Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 October 1940 — Page 7

1%

bh 1

”>

‘ing hopelessly into debt.

a 0 Sl het Moss tan

py fo

Shir ATO sp ve

‘SATURDAY, OCT. 19, 19

40

&

Tf

Br ws X \

SECOND SECTION

- Hoosier Vagabond

NEWPORT, Tenn., Oct. 19—The way the Government interferes with private business is enough to drive a fellow crazy. That old Government moved into these parts and bought a lot of hilly land. Then they signed a paper and proclaimed a proclamation making this land nto the Great Smoky National Park. And thereby ruined the finest settlement ‘ot moonshiners in the U. S. A. Cocke County,.1n southeastern Tennessee, for 20 years has heid the record of producing more moonshine than any other county in America. Even with this newfangled Government interference, they say Washington stilt lists 1t as the moonshiningest county 1 America. - We didn’t get to see any stills in operation, for naturally nobody knows where any are when a stranger’s around. But at least they didn’t consider us important enough to start setting off the dynamite. That wds the old signal system back in prohibition days. It's still the signal system. One man lies along the one road that leads into the moonshining hills. When a suspicious car goes past, he jerks out his dynamite, throws it into the road, and otf she goes. You can hear the boom for miles around. Much farther than you could hear a gunshot. And a minute or two after the first explosion, great dynamite blasts start going off in the timbered hills, one after another, until the air is so full of noise you can't talk. : That 15 the signal that carries to the tarthest ridge of the highest mountain, and it means “Look out! The revenooers are coming.” The dynamitesignal is still used.

The Moonshine Capital

. Newport, the county seat ot Cocke County, is a modern little city much like any other modern little city in America. But some 15 miles away, in the foothill of the Great Smokies, lies what they call the “Cosby Section.” Coshy is on the map, but you could hardly call it a town. It is just a tew houses strung along sev= eral miles of road, with a country store or two, and a postoffice in an old ane-room board shack. But the “Cosby Section” bears the honor of being. the moonshine capital of America.

Inside Indianapolis (4nd “Our Town’)

PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Harold Bland Tharp, chairman of the Community Fund’s current campaign, who started as a worker in the first tund drive and

who hasn't missed one since. He likes the job and ever since last Christmas he's been working on plans for the drive now going on. Harold Tharp is now 50, a slencer, six-footer with iron-gray hair, thinning at the temples. He won't wear brown because it doesn’t look good on him and he sticks to blues and grays. He dresses immaculately. He is not a hale fellow well met, but he likes his fun—parties, theater, good movies, bridge and he always complains that the days are never long enough tor everything he wants to do. Born in Indianapolis, he went to Shortridge and later to Butler, where he won tour football letters while majoring in economics. A tew years out of college and he went to work for the Fletcher Trust Co. The war ended while he was In camp. He now is manager of the Trust Company’s bond department.

He Works and Plays Hard

HE HAS AN EVEN temperament. He doesn’t let trivialities upset him. He will not make snap judgments. He thinks things out and when he makes up his mind it’s made up. He always urges his children—Carter, DePauw graduate now in Harvard Law; and Betty, chairman of the Children's Civic Theater —to do things in moderation, but he doesn't practice what he preaches. When he works, he works hard and when he plays he plays hard.

Washington

CHICAGO, Oct. 19.—I don’t know why the Administrtaion allows Willkie to grab the ball and run away with it on the issue of prosperity and jobs. Hearing Willkie and his supporters one is led to believe that the country is in deepest stagnation and that scarcely a wheel is going to turn until he gets into the White House. I get that from businessmen around the country, too, while they are talking politics, but when they forget politics and talk about business conditions they rub their hands with satisfaction. In several communities I have - found thriving activity, defense . orders taking up slack, plant expansions being built, real estate moving again, and frequently labor short- _ ages in skilled lines. It is being caused by spending for defense, a gigantic public works pump-priming activity that is spreading its effect into purely civilian business. You can say this spending is bad, that we are goMaybe so, but Willkie can’t do anything about that even if he is elected. Defense spending will go on, and he promises even more defense than Roosevelt, so he won't be able to lick the debt problem any more than Roosevelt unless he shoves taxes up even higher, The main point is that procuction and jobs are coming back and coming back fast, and it is happening under Roosevelt.

2 2 n

Wall Street Journal Quoted

I can’t but feel that much of the beefing from businessmen is now a matter of habit and has little connection with reality. But perhaps I am prejudiced on the New Deal side in such matters. So I will lift a bit from a more authentic spokesman for bysiness, the justly respected Wali Street Journal. The editors of the Wall Street Journal, including its genial publisher, K. C. Hogate, may not like Roosevelt but they get the real honest-to-God facts about business conditions into the paper. Every day the Wall Street Journal supports by detailed factual reports the surface impression of re-

My Day

SEATTLE, Wash., Friday.—It was cloudy yesterday morning and we had a slight rain in the afternoon. Today the clouds are high and breaking up, so I feel sure that I shall be able to start on my flight to Chicago this evening. * Most of the day yesterday was spent at home, for both my daughter and I had work to do. She wrote her column and I caught up on long-hand letters, which are always one of the difficulties of my existence. I just do not get around to writing them. . They languish in a compartment in my briefcase, until I know all my friends and relations think 1 have given myself over entirely to the typewriter, and never put pen to paper any more. : In the afterrioon, we attended a Democratic gathering and visited a friend of Anna's, Mrs. Stanley Donogh, in the hospital, for a few minutes. She has had an attack of pleurisy and I can sympathize with her, for many vears ago I had a very slight attack of this unpleasant ailment and found that it took many weeks before I really felt : Pf

No Market for Corn

By Ernie Pyle

Back in the good old prohibition days, hundreds

of stills were uidden . around the mountain slopes. |

The agents sometimes captured as many as 30 stuls and 75 men in one day. Moonshine was selling for $20 a gallon. A thousand gallons ($20,000 worth) went over the mountains in trucks every night to Asheville. And Asheville was the small end of the market. Kven more than that went to Knoxville, and on up to Kentucky. : But the old days are gone. Repeal, and the new National Park, and tighter restrictions on moonshiners’ suppiies, have pretty well shot the business Moonshine is down to $2 a gallon now. But still Cocke County does keep its lead. The boys told me there were 36 stills running in the Cosby Section thé day of our visit, and a great many shiners have moved to other parts of the country.

It's funny about that National Park business. Throughout the years the revenuers took their toll ot the shiners without ever making a dent in the fundamental capacity of the boys to distill moonshine liquor right in this one spot. And yet, when the land became a National ParXk, the peaceful Park Rangers just came around and told them they'd have to get out because it was Government land. And peacefully they got. Funny how some branches of the Government draw water and some don’t. > The moonshine distilled in the mountains today isn’t so hot. -It's made mostly from sugar, and it’s pretty cheap stulf, and it will knock your head oft. In Knoxville, the Negroes and poor whites drink it almost exclusively. The Negroes call it *“Splo,” which is undoubtedly a short for ‘“‘explosive,” and you can get a half-pint for 15 cents. The famous old mountain corn whisky, which many a connoisseur still claims is better drinking liquor than your bonded stuff, has almost gone out of existence. It simply takes too long to make it, and there's no market tor such a high-class product. There are anachronisms, here ‘in the hills. For Cocke County, the moonshine capital of the world, just this year voted to keep the county dry! And in the nearby metropolis of Knoxville, the days of prohibition still prevail. A man who wants a drink gets it by the whisper and sneak method. 1ln the old days all this sly, shifty-eyed business was kind of fun. In these. days of bolder honesty, it isn’t fun at all, it’s simply disgusting.

His most consuming interest is his tamily. He's as proud of them as he can be. He 1s a business-man golfer in the upper eighties; he likes dancing, but not jitterbug style; he is a smart bridge player, and he is deeply interested in the Civic Theater. z He is fond of reading and likes some of the classics he was supposed to read in school. He doesn’t like to read new books and he always waits until they've been on the market a while. He is a student of politics and economics and enjoys arguing a point. He has a good sense of humor and he is particularly fond of funny political stories.

The Subject of Onions

MR. THARP LOVES good music and tunes in often on symphony broadcasts. He goes to the concerts nere because he wants to and not because he thinks it the thing to do. On the radio, he likes, besides good music, the quiz programs with “Information Please” his favorite. He enjoys driving a car so much that when he’s along nobody else gets to drive. He likes to get rid of things and often goes on drawer-cleaning-out expeditions. He is no handyman about the house. He does not like to fool about the yard or fix things about the house. He prefers to sit down with a book or play bridge or go out. For several years, however, he’s had an ambition to get a good stand of grass in the front

By Richard Lewis “Y WANT to get on the Police Force. Whom do I pay?” You don’t pay anybody anything. : “You know what I nmrean. Whom do I go to see. How

much does it take ?”’

We know exactly what you mean. Here's the straight dope— and it holds good for the Fire Department; too. Your local politician has about as much influence in getting you a job in the Police Department as the Wild Man of Borneo. You don’t pay anybody a nickel to go to bat for you, becausc nobody can. Mayor Sullivan himself couldn’t appoint his own brother to the Police or Fire Department. The only person in the world who is capable of getting you a job as a policeman or fireman, is that No. 1 guy—yourself. “How long has this been going on?” Since 1935," when the Indiana Legislature passed the Merit Law which applied to Indianapolis." Before that, a payoff might have helped. It won't help you now,

o ” o

HERE are only two things that will help you now—your ability to pass the physical and mental tests, plus your record as a citizen in this community. Also, you must be between the ages of 24 and 32 for the Police Department, 21 and 30 for the Fire Department. The first thing you do is to go to the Department of Public Safety on the third floor of City Hall and get an application. You

yard. He hasn't had much success and as a result he comes in for a lot of neighborly kidding about it! There are a lot of things Harold Tharp won't eat. | He likes raw tomatoes, for instance, but he won't | touch them when they are cooked. And he always | says that ‘when the world is civilized they won't grow any more onions. Mr. Tharp will be interested in learning that when he is out for dinner the Tharp family feasts on onions.

By Raymond Clapper

viving business. activity that one gathers traveling around. From the issue before me, I crib these items: WASHINGTON—The wheels of American industry are turning faster and faster. CLEVELAND—For the second successive month the Great Lakes ore fleet operated at 100 per cent of capacity. NEW YORK-—Retail demand for new cars and trucks in the national market is showing a substantially better than seasonal improvement. Volume this month probably will be at the highest level of any October in the industry’s history. DETROIT—Chevrolet dealers report sales of 33,056 new passenger and commercial car sales in the first 10 days of October, an increase of 22,699 units over the like period last year. WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve Board September production index figure was 125. This is a gain of three points over the August level. The swelling volume of business continued through the first half of October and a further extension of the index upswing is expected. - » E-3 2

Knudsen’s Warning

Well, those are only a few high spots. The Wall Street Journal is bursting with such news. In fact the chief note on the bearish side is the warning of William S. Knudsen that the country faces a severe bottleneck in the machine-tool industry and that expanding civilian business may have to wait until the tools for defense production are completed. Also some businessmen are saying that they are afraid business is increasing too rapidly and that there will be a severe reaction later. It’s so good it frightens them in some localities.

Willkie thinks he could add to production. Possi-

bly he could. Perhaps some businessmen are holding back because they don't want to make profits under | Roosevelt. Or maybe some would be willing to go out| and sink their money in a long-shot gamble just be- | cause Willkie was in the White House. But I suspect that the majority of businessmen are more hardheaded in their business planning than they are in their acceptance of political hokum and that there is more economics than politics in whether the country is having good business or poor business.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

completely strong. I acquired this attack in Paris in January, 1919, and discovered then that almost everyone who was near the war zone acquired some ailment. That is why, for a period following the end of the war, I think we may find the people in countries which nave actually been fought over, anxious to send their children out of the areas which have been most heavily bombarded. This is a curious campaign. It seems to engender a personal bitterness in many people, which hardly seems to me necessary for the wise consideration of such issues as are before the American people. For instance, this morning, one letter came to me accusIng me, for a variety of reasons covering the past seven or eight years, of being responsible for eggs which have been thrown at Mr. Willkie, I take this opportunity of reiterating what has already been-said by the President, and many other people: I have never approved of egg-throwing, nor of any kind of physical demonstration of disapproval in a campaign. It seems to me that the orderly working of the democratic process is injured when people resort to that kind of force. Today we are spending as much time as we can in seeing a few friends and being with the children

fill it out and file it with the Safety Board. At the same time, you write your name in a book certifying that you. have filed your application. The Merit Commission, which directs the hiring, firing and promotion in the Police and Fire Departments, keeps a careful check of these applications. The next step you take is to get

partments is governed not by men, but by law.

The Merit Commission reviews the application of Mr. X, who wants to become a fireman.

The Indianapolis Times

Beyond the reach of pressure politics, the selection of men for the Indianapolis Police and Fire DeMany attend this merit school, but few are finally chosen.

Applicant Raymond Burke, ‘5131 Park Ave, gets a preview from

Capt. Fred Fries of Fire Station No.

©. system were fit,

Left to

right are Dr. Dudley Pfaff, W. Rowland Allen and Fire Chief Fred C. Kennedy, Merit Commissioners, and

Harry Gould, Commission secretary.

a certificate from the pension board physician, showing that you are .physically fit. You file this together with yout birth certificate with your application. Incidentally, you pay the physician for this examination, which includes a complete physical checkup. This is the only thing you pay for. * The examination is required by law and is your insurance of a

pension if you are appointed and -

serve the years. You are then given a psychiatric test, to determine your mental fitness for police or fire service. After that, you are interviewed by a member of the Merit Commission, . The results of your physical and mental examinations plus the interview and your general aptitude

required number of

are reviewed by the Commission.

If you are of sound mind and health and the interview is satisfactory, you become eligible for the merit school. n ” ” HE merit schools for both police and fire departments are held at Technical High School in the evenings. The schools last for four weeks. In the police school, the applican is given the rudiments of police work, study of common law, the rights of citizens, the duties of policemen, use of firearms, use

of the police telephone box and traffic regulations. At the conclusion. of the school, you take an examination which is made up and graded by faculty members of Indiana University.

OUTLINES NEED FOR CHARACTER

Armaments Not Enough to Guarantee .Our Safety, Federation Told.

Ships, planes, guns and ammunition are not enough to guarantee our safety, Mrs. Carl J. Meinhardt of the Seventh District Federation of Clubs told the organization yes-

build up its character. Mrs. Meinhardt is chairman of Spiritual Guidance and Family Relations of the Federation. In her plea, Mrs. Meinhardt said: “We must have what France lacked. Behind material defense we must have character. We must learn to sacrifice, to be unselfish, to work together for the good of all. We must build a united nation.” Speaking before the federation’s meeting in Ayres’ auditorium, she warned that family life is still an important part of the American scene. “We must remember the people of a nation get their fundamental training at home. We must be stiong there—we must learn there the co-operative spirit that will save the nation. “National unity is the heart of national defense. No fifth column can slip through and sabotage the strength of a united nation. Let us learn team work.” The proposed Home Rule amendment to the State Constitution was discussed by members of the Governor’s Home Rule Study Commission and of the Indiana Junior Chamber of Commerce. The federation adopted a resolution which recommended to the County ‘Commissioners that the Juvenile Court, the Juvenile Detention Home, and the Children’s Division of the Marion County Department of Public Welfare be moved to Irvington. The Home Rule Forum was sponsored by the American Home De‘partment of which Mrs. Edward H. Niles is chairman. Other members of the department are Mesdames Felix T. McWhirter, honorary chairman, J. C. Barnhill Jr, Paul E. Suits, George H. Hosmer, H. O. Warren, O. PP. Wadleigh,” Robert Zaiser, S. B. Walker, F. T. McWhirter Jr., George Maxwell and Bert Gadd.

COL. ADLER RESIGNS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (U. P.).— Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson announced yesterday that he has accepted “with very real regret” the resignation of Col. Julius Ochs Adler as civilian aid to the ‘Secretary of

as much as possible before I leave at 5 p. m.,

lWar for the Second Corps Area.

terday as she urged America to:

—p Ernest K. Lindley

Biographer of President Roosevelt

Democratic Activity Stirred By Willkie's Homestretch Spurt

S the Presidential campaign goes into the home stretch Willkie seems to be picking up. Gratifying as this is to his supporters, it is also not altogether unwelcome among the top men on the Democratic side—pr-vided, of course, that the trend toward Wilkie does not’

extend too far. It has shaken the Democratic leaders out of the comfortable confidence In an easy victory 1 nto which many of them settled a few weeks ago. Their problem now is to stir up the politicians further down the line, on whom they are largely dependent in “getting out the vote” on election day. T h e campaign sa far has been marked by unusual apathy among ‘the rank and file’politicians ot both parties. , Willkie has succeeded to some extent in overcoming the listlessness of the court-house crowds, which arose in the first instance from his own political irregularity and his reliance on political amateurs hoth for personal advice and in the stimulation of independent organizations to promote his candidacy.

The Democrats in many states finally have bestirred themselves. But in Tammany Hall and several other Eastern centers, the Irish are still showing signs of sulkiness, while the Italians are reported to remain unappeased, even by the President's compliments to them in his Western Hemisphere broadcast.

» ” ®

ILLKIE seems to have hit his stride as a campaigner. The score of campaign “boners,” which found Willkie leading for a time, has been evened up, at least, by recent errors on the Democratic side. Even though disavowed as the unguthorized work of a volunteer, the scurrilous piece of literature sent out under the heading of the Negro Division of the Democratic National Committee reacted in Willkie's favor. At least it drew atiention again to.the tact that Willkie 1s descended trom some of the finest stock that ever came to the United States, and to his tamily’s splendid record of service during World War 1. This record was further pointed by the fact that the Willkies entered their respective branches of

Mr. Lindley

Republican

national service at the bottom and rose, where they rose, by merit. The contrast with the commissioning of the younger Roosevelts, especially Elliott, accentuated what some Democrats are coming to believe was the worst blunder on their side during the campaign to date. Beneath the surface of the campaign, however, the Democrats still have on their side several basic influences. The first of these is eccnomic recovery, We are at or near the highest levels of industrial production in our history. The billions of dollars which are just beginning to move into the emergency defense program augur improving business for at least another two years. Even though the British should go down —which is decreasingly probable —and a temporary economic recession should ensue, the volume of our own defense program is enough to carry us to much higher business activity, in- the opinion of government economists. ” 2 ”

HEN Willkie promises jobs, he knows and most of his listeners must know, that jobs— several million of them—already have been assured by the defense program. The jobs will be there, no matter who is elected. So one of Willkie's main arguments for a change in - Administration is being cut at the root. A second factor which favors Roosevelt is the generally satisfactory way in which the defense program is now moving ahead. There are “bugs” here and there, and the program as a whole is not advancing yet at maximum speed. But Willkie and his supporters have not been able to specify convincingly how they could improve on what is being done. Willkie may know how to get production—even though he has never been a production man— but could he get more production than Knudsen and his aids are getting? As the campaign rolls toward Nov. 5, improving business, the progress of national defense, and the international situation work in. Roosevelt's favor. These are powerful influences to be checked and overcome by a campaigner so “energetic and attractive as. Willkie is turhing out to be. %

No local politician has a thing in the world to do with the grading. When you sit down to take the exam, you become a number. Your examination is graded and the grade put down beside the num- “ ber. No one who grades these papers knows who you are, no one cares. Then the Merit Commission begins to add things up. The Commission members take your physical rating, your mental test score, your aptitude rating, the score you made in the interview and finally your examination. These five grades are averaged. The Merit Commission then decides the passing grade, which is usually 75. If you-are anxious to get on the force, you'd ' better

. make a grade a good deal higher

than that, because the competition is stiff. :

CITY PREPARED

FOR SPY THREAT

Suspicious Persons Listed; Key Plants, Site Under Constant Watch.

By FRANK WIDNER

In a small, square office at Police Headquarters is located this city’s answer to foreign agents, saboteurs and fifth columnists.

It is a room occupied by the three investigators of the Industrial and Subversive .Activities Detail which has at its fingertips the names and addresses of every suspicious character in Indianapolis.

The squad was organized more than a year ago by Police Chief Michael F. Morrissey as the fifth column threat increased with the gradual momentum of the Second World War in Europe. “Every important industrial center, utility, bridge, railroad and building has been listed and divided up between district police sergeants to give us a 24-hour watch over these places,” Chief Morrissey said as he flipped through a lengthy file of index cards.

Ready ‘for Emergency

“Here,” he said, “indicating the files, “is the name, address and telephone of each district sergeant who is subject to immediate mobilization in the case of an emergency. “Each sergeant has under his command the radio cars in his district and walking patrolmen. Should an emergency arise, all we have to do is find thc location, notify the sergeant on that district and he then mobilizes the men under him for aetion.” Chief Morrissey turned in his chair to a wall-sized map of the city dotted with colored circles. Each

circle is numbered and vefers to a

key plant, oridge or railroad. Here, the Police Department can quickly locate a plant in an emergency and at the same time call up necessary men to rush to the scene. :

Officers Classified

“Our own officers are classified as to years of education, trades they have worked at, hobbies, fraternal orders, languages they can speak and any other information about them. “This enables us to place a man in almost any position to observe a suspected agent or saboteur,” the Chief continued. “If. the suspect works as a machinist, speaks a foreign language and is a member of a lodge, we can select a man with a sufficient knowledge of the language who once worked as a ma-

chinist and is a member of the same lodge.”

b

2—How many executive

L

LARGE proportion of applicants hit up around the 90's. Examined ' from top to toe, schooled and graded, you approach the end of the road. If you have passed, you are placed on the eligible list for the police department.

Your name appears there in order of your final, total grade.. When five or more vacancies occur in the department you are trying for, the first five names are automatically appointed as rookies to fill the vacancies.

If your name is among the first five, you get the job right away. If not, you may get it later, depending on the number of vacancies that occur. Before the Merit Law, police and firemen were appointed in a hit and miss fashion. The appointments were political for the most, part. While some of the men who received jobs under this a great many were not qualified. They did not add to the efficiency of the department. : Under the merit law, both police and fire departments have access to the best qualified men in the City. After almost five years of operation, the merit law has streamlined both departments. This is the unofficial verdict of the merit commissioners.

” » 2

Ir THE Commission had a chairman, he probably would be W. Rowland Allen, personnel manager of L. 8. Ayres & Co., who has been a commission member since the start. Mr. Allen, however, insists he is not chairman. .There isn't any chairman, he contends. The Commission is just a group of citizens trying to get the best possible men to maintain law and order and protect property. The physician member of the Commission, as provided in the law, is Dr. Dudley Pfaff. Dr. Murray DeArmond is the psychiatrist member, also required by law Police Chief Michael F. Morrisdey and Fire Chief Fred C. Kennedy are the other two members. You don’t go. to see them either, to get the job. Their only interest in you is the results of your examination.

Rules at I. U.

Home-Coming

BLOOMINGTON, Ind, Oct. 19 {U. P.).—Mary Susan Stull of Bloomington will reign as queen today at the Indiana University home-coming. featured by the In-diana-Iowa foothall game. She was named .last night at the annual home-coming pow= -wow banquet. : Four other contenders were named as her court. They were Dorothy Wall of Indianapolis, Margie Buckmaster of Portland,’ Betty McCormick of Vincennes and Dede Lung of Kokomo.

‘SEEK AGREEMENT

ON WAR OBJECTORS

RICHMOND, Ind. Oct. 19 (U. P.).—Dr. Clarence Pickett of Philadelphia, executive secretary of the American Friends Service committee, said today that the committee was attempting to reach an agreement with selective service administrators regarding a program for conscientious objectors. Dr. Pickett said the committee wanted to know whether local

(units of the organization wished \Friends called for service to. be placed under. civilian. direction or

under the direction of the Federal Government for non-military serve

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1—Antimony is an animal, vegetar - ble or mineral?

depart. ments are represented in the President's Cabinet?

3—Does sound travel faster in warm

or cold weather?

4—Where does former Kaiser Wile helm of Germany reside?

5—Who composed the opera, “Tales of Hoffman”?

. Answers 1—Mineral. 2—Ten. 3—Warm weather. 4—Doorn, The Netherlands. 5—Offenbach.

ASK THE TIMES

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

i