Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 September 1940 — Page 15

+ h gd PE GT gy WA Ig gy

tal for an unproductive purpose.

Bes Tat rte: meas {1 f Cat tpl WTO OTOL

BUFFALO, N. Y., Sept. 26.—The building of an airplane, in fundamental principle, reminds me of nothing so much as the building of a house. I was surprised to have that feeling, because .it didn't seem that way the last time I was in a plane factory 10 A : years ago. Let me try to explain. Here in the Curtiss-Wright plant there are many subsidiary departments which produce and shape the various pieces that go into'a plane, There is the machine tool section, and the foundry, and the pattern room, and the baking room, and the paint room, and the metal-testing room, and the vast section where sheets of duralumin are cut. All these sections produce hundreds of different pieces—curved cowling, and landing gear struts, and windshield frameworks, and wing spars, and the €ngine mountings, and self-sealing gas tanks, and thousands of plain flat sheets of duralumin cut to a pattern to fit in one place, and only one place. As these parts are fashioned and finished, they go to a big storeroom. That corresponds to the lumber yard and the house-fixture store in home-building. Now, as the plane progresses, these parts flow back out again from the storeroom, in exactly whatever quantity the production man knows is necessary to get them on the building line at the moment theyre needed.

Like Building a Home

When they arrive there, the workmen take them and build them" upon what they already have, just as you'd nail one board above another in putting on the siding of a house. Except, instead of board, they use metal; and, instead of nails, they use rivets. Too, the building of a plane more resembles a house than an auto in that it stands stationary most of the time, and workmen clamber around it and over it. It doesn't move slowly along an assembly line, as an auto does, with each man adding his part as it passes. Eventually the skeleton framework is finished land the walls are put on. But the skeleton is really. only the beginning, and presumably the easiest part. | Be

Inside Indianag

| OUR TALE OF the harrowing time the Methodists went through in getting DePauw under way pales into a mere lark compared to what the Presbyterians had to go through to get Wabash started. It was ] about 1830 that a few Presbyterian home missionaries : met in Crawfordsville and dete mined to found a school especi for training teachers for the col ) mon schools. Williamson Du offered the site for a building

went a little strong on the nan part and wound up with “The Wabash Manual Labor College and Teachers’ Seminary.” -We don't know whether Ct} name had anything to do with) | or not, but the W. M. L. C. & T. S. had the dickens of a time of |i for the next several years. In th first place, the Crawfordsville folks didn't like the idea very much and refused to help. Anyway. tk missionaries plodded along and succeeded «Decenmigar 1833) in opening the school under Prof. Caleb Mil with an enrollment of 12. 1 With this much accomplished, the Presbyteriar applied to the Legislature for a charter and pra tically had to fight the whole town of Crawfordsvil to get it through. As it was, it was no prize charter and it turned out that the W. M. L. C. & T. S. ha to work for 20 years to get it amended. In the mean time, the. school all but went broke and would hav were it not for the almost herculean efforts of th Rev. Edmund Hovey in preaching the cause. The: succeeded in putting up a new building and every thing wads perking up when the first class of two sti dents was graduated in ’38. Two months later the new huilding with all it contained burned down. You think they'd have given up, but not Wabash. The borrowed the money, put up a new building af struggled along for 40 years until they came out ¢ the woods at last. That's why they say: “Wabash Always Fights

Washington

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26.—Most of us find it difficult to take in the enormous fact of the defense

‘program as a gigantic new factor in our economic

life. . In one respect, it is like the arrival of a huge new inaustry. It compares in a sense with the coming of the railroad and the automobile which have been moving forces in the whole national life, greatly altering it and giving it powerful stimulation. But in another sense it will be much different. The railroad and the ‘automobile came as permanent, peace-time ‘industries to serve the daily needs |of the people. They were new facilities which enabled people to save time and make money. They were tools of peace-time activity and as such were self-sustaining, profitmaking enterprises. in theory even if both have been subsidized) by public funds in the form of rights of

way and highways.

The new defense’ industry, on the other hand, is a necessary evil, one requiring great investment of capiThe need for it might pass after a period. Powder plants, armor-

| piate plants, do not take their places in®the peace-

time economy at all in the way that the railroads and the autcmobile fagtories do.

Protection for Capital

Defense industries must be built now which may within a few yéars become idle, or nearly so. Steel is operating at almost capacity, and if British consumption continues, capacity may have to be expanded. But when Britain stops- fighting, 20 or 30 per cent of active steel capacity might suddenly become superfluous. The same is true of many other defense facilities. Private capital cannot be expected | to venture unprotected into some of this heavy industry, It prefers te stay in safe Government bonds. That leaves the Government the choice of building its own defense plants, or else of finding some way to protect private capital engaged in these uncertain ventures. The latter course, with Government pro-

My Day

NEW YORK CITY, Wednesday. — Mrs. June Rhodes, Miss Thompson and I left Mrs. Rhodes’ farm in Sergeantsville, N. J, yesterday morning after an early walk to see the cattle. They really have some beautiful stock. The barn was so well 3 arranged I wanted to go back to my childhood. and climb up in the hay and go to sleep. The drive into New York City Tuesday and up the parkway to Lake Mahopac, N. Y, was very lovely, for the trees are changing rapidly. Here and there are maples crowned and tipped with scarlet and on the hillside every color from gold to brown is before you. We lunched at the Putnam County Country Club in Mahopac and discussed the problem of what the community could do ‘really to understand and help solve unemployment for young people out of school. The role of NYA is increasingly important with the establishment of the new type of training projects. I was glad that a committee was appointed to go into the whole question thoroughly. Afterwards, I spoke to a large group of women on the same.subject for a few minutes and Miss Thompson and I reached Hyde Park at 4:30 p.m. Little Diana Hopkins and her father were there,

THURSDAY, SEPT. 26, 1940 fo Hoosier Vagabond

cause a plane that will fight must be much more than a bare wing, engine and fuselage; just as a house for living must be more than four walls, a roof and a chimney, Both house and plane must be wired and plumbed and furnished. I was struck by all this, and I mention it to make sure that you don't get the idea that planes are being slammed out just as autos are. .On the other hand, my next biggest impression was in exact contrast—and that is, why the dickens aren’t they? As a layman, I could see little reason why so much of the work is still handwork, instead of mass machine work. So I asked about that and the answer was this: Suppose you have an order for 200 airplanes. It costs $25,000 to build a machine to stamp out one certain part for that airplane. So you can hire four men to shape by hand -enough parts for those 200 planes, much more cheaply than you can build a $25,000 machine to do it. Slower, true, but cheaper.

Are Our Planes Too ‘Good?

If the order were for 2000 planes, or 5000 planes, then the story would be reversed. It would be cheaper to build the machine. And then you would have mass production in-its true sense. And you'd have speed of production. But not now. [ It is doubtful, of course, that regardless of how many planes of one type were ordered production ever would actually equal the mass standards of autos. Airplanes just simply aren’t autos, that’s all. But if there is a clue to getting them fast, it’s to

“cut down on the total number of different types our

military services need, and then wham those few types with big orders—and get rapid production. Another thing we spoke of—some people think we make our planes too good. I certainly am in no position to judge. The same criticism has been made of England. They say England’s planes are much bettermade than Germany's, hence are produced more slowly. ! Should an airplane he considered merely as a projectile, built cheaply and swiftly for the avowed purpose of being destroyed? Or [should it be a fine and superior piece of mechanism, and will that superiority win a war over numbers in the long run? I don't know; but the airplane manufacturers themselves are wondering about it.

00l1S (And “Our Town”)

Already In Training WE DIDN'T get to tell you everything about the Indiana National Guard and how they're getting ready for the mobilization (the date of which, incidentally, is supposed now to be Jan. 6th). A lot of officers have enrolled in various physical training courses and are going through the usual calisthenics to get into trim. The reason they're doing it this way is to work into shape gradually. It's a cinch that by the time the Guard is ready to go into action, a lot of officers will be as hard as nails. :

On Learning to Fly

A LOT OF folks seem to be puzzled over how to learn to fly. They put it into the simple terms: of: “How can a chap like me learn to fly well enough so that I can eventually buy a small plane and take the missus off on week-end trips and such?”

Well, here's the way it works. No person can take up passengers unless he has at least a private pilot's license. It's not easy. First, you've got to pass a rigid physical exam conducted by a CAA doctor. A little near-sightedness, for instance, can bar you from an instrument rating (you can't pilot a plane at night or in bad weather). : To qualify for a private pilot license you've got to have a minimum of eight hours of dual instruction and at least 35 hours of solo flying. You've got to take a written exam on navigation, meterology, air regulations and such. You must make precision land-

‘ings from different heights to a spof on the field be-

tween two parallel lines 300 feet apart. If you've got your heart set on an instrument rating and won't hear of anything else all you have to do is. have 200 hours of solo flying and then [show how neatly you can pilot a blind-flying mechanical trainer. | It's a cinch.

By Raymond Clapper

tection to private capital, is more suitable to our System. Consequently the National Defense Advisory Commission, in consultation with the War and Navy Departments, the Federal Reserve Board and other agencies, has devised a plan of co-operation between Government and private manufacturers for the construction of new plants and additions through private capital guaranteed by the Government. Bankers are being circularized with appeals for cooperation. Roughly, the plan calls for Government guarantees of bank loans to private manufacturers for such piant construction through assignable contracts. The Government and the manufacturer make a contract’ for construction of new plants or additions. That contract is entirely separate from the procurement contract for defense supplies. The Government reimburses the contractor for his plant in five annual payments, rather than through additions to the unit price of articles to be produced.

Putting Capital to Work

The private manufacturer takes his contract to his bank, where it serves as a guarantee, and obtains bank loan. Banks have some $6,000,000,000 in excess reserves, and it is thought this plan will enable some of this private capital to come out safely for defense work. Rates should be even lower than the RFC-makes. : At the end of the five-year period, through which the manufacturer holds title, the Government will have completely reimbursed the manufacturer for his plaat, and he will have paid off his bank loan. Then he has the option to buy the plant at cost minus depreciation. Or, if he has no further use for it, the Government takes it over, making a maintenance contract with him and placing the plant on the standby list against some future need. But the chances are that the defense needs will continue for a long time, hecause the age of force is now in its prime. If so, private capitalism will find a guaranteed outlet in the defense industry, thus avoiding the creation of a huge core of state-owned industry in our economy. If the reaction of the bankers is favorable, the plan will go into operation. If not, then we surely will be driven down the road of state socialism.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

and this morning they left to take Diana to boarding school.

It seemed as though the telephone rang incessantly after ‘we arrived and several people told me reproachfully that they had been trying all day Monday to reach me and had been unsuccessful. Speaking of Monday, I neglected to tell you about one or two things in the WPA projects in Scranton which I think might interest you. They have teachers there on one project .who visit handicapped children in their homes. We saw one young girl who has been two years in bed with a broken back. She is up. with her class and is doing really good work on her typewriter. Best of all, she looks cheerful and happy. . This must be due in part to her teacher, though her mother and six brothers and sisters are a great help in keeping her entertained. The housekeepers’ aid project was as good here as it is everywhere, I feel that this could be developed in a great many rural districts as well as cities. The motorcycle policeman who took care of us turned out to be a second cousin to Mr. Winston Churchill, and he evidently approves of his English cousin and the way-the English have behaved in the present crisis. We left Hyde Park dgain this morning fairly early for a meeting of the United States Committee for the Care of European Children. The rest of the day seems fairly crowded. .

The Indianapolis Times

By Ernie Pyle

SECOND SECTION

effect at midnight.

reported. {

spection tour of South London air

a street occupied by poor families.

CHARLESTOWN AWAITS BOOM

Authorities Act to Meet Evils Consequent| Upon Sudden Grow h.

Charlestown, Ind. (population 900), will present all the problems of a boomtown with the establishment of a $25,000,000 powder plant-—and authorities are acting now to meet them. ? They estimate that the building of the plant will bring from 2000 to 5000 additional families to the Southern Indiana town. That will make necessary hew housing, school and ° recreational facilities, more streets, sewers, water mains and other public works -and will bring the danger of “wild cat” land speculation. To meet all these problems, representatives of six Federal and State agencies met at State WPA headquarters yesterday. Conferees agreed that) an extensive planning program will be needed. It was suggested that the FHA, the U. S. Housing Authority 4nd the National , Resources Planning Board form an advisory committee and recommend a community plan. John K. Jennings, State WPA director, said the State Plan #oard had proposed that WPA workers collect and assemble the |data. HOOSIER GETS CONTRACT WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (U. P.). —The War Department|| yesterday awarded contracts totaling $34,897,843. The Anaconda Wire and Cable Co. of Marion, Ind., was awarded a $138,000 contract for | submarine mine cable. : The largest order, $9,505,600, went to General Motors Corp. Detroit, for ammunition components.

1. London docks ablaze after a German bombing give a daylight In the background is historic Tower Bridge, 2. The interior of an unidentified London church after air raiders’ bombs sent the rafters crashing down on the pews. 3. A wrecked ward in a maternity hospital.

Fifty casualties were

4. The King and Queen talk with homeless subjects during an in-

raid damage.

5. Hurriedly snatching what possessions they could, these women tread through a debris-littered street after Nazi bombers laid waste

Big Game Stock New Battle Site

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (U. P.).—The new battle-ground in Asia—the. Chinese-Tonkin border region in French Indo-China—is a little known area to the average American, but has been a paradise for big game hunters for years. A special bulletin of the National Geographic Society describes the section as %eing characterized by hills and plateaus, rising progressively higher toward the interior, “In these forested mountain and valley fastnesses,” the society said, “roam tigers, panthers, deer. Wild buffalo, monkeys and elephants add to the variety of wild game, which sportsmen have declared among the world’s best.”

EASTMAN IS ACCUSED

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (U. P) —The Federal Trade Commission today charged the Eastman Kodak Co.. lishing uniform prices for the retail distribution of two of its products. A price maintennace policy has been in effect since February, 1938, in the sale of Kodachrome and Magazine Cine-Kodak film, the complaint alleged. Dealers refusing to comply with the price schedules are denied supplies of the product, it was alleged. The company was granted 20 days in which to reply to the charges.

F. D. R. APPROVES BILL

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (U. P). —President Roosevelt has approved a bill raising the age limits for admission to the U. S. Naval Academy to 17 to 21 years, inclusive. The former limits were 16 to 20 years, inclusive.

By TIM TIPPETT

As rapidly as a baby changing from tears to laughter, the Beech Grove Fall Festival wrung out its tents, swept water from the streets and held its gala opening last night. Originally. scheduled | to open Tuesday night the opening was postponed when rain “came down in sheets” and threatened to carry the Lions Club food tent off into the Beech Grove shops. Women as well as men faced the cloudburst to sandbag tent flaps and guy ropes. Aside from the fact that the tents “leaked like sieves”

damage was slight, and nothing was too difficult for a broom and mop to solve. bf Thanks to the volunteered help of Beech Grovers, the midway sparkled last night, and the two! and onehalf blocks on Main Street was a noisy confusion of laughing customers, pitch men and barkers. The carrousel, dried. out, its canvas cover off and its horses dancing merrily, was (as usual) the favorite of the children and (also! as usual),

a good sprinkling of adults. ; +

Se SRN

Beech Grove Dries Out and Opens Festival a Day Late

The festival is sponsored by the i Lions Club each year to raise funds for the Sarah Bolton Park playground and other civic improvements, but all credit does not go to | the Lions. Their wives are among | the hardest workers. Their main job is dishing out “foot long” hot dogs and ham- | burgers deluxe. Quick to catch the | restaurant lingo, many a husband {may be surprised next week when his wife yells lustily from the kitchen: “Do you want your coffee with cow or without?” Whirling high above the ground each night as an “added super special attraction” are the aerial Solts from Denver, Colo. The club hopes that the Solts will aid in attracting the expected 5000 to 10,000 persons nightly. The club hopes, too, that thermometer co-operates. Festival committee members who, with crossed fingers, will watch the sky till the Festival is over Saturday night, are: Robert Frame, president; Allen Hunter, first vice presidént; Garvey Kemper, second vice president; Byron Saunders, secretary, Bernard Little, Lion Tamer, and Dr. Leon Berger, Tail Twister. They expect $1000 for: their playground next year.

the

a sed ae ee

FEST te SSE

OF FIXING PRICES

Rochester, N. Y., with estab- <

We Must Prepare Mentally As Well as Physically

By MARGARET CULKIN BANNING

AUTHOR OF

“LETTERS TO SUSAN,” “THE

CASE FOR CHASTITY,” “SHE TEACHES YOUR

CHILDREN,” ETC,

(Sixteenth of a series of articles by 24 authors)

Culkin Banning

We have begun to realize in this ‘country that if we are not actively for democracy we are against it, for every unconvinced mind is a

breeding place for the doctrine of totalitarianism. It will be im-=-

possible to fight fanaticism in ac-

tion with anything less than com- ’ plete conviction on the other side. And as this fact comes clearer, we see that we must be fully prepared mentally as well as physically to meet the enemy. The mental enemy may get here first. We , know that, too. So we can feel thecountry fumbling for a new declaration of political philosophy, for a slogan that is sufficiently inspiring, and fine words fly right and left: without doing the trick of assembling the American philosophy of life. In hundreds of books and magazines are published careful, thorough and inspiring definitions of democracy and to any one of dozens one could pin entire faith, if we are _maerely after words. But obviously words alone are not enough. I think we are straining too hard after a definition. We can not line up under a definition. We are already lined up under the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, and the hope that “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” And those are words enough, beautiful, popular statements which most of us believe and credit. Beyond that I think we should realize that we are only trying to preserve our individual free wills, and to increase the scope of their operation. To me it is as simple as that. We have been in great measure successful in developing a government in which the free wills

Margaret

of men drawn from many coun-

tries .could exist, even if in operation the free will of fnany of them was often thwarted by circum- # |

Country.” :

stances. But it has never been denied in this country. The strength of democracy lies in the fact that it does not formulate the. exact liberties of the individual. It ensures that there are limits beyond which. these liberties must not be tampered with, | but within these limits a man may | define his own freedom and set his own disciplines or refuse them. Under our democracy the basic agreement is never to relinquish to government the free will of the individual in matters which concern the mind and soul, and never to circumscribe public or private habits to’ such an extent that the freedom of mind" or soul is endangered. . Within this area of habit there: must be controls for the public safety and benefit. Those are agreed upon as may be necessary. There is also much blundering, because imperfect, badly educated people can make the operation of democracy faulty. There is cruel pressure bullying, exploitation. of the individual, and we hope to better these things. But in spite of such failures, if a man lives in this country there are many points at which he can say, “You can't do that to me,” and be stating his rights. - Sometimes he can not maintain his rights. Sometimes he gives some away, to his church, to his employer, to other individuals. But he is the only one who can give them away. They are his until he does. To me this is the sense of de= mocracy. I want to sense it rather than to find words for it. It is enough for me to know—and to fight for—that I can think as I please, worship as I please, and that even if economic forces weigh me down, I am still fundamentally free.” Under our government, in our democracy, we never hand over to the state the free will of any man. We are right. Even God has never asked for that.

A nation which has faith in itself and in its chosen way of life cannot be corrupted or conquered, writes Faith Baldwin in the next article of this series on ‘Our

ciation.

98TH M'GORDSVILLE HOMECOMING SUNDAY

Sunday will be McCordsville’s ane nual big day, the day of its 28th ane

nual home-coming. The all-day event will be held in the Methodist Church. Sunday school and church serve ices, led by the Rev. G. A. Snider. the pastor, will open the program. The McCordsville Ladies Aid Soci< ety will supervise the basket dinner.

‘Deceased residents will be honored

at a memorial service with the Rev. Samuel E. Carruth of Fortville as speaker. Then will follow a varied program. Te S. B. Prater, Indianapolis, is president of the home-coming asso= Miss Lena Fred, Mc=Cordsville, the vice president, is ar=ranging the afternoon program.

HIDEOUT UNCOVERED

WEST CHESTER, Pa. Sept. 26 (U. P.).—A large underground cavern which was used for hiding fugitive slaves as a part of the pre-Civil War “underground railway” | has been rediscovered by workmen here. . Samuel W. Taylor, near whose property the vault was situated, said it had been blocked up for a half century. -

TEST YQUR KNOWLEDG

1—Turkey is ruled by a Sultan, President or Emperor? 2—Alligator pear is the common name for -Seckel pear, avocado or citron? 3—Under the Administration of which President was the United States entirely out of debt? 4—Name the President of Columbia University in New | York City. 5—Is the Klondike in Alaska or Canada? 6—Is the moon visible from the North and South Poles? T—Which is the more important " holiday in France, Christmas or New Year's Day?

Answers

1—President. 2—Avocado. 3—Andrew Jackson, ° 4—Nicholas Murray Butler. 5—Canada. > 6—Yes. ; : T—New Year's Day. = 8

= 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, Washingtén, D. C. Legal and.medical advice cannot be given nor can -extended research be undertaken.