Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 January 1941 — Page 19
DRYS DESCEND ON COMMITTEE To to ‘smoke 0 Out’ i
Reported Th
By WILLIAM CRABB The question of local option has been brought home to the Legisla= ture in such a way that Represente atives and Senators alike today were nominating it as one of the hottest problems they’ll have to face. Dry leaders claim that if they can get their bill onto the floor of the House for a vote that it will pass
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
Plenty of Realtors but No Sales or Leases—It's a Party]
THURSDAY, JAN. 30, 1941
CAMEL CORPS RAID PUTS COLOR IN WAR
400-Mile Dash of Free French Forces Across Sahara to Destroy Italian Garrison Couldn't Have Been Better Done in Movies.
By ROBERT J. CASEY Copyright. 1941, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc.
LIBYAN FRONT, Jan. 30. (Delayed).-—Attention was turned for a brief moment today from the amazing sweep of the British Army across the western desert to a little
raid on a Sahara outpost. It did not involve many troops. It did not change the
nationality of any territory. Save for the fact that it was executed by Free French forces and resulted in the death of Col. Colonna D’Ornano, grandson of one of Napoleon’s marshals, it might have escaped attention in dispatches.
But it was important in that a:
group of supposedly obsolete camel corps dashed 400 miles across the desert, wrecked an airdrome and its complement of planes and destroyed a garrison. It was even more important in that it demonstrated the
vulnerability of the Italian rear
and flanks, south of Tripoli. And it was something to color the communiques in that it was all any moving picture director could ask of war in the desert.
Figured Qut Every Detail
The raid—said a soldier who reported the matter to Gen. Georges Catroux—really started at Ft. Lamy, a blistered monument to French optimism ‘in - equitorial Africa. Northward, at least 400 miles lay the oasis of Fezzan, a
patch of dusty green in the vast desolation. It was known to be filled with a lot of uncomfortable troops but it seemed to have no real military importance save as the jumping off place for desert patrols, until the Italians began using it as an air base for bombing the Sudan. At that time Col. D’Ornano suggested an overland expedition to put it out of business. The plan seemed daring—hardly feasible— but the colonel had worked out all the details to the last pound each individual camel could carry at a certain speed, to the last drop of water necessary; on short rations, for the men and the disposition of supply dumps along the route to insure the return to the base.
Sheiks Go Along for Ride
In the end, Gen. Catroux gave permission and Col. D'Ornano set out to get himself killed in the most spectacular single operation this weird war in the desert has produced. Up to the starting line on the south edge of Italian Libya the raiders moved in highly irregular and colorful column—sheiks of the Lake Chad region caparisoned in gorgeous calico robes, riding horseback and heavily armed with spears and knives and bows and arrows. “They, it must be mentioned, did not figure in the original tables of organization, they went along just for the ride. With them came the well-drilled native infantry, lean leathery officers and that peculiar rabble which, until recently, was always swirling about the edges of desert armies —camel men, jackass tenders, drum . beaters and, so help us, automobile mechanics,
Take Off as Trumpet Sounds
The drum beaters were sifted out somewhere before the frontier. They reluctantly accepted the idea that this drive, across 400 miles of hot sand, was to be done quietly. It seemed a great pity. As a compromise a native musician was permitted to blow a few calls on his 7-foot trumpet and the column took off—as odd a caravan as this wilderness ever had seen. “We traveled light,” said the reporting officer. “No camel carried more than the weight of a man of average build. That gave us speed but it cut down transport for supplies. So we pieced out the old camel corps with a lot of model-T Pords. We underloaded the camels and overloaded the Fords—10, 12, 20 men—hanging on each car. Then we had a couple of light trucks we used to send back to the base camp each night for more petrol.” “I can tell: you our advance was very droll indeed—there was the morning in the dawn when I saw them for a moment on the skyline crossing a dune—.” And you got the idea. In appearance this force must have looked dike nothing seen since the troops on high bicycles went to the relief of Camelot In “The Connecticut Yankee.” But they went steadily on over the deadly terrain at an incredible pace and in the end, despite their comic opera guise and manner, death overtook quite a lot of them, including the colonel.
Go Without Food for Days
They traveled for days with virtually no food at all and with a modicum of water that was bad to begin with and got steadily worse. They traveled in the dark, with no protection against the dead cold of the Sahara night, and slept by day in dry washes, unshielded from the sun. They breathed dust, and went half blind from the sand in their eyes. "So they came at last to Mourzouk, capital of the Fezzan oasis. And, after what they had already accomplished in getting there, it seems an anti-climax to mention that they took the Italian garrison by surprise, drove it out into the desert, and destroyed it. After that, they burned the airdrome and a squadron of planes on the ground, buried their colonel and came home again, 400 miles. “It was magnificent,” said Gen. Catroux in his comment on the affair. “Their commander paid with his life, the price of a successful operation, brilliantly led. He will hear, where he lies in the desert, the echo across the’Sahara, of his raid.”
PATIENCE WINS BUTTE, Mont, (U. P.).—Persistence had its reward for Nat Simon, 65. Ever since he settled on a dairy ranch northwest of here nearly 47 years ago he campaigned
for teu mail Salivary, Now
WAGE SCALES . CALLED UNFAIR
Plane Factory Workers Get Less Than Those in Auto Plants.
Times Special
NEW YORK, Jan. 30.~The
essential trouble behind costly air-|
craft labor disputes in the country today is a long-standing wage dif-
ferential which, according to the!
union version, gives the average auto worker in a comparable job
up to 25 cents an hour more for virtually the same service. A survey of a major automobile factory’s pay scale reveals that the janitor receives an hourly wage. of | 75 cents, 3 cents more than is paid to experienced milling machine operators or trained spot welders in a unionized aircraft factory with rates said to be higher than the industry as a whole. Similarly, timekeepers in two auto plants, union records show, receive from 95 cents to $1 an hour while the highest-paid skilled tool and die-makers in two unionized aircraft plants are paid from $1.02 to $1.10.
+ Die-Makers Valuable
This is particularly significant in the light of repeated assertions by William S. Knudsen and other key men in the defense effort that the most valuable single worker ir the couniry today is a skilled too. and die-maker. The latest figures of the Bureau of Labor Statistics—for September, 1940—paint the same picture. average hourly rate for the aircraft industry in these Government charts stood at 73.8 cents against the auto. industry's 95.4 cents. And, although the aircraft workers toiled better than six hours a week more, their lower hourly rates kept their average weekly paychecks $4.30 under the auto workers’ average of $36.86.
Unionization Spurred
These differences, pointed up by the fact that the aviation firms are in a terrific boom, with orders cn hand for as much as 12 times the total 1939 sales, are spurring the same determined unionization that the auto business encountered from 1934 on. Aviation manufacturers, individually, do not dispute the Lakor Bureau’s - findings but claim that auto work is seasonal, that the annual “take-home” or yearly gross is higher in aviation because the work is more steady. The C.I.O.'s United Automobile Workers claim the higher auto rate means a bigger “take-home” with leéss work and that, anyway, defense orders will keep the auto plants on fulltime from now until the emergency is past. No official figures on the annual “take-home” of the two, industries are avezilable, however, without free access to the books of the com-panies--a privilege not granted to investigators.
BUNCH IS HONORED AT ARMORY DINNER
A dinner honoring Richard W. Bunch, retiring Indiana Bureau. of Personnel director, was held last night at the U, S. Naval Armory, with 95 guests, including officials and State department heads. Mr. Bunch’ will leave for Washington. in a few days to become assistant personnel director of the National Youth Administration and on March 15 he will become the director. Prof. Ford P. Hall, Indiana 'Jniversity Department of Governraent head, will be acting Bureau of Personnel director until & new ore is selected.
Even the chicken waited while William A. Hackemeyer left his seat to have a short talk with the This gave the Mesdames Teckemeyer and Hackemeyer (left to right)
new president, Ilarl B. Teckemeyer. a chance to confer. Estate Board’s hpnual dinner last
night,
They were among the 250 realtors and relatives who dined and danced at the Real
LOW AUTO TAGS ARE ABOLISHED
10,000 to Be Smallest, Says Goverror; Stars Blink ‘Out for Politicians.
By NOBLE REED + The annual scramble among Indiana motorists for “gristocratic” or freak auto license plate numbers has been ended. By special executive ¢rder, Governor Schricker today decreed that
in the future no plates will be manufactured with numbers lower than
ons 10,000.
And furtherriore, th¢ Governor put an end to the promiscuous distribution of those coveted starred numbers, supposed to mark the motorist as an “important” citizen with high-up bolitical connections.
Only for State Cars
The order specified that plates with stars on them must -be issued only to state-owned cars that are used in state business. : In the past, hundrecs of plates with stars have been issued to politicians as special favors, Last year mniore than 16,000 requests were received at the license bureau for special, ldw numbers, according to Edward H. Stein, Motor License Bureau Commissioner. He estimated that the extra service required to handle these requests cost the state more than $10,000 annually in wages for six to 15 extra clerks.
Calls Requests “Nuisance”
Thousands of letters pour into the license bureau every year, beginning early in the simmer, for low numbers, or figures that correspond with their telephone numbeys, house address and many. requests are for “lucky numbers” like 711, the payoff in dice games. “These requests have become the greatest nuisance in the department,” Mr. Stein said. “One executive’s time was taken up entirely from Dec. 1 to Jan. 7 in supervising these specials.” The practice actually made more enemies than friends kiecause scores of special requests had to be turned down and the applicants considered the refusal as a personal affront.
DANCE INSTRUCTORS
TO GIVE EXHIBITION
Williani Holmes and Miss Mavis Moore, instructors at the new
Arthur Murrey Dance Studio in the Hotel Washirigton, will give an exhibition of popular dence steps tonight at the President’s Birthday Ball in the Eoosier Athletic Club. They also will participate in the second “rhumba matinee” Saturday afternoon in the Sapphire Room of the Hotel Wa shington. The matinees are sponsore: by the Murray studio
and those who rhumbe best get prizes.
° Joins U. S. Army I f . To ‘Repay’ Nazis JAMAICA, N. Y, Jan. 30 (U. P.).—A former inmate of a German concentration camp, Leo Rosskamm, was inducted into the Army today for a year of military training. His acceptance was in doubt for a while, while Army physicians debated whether a shoulder injury inflicted by a rifle butt in the concentration camp was healed sufficiently. “But you can't keep me out.” Mr. Rosskamm protested. “This is the final reason why I must get into the Army and be ready -to pay back what I, and my people, suffered.” “They starved us, without food or.water, for five days,” he explained. “Theh an old man, weak from hunger, collapsed in my arms. A Nazi guard ran up and bashed in his skull with his rifle butt. When I protested he smashed my shoulder.”
NORSE BALK AT NAZI ARMS GALL
Quisling Runs Into Trouble In Rustling: Up Force ‘To Fight British.
By WILLIAM H. STONEMAN Copyright, 1941, by The Indianapolis Times and The Chicago Daily News, Inc. LONDON, Jan. 30.—Maj. Vidkun Quisling, leader of the Norwegian Nazis, is having a hard time rustling up the Norwegian expeditionary force which he intends to lead against the British. When the world’s most famous traitor originally announced his plans he said that he was going to take a “regiment” to Germany. Recently he began to talk about a “company.” Now it looks as if ‘it might have to be a platoon. Quisling has been forced to" lure in volunteers by promising them a substantial bonus in the form of land. Everybody who joins the socalled “Nordland” force will be allowed to retire after two years of service and will be given a 60-acre farm. . Even this announcement has failed to interest the Norwegian youth. The Norwegian farmers accuse the major of planning to confiscate their land. While a few members of Quisling’s Storm Trooper Army have offered to do battle with the British, large numbers of patriotic youngsters continue to jump the frontier en route to Canada in order to volunteer in the Royal Norwegian Air Force which is training there.
URGES APPEAL BE DENIED WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (U, P.).— The Government today urged the Supreme Court to refuse to consider the appeal of the Ford Motor Co. from a National Labor: Relations Board order holding the company guilty of unfair labor practices.
Birthday Means Business as Usual’ to F.D.R., But It Brings Fairyland to 1941 Cinderella
WASHINGTON, Jan. $0 (U. P.). —President Roosevelt celebrates his 59th birthday today under a self-imposed rule of “business as usual,” Tonight, he will broadcast a five-minute “thank you” message to the nation for making his birth=
day the occasion for contributions to the annual drive for funds to combat infantile paralysis. Eollywood stars and celebrities
from sports, opera, and the, stage
continued to flock inte the Cepital for the round of birthday balls thet will celebrate Mr. Roosevelt's birthday and further | the drive against paralysis. Although the list included such top-flight names as Deanna Durbin, Wallace Beery, Lana Turner, George Raft, Tommy Harmon and Lauritz Melchoir, a modern Cinderella girl—Ann Skleplovich, Gery, W. Va., high school girl who turns 14 today—will share the spotlight. From a West Virginia coal-min-ing town and a night in the ‘Wom-= en’s Bureau of the Washington ‘Police Department, to the White House and, tonight, as a special guest at all of the President's | ‘balls :
Ann Sklepiovich. . | . The President’s Ler prince charming.
wand that made | her. a 1941 Cinderella ith two Prince Charmings—the President of the United States and George Allen, former District Commissioner and cochairman of the birthday balls. Ann's visit resulteq from her decision to send Mr. Roosevelt greet= ings on his birthday anniversary, the same date ashes. Mr. Roosevelt replied with his felicitations, but before the President's letter wes delivered, her brother opened it and added bh “We
Ann’s mother and father thought it was genuine. So did Ann. She was dressed in her Sunday best and sent to Washington. Arriving Tuesday, she went directly to the White House but Secret Service agents ‘told ‘the tearful Ann that the postscript was just a joke. She spent the night at the Police Department. News of her plight reached Mr. Allen, who promptly invited her to attend the ball celebrations as his special guest. Mr. Roosevelt also heard about Ann and sent word that he wished to see her. She called at the White House yesterday. Last night she slept at one of the capital's swank hotels. She also has a new dress to wear to the ball tonight. Mr. Roosevelt's associates: said the President was in “perfect health” as he begins another year of life as the nation’s first thirdterm chief executive. ! He will follow a long-standing birthday custom tonight by entertaining as dinner guests the members of his “Cufflinks” - Club— cronies who were associated with him when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War days. These friends wi sit in on the “thank you” broad
NEW OFFICERS ARE INSTALLED
Board’s Banquet Turbaned And Gay—Lasts Until Wee Hours.
By DAVID MARSHALL Even if you tried, you couldn't have bought, sold, traded, rented or leased a piece of property around here from 6:30 o'clock last night
until the wee hours of today, and maybe not then. You might have a little trouble today, too, because some 250 real estate men who couldn’t be reached last night probably are catching up on some sleep. The real estate men, their wives, sweethearts, and daughters dined and danced at the Indianapolis Real Estate Board’s annual banquet in the Indianapolis Athletic Club last night and early this morning in honor of the incoming officers and directors. -
"Inducted by “Swamis”
The entire festivities were handled by a coterie of “Sahibs” and “Swamis,” who despite their white turbans were identified after much research as Howard W. Fieber, Joseph H. Argus, C. Willis Adams, John B. Lookabill, Richard H. Nachand, J. Arthur Rentsch, and Robert E. Walker. Swami Fieber formally inducted the new officers by tossing them some verbal bouquets. Taking their bows were Earl B. Teckemeyer, the new president; William A. Hackemeyer, the incoming vice president; the secretary, Wendell M. Hicks; treasurer Lorin Driscoll; and executive secretary Urban K. Wilde.
Directors “Snowballed”
The directors, too, got their share of the applause and were peppered by cotton “snowballs” which had been amply provided for such use. The boys who ducked the barrage were Ben F. Claypool, Russe H. Hartman, Forest B. Kellogg, Walter M. Evans, Charles O. Grinslade, Ford V. Woods, Albert F. Bromley, Louis S. Hehsley and Robert P. Moorman. The outgoing officers also were on the receiving end—of gifts from the Board. Guy H. Williams, last year’s president, received a leather desk set; to former vice president Raymond A. Franke was given a Colonial mirror; outgoing secretary Albert F. Bromley received a cocktail shaker; and Edward A. Hyde, the Board's golf champ and retiring treasurer, got a pair of golf shoes.
Athletic Sweater for Schmid
As long as the oldest Board members can remember, genial Joe Schmid has been the sergeant-at-arms for the group. He's never elected. He just holds the position year after year as an indication of how the other members feel about him. So, to the perennial “tough guy” who keeps order went a gray jacket with foot-high letters across the back reading: “Joe.” Outside of a few loudly applauded remarks by President Teckemeyer there were no speeches. It was a night of fun in which dining, dancing and bridge were more important than leases or options to purchase. No sir. You couldn’t have done any real estate business if you wanted to.
FARM BUREAU SETS SOCIAL GONFERENGE
The 11th annual two-day state conference of the Social and Educational Department of the Indiana Farm Bureau, Inc. will open Feb. 25 at Tomlinson Hall, Speakers for the meeting include Dr. Harry E. Barnard, director of research, National Farm Chemurgic Council; Mrs. Elsie W. Mies, president of the Associated Women of the American Farm Bureau Federation, and M. J. Briggs, assistant manager, Indiana Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Ine. Farm women from throughout the State are expected to attend, ac‘cording to Mrs. Lillie D. Scott of Clayton, state leader of the Separts ment.
YOUTH LOSES BID REDDING, Cal. (U. P.). — Jack Clark’s hopes of going to one of California’s penitentiaries instead of back to the reform school were scotched by his father. He had served one in a reform school. So, when he was Ey ou on 3 we thett
L115) ou
borrowed instruments.
It was no reflection on the music already provided, but E, Kirk McKinney and Clem Dahlman had a jam session of their own on Mr. McKinney, as you see, uses the Brown County fiddle technique, as Mr. Dahlman plucks the “doghouse.”
Everything Grows Taller in Indiana
WARSAW, Ind., Jan. 30 (U. P.). —“We've got the biggest’—favorite Chamber of Commerce sport —is on again. Someone told the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce that Wye Mills, Md., claimed the country’s biggest oak tree—95 feet tall—and that Chico, Cal, had countered with a 96-foot one. So the Chamber hired two engineers to measure the oak in Berkley’s Woods, northwest of here. Result: 124 feet tall, 61 feet to the lowest limb, and a circumference four feet above the ground of 23 feet, eight inches. “The winner and new champion,” announced the Chamber,
ALUMNI TO HONOR DENISON PRESIDENT
Dr. Kenneth I. Brown, Denison University president, will be guest of honor at a meeting of Indianapolis alumni of the Ohio college at the Columbia Club at 6:30 p. m. Saturday. Committee members in charge of arrangements are Miss Helen E. Irwin, Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Jacquart, Dr. Carleton Atwater and Mr. and Mrs. James Wooten. The visit here will be the first of a series of meetings planned by Dr. Brown with alumni of the school.
A
24 HOURS LEFT FOR GROSS TAX
But Those Mailed Before Friday Midnight Will Be Accepted.
The Gross Income Tax Division announced today that tomorrow midnight is the deadline for payment of 1940 gross income taxes and that the office at 141 S. Meridian St. will remain open until 8:30 p. m. tomorrow for the convenience of the public. Tax officials said that returns mailed into headquarfers and post marked hefore midnight tomor=row will not be considered delinquent, Carol Klinger, a tax official, said that returns haye been coming in at the rate of about 4000 a day for the last few days and says indications are that more returns will be filed for more money this year than last. The total collected last year was $23,179,704.45 and Mr. Klinger estimates that the total this year will
“with a minimum of 62 favorable votes.” It is understood the G. O. P. “high command” opposes the measure and will try to stall the bill in committee as long as possible—at least until their own liquor bill is ine troduced. Several representatives said they would be forced to vote for local option if it comes to a roll call vote “because the people at home want it.” Jam Committee Room More than 150 State dry leaders jammed a House committee room sarely large enough for 15 persons yesterday afternoon in an effort to ‘smoke out” of the Public Morals Committee a bill which would give townships the right to decide wheter or not liquor should be sold in their districts. The dry leaders said they repree sented church and civic organiza= tions with a total membership of more than 1,350,000 persons. Through a misunderstanding bee« tween Clarence Baldwin, attorney for the dry forces, and Rep. Glenn Markland (R. Zionsville), chairman of the. Public Morals Committee, the church and civic leaders stormed the Committee’s meeting to be heard on the local option question, ‘ Markland Stands Mr. Baldwin said Mr. Markland had told him the meeting would be a public hearing on the local option bill and that he had suggested that the regular room would be too small, Rep. Markland replied that there is a difference between a “public hearing” and a committee meeting open to the public and that he had told Mr. Baldwin that yesterday's session was to be one of the latter. Rep. Markland, who did not have room fo sit down while presiding over the meeting, suggested a public hearing in a larger room at a later date. L. E. York, head of the Indians Anti-Saloon League, told the come mittee “every day of delay against this bill endangers it.” Rep. Markland asked if any of the persons from out of town wante ed to speak now and then have the rest of the delegation come back next week. Mr. York replied his forces did not want to divide their arguments and agreed to a public hearing in “a bigger room” as early as pose sible. A hearing was set tentae tively for next Tuesday afternoon, A similar bill was introduced two years ago but the Public Morals Committee succeeded in holding it until the last few days of the sese sion so that it was lost in the legise
be close to $23,500,000.
lative “jam.”
TOMORROW,
2nd and Last Day
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