Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 December 1940 — Page 1

The Indianapolis Time

FORECAST: Fair tonight; tomorrow and Wednesday, partly cloudy and slightly warmer; lowest temperature tonight, about 32.

FINAL HOME

N SCRIPPS — HOWARD

S—

VOLUME 52—NUMBER 246

MONDAY DECEMBER 23, 1940

Entered -as Second-Class

at Postoffice,

Indianapolis,

Matter Ind.

PRICE THREE CENTS

GOP Proposes 5-Unit Regime Stripping Schricker of Power

ST DUCE, CHURCHILL ASKS ITAL

BILL OUTLINED FOR ACTION BY

POLICY GROUP

Leaves Governor With Only - Privileges Delegated By Constitution.

By NOBLE REED

A state government composed of five administrative divisions with the Governor having a minority vote in four of them was proposed in a reorganization bill submitted today to the Republican legislative steering committee. The political complexion of the three-member executive divisions would be two Republicans and one Democrat in each instance, since the proposed bill provides for two elected officials to serve with the Governor. Mr. Schricker was the only Demo--crat elected to a State office Nov. 5. ~~ The tentative bill, which has not yet been ratified by the steering committee, would set up the following executive divisions of state government: 1. Department of State, to be composed of the Secretary of State, the Governor and a- third elected State official. 2. A Department of Commerce and Industries, to be composed of the Lieutenant Governor. the Governor and one other elected official.

Governor Rules Own Office

3. Department of Treasury, to be composed of the State Treasurer, the Governor and probably the] Auditor. 4. Department of Audit and control, to be composed of the Auditor, | the Governor and one other elected official. 5. The Executive: Department, with the Governor in complete control. The tentative bill would" strip: from Democratic Governor-elect Henry F. Schrickér most of the patronage powers and executive control now vested in the Governor's office under the old 1933 Reorganization Act. Republican leaders explained that all divisions of - State Government except the Department of Education and benevolent and penal institutions, would be subdivided under the five departments.

Details Uncertain

The Republican majority Legislators said they had not determined what departments would be placed under the various controlling divisions. It is assumed that only the func- | tions provided in the Constitution will be left to the Governor. These include only the National Guard and the Clemency Commission. _ The proposed bill would vest in each of the five divisions the power to appoint the administrative directors or controlling boards under them. In turn, the department heads named by the administrative divisions would appoint their own staff and all employees of the department. The G. O. P. majority leaders previously said they would sponsor a proposal for bi-partisan boards to head some departments and these boards would be answerable to the executive division.

‘Berlin Calling

Bush Residence’

AT LEAST one Indianapolis family will receive Christmas greetings from war-torn Berlin Christmas Day. Mr. and Mrs. A. V. Bush, 5831 _N. Delaware St., have been informed by the New York office of the Bell Telephone Co., that their son, Henry C. Bush, an attache at the American embassy in Berlin, will call them at 2 p. m. The Bush family will make the occasion a party with a Christmas dinner before the call. Attending will be Mr. and Mrs. A. V. Bush’s children, Mr. and Mrs. D. T, Brownlee; their grandchildren, Miss Marjorie Brownlee, Wayne Brownlee, Mr. ‘and Mrs. Robert Garten, Mr. and Mrs. Robert" Pflumm, and the great grandson, Danny Pflumm.

TIMES FEATURES ON INSIDE PAGES

Clapper ......13 Movies Comics ...s...21| Mrs. Reisuson 1 Crossword ... 21|Obituari ..14 | Pegler ..10| Pyle .14| Questions .14| Radio ..13| Mrs. Roosevelt 13 ..16| Serial Story ..21 .... 3|Side Glances..14 Inside Indpls. .13| Society Jane Jordan ..16} Sports ..

Johnson §| State Deaths. - 8

CHRISTMAS RUSH, The Times’ new serial story, begins today on Page 21.

"Yanks Are Not Coming’, White Tells Roy Howard

“To keep this country out of war” is the only motive of William Allen White as chairman of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, the Kansas editor said today. Mr. White's statement was written in response fo an inquiry by

Roy W. Howard of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers.

His full statement follows:

By WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE Copyright, 1940, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance.

MPORIA, Kas., Dec. 23.—In response to your query Loe about the position on war of our Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, let me sumbit the following:

The only reason in God’s world I am in this organization is to keep I don’t go an inch further or faster than

this country out of war.

Wendell Willkie or the American Legion, or the American Federation of

William Allen White

war into the war zone.

of Labor or the National Grange; nor an inch further or faster than you went this month in the Philippines Magazine on the Eastern question. (This reference is to an article by Roy W. Howard.) The. story is floating around that I and our committee are in favor of sending convoys with British ships or our own ships, a silly thing, for convoys, unless you shoot, are confetti and it’s not time to shoot now or ever. Another thing: Our loathed but highly esteemed adversaries keep insisting that we are in favor of repealing the Johnson Act, a stupid thing to do because it would not help Great Britain and there are half a dozen other good legal ways to get aid to Great Britain. The President is following his own way. But the Johnson Act should not be repealed and we are not for it. Still one more charge: ‘It is not true even remotely that we favor repealing that portion of the neutrality law which forbids American ships to carry contraband of

That would be leading us to war and our organization and I personally are deeply opposed to it.

If I was making

a motto for the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies,

it would be:

» ” 2

“The Yanks are not coming.”

” #”

n E could not equip them, {ransport them and feed them if they went. . We have Jess Soa 200,000 ready and we need them worse

at home on the

juld

WE

t than we need them in Europe. defeat the Je and last end for which our committee is organized and would bring on a 30-year conflict.

The “Yanks are

not coming” because if they went to war they would lose our cause.

That is my firm, unshakable belief.

I have no doubt that some members of our organization who are not officially representing us are martial-minded. To condemn all of (Continued on Page Three)

1940 Clothed, Many More | Need Help, and Time Is Short

(Donors List, Page Three)

ALTHOUGH 1940 children have been clothed by the Indianapolis Times Clothe-A-Child campaign, there are many times that number who face the prospect of spending the winter in worn and thin clothing.

True, the time is short.

Yet, in the few hours remaining until Christmas, several hundred youngsters can be outfitted in warm coats and good substantial shoes

DIES TO INVESTIGATE PELLEY'S TRANSFER

Losey’s Baddround Also to Be ‘Explored.’

(Another Story and Photo, Page 2)

By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Writer. WASHINGTON, Dec. 23.—Thorough investigation of the proposed transfer of the Pelley Publications from Asheville, N. C., to Noblesville, Ind, and the connection of Carl Losey, Indianapolis, with the business, will be investigated by the Dies Committee, a committee spokesman announced today. Having brought William Dudley Pelley here as a witness, because of his alleged efforts to bring about American Fascism through his Silver Shirts. Mr. Losey’s record likewise will be explored, it was said. Mr. Losey was on the State Police force during the regime of former Governor Ed Jackson, who was elected when the Ku-Klux Kian, under the leadership of D, C. Stephenson, captured the Republican party. What connection, if any, Mr. Losey nas with the Ku-Klux Klan or Silver Shirts is of interest to the Dies Committee, which is charged with investigation of all subversive activities in the United States, the committee spokesman pointed out. Pelley Publications are well known here for their violent anti-semitism.

ITINERANT MERCHANT UPHELD IN TAX CASE

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (U. P.). —The Supreme Court today held

2| that North Carolina’s $250 license

tax on itinerant merchants for the privilege of displaying samples is unconstitutional. The Court also accepted for review a lower court decision holding unconstitutional a Florida law of 1937 and portions of -a 1939 statute designed to regulate the licensing of copyrighted music in Florida. The lower court decision was in an action brought by the American Society of Composers, Authors and

Publishers (ASCAP), nationwide music ‘copyright pool.

if The Times can have your help. Scores of applications from needy families remain in the Clothe-A-Child files. These applications have been approved by the schools and the social service agencies who have been unable to assist them in their plight. These applications set forth the reasons help is needed. Many families have no income whatsoever. With several children to provide for, they receive only small pensions or basket and coal orders .from the township trustees. - Clothing is an item that these underprivileged families must look upon as a luxury. Their pleas for clothing for their youngsters may be stamped on Dec. 26 with the cruel words: “CLOTHING NOT. FURNISHED, INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.” ” = ” THERE ONLY is one way to prevent this happening. That is through last minute contributions to the Clothe-A-Child fund and by donors coming to Clothe-A-Child headquarters tomorrow to clothe children themselves. Your checic for $10 will outfit a boy in a warm mackinaw coat, shoes capable of standing the wear of school and play, a cap with ear-muffs, a couple of suits

gloves, and shirts. Your check for $10 will provide some needy girl with two or three wash dresses, shoes, hat, hose, coat, gloves and underthings. Or if you would rather spend

your $10 yourself, The Times:

urges you to phone for an appointment to meet the child at Clothe-A-Child headquarters, 44 S. Capitol, and take the young-

ster to one of the stores yourself.

” ” = THROUGHOUT THE campaign so far, it has been noted that in many families there are babies too small for donors to take to the stores. There also are ’teen age girls and boys who need clothes just as badly as their 6-to-12-year-old brothers and sisters—and their pride in their appearance is even more pronounced. For these youngsters, The Times is providing the clothing out of the fund furnished by persons unable to clothe children directly themselves. Don’t forget. The hour is late, but it is not too late to help, Matt your check or money order to “Clothe-A-Child, The Indianapolis Times,” or cal] Riley 5551 hy an appointment to meet a

DON'T il

4000 WORKERS T0 GET JOBS AT CURTISS PLANT

Aviation Concern Takes Over Old Marmon Center To Make Propellers.

Indianapolis, which already has become a national center in America’s aviation rearmament program,

plane propeller manufacturing plant to employe 4000 persons, it was announced today. The plant will be established in the old Marmon Motor Car buildings, 1200 block W. Morris St., by the Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical Sor propeller division, Caldwell, NF

Nore than $400,000 will be spent

military and naval airplanes, renovating five buildings on a 14-acre tract at the old Marmon industrial center. -

Officials Awaited Here

High officials of the propeller division were expected in‘ Indianapolis today to confer with Chamber of Commerce leaders on plans to take possession of the Marmon plants, which now are being used in small parts as supplementary units by five local concerns. The five firms now are making plans to move. They are Stokely Bros. & Co., which operates ja storehouse there; the Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc, bus operations; International Harvester Co., Armour & Co., and the Indiana Farm Bureau, Inc. The announcement of the location of the propeller unit here was made ‘by Guy W. Vaughan, Curtiss-

| Wright president, who said the se-

lection of Indianapolis was made in line with Federal policy to move —tmew defense plants inland and away from the militarily vulnerable coastlines.

Hope to Operate Soon

The Curtiss-Wright Co. is now constructing an engine manufacturing plant at Cincinnati, O., and an assembly plant at Columbus, O. The local division, which it is hoped will be in operation within a few months, will produce electrically controlled variable-pitch propellors for military planes. This type of propeller is used with Allison engines’ manufactured here and fitted in the famous P-40 pursuit plane. The company recently received contracts from the War Department for propeller assemblies and control sets totaling more than $63,000,000. The Indianapolis unit will be the fourth in the nation for Curtiss-Wright propeller = manufacture, and will serve as the Midwestern production center of the division. A large percentage of the 4000 skilled workers to be employed will be women, it was said. “The total annual payroll will run into several million dollars,

Take Possession Jan. 1

The five Marmon plants contain a total of about 400,000 feet of floor space of which 392,000 will be available for direct production usage. Possession of the plants will be taken Jan. 1. Myron R. Green, Industrial commissioner of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, who was instrumental in making arrangements for the leasing of the Marmon center for the airplane company, will meet today with W. K. Swigert, manufacturing manager of the company’s propeller division and R. J. Sneider, who is expected to be Indianapolis plant manager.

SECOND STATE DRAFT

13152 More Hoosiers to Be

of underwear, some wool sox and |

Inducted Into Army.

The second Indiana draft contingent of 2152 men will be inducted into the Army during a three-week period from Jan. 14 to Feb. 3, Selective Service officials here announced today. The men will be inducted at Ft. Harrison and at an induction station to be set up at Louisville, Ky. The draftees from southern Indiana will go to the Kentucky station. Selective Service officials recently had received unofficial information that the second call would be fur 3417 men. No reason was given by Fifth Corps Area officers for the reduction in the Indiana quota. However, the second call ‘is tor approximately eight times as many men as were taken in the frst call last month and reflects, local otficials said, the Army’s preparedness now to speed up the draff program. It is expected that an average of 3500 men will be inducted inte the Army monthly from now until June. Quotas for the local boards will be announced this week by Maj. Lytle J. Freehafer, head of the induction division of the Selective Service staff, Most of the boards already have

the second 2 call it is

has been selected as site for an air-}

by the eastern company, makers of |

. duty.

T0 START JAN. 14

enough men in Class 1-A to. meet | shift,

John Schnitzius and Miss Wilma

td

White River C

A Sailor Comes Home

the smiles.

Returns for the Holidays

Second Group Expected Sunday for New Year’s Leave; Wives to Join Officers in Boston.

Eighty-two sailors, who shipped out of Indianapolis’ White River “port” Nov. 10, and about twice as. many wives, parents and sweethearts said hello again yesterday at Union Station. Most of the saliors got at least one Kiss. . They're the officers and crew of the U, S. S. Sacramento, members of the_16th and 18th Divisions of the Fourth Battalion.

Davidson , . , there's a reason for

®

ontingent

In command

of the “group were Lieut. Comm. F. F. Knachel and Lieut. G. B. Lantz. The local sailing contingent will enjoy. Christmas at home until 1:45 p. m. Friday, when they will head back for the Sacramento, lying in now at the Boston Navy Yards for complete repairs to make it sea worthy. Not all the Indianapolis Naval Armory boys were given Christmas leaves, however. A second group will come home Sunday for New Year's. Several. Indianapolis officers have remained on duty with the Sacramento and their wives will join

‘Morrissey Proposal Favored;

them in Boston. The wives: Mrs. O. F. Heslar, Mrs. Frank M. Hall, Mrs, G. D. Williams, Mrs. J. Frazer, | Mrs. J. L. Mingay and Mrs; C. W.| Beaman. . The gunboat - Sacramento saw service in Chinese waters and was retired as a training ship at Michigan City. It'is being equipped now with full war armaments for active

It has been reported that it will report at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

CHANCES SLIM FOR A WHITE CHRISTMAS

LOCAL TEMPERATURES

6a m... 34 10 a.m. 43 Ta, mm... 33 lam ....35 8a. m... 34 12 (noon) .. 9a. m.... 34 1pm. ....40

Thousands of Indianapolis sleds probably will have to be held in reserve on Christmas Day. And it appears now as if Santa Claus will have ‘to put rollers on the sleigh runners for his annual trip to the city Tuesday night. The chances of a “white Christmas” are very slim. Meteorologist J. H. Armington merely said “it doesn’t look very favorahie.” For tomorrow and Wednesday, he forecast partly cloudy and | slightly warmer. Tonight, he pre- | dicted, would be fair with the low- | est temperature about 32.

STONE WORKER DEAD

BEDFORD, Ind. Dec. 23 (U. PJ). —Injuries received when he was crushed by a stone had caused the death of Eliab Pattison, 58, today at the Heltonville Stone Co. mill, where he was a foreman. Four daughters, three sons, one

GETS CONTRACT FOR

grandchild, his mother and a brother survive.

SANTA CLAUS, Ind. Dec. 23 (U. P.).—Santa Claus was in the throes of its annual Yule-tide boom today as mail continued to pour -into its postoffice from all parts of the world. Postmaster Oscar Phillips said that the European war had cut the foreign mail to about one-half last year’s volume but added that Amer can mail had more than compensated for the loss. He estimated that his regular staff of two, plus a 10-man holiday already

‘had handled more} The:

than 500,000 pieces of mail and. pre-

JURY ASKS NEW POLICE STATION

Former Deputy County | Clerk Indicted.

The. Marion County Grand Jury today recommended in its annual report that Indianapolis build a inew, modern police headquarters building. It also indicted a former Marion County deputy clerk on a charge of embezzling $3000 during the administrations of Glenn B. Ralston and Charles R. Ettinger. The report said that the present police headquarters are ‘inadeuate.” Police Chief Michael Morrissey has repeatedly tried to get a new building and his attempts have been backed by the Federation of Community Civic Clubs. The jury also recommended a new wing and heating plant for the Julietta Infirmary east of the city, for which bids already have been let for three new boilers. Installation is expected to start soon. The jury commented on the action to move the Marion County Detention Home to the Children’s Guardian Home in Irvington. Since the practice was started two years ago of placing orphan children in foster homes instead of the Children’s Guardian Home, the building has not been used to a great extent.

{to some extent the program which

that, available

GREEKS

FIRESIDE CHAT ARRANGED FOR SUNDAY NIGHT

Murray Proposes Use of Auto Plants to Make 500 Planes a Day.

By LYLE C. WILSON * United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec. 23.—President Roosevelt will deliver a fireside chat lo the nation Sunday night re-

garding the “presen; emergency,” presumably including the steps which he proposed to speed up American defense and aid to Britain. Mr. Roosevelt will go on the air from 8:30 to 9 p. m. (Indianapolis time). Presumably, he will reveal

he will lay before the new Congress when it convenes five days later. Announcement of the schedule coincided with a series of developmen’s bearing on American rearmament and the United States role in relation to the European war.

Murray Presents Plan

Philip Murray, president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, presented Mr. Roosevelt a detailed plan for utilizing idle automotive facilities for the production of about 500 all-metal pursuit planes a day. The plan was drafted by Walter Reuther, a member of the industrial training committee of the National Defense Commission and director of the General Mators division of .the United Automobile Workers Union (C.IL. 0). “rhe Reuther program shows skilled automobile labor is not being fully used nor on a planned basis} that available and complicated -basic production machirles and tools are lying idle many months of the year; that factory space is ready in the automobile industry, and that a surplus of labor is on hand to do the job,” Mr. Murray said.

Plant Survey Proposed

Mr. Reuther proposed that the President appoint an aviation production board of nine members, rep--resenting Government, industry and labor. He suggested a plant-by-plait survey of the automobile industry to determine the amount of unused machinery and plant space. Unless the automobile industry’s ‘| (Continued on Page Three)

NAZI BOMB GAUSES PARLIAMENT RUIN

600- Year-Old St. Stephens Cloisters Wrecked. LONDON, Dec. 23 (U. P).—A

The jury declared that it is “a (Continued on Page Three)

HOSPITAL AT FORT

Times Special WASHINGTON, - Dec. 23.—Leslie | Colvin, Indianapolis contractor, has | been awarded a $1,596,300 contract | for construction of the 1000-bed cantonment-type hospital for Ft. Harrison, the War Department an- | nounced today. The contract is on a cost plus] fixed fee basis. McGuire & Shook, Indianapolis, are the architects and engineers.

Santa Claus, Ind., Hums With Activity; Gain in U. S. Mail Offsets War Losses

dicted that the next two days probably woud] be busier than any thus far. Mr. Phillips said that the mail had not been limited to cards and letters, but that packages of all sizes and descriptions had. gone through his office. The town is hard to find even with :the aid of road maps. It 1s situated in the hills of Spencér County in southwestern Indiana on State Road 245, about 13 miles ‘River

ner lobby also were dstroyed. The

!plosive bomb which struck.

German airplane bomb, crashing into the historic Parliament buildwithin a few yards ot the House of Commons chamber, iwrecked -the 600 years old St. Stephen’s cloisters and did exten{sive other damage in a recent night | | raid, it was made known today. | There were no casualties. A group of members’ and secretavies’ offices were destroyéd. The votes and proceedings office and the old members’ staircase leading from the star chamber court to the in-

staircase had not been used for 50 years. It was a combination fire and ex-

Ordinarily a hamlet with a population of only 60, Santa Claus has been host to thousands in the last few days. {The two small churches had special Christmas services Sunday and both were filled to overflowing. The visitors milled through the sinall candy and toy shops that dot the town and provide one of the town’s largest sources of revenue. QOne of the showplaces of: Santa Claus is the Toy Village where toys made by leading toy manuiacturers

DIRECT APPEAL MADE ON RADIO

PUSH 0

Coastal Base Seized; Bomb Toll High in

Manchester. | By JOE ALEX MORRIS United Press Foreign News Editor Great Britain appealed to the people of Italy to overs throw Benito Mussolini today

lat an hour when British and

Greek troops were hammering at fascism’s outposts in Libya and Albania. |

Choosing a moment when Britons appeared to believe that the 18

year-old Fascist regime ht. be most vulnerable, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 30 e Ni radio to the people, the Kin the Army of Italy and hinted them that continuation of the ~~ would bring an invasion of their peninsula. - i

Calls Duce Criminal | “We shall be forced to come to closer grips,” the Prime |Minister said in denouncing Il Duce as a criminal who had alienat Italy from Britain and the Ameri

One man and one man, alone, Churchill charged, has bene res. sponsible for leading the Jtalian people into war despite a previous ly-unrevealed British plea to Mus solini to keep out of the war when France was collapsing. we “Our armies are tearing and will tear your African Empire to shreds,” he declared. “We are only how at the beginning of this sombre tale.”

Greeks Capture Chimara

How many Italians heard the message despite restrictions on listening to foreign broadcasts could not be reckoned, but Churchill also could count on the appeal being spread later by word of mouth. As Churchill spoke, the British armies in North Africa were pounding at the besieged Libyan | of Bardia and the Greeks occupied the Albanian coastal town of |Chimara, one of the main defenses of Valona, and pushed on toward a mountain pass guarding road to that port. Athens celebrated the | year-end holiday and the occupation of Chimara with enthusiasm as a result of an assault from three sides that ended desperate Italian resistance in the little Albanian coastal town and improved the Greek positions on a hard-fought battleground stretching inland to Tepelini and Klisura. Dispatches from the Greek capi= tal reported the Fascist forces guard« ing the coastal road to Valona—key to the south Albanian front—were hastily fortifying a mountain pass in an effort to halt the Greek advance, which was supported by Brilish air bombing. RAF Active

Eight hundred men and 30 officers of the Fascist 153d Battalion of Blackshirts of which Roberto Fare rinacci, formerly the party’s secre= tary general is commander, sure rendered on the outskirts of Chimara after severe fighting and heavy bombardment. The It | resiste ance was typical of much) stiffer fighting that has slowed or halted the previously speedy Greek advance on the south Albanian sectors. . - Meanwhile, the R. A. F, was ac= tive over Germany ‘and a wide ene emy front throughout the night hoi! (German planes struck w.th “Coventrated” force at the British Isles. The British attacks were said to have started big fires in German ine dustrial and communications cen= ters such as Mannheim and in (Continued on Page Three)

ON THE INSIDE— | Page Italians resisted bravely in face of hopeless odds, Graziano tells Duce ........ fipnaees ois Fascist troops retreated without fighting Greelts; eYe-Wii-ness reporter reveals . Axis” high expectations of succéss at sea Shminished, says J. W. T. Mason ...,... Leahy’s trip to Vichy on u. S. - cruiser “dangerous gesture,” says Raymond Clapper ...13 Ernie Pyle is getting anxious to. . get on his way from Lisbon to London 13

“How fit are the Amerieun people?” The answer in the

Our Ee : Se J 1 Williams claims The new defense seit gy , John-

alin.

cae