Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 August 1940 — Page 14

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1940

Hoosier Vagabond

AS LATE AS 1334, Cannon Ball Baker was racing across the continent on the public highways at speeds as high as 100 miles an hour. But not any more His top limit now is exactly the same as mine—50 miles an hour. He likes to set records with that top

speed. Once he shook hands with the engineer of The Lark Just as it was leaving Los Angeles, and then beat the train into San Francisco bv 40 minutes, although he never went more than 50 miles an hour. But he says it isn’t so much the speed, it's that people should drive instead of gawking around. He says you've got to sit there one-minded and staring, as though you were shooting a gun. Which you really are, only you're riding on the bullet. He says one of the first requisites of safe driving is to get your stomach right up against the wheel, so youll have a “good purchase” on it, and then keep your eyes peeled. Baker i§ a tremendous eater. , He is tall and weighs 225 pounds, and thinRs that if God has one special piece of work it is a big thick steak. He's the steak-eatingest man I ever heard of. Sometimes eats four a day. And, boy, I mean big ones!

Tasted Good, Anyroay

On these devastating coast-to-coast runs. where he drove on and on with no sleep or rest, he existed solely on steaks, hash-browned potatoes and black coffee. On one fast iriend

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trip he wired ahead to a in Sante Fe, N. M., to have the biggest In town ready for him. It was ready, and 8 vard long. Baker downed it with relish And then his restaurant friend told him it was horse meat, Baker hadn’t known the difference

On his first trans-continental trip bv auto, in 1914 he had only four miles of paved road the whole distance. And that same four miles in existence todav, he savs, on U. S. 40 between Marshall and Waverly, Ill. Baker is a kind of freak in two wavs. First, in his ability to plunge through day after day of steady

Our Town

THE LAST REAL-FOR-SURE shuffer of whom 1 have any recollection was Sammy Green, an Englishman who came to Indianapolis in 1850 or thereabouts I made his acquaintance sometime around the tum of the century when he was every bit of 70 vears old Mr. Green was an honest-to-God snifter who used snuff the legitimate way, which is to say that he poked it up his nose. It's practically a lost art today Modern people who use snuff aon’t know how to sniff. They place a pinch of it in the mouth inside the lower lip. Either that, or they put it in the cheek and handle it like a quid of tobacco. Experienced addicts can hold it two hours or more. Novices have to get rid of theirs in 30 minutes or lass. Contrarv to general belief, modern deople never chew snuff. I thought you ought to know You can learn a lot about snuff if vou hang around drug stores the wav I do. A well-appointed drug store carries at least half a dozen brands imcluding Work Mate (flavored with oil of wintergreen Macecobov (attar of roses) and Team Mate spearmint) For those who don't care for favors, there are Railroad Plain, Railroad Sweet, Society and Ralph

restaurant steak

“ il

is still

» » ~ H a ry

Last Irdiananolis consumed close to pounds of every ounce of which nostrils. It's used mostly by mechanics window-washers, professors and judges don’t permit them to smoke or spit. Women caught in a like dilemma use it a lot Which is why the common stock of the American Snuff Co. pays such a handsome return on the investment Resides being the last snuff snifter also the only man I ever knew who served in the Crimean War, which is reallv the point of today's plece. He had been living in hdianapolis but a short time when he learned that England had 2 fight on her hands. He left immediately, went to Canada, and served with the Queen's Army. When it was over, he

J I ‘aan Yong Served mm Crimean 100.000 escaped the ~workers ODS

ea 1 snuff Iron

whnse

100

Mr Green was

Fateful Week-End

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15.—The struggle in the Sengate Over military training will go on during the weekend recess, though without oratory Votes will be checkad and rechecked in an effort to determine how much ‘support there is for the Maloney amendment postponing the draft until Jan 1 Apparently the balance close and a few votes one way HO the other may decide it Over the week-end two factors will help to make up the doubtful minds. Before the Senate meets again the of Great Britain may have been de-termined-—or at least indicatad ANd in Elwood, tomorrow the leader of the RepuBlican Party probably will announce his posi tion on training. If he favors it this should much to remove the fsstie from the field of politics. But it will not stop the fight The Maloney amendrnent would require the Presi dent th call for voluntears in the months between now and Jan. 1, for training and service. Tt would limit the number he might induct into service to 400,000

fate

» ~

Fears Effect of Delay

If we were in a position where ceed in a leisurely manner it would be one thing said Senator Burke, co-author of the pending bill “But we are not. The time element casts the balance heavily the other way. We should set up the machinery for getting men at once. If volanteers come in—as they may undeg my bill—well and good. If thev do not, then we're readv.’ Postponement of the draft till Jan

My Day

HYDE PARK. Thursdav.—TIt was a beautiful drive to New York yesterday, both going down ang coming pack, but on the way home I slept most of the way. I ‘was the lone passenger and after reading two newspapers tried to read a book, but I don’t find that very satisfactory in a ear Before Jong I ‘was waking up with % start every now and then, reulizing that I had been sound asleep. On one deeasion, as a car passed us, I awoke just in time to see un very amused lady turning around to look at me In the morning, I went to = meeting of the U, SS. Committee for the Care of Refugee Children, and then went to the Biltmare Hotel to lunch with a number of my friends who have come up from Washington to work wt the National Democratic Committee head - ouarters. Mrs. Dorothy McAllister, who is head of the women's division, is just getting settled, with Mrs May Thompson Evans to help her. I weni the rounds afterwards to sav a word of greeting to all my friends, including Edward J. Flynn, Frank Walker and Charles \ Michelson. Later I saw » number of people and did hot get

we eoould nro-

1 might well

By Ernie Pyle

driving with no sleep or rest, where it would kill the average man, |

along for perfect mileage. My car ordinarily gives

Indiana’s New Boom T

oo.

And second, in his ability to feel and nurse a ver YW 9 R. d e're Ready

a littie less than 20 miles to the gallon. Bub Baker could take it, and with a ittle tinkering and his special knack of driving, get 25 with it steadily. He was on the vaudeville stage for three vears before he started setting motorcycle and auto records. His was a punching-bag act. He was so good he could keep 11 bags going at once. He has one in the basement now, and takes a poke at it occasionally. Both he and Mrs. Baker were born down hear Lawrenceburg, Ind. They are a fine team. She is proud of him, and never worries about him. Fre- | quently, on his test drives now, she goes along. Their only child, a boy, died 10 years ago when he was 15.!

2 ” 5

Free-Lancing Now

Baker likes to hunt, but doesn’t go on annual hunting trips like dyed-in-the-wool big-game hunters. In the dining room is the head of a big moose, the only one he ever killed. That ‘was in the North Woods of Canada, and he walked 75 miles for it. In the living room is a stuffed.fox that he caught in a tree in Brown County. For many vears Baker worked for the motorcycle companies, and later for the auto companies, doing | these demonstration runs. But in later years he free- | lanced, doing his spectacular runs on an individual | contract basis. That's the way he works today. Baker likes to tell of taking inter-city records) awav from ‘Ab Jenkins in the old days, although Jenkins has now gone on to greater fame with his high-speed runs on the Utah salt flats, : Raker once made a trip touching every state capital in the union. It took him 83 days, He figures he could make it in two weeks now. (I did it mvself in three and a half ears!) He savs a skinny driver like me needs a rubber cushion to sit on. So he went down in the basement | and dug up two sponge-rubber cushions that he de-| signed himself I put them in the car and sat down, adjusted my | goggles, made the gruelling run back into town in! nine minutes and seven seconds, ran out of gas on| the wav, and was Just sitting down to a huge ‘steak | when 1 fell over in a dead swoon. The auto age is too fast for me

By Anton Scherrer

{

returned to Indianapolis. He hardly had time to acchmate himself when the Civili War broke out. Forthwith he enlisted. To the best of my knowledge, | he never was a naturalized citizen. { The two wars left Mr. Green in pretty bad shape The only thing for him to do, said the doctors, was to take a lot of exercise in the open. Seems, Mr.| Green had a fatty heart which would cause his death | unless he could keep his flesh down, Well, that gave Sammy Green the idea of walking a lot. He walked three to five miles every morning before breakfast and got in another five miles before | supper. After a while he got to be so good that he walkea to all the big cities in the Middle West, to) Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Lonisville, Chicago and | St. Louis. He came back the same way, too

He Walked and Walked

5 x

Green even walked to New York. He was more than 865 vears old at the time. When he reached New York, he took a boat for Liverpool. Then he set! fyoi across the country for London. From there he walked to the county of his birth. He expected to be received with open arms, Nobody recognized him What's more. he found nobodv who had ever heard of Sammy Green. That got him downright sore and he continued walking all over the county, secure mm the belief that sooner or later somebody would know him Finally, afte: of walking. he found an old man who said that his wife, before sher death, had «aid she knew some old man living about 20 miles distance who had once said that vears before he knew a bov who had left the country and had never been heard from since | Mr. Green hurried to see the old man. To his nutter disgust he learnad that the old man had died three davs before. They had buried him that very morning. Mr. Green took the next beat home and said he'd never return to England. He kept his word and diad in Indianapolis. When he died, people around here attributed his longevity to the pile of! fresh air he had inhaled. I know better. With my own ears I heard Sammy Green say it was the snuff

he inhaled,

days

nist

By Ruth Finney

be interpreted by the vouth of the country as ah assurance from Congress that the need for men is not ureent. Senator Burke said, and it might therefore slow down enlistments | Burke also concerned about the effect abroad | of a postponement. Foreign short Wave broadcasts indicate that the dictator governments are watching | the Senate debate closely, he said, and to some extent are shaping their plan accordingly At least one Senator. after listening to the broadcasts, told Burke he ‘would vote for the bill Senator Maloney says he believes as strongly as | Burke that the need for men is urgent

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Drills Cited

College

“If 1 thought mv amendment would delay Beth herond

‘They and 1 think it is so important to | steal the show.

men I would not be for it mvself,” he sald. “I don't

oppose conse ript on

RUSHVILLE AVOIDS ANY CONTROVERSY

| There cracking Rushville and Elwood

ime Npee

For Anything, Capehart Says

By Noble Reed

Times Staff Writer LWOOD, Ind, Aug. 16. —A complete new city has mushroomed up here almost overnight—a city of tentsand beaverboard structures that resemble the West's famed boom towns of the gold rush days a century ago. This rambling tent city may be called Callaway, Ind., after Elwood’s little park, or perhaps Willkieville, but nevertheless, a city by itself, entirely independent from Elwodd. In sprawls over 300 acres that, up until three weeks ago, were mostly corn and wheat fields Callaway Park proper is only a few acres sufficient for the Elwood citizenry to cool off in during a normal summer, but tomorrow that park will become the main street of a temporary cif: big enough to accommodate more than 250.000 persons provided, however, thev bring their own

cots to sleep on »

all, this new city

about

on ”

"FOMER E CAPEHART, the . generalissimo of the big show here, was peeved about reports spreading over the country that facilities here were not adequate to handle the crowds. “I don’t know who started this propaganda, but Ill guarantee to the entire world right now that we can handle more than 300,000 people with a minimum of confusion and congestion,” he said. “We're ready for anything under the sun in the way of crowds and any of the emergencies that could arise among that many people. “If ‘anvbody worried about food and water, I'll let you in on plans that call for whole fleets of refrigerator trucks, pouring in on Elwdod from every direction, filled with fresh steaks or what have you.”

x = ”

nation that

HE assured the traffic will De handled better here tomorrow “than In any comparable crowd ever assembled in the world “We will handle traffic Indiana had better than in Chicago, New York Indianapolis because we have the great open spaces, more than 1000 experienced traffic policemen and 1200 ushers.” he =aid Traffic for miles around tomorrow will he directed radio from a State Police plane which will soar over traffic arteries constantly all n

the heaviest evel O1

here Hy alrthe day ”

os: vou land within one mile of Elwood tomorrow, vour destiny will be entirely out of vour own hands. Every vard vou move from then on will be a planned order of things that you, personally, will have nothing to do with and the more vou submit to orders the better off vou'll be in the end. One of the appalling things that enters a newcomer's mind when he thinks of 250.000 people ih one spot about adequate water and restrooms

nl RUSHVILLE, may be from

Ind. ust a now

Aug 16 little wiseon between because of he Wendell Willkie speech “Someone got uw little jealous at said one Rushville official thought were going We weren't and we

avoid delay that T am hot going to talk more than a Wired Wendell at Colorado Springs

short time in favor of mv proposal. But 1 believe this

said we should avold any

“He

much trial of the volunteer svstem would cushion the controversy and asked us to post-

shock of conseription for the country |

pubiicah member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, pointed out that the principle of compulsory military training in time of peace was accepted by | the people of the United States in 1882 and has been on the statute books ever since ! He had reference to the Morrill Act which pro-| vides that states must provide compulsory military training in at least one land grant college each, or recompense the Federal Government for the value of | lands sold for their benefits Minnesota and Wisconsin have challenged the act, | but in every other state, the requirement has been complica with, and in 51 colleges, military training is a%equirement for a degree

4 ! By Eleanor Roosevelt off for the country until 5 o'clock, so it was after 7

when we sat down on my porch for a quiet dinner. The mail was waiting to be done in the evening, and

pone Hur Meanwhile Senator Warren G. Austin, ranking Re- | just ‘what we did

Hi, Fol

little meeting, Wo that's

I still see Miss Thompson's desk piled high, though

she had hoped that ® day or two here alone would

ehable her to catch up on har work 1]

[ am going off again today to Orange County to attend the onion festival. which I am told is a colors ful aeeasion. Tomorrow I will tell vou more about it. Miss Thompson's conscience keeps her right at her desk, so if any of you have written me latters and re-; ceived no answers, it is because of the amount of mail which has been pouring in of late § Tt is very interesting to me th see the differences of opinion on the conscription hill worth hill has really been studied by a great many peaple, and they write ‘dhjecting to certash particular | “lauses Sort people are opposed to any kind of| service or traihing, military or otherwise Others ob. | ject to such things as hot safeguarding conscientious abisctarsaar the range of age. or the compulsory ‘pro-| viglen, Bv and large, I should say from the mail that there is a realization that some kind of universal’ service would be ua good thing, with a mihimum amount of military service needed during a part of the time. 1 am glad that a full ‘and free discussion |

is going oh, so that when legislation is passed it ‘Will after arriving from

represent the will of the Mmwjority ‘of the people,

The Burke-Wads-

ME folks, HI, falks”

3000 in

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to|

Colorado Springs. The parade that was to and 1200 to Rushville,

mee

ianapolis Times

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ALLAWAY

own-Callaway,

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NICKEL PLATE N

J Mr. Capehart has to all those details On the grotinds there have been constructed 66 huge latrines. each accommodating 32 persons at one time, or a total of 2112 ‘That handle room problems,” he said » N »

the answers

should the rest-

to He thirsty to 300 park water the place

O one is going in addition stands in the be dozens of

all over

because concession there will fountains

A large crew of water main lavers has worked double time in 24-hour shifts to pipe the new city with plenty water from the Elwdod municipal water plant What about heavy rains be tween now and time for the ceremonies? Thev've got the answer to that too Mr. Capehart's staff dug a hole five feet deep 1h the park and found that the earth was perfectly drv down that fa: “We had engineers estimate how much rain it would take to cause the earth in the park and surrounding parking area to be come soggy.” he said. ‘The answer was that enough rain to hog down the grounds could not possibly

McNary the Forgotten Man

fall between now for the ceremonies.” One of the “little arranged at the park tomorrow is a luncheon meeting for 2000 Republican big-wigs from all over the country They will assemble circus tent in one corner of the new ‘‘Willtkieviile’ and steak dinners while thousands of others are marching in parades in and around Elwood It will Be more than un 10=ring ¢ireus that vou jist won't be able to see ail at once. At one time there will he 63 separate attractions going on at once, These will he parades filled with bands from each of the 83 special trains that will Be chugging into the eify every few minutes

and time

side shows

under a

got e

” » ¥

ORE than 9250 brass bands scores of them playing at once. will Be here tomorrow from nearly every state in the Union, Mr. OCapehart said There will be bands enough for every street corner in Blwdod and plenty to spare for whooping it up In the adjoining corn fields It'll Be a gav time in the hoom town of “Willkieville” tomorrow

As Elwood Waits Big Day

By JOE COLLIER

Times Ntafr Writer

ELWOOD, Ind. Aug. 18

One thing Wendell Willkie ought to clear

up for Blwdod tomorrow is that there's another man on the ticket

A reasonably thorough search vealed only ohe picture of Charles 1 too, tucked away in a “MeNarv!” she astonishment. “Is VICE President 2"

Hix only erime that he Wasn't Horn inh Elwood

in for

exclaimed

he running

it seems, Is

window corner J

of this bedecked town today reMeNary A woman visitor aw it,

ITS GETTING 80, the, that the riva. political parties are as polite to each other as amateur tennis plavers Flwaod's tavarn awners tell von that the Dembceratic Doliticians

That's all Wendell Willkie could kesh on waving at Municipal Airport fast night ve tonwinied of 30 automobiles grew to

have can they down

word We fan go straight on with ont Sunday taverns in town | bootlegge: count knows he runs each of us has laid in 500 cases of

hae

| | There [ today

The)

ont | eas

3 Ch | TCC] [JOT HR LIC Lh |L_ 3 C10 0

———————

comms)

they liquon closin

be knowh that the beer and to without

Tet it sell all want

KANBAS CITY, Mo Po Political lears on democracy [told 10000 Alrport to Indianapolis ‘With the help of the national Ade the machire gainad a new foothold in the recent Missourd primary and 1 upon vou th smother it th the November slection and Keeh it from raising its slimy head again in this section.’ He sald

Yex xiv,” ®aid one, ‘We've got

until 14

interference from now morning There ate 15 counting the and vou might as well Bocavte everyvhody and 1 guess each

fag. 16 1

are

machines cafe Wendell Willkin Kansas City

his way

persons at

night

him

here last on

Ir or more » »

"ministration are more coppers Kete than there were ih a g66d akeasy during prohibition have a xpecial room w here of town officers register, ih e thev get 16st or something

call

——

ks, Willkie Calls to Crowd . . . . Grins for Rushville . . . . .

And Were (hey are th Rushville, Tol tn Hight wre Miss Mary Nigeth, wads of the Willkien' Rushville Paris, Mis, Willie and the @. 0. PD, «