Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 February 1940 — Page 13

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1940

The

Joo AS IO RR

ianapolis

SECOND SECTION

Hoosier Vagabond

‘ DIRIAMBA, Nicaragua, Feb. 27.—The ‘big coffee country lies within easy driving distance of Managua, up in the hills. The drive is a rough one, and pos- _ sibly the world’s dustiest. Even natives walk along the road with shawls held over their faces. You can make the round-trip in a day. There are two magnificent fincas not so far out of Managua, both ‘owned by : English families—the Vaughns and the Caleys. These homes are like places you see in the movies. If you want a wision of near-Paradise, go sit on the Caley’s terrace some - afternoon. But we went “on farther up into the mountains, to the finca of a Nicaraguan, Ernesto Gonzales, whose pure-Spanish famey ily has been in this country for many generations. It is 2500 feet high here, and there is a cool sharpness to the air the year round. Things grow luxuriantly—the roadsides are a mass of flowers and shrubbery and tall thick trees. You could not want more beautiful country. Far away . you can see the Pacific. Mr. Gonzales owns 4000 acres in this one plot, and 700 of it is in coffee. You grow coffee everywhere. The Gonzales acres are peppered with coffee trees. Most always they are among higher trees, for coffee needs shade. * The coffee tree is a large bush, higher than your

head. The coffee berries grow from a short stem,

something like cherries. At first the berry is green, and when it turns .a dark red it is ready to pick. Natives pick them by hand and drop them into flat wicker baskets held on tie arm. They don’t strip a whole handful down the branch, but must pick each one separately. 2 =

Resembles a Grape

When you see the billions of separate beans piled up in vast drying yards, you wonder how there could have been enough hands in the world to pick them all, one at a time. The coffee bean has an outer skin, and then a husk. At picking time the outer skin is very -much like a grape skin, and if you bite on it the taste is sweet, not unlike a grape. A native often pops one into his mouth. But the bean itself is hard and. tasteless.

Our Town

" WHILE rom REST of you were enjoying the ‘benefits of a Bank Holiday last week, I worked feverishly to get first-hand information about that nifty ice floor in the new Coliseum at the State Fairgrounds—the one Sonja Henie liked so well. This involved hunting up ‘Russ and Harrison, the architects. Mr. Harrison was in Florida, which left Mr. Russ to do the explaining. The ice rink floor is a fiveply affair, said Mr. Russ. The first layer, laid right on top of the earth, is a four-inch bed of Haydite insulating concrete, a material full of air cells produced by a process not unlike - that which brought forth breakfast foods such as puffed wheat and other blown up cereals. : : The second layer is a two-inch stratum of cork; then a covering of silver paper; then another fourinch layer of puffed concrete. At which point time was taken off to lay a system of. refrigerating pipes. It took 11 miles of pipes to do the job. You can take my word for it, but if you want to figure it out for yourself here are the essential facts: The arena is 270 feet long and 120 feet wide; the pipelines are laid four inches on centers. (The diameter of the Coliseum in Rome from side to side was 182 feet; from end to end 285 feet, in case you want to pursue the subject.)

2 Explaining the Interior Which leave me still to cover the pipes. The final layer consists of a two-inch cement topping. If you've kept track of everything thus far, you're more or less aware that, counting in everything, the entire floor construction is every hit of 12 inches thick. The upper six inches are called the cold plate, says Mr. Russ. To get a surface to suit Sonja, they sprinkle the top with water. In no time at all, the arena is turned “into an 1ce ring, granting, of course, that the 250-ton “refrigerating outfit is working and that the brine is coursing through the 11 miles of pipes. floor suitable for horse shows, they turn off the ice

‘Washington

ATLANTA, Ga., Feb. 27.—In’ Georgia, as In Ohio, the politicians who are working for a third term are the ones who are trying to prevent Democratic voters

from registering a primary preference regarding the 1940 Democratic Presidential nomination. They are scuttling the direct popular Presidential preference primary and going back to the old system of stooge delegates, named by. the boss. In these cases, and similar ones which are appearing around the country, you have a reversal of the lineup in earlier years. The "Presidential preference primary was established by progressives or liberals—by the LaFollettes, the Nortrises and the men who. were the “New Dealers” of the previous political generation, Bosses, those politicians labeled as “reactionary,” the tools of “the interests,” always fought the direct primary. They favored the methods now being used by .the pro-Roosevelt -politicians—secret hand-picking. They do it in the name of .the people instead of for the “interests.” Here in Georgia you ask pro-Administration politics why they don’t want a primary. Their answer is: “The voters don't want a primary. The only ones who are agitating for a primary. are the Garner people. They have a lot of money and it would be inter- ' esting to know where that money is coming from.” ® '® ®

Rivers Bars Primary =

. So the plan is that Governor Rivers, who favors genomination of Roosevelt, probably will féfuse to call a primary. It can be called only by the State Democratic Committee, Governor Rivers _owns the

committee. President Roosevelt probably could easily ‘carry a

My Day

GOLDEN BEACH, Fla., Monday. Avetterday was the most beautiful sunny and windless morning which we have had since arriving here. We all sat out on the beach and sunned ourselves, and even brought our one and only visitor out with us, rather than retire to the house even for a brief hour. Some of us had lunch under the cabana awning, but ‘were finally driven in’ by one of those short showers which blow up so quickly in this part of the world. Jimmy was off to see various friends for part of the afternoon and evening. The rest of us spent the afternoon reading, sleeping. and doing the mail, which ‘is still with us even on a holiday. I. think that Miss Thompson has about a quarter of the hy Feo on a Loliday. The rest of her. time she spends in a little tiled logia which is bright with sun most of the time. This, perhaps, gives the iljusion that she.is working less than if she were in her Washington office, but I can’ ¢ see tay there is i 8 tremendous amount. of differ

” #

To get a.

Ernesto sonzales employs about 300 families the year round; but in the three months of picking time his workers leap up to a total of 2300. They come from their own little patches for miles around. They | live in the most primitive fashion on the finca. They cook outdoors, and sleep wherever they find a spot. Only the permanent employees have little cabins. The finca furnishes them three meals a day—rice, beans and plantain; no meat—and the average picker earns 20 cents a day in our money. They work from 6 a. m, till 5 p. m., with an hour at noon. But the workers look strong, and their faces have none of the sullen stupidity I've seen in the Indians of South America. Mr. Gonzales says & large percentage of them can read, and they know what's going

on in Europe.

2 5 =

Preparing for the Market

When the coffee is picked, it is hauled by bull-cart into the central mill. Here it goes through a threeweek curing process before being shipped away in bags, still raw. "First it is soaked in concrete vats, and fermentation sets in. This is to get rid of the outer juicy hull. | Native boys, their pants rolled up, wade kneedeep in the fermenting ocean of coffee beans, pushing them around with wooden paddles. After the peel is off, the wet beans are carted in wheelbarrows to big drying platforms, and spread out under the tropic sun. - The drying platforms are simply open floors of brick or concrete. Those at the Gonzales finca cover several acres. Here the coffee lies for 18 days. It is moved constantly. Dozens of workers monkey around the spreadout coffee with wooden scoops and paddles. They work it 24 a a day. The coffee never looks brown, as we know it. That comes after roasting, which is done in the States. When it leaves here it is sort of straw-colored, with a greenish tinge. - Coffee picking starts just at-the end of the rainy season in December. Sometimes the rainy season doesn’t end on time—and then they must dry the coffee artificially. This is done by hot air, takes only 18 hours, and costs more and is less successful than sun-drying. . After the drying, ‘the coffee goes through various “sieve” machines which grade it. First-grade coffee is gone over by scores of women, sitting at tables, who pick out every small or broken bean with their fingers.

By Anton Scherrer

plant and strew the floor with a mixture of clay and tanbark. | I can tell you, too, why the inside of the Coliseurn is so attractive. It's because of the thrilling color scheme and the open effect of its interior. The architects got their color scheme by ‘watching football crowds. It’s the gospel truth. Mr. Russ says that if you look at big crowds like those at Bloomington, for instance, you can’t help noticing that French gray is| the, predominating color with occasional bursts of reds, blues and yellows. 2 3 2

Football's Cultural Influence

Well, if you examine the Coliseum’s interior, youll discover that the predominating color is a soft gray Cote by the concrete blocks of its walls. (The ceiling is a blueish tint. Some of the seats are painted red; some yellow. Get the idea? Shows that football games have a cultural value, no matter what the president| of Chicago University may say. The open effect of the Coliseum’s interior is ex-

‘plained by the fact that the architects had the sense

to use arched girders. They're as clean as a heund’s

tooth, without a sign of a rod or anything else to dis- |

turb the, eye. They swing from wall to wall—a distance of 252 feet—with a frankness and fitness that persuades you that maybe modern architecture is a Fine Art) ‘after all. Which leaves me just enough room for some facts and figures you can’t possibly do without. The Coliseum is 385 feet long (about the length of University Park) and 252 feet wide. The girders are the largest of their type in the country, maybe in the world. The next longest are 32% feet short of the Indianapolis ones. The building cost $1,100,000. The balcony seats 8000; the arena, 5000. The structural steel is designed to receive a future gallery (2000). - There is no plaster in the building. The wood used is not enough to make a wagon load. There are 125 exits. The architects had to make a set of 100 drawings (each 24 hy 36 inches) to tell everything they had in mind. A crew of 40 draftsmen turned them out in 60 days, an amazing performance when you consider that many of the ideas incorporated are original and without precedent. The building was completed in less than six months. Up until it was dedicated the building was known as “Project Ind. 1651-F.-P. W. A. , Mr. Russ says it was nice to work for the Gov-

ernment. He wouldn't mind having another big job. |

By Raymond Clapper

nd in Georgia. But.pro-Roosevelt forces don't want a primary because they don’t want to bring Mr. evelt out directly as a candidate. It would be possible for Governor Rivers to call a primary and himself stand as Georgia's favorite son, except that at the moment there is some question whether he is Georgia's favorite son. The Governor is criticized by many people here because he called out the National Guard to bar the state highway chairman. W. L. Miller, from his office. Garner men are making the fight for a Presidential prima This movement is headed by Edgar Dunlap, who managed the Senatorial re-election campaign of Senator Walter George during the purge, and there is an element of revenge against the purge in this demand for a primary. Senator George is sympathetic to it, as is former Governor Eugene Talmadge, still something of a pied piper among the country folk. | 2 =

Hatch Act a Factor

Scuffling over the third term is bringing out. the worst in Democratic politics, here as elsewhere. You don’t suppose, do you, that the Hatch Act is having something to do with the reluctance of Administration forces to permit primaries? The Hatch Act prevents Federal employees from participating actively in campaigns. When Senator Hatch proposes the same principle for state employees, who are partly paid out of Federal funds, the opposition is led by Senator’ Minton, the Indiana New ‘Dealer. Again it is the conservatives, not the New Dealers, who are fighting for this legislation to move the public payroll a step away from politics. Political power is insidious. Those who exercise it, no matter what their general point of view, apparently [succumb eventually to the age-old tendency to withdraw power from the people. Hitler just told the Germans that he did what he did because “the rule had to be put into the hands of real representatives [of the people.”

By Eleanor Roosevelt

Last evening we went over to the Miami-Biltmore pools to see the water revue of 1940. It is a delightful show featuring some wonderful diving by some of the most famous diving stars. One of the most charming features is the swimming of Kay Mattern and Jetty Walsh, which is remarkably precise and grace

B'nai B'rith had sent me a notice of the youth meetings which their organization sponsored in cooperation with 20 other youth-serving agencies, dur= ing the week of Washington's birthday. They say that| representatives of three million young people of all races, creeds and colors, held sircultaneous youth and democracy rallies in more than 300 communities, and that at these rallies the 10 good will resolutions—which I printed recently in my column —were read aloud. Young people are less prejudiced than older people, and it is well to confirm them in their leaning toward respect and understanding for i r young people of different backgrounds and beliefs.

By Ernie Pyle

Built Culture’ Despite Many Hardships

The stragsle of Finland nears s new | crisis. Whatever happens it will be an old story to fighting Finland. No country has suffered more, risen more | triumphant. The following article traces the history of these Finns who rose from mystery {6 might.

| By Paul Friggens

+ NEA Service Staff Writer : | INNS—the race nobody knows! Beginning in mystery, trekking north 2000 years ago, merging with the Swedes to form still another people; resigned, fighting; passive, aroused; cautious, courageous; neighborly but hating all Russians. Finns—a people definitely apart! So J. Hampden Jackson pictures them in an important book, “Finland,” just published by Macmillan. The Finns, says Jackson, ‘have been neglected by the historians. But their story is epic. The Finns have survived incredibly long hardship, oppression, conquest, of which the current Russian attack is but one familiar chapter. ’ Finland was a buffer state, a battleground between Russia and Sweden; between east and. west for six centuries. Finland was a vassal province of Russia for 100 years thereafter. With the World War it won independence but the

struggle went on, against both Communist revolution and Fascist putsch. And today Finland is still fighting, one of .demaocracy’s smallest but stoutest outposts. The epic of Finland begins in the first Christian century. But dimly. . “Who the Finns are we do not know,” asserts Jackson; “all that can be said with any certainty is that they are a race apart, being related to neither Teutons, Slavs nor Mongols. Whelce they came originally is equally doubtful.” vol 2 8 = Fo T is supposed they migrated from ‘the lands between | the Urals and the Volga. Some of them, Magyars, turned South and settled in the fertile Hungarian plain. Others turned North. And in the North they found Finland, driving the few scattered Lapps before them. Over the Karelian Isthmus and around Lake Ladoga, scene of the present heavy fighting, these first - Finns came, hunters, trappers, like the first American pioneers. By the eighth century they had settled three parts of Finland and the country's history really had begun. They were building log cabins, starting an agriculture, composing songs of their heroes when the Vikings raided first about the ninth . century. The Vikings passed on to Russia but they carried a story back to Sweden. And from that story Finland's contact with: Sweden began. King Eric made it, together with an Englishman, Henry Bishop ' of Uppsala. They led the first Swedish crusade to Finland in 1154, forcing Christianity on the Finns “by fire and sword,” for which a peasant killed Henry. Sweden, eventually, annexed all of Finland as a.buffer against Russia. “From this time onward,” says Jackson, “Finland ' became: the battleground of the two warring states of Sweden and Russia.” It was to know no peace for centuries. But the Swedish conquest was fortunate in that it saved the Finns from the Germans “who had enslaved Livonia and Estonia « «+» from the Tartars who con-

SWEDES. LED

CHRISTIAN CRUSADE |

1 FINLAND IN1154.

v0or® BY FIRE AND

SWORD, »+sANNEXED

COUNT RY:

| success IVE WARS CAUSED FAMINE | AND MILITARY FOOD SEIZURES

STARVED POPULATION

| 250,000 BY 1721.

DOWN TO

FIRST FINNS ARRIVED 2000 YEARS AGO, DRIVING OUT | SCATTERED LAPPS

Warfare and struggle is an old story to Finland.

[FINLAND WAS BATTLEGROUND AND BUFFER

RUSSIANS AND SWEDES - FROM 12th TO 10th

STATE BETWEEN

CENTURIES. -

quered Russia.” The Swedes raised the Finnish culture and out of the union a new race was born. But it was still a small race, only a few hundred thousands, when Gustav in 1523, as “King of the Swedes and Goths,” made Finland Lutheran, began - his struggle with Russia for mastery of the Baltic. Through this warfare, Finland, said Jackson, “was the anvil on which the fate of northeastern Europe was forged.” 2 2 8 - HE country was ravaged for 200 years, during which time Sweden and Russia alternately attacked each other, drained Finland of its life blood. In 1696, finally, a famine wiped out perhaps a third of Finland’s popula- ' tion—130,000. And the Russians completed the disaster. “Wherever the Russian soldiers passed,” writes Jackson, they requisitioned supplies and burned villages. It is said that the population ot Finland had sunk to less than 250,000 in 1721.” But Finland survived, stood two additional wars (between Russia and Sweden) in the 18th century, increased in population to 750,000. At the century’s close Finland was largely Swedish property and. had begun to develop one of its chief resources—timber. At about the

. same time the Finns began to

think of independence. But it was not to come. For a little. man. Napoleon was determined to close the Baltic to the British and Finland was to be his pawn.

Like Josef Stalin and his ‘Red

Army, Russias’ Czar. Alexander waited for winter to attack tiny Finland in 1808. But there was no quarrel with Finland; Napoleon was fighting the British. Napoleon wanted to shut off the English: from ‘the Baltic, had enlisted Denmark as his ally, and approached Sweden. Buf Sweden, sonsidering the Baltic its own, refused. Whereupon Napoleon decided to force Sweden. At Tilsit he persuaded Alexander to fight Sweden, for which he might keep Finland. So it happened on the morning of Feb. 8, 1803, Russia struck while the ice was thick and the surface smoothest for sledges and supply trains; struck without declaration of war (but behind a white flag of truce) ‘and’ marched across the Finnish border into Helsinki. . # a =» : TH that attack, Sweden.

“moved rustily into action,”

Jackson writes, but left Helsinki to its own defenses while an army was sent north. Russia cut it off. Sweden sent no more help and in May, Turku, the capital, surrendered. When the Russian troops

entered they met with a civic reception. “Sweden’s cause in Finland had been betrayed by the Swedo-Finnish' gentry,” Jackson.

-It was not betrayed by the plain *

people. Even before Turku’s fall, the peasants, in April, took up the ‘battle. Led by three young commanders, the Finns broke the Russian grip’ on the ‘Aaland islands, shattered. Russian communications on the east. Waging a fierce guerrilla warfare, the Finns held out five months, won six pitched battles. Outnumbered as today. they pitted 12,000 men against: 55,000. But, also like today, the Russians poured in fresh thousands, and by winter they had virtually won. They pressed on almost to Stockholm, and Sweden surrendered, in September, 1909, giving Finland to Russia. - Finland was created a duchy with the Czar as grand duke. Finland retained its own law

_courts, schools, church until almost

1900. And in this period Finland, the country, flowered. But in 1899 Czar Nicholas decided it was time to “Russify” the Finns. He withdrew their politi= cal independence and Gen. Bobrikov, sent to Finland, began a ruthless program of oppression. “A protest of the whole nation was * organized,” Jackson writes. In spite of obstacles, 522,931 signa-

writes

Finnish History Marked by 2000 Years of Struggle

Won Vrsadem From Russia

In World War

tures were collected in two weeks from a population which could not have exceeded 2,700,000. The protest was carried to St. Petersburg, without Bobrikov’s knowledge, by a deputation of 500 men. Nicholas refused to receive them. - But something did shake: him. In June, 1904, Bobrikov was found shot. dead and soon after the Finns called a nationwide general ‘strike. On the sixth day the Czar’s ministers gave in and Finland regained its rights. In 1909 the Czar tried his coup again and succeeded over bitter opposition. From this date to the revolution in 1917, Nicholas “Rus-

. sified”. the Finns, stripping them

of their ‘smallest powers and liberties. 3 8 # = UT on the cold, fateful day in March, 1917, that Tsar Nicho- ¢ las. stepped from his imperial train ..at a siaing.at Pskov and surrendered the.crown of the Romanovs, the Finns won their 800-year figat tor freedom. One of the first acts of the Provisional government, set up ol lowing the Czar’s abdication, was to restore Finland to virtual selfrule, as a part of Russia. But the Finns determined to win full sovereignty. Accordingly, when the. Bolsheviks overthrew the Kerensky government late in 1917, the Finns formally declared their independence on Dec. 6 and were immediately recognized by the worid. Not tor a year and a half, however, did - Finland become ‘a republic. independence plunged Finland into civil war. The hero of that period, the man who restored order—and Finland—is the same Karl Gusiaf Manhnerheun wno belted on his sword again’ at’ 72 to command the Finns in their present war with Russia. On the Sunday night, Jan. 28, 1918, says Jackson, the Reds, Rus-' sian Boisheviks, together win several thousand deiuded Finnish workers, carried out a coup d’etat. The Government buildings of Heisinki were occupied and orcers were dispatched to local Iked Guards to take over their district. On Monday Finland was proclaimed a Socialist Workers: Re= public.

The Reds, recalls Jackson, had intendea a coup, but they found tnemselves tacing civil war. Almost immediately a White Ary under. Gen. Mannerheim was being recruited, “and the counury as a whole was in the throes of _ revolution.” a : * 2 8 = Ly N April 3 the Whites struck under Mannerheim, atiacking the Red’s capital, Tampere. Following artillery preparation, the Whites drove the Reds over a strategic bridge into the center of the town. On April 5, Tampere fell. Mannerheim took 10,000 prisoners.” But the war was not over. Southern Finland was still held by the Workers’ Republic, whose troops outnumbered the Whites. The Germans, arriving to attack Russia, joined the Whites and on May 16 Gen. Mannerheim entered Helsinki in triumph. Followed another tersoristic period in which the Whites rounded up 80,000 men and wom-

> en in concentration camps. Probably 10,000 died. The whole war

cost perhaps 24,000 lives. It ended on a curious note: the liberty loving Finns, perhaps grateful for German help, offéred the Kaiser's brother-in-law the Finnish crown. The impending defeat of Germany prevented his taking it. For a time Mannerheim ruled as regent while Finland worked out its government structure. Finland was proclaimed an independent republic June 17, 1819. A peace treaty was : signed with Soviet Russia on October 14, 1929.

RED CROSS TO HOLD SCHOOL AT BUTLER

Red Cross life-saving methods which have cut the annual drownings in the United States from 10,500 to 7000 in the last 25 years will be taught here néxt month. Thomas F. Costello, life-saving field representative of the American National Red Cross will conduct an institute for training teachers at the “Butler University gPool from March 11 to 22. Sessions will be held each night from n to 10 o’clock. He will be assisted by William H. Merrill, life-saving director of the Indianapolis Red Cross and Miss Helen Van Horne, Butler women’s physical education director. Men and women who have qualified in Red Cross life-saving train-

ing will be permitted to enroll. They will be awarded certificates authorizing them to teach life-saving methods when they have completed the course.

Mr. Costello has been a life-sav-ing representative for seven years and has served as an instructor at the organization's national aquatic school at Brevard, S. C-. He was a member of the Rollins. College swimming team and has been connected prominently with the Boy Scouts. To prove the worth of ‘the surfboat he once made a 40-mile trip on a chain of Florida lakes. :

EX-NET STAR DIES AT 28

Times Specini

NEW ALBANY, Ind, Feb. 27.— Charles Errett Ellis, all-state ‘bas-

e more youth can be stirred to take an interest ketball player from Bosse High in citizenship, the better for the future of the coun- {School at Evansville several years

try, and I am glad to see that both youth-serving agencies and youth groups are more é Reenly interested year by year. =

ago, died here today. He was. 28

Laws Make Freight Trucks

The Christmas tree appearance of large freight trucks with their vari-colored lights is not the result of -the owners’ yen for fancy decorations—the law requires every one of them. A pamphlet issued by the State Highway Commission this week reveals that truck law regulations require the large freighters to have a minimum of 18 lights or reflectors. The large trailer trucks, in adidition to headlights, must have two amber-colored “clearance lamps” at the top in front, four lamps and reflectors on both sides of the body, a tail lamp, a stop light and four red and amber clearance lamps on

the rear.

And that’s not the half of it because Indiana truckers doing .transit business in other states find that they have to haye half a dozen more lights to conform with color requirements of other state iaws. Hence the Christmas tree effect as they speed through the night over the highways. As the" result of this light ¢onfusion, the National Bureau - of Standards has started a campaign to get uniform light regulations for all states. : While © Indiana requires only amber, red and crystal lights on trucks other states force truckers to carry blue, purple and gréen lights for clearance markers.

ASTRONOMICAL UNIT TO HAVE ‘QUIZ BEE

Are you interested in knowing,

whether or not you travel two million 'miles a day? Or did Francis Bacon write Shakespeare? |

The answers prefixed with the |

word “possibly” or “probably” will be given at a meeting of the Indi-

ana Astronomical Society at the|

Typographical Terrace ut 28th and N. Meridian Sts. at 2 p. m. Sunday. The meeting is being held to

Emerson Tops ° . { Riley in Stamps ‘The Post Office revealed today that the first day the new James Whitcomb Riley stamps were on sale here there were more Ralph Waldo ‘Emerson stamps sold than

Riley staraps.

This doesn’t prove anything, they said, regarding Indianapolis infidelity to the Hoosier poet. °

cuss a new book, “Stars and Men.”