfer how large the community is, a waiting list of more than 24,000 breadwinners who haven't found a way to feed the mouths dependent on them is not a problem that is going to be solved just by balancing the budget. There is this about Cincinnati. It is handling its problem and hasn't been in the national headlines with relief crises. 2 ” 8
People Naturally Thrifty
The full reasons for this are numerous. But for one thing this city has had the benefit of excellent management for years. It installed a modern charter system. It employed C. A. Dykstra, now president of the University of Wisconsin, as city manager. Now the city manager is C. O. Sherrill, former Army engineer officer. . Cincinnati’s municipal housekeeping has been above average. Moreover, this is a thrifty, debt-paying city. There are more than 200 building-and-loan associations here. People are in the habit of paying their taxes promptly. War orders play a part in Cincinnati's recovery but everyone is sensitive about it. Manufacturers are afraid of being tagged as merchants of death and they also are afraid of sabotage. Domestic government war orders also are helping business. But it seems quite definite that recovery is moving ahead independently of the war factors.
By Eleanor Roosevelt
out that, in areas where poor housing exists, disease rates go up in proportion to the low economic status of the families. All clinics are overcrowded and the number of public health nurses in the district is just about half of what is: considered safe for a city of this size. We went through the laboratory where experiments are being made with pneumonia serums which have appreciably cut. down the number of deaths from pneumonia. I felt that I had acquired a great deal of knowledge on this first trip. It is planned to continue these trips, and publish an account of findings in the “Digest.” It is hoped that this will be helpful to women in other cities or rural areas. : This week, in New York City, has been designated as “Kindergarten Week” by the kindergarteners of the city, in order to try to awaken public interest to the importance of retaining kindergartens as part of the public education system. I wish this could be done all over the country, for kindergartens and nursery schools should be available to all our children. Last night, the Congressional reception took place. During dinner I particularly enjoyed having the President and the Vice President vie with each other telling stories of their past political ‘experiences. Miss Thompson and I came to New York City on
- the midnight train and are going to Hyde Park this
afternoon. "
ask a local court to fix a fax
Times- Acme Photos.
LA truckload of Soviet bread lies overturned after the Finns make a successful surprise attack on a Russian patrol in the northern front.
2. Finnish “ghost” soldiers inspect another large quantity of black bread seized in an attack on a Russian supply column, | :
3. Finnish soldiers examine a quantity of captured enemy supplies after a Russian defeat in northern Finland. Note the picture of Soviet.
Dictator Joseph Stalin (on cart at instead of flags.
left) apparently one of those used
4. A Soviet light tank put out of action by the Finns) also on the
northern front.
5. Field Marshal Mannerheim, right, with two of the generals who
are aiding him in Finland’s defense.
On left is Gen. Oestermann; 47-
year-old Commander-in-Chief of the Army and, center, Gen, Onyuiss, 45, commanding the troops in the Karelian Xthmus, :
Gas, Milk and Bicycle Issues Before Council
The City Council will meet Monday night to consider three controversial civic issues which are likely to split the City Fathers into partisan camps. Held “over from last year, the issues include the Health Board's milk grading ordinance, a proposal to condemn the properties of the Indianapolis Gas Co. for City purchase and a Safety Board proposal to register bicycles for a 50-cent fee.
Council President Joseph GG. Wood
it| has indicated his desire to hold one y | or more public hearings on the pro-
posed milk ordinance which has attracted the attention of civic groups. The measure, for the first time in the City’s history, would require the grading of milk on a bacterial count: basis.
Three Grades Suggested
Introduced by Dr. Herman G. Morgan, Health Board secretary, the milk ordinance would set up grades A, B and C milk and permit the retailing of Grade A milk only. To qualify as Grade A, milk would have to be processed under a prescribed set of sanitary conditions so that it, would have a bacterial count per cubic centimeter of no more than 30,000. Milk with a bacterial count per cubic centimeter froin 30,000 to 50,000 would grade as B milk and above 50,000, C. The B and C grades could be used for manufacturing purposes only, except during a shortage of Grade A. In- this case, the City Health officer would have the power to permit the sale of Grade B milk until a sufficient quantity of Grade A again was available.
Labeling Sought
Civic groups interested in the ordinance have urged an amendment whereby milk’ distributors in the Indianapolis marketing area would be required to label milk, showing grade, butterfat content
. and other data. »
The Council was asked to ratify a resolution, condemning the Indi-. anapolis Gas Co. properties, adopted by the City Utility District which operates the Citizens Gas & Coke Utility. By this action, the. City opens the door to acquire the Indianapolis Gas properties, which ‘in-
clude about half the mains serving|
Indianapolis consumers. The old Citizens Gas Co., prior to its acquisition by the City; had leased these mains and other Indi-
anapolis Gas Co. properties. When |
the City acquired the Citizens Gas Co., it refused to recognize the lease. The City contended the lease asked excessive rental for the Indianapolis Gas Co. properties.
Lease Ruled Invalid
A long Federal Court suit followed and Federal Judge Robert: C. Baltzell ruled the lease ‘invalid. The City thus was confronted with |. the necessity of making new arrangements to utilize the Indianapolis Gas Co. mains and trustees and directors of the Utility District decided to purchase the equipment | through condemnation proceedings. If te Council approves. the action of the Utility District, the city will value
for the Indianapolis Gas Co. properties. The city then would issue bonds to pay for the properties, on the basis of the court’s valuation. Of concern fo bicycle owners as well as to retailers is the Safety Board's bicycle ordinance. It would assess a 50-cent fee on registration of ‘éach bicycle. Registration would be by number, which would be stamped onthe frame of cycle. The ordinance also proposes to repeal an existing bicycle licensing ordinance which has been on the books. since 1936 but! which has never been enforced. @R The 1936 ordinance asked a $1.25 fee for licensing. | An injunction suit to prevent the city from enforcing the ordinance was filed shortly after it was passed. Although the suit nfiever has been determined, city officials have not attempted to enforce the ordihance. e new registration ordinance was proposed by Police Chief Michael P. Morrissey. It would enable policé to track down stolen cycles throlgh registrations, he said. At present, there is no systematic method of identifying bicycles, according to the chief. The 50-cent fee feature of the ordinance has aroused the opposition of Republican .councilmen. Councilman Harmon A. Campbell has asserted that the fee is unnecessary and should be stricken from® the ordinance.
BIDS REJECTED FOR POSTOFFIGE WORKS
Postmaster Adolph Seidensticker said today that bids received Dec. 28, 1939, on various postoffice improvements, including a ground floor door to the “swing room,” had been rejected. The Postmaster received a letter “from L. A. Simon, acting commissioner of public buildings at Washington, saying checks would be returned to bidders. Specifications will be revised and re-advertised later, ME Simon informed the Postmaster. A “swing room” is a place for employees to rest, Charles E. Clift Federal Building assistant . custodi-
an, said. They spend time there between shifts, commonly known as
there. Other improvements to be made
under the bids include blackboards for the U, S. Army, soundproofing of ceilings for the Federal Housing Authority, glazed law library doors
{and new window signs. for the post:
office; ee © ACCIDENTALLY SHOT
tion today from a bullet wound suf-
ting away was accidentally discharged. The bullet passed through a. door and struck Mrs. Pennington in ‘the chest. Physicians feared it
had punctured her lung.
“swing time” and they eat lunch
FRANKFORT, Ind, Jan. 13° (U. IP) —~Mrs. Wilma Pennington, 24, of ‘Frankfort,\was in critical sondi-
fered yesterday when a: 22-caliber| rifie her brother, Howard, was put-
for the tax.
sme I ey Spe
CITY HUNTS WAY TOESCAPE LEVY
Knight and Sullivan Confer .On Fight Against $2000 ‘Gross Income Tax.
City Corporation Counsel Ei-
ward H. Knight today began a
systematic study of the Indiana Gross Income tax law to find a loophole through which the City could” avoid payment. Mr. Knight conferred with Mayor Reginald ‘H. Sullivan yesterday on ways and means to fight the Stati’s claim that the City owes upward of $2000 in gross tax. Both NIr. Knight and the Mayor were firm in their contention the City is rot required to pay the tax, which falls due Jan. 31. Mr. Knight contends that the City legally cannot pay the tax because provision for the payment is not included in the budget. On the other hand, Gilbert K. Hewitt, Gross Tax director, believes tae City can pay the tax out of opersting revenue. The Gross Tax official said ae did not know what action he would take if the City does not pay.
Elkhart to Ignore State Gross Income Tax
+ ELKHART, Ind, Jan. 13 (U. I). —-Mayor Clyde Paxson said today that Elkhart will ignore provisicns of the 1937 Indiana law requiriag cities ‘and other political units to pay gross income taxes on reverue from ‘sources other than taxes. , ‘With the exception of the City water -works, Elkhart civic dzpartments have failed to pay the fax
’Isince its inception, P. W. Summgyrs,
field auditor for the Gross Trico fe Tax Division ‘in Elkhart, notified the City this week that the nax must be paid, 4
State. Demands Tax From Marion Times Special ‘MARION, Ind,
Jan. 13.-City
{Clerk Robert: Custer today cast
|about for an answer to Incoma 7T'ax ‘Director Gilbert Hewit’s demand
that the City of Marion: “pay. 1.p” 1p eross I income tax bill since Ari ‘Mr. Custer asked City Attorney Robert. T. Caine for an opinion. He said the City earned approximat ily. $0000 a year and the tax would be small, but that there was no appioPrigtion Xi item in -the oliys budj et
50 Art Pupils in County
Paralysis Poster Contest
- More than 50 high school pupils and commercial art school students will tour Riley Hospital Monday to get ideas for poster designs. The posters are to be submitted
in the annual contest sponsored by the Marion County Committee for the combat: of infantile paralysis contest. The contest - will close Jan. 18. Entry blanks have been sent to 24 high' school and commercial art schools in the county. The committee in charge of the contest includes Mrs. Louis R. Markun, chairman; Mrs. Leonard A. Murchison, Mrs. J. W. Moore, president of the Seventh District Federation of Women’s Clubs, and James W. Carr, Rile;” Memorial Association secretary. The posters are to be used to create interest in the annual drive for funds to combat infantile paralysis, which will be climaxed Jan. 30 by a number of President’s Birthday Balls in the City and county. The contest is divided in two classes—high school. and commercial—and is open to non-profes-sional artists from 14 to 23 years of age. Meanwhile, sales of tickets to the various events scheduled in connec-
- “Dime Cards” will be distributed - -at - various. downtown business places. for persons to send in contributions, and coin containers will be placed in the stores. Among the events scheduled is a performance . of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra String. Quartet at the Claypool Hotel Jan. 22, sponsored by women’s organizations and clubs in the city, and a card and dance party at the Warren Central High| School, Jan. 27. Proceeds from . public Skating at the Coliseum ‘also will be turned over to the committee and benefit basketball games will be’ held throughout the county. Dances to be held Jan. 30 include the Governor's Ball at the Indianapolis Athletic Club, a dance at the Marott Hotel sponsored by George J. Marott, one at the Indiana Ballroom sponsored by the Indianapolis Central Labor Union, at the Murat | aX | Temple sponsored by Shriners and | civic organizations, at the South Side Turners Hall and at the Walker Casino.
baum ' Center sponsored by B'nai
Brith and the Federation of Jewlish Women and Men’s Clubs, the
the Moose Hall, the B P. O.
dance at the Antlers Hotel, the Ine
tion with the annual fund drive will | be started.
American Legion Dance at the i Naval Armory, the Moose Dance at |’
dianapolis Saengerbund dance at’
the Saengerbund Hall and the Syrs ian American-Lebanon . Brother= hood dance at the organization's hall. -
THREE FROM HERE SIGN UP WIT WITH NAVY
Ten Hoosier Bova, th boys, ih of them from Indianapolis, today were at the U. S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, Ill, having joined the service from the local recruiting office Thursday. The trio of local boys includes Clifford S. Clark, 19, son of Mrs, Naney E. Clark, 645 N. Hamilton
St.; Robert L. Nichols, 17, wara of -
Juvenile Court Judge Wilfred Brads shaw, and Frank Ehrmantraut Jr 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ehrmantraut Sr, 1726 Southeastern Ave.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1—What is the chief constituent of , eoal? 2—In:. which European country is ihe river Ebro? - 3—Of which South American Res ‘public is Alberto Guani the Mine ister of Foreign Relations? 4—Which. state is nicknamed “Beee ‘hive State”? 5—A tarpon is a weapon for kille ing whales, a kind of fish or & rainproof fabric cover? . 6—What is chronology? 7—What is the correct Sroninelah tion of commandant? . 3 ” ” ”
__ Answers
'1—Carbon.
2—Spain. ~~ '- 3—Uruguay. 4—Utah. : 5-A kind of fish. 6—Computation of time , and ase signing of gvents to their proper dates. = 7—Kom’ -an-dant’;
‘not kom-man’e dant,’
f
or BB 8
ASK THE TIMES Inclose a -3-cent stamp for
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question of fact or information to." The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St., N. W., Washing= ton, D.M'C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended research be undertaken, po
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